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= Richard Williams ( RAAF officer ) = Air Marshal Sir Richard Williams , KBE , CB , DSO ( 3 August 1890 – 7 February 1980 ) is widely regarded as the " father " of the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . He was the first military pilot trained in Australia , and went on to command Australian and British fighter units in World War I. A proponent for air power independent of other branches of the armed services , Williams played a leading role in the establishment of the RAAF and became its first Chief of the Air Staff ( CAS ) in 1922 . He served as CAS for thirteen years over three terms , longer than any other officer . Williams came from a working @-@ class background in South Australia . He was a lieutenant in the Army when he learned to fly at Point Cook , Victoria , in 1914 . As a pilot with the Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) in World War I , Williams rose to command No. 1 Squadron AFC , and later 40th Wing RAF . He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and finished the war a lieutenant colonel . Afterwards he campaigned for an Australian Air Force run separately to the Army and Navy , which came into being on 31 March 1921 . The fledgling RAAF faced several challenges to its continued existence in the 1920s and early 1930s , and Williams received much of the credit for maintaining its independence . However an adverse report on flying safety standards saw him dismissed from the position of CAS and seconded to the RAF prior to World War II . Despite support in various quarters for his reinstatement as Air Force chief , and promotion to air marshal in 1940 , he never again commanded the RAAF . After the war he was forcibly retired along with other World War I veteran officers . He took up the position of Director @-@ General of Civil Aviation in Australia , and was knighted the year before his retirement in 1955 . = = Early career = = Williams was born on 3 August 1890 into a working @-@ class family in Moonta Mines , South Australia . He was the eldest son of Richard Williams , a copper miner who had emigrated from Cornwall , England , and his wife Emily . Leaving Moonta Public School at junior secondary level , Williams worked as a telegraph messenger and later as a bank clerk . He enlisted in a militia unit , the South Australian Infantry Regiment , in 1909 at the age of nineteen . Commissioned a second lieutenant on 8 March 1911 , he joined the Permanent Military Forces the following year . In August 1914 , Lieutenant Williams took part in Australia 's inaugural military flying course at Central Flying School , run by Lieutenants Henry Petre and Eric Harrison . After soloing in a Bristol Boxkite around the airfield at Point Cook , Victoria , Williams became the first student to graduate as a pilot , on 12 November 1914 . He recalled the school as a " ragtime show " consisting of a paddock , tents , and one large structure : a shed for the Boxkite . Following an administrative and instructional posting , Williams underwent advanced flying training at Point Cook in July 1915 . The next month he married Constance Esther Griffiths , who was thirteen years his senior . The couple had no children . = = World War I = = Williams was promoted captain on 5 January 1916 . He was appointed a flight commander in No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps ( AFC ) , which was initially numbered 67 Squadron Royal Flying Corps by the British . The unit departed Australia in March 1916 without any aircraft ; after arriving in Egypt it received B.E.2 fighters , a type deficient in speed and manoeuvrability , and which lacked forward @-@ firing machine guns . Williams wrote that in combat with the German Fokkers , " our fighting in the air was of short duration but could mean a quick end " , and that when it came to bombing , he and his fellow pilots " depended mainly on luck " . He further quoted a truism in the Flying Corps that " if a new pilot got through his first three days without being shot down he was lucky ; if he got through three weeks he was doing well and if he got through three months he was set . Williams and the other Australians were initially involved in isolated tasks around the Suez Canal , attached to various Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) units . No. 1 Squadron began to operate concertedly in December 1916 , supporting the Allied advance on Palestine . Williams completed his RFC attachment in February 1917 . On 5 March 1917 , shortly after commencing operations with No. 1 Squadron , Williams narrowly avoided crash @-@ landing when his engine stopped while he was bombing the railway terminus at Tel el Sheria . At first believing that he had been struck by enemy fire , he found that the engine switch outside his cockpit had turned off . Within 500 feet of the ground he was able to switch the engine back on and return to base . On 21 April , Williams landed behind enemy lines to rescue downed comrade Lieutenant Adrian Cole , having the day before pressed home an attack on Turkish cavalry whilst under " intense anti @-@ aircraft fire " ; these two actions earned him the Distinguished Service Order for " conspicuous gallantry " . He was promoted major in May and given command of No. 1 Squadron , which was re @-@ equipped with Bristol Fighters later that year . " Now for the first time , " wrote Williams , " after 17 months in the field we had aircraft with which we could deal with our enemy in the air . " His men knew him as a teetotaller and non @-@ smoker , whose idea of swearing was an occasional " Darn me ! " . In June 1918 , Williams was made a brevet lieutenant colonel and commander of the RAF 's 40th ( Army ) Wing , which was operating in Palestine . It comprised his former No. 1 Squadron and three British units . As a Dominion officer , Williams found that he was not permitted to " exercise powers of punishment over British personnel " , leading to him being temporarily " granted a supplementary commission in the Royal Air Force " . Augmented by a giant Handley Page bomber , his forces took part in the Battle of Armageddon , the final offensive in Palestine , where they inflicted " wholesale destruction " on Turkish columns . Of 40th Wing 's actions at Wadi Fara on 21 September 1918 , Williams wrote : " The Turkish Seventh Army ceased to exist and it must be noted that this was entirely the result of attack from the air . " He also sent Captain Ross Smith in the Handley Page , accompanied by two Bristol Fighters , to aid Major T. E. Lawrence 's Arab army north of Amman when it was harassed by German aircraft operating from Deraa . In November , Williams was appointed temporary commander of the Palestine Brigade , which comprised his previous command , the 40th ( Army ) Wing , and 5th ( Corps ) Wing . His service in the theatre later saw him awarded the Order of the Nahda by the King of the Hejaz . Twice mentioned in despatches , by the end of the war Williams had established himself , in the words of RAAF historian Alan Stephens , as " the AFC 's rising star " . = = Inter @-@ war years = = = = = Birth of the Royal Australian Air Force = = = Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 New Year Honours , Williams served as Staff Officer , Aviation , at Australian Imperial Force ( AIF ) headquarters in London , before returning to Australia and taking up the position of Director of Air Services at Army Headquarters , Melbourne . The Australian Flying Corps had meanwhile been disbanded and replaced by the Australian Air Corps ( AAC ) which was , like the AFC , a branch of the Army . Upon establishment of the Australian Air Board on 9 November 1920 , Williams and his fellow AAC officers dropped their army ranks in favour of those based on the Royal Air Force . Williams , now a wing commander , personally compiled and tabled the Air Board 's submissions to create the Australian Air Force ( AAF ) , a service independent of both the Army and the Royal Australian Navy . Though the heads of the Army and Navy opposed the creation of an independent air arm for fear that they would be unable to find air cover for their operations , support from Prime Minister Billy Hughes , as well as prominent parliamentary figures including Treasurer Joseph Cook and Defence Minister George Pearce allowed the proposal to succeed . The AAF was duly formed on 31 March 1921 ; Williams deliberately chose this day rather than 1 April , the founding date of the RAF three years earlier , " to prevent nasty people referring to us as ' April Fools ' " . The " Royal " prefix was added five months later . Williams proposed an ensign for the AAF in July 1921 , based on the Royal Air Force flag but featuring the five stars of the Southern Cross within the RAF roundel and the Commonwealth Star in the lower hoist quarter . This design was not adopted for the RAAF , the government employing instead a direct copy of the RAF ensign until 1949 , when a new design using the stars of the Australian Flag was chosen . As the senior officer of the Air Board , Williams held the title of First Air Member , the nascent Air Force initially not being deemed suitable for a " Chief of Staff " appointment equivalent to the Army and Navy . He moved to consolidate the new service 's position by expanding its assets and training . Shortly after the AAF 's establishment , land was purchased for an air base at Laverton , eight kilometres ( five miles ) inland of Point Cook , and in July 1921 Williams made the initial proposal to develop a base at Richmond , New South Wales , the first outside Victoria . He also started a program to second students from the Army and Navy , including graduates of the Royal Military College , Duntroon , to bolster officer numbers ; candidates reaped by this scheme included future Air Force chiefs John McCauley , Frederick Scherger , Valston Hancock and Alister Murdoch , along with other senior identities such as Joe Hewitt and Frank Bladin . As a leader , Williams would gain a reputation for strong will , absorption in administrative minutiae and a " somewhat puritanical " nature . He became known throughout the service as " Dicky " . = = = Chief of the Air Staff = = = The position of First Air Member was replaced by Chief of the Air Staff ( CAS ) in October 1922 . Williams would serve as CAS three times over seventeen years in the 1920s and ' 30s , alternating with Wing Commander ( later Air Vice Marshal ) Stanley Goble . One motive suggested for the rotation was a ploy by Army and Navy interests to " curb Williams ' independence " . Instead the arrangement " almost inevitably fostered an unproductive rivalry " between the two officers . Although in a legal sense the Air Board was responsible for the RAAF rather than the Chief of Staff alone , Williams dominated the board to such an extent that Goble would later complain that his colleague appeared to consider the Air Force his personal command . Williams spent much of 1923 in England , attending the British Army Staff College in Camberley and RAF Staff College , Andover , followed by further study in Canada and the United States the following year . Goble served as Chief of the Air Staff in his absence . Shortly after his return in February 1925 , Williams scuppered a plan by Goble to establish a small seaplane base at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney , instead organising purchase of Supermarine Seagulls , the RAAF 's first amphibious aircraft , to be based at Richmond . He was promoted to group captain in July and later that year drafted a major air warfare study , " Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia " . Considered prescient in many ways , it treated World War I ally Japan as Australia 's main military threat , and advocated inter @-@ service co @-@ operation while maintaining that none of the armed forces was " purely auxiliary to another " . Its concepts continue to influence RAAF strategy . In 1926 , Williams mandated the use of parachutes for all RAAF aircrew . He had visited the Irvin Air Chute Company while in the US during 1924 and recommended purchase at the time , but a backlog of orders for the RAF meant that the Australian equipment took almost two years to arrive . Flying Officer Ellis Wackett was assigned to instruct volunteers at RAAF Richmond , and made the country 's first freefall descent from a military aircraft , an Airco DH.9 , on 26 May . Williams himself jumped over Point Cook on 5 August , having decided that it would set " a good example if , before issuing an order for the compulsory wearing of parachutes , I showed my own confidence in them ... " Though his descent took him perilously close to the base water tank ( " I thought it would be a poor ending to drown there , or even to be pulled out dripping wet " ) and " too close to be comfortable to a 30 @,@ 000 volt electric transmission line " , he completed the exercise unscathed . The young Air Force was a small organisation with the atmosphere of a flying club , although several pioneering flights were made by its members . Goble had commanded the first circumnavigation of Australia by air in 1924 while he was CAS . On 25 September 1926 , with two crew members including Goble 's pilot , Ivor McIntyre , Williams commenced a 10 @,@ 000 @-@ mile ( 16 @,@ 000 km ) round trip from Point Cook to the Solomon Islands in a De Havilland DH.50A floatplane , to study the South Pacific region as a possible theatre of operations . The trio returned on 7 December to a 12 @-@ plane RAAF escort and a 300 @-@ man honour guard . Though seen partly as a " matter of prestige " brought on by contemporary newspaper reports that claimed " ' certain Foreign Powers ' " were planning such a journey , and also as a " reaction " by Williams to Goble 's 1924 expedition , it was notable as the first international flight undertaken by an RAAF plane and crew . Williams was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) in the 1927 King 's Birthday Honours in recognition of the achievement , and promoted to air commodore on 1 July the same year . As CAS , Williams had to contend with serious challenges to the RAAF 's continued existence from the Army and Navy in 1929 and 1932 , arising from the competing demands for defence funding during the Great Depression . According to Williams , only after 1932 was the independence of the Air Force assured . Williams again handed over the reins of CAS to Goble in 1933 to attend the Imperial Defence College in London , resuming his position in June 1934 . His promotion to air vice marshal on 1 January 1935 belatedly raised him to the equivalent rank of his fellow Chiefs of Staff in the Army and Navy . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in June that year . Williams encouraged the local aircraft industry as a means to further the self @-@ sufficiency of the Air Force and Australian aviation in general . He played a personal part in the creation of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in November 1936 , headed up by former Squadron Leader Lawrence Wackett , late of the RAAF 's Experimental Section . Williams made the first overseas flight in an aeroplane designed and built in Australia when he accompanied Squadron Leader Allan Walters and two aircrew aboard a Tugan Gannet to Singapore in February 1938 . A series of mishaps with Hawker Demons at the end of 1937 , which resulted in one pilot dying and four injured , subjected the Air Force to harsh public criticism . In 1939 Williams was dismissed from his post as CAS and " effectively banished overseas " , following publication of the Ellington Report that January . Its author , Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington , criticised the level of air safety observed in the RAAF , though his interpretation of statistics has been called into question . The Federal government praised Williams for strengthening the Air Force but blamed him for Ellington 's findings , and he was criticised in the press . Beyond the adverse report , Williams was thought to have " made enemies " through his strident championing of the RAAF 's independence . A later CAS , George Jones , contended that Ellington had been " invited to Australia in order to inspect Williams rather than the air force and to recommend his removal from the post of Chief of the Air Staff if necessary " . The government announced that it was seconding him to the RAF for two years . = = World War II = = When war broke out in September 1939 , Williams was Air Officer in charge of Administration at RAF Coastal Command , a position he had held since February that year , following a brief posting to the British Air Ministry . Goble had succeeded Williams as Chief of the Air Staff for the last time but clashed with the Federal government over implementation of the Empire Air Training Scheme and stepped down in early 1940 . Williams was recalled from Britain with the expectation of again taking up the RAAF 's senior position but Prime Minister Robert Menzies insisted on a British officer commanding the service , over the protest of his Minister for Air , James Fairbairn , and the RAF 's Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett became CAS . In his volume in the official history of the Air Force in World War II , Douglas Gillison observed that considering Williams ' intimate knowledge of the RAAF and its problems , and his long experience commanding the service , " it is difficult to see what contribution Burnett was expected to make that was beyond Williams ' capacity " . Williams was appointed Air Member for Organisation and Equipment and promoted to air marshal , the first man in the RAAF to achieve this rank . Williams returned to England in October 1941 to set up RAAF Overseas Headquarters , co @-@ ordinating services for the many Australians posted there . He maintained that Australian airmen in Europe and the Mediterranean should serve in RAAF units to preserve their national identity , as per Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme , rather than be integrated into RAF squadrons , but in practice most served in British units . Even nominally " RAAF " squadrons formed under the Scheme were rarely composed primarily of Australians , and Williams ' efforts to establish a distinct RAAF Group within Bomber Command , similar to the Royal Canadian Air Force 's No. 6 Group , did not come to fruition . He was able to negotiate improved conditions for RAAF personnel in Europe , including full Australian pay scales as opposed to the lower RAF rates that were offered initially . When Air Chief Marshal Burnett completed his term in 1942 , Williams was once more considered for the role of CAS . This was vetoed by Prime Minister John Curtin and the appointment unexpectedly went to acting Air Commodore George Jones . A mooted Inspector Generalship of the Air Force , which would have seen Williams reporting directly to the Minister for Air , also failed to materialise . Instead Williams was posted to Washington , D.C. as the RAAF 's representative to the Combined Chiefs of Staff in the United States , and remained there until the end of the war . = = Later career = = In 1946 , Williams was forced into retirement despite being four years below the mandatory age of 60 . All other senior RAAF commanders who were veteran pilots of World War I , with the exception of the @-@ then Chief of the Air Staff , Air Vice Marshal Jones , were also dismissed , ostensibly to make way for the advancement of younger officers . Williams regarded the grounds for his removal as " specious " , calling it " the meanest piece of service administration in my experience " . Following his completion of duty in the Air Force , Williams was appointed Australia 's Director @-@ General of Civil Aviation , serving in the position for almost 10 years . His department was responsible for the expansion of communications and infrastructure to support domestic and international aviation , establishing " an enviable safety record " . Williams ' tenure coincided with the beginnings of the government carrier Trans Australia Airlines ( TAA ) and introduction of the Two Airlines Policy , as well as the construction of Adelaide Airport and redevelopment of Sydney Airport as an international facility . William 's wife Constance died in 1948 and he married Lois Victoria Cross on 7 February 1950 . He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( KBE ) in the 1954 New Year Honours , the year before he retired from the Director @-@ Generalship of Civil Aviation . He then took up a place on the board of Tasman Empire Airways Limited ( TEAL ) , forerunner of Air New Zealand . In 1977 , Williams published his memoirs , These Are Facts , described in 2001 as " immensely important if idiosyncratic ... the only substantial , worthwhile record of service ever written by an RAAF chief of staff " . Sir Richard Williams died in Melbourne on 7 February 1980 . He was accorded an Air Force funeral , with a flypast by seventeen aircraft . = = Legacy = = For his stewardship of the Air Force prior to World War II , as well as his part in its establishment in 1921 , Williams is considered the " father " of the RAAF . The epithet had earlier been applied to Eric Harrison , who had sole charge of Central Flying School after Henry Petre was posted to the Middle East in 1915 , and was also a founding member of the RAAF . By the 1970s , however , the mantle had settled on Williams . Between the wars he had continually striven for his service 's status as a separate branch of the Australian armed forces , seeing off a number of challenges to its independence from Army and Navy interests . He remains the RAAF 's longest @-@ serving Chief , totalling thirteen years over three terms : October to December 1922 ; February 1925 to December 1932 ; and June 1934 to February 1939 . In his 1925 paper " Memorandum Regarding the Air Defence of Australia " , Williams defined " the fundamental nature of Australia 's defence challenge " and " the enduring characteristics of the RAAF 's strategic thinking " . Ignored by the government of the day , the study 's operational precepts became the basis for Australia 's defence strategy in the 1980s , which remains in place in the 21st century . However his input to debate in the 1930s around the " Singapore strategy " of dependence on the Royal Navy for the defence of the Pacific region has been criticised as limited , and as having " failed to demonstrate the validity of his claims for the central role of air power " . Williams ' legacy extends to the very look of the RAAF . He personally chose the colour of the Air Force 's winter uniform , a shade " somewhere between royal and navy blue " , designed to distinguish it from the lighter Royal Air Force shade . Unique at the time among Commonwealth forces , the uniform was changed to an all @-@ purpose middle blue suit in 1972 but following numerous complaints in the ensuing years reverted to Williams ' original colour and style in 2000 . Memorials to Williams include Sir Richard Williams Avenue at Adelaide Airport , and RAAF Williams in Victoria , established in 1989 after the merger of Point Cook and Laverton bases . The Sir Richard Williams Trophy , inaugurated in 1974 , is presented to the RAAF 's " Fighter Pilot of the Year " . In 2005 , Williams ' Australian Flying Corps wings , usually on display at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook , were carried into space and back on a shuttle flight by Australian @-@ born astronaut Dr Andy Thomas . The Williams Foundation , named in his honour , was launched in February 2009 " to broaden public debate on issues relating to Australian defence and security " .
= HMS Hannibal ( 1896 ) = HMS Hannibal was a Majestic @-@ class pre @-@ dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy , and the sixth ship to bear the name HMS Hannibal . The ship was laid down at the Pembroke Dock in May 1894 , she was launched in April 1896 , and commissioned into the fleet in April 1898 . She was armed with a main battery of four 12 @-@ inch ( 305 mm ) guns and a secondary battery of twelve 6 @-@ inch ( 150 mm ) guns . The ship had a top speed of 16 knots ( 30 km / h ; 18 mph ) . Hannibal served with the Channel Fleet ( later reorganised to the Atlantic Fleet ) after commissioning in 1898 . In 1906 she underwent a refit , which included a conversion from a coal burner to using oil . She was placed in reserve from 1907 , only to be mobilised in July 1914 as a precautionary measure prior to the outbreak of World War I. From August 1914 to February 1915 Hannibal was a guard ship at Scapa Flow . Later that year , her main armament was removed and she was converted to a troopship , serving in this capacity during the Dardanelles campaign . From November 1915 to the end of the war , she served as a depot ship based in Alexandria , Egypt . She was disposed of in 1920 and scrapped later that year . = = Design = = Hannibal was 421 feet ( 128 m ) long overall and had a beam of 75 ft ( 23 m ) and a draft of 27 ft ( 8 @.@ 2 m ) . She displaced up to 16 @,@ 060 t ( 15 @,@ 810 long tons ; 17 @,@ 700 short tons ) at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two 3 @-@ cylinder vertical triple @-@ expansion steam engines powered by eight coal @-@ fired cylindrical boilers . By 1907 – 08 , she was re @-@ boilered with oil @-@ fired models . Her engines provided a top speed of 16 knots ( 30 km / h ; 18 mph ) at 10 @,@ 000 indicated horsepower ( 7 @,@ 500 kW ) . The Majestics were considered good seaboats with an easy roll and good steamers , although they suffered from high fuel consumption . She had a crew of 672 officers and enlisted men . The ship was armed with four BL 12 @-@ inch Mk VIII guns in twin turrets , one forward and one aft . The turrets were placed on pear @-@ shaped barbettes ; six of her sisters had the same arrangement , but her sisters Caesar and Illustrious and all future British battleship classes had circular barbettes . Hannibal also carried twelve QF 6 @-@ inch / 40 guns . They were mounted in casemates in two gun decks amidships . She also carried sixteen QF 12 @-@ pounder guns and twelve QF 2 @-@ pounder guns . She was also equipped with five 18 @-@ inch ( 450 @-@ mm ) torpedo tubes , four of which were submerged in the ship 's hull , with the last in a deck @-@ mounted launcher . Hannibal and the other ships of her class had 9 inches ( 229 mm ) of Harvey armour , which allowed equal protection with less cost in weight compared to previous types of armour . This allowed Hannibal and her sisters to have a deeper and lighter belt than previous battleships without any loss in protection . The barbettes for the main battery were protected with 14 in ( 360 mm ) of armour , and the conning tower had the same thickness of steel on the sides . The ship 's armoured deck was 2 @.@ 5 to 4 @.@ 5 in ( 64 to 114 mm ) thick . = = Service history = = The keel for HMS Hannibal was laid down at the Pembroke Dock on 1 May 1894 . Her completed hull was launched on 28 April 1896 . She went into the commissioned reserve upon completion in April 1898 . On 10 May 1898 she went into full commission to serve in the Portsmouth division of the Channel Fleet , under the command of Captain Sir Baldwin Wake Walker . She was part of a huge fleet of ships present in the Solent for the passage of the body of Queen Victoria from Cowes to Portsmouth on 2 February 1901 . Captain George Augustus Giffard was appointed in command on 10 May 1902 , and she was present at the Coronation Fleet Review for King Edward VII on 16 August 1902 . On 17 October 1903 she collided with and badly damaged her sister ship HMS Prince George off Ferrol , Spain . When a fleet reorganisation led to the Channel Fleet being redesignated the Atlantic Fleet on 1 January 1905 , Hannibal became an Atlantic Fleet unit . Hannibal transferred to the new Channel Fleet ( formerly the Home Fleet ) on 28 February 1905 . This service ended on 3 August 1905 , when she paid off into reserve at Devonport . Hannibal underwent a refit in 1906 in which she was converted to burn oil fuel and received fire control for her main battery . She then recommissioned in reserve in October 1906 . In January 1907 , Hannibal went into full commission as a temporary replacement for battleship HMS Ocean in the Channel Fleet while Ocean was under refit . When Ocean returned to service , Hannibal remained in Channel Fleet service as a temporary replacement for battleship HMS Dominion while Dominion was undergoing refit . When Dominion returned to service in May 1907 , Hannibal went back into the commissioned reserve , becoming a part of the Portsmouth Division of the new Home Fleet in July 1907 . While in commissioned reserve at Portsmouth , Hannibal suffered two significant mishaps . On 19 August 1909 she struck a reef in Babbacombe Bay , damaging her bottom . On 29 October 1909 she collided with torpedo boat HMS TB 105 , suffering no damage herself but badly damaging the torpedo boat . She underwent a refit at Devonport from November 1911 to March 1912 . The Royal Navy began a precautionary mobilisation in July 1914 when war appeared increasingly likely . As part of this , Hannibal and her sister ships HMS Mars , HMS Magnificent , and HMS Victorious formed the 9th Battle Squadron on 27 July 1914 , stationed at the Humber to defend the British coast . Hannibal was serving as a guard ship on the Humber when World War I began in August 1914 . The 9th Battle Squadron was dissolved on 7 August 1914 , and Hannibal was transferred to Scapa Flow , where she served as a guard ship until relieved by the first @-@ class protected cruiser HMS Royal Arthur on 20 February 1915 . Hannibal then paid off at Dalmuir . The Majestic @-@ class ships were by then the oldest and least effective battleships in service in the Royal Navy . While inactive at Dalmuir , Hannibal was disarmed between March and April 1915 except for four 6 @-@ inch ( 152 @-@ mm ) guns and some lighter guns . Her 12 @-@ inch ( 305 @-@ mm ) guns were taken for use aboard the new Lord Clive @-@ class monitors HMS Prince Eugene and HMS Sir John Moore . After she was disarmed , she was laid up at Scapa Flow and Loch Goil until September 1915 . Hannibal recommissioned at Greenock on 9 September 1915 to serve as a troopship in the Dardanelles campaign . She arrived at Mudros in this capacity on 7 October 1915 . In November 1915 , Hannibal became a depot ship for auxiliary patrol craft at Alexandria , Egypt , supporting both forces operating from Egypt and those in the Red Sea until June 1919 , leaving Egypt for Malta on 9 September . Hannibal was paid off for disposal at Malta on 25 October 1919 , was sold for scrapping on the 28 January 1920 , and was broken up in Italy . = = Endnotes = =
= The Pine Bluff Variant = " The Pine Bluff Variant " is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series The X @-@ Files . It was written by John Shiban and directed by Rob Bowman . The episode aired in the United States on May 3 , 1998 on the Fox network . The episode is a " Monster @-@ of @-@ the @-@ Week " story , a stand @-@ alone plot which is unconnected to the series ' wider mythology , or fictional history . " The Pine Bluff Variant " received a Nielsen household rating of 11 @.@ 4 and was watched by 18 @.@ 24 million viewers in its initial broadcast . It received largely positive reviews from television critics as well as fans on the internet . The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder ( David Duchovny ) and Dana Scully ( Gillian Anderson ) who work on cases linked to the paranormal , called X @-@ Files . In this episode , Scully grows suspicious of Mulder when she thinks he may be helping a terrorist organization . Scully begins to wonder if he is now a traitor to the FBI . It is eventually revealed that Mulder is working as a mole in the group , and he is trying to stop them before they are able to use a biological weapon — that may have been created by members of the US government — which causes rapid degeneration of human flesh . " The Pine Bluff Variant " was based on the idea of Mulder going undercover , a topic that Shiban had wanted to work on for a majority of the fifth season . Shiban argued that the conceit worked for the series because the theme of Mulder questioning his beliefs was a major element of the fifth season . The episode was indirectly influenced by the 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , written by John le Carré . The title is also a reference to the Pine Bluff Arsenal , a real United States military base with stockpiles of chemical weapons . = = Plot = = Fox Mulder ( David Duchovny ) , Dana Scully ( Gillian Anderson ) , Walter Skinner ( Mitch Pileggi ) , and several other FBI agents take part in an undercover operation in a Washington park to catch Jacob Haley ( Daniel von Bargen ) , the second @-@ in @-@ command of an anti @-@ government militia called the New Spartans . As Skinner and Scully monitor the operation from a van , Mulder and the other agents slowly close in on Haley . Haley hands an envelope to another man ( Armin Moattar ) before escaping . The agents discover that the man 's flesh has been eaten away by an unknown toxin . Scully becomes concerned that Mulder let Haley get away , but he dodges her queries . Later , she informs a counter @-@ terrorism task force headed by Skinner and U.S. Attorney Leamus ( Sam Anderson ) that the man in the park was killed by a biological agent . Skinner explains that August Bremer ( Michael MacRae ) , the leader of the New Spartans , is involved in an internal power struggle with Haley . Scully follows Mulder and sees him meeting with Haley . When she tries to pursue them , she is surrounded by government agents and brought before Skinner and Leamus , who inform her that Mulder is infiltrating the group as an undercover agent . Mulder is taken to a New Spartans ' secluded hideout , where Haley accuses him of spying for the government . Mulder is tortured by the Skin @-@ Head Man ( Douglas Arthurs ) — one of his fingers broken in the process — until he claims that the spy must be somewhere within the New Spartans . Meanwhile , Bremer tests the biological weapon in a movie theatre in Middlefield , Ohio , killing fourteen people inside . Investigating the scene , Scully becomes confused as to how the contagion was spread , as it is not airborne . Mulder and Scully meet at his apartment , where she tends to his finger and discusses the operation . Bremer , however , is secretly recording their conversation . Mulder meets with Skinner and Leamus , telling them that the New Spartans are planning to rob a bank and that Haley wants copies of surveillance files on the group , in an attempt to discover the spy 's identity . Leamus , expecting the request , hands over a redacted microfilm for Haley to see . Scully discovers that the biological weapon was engineered by the U.S. government , and concludes that someone purposely sent Mulder on a suicide mission . She realizes that the pathogen is spread through touch , and that New Spartans plan to spread it via the money in the bank . Meanwhile , Mulder joins the New Spartans as they infiltrate the bank and spray the money with the pathogen . After the fake robbery , Bremer accuses Mulder of being the mole ; Haley , however , intercedes , and claims that Bremer is the real mole . To further his argument , Bremer plays back the tape of Mulder and Scully . The militia group turns against Haley . Bremer offers Haley a set of car keys and tells him he can leave the group unharmed . Haley agrees and drives off . Bremer , along with a thug from the group , marches Mulder into a desolate area and prepares to execute him . However , Bremer instead kills the thug and tells Mulder to run , lest they both be discovered . Mulder rushes back to the bank to warn people about the contaminated money and finds that Scully has already had the bank quarantined and the money taken away . Scully confronts Leamus about this being a covert government weapons test . Leamus responds that it is their job to protect the public from the truth . Later , we see Haley slumped over in his getaway car , his face eaten away by the pathogen that was sprayed on the car keys . = = Production = = = = = Writing = = = " The Pine Bluff Variant " was written by John Shiban . For much of the show 's fifth season , Shiban had an index card that simply read " Mulder Undercover " . He had long wanted to do a story like this , noting , " It always seemed to fit to me — putting Mulder in a situation [ where we ] don 't know his allegiance . " Shiban argued that the concept also worked because the theme of Mulder questioning his beliefs was a major element of the fifth season . Shiban petitioned Frank Spotnitz several times about the idea until " the right time and the right way " presented itself . The episode was influenced by the 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , written by John le Carré . Both the book and author are favorites of Shiban . Because the Cold War had been over , he used the opportunity to introduce a new " bogeyman " , in this case domestic terrorism . The writing staff used then @-@ recent fears about Saddam Hussein 's alleged production of biological weapons to craft the basic premise of the script . The title is also a reference to the Pine Bluff Arsenal , a real military base with stockpiles of chemical weapons . Shiban also recalled that the 1995 action film Heat was an inspiration . = = = Filming = = = To play the part of terrorists Jacob Haley and August Bremer , the production staff cast Daniel von Bargen and Michael MacRae , respectively . Von Bargen was chosen due to his experience in several films , whereas MacRae had previously been cast in the first season episode " The Jersey Devil " . Kate Braidwood , the woman who played the movie theater usherette , is the daughter of first assistant director Tom Braidwood , who portrayed Melvin Frohike in the series . The mother and child that are in the bank during the holdup scene were played by the wife and daughter of Todd Pittson . Scenes at the movie theater were filmed in a recently closed theater in Dunbar – Southlands , British Columbia . The location featured the " architectural and design characteristics of a small @-@ town cinema situated within an appropriate neighbourhood " . The movie that is being shown in the Ohio theatre which is attacked is Die Hard with a Vengeance , whose storyline of a mission by terrorists involving American banks is broadly mirrored in this episode 's plot . The faux corpses were created by make @-@ up artist Toby Lindala ; when he brought them to the set , however , there was no room to store them , and so he kept them temporarily in the craft services room . A Canadian government money depository filled in for the First Sovereign Bank of Pennsylvania that is robbed in the episode . The production staff assembled more than 15 @,@ 000 dollar bills of various denominations — which valued somewhere near $ 40 @,@ 000 — for use during the scenes at said bank . Production initially had to stop due to the fact that , during the filming of the scene that involved the money , there was only one police guard on duty . Fearful that an actual armed robbery might have been attempted , back @-@ up was called in and filming continued as planned . The scene in the teaser is supposed to be set in Folger Park , located in Washington , D.C. It was actually filmed in Vancouver , like the rest of the episode , and the Capitol building in the background was created via CGI . The scene with the biotoxin melting a man 's face in the opening scene was also created with computers . = = Reception = = = = = Ratings = = = " The Pine Bluff Variant " premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 3 , 1998 . The episode later debuted in the United Kingdom on BBC One on March 3 , 1999 . It earned a Nielsen household rating of 11 @.@ 4 , meaning that roughly 11 @.@ 4 percent of all television @-@ equipped households were tuned in to the episode . It was viewed by 18 @.@ 24 million viewers . = = = Reviews = = = " The Pine Bluff Variant " received largely positive reviews from critics . Andy Meisler , in his 1999 book Resist or Serve : The Official Guide to The X @-@ Files , Vol . 4 , noted that the episode was particularly well received by fans on the Internet , due to its realistic conceit . Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club wrote positively of the entry and awarded it an " A " . He called it " an excellent episode " that is " notable for its tension " and the fact that it " seemingly tells a story that has little to do with the X @-@ Files or Mulder and Scully 's search for the truth — right up until the final twist . " Furthermore , Handlen called Shiban 's script " by far his best " and noted that the melted corpses in the episode provided " a striking , deeply creepy visual " . Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson , in their book Wanting to Believe : A Critical Guide to The X @-@ Files , Millennium & The Lone Gunmen , rated the episode four stars out of five . The two called the entry " cleverer than most " latter season episodes that feature Mulder or Scully undergoing a psychotic break , due to its " straight @-@ forward thriller " sensibilities . Jonathan Dunn , writing for What Culture , highlighted " The Pine Bluff Variant " for its cinematic appeal and included it in the " 5 Episodes [ of The X @-@ Files ] That Could Be Made Into Movies " list . Other reviews were more mixed . Paula Vitaris of Cinefantastique gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it two @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of four . Vitaris called the episode " an absorbing hour of entertainment . " She did , however , identify the red herring in which Scully suspects Mulder as the weakest part of the story , noting that Mulder " would [ never ] throw in with terrorists " . John Keegan from Critical Myth awarded the episode a 6 out of 10 . He wrote that , while the episode " brings to light some interesting aspects of the latter half of the fifth season " the " internal logic of the story is often suspect . " He concluded that , despite " a number of scenes that presage the feature film and point out important character dynamics " , there are an equal number of " plot contrivances and conveniences " that bog the episode down .
= Noodles & Company = Noodles & Company ( NASDAQ : NDLS ) is a fast @-@ casual restaurant headquartered in Broomfield , Colorado , that offers international and American noodle dishes , as well as soups , salads , pasta and sandwiches . It was founded in 1995 by Aaron Kennedy . It grew from $ 300 @,@ 000 in revenue in 1996 to $ 300 million when it went public in 2013 . The company had 410 locations , including franchises , in 31 states as of July 1 2014 . = = History = = = = = Origins = = = The idea for Noodles & Company was conceived by former Pepsi marketing executive Aaron Kennedy , after eating at Mamie 's Asian Noodle Shop in Greenwich Village , New York . He felt there were not enough restaurants that served noodle dishes , which are a staple for many international foods . Kennedy started developing recipes out of his mother @-@ in @-@ law 's kitchen with the future COO , Joe Serafin , and head chef , Ross Kamens , in 1994 . Kennedy raised $ 73 @,@ 000 ( $ 117 thousand in 2015 dollars ) in personal funds and $ 200 @,@ 000 ( $ 319 thousand in 2015 dollars ) in investments from 24 friends and family members . The first Noodles & Company was opened in October 1995 , in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver , Colorado . Kennedy was joined by partner and real estate developer , Tom Weigand , who he had met at Augustana College . They opened a second location in Madison , Wisconsin , the following March . = = = Early history = = = In the first three months , Noodles & Company lost $ 42 @,@ 000 . ( $ 63 @.@ 4 thousand in 2015 dollars ) It almost went out of business in 1996 after a reporter with the Wisconsin State Journal published a negative review . He said Noodles & Company was " a killer idea " but " criticized nearly every dish he 'd tried . " The Denver Post and other newspapers had published similar reviews . In response , Kennedy started a " Redefine Noodles & Company " campaign " to redefine and refine nearly every aspect of the operation . " In mid @-@ 1996 , the management team went to Chicago to observe other noodle restaurants and the night of their return , the basement flooded at the Madison location . The next day , Kennedy made a list of 15 areas for improvement . Rocky Mountain News said " the team completely revamped the Noodles concept , overhauling the menu , the prices , the decor and more . It worked . " The restaurant implemented a warmer color scheme . Steam tables to keep food warm were replaced with saute lines to cook each dish as it is ordered . Two new managers were hired and an executive chef re @-@ worked the menu . According to Inc . Magazine , within sixty days " the food had improved dramatically . " = = = Growth = = = From 1996 – 2000 , Noodles & Company 's revenues grew from $ 330 @,@ 000 ( $ 498 thousand in 2015 dollars ) to $ 13 million ( $ 17 @.@ 9 million in 2015 dollars ) . Local food critics in many cities began naming Noodles & Company as the best fast @-@ food restaurant in the city and it was frequently listed as a " company to watch . " It won a Hot Concept ! award from Nation 's Restaurant News . $ 1 million ( $ 1 @.@ 45 million in 2015 dollars ) in stock was sold in 1998 , which was followed by a $ 2 @.@ 5 million ( $ 3 @.@ 63 million in 2015 dollars ) round of funding and a $ 5 million round in 2000 . ( $ 6 @.@ 87 million in 2015 dollars ) The restaurant had 37 locations in 2002 , 65 in 2003 , and 142 by 2007 . The company started franchising in 2003 and by 2007 , 22 of its stores were franchises . The restaurants were re @-@ designed in 2004 with lighter colors , new packaging , a greater emphasis on carryout orders and a floorplan that emphasized an open kitchen , where the saute line was visible to customers . According to Rocky Mountain News , the company was growing " so fast that it has had to move every two years . " In 2006 , its headquarters were moved from Boulder to Broomfield , Colorado . The company 's founder , Aaron Kennedy , stepped down from his position as CEO that same year and was replaced by Kevin Reddy . The number of Noodles & Company locations grew three @-@ fold from the beginning of the financial crisis of 2007 – 08 to 2013 , reaching 339 locations . = = = Recent history = = = In 2010 , a majority interest in Noodles & Company was acquired by an investment group led by Catterton Partners . In January 2013 , bankers told the Financial Times that Noodles & Company was scouting for underwriters for an initial public offering ( IPO ) . Two months later , the intent for a public offering was confirmed with a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission for $ 75 million in stock . Around this time , the company had reached 339 locations , 51 of which were franchises , and $ 300 @.@ 4 million in revenues . Within a day following Noodles & Company 's IPO on June 27 , the stock price doubled . Fast Company and The Daily Beast called it " the hottest IPO of the year " and compared it to Chipotle 's IPO . On November 16 , 2015 , Noodles & Company announced that it has pulled out of Central Texas , closing all five of its locations in the Austin area . Restaurants in a handful of other cities had closed or were planned to be close within the coming weeks , including ones in Lubbock and the Washington , D.C. , area , according to published reports . Ultimately , 16 locations were closed by the end of the year . = = Menu and restaurants = = Noodles & Company offers international and American noodle dishes , as well as soups , salads , pasta and sandwiches . Most pasta entrees come vegetarian , but have optional protein toppings such as tofu , chicken , beef or shrimp . It also sells flat bread and desserts like Rice Krispies Treats . Customers order at the counter and are served at their table , usually within five to seven minutes . The average check is approximately $ 8 per person . The restaurants use soft lighting , furniture made from recycled bamboo and have bench seating and community tables . Orders can be made online , to dine @-@ in , or to @-@ go . Seasonal items were first introduced to supplement the menu in 2002 . Two years later , noodle @-@ less entrees were added in response to the trend for low @-@ carb diets . The following year it introduced a whole grain Tuscan fettuccine . Naturally @-@ raised pork was added as a meat option in 2012 . Three seasonal items and a gluten @-@ free fusilli were added in April 2013 . In 2015 , Noodles & Company debuted customizable kids ’ meals . = = Advertising = = From 1997 to 2002 , Noodles & Company sponsored outdoor and print ads . By 2002 it had a $ 1 @.@ 3 million advertising budget and began airing ads on major television networks . One was of a " snake charmer " using a flute to charm noodles and the other was a noodles dish as a landing UFO , from which noodles emerged . Both ads carried the slogan " We 're going to get you . " Afterwards , in the early 2000s , the company reduced its advertising resources , before a rebranding effort that started in 2008 . The slogan " Your World Kitchen " was introduced in 2013 . The largest component of Noodles & Company 's advertising is in outdoor ads like billboards , but it also invests in radio , digital media and news sites . The billboards emphasize the global cuisine . One points to a parking lot and says " Recipes imported from more countries than these cars . " = = Operations and franchises = = Most Noodles & Company restaurants are owned and operated by Noodles & Company Incorporated , but some are operated in a franchise model . Franchise locations are operated by an independent franchisee that is trained by Noodles & Company and uses the same menu , pricing and branding as corporate @-@ owned stores . As of 2010 , the average Noodles & Company store generated more than $ 1 million in annual revenue , with a profit of 21 percent . Takeout orders account for approximately 25 percent of revenues . According to Inc . Magazine , Noodles & Company is more selective than other franchise @-@ based restaurants in franchise partners , and has a higher ratio of corporate @-@ owned stores than most franchising restaurants . = = Nutrition = = Nutrition facts are posted on the company 's website . As with most pasta @-@ based dishes , the company 's noodles dishes are high in carbohydrates , with regular @-@ sized dishes containing 80 – 150 grams of carbohydrates per serving ( the company 's salads and sandwiches tend to be lower in carbohydrates ) . Many of the regular @-@ sized pasta dishes exceed 1 @,@ 000 calories , but smaller portions with under 500 calories are available for some dishes . Noodles and Company offers dishes made with gluten @-@ free and vegan ingredients , but warns that cross @-@ contamination may occur .
= Parables for Wooden Ears = Parables for Wooden Ears was the first studio album released by the Australian band Powderfinger . It was released on 18 July 1994 by Polydor Records , after recording at the Metropolis Studios in Melbourne during February 1994 . The album was received poorly and failed to chart or improve Powderfinger 's platform despite the respectable success of its predecessor , Transfusion . Critics complained about its poor imitation of Americana and grunge , as well as its overuse of complex riffs . In a 2004 interview , Powderfinger lead singer Bernard Fanning said , in reference to the album , " God knows what we were on then . " Three singles were released from the album , all of which failed to chart . = = History = = In a 1996 interview , Fanning described Parables for Wooden Ears as " big and presumptuous " , and stated that it had " a pretty massive sort of sound " . He said that the band somewhat regretted this , and did not intend to do so again on future releases . On Parables for Wooden Ears , Powderfinger worked with the producer Tony Cohen , whom Fanning described as having a huge reputation , and thus being expensive to work with . However , becaude of the " lack of an obvious single " , the album sold poorly , despite the effort put into production . Parables for Wooden Ears contained references by Powderfinger to Aboriginal rights , with a song written by the drummer Jon Coghill discussing the idea that the band 's generation was the first to reach out to the concept of reconciliation . In 1998 , the guitarist Ian Haug described Internationalist as a moderation between the band 's last two albums , calling Parables for Wooden Ears a " complicated beast " . In a 1999 interview , Fanning said that the band " were sorting out our sound " on the album , and that despite it not working well they still thought it was " a good record " . Juice commentator Simon Wooldridge noted in 2000 that Parables for Wooden Ears contained " million " s of riffs , and thus the band were not able to produce a simple sound on the album . In a November 2004 interview with the Melbourne newspaper , The Age , Fanning recalled that the head of Polydor Records had described the album as " awful " and remarked that " God knows what we were on then " . He also said that in making Parables for Wooden Ears , Powderfinger " went through this weird stage of trying to be something [ they ] weren 't . " Fanning also told Australian Musician that the album , a " spectacular failure " , was a result of the band feeling " forced " to play like other bands that were popular in Brisbane at the time . = = Release and response = = Parables for Wooden Ears was released on 18 July 1994 on the Polydor Records label . Three singles were released from Parables for Wooden Ears : " Tail " , released on 14 June 1994 , " Grave Concern " , released on 22 August 1994 , and " Save Your Skin " , released on 22 July 1995 . Due to the minimal promotion and reputation of the band , the album and singles failed to chart . Critics generally agreed with Powderfinger 's assessment of the album , with some describing it as " a thundering rock album " and noting the similarity to Americana . Fanning also noted that the album had a lot less " balance " than the album that followed it , Double Allergic . Other critics noted that Parables for Wooden Ears had a " dark , overly complex metal sound " and complained of the album 's " distorted guitars " , but put this down to the album being a learning experience for the band . Parables for Wooden Ears received a moderate response from reviewers . Juice reviewer John Encarnacao enjoyed the rock elements of the album , drawing comparisons to Pearl Jam , Soundgarden and Alice In Chains . He thanked producer Tony Cohen for the " big sound " of the album , and said that the musicians on the album " not only know about power and restraint , but also play tastefully " . Encarnacao stated that Fanning " lays the emotion on thick and usually more than gets away with it . " The review was summarised by stating that the album may have been " a bit like the retro @-@ rock that the big corporations want you to buy " , but that nonetheless it was a good album . Jackson G. Marx was similarly conflicted in Australian Rolling Stone , writing , " They create painstaking technical ' works ' of art . This is not necessarily a compliment . Sometimes it 's a certified jerk @-@ off . " Despite describing some songs as , " tragically clever , " and , " grooveless monstrosities , " he scored the album three stars from five , and wrote of the pleasure of repeated listens . " ' Tail ' , for example , is tangled and inert and teeters precariously on the brink of disappearing up its own arsehole , but a determined listener will find its hooks more infecting with each spin . " Sputnikmusic contributor James Bishop gave the album a score of 2 @.@ 5 ( average ) , summarising his review with the statement " Get Double Allergic instead . " Bishop stated that the album contained too much imitation , and that the album is " pretty much forgotten by even the most hardcoriest of music fans " because of the poor imitation in it - described as " a simple case of " monkey see , monkey not do very well " . " Bishop praised some aspects of the album , stating that " Hurried Bloom " contained " a raw song @-@ writing ability " and that " Sink Low " was " a hidden gem " . However , he said that the majority of songs contained Powderfinger trying too hard with their riffs , noting " Bridle You " and " Father 's Pyramid " as specific examples . Bishop also criticised the lyrics in most songs , stating that " Walking Stick " contained " some horrendously bad lyrics " . The highlight of the album for Bishop was " Save Your Skin " , which he called " a gorgeous addition to their collection " , despite calling the overall album " a pretty dark and depressing experience " . = = Track listing = = All music written by Bernard Fanning , John Collins , Ian Haug , Darren Middleton , Jon Coghill . Lyrics by Fanning unless otherwise noted . " Walking Stick " – 4 : 06 " Tail " – 5 : 27 " Hurried Bloom " – 3 : 34 " Fathers ' Pyramid " – 4 : 38 ( Fanning , Coghill ) " Bridle You " – 3 : 56 " Citadel " – 3 : 23 " Sink Low " – 2 : 12 " Grave Concern " – 4 : 46 " Solution " – 3 : 50 " This Syrup to Exchange " – 4 : 31 ( Fanning , Coghill ) " Namaste " – 2 : 21 " Blanket " – 3 : 39 " Save Your Skin " – 3 : 36
= King Ottokar 's Sceptre = King Ottokar 's Sceptre ( French : Le Sceptre d 'Ottokar ) is the eighth volume of The Adventures of Tintin , the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé . Commissioned by the conservative Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle for its children 's supplement Le Petit Vingtième , it was serialised weekly from August 1938 to August 1939 . Hergé intended the story as a satirical criticism of the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany , in particular the annexation of Austria in March 1938 ( the Anschluss ) . The story tells of young Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy , who travel to the fictional Balkan nation of Syldavia , where they combat a plot to overthrow the monarchy of King Muskar XII . King Ottokar 's Sceptre was a commercial success and was published in book form by Casterman shortly after its conclusion . Hergé continued The Adventures of Tintin with Land of Black Gold until Le Vingtième Siècle 's forced closure in 1940 , while the series itself became a defining part of the Franco @-@ Belgian comics tradition . In 1947 , Hergé coloured and redrew King Ottokar 's Sceptre in his distinctive ligne @-@ claire style with the aid of Edgar P. Jacobs for Casterman 's republication . King Ottokar 's Sceptre introduces the recurring character Bianca Castafiore , and introduced the fictional countries of Syldavia and Borduria , both of which reappear in later stories . The story was adapted for both the 1956 Belvision Studios animation Hergé 's Adventures of Tintin and for the 1991 Ellipse / Nelvana animated series The Adventures of Tintin . = = Synopsis = = Having discovered a lost briefcase in a park , Tintin returns it to its owner , the sigillographer Professor Hector Alembick , who informs the reporter of his plans to travel to the Balkan nation of Syldavia . Tintin discovers secret agents spying on him and follows those responsible to a nearby Syldavian restaurant . An unknown man agrees to meet with Tintin , but is found unconscious . Shortly after , the reporter receives a threatening note and is then the target of a bomb attack ; but survives the latter when police detectives Thomson and Thompson intercept the bomb . Suspecting that these events are linked to Syldavia , Tintin decides to accompany Professor Alembick on his forthcoming visit to the country . On the plane journey there , Tintin notices Alembick acting out of character , and suspects that an imposter has replaced him . Reading a brochure on Syldavian history , Tintin theorises that the imposter is part of a plot to steal the sceptre of the Medieval King Ottokar IV from the current King Muskar XII before St. Vladimir 's Day , thus forcing him to abdicate . Forcibly ejected from his airplane by the pilot , Tintin informs local police of his fears regarding the plot ; but the police captain is part of the conspiracy , and organises an ambush . Tintin evades this , and escapes as a fellow @-@ passenger of the opera singer Bianca Castafiore . Leaving the car to evade Castafiore 's singing , Tintin is arrested again and survives another assassination attempt before arrival in Klow on foot . There , he meets the King 's aide @-@ de @-@ camp , Colonel Boris ; but Boris is also a conspirator and organises a further unsuccessful assassination attempt aimed at Tintin . The next morning , Tintin personally warns the King about the plot ; whereupon Tintin and Muskar rush to Kropow Castle , where the sceptre is kept , to find that the imposter Alembick has smuggled it out of the building to his accomplices . With the aid of Thomson and Thompson , who have recently arrived in Syldavia , Tintin pursues the thieves , and is able to prevent the sceptre being carried over the border into neighbouring Borduria . A letter obtained from one of the thieves , reveals that the plot has been orchestrated by Müsstler , a political agitator who means Borduria to annex the country . In Borduria , Tintin commandeers a fighter plane and flies to Klow , but the Syldavian military shoot him down . He continues to Klow on foot , and ( with the help of Snowy ) , restores the sceptre to the King . In thanks , the king makes Tintin a Knight of the Order of the Golden Pelican ; the first foreigner to receive the honour . Later , Tintin discovers that the imposter was Alembick 's twin brother , when the police arrest Müsstler and rescue Professor Alembick . Ultimately , he and the Thompsons return home by flying boat . = = History = = = = = Background = = = Georges Remi — best known under the pen name Hergé — was employed as editor and illustrator of Le Petit Vingtième ( " The Little Twentieth " ) , a children 's supplement to Le Vingtième Siècle ( " The Twentieth Century " ) , a staunchly Roman Catholic , conservative Belgian newspaper based in Hergé 's native Brussels , formerly run by the Abbé Norbert Wallez , who had subsequently been removed from the paper 's editorship following a scandal . In 1929 , Hergé began The Adventures of Tintin comic strip for Le Petit Vingtième , revolving around the exploits of fictional Belgian reporter Tintin . This was not the first Tintin adventure to draw specifically on contemporary events ; Hergé had for instance previously made use of the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria as a political backdrop for the setting in The Blue Lotus . Hergé had closely observed the unfolding events surrounding the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany . In producing this story , he was particularly influenced by the Anschluss , the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938 . The Munich Agreement and the subsequent Nazi invasion of the Sudetenland followed in October 1938 . Three weeks after King Ottokar 's Sceptre finished serialisation , Germany invaded Poland . By this point , the threat to Belgian sovereignty posed by Nazi expansionism was becoming increasingly clear . Hergé claimed that the basic idea behind the story had been given to him by a friend ; biographer Benoît Peeters suggested that the most likely candidate was school and scouting friend Philippe Gérard , who had warned of a second war with Germany for years . Tintin scholars have claimed Hergé did not develop the names Syldavia and Borduria himself ; instead , the country names had supposedly appeared in a paper included in a 1937 edition of the British Journal of Psychology , in which the author described a hypothetical conflict between a small kingdom and an annexing power . Reportedly , the paper , by Lewis Fry Richardson and entitled " General Foreign Policy " , explored the nature of inter @-@ state conflict in a mathematical way . Peeters attributed these claims to Georges Laurenceau , but said that " no researcher has confirmed this source " . Instead , a paper by Richardson entitled " Generalized Foreign Politics : A Story in Group Psychology " was published in The British Journal of Psychology Monograph Supplements in 1939 , but did not mention Syldavia or Borduria . In any case , given the publication date , it is unlikely that it was an influence on King Ottokar 's Sceptre . Hergé designed Borduria as a satirical depiction of Nazi Germany . Hergé named the Bordurian political leader " Müsstler " from the surnames of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Italy 's National Fascist leader Benito Mussolini . The name also had similarities with the British Union of Fascists ' leader Oswald Mosley and the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands ' leader Anton Mussert . Hergé referred to Müsstler 's agents as the Iron Guard , thereby naming them after the real Iron Guard , a Romanian fascist group that sought to oust King Carol II and forge a Romanian @-@ German alliance . The Bordurian officers wore uniforms based on those of the German SS , while the Bordurian planes are German in design ; in the original version Tintin escapes in a Heinkel He 112 , while in the revised version this is replaced by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 . Hergé adopted the basis of Borduria 's false flag operation to take over Syldavia from the plans outlined in Curzio Malaparte 's Tecnica del Colpo di Stato ( " The Technique of a Coup d 'Etat " ) . Syldavia 's depiction was influenced by the costumes and cultures of the Balkan region , as well as those of neighbouring Romania and Albania . The mosques that appear in Hergé 's Syldavia are based on those found in the Balkans , while the appearance of the Syldavian village , featuring red @-@ tiled roofs and minarets , may have been specifically inspired by the Bosnian town of Mostar . The black pelican of Syldavia 's flag is similar to Albania 's black eagle . Romania is the only European country to which pelicans are native , and Syldavia 's mineral rich subsoil could be taken as a reference to the uranium deposits found under Romania 's Carpathian Mountains . The name Syldavia may be a composite of Transylvania and Moldavia , two regions with historical ties to Romania . Czech , Slovak , and Bohemian history influenced the Syldavian names , while several medieval Bohemian kings were the inspiration for the name " Ottokar " . The Polish language influenced Hergé 's inclusion of " -ow " endings to Syldavian place names , while Polish history paralleled Hergé 's description of Syldavian history . The Syldavian language used in the book had French syntax but with Marollien vocabulary , a joke understood by the original Brussels @-@ based readership . However , despite its Eastern European location , Syldavia itself was partly a metaphor for Belgium , with Syldavian King Muskar XII physically resembling King Leopold III of Belgium . Hergé 's decision to create a fictional East European kingdom might have been influenced by Ruritania , the fictional country created by Anthony Hope for his novel The Prisoner of Zenda ( 1894 ) and which subsequently appeared in film adaptations in 1913 , 1915 , 1922 , and 1937 . Many places within Syldavia are visually based on pre @-@ existing European sites : the Diplodocus in the Klow Natural History Museum is based on the one in the Museum für Naturkunde , Berlin ; the Syldavian Royal Palace is based on both the Charlottenburg Palace , Berlin and the Royal Palace of Brussels ; and Kropow Castle is based on Olavinlinna Castle , constructed in fifteenth century Savonia - a historical province of the Swedish Kingdom , located in modern @-@ day Finland . For the revised version , Kropow Castle was drawn with an additional tower , inspired by Vyborg Castle , Russia . The United Kingdom also bore at least one influence on Syldavia , as King Muskar XII 's carriage is based on the British Royal Family 's Gold State Coach . = = = Original publication = = = King Ottokar 's Sceptre was first serialised in Le Petit Vingtième from 4 August 1938 to 10 August 1939 under the title Tintin En Syldavie ( " Tintin in Syldavia " ) . It would prove to be the last Tintin adventure to be published in its entirety in Le Petit Vingtième . From 14 May 1939 , the story was also serialised in the French Catholic newspaper , Cœurs Vaillants . In 1939 , Éditions Casterman collected the story together in a single hardcover volume ; Hergé insisted to his contact at Casterman , Charles Lesne , that they hurry up the process due to the changing political situation in Europe . The Nazi – Soviet Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact was signed the day Hergé delivered the book 's remaining drawings ; finishing touches included the book 's original front cover , the royal coat of arms for the title page , and the tapestry depicting the Syldavian 's 1127 victory over the Turks in " The Battle of Zileheroum " on page 20 . Hergé suggested that for this publication , the story 's title be changed to The Scepter of Ottokar IV ; Casterman changed this to King Ottokar 's Sceptre . King Ottokar 's Sceptre introduced the recurring character of Bianca Castafiore to the series , who appears alongside her pianist Igor Wagner . It also witnessed the introduction of antagonist Colonel Jorgen , who reappears in the later Tintin adventures Destination Moon and its sequel Explorers on the Moon . The Alembek brothers ' inclusion echoes the Balthazar brothers ' inclusion in The Broken Ear . After the conclusion of King Ottokar 's Sceptre , Hergé continued The Adventures of Tintin with Land of Black Gold until Germany placed Belgium under occupation in 1940 and forced the closure of Le Vingtième Siècle . The adventure Land of Black Gold had to be abandoned . = = = Second version , 1947 = = = The story was redrawn and colourised in 1947 . For this edition , Hergé was assisted by Edgar Pierre Jacobs , an artist who worked as part of Studios Hergé . Jacobs oversaw changes to the costumes and background of the story ; in the 1938 version , the Syldavian Royal Guards are dressed like British Beefeaters , while the 1947 version has them dressed in a Balkanised uniform . Jacobs also inserted a cameo of himself and his wife in the Syldavian royal court , while in that same scene is a cameo of Hergé , his then @-@ wife Germaine , his brother Paul , and three of his friend 's - Édouard Cnaepelinckx , Jacques Van Melkebeke , and Marcel Stobbaerts . Hergé and Jacobs also inserted further cameos of themselves at the bottom of page 38 , where they appear as uniformed officers . While the character of Professor Alembick had been given the forename of Nestor in the original version , this was changed to Hector for the second ; this had been done so as to avoid confusion with the character of Nestor , the butler of Marlinspike Hall , whom Hergé had introduced in The Secret of the Unicorn . Editions Casterman published this second version in book form in 1947 . = = = Subsequent publications and legacy = = = King Ottokar 's Sceptre became the first Tintin adventure to be published for a British audience when The Eagle serialised the comic in 1951 . Here , the names of Tintin and Milou were retained , although the characters of Dupond and Dupont were renamed Thomson and Thompson ; the latter two names would be adopted by translators Leslie Lonsdale @-@ Cooper and Michael Turner when they translated the series into English for Methuen Publishing in 1958 . Casterman republished the original black @-@ and @-@ white version of the story in 1980 , as part of the fourth volume in their Archives Hergé collection . In 1988 , they then published a facsimile version of that first edition . = = Critical analysis = = Harry Thompson described King Ottokar 's Sceptre as a " biting political satire " and asserted that it was " courageous " of Hergé to have written it given that the threat of Nazi invasion was imminent . Describing it as a " classic locked room mystery " , he praised its " tightly constructed plot " . Ultimately , he deemed it one of the best three Tintin adventures written before World War II , alongside The Blue Lotus and The Black Island . He also thought it noteworthy that in 1976 , archaeologists discovered a sceptre belonging to a 13th @-@ century King Ottokar in St. Vitus Cathedral , Prague . Hergé biographer Pierre Assouline believed that the story had the atmosphere of Franz Lehár 's The Merry Widow , with " added touches " from the films of Erich von Stroheim and Ernst Lubitsch . Fellow biographer Benoît Peeters thought that it exhibited " a political maturity " and " originality " . Further , he felt that Hergé was able to break free from the " narrative limits [ of ] ... too much realism " by the use of Syldavia as a setting . Jean @-@ Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier called King Ottokar 's Sceptre " a Hitchcockian thriller " which " recaptures the paranoid ambience " of Cigars of the Pharaoh . They compared the pace of the latter part of the story to that of Steven Spielberg 's Indiana Jones films before noting that despite the " horrors of the real world " that are present with Borduria 's inclusion , they do not interfere in " the pure escapist nature of the adventure " . Ultimately they awarded it three stars out of five . Michael Farr opined that the adventure has " a convincingly authentic feel " due to the satirical portrayal to Nazi Germany , but that this was coupled with " sufficient scope for invention " with the creation of Syldavia . He compared it to Hitchcock 's The Lady Vanishes . Farr preferred the colour version assembled with E.P. Jacobs ' aid , however . Deeming it " particularly successful " , he thought that it was " one of the most polished and accomplished " adventures in the series , with a " perfectly paced and balanced " narrative that mixed drama and comedy successfully . Literary critic Jean @-@ Marie Apostolidès of Stanford University asserted that the inclusion of the Iron Guard evoked Colonel François de La Rocque 's Croix @-@ de @-@ Feu . Noting that the figure of Müsstler was " the Evil One without a face " , he expressed disbelief regarding Hergé 's depiction of Syldavia , as there were no apparent economic problems or reasons why Müsstler 's anti @-@ monarchist conspiracy was so strong ; thus , " mass revolution remains schematic " . Literary critic Tom McCarthy identified several instances in the story that he argued linked to wider themes within the Adventures of Tintin . He identified a recurring host @-@ and @-@ guest theme in Alembick 's visit to Syldavia , and believed that the theme of thieving was present in the story as Alembick 's identity is stolen . Another theme identified within the series by McCarthy was that of the blurring between the sacred and the political ; he saw echoes of this in King Ottokar 's Sceptre as the King has to wait three days before appearing to the Syldavian public on St. Vladimir 's Day , something that McCarthy thought linked to Jesus Christ and the Resurrection . McCarthy also opined that a number of characters in the book visually resembled Captain Haddock , a character who would be introduced in the subsequent Tintin adventure , The Crab with the Golden Claws . = = Adaptations = = King Ottokar 's Sceptre was the first of The Adventures of Tintin to be adapted for the animated series Hergé 's Adventures of Tintin . The series was created by Belgium 's Belvision Studios in 1957 , directed by Ray Goossens and written by Greg . The studio divided King Ottokar 's Sceptre into six 5 @-@ minute black @-@ and @-@ white episodes that diverted from Hergé 's original plot in many ways . It was also adapted into a 1991 episode of The Adventures of Tintin television series by French studio Ellipse and Canadian animation company Nelvana . The episode was directed by Stéphane Bernasconi , and Thierry Wermuth voiced the character of Tintin . Tintin fans adopted the Syldavian language that appears in the story and used it to construct grammars and dictionaries , akin to the fan following of Star Trek 's Klingon and J.R.R. Tolkien 's Elvish .
= United ( Star Trek : Enterprise ) = " United " is the 13th episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek : Enterprise and the 89th episode overall . It was first broadcast on the UPN network on February 4 , 2005 . It is the second of a three @-@ part story which included the previous episode " Babel One " , and the following episode , " The Aenar " . " United " was written by Judith and Garfield Reeves @-@ Stevens from a story idea by show runner Manny Coto . It was directed by David Livingston , his third of the season . Set in the 22nd century , the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise , registration NX @-@ 01 . In this episode , two of the crew are trapped on the Romulan drone ship while Captain Jonathan Archer ( Scott Bakula ) on the Enterprise attempts to gain the co @-@ operation of the Andorians and Tellarites in tracking down the drone . His plan is complicated when Commander Shran ( Jeffrey Combs ) challenges a Tellarite to a duel , causing Archer to step in . After he defeats Shran , the races work together and force the retreat of the Romulan vessel and the missing crewman are recovered . The episode was filmed over seven days , utilising the standing sets and those created for the previous episode . The duel was choreographed by Vince Deadrick Jr . , and the Ushaan @-@ Tor weapon itself was created by Dan Curry . " United " was watched by 2 @.@ 81 million viewers on the first broadcast . Critics responded favourably to the episode , comparing it to the Star Trek : The Original Series episode " Amok Time " and the Andorians ' actions to those of Klingons elsewhere in the franchise . = = Plot = = " United " continues from the events in " Babel One " . On Romulus , Admiral Valdore ( Brian Thompson ) , Romulan scientist Nijil ( J. Michael Flynn ) , and their pilot continue to control the mysterious " marauder " , cloaking it to look like Enterprise and then using it to destroy a Rigelian vessel . Despite this success , Senator Vrax ( Geno Silva ) chastises them for losing full control of their drone since Commander Charles " Trip " Tucker III ( Connor Trinneer ) and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed ( Dominic Keating ) are still on board . Valdore and Nijil then work to trap Tucker inside a service junction as he attempts to divert power . After incapacitating him with leaked radiation coolant , Valdore then orders Reed to re @-@ establish the damaged warp matrix on the drone or see his crewmate die . Reed complies in order to rescue Tucker . Meanwhile , aboard Enterprise , Commander T 'Pol ( Jolene Blalock ) and Ensign Travis Mayweather ( Anthony Montgomery ) devise a surveillance grid that will require the coordinated effort of 128 space ships . After seeking help from Earth and Vulcan , Captain Jonathan Archer ( Scott Bakula ) realizes that he will need to obtain Andorian and Tellarite support too . Archer 's attempt hits a snag when Lieutenant Talas dies from the phaser wound sustained earlier . A devastated Commander Shran ( Jeffrey Combs ) openly challenges Naarg ( Kevin Brief ) to a blood @-@ duel using Ushaan @-@ Tor , an Andorian ice @-@ miner 's tool . Realizing that a death will derail trade negotiations , Archer announces himself as the Tellarite 's substitute . The duel proceeds and Archer is fortunately able to win , and spares Shran 's life after severing an antenna . With the duel completed , Shran promises continued Andorian support for the grid , and the Tellarite 's Ambassador Gral ( Lee Arenberg ) does the same . Enterprise , as a flagship , soon relocates and re @-@ engages the drone . Reed and Tucker , caught in the crossfire and unable to be transported out , narrowly escape death by ejecting themselves into open space . A mixed fleet of " allied " vessels then arrive , forcing Vrax and Valdore to recall the drone at warp speed to Romulan space . Archer then invites the Andorians and the Tellarites to begin their negotiations early and no @-@ one aboard suspects that the drone 's pilot is actually an Andorian albino . = = Production = = " United " forms the second of a three part story , beginning with " Babel One " and concluding in " The Aenar " . It was written by Judith and Garfield Reeves @-@ Stevens , who were newly hired writers for the fourth season of Enterprise . It was their third script after " The Forge " and " Observer Effect " . Manny Coto , the showrunner for the series , devised the story for " United " . David Livingston directed the episode , his third of the season after " Borderland " and " Kir 'Shara " . Filming for the episode took seven days between November 11 and November 19 , 2003 , with half the shoot taking place on the standing ship sets representing the Enterprise itself , and the remainder on the Romulan drone and command center sets which had been created for " Babel One " . For " United " , the entire guest cast returned from the previous episode , as well as Geno Silva who played the Romulan senator Vrax and Scott Rinker as the albino Andorian revealed at the end of the episode . Neither actors had previously appeared in the franchise . The Reman race made their debut in the episode , as they had only previously appeared in the film Star Trek : Nemesis . The prosthetics seen in " United " were reused from that film . Stunt co @-@ ordinator Vince Deadrick Jr. choreographed the Ushaan fight scene between Shran and Archer , with stuntmen Gary Wayton and Kim Koscki doubling for Combs and Bakula in wide shots . The Ushaan @-@ Tor itself was created by Dan Curry , whose previous work had included a variety of Klingon weapons including the bat 'leth . The script had simply called for " a dangerous @-@ looking Andorian weapon " , with the design fully coming from Curry . To demonstrate the different physiology of the Andorians , the make @-@ up department created a quantity of blue blood for use in that scene . It was also seen in a intravenous therapy prop in sickbay and for an earlier scene where Shran pours a quantity of it onto a Tellarite to issue his challenge . = = Reception and home media release = = " United " was first broadcast in the United States on February 4 , 2005 on UPN . It was watched by 2 @.@ 81 million viewers , which was more than the 2 @.@ 53 million who saw the previous episode , but less than the 3 @.@ 17 million who watched " The Aenar " . Alasdair Wilkins described " United " as the containing the most pivotal moment in the series when writing for the A.V. Club . The moment where the founding races of the Federation worked together to defeat the Romulan plot . He also praised the work of Combs as Shran , adding that the duel between Shran and Archer was " the kind of larger @-@ than @-@ life presence the often staid Enterprise most benefits from " . Jamahl Epsicokhan , at his website Jammer 's Reviews , gave the episode three out of four stars . He compared the fight scene to the one from the Star Trek : The Original Series episode " Amok Time " , and felt that it showed the Andorians as being similar to the Klingons seen elsewhere in the franchise . He felt that the main storyline wrapped up in " United " , despite the twist at the end . Michelle Erica Green also compared " United " to " Amok Time " in her review for TrekNation , placing Archer in the same role as Captain James T. Kirk in that episode . She said that this made sense for the sake of entertainment , but questioned why one of the marines on board the ship couldn 't have fought Shran instead . Green felt that the Andorians finally showed a series of similarities to the Klingons and pondered why they hadn 't become allies due to their similarities . She liked the episode , and posed one last question ; " Where were these sort of episodes when Enterprise still had a chance ? " " United " was released on home media in the United States on November 1 , 2005 , as part of the season four DVD box set of Enterprise . The Blu @-@ ray edition was released on April 1 , 2014 .
= Thames Valley Royals proposal = Shortly before the end of the 1982 – 83 Football League season , Robert Maxwell , the then @-@ owner and chairman of Oxford United Football Club , announced that he had made a deal with the owners of nearby Reading to amalgamate the two teams to create a new club he proposed to name " Thames Valley Royals " . This appellation combined a loose term for the geographical region , " Thames Valley " , with the Reading team 's nickname , " the Royals " . With each team having financial problems , Maxwell claimed that both were on the verge of going out of business and that uniting them was necessary for the region to retain a Football League club . Maxwell envisioned Thames Valley Royals ' future home as an unspecified location somewhere between Oxford and Reading where a new stadium would be built , perhaps Didcot ; home matches would alternate between Oxford and Reading in the meantime . Both sets of supporters promptly embarked on mass demonstrations against the merger , including protest marches and a 2 @,@ 000 @-@ man sit @-@ in on the pitch at Oxford before a match on 23 April . Maxwell pressed on with his plan regardless , insisting that " nothing short of the end of the Earth " would prevent its fruition . The proposed amalgamation was stopped by the actions of one of Reading 's board directors , Roy Tranter , and Roger Smee , a businessman and former Reading player . Smee disputed the legitimacy of the controlling interest in Reading held by the faction of three Reading board members that backed the merger plan , including the chairman Frank Waller , and Tranter launched a legal challenge to the sale of certain shares on 22 April 1983 . Waller and his boardroom allies resigned under pressure from the rest of the Reading board on 12 May 1983 , and at an extraordinary shareholders ' meeting in July , Smee took over the club , ending the amalgamation plans . = = Context = = During the 1982 – 83 Football League season , both Oxford United and Reading competed in the Football League Third Division , then the third tier of English football — equivalent to today 's League One . Managed by Jim Smith , Oxford challenged for promotion throughout the season , while Maurice Evans ' Reading team languished near the relegation zone for much of the year , despite possessing one of the division 's top @-@ scoring forwards in Kerry Dixon . The colourful media mogul and former MP Robert Maxwell owned and chaired Oxford , having prevented the club 's bankruptcy by buying it in 1982 . One of the world 's oldest football teams ( established in 1871 ) , Reading were a public limited company , chaired by Frank Waller , a prominent local businessman ; while owning Oxford , Maxwell also held 19 % of Reading 's shares . The two clubs share a local rivalry . At the time , both were in financial difficulties , particularly Reading . Maxwell sought to build a new stadium for Oxford United ; he had negotiated with the council over potential locations since the time of his takeover , favouring a site in the northern suburb of Marston , but had yet to win council permission to buy the land . = = Proposal = = On 16 April 1983 , about a month before the end of the 1982 – 83 season , Maxwell told the BBC that he was close to acquiring a controlling interest in Reading , and that he was intent on merging that club with Oxford . The merged club would be called Thames Valley Royals , a combination of " Thames Valley " , a loose term for the geographical area , and the nickname of Reading Football Club , " the Royals " . " If we in Thames Valley are to retain a League club we 've got to unite Reading and Oxford , " he explained . " Everything in the world that cannot pay its way must go the way of merger to combine into stronger units . " Maxwell made this announcement on a Saturday when most Football League clubs , including Oxford and Reading , were playing League fixtures . Oxford were playing away at Doncaster Rovers . Jim Smith learned of the announcement shortly before kick @-@ off at Doncaster 's Belle Vue ground from John Ley , a journalist with the Oxford Mail , who had heard the news from another newsman by telephone . Smith immediately called Maxwell to ask whether or not he would be retained to manage Thames Valley Royals , and was told that he would be . Maxwell issued a statement announcing that Oxford United were poised to acquire Reading by purchasing all of that club 's issued share capital , comprising 73 @,@ 000 shares , at £ 3 per share ( a total cost of £ 219 @,@ 000 ) , and that Waller and a group of Reading board directors , holding a majority of the shares in Reading F.C. , had " irrevocably accepted " this offer . The two clubs would continue separately for the last few weeks of the 1982 – 83 campaign , and Thames Valley Royals would begin play at the start of the 1983 – 84 League season . Maxwell claimed to have support in principle for this from the Football League . He said that the amalgamated team would ultimately be based at a new stadium to be built somewhere between Oxford and Reading , and that in the meantime home games would alternate between the two old grounds , Elm Park in Reading and the Manor Ground in Oxford , both of which would eventually be sold . The general public learned of the proposed merger in the late afternoon on 16 April , when it was announced by David Coleman on the television show Grandstand following the report of the day 's football results . = = Reactions = = The majority of both teams ' supporters reacted negatively to the merger proposal . While many Oxford supporters acknowledged that Maxwell had been instrumental in saving the club the previous year , most perceived merging with another club as tantamount to killing both Oxford United and professional football in the city . A spokesman for the Oxford United Supporters Club called the idea " crazy and unworkable " . Most Reading fans likewise reacted to the scheme with revulsion ; Mike Habbits , chairman of the Reading Supporters Club , said " Our fans can 't stand Oxford fans and I can 't see them travelling to Oxford to watch the new team " . Supporters and pressmen alike ridiculed the " Thames Valley Royals " name , which the sports historian John Bale later described as " mid @-@ Atlantic " ; observers at the time variously perceived it as sounding more like an American football , ice hockey or speedway team than a football club . Some Oxford fans supported Maxwell 's proposal , saying that with a new stadium and the pooled financial resources of Oxford and Reading , an amalgamated team might be successful , but these were a minority . One angry fan wrote to the Oxford Mail that " I will not follow Thames Valley Royals or whatever their name is if they played at the end of my street " . Players at both clubs received the news with apprehension . As Ley put it , " When you merge two clubs into one , you cannot have a squad of 45 . " The Oxford team learned of the impending merger and the new name from Smith in the dressing room at Belle Vue just before the match against Doncaster on 16 April . Mark Jones , one of the Oxford midfielders , recalled that the room " went totally quiet " , and that his first thought was that it might be hard to him to keep his place in the first team with Reading 's players also on the books . According to Jones , Smith attempted to assuage the Oxford players ' fears by telling them that " we 're only doing it so we can buy Kerry Dixon . All your places are safe " . Alan Judge , the Reading goalkeeper , reported his team reacting in a similar way — indeed , he described the Reading players as even more worried as Oxford had far outperformed them in the League that season . Ley , who accompanied the Oxford team on the bus ride home after the game , recalled that the players were almost silent , their victory over Doncaster overshadowed by " a feeling of incredulity , confusion , worry and fear " . Oxford United 's board of directors unanimously supported Maxwell 's proposed amalgamation at a board meeting held on 20 April 1983 . Their only reservation was regarding the name ; they preferred " Thames Valley United " . The chairman of the Football League , Jack Dunnett , described Maxwell 's proposal as " a bold and imaginative move which I 'll be watching with interest " . Meanwhile , Maxwell re @-@ entered talks with Oxford City Council over local stadium sites , repeating his preference for the Marston location . The council again refused . The mayor of Didcot , a small town about halfway between Oxford and Reading , suggested that Thames Valley Royals could build a ground there , on a site that had already been picked out for non @-@ League amateurs Didcot Town . Wallingford , a similar proposition just east of Didcot , was also proposed . The residents of neither Didcot nor Wallingford showed much interest in hosting Thames Valley Royals home matches , partly because they were concerned about football hooliganism . = = Controversy = = Oxford and Reading supporters embarked on a series of demonstrations against Maxwell 's proposed merger . The Reading Evening Post set up a campaign called " Save Our Soccer " , while Oxford fans launched a similar initiative called " Save Oxford Soccer " . Before Oxford 's match against Wigan Athletic at the Manor Ground on 23 April 1983 , about 2 @,@ 000 fans sat in in the centre of the pitch , delaying the start of the game by half an hour . Maxwell , in the directors ' box , was jeered by supporters , some of whom spat at him , and was confronted by a number of banners around the stadium reading " Judas " . After the match ( which Oxford won 2 – 0 ) , Maxwell called the demonstration a " bloody disgrace " . He reaffirmed his commitment to the Thames Valley Royals project a few days later through a phone @-@ in on BBC Radio Oxford . " If they want to become supporters of someone else , they 're entirely welcome , " he said . " If the deal does not go through , both Reading and Oxford will be dead before the beginning of next season . Nothing short of the end of the Earth will prevent this from going through . " Steve Daniels , an Oxford fan opposed to a merger , called in and claimed that Maxwell 's amalgamation proposal was a ploy intended to alter the council 's line regarding a new stadium in Oxford . Meanwhile , efforts to stop the merger were stepped up at Reading by Roger Smee , a former Reading player , born and raised in the town , who had become a millionaire in the construction industry . Smee , who strongly opposed the merger plan , had read the club 's accounts the previous year , and so was aware of how the team 's stock was allocated . He knew that Waller and his boardroom allies , Leslie Davies and John Briggs , had not held a controlling interest in the club in 1982 and that a large number of Reading shares had then been noted as unissued . His interest was therefore piqued when the Thames Valley Royals deal was declared " irrevocable " on the basis that Waller 's faction controlled the majority of the shares in Reading . " A year ago they didn 't have a majority , " Smee later said , " so how on earth have they issued these shares to themselves while Reading was a public company ? That would be against the law . " Smee contacted Roy Tranter , a director at Reading who opposed the merger , and Tranter 's legal team filed a complaint with the High Court objecting to the sale of the unissued shares . On 22 April 1983 , just as Waller and Maxwell were about to officially announce the merger , Tranter 's solicitors handed Waller a High Court injunction temporarily blocking sale of the disputed stock . Three days later , the High Court imposed a further injunction preventing any dealing in Reading shares until a further hearing on 3 May . Maxwell insisted that there was no problem , calling the legal challenge a " side show " ; he made a fresh bid to all of Reading 's shareholders . On 1 May , the Oxford chairman told the press that he and his supporters at Reading controlled 40 % of the shares . Meanwhile , Oxford City Council offered Oxford United a new " £ 6 million sports complex " in the western suburb of Botley . Maxwell said that he was still pursuing the merger with Reading , but would look into the Botley proposal . Reading supporters marched from the town centre to Elm Park in protest against the merger before the team 's match against Millwall on 30 April . Two days later , Oxford and Reading met at Manor Road in what the Glasgow Herald commented might be " the last Thames Valley derby " . Oxford fans held another protest march before the game , which Reading won 2 – 1 . At the High Court on 3 May , Mr Justice Harman sided with Tranter and Smee , and handed down a new injunction forbidding trading in Reading stock until 13 June 1983 . Following a Reading board meeting on 12 May , Waller , Davies and Briggs resigned their positions , and returned the disputed unissued shares to the club . The Reading Evening Post saw this as the end of the episode , and jubilantly bannered the news across its front page on 13 May : " We 've won ! Merger off " . The next day , Reading played Wrexham at home on the last day of the League season , needing to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation to the Fourth Division ; they won 1 – 0 , but still went down because of results elsewhere . The club held an extraordinary meeting of shareholders in July 1983 , at which a vote was taken to decide between Maxwell 's takeover bid and a rival offer from Smee , supported by Tranter . The latter proposition narrowly won , and Smee took over as chairman of Reading , putting an end to the planned merger . = = Aftermath = = Maxwell reluctantly dropped his amalgamation plans , but retained his 19 % stake in Reading . Under Smee 's chairmanship , the team won promotion back from the Fourth Division at the end of the 1983 – 84 season , and won the Third Division title two years later , taking it into the Second Division . Smee remained at the helm until 1990 , when amid a financial crisis at the club he sold it to John Madejski . Meanwhile , Maxwell made Oxford United profitable , and oversaw two successive promotions for the club during the 1983 – 84 and 1984 – 85 seasons . The team played in the First Division , then the top level of English football , for the first time during 1985 – 86 , and won its first major trophy , the League Cup , in April 1986 . Despite Maxwell 's reservations about the Manor Ground , the club remained there throughout this time . Maxwell ended his chairmanship of Oxford in 1987 , when he took control of Derby County and became that club 's chairman ; still owning Oxford as well , he installed his son Kevin as chairman there . In late 1987 he attempted to buy Watford from Elton John , prompting the Football League to institute new regulations preventing the major shareholder of any member club from owning more than 2 % of another League team . While Maxwell was able to keep his stakes in Derby , Oxford and Reading under a grandfather clause , the new rules prevented him from adding Watford to his football empire . He grudgingly accepted this . He retained his football club shares until his mysterious death in November 1991 , when he apparently fell off his yacht near the Canary Islands .
= 1972 Atlantic hurricane season = The 1972 Atlantic hurricane season had only four fully tropical named storms – the fewest since 1930 . It officially began on June 1 , 1972 , and lasted until November 30 , 1972 . These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin . The first storm , Subtropical Storm Alpha , developed on May 23 off the Southeast United States and struck Florida , causing minor damage and two fatalities . Although several other tropical depressions developed , only Tropical Depression Five is known to have affected land . The most significant storm of the season was Hurricane Agnes , which at the time was the costliest United States hurricane , until Frederic in 1979 . After brushing the western tip of Cuba , the hurricane made landfall on the Florida Panhandle . It caused at least $ 2 @.@ 1 billion ( 1972 USD ) in damage and 137 fatalities , mostly from inland flooding in Pennsylvania and New York . The strongest hurricane of the season was Betty , which reached peak winds of 105 mph ( 165 km / h ) while west of the Azores . Tropical Storm Carrie passed just offshore of Massachusetts , causing heavy rainfall and resulting in four fatalities , but leaving only $ 1 @.@ 78 million in damage . The remaining tropical systems – Dawn , Charlie , and Delta – caused no significant effects on land . A strong El Niño kept hurricane activity at a minimum , with only four tropical storms , three subtropical storms , and three hurricanes . It was also one of only five hurricane seasons since 1944 to have no major hurricanes – the other years being 1968 , the 1986 , 1994 , and 2013 . In addition , the season was the first to name subtropical storms , using the Phonetic Alphabet , rather than the standard naming list . Collectively , the storms of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season resulted in 137 deaths and over $ 2 @.@ 1 billion in damage . = = Season summary = = The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 , 1972 . Although 19 tropical cyclones developed , only seven of them reach tropical storm intensity , below the 1950 @-@ 2000 average of 9 @.@ 6 named storms per season . Of the seven tropical or subtropical storms , three of them strengthened into a hurricane , which is also below average . None of the three hurricane became major hurricanes , which is Category 3 or greater on the Saffir – Simpson hurricane wind scale . Overall , the season was inactive , despite having a similar number of tropical waves as the previous season . The lack of activity was attributed to an El Niño – which causes below normal sea surface temperatures over the eastern Atlantic – and strong vertical wind shear . One subtropical storm and two hurricanes made landfall during the season and caused at least 137 fatalities and more than $ 2 @.@ 1 billion in damage . The last storm of the season , Subtropical Storm Delta , became extratropical on November 7 , about 23 days before the official end of hurricane season on November 30 . Tropical cyclogenesis first occurred in the month of May , with the development of Subtropical Storm Alpha . The month of June featured three tropical cyclones , including Hurricane Agnes and two tropical depressions . Three more systems formed in July , though all of them failed to reach tropical storm status . August was the most active month of the season , with five systems , including Hurricane Betty , Tropical Storm Carrie , and three tropical depressions . September featured slightly less cyclogenesis , with Hurricane Dawn , Subtropical Storm Charlie , and two tropical depressions . An additional three tropical depressions formed in October . Subtropical Storm Delta was the sole system in November , lasting from November 1 to November 7 . The season 's activity was reflected with an Accumulated Cyclone Energy ( ACE ) rating of 36 , the lowest value since 1962 . Broadly speaking , ACE is a measure of the power of a tropical or subtropical storm multiplied by the length of time it existed . Therefore , a storm with a longer duration , such as Betty , will have high values of ACE . It is only calculated for full advisories on specific tropical and subtropical systems reaching or exceeding wind speeds of 39 mph ( 63 km / h ) . Accordingly , tropical depressions are not included here . After the storm has dissipated , typically after the end of the season , the NHC reexamines the data , and produces a final report on each storm . These revisions can lead to a revised ACE total either upward or downward compared to the operational value . = = Storms = = = = = Subtropical Storm Alpha = = = A subtropical depression developed from a cold @-@ core low pressure area southeast of the Carolinas on May 23 . After initially moving northeastward , it turned sharply southward on May 26 due to a building ridge of high pressure . Later that day , the system strengthened into Subtropical Storm Alpha and proceeded to move toward the coast of Georgia . After peaking with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph ( 110 km / h ) , Alpha began weakening . Late on May 27 , the storm made landfall near Brunswick , Georgia , with winds of 45 mph ( 75 km / h ) . Alpha weakened to a subtropical depression and dissipated after entering the northeastern Gulf of Mexico on May 29 . Rough seas generated by the storm resulted in two people drowning in Florida and halted work to deepen a harbor at the Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville . Tides along the Georgia coast reached 2 to 3 ft ( 0 @.@ 61 to 0 @.@ 91 m ) above normal , which caused some flooding and beach erosion . Wind gusts reached 58 mph ( 93 km / h ) on Saint Simons Island . The winds knocked down trees and power lines , leaving some people without power in eastern Georgia . Damage was minor but widespread in the state , estimated at over $ 50 @,@ 000 . Moderate rains spread in coastal areas from South Carolina through southern Florida . Alpha was the first named subtropical storm . = = = Hurricane Agnes = = = A polar front and an upper trough over the Yucatán Peninsula spawned a tropical depression on June 14 . The storm emerged into the western Caribbean Sea on June 15 , and by the following day , it strengthened into Tropical Storm Agnes . The storm curved northward and brushed western Cuba on June 17 . Agnes continued to intensify , and on June 18 , it was upgraded to a hurricane . Minimal fluctuations in intensity occurred before the storm made landfall near Panama City , Florida , on June 19 . After moving inland , Agnes rapidly weakened and was only a tropical depression when it entered Georgia . Thereafter , weakening slowed as the storm crossed over Georgia and into South Carolina . However , while over eastern North Carolina on June 21 , Agnes re @-@ strengthened into a tropical storm , as a result of baroclinic activity . Early the following day , the storm emerged into the Atlantic Ocean before re @-@ curving northwestward and making landfall near New York City as a strong tropical storm . Agnes quickly merged with a non @-@ tropical low pressure system on June 23 . Heavy rainfall occurred in western Cuba , causing flooding that destroyed 97 houses , isolated a few cities , and flatted crops in low @-@ lying areas . The storm left seven fatalities . Agnes caused a significant tornado outbreak , with at least 26 confirmed twisters , 24 of them in Florida and the other two in Georgia . The tornadoes alone resulted in over $ 4 @.@ 5 million in damage and six fatalities . At least 2 @,@ 082 structures in Florida suffered either major damage or were destroyed . About 1 @,@ 355 other dwellings experienced minor losses . Though Agnes made landfall as a hurricane , no hurricane force winds were reported . Abnormally high tides resulted in extensive damage , especially between Apalachicola and Cedar Key . The storm left nine deaths and approximately $ 40 million in damage in Florida . Generally minor effects were also recorded in the states of Alabama , Delaware , Georgia , Ohio , South Carolina , and Tennessee , as well as the New England region . However , one fatality was reported in Delaware and three were recorded in Georgia . The most significant effects , by far , occurred in Pennsylvania , mostly due to severe flooding . Precipitation peaked at 18 in ( 460 mm ) in Schuylkill County , causing several creeks and rivers crest at record height , including the Delaware , Juniata , Lackawanna , Susquehanna , and West Branch Susquehanna rivers . More than 100 @,@ 000 people were forced to leave their homes due to flooding . In the state of Pennsylvania , more than 3 @,@ 000 businesses and 68 @,@ 000 homes were destroyed , leaving at least 220 @,@ 000 people homeless . Overall , Agnes is ranked as the worst natural disaster in Pennsylvania . New York also suffered severe damage . Similarly , rivers in the state crested high , including the Allegheny , Chemung , Genesee , Susquehanna , and Tioga rivers . Corning , Elmira , and Olean , as well as many other Southern Tier towns , were severely flooded . Throughout New York , 32 @,@ 8232 homes were damaged and 628 others were damaged . A total of 1 @,@ 547 small businesses were extensively damaged or demolished . In Canada , a mobile home was toppled , killing two people . Overall , Agnes caused 131 fatalities and over $ 2 @.@ 1 billion in damage . = = = Hurricane Betty = = = An area of disturbed weather appeared on satellite imagery while forming within an old frontal zone on August 21 . At 1200 UTC on the following day , a subtropical depression developed about 290 mi ( 470 km ) north @-@ northeast of Bermuda . The system strengthened slowly as it headed east @-@ northeastward or eastward and by August 24 , it became Subtropical Storm Bravo . During the next 24 hours , minimal intensification occurred . However , a deepening high @-@ level trough and a building ridge enhanced outflow and deep convection on August 25 . Additionally , reconnaissance aircraft flights began indicating a transition to a warm @-@ core . Unfavorable northwesterly winds briefly halted further development , though by late on August 26 , Bravo resumed acquiring tropical characteristics after another deepening trough accelerated the storm eastward . After reconnaissance aircraft reported winds of 98 mph ( 158 km / h ) and satellite imagery indicated a storm with a classic cyclonic appearance , Bravo was reclassified as Hurricane Betty while located about 920 mi ( 1 @,@ 480 km ) west of the Azores on August 27 . After some further strengthening , Betty attained its peak intensity as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph ( 165 km / h ) and a minimum barometric pressure of 976 mbar ( 28 @.@ 8 inHg ) early on August 28 . The hurricane then moved rapidly east @-@ northeastward before decelerating late on the following day . Around that time , northerly winds aloft caused Betty to weaken to a Category 1 hurricane . After briefly moving southward , the storm curved back to a general westward direction and fell to tropical storm intensity on August 31 . Later that day , Betty turned northward ahead of a trough and became extratropical about 565 mi ( 910 km ) northwest of Corvo Island in the Azores on September 1 . = = = Tropical Storm Carrie = = = A complex system combining a tropical wave and an upper level low led to the formation of a tropical depression east of Florida on August 29 . It managed to become a tropical storm on August 31 and reached initial peak winds of 60 mph ( 95 km / h ) later that day . However , upper @-@ level winds increased , causing Carrie to weaken to a minimal tropical storm by September 2 . Due to baroclinic processes , Carrie began to re @-@ intensify . As a result , Carrie attained its peak winds of 70 mph ( 110 km / h ) just prior to transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on September 3 . The extratropical cyclone continued northeastward , and struck eastern Maine on September 4 . By the following day , the extratropical cyclone dissipated over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence . Carrie had a minimal impact on the East Coast south of New England , limited to increased swells , gusty winds , and light rainfall . The worst conditions occurred over southeastern New England , where wind gusts reached 84 mph ( 135 km / h ) and rainfall exceeded 1 ft ( 0 @.@ 30 m ) . Damage was most severe along and slightly inland from the coast . Thousands of people became stranded on offshore islands of Massachusetts after dangerous conditions created by the storm prompted the suspension of steamship service . Overall , damage was generally light , with total monetary losses valued at $ 1 @.@ 78 million . Four deaths were blamed on the storm . = = = Hurricane Dawn = = = A tropical wave , combined with an upper trophospheric trough , resulted in the development of a tropical depression near Cay Sal Bank , Bahamas , on September 5 . Later that day , the depression struck Key Largo , Florida , before moving inland over the mainland of Florida . The storm brought very light rainfall to the state , peaking at 1 @.@ 19 in ( 30 mm ) in Tavernier . The system moved northeastward and soon re @-@ emerged into the Atlantic . While located north of Grand Bahama on September 6 , the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Dawn . On September 7 , a cold low pressure developed near Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , which would influence much of Dawn 's movement . Around that time , the storm strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane . Dawn then curved west @-@ northwestward on September 8 and peaked with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph ( 130 km / h ) and a minimum barometric pressure of 997 mbar ( 29 @.@ 4 inHg ) . With Dawn appearing as a threat to the Mid @-@ Atlantic , storm and gale warnings were issued from Chincoteague Inlet , Virginia , to Cape May , New Jersey on September 8 . However , the hurricane veered southeastward on September 9 and weakened to a tropical storm . By late on September 10 , after the cold low pressure area relinquished influence over Dawn , the cyclone began moving westward , but continued to deteriorate . Dawn weakened to a tropical depression while well east of Georgia late on September 12 . The system approached the Sea Islands on September 13 , but curved northeastward and remained offshore . Dawn dissipated less than 15 mi ( 25 km ) east of Isle of Palms , South Carolina , on September 14 . The storm also produced very light rainfall in Georgia and South Carolina . = = = Subtropical Storm Charlie = = = A very small , circular subtropical depression developed about 460 mi ( 740 km ) northeast of Bermuda on September 19 . Initially , the storm moved north @-@ northeastward and strengthened into Subtropical Storm Charlie early the following day . It then moved quickly northeastward and continued to strengthen . Later on September 20 , Charlie peaked with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph ( 100 km / h ) . The system soon lost tropical characteristics and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone about 630 mi ( 1 @,@ 010 km ) east of Cape Race , Newfoundland , early on September 21 . However , the extratropical storm deepened significantly , reaching a barometric pressure of 944 mbar ( 27 @.@ 9 inHg ) , a reading typical of a strong Category 3 hurricane . Early on September 22 , the extratropical cyclone dissipated over the far north Atlantic . = = = Subtropical Storm Delta = = = A southwestward @-@ moving cold @-@ core low pressure area developed into a subtropical depression while located about 950 mi ( 1 @,@ 530 km ) west @-@ southwest of Flores Island in the Azores on November 1 . After forming , the system soon strengthened and was upgraded to Subtropical Storm Delta . Early on November 3 , Delta attained its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph ( 75 km / h ) and a minimum barometric pressure of 1 @,@ 001 mbar ( 29 @.@ 6 inHg ) . Around that time , the subtropical storm briefly moved southward , before beginning a general eastward movement on November 4 . Delta soon began to weaken and was reduced to a subtropical depression by the following day . It continued eastward until November 6 , at which time the storm decelerated and curved northward . Delta dissipated while located about 790 mi ( 1 @,@ 270 km ) southwest of Flores Island . = = = Other storms = = = In addition to the named storms , there were several weak depressions during the season . As Agnes was moving over the southeastern United States , a tropical depression formed approximately 400 mi ( 640 km ) southwest of Bermuda on June 19 . It moved northeastward and headed toward the island . The depression dissipated later the following day . The next system , numbered Tropical Depression Five , developed offshore North Florida on July 10 . Moving generally northward , Tropical Depression Five made landfall near Cape Fear in North Carolina on July 12 . The depression dissipated over Virginia about two days later . Generally light rainfall was reported in several states , though 8 in ( 200 mm ) of precipitation was recorded on Cedar Island , North Carolina . Another tropical depression originated about 430 mi ( 690 km ) southwest of Flores Island in the Azores on July 16 . It trekked slowly until July 19 , at which time the system curved northeastward . Late the following day , the depression dissipated about 225 mi ( 360 km ) west of Flores Island . On July 31 , a tropical depression formed about 515 mi ( 830 km ) southeast of Bermuda . The depression moved southwestward , toward the Bahamas and Lesser Antilles , but dissipated about 225 mi ( 360 km ) northeast of Turks and Caicos Islands on August 3 . A tropical depression developed over Senegal on August 5 . Tracking westward , the depression passed south of Cape Verde before dissipating southwest of the islands on August 8 . Four days later , another tropical depression originated about 175 mi ( 280 km ) east @-@ southeast of Charleston , South Carolina . It moved slowly northeastward and intensified slightly , but dissipated about 210 mi ( 340 km ) southeast of Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , on August 15 . The tenth tropical depression formed on August 16 while offshore Senegal . Moving generally westward , the cyclone crossed through Cape Verde and struck the islands of Fogo and Santiago . By August 18 , the depression dissipated . Another tropical depression developed about 800 mi ( 1 @,@ 300 km ) east @-@ southeast of Bermuda on September 3 . The system moved northeastward toward the Azores , but degenerated about 750 mi ( 1 @,@ 210 km ) southwest of Flores Island on September 5 . The next tropical depression formed on September 20 while located about 570 mi ( 920 km ) west @-@ southwest of Cape Verde . The storm tracked generally westward , but then began moving west @-@ northwestward on September 21 . Three days later , the depression dissipated about 890 mi ( 1 @,@ 430 km ) east @-@ northeast of Barbados . On October 1 , a tropical depression originated about 700 mi ( 1 @,@ 100 km ) east @-@ southeast of Bermuda . The depression trekked generally northward and dissipated about 505 mi ( 815 km ) south @-@ southeast of Cape Race , Newfoundland , on October 3 . Yet another tropical depression formed about 120 mi ( 190 km ) west of Bolama , Guinea @-@ Bissau , on October 5 . The depression moved generally westward , before curving to the northwest on October 8 . Five days later , it turned northward while well northeast of the Lesser Antilles . By October 14 , the system began moving north @-@ northeast . The depression dissipated about 800 mi ( 1 @,@ 300 km ) east @-@ northeast of Bermuda on the following day . Yet another tropical depression formed about 445 mi ( 715 km ) southwest of Brava , Cape Verde , on October 16 . Initially the depression moved generally west @-@ northwestward and dissipated about halfway between Barbados and Cape Verde . = = Storm names = = The following names were used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 1972 . Names that were not assigned are marked in gray . Storms were named Agnes , Betty and Dawn for the first time in 1972 . The name Agnes was later retired . = = = Subtropical storm names = = = The following names were used for subtropical storms ( sometimes called neutercanes ) in the Atlantic basin for this year . This year was the first year to use the Phonetic Alphabet for these storms . Names that were not assigned are marked in gray .
= Dimple Kapadia = Dimple Chunnibhai Kapadia ( born 8 June 1957 ) is an Indian film actress . Kapadia made her acting debut at the age of 16 , playing the title role in Raj Kapoor 's teen romance Bobby ( 1973 ) . However , eight months before her debut film released , she married Indian actor Rajesh Khanna . She is the mother of Twinkle Khanna and Rinke Khanna , both former actresses . Kapadia returned to the film industry in 1984 after her separation from Khanna . One of her films of that period was the drama Saagar ( 1985 ) . Both Bobby and Saagar won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress . Initially recognized as a national sex symbol , Kapadia was keen to avoid being stereotyped and expand her range of acting roles . She subsequently took on more serious parts in a range of film genres , from mainstream to parallel cinema , and received acclaim for her performances in such films as Kaash ( 1987 ) , Drishti ( 1990 ) , Lekin ... ( 1990 ) , and Rudaali ( 1993 ) , which earned her a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress . She followed with supporting roles in Gardish ( 1993 ) and Krantiveer ( 1994 ) , the latter of which garnered her a fourth Filmfare Award . Kapadia continued working infrequently through the 1990s and the 2000s . She played a minor part in Dil Chahta Hai ( 2001 ) and was noted for her portrayal of the title role in the American production Leela ( 2002 ) . Some of her later film credits include leading roles in Hum Kaun Hai ? ( 2004 ) , Pyaar Mein Twist ( 2005 ) , Phir Kabhi ( 2008 ) and Tum Milo Toh Sahi ( 2010 ) , and supporting roles in Being Cyrus ( 2005 ) , Luck by Chance ( 2009 ) , Dabangg ( 2010 ) , Cocktail ( 2012 ) and Finding Fanny ( 2014 ) . = = Personal life = = Kapadia is the eldest of the four children of Gujarati entrepreneur Chunnibhai Kapadia and Betty , her younger siblings being late actress Simple Kapadia , a sister named Reem and a brother , Munna . The family resided on Ghodbunder Road in Santa Cruz , Mumbai , and she studied at St. Joseph 's Convent High School . Due to her father 's wealth and business , she has described her upbringing as " different " . Kapadia married actor Rajesh Khanna in March 1973 , eight months before her debut film Bobby released in November 1973.Most portions of the film Bobby was shot , only after their marriage.She then retired from acting for twelve years to raise her two daughters , Twinkle ( b . 1974 ) and Rinke ( b . 1977 ) . About her marriage , she was quoted saying " “ I got married while I was just sixteen . I do not have any regrets for having left the stardom for the sake of my family life . I feel that was my best period . " Kapadia separated from Khanna in April 1982 , leaving the house with her two daughters back to her parents . She returned to acting two years later . In 2010 , reporter Dinesh Raheja stated that " the bitterness between Rajesh and Dimple washed away " , noting that they are seen together at parties and that Dimple campaigned for Khanna 's election in 1990 and also worked in his film Jai Shiv Shankar . In an 2014 interview she stated " The biggest high for me was to marry Rajesh Khanna . That was a high and I don ’ t think my success was as much of a high as getting married to this superstar . I used to be a big fan of his , it was dream come true . But I can ’ t really say the same about my career because I didn ’ t meet people , So I never felt the impact . " In an interview in 2016 , she said " Lots of women marry young and become mothers at a young age . The only really special thing that happened to my life was that I married superstar Rajesh Khanna . " Her daughters also became actresses and retired after settling down . Her elder daughter , Twinkle Khanna , is married to actor Akshay Kumar . = = Career = = = = = Debut ( 1973 ) = = = Kapadia once said she had always had aspirations to become an actress when she was a child , calling herself " film @-@ crazy " . She was discovered at age 13 by Raj Kapoor , who later introduced her in his 1973 teen romance Bobby . While the film was to be Kapoor 's son Rishi Kapoor 's first leading role , Kapadia was given the title role of Bobby Braganza , a middle @-@ class Goan Christian girl . The story follows how Bobby falls in love with Raj ( Rishi ) , the son of a wealthy businessman , and how the two face the disapproval of their parents . Bobby was a major mainstream and critical success , and Kapadia was lauded for her performance , which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress ( tied with Jaya Bhaduri for Abhimaan ) . In later years Kapadia would credit Raj Kapoor for her development as an actress : " the sum total of me today as an actress , whatever I am , is Raj Kapoor . " Several of her lines in the film became popular , particularly , " Mujhse dosti karoge ? " ( " Will you be my friend ? " ) . In 2008 , Rediff.com ranked her performance in the film as the fourth @-@ best female debut of all @-@ time in Hindi cinema : " An elfin little girl with big , lovely eyes , nobody quite portrayed innocence as memorably as Dimple in her first outing . She was candid , striking , and a true natural ... here was a girl who would redefine glamour and grace , and make it look very , very easy indeed . " Following the success of the film , Kapadia 's modern wardrobe and hairstyle in Bobby , consisting of " knotted polka @-@ dotted blouse and earphone hairstyle " , made her a youth fashion icon of the times in India . Consequently polka @-@ dotted dresses were often referred to as ' Bobby Print ' . Bhawana Somaaya of The Hindu credits Kapadia as starting film memorabilia merchandising in India . Mukesh Khosla of The Tribune reported that Bobby established her as a " cult figure " as she led the fashion trends . Kapadia had married actor Rajesh Khanna in March 1973 at the age of 16 and eight months later her debut film released . She left the film industry to raise her children . = = = Comeback and work in the 1980s = = = After Kapadia 's separation from Khanna in 1982 , she was keen on returning to acting , which she ultimately did in 1984 . For the next decade , she would go on to become one of top five commercial actresses in Bollywood along with Sridevi , Madhuri Dixit , Meenakshi Sheshadri and Jaya Prada . Kapadia accredited the reason for her return was because of a personal need to prove to herself her own capabilities . The first film she worked on was Saagar , directed by Ramesh Sippy , after a mutual friend had notified Sippy about her willingness to return to acting . She first performed a screen test , which according to her was very unsuccessful as she was extremely nervous and " literally shivering " while making it . To her surprise , Sippy ultimately signed her on to play the lead part opposite her Bobby co @-@ star Rishi Kapoor . Scripted with her in mind , the film was intended to be her comeback vehicle , but its one @-@ year delay meant that several of her proceeding projects would be released before , the first of which was Zakhmi Sher ( 1984 ) . Saagar eventually premiered in August 1985 and was controversial for several scenes featuring Kapadia , including one scene in which she was seen topless for a split second . The film was a critical success and was eventually chosen as India 's official entry to the Oscars that year . Kapadia 's performance as Mona D 'Silva , a young woman from Goa who is torn between her friend ( Kamal Haasan ) and the man she loves ( Kapoor ) , won her a second Best Actress award at the Filmfare Awards . A review by Asiaweek labelled her " a delight " . Rediff.com noted , " Dimple , caught between a friend and lover , performed solidly and memorably , grounding the two male leads and making the film work . " A 1993 issue of India Today wrote , " Saagar was in many ways a paean to her incredible beauty . She looked ravishing : auburn hair , classical face , deep eyes , an aura of sensuality . It was clear she was back . " In 1984 she had a role opposite Sunny Deol in Manzil Manzil , a drama directed by Nasir Hussain . She later said making the film was " one big picnic " , though she expressed her lack of comfort performing the " routine song @-@ and @-@ dance " nature of the part . Kapadia 's first film of 1985 was Mukul Anand 's Aitbaar , a Hitchcockian thriller for which she received positive reviews . Speaking of her performance , she said that during shooting she was " a bag of nerves " , which eventually ended up working " to my advantage as it lent my performance the right shade of tautness , without my realising it . " Among other films released that year , Kapadia was paired up with Sunny Deol in Arjun , an action film directed by Rahul Rawail and scripted by Javed Akhtar . Feroz Khan 's Janbaaz ( 1986 ) told the story of a man fighting the drug menace . The film became known for its steamy love scene involving Kapadia and male lead Anil Kapoor , in which the two also shared a full on kiss , something Hindi movie @-@ goers were not accustomed to in those days . In that same year she acted opposite Saagar co @-@ star Kamal Haasan in her first regional film , Vikram , a Tamil @-@ language sci @-@ fi feature . She played the minor part of Inimaasi , a young princess who falls for the title character , played by Haasan . At that time , she also worked in numerous Hindi films made by producers from the South , including Pataal Bhairavi , which she detested . She has confessed to accepting these roles for financial gain rather than artistic merit during this period , noting , " I shudder even now when I think of those films . As an artiste I got totally corrupted . " In 1987 , Kapadia starred in Mahesh Bhatt 's drama Kaash . Kapadia and Jackie Shroff starred as an estranged couple who , during a relentless legal battle over the custody of their only son , learn that the boy is suffering from leukaemia , which makes them reunite to spend together the last months of his life . Before shooting began , she called it " the most serious artistic challenge I have ever faced in my career . " Bhatt said he decided to cast her in the role because he was aware of her own marital experience , and he noted that during the making of the film she " came closer and closer to the naked truth , " so much that " after a certain point , mentally I couldn 't differentiate between Dimple and Pooja . She became the character . " Kapadia 's performance as Pooja was highly praised by critics . In an article discussing her career 's best roles , The Times of India wrote , " As ... [ a ] long @-@ suffering wife who tries making a living for herself and her young son by working odd jobs , Dimple showed immense strength as a performer . This has to be one of her best and most unrecognised performances . " Sukanya Verma from Rediff.com noted , " She rendered her Pooja with stoic determination and touching vulnerability making her character extremely believable and sympathetic at once . " In 1988 , she played the main protagonist in Zakhmi Aurat , that of a female police officer who gets gang @-@ raped and , after the judicial system fails to convict the criminals , abandons the legal course and joins forces with other rape victims to get revenge by castrating the rapists . The Times of India labelled the film a " B @-@ grade movie " , but further noted that " Dimple nonetheless did a very convincing job of portraying her anguish and bitterness at being denied justice . " M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune , while documenting the famous Hindi films of 1988 , praised Kapadia for " proving her mettle as an actress of intensity and passion . " Subhash K. Jha , however , in an article discussing Indian actresses who have played policewomen , wrote that the film " turned into quite an embarrassment for its leading lady . " The three final years of the decade saw the release of several other films featuring Kapadia , but few did well . In 1987 , she appeared in two action movies : Rajkumar Kohli 's Insaniyat Ke Dushman and Mukul Anand 's Insaaf , in which she played a dual role of a dancer and a physician . She worked with Kohli in two more movies in 1988 , the horror film Bees Saal Baad and the action drama Saazish . In that same year Mahesh Bhatt cast her again in his action thriller Kabzaa , a critical failure . Ram Lakhan ( 1989 ) , directed by Subhash Ghai , was a success with both critics and audiences , but Kapadia 's role was considered small with one critic saying it did not do " justice to her talent " and another reporting that she " pales into insignificance in the film . " Other films of this period include Babbar Subhash 's Pyar Ke Naam Qurbaan , opposite Mithun Chakraborty , and J.P. Dutta 's action picture Batwara , opposite Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna . = = = 1990s = = = In the 1990s , Kapadia started venturing more into arthouse films , later citing an " inner yearning to exhibit my best potential . " Those films include Drishti ( 1990 ) , Lekin ... ( 1990 ) , Rudaali ( 1993 ) and Antareen ( 1995 ) . Drishti , a marital drama directed by Govind Nihalani , starred Kapadia and Shekhar Kapur as a married urban couple from an intellectual milieu in Mumbai and followed their trials and tribulations , extramarital affairs , divorce , and ultimate reconciliation after years of separation . Kapadia 's part was that of career @-@ woman Sandhya , and for her portrayal she was named the Best Actress ( Hindi ) of the year by the Bengal Film Journalists ' Association . The film was acknowledged as the Best Hindi Film of that year at the annual National Film Awards . In 1993 . Frontline suggested that Kapadia 's performance in the film should have earned her the Best Actress award at the same function . In Gulzar 's Lekin ... , she played a restless sprite named Reva , a role she has often cited as a personal favourite and wished would have had more screen time in the film . Referring to it once as " the most fantastic " part of her career , she recalled the working relationship with Gulzar as " a wonderful experience " . To make her character more truthful , Gulzar did not let Kapadia blink even once during filming , trying to capture an " endless , fixed gaze " which would give her " a feeling of being surreal . " Lekin ... was popular with critics and Kapadia 's performance earned her a third Filmfare nomination . In 1991 , she appeared in Prahaar : The Final Attack , the first directorial venture of actor Nana Patekar , with whom she would collaborate in several other films . The film , co @-@ starring Patekar and Madhuri Dixit , received a welcome reception from critics . Kapadia was noted for her " deglamourised role " , but most of the praise went to the performance of Patekar himself . Kapadia starred alongside Amitabh Bachchan in Shashi Kapoor 's fantasy Ajooba , an Indo @-@ Russian co @-@ production based on Arabian mythology and set in the Afghan kingdom of Baharistan . She played Rukhsana , a young woman who comes from India to rescue her father , court magician Ameer Baba , from prison . The critical response to Ajooba was mostly lukewarm . She played the protagonist in Haque ( 1991 ) , a political drama directed by Harish Bhosle and scripted by Mahesh Bhatt . Her role was that of Varsha B. Singh , a pregnant Orthodox woman married to an influential politician . Ram Awatar Agnihotri said of her performance , " Dimple Khapadia , playing Varsha , very bravely , tries to make her role look convincing , and she succeeds to a great extent . It is a tribute to her as an actress " . 1992 saw the release of Maarg , her third appearance under Mahesh Bhatt 's direction . The film was delayed for several years . She played the role of a prostitute , working by choice . Bhatt called her performance " stunning " and reported that when shooting ended , she was " on the point of a breakdown " as she was " exhausted battling with the nitty @-@ gritty of a whore 's character " . She next played Barkha , a single woman who abandons her premarital daughter upon birth , in Hema Malini 's directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai . In Shashilal K. Nair 's Angaar , a crime drama based on the life of an underworld don , she played Mili , a homeless orphan collected by an unemployed man , played by Jackie Shroff . Angaar received positive reviews from critics , as did Kapadia 's performance , but it was financially unsuccessful , which Meena Iyer of The Times of India — who called it " one of the most engaging mafia films to have come out of Bollywood " — attributed to its dark proceedings . In 1993 , she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Rudaali , a drama directed by Kalpana Lajmi . Kapadia played the central character of Shanichari , a lonely and hardened Assamese village woman who , throughout a lifetime of misfortune , has never cried and is now challenged with a new job as a professional mourner . The citation for the award described her performance as a " compelling interpretation of the tribulations of a lonely woman ravaged by a cruel society " . Chandra Bhushan said of her character , " Shanichari is dry like a desert but even she has a flavour , affection and audacity and courage to reject the enticement of Zamindar ( the landlord ) . " Aside from her third Filmfare Award for Best Actress for the role , she won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress , and was acknowledged with Best Actress honours at the Asia Pacific Film Festival and the Damascus International Film Festival . In 2010 Filmfare magazine included her work in the film in their list of " 80 Iconic Performances " . Another Filmfare nomination for Kapadia came that year for her supporting role as Shanti , a street prostitute , in the Priyadarshan @-@ directed drama Gardish . An adaptation of the 1989 Malayalam film Kireedam , the film starred , among others , Jackie Shroff and Amrish Puri . In 1994 , Kapadia appeared in Mehul Kumar 's Krantiveer , alongside Nana Patekar . She played journalist Meghna Dixit , a past rape victim who now tries to persuade an alcoholic and unemployed village man to be a champion of justice for those around him . Kapadia later called the film " out and out a Nana Patekar vessel , " but asserted , " I had my share too , " crediting the part with allowing her " the freedom to perform " . The film became an economic success , emerging as India 's third @-@ highest grossing picture of the year . For her performance , Kapadia received her fourth Filmfare Award , this time in the Best Supporting Actress category . Mrinal Sen 's 1995 Bengali drama Antareen was the first non @-@ Hindi project Kapadia took part in since Vikram ( 1986 ) . She played a woman caught in a loveless marriage . Insisting on playing her part spontaneously , Kapadia refused to enrol in a crash @-@ course in Bengali as she wrongly felt that she would be able to speak it convincingly . Her voice was eventually dubbed by actor Anushua Chatterjee , something Kapadia was unhappy with . Following Antareen , Kapadia , who was reportedly expected to work in more independent films , took a three @-@ year hiatus from acting , later explaining that she was " emotionally exhausted " . She returned to commercial cinema in 1996 , but the few films she did until the end of the decade met with neither mainstream nor critical success . Her first release in 1997 was the action film Agnichakra , which went unnoticed . She played Amitabh Bachchan 's wife in that same year 's Mrityudaata , once again under Mehul Kumar 's direction . The film was a critical and commercial failure , with India Today panning its " comic book @-@ level storytelling " . Trade journal Film Information wrote Kapadia had " no role worth her " , and she herself shared similar sentiments . She appeared in Laawaris ( 1999 ) because she liked the subject and considered her role " substantial " , which Rediff.com , in turn , described as another preachy " woman of substance " , while criticising the film for its lack of originality : " working a worked @-@ to @-@ death formula , [ the film ] falls flat on its face . This was followed by the final feature she appeared in during the decade , Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain , in which she played the part of Devyani , the strict mother of a wealthy family . Subhash K. Jha called the film an " embarrassment " , critic Suparn Verma , in a scathing review , criticised Kapadia 's performance , noting that she " wears a permanent scowl " throughout the film , and Bella Jaisinghani of The Indian Express , calling the film " inconsequential " , concluded her review writing that she wonders " what made Dimple Kapadia do this to herself " . = = = 2000s = = = She co @-@ starred in Farhan Akhtar 's directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai ( 2001 ) . Depicting the contemporary routine life of Indian affluent youth , it is set in modern @-@ day urban Mumbai and focuses on a major period of transition in the lives of three young friends ( Aamir Khan , Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna ) . Kapadia played the role of Tara Jaiswal , a middle @-@ aged alcoholic woman , an interior designer by profession , and a divorcee who is not allowed to meet with her daughter . The film presents her story through the character of Siddharth ( Khanna ) , a much younger man whom she befriends and who ultimately falls deeply in love with her . She said making the picture was an " enriching " experience and called her part " a role to die for " . Critics lauded Dil Chahta Hai as a groundbreaking film for its realistic portrayal of Indian youth . The film performed well in the big cities but failed in the rural areas , which was attributed by critics to the urban @-@ oriented lifestyle depicted in the movie . Saibal Chatterjee , in a review for Hindustan Times , noted , " Dimple Kapadia , in a brief , somewhat underdeveloped role , presents a poignant study of loneliness . " In 2002 , Kapadia portrayed the title role of Leela in Leela , an American production directed by Somnath Sen and co @-@ starring Deepti Naval , Vinod Khanna and Amol Mhatre . Kapadia 's part — written specially for her — is that of a forty @-@ year @-@ old married woman and a Mumbai University professor , who , after the death of her mother , loses her sense of happiness and takes a job as a visiting professor of South Asian studies in California . The story follows Leela 's acclimation to her new surroundings and particularly her relationship with one of her students there , Kris ( Mhatre ) , a young Indian @-@ American man . Kapadia noted about working in the film , " While in production , I 'm all tensed up , and that is what makes me take my acting to the next level . " Maitland McDonagh from TV Guide wrote , " Dimple Kapadia shines in this family melodrama ... [ her ] intelligent , nuanced performance is the film 's highlight . " Ziya Us Salam from The Hindu called her " a charmer all the way . Exhilarating is the air she breathes , bewitching is the glance she casts and enticingly vulnerable is her condition . " In 2004 , she played the lead role of army wife Sandra Williams in Hum Kaun Hai ? , a supernatural thriller . The film opened to a mixed critical reception , but Kapadia 's performance received positive comments . Subhash K. Jha noted that she " carries the film beyond where it would have been otherwise " ; Rama Sharma of The Tribune wrote of her performance , " Dimple lends all her charisma to help the script sail through dead ends . Whether she is scared or scolding children , she has a powerful presence . " 2005 saw Kapadia and Rishi Kapoor reunite as a lead couple for the third time after Bobby ( 1973 ) and Saagar ( 1985 ) in Pyaar Mein Twist . They starred as two middle @-@ aged single parents who fall in love and later have to deal with the reaction of their children . The film generated mostly negative reviews , with several critics concurring that the chemistry between the lead pair is what makes the film watchable . In a two @-@ star review , Khalid Mohamed called Kapadia " a dream actress " , but ultimately concluded , " See this twisteroo if you must , only for the undiminished Kapoor @-@ Kapadia chemistry . " Few people went to see the film ; within two weeks it was declared a flop . In 2006 , she co @-@ starred with Saif Ali Khan and Naseeruddin Shah in the psychological drama Being Cyrus ( 2006 ) , an English @-@ language arthouse feature directed by Homi Adajania . Kapadia enacted the part of Katy , Shah 's neurotic and unfaithful wife who runs an affair with Cyrus , a young man who enters their house as an assistant . Her work received varied comments . According to BBC 's Poonam Joshi , " The descent into despair of Dimple Kapadia 's Katy is enthralling . " Derek Elley from Variety , however , panned her for " wildly overact [ ing ] " , with similar sentiments being shared by several critics , including Shradha Sukumaran from Mid Day , who labelled her performance " over @-@ the @-@ top and jerky " . In V. K. Prakash 's Phir Kabhi Kapadia and Mithun Chakraborty played ageing people who meet at a school reunion and rekindle their high @-@ school romance . At the request of her son @-@ in @-@ law Akshay Kumar , she voiced the character of Devi , the mother of the title character of an elephant ( voiced by Kumar ) in the animated movie Jumbo ( 2008 ) . Kapadia was cast in Zoya Akhtar 's first directorial venture , Luck By Chance ( 2009 ) , a satirical take on the Hindi film industry . She played the part of Neena Walia , an erstwhile superstar — referred to in the film as " a crocodile in a chiffon saree " — who struggles to launch her young daughter in the movie business . Luck By Chance opened to a warm critical response , though its financial income was modest . Critics were appreciative of Kapadia 's performance , which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare . Deepa Karmalkar from Screen characterised her as " gloriously bitchy " , while Sukanya Verma from Rediff hailed her as " stunning , striking , storming " . = = = 2010s = = = Kapadia played the small part of Salman Khan 's asthmatic mother in Dabangg ( 2010 ) . With revenues of ₹ 2 @.@ 13 billion worldwide , the film was a huge commercial success , emerging as the popular film of the year in India as well as the second @-@ highest grossing Hindi film of all @-@ time up to that point . Reviews for Kapadia were mixed , with Shubhra Gupta writing that she is " laughably wrong " . Tum Milo Toh Sahi , released the same year , was a mature love story , in which she starred as Delshad Nanji , a Parsi woman in charge of an Irani café , who falls in love with a man played by Nana Patekar . Kapadia employed a Parsi accent for the role and , while preparing for it , visited several Irani cafés in Mumbai to understand their cultural basics and get into the mood of the character . The film opened to average reviews , but her performance received generally positive feedback , with several critics noting her chemistry with Patekar . Anupama Chopra , in a negative review , criticised her character , claiming it " veers into caricature " , but wrote of Kapadia that she " plays her with affection and energy and at least has some fun doing it . " Kapadia 's only film of 2011 was Nikhil Advani 's Patiala House , a sports film revolving around cricket in which she was cast as Rishi Kapoor 's wife and her son in @-@ law , Akshay Kumar 's mother . The role was small , with Times of India 's Nikhat Kazmi commenting that she " does end up a bit underutilised " . As of December 2011 , Kapadia is set to appear in her third non @-@ Hindi and first Malayalam @-@ language film , Bombay Mittayi , for which she started learning the language . She plays the wife of a celebrated Ghazal singer , played by Amar Singh , on whose behest she was offered the part . Her starring film What the Fish was released on 13 December 2013 . = = Image and artistry = = When Kapadia made her comeback to movies , she faced constant comparison to her Bobby days . According to Jyotika Virdi , author of the book The Cinematic Imagination , Kapadia trajectory is " different from that of any female Hindi film star " , and she " turned every disadvantage to her advantage . " Virdi mentioned Kapadia 's forthright manner as having a major contribution to her career : " Speaking candidly to the press , she and the reporters plotted her life 's narrative from the innocent teenager snared into an impossible marriage to the emergence of a mature ' woman with experience . ' " Virdi also noted Kapadia for " fighting her way to the top , preferring to perform roles she described as serious and exacting rather than flippant and unchallenging , " calling her parts in Aitbaar ( 1985 ) , Kaash ( 1987 ) and Drishti ( 1990 ) as roles " where she drew from the well of her own experience . " Kapadia is known for her assertive and moody nature ; during the making of Janbaaz ( 1986 ) , director Feroz Khan remarked , " No other girl has so much of pent @-@ up aggression . " Journalist Bhawana Somaaya , who conducted a series of interviews with her during the 1980s , stated , " She 's a strange bundle of contradictions . Her moods change in a jiffy . " According to some critics , this approach has sometimes been at the cost of professional opportunities as " her unpredictable nature and moods have distanced many well wishers " . In reply to this , she said , " I am moody by nature . But I have never consciously hurt anyone . " According to Shobha Dé , Kapadia " hates being ' surveyed ' and she finds herself in that unenviable situation all the time . " Mahesh Bhatt , with whom she first worked in Kaash ( 1987 ) , remarked that Kapadia " has gone through so much in her life that she need not read up the text books of method acting to play a real woman . " Speaking of her venture into art cinema years later , Bhatt commended her for not turning into " a victim of her own success " by refusing to become " a part of the money @-@ making machine " . Mrinal Sen , who directed her in Antareen ( 1994 ) , compared her to Sophia Loren and described her face as " a landscape of desolation " . According to Drishti ( 1990 ) director Govind Nihalani , Kapadia is " genuinely interested in doing serious work , something that challenges her talent . " Following her success with Rudaali , a 1993 edition of Asiaweek reported that by this time Kapadia had long been " a critic 's darling " . Dinesh Raheja from Rediff stated that Kapadia 's involvement in art films happened at a time when she " exhausted her appetite for playing the pretty prop in hero @-@ oriented films " , arguing that they " honed Dimple 's talent for lending fine striations to complex emotions . " According to Raheja , Kapadia 's casting in Dil Chahta Hai and Leela , in which she played " an older woman who is the object of a younger man 's affection " served as " a kind of tribute to her eternal beauty . " M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune commented , " All those who have been following Dimple Kapadia 's career from Bobby , Lekin and Rudaali will assert that she is more talented than glamorous . " Ranjan Das Gupta calls her " an instinctive actress , spontaneous and intelligent " but he notes that her beauty is " her asset as well as limitation " . Kapadia describes herself as " a competent actress yet to deliver her best " . = = Awards = = National Film Awards 1993 – Best Actress , Rudaali Filmfare Awards 1973 – Best Actress , Bobby 1985 – Best Actress , Saagar 1993 – Critics Best Actress , Rudaali . 1994 – Best Supporting Actress , Krantiveer Nominations 1991 – Best Actress , Lekin ... 1993 – Best Actress , Rudaali 1993 – Best Supporting Actress , Gardish 2009 – Best Supporting Actress , Luck by Chance 2014 – Best Supporting Actress , Finding Fanny Bengal Film Journalists ' Association Awards 1991 – Best Actress ( Hindi ) , Drishti Other awards 1993 – 8th Damascus International Film Festival , Best Actress , Rudaali 1993 – 38th Asia Pacific Film Festival , Best Actress , Rudaali = = Filmography = =
= Banditti of the Prairie = The Banditti of the Prairie also , known as " The Prairie Bandits , " " Pirates of the Prairie , " " Prairie Pirates , " or simply " The Banditti , " in the U.S. states of Illinois , Indiana , Ohio , and the territory of Iowa , were a group of loose @-@ knit , outlaw gangs , during the early @-@ mid @-@ 19th century ( 1800s ) . Though bands of roving criminals were common in many parts of Illinois , the counties of Lee , DeKalb , Ogle , and Winnebago were especially affected by them . In the year 1841 , the escalating pattern of house burglary , horse and cattle theft , stagecoach and highway robbery , counterfeiting , and murder associated with the Banditti had come to a head in Ogle County . As the crimes continued , local citizens formed bands of vigilantes known as Regulators . The clash , between the Banditti and the Regulators in Ogle County , resulted in the outlaws ' demise , near Oregon , Illinois , and decreased Banditti activity and violent crime , within the county . Banditti and Regulator activity continued well after the lynching that took place in 1841 . Crimes continued , committed by both sides , across northern / central Illinois . The Banditti were involved in other notable events as well , including the 1845 torture @-@ murder of merchant , Colonel George Davenport , the namesake of Davenport , Iowa . Edward Bonney , an amateur detective who hunted down and brought to justice the killers , wrote of his exploits and alibi , which were recounted in his book , Banditti of the Prairies , or the Murderer 's Doom ! ! : A Tale of the Mississippi Valley , published in Chicago in 1850 . The outlaw gangs also , continued to be active in Lee and Winnebago counties following the events in Oregon . = = The Banditti in Illinois = = = = = Northern Illinois activity = = = The " Prairie Bandits " were active , across northern Illinois , especially in Lee , Ogle , Winnebago , and DeKalb counties , from 1835 , until the events leading to their ultimate demise began on March 21 , 1841 . The Bandits wielded considerable influence in the area , collectively known as the Rock River Valley , following the influx of immigrants , after the Black Hawk War of 1832 , the last Indian war in Illinois . The Banditti posed a far greater threat , for a much longer period , than the exaggerated paranoia of the two month , Native American conflict . IFormer Illinois Governor Thomas Ford wrote in History of Illinois : = = = = Banditti crimes in Lee and Ogle Counties = = = = In Lee County , Illinois , the Banditti also , had enough power to get away , unnoticed . The group had enough allies that they were scattered throughout the county . The connections the Banditti had around the county made illegal activities such as counterfeiting and dealing in and concealing stolen property easy to perpetrate . It was reported , that , at one time , every township officer , in Lee County , was a member of the Banditti . Acts of theft were carried on in defiance of authority . Citizens were threatened when they tried to seek redress from the thieves . In the end , the Prairie Bandits ' activity in Ogle and Lee County became more than area residents were willing to withstand . In Ogle County the crimes that occurred in March 1841 resulted in a kangaroo court which culminated with the lynching of two Banditti near Oregon , Illinois . In nearby Lee County , a Vigilance Committee was formed by men from throughout Lee County , and especially Lee Center Township took an active role in suppressing the Banditti activity . Beginning with the events on March 21 , 1841 , violence and retribution escalated in , the area around the Ogle County seat , of Oregon . Illinois , still frontier in 1841 , was settled by large numbers of migrants after the Black Hawk War . The settlers were followed to the area by a criminal element . The Banditti of the Prairie were part of the crime problem that plagued much of northern Illinois . As such , the concerned citizens of Ogle County , organized and eventually took the law into their own hands . = = = Ogle County Banditti activity = = = On March 21 , 1841 , six members of the Banditti were arrested on charges of counterfeiting . They were held at the Ogle County Jail in the city of Oregon . That night a fire broke out in the newly completed courthouse , which was to be used for the first time the next day . The fire , set by the Banditti , was meant as a diversion to facilitate the escape of the apprehended gang members . The diversion failed ; though the courthouse burned to the ground , the jail remained intact . The court records concerning the case had been safely concealed in the home of the court clerk . Ford , who sat as Ogle County Circuit Judge at the time , reconvened court at a new location and the trial for the accused counterfeiters went on as planned . = = = = Arrests and county court trial of Banditti = = = = The jury , as was common in Ogle County at the time , had been infiltrated by one of the Banditti , who subsequently refused to convict the accused . The other jurors persuaded the rogue juror to convict by threatening to lynch him in the jury room if he failed to agree with the majority opinion . The Banditti juror capitulated and three of the accused were convicted . The convicts , however , soon escaped and avoided their sentences . = = = = Formation of the Regulators = = = = In April , 1841 , the community of Oregon and Ogle County in general had reached a boiling point . During that month , a group of citizens , possibly acting under direct counsel from Ford , met at a schoolhouse in White Rock Township and formed an organization aimed at driving the outlaws out of the county . Membership in the new group grew quickly , soon numbering in the hundreds , and copycat chapters sprang up all over the Rock River Valley . These bands of citizen vigilantes were most often known as " Regulators " . Other names included , " lynching clubs " , and in Lee County one group was known as the " Associations for the Furtherance of the Cause of Justice " . The Regulators in Ogle County began by whipping two horse thieves , one of whom joined the group after the incident . The first Ogle County Regulator captain , W.S. Wellington , stepped aside , after his grist mill was destroyed and his horse tortured and killed in April 1841 . The new captain , John Campbell , was a resident of White Rock Township . The local Banditti were the Driscoll family and members of the Driscoll Gang . At the head was John Driscoll , who had migrated from Ohio in 1835 with his four grown sons , William , David , Pierce and Taylor . The Driscoll 's lived on Killbuck Creek in northeast Ogle County . Driscoll and his son Taylor had both been convicted of arson while they lived in Ohio . Campbell 's ascension to the lead Regulator post was met with hostiity from the Driscoll camp . William Driscoll immediately sent Campbell a letter offering to kill him . Campbell responded in kind ; he assembled 200 Regulators , and marched to the Driscoll home . A small group of Banditti had gathered at the Driscoll homestead but seeing they were outnumbered they fled , only to return with the DeKalb County Sheriff and other authorities in tow . The Sheriff and his companions did not see the events as the outlaws had hoped ; they sided with the vigilantes , and the Driscolls promised to leave within twenty days . Instead of leaving , the Driscolls and the other Banditti held a meeting in which they determined that Campbell and his fellow Regulator , Phineas Chaney , had to be murdered . = = = = Regulator trial and execution of Banditti by firing squad = = = = Nearly three months later , on June 25 , 1841 , there was an attempt to kill Chaney . Two days passed , and on June 27 David Driscoll and his brother Taylor attacked Campbell at his farm . David fired the single , fatal shot . Campbell 's son , Martin , then 13 , fired at the Driscolls with a shotgun , but the weapon failed to go off . The account that stated David and Taylor Driscoll were the gunmen came from Campbell 's wife . Despite this claim , hoofprints at the scene of the crime indicated that there had been an additional three horses there . It was these hoofprints that the Regulators followed back to the Driscoll home . Once there , accompanied by Ogle County Sheriff William T. Ward , the angry group confronted John Driscoll . After questioning by Ward and his accompanying mob , the sheriff was satisfied that John Driscoll was involved in Campbell 's murder and arrested him " on suspicion of being accessory to the murder " . While David and Taylor Driscoll , the gunmen , fled that fateful day , William and Pierce Driscoll were arrested by a group of Regulators from Rockford . The regulator court was convened at " Stephenson 's Mill " in Washington Grove , Illinois , because of the courthouse fire in March , 1841 . The court was organized , witnesses gathered , and proceedings went forward . A crowd gathered at the mill , estimated to be as many as 500 . At this point , Ogle County Sheriff Ward appealed to have the Driscolls returned to his custody . E.S. Leland presided over the makeshift court as judge , a position he would later hold legitimately in Ottawa , Illinois . Leland directed those present who were Regulators to form a circle , 120 men initially stepped forward ; nine were dismissed as not being " real " Regulators . The 111 men remaining formed the " jury " . On June 29 , 1841 , the vigilante trial began and William Driscoll admitted to telling his brother to kill Campbell , but only " in jest " . His father , John , denied vehemently that he had anything to do with the murder , though he did admit to stealing numerous horses . Pierce Driscoll was released from custody when no evidence was found linking him to the crime . At the trial 's end the guilty verdict was described as " almost unanimous " ; the Driscolls were immediately sentenced to be hanged on the spot . The Driscolls refused to be hanged and instead requested that they be shot . Before the execution was carried out , William Driscoll confessed to six murders ; John confessed to nothing . The Regulators then assembled a large firing squad and prepared to carry out the execution . The Regulators divided themselves into two separate squads , one for each man , of 55 and 56 riflemen . The line of 56 executioners shot first John Driscoll . William , by this time trembling , was gunned down next by the line of 55 Regulators . The description in the 1909 Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois was somewhat more tame : The lynching of the Driscolls did not spell the end of the Regulators , nor the Banditti , but it did serve to greatly decrease Banditti activity in Ogle County . = = = Winnebago County Banditti activity = = = Though the banditti continued to plague areas of northern Illinois , they were largely eradicated from Ogle County , following the lynching of the Driscolls . However , both the Banditti and the Regulators continued to be active . In Winnebago County , in early July 1841 , the offices of the Rock River Express were ransacked , an early predecessor to the Rockford Register Star , the daily newspaper of Rockford , Illinois . The offices were likely trashed in response to a scathing editorial published by the Express speaking out against the vigilante action taken by the Regulators . = = = = Murder of Colonel Davenport by Banditti in Rock Island = = = = Banditti crimes continued well into the 1840s . One of the most shocking incidents , outside of the murderous crimes of the Driscoll Gang , in Oregon , to be attributed to the Banditti , was the callous murder of Colonel George Davenport at his home on the grounds of Rock Island Arsenal . On July 4 , 1845 , Colonel Davenport was assaulted in his home by Banditti men who thought he had a fortune in his safe . Beaten and left for dead , he survived long enough to give a full description of the criminals before he died that night . Five men were charged with the murder of George Davenport , and all but one , who escaped before the trial , were hung for the murder . Three more men were charged with accessories to the murder . One man was sentenced to life in prison , but escaped and was killed three months later , one man served one year in prison , and the charges were dropped against the third man , who left the area . = = = Lee County Banditti activity = = = In Lee County , Illinois the Banditti were most active in the years 1843 @-@ 1850 , after the lynching in Oregon . During that period , crime and gang operations were rampant throughout the Mississippi Valley but Lee County , like its neighboring northern Illinois counties , saw consistent activity . Near the Lee County village of Franklin Grove , a brutal double @-@ murder was committed in 1848 . On May 20 , 1848 , area resident Joshua Wingert , while searching through the grove two miles ( 3 km ) west of town for his cattle , came upon a small log hut . Inside he discovered the bodies of two men , killed with their own axe . One of the men was nearly decapitated and the other had a large gash across his forehead . The assumed motive was robbery , as the hut was ransacked and bloody fingerprints were all about the small building . The Banditti perpetrator or perpetrators were never apprehended . Also , in Lee County , the Banditti were active in and around Inlet Grove . In June 1844 the group carried out a daring robbery of a Mr. Haskell . Haskell 's residence was robbed by masked men in the midst of a summer thunderstorm . The perpetrators entered Haskell 's bedroom while he and his wife were asleep . The robbers dragged a trunk of money out from underneath the sleeping Haskell 's bed undetected , much of the noise they made probably drowned out by thunder . The Haskells did not discover they had been the victims of a robbery until the next morning . = = = Jo Daviess County Banditti activity = = = = = = Central Illinois activity = = = = = = Hancock County Banditti activity = = = = = = Southern Illinois activity = = = = = = Madison County Banditti activity = = = = = = = Sturdivant Gang = = = = = = = Pope County Banditti activity = = = = = = = Sturdivant Gang = = = = = = = Massac County Banditti activity = = = = = = = Flatheads and Regulator War = = = = = = = Gallatin County Banditti activity = = = = = Banditti activity in Iowa = = = = = Eastern Iowa activity = = = = = = Jackson County Banditti activity = = = = = = Lee County Banditti activity = = = = = = Banditti activity in Indiana = = = = = = Northern Indiana activity = = = = = = Southern Indiana activity = = = = = Banditti activity in Ohio = =
= New Jersey Route 23 = Route 23 is a state highway in the northern part of New Jersey in the United States . The route runs 52 @.@ 63 mi ( 84 @.@ 70 km ) from County Route 506 ( Bloomfield Avenue ) and County Route 577 ( Prospect Avenue ) in Verona , Essex County northwest to the border with New York at Montague Township in Sussex County , where the road continues to Port Jervis , New York as Orange County Route 15 . Route 23 heads through Essex and Passaic Counties as a suburban arterial varying from two to four lanes and becomes a six @-@ lane freeway north of a complex interchange with U.S. Route 46 and Interstate 80 in Wayne . The freeway carries Route 23 north to a concurrency with U.S. Route 202 . Past the freeway portion , the route heads northwest along the border of Morris and Passaic Counties as a four- to six @-@ lane divided highway with a wide median at places , winding through mountainous areas and crossing Interstate 287 in Riverdale . The route continues northwest through Sussex County as a mostly two @-@ lane , undivided road that passes through farmland and woodland as well as the communities of Franklin , Hamburg , and Sussex before reaching the New York border just south of an interchange with Interstate 84 near High Point State Park . Route 23 was established in 1927 to run from Verona to the New York border near Port Jervis , replacing pre @-@ 1927 Route 8 between Verona and Sussex . The route followed two turnpikes that were created in the early 19th century : the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike and the Paterson @-@ Hamburg Turnpike . In the mid @-@ 1950s , there were plans to build an Interstate Highway along Route 23 between Interstate 80 and Interstate 287 , but it was never built . In the 1960s , the route was planned to be upgraded to a freeway all the way up to Port Jervis and south to Piscataway , Middlesex County ; however , both freeway proposals were cancelled in the early 1970s . In the mid @-@ 1980s , the portion of Route 23 from north of U.S. Route 46 in Wayne to Interstate 287 in Riverdale was improved , with the road upgraded to a six @-@ lane freeway south of the Alps Road intersection and to a six @-@ lane surface road north of Alps Road . = = Route description = = = = = Essex County = = = Route 23 begins at an intersection with County Route 506 ( Bloomfield Avenue ) and County Route 577 ( Prospect Avenue ) in Verona , heading to the north through residences and some businesses along four @-@ lane , undivided Pompton Avenue . After a short distance , the road forms the border between Cedar Grove to the west and Verona to the east before fully enters Cedar Grove . In Cedar Grove , the route narrows to two lanes at the County Route 640 before widening to four lanes again at the County Route 639 intersection . Shortly before leaving Cedar Grove , Route 23 crosses County Route 604 ( Lindsley Road ) , which also heads to the west as County Route 527 . = = = Passaic and Morris Counties = = = The road crosses into Little Falls , Passaic County , where it narrows to two lanes and becomes the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike . In Little Falls , Route 23 heads through the central part of the community before crossing the Passaic River into Wayne where the road leaves the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike briefly and widens to a four lane divided highway . Route 23 passes two shopping malls , Willowbrook Mall and Wayne Towne Center , and enters the " Spaghetti Bowl " interchange with U.S. Route 46 and Interstate 80 . North of Interstate 80 , the road rejoins the route of the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike and becomes a six @-@ lane freeway , featuring a cloverleaf interchange with West Belt Road that provides access to the Wayne Route 23 Transit Center . Route 23 continues north with frontage roads serving businesses , coming to an interchange with U.S. Route 202 and County Route 511 Alternate , forming a concurrency with U.S. Route 202 . The road interchanges with County Route 670 ( Alps Road ) and then with County Route 683 , where the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike again leaves Route 23 and U.S. Route 202 , which continue north from this point as a surface road through commercial areas . At a U @-@ turn ramp , the eastbound direction of County Route 504 follows both directions of the road , having to use the ramp in order to continue across the road . Northbound U.S. Route 202 splits from Route 23 , where the cut @-@ off intersection with County Route 504 is located . At this point , the westbound direction of County Route 504 and the southbound direction of U.S. Route 202 follow southbound Route 23 until an intersection . Route 23 crosses into Pequannock Township in Morris County and passes over the Pompton River . In Pequannock , the road is a six @-@ lane divided highway with at @-@ grade intersections , some controlled by jughandles , that heads through a mix of businesses and woodland . At the north end of Pequannock , it intersects County Route 660 , where the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike rejoins Route 23 . The route intersects County Route 511 Alternate ( Boulevard ) and crosses into Riverdale , with County Route 511 Alternate following Route 23 until it heads to the north on the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike . Route 23 interchanges with Interstate 287 and climbs a hill past the interchange , heading to the west . The route runs through Kinnelon before entering Butler . In Butler , Route 23 passes through commercial areas , crossing County Route 511 ( Boonton Avenue ) before heading northwest . The road drops to four lanes , still divided by a Jersey barrier . It heads under Maple Lake Road before passing through Kinnelon again . Upon leaving Kinnelon , the route enters West Milford in Passaic County at the crossing of the Pequannock River . At this point , the route enters a more wooded , mountainous setting , following the Pequannock River . Route 23 joins the Hamburg Turnpike and the road splits , with the southbound lanes crossing over the Pequannock River into Kinnelon for a time . The route passes by the Charlotteburg Reservoir , a reservoir for the Newark public water supply , and has a rest area in the northbound direction . Route 23 intersects County Route 513 ( Union Valley Road ) , running concurrent with that route . The southbound lanes cross the Pequannock River into Jefferson Township , Morris County and County Route 513 splits from Route 23 by heading south on Green Pond Road . The southbound lanes cross back into West Milford , where the two separate roads rejoin . The infamous Clinton Road leaves at a traffic light from the northbound lanes and the route passes by some residences past Clinton Road . Route 23 continues northwest through forested areas , passing by the Oak Ridge Reservoir , another reservoir that provides water for Newark . The route crosses the Pequannock River three times , running within Jefferson Township between the first two crossings and past the third crossing . = = = Sussex County = = = Route 23 enters Hardyston Township , Sussex County and comes to an intersection with County Route 515 ( Stockholm @-@ Vernon Road ) . Past this intersection , the divided Hamburg Turnpike highway ends and Route 23 becomes a two @-@ lane , undivided road . The road heads to the northwest through wooded mountains and turns west on a winding road with a wide painted median , crossing into Franklin and meeting County Route 517 ( Munsonhurst Road ) . County Route 517 heads north along with Route 23 , with the wide median ending , and the road continues through residential and commercial areas of Franklin with a brief wide painted median near the County Route 631 ( Franklin Avenue ) intersection . The road crosses a stream , Mill Brook , into Hamburg , where County Route 517 splits from Route 23 by heading east on Quarry Road . Route 23 continues north through wooded residential areas of Hamburg , crossing Route 94 . The route crosses back into Hardyston Township , heading north through a mix of farms and forests . Route 23 crosses the Wallkill River into Wantage Township and continues north to an intersection with County Route 565 ( Glenwood Road ) , running concurrent with that route and gaining a wide painted median past that intersection which eventually turns into a center left @-@ turn lane . The road passes some businesses and becomes a two @-@ lane divided highway before County Route 565 departs from Route 23 by heading west on Lewisburg Road . Route 23 crosses into Sussex , where the route becomes Hamburg Avenue and turns into an undivided highway again , passing by residences . The route intersects Route 284 ( E. Main Street ) before turning left onto Loomis Avenue , where County Route 643 continues north on Main Street . Immediately after turning onto Loomis Avenue , County Route 639 continues west on Loomis Avenue and Route 23 heads north on Mill Street . The route becomes Clove Avenue before crossing back into Wantage Township . In Wantage Township , Route 23 continues north through farmland and woodland , eventually turning west . It comes to an intersection with County Route 519 ( Colesville @-@ Lusscroft Road ) and turns north , running concurrent with that route through forested areas until County Route 519 heads north on Greenville Road . Route 23 continues northwest and heads across Kittatinny Mountain , crossing the Appalachian Trail and entering Montague Township , Here , the road heads into heavily forested High Point State Park , which is home to the highest elevation in New Jersey . The route descends through Montague Township along a winding road , passing by some businesses immediately before heading to the New York state line . Route 23 officially ends at the state line and the road continues into Orange County , New York as County Route 15 ( Tappen Road ) for less than one @-@ half mile . A few feet after the state line , County Route 15 comes to an interchange with Interstate 84 before it ends at an intersection with U.S. Route 6 in Port Jervis . Although Interstate 84 does not enter New Jersey , missing it by only a few feet , the signs on it for the interchange with County Route 15 refer to Route 23 , even though some signs erroneously refer to it as New York State Route 23 . = = History = = Route 23 uses part of two 19th @-@ century roads , the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike , which was built between 1806 and 1811 , and the Paterson @-@ Hamburg Turnpike , which was incorporated in 1806 . Due to realignments , the current alignment of Route 23 bypasses the intersection of these two turnpikes . In the original system of New Jersey highways , the Newark @-@ Pompton Turnpike and Paterson @-@ Hamburg Turnpike were combined to form pre @-@ 1927 Route 8 , which ran from Montclair to the New York border near Unionville , New York , running along the alignment of current Route 23 north to Sussex and following present @-@ day Route 284 north of Sussex . In the 1927 New Jersey State Highway renumbering , Route 23 was designated to run from Route 9 ( now County Route 506 ) in Verona north to the New York border near Port Jervis , replacing pre @-@ 1927 Route 8 from Verona to Sussex . In the 1955 plan for the Interstate Highway System , an Interstate Highway was planned along the Route 23 corridor between Interstate 80 in Wayne and Interstate 287 in Pompton Plains , also connecting to a proposed Interstate along the Route 3 corridor . However , this proposed Interstate was never built . Plans were made in the early 1960s for a Route 23 freeway running from Interstate 80 north to Interstate 84 in Port Jervis , New York , providing improved freeway access to northwestern New Jersey . This proposed freeway , which was to cost $ 120 million , was cancelled in the early 1970s due to financial troubles and feared environmental issues . A 1966 proposal called for Route 23 to be extended south as a freeway to Interstate 287 in Piscataway in Middlesex County , running parallel to the Garden State Parkway . This $ 300 million freeway was added to planning maps in 1969 as Route 807 but was also cancelled in the early 1970s . In the late 1970s , the New Jersey Department of Transportation made plans to rebuild the section of Route 23 , at the time a four @-@ lane undivided road , between Interstate 80 and Interstate 287 to a six @-@ lane freeway between Interstate 80 and Alps Road and a six @-@ lane surface road north of Alps Road . Construction on these improvements began in 1983 and were completed in 1986 . With these improvements to the route , many traffic circles were removed , including one at U.S. Route 46 that was replaced with a complex interchange . In 2008 , the " Spaghetti Bowl " interchange with Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 46 was improved , costing $ 70 million . In 2010 , the New Jersey Department of Transportation began plans to move Route 23 to a new alignment through Sussex . With this project , the current bridge over the Papakating Creek is to be replaced and a new road for the southbound lanes is planned to be built , while the current Route 23 will become northbound only . The project is planned to last from July 2012 to November 2014 . = = Major intersections = =
= Live and Learn ( Falling Skies ) = " Live and Learn " is the first episode of the first season and the series premiere of the TNT science fiction drama Falling Skies . The episode was written by series creator and executive producer Robert Rodat and directed by Carl Franklin . The episode first aired in the United States on June 19 , 2011 , alongside the second episode . Six months after an extraterrestrial invasion , history professor Tom Mason is made second @-@ in @-@ command of the 2nd Mass , a group of soldiers and civilians . Weaver , 2nd Mass ' commanding officer , sends Tom , Hal and a small group of soldiers on a mission for supplies for the rest of the troop . While on the mission , Hal catches a glimpse of his missing brother Ben , who has been enslaved by the aliens . In the United States , the two @-@ hour series premiere achieved a viewership of 5 @.@ 91 million , making it the most @-@ watched series premiere of 2011 . The episode garnered a Nielsen rating of 2 @.@ 0 in the 18 – 49 demographic , translating to 2 @.@ 6 million viewers . = = Plot = = In the opening scene , young children tell their versions of the invasion . They draw pictures of their families , kids with harnesses and the alien airships . Tom Mason 's ( Noah Wyle ) son , Matt , tells Anne Glass ( Moon Bloodgood ) that his mother died during the attacks and his older brother , Ben , was kidnapped . He then shows her a picture of his father and oldest brother , Hal ( Drew Roy ) . Matt informs Anne that they are fighting . In a dark street , Tom and Hal look for food . They grab a food kart , but are ambushed by robotic aliens , known as " Mechs " , which destroy the food . As Tom and Hal run away , soldiers fire guns at the aliens behind barricades . The aliens destroy the barricade and kill the soldiers . Tom and Hal hide in an empty store . They exit , finding Captain Weaver ( Will Patton ) and other soldiers armed with guns . An airship flies overhead and fires , causing a bright light to consume the atmosphere around them . The group runs away back to their base . Upon arrival , Tom sees his son Matt asleep and picks him up . He talks to his friend , Anne who tells him about his son 's drawings . Tom is then called by Col. Porter ( Dale Dye ) for a meeting . There , Porter discusses his plan to leave the city and break off into groups . The alien air ships can detect groups of humans over 600 persons so he splits his brigade into smaller groups consisting of 100 fighters and 200 civilians . He puts Weaver in charge of the 2nd Mass and Tom as his second @-@ in @-@ command . The following day , the fighters and civilians begin to move . They search for food in stores but find none . Weaver tells Tom that they can 't go back looking for more food as the numbers are too large . Tom volunteers to go back . Weaver gives him six fighters and a pickup truck . Hal , Karen , Dai , Anthony , Click and Jimmy join Tom in the hunt for food . Hal and Karen leave the group to search for aliens . Hal sees Mechs and harnessed kids with them . It is there that he sees his brother , Ben . He immediately returns to tell his father . They are both overjoyed , yet Tom insists that they stick with the mission at hand . Hal disagrees and tries to go and find his brother . Tom wrestles him to the ground and convinces him to do the job the " right way " . The group finds a supply store with food and scout the area for aliens . Finding none , they load the food into the truck . Hal is attacked by a Skitter . Tom fires at it and his son runs away . A Mech is alerted and comes after Tom . Hal stops it by firing at it . It then runs after Hal . Tom puts C @-@ 4 in a shopping cart and wheels it next to the Mech , killing it . The Skitter comes after Tom , but Dai shoots it . The alien dies slowly after its gun wound and the group observes it before it dies . The six fighters return and Tom informs Weaver of their success . He then tells Weaver that he and Hal must go looking for Ben . Weaver declines and says they must raid the armory for weapons . Tom tells him after that , they will go and find him . Before the 2nd Mass leave the city , Hal gives his brother his birthday gift . The children of the 2nd Mass play with it as the adults watch . Weaver tells Tom it is time to leave and they all move out on foot . = = Production = = = = = Conception = = = Development officially began in 2009 , when TNT announced that it had ordered to pilot an untitled alien invasion project . Falling Skies was created by Robert Rodat , who is best known for writing the Oscar @-@ winning film Saving Private Ryan , which was directed by Steven Spielberg . Rodat wrote the pilot episode from an idea which was co @-@ conceived by Spielberg . Originally , Falling Skies was called Concord , referencing the Battles of Lexington and Concord and Tom Mason 's profession as a former History Professor . Spielberg then came up with the title Falling Skies . " I felt that this was a very interesting postapocalyptic story with a 21st century [ spin on the ] spirit of ' 76 . I came up — out of the blue one day — with the name Falling Skies , which is basically what happens to the planet after this invasion . What is unique about this particular series is that the story starts after a successful conquest of the world , " he stated . Spielberg was attracted to the project due to its themes of survival . " I 've always been interested in how we survive and how resourceful we are as Americans . How would the survivors feed the children ? How do they resupply themselves militarily in order to defend and even take back what they have lost ? " he added . Like much of Spielberg 's work , such as The Pacific and E.T. the Extra @-@ Terrestrial , Falling Skies ' running theme is family and brotherhood . He explained , " It 's a theme I harken back to a lot because it 's something I believe in . It 's something I have the closest experience with . [ Laughs ] They say write what you know , and with seven children and three sisters ... I tend to always come back to the family as a touchstone for audiences to get into these rather bizarre stories . " While writing the pilot , Rodat dedicated a five @-@ page montage to the alien invasion , but decided not to go through with it as it had been done before in films such as War of the Worlds . " I wrote a few drafts of it and I looked at and say , ' Ay @-@ yay @-@ yay , I ’ ve seen this before . There ’ s no emotion to this . It feels like one of those montages , ' " he said . Rodat came up with the idea of having the children in the series " harnessed by aliens " . " When we were working out the initial stuff , the thing that excited [ Spielberg ] was the idea that adults are killed if they ’ re a threat , and kids are captured for whatever reason and changed or altered . The harness was a logical outgrowth of that . Then what we ’ ll explore is what the harnessing does to the kid over the course of the show but that also is something that ’ s going to have to unveil itself gradually , " he stated . Spielberg previously explored the idea of enslaved children in the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom . Series lead Noah Wyle emphasized Spielberg 's presence on set by stating " Anytime he gives an anointment to a project , it steps up the pedigree . " Colin Cunningham , who plays outlaw John Pope , exclaimed " You ’ d show up and think , ‘ This is not a TV show ; this is something else that we ’ re doing , ’ " he said , noting that Spielberg was very hands @-@ on for the pilot . " Its scope is massive . Anytime you hear the word Spielberg , you know it ’ s not going to be crap ; you know it ’ ll be quality and there will be some money behind it . " Mark Verheiden , who was the showrunner for the first season , stated " It ’ s great to know you have a world @-@ class filmmaker backing up what you ’ re trying to do who is supportive and helping design the great stuff . " = = = Casting and filming = = = Casting announcements began in June 2009 when Noah Wyle was announced as the lead . Wyle , who worked with TNT on the The Librarian films , was sent scripts for various shows on their network . He said part of the reason he chose the part was to gain credibility from his children . " With the birth of my kids , I started to really look at my career through their eyes more than my own , so that does dictate choice , steering me toward certain things and away from other things , " he said . He also decided to do it as he could relate with his character , stating " I identified with Tom 's devotion to his sons , and admired his sense of social duty . " Spielberg wanted Wyle for the role because he knew him from his previous series ER , which Spielberg 's company produced . He had wanted Wyle to appear in his 1998 film Saving Private Ryan but due to scheduling conflicts , he was unable to star . Spielberg stated that he was determined to work with him again . In July 2009 , Moon Bloodgood , Jessy Schram , Seychelle Gabriel and Maxim Knight were cast as Anne Glass , Karen Nadler , Lourdes and Matt Mason , respectively . Bloodgood , the female lead , did not have to audition for the role . She received the script and was offered the role . Bloodgood was drawn to the role because of Spielberg and Rodat 's involvement . She stated : " Well certainly when you get handed a script and they tell you it ’ s Bob Rodat and Steven Spielberg , you ’ re immediately drawn to it . It ’ s got your attention . I was a little cautious about wanting to do science fiction again . But it was more of a drama story , more of a family story . I liked that and I wanted to work with Spielberg . " Bloodgood added that portraying a doctor excited her . " I liked the idea of playing a doctor and deviating from something I had done already , " she said . In August 2009 , Drew Roy and Peter Shinkoda were cast as Hal Mason and Dai , respectively . Drew Roy 's agent received the script and the pair joked that Roy might get the role . " This one came to me through my agent , just like everything else . We even joked about the fact that it was a Steven Spielberg project . We were like , " Oh yeah , I might have a chance . " We were just joking . " He auditioned four times for the part . " The whole process went on for quite some time , and then towards the end , it was down to me and one other guy , and we were literally waiting for the word from Steven Spielberg ‘ cause he had to watch the two audition tapes and give the okay . That , in and of itself , had me like , " Okay , even if I don ’ t get it , that ’ s just cool . " Fortunately , it went my way . " The pilot was filmed in 2009 in Oshawa , Ontario , and the rest of the season was shot from July to November of the following year in Hamilton and Toronto . = = = Promotion = = = The show 's official website offered an online web @-@ comic prior to the show 's launch . The comic , released every two weeks , follows the characters of the series just weeks after the alien invasion . It is published by Dark Horse Comics and a 104 @-@ page comic was released on Jul 5 , 2011 . Character videos are also became available online . The videos explore the main characters of Falling Skies . As part of the promotional campaign , a vehicle , with the TNT logo and called Falling Skies Technical was released as a free gift in the social networking game Mafia Wars on June 14 , 2011 . = = Reception = = The two @-@ hour premiere of Falling Skies was watched by 5 @.@ 9 million viewers , making it cable television 's biggest series launch of the year , with more than 2 @.@ 6 million adults 18 – 49 and 3 @.@ 2 million adults 25 – 54 . The pilot episode saw a mostly positive reception . Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter wrote " ... the entertainment value and suspense of Falling Skies is paced just right . You get the sense that we 'll get those answers eventually . And yet , you want to devour the next episode immediately . " Thomas Conner of the Chicago Sun @-@ Times called it " ... a trustworthy family drama but with aliens . " He continued , " It 's ' Jericho ' meets ' V ' , with the good from both and the bad discarded . It 'll raise the summer @-@ TV bar significantly . " Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B + and wrote , " A similar , gradually developed , but decisive conviction makes Falling Skies an engaging , if derivative , chunk of dystopian sci @-@ fi . " He continued , " ... Falling Skies rises above any one performance ; it 's the spectacle of humans versus aliens that draws you in . " In the Boston Herald , Mark A. Perigard gave the series a B grade , writing " Don 't look now , but Falling Skies could be a summer obsession . " However , not all reviews were favorable . Brian Lowry from Variety gave the series a mixed review , stating that he enjoyed the action sequences but that " the soapier elements mostly fall flat " , and called the series " painfully old @-@ fashioned " . Mike Hale , from The New York Times , called the series " average " and " good on the action , a little muddled on the ideas " . He added that " the tone is placid and slightly monotonous , as if we were watching the Walton family at the end of the world " . The Washington Post reviewer Hank Steuver criticized the actor portrayals , writing that " the show is slowed by so many wooden performances , Wyle 's included " . He also states he found himself " root [ ing ] for the aliens , which cannot have been the writers ' intent " . In The Miami Herald , Glenn Garvin also criticized the poor acting , stating , " the ' Falling Skies ' cast appears unconvinced and unconvincing . " Garvin singled out the performance of Sarah Carter as the only exception , and added that Spielberg has " bottomed out " with this family drama series .
= Pickett 's Charge = Pickett 's Charge was an infantry assault ordered by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade 's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge on July 3 , 1863 , the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg in the state of Pennsylvania during the American Civil War . Its futility was predicted by the charge 's commander , Lt. Gen. James Longstreet , and it was arguably an avoidable mistake from which the Southern war effort never fully recovered militarily or psychologically . The farthest point reached by the attack has been referred to as the high @-@ water mark of the Confederacy . The charge is named after Maj. Gen. George Pickett , one of three Confederate generals who led the assault under Longstreet . After Confederate attacks on both Union flanks had failed the day and night before , Lee was determined to strike the Union center on the third day . On the night of July 2 , Meade correctly predicted at a council of war that Lee would try an attack on his lines in the center the following morning . The infantry assault was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment that was meant to soften up the Union defense and silence its artillery , but was largely ineffective . Approximately 12 @,@ 500 men in nine infantry brigades advanced over open fields for three @-@ quarters of a mile under heavy Union artillery and rifle fire . Although some Confederates were able to breach the low stone wall that shielded many of the Union defenders , they could not maintain their hold and were repulsed with over 50 % casualties , a decisive defeat that ended the three @-@ day battle and Lee 's campaign into Pennsylvania . Years later , when asked why his charge at Gettysburg failed , Pickett replied : " I 've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it . " = = Background = = = = = Military situation = = = = = Opposing forces = = = = = Union = = = = = = Confederate = = = = = Plans and command structures = = Pickett 's charge was planned for three Confederate divisions , commanded by Maj. Gen. George Pickett , Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew , and Maj. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble , consisting of troops from Lt. Gen. James Longstreet 's First Corps and Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill 's Third Corps . Pettigrew commanded brigades from Maj. Gen. Henry Heth 's old division , under Col. Birkett D. Fry ( Archer 's Brigade ) , Col. James K. Marshall ( Pettigrew 's Brigade ) , Brig. Gen. Joseph R. Davis , and Col. John M. Brockenbrough . Trimble , commanding Maj. Gen. Dorsey Pender 's division , had the brigades of Brig. Gens . Alfred M. Scales ( temporarily commanded by Col. William Lee J. Lowrance ) and James H. Lane . Two brigades from Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson 's division ( Hill 's Corps ) were to support the attack on the right flank : Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox and Col. David Lang ( Perry 's brigade ) . The target of the Confederate assault was the center of the Union Army of the Potomac 's II Corps , commanded by Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock . Directly in the center was the division of Brig. Gen. John Gibbon with the brigades of Brig. Gen. William Harrow , Col. Norman J. Hall , and Brig. Gen. Alexander S. Webb . ( On the night of July 2 , Meade correctly predicted to Gibbon at a council of war that Lee would try an attack on Gibbon 's sector the following morning . ) To the north of this position were brigades from the division of Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays , and to the south was Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday 's division of the I Corps , including the 2nd Vermont Brigade of Brig. Gen. George J. Stannard and the 121st Pennsylvania under the command of Col. Chapman Biddle . Meade 's headquarters were just behind the II Corps line , in the small house owned by the widow Lydia Leister . The specific objective of the assault has been the source of historical controversy . Traditionally , the " copse of trees " on Cemetery Ridge has been cited as the visual landmark for the attacking force . Historical treatments such as the 1993 film Gettysburg continue to popularize this view , which originated in the work of Gettysburg Battlefield historian John B. Bachelder in the 1880s . However , recent scholarship , including published works by some Gettysburg National Military Park historians , has suggested that Lee 's goal was actually Ziegler 's Grove on Cemetery Hill , a more prominent and highly visible grouping of trees about 300 yards ( 274 m ) north of the copse . The much @-@ debated theory suggests that Lee 's general plan for the second @-@ day attacks ( the seizure of Cemetery Hill ) had not changed on the third day , and the attacks on July 3 were also aimed at securing the hill and the network of roads it commanded . The copse of trees , currently a prominent landmark , was under ten feet ( 3 m ) high in 1863 , only visible to a portion of the attacking columns from certain parts of the battlefield . From the beginning of the planning , things went awry for the Confederates . While Pickett 's division had not been used yet at Gettysburg , A.P. Hill 's health became an issue and he did not participate in selecting which of his troops were to be used for the charge . Some of Hill 's corps had fought lightly on July 1 and not at all on July 2 . However , troops that had done heavy fighting on July 1 ended up making the charge . Although the assault is known to popular history as Pickett 's Charge , overall command was given to James Longstreet , and Pickett was one of his divisional commanders . Lee did tell Longstreet that Pickett 's fresh division should lead the assault , so the name is appropriate , although some recent historians have used the name Pickett @-@ Pettigrew @-@ Trimble Assault ( or , less frequently , Longstreet 's Assault ) to more fairly distribute the credit ( or blame ) . With Hill sidelined , Pettigrew 's and Trimble 's divisions were delegated to Longstreet 's authority as well . Thus , Pickett 's name has been lent to a charge in which he commanded 3 out of the 11 brigades while under the supervision of his corps commander throughout . Pickett 's men were almost exclusively from Virginia , with the other divisions consisting of troops from North Carolina , Mississippi , Alabama , and Tennessee . The supporting troops under Wilcox and Lang were from Alabama and Florida . In conjunction with the infantry assault , Lee planned a cavalry action in the Union rear . Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart led his cavalry division to the east , prepared to exploit Lee 's hoped @-@ for breakthrough by attacking the Union rear and disrupting its line of communications ( and retreat ) along the Baltimore Pike . Despite Lee 's hope for an early start , it took all morning to arrange the infantry assault force . Neither Lee 's nor Longstreet 's headquarters sent orders to Pickett to have his division on the battlefield by daylight . Historian Jeffrey D. Wert blames this oversight on Longstreet , describing it either as a misunderstanding of Lee 's verbal order or a mistake . Some of the many criticisms of Longstreet 's Gettysburg performance by the postbellum Lost Cause authors cite this failure as evidence that Longstreet deliberately undermined Lee 's plan for the battle . Meanwhile , on the far right end of the Union line , a seven @-@ hour battle raged for the control of Culp 's Hill . Lee 's intent was to synchronize his offensive across the battlefield , keeping Meade from concentrating his numerically superior force , but the assaults were poorly coordinated and Maj. Gen. Edward " Allegheny " Johnson 's attacks against Culp 's Hill petered out just as Longstreet 's cannonade began . = = Artillery barrage = = The infantry charge was preceded by what Lee hoped would be a powerful and well @-@ concentrated cannonade of the Union center , destroying the Union artillery batteries that could defeat the assault and demoralizing the Union infantry . But a combination of inept artillery leadership and defective equipment doomed the barrage from the beginning . Longstreet 's corps artillery chief , Col. Edward Porter Alexander , had effective command of the field ; Lee 's artillery chief , Brig. Gen. William N. Pendleton , played little role other than to obstruct the effective placement of artillery from the other two corps . Despite Alexander 's efforts , then , there was insufficient concentration of Confederate fire on the objective . The July 3 bombardment was likely the largest of the war , with hundreds of cannons from both sides firing along the lines for one to two hours , starting around 1 p.m. Confederate guns numbered between 150 and 170 and fired from a line over two miles ( 3 km ) long , starting in the south at the Peach Orchard and running roughly parallel to the Emmitsburg Road . Confederate Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law wrote , " The cannonade in the center ... presented one of the most magnificent battle @-@ scenes witnessed during the war . Looking up the valley towards Gettysburg , the hills on either side were capped with crowns of flame and smoke , as 300 guns , about equally divided between the two ridges , vomited their iron hail upon each other . " Despite its ferocity , the fire was mostly ineffectual . Confederate shells often overshot the infantry front lines — in some cases because of inferior shell fuses that delayed detonation — and the smoke covering the battlefield concealed that fact from the gunners . Union artillery chief Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt had only about 80 guns available to conduct counter @-@ battery fire ; the geographic features of the Union line had limited areas for effective gun emplacement . He also ordered that firing cease to conserve ammunition , but to fool Alexander , Hunt ordered his cannons to cease fire slowly to create the illusion that they were being destroyed one by one . By the time all of Hunt 's cannons ceased fire , and still blinded by the smoke from battle , Alexander fell for Hunt 's deception and believed that many of the Union batteries had been destroyed . Hunt had to resist the strong arguments of Hancock , who demanded Union fire to lift the spirits of the infantrymen pinned down by Alexander 's bombardment . Even Meade was affected by the artillery — the Leister house was a victim of frequent overshots , and he had to evacuate with his staff to Powers Hill . The day was hot , 87 ° F ( 31 ° C ) by one account and humid , and the Confederates suffered under the hot sun and from the Union counter @-@ battery fire as they awaited the order to advance . When Union cannoneers overshot their targets , they often hit the massed infantry waiting in the woods of Seminary Ridge or in the shallow depressions just behind Alexander 's guns , causing significant casualties before the charge began . Longstreet had opposed the charge from the beginning , convinced the charge would fail ( which ultimately proved true ) , and had his own plan that he would have preferred for a strategic movement around the Union left flank . He claimed to have told Lee : General , I have been a soldier all my life . I have been with soldiers engaged in fights by couples , by squads , companies , regiments , divisions , and armies , and should know , as well as any one , what soldiers can do . It is my opinion that no fifteen thousand men ever arrayed for battle can take that position . Longstreet wanted to avoid personally ordering the charge by attempting to pass the mantle onto young Colonel Alexander , telling him that he should inform Pickett at the optimum time to begin the advance , based on his assessment that the Union artillery had been effectively silenced . Although he had insufficient information to accomplish this , Alexander eventually notified Pickett that he was running dangerously short of ammunition , sending the message " If you are coming at all , come at once , or I cannot give you proper support , but the enemy 's fire has not slackened at all . At least eighteen guns are still firing from the cemetery itself . " Pickett asked Longstreet , " General , shall I advance ? " Longstreet 's memoir recalled " The effort to speak the order failed , and I could only indicate it by an affirmative bow . " Longstreet made one final attempt to call off the assault . After his encounter with Pickett , he discussed the artillery situation with Porter and was informed that Porter did not have full confidence that all the enemy 's guns were silenced and that the Confederate ammunition was almost exhausted . Longstreet ordered Porter to stop Pickett , but the young colonel explained that replenishing his ammunition from the trains in the rear would take over an hour , and this delay would nullify any advantage the previous barrage had given them . The infantry assault went forward without the Confederate artillery close support that had been originally planned . = = Infantry assault = = The entire force that stepped off toward the Union positions at about 2 p.m. consisted of about 12 @,@ 500 men . Although the attack is popularly called a " charge " , the men marched deliberately in line , to speed up and then charge only when they were within a few hundred yards of the enemy . The line consisted of Pettigrew and Trimble on the left , and Pickett to the right . The nine brigades of men stretched over a mile @-@ long ( 1 @,@ 600 m ) front . The Confederates encountered heavy artillery fire while advancing nearly three quarters of a mile across open fields to reach the Union line and were slowed by fences in their path . Initially sloping down , the terrain changed to a gentle upward incline approximately midway between the lines . These obstacles played a large role in the increasing number of casualties the advancing Confederates faced . The ground between Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge is slightly undulating , and the advancing troops periodically disappeared from the view of the Union cannoneers . As the three Confederate divisions advanced , awaiting Union soldiers began shouting " Fredericksburg ! Fredericksburg ! Fredericksburg ! " in reference to the disastrous Union advance on the Confederate line during the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg . Fire from Lt. Col. Freeman McGilvery 's concealed artillery positions north of Little Round Top raked the Confederate right flank , while the artillery fire from Cemetery Hill hit the left . Shell and solid shot in the beginning turned to canister and musket fire as the Confederates came within 400 yards of the Union line . The mile @-@ long front shrank to less than half a mile ( 800 m ) as the men filled in gaps that appeared throughout the line and followed the natural tendency to move away from the flanking fire . On the left flank of the attack , Brockenbrough 's brigade was devastated by artillery fire from Cemetery Hill . They were also subjected to a surprise musket fusillade from the 8th Ohio Infantry regiment . The 160 Ohioans , firing from a single line , so surprised Brockenbrough 's Virginians — already demoralized by their losses to artillery fire — that they panicked and fled back to Seminary Ridge , crashing through Trimble 's division and causing many of his men to bolt as well . The Ohioans followed up with a successful flanking attack on Davis 's brigade of Mississippians and North Carolinians , which was now the left flank of Pettigrew 's division . The survivors were subjected to increasing artillery fire from Cemetery Hill . More than 1 @,@ 600 rounds were fired at Pettigrew 's men during the assault . This portion of the assault never advanced much farther than the sturdy fence at the Emmitsburg Road . By this time , the Confederates were close enough to be fired on by artillery canister and Alexander Hays ' division unleashed very effective musketry fire from behind 260 yards of stone wall , with every rifleman of the division lined up as many as four deep , exchanging places in line as they fired and then fell back to reload . Trimble 's division of two brigades followed Pettigrew 's , but made poor progress . Confusing orders from Trimble caused Lane to send only 3 ½ of his North Carolina regiments forward . Renewed fire from the 8th Ohio and the onslaught of Hays 's riflemen prevented most of these men from getting past the Emmitsburg Road . Scales 's North Carolina brigade , led by Col. William L. J. Lowrance , started with a heavier disadvantage — they had lost almost two @-@ thirds of their men on July 1 . They were also driven back and Lowrance was wounded . The Union defenders also took casualties , but Hays encouraged his men by riding back and forth just behind the battle line , shouting " Hurrah ! Boys , we 're giving them hell ! " . Two horses were shot out from under him . Historian Stephen W. Sears calls Hays 's performance " inspiring " . On the right flank , Pickett 's Virginians crossed the Emmitsburg road and wheeled partially to their left to face northeast . They marched in two lines , led by the brigades of Brig. Gen. James L. Kemper on the right and Brig. Gen. Richard B. Garnett on the left ; Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead 's brigade followed closely behind . As the division wheeled to the left , its right flank was exposed to McGilvery 's guns and the front of Doubleday 's Union division on Cemetery Ridge . Stannard 's Vermont Brigade marched forward , faced north , and delivered withering fire into the rear of Kemper 's brigade . At about this time , Hancock , who had been prominent in displaying himself on horseback to his men during the Confederate artillery bombardment , was wounded by a bullet striking the pommel of his saddle , entering his inner right thigh along with wood fragments and a large bent nail . He refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was settled . As Pickett 's men advanced , they withstood the defensive fire of first Stannard 's brigade , then Harrow 's , and then Hall 's , before approaching a minor salient in the Union center , a low stone wall taking an 80 @-@ yard right @-@ angle turn known afterward as " The Angle . " It was defended by Brig. Gen. Alexander S. Webb 's Philadelphia Brigade . Webb placed the two remaining guns of ( the severely wounded ) Lt. Alonzo Cushing 's Battery A , 4th U.S. Artillery , at the front of his line at the stone fence , with the 69th and 71st Pennsylvania regiments of his brigade to defend the fence and the guns . The two guns and 940 men could not match the massive firepower that Hays 's division , to their right , had been able to unleash . Two gaps opened up in the Union line : the commander of the 71st Pennsylvania ordered his men to retreat when the Confederates came too close to the Angle ; south of the copse of trees , the men of the 59th New York ( Hall 's brigade ) inexplicably bolted for the rear . In the latter case , this left Captain Andrew Cowan and his 1st New York Independent Artillery Battery to face the oncoming infantry . Assisted personally by artillery chief Henry Hunt , Cowan ordered five guns to fire double canister simultaneously . The entire Confederate line to his front disappeared . The gap vacated by most of the 71st Pennsylvania , however , was more serious , leaving only a handful of the 71st , 268 men of the 69th Pennsylvania , and Cushing 's two 3 @-@ inch rifled guns to receive the 2 @,@ 500 to 3 @,@ 000 men of Garnett 's and Armistead 's brigades as they began to cross the stone fence . The Irishmen of the 69th Pennsylvania resisted fiercely in a melee of rifle fire , bayonets , and fists . Webb , mortified that the 71st had retreated , attempted to bring the 72nd Pennsylvania ( a Zouave regiment ) forward , but for some reason they did not obey the order , so he had to bring other regiments in to help fill the gap . During the fight , Lt. Cushing was killed as he shouted to his men , three bullets striking him , the third in his mouth . The Confederates seized his two guns and turned them to face the Union troops , but they had no ammunition to fire . As more Union reinforcements arrived and charged into the breach , the defensive line became impregnable and the Confederates began to slip away individually , with no senior officers remaining to call a formal retreat . The infantry assault lasted less than an hour . The supporting attack by Wilcox and Lang on Pickett 's right was never a factor ; they did not approach the Union line until after Pickett was defeated , and their advance was quickly broken up by McGilvery 's guns and by the Vermont Brigade . = = Aftermath = = While the Union lost about 1 @,@ 500 killed and wounded , the Confederate casualty rate was over 50 % . Pickett 's division suffered 2 @,@ 655 casualties ( 498 killed , 643 wounded , 833 wounded and captured , and 681 captured , unwounded ) . Pettigrew 's losses are estimated to be about 2 @,@ 700 ( 470 killed , 1 @,@ 893 wounded , 337 captured ) . Trimble 's two brigades lost 885 ( 155 killed , 650 wounded , and 80 captured ) . Wilcox 's brigade reported losses of 200 , Lang 's about 400 . Thus , total losses during the attack were 6 @,@ 555 , of which at least 1 @,@ 123 Confederates were killed on the battlefield , 4 @,@ 019 were wounded , and a good number of the injured were also captured . Confederate prisoner totals are difficult to estimate from their reports ; Union reports indicated that 3 @,@ 750 men were captured . The casualties were also high among the commanders of the charge . Trimble and Pettigrew were the most senior casualties of the day ; Trimble lost a leg , and Pettigrew received a minor wound to the hand ( only to die from a bullet to the abdomen suffered in a minor skirmish during the retreat to Virginia ) . In Pickett 's division , 26 of the 40 field grade officers ( majors , lieutenant colonels , and colonels ) were casualties — 12 killed or mortally wounded , nine wounded , four wounded and captured , and one captured . All of his brigade commanders fell : Kemper was wounded seriously , captured by Union soldiers , rescued , and then captured again during the retreat to Virginia ; Garnett and Armistead were killed . Garnett had a previous leg injury and rode his horse during the charge , despite knowing that conspicuously riding a horse into heavy enemy fire would mean almost certain death . Armistead , known for leading his brigade with his cap on the tip of his sword , made the farthest progress through the Union lines . He was mortally wounded , falling near " The Angle " at what is now called the High Water Mark of the Confederacy . Ironically , the Union troops that fatally wounded Armistead were under the command of his old friend , Winfield S. Hancock , who was himself severely wounded in the battle . Per his dying wishes , Longstreet delivered Armistead 's Bible and other personal effects to Hancock 's wife , Almira . Of the 15 regimental commanders in Pickett 's division , the Virginia Military Institute produced 11 and all were casualties — six killed , five wounded . Stuart 's cavalry action in indirect support of the infantry assault was unsuccessful . He was met and stopped by Union cavalry under the command of Brig. Gen. David McM . Gregg about three miles ( 5 km ) to the east , in East Cavalry Field . As soldiers straggled back to the Confederate lines along Seminary Ridge , Lee feared a Union counteroffensive and tried to rally his center , telling returning soldiers and Wilcox that the failure was " all my fault . " Pickett was inconsolable for the rest of the day and never forgave Lee for ordering the charge . When Lee told Pickett to rally his division for the defense , Pickett allegedly replied , " General , I have no division . " The Union counteroffensive never came ; the Army of the Potomac was exhausted and nearly as damaged at the end of the three days as the Army of Northern Virginia . Meade was content to hold the field . On July 4 , the armies observed an informal truce and collected their dead and wounded . Meanwhile , Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of the Vicksburg garrison along the Mississippi River , splitting the Confederacy in two . These two Union victories are generally considered the turning point of the Civil War . History may never know the true story of Lee 's intentions at Gettysburg . He never published memoirs , and his after @-@ action report from the battle was cursory . Most of the senior commanders of the charge were casualties and did not write reports . Pickett 's report was apparently so bitter that Lee ordered him to destroy it , and no copy has been found . The controversy over Lee 's plans and his officers ' implementation of them have led historians to question whether the charge could have succeeded if done differently . One study used a Lanchester model to examine several alternative scenarios and their outcomes . The results suggest that Lee could have captured a foothold on Cemetery Ridge if he had committed several more infantry brigades to the charge ; but this likely would have left him with insufficient reserves to hold or exploit the position . Virginian newspapers praised Pickett 's Virginia division as making the most progress during the charge , and the papers used Pickett 's comparative success as a means of criticizing the actions of the other states ' troops during the charge . It was this publicity that played a significant factor in selecting the name Pickett 's Charge . Pickett 's military career was never the same after the charge , and he was displeased about having his name attached to the repulsed charge . In particular North Carolinians have long taken exception to the characterizations and point to the poor performance of Brockenbrough 's Virginians in the advance as a major causative factor of failure . Some historians have questioned the primacy of Pickett 's role in the battle . W. R. Bond wrote in 1888 , " No body of troops during the last war made as much reputation on so little fighting . " Additional controversy developed after the battle about Pickett 's personal location during the charge . The fact that fifteen of his officers and all three of his brigadier generals were casualties while Pickett managed to escape unharmed led many to question his proximity to the fighting and , by implication , his personal courage . The 1993 film Gettysburg depicts him observing on horseback from the Codori Farm at the Emmitsburg Road , but there is no historical evidence to confirm this . It was established doctrine in the Civil War that commanders of divisions and above would " lead from the rear " , while brigade and more junior officers were expected to lead from the front , and while this was often violated , there was nothing for Pickett to be ashamed of if he coordinated his forces from behind . Pickett 's Charge became one of the iconic symbols of the literary and cultural movement known as the Lost Cause . William Faulkner , the quintessential Southern novelist , summed up the picture in Southern memory of this gallant but futile episode : For every Southern boy fourteen years old , not once but whenever he wants it , there is the instant when it 's still not yet two o 'clock on that July afternoon in 1863 , the brigades are in position behind the rail fence , the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it 's all in the balance , it hasn 't happened yet , it hasn 't even begun yet , it not only hasn 't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it 's going to begin , we all know that , we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn 't need even a fourteen @-@ year @-@ old boy to think This time . Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain : Pennsylvania , Maryland , the world , the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble , the cast made two years ago . = = The battlefield today = = The site of Pickett 's Charge is one of the best @-@ maintained portions of the Gettysburg Battlefield . Despite millions of annual visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park , very few have walked in the footsteps of Pickett 's division . The National Park Service maintains a neat , mowed path alongside a fence that leads from the Virginia Monument on West Confederate Avenue ( Seminary Ridge ) due east to the Emmitsburg Road in the direction of the Copse of Trees . Pickett 's division , however , started considerably south of that point , near the Spangler farm , and wheeled to the north after crossing the road . In fact , the Park Service pathway stands between the two main thrusts of Longstreet 's assault — Trimble 's division advanced north of the current path , while Pickett 's division moved from farther south . A cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux entitled The Battle of Gettysburg , also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama , depicts Pickett 's Charge from the vantage point of the Union defenders on Cemetery Ridge . Completed and first exhibited in 1883 , it is one of the last surviving cycloramas in the United States . It was restored and relocated to the new National Park Service Visitor Center in September 2008 .
= Folk metal = Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s . It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and , to a lesser extent , traditional singing styles ( for example , Dutch Heidevolk , Danish Sylvatica and Spanish Stone of Erech ) . It also sometimes features soft instrumentation influenced by folk rock . The earliest folk metal bands were Skyclad from England and Cruachan from Ireland . Skyclad 's debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth was released in 1991 and would be considered a thrash metal album with some folk influences , unlike Cruachan ’ s early work which embraced the folk element as a defining part of their sound . It was not until 1994 and 1995 that other early contributors in the genre began to emerge from different regions of Europe as well as in Israel . Among these early groups , the German band Subway to Sally spearheaded a different regional variation that over time became known as medieval metal . Despite their contributions , folk metal remained little known with few representatives during the 1990s . It was not until the early 2000s when the genre exploded into prominence , particularly in Finland with the efforts of such groups as Finntroll , Ensiferum , Korpiklaani , Turisas , and Moonsorrow . The music of folk metal is characterised by its diversity with bands known to perform different styles of both heavy metal music and folk music . A large variety of folk instruments are used in the genre with many bands consequently featuring six or more members in their regular line @-@ ups . A few bands are also known to rely on keyboards to simulate the sound of folk instruments . Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with fantasy , mythology , paganism , history and nature . = = History = = = = = Origins = = = The English band Skyclad was formed in 1990 after vocalist Martin Walkyier left his previous band , Sabbat . Skyclad began as a thrash metal band but added violins from session musician Mike Evans on several tracks from their debut album , The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth , an effort described by Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic as " ambitious " and " groundbreaking . " The song " The Widdershins Jig " from the debut album has been acclaimed as " particularly significant " and " a certain first in the realms of Metal " . With a full time fiddle player in their lineup , the band 's second album feature a " now legendary folky jig style " and " more prominent inclusion of the fiddle playing lead lines and melodies normally associated with the lead guitar parts of most other rock bands . " Even with the departure of Martin Walkyier in 2001 , Skyclad remains an active folk metal group today after nearly two decades since their formation . In contrast , the Portuguese band Moonspell had a brief tenure in the genre . Their first release was the 1994 Under the Moonspell EP with music that featured folk and Middle Eastern influences . With the release of their debut album Wolfheart in the following year , the band made a transition into gothic metal and within a matter of years " quickly evolved into one of the major players of the European goth @-@ metal scene . " Cruachan were formed in 1992 in Dublin , Ireland . From the outset their intention was to mix the native Irish folk music of their home country with the more extreme side of metal music . Their debut album Tuatha Na Gael was released in 1995 and was a full folk metal album from start to finish . In the Italian book “ FOLK METAL , Dalle Origini Al Ragnarok ” , a comprehensive history of the genre , Author Fabrizio Giosue credits Cruachan as being the very first real Folk Metal band . He acknowledges that Skyclad did have some folk parts in some songs before Cruachan however he goes on to say Cruachan used folk music as much as they used heavy metal music . Cruachan also used arrangements of known folk songs and melodies , Skyclad wrote folk " sounding " parts . Another early contributor to folk metal is the Finnish group Amorphis . They formed in 1990 with their debut album , The Karelian Isthmus , following two years later . Their sophomore effort Tales from the Thousand Lakes was released in 1994 with " plenty of fascinating melodies and song structures that drew heavily from the traditional folk music of their native country . " The album received a favorable reception from fans with " its content quickly being exalted across the Metal underground as perhaps the very pinnacle of atmospheric Death Metal achievement . " = = = Regional variations = = = In the years 1994 and 1995 , several distinct variations on folk metal emerged from different regions . = = = = Medieval metal = = = = The German band Subway to Sally was formed in 1992 as a folk rock band , singing in English and incorporating Irish and Scottish influences in their music . With their second album MCMXCV released in 1995 , the band adopted a " more traditional approach " and started singing in German . Taking Skyclad as an influence , Subway to Sally performs a blend of hard rock and heavy metal " enriched with medieval melodies enmeshed in the songs via bagpipes , hurdy @-@ gurdy , lute , mandoline , shalm [ sic ] , fiddle and flute " and combined with " romantic @-@ symbolic German @-@ speaking poetry " in their lyrics . With chart success in their native Germany , they have since been credited as the band " that set off the wave of what is known as medieval rock . " This distinctly German phenomenon has been continued and expanded further by subsequent bands . Formed in 1996 , the Berlin based In Extremo has also found chart success with their " medieval style stage garb and unashamed usage of such bizarre , sometimes hand made , instruments as the Scottish bagpipes . " Another band that has experienced commercial success in Germany is the Bavarian outfit Schandmaul . Describing themselves as the " minstrels of today , " the band employs a musical arsenal that includes the bagpipes , barrel organ , shawm , violin and mandolin . = = = = Celtic metal = = = = The Irish band Cruachan was formed in 1992 by guitarist Keith Fay with their first demo recording distributed in 1993 . Drawing inspiration from Skyclad 's first album , Fay set out to combine black metal with the folk music of Ireland . Their debut album Tuatha Na Gael was released in 1995 and the band has since been acclaimed as having " gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand " the genre of folk metal . Cruachan combination of Celtic music and heavy metal is known today as Celtic metal . Parallel to Cruachan , the black metal act Primordial also released a demo recording in 1993 and " found themselves heralded as frontrunners in the burgeoning second @-@ wave black metal movement . " Irish music plays " a very big role " in Primordial but in " a dark and subtle way " through the chords and timings . The band has since " established themselves as one of the most unique sounding bands in the folk @-@ meets @-@ black metal field . " Other early representatives of Celtic metal include the bands Geasa , Mägo de Oz and Waylander with both groups releasing a demo recording in 1995 . = = = Development = = = From the middle of the 1990s , other bands gradually emerged to combine heavy metal with folk music . Storm was a short lived Norwegian supergroup with Fenriz , Satyr and Kari Rueslåtten from the black metal groups Darkthrone , Satyricon and the doom metal band The 3rd and the Mortal respectively . Their only album Nordavind was released in 1995 with the use of keyboards to imitate the sound of folk instruments . The Germans Empyrium also relied on synthesizers and guitars to deliver their " dark folklore " black metal music with the release of their 1996 debut album A Wintersunset ... The year 1996 also saw the debut album of the " one @-@ man black metal project of multi @-@ instrumentalist Vratyas Vakyas " from Germany known as Falkenbach . Even though Falkenbach was formed as early as 1989 , the band didn 't get much attention until the debut , that includes epic music that is " rife with keyboards , Viking themes , and folk music tendencies , " Falkenbach was effectively a merge of Viking metal with folk metal . They were joined in the next two years by other bands combining the two genres including Windir , Månegarm and Thyrfing . Predating most folk metal groups , the Spanish band Mägo de Oz was formed as far back as 1989 with a self @-@ titled debut album , released in 1994 . With nine members in their lineup , including a violinist and flutist , the band has evolved over the years into a combination of power metal and Celtic flavored folk metal . They have experienced strong chart success in their native Spain as well as in South America and Mexico . The Lord Weird Slough Feg from Pennsylvania , United States also had an early formation dating back to 1990 . Their self @-@ titled debut album was released in 1996 and the band has pursued a " unique style of combining traditional / power metal with folk metal . " The Czech band Silent Stream of Godless Elegy had formed in 1995 as a doom metal band " laced with Pagan imagery and adventurous enough to include violins and cellos alongside the expected modern day arsenal . " With the release of their second album Behind the Shadows in 1998 , the band began to use " folklore influences " in their music . = = = Explosion = = = The folk metal genre has dramatically expanded with the turn of the new millennium . At the forefront of this explosion , with a " revolutionary clash of tradition and amplification that set them apart " , is a group from Finland known as Finntroll . The band was formed in 1997 with a demo recorded the following year and a debut album Midnattens widunder released in 1999 . They have since developed a reputation for being " obsessed with all things trollish . " Their lyrics are sung exclusively in Swedish instead of the Finnish language " apparently because this language was better to evoke the trollish spirit " , even though the real reason for this lies in the band 's original vocalist belonging to the Swedish @-@ speaking minority . The music of Finntroll features a " real innovation " in the marriage of black metal music with a style of Finnish polka called humppa . Specifically , the band took from humppa " the alternate picking bass lines accompanied with the drumbeat , and the use of accordion . " This unlikely mix of polka and extreme metal has received a mixed reception from critics . Andy Hinds of Allmusic laments the polka influence as undermining " the intended threat of a death metal band " while his colleague Alex Henderson praises the band for their " solid , consistently likable effort , " declaring that Finntroll has set themselves apart from their peers " because of their emphasis on Finnish humppa " and " the humor and irony they bring to the table . " Finntroll 's second album Jaktens tid was released in 2001 and became a chart success in their native Finland . Some of the songs on the album feature vocals performed by Jonne Järvelä of Korpiklaani , another band from Finland . While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music , Korpiklaani started with folk music before turning metal . The roots of Korpiklaani can be traced back to a Sami folk music group under the name of Shamaani Duo , an " in house restaurant band " created in 1993 . An album of folk music was released under this name before Jonne Järvelä relocated and formed a new band Shaman . The folk metal act Shaman was based on the folk music of Shamaani Duo . Two albums were released in 1999 and 2001 before Shaman changed their name to Korpiklaani . The change in name was accompanied by a change in the music . The traditional yoik vocals and the use of the Sámi language were dropped while the synthesizer was replaced with real folk instruments . Jonne Järvelä credits his work with Finntroll as the catalyst for the shift in emphasis from folk to metal . While Korpiklaani used an assortment of traditional instruments to deliver their folk metal , Finntroll relies on keyboards for Finnish folk melodies played in the humppa style . The keyboards in Finntroll are performed by Henri Sorvali who also performs in Moonsorrow , another folk metal band from Finland that he formed with his cousin Ville Sorvali in 1995 . They released two demos , the first in 1997 and another in 1999 , before the 2001 debut album Suden Uni . Moonsorrow blends folk metal with Viking metal by incorporating " Finland 's traditional folk music forms into elaborate symphonic arrangements typical of Viking metal outfits such as Bathory and Enslaved . " The adoption of folk elements was " becoming all the rage " in Finland by this point and other folk metal bands from Finland that began to emerge in the early 2000s included Cadacross , Ensiferum and later on Turisas and Wintersun . Ensiferum notably found themselves at the top of the Finnish charts with their 2007 single " One More Magic Potion " . Finntroll , Korpiklaani , Moonsorrow and Turisas have all experienced chart success in their native Finland as well . There are also folk metal acts from the other Scandinavian countries . The Norwegian act Glittertind was A @-@ listed and played with the highest playing frequency on Norway 's most popular radio channel NRK P1 with the song " Kvilelaus " ( eng . Restless ) " and performed the song on Lindmo , the Norwegian answer to Oprah Winfrey show when they released their first full @-@ length as a full band . Other Norwegian acts include the aforementioned Storm and Windir as well as more recent groups such as Kampfar , Lumsk , Ásmegin and Trollfest . Bands from Sweden include the aforementioned Thyrfing and Månegarm along with other acts such as Otyg and Vintersorg . Folk metal bands from Denmark include Wuthering Heights , Svartsot , Huldre and the Faroe Islanders Týr . Outside Scandinavia , other European nations have contributed to the growing genre . Groups from the Baltic states of Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania includes Metsatöll , Raud @-@ Ants , and Skyforger while representatives from Russia include Alkonost , Arkona and Butterfly Temple . More isolated examples across Europe include Divlje Jagode ( wild strawberries ) from Bosnia , Dimmi Argus and Balkandji from Bulgaria , Dalriada from Hungary , Elvenking from Italy and Eluveitie from Switzerland . Folkearth is an international folk metal project with members from several different European countries . At its inception , the project consisted of 14 musicians from separate backgrounds in folk and metal music . With their second album By the Sword of My Father released in 2006 , the project boasted the participation of 31 musicians . Beyond the European continent , folk metal is relatively rare with only a few known acts including the aforementioned The Lord Weird Slough Feg and their fellow Americans Agalloch . The latter 's music " made for a stark geographical anomaly , since its eclectic , avant @-@ garde folk @-@ metal was the sort of thing one would expect to emerge from Scandinavia -- not Portland , Oregon . " Tuatha de Danann is another geographical anomaly with their Celtic metal from Brazil . = = Characteristics = = = = = Music = = = The music of folk metal is a diverse collection with bands pursuing different subgenres of heavy metal music . While bands like Primordial and Finntroll perform black metal , other groups such as The Lord Weird Slough Feg ply their trade with a more traditional or power metal base . The German @-@ Norwegian group Midnattsol blends the genre with gothic metal . Progressive tendencies can be found among some bands including Elvenking , Lumsk and Týr . Some bands are known to adopt more than one different styles of heavy metal . Orphaned Land combines folk metal with progressive and doom / death metal . The band formed in 1991 , also combining Jewish , Arabic , and other West Asian influences while Ensiferum mix folk music on top of a power and death metal hybrid . A few groups are also known to incorporate the styles of other music genres outside of heavy metal . Examples include the punk rock in the music of Glittertind and the neofolk and post @-@ rock tendencies of Agalloch . The folk elements in the genre often reflect the ethnic background of the musicians as is the case for the Scandinavian folk music in Finntroll and Korpiklaani , the Baltic folk music in Metsatöll and Skyforger or the Middle Eastern background of Orphaned Land . Celtic music can be found among such Irish groups as Cruachan and Waylander as well as bands outside Ireland like Eluveitie ( although Switzerland can be considered a country with a Celtic history ) , and Tuatha de Danann ( from Brazil , a country that has no cultural ties with the Celts whatsoever , despite the similarity of the country 's name to an island in Irish myth ) . Folk music from multiple regions are employed by some groups like Elvenking and Ensiferum . Other brazilian acts , such as Sepultura and Overdose ( from Belo Horizonte ) , mixed thrash with tribal sounds , ethnic voices and amazonian instruments . Max Cavalera of Sepultura formed Soulfly which later incorporated this " tribal metal " and latin metal sounds in nu metal and groove metal , inspiring acts like Ill Niño , Puya or Tren Loco . The genre also offers a variety of atmosphere and moods . A fun and cheerful nature is characteristic of groups like Finntroll and Korpiklaani . Both bands are also noted for playing music that one can dance to . In contrast , other acts such as Thyrfing and Primordial are known for their contemplative atmosphere . Lumsk offers a more mellow style while Agalloch are known for their " depressive ambient " sound . An epic atmosphere is characteristic of some folk metal bands like Primordial , Moonsorrow , Turisas and the music project Folkearth . Groups like Ensiferum and Wintersun are known to have a melodious side while bands that favor a more blistering or brutal approach can be found in groups like Finntroll and Månegarm . = = = Instruments = = = Folk metal feature the same typical instruments found in heavy metal music : guitars , bass , drums and vocalist . While a few folk metal groups like Tharaphita discard " any notion of utilising folk instrumentation " and " rely solely on traditional metal instruments , " bands in the genre generally rely on folk instruments that range from the common to the exotic . Numerous folk metal acts include a dedicated violinist in their line up . This includes Skyclad , Subway to Sally , Schandmaul , Mägo de Oz , Silent Stream of Godless Elegy , Korpiklaani , Lumsk , Elvenking , Eluveitie and Tuatha de Danann . The tin whistle and flute can be found in such Celtic metal bands as Cruachan , Waylander and Eluveitie . The flute can also be found in other bands such as Metsatöll , Schandmaul and Morgenstern . Some bands are also known to highlight more exotic instruments from their ethnic background or country , including Skyforger 's use of the Latvian kokle , Metsatöll 's use of the Estonian torupill , Korpiklaani 's use of the Finnish kantele , Eluveitie 's use of the hurdy @-@ gurdy , and Orphaned Land 's use of the oud and saz . In the absence of folk instruments , other bands in the genre resort to using keyboards to replicate the sound of folk instruments . This includes the aforementioned Storm , Empyrium and Finntroll as well as other acts like Midnattsol . Bands that supplement a folk instrument like the violin with keyboards include Skyclad , Mägo de Oz , and Tuatha de Danann . The large number of instruments that some bands rely on in recording their studio albums can be a hindrance for live performances . While Orphaned Land are able to perform onstage with twenty musicians in their homeland of Israel , they have to rely on a computer to replicate the roles of the guest musicians for concerts elsewhere . Some folk metal acts confine themselves to studio recordings and are not known to perform any live concerts . This includes Folkearth , Falkenbach and Summoning . Other folk metal bands expand their regular roster to include more musicians and consequently , it is not uncommon to find bands in the genre featuring six or more members in their line @-@ up . Some of the sextets in the genre are Schandmaul , Cruachan , Korpiklaani , Turisas , and Midnattsol , while septets include Subway to Sally , In Extremo , and Lumsk . Both Silent Stream of Godless Elegy and Eluveitie boast eight members each while the line up of Mägo de Oz totals nine performers . Even when a band includes members dedicated to folk instruments , they might still rely on guest musicians to further enhance their sound . As an example , Lumsk added thirteen guest musicians to the band 's seven members on their debut album Åsmund Frægdegjevar . At times , guest musicians are known to become full @-@ fledged members of the band , as was the case in Skyforger and Turisas . = = = Vocals = = = The diverse range of music styles and instruments is matched by a variety of vocal styles in the genre . From the " spine @-@ chilling death shrieks " in Finntroll to the black metal rasps of Skyforger or Moonsorrow , there is no shortage of extreme vocals in folk metal . Other bands to feature extreme vocals include Cadacross , Ensiferum and Equilibrium . In contrast , bands like Mägo de Oz and Metsatöll are known to feature " clean " singing in line with their more traditional metal approach . Numerous other bands in the genre are known to feature both extreme vocals and clean singing . This includes Primordial , Turisas , Windir and Wintersun . Traditional folk singing can also be found among some folk metal bands . The yoik vocals of Jonne Järvelä have been featured in varying degrees in the music of Shaman , Finntroll and Korpiklaani . Folk singing or folk @-@ inspired singing can also be heard in the music of Equilibrium , Metsatöll , Skyforger and Orphaned Land . The music of Orphaned Land also features the use of chants and choirs , commonly encountered in the genre of folk metal . Bands that are known to use a choir include Arkona , Turisas , Lumsk and Eluveitie , while chants can be found in the music of Týr and Windir . Some bands like Falconer and Thyrfing are also known to feature " yo @-@ ho @-@ ho folk melodies " in their vocals to suit their Viking metal style . Orphaned Land mostly uses English lyrics , but they are known to feature other languages as they " go well with the music and also sound more exotic and unique . " Týr has also been known to use multiple languages in their music . Other bands in the genre are known to sing exclusively or almost entirely in their native language , including Mägo de Oz in Spanish , Moonsorrow in Finnish , Metsatöll in Estonian and Lumsk in Norwegian . Bands in the medieval metal subgenre also tend to sing largely or entirely in their German language , including Subway to Sally , Morgenstern and Letzte Instanz . Lead female singers are not uncommon in the genre and can be found in Cruachan , Otyg , Lumsk , Arkona and Midnattsol . Other groups like Orphaned Land and Elvenking have employed guest female vocalists in their music . = = = Lyrics = = = Popular subjects in folk metal include paganism , nature , fantasy , mythology and history . Folk metal has been associated with paganism ever since its inception , when Martin Walkyier left his former band Sabbat to form Skyclad , in part because the band " wasn 't going to go far enough down the pagan , British way that we wanted to do it . " Consequently , the lyrics of Skyclad have been known to deal with pagan matters . The band Cruachan was also founded by a self @-@ described pagan , Keith Fay . For Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow , the label " pagan metal " is preferred " because that describes the ideological points in the music , but doesn ’ t say anything about the music itself . " Other bands that also prefer to use the term " pagan metal " as a self @-@ description include Cruachan , Eluveitie , Obtest and Skyforger . In contrast to bands with pagan themes , some folk metal bands such as Orphaned Land have themes of Abrahamic religion . Nature is a strong influence to many folk metal bands . Groups such as Korpiklaani , Elvenking , Midnattsol and Vintersorg have all based lyrics on the subject . For the band Agalloch , nature is an embraced theme " because we are siding with what is essentially the victim in a relationship where humankind is a disease . " All the members of Skyclad are supporters of " organisations like Greenpeace and others , for those are the ones who stand up and take on the battle " between " people who want to save the planet , and people who want to destroy it . " The pioneers of the genre Skyclad avoided fantasy lyrics because " there was already enough fantasy in the world , told to us by our politicians every day . " Nonetheless , other folk metal bands have been known to feature fantasy themes in their lyrics including Ensiferum , Midnattsol and Cruachan . For Elvenking , fantasy themes are used " as a metaphor to cover deeper meanings . " Similarly , the fantasy themes in Turisas belie the coverage of issues " that are deeper and have greater significance . " The Celtic metal subgenre is known to feature lyrics based on Celtic mythology . The history of the Celts is another popular source for the lyrics of Celtic metal bands like Cruachan , Eluveitie , Primordial and Mael Mórdha . Norse mythology can be found in the lyrics of such Scandinavian bands as Falkenbach , Týr , Finntroll and Mithotyn . Skyforger is known for featuring lyrics based on both the history and mythology of their Latvian culture . Other bands that have treated history to song include Falconer and Slechtvalk . A few National Socialist black metal ( NSBM ) bands like the Nokturnal Mortum , or Russia 's Temnozor and Kroda have been known to cross over into folk metal , a circumstance that Ciaran O 'Hagan , the vocalist of Waylander , views as " an insult to people like myself who don ’ t hold with fascist ideals at all . " He further suggests that the NSBM bands are playing folk metal " for all the wrong reasons . " Due to the misappropriation of pagan symbols by Neo @-@ Nazism , several folk metal bands have also been mistaken for being part of the NSBM scene . Consequently , such bands as Cruachan , Skyforger , Moonsorrow , Månegarm and Týr have had to disassociate themselves with Nazism , fascism or racism . Skyforger went as far as to add the words ' No Nazi Stuff Here ! ' on the back of their album covers . Richard Lederer of Summoning has also publicly denounced National Socialism in a self @-@ penned essay on his band 's website . In April 2008 , performers on the folk metal festival Paganfest were subject to accusations of being Nazis , racists and fascists from the German Antifa . Ville Sorvali of Moonsorrow and Heri Joensen of Týr issued a joint video statement to refute these accusations , noting that " one of the biggest issues seems to be that we use ancient Scandinavian symbols in our imagery like the S in the Moonsorrow logo and the T in the Týr logo [ even though ] that is how the S and the T runes have been written for thousands of years . " Moonsorrow has also issued a written statement in response to the controversy while Týr notes on their official website that they " got the idea for the rune logo " from the Black Sabbath album of the same name . On the other side of the political landscape , some folk metal bands have uttered explicit socialist sentiments . For example the aforementioned Glittertind made a leftist statement against neoliberalism in their album booklet when re @-@ releasing the record Til Dovre Faller on Napalm Records in May 2009 . The original folk metal band Skyclad was also known to deal with serious political subjects but through lyrics that were littered with puns and humor . Other bands have continued to feature fun and humorous lyrics . This includes Finntroll with their obsession on trolls . The lyrics of Korpiklaani also " focused on having a good time , drinking [ and ] partying . " In a review of Turisas ' The Varangian Way album , James Christopher Monger of Allmusic commented that some listeners might be put off by " the concept of grown men in pelts " singing such lyrics as " come with us to the south , write your name on our roll . " Heri Joensen of Týr contends that a listener needs to be confident in his masculinity to listen to such traditional Faeroese lyrics as his own " young lads , happy lads , step upon the floor , dance merrily . "
= Best of Both Worlds Tour = Best of Both Worlds Tour was the debut concert tour by American recording artist Miley Cyrus . The tour was held to promote the double @-@ disc album Hannah Montana 2 : Meet Miley Cyrus ( 2007 ) , which consisted of the soundtrack to Hannah Montana 's second season and her debut studio album . It initiated in October 2007 and concluded in March 2008 , visiting cities in the United States and Canada . The tour was promoted by AEG Live and Buena Vista Concerts . Labelmates the Jonas Brothers , Aly & A.J. , and Everlife each served as opening act during the tour . One dollar from each ticket sold was donated to the City of Hope National Medical Center , an organization devoted to the fight against cancer . The Best of Both Worlds Tour raised over US $ 2 million for the organization . The Best of Both Worlds Tour was created , by Kenny Ortega and Michael Cotten , to be video intensive and was meant to differentiate Cyrus from Hannah Montana as a performer . The show had Cyrus performing first under character , as Hannah Montana . She then performed a duet with the opening act , which continued performing an interlude of songs . For the latter half of the duet , a body double was used to facilitate the transition from Hannah Montana to herself . Videos online caused many fans to become outraged and question whether Cyrus lip @-@ synched on the tour . Her representatives later issued a statement that denied the allegations and stated the reasons for the body double 's usage . The fast @-@ paced concert had six segments , divided equally between each persona . The tour received generally positive responses from critics , some who complimented Cyrus ' vocal skills and onstage presence and preferred the Hannah Montana set over Cyrus ' . The tour was commercially successful , grossing over $ 54 million . At the 2008 Billboard Touring Awards , it won the " Breakthrough Artist " award . Furthermore , tickets sold extremely quickly and were found in secondary markets . Ticket scalping became so extensive it garnered much media attention and lawsuits were filed against MileyWorld , Cyrus ' official fan club , and ticket brokers . A three @-@ dimensional film , Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert , was released to American cinema in February 2008 . The film received an overwhelming commercial response , grossing a total of $ 70 @.@ 6 million worldwide and setting numerous records , including once being the highest @-@ grossing concert film of all time . Critical response was generally positive to mixed . When televised for the first time on Disney Channel , Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert was watched by over 5 @.@ 9 million viewers . A live album was released as a soundtrack for the film , Best of Both Worlds Concert , with recordings from the same concerts was released in March 2008 . = = Background = = Cyrus is a singer @-@ songwriter and actress who starred on the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana as Miley Stewart , a girl with a secret double life as the popstar Hannah Montana . Through the television series , Cyrus rose to fame as a teen idol and released music credited to Hannah Montana . In 2006 , Cyrus served as opening act on twenty dates of The Cheetah Girls ' concert tour The Party 's Just Begun Tour , performing solely as Hannah Montana . In June 2007 , the singer released the double @-@ disc album Hannah Montana 2 : Meet Miley Cyrus . The first disc , Hannah Montana 2 , of the album was Hannah Montana 's second season soundtrack , while the second disc , Meet Miley Cyrus , was Cyrus ' debut studio album . In order to promote the album , Cyrus decided to embark on her first headlining concert tour , the Best of Both Worlds Tour , where she performed both under character , as Hannah Montana , and as herself for the first time . The concert tour was being discussed by executives as early as January 2007 . It was announced on August 8 , 2007 via press release . It was confirmed that the tour would be promoted by AEG Live and Buena Vista Concerts , a division of The Walt Disney Company . It also featured American band and labelmates the Jonas Brothers as opening act . The tour would expand throughout North America , from October 18 , 2007 in St. Louis , Missouri to January 9 , 2008 in Albany , New York , with a total of fifty @-@ four dates ; fifty @-@ three of which were in the United States and one which was in Canada . In October 2007 , another date was annexed in order to meet demand . In December 2007 , a fourteen @-@ date extension of the tour was announced , with American duo Aly & A.J. opening seven of them ; the opening act for the remaining dates was yet be announced . The extension featured new opening acts because the Jonas Brothers pulled out to record their then @-@ forthcoming album A Little Bit Longer ( 2008 ) . Subsequently , in the same month , one final date was annexed , and the American band Everlife was announced to as the final opening act . One dollar from each ticket purchased was donated to the City of Hope National Medical Center , a center dedicated to the prevention , treatment and research for the cure of cancer . In total , the Best of Both Worlds Tour raised over US $ 2 million for the center . = = Development = = The tour was titled Best of Both Worlds Tour after the song of the same name , which was the theme to Hannah Montana and was released on the series ' first soundtrack . The title was chosen because of how the concert alternates between Cyrus performing as Hannah Montana and herself . She described the tour to differentiate the two according to their respective styles and depict how one girl was able to have two sides to her . She said the most notable difference between the two characters was the style of music , rather than physical appearance . According to her , Hannah Montana was direct pop music , while her own style was more rock music @-@ oriented and included real @-@ life scenarios set to tunes . Cyrus rehearsed for the tour simultaneous to filming the final episodes for the second season of Hannah Montana from September to October 2007 . Kenny Ortega , a common collaborator with The Walt Disney Company at the time , was hired as the tour 's director and main choreographer . Ortega , along with set designer Michael Cotten , assembled an experienced personnel and developed the show , which was made fairly simple because Cyrus did not feel confident enough as a vocalist to perform stunts and use props while singing . Therefore , fixation was turned to video . Cotten envisioned the set to be " an interactive mobile kaleidoscope of flash and style " , a conceptualization that involved a massive amount of video . Nineteen individual LED video screens were located throughout the stage . Four high definition V9 LED video screens served as walls surrounding the main stage . Five Barco MiTrix cubes , which consisted of three LED panels that faced towards the audience and one supporting panel that faced the stage , were suspended by rigs throughout the stage . Nocturne Productions partnered with equipment supplier Video Equipment Rentals ( VER ) to accomplish the design . The lightweight and adaptability of the V9 LED screens allowed for designers to add more lighting elements than in most shows at the time . Video content director George Elizando and video engineer Steven Davis controlled the video surfaces using a Pinnacle i9000 switcher and an expanded Vista Systems Spyder system . Graphics on the LED walls were fed from a custom video playback system that incorporated three Green Hippo media servers ; some of the video content was filmed during rehearsals and were meant for Cyrus to interact with onstage . Visual magnification was executed through the usage of Ikegami Tsushinki HL @-@ 45 cameras and multiple strategically located point @-@ of @-@ view cameras , in order to cover the show from every angle . Extensive amounts of teamwork was necessitated to set up the complex video system at each venue , particularly for weekend daytime performances , as they had less time . Mark Woody , Steve " Bone " Gray , Justin McLean , and Dane Mustola set up the video structures , while Evan Huff and crew chief Eric Geiger built the video thrust into the audience and installed the live cameras . " Thanks to these talented designers a show commensurate with Hannah 's popularity has been created " , said Paul Becher , co @-@ CEO of Nocturne Productions . For audio , Cyrus used Sennheiser 's MD 5235 dynamic capsule atop the SKM 5200 wireless handheld transmitter nightly . Sixteen channels of Sennheiser G2 wireless monitors were programmed to ensure that performers could hear what was being played amidst massive , and fervid screams from the audience . Sennheiser 500 series wireless guitar and bass systems were also used . = = Concert synopsis = = The main show started with Cyrus descending onto the stage in a neon pink cube that bore a digital image of her silhouette , as pink fireworks were fired behind her . Donning a long , sequined , cheetah and black @-@ striped tank top and cardigan , sparkling black tights , black boots , and the blonde Hannah Montana wig , she began to perform the concert 's opening number , " Rock Star " . In continuation , Cyrus was joined by multiple backup dancers to perform dance routines for " Life 's What You Make It " . Removing the cardigan , she concluded the segment with " Just Like You " . Still costumed as Hannah Montana , Cyrus reappeared from the back of the stage , wearing sparkly blue denim jeans , a white tank top , a blue denim vest , and shiny silver tie ; she performed " Old Blue Jeans " among female backup dancers and " Nobody 's Perfect " roaming the stage alone . The next segment began with the performance of " Pumpin ' Up the Party " , where Cyrus dressed with a pink and purple sequined mini @-@ dress , fuchsia ad violet tights and maroon boots and dancers wore 1960s @-@ inspired attires while performing calisthenics . The segment continued with " I Got Nerve " , which required participation and elaborate routines on behalf of the dancers , and a duet with the opening act . While they served as opening act , " We Got the Party " was performed as a duet with the Jonas Brothers . She annexed a pink and purple trench coat to her attire and performed with the Jonas Brothers , who also played electric guitars . At one point of the performance , Cyrus disappeared to be replaced by a body double who completed the performance . While Aly & A.J. and Everlife served as opening acts , a postmodern cover of Kiss ' " Rock and Roll All Nite " ( 1975 ) was performed by them and Cyrus wore a geometric @-@ patterned cocktail dress . Afterwards , the opening act performed an interlude of several songs . After removing the wig , Cyrus then reappeared to perform eight more songs as herself . She emerged from the bottom of the runaway to perform " Start All Over " . She was costumed by studded black jeans with chains attached to the waist , a white tank top , a black leather vest and a matching glove . She roamed throughout the stage , kicking over the microphone stand and banging her head . " Good and Broken " and " See You Again " , where Cyrus removed the vest and was joined by multiple backup dancers , rounded off the show 's fourth segment . She returned to the stage in a fuchsia bustier and short , black ruffled skirt to perform " Let 's Dance " , where she performed Latin @-@ influenced choreography with backup dancers , and " Right Here " . Prior to Cyrus re @-@ entering the stage for the sixth segment , backup singers sang a reworked version of Toni Basil 's " Mickey " ( 1982 ) that replaced the word " Mickey " with " Miley " . Cyrus , costumed in a pink tank top , a plaid miniskirt and sneakers with high @-@ knee socks , performed " East Northumberland High " , amid backup dancers dressed as skateboarders and football players . Adding a black jacket , she concluded the main concert with " G.N.O. ( Girl 's Night Out ) " and the theme to Hannah Montana , " The Best of Both Worlds " , a song credited to her alter ego . The latter had Cyrus interacting with video that depicted Hannah Montana and ended with the firing of confetti and fireworks . Sporadically throughout the Best Both Worlds Tour , Cyrus returned on stage for the performance of a one @-@ song encore , which was either " I Miss You " or " Ready , Set , Don 't Go " , a duet with her father Billy Ray Cyrus . Both songs were performed in an acoustic setting , without dancers or special effects . The prior had Cyrus performing acoustic guitar herself , while the latter had her father doing so . = = Critical reception = = Chris William of Entertainment Weekly graded the show a B + and commented that , despite her age ( at the time fourteen ) , Cyrus was a determined and likable performer who was able to command the stage the entire show . He continued to compare her to Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne stylistically and musically , respectively . Jim Abbott of the Orlando Sentinel believed the Best of Both Worlds Tour was as entertaining as concerts performed by Spears or the Backstreet Boys , adding that the show 's quality made past Hilary Duff concerts " look like something in a mall food court . " However , Abbott also stated that Cyrus was unable to duplicate the energy of Hannah Montana . Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times expected to be let down by the concert after the commotion and hype built for it , but was not . She said , " The show was terrific : a two @-@ hour sugar rush and one long challenge to fans , who had to keep up with Ms. Cyrus 's hectic pace . " Regarding Cyrus , Sanneh stated she was a likable singer , being able to emphasize on certain words and that her demeanor on stage portrayed her as a " hard @-@ working , sweet @-@ natured troublemaker . There 's something slightly disruptive about her bright smile [ ... ] And she brings a welcome hint of chaos to everything she does . " J. Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post described the concert as " a nearly 90 @-@ minute blast of pop in which the charismatic Cyrus – who complained that she wasn 't feeling well – commanded the stage with confidence , performing with a particular swagger . " Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times described the show to be operated at a " frenzied fever pitch " and be only appealing to children , confusing adults with its presentation . J. Edawrd Keyes of Newsday said that producers were able to deliver a concert " that was the visual and sonic equivalent of washing down a pound of sugar with 27 cans of soda . " Keyes added that , despite Cyrus ' charisma , it was evident the show and the dual @-@ persona arrangement ( considering that there were no major divergences between them ) was an evident strategy to extend marketing and receive more profits . Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle believed Cyrus was a fair singer and commented , " It was relatively wholesome , musically tolerable and certainly had plenty of production value . Some adults may have walked away wondering what the big fuss was about , but none of the kids looked the least bit disappointed . " Jane Stevenson of the Canadian Online Explorer noted the differences between Hannah Montana and Cyrus , stating that Cyrus was the " marginally tougher cookie of the two singers " and that audiences received two concerts for the price of one . An uncredited review from The Palm Beach Post stated , " Both halves [ of the concert ] were enjoyable and lively , set apart by Cyrus ’ preternaturally assured stage presence , in and out of the wig . " It also stated that the Hannah Montana set was more satisfying due to the quality of the songs and more energy . Geoff Edgers of The Boston Globe wrote , " Of course , most of the mainly tweener fans in the arena weren 't splitting [ ... ] musical hairs . They ate up the spectacle of the show , with its costume changes , giant video screens , and sparklers . " = = Commercial performance = = The Best of Both Worlds Tour was financially successful and was able to sell an abundance of shows throughout the United States in record times . The December 6 , 2007 concert at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids , Michigan sold out within eight minutes , the third @-@ fastest sell @-@ out in the arena 's history . Numerous other concerts , such as the one held on December 1 , 2007 at the Sprint Center in North Little Rock , Arkansas and December 11 , 2007 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus , Ohio , sold out within approximately twelve and fifteen minutes , respectively . " Absolutely every show sold out within the same amount of time . Whether you were in Moline or Omaha or New York or Los Angeles , it sold out in minutes " , stated Debra Rathwell , senior vice president of AEG Live . In total , the Best of Both Worlds Tour had a total attendance of approximately one million people and grossed over US $ 54 million , according to Billboard Boxscore , becoming the highest @-@ grossing concert tour for a new act in 2007 and 2008 . The record was recognized with the award for Breakthrough Act at the 2008 Billboard Touring Awards . = = Ticket controversy = = Tickets for the Best of Both Worlds Tour were selling out quite rapidly . Nevertheless , ticket scalping was one of the primary reasons for it . Many tickets were immediately found for purchase on secondary markets , such as eBay or StubHub , selling for well over the face value of the tickets . Broker prices ranged from $ 350 to $ 2 @,@ 000 for the tickets originally sold for $ 29 to $ 66 . The shortage of tickets for the tour became so pronounced it gained national attention , with parents frequently expressing their outrage , discontent , and disappointment on behalf of their children . Vice president of Ticketmaster , Joe Freeman commented , " Hell hath no fury like the parent of a child throwing a tantrum . People who have been in this business for a long time are watching what 's happening , and they say there hasn 't been a demand of this level or intensity since The Beatles or Elvis [ Presley ] . " In an instance , a girl was unable to undergo a surgery she needed due to monetary issues , so she sold her tickets to a show of the tour for enough money to pay for the surgery . Debra Rathwell , senior vice president of AEG Live said the tickets were priced and sold as fairly as possible and assured there as no conspiracy between those who handled the tour and brokers . " We do everything in our power to stop brokers from getting tickets , but it 's impossible " , she concluded . However , some brokers denied the allegations of purchasing most tickets for the shows . Brian Posey , owner of The Ticket Machine , an online broker based in East Lansing , Michigan , commented , " I 've never seen this as far as availability for any show . It 's never been that hard to get tickets for us . You don 't see seats anywhere . Parents shouldn 't blame brokers for snapping up loads of tickets . " He continued to complain that the company was only able to purchase 28 tickets , while they usually averaged hundreds of tickets for hot tours . Investigations were held in various states , including Arkansas , Michigan , and Missouri , which led to lawsuits that accused brokers of illegally reselling tickets from the Best of Both Worlds Tour . " When you allow the hijacking of the market , it 's literally the worst of both worlds . You get charged too much , and there 's no access for the locals " , said Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon . Numerous ticket brokers accessed tickets prior to fans as a result of a software program by RMG Technologies Inc , which permitted its clients to circumvent Ticketmaster.com 's CAPTCHA access controls , and use the copyrighted website in a manner that violated the site 's " Terms of Use " . Ticketmaster took legal action against RMG Technologies via the United States District Court for the Central District of California , claiming that the developed software for ticket brokers illegally " allows them to cut in line " . RMG Technologies representative denied the allegations and said they should not be held accountable because Ticketmaster is getting still paid for the tickets . " This may be the only time in history that any seller sued its customers for paying them too much money " , the attorney for RMG Technologies wrote in court documents . In November 2007 , Kerry Inman , a woman from New Jersey , filed a lawsuit against Cyrus ' official fan club , MileyWorld , for not complying with terms . Memberships claimed fans subscribed to MileyWorld were supposed to be given priority for seats . While the site never guaranteed ticket availability , it claimed that members who logged on shortly after tickets became available would have a good opportunity to purchase tickets . " They deceptively lured thousands of individual into purchasing memberships into the Miley Cyrus Fan Club . The scenario has been replayed thousands , if not tens of thousands of times over the past few months " , said the woman 's attorney . Randy Philips , CEO of AEG Live , revealed the logical solution to all the tumult surrounding the Best of Both Worlds Tour , which he and Cyrus herself both longed for , was to add more shows , but was made impossible because Cyrus was already scheduled to film Hannah Montana : The Movie in early 2008 . Instead , the lawsuit was responded with the addition of a total of 45 @,@ 000 extra seats that were offered for a limited time to MileyWorld subscribers for the last 21 shows of the Best of Both Worlds Tour . With more seats , more radio contests , tickets auctions , and other sorts of contests were offered so fans could attend concerts . One contest had participants writing an essay about an event that impacted them the most to win a makeover that included a Hannah Montana wig , flight for four to Albany , New York , and four tickets to the January 9 , 2008 concert held at the Times Union Center in Albany . The winner , a 6 @-@ year @-@ old girl from Garland , Texas , had won with an essay stating the girl 's father had died April 17 , 2007 in a roadside bombing in Iraq during the Iraq War . However , the girl 's mother , Priscilla Ceballos , later admitted that the essay and the military information she provided about her daughter 's father were untrue . " We did the essay and that 's what we did to win . We did whatever we could do to win , but when [ Robyn Caulfield ] asked me if this essay is true , I said ' No , this essay is not true , ' " Ceballos said . The prizes were awarded to the runner up . The mishap garnered much attention from the media because it exemplified parents ' desperate long to please their children . = = Body double scandal = = In January 2008 numerous videos capturing the change from Cyrus to the body double during the performance of " We Got the Party " surfaced on the Internet . The videos showed how , during the song 's bridge , backup dancers crowded her as a crew member covered Cyrus with a sheet and ushered her into a trap door and , through the adjacent side , a body double exited . She wore the same wardrobe as Cyrus and used the blonde wig and large glasses to obscure her face . Furthermore , live cameras barely captured her and did not film close @-@ ups as she danced , ran hectically , and lip @-@ synched the rest of " We Got the Party " . Numerous fans and critics questioned whether Cyrus lip @-@ synched the entire show during the Best of Both Worlds Tour . On January 11 , 2008 , Cyrus ' publicist confirmed that the videos were legitimate and that the body double , backup dancer Ashlee Nino , was being used throughout all stops of the Best of Both Worlds Tour . PMK Public Relations issued a statement that explained the body double 's purpose : To help speed the transition from Hannah to Miley , there is a production element during the performance of ' We Got the Party ' incorporating a body double for Miley . After Hannah has completed the featured verse on the duet with the Jonas Brothers , a body double appears approximately one to two minutes prior to the end of the song in order to allow Miley to remove the Hannah wig and costume and transform into Miley for her solo set . Other than during this very brief transitional moment in the show , Miley performs live during the entirety of both the Hannah and Miley segments of the concert . Cyrus later explained that it usually took over an hour and half to transition from Miley to Hannah and vice versa on the television series set , while on tour it took approximately two minutes . With the additional time , Cyrus was able to rest briefly , drink water , and prepare for the remainder of the show . = = Broadcast and recordings = = The concerts held on October 18 , 2007 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis and October 26 , 2007 in the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City were filmed for a Disney Digital 3D release , a group of three @-@ dimensional films distributed by Walt Disney Pictures . The film , entitled Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert , was directed by Bruce Hendricks and produced by Art Repola . The film compiled some of the show 's performances , along with backstage footage . Cyrus said Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert was made for individuals who did not attend a concert during the tour due to ticket scalping . She continued , " This is like better than front row . You could reach out and feel like you can touch my hand , you could see me right then , right there , right in front of you , which is so fun . " It was released on February 1 , 2008 to American cinema , with an intended span of one week at theaters . The film was released to a total of 683 , with an extra four being added later . In its opening weekend , the film grossed over $ 31 @.@ 1 million . With its opening week sales , the film set multiple records . It became the highest box office total for Super Bowl weekend , the highest @-@ grossing opening for a three @-@ dimensional film , and highest per @-@ screen average ever – $ 42 @,@ 000 per screen . It went on to gross over $ 42 @.@ 8 million in its entire opening week , becoming the highest @-@ grossing film of that week and the film with the fewest theaters to debut at number one . Following its commercial success , the film 's run was extended ; it eventually closed on May 15 , 2008 , playing in theaters for 15 weeks . With a total gross of $ 70 @.@ 6 million worldwide , Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert was once the highest @-@ selling concert film of all time , until surpassed by Michael Jackson 's This Is It ( 2009 ) , which sold over $ 189 million worldwide . Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert received positive to mixed reviews from critics . On Metacritic , it generated generally mixed or average reception , earning a collective score of 59 out of 100 based on 13 reviews . On Rotten Tomatoes , the film generated generally fresh reviews , with 73 percent of 42 reviewers giving positive reviews . Michael Hann of The Guardian believed the film was only appealing for young girls . He continued , " There 's nothing here to detain you , though equally there 's nothing to repel you . " Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News newspaper stated that producers did not use three @-@ dimensional technology to its full potential , but complimented the film as whole , declaring it " as you 'll come to achieving the best of both worlds " . Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Concert was released to cinema in international markets , including Europe , Latin America , and Oceania , in early 2008 . The film was televised on July 20 , 2008 on Disney Channel , where it was watched by over 5 @.@ 9 million viewers . It was released on blu @-@ ray and DVD on August 19 , 2008 , as an extended edition that features more performances and bonus features . A live album , titled Best of Both Worlds Concert , was taken from same concerts as the film and released on March 11 , 2008 . It consisted of an audio CD and a DVD with two concerts performances and behind @-@ the @-@ scenes footage . The album was first released exclusively to United States ' Wal @-@ Mart stores and elsewhere in the United States a month after . Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic stated , " This is another souvenir for those fans who can 't live without the show , and in that regard it 's perfectly fine – a nice , polished piece of product that will tide them over until the next new Hannah / Miley album comes along . " Best of Both Worlds Concert was commercially successful , peaking at number three on both the US Billboard 200 chart and the Canadian Albums Chart . It also peaked at number sixteen in Australia and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments exceeding 35 @,@ 000 copies . = = Opening acts = = Jonas Brothers ( October 18 , 2007 St. Louis – January 9 , 2008 Albany ) Aly & A.J. ( January 11 , 2008 – January 24 , 2008 ) Everlife ( January 25 , 2008 – January 31 , 2008 ) = = Opening Act setlists = = Jonas Brothers 1 . Kids of the Future 2 . Just Friends 3 . That 's just the Way we Roll 4 . Goodnight and Goodbye 5 . Hello Beautiful 6 . Hold On 7 . S.O.S Everlife 1 . Find Yourself in You 2 . Real Wild Child 3 . I Could Get Used to This 4 . Look Through My Eyes 5 . 6 . 7 . What I like about you = = Setlist = = Act 1 : " Rock Star " " Life 's What You Make It " " Just Like You " Act 2 : " Old Blue Jeans " " Nobody 's Perfect " Act 3 : " Pumpin ' Up the Party " " I Got Nerve " " We Got the Party " 1 Act 4 : " Start All Over " " Good and Broken " " See You Again " Act 5 : " Let 's Dance " " Right Here " Act 6 : " East Northumberland High " " G.N.O. ( Girl 's Night Out ) " " The Best of Both Worlds " Encore : " I Miss You " " Ready , Set , Don 't Go " with Billy Ray Cyrus " Clear " 2 1 Performed from October 18 , 2007 to January 9 , 2008 . " Rock and Roll All Nite " was performed afterwards . 2 Performed as encore on January 31 , 2008 Source : = = Interlude setlists = = Jonas Brothers 1 . When You Look Me in the Eyes 2 . Year 3000 Aly & A.J = = Tour dates = = = = = Box office score data = = = = = Personnel = = Creative Team Director – Kenny Ortega Choreographer – Kenny Ortega , Teresa Espinosa Design – Kelly McFadden Lighting and Video Designer – Abigail Rosen Holmes Management – Jason Morey , Jim Morey Photography – Brian Love , Kevin Mazuer , Michael T. Williams Production Design – Michael Cotten Screens Content Director – Steve Gerdes Staff & Crew Production Coordinator – Omar Abderrahman Video Techs – Eric Geiger , Steve " Bone " Gray , Evan Huff , Justin McLean , Dane Mustola , Mark Woody Wardrobe Designer – Dahlia Foroutan Band Music Direction – Stacy Jones , John Taylor Guitar – Jamie Arentzen , John Taylor Keyboards – Mike Schmid Bass – Greg Garbowski , Vashon Johnson Drummers – Stacy Jones , Jack Lawless Background vocals – Candice Accola , Kay Hanley Source :
= Contagion ( film ) = Contagion is a 2011 American medical thriller film directed by Steven Soderbergh . The film features an ensemble cast that includes Marion Cotillard , Bryan Cranston , Matt Damon , Laurence Fishburne , Jude Law , Gwyneth Paltrow , Kate Winslet , and Jennifer Ehle . The plot of Contagion documents the spread of a virus transmitted by fomites , attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease , the loss of social order in a pandemic , and finally the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread . To follow several interacting plot lines , the film makes use of the multi @-@ narrative " hyperlink cinema " style , popularized in several of Soderbergh 's films . Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns had collaborated on The Informant ! ( 2009 ) . Following that film 's release , Burns brought up the idea of producing a medical thriller film depicting the rapid spread of a virus , which was inspired by various pandemics such as the 2003 SARS epidemic and the 2009 flu pandemic . To devise an accurate perception of a pandemic event , Burns consulted with representatives of the World Health Organization as well as noted medical experts such as W. Ian Lipkin and Lawrence " Larry " Brilliant . Principal photography started in Hong Kong in September 2010 , and continued in Chicago , Atlanta , London , Geneva , and San Francisco until February 2011 . Contagion premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival in Venice , Italy on September 3 , 2011 , and went on general release on September 9 . The film was well received by critics , who praised the narratives and the performances of various actors and actresses . It was also well received by scientists , who praised its accuracy . Commercially , the film was a box office success . Budgeted at $ 60 million , Contagion attained $ 135 million in box office revenue during its theatrical run . = = Plot = = Returning from a Hong Kong business trip , Beth Emhoff ( Gwyneth Paltrow ) has a layover in Chicago to have sex with a former lover before returning to her family in suburban Minneapolis . She appears to have contracted a cold during her trip . Her six @-@ year @-@ old son from a previous marriage , Clark , also becomes symptomatic and is sent home from school . Beth 's condition worsens and two days later she collapses with severe seizures . Her husband , Mitch ( Matt Damon ) , rushes her to the hospital , but she dies of an unknown cause . Mitch returns home and finds that Clark has also died from a similar infection . Mitch is put in isolation but seems to be immune to the disease . He is released and returns home to his teenaged daughter Jory , who had been living with Mitch 's former wife and her husband and has decided to stay with Mitch since he 's now all alone . They face decaying social order and rampant looting of stores and homes . Mitch is unsure if Jory has inherited his immunity and he struggles with the frustration of quarantine , his desire to protect his daughter and learning that his wife was cheating on him immediately prior to both her death and that of his stepson . In Atlanta , representatives of the Department of Homeland Security meet with Dr. Ellis Cheever ( Laurence Fishburne ) of the CDC and express fears that the disease is a bio weapon intended to cause terror over the Thanksgiving weekend . Dr. Cheever dispatches Dr. Erin Mears ( Kate Winslet ) , an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer , to Minneapolis to begin investigating . Mears traces the outbreak back to Emhoff while negotiating with local bureaucrats initially reluctant to commit resources for a proper public health response to the virus . Dr. Mears later becomes infected and dies . At the CDC , Dr. Ally Hextall ( Jennifer Ehle ) determines the virus is a mix of genetic material from pig and bat viruses . Work on a cure stalls because scientists cannot discover a cell culture within which to grow the newly identified Meningoencephalitis Virus One ( MEV @-@ 1 ) . UCSF professor Dr. Ian Sussman ( Elliott Gould ) violates orders from Cheever ( relayed through Hextall ) to destroy his samples , and identifies a usable MEV @-@ 1 cell culture using bat cells . Hextall uses the breakthrough to work on a vaccine . Other scientists determine the virus is spread by fomites , with a basic reproduction number of four when the virus mutates , with projections of one in twelve of the population being infected , and a 25 @-@ 30 % mortality rate . Conspiracy theorist Alan Krumwiede ( Jude Law ) posts videos about the virus on his popular blog . In one video , he shows himself sick and later claims he recovered using a homeopathic cure derived from forsythia . In a panic , people seeking forsythia overwhelm pharmacies , spreading and accelerating the contagion as the infected come into contact with healthy people . Krumwiede 's claims attract national attention . During a television interview he discloses that Dr. Cheever had secretly informed friends and family to leave Chicago just before the city was quarantined . Cheever is then informed the government will investigate and may charge him for leaking information . Later it is revealed Krumwiede had faked being infected by the virus in an attempt to increase profits for shareholders in companies producing and selling forsythia . Krumwiede is arrested for conspiracy and securities fraud , only to walk free when his many supporters successfully raise funds to provide for his bail . Using an attenuated virus Dr. Hextall identifies a possible vaccine . To cut out the lengthy time it would take to obtain informed consent from infected patients , Dr. Hextall inoculates herself with the experimental vaccine and immediately visits her gravely ill father , who has been infected with MEV @-@ 1 . The doctor does not contract MEV @-@ 1 and the vaccine is declared a success . The vaccine 's production is rapidly increased , but due to limited production , the CDC awards vaccinations by lottery based on birth date . Inoculations take place for one full year until every survivor is vaccinated . First responders , doctors and others designated by the government are declared exempt from the lottery . Dr. Cheever gives his fast @-@ tracked MEV @-@ 1 vaccination to the son of Roger ( John Hawkes ) , a CDC janitor who had overheard Dr. Cheever 's phone call warning his girlfriend to leave Chicago . Dr. Leonora Orantes ( Marion Cotillard ) , a WHO epidemiologist , travels to Hong Kong to follow the Beth Emhoff lead . She collaborates with Sun Feng ( Chin Han ) and other local epidemiologists and public health officials ; they identify Emhoff as patient zero . As the virus spreads , Feng kidnaps Orantes to use her as leverage to obtain MEV @-@ 1 vaccine doses for his village . Orantes spends months living with the villagers until the vaccine is announced . Feng exchanges Orantes for the vaccine doses . Her colleague mentions that the exchanged doses were placebos and Orantes rushes away to warn them . The death toll reached 2 @.@ 5 million in the U.S. and 26 million worldwide . Dr. Hextall places samples of MEV @-@ 1 in cryogenic storage , alongside samples of H1N1 and SARS . The source of the virus is revealed to viewers . A bulldozer ( coincidently , operating for the company Emhoff works for ) knocks down a palm tree disturbing some bats , with one finding shelter and food in a banana tree . That bat then flies over a pig pen , dropping a chunk of banana from its mouth , which is then eaten by a piglet . Chinese chefs later collect pigs from the pen and take them to a casino . A chef is called away from his preparations of a piglet , and casually wipes his hands on his apron . The chef then shakes hands with Beth Emhoff , giving her the mix of bat and pig viruses that makes her patient zero and the origin of the MEV @-@ 1 virus . = = Cast and characterizations = = Marion Cotillard as Dr. Leonora Orantes Orantes ' main objective is to trace the origins of the MEV @-@ 1 pathogen . Cotillard , a fan of Soderbergh 's work , first met with the director in Los Angeles , California . The French actress was enthralled with the script because she was " very concerned about germs . I 've always been ... scared , in a way , by all of those disease [ s ] . So ... it was really something I was really interested . " Soderbergh said that Orantes " gets dropped into situations and has to deal with cultural as well as scientific issues that are sometimes at odds " , and notes that she has a " professional " yet stubborn , " remote " , and " dispassionate " demeanor , though " something happens to her in the course of the story that causes a significant emotional shift . " Matt Damon as Mitch Emhoff Damon viewed his character as the embodiment of the " everyman " — an individual that is seen as " one of the human faces of the supervirus " following his wife and stepson 's deaths . Soderbergh also noted Mitch 's " common individual " lack of medical and scientific knowledge , though keeping the situation dynamic and compelling was challenging for the director , as he was concerned that Emhoff would be a one @-@ dimensional character . Soderbergh felt that Damon understood the concept and addressed the producers ' concerns . " You never catch him acting " , said Soderbergh . " There 's no vanity , no self @-@ consciousness in his performance ; it 's as if the cameras aren 't there . " Writer Scott Z. Burns sent him a copy of the script with a " read this and then go wash your hands " note attached to it . Damon recalled : " I just really want to be in this movie . It was a terrific , riveting , really fast read and really exciting and really horrifying , but managed to be really touching . " Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Ellis Cheever Soderbergh admired Fishburne 's ability to portray an emphatic and assertive figure in previous films . To Fishburne , Cheever was a " smart " , " competent " physician who often epitomized a " voice of reason " . Once he conferred with W. Ian Lipkin , a virologist and professor at Columbia University , the character 's complexities were nonexistent for the actor . Fishburne stated , " The personal stuff that I have as Ellis Cheever was telling my fiancée , soon @-@ to @-@ be wife , Sanaa Lathan , to get out of town , to leave , to pack up , to not talk . That 's really easy . Any human being in that situation is going to do that , I think . " Jude Law as Alan Krumwiede Krumwiede is an ardent conspiracy theorist who , according to Law , is the so @-@ called index patient for " what becomes a parallel epidemic of fear and panic " . " We definitely wanted him to have a messianic streak " , said Soderbergh , whom Law talked to during the character 's creating process . The two men discussed the appearances and the behaviors of a typical anti @-@ government conspiracy theorist . Producer Gregory Jacobs commented that " what 's interesting is that you 're not really sure about him . Is the government really hiding something and does the herbal remedy he 's talking about really work ? I think we all suspect at one time or another that we 're not getting the whole truth , and in that sense Krumwiede represents the audience 's point of view . " Gwyneth Paltrow as Elizabeth " Beth " Emhoff A " working mom " , as described by Paltrow , Elizabeth is the central figure in the detective process . Despite being among the virus ' first victims , Paltrow believed that Elizabeth was " lucky " , as she thought the disease 's survivors were being left to deal with the newly difficult conditions of everyday life , such as finding food and potable water . When on location in Hong Kong , Paltrow was instructed by Soderbergh to take photographs to be used in the film , and admitted she was apprehensive about the assignment . " I was just another tourist taking pictures " , she said , and added , " I did feel a little pressure . When Steven Soderbergh gives you a photo assignment , you had better come back with something decent . " Kate Winslet as Dr. Erin Mears In researching her character , Winslet traveled to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) in Atlanta , Georgia , where she consulted with current and former officers of the Epidemic Intelligence Service to receive insight on not only the daily life , but on the type of person qualified for the occupation . " These are people who can be sent into war zones where there 's been an outbreak of a new virus . Fear is not an option . If they feel it , they learn to push it aside . " Winslet felt that Mears was able to bring the epidemic " down to the layman 's level " so the viewer could comprehend the scope of it without the science dragging the story down . Jennifer Ehle as Dr. Ally Hextall Soderbergh had seen Ehle 's performance in Michael Clayton ( 2007 ) , though it was ultimately cut prior to the film 's release , and it prompted him to offer her a role in Contagion . He " had known who Jennifer was for a long time , and this didn 't take a lot of thought , honestly " . Elliott Gould as Dr. Ian Sussman A doctor in San Francisco , Sussman identifies a cell culture capable of growing the virus . Chin Han as Sun Feng Han spoke of his character 's development : " He starts off as a button @-@ down , serious ... government official , and then as the movie progresses ... you find out a different side of him and his secret agenda . " Bryan Cranston as Rear Admiral Lyle Haggerty , United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps John Hawkes as Roger , CDC custodian and acquaintance of Dr. Cheever Anna Jacoby @-@ Heron as Jory Emhoff , daughter of Mitch Emoff Josie Ho as Li Fai 's sister Sanaa Lathan as Aubrey Cheever , fiancée of Dr. Cheever Demetri Martin as Dr. David Eisenberg , CDC colleague of Dr. Hextall Armin Rohde as Damian Leopold , a WHO official Enrico Colantoni as Dennis French , a Department of Homeland Security official Larry Clarke as Dave , a Minnesota health official working with Dr. Mears Monique Gabriela Curnen as Lorraine Vasquez , a print journalist in San Francisco Amr Waked as Rafik Matt Motyka as Minnesota Body Burial Worker = = Production = = = = = Conception and writing = = = Concerted efforts to devise Contagion coincided with Burns ' collaboration with Soderbergh in The Informant ! ( 2009 ) . The duo had initially planned to create a biographical film on Leni Riefenstahl , a trailblazer in German cinema during the 1930s and a figure in the rise of the Nazi Party . Soderbergh later contacted Burns to cancel the project , as he thought that a film about Riefenstahl would struggle to attract an audience . Intrigued with the field of transmission , Burns suggested that they instead create a film that centered on a pandemic situation — " an interesting thriller version of a pandemic movie " . His main objective was to construct a medical thriller that " really felt like what could happen " . Burns consulted with Lawrence " Larry " Brilliant , renowned for his work in eradicating smallpox , to develop an accurate perception of a pandemic event . He had seen one of Brilliant 's TED presentations , which he was fascinated by , and realized that " the point of view of people within that field isn 't ' If this is going to happen ' , it 's ' When is this going to happen ? ' " Brilliant introduced Burns to another specialist , W. Ian Lipkin . With the aid of these physicians , the producers were able to obtain additional perspectives from representatives of the World Health Organization . Burns also met with the author of The Coming Plague , Laurie Garrett . Her 1995 book helped Burns consider a variety of potential plots for the film . He wanted to feature an official from the CDC , and ultimately decided to use an epidemiologist , since that role requires interacting with people while tracking the disease . Although he had done research on pandemics six months prior to the 2009 flu pandemic , the outbreak was " really helpful " to his studies , because it provided a glimpse of the societal apparatus following the onset stages of a pandemic . To him , it was not solely the virus itself that one had to be concerned about , but how society handles the situation . " I saw them come to life " , Burns said , " and I saw issues about , ' Well , do you close the schools and if you close the schools , then who stays home with the kids ? And will everyone keep their kids at home ? ' Things happening online , which is where the Jude Law character came from , that there 's going to be information that comes out online where people want to be ahead of the curve , so some people will write things about anti @-@ virals or different treatment protocols , and so there 's always going to be an information and that information also has sort of a viral pulse . " = = = Filming = = = In conjunction with overseeing the directing process , Soderbergh functioned as a cinematographer for Contagion . The film was wholly shot using Red Digital Cinema Camera Company 's RED One MX digital camera , which uses ambient light and has a 4.5K image resolution . Since he hoped for the premise to be authentic and " as realistic as possible " , Soderbergh opted not to film in the studio . " There 's , to me , nothing more satisfying occasionally than making someplace look like someplace else on film and having nobody know the difference . " For choosing cities , Soderbergh felt that they couldn 't " go anywhere where one of our characters hasn 't been " , since he wanted to portray an " epic " , yet " intimate " scenario . He explained , We can 't cut to a city or a group of extras that we 've never been to that we don ’ t know personally . That was our rule . And that ’ s a pretty significant rule to adhere to in a movie in which you 're trying to give a sense of something that ’ s happening on a large scale , but we felt that all of the elements that we had issues with prior , when we see any kind of disaster film , we 're centered around that idea . Principal photography started in Hong Kong in September 2010 , and continued for approximately two weeks . Soderbergh was originally hoping to also film in mainland China , though Moviefone journalist David Ehrlich believed that permission from the Chinese government was unlikely to be forthcoming . Although producers also intended to establish a filming location in one of the many casinos in Macau , the Jumbo Floating Restaurant in Hong Kong 's Aberdeen Harbour was used instead for the casino setting , as filming within the vicinity of a gambling establishment is prohibited by law . To move the equipment for the casino scenes to the on @-@ the @-@ water location , producers hired a number of locals to carry out the task , as they were accustomed to " using sampans like trucks " . Additional locations included the Hong Kong International Airport , InterContinental Hong Kong , and the Princess Margaret Hospital . Principal photography relocated in the following month to Chicago , Illinois , which served as the nexus for production . Much of the cityscape and its surrounding suburbs were used to emulate Minneapolis , Minnesota , and Atlanta , Georgia , in addition to serving as backdrop for Chicago itself . Since principal photography occurred during the winter months , snowfall was a prerequisite in simulating a " persistent coldness " that encompassed " a hypersensitive kind of glare " . Within the city limits , filming locations were installed at the Shedd Aquarium , O 'Hare International Airport , and the Midway Airport . Arguably the largest sets were at the General Jones Armory , which was converted into an infirmary , and a major location shoot occurred in Waukegan , where a portion of the Amstutz Expressway was used to simulate the Dan Ryan Expressway . Production also took place at Sherman Hospital in Elgin and Central Elementary School in Wilmette , and also in Downtown Western Springs , where the grocery store scene was filmed . Filming moved once again in January 2011 to the Druid Hills quadrant of Atlanta , which contains the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The restricted nature of the CDC campus meant that producers were only allowed to shoot exterior scenes of the area , as well as within the parking garage and reception area for the CDC 's museum onsite . Principal photography then proceeded into Atlanta 's central business district and Decatur , before advancing to London , Geneva , and lastly San Francisco , California , in the ensuing month . The San Francisco Film Commission charged filmmakers $ 300 per day for production within the city limits . In the North Beach and Potrero Hill sections of the city , production designer Howard Cummings scattered trash and discarded clothing on the ground to depict the rapid decline of civilization . For the Civic Center set , over 2 @,@ 000 extras were sought for in background roles ; actors who were a part of the Screen Actors Guild were paid $ 139 per day , while nonunion workers received $ 64 per day for their work . Other filming locations were established at Golden Gate Park , Chinatown , and Candlestick Park ; it cost $ 60 @,@ 000 to rent the football stadium for six days . = = = Soundtrack = = = Cliff Martinez composed the film 's soundtrack , which was his first score for Soderbergh since Solaris in 2002 . Given that the pacing of the music was one of Soderbergh 's biggest concerns , Martinez needed to maintain a brisk pace throughout the soundtrack , while also conveying fear and hope within the music . " I tried to create the sound of anxiety . And at key , strategic moments I tried to use the music to conjure up the sense of tragedy and loss . " Martinez incorporated orchestral elements , and fused them with the predominantly electronic sounds of the score . He noted that the " sound palette for Contagion came by way of combining three very different approaches Steven went through as he was cutting the film . " Martinez received a rough cut for the film in October 2010 , which contained music that was imbued with elements of The French Connection ( 1971 ) and Marathon Man ( 1976 ) . He " loved " those two soundtracks , and composed a few pieces in their style . A few months later , he acquired a new cut , which included music influenced by German electronic group Tangerine Dream . Toward the end , Soderbergh changed again and used contemporary soundtrack music that was " more energetic and more rhythmic " . Ultimately , Martinez used aspects of all three approaches : " I reasoned that combining them would not only be effective but would give the score a style all its own . " = = Themes = = Steven Soderbergh was motivated to make an " ultra @-@ realistic " film about the public health and scientific response to a pandemic . The movie touches on a variety of themes , including the factors which drive mass panic and collapse of social order , the scientific process for characterizing and containing a novel pathogen , balancing personal motives against professional responsibilities and rules in the face of an existential threat , the limitations and consequences of public health responses , and the pervasiveness of interpersonal connections which can serve as vectors to spread disease . Soderbergh acknowledged the salience of these post @-@ apocalyptic themes is heightened by reactions to the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina . The movie was intended to realistically convey the " intense " and " unnerving " social and scientific reactions to a pandemic . The recent real @-@ life epidemics such as the 2003 SARS epidemic and the 2009 flu pandemic have been inspirations and influences in the film . The chain of contagion involving bats and pigs is reminiscent of the trail of the Nipah virus that originated in Malaysia in 1997 , which similarly involved the disturbance of a bat colony by deforestation . The film presents examples of crowd psychology and collective behavior which can lead to mass hysteria and the loss of social order . The bafflement , outrage , and helplessness associated with the lack of information , combined with new media such as blogs , allow conspiracy theorists like Krumwiede to spread disinformation and fear , which become dangerous contagions themselves . Dr. Cheever must balance the need for full disclosure but avoid a panic and allow the time to characterize and respond to an unknown virus . The movie indirectly critiques the greed , selfishness , and hypocrisy of isolated acts in contemporary culture and the unintended consequences they can have in the context of a pandemic . For example , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends social distancing by forcibly isolating the healthy to limit the spread of the disease , which stands in stark opposition to contemporary demands for social networking . Responding to the pandemic presents a paradox , as the contagiousness and lethality of the virus instills deep distrust of others but surviving and limiting the spread of the disease also requires individuals to work together . Against this existential threat and fraying social order , the film also explores how individual characters bend or break existing rules for both selfish and selfless reasons . Dr. Hextall violates protocols by testing a potential vaccine on herself , Dr. Sussman continues experiments on a cell line despite orders to destroy his samples , Dr. Cheever notifies his fiancé to leave the city before a public quarantine is imposed , Sun Feng kidnaps Dr. Orantes to secure vaccine supplies for his village , Dr. Mears continues her containment work despite contracting the virus , and Krumwiede is paid to use his blog to peddle snake oil cures so as to drive demand and profit for investors in Alternative Medicine . Soderbergh repeatedly uses the cinematographic style of lingering and focusing on the items and objects which are touched by the infected and become vectors ( fomites ) to infect other people . These objects link characters together and reinforce the multi @-@ narrative hyperlink cinema style which Soderbergh developed in Traffic ( 2000 ) and Syriana ( 2005 ) , which he produced . The story also highlights examples of political cronyism ( a plane to evacuate Dr. Mears from Minneapolis is instead diverted to evacuate a Congressman ) , platitudes and rigid thinking ( public health officials consider postponing the closing of shopping malls until after the Thanksgiving shopping season ) , federal responders trying to navigate 50 separate state @-@ level public health policies , and the heroism of Federal bureaucrats . Soderbergh does not use type @-@ cast pharmaceutical executives or politicians as villains , but instead portrays bloggers such as Krumwiede in a negative light . Social media plays a role in Krumwiede 's accusations against Dr. Cheever and in Emhoff 's daughter 's attempts to carry on a relationship with her boyfriend through text messaging . Other responses in the movie , such as Emhoff 's appropriating a shotgun from a friend 's abandoned house to protect his home from looters , imposition of federal quarantines and curfews , the allocation of vaccines by lottery , inadequate federal preparation and responses , and use of bar @-@ coded wristbands to identify the inoculated highlight the complex tensions between freedom and order in responding to a pandemic . Soderbergh uses Emhoff to illustrate the micro @-@ effects of macro @-@ level decisions . = = Reception = = = = = Release and box office = = = Contagion premiered on September 3 , 2011 at the 68th Venice Film Festival in Venice , Italy , and a wider release followed on September 9 . In the United States and Canada , Contagion was shown in 3 @,@ 222 theaters , of which 254 screenings occurred at IMAX venues . Various American commercial analysts anticipated that the film would have ticket sales of between $ 20 million and $ 25 million during its opening weekend , which it did , grossing $ 8 million on its first day , and $ 23.1M for the entire weekend . Of that total , ten percent ( $ 2.3M ) of the gross came from IMAX screenings . By outgrossing competitor The Help ( $ 8.7M ) , Contagion became the highest @-@ grossing film of the week . Demographically , the opening audience was evenly divided among gender , according to Warner Bros. , while eighty percent of spectators were of the age of 25 and over . Contagion did well the following weekend , generating a $ 14.5M box office , but came in second to the re @-@ release of The Lion King ( 1994 ) . The third week saw the box office drop by forty percent , for a total gross of $ 8.7M. By the fourth week , Contagion had dropped to ninth place at the box office with $ 5M , and the number of theaters narrowed to 2 @,@ 744 . The film completed its theatrical run on December 15 , 2011 , at which point its total domestic gross was $ 75.6M. Contagion made its international debut in six foreign markets the same weekend as its American release , including Italy , where it achieved $ 663 @,@ 000 from 309 theaters . The first week saw Contagion acquire $ 2.1M from 553 establishments — a per @-@ theater average of $ 3 @,@ 797 . Foreign grosses for Contagion would remain relatively stagnant up until the weekend of October 14 – 16 , 2011 , when the film expanded into several additional European markets . Out of the $ 3.9M that was generated from 1 @,@ 100 venues during that weekend , nearly 40 % of the gross originated from Spain , where the film earned $ 1.5M from 325 theaters . With the growing expansion of the film in seven additional markets , the weekend of October 21 – 23 , 2011 saw Contagion take in $ 9.8M from 2 @,@ 505 locations , increasing the international gross to $ 22.9M. In the United Kingdom , one of the film 's significant international releases , Contagion opened in third place at the box office with $ 2.3M from 398 theaters ; it subsequently garnered the highest debut gross of a Soderbergh film since Ocean 's Thirteen ( 2007 ) . International grosses for Contagion stand at $ 59.8M. = = = Critical response = = = Contagion has received positive reviews by film commentators . Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes sampled 237 reviewers and judged 84 % of the reviews to be positive . With a mean score of 7 / 10 , the site 's consensus stated , " Tense , tightly plotted , and bolstered by a stellar cast , Contagion is an exceptionally smart — and scary — disaster movie . " At Metacritic , which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on the critiques from mainstream critics , the film received an average score of 70 based on 38 reviews . The Guardian journalist Peter Bradshaw felt that Contagion blended well together as a film , although opined that Soderbergh was somewhat unsuccessful on channeling the fears , frights , and " the massive sense of loss " of " ordinary people " . To David Denby of The New Yorker , the " brilliant " film was " serious , precise , frightening , " and " emotionally enveloping " . Despite applauding Soderbergh for " hopscotching " tidily " between the intimate and international " , The Atlantic 's Christopher Orr was disappointed with the film 's detached and " clinical " disposition , which led him to conclude that Contagion should have gone with a more inflexible rationale , or a lesson " beyond ' wash your hands often and hope you 're lucky ' . " " For all the craft that went into it , Contagion is ultimately beyond good or bad , beyond criticism . It just is , " professed The Atlantic writer . Described as a " smart " and " spooky " installment , Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote , " Mr. Soderbergh doesn 't milk your tears as things fall apart , but a passion that can feel like cold rage is inscribed in his images of men and women isolated in the frame , in the blurred point of view of the dying and in the insistent stillness of a visual style that seems like an exhortation to look . " In regards to the story , Salon columnist Andrew O 'Hehir avouched that the " crisp " and succinct narrative matched up to the " beautifully composed " visuals of the film . Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter proclaimed that Soderbergh and Burns effectively created anxiety in the " shrewd " and " unsensationalistic " film without becoming exaggerated , a sentiment echoed by Jeanette Catsolis of NPR , who insisted that the duo " weave multiple characters into a narrative that 's complex without being confusing , and intelligent without being baffling " . Writing for The Village Voice , Karina Longworth thought that Contagion reflected the " self @-@ consciousness " and " experimentation " of some of Soderbergh 's previous efforts , such as the Ocean 's trilogy and The Girlfriend Experience ( 2009 ) . The performances of multiple cast members were frequently mentioned in the reviews . Lou Lumenick of New York Post asserted that Ehle was " outstanding " , a view that was analogous to that of The Boston Globe journalist Wesley Morris , who praised not only Ehle 's performance , but the work of the " undercard " such as Cranston , Gould , and Colantoni , among others . Similarly , Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Ehle the " best in show " . As Los Angeles Times ' Kenneth Turan summed up , " Two @-@ time Tony @-@ winning actress Jennifer Ehle comes close to stealing the picture with this quietly yet quirkily empathetic performance . " In regards to Law , The Philadelphia Inquirer 's Steven Rea stated that the actor portrayed the character with a " nutty " confidence ; Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle agreed with Rea 's thoughts . Damon provided the film 's " relatable heart " , according to Forrest Wickman of Slate , who concluded that even with her controlled performance , Winslet " lives up to her head @-@ of @-@ the @-@ class reputation even in an unusually small role " . The character development of multiple characters produced varying response from critics . Contrary to Mitch 's stance as the main protagonist , Michael O 'Sullivan of The Washington Post felt that Contagion " treats him with an oddly clinical detachment " . In particular Law 's character , Alan Krumwiede , attracted commentary from Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun @-@ Times , who wrote , " The blogger subplot doesn 't interact clearly with the main story lines and functions mostly as an alarming but vague distraction . " = = = = Scientific accuracy = = = = Ferris Jabr of New Scientist approved of Contagion for accurately portraying the " successes and frustrations " of science . Jabr cites story elements such as " the fact that before researchers can study a virus , they need to figure out how to grow it in cell cultures in the lab , without the virus destroying all the cells " as examples of accurate depictions of science . Carl Zimmer , a science commentator , praised the film , stating , " It shows how reconstructing the course of an outbreak can provide crucial clues , such as how many people an infected person can give a virus to , how many of them get sick , and how many of them die . " He also describes a conversation with the film 's scientific consultant , W. Ian Lipkin , in which Lipkin defended the rapid generation of a vaccine in the film . Zimmer wrote that " Lipkin and his colleagues are now capable of figuring out how to trigger immune reactions to exotic viruses from animals in a matter of weeks , not months . And once they 've created a vaccine , they don 't have to use Eisenhower @-@ era technology to manufacture it in bulk . " Paul Offit , a pediatrician and vaccination expert , stated that " typically when movies take on science , they tend to sacrifice the science in favor of drama . That wasn 't true here . " Offit appreciated the film 's usage of concepts such as R0 and fomites , as well as the fictional strain 's origins , which was based on the Nipah virus . = = = Home media = = = Contagion was released on DVD and Blu @-@ ray in North America on January 3 , 2012 , and in the United Kingdom on March 5 , 2012 . In its first week of release , the film topped the DVD chart with 411 @,@ 000 units sold for $ 6 @.@ 16 million . That same week it sold 274 @,@ 000 Blu @-@ ray copies for $ 4 @.@ 93 million , topping that chart as well . DVD sales dropped during the second week of release , with 193 @,@ 000 units sold for $ 2 @.@ 89 million . As of early July 2012 , Contagion had sold 802 @,@ 535 copies in DVD , for $ 12 @.@ 01 million in revenue .
= One of Us ( Lost ) = " One of Us " is the 16th episode of the third season of Lost . It aired on April 11 , 2007 , making it the 65th episode of the series . The episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Drew Goddard and directed by Jack Bender . The title of the episode is not only a reference to the season two episode titled " One of Them " , it is also a major theme of the episode , as Jack tries to convince the other flight survivors that Juliet is " one of us " , rather than an Other . The character of Dr. Juliet Burke ( Elizabeth Mitchell ) is featured in the episode 's flashbacks , which reveal how Juliet got on the Island and why she went to the island in the first place . While on the island , Jack Shephard ( Matthew Fox ) , Kate Austen ( Evangeline Lilly ) , Sayid Jarrah ( Naveen Andrews ) and Juliet trek back to the beach camp , and Claire Littleton ( Emilie de Ravin ) is struck by a mysterious illness . Andrew Divoff , William Mapother and Nestor Carbonell again reprise their recurring roles as Others ; Mikhail Bakunin , Ethan Rom and Richard Alpert . The Island events in this episode take place between December 13 and December 15 , 2004 . = = Plot = = = = = Flashbacks = = = Juliet arrives at an airport with her sister , where Richard Alpert and Ethan Rom are there to escort her the rest of the way . Juliet says good @-@ bye to her sister , Rachel , promising to be back before her baby is born . In the airport terminal , Alpert pours sedative into a glass of orange juice and gives it to Juliet to drink , explaining that the trip is very intense . Juliet is wary of drinking the juice , even though she is okay with the other circumstances surrounding the trip . Alpert interrupts and tells her the place she is going is very special and that she has a gift with which she is supposed to do something significant . Juliet drinks the orange juice and passes out . She wakes up in a submarine with her arms and waist strapped down for safety . She then moves out onto a dock , where she meets Ben Linus . Juliet is shown operating with Ethan and Goodwin ( Brett Cullen ) on a pregnant patient , Sabine , who dies ; she is comforted by Goodwin . Juliet meets with Ben , and explains her theory that the problems with pregnant women happen at conception . She wants to test this theory by having a woman conceive off the island , but Ben refuses to let anyone off the island . When Juliet tells him that nothing else can be done and asks to go home and be with her sister , Ben informs Juliet that her sister 's cancer has come back . He offers her a choice : either Juliet can go home and be with her sister as she dies , or she can stay and he will have Jacob cure her sister 's cancer . Juliet is in bed after sleeping with Goodwin . Afterwards , she is given x @-@ rays of Ben 's back , and when she determines that Ben has a tumor , she confronts him and accuses him of lying about Rachel . He denies lying to her and refuses to let her go home . The next day , immediately after Flight 815 crashes , Ben takes Juliet to the Flame Station to see Mikhail . Ben tells Mikhail that he wants information on all of the passengers of the plane , then asks him to bring up a live feed . On the screen a newspaper is shown with the current date , September 22 , 2004 , followed by a shot of Rachel playing with her child ( Rachel named her son Julian , presumably after Juliet ) in a playground , and Ben explains that her cancer is in complete remission . The final flashback shows Juliet and Ben discussing their plans immediately before the events of " Left Behind " . Ben tells her to handcuff herself to Kate and say she was left behind . She is also told that Claire 's " implant " has been " activated " and that this will make Claire ill . Juliet is to use drugs left at the drop point to cure her and earn the trust of the survivors ; Ben gives her a gas mask and leaves . While setting up her shelter , Juliet looks around the camp and ties a final double knot as Jack smiles at her . = = = On the Island = = = Jack Shephard , Kate Austen , Sayid Jarrah and Juliet Burke move back to the beach camp . As they stop for the night , Jack explains to Kate the deal he made with Ben Linus ( Michael Emerson ) . Sayid attempts to interrogate Juliet , but Jack intervenes and defends her . At the beach camp , Charlie Pace ( Dominic Monaghan ) hears Claire Littleton 's baby , Aaron , crying and wakes up Claire . Claire says she is not feeling well , so Charlie offers to take care of Aaron . James " Sawyer " Ford ( Josh Holloway ) sees Jack , Kate , and Sayid returning . Though happy about their return , he expresses his displeasure at seeing Juliet . Hugo " Hurley " Reyes ( Jorge Garcia ) engages Juliet in casual conversation . Juliet guesses that Hurley was sent to keep an eye on her . He tells her the last Other who came over , Ethan , was killed and buried nearby . That night , Jack tells everyone that he trusts Juliet and that should be enough , but Sayid disagrees . Jack continues to explain that John Locke blew up the submarine that was to take him home . Claire suddenly collapses with blood gushing from her face . Juliet takes Jack and Kate aside and tells them she knows what 's wrong with Claire because she did it to her . At the camp , Juliet explains that Claire 's immune system has turned against her due to a latent reaction to medication in her bloodstream . The medication was designed by Juliet to keep Claire alive during her pregnancy . She was brought to the island to find out why women couldn 't have children . The mother 's body treats the pregnancy as a foreign invader and the immune system attacks ; every pregnant woman on the island has died . Claire was the first to survive even though she showed some of the symptoms . Juliet explains that Ethan kept a stash of the serum at a nearby drop point . She goes out into the jungle and retrieves the serum , but Sayid and Sawyer have followed her , and they want answers . Juliet tells them there is no time , and realizing they are not going to budge , she stands up to them and says she finds it interesting that they are the camp 's moral police , considering their violent pasts . She takes the serum back to the beach and gives it to Jack . He warns her that if anything happens to Claire , he will not be able to protect her against the will of the survivors any longer and she would be alone , to which Juliet states that she already is . At the camp , Claire wakes up . She is feeling and looking much better . Juliet is now on the path to being trusted by the survivors . Jack brings her supplies to set up her tent area and tells her eventually everyone will need answers . Juliet asks why Jack trusts her and does not ask for answers . He says because when the submarine exploded , he saw in her eyes that she wanted to get off this island more than anything . That makes her " one of us . " = = Production = = " One of Us " was the nineteenth episode directed by Jack Bender . It was written by Carlton Cuse and Drew Goddard ; the pair had never before collaborated on an episode . As usual , the scenes on the beach ( the survivors camp ) were shot at Oahu 's Papa 'iloa Beach , while the island scenes were actually filmed at the Waialua Mauka Ranches . The Mittelos secure building exterior scenes were shot at the Honolulu Advertiser Production and Distribution Building . Most of the scenes displaying the Others ' camp were shot at the Hawaii Film Studio , with the exception of the barracks which were filmed at YMCA Camp Erdman . The inside of the submarine was filmed inside the SS @-@ 287 which is located at the USS Arizona Memorial . Once again , the song " Downtown " by Petula Clark was used in flashbacks ; it was already used in the earlier episode " A Tale of Two Cities " . = = Reception = = " One of Us " was watched by 12 @.@ 09 million Americans , ranking Lost as the twentieth most watched program of the week . Lost defeated CBS ' CSI : NY by 53 % among adults 18 @-@ 49 , the largest ever margin of victory for Lost over CSI : NY in original episodes . The ratings were also an increase over the previous episode , and improved the timeslot by 5 @.@ 7 million viewers over the same night last year . Lost was the fifth most watched program for the week in the key adults 18 @-@ 49 demographic , achieving 5 @.@ 2 million viewers . In the United Kingdom , the episode attracted 1 @.@ 09 million viewers , and was the second most watched program of the week on the non @-@ terrestrial channels , beaten only by Live FA Cup Football . Reviewer Chris Carabott of IGN rated the episode with an 8 @.@ 7 out of 10 , commenting that " One of Us " was " yet another solid effort from long @-@ time Lost director Jack Bender who deserves credit for bringing us some of the best episodes the series has to offer . Bender has helmed " Walkabout " , " Man of Science , Man of Faith " and this season 's best " The Man from Tallahassee " just to name a few " . BuddyTV senior writer Jon Lachonis commented that " One of Us " was " perhaps the most perfect episode of Lost ever produced , bar none . For those of you who were upset with how inelegantly " Exposé " squandered its flashback opportunities , prepare for a huge apology from the producers . For those Lost fans who stuck around knowing that the show would obtain that mythical level of greatness that seemed to come so natural , here is your pay @-@ off . " In this same review , he complimented Elizabeth Mitchell on her portrayal of Juliet . Mitchell submitted this episode for consideration for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards .
= 1st Provisional Marine Brigade = The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was a Marine infantry brigade of the United States Marine Corps ( USMC ) that existed periodically from 1912 to 1950 . It was an ad hoc unit formed for specific operations and not considered a " permanent " USMC unit . The brigade saw five brief activations for service over a 40 @-@ year span . First created for duty in Cuba following the Negro Rebellion , the brigade was not activated again until 1941 when it was hastily constructed from the 6th Marine Regiment to garrison Iceland after the occupation of that country by British troops during World War II . The brigade saw service once more in the war during the Battle of Guam in the Pacific War , conducting an amphibious landing on that island 's southern sector and subduing resistance from Japanese troops . It was activated once more in a brief organizational shift after the war . The brigade was formed again in 1950 when it was hastily assembled for service in the Korean War . The brigade participated in a counterattack at Masan before reinforcing United States Army units during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter , and at the First and Second Battles of Naktong Bulge along the Naktong River . The brigade was deactivated for the last time when it was merged with the 1st Marine Division . = = Organization = = The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade varied in size and structure each time it was created . Headquarters and Service Company , the company comprising the headquarters staff and support personnel , was much smaller than the equivalent company in standard Marine brigades . Each iteration of the brigade was assigned provisional military police , signal and other supporting companies and platoons . This was not an uncommon practice for the U.S. Marine Corps , which created such ad hoc units regularly in wartime . During World War II two other provisional Marine brigades were formed , which eventually expanded into divisions . Component units varied considerably as well . In its first iteration in 1912 , the brigade had only 1 @,@ 200 men in two provisional regiments . When re @-@ formed for duty in Iceland in 1941 , it was based around volunteers from the 2nd Marine Division . Volunteers from the division were moved into the 6th Marine Regiment 's 1st , 2nd and 3rd Battalions , and the 10th Marine Regiment 's 2nd Battalion . It took 4 @,@ 095 men from A Company of the 2nd Tank Battalion , A Company of the 2nd Service Battalion , and parachute and antitank platoons . For the Iceland deployment , the 5th Marine Defense Battalion was attached . In its 1944 iteration , the brigade was far larger than a standard brigade , 9 @,@ 886 men , formed around the 4th Marine Regiment and the 22nd Marine Regiment , with provisional headquarters , military police , and signal companies and a provisional battalion of artillery . The brigade 's Korean War organization was a 4 @,@ 725 @-@ man force based around the 5th Marine Regiment and supported by Marine Aircraft Group 33 , including military police , reconnaissance and intelligence companies . The attack force included the 1st Battalion , 2nd Battalion and 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment as well as supporting companies from the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion , 1st Medical Battalion , 1st Motor Transport Battalion , 1st Ordnance Battalion , 1st Service Battalion , 1st Shore Party Battalion , 1st Signal Battalion , 1st Tank Battalion , 1st Amphibian Tractor Company , and 1st Combat Service Group . In each of its iterations , the brigade was not organized as a permanent formation . Typically it was created only as a temporary front @-@ line unit while larger United States Marine units were formed . The brigade would then merge with these to form a Marine division . The 1942 brigade merged with the 2nd Marine Division , the 1944 brigade was the basis for the formation of the new 6th Marine Division , and the 1950 brigade acted as an advance force for the newly reactivated 1st Marine Division before merging into that unit . = = History = = = = = Cuba = = = The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was first created in 1912 for occupation duties in Cuba . Earlier that year , the Negro Rebellion had erupted throughout Cuba among former black slaves . A 1st Provisional Marine Regiment of 450 men under Colonel Lincoln Karmany was assembled in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 22 May . At the same time , a 2nd Provisional Marine Regiment of 750 men under Colonel James Mahoney assembled at Key West , Florida . The two regiments sailed for Cuba aboard the USS Prairie , with 1st Battalion , 2nd Regiment , landing at Havana and the remainder of the force at Guantanamo . There they combined to form the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in early June under Karmany , and the United States Marines fanned out in Oriente Province , occupying 26 towns and controlling all rail traffic in the area . The Marines protected United States sugar plantations in Siboney and El Cobre until late July when the Cuban government was able to clamp down on the revolt . At that point , the Marines pulled back to Guantanamo , disbanded the brigade and returned home . Another 1st Marine Brigade was created once again during the Occupation of Haiti . This brigade , however , was not considered a " provisional " unit and maintained a permanent establishment in Haiti from 1915 to 1934 . The 1st Marine Brigade was considered a separate unit lineage , and it was reactivated in 1941 and expanded to form the 1st Marine Division . = = = World War II = = = = = = = Iceland = = = = In May 1940 , during World War II , the United Kingdom initiated an invasion of politically neutral Iceland , fearing it would otherwise fall to the forces of Nazi Germany which had recently conquered Denmark . Iceland 's indigenous population was generally opposed to the British occupation , instead preferring troops of the United States , which was neutral at that phase in the war . Iceland signed a defense agreement with the United States in which United States troops would be stationed on the island nation . The U.S. Marine Corps hastily assembled the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade in Charleston , South Carolina , to move to Iceland as part of the agreement . The brigade was first activated on 14 July 1941 . Its elements were taken from the 2nd Marine Division , which was training at Marine Corps Base San Diego and Camp Elliott , both in San Diego , California . This brought the force up to a strength of 4 @,@ 095 men . They were the first of 28 @,@ 000 men occupying Iceland under Major General Holland M. Smith and his 1st Marine Division . While the 1st Marine Division was building its forces , though , the Provisional Brigade would hold Iceland . However , priorities soon changed and the 1st Marine Division was moved elsewhere . The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was instead joined by units of the United States Army . Under the command of Colonel Leo D. Hermle and Brigadier General John Marston , the brigade sailed from San Diego to Charleston aboard the attack transports USS Heywood , USS Fuller , and USS William P. Biddle . There , they met with additional ships which sailed with their supplies as well as the remaining elements of the brigade , the 5th Defense Battalion . These elements were joined by the USS Orizaba , USS Arcturus , and USS Hamul on 27 June . They were escorted by Task Force 19 , a fleet of 25 United States Navy warships including the battleships USS Arkansas and USS New York as well as the cruisers USS Brooklyn and USS Nashville . The force stopped at Newfoundland , before continuing to Iceland , landing in Reykjavík on 7 July . There they relieved the British Army 49th ( West Riding ) Infantry Division of control of some areas of the country , while the British continued to administer the remainder . The British commanders distributed the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade throughout camps around the Reykjavik area , to act as an emergency force which could quickly counter any German invasion . The British gave their division patch to the brigade , and it was worn for the remainder of the Marines ' time in Iceland . The Marines were joined by units of the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps in August 1941 . The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade troops spent much of their time in Iceland building infrastructure and bases to fortify Iceland against potential German attack . On 22 September , the British division departed Iceland and command was assumed by the United States Army . During the winter of 1941 – 1942 the brigade saw no combat and spent much of its time attempting to construct fortifications and drill for combat , hampered by a lack of supplies , communications equipment , transportation , and good weather . Aside from the occasional German reconnaissance aircraft , no German forces came to Iceland . Following the 7 December attack on Pearl Harbor , the men were informed they would be redeployed from Iceland at the beginning of 1942 and would likely see combat in the Pacific Theatre . In January 1942 , the brigade began deploying back to the United States , one battalion at a time . Elements of the brigade were gradually relieved by Army units and returned to New York City aboard the USS McCawley and the USS Boringuen until March 1942 , when the entire brigade was in New York . The brigade was disbanded in New York City on 25 March 1942 , and its component elements were reassigned to the 2nd Marine Division . Most of them were immediately dispatched to California and by the end of the year most of the Marines had been transferred to units fighting in the Guadalcanal Campaign . = = = = Guam = = = = On 18 April 1944 , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was again activated , this time at Guadalcanal , and placed in reserve for a time , commanded by Brigadier General Lemuel C. Shepherd . In July , it was moved to the Marshall Islands for a planned invasion of Guam , an island under the control of the Empire of Japan . This much larger brigade was built around the 4th and 22nd Marine Regiments with supporting units , and comprised 9 @,@ 886 Marines . The brigade was assigned to III Amphibious Corps , a force almost 67 @,@ 000 strong , in anticipation of a 15 July invasion of Guam 's southern beaches , in conjunction with a northern landing by the Army 's 4 @,@ 500 @-@ man 305th Infantry Regiment , 77th Infantry Division . The brigade commenced training at Guadalcanal in conjunction with the 3rd Marine Division . Then , in early July , the two formations staged through the Eniwetok Atoll in preparation for the invasion . On 21 July at 08 : 32 the 22nd Marines landed on beaches around Agat while the 4th Marines landed at Bangi Point to the north . Opposing the U.S. landings were 22 @,@ 000 Japanese troops stationed on the island . The most intense fighting struck the other units of III Amphibious Corps to the north , which held through heavy Japanese counterattacks . The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade encountered lighter resistance on the southern beaches , but nonetheless fought a substantial Japanese force occupying Gaan Point , between the two regiments ' landing zones . Japanese defenders had built fortifications into the point , including Type 41 75 mm Mountain Guns which had gone undetected in U.S. reconnaissance probes , using them to pin down 20 amphibious vehicles supporting the 22nd Marines and slow their advance . The 22nd Marines subsequently spent most of the day capturing the point against stiff Japanese resistance . Their 1st Battalion was eventually able to capture Agat , and the 2nd Battalion took Mount Alifan , 1 @,@ 000 metres ( 3 @,@ 300 ft ) inland . In the meantime , the 1st Battalion of the 4th Marines took Bangi point with support from their 3rd Battalion . They then began an advance to Mount Alifan but were delayed by fierce Japanese resistance inland . At nightfall the Japanese mounted a large , coordinated counterattack which was unsuccessful . By the end of the day , the 4th and 22nd Marines were holding positions 2 @,@ 000 metres ( 6 @,@ 600 ft ) into the island along a 4 @,@ 500 @-@ metre ( 14 @,@ 800 ft ) front . The 305th Regimental Combat Team supported the Marines for several days before rejoining the rest of the 77th Infantry Division to the north . The 1st Brigade was 7 miles ( 11 km ) south of the 3rd Marine Division and 77th Infantry Division landing zones to the north at Asan . On 25 July , the two forces cut off Orote Peninsula between the two landing zones , and the brigade turned west and cleared the peninsula until 29 July against heavier resistance , killing some 2 @,@ 500 Japanese . It advanced north in a sweeping motion with the 4th Marines on the right , west flank and the 22nd Marines on the left , east flank , until reaching the forces on the northern beach landings . By 28 July , the 3rd Marine Division and 77th Infantry Division had formed a continuous flank and were advancing north . On 6 August , the brigade joined them on the left , western flank . Here , Japanese forces staged last stands in their remaining fortifications , and holdouts on Mount Santa Rosa were cleared on 8 August , Ritidian Point on August 10 , and Pati Point the same day . The island was declared " officially " secure at 11 : 31 on 10 August , after 11 @,@ 000 Japanese dead had been counted . However , thousands of Japanese troops fled to the woods of Guam after the fight , and mop @-@ up operations continued long after the island was declared secure . By V @-@ J Day , the island had cost the Japanese 18 @,@ 400 killed and 1 @,@ 250 captured , and the Americans 1 @,@ 700 killed and 6 @,@ 000 injured . The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade , however , only assisted in mop @-@ up operations for a month . The 4th Marines moved along the north coast while the 22nd Marines patrolled inland to the south . On 9 September 1944 , the brigade was disbanded and its elements were moved to Guadalcanal where the new 6th Marine Division was forming . That division was activated on 25 September 1944 . Most of the Provisional Marine Brigade units were transferred to the command of the 6th Marine Division . The 29th Marine Regiment was added to form the division . = = = After the war = = = The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was briefly re @-@ formed in the post @-@ war era on 1 June 1947 , by enlarging the 1st Battalion , 11th Marines . The force served as a contingency force for the Pacific Ocean area , based in Camp Witek , Guam . However , as post @-@ war military spending was drastically cut , the brigade at this time was far undermanned , and considered only a " paper unit " . It was again " downsized " and re @-@ designated the 1st Provisional Artillery Battalion on 1 October 1947 . = = = Korean War = = = The U.S. Marine Corps , which had been drastically reduced in size after World War II , was unprepared at the outset of the Korean War on 25 June 1950 . The Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered the Marine Corps to ready a 15 @,@ 000 @-@ man division for duty in Korea as a part of the United Nations Command being created there . The Marine Corps began rebuilding the 1st Marine Division to wartime strength , but in the meantime assembled a 4 @,@ 725 @-@ man force around the 5th Marine Regiment to assist in the war effort as quickly as possible . On 7 July the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was reactivated in California . One week later it sailed from Long Beach and San Diego . The regiment , which had originally been slated for landing in Japan , bypassed that country and landed at Pusan in South Korea on 3 August . As it sailed to Korea , it was put under the command of Brigadier General Edward A. Craig , who met the brigade in @-@ country . The brigade was supported by Marine Aircraft Group 33 , and became a subordinate unit of the Eighth United States Army under Lieutenant General Walton Walker , who placed it in his reserve . = = = = Task Force Kean = = = = The brigade was immediately moved to Masan , the westernmost flank of the Pusan Perimeter , which the Eighth Army had set up to resist the North Korean Army which was attempting to overrun the UN forces . The brigade joined the U.S. 25th Infantry Division and the 5th Regimental Combat Team , under Major General William B. Kean . The three units together formed " Task Force Kean " , a formation of about 20 @,@ 000 men . General Walker and the Eighth Army began preparing a counteroffensive , the first conducted by the UN in the war , for 6 August . It would kick off with an attack by the U.S. reserve units on the Masan area to secure Chinju from the North Korean 6th Division , followed by a larger general push to the Kum River in the middle of the month . One of Walker 's goals was to break up a suspected massing of North Korean troops near Taegu by forcing the diversion of some North Korean units southward . On 6 August , the Eighth Army issued the operational directive for the attack by the task force . The plan of attack was to move west from positions held near Masan , seize the Chinju Pass , and secure the line as far as the Nam River , and depended on the arrival of the entire U.S. 2nd Infantry Division , as well as three more battalions of American tanks which were en route from the United States . Task Force Kean kicked off its attack on 7 August , moving out from Masan . The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade surged forward to Pansong , quickly inflicting 350 casualties on the North Koreans as it overran the North Korean 6th Division 's headquarters . The other units of the Task Force , however , were slowed by North Korean resistance . Task Force Kean pressed on the Chindong @-@ ni area , resulting in a confused battle where the fragmented force had to rely on air strikes and airdrops to keep it effective . Task Force Kean 's offensive had collided with one being delivered simultaneously by the North Korean 6th Division . Heavy fighting continued in the area for three days . By 9 August , Task Force Kean was poised to retake Chinju . The task force , aided by air power , initially advanced quickly though North Korean resistance was heavy . On 10 August , the Marines picked up the advance , inadvertently encountering the North Korean 83rd Motorized Regiment of the 105th Armored Division , which was caught off @-@ guard and attempted to withdraw . F4U Corsairs from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing strafed the retreating column repeatedly , inflicting 200 casualties and destroying about 100 of the regiment 's equipment vehicles , but 1st Provisional Marine Brigade forces were not able to follow up the attack , as they were redeployed elsewhere on the perimeter on 12 August . Task Force Kean continued forward , supported by field artillery , capturing the area around Chondong @-@ ni . At that time , Eighth Army requested several of its units to redeploy to Taegu to be used elsewhere on the front , particularly at the Naktong Bulge . At the end of the counteroffensive on 14 August , Task Force Kean had failed in its two objectives of diverting North Korean troops from the north and reaching the Chinju pass . The NK 6th Division had been reduced to 3 @,@ 000 or 4 @,@ 000 and had to replenish its ranks with South Korean conscripts from Andong . Fighting in the region continued for the rest of the month . = = = = First Naktong Bulge = = = = Immediately north on the line , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was desperately needed to break a stalemate between the U.S. 24th Infantry Division and the NK 4th Division . Beginning at midnight on the night of 5 – 6 August , North Koreans had begun crossing the Naktong River at the Ohang ferry site , 3 @.@ 5 miles ( 5 @.@ 6 km ) south of Pugong @-@ ni and west of Yongsan , carrying light weapons and supplies over their heads or on rafts . At 02 : 00 on the morning of 6 August , the North Koreans began engaging the 3rd Battalion , U.S. 34th Infantry Regiment , and moved forward after a short fight , attempting to penetrate the lines to Yongsan . The North Korean infantry forced the 3rd Battalion back , and the battalion abandoned its command post to consolidate its positions . The North Koreans surprised the Americans , who had been expecting an attack from further north , and captured a large amount of American equipment . The attack threatened to split the American lines and disrupt supply lines to the north . Repeated American attacks resulted in a stalemate . By the morning of 7 August , North Koreans were able to press forward and capture the Cloverleaf Hill and Oblong @-@ ni Ridge , critical terrain astride the main road in the bulge area . By 16 : 00 that day , the U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment , U.S. 2nd Infantry Division , a newly arrived unit , was sent to the region . 24th Infantry Division commander Major General John H. Church immediately ordered it to attack the Naktong Bulge salient . Despite a tenacious attack , the 9th Infantry was only able to regain part of Cloverleaf Hill before intense fighting stalled its movement . The NK 4th Division had in the meantime constructed underwater bridges of sandbags , logs and rocks , finishing the first one the day before . It moved trucks and heavy artillery across the river over this bridge , as well as additional infantry and a few tanks . By the morning of 10 August close to two full North Korean regiments were across the river and occupying fortified positions . After a series of unsuccessful counterattacks , the threat to Yongsan necessitated more U.S. reinforcements . As U.S. casualties mounted , a frustrated Walker ordered the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade to the area . They mounted a massive offensive on Cloverleaf Hill and Obong @-@ ni beginning at 08 : 00 on 17 August , unleashing all available heavy weapons : artillery , mortars , M26 Pershing tanks , and airstrikes . At first , tenacious North Korean defense halted the Marines . Heavy indirect fire forced the North Koreans out of their positions before the Marines and Task Force Hill overwhelmed them , one hill at a time . The Marines approached Obong @-@ ni first , destroying resistance on the slope with an airstrike and a barrage from U.S. tanks , but strong resistance caused heavy casualties , and they had to withdraw . The 18th North Korean Regiment , in control of the hill , mounted a disastrous counterattack in hopes of pushing the Marines back . The division 's previously successful tactics of cutting off supplies and relying on surprise failed in the face of massive U.S. numerical superiority . By nightfall on 18 August , the North Korean 4th Division had been annihilated ; huge numbers of deserters had weakened its numbers during the fight , but by that time , Obong @-@ ni and Cloverleaf Hill had been retaken by the U.S. forces . Scattered groups of North Korean soldiers fled back across the Naktong , pursued by American planes and artillery fire . The next day , the remains of 4th Division had withdrawn across the river . In their hasty retreat , they left a large number of artillery pieces and equipment behind which the Americans later pressed into service . The battle caused heavy casualties for both sides . By the end of the fight , the NK 4th Division had only 300 or 400 men in each of its regiments . Of its original 7 @,@ 000 men , the division now had a strength of only 3 @,@ 500 , having suffered over 1 @,@ 200 killed . Several thousand members of the division deserted during the fight . Most of these men were South Korean civilians forcibly conscripted into the North Korean army . The NK 4th Division would not recover until much later in the war . The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade reported 66 Marines dead , 278 wounded , and one missing . In total , American forces suffered around 1 @,@ 800 casualties during the battle , with about a third of those killed . = = = = Second Naktong Bulge = = = = By 1 September , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was down to 4 @,@ 290 men , having suffered 500 casualties in its month of Korean service , and was preparing to move back to Pusan to evacuate to Japan . There , the brigade was to join with Marine reinforcements to re @-@ form the 1st Marine Division , which would then be a part of X Corps for a counterattack at Inchon . However , the North Korean Great Naktong Offensive delayed these plans , as the brigade was needed to repel one more North Korean crossing of the Naktong River . At the same time , the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the NK 9th Division , in their first offensive of the war , stood only a few miles short of Yongsan after a successful river crossing and penetration of the American line . Division commander Major General Pak Kyo Sam felt the chances of capturing Yongsan were strong . On the morning of 1 September , with only the shattered remnants its E Company at hand , the U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment , 2nd Infantry Division , had virtually no troops to defend Yongsan . Division commander Major General Lawrence B. Keiser formed ad @-@ hoc units from his support troops but they were not enough to counter the North Korean attack . On 2 September , Walker spoke by telephone with Major General Doyle O. Hickey , Deputy Chief of Staff , Far East Command , in Tokyo . He described the situation around the Perimeter and said the most serious threat was along the boundary between the U.S. 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions . He said he had started the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade toward Yongsan but had not yet released them for commitment there and he wanted to be sure that General of the Army Douglas MacArthur approved his use of them , since he knew that this would interfere with other plans of the Far East Command . Walker said he did not think he could restore the 2nd Division lines without using them . Hickey replied that MacArthur had the day before approved the use of the Marines if and when Walker considered it necessary . A few hours after this conversation , at 13 : 15 , Walker attached the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade to the U.S. 2nd Division and ordered a coordinated attack by all available elements of the division and the Marines , with the mission of destroying the North Koreans east of the Naktong River in the 2nd Division sector and of restoring the river line . The Marines were to be released from 2nd Division control as soon as this mission was accomplished . = = = = Counteroffensives = = = = A conference was held that afternoon at the U.S. 2nd Division command post , attended by leaders of the U.S. Eighth Army , 2nd Division , and 1st Provisional Marine Brigade . A decision was reached that the Marines would attack west at 08 : 00 on 3 September astride the Yongsan – Naktong River road , and U.S. Army troops would attack northwest above the Marines and attempt to re @-@ establish contact with the U.S. 23rd Infantry , while the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion with remnants of the 1st Battalion , 9th Infantry , and elements of the 72nd Tank Battalion would attack on the left flank , or south , of the Marines to reestablish contact with the 25th Division . The troops holding this line on the first hills west of Yongsan were G Company , 9th Infantry , north of the road running west through Kogan @-@ ni to the Naktong ; A Company , 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion , southward across the road ; and , below the engineers , F Company , 9th Infantry . Between 03 : 00 and 04 : 30 on 3 September , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade moved to forward assembly areas . The 2nd Battalion , 5th Marines , assembled north of Yongsan , the 1st Battalion , 5th Marines , south of it . The 3rd Battalion , 5th Marines , established security positions southwest of Yongsan along the approaches into the regimental sector from that direction . Fighting began the night of 2 September , and at dawn on 3 September , U.S. troops gained the high ground which was part of the designated Marine line of departure . With help from Marine tank fire , G Company overcame heavy resistance , but this early morning battle for the line of departure delayed the planned attack . The Marine attack started at 08 : 55 toward North Korean @-@ held high ground 0 @.@ 5 miles ( 0 @.@ 80 km ) westward . The 1st Battalion , 5th Marines , south of the east @-@ west road , gained its objective when North Korean soldiers broke under air attack . Air strikes , artillery concentrations , and machine gun and rifle fire of the 1st Battalion now caught North Korean reinforcements in open rice paddies moving up from the second ridge and killed most of them . In the afternoon , the 1st Battalion advanced to Hill 91 . North of the road the 2nd Battalion had a harder time , encountering heavy North Korean fire when it reached the northern tip of Hill 116 , 2 miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) west of Yongsan . The North Koreans held the hill during the day , and at night D Company of the 5th Marines was isolated there . In the fighting west of Yongsan , Marine armor knocked out four T @-@ 34 tanks , and North Korean crew members abandoned a fifth . That night the Marines dug in on a line 2 miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) west of Yongsan . The 2nd Battalion had lost 18 killed and 77 wounded during the day , most of them in D Company . Total Marine casualties for 3 September were 34 killed and 157 wounded . Coordinating its attack with that of the Marines , the 9th Infantry advanced abreast of them on the north . Just before midnight , the 3rd Battalion , 5th Marines , received orders to pass through the 2nd Battalion and continue the attack in the morning . That night torrential rains made the troops miserable . The North Koreans were unusually quiet and launched few patrols or attacks . The morning of 4 September , the weather was clear . The counterattack continued at 08 : 00 on 4 September , at first against little opposition . North of the road the 2nd Battalion quickly completed occupation of Hill 116 , from which the North Koreans had withdrawn during the night . South of the road the 1st Battalion occupied what appeared to be a command post of the NK 9th Division . Tents were still up and equipment lay scattered about . Two abandoned T @-@ 34 tanks in excellent condition stood there . Tanks and ground troops advancing along the road found it littered with North Korean dead and destroyed and abandoned equipment . By nightfall the counterattack had gained another 3 miles ( 4 @.@ 8 km ) . That morning , 5 September , after a 10 @-@ minute artillery preparation , the American troops moved out in their third day of counterattack . It was a day of rain . As the attack progressed , the Marines approached Obong @-@ ni Ridge and the 9th Infantry neared Cloverleaf Hill where they had fought tenaciously during the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the month before . There , at midmorning , on the high ground ahead , they could see North Korean troops digging in . The Marines approached the pass between the two hills and took positions in front of the North Korean @-@ held high ground . At 14 : 30 approximately 300 North Korean infantry came from the village of Tugok and concealed positions , striking B Company on Hill 125 just north of the road and east of Tugok . Two T @-@ 34 tanks surprised and knocked out the two leading Marine M26 Pershing tanks . Since the destroyed Pershing tanks blocked fields of fire , four others withdrew to better positions . Assault teams of B Company and the 1st Battalion with 3 @.@ 5 @-@ inch rocket launchers rushed into action , took the tanks under fire , and destroyed both of them , as well as an armored personnel carrier following behind . The North Korean infantry attack was brutal and inflicted 25 casualties on B Company before reinforcements from A Company and supporting Army artillery and the Marine 81 mm mortars helped repel it . September 5 was a day of heavy casualties everywhere on the Pusan Perimeter . Army units had 102 killed , 430 wounded , and 587 missing in action for a total of 1 @,@ 119 casualties . Marine units had 35 killed , 91 wounded , and none missing in action , for a total of 126 battle casualties . Total American battle casualties for the day were 1 @,@ 245 men . The American counteroffensive of 3 – 5 September west of Yongsan resulted in one of the bloodiest and most terrifying debacles of the war for a North Korean division , according to historians . Even though remnants of the NK 9th Division , supported by the low strength NK 4th Division , still held Obong @-@ ni Ridge , Cloverleaf Hill , and the intervening ground back to the Naktong on 6 September , the division 's offensive strength had been spent at the end of the American counterattack . The NK 9th and 4th divisions were not able to resume the offensive . = = = = Deactivation = = = = During the previous night , at 20 : 00 on 4 September , Walker had ordered the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade released from operational control of the 2nd Division effective at midnight , 5 September . At 00 : 15 , 6 September , the Marines began leaving their lines at Obong @-@ ni Ridge heading for Pusan . They would join the 1st Marine Regiment and 7th Marine Regiment to form the new 1st Marine Division . Walker had protested in vain against releasing the brigade , believing he needed it and all the troops then in Korea if he were to stop the North Korean offensive against the Pusan Perimeter . The order prompted a heated disagreement between Walker 's command and MacArthur 's command . Walker said he could not hold the Pusan Perimeter without the Marines in reserve , while MacArthur said he could not conduct the Inchon landings without the Marines . MacArthur responded by assigning two newly arrived units of the 3rd Infantry Division , the 17th Infantry Regiment and the 65th Infantry Regiment to Walker 's reserves . Walker did not feel the inexperienced troops would be effective , and believed the transition endangered the Pusan Perimeter at a time when it was unclear if it could hold back the North Koreans . The brigade moved to Japan and merged with the 1st Marine Division . It was deactivated as an independent unit for the last time on 13 September 1950 . Permanent Marine brigades were established decades later , and a 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade was formed in 1990 . However , the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade had no relation to the provisional unit which fought in Korea and did not assume its lineage . = = Unit awards = = Though not considered a " permanent " unit , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was awarded campaign streamers for each of its missions , creating a lineage for the unit . Those streamers include :
= Radyr = Radyr ( Welsh : Radur ) is an outer suburb of Cardiff , about 4 miles ( 6 @.@ 4 km ) northwest of Cardiff city centre . Radyr is part of Radyr and Morganstown Community , for which the 2011 Census recorded a population of 6 @,@ 417 . Morganstown is north of Radyr , on the other side of the M4 Motorway . Neighbouring communities are Whitchurch to the east on the opposite bank of the River Taff , Pentyrch to the west with St Fagans and Llandaff to the south . = = History = = = = = Stone Age until the Norman Conquest = = = Evidence of Stone Age occupation of the Lesser Garth Cave near Morganstown was discovered in 1912 and included worked flints . In 1916 excavation of a mound of 30 metres ( 100 ft ) in Radyr Woods revealed charcoal and Iron Age pottery . Radyr developed after the Norman invasion of Wales at the start of the 12th century and formed part of the Welsh Lordship or cantref of Miskin under the Lordship of Glamorgan created by the Norman King , William Rufus , in 1093 . = = = Origin of the name = = = Hints about the derivation of the name Radyr can be found in Lifris 's writings Life of St Cadog , written between 1081 and 1104 but relating to the earlier period around AD 530 , which mentions a croft or tref on the site called Aradur Hen . Lifris also tells the story of Tylyway , a religious hermit who was held to have lived on the banks of the Taff . Tylyway 's cell is the most likely origin of the name Radyr ; from the Welsh yr adur , meaning " the chantry " , although Arudur Hen is also possible . = = = Norman occupation and Middle Ages = = = The Norman motte in the " mound field " is a flat @-@ topped mound 30 metres ( 100 ft ) in diameter at the base and 3 @.@ 8 metres ( 12 ft ) high , surrounded by a ditch 7 metres ( 23 ft ) wide . An adjoining bailey to east of the motte could indicate the boundary between Norman and Welsh land . The motte was surrounded by a timber palisade around a wooden keep and formed part of a defensive line with similar mottes at Thornhill and Whitchurch . The early settlement that became Radyr developed around the Norman church and manor house in what is now Danescourt . Surveys in 1307 describe an agricultural hamlet surrounded by arable fields . The 14th century Welsh Lord of Radyr , Cynwrig ap Hywel , followed by his descendants , farmed the area until it was devastated by the Black Death and by battles between the Marcher Lords in 14th and 15th centuries when the whole area was laid waste . = = = Mathew family = = = In 1469 Thomas Mathew ( died 1469 ) , the third or fourth son of Sir David Mathew ( died 1484 ) of Llandaf , inherited the land by marriage to Catherine , heiress of Radyr , and built Radyr Court , a manor house on the site of what is now the Radyr Court Inn in Danescourt . The house was used as a court . Although it was destroyed by a fire in the 19th century , the three large dungeons survived and can still be seen at the Inn . On Thomas ' death , his lands passed to his eldest son David and then to his younger son William Mathew ( died 1528 ) , who was knighted by King Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 . Sir William accompanied Henry VIII to the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 . His successor was his eldest son Sir George Mathew , who became MP for Glamorganshire and in 1545 Sheriff of Glamorgan . Sir George created a deer park that ranged far north of Radyr . Tenant farmers there were evicted , and the loss of rental income contributed to the decline in the family 's fortunes . He had 24 children , eight of whom were illegitimate . Many were daughters , and Sir George needed large sums of money for their dowries . On his death Sir George 's lands passed to his eldest son William , who also became a MP and invested in the Pentyrch ironworks . This was an astute move as feudalism was giving way to early industrialisation . William 's descendants inherited a diminishing fortune . Captain George Mathew , the last of the family to live in Radyr , married Elizabeth Poyntz , and the couple left Radyr to live on her estates at Thurles in County Tipperary , Ireland in 1625 . = = = Stuart period = = = Radyr 's new owner was a wealthy landowner , Sir Edward Lewis , who was knighted by James I. Sir Edward owned St Fagans Castle and its surrounding lands , scene of the Battle of St Fagans in the English Civil War . The Lewis fortune passed to Elizabeth Lewis , who married Other Windsor [ sic ] , 3rd Earl of Plymouth , the principal landowner in Cardiff , Penarth and Barry . A survey in 1766 shows that the Plymouth family owned the freeholds of most of Radyr . It continues to do so today . Plymouth Estates sold 22 acres ( 9 ha ) of residential land in Radyr in 2007 . = = = Development from the 18th century = = = Many residents of Radyr worked in the Melingriffith Tin Plate Works , on the other side of the River Taff in Whitchurch . The works opened in 1749 and closed in 1957 . Samuel Lewis ' 1849 Topographical Dictionary of Wales says of Radyr : " A parish , in the poorlaw union of Cardiff , hundred of Kibbor , county of Glamorgan , in South Wales , 3 ½ miles ( N. W. by W. ) from Cardiff ; containing 279 inhabitants . This parish probably derives its name , signifying " a cataract , " from the rushing waters of the river Tâf , by which it is bounded on the north @-@ east . It was formerly comprehended within the hundred of Miskin , but has been recently separated therefrom . It comprises about eleven hundred acres of arable and pasture land , inclosed and in a profitable state of cultivation : the surface is in some parts elevated , and in others flat , but no where subject to inundation ; the soil is a strong brown earth , favourable to the production of good crops of grain of all kinds , potatoes , and hay . The substratum is partly a hard brown stone , and partly limestone of very good quality . Radyr Court , formerly the seat of the family of Matthew , ancestors of the late Lord Llandaf , has been partially taken down , and the remainder has been modernised , and converted into a farmhouse . The turnpike @-@ road leading from Cardiff to Llantrissent passes a little to the south of the parish ; and the Tâf @-@ Vale railway runs through it , nearly parallel with the river , which is crossed by the line in this vicinity . Some of the inhabitants are employed at the iron @-@ works in the parish of Pentyrch . The living is a vicarage , endowed with £ 200 royal bounty ; patron and impropriator , the representative of the late Earl of Plymouth , who is lord of the manor : the tithes have been commuted for £ 113 . 9s . 0d , of which a sum of £ 38 . 9s . 0d is payable to the impropriator , and a sum of £ 75 to the vicar . The church , dedicated to St. John the Baptist , is a neat plain edifice , with a curious turret at the west end . There is a place of worship for Calvinistic Methodists ; a Sunday school for gratuitous instruction is held in it , and another at Radyr Court . In the parish is a spring of very cold water , called Y Pistyll Goleu , " the bright water @-@ spout , " issuing from the side of a hill , under a considerable depth of earth over a limestone rock : it has by some writers been termed mineral , but it is not known to possess any other properties than that of its extreme coldness , which renders it efficacious in curing sprains and weakness of the sinews . " Until the mid 19th century Radyr was a collection of small farms , crofts and cottages , but after Radyr railway station opened in 1863 , the population rose from 400 to more than 600 in 20 years . The Taff Vale Railway and its successor , the Great Western Railway , brought significant employment to Radyr . Junction Terrace ( the first street in Radyr ) was built to house the railway workers . It was the start of strong demand for housing in Radyr that transformed the hamlet . The Barry Railway 's Walnut Tree Viaduct , built in 1901 , dominated the village for some 70 years . = = = Wartime = = = In the First World War the community raised funds for a " Radyr bed " at the nearby Welsh Metropolitan Military Hospital in Whitchurch and established a " Citizen Guard " made up of those too old or too young to enlist . Losses suffered by the village are recorded on the War Memorial in Heol Isaf . In the Second World War thousands of children were evacuated from metropolitan areas such as London , Birmingham and Liverpool . One evacuee from Woolwich , Patricia Armstrong aged nine , was knocked down by a passenger train and killed on a Saturday afternoon in May 1943 while using the Gelynis foot crossing at Morganstown . She was lodged with a family in Morganstown . As air raids on Cardiff increased , even younger children from Radyr were evacuated to boarding schools at Rhoose and Bridgend . = = = Post @-@ war history = = = An extensive housebuilding programme started in the 1960s , and Radyr 's population grew rapidly — particularly children . In 1964 Radyr Comprehensive School had 135 pupils on its roll . This number more than trebled in the next decade . A new development , the Danescourt estate , was built on land surrounding Radyr Court and St John the Baptist parish church , and the land was officially incorporated as a suburb of Cardiff in 1974 . Danybryn Woods , near the development , was retained as the entire forest is protected by a tree preservation order and is home to many species of plants and wildlife . Radyr railway station was renovated in 1998 and the tracks through the station were renewed , reducing journey times to Cardiff city centre . = = Governance = = = = = UK Parliament and Welsh Assembly = = = Radyr is in the Cardiff West parliamentary constituency and the Cardiff West Welsh Assembly constituency . = = = Cardiff Council = = = Radyr and Morganstown electoral ward has an electorate of 4 @,@ 368 ( 1 May 2008 ) and has one seat on Cardiff Council . The ward elected a Conservative , Roderick McKerlich , in the election of May 2008 and he was re @-@ elected in 2012 . Cllr McKerlich is a member of the Council 's Environmental Scrutiny Committee . = = = Community Council = = = Radyr and Morganstown Community Council is funded by an addition to the Council Tax bill paid by local residents . The Community Council is run by 11 elected councillors from three wards in the parish – Radyr North ( 4 seats ) , Radyr South ( 3 seats ) and Morganstown ( 4 seats ) . At the Community Council 's annual meeting on 15 May 2008 , David Silver was elected Chair of the Council for 2008 and 2009 and Rachel Granger was elected Vice Chair . = = Geography = = = = = Geological structure = = = The surrounding soils are mostly a strong , brown , dry earth , well adapted for arable farming and the growing of grains of all kinds that contributed to the area being a mostly farming community until the modern era . Soils were further enriched over the millennia by alluvial deposits from the River Taff . The bedrock under the whole area is predominantly sandstone , dating from both the Devonian period ( Old Red Sandstone ) and the Triassic ( New Red Sandstone ) laid down in arid conditions . These may subsequently have been ground down by the Taff valley glacier during the last ice age around 18 @,@ 000 years ago . Radyr Stone is a Triassic breccia used widely for decorative work in the Cardiff area , including Llandaff Cathedral , Cardiff Docks and in the bridges of the Taff Vale Railway . = = = Radyr Weir = = = The River Taff at this point runs roughly south through Taff 's Well , past Radyr and through Llandaff . Radyr Weir was built in 1774 to divert water into a leat to the Melingriffith Tin Plate Works . The weir is the third obstacle to migratory salmon and sea trout — the others being Llandaff Weir and Blackweir , both of which also have fish passes . Since the early 1980s , the salmon and sea trout stocks in the Taff have been recovering from nearly 200 years of industrial pollution and exploitation . In 1993 the National Rivers Authority monitored over 500 salmon and 700 sea trout returning to the river to spawn . From 1749 , iron from Pentyrch was initially transported to the works using pack @-@ horses , then tub boats were used on the Taff passing onto the feeder via a lock at Radyr Weir . Parts of this lock can still be seen beside the feeder sluice . In 1815 the tub boats were discontinued and a tramway built along the Taff . There is a public picnic site by the Radyr weir . A hydro @-@ electric scheme is being built on Radyr Weir to generate renewable energy . The Radyr Weir scheme will channel more than 500 million cubic metres of water per year through two turbines and is expected to generate 400 kW — enough energy to power three of the city ’ s leisure centres — which will save 700 tonnes of CO2 annually . The River Taff through Radyr is flanked on both sides by an undeveloped greenway that passes uninterrupted through northern Cardiff all the way to Cardiff Castle in the centre of the city , before the river enters Cardiff Bay . = = = Radyr Woods Nature Area = = = Radyr Woods is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance and the adjoining Hermit Woods is also a Local Nature Reserve . The community nature reserve covers 14 acres ( 6 ha ) . It has a network of footpaths and boardwalks and includes evidence of Iron Age settlements and remains of an early cooking hearth . Originally part of the Tudor deer park owned by the Mathew family and later Radyr Quarry , the area is owned by Cardiff Council and Plymouth Estates , and managed by the Radyr community council with the support of Cardiff Council 's Parks Service . Radyr Woods provides habitats for a wide range of species . It also has a number of natural springs that feed a duck pond and a kingfisher pond . Recent housing developments between the reserve and the railway line have added complementary public open space with picnic areas and a children 's play area . Since 1986 all maintenance and development of the reserve has been carried out by a volunteer group known as The Friends of Radyr Woods . = = = Radyr hawkweed = = = Radyr hawkweed is the common name of Hieracium radyrense , a very rare endemic member of the aster , daisy , or sunflower family . It is a microspecies , so far only identified at Radyr . It was first identified in 1907 at the quarry , was described as a variety in 1948 and then as a separate species in 1955 . It has rarely been seen and regular surveys between 1998 and 2004 indicate that today only a single population of about 25 plants survives in the wild . In the first survey of 1998 , only nine plants were identified in one single Radyr garden , where it traditionally grew on grassy banks and lawns , often in shade . It was no longer found at the original locality of Radyr Quarry where examples were last seen in 1985 . At Bridgend , six possible plants of the Radyr genus were found on an old garden wall , but confirmation of identification is still awaited . Neither the species nor the sites have any current legal protection , and it could be under significant threat of survival in the long term from inappropriate gardening or care . Seed samples of the Radyr hawkweed have been provided to the Millennium Seed Bank , the international conservation project coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens , Kew , and plants are being carefully cultivated . The plant normally flowers between May and early July and Radyr residents are urged by botanists to be on the look out for further examples of the endangered species while walking in the area . = = Demography = = The 2001 census showed that the suburb had a total population of 4 @,@ 658 , of whom 2 @,@ 268 were male and 2 @,@ 390 were female . The average age was 39 @.@ 7 years . 68 @.@ 27 % of [ adult ] residents are married , with 20 @.@ 81 % having never married . 73 @.@ 97 % declared their religion as Christianity . 23 @.@ 97 % stated no religion and 0 @.@ 9 % stated Muslim . 96 @.@ 02 % stated their ethnicity as white , 1 @.@ 76 % as Asian , 1 @.@ 03 % as mixed race , 1 @.@ 01 % as Chinese , and 0 @.@ 2 % as Black . 15 @.@ 5 % are Welsh language speakers . = = Landmark buildings and local attractions = = Danybryn Cheshire Home was once a private house owned by Sir Lewis Lougher MP . It later had two wings added to accommodate the residents , who are physically disabled young people . The Thatch , the only thatched cottage in Radyr , was built for the Mathias family in 1936 . St John the Baptist parish church is nearly 800 years old , but underwent a Victorian restoration in the 19th century . The Taff Trail cycle path passes through Radyr via Radyr Weir . Other nobable buildings include The Old Church Rooms and Radyr War Memorial . In nearby districts are St Fagans National History Museum ( formerly the Museum of Welsh Life ) and Castell Coch . = = Education = = The Church Rooms in Park Road were also a primary school until 1896 when the Board School was opened next door . Older pupils had to travel to secondary schools in Penarth by train . The part @-@ time Radyr Library serves the area . = = = Nursery and primary schools = = = Bryn Deri Primary School was opened in 1976 and has included a nursery school since September 1999 . Radyr has also a private pre @-@ school , Park Road Nursery , and a Welsh @-@ language nursery called Cylch Meithrin , both of which are based in the Old Church Rooms . Radyr Primary School in Park Road opened in 1896 , and new classrooms were added in 1968 to accommodate the rising population . The school currently has 11 classes and over 300 pupils . = = = Secondary education = = = Radyr Comprehensive School has more than 1 @,@ 400 pupils from across west Cardiff . It also has a large Sixth Form college with about 300 students , and an active adult education centre . = = Churches = = The Church in Wales Parish of Radyr is in the Diocese of Llandaff . The parish church of St John the Baptist , beside Radyr Chain , is now surrounded by the Danescourt housing estate . It is nearly 800 years old but was altered in the 19th century . It is a Grade II listed building . Christ Church , although a larger building than St John 's , is the daughter church in Radyr . Designed by the Llandaff diocesan surveyor George Halliday , the nave was ready for use at Easter 1904 and the chancel and tower were completed in November 1910 . Also in 1910 John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast a ring of eight bells for the tower . Lieutenant Colonel Fisher paid for the bells , and each bell is inscribed with the names of members of his family . Radyr Methodist Church in Windsor Road replaced an earlier Methodist Church in Heol Isaf . Radyr is also served by Radyr Baptist Church , which worships in the Old Church Rooms in Park Road . = = Sport and leisure = = Llandaff North RFC is the closest rugby team to Radyr . Nearby Taffs Well RFC was formed in 1887 , and has provided three former Welsh Rugby captains and six Welsh International players during its history . Radyr Golf Club was founded in 1902 after moving from its original nine @-@ hole course at the Tŷ Mawr in Lisvane . It is a 6 @,@ 053 yards ( 5 @,@ 535 m ) , par 69 ( SSS 70 ) course for men and 5 @,@ 485 yards ( 5 @,@ 015 m ) , par 72 ( SSS 72 ) for women , and operates all year round . Laid out by the course designer Harry Colt , the Chairman of the 2010 Ryder Cup recently described Radyr 's course as " One of Colt 's Little Jewels " . Radyr Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1914 by 20 Radyr ' Gentlemen ' , helped by the Earl of Plymouth Estates . Its first location was near the railway station but the courts were badly laid . Again with the help of Plymouth Estates , the club lifted the turf from all three grass courts and relaid it on its current site next to Christ Church on Heol Isaf . Radyr Cricket Club was founded in 1890 by the Earl of Plymouth , who granted a hundred @-@ year lease for the current riverside ground to the local residents for a nominal sum . The pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1973 while the team were away on tour . Under the leadership of the new Chairman Keith Terry , a huge fund @-@ raising effort was made and a new pavilion opened on the footprint of the old one in 1975 . Radyr currently plays in the first division of the South Wales Premier Cricket League . Cardiff Corinthians Football Club ( known locally as the " Corries " ) has played its home games at the Riverside Football Ground in Radyr since 1974 and competes in the first division of the Welsh Football League . The main shops in Radyr are in Station Road . One of the buildings on this road , Bryn Melyn , is now a dental surgery but was formerly the village post office . = = Transport = = = = = Rail = = = At the turn of the 20th century Radyr had a busy railway from where coal trains were transferred onto either the Taff Vale Railway to Cardiff Docks , or the Penarth district line to the docks at Penarth , 4 miles ( 6 @.@ 4 km ) southwest of Cardiff city centre . Also , the Barry Railway Company freight route ran just to the north of Morganstown , over Walnut Tree Viaduct . To the south @-@ east of Radyr was an extensive railway marshalling yard which included another railway bridge over the Taff to provide an alternative route towards Llandaff . The sidings were lifted in preparation for a housing development in the 1970s . Radyr railway station still handles significant traffic , with over 200 trains calling each weekday and more than 400 @,@ 000 passenger journeys per year . Radyr is the northern terminus of the Cardiff City Line . = = = Bus = = = Cardiff Bus services 63 and Stagecoach 's 122 operate from Morganstown and Radyr to Cardiff central bus station via Danescourt , Llandaf and Pontcanna . = = = Road = = = The B4262 road ( Heol Isaf ) runs through the centre of Radyr and Morganstown , leading north to Taff 's Well and the A470 towards Pontypridd , and south to the A4119 ( Llantrisant Road ) , which links Llantrisant with Danescourt , Llandaff and Cardiff city centre . The M4 corridor around Cardiff was announced in 1971 as a replacement for a northern link road that had been planned since 1947 but never built . The northern " Lisvane and Radyr route " for the M4 was eventually chosen after a number of noisy public enquiries and active objections by residents from both communities . The new motorway was completed and opened on 10 July 1980 , and passes east – west between Radyr and Morganstown . Later this section was widened to three lanes in each direction at a cost of over £ 71 million , being completed in December 2009 . Radyr has no direct access to or from the motorway . = = Twin towns = = Radyr is twinned with Saint @-@ Philbert @-@ de @-@ Grand @-@ Lieu , a town south @-@ west of Nantes ( Cardiff 's twin city ) on the southern shores of the Lac de Grand Lieu in Loire @-@ Atlantique , France . The first exchange visit took place in May 1986 and Twinning Charters were signed by Chairmen of both community councils . On the 10th anniversary of the twinning fellowship , Radyr presented the people of St Philbert with a red telephone box . The next year the French presented the Radyr community with a wine press , now sited in the gardens of the Old Church Rooms . The 20th anniversary was celebrated with a reception at the Old Church Rooms in 2006 . The twinning committee is one of the more active in the area and cultural exchanges between the two communities take place annually . In 2008 , 45 visitors from St Philbert visited Radyr , and a visit by villagers to St Philbert also took place . The twinning committee also arranges Boules tournaments and social events throughout the summer . = = Notable people = = Several notable people are associated with Radyr . The children 's author Roald Dahl ( 1916 – 90 ) lived in the 1920s at a house called Tŷ Mynydd in Radyr ( which was demolished in 1967 ) . He called it an " imposing country mansion , surrounded by acres of farm and woodland " in his book Boy : Tales of Childhood . Jimi Mistry ( born 1973 ) , who is an Asian @-@ British actor and appeared in EastEnders , The Guru and East Is East , attended Radyr Comprehensive School . Actor Harry Ferrier also went to Radyr Comprehensive as he grew up in Radyr. and Tess Griffiths ( Nee Davies ) . Local sportsmen include Harry Corner ( 1874 – 1938 ) , an English cricketer who played in the Great Britain team that won a gold medal at the 1900 Summer Olympics , who lived , died and was buried in Radyr . Hugh Johns ( 1922 – 2007 ) , who was best known as a football commentator for ITV , retired and died in Radyr . Frank Meggitt ( 1901 – 45 ) , a Welsh cricketer , a right @-@ handed batsman and wicket @-@ keeper who played for Glamorgan , also lived in the town after retiring from the sport . The athlete and runner Timothy Benjamin ( born 1982 ) was born and raised in Radyr . Another notable resident is Sir Martin Evans ( born 1941 ) , the Professor of mammalian genetics at Cardiff University who received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2001 , was knighted in 2003 and was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on stem cells . He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences . = = Radyr in the media = = The outdoor scenes in an episode of the TV science fiction series Torchwood , called Small Worlds , were filmed mostly around Radyr Primary School .
= HMS Exeter ( 68 ) = HMS Exeter was the second and last York @-@ class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s . Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935 – 36 , she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station . When World War II began in September 1939 , the ship was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders . Exeter was one of three British cruisers that fought the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee later that year in the Battle of the River Plate . She was extensively damaged during the battle and was under repair for over a year . After her repairs were completed , the ship spent most of 1941 on convoy escort duties before she was transferred to the Far East after the start of the Pacific War in December . Exeter was generally tasked with escorting convoys to and from Singapore during the Malayan Campaign and continued on those duties in early February 1942 as the Japanese prepared to invade the Dutch East Indies . Later that month , she was assigned to the Striking Force of the joint American @-@ British @-@ Dutch @-@ Australian Command and took on a more active role in the defence of the Dutch islands . The culmination of this was her participation in the Battle of the Java Sea later in the month as the Allies attempted to intercept Japanese invasion convoys . Exeter was crippled early in the battle and did not play much of a role as she was forced to withdraw . Two days later , she attempted to escape inbound Japanese forces , but was intercepted and sunk by Japanese ships at the beginning of March in the Second Battle of the Java Sea . Most of her crew survived the sinking and were rescued by the Japanese . About a quarter of them died during captivity . Her wreck was discovered in early 2007 . = = Design and description = = Exeter was ordered two years after her sister ship York and her design incorporated improvements in the light of experience with the latter . Her beam was increased by one foot ( 30 cm ) to cater for increases in topweight , and the boiler uptakes were trunked backwards from the boiler rooms , allowing for straight funnels further removed from the bridge rather than the raked funnels necessary in York to ensure adequate dispersal of the flue gasses . As the eight @-@ inch ( 203 mm ) gun turrets had proved not strong enough to accommodate the aircraft catapult originally intended , Exeter was given a pair of fixed catapults angled out from amidships in a ' V ' shape , with the associated crane placed to starboard . Consequently , the bridge was lowered ( that of York being tall to give a view over the intended aircraft ) , and was of a streamlined , enclosed design that was incorporated into later cruisers . Exeter was slightly lighter than expected and displaced 8 @,@ 390 long tons ( 8 @,@ 520 t ) at standard load and 10 @,@ 620 long tons ( 10 @,@ 790 t ) at deep load . The ship had an overall length of 575 feet 1 inch ( 175 @.@ 3 m ) , a beam of 58 feet ( 17 @.@ 7 m ) and a draught of 20 feet 3 inches ( 6 @.@ 2 m ) . She was powered by four Parsons geared steam turbine sets , each driving one shaft , which developed a total of 80 @,@ 000 shaft horsepower ( 60 @,@ 000 kW ) and gave a maximum speed of 32 knots ( 59 km / h ; 37 mph ) . Steam for the turbines was provided by eight Admiralty 3 @-@ drum boilers . The ship carried a maximum of 1 @,@ 900 long tons ( 1 @,@ 900 t ) of fuel oil which gave her a range of 10 @,@ 000 nautical miles ( 19 @,@ 000 km ; 12 @,@ 000 mi ) at 14 knots ( 26 km / h ; 16 mph ) . The ship 's complement was 628 officers and ratings . The ships mounted six BL eight @-@ inch MK VIII guns in three twin turrets . The turrets were designated ' A ' , ' B ' and ' Y ' from front to rear . Their secondary armament consisted of four QF four @-@ inch ( 102 mm ) Mk V anti @-@ aircraft ( AA ) guns in single mounts . They also mounted two single two @-@ pounder ( 40 mm ) light AA guns ( " pom @-@ poms " ) . The Yorks carried two triple torpedo tube above @-@ water mounts for 21 @-@ inch ( 533 mm ) torpedoes . The York @-@ class cruisers lacked a full @-@ length waterline armour belt . The sides of Exeter 's boiler and engine rooms and the sides of the magazines were protected by 3 inches ( 76 mm ) of armour . The transverse bulkheads at the end of her machinery rooms were 3 @.@ 5 inches ( 89 mm ) thick . The top of the magazines were protected by 5 @.@ 5 inches ( 140 mm ) of armour and their ends were 4 @.@ 375 inches ( 111 @.@ 1 mm ) thick . The lower deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of 1 @.@ 5 inches ( 38 mm ) . = = = Modifications = = = In 1932 , Exeter had her side plating extended to enclose her open main deck as far back as the fore funnel . During that same refit , her pair of fixed catapults were finally installed for her embarked Fairey IIIF floatplanes . In 1934 – 35 , two quadruple mounts for Vickers 0 @.@ 5 in ( 12 @.@ 7 mm ) AA machineguns replaced the pair of two @-@ pounder " pom @-@ poms " originally installed . About four years later , the catapults were replaced by a single revolving catapult and the ship now carried Supermarine Walrus amphibians . While under repair in 1940 – 41 after her battle with the Admiral Graf Spee , the navy decided to upgrade her armament and fire @-@ control systems . The bridge was rebuilt and enlarged to accommodate a second High @-@ Angle Control System aft of the Director @-@ Control Tower ( DCT ) on top of the bridge , her single four @-@ inch AA guns were replaced with twin @-@ gun mounts for Mark XVI guns of the same calibre and a pair of octuple mounts for 40 mm " pom @-@ poms " were added abreast the aft superstructure . Enclosures ( " tubs " ) for single 20 mm Oerlikon guns were added to the roof of both ' B ' and ' Y ' turrets . The pole masts were replaced by stronger tripod masts because the Type 279 early @-@ warning radar had separate transmitting and receiving aerials , one at each masthead . In addition , a Type 284 fire @-@ control radar was fitted to the DCT . = = Construction and career = = Exeter , the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy , was laid down on 1 August 1928 , launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931 . The ship was then assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet , where she served between 1931 and 1933 . In 1934 she was assigned to the America and West Indies Station and remained there , aside from a temporary deployment to the Mediterranean during the Abyssinian crisis of 1935 – 36 , until 1939 . = = = Second World War = = = At the outbreak of the Second World War , she formed part of the South American Division with the heavy cruiser Cumberland , under Commodore Henry Harwood . The ship , commanded by Captain Frederick Bell , was assigned to Force G to hunt for German commerce raiders off the eastern coast of South America on 6 October 1939 . Three months later , Harwood ordered Exeter and the light cruiser Achilles to rendezvous with his own Ajax off the mouth of the River Plate , while Cumberland covered the Falkland Islands . The two other ships arrived on 12 December and Admiral Graf Spee spotted Exeter the following morning . Captain Hans Langsdorff decided to engage the British and closed at full speed . Following British doctrine on how to engage ships like Admiral Graf Spee , Exeter operated as a division on her own , Achilles and Ajax as the other , to split the fire of the German ship . They were only partially successful as the ship concentrated her main armament of six 283 @-@ millimetre ( 11 @.@ 1 in ) guns on Exeter and her secondary armament of eight 150 @-@ millimetre ( 5 @.@ 9 in ) guns on the light cruisers . Langsdorff opened fire at Exeter at 06 : 18 with high @-@ explosive shells and she returned fire two minutes later at a range of 18 @,@ 700 yards ( 17 @,@ 100 m ) . The German ship straddled the British cruiser with her third salvo ; splinters from the near misses killed the crew of the starboard torpedo tubes and damaged both seaplanes . After eight salvos from Exeter , Admiral Graf Spee scored a direct hit on ' B ' turret that knocked it out of action and splinters from the hit killed all of the bridge personnel except three . Bell , wounded in the face , transferred to the aft conning position to continue the battle . His ship was hit twice more shortly afterwards , but her powerplant was not damaged and she remained seaworthy , although her aircraft had to be jettisoned . At 06 : 30 , Langsdorff switched his fire to the light cruisers , but only inflicted splinter damage on them before some of Exeter 's torpedoes forced him to turn away at 06 : 37 to evade them . Her second torpedo attack at 06 : 43 was also unsuccessful . In the meantime , Langsdorff had switched his main guns back to the heavy cruiser and scored several more hits . They knocked out ' A ' turret , started a fire amidships that damaged the ship 's fire @-@ control and navigation circuits , and caused a 7 ° list with flooding . She remained in action until flooding disabled the machinery for ' Y ' turret at 07 : 30 . At 11 : 07 , Bell informed Harwood that Exeter had one eight @-@ inch and a four @-@ inch gun available in local control and that she could make 18 knots ( 33 km / h ; 21 mph ) . He ordered Bell to head to the Falklands for repair . Exeter was hit by a total of seven 283 mm shells that killed 61 of her crew were and wounded another 23 . After all Exeter 's guns had been put out of action but she was still seaworthy , Bell planned to collide with the enemy , saying " I 'm going to ram the -------- . It will be the end of us but it will sink him too " . In return the ship had hit Admiral Graf Spee three times ; one shell penetrated her main armour belt and narrowly missed detonating in one of her engine rooms , but the most important one disabled her oil @-@ purification equipment . Without it , the ship was unlikely to be able to reach Germany . Several days later , unable to be repaired and apparently confronted by powerful Royal Navy reinforcements , Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled in Montevideo harbour . Exeter made for Port Stanley for emergency repairs which took until January 1940 . She was repaired and modernised at Devonport Dockyard between February 1940 and March 1941 ; Captain W.N.T. Beckett relieved Bell on 12 December 1940 . On 10 March 1941 , the day Exeter was due to be re @-@ commissioned , Beckett died at Saltash Hospital from complications resulting from surgery related to injuries received earlier in his career . His replacement was Captain Oliver Gordon . On returning to the fleet , she was engaged on escort duty for Atlantic convoys , including the escort of Convoy WS @-@ 8B to the Middle East during the chase for the German battleship Bismarck . After the start of the Pacific War in December 1941 , the ship was transferred to the Far East . Upon her arrival at Singapore on 13 January 1942 , Exeter was assigned to the ABDACOM naval force that was intended to defend the Dutch East Indies ( Indonesia ) from Japanese invasion . She spent the first several weeks of February escorting convoys in the East Indies . On 13 February , Allied reconnaissance aircraft spotted Japanese invasion convoys north of Bangka Island and the new commander of ABDA naval forces , Vice Admiral Conrad Helfrich of the Royal Netherlands Navy , was ordered to assemble the Allied Striking Force of Exeter and three Dutch and one Australian light cruisers at Oosthaven on the morning of 14 February . Escorted by six American and three Dutch destroyers , the force departed that afternoon . The Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman , commanding the force , took his ships through the Gaspar Strait and then northwest towards Bangka Island . While passing through the strait , the Dutch destroyer Van Ghent struck a rock in poor visibility and another Dutch destroyer was tasked to take off her crew . The Japanese spotted the Allied ships around 08 : 00 and repeatedly attacked them . The first was a group of seven Nakajima B5N " Kate " torpedo bombers from the light carrier Ryūjō that attacked Exeter with bombs around 10 : 30 . The blast from a near miss badly damaged her Walrus , but the ship was only damaged by splinters . They were followed shortly afterwards by a group of 23 Mitsubishi G3M " Nell " bombers from the Genzan Air Group that inflicted no damage as they dropped their bombs from high altitude . Another group of six B5Ns attacked without effect at 11 : 30 . The repeated aerial attacks persuaded Doorman that further progress was unwise in the face of Japanese aerial supremacy and he ordered his ships to reverse course and head for Tanjung Priok at 12 : 42 . The attacks continued as 27 G3Ms of the Mihoro Air Group then bombed from high altitude . Seven more B5Ns attacked fruitlessly at 14 : 30 ; a half @-@ dozen more followed an hour later . The final attack was made by 17 Mitsubishi G4M " Betty " bombers of the Kanoya Air Group shortly before dark . The Japanese attacks were almost entirely ineffectual , with no ship reporting anything more than splinter damage . In return Allied anti @-@ aircraft fire was moderately effective with most of the attacking bombers damaged by shell splinters . In addition one G4M crashed while attempting to land and another was badly damaged upon landing . = = = = First Battle of the Java Sea = = = = On 25 February , Helfrich ordered all available warships to join Doorman 's Eastern Striking Force at Surabaya . Exeter and the Australian cruiser Perth , escorted by three British destroyers , Jupiter , Encounter , and Electra , set sail at once , leaving behind one Australian cruiser and two destroyers that were short of fuel . After they had arrived the following day , Doorman 's entire force of five cruisers and nine destroyers departed Surabaya at 18 : 30 to patrol off Eastern Java in hopes of intercepting the oncoming invasion convoy which had been spotted earlier that morning . The Japanese were further north than he anticipated and his ships found nothing . His own ships were located at 09 : 35 on the following morning , 27 February , and were continuously tracked by the Japanese . Doorman ordered a return to Surabaya at 10 : 30 and his ships were attacked by eight bombers from the Kanoya Air Group at 14 : 37 . They claimed to have made two hits on Jupiter , but actually missed the British destroyer . Just as his leading ships were entering harbour , he received reports of enemy ships 90 miles ( 140 km ) to the north and Doorman ordered his ships to turn about to intercept them . Aware of Doorman 's movements , the Japanese commander , Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi , detached the convoy 's two escorting destroyer flotillas , each consisting of a light cruiser and seven destroyers , to intercept the Allied ships in conjunction with his own pair of heavy cruisers , ( Nachi and Haguro ) , which were escorted by a pair of destroyers . His heavy cruisers opened fire at long range at 15 : 47 with little effect . The light cruisers and destroyers closed to ranges between 13 @,@ 000 and 15 @,@ 000 yards ( 12 @,@ 000 and 14 @,@ 000 m ) and began firing Type 93 " Long Lance " torpedoes beginning at 16 : 03 . All of these torpedoes failed to damage their targets , although one torpedo hit Exeter and failed to detonate at 16 : 35 . Three minutes later , Haguro changed the course of the battle when one of her shells penetrated the British ship 's starboard aft twin four @-@ inch gun mount before detonating in the forward boiler room , knocking six of her boilers off @-@ line and killing 14 of her crew . The ship sheered out of line to avoid another torpedo and slowed , followed by all of the trailing cruisers . Perth laid a smoke screen to protect Exeter and the Allied ships sorted themselves into separate groups as they attempted to disengage . Exeter was escorted by one Dutch and all three British destroyers in one group and the other cruisers and the American destroyers formed the other group . The Japanese did not initially press their pursuit as they maneuvered to use their torpedoes against the crippled Exeter , which could only make 5 knots ( 9 @.@ 3 km / h ; 5 @.@ 8 mph ) , and her escorts . The Japanese began launching torpedoes beginning at 17 : 20 at ranges of 10 @,@ 000 to 18 @,@ 500 yards ( 9 @,@ 100 to 16 @,@ 900 m ) , but they all missed . For some reason , two Japanese destroyers continued to close before firing their torpedoes at 6 @,@ 500 yards ( 5 @,@ 900 m ) and Encounter and Electra pulled out of line to counter @-@ attack . They engaged Asagumo and Minegumo at close range as they closed . Asagumo was damaged by Electra , but the Japanese ship sank the British destroyer at 17 : 46 . In the meantime , Exeter continued south to Surabaya , escorted by Encounter and the Dutch destroyer Witte de With . Doorman 's repeated , unsuccessful , and ultimately fatal , attempts to reach the transports concentrated the Japanese on the task of protecting the transports and allowed the damaged British cruiser to reach harbour . = = = = Second Battle of the Java Sea = = = = The following day , after making temporary repairs and refuelling , Exeter , escorted by Encounter and the American destroyer Pope , was ordered to sail to Colombo , Ceylon , via the Sunda Strait . They departed on the evening of 28 February , but were intercepted by the Japanese heavy cruisers Nachi , Haguro , Myōkō and Ashigara and the destroyers Akebono , Inazuma , Yamakaze and Kawakaze on the morning of 1 March . About 08 : 00 , the British ships spotted two of the Japanese cruisers , one of which launched its spotting floatplanes . Two others were seen closing in , and both launched their aircraft before opening fire at about 09 : 30 . The Allied ships laid smoke and turned away to the east with the Japanese to their north and south . Exeter was able to reach a speed of 26 knots ( 48 km / h ; 30 mph ) before the first hit on her again detonated in a boiler room and knocked out all power around 11 : 20 . The Japanese destroyers closed in and fired a total of 18 torpedoes , which made a number of hits . Two of those from from the destroyer Inazuma were claimed as hits and Exeter quickly capsized and sank . Encounter and Pope were also lost ; Pope temporarily escaped the initial melee , only to be sunk by B5Ns a few hours later . The Japanese rescued 652 of Exeter 's crew , including her captain , who became prisoners of war . Of these men , 152 died in captivity . The wreck was located and positively identified in February 2007 . Exeter lies in Indonesian waters , at a depth of about 200 feet ( 61 m ) , 90 miles ( 140 km ) north of Bawean Island – some 60 miles ( 97 km ) from the sinking position given by Gordon after the war .
= Glamorgan sausage = Glamorgan sausage ( Welsh : Selsig Morgannwg ) is a traditional Welsh vegetarian sausage for which the main ingredients are cheese ( usually Caerphilly ) , leeks and breadcrumbs . The earliest published mention of the dish is from the 1850s in the book Wild Wales by George Borrow , although earlier records in the Glamorgan Archives show a version which contains pork . The modern vegetarian version became popular during the Second World War when meat was harder to come by , and is now mass produced by at least two companies . Variations include swapping the leeks for onions , as well as different herbs and spices , and various types of cheese . = = History = = The origins of Glamorgan sausages are unknown . Research conducted at the Glamorgan Archives in Leckwith discovered that there is at least one traditional recipe which used meat . In a notebook dated between 1795 and 1813 , John Perkins , of Ty @-@ draw , Llantrithyd , included 1 pound ( 0 @.@ 45 kg ) each of lean pork and fat in his recipe for Glamorgan sausage . The spicing was also different from modern versions , calling for the use of cloves , sage and ginger . The first published mention of them was by George Borrow in his book Wild Wales , written in the 1850s and published in the next decade . He described them as " not a whit inferior to those of Epping " ; Epping sausages were skinless meat @-@ based sausages . Borrow visited Y Gwter Fawr ( now known as Brynamman ) ; the Tregib Arms has been suggested as the location at which Borrow ate his sausages . Advertisements promoting the sale of Glamorgan sausages in the British Newspaper Archive begin to appear from 1869 onwards , with the first advert placed by pork butcher Henry S. Morgan of 288 Bute Street , Cardiff , placed in the Western Mail on 15 December . Morgan continued to advertise over the next several years , and by 1874 was claiming that the demand necessitated making the sausages on an hourly basis , and referenced other makers of the sausages making theirs days in advance prior to sale . The advert makes it clear that the sausages were made from " choice dairy @-@ fed pork " . Glamorgan sausages are thought to have been originally made with Glamorgan cheese which is no longer made due to the near @-@ extinction of the Glamorgan cattle from which it was produced . They rose in popularity during the Second World War due to rationing limiting the volume of meat . The Welsh Gas Board promoted the sausage in a cookbook published in the 1950s , in which it did not specify the type of cheese to be used . In 2005 , a campaign began to register the Glamorgan sausage under the European Union geographical indications and traditional specialities scheme . This would have resulted in only Glamorgan sausages that were made in Glamorgan being labelled as such . The move was led by Greta Watts @-@ Jones , who runs the Cwrt Newydd company in Cowbridge , which was the only major manufacturer in the area . Her main competitor , Cauldron Foods , is based in Bristol , England . This protection had previously been extended to Welsh lamb and beef . The vote to gain this status , alongside Caerphilly cheese , was held in March 2006 at the European Parliament , but was not passed into law . = = Recipe = = Traditionally vegetarian , in modern versions , Caerphilly cheese is used , which is a descendant of the old traditional Glamorgan cheese recipe and lends the same general texture and flavour . The basic recipe calls for a mixture of cheese , leeks and breadcrumbs , although some recipes swap the leeks for onions or spring onions and may add herbs such as parsley or further flavourings such as mustard . The mixture is then rolled into sausage shapes , and then fried . There is no sausage casing used , although egg is used to bind the mixture so that it does not fall apart during the cooking process . = = = Variations = = = In various recipes , other substitutions and additions are suggested . The Hairy Bikers ( Dave Myers and Si King ) suggest Welsh cheddar as an alternative to Caerphilly and propose that it should be served with a red onion and chilli pepper relish . An Australian recipe suggests Lancashire cheese as an alternative ingredient . Regarding the breadcrumbs , chef Bobby Freeman suggests using half brown and half white breadcrumbs , while the cookbook for the London @-@ based restaurant Canteen proposes using a combination of boiled potatoes and breadcrumbs for the coating of the sausage . Cooking techniques for the leeks vary , as some recipes call for them to be mixed in raw , while others suggest browning them first in a frying pan . If left raw , they can lend a crunchier texture to the sausage . Both the Hairy Bikers and Canteen opt for cooking the leeks first . A variety of herbs are used , with Canteen using sage as seen in the Perkins recipe , in addition to nutmeg . The Welsh gas board recipe simply called for " mixed herbs " , while Felicity Cloake in The Guardian suggested the addition of thyme . For the frying , the gas board and chef Sophie Grigson suggested the use of lard , while the Bikers used vegetable oil . Both Cloake and The Daily Telegraph writer Nigel Godwin proposed frying Glamorgan sausages in butter .
= Against All Odds ( 2008 ) = Against All Odds ( 2008 ) was a professional wrestling pay @-@ per @-@ view ( PPV ) event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) promotion , which took place on February 10 , 2008 at the BI @-@ LO Center in Greenville , South Carolina . It was the fourth event under the Against All Odds chronology and the second event in the 2008 TNA PPV schedule . Nine professional wrestling matches were featured on the event 's card , four of which involved championships , while two matches were held prior to the event . The main event was for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship with Samoa Joe as Special Outside Enforcer between then @-@ champion Kurt Angle and the challenger Christian Cage . Angle ended up winning the bout , thus retaining the championship . Jay Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns ( Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ) fought Johnny Devine and Team 3D ( Brother Devon and Brother Ray ) in a Six Man Tag Team Street Fight on the card . Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns won the encounter . A Barbed Wire Massacre between Abyss and Judas Mesias was held at Against All Odds , which Abyss won . Booker T fought Robert Roode to a double countout in another highly promoted match for the event . This is the first event to have matches featured from different arenas air on the same show . This event also marked the second time the Barbed Wire Massacre match type was used by TNA . Chris Sokol of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated the event a seven and a half out of ten , higher than the six out of ten given to the 2007 event 's ranking by Chris Sokol . = = Production = = = = = Background = = = The next installment in the Against All Odds chronology was announced in late @-@ November 2007 to take place on February 10 , 2008 at the BI @-@ LO Center in Greenville , South Carolina . Tickets for the event went on sale December 7 , 2007 . In January 2008 , In Demand listed a preview regarding Against All Odds , which advertised the event would hold the second @-@ ever Barbed Wire Massacre . The South Carolina Athletic Commission originally gave TNA permission to hold Barbed Wire Massacre , however they receded their blessing prior to the event . Due to this , TNA were forced to change the location of the bout from the BI @-@ LO Center to the TNA Impact Zone in Orlando , Florida . TNA taped the match between Abyss and Judas Mesias on January 22 , 2008 at the tapings of the January 31 and February 7 , 2008 episodes of TNA 's television program TNA Impact ! . Consequences Creed taking part in a match prior to the show was promoted by TNA on their website . Due to poor ticket sales , it was reported TNA gave away several tickets for free . TNA released a poster featuring Abyss sometime prior to help promote the event . = = = Storylines = = = Against All Odds featured nine professional wrestling matches and two matches prior to the event that involved different wrestlers from pre @-@ existing scripted feuds and storylines . Wrestlers portrayed villains , heroes , or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches . The main event at Against All Odds was for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship with Samoa Joe as Special Outside Enforcer between then @-@ champion Kurt Angle and the challenger Christian Cage . On January 6 , 2008 at TNA 's previous PPV event Final Resolution , Angle defeated Cage to retain the championship after Cage 's alliance A.J. Styles attacked Cage , aligning with Angle and The Angle Alliance . On the January 10 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Management Director Jim Cornette announced that Cage , Joe , and Styles would compete in a Three Way match on the January 17 , 2008 episode of Impact ! . Stipulations for the match were that the winner would get a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against Angle at Against All Odds , however if Styles won he could choose instead of the title match to allow Angle to not have to defend his title for two months . Cage ended up winning the contest , thus becoming the number one contender . On the January 24 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Cornette announced that Joe would be the Special Outside Enforcer at Against All Odds due him being controversially disqualified during the match . Also connected to the storyline was the allegiance of former Christian 's Coalition and The Angle Alliance member Tomko to either Cage or Angle . Heading up to the match , Tomko explained he was not on either 's side , despite being one @-@ half of the TNA World Tag Team Champions with Styles . On the January 31 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Tomko defeated Angle after interference from Cage . This resulted in Tomko and Cage seeming to be on the same page on the February 7 , 2008 episode of Impact ! . The main storyline in TNA 's X Division revolved around Team 3D 's ( Brother Devon and Brother Ray ) attempt to eliminate the X Division . This feud began on the October 18 , 2007 episode of Impact ! when Team 3D attacked The Motor City Machine Guns ( Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ; MCMG ) and proclaimed they were going to eliminate the X Division . MCMG went on to defeat Team 3D at TNA 's Genesis PPV event on November 11 , 2007 . At the same event , Team 3D attacked and stole the TNA X Division Championship from then @-@ champion Jay Lethal . On the November 15 , 2007 episode of Impact ! , Johnny Devine turned on the X Division and joined Team 3D in their quest . Team 3D and Devine went on to defeat Lethal and MCMG in a Six Man Tag Team Tables Match at TNA 's Turning Point PPV event on December 2 , 2007 . The two teams then faced again at Final Resolution in a Six Man Tag Team Ultimate X match , which Team 3D and Devine won . On the January 10 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Devine and Team 3D challenged Lethal and MCMG to a Street Fight at Against All Odds , with the stipulation that if Team 3D won the X Division would disband , but if Lethal and MCMG won they would regain possession of the TNA X Division Championship and the X Division would continue to exist . On the January 17 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Lethal and MCMG accepted the agreement but only after including that Team 3D would have to weigh less than 275 pounds in order to compete in their matches in TNA . On the January 24 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Devine defeated Lethal to become the new TNA X Division Champion . The second @-@ ever Barbed Wire Massacre was promoted for Against All Odds between Abyss and Judas Mesias . The feud for this match began in mid @-@ 2007 when Abyss ' former manager Father James Mitchell returned and began a storyline with Abyss . Mesias made his debut on the September 13 , 2007 episode of Impact ! attacking Abyss at the request of Mitchell . After months of inactivity , Mesias returned on the December 13 , 2007 episode of Impact ! attacking Abyss . At Final Resolution , Mesias defeated Abyss with help from Mitchell . On the January 24 episode of Impact ! , Mitchell finally announced his reasons for feuding with Abyss , that he was Abyss ' father and Mesias was Abyss ' half @-@ brother in the narrative . TNA promoted a Barbed Wire Massacre match between Abyss and Mesias at Against All Odds sometime after this . At Final Resolution , the team of Robert Roode and Ms. Brooks fought the team of Booker T and Sharmell . The storyline behind this encounter involved Sharmell coming to the defense of Roode 's manager Ms. Brooks , who Roode verbally abused on the December 13 , 2007 episode of Impact ! . After the encounter , Roode accidentally punched Sharmell in the face , resulting in a storyline fractured jaw which sidelined her from appearing for the promotion and upsetting her real @-@ life husband Booker T. Following the event , Roode fired Brooks and higher her replacement Payton Banks on the January 10 episode of Impact ! , setting up a match between the two at Against All Odds . TNA promoted a match between Booker T and Robert Roode heading into Against All Odds . Two matches taking place at Against All Odds revolved around the Feast or Fired cases won at Turning Point by B.G. James , Petey Williams , and Scott Steiner . On the December 13 , 2007 episode of Impact ! , James was revealed to hold a future TNA World Tag Team Championship match with a partner of his choice , Williams ' case was shown to hold a future TNA World Heavyweight Championship match , and Steiner 's case held a future TNA X Division Championship match . During the segment , Steiner switched his case with Williams prior to the contents being revealed . This created a storyline between the two leading up to the January 31 , 2008 episode of Impact ! when Steiner teamed with Williams to face The Rock ' n Rave Infection ( Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt ) . During the contest , Steiner stole Williams ' case , bashed Williams with it , and left the arena . On the February 7 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , Cornette announced that Steiner and Williams would face at Against All Odds in which the winner would gain both cases . In the weeks following the December 13 episode , B.G. ' s Voodoo Kin Mafia tag team partner Kip James inquired on when B.G. would announce his tag team partner . Finally , on the January 17 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , B.G. announced his choice was his real @-@ life father Bob Armstrong . On the January 24 , 2008 episode of Impact ! , B.G. and Armstrong announced they would use their title shot at Against All Odds . TNA later promoted A.J. Styles and Tomko versus B.G. James and Bob Armstrong for the TNA World Tag Team Championship for the event . = = Event = = Two matches were held prior to the event . The first was a tag team match pitting Jackie Moore and newly named Traci Brooks against WTPT disjockeys The Rise Guys ( Skip and Mattman ) , which Moore and Brooks won when Moore gained the pinfall . The second was also a tag team match , in which the team of Sonjay Dutt and Consequences Creed defeated The Rock ' n Rave Infection ( Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt ) after Creed gained the fall on Rave . = = = On @-@ air employees = = = The event featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches . Mike Tenay and Don West were the commentators for the telecast . Jeremy Borash and David Penzer were ring announcers for the event . Andrew Thomas , Earl Hebner , Rudy Charles , and Mark " Slick " Johnson participated as referees for the encounters . Crystal Louthan , Scott Hudson , and Borash were used as interviewers during the event . Besides employees appearing in a wrestling role , Jackie Moore , Raisha Saeed , Jim Cornette , Father James Mitchell , Sonjay Dutt , SoCal Val , and Karen Angle all appeared on camera , either in backstage or ringside segments . = = = Preliminary matches = = = A.J. Styles and Tomko defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against the team of B.G. James and Bob Armstrong in the opening match . It lasted seven minutes and forty @-@ five seconds . B.G. and Armstrong were accompanied to the ring by United States Military officers . B.G. was injured in storyline after Styles hit him in the leg with a dropkick during the contest . Tomko and Styles won the match after they performed their signature tag team Tornado – Plex maneuver forcing B.G. into the mat to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship . Traci Brooks fought Payton Banks in the second bout , lasting five minutes and seven seconds . Brooks won the bout after gaining a pinfall with a schoolgirl pin . After the match , Banks attacked Brooks . The TNA World Heavyweight and TNA X Division Feast or Fired Title shots were fought over in the match between Scott Steiner and Petey Williams . Its duration was nine minutes and twenty @-@ four seconds . Williams gained a near @-@ fall during the bout by using a schoolboy pin . Near the end an unknown woman entered the arena and stood on the ring apron to distract Williams . This allowed Steiner to perform a powerbomb on Williams , thus winning the encounter and both cases . Eric Young defended the TNA World Beer Drinking Championship against James Storm , who was accompanied by Jackie Moore , in the fourth encounter . Moore interfered in the bout helping Storm twice . The first ended when Young performed a suplex on Moore and Storm at the same time . The second involved Moore distracting the referee , at which time Rhino made his return from an injury and entered the ring to perform his signature Gore maneuver on Storm , giving Young the victory at seven minutes and forty @-@ nine seconds to retain the TNA World Beer Drinking Championship . The TNA Women 's Knockout Championship was defended by Awesome Kong , who was accompanied by Raisha Saeed , against ODB in a match lasting six minutes and fifty @-@ four seconds . During the match , Kong was positioned on the top of a padded turnbuckle which allowed ODB to lift her off and perform a powerbomb gaining a near @-@ fall . Afterwards , Saeed stood on the ring apron to distract ODB , allowing Kong to perform her signature Awesome Bomb maneuver and gain the pinfall to retain the TNA Women 's Knockout Championship . = = = Main event matches = = = The second @-@ ever Barbed Wire Massacre was the sixth match on the card between Abyss and Judas Mesias , who was accompanied by Father James Mitchell . Its duration was fourteen minutes and fifty @-@ one seconds . It was featured from the TNA Impact ! Zone in Orlando , Florida , because the city of Greenville , SC refused to allow a match that violent to take place live . In Barbed Wire Massacre , the ring ropes are switched with strands of barbed @-@ wire and several weapons are featured wrapped in barbed @-@ wire . The match falls under no disqualifications rules and is won by either a pinfall or submission . Mesias bashed Abyss over the head with a barbed @-@ wire wrapped chair , which caused Abyss to bleed from the forehead . Abyss performed his signature Black Hole Slam maneuver on Mitchell after he interfered in the bout . Abyss won the contest after using the Black Hole Slam to drop Mesias onto a barbed @-@ wire wrapped board . The next match pitted Booker T against Robert Roode , who was accompanied by Payton Banks , in a bout lasting nine minutes and seventeen seconds . Near the end , Booker T began to bash Roode 's leg against the ringpost . Afterwards , Roode began walking to the backstage area as Booker T followed continuing the fight as the referee counted out both men , ending the contest in a draw . Booker T and Roode fought throughout the backstage area into the parking lot , where Roode pulled Banks from the driver 's seat of a car before making his own get away leaving Booker T and Banks behind . The Six Man Tag Team Street Fight between the team of Jay Lethal and MCMG ( Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ) and the team of Johnny Devine and Team 3D ( Brother Devon and Brother Ray ) . The stipulations were if Lethal and MCMG won then Team 3D would be forced to work with a weight limit , while if Devine and Team 3D won the TNA X Division would dissemble . Another added stipulation before the contest was whoever gained the pinfall would win the TNA X Division Championship . It lasted twelve minutes and thirty seconds . A Street Fight is fought under no disqualification and no count @-@ out rules , with weapons legal and provided for the match . During the final minutes , both Sabin and Shelley were scripted to appear unconscious at ringside , which caused Lethal to have to fight off Devine and Team 3D alone . Near the end of the match Team 3D set up a table ; Lethal followed by sending both out of the ring and laying Devine over the table . Lethal then stood on the top of a padded turnbuckle and jumped off to perform an elbow drop on Devine through the table to win the match . With the victory , Lethal won the TNA X Division Championship , prevented the X Division from disbanding , and forced Team 3D to work with a weight limit in the company . The main event was for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship with Samoa Joe as Special Outside Enforcer between the champion Kurt Angle , who was accompanied by Karen Angle , and the challenger Christian Cage . The duration of the encounter was twenty minutes and forty seconds . Angle attempted to use a steel chair during the contest , but was stopped and it was taken away by Joe . Cage performed his signature Unprettier maneuver , resulting in a near @-@ fall . In the final minutes , A.J. Styles interfered in the bout to attack Cage , but was stopped by Joe . Angle then grabbed a steel chair from ringside and bashed Cage with it . Tomko came down to the ring where he threw the chair out of the ring and proceeded to grab Angle . He then released Angle and lifted Cage up to perform an Argentine Neckbreaker to slam Cage into the mat back first . Angle followed by pinning Cage to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship . = = Reception = = 3 @,@ 500 people attended the event . Canadian Online Explorer writer Chris Sokol rated the entire event a seven and a half out of ten , which was higher than the six out of ten given to the 2007 Against All Odds event by Chris Sokol . Against All Odds rating was higher than TNA 's previous event Final Resolution , which was given a six out of ten . It was also higher than the six given to TNA 's next event Destination X. Compared to rival World Wrestling Entertainment 's No Way Out PPV event held on February 17 , 2008 , Against All Odds was rated higher as No Way Out was given a six out of ten by Dave Hillhouse . Sokol gave the main event his highest rating of the review a nine out of ten . The Six Man Tag Team Street Fight was given an eight out of ten . The Barbed Wire Massacre and Booker T versus Robert Roode bouts were both ranked with a six out of ten . The lowest rating of Sokol 's review was given to the TNA World Tag Team Championship match with a four out of ten . Sokol felt the main event was an " instant classic " , while the Street Fight was a " great match . " Regarding the Barbed Wire Massacre , Sokol believed it was a " decent match overall . " The Booker T and Roode contest he thought was " more of a brawl " than a match . Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch rated the main event three and a half stars out of five , his highest rating of the review , and believed there was just " too much interference at the end . " Keller gave the Street Fight three stars out of five , while the Barbed Wire Massacre was given two and a quarter stars out of five . Booker T versus Roode was given one and three @-@ quarter stars out of five , while Payton Banks versus Traci Brooks was ranked with half of a star out of give , Keller 's lowest rating . Keller thought the Street Fight was a " good chaotic brawl , " while the Roode versus Booker T bout had " good intensity " but was " short for a grudge match with an unsatisfying finish . " Keller felt the Barbed Wire Massacre " largely delivered " on what people " expected based on the build up . " James Caldwell of the Pro Wrestling Torch also reviewed the event , giving the main event his highest rating of four and one @-@ quarter stars out of five and the Roode versus Booker and Barbed Wire Massacre his lowest rating with one star each . Caldwell gave the Street Fight three stars out of five . Commenting on the main event , Caldwell said it was a " really strong main event " and " easily top match on the show . " Caldwell felt the Street Fight qualified for " best match of the show " up to that point . The event was released on DVD on April 22 , 2008 by TNA Home Video . = = Aftermath = = There were no major issues suffered from the Barbed Wire Massacre . It was reported after the event that there were issues ordering the show in the Australian market . On the February 14 , 2008 , episode of Impact ! , Tomko announced he attacked Christian Cage at the event because he no longer wanted an alliance with Cage and felt he could become a star on his own . Tomko then joined The Angle Alliance later on the same episode . On the February 21 , 2008 , episode of Impact ! , it was revealed a Six @-@ Man Tag Team match pitting the team of Cage , Samoa Joe , and Kevin Nash against The Angle Alliance ( Kurt Angle , A.J. Styles , and Tomko ) was planned for the Destination X PPV event on March 9 , 2008 . At Destination X , Cage , Joe , and Nash under The Unlikely Alliance moniker defeated The Angle Alliance . Following Against All Odds , Team 3D were forced to weigh in before each contest , which created a feud with the team of Curry Man and Shark Boy , leading to a Fish Market Street Fight between the two teams , with the stipulation that if Team 3D could not make weight they would be fired from TNA . At the event , Management Director Jim Cornette announced that if Team 3D made weight that night they would not have to abide by a weight restriction henceforth . Team 3D marked in below the mark prior to the contest ; however eventually lost the encounter . At Destination X , Robert Roode fought Booker T in a Stand By Your Man Strap match . Cornette announced on the February 14 episode of Impact ! , that Booker T and Roode would face in another match at Destination X. On the March 6 , 2008 , episode of Impact ! , Cornette announced that Booker T and Roode would face in a Stand By Your Man Strap match , in which if Booker T won then Traci Brooks would be allowed to beat Payton Banks with a strap ten times and vice versa . Roode won the bout at Destination X. After the contest , Sharmell returned from injury attacking Roode and Banks . This resulted in an Intergender Tag Team Six Sides of Steel Cage match at TNA 's Lockdown PPV event on April 13 , 2008 pitting Roode and Banks against Booker T and Sharmell , which the later team won . TNA held the second @-@ ever Elevation X match at Destination X between Rhino and James Storm . On the February 14 episode of Impact ! , Rhino challenged Storm to the contest at the event . On the February 28 , 2008 , episode of Impact ! , Storm defeated Young to win the TNA World Beer Drinking Championship in a Ladder match . Rhino stole the championship belt on the March 6 , 2008 episode of Impact ! and destroyed it by bashing it against a ring post , thus ending the storyline over the title between Storm and Young . Rhino was the victor in the encounter at the event . After winning the TNA X Division Championship at Against All Odds , Jay Lethal went on to defend the title against Petey Williams at Destination X. Lethal retained the title at the event . However , the storyline between Steiner and Williams continued after Against All Odds , with the two creating a partnership , in which Steiner gave Williams the TNA X Division Feast or Fired Title shot , which Williams used on the April 17 , 2008 episode of Impact ! to win the title . Meanwhile , Steiner went on to use the TNA World Heavyweight Feast or Fired Title shot at TNA 's Sacrifice PPV event on May 11 , 2008 , in a losing effort against then @-@ champion Samoa Joe and Kaz in a 3 @-@ Way Dance . After Against All Odds , the feud between Abyss and Judas Mesias ended , with Abyss disappearing from TNA after the February 14 episode of Impact ! , when he removed his mask and left the arena . Abyss returned at TNA 's Slammiversary PPV event on June 6 , 2008 in new attire still wearing a mask . = = Results = =
= Sky Blue Sky = Sky Blue Sky is the sixth studio album by American rock band Wilco , released on May 15 , 2007 by Nonesuch Records . Originally announced on January 17 , 2007 at a show in Nashville , Tennessee , it was the band 's first studio album with guitarist Nels Cline and multi @-@ instrumentalist Pat Sansone . Before its release , the band streamed the entire album on its official website and offered a free download of " What Light " . Sky Blue Sky was Wilco 's highest debuting album on the Billboard 200 at number four . The self @-@ produced album received mostly favorable reviews by critics . Publications such as PopMatters and Rolling Stone praised its maturity , while Playlouder and Pitchfork criticized its " dad @-@ rock " sound . While some critics praised the direct lyrical approach , others criticised it when compared to previous Wilco albums . The band licensed six songs from the Sky Blue Sky sessions to a Volkswagen advertisement campaign , a move that generated criticism from fans and the media . = = Production = = In April 2006 , Wilco was still touring in support of their most recent studio album , A Ghost Is Born which was released in 2004 . The band performed a few new songs during this leg of the tour , including " Walken " , " Either Way " , and " On and On and On " . The following month , drummer Glenn Kotche mentioned to Pitchfork that those new songs were going to be recorded as demos for a new album release . During a January 17 , 2007 solo concert , frontman Jeff Tweedy announced that the band would release their sixth studio album on May 15 , 2007 through Nonesuch Records . The album was named Sky Blue Sky , a reference to a childhood memory of Tweedy 's , of a Memorial Day parade in Belleville , Illinois . He had come home from St. Louis with his family , but could not reach his house because the parade blocked the main street . This led Tweedy to reflect upon his future in the town : he knew that he would have to leave when he grew up because it was too small . The album was recorded by TJ Doherty at The Loft in Irving Park , Chicago , where Tweedy had recorded Loose Fur 's Born Again in the USA and most of Wilco 's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot . In an interview with Billboard , the band revealed that the album would be less experimental than the two previous albums and more influenced by The Beatles , The Beach Boys , and The Rolling Stones . Also , unlike the previous albums , the album was made with only minimal involvement of Jim O 'Rourke ; the album which was produced with very few overdubs . = = = Composition = = = The band sought to be more direct with this record than the previous two , resulting in a more mellow album . Tweedy attributes the lyrical directness to his listening to material by The Byrds and Fairport Convention while recording the album . He disliked the reliance on studio effects on previous albums : I got nervous about the technology on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot . If you need a certain amp or pedal to make a song what it is , it isn 't a song . Many of the album 's songs were recorded in a single day , with the band reaching a consensus on how each song should sound . Eighteen songs were recorded for the album and twelve were selected for the album 's track listing . The outtake " Let 's Not Get Carried Away " was included with iTunes digital downloads , and a full @-@ band version of " The Thanks I Get " was released on the band 's Myspace page . Some albums that were shipped to independent record stores included an EP featuring the outtake " One True Vine " and a live version of " Theologians " recorded at The Vic Theater in Chicago . A deluxe edition of Sky Blue Sky was also released , which included a DVD with eight live performances from the Wilco Loft . Unlike previous Wilco albums , Sky Blue Sky features more songwriting collaboration between Tweedy and the other members of the band . As a result , a variety of lyrical themes appear on Sky Blue Sky ( Tweedy was the only designer of the songs on A Ghost Is Born , using Pro Tools , before presenting them to the band ) . The title track references the worries Tweedy had as a child in a small town while " On and On and On " is an ode to Tweedy 's father 's experience after the death of Tweedy 's mother . Not every song on the album is as serious — " Hate It Here " somewhat humorously describes a man who tries to fill his free time with chores after breaking up with his lover . Sky Blue Sky was the band 's first studio record to feature the expanded lineup that premiered on Kicking Television : Live in Chicago . Guitarist Jeff Tweedy provided the lead vocals for the album and John Stirratt , the only other original member of the band , played bass guitar and added background vocals . Glenn Kotche played drums and Mikael Jorgensen performed on a variety of keyboards . New to the band since the previous studio album were lead guitarist Nels Cline and multi @-@ instrumentalist Pat Sansone . Additional instrumentation was provided by violist Karen Waltuch and multi @-@ instrumentalist Jim O 'Rourke . The album was mixed by Jim Scott at PLYRZ Studios in Santa Clara , California . = = = Artwork = = = The cover artwork of Sky Blue Sky is a photograph by Manuel Presti titled " Sky Chase . " The photograph was taken in Rome , Italy , and helped Presti win the 2005 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition . The same photograph is featured in the July 2007 issue of National Geographic . Nathaniel Murphy provided several illustrations for the liner booklet , which include a tree on a hill , a hand , and a flock of birds . The booklet also contains photographs of the band members by Frank Ockenfels . Graphic design was provided by Jeff Tweedy and Lawrence Azerrad . = = Marketing and promotion = = On March 3 , 2007 , Wilco 's official website hosted a Sky Blue Sky " listening party " , which streamed the new album in its entirety . Two days later , the track " What Light " was made available for download on the band 's website and was streamed on its MySpace page . On March 11 , 2007 , the official website streamed the album in its entirety again . " The Thanks I Get " , a song recorded during the Sky Blue Sky sessions but not included on the album , was made available as a free download to purchasers of the album . During the European segment of the promotional tour , Wilco included a five @-@ song extended play with purchase of the album . The EP contained the songs " The Thanks I Get " , " One True Vine " , " Let 's Not Get Carried Away " , and live versions of " Impossible Germany " and " Hate It Here " . Wilco made the EP available online for free to previous purchasers of Sky Blue Sky . Frustrated by the lack of radio airplay received by previous Wilco albums , the band decided to branch out into television advertising . Wilco had previously licensed songs for Telefónica Moviles , and Jeff Tweedy appeared in a series of advertisements for Apple Computer . In May 2007 , Volkswagen began running a pair of commercials with " You Are My Face " and bonus track " The Thanks I Get " playing in the background . The band commented on their website that " we feel okay about VWs . Several of us even drive them . " The band licensed six songs for the campaign , which was created by advertising agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky . The move was met with criticism from both fans and popular media . A promotional tour followed the release of the album . The band performed " Sky Blue Sky " and " You Are My Face " on Later ... with Jools Holland on May 25 , 2007 and was interviewed on The Dermot O 'Leary Show the next day . Beginning June 13 , 2007 , Wilco played fourteen shows in North America with Low as its opening act . Following this , the band made plans to tour Norway , Denmark , Switzerland , the United Kingdom , Belgium , Italy , and Spain before playing a few more North American shows , including a performance on The Tonight Show . = = Release and reception = = Nonesuch released the album on May 15 , 2007 ; the following week became Wilco 's best @-@ ever sales week . The album debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 , selling 87 @,@ 000 copies domestically in its first week . Sky Blue Sky was also an international success , peaking at number 7 in Norway , number 21 in Belgium , number 23 in Australia and Ireland , number 26 in Sweden , number 32 in New Zealand , number 36 in Germany , and number 39 in the United Kingdom . The album so far has a score of 73 out of 100 from Metacritic based on " generally favorable reviews " upon its release . Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone pondered in his review whether Wilco had ever made a song as good as " Impossible Germany , " praising how the song builds into a " twin guitar epic " in the mold of Television and Peter Green @-@ era Fleetwood Mac . Michael Metivier of PopMatters commented that while the album took a while to understand , it was full of " exquisitely beautiful melodies and performances " . AllMusic writer Mark Deming called the album " Wilco 's strongest album as an ensemble to date , " and found the return to roots rock music a fresh new method for the band . Blender gave it three @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of five and said that the album " often feels like the [ Grateful ] Dead 's American Beauty if Jerry Garcia had taken Paxil instead of acid . " Colin Stutz of Filter gave the album a score of 91 % and stated : " Wilco has constructed their most straightforward release in recent memory , which relies heavily on the inspired intricacies of a full @-@ hearted band . " Richard Cromelin of Los Angeles Times gave the album three @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of four and called it " The most musically direct and down to earth of the band 's six @-@ album career . " Andrew C. Bradick of Prefix Magazine gave the album a favorable review and called it " Wilco 's first step toward aging well , but it transcends transition and is an album that sounds right in its place and time . " Alan Shulman of No Ripcord gave it a score of eight stars out of ten and said , " Wilco has come up with 50 % of a classic album and 50 % of a merely decent one . Buy it for the moments you simply won ’ t hear anywhere else . " Will Hermes of Spin gave it a score of eight out of ten and called it " A near @-@ perfect album by a band that seems , finally , to have found their identity . " Alternative Press gave it four stars out of five and said , " It 's apparent it takes deft skill to sound this simple . " Tiny Mix Tapes also gave it four stars out of five and stated : " While the elders will rejoice [ in ] this sober , satisfied , and craftily subdued effort , the younglings of the bunch , with their abbreviated attention spans , iPod shuffles , and demand for instant gratification , will declare the album a boring and lethargic affair . " Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine likewise gave it four stars out of five and said that " Though it may not fit comfortably alongside any other albums in Wilco 's catalogue , Sky Blue Sky is further confirmation that , even at their most retro , they 're among contemporary pop music 's most vital acts . " Likewise , Graeme Thomson of The Observer gave it four stars and said , " The closer you listen to the jazzy guitars , Beatles touches and easy , shuffling rhythms ... the more it transpires that Tweedy is simply allowing the songs sufficient room to speak up for themselves . " John Pareles of The New York Times gave the album a positive review and said , " The production is straightforward , but the song structures aren ’ t ; that ’ s where Wilco ’ s idiosyncrasies still hide out . " Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe also gave it a positive review and said the band " hasn 't forsaken its experimental streak , and the group uses it in the service of darkness -- or rather the threat of darkness . " However , not all publications praised the new style of Sky Blue Sky . Stylus Magazine editor Ian Cohen criticized the album 's disregard for the " fourth wall " , and expressed concern about its dissimilarities to Kicking Television : Live in Chicago . Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian gave the album three stars out of five and said , " On its own terms , Sky Blue Sky succeeds : it 's tender , poignant and sumptuously textured , occasionally jolted into fiery life by flaring guitar passages redolent of Neil Young or Television . " Now gave it a positive review and stated : " All those self @-@ consciously avant bits of the two previous albums have been ditched along with Jeff Tweedy 's laughable lyrical abstractions in favour of tuneful , direct songs that at least seem to carry some emotional weight . " Ted Grant of Playlouder gave the album two stars out of five and called it the " blandest and most creatively uninspired record of their career " , finding that the album was leading to tame " dad @-@ rock " . Pitchfork writer Rob Mitchum also used the " dad @-@ rock " colloquialism , dismissing its straightforwardness and arguing " Tweedy merely ended up with the wrong personnel to articulate his mood here . " Mojo also gave the album three stars out of five , stating that " Many longtime listeners ... are sure to be disappointed with the radio @-@ friendly production and sheer innocuousness of [ the ] lyrics . " Andy Gill of Uncut gave the album three stars out of five and called it " a slight disappointment " . Billboard gave it an average review and stated : " On first listen , it might seem too derivative , even dull , but Jeff Tweedy 's intricate vocal melodies and Nels Cline 's ferocious guitar work keep things interesting . " Under the Radar gave it five stars out of ten and called it " a very professional but almost inconsequential set ... flat and ultimately uninspired . " John Walshe of Hot Press gave it a mixed review and said the album was " just too ' nice ' . " The lyrical content was considered by critics to be somewhat experimental , but more straightforward than previous Wilco albums . Michael Metevier of PopMatters found the lyrics to be " some of the most affecting and least clumsy " of the band 's career , though he worried that they might strike some Wilco fans as dull . Rob Sheffield said that while he was unimpressed with the lyrics of other Wilco albums , he liked the songwriting on Sky Blue Sky . However , Brandon Kreitler of Dusted Magazine felt that the lyrics seem like an insular Tweedy confessional , and Doug Freeman of The Austin Chronicle described the collaborative songwriting as yielding " fatalistic ambivalence " while giving the album two stars out of five . The album received a nomination at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album . It placed 12th in the 2008 Pazz & Jop Poll . This album was # 42 on Rolling Stone 's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007 , and the song " Impossible Germany " was # 71 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007 . WXPN named " Impossible Germany " as the # 1 song of 2007 and named the album as a whole the # 1 album of 2007 . Sky Blue Sky was named one of the ten best albums of the year by Billboard , Paste , Uncut , and The A.V. Club . The album was placed at # 97 on the Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums Of The 2000s list . = = Track listing = = All songs written and composed by Jeff Tweedy , except where noted . = = Personnel = = Wilco Nels Cline – electric guitar , 12 string guitar , lap steel guitar Mikael Jorgensen – piano , organs , Wurlitzer Glenn Kotche – drums , percussion , glockenspiel Pat Sansone – organs , guitar , Chamberlin , Mellotron , Wurlitzer , harpsichord , piano , backing vocals John Stirratt – bass guitar , backing vocals Jeff Tweedy – vocals , guitar , graphic design Additional musicians Jim O 'Rourke – feedback , percussion , acoustic guitar , string arrangements Karen Waltuch – viola , violin Production and design Lawrence Azerrad – graphic design TJ Doherty – recording Robert Ludwig – mastering Nathaniel Murphy – illustrations Frack Ockenfels – photography Manuel Presti – cover photograph Jim Scott – mixing Jason Tobias , Tom Gloady , Kevin Dean – assistant engineering
= Nescopeck Mountain = Nescopeck Mountain ( also known as Nescopec Mountain ) is a ridge in Columbia County and Luzerne County , in Pennsylvania , in the United States . Its elevation is 1 @,@ 594 feet ( 486 m ) above sea level . The ridge is a forested ridge , with at least two types of forest and two systems of vernal pools . It is a very long and unbroken ridge with two water gaps : one carved by Catawissa Creek and one carved by Nescopeck Creek . Rock formations in the ridge include the Lower Helderberg Formation , the Onondaga Formation , the Spechty Kopf Formation , the Trimmers Rock Formation , and the Mauch Chunk Formation . In the most recent ice age , it was affected by glaciation . Native Americans historically settled in the vicinity of Nescopeck Mountain . It was visited by Europeans as early as 1755 . The ridge 's name most likely means " dirty waters " or " black waters " . Two Pennsylvania State Game Lands and one state park are situated partially on it . The ridge spans numerous townships in Columbia County and Luzerne County . = = Geography = = The elevation of Nescopeck Mountain is 1 @,@ 594 feet ( 486 m ) above sea level , making it the highest ridge in Columbia County . Townships that Nescopeck Mountain occupies include Beaver Township , Mifflin Township , and Main Township in Columbia County . The ridge extends into several townships in Luzerne County , including Nescopeck Township , and reaches at least as far east as Nescopeck State Park . Nescopeck Mountain is an unbroken ridge , being described as " regular and almost unbroken " in Thomas Francis Gordon 's 1832 book A Gazetteer of the State of Pennsylvania . John Gosse Freeze 's 1888 book A History of Columbia County , Pennsylvania : From the Earliest Times described the ridge as " beautiful and regular in its formation " . It stretches from near the Susquehanna River almost to the Lehigh River and has a length of nearly 20 miles ( 32 km ) . It is considerably steeper and higher on its northern side , at least in the United States Geological Survey quadrangle of Berwick . The ridge is too rocky for agriculture , with large boulders being abundant on it . Nescopeck Mountain is part of a long chain of continuously forested mountains and ridges that stretches from Moosic Mountain to the Susquehanna River . It is considered to be an extension of Catawissa Mountain . The ridge is similar in height to mountains in the vicinity of the Wyoming Valley . The ridge has a topographic prominence of up to approximately 850 feet ( 260 m ) in places and up to 900 feet ( 270 m ) at the Nescopeck Creek water gap . However , it is only 400 to 500 feet ( 120 to 150 m ) high near its western end at Mainville . Interstate 80 crosses through the water gap carved by Nescopeck Creek in Nescopeck Mountain . The Susquehanna River Lowlands are in the vicinity of the ridge . Large groups of small kettle holes are found along the base of the ridge . Nescopeck Mountain occupies the United States Geological Survey quadrangles of Shumans , Nuremberg , Berwick , Sybertsville , Freeland , and White Haven . = = Streams and valleys = = A creek known as Nescopeck Creek is in the vicinity of Nescopeck Mountain . Additionally , Black Creek , a major tributary of Nescopeck Creek , empties into the larger creek at the base of the ridge . The ridge is north of the creek for a portion of its length . There is a valley known as the Nescopeck Valley which is between Nescopeck Mountain and Buck Mountain . Nescopeck Creek flows through this valley . The valley is 20 miles ( 32 km ) long and 5 miles ( 8 @.@ 0 km ) wide . Some streams on the ridge are part of the Lehigh River watershed . A stream known as Scotch Run flows through a valley with Nescopeck Mountain on its northern edge . Nescopeck Mountain forms a water gap with Catawissa Mountain . Catawissa Creek cuts through this water gap . There is also a water gap carved by Nescopeck Creek through Nescopeck Mountain . Both of these water gaps are relatively narrow . The mountain serves as part of the dividing line between the Susquehanna River and the Lehigh River watersheds . For some distance , the ridge runs parallel to the Susquehanna River at a distance of 2 @.@ 5 to 3 miles ( 4 @.@ 0 to 4 @.@ 8 km ) . = = Geology = = Nescopeck Mountain is mainly formed by hard , upturned conglomerates belonging to the Pocono Formation . There are a total of three rock formations on Nescopeck Mountain in the Berwick Quadrangle , which is in Columbia County and Luzerne County . From north to south , these rock formations are the Trimmers Rock Formation ( from the Devonian Period ) , the Spechty Kopf Formation ( from the Devonian Period and the Mississippian Period ) , and the Onondaga Formation ( from the Devonian Period ) . All three of these formations occur in bands that are at an angle relative to the surface . The Spechty Kopf Formation occurs at the peak of the ridge and extends to a depth of approximately 1 @,@ 500 feet ( 460 m ) below sea level . The Onondaga Formation runs from near the ridge 's peak to 1 @,@ 000 feet ( 300 m ) below sea level . The Trimmers Rock Formation runs from the middle elevations of the ridge to more than 2 @,@ 000 feet ( 610 m ) below sea level . Additionally , the Mauch Chunk Formation is found on the ridge . The summit of the ridge consists of hard Pocono Formation rock . A plain of the Catskill Formation occurs to the north of the ridge . There are coal basins to the south of Nescopeck Mountain . During an ice age , glaciers pressed against Nescopeck Mountain and eventually moved over it , carrying gravel from the Susquehanna River . The ridge was near the southern edge of the most recent period of glaciation . = = History and etymology = = Nescopeck Mountain was entered into the Geographic Names Information System on August 2 , 1979 . Its identifier in the Geographic Names Information System is 1190986 . The ridge is also known as Nescopec Mountain . This variant name appears in Israel C. White 's 1883 book The geology of the North Branch Susquehanna River Region in the six counties of Wyoming , Lackawanna , Luzerne , Columbia , Montour and Northumberland . Nescopeck Mountain is most likely named for a Native American village called Nescopeck . The word nescopeck itself is a corruption of neskchoppeck , which may mean " dirty waters " or " black waters " . Historically , there was a Native American village in the vicinity of Nescopeck Mountain , where the borough of Nescopeck is in modern times . Additionally , the Forks Indians arrived at the ridge in 1740 after being evicted from their lands in the Lehigh Valley . As early as 1755 , a pair of Moravian missionaries , Christian Seidel and Henry Frey , descended the ridge while visiting Native Americans . In 1838 , a man named Mr. Butler requested permission of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to construct a tunnel or through cut through Nescopeck Mountain for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company . In the late 1800s and early 1900s , the Glen Summit Springs Hotel operated on top of Nescopeck Mountain . It was constructed by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company . During its most active use , it attracted visitors from the Wyoming Valley and from the East Coast of the United States . The Lehigh Valley Railroad historically passed over the ridge . In the late 1800s , the ridge was prospected for coal . The top of Nescopeck Mountain was devoid of trees by the middle of the 1800s . Logging has been done on the ridge in the early 2000s and plans have been made to construct communication towers on the ridge . Local produce is sometimes traded over Nescopeck Mountain . The mountain is almost completely undeveloped . A gypsy moth infestation began on Nescopeck Mountain in the summer of 2014 , causing hundreds of trees to be defoliated . The Bureau of Forestry expects to begin spraying the area in May 2015 and June 2015 . = = Biology = = Nescopeck Mountain is one of several mountains in Columbia County to contain undisturbed oak / mixed hardwood forests . This forest is also an Appalachian Oak Forest . Specific tree species on the ridge in Columbia County include red oak , chestnut oak , scarlet oak , black birch , American chestnut , pitch pine , red maple , and serviceberry . Other plants on the ridge include black huckleberry , lowbush blueberry , mountain laurel , sheep 's laurel , bracken fern , wild sarsaparilla , and Virginia creeper . An ephemeral / fluctuating pool natural community known as the Edgewood Vernal Pools is located on and near Nescopeck Mountain . It consists of dozens of vernal pools created by glaciation . Numerous amphibian species breed in the pools and hardwood trees and hemlock are present on the southern edge of the pool system . A globally rare species of invertebrate was observed in the pools in 1990 . Another system of vernal pools known as the Briggsville Vernal Pools are found north of the ridge . The Nescopeck Mountain Barrens are a ridgetop dwarf @-@ tree forest natural community . The barrens consist of scrub oaks , hairgrass , pitch pines , little bluestems , and blueberries . = = Recreation = = A portion of the Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 58 is on Nescopeck Mountain . Additionally , the Pennsylvania State Game Lands Number 187 contain the Nescopeck Mountain Barrens . The ridge is on the northern border of the 3550 @-@ acre Nescopeck State Park . Historically , there were trails leading up to the top of Nescopeck Mountain . There is high visibility from the top of the ridge and the town of Bloomsburg can be seen . The water gap where Catawissa Creek flows between Nescopeck Mountain and Catawissa Mountain was described as " attractive " by I. W. Hartman in 1912 . The water gap where Nescopeck Creek flows through Nescopeck Mountain is described as " impressive " in Jeff Mitchell 's book Paddling Pennsylvania .
= Noel Park = Noel Park in north London is a late @-@ 19th early 20th @-@ century planned community consisting of 2 @,@ 200 model dwellings , designed by Rowland Plumbe . It was developed in open countryside to the north of London in the valley of the River Moselle , about half @-@ way between the historic villages of Highgate and Tottenham . It is one of four developments on the outskirts of London built by the Artizans , Labourers & General Dwellings Company ( Artizans Company ) . From 2003 to sometime in 2009 , the name was also given to a small park near the southern edge of Noel Park , formerly known , and now known again as Russell Park . One of the earliest garden suburbs in the world , Noel Park was designed to provide affordable housing for working @-@ class families wishing to leave the inner city ; every property had a front and rear garden . It was planned from the outset as a self @-@ contained community close enough to the rail network to allow its residents to commute to work . In line with the principles of the Artizans Company 's founder , William Austin , no public houses were built within the estate , and there are still none today . As a result of London 's rapid expansion during the early 20th century , and particularly after the area was connected to the London Underground in 1932 , Noel Park became completely surrounded by later developments . In 1965 , it was incorporated into the newly created London Borough of Haringey , and in 1966 it was bought by the local authority and taken into public ownership . Despite damage sustained during World War II and demolition work during the construction of Wood Green Shopping City in the 1970s , Noel Park today remains largely architecturally intact . In 1982 , the majority of the area was granted Conservation Area and Article Four Direction status by the Secretary of State for the Environment , in recognition of its significance in the development of suburban and philanthropic housing and in the history of the modern housing estate . = = Location = = Noel Park is 6 @.@ 4 miles ( 10 @.@ 3 km ) north of Charing Cross , near the centre of the modern London Borough of Haringey , of which it is a ward . The area forms a rough triangle , bordered by the A109 road ( Lordship Lane ) to the north , A1080 road ( Westbury Avenue ) to the south @-@ east , and A105 road ( Wood Green High Road , formerly part of Green Lanes ) to the west . When construction began , the River Moselle , running parallel to Lordship Lane a short distance south of it , formed the de facto northern boundary of the area . During the development of the area in the 1880s the river was culverted and the land between the river and Lordship Lane built on . The historic western boundary was the now @-@ defunct Palace Gates Line of the Great Eastern Railway ( GER ) , a short distance to the east of Wood Green High Road . Since the railway 's closure in 1964 , much of the area between the former railway line and Wood Green High Road has been occupied by the eastern section of the large The Mall Wood Green shopping , cinema and residential complex ( commonly known as Shopping City ) . = = History and development = = = = = Early history = = = Historically , the site of Noel Park was virtually uninhabited . The 1619 Earl of Dorset 's Survey of Tottenham shows the area as forming the historic Duckett 's ( Dovecote ) Manor ; as with the rest of the Moselle valley the land consisted almost entirely of woodland and pasture , with the only building shown in the area which was to become Noel Park being Dovecote House itself , dating from 1254 and the earliest recorded property in Wood Green . The small village of Wood Green itself is shown a short distance to the north @-@ east . The manor itself was situated on the ancient arterial road of Green Lanes . The last recorded occupancy of the manor was in 1881 , shortly before the site was cleared for the construction of Noel Park . By 1880 the estate had been broken up into fifteen smaller farms . The rough northern meadows adjacent to the Moselle were used for beef farming , whilst the southern fields , known as Grainger 's Farm , were used as grazing land . The western edge of the estate was by this time occupied by the Great Eastern Railway 's Palace Gates Line and Green Lanes railway station , opened in 1878 . = = = Artizans , Labourers & General Dwellings Company = = = The Artizans , Labourers & General Dwellings Company ( Artizans Company ) was established in 1867 by William Austin . Austin was an illiterate who had begun his working life on a farm as a scarecrow paid 1d per day , and had worked his way up to become a drainage contractor . The company was established as a for @-@ profit joint stock company , with the objective of building new houses for the working classes " in consequence of the destruction of houses by railroads and other improvements " . The company aimed to fuse the designs of rural planned suburbs such as Bedford Park with the ethos of high @-@ quality homes for the lower classes pioneered at Saltaire . Whilst earlier philanthropic housing companies such as the Peabody Trust and the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company focused on multi @-@ storey blocks of flats in the inner cities , the Artizans Company aimed to build low @-@ rise housing in open countryside alongside existing railway lines to allow workers to live in the countryside and commute into the city . The company attracted the attention of Lord Shaftesbury , who served as president until 1875 . The company built and immediately sold a group of houses in Battersea , then still a rural village . The proceeds of the sale were used to purchase a plot of land in Salford for development , and by 1874 the company had developments in Liverpool , Birmingham , Gosport and Leeds . The first of the four large @-@ scale estates built by the Artizans Company was Shaftesbury Park , a development of 1 @,@ 200 two @-@ storey houses covering 42 @.@ 5 acres ( 0 @.@ 17 km2 ; 0 @.@ 07 sq mi ) built in 1872 on the site of a former pig farm in Battersea . The success of Shaftesbury Park led to the construction of Queen 's Park , built in 1874 on a far more ambitious scale on 76 acres ( 0 @.@ 31 km2 ; 0 @.@ 12 sq mi ) of land to the west of London , adjacent to the newly opened Westbourne Park station , purchased from All Souls College , Oxford . A third London estate was planned at Cann Hall , and a site of 61 acres ( 0 @.@ 25 km2 ; 0 @.@ 10 sq mi ) was purchased . However , the Queen 's Park project suffered serious mismanagement and fraud ; the company secretary William Swindlehurst and two others were found guilty in 1877 of defrauding £ 9 @,@ 312 ( approximately £ 791 thousand today ) from the project . The company was forced to raise rents and tenants were no longer permitted to buy their houses ; by 1880 the company 's finances had recovered sufficiently to allow further expansion . = = = Selection of the site = = = On 14 February 1881 , Rowland Plumbe was appointed Consulting Architect to the Artizans Company , with a brief to prepare a third estate . A leading architect of the period , Plumbe had primarily been a designer of hospitals , such as the London Hospital , and Poplar Hospital ; he had been President of the Architectural Association in 1871 – 72 and a Council Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects since 1876 . In April 1881 , the Artizans Company inspected sites at Fulham and " in the vicinity of Alexandra Park " in the Tottenham Local Board . The Fulham site was rejected as too prone to flooding , and the Wood Green site rejected as being too far from any centre of population . However , the next month , the decision was taken to bid for the site near Wood Green . Despite its distance from London at the time , the area was well served by railways . The Palace Gates Line , opened in 1878 to serve nearby Alexandra Palace , had an intermediate station at Green Lanes , immediately adjacent to the site in question . This provided direct service to the City of London from the outset ; following the construction of a link with the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway on 1 June 1880 , direct services also ran to Blackwall and North Woolwich , providing direct links with the Port of London . In addition , the Great Northern Railway 's station at Wood Green ( now Alexandra Palace station ) was within walking distance . The company decided that the quality of transport links compensated for the distance from any significant centre of population , and , in June 1881 , a site of 100 acres ( 0 @.@ 40 km2 ; 0 @.@ 16 sq mi ) was purchased by the company for £ 56 @,@ 345 ( approximately £ 5 @.@ 13 million today ) . = = = Design = = = Plumbe designed the estate with five classes of houses , all built in the Gothic Revival style . Although the houses were built to the same five basic designs , each street was given a distinct style of design and ornamentation . Varying mixes of red and yellow bricks , and variations in window design and ornamental motifs were used to give each street a distinct identity . All were designed with front and rear gardens . Corner houses were given distinctive designs and turrets . The distribution of houses followed the traditional Victorian model of town planning . The larger first- and second @-@ class houses were built in the centre , close to the church and school , while the more numerous third- , fourth- and fifth @-@ class houses were built in the estate 's outskirts . Welch ( 2006 ) speculates that this segregation of housing was not Plumbe 's intention ; Plumbe himself was quoted in 1896 as saying that " I regret that it is necessary to separate the richer and more cultured classes from the poorer , owing to the prejudices which exist ; and these prejudices exist on the part of the poor as well as on the part of the other class " . Except for the corner houses , the houses were built in pairs , each sharing a porch with its neighbour . For many of the smaller fourth- and fifth @-@ class houses , the doors were aligned at right angles to the façade of the house , so as not to open directly adjacently to their neighbours . All houses were designed with at least one parlour and with the kitchen , scullery , and toilet in separate rooms at the rear of the house ; the first @-@ class houses also had toilets upstairs . In line with the design principles of the time , the downstairs toilets were accessible only from the rear gardens , and the houses were not fitted with separate bathrooms ; baths were taken in a moveable bath located in the kitchen . All houses were built with marble @-@ mantelpieced fireplaces and flues . All houses were supplied with running water supplied from the New River , which flowed through nearby Wood Green . However , not all houses were supplied with gas or mains electricity from the outset , the remainder being lit by candles or oil or paraffin lamps . Houses at Noel Park were deliberately designed to be relatively small , both for cheapness and to discourage tenants from taking on lodgers . Many of the larger houses at Shaftesbury Park had been sublet and split , and the practice went against the principles of the Artizans Company 's founders . To discourage the practice at Queen 's Park and Noel Park cottage flats were built ; these maintained the terraced façade , but split the house into upper and lower flats , each flat having a separate front door onto the street . Many properties , particularly on the central Gladstone Avenue , were built in this style ; this maintained the unbroken façade of the first @-@ class houses , but allowed large numbers of smaller and low @-@ income families to be housed . = = = Construction = = = On 4 May 1883 , the Artizans Company sold a parcel of land adjacent to the railway line to the Great Eastern Railway for construction of a goods yard , and a siding was built into the development site . Although initially the company had considered making bricks on the site , the rail yard allowed raw materials to be purchased wholesale and transported cheaply to the site , with large warehouses and workshops constructed for the manufacture of doors , flooring and other necessary materials ; in 1884 the Pall Mall Gazette reported that " in a shed 330ft long by 50ft broad are stored a million superficial feet of flooring boards " . In early 1883 serious discrepancies were discovered between the amounts of building material apparently purchased and the actual amounts acquired . Rowland Plumbe and Sir Richard Farrant , Deputy Chairman of the Artizans Company , visited the site to investigate the matter . Mr Hunt , the foreman , advised that " in answer to questions as to the mode of measurement in use for Ballast heaps , that one third was added to the measurement for shrinkage " . When summoned to appear before the " Hornsey Committee " of the Artizans Company the next day , Hunt instead sent his assistant , without the relevant ledgers and instead with a paper described in the Committee minutes as " a paper of measurements which were soon ascertained not to be the actual measurements but measurements falsified so as to work out cubically to about the measurements certified by Mr Hunt " . The total overpaid by the company was calculated by Plumbe as £ 1,071.14s.3d ( approximately £ 97 @.@ 3 thousand today ) ; Hunt was immediately dismissed and a gatekeeper to record all goods entering the site was put in place to avoid a repetition of the incident . In 1883 , it was decided to name the estate " Noel Park " , in honour of Ernest Noel ( 1831 – 1931 ) , Liberal Member of Parliament for Dumfries Burghs and chairman of the Artizans Company since 1880 . The streets were laid out on a grid plan of broad avenues running on a south @-@ west to north @-@ east axis and narrower roads running north @-@ west to south @-@ east . Streets were named after prominent members of the Artizans Company and leading political figures of the time , with the exception of Darwin Avenue , named for Charles Darwin , prominent naturalist and an early investor in the Artizans Company , and Moselle Avenue , which was to follow the course of the culverted River Moselle ; see Derivation of street names , below . = = = Opening = = = On 4 August 1883 , with approximately 200 houses completed , Noel Park was formally opened . Noel gave a speech at the opening ceremony in which he described the development as : ... what , out of the metropolis , would be called a town , which would eventually ... be larger than the Royal Borough of Windsor and nearly as large as the old cathedral city of Canterbury . But this town would not contain various classes of population , but would be built for the express purpose of meeting the wants of the artisan classes , so that they whose resources are limited should be enabled to reside amid pleasant surroundings . Lord Shaftesbury then laid the memorial stone , praising Noel Park as " the furtherance of a plan which has proved to be most beneficial , and would , if carried out to its full extent , completely alter for the better the domiciliary habits of the people of the metropolis " . Edward White Benson , Archbishop of Canterbury , sent a note which was read to the crowd in which he stated that " no one who cares for our labouring population can doubt that this is one of the first , perhaps the most , necessary of all steps for their good " . = = = Financial difficulties = = = Noel Park was heavily marketed as a " Suburban Workman 's Colony " , with promotional material playing heavily on the area 's transport links . The Great Eastern Railway was persuaded in 1884 to rename Green Lanes railway station to " Green Lanes ( Noel Park ) " ( shown on some signs and maps as " Green Lanes & Noel Park " ) ; the area was also less than half a mile from Wood Green railway station ( now Alexandra Palace station ) on the Great Northern Railway . By 1886 Noel Park had over 7 @,@ 000 residents . However , the poor workers at whom the Noel Park development was aimed found themselves unable to afford railway tickets . The issuing of cheap early morning workman 's fares on the Great Eastern Railway 's lines further east in Tottenham , Stamford Hill and Walthamstow had led to overcrowding on trains and large numbers of poor workers moving to the areas ( many of them displaced by the construction of the GER 's Liverpool Street station in the City of London and rehoused by the company ) . William Birt , General Manager of the GER was strongly against extending the policy of workmen 's fares , stating that " to issue them from Green Lanes would do us a very large amount of injury , and would cause the same public annoyance and inconvenience as exists already upon the Stamford Hill and Walthamstow lines " and that " no one living in Noel Park could desire to possess the same class of neighbours as the residents of Stamford Hill have in the neighbourhood of St Ann 's Road " . In 1884 , a deputation led by Lord Shaftesbury was made to the Great Eastern Railway and Great Northern Railway , proposing that for trains due to arrive in central London prior to 8 am , third class tickets should be sold at a fare of 3d providing the return journey was not made before 4 pm . By May 1885 both railways had adopted this policy . However , the delays and uncertainty caused by the fares dispute had discouraged prospective tenants , leaving large numbers of properties vacant and causing further building work to slow considerably . In 1887 , construction work was temporarily suspended altogether , in response to the large backlog of un @-@ let properties . By the time of the 1894 Ordnance Survey , roughly 50 % of the estate was complete . The entire southern half of the estate between Gladstone Avenue and Westbury Avenue at this point remained open fields . = = = Amenities = = = Terraces of shops were built around the fringes of the estate , both to cater for the residents of Noel Park and for residents of the expanding suburb of Wood Green and the users of the adjacent railway station . The designs of the terraces varied , from short terraces of small shops on the edges of the less @-@ visited eastern portions of the estate , to parades of large shops on Wood Green High Road near the railway station . One of the few buildings constructed in the early stages of Noel Park 's development not designed by Rowland Plumbe , Noel Park School was built in 1889 by the Wood Green School Board , to the design of architect Charles Wall . The school was designed to accommodate 1 @,@ 524 pupils of both sexes ; however , by 1898 the growth of the Noel Park estate led to severe overcrowding problems , with an average attendance of 1 @,@ 803 , making it the most overcrowded school in the School Board 's area . In 1924 a school for the partially blind opened within the school . In 1946 , the school became a Secondary Modern . Between 1957 and 1963 the secondary facilities were closed , leaving the school as a primary school . In 1965 , the school came under the control of the newly created London Borough of Haringey . Following reorganisation of Haringey 's education services , it is now a primary school serving approximately 500 pupils between the ages of three and 11 . Although Plumbe 's original plans for the estate had envisaged a recreational area in the centre of the estate , this never came into being and the land reserved for it was built over during the estate 's early development . Despite Noel Park 's proximity to the leisure facilities of nearby Alexandra Park , in 1929 a long , thin strip of land near the south of the estate was designated as parkland and given the name " Russell Park " . In 2003 , following consultation with residents , the park was renamed " Noel Park " by Haringey Council . Its name has since been changed back to Russell Park . A site for a church had been set aside on the estate from the outset , and in 1884 Plumbe submitted designs for a church and mission hall . The mission hall opened in March 1885 with room for 350 , and soon began to suffer from overcrowding . The people of Noel Park started a fund to pay for the church , which was consecrated on 1 November 1889 as St Mark 's . The church is relatively large , seating 850 . It is built in the Venetian Gothic style , and divided into a five @-@ bay nave , transepts , chancel , morning chapel and organ chamber . Although Plumbe 's original design envisaged a tower , one was never built . By 1900 , St Mark 's was reported as having a congregation twice that of any other church in Wood Green . In 1913 , a second much larger mission hall was opened nearby , named the Walsham @-@ How Mission Hall after William Walsham How , leader of the Shropshire Mission to East London . The Shropshire Hall , built by the Shropshire Mission in Gladstone Avenue , is now the Noel Park Children 's Centre . Noel Park 's relative geographic isolation led to the formation of large numbers of clubs and societies using the two mission halls for a wide range of activities , including large numbers of sporting societies . Due to the temperance views of the Artizans Company 's directors , no public houses were built in Noel Park , a situation which remains the case today . = = 20th century = = = = = Early 20th @-@ century expansion = = = In 1905 , G. J. Earle , the Artizans Company 's Surveyor , drew up plans for the remainder of the site based on the experiences learned from the completed northern half of the estate . Buildings were designed to a modified version of Plumbe 's third @-@ class house plan in the Arts and Crafts style , with white @-@ rendered brickwork , regular low gables , and curved ground floor windows . The toilets were now designed with connecting doors to the sculleries , and in some cases the staircases repositioned to the front of the house . They were no longer described or marketed as " third @-@ class " houses . By October 1906 1 @,@ 999 properties were let , including 88 shops and 4 stables . Although the estate was nearing completion by this point , construction work was not entirely completed until 1929 . By this point , the Noel Park development and the growing nearby community of Wood Green were coming to dominate the area . In recognition of this , in 1902 Green Lanes railway station was renamed Noel Park & Wood Green . In 1911 a group of mid @-@ Victorian houses on Wood Green High Road , immediately south of the railway station , were demolished by the Artizans Company to make way for the Cheapside shopping parade , built to serve residents of Noel Park and the growing community of Wood Green . The centrepiece of the Cheapside development was the Wood Green Empire , a 3 @,@ 000 @-@ capacity theatre designed by Frank Matcham . The Empire soon became one of London 's leading entertainment venues , hosting acts such as Marie Lloyd , Frankie Vaughan and Shirley Bassey . The Empire is best known as the theatre in which magician Chung Ling Soo ( William Ellsworth Robinson ) was fatally shot in the chest on 23 March 1918 , when a theatrical pistol used in a bullet catch demonstration malfunctioned . With the postwar decline of variety and music hall and increased competition from cinema and television , the theatre went into decline and was closed on 31 January 1955 . Following its closure it was used by Associated TeleVision as a studio until 1963 . The interior was demolished in 1970 , but the building remains intact and is now used as a shop and offices . = = = Piccadilly line = = = In 1904 the Great Northern & City Railway underground railway had opened , running from the City of London to a terminus at Finsbury Park station , followed in 1906 by the Great Northern , Piccadilly & Brompton Railway ( GNP & BR ) from the western suburbs through central London to Finsbury Park , approximately 2 miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) south of Noel Park ; both were prevented from expanding further north by a legal agreement with the Great Northern Railway giving the GNR a veto on any expansion of underground railways into areas within which they would compete with the GNR . This led to serious congestion at Finsbury Park as passengers from the expanding suburbs changed from buses and trams to the GN & CR and GNP & BR , and in June 1923 a petition of 30 @,@ 000 signatures calling for the extension of one of the underground lines northwards was delivered to the Ministry of Transport . The London and North Eastern Railway ( LNER ) , successor to the GNR , was compelled by the Ministry of Transport to waive the veto or proceed with its own electrification . In November 1925 , the LNER abandoned its electrification scheme . In 1929 the incoming Second Labour Government initiated a policy of direct subsidy for major infrastructure projects , and , in 1930 , the Underground Electric Railways Company of London began work on extending the GNP & BR , now the Piccadilly line . The Piccadilly line extension to Cockfosters opened in stages , with stations at Wood Green and Turnpike Lane – both on the western edge of Noel Park , at the junctions of Wood Green High Road and Lordship Lane , and Wood Green High Road and Westbury Avenue , respectively – opening on 19 September 1932 . With the area now connected to west and central London by clean , rapid and frequent electric trains , the population of the surrounding areas began to rise rapidly . = = = Postwar reconstruction = = = Although of little strategic value and undamaged during the early stages of World War II , in the final stages of the war a number of V @-@ 1 flying bombs and V @-@ 2 ballistic missiles struck the area . The worst attack occurred in February 1945 , when a V @-@ 2 struck Westbeech Road , killing 17 and injuring 68 . The bombsites were redeveloped with housing in then @-@ current styles , rather than to Plumbe and Earle 's designs . In 1958 , as part of the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Wood Green Local Board , the railway goods depot was used for a three @-@ day exhibition of locomotives and other railway rolling stock . The exhibition was a great success , and was visited by around 14 @,@ 000 spectators . Among locomotives on exhibit were the land speed record holder Mallard and a Class 9F steam locomotive . However , by this point the Palace Gates Line was in severe decline . Passenger numbers had fallen greatly since the opening of the Piccadilly line , while freight usage dropped throughout the 1950s as a result of improved road haulage and declining demand for coal . The line was closed to passengers on 7 January 1963 . With freight usage dwindling to a trickle following the ending of passenger services , the goods yard was closed on 7 December 1964 . The site of the goods yard was used for the construction of a large apartment block known as The Sandlings , and Noel Park & Wood Green railway station was converted into commercial premises , before being demolished in the early 1970s to become the site of the eastern section of Wood Green Shopping City . = = = Transfer to local authority control = = = In 1952 , the Artizans , Labourers & General Dwellings Company was renamed the Artizans and General Properties Company Ltd . The combination of a taxation system biased against private property developments and legal restrictions on raising rents made the company 's traditional model unprofitable , and it began to divest itself of its original low @-@ rent developments and instead to sell vacant houses on the estates and to reinvest in non low @-@ rent housing and commercial property , especially in the United States and Canada where depreciation before tax was permitted . In 1966 , ownership of the four original London estates ( Shaftesbury Park , Queen 's Park , Noel Park and Leigham Court ) was transferred to the respective local authorities as council housing – in the case of Noel Park , the newly created London Borough of Haringey , which purchased the 2 @,@ 175 properties comprising the Noel Park estate for a total of £ 2 @,@ 917 @,@ 000 ( approximately £ 49 million today ) – leaving 377 homes at Pinnerwood Park in Pinner as the last residential estate in Greater London owned by the company . In 1976 , the Artizans Company , by then renamed Artagen Properties Ltd , became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Life , and on , 3 February 1981 , the company was renamed Sun Life Properties Ltd . = = Modern Noel Park = = Following the transfer to local authority control , much of the property on the estate was found to be in poor condition . In 1971 a report by the London Borough of Haringey found that half the properties on the estate were still lacking basic facilities such as baths , internal toilets and hot water . Houses were systematically extended to the rear to accommodate modern bathrooms . In the early 1970s , the nine @-@ storey Wood Green Shopping City shopping , cinema and residential complex was built on both sides of Wood Green High Road , and now dominates the area . Although some houses were demolished during construction works , it was intended at the time to divert Wood Green High Road around Shopping City , which would have necessitated the demolition of much of the western section of Noel Park . However , the diversion scheme was abandoned , leading to the current unusual situation in which the road runs directly through the shopping centre ; Cherry & Pevsner note that Noel Park was " spared worse damage by the abandonment of the proposed road " . In 1980 , the Housing Act 1980 gave council tenants the right to buy their homes . In light of this , a group of 1500 properties in the area was given Conservation Area status , and Plumbe 's northern section of the estate was granted Article Four Direction by Michael Heseltine , Secretary of State for the Environment , preventing any alterations to the external appearances of the properties without planning permission , in recognition of its architectural and historic interest . St Mark 's Church was meanwhile Grade II listed . However , these measures have not been consistently enforced , and Noel Park has been cited in a report by English Heritage as a prominent example of the failure of conservation areas . Throughout the eighties and early nineties the estate was the home of a large squatter community , mostly made up of young punks from Ireland , Wales , Scotland and outside London which greatly enlivened the area but also led to many legal and other conflicts with Haringey Council who ironically had left so many of the properties empty in the first place . Many of these were later to move to the Woodberry Down Estate in Manor House . In line with the original principles of the Artizans Company , there are still no public houses in Noel Park . In 2008 parts of Noel Park and the surrounding area were declared a Controlled Drinking Zone , allowing police to confiscate alcohol from those engaged in anti @-@ social behaviour . As with much of Haringey , Noel Park is now one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the world . In 2002 , 86 % of pupils attending Noel Park School were from ethnic minorities . = = Derivation of street names = = Ashley Crescent : Evelyn Ashley , MP for Isle of Wight , son of Lord Shaftesbury and Chairman of the Artizans Company Buller Road : Redvers Buller , winner of the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Hlobane , 1879 Darwin Road : Charles Darwin , naturalist and early investor in the Artizans Company Dovecote Avenue : On the site of the original Duckett 's ( Dovecote ) Manor , by this time demolished Farrant Avenue : Sir Richard Farrant , Deputy Chairman of the Artizans Company 1881 – 1906 Gladstone Avenue : William Ewart Gladstone , Prime Minister at the time of the opening of Noel Park Hewitt Avenue : Thomas Hewitt QC , Director of the Artizans Company 1895 – 1917 Lymington Avenue : Viscount Lymington , Director of the Artizans Company 1883 @-@ 1891 Mark Road : Mark H Judge , Director of the Artizans Company 1878 – 1922 Maurice Avenue : Maurice Powell , Director of the Artizans Company 1880 – 1914 Morley Avenue : Samuel Morley , MP for Bristol and Director of the Artizans Company 1877 – 1880 Moselle Avenue : Runs above the culverted River Moselle Pelham Road : T W Pelham , Director of the Artizans Company 1880 – 1894 Redvers Road : Redvers Buller ( see Buller Road , above ) Russell Avenue : John Russell , former Liberal Prime Minister Salisbury Road : Robert Cecil , 3rd Marquess of Salisbury , leader of the Conservative Party Vincent Road : Unknown ; Welch speculates from Rev. Henry Vincent Le Bas , the only member of the Noel Park Committee at the time of opening not known to have had a street named for him
= Andy Ganteaume = Andrew " Andy " Gordon Ganteaume ( 22 January 1921 – 17 February 2016 ) was a Trinidadian cricketer who played one Test match for the West Indies in 1948 as a batsman . He scored 112 in his only Test innings , which left him with the highest Test batting average in history . Ganteaume played for Trinidad from a young age and was chosen to play in a Test match against England following his good batting form in 1948 . However , his slow scoring probably cost him his place and he never played another Test , although he toured England with the West Indies in 1957 . At the time of his death , Ganteaume was the oldest surviving West Indies Test cricketer . = = Early life = = Ganteaume was born in Belmont , Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago . He had no formal cricket coaching but made his first @-@ class debut for Trinidad as a wicketkeeper in 1941 as a 19 @-@ year @-@ old . He scored 87 batting at number eight . Over the next few seasons , Ganteaume played regularly for Trinidad in first @-@ class competition and for North Trinidad in a non @-@ first @-@ class island competition . He also played football for the Trinidad team around this time , but his time for sport was restricted by his career in the civil service . From batting in the middle @-@ order , Ganteaume was eventually promoted to open the batting as a theory at the time suggested that wicketkeepers might make good openers as they became accustomed to the conditions while keeping wicket ; Ganteaume neither believed this theory nor enjoyed being an opener . He scored his maiden first @-@ class century in 1946 ; a second followed later in the year . = = Test match call @-@ up = = In the 1947 – 48 season , the England cricket team toured the West Indies . When the team played in Trinidad , Ganteaume scored 101 and 47 not out in the first match but journalists criticised him for scoring slowly in easy batting conditions . In a second match against the touring side , he scored 5 and 90 but was not selected in the team for the Test match which followed — Ganteaume later suggested his non @-@ selection was a result of his underprivileged background . However , an injury to Jeff Stollmeyer , one of the West Indies ' opening batsmen , before the game meant that Ganteaume was called up into the side . England batted first to score 362 , but when the West Indies batted , Ganteaume and his opening partner , George Carew shared a partnership of 173 . Once more , Ganteaume was criticised for slow batting , although he later suggested that he had concentrated on scoring singles to allow his in @-@ form partner to face the bowling . On the third day , he carried on batting to reach his century , the first in a Test match by a Trinidadian in Trinidad . The innings took around 270 minutes , but he slowed down as he neared three @-@ figures , and the West Indies ' captain sent out a note asking the batsmen to score faster . Other batsmen also batted slowly , and Ganteaume later claimed that England used negative , run @-@ saving tactics to slow the scoring rate . He did not bat in the second innings , when the West Indies needed to score runs quickly in an unsuccessful attempt to win the game . The match was drawn , having been earlier interrupted by rain which cut the playing time , but in the knowledge that quick scoring was vital , Ganteaume 's slow batting adversely affected the West Indies ' chances of victory . Ganteaume did not play in the next Test match — he was replaced by John Goddard who came into the team as part of a pre @-@ arranged scheme to rotate the captaincy . He was chosen in a preliminary 24 @-@ man squad to tour India and Pakistan in 1948 – 49 , but did not make the final selection of 16 players , and was overlooked for the 1950 tour of England . He continued to play irregularly for Trinidad in the following years , but played no further representative cricket until 1957 . = = Later career = = Ganteaume was selected to tour England with the West Indies team in 1957 at the age of 36 . He played 19 first @-@ class matches on the tour and scored 800 runs at an average of 27 @.@ 58 . He passed fifty in seven innings , with a top @-@ score of 92 against Glamorgan . Norman Preston , the editor of Wisden Cricketers ' Almanack , suggested neither Ganteaume nor any of the other three specialist opening batsmen in the team " came up to expectations " , forcing Frank Worrell to open the batting . He never came close to selection for a Test match . After the tour , Ganteaume played just twice more for Trinidad in first @-@ class cricket , and ended his career with 2 @,@ 785 first @-@ class runs at an average of 34 @.@ 81 and five centuries . Having played just one Test innings , Ganteaume was left with a Test batting average of 112 . This is higher than that of Donald Bradman , who has the highest average of those to play more than 20 innings in a Test career . As of 2013 , his average is the highest by a former player to have appeared in a solitary Test in their career . There are several possible reasons why Ganteaume played no further Test cricket after his single match . Apart from the slow pace of his batting during that hundred — Goddard later suggested that it would have been better for Ganteaume 's career to score a rapid 60 than a slow hundred — West Indies ' batting was strong at the time and there was plenty of competition for places in the team . Even so , his team @-@ mate and later West Indies captain Jeff Stollmeyer suggested that he was unlucky to be left out of subsequent teams . It is also possible that Ganteaume was affected by his attitude to authority . The cricket journalist Martin Williamson suggests : " Ganteaume probably paid as much for his anti @-@ establishment attitude as for slow scoring . He was certainly not someone who was going to bow and scrape to the white players who still dominated the region 's cricket . " In later years , Ganteaume served as a Test selector and was West Indies manager in 1973 – 74 . In 2007 , his autobiography , My Story : The Other Side of the Coin was published , in which he criticised the West Indies " establishment " of his playing days . He died at the age of 95 on 17 February 2016 . At the time of his death he was the oldest surviving West Indies Test cricketer , and the second oldest in the world .
= Blackstone Library = T. B. Blackstone Memorial Library is a building that is part of the Chicago Public Library System and is named after Timothy Blackstone . The building was designed by Chicago architect Solon S. Beman . It is now known as the Chicago Public Library - Blackstone Branch and commonly referred to as Blackstone Library , or Blackstone Branch and sometimes Blackstone for short . The Concord Granite building 's two @-@ year construction started in 1902 , and it was dedicated on January 8 , 1904 . Blackstone Library marks the beginning of the Chicago Branch Library System as the first dedicated branch in the system . Blackstone is also the only branch of the 79 @-@ branch Chicago Public Library branch system that was constructed using private funding . The building is located in Chicago 's Kenwood community area in Cook County , Illinois , United States and serves the Hyde Park , Kenwood , and Oakland community areas . The branch celebrated its 100th anniversary of service in 2004 . Today , the library has bronze and mahogony furnishings and has themed paintings on the rotunda ceiling . The library is equipped with custom @-@ designed furniture and makes public Wi @-@ Fi access available to its patrons . = = History = = The library was dedicated to the memory of Timothy Beach Blackstone , President of the Chicago and Alton Railroad from 1864 to 1899 , a period longer than any of his contemporaries . Blackstone , who had died on May 26 , 1900 , was also the founding president of the Union Stock Yards . He had owned the property on which the Blackstone Library now stands , and he donated this tract for the construction of the library after his death . The library was built on the tract through a codicil in his will , carried out by his wife , Isabella Norton Blackstone ( 1838 – 1928 ) , after his death . Blackstone Library was his contribution to the city where he had made his fortune and stands as a monument to his generosity . Blackstone is 13 @,@ 794 sq ft ( 1 @,@ 281 @.@ 5 m2 ) and its original cost was $ 250 @,@ 000 ( $ 6 @,@ 837 @,@ 500 today ) . Although the Blackstones lived downtown , they maintained numerous close friendships in the affluent Hyde Park neighborhood , which then included what is now called the Kenwood community area . Prior to the donation of the Blackstone Library , the Chicago Public Library System had been renting reading room spaces around the city and had been seeking stand alone branches . On January 8 , 1904 , Isabella Blackstone handed the keys and deed to the Timothy B. Blackstone Library to the city 's Library Board members . Blackstone Library became the first branch library in the Chicago Public Library System . The building retains a Lake Park Avenue address although the neighboring section of Lake Park was moved about a half a block east several decades ago . At least three renovations have occurred , which have expanded , renovated and updated the library . From 1938 – 1939 the new children 's room annex , a Works Progress Administration project , was added at a cost of $ 68 @,@ 400 ( $ 1 @,@ 163 @,@ 618 ) . During this annexation one of a set of Howard Van Doren Shaw townhouses was razed . From 1977 – 1980 a major restorative renovation occurred . Blackstone was rededicated on November 18 , 1980 , in recognition of completion of the three years of work . There was also a 2004 renovation for the centennial . Blackstone donated a larger James Blackstone Memorial Library ( 1891 , opened 1893 ) , in his father 's memory to Branford , Connecticut , Blackstone 's birthplace . In addition to the James Blackstone Library in Branford , there is a library named " Blackstone Library " in Blackstone , MA . The architect for both the Branford and Chicago libraries was Solon S. Beman . = = Service = = As one of the 79 Chicago Public Library branch libraries , Blackstone Library serves the Hyde Park , Kenwood , and Oakland community areas . These communities include 17 elementary schools and 4 high schools . The 2000 census service area population was 50 @,@ 084 . In 2003 , the " Friends of Blackstone Branch Library " was formed , making the Blackstone Branch one of approximately 34 branches to have such a support group . The volunteer support group attempts to " serve as an advisory council for Chicago 's first branch library , promote use and improvement of the library , and provide volunteer and fundraising services for Blackstone " . The Blackstone Library participates in most Chicago Public Library programs and partnerships , including Great Kids Museum Passport Program , the Monthly Adult Book Club Discussion as well as many annual events and activities . The branch also partners with neighborhood institutions such as the Hyde Park Art Center and the Smart Museum for programs and workshops . Like all branches , the library provides both free wi @-@ fi access and free terminals with both internet access and printing facilities . Blackstone has 5 internet terminals requiring reservations for each session of up to one hour and 1 express terminal that does not require reservations for sessions of up to 15 minutes . Currently , patrons can use the terminals for up to two free internet sessions per day and print for a small charge per page anywhere in the Chicago Public Library system . = = Design = = The building was designed by the architect Solon S. Beman and modeled after Beman 's Merchant Tailors Building , the domed temple facing the lagoon in the 1893 World 's Columbian Exposition , and the Erechtheum at the Athenian Acropolis . Greek Mythology teaches that Demeter , the goddess , bestowed agriculture and civilization upon the world during Erechtheus 's reign . The library 's rotunda murals have thematic titles : " Labor " , " Literature " , " Art " and " Science " . The following is a summary of the building 's features : Tiffany style dome ; Marble column and walls in the rotunda and foyer ; 4 overhead rotunda murals painted by Oliver Dennett Grover , mural painter for the World Columbian Exposition ; 1 in ( 2 @.@ 5 cm ) square Italian marble mosaic flooring ; glass @-@ floored mezzanine ; 2 @,@ 800 pounds ( 1 @,@ 300 kg ) bronze plate , solid copper core outer front doors ; 2 150 pounds ( 68 kg ) lbs. bronze and glass inner doors ; 12 inches ( 30 cm ) thick granite walls ; and ionic columns . The building 's adult reading room is equipped with mahogany furniture specifically designed for the space . It also contains matching built @-@ in shelving and custom @-@ made bronze lamps . The circulation desk area has two @-@ tiered bronze @-@ trimmed book stacks . The mezzanine floor is composed of glass blocks . = = Related structures and ways = = Although parts of South Blackstone Avenue south of 53rd Street accommodate two @-@ way traffic , near the library it is a northbound street that accommodates one @-@ way traffic running north along the 1436 east block and ending immediately to the west of ( behind ) the Blackstone Library at 4900 south ( see Kenwood map in external links below and picture to the right ) . The street was also named after Timothy Blackstone well after the library was built . The Blackstone Library does not bear a Blackstone Avenue address , despite its proximity . Blackstone Hotel and adjacent Blackstone Theatre ( now the Merle Reskin Theatre ) would also be named after Timothy Blackstone , whose mansion had stood on their site . = = Photo gallery = =
= Millennium ( season 2 ) = The second season of the serial crime @-@ thriller television series Millennium commenced airing in the United States on September 19 , 1997 , concluding on May 15 , 1998 after airing twenty @-@ three episodes . It tells the story of retired FBI Agent Frank Black ( Lance Henriksen ) . Black lives in Seattle , Washington with his wife Catherine ( Megan Gallagher ) and daughter Jordan ( Brittany Tiplady ) . He works for a mysterious organization known as the Millennium Group , investigating murders using his remarkable capability of relating to the monsters responsible for horrific crimes . After killing a man who stalked and kidnapped Catherine , Black faces tension within his family while simultaneously being drawn deeper into the sinister Group . The season began with " The Beginning and the End " , which marked the first episode of the series helmed by new co @-@ executive producers Glen Morgan and James Wong , who would remain in charge for the full season . Accolades earned by the season include a Bram Stoker Award nomination for Darin Morgan 's " Somehow , Satan Got Behind Me " , a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for " Jose Chung 's Doomsday Defense " guest star Charles Nelson Reilly and a Young Artist Award win for Tiplady . = = Production = = The second season saw series creator Chris Carter step down as executive producer , being replaced by the team of Glen Morgan and James Wong . Morgan and Wong had previously written episodes for the series in its first season , and had worked with Carter on his first television series The X @-@ Files . Morgan and Wong left similar positions on The X @-@ Files to take up the Millennium roles , with Fox president Sandy Grushow saying that " with Chris writing and producing X @-@ Files ' fifth season , as well as the feature film , it was critical that we identify exec producers who could enable Millennium to grow " . Discussing plans for the season , Morgan noted that " the Millennium Group is a much deeper organization " than seen in the first season , adding that " they 're considering [ Frank Black ] for a candidate for the group ( and ) trying to show him that at the millennium there 's going to be an event - either fire and brimstone or harmonic convergence " . Wong spoke about how the character of Catherine Black , saying " there 's a different relationship between Frank and his family this season because of the separation ... I think that will not only bring some kind of heartfelt drama but humor into it " . Wong also stated " we don 't want to have the audience expect to see a serial killer every week . ... We would like to make it so that it 's a surprise to them , just like it is a surprise when you watch The X @-@ Files " . Producer John Peter Kousakis has noted that the first and second seasons , and the third season after those , were markedly different , crediting each season 's differing approach to the changes in leadership behind the scenes ; Kousakis felt that the character of Frank Black remained the main constant throughout the series . Fellow producer Ken Horton felt that the change in focus for season two arose as the first season 's focus on serial killers had " overpowered " its storytelling , making it necessary to focus attention elsewhere instead ; the focus switched from external forces and villains to the internal workings of the Millennium Group . The series ' musical supervisor Mark Snow found that Morgan and Wong brought another new element to the series — the music of Bobby Darin , which has been a hallmark of the duo 's work . Darin 's music accompanied Snow 's scores in a number of episodes , often as diegetic music being listened to by Lance Henriksen 's character . Snow believed this gave the character a down @-@ to @-@ earth , everyman feel . = = Cast = = = = = Starring = = = Lance Henriksen as Frank Black Megan Gallagher as Catherine Black = = = Recurring cast = = = = = = = Also starring = = = = Brittany Tiplady as Jordan Black = = = = Guest starring = = = = Terry O 'Quinn as Peter Watts Peter Outerbridge as Barry Baldwin Stephen E. Miller as Andy McClaren = = Reception = = = = = Accolades = = = The second season earned several awards and nominations for those associated with the series . Tiplady and " Monster " guest star Lauren Diewold earned nominations at the 1998 Young Artist Awards , with Tiplady winning in the category Best Performance in a TV Comedy / Drama – Supporting Young Actress Age Ten or Under . Henriksen earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama , losing out to Anthony Edwards as ER 's Mark Greene At the Primetime Emmy Awards , the series earned two nomination . Charles Nelson Reilly earned an acting nod for his guest role in " Jose Chung 's Doomsday Defense " , losing out to The Practice 's John Larroquette . Millennium also earned a nomination for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series , losing the award to ER . The season also produced a Bram Stoker Award nomination in 1999 , for Darin Morgan 's episode " Somehow , Satan Got Behind Me " ; the award was won jointly by Bill Condon for Gods and Monsters and Alex Proyas , David S. Goyer and Lem Dobbs for Dark City . = = = Critical reception = = = Writing for Slant magazine , Keith Uhlich gave the season an overall rating of three @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of five , finding that the appointment of Morgan and Wong was " an inspired choice that led to , arguably , the finest episodic run ever produced under [ series creator Chris ] Carter 's Ten @-@ Thirteen Productions banner " . Uhlich found that the season was torn between episodes remaining true to the Carter @-@ led first season 's " serial killer of the week " format and make @-@ it @-@ up @-@ as @-@ you @-@ go @-@ along approach to storytelling " , and Morgan and Wong 's attempt to introduce a continuous story arc which lent a " sealed @-@ off feel " to the season , finding that the latter approach lead to a " compulsively watchable " but largely dated end result . DVD Talk 's Bill Gibron rated the season overall four @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of five , finding that the new thematic direction was " right on the money " . Gibron felt that the season " was truly ahead of its time . It predates and predicts such fashionable fads as The Da Vinci Code , the omens of terrorist evil and the slow erosion of the citizenry 's faith in the Federal Government " . Todd VanDerWerff , writing for The A.V. Club , wrote that " the second season of Millennium is some sort of work of weird genius " . VanDerWerff added that the season " moves like a series with a new purpose , with a new sense of meaning . Morgan and Wong start tossing ideas at the wall with a thrilling abandon , almost as if they were pretty sure they ’ d never work in Hollywood again " . Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson , in their book Wanting to Believe : A Critical Guide to The X @-@ Files , Millennium & The Lone Gunmen , rated several episodes across the season highly , awarding five stars out of five to " The Curse of Frank Black " , " Jose Chung 's Doomsday Defense " , " Midnight of the Century " , " A Room with No View " , " The Fourth Horseman " and " The Time Is Now " . However , several episodes rated poorly , with " Beware of the Dog " , " A Single Blade of Grass " , " The Hand of St. Sebastian " , " Roosters " , " In Arcadia Ego " and " Anamnesis " being seen as particularly poor . In all , Shearman singled out the season 's climactic two @-@ part episodes " The Fourth Horseman " and " The Time Is Now " as the highlight of the season , finding that Morgan and Wong took a considerable risk with the storyline as they believed the series would be cancelled at the end of the season , but believing that the episodes gained from this additional level of attempted closure . = = Episodes = =
= The Most Hated Family in America = The Most Hated Family in America is a 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church . The organization was led by Fred Phelps ( who has since died ) and located in Topeka , Kansas . Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality ; in addition , they protest at funerals of U.S. military killed in action with signs that display text such as " God Hates Fags " and " Thank God for Dead Soldiers " . With a BBC film crew , Theroux travelled to Kansas to spend time with members of the church and interview its leadership . In the documentary , church members are shown protesting at funerals of U.S. soldiers . Theroux interviews church leadership including Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps @-@ Roper . The documentary first aired on BBC Two in the United Kingdom in April 2007 . The documentary was a ratings success in its initial airing , beating simultaneous programming for BBC One for the 9pm hour . It was broadcast again on BBC Two later that month , and Seven Network purchased the programme for airing in Australia in August 2007 and again in April 2008 . It aired in May 2008 on TV3 and Seven Network , and multiple times in June 2008 on the television channel Dave . It aired again on BBC Two in December 2008 and in February 2010 in Ireland on 3e . A DVD @-@ box @-@ set including the documentary and other Theroux programmes was released in January 2009 ; The Independent placed the DVD release as number eight among its list of " The 50 Best DVD boxsets " . The Most Hated Family in America received a positive reception , with four @-@ star ratings from publications The Daily Record and The Mail on Sunday . It was recommended in reviews as a critic 's choice by The Daily Mail , The Independent , The Times , Financial Times , The Age , and the Herald Sun . A review in the Leicester Mercury noted of Theroux 's interview techniques , " His subtle interviewing style was perfect for showing off the crazy views of the members . " The documentary was highlighted in The Sydney Morning Herald among " The week 's best " , and characterised as , " Disturbing , perplexing and very entertaining . " A follow @-@ up documentary by Theroux , America 's Most Hated Family in Crisis , was first broadcast on BBC Two on 3 April 2011 . = = Background = = The documentary focuses on the Westboro Baptist Church , headed by Fred Phelps and based in Topeka , Kansas . Born in 1929 in Meridian , Mississippi , Phelps conducts himself under the belief that he is a prophet chosen by God " to preach his message of hate " . Phelps was ordained a Southern Baptist in 1947 . The Westboro Baptist Church was started by Phelps in 1955 . Members of the church meet in Phelps 's residence ; the majority of the group 's adherents are his family . Phelps received an associate 's degree from John Muir Junior College in 1951 , a bachelor 's degree in 1962 and a degree in law in 1964 from Washburn University . He formed a " crusade for righteousness " , attempting to abolish Jim Crow laws in Topeka . In 1991 when a local park started to serve as a meeting place for homosexual men , Phelps began to protest against homosexuality . Phelps subsequently enlarged the scope of his activities and formed protests in areas where civil rights were being debated for LGBT people . Phelps received criticism in 1998 when he repeatedly exclaimed " Matt is in hell " during the funeral of Matthew Shepard , a man murdered for being homosexual . Westboro Baptist Church bases its work around the belief that " God Hates Fags " , and expresses the opinion , based on its Biblical interpretation , that nearly every tragedy in the world is God 's punishment for homosexuality – specifically society 's increasing tolerance and acceptance of gay , lesbian , and bisexual people . It maintains that God hates homosexuals above all other kinds of " sinners " and that homosexuality should be a capital crime . The church runs the website GodHatesFags.com , and GodHatesAmerica.com , and websites expressing condemnation of LGBT people , Roman Catholics , Muslims , Hindus , Jews , Sweden , Ireland , Canada , the Netherlands , and the United States . The organisation is monitored by the Anti @-@ Defamation League and is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center . The group has achieved notoriety because of its picketing of funeral processions of U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan . Controversial acts of Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church resulted in litigation and the formation of groups which counter @-@ protest against its efforts . President George W. Bush signed the Respect for America 's Fallen Heroes Act into law in on Memorial Day in May 2006 . Groups of American Legion members formed motorcycle honor guards , such as the Patriot Guard Riders , with the intention of safeguarding funerals of U.S. military from the church protesters . Another group , called " Free Republic , " held signs praising the military . = = Content = = The Most Hated Family in America includes footage of members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketing at funerals of United States soldiers . The organisation members hold signs blaming deaths of U.S. soldiers on the country 's tolerance towards homosexuality and LGBT people . Westboro Baptist Church members believe that these deaths are caused by God as retribution for the immorality of the U.S. ; stating the soldiers were " struck down by God for fighting for a depraved nation " . They attend the funeral of a soldier Kevin Zeigler who died at the age of 31 while attempting to disable a bomb in Iraq . Referring to improvised explosive devices , Westboro Baptist Church hold signs reading , " Thank God for IEDs " . Protest signs carried by members of the organisation at the funeral , including six @-@ year @-@ old children , state : " Thank God For Dead Soldiers " , " Don 't Worship The Dead " and " Fag Marines " . Another placard criticises Diana , Princess of Wales , for her friendship with the LGBT community , stating , " Royal Whore In Hell " . Diana is criticised by the organisation as a " fag enabler " . Additional signs read " God hates fags " , " Thank God for Dead Soldiers " , " God is America 's Terrorist " , and " Fag Troops " . The Westboro Baptist Church members reveled in the September 11 attacks and stated they were punishment for the country 's " fornication and lust " . The group also protests outside the local synagogue and holds signs which state that , " Jews worship the rectum " . Theroux interviews members of the Phelps family including Fred Phelps ( called " Gramps " by members of the organisation ) and Shirley Phelps @-@ Roper . Theroux asks Fred Phelps , " Isn 't it an act of presumption , when you don 't have all the information about all the other churches , to assume you have privileged access to Grace ? " ; Phelps responds , " Oh , I know all there is to know about ' em . " When Theroux asks him how he knows this , Phelps answers , " I 'm not going to keep on talking to you . I know what you are . – you 're an evil . – I don 't even wanna go there . Good luck to ya ! " = = Filmmaker = = Theroux traveled from the United Kingdom to Kansas , United States to meet members of the Westboro Baptist Church . Theroux and a BBC film crew spent three weeks in Topeka , Kansas , gathering information on the 71 members of the organisation . In an article for The Guardian , Theroux noted , " It was fascinating to see the power of a family to create its own bizarre ideology and pass it down through the generations . " In a statement in The Age , Theroux posited , " Maybe , through my enthusiasm , people reveal more of themselves than they may have intended . The show is laughing at me , adrift in their world , as much as at them . " The Western Mail quoted Theroux on how he selects subject matter which interests him , " The subjects I 'm interested in are quite extreme . They 're so far beyond the pale of normal human interaction that you 're never going to get a reality show on that territory . " In an interview with BBC News , Theroux stated that the Phelpses are the most extreme people he has ever met . Theroux gave his opinion on the teachings of Fred Phelps . Theroux stated , " I think that the pastor is not a very nice person . I think he 's an angry person who 's twisted the Bible and picked and chosen verses that support his anger , that sort of justify his anger , and he 's instilled that in his children and they 've passed it on to their children . Although the second and third generation are by and large quite nice people from what I saw , they still live under the influence of their Gramps . " Apart from their protests , Theroux found them to be quite kind , and commented , " It shows you what strange avenues the religious impulse can take you down . I think another part of the answer is that parts of the Christian Bible are pretty weird . There 's a lot of weird stuff in there and when you take that and you add this angry , domineering kind of a father figure , which is Gramps , and you add that he has sort of separated them off from other people , other families and driven them to achieve a lot , and he was kind of a charismatic guy , and still is up to a point . He was a very verbal , very persuasive , an extremely compelling speaker . All these things added together combined to make a powerful influence . " = = Reception = = = = = Response from organization = = = The Westboro Baptist Church appreciated the attention its organisation received from the documentary , and added a citation to the film on its website . Shirley Phelps @-@ Roper stated she had one regret about the documentary : " If he had just called it , ' The Most Hated Family in the World ' " . The Washington Post reported , " In the last hours of the last days , she explained , Jesus said his chosen will be ' hated by all men . ' " On April 8 , 2007 , Fred Phelps Sr preached a sermon addressing Louis Theroux directly and personally , accusing Theroux of taking " cheap unfair advantage " of the young women in the church , and trying to embarrass them about their chastity . Phelps also stated that Theroux " contrives and manipulates those he interviews " , accusing him of feigning naïvety on camera . = = = Release and ratings = = = The Most Hated Family in America aired on BBC Two on 1 April 2007 . The Guardian characterised its performance as " a ratings hit " . The film received 19 percent of viewership between the 9pm to 10pm hour , and beat programming for BBC One for the same time period . The documentary received 4 @.@ 3 million viewers while the programme which aired at the same time on BBC One only drew 1 @.@ 8 million viewers . The Most Hated Family in America was again aired on BBC Two on 4 April 2007 . In August 2007 , Seven Network of Australia purchased a package of programmes from the BBC including The Most Hated Family in America and two other specials by Theroux : Under the Knife and Gambling in Las Vegas . In April 2008 , Seven Network purchased The Most Hated Family in America and the same two other programmes from the BBC , with an additional two documentaries by Theroux added : Behind Bars and African Hunting Holiday . In May 2008 , the documentary aired on TV3 . The documentary aired in Australia on Seven Network in May 2008 . It aired again in the UK on 21 and 26 June 2008 on the television channel Dave . The documentary aired again on BBC Two on 18 December 2008 . In January 2009 , The Most Hated Family in America was released as part of a DVD boxed set in PAL region 2 format , along with African Hunting Holiday , Under The Knife , Behind Bars , and Gambling In Las Vegas . Titled , Louis Theroux : The Strange and The Dangerous , the DVD set received a four @-@ out @-@ of @-@ four @-@ star recommendation from The Daily Record . In February 2009 , The Independent placed the DVD release as number eight among its list of " The 50 Best DVD boxsets " , and characterised The Most Hated Family in America as the " strangest episode of the set , and by far the most disturbing " . The documentary aired in Ireland on 10 February 2010 on 3e and was given a four @-@ out @-@ of @-@ four star recommendation by The Mail on Sunday . = = = Critical reception = = = Writing for The Times , journalist David Chater highlighted The Most Hated Family in America among selections for " Chater 's Choice " . Chater commented , " Louis Theroux undertakes his ugliest assignment to date . " Chater concluded , " Theroux deploys all his logic and charm to find the humanity beneath the rhetoric , but ultimately fails . It is difficult to reason with people who think that holding up a placard proclaiming ' Jews worship the rectum ' is ' a courteous and loving ' thing to do . " The film was highlighted in the Liverpool Echo as " Sunday 's : Pick of the day " . Peter Grant of the Liverpool Echo commented , " Louis Theroux took a trip to Kansas for his documentary , The Most Hated Family in America . His profile of Westboro Baptist Church , the home of America 's most fanatical Christian fundamentalists , was astonishing . " Karl French of Financial Times selected the film as his " Critic 's Choice " . French wrote positively of the documentary , " After painting himself into an oddball- documentary corner a few years back , Theroux wisely took a long break , and he 's come back refreshed , as confirmed by this film . In the way it reveals the comic horror inherent in all forms of zealotry , it is every bit as compelling as Theroux 's recent Vegas documentary . " The Mail on Sunday critic Tom Cox rated the documentary as four out of four stars . Cox wrote of Theroux , " His attempts to challenge the beliefs of the Phelps clan – a 71 @-@ strong congregation who picket military funerals with ' America Is Doomed ' signs – and fuddle them with good nature and erudition were impressive , but ultimately as futile as an attempt to teach a cat algebra . " Writing for The Scotsman , Andrea Mullaney articulated , " Theroux really had found the ultimate in weirdness for his latest documentary – they 're so beyond the point of reason , into a self @-@ perpetuating psychosis , that no matter how he tried , he couldn 't challenge their beamingly @-@ delivered pronouncements , or trip them up . But he did manage to show them as human beings ( more than the courtesy they extend to us sinners ) . " Hilary Fannin of The Irish Times commented that the airing of the documentary , " saw Louis Theroux , in The Most Hated Family in America , shatter another redneck American target , the Westboro Baptist Church " . In a review of the documentary for The Sunday Times , Roland White discussed Theroux 's stylistic technique , " Theroux 's usual technique – the friendly ingenue – made absolutely no impact on these people . It was like watching a youngster from a village cricket team trying to bowl out Geoff Boycott , and I began to wonder what Theroux was hoping to achieve . It is impossible to out – argue the religious bigot . They have impeccable logic on their side : the word of God is the righteous truth ; only they understand the true word of the Lord ; therefore , they are right and everybody else is wrong . " Liverpool Daily Post recommended the film in its column , " Sunday : What to Watch " . Writing for the Birmingham Mail , Graham Young observed , " The Most Hated Family in America is the best documentary from Louis since long before his Michael Jackson fiasco . " John Dugdale of The Sunday Times highlighted the film as his " Pick of the day " . Dugdale wrote favorably of the film , " There are echoes of Theroux 's film about a woman raising her daughters as neo @-@ Nazis as he watches Phelps ' daughter , Shirley , handing out placards to kids as young as seven . While tangling with her and her dad is pointless , the family 's younger women are less inflexible , and his encounters with them are more rewarding . " A review in the Leicester Mercury noted of Theroux 's interview techniques , " His subtle interviewing style was perfect for showing off the crazy views of the members . " Writing in The Independent , Cathy Pryor declared , " Louis Theroux is out @-@ oddballed this week by the subject of his latest documentary ... Astonishingly , Theroux makes you feel some sympathy for them and the price they pay for being the way they are . " Thomas Sutcliffe of The Independent posited that viewers were " ... [ left ] wondering , after an hour , whether the Phelps hadn 't got a bit more out of it than Louis . They aren 't representative of anything but themselves , after all , and they rejoice in the world 's detestation . So they had nothing to lose by being held up to ridicule , and gained exactly what they want – a bigger audience for their insane rantings . " Writing for The Daily Record , Paul English wrote favorably , " The journalist in me marvels at yet more great work from Theroux . But the human in me mourns that we gave this appalling family exactly what they want . The shiny badge of notoriety ... " A review in the Irish Independent was critical of giving any coverage to the group , " Theroux tried to get the teenage daughters to deviate from the standard family line but they weren 't budging an inch . The end result was that a group of loathsome people who spend every second of their lives trying to attract free publicity for themselves got a whole hour of it courtesy of the BBC . Ah , the joys of public service television . " Writing for The Observer , Kathryn Flett was critical of the choice of title for the documentary , commenting , " The Most Hated Family in America ? Says who ? Louis Theroux ? BBC2 ? Ooh , I don 't like a sweeping statement of a documentary title . Not that the family who comprise the majority of the 71 congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka , Kansas , aren 't appalling , but the title definitely infers that they are the family most hated by most Americans , when I doubt most Americans have the faintest idea who they are . " Mike Bradley of The Observer commented about the film , " A shock doc , but an easy target for Theroux . " In a review for the Melbourne , Australia newspaper , The Age , Larry Schwartz selected the documentary as " Critic 's Choice " . Schwartz was critical of Theroux 's lack of detachment from his subject matter , " He repeatedly distances himself from the church , expressing his disapproval of their views . But so concerned is he , he seems almost evangelical in his determination to show them the error of their ways . " The documentary was highlighted in The Sydney Morning Herald among " The week 's best " , and critic Greg Hassall characterised it as , " Disturbing , perplexing and very entertaining . " The Australia newspaper MX highlighted the documentary favorably , in its column , " Best in show " . Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun selected The Most Hated Family in America as his " Top Choice " recommendation . Adams wrote , " A truly disturbing , disgusting and sad documentary . The repellent Shirley Phelps is the outspoken nutbag who got publicity by calling Heath Ledger a ' fag enabler ' after his death . This jaw @-@ dropping doco infiltrates Phelps ' only @-@ in @-@ America church where her 11 spooky kids regularly picket funerals of US soldiers killed in Iraq – they believe God killed them to show his hatred of how ' depraved ' America now is . " = = Follow @-@ up = = Theroux returned to Westboro Baptist Church for a follow @-@ up documentary four years after making The Most Hated Family in America , to investigate the departure of several members of the Phelps family since his last visit . The film , America 's Most Hated Family in Crisis , was first broadcast on BBC Two on 3 April 2011 . Theroux 's return was prompted by an email he received from a young member of the church he had interviewed previously , who had since left and been disfellowed . The US Supreme Court case of Snyder v. Phelps , heard following the suing of Westboro Baptist Church for distress caused by the picketing of the funeral of a US Marine killed in Iraq , formed the background to the new film . Theroux was interested in the ambivalent attitude of church members towards his first film , and stated that " the new documentary feels quite different than the original – though still funny , a little darker and stranger " .
= 2014 FA Community Shield = The 2014 FA Community Shield was the 92nd FA Community Shield , an annual English football match played between the winners of the previous season 's Premier League and FA Cup . The game was played between Arsenal , who beat Hull City in the final of the 2013 – 14 FA Cup , and Manchester City , champions of the 2013 – 14 Premier League . Watched by a crowd of 71 @,@ 523 at Wembley Stadium in London , Arsenal won the match 3 – 0 . This was Arsenal 's 20th Community Shield appearance and Manchester City 's 10th . The only time the two teams previously met in the Shield was in 1934 , when Arsenal won 4 – 0 . The 2014 staging of the event was the first to use vanishing spray , following its success at the 2014 FIFA World Cup . In the lead up to the match Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini defended his club 's transfer recruitment , after it was questioned by the Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger . Alexis Sánchez was one of three players who made their competitive debuts for Arsenal in the match ; for Manchester City , goalkeeper Willy Caballero was selected ahead of Joe Hart . Arsenal began the game more strongly and took the lead when Santi Cazorla scored in the 22nd minute . Their lead was extended two minutes before half time , as Aaron Ramsey finished off a counter @-@ attacking move . Arsenal scored their third of the match soon after the hour mark ; Olivier Giroud 's shot from outside the penalty box dipped over Caballero and into his goal . Arsenal 's victory was the biggest in the Community Shield in 16 years . Wenger was pleased with his team 's performance and felt the win would provide a confidence boost for the coming season . Pellegrini 's reaction was indifferent ; he believed the absence of several first team players was linked to their poor show . = = Background = = Founded in 1908 as a successor to the Sheriff of London Charity Shield , the FA Community Shield began as a contest between the respective champions of the Football League and Southern League , although in 1913 it was played between an Amateurs XI and a Professionals XI . In 1921 , it was played by the league champions of the top division and FA Cup winners for the first time . As part of a sponsorship deal between The Football Association and American restaurant chain McDonald 's , the match was officially referred to as " The FA Community Shield supported by McDonald 's " . Manchester City qualified for the 2014 FA Community Shield as winners of the 2013 – 14 Premier League . The club saw off competition from Liverpool and won their second league title in three years with victory against West Ham United on the last day . The other Community Shield place went to Arsenal , who defeated Hull City in extra time to win the final of the 2013 – 14 FA Cup . It ended a run of nine years without a trophy for the club . Manchester City made their 10th Community Shield appearance ; prior to this , they won four ( 1937 , 1968 , 1972 , 2012 ) and lost five – one of which against Arsenal in 1934 . By contrast , Arsenal made their 20th Community Shield appearance , a record bettered only by Manchester United ( 29 ) and Liverpool ( 21 ) . Arsenal had won 12 times , 11 of which were won outright , most recently in 2004 . The match was televised live in the United Kingdom on BT Sport ; the network obtained rights to the Community Shield in July 2013 as part of a four @-@ year deal with the BBC to air live FA Cup football . = = Build @-@ up = = Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger used his press conference before the match to look ahead to the new season . He wanted his team to build on their FA Cup success and said that the Community Shield " ... will be the best way to prepare for the start of the League season next week . " Wenger was surprised his opponents Manchester City had taken midfielder Frank Lampard from their own franchise club New York City FC on loan ; he questioned whether this was a way to bypass UEFA 's Financial Fair Play rules . Of Bacary Sagna 's move from Arsenal to Manchester City in the summer , Wenger told reporters : " I made him a proposal to stay for three years , but he chose them . Had he chosen a long time ago ? Maybe – it looks to me like he agreed it a long time before . " Wenger also revealed Arsenal had received offers for defender Thomas Vermaelen ; on the day of the Community Shield match the player transferred to Barcelona . Manuel Pellegrini , the manager of Manchester City , said before the game that winning the Shield " would be the ideal start to the campaign . " He was conscious of his team 's poor start to the previous season and wanted them to do better , particularly away from home . Pellegrini did not see the game against Arsenal as a " friendly " , and expected his opponents to provide a good test for Manchester City in the Shield match and thereafter in the league season . He was satisfied overall with the club 's transfer activity during the summer , in particular praising goalkeeper Willy Caballero . When asked about Wenger 's comments about Manchester City , he retorted : " As a manager we have enough problems with our own teams to be talking about other teams . " Pellegrini expressed his belief that Lampard 's transfer was not done by underhand tactics – " we didn ’ t spend any money in bringing him from New York City to Manchester City , " and added the player was not offered a contract to remain at Chelsea . Aaron Ramsey , who scored Arsenal 's winning goal in the FA Cup final , was adamant their recent success would make his teammates determined to win more . He aimed for victory in the Community Shield , as it would provide a platform for what he described as " a tough opening couple of games in the Premier League . " Samir Nasri , who left Arsenal to join Manchester City in 2011 , in the lead @-@ up to the match described the abuse he received from Arsenal supporters since his transfer as " stupid . " He went on to explain : " They see it as treason or that I betrayed them but it ’ s not like that . I just look what ’ s best for me ... For the fans the only reason [ to leave ] has to be for the money . But it isn ’ t just for the money . " Both clubs received an allocation of approximately 26 @,@ 000 tickets . Manchester City fans were housed in the east end of Wembley , while Arsenal fans occupied the west . Ticket prices stayed the same for the third consecutive year and were advertised at a cost of between £ 20 and £ 45 ; the tickets went on general sale for Manchester City fans on 22 July 2014 . Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis was upset by the low allocation : " We have expressed our disappointment to the FA regarding the ticket allocation for both the FA Cup final and FA Community Shield . " Michael Oliver was selected as the referee for the Shield match ; it marked the fifth time he refereed at Wembley Stadium . The game was the first in English football to use vanishing spray , designed to help referees mark free @-@ kick positions . This came after the spray ’ s success at the 2014 FIFA World Cup . English rock band Embrace provided pre @-@ match entertainment and Britain 's Got Talent finalist Lucy Kay sung the national anthem before the match commenced . = = Match = = = = = Team selection = = = Manchester City were predicted to line up in a 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 formation , with Nasri and James Milner as wide men . Due to a specified pre @-@ season programme , Pellegrini had agreed to excuse several players from the match , namely Martín Demichelis , Vincent Kompany , Pablo Zabaleta , Bacary Sagna , Fernandinho , Frank Lampard and Sergio Agüero . Striker Álvaro Negredo was also unavailable for selection because of an injury . Arsenal were expected to line up similarly to Manchester City , with Ramsey as a holding midfielder , and Tomáš Rosický in an advanced role behind Olivier Giroud . Goalkeeper David Ospina was ruled out of the game with a thigh injury ; German internationals Per Mertesacker , Mesut Özil and Lukas Podolski did not feature as they were given extended time off following their national side 's success at the World Cup . When the teamsheets were released , Wenger 's selection showed Rosický and Giroud would start the match as substitutes and competitive debuts were given to Mathieu Debuchy , Calum Chambers and Alexis Sánchez . Arsenal employed a 4 – 1 – 4 – 1 formation to start the game , with a defensive midfielder ( Mikel Arteta ) sitting between a flat back four and a four @-@ man midfield ; Yaya Sanogo led the Arsenal attack as a lone centre @-@ forward . Manchester City organised themselves slightly differently , with two defensive midfielders and an attacking midfielder – Stevan Jovetić – playing behind the main striker , Edin Džeko . Caballero and Fernando made their debuts for the club , while Bruno Zuculini was named on the bench . The team lined up in a 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 formation . There were no English players in the Manchester City starting XI . = = = Summary = = = = = = = First half = = = = Manchester City got the match underway and won the first corner kick of the match in the fifth minute . In the eighth minute , Debuchy crossed the ball from the right , but Sanogo 's attempt to head the ball was impeded by Clichy . An Arsenal corner minutes after resulted in Manchester City reacting with a counter @-@ attack ; the ball eventually reached an unmarked Nasri in the penalty area , but the midfielder ’ s shot on goal was blocked by Debuchy ’ s arm . Manchester City appealed for a penalty kick , which was not given by referee Oliver . Arsenal continued to build pressure in Manchester City ’ s half and scored the opening goal . Sanogo kept possession of the ball and passed to Wilshere , who was tackled . The ball then fell to Santi Cazorla , who created space for himself and shot into the bottom right hand corner of Caballero 's goal . A corner taken by Nasri in the 22nd minute was greeted by jeers from the Arsenal supporters , as was his every touch of the ball . Near the half @-@ hour mark Arsenal countered through Sánchez , but his pass to Ramsey was quickly intercepted . From a corner , Sanogo directed his header straight at Caballero . As the game went on Manchester City began to gather momentum , with Aleksandar Kolarov finding success from attacking Arsenal 's right . Despite improved play , Manchester City were losing 0 – 2 after 42 minutes when Sanogo began the move by keeping possession and finding Ramsey with a pass . The midfielder took one touch to side @-@ step Matija Nastasić and another to put the ball into the net . Arsenal came close to scoring a third goal just before half @-@ time when Sanogo and Sánchez exchanged passes near the Manchester City area , but Caballero came out of his penalty box to break up the move . = = = = Second half = = = = Arsenal made a triple substitution before the second half commenced – Laurent Koscielny , Sánchez and Sanogo came off for Nacho Monreal , Alex Oxlade @-@ Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud . Manchester City meanwhile replaced Nasri with David Silva . In contrast to the first 45 minutes , Manchester City started well ; three minutes after the start of the half , Kolarov collected the ball from Silva and charged forward , but his cross on the left flank was cleared by Monreal . In the 50th minute , Fernando was shown the game 's first and only yellow card for fouling Wilshere . Manchester City continued to fashion opportunities : Navas beat his opponent Kieran Gibbs on the right and crossed the ball in the Arsenal area . Jovetić 's header was kept out by Wojciech Szczęsny and on the rebound he struck the ball over the goal . Szczęsny denied Jovetić again in the 56th minute , diving to his right to clear . Manchester City made two changes on the hour , bringing on Milner and Bruno Zuculini for Džeko and Yaya Touré . A shot by Giroud from 25 yards ( 23 m ) dipped over Caballero and landed in the his net to make it 3 – 0 to Arsenal . Manchester City responded with some opportunities to score – Jovetić 's attempt at an overhead kick went over the bar in the 65th minute , and minutes later Szczęsny saved from Zuculini in a collision which required treatment for both players . Both teams made more substitutions in the final third of the game – for Arsenal Mathieu Flamini , Rosický and debutant Joel Campbell replaced Wilshere , Cazorla and Ramsey respectively , while Manchester City brought on Micah Richards and Scott Sinclair in place of Kolarov and Navas . Near the end , Szczęsny came out of his penalty box and cleared the ball with his head , but inadvertently collided with Sinclair . = = = Details = = = = = = Statistics = = = = = Post @-@ match = = The trophy was presented to Arteta by former Arsenal player and assistant coach Pat Rice . Arsenal 's win marked the biggest victory in the Community Shield since 1998 . Wenger was delighted with his team ’ s performance and described their play in the first half as complete . He noted that although Arsenal lost possession in the second half and looked " less fluent " , the team retained " spirit and organisation " . He described the win as significant because it gave Arsenal a confidence boost going into the season and suggested it was important to beat a top @-@ six league team because of their poor record last season . Wenger was happy with how Arsenal 's new signings came through the match and reserved special praise for Chambers : " He played with a maturity and intelligence that I was really impressed with . " Olivier Giroud , the man of the match , said of his goal : " I tried instinctively to shoot and to hit the target . I was a bit lucky but that 's what I wanted to do . " Pellegrini was not overly concerned by Manchester City 's defeat and said : " The season starts next Sunday , " referring to their league campaign . He admitted Arsenal had played the better football in the first half , but felt his team were much improved in the second – " we had possession and chances to score but we didn 't . " Pellegrini felt the absence of several Manchester City players had a bearing on the result and said he planned to talk to the players to get them ready for the season ahead . Of Caballero 's inclusion ahead of Joe Hart , the manager said : " That was one game more for the pre @-@ season . " City 's stand @-@ in captain Touré , like his manager , was not despondent about the result ; he described playing Arsenal as a " good test " for the team . FA General Secretary Alex Horne hinted afterwards that the Community Shield could be played overseas , though not any time before 2018 because of the existing contract with Wembley Stadium . He described it as an interesting idea and told reporters : " The NBA are doing it and we know that Spanish football and Italian football are looking at doing that with their own Supercup @-@ type games . " An average of 860 @,@ 000 viewers watched the match live on BT Sport , down by almost 2 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 on the previous year 's Community Shield which was aired on ITV . The channel 's coverage peaked at 1 @.@ 2 million viewers ( 8 @.@ 4 % of the audience share ) during the second half .
= Edmontosaurus = Edmontosaurus ( / ɛdˌmɒntəˈsɔːrəs / ed @-@ MON @-@ tə @-@ SAWR @-@ əs ) is a genus of hadrosaurid ( duck @-@ billed ) dinosaur . It contains two known species : Edmontosaurus regalis and Edmontosaurus annectens . Fossils of E. regalis have been found in rocks of western North America that date from the late Campanian stage of the Cretaceous Period 73 million years ago , while those of E. annectens were found in the same geographic region but in rocks dated to the end of the Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous , 66 million years ago . Edmontosaurus was one of the last non @-@ avian dinosaurs , and lived alongside dinosaurs like Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus shortly before the Cretaceous – Paleogene extinction event . Edmontosaurus included some of the largest hadrosaurid species , measuring up to 12 metres ( 39 ft ) long and weighing around 4 @.@ 0 metric tons ( 4 @.@ 4 short tons ) . Evidence does exist in the form of two fossilized specimens housed at the Museum of the Rockies for an even greater maximum size of 15 m ( 49 ft ) and weighing 9 @.@ 07 metric tons ( 10 @.@ 00 short tons ) for Edmontosaurus annectens . Several well @-@ preserved specimens are known that include not only bones , but in some cases extensive skin impressions and possible gut contents . It is classified as a genus of saurolophine ( or hadrosaurine ) hadrosaurid , a member of the group of hadrosaurids which lacked large , hollow crests , instead having smaller solid crests or fleshy combs . The first fossils named Edmontosaurus were discovered in southern Alberta ( named after Edmonton , the capital city ) , in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation ( formerly called the lower Edmonton Formation ) . The type species , E. regalis , was named by Lawrence Lambe in 1917 , although several other species that are now classified in Edmontosaurus were named earlier . The best known of these is E. annectens , named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1892 ; originally as a species of Claosaurus , known for many years as a species of Trachodon , and later as Anatosaurus annectens . Anatosaurus and Anatotitan are now generally regarded as synonyms of Edmontosaurus . Edmontosaurus was widely distributed across western North America . The distribution of Edmontosaurus fossils suggests that it preferred coasts and coastal plains . It was a herbivore that could move on both two legs and four . Because it is known from several bone beds , Edmontosaurus is thought to have lived in groups , and may have been migratory as well . The wealth of fossils has allowed researchers to study its paleobiology in detail , including its brain , how it may have fed , and its injuries and pathologies , such as evidence for tyrannosaur attacks on a few edmontosaur specimens . = = Description = = Edmontosaurus has been described in detail from numerous specimens . Like other hadrosaurids , it was a bulky animal with a long , laterally flattened tail and a head with an expanded , duck @-@ like beak . The skull had no bony crest , unlike many other hadrosaurids , but bore a comb @-@ like crest of skin and scales . The fore legs were not as heavily built as the hind legs , but were long enough to be used in standing or movement . Edmontosaurus was among the largest hadrosaurids : depending on the species , a fully grown adult could have been 9 metres ( 30 ft ) long , and some of the larger specimens reached the range of 12 metres ( 39 ft ) to 13 metres ( 43 ft ) long . Its weight was on the order of 4 @.@ 0 metric tons ( 4 @.@ 4 short tons ) . Traditionally , E. regalis has been regarded as the largest species , though this was challenged by the hypothesis that the larger hadrosaurid Anatotitan copei is a synonym of Edmontosaurus annectens , as put forward by Jack Horner and colleagues in 2004 , and supported in studies by Campione and Evens in 2009 and 2011 . The type specimen of E. regalis , NMC 2288 , is estimated as 9 to 12 metres ( 30 to 39 ft ) long . E. annectens is often seen as smaller . Two mounted skeletons , USNM 2414 and YPM 2182 , measure 8 @.@ 00 metres ( 26 @.@ 25 ft ) long and 8 @.@ 92 metres ( 29 @.@ 3 ft ) long , respectively . However , these are probably subadult individuals , and there is at least one report of a much larger potential E. annectens specimen , almost 12 metres ( 39 ft ) long . Two specimens still under study in the collection of the Museum of the Rockies ; a 7 @.@ 6 m ( 25 ft ) tail labelled as MOR 1142 and another labelled as MOR 1609 , indicate that Edmontosaurus annectens could have been even larger , possibly rivaling Shantungosaurus in size . The specimens of these individuals indicate a length of up to 15 m ( 49 ft ) , as confirmed by paleontologists and the development team of the scientifically accurate simulation game Saurian ( video game ) . Such large individuals of Edmontosaurus would likely have been very rare due to such factors as environmental stress , disease , and predation . = = = Skull = = = The skull of a fully grown Edmontosaurus could be over a metre long . One skull of E. annectens ( formerly Anatotitan ) measures 3 @.@ 87 feet ( 1 @.@ 18 m ) long . The skull was roughly triangular in profile , with no bony cranial crest . Viewed from above , the front and rear of the skull were expanded , with the broad front forming a duck @-@ bill or spoon @-@ bill shape . The beak was toothless , and both the upper and lower beaks were extended by keratinous material . Substantial remains of the keratinous upper beak are known from the " mummy " kept at the Senckenberg Museum . In this specimen , the preserved nonbony part of the beak extended for at least 8 centimetres ( 3 @.@ 1 in ) beyond the bone , projecting down vertically . The nasal openings of Edmontosaurus were elongate and housed in deep depressions surrounded by distinct bony rims above , behind , and below . In at least one case ( the Senckenberg specimen ) , rarely preserved sclerotic rings were preserved in the eye sockets . Another rarely seen bone , the stapes ( the reptilian ear bone ) , has also been seen in a specimen of Edmontosaurus . Teeth were present only in the maxillae ( upper cheeks ) and dentaries ( main bone of the lower jaw ) . The teeth were continually replaced , taking about half a year to form . They were composed of six types of tissues , rivaling the complexity of mammal teeth . They grew in columns , with an observed maximum of six in each , and the number of columns varied based on the animal 's size . Known column counts for the two species are : 51 to 53 columns per maxilla and 48 to 49 per dentary ( teeth of the upper jaw being slightly narrower than those in the lower jaw ) for E. regalis ; and 52 columns per maxilla and 44 per dentary for E. annectens ( an E. saskatchewanensis specimen ) . = = = Postcranial skeleton = = = The number of vertebrae differs between specimens . E. regalis had thirteen neck vertebrae , eighteen back vertebrae , nine hip vertebrae , and an unknown number of tail vertebrae . A specimen once identified as belonging to Anatosaurus edmontoni ( now considered to be the same as E. regalis ) is reported as having an additional back vertebra and 85 tail vertebrae , with an undisclosed amount of restoration . Other hadrosaurids are only reported as having 50 to 70 tail vertebrae , so this appears to have been an overestimate . The anterior back was curved toward the ground , with the neck flexed upward and the rest of the back and tail held horizontally . Most of the back and tail were lined by ossified tendons arranged in a latticework along the neural spines of the vertebrae . This condition has been described as making the back and at least part of the tail " ramrod " straight . The ossified tendons are interpreted as having strengthened the vertebral column against gravitational stress , incurred through being a large animal with a horizontal vertebral column otherwise supported mostly by the hind legs and hips . The shoulder blades were long flat blade @-@ like bones , held roughly parallel to the vertebral column . The hips were composed of three elements each : an elongate ilium above the articulation with the leg , an ischium below and behind with a long thin rod , and a pubis in front that flared into a plate @-@ like structure . The structure of the hip hindered the animal from standing with its back erect , because in such a position the thigh bone would have pushed against the joint of the ilium and pubis , instead of pushing only against the solid ilium . The nine fused hip vertebrae provided support for the hip . The fore legs were shorter and less heavily built than the hind legs . The upper arm had a large deltopectoral crest for muscle attachment , while the ulna and radius were slim . The upper arm and forearm were similar in length . The wrist was simple , with only two small bones . Each hand had four fingers , with no thumb ( first finger ) . The index second , third , and fourth fingers were approximately the same length and were united in life within a fleshy covering . Although the second and third finger had hoof @-@ like unguals , these bones were also within the skin and not apparent from the outside . The little finger diverged from the other three and was much shorter . The thigh bone was robust and straight , with a prominent flange about halfway down the posterior side . This ridge was for the attachment of powerful muscles attached to the hips and tail that pulled the thighs ( and thus the hind legs ) backward and helped maintain the use of the tail as a balancing organ . Each foot had three toes , with no big toe or little toe . The toes had hoof @-@ like tips . = = = Skin = = = Multiple specimens of Edmontosaurus annectens have been found with preserved skin impressions . Several have been well @-@ publicized , such as the " Trachodon mummy " of the early 20th century , and the specimen nicknamed " Dakota " , the latter apparently including remnant organic compounds from the skin . Because of these finds , the scalation of Edmontosaurus annectens is known for most areas of the body . Skin impressions are less well known for E. regalis , but some well @-@ preserved examples have been studied , including one which preserves a soft tissue crest or wattle on the head . It is unknown whether such a crest was present on E. annectens , and whether it was an indicator of sexual dimorphism . = = Classification = = Edmontosaurus was a hadrosaurid ( a duck @-@ billed dinosaur ) , a member of a family of dinosaurs which to date are known only from the Late Cretaceous . It is classified within the Saurolophinae ( alternately Hadrosaurinae ) , a clade of hadrosaurids which lacked hollow crests . Other members of the group include Brachylophosaurus , Gryposaurus , Lophorhothon , Maiasaura , Naashoibitosaurus , Prosaurolophus , and Saurolophus . It was either closely related to or includes the species Anatosaurus annectens ( alternately Edmontosaurus annectens ) , a large hadrosaurid from various latest Cretaceous formations of western North America . The giant Chinese hadrosaurine Shantungosaurus giganteus is also anatomically similar to Edmontosaurus ; M. K. Brett @-@ Surman found the two to differ only in details related to the greater size of Shantungosaurus , based on what had been described of the latter genus . While the status of Edmontosaurus as a saurolophine or ( = " hadrosaurine " ) has not been challenged , its exact placement within the clade is uncertain . Early phylogenies , such as that presented in R. S. Lull and Nelda Wright 's influential 1942 monograph , had Edmontosaurus and various species of Anatosaurus ( most of which would be later considered as additional species or specimens of Edmontosaurus ) as one lineage among several lineages of " flat @-@ headed " hadrosaurs . One of the first analyses using cladistic methods found it to be linked with Anatosaurus ( = Anatotitan ) and Shantungosaurus in an informal " edmontosaur " clade , which was paired with the spike @-@ crested " saurolophs " and more distantly related to the " brachylophosaurs " and arch @-@ snouted " gryposaurs " . A 2007 study by Terry Gates and Scott Sampson found broadly similar results , in that Edmontosaurus remained close to Saurolophus and Prosaurolophus and distant from Gryposaurus , Brachylophosaurus , and Maiasaura . However , the most recent review of Hadrosauridae , by Jack Horner and colleagues ( 2004 ) , came to a noticeably different result : Edmontosaurus was nested between Gryposaurus and the " brachylophosaurs " , and distant from Saurolophus . The discrepancies are complicated by the relative lack of work on hadrosaurine evolutionary relationships . = = Discovery and history = = = = = Claosaurus annectens = = = Edmontosaurus has had a long and complicated history in paleontology , having spent decades with various species classified in other genera . Its taxonomic history intertwines at various points with the genera Agathaumas , Anatosaurus , Anatotitan , Claosaurus , Hadrosaurus , Thespesius , and Trachodon , and references predating the 1980s typically use Anatosaurus , Claosaurus , Thespesius , or Trachodon for edmontosaur fossils ( excluding those assigned to E. regalis ) , depending on author and date . Although Edmontosaurus was only named in 1917 , its oldest well @-@ supported species ( E. annectens ) was named in 1892 as a species of Claosaurus . The first well @-@ supported species of Edmontosaurus was named in 1892 as Claosaurus annectens by Othniel Charles Marsh . This species is based on USNM 2414 , a partial skull @-@ roof and skeleton , with a second skull and skeleton , YPM 2182 , designated the paratype . Both were collected in 1891 by John Bell Hatcher from the late Maastrichtian @-@ age Upper Cretaceous Lance Formation of Niobrara County ( then part of Converse County ) , Wyoming . This species has some historical footnotes attached : it is among the first dinosaurs to receive a skeletal restoration , and is the first hadrosaurid so restored ; and YPM 2182 and UNSM 2414 are , respectively , the first and second essentially complete mounted dinosaur skeletons in the United States . YPM 2182 was put on display in 1901 , and USNM 2414 in 1904 . Because of the incomplete understanding of hadrosaurids at the time , following Marsh 's death in 1897 Claosaurus annectens was variously classified as a species of Claosaurus , Thespesius or Trachodon . Opinions varied greatly ; textbooks and encyclopedias drew a distinction between the " Iguanodon @-@ like " Claosaurus annectens and the " duck @-@ billed " Hadrosaurus ( based on remains now known as adult Edmontosaurus annectens ) , while Hatcher explicitly identified C. annectens as synonymous with the hadrosaurid represented by those same duck @-@ billed skulls . Hatcher 's revision , published in 1902 , was sweeping : he considered almost all hadrosaurid genera then known as synonyms of Trachodon . This included Cionodon , Diclonius , Hadrosaurus , Ornithotarsus , Pteropelyx , and Thespesius , as well as Claorhynchus and Polyonax , fragmentary genera now thought to be horned dinosaurs . Hatcher 's work led to a brief consensus , until after 1910 new material from Canada and Montana showed a greater diversity of hadrosaurids than previously suspected . Charles W. Gilmore in 1915 reassessed hadrosaurids and recommended that Thespesius be reintroduced for hadrosaurids from the Lance Formation and rock units of equivalent age , and that Trachodon , based on inadequate material , should be restricted to a hadrosaurid from the older Judith River Formation and its equivalents . In regards to Claosaurus annectens , he recommended that it be considered the same as Thespesius occidentalis . His reinstatement of Thespesius for Lance @-@ age hadrosaurids would have other consequences for the taxonomy of Edmontosaurus in the following decades . During this time frame ( 1902 – 1915 ) , two additional important specimens of C. annectens were recovered . The first , the " Trachodon mummy " ( AMNH 5060 ) , was discovered in 1908 by Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his sons in Lance Formation rocks near Lusk , Wyoming . Sternberg was working for the British Museum of Natural History , but Henry Fairfield Osborn of the American Museum of Natural History was able to purchase the specimen for $ 2 @,@ 000 . The Sternbergs recovered a second similar specimen from the same area in 1910 , not as well preserved but also found with skin impressions . They sold this specimen ( SM 4036 ) to the Senckenberg Museum in Germany . As a side note , Trachodon selwyni , described by Lawrence Lambe in 1902 for a lower jaw from what is now known as the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta , was erroneously described by Glut ( 1997 ) as having been assigned to Edmontosaurus regalis by Lull and Wright . It was not , instead being designated " of very doubtful validity . " More recent reviews of hadrosaurids have concurred . = = = Canadian discoveries = = = Edmontosaurus itself was coined in 1917 by Lawrence Lambe for two partial skeletons found in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation ( formerly the lower Edmonton Formation ) along the Red Deer River of southern Alberta , Canada . These rocks are older than the rocks in which Claosaurus annectens was found . The Edmonton Formation lends Edmontosaurus its name . The type species , E. regalis ( " regal " , or , more loosely , " king @-@ sized " ) , is based on NMC 2288 , consisting of a skull , articulated vertebrae up to the sixth tail vertebra , ribs , partial hips , an upper arm bone , and most of a hind limb . It was discovered in 1912 by Levi Sternberg . The second specimen , paratype NMC 2289 , consists of a skull and skeleton lacking the beak , most of the tail , and part of the feet . It was discovered in 1916 by George F. Sternberg . Lambe found that his new dinosaur compared best to Diclonius mirabilis ( specimens now assigned to Edmontosaurus annectens ) , and drew attention to the size and robustness of Edmontosaurus . Initially , Lambe only described the skulls of the two skeletons , but returned to the genus in 1920 to describe the skeleton of NMC 2289 . The postcrania of the type specimen remains undescribed , still in its plaster jackets . Two more species that would come to be included with Edmontosaurus were named from Canadian remains in the 1920s , but both would initially be assigned to Thespesius . Gilmore named the first , Thespesius edmontoni , in 1924 . T. edmontoni also came from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation . It was based on NMC 8399 , another nearly complete skeleton lacking most of the tail . NMC 8399 was discovered on the Red Deer River in 1912 by a Sternberg party . Its forelimbs , ossified tendons , and skin impressions were briefly described in 1913 and 1914 by Lambe , who at first thought it was an example of a species he had named Trachodon marginatus , but then changed his mind . The specimen became the first dinosaur skeleton to be mounted for exhibition in a Canadian museum . Gilmore found that his new species compared closely to what he called Thespesius annectens , but left the two apart because of details of the arms and hands . He also noted that his species had more vertebrae than Marsh 's in the back and neck , but proposed that Marsh was mistaken in assuming that the annectens specimens were complete in those regions . In 1926 , Charles Mortram Sternberg named Thespesius saskatchewanensis for NMC 8509 , a skull and partial skeleton from the Wood Mountain plateau of southern Saskatchewan . He had collected this specimen in 1921 , from rocks that were assigned to the Lance Formation , now the Frenchman Formation . NMC 8509 included an almost complete skull , numerous vertebrae , partial shoulder and hip girdles , and partial hind limbs , representing the first substantial dinosaur specimen recovered from Saskatchewan . Sternberg opted to assign it to Thespesius because that was the only hadrosaurid genus known from the Lance Formation at the time . At the time , T. saskatchewanensis was unusual because of its small size , estimated at 7 to 7 @.@ 3 metres ( 23 to 24 ft ) in length . = = = Anatosaurus to the present = = = In 1942 , Lull and Wright attempted to resolve the complicated taxonomy of crestless hadrosaurids by naming a new genus , Anatosaurus , to take in several species that did not fit well under their previous genera . Anatosaurus , meaning " duck lizard " , because of its wide , duck @-@ like beak ( Latin anas
= duck + Greek sauros = lizard ) , had as its type species Marsh 's old Claosaurus annectens . Also assigned to this genus were Thespesius edmontoni , T. saskatchewanensis , a large lower jaw that Marsh had named Trachodon longiceps in 1890 , and a new species , Anatosaurus copei , for two skeletons on display at the American Museum of Natural History that had long been known as Diclonius mirabilis ( or variations thereof ) . Thus , the various species became Anatosaurus annectens , A. copei , A. edmontoni , A. longiceps , and A. saskatchewanensis . Anatosaurus would come to be called the " classic duck @-@ billed dinosaur . " This state of affairs persisted for several decades , until Michael K. Brett @-@ Surman reexamined the pertinent material for his graduate studies in the 1970s and 1980s . He concluded that the type species of Anatosaurus , A. annectens , was actually a species of Edmontosaurus and that A. copei was different enough to warrant its own genus . Although theses and dissertations are not regarded as official publications by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature , which regulates the naming of organisms , his conclusions were known to other paleontologists , and were adopted by several popular works of the time . Brett @-@ Surman and Ralph Chapman designated a new genus for A. copei ( Anatotitan ) in 1990 . Of the remaining species , A. saskatchewanensis and A. edmontoni were assigned to Edmontosaurus as well , and A. longiceps went to Anatotitan , as either a second species or as a synonym of A. copei . Because the type species of Anatosaurus ( A. annectens ) was sunk into Edmontosaurus , the name Anatosaurus is abandoned as a junior synonym of Edmontosaurus . The conception of Edmontosaurus that emerged included three valid species : the type E. regalis , E. annectens ( including Anatosaurus edmontoni , emended to edmontonensis ) , and E. saskatchewanensis . The debate about the proper taxonomy of the A. copei specimens continues to the present : returning to Hatcher 's argument of 1902 , Jack Horner , David B. Weishampel , and Catherine Forster regarded Anatotitan copei as representing specimens of Edmontosaurus annectens with crushed skulls . In 2007 another " mummy " was announced ; nicknamed " Dakota " , it was discovered in 1999 by Tyler Lyson , and came from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota . In a 2011 study by Nicolás Campione and David Evans , the authors conducted the first ever morphometric analysis to compare the various specimens assigned to Edmontosaurus . They concluded that only two species are valid : E. regalis , from the late Campanian , and E. annectens , from the late Maastrichtian . Their study provided further evidence that Anatotitan copei is a synonym of E. annectens ; specifically , that the long , low skull of A. copei is the result of ontogenetic change and represents mature E. annectens individuals . = = Species and distribution = = Edmontosaurus is currently regarded as having two valid species : type species E. regalis , and E. annectens . E. regalis is known only from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta , dating from the late Campanian stage of the late Cretaceous period . At least a dozen individuals are known , including seven skulls with associated postcrania , and five to seven other skulls . The species formerly known as Thespesius edmontoni or Anatosaurus edmontoni represents immature individuals . E. annectens is known from the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan , the Hell Creek Formation of Montana , and the Lance Formation of South Dakota and Wyoming . It is limited to late Maastrichtian rocks , and is represented by at least twenty skulls , some with postcranial remains . One author , Kraig Derstler , has described E. annectens as " perhaps the most perfectly @-@ known dinosaur to date [ 1994 ] . " Anatosaurus copei and E. saskatchewanensis are now thought to be growth stages of E. annectens : A. copei as adults , and E. saskatchewanensis as juveniles . Trachodon longiceps may be a synonym of E. annectens as well . Anatosaurus edmontoni was mistakenly listed as a synonym of E. annectens in both reviews of the Dinosauria , but this does not appear to be the case . E. annectens differed from E. regalis by having a longer , lower , less robust skull . Although Brett @-@ Surman regarded E. regalis and E. annectens as potentially representing males and females of the same species , all E. regalis specimens come from older formations than E. annectens specimens . Edmontosaurin specimens from the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska formerly assigned to Edmontosaurus sp. have been given their own genus and species name , Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis . Edmontosaurus was also reported from the Javelina Formation of Big Bend National Park , western Texas , but the remains in question were later referred to Kritosaurus cf. navajovius by Wagner ( 2001 ) , and one specimen has been described as the new species Gryposaurus alsatei . = = Paleoecology = = Edmontosaurus was a wide @-@ ranging genus in both time and space . The rock units from which it is known can be divided into two groups by age : the older Horseshoe Canyon and St. Mary River formations , and the younger Frenchman , Hell Creek , and Lance formations . The time span covered by the Horseshoe Canyon Formation and equivalents is also known as Edmontonian , and the time span covered by the younger units is also known as Lancian . The Edmontonian and Lancian time intervals had distinct dinosaur faunas . The Edmontonian land vertebrate age is defined by the first appearance of Edmontosaurus regalis in the fossil record . Although sometimes reported as of exclusively early Maastrichtian age , the Horseshoe Canyon Formation was of somewhat longer duration . Deposition began approximately 73 million years ago , in the late Campanian , and ended between 68 @.@ 0 and 67 @.@ 6 million years ago . Edmontosaurus regalis is known from the lowest of five units within the Horseshoe Canyon Formation , but is absent from at least the second to the top . As many as three quarters of the dinosaur specimens from badlands near Drumheller , Alberta may pertain to Edmontosaurus . The Lancian time interval was the last interval before the Cretaceous – Paleogene extinction event that eliminated non @-@ avian dinosaurs . Edmontosaurus was one of the more common dinosaurs of the interval . Robert Bakker reports that it made up one @-@ seventh of the large dinosaur sample , with most of the rest ( five @-@ sixths ) made up of the horned dinosaur Triceratops . The coastal plain Triceratops – Edmontosaurus association , dominated by Triceratops , extended from Colorado to Saskatchewan . The Lance Formation , as typified by exposures approximately 100 kilometres ( 62 mi ) north of Fort Laramie in eastern Wyoming , has been interpreted as a bayou setting similar to the Louisiana coastal plain . It was closer to a large delta than the Hell Creek Formation depositional setting to the north and received much more sediment . Tropical araucarian conifers and palm trees dotted the hardwood forests , differentiating the flora from the northern coastal plain . The climate was humid and subtropical , with conifers , palmettos , and ferns in the swamps , and conifers , ash , live oak , and shrubs in the forests . Freshwater fish , salamanders , turtles , diverse lizards , snakes , shorebirds , and small mammals lived alongside the dinosaurs . Small dinosaurs are not known in as great of abundance here as in the Hell Creek rocks , but Thescelosaurus once again seems to have been relatively common . Triceratops is known from many skulls , which tend to be somewhat smaller than those of more northern individuals . The Lance Formation is the setting of two edmontosaur " mummies " . = = Paleobiology = = = = = Growth = = = In a 2011 study , Campione and Evans recorded data from all known " edmontosaur " skulls from the Campanian and Maastrichtian and used it to plot a morphometric graph , comparing variable features of the skull with skull size . Their results showed that within both recognized Edmontosaurus species , many features previously used to classify additional species or genera were directly correlated with skull size . Campione and Evans interpreted these results as strongly suggesting that the shape of Edmontosaurus skulls changed dramatically as they grew . This has led to several apparent mistakes in classification in the past . The Campanian species Thespesius edmontoni , previously considered a synonym of E. annectens due to its small size and skull shape , is more likely a subadult specimen of the contemporary E. regalis . Similarly , the three previously recognized Maastrichtian edmontosaur species likely represent growth stages of a single species , with E. saskatchewanensis representing juveniles , E. annectens subadults , and Anatotitan copei fully mature adults . The skulls became longer and flatter as the animals grew . = = = Brain and nervous system = = = The brain of Edmontosaurus has been described in several papers and abstracts through the use of endocasts of the cavity where the brain had been . E. annectens and E. regalis , as well as specimens not identified to species , have been studied in this way . The brain was not particularly large for an animal the size of Edmontosaurus . The space holding it was only about a quarter of the length of the skull , and various endocasts have been measured as displacing 374 millilitres ( 13 US fl oz ) to 450 millilitres ( 15 US fl oz ) , which does not take into account that the brain may have occupied as little as 50 % of the space of the endocast , the rest of the space being taken up by the dura mater surrounding the brain . For example , the brain of the specimen with the 374 millilitre endocast is estimated to have had a volume of 268 millilitres ( 9 US fl oz ) . The brain was an elongate structure , and as with other non @-@ mammals , there would have been no neocortex . Like Stegosaurus , the neural canal was expanded in the hips , but not to the same degree : the endosacral space of Stegosaurus had 20 times the volume of its endocranial cast , whereas the endosacral space of Edmontosaurus was only 2 @.@ 59 times larger in volume . = = = Diet = = = = = = = Feeding adaptations = = = = As a hadrosaurid , Edmontosaurus was a large terrestrial herbivore . Its teeth were continually replaced and packed into dental batteries that contained hundreds of teeth , only a relative handful of which were in use at any time . It used its broad beak to cut loose food , perhaps by cropping , or by closing the jaws in a clamshell @-@ like manner over twigs and branches and then stripping off the more nutritious leaves and shoots . Because the tooth rows are deeply indented from the outside of the jaws , and because of other anatomical details , it is inferred that Edmontosaurus and most other ornithischians had cheek @-@ like structures , muscular or non @-@ muscular . The function of the cheeks was to retain food in the mouth . The animal 's feeding range would have been from ground level to around 4 metres ( 13 ft ) above . Before the 1960s and 1970s , the prevailing interpretation of hadrosaurids like Edmontosaurus was that they were aquatic and fed on aquatic plants . An example of this is William Morris 's 1970 interpretation of an edmontosaur skull with nonbony beak remnants . He proposed that the animal had a diet much like that of some modern ducks , filtering plants and aquatic invertebrates like mollusks and crustaceans from the water and discharging water via V @-@ shaped furrows along the inner face of the upper beak . This interpretation of the beak has been rejected , as the furrows and ridges are more like those of herbivorous turtle beaks than the flexible structures seen in filter @-@ feeding birds . Between the mid @-@ 1980s and the first decade of the 2000s , the prevailing interpretation of how hadrosaurids processed their food followed the model put forward in 1984 by David B. Weishampel . He proposed that the structure of the skull permitted motion between bones that resulted in backward and forward motion of the lower jaw , and outward bowing of the tooth @-@ bearing bones of the upper jaw when the mouth was closed . The teeth of the upper jaw would grind against the teeth of the lower jaw like rasps , processing plant material trapped between them . Such a motion would parallel the effects of mastication in mammals , although accomplishing the effects in a completely different way . Work in the early 2000s has challenged the Weishampel model . A study published in 2008 by Casey Holliday and Lawrence Witmer found that ornithopods like Edmontosaurus lacked the types of skull joints seen in those modern animals that are known to have kinetic skulls ( skulls that permit motion between their constituent bones ) , such as squamates and birds . They proposed that joints that had been interpreted as permitting movement in dinosaur skulls were actually cartilaginous growth zones . An important piece of evidence for Weishampel 's model is the orientation of scratches on the teeth , showing the direction of jaw action . Other movements could produce similar scratches , though , such as movement of the bones of the two halves of the lower jaw . Not all models have been scrutinized under present techniques . Vincent Williams and colleagues ( 2009 ) published additional work on hadrosaurid tooth microwear . They found four classes of scratches on Edmontosaurus teeth . The most common class was interpreted as resulting from an oblique motion , not a simple up @-@ down or front @-@ back motion , which is consistent with the Weishampel model . This motion is thought to have been the primary motion for grinding food . Two scratch classes were interpreted as resulting from forward or backward movement of the jaws . The other class was variable and probably resulted from opening the jaws . The combination of movements is more complex than had been previously predicted . Weishampel developed his model with the aid of a computer simulation . Natalia Rybczynski and colleagues have updated this work with a much more sophisticated three @-@ dimensional animation model , scanning a skull of E. regalis with lasers . They were able to replicate the proposed motion with their model , although they found that additional secondary movements between other bones were required , with maximum separations of 1 @.@ 3 to 1 @.@ 4 centimetres ( 0 @.@ 51 to 0 @.@ 55 in ) between some bones during the chewing cycle . Rybczynski and colleagues were not convinced that the Weishampel model is viable , but noted that they have several improvements to implement to their animation . Planned improvements include incorporating soft tissue and tooth wear marks and scratches , which should better constrain movements . They note that there are several other hypotheses to test as well . Further research published in 2012 by Robin Cuthbertson and colleagues found the motions required for Weishampel 's model to be unlikely , and favored a model in which movements of the lower jaw produced grinding action . The lower jaw 's joint with the upper jaw would permit anterior – posterior motion along with the usual rotation , and the anterior joint of the two halves of the lower jaw would also permit motion ; in combination , the two halves of the lower jaw could move slightly back and forth as well as rotating slightly along their long axes . These motions would account for the observed tooth wear and a more solidly constructed skull than modeled by Weishampel . Because scratches dominate the microwear texture of the teeth , Williams et al. suggested Edmontosaurus was a grazer instead of a browser , which would be predicted to have fewer scratches due to eating less abrasive materials . Candidates for ingested abrasives include silica @-@ rich plants like horsetails and soil that was accidentally ingested due to feeding at ground level . The tooth structure indicates combined slicing and grinding capabilities . Reports of gastroliths , or stomach stones , in the hadrosaurid Claosaurus are actually based on a probable double misidentification . First , the specimen is actually of Edmontosaurus annectens . Barnum Brown , who discovered the specimen in 1900 , referred to it as Claosaurus because E. annectens was thought to be a species of Claosaurus at the time . Additionally , it is more likely that the supposed gastroliths represent gravel washed in during burial . = = = = Gut contents = = = = Both of the " mummy " specimens collected by the Sternbergs were reported to have had possible gut contents . Charles H. Sternberg reported the presence of carbonized gut contents in the American Museum of Natural History specimen , but this material has not been described . The plant remains in the Senckenberg Museum specimen have been described , but have proven difficult to interpret . The plants found in the carcass included needles of the conifer Cunninghamites elegans , twigs from conifer and broadleaf trees , and numerous small seeds or fruits . Upon their description in 1922 , they were the subject of a debate in the German @-@ language journal Paläontologische Zeitschrift . Kräusel , who described the material , interpreted it as the gut contents of the animal , while Abel could not rule out that the plants had been washed into the carcass after death . At the time , hadrosaurids were thought to have been aquatic animals , and Kräusel made a point of stating that the specimen did not rule out hadrosaurids eating water plants . The discovery of possible gut contents made little impact in English @-@ speaking circles , except for another brief mention of the aquatic @-@ terrestrial dichotomy , until it was brought up by John Ostrom in the course of an article reassessing the old interpretation of hadrosaurids as water @-@ bound . Instead of trying to adapt the discovery to the aquatic model , he used it as a line of evidence that hadrosaurids were terrestrial herbivores . While his interpretation of hadrosaurids as terrestrial animals has been generally accepted , the Senckenberg plant fossils remain equivocal . Kenneth Carpenter has suggested that they may actually represent the gut contents of a starving animal , instead of a typical diet . Other authors have noted that because the plant fossils were removed from their original context in the specimen and were heavily prepared , it is no longer possible to follow up on the original work , leaving open the possibility that the plants were washed @-@ in debris . = = = Isotopic studies = = = The diet and physiology of Edmontosaurus have been probed by using stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen as recorded in tooth enamel . When feeding , drinking , and breathing , animals take in carbon and oxygen , which become incorporated into bone . The isotopes of these two elements are determined by various internal and external factors , such as the type of plants being eaten , the physiology of the animal , salinity , and climate . If isotope ratios in fossils are not altered by fossilization and later changes , they can be studied for information about the original factors ; warmblooded animals will have certain isotopic compositions compared to their surroundings , animals that eat certain types of plants or use certain digestive processes will have distinct isotopic compositions , and so on . Enamel is typically used because the structure of the mineral that forms enamel makes it the most resistant material to chemical change in the skeleton . A 2004 study by Kathryn Thomas and Sandra Carlson used teeth from the upper jaw of three individuals interpreted as a juvenile , a subadult , and an adult , recovered from a bone bed in the Hell Creek Formation of Corson County , South Dakota . In this study , successive teeth in columns in the edmontosaurs ' dental batteries were sampled from multiple locations along each tooth using a microdrilling system . This sampling method takes advantage of the organization of hadrosaurid dental batteries to find variation in tooth isotopes over a period of time . From their work , it appears that edmontosaur teeth took less than about 0 @.@ 65 years to form , slightly faster in younger edmontosaurs . The teeth of all three individuals appeared to show variation in oxygen isotope ratios that could correspond to warm / dry and cool / wet periods ; Thomas and Carlson considered the possibility that the animals were migrating instead , but favored local seasonal variations because migration would have more likely led to ratio homogenization , as many animals migrate to stay within specific temperature ranges or near particular food sources . The edmontosaurs also showed enriched carbon isotope values , which for modern mammals would be interpreted as a mixed diet of C3 plants ( most plants ) and C4 plants ( grasses ) ; however , C4 plants were extremely rare in the Late Cretaceous if present at all . Thomas and Carlson put forward several factors that may have been operating , and found the most likely to include a diet heavy in gymnosperms , consuming salt @-@ stressed plants from coastal areas adjacent to the Western Interior Seaway , and a physiological difference between dinosaurs and mammals that caused dinosaurs to form tissue with different carbon ratios than would be expected for mammals . A combination of factors is also possible . = = = Pathologies and health = = = In 2003 , evidence of tumors , including hemangiomas , desmoplastic fibroma , metastatic cancer , and osteoblastoma , was described in Edmontosaurus bones . Rothschild et al. tested dinosaur vertebrae for tumors using computerized tomography and fluoroscope screening . Several other hadrosaurids , including Brachylophosaurus , Gilmoreosaurus , and Bactrosaurus , also tested positive . Although more than 10 @,@ 000 fossils were examined in this manner , the tumors were limited to Edmontosaurus and closely related genera . The tumors may have been caused by environmental factors or genetic propensity . Osteochondrosis , or surficial pits in bone at places where bones articulate , is also known in Edmontosaurus . This condition , resulting from cartilage failing to be replaced by bone during growth , was found to be present in 2 @.@ 2 % of 224 edmontosaur toe bones . The underlying cause of the condition is unknown . Genetic predisposition , trauma , feeding intensity , alterations in blood supply , excess thyroid hormones , and deficiencies in various growth factors have been suggested . Among dinosaurs , osteochondrosis ( like tumors ) is most commonly found in hadrosaurids . = = = Locomotion = = = Like other hadrosaurids , Edmontosaurus is thought to have been a facultative biped , meaning that it mostly moved on four legs , but could adopt a bipedal stance when needed . It probably went on all fours when standing still or moving slowly , and switched to using the hind legs alone when moving more rapidly . Research conducted by computer modeling in 2007 suggests that Edmontosaurus could run at high speeds , perhaps up to 45 kilometres per hour ( 28 mph ) . Further simulations using a subadult specimen estimated as weighing 715 kilograms ( 1 @,@ 576 lb ) when alive produced a model that could run or hop bipedally , use a trot , pace , or single foot symmetric quadrupedal gait , or move at a gallop . The researchers found to their surprise that the fastest gait was kangaroo @-@ like hopping ( maximum simulated speed of 17 @.@ 3 metres per second ( 62 km / h ; 39 mph ) ) , which they regarded as unlikely based on the size of the animal and lack of hopping footprints in the fossil record , and instead interpreted the result as indicative of an inaccuracy in their simulation . The fastest non @-@ hopping gaits were galloping ( maximum simulated speed of 15 @.@ 7 metres per second ( 57 km / h ; 35 mph ) ) and running bipedally ( maximum simulated speed of 14 @.@ 0 metres per second ( 50 km / h ; 31 mph ) ) . They found weak support for bipedal running as the most likely option for high @-@ speed movement , but did not rule out high @-@ speed quadrupedal movement . While long thought to have been aquatic or semiaquatic , hadrosaurids were not as well @-@ suited for swimming as other dinosaurs ( particularly theropods , who were once thought to have been unable to pursue hadrosaurids into water ) . Hadrosaurids had slim hands with short fingers , making their forelimbs ineffective for propulsion , and the tail was also not useful for propulsion because of the ossified tendons that increased its rigidity , and the poorly developed attachment points for muscles that would have moved the tail from side to side . = = = Interactions with theropods = = = The time span and geographic range of Edmontosaurus overlapped with Tyrannosaurus , and an adult specimen of E. annectens on display in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science shows evidence of a theropod bite in the tail . Counting back from the hip , the thirteenth to seventeenth vertebrae have damaged spines consistent with an attack from the right rear of the animal . One spine has a portion sheared away , and the others are kinked ; three have apparent tooth puncture marks . The top of the tail was at least 2 @.@ 9 metres ( 9 @.@ 5 ft ) high , and the only theropod species known from the same rock formation that was tall enough to make such an attack is T. rex . The bones are partially healed , but the edmontosaur died before the traces of damage were completely obliterated . The damage also shows signs of bone infection . Kenneth Carpenter , who studied the specimen , noted that there also seems to be a healed fracture in the left hip which predated the attack because it was more fully healed . He suggested that the edmontosaur was a target because it may have been limping from this earlier injury . Because it survived the attack , Carpenter suggested that it may have outmaneuvered or outrun its attacker , or that the damage to its tail was incurred by the hadrosaurid using it as a weapon against the tyrannosaur . Another specimen of E. annectens , pertaining to a 7 @.@ 6 metres ( 25 ft ) long individual from South Dakota , shows evidence of tooth marks from small theropods on its lower jaws . Some of the marks are partially healed . Michael Triebold , informally reporting on the specimen , suggested a scenario where small theropods attacked the throat of the edmontosaur ; the animal survived the initial attack but succumbed to its injuries shortly thereafter . Some edmontosaur bone beds were sites of scavenging . Albertosaurus and Saurornitholestes tooth marks are common at one Alberta bone bed , and Daspletosaurus fed on Edmontosaurus and fellow hadrosaurid Saurolophus at another Alberta site . = = = Social behavior = = = Extensive bone beds are known for Edmontosaurus , and such groupings of hadrosaurids are used to suggest that they were gregarious , living in groups . Three quarries containing Edmontosaurus remains are identified in a 2007 database of fossil bone beds , from Alberta ( Horseshoe Canyon Formation ) , South Dakota ( Hell Creek Formation ) , and Wyoming ( Lance Formation ) . One edmontosaur bone bed , from claystone and mudstone of the Lance Formation in eastern Wyoming , covers more than a square kilometre , although Edmontosaurus bones are most concentrated in a 40 hectares ( 0 @.@ 15 sq mi ) subsection of this site . It is estimated that disassociated remains pertaining to 10 @,@ 000 to 25 @,@ 000 edmontosaurs are present here . Unlike many other hadrosaurids , Edmontosaurus lacked a bony crest . It may have had soft @-@ tissue display structures in the skull , though : the bones around the nasal openings had deep indentations surrounding the openings , and this pair of recesses are postulated to have held inflatable air sacs , perhaps allowing for both visual and auditory signaling . Edmontosaurus may have been dimorphic , with more robust and more lightly built forms , but it has not been established if this is related to sexual dimorphism . Edmontosaurus has been considered a possibly migratory hadrosaurid by some authors . A 2008 review of dinosaur migration studies by Phil R. Bell and Eric Snively proposed that E. regalis was capable of an annual 2 @,@ 600 kilometres ( 1 @,@ 600 mi ) round @-@ trip journey , provided it had the requisite metabolism and fat deposition rates . Such a trip would have required speeds of about 2 to 10 kilometres per hour ( 1 to 6 mph ) , and could have brought it from Alaska to Alberta . In contrast to Bell and Snively , Anusuya Chinsamy and colleagues concluded from a study of bone microstructure that polar Edmontosaurus overwintered .
= Marian Rejewski = Marian Adam Rejewski [ ˈmarjan reˈjefski ] ( 16 August 1905 – 13 February 1980 ) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who reconstructed the Nazi German military Enigma cipher machine sight @-@ unseen in 1932 . The cryptologic achievements of Rejewski and colleagues Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski enabled the British to begin reading German Enigma @-@ encrypted messages at the start of World War II , seven years after Rejewski 's original reconstruction of the machine . The intelligence that was gained by the British from Enigma decrypts formed part of what was code @-@ named Ultra and contributed — perhaps decisively — to the defeat of Germany . In 1929 , while studying mathematics at Poznań University , Rejewski attended a secret cryptology course conducted by the Polish General Staff 's Cipher Bureau ( Biuro Szyfrów ) , which he joined in September 1932 . The Bureau had had no success in reading Enigma @-@ enciphered messages and set Rejewski to work on the problem in late 1932 ; he deduced the machine 's secret internal wiring after only a few weeks . Rejewski and his two colleagues then developed successive techniques for the regular decryption of Enigma messages . His contributions included the cryptologic card catalog , derived using the cyclometer that he had invented , and the cryptologic bomb . Five weeks before the German invasion of Poland in 1939 , Rejewski and colleagues presented their achievements to French and British intelligence representatives summoned to Warsaw . Shortly after the outbreak of war , the Polish cryptologists were evacuated to France , where they continued breaking Enigma @-@ enciphered messages . They and their support staff were again compelled to evacuate after the fall of France in June 1940 , and they resumed work undercover a few months later in Vichy France . After the French " Free Zone " was occupied by Germany in November 1942 , Rejewski and Zygalski fled via Spain , Portugal , and Gibraltar to Britain . There they enlisted in the Polish Armed Forces and were put to work solving low @-@ grade German ciphers . After the war , Rejewski reunited with his family in Poland and worked as an accountant . For two decades , he remained silent about his prewar and wartime cryptologic work to avoid adverse attention from the country 's Soviet @-@ dominated government ; he broke his silence in 1967 when he provided to the Polish Military Historical Institute his memoirs of his work in the Cipher Bureau . He died at age 74 of a heart attack and was interred with military honors at Warsaw 's Powązki Military Cemetery . = = Early life = = Marian Rejewski was born 16 August 1905 in Bromberg in the Prussian Province of Posen ( now Bydgoszcz , Poland ) to Józef and Matylda , née Thoms . After completing secondary school , he studied mathematics at Poznań University 's Mathematics Institute , housed in Poznań Castle . In 1929 , shortly before graduating from university , Rejewski began attending a secret cryptology course which opened on 15 January , organized for select German @-@ speaking mathematics students by the Polish General Staff 's Cipher Bureau with the help of the Mathematics Institute 's Professor Zdzisław Krygowski . The course was conducted off @-@ campus at a military facility and , as Rejewski would discover in France in 1939 , " was entirely and literally based " on French General Marcel Givièrge 's 1925 book , Cours de cryptographie ( Cryptography Course ) . Rejewski and fellow students Henryk Zygalski and Jerzy Różycki were among the few who could keep up with the course while balancing the demands of their normal studies . On 1 March 1929 Rejewski graduated with a Master of Philosophy degree in mathematics . A few weeks after graduating , and without having completed the Cipher Bureau 's cryptology course , he began the first year of a two @-@ year actuarial statistics course at Göttingen , Germany . He did not complete the statistics course , because while home for the summer of 1930 , he accepted an offer , from Professor Krygowski , of a mathematics teaching assistantship at Poznań University . He also began working part @-@ time for the Cipher Bureau , which by then had set up an outpost at Poznań to decrypt intercepted German radio messages . Rejewski worked some twelve hours a week near the Mathematics Institute in an underground vault referred to puckishly as the " Black Chamber " . The Poznań branch of the Cipher Bureau was disbanded in the summer of 1932 . On 1 September 1932 , Rejewski , Zygalski , and Różycki joined the Cipher Bureau as civilian employees working at the General Staff building ( the Saxon Palace ) in Warsaw . Their first assignment was to solve a four @-@ letter code used by the Kriegsmarine ( German Navy ) . Progress was initially slow , but sped up after a test exchange — consisting of a six @-@ group signal , followed by a four @-@ group response — was intercepted . The cryptologists guessed correctly that the first signal was the question , " When was Frederick the Great born ? " followed by the response , " 1712 . " On 20 June 1934 Rejewski married Irena Maria Lewandowska , daughter of a prosperous dentist . The couple eventually had two children : a son , Andrzej ( Andrew ) , born in 1936 ; and a daughter , Janina ( Joan ) , born in 1939 . Janina would later become a mathematician like her father . = = Enigma machine = = The Enigma machine was an electromechanical device , equipped with a 26 @-@ letter keyboard and 26 lamps , corresponding to the letters of the alphabet . Inside was a set of wired drums ( rotors and a reflector ) that scrambled the input . The machine used a plugboard to swap pairs of letters , and the encipherment varied from one key press to the next . For two operators to communicate , both Enigma machines had to be set up in the same way . The large number of possibilities for setting the rotors and the plugboard combined to form an astronomical number of configurations , and the settings were changed daily , so the machine code had to be " broken " anew each day . Before 1932 , the Cipher Bureau had succeeded in solving an earlier Enigma machine that functioned without a plugboard , but had been unsuccessful with the Enigma I , a new standard German cipher machine that was coming into widespread use . In late October or early November 1932 , the head of the Cipher Bureau 's German section , Captain Maksymilian Ciężki , tasked Rejewski to work alone on the German Enigma I machine for a couple of hours per day ; Rejewski was not to tell his colleagues what he was doing . = = Solving the wiring = = To decrypt Enigma messages , three pieces of information were needed : ( 1 ) a general understanding of how Enigma functioned ; ( 2 ) the wiring of the rotors ; and ( 3 ) the daily settings ( the sequence and orientations of the rotors , and the plug connections on the plugboard ) . Rejewski had only the first at his disposal , based on information already acquired by the Cipher Bureau . First Rejewski tackled the problem of discovering the wiring of the rotors . To do this , according to historian David Kahn , he pioneered the use of pure mathematics in cryptanalysis . Previous methods had largely exploited linguistic patterns and the statistics of natural @-@ language texts — letter @-@ frequency analysis . Rejewski applied techniques from group theory — theorems about permutations — in his attack on Enigma . These mathematical techniques , combined with material supplied by Gustave Bertrand , chief of French radio intelligence , enabled him to reconstruct the internal wirings of the machine 's rotors and nonrotating reflector . " The solution " , writes Kahn , " was Rejewski 's own stunning achievement , one that elevates him to the pantheon of the greatest cryptanalysts of all time . " Rejewski used a mathematical theorem — that two permutations are conjugate if and only if they have the same cycle structure — that mathematics professor and Cryptologia co @-@ editor Cipher A. Deavours describes as " the theorem that won World War II " . Before receiving the French intelligence material , Rejewski had made a careful study of Enigma messages , particularly of the first six letters of messages intercepted on a single day . For security , each message was encrypted using different starting positions of the rotors , as selected by the operator . This message setting was three letters long . To convey it to the receiving operator , the sending operator began the message by sending the message setting in a disguised form — a six @-@ letter indicator . The indicator was formed using the Enigma with its rotors set to a common global setting for that day , termed the ground setting , which was shared by all operators . The particular way that the indicator was constructed introduced a weakness into the cipher . For example , suppose the operator chose the message setting KYG for a message . The operator would first set the Enigma 's rotors to the ground setting , which might be GBL on that particular day , and then encrypt the message setting on the Enigma twice ; that is , the operator would enter KYGKYG ( which might come out to something like QZKBLX ) . The operator would then reposition the rotors at KYG , and encrypt the actual message . A receiving operator could reverse the process to recover first the message setting , then the message itself . The repetition of the message setting was apparently meant as an error check to detect garbles , but it had the unforeseen effect of greatly weakening the cipher . Due to the indicator 's repetition of the message setting , Rejewski knew that , in the plaintext of the indicator , the first and fourth letters were the same , the second and fifth were the same , and the third and sixth were the same . These relations could be exploited to break into the cipher . Rejewski studied these related pairs of letters . For example , if there were four messages that had the following indicators on the same day : BJGTDN , LIFBAB , ETULZR , TFREII , then by looking at the first and fourth letters of each set , he knew that certain pairs of letters were related . B was related to T , L was related to B , E was related to L , and T was related to E : ( B , T ) , ( L , B ) , ( E , L ) , and ( T , E ) . If he had enough different messages to work with , he could build entire sequences of relationships : the letter B was related to T , which was related to E , which was related to L , which was related to B ( see diagram ) . This was a " cycle of 4 " , since it took four jumps until it got back to the start letter . Another cycle on the same day might be A <formula> F <formula> W <formula> A , or a " cycle of 3 " . If there were enough messages on a given day , all the letters of the alphabet might be covered by a number of different cycles of various sizes . The cycles would be consistent for one day , and then would change to a different set of cycles the next day . Similar analysis could be done on the 2nd and 5th letters , and the 3rd and 6th , identifying the cycles in each case and the number of steps in each cycle . Using the data thus gained , combined with Enigma operators ' tendency to choose predictable letter combinations as indicators ( such as girlfriends ' initials or a pattern of keys that they saw on the Enigma keyboard < these became known to the allies as " Cillies " ( " Sillies " misspelled ) > ) , Rejewski was able to deduce six permutations corresponding to the encipherment at six consecutive positions of the Enigma machine . These permutations could be described by six equations with various unknowns , representing the wiring within the entry drum , rotors , reflector , and plugboard . = = = French help = = = At this point , Rejewski ran into difficulties due to the large number of unknowns in the set of equations that he had developed . He would later comment in 1980 that it was still not known whether such a set of six equations was soluble without further data . But he was assisted by cryptographic documents that Section D of French military intelligence ( the Deuxième Bureau ) , under future General Gustave Bertrand , had obtained and passed on to the Polish Cipher Bureau . The documents , procured from a spy in the German Cryptographic Service , Hans @-@ Thilo Schmidt , included the Enigma settings for the months of September and October 1932 . About 9 or 10 December 1932 , the documents were given to Rejewski . They enabled him to reduce the number of unknowns and solve the wirings of the rotors and reflector . There was another obstacle to overcome , however . The military Enigma had been modified from the commercial Enigma , of which Rejewski had had an actual example to study . In the commercial machine , the keys were connected to the entry drum in German keyboard order ( " QWERTZU ... " ) . However , in the military Enigma , the connections had instead been wired in alphabetical order : " ABCDEF ... " This new wiring sequence foiled British cryptologists working on Enigma , who dismissed the " ABCDEF ... " wiring as too obvious . Rejewski , perhaps guided by an intuition about a German fondness for order , simply guessed that the wiring was the normal alphabetic ordering . He later recalled that , after he had made this assumption , " from my pencil , as by magic , began to issue numbers designating the connections in rotor N. Thus the connections in one rotor , the right @-@ hand rotor , were finally known . " The settings provided by French Intelligence covered two months that straddled a changeover period for the rotor ordering . A different rotor happened to be in the right @-@ hand position for the second month , and so the wirings of two rotors could be recovered by the same method . Rejewski later recalled : " Finding the [ wiring ] in the third [ rotor ] , and especially ... in the [ reflector ] , now presented no great difficulties . Likewise there were no difficulties with determining the correct torsion of the [ rotors ' ] side walls with respect to each other , or the moments when the left and middle drums turned . " By year 's end 1932 , the wirings of all three rotors and the reflector had been recovered . A sample message in an Enigma instruction manual , providing a plaintext and its corresponding ciphertext produced using a stated daily key and message key , helped clarify some remaining details . There has been speculation as to whether the rotor wirings could have been solved without the documents supplied by French Intelligence . Rejewski recalled in 1980 that another way had been found that could have been used to solve the wirings , but that the method was " imperfect and tedious " and relied on chance . In 2005 , mathematician John Lawrence claimed that it would have taken four years for this method to have had a reasonable likelihood of success . Rejewski had earlier written that " the conclusion is that the intelligence material furnished to us should be regarded as having been decisive to solution of the machine . " = = Solving daily settings = = After Rejewski had determined the wiring in the remaining rotors , he was joined in early 1933 by Różycki and Zygalski in devising methods and equipment to break Enigma ciphers routinely . Rejewski later recalled : Now we had the machine , but we didn 't have the keys and we couldn 't very well require Bertrand to keep on supplying us with the keys every month ... The situation had reversed itself : before , we 'd had the keys but we hadn 't had the machine — we solved the machine ; now we had the machine but we didn 't have the keys . We had to work out methods to find the daily keys . = = = Early methods = = = A number of methods and devices had to be invented in response to continual improvements in German operating procedure and to the Enigma machine itself . The earliest method for reconstructing daily keys was the " grill " , based on the fact that the plugboard 's connections exchanged only six pairs of letters , leaving fourteen letters unchanged . Next was Różycki 's " clock " method , which sometimes made it possible to determine which rotor was at the right @-@ hand side of the Enigma machine on a given day . After 1 October 1936 , German procedure changed , and the number of plugboard connections became variable , ranging between five and eight . As a result , the grill method became considerably less effective . However , a method using a card catalog had been devised around 1934 or 1935 , and was independent of the number of plug connections . The catalog was constructed using Rejewski 's " cyclometer " , a special @-@ purpose device for creating a catalog of permutations . Once the catalog was complete , the permutation could be looked up in the catalog , yielding the Enigma rotor settings for that day . The cyclometer comprised two sets of Enigma rotors , and was used to determine the length and number of cycles of the permutations that could be generated by the Enigma machine . Even with the cyclometer , preparing the catalog was a long and difficult task . Each position of the Enigma machine ( there were 17 @,@ 576 positions ) had to be examined for each possible sequence of rotors ( there were 6 possible sequences ) ; therefore , the catalog comprised 105 @,@ 456 entries . Preparation of the catalog took over a year , but when it was ready about 1935 , it made obtaining daily keys a matter of 12 – 20 minutes . However , on 1 or 2 November 1937 , the Germans replaced the reflector in their Enigma machines , which meant that the entire catalog had to be recalculated from scratch . Nonetheless , by January 1938 the Cipher Bureau 's German section was reading a remarkable 75 % of Enigma intercepts , and according to Rejewski , with a minimal increase in personnel this could have been increased to 90 % . = = = Bomba and sheets = = = In 1937 Rejewski , along with the German section of the Cipher Bureau , transferred to a secret facility near Pyry in the Kabaty Woods south of Warsaw . On 15 September 1938 , the Germans introduced new rules for enciphering message keys ( a new " indicator procedure " ) , making the Poles ' earlier techniques obsolete . The Polish cryptanalysts rapidly responded with new techniques . One was Rejewski 's bomba , an electrically powered aggregate of six Enigmas , which solved the daily keys within about two hours . Six bombas were built and were ready for use by mid @-@ November 1938 . The bomba exploited the fact that the plugboard connections did not affect all the letters ; therefore , when another change to German operating procedure occurred on 1 January 1939 , increasing the number of plugboard connections , the usefulness of the bombas was greatly reduced . The British bombe , the main tool that would be used to break Enigma messages during World War II , would be named after , and likely inspired by , the Polish bomba , though the cryptologic methods embodied in the two machines were different . Around the same time as Rejewski 's bomba , a manual method was invented by Henryk Zygalski , that of " perforated sheets " ( " Zygalski sheets " ) , which was independent of the number of plugboard connections . Rejewski describes the construction of the Zygalski mechanism and its manipulation : Fairly thick paper sheets , lettered " a " through " z " , were prepared for all twenty @-@ six possible positions of rotor L [ the left @-@ hand Enigma rotor ] and a square was drawn on each sheet , divided into 51 by 51 smaller squares . The sides , top , and bottom of each large square ( it could as well be a rectangle ) were lettered " a " through " z " and then again " a " through " y " . This was , as it were , a system of coordinates in which the abscissas and ordinates marked successive possible positions of rotors M [ the middle Enigma rotor ] and N [ the right @-@ hand Enigma rotor ] , and each little square marked permutations , with or without constant points , corresponding to those positions . Cases with constant points were perforated . [ E ] ach constant point had to be perforated as many as four times . [ ... ] When the sheets were superposed and moved in the proper sequence and the proper manner with respect to each other , in accordance with a [ precisely ] defined program , the number of visible apertures gradually decreased . And , if a sufficient quantity of data was available , there finally remained a single aperture , probably corresponding to the right case , that is , to the solution . From the position of the aperture one could calculate the order of the rotors , the setting of their rings , and , by comparing the letters of the cipher keys with the letters in the machine , likewise permutation S ; in other words , the entire cipher key . However , application of both the bomba and Zygalski sheets was complicated by yet another change to the Enigma machine on 15 December 1938 . The Germans had supplied Enigma operators with an additional two rotors to supplement the original three , and this increased the complexity of decryption tenfold . Building ten times as many bombas ( 60 would now be needed ) was beyond the Cipher Bureau 's ability — that many bombas would have cost fifteen times its entire annual equipment budget . Two and a half weeks later , effective 1 January 1939 , the Germans increased the number of plug connections to 7 – 10 , which , writes Rejewski , " to a great degree , decreased the usefulness of the bombs . " Zygalski 's perforated ( " Zygalski " ) sheets , writes Rejewski , " like the card @-@ catalog method , was independent of the number of plug connections . But the manufacture of these sheets , [ ... ] in our [ ... ] circumstances , was very time @-@ consuming , so that by 15 December 1938 , only one @-@ third of the whole job had been done . [ T ] he Germans ' [ introduction of rotors ] IV and V [ ... ] increased the labor of making the sheets tenfold [ since 60 , or ten times as many , sets of sheets were now needed ] , considerably exceeding our [ ... ] capacities . " = = = Allies informed = = = As it became clear that war was imminent and that Polish financial resources were insufficient to keep pace with the evolution of Enigma encryption ( e.g. , due to the prohibitive expense of an additional 54 bombas and due to the Poles ' difficulty in producing in timely fashion the full 60 series of 26 " Zygalski sheets " ) , the Polish General Staff and government decided to initiate their Western allies into the secrets of Enigma decryption . The Polish methods were revealed to French and British intelligence representatives in a meeting at Pyry , south of Warsaw , on 25 July 1939 . France was represented by Gustave Bertrand and Air Force cryptologist Captain Henri Braquenié ; Britain , by Government Code and Cypher School chief Alastair Denniston , veteran cryptologist Alfred Dillwyn Knox , and Commander Humphrey Sandwith , head of the section that had developed and controlled the Royal Navy 's intercept and direction @-@ finding stations . The Polish hosts included Cipher Bureau chief Gwido Langer , the Bureau 's German @-@ Section chief Maksymilian Ciężki , the Bureau 's General @-@ Staff @-@ Intelligence supervisor Stefan Mayer , and the three cryptologists Rejewski , Różycki and Zygalski . The Poles ' gift of Enigma decryption to their Western allies , five weeks before the outbreak of World War II , came not a moment too soon . Knowledge that the cipher was crackable was a morale boost to Allied cryptologists . The British were able to manufacture at least two complete sets of perforated sheets — they sent one to PC Bruno , outside Paris , in mid @-@ December 1939 — and began reading Enigma within months of the outbreak of war . Without the Polish assistance , British cryptologists would , at the very least , have been considerably delayed in reading Enigma . Hugh Sebag @-@ Montefiore concludes that substantial breaks into German Army and Air Force Enigma ciphers by the British would have occurred only after November 1941 at the earliest , after an Enigma machine and key lists had been captured , and similarly into Naval Enigma only after late 1942 . Intelligence gained from solving high @-@ level German ciphers — intelligence codenamed Ultra by the British and Americans — came chiefly from Enigma decrypts . While the exact contribution of Ultra intelligence to Allied victory is disputed , Kozaczuk and Straszak note that " it is widely believed that Ultra saved the world at least two years of war and possibly prevented Hitler from winning . " The English historian Sir Harry Hinsley , who worked at Bletchley Park , similarly assessed it as having " shortened the war by not less than two years and probably by four years " . The availability of Ultra was due to the earlier Polish breaking of Enigma ; Gordon Welchman , head of Bletchley Park 's Hut 6 ( which solved German Army and Air Force Enigma ciphers ) , writes : " Hut 6 Ultra would never have gotten off the ground if we had not learned from the Poles , in the nick of time , the details both of the German military version of the commercial Enigma machine , and of the operating procedures that were in use . " = = In France and Britain = = = = = PC Bruno = = = On 5 September 1939 the Cipher Bureau began preparations to evacuate key personnel and equipment from Warsaw . Soon a special evacuation train , the Echelon F , transported them eastward , then south . By the time the Cipher Bureau was ordered to cross the border into allied Romania on 17 September , they had destroyed all sensitive documents and equipment and were down to a single very crowded truck . The vehicle was confiscated at the border by a Romanian officer , who separated the military from the civilian personnel . Taking advantage of the confusion , the three mathematicians ignored the Romanian 's instructions . They anticipated that in an internment camp they might be identified by the Romanian security police , in which the German Abwehr and SD had informers . The mathematicians went to the nearest railroad station , exchanged money , bought tickets , and boarded the first train headed south . After a dozen or so hours , they reached Bucharest , at the other end of Romania . There they went to the British embassy . Told by the British to " come back in a few days " , they next tried the French embassy , introducing themselves as " friends of Bolek " ( Bertrand 's Polish code name ) and asking to speak with a French military officer . A French Army colonel telephoned Paris and then issued instructions for the three Poles to be assisted in evacuating to Paris . On 20 October 1939 the three Polish cryptologists resumed work on German ciphers at a joint French – Polish – Spanish radio @-@ intelligence unit stationed at Gretz @-@ Armainvilliers , forty kilometers northeast of Paris , and housed in the Château de Vignolles ( code @-@ named PC Bruno ) . As late as 3 – 7 December 1939 , when Lt. Col. Langer and French Air Force Capt. Henri Braquenié visited London and Bletchley Park , the British asked that the Polish cryptologists be made available to them in Britain . Langer , however , took the position that they must remain where the Polish Army in exile was forming — on French soil . On 17 January 1940 the Poles found the first Enigma key to be solved in France , one for 28 October 1939 . The PC Bruno staff collaborated by teleprinter with counterparts at Bletchley Park in England . For their mutual communications security , the Polish , French , and British cryptologic agencies used the Enigma machine itself . Bruno closed its Enigma @-@ encrypted messages to Britain with an ironic " Heil Hitler ! " In the first months of 1940 , Alan Turing — principal designer of the British cryptological Bombe , elaborated from the Polish bomba — would visit Bruno to confer about Enigma decryption with the three Polish cryptologists . On 24 June 1940 , after Germany 's victory in the Battle of France , Gustave Bertrand flew Bruno 's international personnel — including fifteen Poles , and seven Spaniards who worked on Italian ciphers — in three planes to Algeria . = = = Cadix = = = Some three months later , in September 1940 , they returned to work covertly in unoccupied southern , Vichy France . Rejewski 's cover was as Pierre Ranaud , a lycée professor from Nantes . A radio @-@ intelligence station was set up at the Château des Fouzes , code @-@ named Cadix , near Uzès . Cadix began operations on 1 October . Rejewski and his colleagues solved German telegraph ciphers , and also the Swiss version of the Enigma machine ( which had no plugboard ) . Rejewski may have had little or no involvement in working on German Enigma at Cadix . In early July 1941 , Rejewski and Zygalski were asked to try solving messages enciphered on the secret Polish Lacida cipher machine , which was used for secure communications between Cadix and the Polish General Staff in London . Lacida was a rotor machine based on the same cryptographic principle as Enigma , yet had never been subjected to rigorous security analysis . The two cryptologists created consternation by breaking the first message within a couple of hours ; further messages were solved in a similar way . The youngest of the three Polish mathematicians who had worked together since 1929 — Jerzy Różycki — died in the sinking of a French passenger ship on 9 January 1942 , as he was returning to Cadix from a stint in Algeria . By summer 1942 work at Cadix was becoming dangerous , and plans for evacuation were drawn up . Vichy France was liable to be occupied by German troops , and Cadix 's radio transmissions were increasingly at risk of detection by the German Funkabwehr , a unit tasked with locating enemy radio transmitters . Indeed , on 6 November a pickup truck equipped with a circular antenna arrived at the gate of the Château des Fouzes where the cryptologists were operating . The visitors , however , did not enter , and merely investigated nearby farms , badly frightening their occupants . Nonetheless , at Bertrand 's suggestion French intelligence ordered the evacuation of Cadix . The order was carried out on 9 November , the day after the Allied " Operation Torch " landings in North Africa . Three days later , on 12 November , the Germans occupied the chateau . = = = Escaping France = = = The Poles were split into groups of two and three . On 11 November 1942 Rejewski and Zygalski were sent to Nice , in the Italian @-@ occupied zone . After coming under suspicion there , they had to flee again , moving or hiding constantly . Their trek took them to Cannes , Antibes , back to Nice , then on to Marseilles , Toulouse , Narbonne , Perpignan , and Ax @-@ les @-@ Thermes , near the Spanish border . On 29 January 1943 , accompanied by a local guide , Rejewski , and Zygalski , bound for Spain , began a climb over the Pyrenees , avoiding German and Vichy patrols . Near midnight , close to the Spanish border , the guide pulled out a pistol and demanded that they hand over their remaining money . After being robbed , Rejewski and Zygalski succeeded in reaching the Spanish side of the border , only to be arrested within hours by security police . They were sent first to a prison in La Seu d 'Urgell , then on 24 March transferred to a prison at Lerida . On 4 May 1943 , after having spent over three months in Spanish prisons , on intervention by the Polish Red Cross the pair were released and sent to Madrid . Leaving there on 21 July , they made it to Portugal ; from there , aboard HMS Scottish , to Gibraltar ; and then by air to RAF Hendon in north London , arriving on 3 August 1943 . = = = Britain = = = Rejewski and Zygalski were inducted as privates into the Polish Armed Forces on 16 August 1943 and were posted to a Polish Army facility in Boxmoor , cracking German SS and SD hand ciphers . The ciphers were usually based on the Doppelkassettenverfahren ( " double Playfair " ) system , which the two cryptologists had already worked on in France . British cryptologist Alan Stripp suggests that " Setting them to work on the Doppelkassetten system was like using racehorses to pull wagons . " On 10 October 1943 , Rejewski and Zygalski were commissioned second lieutenants ; on 1 January 1945 Rejewski , and presumably also Zygalski , were promoted to lieutenant . When Gustave Bertrand fled to England in June 1944 , he and his wife were provided with a house in Boxmoor , a short walk from the Polish radio station and cryptology office , where it seems likely that his collaboration with Rejewski and Zygalski continued . Enigma decryption , however , had become an exclusively British and American domain ; the Polish mathematicians who had laid the foundations for Allied Enigma decryption were now excluded from making further contributions in this area . By that time , at Bletchley Park , " very few even knew about the Polish contribution " because of the strict secrecy and the " need @-@ to @-@ know " principle . = = Back in Poland = = After the Germans suppressed the 1944 Warsaw Uprising , they sent Rejewski 's wife and children west , along with other Warsaw survivors ; the family eventually found refuge with her parents in Bydgoszcz . Rejewski was discharged from the Polish Army in Britain on 15 November 1946 . Six days later , he returned to Poland to be reunited with his wife and family . On his return , he was urged by his old Poznań University professor , Zdzisław Krygowski , to take a university mathematics post at Poznań or Szczecin , in western Poland . Rejewski could have looked forward to rapid advancement because of personnel shortages as a result of the war . However , he was still recovering from rheumatism , which he had contracted in the dank Spanish prisons . Soon after his return to Poland , in the summer of 1947 , his 11 @-@ year @-@ old son Andrzej died of polio after only five days ' illness . After his son 's death , Rejewski did not want to part , even briefly , with his wife and daughter , so they lived in Bydgoszcz with his in @-@ laws . Rejewski took a position in Bydgoszcz as director of the sales department at a cable @-@ manufacturing company , Kabel Polski ( Polish Cable ) . Between 1949 and 1958 Rejewski was repeatedly investigated by the Polish Office of Public Security , who suspected he was a former member of the Polish Armed Forces in the West . He retired in 1967 , and moved with his family back to Warsaw in 1969 , to an apartment he had acquired 30 years earlier with financial help from his father @-@ in @-@ law . Rejewski had written a " Report of Cryptologic Work on the German Enigma Machine Cipher " in 1942 . Before his 1967 retirement , he began writing his " Memoirs of My Work in the Cipher Bureau of Section II of the [ Polish ] General Staff " , which were purchased by the Polish Military Historical Institute , in Warsaw . Rejewski had often wondered what use Alan Turing ( who in early 1940 had visited the Polish cryptologists at PC Bruno outside Paris ) and the British at Bletchley Park had ultimately made of the Polish discoveries and inventions . For nearly three decades after the war , little was publicly known due to a ban imposed in 1945 by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill . In a 1967 book Władysław Kozaczuk , associated with the Military Historical Institute , disclosed Poland 's breaking of the German Enigma ciphers . Until 1974 , the scant information published concerning Enigma decryption attracted little attention . Ladislas Farago 's 1971 best @-@ seller The Game of the Foxes presented a garbled account of Ultra 's origins : " Commander Denniston went clandestinely to a secluded Polish castle [ sic ] on the eve of the war [ to pick up an Enigma , ' the Wehrmacht 's top system ' during World War II ] . Dilly Knox later solved its keying [ sic ] ... " Still , this was marginally closer to the truth than many British and American best @-@ seller accounts that would follow after 1974 . Their authors were at a disadvantage : they did not know that the founder of Enigma decryption , Rejewski , was still alive and alert , and that it was reckless to fabricate stories out of whole cloth . With Gustave Bertrand 's 1973 publication of his Enigma , substantial information about the origins of Ultra began to seep out ; and with F. W. Winterbotham 's 1974 best @-@ seller , The Ultra Secret , the dam began to burst . Still , many aspiring authors were not averse to filling gaps in their information with whole @-@ cloth fabrications . Rejewski fought a gallant ( if , into the 21st century , not entirely successful ) fight to get the truth before the public . He published a number of papers on his cryptologic work and contributed generously to articles , books , and television programs . He was interviewed by scholars , journalists , and television crews from Poland , East Germany , the United States , Britain , Sweden , Belgium , the Soviet Union , Yugoslavia , and Brazil . Rejewski maintained a lively correspondence with his wartime French host , General Gustave Bertrand , and at the General 's bidding he began translating Bertrand 's Enigma into Polish . In 1976 , at the request of the Józef Piłsudski Institute of America , Rejewski broke enciphered correspondence of Józef Piłsudski and his fellow Polish Socialist conspirators from 1904 . On 12 August 1978 he received from a grateful Polish people the Officer 's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta . Rejewski , who had been suffering from heart disease , died of a heart attack on 13 February 1980 , aged 74 , after returning home from a shopping trip . He was buried with military honors at Warsaw 's Powązki Military Cemetery . = = Recognition = = On 21 July 2000 , Poland 's President Aleksander Kwaśniewski posthumously awarded Poland 's highest civilian decoration , the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta , to Marian Rejewski and Henryk Zygalski . Rejewski 's daughter , Janina Sylwestrzak , also received the War Medal 1939 – 1945 on his behalf , from the British Chief of the Defence Staff in July 2005 . On 1 August 2012 , Marian Rejewski posthumously received the Knowlton Award of the U.S. Military Intelligence Corps Association ; his daughter Janina accepted the award at his home town , Bydgoszcz , on 4 September 2012 . Rejewski had been nominated for the award by NATO Allied Command Counterintelligence . On 5 August 2014 , the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE ) honored Rejewski , Różycki , and Zygalski with its prestigious Milestone award , which recognizes achievements that have changed the world . A three @-@ sided bronze monument was dedicated in 2007 in front of Poznań Castle . Each side bears the name of one of the three Polish mathematicians who broke the Enigma cipher . Rejewski and colleagues were the heroes of Sekret Enigmy ( The Enigma Secret ) , a thriller movie about the Poles ' solution of the German Enigma cipher . Late 1980 also saw a Polish TV series with a similar theme , Tajemnice Enigmy ( " The Secrets of Enigma " ) .
= Wellington R. Burt = Wellington R. Burt ( August 26 , 1831 – March 2 , 1919 ) was a wealthy lumber baron from Saginaw , Michigan . At the time of his death , his wealth was estimated to be between $ 40 and $ 90 million . For a time in the early 1900s , Burt ranked as one of the eight wealthiest men in America . He was best known for his lumber mills and timber holdings , but was also involved in iron mining , railroads , salt mines and finances . Burt was a politician , holding the offices of Mayor of East Saginaw ( 1867 – 68 ) and member of the Michigan Senate ( 1893 – 94 ) . In his final years , he lived alone in a mansion with his servants . Estranged from friends and family and nicknamed " The Lone Pine of Michigan " , he officially died of " senility " at age 87 . Burt had an unusual will , " as bizarre but as finely @-@ wrought as any in U.S. court annals " . It contained a " spite clause " conceived by Burt to avenge a family feud . It specified to wait 21 years after his children and grandchildren were dead before the bulk of the fortune could go to any descendants , in effect alienating his children and grandchildren from the estate , beyond some small annuities . The conditions of the will were met in 2010 after the 1989 death of his last grandchild . In May 2011 , twelve of Burt 's descendants finally received the estate , worth about $ 100 million . Burt 's legacy today is mixed , seen as a vindictive old man , a generous benefactor of the city of Saginaw and a famously wealthy American entrepreneur . = = Biography = = Burt was born on August 26 , 1831 in the town of Pike , near Rochester , New York , the ninth of thirteen siblings and the eldest son . His father was Luther Burt and his mother Florinda Horton Burt . The Burts were poor farmers who came from an old New England line , tracing back to Henry Burt , who had settled from Scotland in 1640 . The Burt lineage included William Austin Burt ( 1792 – 1858 ) , who was a notable Michigan surveyor described as " the father of the typewriter " . At the age of seven , he moved with his parents to Jackson County , Michigan , where he worked on the family farm . Michigan was then only a few years old and Burt 's subsequent life and career as a first generation Michigander was often identified with the growth and progress of the new state . In 1843 , when Wellington was 12 , his father Luther died . Under the guidance of his mother , he became the farm 's manager and " entered into the struggle incident to pioneer life " . He attended two years of college one at Albion College and one at Michigan Central College ( now Hillsdale College ) . At the age of 22 , he decided to see the world and obtained work as a sailor abroad on freighters in Australia , Central and South America , and New Zealand . He would recall Australia as his favorite foreign country . When he returned home in 1857 at age 26 , he found a burgeoning timber industry in Michigan , the " Green Gold Rush " . He took a job earning $ 13 a month at the Pine River lumber camp near St. Louis , Michigan and within a month was promoted to camp foreman with double wages . He was " tall , strong and knew how to give orders " . Using savings , he started his own lumber company in 1858 , buying 300 acres in Gratiot County . In 1867 , he founded the community of Melbourne on the Saginaw River near Zilwaukee , Michigan , named after his favorite city in Australia . By 1870 , Melbourne was among the largest and most complete mills in the world , but in 1876 , it was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin . Many at the time thought this would be the end of Burt 's fortunes , but he also owned timber land elsewhere , including in St. Louis County , Minnesota , which turned out to be favourable for him , as it was in the heart of the immensely valuable Mesabi iron range . In addition to his various timber and iron mine holdings , Burt made his fortune in the salt industry , in railroads and in foreign bonds and banking investments . He invested in the former CS & M Railroad ( running between Durand and Bay City ) and for a time , owned most of the Ann Arbor Railroad system . He also bought railways in Russia and China . He had plans to build a sugar beet factory in Owosso , Michigan , but the idea failed to come to fruition . Burt 's political career included time as mayor of East Saginaw in 1867 and 1868 , and as unsuccessful Fusion candidate for the position of Governor of Michigan in 1888 . He was elected member of the Michigan State Senate 22nd District for 1893 – 94 again under the Fusion ticket , and as Democratic candidate for U.S. Representative from Michigan 8th District in 1900 . " In the capitol at Lansing " , one Saginaw News account read , " Sen. Burt was more conspicuous for his political naiveté than for any distinguished act of statesmanship . They said he tried hard , but to him , politics were strange shenanigans . You smiled and joked when you meant to kick a man ’ s shins . " Later in his life , Burt lived alone in a 3 @-@ story brick mansion at Cherry St. and E. Genessee Ave . ( it was demolished in 1959 and today is a parking lot ) . With failing eyesight and hearing he was taken care of by servants . Due to his isolation from his family and social circles in later years , he was known as " The Lone Pine of Michigan " . He had radical stomach surgery at the age of 80 . His death certificate lists his cause of death as " senility " . He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery , Saginaw County Michigan , USA – Plot : Section 8 , Plot 1 . Burt was married twice and had seven children , 3 daughters from the first wife and 1 daughter and 3 younger sons from the second wife . His first wife was Sarah Torrance ( 1833 – 1867 ) , whom he married May 22 , 1860 ; his second was Armine Mary Richardson ( 1839 – 1904 ) , whom he married February 10 , 1869 . = = Will = = Burt had one of the more bizarre wills in American legal history . It contained a " spite clause " which specified to wait until his children and grandchildren were dead before the estate could be dispersed to any descendants yet unborn in Burt 's lifetime . However , his children did receive relatively small annuities of $ 1 @,@ 000 to $ 5 @,@ 000 each , except for one favorite son who received $ 30 @,@ 000 annually , and one unfavored daughter who got nothing . His secretary received $ 4 @,@ 000 annually , more than most of his children , while a cook , housekeeper , coachman and chauffeur each received $ 1 @,@ 000 annually . Burt 's will stipulated the majority of the estate to be held in a trust until " 21 years after [ the death of ] my last surviving grandchild [ who was alive ] at the time of my death . " This condition was met in 2010 , 21 years after the November 1989 death of Burt 's last grandchild , Marion Lansill . In May 2011 , after time for legal negotiations , the fortune was finally distributed to his descendants . The estate was estimated in total at $ 100 million to $ 110 million . It was split between twelve descendants , weighted based on age seniority . They included three great @-@ grandchildren ; seven great @-@ great grandchildren ; and two great @-@ great @-@ great grandchildren – the youngest beneficiary was 19 and the oldest 94 . The biggest beneficiary received between $ 14 @.@ 5 to $ 16 million , with the smallest beneficiary between $ 2 @.@ 6 to $ 2 @.@ 9 million . In the end thirty of Burt 's descendants , including children and grandchildren , missed out on the inheritance because they were ineligible or died before the will 's conditions were met . It is not entirely clear why Burt made such an unusual will , but newspaper records suggest family feuds were likely at the core of his decision . The will was challenged by his children after he died . A legal hole was found in 1920 because part of the estate was composed of iron leases in Minnesota , and Minnesota had a law against trusts of such long standing . This portion of the estate , amounting to $ 5 million , was distributed to Burt 's children and grandchildren ( a son , three daughters and four granddaughters ) . In 1961 , an additional $ 720 @,@ 000 was taken from the trust in settlement of a suit filed by nine heirs and the estates of three other descendants . = = Legacy = = Burt 's legacy is mixed . On the one hand he was once a famous and successful business man who contributed to the community in many ways , and was generally well regarded in his lifetime . On the other hand he is best known today for his bizarre will , giving him the reputation of a vindictive old man . Saginaw historian Thomas B. Mudd said " For awhile [ sic ] , I took Wellington R. Burt as a selfish rich guy , but the picture that emerges is of someone who also threw himself into the community " . Burt could be tough , and not just with his children . Burt had originally devised millions in his will to the city , but retracted it when Saginaw officials increased his South Jefferson property assessment from $ 400 @,@ 000 to $ 1 million four years before he died in 1919 . One well known story recounts how Burt ordered some horses at the lumber mill to be starved and worked to death , " Mr. Callam , the horses are too fat " , Burt reportedly said . " Trim them down , sir , and when the logs are out , dispose of them . " Mr. Callam refused to starve and kill the horses so Burt fired him , and found someone who would carry it out . Burt was generous in life and honored after death . His charitable giving to Saginaw during his lifetime was extensive , including funding the City Auditorium , the Burt Manual Training School , a women ’ s hospital , a Salvation Army and a YWCA that later became Jacobson ’ s . The town of Burt , Michigan is named for him , as is Burt Street in Saginaw , which borders the same block as his former home . The Burt Opera House in Taymouth Township carries his name and is still in use today as a community center . Trips on the paddle steamer Wellington R. Burt were once a popular day excursion along the Saginaw River ( 1876 – 1891 ) . Burt was inducted into the Saginaw Hall of Fame in 1967 .
= Alexandre Banza = Lieutenant Colonel Alexandre Banza ( 1932 – 12 April 1969 ) was a military officer and politician in the Central African Republic . Born in Carnot , Ubangi @-@ Shari , Banza served with the French Army during the First Indochina War before joining the Central African Republic armed forces . As commander of the Camp Kassaï military base in 1965 , Banza helped Jean @-@ Bédel Bokassa overthrow the government of President David Dacko . Bokassa rewarded Banza by appointing him as minister of state and minister of finance in the new government . Banza quickly established the new regime 's reputation abroad and forged diplomatic relations with other countries . In 1967 , Bokassa and his protégé had a major argument over the president 's extravagances . In April 1968 , Bokassa removed Banza as minister of finance . Recognizing Bokassa 's attempts to undermine him , Banza made a number of remarks highly critical of the president 's handling of the government . Bokassa responded by abolishing the minister of state position . Banza soon decided to stage a coup d 'état . He confided in a few military officers , who he hoped would support his attempt to gain power . One of his confidants , Jean @-@ Claude Mandaba , contacted the president and informed him of the date of the coup , 9 April 1969 . Hours before he was going to execute his bid for power , Banza was ambushed by Mandaba and taken directly to Bokassa . Bokassa nearly beat Banza to death before Mandaba suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance 's sake . On 12 April , Banza presented his case to a military tribunal , which quickly sentenced him to death by firing squad . He was reportedly taken to an open field , where he was executed and buried in an unmarked grave . Alternate circumstances of Banza 's death have been reported in Time and Le Monde . In the aftermath of the failed coup , Banza 's family , mistress and close associates were all arrested and either sent to jail or deported . With Banza eliminated , Bokassa spent extravagantly and surrounded himself with adulators . = = Early life and military career = = Banza was born , the first of three sons , in the heart of Gbaya territory . In his twenties , he had served with the French army in the First Indochina War and had been stationed in Gabon , Morocco , Tunisia and other locations in colonial Africa . He had a similar military record to his future colleague Jean @-@ Bédel Bokassa , who had also served in the First Indochina War and had been stationed in Africa and Europe as a radio transmissions expert . Afterward , Banza returned to the Central African Republic , where he enlisted in the armed forces . Brian Titley , author of Dark Age : The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa described Banza as an " intelligent , ambitious , and unscrupulous " military officer . = = Role in Saint @-@ Sylvestre coup d 'état = = = = = Background = = = Central African Republic President David Dacko , Bokassa 's cousin , took over the country in 1960 , after winning a power struggle against Abel Goumba . Bokassa left the French army to join the Central African Republic army in 1962 . By 1965 , the country was in turmoil — plagued by corruption and slow economic growth , while its borders were breached by rebels from neighboring countries . Dacko obtained financial aid from the People 's Republic of China , but in spite of this support , the country 's problems persisted . Bokassa , now commander @-@ in @-@ chief of the army , made plans to take over the government ; Dacko became aware of this , and countered by forming a gendarmerie headed by police chief Jean Izamo , who quickly became Dacko 's closest adviser . Tensions between Dacko and Bokassa increased . In December 1965 , Dacko approved a budget increase for Izamo 's gendarmerie , but rejected the budget proposal for Bokassa 's army . At this point , Bokassa told friends he was annoyed by Dacko 's treatment and was " going for a coup d 'état " . Dacko planned to replace Bokassa with Izamo as his personal military adviser , and wanted to promote army officers loyal to the government , while demoting Bokassa and his close associates . Bokassa realized he had to act against Dacko quickly , and worried that his 500 @-@ man army would be no match for the gendarmerie and the presidential guard . He was also concerned the French would intervene to aid Dacko , as had occurred after the 23 February 1964 coup d 'état in Gabon against President Léon M 'ba . After receiving word of the coup from the country 's military chief of staff , Albert @-@ Bernard Bongo , officials in Paris sent paratroopers to Gabon and restored M 'ba to power in a matter of hours . Banza , who was then commander of the Camp Kassaï military base in northeast Bangui , offered Bokassa his support and persuaded the still @-@ worried commander @-@ in @-@ chief to carry out the coup . He helped Bokassa lay out the plans for the coup , proposed to take place on 31 December 1965 . = = = Execution of the coup = = = Early in the evening of 31 December 1965 , Dacko left the Palais de la Renaissance to visit one of his minister 's plantations southwest of the capital . At 22 : 30 WAT ( UTC 21 : 30 ) , Captain Banza gave orders to his officers to begin the coup ; one of his subordinates was to subdue the security guard in the presidential palace , while the other was to take control of Radio @-@ Bangui to prevent communication between Dacko and his followers . Bokassa called Izamo at his headquarters , asking him to come to Camp de Roux to sign some papers that needed his immediate attention . Izamo , who was at a New Year 's Eve celebration with friends , reluctantly agreed and traveled in his wife 's car to the camp . Upon arrival , he was confronted by Banza and Bokassa , who informed him of the coup in progress . After announcing his refusal to support the coup , Izamo was overpowered and locked in a cellar . Shortly after midnight , in the first minutes of 1 January 1966 , Bokassa and Banza organized their troops and told them of their plan to take over the government . Bokassa claimed that Dacko had resigned from the presidency and given the position to his close adviser Izamo . He then told the soldiers that they had to act now to prevent the gendarmerie from taking over the Central African Republic army . He then asked the soldiers if they would support his course of action ; the men who refused were thrown in jail . At 00 : 30 WAT , Banza , Bokassa and their supporters left Camp de Roux to take over the capital . They encountered little resistance and were able to take Bangui in a matter of hours . Bokassa and Banza then rushed to the Palais de la Renaissance , where they tried to arrest Dacko , who was not there . Bokassa began to panic , as he believed the president had been warned of the coup in advance , and immediately ordered his soldiers to search for Dacko in the countryside until he was found . Dacko was not aware of the events taking place in the capital . After leaving his minister 's plantation near midnight , he headed to Simon Samba 's house to ask the Aka Pgymy leader to conduct a year @-@ end ritual . After an hour at Samba 's house , he was informed of the coup in Bangui . He was arrested by a few of Bokassa 's men as he entered Pétévo Junction , on the western border of the capital . Dacko was escorted to the presidential palace , where Bokassa hugged the president and told him , " I tried to warn you — but now it 's too late " . President Dacko was then taken to Ngaragba Prison in east Bangui at around 02 : 00 WAT . In a move that he thought would boost his popularity in the country , Bokassa ordered prison director Otto Sacher to release all prisoners in the jail . Bokassa then took Dacko to Camp Kassaï at 03 : 20 WAT , where the president was forced by Banza to resign from office . Banza wanted to kill Dacko , but Bokassa would not allow it , believing that Dacko had not yet outlived his usefulness . Later , Bokassa 's officers announced on Radio @-@ Bangui that the Dacko government had been toppled and Bokassa had taken over control . Meanwhile , Banza took over administrative centers , where politicians , diplomats and other high @-@ level officials were celebrating the coming of the New Year . = = Minister in the Bokassa government = = Banza was appointed minister of finance and minister of state in the new government . The regime first secured diplomatic recognition from President François Tombalbaye of neighboring Chad , whom Bokassa met in Bouca , Ouham . After Bokassa reciprocated by meeting Tombalbaye on 2 April 1966 along the southern border of Chad at Fort Archambault , the two decided to help one another if either was in danger of losing power . Soon after , other African countries began to diplomatically recognize the new government . At first , the French government was reluctant to support the Bokassa regime , so Banza went to Paris to meet with French officials to convince them that the coup was necessary to save the country from turmoil . Bokassa met with Prime Minister Georges Pompidou on 7 July 1966 , but the French remained noncommittal in offering their support . After Bokassa threatened to withdraw from the franc monetary zone , French President Charles de Gaulle decided to make an official visit to the Central African Republic on 17 November 1966 . To the new government , this visit meant that the French had accepted the new changes in the country . As a minister of finance , Banza directed much of his energy and time into lifting the country out of bankruptcy . Banza was also successful in his efforts to build the government 's reputation abroad , all the while establishing himself as a respected and well @-@ liked leader . Many believed that the natural @-@ born leader would not remain as Bokassa 's right @-@ hand man for much longer . After Banza was promoted from Captain to Lieutenant Colonel in 1965 , Bokassa realized that his greatest political threat wasn 't from the remaining group of Dacko supporters , but from Banza himself . Two years later , the two had a major argument over the country 's budget , as Banza adamantly opposed Bokassa 's extravagant spending . Bokassa moved to Camp de Roux , where he felt he could safely run the government without having to worry about Banza 's thirst for power . In the meantime , Banza tried to obtain a support base within the army , spending much of his time in the company of soldiers . Bokassa recognized what his minister was doing , so he sent military units most sympathetic to Banza to the country 's border and brought his own army supporters as close to the capital as possible . In September 1967 , he took a special trip to Paris , where he asked for protection from French troops . Two months later , the government deployed 80 paratroopers to Bangui . On 13 April 1968 , in another one of his frequent cabinet reshuffles , Bokassa demoted Banza to minister of health , but let him remain in his position as minister of state . Cognizant of the president 's intentions , Banza increased his vocalization of dissenting political views . A year later , after Banza made a number of remarks highly critical of Bokassa and his management of the economy , the president , perceiving an immediate threat to his power , removed him as his minister of state . = = = 1969 coup plot = = = Banza revealed his intention to stage a coup to Lieutenant Jean @-@ Claude Mandaba , the commanding officer of Camp Kassaï , who he looked to for support . Mandaba went along with the plan , but his allegiance remained with Bokassa . When Banza contacted his co @-@ conspirators on 8 April 1969 , informing them that they would execute the coup the following day , Mandaba immediately phoned Bokassa and informed him of the plan . When Banza entered Camp Kassaï on 9 April 1969 , he was ambushed by Mandaba and his soldiers . The men had to break Banza 's arms before they could overpower and throw him into the trunk of a Mercedes and take him directly to Bokassa . At his house in Berengo , Bokassa beat Banza nearly to death before Mandaba suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance 's sake . On 12 April , Banza presented his case before a military tribunal at Camp de Roux , where he admitted to his plan , but stated that he had not planned to kill Bokassa . He was sentenced to death by firing squad , taken to an open field behind Camp Kassaï , executed and buried in an unmarked grave . The circumstances of Banza 's death have been disputed . The American newsmagazine , Time , reported that Banza " was dragged before a Cabinet meeting where Bokassa slashed him with a razor . Guards then beat Banza until his back was broken , dragged him through the streets of Bangui and finally shot him . " The French daily evening newspaper Le Monde reported that Banza was killed in circumstances " so revolting that it still makes one 's flesh creep " : Two versions concerning the end circumstances of his death differ on one minor detail . Did Bokassa tie him to a pillar before personally carving him with a knife that he had previously used for stirring his coffee in the gold @-@ and @-@ midnight blue Sèvres coffee set , or was the murder committed on the cabinet table with the help of other persons ? Late that afternoon , soldiers dragged a still identifiable corpse , with the spinal column smashed , from barrack to barrack to serve as an example . = = Aftermath of coup = = A few days later , Bokassa had Banza 's wife and their nine children arrested and deported to Berbérati and then Birao . They were released on 6 May 1971 . Banza 's mistress , Julienne Kombo , who entered the Palais de la Renaissance crying hysterically after her lover 's death , was arrested and jailed until 24 June 1972 . Banza 's father was sent to jail , where he died of hunger and exhaustion on 24 April 1970 . Banza 's two younger brothers , Beuoane and Gouboulo , were dismissed from the gendarmerie in July and sent to Ngaragba Prison . In August 1971 , they were taken from the prison , never to be seen again . Bokassa also hunted down Banza 's close associates , such as Joseph Kallot , Faustin Marigot and Polycarpe Gbaguili . Kallot and Marigot died in prison in June 1969 and April 1971 , respectively . With the exception of Gbaguili , who remained in prison until the downfall of the Bokassa regime on 20 September 1979 , the other associates were released months after their arrest . Gbaguili served as a witness in Bokassa 's criminal trials for treason , murder , cannibalism and embezzlement during the 1980s , explaining in detail the numerous crimes and human rights violations the former dictator had completed . By eliminating his dangerous rival , Bokassa demonstrated his ability to deal ruthlessly with dissidents and political opponents . He started to rule more arbitrarily after the Banza affair , giving himself control of various ministerial positions and the army . In one instance , he promoted Second Lieutenant François Bozizé , the future president of the Central African Republic , to General after he beat a Frenchman who showed disrespect for the president . According to Brian Titley , author of Dark Age : The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa , he surrounded himself with " sycophants , who were all too willing to nurture his growing delusions of grandeur " ; with no one to stop him , he also spent money with reckless abandon .
= Maximum sustained wind = The maximum sustained wind associated with a tropical cyclone is a common indicator of the intensity of the storm . Within a mature tropical cyclone , it is found within the eyewall at a distance defined as the radius of maximum wind , or RMW . Unlike gusts , the value of these winds are determined via their sampling and averaging the sampled results over a period of time . Wind measuring has been standardized globally to reflect the winds at 10 metres ( 33 ft ) above the Earth 's surface , and the maximum sustained wind represents the highest average wind over either a one @-@ minute ( US ) or ten @-@ minute time span ( see the definition , below ) , anywhere within the tropical cyclone . Surface winds are highly variable due to friction between the atmosphere and the Earth 's surface , as well as near hills and mountains over land . Over the ocean , satellite imagery determines the value of the maximum sustained winds within a tropical cyclone . Land , ship , aircraft reconnaissance observations , and radar imagery can also estimate this quantity , when available . This value helps determine damage expected from a tropical cyclone , through use of such scales as the Saffir @-@ Simpson scale . = = Definition = = The maximum sustained wind normally occurs at a distance from the center known as the radius of maximum wind , within a mature tropical cyclone 's eyewall , before winds decrease at farther distances away from a tropical cyclone 's center . Most weather agencies use the definition for sustained winds recommended by the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) , which specifies measuring winds at a height of 10 metres ( 33 ft ) for 10 minutes , and then taking the average . However , the United States National Weather Service defines sustained winds within tropical cyclones by averaging winds over a period of one minute , measured at the same 10 metres ( 33 ft ) height . This is an important distinction , as the value of the highest one @-@ minute sustained wind is about 14 % greater than a ten @-@ minute sustained wind over the same period . = = Determination of value = = In most tropical cyclone basins , use of the satellite @-@ based Dvorak technique is the primary method used to determine a tropical cyclone 's maximum sustained winds . The extent of spiral banding and difference in temperature between the eye and eyewall is used within the technique to assign a maximum sustained wind and pressure . Central pressure values for their centers of low pressure are approximate . The intensity of example hurricanes is derived from both the time of landfall and the maximum intensity . The tracking of individual clouds on minutely satellite imagery could be used in the future in estimating surface winds speeds for tropical cyclones . Ship and land observations are also used , when available . In the Atlantic as well as the Central and Eastern Pacific basins , reconnaissance aircraft are still utilized to fly through tropical cyclones to determine flight level winds , which can then be adjusted to provide a fairly reliable estimate of maximum sustained winds . A reduction of 10 percent of the winds sampled at flight level is used to estimate the maximum sustained winds near the surface , which has been determined during the past decade through the use of GPS dropwindsondes . Doppler weather radar can be used in the same manner to determine surface winds with tropical cyclones near land . = = Variation = = Friction between the atmosphere and the Earth 's surface causes a 20 % reduction in the wind at the surface of the Earth . Surface roughness also leads to significant variation of wind speeds . Over land , winds maximize at hill or mountain crests , while sheltering leads to lower wind speeds in valleys and lee slopes . Compared to over water , maximum sustained winds over land average 8 % lower . More specifically , over a city or rough terrain , the wind gradient effect could cause a reduction of 40 % to 50 % of the geostrophic wind speed aloft ; while over open water or ice , the reduction is between 10 % and 30 % . = = Relationship to tropical cyclone strength scales = = In most basins , maximum sustained winds are used to define their category . In the Atlantic and northeast Pacific oceans , the Saffir @-@ Simpson scale is used . This scale can be used to determine possible storm surge and damage impact on land . In most basins , the category of the tropical cyclone ( for example , tropical depression , tropical storm , hurricane / typhoon , super typhoon , depression , deep depression , intense tropical cyclone ) is determined from the cyclone 's maximum sustained wind . Only in Australia is this quantity not used to define the tropical cyclone 's category ; in their basin , wind gusts are used .
= The Blunder Years = " The Blunder Years " is the fifth episode of The Simpsons ’ thirteenth season . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 9 , 2001 . The episode sees Homer , after being hypnotized by the hypnotist Mesmerino while having dinner at the restaurant Pimento Grove , reminded by a repressed traumatic experience from his childhood . The Simpsons set out to find the corpse that triggered Homer 's psychological trauma , which evolves into a murder mystery later in the episode . The episode was written by Ian Maxtone @-@ Graham while Steven Dean Moore served as the director . The original idea for the episode came from current show runner Al Jean , which involved the murder mystery in the episode . The writers then incorporated Homer 's flashbacks , at which point the episode was titled " The Blunder Years " , a parody on the television show The Wonder Years . Following the release of The Simpsons ' thirteenth season on DVD and Blu @-@ ray , the episode received mixed reviews from critics . = = Plot = = After tricking his wife Marge into believing that the model for the Burly paper towel corporation Chad Sexington would have dinner with the Simpsons , Homer takes the family to the Pimento Grove to watch live performers as compensation . One of the acts is a hypnotist called Mesmerino . Homer volunteers , and Mesmerino hypnotizes him into thinking he is twelve years old again . As Homer starts to reminisce , he starts screaming incessantly all through the night . Mesmerino attempts to hypnotize him back into reality , but Homer still keeps on screaming . The next day , Homer 's co @-@ workers Lenny and Carl bring him home early from work , still screaming . They finally manage to calm him down with some Yaqui tea . He starts to recall the events leading up to the scream @-@ inducing incident . In a flashback , Homer , Lenny , and Carl are hiking in the woods and are confronted by a young Fat Tony , but they are saved by a young Moe . Upon noticing that his bar was empty , the present @-@ day Moe arrives at the Simpsons ' home . Moe remembers that while they sat by a fire , they saw a near @-@ meltdown at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant . The next day , they go to the old quarry for a swim , and Homer jumps in , only to find that there was no water but only mud . Though Homer admits that he remembers falling into the mud , he also recalls that there was no water in the quarry because something was blocking the inlet pipe . When Homer unblocks it , all the water came out and he finds a rotting corpse on top of his legs , causing him to scream incessantly . Since Homer never told about his painful memory of the corpse to anyone , the Simpsons realise that it is still in the old quarry and decide to investigate . They go to the old quarry where they meet Chief Wiggum , who comes with them . Marge uses Burly paper towels to drain the water from the quarry . Then , they find the body , now a skeleton , and go into the inlet pipe to see where the body came from . They find that the pipe leads to a hatch which , in turn , leads to Mr. Burns 's office in the nuclear power plant . They confront him about the body after he accidentally says ' corpse hatch ' once they opened the hatch . Knowing that this would come , Burns confesses to them that the dead man is Smithers ' father , Waylon Smithers , Sr .. However , Burns swore that he did not murder him , and to prove his point , he shows an old surveillance tape , filmed during the 1960s when Smithers ' father goes into an unstable reactor core to prevent an imminent meltdown that would destroy the city . Smithers ' father succeeds in saving the city , but he dies of radiation poisoning , leaving Burns to raise Smithers as his own son out of empathy . Burns tells the Simpsons and Wiggum that he dumped Smithers Sr. ' s body into the sewer pipe " since cover ups were all the rage back then " , and that he kept the truth from Waylon Jr. because he was an infant back then ; Smithers then enters the room , having heard the entire story . Burns apologizes to Smithers for lying to him , saying he wanted to spare him from the trauma of his father 's real death . However , Smithers admits that he is glad that his father died as a real hero rather than being killed from a tribe of savage Amazon women , which Burns told him earlier . Declaring the case of the haunted quarry solved , Homer stores the skull in his " Memories " box , despite Marge 's insistence to give it to Smithers , to which Homer responds that Smithers will just bury it again . = = Production = = " The Blunder Years " was written by Ian Maxtone @-@ Graham and directed by Steven Dean Moore . It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on December 9 , 2001 . Although the episode was written by Maxtone @-@ Graham , the original idea for the episode , which involved Homer finding Smithers ' father 's corpse , was conceived by writer and current show runner Al Jean . At that point , the episode was titled " Smithers ' Father 's Apparent Murder " until the writers incorporated flashbacks to Homer 's childhood that resembled the story of the film Stand By Me , based on the novella The Body by Stephen King . At this point , the writers changed the episode title to " The Blunder Years " . Homer 's first flashback shows a clip of him falling down Springfield Gorge on a skateboard , a scene taken from the episode " Bart the Daredevil " . The Simpsons ' staff were concerned that this would make people think the episode was in fact a clip show , so they kept the clip short . The staff also debated how horrific Smithers ' father 's corpse would look . The first design was " more horrific " than the one seen in the episode , and it more closely resembled Smithers . The corpse seen in the episode was an altered version of the first design . The video recorded by Mr. Burns ' security camera was originally supposed to be shot in the same angle as a real security camera , but according to director Steven Dean Moore , to follow the narrative , the staff " had to lose [ the camera angle ] " . This led to some confusion , since one of the shots were from inside the core , making it look as if the security camera was actually inside it . The staff intended to cut the shot , but they later decided to keep it in ; Jean explained in the DVD audio commentary for the episode that " Nobody ever notices it " . The end of the episode originally had Chad Sexington showing up for his date with Marge , causing Homer to scream uncontrollably again ; however , it was cut in favor of Hank Azaria 's improvisation as Moe , which , according to Simpsons writer Carolyn Omine , was Azaria 's " favorite thing [ he ] had ever done " on The Simpsons . American actor and director Paul Newman guest starred as himself in the episode , however he had only one line of dialogue . Newman recorded approximately five or six takes of his line over the phone from the set of a movie he was shooting at the time . According to Maxtone @-@ Graham , Newman recorded his line with no rigmarole ; " He just said , ' Sure , I 'll do it ' , and he did it instantly . " The episode also features Joe Mantegna , who plays a young Fat Tony . Welsh singer @-@ songwriter Judith Owen , wife of Simpsons ' cast member Harry Shearer , also makes an appearance in the episode . = = Cultural references = = The episode 's title is a reference to the television show The Wonder Years . Homer 's flashbacks to his childhood were based on the plot of the film Stand By Me , which in turn is based on Stephen King 's novella The Body . However , the scenes in the quarry were based on the coming of age film Breaking Away , directed by Peter Yates . Burly , the brand of paper towels featured in the episode , is based on the real brand Brawny Paper Towels . The model for Burly paper towels , called Chad Sexington , was based on the Brawny paper towels ' logo ; however , the logo , within " a year or two of [ the episode ] " , was changed into a more " right @-@ of @-@ center " looking brunette , according to Dean Moore . One of the walls in Pimento Grove shows photos of several characters and guest stars who have appeared on The Simpsons , including Birch Barlow , Stephen Hawking , and Ringo Starr . Mesmerino later reads a letter in a similarly to Carnac the Magnificent , played by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Mama Celeste also appears in the episode , when Homer fantasizes the image on the box coming to life , only for it to threaten him with a pizza cutter : " You touch @-@ a me , and I cut you ! " = = Release = = Following the release of the thirteenth season of The Simpsons on DVD and Blu @-@ ray , " The Blunder Years " received mixed reviews from critics . Giving the episode a positive review , Dominic von Riedermann of suite101 stated that the episode was one of the season 's " comedy gems " , praising Paul Newman 's guest appearance in particular . Writing for DVD Verdict , Jennifer Malkowski gave a favorable review of the episode , giving a B rating and pointed at the scene in which " Homer says finding a corpse explains everything that 's gone wrong in his life — especially his fear of corpses " as the highlight of the episode . Colin Jacobsson of DVD Movie Guide was positive , calling the episode a " reasonably amusing spoof [ of Stand By Me ] " . He enjoyed " Marge 's lust for Burly " and " Homer 's rampaging fear " , and concluded by saying that , while nothing in the episode " dazzles " , it still " adds up to a good episode " . Ron Martin of 411mania was less enthusiastic about the episode . Calling the episode a " bad parody of Stand By Me " , Martin wrote that " any moments this episode might have had are annulled by the constant annoyance of Homer screaming through the first half of the episode " . Writing for Project : Blu , Nate Boss was critical , specifically denouncing the episode 's plot as unoriginal . He concluded his review by writing " How crap is this ? I. Don 't . Know ! More crap than dinner with Chad Sexington , the model for Burly towels , that 's for sure . "
= Ron Hamence = Ronald Arthur Hamence ( 25 November 1915 – 24 March 2010 ) was a cricketer who played for South Australia ( SA ) and Australia . A short and compact right @-@ handed batsman , Hamence excelled in getting forward to drive and had an array of attractive back foot strokes . Already the youngest Australian to play district cricket , he was also , from the death of Bill Brown in 2008 until his own death in 2010 , the oldest surviving Australian Test cricketer . While Hamence only played three Test matches for his national team , he had a successful domestic career , being called South Australia 's most successful batsman in 1950 . He played 99 first @-@ class matches from 1935 until 1951 , which brought him a career total of 5 @,@ 285 runs that came at an average of 37 @.@ 75 runs per innings and included 11 centuries . He scored two of these centuries in his first and last first @-@ class matches . = = Career = = Born in the Adelaide suburb of Hindmarsh , Hamence was the cousin of Charlie Walker , a fellow Australian cricketer . At 15 years and 25 days , Hamence became the youngest district cricketer in South Australian cricket history when he made his debut for Adelaide club West Torrens in 1930 . While playing with the SA team , he worked as a public servant at the Government Printing Office . He was a compact batsman preferring attack over defence , however he suffered a weakness throughout his career against fast bowling . He joined South Australia part way through the 1935 – 36 season , and in March 1936 , he scored a century ( 121 ) on his first @-@ class cricket debut against Tasmania at the Adelaide Oval . This was to be his only match of the season , which left him with a debut season average of 121 @.@ 00 . At the start of his first full season , he followed this up with scores of 16 and four against the touring England team and Victoria and seven and 19 against New South Wales . On Christmas Day , 1936 , however , he scored his second first @-@ class century , 104 against Queensland in the first innings . He would go on to score 52 in the second . Scores of three not out , 28 , 27 , 35 and four followed before his next significant score , 52 , against Queensland on 12 February 1937 . He ended the season with 336 runs , one century , and an average of 30 @.@ 54 . He then suffered his worst period of form thus far at the start of the 1937 – 38 season , failing to reach double figures from 17 December 1937 until early January 1938 , when he scored 64 in the second innings , against Victoria . He followed this with 49 against New South Wales , and ended his third season with 283 runs at an average of 21 @.@ 76 . He did not play another cricket match until 16 December 1938 at the start of the next season , however he returned with a score of 90 against New South Wales , and followed that up two matches later with 84 against Victoria . He narrowly missed out on his third century in November 1939 when he was caught by Morris Sievers for 99 against Victoria . He scored 41 , 12 , 6 and 20 to see out the rest of the year , ending with 239 runs at an average of 47 @.@ 80 , his most successful full season thus far . In 1940 , he began the year with 26 and two against Queensland , and then a 43 against New South Wales . A series of low scores followed until he hit a vein of strong form beginning in February of that year . He scored 63 against Western Australia on 16 February 1940 in his last match of the 1939 – 40 season . He began the following season with 41 in the following match against New South Wales . Hamence then enjoyed great success against Victoria , where he scored 130 and 103 not out in one inter @-@ state match , and then 85 and 62 in the next . Following this , in a match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground between two representative selections to raise money for the war effort , he played for Don Bradman 's XI and scored 73 and 35 . He returned to play for South Australia for a match against New South Wales , where he scored 31 and five . He ended the 1940 – 41 season with the highest average for a single season he would achieve in his career , 569 runs at 63 @.@ 22 , with two hundreds . = = = Second World War and after = = = Hamence was not to play another first @-@ class match until December 1945 after the end of the Second World War . During the war , he served for four years with the Royal Australian Air Force . Upon his return , he immediately hit form for South Australia against New South Wales where he hit 74 not out and 75 in a match starting 14 December 1945 . He then scored 56 against Victoria on 18 January , and then after three single figure scores he hit 76 against Queensland . He then experienced a drop in form , with only one significant score , 46 against Wellington , for seven innings . He ended the 1945 – 46 season with 332 runs at 36 @.@ 88 . At the start of the 1946 – 47 season , however , he enjoyed his greatest success thus far , scoring consecutive centuries in three innings from 15 November 1946 until 19 December : 116 against Victoria and 132 and 101 not out against New South Wales , the latter followed up by a score of 48 in the second innings . This was followed by a career @-@ best 145 against the touring MCC team on 24 January 1947 , and 63 against Queensland on 21 February . He ended the season with 675 runs at 56 @.@ 25 . = = = International debut , England , India and the Invincibles = = = These centuries led to his debut for Australia in the Fifth Test at Sydney on 28 February 1947 . Hamence scored 30 not out in the first innings as Australia made 253 in response to England 's first innings 280 . England managed 186 in response and Australia , set 213 to win , reached it in 52 @.@ 2 overs . However Hamence made only one in his second innings . He returned to domestic cricket , however over six innings his highest score was 27 . Nevertheless , Hamence was picked to play in the Second and Third Tests against the touring Indian cricket team in Australia in 1947 – 48 . He made 25 in the first innings of both matches , with the first , starting 12 December 1947 , ended in a draw before Hamence could bat again . In the Third Test , which started on 1 January 1948 , Australia achieved victory with centuries from Don Bradman and Arthur Morris meaning Hamence was again not needed to bat in the second innings . He was then replaced by Neil Harvey for the final two Tests . Returning once again to domestic cricket , Hamence scored 85 and 66 against Queensland , and this kept him in the running for a place in the national team , as he toured with The Invincibles in England in 1948 . He was not selected to play in any of the Tests , however he reiterated when interviewed in 2008 that he felt no resentment over not having played . Hamence was a popular member of the touring squad and his cheerful nature and splendid tenor voice added to the good spirits of the team . His success in the warm up games was mixed , scores of 92 , 46 and 49 not out against Cambridge University , Essex and Lancashire mixed with a duck , seven , one , three , two and five against other counties . Against Somerset , approaching his first century of the tour , the Australian players , keen to see Hamence succeed , left their card games to applaud only to see him dismissed for 99 , his highest score for the season . He also faced Scotland for two matches in August 1948 , scoring six and 15 . Overall on the tour he played 19 matches scoring 582 runs at an average of 32 @.@ 33 . His touring colleague Sid Barnes criticised the omission of Hamence from much meaningful cricket on the tour . He wrote : " For instance , against the Gentlemen at Lord 's we were 532 when Hamence came to bat . Brown got 120 , Bradman 150 , Hassett , not out , 200 and Miller 69 . Hamence was left not out with 24 . This was an innings in which he could have been sent in first wicket down , where he batted with his interstate team ... Despite this , Hassett still went in before Hamence in the next game , against Somerset ... Hamence batted No. 6 ... but he should have been sent in No. 3 . " Bradman , following the Invincibles tour described Hamence as " a fine batsman of the strictly orthodox type . Very sound and reliable with his game based on driving " and a " very safe fieldsman " . Barnes reported that Hamence , along with the other frequent omissions Colin McCool and Doug Ring , termed themselves the " Ground Staff " . He added : " In the dressing room during county games they would break out into ironic song about the few chances they got . " Bradman did later state that " because of the strong array of batsman ahead of him , [ Hamence ] seldom had an opportunity to make big scores " but " was an extremely useful reserve who could have been played in the Tests with confidence " . = = = Return , retirement and later life = = = Hamence scored 58 and 45 in his first match upon return to Australia , playing for Bradman 's XI against a team captained by Lindsay Hassett on 3 December 1948 . He then scored a career best 173 against New South Wales , and 55 the following match against Queensland . He then faced Western Australia for his 91st first @-@ class match , scoring another century when he hit 117 against Western Australia . Hamence then suffered a loss of form , not exceeding 31 for 11 innings . He scored a 53 against New South Wales , 64 not out against Queensland and 58 against Victoria , however he then scored nine , one and five in his next three innings . A 48 and 78 against New South Wales and Western Australia followed , however it was becoming clear that his form was waning . Hamence played his final match against Freddie Brown 's MCC team on 27 October 1950 , scoring 114 in the first innings as South Australia reached 350 , and then seven in his final innings before being run out by Bob Berry . His final full season saw him score 418 runs at 32 @.@ 15 . In total , Hamence played 69 matches for South Australia , scoring 4 @,@ 244 runs at an average of 38 @.@ 93 , with 11 centuries and 22 fifties . Aside from his 52 @.@ 75 average for Bradman 's XI , South Australia was to be Hamence 's most successful team . Of his eleven centuries , three were scored against Victoria , against whom he had an average of 41 @.@ 75 , however he scored the most runs , and his highest score , against New South Wales . In 2001 , Hamence was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to Australian society through the sport of cricket . He died in an Adelaide nursing home , aged 94 , in 2010 . = = Test match performance = =
= Chrysiridia rhipheus = Chrysiridia rhipheus ( Madagascan sunset moth ) is a day @-@ flying moth of the family Uraniidae . It is considered one of the most impressive and appealing @-@ looking lepidopterans . Famous worldwide , it is featured in most coffee table books on Lepidoptera and is much sought after by collectors . It is very colourful , though the iridescent parts of the wings do not have pigment ; rather the colours originate from optical interference . Adults have a wingspan of 7 – 9 cm ( 2 @.@ 8 – 3 @.@ 5 in ) . Dru Drury , who described the moth in 1773 , placed it in the genus Papilio , considering it a butterfly . Jacob Hübner placed it in the moth genus Chrysiridia in 1823 . Later redescriptions led to junior synonyms such as Chrysiridia madagascariensis ( Lesson , 1831 ) . At first the moth was thought to be from China or Bengal , but was later found to be endemic to Madagascar . It is found throughout the year in most parts of the island , with peak populations between March and August , and smallest numbers between October and December . Females lay about 80 eggs under the leaves of Omphalea spp . The caterpillars are whitish @-@ yellow with black spots and red feet and are covered in club @-@ ended black setae . Silk spun from the mouth helps the caterpillars hold on to smooth leaves and climb back to the plant when they fall . After completing four instars , the caterpillars spin an open network cocoon . The pupal stage lasts from 17 to 23 days . Chrysiridia rhipheus is the sole specialist herbivore of the four species of Omphalea in Madagascar . Omphalea is toxic : the toxins are sequestered by the feeding caterpillar and retained in the pupal and adult stages . Thousands of these moths migrate between the eastern and western ranges of their host plants . = = Taxonomy = = The Madagascan sunset moth was first described by the British entomologist Dru Drury in 1773 from a specimen obtained from a Captain May of Hammersmith . Because of its resemblance to swallowtail butterflies , Drury described the species as Papilio rhipheus.1 The specimen Drury received had the head of a different species attached , probably that of a butterfly , which had clubbed antennae — this trait is frequently used to differentiate moths from butterflies . Once the inaccuracy in Drury 's specimen was found , the moth was placed in the genus Urania , until 1823 when the German entomologist Jacob Hübner placed it in a new genus , Chrysiridia . The moth has also been described under other names . Because Drury described his specimen as having clubbed antennae and being tailless , William Swainson thought it was a different species than the complete specimen described by Cramer . In 1833 , Swainson named the butterfly Rhipheus dasycephalus and the moth Leilus orientalis . Other synonyms include U. crameri by Maassen in 1879 and U. ripheus var. madagascariensis by Lesson in 1831 . Native Malagasy people call it Adriandolo or Lolonandriana , from lolo for " spirit " or " butterfly " and andriana for " noble " or " king " , therefore meaning " noble butterfly " , " noble spirit " , " king butterfly " or " king spirit " . The genus Chrysiridia is entirely African and the only other species in the genus is the East African C. croesus . Chrysiridia is one of three diurnal uraniine genera . The other two genera are Urania , its sister taxon , and Alcides , the most basal . In the group , the use of Endospermum is an ancestral state ( a plesiomorphy ) . The more basal Alcides feed on Endospermum and Omphalea , while Urania and Chrysiridia feed only on Omphalea . = = Description = = Chrysiridia rhipheus has a wingspan of 7 – 9 centimetres ( 2 @.@ 8 – 3 @.@ 5 in ) , and sometimes up to 11 centimetres ( 4 @.@ 3 in ) . Moths from the highlands , 900 – 1 @,@ 080 metres ( 2 @,@ 950 – 3 @,@ 540 ft ) , have a median wingspan of 7 cm ( 2 @.@ 8 in ) ; moths from lower altitudes , 600 m ( 2 @,@ 000 ft ) , have a median wingspan of 9 cm ( 3 @.@ 5 in ) . Like many other uraniine moths , the sunset moth has an uncanny resemblance to swallowtail butterflies , especially in its tails and colourful wings , and can easily be mistaken for a butterfly . The sunset moth is black with iridescent red , blue and green markings . There is a fringe of white scales on the wing edges , wider on the hindwings . The moth has six tails , very often lost or damaged during its life . Pattern variations are common , and the moth is often partly asymmetrical ; one of the factors causing this is temperature shock during the pupal stage . = = = Wing microstructure = = = Unlike in many other moths , the colour of C. rhipheus 's wings does not come from pigments . The colour originates from coherent scattering and interference of light by the microstructure of the ribbon @-@ like scales covering the moth 's wings . These structural characteristics make this species and its Neotropical relative Urania common subjects of research in optical science . The colours on the Madagascan sunset moth 's wings are produced by the conjunction of two optical phenomena : An air @-@ cuticle multilayer in the scales creates optical interference . Each scale contains cuticle layers with randomly located blocks of cuticle that hold them in place and maintain an air gap between them . The layers and air gaps are narrower than the wavelength of visible light . The structure varies from one layer at the proximal end of each scale , to about six layers at the distal end . This multilayer structure strongly reflects certain wavelengths of light , which are determined by the thicknesses of the layers and the angle at which the light hits the scale . The scales are highly curved , which creates inter @-@ scale reflection . This mechanism is unusual among Lepidoptera . The proximal part of each scale is almost flat ; the scale then gradually curves up and then steeply bends down at the distal end , covering the proximal part of the next row of scales . Because of this shape , adjacent rows of scales have valley @-@ like grooves between them . This allows light to strike one scale , reflect at a roughly 90 ° angle , strike the next scale , and be reflected away from the wing . Because the angle of each reflection is far from normal incidence , the interference effect favours reflection of different colours of light than are seen when light strikes near the top of the curved part of the scale . The colour seen in each part of the wing is the combination of the colours reflected by these two effects . Because the cuticle layers are arranged in rows , with a cylindrical curve , the amount of the second type of reflection is dependent on the polarization of the incoming light . This makes the moth 's overall colour polarization @-@ dependent . Many insects can detect polarization of light , so it has been proposed that this feature may be used as a visual signal between moths . This has not yet been studied , however . = = Distribution and habitat = = Drury 's specimen was given to him by Captain May of Hammersmith and believed to have come from China . Cramer believed the specimen came from Chandernagore in Bengal , however , giving rise to the French name " page de Chadernagor " . It is now known that Chrysiridia rhipheus is endemic to Madagascar . Thousands of adult moths seasonally migrate between geographically isolated populations of their host plant Omphalea spp . They can be found almost everywhere on the island , except in the south @-@ west and the extreme subdesertic south of the Androy where their host plant is absent . They migrate from the three species in the dry deciduous forest in the west ( O. ankaranensis , O. occidentalis and O. palmata ) to the eastern rainforest species ( O. oppositifolia ) . The western species are largely in protected areas . The eastern species , on the other hand , is mostly unprotected and dispersed in widely scattered populations threatened by deforestation . Being the only evergreen species , O. oppositifolia is probably crucial for the moth 's survival . The Jamaican moth Urania sloanus , from the same subfamily ( Uraniinae ) , most likely became extinct after the loss of one of its host plant species . The moths migrate in response to changes in the host plants . Chrysiridia larvae defoliate the whole plant , and even eat the flowers and fruit , and thus have a considerable negative impact on the reproduction and survival of seedlings . The plants probably react by changing their nutrient and secondary compound levels , becoming toxic to the larvae and causing high mortality . Omphalea populations that are not damaged by moths for long periods of time have lower toxicity . These factors cause mass increases in local population , followed by sudden crashes . The population crashes might result from increased larval mortality , but are more likely caused by the emigration of the adult moths . Through semiochemicals , the plant may recruit hymenopteran parasitoids as a protection , hence playing a role in the population dynamics of the moth . = = = Host plants = = = Like C. croesus and species of the genus Urania , C. rhipheus is a specialist species whose caterpillars feed strictly on species of the pantropical genus Omphalea ( Euphorbiaceae ) . Four species of the genus Omphalea are endemic to Madagascar : O. ankaranensis , a shrub from the limestone karst of northern Madagascar O. palmata , a dry forest shrub , closely related to O. ankaranensis , but from western Madagascar O. occidentalis , also a dry forest species of western Madagascar O. oppositifolia , a tree from the east coast rainforest of Madagascar Omphalea , like many other members of the Euphorbiaceae , possesses leaf nectaries that attract polistine wasps , which are predators of early instar caterpillars . The leaf nectaries also attract ants . The ants usually protect their host plant , eating both the nectar and plant @-@ eating insects on it . However , they generally completely ignore Chrysiridia caterpillars , making it likely that the caterpillars possess a chemical deterrent as a primary defence . This chemical deterrent comes from the host plants . Omphalea species contain polyhydroxy alkaloids potentially sequestered or excreted by the caterpillar , the pupa and the adult moth . = = Behaviour = = Unlike most moths , the sunset moth is day flying and the bright aposematic colours warn predators of its toxicity , a strategy seen in many diurnal moths . Another habit the moth has in common with many butterflies is the night resting posture — the wings are held vertically over the back . During their migrations they roost in a group for the night . The moth flies over the crown of trees and in clearings . Sometimes because of high winds it is carried about 100 m ( 300 ft ) , it then falls , inert and wings closed , to the ground . = = = Life cycle = = = Continuous generations of the moth are present all year . The highest populations are found from March to August ( fall and winter ) , while the lowest are from October to December ( spring ) . The females lay their eggs late in the afternoon or at nightfall , and locate potential oviposition sites visually . Like the eggs of other Uraniidae , the sunset moth 's eggs are domed with projecting ribs . A single egg weighs about 1 milligram ( 3 @.@ 5 × 10 − 5 oz ) and usually has 17 ribs , but sometimes 18 or less often 16 . The eggs are usually laid on the lower surface of Omphalea leaves , but occasionally on the upper surface . Eggs are laid in groups of 60 to 110 , usually about 80 . After they hatch , the small caterpillars only eat the tissue ( parenchyma ) between the veins of the leaves . They do this to avoid the sticky and toxic latex produced by the plant 's laticifers and transported in the veins . After 3 – 4 days , the caterpillars also eat flowers , fruit , tendrils , petioles and young stems ( as well as continuing to eat leaves ) , defoliating the entire plant . They are particularly fond of the glands at the base of the leaf , near the petiole . They can deal with the chemical defences in the latex , which does not cause the problem of mouthpart coagulation . The caterpillars spin silk from their mouth with an ' ∞ ' motion of the head as they walk , this keeps them from falling from the smooth surface of the leaves . The silk also permits them to climb back to the plant should they fall . Strong rain makes them fall despite the silk . There are four instars , and the caterpillar stage lasts from two months in the warm season to two and a half to three months in the cold season . The caterpillar is whitish @-@ yellow with black spots and red feet and is covered in club @-@ ended black setae . It has five pairs of prolegs on segments 3 to 6 and 10 , and six true legs attached to the thorax . After completing all but its last moult , the caterpillar spins a cocoon out of silk . The cocoon can be in the tree crown or between two leaves , but is most often near the ground , between moss and bark . It is an open network cocoon with large and irregular mesh . In the warm season , the cocoon takes about 10 hours to spin , the metamorphosis takes place about 29 hours later and lasts about 6 minutes . These durations are slightly longer in the cold season . The chrysalis stage lasts 17 days in November , the warmest month , and 23 days in July , the coldest month . Five to six days before eclosion , the motifs of the wings start to become visible . The moth emerges during the night or in low light , by splitting the pupal case from the top . Once out of the pupal exuvia ( the pupal exoskeleton ) , the moth finds a horizontal surface , from which it suspends itself by its four anterior legs . The wings are deployed in about 10 minutes , by pumping haemolymph into the wing veins . The moth then beats them a few times , waits 45 minutes to let them harden , then beats them lightly again . The moth finally takes flight between one and a half to two hours later . = = = Nectar sources = = = Adult moths prefer white or whitish @-@ yellow flowers as a nectar source , which indicates that visual cues play a large role in their selection . Most flowers visited are inflorescences of small flowers or have dense filaments , giving them the appearance of a bottle brush , often because of the conspicuous projecting stamens as in many Leguminosae ( Mimosoideae , Myrtaceae and Combretaceae ) . However , not all white flowers elicit a response : the white and showy flowers of Omphalea oppositifolia are not visited by the adult moths . Nectar sources include the flowers of : Terminalia catappa ( Indian almond ) Camellia sinensis ( tea plant ) Eriobotrya japonica ( loquat ) Eucalyptus spp . , especially E. saligna Cussonia vantsilana Mangifera indica ( common mango tree ) All these flowers are white , with the exception of Camellia sinensis which has a yellow centre , and all either have dense filaments or are formed of tight clusters of small flowers . = = In culture = = This spectacular moth is considered one of the most impressive and beautiful Lepidoptera , rivalling almost any of the butterflies in brilliance of colouring and form . It is featured in most coffee table books on the Lepidoptera , and is much sought after by collectors . It is collected in the wild , and raised commercially for the international butterfly trade ; its wings were used to make jewellery in the Victorian era . The Madagascan sunset moth appeared on a 6 maloti postage stamp in the Lesotho Postal Services Butterflies of Africa issue of 20 August 2007 . Only one of the four species of host plants , Omphalea oppositifolia , is used to raise the moth commercially , mainly using plants collected in the wild , but also some cultivated for the purpose . In Malagasy , lolo is polysemous for " butterfly " or " moth " and " soul " , there is little doubt that this is because a pupa resembles a covered corpse and that the adult emerges from it — like the soul from body of the dead . The Malagasy people believe the soul of the dead or of ancestors appears in the form of a Lepidopteran , and thus to attack it is to attack the ancestors .
= How a Mosquito Operates = How a Mosquito Operates ( 1912 ) is a silent animated film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay . The six @-@ minute short depicts a giant mosquito tormenting a sleeping man . The film is one of the earliest works of animation , and its technical quality is considered far ahead of its contemporaries . It is also known under the titles The Story of a Mosquito and Winsor McCay and his Jersey Skeeters . McCay had a reputation for his proficient drawing skills , best remembered in the elaborate cartooning of the children 's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland he began in 1905 . He delved into the emerging art of animation with the film Little Nemo ( 1911 ) , and followed its success by adapting an episode of his comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend into How a Mosquito Operates . McCay gave the film a more coherent story and more developed characterization than in the Nemo film , with naturalistic timing , motion , and weight in the animation . How a Mosquito Operates had an enthusiastic reception when McCay first showed it as part of his vaudeville act . He further developed the character animation he introduced in Mosquito with his best @-@ known animated work , Gertie the Dinosaur ( 1914 ) . = = Synopsis = = A man looks around apprehensively before entering his room . A giant mosquito with a top hat and briefcase flies in after him through a transom . It repeatedly feeds on the sleeping man , who tries in vain to shoo it away . The mosquito eventually drinks itself so full that it explodes . = = Style = = How a Mosquito Operates is one of the earliest examples of line @-@ drawn animation . McCay used minimal backgrounds and capitalized on strengths of the film medium , then in its infancy , by focusing on the physical , visual action of the characters . No intertitles interrupt the silent visuals . Rather than merely expanding like a balloon , as the mosquito drinks its abdomen fills consistent with its bodily structure in a naturalistic way . The heavier it becomes , the more difficulty it has keeping its balance . In its excitement as it feeds , it does push @-@ ups on the man 's nose and flips its hat in the air . The mosquito has a personality : egotistical , persistent , and calculating ( as when it whets its proboscis on a stone wheel ) . It makes eye contact with the viewers and waves at them . McCay balances horror with humor , as when the mosquito finds itself so engorged with blood that it must lie down . = = Background = = Winsor McCay ( c . 1869 – 1934 ) developed prodigiously accurate and detailed drawing skills early in life . As a young man , he earned a living drawing portraits and posters in dime museums , and attracted large crowds with his ability to draw quickly in public . McCay began working as a full @-@ time newspaper illustrator in 1898 , and started drawing comic strips in 1903 . His greatest comic @-@ strip success was the children 's fantasy Little Nemo in Slumberland , which he launched in 1905 . McCay began performing on the vaudeville circuit the following year , doing chalk talks — performances in which he drew in front of a live audience . Inspired by flip books his son Robert brought home , McCay said he " came to see the possibility of making moving pictures " of his cartoons . He declared himself " the first man in the world to make animated cartoons " , though the American James Stuart Blackton and the French Émile Cohl were among those who had made earlier ones , and McCay had photographed his first animated short under Blackton 's supervision . McCay featured his Little Nemo characters in the film , which debuted in movie theatres in 1911 , and he soon incorporated it into his vaudeville act . The animated sequences in Little Nemo have no plot : much like the early experiments of Émile Cohl , McCay used his first film to demonstrate the medium 's capabilities — with fanciful sequences demonstrating motion for its own sake . In Mosquito he wanted greater believability , and balanced outlandish action with naturalistic timing , motion , and weight . Since he had already demonstrated in his first film that pictures could be made to move , in the second he introduced a simple story . Vaudeville acts and humor magazines commonly joked about large New Jersey mosquitoes they called " Jersey skeeters " , and McCay had used mosquitoes in his comic strips — including a Little Nemo episode in which a swarm of mosquitoes attack Nemo after he returns from a trip to Mars . McCay took the idea for the film from a June 5 , 1909 , episode of his comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend , in which a mosquito ( without top hat or briefcase ) gorges itself on an alcoholic until it becomes so bloated and drunk that it cannot fly away . = = Production and release = = McCay began working on the film in May 1911 . Shortly after , he left the employ of the New York Herald for the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst — a sign of his rising stardom . A magazine advertisement in July announced a " moving picture , containing six thousand sketches ... [ that ] will be a ' release ' for vaudeville next season by Mr. McCay . The film will be named How a Mosquito Operates . " McCay made the 6 000 drawings on translucent rice paper . The film came before the development of cel animation , in which animators draw on clear sheets of celluloid and lay them over static backgrounds . Thus , on each drawing McCay had to redraw the background , which appears to waver slightly due to the difficulty of reproducing it perfectly each time . McCay re @-@ used some of the drawings to loop repeated actions , a technique he used once in Little Nemo and more extensively in his later films . McCay finished drawing the film in December 1911 . A snowstorm hit when he was to have the drawings taken to Vitagraph Studios for photographing , so he hired a enclosed horse @-@ drawn taxi to have them taken there . It disappeared , and a few days later the police found the abandoned taxi with the drawings unharmed inside , the horses two to three miles away . The first attempt to shoot the artwork resulted in unacceptable amounts of flicker due the arc lighting the studio used , and it was re @-@ shot . The completed work came to 600 feet of film . How a Mosquito Operates debuted in January 1912 as part of McCay 's vaudeville act , which he toured through that spring and summer . Film producer Carl Laemmle bought the distribution rights under the restriction that he not have the film shown in the US until McCay had finished using it in his vaudeville act . Universal – Jewel released the film in 1916 under the title Winsor McCay and his Jersey Skeeters , and it has sometimes been called The Story of a Mosquito . In a lost live @-@ action prologue , McCay and his daughter , " pestered to death by mosquitoes " at their summer home in New Jersey , find a professor who speaks the insects ' language . The professor tells McCay to " make a series of drawings to illustrate just how the insect does its deadly work " , and after months of work McCay invites the professor to watch the film . = = Reception and legacy = = How a Mosquito Operates was released at a time when audience demand for animation outstripped the studios ' ability to supply it . According to animator Chris Webster , at a time when most studios struggled to make animation merely work , McCay showed a mastery of the medium and a sense of how to create believable motion . The film opened to large audiences , and was well received . The Detroit Times described audiences laughing until they cried , and " [ going ] home feeling that [ they ] had seen one of the best programs " in the theater 's history . The paper called the film " a marvelous arrangement of colored drawings " , referring to the final explosive sequence , which McCay had hand @-@ painted red ( colored versions of this sequence have not survived ) . The New York Morning Telegraph remarked , " [ McCay 's ] moving pictures of his drawings have caused even film magnates to marvel at their cleverness and humor " . Audiences found his animation so lifelike that they suggested he had traced the characters from photographs or resorting to tricks using wires : I drew a great ridiculous mosquito , pursuing a sleeping man , peeking through a keyhole and pouncing on him over the transom . My audiences were pleased , but declared the mosquito was operated by wires to get the effect before the cameras . To show that he had not used such tricks , McCay chose a creature for his next film that could not have been photographed : a Brontosaurus . The film , Gertie the Dinosaur , debuted as part of his vaudeville act in 1914 . Before he brought out Gertie , he hinted at the film 's subject in interviews in which he spoke of animation 's potential for " serious and educational work " . American animator John Randolph Bray 's first film , The Artist 's Dream , appeared in 1913 ; it alternates live @-@ action and animated sequences , and features a dog that explodes after eating too many sausages . Though these aspects recall McCay 's first two films , Bray said that he did not know of McCay 's efforts while working on The Artist 's Dream . Following Mosquito , animated films tended to be story @-@ based ; for decades they rarely drew attention to the technology underlying it , and live @-@ action sequences became infrequent . Animator and McCay biographer John Canemaker commended McCay for his ability to imbue a mosquito with character and personality , and stated the technical quality of McCay 's animation was far ahead of its time , unmatched until the Disney studios gained prominence in the 1930s with films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( 1937 ) .
= HMS Ramillies ( 1892 ) = HMS Ramillies was a Royal Sovereign @-@ class pre @-@ dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy , named after the Battle of Ramillies . The ship was built by J. & G. Thompson at Clydebank , starting with her keel laying in August 1890 . She was launched in March 1892 and commissioned into the Mediterranean Fleet as flagship the following October . She was armed with a main battery of four 13 @.@ 5 @-@ inch guns and a secondary battery of ten 6 @-@ inch guns . The ship had a top speed of 16 @.@ 5 knots . Ramillies served as flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet up to 1899 , and again from 1900 to 1902 . After taking part in manoeuvres off the coast of Portugal , she returned to England for a refit in 1903 . Upon completion , she was commissioned into the Reserve in 1905 . She suffered damage while participating in combined manoeuvres the following year , and was recommissioned into the Special Service Division of the Home Fleet in 1907 , becoming the Parent Ship of the 4th Division of the Home Fleet in 1910 . She was relieved of that role a year later , before being reduced to material reserve at Devonport in August 1911 , and stripped and laid up at Motherbank for disposal in July 1913 . She was sold for scrap in October 1913 and towed to Italy to be broken up the following month . = = Design = = The Royal Sovereign @-@ class battleships were based on Admiral @-@ class barbette ships , but contained several alterations . The freeboard was raised , the barbettes ' armour was extended and an upper belt and secondary armour were added . They could also obtain a higher speed , but were 4 @,@ 000 tonnes larger . Ramillies was 410 feet ( 120 m ) long overall and had a beam of 75ft and a draft of 27ft 6in . She displaced up to 15 @,@ 580 tonnes at her full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two 3 @-@ cylinder triple expansion engines powered by eight coal @-@ fired cylindrical boilers . With natural draught , her engines provided a top speed of 15 @.@ 5 knots at 9 @,@ 000 indicated horsepower ; 16 @.@ 5 knots at 11 @,@ 000 indicated horsepower could be obtained with forced draught . She had a crew of 712 officers and enlisted men . When built , ships of the Royal Sovereign class rolled too heavily under certain conditions . Bilge keels were added to compensate for the problem , and the ships " proved to be excellent seaboats quite capable ... of maintaining high speeds in a seaway " . The ships were well @-@ constructed and probably the most substantial built for the Royal Navy , even if they " suffered ... from excessive weight and fittings . " In the view of R. A. Burt , they were " highly successful ; at that time , they were probably unequalled in all @-@ round fighting efficiency . " Ramillies was armed with four breech @-@ loading 13 @.@ 5 @-@ inch guns on two barbettes with armour ranging from 11 to 17 inches in thickness . Ramillies also carried ten quick @-@ fire ( QF ) 6 @-@ inch guns , four of which were mounted in casemates on the main deck , plus sixteen QF 6 @-@ pounder Hotchkiss guns and twelve QF 3 @-@ pounder Hotchkiss guns . She was also equipped with seven 18 @-@ inch torpedo tubes , two of which were submerged . Between 1899 and 1902 , the 3 @-@ pounder guns were removed from the upper tops ; the above @-@ water torpedo tubes were removed in 1902 – 05 . The remaining 6 @-@ inch guns on the upper deck were mounted on 5 @-@ inch armoured casemates between 1902 and 1904 . All of the armour was supplied by the builders , J. & G. Thompson , of Clydebank . The waterline belt was 252ft long by 8ft 8in deep , and its armour varied in thickness between 14 and 18 inches ; the bulkheads were protected by 14 to 16 inches of armour . The middle deck covering the belt was 3 inches thick and the lower deck forward and aft of the belt was 2 @.@ 5 inches thick , while the upper belt between the middle and main decks was coated in 3 to 4 inches of armour . The casemates for the 6 @-@ inch guns were protected by an equal thickness of armour and the conning tower was protected with 14 inch armour on the forward side , and 3 inches of armour on the aft . The ship 's armoured deck was 2 @.@ 5 to 3 inches thick . = = Service history = = Ramillies was built by J. & G. Thompson , of Clydebank , at a cost of £ 902 @,@ 600 , plus £ 78 @,@ 295 for guns . She was laid down on 11 August 1890 , launched on 1 March 1892 and completed the following October . She had been constructed at such a small incline that it took nearly an hour and a half to travel down the slipway and into the water ; most of the crowd that had gathered dissipated in the meantime . Ramillies was commissioned at Portsmouth on 17 October 1893 as the Flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet . She departed on 28 October and arrived at Malta on 8 November to relieve Sans Pareil as acting flagship . Francis C. B. Bridgeman @-@ Simpson was appointed Captain of Ramillies on the day of her commission ; the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet at the time was Admiral Sir Michael Culme @-@ Seymour . On 9 December 1896 , Ramillies was recommissioned at Malta for further service in the Mediterranean Fleet . In July 1899 , she became a private ship in the fleet , relieved as flagship by battleship HMS Renown , but the following January , she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Lord Charles Beresford , second @-@ in @-@ command of the Mediterranean Fleet . In October 1902 , she was once again relieved as flagship , this time by HMS Venerable . In May 1902 , Ramillies was at Palermo to attend festivities in connection with the opening of an agricultural exhibition by King Victor Emmanuel ; the King and the Italian Minister of Marine paid her a visit when she arrived in Rome later in the month . She took part in combined manoeuvres off the coast of Portugal in August 1903 , but that month she was paid off from Mediterranean service and transferred to the Portsmouth Reserve while she was refitted . Her refit complete , she was commissioned into the reserve at Chatham on 30 January 1905 . That April , Ramillies transferred her crew to battleship HMS London and was recommissioned with a new crew into the Sheerness @-@ Chatham Reserve Division . On 30 January 1906 , she transferred her crew to battleship HMS Albemarle and recommissioned with yet another crew for service in the Chatham Reserve . That June , she participated in combined manoeuvres of the Atlantic Fleet , Channel Fleet , and Reserve Fleet , but in the process collided with HMS Resolution , suffering stern damage . As a result , her propellers were disabled . That November , her crew was transferred once more to the battleship HMS Africa . The following March , Ramillies was recommissioned at Devonport with a reduced crew into the Special Service Division of the Home Fleet . In October 1910 , she became Parent Ship in the Home Fleet 's 4th Division . Her sister ship HMS Royal Oak relieved her of her Parent ship duties in June 1911 and she placed on the material reserve at Devonport during that August . She was stripped and laid up ready for disposal in July 1913 , before being auctioned off for scrap on 7 October 1913 ; the buyer , George Cohen , of Swansea , paid £ 42 @,@ 300 for her . She was resold to an Italian company , who in November of that year , towed her to Italy to be broken up . = = Captains = = The following is an incomplete list of Captains who commanded Ramillies : 17 October 1893 : Francis C. B. Bridgeman @-@ Simpson . 17 January 1895 : William H. May . 9 December 1896 : William Des V. Hamilton . 1 January 1900 : Robert S. Lowry . 24 January 1902 : Hon. Walter George Stopford . 16 October 1902 : Francis G. Kirby . 15 March 1905 : Robert G. Fraser . 13 March 1906 : Charles H. Dare , MVO . 12 September 1906 : Caspar J. Baker . 1 February 1908 : Hubert Grant @-@ Dalton . 2 February 1909 : Arthur W. Ewart .
= 2 / 14th Battalion ( Australia ) = The 2 / 14th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army that served during World War II . Part of the 21st Brigade , 7th Division , the battalion was raised from Second Australian Imperial Force volunteers drawn mainly from the state of Victoria . After completing training in Australia in 1940 , the battalion deployed to the Middle East where it was stationed in Egypt and Palestine before it saw action against the Vichy French in Syria in June and July 1941 , in a short lived campaign . Garrison duties in Lebanon followed before the battalion was withdrawn to Australia in early 1942 as Australian forces were concentrated in the Pacific to respond to the threat posed by Japan 's entry into the war . After a short period of training in Australia , the battalion was deployed to New Guinea in August 1942 as the Australians sent reinforcements to the Kokoda Track to fight against Japanese forces that had been advancing towards Port Moresby . After the Japanese exhausted their supplies and began to fall back towards their beachheads on the north coast , the 2 / 14th saw further action around Gona . In September 1943 , after a period of re @-@ organisation in Australia , the battalion took part in the advance on Lae as the Allies went on the offensive in New Guinea , before taking part in the fighting in the Markham and Ramu Valleys of the Finisterre Range campaign . The battalion 's final involvement in the war came in the landing on Balikpapan in 1945 . The 2 / 14th was disbanded after the war , in early 1946 . = = History = = = = = Formation = = = The 2 / 14th Battalion was raised on 26 April 1940 at Puckapunyal , Victoria , shortly after the start of World War II as part of the all @-@ volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force ( 2nd AIF ) , which was established at the time from personnel that had volunteered to serve in combat overseas . The battalion was assigned to the 21st Brigade , 7th Division , and would remain part of this formation throughout its existence . It had an authorised strength of around 900 personnel , and most of those were drawn from the state of Victoria , although some were allocated from other states later as reinforcements . Many of the battalion 's initial recruits had previous military experience , having served in the Militia prior to volunteering for the 2nd AIF , with the majority having to relinquish rank to transfer . Officially the battalion 's average age on formation was 29 , although the battalion historian , William Russell , asserts that this is not necessarily accurate as men were found to have altered their ages both up ( from as young as 15 ) and down ( from as old as 55 ) upon recruitment . In keeping with 2nd AIF recruitment practices , there were many pairs of brothers who were early recruits ; there was even one case of a father and son who served in the same platoon . Soon after battalion headquarters was established , the battalion 's first commanding officer , Lieutenant Colonel William Cannon , began choosing his officers , who then set about the task of forming their own companies and platoons , as the unit structure was built up around four rifle companies – designated ' A ' through to ' D ' – with a battalion headquarters and a headquarters company consisting of several specialist platoons including signals , pioneer , anti @-@ aircraft , transport , administration and mortars . The battalion 's companies were formed largely along territorial lines , with ' A ' Company being drawn mainly from the Mildura and north @-@ eastern regions of Victoria , while ' B ' Company was drawn from Geelong , the Western District , Prahran , Brighton and the Mornington Peninsula . ' C ' Company consisted largely of men from Ballarat and Melbourne 's inner suburbs , and men of Scottish ancestry , while those of Irish ancestry formed ' D ' Company . Once the battalion 's complement of men had arrived at Puckapunyal and formation was complete , basic training began in May 1940 . On 18 August , the battalion was presented its regimental colours in a ceremony by members of the 14th Battalion , who had served during World War I. This was done in order to establish links with the units of the First Australian Imperial Force , and later , in early October , the 2 / 14th Battalion changed its Unit Colour Patch from a black over blue diamond to the yellow and blue rectangle of its earlier counterpart . Shortly after this , although still only partially trained , the battalion received orders to deploy overseas , and on 18 October the men embarked upon the Aquitania in Sydney , New South Wales , bound for the Middle East . = = = Middle East = = = Travelling via India , the battalion arrived at Kantara , in Egypt on 25 November 1940 and were transported to Julius Camp in Palestine , where the soldiers undertook further training . Later , they were moved to Dimra in January 1941 , before being sent in April to Mersa Matruh , in Egypt , to defend against a possible German attack there during the Siege of Tobruk . Although no German attack came there , during their time at Maaten Bagush the battalion was subjected to aerial attack . It remained there until the end of May when the battalion was relieved by a South African battalion . The 21st Brigade then returned to Palestine to begin preparations for operations in Syria and Lebanon against the Vichy French in order to prevent the area from falling into the hands of the Germans who could then have launched an attack on the Suez Canal from there , or captured the oilfields in Persia ( present @-@ day Iran ) . The 2 / 14th Battalion 's involvement in the Syria – Lebanon campaign began on the night of 7 / 8 June when the unit advanced across the Palestine border from Hanita and attacked Vichy outposts around the village of Alma Chaab . Following this , the battalion advanced along the coast towards Tyre , from where it evicted the French defenders before forcing a crossing over the Litani River . On 11 June , the 21st Brigade 's advance towards Sidon came up against determined resistance around the Zahrani River , at Merdjayoun . The 2 / 14th Battalion found themselves up against troops from the French Foreign Legion 's 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment . For the next few days the battalion came under attack from Vichy French aircraft and artillery before being committed to a flanking action on 15 June . Conducting a 30 @-@ kilometre ( 19 mi ) march during the heat of the day , the Australians approached Sidon through the mountains but arrived just after the town fell to the 2 / 27th Battalion . Following this , on 17 June , the battalion was moved to the central sector of the Allied advance in order to reinforce the 2 / 31st Battalion , attached to the 25th Brigade , which was holding off a Vichy French counter @-@ attack at Jezzine . After Damascus was captured on 22 June , the 2 / 14th Battalion was committed to the fighting to secure a number of features on Mount Kharatt , high ground north @-@ east of the town which dominated the surrounding area . These attacks proved unsuccessful , and quite costly for the 2 / 14th , with 12 killed and 47 wounded on 24 June . The fighting around Jezzine continued until 29 June when the French began to withdraw . After this , the Australians regained the initiative and on 2 July the 2 / 14th Battalion left Jezzine to begin preparations for the Battle of Damour , to which it was committed on 5 July 1941 . Between then and 9 July , the 2 / 14th were involved in a number of attacks , capturing French positions on Hills 243 and 567 . On 12 July , an armistice came into effect , ending the fighting . Following this , the 2 / 14th Battalion was initially used to conduct battlefield clearance tasks before moving to Beirut where the men were used as garrison troops overseeing the repatriation of captured Vichy soldiers to France . Later , in September , the battalion was transferred to the north to construct defensive positions near Tripoli in Lebanon . In December 1941 , following the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and in Malaya , the decision was made to bring the 6th and 7th Divisions back to Australia . In early January 1942 , the 7th Division left Syria , where it had been undertaking garrison duties , and returned to Palestine . The 2 / 14th were moved to a camp near Jerusalem , and during this time command of the battalion passed to Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Key , who had previously commanded the 2 / 8th Battalion . On 30 January 1942 the 2 / 14th Battalion embarked on the transport Ile de France from Port Tewfik in Egypt , bound for Australia . The 2 / 14th 's casualties during its deployment to the Middle East were 21 killed , 94 wounded and 11 captured . = = = Kokoda Track = = = The battalion returned to Australia via Bombay , where the infantrymen were transferred to the troopship City of Paris in early February . They arrived in Adelaide , South Australia , on 24 March 1942 . After this a period of leave followed , and then the battalion undertook defensive duties and training around Yandina , Queensland , before being dispatched along with the rest of the 7th Division to New Guinea where the situation on the Kokoda Track was becoming critical for the Australians as the Japanese advanced towards Port Moresby . On 13 August 1942 , the 21st Brigade , including the 2 / 14th Battalion , disembarked in Port Moresby . Three days later , 16 August , the battalion was transported on trucks to Ilolo before marching to Uberi , reaching Myola on 21 August . On 25 August , the battalion received orders to relieve the severely depleted 39th Battalion , which was holding the Japanese at Isurava . Due to a shortage of supplies it was only possible for one company to move at a time , and as a result ' C ' Company was dispatched to Isurava first , while ' B ' and ' D ' Companies were dispatched to Alola and ' A ' Company moved to Templeton 's Crossing . ' C ' Company subsequently reached the 39th 's position late in the evening of 26 August . The following day , the Japanese launched a fresh offensive with three battalions from the 144th Infantry Regiment , and throughout the day a number of minor engagements took place . On 27 August , the Japanese offensive began in earnest as the 39th Battalion 's positions around Isurava were subjected to heavy mortar and artillery fire . Japanese infantry broke into the position through the gaps between one of company 's depleted platoons , but the situation was restored by two Australian counter @-@ attacks . The rest of the 2 / 14th Battalion arrived on 28 August amidst continuing fighting , bringing with them a 3 @-@ inch ( 76 mm ) mortar for indirect fire support . The 39th Battalion then moved to the rear , but remained in support of the 2 / 14th in order to help repel the next wave of the Japanese attack . By 29 August , the Japanese had about six battalions around Isurava , and in the morning fresh attacks succeeded in breaking into the 2 / 14th 's position with ' C ' Company , on the battalion 's right , being forced to give ground . With the situation critical , the Australians launched a counter @-@ attack . As a part of this attack , Private Bruce Kingsbury charged the Japanese , firing his Bren light machine gun from the hip , killing at least 30 of them and forcing others to withdraw . Although Kingsbury was subsequently killed by a sniper , his actions allowed the Australians to briefly regain their positions and later he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross , Australia 's highest military decoration . Further attacks during the day , however , forced the battalion to fall back 1 kilometre ( 0 @.@ 62 mi ) down the track . On 30 August , the Japanese began threatening the 2 / 14th 's left flank from the high ground situated there , and as another attack put the battalion 's rear in jeopardy , the battalion was forced to give more ground . At this point , the brigade commander , Brigadier Arnold Potts , authorised a withdrawal to Alola . With the Japanese pressing against their rear guard , over the course of the following fortnight , the battalion fought a series of delaying actions and fighting withdrawals towards Ioribaiwa and Imita Ridge . By the time it reached Imita Ridge , the 2 / 14th was so depleted that it was amalgamated with the 2 / 16th Battalion to form a composite battalion of just over 300 men , and as the 21st Brigade prepared to make a final stand , the battalions of the 25th Brigade arrived to relieve them . Following this , the composite battalion was withdrawn from the line on 16 September . The 2 / 14th Battalion had begun the Kokoda campaign with 546 men , but upon arriving at Uberi , where they had been placed in reserve , there were only 88 men available , of whom only three were officers . Casualties were high , with 110 men being killed in action , with two more dying of their wounds and another four being killed in accidents . A further 132 were also wounded . = = = Gona = = = Following the 21st Brigade 's relief , the fighting in New Guinea began to turn in favour of the Allies , as the Japanese , having exhausted their supplies , began to fall back towards their beachheads on the north coast . By November 1942 , although the 2 / 14th had been reformed at Koitaki , near Port Moresby , it was still not up to full strength , with a total of only 341 men of all ranks . Nevertheless , the situation in New Guinea meant that the 21st Brigade was needed to help capture the Japanese beachhead around Gona on the north @-@ eastern coast . The 2 / 14th Battalion , under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Challen who had replaced Key in late September , was placed in the vanguard of the brigade 's move , being air transported to Popondetta on 25 November . Organised into three half @-@ strength companies , the following day the battalion began the 32 @-@ kilometre ( 20 mi ) march towards Gona . On 29 November , the 2 / 14th attacked along the coast to the east of Gona . The Japanese positions were well @-@ concealed and amidst strong resistance the 2 / 14th suffered heavy casualties , losing 13 killed and 23 wounded . Early in the morning on 30 November the battalion lost another three killed before it launched a well @-@ planned deliberate attack on the remaining Japanese fortified position . For only two minor casualties , the 2 / 14th forced the Japanese defenders to abandon their positions and managed to break through to the beach , securing about 1 @.@ 5 kilometres ( 0 @.@ 93 mi ) along the coast . On 8 December , a reinforced platoon from the 2 / 14th was ordered to conduct a reconnaissance around Haddy 's Village , 2 kilometres ( 1 @.@ 2 mi ) west of Gona , where the Japanese had landed reinforcements on 6 December . Under the command of Lieutenant Bob Dougherty , the platoon launched a surprise attack against the numerically superior force . In the hand @-@ to @-@ hand fighting that followed over 90 Japanese were killed or wounded , while six men from the 2 / 14th were wounded . The attack proved a success and enabled the Australians around Gona to attack without concern about being engaged by the Japanese reinforcements . Gona was subsequently taken on 9 December . Dougherty , who was recommended for the Victoria Cross for his actions , was killed leading a patrol around the village on 11 December . The battalion remained in the area until 8 January 1943 , by which time there were only 21 fit personnel left . They were subsequently returned to Australia . Casualties during the fighting around Buna , Gona and Sanananda amounted to 50 killed in action or died of wounds or accidentally , as well as 88 wounded . = = = Lae and the Finisterres = = = By the time that the 21st Brigade arrived back in Australia , it was heavily depleted , with only 44 per cent of its authorised strength . The 2 / 14th subsequently underwent a period of rebuilding around Ravenshoe , in Queensland , in preparation for further operations . During this time the units of the 7th Division were converted to the " jungle " divisional establishment , which saw a reduction in the 2 / 14th Battalion 's authorised strength to just over 800 men . As the battalion was brought back up to strength , in July there was a change of command . On 5 July , Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner , who had previously commanded the 39th Battalion during the fighting on the Kokoda Track , replaced Challen as commanding officer . In August , along with the rest of the 21st Brigade the battalion moved to Port Moresby where it undertook training for the next month in preparation for the Salamaua – Lae campaign . However , the battalion was destined to only take a limited role in the campaign , and on 15 September it was dispatched to the airfields at Nadzab to relieve the US Army 's 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment and defend the vital airfields from possible Japanese attack . After this , the 2 / 14th was committed to the advance into the Markham Valley and Finisterre Range , in the vanguard of the 21st Brigade 's advance from Kaiapit to Dumpu in late September and early October . Moving through the 2 / 16th Battalion 's position and advancing on to Marawasa , the 2 / 14th left the Markham Valley and proceeded into the Ramu Valley . The 2 / 14th then moved on the 2 / 16th 's right flank , protecting it from any Japanese attacks that might have eventuated from the north . On 4 October 1943 , the battalion reached Wampun village . It was there that the battalion 's commanding officer , Honner , was seriously wounded when he moved beyond the main defensive position in order to personally carry out a reconnaissance of the surrounding area . A platoon was sent in to extricate Honner as the Japanese began advancing on his position , and after directing a company @-@ level attack against the Japanese , Honner handed over command to Captain Ian Hamilton , commander of ' C ' Company , who served as acting commander briefly until Major Mert Lee arrived from brigade headquarters . Lee remained in acting command until the battalion second @-@ in @-@ command , Major Philip Rhoden , returned from a staff course to officially take over command of the battalion as a lieutenant colonel in December . Throughout early 1944 , the battalion was mainly involved in patrol operations in support of the 21st Brigade 's advance up the Faria River to capture the Japanese positions around on the Kankiryo Saddle during the Battle of Shaggy Ridge . As a part of this effort , the battalion 's most significant engagement came on 11 October 1943 when 9 Platoon , under Lieutenant Noel Pallier , destroyed a Japanese company in capturing a ridge that overlooked the valley . The Japanese company had been threatening to cut off the supply line of the 2 / 27th Battalion , which was leading the 21st Brigade 's advance and the following day , heavy fighting took place around John 's Knoll and Trevor 's Ridge . After this , the battalion undertook mainly patrol actions in the following weeks , these actions varied in size from small groups to company @-@ sized forces , and varied in length from one day to up to a week . In late November , the battalion relieve the 2 / 25th Battalion around John 's Knoll , marching 17 miles ( 27 km ) . From there , they occupied an outpost position opposite a strong Japanese position , against which they clashed several times throughout December until being withdrawn to the rear around the Lakes area in late December , and then Port Moresby in early January 1944 . Although there were only limited engagements with the Japanese during the four months that the 2 / 14th were involved in the campaign , the battalion still suffered heavily with 958 men being evacuated due to illness or accidental injury during this time . Of these , four died and a further 546 were permanently removed from the theatre . In contrast , battle casualties during this time amounted to seven killed in action , three died of wounds and 25 wounded . = = = Borneo = = = After being withdrawn back to Australia in March 1944 , the units of the 7th Division received six weeks ' leave before reforming on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland . Following this the 2 / 14th Battalion undertook a period of training before finally being committed to their last campaign of the war in mid @-@ 1945 . This campaign saw them take part in the amphibious landings at Balikpapan on 1 July 1945 . During the initial landings early on 1 July , the 2 / 14th came ashore at the wrong place , landing at Yellow Beach when it had been scheduled to land at Green Beach . Nevertheless , the landing was largely unopposed and after 45 minutes of reorganisation the Australians were able to establish themselves at their correct form up point and begin the advance to their first objective : the bridge over the Klandasan Besar . Advancing unopposed they crossed the bridge and at nightfall dug @-@ in in front of the Stalkudo ridge , along the Vasey Highway . The following day , the battalion captured the Sepinggang airstrip as the 21st Brigade began the advance to the east . The 2 / 27th Battalion subsequently relieved the 2 / 14th at Sepinggang and on 3 July , the battalion began to move towards the Manggar airstrip . The 21st Brigade then came up against stronger opposition near the Batakan Ketjil River , which held them up until the evening . The following day the 2 / 14th resumed its advance towards Manggar and after crossing the river and beginning to move across the strip the battalion 's lead company began to receive artillery fire from Japanese coastal defence guns . Naval gunfire support was called in to provide counter @-@ battery fire , but this was only partially effective and the following day air support and tanks were brought it . For the next three days minor infantry actions were undertaken around the periphery of the position while direct and indirect fire support was used to reduce the position , with a view to limiting casualties amongst the infantry . Finally , on 9 July , the battalion attacked the two remaining Japanese positions , which had been named " Frost " and " Brown " by the Australians . Supported by a naval bombardment and Liberator heavy bombers which dropped napalm , two companies from the 2 / 14th Battalion captured the position where it found over 100 Japanese dead along with a number of artillery pieces including two 120 mm naval guns and four 75 mm high @-@ angle guns , as well as numerous heavy mortars and machine @-@ guns . This represented the last of the 2 / 14th Battalion 's major combat actions of the war . The 21st Brigade subsequently captured Sambodja and then as the tempo of operations wound down in anticipation of the end of the war , the Australians began conducting patrol operations in the interior , stretching towards the 25th Brigade 's area along the Milford Highway . The battalion 's casualties in its final campaign of the war amounted to 21 killed and 41 wounded . = = = Disbandment = = = Following the cessation of hostilities in August 1945 , the 2 / 14th Battalion remained on Borneo until October 1945 when it was moved to Makassar in the Celebes Islands ( present @-@ day Sulawesi , Indonesia ) . The battalion 's personnel arrived there on 1 October 1945 but shortly thereafter the 2 / 14th was transported by sea to Pare @-@ Pare , arriving there on 5 October . While there the battalion undertook garrison duties , guarding Japanese prisoners of war and maintaining administration and law and order until the Dutch were in a position to re @-@ assert colonial rule . Despite the complex political situation , the 2 / 14th Battalion managed to achieve this without violence and on 5 January 1946 the 50th Battalion , Royal Netherlands East Indies Army , began to arrive to relieve them . This was completed by 17 January . On 22 January 1946 the battalion embarked on HMAS Kanimbla , bound for Australia . Upon arrival in Brisbane , Queensland , the demobilisation process began and the battalion 's ranks were quickly reduced . Finally , on 22 February 1946 , at Victoria Barracks the final paperwork was signed off and the battalion was disbanded . During the course of the war , a total of 2 @,@ 990 men served in the battalion ; of these 222 were killed in action or died of wounds , or of illness or accident on active service . A further 378 men from the 2 / 14th were wounded in action , while 11 men became prisoners of war . The vast majority of these casualties came during the fighting around Kokoda where the battalion suffered 248 battle casualties . For their service during the war , members of the 2 / 14th received the following gallantry and distinguished service decorations : one Victoria Cross , four Military Crosses , three Distinguished Conduct Medals , 19 Military Medals , one British Empire Medal and 44 Mentions in Despatches . In addition , one member was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire . One section from the battalion , 7 Section from 9 Platoon , ' A ' Company , is believed to be , according to Dornan , " the most highly decorated section in Australian and British military history " . Of the 11 men that were assigned to 7 Section when it was first formed in 1940 , one of them received the Victoria Cross , one received a Distinguished Conduct Medal and four received the Military Medal . = = Commanders = = The following officers served as commanding officer of the 2 / 14th Battalion : Lieutenant Colonel William Cannon ( 1940 – 42 ) ; Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Key ( 1942 ) ; Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Challen ( 1942 – 43 ) ; Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner ( 1943 ) ; Lieutenant Colonel Philip Rhoden ( 1943 – 46 ) . = = Battle honours = = The 2 / 14th Battalion received the following battle honours for its service during the war : North Africa , Syria 1941 , Syrian Frontier , Adlun , Jezzine , Damour , South @-@ West Pacific 1942 – 1945 , Kokoda Trail , Isurava , Eora Creek – Templeton 's Crossing I , Efogi – Menari , Ioribaiwa , Buna – Gona , Gona , Amboga River , Lae – Nadzab , Liberation of Australian New Guinea , Ramu Valley , Shaggy Ridge , Borneo 1945 , and Balikpapan .
= House with Chimaeras = House with Chimaeras or Horodecki House ( Ukrainian : Будинок з химерами , Budynok z khymeramy ) is an Art Nouveau building located in the historic Lypky neighborhood of Kiev , the capital of Ukraine . Situated across the street from the President of Ukraine 's office at No. 10 , Bankova Street , the building has been used as a presidential residence for official and diplomatic ceremonies since 2005 . The street in front of the building is closed off to all automobile traffic , and is now a patrolled pedestrian zone due to its near proximity to the Presidential Administration building . Architect Vladislav Gorodetsky originally constructed the House with Chimaeras for use as his own upmarket apartment building during the period of 1901 – 1902 . However , as the years went by , Gorodetsky eventually had to sell the building due to financial troubles , after which it changed ownership numerous times before finally being occupied by an official Communist Party polyclinic until the early 2000s . When the building was vacated , its interior and exterior decor were fully reconstructed and restored according to Gorodetsky 's original plans . The building derives its popular name from the ornate decorations depicting exotic animals and hunting scenes , which were sculpted by Italian architect Emilio Sala since Gorodetsky was an avid hunter . The name does not refer to the chimaera of mythology , but to an architectural style known as chimaera decoration in which animal figures are applied as decorative elements to a building . Gorodetsky 's unique architectural style earned him praise as the Antoni Gaudí of Kiev . = = History = = = = = Construction and early history = = = The House with Chimaeras was designed by the architect Vladislav Gorodetsky in 1901 – 1902 . Gorodetsky was born in 1863 into a prosperous Polish szlachta family in the Podillia region . After finishing the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg in 1890 , he moved to Kiev , where he lived for almost 30 years . At the time of the building 's construction , Gorodetsky had already established himself as a prominent Kiev architect , having designed and constructed together with his close friend and partner engineer Anton Strauss many city buildings , from the St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Cathedral to the Karaim Kenesa and what today is the National Art Museum of Ukraine . Besides architecture , Gorodetsky was also interested in big @-@ game hunting , which explains why his building features many animals . Gorodetsky financed the house 's construction with borrowed money , with the intent for it to be an apartment building . Each floor formed a single apartment , connected by an elevator and stairs . Gorodetsky himself occupied the fourth floor of the building , measuring at about 380 m2 ( 4 @,@ 100 sq ft ) . Gorodetsky bought the first lot of land on February 1 , 1901 , with construction work commencing on March 18 of that year . Construction of the exterior walls was finished by August 21 , and the roof installed and all masonry work was completed on September 13 . Due to the economic hardships within the Russian Empire , the completion of the building was delayed . In May 1903 , only one apartment on the lowest level and Gorodetsky 's own apartment were occupied . The total cost of the land and construction amounted to 133 @,@ 000 rubles . In total , 1 @,@ 550 m2 ( 16 @,@ 700 sq ft ) of land were used for construction of the building and cost a total of 15 @,@ 640 rubles . The projected annual profit from the rentals was 7 @,@ 200 rubles . A cowshed was located on the premises due to Gorodetsky 's insistence on fresh in @-@ house milk , though it was specifically placed in a way that the smell of the cows would not disturb the tenants . On a lot adjacent to the building , a miniature alpine garden ( approx . 320 m2 or 3 @,@ 400 sq ft ) and a fountain were built . Due to financial mismanagement which included his Safari hunting hobby , in July 1912 , Gorodetsky pledged the building as a collateral against a loan taken from Kiev Mutual Credit Association . When Gorodetsky defaulted on the loan , the building was auctioned off in 1913 , and became the property of the engineer Daniel Balakhovsky , the son of a Kiev trader , who was also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Blahodatinskoe sugar factory , and a French сonsular agent in Kiev . In 1916 , the house belonged to the Blahodatinskoe sugar factory . In 1918 , the building 's ownership changed again , to Samuel Nemets . In 1921 , after the Bolsheviks gained control of Kiev , several of the departments of the Kiev Military District took offices in the House with Chimaeras . = = = Ownership 1921 – 2002 = = = After the period of unrest following the Russian Revolution of 1917 , the building was nationalized and later converted for communal living . Each apartment was occupied by about nine to ten families . During the Second World War ( 1941 – 1943 ) , the building was abandoned . Due to exposure to the harsh elements during the war , the building suffered significant damage to its structure . After the war , the building was briefly used as a residence for evacuated actors from the Ivan Franko Theater ; however , the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic took ownership of the building and later transformed it into the Polyclinic ( clinic ) No. 1 for their elite . The polyclinic used the building up until the end of the 20th century . During that time , the building almost split in half . One part sagged 22 cm ( 9 in ) , and a major vertical crack formed , having a width of about 40 cm ( 16 in ) . Some of the building 's architectural details had either been chipped away , or had cracked . The building 's restoration work was scheduled for 2002 , however the operators of the polyclinic were reluctant to leave , having occupied the building for over 40 years . In order to force the occupants out of the building , the workers boarded up all of the windows and threatened to do the same to the doors if the polyclinic did not vacate the premises . Only the president 's involvement in the matter forced the polyclinic to move out completely . = = = Reconstruction and official use = = = During the time of the restoration , conducted by UkrNIIProektRestavratsiya and headed by Natalia Kosenko , the workers unearthed the whole lower floor , which had been filled in during Soviet times to strengthen the building 's foundation . Restoration of the elaborate decor of the interior had to be fully redone . In the courtyard , the restorers placed an artificial lake , fountains , and a miniature garden — all of which had been in Gorodetsky 's original plans . The building was opened as a filial " Masterpieces of Ukrainian Art " of the National Museum of Arts in November 2004 . It was expected that the building would serve a dual purpose as a museum and as the presidential meeting place for state visitors . In April 2005 , the Kiev City Council submitted a bill for 104 million hryvnias ( approx . US $ 20 million ) to the Ukrainian Government for reconstruction and restoration of the House with Chimaeras . The Council also allowed the Ukrainian government to construct a new square ( closing off all automobile traffic ) in front of the building for use in official ceremonies . Since May 2005 , the building has been an official presidential residence , used for official and diplomatic ceremonies . The House with Chimaeras was used as a meeting place between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin , when the latter visited Kiev on December 22 , 2006 . Included in the building are rooms for negotiations , tête @-@ à @-@ tête talks , the signing of official documents , as well as a special room for the press . = = Architecture = = The building was designed in the Art Nouveau style , which was at that time a relatively new style and featured flowing , curvilinear designs often incorporating floral and other plant @-@ inspired motifs . Gorodetsky featured such motifs in the building 's exterior decor in the forms of mythical creatures and big @-@ game animals . His work on the House with Chimaeras has earned him the nickname of the Gaudí of Kiev . Due to the steep slope on which the building is situated , it had to be specially designed out of concrete to fit into its foundations correctly . From the front , the building appears to have only three floors . However , from the rear , all of its six floors can be seen . One part of the building 's foundation was made of concrete piles , and the other as a continuous foundation . Usually , these two approaches do not mix well but Gorodetsky somehow succeeded in overcoming this technical problem . The Italian sculptor Emilio Sala was responsible for both the internal and external sculptural decorations , such as mermaids , dolphins , and frogs on the roof of the building , sinking ships and hunting trophies on the exterior walls , and exuberant interior decorations , such as grand stairways and chandeliers depicting huge catfish strangled in the stems of lotus flowers . The exterior sculptures created by Sala were made out of cement . Production of the cement was by the « For » company of which Gorodetsky was the co @-@ director . Cement was used exclusively as the primary building material by the request of the company 's head director , Richter . At the time of the building 's construction , cement was not popular as a building material , so its use was employed as publicity for both the house and the building material . = = = Floor plan = = = The House with Chimaeras was designed in such a way that the tenants would occupy the whole floor , each floor had all the necessary household rooms ranging from private kitchens to small powder rooms . The open floor plan and extra rooms featured throughout the building are characteristic of the houses of the wealthy of the early 20th century . In total , the building has an area of 3 @,@ 309 @.@ 5 m2 ( 35 @,@ 623 @.@ 16 sq ft ) . On the lowest level of the building , which is located deep in the hill , were two stables , two rooms for coachmen , a shared laundry , and two separate apartments . Each of the two apartments consisted of a foyer , a kitchen , one bathroom , and a storage room . The first of these apartments had two residential rooms , and the second three rooms . Each floor above the lowest level was designed to house a single apartment only . The apartment on the second floor consisted of six residential rooms in addition to a foyer , kitchen , buffet , three servant 's rooms , a bathroom , two toilets , and two storage rooms . There were also four wine cellars on the same level . The cellars belonged to the apartments on the upper levels . On the third floor , the apartment consisted of eight residential rooms , a foyer , a kitchen , dish washing room , two rooms for servants , a bathroom , and two toilets . This apartment was placed slightly lower than the level of Bankova Street , from the front entrance . The grandest apartment , which belonged to Gorodetsky , consisted of a study , a great room and a living room , a dining room , a boudoir , a bedroom , a children 's room , a room for a governess , a guest room , three rooms for servants , a kitchen , dishwashing room , bathroom , two toilets , and two storage rooms . On the floor above was an apartment similar in size and design to Gorodetsky 's apartment . The apartment on the top floor had one less room ; to make up for this , there was a connecting terrace which provided a panoramic view of the city . = = Legends = = Throughout the years , the unusual nature of the House with Chimaeras has given rise to a number of stories occasionally repeated in guide @-@ books or newspapers , which are however either untrue or lacking any verifiable source . According to the first legend , Vladislav Gorodetsky 's daughter had committed suicide jumping into Dnieper River either because of some unfortunate love affair or because of a family feud . As a result , Gorodetsky went slightly mad and built this gloomy house in his daughter 's memory . A second legend has it that Gorodetsky made a bet with some other architects , including the architect Alexander Skobelev , who had tried to prove that was impossible to build a house on such terrain , because the site ( near the Ivan Franko Theater ) overhangs a swamp ( Koz 'ye boloto ) . The Construction Committee of Kiev had prohibited construction of any structures on this particular lot , but eventually the construction of the building allowed Gorodetsky to win the bet . According to the third legend , Gorodetsky had cursed the house when forced to leave it in 1913 ( due to his inability to repay his creditors ) ; all of the house 's tenants would be either unhappy or would meet some sort of financial misfortune . There is a story that all the businesses who rented a portion of the building either went bankrupt , had their funds stolen or were disbanded .
= Rahm Emanuel = Rahm Israel Emanuel ( / ˈrɑːm / ; born November 29 , 1959 ) is an American politician who serves as the 55th mayor of Chicago . A member of the Democratic Party , Emanuel was elected in 2011 , becoming Chicago 's first Jewish mayor . He was reelected on April 7 , 2015 . Born in Chicago , Emanuel is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Northwestern University . Working early in his career in Democratic politics , Emanuel was appointed as director of the finance committee for Bill Clinton 's 1992 presidential campaign . In 1993 , he joined the Clinton administration , where he served as the assistant to the president for political affairs and as the senior advisor to the president for policy and strategy before resigning , in 1998 . Beginning a career in finance , Emanuel worked at the investment bank Wasserstein Perella & Co. from 1998 for 2 1 / 2 years and served on the board of directors of Freddie Mac . In 2002 , Emanuel ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated by Rod Blagojevich , who resigned to become governor of Illinois . Emanuel won the first of three terms representing Illinois 's 5th congressional district , a seat he held from 2003 to 2009 . During his tenure in the House , Emanuel held two Democratic leadership positions , serving as the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2005 to 2007 and as the chair of the House Democratic Caucus , from 2007 to 2009 . After the 2008 presidential election , President Barack Obama appointed Emanuel to serve as White House chief of staff . In October 2010 , Emanuel resigned as chief of staff to run as a candidate in Chicago 's 2011 mayoral election . Because of questions over his eligibility to run for mayor , Emanuel 's candidacy was initially rejected by the Illinois First District Appellate Court , though he was later found eligible to run in a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of Illinois . Emanuel won with 55 % of the vote over five other candidates in the nonpartisan mayoral election , succeeding 22 @-@ year incumbent Richard M. Daley . Although Emanuel did not obtain an absolute majority in the February 2015 mayoral election , he defeated Cook County Board Commissioner Jesús " Chuy " García in the April 7 runoff election . Since November 2015 Emanuel 's approval rating has plunged in response to a series of scandals , most directly the police shooting of 17 @-@ year @-@ old Laquan McDonald , the city 's subsequent attempts to withhold a video of the shooting , and the lack of an investigation into the matter . In early December the federal Justice Department announced an investigation into the operations of the Chicago police department , a move which Emanuel initially opposed . By December over half of Chicagoans favored Emanuel 's resignation , with highly critical evaluations of the mayor appearing in such sources as The New York Times and The New Yorker , and coming from such figures as the Reverend Al Sharpton . = = Early life and family = = Emanuel 's grandfather was a Romanian Jew from Moldova . The surname Emanuel ( Hebrew : עמנואל ) , which means " God with us " , was adopted by their family in honor of his father 's brother Emanuel Auerbach , who was killed in 1933 in an altercation with Arabs in Jerusalem . Emanuel 's father , Benjamin M. Emanuel , is a Jerusalem @-@ born pediatrician at Michael Reese Hospital who was once a member of the Irgun , a Jewish paramilitary organization that operated in Mandate Palestine . His mother , Marsha ( née Smulevitz ) , is the daughter of a West Side Chicago union organizer who worked in the civil rights movement , and briefly owned a local rock and roll club and later became an adherent of Benjamin Spock 's writings . Emanuel 's parents met during the 1950s in Chicago . Emanuel was born on November 29 , 1959 in Chicago , Illinois . His first name , Rahm ( רם ) means high or lofty in Hebrew . He has been described by his older brother Ezekiel , an oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania , as " quiet and observant " as a child . Ari , the youngest , is the co @-@ CEO of William Morris Endeavor , a talent agency with headquarters in Beverly Hills , California ; he also has a younger adopted sister , Shoshana . = = Education and upbringing = = While he lived in Chicago , Emanuel attended the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School . After his family moved to Wilmette , north of the city , Emanuel attended public schools : Romona School , Locust Junior High School , and New Trier West High School . He and his brothers attended summer camp in Israel , including the summer following the June 1967 Six @-@ Day War . Ezekiel has written that their father " did not believe in falsely building his sons ' self @-@ esteem by purposefully letting us win , or tolerating sloppy play . " About Rahm , he also wrote , Though fiercely intelligent ... he was not naturally inclined to sit at a desk and put in extra effort to turn a B into an A. As my father often said , without noting that the phrase applied to himself at that same age , " Rahm always tries to get the maximum for the minimum . " Rahm was encouraged by his mother to take ballet lessons and is a graduate of the Evanston School of Ballet , as well as a student of The Joel Hall Dance Center , where his children later took lessons . He won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet , but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College , a liberal arts school with a strong dance program . While an undergraduate , Emanuel was elected to the Sarah Lawrence Student Senate . He graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts , and went on to receive a Master of Arts in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985 . Emanuel took part in a two @-@ week civilian volunteer holiday , known as the Sar @-@ El , where , as a civilian volunteer , he assisted the Israel Defense Forces during the 1991 Gulf War , helping to repair truck brakes in one of Israel 's northern bases . While a high school student working part @-@ time at an Arby 's restaurant , Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger on a meat slicer , which was later infected from swimming in Lake Michigan . His finger was partially amputated due to the severity of the infection . = = Political staffer career = = Emanuel began his political career with the public interest and consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action . He went on to serve in a number of capacities in local and national politics , initially specializing in fundraising for Illinois campaigns , and then nationally . Emanuel worked for Democrat Paul Simon 's 1984 election to the U.S. Senate . He also worked as the national campaign director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1988 , and was senior advisor and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley 's successful initial campaign for mayor of Chicago , in 1989 . At the start of then @-@ Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton 's presidential primary campaign , Emanuel was appointed to direct the campaign 's finance committee . Emanuel insisted that Clinton schedule much time for fundraising and greatly delay campaigning in New Hampshire . Clinton embarked on an aggressive national fundraising campaign that allowed the campaign to keep buying television time as attacks on Clinton 's character threatened to swamp the campaign during the New Hampshire primary . Clinton 's primary rival , Paul Tsongas ( the New Hampshire Democratic primary winner ) , later withdrew , citing a lack of campaign funds . Richard Mintz , a Washington public relations consultant who worked with Emanuel on the campaign , spoke about the soundness of the idea : " It was that [ extra ] million dollars that really allowed the campaign to withstand the storm we had to ride out in New Hampshire [ over Clinton 's relationship with Gennifer Flowers and the controversy over his draft status during the Vietnam War ] . " Emanuel 's knowledge of the top donors in the country , and his rapport with " heavily Jewish " donors helped Clinton amass a then @-@ unheard @-@ of sum of $ 72 million . While working on the Clinton campaign Emanuel was a paid retainer of the investment bank Goldman Sachs . Following the campaign , Emanuel became a senior advisor to Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998 . In the White House , Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy . He was a leading strategist in White House efforts to institute NAFTA and universal health care , among other Clinton initiatives . Emanuel is known for his " take @-@ no @-@ prisoners style " that has earned him the nickname " Rahmbo . " Emanuel sent a dead fish in a box to a pollster who was late delivering polling results . On the night after the 1992 election , angry at Democrats and Republicans who " betrayed " them in the 1992 election , Emanuel stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign and began plunging a steak knife into the table and began rattling off names while shouting " Dead ! Dead ! Dead ! " . Before Tony Blair gave a pro @-@ Clinton speech during the impeachment crisis , Emanuel reportedly screamed at Blair " Don 't fuck this up ! " while Clinton was present . Blair and Clinton both burst into laughter . However , by 2007 friends of Emanuel were saying that he has " mellowed out " . Stories of his personal style have entered the popular culture , inspiring articles and websites that chronicle these and other quotes and incidents . The character Josh Lyman in The West Wing was said to be based on Emanuel , though executive producer Lawrence O 'Donnell denied this . = = Career in finance = = After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton , in 1998 Emanuel resigned from his position in the Clinton administration and joined the investment banking firm Wasserstein Perella , where he worked for 2 1 / 2 years . Although he did not have an MBA degree or prior banking experience , he became a managing director at the firm ’ s Chicago office in 1999 , and according to Congressional disclosures , made $ 16 @.@ 2 million in his two @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half @-@ years as a banker . At Wasserstein Perella , he worked on eight deals , including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC Communications . = = = Freddie Mac = = = Emanuel was named to the Board of Directors of Freddie Mac by President Clinton in 2000 . He earned at least $ 320 @,@ 000 during his time there , including later stock sales . During Emanuel 's time on the board , Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities . The Obama Administration rejected a request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel 's time as a director . The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight later accused the board of having " failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention . " Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 before his first bid for Congress . = = Congressional career = = = = = Elections = = = In 2002 , Emanuel pursued the U.S. House seat in the 5th district of Illinois , previously held by Rod Blagojevich , who successfully ran for governor of Illinois . His strongest opponent in the crowded primary of eight was former Illinois state representative Nancy Kaszak . During the primary , Edward Moskal , president of the Polish American Congress , a political action committee endorsing Kaszak , called Emanuel a " millionaire carpetbagger . " Emanuel won the primary and defeated Republican candidate Mark Augusti in the general election . Emanuel 's inaugural election to the House was the closest he ever had , as he won over 70 % of the vote in all of his re @-@ election bids . = = = Tenure = = = Emanuel was elected after the October 2002 joint Congressional resolution authorizing the Iraq War , and so did not vote on it . However , in the lead up to the resolution , Emanuel spoke out strongly in support of the war , urging a United States ' " muscular projection of force " in Iraq . Emanuel has been the focus of anti @-@ war protests for his support of funding bills for the war in Iraq , and his support , during Democratic party primaries , of Democratic candidates that were more hawkish . In January 2003 , Emanuel was named to the House Financial Services Committee and sat on the subcommittee that oversaw Freddie Mac . A few months later , Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer Leland Brendsel was forced out and the committee and subcommittee commenced more than a year of hearings into Freddie Mac . Emanuel skipped every hearing allegedly for reasons of avoiding any appearance of favoritism , impropriety , or conflict of interest . = = = House leadership = = = After his role in helping the Democrats win the 2006 elections , Emanuel was believed to be a leading candidate for the position of Majority Whip . Nancy Pelosi , who became the next Speaker of the House of Representatives , persuaded him not to challenge Jim Clyburn , but instead to succeed Clyburn in the role of Democratic Caucus Chairman . In return , Pelosi agreed to assign the caucus chair more responsibilities , including " aspects of strategy and messaging , incumbent retention , policy development and rapid @-@ response communications . " Caucus vice @-@ chair John Larson remained in his role instead of running for the chairman position . After Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that he did not fall within the bounds of orders set for the executive branch , Emanuel called for cutting off the $ 4 @.@ 8 million the Executive Branch provides for the Vice President 's office . = = = Positions on political issues = = = Social issues Emanuel is generally liberal on social issues . He has maintained a 100 @-@ percent pro @-@ choice voting record , supports LGBT rights including same @-@ sex marriage , and is a strong supporter of gun control , rated " F " by the NRA in December 2003 . He has also strongly supported the banning of numerous rifles based upon " sporting purposes " criteria . During his original 2002 campaign , Emanuel spoke in support of the goal of " to help make health care affordable and available for all Americans " . In his 2006 book , co @-@ authored with Bruce Reed , The Plan : Big Ideas for America , Emanuel advocated a three @-@ month compulsory universal service program for Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 . An expanded version was later proposed by Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign . Iraq war During his original 2002 campaign , Emanuel " indicated his support of President Bush 's position on Iraq , but said he believed the President needed to better articulate his position to the American people " . In the 2006 congressional primaries , Emanuel , then head of the Democratic congressional campaign committee , helped organize a run by Tammy Duckworth , an Iraq war veteran with no political experience , against grassroots candidate Christine Cegelis in Illinois ' 6th district . Expedited withdrawal from Iraq was a central point of Cegelis ' campaign and Duckworth opposed a withdrawal timetable . Middle east In June 2007 , Emanuel condemned an outbreak of Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip and criticized Arab countries for not applying the same kind of pressure on the Palestinians as they have on Israel . At a 2003 pro @-@ Israel rally in Chicago , Emanuel told the marchers that Israel was " ready for peace " but would not get there until Palestinians " turn away from the path of terror " . = = Democratic Party leadership = = = = = Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman = = = Emanuel assumed the position of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman ( DCCC ) after the death of the previous chair , Bob Matsui . Emanuel led the Democratic Party 's effort to capture the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections . The documentary HouseQuake , featuring Emanuel , chronicles those elections . After Emanuel 's election as chairman of the Democratic Caucus , Chris Van Hollen became committee chair for the 110th Congress . Emanuel had disagreements over Democratic election strategy with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean . Dean favored a " fifty @-@ state strategy " , building support for the Democratic Party over the long term , while Emanuel advocated a more tactical approach focusing attention on key districts . The Democratic Party gained 30 seats in the House in the 2006 elections and Emanuel received considerable praise for his stewardship of the DCCC , even from Illinois Republican Rep. Ray LaHood who said " He legitimately can be called the golden boy of the Democratic Party today . He recruited the right candidates , found the money and funded them , and provided issues for them . Rahm did what no one else could do in seven cycles . " However , he also faced some criticism for his failure to support some progressive candidates , as Howard Dean advocated . Emanuel aligned himself with the Democratic Leadership Council . = = = 2008 Presidential election = = = Emanuel declared in April 2006 that he would support Hillary Rodham Clinton should she pursue the presidency in 2008 . Emanuel remained close to Clinton since leaving the White House , talking strategy with her at least once a month as chairman of the DCCC . However , Emanuel 's loyalties came into conflict when his home @-@ state Senator , Barack Obama , expressed interest in the race . Asked in January 2007 , about his stance on the Democratic presidential nomination , he said : " I 'm hiding under the desk . I 'm very far under the desk , and I 'm bringing my paper and my phone . " Emanuel remained neutral in the race until June 4 , 2008 , the day after the final primary contests , when he endorsed Obama . = = White House Chief of Staff = = On November 6 , 2008 , Emanuel accepted the position of White House Chief of Staff for US President Barack Obama . He resigned his congressional seat effective January 2 , 2009 . A special primary to fill his vacated congressional seat was held on March 3 , 2009 , and the special general election on April 7 . John Fritchey , a candidate for that seat , said at a forum that Emanuel had told him he may be interested in running for the seat again in the future . Some Republican leaders criticized Emanuel 's appointment because they believed it went against Obama 's campaign promises of less divisive politics , given Emanuel 's reputation as a partisan Democrat . Republican Senator Lindsey Graham disagreed , saying : " This is a wise choice by President @-@ elect Obama . He 's tough but fair , honest , direct and candid . " Ira Forman , executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council , said that the choice indicated that Obama would not listen to the " wrong people " regarding the U.S. – Israel relationship . Some commentators opined that Emanuel would be good for the Israeli – Palestinian peace process because if Israeli leaders made excuses for not dismantling settlements , Emanuel would be tough and pressure the Israelis to comply . Some Palestinians expressed dismay at Emanuel 's appointment . Weeks after accepting the appointment , Emanuel participated on a panel of corporate chief executive officers sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and said , " You never want a serious crisis to go to waste . " The quote was taken out of context by some commentators as evidence " ... that the left supposedly wants to exploit circumstances to ram its agenda through . " Emanuel explained later , " ... what I said was , never allow a good crisis to go to waste when it 's an opportunity to do things that you had never considered , or that you didn 't think were possible . " In a 2009 article in The New York Times , Emanuel was characterized as being " perhaps the most influential chief of staff of a generation " . He has a reputation for his no @-@ holds @-@ barred negotiation style that involves " his share of shouting and cursing " . Ezekiel Emanuel has written , " The impatient , pushy Emanuel style is so well known that during a recent job interview I was asked , point @-@ blank , whether I had the level @-@ headed temperament the position required ..... [ A ] s obvious to our flaws are to others , it 's difficult to recognize them in ourselves . " At a January 2010 closed @-@ door meeting in the White House with liberal activists , Emanuel called them " fucking retarded " for planning to run TV ads attacking conservative Democrats who didn 't support Obama 's health @-@ care overhaul . After the remarks were quoted in a front @-@ page story of the Wall Street Journal , and after he was criticized by Sarah Palin , Emanuel apologized to organizations for the mentally handicapped for using the word " retarded . " But he never apologized to liberals . According to Jonathan Alter 's book , The Promise , Emanuel opposed Barack Obama 's plan for a broad health care reform , but Obama overrode him . Emanuel advocated a smaller plan because it could get bipartisan support . Emanuel wanted to expand coverage for children , and increase the number of single mothers eligible for Medicaid . For that reason , it was called " the Titanic plan . " As Chief of Staff , Emanuel would make his staff laugh . During a staff meeting , when Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra gave uniformly upbeat reports , Emanuel is said to have looked at him and said : " Whatever you 're taking , I want some . " Emanuel had a hand in war strategy , political maneuvering , communications and economic policy . Bob Woodward wrote in Obama 's Wars that Emanuel made a habit of telephoning CIA Director Leon Panetta and asking about the lethal drone strikes aimed at Al Qaeda , asking " Who did we get today ? " In 2010 , Emanuel was reported to have conflicts with other senior members of the president 's team and ideological clashes over policy . He was also the focal point of criticism from left @-@ leaning Democrats for the administration 's perceived move to the center . By September 2010 , with the Democrats anticipating heavy losses in midterm elections , this was said to precipitate Emanuel 's departure as Chief of Staff . = = Mayor of Chicago = = = = = Elections = = = = = = = 2011 = = = = On September 30 , 2010 , it was announced that Emanuel would leave his post as White House Chief of Staff to run for Mayor of Chicago . He was replaced by Pete Rouse on October 2 , 2010 . Emanuel 's eligibility for office was challenged on the basis of his lack of residency in Chicago for one year prior to the election . The Board of Elections and the Cook County Circuit Court affirmed his eligibility . A divided Court of Appeals reversed the Circuit Court , holding on January 24 , 2011 , that residency for purposes of a candidate is different from residency for purposes of being a voter . A further appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court resulted in a unanimous decision reversing the Court of Appeals and affirming Emanuel 's eligibility . Emanuel 's mayoral campaign was the inspiration for a satirical Twitter account called MayorEmanuel , which received over 43 @,@ 000 followers , more popular than Emanuel 's actual Twitter account . Emanuel announced on February 28 that if the author would reveal himself , he would donate $ 5 @,@ 000 to the charity of the author 's choice . When Chicago journalist Dan Sinker revealed himself , Emanuel donated the money to Young Chicago Authors , a community organization which helps young people with writing and publishing skills . Emanuel was elected on February 22 , 2011 with 55 % of the vote and was sworn in as the 55th Mayor of Chicago on May 16 , 2011 at the Pritzker Pavilion . At his inauguration were outgoing Mayor Richard M. Daley , Vice President Joe Biden , Labor Secretary Hilda Solis , Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner , and William M. Daley , brother of the outgoing mayor and who would later serve as White House Chief of Staff . Emanuel is Chicago 's first Jewish mayor . = = = = 2015 = = = = An August 2014 , Chicago Tribune poll reported Emanuel had a 35 % approval rating as mayor of Chicago . In 2015 , Emanuel won 56 percent of the vote in the run @-@ off election against Jesús " Chuy " García held on April 7 , 2015 . He had been hurt by sharp neighborhood criticism of his decision to shut down 50 public schools in black and Latino neighborhoods and his installation of red light cameras , together with anger at the high level of gun violence on the streets . On the other hand , he was supported by the business community and most elements of the Democratic party . = = = Tenure = = = Emanuel assembled a transition team from varied backgrounds . On November 16 , the city council voted unanimously to adopt the mayor 's first budget , which decreased the budget by $ 34 million and increased spending by $ 46 @.@ 2 million , supported by increasing fees and fines . Despite most Aldermen opposing cuts to library workers and the closure of mental health clinics , they ultimately supported it , calling it " honest " . At a news conference in November 2012 , Emanuel listed his top three priorities for the state legislature as security and pension reform , adding a casino to Chicago , and equal marriage rights for same @-@ sex couples . At a press conference with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn , who previously vetoed legislation to put a casino in Chicago , the two were " very close " to reaching a deal . = = = = Police and community relations = = = = In August 2012 , a federal lawsuit was filed by eleven Chicago police officers alleging they were removed from the mayoral security detail and replaced with officers who worked on Emanuel 's mayoral campaign , in violation of the 1983 Shakman Decree , which bars city officials from making political considerations in the hiring process . Rahm Emanuel faced a great deal of criticism for his handling of the October 20 , 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald . The dash @-@ cam video of the shooting was initially withheld , and only was released after a judge ordered it on November 24 , 2015 . After the video release , Emanuel was condemned for covering up the incident and allowing Chicago police to use excessive force against minorities . Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass wrote that the Emanuel administration withheld from the public the police dashboard camera video of the shooting in order to secure the re @-@ election . Emanuel responded to criticism of the shooting and how it was handled by firing police Superintendent Garry McCarthy . In early December , the federal Justice Department announced an investigation into the Chicago Police Department , a move which Emanuel initially called " misguided . " Illinois state legislator La Shawn Ford also introduced a bill to recall the mayor ( an effort most pundits claim is more symbolic than practical ) . Protests erupted soon after the release of the video , and on Black Friday protesters shut down part of the city 's Magnificent Mile . Public calls for resignation grew steadily over this period , including a well @-@ circulated op @-@ ed published in The New York Times . By early December , Emanuel 's approval rating had sunk to 18 % , with 67 % of Chicagoans disapproving of his job performance and slightly more than half of those polled calling for his resignation . During the week of December 10 , protestors blocked streets and continued to call for Emanuel to resign . Additional protests against Emanuel and Chicago 's Police Department were held on the city 's busy Michigan Avenue shopping area on December 24 , 2015 . On December 26 , 2015 , a police officer killed two people in another shooting , including a woman whom the officer had shot by mistake . On December 28 , Emanuel announced that he was cutting short his vacation in Cuba to deal with the crisis . Emanuel announced several changes to the Chicago police department on December 30 , including doubling the number of Tasers issued to officers . On New Year 's Eve the Emanuel administration released emails revealing they had sought to coordinate with independent agencies such as the Independent Police Review Authority regarding public relations after the shooting . The same day The New Yorker added to the wave of negative media attention surrounding the mayor by publishing " The Sudden But Well @-@ Deserved Fall of Rahm Emanuel " , an article critically reevaluating Emanuel 's legacy as a political operative since the early 90s . = = = = Public education = = = = In 2012 , during the contract negotiations between the city the Chicago Teachers Union ( CTU ) , compromise could not be reached over issues like health insurance increases , teacher evaluations , and seniority pay increases . On August 8 , 2012 , the CTU voted 90 % to authorize a strike . On September 10 , the CTU began a strike after CTU President Lewis declared that negotiations with the city were not succeeding . On September 14 , the CTU reached a tentative agreement with the city which included preferences for teachers who have been laid off due to a school closing to be hired in another school and student test scores having less of a role in teacher evaluations than the city had originally planned . This tentative agreement did not hold , and the strike continued , after which Emanuel announced his intention to seek a legal injunction , forcing teachers back to work . On September 17 , Emanuel 's efforts to end the strike stalled as the walkout went into the second week . Delegates from the CTU voted to end the strike on September 18 , 2012 , and students began their return to the schools the following day . On September 17 , 2013 , Emanuel 's appointed Chicago Board of Education announced the closing of 50 Chicago public schools , 49 elementary schools and a high school — the largest school closure in Chicago history . = = = = Public health = = = = On August 16 , 2011 , Emanuel unveiled " Healthy Chicago , " the city ’ s first @-@ ever public health blueprint with the Chicago Department of Public Health 's Commissioner Bechara Choucair . Emanuel initiated the consolidation of City Council committees from 19 to 16 in a cost control effort . On October 30 , 2012 , Emanuel voiced his support for the demolition of the abandoned Prentice Women 's Hospital Building , in order for Northwestern University , which owns the property , to build a new facility . Preservationists supported historical landmark status . Days later , the Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted that the building met landmark status criteria then reversed their decision later in the same meeting . On November 15 , a judge granted a temporary stay of the decision in order for a lawsuit filed by preservation coalitions against the landmark commission to be heard . = = = = Transparency = = = = Emanuel rejected requests under Illinois ' Freedom of Information Act from The Chicago Tribune for various communication and information logs for himself and his staff , labelling it " unduly burdensome . " After a second request by the Tribune , they were informed that 90 percent of the emails had been deleted by Emanuel and his top aides . As a result , Emanuel came under fire for going against his campaign promise to create " the most open , accountable , and transparent government that the City of Chicago has ever seen . " = = = = Tax @-@ exempt status of Lollapalooza = = = = Lollapalooza , an annual summer music festival in Grant Park , was exempt from taxation . Emanuel 's brother Ari is the co @-@ CEO of William Morris Endeavor , which co @-@ owns the event . In 2011 Rahm Emanuel asked the City Council to appoint an independent third party negotiator , to avoid having the negotiation seen as biased . Although the deal was reached before Emanuel took office , tax breaks must be negotiated every year . It was later revealed that the festival received its tax exemption for 2011 in the final days of the Daley administration . In 2012 , Lollapalooza paid taxes for the first time in seven years and extended its contract to host in Grant Park through 2021 . = = Electoral history = = Mayor of Chicago US House of Representatives = = Personal life = = Emanuel and his wife , Amy Merritt Rule , have a son and two daughters and the family lives in the Ravenswood neighborhood on Chicago 's north side . Rule converted to Judaism shortly before their wedding . Emanuel is a close friend of fellow Chicagoan David Axelrod , chief strategist for Obama 's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaign , and Axelrod signed the ketuba , the Jewish marriage contract , at Emanuel 's wedding . The Emanuels are members of the Chicago synagogue Anshe Sholom B 'nai Israel . Rabbi Asher Lopatin of the congregation described Emanuel 's family as " a very involved Jewish family , " adding that " Amy was one of the teachers for a class for children during the High Holidays two years ago . " Emanuel has said of his Judaism : " I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me . " Emanuel 's children attend the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago 's south side . Each year during the winter holidays , Emanuel takes a family trip where his children can be exposed to other cultures and parts of the world . Prior family trips have been to Vietnam , India , Kenya , Zambia , and South America . His 2015 holiday trip was scheduled for the island of Cuba . Emanuel trains for and participates in triathlons . In 2011 , he scored 9th out of 80 competitors in his age group . A passionate cyclist , he rides a custom @-@ built , state @-@ of @-@ the @-@ art Parlee road bike . = = Works = =
= New York State Route 268 = New York State Route 268 ( NY 268 ) is a state highway located in southwestern Delaware County , New York , in the United States . It runs from NY 97 in Hancock north over 10 miles ( 16 km ) to a bridge over Cannonsville Reservoir near the former site of the hamlet of Rock Rift in Tompkins . There , it ends at a junction with NY 10 . NY 268 meets the Quickway ( NY 17 ) east of the Hancock village limits . From Hancock to the NY 17 interchange , NY 268 follows the pre @-@ Quickway routing of NY 17 . Between NY 17 and NY 10 , the route follows the former alignment of New York State Route 236 , a connector between then @-@ NY 17 and NY 10 that existed during the 1930s . In the floods of 2006 some of the areas along this rural highway suffered serious landslides , leading to a temporary closure of the road . = = Route description = = NY 268 begins at an intersection with NY 97 in eastern Hancock . The route heads northeast , paralleling the Quickway ( NY 17 ) and following the east branch of the Delaware River 's northern bank through the town of Hancock toward the hamlet of Cadosia . South of the hamlet , NY 268 connects to NY 17 at exit 87A ; however , there is no access between NY 268 and westbound NY 17 . Just past the exit , NY 268 leaves the pre @-@ Quickway routing of NY 17 and follows Cadosia Creek north through a large valley into Cadosia . Past Cadosia , NY 268 proceeds through a heavily rural area of Delaware County . Upon entering the town of Tompkins , the route passes through Kerry Siding , a small community composed of less than a dozen structures . Farther north , Cadosia Creek reaches its source 2 miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) from the town line and midway between Kerry Siding and Apex , another small hamlet situated on the route . NY 268 continues past Apex to the eastern portion of the Cannonsville Reservoir , which it crosses by way of a 184 @.@ 1 @-@ meter @-@ long ( 604 ft ) bridge before terminating at NY 10 on the northern bank of the reservoir . All of NY 268 is part of New York State Bicycle Route 17 , which continues southeast toward Port Jervis on NY 97 and west toward Deposit on NY 10 . = = History = = The segment of modern NY 268 between the Hancock hamlet of Cadosia and NY 10 in Tompkins was originally designated NY 236 c . 1931 . At its southern end , the route connected to NY 17 , which followed current NY 268 southwest into the village of Hancock at the time . The NY 236 designation was removed c . 1939 ; however , the route remained state @-@ maintained long afterward as NY 989 and later NY 990P , both unsigned reference route designations . In the mid @-@ 1960s , NY 17 was rerouted onto a new limited @-@ access highway , known as the Quickway , in the vicinity of Hancock and Cadosia . The former routing of NY 17 remained state maintained as an extension of NY 989 and NY 990P between the two locations . All of NY 990P was redesignated as NY 268 between 1989 and 1993 . In the floods of 2006 between June 25 and July 5 , some of the areas along NY 268 suffered serious landslides and , as a result , was temporarily closed off by the New York State Department of Transportation . The road was reopened to traffic in mid @-@ July . = = Major intersections = = The entire route is in Delaware County .
= Pirates of the Caribbean : Armada of the Damned = Pirates of the Caribbean : Armada of the Damned is a cancelled action @-@ adventure role @-@ playing video game that was being developed by Propaganda Games for the Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , and Microsoft Windows platforms . Originally set to be published by Disney Interactive Studios , it was the first attempt to create an open world game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise . The project was cancelled in October 2010 , soon before the closure of Propaganda Games . Set before events of The Curse of the Black Pearl , the game was to follow James Sterling , a pirate captain whose main mission was to travel across the Caribbean Sea to make a reputation for himself . Although little was unveiled about the story , it was intended to be independent from the films ' main arc and include new characters . Gameplay was to have emphasized role @-@ playing elements , including real @-@ time combat and weapon customization . After its announcement at 2009 's Electronic Entertainment Expo , the game received positive responses from most video game journalists . Daemon Hatfield from IGN thought it " a promising action RPG " , while GamesRadar praised the gameplay , comparing it to Assassin 's Creed . Journalists were disappointed when Disney cancelled the game several months before its planned release date . = = Gameplay = = Armada of the Damned was conceived as an action @-@ adventure role @-@ playing video game played from a third @-@ person perspective and set in an open world environment based on the Pirates of the Caribbean universe . The player was to take the role of James Sterling , a pirate captain whose main mission was to travel across the Caribbean Sea and make a reputation for himself . Some of Sterling 's features could be directly customized by the player , although Armada of the Damned was centered on a choice system that would affect the character 's appearance , personality , weapons , attacks , quests , and story developments . Although most of the character 's specifications could be customized , some elements were to be determined by the game 's two character types , Legendary and Dreaded . Choosing a type at the beginning of the game affected several gameplay and story elements . Each character type had unique features that shaped the way the game was experienced , including how the environment and non @-@ playable characters interacted with the player . Combat in Armada of the Damned was split between land and sea . Sterling had a light and a heavy attack , which could be combined to create combos that increased the damage he inflicted . Correct timing lead to a bonus attack at the end of the combo that improved its strength . Sterling could also curse his opponents . The curse was a spell that weakened all surrounding enemies when it was used as a finishing move . All attacks , special moves , and combinations varied depending of the pirate type chosen and could be upgraded at will . In the game , the player was given a customizable ship named the Nemesis , commanded by Sterling and his crew . The player 's choices in the game would determine the crew they could hire , which in turn affected the ship 's attributes . The vessel could be used to explore the Caribbean Sea and battle other crafts . During combat , the player could maneuver the ship , fire the cannons , or board the enemy vessel for hand @-@ to @-@ hand combat . If the enemy craft was boarded and the enemy crew was eliminated , the player received more loot than if it was destroyed . Loot salvaged in these battles could be sold in markets . = = Plot = = Little information was revealed about Armada of the Damned 's plot . Sterling had no connection with the film series ' characters and story arcs . The game and the films shared the same universe , but the former was to take place before the events of the latter . Sterling , raised in a poor family , was a young adventurer with dreams of fame and fortune who decided to become a pirate . Although he was killed on his first voyage , Sterling was revived by supernatural forces which gave him a second chance . After these events , the player had the option to follow two paths : become either a Legendary or a Dreaded pirate . On the Legendary path , the player would be a well @-@ respected pirate who acted in good faith . On the Dreaded path , the player would be mysterious and feared . = = Development = = Propaganda Games , a studio founded in 2005 and owned by Disney Interactive Studios , developed Armada of the Damned . The studio was established by former employees of EA Canada and focused on the development of action @-@ adventure games for Disney . Propaganda 's first game , Turok ( 2008 ) , became a commercial success , selling more than one million copies . After Turok 's release , the studio began working on a project for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise . Propaganda 's vice president and general manager Dan Tudge said that this was because " it is a universe fans will be dying to explore " . The studio revealed that they worked on several scripts to improve the gameplay focus . Armada of the Damned included an interactive choice system to shape the game , making choices an important feature . According to game director Alex Peters , Armada of the Damned 's characters were developed unattached from those that appear in the film series . " We were very clear that we didn 't want to be associated with being a movie game " , he commented . This desire led to the creation of James Sterling , a character that would fit the studio 's needs and feel familiar to the characters featured in the films . An original music score was written for Armada of the Damned , while the musical themes from the films were " treated tastefully and only used on occasion . " After the game 's cancellation , the score was used in Lego Pirates of the Caribbean : The Video Game , which was released in 2011 . = = Cancellation = = During Armada of the Damned 's development , Propaganda Games also worked on Tron : Evolution , which was released in December 2010 . In October 2010 , Disney Interactive Studios announced that Armada of the Damned 's development team would be laid off as part of a restructuring program . However , Propaganda would finish development of Tron : Evolution and its post @-@ launch downloadable content . The restructuring reduced the studio 's staff by more than 100 people and led to the cancellation of Armada of the Damned . The remaining development team worked to finish Tron : Evolution , whose team was also affected by the lay offs . However , after the game failed to attain critical or commercial success , Disney cancelled its planned downloadable content and closed Propaganda Games . = = Reception = = After its announcement at 2009 's Electronic Entertainment Expo , Armada of the Damned was met with positive reactions from most video game journalists . Daemon Hatfield from IGN named it " a promising action RPG , " elaborating that " even though Armada of the Damned uses the Pirates of the Caribbean license ... [ it ] is its own game , an adventure that lets players create their own pirate and wander the seas of the Caribbean seeking fame and fortune . " Chris Antista from GamesRadar praised its gameplay , comparing it with Assassin ’ s Creed . He stated that " the game has spectacularly preserved the spirit of the films , and they ’ ve done it without parasitically clinging to moments you ’ ve already seen on the big screen . " An editor from the Official Xbox Magazine speculated that since the first Pirates of the Caribbean film was " followed by a progressive descent into mediocrity and Krakens with twirly tentacles in the sequels , any game that 's set before the first movie is likely to be amazing . " Matt Miller from Game Informer was impressed with the game , praising its Mass Effect @-@ like speech and combat systems . He commented that " we didn 't go into our meeting for Pirates with great expectations , but came out pleasantly amazed at the potential of the game . " Joystiq 's Mike Schramm compared the game to Fable , noting that " what is there looks good – the combat was solid , if a little shallow , and the graphics and polish are well on their way . " Journalists expressed disappointment when Disney reduced the staff at Propaganda Games and cancelled development of the game several months before its planned release date . IGN 's Ryan Clements stated that " it 's a shame that [ Armada of the Damned 's ] potential won 't be realized at this point in time . " Justin Towell , writing for GamesRadar , was frustrated by Disney 's decision : " It makes no sense to completely abandon work on a game that 's clearly not that far off completion . " Game Informer 's Jeff Marchiafava also expressed sadness about the cancellation , saying " What kind of noise does a depressed pirate make ? Because we would totally be making that noise right now . "
= Feminism in India = Feminism in India is a set of movements aimed at defining , establishing , and defending equal political , economic , and social rights and equal opportunities for Indian women . It is the pursuit of women 's rights within the society of India . Like their feminist counterparts all over the world , feminists in India seek gender equality : the right to work for equal wages , the right to equal access to health and education , and equal political rights . Indian feminists also have fought against culture @-@ specific issues within India 's patriarchal society , such as inheritance laws and the practice of widow immolation known as Sati . The history of feminism in India can be divided into three phases : the first phase , beginning in the mid @-@ nineteenth century , initiated when male European colonists began to speak out against the social evils of Sati ; the second phase , from 1915 to Indian independence , when Gandhi incorporated women 's movements into the Quit India movement and independent women 's organisations began to emerge ; and finally , the third phase , post @-@ independence , which has focused on fair treatment of women at home after marriage , in the work force and right to political parity . Despite the progress made by Indian feminist movements , women living in modern India still face many issues of discrimination . India 's patriarchal culture has made the process of gaining land @-@ ownership rights and access to education challenging . In the past two decades , there has also emerged a disturbing trend of sex @-@ selective abortion . To Indian feminists , these are seen as injustices worth struggling against . As in the West , there has been some criticism of feminist movements in India . They have especially been criticised for focusing too much on women already privileged , and neglecting the needs and representation of poorer or lower caste women . This has led to the creation of caste @-@ specific feminist organisations and movements . = = Definition in the Indian context = = Women 's role in Pre @-@ colonial social structures reveals that feminism was theorised differently in India than in the West . In India , women 's issues first began to be addressed when the state commissioned a report on the status of women to a group of feminist researchers and activists . The report recognised the fact that in India , women were oppressed under a system of structural hierarchies and injustices . During this period , Indian feminists were influenced by the Western debates being conducted about violence against women . However , due to the difference in the historical and social culture of India , the debate in favour of Indian women had to be conducted creatively and certain Western ideas had to be rejected . Women 's issues began to gain an international prominence when the decade of 1975 – 1985 was declared the United Nations Decade for Women . Historical circumstances and values in India have caused feminists to develop a feminism that differs from Western feminism . For example , the idea of women as " powerful " is accommodated into patriarchal culture through religion , which has retained visibility in all sections of society . This has provided women with traditional " cultural spaces . " Furthermore , in the West the notion of " self " rests in competitive individualism where people are described as " born free yet everywhere in chains . " In India the individual is usually considered to be just one part of the larger social collective . Survival of the individual is dependent upon cooperation , and self @-@ denial for the greater good is valued . Indian women negotiate survival through an array of oppressive patriarchal family structures : age , ordinal status , relationship to men through family of origin , marriage and procreation as well as patriarchal attributes . Examples of patriarchal attributes include : dowry , siring sons etc . , kinship , caste , community , village , market and the state . It should however be noted that several communities in India , such as the Nairs of Kerala , Shettys of Mangalore , certain Maratha clans , and Bengali families exhibit matriarchal tendencies . In these communities , the head of the family is the oldest woman rather than the oldest man . Sikh culture is also regarded as relatively gender @-@ neutral . In India , of communities recognised in the national Constitution as Scheduled Tribes , " some ... [ are ] matriarchal and matrilineal " " and thus have been known to be more egalitarian . " According to interviewer Anuj Kumar , Manipur , " has a matriarchal society " , but this may not be a scholarly assessment . This is because though mothers there are in forefront of most of the social activism , the society has always been patriarchal . Their women power is visible because of historical reasons . Manipur was ruled by strong dynasties and the need for expansions of borders , crushing any outsider threats , etc. engaged the men . So , women had to take charge of home @-@ front . In Muslim families , women and men are considered equal , but not in the westernised sense . The Quran teaches that the minds of males and females work differently and are generally different biologically . Therefore , Islam grants different rights to the husband and wife . One such right which the wife owes to her husband is being head of the household . The heterogeneity of the Indian experience reveals that there are multiple patriarchies , contributing to the existence of multiple feminisms . Hence , feminism in India is not a singular theoretical orientation ; it has changed over time in relation to historical and cultural realities , levels of consciousness , perceptions and actions of individual women , and women as a group . The widely used definition is " An awareness of women 's oppression and exploitation in society , at work and within the family , and conscious action by women and men to change this situation . " Acknowledging sexism in daily life and attempting to challenge and eliminate it through deconstructing mutually exclusive notions of femininity and masculinity as biologically determined categories opens the way towards an equitable society for both men and women . The male and female dichotomy of polar opposites with the former oppressing the latter at all times is refuted in the Indian context because it was men who initiated social reform movements against various social evils . Patriarchy is just one of the hierarchies . Relational hierarchies between women within the same family are more adverse . Here women are pitted against one another . Not all women are powerless at all times . There have been intense debates within the Indian women 's movements about the relationship between Western and Indian feminisms . Many Indian feminists simultaneously claim a specific " Indian " sensitivity as well as an international feminist solidarity with groups and individuals worldwide . The rise of liberal feminism in the West in the 1970s focused deeply on demands for equal opportunities in education and employment , as well as ending violence against women . To a large extent , the emerging feminist movement in India was influenced by Western ideals . These called for education and equal rights , but also adapted their appeals to local issues and concerns , such as dowry @-@ related violence against women , Sati , sex selective abortion and custodial rape . Some Indian feminists have suggested that these issues are not specifically " Indian " in nature but rather a reflexion of a wider trend of patriarchal oppression of women . = = History = = Unlike the Western feminist movement , India 's movement was initiated by men , and later joined by women . The efforts of these men included abolishing sati , which was a widow 's death by burning on her husband 's funeral pyre , abolishing the custom of child marriage , abolishing the disfiguring of widows , introducing the marriage of upper caste Hindu widows , promoting women 's education , obtaining legal rights for women to own property , and requiring the law to acknowledge women 's status by granting them basic rights in matters such as adoption . The 19th century was the period that saw a majority of women 's issues come under the spotlight and reforms began to be made . Much of the early reforms for Indian women were conducted by men . However , by the late 19th century they were joined in their efforts by their wives , sisters , daughters , protegees and other individuals directly affected by campaigns such as those carried out for women 's education . By the late 20th century , women gained greater autonomy through the formation of independent women 's own organisations . By the late thirties and forties a new narrative began to be constructed regarding " women 's activism " . This was newly researched and expanded with the vision to create ' logical ' and organic links between feminism and Marxism , as well as with anti @-@ communalism and anti @-@ casteism , etc . The Constitution of India did guarantee ' equality between the sexes , ' which created a relative lull in women 's movements until the 1970s . During the formative years of women 's rights movements , the difference between the sexes was more or less taken for granted in that their roles , functions , aims and desires were different . As a result , they were not only to be reared differently but treated differently also . Over the course of time , this difference itself became a major reason for initiating women 's movements . Early 19th century reformers argued that the difference between men and women was no reason for the subjection of women in society . However , later reformers were of the opinion that indeed it was this particular difference that subjugated women to their roles in society , for example , as mothers . Therefore , there was a need for the proper care of women 's rights . With the formation of women 's organisations and their own participation in campaigns , their roles as mothers was again stressed but in a different light : this time the argument was for women 's rights to speech , education and emancipation . However , the image of women with the mother as a symbol underwent changes over time – from an emphasis on family to the creation of an archetypal mother figure , evoking deep , often atavistic images . = = = First phase : 1850 – 1915 = = = The colonial venture into modernity brought concepts of democracy , equality and individual rights . The rise of the concept of nationalism and introspection of discriminatory practices brought about social reform movements related to caste and gender relations . This first phase of feminism in India was initiated by men to uproot the social evils of sati ( widow immolation ) , to allow widow remarriage , to forbid child marriage , and to reduce illiteracy , as well as to regulate the age of consent and to ensure property rights through legal intervention . In addition to this , some upper caste Hindu women rejected constraints they faced under Brahminical traditions . However , efforts for improving the status of women in Indian society were somewhat thwarted by the late nineteenth century , as nationalist movements emerged in India . These movements resisted ' colonial interventions in gender relations ' particularly in the areas of family relations . In the mid to late nineteenth century , there was a national form of resistance to any colonial efforts made to ' modernise ' the Hindu family . This included the Age of Consent controversy that erupted after the government tried to raise the age of marriage for women . Several Indian states were ruled by women during British colonial advance including Jhansi ( Rani Laxmibai ) , Kittur ( Rani Chennama ) , Bhopal ( Quidisa Begum ) and Punjab ( Jind Kaur ) . = = = Second Phase : 1915 – 1947 = = = During this period the struggle against colonial rule intensified . Nationalism became the pre @-@ eminent cause . Claiming Indian superiority became the tool of cultural revivalism resulting in an essentialising model of Indian womanhood similar to that of Victorian womanhood : special yet separated from public space . Gandhi legitimised and expanded Indian women 's public activities by initiating them into the non @-@ violent civil disobedience movement against the British Raj . He exalted their feminine roles of caring , self @-@ abnegation , sacrifice and tolerance ; and carved a niche for those in the public arena . Peasant women played an important role in the rural satyagrahas of Borsad and Bardoli . Women @-@ only organisations like All India Women 's Conference ( AIWC ) and the National Federation of Indian Women ( NFIW ) emerged . Women were grappling with issues relating to the scope of women 's political participation , women 's franchise , communal awards , and leadership roles in political parties . The 1920s was a new era for Indian women and is defined as ' feminism ' that was responsible for the creation of localised women 's associations . These associations emphasised women 's education issues , developed livelihood strategies for working @-@ class women , and also organised national level women 's associations such as the All India Women 's Conference . AIWC was closely affiliated with the Indian National Congress . Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi , it worked within the nationalist and anti @-@ colonialist freedom movements . This made the mass mobilisation of women an integral part of Indian nationalism . Women therefore were a very important part of various nationalist and anti @-@ colonial efforts , including the civil disobedience movements in the 1930s . After independence , the All India Women 's Conference continued to operate and in 1954 the Indian Communist Party formed its own women 's wing known as the National Federation of Indian Women . However , feminist agendas and movements became less active right after India 's 1947 independence , as the nationalist agendas on nation building took precedence over feminist issues . Women 's participation in the struggle for freedom developed their critical consciousness about their role and rights in independent India . This resulted in the introduction of the franchise and civic rights of women in the Indian constitution . There was provision for women 's upliftment through affirmative action , maternal health and child care provision ( crèches ) , equal pay for equal work etc . The state adopted a patronising role towards women . For example , India 's constitution states that women are a " weaker section " of the population , and therefore need assistance to function as equals . Thus women in India did not have to struggle for basic rights as did women in the West . The utopia ended soon when the social and cultural ideologies and structures failed to honour the newly acquired concepts of fundamental rights and democracy . = = = Post @-@ 1947 = = = Post independence feminists began to redefine the extent to which women were allowed to engage in the workforce . Prior to independence , most feminists accepted the sexual divide within the labour force . However , feminists in the 1970s challenged the inequalities that had been established and fought to reverse them . These inequalities included unequal wages for women , relegation of women to ' unskilled ' spheres of work , and restricting women as a reserve army for labour . In other words , the feminists ' aim was to abolish the free service of women who were essentially being used as cheap capital . Feminist class @-@ consciousness also came into focus in the 1970s , with feminists recognising the inequalities not just between men and women but also within power structures such as caste , tribe , language , religion , region , class etc . This also posed as a challenge for feminists while shaping their overreaching campaigns as there had to be a focus within efforts to ensure that fulfilling the demands of one group would not create further inequalities for another . Now , in the early twenty @-@ first century , the focus of the Indian feminist movement has gone beyond treating women as useful members of society and a right to parity , but also having the power to decide the course of their personal lives and the right of self @-@ determination . In 1966 Indira Gandhi became the first female Prime Minister of India . She served as prime minister of India for three consecutive terms ( 1966 – 77 ) and a fourth term from 1980 until she was assassinated in 1984 . The state of Kerala is often viewed as the ideal progressive leader in the women ’ s rights movement in India among states . Kerala maintains very high relative levels of female literacy and women ’ s health , as well as greater female inheritance and property rights . For example , a 1998 study conducted by Bina Agarwal found that while only 13 % of all women in India with landowning fathers inherited that land as daughters , 24 % of such women were able to do so in the state of Kerala . This is important because it has been shown that measures to improve such access to property and economic independence through channels such as education not only directly improve women ’ s wellbeing and capabilities , but also reduce their risk of exposure to marital or any sort of domestic violence . In 2014 , an Indian family court in Mumbai ruled that a husband objecting to his wife wearing a kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear a sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by the husband and can be a ground to seek divorce . The wife was thus granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27 ( 1 ) ( d ) of Special Marriage Act , 1954 . In 2016 a judgment of the Delhi high court was made public in which it was ruled that the eldest female member of a Hindu Undivided Family can be its " Karta " . = = Issues = = Despite " on @-@ paper " advancements , many problems still remain which inhibit women from fully taking advantage of new rights and opportunities in India . There are many traditions and customs that have been an important part of Indian culture for hundreds of years . Religious laws and expectations , or " personal laws " enumerated by each specific religion , often conflict with the Indian Constitution , eliminating rights and powers women should legally have . Despite these crossovers in legality , the Indian government does not interfere with religion and the personal laws they hold . Religions , like Hinduism , call for women to be faithful servants to God and their husbands . They have a term called pativrata that describes a wife who has accepted service and devotion to her husband and his family as her ultimate religion and duty . Indian society is largely composed of hierarchical systems within families and communities . These hierarchies can be broken down into age , sex , ordinal position , kinship relationships ( within families ) , and caste , lineage , wealth , occupations , and relationship to ruling power ( within the community ) . When hierarchies emerge within the family based on social convention and economic need , girls in poorer families suffer twice the impact of vulnerability and stability . From birth , girls are automatically entitled to less ; from playtime , to food , to education , girls can expect to always be entitled to less than their brothers . Girls also have less access to their family 's income and assets , which is exacerbated among poor , rural Indian families . From the start , it is understood that females will be burdened with strenuous work and exhausting responsibilities for the rest of their lives , always with little to no compensation or recognition . India is also a patriarchal society , which , by definition , describes cultures in which males as fathers or husbands are assumed to be in charge and the official heads of households . A patrilineal system governs the society , where descent and inheritance are traced through the male line and men are generally in control of the distribution of family resources . These traditions and ways of Indian life have been in effect for so long that this type of lifestyle is what women have become accustomed to and expect . Indian women often do not take full advantage of their constitutional rights because they are not properly aware or informed of them . Women also tend to have poor utilisation of voting rights because they possess low levels of political awareness and sense of political efficacy . Women are not often encouraged to become informed about issues . Due to this , political parties do not invest much time in female candidates because there is a perception that they are a " wasted investment . " The female @-@ to @-@ male ratio in India is 933 to 1000 , showing that there are numerically fewer women in the country than men . This is due to several factors , including infanticides , most commonly among female infants , and the poor care of female infants and childbearing women . Although outlawed , infanticides are still highly popular in rural India , and are continuing to become even more prominent . This is due to the fact , most especially in rural areas , that families cannot afford female children because of the dowry they must pay when their daughter gets married . Like infanticide , the payment of dowry is also illegal , but is still a frequent and prevalent occurrence in rural India . Women are considered to be " worthless " by their husbands if they are not " able " to produce a male child , and can often face much abuse if this is the case . = = = Birth ratio = = = Between the years of 1991 to 2001 , the female @-@ male ratio of the population of India fell from 94 @.@ 5 girls per 100 boys to 92 @.@ 7 girls per 100 boys . Some parts of the country , such as Kerala , did not experience such a decline , but in the richer Indian states of Punjab , Haryana , Gujarat , and Maharashtra , the female @-@ male ratio fell very sharply ( the female @-@ male ratios in these states were between 79 @.@ 3 and 87 @.@ 8 ) . This is evidence of natality inequality , and an indication that sex @-@ selective abortion has become more pervasive . The Indian parliament has banned the use of sex determination techniques for foetuses due to this , but enforcement of this law has been largely ignored . = = = Marriage = = = Most of the average Indian woman 's life is spent in marriage ; many women are still married before the legal age of 18 , and the incidence of non @-@ marriage is low in India . Childbearing and raising children are the priorities of early adulthood for Indian women . Thus , if they enter the workforce at all , it is far later than Indian men . Urban Indian men reach the peak of their labour force participation between the ages of 25 and 29 , while urban Indian women do so between the ages of 40 and 44 . Because of this , women have less time for the acquisition of skills and fewer opportunities for job improvements . There is a poor representation of women in the Indian workforce . Females have a ten percent higher drop @-@ out rate than males from middle and primary schools , as well as lower levels of literacy than men . Since unemployment is also high in India , it is easy for employers to manipulate the law , especially when it comes to women , because it is part of Indian culture for women not to argue with men . Additionally , labour unions are insensitive to women 's needs . Women also have to settle for jobs that comply with their obligations as wives , mothers , and homemakers . = = = Muslim personal law ( MPL ) = = = One of the major issues are aspects of sharia ( Islamic law ) known as Muslim personal law ( MPL ) or Muslim family law . Some of the thorny issues regarding the way in which MPL has thus far been formulated include polygyny , divorce , custody of children , maintenance and marital property . In addition , there are also more macro issues regarding the underlying assumptions of such legislation , for example , the assumption of the man as head of the household . = = = Dress code = = = Another issue that concerns women is the dress code expected of them . Islam requires both men and women to dress modestly ; this concept is known as hijab and covers a wide interpretation of behavior and garments . There is mixed opinion among feminists over extremes of externally imposed control . Women from other religions are also expected to follow dress codes . = = Theology = = = = = Hindu feminism = = = In the Hindu religion , there has been partial success in terms of gender equality reform laws and family law . While this is a major advancement relative to other religions in India , it is still not a complete triumph in terms of feminism and relieving oppression . Gandhi came up with the term stree shakti ( women power ) for the concept of womanhood . In the Hindu religion , Gods are not exclusively male . Hinduism sheds a positive light on femininity ; females are considered to complement and complete their male counterparts . It is important to note that both the deity of knowledge and the deity of wealth are female . There has been some criticism from Dalit groups that Indian feminism tends to represent " upper caste " and upper class Hindu women , while ignoring and marginalising the interests of Dalit women . Debates on caste and gender oppression have been furthered by Other Backward Class ( OBC ) members of different political parties , arguing in state assemblies that " lower caste " women 's interests are best represented by women from these castes . Working towards this end , women within Dalit castes have formed organisations such as the All India Dalit Women 's Forum and the National Federation of Dalit Women and Dalit Solidarity , which focus on the gendered implications of caste based violence and oppression , such as the ways in which Dalit women suffer from urban poverty and displacement . = = = Islamic feminism = = = The Hindu and Muslim communities in India were treated differently by the government in that separate types of concessions were made for each community in order to accommodate their separate religious laws and regulations . The case of Shah Bano begun in 1985 was one such example of Rajiv Gandhi attempting to make " concessions " for the Muslim community to in turn secure support for the Congress . Shah Bano , a 73 @-@ year @-@ old Muslim woman , was divorced by her husband after forty @-@ three years of marriage . According to the Sharia or Muslim Law , her husband was not required to pay her alimony . Shah Bano challenged this decision in the Supreme Court , which ultimately ruled in her favour and ordered her husband to pay her a monthly maintenance allowance . This caused chaos amongst the Muslim clerics who denounced the judgement and suggested that their religion , Islam was under attack in the country . In a fear of losing overall Muslim support , Rajiv succumbed to the pressures of the Conservative Moulvis from Muslims community and his own party and backed the Muslim Women ( Protection of Rights on Divorce ) Bill which restricts alimony for Muslim Women only for 90 days after divorce . This caused an outcry from Muslim feminists and Hindu nationalists who found the appeasement of Muslim males by the Congress for political purposes wrong and opportunistic . Feminism was challenged by various minority groups for not entirely addressing the needs of minority populations . It was suggested that ' mainstream ' feminism was upper caste and Hindu in its orientation and did not address the concerns of minority women . This led to the formation of the Awaaz @-@ e @-@ Niswaan ( The Voice of Women ) in 1987 in Mumbai in largely Muslim part of the city . The Muslim community has personal laws that often were considered harmful to the rights of Muslim women . The Muslim personal law allows Polygamy but not Polyandry . = = Impact = = Western @-@ educated Indians introduced equality in the early nineteenth century . However , the term did not gain meaning or become an operational principle in Indian life until the country gained independence in 1947 and adopted a democratic government . The Indian Constitution then granted equality , freedom from discrimination based on gender or religion , and guaranteed religious freedoms . Also , seven five @-@ year plans were developed to provide health , education , employment , and welfare to women . The sixth five @-@ year plan even declared women " partners in development . " = = = Employment = = = In general , in the uneducated and rural sections of Indian society , which form a major percentage of the total population , women are seen as economic burdens . Their contributions to productivity are mostly invisible as their familial and domestic contributions are overlooked . Indian women were contributing nearly 36 percent of total employment in agriculture and related activities , nearly 19 percent in the service sector , and nearly 12 @.@ 5 in the industry sector as of the year 2000 . High illiteracy rates among women confine them to lower paying , unskilled jobs with less job security than men . Even in agricultural jobs where the work of men and women are highly similar , women are still more likely to be paid less for the same amount and type of work as men . In 1955 the Bollywood group Cine Costume Make @-@ Up Artist & Hair Dressers ' Association ( CCMAA ) created a rule that did not allow women to obtain memberships as makeup artists . However , in 2014 the Supreme Court of India ruled that this rule was in violation of the Indian constitutional guarantees granted under Article 14 ( right to equality ) , 19 ( 1 ) ( g ) ( freedom to carry out any profession ) and Article 21 ( right to liberty ) . The judges of the Supreme Court of India stated that the ban on women makeup artist members had no " rationale nexus " to the cause sought to be achieved and was " unacceptable , impermissible and inconsistent " with the constitutional rights guaranteed to the citizens . The Court also found illegal the rule which mandated that for any artist , female or male , to work in the industry , they must have domicile status of five years in the state where they intend to work . In 2015 it was announced that Charu Khurana had become the first woman to be registered by the Cine Costume Make @-@ Up Artist & Hair Dressers ' Association . = = = Globalisation = = = Feminists are also concerned about the impact of globalisation on women in India . Some feminists argue that globalisation has led to economic changes that have raised more social and economical challenges for women , particularly for working @-@ class and lower @-@ caste women . Multinational companies in India have been seen to exploit the labour of ' young , underpaid and disadvantaged women ' in free trade zones and sweat shops , and use " Young lower middle class , educated women , " in call centres . These women have few effective labour rights , or rights to collective action . In addition to this , multinational corporations are seen to advertise a homogenous image of ideal women across the country is argued to cause an increase in the commodification of women 's bodies . This is also manifested in the form of nationalist pride exhibited through Indian women winning international beauty pageants . According to some feminists , such developments have offered women greater sexual autonomy and more control over their bodies . However , many other feminists feel that such commodification of female bodies has only served the purpose of feeding to male fantasies . = = = Education = = = Some of the main reasons that girls are less likely to reach optimal levels of education include the fact that girls are needed to assist their mothers at home , have been raised to believe that a life of domestic work is their destined occupation , have illiterate mothers who cannot educate their children , have an economic dependency on men , and are sometimes subject to child @-@ marriage . Many poor families marry their daughters off early to get the dowry money so she is unable to complete her education . In 1986 , the National Policy on Education ( NPE ) was created in India , and the government launched the programme called Mahila Samakhya , whose focus was on the empowerment of women . The programme 's goal is to create a learning environment for women to realise their potential , learn to demand information and find the knowledge to take charge of their own lives . In certain areas of India , progress is being made and an increase in the enrolment of girls in schools and as teachers has begun to increase . By 2001 literacy for women had exceeded 50 % of the overall female population , though these statistics were still very low compared to world standards and even male literacy within India . Efforts are still being made to improve the level of education that females receive to match that of male students . = = = Modernisation = = = Modern influences are affecting the younger generations in parts of India , where girls are beginning to forgo the more traditional ways of Indian life and break gender stereotypes . In more flourishing parts of the country , the idea of " dating " , or more specifically openly dating , has come into play , and the terms " girlfriend " and " boyfriend " are being used . Some women have landed highly respectable careers , and can be seen across Bollywood billboards and advertisements . However , this is not the norm throughout the country ; such modernisations and the women behind them face serious resistance from anti @-@ liberalists . The country is still severely male @-@ dominant and unwelcoming to such movements that go against sex and gender traditions in India . = = Indian feminists = = Bina Agarwal - deals especially with the connectedness of gender inequality , social exclusion , property , and development . She is also the ex @-@ President of the International Association for Feminist Economics . Lalithambika Antharjanam – author and social reformer whose work reflected women 's roles in society . Barnita Bagchi – scholar and sociologist with a focus on women 's education . Jasodhara Bagchi – founder of the School of Women 's Studies at Jadavpur University . Rita Banerji – Feminist author and founder of The 50 Million Missing Campaign , an online , global lobby working to raise awareness about the female gendercide ( femicide ) in India . Durgabai Deshmukh - She was a public activist for women 's emanicipation and was also the founder of Andhra Mahila Sabha . Sarala Devi Chaudhurani – early feminist and founder of the Bharat Stree Mahamandal , one of the first women 's organisations in India . Prem Chowdhry - social scientist , feminist , Senior Academic Fellow and critic of violence against couples refusing arranged marriages . She is a Life Member of the Center for Women Studies . She is a well @-@ known scholar of gender studies , authority on the political economy and social history of Haryana state in India and daughter of Hardwari Lal , the renowned educationist and Indian National Congress member of parliament for Haryana . Saroj Nalini Dutt – early social reformer who pioneered the formation of educational Women 's Institutes in Bengal . Mira Datta Gupta – activist for women 's issues and one of the founding members of the All India Women 's Conference . Padma Gole – poet whose writings faithfully depicted the domestic lives of Indian middle @-@ class women . Devaki Jain – founder of the Institute of Social Studies Trust and scholar in the field of feminist economics . Brinda Karat – first woman member of the CPI ( M ) Politburo and former Vice President of the All India Democratic Women 's Association ( AIDWA ) . Madhu Kishwar - Founder President of Manushi Sangathan , a forum that will promote greater social justice and strengthen human rights , especially for women . She founded the magazine Manushi : A Journal about Women and Society devoted to feminism as well as to gender studies and activism in 1978 with Ruth Vanita . Vina Mazumdar – secretary of the first Committee on the Status of Women in India and founding Director of Centre for Women 's Development Studies ( CWDS ) . Uma Narayan - feminist scholar , and Chair of Philosophy at Vassar College . Asra Nomani - Indian @-@ American journalist , author of Standing Alone in Mecca : An American Woman 's Struggle for the Soul of Islam Medha Patkar - feminist social worker and politician who advocates for women 's rights in post @-@ independence India . Manasi Pradhan - Founder of Honour for Women National Campaign , a nationwide movement to end violence against women in India Amrita Pritam – first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for literature . Pandita Ramabai - social reformer a champion for the emancipation of women in British India . Kamini Roy – poet , suffragette , and first woman honours graduate in India . Gita Sahgal - writer and journalist on issues of feminism , fundamentalism , and racism , a director of prize @-@ winning documentary films , and a women 's rights and human rights activist . Manikuntala Sen – politician in the Communist Party of India whose memoir described her experiences as a woman activist . Tarabai Shinde – activist whose work Stri Purush Tulana is considered the first modern Indian feminist text . Vandana Shiva – environmentalist and prominent leader of the Ecofeminist movement . Sophia Duleep Singh - prominent suffragette and daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh . She was a firebrand feminist and is best remembered for her leading role in the Women 's Tax Resistance League , but she also participated in other women 's suffrage groups including the Women 's Social and Political Union . Secret documents revealed her identity as a firebrand " harridan law breaker " for her diaries revealed that she maintained contacts with the leaders of the Indian nationalist movement like Gopalkrishna Gokhale , Sarala Devi and Lala Lajpat Rai . Ruth Vanita - academic , activist and author who specializes in lesbian and gay studies , gender studies , British and South Asian literary history . She founded the magazine Manushi : A Journal about Women and Society devoted to feminism as well as to gender studies and activism in 1978 with Madhu Kishwar . Ramarao Indira - academic , critic , rationalist who is an expert in modern feminism thoughts . She has written many articles and books on feminism in Kannada and English . Theilin Phanbuh - Chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women and Padma Shri awardee
= Jason McElwain = Jason McElwain , nicknamed " J @-@ Mac " , ( born October 1 , 1987 ) is an American high @-@ functioning autistic amateur athlete , in both basketball and marathon , and public speaker . McElwain came to fame on national news , in 2006 , when he played during a high school basketball game , and scored twenty points . Jason McElwain was appointed as the manager of the Greece Athena High School by basketball coach Jim Johnson . On February 15 , 2006 , he played in a basketball game against Spencerport High School , for a division title . Greece Athena got a large lead , so Coach Johnson decided to let McElwain play in the last four minutes and nineteen seconds of the game . After initially missing two shots , McElwain made six three @-@ point shots and one two @-@ pointer , finishing with twenty points . After the final buzzer rang , the crowd dashed onto the court in celebration . Ten years later , McElwain made his professional basketball debut with the Rochester Razorsharks . = = Early life = = Jason McElwain was born on October 1 , 1987 , to David and Debbie McElwain , and was diagnosed with autism at the age of two years . Jason and his family lived in Greece , New York , a suburb of Rochester , New York . He initially struggled when interacting with other children , but began to develop social skills as he grew older . Although he was placed in special education classes , McElwain enjoyed basketball , to which he was introduced by his older brother Josh , and was appointed manager of Greece Athena High School 's varsity basketball team . = = February 15 , 2006 basketball game = = Greece Athena High School basketball coach Jim Johnson decided to add McElwain to the roster for the team 's February 15 game against Spencerport High School , so McElwain could be given a jersey and sit on the bench for the team 's last home game of the season , and allow McElwain to play a few minutes if Greece Athena got a comfortable lead . With four minutes left in the game , Greece Athena had a double @-@ digit lead , so Johnson decided to let McElwain play out the last minutes of the game . When teammates first passed the ball to McElwain he attempted a three @-@ point shot and missed . McElwain got a second chance to score with a lay @-@ up which he also missed . McElwain then got " hot as a pistol " , sinking six three @-@ pointers and one two @-@ point shot , before the game ended . The final score was Greece Athena 79 , Spencerport 43 . As soon as the final buzzer rang , fans from the stands stormed the court in celebration . McElwain 's performance was videotaped by fellow Greece Athena student Marcus Luciano , who was substituting for the team 's normal videographer . Before the game , Johnson gave Luciano strict instructions to track only the game formations . However , according to ESPN writer Elizabeth Merrill , Luciano " had a well @-@ deserved reputation for breaking the rules " ; when he saw McElwain make his first shot , he ignored Johnson 's instructions and instead panned the crowd reaction to McElwain 's performance . Johnson was initially angry , but soon changed his mind , calling Luciano 's decision " a brilliant move " . = = = Reaction = = = Teacher Andy McCormack was in the audience that night to see the game . McCormack was Jason 's Speech / Language Pathologist throughout high school , and the day after the game he got a copy of the video to local sports newscaster John Kucko who put it on the news that night . Others followed suit , and within days the tape reached a national audience . McCormack continued to support Jason over the next few months in school , helping coin alternative language expressions to his now @-@ famous " hot as a pistol " phrase and helping him construct an introduction speech when Magic Johnson came to Greece Athena to speak to the student body . In his hometown of Greece , New York , McElwain quickly became a celebrity . The family 's home phone was always ringing , and when the McElwains went out for a meal , a group of fans ran into the family , praising Jason . McElwain met President George W. Bush on March 14 , 2006 , when Bush stopped by a nearby airport on his way to Canandaigua , New York , so he could meet McElwain . Standing next to McElwain , Bush told reporters " As you can see , a special person has greeted us at the airport , Jason " , and then jokingly asked " Can I call you J @-@ Mac ? " Bush went on to praise McElwain , saying " Our country was captivated by an amazing story on the basketball court . It 's the story of a young man who found his touch on the basketball court , which , in turn , touched the hearts of citizens all around the country . " Bush also stated that upon seeing McElwain on television , he " wept , just like a lot of other people did " . Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning visited Rochester , where he was introduced to McElwain . Manning invited McElwain and Steve Kerr , another Greece Athena High School athlete to the Colts ' training camp for a week , which McElwain accepted . McElwain later said that Peyton was " one of the nicest guys in sports " and when the Colts won the Super Bowl and Manning raised the Vince Lombardi Trophy , McElwain " had a tear in [ his ] eye . " McElwain threw out the opening pitch for the Rochester Red Wings ' game against the Charlotte Knights . The Red Wings also gave away 3 @,@ 500 free bobblehead dolls that were modeled after McElwain . McElwain won an ESPY Award for the Best Moment in Sports in 2006 . McElwain beat out Kobe Bryant 's 81 @-@ point @-@ game and the George Mason Patriots ' run to the Final Four . The speech that Jason gave upon winning the award was written for him by his older brother . The theme of the speech was about dreams coming true . In addition to the many celebrities McElwain met , he also appeared on various talk shows , including The Oprah Winfrey Show , Larry King Live , Good Morning America and Today . In 2007 , Topps trading cards produced a Jason McElwain card as part of its retro @-@ themed Allen & Ginter set . In 2009 , he appeared in a commercial for Gatorade as part of their " What is G ? " ad campaign . The commercial aired during the Super Bowl . McElwain appeared on The Talk in April 2011 as part of the show 's month @-@ long series on autism awareness . He told the hosts he was head coach of the 17U East Coast Fusion AAU basketball team . His memorable video surfaced once more in 2011 , when Facebook users shared a 2006 story featured on CBS Evening News . = = = Radio = = = Jason had a song dedicated to him and his accomplishments on the court by an artist named Iron Butter . Jason also did several interviews and appeared at the Summerjam concert where his song was performed . = = Book = = Following his rise to fame , Jason McElwain wrote a book titled The Game of My Life . The book is written mainly by Jason , but includes sections written by his family , coach , and teammates . The Game of My Life is 243 pages long and was published on February 5 , 2008 by New American Library . Editorial reviews were left by celebrities such as Magic Johnson , Doug Flutie , Rodney Peete , Holly Robinson Peete , and Tony Dungy . The book was co @-@ written by Daniel Paisner . = = Film = = As early as late February 2006 , Jason McElwain and his family started receiving inquiries from over twenty @-@ five film companies , including The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. , about making a film based on his story . In April 2006 , it was announced that Columbia Pictures had bought the rights to produce the film . Laura Ziskin , producer of the Spider @-@ Man film series , was signed on to produce the film about McElwain 's life . Magic Johnson has also been attached as producer , while two @-@ time Academy Award winner Alvin Sargent is in talks to write the film . However , there currently is no timetable for the movie as contracts are being finalized and the script is still being written . = = Life after high school = = McElwain completed his GED courses and planned to go to college , and has a part @-@ time job at Wegmans Food Markets in Greece , New York . Jason is often seen , too , at the local Olympia Family Restaurant , in Greece , New York . Occasionally , customers recognize him and ask for an autograph . McElwain also travels across the United States to help raise funds for autism research and to make media appearances . With all the activity that is going on his life , Jason admitted that he hasn 't been playing as much basketball , but says that , " Occasionally , I 'll go and shoot baskets at the YMCA . " McElwain is also involved in public speaking , including an October 2011 speech at the Jefferson Rehabilitation House 's annual dinner . Since 2007 , McElwain has also been a volunteer coach for the Greece Athena team alongside Johnson . In April 2016 , the Rochester Razorsharks , a professional minor @-@ league basketball team , signed McElwain to a one @-@ day contract for their regular season finale against the Western New York Thundersnow . With the Razorsharks leading by more than 40 points late in the game , McElwain was put in and scored 10 points , including 2 three @-@ point shots . McElwain is also an accomplished runner . On September 23 , 2012 , McElwain completed the MVP Health Care Rochester Marathon in 15th place in 3 hours , 1 minute and 41 seconds , a time that qualified him for the Boston Marathon . In 2014 , he completed the Boston Marathon in 2 : 57 @.@ 05 .
= Leucopholiota decorosa = Leucopholiota decorosa is a species of fungus in the Tricholomataceae family of mushrooms . Commonly known as the decorated Pholiota , it is distinguished by its fruit body which is covered with pointed brown , curved scales on the cap and stem , and by its white gills . Found in the eastern United States , France , and Pakistan , it is saprobic , growing on the decaying wood of hardwood trees . L. decorosa was first described by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck as Agaricus decorosus in 1873 , and the species has been transferred to several genera in its history , including Tricholoma , Tricholomopsis , Armillaria , and Floccularia . Three American mycologists considered the species unique enough to warrant its own genus , and transferred it into the new genus Leucopholiota in a 1996 publication . Lookalike species with similar colors and scaly fruit bodies include Pholiota squarrosoides , Phaeomarasmius erinaceellus , and Leucopholiota lignicola . L. decorosa is considered an edible mushroom . = = Taxonomy and naming = = The species now known as Leucopholiota decorosa was first described by Charles Peck in 1873 , based on a specimen he found in New York State ; he placed it in Tricholoma , then considered a subgenus of Agaricus . In 1947 , Alexander Smith and Walters transferred the species into the genus Armillaria , based on its apparent close relationship to Armillaria luteovirens ; the presence of clamp connections in the hyphae , the amyloid spores , and the structure of the veil and its remnants . The genus Armillaria , as it was understood at the time , would later be referred to as a " taxonomic refugium for about 270 white @-@ spored species with attached gills and an annulus . " Smith later transferred the species to the genus Tricholomopsis ; however , he neglected the amyloid spores , the recurved scales of the cap cuticle , and the lack of cells known as pleurocystidia , features which should have ruled out a taxonomic transfer into the genus . In 1987 , the species was transferred yet again , this time to the genus Floccularia . The appearance of a specimen at a 1994 mushroom foray in North Carolina resulted in a collaboration between mycologists Tom Volk , Orson K. Miller , Jr. and Alan Bessette , who renamed the species Leucopholiota decorosa in a 1996 Mycologia publication . Leucopholiota was originally a subgenus of Armillaria , but the authors raised it to generic level to accommodate L. decorosa , which would become the type species . In 2008 , Henning Knudsen considered L. decorosa to be the same species as what was then known as Amylolepiota lignicola , and considered the two names to be synonymous . However , Finnish mycologist Harri Harmaja rejected this interpretation . Originally , Harmaja believed Lepiota lignicola sufficiently distinct from other similar taxa to deserve its own genus Amylolepiota , which he described in a 2002 publication . He changed his mind in 2010 , writing " the differences between the type species of both genera are small and are thus best considered as differences at the species level " ; with this he transferred the taxon to Leucopholiota , and it is now known as Leucopholiota lignicola , the second species in genus Leucopholiota . The genus name Leucopholiota means " white Pholiota " ( from λευκός , leukós ) , referring to the gills and the spores ; it was proposed in 1980 by Henri Romagnesi who originally described it as a subgenus of Armillaria . The specific epithet decorosa , though intended for " elegant " or " handsome " , actually means " decent " , " respectable " , " modest " , or " decorous " . L. decorosa is commonly known as the " decorated Pholiota " . = = Phylogenetics = = Phylogenetic analysis based on evidence from ITS and large subunit ribosomal RNA sequence data have not confirmed that Leucopholiota decorosa belongs in the Tricholomataceae family . However , the analysis does show it to be phylogenetically related to Phaeolepiota aurea , a species of unclear status in the Agaricales , and it confirms that L. decorosa does not belong in the family Agaricaceae . According to the species authors , L. decorosa would fit best in the Biannularieae tribe of the Tricholomataceae as described by Rolf Singer in his comprehensive monograph on the Agaricales . This tribe also contains the genera Catathelasma and Armillaria . = = Description = = The caps of L. decorosa , initially conic or hemispherical in shape , later expand to become convex or flattened in maturity . The caps are typically between 2 to 6 cm ( 0 @.@ 8 to 2 @.@ 4 in ) in diameter , with surfaces covered with many small curved brown scales . The edge of the cap is typically curved inwards and may have coarse brown fibers attached . The cap is cinnamon brown , darker in the center . The gills are spaced together closely ; they have a narrow ( adnexed ) attachment to the stem , and their edges are " finely scalloped " . The stem is 2 @.@ 5 to 7 @.@ 0 cm ( 1 @.@ 0 to 2 @.@ 8 in ) tall by 0 @.@ 6 to 1 @.@ 2 cm ( 0 @.@ 2 to 0 @.@ 5 in ) thick , and like the cap , is covered with scales from the bottom to the level of the annular zone ; above this point the stipe is smooth . The partial veil is made up of brown fibers " that flare upward as an annulus . " It is roughly the same thickness throughout the length of the stem , or may be slightly thinner near the top . The flesh is white and thick , and has a firm texture ; its odor is indistinct , and the taste either mild or bitter . The spore deposit is white . The spores are hyaline ( translucent ) , roughly elliptical in shape , have thin walls , and are amyloid , meaning they absorb iodine stain in Melzer 's reagent . Additionally , in acetocarmine stain , they appear binucleate ( having two nuclei ) . They have dimensions of 5 @.@ 5 – 6 ( more rarely 7 ) by 3 @.@ 5 – 4 @.@ 0 µm . The spore @-@ bearing cells , the basidia , are club @-@ shaped , translucent , and four @-@ spored . The cheilocystida ( cystidia on the gill edge ) are club @-@ shaped and 19 @-@ 24 by 3 – 5 µm . The cap cuticle is a trichodermium — a type of tissue composed of erect , long , threadlike hyphae of same or different lengths , and originating from an interwoven layer of hyphae that ascends gradually until terminal cells are somewhat parallel to each other . The trichodermal hyphae are thin @-@ walled , measuring 7 @.@ 6 – 22 @.@ 0 µm , and stain yellowish in Melzer 's reagent . The hyphae comprising the cap tissue are thin @-@ walled and 5 – 10 µm in diameter , while those of the gill tissue are also thin @-@ walled , and 3 @.@ 5 – 7 @.@ 0 µm , and interspersed with oleiferous cells ( characterized by strongly refractive , homogeneous contents ) . Clamp connections are present in the hyphae of all tissues . = = = Edibility = = = According to one field guide published in 2006 , Leucopholiota decorosa is edible , based on the following comment by McIlvaine and MacAdam , written in 1900 : " it is of good consistency and flavor , having a decided mushroom taste . " Other older sources report the edibility as unknown . = = = Similar species = = = The species Pholiota squarrosoides has a similar outward appearance , but it may be distinguished by its brown spores and sticky cap surface underneath the scales . In the hedgehog pholiota ( Phaeomarasmius erinaceellus ) , the overall size is smaller — cap diameter 1 to 4 cm ( 0 @.@ 4 to 1 @.@ 6 in ) — and the spores are cinnamon @-@ brown . Some species in the genus Cystoderma also appear similar , but can be distinguished by microscopic features , like the presence of spherical ( rather than club @-@ shaped ) cells in the cuticle of the cap , and also their habitat — Cystoderma usually grows on soil , rather than wood . The only other species of Leucopholiota , L. lignicola , may be distinguished from L. decorosa by the following characteristics : free gills in L. lignicola compared with adnexed gills in L. decorosa ; L. lignicola tends to grow on the wood of Birch , and preferably in old @-@ growth forests ; L. lignicola is restricted to boreal forest , compared to L. decorosa that grows in temperate regions ; L. lignicola has a wide distribution throughout northern coniferous forests in Eurasia . = = Habitat and distribution = = Leucopholiota decorosa is a saprobic species , deriving nutrients from decaying organic matter , particularly the rotting branches and stumps of deciduous trees . One field guide notes a preference for sugar maple . It grows singly or in bunches , clustered together at the base of the stem . In Ohio , it typically fruits from late September to mid November . In addition to its known distribution in mostly eastern North America , Leucopholiota decorosa has also been collected from France . In 2007 , it was reported from the Astore District of Pakistan , at an altitude of about 3 @,@ 600 m ( 11 @,@ 800 ft ) .
= Smolensk War = The Smolensk War ( 1632 – 1634 ) was a conflict fought between the Polish @-@ Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia . Hostilities began in October 1632 when Russian forces tried to capture the city of Smolensk . Small military engagements produced mixed results for both sides , but the surrender of the main Russian force in February 1634 led to the Treaty of Polyanovka . Russia accepted Polish @-@ Lithuanian control over the Smolensk region , which lasted for another 20 years . = = Background = = In 1632 , Sigismund III Vasa , the king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania , died . Although the Commonwealth nobility quickly elected Sigismund 's son Władysław IV Vasa as their new ruler , Poland 's neighbours , expecting delays in the electoral process , tested the Commonwealth 's perceived weakness . Swedish king Gustav II Adolph sent envoys to Russia and the Ottoman Empire to propose an alliance and war against the Commonwealth . The Commonwealth was not ready for war . In 1631 , the royal army numbered barely 3 @,@ 000 men ; the Smolensk garrison was about 500 strong , and most garrisons in the border area were composed not of regular or mercenary soldiers but of 100 to 200 local volunteers . Aware that Russia was preparing for war , in the spring of 1632 the Sejm ( Polish @-@ Lithuanian parliament ) increased the army by recruiting an additional 4 @,@ 500 men ; by mid @-@ 1632 the deputy voivode ( podwojewoda ) of Smolensk , Samuel Drucki @-@ Sokoliński , had about 500 volunteers from pospolite ruszenie and 2 @,@ 500 regular army soldiers and Cossacks . In May the Senate of Poland agreed to increase the size of the army , but Grand Lithuanian Hetman Lew Sapieha objected , arguing that the current forces were enough and that war was not likely . Nonetheless the Field Lithuanian Hetman Krzysztof Radziwiłł recruited an additional 2 @,@ 000 soldiers . Russia , having recovered to a certain extent from the Time of Troubles , agreed with the assessment that the Commonwealth would be weakened by the death of its king , and unilaterally attacked without waiting for the Swedes and the Ottomans . Russia 's aim was to gain control of Smolensk , which it had ceded to the Commonwealth in 1618 at the Truce of Deulino , ending the last Russo @-@ Polish War . Smolensk was the capital of the Commonwealth 's Smoleńsk Voivodeship , but it had often been contested , and it changed hands many times during the 15th , 16th and 17th centuries ( from the days of the Muscovite @-@ Lithuanian Wars ) . A major supporter of the war was the Tsar 's father , Patriarch Filaret , who represented the anti @-@ Polish camp at court . Inspired by the Zemsky Sobor 's ( Russian parliament 's ) call for vengeance and reclamation of lost lands , the Russian army sallied west . = = Hostilities = = The Russian army that crossed the Lithuanian border in early October 1632 had been carefully prepared and was under the experienced command of Mikhail Borisovich Shein , who had previously defended Smolensk against the Poles during the 1609 – 1611 siege . Several towns and castles fell as the Russians advanced , and on 28 October 1632 ( the same day that the historic town of Dorogobuzh was taken ) , Shein moved to begin the siege of Smolensk . Former Polish estimates of the size of the Russian forces varied from 25 @,@ 000 through 30 @,@ 000 to 34 @,@ 500 , with 160 artillery pieces . Recent research on 17th @-@ century Russian archive documents showed that the size of the Russian army was 23 @,@ 961 . Compared to former Russian armies , Shein 's army was significantly modernised . Dissatisfied with their traditional formations of musket @-@ equipped infantry ( the streltsy ) , the Russians looked to foreign officers to update the equipment and training of their troops based on the Western European model of regulars , dragoons , and reiters . Eight such regiments , totaling 14 @,@ 000 to 17 @,@ 000 men , comprised part of Shein 's army . = = = Siege of Smolensk = = = Commonwealth forces in Smolensk were composed of the Smolensk garrison ( about 1 @,@ 600 men with 170 artillery pieces under the command of the Voivode of Smolensk , Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski ) , strengthened by the local nobility , which formed a pospolite ruszenie force of about 1 @,@ 500 strong . The city 's fortifications had also recently been improved with Italian @-@ style bastions . Shein constructed lines of circumvallation around the fortress . Using tunnels and mines , his forces damaged a long section of the city wall and one of its towers . Russian heavy artillery , mostly of Western manufacture , reached Smolensk in December 1632 with even heavier guns arriving the following March . After a preliminary artillery bombardment , Shein ordered an assault , which was repulsed by the Polish defenders . Nonetheless the siege was progressing ; Smolensk 's fortifications were being eroded , and the defenders were suffering heavy casualties and running out of supplies . By June 1633 , some soldiers started to desert , and others talked of surrender . Despite these difficulties , the city , commanded by Deputy Voivode Samuel Drucki @-@ Sokoliński , held out throughout 1633 while the Commonwealth , under its newly elected King Władysław IV , organised a relief force . The Sejm had been informed about the Russian invasion by 30 October 1632 , and , starting in November , had discussed the possibility of relief . However , the process was delayed until the spring of 1633 , when the Sejm officially sanctioned a declaration of war and authorised a large payment ( 6 @.@ 5 million zlotys , the highest tax contribution during Władysław 's entire reign ) for the raising of a suitable force . The intended relief force would have an effective strength of about 21 @,@ 500 men and would include : 24 chorągiews of Winged Hussars ( ~ 3 @,@ 200 horses ) , 27 chorągiews of light cavalry — also known as Cossack cavalry but not composed of Cossacks — ( 3 @,@ 600 horses ) , 10 squadrons of raitars ( ~ 1 @,@ 700 horses ) , 7 Lithuanian petyhor regiments ( ~ 780 horses ) , 7 large regiments of dragoons ( ~ 2 @,@ 250 horses ) , and ~ 20 regiments of infantry ( ~ 12 @,@ 000 men ) . Over 10 @,@ 000 of the infantry would be organized based on the Western model , previously not common in Commonwealth armies . Meanwhile , Field Hetman of Lithuania and Voivode of Vilnius , Krzysztof Radziwiłł , and Voivode Gosiewski established a camp about 30 kilometres ( 18 @.@ 6 mi ) from Smolensk , moving from Orsha to Bajów and later , Krasne . By February 1633 , they had amassed around 4 @,@ 500 soldiers , including over 2 @,@ 000 infantry , and were engaged in raiding the rear areas of the Russian besiegers to disrupt their logistics . Hetman Radziwiłł also managed to break through the Russian lines on several occasions , bringing about 1 @,@ 000 soldiers and supplies into Smolensk to reinforce the fortress and raising the defenders ' morale . By the summer of 1633 , the relief force , led personally by the king and numbering about 25 @,@ 000 ( 20 @,@ 000 in the Polish @-@ Lithuanian army , according to Jasienica ) , arrived near Smolensk ; they reached Orsha on 17 August 1633 . By the first days of September , the main body of the relief forces approaching Smolensk numbered around 14 @,@ 000 . The Russian army , recently reinforced , numbered 25 @,@ 000 . Only when Cossack reinforcements , led by Tymosz ( Timofiy ) Orendarenko and numbering between 10 @,@ 000 and 20 @,@ 000 , arrived on 17 September would the Commonwealth army gain numerical superiority . The Cossacks under Orendarenko and Marcin Kazanowski would raid the Russian rear lines , freeing the Polish @-@ Lithuanian units under Radziwiłł and Gosiewski to join the effort to break the siege . Władysław 's brother , John II Casimir , commanded one of the regiments in the relief army . Another notable commander was the Field Crown Hetman , Marcin Kazanowski . King Władysław IV , a great supporter of the modernization of the Commonwealth army , proved to be a good tactician , and his innovations in the use of artillery and fortifications based on Western ideas greatly contributed to the eventual Polish @-@ Lithuanian success . He had replaced the old arquebusiers with musketeers , and standardized the Commonwealth artillery ( introducing 3- to 6 @-@ pounder regimental guns ) , both to great effect . Commonwealth 's cavalry , including the Winged Hussars , significantly restricted Russian mobility , forcing them to stay in their trenches . In a series of fierce engagements , Commonwealth forces gradually overran the Russian field fortifications , and the siege reached its final stages by late September . On 28 September 1633 , Commonwealth forces took the main Russian supply points , and by 4 October the siege had broken . Shein 's army retreated to its main camp , which was in turn surrounded by Commonwealth forces in mid @-@ October . The besieged Russians waited for relief , but none arrived , as Commonwealth and Cossack cavalry had been sent to disrupt the Russian rear . Some historians also cite dissent and internal divisions in the Russian camp as responsible for their inaction and ineffectiveness . ( Jasienica blames the Russian warlords , and Parker the foreign mercenaries . ) The Tatar invasion threatening the south Russian borderlands was a contributory factor , with many soldiers and boyars from those regions deserting the Russian camp to return to protect their homeland . Some foreign mercenaries also deserted to the Commonwealth side . Shein began surrender negotiations in January 1634 , and by February they were in full swing . The Russians finally signed a surrender treaty on 25 February 1634 , and on 1 March they vacated their camp . ( Some scholars , such as Rickard and Black , give the date of 1 March for Shein 's capitulation . ) Under the surrender terms , the Russians had to leave behind most of their artillery but were allowed to retain their banners after a ceremony in which they were laid before King Władysław . They also had to promise not to engage Commonwealth forces for the next three months . Shein 's forces numbered around 12 @,@ 000 at the time of their capitulation , but over 4 @,@ 000 , including most of the foreign contingent , immediately decided to defect to the Commonwealth . = = = Other engagements = = = Several other towns and fortresses in the region were the site of smaller battles . Russian forces captured several significant locations during their advance in 1632 , but Nagielski speculates that the delay in the arrival of their main force and artillery at Smolensk caused by this dilution of effort may have cost them the siege and consequently the war . In July 1633 , the Russians took the towns of Polatsk , Velizh , Usvyat , and Ozerishche . Polatsk was the scene of particularly heavy fighting as the Russians captured the city and part of the fortress . However , attacks on Vitebsk and Mstsislaw were successfully repulsed . Polish forces laid siege to Putivl , but due to the desertion of their Cossack allies they were forced to withdraw . In the autumn of 1633 , Commonwealth forces retook Dorogobuzh , an important Russian supply point after its capture the year before . This setback wrecked Russian plans to send reinforcements to Shein 's army , although in any event the Russians did not begin to gather a 5 @,@ 000 @-@ strong army for that purpose until January 1634 . Also that autumn , Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski defeated an Ottoman incursion in the south of the Commonwealth , freeing his force to lay siege to the Russian town of Sevsk ; although Koniecpolski failed to take the fortress , he tied down large Russian forces , preventing them from moving north towards Smolensk . After the relief of Smolensk in the spring of 1634 , the Commonwealth army moved towards the fortress Belaya . However , the siege of Belaya turned to a fiasco although the king manage to capture Vyazma . = = Treaty of Polyanovka = = By the spring of 1634 , the Russians had not only lost Shein 's army but were threatened by Tatar raids that ravaged southern Russia . Patriarch Filaret had died the previous year , and without him the war fervour lessened . Even before the end of 1633 , Tsar Michael of Russia was considering how best to end the conflict . Because he had once been elected Tsar of Russia and could realistically lay claim to the Russian throne , King Władysław wanted to continue the war or , because the Polish @-@ Swedish Treaty of Altmark would soon be expiring , ally with the Russians to strike against Sweden . However , the Sejm wanted no more conflict . As Stanisław Łubieński , the Bishop of Płock , wrote two weeks after Shein 's surrender : " Our happiness is in remaining within our borders , guaranteeing health and well @-@ being . " With neither side keen on prolonging the war , they began negotiating , not for an armistice but for " eternal peace . " Talks began on 30 April 1634 , and the Treaty of Polyanovka was signed in May , putting an end to hostilities . The treaty confirmed the pre @-@ war status quo , with Russia paying a large war indemnity ( 20 @,@ 000 rubles in gold ) , while Władysław agreed to surrender his claim to the Russian throne and return the royal insignia to Moscow . Jasienica notes that from the Russian perspective it was likely that Władysław 's abnegation of his claim was more important , in terms of the subsequent increase in internal stability , than the loss of disputed borderland . Despite not winning militarily , the Russians may have scored a diplomatic triumph . Other authors , such as Hellie , support this interpretation . = = Aftermath = = Already during the later stages of the war , when the Commonwealth army moved from Smolensk to Bely , a new threat begun to loom on the southern borders , where the Ottoman Empire was massing an invasion force . Thus Władysław begun redirecting his reinforcements to that theater . Later that year , the Commonwealth forces under Stanisław Koniecpolski scored a victory in the south , ending a war against the Ottomans . Both sides introduced new tactics , units and equipment based on Western models , but the Polish @-@ Lithuanian forces proved more adept with these innovations than the Russians . However , the main factors that kept the Russians from winning were the delay in moving siege artillery to Smolensk and the severe disruption of Russian supply lines by Polish cavalry . A scapegoat was nevertheless needed : Mikhail Shein was accused of treason and , together with his second @-@ in @-@ command Artemy Izmaylov and the latter 's son Vasily , executed in Moscow on April 28 , 1634 . Learning from this defeat , the Russians would adopt new and more successful tactics in the Polish @-@ Russian War ( 1654 @-@ 1656 ) . After the war , Władysław gave the Russians the border town of Serpeysk and nearby territories , hoping to persuade the Tsar to join in an anti @-@ Swedish alliance . However , the king was ultimately unable to overcome objections from the Polish @-@ Lithuanian Sejm , who were unwilling to fight Sweden after the Treaty of Sztumska Wieś . The Russians , unable to see benefit in such an alliance , were also unenthusiastic , and the proposed alliance came to nothing . The war cost the Commonwealth treasury about 4 @,@ 300 @,@ 000 zloties . The Battle of Smolensk is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier , Warsaw , with the inscription " SMOLENSK 18 X 1632 @-@ 25 II 1634 " .
= JAL Express = JAL Express Co . , Ltd . ( JEX ) ( 株式会社ジャルエクスプレス , Kabushiki @-@ gaisha Jaru Ekusupuresu ) , was an airline with its headquarters at Tokyo International Airport and in Ota @-@ ku , Tokyo , Japan , and its main hub at Tokyo International Airport . The airline also maintained offices in the Japan Airlines Building in Shinagawa , Tokyo . Its operations included scheduled and non @-@ scheduled passenger services to eight regional destinations across Japan . In addition , the airline operated additional 15 destinations in Japan and two destinations in the People 's Republic of China on behalf of Japan Airlines , under a wet @-@ lease agreement . JAL Express was a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan 's flag carrier , Japan Airlines and an affiliate member of the Oneworld alliance . The airline was founded on April 1 , 1997 , and began operations with a Boeing 737 @-@ 400 on July 1 , 1998 . It celebrated its tenth anniversary of establishment and first flight in April 2007 and July 2008 , respectively . The airline operated its first international flight in May 2009 and now flies to Hangzhou and Shanghai . In the fiscal year ended March 31 , 1999 , JAL Express , together with its sister airlines within the JAL Group , carried over 32 million passengers and over 1 @.@ 1 million tons of cargo and mail . The carrier ended operations on 30 September 2014 after being fully integrated with Japan Airlines . = = History = = JAL Express ( JEX ) was established on April 1 , 1997 , as a wholly owned domestic subsidiary airline of Japan Airlines ( JAL ) , with an initial capital of ¥ 5 @.@ 8 million . The airline operates scheduled passenger services to regional domestic destinations in Japan , as well as some low @-@ demand flights for JAL under wet @-@ lease agreement . It was anticipated that the airline may enter services on the domestic trunk and short @-@ haul international routes . On July 1 , 1998 , JAL Express commenced operations from Osaka to Miyazaki and Kagoshima with two Boeing 737 @-@ 400s , non @-@ Japanese cockpit crew , and short @-@ term contracted cabin attendants . The airline 's cabin attendants are called Sky Cast , their duties include cleaning the 150 @-@ seat cabin between flights . The airline celebrated its one millionth passenger in June 2000 and commenced wet @-@ lease operation for its parent JAL in December 2000 . On 14 November 2002 , JAL introduced a new aircraft livery design - " The Arc of the Sun " - across all JAL Group fleet . A reception to celebrate the completion of the first painted aircraft with the JAL Group new design was held at the JAS M2 hangar . In April 2005 , McDonnell Douglas MD @-@ 81 was introduced to the airline fleet , the aircraft has an all Economy Class configuration with 163 seats . JAL Express became an affiliate member of Oneworld on April 1 , 2007 , together with four of its sister airlines , in the alliance 's biggest expansion in its young history . On the same day , the airline celebrated its tenth anniversary of establishment . JAL Express welcomed the arrival of the new Boeing 737 @-@ 800 to its fleet in January 2008 and celebrated the tenth anniversary of its first flight in July 2008 . The airline operated its first international flight in May 2009 under a wet @-@ lease agreement with JAL . It now flies to Hangzhou and Shanghai from Osaka ( Kansai ) ; and Hangzhou from Tokyo ( Narita ) . JAL Express pilot Ari Fuji became on July 9 , 2010 , the first female airline flight captain . Since March 27 , 2011 , all of JAL Express flights were operated as JAL flights , with full merger of the two carriers by September 2014 . = = Destinations = = JAL Express operated to the following destinations ( as of September 2014 ) : Japan Amami Ōshima – Amami Airport Iwate @-@ Hanamaki – Hanamaki Airport Kagoshima – Kagoshima Airport Kumamoto – Kumamoto Airport Miyazaki – Miyazaki Airport Nagoya – Chūbu Centrair International Airport ( Focus city ) Osaka – Osaka International Airport ( Base ) Sendai – Sendai Airport = = = Wet @-@ lease agreement = = = In addition to the normal scheduled passenger services , JAL Express also operated to the following destinations on behalf of Japan Airlines , under a wet @-@ lease agreement . China Hangzhou - Xiaoshan International Airport Shanghai - Pudong International Airport Japan Akita – Akita Airport Amami Ōshima – Amami Airport Fukuoka – Fukuoka Airport Hiroshima – Hiroshima Airport Iwate @-@ Hanamaki – Hanamaki Airport Izumo , Shimane – Izumo Airport Kagoshima – Kagoshima Airport Kitakyūshū – Kokura Airport Kobe – Kobe Airport Kōchi – Kōchi Ryōma Airport Kumamoto – Kumamoto Airport Matsuyama – Matsuyama Airport Memanbetsu – Memanbetsu Airport Miyazaki – Miyazaki Airport Nagoya – Chūbu Centrair International Airport Niigata – Niigata Airport Okayama – Okayama Airport Okinawa – Naha Airport Osaka Kansai International Airport Osaka International Airport Tokushima – Tokushima Airport Sapporo – New Chitose Airport Sendai – Sendai Airport Tokyo Narita International Airport Tokyo International Airport Yamaguchiube – Yamaguchi Ube Airport = = = Terminated destinations = = = JAL Express served Hakodate and Ōita in Japan = = Fleet = = As of September 2013 , JAL Express operates 42 narrow @-@ body aircraft , with either two classes of service ( class J and Economy class ) or single class of service ( Economy Class ) . The average fleet age is 3 @.@ 8 years = = Services = = = = = In @-@ flight catering = = = Cold beverages ( including Hajime Saori cooled @-@ green tea , JAL Original citrus drink Sky Time and apple juice ) , hot beverages ( including tea , green tea , coffee and consommé soup ) , JAL Original candy , and sugar candy are available on board . Passengers traveling in class J could enjoy JAL class J in @-@ flight catering services . Since March 27 , 2011 , Passengers traveling in all classes can enjoy in @-@ flight catering services on all of flights . = = = In @-@ flight entertainment = = = JAL Group 's in @-@ flight magazine Skyward , JAL Express in @-@ flight magazine JEX Letter and in @-@ flight shopping magazine JALSHOP are available on board . There was no newspaper or audio and video programs available on JEX flights . Passengers traveling in class J could enjoy JAL class J in @-@ flight entertainment services , where available . Since March 27 , 2011 , Passengers traveling in all classes can enjoy in @-@ flight entertainment services on all of flights . = = JAL Mileage Bank = = JAL Mileage Bank ( JMB ) is the travel rewards program of JAL Group , including Japan Airlines , JALways , JAL Express , Japan Transocean Air , Japan Air Commuter , Hokkaido Air System , and Ryukyu Air Commuter . The program 's airline partners also include JAL 's Oneworld partners , as well as Air France , China Eastern Airlines and Emirates . For the airline 's most frequent flyers , JMB offers Fly On Program , a frequent flyer service status program ; and JAL Global Club ( JGC ) , an exclusive club designed for experienced travelers . The JMB program has no membership fee , and mileage will be valid to the last day of the 36th month following the month of the flight or transaction date . In addition , if a JMB member does not accumulate mileage within 36 months after becoming a member , or a JMB member 's account remains inactive at zero mileage for a consecutive 36 @-@ month period , JAL may withdraw or cancel the membership of such member . = = = JMB Fly On Program = = = The Fly On Program is the frequent flyer service status program and is divided into four membership levels , Crystal , Sapphire , JGC Premier and Diamond , based on the member 's travel in the last calendar year . Additionally , a minimum of four JAL Group flights on eligible fare classes are required . Members earn Fly On points on eligible fare classes on JAL Group and Oneworld member airlines . These are used to calculate the member 's eligibility for membership renewal , upgrade or downgrade during the membership year . Higher @-@ tiered members are provided with increased travel benefits such as bonus mileage , additional baggage allowance , priority boarding and airport lounge access . There are two phases to the Fly On Program service benefits ; one begins after two months following qualification for membership and the other begins from April of the following year . Membership is valid until 31 March of the second year following membership qualification . = = = = Crystal = = = = Crystal level is achieved or retained when the member earns 30 @,@ 000 Fly On Points or boarding more than 30 flights and minimum of 10 @,@ 000 Fly On Points . Services and benefits after two months of membership qualification include priority waitlisting , 50 percent bonus mileage , airport lounge access for Japan domestic flights with lounge coupons via mileage deduction , priority check @-@ in at Executive Class counters for international flights , JGC counters and priority baggage for class J on JAL Group domestic flights , 10 kg ( 22 lb ) or one piece of extra baggage allowance , priority boarding on international flights , priority airport standby and class J upgrade with class J coupon via mileage deduction . Services and benefits from April of the following year include 10 upgrade points for complimentary flight upgrades . JMB Crystal membership level is equivalent to Oneworld Sapphire tier status , which entitles members to Oneworld Ruby benefits when travelling on a Oneworld member airline . = = = = Sapphire = = = = Sapphire level is achieved or retained when the member earns 50 @,@ 000 Fly On Points or boarding more than 50 flights and minimum of 15 @,@ 000 Fly On Points . Additional services and benefits for Sapphire members after two months of membership qualification include 100 percent bonus mileage , JAL or Sakura Lounge access with one guest when flying on JAL Group airline flights . Priority check @-@ in at First Class counters for international flights and JGC counters for Japan domestic flights , priority baggage , 20 kg ( 44 lb ) or two pieces of extra baggage allowance and access to JAL Fast Security Lane . Additional services and benefits for Sapphire members from April of the following year include 20 upgrade points for complimentary flight upgrades . JMB Sapphire members will be invited to join the JGC , which is dedicated to cater for experienced travelers . JMB Sapphire membership level is equivalent to Oneworld Sapphire tier status , which entitles members to Oneworld Sapphire benefits when travelling on a Oneworld member airline . = = = = JGC Premier = = = = JGC Premier is achieved or retained when the member earns 80 @,@ 000 Fly On Points or boarding more than 80 flights and minimum of 25 @,@ 000 Fly On Points . Additional services and benefits for JGC Premier members after two months of membership qualification include mileage expiry suspension during membership period , First Class and Diamond / Premier Lounge access with one guest when flying on JAL Group airline flights , and priority check @-@ in at First Class counters and priority boarding for both international and domestic flights . Additional services and benefits for JGC Premier members from April of the following year include three complimentary transferable JAL and Sakura Lounge coupons , 30 upgrade points for complimentary flight upgrades , one complimentary JAL Hotels one night stay coupon , five complementary passes to the Century 21 Club and one flower gift coupon . JGC Premier membership level is equivalent to Oneworld Emerald tier status , which entitles members to Oneworld Emerald benefits when travelling on a Oneworld member airline . = = = = Diamond = = = = The highest membership level in the Fly On Program of the JAL Mileage Bank . Diamond level is achieved or retained when the member earns 100 @,@ 000 Fly On Points or boarding more than 120 flights and minimum of 35 @,@ 000 Fly On Points . Additional services and benefits for Diamond members after two months of membership qualification include 125 percent bonus mileage and any seat award tickets with double mileage deduction . Additional services and benefits for Diamond members from April of the following year include 40 upgrade points for complimentary flight upgrades , two complimentary JAL Hotels one night stay coupons and Century 21 Club membership . JMB Diamond membership level is equivalent to Oneworld Emerald tier status , which entitles members to Oneworld Emerald benefits when travelling on a Oneworld member airline . = = = JAL Global Club = = = The JAL Global Club is an exclusive club dedicated to catering to JAL Group 's most experienced and valuable travelers . Membership is available to JMB members who have earned 50 @,@ 000 Fly On Points or boarding more than 50 flights and minimum of 15 @,@ 000 Fly On Points . In addition , membership can be enrolled under JALCARD Club @-@ A , Club @-@ A Gold or JAL 's Diners Club membership after payment of an annual fee . Lifetime membership will be given as long as a one @-@ time qualifying member continues to pay the JALCARD annual fee . The Oneworld tier status as a JGC member will depend on the JMB Fly On program membership levels , with the following exception : JGC members will automatically attain Oneworld Sapphire status upon enrollment , regardless of the number of FLY ON Points accumulated in the previous calendar year . JGC benefits include 3 @,@ 000 bonus miles for the first JAL Group eligible flight flown every year , JAL or Sakura Lounge access with one guest , priority baggage , 20 kg ( 44 lb ) or two pieces of extra baggage allowance , priority check @-@ in , personalized leather baggage tags , annual gifts of a calendar and a diary and exclusive use of member lounges at designated hotels . In addition , JALCARD Club @-@ A , Club @-@ A Gold and JAL Diners Club holders receive 35 percent JALCARD flight bonus mileage .
= Dawson Creek = Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia , Canada . The municipality of 24 @.@ 37 square kilometres ( 9 @.@ 41 sq mi ) had a population of 11 @,@ 583 in 2011 . Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community . The creek was named after George Mercer Dawson by a member of his land survey team when they passed through the area in August 1879 . Once a small farming community , Dawson Creek became a regional centre when the western terminus of the Northern Alberta Railways was extended there in 1932 . The community grew rapidly in 1942 as the US Army used the rail terminus as a transshipment point during construction of the Alaska Highway . In the 1950s , the city was connected to the interior of British Columbia via a highway and railway through the Rocky Mountains . Since the 1960s , growth has slowed . Dawson Creek is located in the dry and windy prairie land of the Peace River Country . As the seat of the Peace River Regional District and a service centre for the rural areas south of the Peace River , the city has been called the " Capital of the Peace " . It is also known as the " Mile 0 City " , referring to its location at the southern end of the Alaska Highway . It also has a heritage interpretation village , an art gallery , and a museum . Annual events include a fall fair and rodeo . = = History = = Dawson Creek is named after the watercourse of the same name , itself named after George Mercer Dawson who led a surveying team through the area in August 1879 ; a member of the team labelled the creek with Dawson 's name . The community that formed by the creek was one of many farming communities established by European @-@ Canadian settlers moving west through the Peace River Country . When the Canadian government began issuing homestead grants to settlers in 1912 , the pace of migration increased . With the opening of a few stores and hotels in 1919 and the incorporation of the Dawson Creek Co @-@ operative Union on 28 May 1921 , Dawson Creek became a dominant business centre in the area . After much speculation by land owners and investors , the Northern Alberta Railways built its western terminus 3 km ( 2 mi ) from Dawson Creek . The golden spike was driven on 29 December 1930 , and the first passenger train arrived on 15 January 1931 . The arrival of the railway and the construction of grain elevators attracted more settlers and business to the settlement . The need to provide services for the rapidly growing community led Dawson Creek to incorporate as a village in May 1936 . A small wave of refugees from the Sudetenland settled in the area in 1939 as World War II was beginning . The community exceeded 500 people in 1941 . Upon entering the war , the United States decided to build a transportation corridor to connect the US mainland to Alaska . In 1942 , thousands of US Army personnel , engineers , and contractors poured into the city – the terminal of rail transport – to construct the Alaska Highway . The highway was completed in less than a year ; even after the workers involved in its construction departed , population and economic growth continued . In February 1943 , a major fire and explosion in a livery barn , packed with road @-@ building supplies including dynamite , caused serious damage to the center of town ; five people were killed and 150 injured . By 1951 , Dawson Creek had more than 3 @,@ 500 residents . In 1952 , the John Hart Highway linked the town to the rest of the British Columbia Interior and Lower Mainland through the Rocky Mountains ; a new southbound route , known locally as Tupper Highway , made the town a crossroads with neighbouring Alberta . The next year , western Canada 's largest propane gas plant was built and federal government offices were established in town . In 1958 , the extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway to the Peace from Prince George was completed , and the village was re @-@ incorporated as a city . Between 1951 and 1961 , the population of Dawson Creek more than tripled . Growth slowed in the 1960s , with the population reaching its all @-@ time high in 1966 . In the 1970s , the provincial government moved its regional offices from Pouce Coupe to the city , Northern Lights College opened a Dawson Creek campus , and the Dawson Creek Mall was constructed . Several modern grain elevators were built , and the town 's five wooden grain elevators , nicknamed " Elevator Row " , were taken out of service . Only one of the historic elevators remains , converted to an art gallery . Since the 1970s , with the nearby town of Fort St. John attracting much of the area 's industrial development and Grande Prairie becoming a commercial hub , the town 's population and economy have not significantly increased . Since 1992 , the city has undergone several boundary expansions . One expansion incorporated undeveloped land in the southeast for an industrial park and a Louisiana @-@ Pacific Canada veneer factory . The city extended sewer and water lines to the location ; however , the area was not developed and with the factory only half @-@ built , L @-@ P Canada abandoned its plans . A business making manufactured homes bought the factory and completed its development in 2005 . Another expansion incorporated the existing oriented strand board factory in the northwest corner of the city , while further incorporations have included undeveloped land to the south and north . = = Demographics = = The 1941 census , the first to include Dawson Creek as a defined subdivision , counted 518 residents . Its growth spurred by the construction of the Alaska Highway , the town recorded a sevenfold increase to 3 @,@ 589 residents in the 1951 census . Within five years , the population doubled to 7 @,@ 531 . New transport links with southern British Columbia and Alberta spurred continued growth into the next decade . The population peaked in 1966 at 12 @,@ 392 , then declined throughout the 1970s , rising again briefly during the construction of the nearby town of Tumbler Ridge in the early 1980s . Dawson Creek 's population has remained relatively stable since then . Between 2005 and 2009 , the population rose from 10 @,@ 869 to 11 @,@ 514 , per provincial estimates . According to the 2006 Canadian census , there were 10 @,@ 994 people living in 4 @,@ 650 households within the city ( the official provincial estimate was 11 @,@ 093 people ) . Of the federally surveyed households , 33 % were one @-@ person households , slightly above the 28 % average provincewide ; households consisting of couples with children , at 26 % , were very close to the provincial average ; and households of couples without children , at 24 % , were below the provincial average of 30 % . Among its 3 @,@ 000 census families , Dawson Creek had a smaller proportion of married couples than the province , 62 % compared to 73 % , but the same average number of persons per family , 2 @.@ 9 . With 92 % of Dawson Creek residents being Canadian @-@ born , and 93 % speaking only English , the city has few visible minorities . Only 17 % of residents aged 35 – 64 had a university certificate or diploma , compared to the provincewide rate of 29 % . Among those aged 25 – 64 , 20 % did not have a high school certificate or equivalent , much higher than the 12 % provincewide rate . In 2005 , the 22 @-@ officer Dawson Creek Royal Canadian Mounted Police municipal detachment reported 2 @,@ 561 Criminal Code offences . This translated into a crime rate of 225 Criminal Code offences per 1 @,@ 000 people , down from the previous year 's rate of 231 , but still much higher than the provincial average of 125 . In 2004 , per 1 @,@ 000 people , the city had higher crime rates compared to the provincial averages on all Criminal Code offences except theft from motor vehicles ( 19 @.@ 8 city , 20 @.@ 2 province ) , heroin @-@ related offences ( 0 city , 0 @.@ 13 province ) , and murder ( 0 city , 0 @.@ 03 province ) . The city had slightly higher but comparable levels of offensive weapons charges , cannabis @-@ related offences , robbery , and motor vehicle thefts . Per 1 @,@ 000 people , the city had much higher levels of shoplifting ( 13 @.@ 8 city , 4 @.@ 2 province ) , cocaine @-@ related offences ( 7 @.@ 8 city , 1 @.@ 4 province ) , commercial break @-@ and @-@ enters ( 11 @.@ 2 city , 4 @.@ 2 province ) , residential break @-@ and @-@ enters ( 13 @.@ 9 city , 6 @.@ 0 province ) , and non @-@ sexual assaults ( 26 @.@ 2 city , 9 @.@ 9 province ) . = = Geography and climate = = At the foot of Bear Mountain ridge , the city developed around the Dawson Creek watercourse which flows eastward into the Pouce Coupe River . The city is located on the Pouce Coupe Prairie in the southwestern part of the Peace River Country , 72 km ( 44 @.@ 7 mi ) southeast of Fort St. John , and 134 km ( 83 @.@ 3 mi ) northwest of Grande Prairie , Alberta . According to the Canada Land Inventory , the city is on soil that has moderate limitations , due to an adverse climate , that restrict the range of crops or require moderate conservation practices . The land is flat , but slopes upwards in the northeastern corner elevating a residential area over the rest of the city . The city is in the British Columbia Peace Lowland ecosection of the Canadian Boreal Plains ecozone on the continental Interior Platform . Located in the Cordillera Climatic Region , it lies at the southern end of a subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfc ) . In the summer , the city is often dusty and arid ; temperatures during the day are warm , but cool at night , typically falling below 10 ° C ( 50 ° F ) . Highs reaching 30 ° C ( 86 ° F ) occur only twice per year on average . Heavy rain showers are sporadic , lasting only a few minutes . In the winter , the city can get bitterly cold and dry , with 17 to 18 days of − 30 ° C ( − 22 ° F ) lows per year . It is subject to very strong winds year round . Unlike most of the province , the city and its region use Mountain Standard Time ( UTC − 07 : 00 ) all year round , since the area already has long daylight hours in the summer and short daylight hours in the winter . In other words , residents of the region never change their clocks - they use Pacific Daylight Time during the spring and summer , and Mountain Standard Time during the fall and winter . = = Economy = = The economy of Dawson Creek is based on four major industries : agriculture , retail , tourism , and oil and gas . Agriculture has historically been the most important industry to Dawson Creek , as the city is the regional transshipment point for agricultural commodities . The city is surrounded by the Agricultural Land Reserve , where the soil can support livestock and produces consistently good yields of quality grain and grass crops , such as canola , hay , oats , alfalfa , wheat , and sweet clover . The service and retail sector caters to the city 's inhabitants , smaller nearby towns , and rural communities . However , there is significant retail leakage to Grande Prairie , the closest major Alberta city , where there is no provincial tax on retail purchases , while British Columbia charges 7 % . In 2006 , the BC government rejected a proposal to lower the sales tax in the province 's border communities to 4 % . The problem of leakage has been exacerbated in recent years by the introduction of large @-@ format retail stores into the small city . Residents still cross the border for high @-@ priced items but now also purchase medium- and low @-@ priced items from foreign @-@ owned large @-@ format chain stores . Dawson Creek has a large tourism industry as Mile " 0 " of the Alaska Highway . Thousands of people drive on the highway every year , starting in Dawson Creek and ending in Fairbanks , Alaska . The trek is often made with recreational vehicles , sometimes in convoys which gather in the city . In the winter , the hospitality industry caters to workers from the oil patches . Discoveries south of Dawson Creek and higher energy prices have spurred oil and gas activities , which have in turn driven the nearby Fort St. John economy to spill over to the Dawson Creek economy . British Columbia 's first wind farm , Bear Mountain Wind Park , was constructed southwest of the city in 2009 . = = Transportation and infrastructure = = Dawson Creek 's road network was laid out in the mid @-@ 20th century as the town rapidly expanded . The city maintains 88 km ( 55 mi ) of paved and 11 km ( 7 mi ) of unpaved roads . The primary roads generally follow a grid pattern around large blocks of land . Because the grid contains many internal intersections with stops signs , traffic is forced onto two arterial roads : 8 Street going north – south and Alaska Avenue going southeast – northwest . These two roads meet at a traffic circle where a metal statue marks the beginning of the Alaska Highway . Officially designated British Columbia Highway 97 , it runs north from Dawson Creek to Fort St. John and the Yukon – where it becomes Highway 1 – before reaching Alaska . The other highways emanating from Dawson Creek are the John Hart Highway , also 97 ( southwest to Chetwynd and Prince George ) , Highway 2 ( south to Grande Prairie and southern Alberta ) , and Highway 49 ( east to Peace River and northern Alberta ) . A road with few intersections along the southern and western borders of the city , incorporating a stretch of Highway 2 , is designated as a " dangerous goods route " for heavy trucks so that they can avoid traveling through the city . However , Highway 49 has no direct access to such a ring road , so many trucks bound to or from the east use the city arterials , slowing traffic and damaging roads . Dawson Creek is a regional node for air , rail , and bus services . The Dawson Creek Airport , which services commercial flights by Central Mountain Air , was built in 1963 ; its 1 @,@ 524 m ( 5 @,@ 000 ft ) runway was paved in 1966 . There are larger airports in Fort St. John and Grande Prairie that maintain more comprehensive flight schedules . Passenger rail service was available in Dawson Creek between 1931 and 1974 . Service began when the Northern Alberta Railways ( NAR ) built its northwest terminus in the town and was extended in 1958 to Vancouver with a rail line through the Rocky Mountains . Passenger rail service ended as commodity shipments of grains , oil and gas by @-@ products , and forestry products became more important in the resource @-@ based economy . Greyhound Lines maintains a bus station in Dawson Creek which connects the city to Vancouver , Edmonton ( via Grande Prairie ) , and Whitehorse ( via Fort Nelson ) . The city draws its water supply from the Kiskatinaw River , 18 km ( 11 mi ) west of town . Before reaching the city , the water is pumped through a settling pond , two storage ponds , and a treatment plant where it is flocculated , filtered , and chlorinated . The city also provides drinking water for Pouce Coupe and rural residents . Sewage is processed by a lagoon system east of town and released into the Pouce Coupe River . = = Education = = Dawson Creek is located in School District 59 Peace River South which maintains four elementary schools ( Tremblay , Frank Ross , Crescent Park , and Canalta elementary schools ) , and one high school ( Dawson Creek Secondary School ) . Mountain Christian School , and Ron Pettigrew Christian School are K @-@ 12 private schools located in the city.There is also Notre Dame which is a K @-@ 7 Catholic school . Established in 1975 , Northern Lights College has a campus in Dawson Creek that houses its Regional Administration and two Centres of Excellence . At Northern Lights College , students can earn a one @-@ year certificate , a two @-@ year diploma or associate degree , or complete upgrading courses to get their high school diploma . = = Culture and recreation = = The cultural identity of Dawson Creek rests on its designation as Mile " 0 " of the Alaska Highway . The Mile " 0 " post , depicted in the city flag , is located in the historic downtown area , one block south of the Northern Alberta Railways Park . This four @-@ acre ( 1 @.@ 6 ha ) , mostly paved park is the gathering point for travellers . The park includes the Dawson Creek Art Gallery , which exhibits work by local artists and craftsmen . The Station Museum , connected to the art gallery , displays artifacts and exhibits associated with the construction of the NAR railway and the Alaska Highway . Other parks in Dawson Creek include the Mile Zero Rotary Park and the Walter Wright Pioneer Village . Annual events in the city include the Dawson Creek Symphonette and Choir performance , the Dawson Creek Art Gallery auction , the Dawson Creek Spring Rodeo , and the Peace Country Blue Grass Festival . The largest event , held annually since 1953 , is the Dawson Creek Fall Fair & Exhibition — a five @-@ day professional rodeo , with a parade , fairgrounds , and exhibitions . City recreation facilities include two ice hockey arenas , a curling rink , an indoor swimming pool , an outdoor ice rink , and a speed skating oval . The South Peace Community Multiplex , a new facility completed in 2010 , boasts a pool , indoor rodeo grounds and ice rink . Voters approved building the Multiplex in a 2004 referendum which projected its cost at C $ 21 @.@ 6 million . The project became controversial when construction began and the cost projection was raised to $ 35 million . The facility is located close to the city 's exhibition grounds , away from residential uses . It features an indoor rodeo arena and a 4 @,@ 000 @-@ seat convention centre / ice arena with skyboxes . Nearby Bear Mountain , located south of the city , provides over 20 km ( 12 mi ) of snowshoeing and cross @-@ country skiing trails , as well as areas for downhill skiing and about 500 km ( 300 mi ) of trails for snowmobiles , mountain bikes , and all @-@ terrain vehicles . The city was once home to a North American Hockey League team , the Dawson Creek Rage , beginning in the 2010 – 11 season until it ceased operations in 2012 due to financial difficulties . = = Media = = Dawson Creek is served by several regional newspapers . The Dawson Creek Daily News ( formerly Peace River Block Daily News ) and Fort St. John 's Alaska Highway News , both part of the Glacier Ventures chain of local papers , are dailies available in the city . The Vault Magazine is a free alternative newspaper available in the city bi @-@ weekly . The Northeast News , a free weekly published in Fort St. John , has a sub @-@ office in Dawson Creek . The only radio station broadcasting from the city is 890 CJDC AM , which first went on air in 1947 . Originating in Chetwynd , 94 @.@ 5 Peace FM ( CHET ) is rebroadcast in Dawson Creek on CHAD @-@ FM 104 @.@ 1 . The Fort St. John stations 95 @.@ 1 Energy FM ( CHRX ) , 101 @.@ 5 The Bear FM ( CKNL ) , and 101 @.@ 1 The Moose FM ( CKFU ) also reach the city . Also available locally is CBKQ @-@ FM 89 @.@ 7 , repeating CBC Radio One station CBYG @-@ FM from Prince George ; and CBUF @-@ FM @-@ 7 93 @.@ 7 FM , repeating Première Chaîne station CBUF @-@ FM from Vancouver . CJDC @-@ TV , an affiliate of CBC Television , has been broadcasting from Dawson Creek since 1959 . A local community group , the Cable 10 Society , operates a community television station . Dawson Creek is also served by local repeater CFSN @-@ TV channel 8 , owned locally by Dawson Creek Hypervista Communications and repeating CTV station CFRN @-@ DT Edmonton in analogue . = = Government and politics = = The City of Dawson Creek has a council @-@ manager form of municipal government . A six @-@ member council , along with one mayor , is elected at @-@ large every four years . Dale Bumstead was elected mayor in a byelection to replace Mike Bernier who had been elected MLA in 2013 . Bumstead was elected by acclamation to a four @-@ year term as mayor in the 2014 general municipal election . Previous mayors of the city have included Calvin Kruk ( 2005 @-@ 2008 ) , Wayne Dahlen ( 2001 @-@ 2005 ) , and Blair Lekstrom ( 1996 @-@ 2001 ) . Council appoints one person , usually the mayor , to serve as a board director with the Peace River Regional District . Concurrent with municipal elections , residents also elect two school board trustees to School District 59 which consists of seven trustees . The city government administered a 2015 operating budget of approximately $ 36 million which predominantly went towards fire and police protection , recreational facilities and services , water treatment and distribution , sewage collection and treatment , road maintenance , snow removal , library services , parks , public transportation , and the airport . For creating its Community Energy Plan , which involved the installation of low @-@ voltage street lights and solar @-@ powered hot water heaters , the city was awarded the Federation of Canadian Municipalities ' 2007 Sustainable Community Award . Dawson Creek is situated in the Peace River South provincial electoral district and is represented by Mike Bernier of the British Columbia Liberal Party in the provincial assembly . Bernier served as mayor of Dawson Creek between 2008 and 2013 . His predecessor , Blair Lekstrom , also served as mayor of Dawson Creek , between 1996 and 2001 , before being elected as the MLA for the BC Liberals . Bernier became a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 2013 provincial election with 46 % support . Before Bernier and Lekstrom , Peace River South was represented by Dawson Creek resident Jack Weisgerber . Weisgerber was first elected in 1986 as a member of the Social Credit Party and served as the province 's Minister of Energy , Mines and Petroleum Resources and Minister of Native Affairs . While the Social Credit Party lost power in 1991 , Weisgerber was re @-@ elected and served as interim party leader . He joined the Reform Party of British Columbia in 1994 and won re @-@ election in 1996 as party leader , even though Dawson Creek polls put him in third place behind the BC Liberal Party and New Democratic Party candidates . Federally , Dawson Creek is located in the Prince George — Peace River riding . The riding is represented in the Canadian House of Commons by Conservative Bob Zimmer . Bob Zimmer was elected to this seat in 2011 after Jay Hill retired . Before Hill , who was first elected in 1993 , the riding was represented by Progressive Conservative Frank Oberle . Oberle served as its Member of Parliament for 20 years .
= Write amplification = Write amplification ( WA ) is an undesirable phenomenon associated with flash memory and solid @-@ state drives ( SSDs ) where the actual amount of physical information written is a multiple of the logical amount intended to be written . Because flash memory must be erased before it can be rewritten , with much coarser granularity of the erase operation when compared to the write operation , the process to perform these operations results in moving ( or rewriting ) user data and metadata more than once . Thus , rewriting some data requires an already used portion of flash to be read , updated and written to a new location , together with initially erasing the new location if it was previously used at some point in time ; due to the way flash works , much larger portions of flash must be erased and rewritten than actually required by the amount of new data . This multiplying effect increases the number of writes required over the life of the SSD which shortens the time it can reliably operate . The increased writes also consume bandwidth to the flash memory which mainly reduces random write performance to the SSD . Many factors will affect the write amplification of an SSD ; some can be controlled by the user and some are a direct result of the data written to and usage of the SSD . Intel and SiliconSystems ( acquired by Western Digital in 2009 ) used the term write amplification in their papers and publications as early as 2008 . Write amplification is typically measured by the ratio of writes committed to the flash memory to the writes coming from the host system . Without compression , write amplification cannot drop below one . Using compression , SandForce has claimed to achieve a typical write amplification of 0 @.@ 5 , with best @-@ case values as low as 0 @.@ 14 in the SF @-@ 2281 controller . = = Basic SSD operation = = Due to the nature of flash memory 's operation , data cannot be directly overwritten as it can in a hard disk drive . When data is first written to an SSD , the cells all start in an erased state so data can be written directly using pages at a time ( often 4 – 8 kilobytes ( KB ) in size ) . The SSD controller on the SSD , which manages the flash memory and interfaces with the host system , uses a logical @-@ to @-@ physical mapping system known as logical block addressing ( LBA ) and that is part of the flash translation layer ( FTL ) . When new data comes in replacing older data already written , the SSD controller will write the new data in a new location and update the logical mapping to point to the new physical location . The data in the old location is no longer valid , and will need to be erased before the location can be written again . Flash memory can only be programmed and erased a limited number of times . This is often referred to as the maximum number of program / erase cycles ( P / E cycles ) it can sustain over the life of the flash memory . Single @-@ level cell ( SLC ) flash , designed for higher performance and longer endurance , can typically operate between 50 @,@ 000 and 100 @,@ 000 cycles . As of 2011 , multi @-@ level cell ( MLC ) flash is designed for lower cost applications and has a greatly reduced cycle count of typically between 3 @,@ 000 and 5 @,@ 000 . Since 2013 , triple @-@ level cell ( TLC ) flash has been available , with cycle counts dropping to 1 @,@ 000 program @-@ erase ( P / E ) cycles . A lower write amplification is more desirable , as it corresponds to a reduced number of P / E cycles on the flash memory and thereby to an increased SSD life . = = Calculating the value = = Write amplification was always present in SSDs before the term was defined , but it was in 2008 that both Intel and SiliconSystems started using the term in their papers and publications . All SSDs have a write amplification value and it is based on both what is currently being written and what was previously written to the SSD . In order to accurately measure the value for a specific SSD , the selected test should be run for enough time to ensure the drive has reached a steady state condition . A simple formula to calculate the write amplification of an SSD is : <formula> = = Factors affecting the value = = Many factors affect the write amplification of an SSD . The table below lists the primary factors and how they affect the write amplification . For factors that are variable , the table notes if it has a direct relationship or an inverse relationship . For example , as the amount of over @-@ provisioning increases , the write amplification decreases ( inverse relationship ) . If the factor is a toggle ( enabled or disabled ) function then it has either a positive or negative relationship . = = Garbage collection = = Data is written to the flash memory in units called pages ( made up of multiple cells ) . However , the memory can only be erased in larger units called blocks ( made up of multiple pages ) . If the data in some of the pages of the block are no longer needed ( also called stale pages ) , only the pages with good data in that block are read and rewritten into another previously erased empty block . Then the free pages left by not moving the stale data are available for new data . This is a process called garbage collection ( GC ) . All SSDs include some level of garbage collection , but they may differ in when and how fast they perform the process . Garbage collection is a big part of write amplification on the SSD . Reads do not require an erase of the flash memory , so they are not generally associated with write amplification . In the limited chance of a read disturb error , the data in that block is read and rewritten , but this would not have any material impact on the write amplification of the drive . = = = Background garbage collection = = = The process of garbage collection involves reading and rewriting data to the flash memory . This means that a new write from the host will first require a read of the whole block , a write of the parts of the block which still include valid data , and then a write of the new data . This can significantly reduce the performance of the system . Some SSD controllers implement background garbage collection ( BGC ) , sometimes called idle garbage collection or idle @-@ time garbage collection ( ITGC ) , where the controller uses idle time to consolidate blocks of flash memory before the host needs to write new data . This enables the performance of the device to remain high . If the controller were to background garbage collect all of the spare blocks before it was absolutely necessary , new data written from the host could be written without having to move any data in advance , letting the performance operate at its peak speed . The trade @-@ off is that some of those blocks of data are actually not needed by the host and will eventually be deleted , but the OS did not tell the controller this information . The result is that the soon @-@ to @-@ be @-@ deleted data is rewritten to another location in the flash memory , increasing the write amplification . In some of the SSDs from OCZ the background garbage collection only clears up a small number of blocks then stops , thereby limiting the amount of excessive writes . Another solution is to have an efficient garbage collection system which can perform the necessary moves in parallel with the host writes . This solution is more effective in high write environments where the SSD is rarely idle . The SandForce SSD controllers and the systems from Violin Memory have this capability . = = = Filesystem @-@ aware garbage collection = = = In 2010 , some manufacturers ( notably Samsung ) introduced SSD controllers that extended the concept of BGC to analyze the file system used on the SSD , to identify recently deleted files and unpartitioned space . The manufacturer claimed that this would ensure that even systems ( operating systems and SATA controller hardware ) which do not support TRIM could achieve similar performance . The operation of the Samsung implementation appeared to assume and require an NTFS file system . It is not clear if this feature is still available in currently shipping SSDs from these manufacturers . Systematic data corruption has been reported on these drives if they are not formatted properly using MBR and NTFS . = = Over @-@ provisioning = = Over @-@ provisioning ( sometimes spelled as OP , over provisioning , or overprovisioning ) is the difference between the physical capacity of the flash memory and the logical capacity presented through the operating system ( OS ) as available for the user . During the garbage collection , wear @-@ leveling , and bad block mapping operations on the SSD , the additional space from over @-@ provisioning helps lower the write amplification when the controller writes to the flash memory . The first source of over @-@ provisioning comes from the computation of the capacity and use of gigabyte ( GB ) as the unit instead of gibibyte ( GiB ) . Both HDD and SSD vendors use the term GB to represent a decimal GB or 1 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 ( = 109 ) bytes . Like most other electronic storage , flash memory is assembled in powers of two , so calculating the physical capacity of an SSD would be based on 1 @,@ 073 @,@ 741 @,@ 824 ( = 230 ) per binary GB or GiB . The difference between these two values is 7 @.@ 37 % (
= ( 230 − 109 ) / 109 × 100 % ) . Therefore , a 128 GB SSD with 0 % additional over @-@ provisioning would provide 128 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 bytes to the user ( out of 137 @,@ 438 @,@ 953 @,@ 472 total ) . This initial 7 @.@ 37 % is typically not counted in the total over @-@ provisioning number , and the true amount available is usually less as some storage space is needed for the controller to keep track of non @-@ operating system data such as block status flags . The 7 @.@ 37 % figure may extend to 9 @.@ 95 % in the terabyte range , as manufacturers take advantage of a further grade of binary / decimal unit divergence to offer 1 or 2 TB drives of 1000 and 2000 GB capacity ( 931 and 1862 GiB ) , respectively , instead of 1024 and 2048 GB ( as 1 TB = 1 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 bytes in decimal terms , but 1 @,@ 099 @,@ 511 @,@ 627 @,@ 776 in binary ) . The second source of over @-@ provisioning comes from the manufacturer , typically at 0 % , 7 % or 28 % , based on the difference between the decimal gigabyte of the physical capacity and the decimal gigabyte of the available space to the user . As an example , a manufacturer might publish a specification for their SSD at 100 , 120 or 128 GB based on 128 GB of possible capacity . This difference is 28 % , 7 % and 0 % respectively and is the basis for the manufacturer claiming they have 28 % of over @-@ provisioning on their drive . This does not count the additional 7 @.@ 37 % of capacity available from the difference between the decimal and binary gigabyte . The third source of over @-@ provisioning comes from known free space on the drive , gaining endurance and performance at the expense of reporting unused portions , and / or at the expense of current or future capacity . This free space can be identified by the operating system using the TRIM command . Alternately , some SSDs provide a utility that permit the end user to select additional over @-@ provisioning . Furthermore , if any SSD is set up with an overall partitioning layout smaller than 100 % of the available space , that unpartitioned space will be automatically used by the SSD as over @-@ provisioning as well . Yet another source of over @-@ provisioning is operating system minimum free space limits ; some operating systems maintain a certain minimum free space per drive , particularly on the boot or main drive . If this additional space can be identified by the SSD , perhaps through continuous usage of the TRIM command , then this acts as semi @-@ permanent over @-@ provisioning . Over @-@ provisioning often takes away from user capacity , either temporarily or permanently , but it gives back reduced write amplification , increased endurance , and increased performance . A simple formula to calculate the over @-@ provision of an SSD is : <formula> = = TRIM = = TRIM is a SATA command that enables the operating system to tell an SSD which blocks of previously saved data are no longer needed as a result of file deletions or volume formatting . When an LBA is replaced by the OS , as with an overwrite of a file , the SSD knows that the original LBA can be marked as stale or invalid and it will not save those blocks during garbage collection . If the user or operating system erases a file ( not just remove parts of it ) , the file will typically be marked for deletion , but the actual contents on the disk are never actually erased . Because of this , the SSD does not know that it can erase the LBAs previously occupied by the file , so the SSD will keep including such LBAs in the garbage collection . The introduction of the TRIM command resolves this problem for operating systems that support it like Windows 7 , Mac OS ( latest releases of Snow Leopard , Lion , and Mountain Lion , patched in some cases ) , FreeBSD since version 8 @.@ 1 , and Linux since version 2 @.@ 6 @.@ 33 of the Linux kernel mainline . When a file is permanently deleted or the drive is formatted , the OS sends the TRIM command along with the LBAs that no longer contain valid data . This informs the SSD that the LBAs in use can be erased and reused . This reduces the LBAs needing to be moved during garbage collection . The result is the SSD will have more free space enabling lower write amplification and higher performance . = = = Limitations and dependencies = = = The TRIM command also needs the support of the SSD . If the firmware in the SSD does not have support for the TRIM command , the LBAs received with the TRIM command will not be marked as invalid and the drive will continue to garbage collect the data assuming it is still valid . Only when the OS saves new data into those LBAs will the SSD know to mark the original LBA as invalid . SSD Manufacturers that did not originally build TRIM support into their drives can either offer a firmware upgrade to the user , or provide a separate utility that extracts the information on the invalid data from the OS and separately TRIMs the SSD . The benefit would only be realized after each run of that utility by the user . The user could set up that utility to run periodically in the background as an automatically scheduled task . Just because an SSD supports the TRIM command does not necessarily mean it will be able to perform at top speed immediately after a TRIM command . The space which is freed up after the TRIM command may be at random locations spread throughout the SSD . It will take a number of passes of writing data and garbage collecting before those spaces are consolidated to show improved performance . Even after the OS and SSD are configured to support the TRIM command , other conditions might prevent any benefit from TRIM . As of early 2010 , databases and RAID systems are not yet TRIM @-@ aware and consequently will not know how to pass that information on to the SSD . In those cases the SSD will continue to save and garbage collect those blocks until the OS uses those LBAs for new writes . The actual benefit of the TRIM command depends upon the free user space on the SSD . If the user capacity on the SSD was 100 GB and the user actually saved 95 GB of data to the drive , any TRIM operation would not add more than 5 GB of free space for garbage collection and wear leveling . In those situations , increasing the amount of over @-@ provisioning by 5 GB would allow the SSD to have more consistent performance because it would always have the additional 5 GB of additional free space without having to wait for the TRIM command to come from the OS . = = Free user space = = The SSD controller will use any free blocks on the SSD for garbage collection and wear leveling . The portion of the user capacity which is free from user data ( either already TRIMed or never written in the first place ) will look the same as over @-@ provisioning space ( until the user saves new data to the SSD ) . If the user only saves data consuming 1 / 2 of the total user capacity of the drive , the other half of the user capacity will look like additional over @-@ provisioning ( as long as the TRIM command is supported in the system ) . = = Secure erase = = The ATA Secure Erase command is designed to remove all user data from a drive . With an SSD without integrated encryption , this command will put the drive back to its original out @-@ of @-@ box state . This will initially restore its performance to the highest possible level and the best ( lowest number ) possible write amplification , but as soon as the drive starts garbage collecting again the performance and write amplification will start returning to the former levels . Many tools use the ATA Secure Erase command to reset the drive and provide a user interface as well . One free tool that is commonly referenced in the industry is called HDDErase . Gparted and Ubuntu live CDs provide a bootable Linux system of disk utilities including secure erase . Drives which encrypt all writes on the fly can implement ATA Secure Erase in another way . They simply zeroize and generate a new random encryption key each time a secure erase is done . In this way the old data cannot be read anymore , as it cannot be decrypted . Some drives with an integrated encryption may require a TRIM command be sent to the drive to put the drive back to its original out @-@ of @-@ box state . = = Wear leveling = = If a particular block was programmed and erased repeatedly without writing to any other blocks , that block would wear out before all the other blocks — thereby prematurely ending the life of the SSD . For this reason , SSD controllers use a technique called wear leveling to distribute writes as evenly as possible across all the flash blocks in the SSD . In a perfect scenario , this would enable every block to be written to its maximum life so they all fail at the same time . Unfortunately , the process to evenly distribute writes requires data previously written and not changing ( cold data ) to be moved , so that data which are changing more frequently ( hot data ) can be written into those blocks . Each time data are relocated without being changed by the host system , this increases the write amplification and thus reduces the life of the flash memory . The key is to find an optimum algorithm which maximizes them both . = = Separating static and dynamic data = = The separation of static and dynamic data to reduce write amplification is not a simple process for the SSD controller . The process requires the SSD controller to separate the LBAs with data which is constantly changing and requiring rewriting ( dynamic data ) from the LBAs with data which rarely changes and does not require any rewrites ( static data ) . If the data is mixed in the same blocks , as with almost all systems today , any rewrites will require the SSD controller to garbage collect both the dynamic data ( which caused the rewrite initially ) and static data ( which did not require any rewrite ) . Any garbage collection of data that would not have otherwise required moving will increase write amplification . Therefore , separating the data will enable static data to stay at rest and if it never gets rewritten it will have the lowest possible write amplification for that data . The drawback to this process is that somehow the SSD controller must still find a way to wear level the static data because those blocks that never change will not get a chance to be written to their maximum P / E cycles . = = Sequential writes = = When an SSD is writing large amounts of data sequentially , the write amplification is equal to one meaning there is no write amplification . The reason is as the data is written , the entire block is filled sequentially with data related to the same file . If the OS determines that file is to be replaced or deleted , the entire block can be marked as invalid , and there is no need to read parts of it to garbage collect and rewrite into another block . It will only need to be erased , which is much easier and faster than the read @-@ erase @-@ modify @-@ write process needed for randomly written data going through garbage collection . = = Random writes = = The peak random write performance on an SSD is driven by plenty of free blocks after the SSD is completely garbage collected , secure erased , 100 % TRIMed , or newly installed . The maximum speed will depend upon the number of parallel flash channels connected to the SSD controller , the efficiency of the firmware , and the speed of the flash memory in writing to a page . During this phase the write amplification will be the best it can ever be for random writes and will be approaching one . Once the blocks are all written once , garbage collection will begin and the performance will be gated by the speed and efficiency of that process . Write amplification in this phase will increase to the highest levels the drive will experience . = = Impact on performance = = The overall performance of an SSD is dependent upon a number of factors , including write amplification . Writing to a flash memory device takes longer than reading from it . An SSD generally uses multiple flash memory components connected in parallel to increase performance . If the SSD has a high write amplification , the controller will be required to write that many more times to the flash memory . This requires even more time to write the data from the host . An SSD with a low write amplification will not need to write as much data and can therefore be finished writing sooner than a drive with a high write amplification . = = Product statements = = In September 2008 , Intel announced the X25 @-@ M SATA SSD with a reported WA as low as 1 @.@ 1 . In April 2009 , SandForce announced the SF @-@ 1000 SSD Processor family with a reported WA of 0 @.@ 5 which appears to come from some form of data compression . Before this announcement , a write amplification of 1 @.@ 0 was considered the lowest that could be attained with an SSD . Currently , only SandForce employs compression in its SSD controller .
= Hugh Hickling = Reginald Hugh Hickling ( 2 August 1920 – 11 February 2007 ) , known as Hugh Hickling , was a British lawyer , civil servant , law academic , and author , and author of the controversial Internal Security Act of colonial Malaysia . Born in Derby , England , Hickling served from 1941 until 1946 in the British Royal Navy during World War II , and then joined the Colonial Legal Service . In 1955 , Hickling was posted to Malaya ( now Malaysia ) , where he gained prominence as a lawmaker . He drafted the Constitution of Malaysia , and as Commissioner of Law Revision wrote the Internal Security Act ( ISA ) of 1960 , which provided for the detention of persons without trial . The ISA was later used to oppress political opponents or those dedicated to non @-@ violent activities , which Hickling later said was not his intention . In 1972 , Hickling retired from the civil service , and subsequently lectured in law in Australia , Malaysia , Singapore , and the United Kingdom . Hickling later wrote many books and law journal articles , and also wrote novels and short stories throughout his career . Hickling died in 2007 in Malvern , Worcestershire . = = Early life 1920 – 1950 = = Hickling was the son of Frederick Hickling , a police inspector , and his wife Elsie , of Malvern , Worcestershire . Hickling was born on 2 August 1920 in Derby , and educated at Buxton College . He applied to study at the University of Oxford , but was unsuccessful at his interview , because he shocked his examiner by rating the poetry of A. E. Housman over that of William Wordsworth . He studied instead at the University of Nottingham , where he became the youngest student to graduate with a Bachelor of Laws ( LL.B. ) . After graduation , Hickling joined a law firm as an articled clerk , and then enrolled for one year of approved academic study at the East Midlands School of Law . Between 1941 and 1946 Hickling served as an ordinary seaman in World War II with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on board HMS La Malouine , a 29 @-@ metre French corvette taken over by the British . The ship was part of Convoy PQ @-@ 17 , carrying matériel from Britain and the US to the USSR . PQ @-@ 17 sailed in June – July 1942 and suffered the heaviest losses of any Russia @-@ bound convoy , with 25 vessels out of 36 lost to enemy action . On D @-@ Day , he was a sub @-@ lieutenant commanding an Mk IV Landing Craft Tank 1013 with LCT 1018 of the 43rd LCT flotilla , which carried several hundred tons of ammunition to Sword Beach , Normandy . Hickling married Beryl ( Bee ) Dennett in 1945 , and the following year he resumed his legal career as deputy solicitor with the Evening Standard in London . After the death of their firstborn son , they emigrated despite his wife 's uncertainty about moving as far from England as possible . = = Crown colony 1950 – 1972 = = Hickling joined the Colonial Legal Service , and in 1950 was posted to Sarawak , then a British colony , as assistant attorney general and , as he put it , " cheerfully assisted in the dissolution of Empire " . In 1954 , he spent two months in the sultanate of Brunei to research its constitutional status and to brief colonial officials on its history and traditions before the introduction of a written constitution , and submitted his memorandum on the matter in 1955 . Immediately thereafter , Hickling was transferred to Malaya as its first parliamentary draftsman , and in that capacity he helped to prepare the Malayan ( now Malaysian ) constitution for that country 's independence from Britain in 1957 . Subsequently , as Commissioner of Law Revision he drafted the Internal Security Act of 1960 , based on the Emergency Ordinance 1948 which had been enacted to provide the British colonial authorities with powers to tackle a communist insurgency . For his contributions to Malaya , Hickling was made a Companion of the Order of the Defender of the Realm ( known in Malay as the Johan Mangku Negara or JMN ) by the Malaysian head of state , the Yang di @-@ Pertuan Agong , in 1960 . The Internal Security Act allows persons to be detained without trial for acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia or to the maintenance of its essential services or economic life . It is authorized by Article 149 of the Malaysian Constitution , which stipulates that if an Act recites that action has been taken or threatened by any substantial body of persons , whether inside or outside the Federation in respect of certain situations – including organized violence against persons or property , the excitement of disaffection against the Yang di @-@ Pertuan Agong or the government , or the promotion of feelings of ill @-@ will and hostility between different races or classes of the population likely to cause violence – then any provision of that law designed to stop or prevent that action is valid notwithstanding that it is inconsistent with certain articles of the Constitution guaranteeing fundamental liberties . Upon Singapore 's independence from Malaysia in 1965 , the island republic retained both the Internal Security Act and Article 149 of the Constitution in its statute book . According to the New Straits Times , Hickling later wrote in 1989 , " I could not imagine then that the time would come when the power of detention , carefully and deliberately interlocked with Article 149 of the Constitution , would be used against political opponents , welfare workers and others dedicated to nonviolent , peaceful activities . " However , he commented that it was not for him to say if the Internal Security Act should be scrapped . " As a lawyer , I 'm all for its review but on whether it should be scrapped , I don 't know . You 've got a multi @-@ racial society [ in Malaysia ] in which emotions can run high very quickly . " Interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 's radio programme PM in April 2001 , Hickling agreed with the interviewer , Geoff Thompson , that he supported the law 's continued existence and said he was " sorry to say that , in the light of my own experience , I 'm inclined to think you couldn 't really safely get rid of it at the moment " . Worldwide terrorist attacks such as 9 / 11 confirmed his views on the matter . Hickling later served with the Commonwealth Office in 1964 , and as legal adviser to the High Commissioner in Aden and the Federation of South Arabia between 1964 and 1967 . He was also Maritime Law Adviser in Thailand ( 1968 – 1969 ) , Malaysia ( 1969 ) , Sri Lanka ( 1970 ) and the Yemen Arab Republic ( 1984 and 1986 ) . His last colonial post was that of Attorney General of Gibraltar between 1970 and 1972 . = = Academia and later life 1972 – 2007 = = After retiring from the civil service , Hickling became a law academic . He was a lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London ( which awarded him a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ) in Law ) from 1976 to 1978 and from 1981 to 1982 where he taught Southeast Asian law , and a visiting lecturer at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1978 to 1980 . He was also adjunct Professor of Southeast Asian Law at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ( National University of Malaysia ) in Bangi , Selangor , for six years . He authored books and law journal articles , particularly about public law in Malaysia and Singapore ; some of the latter were collected into two works , Essays in Malaysian Law ( 1991 ) and Essays in Singapore Law ( 1992 ) . In 1995 , in recognition of his reputation and standing in the legal profession , he was appointed adjunct professor of law at the Centre of South East Asian Law at Charles Darwin University in Darwin in the Northern Territory , Australia . Until 2006 , Hickling continued travelling to the Far East and Australia , delivering lectures , reviewing examination papers and visiting friends , colleagues and students . Despite his many accolades , he lived simply and impressed staff and students with his disarming humility . In addition to his legal writings , Hickling wrote novels and short stories , mostly drawing on his experiences of life in different British colonies . Hickling was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George ( CMG ) in 1968 and a Queen 's Counsel ( Gibraltar ) in 1970 . Upon his retirement , Hickling chose to settle in Malvern , Worcestershire , because of family connections to the town , and indulged his lifelong passion for the music of Mozart . He died after a short illness on 11 February 2007 in St. Richard 's Hospice , Malvern , survived by his wife , two sons and a daughter , and 12 grandchildren . = = Works = = = = = Autobiographies = = = In 1973 – 1974 , while waiting for a Foreign Office posting , Hickling wrote an unpublished personal memoir recalling his time as legal adviser to the High Commissioner in Aden and the Federation of South Arabia between 1964 and 1967 . Hickling deposited documents relating to this memoir at the Churchill Archives Centre of Churchill College , University of Cambridge , in 1996 , where they may be accessed under the title " The Papers of ( Reginald ) Hugh Hickling " ( reference GBR / 0014 / HICK ) . Hickling , R.H. ( 2000 ) . Memoir of a Wayward Lawyer . Bangi , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia . ISBN 967 @-@ 942 @-@ 468 @-@ 5 . = = = Non @-@ fiction = = = Hickling , R.H. ( 1954 ) . Sarawak and its Government : A First Book in Civics . [ Sarawak , Malaysia ? ] : Government Printing Office . ( 2nd. rev. ed . , 1959 . ) Hickling , R.H. ( 1960 ) . Federation of Malaya : An Introduction to the Federal Constitution . Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia : Federation of Malaya Information Services . New edition : Hickling , R.H. ( 1985 ) . Introduction to the Federal Constitution . Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia : Malaysian Law Publishers . Hickling , R.H. ( 1979 ) . Liberty and Law in Singapore . Singapore : Malaya Law Review , Faculty of Law , University of Singapore . Hickling , R.H. ( 1987 ) . Malaysian Law : An Introduction to the Concept of Law in Malaysia . Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia : Professional ( Law ) Books Publishers . ISBN 967 @-@ 9958 @-@ 01 @-@ 9 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1991 ) . Essays in Malaysian Law . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pelanduk Publications . ISBN 967 @-@ 978 @-@ 385 @-@ 5 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1992 ) . Essays in Singapore Law . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pelanduk Publications . ISBN 967 @-@ 978 @-@ 421 @-@ 5 . Hickling , R.H. ; Wu Min Aun ( 1995 ) . Conflict of Laws in Malaysia . Malaysia ; Singapore : Butterworths Asia . ISBN 0 @-@ 409 @-@ 99769 @-@ 2 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1997 ) . Malaysian Public Law . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pelanduk Publications . ISBN 967 @-@ 978 @-@ 597 @-@ 1 . New edition : Wu , Min Aun ; R.H. Hickling ( 2003 ) . Hickling 's Malaysia Public Law . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pearson Malaysia . ISBN 983 @-@ 74 @-@ 2518 @-@ 0 . = = = Fiction = = = Hickling , R.H. ( 1950 ) . The Furious Evangelist : Being the Memoirs of Richard Civet during a Time of Moral Breakdown . London : Alvin Redman . Hickling , R.H. ( 1954 ) . The English Flotilla : A War Novel . London : Macdonald . Published in the US as Hickling , R.H. ( 1956 ) . Falconer 's Voyage . Boston , Mass . : Houghton Mifflin . Hickling , R.H. ( 1957 ) . Festival of Hungry Ghosts . London : Macdonald . Reprinted as Hickling , Hugh ( 1997 ) . Festival of Hungry Ghosts : A Novel . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pelanduk Publications . ISBN 967 @-@ 978 @-@ 554 @-@ 8 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1968 ) . Lieutenant Okino . London : Hutchinson of London . ISBN 0 @-@ 09 @-@ 088890 @-@ 1 . Reprinted as Hickling , Hugh ( 1997 ) . Crimson Sun Over Borneo : A Novel . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pelanduk Publications . ISBN 967 @-@ 978 @-@ 555 @-@ 6 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1985 ) . The Ghost of Orchard Road and Other Stories . Singapore : Times Books International . ISBN 9971 @-@ 65 @-@ 209 @-@ 9 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1985 ) . A Prince of Borneo . Singapore : Graham Brash . ISBN 9971 @-@ 947 @-@ 74 @-@ 9 . Hickling , Hugh ( 1992 ) . So Lucky ! and Other Stories . Singapore : Graham Brash . ISBN 9971 @-@ 4 @-@ 9274 @-@ 1 . Hickling , Hugh ( 1994 ) . The Dog Satyricon . Petaling Jaya , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Pelanduk Publications . ISBN 967 @-@ 978 @-@ 491 @-@ 6 . Hickling , R.H. ( 1994 ) . Finding Hobbes . Bangi , Selangor Darul Ehsan , Malaysia : Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia . ISBN 9679422828 ( hbk . ) , ISBN 967 @-@ 942 @-@ 287 @-@ 9 ( pbk . ) . Hickling , R.H. ( ? [ 19-- ] ) . The Lotus @-@ Eaters . [ S.l. ] : [ s.n. ] Hickling , R.H. ( 2003 ) . Waltzing Mice . Singapore : Times Books International . ISBN 981 @-@ 232 @-@ 520 @-@ 4 .
= California State Route 198 = State Route 198 ( SR 198 ) is an east – west state highway that begins at U.S. Route 101 ( US 101 ) south of King City and ends in Sequoia National Park . It connects the California Central Coast to the mid – Central Valley through Hanford and Visalia , although the most developed portion is in the Central Valley itself . SR 198 intersects the major north – south routes in the Central Valley , including Interstate 5 ( I @-@ 5 ) , SR 33 , and SR 99 . The highway that would become SR 198 was approved for construction in the 1910s through three bond issues , and was added to the state highway system in 1934 . Parts of the highway were upgraded to freeway during the 1960s . Another portion is being converted to an expressway in between Hanford and Visalia , with completion scheduled for late 2012 . = = Route description = = The road begins at a remote interchange with US 101 south of King City in the Salinas River Valley . Leaving US 101 , SR 198 passes through the Priest Valley , climbs the Diablo Range as a two @-@ lane road and crosses over an unnamed pass . It then descends along Warthan Canyon to the town of Coalinga in the agricultural Central Valley , where it briefly runs concurrently with SR 33 . On both sides of Coalinga the road passes through the enormous Coalinga Oil Field . SR 198 then intersects Interstate 5 ( I @-@ 5 ) in Fresno County near the Harris Ranch Airport before becoming a freeway west of Lemoore . The landscape becomes a bit less rural as it goes through Hanford and passes near the Hanford Municipal Airport , where it continues as a four @-@ lane expressway from the intersection with SR 43 until SR 198 encounters a freeway @-@ to @-@ freeway interchange with SR 99 as it enters Visalia , the largest city it passes through , and goes by the Visalia Municipal Airport . It remains a freeway until east of Visalia , intersecting SR 65 and passing by College of the Sequoias . The road starts to climb the forested Sierra Nevada and ends at Sequoia National Park , near Lake Kaweah . This is one of the main routes providing access to Sequoia National Park , the other being SR 180 to the north . SR 198 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System as designated by the California State Legislature ; however , it is not a scenic highway as defined by Caltrans . = = History = = All of SR 198 was added to the state highway system in the three bond issues floated to pay for the construction of the system . The first bond issue , approved by the state 's voters in 1910 , included the road from Visalia west to Hanford , connecting the two county seats with the central north – south highway ( Route 4 , now SR 99 ) . As part of the 1916 bond issue , the route was extended west from Hanford through Coalinga to the coast trunk highway ( Route 2 , now US 101 ) near San Lucas , and assigned it the Route 10 designation . The third bond issue , passed in 1919 , included a further extension east from Visalia to Sequoia National Park . The entire length of Route 10 was marked as Sign Route 198 in 1934 , and this number was adopted legislatively in the 1964 renumbering . The portion east of Interstate 5 near Coalinga was added to the California Freeway and Expressway System in 1959 , and parts of it have been built as such . The construction of the freeway east of Visalia to Road 192 was approved in January 1961 , with the remainder of the freeway unplanned at that time as contingent on the routing of SR 65 . The projected cost in 1958 of the entire freeway east of Visalia was $ 13 million ( $ 262 million in today 's dollars ) and was scheduled to be completed by 1964 . The freeway through Visalia was completed by 1965 , with an expressway connecting it to US 99 . Also completed was the expressway heading west out of Hanford , with part of it access @-@ controlled west of Lemoore . Construction began in November 2009 on a project to widen a two @-@ lane , 10 @-@ mile section of SR 198 between SR 43 and SR 99 into a four @-@ lane expressway . The $ 60 million project was completed in December 2012 . = = Future = = The Kings County Association of Governments has plans to improve the state highways within the county . Developers are interested in building distribution warehouses in Kings County because of its strategic location midway between the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas , but they are currently turned off by the lack of freeway access . For SR 198 , the plan is to extend the freeway segment from Naval Air Station Lemoore to I @-@ 5 . However , Kings County voters have shown little interest in passing any transportation taxes to fund these projects . = = Major intersections = = Except where prefixed with a letter , postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964 , based on the alignment that existed at the time , and do not necessarily reflect current mileage . R reflects a realignment in the route since then , M indicates a second realignment , L refers an overlap due to a correction or change , and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary ( for a full list of prefixes , see the list of postmile definitions ) . Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted . The numbers reset at county lines ; the start and end postmiles in each county are given in the county column .
= Nittany Furnace = Nittany Furnace , known earlier as Valentine Furnace , was a hot blast iron furnace located in Spring Township , Centre County , Pennsylvania , United States . Placed in operation in 1888 on the site of an older furnace , it was an important feature of Bellefonte economic life until it closed in 1911 , no longer able to compete with more modern steel producers . = = Centre Iron Company = = The preliminaries to the furnace 's construction began in 1885 , when Valentine and Thomas , an old ironmaking firm of Bellefonte , decided to sell off its properties . These then consisted of Bellefonte Forge , on Logan Branch just south of Bellefonte , and Bellefonte Furnace , a cold blast charcoal iron furnace lying about a mile south of the town , also on Logan Branch , as well as holdings in local iron ore mines . Both plants were served by the Bellefonte , Nittany and Lemont Railroad , a subsidiary of the PRR . The ironworks and ore lands were bought on August 2 , 1886 , for $ 400 @,@ 000 , by the Valentine Ore Land Association , whose principals organized the Centre Iron Company to erect a new iron furnace on the site of Bellefonte Furnace , which was to be torn down . A $ 600 @,@ 000 mortgage was immediately raised on the properties , to supply the purchase money and funds for rebuilding the furnace . The leaders of the company included Edmund Blanchard , W. M. Stewart , and B. K. Jamison , a Philadelphia banker . The plant was built in 1887 , and the Nittany Valley Railroad was built to supply it with ore . It became necessary to raise additional funds , and in 1887 , the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased $ 75 @,@ 000 worth of bonds in exchange for exclusive rights to rail traffic to and from the furnace . The first load of ore was delivered by the Nittany Valley on February 28 , 1888 , and the furnace went into blast on March 4 , 1888 . The company was originally headed by Jamison , but by 1890 , James B. Coryell was president and Jamison vice @-@ president . At this time , the furnace had one 70 @-@ foot ( 21 @-@ meter ) stack and three hot @-@ blast stoves , with a capacity of 30 @,@ 000 tons ( 27 @,@ 200 tonnes ) of iron per year . Ore was supplied from local hematite deposits , and the furnace was fuelled by Connellsville coke . In the same year , however , the failure of Jamison 's bank precipitated the closure of the furnace by the sheriff on November 15 , 1890 . It was subsequently sold under foreclosure . = = Valentine Iron Company = = The Valentine Iron Company was organized by the bondholders of the Centre Iron Company to take over the furnace , and was incorporated on January 28 , 1891 . The president was J. Wesley Gephart , Bellefonte lawyer and industrialist , and the treasurer and manager was Robert Valentine , of the original ironmaking family . A report just prior to the charter records the permanent board of directors as James H. Campbell , of Wayne , Oliver Hazard Reighard , of Williamsport , Charles W. Wilhelm , of Reading , Daniel Rhoades , Valentine , and Gephart . ( Reighard was connected with another Valentine Iron Company , later the Williamsport Iron and Nail Works . ) Gephart was not only president of the iron company ( and the Nittany Valley Railroad , still an affiliate ) , but an active railroad promoter in another direction . He became president of the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania , which , on December 2 , 1893 , opened its line from Mill Hall to Bellefonte , crossing and connecting with the Nittany Valley about a mile east of Bellefonte . The new line connected with the Beech Creek Railroad , controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad 's rival , the New York Central Railroad . At the beginning of this year , the iron furnace had " re @-@ opened " , presumably the result of an upswing in the depressed iron market as the rival Bellefonte Furnace did the same . With the construction of the new railroad , the furnace 's traffic was rapidly diverted over that line , prompting a lawsuit from the Pennsylvania Railroad to enforce the contract made with the Centre Iron Company . While a lower court initially held the contract not to be binding on Valentine Iron , the ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1895 , and the furnace was forced to remove its traffic from the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania . Due to this serious setback , Gephart was compelled to step down as president of Valentine Iron and the Nittany Valley , and thereafter devoted himself to the management of the Central Railroad . He was replaced at Valentine Iron by John P. Harris , and by Mortimer O 'Donoghue at the Nittany Valley . O 'Donoghue also became superintendent of Valentine Iron the next year . The furnace operated only intermittently under Valentine Iron management , and in early 1899 , it was bought by the Empire Steel and Iron Company , along with the Nittany Valley RR and the associated ore lands . Empire Steel renamed the plant " Nittany Furnace , " and sent Walter Kennedy , vice @-@ president of engineering , to survey the local ore resources in March 1899 . Empire decided to use a mixture of local and Lake Superior ores , and relit the furnace in May 1899 . However , Empire shut down the furnace again in April 1900 , closing it indefinitely . The furnace and railroad were bought at a sheriff 's sale on December 21 , 1900 by a Harrisburg bank with a lien on the property . = = Nittany Iron Company = = Once again , Gephart appeared on the scene to save the furnace . With the backing of Philadelphia and New York investors , he formed the Nittany Iron Company , which bought and rehabilitated the furnace , returning it to blast on June 5 , 1902 , under Frank H. Clemson ( former chief of mining at Gephart 's Bellefonte Furnace Company ) . Other organizers included Lorenzo Terbal Munson , Gephart 's brother @-@ in @-@ law ( who was associated with Bellefonte Glass and the Bellefonte Iron and Nail Works ) , Archer Brown , and William Sampson . However , prosperity did not return to the ironmaking business . The furnace was idle for two months in 1904 . As steel production in open hearth furnaces became increasingly commonplace ( a method better suited for iron made from Lake Superior ore , while Bessemer converters functioned best with Centre County ore ) , Nittany Furnace found it increasingly difficult to operate at a profit . The death of Gephart on February 14 , 1905 also dealt a blow to the company , which thereafter shared management with the Bellefonte Furnace Company . When in operation , the furnace continued to receive ore over the Nittany Valley RR , but the Nigh and Taylor ore banks served by that road had begun to play out . Most Lake Superior ore was delivered directly by the PRR , but some was routed from the PRR onto the Central RR of Pennsylvania at Bellefonte , hauled up to Nittany Valley Junction , and delivered over the Nittany Valley . Other local ore from Scotia arrived from pits on the Bellefonte Central Railroad , which was originally delivered to the PRR at Bellefonte . When the PRR raised rates in fall 1906 , trying to collect Scotia ore traffic via its Fairbrook Branch , the Bellefonte Central responded by delivering the cars directly to the Central RR of Pennsylvania at Bellefonte Furnace , whence they could travel over the Central and Nittany Valley to Nittany Furnace . In 1905 , the furnace began to receive lime from the Whiterock Quarries in Pleasant Gap , about 2 miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) along the PRR Bellefonte Branch ; a partner in the quarries was Noah H. Swayne II , who had been made general manager of the furnace the previous year when Gephart resigned on grounds of health . The furnace continued in anemic health until the Panic of 1907 . As a result of that crisis , it was idle for most of 1908 and half of 1909 . It was operated in 1910 largely to use up its inventory of local ore , and went out of blast on January 23 , 1911 . Bellefonte Furnace had closed in December . The shutdown of the furnaces was to be temporary , but both facilities were no longer remunerative to operate , and no buyer willing to operate them could be found . Leftover pig iron and furnace slag from Nittany Furnace were shipped out over the Nittany Valley RR in 1912 – 1913 . The furnace and railroad were put up for sale in 1914 and the furnace demolished . The furnace site was later used by the Titan Metal and Manufacturing Company . = = Legacy = = Passing through the hands of four owners during its troubled 23 @-@ year history , Nittany Furnace never fulfilled the expectations developed when it replaced the antiquated ( charcoal ) Bellefonte Furnace . It should arguably never have been built : by the time it went into blast in 1888 , the price per ton of iron had already been driven below $ 22 , a historic low , and it would almost never rise above that figure until the onset of World War I. The sprawling steel works of Pittsburgh , fed by Mesabi Range ore , could produce iron more cheaply than the furnaces at Bellefonte ever could . The principal advantage of a Bellefonte location — proximity to local ore deposits — was negated by the availability of easily mined , high @-@ grade Mesabi ore , hauled by rail . Wes Gephart , though his personal brilliance and ability to attract investment , was able to cover the decline to some extent . By his death in 1905 , he had assembled a seemingly puissant empire of two iron furnaces , extensive ore mines , and two railroads . But even during his lifetime , Bellefonte had seen the end of its glory : after 1890 , its population , heretofore steadily growing , would decline for the next thirty years . Nor did Gephart 's empire long survive him ; little more than a decade after his death , the furnaces were demolished , the mines shut down , and one railroad scrapped . Only the Central Railroad remained , staggering to a pauper 's grave in 1918 , sold for the wartime price its scrap could bring . The era of Nittany Furnace was the twilight of ironmaking in Bellefonte . Though not fully apparent at the time , neither the rising lime industry nor any other would replace ironmaking as the guarantor of the town 's prosperity . The fall of the furnaces marked the beginning of a long decline which would see Bellefonte supplanted by State College as the nexus of activity in Centre County .
= Ontario Highway 129 = King 's Highway 129 , commonly referred to as Highway 129 , is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario . Located in the Algoma and Sudbury districts , the highway extends for 221 kilometres ( 137 mi ) from a junction with Highway 17 in Thessalon to the town of Chapleau , just north of Highway 101 . The route is isolated and lightly travelled throughout its length ; while providing access to several remote settlements , the only sizable communities along the route are the two termini . The highway was established in 1956 along the Chapleau Road . From the early @-@ 1960s to mid @-@ 1970s , Highway 129 was designated as the Chapleau Route of the Trans @-@ Canada Highway . = = Route description = = Highway 129 is one of the most isolated in Ontario and among the least @-@ used of the King 's Highways . Although the highway is an important access route for several isolated communities , including Little Rapids , Sultan , Kormak and Nemegos , as well as provincial parks such as Aubrey Falls , Five Mile Lake and Wakami Lake , the only community located directly on the highway 's route between its termini is Wharncliffe . There are few services along Highway 129 between Wharncliffe and Highway 667 . Tunnel Lake Trading Post and Aubrey Falls Trading Post & Resort offer some basic goods , fuel and lodging for travelers and local residents . The route begins in the town of Thessalon at Highway 17 , north of Lake Huron . It travels northeast through the Municipality of Huron Shores , passing the Thessalon Township Heritage Museum southeast of Little Rapids . Wedging between Basswood Lake and the Byrnes Lake White Birch Provincial Conservation Reserve , it enters the unorganized portions of Algoma District . It passes through Wharncliffe , crosses the Mississagi River and encounters Highway 554 , which travels east to Kynoch . North of Highway 554 , the route is generally parallel to the river and Mississagi River Provincial Park . After passing west of Wakomata Lake on its journey through completely undeveloped forest and muskeg , it reaches a junction with Highway 556 southwest of Aubrey Falls Provincial Park . Thereafter , the highway roughly follows the Wenebegon River through Wenebegon River Provincial Park to Wenebegon Lake . Highway 129 encounters the entrance to Five Mile Provincial Park and meets Highway 667 , which travels east through Sultan , becoming the Sultan Industrial Road and connecting with Highway 144 . From this junction , the route travels northwest towards Highway 101 , where drivers must turn right to continue north on the route . Both highways travel concurrently northeast for 7 @.@ 6 kilometres ( 4 @.@ 7 mi ) , at which point Highway 101 branches off to the east . Highway 129 continues north alongside the Sudbury – White River CPR line . It ends at the southern town limits of Chapleau , continuing north as a local road through the town and into the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve , the largest game preserve in the world . = = History = = Highway 129 was first designated between Aubrey Falls and Chapleau in 1956 , following the Thessalon – Chapleau Highway , a dirt road along the banks of the Mississagi River that opened to traffic on January 28 , 1949 . Though opened , this initial road was almost impassable , and certainly dangerous . Despite this , it quickly gained notoriety for its breathtaking scenery and seemingly limitless hunting and fishing potential . However , the poor condition of the road often left a terrible impression on tourists . John Austin Moore described his voyage up the road during the summer of 1951 : " Our first trip by car took us over the famed Chapleau Road , the scenery and unique loneliness of which have been often reported in magazines . And surely its condition not long after it had opened to travel , when we first drove it in June 1951 , was unforgettable . One trip over its 145 miles was almost guaranteed to shorten your life " The route was extended south on February 27 , 1957 , absorbing the entire length of Highway 559 , itself designated in 1956 . The Highway 559 designation has since been reused in Parry Sound District . In 1961 , the partially gravel surfaced highway was designated as the Chapleau Route of the Trans @-@ Canada Highway , despite being only a spur in the network at that time . This designation lasted until as early as 1974 and as late as 1978 . Highway 129 was the last King 's Highway to be paved ; the section immediately south of Aubrey Falls remained a gravel road as late as 1982 . The one @-@ lane Rapid River Bridge was replaced by an adjacent two @-@ lane bridge in the second quarter of 2010 . = = Major intersections = = The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 129 , as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario .
= Marcus Lindblom = Marcus Lindblom is an American video game developer known for his English localization of the 1995 video game EarthBound . Lindblom spent his youth in the United States , and dropped out of college to move to Japan with his wife . After four years , he returned to college in the United States and began to work at Nintendo of America 's call center . He eventually worked on Japanese @-@ to @-@ English game localization projects such as Wario 's Woods and EarthBound . Lindblom worked with a translator and a writer to accurately translate the game for a Western audience . He sought to stay true to Shigesato Itoi 's script , but was given latitude to make the script as weird as he wanted , and so added in American cultural allusions . Lindblom considers the localization his highest achievement . He worked at Nintendo until 1996 , when he left to work at other developers including Electronic Arts , Vivendi Games , Midway Games , and THQ . He established Partly Cloudy Games with friends around 2009 , and as of 2013 , runs mobile games studio Carried Away Games . After following the fan community from afar , he came out to fans in mid 2012 and the press began to show greater interest in his work . He had planned to write a book about the game 's development , release , and fandom as a Kickstarter project before a reply from Nintendo discouraged him from pursuing the idea . = = Early life and career = = Marcus Lindblom was raised in " a traditional , middle @-@ class family " . He dropped out of college , married , and moved with his spouse to Japan in the late 1980s . They planned to stay several months , but stayed four years before returning in 1990 . = = EarthBound = = In the United States , Lindblom returned to college and , in 1990 , began to work at Nintendo of America 's customer service and game assistance call center in Redmond , Washington . He would wake up at four a.m. to work before class , a schedule he considered " energizing " . Upon his graduation , Lindblom became a Software Analyst at Nintendo , where he worked on their games . Lindblom later transitioned to work as a localizer , where he translated Nintendo 's Japanese games into English for Western audiences . As standard for the time , he worked without a department and in direct contact with the headquarters , which gave him wide decision @-@ making latitude . Lindblom worked on Wario 's Woods before coming to the EarthBound project around January 1995 . He took over for Nintendo 's Dan Owsen , who had localized a tenth of the game 's script before moving to another project . The game was roughly translated from Japanese by a translator , and Lindblom received a paper script with the translation . Masayuki Miura , a Japanese writer , worked with Lindblom to contextualize the English script for the mood and message intended by the game 's original development team . Lindblom found his task of translating an " outsider 's view of the U.S. " for an American audience the hardest part of the localization . Nintendo did not want a direct translation , but a more American version of the script . He recalled that he was given latitude to make the script " as weird as [ he ] wanted " but also sought to stay true to the original text 's translation , though he never communicated with Shigesato Itoi ( the game 's creator ) directly . Lindblom 's own humor and office in @-@ jokes worked their way into the script alongside cultural allusions to Bugs Bunny , comedian Benny Hill , and This Is Spinal Tap . Outside the game 's script , Lindblom 's in @-@ game text includes the item and weapon names as well as the combat prompts . His writing contains multiple Easter eggs , such as in some of the character 's names . One character is named for his daughter , Nico , who was born during development . After taking the day off for her birthday , Lindblom recalled working for the next 30 days straight , without weekends off . He remembered the workload as large , and recalled " grinding @-@ out " for about 14 hours a day . The localization process took four months . Lindblom credited Miura and the game 's affirming " tone " as what helped him manage the magnitude of the project . He remembers the game as " very [ positive at its heart ] " and wrote it to be " a glass half full kind of game " . When asked of his favorite contribution to the final work , Lindblom remembered the character Pokey 's mother , Lardna . He described the name choice as " just the most ridiculous thing to have picked " . Nicholas Dean Des Barres of DieHard GameFan , an original reviewer , wrote that EarthBound was translated " impeccably " and praised the game 's humor . In the period following its release , the game 's English localization has found praise . Localization reviewer Clyde Mandelin described the Japanese @-@ to @-@ English conversion as " top @-@ notch for its time " . Kotaku found the localization " funny , clever , and evocative " . The American development team was devastated by the release 's poor critical response and sales . Lindblom recalled that the game 's reception was hurt by appearing " simplistic " in an age that revered graphics quality . He felt that the game 's changes to the RPG formula — e.g. , the rolling HP meter and fleeing enemies — were ignored in the following years . At the time of the game 's Virtual Console rerelease , he felt the game had aged well . = = After EarthBound = = Lindblom worked on several other Nintendo games and left in 1996 . He later worked at studios such as Electronic Arts , Vivendi Games , Midway Games , and THQ . Lindblom established Partly Cloudy Games with friends around 2009 . The company has contracted with Microsoft and is also developing a real @-@ time strategy Facebook game named The Robot Apocalypse . As of 2013 , Lindblom runs Carried Away Games , a mobile games studio . He described many of the games he worked on in his career as " forgettable " and the eventual popularity of EarthBound as " satisfying " . He cited the example of a wedding proposal done through hacked text in EarthBound as something he appreciated . After following the fan community from afar , in mid @-@ 2012 , Lindblom approached the Fangamer booth at the Penny Arcade Expo and explained his involvement in the game . When EarthBound was announced for the Wii U Virtual Console , the press began to show greater interest in Lindblom 's work . Lindblom had planned a book about the game 's development , release , and fandom as a Kickstarter project before a reply from Nintendo discouraged him from pursuing the idea . He did not plan to profit from the book , but felt he " owed " the fan community for its dedication . In response , he said he plans to continue his ongoing dialogue with the community . Lindblom told Kotaku that he thinks of EarthBound as his " finest accomplishment " . = = Credits = =
= Ellen Southard = Ellen Southard was an American full @-@ rigged merchant ship from Bath , Maine that was built in 1863 by prominent shipbuilder T.J. Southard . She plied international trade routes for twelve years , calling at ports as far away as Sydney . On 27 September 1875 , the ship wrecked in the mouth of the Mersey River at Liverpool during a hurricane @-@ strength storm . Shore @-@ based lifeboats crewed mainly by volunteers set out from several lifeboat stations to the aid of the distressed ship after it foundered on a sandbank . One of the lifeboats capsized in heavy seas after picking up the ship 's crew , resulting in nine people from the ship as well as three rescuers losing their lives . Following the advice of the US consul at Liverpool , the United States Congress recognised the acts of bravery by issuing 27 Gold Lifesaving Medals to the lifeboat men who attempted to save her crew , after a two @-@ year delay during which US law first had to be changed to allow the newly instituted medals to be awarded to non @-@ US citizens . Debate about lifeboat designs continued for many years until a self @-@ righting design was eventually adopted . = = Description = = Ellen Southard was built in 1863 in Richmond , Maine , by prominent local shipbuilder T. J. Southard . She was named after the builder 's daughter , Ellen , to whom he also gave a one @-@ sixteenth share of the vessel . The ship was classified " A1 " in the Lloyds Register , meaning that her hull and fittings were of the highest grade . Ellen Southard plied international trade routes from her homeport in Bath , Maine , with visits documented in ports as far away as Sydney , Australia . In 1864 , she recorded the longest duration voyage of any ship transporting railway locomotives from the east to the west coast of the United States . The ship took 205 days to complete the passage after she was delayed for 48 days by unfavourable winds off Cape Horn . In June 1867 , shortly after departing Hong Kong for California with 360 Chinese passengers , Ellen Southard 's master , Captain Howe , died at sea . His wife took charge of the ship , but the passengers and crew became mutinous when the water supply dwindled ; she resorted to using a revolver to keep them at bay until a passing ship encountered Ellen Southard adrift 80 miles ( 130 km ) from Santa Cruz , California . The captain raised the alarm upon reaching port , whereupon the USRC Wayanda went to the assistance of the distressed ship . = = Wrecking = = On 12 August 1875 , Ellen Southard set sail for Liverpool in England from Saint John , New Brunswick , under the command of Captain Henry Woodworth with a load of tropical deal ( softwood timber ) . The captain 's wife and fifteen crew members were on board . She was approaching the River Mersey on 26 September 1875 when the most violent storm to hit the region in 36 years struck . It began at 9 pm , increasing rapidly in intensity to hurricane strength by midnight ; the storm remained at this level until 2 am . Buildings were damaged ashore , with two people killed by falling masonry , while on the river , vessels were blown from their moorings and damaged by colliding with one another or with the quays . Ellen Southard had rounded the northern tip of Wales , passing Point Lynas at 1 pm on the day of the storm . After receiving the pilot on board , she was taken in tow by the steamtug United Kingdom under the command of Captain Griffiths for the final leg of her journey into the port of Liverpool . By 9 pm , conditions had become very stormy , and her sails were taken down ; by the time she reached Formby , the ship could no longer be steered , and the tow line was also lost . Ellen Southard dropped her anchors , but they did not hold in the ever @-@ strengthening storm . Finding that it was unable to offer further assistance , the tug set off for Liverpool with the purpose of returning with a lifeboat , but was soon grounded , thereby leaving the stricken American ship to fend for herself . By midnight when the storm reached its peak , Ellen Southard was dismasted and grounded on Jordan Flats about a mile from Crosby lighthouse . The waves crashed heavily on her , and she started to break up as she thumped on the sandbank . The crew were unable to signal for assistance until first light as the vessel did not carry any signal flares — in the interim , they lashed themselves to what remained of the ship to prevent being swept away by the heavy sea . = = Lifeboat disaster = = At just after 5 am , the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board 's lifeboat station received a telegraph stating that a ship was in distress . Nine minutes later , the three @-@ year @-@ old tubular lifeboat set out with fourteen volunteers under the command of Captain James Martin . The steam tug Rattler initially took the Liverpool boat in tow , as the properties that made it suitable as a lifeboat also made it very heavy to row . At approximately the same time that the Liverpool lifeboat was departing Mersey Docks , the New Brighton , Formby and Hoylake boats also got underway , with the New Brighton RNLI boat in tow behind Sprindrift . The hurricane had abated somewhat , but the sea was still heavy , which made the rowers ' work very difficult in shallower water where the tugs could no longer assist them . When the Liverpool lifeboat came alongside the wreck , some of those aboard were able to jump directly into the lifeboat , but others had to be roped in . The steward , who was the last person on the doomed ship , decided to go back to recover his bag ; minutes passed while the people in the lifeboat waited anxiously until he eventually re @-@ appeared and joined them . Finally , the lifeboat was able to get clear of the wreck and navigate its way though the floating debris to start its return journey to the dock . The New Brighton lifeboat was still about 500 yards ( 460 m ) away when the Liverpool boat left the wreck , and thus the coxswain turned her around once it became apparent that everyone had already been taken off the ship successfully . The wind , tide and sea made it impossible for the Liverpool lifeboat to link up with the waiting tug for another tow , so the men were forced to start rowing home . About twenty minutes later , as the boat reached the safer waters of the channel , the master elected to raise the foresail to help steady the vessel . People in the lifeboat were still congratulating themselves on their lucky escape , when Captain Martin noticed a huge wave " like a high wall " approaching . He instructed everyone to hold on , fearing that someone might be washed overboard . However rather than breaking over the boat , the wave lifted it and flipped it over . The boat was not self @-@ righting , so the remaining survivors were left clinging desperately to the upturned boat . Rattler 's master witnessed the incident , signaled to the New Brighton lifeboat , Willie and Arthur , which promptly turned around to come to the rescue . The men who were on the capsized boat directed the New Brighton lifeboat to first assist three others who were in more danger clinging to bits of wood in the sea . After picking up the survivors and one casualty , the New Brighton lifeboat was taken in tow by Rattler , which brought her back to New Brighton . Six of Ellen Southard 's crew , the captain and his wife , as well as the pilot and three lifeboat men from Mersey Docks drowned or died of exposure ( 12 fatalities in total ) . Labourers were employed to salvage the valuable wood that was subsequently washed up on Crosby Beach ; among the items washed up were a hat belonging to the captain 's wife , and a concertina belonging to one of the crew . Two bodies were also seen in the water . A court of enquiry was held the following month in Liverpool by the Board of Trade , and focused particularly on the roles of the captains in the tragedy as well as the design of the Liverpool lifeboat . The court found that no @-@ one was to blame for the loss of either Ellen Southard or the Liverpool lifeboat . Captain James Martin and his crew were praised for their gallantry in getting everyone off the ship , and absolved of any blame with respect to the capsizing of the lifeboat . The lifeboat was furthermore found to be of sound design and suitably adapted to her role , but debate continued for many years about the merits of the tubular design vs the self @-@ righting one , as well as the requirement for lifeboats to be powered . = = Lifesaving medals = = General Lucius Fairchild , the United States consul at Liverpool , wrote to his government recommending that the gallantry of the Englishmen who were involved in the rescue effort be recognised . The Secretary of State supported his recommendation and the United States Congress moved to award the newly instituted Lifesaving Medal to the lifeboat men . However , a delay of 17 months followed during which a change in legislation had to be enacted to allow the medals to be issued to non @-@ US nationals . Finally in 1877 , the United States government awarded first @-@ class Gold Lifesaving Medals to the twenty @-@ seven men of the Mersey Docks and New Brighton RNLI lifeboat station who survived the incident , while the families of the three deceased lifeboat men were awarded a sum of $ 200 @.@ 00 in gold in lieu of a medal . The medals were conferred in a public ceremony in Liverpool Town Hall on 27 February 1877 . The citation accompanying the New Brighton medals read as follows : Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a life @-@ saving medal of the first class which has been awarded to you , under the authority of the provisions of the seventh section of the Act of the Congress of the United States , approved June 20 , 1874 , for the extreme and heroic daring manifested by you in the rescue , under circumstances of peculiar danger and difficulty , of eight persons from the wreck of the American ship " Ellen Southard , " at the mouth of the river Mersey , near Liverpool . In transmitting this offering to you , as to each member of the crew of the Life @-@ Boat of the Royal National Life @-@ Boat Institution stationed at New Brighton , it is proper to remark that it is the first time an opportunity has arisen for bestowing the medal of the life @-@ saving service of this country upon subjects of a foreign nation . It was the fortune of your crew to arrive upon the scene of disaster after the Liverpool life @-@ boat men had effected a deliverance , and been in turn subjected to a dreadful casualty , whereby nine of the persons they had rescued and three of their own number were drowned : and the remaining eight persons from the vessel and the twelve men of the Liverpool crew , clinging to the capsized boat in a fearful sea , owe their lives to you and your comrades . The extreme jeopardy and hardships you encountered upon the occasion of their rescue are deeply appreciated , and , in behalf of the United States , I beg you to accept this testimonial , provided by law in recognition of such deeds of bravery and compassion . In sending it , allow me to add the expression of the sense of the gallantry and the devotion to high human duty which marked the conduct of yourself and of your comrades upon the occasion under notice , and of the assurance that each member of your crew , in his own person , by this deed of valor and mercy , confers fresh and just honor upon the great name of England . I have the honor to be , Sir , your obedient servant , Charles F. CONANT , Acting Secretary of the Treasury
= Blas Ople = Blas Fajardo Ople ( February 3 , 1927 – December 14 , 2003 ) was a Filipino journalist and politician who held several high @-@ ranking positions in the executive and legislative branches of the Philippine government , including as Senate President from 1999 to 2000 , and as Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2002 until his death . Perceived as a leftist @-@ nationalist at the onset of his career in public service , Ople was , in his final years , a vocal supporter for allowing a limited United States military presence in the Philippines , and for American initiatives in the War on Terror including the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq . Ople 's most enduring role was his nineteen years as Secretary ( later Minister ) of Labor and Employment during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos , when Philippine labor laws were overhauled through the enactment of the Labor Code of the Philippines that he had helped author . = = Early life and career = = Ople was born in Hagonoy , Bulacan on February 3 , 1927 to Felix Antonio Ople , a craftsman who repaired boats , and his wife Segundina Fajardo . He graduated valedictorian of his grade school class at the Hagonoy Elementary School in 1941 . Upon the invasion of the Philippines by Japan during World War II , he also had been to Hagonoy Institute during his secondary schooling , the teenage Ople joined the guerilla movement and fought under the Del Pilar Regiment and the Buenavista Regiment of the Bulacan Military Area founded by Alejo Santos . In 1948 , he finished his high school studies at the Far Eastern University . He worked towards a degree in liberal arts at the Educational Center of Asia ( formerly Quezon College ) in Manila . After graduation , Ople pursued a career in journalism . He became a desk editor at the Daily Mirror and the author of its Jeepney Tales column . Still in his twenties , Ople was one of the youngest newspaper columnists of that era . Ople also established a public relations consulting firm . He soon became known for his nationalist views . He co @-@ founded the Kilusang Makabansa ( National Progress Movement ) , an organization which frequently spoke out on issues of nationalism and social justice in the 1950s . In 1953 , he joined the Magsaysay @-@ for @-@ President Movement , a volunteer group supporting the presidential campaign of Ramon Magsaysay , heading its Executive Planning Committee and working as a speechwriter for candidates of the Nacionalista Party . After Magsaysay 's election , he joined the government as special assistant to the Secretary of Labor and technical assistant on labor and agrarian affairs . = = Secretary of Labor = = In 1965 , Ople was appointed as Social Security Commissioner by President Ferdinand E. Marcos . In 1967 , he was appointed Secretary of Labor and Employment ( in 1978 the position was renamed Minister of Labor and Employment ) . He resigned briefly in 1971 to run an unsuccessful campaign for election to the Philippine Senate , but was re @-@ appointed to his post in 1972 , retaining the position until 1986 . At the time of his appointment , Ople was perceived as a " leftist Nationalist " . His leftist credentials were enhanced when he co @-@ founded , in 1972 , the Philippine @-@ Soviet Friendship Society . As Labor Secretary Ople was instrumental in the framing of the Labor Code of the Philippines , which codified the labor laws of the country and introduced innovations such as prohibiting the termination of workers without legal cause . Ople instituted labor policies institutionalizing the technical education of workers . In 1976 , Ople initiated a program for the overseas employment of Filipino workers . It was during his tenure at Labor that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration were created . Ople obtained recognition from the International Labor Organization during his stint as Labor Minister . In 1975 , he was elected president of the 60th general assembly of the ILO , the first Filipino to hold that post . In 1983 , that organization awarded Ople a Gold Medal of Appreciation . He was a close adviser of President Marcos , though he was not later to be associated with the corruption of the Marcos ' government and was perceived as " not corrupt " . He created international headlines in December 1984 when he admitted to the press that the lupus @-@ stricken Marcos was incapacitated to the point of being unable " to take major initiatives " , and that the President 's illness had placed the Philippines in " a kind of interregnum " . Marcos responded a few days later by baring his chest to his Cabinet before television cameras to dispel rumors that he was seriously ill or had undergone surgery . In 1978 , Ople was elected an Assemblyman of the Interim Batasang Pambansa representing Central Luzon , and reelected in 1984 . During the 1986 presidential elections , Ople served as a political campaign manager of President Marcos , who was running against Corazon Aquino . Shortly before the outbreak of the 1986 People Power Revolution , Marcos dispatched Ople to Washington D.C. to lobby the American government on behalf of the President . Ople was in Washington D.C. upon the outbreak of the revolt , and was advised by U.S. Secretary of State , George P. Shultz , to call on Marcos to resign . Ople publicly reiterated his support for Marcos in the American media in such fora as on This Week with David Brinkley . = = 1986 Constitutional Commission Member = = Following the success of the People Power Revolution and the installation to the presidency of Corazon Aquino , Ople was relieved of his Cabinet post . Ople returned to the Philippines and immediately attempted to position himself as the leader of the political opposition against Aquino . Nonetheless in May 1986 , Ople accepted an offer by President Aquino to serve in the Constitutional Commission that drafted a new Philippine Constitution . In the 1987 congressional elections , Ople ran a second time for the Philippine Senate , under the banner of the nationalist @-@ led Grand Alliance for Democracy coalition . He was defeated in this attempt , and returned to private life , serving as chairman of the Institute for Public Policy ( IPP ) , a policy research institute . = = Senator of the Philippines = = In 1992 , he ran again for the Senate under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino . He was elected to a six @-@ year term . In the Senate , Ople served as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and on the Commission of Appointments . He became Senate President Pro @-@ Tempore in 1998 . Ople won a re @-@ election for the senate in 1998 , under the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino . In 1999 , upon the resignation of the terminally @-@ ill Marcelo Fernan , Ople became the President of the Senate . In that capacity , he was a key proponent of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States , which allowed American forces to enter the Philippines for short @-@ term training exercises . He yielded the Senate presidency in 2000 to Franklin Drilon . Later that year , he sat as one of the senator @-@ judges in the impeachment trial of his ally , President Joseph Estrada . He was one of the eleven votes during the trial that successfully voted to block the opening of an envelope that was believed to contain proof of the corruption charges against Estrada . Public anger over the Senate vote triggered the EDSA Revolution of 2001 , leading to the ouster of Estrada and the accession of Vice @-@ President Gloria Macapagal @-@ Arroyo to the presidency . = = Secretary of Foreign Affairs = = In July 2002 , President Gloria Macapagal @-@ Arroyo appointed Ople , a member of the political opposition in the Senate , as Secretary of Foreign Affairs in her cabinet . The appointment was with some controversy . Weeks earlier , Arroyo 's hand @-@ picked Vice @-@ President Teofisto Guingona had resigned as Foreign Affairs Secretary after voicing disagreement with the plan of the Philippine and United States governments to allow American troops to help combat Islamic terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf as part of the post @-@ 9 / 11 " War on Terror " . Ople , who had earlier been a vocal supporter of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement , was perceived to be more amenable to the plan . In addition , left @-@ wing labor activists denounced the appointment of Ople , citing his Marcos @-@ era role in promoting overseas employment of Filipino workers which , they said , had resulted in abuses inflicted on Filipino workers abroad . During his stint as Secretary of Foreign Affairs , Ople was at the forefront of the negotiations that led to the deployment of American military forces inside the Philippines , though he insisted that the American troops would not participate in combat missions . Under his watch , the American and Filipino governments signed an agreement that provided immunity to each other 's citizens facing charges before international tribunals such as the International Criminal Court . Ople was also a vocal supporter of the Iraq War , and pushed for the deployment of a small Filipino contingent in Iraq . He predicted in November 2003 , " Baghdad will be transformed from a symbol of brutal despotism to a new , shining symbol of human freedom . The sacrifices invested in the liberation of Iraq , to which Filipinos made a significant contribution , will be fully vindicated and cherished for all time . " = = Death = = In the months prior to his death , Ople , a longtime chain smoker , had suffered from ill health and often attended international conferences in a wheelchair . On the night of December 13 , 2003 , Ople had difficulty breathing and lost consciousness while aboard a Japan Asia Airways flight from Bangkok to Tokyo . The flight was diverted to Chiang Kai @-@ shek International Airport in Taoyuan County , Taiwan ( now Taoyuan City ) , and Ople was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was initially pronounced dead on arrival , but given medical treatment nonetheless . Efforts to revive him were futile , and his death on Sunday , December 14 , 2003 was announced by his family . President Arroyo mourned Ople as " an architect of Philippine foreign policy in the finest tradition of enlightened and pragmatic diplomacy " , while U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell hailed him as " one of the pivotal figures of the late Twentieth Century for Philippine history " . More critical of Ople , Teddy Casiño , secretary @-@ general of the leftist coalition BAYAN , called him a " political chameleon " who " tried to pass himself off as a nationalist but [ was ] most pro @-@ American " . Nonetheless , Casiño acknowledged that Ople was " a consistent , brilliant and very astute politician " . Ople was eulogized in Time Magazine , which recalled his erudition , his skill at political survival , and his trademark " extraordinary baritone " . The eulogy also said that at the height of the People Power Revolution , Ople in Washington , D.C. had reported to Marcos in Manila that the President 's support within the Reagan administration was falling . Marcos responded by asking Ople to reach out to his contacts in the Soviet government . Ople rebuffed Marcos , and as Time noted , declined " to help make the Philippines a Soviet colony three years before the Berlin Wall fell " . Ople is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani . In 2004 , President Arroyo named Ople 's daughter , Susan Ople , as Undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment .
= Transport in the Soviet Union = Transport in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) was an important part of the nation 's economy . The economic centralisation of the late 1920s and 1930s led to the development of infrastructure at a massive scale and rapid pace . Before the Soviet Union 's collapse in 1991 , there were a wide variety of modes of transport by land , water and air . However , because of government policies before , during and after the Era of Stagnation , investments in transport were low . By the late 1970s and early 1980s Soviet economists were calling for the construction of more roads to alleviate some of the strain from the railways and to improve the state budget . The Civil aviation industry , represented by Aeroflot , was the largest in the world , but inefficiencies plagued it until the USSR 's collapse . The road network remained underdeveloped , and dirt roads were common outside major cities . At the same time , the attendance of the few roads they had were ill equipped to handle this growing problem . By the late @-@ 1980s , after the death of Leonid Brezhnev , his successors tried , without success , to solve these problems . At the same time , the automobile industry was growing at a faster rate than the construction of new roads . By the mid @-@ 1970s , only 0 @.@ 8 percent of the Soviet population owned a car . Despite improvements , several aspects of the transport sector were still riddled with problems due to outdated infrastructure , lack of investment , corruption and bad decision @-@ making by the central authorities . The demand for transport infrastructure and services was rising , but the Soviet authorities proved to be unable to meet the growing demand of the people . The underdeveloped Soviet road network , in a chain reaction , led to a growing demand for public transport . The nation 's merchant fleet was one of the largest in the world . = = Civil aviation = = The Ministry of Civil Aviation was , according to the Air Code of the USSR , responsible for all air transport enterprises and airlines established by it . Soviet civil air transport was the largest by total destinations and vehicles during most of its post @-@ war existence . In the USSR , Aeroflot had a monopoly on all air transport . This ranged from civil transport and cargo to transporting political prisoners to the gulags , and more . The Soviet Union covered over one sixth of the entire earth 's landmass , and in the early 1920s its government decided to invest in the aviation industry . They concluded that expanding it in the Soviet Union would not only make travel more efficient and faster , it would also help build and develop the mostly farmland , enormously spread out nation that it was . At this time , most travel required taking trains ( or , as was often the case , by off road travel in cars , buses or trucks ) . Many of the northern and eastern territories in the Soviet Union were completely inaccessible during much of the year ; most of these vast expanses of land lacked roads and railroads because of the huge distances between them and the nearest population centers . The practically uninhabitable weather also made travel and construction nearly impossible . The absence of " surface transportation facilities " also meant that very little equipment was available to use for road construction — making the process even more daunting . Consequently , the Soviet government , always eager to save money in the transportation sector , concluded that building a series of airports scattered throughout the more desolate and isolated parts of the country would be far more economically efficient to than to build thousands of miles of roads ( and / or railroads ) for automobile / train travel . Air travel would be the best means of transportation for people and cargo . First , a fleet was necessary ; between 1928 and 1932 , the number of aircraft manufacturing facilities grew from twelve to thirty @-@ one , while the nation 's annual output of airplanes increased from a mere 608 to 2 @,@ 509 . After combing a number existing fleets , the Soviet government founded the national airline and air service of the Soviet Union , renaming the " USSR Civil Air Fleet " Aeroflot . Aeroflot , at its formation in March 1932 , had three main purposes . They were : to operate and maintain an air transportation system , to provide different types of services ( such as aerial surveying , forest @-@ fire fighting , and agricultural spraying ) and to promote educational , recreational , athletic and other such activities for the public . Aeroflot , which literally translates to or air fleet , originally consisted of an amalgam of existing air transportation fleets in the Soviet Union in the 1920s . By creating Aeroflot , the Soviet government was , much like many industries in the young Soviet Union at the time , expanding and centralizing fleets like the " Red Air Fleet . " To the general public , the aviation industry did not represent modernization ; rather , it represented the means to achieve modernization and future glory . During Joseph Stalin 's Second Five @-@ Year Plan ( 1933 @-@ 1938 ) , the Communist Party Congress ( and Stalin himself ) devised the development and further expansion of the aviation industry , soon making air transport one of the primary means of transportation in the Soviet Union . Their strategy involved creating a network of cities and towns to deliver people , whether they were politicians , military officials , prisoners or travelers , and , most importantly , mail and freight . Stalin also recognized that with a strong civil aviation sector he could supply necessary equipment and materials to prisoners in the Gulag , increasing their efficiency and production output . By 1933 , Soviet aviation delegations and engineers , some for as long as six months at a time , were regular visitors at the United States ' most prominent aircraft developers , such as Boeing , Douglas , Pratt & Whitney and Curtiss @-@ Wright ( to name only a few ) . These engineers would play a key role in the origins of Soviet aircraft manufacturer , Ilyushin . For much of the Soviet Union 's existence , air travel served to deliver freight . In the 1930s , freight made up 85 percent of Aeroflot 's services . In fact , at this time , air travel in the Soviet Union existed as less of a means to travel , but rather a way for the government to develop remote areas of the nation for industrialization needs and resource acquisition . The public rarely flew as flights were often very expensive ( 350 rubles — maybe half of a workers ' monthly salary ) and service was poor . Aeroflot , as the single state owned and governed airline , operated without any competitors and expanded according to the Soviet central government and central planning . By the beginning of World War II , Aeroflot , and the entirety of the Soviet civil aviation industry , was primarily a domestic freight carrier . In fact , in 1939 , they surpassed the U.S. in volume of airfreight . Despite Stalin 's strong xenophobia , Aeroflot commenced its first international route in 1936 , operating between Moscow and Prague . After World War II , the Soviet government wanted to continue expansion by starting and increasing services from Moscow to the capitals of other Soviet republics . The ever @-@ growing Soviet air transportation network began to shrink the railroad 's importance in Soviet nations . As years passed , the Soviet regime recognized the aviation industry 's increasing value , and officials in transportation planning attempted to establish regular air service to nearly every city in the union . By 1968 , after Soviet engineers helped pioneer the introduction of jets and the jet age , Aeroflot and its subsidiaries served roughly 3 @,@ 500 cities . At that time , " the thirty largest Soviet cities were connected with all cities with a population of 500 @,@ 000 or more " ( including nearly 80 percent of those with populations from 100 @,@ 000 to 499 @,@ 999 , and 60 percent of the cities with 50 @,@ 000 to 99 @,@ 999 people ) . By joining these cities , infrastructure and industry benefitted heavily . The jet age and the introduction of new , faster and more reliable ways of air travel greatly changed Soviet aviation . Jets not only further shortened travel times ; they allowed nonstop service between cities that had been otherwise out of reach for nonstop flights . Before the jet age , the longest nonstop service from Moscow was Yekaterinburg ( Sverdlovsk ) ( roughly 1 @,@ 100 miles ) ; sometime after the introduction of jets , mail could be delivered from Moscow to Vladivostok ( nearly 4 @,@ 000 miles east ) , the same day . The Soviet Union put the first jet in the world into service in 1956 on a Moscow to Irkutsk route ( of about 2 @,@ 600 miles ) using a Soviet built Tupolev Tu @-@ 104 . The Soviet government established a " hubbing " system unlike the West ; in the Soviet Union , most cities had a direct link with Moscow . In the United States , most small cities were ( and still are today ) connected to larger cities and their airports ; airlines then use these larger airports — or " hubs " — to connect passengers to their flight and onto their destination . Because the Soviet Union essentially revolved around Moscow , this networking technique proved effective . By the early 1980s , Aeroflot had experienced massive growth in the aviation market . They carried 116 @.@ 1 million passengers and millions of pounds of cargo . Still , because of travel restrictions , only 3 @.@ 4 million passengers were international travelers . The airline remained an almost entirely domestic carrier , getting freight and people to far off remote cities , many of which had been built by Stalin @-@ era Gulag prisoners . Aeroflot also remained in charge of other non @-@ delivery or transportation services such as : " ice patrol in the Arctic Ocean and escorting of ships through frozen seas , oil exploration , power line surveillance , and transportation and heavy lifting support on construction projects . " Further , because nearly every single non @-@ military airplane permitted to fly in the Soviet Union was registered as an Aeroflot airframe , Aeroflot suffered from the worst safety reputation in the worldwide industry , recording between four hundred and five hundred incidents since its creation in 1932 . Many blamed Ilyushin and their engineers for the airplanes ' poorer reliability when compared to its Western counterparts — namely Boeing , McDonnell Douglas and Airbus . By the mid @-@ late 1980s , Aeroflot 's domestic flights were noted consistently as " harrowing " experiences for both Western and Soviet passengers . At the airport , passengers complained of long waits , poor and indifferent service at ticket offices , poorly designed and set up waiting areas at airport terminals coupled with inadequate food and toilet facilities . On board , passengers complained of being forced to sit in " hot airplane cabins without air conditioning " , and " indifferent " cabin crews . By the time Mikhail Gorbachev introduced perestroika and its reforms , permitting free speech and pluralism , Aeroflot had shown considerable growth . In 1950 , air transportation only accounted for 1 @.@ 2 percent of the total passenger transportation turnover in the Soviet Union , yet , by 1987 , air travel accounted for 18 @.@ 7 of that . It continues growing today . After the Soviet Union broke up , Boris Yeltsin ushered in a new , free market economy . Foreign airlines were permitted to land in Russia and Aeroflot split into several sectors , including today 's airline that bears the same name . It became a privatized company , and soon other airlines found their way into the Russian spotlight . Transaero Airlines and S7 ( Sibir ) Airlines commenced operations in mid @-@ 1992 . In 1993 , Transaero became the first Russian aircraft operator to receive Boeing airplanes . Transaero only operated three Russian built Tu @-@ 124 airplanes , the rest of their fleet consists of only Boeing types ( 747 , 777 , 767 ) — modernizing and Westernizing Russian aviation . S7 , though originally operating more Soviet @-@ built airplanes , currently fly only Airbus and Boeing types . Aeroflot , too , followed suit . Beginning in 1994 , Aeroflot began taking deliveries of Western Airplanes . Aeroflot uses its Airbus and Boeing fleet primarily on Western routes to encourage Western passenger travel . In 2006 , Aeroflot joined the global airline alliance SkyTeam , and in 2010 , S7 joined a different global alliance , OneWorld . The Soviet aviation industry has unequivocally shifted to adapt more modern and Western philosophies of air travel , although it was the inventive Soviet style of air transportation that helped build Russia , its industries and its widespread global influence into what it is today . = = = Airports = = = The Soviet Union had 7 @,@ 192 airports , of which 1 @,@ 163 had paved surface . By the 1980s most airports were having capacity problems , an example being the Lviv airport which had to cope with an average of 840 passengers each day , while the airport was built to handle 200 . Another daunting problem was the lack of modernisation , with the Sheremetyevo International Airport ( Moscow 's main airport ) being the only airport in the USSR to have been fully computerised . = = Pipeline network = = The Soviet Union had , at its height , a pipeline network of 82 @,@ 000 kilometres ( 51 @,@ 000 mi ) for crude oil and another 206 @,@ 500 kilometres ( 128 @,@ 300 mi ) for natural gas . The Soviet authorities , under Leonid Brezhnev , began focusing on the national pipeline system in the 1970s . Soviet pipelines experienced a fast growth in the 1970s ; by the late 1970s the pipeline network was the largest in the world . The average moving distance for oil and natural gas increased from 80 km in 1970 to 1 @,@ 910 km in 1980 , and 2 @,@ 350 in 1988 . Just as with many other sectors of the Soviet economy , bad maintenance led to deterioration . By the late 1980s only 1 @,@ 500 km pipelines were under maintenance , half of what was minimally needed . Also , the storage facilities were inadequate to handle the growing Soviet oil supply . Failures in the pipelines network became , in the 1980s , a common feature of the system . Oil pipeline ruptures at oil fields were increasing up to an all @-@ time high in 1990 and reached a 15 percent failure rate that year alone . Among the better known pipelines were the Northern Lights line from the Komi petroleum deposit to Brest on the Polish border , the Soiuz line running from Orenburg to Uzhgorod near the Czechoslovak and Hungarian borders , and the Export pipeline from the Urengoy gas field to L 'vov and thence to First World countries , including Austria , Italy , West Germany , France , Belgium , and the Netherlands . The 1 @,@ 420 @-@ millimeter Export pipeline was 4 @,@ 451 kilometers long . It crossed the Ural and Carpathian Mountains and almost 600 rivers , including the Ob ' , Volga , Don , and Dnepr . It had 41 compressor stations and a yearly capacity of 32 billion cubic meters of natural gas . = = Rail network = = The Soviet Union had a non @-@ industrial railway network of 147 @,@ 400 kilometres ( 91 @,@ 600 mi ) , of which 53 @,@ 900 kilometres ( 33 @,@ 500 mi ) were electrified . As the quality of rail transport continued to deteriorate , in part because of the Russian Civil War , some within the Soviet leadership claimed that the railways were not sustainable if congestions continued to increase . Those who advocated for an enlargement of rail transport felt that increased investment and the lengthening of already established rail tracks could solve the ongoing congestion crisis . The majority agreed on increasing investments , but there was no clear consensus on how these investments were to be used . There were even some who believed in the recapitalisation of the railways . Gosplan economists in the meantime advocated for the rationalisation of the railways , coupled with tariffs based on actual cost , which would reduce traffic demand and provide funds for investment . The leadership was unable to reach a conclusion and the rail system continued to deteriorate . In 1931 , in a Central Committee ( CC ) resolution , it was decided that increased investments coupled with the introduction of newer trains could solve the crisis . This resolution was never carried out , and yet again , the system continued to deteriorate . The Central Committee ordered Lazar Kaganovich to solve the railway crisis in 1935 . Kaganovich first prioritised bottleneck areas over other less @-@ traveled areas ; his second priority was investing in heavy traffic lines , and thirdly , the least efficient areas of the rail network were left to themselves . Another problem facing rail transport was the massive industrialisation efforts pushed on by the authorities . The industrialisation proved to be a heavy burden on the railways , and Vyacheslav Molotov and Kaganovich even admitted this to the 18th party congress . Even so , the Soviet Government continued their industrialisation efforts to better prepare themselves for a future war with Germany , which became reality in 1941 . Soviet rail transport became , after the Great Patriotic War , one of the most developed in the world , surpassing most of its First World counterparts . The Soviet railway system was growing in size , at a rate of 639 km a year from 1965 to 1980 , while the growth of rail transport in First World countries was either decreasing or stagnating . This steady growth in rail transport can be explained by the country 's need to extract its natural resources , most of which were located close to , or in Siberia . While some problems with the railways had been reported by the Soviet press , the Soviet Union could boast of controlling one of the most electrified railway systems at the time . During much of the country 's later lifespan , trains usually carried coal , oil , construction material ( mostly stone , cement and sand ) and timber . Oil and oil products were one of the key reasons for building railway infrastructure in Siberia in the first place . The efficiency of the railways improved over time , and by the 1980s it had many performance indicators superior to that of the United States . By the 1980s Soviet railways had become the most intensively used in the world . Most Soviet citizens did not own private transport , and if they did , it was difficult to drive long distances due to the poor conditions of many roads . Another explanation has to do with Soviet policy , the first being the autarkic model created by Joseph Stalin 's regime . Stalin 's regime had little interest in rail transport , or any other form for transport , and instead focused most of the country 's investments in rapid industrialisation . Stalin 's regime was not interested in establishing new railway lines , but decided to conserve , and later expand , much of the existing railways left behind by the Tsars . However , as Lev Voronin , a First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union , noted in a speech to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1989 ; the railway sector was the " main negative sector of the economy in 1989 " . As industrial output declined in the late @-@ 1980s so did the demand for transportation , which led to a decline in freight transport in return . = = = Rail transit = = = The Soviet rapid transit system was seen as the quickest , cleanest and cheapest way of urban transport , and eventually another point acquired greater significance ; the authorities could allocate their resources from the automobile industry to the rapid transit sector and save a substantial volume of the country 's diesel and petrol . Because rapid transit system usually were cheaper to operate and less energy consuming , the Soviet authorities managed to construct 20 rapid transits nationwide , with a further nine in construction when the Soviet Union collapsed . Twenty other stations were under construction in 1985 . The country 's rapid transit system was the most intensively used in the world . = = Road network = = The Soviet Union had a road network of 1 @,@ 757 @,@ 000 kilometres ( 1 @,@ 092 @,@ 000 mi ) , of which 1 @,@ 310 @,@ 600 kilometres ( 814 @,@ 400 mi ) were paved and 446 @,@ 400 kilometres ( 277 @,@ 400 mi ) were dirt roads . Road transport played a minor role in the Soviet economy , compared to domestic rail transport or First World road transport . According to historian Martin Crouch , road traffic of goods and passengers combined was only 14 percent of the volume of rail transport . It was only late in its existence that the Soviet authorities put emphasis on road construction and maintenance because of the vital role road transport usually played in the regional economies of the USSR . Road transport was of vital importance to agriculture , mining and the construction industry , but it also played a significant role in the urban economy . The road network had problems meeting the people 's demand , a problem which the Soviet leadership publicly acknowledged . A resolution by the Central Committee laid down a plan for the improvement in planning , organisation and the efficiency of local road transport enterprises . Freight transport by motor vehicles , commonly called " motor transport " by the Soviet authorities , due to the underdeveloped nature of the nation 's road network , was of considerable significance to certain areas of the economy . In the 1980s , there were 13 million laborers employed in the transport sector . Of those , about 8 @.@ 5 million were employed in motor transport . Inter @-@ city freight transport remained underdeveloped during the whole Soviet epoch , with it constituting less than 1 percent of the motor @-@ borne freight average . These developments can again be blamed on cost and administrative inefficiencies . Road transport as a whole lagged far behind that of rail transport ; the average distance moved by motor transport in 1982 was 16 @.@ 4 kilometres ( 10 @.@ 2 mi ) , while the average for railway transport was 930 km per ton and 435 km per ton for water freight . In 1982 there was a threefold increase in investment since 1960 in motor freight transport , and more than a thirtyfold increase since 1940 . Inter @-@ city transport and the volume of road freight transport had also increased significantly . Motor transport was much cheaper and flexible over short distances ( defined as less than 200 km ) than rail transport . There were many Soviet economists who argued that transferring some 100 million tons from the railways to road transport would save up to 120 million rubles . But in 1975 , road transport was 27 @-@ times more expensive than railway transport , due to long distances between starting points and destinations . The deteriorating quality of roads was due to bad attendance , and the then ongoing growth in road transport made it even harder for the Soviet authorities to focus their resources on attendance and maintenance projects . The transport of freight by road had increased by 4 @,@ 400 percent in the past thirty years , while the growth of hardcore surfaced roads had grown only by 300 percent . Growth of motor vehicles had increased by 224 percent in the 1980s , while hardcore surfaced roads only increased by 64 percent . As Soviet economists in the early to mid @-@ 1980s said , the Soviet Union had 21 percent of the world 's industrial output , but only a meager 7 percent of the world 's top quality roads . The Eleventh Five @-@ Year Plan ( 1981 – 85 ; spanned through the rules of Leonid Brezhnev , Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko ) called for the construction of an additional 80 @,@ 000 km hardcore surfaced roads , but this was far from adequate in solving the serious shortage , and the planners needed to build at least twice as many roads to meet consumer demand . Another obstacle was that Five @-@ Year Plans in the USSR 's later life were rarely fulfilled due to economic malfunctions . Many roads were not paved , and because of this shortage , several dirt roads were created . By 1975 only 0 @.@ 8 percent of households owned a car . Productions of cars , however , had increased dramatically in the late 1970s . From 1924 to 1971 the USSR produced 1 million vehicles , and the government passed another milestones five years later when it had produced 2 million vehicles . = = = Bus transport = = = Only a very small proportion of the population in the USSR owned cars . Because of the widespread lack of any mode of private transport , most Soviet citizens travelled via public transport . Due to a relative shortage of cars and good @-@ quality roads , the Soviet people travelled twice as much by bus , train and rapid transit as people in the First World . Soviet bus @-@ transport , throughout most of the history of the Soviet Union , was controlled either by the regional or the republican branches of the Ministry of Transport . Since rail transit systems were more environmental and consumed little fuel , Soviet planners concentrated their efforts in constructing electricity @-@ driven , rather than fuel @-@ consuming transport . In the mid @-@ 1980s the government initiated a programme for compressed @-@ gas energy for buses . By 1988 only 1 @.@ 2 percent of buses used gas energy , while 30 percent used diesel . Soviet bus @-@ enterprises ran a deficit for the first time in their history by the mid @-@ to @-@ late 1980s . = = Water transport = = The Soviet Union had 42 @,@ 777 kilometres ( 26 @,@ 580 mi ) of coastline and 1 @,@ 565 ships in the merchant marine . Marine industry was under the control of the Ministry of Merchant Marine of the USSR . = = = Merchant marine = = = The Russian Empire concentrated much of its investment on constructing new shipbuilding facilities , and not enlarging their merchant marine ; this policy continued in the prewar USSR . By 1913 85 percent of all merchant ships were foreign built . The merchant marine was overlooked during the regime of Joseph Stalin , because the USSR traded mostly with its neighbouring countries in the Eastern Bloc . Soviet trade later expanded to its neighbouring countries in Asia . When Stalin died in 1953 , his successor started to increase trade with non @-@ communist countries , most of which were on other continents . Due to this policy , the merchant marine increased from 2 million deadweight tonnage in the early 1950s to 12 million in 1968 . By 1974 it had reached 14 @.@ 1 million deadweight tons , about 3 percent of the world 's total . Of the 114 million tons moved by the Soviet merchant marine in 1974 , 90 million of it was export and import . While the merchant marine was technologically outdated , and slower than that of the First World , it still attracted a consistent volume of cargo . The reason for the technological backwardness of the merchant marine were First World induced boycotts of Soviet shipping . This led the Soviet Union to become isolated from the international shipping industry , and skip over such important innovations as shipping containers . Under Mikhail Gorbachev 's rule the Soviet Union became the largest buyer of new ships in the world . Because of the size of its navy , the Soviet Government advocated for the traditional freedoms of the sea . By 1990 Soviet Union operated a large merchant fleet with more than 2400 ships of all types — the world 's second largest in number of ships and seventh largest in carrying capacity . = = = Ports = = = The Soviet Union had 26 major ports , eleven of them inland ports . There were 70 ports in total . None of the ports could be considered major by world standards . By the 1980s the majority of Soviet ports were lagging behind the First World technologically . There were also a high number of surplus workers , many of whom would become redundant if the USSR would introduce new , more advanced , technology . Also , in the northeast territories of the USSR most ports were closed down due to cold climate .
= Battle of the Heligoland Bight ( 1939 ) = The Battle of the Heligoland Bight was the first " named " air battle of the Second World War , which began the longest air campaign of the war , the Defence of the Reich . On 3 September 1939 , the United Kingdom declared war on Nazi Germany after the German invasion of Poland , which started the European War . The British did not assist Poland by land or sea , but over the ensuing weeks , RAF Bomber Command flew several missions against German targets . A number of these air raids were directed at Kriegsmarine ( German Navy ) warships in German ports to prevent their use in the Battle of the Atlantic . With the front lines static between September 1939 and May 1940 , a period known as the " Phoney War " set in , with little fighting on land or in the air . However , at sea , German U @-@ boat ( submarine ) forces were taking a considerable toll on Allied shipping . The Air Ministry decided to launch an attack on German surface ships to prevent them supporting the U @-@ boats in the North Atlantic . On 18 December 1939 , a force of three RAF bomber squadrons were sent to engage German ships in the Heligoland Bight and sink or damage as many as possible . Originally 24 Vickers Wellingtons took off . Two turned back owing to engine trouble before reaching German airspace . The German reaction was slow . Eventually they scrambled strong fighter aircraft forces to intercept . Just over 120 aircraft , 80 – 100 German and 22 British , were involved but only 44 German fighters made contact with the British bombers . The Germans inflicted more damage on the RAF than the Luftwaffe received , but its influence on both sides ' future strategy was profound . The battle forced the RAF to abandon daylight missions in favour of night bombing as casualties were too high . In the build @-@ up to the war , the RAF had adopted the mantra that " the bomber will always get through " ; but in daylight the Heligoland battle had shown this was not the case and it forced a reappraisal of future bombing operations . The failure of the raid led the Luftwaffe to believe its base in Germany proper was invulnerable to enemy attack . This belief was reinforced with the Wehrmacht 's success in 1939 – 41 , which meant that opposing air forces were then too far away for effective bombing attacks on the German homeland . Neglecting their day fighter force had serious strategic consequences in later years . By the time the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe ( OKL ; Luftwaffe High Command ) had begun organising an air defence to combat the United States Army Air Forces ' ( USAAF ) strategic bombing campaign , they were already engaged in a war of attrition for which they were not prepared . This oversight was one of the contributing factors in the defeat of the Luftwaffe in the Defence of the Reich campaign . The German official history called the battle " amongst the most important actions of the entire war " . = = Background = = = = = RAF strategy = = = Before the outbreak of war , RAF Bomber Command firmly believed that air power could win wars without the need for naval and land fighting . It was thought the bomber would always get through . Tightly flown bomber formations with heavy defensive armament were thought capable of warding off enemy fighters even without fighter escort . However , the RAF lacked a four @-@ engine bomber with adequate defensive protection which could carry heavy bomb loads to German targets . The only possible targets that were within range of British bombers were the industrial regions of the Ruhr . The Netherlands and Belgium wished to remain neutral and refused to allow the RAF to establish bases , to fly deeper into Germany . They also forbade overflying by British bombers to and from Germany . After the outbreak of war , the French refused to allow RAF bombers to bomb German cities from French airfields . The French felt secure behind the Maginot Line , but their air force did not possess the modern bombers to deliver a pre @-@ emptive strike against the Luftwaffe . French fighter forces were not yet ready for an all out defensive campaign against the Germans either . A fear of retaliation was the main French reason . The only recourse was to fly missions directly from Britain and only ports or coastal cities in northern Germany were within easy reach . This state of affairs suited the British , in particular , the Admiralty . The most immediate threat to the Allies during the Phoney War period was the U @-@ Boat . Some German submarines had been sent to sea before the British declaration of war and began operations against British shipping , bringing in vital supplies from North America and other areas of the British Empire , as soon as war was declared . In one notable action , German submarine U @-@ 47 sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow in October 1939 , with the loss of 786 crew . As a consequence the Admiralty pressed for the RAF 's efforts to concentrate on RAF Coastal Command rather than a strategic striking force . This was heavily debated within the British establishment well into 1941 . In keeping with a request from the United States of America to avoid the bombing of civilian targets , the British formulated the Western Air Plan 7B ( WAP 7B ) , which planned for attacks on German warships . The Germans also complied with the American request , albeit only after the 18 September 1939 , when victory in Poland was assured . German ships were legitimate targets , and at sea or in port , were far enough away from civilian areas to avoid unnecessary casualties . The Plan revolved around their elimination to prevent their possible use as supplements to the U @-@ Boat fleet . = = = Prior operations = = = To fit in with this strategy , the RAF 's initial plans involved launching raids against German shipping on receipt of the results of aerial reconnaissance . This was attempted on 3 September , when a Bristol Blenheim ( flown by Flying Officer Andrew McPherson of No. 139 Squadron RAF ) — on a reconnaissance flight over the North Sea — spotted a large naval force in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven . The Blenheim 's radio failed , however , so an attack could not be launched until McPherson returned to base , when 15 Handley Page Hampdens and nine Vickers Wellington bombers were launched against the German ships . The weather was poor , however , and the bombers failed to find any targets . A similar attempt was made on 4 September , when McPherson again spotted warships off Brunsbüttel , Wilhelmshaven and in the Schillig Roads . The Blenheim 's radio failed again and no attack could be launched , until after McPherson 's return . A force of 10 Blenheims from No. 110 Squadron RAF and No. 107 Squadron RAF along with five more from 139 Squadron and eight Wellingtons of No. 149 Squadron RAF took off to locate the German warships Gneisenau , Scharnhorst and Admiral Scheer , which some did manage to locate . No. 149 Squadron was not prepared for war . At least one of the crews — Flying Officer ( F / O ) Bill McRae — nearly took off without a bomb load . Looking in , he noticed the bomb bay empty . On the way to the target , Squadron Leader Paul Harris ordered his gunners to test their weapons . They all failed and he was heading into German territory defenceless . Not wanting to turn back on his first raid , he pressed ahead . No. 9 Squadron RAF also bombed the same targets later in the day , attacking targets in and around Brunsbüttel . Results were poor , however , with five Blenheims and two Wellingtons being lost and only minimal damage caused to the German warships . Admiral Scheer was hit by three bombs that failed to explode , while the light cruiser Emden — while not one of the priority targets — was present , and also damaged by a Blenheim that crashed into the forecastle of the ship . The crash killed 11 sailors and injured 30 . The II . / Jagdgeschwader 77 ( JG 77 ; II Group Fighter Wing 77 ) — under the command of Oberstleutnant Carl @-@ August Schumacher — took off from Nordholz Airbase and intercepted No. 9 Squadron . Feldwebels Hans Troitsch and Alfred Held each claimed a victory and Leutnant Metz another . These aircraft from No. 9 Squadron were the first RAF aircraft to have been shot down by enemy fighters during the war and Troitsch was most likely to have been the first enemy pilot to shoot one down . Another four Blenheims of No. 107 Squadron were shot down by anti @-@ aircraft artillery fire . The Germans believed their air defences had established an effective defence from Allied attack . Use of the early Freya radar had given the German fighters eight minutes warning of their approach . It was felt that too long had elapsed in both cases between the German warships being spotted and the arrival of the strike force , and to rectify matters , it was decided to carry out reconnaissance in force , with formations of bombers being sent out over the North Sea to find and attack German warships . Their orders forbade them from attacking ships in port , infringing neutral airspace or even attacking German warships escorting merchant ships . A patrol on 29 September resulted in five Hampdens being shot down by Messerschmitt Bf 109s , of II . / JG 77 , but an attack by 24 Wellingtons of No. 149 , No. 38 Squadron RAF and No. 115 Squadron RAF on 3 December was more successful , claiming a German minesweeper sunk ( confirmed by German archives ) , while defensive fire from the Wellington gun turrets repelled attacks by German fighters , shooting one down without loss to the bombers . The German pilot shot down was future German ace Günther Specht . He was shot down by Corporal Copley of No. 38 Squadron RAF . The German ships were the Brummer and the minesweeper M1407 both sunk by unexploded bombs passing through the ship . A German report stated the attack was cleverly executed from out of the sun and delivered to avoid the nearby civilian areas . An armed reconnaissance by twelve Wellingtons on 14 December resulted in five being lost as the formation , at very low level because of the low cloud base , was heavily engaged by both fighter aircraft and anti @-@ aircraft artillery . The RAF believed that none of the lost Wellingtons had been shot down by fighters , however , and so maintained faith in their defensive capabilities when flown in tight formations . This summation was odd considering the evidence available . The Luftwaffe claimed five bombers for the loss of one fighter while none of the German FlaK units claimed a victory . Several of the returning RAF bombers clearly had small arms damage from machine gun rounds , making the summation of the RAF that FlaK did the damage highly suspect . = = = German defences = = = The Luftwaffe 's air defence organisation went through a number of changes in the first months of the war . The defence of the northern German ports and vital strategic targets was given to the local or nearest Luftverteidigungskommando ( Air Defence Command ) . In this case the unit responsible for the protection of German warships of the Kriegsmarine was the Luftverteidigungskommando Hamburg ( Air Defence Command Hamburg ) . The system was impractical . The Hamburg air defence district controlled both air and ground defences , but each was geographically in no position to help the other . There was no combined arms synthesis , meaning that the FlaK arm did not directly support the German defences thereby forming one mass defence . Instead , fighter units protecting the coast were held there , with Kriegsmarine FlaK units , while the Hamburg air defence artillery was held too far inland . The Luftwaffe fighters and FlaK units were located too far apart to coordinate . The defence coordination was not helped by the poor relations between the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine Commanders @-@ in @-@ Chief , Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and Großadmiral ( Grand Admiral ) Erich Raeder . The system required both services to work together , but it produced co @-@ operation difficulties . A solution to the problem was twofold . Fighter units defending the North Sea coast were subordinated to Luftgaukommando XI ( Air District Command 9 ) in Hannover . These fighter units would function as an autonomous fighter command , or Jagdfliegerführer ( Fighter Flyer Leaders ) . The command of Fighter Command unit was given to Carl @-@ August Schumacher , an Oberstleutnant and former commander of II . / Jagdgeschwader 77 . Schumacher had served in the Kaiserliche Marine ( Imperial German Navy ) during the First World War and as an officer cadet had seen combat at the Battle of Jutland . It was hoped with his naval background and easy personality it would ease any difficulties with naval service cooperation . Nevertheless , Schumacher and his counterpart in the Navy were of the same rank , so each lacked authority over the other , an arrangement that lacked the needed unity of command . = = Forces involved = = = = = Luftwaffe = = = Schumacher was given a new command which was designated Stab . / Jagdgeschwader 1 ( Command . / Fighter Wing 1 , or JG 1 ) , sometimes referred to as JG Nord ( Fighter Wing North ) or JG Schumacher . In addition to the Bf 109D and E variants , the force was also equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 110 . The lack of action during the Phoney War period meant that these aircraft , usually in demand by offensive air fleets ( Luftflotte ) , were available for defensive roles . Stab . / JG 1 controlled all the following Gruppen ( groups ) which had a combined strength of 80 – 100 aircraft : II . / Jagdgeschwader 77 ( JG 77 ) commanded by Hilmer von Bülow @-@ Bothkamp II . / Trägergruppe 186 ( Carrier Air Group 186 ; TrGr 186 ) which was officially attached to Zerstörergeschwader 1 ( Destroyer Wing 1 ; ZG 1 ) but placed under Stab . / JG 1 for defensive duties under Major Heinrich Seeliger 10 . ( Nacht ) . / Jagdgeschwader 26 ( JG 26 ) under Staffelkapitän ( Squadron Leader ) Johannes Steinhoff I. / Zerstörergeschwader 76 ( ZG 76 ) under the command of Hauptmann Günther Reinecke , and 2 Staffel I. / Zerstörergeschwader 26 ( ZG 26 ) under the command of Geschwaderkommodore ( Wing Commander ) Wolfgang Falck . JGr . 101 was attached to ZG 1 and eventually became II . / ZG 1 . It was commanded by Major Hellmuth Reichardt . = = = RAF = = = The RAF committed No. 3 Group RAF to the attack . Usually the group consisted of No. 9 Squadron RAF , No. 37 Squadron RAF , No. 38 Squadron RAF , No. 99 Squadron RAF , No. 115 Squadron RAF , No. 149 Squadron RAF together with No. 214 Squadron RAF and No. 21 Squadron RAF in reserve . However , the Group was hastily set up for daylight missions , having been intended for night bombing attacks . The quality of the training was dubious , many of the crews had not been given proper tuition for formation flying . Only 9 and 214 squadrons were able to fly in perfect formations . In an effort to improve formation flying and give crews experience of combat conditions , No. 3 Group 's No. 37 Squadron practised mock combats with RAF Fighter Command Supermarine Spitfires from RAF Tangmere . Warnings were given by the Spitfire pilots that they could have decimated the squadron within ten minutes because of their poor formation flying and lack of fighter escort , but were ignored . Squadron Leader Harris of 149 Squadron and Wing Commander Kellett were the only experienced combat leaders . However , Kellett had not flown with No. 9 or 37 Squadrons as a group and had never had a chance to practice formation flying or bombing with these squadrons . He had not been given the time or opportunity to discuss or formulate a plan for bombing naval targets , whether as a group , squadron , or even as flight sections . Nor had he even been able to discuss or pass on any tactical advice about what the formation should do in the event of fighter attack . He was given command of an incoherent group of squadrons which were highly inexperienced . For the 18 December mission , 24 Wellington Bombers from No. 9 , 37 and 149 Squadrons were given to Kellet . The British bombers flew in a diamond shape formation . = = Battle = = = = = Target = = = On the morning of 18 December 1939 , The Times of London published the story of the Battle of the River Plate and the demise of Admiral Graf Spee , and a few hours later RAF Bomber Command attempted to sink another major warship . In accordance with Operational Order B. 60 , dated 17 December , the targets were German warships either in port or at sea . The RAF bombers were ordered to overfly the Heligoland Bight and the port of Wilhelmshaven , attacking ships but avoiding civilian living quarters , merchant shipping or land itself . = = = Bombers on route = = = The first Wellington N2960 took off from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk at 09 : 27 with Wing Commander Richard Kellett at the controls . No. 9 Squadron took off from the nearby RAF Honington and formed up over King 's Lynn and started out over the North Sea . Feltwell 's No. 37 Squadron took off but missed the rendezvous and caught up with the main formation an hour later over the North Sea . Once over the Wash they set a course of 040 ° true , as far as latitude 55 ° north . The plan was to avoid heavy anti @-@ aircraft artillery concentrations on the Frisian Islands . However , as they left England the cloud broke and they found themselves without cover in a bright crystal clear sky . Two bombers , N2984 and N2894 , piloted by Duguid and Kelly turned back ; the first due to engine trouble , the other escorting the troubled bomber back to base . The remaining bombers flew north past the Frisian Islands then turned due south , continuing their mission in perfect visibility which made it easy to be spotted by German aircraft . Reaching the German — Danish border at 55 ° N 05 ° E , they turned south . The formation headed towards Schleswig @-@ Holstein and then planned to turn due west to Wilhelmshaven . The move was designed to initiate the attack from the east , through the " back door " . The plan worked , as the bombers arrived without being intercepted , but the southward journey had given the Germans a one @-@ hour warning , as the Freya radar had picked up the bombers 30 mi ( 48 km ) off the coast . As the bombers passed down the coast , anti @-@ aircraft artillery fire from ships and harbour defences was noted . Once in the target area they also came under heavy anti @-@ aircraft artillery fire from Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven . Ships near Schillig Roads also opened fire . The bombers replied with their machine guns to throw the gunners off . German fire was at the correct height but exploded behind the bombers . Soon after , the formation was over Wilhelmshaven harbour , with Gneisenau and Scharnhorst at anchor beneath them . However , the ships were too close to shore and Kellett chose not to risk dropping bombs to avoid civilian casualties . Kellett — commanding the formation — had been ordered to attack at minimum altitude ( about 10 @,@ 000 ft ( 3 @,@ 000 m ) ) . The belief that the greatest danger would come from anti @-@ aircraft fire , not German fighters , had by then become part of RAF operational doctrine . Poor Luftwaffe administration meant the German defence took time to get the information from their radar sites . Major Harry von Bülow @-@ Bothkamp — commanding II . / JG 77 — stated that it was the naval Freya , rather than Luftwaffe early warning sites that gave the alert . Owing to this , the RAF made landfall without interception . The first air @-@ to @-@ air shots were not traded until one hour after the Luftwaffe Freya made the initial report . As Wing Commander Kellett was taking off , Schumacher was dismissing any idea that the British would attempt a bombing raid in clear weather . On the island of Wangerooge , Leutnant Hermann Diehl of Regiment 3 , battery LN @-@ Vers was demonstrating the Freya set to a visiting naval officer . Diehl was using Falck 's 2 . / ZG 76 to test the set . After some demonstration , he swung the set north , pointing to the Heliogoland Bight . As soon as he did so he picked up an echo . He telephoned Schumacher 's geschwader at Jever . They were told that the naval radar reported nothing , and that it was ridiculous to think the British would attack in such clear skies . Diehl spoke to von Bülow @-@ Bothkamp . No one wanted to know . Some 20 minutes later , naval Freyas also picked up the formation , but still no fighters were scrambled . German radar was just as efficient as its British counterpart . The problem lay in communication . The British married their radar to an efficient fighter control system . The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine had poor communication and their areas of responsibility overlapped , creating confusion over who was responsible . Added to this was the German disbelief that RAF Bomber Command would expose itself on a day when conditions favoured the fighter . Only when observers on the ground confirmed that the formation existed were fighters scrambled . The observers described a formation of 44 British aircraft , twice its actual strength . = = = Aerial engagement = = = At 13 : 10 , the RAF formation flew over the mud flats to the west of Cuxhaven and Wesermünde and came under heavy ground fire from the German flak positions , 214 , 244 and 264 . As Kellett turned west towards the Jade Estuary and over Wilhelmshaven anti @-@ aircraft units 212 , 222 , 252 , 262 and 272 opened fire . Scharnhorst , Gneisenau and all the other naval ships in the dock opened fire in support . In the distance , at Schillig Point , the bombers could see German fighters taking off from a camouflaged airstrip . In a quick briefing , JG 1 's commander had told his pilots to make a beam attack as it was a blind spot for the Wellington . A stern attack was dangerous , as the gunners could then target an attacking fighter with a coordinated and concentrated cone of fire . One weakness also noted was that early types of Wellingtons lacked self @-@ sealing fuel tanks . This meant if the German fighters hit the wings , the bomber was liable to burn . Unworried by the Luftwaffe , Squadron Leader , No. 149 Squadron Harris 's section was the only section to drop bombs on the ships in Wilhelmshaven harbour . Six 500 lb ( 230 kg ) bombs fell and the results were unknown . It was all the RAF had to show for its first major raid on a German target . As the bombers emerged from the anti @-@ aircraft barrage , the RAF formation was disorganised . Kellett 's and Harris 's formations were intact , but Squadron Leader Guthrie was ahead of his No. 9 Squadron and No. 37 Squadron at the rear was straggling . Its commander , Squadron Leader Hue @-@ Williams , was struggling to catch up with the main formation and was forging ahead of his formation without keeping it together . Other members of Hue @-@ Williams 's squadron increased their speed to keep up with their leader . Oberleutnant Johannes Steinhoff flying with Bf 109Ds of 10 . ( Nacht ) . / JG 26 took off escorted by a Rotte from II . / JG 77 . At 13 : 30 , they attacked one group after the anti @-@ aircraft fire lifted . The Bf 109s claimed seven bombers , with Steinhoff claiming two . The first kill was credited to Unteroffizier Heolmayr . At 13 : 40 , a Rotte of Bf 110s from ZG 26 , led by Hauptmann Wolfgang Falck , claimed four bombers . Falck 's aircraft was severely damaged , forcing him to disengage . Falck managed to glide back to base and make a " dead @-@ stick " landing without power . Unteroffizier Fresia also made two claims . Fresia 's second victim was Flying Officer Allison . No. 149 Squadron Leader Harris came under attack from a Bf 109 piloted by Oberleutnant Johann Fuhrmann . Fuhrmann failed to hit the bomber in beam attacks . He then tried a stern attack , against earlier advice , only to get shot down . Fuhrmann managed to land in the sea a few hundred yards from the island of Spiekeroog . Witnesses on the beach saw him attempt to swim to shore only for Fuhrmann to drown . It is likely he was shot down by Aircraftman Second Class Gouldson from Riddlesworth 's Wellington . During the battle a Bf 110 piloted by Oberleutnant Gordon Gollob shot down and killed Squadron Leader Archibald Guthrie , of No. 9 Squadron . Hue @-@ Williams , Squadron Leader of No. 37 Squadron was also shot down , possibly by Hauptmann Reinecke . Soon afterward , the Germans suffered a casualty when Leutnant Roman Stiegler crashed into the sea in pursuit of Flying Officer Lemon . Stiegler was killed . At the same time , Jagdgruppe 101 claimed two more bombers . Bf 110s from ZG 76 had also attacked the bombers claiming five more . Among the German claimants was Helmut Lent who was credited with two victories . After landing at Jever from a patrol , Lent took off to intercept . He engaged Herbie Ruse 's Wellington , killing most of the crew . The Wellington was pouring black smoke , and Lent broke off believing it about to crash . Lent then pursued Officer Thompson 's Wellington , which crashed just off the coast of Borkum . Lent 's third claim was not granted : he attacked and downed Flying Officer Wimberley 's aircraft , but because the aircraft was already badly damaged and judged to be about to crash , Lent was refused the victory . Instead , Stab . / JG 1 's Geschwaderkommodore Schumacher was given the credit . Schumacher also shot down Pilot Officer Lewis 's aircraft , close to Borkum . At 13 : 45 , the German fighters — at the limit of their endurance — returned to base . By 14 : 05 , the other bomber formation was beyond interception range and the last shots were fired . = = Aftermath = = = = = Overclaiming by both sides = = = The German fighter units heavily overclaimed RAF losses , with German pilots claiming 38 aircraft shot down , but actual RAF losses were 12 aircraft . RAF gunners claimed 12 German fighters , as well as another 12 severely damaged . Actual German losses were three destroyed plus four severely damaged . To back up their claims , the Luftwaffe insisted that 44 bombers were in the air , which was later increased by the OKL to 52 . Some hours later these claims were reduced to 34 , but months later the report was analysed and reduced to 27 " confirmed " victories . This was still over twice the number that was actually shot down and five more than the true number of the formation . German historians have claimed that official British figures were lessened to hide losses , but careful examination of the records reveals no deception . Obituaries from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record the identity of all service personnel who died during the war and have no known grave ; as would be the case for airmen downed over the sea . No other airmen were reported missing that day other than those from No. 9 , 37 and 149 Squadron . German casualties amounted to three Bf 109s destroyed , two severely damaged , and two Bf 110s severely damaged . Seven Bf 110s and one Bf 109 suffered light damage . Johann Fuhrmann and Roman Stiegler were the only pilots to die in this action . A third — Dietrich Robitzsch from Jagdgruppe 101 — wrote @-@ off a Bf 109 but was uninjured . Two pilots were wounded : Feldwebel Hans Troitzsch ( Bf 109 ) and Leutnant Gustav Uellenbeck ( Bf 110 ) . = = = British assessment = = = The tactical assessment of both sides was radically different . Bomber Command believed the attack was a failure as a result of poor formation flying and leadership . It was also maintained that better beam defensive armament and self @-@ sealing fuel tanks were needed . These tactical considerations might , they believed , still salvage the day @-@ bomber concept . On 22 December , an unsigned No. 3 Group RAF report stated : There is every reason to believe that a very close formation of six Wellington aircraft will emerge from a long and heavy attack by enemy fighters with very few if any casualties to its own aircraft . A loose formation is however liable to suffer very heavy casualties under the same conditions . On 19 December 1939 , Air Vice @-@ Marshal Jackie Baldwin reported that Squadron Leaders Guthrie and Hue @-@ Williams were to blame for racing ahead of their formations and breaking up a cohesive defence pattern . Baldwin sent his report to RAF Bomber Command 's Commander @-@ in @-@ Chief , Edgar Ludlow @-@ Hewitt . Hewitt replied on 23 December and joined Baldwin in condemning the leaders of No. 9 and 37 Squadrons for abandoning their flight . Hewitt called this action an " unforgivable crime " , although Leader of No. 149 Squadron , Harris , later stated that this was unfair , as Guthrie and Hue @-@ Williams were untrained and had never faced the enemy before . Harris also blamed No. 3 Group Headquarters , stating that there had been no prior planning or liaison between the squadrons . Harris also noted the Group Operations Staff had not provided any formation lessons . In the Operations notes , Formation Flying , orders specifically stated that the formation , as a whole , was not to stay together , saying each six aircraft section was to be a self @-@ contained defensive unit , flying at different heights , stating that more than 12 aircraft per formation made it unwieldy and unmanageable by one leader . Even so , the notes also pointed to the importance of holding a formation within one 's own section . If a section leader endeavoured to follow the formation leader ( Wing Commander Kellet ) to the detriment of their section , the formation would break apart . Bomber formations were built on the idea of mutual protection ; if the formation came apart , each bomber would have to fend for itself , which would enable an enemy to pick off the bombers one by one . Squadron Leaders Guthrie and Hue @-@ Williams did not heed this advice during the battle . Wing Commander Kellett had followed the notes , and he lost only one aircraft . Harris had also kept his formation together , and lost none of his Wellingtons . Within a few weeks , a debate began on shifting air attacks to the cover of darkness , with Hewitt favouring this alternative . = = = German assessment = = = Tactically , the Germans noted lessons and weaknesses they were already aware of , particularly the poor beam defences of Wellington bombers , but admitted that the bombers ' rigid formation flying had worked in their favour , allowing them to choose the position and angle of attack . The German report also regarded the attempt by the RAF to attack in clear conditions at altitudes of 10 @,@ 000 – 16 @,@ 000 ft ( 3 @,@ 000 – 4 @,@ 900 m ) as " criminal folly " . The post @-@ battle analysis of anti @-@ aircraft fire was also noted . Schumacher stated that it proved effective at breaking up formations and damaging bombers which provided better opportunities for the fighter pilots . After the recent Polish Campaign , the German Army staff analysis had been rigorous in its analysis of that battle . The Army 's General Staff had assessed the problems of leadership , tactics , command and control to improve effectiveness . It appears that Schumacher 's fighter units did not do the same and were too busy congratulating themselves on their success . There is little evidence that the Luftwaffe took anything like the Army 's approach in Poland , following their own victory at Heligoland Bight . The historian for the Luftwaffe 's General Staff noted it was only exploited for propaganda , despite the operational problems and warnings the battle had flagged for attacker and defender . The progress of the war from September 1939 to the summer of 1941 , with a few exceptions , seemed to validate the Luftwaffe 's pre @-@ war focus on the offensive use of its fighter arm . The success of the Luftwaffe in the Norwegian Campaign and the battles of the Netherlands , Belgium , France , Yugoslavia , and Greece had vindicated this method . The Luftwaffe had defended German airspace by driving away enemy air power from Germany 's borders and defeating their enemies in their own skies . The occupation of its opponent 's territory denied Germany 's enemies the bases to effectively strike at German targets by air . German daylight defences were rarely tested during this time . This run of events , and the knowledge that the RAF was only capable of short penetrations over France in daylight , led the Luftwaffe to believe Germany was invulnerable to attack . To maintain the offensive on the front line , bomber production dominated the air industry while the production of fighters was given less priority . However , in late 1941 the United States entered the war after Adolf Hitler 's declaration of war on 11 December 1941 . The failure of Operation Barbarossa by that time had meant the Luftwaffe 's method of concentrating all its resources on the front line was coming unstuck . The RAF began its campaign of night bombing in early 1942 and later that same year United States Army Air Force ( USAAF ) would enter the air war in force . Even so , the OKL continued to resist sending its forces to defend Germany and weakening the front lines . It was only in May 1942 — when the Luftwaffe faced the USAAF for the first time in daylight engagements — that the danger of Allied strategic bombing by day gave the OKL cause for concern . Nevertheless , even by the end of 1942 the measures taken to strengthen daylight anti @-@ aircraft defences remained piecemeal and counter productive . Hans Jeschonnek summed up the attitude of the OKL when he stated that the Luftwaffe could deal with the Western Allies ' daylight raids with " one " fighter wing . The events of 1943 — 1944 would prove this assumption wrong . Adolf Galland — General der Jagdflieger ( General of the Fighter Force ) , 1941 — 1945 — gave lack of organisation and of planning for air defence as one of the greatest mistakes made by the Luftwaffe during the war .
= Roman Empire = The Roman Empire ( Latin : Imperium Rōmānum ; Classical Latin : [ ɪmˈpɛ.ri.ũː roːˈmaː.nũː ] Koine and Medieval Greek : Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων , tr . Basileia tōn Rhōmaiōn ) was the post @-@ Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization , characterized by government headed by emperors and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe , Africa and Asia . The city of Rome was the largest city in the world c . 100 BC – c . 400 AD , with Constantinople ( New Rome ) becoming the largest around 500 AD , and the Empire 's populace grew to an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants ( roughly 20 % of the world 's population at the time ) . The 500 @-@ year @-@ old republic which preceded it was severely destabilized in a series of civil wars and political conflict , during which Julius Caesar was appointed as perpetual dictator and then assassinated in 44 BC . Civil wars and executions continued , culminating in the victory of Octavian , Caesar 's adopted son , over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt . Octavian 's power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title Augustus , effectively marking the end of the Roman Republic . The imperial successor to the republic lasted approximately 1400 years . The first two centuries of the empire 's existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana , or " Roman Peace " . Following Octavian 's victory , the size of the empire was dramatically increased . After the assassination of Caligula in 41 , the senate briefly considered restoring the republic , but the Praetorian Guard proclaimed Claudius emperor instead . Under Claudius , the empire invaded Britannia , its first major expansion since Augustus . After Claudius ' successor , Nero , committed suicide in 68 , the empire suffered a period of brief civil wars , as well as a concurrent major rebellion in Judea , during which four different legionary generals were proclaimed emperor . Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69 , establishing the Flavian dynasty , before being succeeded by his son Titus , who opened the Colosseum shortly after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius . His short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian , who was eventually assassinated . The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors . The empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan , the second in this line . A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus . Commodus ' assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors , of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious . The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a fifty @-@ year period . It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy , which saw four emperors rule the empire at once . This arrangement was ultimately unsuccessful , leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I , who defeated his rivals and became the sole ruler of the empire . Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium , which was renamed " Constantinople " in his honour . It remained the capital of the east until its demise . Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the official state religion of the empire . This eastern part of the empire ( known later as the " Byzantine Empire " ) remained one of the leading powers in the world alongside its arch @-@ rival the Sassanid Empire , which had inherited a centuries @-@ old Roman @-@ Persian conflict from its predecessor the Parthians . Following the death of Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule a united Roman Empire , the dominion of the empire was gradually eroded by abuses of power , civil wars , barbarian migrations and invasions , military reforms and economic depression . The Sack of Rome in 410 by the Visigoths and again in 455 by the Vandals accelerated the Western Empire 's decay , while the deposition of the emperor , Romulus Augustulus , in 476 by Odoacer , is generally accepted to mark the end of the empire in the west . However , Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague , and separate rule in the Western part of the empire only ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos , in 480 . The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium , eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 . The Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic , cultural , political and military forces in the world of its time . It was the largest empire of the ancient history era , and one of the largest empires in world history . At its height under Trajan , it covered 5 million square kilometers , a territory composed of 48 nations in the 21st century . It held sway over an estimated 70 million people , at that time 21 % of the world 's entire population . The longevity and vast extent of the empire ensured the lasting influence of Latin and Greek language , culture , religion , inventions , architecture , philosophy , law and forms of government on the empire 's descendants . Throughout the European medieval period , attempts were even made to establish successors to the Roman Empire , including the Empire of Romania , a Crusader state , and the Holy Roman Empire . By means of European colonialism following the Renaissance , and their descendant states , Greco @-@ Roman culture was exported on a worldwide scale , playing a crucial role in the development of the modern world . = = History = = Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC , though it did not expand outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC . Then , it was an " empire " long before it had an emperor . The Roman Republic was not a nation @-@ state in the modern sense , but a network of towns left to rule themselves ( though with varying degrees of independence from the Roman Senate ) and provinces administered by military commanders . It was ruled , not by emperors , but by annually elected magistrates ( Roman Consuls above all ) in conjunction with the senate . For various reasons , the 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval , which ultimately led to rule by emperors . The consuls ' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of imperium , which literally means " command " ( though typically in a military sense ) . Occasionally , successful consuls were given the honorary title imperator ( commander ) , and this is the origin of the word emperor ( and empire ) since this title ( among others ) was always bestowed to the early emperors upon their accession . Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts , conspiracies and civil wars from the late second century BC onwards , while greatly extending its power beyond Italy . This was the period of the Crisis of the Roman Republic . Towards the end of this period , in 44 BC , Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated . The faction of his assassins was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by an army led by Mark Antony and Caesar 's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian 's division of the Roman world between themselves did not last and Octavian 's forces defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC . In 27 BC the Senate and People of Rome made Octavian princeps ( " first citizen " ) with proconsular imperium , thus beginning the Principate ( the first epoch of Roman imperial history , usually dated from 27 BC to AD 284 ) , and gave him the name " Augustus " ( " the venerated " ) . Though the old constitutional machinery remained in place , Augustus came to predominate it . Although the republic stood in name , contemporaries of Augustus knew it was just a veil and that Augustus had all meaningful authority in Rome . Since his rule ended a century of civil wars , and began an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity , he was so loved that he came to hold the power of a monarch de facto if not de jure . During the years of his rule , a new constitutional order emerged ( in part organically and in part by design ) , so that , upon his death , this new constitutional order operated as before when Tiberius was accepted as the new emperor . The 200 years that began with Augustus 's rule is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana ( " Roman Peace " ) . During this period , the cohesion of the empire was furthered by a degree of social stability and economic prosperity that Rome had never before experienced . Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent , but put down " mercilessly and swiftly " when they occurred . The sixty years of Jewish – Roman wars in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century were exceptional in their duration and violence . The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs . The Julio @-@ Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors — Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius and Nero — before it yielded in 69 AD to the strife @-@ torn Year of Four Emperors , from which Vespasian emerged as victor . Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty , to be followed by the Nerva – Antonine dynasty which produced the " Five Good Emperors " : Nerva , Trajan , Hadrian , Antoninus Pius and the philosophically @-@ inclined Marcus Aurelius . In the view of the Greek historian Dio Cassius , a contemporary observer , the accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 AD marked the descent " from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron " — a famous comment which has led some historians , notably Edward Gibbon , to take Commodus ' reign as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire . In 212 , during the reign of Caracalla , Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire . But despite this gesture of universality , the Severan dynasty was tumultuous — an emperor 's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution — and , following its collapse , the Roman Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century , a period of invasions , civil strife , economic disorder , and plague . In defining historical epochs , this crisis is sometimes viewed as marking the transition from Classical Antiquity to Late Antiquity . Aurelian ( reigned 270 – 275 ) brought the empire back from the brink and stabilized it . Diocletian completed the work of fully restoring the empire , but declined the role of princeps and became the first emperor to be addressed regularly as domine , " master " or " lord " . This marked the end of the Principate , and the beginning of the Dominate . Diocletian 's reign also brought the empire 's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity , the " Great Persecution " . The state of absolute monarchy that began with Diocletian endured until the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453 . Diocletian divided the empire into four regions , each ruled by a separate emperor , the Tetrarchy . Confident that he fixed the disorders that were plaguing Rome , he abdicated along with his co @-@ emperor , and the Tetrarchy soon collapsed . Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great , who became the first emperor to convert to Christianity , and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the eastern empire . During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties , the empire was divided along an east – west axis , with dual power centers in Constantinople and Rome . The reign of Julian , who attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion , only briefly interrupted the succession of Christian emperors . Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both East and West , died in 395 AD after making Christianity the official religion of the empire . The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century as Germanic migrations and invasions overwhelmed the capacity of the Empire to assimilate the migrants and fight off the invaders . The Romans were successful in fighting off all invaders , most famously Attila , though the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of dubious loyalty to Rome that the empire started to dismember itself . Most chronologies place the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 , when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer . By placing himself under the rule of the Eastern Emperor , rather than naming himself Emperor ( as other Germanic chiefs had done after deposing past emperors ) , Odoacer ended the Western Empire by ending the line of Western emperors . The empire in the East — often known as the Byzantine Empire , but referred to in its time as the Roman Empire or by various other names — had a different fate . It survived for almost a millennium after the fall of its Western counterpart and became the most stable Christian realm during the Middle Ages . During the 6th century , Justinian I reconquered Northern Africa and Italy . But within a few years of Justinian 's death , Byzantine possessions in Italy were greatly reduced by the Lombards who settled in the peninsula . In the east , partially resulting from the destructive Plague of Justinian , the Romans were threatened by the rise of Islam , whose followers rapidly conquered the territories of Syria , Armenia and Egypt during the Byzantine @-@ Arab Wars , and soon presented a direct threat to Constantinople . In the following century , the Arabs also captured southern Italy and Sicily . Slavic populations were also able to penetrate deep into the Balkans . The Romans , however , managed to stop further Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century and , beginning in the 9th century , reclaimed parts of the conquered lands . In 1000 AD , the Eastern Empire was at its height : Basil II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia , culture and trade flourished . However , soon after the expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 with the Byzantine defeat in the Battle of Manzikert . The aftermath of this important battle sent the empire into a protracted period of decline . Two decades of internal strife and Turkic invasions ultimately paved the way for Emperor Alexios I Komnenos to send a call for help to the Western European kingdoms in 1095 . The West responded with the Crusades , eventually resulting in the Sack of Constantinople by participants in the Fourth Crusade . The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 fragmented what remained of the Empire into successor states , the ultimate victor being that of Nicaea . After the recapture of Constantinople by Imperial forces , the Empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegean coast . The Roman Empire finally collapsed when Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople on 29 May 1453 . = = Geography and demography = = The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history , with contiguous territories throughout Europe , North Africa , and the Middle East . The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ( " empire without end " ) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire . In Vergil 's epic poem the Aeneid , limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by their supreme deity Jupiter . This claim of universal dominion was renewed and perpetuated when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century . In reality , Roman expansion was mostly accomplished under the Republic , though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century AD , when Roman control in Europe , Africa and Asia was strengthened . During the reign of Augustus , a " global map of the known world " was displayed for the first time in public at Rome , coinciding with the composition of the most comprehensive work on political geography that survives from antiquity , the Geography of the Pontic Greek writer Strabo . When Augustus died , the commemorative account of his achievements ( Res Gestae ) prominently featured the geographical cataloguing of peoples and places within the Empire . Geography , the census , and the meticulous keeping of written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration . The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan ( reigned 98 – 117 ) , encompassing an area of 5 million square kilometers that as of 2009 was divided among forty different modern countries . The traditional population estimate of 55 – 60 million inhabitants accounted for between one @-@ sixth and one @-@ fourth of the world 's total population and made it the largest population of any unified political entity in the West until the mid @-@ 19th century . Recent demographic studies have argued for a population peak ranging from 70 million to more than 100 million . Each of the three largest cities in the Empire — Rome , Alexandria , and Antioch — was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century . As the historian Christopher Kelly has described it : Then the empire stretched from Hadrian 's Wall in drizzle @-@ soaked northern England to the sun @-@ baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria ; from the great Rhine – Danube river system , which snaked across the fertile , flat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea , to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of the Nile Valley in Egypt . The empire completely circled the Mediterranean ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum — ' our sea ' . Trajan 's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire . Borders ( fines ) were marked , and the frontiers ( limites ) patrolled . The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable . Hadrian 's Wall , which separated the Roman world from what was perceived as an ever @-@ present barbarian threat , is the primary surviving monument of this effort . = = Languages = = The language of the Romans was Latin , which Virgil emphasizes as a source of Roman unity and tradition . Until the time of Alexander Severus ( reigned 222 – 235 ) , the birth certificates and wills of Roman citizens had to be written in Latin . Latin was the language of the law courts in the West and of the military throughout the Empire , but was not imposed officially on peoples brought under Roman rule . This policy contrasts with that of Alexander the Great , who aimed to impose Greek throughout his empire as the official language . As a consequence of Alexander 's conquests , koine Greek had become the shared language around the eastern Mediterranean and into Asia Minor . The " linguistic frontier " dividing the Latin West and the Greek East passed through the Balkan peninsula . Romans who received an elite education studied Greek as a literary language , and most men of the governing classes could speak Greek . The Julio @-@ Claudian emperors encouraged high standards of correct Latin ( Latinitas ) , a linguistic movement identified in modern terms as Classical Latin , and favoured Latin for conducting official business . Claudius tried to limit the use of Greek , and on occasion revoked the citizenship of those who lacked Latin , but even in the Senate he drew on his own bilingualism in communicating with Greek @-@ speaking ambassadors . Suetonius quotes him as referring to " our two languages " . In the Eastern empire , laws and official documents were regularly translated into Greek from Latin . The everyday interpenetration of the two languages is indicated by bilingual inscriptions , which sometimes even switch back and forth between Greek and Latin . After all freeborn inhabitants of the empire were universally enfranchised in 212 AD , a great number of Roman citizens would have lacked Latin , though they were expected to acquire at least a token knowledge , and Latin remained a marker of " Romanness . " Among other reforms , the emperor Diocletian ( reigned 284 – 305 ) sought to renew the authority of Latin , and the Greek expression hē kratousa dialektos attests to the continuing status of Latin as " the language of power . " In the early 6th century , the emperor Justinian engaged in a quixotic effort to reassert the status of Latin as the language of law , even though in his time Latin no longer held any currency as a living language in the East . = = = Local languages and linguistic legacy = = = References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages other than Greek and Latin , particularly in Egypt , where Coptic predominated , and in military settings along the Rhine and Danube . Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic , Gaulish , and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding and application of laws and oaths . In the province of Africa , Libyco @-@ Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions and for legends on coins during the time of Tiberius ( 1st century AD ) . Libyco @-@ Berber and Punic inscriptions appear on public buildings into the 2nd century , some bilingual with Latin . In Syria , Palmyrene soldiers even used their dialect of Aramaic for inscriptions , in a striking exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military . The Babatha Archive is a suggestive example of multilingualism in the Empire . These papyri , named for a Jewish woman in the province of Arabia and dating from 93 to 132 AD , mostly employ Aramaic , the local language , written in Greek characters with Semitic and Latin influences ; a petition to the Roman governor , however , was written in Greek . The dominance of Latin among the literate elite may obscure the continuity of spoken languages , since all cultures within the Roman Empire were predominantly oral . In the West , Latin , referred to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin , gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages that were related to it by a shared Indo @-@ European origin . Commonalities in syntax and vocabulary facilitated the adoption of Latin . After the decentralization of political power in late antiquity , Latin developed locally into branches that became the Romance languages , such as Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian and Romanian , and a large number of minor languages and dialects . Today , more than 900 million people are native speakers worldwide . As an international language of learning and literature , Latin itself continued as an active medium of expression for diplomacy and for intellectual developments identified with Renaissance humanism up to the 17th century , and for law and the Roman Catholic Church to the present . Although Greek continued as the language of the Byzantine Empire , linguistic distribution in the East was more complex . A Greek @-@ speaking majority lived in the Greek peninsula and islands , western Anatolia , major cities , and some coastal areas . Like Greek and Latin , the Thracian language was of Indo @-@ European origin , as were several now @-@ extinct languages in Anatolia attested by Imperial @-@ era inscriptions . Albanian is often seen as the descendant of Illyrian , although this hypothesis has been challenged by some linguists , who maintain that it derives from Dacian or Thracian . ( Illyrian , Dacian , and Thracian , however , may have formed a subgroup or a Sprachbund ; see Thraco @-@ Illyrian . ) Various Afroasiatic languages — primarily Coptic in Egypt , and Aramaic in Syria and Mesopotamia — were never replaced by Greek . The international use of Greek , however , was one factor enabling the spread of Christianity , as indicated for example by the use of Greek for the Epistles of Paul . = = Society = = The Roman Empire was remarkably multicultural , with " a rather astonishing cohesive capacity " to create a sense of shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples within its political system over a long span of time . The Roman attention to creating public monuments and communal spaces open to all — such as forums , amphitheaters , racetracks and baths — helped foster a sense of " Romanness " . Roman society had multiple , overlapping social hierarchies that modern concepts of " class " in English may not represent accurately . The two decades of civil war from which Augustus rose to sole power left traditional society in Rome in a state of confusion and upheaval , but did not effect an immediate redistribution of wealth and social power . From the perspective of the lower classes , a peak was merely added to the social pyramid . Personal relationships — patronage , friendship ( amicitia ) , family , marriage — continued to influence the workings of politics and government , as they had in the Republic . By the time of Nero , however , it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen , or an equestrian who exercised greater power than a senator . The blurring or diffusion of the Republic 's more rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility under the Empire , both upward and downward , to an extent that exceeded that of all other well @-@ documented ancient societies . Women , freedmen , and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them . Social life in the Empire , particularly for those whose personal resources were limited , was further fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities ( collegia and sodalitates ) formed for various purposes : professional and trade guilds , veterans ' groups , religious sodalities , drinking and dining clubs , performing arts troupes , and burial societies . Infanticide has been recorded in the Roman Empire and may have been widespread . = = = Legal status = = = According to the jurist Gaius , the essential distinction in the Roman " law of persons " was that all human beings were either free ( liberi ) or slaves ( servi ) . The legal status of free persons might be further defined by their citizenship . Most citizens held limited rights ( such as the ius Latinum , " Latin right " ) , but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by those who lacked citizenship . Free people not considered citizens , but living within the Roman world , held status as peregrini , non @-@ Romans . In 212 AD , by means of the edict known as the Constitutio Antoniniana , the emperor Caracalla extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire . This legal egalitarianism would have required a far @-@ reaching revision of existing laws that had distinguished between citizens and non @-@ citizens . = = = = Women in Roman law = = = = Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens throughout the Republic and Empire , but did not vote , hold political office , or serve in the military . A mother 's citizen status determined that of her children , as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos ( " children born of two Roman citizens " ) . A Roman woman kept her own family name ( nomen ) for life . Children most often took the father 's name , but in the Imperial period sometimes made their mother 's name part of theirs , or even used it instead . The archaic form of manus marriage in which the woman had been subject to her husband 's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era , and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into the marriage . Technically she remained under her father 's legal authority , even though she moved into her husband 's home , but when her father died she became legally emancipated . This arrangement was one of the factors in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed relative to those of many other ancient cultures and up to the modern period : although she had to answer to her father in legal matters , she was free of his direct scrutiny in her daily life , and her husband had no legal power over her . Although it was a point of pride to be a " one @-@ man woman " ( univira ) who had married only once , there was little stigma attached to divorce , nor to speedy remarriage after the loss of a husband through death or divorce . Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will . A Roman mother 's right to own property and to dispose of it as she saw fit , including setting the terms of her own will , gave her enormous influence over her sons even when they were adults . As part of the Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order , moral legislation attempted to regulate the conduct of men and women as a means of promoting " family values " . Adultery , which had been a private family matter under the Republic , was criminalized , and defined broadly as an illicit sex act ( stuprum ) that occurred between a male citizen and a married woman , or between a married woman and any man other than her husband . Childbearing was encouraged by the state : a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom ( the ius trium liberorum ) . Because of their legal status as citizens and the degree to which they could become emancipated , women could own property , enter contracts , and engage in business , including shipping , manufacturing , and lending money . Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works , an indication they could acquire and dispose of considerable fortunes ; for instance , the Arch of the Sergii was funded by Salvia Postuma , a female member of the family honoured , and the largest building in the forum at Pompeii was funded by Eumachia , a priestess of Venus . = = = = Slaves and the law = = = = At the time of Augustus , as many as 35 percent of the people in Italy were slaves , making Rome one of five historical " slave societies " in which slaves constituted at least a fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy . Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility . In urban settings , slaves might be professionals such as teachers , physicians , chefs , and accountants , in addition to the majority of slaves who provided trained or unskilled labour in households or workplaces . Agriculture and industry , such as milling and mining , relied on the exploitation of slaves . Outside Italy , slaves made up on average an estimated 10 to 20 percent of the population , sparse in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some Greek areas . Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries would have affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces . Although the institution of slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries , it remained an integral part of Roman society until the 5th century . Slavery ceased gradually in the 6th and 7th centuries along with the decline of urban centres in the West and the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy that had created the demand for it . Laws pertaining to slavery were " extremely intricate " . Under Roman law , slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood . They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens , sexual exploitation , torture , and summary execution . A slave could not as a matter of law be raped , since rape could be committed only against people who were free ; a slave 's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the Aquilian Law . Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called conubium , but their unions were sometimes recognized , and if both were freed they could marry . Following the Servile Wars of the Republic , legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups , and for hunting down fugitive slaves . Technically , a slave could not own property , but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual account or fund ( peculium ) that he could use as if it were his own . The terms of this account varied depending on the degree of trust and co @-@ operation between owner and slave : a slave with an aptitude for business could be given considerable leeway to generate profit , and might be allowed to bequeath the peculium he managed to other slaves of his household . Within a household or workplace , a hierarchy of slaves might exist , with one slave in effect acting as the master of other slaves . Over time slaves gained increased legal protection , including the right to file complaints against their masters . A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution , as prostitutes in ancient Rome were often slaves . The burgeoning trade in eunuch slaves in the late 1st century AD prompted legislation that prohibited the castration of a slave against his will " for lust or gain . " Roman slavery was not based on race . Slaves were drawn from all over Europe and the Mediterranean , including Gaul , Hispania , Germany , Britannia , the Balkans , Greece ... Generally slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians , with a minority of foreigners ( including both slaves and freedmen ) born outside of Italy estimated at 5 % of the total in the capital at its peak , where their number was largest . Those from outside of Europe were predominantly of Greek descent , while the Jewish ones never fully assimilated into Roman society , remaining an identifiable minority . These slaves ( especially the foreigners ) had higher mortality rates and lower birth rates than natives , and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions . The average recorded age at death for the slaves of the city of Rome was extraordinarily low : seventeen and a half years ( 17 @.@ 2 for males ; 17 @.@ 9 for females ) . During the period of Republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive , war captives were a main source of slaves . The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war , and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves into Rome . Slaves were also traded in markets , and sometimes sold by pirates . Infant abandonment and self @-@ enslavement among the poor were other sources . Vernae , by contrast , were " homegrown " slaves born to female slaves within the urban household or on a country estate or farm . Although they had no special legal status , an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his vernae faced social disapproval , as they were considered part of his familia , the family household , and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family . Talented slaves with a knack for business might accumulate a large enough peculium to justify their freedom , or be manumitted for services rendered . Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law ( Lex Fufia Caninia ) limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will . = = = = Freedmen = = = = Rome differed from Greek city @-@ states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens . After manumission , a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership , but active political freedom ( libertas ) , including the right to vote . A slave who had acquired libertas was a libertus ( " freed person , " feminine liberta ) in relation to his former master , who then became his patron ( patronus ) : the two parties continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other . As a social class generally , freed slaves were libertini , though later writers used the terms libertus and libertinus interchangeably . A libertinus was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods , but he could play a priestly role in the cult of the emperor . He could not marry a woman from a family of senatorial rank , nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself , but during the early Empire , freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy , so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law . Any future children of a freedman would be born free , with full rights of citizenship . The rise of successful freedmen — through either political influence in imperial service , or wealth — is a characteristic of early Imperial society . The prosperity of a high @-@ achieving group of freedmen is attested by inscriptions throughout the Empire , and by their ownership of some of the most lavish houses at Pompeii , such as the House of the Vettii . The excesses of nouveau riche freedmen were satirized in the character of Trimalchio in the Satyricon by Petronius , who wrote in the time of Nero . Such individuals , while exceptional , are indicative of the upward social mobility possible in the Empire . = = = Census rank = = = The Latin word ordo ( plural ordines ) refers to a social distinction that is translated variously into English as " class , order , rank , " none of which is exact . One purpose of the Roman census was to determine the ordo to which an individual belonged . The two highest ordines in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian . Outside Rome , the decurions , also known as curiales ( Greek bouleutai ) , were the top governing ordo of an individual city . " Senator " was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome ; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an executive magistrate . A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million sestertii , as determined by the census . Nero made large gifts of money to a number of senators from old families who had become too impoverished to qualify . Not all men who qualified for the ordo senatorius chose to take a Senate seat , which required legal domicile at Rome . Emperors often filled vacancies in the 600 @-@ member body by appointment . A senator 's son belonged to the ordo senatorius , but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate itself . A senator could be removed for violating moral standards : he was prohibited , for instance , from marrying a freedwoman or fighting in the arena . In the time of Nero , senators were still primarily from Rome and other parts of Italy , with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France ; men from the Greek @-@ speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian . The first senator from the most eastern province , Cappadocia , was admitted under Marcus Aurelius . By the time of the Severan dynasty ( 193 – 235 ) , Italians made up less than half the Senate . During the 3rd century , domicile at Rome became impractical , and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland ( patria ) . Senators had an aura of prestige and were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum , the political career track , but equestrians of the Empire often possessed greater wealth and political power . Membership in the equestrian order was based on property ; in Rome 's early days , equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors ( the " public horse " ) , but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire . A census valuation of 400 @,@ 000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified a man as an equestrian . The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified , and in 14 AD , a thousand equestrians were registered at Cadiz and Padua alone . Equestrians rose through a military career track ( tres militiae ) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration . The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders is an aspect of social mobility in the first three centuries of the Empire . Roman aristocracy was based on competition , and unlike later European nobility , a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands . Admission to the higher ordines brought distinction and privileges , but also a number of responsibilities . In antiquity , a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works , events , and services ( munera ) , rather than on tax revenues , which primarily supported the military . Maintaining one 's rank required massive personal expenditures . Decurions were so vital for the functioning of cities that in the later Empire , as the ranks of the town councils became depleted , those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged by the central government to give up their seats and return to their hometowns , in an effort to sustain civic life . In the later Empire , the dignitas ( " worth , esteem " ) that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as vir illustris , " illustrious man " . The appellation clarissimus ( Greek lamprotatos ) was used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family , including women . " Grades " of equestrian status proliferated . Those in Imperial service were ranked by pay grade ( sexagenarius , 60 @,@ 000 sesterces per annum ; centenarius , 100 @,@ 000 ; ducenarius , 200 @,@ 000 ) . The title eminentissimus , " most eminent " ( Greek exochôtatos ) was reserved for equestrians who had been Praetorian prefects . The higher equestrian officials in general were perfectissimi , " most distinguished " ( Greek diasêmotatoi ) , the lower merely egregii , " outstanding " ( Greek kratistos ) . = = = = Unequal justice = = = = As the republican principle of citizens ' equality under the law faded , the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours ( honestiores ) and those who were humbler folk ( humiliores ) . In general , honestiores were the members of the three higher " orders , " along with certain military officers . The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority over other citizens affirmed , particularly within the justice system . Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative " worth " ( dignitas ) of the defendant : an honestior could pay a fine when convicted of a crime for which an humilior might receive a scourging . Execution , which had been an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic even in a capital case , could be quick and relatively painless for the Imperial citizen considered " more honorable , " while those deemed inferior might suffer the kinds of torture and prolonged death previously reserved for slaves , such as crucifixion and condemnation to the beasts as a spectacle in the arena . In the early Empire , those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as honestiores , especially if they declined to fulfill the religious aspects of their civic responsibilities , and thus became subject to punishments that created the conditions of martyrdom . = = Government and military = = The three major elements of the Imperial Roman state were the central government , the military , and provincial government . The military established control of a territory through war , but after a city or people was brought under treaty , the military mission turned to policing : protecting Roman citizens ( after 212 AD , all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire ) , the agricultural fields that fed them , and religious sites . Without modern instruments of either mass communication or mass destruction , the Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to impose their rule through force alone . Cooperation with local power elites was necessary to maintain order , collect information , and extract revenue . The Romans often exploited internal political divisions by supporting one faction over another : in the view of Plutarch , " it was discord between factions within cities that led to the loss of self @-@ governance " . Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws , could collect their own taxes locally , and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation . Legal privileges and relative independence were an incentive to remain in good standing with Rome . Roman government was thus limited , but efficient in its use of the resources available to it . = = = Central government = = = The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of certain powers from several republican offices , including the inviolability of the tribunes of the people and the authority of the censors to manipulate the hierarchy of Roman society . The emperor also made himself the central religious authority as Pontifex Maximus , and centralized the right to declare war , ratify treaties , and negotiate with foreign leaders . While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate , the emperor 's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical , culminating in the Dominate . The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision @-@ making , but in the early Principate he was expected to be accessible to individuals from all walks of life , and to deal personally with official business and petitions . A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually . The Julio @-@ Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians , but trusted slaves and freedmen . After Nero , the unofficial influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion , and the emperor 's council ( consilium ) became subject to official appointment for the sake of greater transparency . Though the senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty , equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium . The women of the emperor 's family often intervened directly in his decisions . Plotina exercised influence on both her husband Trajan and his successor Hadrian . Her influence was advertised by having her letters on official matters published , as a sign that the emperor was reasonable in his exercise of authority and listened to his people . Access to the emperor by others might be gained at the daily reception ( salutatio ) , a development of the traditional homage a client paid to his patron ; public banquets hosted at the palace ; and religious ceremonies . The common people who lacked this access could manifest their general approval or displeasure as a group at the games held in large venues . By the 4th century , as urban centres decayed , the Christian emperors became remote figureheads who issued general rulings , no longer responding to individual petitions . Although the senate could do little short of assassination and open rebellion to contravene the will of the emperor , it survived the Augustan restoration and the turbulent Year of Four Emperors to retain its symbolic political centrality during the Principate . The senate legitimated the emperor 's rule , and the emperor needed the experience of senators as legates ( legati ) to serve as generals , diplomats , and administrators . A successful career required competence as an administrator and remaining in favour with the emperor , or over time perhaps multiple emperors . The practical source of an emperor 's power and authority was the military . The legionaries were paid by the Imperial treasury , and swore an annual military oath of loyalty to the emperor ( sacramentum ) . The death of an emperor led to a crucial period of uncertainty and crisis . Most emperors indicated their choice of successor , usually a close family member or adopted heir . The new emperor had to seek a swift acknowledgement of his status and authority to stabilize the political landscape . No emperor could hope to survive , much less to reign , without the allegiance and loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and of the legions . To secure their loyalty , several emperors paid the donativum , a monetary reward . In theory , the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor , but did so mindful of acclamation by the army or Praetorians . = = = Military = = = The soldiers of the Imperial Roman army were professionals who volunteered for 20 years of active duty and five as reserves . The transition to a professional military had begun during the late Republic , and was one of the many profound shifts away from republicanism , under which an army of conscripts had exercised their responsibilities as citizens in defending the homeland in a campaign against a specific threat . For Imperial Rome , the military was a full @-@ time career in itself . The primary mission of the Roman military of the early empire was to preserve the Pax Romana . The three major divisions of the military were : the garrison at Rome , which includes both the Praetorians and the vigiles who functioned as police and firefighters ; the provincial army , comprising the Roman legions and the auxiliaries provided by the provinces ( auxilia ) ; the navy . The pervasiveness of military garrisons throughout the Empire was a major influence in the process of cultural exchange and assimilation known as " Romanization , " particularly in regard to politics , the economy , and religion . Knowledge of the Roman military comes from a wide range of sources : Greek and Roman literary texts ; coins with military themes ; papyri preserving military documents ; monuments such as Trajan 's Column and triumphal arches , which feature artistic depictions of both fighting men and military machines ; the archaeology of military burials , battle sites , and camps ; and inscriptions , including military diplomas , epitaphs , and dedications . Through his military reforms , which included consolidating or disbanding units of questionable loyalty , Augustus changed and regularized the legion , down to the hobnail pattern on the soles of army boots . A legion was organized into ten cohorts , each of which comprised six centuries , with a century further made up of ten squads ( contubernia ) ; the exact size of the Imperial legion , which is most likely to have been determined by logistics , has been estimated to range from 4 @,@ 800 to 5 @,@ 280 . In AD 9 , Germanic tribes wiped out three full legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . This disastrous event reduced the number of the legions to 25 . The total of the legions would later be increased again and for the next 300 years always be a little above or below 30 . The army had about 300 @,@ 000 soldiers in the 1st century , and under 400 @,@ 000 in the 2nd , " significantly smaller " than the collective armed forces of the territories it conquered . No more than 2 percent of adult males living in the Empire served in the Imperial army . Augustus also created the Praetorian Guard : nine cohorts , ostensibly to maintain the public peace , which were garrisoned in Italy . Better paid than the legionaries , the Praetorians served only sixteen years . The auxilia were recruited from among the non @-@ citizens . Organized in smaller units of roughly cohort strength , they were paid less than the legionaries , and after 25 years of service were rewarded with Roman citizenship , also extended to their sons . According to Tacitus there were roughly as many auxiliaries as there were legionaries . The auxilia thus amounted to around 125 @,@ 000 men , implying approximately 250 auxiliary regiments . The Roman cavalry of the earliest Empire were primarily from Celtic , Hispanic or Germanic areas . Several aspects of training and equipment , such as the four @-@ horned saddle , derived from the Celts , as noted by Arrian and indicated by archaeology . The Roman navy ( Latin : classis , " fleet " ) not only aided in the supply and transport of the legions , but also helped in the protection of the frontiers along the rivers Rhine and Danube . Another of its duties was the protection of the crucial maritime trade routes against the threat of pirates . It patrolled the whole of the Mediterranean , parts of the North Atlantic coasts , and the Black Sea . Nevertheless , the army was considered the senior and more prestigious branch . = = = Provincial government = = = An annexed territory became a province in a three @-@ step process : making a register of cities , taking a census of the population , and surveying the land . Further government recordkeeping included births and deaths , real estate transactions , taxes , and juridical proceedings . In the 1st and 2nd centuries , the central government sent out around 160 officials each year to govern outside Italy . Among these officials were the " Roman governors " , as they are called in English : either magistrates elected at Rome who in the name of the Roman people governed senatorial provinces ; or governors , usually of equestrian rank , who held their imperium on behalf of the emperor in provinces excluded from senatorial control , most notably Roman Egypt . A governor had to make himself accessible to the people he governed , but he could delegate various duties . His staff , however , was minimal : his official attendants ( apparitores ) , including lictors , heralds , messengers , scribes , and bodyguards ; legates , both civil and military , usually of equestrian rank ; and friends , ranging in age and experience , who accompanied him unofficially . Other officials were appointed as supervisors of government finances . Separating fiscal responsibility from justice and administration was a reform of the Imperial era . Under the Republic , provincial governors and tax farmers could exploit local populations for personal gain more freely . Equestrian procurators , whose authority was originally " extra @-@ judicial and extra @-@ constitutional , " managed both state @-@ owned property and the vast personal property of the emperor ( res privata ) . Because Roman government officials were few in number , a provincial who needed help with a legal dispute or criminal case might seek out any Roman perceived to have some official capacity , such as a procurator or a military officer , including centurions down to the lowly stationarii or military police . = = = Roman law = = = Roman courts held original jurisdiction over cases involving Roman citizens throughout the empire , but there were too few judicial functionaries to impose Roman law uniformly in the provinces . Most parts of the Eastern empire already had well @-@ established law codes and juridical procedures . In general , it was Roman policy to respect the mos regionis ( " regional tradition " or " law of the land " ) and to regard local laws as a source of legal precedent and social stability . The compatibility of Roman and local law was thought to reflect an underlying ius gentium , the " law of nations " or international law regarded as common and customary among all human communities . If the particulars of provincial law conflicted with Roman law or custom , Roman courts heard appeals , and the emperor held final authority to render a decision . In the West , law had been administered on a highly localized or tribal basis , and private property rights may have been a novelty of the Roman era , particularly among Celtic peoples . Roman law facilitated the acquisition of wealth by a pro @-@ Roman elite who found their new privileges as citizens to be advantageous . The extension of universal citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire in 212 required the uniform application of Roman law , replacing the local law codes that had applied to non @-@ citizens . Diocletian 's efforts to stabilize the Empire after the Crisis of the Third Century included two major compilations of law in four years , the Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus , to guide provincial administrators in setting consistent legal standards . The pervasive exercise of Roman law throughout Western Europe led to its enormous influence on the Western legal tradition , reflected by the continued use of Latin legal terminology in modern law . = = = Taxation = = = Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5 percent of the Empire 's gross product . The typical tax rate paid by individuals ranged from 2 to 5 percent . The tax code was " bewildering " in its complicated system of direct and indirect taxes , some paid in cash and some in kind . Taxes might be specific to a province , or kinds of properties such as fisheries or salt evaporation ponds ; they might be in effect for a limited time . Tax collection was justified by the need to maintain the military , and taxpayers sometimes got a refund if the army captured a surplus of booty . In @-@ kind taxes were accepted from less @-@ monetized areas , particularly those who could supply grain or goods to army camps . The primary source of direct tax revenue was individuals , who paid a poll tax and a tax on their land , construed as a tax on its produce or productive capacity . Supplemental forms could be filed by those eligible for certain exemptions ; for example , Egyptian farmers could register fields as fallow and tax @-@ exempt depending on flood patterns of the Nile . Tax obligations were determined by the census , which required each head of household to appear before the presiding official and provide a head count of his household , as well as an accounting of property he owned that was suitable for agriculture or habitation . A major source of indirect @-@ tax revenue was the portoria , customs and tolls on imports and exports , including among provinces . Special taxes were levied on the slave trade . Toward the end of his reign , Augustus instituted a 4 percent tax on the sale of slaves , which Nero shifted from the purchaser to the dealers , who responded by raising their prices . An owner who manumitted a slave paid a " freedom tax " , calculated at 5 percent of value . An inheritance tax of 5 percent was assessed when Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone but members of their immediate family . Revenues from the estate tax and from a 1 percent sales tax on auctions went toward the veterans ' pension fund ( aerarium militare ) . Low taxes helped the Roman aristocracy increase their wealth , which equalled or exceeded the revenues of the central government . An emperor sometimes replenished his treasury by confiscating the estates of the " super @-@ rich " , but in the later period , the resistance of the wealthy to paying taxes was one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Empire . = = Economy = = Moses Finley was the chief proponent of the primitivist view that the Roman economy was " underdeveloped and underachieving , " characterized by subsistence agriculture ; urban centres that consumed more than they produced in terms of trade and industry ; low @-@ status artisans ; slowly developing technology ; and a " lack of economic rationality . " Current views are more complex . Territorial conquests permitted a large @-@ scale reorganization of land use that resulted in agricultural surplus and specialization , particularly in north Africa . Some cities were known for particular industries or commercial activities , and the scale of building in urban areas indicates a significant construction industry . Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that suggest elements of economic rationalism , and the Empire was highly monetized . Although the means of communication and transport were limited in antiquity , transportation in the 1st and 2nd centuries expanded greatly , and trade routes connected regional economies . The supply contracts for the army , which pervaded every part of the Empire , drew on local suppliers near the base ( castrum ) , throughout the province , and across provincial borders . The Empire is perhaps best thought of as a network of regional economies , based on a form of " political capitalism " in which the state monitored and regulated commerce to assure its own revenues . Economic growth , though not comparable to modern economies , was greater than that of most other societies prior to industrialization . Socially , economic dynamism opened up one of the avenues of social mobility in the Roman Empire . Social advancement was thus not dependent solely on birth , patronage , good luck , or even extraordinary ability . Although aristocratic values permeated traditional elite society , a strong tendency toward plutocracy is indicated by the wealth requirements for census rank . Prestige could be obtained through investing one 's wealth in ways that advertised it appropriately : grand country estates or townhouses , durable luxury items such as jewels and silverware , public entertainments , funerary monuments for family members or coworkers , and religious dedications such as altars . Guilds ( collegia ) and corporations ( corpora ) provided support for individuals to succeed through networking , sharing sound business practices , and a willingness to work . = = = Currency and banking = = = The early Empire was monetized to a near @-@ universal extent , in the sense of using money as a way to express prices and debts . The sestertius ( plural sestertii , English " sesterces " , symbolized as HS ) was the basic unit of reckoning value into the 4th century , though the silver denarius , worth four sesterces , was used also for accounting beginning in the Severan dynasty . The smallest coin commonly circulated was the bronze as ( plural asses ) , one @-@ fourth sestertius . Bullion and ingots seem not to have counted as pecunia , " money , " and were used only on the frontiers for transacting business or buying property . Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries counted coins , rather than weighing them — an indication that the coin was valued on its face , not for its metal content . This tendency toward fiat money led eventually to the debasement of Roman coinage , with consequences in the later Empire . The standardization of money throughout the Empire promoted trade and market integration . The high amount of metal coinage in circulation increased the money supply for trading or saving . Rome had no central bank , and regulation of the banking system was minimal . Banks of classical antiquity typically kept less in reserves than the full total of customers ' deposits . A typical bank had fairly limited capital , and often only one principal , though a bank might have as many as six to fifteen principals . Seneca assumes that anyone involved in commerce needs access to credit . A professional deposit banker ( argentarius , coactor argentarius , or later nummularius ) received and held deposits for a fixed or indefinite term , and lent money to third parties . The senatorial elite were involved heavily in private lending , both as creditors and borrowers , making loans from their personal fortunes on the basis of social connections . The holder of a debt could use it as a means of payment by transferring it to another party , without cash changing hands . Although it has sometimes been thought that ancient Rome lacked " paper " or documentary transactions , the system of banks throughout the Empire also permitted the exchange of very large sums without the physical transfer of coins , in part because of the risks of moving large amounts of cash , particularly by sea . Only one serious credit shortage is known to have occurred in the early Empire , a credit crisis in 33 AD that put a number of senators at risk ; the central government rescued the market through a loan of 100 million HS made by the emperor Tiberius to the banks ( mensae ) . Generally , available capital exceeded the amount needed by borrowers . The central government itself did not borrow money , and without public debt had to fund deficits from cash reserves . Emperors of the Antonine and Severan dynasties overall debased the currency , particularly the denarius , under the pressures of meeting military payrolls . Sudden inflation during the reign of Commodus damaged the credit market . In the mid @-@ 200s , the supply of specie contracted sharply . Conditions during the Crisis of the Third Century — such as reductions in long @-@ distance trade , disruption of mining operations , and the physical transfer of gold coinage outside the empire by invading enemies — greatly diminished the money supply and the banking sector by the year 300 . Although Roman coinage had long been fiat money or fiduciary currency , general economic anxieties came to a head under Aurelian , and bankers lost confidence in coins legitimately issued by the central government . Despite Diocletian 's introduction of the gold solidus and monetary reforms , the credit market of the Empire never recovered its former robustness . = = = Mining and metallurgy = = = The main mining regions of the Empire were the Iberian Peninsula ( gold , silver , copper , tin , lead ) ; Gaul ( gold , silver , iron ) ; Britain ( mainly iron , lead , tin ) , the Danubian provinces ( gold , iron ) ; Macedonia and Thrace ( gold , silver ) ; and Asia Minor ( gold , silver , iron , tin ) . Intensive large @-@ scale mining — of alluvial deposits , and by means of open @-@ cast mining and underground mining — took place from the reign of Augustus up to the early 3rd century AD , when the instability of the Empire disrupted production . The gold mines of Dacia , for instance , were no longer available for Roman exploitation after the province was surrendered in 271 . Mining seems to have resumed to some extent during the 4th century . Hydraulic mining , which Pliny referred to as ruina montium ( " ruin of the mountains " ) , allowed base and precious metals to be extracted on a proto @-@ industrial scale . The total annual iron output is estimated at 82 @,@ 500 tonnes . Copper was produced at an annual rate of 15 @,@ 000 t , and lead at 80 @,@ 000 t , both production levels unmatched until the Industrial Revolution ; Hispania alone had a 40 percent share in world lead production . The high lead output was a by @-@ product of extensive silver mining which reached 200 t per annum . At its peak around the mid @-@ 2nd century AD , the Roman silver stock is estimated at 10 @,@ 000 t , five to ten times larger than the combined silver mass of medieval Europe and the Caliphate around 800 AD . As an indication of the scale of Roman metal production , lead pollution in the Greenland ice sheet quadrupled over its prehistoric levels during the Imperial era , and dropped again thereafter . = = = Transportation and communication = = = The Roman Empire completely encircled the Mediterranean , which they called " our sea " ( mare nostrum ) . Roman sailing vessels navigated the Mediterranean as well as the major rivers of the Empire , including the Guadalquivir , Ebro , Rhône , Rhine , Tiber and Nile . Transport by water was preferred where possible , and moving commodities by land was more difficult . Vehicles , wheels , and ships indicate the existence of a great number of skilled woodworkers . Land transport utilized the advanced system of Roman roads . The in @-@ kind taxes paid by communities included the provision of personnel , animals , or vehicles for the cursus publicus , the state mail and transport service established by Augustus . Relay stations were located along the roads every seven to twelve Roman miles , and tended to grow into a village or trading post . A mansio ( plural mansiones ) was a privately run service station franchised by the imperial bureaucracy for the cursus publicus . The support staff at such a facility included muleteers , secretaries , blacksmiths , cartwrights , a veterinarian , and a few military police and couriers . The distance between mansiones was determined by how far a wagon could travel in a day . Mules were the animal most often used for pulling carts , travelling about 4 mph . As an example of the pace of communication , it took a messenger a minimum of nine days to travel to Rome from Mainz in the province of Germania Superior , even on a matter of urgency . In addition to the mansiones , some taverns offered accommodations as well as food and drink ; one recorded tab for a stay showed charges for wine , bread , mule feed , and the services of a prostitute . = = = Trade and commodities = = = Roman provinces traded among themselves , but trade extended outside the frontiers to regions as far away as China and India . The main commodity was grain . Chinese trade was mostly conducted overland through middle men along the Silk Road ; Indian trade , however , also occurred by sea from Egyptian ports on the Red Sea . Also traded were olive oil , various foodstuffs , garum ( fish sauce ) , slaves , ore and manufactured metal objects , fibres and textiles , timber , pottery , glassware , marble , papyrus , spices and materia medica , ivory , pearls , and gemstones . Though most provinces were capable of producing wine , regional varietals were desirable and wine was a central item of trade . Shortages of vin ordinaire were rare . The major suppliers for the city of Rome were the west coast of Italy , southern Gaul , the Tarraconensis region of Hispania , and Crete . Alexandria , the second @-@ largest city , imported wine from Laodicea in Syria and the Aegean . At the retail level , taverns or speciality wine shops ( vinaria ) sold wine by the jug for carryout and by the drink on premises , with price ranges reflecting quality . = = = Labour and occupations = = = Inscriptions record 268 different occupations in the city of Rome , and 85 in Pompeii . Professional associations or trade guilds ( collegia ) are attested for a wide range of occupations , including fishermen ( piscatores ) , salt merchants ( salinatores ) , olive oil dealers ( olivarii ) , entertainers ( scaenici ) , cattle dealers ( pecuarii ) , goldsmiths ( aurifices ) , teamsters ( asinarii or muliones ) , and stonecutters ( lapidarii ) . These are sometimes quite specialized : one collegium at Rome was strictly limited to craftsmen who worked in ivory and citrus wood . Work performed by slaves falls into five general categories : domestic , with epitaphs recording at least 55 different household jobs ; imperial or public service ; urban crafts and services ; agriculture ; and mining . Convicts provided much of the labour in the mines or quarries , where conditions were notoriously brutal . In practice , there was little division of labour between slave and free , and most workers were illiterate and without special skills . The greatest number of common labourers were employed in agriculture : in the Italian system of industrial farming ( latifundia ) , these may have been mostly slaves , but throughout the Empire , slave farm labour was probably less important than other forms of dependent labour by people who were technically not enslaved . Textile and clothing production was a major source of employment . Both textiles and finished garments were traded among the peoples of the Empire , whose products were often named for them or a particular town , rather like a fashion " label " . Better ready @-@ to @-@ wear was exported by businessmen ( negotiatores or mercatores ) who were often well @-@ to @-@ do residents of the production centres . Finished garments might be retailed by their sales agents , who travelled to potential customers , or by vestiarii , clothing dealers who were mostly freedmen ; or they might be peddled by itinerant merchants . In Egypt , textile producers could run prosperous small businesses employing apprentices , free workers earning wages , and slaves . The fullers ( fullones ) and dye workers ( coloratores ) had their own guilds . Centonarii were guild workers who specialized in textile production and the recycling of old clothes into pieced goods . = = = GDP and income distribution = = = Economic historians vary in their calculations of the gross domestic product of the Roman economy during the Principate . In the sample years of 14 , 100 , and 150 AD , estimates of per capita GDP range from 166 to 380 HS . The GDP per capita of Italy is estimated as 40 to 66 percent higher than in the rest of the Empire , due to tax transfers from the provinces and the concentration of elite income in the heartland . In the Scheidel – Friesen economic model , the total annual income generated by the Empire is placed at nearly 20 billion HS , with about 5 percent extracted by central and local government . Households in the top 1 @.@ 5 percent of income distribution captured about 20 percent of income . Another 20 percent went to about 10 percent of the population who can be characterized as a non @-@ elite middle . The remaining " vast majority " produced more than half of the total income , but lived near subsistence . = = Architecture and engineering = = The chief Roman contributions to architecture were the arch , vault and the dome . Even after more than 2 @,@ 000 years some Roman structures still stand , due in part to sophisticated methods of making cements and concrete . Roman roads are considered the most advanced roads built until the early 19th century . The system of roadways facilitated military policing , communications , and trade . The roads were resistant to floods and other environmental hazards . Even after the collapse of the central government , some roads remained usable for more than a thousand years . Roman bridges were among the first large and lasting bridges , built from stone with the arch as the basic structure . Most utilized concrete as well . The largest Roman bridge was Trajan 's bridge over the lower Danube , constructed by Apollodorus of Damascus , which remained for over a millennium the longest bridge to have been built both in terms of overall span and length . The Romans built many dams and reservoirs for water collection , such as the Subiaco Dams , two of which fed the Anio Novus , one of the largest aqueducts of Rome . They built 72 dams just on the Iberian peninsula , and many more are known across the Empire , some still in use . Several earthen dams are known from Roman Britain , including a well @-@ preserved example from Longovicium ( Lanchester ) . The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts . A surviving treatise by Frontinus , who served as curator aquarum ( water commissioner ) under Nerva , reflects the administrative importance placed on ensuring the water supply . Masonry channels carried water from distant springs and reservoirs along a precise gradient , using gravity alone . After the water passed through the aqueduct , it was collected in tanks and fed through pipes to public fountains , baths , toilets , or industrial sites . The main aqueducts in the city of Rome were the Aqua Claudia and the Aqua Marcia . The complex system built to supply Constantinople had its most distant supply drawn from over 120 km away along a sinuous route of more than 336 km . Roman aqueducts were built to remarkably fine tolerance , and to a technological standard that was not to be equalled until modern times . The Romans also made use of aqueducts in their extensive mining operations across the empire , at sites such as Las Medulas and Dolaucothi in South Wales . Insulated glazing ( or " double glazing " ) was used in the construction of public baths . Elite housing in cooler climates might have hypocausts , a form of central heating . The Romans were the first culture to assemble all essential components of the much later steam engine , when Hero built the aeolipile . = = Daily life = = = = = City and country = = = In the ancient world , a city was viewed as a place that fostered civilization by being " properly designed , ordered , and adorned . " Augustus undertook a vast building program in Rome , supported public displays of art that expressed the new imperial ideology , and reorganized the city into neighbourhoods ( vici ) administered at the local level with police and firefighting services . A focus of Augustan monumental architecture was the Campus Martius , an open area outside the city center that in early times had been devoted to equestrian sports and physical training for youth . The Altar of Augustan Peace ( Ara Pacis Augustae ) was located there , as was an obelisk imported from Egypt that formed the pointer ( gnomon ) of a horologium . With its public gardens , the Campus became one of the most attractive places in the city to visit . City planning and urban lifestyles had been influenced by the Greeks from an early period , and in the eastern Empire , Roman rule accelerated and shaped the local development of cities that already had a strong Hellenistic character . Cities such as Athens , Aphrodisias , Ephesus and Gerasa altered some aspects of city planning and architecture to conform to imperial ideals , while also expressing their individual identity and regional preeminence . In the areas of the western Empire inhabited by Celtic @-@ speaking peoples , Rome encouraged the development of urban centres with stone temples , forums , monumental fountains , and amphitheatres , often on or near the sites of the preexisting walled settlements known as oppida . Urbanization in Roman Africa expanded on Greek and Punic cities along the coast . The network of cities throughout the Empire ( coloniae , municipia , civitates or in Greek terms poleis ) was a primary cohesive force during the Pax Romana . Romans of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD were encouraged by imperial propaganda to " inculcate the habits of peacetime " . As the classicist Clifford Ando has noted : Most of the cultural appurtenances popularly associated with imperial culture — public cult and its games and civic banquets , competitions for artists , speakers , and athletes , as well as the funding of the great majority of public buildings and public display of art — were financed by private individuals , whose expenditures in this regard helped to justify their economic power and legal and provincial privileges . Even the Christian polemicist Tertullian declared that the world of the late 2nd century was more orderly and well @-@ cultivated than in earlier times : " Everywhere there are houses , everywhere people , everywhere the res publica , the commonwealth , everywhere life . " The decline of cities and civic life in the 4th century , when the wealthy classes were unable or disinclined to support public works , was one sign of the Empire 's imminent dissolution . In the city of Rome , most people lived in multistory apartment buildings ( insulae ) that were often squalid firetraps . Public facilities — such as baths ( thermae ) , toilets that were flushed with running water ( latrinae ) , conveniently located basins or elaborate fountains ( nymphea ) delivering fresh water , and large @-@ scale entertainments such as chariot races and gladiator combat — were aimed primarily at the common people who lived in the insulae . Similar facilities were constructed in cities throughout the Empire , and some of the best @-@ preserved Roman structures are in Spain , southern France , and northern Africa . The public baths served hygienic , social and cultural functions . Bathing was the focus of daily socializing in the late afternoon before dinner . Roman baths were distinguished by a series of rooms that offered communal bathing in three temperatures , with varying amenities that might include an exercise and weight @-@ training room , sauna , exfoliation spa ( where oils were massaged into the skin and scraped from the body with a strigil ) , ball court , or outdoor swimming pool . Baths had hypocaust heating : the floors were suspended over hot @-@ air channels that circulated warmth . Mixed nude bathing was not unusual in the early Empire , though some baths may have offered separate facilities or hours for men and women . Public baths were a part of urban culture throughout the provinces , but in the late 4th century , individual tubs began to replace communal bathing . Christians were advised to go to the baths for health and cleanliness , not pleasure , but to avoid the games ( ludi ) , which were part of religious festivals they considered " pagan " . Tertullian says that otherwise Christians not only availed themselves of the baths , but participated fully in commerce and society . Rich families from Rome usually had two or more houses , a townhouse ( domus , plural domūs ) and at least one luxury home ( villa ) outside the city . The domus was a privately owned single @-@ family house , and might be furnished with a private bath ( balneum ) , but it was not a place to retreat from public life . Although some neighbourhoods of Rome show a higher concentration of well @-@ to @-@ do houses , the rich did not live in segregated enclaves . Their houses were meant to be visible and accessible . The atrium served as a reception hall in which the paterfamilias ( head of household ) met with clients every morning , from wealthy friends to poorer dependents who received charity . It was also a center of family religious rites , containing a shrine and the images of family ancestors . The houses were located on busy public roads , and ground @-@ level spaces facing the street were often rented out as shops ( tabernae ) . In addition to a kitchen garden — windowboxes might substitute in the insulae — townhouses typically enclosed a peristyle garden that brought a tract of nature , made orderly , within walls . The villa by contrast was an escape from the bustle of the city , and in literature represents a lifestyle that balances the civilized pursuit of intellectual and artistic interests ( otium ) with an appreciation of nature and the agricultural cycle . Ideally a villa commanded a view or vista , carefully framed by the architectural design . It might be located on a working estate , or in a " resort town " situated on the seacoast , such as Pompeii and Herculaneum . The programme of urban renewal under Augustus , and the growth of Rome 's population to as many as 1 million people , was accompanied by a nostalgia for rural life expressed in the arts . Poetry praised the idealized lives of farmers and shepherds . The interiors of houses were often decorated with painted gardens , fountains , landscapes , vegetative ornament , and animals , especially birds and marine life , rendered accurately enough that modern scholars can sometimes identify them by species . The Augustan poet Horace gently satirized the dichotomy of urban and rural values in his fable of the city mouse and the country mouse , which has often been retold as a children 's story . On a more practical level , the central government took an active interest in supporting agriculture . Producing food was the top priority of land use . Larger farms ( latifundia ) achieved an economy of scale that sustained urban life and its more specialized division of labour . Small farmers benefited from the development of local markets in towns and trade centres . Agricultural techniques such as crop rotation and selective breeding were disseminated throughout the Empire , and new crops were introduced from one province to another , such as peas and cabbage to Britain . Maintaining an affordable food supply to the city of Rome had become a major political issue in the late Republic , when the state began to provide a grain dole ( annona ) to citizens who registered for it . About 200 @,@ 000 – 250 @,@ 000 adult males in Rome received the dole , amounting to about 33 kg. per month , for a per annum total of about 100 @,@ 000 tons of wheat primarily from Sicily , north Africa , and Egypt . The dole cost at least 15 percent of state revenues , but improved living conditions and family life among the lower classes , and subsidized the rich by allowing workers to spend more of their earnings on the wine and olive oil produced on the estates of the landowning class . The grain dole also had symbolic value : it affirmed both the emperor 's position as universal benefactor , and the right of all citizens to share in " the fruits of conquest " . The annona , public facilities , and spectacular entertainments mitigated the otherwise dreary living conditions of lower @-@ class Romans , and kept social unrest in check . The satirist Juvenal , however , saw " bread and circuses " ( panem et circenses ) as emblematic of the loss of republican political liberty : The public has long since cast off its cares : the people that once bestowed commands , consulships , legions and all else , now meddles no more and longs eagerly for just two things : bread and circuses . = = = Food and dining = = = Most apartments in Rome lacked kitchens , though a charcoal brazier could be used for rudimentary cookery . Prepared food was sold at pubs and bars , inns , and food stalls ( tabernae , cauponae , popinae , thermopolia ) . Carryout and restaurant dining were for the lower classes ; fine dining could be sought only at private dinner parties in well @-@ to @-@ do houses with a chef ( archimagirus ) and trained kitchen staff , or at banquets hosted by social clubs ( collegia ) . Most people would have consumed at least 70 percent of their daily calories in the form of cereals and legumes . Puls ( pottage ) was considered the aboriginal food of the Romans . The basic grain pottage could be elaborated with chopped vegetables , bits of meat , cheese , or herbs to produce dishes similar to polenta or risotto . Urban populations and the military preferred to consume their grain in the form of bread . Mills and commercial ovens were usually combined in a bakery complex . By the reign of Aurelian , the state had begun to distribute the annona as a daily ration of bread baked in state factories , and added olive oil , wine , and pork to the dole . The importance of a good diet to health was recognized by medical writers such as Galen ( 2nd century AD ) , whose treatises included one On Barley Soup . Views on nutrition were influenced by schools of thought such as humoral theory . Roman literature focuses on the dining habits of the upper classes , for whom the evening meal ( cena ) had important social functions . Guests were entertained in a finely decorated dining room ( triclinium ) , often with a view of the peristyle garden . Diners lounged on couches , leaning on the left elbow . By the late Republic , if not earlier , women dined , reclined , and drank wine along with men . The most famous description of a Roman meal is probably Trimalchio 's dinner party in the Satyricon , a fictional extravaganza that bears little resemblance to reality even among the most wealthy . The poet Martial describes serving a more plausible dinner , beginning with the gustatio ( " tasting " or " appetizer " ) , which was a composed salad of mallow leaves , lettuce , chopped leeks , mint , arugula , mackerel garnished with rue , sliced eggs , and marinated sow udder . The main course was succulent cuts of kid , beans , greens , a chicken , and leftover ham , followed by a dessert of fresh fruit and vintage wine . The Latin expression for a full @-@ course dinner was ab ovo usque mala , " from the egg to the apples , " equivalent to the English " from soup to nuts . " A book @-@ length collection of Roman recipes is attributed to Apicius , a name for several figures in antiquity that became synonymous with " gourmet . " Roman " foodies " indulged in wild game , fowl such as peacock and flamingo , large fish ( mullet was especially prized ) , and shellfish . Luxury ingredients were brought by the fleet from the far reaches of empire , from the Parthian frontier to the Straits of Gibraltar . Refined cuisine could be moralized as a sign of either civilized progress or decadent decline . The early Imperial historian Tacitus contrasted the indulgent luxuries of the Roman table in his day with the simplicity of the Germanic diet of fresh wild meat , foraged fruit , and cheese , unadulterated by imported seasonings and elaborate sauces . Most often , because of the importance of landowning in Roman culture , produce — cereals , legumes , vegetables , and fruit — was considered a more civilized form of food than meat . The Mediterranean staples of bread , wine , and oil were sacralized by Roman Christianity , while Germanic meat consumption became a mark of paganism , as it might be the product of animal sacrifice . Some philosophers and Christians resisted the demands of the body and the pleasures of food , and adopted fasting as an ideal . Food became simpler in general as urban life in the West diminished , trade routes were disrupted , and the rich retreated to the more limited self @-@ sufficiency of their country estates . As an urban lifestyle came to be associated with decadence , the Church formally discouraged gluttony , and hunting and pastoralism were seen as simple , virtuous ways of life . = = = Recreation and spectacles = = = When Juvenal complained that the Roman people had exchanged their political liberty for " bread and circuses " , he was referring to the state @-@ provided grain dole and the circenses , events held in the entertainment venue called a circus in Latin . The largest such venue in Rome was the Circus Maximus , the setting of horse races , chariot races , the equestrian Troy Game , staged beast hunts ( venationes ) , athletic contests , gladiator combat , and historical re @-@ enactments . From earliest times , several religious festivals had featured games ( ludi ) , primarily horse and chariot races ( ludi circenses ) . Although their entertainment value tended to overshadow ritual significance , the races remained part of archaic religious observances that pertained to agriculture , initiation , and the cycle of birth and death . Under Augustus , public entertainments were presented on 77 days of the year ; by the reign of Marcus Aurelius , the number of days had expanded to 135 . Circus games were preceded by an elaborate parade ( pompa circensis ) that ended at the venue . Competitive events were held also in smaller venues such as the amphitheatre , which became the characteristic Roman spectacle venue , and stadium . Greek @-@ style athletics included footraces , boxing , wrestling , and the pancratium . Aquatic displays , such as the mock sea battle ( naumachia ) and a form of " water ballet " , were presented in engineered pools . State @-@ supported theatrical events ( ludi scaenici ) took place on temple steps or in grand stone theatres , or in the smaller enclosed theatre called an odeum . Circuses were the largest structure regularly built in the Roman world , though the Greeks had their own architectural traditions for the similarly purposed hippodrome . The Flavian Amphitheatre , better known as the Colosseum , became the regular arena for blood sports in Rome after it opened in 80 AD . The circus races continued to be held more frequently . The Circus Maximus could seat around 150 @,@ 000 spectators , and the Colosseum about 50 @,@ 000 with standing room for about 10 @,@ 000 more . Many Roman amphitheatres , circuses and theatres built in cities outside Italy are visible as ruins today . The local ruling elite were responsible for sponsoring spectacles and arena events , which both enhanced their status and drained their resources . The physical arrangement of the amphitheatre represented the order of Roman society : the emperor presiding in his opulent box ; senators and equestrians watching from the advantageous seats reserved for them ; women seated at a remove from the action ; slaves given the worst places , and everybody else packed in @-@ between . The crowd could call for an outcome by booing or cheering , but the emperor had the final say . Spectacles could quickly become sites of social and political protest , and emperors sometimes had to deploy force to put down crowd unrest , most notoriously at the Nika riots in the year 532 , when troops under Justinian slaughtered thousands . The chariot teams were known by the colours they wore , with the Blues and Greens the most popular . Fan loyalty was fierce and at times erupted into sports riots . Racing was perilous , but charioteers were among the most celebrated and well @-@ compensated athletes . One star of the sport was Diocles , from Lusitania ( present @-@ day Portugal ) , who raced chariots for 24 years and had career earnings of 35 million sesterces . Horses had their fans too , and were commemorated in art and inscriptions , sometimes by name . The design of Roman circuses was developed to assure that no team had an unfair advantage and to minimize collisions ( naufragia , " shipwrecks " ) , which were nonetheless frequent and spectacularly satisfying to the crowd . The races retained a magical aura through their early association with chthonic rituals : circus images were considered protective or lucky , curse tablets have been found buried at the site of racetracks , and charioteers were often suspected of sorcery . Chariot racing continued into the Byzantine period under imperial sponsorship , but the decline of cities in the 6th and 7th centuries led to its eventual demise . The Romans thought gladiator contests had originated with funeral games and sacrifices in which select captive warriors were forced to fight to expiate the deaths of noble Romans . Some of the earliest styles of gladiator fighting had ethnic designations such as " Thracian " or " Gallic " . The staged combats were considered munera , " services , offerings , benefactions " , initially distinct from the festival games ( ludi ) . Throughout his 40 @-@ year reign , Augustus presented eight gladiator shows in which a total of 10 @,@ 000 men fought , as well as 26 staged beast hunts that resulted in the deaths of 3 @,@ 500 animals . To mark the opening of the Colosseum , the emperor Titus presented 100 days of arena events , with 3 @,@ 000 gladiators competing on a single day . Roman fascination with gladiators is indicated by how widely they are depicted on mosaics , wall paintings , lamps , and even graffiti drawings . Gladiators were trained combatants who might be slaves , convicts , or free volunteers . Death was not a necessary or even desirable outcome in matches between these highly skilled fighters , whose training represented a costly and time @-@ consuming investment . By contrast , noxii were convicts sentenced to the arena with little or no training , often unarmed , and with no expectation of survival . Physical suffering and humiliation were considered appropriate retributive justice for the crimes they had committed . These executions were sometimes staged or ritualized as re @-@ enactments of myths , and amphitheatres were equipped with elaborate stage machinery to create special effects . Tertullian considered deaths in the arena to be nothing more than a dressed @-@ up form of human sacrifice . Modern scholars have found the pleasure Romans took in the " theater of life and death " to be one of the more difficult aspects of their civilization to understand and explain . The younger Pliny rationalized gladiator spectacles as good for the people , a way " to inspire them to face honourable wounds and despise death , by exhibiting love of glory and desire for victory even in the bodies of slaves and criminals " . Some Romans such as Seneca were critical of the brutal spectacles , but found virtue in the courage and dignity of the defeated fighter rather than in victory — an attitude that finds its fullest expression with the Christians martyred in the arena . Even martyr literature , however , offers " detailed , indeed luxuriant , descriptions of bodily suffering " , and became a popular genre at times indistinguishable from fiction . = = = = Personal training and play = = = = In the plural , ludi almost always refers to the large @-@ scale spectator games . The singular ludus , " play , game , sport , training , " had a wide range of meanings such as " word play , " " theatrical performance , " " board game , " " primary school , " and even " gladiator training school " ( as in Ludus Magnus , the largest such training camp at Rome ) . Activities for children and young people included hoop rolling and knucklebones ( astragali or " jacks " ) . The sarcophagi of children often show them playing games . Girls had dolls , typically 15 – 16 cm tall with jointed limbs , made of materials such as wood , terracotta , and especially bone and ivory . Ball games include trigon , which required dexterity , and harpastum , a rougher sport . Pets appear often on children 's memorials and in literature , including birds , dogs , cats , goats , sheep , rabbits and geese . After adolescence , most physical training for males was of a military nature . The Campus Martius originally was an exercise field where young men developed the skills of horsemanship and warfare . Hunting was also considered an appropriate pastime . According to Plutarch , conservative Romans disapproved of Greek @-@ style athletics that promoted a fine body for its own sake , and condemned Nero 's efforts to encourage gymnastic games in the Greek manner . Some women trained as gymnasts and dancers , and a rare few as female gladiators . The famous " bikini girls " mosaic shows young women engaging in apparatus routines that might be compared to rhythmic gymnastics . Women in general were encouraged to maintain their health through activities such as playing ball , swimming , walking , reading aloud ( as a breathing exercise ) , riding in vehicles , and travel . People of all ages played board games pitting two players against each other , including latrunculi ( " Raiders " ) , a game of strategy in which opponents coordinated the movements and capture of multiple game pieces , and XII scripta ( " Twelve Marks " ) , involving dice and arranging pieces on a grid of letters or words . A game referred to as alea ( dice ) or tabula ( the board ) , to which the emperor Claudius was notoriously addicted , may have been similar to backgammon , using a dice @-@ cup ( pyrgus ) . Playing with dice as a form of gambling was disapproved of , but was a popular pastime during the December festival of the Saturnalia with its carnival , norms @-@ overturned atmosphere . = = = Clothing = = = In a status @-@ conscious society like that of the Romans , clothing and personal adornment gave immediate visual clues about the etiquette of interacting with the wearer . Wearing the correct clothing was supposed to reflect a society in good order . The toga was the distinctive national garment of the Roman male citizen , but it was heavy and impractical , worn mainly for conducting political business and religious rites , and for going to court . Contrary to popular perception , the clothing Romans wore ordinarily was dark or colourful , and the most common male attire seen daily throughout the provinces would have been tunics , cloaks , and in some regions trousers . The study of how Romans dressed in daily life is complicated by a lack of direct evidence , since portraiture may show the subject in clothing with symbolic value , and surviving textiles from the period are rare . The basic garment for all Romans , regardless of gender or wealth , was the simple sleeved tunic . The length differed by wearer : a man 's reached mid @-@ calf , but a soldier 's was somewhat shorter ; a woman 's fell to her feet , and a child 's to its knees . The tunics of poor people and labouring slaves were made from coarse wool in natural , dull shades , with the length determined by the type of work they did . Finer tunics were made of lightweight wool or linen . A man who belonged to the senatorial or equestrian order wore a tunic with two purple stripes ( clavi ) woven vertically into the fabric : the wider the stripe , the higher the wearer 's status . Other garments could be layered over the tunic . The Imperial toga was a " vast expanse " of semi @-@ circular white wool that could not be put on and draped correctly without assistance . In his work on oratory , Quintilian describes in detail how the public speaker ought to orchestrate his gestures in relation to his toga . In art , the toga is shown with the long end dipping between the feet , a deep curved fold in front , and a bulbous flap at the midsection . The drapery became more intricate and structured over time , with the cloth forming a tight roll across the chest in later periods . The toga praetexta , with a purple or purplish @-@ red stripe representing inviolability , was worn by children who had not come of age , curule magistrates , and state priests . Only the emperor could wear an all @-@ purple toga ( toga picta ) . In the 2nd century , emperors and men of status are often portrayed wearing the pallium , an originally Greek mantle ( himation ) folded tightly around the body . Women are also portrayed in the pallium . Tertullian considered the pallium an appropriate garment both for Christians , in contrast to the toga , and for educated people , since it was associated with philosophers . By the 4th century , the toga had been more or less replaced by the pallium as a garment that embodied social unity . Roman clothing styles changed over time , though not as rapidly as fashions today . In the Dominate , clothing worn by both soldiers and government bureaucrats became highly decorated , with woven or embroidered stripes ( clavi ) and circular roundels ( orbiculi ) applied to tunics and cloaks . These decorative elements consisted of geometrical patterns , stylised plant motifs , and in more elaborate examples , human or animal figures . The use of silk increased , and courtiers of the later Empire wore elaborate silk robes . The militarization of Roman society , and the waning of cultural life based on urban ideals , affected habits of dress : heavy military @-@ style belts were worn by bureaucrats as well as soldiers , and the toga was abandoned . = = The arts = = People visiting or living in Rome or the cities throughout the Empire would have seen art in a range of styles and media on a daily basis . Public or official art — including sculpture , monuments such as victory columns or triumphal arches , and the iconography on coins — is often analysed for its historical significance or as an expression of imperial ideology . At Imperial public baths , a person of humble means could view wall paintings , mosaics , statues , and interior decoration often of high quality . In the private sphere , objects made for religious dedications , funerary commemoration , domestic use , and commerce can show varying degrees of aesthetic quality and artistic skill . A wealthy person might advertise his appreciation of culture through painting , sculpture , and decorative arts at his home — though some efforts strike modern viewers and some ancient connoisseurs as strenuous rather than tasteful . Greek art had a profound influence on the Roman tradition , and some of the most famous examples of Greek statues are known only from Roman Imperial versions and the occasional description in a Greek or Latin literary source . Despite the high value placed on works of art , even famous artists were of low social status among the Greeks and Romans , who regarded artists , artisans , and craftsmen alike as manual labourers . At the same time , the level of skill required to produce quality work was recognized , and even considered a divine gift . = = = Portraiture = = = Portraiture , which survives mainly in the medium of sculpture , was the most copious form of imperial art . Portraits during the Augustan period utilize youthful and classical proportions , evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism . Republican portraits had been characterized by a " warts and all " verism , but as early as the 2nd century BC , the Greek convention of heroic nudity was adopted sometimes for portraying conquering generals . Imperial portrait sculptures may model the head as mature , even craggy , atop a nude or seminude body that is smooth and youthful with perfect musculature ; a portrait head might even be added to a body created for another purpose . Clothed in the toga or military regalia , the body communicates rank or sphere of activity , not the characteristics of the individual . Women of the emperor 's family were often depicted dressed as goddesses or divine personifications such as Pax ( " Peace " ) . Portraiture in painting is represented primarily by the Fayum mummy portraits , which evoke Egyptian and Roman traditions of commemorating the dead with the realistic painting techniques of the Empire . Marble portrait sculpture would have been painted , and while traces of paint have only rarely survived the centuries , the Fayum portraits indicate why ancient literary sources marvelled at how lifelike artistic representations could be . = = = Sculpture = = = Examples of Roman sculpture survive abundantly , though often in damaged or fragmentary condition , including freestanding statues and statuettes in marble , bronze and terracotta , and reliefs from public buildings , temples , and monuments such as the Ara Pacis , Trajan 's Column , and the Arch of Titus . Niches in amphitheatres such as the Colosseum were originally filled with statues , and no formal garden was complete without statuary . Temples housed the cult images of deities , often by famed sculptors . The religiosity of the Romans encouraged the production of decorated altars , small representations of deities for the household shrine or votive offerings , and other pieces for dedicating at temples . Divine and mythological figures were also given secular , humorous , and even obscene depictions . = = = = Sarcophagi = = = = Elaborately carved marble and limestone sarcophagi are characteristic of the 2nd to the 4th centuries with at least 10 @,@ 000 examples surviving . Although mythological scenes have been most widely studied , sarcophagus relief has been called the " richest single source of Roman iconography , " and may also depict the deceased 's occupation or life course , military scenes , and other subject matter . The same workshops produced sarcophagi with Jewish or Christian imagery . = = = Painting = = = Much of what is known of Roman painting is based on the interior decoration of private homes , particularly as preserved at Pompeii and Herculaneum by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD . In addition to decorative borders and panels with geometric or vegetative motifs , wall painting depicts scenes from mythology and the theatre , landscapes and gardens , recreation and spectacles , work and everyday life , and frank pornography . Birds , animals , and marine life are often depicted with careful attention to realistic detail . A unique source for Jewish figurative painting under the Empire is the Dura @-@ Europos synagogue , dubbed " the Pompeii of the Syrian Desert , " buried and preserved in the mid @-@ 3rd century after the city was destroyed by Persians . = = = Mosaic = = = Mosaics are among the most enduring of Roman decorative arts , and are found on the surfaces of floors and other architectural features such as walls , vaulted ceilings , and columns . The most common form is the tessellated mosaic , formed from uniform pieces ( tesserae ) of materials such as stone and glass . Mosaics were usually crafted on site , but sometimes assembled and shipped as ready @-@ made panels . A mosaic workshop was led by the master artist ( pictor ) who worked with two grades of assistants . Figurative mosaics share many themes with painting , and in some cases portray subject matter in almost identical compositions . Although geometric patterns and mythological scenes occur throughout the Empire , regional preferences also find expression . In North Africa , a particularly rich source of mosaics , homeowners often chose scenes of life on their estates , hunting , agriculture , and local wildlife . Plentiful and major examples of Roman mosaics come also from present @-@ day Turkey , Italy , southern France , Spain , and Portugal . More than 300 Antioch mosaics from the 3rd century are known . Opus sectile is a related technique in which flat stone , usually coloured marble , is cut precisely into shapes from which geometric or figurative patterns are formed . This more difficult technique was highly prized , and became especially popular for luxury surfaces in the 4th century , an abundant example of which is the Basilica of Junius Bassus . = = = Decorative arts = = = Decorative arts for luxury consumers included fine pottery , silver and bronze vessels and implements , and glassware . The manufacture of pottery in a wide range of quality was important to trade and employment , as were the glass and metalworking industries . Imports stimulated new regional centres of production . Southern Gaul became a leading producer of the finer red @-@ gloss pottery ( terra sigillata ) that was a major item of trade in 1st @-@ century Europe . Glassblowing was regarded by the Romans as originating in Syria in the 1st century BC , and by the 3rd century Egypt and the Rhineland had become noted for fine glass . = = = Performing arts = = = In Roman tradition , borrowed from the Greeks , literary theatre was performed by all @-@ male troupes that used face masks with exaggerated facial expressions that allowed audiences to " see " how a character was feeling . Such masks were occasionally also specific to a particular role , and an actor could then play multiple roles merely by switching masks . Female roles were played by men in drag ( travesti ) . Roman literary theater tradition is particularly well represented in Latin literature by the tragedies of Seneca . The circumstances under which Seneca 's tragedies were performed are however unclear ; scholarly conjectures range from minimally staged readings to full production pageants . More popular than literary theatre was the genre @-@ defying mimus theater , which featured scripted scenarios with free improvisation , risqué language and jokes , sex scenes , action sequences , and political satire , along with dance numbers , juggling , acrobatics , tightrope walking , striptease , and dancing bears . Unlike literary theater , mimus was played without masks , and encouraged stylistic realism in acting . Female roles were performed by women , not by men . Mimus was related to the genre called pantomimus , an early form of story ballet that contained no spoken dialogue . Pantomimus combined expressive dancing , instrumental music and a sung libretto , often mythological , that could be either tragic or comic . Although sometimes regarded as foreign elements in Roman culture , music and dance had existed in Rome from earliest times . Music was customary at funerals , and the tibia ( Greek aulos ) , a woodwind instrument , was played at sacrifices to ward off ill influences . Song ( carmen ) was an integral part of almost every social occasion . The Secular Ode of Horace , commissioned by Augustus , was performed publicly in 17 BC by a mixed children 's choir . Music was thought to reflect the orderliness of the cosmos , and was associated particularly with mathematics and knowledge . Various woodwinds and " brass " instruments were played , as were stringed instruments such as the cithara , and percussion . The cornu , a long tubular metal wind instrument that curved around the musician 's body , was used for military signals and on parade . These instruments are found in parts of the Empire where they did not originate , and indicate that music was among the aspects of Roman culture that spread throughout the provinces . Instruments are widely depicted in Roman art . The hydraulic pipe organ ( hydraulis ) was " one of the most significant technical and musical achievements of antiquity " , and accompanied gladiator games and events in the amphitheatre , as well as stage performances . It was among the instruments that the emperor Nero played . Although certain forms of dance were disapproved of at times as non @-@ Roman or unmanly , dancing was embedded in religious rituals of archaic Rome , such as those of the dancing armed Salian priests and of the Arval Brothers , priesthoods which underwent a revival during the Principate . Ecstatic dancing was a feature of the international mystery religions , particularly the cult of Cybele as practised by her eunuch priests the Galli and of Isis . In the secular realm , dancing girls from Syria and Cadiz were extremely popular . Like gladiators , entertainers were infames in the eyes of the law , little better than slaves even if they were technically free . " Stars " , however , could enjoy considerable wealth and celebrity , and mingled socially and often sexually with the upper classes , including emperors . Performers supported each other by forming guilds , and several memorials for members of the theatre community survive . Theatre and dance were often condemned by Christian polemicists in the later Empire , and Christians who integrated dance traditions and music into their worship practices were regarded by the Church Fathers as shockingly " pagan . " St. Augustine is supposed to have said that bringing clowns , actors , and dancers into a house was like inviting in a gang of unclean spirits . = = Literacy , books , and education = = Estimates of the average literacy rate in the Empire range from 5 to 30 percent or higher , depending in part on the definition of " literacy " . The Roman obsession with documents and public inscriptions indicates the high value placed on the written word . The Imperial bureaucracy was so dependent on writing that the Babylonian Talmud declared " if all seas were ink , all reeds were pen , all skies parchment , and all men scribes , they would be unable to set down the full scope of the Roman government 's concerns . " Laws and edicts were posted in writing as well as read out . Illiterate Roman subjects would have someone such as a government scribe ( scriba ) read or write their official documents for them . Public art and religious ceremonies were ways to communicate imperial ideology regardless of ability to read . Although the Romans were not a " People of the Book " , they had an extensive priestly archive , and inscriptions appear throughout the Empire in connection with statues and small votives dedicated by ordinary people to divinities , as well as on binding tablets and other " magic spells " , with hundreds of examples collected in the Greek Magical Papyri . The military produced a vast amount of written reports and service records , and literacy in the army was " strikingly high " . Urban graffiti , which include literary quotations , and low @-@ quality inscriptions with misspellings and solecisms indicate casual literacy among non @-@ elites . In addition , numeracy was necessary for any form of commerce . Slaves were numerate and literate in significant numbers , and some were highly educated . Books were expensive , since each copy had to be written out individually on a roll of papyrus ( volumen ) by scribes who had apprenticed to the trade . The codex — a book with pages bound to a spine — was still a novelty in the time of the poet Martial ( 1st century AD ) , but by the end of the 3rd century was replacing the volumen and was the regular form for books with Christian content . Commercial production of books had been established by the late Republic , and by the 1st century AD certain neighbourhoods of Rome were known for their bookshops ( tabernae librariae ) , which were found also in Western provincial cities such as Lugdunum ( present @-@ day Lyon , France ) . The quality of editing varied wildly , and some ancient authors complain about error @-@ ridden copies , as well as plagiarism or forgery , since there was no copyright law . A skilled slave copyist ( servus litteratus ) could be valued as highly as 100 @,@ 000 sesterces . Collectors amassed personal libraries , such as that of the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum , and a fine library was part of the cultivated leisure ( otium ) associated with the villa lifestyle . Significant collections might attract " in @-@ house " scholars ; Lucian mocked mercenary Greek intellectuals who attached themselves to philistine Roman patrons . An individual benefactor might endow a community with a library : Pliny the Younger gave the city of Comum a library valued at 1 million sesterces , along with another 100 @,@ 000 to maintain it . Imperial libraries housed in state buildings were open to users as a privilege on a limited basis , and represented a literary canon from which disreputable writers could be excluded . Books considered subversive might be publicly burned , and Domitian crucified copyists for reproducing works deemed treasonous . Literary texts were often shared aloud at meals or with reading groups . Scholars such as Pliny the Elder engaged in " multitasking " by having works read aloud to them while they dined , bathed or travelled , times during which they might also dictate drafts or notes to their secretaries . The multivolume Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius is an extended exploration of how Romans constructed their literary culture . The reading public expanded from the 1st through the 3rd century , and while those who read for pleasure remained a minority , they were no longer confined to a sophisticated ruling elite , reflecting the social fluidity of the Empire as a whole and giving rise to " consumer literature " meant for entertainment . Illustrated books , including erotica , were popular , but are poorly represented by extant fragments . = = = Primary education = = = Traditional Roman education was moral and practical . Stories about great men and women , or cautionary tales about individual failures , were meant to instill Roman values ( mores maiorum ) . Parents and family members were expected to act as role models , and parents who worked for a living passed their skills on to their children , who might also enter apprenticeships for more advanced training in crafts or trades . Formal education was available only to children from families who could pay for it , and the lack of state intervention in access to education contributed to the low rate of literacy . Young children were attended by a pedagogus , or less frequently a female pedagoga , usually a Greek slave or former slave . The pedagogue kept the child safe , taught self @-@ discipline and public behaviour , attended class and helped with tutoring . The emperor Julian recalled his pedagogue Mardonius , a eunuch slave who reared him from the age of 7 to 15 , with affection and gratitude . Usually , however , pedagogues received little respect . Primary education in reading , writing , and arithmetic might take place at home for privileged children whose parents hired or bought a teacher . Others attended a school that was " public , " though not state @-@ supported , organized by an individual schoolmaster ( ludimagister ) who accepted fees from multiple parents . Vernae ( homeborn slave children ) might share in home- or public @-@ schooling . Schools became more numerous during the Empire , and increased the opportunities for children to acquire an education . School could be held regularly in a rented space , or in any available public niche , even outdoors . Boys and girls received primary education generally from ages 7 to 12 , but classes were not segregated by grade or age . For the socially ambitious , bilingual education in Greek as well as Latin was a must . Quintilian provides the most extensive theory of primary education in Latin literature . According to Quintilian , each child has in @-@ born ingenium , a talent for learning or linguistic intelligence that is ready to be cultivated and sharpened , as evidenced by the young child 's ability to memorize and imitate . The child incapable of learning was rare . To Quintilian , ingenium represented a potential best realized in the social setting of school , and he argued against homeschooling . He also recognized the importance of play in child development , and disapproved of corporal punishment because it discouraged love of learning — in contrast to the practice in most Roman primary schools of routinely striking children with a cane ( ferula ) or birch rod for being slow or disruptive . = = = Secondary education = = = At the age of 14 , upperclass males made their rite of passage into adulthood , and began to learn leadership roles in political , religious , and military life through mentoring from a senior member of their family or a family friend . Higher education was provided by grammatici or rhetores . The grammaticus or " grammarian " taught mainly Greek and Latin literature , with history , geography , philosophy or mathematics treated as explications of the text . With the rise of Augustus , contemporary Latin authors such as Vergil and Livy also became part of the curriculum . The rhetor was a teacher of oratory or public speaking . The art of speaking ( ars dicendi ) was highly prized as a marker of social and intellectual superiority , and eloquentia ( " speaking ability , eloquence " ) was considered the " glue " of a civilized society . Rhetoric was not so much a body of knowledge ( though it required a command of references to the literary canon ) as it was a mode of expression and decorum that distinguished those who held social power . The ancient model of rhetorical training — " restraint , coolness under pressure , modesty , and good humour " — endured into the 18th century as a Western educational ideal . In Latin , illiteratus ( Greek agrammatos ) could mean both " unable to read and write " and " lacking in cultural awareness or sophistication . " Higher education promoted career advancement , particularly for an equestrian in Imperial service : " eloquence and learning were considered marks of a well @-@ bred man and worthy of reward " . The poet Horace , for instance , was given a top @-@ notch education by his father , a prosperous former slave . Urban elites throughout the Empire shared a literary culture embued with Greek educational ideals ( paideia ) . Hellenistic cities sponsored schools of higher learning as an expression of cultural achievement . Young men from Rome who wished to pursue the highest levels of education often went abroad to study rhetoric and philosophy , mostly to one of several Greek schools in Athens . The curriculum in the East was more likely to include music and physical training along with literacy and numeracy . On the Hellenistic model , Vespasian endowed chairs of grammar , Latin and Greek rhetoric , and philosophy at Rome , and gave teachers special exemptions from taxes and legal penalties , though primary schoolmasters did not receive these benefits . Quintilian held the first chair of grammar . In the eastern empire , Berytus ( present @-@ day Beirut ) was unusual in offering a Latin education , and became famous for its school of Roman law . The cultural movement known as the Second Sophistic ( 1st – 3rd century AD ) promoted the assimilation of Greek and Roman social , educational , and aesthetic values , and the Greek proclivities for which Nero had been criticized were regarded from the time of Hadrian onward as integral to Imperial culture . = = = Educated women = = = Literate women ranged from cultured aristocrats to girls trained to be calligraphers and scribes . The " girlfriends " addressed in Augustan love poetry , although fictional , represent an ideal that a desirable woman should be educated , well @-@ versed in the arts , and independent to a frustrating degree . Education seems to have been standard for daughters of the senatorial and equestrian orders during the Empire . A highly educated wife was an asset for the socially ambitious household , but one that Martial regards as an unnecessary luxury . The woman who achieved the greatest prominence in the ancient world for her learning was Hypatia of Alexandria , who educated young men in mathematics , philosophy , and astronomy , and advised the Roman prefect of Egypt on politics . Her influence put her into conflict with the bishop of Alexandria , Cyril , who may have been implicated in her violent death in 415 at the hands of a Christian mob . = = = Decline of literacy = = = Literacy began to decline , perhaps dramatically , during the socio @-@ political Crisis of the Third Century . Although the Church Fathers were well @-@ educated , they regarded Classical literature as dangerous , if valuable , and reconstrued it through moralizing and allegorical readings . Julian , the only emperor after the conversion of Constantine to reject Christianity , banned Christians from teaching the Classical curriculum , on the grounds that they might corrupt the minds of youth . While the book roll had emphasized the continuity of the text , the codex format encouraged a " piecemeal " approach to reading by means of citation , fragmented interpretation , and the extraction of maxims . In the 5th and 6th centuries , reading became rarer even for those within the Church hierarchy . = = Literature = = In the traditional literary canon , literature under Augustus , along with that of the late Republic , has been viewed as the " Golden Age " of Latin literature , embodying the classical ideals of " unity of the whole , the proportion of the parts , and the careful articulation of an apparently seamless composition . " The three most influential Classical Latin poets — Vergil , Horace , and Ovid — belong to this period . Vergil wrote the Aeneid , creating a national epic for Rome in the manner of the Homeric epics of Greece . Horace perfected the use of Greek lyric meters in Latin verse . Ovid 's erotic poetry was enormously popular , but ran afoul of the Augustan moral programme ; it was one of the ostensible causes for which the emperor exiled him to Tomis ( present @-@ day Constanța , Romania ) , where he remained to the end of his life . Ovid 's Metamorphoses was a continuous poem of fifteen books weaving together Greco @-@ Roman mythology from the creation of the universe to the deification of Julius Caesar . Ovid 's versions of Greek myths became one of the primary sources of later classical mythology , and his work was so influential in the Middle Ages that the 12th and 13th centuries have been called the " Age of Ovid . " The principal Latin prose author of the Augustan age is the historian Livy , whose account of Rome 's founding and early history became the most familiar version in modern @-@ era literature . Vitruvius 's book De Architectura , the only complete work on architecture to survive from antiquity , also belongs to this period . Latin writers were immersed in the Greek literary tradition , and adapted its forms and much of its content , but Romans regarded satire as a genre in which they surpassed the Greeks . Horace wrote verse satires before fashioning himself as an Augustan court poet , and the early Principate also produced the satirists Persius and Juvenal . The poetry of Juvenal offers a lively curmudgeon 's perspective on urban society . The period from the mid @-@ 1st century through the mid @-@ 2nd century has conventionally been called the " Silver Age " of Latin literature . Under Nero , disillusioned writers reacted to Augustanism . The three leading writers — Seneca the philosopher , dramatist , and tutor of Nero ; Lucan , his nephew , who turned Caesar 's civil war into an epic poem ; and the novelist Petronius ( Satyricon ) — all committed suicide after incurring the emperor 's displeasure . Seneca and Lucan were from Hispania , as was the later epigrammatist and keen social observer Martial , who expressed his pride in his Celtiberian heritage . Martial and the epic poet Statius , whose poetry collection Silvae had a far @-@ reaching influence on Renaissance literature , wrote during the reign of Domitian . The so @-@ called " Silver Age " produced several distinguished writers , including the encyclopedist Pliny the Elder ; his nephew , known as Pliny the Younger ; and the historian Tacitus . The Natural History of the elder Pliny , who died during disaster relief efforts in the wake of the eruption of Vesuvius , is a vast collection on flora and fauna , gems and minerals , climate , medicine , freaks of nature , works of art , and antiquarian lore . Tacitus 's reputation as a literary artist matches or exceeds his value as a historian ; his stylistic experimentation produced " one of the most powerful of Latin prose styles . " The Twelve Caesars by his contemporary Suetonius is one of the primary sources for imperial biography . Among Imperial historians who wrote in Greek are Dionysius of Halicarnassus , the Jewish historian Josephus , and the senator Cassius Dio . Other major Greek authors of the Empire include the biographer and antiquarian Plutarch , the geographer Strabo , and the rhetorician and satirist Lucian . Popular Greek romance novels were part of the development of long @-@ form fiction works , represented in Latin by the Satyricon of Petronius and The Golden Ass of Apuleius . From the 2nd to the 4th centuries , the Christian authors who would become the Latin Church Fathers were in active dialogue with the Classical tradition , within which they had been educated . Tertullian , a convert to Christianity from Roman Africa , was the contemporary of Apuleius and one of the earliest prose authors to establish a distinctly Christian voice . After the conversion of Constantine , Latin literature is dominated by the Christian perspective . When the orator Symmachus argued for the preservation of Rome 's religious traditions , he was effectively opposed by Ambrose , the bishop of Milan and future saint — a debate preserved by their missives . In the late 4th century , Jerome produced the Latin translation of the Bible that became authoritative as the Vulgate . Augustine , another of the Church Fathers from the province of Africa , has been called " one of the most influential writers of western culture " , and his Confessions is sometimes considered the first autobiography of Western literature . In The City of God against the Pagans , Augustine builds a vision of an eternal , spiritual Rome , a new imperium sine fine that will outlast the collapsing Empire . In contrast to the unity of Classical Latin , the literary aesthetic of late antiquity has a tessellated quality that has been compared to the mosaics characteristic of the period . A continuing interest in the religious traditions of Rome prior to Christian dominion is found into the 5th century , with the Saturnalia of Macrobius and The Marriage of Philology and Mercury of Martianus Capella . Prominent Latin poets of late antiquity include Ausonius , Prudentius , Claudian , and Sidonius . Ausonius ( d. ca . 394 ) , the Bordelaise tutor of the emperor Gratian , was at least nominally a Christian , though throughout his occasionally obscene mixed @-@ genre poems , he retains a literary interest in the Greco @-@ Roman gods and even druidism . The imperial panegyrist Claudian ( d . 404 ) was a vir illustris who appears never to have converted . Prudentius ( d. ca . 413 ) , born in Hispania Tarraconensis and a fervent Christian , was thoroughly versed in the poets of the Classical tradition , and transforms their vision of poetry as a monument of immortality into an expression of the poet 's quest for eternal life culminating in Christian salvation . Sidonius ( d . 486 ) , a native of Lugdunum , was a Roman senator and bishop of Clermont who cultivated a traditional villa lifestyle as he watched the Western empire succumb to barbarian incursions . His poetry and collected letters offer a unique view of life in late Roman Gaul from the perspective of a man who " survived the end of his world " . = = Religion = = Religion in the Roman Empire encompassed the practices and beliefs the Romans regarded as their own , as well as the many cults imported to Rome or practised by peoples throughout the provinces . The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious , and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety ( pietas ) in maintaining good relations with the gods ( pax deorum ) . The archaic religion believed to have been handed down from the earliest kings of Rome was the foundation of the mos maiorum , " the way of the ancestors " or " tradition " , viewed as central to Roman identity . There was no principle analogous to " separation of church and state " . The priesthoods of the state religion were filled from the same social pool of men who held public office , and in the Imperial era , the Pontifex Maximus was the emperor . Roman religion was practical and contractual , based on the principle of do ut des , " I give that you might give . " Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer , ritual , and sacrifice , not on faith or dogma , although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine and its relation to human affairs . For ordinary Romans , religion was a part of daily life . Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family 's domestic deities were offered . Neighborhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city . Apuleius ( 2nd century ) described the everyday quality of religion in observing how people who passed a cult place might make a vow or a fruit offering , or merely sit for a while . The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances . In the Imperial era , as many as 135 days of the year were devoted to religious festivals and games ( ludi ) . Women , slaves , and children all participated in a range of religious activities . In the wake of the Republic 's collapse , state religion had adapted to support the new regime of the emperors . As the first Roman emperor , Augustus justified the novelty of one @-@ man rule with a vast program of religious revivalism and reform . Public vows formerly made for the security of the republic now were directed at the wellbeing of the emperor . So @-@ called " emperor worship " expanded on a grand scale the traditional Roman veneration of the ancestral dead and of the Genius , the divine tutelary of every individual . Upon death , an emperor could be made a state divinity ( divus ) by vote of the Senate . Imperial cult , influenced by Hellenistic ruler cult , became one of the major ways Rome advertised its presence in the provinces and cultivated shared cultural identity and loyalty throughout the Empire . Cultural precedent in the Eastern provinces facilitated a rapid dissemination of Imperial cult , extending as far as the Augustan military settlement at Najran , in present @-@ day Saudi Arabia . Rejection of the state religion became tantamount to treason against the emperor . This was the context for Rome 's conflict with Christianity , which Romans variously regarded as a form of atheism and novel superstitio . The Romans are known for the great number of deities they honoured , a capacity that earned the mockery of early Christian polemicists . As the Romans extended their dominance throughout the Mediterranean world , their policy in general was to absorb the deities and cults of other peoples rather than try to eradicate them . One way that Rome promoted stability among diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage , building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion . Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the side @-@ by @-@ side worship of local and Roman deities , including dedications made by Romans to local gods . By the height of the Empire , numerous cults of pseudo @-@ foreign gods ( Roman reinventions of foreign gods ) were cultivated at Rome and in the provinces , among them cults of Cybele , Isis , Epona , and of solar gods such as Mithras and Sol Invictus , found as far north as Roman Britain . Because Romans had never been obligated to cultivate one god or one cult only , religious tolerance was not an issue in the sense that it is for competing monotheistic systems . Mystery religions , which offered initiates salvation in the afterlife , were a matter of personal choice for an individual , practised in addition to carrying on one 's family rites and participating in public religion . The mysteries , however , involved exclusive oaths and secrecy , conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of " magic " , conspiracy ( coniuratio ) , and subversive activity . Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity . In Gaul , the power of the druids was checked , first by forbidding Roman citizens to belong to the order , and then by banning druidism altogether . At the same time , however , Celtic traditions were reinterpreted ( interpretatio romana ) within the context of Imperial theology , and a new Gallo @-@ Roman religion coalesced , with its capital at the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls in Lugdunum ( present @-@ day Lyon , France ) . The sanctuary established precedent for Western cult as a form of Roman @-@ provincial identity . The monotheistic rigour of Judaism posed difficulties for Roman policy that led at times to compromise and the granting of special exemptions . Tertullian noted that the Jewish religion , unlike that of the Christians , was considered a religio licita , " legitimate religion . " Wars between the Romans and the Jews occurred when conflict , political as well as religious , became intractable . When Caligula wanted to place a golden statue of his deified self in the Temple in Jerusalem , the potential sacrilege and likely war were prevented only by his timely death . The Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD led to the sacking of the temple and the dispersal of Jewish political power ( see Jewish diaspora ) . Christianity emerged in Roman Judea as a Jewish religious sect in the 1st century AD . The religion gradually spread out of Jerusalem , initially establishing major bases in first Antioch , then Alexandria , and over time throughout the Empire as well as beyond . Imperially authorized persecutions were limited and sporadic , with martyrdoms occurring most often under the authority of local officials . The first persecution by an emperor occurred under Nero , and was confined to the city of Rome . Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64 , some among the population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the Christians . After Nero , a major persecution occurred under the emperor Domitian and a persecution in 177 took place at Lugdunum , the Gallo @-@ Roman religious capital . A surviving letter from Pliny the Younger , governor of Bythinia , to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions of Christians . The Decian persecution of 246 – 251 was a serious threat to the Church , but ultimately strengthened Christian defiance . Diocletian undertook what was to be the most severe persecution of Christians , lasting from 303 to 311 . In the early 4th century , Constantine I became the first emperor to convert to Christianity . During the rest of the fourth century Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire . The emperor Julian made a short @-@ lived attempt to revive traditional and Hellenistic religion and to affirm the special status of Judaism , but in 380 ( Edict of Thessalonica ) , under Theodosius I Christianity became the official state church of the Roman Empire , to the exclusion of all others . From the 2nd century onward , the Church Fathers had begun to condemn the diverse religions practised throughout the Empire collectively as " pagan . " Pleas for religious tolerance from traditionalists such as the senator Symmachus ( d . 402 ) were rejected , and Christian monotheism became a feature of Imperial domination . Christian heretics as well as non @-@ Christians were subject to exclusion from public life or persecution , but Rome 's original religious hierarchy and many aspects of its ritual influenced Christian forms , and many pre @-@ Christian beliefs and practices survived in Christian festivals and local traditions . = = Political legacy = = Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire 's successors after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The Holy Roman Empire , an attempt to resurrect the Empire in the West , was established in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Frankish King Charlemagne as Roman Emperor on Christmas Day , though the empire and the imperial office did not become formalized for some decades . After the fall of Constantinople , the Russian Tsardom , as inheritor of the Byzantine Empire 's Orthodox Christian tradition , counted itself the Third Rome ( Constantinople having been the second ) . These concepts are known as Translatio imperii . When the Ottomans , who based their state on the Byzantine model , took Constantinople in 1453 , Mehmed II established his capital there and claimed to sit on the throne of the Roman Empire . He even went so far as to launch an invasion of Italy with the purpose of re @-@ uniting the Empire and invited European artists to his capital , including Gentile Bellini . In the medieval West , " Roman " came to mean the church and the Pope of Rome . The Greek form Romaioi remained attached to the Greek @-@ speaking Christian population of the Eastern Roman Empire , and is still used by Greeks in addition to their common appellation . The Roman Empire 's territorial legacy of controlling the Italian peninsula would serve as an influence to Italian nationalism and the unification of Italy ( Risorgimento ) in 1861 . In the United States , the founders were educated in the classical tradition , and used classical models for landmarks and buildings in Washington , D.C. , to avoid the feudal and religious connotations of European architecture such as castles and cathedrals . In forming their theory of the mixed constitution , the founders looked to Athenian democracy and Roman republicanism for models , but regarded the Roman emperor as a figure of tyranny . They nonetheless adopted Roman Imperial forms such as the dome , as represented by the US Capitol and numerous state capitol buildings , to express classical ideals through architecture . Thomas Jefferson saw the Empire as a negative political lesson , but was a chief proponent of its architectural models . Jefferson 's design for the Virginia State Capitol , for instance , is modelled directly from the Maison Carrée , a Gallo @-@ Roman temple built under Augustus . The renovations of the National Mall at the beginning of the 20th century have been viewed as expressing a more overt imperialist kinship with Rome .
= Navenby = Navenby / ˈneɪvənbi / is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire , England . Lying 8 miles ( 13 km ) south from the county town of Lincoln and 9 miles ( 14 km ) north @-@ northwest from Sleaford , Navenby has a population of 1 @,@ 666 , rising to 2 @,@ 128 at the 2011 census and is a dormitory village for Lincoln . It forms part of the North Kesteven local government district and , in March 2011 , it was named as the ' Best Value Village ' in England following a national survey . A Bronze Age cemetery and the remains of an Iron Age settlement have been discovered in the village . Historians also believe Navenby was a significant staging point on the Roman Ermine Street , as the Romans are reported to have maintained a small base or garrison in the village . Navenby became a market town after receiving a charter from Edward the Confessor in the 11th century . The charter was later renewed by William Rufus , Edward III and Richard II . When the market fell into disuse in the early 19th century , Navenby returned to being a village . The civil parish of Navenby is rural , covering more than 2 @,@ 100 acres ( 850 ha ) . It straddles Ermine Street , a Roman road built between 45 and 75 AD , which runs between London and York . The Viking Way , a 147 @-@ mile ( 237 km ) footpath between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland , also cuts through the village . The Vikings exerted great influence over Lincolnshire in the 9th and 10th centuries , as can be seen in the many local place names ending in -by , such as Navenby . Names ending with -by meant homestead or village . = = History = = = = = Early history = = = Archaeological investigations around Navenby indicate the area has been occupied since at least the British Bronze Age , about 600 BC . The remains of British Iron Age farms have been found at Chapel Lane , a site now protected as a public open space by the district and parish councils and supported by Navenby Archaeology Group . Significant Roman finds include parts of shops and houses that would have fronted onto Ermine Street , down which Roman armies marched to and from the Legionary Fortress at Lincoln . The city of Lincoln was very important at that time , probably the capital of the late Roman Province of Flavia Caesariensis . Evidence suggests that Navenby was a significant staging point along Ermine Street . The Romans are reported to have maintained a small base or garrison in the village , and a possible Romano @-@ British temple and burial sites have been unearthed in the area . A 2009 archaeological dig uncovering a road , building foundations and Roman graves along with pottery and coins , showed Navenby to be a Roman Service Station . Cremations dated to the middle Saxon period have been discovered near the junction of High Dyke with Chapel Lane . Late Saxon remains have also been found under and around St Peter 's Church , suggesting the original Roman village had moved from Ermine Street to Church Lane and North Lane by the late @-@ Saxon period . Navenby 's Saxon name is unknown . The present name is derived from the Old Norse Nafni + by , which means " farmstead or village of a man called Nafni " . In the Domesday Book of 1086 , Navenby appears as Navenbi and Navenebi . The Vikings exerted considerable influence over Lincolnshire in the 9th and 10th centuries , as can be seen in the many local place names ending in -by . The Viking Way , a 147 @-@ mile ( 237 km ) footpath that cuts through the village , is a lasting reminder of their presence . = = = Middle Ages = = = Navenby , originally an agricultural village , became a market town after receiving a charter from Edward the Confessor in the 11th century . The charter was later renewed by William Rufus , Edward III , and Richard II . The wide main street , down which farmers once drove their sheep to market , is lasting evidence of its market town status . A market square once stood at the centre , marked by a cross in honour of Queen Eleanor . Today , the square has gone and the cross is a ruin . Parish records exist for Navenby from 1681 , although bishops ' transcripts go back to 1562 . The documents show the village hosted several annual fairs each year : a market fair on 17 October at which farm animals were traded ; a feast on the Thursday before Easter ; and a Hiring Fair held each May Day , at which servants gathered to seek employment . The records also show that part of the parish of Navenby was enclosed in 1772 . Such was the significance of Navenby at this time that a workhouse for the parish poor was erected here , although the building was later given over to other uses . A Sick Society was founded in 1811 and a Parish School was built next to St Peter 's Church in 1816 , paid for by subscription . Following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act Navenby parish became part of the Lincoln Poor Law Union . = = = 19th century = = = When the market closed in the early 19th century Navenby lost its status as a market town , and once again became an agricultural village . The Penny Cyclopaedia of 1839 , published by The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge , described the village in this way : Navenby is in the hundred of Boothby Graffoe , parts of Kesteven , on the road from Grantham to Lincoln , 124 miles [ 200 km ] from London . The church is partly of Early English and partly of Decorated English architecture . The windows of the chancel are very fine specimens of Decorated character , particularly the east window , the mullions and tracery of which are remarkably graceful . There were in 1833 two dame schools , with 18 children ; two day @-@ schools , with 25 children ; and one endowed day and Sunday school , with 109 children in the week and 166 on Sunday . Many buildings were erected in Navenby during the 19th century , including a small Wesleyan Methodist chapel in about 1830 , which was completely rebuilt in 1840 . A Temperance Hall was built in 1852 , later used as a second base by the Wesleyan Reformers . A Volunteer Fire Brigade was founded in 1844 , comprising five men and a manual engine . The Provincial Gas Light and Coke Company began supplying gas lighting to the village in 1857 , and in 1867 a railway station was built three @-@ quarters of a mile ( 1 @.@ 2 km ) west of the village , on the Lincoln @-@ to @-@ Grantham branch of the Great Northern Railway . By 1871 , the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln was the principal landowner and Lord of the Manor of Navenby . A witch bottle was discovered in the foundations of a Navenby farmhouse in 2005 , thought to date back to about 1830 . Containing pins , human hair and urine , the bottle was believed to protect a household against evil spells . = = = Modern history = = = Navenby was an agricultural village at the beginning of the 20th century , but the outbreak of the First World War brought changes for the community . A small airfield , Wellingore Heath , was opened on land bordering Navenby in 1917 , to provide a base for the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service . The flat landscape , with its cliff @-@ top situation , proved an ideal situation for flight operations . T. E. Lawrence , perhaps better known as Lawrence of Arabia , was stationed at nearby RAF Cranwell just after the war , in 1926 , where he wrote a revised version of his Seven Pillars Of Wisdom . He mentioned Navenby in a letter to a friend at the time , saying : I 'm too shy to go looking for dirt . That 's why I can 't go off stewing into the Lincoln or Navenby brothels with the fellows . They think it 's because I 'm superior : proud , or peculiar or ' posh ' , as they say : and its because I wouldn 't know what to do , how to carry myself , where to stop . Fear again : fear everywhere . Wellingore airfield closed after the war ended , but it was re @-@ opened in 1935 and its facilities expanded during the winter of 1939 – 40 . By then known as RAF Wellingore , notable officers stationed there included Wing Commander Guy Gibson . Group Captain Douglas Bader is known to have briefly messed at Wellingore while on R & R leave from the Battle of Britain too , and both Gibson and Bader were regular visitors to Navenby . The base served as a satellite field for RAF Digby until 1944 and as a relief landing ground for RAF Cranwell from April 1944 until its final closure in 1945 , after which it was used as a camp for prisoners of war from Germany and Ukraine ; the inmates were often made to work on the surrounding farmland . Navenby lost many men during the two World Wars . The village war memorial , a rough hewn stone Celtic Cross mounted on a plinth with a three @-@ stepped base , is in the churchyard of St Peter 's . It was manufactured by Messrs G Maile & Son Ltd at a cost of £ 200 , and unveiled in April 1921 . On it are inscribed the names of the 22 casualties from the First World War and the 8 from the Second World War . Following an initial decline in the population of Navenby at the turn of the 20th century , the post @-@ war years saw numbers rise steeply . This increase can be directly linked to the 35 @-@ plus new houses built from the end of the Great War until the 1950s , as well as to other building projects from the 1970s onwards . Other post @-@ war changes include the move away from a dependence on farming . Although Navenby continues to be surrounded by farms , it is now largely a dormitory village for Lincoln , Grantham and beyond . Figures from the 2001 census show that , out of a population of 1 @,@ 666 , almost 600 commute to work each day . = = Governance = = The parish of Navenby was originally in the higher division of the ancient Boothby Graffoe wapentake , in the North Kesteven division of the county of Lincolnshire . The term wapentake dates back to the Vikings and was used to describe a collection of local parishes . It originally meant " show your weapon " and the idea behind the term was that all those in favour of a resolution would raise their sword or axe to show agreement . The History of the County of Lincoln , a book written by Thomas Allen in 1834 , states : The Wapentake of Boothby Graffoe is bounded on the north by Lawress wapentake ; on the east by Lincoln Liberty and Langoe wapentake ; on the south by Loveden wapentake ; and on the west by Nottinghamshire . It is separated into High and Low Divisions . Through this wapentake a Roman road passes from Lincoln to Brough , a village just without the bounds of the county . The High division of the wapentake of Boothby Graffoe contains the villages of Boothby , Coleby , Harmston , Navenby , Skinnard , Swinethorpe , Welbourn and Wellingore . Navenby used to be a market town . The living is a rectory , rated at £ 17 10s . 0d . , and is in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Christ Church College , Cambridge . Navenby was classed as an ancient parish from the 11th to the 19th century , as it came " under the jurisdiction of a clergyman " and existed before 1597 . Early records show that the Manor of Navenby was granted to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln in 1292 . The money generated by land rent was used by Roger de Newton , the first incumbent of the chantry chapel at Harby , Nottinghamshire , to maintain the building . This followed the death of Queen Eleanor , wife of Edward I , while on a visit to Lincoln . Eleanor died at de Newton 's manor house at Harby in November 1290 and the chapel was erected in her honour . The parish began to take on civil as well as ecclesiastical duties following the 16th @-@ century Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Tudor Poor Law Acts of 1601 . The ecclesiastical parish of Navenby was originally placed in the Longoboby Rural Deanery , but was transferred to the Graffoe Rural Deanery in 1968 , and it is still part of the Diocese of Lincoln . Navenby officially became a civil parish in the 19th century and became a member of the Lincoln Poor Law Union in 1834 . The parish was also part of the Lincoln Rural Sanitary District . The Navenby civil parish boundaries were adjusted in 1931 , to include the civil parish of nearby Skinnand . Following the Local Government Act 1888 , Navenby was governed by Branston Rural District Council from 1894 to 1931 . The village then came under the control of North Kesteven Rural District Council from 1931 to 1974 , after the Local Government Act 1972 reformed the districts of Holland , Kesteven and much of Lindsey into the shire county of Lincolnshire . Today Navenby remains part of the North Kesteven district . Before the 1832 Reform Act , Lincolnshire sent twelve members to parliament , including two for the county , two for the city of Lincoln and two for the boroughs of Boston , Grantham , Great Grimsby and Stamford . As a result of the act , Lincolnshire 's electoral divisions were amended , and Navenby became part of the South Division Parliamentary District for Lincolnshire . Two Whig candidates , Henry Handley and Gilbert John Heathcote , were returned in the first election . The village remained in the South Division until 1867 , when it was transferred to the Mid Division . In 1885 it joined the North Kesteven Division , and in 1918 it became part of the Grantham Division , until 1974 . Today , Navenby has its own parish council , dealing with issues such as play @-@ area revamps and the protection of public open spaces . The council is based at High Street , Navenby . As of 2014 , the chairman is Steve Woollas . The second tier of local government provided for Navenby is the Conservative @-@ controlled North Kesteven District Council , which is responsible for housing problems and public health . The council is based at Kesteven Street , Sleaford . Navenby is part of the Cliff Villages ward and is represented by two local councillors on the district council : Mrs Marianne Jane Overton and Mrs Laura Louise Conway , who both belong to the Rural Independent Group . Conservative @-@ led Lincolnshire County Council provides the top tier of local government for Navenby , with responsibility for highways , sites of special interest and schools . It is based at the County Offices in Newland , Lincoln . Navenby has one representative on this council , Marianne Overton , who also represents Branston ward . Following the election of May 2010 , Navenby is represented at government level by Stephen Phillips , the Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham constituency . The former MP , the Right Honorable Douglas Hogg QC , stood down from the post before the election after having to pay back the cost of cleaning his moat . Navenby comes under the East Midlands constituency for the European Parliament , which is represented by six politicians , including former Conservative turned Liberal Democrat Bill Newton Dunn . Newton Dunn lives in Navenby and his European responsibilities include Vice @-@ Chairman of Foreign Affairs , Human Rights , Common Security and Defence Policy Committee . In the 1980s , Newton Dunn coined the much @-@ used phrase " Democratic deficit " . = = Geography = = = = = Topography = = = The civil parish of Navenby straddles the old Roman Ermine Street , known locally as High Dyke . The road runs between the neighbouring villages of Boothby Graffoe and Wellingore and covers more than 2 @,@ 100 acres ( 850 ha ) . The Viking Way , a 147 @-@ mile ( 237 km ) footpath between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland , also passes through the village . Navenby is located at 53 ° 06 ′ 36 ″ N 0 ° 31 ′ 26 ″ W and known as a Lincolnshire Cliff Village , as it is situated on a ridge of Jurassic limestone called the Lincoln Edge or Lincoln Cliff . The small cliff is one of the most distinctive hills in Lincolnshire . Lying 8 @.@ 7 miles ( 14 km ) south of Lincoln and 8 @.@ 9 miles ( 14 @.@ 3 km ) north @-@ northwest of Sleaford , Navenby enjoys warm summers and dry frosty winters . During the Ice Age , most of the region surrounding Navenby was covered by ice sheets and this has influenced the topography and nature of the soils . Much of Lincolnshire is low @-@ lying , in some places below sea level , but Navenby 's cliff @-@ top position means it is 226 feet ( 69 m ) above sea level , giving it commanding views over the River Witham valley . The parish of Navenby is elongated in an east – west direction , extending east to the Lincoln Heath and west to the River Brant . The size of the parish has varied over the past two centuries . In 1821 it covered 2 @,@ 110 acres ( 854 ha ) ; in 1951 it was 3 @,@ 345 acres ( 1 @,@ 354 ha ) . = = = Housing , streets and nearby places = = = Although house prices have traditionally been lower than the national average in Navenby , they have risen quickly in recent years . In 2004 , the average house price rose by 8 @.@ 2 % to £ 163 @,@ 186 , according to the Land Registry , while in 1999 the average was £ 60 @,@ 000 . The district surrounding Navenby – North Kesteven – remains a relatively inexpensive place to purchase property . Consequently , owner occupation is 77 % – which is higher than both the regional and national averages . However , the rising prices of recent years are resulting in housing becoming increasingly " out of reach for those on average incomes " . A 2004 Housing Needs Study , carried out by Fordham Associates for North Kesteven District Council , highlighted the need for 460 " affordable homes " to be built each year for the next five years in Navenby and the surrounding villages . More than a dozen houses , pubs and other buildings have been granted listed status in Navenby . Houses of specific interest include Grade II listed Dial House in North Lane , which has a priest hole , and the Old Rectory in North Lane , which was built of Ashlar stone in 1859 by H A Darbyshire , a London architect . Several of Navenby 's street names hint at its past . For example , the street now known as Clint Lane used to be Watery Lane , apparently due to the number of springs that ran along it . The only " watery " part of Clint Lane today is a duck pond . The street includes a mix of 18th @-@ century cottages , Victorian properties , Grade II listed farm buildings and 20th @-@ century homes . Gas Lane , which is next to Clint Lane , used to be called Meg 's Lane . It was renamed Gas Lane after the Provincial Gas Light and Coke Company set up a base there in 1857 . The firm later became the Navenby and Wellingore Gas Light and Coke Company . Although the business has long since disappeared , the street name survives . The street now known as Church Lane used to be Church Street . The road was named for the village church , St Peter 's , which is located here , as is a former village school , now a private house . The school was built by subscription in 1816 and carries the inscription " The Benefit Society 1821 " . = = = Climate = = = According to the Köppen classification , the British Isles experience a maritime climate characterised by relatively cool summers and mild winters . Compared with other parts of the country , Lincolnshire – and Navenby – are slightly warmer and sunnier in the summer and colder and frostier in the winter . Owing to Navenby 's inland position , far from the landfall of most Atlantic depressions , it is one of the driest places to live in the UK , receiving , on average , less than 2 ft ( 610 mm ) of rain per year . The mean annual daily duration of bright sunshine is four hours and 12 minutes ; the absence of any high ground is probably responsible for the area being one of the sunniest parts of the British Isles . = = Demography = = The United Kingdom Census 2001 found Navenby had 861 households and a population of 1 @,@ 666 , of which 792 were male and 874 female . This figure shows a population growth of more than 70 % in the past 30 years , mainly due to on @-@ going house @-@ building projects . The 2001 census revealed there were only three second homes in the village , but that many villagers commuted each day to work . The great majority of properties are owner @-@ occupied , with just over 100 rented from the council or private landlords . Most of the houses ( over 500 ) are classified as detached , the average number of rooms per property is 6 @.@ 0 and the average household size is 2 @.@ 3 . Ethnic diversity is minimal in Navenby . Statistics for 2001 show that of 707 households questioned , 703 were classed as white . Of those 707 households , 104 were pensioners living alone , 176 were couples without children , 27 were lone parents and 153 couples with dependent children . 343 of the households had at least one vehicle . Sickness rates were surprising high – with 237 households reporting one or more people with limiting long @-@ term illness . A total of 82 % call themselves Christians . People aged between 25 and 44 represent the majority of Navenby residents , with 451 recorded in 2001 . This is closely followed by people aged 45 – 64 ( 442 ) and children aged 5 – 15 ( 221 ) . Children aged under 4 ( 69 ) and people aged 16 – 24 ( 115 ) are in the minority . Almost 200 people ( 190 ) over the age of 75 were living in Navenby in 2001 . The mean age of Navenby 's population is 43 @.@ 5 and the median age is 43 @.@ 5 . In 1851 , 136 babies in every 1 @,@ 000 died in their first year . This figure dropped to 107 per 1 @,@ 000 in 1911 and three per 1 @,@ 000 by 2001 . The people of Navenby enjoy a high employment rate , although most work outside the village . Almost 600 commute each day , with the average journey to work being 12 @.@ 5 miles ( 20 @.@ 18 km ) . The 2001 census revealed that of 1 @,@ 186 people questioned aged 16 – 74 , 722 were economically active , with men working an average of 44 @.@ 8 hours each week and women an average of 31 @.@ 2 . The service industry was the largest sector of the local economy , employing 67 % of all workers , compared to 1841 when 48 % worked in agriculture . Manufacturing work was carried out by 178 people in 2001 and 565 were in the service industries . Of these workers , 371 were classed as managerial and professional . In 1841 , just 16 @.@ 6 % of male workers had middle class jobs , but the 2001 census showed this figure had increased to 47 @.@ 9 % . Those with few or no qualifications numbered 597 in 2001 , while 328 had higher diplomas , degrees or further degrees . In contrast , about 53 % of children aged 5 – 14 went to school in 1851 , but today 58 % of those aged 16 – 17 stay on at school . = = Economy and media = = Navenby was originally an agricultural village , with most people living off the land or trading goods in the local market . Statistics show that , in 1841 , 48 % of villagers worked in agriculture , but today the majority of villagers , 67 % , are employed in the service industry and most commute to work away from Navenby . The village does , however , offer limited work opportunities , with the High Street lined with shops , fast @-@ food stores and public houses . A doctors ' surgery , building society and residential care home are based in the village , although the post office closed in January 2011 . Nearby Lincoln offers a wider variety of work , with its economy based mainly on public administration , commerce , arable farming and tourism . Over the past few years , Lincoln has also seen rapid development in its retail sector , in an attempt to compete with the neighbouring cities of Nottingham and Sheffield . The local newspaper for Navenby is the Lincolnshire Echo , which includes news and sports reports , as well as job advertisements . The local radio stations for the village are BBC Radio Lincolnshire on 94 @.@ 9 FM and Lincs FM on 102 @.@ 2 FM . The newest addition to the local airwaves is Siren FM , a community radio station that broadcasts on 107 @.@ 3 FM from the University of Lincoln . = = Landmarks = = The centre of Navenby village is a designated conservation area ; many of the stone and brick @-@ built houses date back hundreds of years . More than 20 of the properties , as well as the 1935 red telephone kiosk in High Street , have listed building status . = = = Mrs Smith 's Cottage = = = Mrs Smith 's Cottage is a mid @-@ 19th century Grade II listed building made from early Victorian red bricks . The range , the heart of the house , was in daily use for cooking and heating until the mid @-@ 1990s . The only access to the bedrooms is by a ladder . Electricity was installed in the 1930s , and the only other visible modern innovations are the coldwater tap – installed to prevent the local council condemning the cottage in the late 1970s – and an inside toilet . The original outside privy and washhouse can still be viewed . The cottage is named after its last resident , Mrs Hilda Smith , who lived there until 1995 , when she was 102 years old . When Mrs Smith died , villagers mounted a campaign to ensure the cottage was kept as " something special " for Navenby . Today the cottage is run as a museum , having been granted official museum status in March 2000 . It is open for much of the year and staffed by volunteers . The old pig sty and storage shed , deemed beyond repair , were demolished and the bricks used to construct a purpose @-@ built visitor centre , used for exhibitions about Navenby and the local area . = = = St Peter 's Church = = = The Grade I listed Anglican parish church in Navenby is dedicated to Saint Peter . Despite parish registers existing from 1681 , and Bishop 's transcripts that go back to 1562 , it is difficult to date the building as it has a mishmash of styles , although its origins are probably 13th century . St Peter 's is made up of three parts , including a mid @-@ 19th @-@ century west tower , which replaced the original in 1859 – 60 after it fell down . The perpendicular clerestory is decorated with shields in quatrefoils and is lit with closely set three @-@ light windows . The tall decorated chancel has very large windows . The side windows have reticulated tracery . The large east window was partly rebuilt in 1875 – 76 , and is composed of six lights with two large mouchettes nodding to each other , as well as a very large reticulation unit . The sedilia and piscina are thought to date back to William de Herleston , who was rector of St Peter 's from 1325 – 29 . He was Edward I 's chancellor and later became Canon of Llandaff . A founder 's tomb , which is in a slightly different style , is probably that of his successor , John de Fenton , who was rector until 1832 . The font is a lavish Victorian affair by Charles Kirk Junior , which was shown at the 1862 International Exhibition in London . The Pulpit is Jacobean and the Rood screen by Temple Moore dates from 1910 . The Royal Arms are signed " Thomas Hunton of Lincoln . Painter 1710 . " There is a late 13th @-@ century grave slab , with an inscription in Norman script which says " Pray for Richard de Lue " ( Louth ) . The church also contains an Easter Sepulchre . The carving is recognised as one of the finest in Lincolnshire , if not in the country , and receives a mention in virtually every book written on churches and their architecture . The churchyard is managed as a nature reserve . In 1982 , church officials threatened to close St Peter 's Church after being refused permission to sell silverware to pay for urgent repairs . The Archdeacon , the Venerable Michael Adie , ruled that such sales were against church policy , and that funds must be raised locally . = = Transport = = Navenby village lies at the eastern end of Navenby parish and is best accessed by road , as the A607 trunk road passes through the heart of the village . Navenby can also be reached from the A15 road , which runs past the end of Green Man Lane and links Lincoln with Sleaford . Editors of the website RoadGhosts.com claim this is one of the most haunted roads in Britain . Navenby once had its own railway station , built in 1867 as part of the Lincoln to Grantham branch of the Great Northern Railway . It fell victim , however , to the government 's post @-@ war railway closure programme , which was designed to modernise the service and return it to profitability . Some 3 @,@ 318 miles ( 5 @,@ 340 km ) of railway were closed between 1948 and 1962 under this scheme , including Navenby station , which was shut in 1962 . Today , the closest main line stations are Newark North Gate and Grantham , both on the high @-@ speed London to Scotland East Coast Main Line ; nearby branch line stations include Lincoln Central and Sleaford . Bus services to and from Navenby are limited . The main service is provided by the Stagecoach travel company , which runs the Number 1 service from Lincoln to Grantham , via Navenby , along the A607 every 30 minutes , from 7 am until 7 pm , every day except Sunday . There is only one bus on a Sunday . The same Number 1 service runs in the opposite direction too , from Grantham to Lincoln via Navenby , every 30 minutes each day except Sunday . Hodson 's Coaches of Navenby runs an extra bus each Sunday to Lincoln . = = Education = = Navenby is served by its own village school , Navenby Church of England Primary School . It is a voluntary controlled school for children aged 4 – 11 . There is a choice of nearby senior schools for older Navenby pupils , although none are within the village . Lincolnshire County Council operates a preference system for parents , which allows them to choose a preferred school , rather than one for which they are in the catchment area . The closest senior school to Navenby , and the one that is within the Designated Transport Area , is Sir William Robertson High School at Welbourn . This is a mixed comprehensive school named after Field Marshal William Robertson , who was born in Welbourn and served in the First World War . Other senior schools within a 10 @-@ mile ( 16 km ) radius include Branston Community Academy , and two grammar schools in nearby Sleaford – Carre 's Grammar School for boys and Kesteven and Sleaford High School for girls . Private schools are available in Lincoln . Nearby Lincoln has two higher education institutions , the older being Bishop Grosseteste University , which started life in 1862 as a teacher training college linked to the Anglican Church . During the 1990s , the college branched out into new subject areas with a focus on the arts and drama . The larger University of Lincoln began as the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in 1996 , when the University of Humberside opened a Lincoln campus next to Brayford Pool . Lincoln Art College and Riseholme Agricultural College , which had previously been part of De Montfort University in Leicester , were absorbed into the university in 2001 . The university changed its name to the University of Lincoln in 2002 . In the 2005 / 6 academic year , 8 @,@ 292 full @-@ time undergraduates were studying at the university . Many local senior schools offer sixth form tuition , and further education courses for students aged 16 and over are also provided by Lincoln College , which is the largest educational institution in Lincolnshire . It has 18 @,@ 500 students , of whom 2 @,@ 300 are full @-@ time . = = Culture and community = = Navenby used to be served by several public houses , but The Butcher 's Arms and The Green Man Inn have long been converted into private houses . Now , just the King 's Head and The Lion and Royal remain . The Grade II listed 18th @-@ century King 's Head is probably the oldest public house in the village ; the nearby Lion and Royal dates from 1824 and is also Grade II listed . It was probably just called " The Lion " when it first opened , but added " Royal " to its name in honour of a special visitor . There is a large emblem over the front door , topped by the Prince of Wales 's feathers , presented after the Prince ( later Edward VII ) stayed there , albeit briefly , in 1870 . The former Green Man Inn , at the junction of Green Man Lane and the A15 , was once a staging post for travellers and may have also been a court house . The Lincoln Club was established here in about 1741 , catering for the " distinguished gentlemen of Lincolnshire " . Sir Francis Dashwood , founder of the notorious Hellfire Club , was a member , as were Lord Monson of Burton and Lord Robert Manners of Bloxholm . Lincolnshire has a number of local dishes , including stuffed chine and haslet , and Navenby is home to several local food champions . Navenby baker Pete Welbourne was named as Great Britain 's Baker of the Year in 2004 , for his Lincolnshire Plum Bread recipe , and Odling Bros butchers ' shop has enjoyed repeated success in an annual competition to find the best Lincolnshire pork sausages in the county . Local legend has it that Navenby is part of the Temple Bruer Pentagram . The pentagram includes the nearby villages of Temple Bruer – which has strong connections with the Knights Templar of the 12th century – as well as Wellingore and Harmston . It appears the sign is centred on the sewage works just west of Navenby . The pentagram is seen as having magical associations and is often said to have offered protection to witches . It also , however , has links with Christianity , Freemasonry and the Knights Templar , who used the pentagram symbol to represent " infinity , connectiveness and oneness " . Although the A607 trunk road passes through Navenby , the village can also be accessed from the " haunted " A15 , which runs past the end of Green Man Lane . According to local legend , a hanging tree once stood at the junction of the two roads , and those who died there still haunt the area . Scottish singer Barbara Dickson , OBE , briefly lived in Navenby in the 1970s . She went on to star in the Willy Russell musical Blood Brothers in 1982 , as well as sing on the cast album recording of Chess , dueting with Elaine Paige . Another Navenby notable is Fenella Stoner , an artist who has exhibited at the Royal Academy and often paints pictures of the village and her garden . = = Public services = = Navenby 's water is supplied by the Anglian Water company , and there is a sewage treatment works just west of the village . Healthcare is provided by the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust , and a doctors ' surgery operates in North Lane . The nearest NHS hospital is Lincoln County Hospital , Greetwell Road , Lincoln , which is 8 @.@ 7 miles ( 14 km ) north of Navenby . The second closest is Grantham and District Hospital , Manthorpe Rd , Grantham . The nearest dentists are also based in Lincoln or Grantham . The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust operates ambulances in the Navenby area , and the village is also covered by The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance , based at nearby Royal Air Force Waddington on the edge of Waddington village . Other emergency services are provided by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue , whose nearest fire stations are in Lincoln and Grantham , and the Lincolnshire Police Force . The nearest police stations are in Lincoln , Sleaford and Grantham . = = Sport and clubs = = Navenby has a bowls club , Navenby Bowls Club , with approximately 50 members . The bowls season lasts from May to August and club members take part in three Bowls Leagues ; Division 3 of the Cliff Bowls League , Section C of the City Evening League and Division 3 of the Lincoln and District League . At least three evening matches are held each week during the season . Navenby 's FA Chartered Standard junior football club , Navenby Juniors , has teams from Under 7 to Under 18 's playing in the Grantham , Mid Lincs and Newark leagues , and a Development Squad for boys and girls aged 4 to 5 . Nearby Lincoln has a professional football team , Lincoln City F.C. , nicknamed " The Imps " , which plays at the Sincil Bank stadium . Navenby villager Tracey Duxbury was a member of the Lady Imps team , the women 's team attached to Lincoln City , until 2007 . She became one of the youngest people to achieve the UEFA B coaching licence in 2006 and now plays with the West Ham United Ladies . Other clubs include Navenby Archaeology Group , which aims to uncover the village 's extensive historic past . There is also the Women 's Institute , which has celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2007 , and Artists of Navenby , a 40 @-@ strong group of artists .
= Burundi women 's national football team = The Burundi women 's national football team represents Burundi in women 's international football competitions . The team , however , has not competed in a match recognised by FIFA , the sport 's international governing body . A senior national team is inactive , but an under @-@ 20 team has played in numerous matches . Further development of football in the country faces challenges found across Africa , including inequality and limited access to education for women . A women 's football programme did not exist in Burundi until 2000 , and only 455 players had registered for participation on the national level by 2006 . = = Team = = In 1985 , few countries had women 's national football teams . While the sport grew in popularity worldwide in the ensuing years , Burundi did not have a team more than two decades later . By 2009 , however , Burundi had a FIFA @-@ recognised senior national team nicknamed the Swallows and a FIFA @-@ recognised Burundi women 's under @-@ 20 national team . The under @-@ 20 team played one international match in 2002 , one in 2004 and one in 2006 . The senior national football team has never competed in a FIFA @-@ sanctioned fixture and has not competed at the Women 's World Cup . The team was one of 200 preparing for a qualification tournament for the cup in 2007 , but did not play in the competition . The team has withdrawn from numerous other events . Burundi was to play in the 2008 African Women 's Championship but withdrew from the tournament , giving the Democratic Republic of the Congo an automatic qualification . The team also withdrew from the 2010 CAF Women 's Championship and the 2012 CAF Women 's Championship before the first @-@ round qualifiers . Burundi has not participated in other major events on the continent , including the 2011 All @-@ Africa Games . As of March 2012 , the team was not ranked by FIFA . Burundi was scheduled to participate in a competition in 2007 organised by the Confederation of African Football ( CAF ) in Zanzibar . Nicholas Musonye , the secretary of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations ( Cecafa ) , said of the event , " CAF wants to develop women 's football in this region in recognition of the milestones Cecafa has achieved over the years . CAF appreciates what Cecafa has done despite the hardships the association has gone through , from financial problems to political instability in member states and poor management of associations . Member states in the Cecafa region have not taken women 's football seriously . CAF now wants to sponsor a long @-@ term campaign to attract women from this region into the game . " The competition was canceled due to lack of funds . = = Background and development = = The development of women 's football in Africa faces several challenges , including limited access to education , poverty amongst women , inequalities and human rights abuses . Many quality female footballers leave their home countries for better opportunities elsewhere . Another issue facing women 's football is institutional . Most of the funding for the sport in Africa comes from FIFA , not from national football federations . The Fédération de Football du Burundi , the country 's national association , created a woman 's football programme in 2000 . By 2006 , there were just 455 registered women players , and the absence of a thriving women 's game has been an obstacle for the national team . Lydia Nsekera is the head of the national football association . Outside the national federation , the Commission nationale du football féminin was established by the 1990s , and a league and women 's teams were organised in the same period in Bujumbara .
= Knife Edge Two Piece 1962 – 65 = Knife Edge Two Piece 1962 – 65 is an abstract bronze sculpture by Henry Moore . It is one of Moore 's earliest sculptures in two pieces , a mode that he started to adopt in 1959 . Its form was inspired by the shape of a bone fragment . Moore created the sculpture from an edition of 10 working models in 1962 ; these working models are now in public collections . Moore created four full @-@ size casts between 1962 @-@ 1965 , with one retained by him . The three casts are on public display on College Green in Westminster , London , Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver , and the garden at Kykuit , the house of the Rockefeller family in Tarrytown , New York . Moore 's own cast is on display at his former studio and estate , ' Hoglands ' in Perry Green , Hertfordshire in southern England . A similar work , Mirror Knife Edge 1977 ( or Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece ) , is displayed at the entrance to I. M. Pei 's east wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington , D.C. The Westminster cast was donated by Moore through the Contemporary Art Society to what he believed was the City of London , but its actual ownership was undetermined for many years . The Westminster cast subsequently fell into disrepair , and was restored in 2013 after it became part of the British Parliamentary Art Collection ; it was granted a Grade II * listing in January 2016 . = = Background = = By 1960 Moore was moving on from his earlier works , directly inspired by the human form and with textured surfaces , such as Draped Seated Woman 1957 – 58 , to more rounded abstract shapes , inspired by the shapes of stones or bones . Moore made a connected work in 1961 , also inspired by bone , Standing Figure ( Knife Edge ) ( LH 482 ) . = = Working model = = In 1962 Moore created an edition of 10 working models ( LH 504 ) for a new two @-@ piece sculpture . The Tate Gallery in London acquired a small working model in 1963 . Other working models are in the collections of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague , the Didrichsen Art Museum in Helsinki , the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester in Rochester , New York , and the Kunsthaus in Zurich . Moore planned the full @-@ size sculpture to be over 10 feet high , large enough for a person to walk between the two elements . = = Sculpture = = The full @-@ size sculpture , catalogued as " LH 516 " , was cast in an edition of four ( or " 3 + 1 " ; one being retained by the artist ) . Moore was inspired by the " lightness and strength of bone fragment " in creating the piece . The full @-@ size sculptures , 366 centimetres ( 144 in ) long and weighing about 3 tonnes ( 3 @.@ 3 tons ) , were cast by Hermann Noack in Berlin . The second cast of the work is located in Abingdon Street Gardens ( better known as College Green ) in the City of Westminster . The other full @-@ size casts are located near the Bloedel Floral Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver , donated by Prentice Bloedel ; near the Rose Garden of the Rockefeller family house at Kykuit at Tarrytown , New York . Moore donated his artist 's copy ( 0 / 3 ) to the Henry Moore Foundation in 1977 , and it is displayed at Perry Green , Hertfordshire . Moore made a larger and reversed version of the sculpture , Mirror Knife Edge 1977 or Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece ( LH 714 ) – which is 5.34x7.21x3.63m or about 17.5x23.7x11.9 feet and weighs about 15 short tons ( 14 t ) – which was commissioned for the entrance to I. M. Pei 's east wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington , D.C. The work is carefully cleaned and conserved each year to maintain the distinction between its shiny and patinated surfaces , as the artist intended . = = Westminster cast = = The second cast of Knife Edge Two Piece is located in Abingdon Street Gardens , also known as College Green , opposite the Palace of Westminster in London . In 1965 Whitney Straight , the chairman of the Contemporary Art Society , wrote to Charles Pannell MP , the Minister of State for Public Buildings and Works to tell him that the society was " considering the possibility of ‘ making a gift of a substantial work of art to be erected at some suitable site in London " . The Contemporary Art Society met with Henry Moore to discuss their proposal and Moore subsequently chose the site at Abingdon Street Gardens for the sculpture . Moore waived his usual fee , and the Contemporary Art Society paid for the cost of the casting . The sculpture was unveiled by Robert Mellish , the Minister of Public Building and Works , on 1 September 1967 . Moore liked the site so much that he did not even visit an alternative site in Hyde Park ; he felt that the sculpture might have been lost in such a big park , recalling an experience he had trying to find the sculpture Riva by Jacob Epstein in the park . He welcomed the fact that the sculpture would be next to a public path and would have seating nearby to allow contemplation , and compared the gardens favourably with the setting for Hubert Le Sueur ’ s equestrian statue of Charles I at Charing Cross , “ which , in order to look at closely and appreciate in detail , you have to risk your life in crossing a maze of traffic ” . The siting of the sculpture was disliked by some , with Neil Marten MP asking Parliament why " this lovely part of Westminster should be littered with something that looks like a crashed unidentified flying object . " Moore believed he had donated the work to the City of London , but the Henry Moore Foundation believed it was owned by the City of Westminster , and its delivery was accepted by the Ministry of Public Building and Works . The land where it is situated was a bombsite in the Second World War , and is owned by the Parliamentary Estate ; Westminster City Council operates a car park underneath . The sculpture was moved and placed on a plinth in 1969 . No formal arrangements were ever made for the ownership and care of Knife Edge Two Piece , and it fell into a state of disrepair . Though it is worth an estimated £ 5m , no conservation work ever took place on the sculpture , and its ownership was unresolved until the House of Commons agreed to take responsibility for it . Knife Edge Two Piece entered the Parliamentary Art Collection in 2011 . It was granted a Grade II * listing in January 2016 . = = = Restoration = = = The Chair of the House of Commons Works of Art Committee , Frank Doran MP , had been concerned by the appearance of the sculpture and enquired of the Minister for Culture , Communications and Creative Industries , Ed Vaizey MP , what plans there were for its care and maintenance . Vaizey replied that the House of Commons should take ownership of the statue and responsibility for its care . Vaizey subsequently described Knife Edge Two Piece as " one of the most televised works of art in London " . Restoration work was originally planned to be completed in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London , but was not begun until February 2013 . Due to a lack of maintenance , the protective lacquer covering Knife Edge Two Piece degraded and exposed the surface of the sculpture to the elements . This resulted in oxidation of the bronze metal . Subsequent deterioration of the patination and years of graffiti scratched into the surface resulted in further corrosion . The conservation aimed to remove the remaining protective lacquer and surface dirt , and to remove the result of corrosion and oxidation from the sculpture , and take the surface back to the bare metal . Following the removal of graffiti the sculpture was repatinated to return it to its original colour . It was finally waxed with a weatherproof surface to protect it from future damage . The conservation work was undertaken by Rupert Harris Conservation , working in consultation with the Henry Moore Foundation . The cost of the conservation was £ 16 @,@ 190 , with £ 11 @,@ 000 contributed by the Henry Moore Foundation .
= And Still I Rise = And Still I Rise is author Maya Angelou 's third volume of poetry , published by Random House in 1978 . It was published during one of the most productive periods in Angelou 's career ; she had written three autobiographies and published two other volumes of poetry up to that point . Angelou considered herself a poet and a playwright , but was best known for her seven autobiographies , especially her first , I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , although her poetry has also been successful . She began , early in her writing career , alternating the publication of an autobiography and a volume of poetry . Although her poetry collections have been best @-@ sellers , they have not received serious critical attention . And Still I Rise is made up of 32 short poems , divided into three parts . The poems ' themes focus on a hopeful determination to rise above difficulty and discouragement , and on many of the same topics as Angelou 's autobiographies and previous volumes of poetry . Two of her most well @-@ known and popular poems , " Phenomenal Woman " and " Still I Rise " , are found in this volume . She speaks for her race and gender in many of the poems , and again emphasizes the strength and resiliency of her community . Like her previous volumes of poetry , the reviews of And Still I Rise were mixed The collection 's title poem , " Still I Rise " , was the center of an advertising campaign for the United Negro College Fund . Two others , " Phenomenal Woman " and " Just For a Time " , were previously published in Cosmopolitan . " Phenomenal Woman " was one of Angelou 's poems featured in the film Poetic Justice . = = Background = = And Still I Rise is Maya Angelou 's third volume of poetry . She studied and began writing poetry at a young age . After her rape at the age of eight , as recounted in her first autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ( 1969 ) , she dealt with her trauma by memorizing and reciting great works of literature , including poetry , which helped bring her out of her self @-@ imposed muteness . The publication of And Still I Rise occurred during one of the most productive periods of Angelou 's career . She had written songs for Roberta Flack and had composed movie scores . She had written articles , short stories , TV scripts and documentaries , autobiographies , and poetry ; she produced plays ; and she was named a visiting professor of several colleges and universities . In 1977 , Angelou appeared in a supporting role in the television mini @-@ series Roots . She was given a multitude of awards during this period , including over thirty honorary degrees from colleges and universities from all over the world . Although Angelou considered herself a playwright and poet when her editor Robert Loomis challenged her to write Caged Bird , she was best known for her autobiographies . Many of Angelou 's readers identify her as a poet first and an autobiographer second , but like Lynn Z. Bloom , many critics consider her autobiographies more important than her poetry . Critic William Sylvester agrees , and states that although her books have been best @-@ sellers , her poetry has " received little serious critical attention " . Bloom also believes that Angelou 's poetry was more interesting when she recited it . Bloom calls her performances " characteristically dynamic " and says that Angelou " moves exuberantly , vigorously to reinforce the rhythms of the lines , the tone of the words . Her singing and dancing and electrifying stage presence transcend the predictable words and phrases " . Angelou began , early in her writing career , alternating the publication of an autobiography and a volume of poetry . By the time And Still I Rise was published in 1978 , she had published three autobiographies , eventually going on to publish seven . In 1993 , she read her poem " On the Pulse of Morning " at President Bill Clinton 's inauguration . The following year , her publisher , Random House , placed the poems in And Still I Rise in her first collection of poetry , The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou . Also in the 1994 collection were her two previous collections , Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ' fore I Diiie ( 1971 ) and Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well , along with her two volumes published afterwards , Shaker , Why Don 't You Sing ? ( 1983 ) and I Shall Not Be Moved ( 1990 ) . Angelou 's publisher placed four poems in a smaller volume , entitled Phenomenal Woman , in 1995 . Two of the poems in And Still I Rise , " Phenomenal Woman " and " Just For a Time " , appeared in Cosmopolitan in 1978 . In 1994 , the title poem , " Still I Rise " , was part of an advertising campaign for the 50th anniversary of the United Negro College Fund . = = Themes = = According to scholar Carol E. Neubauer , the themes in the poem in And Still I Rise , as the title of the volume suggests , focus on a hopeful determination to rise above difficulty and discouragement . Neubauer states , " These poems are inspired and spoken by a confident voice of strength that recognizes its own power and will no longer be pushed into passivity " . Angelou focuses on the same themes as her previous volumes , including love , loneliness , and Southern racism , but with the added twist of the nature of women and the importance of family . They cover a wider range of topics , including springtime , aging , sexual awakening , drug addiction , and Christian salvation . " Phenomenal Woman " , a crowd @-@ pleaser that Angelou often performed for audiences , has been called her " personal theme @-@ poem " . Neubauer and literary critic Harold Bloom both consider it one of the best poems in the volume . The poem was featured in the motion picture Poetic Justice ( 1993 ) , directed by John Singleton . Bloom calls it a " hymn @-@ like poem to woman 's beauty " . Angelou " skillfully engages " in some word @-@ play with the word " phenomenally " . As Angelou often does in her poetry , " Phenomenal Woman " is paired with the one that follows it , " Men " , in which Angelou uses a raw egg metaphor to contrast dominant masculinity with fragile and cautious femininity . She celebrates both " her slightly mysterious power " and the excitement created by men . The poem is characteristic of Angelou 's style , with terse and forceful lines and irregular rhymes . The short and often monosyllabic words , as Neubauer states , " create an even , provocative rhythm that resounds with underlying confidence " . Angelou said that she wrote the poem for all women , regardless of their race or appearance . She also stated , " Now , I know men are phenomenal , but they have to write their own poem " . Many of Angelou 's poems focus on racial subjects and themes . They continue the themes of mild protest and survival also found in her autobiographies , and inject hope through humor . In " Ain 't That Bad ? " , she uses the Black English vernacular word " bad " to connote positive connections with Black culture , mores , customs , and leaders , and to help build Black pride . Scholar Lyman B. Hagen calls it a " shouting poem " due to its short lines and repetition . In " Lady Luncheon Club " , Angelou humorously describes an overly intellectual speaker at a woman 's club . Critic Robert B. Stepto states that the poem " One More Round " is heavily influenced by the work and protest songs of the past . The even @-@ number stanzas in the eight @-@ stanza poem create a refrain like those found in many work songs and are variations of many protest poems . He is impressed with the creation of a new art form out of work and protest forms , but does not feel that Angelou develops it enough . In Angelou 's favorite poem , " Still I Rise " , which shares its title with a play she wrote in 1976 , she refers to the indomitable spirit of Black people , using repetition and the categorization of injustices against them . She quoted it during interviews and often included it in her public readings . Despite adversity and racism , Angelou expresses her faith that one will overcome and triumph . Hagen compares " Still I Rise " with spirituals that express hope . As she does in " Phenomenal Woman " and throughout her poetry and autobiographies , Angelou speaks not only for herself , but for her entire gender and race . Reviewer Ellen Lippmann calls " Still I Rise " a " proud , even defiant statement of behalf of all Black people " . Angelou , during an interview in 1997 , stated that she used the poem to help sustain her during hard times , and that many people , both Black and white , used it in the same way . Two of the poems in And Still I Rise , " Woman 's Work " and " Momma 's Welfare Roll " , speak about women positively . " Woman Work " , without explaining or complaining , lists the mundane chores a stay @-@ at @-@ home wife and mother must accomplish . Neubauer compares the poem to " Phenomenal Woman " , both of which share the same strong rhyme scheme , forceful rhythms , and theme of women 's vitality . In " Momma Welfare Roll " , Angelou speaks about the courage of a mother who goes on welfare , and acknowledges the demeaning turmoil she experiences when accepting government assistance . = = Reviews = = Like many reviewers of Angelou 's poetry , Ellen Lippmann of School Library Journal finds Angelou 's prose stronger than her poetry , but found her strength more apparent in the poems in this volume than it was in her first autobiography . Mary Silva Cosgrave , in her review in Horn Book Magazine , praises Angelou for finding rhythm in everyday life and is impressed with the poems in And Still I Rise , especially " Phenomenal Woman " ; Cosgrave states , " To her third collection of poems the author has brought a life full of zest and style that is phenomenally her own " . Harold Bloom states that although " Phenomenal Woman " has received few reviews , it is one of the most popular and powerful poems Angelou recites in her public appearances . Stepto considers the poems in And Still I Rise as slight and " thin stuff " , and expresses his disbelief that Angelou 's poems would be produced by a major publishing house while poetry written by other lesser @-@ known talents could not . He is able to see the possibilities of what he considered good poetry in her writing , and states that her best poems borrow " various folk rhythms and forms and thereby buttresses her poems by evoking aspects of a culture 's written and unwritten heritage " . He places Angelou 's work in the tradition of other Black poets , and compares the poems in And Still I Rise to the works of Langston Hughes , Gwendolyn Brooks , and Sterling Brown . For example , many of Angelou 's poems remind Stepto of Brown 's poems . " Still I Rise " reminds Stepto of Brown 's most famous poem , " Strong Men " . Stepto explains Angelou 's success and popularity as a poet with her autobiographies , which he calls " marvelous " and the real reason for her success as a poet . He states that her poetry serves as explanatory texts for her prose works , which he calls " more adeptly rendered self @-@ portraits " . Joyce Boyarin Blundell is positive in her review of And Still I Rise in Library Journal . She recognizes many of the same themes in Angelou 's autobiographies , but calls the poems in this volume uneven . Blundell finds the poems similar to speech patterns and songs the most effective , while she finds others " mired in hackneyed metaphor and forced rhyme " . Despite the volume 's weaknesses , she considers it successful as a statement of a Black woman 's experiences and of her determination to survive and grow . = = Poems = = And Still I Rise consists of 32 poems , divided into three parts . The first part , entitled " Touch Me , Life , Not Softly " , has been called " joyful " and affirms the poet 's strength as a woman and as a lover . Part Two , " Traveling " , focus on the hardships , such as drug addiction , child abuse , inner @-@ city life , and conditions in the Old South , that the author and others have experienced . Part Three , " And Still I Rise " , which gets its name from the volume 's title poem , reiterates the themes in Part One and emphasizes the strength she finds in herself and in her community . The volume is dedicated to Jessica Mitford , Gerard W. Purcell , and Jay Allen , whom Angelou calls " a few of the Good Guys " .
= R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs , ex p Bancoult ( No 2 ) = R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs , ex p Bancoult ( No 2 ) was a case in the House of Lords concerning the removal of the Chagos Islanders and the exercise of the Royal Prerogative . The Chagos Islands , acquired by the United Kingdom in 1814 , were reorganised as the British Indian Ocean Territory ( BIOT ) in 1965 for the purpose of removing its inhabitants . Under a 1971 Order in Council , the Chagossians were forcibly removed , and the central island of Diego Garcia leased to the United States for use as a military outpost . In 2000 , Olivier Bancoult brought a judicial review claim against the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for the initial ordinance which led to the Chagossian removal . Bancoult sought a writ of certiorari on the grounds that the ordinance was ultra vires ( " beyond power " - that is , that the ordinance had been made without legal authority ) , a claim upheld by both the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal . In response , Robin Cook , the Foreign Secretary , repealed the 1971 Order in Council and announced he would not appeal against the decision , allowing the Chagossians to return home . In 2004 , a second Order in Council , the British Indian Ocean Territory ( Constitution ) Order 2004 , was produced , again reinstating the off @-@ limits nature of the Chagos Islands . Bancoult brought a second case , arguing that this Order was again ultra vires and unreasonable , and that the British government had violated legitimate expectation by passing the second Order after giving the impression that the Chagossians were free to return home . The new Order was again struck down by the Divisional Court and Court of Appeal before proceeding to the House of Lords where it was heard by Lords Hoffmann , Bingham , Rodger , Carswell and Mance between 30 June and 3 July 2008 . In their judgment , issued on 22 October 2008 , the Lords decided by a 3 @-@ 2 majority to uphold the new Order in Council , stating that it was valid and , although judicial review actions could look at Orders in Council , the national security and foreign relations issues in the case barred them from doing so . In addition , Cook 's statement had not been clear and unambiguous enough to provide legitimate expectation . The reaction to the decision was negative , with academics accusing the majority Law Lords of failing to do their job as members of the judiciary to " rework things like neo @-@ imperial texts and outdated legal attitudes to the prerogative in order to cure obvious injustices and to vindicate a modern conception of the rule of law " ; at the same time , their approach to legitimate expectation was also questioned , with the case described as an " unfortunate regression " from Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service , where judges were willing to debate legitimate expectation in a similarly politically sensitive situation . In 2015 Bancoult went to court to argue that the judgement should be set aside due to the non @-@ disclosure of a 2002 feasibility study relating to the resettlement of the former inhabitants of the Chagos Islands . The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled against reviewing the case on 29 June 2016 . = = Background = = = = = Chagos Islands = = = The Chagos Islands are a cluster of 60 islands and seven atolls in the Indian Ocean . First occupied by lepers from Mauritius , France acquired the islands in the late 18th century , and slaves were brought in from Africa and India to maintain coconut plantations placed there . Following Napoleon 's defeat in 1814 , the islands were ceded to the British in the Treaty of Paris , who administered them as a dependency of the Colony of Mauritius . Although the slaves were given their freedom in 1835 , many remained on the Chagos Islands as contract workers , and their descendants and later immigrants are considered the indigenous people - the Chagossians . In 1965 , the British government reconstituted the islands as the British Indian Ocean Territory ( BIOT ) through the British Indian Ocean Territory Order 1965 , a statutory instrument under the Colonial Boundaries Act 1895 . This instrument created the office of " Commissioner of BIOT " , who given power to " make laws for the peace , order and good government of the territory " . Accordingly , the Commissioner issued the Immigration Ordinance 1971 , an Order in Council under the Royal Prerogative which required anyone entering or remaining in BIOT to seek permission beforehand . This ordinance , with the reorganisation of the islands , was enacted to provide a method for removing the Chagos Islanders so that the islands could be used by the United States as a military base , particularly the island of Diego Garcia . From 1964 onwards the United States and United Kingdom had been in talks about leasing Diego Garcia to the US for military purposes , and by an exchange of notes dated 30 December 1966 , the UK government transferred Diego Garcia to the US for the purpose of hosting a defensive communications base . This agreement was to last for 50 years , with an additional 20 @-@ year extension if neither party wished to withdraw . Between 1967 and 1972 all 1 @,@ 600 islanders were evacuated , and Diego Garcia continues to play a vital role in US military operations . Following a billion @-@ dollar expansion program , the base has served as a " bomber forward operating location " for offensive operations in Afghanistan and Iraq . A US State Department letter dated 21 June 2000 described it as an " all but indispensable platform " . = = = Bancoult ( No 1 ) = = = In 2000 , Olivier Bancoult , a native Chagossian and leader of the Chagos Refugees Group , brought a judicial review claim against the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for the initial ordinance which led to the Chagossian removal . Bancoult sought a writ of certiorari on the grounds that the ordinance was ultra vires and failed the Wednesbury test of reasonableness , as it was irrational . The case , R ( Bancoult ) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs , went to the Divisional Court , where it was heard by judges Richard Gibbs and John Laws . Bancoult 's argument was made on several grounds : firstly , that the Crown could not exclude a British citizen from British territory , except in times of war , without a valid statutory basis or prerogative power . Secondly , the Chagossians had a constitutional right to inhabit their land under the Magna Carta , one which could not be abridged with delegated legislation , and third , the Commissioner of BIOT 's duty to legislate " for the peace , order and good government " of BIOT 's inhabitants could not be said to be fulfilled by relocating those inhabitants . The respondent , the Foreign & Commonwealth Office ( FCO ) , argued that the English courts had no jurisdiction over the case , since the Crown is divisible amongst its territories , and the BIOT had its own courts . According to the FCO , Magna Carta , as a British constitutional document , was inapplicable to the Chagos Islands . They also maintained that " make laws for the peace , order and good government of the Territory " gave the Commissioner a wide enough jurisdiction to account for the order forcibly removing the Chagossians , and that the court could not decide in such a way as to force the government to break its treaty with the United States . The Divisional Court gave its judgment on 3 November 2000 , on three main issues : firstly , the court 's right to hear the case , secondly , the Chagossians ' constitutional right of residence and , thirdly , the status of the Commissioner 's actions . The court found that it did have discretion to hear the case : while the Crown was divisible , the actions of the BIOT were clearly the actions of the British government , since every BIOT action was ordered and dealt with by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office . Laws J found that the Magna Carta did apply to foreign nations , as it was " the nearest approach to an irreplaceable ' fundamental statute ' that England has ever had ... For in brief it means this , that the King is and shall be below the law " . This did not alone validate Bancoult 's case , since it did not mean that the government 's actions were illegal . The final section of the judgment was on the legality of the Commissioner 's 1971 ordinance . Laws J held that it was " elementary " that " a legislature created by a measure passed by a body which is legally prior to it must act within the confines of the power thereby conferred " ; in this case that the Commissioner 's jurisdiction was to legislate " for the peace , order and good government " of BIOT . While the latitude given to the Commissioner was wide , it " may be a very large tapestry , but every tapestry has a border " . The court found that in the 1971 ordinance , the Commissioner had exceeded his authority , and the ordinance was made ultra vires . Therefore , the ordinance was quashed . = = = Government response = = = In response to the Divisional Court 's decision , Foreign Secretary Robin Cook stated on 3 November 2000 that he would accept the ruling , issuing the Immigration Ordinance 2000 which repealed the 1971 ordinance in its entirety . Due to " security issues " , the British government was only prepared to let the Chagossians return to the outer islands , which were lacking in basic amenities . A " feasibility study " was conducted ; a preliminary study was produced on 20 June 2000 and the full study was published on 10 July 2002 . It concluded that : anything other than short @-@ term resettlement on a purely subsistence basis would be highly precarious and would involve expensive underwriting by the UK Government for an open @-@ ended period - probably permanently . Accordingly , the Government considers that there would be no purpose in commissioning any further study into the feasibility of resettlement ; and that it would be impossible for the Government to promote or even permit resettlement to take place . After long and careful consideration we have therefore decided to legislate to prevent it . On 1 June 2004 , a second Order in Council was produced — the British Indian Ocean Territory ( Constitution ) Order 2004 — Section 9 of which provided that " no person has the right of abode in the territory " and " no person is entitled to enter or be present in the territory except as authorised by or under this Order or any other law for the time being in force in the territory " . At the same time , the British Indian Ocean Territory ( Immigration ) Order 2004 came into effect , prohibiting entry to or presence in BIOT without a permit . In response , Bancoult brought a second case , claiming that Cook 's statement had created a legitimate expectation ( later frustrated by the 2004 orders ) and questioning the validity of the Constitution Order 2004 , particularly the legality of Section 9 . = = Judgment = = The case first went to the Divisional Court , where Hooper LJ and Cresswell J decided in favour of Bancoult on 11 May 2006 . The court found that the " interests of BIOT must be or must primarily be those whose right of abode and unrestricted right to enter and remain was being in effect removed " , and that as Section 9 of the Constitutional Order did not serve the interests of it or its inhabitants , it was irrational . At the same time , the court was asked to rule on whether an Order in Council could be questioned in judicial review proceedings . It decided that , under Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service , the decisive element was not the origin of the power ( in this case , the Royal Prerogative ) but the nature of the power . Accordingly , Orders in Council were subject to judicial review . This decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales , composed of Butler @-@ Sloss , Sedley and Neuberger LJJ , who agreed with the Divisional Court in their judgment issued on 23 May 2007 . = = = House of Lords = = = The case was then taken to the House of Lords , where it was heard by Lords Hoffmann , Bingham , Rodger , Carswell and Mance . The pleadings occurred between 30 June and 3 July 2008 , and judgment was issued on 22 October 2008 . The judgment covered two matters : firstly , whether the courts could subject Orders in Council to judicial review and , secondly , the legality of the 2004 Order . The Lords unanimously agreed that , while Orders in Council are pieces of primary legislation , similar to Acts of Parliament ( which cannot be subject to judicial review ) , there is a significant difference in that Orders in Council are an executive product and lack the " representative character " that comes with Parliamentary authority and approval . Accordingly , the Lords saw " no reason why prerogative legislation should not be subject to review on ordinary principles of legality , rationality and procedural impropriety in the same way as any other executive action " . However , by a majority of 3 to 2 , the Lords upheld the legality of the Constitutional Order , including Section 9 . The majority — Lords Hoffmann , Rodger and Carswell — held that BIOT was a " conquered or ceded colony " and therefore was subject to the prerogative powers of the Crown . They rejected the principle that there was a constitutional right to reside in one 's own country , calling it " extreme " , and concluded that in any case no such right could not trump legislation such as an Order in Council . The phrase " peace , order and good government " , they thought , should be understood as referring not just to the inhabitants of BIOT but to the governance of the region . The wording was to be treated " as apt to confer plenary lawmaking authority " and reviewing the Order was a matter for the government and Parliament , not for the courts , since it was a political issue of national security and foreign relations . At the same time , no legitimate expectation had been created following Bancoult ( No 1 ) . The standard requirement for legitimate expectation , as decided in R v North and East Devon Health Authority , ex parte Coughlan , was that there must be a " clear and unambiguous " promise made that led to a reliance or a detriment ; Robin Cook 's statement after the first Bancoult case could not be described as a clear and unambiguous promise of resettlement , and the requirements of reliance and detriment were not met . Lords Bingham and Mance , dissenting , took the view that the Order in Council was unreasonable and therefore invalid . Bingham noted that the proper way to interpret an exercise of the royal prerogative was to look at how it had been exercised previously , and that he could not find any previous record of the prerogative being used to " exile an indigenous population from its homeland " . He argued that this prerogative power did not exist : " [ t ] he Crown has never had a prerogative power to prevent its subjects from entering the Kingdom , or to expel them from it " . Accordingly , the Order was ultra vires . Bingham also maintained that it was irrational , since visits to the outer islands did not threaten US security , and unacceptable , in that no consideration had been given to the Chagossians . On the subject of legitimate expectation , the dissenters maintained that the statement should be " construed according to the ordinary meaning that would be attached to it by those , principally the Chagossians and their supporters , to whom it was directed " ; Bingham saw the ordinary meaning as being that the Chagossians would be allowed to return home . = = Significance = = Bancoult was the first case to directly state that , where there is a legitimate expectation , the information must have been relied upon , leading to a detriment . In prior cases it was simply an additional element , and not explicitly required . At the same time , Bancoult raised questions about the oversight of Orders in Council , given that it highlighted the courts are unwilling to review a piece of executive legislation where there are political elements in play . The decision also raised " the classic problem of balancing human rights issues and concerns relating to security and defence " . The public and academic reaction to the decision was negative . Thomas Poole considered that the Law Lords had failed in their duty as members of the judiciary : " where old principles no longer fit contemporary constitutional and moral standards , why should we follow them ? Surely the judicial task is to rework things like neo @-@ imperial texts and outdated legal attitudes to the prerogative in order to cure obvious injustices and to vindicate a modern conception of the rule of law " . Margit Cohn agreed , writing on the legitimate expectation issue that " It is difficult to accept that a public statement made by a Secretary of State , followed by the promulgation of an order that removed the previous prohibition to return , could not have created at least some sort of expectation " . Cohn further described the case as an " unfortunate regression " from the GCHQ case , where judges had been willing to debate legitimate expectation in a similarly politically sensitive situation . T.T. Arvind went further , drawing parallels with the judicial response to the Zong Massacre to argue that the decision , despite its formalist rhetoric , was in reality a pragmatic one which abandoned centuries of settled constitutional jurisprudence in relation to the limited scope of the Royal Prerogative .
= Fairbanks Daily News @-@ Miner = The Fairbanks Daily News @-@ Miner is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks , Alaska , the Fairbanks North Star Borough , the Denali Borough , and the Yukon @-@ Koyukuk Census Area in the United States state of Alaska . It is the farthest north daily in the United States , and one of the farthest north in the world . The oldest continuously operating daily in Alaska , by circulation it is the second @-@ largest daily in the state . It was purchased by the Helen E. Snedden Foundation in 2016 . The Snedden family were longtime owners of News @-@ Miner , selling it to a family trust for Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder , founders of the Media News Group in 1992 . The News @-@ Miner was founded as the Weekly Fairbanks News in 1903 by George M. Hill and assumed the News @-@ Miner name in 1909 , under editor William Fentress Thompson , when Zachary Hickman sold his newspaper , The Miner News to the Fairbanks News . Thompson guided the paper through tough economic times as the gold near Fairbanks was mined out . During this period , the News @-@ Miner absorbed Fairbanks ' other newspapers and became the sole publication in Fairbanks . During the 1920s , the News @-@ Miner experimented with aerial delivery to remote mining camps , becoming one of the first newspapers in the world to make regular deliveries by aircraft . After Thompson 's death in 1926 , former Fairbanks mayor Alfeld Hjalmar Nordale became the paper 's editor . In 1929 , the News @-@ Miner was purchased by Alaska industrialist Austin E. Lathrop , who operated it under a series of editors until 1950 . In that year , the paper was purchased by Charles Willis Snedden , who proceeded on a course of modernization . Under Snedden 's leadership , the News @-@ Miner became one of the first papers in Alaska to print in color and survived a fire and the biggest flood in Fairbanks history . The News @-@ Miner has employed several notable Alaskans , including Sen. Bob Bartlett . Its mascot , Sourdough Jack , has been featured on the cover of every daily paper since 1952 . The News @-@ Miner has received numerous awards and recognitions during its history , particularly from the Alaska Press Club , which recognizes achievements by Alaska newspapers on an annual basis . = = Overview = = The Fairbanks Daily News @-@ Miner is a morning newspaper published daily in the city of Fairbanks in the U.S. state of Alaska . Because Fairbanks is located at a latitude of 64 @.@ 838 degrees north , the News @-@ Miner offices are located farther north than those of any other daily newspaper in North America . The newspaper has a daily circulation of between 9 @,@ 000 and 12 @,@ 500 copies ( sources vary ) , and a Sunday circulation of about 18 @,@ 000 . Overall readership statistics are somewhat higher . The News @-@ Miner operates a Web site , Newsminer.com , which records roughly 250 @,@ 000 unique visitors per year , according to Alexa . The News @-@ Miner 's circulation area encompasses about 179 @,@ 287 square miles ( 464 @,@ 351 km2 ) in central and northern Alaska . The circulation area includes the Fairbanks North Star Borough , the Yukon @-@ Koyukuk Census Area , the northern portion of the Denali Borough , and portions of the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area . Major settlements in the circulation area include the city of Fairbanks and the towns of North Pole , Delta Junction , Healy , Fort Yukon , and Tok . There are no other daily newspapers in the News @-@ Miner 's circulation area , but Fairbanks and southern portions of the Denali Borough are secondary circulation areas for the Alaska Dispatch News , a daily newspaper based 260 miles ( 418 km ) south , in Anchorage . The paper 's coverage centers on local news with moderate reporting on state issues that affect Fairbanks and the surrounding area . Local sports , particularly the Alaska Goldpanners ( Alaska Baseball League ) , Fairbanks Ice Dogs ( North American Hockey League ) , and the various sports teams of the University of Alaska Fairbanks are covered regularly by the newspaper . The News @-@ Miner produces several specialty publications in addition to the regular paper . Two publications : Latitude 65 , a weekly arts supplement released on Friday ; and Sundays , a feature reporting section published on Sundays ; also are produced by newspaper staff . Several annual publications — a visitors ' guide , winter survival guide , and others — also are released by the newspaper on a regular basis . = = Early years = = = = = Foundation = = = In 1901 , trader Ebenezer Barnette sailed up Alaska 's Tanana River in hopes of establishing a trading post on the trail connecting the coastal town of Valdez with the gold @-@ mining community of Eagle . Due to low water , however , the steamboat Barnette chartered was unable to continue up the river . Discouraged , Barnette deposited his cache of goods on a riverbank of the Chena River and sailed downstream with the intent of making another attempt to sail up the river during the following year . In 1902 , miner Felix Pedro struck gold at a spot about 15 miles north of the spot where Barnette left his supplies . Seeing an opportunity , Barnette decided to establish a trading post at the spot . Other miners and suppliers arrived , attracted by the gold , and Barnette named the settlement Fairbanks , after Indiana Senator and later Vice President of the United States Charles W. Fairbanks . Through the fall and winter of 1902 , word of the gold strike and the new settlement spread throughout Alaska and the Yukon . Printer George M. Hill , who had been working in Dawson City , packed up his small press and traveled to Fairbanks in early 1903 . On September 19 , 1903 , he printed the first newspaper in the new settlement : Volume I , Issue I of the Weekly Fairbanks News . Little is known about Hill 's operation , but he likely used either a Washington Hand Press or an " Army " press — both were small machines designed for transport on a single pack horse or pack mule . Single copies of the first editions of the paper were $ 0 @.@ 25 each , or $ 10 for a year 's subscription . The paper was 10 pages and had multiple advertisements , including one proclaiming that an election would be held on November 10 of that year for the purpose of incorporating the town . On the front page was a statement of policy : = = = Newspaper wars = = = In May 1904 , Hill sold the Weekly Fairbanks News to R.J. McChesney , who invested in a Linotype machine and a larger press . These improvements and the growing population of Fairbanks — by 1905 , it had 2 @,@ 500 residents — allowed the Weekly Fairbanks News to expand to semi @-@ weekly , then daily publication , in the process becoming the Fairbanks Daily News on July 1 , 1905 . On September 3 , the News had its first competition when the Fairbanks Sunday Times began publishing on the sole day that the News did not . Other papers soon arrived in the area . In 1906 , the Valdez News reported , " With the newspaper plans already in Fairbanks and with those which are being shipped there this year , the Tanana metropolis will be well supplied . There are no less than five of them all told ... " In May 1906 , McChesney sold the Daily News to Fairbanks ' founder , Ebenezer Barnette . Later that month , an enormous fire destroyed the Daily News press and much of Fairbanks . Rather than wait for replacement equipment , Barnette purchased the press of a newly arrived editor , William Fentress Thompson , who had intended to set up his own newspaper . As part of the purchasing deal in August 1906 , Thompson was allowed to publish an evening paper — the Tanana Daily Miner — while the Fairbanks Daily News was published in the morning . The deal lasted only through September , as Thompson and Barnette conflicted on a personal level . The Tanana Miner was reduced to a weekly newspaper , then Thompson was deposed as editor of the Fairbanks News in June 1907 and took the Tanana Miner to the settlement of Chena , outside Fairbanks . Barnette , meanwhile , became embroiled in a series of legal troubles . He faced opposition from the owner of the Fairbanks Times , A.L. Anderson , who had fought Barnette about several gold claims near Fairbanks and purchased the Times to compete against Barnette . In 1907 , Barnette was accused of embezzling money from the Fairbanks bank he operated , and he was sued by the man who had funded the venture that led to the founding of Fairbanks . During the lawsuit , it was revealed that Barnette had been convicted of larceny in Oregon . As his legal bills added up , Barnette decided to lease the Fairbanks Daily News to a group of local businessmen . On June 15 , 1908 , Barnette ended the lease agreement by selling the newspaper to J. Harmon Caskey and Henry Roden . That same year , the campaign to elect Alaska 's first delegate to Congress was under way , and one of the candidates , Jack Corson , purchased one @-@ third of the newspaper . Corson 's campaign manager promptly was named the editor of the Daily News , and the paper switched to actively supporting Corson 's candidacy . During this time , William Thompson — best known as W.F. Thompson — began gathering investors to purchase the Fairbanks Daily News . After Corson 's candidacy failed and Thompson amassed $ 15 @,@ 000 from investors , he purchased the Daily News in March 1909 . On March 18 , 1909 , the Daily News published its last issue . Four days later , it reopened under the name Fairbanks Daily News @-@ Miner , an amalgam of the names of the Daily News and Thompson 's previous operation , the Tanana Miner . He chose the name over his first idea , the Daily Alaska Miner . = = Territorial days = = = = = Consolidation = = = When Thompson assumed majority ownership of the renamed Fairbanks Daily News @-@ Miner in early 1909 , it was one of three daily newspapers in Fairbanks . The other two were the Fairbanks Times and the Tanana Daily Tribune . Competition among the three newspapers was intense , and they often clashed about issues such as city council meetings , a permanent bridge over the Chena River , and the mineral prospects of the town of Iditarod , where gold had just been discovered . The intense rivalries were driven by the declining economic situation in Fairbanks , as the initial gold findings that inspired the Fairbanks Gold Rush began to wane . From the time Thompson took control until shortly after the Second World War , the News @-@ Miner lacked a dedicated connection to the Associated Press . In the early years of the Thompson administration , he had a dedicated correspondent in Seattle whose job was to read the early editions of the Seattle newspapers , then hurry to the telegraph office and summarize what he had read to Thompson on the other end of the telegraph cable . This system later was replaced by a dedicated contract with the Alaska Communications System , but that contract limited the News @-@ Miner to no more than 9 @,@ 000 words per day of messages . On January 10 , 1910 , the Tanana Tribune was absorbed by the News @-@ Miner . The owners of the Tribune received shares in the News @-@ Miner ( which were later bought back by Thompson ) , and one of the Tribune 's owners received its printing plant , which was moved to Tacoma , Washington . In 1911 , Thompson feared the declining state of the Fairbanks economy and decided to leave Alaska . He sold his shares in the company , but returned after several months absence and demanded the shares back . Los Bernard , who briefly served as the paper 's publisher , returned the shares to Thompson , who resumed his role as publisher and editor . Thompson 's return coincided with a series of small gold discoveries at Livengood and Shushanna that boosted the Fairbanks economy , as gold @-@ seekers bought supplies in the town . Thompson still wished to leave Alaska , however , and in 1915 , he sold a majority share of News @-@ Miner stock on option to O.P. Gaustad , a Republican Party booster . Scandal erupted when it was revealed that Gaustad was merely a stand @-@ in for James Wickersham , who was Alaska 's delegate to Congress . Partially because of the scandal , Gaustad was unable to sell the shares he held an option for , and Thompson returned to Alaska in spring 1916 to reassume his role as publisher . Later that year , Republican interests took over the Fairbanks Times , which had leaned toward the Democratic Party . The new owners of the Times were unable to come up with financing for new equipment , however , and the Times went out of business in October 1916 . Following the discontinuation of the Times , the Alaska Weekly Citizen shifted to a daily publication schedule . This lasted until 1920 , when a fire destroyed the Citizen 's printing plant . The News @-@ Miner printed the two papers in conjunction for a time — both mastheads appeared on the same paper — but after the Citizen was unable to obtain loans to rebuild , the News @-@ Miner assumed its subscription list and business contracts and it became the sole daily newspaper in Fairbanks . = = = Tough times = = = In May 1920 , the Spanish Flu reached Fairbanks and infected most of the newspaper staff . " We had to keep writing of flu and the typesetters kept setting flu stories until they began to imagine they had the flu and went — one , two , three — just like that , " said Thompson in a story on the outbreak . Two years later , Thompson and the News @-@ Miner strongly protested the city 's order to evict the prostitutes living in a regulated district within Fairbanks . On September 24 , 1922 , Thompson reported that the News @-@ Miner 's press had been sabotaged , oil had been mixed with the paper 's printing ink , and a fire had been set in its office , presumably as a result of the paper 's stance against eviction . The decline of Fairbanks ' economy was partially offset by the construction of the Alaska Railroad , and the arrival of President Warren G. Harding to dedicate the railroad in 1923 . Harding visited the News @-@ Miner offices and set a small bit of type for a special edition commemorating the visit . Less than one month later , however , Harding died on his return from Alaska . Harding 's visit coincided with the first commercial airplane flight in the state of Alaska on July 19 . By the next year , copies of the News @-@ Miner were delivered regularly by aircraft to remote mining camps and roadhouses . In the process , the News @-@ Miner became the first newspaper to regularly deliver via aircraft . Three years after Harding 's death , William Thompson died on January 4 , 1926 . He was replaced by assistant editor Alfeld Hjalmar Nordale , who had been mayor of Fairbanks . At the time , the newspaper was in dire straits . Circulation had declined with the falling Fairbanks population , and reached a low of about 500 in 1925 , less than half what it was in 1909 . The paper still relied on an old flatbed press , which dated from the turn of the century . The newspaper offices were aging , and there was little money to upgrade . Nordale was further stressed by a conflict between him and Thompson 's widow , who was the majority shareholder . The conflict arose when two competing candidates for political office attempted to buy the paper 's editorial support with pledges of money . When Mrs. Thompson accepted one of the offers , Nordale asked that his name be removed from the newspaper . During the months leading up to the election , the News @-@ Miner produced dozens of editorials and reproduced the speeches of the candidate . After the candidate lost , however , he failed to follow through on his promises of payment . Nordale was reinstated as editor on February 1 , 1927 , vindicated by the candidate 's indictment on four counts of violating the federal Corrupt Practices Act . = = = Bob Bartlett = = = In 1927 , Nordale hired a recent University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate named Bob Bartlett . Bartlett had worked for the paper during school vacations , but he made journalism a full @-@ time job following graduation . For four years , Bartlett was the only reporter ( other than the editor ) who regularly wrote local stories . In late 1930 , Bartlett was made the paper 's assistant editor in lieu of a raise that the paper couldn 't afford to pay . Bartlett remained the paper 's assistant editor until 1933 , when he became the secretary to Anthony Dimond , Alaska 's delegate to the U.S. Congress . Bartlett became the delegate to Congress in 1945 , and in 1958 , when Alaska hosted its first election for state office , Bartlett was elected one of its first two U.S. Senators . = = = Lathrop era = = = In October 1928 , the News @-@ Miner cut costs by moving to a new office . This allowed the purchase of a new Linotype machine , and further upgrades were promised when on November 8 , 1929 , the News @-@ Miner was purchased by Austin E. Lathrop , an Alaska industrialist . Though Lathrop promised to inject money into the News @-@ Miner , his strong Republican leanings opposed those of Nordale , a confirmed Democrat . Nordale resigned in April 1930 and was replaced by Bernard Stone . Stone and Lathrop turned the News @-@ Miner profitable before Stone was replaced by Charles R. Settlemier in 1936 . In 1935 , the News @-@ Miner purchased two cylinder presses to replace the old flatbed press still in use . Owing to shipping difficulties , however , the presses and the new crew needed to operate them did not arrive until 1936 . By that time , the News @-@ Miner was preparing to move into the new Lathrop Building , built by and named after the newspaper 's owner . As the Great Depression hit the United States , Fairbanks bucked the poor economic trend . Thanks to the Alaska Railroad , large gold dredges could be brought in , and these returned the area 's gold mines to profitability . In 1938 , Lathrop took advantage of the good economic situation by reviving the Alaska Miner as a weekly supplement to the News @-@ Miner . The Miner covered happenings in the gold @-@ mining camps outside Fairbanks and was focused on areas outside the city . In 1939 , Fairbanks radio station KFAR was founded , and it shared the Lathrop building with the News @-@ Miner , which occupied the bottom floors of the building . In January 1941 , a disagreement between Settlemier , one of his reporters , and the editor of the Alaska Miner resulted in several changes to the News @-@ Miner . Settlemier was replaced as editor by the reporter , David B. Tewkesbury , and the Alaska Miner was discontinued . Its editor , E.F. Jessen , created Jessen 's Weekly , a separate newspaper , to compete with the News @-@ Miner . The Weekly lasted until 1968 , when it was closed by the Internal Revenue Service . The same year that Jessen founded his weekly newspaper , the United States became involved in the Second World War . Travel to and from Alaska was restricted , and after Japan invaded the Alaska islands of Attu and Kiska , the News @-@ Miner was censored by the U.S. Army . Fairbanks benefited from a military construction boom as the United States built the Northwest Staging Route to ferry Lend @-@ Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union . The boom left the News @-@ Miner short @-@ staffed , but it continued operations throughout the war . Just before the Japanese surrender that ended the war , News @-@ Miner editor David Tewkesbury died . He was replaced by Art Bremer , a reporter . The post @-@ war boom caused a sudden shortage of newsprint , as paper mills were not able to meet the demand of a growing number of newspapers nationwide . This shortage caused the News @-@ Miner to run short until Lathrop used his industrial connections to divert a shipment from a newspaper that was going out of business . The post @-@ war years also saw the News @-@ Miner take a more active role in territorial politics . Prior to the 1948 election , Lathrop believed Republican presidential candidate Thomas Dewey would handily defeat Democratic incumbent Harry Truman . To take advantage of the anticipated governmental shift , Lathrop instructed the News @-@ Miner to ramp up its pro @-@ Republican editorials . In order to assist that process , he appointed William Strand , a war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune , as the News @-@ Miner 's new editor . Though Truman won the 1948 election , the News @-@ Miner stayed politically active in endorsing Republican candidates and issues . This ended only with Lathrop 's death on July 26 , 1950 . = = Snedden era = = One week before Lathrop 's death , he negotiated the sale of the News @-@ Miner to Charles Willis " Bill " Snedden . Snedden was an efficiency expert and former printer who had been employed by Henry Kaiser during WWII . After the war , he began troubleshooting newspapers . Through 1949 and 1950 , Snedden did an efficiency study of the News @-@ Miner and recommended about $ 100 @,@ 000 in upgrades . Lathrop was unwilling to spend that much on the newspaper , and Snedded suggested that if Lathrop was unwilling to upgrade , Snedden would be interested in purchasing the paper . The two men worked out a verbal agreement before Lathrop was killed in a coal train accident . One of Snedden 's first actions was to readdress the paper 's stance on Alaska statehood . Lathrop and the News @-@ Miner had been strongly opposed to statehood , but after Snedden took control , he analyzed the issue and came out strongly in favor of Alaska statehood . The News @-@ Miner continually published editorials in favor of statehood , and encouraged other newspapers across the U.S. to do the same . In 1955 and 1956 , when the Alaska Constitutional Convention took place at the University of Alaska Fairbanks , the News @-@ Miner set up special telephone lines from the convention chambers to the newspaper 's office . Daily reports were printed , recording the delegates ' progress . The News @-@ Miner strongly supported the political campaign for statehood until 1959 , when Alaska became the 49th state of the United States . On the day the U.S. Congress voted to have Alaska admitted as a state , Snedden arranged for a U.S. Air Force jet to fly copies of the News Miner , the Anchorage Times , and other Alaska newspapers to Washington , D.C. On the morning after the vote , each Congressman had an Alaska newspaper proclaiming statehood . Snedden also embarked on a series of upgrades to the News @-@ Miner 's printing equipment . In 1953 , rotary printing was introduced to Fairbanks after Snedden purchased a used rotary press from The Sacramento Union . To house the press , Snedden built a two @-@ story building adjacent to the Lathrop Building . The Lathrop Building still contained most of the News @-@ Miner 's offices and typesetting equipment , but it was not large enough to contain the new press without extensive renovations , thus requiring a new building . Shortly after the new press was introduced , the News @-@ Miner produced its first full @-@ color newspaper . The new equipment also allowed for larger print jobs , and Snedden introduced an annual Progress Edition that was intended to be distributed outside Alaska in order to attract business and industry to the state . In 1954 , the News @-@ Miner obtained a dedicated teletype to the Associated Press , avoiding the need for contracts for telephone and telegraph service to a correspondent in Seattle who would relay AP material to the News @-@ Miner . On November 23 , 1957 , tragedy struck when the Lathrop Building caught on fire . Firemen rushed to the scene to put out the blaze and did so quickly , but not before the television and radio studios on the top floors of the building were destroyed . The News @-@ Miner offices and printing facilities on the lower floors were spared from the flames , but suffered water damage . Due to winter temperatures , the water soon froze . Despite the conditions , the paper was produced on time the next day . In 1964 , the largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States struck Anchorage and southern Alaska , cutting communications to the outside world . The quake was felt in Fairbanks , and it took 40 minutes for communications to be re @-@ established with the Associated Press office in Seattle . When the connection was restored , the News @-@ Miner sent the first reports of the earthquake to the outside world . The quake also destroyed the offices of the Anchorage Times , the leading newspaper in that city . The News @-@ Miner offered its press facilities to the Times , and the two papers shared a masthead as Anchorage recovered from the tremor . Shortly before the earthquake , the News @-@ Miner placed an order for a modern offset printing press . To house the new press , which could not fit in the Lathrop Building , Snedden ordered the construction of a new printing facility and office — named the Aurora Building — north of the Chena River . The Alaska Railroad sold Snedden the land for the building , which was built at a cost of $ 1 million in 1965 . Snedden ordered the foundation for the new building to be raised 22 inches above the 100 @-@ year flood line . This fact saved the News @-@ Miner two years later , when a massive flood swept through Fairbanks . The water was three inches deep throughout the paper 's offices and even deeper in the press and boiler rooms , which were slightly below that raised level . The flood halted production for a time , and the Anchorage Times reciprocated the post @-@ earthquake favor by publishing the News @-@ Miner 's masthead on its editions and posting occasional stories from Fairbanks until electrical power was restored to the town . In the early 1970s , prior to the construction of the Trans @-@ Alaska Pipeline , the Fairbanks economy was unsteady . The News @-@ Miner planned to expand its printing plant , but many in the company were unsure if the economy could support the added capacity . Over the objections of the News @-@ Miner newsroom , Snedden decided to expand the Aurora Building by adding a second floor at a cost of $ 2 million . In 1974 , as construction of the pipeline got under way , demand for office space in Fairbanks was so great that Alyeska Pipeline Company rented several News @-@ Miner offices in the newly expanded building . About this time , the News @-@ Miner replaced its Associated Press teletypes with a satellite connection . = = MediaNews Group era = = In the late 1980s and early 1990s , Snedden created a plan to let the paper 's employees buy the company and keep ownership local . This plan was under way at the time of Snedden 's death in 1989 , but by 1992 , many of the paper 's employees were nearing retirement age . This factor , and the need for costly upgrades to expand the paper onto the Internet , led to a decision to sell the News @-@ Miner to Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder , co @-@ founders of the MediaNews Group newspaper chain . In order to preserve the paper 's independence — something desired by Snedden — the News @-@ Miner was purchased by the family trusts of the two men , with ownership split 50 / 50 between the two trusts . Chuck Gray , the last publisher of the paper under Snedden 's ownership ( he served from 1989 – 1992 ) , was retained as publisher emeritus in an advisory capacity . Paul Massey was named the first publisher of the post @-@ Snedden era . He was replaced by Marilyn Romano in 2003 . Romano took a job with Alaska Airlines in 2011 as regional vice president Kathryn Strle became the interim publisher / general manager . In 2014 , veteran newspaper executive Marti Buscaglia was named publisher . Though the News @-@ Miner is owned separately from the rest of the MediaNews Group newspapers , it is considered a part of the group in order to take advantage of bulk purchasing discounts . The News @-@ Miner owns the Kodiak Daily Mirror . = = Back to the Sneddens = = In January 2016 , the News @-@ Miner was sold to the Helen E. Snedden Foundation . Fuller Cowell was named publisher . = = Sourdough Jack = = Since 1952 , the News @-@ Miner has featured a small cartoon figure named Sourdough Jack at the bottom of its front page . The drawing of Sourdough Jack is always paired with a comment on a news story , pun , or joke , apparently having been spoken by the figure . The idea for Sourdough Jack came from News @-@ Miner editor John J. Ryan , who said , " People had many complaints about the town . ... He could make fun of that stuff and that would give people a chance to laugh at their problems . " Sourdough Jack 's name came from Ryan 's nickname ( Jack ) and the traditional nickname given to an old miner ( sourdough ) . Jack Ryan worked for the Seattle Post @-@ Intelligencer later in his life . John Ryan changed his name in the 70 's to John O 'Ryan . In the first days of the cartoon 's existence , Jack often commented on alcohol , his lack of a job , and his wife . In recent years , the cartoon has taken a politically correct tone , except on occasion . After the Sept . 11 attacks , Sourdough Jack was pictured shaking his fist and saying , " It 's time to terrorize the terrorists ! " About that time , the original Sourdough Jack drawings that had been reproduced since 1952 were replaced by new drawings made in a similar style . This was required due to the growing fuzziness of the reproduced image and the transition to digital newspaper production . = = Awards and accomplishments = = In its history , the News @-@ Miner has been awarded dozens of accolades by the Alaska Press Club and other organizations . In 1986 , News @-@ Miner reporter Stan Jones was awarded a George Polk Award for writing a story that led to impeachment proceedings against Alaska governor Bill Sheffield . In 2009 , the paper won several commendations from the Alaska Press Club for photography , sportswriting , features writing , and other accomplishments .
= John Babcock = John Henry Foster " Jack " Babcock ( July 23 , 1900 – February 18 , 2010 ) was , at age 109 , the last known surviving veteran of the Canadian military to have served in the First World War and , after the death of Harry Patch , was the conflict 's oldest surviving veteran . Babcock first attempted to join the army at the age of fifteen , but was turned down and sent to work in Halifax until he was placed in the Young Soldiers Battalion in August 1917 . Babcock was then transferred to the United Kingdom , where he continued his training until the end of the war . Having never seen combat , Babcock did not consider himself a veteran and moved to the United States in the 1920s , where he joined the United States Army and eventually became an electrician . In May 2007 , following the death of Dwight Wilson , he became the last surviving veteran of the First World War who served with the Canadian forces . From that point he received international attention , including 109th birthday greetings from Queen Elizabeth II , the Governor General of Canada and the Canadian Prime Minister , until his death on February 18 , 2010 . = = Early life = = Babcock was born into a family of thirteen children on a farm in Frontenac County , Ontario . According to Babcock , the barn where he was born ( which no longer exists ) was located off Highway 38 in South Frontenac Township . His father died in 1906 after a tree @-@ cutting accident , when Babcock was only six years old . As described in his account given to Maclean 's , while his father was cutting down one tree , another dead tree fell on his shoulder . Although he was brought into the house on bobsleigh , he only survived another two hours . Babcock said that this was an " awful blow " to the family . School was never a concern for Babcock , and he did not earn his high school diploma until the age of 95 . On growing up in the area , Babcock claims that he " didn 't do very much , " although he admits that " [ i ] t was a fun place to grow up . " Babcock partook in fishing , hunting , and swimming — especially around the local Sydenham Lake — in order to pass the time with the other kids his age . He would return to the area in 1919 , after his wartime experiences , but soon after left for the United States . Nevertheless , Babcock 's relatives continue to work at the Crater Dairy farm ( named after the Holleford crater , a remnant of a meteor strike ) and the community grew to greatly respect John . = = World War I = = At the age of fifteen and a half , Babcock was impressed at Perth Road by two recruiting officers , one a lieutenant and one a sergeant , who quoted from the poem " The Charge of the Light Brigade " . He was also enticed by the offered salary , which was $ 1 @.@ 10 per day , as opposed to the 50 cents he could have made through physical labour . Babcock was recruited in Sydenham , Ontario and joined the 146th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force . He was then sent to Valcartier , Quebec . There Babcock underwent a physical , where it was discovered that he was underage . He was designated status A @-@ 4 : physically fit , but underage . At the time , the minimum age for combat was eighteen . Babcock was turned down , but managed to make it all the way to Halifax by train before he was stopped by the company commander . In Halifax he was sent to Wellington Barracks , the city 's peacetime barracks , where he wrestled freight onto large army vehicles and dug ditches . Tired of the work , Babcock took the opportunity to volunteer for the Royal Canadian Regiment when fifty recruits were called on , claiming that his age was 18 . Officials quickly discovered that he was only 16 , however , and they placed him in a reserve battalion known as the Boys ( or Young Soldiers ) Battalion in August 1917 . Babcock then undertook an ocean voyage to England and , in Liverpool , he was stationed with the 26th Reserve and sent to Bexhill @-@ on @-@ Sea where he trained with about 1 @,@ 300 others , about a third of whom were veterans from battles in France . The Young Soldiers Battalion trained the recruits for eight hours a day . In his spare time Babcock went on leave to Scotland , where he met his first girlfriend , a woman from the Women 's Army Auxiliary Corps . He was also introduced to the pleasures of beer and the horrors of war that some of the older veterans had come across . Babcock asserts that he would have fought in the conflict , given the chance , but the war ended before he could be brought to the front lines . For this reason , Babcock claims that he never felt like " a real soldier " and rarely talked of his experiences until his centenary . He also never joined any veterans associations . = = = Experiences = = = Babcock 's brother Manley enlisted after John and served with the engineers as a sapper . Manley suffered a nervous breakdown after the war . This , in Babcock 's eyes , was one of many psychological problems that occurred during and after the war . He recalls at least one instance where a soldier shot himself with a .45 after his comrades discovered that he had emigrated from Germany , while another ran himself through with a bayonet after a pack drill . Babcock also recounted the importance of honesty in the Canadian Army . In one case , one of his comrades stole a dollar watch and received nine months in prison and Babcock cites that as an example of the strict discipline in the military structure . By March 1918 he had been promoted to acting corporal , but was reduced to the rank of private for neglect of duty . By October of that year , however , he had been restored to acting lance corporal . Soldiers holding acting ranks in the Canadian forces receive the salary and allowances of the rank , but can be restored to a previous rank at any time due to their lack of the necessary training or experience to hold that position permanently . In Canada during wartime , individuals could be promoted to acting ranks in order to meet service requirements . = = After the First World War = = With relatives in the United States , Babcock paid the $ 7 head tax and moved there in 1921 . He received a Canadian Army pension that totaled $ 750 shortly after the conflict and took advantage of veteran vocational training in his native country to become an electrician . He ran a small light plant in his home neighborhood of Sydenham , and later had a career as an industrial supply salesman in the United States . He became a United States citizen in 1946 after serving in the United States Army and achieving the rank of sergeant . In so doing , he lost his Canadian citizenship , as Canadian law prior to 1977 limited dual citizenship . After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 , 1941 he attempted to sign up for active duty with the army 's flying service ( the United States Air Force was not formed until 1947 ) , but was turned down for being too old . He therefore spent World War II in the United States Army and among his duty stations was Fort Lewis , located in Tacoma , Washington . At the age of 65 , Babcock became a pilot . As of 2006 he was in good mental and physical health , displayed by his ability to quickly recite the alphabet backwards , spell out his name in Morse Code , and take daily walks with his wife to keep in shape . At the age of 100 he wrote an autobiography titled Ten Decades of John Foster Babcock . It was distributed only to family and friends . Babcock was married twice , first to Elsie , then to Dorothy , a woman nearly thirty years his junior whom he met when she was taking care of his first wife while she was dying . Babcock had one son ( Jack Jr . ) , one daughter ( Sandra ) , eight grandchildren , and five great @-@ grandchildren . One grandchild , Matt , was an army dentist in Iraq during the Iraq War . John and Dorothy resided in Spokane , Washington , where Babcock lived from 1932 until his death . Babcock was not the only centenarian in his family ; his younger sister Lucy died in July 2007 at the age of 102 . = = Last surviving Canadian veteran = = From the death of Dwight Wilson on May 9 , 2007 , Babcock was the last known Canadian veteran of the First World War . He was proud of his status as the last surviving Canadian World War I veteran , although he did not feel the need to be honoured in a specific state funeral . Instead , he was of the opinion that " they should commemorate all of them , instead of just one . " He was also quoted as saying " I 'm sure that all the attention I 'm getting isn 't because of anything spectacular I 've done . It 's because I 'm the last one . " Nevertheless , Babcock received much attention on the occasion of his 107th birthday , with wishes from Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada ( who Babcock joked is a " nice looking gal " ) , Governor General Michaëlle Jean , Prime Minister Stephen Harper , and Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay . James Moore , a Member of Parliament from British Columbia , visited Babcock personally to deliver gifts and greetings . For his birthday , Babcock and his wife went to Rosauers for his favourite meal of hamburgers and French fries . Among the gifts he received was a necktie adorned with a poppy pattern , a symbol of the First World War . In his hometown of South Frontenac , mayor Gary Davison sent a letter of congratulations , while the local coffee shop named their local blend , " The Jack , " after him . Babcock was invited to the opening of a Pentagon exhibit on March 6 , 2008 , featuring photos of nine First World War veterans , but was unable to attend . At the time he was one of only two of the veterans pictured to be alive , along with American Frank Buckles , who did participate in the event . In 2008 , he was visited by Canadian officials and wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he was interested in regaining his Canadian citizenship in a letter that was hand @-@ delivered to him in a cabinet meeting . The request was approved by the Prime Minister and the paperwork was signed by Governor General Michaëlle Jean , after which officials from Citizenship and Immigration Canada were flown to Spokane to complete the swearing in ceremony . That same year , Babcock participated in the Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies , appearing via video to symbolically pass the torch of remembrance , urging people to " hold it high " . Babcock credited his longevity to the intense physical training that he received in both the United States and Canadian armies . Babcock died on February 18 , 2010 , at the age of 109 , having been housebound since October 2009 following a case of pneumonia . He was cremated and his remains were scattered across the Pacific Northwest . Governor General Jean and Prime Minister Harper made statements of condolence shortly after his death and , on the anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge ( April 9 ) , Canada 's monarch , Queen Elizabeth II , issued a statement marking the two events , stating : " As proud and grateful Canadians , we pause today to mark not only the ninety @-@ third anniversary of this Nation 's victory at Vimy Ridge but also to pay tribute to the passing of a truly remarkable generation who helped to end the most terrible conflict the world had ever known . " The local Royal Canadian Legion in Sydenham , Ontario has a collection of First World War items on display , including a roll call with Babcock 's name on it , in his honour .
= Mickey Micelotta = Robert Peter " Mickey " Micelotta ( born October 20 , 1928 ) is a former American shortstop in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) . He played 13 total seasons of professional baseball , two of which were spent in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies . In 17 career MLB games , Micelotta posted a batting average of .000 and had two runs in nine plate appearances . Born and raised in Wisconsin , Micelotta first played professionally with the Dayton Indians and Carbondale Pioneers in 1947 . Over the next three seasons , he played for various minor league teams in the Phillies organization before missing the 1951 and 1952 seasons , serving in the Korean War . He returned and played for the Terre Haute Phillies in 1953 and the Syracuse Chiefs from 1954 to 1955 , splitting time between the Chiefs and the Phillies ' major league squad . Micelotta spent the next three seasons with the Miami Marlins and three seasons after that with the Birmingham Barons before retiring from baseball . = = Early baseball career = = Born in Corona , New York , Micelotta made his professional debut in 1947 at the age of 18 and played for two different teams that year . He played in 40 games for the Dayton Indians of the Ohio State League and in 25 games for the Carbondale Pioneers of the North Atlantic League . Micelotta spent the 1948 season with two teams in the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system . He spent 58 games with the Bradford Blue Wings of the New York – Penn League and 60 games with the Dover Phillies of the Eastern Shore League , both D @-@ class teams . In 1949 , Micelotta was promoted to the C @-@ class Vandergrift Pioneers of the Middle Atlantic League ; in 129 games for the Pioneers , he hit .287 and hit a then @-@ career high seven triples . Micelotta moved to the Schenectady Blue Jays of the Canadian – American League the following season , where he had a three @-@ hit game against the Gloversville @-@ Johnstown Glovers , which the Blue Jays won , 8 – 7 . Micelotta finished the season with a .257 batting average in 133 games . He missed the 1951 and 1952 seasons as a result of serving in the United States Army during the Korean War . Micelotta returned to baseball in 1953 , and played for the Terre Haute Phillies of the Illinois – Indiana – Iowa League . In 115 games for them , he had a .297 batting average and 15 home runs . After the season ended , the Philadelphia Phillies purchased his contract , adding him to their roster for the upcoming season . = = Major league career = = As the 1954 season began , the Phillies noted that Micelotta had a good chance at winning a major league roster spot due to manager Steve O 'Neill being impressed with his fielding and hitting power . His performance during spring training was regarded highly , and he was noted on a list of promising rookies throughout the majors . Micelotta made the roster for the 1954 Phillies and made his major league debut on April 20 . Micelotta played in 13 games for the Phillies that year , served primarily as a pinch runner , and scored two runs in three total at @-@ bats . In June , he was demoted to the Syracuse Chiefs of the International League , where he finished the season . In 95 games for the Chiefs , Micelotta hada .229 batting average and 38 runs batted in . Micelotta remained on the Phillies ' 40 @-@ man roster to start the 1955 season , but near the end of spring training , the Phillies chose to send him and three others to Syracuse for the season . He spent the first three months of the season with the Chiefs , then was called back up to the Phillies due to both Granny Hamner and Roy Smalley getting injured . He played in four games during his time with the club , going hitless in four at @-@ bats and playing his final major league game on August 2 . After Hamner and Smalley returned from the disabled list , Micelotta was sent back to Syracuse , where he finished out the year . In 127 games for Syracuse in 1955 , Micelotta had a .244 batting average and a career @-@ high nine triples . = = Later baseball career = = Micelotta was still considered a promising prospect in 1956 , and spent spring training trying to fight his way back on the roster . By the end of March , with a couple of weeks to go until the season began , he was noted as playing very well , and the Phillies were considering keeping him on the major league roster for the season . He ended up not making the team , and spent the season with the Miami Marlins . During his time with Miami in 1956 , Micelotta was known for his defensive plays at the shortstop position , making three good ones in a 6 – 1 loss against the Havana Cubans in late May . He finished the season with a .236 batting average and 12 home runs in 146 games . Due to Micelotta 's " very mediocre " hitting and being unable to help the Phillies as a result , he remained with Miami for the 1957 season . He , Woody Smith , Bobby Young , and Pancho Herrera were considered to be one of the best infields in the International League , with one writer saying , " they make plays the Phillies couldn 't make . " Micelotta finished the year with a .216 batting average in 143 games . He again played a full season with Miami in 1958 after spending the offseason playing in the Dominican Winter League . His performances that season included a triple late in a game against the Richmond Virginians to win it , 3 – 2 , and a walk @-@ off home run against the Montreal Royals to win that game , 2 – 1 . He finished the season with a .201 batting average in 127 games played . After the season ended , Micelotta was released from the Marlins , and he joined the Birmingham Barons , a Detroit Tigers affiliate in the Southern Association , where he spent the final three seasons of his professional career . In 1959 , Micelotta played in all 154 games for Birmingham and had a batting average of .239 , as well as career highs in stolen bases ( 10 ) and strikeouts ( 117 ) . The following season , Micelotta was named to the Southern Association All @-@ Star Team alongside fellow Barons Stan Palys and Ron Nischwitz . He finished the season with a .253 batting average in 150 games and career highs in home runs ( 20 ) and runs batted in ( 87 ) . Micelotta 's comeback season in 1960 resulted in the Detroit Tigers bringing him into spring training as someone who could serve as a utility infielder on the major league roster . After spending March with the Tigers , he was sent back to Birmingham , where he spent the 1961 season . In a match against the Atlanta Crackers , Micelotta had three runs batted in as Birmingham won , 11 – 2 . He finished his final season of professional baseball with a .237 batting average , seven home runs , and 55 runs batted in in 112 games while splitting time between shortstop and third base. after retiring from baseball , Micelotta worked in the carpet business in New York , then later moved to Greenacres , Florida .
= Mr. Monk and the Three Pies = " Mr. Monk and the Three Pies " is the eleventh episode of the second season of the American comedy @-@ drama detective television series Monk , and the show 's 24th episode overall . The series follows Adrian Monk ( Tony Shalhoub ) , a private detective with obsessive – compulsive disorder and multiple phobias , and his assistant Sharona Flemming ( Bitty Schram ) . In this episode , Monk 's brother , Ambrose , is introduced to the series , and request Monk to investigate his neighbor , whom he suspects of murdering . It was written by Tom Scharpling and Daniel Dratch , and directed by Randall Zisk . The episode guest starred John Turturro , who accepted to play Ambrose after a Shalhoub 's invite . When the episode first aired in the United States on the USA Network on January 23 , 2004 , it was watched by 5 @.@ 9 million viewers . " Mr. Monk and the Three Pies " was generally well received by critics , with most of the praise regarding Turturro 's performance . It also led Turturro to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series . = = Plot = = At a fair in Tewkesbury , a woman wins a cherry pie , and Pat van Ranken ( Holt McCallany ) kills her and steals her car . While Captain Stottlemeyer ( Ted Levine ) dismisses it as a carjacking gone wrong , Adrian Monk ( Tony Shalhoub ) remains suspicious . Later , Sharona Fleming ( Bitty Schram ) gets a call from Monk 's brother Ambrose ( John Turturro ) , an agoraphobic who does not leave his house for thirty @-@ two years . The brothers have not spoken for seven years — Adrian is angry at Ambrose because he never called or wrote after Adrian 's wife died . Ambrose calls Adrian , as he suspects his neighbor , van Ranken , of murdering his wife , Rita ( Crystal Santos ) . Ambrose heard gunshots and noticed van Ranken was gone all night . When asked , van Ranken said Rita had flown to Argentina and that his truck was broken . However , Adrian notices the truck has been moved recently . Adrian and Sharona visit van Ranken , on the pretext of taking back a bag of flour that Rita borrowed from Ambrose , and van Ranken lies about his wife 's whereabouts . The next day , van Ranken wins another cherry pie , and Adrian and Sharona see him rooting it . Ambrose remembers that Rita baked three cherry pies to give away at the fair , deducing that must be something in one of them . Though skeptical , Stottlemeyer admits there was no pie in the car when the police got there . However , the airline records confirm that Rita boarded a plane to Argentina on the night of the murder . The next day , Adrian and Sharona track van Ranken back to the fair again , and the third pie is won by van Ranken . Adrian explains that when van Ranken was disposing of his wife 's corpse , a woman arrived to collect the pies . Van Ranken realized that one of the shell casings from his gun was nowhere to be found , believing it landed in one of the pies . It convinces Stottlemeyer to search the third pie , but nothing is found inside it . Later , over dinner with Ambrose , Adrian berates him for not calling after Trudy died , and Ambrose , taken aback , says the reason he did not call was because he felt guilty : Trudy was running an errand to get cough medicine for him when she was killed , and he blames himself . He breaks down crying , and Adrian , shocked , tells him it was not his fault , and embraces him . Later , Adrian and van Ranken each reenact the murder , realizing that the shell casing is in the bag of flour in Ambrose 's house . Adrian and Sharona race to Tewkesbury , realizing that Ambrose is in danger . Van Ranken tries to get the flour back but Ambrose sees through his ruse . He locks the door , causing van Ranken to set the house on fire . While Sharona calls the fire department , Adrian rushes inside and resort to drag Ambrose out . Meanwhile , Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher ( Jason Gray @-@ Stanford ) arrest van Ranken ; they just found Rita 's body , and the " Rita van Ranken " who flew to Argentina is actually his girlfriend . At the end of the episode , the reconciled brothers visit Trudy 's grave . = = Production = = " Mr. Monk and the Three Pies " was co @-@ written by Tom Scharpling and Daniel Dratch , and directed by Randall Zisk . The episode guest starred John Turturro as Ambrose Monk . Shalhoub and Turturro , " longtime friends " , according to USA Today , had graduated from Yale School of Drama . They had previously worked on the 1991 film Barton Fink and in a 1998 off @-@ Broadway production of the play Waiting for Godot . Shalhoub also lived with the Turturros while working on an East Coast project . As one of the executive producers of Monk by time , Shalhoub personally contacted Turturro . Turturro was also encouraged to the take the role by his family ; he declared , " My whole family likes the show . My ( 13 @-@ year @-@ old ) son likes the show . " After the sent of the episode 's script to him and his acceptance , Turturro , who Shalhoub thought " liked the sound of the character , " worked with the series " for about four or five days " , as Shalhoub cannot precisely remember . Ambrose was added to further reveal Monk 's backstory ; Shalhoub commented , " We wanted to use this as a vehicle to get us into more backstory for Monk , to explore where Monk comes from , his family situation - and we thought that this brother character would be a good place to start . " While noted " Monk shows more emotion than usual because of the family tie " , Shalhoub also remarked the fact that he is angry with his brother was a good way to show " a whole other part of [ Adrian ] . He 's more abrupt and less sympathetic . It 's a healthy thing to see that he 's not a complete saint . " Turturro , by his turn , said " The [ episode 's ] tone is oddly touching . It 's hard to find the right tone . Tony does a great job of that , mixing comedy and drama " . Shalhoub was " really gratified " for Turturro 's performance , while Turturro called the episode " a pleasure " to do . Responding to a question about the possible return of Ambrose , Shalhoub " would love to see that character come back , " and Turturro would accept it , " especially if I don 't have to have a complete emotional breakdown . " He became a recurring character , and returned for " Mr. Monk Goes Home Again " and " Mr. Monk 's 100th Case " . = = Reception = = " Mr. Monk and the Three Pies " was first broadcast in the United States on the USA Network at 10 pm EST on January 23 , 2004 . According to Nielsen Media Research , the episode was viewed by an estimated number of 5 @.@ 9 million viewers and had a 4 @.@ 5 household rating . Shalhoub elected the episode among his favorites twice ; he put it along with " Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine " and " Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike " during the Monk Cast Favorites Marathon , and mentioned " Mr. Monk and the Three Pies " , " Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine " and " Mr. Monk Is Someone Else " as his favorite ones as the end of the series . Schram also selected it to be her favorite episode , attributing the choice to dynamic between Shalhoub and Turturro . Austin Smith from the New York Post wrote that it is " one of the finest episodes of a TV show you 're likely to see all year in 2004 " . DigitallyObsessed 's reviewer Rich Rosell called it " one of the series ' best @-@ written episodes " , remarking " Turturro and Shalhoub are excellent together " . Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk appointed it as his " absolute favorite episode ( of the entire series ! ) " , saying Turturro side @-@ by @-@ side with Shalhoub is " stunning . " Robinson added that Ambrose " makes Monk look like a normal person " , saying of the story : " it 's diabolically fun to watch these two neurotic brothers solve a murder mystery . " It was said that " the comedy here has more than a hint of pathos " by People , with the writer declaring " It 's rare to see brothers portrayed so convincingly , particularly on a show in the field of light entertainment . But don 't be afraid : The episode has moments that are funny , pure and simple . " Writing for The Star @-@ Ledger , Alan Sepinwall compared the murder that conducts the plot to Rear Window 's plot ; although stated that " Plot has never been the series ' strong suit " , he declared " this one 's fun in its own right " . The real reason to watch it , however , " is to see Shalhoub and Turturro get on each other 's nerves , and to witness Monk revisiting his childhood home " , according to Sepinwall . The Sydney Morning Herald 's Michael Idato called Turturro " a great addition to the dynamic " and appreciated the possibility of his return later in the series . At the 56th Primetime Emmy Awards , Turturro won the award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his acting as Ambrose on the episode .
= Gavin Newsom = Gavin Christopher Newsom ( born October 10 , 1967 ) is an American businessman and television personality who currently serves as the 49th Lieutenant Governor of California . He is notable for hosting a television show named after him in Current TV and for his guest appearances in HBO 's Real Time with Bill Maher . Newsom has been involved in controversial and high @-@ profile relationships , including his former marriage to Fox News contributor Kimberly Guilfoyle and an infidelity scandal in 2007 . His political career highlights include his advocacy for same @-@ sex marriage and the legalization of cannabis in the United States . Newsom studied at Redwood High School and graduated from Santa Clara University . After graduation , he co @-@ founded businesses with family friend Gordon Getty , who was an investor . Newsom began his political career in 1996 when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to serve on the city 's Parking and Traffic Commission and as a member of the Board of Supervisors the following year . Newsom drew voter attention with his Care Not Cash program , which was designed to move homeless people into city @-@ assisted care . In 2003 , he was elected as the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco , the city 's youngest in a hundred years . Newsom was re @-@ elected in 2007 with 72 percent of the vote . He was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in 2010 . In February 2015 , Newsom announced he was opening a committee to run for Governor of California in 2018 . = = Early life and education = = Gavin Christopher Newsom was born in San Francisco , California , to Tessa Thomas ( Menzies ) and William Alfred Newsom III , a retired state appeals court justice and attorney for Getty Oil . He is a fourth @-@ generation San Franciscan . His father is of Irish descent , while one of his maternal great @-@ grandfathers , Scotsman Thomas Addis , was a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University . Newsom is the second cousin , twice removed , of musician Joanna Newsom . Newsom 's parents separated when he was 2 and divorced in 1972 . At age 10 , Newsom moved with his mother and sister , to nearby Marin County . In May 2002 , his mother died after a five @-@ year fight with breast cancer . While Newsom later reflected that he did not have an easy childhood , he attended kindergarten and first grade at the French American bilingual school in San Francisco . He eventually transferred because of severe dyslexia that still affects him . His dyslexia has made it difficult for him to write , spell , read and work with numbers . He attended third through fifth grades at Notre Dame des Victoires , where he was placed in remedial reading classes . Newsom graduated from Redwood High School in 1985 . He played basketball and baseball in high school . Newsom was an outfielder in baseball . His baseball skills placed him on the cover of the Marin Independent Journal . Newsom 's childhood friend Derek Smith recalled Newsom as " one of the hardest working players on the team who became a great player because of his effort , instead of his natural abilities . " Newsom 's father attended his games with San Francisco politicians that included John Burton and Quentin Kopp . Newsom 's father had ties to several other local politicians . Newsom 's aunt was married to Ron Pelosi , the brother @-@ in @-@ law of former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi . Newsom 's father was also a friend of Governor Jerry Brown . Tessa Newsom worked three jobs to support Gavin and his sister Hilary Newsom Callan , who is the president of the PlumpJack Group , named after the opera Plump Jack composed by family friend Gordon Getty . In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle , his sister recalled Christmas holidays when their mother told them there wouldn 't be any gifts . Tessa opened their home to foster children , instilling in Newsom the importance of public service . His father 's finances were strapped in part because of his tendency to give away his earnings . Newsom worked several jobs in high school to help support his family . Newsom attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship and student loans , where he graduated in 1989 with a B.S. in political science . Newsom was a left @-@ handed pitcher for Santa Clara , but he threw his arm out after two years and hasn 't thrown a baseball since . He lived in the Alameda Apartments , which he later compared to living in a hotel . He later reflected on his education fondly , crediting the Jesuit approach of Santa Clara that he said has helped him become an independent thinker who questions orthodoxy . Newsom spent a semester studying abroad in Rome . = = Business career = = On May 14 , 1991 , Newsom and his investors created the company PlumpJack Associates L.P. In 1992 , the group started the PlumpJack Winery with the financial help of his family friend Gordon Getty . PlumpJack was the name of an opera written by Getty , who invested in 10 of Newsom 's 11 businesses . Getty told the San Francisco Chronicle that he treated Newsom like a son and invested in his first business venture because of that relationship . According to Getty , later business investments were because of " the success of the first . " One of Newsom 's early interactions with government occurred when Newsom resisted the San Francisco Health Department requirement to install a sink at his PlumpJack Winery . The Health Department argued that wine was a food . The department required the store to install a $ 27 @,@ 000 sink in the carpeted wine shop on the grounds that the shop needed the sink for a mop . When Newsom was later appointed supervisor , he told the San Francisco Examiner : " That 's the kind of bureaucratic malaise I 'm going to be working through . " The business grew to an enterprise with more than 700 employees . The PlumpJack Cafe Partners L.P. opened the PlumpJack Café , also on Fillmore Street , in 1993 . Between 1993 and 2000 , Newsom and his investors opened several other businesses that included the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn with a PlumpJack Café ( 1994 ) , the Napa Valley winery ( 1995 ) , the Balboa Café Bar and Grill ( 1995 ) , the PlumpJack Development Fund L.P. ( 1996 ) , the MatrixFillmore Bar ( 1998 ) , PlumpJack Wines shop Noe Valley branch ( 1999 ) , PlumpJackSport retail clothing ( 2000 ) , and a second Balboa Café at Squaw Valley ( 2000 ) . Newsom 's investments included five restaurants and two retail clothing stores . Newsom 's annual income was greater than $ 429 @,@ 000 from 1996 to 2001 . In 2002 , his business holdings were valued at more than $ 6 @.@ 9 million . Newsom gave a monthly $ 50 gift certificate to PlumpJack Café employees whose business ideas failed , because in his view , " There can be no success without failure . " Newsom sold his share of his San Francisco businesses when he became mayor in 2004 . He maintained his ownership in the PlumpJack companies outside San Francisco that included the PlumpJack Winery in Oakville , California , new PlumpJack @-@ owned Cade Winery in Angwin , California , and the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn . He is currently the president in absentia of Airelle Wines Inc . , which is connected to the PlumpJack Winery in Napa County . Newsom earned between $ 141 @,@ 000 and $ 251 @,@ 000 in 2007 from his business interests . In February 2006 he paid $ 2 @,@ 350 @,@ 000 for his residence in the Russian Hill neighborhood , which he put on the market in April 2009 for $ 2 @,@ 995 @,@ 000 . = = Early political career = = Newsom 's first political experience came when he volunteered for Willie Brown 's successful campaign for mayor in 1995 . Newsom hosted a private fundraiser at his PlumpJack Café . In 1996 , Mayor Brown appointed Newsom to a vacant seat on the Parking and Traffic Commission , and he was later elected president of the commission . In 1997 , Brown appointed him to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat vacated by Kevin Shelley . At the time , he became the youngest member of San Francisco 's board of supervisors and also the board 's only heterosexual Caucasian male . Newsom was sworn in by his father and pledged to bring his business experience to the board . Willie Brown called Newsom " part of the future generation of leaders of this great city . " Newsom described himself as a " social liberal and a fiscal watchdog . " Newsom was subsequently elected to a full four @-@ year term to the board in 1998 . In 1999 , San Francisco 's voters chose to exchange at @-@ large elections to the board for the previous district system and Newsom was reelected in 2000 and in 2002 to represent District 2 , which includes the Pacific Heights , Marina , Cow Hollow , Sea Cliff , and Laurel Heights . He faced no opposition in his 2002 reelection . His district had the highest income level and the highest Republican registration in San Francisco . In 2000 , Newsom paid $ 500 to the San Francisco Republican Party to be on the party 's endorsement slate . As supervisor , Newsom gained public attention for his role in advocating reform of the city 's Municipal Railway ( Muni ) . He was one of two supervisors endorsed by Rescue Muni , a transit riders group , in his 1998 reelection . He sponsored Proposition B to require Muni and other city departments to develop detailed customer service plans . The measure passed with 56 @.@ 6 % of the vote . Newsom sponsored a ballot measure from Rescue Muni ; a version of the measure was approved by voters in November 1999 . Newsom also supported allowing restaurants to serve alcohol at their outdoor tables , banning tobacco advertisements visible from the streets , stiffer penalties for landlords , and a resolution to commend Colin Powell for raising money for youth programs that was defeated . Newsom 's support for business interests at times strained his relationship with labor leaders . During Newsom 's time as supervisor , he was pro @-@ development and for smart growth along with being " anti @-@ handout . " He supported housing projects through public – private partnerships to increase homeownership and affordable housing in San Francisco . Newsom supported HOPE , a failed local ballot measure that would have allowed an increased condo @-@ conversion rate if a certain percentage of tenants within a building were buying their units . As a candidate for mayor , he supported building 10 @,@ 000 new housing units to create 15 @,@ 000 new construction jobs . As supervisor , Newsom had as his centerpiece a voter initiative called Care Not Cash ( Measure N ) , which offered care , supportive housing , drug treatment , and help from behavioral health specialists for the homeless in lieu of direct cash aid from the state 's general assistance program . Many homeless rights advocates protested against Care Not Cash . The successfully passed ballot measure raised the political profile of Gavin Newsom and provided the volunteers , donors and campaign staff , which helped make him a leading contender for the mayorship in 2003 . = = Mayoral races = = = = = 2003 = = = Newsom placed first in the November 4 , 2003 , general election in a nine @-@ man field . Newsom received 41 @.@ 9 percent of the vote to Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez 's 19 @.@ 6 in the first round of balloting , but he faced a closer race in the December 9 runoff when many of the city 's liberal groups coalesced around Gonzalez . The race was partisan with attacks against Gonzalez for his support of Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election and attacks against Newsom for contributing $ 500 to a Republican slate mailer in 2000 that endorsed issues Newsom supported . Democratic leadership felt that they needed to reinforce San Francisco as a Democratic stronghold after losing the 2000 presidential election and the 2003 recall election to Arnold Schwarzenegger . National figures from the Democratic Party , including Bill Clinton , Al Gore , and Jesse Jackson , campaigned on Newsom 's behalf . Five supervisors endorsed Gonzalez while Newsom received the endorsement of Willie Brown . Newsom won the runoff race , capturing 53 percent of the vote to Gonzalez 's 47 percent and winning by 11 @,@ 000 votes . Newsom ran as a business @-@ friendly centrist Democrat and a moderate in San Francisco politics ; some of his opponents called him conservative . Newsom claimed he was a centrist in the Dianne Feinstein mold . He ran on the slogan " great cities , great ideas " and presented over 21 policy papers . Newsom pledged to continue working on San Francisco 's homelessness issue . Newsom was sworn in as mayor on January 3 , 2004 . He called for unity among the city 's political factions and promised to address the issues of potholes , public schools , and affordable housing . Newsom said he was " a different kind of leader " who " isn 't afraid to solve even the toughest problems . " = = = 2007 = = = San Francisco 's progressive community attempted to find a candidate to run a strong campaign against Newsom . Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly considered running against Newsom , but both declined . Matt Gonzalez also decided not to challenge Newsom . When the August 10 , 2007 , filing deadline passed , the discussion around San Francisco shifted to talk about Newsom 's second term . He was challenged in the election by 13 candidates that included George Davis , a nudist activist , and Michael Powers , owner of the Power Exchange sex club . Conservative former supervisor Tony Hall withdrew by early September due to lack of support . The San Francisco Chronicle declared in August 2007 that Newsom faced no " serious threat to his reelection bid . " Newsom raised $ 1 @.@ 6 million for his reelection campaign by early August . He won re @-@ election on November 6 , 2007 with over 72 % of the vote . Upon taking office for a second term , Newsom promised to focus on the environment , homelessness , health care , education , housing , and rebuilding San Francisco General Hospital . = = Mayoralty = = As mayor , Newsom focused on development projects in Hunters Point and Treasure Island . He signed the Health Choices Plan in 2007 to provide San Francisco residents with universal healthcare . Under Newsom , San Francisco ostensibly joined the Kyoto Protocol , although it could not actually join a treaty between sovereign states . In 2004 , Newsom gained national attention when he directed the San Francisco city – county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same @-@ sex couples , in violation of the state law passed in 2000 . Implementation of Care Not Cash began on July 1 , 2004 . As part of his Care Not Cash initiative , 5 @,@ 000 more homeless people were given permanent shelter in the city . As of October 21 , 2007 , about 2 @,@ 000 people have been placed into permanent housing with support . Other programs initiated by Newsom to end chronic homelessness include the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team ( SF HOT ) , and Project Homeless Connect ( PHC ) . On October 27 , 2004 , during a strike by hotel workers on a dozen San Francisco hotels , Newsom joined UNITE HERE union members on a picket line in front of the Westin St. Francis Hotel . He vowed that the city would boycott the hotels by not sponsoring city events in any of them until the hotels agreed to a contract with workers . The contract dispute was settled in September 2006 . Newsom 's support of the workers angered some businesses who had been traditional Newsom backers . In 2005 , Newsom pushed for a state law to allow communities in California to create policy discriminating against breeds of dogs . He requested that then state senator Jackie Speier introduce a change to then @-@ existing California law , which stated that counties could not target specific breeds of dog . The animal control agency under his direction created a working dog task force report that cited Denver , Colorado , as a best practice for a law in California . In 2009 , Newsom came under attack for the City of San Francisco 's policy of illegally harboring juvenile criminal aliens . The city was circumventing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by harboring or sending the aliens back to their own native countries . In 2010 , Newsom was removed from the San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee . SFCDCC chairman Aaron Peskin said that Newsom no longer resided in the city and therefore did not deserve a seat on the committee . In 2009 , Newsom received the Leadership for Healthy Communities Award along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and three other public officials for his commitment to making healthful food and physical activity options more accessible to children and families . For example , in 2008 , he hosted the Urban Rural Roundtable to explore ways to promote regional food development and increased access to healthy affordable food , and he secured $ 8 million in federal and local funds for the Better Streets program , which ensures that public health perspectives are fully integrated into urban planning processes . He also signed a menu @-@ labeling bill into law , requiring that chain restaurants print nutrition information on their menus . In 2010 , Newsom was named " America 's Most Social Mayor " by Samepoint , based on analysis of the social media profiles of mayors from the 100 largest cities in the United States . = = = Same @-@ sex marriage = = = In 2004 , Newsom gained national attention when he directed the San Francisco city – county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same @-@ sex couples , in violation of the then @-@ current state law . In August 2004 , the Supreme Court of California annulled the marriages that Newsom had authorized , as they conflicted with state law at that time . Still , Newsom 's unexpected move brought national attention to the issues of gay marriage , solidifying political support for Newsom in San Francisco and in the gay community . During the 2008 election , Newsom was a prominent and vocal opponent of Proposition 8 , the ballot initiative to reverse the California Supreme Court ruling that there was a constitutional right to same @-@ sex marriage . In the months leading up to election day , Proposition 8 supporters released a commercial featuring Newsom saying the following words in a speech regarding same @-@ sex marriage : " This door 's wide open now . It 's going to happen , whether you like it or not . " Some observers noted that polls shifted in favor of Proposition 8 following the release of the commercial ; this , in turn , led to speculation that Newsom unwittingly played a role in the passage of the amendment . = = Lieutenant governor = = In April 2009 , Newsom announced his intention to run for governor of California in the 2010 election . In September 2009 , he received the endorsement of former president Bill Clinton . During the campaign , Newsom remarked that , if elected , he 'd like to be referred to as " The Gavinator " ( a reference to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger 's nickname , " The Governator " ) . Throughout the campaign , however , Newsom suffered low poll numbers , trailing Democratic frontrunner Jerry Brown by more than 20 points in most polls . In October 2009 , Newsom dropped out of the gubernatorial race . In February 2010 , Newsom filed initial paperwork to run for lieutenant governor , and officially announced his candidacy in March . He received the Democratic nomination in June , and won the election on November 2 , 2010 . Newsom was sworn in as lieutenant governor on January 10 , 2011 . The one @-@ week delay was to ensure that a successor as mayor of San Francisco was chosen before he left office . Edwin M. Lee , the city administrator , took office the day after Newsom was sworn in as lieutenant governor . In May 2012 , Newsom debuted on Current TV as the host of The Gavin Newsom Show . In 2012 , Newsom drew criticism for his negative view of California 's state capital Sacramento . Newsom released his first book , Citizenville : How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government , on February 7 , 2013 . The book discusses the Gov 2 @.@ 0 movement that is taking place across the United States . Following the release of Citizenville , Newsom began to work with the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society at the University of California , Berkeley on the California Report Card ( CRC ) . The CRC is a mobile @-@ optimized platform that allows California residents to " grade " their state on six timely issues . The CRC exemplifies ideas presented in Newsom 's Citizenville , encouraging direct public involvement in government affairs via modern technology . On November 4 , 2014 , Newsom was re @-@ elected as lieutenant governor of California , defeating Republican Ron Nehring with 57 @.@ 2 % of the vote . His second term began on January 5 , 2015 ; the same date when Governor Brown was sworn in for a second term after his re @-@ election . On February 11 , 2015 , Newsom announced that he was opening a campaign account for governor in the 2018 elections , allowing him to raise funds for a campaign to succeed Jerry Brown as the fortieth Governor of California . In 2015 , Newsom partnered with the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at California Polytechnic State University to launch Digital Democracy , an online tool that uses facial and voice recognition to enable users to navigate California legislative proceedings . In July 2015 , Newsom released the final report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy , which he had convened with the American Civil Liberties Union of California in 2013 . The report 's recommendations to regulate marijuana were intended to inform a legalization measure on the November 2016 ballot . In December 2015 , Newsom called on the University of California to reclassify computer science courses as a core academic class in order to incentivize more high schools to offer computer science curriculum . In 2016 , the Lieutenant Governor passed a series of reforms at the University of California to provide student @-@ athletes with additional academic and injury @-@ related support , and to ensure that contracts for athletic directors and coaches emphasized academic progress . This came in response to several athletics programs , including the University of California , Berkeley 's football team , which garnered the lowest graduation rates in the country . = = Personal life = = Newsom was baptized and reared Roman Catholic . He describes himself as an " Irish Catholic rebel ... in some respects , but one that still has tremendous admiration for the Church and very strong faith . " When asked about the current state of the Catholic Church , he said the church was in crisis . Newsom said he stays with the Church because of his " strong connection to a greater purpose , and ... higher being ... " Newsom identifies himself as a practicing Catholic , stating that he has a " strong sense of faith that is perennial : day in and day out . " In December 2001 , Newsom married Kimberly Guilfoyle , a former San Francisco prosecutor and legal commentator for Court TV , CNN , and MSNBC and who is now a prominent personality on Fox News Channel . The couple married at Saint Ignatius Catholic Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco , where Guilfoyle attended law school . The couple appeared in the September 2004 issue of Harper 's Bazaar , a fashion magazine , in a spread of them at the Getty mansion with the title the " New Kennedys . " In January 2005 , they jointly filed for divorce , citing " difficulties due to their careers on opposite coasts . " In 2005 , Newsom was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum . In January 2007 , it was revealed that Newsom had had a romantic relationship in mid @-@ 2005 with Ruby Rippey @-@ Tourk , the wife of his former deputy chief of staff and then campaign manager , Alex Tourk . Tourk filed for divorce shortly after the revelation and left Newsom 's campaign and administration . Newsom 's affair with Rippey @-@ Tourk impacted his popularity with male voters , who viewed his indiscretions as a betrayal of a close friend and ally . Newsom announced in February 2007 that he would seek treatment for alcohol abuse . In September 2006 , Newsom began dating actress Jennifer Siebel after being set up for a blind date by a mutual friend , Kathy Wilsey . In December 2007 their engagement was announced , and they were married in Stevensville , Montana , in July 2008 . In September 2009 , Siebel gave birth to a girl , Montana Tessa Newsom . Siebel gave birth to a son , Hunter Siebel Newsom , on June 12 , 2011 . Daughter Brooklynn was born July 3 , 2013 . On February 26 , 2016 the Newsoms announced the birth of their fourth child , Dutch . In 2012 , Newsom and his family moved out of San Francisco and bought a house in Kentfield , California . The house is a mid @-@ century home on 1 @.@ 38 acres . It also hosts direct views of Mount Tamalpais . Newsom bought it for $ 2 @.@ 145 million . = = Electoral history = =
= Shepton Mallet = Shepton Mallet is a town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England . Situated approximately 18 miles ( 29 km ) south of Bristol and 5 miles ( 8 @.@ 0 km ) east of Wells , the town is estimated to have a population of 10 @,@ 369 . It contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council . The Mendip Hills lie to the north , and the River Sheppey runs through the town . Shepton Mallet lies on the route of the Fosse Way , the principal Roman road into the south west of England , and there is evidence of Roman settlement . The town contains a fine parish church and a considerable number of listed buildings . Shepton Mallet Prison was England 's oldest prison still in use until its closure in March 2013 . In medieval times , the wool trade was important in the town 's economy , although this declined in the 18th century to be replaced by other industries such as brewing ; the town continues to be a major centre for the production of cider . Shepton Mallet is the closest town to the site of the Glastonbury Festival , the largest music festival in Europe . Also nearby is the Royal Bath and West of England Society showground which hosts the Royal Bath and West Show , and other major shows and festivals . = = History = = The name Shepton derives from the Old English scoep and tun , meaning ' sheep farm ' ; the Domesday Book of 1086 records a settlement known as Sceaptun . The current spelling is recorded at least as far back as 1496 , in a letter from Henry VII . The second part of the name derives from that of the Norman Malet family who took a lease from Glastonbury Abbey around 1100 . The second ' L ' appears to have been added in the 16th century . = = = Prehistoric settlement = = = Archaeological investigations have found evidence for prehistoric activity in the Shepton Mallet area , with substantial amounts of Neolithic flint being found , as well as some pottery fragments from the late Neolithic period . The two barrows on Barren Down , to the north of the town centre , have been found to contain cremation burials from the bronze age , and a further bronze age burial site contained a skeleton as well as some pottery . The remains of iron age roundhouses were found at Cannard 's Grave , in the vicinity of what would later become the Fosse Way , along with artefacts such as quernstones and beads , and a probable iron age farm settlement enclosure has been identified at Field Farm . In the countryside surrounding the town , there is evidence of iron age cave dwellings in Ham Woods , to the north @-@ west , and a number of burial mounds have been identified at Beacon Hill , a short distance north of the town . = = = Roman occupation = = = Shepton Mallet is situated approximately halfway between the Roman towns of Bath and Ilchester on the Fosse Way , and , although there are no visible remains ( apart from the line of the Roman road itself ) , there is archaeological evidence for both early military , and later civilian , settlement lasting into the 5th century . Domed pottery kilns , with pottery still in situ , were identified on the site of the Anglo @-@ Bavarian Brewery in the mid @-@ 19th century , suggesting military activity in the 1st and 2nd centuries . Several hoards of Roman coins ranging from the 1st to 4th centuries have also been found , as well as over 300 fibula brooches , potsherds and other artefacts . In addition , a few isolated burials near the route of the Fosse Way were found during the 19th century . A lead coffin within a rock @-@ cut grave was discovered at a site adjacent to the Fosse Way in 1988 . This discovery , and the impending commercial development of the site by the landowner , Showerings , led archaeologists to undertake more extensive excavations in the 1990s . The grave was found to be part of a larger cemetery which contained 17 burials lying on a rough east @-@ west alignment , indicating probable Christian adherence . Two other , smaller , cemeteries contained graves aligned north @-@ south , possibly signifying pagan religious practices . One burial was within a substantial stone coffin which had been positioned beneath a mausoleum , the foundations of which remained . A particularly notable find in the Fosse Way burials was a Chi @-@ Rho amulet , at the time thought to be from the 5th century , and so held to be among the earliest definite evidence of Christianity in England . A copy of the amulet was presented to the then Archbishop of Canterbury , George Carey , by the churches of the Diocese of Bath and Wells . Although the amulet now resides in the Museum of Somerset , analysis by Liverpool University in 2008 using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy demonstrated that it was a hoax , as the silver within it dated to the 19th century or later . As well as the cemeteries , the excavations in the 1990s confirmed the presence of a linear settlement , stretching along the Fosse Way for perhaps a kilometre , comprising cobbled streets , wooden and stone workshops and houses ( some with two storeys ) containing hearths and ovens , industrial areas , and a stone @-@ lined well . A great many artefacts were found , including both local and imported pottery ( such as samian ware ) , items of jewellery such as brooches , rings and bracelets , toilet items including tweezers , ear scoops and nail cleaners , bronze and iron tools , and a lead ingot which probably originated from the Romans ' lead mines on the Mendip Hills . Coins minted across the Roman empire were also found . The finds on the site indicate occupation from the late 1st , or early 2nd , century to the late 4th , or early 5th , century , although as no public buildings were found the settlement was probably not , technically , a town . = = = Saxon and Norman periods = = = There is a small amount of evidence of Saxon settlement in the town , including some Saxon stonework in the parish church of St Peter and St Paul . In addition , a charter of King Ine of Wessex , dating from 706 and witnessed by nine Bishops including the Archbishop of Canterbury , records the granting of the area in which Shepton Mallet is now situated to Abbot Berwald of Glastonbury Abbey . According to some legends Indract of Glastonbury was buried in Shepton . The town fell within the Whitstone Hundred , and the hundred courts were held at Cannard 's Grave , a short distance to the south of the town . The Exeter Domesday Book records that , at the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066 , the site was held ( probably by lease from the Abbey ) by one Uluert , and by Roger de Corcella at the time of the survey in 1086 . When Roger de Corcella died , sometime before or around 1100 , the land passed to the Malets , a very prominent Norman family , who caused their name to be added to that of the settlement ( and also of another of their holdings , Curi – now Curry Mallet ) . = = = Middle Ages = = = The Malet family retained the estate until the reign of King John , when on the death of William Malet ( fl . 1192 – 1215 ) ( and on the payment by his sons @-@ in @-@ law of a fine of two thousand marks , due to William having participated in a rebellion against the King ) it passed through his daughter Mabel to her husband Hugh de Vivonne . Some generations later , the part of the estate containing Shepton Mallet was sold to a relative , Sir Thomas Gournay . His son , also called Thomas , participated in the murder of Edward II , and his estates were confiscated by Edward III in 1337 . However the family regained favour with the King some years later , and the lands were returned . When Mathew de Gournay died childless in 1406 , the estate again reverted to the Crown , before being granted out to Sir John de Tiptoft . It was once again confiscated from his son by Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses ( due to the family siding with Edward IV ) , but was restored to Sir John 's grandson , Edward Tiptoft , when Edward IV regained the throne . However , he died without issue , and there followed a succession of grants and reversions until Glastonbury Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII , and the Abbey 's lands , including Shepton Mallet , were granted to the Duchy of Cornwall in 1536 . Charters for the holding of markets and fairs were granted in 1235 ( though this charter was swiftly revoked following objections by the Bishop of Wells to the competition it represented to the market in that city ) , 1260 and 1318 , and indicate that the town was developing and prospering in the 13th and early 14th centuries . However the Black Death struck the town in 1348 , reducing the population to about 300 . In the late 14th and early 15th centuries , the population and economy of the town were bolstered by the arrival of craftsmen and merchants from France and the Low Countries who came to England to escape wars and religious persecution in their home countries . They introduced cloth @-@ making which , together with the local wool trade , became a major industry in Shepton and other towns in Somerset and Wiltshire . Indeed , it appears that wool became such a source of riches for the town that when , in 1496 , Henry VII needed to raise money to fight the Scots , he called upon the wool @-@ merchants of Shepton to contribute £ 10 to the cause : = = = Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion = = = In 1625 , a House of Correction was established in Shepton Mallet . In the English Civil War the town supported the parliamentary side , although Shepton appears to have mostly escaped conflict apart from a bloodless confrontation between supporters of the King , led by Sir Ralph Hopton , and Parliament , led by Colonel William Strode , in the market place on 1 August 1642 . In 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax led the New Model Army through the town on the way to capturing Bristol , and in 1646 the church organ was apparently destroyed by Cromwellian soldiers . During the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 , the Duke of Monmouth was welcomed when he passed through Shepton Mallet , staying in Longbridge House in Cowl Street on the night of 23 June , with his men quartered throughout the town , before setting out for Bristol the following day . Many Shepton men joined the cause , but Monmouth failed to take Bath or Bristol and had to return to Shepton on 30 June . Following the Battle of Sedgemoor , the Duke fled and spent the night of 6 July at Downside , a mile north of Shepton , before continuing his flight for two more days before his capture . Following the Bloody Assizes , twelve local supporters of Monmouth were hanged and quartered in the Market Place of the town . In 1699 Edward Strode built almshouses , close to the rectory his family had built to house the town 's grammar school , which lasted until 1900 . = = = 18th – 20th centuries = = = In the 17th and 18th centuries the wool and cloth industries continued to thrive , powered by the waters of the River Sheppey . There were reputed to be 50 mills in the town and surrounding area in the early 18th century , and a number of fine clothiers ' houses survive , particularly in Bowlish , a hamlet on the western edge of Shepton Mallet . Although these industries employed some 4 @,@ 000 people towards the end of the century , they were already beginning to decline by this time . Discontent at the mechanisation of the mills resulted in the deaths of two men in a riot in the town in 1775 , an event which apparently discouraged the mill @-@ owners from modernising further . The decision resulted in Shepton 's cloth trade losing out to the steam @-@ powered mills in the north of England in the early 19th century . The manufacture of silk and crepe revived the town 's fortunes somewhat , and Shepton 's mills manufactured the silk used in Queen Victoria 's wedding dress . However these industries also died out eventually . While wool , cloth and silk were declining , other industries were growing , and in the 19th and 20th centuries brewing , in particular , became one of the town 's major industries . The Anglo @-@ Bavarian Brewery , built in 1864 and still a local landmark , was the first in England to brew lager . At its height , the brewery was exporting 1 @.@ 8 million bottles a year to Australia , New Zealand , India , South Africa , South America and the West Indies . It closed in 1921 . However the town , which is the home of Babycham , is still an important centre for cider production . For a period during World War II , Shepton Mallet Prison was used to store important national records from the Public Record Office , including Magna Carta , the Domesday Book , the logbooks of HMS Victory , dispatches from the Battle of Waterloo , and the " scrap of paper " signed by Hitler and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at the Munich Conference of September 1938 . The prison also became a US Army detention facility , and between 1943 and 1945 , 18 American servicemen were executed within the prison walls , having been convicted by US court @-@ martial of murder , rape or both . The population of Shepton Mallet was fairly stable through the 19th century and the first part of the 20th : in 1801 , it was 5 @,@ 104 and in 1851 only slightly more at 5 @,@ 117 , although by 1901 it had swelled to 5 @,@ 446 , before falling back to 5 @,@ 260 in 1951 . By 2001 , it had increased significantly to 8 @,@ 981 . = = Governance and public services = = Shepton Mallet is in the Mendip local government district which is part of the county of Somerset . In the 80 years prior to 1974 , the town had lain within Shepton Mallet Urban District . The town elects one councillor to Somerset County Council ; at the last election in 2012 , a conservative was elected . Shepton Mallet has four councillors on Mendip District Council , two elected by each of the two wards that make up the town . After the elections in 2015 all were Conservatives . The civil parish of Shepton Mallet has adopted the style of a town , and there is a Town Council of 16 members . Councillors are split equally between the two wards : Shepton East and Shepton West . The most recent elections were in May 2015 , following which the council is made up of five Conservatives , five Liberal Democrats , three members of the Labour Party and three independent councillors . Shepton Mallet falls within the Wells parliamentary constituency . Since the general election on 7 May 2015 the MP is James Heappey of the Conservative Party . The town is within the South West England European Parliamentary constituency , which elects six MEPs . It is twinned with three European towns : Misburg in Germany , Oissel sur Seine in France , and Bollnäs in Sweden . There are two doctors ' surgeries in Shepton Mallet , a National Health Service community hospital formerly operated by Somerset Primary Care Trust , and an independent sector treatment centre , which carries out a range of surgical procedures . The nearest general hospital is the Royal United Hospital in Bath . Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service have a retained fire station in the town , which is adjacent to the ambulance station operated by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust . Avon and Somerset Constabulary closed the local police station in 2014 and the town falls within the Somerset East policing district . = = Geography = = Shepton Mallet lies in the southern foothills of the Mendip Hills . The area is geologically founded on Forest Marble , Blue Lias and Oolitic limestone . = = = Nearby cave systems = = = To the north of the town are several caves of the Mendip Hills , including Thrupe Lane Swallet which is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest ( SSSI ) , and the St. Dunstan 's Well Catchment which is an important cave system including a series of spectacularly @-@ decorated caves which in total extend to about 4 miles ( 6 @.@ 4 km ) of mapped passage . The caves at Fairy Cave Quarry were formed mainly by the erosive action of water flowing beneath the water @-@ table at considerable pressure ( so called ' phreatic ' development ) , but as the water table has fallen many of the caves now lie well above it and the system now contains a variety of cave formations ( stalagmites , stalactites and calcite curtains ) which in their extent and preservation are amongst the best in Britain . Shatter Cave and Withyhill Cave are generally considered to be amongst the finest decorated caves in Britain in terms of their sheer abundance of pure white and translucent calcite deposits . Small numbers of greater horseshoe bat ( Rhinolophus ferrumequinum ) , lesser horseshoe bat ( R. hipposideros ) and Natterer 's bat ( Myotis nattereri ) hibernate in the cave system . An area of nationally rare species @-@ rich unimproved calcareous grassland of the Sheep 's @-@ fescue @-@ Meadow Oat @-@ grass type occurs in the field to the east of Stoke Lane Quarry . = = = Surrounding countryside = = = The countryside surrounding the town is mostly given over to farming , although there are a few areas of nearby woodland . Approximately 1 @.@ 8 mi ( 2 @.@ 9 km ) to the north @-@ east of the town centre is Beacon Hill Wood ( owned by the Woodland Trust ) , which is at the junction of the Fosse Way and another Roman road that runs along the top of the Mendip Hills , and which contains a number of tumuli . To the northwest of the town are Ham Woods , within which are the Windsor Hill railway tunnels and a viaduct , remnants of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway . The East Mendip Way long @-@ distance path passes around the northern edge of Shepton Mallet and through Ham Woods . South @-@ west of the town is the Friar 's Oven SSSI which is the site of herb @-@ rich calcareous grassland classified as the Upright Brome ( Bromus erectus ) type , and north @-@ east is the Windsor Hill Quarry geological SSSI , and also the Windsor Hill Marsh biological SSSI , a marshy silted pond with adjacent damp , slightly acidic grassland of interest for its diverse flora , in large part down to the varied habitats present within the small area . Two species are present which are rare in Somerset : Flat @-@ sedge ( Blysmus compressus ) and Slender Spike @-@ rush ( Eleocharis uniglumis ) . Other marshland plants found there include Purple Loosestrife , Yellow Flag ( Iris pseudacorus ) , Hard Rush ( Juncus inflexus ) , Soft Rush ( J. effusus ) , Flowering Rush ( Butomus umbellatus ) , Devil 's @-@ bit Scabious ( Succisa pratensis ) , three species of Horsetail Equisetum spp. and seven sedges Carex spp . = = = River Sheppey = = = The centre and oldest parts of Shepton Mallet are adjacent to the River Sheppey , and thus at the bottom of a valley , approximately 115 m ( 377 ft ) above sea level . The edges of the town lie about 45 m ( 148 ft ) higher up . The river has cut a narrow valley , and between Shepton Mallet and the village of Croscombe , to the west , it is bounded by steeply @-@ sloping fields and woodland . However the river flows through much of Shepton Mallet itself in underground culverts . The river occasionally floods after heavy rain , such as on 20 October 2006 , and again on 29 May 2008 , when rainfall was so heavy that the culverts were unable to cope with the volume of water , resulting in the flooding of some of the lower @-@ lying parts of the town . Some houses around Leg Square , Lower Lane and Draycott Road were submerged to a depth of 1 metre ( 3 ft 3 in ) . A study by the Environment Agency identified that the current standard of flood protection in those parts of the town was insufficient , as it was of a 5 – 10 @-@ year event standard , whereas current guidelines require protection of a 50 – 200 @-@ year standard . In the summer of 2010 , the Agency began construction of a flood alleviation scheme at a cost of about £ 1 @.@ 3 million . = = = Areas of the town = = = Within Shepton Mallet there are several distinct areas which originated as separate communities around the central point of the church and Market Place . The town centre is small , basically consisting of two streets : High Street , which runs south from the Market Place towards the Townsend Retail Park , and the pedestrianised Town Street which runs north from the Market Place to Waterloo Bridge . To the east , separated from the Market Place by the Academy complex , is the parish church of St Peter and St Paul . Lower Lane , which runs under Waterloo Bridge along the bottom of the river valley to the north of the town centre , is one of the few parts of the town where the River Sheppey runs above ground . At the eastern end is Leg Square , which is surrounded by three large houses originally built by owners of some of the town 's mills . Very close by is Cornhill , on which the former prison stands . Moving roughly eastwards , Garston Street , also in the valley @-@ bottom , consists of a long row of weavers ' and other artisans ' cottages dating from the 17th century . The eastern end of this area , adjacent to Kilver Street , is now occupied by the cider breweries . Across Kilver Street ( the A37 ) is Kilver Court , which over the course of the 20th century has been a factory , the headquarters of the Showerings brewing business , and then the headquarters of a leather @-@ goods manufacturer , Mulberry . Behind are the Kilver Court Gardens , originally built by Showerings for the recreation of their staff and set against the backdrop of part of the Charlton Viaduct . The gardens are now open to the public . On the eastern edge of the town is Charlton where there are former breweries and mills , now converted into a trading estate , and right on the edge of the town is to be found Charlton House , a luxury hotel and spa . On the southern side of the town , on a triangle of land bounded on the east by the A37 , on the north by the line of the former East Somerset Railway , and on the west by Cannard 's Grave Road , is Tadley Acres , a modern housing development built on land partly belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall . The development has been praised for the quality of its design and the use of locally sourced natural building materials . North of the former railway line is Collett Park . Across Cannard 's Grave Road from Tadley Acres is the Mid @-@ Somerset Showground . Immediately to the south @-@ west of the town centre , on a site which at the start of the 20th century had been the grounds of the former Summerleaze House and then a shoe @-@ factory , is the Townsend Retail Park , built in 2006 – 7 . West Shepton , which forms the south @-@ west corner of the town , is dominated by the former Shepton Mallet Union Workhouse , a Grade II listed building originally constructed in 1848 . It later became the Norah Fry mental hospital and is now a housing development . Nearby , on the western edge of the town , is the modern community hospital . Moving northwards , back down into the river valley , are two hamlets : Darshill , once the site of a number of mills , and Bowlish , which contains several grand clothiers ' houses . The steeply @-@ sloping fields adjoining the river between Bowlish and the rest of the Shepton Mallet are known locally as The Meadows . To their east is Hillmead , a council housing estate built in the 1960s . = = = Climate = = = Along with the rest of South West England , Shepton Mallet has a temperate climate that is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England . The annual mean temperature is about 10 ° C ( 50 ° F ) with seasonal and diurnal variations , but due to the modifying effect of the sea , the range is less than in most other parts of the United Kingdom . January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 ° C ( 34 ° F ) and 2 ° C ( 36 ° F ) . July and August are the warmest months in the region , with mean daily maxima around 21 ° C ( 70 ° F ) . In general , December is the dullest month and June the sunniest . South @-@ west England enjoys a favoured location , particularly in summer , when the Azores High extends its influence north @-@ eastwards towards the UK . Cloud often forms inland , especially near hills , and reduces exposure to sunshine . The average annual sunshine totals around 1600 hours . Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection . In summer , convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a large proportion of the annual precipitation falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year . Average rainfall is around 800 – 900 mm ( 31 – 35 in ) . About 8 – 15 days of snowfall is typical . November to March have the highest mean wind speeds , with June to August having the lightest . The predominant wind direction is from the south @-@ west . = = Demography = = In the 2001 census , the population was 8 @,@ 981 , comprising 4 @,@ 482 ( 49 @.@ 9 % ) males and 4 @,@ 499 ( 50 @.@ 1 % ) females ; 1 @,@ 976 ( 22 % ) residents were aged 16 or below , 5 @,@ 781 ( 64 @.@ 4 % ) between 16 and 65 , and 1 @,@ 224 ( 13 @.@ 6 % ) aged 65 or over . Of the population aged between 16 and 74 , 4 @,@ 200 ( 66 % ) were in employment , with only 224 ( 3 @.@ 5 % ) unemployed , with the remainder being economically inactive . About 69 % of those in employment were in service industries , with the remainder in manufacturing , while 1 @,@ 459 people were employed in managerial or professional occupations , 522 were self @-@ employed , and 1 @,@ 888 worked in routine and semi @-@ routine occupations . A total of 3 @,@ 714 households were recorded in the town , of which 2 @,@ 621 ( 70 @.@ 6 % ) were owner @-@ occupied , 515 ( 13 @.@ 9 % ) rented from private landlords , and 578 ( 15 @.@ 6 % ) rented from the local authority or other social landlord ; 3 @,@ 688 ( 99 @.@ 3 % ) heads of households were white . In late 2008 , Mendip District Council 's estimate of the town 's population was 9 @,@ 700 . = = Economy = = There is a local perception that Shepton Mallet has been in economic decline for some time . Some 350 manufacturing jobs were lost in the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century . However , the District Council asserts that , despite the loss of the manufacturing jobs on which Shepton Mallet has been historically dependent , more jobs in distribution , business services and public administration , health , education , quarrying , construction and hi @-@ tech services ( from companies such as the ISP Easynet ) have been created , thereby creating a more balanced economy . In 2001 , there were slightly more jobs in the town than economically active people , resulting in a small in @-@ flow of workers . The town centre is fairly small with a high proportion of empty premises in Market Place and the north end of High Street adjacent to Market Place . However , the pedestrianised Town Street which runs north from the Market Place to Waterloo Bridge has had significant investment in its heritage in the last five years and now enjoys almost full occupancy of its shops . Since 2010 an ' artisan quarter ' of independent shops is starting to emerge in Town Street and Market Place . Since 2004 , Shepton Mallet 's town centre buildings have benefited from two conservation schemes , the Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme and the Townscape Heritage Initiative Scheme , which provided grants for the repair of buildings , reinstatement of architectural features and enhancement of public spaces , as well as community involvement , education and training . As the body which made the bid for the funding , Mendip District Council has administrated both schemes , but all decisions are made by a steering group comprising the main stakeholders in the town . For centuries there has been a general market held each Friday in the Market Place . The market has been in decline for some years and in 2010 attempts were made to revitalise it . However , after initial interest , the number of stallholders slowly decreased . In recent months a number of suitcase traders have been supporting the market on a regular basis and this has attracted local interest . The furniture store Haskins , which originated in Shepton Mallet in 1938 , has its principal showroom in the High Street within Haskins Retail Centre , which also includes a number of others shops including Aldi supermarket , Edinburgh Woollen Mill , Ponden Home , Pavers Shoes and an outlet clothing store . Retail jobs in the town increased in number in 2006 – 7 when a new shopping development , including a large Tesco supermarket , a clothes store and other retailers , was constructed on a site just south of the town centre , which had once been a factory making Clarks shoes and later Doc Martens boots . This development attracted national media attention when protesters occupied the site to try to prevent the felling of an avenue of trees dating back to the 19th century . It has also divided opinion in the town , between those who hoped it would help to revitalise the town , and others who feared that local traders would be unable to compete , leading to a further decline of Shepton Mallet 's High Street . There is also the Mulberry Factory Shop located on Kilver Street , near to the former Mulberry headquarters . Shepton Mallet is home to three international alcoholic drinks producers . The Gaymer Cider Company , a subsidiary of C & C Group , produces Blackthorn and Gaymer 's Olde English cider . Constellation Brands , former owners of Gaymers , produces Babycham . Family @-@ run Brothers Drinks produces Brothers Cider and runs a contract bottling operation for many other drinks companies . As well as the annual Royal Bath and West Show and other agricultural shows , the Royal Bath & West Showground near Evercreech , 2 @.@ 5 mi ( 4 @.@ 0 km ) south @-@ east of the town , hosts events such as the New Wine and Soul Survivor Christian festivals and the National Adventure Sports Show , fairs and markets including the Shepton Mallet International Antiques & Collectors ' Fair , and exhibitions and trade shows such as the National Amateur Gardening Show . = = Transport = = The A37 road runs north and south through Shepton Mallet , along the line of the Fosse Way between the south of the town and Ilchester . The A361 from Frome skirts the eastern edge of Shepton Mallet on its way to Glastonbury , and the A371 from Castle Cary passes through the town on its way west to Wells ; for some distance , both routes follow the line of the A37 . Shepton Mallet had railway stations on two lines , both now closed . The first station , called Shepton Mallet ( High Street ) in British Railways days , was on the East Somerset Railway branch line from Witham and opened in 1859 . The line was extended to Wells in 1862 and later connected to the Cheddar Valley line branch of the Bristol and Exeter Railway from Yatton to Wells via Cheddar . Through services between Yatton and Witham started in 1870 . The line was absorbed into the Great Western Railway in the 1870s . A second station , later called Shepton Mallet ( Charlton Road ) , opened in 1874 with the building of the Bath extension of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway . This station was some distance east of the centre of the town and was approached on the Charlton Viaduct . Both stations closed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching Axe . Shepton Mallet ( High Street ) closed with the withdrawal of passenger services on the Yatton to Witham line in 1963 , though part of the former East Somerset line remains open for freight and as a heritage railway . Shepton Mallet ( Charlton Road ) closed in 1966 with the closure of the Somerset and Dorset line . Nowadays , the nearest Network Rail station is Castle Cary , some eight miles south of Shepton Mallet . However , the nearest station on the East Somerset Railway is Mendip Vale , which is a mile and a half away . A bus service to the town is provided by First Somerset & Avon . = = Landmarks = = There are 218 listed buildings in Shepton Mallet and the town is in receipt of funding for the restoration of chosen town @-@ centre historic buildings from the English Heritage Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme and the National Lottery Townscape Heritage Initiative . The town centre , and the Bowlish , Darshill and Charlton areas , form a conservation area . The hexagonal market cross in the town centre , 50 ft ( 15 m ) tall , dates back to a bequest of £ 20 by Walter Buckland in 1520 , and was rebuilt in 1841 . Also in the market place is The Shambles , a medieval market stall , although it has been much restored . Former HM Prison Shepton Mallet sometimes known as Cornhill , was built in 1610 , is located close to the town centre , adjacent to the parish church . On 10 January 2013 , Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced that it was one of seven prisons in England to close . On 24 December 2014 it was announced that the prison had been sold to Town & Country and public consultations are taking place to seek agreement on its future use . There are a number of fine houses in the older parts of the town around Lower Lane and Leg Square , as well as in the outlying suburbs such as Charlton and Bowlish . Old Bowlish House , which now houses a contemporary art gallery , dates from the first half of the 17th century and was remodelled in about 1720 in the Palladian style . Bowlish House , also in the Palladian style and now a hotel and restaurant , was built in 1732 by a prosperous local clothier ; a spring is reported to rise in the cellar . Park House in Forum Lane dates to about 1700 and was modified about 1750 . Others among the 19 grade II listed buildings in Bowlish include Coombe House , which was built c . 1820 ; 14 , 15 and 16 Combe Lane , which were built around 1700 with 18th @-@ century alterations ; 26 to 29 Combe Lane , which is a former mill built around 1700 and enlarged in 1850 ; and 30 and 31 Combe Lane , which are two weaver 's cottages dating to about 1850 . What is now a stained glass studio in Ham Lane was formerly a coal store attached to a stable which belonged to the public house next door , The Butcher 's Arms , which ceased trading in 1860 . The studio has provided stained glass for , among others , the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Ghost , Midsomer Norton . As a consequence of its historic nature , Bowlish is included within Shepton Mallet 's conservation area and is a site of special archaeological interest . In the hamlet of Darshill , on the road from Shepton Mallet to Wells , there is a silk drying shed , known locally as a handle house , three walls of which are full of holes to allow the passage of air to aid in the process of drying teasle heads , which were used to raise the nap on cloth in the textile process . The Anglo @-@ Bavarian Brewery was built in the 1860s and still dominates the western parts of Shepton Mallet ; fairly nearby is a former workhouse and then hospital , the Norah Fry Hospital , which was built in 1848 and has now been converted into housing . Two now @-@ disused railway viaducts are to be found in the town , including the Charlton Viaduct which has 27 arches , each spanning 28 feet ( 8 @.@ 5 m ) . It is on a curve of 30 chains radius falling at 1 in 55 from each end to the midpoint . The market cross , the prison and prison wall , The Merchants House ( 8 Market Place ) , Anglo @-@ Bavarian Brewery , Charlton Viaduct , the former St Michael 's Roman Catholic Church at Townsend , and Bowlish House , Old Bowlish House and Park House in Bowlish are the town 's nine grade II * listed buildings . The town centre was extensively remodelled in the 1970s , a scheme financed by the Showerings family who owned the town 's cider manufactories . The scheme included a new library ( in a faithful copy of a former inn , The Bunch of Grapes , which had been demolished ) , and a new entertainment complex called The Centre , entirely in concrete , on the eastern side of the market square . When the allegedly Roman Chi Rho amulet was found in the Fosse Lane excavations in the 1990s , the complex was renamed The Amulet in honour of the find . It has recently been renamed again as The Academy . Shepton benefits from a sizeable park , a gift of land from a local man , John Kyte Collett . As a boy he was thrown out of the grounds of local estates for trespass so in later life he purchased and gave land to the town to provide a public space ; this park , which opened in 1906 , is called Collett Park in his honour . = = Religious sites = = The Grade I listed parish church of St Peter and St Paul dates from the 12th century , but the current building is largely from the 15th century , with further rebuilding in 1836 . The oak wagon roof , made up of 350 panels of different designs , separated by 396 carved foliage bosses ( supposedly every one different ) and with 36 carved angels along the sides , was described by British historian Nikolaus Pevsner as " the finest 15th century carved oak wagon @-@ roof in England " . It was restored , at a cost of £ 5 @,@ 000 , in 1953 – 54 . The former St Michael 's Roman Catholic Church , which was built in 1804 , is now a warehouse . A modern Catholic Church , built in 1966 , is located in Park Road . There was also , between 1810 and 1831 , a convent of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary ( also known as the Salesian Sisters ) based in a mansion in Draycott Road . The building , which is now known as Sales House , was subsequently used as a Lodge by Shepton Mallet 's freemasons , and is now used as social housing . The Salvation Army has meeting rooms in the town , whilst the local Methodists , who previously worshipped in their own Chapel in Paul Street ( built in 1810 ; it is now a community centre ) , have an agreement to share the parish church with the Anglican congregation . The Baptist Chapel in Commercial Road was built in 1801 as a Congregational Church . There were previously a number of other non @-@ conformist chapels in Shepton , the most notable of which is the Unitarian Chapel on Cowl Street which was built in 1692 and enlarged in 1758 ; it is now a private dwelling . = = Education = = There are three primary schools within Shepton Mallet . Shepton Mallet Infants School on Waterloo Road was rated as good by Ofsted in 2013 . St Paul 's Junior School on Commercial Road was assessed as good in 2008 , as was Bowlish Primary School when it was last inspected in 2007 . Education for 11- to 16 @-@ year @-@ olds is provided by Whitstone School , which is a Technology College . In 2013 , it was assessed by Ofsted as good . For post @-@ 16 education , students travel to colleges in other local towns , for example Frome Community College , Strode College in Street or Norton Radstock College in Midsomer Norton . = = Culture = = During the summer of 2010 , the television production company Wall to Wall filmed a series for BBC One in the town centre which was broadcast from 2 November 2010 . Called Turn Back Time – The High Street , the series features a number of families running traditional bakers , butchers , grocers , and dressmakers shops , as well as a tea room , as they would have been during the Victorian and Edwardian eras , during World War II , and in the 1960s and 1970s . A town fete called Collett Day is held in June in the town 's Collett Park . A free one @-@ day agricultural show , the Mid @-@ Somerset Show , is held on fields on Shepton Mallet 's southern edge in August . The Glastonbury Festival , the largest music festival in Europe , is held slightly west of the village of Pilton , approximately 3 @.@ 5 miles ( 5 @.@ 6 km ) south @-@ west of Shepton . The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music was held at Shepton Mallet in 1970 . The town also hosts the annual Shepton Mallet Digital Arts Festival which was founded in 2009 . In 2007 , The Amulet complex in the town centre became the base for the Bristol Academy of Performing Arts ( BAPA ) , and the complex was renamed The Academy . In 2009 , BAPA went into administration and was briefly replaced by the Musical Theatre School , before that also failed . The complex 's auditorium has the only suspended seating system in the United Kingdom . The town 's weekly newspaper , part of the Mid Somerset Series , is called the Shepton Mallet Journal . The town is also covered by the Fosse Way Magazine and Mendip Times . In 2007 , Shepton Mallet came to international attention when Westcountry Farmhouse Cheesemakers broadcast the maturation of a round of Cheddar cheese called Wedginald , an event that attracted more than 1 @.@ 5 million viewers . = = Sport and leisure = = Shepton Mallet has a Non @-@ League football club Shepton Mallet F.C. who play at The Playing Fields . Shepton Mallet has a hockey club who play at the leisure centre = = Notable people = = Edmund Adams ( 1915 – 2005 ) , cricketer , was born in Shepton Mallet . Simon Browne ( 1680 – 1732 ) , a dissenting preacher and theologian , born in Shepton Mallet . He preached at Old Jewry in London and in Portsmouth . Christopher Cazenove ( 1945 – 2010 ) , cinema , television and stage actor , lived at Ham Manor in Bowlish , near Shepton Mallet , as a child . William Henry Coombes ( 1767 – 1850 ) , Catholic theologian , was a priest in Shepton Mallet from 1810 to 1849 and then retired to nearby Downside Abbey . Herbert Foxwell ( 1849 – 1936 ) , economist , was born in Shepton Mallet on 17 June 1849 . Sir Ronald Gould ( 1904 – 1986 ) , general secretary of the National Union of Teachers from 1947 to 1970 , was educated at Shepton Mallet Grammar School . Racey Helps ( 1913 – 1970 ) , children 's writer and illustrator , lived in the town in the 1940s . Hugh Inge or Ynge ( died 1528 ) , Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland , was a native of Shepton Mallet . John Lewis ( 1836 – 1928 ) , founder of the British department store John Lewis , was born in Town Street in Shepton Mallet on 24 February 1836 . Frank Tuohy ( 1925 – 1999 ) , novelist and short @-@ story writer , lived in Shepton Mallet following his retirement , and died in the town 's hospital on 11 April 1999 . = = Twin towns = = Shepton Mallet is twinned with : Misburg in Germany ; Bollnäs in Gävleborg County , Sweden ; and Oissel sur Seine in Haute @-@ Normandie , France .
= M @-@ 68 ( Michigan highway ) = M @-@ 68 is an east – west state trunkline highway located in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan . The western terminus of the highway begins four miles ( 6 @.@ 4 km ) east of the Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan and ends a few blocks from Lake Huron in Rogers City . M @-@ 68 skirts just south of Indian River and Burt Lake . The first incarnation of M @-@ 68 existed in the Upper Peninsula before being absorbed into M @-@ 35 . The current designation was created in 1936 . A segment of highway once used by US Highway 23 ( US 23 ) was incorporated into the trunkline as a discontinuous section in the early 1940s until it was later connected in 1946 . = = Route description = = M @-@ 68 starts in the community of Alanson 4 miles ( 6 @.@ 4 km ) east of Little Traverse Bay in Emmet County . US 31 runs along Burr Avenue parallel to the former Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad line and depot in town . M @-@ 68 starts at an intersection between Chicago Street and Burr Avenue . The trunkline runs southeasterly from this intersection and on a bridge over the Crooked River . After leaving town , the highway curves to run due east through hilly terrain . After crossing the Cheboygan County line , the roadway meets the community of Burt Lake . It curves southeasterly along the shoreline of the lake of the same name . The roadway rounds the south end of Burt Lake and approaches the community of Indian River . South of Burt Lake State Park , the trunkline meets Straits Highway , the former routing of US 27 through Indian River . M @-@ 68 turns north along Straits Highway through downtown and then turns east toward Interstate 75 ( I @-@ 75 ) . It is along this section of M @-@ 68 that the roadway crosses the Sturgeon River . The Michigan Department of Transportation ( MDOT ) measured the highest annual average daily traffic ( AADT ) figures for M @-@ 68 along the section of highway west of Indian River . AADT is a measure of the average number of vehicles using a segment of roadway on any given day of the year , and for 2007 , MDOT measured it at 9 @,@ 200 vehicles daily . After crossing I @-@ 75 at exit 310 , M @-@ 68 heads southeasterly , parallel to the Crumley Creek , out of town . The roadway continues through hilly terrain and crosses the Pigeon River on the route to Afton . M @-@ 68 merges with M @-@ 33 east of Afton . M @-@ 33 curves from the north toward the east . There is a small connector in this intersection to allow southbound M @-@ 33 traffic to turn west along M @-@ 68 instead of merging into the combined eastbound M @-@ 33 / M @-@ 68 traffic . The two highways continue together in a concurrency through the wooded , hilly terrain to the unincorporated community of Tower , where they cross the Black River . It is east of this river crossing where the highway meets the southern end of F @-@ 05 , a County @-@ Designated Highway that runs along Black River Road . M @-@ 33 / M @-@ 68 cross into Presque Isle County just west of Onaway . M @-@ 68 turns northwest along Washington Avenue , and M @-@ 33 turns south along Michigan Street . M @-@ 68 turns east on State Street through downtown and runs out of town to cross the Rainy River in rural Presque Isle County . East of the Ocqueoc River crossing , M @-@ 68 turns north along Millersburg Road . The highway later curves back to the east near Ocqueoc Falls Highway , home of a bridge that carried the highway before 1954 . M @-@ 68 continues to follow Hutchinson Road eastward over the Little Ocqueoc River and on to the Rogers City area . This section of highway had the lowest AADT levels in 2007 at 1 @,@ 400 vehicles daily . The highway turns northeasterly after intersecting Airport Highway on the outskirts of town . Renamed as Erie Street , M @-@ 68 meets US 23 southwest of downtown . The highway continues along Erie Street until meeting Bus . US 23 , which runs along Third Street . This intersection marks the end of M @-@ 68 , four blocks from Lake Huron , 53 @.@ 390 miles ( 85 @.@ 923 km ) from its start in Alanson . = = History = = = = = Previous incarnation = = = The first highway to bear the M @-@ 68 designation was located in the western Upper Peninsula . It ran north from Rockland to Ontonagon and then westerly toward Silver City in 1919 . This roadway was redesignated by 1927 as a segment of M @-@ 35 . = = = Current incarnation = = = M @-@ 68 was designated along a segment of its current roadway in 1936 . The roadway connecting Alanson and Indian River was given the M @-@ 68 designation , while US 23 was routed between Rogers City and Afton . When US 23 was moved to its current lakeshore routing between Rogers City and Cheboygan in 1940 , M @-@ 33 was extended westerly from Onaway to Afton and north to Cheboygan over the former US 23 roadway . The Afton – Onaway segment of M @-@ 33 and the remainder of the former US 23 east of Onaway was designated as a second segment of M @-@ 68 as well . The gap between these two segments was eliminated by July 1946 . Two realignments were made to the highways routing . The first bypassed a bridge over the Ocqueoc River in Presque Isle County in 1954 . This 50 @-@ foot ( 15 m ) bridge was built in 1920 at a cost of $ 8 @,@ 849 ( equivalent to $ 588 @,@ 744 in 2015 ) in the filled spandrel arch style . A second change in the routing between 1961 and 1962 moved the trunkline to a more direct connection between Indian River and Afton . This change also bypassed the last remaining gravel section of the highway . = = Major intersections = =
= History of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth ( 1569 – 1648 ) = History of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth ( 1569 – 1648 ) covers a period in the history of Poland and Lithuania , before their joint state was subjected to devastating wars in the middle of the 17th century . The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , a more closely unified federal state , replacing the previously existing personal union of the two countries . The Union was largely run by the Polish and increasingly Polonized Lithuanian and Ruthenian nobility , through the system of the central parliament and local assemblies , but from 1573 led by elected kings . The formal rule of the proportionally more numerous than in other European countries nobility constituted a sophisticated early democratic system , in contrast to the absolute monarchies prevalent at that time in the rest of Europe . The Polish – Lithuanian Union had become an influential player in Europe and a vital cultural entity , spreading Western culture eastward . In the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century , the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth was a huge state in central @-@ eastern Europe , with an area approaching one million square kilometers . Following the Reformation gains ( the Warsaw Confederation of 1573 was the culmination of the unique in Europe religious toleration processes ) , the Catholic Church embarked on an ideological counter @-@ offensive and Counter @-@ Reformation claimed many converts from Protestant circles . Disagreements over and difficulties with the assimilation of the eastern Ruthenian populations of the Commonwealth had become clearly discernible . At an earlier stage ( from the late 16th century ) , they manifested themselves in the religious Union of Brest , which split the Eastern Christians of the Commonwealth , and on the military front , in a series of Cossack uprisings . The Commonwealth , assertive militarily under King Stephen Báthory , suffered from dynastic distractions during the reigns of the Vasa kings Sigismund III and Władysław IV . It had also become a playground of internal conflicts , in which the kings , powerful magnats and factions of nobility were the main actors . The Commonwealth fought wars with Russia , Sweden and the Ottoman Empire . At the Commonwealth 's height , some of its powerful neighbors experienced difficulties of their own and the Polish – Lithuanian state sought domination in Eastern Europe , in particular over Russia . Allied with the Habsburg Monarchy , it did not directly participate in the Thirty Years ' War . Tsar Ivan IV of Russia undertook in 1577 hostilities in the Livonian region , which resulted in his takeover of most of the area and caused the Polish – Lithuanian involvement in the Livonian War . The successful counter @-@ offensive led by King Báthory and Jan Zamoyski resulted in the peace of 1582 and the retaking of much of the territory contested with Russia , with the Swedish forces establishing themselves in the far north ( Estonia ) . Estonia was declared a part of the Commonwealth by Sigismund III in 1600 , which gave rise to a war with Sweden over Livonia ; the war lasted until 1611 without producing a definite outcome . In 1600 , as Russia was entering a period of instability , the Commonwealth proposed a union with the Russian state . This failed move was followed by many other similarly unsuccessful , often adventurous attempts , some involving military invasions , other dynastic and diplomatic manipulations and scheming . While the differences between the two societies and empires proved in the end too formidable to overcome , the Polish – Lithuanian state ended up in 1619 , after the Truce of Deulino , with the greatest ever expansion of its territory . At the same time it was weakened by the huge military effort made . In 1620 the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Osman II declared a war against the Commonwealth . At the disastrous Battle of Ţuţora Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski was killed and the Commonwealth 's situation in respect to the Turkish @-@ Tatar invasion forces became very precarious . A mobilization in Poland @-@ Lithuania followed and when Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz 's army withstood fierce enemy assaults at the Battle of Khotyn ( 1621 ) , the situation improved on the southeastern front . More warfare with the Ottomans followed in 1633 – 1634 and vast expanses of the Commonwealth had been subjected to Tatar incursions and slave @-@ taking expeditions throughout the period . War with Sweden , now under Gustavus Adolphus , resumed in 1621 with his attack on Riga , followed by the Swedish occupation of much of Livonia , control of Baltic Sea coast up to Puck and the blockade of Danzig . The Commonwealth , exhausted by the warfare that had taken place elsewhere , in 1626 – 1627 mustered a response , utilizing the military talents of Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski and help from Austria . Under pressure from several European powers , the campaign was stopped and ended in the Truce of Altmark , leaving in Swedish hands much of what Gustavus Adolphus had conquered . Another war with Russia followed in 1632 and was concluded without much change in the status quo . King Władysław IV then proceeded to recover the lands lost to Sweden . At the conclusion of the hostilities , Sweden evacuated the cities and ports of Royal Prussia but kept most of Livonia . Courland , which had remained with the Commonwealth , assumed the servicing of Lithuania 's Baltic trade . After Frederick William 's last Prussian homage before the Polish king in 1641 , the Commonwealth 's position in regard to Prussia and its Hohenzollern rulers kept getting weaker . = = Elective monarchy and republic of nobility = = At the outset of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , in the second half of the 16th century , Poland – Lithuania became an elective monarchy , in which the king was elected by the hereditary nobility . This king would serve as the monarch until he died , at which time the country would have another election . This monarchy has been commonly referred to as a rzeczpospolita or republic , because of the high degree of influence wielded by the noble classes , often seen as a single non @-@ homogenous class . In 1572 , Sigismund II Augustus , the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty , died without any heirs . The political system was not prepared for this eventuality , as there was no method of choosing a new king . After much debate it was determined that the entire nobility of Poland and Lithuania would decide who the king was to be . The nobility were to gather at Wola , near Warsaw , to vote in the royal election . The election of Polish kings lasted until the Partitions of Poland . The elected kings in chronological order were : Henry of Valois , Anna Jagiellon , Stephen Báthory , Sigismund III Vasa , Władysław IV , John II Casimir , Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki , John III Sobieski , Augustus II the Strong , Stanisław Leszczyński , Augustus III and Stanisław August Poniatowski . The first Polish royal election was held in 1573 . The four men running for the office were Henry of Valois , who was the brother of King Charles IX of France , Tsar Ivan IV of Russia , Archduke Ernest of Austria , and King John III of Sweden . Henry of Valois ended up a winner . But after serving as the Polish king for only four months , he received the news that his brother , the King of France , had died . Henry of Valois then abandoned his Polish post and went back to France , where he succeeded to the throne as Henry III of France . A few of the elected kings left a lasting mark in the Commonwealth . Stephen Báthory was determined to reassert the deteriorated royal prerogative , at the cost of alienating the powerful noble families . Sigismund III , Władysław IV and John Casimir were all of the Swedish House of Vasa ; preoccupation with foreign and dynastic affairs prevented them from making a major contribution to the stability of Poland @-@ Lithuania . John III Sobieski commanded the allied Relief of Vienna operation in 1683 , which turned out to be the last great victory of the " Republic of Both Nations " . Stanisław August Poniatowski , the last of the Polish kings , was a controversial figure . On the one hand he was a driving force behind the substantial and constructive reforms belatedly undertaken by the Commonwealth . On the other , by his weakness and lack of resolve , especially in dealing with imperial Russia , he doomed the reforms together with the country they were supposed to help . The Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , following the Union of Lublin , became a counterpoint to the absolute monarchies gaining power in Europe . Its quasi @-@ democratic political system of Golden Liberty , albeit limited to nobility , was mostly unprecedented in the history of Europe . In itself , it constituted a fundamental precedent for the later development of European constitutional monarchies . However the series of power struggles between the lesser nobility ( szlachta ) , the higher nobility ( magnates ) , and elected kings , undermined citizenship values and gradually eroded the government 's authority , ability to function and provide for national defense . The infamous liberum veto procedure was used to paralyze parliamentary proceedings beginning in the second half of the 17th century . After the series of devastating wars in the middle of the 17th century ( most notably the Chmielnicki Uprising and the Deluge ) , Poland @-@ Lithuania stopped being an influential player in the politics of Europe . During the wars the Commonwealth lost an estimated 1 / 3 of its population ( higher losses than during World War II ) . Its economy and growth were further damaged by the nobility 's reliance on agriculture and serfdom , which , combined with the weakness of the urban burgher class , delayed the industrialization of the country . By the beginning of the 18th century , the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , one of the largest and most populous European states , was little more than a pawn of its neighbors ( the Russian Empire , Prussia and Austria ) , who interfered in its domestic politics almost at will . In the second half of the 18th century , the Commonwealth was repeatedly partitioned by the neighboring powers and ceased to exist . = = Economic and social developments = = The agricultural trade boom in Eastern Europe showed the first signs of the approaching crisis in the 1580s , when food prices stopped increasing . It was followed by a gradual decline in agricultural products prices , a price depression , initially present in Western Europe . The negative consequences of this process on folwark economies of the East had reached its culmination in the second half of the 17th century . Further economic aggravation resulted from Europe @-@ wide devaluation of the currency around 1620 , caused by the influx of silver from the Western Hemisphere . At that time however massive amounts of Polish grain were still exported through Danzig ( Gdańsk ) . The Commonwealth nobility took a variety of steps to combat the crisis and keep up high production levels , burdening in particular the serfs with further heavy obligations . The nobles were also forcibly buying or taking over properties of the more affluent thus far peasant categories , a phenomenon especially pronounced from the mid 17th century . Capital and energy of urban enterprisers affected the development of mining and metallurgy during the earlier Commonwealth period . There were several hundred hammersmith shops at the turn of the 17th century . Great ironworks furnaces were built in the first half of that century . Mining and metallurgy of silver , copper and lead had also been developed . Expansion of salt production was taking place in Wieliczka , Bochnia and elsewhere . After about 1700 some of the industrial enterprises were increasingly being taken over by land owners who used serf labor , which led to their neglect and decline in the second half of the 17th century . Danzig had remained practically autonomous and adamant about protecting its status and foreign trade monopoly . The Karnkowski Statutes of 1570 gave Polish kings the control over maritime commerce , but not even Stephen Báthory , who resorted to an armed intervention against the city , was able to enforce them . Other Polish cities held steady and prosperous through the first half of the 17th century . War disasters in the middle of that century devastated the urban classes . A rigid social separation legal system , intended to prevent any inter @-@ class mobility , matured around the first half of the 17th century . But the nobility 's goal of becoming self @-@ contained and impermeable to newcomers had never been fully realized , as in practice even peasants on occasions acquired the noble status . Later numerous Polish szlachta clans had had such " illegitimate " beginnings . Szlachta found justification for their self @-@ appointed dominant role in a peculiar set of attitudes , known as sarmatism , that they had adopted . The Union of Lublin accelerated the process of massive Polonization of Lithuanian and Rus ' elites and general nobility in Lithuania and the eastern borderlands , the process that retarded national development of local populations there . In 1563 , Sigismund Augustus belatedly allowed the Eastern Orthodox Lithuanian nobility access to highest offices in the Duchy , but by that time the act was of little practical consequence , as there were few Orthodox nobles of any standing left and the encroaching Catholic Counter @-@ Reformation would soon nullify the gains . Many magnate families of the east were of Ruthenian origin ; their inclusion in the enlarged Crown made the magnate class much stronger politically and economically . Regular szlachta , increasingly dominated by the great land owners , lacked the will to align themselves with Cossack settlers in Ukraine to counterbalance the magnate power , and in the area of Cossack acceptance , integration and rights resorted to delayed and ineffective half @-@ measures . The peasantry was being subjected to heavier burdens and more oppression . For those reasons , the way in which the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth expansion took place and developed had caused an aggravation of both the social and national tensions , introduced a fundamental instability into the system , and ultimately resulted in the future crises of the " Republic of Nobles " . = = Western and Eastern Christianity : Counter @-@ Reformation , Union of Brest = = The increasingly uniform and polonized ( in the case of ethnic minorities ) szlachta of the Commonwealth for the most part returned to the Roman Catholic religion , or if already Catholic remained Catholic , in the course of the 17th century . Already the Sandomierz Agreement of 1570 , which was an early expression of Protestant irenicism later prominent in Europe and Poland , had a self @-@ defensive character , because of the intensification of Counter @-@ Reformation pressure at that time . The agreement strengthened the Protestant position and made the Warsaw Confederation religious freedom guarantees in 1573 possible . At the heyday of Reformation in the Commonwealth , at the end of the 16th century , there were about one thousand Protestant congregations , nearly half of them Calvinist . Half a century later , only 50 % of them had survived , with the burgher Lutheranism suffering lesser losses , the szlachta dominated Calvinism and Nontrinitarianism ( Polish Brethren ) the greatest . The closing of the Brethren Racovian Academy and a printing facility in Raków on charges of blasphemy in 1638 forewarned of more trouble to come . This Counter @-@ Reformation offensive happened somewhat mysteriously in a country , where there were no religious wars and the state had not cooperated with the Catholic Church in eradicating or limiting competing denominations . Among the factors responsible , low Protestant involvement among the masses , especially of peasantry , pro @-@ Catholic position of the kings , low level of involvement of the nobility once the religious emancipation had been accomplished , internal divisions within the Protestant movement , and the rising intensity of the Catholic Church propaganda , have been listed . The ideological war between the Protestant and Catholic camps at first enriched the intellectual life of the Commonwealth . The Catholic Church responded to the challenges with internal reform , following the directions of the Council of Trent , officially accepted by the Polish Church in 1577 , but implemented not until after 1589 and throughout the 17th century . There were earlier efforts of reform , originating from the lower clergy , and from about 1551 by Bishop Stanislaus Hosius ( Stanisław Hozjusz ) of Warmia , a lone at that time among the Church hierarchy , but ardent reformer . At the turn of the 17th century , a number of Rome educated bishops took over the Church administration at the diocese level , clergy discipline was implemented and rapid intensification of Counter @-@ Reformation activities took place . Hosius brought to Poland the Jesuits and founded for them a college in Braniewo in 1564 . Numerous Jesuit educational institutions and residencies were established in the following decades , most often in the vicinity of centers of Protestant activity . Jesuit priests were carefully selected , well educated , of both noble and urban origins . They had soon become highly influential with the royal court , while working hard within all segments of the society . The Jesuit educational programs and Counter @-@ Reformation propaganda utilized many innovative media techniques , often custom @-@ tailored for a particular audience on hand , as well as time @-@ tried methods of humanist instruction . Preacher Piotr Skarga and Bible translator Jakub Wujek count among prominent Jesuit personalities . Catholic efforts to win the population countered the Protestant idea of a national church with Polonization , or nationalization of the Catholic Church in the Commonwealth , introducing a variety of native elements to make it more accessible and attractive to the masses . The Church hierarchy went along with the notion . The changes that took place during the 17th century defined the character of Polish Catholicism for centuries to come . The apex of the Counter @-@ Reformation activity had fallen on the turn of the 17th century , the earlier years of the reign of Sigismund III Vasa ( Zygmunt III Waza ) , who in cooperation with the Jesuits and some other Church circles attempted to strengthen the power of his monarchy . The King tried to limit access to higher offices to Catholics . Anti @-@ Protestant riots took place in some cities . During the Sandomierz Rebellion of 1606 the Protestants supported the anti @-@ King opposition in large numbers . Nevertheless , the massive wave of szlachta 's return to Catholicism could not have been stopped . Although attempts were made during the common Protestant @-@ Orthodox congregations in Toruń in 1595 and in Vilnius in 1599 , the failure of the Protestant movement to form an alliance with the Eastern Orthodox Christians , the inhabitants of the eastern portion of the Commonwealth , contributed to the Protestants ' downfall . The Polish Catholic establishment would not miss the opportunity to form a union with the Orthodox , although their goal was rather the subjugation of the Eastern Rite Christians to the pope ( the papacy solicited help in bringing the " schism " under control ) and the Commonwealth 's Catholic centers of power . The Orthodox establishment was perceived as a security threat , because of the Eastern Rite bishops dependence on the Patriarchate of Constantinople at the time of an aggravating conflict with the Ottoman Empire , and because of the recent development , the establishment in 1589 of the Moscow Patriarchate . The Patriarchate of Moscow then claimed ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Orthodox Christians of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , which to many of them was a worrisome development , motivating them to accept the alternate option of union with the West . The union idea had the support of King Sigismund III and the Polish nobility in the east ; opinions were divided among the church and lay leaders of the Eastern Orthodox faith . The Union of Brest act was negotiated and solemnly concluded in 1595 – 1596 . It had not merged the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox denominations , but led to the establishment of the Slavic language liturgy Uniate Church , which was to become an Eastern Catholic Church , one of the Greek Catholic Churches ( presently Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Belarusian Greek Catholic ) . The new church , of the Byzantine Rite , accepted papal supremacy , while it retained in most respects its Eastern Rite character . The compromise union was flawed from the beginning , because despite the initial agreement , the Greek @-@ Catholic bishops were not , like their Roman Catholic counterparts , seated in the Senate , and the Eastern Rite participants of the union had not been granted full general equality they expected . The Union of Brest increased antagonisms among the Belarusian and Ukrainian communities of the Commonwealth , within which the Orthodox Church had remained the most potent religious force . It added to the already prominent ethnic and class fragmentation and became one more reason for internal infighting that was to impair the Republic . The Eastern Orthodox nobility , branded " Disuniates " and deprived of legal standing , led by Konstanty Ostrogski commenced a fight for their rights . Prince Ostrogski had been a leader of an Orthodox intellectual revival in Polish Ukraine . In 1576 , he founded an elite liberal arts secondary and academic school , the Ostroh Academy , with trilingual instruction . In 1581 , he and his academy were instrumental in the publication of the Ostroh Bible , the Bible 's first scholarly Orthodox Church Slavonic edition . As a result of the efforts , parliamentary statutes of 1607 , 1609 and 1635 recognized the Orthodox religion again , as one of the two equal Eastern churches . The restoration of Orthodox hierarchy and administrative structure proved difficult ( most bishops had become Uniates , and their Orthodox replacements of 1620 and 1621 were not recognized by the Commonwealth ) and was officially done only during the reign of Władysław IV . Władysław , facing the Cossack rebellions , put an end to decades of efforts aimed at using the Uniate Church as an instrument of attempted elimination of the Orthodox religion . By that time many of the Orthodox nobles had become Catholics , and the Orthodox leadership fell into the hands of townspeople and lesser nobility organized into church brotherhoods , and the new power in the east , the Cossack warrior class . Metropolitan Peter Mogila of Kiev , who organized an influential academy there , contributed greatly to the rebuilding and reform of the Orthodox Church . The Uniate Church , created for the Ruthenian population of the Commonwealth , in its administrative dealings gradually switched to the Polish language use . From about 1650 , the majority of the Church 's archival documents generated were in the Polish , rather than in the otherwise used Ruthenian ( its Chancery Slavonic variety ) , language . = = Culture of Early Baroque = = The Baroque style dominated the Polish culture from the 1580s , building on the achievements of the Renaissance and for a while coexisting with it , to the mid 18th century . Initially Baroque artists and intellectuals , torn between the two competing views of the world , enjoyed wide latitude and freedom of expression . Soon however the Counter @-@ Reformation instituted a binding point of view that invoked the medieval tradition , imposed censorship in education and elsewhere ( the index of prohibited books in Poland from 1617 ) , and straightened out their convoluted ways . By the middle of the 17th century the doctrine had been firmly reestablished , sarmatism and religious zealotry had become the norm . Artistic tastes of the epoch were often acquiring an increasingly Oriental character . In contrast with the integrative tendencies of the previous period , the burgher and nobility cultural spheres went their separate ways . Renaissance publicist Stanisław Orzechowski had already provided the foundations for Baroque szlachta 's political thinking . At that time there were about forty Jesuit colleges ( secondary schools ) scattered throughout the Commonwealth . They were educating mostly szlachta , burgher sons to a lesser degree . Jan Zamoyski , Chancellor of the Crown , who built the town of Zamość , established an academy there in 1594 ; it had functioned as a gymnasium only after Zamoyski 's death . The first two Vasa kings were well known for patronizing both the arts and sciences . After that the Commonwealth 's science experienced general decline , which paralleled the wartime decline of the burgher class . By the mid 16th century Poland 's university , the Academy of Kraków , entered a crisis stage , and by the early 17th century regressed into Counter @-@ reformational conformism . The Jesuits took advantage of the infighting and established in 1579 a university college in Vilnius , but their efforts aimed at taking over the Academy were unsuccessful . Under the circumstances many elected to pursue their studies abroad . Jan Brożek , a rector of the Kraków University , was a multidisciplinary scholar who worked on number theory and promoted Copernicus ' work . He was banned by the Church in 1616 and his anti @-@ Jesuit pamphlet was publicly burned . Brożek 's co @-@ worker , Stanisław Pudłowski , worked on a system of measurements based on physical phenomena . Michał Sędziwój ( Sendivogius Polonus ) was a famous in Europe alchemist , who wrote a number of treatises in several languages , beginning with Novum Lumen Chymicum ( 1604 , with over fifty editions and translations in the 17th and 18th centuries ) . A member of Emperor Rudolph II 's circle of scientists and sages , he is believed by some authorities to have been a pioneer chemist and a discoverer of oxygen , long before Lavoisier ( Sendivogius ' works were studied by leading scientists , including Isaac Newton ) . The early Baroque period produced a number of noted poets . Sebastian Grabowiecki wrote metaphysical and mystical religious poetry representing the passive current of Quietism . Another szlachta poet Samuel Twardowski participated in military and other historic events ; among the genres he pursued was epic poetry . Urban poetry was quite vital until the middle of the 17th century ; the plebeian poets criticized the existing social order and continued within the ambiance of elements of the Renaissance style . The creations of John of Kijany contained a hearty dose of social radicalism . The moralist Sebastian Klonowic wrote a symbolic poem Flis using the setting of Vistula river craft floating work . Szymon Szymonowic in his Pastorals portrayed , without embellishments , the hardships of serf life . Maciej Sarbiewski , a Jesuit , was highly appreciated throughout Europe for the Latin poetry he wrote . The preeminent prose of the period was written by Piotr Skarga , the preacher @-@ orator . In his Sejm Sermons Skarga severely criticized the nobility and the state , while expressing his support for a system based on strong monarchy . Writing of memoirs had become most highly developed in the 17th century . Peregrination to the Holy Land by Mikołaj Radziwiłł and Beginning and Progress of the Muscovy War written by Stanisław Żółkiewski , one of the greatest Polish military commanders , are the best known examples . One form of art particularly apt for Baroque purposes was the theater . Various theatrical shows were most often staged in conjunction with religious occasions and moralizing , and commonly utilized folk stylization . School theaters had become common among both the Protestant and Catholic secondary schools . A permanent court theater with an orchestra was established by Władysław IV at the Royal Castle in Warsaw in 1637 ; the actor troupe , dominated by Italians , performed primarily Italian opera and ballet repertoire . Music , both sacral and secular , kept developing during the Baroque period . High quality church pipe organs were built in churches from the 17th century ; a fine specimen has been preserved in Leżajsk . Sigismund III supported an internationally renowned ensemble of sixty musicians . Working with that orchestra were Adam Jarzębski and his contemporary Marcin Mielczewski , chief composers of the courts of Sigismund III and Władysław IV . Jan Aleksander Gorczyn , a royal secretary , published in 1647 a popular music tutorial for beginners . Martin Kober , a court painter from Wrocław , worked for Stephen Báthory and Sigismund III ; he produced a number of well @-@ known royal portraits . Between 1580 and 1600 Jan Zamoyski commissioned the Venetian architect Bernardo Morando to build the city of Zamość . The town and its fortifications were designed to consistently implement the Renaissance and Mannerism aesthetic paradigms . Mannerism is the name sometimes given to the period in art history during which the late Renaissance coexisted with the early Baroque , in Poland the last quarter of the 16th century and the first quarter of the 17th century . Polish art remained influenced by the Italian centers , increasingly Rome , and increasingly by the art of the Netherlands . As a fusion of imported and local elements , it evolved into an original Polish form of the Baroque . The Baroque art was developing to a great extent under the patronage of the Catholic Church , which utilized the art to facilitate religious influence , allocating for this purpose the very substantial financial resources at its disposal . The most important in this context art form was architecture , with features rather austere at first , accompanied in due time by progressively more elaborate and lavish facade and interior design concepts . Beginning in the 1580s , a number of churches patterned after the Church of the Gesù in Rome had been built . Gothic and other older churches were increasingly being supplemented with Baroque style architectural additions , sculptures , wall paintings and other ornaments , which is conspicuous in many Polish churches today . The Royal Castle in Warsaw , after 1596 the main residence of the monarchs , was enlarged and rebuilt around 1611 . The Ujazdów Castle ( 1620s ) of the Polish kings turned out to be architecturally more influential , its design having been followed by a number of Baroque magnate residencies . The role of Baroque sculpture was usually subordinate , as decorative elements of exteriors and interiors , and on tombstones . A famous exception is the Sigismund 's Column of Sigismund III Vasa ( 1644 ) in front of Warsaw 's Royal Castle . Realistic religious painting , sometimes entire series of related works , served its didactic purpose . Nudity and mythological themes were banned , but other than that fancy collection of Western paintings were in vogue . Sigismund III brought from Venice Tommaso Dolabella . A prolific painter , he was to spend the rest of his life in Kraków and give rise to a school of Polish painters working under his influence . Danzig ( Gdańsk ) was also a center for graphic arts ; painters Herman Han and Bartholomäus Strobel worked there , and so did Willem Hondius and Jeremias Falck , who were engravers . As compared with the previous century , even wider circles of the society participated in cultural activities , but Catholic Counter @-@ Reformation pressure resulted in diminished diversity . Catastrophic wars in the middle of the century greatly weakened the Commonwealth 's cultural development and influence in the region . = = Sejm and sejmiks = = After the Union of Lublin , the Senate of general sejm of the Commonwealth became augmented by Lithuanian high officials ; the position of the lay and ecclesiastical lords , who served for life as members of the Senate was strengthened , as the already outnumbered middle szlachta high office holders had now proportionally fewer representatives in the upper chamber . The Senate could also be convened separately by the king in its traditional capacity of the royal council , apart from any sejm 's formal deliberations , and szlachta 's attempts to limit the upper chamber 's role had not been successful . After the formal union and the addition of deputies from the Grand Duchy , and Royal Prussia , also more fully integrated with the Crown in 1569 , there were about 170 regional deputies in the lower chamber ( referred to as the Sejm ) and 140 senators . Sejm deputies doing legislative work were generally not able to act as they pleased . Regional szlachta assemblies , the sejmiks , were summoned before sessions of general sejm ; there the local nobility provided their representatives with copious instructions on how to proceed and protect the interests of the area involved . Another sejmik was called after the Sejm 's conclusion . At that time the deputies would report to their constituency on what had been accomplished . Sejmiks had become an important part of the Commonwealth 's parliamentary life , complementing the role of general sejm . They sometimes provided detailed implementations for general proclamations of sejms , or made legislative decisions during periods when the Sejm was not in session , at times communicating directly with the monarch . There was little significant parliamentary representation for the burgher class , and none for the peasants . The Jewish communities sent representatives to their own Va 'ad , or Council of Four Lands . The narrow social base of the Commonwealth 's parliamentary system was detrimental to its future development and the future of the Polish – Lithuanian statehood . From 1573 an " ordinary " general sejm was to be convened every two years , for a period of six weeks . A king could summon an " extraordinary " sejm for two weeks , as necessitated by circumstances ; an extraordinary sejm could be prolonged if the parliamentarians assented . After the Union the Sejm of the Republic deliberated in more centrally located Warsaw , except that Kraków had remained the location of coronation sejms . The turn of the 17th century brought also a permanent migration of the royal court from Kraków to Warsaw . The order of sejm proceedings was formalized in the 17th century . The lower chamber would do most of the statute preparation work . The last several days were spent working together with the Senate and the king , when the final versions were agreed upon and decisions made ; the finished legislative product had to have the consent of all three legislating estates of the realm , the Sejm , the Senate , and the monarch . The lower chamber 's rule of unanimity had not been rigorously enforced during the first half of the 17th century . General sejm was the highest organ of collective and consensus @-@ based state power . The Sejm 's supreme court , presided over by the king , decided the most serious of legal cases . During the second half of the 17th century , for a variety of reasons , including abuse of the unanimity rule ( liberum veto ) , sejm 's effectiveness had declined , and the void was being increasingly filled by sejmiks , where in practice the bulk of government 's work was getting done . = = Nobility rule , first royal election = = The system of noble democracy became more firmly rooted during the first interregnum , after the death of Sigismund II Augustus , who following the Union of Lublin wanted to reassert his personal power , rather than become an executor of szlachta 's will . A lack of agreement concerning the method and timing of the election of his successor was one of the casualties of the situation , and the conflict strengthened the Senate @-@ magnate camp . After the monarch 's 1572 death , to protect its common interests , szlachta moved to establish territorial confederations ( kapturs ) as provincial governments , through which public order was protected and basic court system provided . The magnates were able to push through their candidacy for the interrex or regent to hold the office until a new king is sworn , in the person of the primate , Jakub Uchański . The Senate took over the election preparations . The establishment 's proposition of universal szlachta participation ( rather than election by the Sejm ) appeared at that time to be the right idea to most szlachta factions ; in reality , during this first as well as subsequent elections , the magnates subordinated and directed , especially the poorer of szlachta . During the interregnum the szlachta prepared a set of rules and limitations for the future monarch to obey as a safeguard to ensure that the new king , who was going to be a foreigner , complied with the peculiarities of the Commonwealth 's political system and respected the privileges of the nobility . As Henry of Valois was the first one to sign the rules , they became known as the Henrician Articles . The articles also specified the wolna elekcja ( free election ) as the only way for any monarch 's successor to assume the office , thus precluding any possibility of hereditary monarchy in the future . The Henrician Articles summarized the accumulated rights of Polish nobility , including religious freedom guarantees , and introduced further restrictions on the elective king ; as if that were not enough , Henry also signed the so @-@ called pacta conventa , through which he accepted additional specific obligations . Newly crowned Henry soon embarked on a course of action intended to free him from all the encumbrances imposed , but the outcome of this power struggle was never to be determined . One year after the election , in June 1574 , upon learning of his brother 's death , Henry secretly left for France . = = Stephen Báthory = = In 1575 the nobility commenced a new election process . The magnates tried to force the candidacy of Emperor Maximilian II , and on 12 December Archbishop Uchański even announced his election . This effort was thwarted by the execution movement szlachta party led by Mikołaj Sienicki and Jan Zamoyski ; their choice was Stephen Báthory , Prince of Transylvania . Sienicki quickly arranged for a 15 December proclamation of Anna Jagiellon , sister of Sigismund Augustus , as the reigning queen , with Stefan Batory added as her husband and king jure uxoris . Szlachta 's pospolite ruszenie supported the selection with their arms . Batory took over Kraków , where the couple 's crowning ceremony took place on 1 May 1576 . Stephen Báthory 's reign marks the end of szlachta 's reform movement . The foreign king was skeptical of the Polish parliamentary system and had little appreciation for what the execution movement activists had been trying to accomplish . Batory 's relations with Sienicki soon deteriorated , while other szlachta leaders had advanced within the nobility ranks , becoming senators or being otherwise preoccupied with their own careers . The reformers managed to move in 1578 in Poland and in 1581 in Lithuania the out @-@ of @-@ date appellate court system from the monarch 's domain to the Crown and Lithuanian Tribunals run by the nobility . The cumbersome sejm and sejmiks system , the ad hoc confederations , and the lack of efficient mechanisms for the implementation of the laws escaped the reformers ' attention or will to persevere . Many thought that the glorified nobility rule had approached perfection . Jan Zamoyski , one of the most distinguished personalities of the period , became the king 's principal adviser and manager . A highly educated and cultivated individual , talented military chief and accomplished politician , he had often promoted himself as a tribune of his fellow szlachta . In fact in a typical magnate manner , Zamoyski accumulated multiple offices and royal land grants , removing himself far from the reform movement ideals he professed earlier . The king himself was a great military leader and far @-@ sighted politician . Of Batory 's confrontations with members of the nobility , the famous case involved the Zborowski brothers : Samuel was executed on Zamoyski 's orders , Krzysztof was sentenced to banishment and property confiscation by the sejm court . A Hungarian , like other foreign rulers of Poland , Batory was concerned with the affairs of the country of his origin . Batory failed to enforce the Karnkowski 's Statutes and therefore was unable to control the foreign trade through Danzig ( Gdańsk ) , which was to have highly negative economic and political consequences for the Republic . In cooperation with his chancellor and later hetman Jan Zamoyski , he was largely successful in the Livonian war . At that time the Commonwealth was able to increase the magnitude of its military effort : The combined for a campaign armed forces from several sources available could be up to 60 @,@ 000 men strong . King Batory initiated the creation of piechota wybraniecka , an important peasant infantry military formation . In 1577 Batory agreed to George Frederick of Brandenburg becoming a custodian for the mentally ill Albert Frederick , Duke of Prussia , which brought the two German polities closer together , to the detriment of the Commonwealth 's long @-@ term interests . = = War with Russia over Livonia = = King Sigismund Augustus ' Dominium Maris Baltici program , aimed at securing Poland 's access to and control over the portion of the Baltic region and ports that the country had vital interests in protecting , led to the Commonwealth 's participation in the Livonian conflict , which had also become another stage in the series of Lithuania 's and Poland 's confrontations with Russia . In 1563 Ivan IV took Polotsk . After the Stettin peace of 1570 ( which involved several powers , including Sweden and Denmark ) the Commonwealth remained in control of the main part of Livonia , including Riga and Pernau . In 1577 Ivan undertook a great expedition , taking over for himself , or his vassal Magnus , Duke of Holstein most of Livonia , except for the coastal areas of Riga and Reval . A success of the Polish – Lithuanian counter @-@ offensive became possible as Batory was able to secure the necessary funding from the nobility . The Polish forces recovered Dünaburg and most of middle Livonia . The King and Zamoyski then opted for attacking directly the inland Russian territory necessary for keeping Russian communication lines to Livonia open and functioning . Polotsk was retaken in 1579 and the Velikiye Łuki fortress fell in 1580 . The take @-@ over of Pskov was attempted in 1581 , but Ivan Petrovich Shuisky was able to defend the city despite a several months long siege . An armistice was arranged in Jam Zapolski in 1582 by the papal legate Antonio Possevino . The Russians evacuated all the Livonian castles they had captured , gave up the Polotsk area and left Velizh in Lithuanian hands . The Swedish forces , which took over Narva and most of Estonia , contributed to the victory . The Commonwealth ended up with the possession of the continuous Baltic coast from Puck to Pernau . = = Sigismund III Vasa 's reign = = There were several candidates for the Commonwealth crown considered after the death of Stephen Báthory , including Archduke Maximilian of Austria . Anna Jagiellon proposed and pushed for the election of her nephew Sigismund Vasa , son of John III , King of Sweden and Catherine Jagellon and the Swedish heir apparent . The Zamoyski faction supported Sigismund , the faction led by the Zborowski family wanted Maximilian ; two separate elections took place and a civil war resulted . The Habsburg 's army entered Poland and attacked Kraków , but was repulsed there and then , while retreating in Silesia , crushed by the forces organized by Jan Zamoyski at the Battle of Byczyna ( 1588 ) , where Maximilian was taken prisoner . In the meantime Sigismund also arrived and was crowned in Kraków , which initiated his long in the Commonwealth ( 1587 – 1632 ) reign as Zygmunt III Waza . The prospect of a personal union with Sweden raised for the Polish and Lithuanian ruling circles political and economic hopes , including favorable Baltic trade conditions and a common front against Russia 's expansion . However concerning the latter , the control of Estonia had soon become the bone of contention . Sigismund 's ultra @-@ Catholicism appeared threatening to the Swedish Protestant establishment and contributed to his dethronement in Sweden in 1599 . Inclined to form an alliance with the Habsburgs ( and even give up the Polish crown to pursue his ambitions in Sweden ) , Sigismund conducted secret negotiations with them and married Archduchess Anna . Accused by Zamoyski of breaking his covenants , Sigismund III was humiliated during the sejm of 1592 , which deepened his resentment of szlachta . Sigismund was bent on strengthening the power of the monarchy and Counter @-@ Reformational promotion of the Catholic Church ( Piotr Skarga was among his supporters ) . Indifferent to the increasingly common breaches of the Warsaw Confederation religious protections and instances of violence against the Protestants , the King was opposed by religious minorities . 1605 – 1607 brought fruitless confrontation between King Sigismund with his supporters and the coalition of opposition nobility . During the sejm of 1605 the royal court proposed a fundamental reform of the body itself , an adoption of the majority rule instead of the traditional practice of unanimous acclamation by all deputies present . Jan Zamoyski in his last public address reduced himself to a defense of szlachta prerogatives , thus setting the stage for the demagoguery that was to dominate the Commonwealth 's political culture for many decades . For the sejm of 1606 the royal faction , hoping to take advantage of the glorious Battle of Kircholm victory and other successes , submitted a more comprehensive constructive reform program . Instead the sejm had become preoccupied with the dissident postulate of prosecuting instigators of religious disturbances directed against non @-@ Catholics ; advised by Skarga , the King refused his assent to the proposed statute . The nobility opposition , suspecting an attempt against their liberties , called for a rokosz , or an armed confederation . Tens of thousands of disaffected szlachta , led by the ultra @-@ Catholic Mikołaj Zebrzydowski and Calvinist Janusz Radziwiłł , congregated in August near Sandomierz , giving rise to the so @-@ called Zebrzydowski Rebellion . The Sandomierz articles produced by the rebels were concerned mostly with placing further limitations on the monarch 's power . Threatened by royal forces under Stanisław Żółkiewski , the confederates entered into an agreement with Sigismund , but then backed out of it and demanded the King 's deposition . The ensuing civil war was resolved at the Battle of Guzów , where the szlachta was defeated in 1607 . Afterwards however magnate leaders of the pro @-@ King faction made sure that Sigismund 's position would remain precarious , leaving arbitration powers within the Senate 's competence . Whatever was left of the execution movement had become thwarted together with the obstructionist szlachta elements , and a compromise solution to the crisis of authority was arrived at . But the victorious lords of the council had at their disposal no effective political machinery necessary to propagate the well @-@ being of the Commonwealth , still in its Golden Age ( or as some prefer Silver Age now ) , much further . In 1611 John Sigismund , Elector of Brandenburg was allowed by the Commonwealth sejm to inherit the Duchy of Prussia fief , after the death of Albert Frederick , the last duke of the Prussian Hohenzollern line . The Brandenburg Hohenzollern branch led the Duchy from 1618 . The reforms of the execution movement had clearly established the Sejm as the central and dominant organ of state power . But this situation in reality had not lasted very long , as various destructive decentralizing tendencies , steps taken by the szlachta and the kings , were progressively undermining and eroding the functionality and primacy of the central legislative organ . The resulting void was being filled during the late 16th and 17th centuries by the increasingly active and assertive territorial sejmiks , which provided a more accessible and direct forum for szlachta activists to promote their narrowly conceived local interests . Sejmiks established effective controls , in practice limiting the Sejm 's authority ; themselves they were taking on an ever broader range of state matters and local issues . In addition to the destabilizing to the central authority role of the over 70 sejmiks , during the same period , the often unpaid army had begun establishing their own " confederations " , or rebellions . By plunder and terror they attempted to recover their compensation and pursue other , sometimes political aims . Some reforms were being pursued by the more enlightened szlachta , who wanted to expand the role of the Sejm at the monarch 's and magnate faction 's expense , and by the elected kings . Sigismund III during the later part of his rule constructively cooperated with the Sejm , making sure that between 1616 and 1632 each session of the body produced the badly needed statutes . The increased efforts in the areas of taxation and maintenance of the military forces made possible the positive outcomes of some of the armed conflicts that took place during Sigismund 's reign . = = Cossacks and Cossack rebellions = = There weren 't very many Cossacks in the mid 16th century in the south @-@ eastern borderlands of Lithuania and Poland yet , but the first companies of Cossack light cavalry had become incorporated into the Polish armed forces already around that time . During the reign of Sigismund III Vasa , the Cossack problem was beginning to play its role as Rzeczpospolita 's preeminent internal challenge of the 17th century . Conscious and planned colonization of the fertile , but underdeveloped region was pioneered in the 1580s and 1590s by the Ruthenian dukes of Volhynia . Of the Poles , only Jan Zamoyski , who penetrated the Bracław area , was economically active by the end of the 16th century . There and in the Kiev area Polish fortunes also began to develop , often through intermarriage with Ruthenian clans . In 1630 , the great Ukrainian latifundia were dominated by Ruthenian families , such as the Ostrogski , Zbaraski and Zasławski . At the outset of the great civil war of 1648 , the Polish settlers comprised barely 10 % of the middle and petty nobility , for example in the well @-@ researched Bracław Voivodeship and Kiev Voivodeship . The early Cossack rebellions were , therefore , instants of social uprising , rather than national anti @-@ Polish movements . As class warfare they were ruthlessly stamped out by the state , which would sometimes take their leaders to Warsaw for execution . Cossacks were first semi @-@ nomadic , then also settled East Slavic people of the Dnieper River area , who practiced brigandage and plunder , and , renowned for their fighting prowess , early in their history assumed a military organization . Many of them were , or originated from run @-@ away peasants from the eastern and other areas of the Commonwealth or from Russia ; other significant elements were townspeople and even nobility , who came from the region or migrated into Ukraine . Cossacks considered themselves free and independent of any bondage and followed their own elected leaders , who originated from the more affluent strata of their society . There were tens of thousands of Cossacks already early in the 17th century . They had frequently clashed with the neighboring Turks and Tatars and raided their Black Sea coastal settlements . Such excursions , executed by formal subjects of the Polish king , were intolerable from the point of view of foreign relations of the Commonwealth , because they violated peace or interfered with the state 's current policy toward the Ottoman Empire . During this earlier period of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , the separate Ukrainian national consciousness was being formed , influenced in part by the context and heroes of the Cossack uprisings . The legacy of Kievan Rus ' was recognized , as was the heritage of the East Slavic Ruthenian language . Cossacks felt being members of the " Rus ' Orthodox nation " ( the Uniate Church was practically eliminated in the Dnieper region in 1633 ) . But seeing themselves also as members of the ( Polish ) " Republic @-@ Fatherland " , they dealt with sejms and kings as its subjects . Cossacks and the Ruthenian nobility , until recently subjects of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , were not formally or otherwise connected to the Tsardom of Russia . Besides the leaders of the uprisings , Ukrainian personalities of the period included Dmytro Vyshnevetsky , Samuel Zborowski , Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski and Petro Konashevych @-@ Sahaidachny . Many Cossacks were being hired to participate in wars waged by the Commonwealth . This status resulted in privileges and often constituted a form of social upward mobility ; the Cossacks resented the periodic reductions in their enrollment . Cossack rebellions or uprisings typically assumed the form of huge plebeian social movements . The Ottoman Empire demanded a total liquidation of the Cossack power . The Commonwealth , however , needed the Cossacks in the south @-@ east , where they provided an effective buffer against Crimean Tatars incursions . The other way to quell the Cossack unrest would be to grant the nobility status to a substantial portion of their population and thus assimilate them into the Commonwealth 's power structure , which was what Cossacks aspired to . This solution was being rejected by the magnates and szlachta for political , economic and cultural reasons when there was still time for reform , before disasters struck . The Polish – Lithuanian establishment had instead shifted unsteadily between compromising with the Cossacks , allowing limited varying numbers , the so @-@ called Cossack register ( 500 in 1582 , 8000 in the 1630s ) , to serve with the Commonwealth army ( the rest were to be converted into serfdom , to help the magnates in colonizing the Dnieper area ) , and brutally using military force in an attempt to subdue them . Oppressive efforts , often led by Poles , including Crown tenants or their Jewish plenipotents , Ruthenian nobles of the Commonwealth and even upper @-@ rank Cossack officers , to subjugate and exploit economically the Cossack territories and population in Zaporizhia region , resulted in a series of Cossack uprisings , of which the early ones could have served as a warning for szlachta legislators . While Ukraine was undergoing substantial economic development , Cossacks and peasants were by and large not among the beneficiaries of the process . In 1591 the bloodily suppressed Kosiński Uprising was led by Krzysztof Kosiński . New fighting took place already in 1594 , when the Nalyvaiko Uprising engulfed large portions of Ukraine and Belarus . Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski defeated the Cossack units in 1596 and Severyn Nalyvaiko was executed . A temporary pacification of relations followed in the early 17th century , when the many wars fought by the Commonwealth necessitated greater involvement by registered Cossacks . But the Union of Brest resulted in new tensions , as the Cossacks had become dedicated adherents and defenders of the Eastern Orthodoxy . The Time of Troubles period in Russia resulted in peasant rebellions , such as the one led by Ivan Bolotnikov , which contributed also to peasant unrest in the Commonwealth and to further insurgency by the Cossacks there . The uprising of Marek Zhmaylo of 1625 was confronted by Stanisław Koniecpolski and concluded with Mykhailo Doroshenko signing the Treaty of Kurukove . More fighting soon erupted and culminated in the " Taras night " of 1630 , when the Cossack rebels under Taras Fedorovych turned against army units and noble estates . The Fedorovych Uprising was put under control by Hetman Koniecpolski . These events were followed by an increase in the Cossack registry ( Treaty of Pereyaslav ) , but then a rejection of demands by Cossack elders during the convocation sejm of 1632 . Cossacks wanted to participate in free elections as members of the Commonwealth and have religious rights of the " disuniate " Eastern Christians restored . The 1635 sejm voted instead further restrictions and authorized the construction of the Dnieper Kodak Fortress , to facilitate more effective control over the Cossack territories . Another round of fighting , the Pavluk Uprising , followed in 1637 – 1638 . It was defeated and its leader Pavel Mikhnovych executed . Upon new anti @-@ Cossack limitations and sejm statutes imposing serfdom on most Cossacks , the Cossacks rose up again in 1638 under Jakiv Ostryanin and Dmytro Hunia . The uprising was cruelly suppressed and the existing Cossack land properties were taken over by the magnates . The Commonwealth 's struggles with the Cossacks were being paid attention to at Moscow 's Kremlin , which from the late 1620s began regarding Cossacks as a potent source of fundamental instability in the Polish – Lithuanian rival and neighbor . Russian efforts to destabilize the Polish Kingdom using Cossacks in the 1630s were not yet successful , even though the Cossack elders themselves often raised the possibility of a union with the Tsardom to pressure Poland 's ruling elites . The borderlands with Russia had become a place of refuge for Cossacks persecuted after their failed uprisings ; regiments of Russian @-@ registered Cossacks , following the Commonwealth example , were eventually established there . The harsh measures restored relative calm for a decade , until 1648 . Seen by the establishment as the " golden peace " , for the Cossacks and peasants the period brought the worst oppression . During that time the private dukedoms of Ukrainian potentates , such as the families of Kalinowski , Daniłowicz and Wiśniowiecki , rapidly expanded and the folwark – serfdom economy , only then ( much later than in other parts of the Polish Crown ) being introduced in Ukraine , caused still unprecedented levels of exploitation . The Cossack affair , perceived as a weak spot of the Commonwealth , was increasingly becoming an issue in international politics . = = Władysław IV = = Władysław IV Vasa , son of Sigismund III , ruled the Commonwealth during 1632 – 1648 . Born and raised in Poland , prepared for the office from the early years , popular , educated , free of his father 's religious prejudices , he seemed a promising chief executive candidate . Władysław however , like his father , had the life ambition of attaining the Swedish throne by using his royal status and power in Poland and Lithuania , which , to serve his purpose , he attempted to strengthen . Władysław ruled with the help of several prominent magnates , among them Jerzy Ossoliński , Chancellor of the Crown , Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski , and Jakub Sobieski , the middle szlachta leader . Władysław IV was unable to attract a wider szlachta following , and many of his plans had foundered because of lack of support in the increasingly ineffectual sejm . Because of his tolerance for non @-@ Catholics , Władysław was also opposed by the Catholic clergy and the papacy . Toward the last years of his reign Władysław IV sought to enhance his position and assure his son 's succession by waging a war on the Ottoman Empire , for which he prepared , despite the lack of nobility support . To secure this end the King worked on forming an alliance with the Cossacks , whom he encouraged to improve their military readiness and intended to use against the Turks , moving in that direction of cooperation further than his predecessors . The war never took place , and the King had to explain his offensive war designs during the " inquisition " sejm of 1646 . Władysław 's son Zygmunt Kazimierz died in 1647 , and the King , weakened , resigned and disappointed , in 1648 . = = Seeking preponderance in Eastern Europe = = The turn of the 16th and 17th centuries brought changes that , for the time being , weakened the Commonwealth 's powerful neighbors ( The Tsardom of Russia , The Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire ) . The resulting opportunity for the Polish – Lithuanian state to improve its position depended on its ability to overcome internal distractions , such as the isolationist and pacifist tendencies that prevailed among the szlachta ruling class , or the rivalry between nobility leaders and elected kings , often intent on circumventing restrictions on their authority , such as the Henrician Articles . The nearly continuous wars of the first three decades of the new century resulted in modernization , if not ( because of the treasury limitations ) enlargement , of the Commonwealth 's army . The total military forces available ranged from a few thousands at the Battle of Kircholm , to the over fifty thousands plus pospolite ruszenie mobilized for the Khotyn ( Chocim ) campaign of 1621 . The remarkable during the first half of the 17th century development of artillery resulted in the 1650 publication in Amsterdam of the Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima book by Kazimierz Siemienowicz , a pioneer also in the science of rocketry . Despite the superior quality of the Commonwealth 's heavy ( hussar ) and light ( Cossack ) cavalry , the increasing proportions of the infantry ( peasant , mercenary and Cossack formations ) and of the contingent of foreign troops resulted in an army , in which these respective components were heavily represented . During the reigns of the first two Vasas a war fleet was developed and fought successful naval battles ( 1609 against Sweden ) . As usual , fiscal difficulties impaired the effectiveness of the military , and the treasury 's ability to pay the soldiers . = = Moldavia = = As a continuation of the earlier plans for an anti @-@ Turkish offensive , that had not materialized because of the death of Stefan Batory , Jan Zamoyski intervened in Moldavia in 1595 . With the backing of the Commonwealth army Ieremia Movilă assumed the hospodar 's throne as the Commonwealth 's vassal . Zamoyski 's army repelled the subsequent assault by the Ottoman Empire forces at Ţuţora . The next confrontation in the area took place in 1600 , when Zamoyski and Stanisław Żółkiewski acted against Michael the Brave , hospodar of Wallachia and Transylvania . First Ieremia Movilă , who in the meantime had been removed by Michael in Moldavia , was reimposed , and then Michael was defeated in Wallachia at the Battle of Bucov . Ieremia 's brother Simion Movilă became the new hospodar there and for a brief period the entire region up to the Danube had become the Commonwealth 's dependency . Turkey soon reasserted its role , in 1601 in Wallachia and in 1606 in Transylvania . Zamoyski 's politics and actions , which constituted the earlier stage of the Moldavian magnate wars , only prolonged Poland 's influence in Moldavia and interfered effectively with the simultaneous Habsburg plans and ambitions in this part of Europe . Further military involvement at the southern frontiers ceased being feasible , as the forces were needed more urgently in the north . = = War with Sweden = = Sigismund III 's crowning in Sweden took place in 1594 amid tensions and instability caused by religious controversies . As Sigismund returned to Poland , his uncle Charles , the regent , took the lead of the anti @-@ Sigismund Swedish opposition . In 1598 Sigismund attempted to resolve the matter militarily , but the expedition to the country of his origin was defeated at the Battle of Linköping ; Sigismund was taken prisoner and had to agree to the harsh conditions imposed . After his return to Poland , in 1599 the Riksdag of the Estates deposed him in Sweden , and Charles led the Swedish forces into Estonia . Sigismund in 1600 proclaimed the incorporation of Estonia into the Commonwealth , which was tantamount to a declaration of war on Sweden , at the height of Rzeczpospolita 's involvement in Moldavia region . Jürgen von Farensbach , given the command of the Commonwealth forces , was overpowered by the much larger army brought to the area by Charles , whose quick offensive resulted in the 1600 take @-@ over of most of Livonia up to the Daugava River , except for Riga . The Swedes were welcomed by much of the local population , by that time increasingly dissatisfied with the Polish – Lithuanian rule. in 1601 Krzysztof Radziwiłł succeeded at the Battle of Kokenhausen , but the Swedish advances had been reversed up to ( not including ) Reval , only after Jan Zamoyski brought in a more substantial force . Much of this army , having been unpaid , returned to Poland . The clearing action was continued by Jan Karol Chodkiewicz , who , with a small contingent of troops left , defeated the Swedish incursion at Paide ( Biały Kamień ) in 1604 . In 1605 Charles , now Charles IX , the King of Sweden , launched a new offensive , but his efforts were crossed by Chodkiewicz 's victories at Kircholm and elsewhere and the Polish naval successes , while the war continued without a decisive resolution being produced . In the armistice of 1611 the Commonwealth was able to keep the majority of the contested areas , as a variety of internal and foreign difficulties , including the inability to pay the mercenary soldiers and the Union 's new involvement in Russia , precluded a comprehensive victory . = = Attempts to subordinate Russia = = After the deaths of Ivan IV and in 1598 of his son Feodor , the last tsars of the Rurik Dynasty , Russia entered a period of severe dynastic , economic and social crisis and instability . As Boris Godunov encountered resistance from both the peasant masses and the boyar opposition , in the Commonwealth the ideas of turning Russia into a subordinated ally , either through a union , or an imposition of a ruler dependent on the Polish – Lithuanian establishment , were rapidly coming into play . In 1600 Lew Sapieha led a Commonwealth mission to Moscow to propose a union with the Russian state , patterned after the Polish – Lithuanian Union , with the boyars granted rights comparable with those of the Commonwealth 's nobility . A decision on a single monarch was to be postponed until the death of the current king or tsar . Boris Godunov , at that time also engaged in negotiations with Charles of Sweden , wasn 't interested in that close a relationship and only a twenty @-@ year truce was agreed upon in 1602 . In order to continue their efforts , the magnates took advantage of the earlier death of Tsarevich Dmitry ( 1591 ) under mysterious circumstances and of the appearance of False Dmitriy I , a pretender @-@ impostor claiming to be the tsarevich . False Dmitriy was able to secure the cooperation and help of the Wiśniowiecki family and of Jerzy Mniszech , Voivode of Sandomierz , whom he promised vast Russian estates and a marriage with the voivode 's daughter Marina . Dmitriy became a Catholic and leading an army of adventurers raised in the Commonwealth , with the tacit support of Sigismund III entered in 1604 the Russian state . After the death of Boris Godunov and the murder of his son Feodor , False Dmitriy I became the Tsar of Russia , and remained in that capacity until killed during a popular turmoil in 1606 , which also eliminated the Polish presence in Moscow . Russia under the new tsar Vasili Shuysky remained unstable . A new false Dmitriy materialized and Tsaritsa Marina had even " recognized " in him her thought @-@ to @-@ be @-@ dead husband . With a new army provided largely by the magnates of the Commonwealth , False Dmitriy II approached Moscow and made futile attempts to take the city . Tsar Vasili IV , seeking help from King Charles IX of Sweden , agreed to territorial concessions in Sweden 's favor and in 1609 the Russo @-@ Swedish anti @-@ Dmitriy and anti @-@ Commonwealth alliance was able to remove the threat from Moscow and strengthen Vasili . The alliance and the Swedish involvement in Russian affairs caused a direct military intervention on the part of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth , instigated and led by King Sigismund III , with the support of the Roman Curia . The Polish army commenced a siege of Smolensk and the Russo @-@ Swedish relief expedition was defeated in 1610 by Hetman Żółkiewski at the Battle of Klushino . The victory strengthened the position of the compromise @-@ oriented faction of Russian boyars , which had already been interested in offering the Moscow throne to Władysław Vasa , son of Sigismund III . Fyodor Nikitich Romanov , the Patriarch of Moscow , was one of the leaders of the boyars . Under arrangements negotiated by Żółkiewski , the boyars deposed Tsar Vasili and accepted Władysław in return for peace , no annexation of Russia into the Commonwealth , the Prince 's conversion to the Orthodox religion , and privileges , including exclusive rights to high offices in the Tsardom granted to the Russian nobility . After the agreement was signed and Władysław declared tsar , the Commonwealth forces entered the Kremlin ( 1610 ) . Sigismund III subsequently rejected the compromise solution and demanded the tsar 's throne for himself , which would mean complete subjugation of Russia , and as such was rejected by the bulk of the Russian society . Sigismund 's refusal and demands only intensified the chaos , as the Swedes proposed their own candidate and took over Veliki Novgorod . The result of this situation and of the ruthless Commonwealth occupation in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia was the 1611 popular Russian anti @-@ Polish uprising , heavy fighting in Moscow and a siege of the Polish garrison occupying the Kremlin . In the meantime , the Commonwealth forces after a long siege stormed and took Smolensk in 1611 . At the Kremlin the situation of the Poles had been worsening despite occasional reinforcements , and the massive national and religious uprising was spreading all over Russia . Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin effectively led the Russians , a new rescue operation attempted by Hetman Chodkiewicz had failed and a capitulation of the Polish and Lithuanian forces at the Kremlin terminated in 1612 their involvement there . Mikhail Romanov , son of the imprisoned in Poland ( since his rejection of Sigismund III 's demand for the Russian throne ) Patriarch Filaret , became the new tsar in 1613 . The war effort , debilitated by a rebellious confederation established by the unpaid military , was continued . Turkey , threatened by the Polish territorial gains became involved at the frontiers , and a peace between Russia and Sweden was agreed to in 1617 . Fearing the new alliance the Commonwealth undertook one more major expedition , which took over Vyazma and arrived at the walls of Moscow , in an attempt to impose the rule of Władysław Vasa again . The city would not open its gates and not enough military strength was brought in to attempt a forced take @-@ over . Despite the disappointment , the Commonwealth was able to take advantage of the Russian weakness and through the territorial advances accomplished to reverse the eastern losses suffered in the earlier decades . In the Truce of Deulino of 1619 the Rzeczpospolita was granted the Smolensk , Chernihiv and Novhorod @-@ Siverskyi regions . The Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth attained its greatest geographic extent , but the attempted union with Russia could not have been achieved , as the systemic , cultural and religious incompatibilities between the two empires proved to be insurmountable . The territorial annexations and the ruthlessly conducted wars left a legacy of injustice suffered and desire for revenge on the part of the Russian ruling classes and people . The huge military effort weakened the Commonwealth and the painful consequences of the adventurous policies of the Vasa court and its allied magnates were soon to be felt . = = The Commonwealth and Silesia during Thirty Years ' War = = In 1613 Sigismund III Vasa reached an understanding with Matthias , Holy Roman Emperor , based on which both sides agreed to cooperate and mutually provide assistance in suppressing internal rebellions . The pact neutralized the Habsburg Monarchy in regard to the Commonwealth 's war with Russia , but had resulted in more serious consequences after the Bohemian Revolt gave rise to the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 . The Czech events weakened the position of the Habsburgs in Silesia , where there were large concentrations of ethnically Polish inhabitants , whose ties and interests at that time placed them within the Protestant camp . Numerous Polish Lutheran parishes , with schools and centers of cultural activity , had been established in the heavily Polish areas around Opole and Cieszyn in eastern Silesia , as well as in numerous cities and towns throughout the region and beyond , including Breslau ( Wrocław ) and Grünberg ( Zielona Góra ) . The threat posed by a potentially resurgent Habsburg monarchy to the situation of Polish Silesians was keenly felt , and there were voices within King Sigismund 's circle , including Stanisław Łubieński and Jerzy Zbaraski , who brought to his attention Poland 's historic rights and options in the area . The King , an ardent Catholic , advised by many not to involve the Commonwealth on the Catholic @-@ Habsburg side , decided in the end to act in their support , but unofficially . The ten thousand men strong Lisowczycy mercenary division , a highly effective military force , had just returned from the Moscow campaign , and having become a major nuisance for the szlachta , was available for another assignment abroad ; Sigismund sent them south to assist Emperor Ferdinand II . Sigismund court 's intervention greatly influenced the first phase of the war , helping save the position of the Habsburg Monarchy at a critical moment . The Lisowczycy entered northern Hungary ( now Slovakia ) and in 1619 defeated the Transylvanian forces at the Battle of Humenné . Prince Bethlen Gábor of Transylvania , who together with the Czechs had laid siege to Vienna , had to hurry back to his country and make peace with Ferdinand , which seriously compromised the situation of the Czech insurgents , crushed in the course and in the aftermath of the Battle of White Mountain . Afterwards the Lisowczycy ruthlessly fought to suppress the Emperor 's opponents in Glatz ( Kłodzko ) region and elsewhere in Silesia , in Bohemia and Germany . After the breakdown of the Bohemian Revolt the residents of Silesia , including the Polish gentry in Upper Silesia , were subjected to severe repressions and Counter @-@ Reformational activities , including forced expulsions of thousands of Silesians , many of whom ended up in Poland . Later during the war years the province was repeatedly ravaged in the course of military campaigns crossing its territory , and at one point a Protestant leader , Piast Duke John Christian of Brieg , appealed to Władysław IV Vasa for assuming supremacy over Silesia . King Władysław , although a tolerant ruler including in matters of religion , was like his father disinclined to involve the Commonwealth in the Thirty Years ' War . He ended up getting as fiefs from the Emperor the duchies of Opole and Racibórz in 1646 , twenty years later reclaimed by the Empire . The Peace of Westphalia allowed the Habsburgs to do as they pleased in Silesia , already completely ruined by the war , which had resulted in intense persecution of Protestants , including the Polish Lower Silesia communities , forced to emigrate or subjected to Germanization . = = Conflicts with the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate = = Although the Rzeczpospolita had not formally participated directly in the Thirty Years ' War , the alliance with the Habsburg Monarchy contributed to getting Poland involved in new wars with the Ottoman Empire , Sweden and Russia , and therefore led to significant Commonwealth influence over the course of the Thirty Years ' War . The Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth also had its own intrinsic reasons for the continuation of struggles with the above powers . From the 16th century the Commonwealth suffered a series of Tatar invasions . In the 16th century Cossack raids began descending on the Black Sea area Turkish settlements and Tatar lands . In retaliation the Ottoman Empire directed their vassal Tatar forces , based in Crimea or Budjak areas , against the Commonwealth regions of Podolia and Red Ruthenia . The borderland area to the south @-@ east was in a state of semi @-@ permanent warfare until the 18th century . Some researchers estimate that altogether more than 3 million people had been captured and enslaved during the time of the Crimean Khanate . The greatest intensity of Cossack raids , reaching as far as Sinop in Turkey , fell on the 1613 – 1620 period . The Ukrainian magnates on their part continued their traditional involvement in Moldavia , where they kept trying to install their relatives ( the Movileşti family ) on the hospodar 's throne ( Stefan Potocki in 1607 and 1612 , Samuel Korecki and Michał Wiśniowiecki in 1615 ) . Ottoman chief Iskender Pasha destroyed the magnate forces in Moldavia and compelled Stanisław Żółkiewski in 1617 to consent to the Treaty of Busza at Poland 's border , in which the Commonwealth obliged not to get involved in matters concerning Wallachia and Transylvania . Turkish unease about Poland 's influence in Russia , the consequences of the Lisowczycy expedition against Transylvania , an Ottoman fief in 1619 and the burning of Varna by the Cossacks in 1620 caused the Empire under the young Sultan Osman II to declare a war against the Commonwealth , with the aim of breaking and conquering the Polish – Lithuanian state . The actual hostilities , which were to bring the demise of Stanisław Żółkiewski , were initiated by the old Polish hetman . Żółkiewski with Koniecpolski and a rather small force entered Moldavia , hoping for military reinforcements from Moldavian Hospodar Gaspar Graziani and the Cossacks . The aid had not materialized and the hetmans faced a superior Turkish and Tatar force led by Iskender Pasha . In the aftermath of the failed Battle of Ţuţora ( 1620 ) Żółkiewski was killed , Koniecpolski captured , and the Commonwealth left opened defenseless , but disagreements between the Turkish and Tatar commanders prevented the Ottoman army from immediately waging an effective follow @-@ up . The Sejm was convened in Warsaw , the royal court was blamed for endangering the country , but high taxes for a sixty thousand men army were agreed to and the number of registered Cossacks was allowed to reach forty thousand . The Commonwealth forces , led by Jan Karol Chodkiewicz , were helped by Petro Konashevych @-@ Sahaidachny and his Cossacks , who raised against the Turks and Tatars and participated in the upcoming campaign . In practice about 30 @,@ 000 regular army and 25 @,@ 000 Cossacks faced at Khotyn a much larger Ottoman force under Osman II . Fierce Turkish attacks against the fortified Commonwealth positions lasted throughout September 1621 and were repelled . The exhaustion and depletion of its forces made the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Khotyn , which had kept the old territorial status quo of Sigismund II ( Dniester River border between the Commonwealth and Ottoman combatants ) , a favorable for the Polish side outcome . After Osman II was killed in a coup , ratification of the treaty was obtained from his successor Mustafa I. In response to further Cossack attacks Tatar incursions continued as well , in 1623 and 1624 reaching almost as far west as the Vistula , with the attendant plunder and taking of captives . More effective defense was put together by the freed Koniecpolski and Stefan Chmielecki , who defeated the Tatars on several occasions between 1624 and 1633 , using the quarter army supported by the Cossacks and general population . More warfare with the Ottomans took place in 1633 – 1634 and ended with a peace treaty . In 1644 Koniecpolski defeated Tugay Bey 's army at Okhmativ and before his death planned an invasion against the Crimean Khanate . King Władysław IV 's ideas of a grand international war @-@ crusade against the Ottoman Empire were thwarted by the inquisition sejm in 1646 . The state 's inability to control the activities of the magnates and the Cossacks had contributed to the semi @-@ permanent instability and danger at the Commonwealth 's south @-@ eastern frontiers . = = Baltic area territorial and maritime access losses = = More acute threat to the Polish – Lithuanian state came from Sweden . The balance of power in the north had shifted in Sweden 's favor , as the Baltic neighbor was led by King Gustavus Adolphus , a highly able and aggressive military leader , who greatly improved the effectiveness of the Swedish armed forces , while also taking advantage of Protestant zealotry . The Commonwealth , exhausted by the wars with Russia and the Ottoman Empire and lacking allies , was poorly prepared to face this new challenge . Continuous diplomatic maneuvering by Sigismund III made the whole situation look to szlachta like another stage in the King 's Swedish dynastic affairs ; in reality the Swedish power resolved to take hold of the entire Polish @-@ controlled Baltic coast , and thereby profit from the Commonwealth 's maritime trade intermediary control , endangering its basis for independent existence . Gustavus Adolphus chose to attack Riga , the Grand Duchy 's foremost trade center , in late August 1621 , just as the Ottoman army was approaching Khotyn , tying @-@ up the Polish forces there . The city , stormed several times , had to surrender a month later . Moving inland to the south the Swedes next entered Courland . With Riga the Commonwealth lost the most important Baltic seaport in the region and an entry to northern Livonia , the Daugava River crossing . The 1622 Truce of Mitawa gave Poland the possession of Courland and eastern Livonia , but the Swedes were to take over most of Livonia north of the Daugava . The Lithuanian forces were able to keep Dyneburg , but suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Wallhof . The losses impacted severely the trade and customs income of the Great Duchy of Lithuania . The Crown lands were to be also affected , as in July 1626 the Swedes took Pillau and forced Duke George William , Elector of Brandenburg and vassal of the Commonwealth in the attacked Ducal Prussia , to assume a neutrality stance . The Swedish advance resulted in the take @-@ over of the Baltic coastline up to Puck . Danzig ( Gdańsk ) , which had remained loyal to the Commonwealth , was subjected to a naval blockade . The Poles , completely surprised by the Swedish invasion , in September attempted a counter @-@ offensive , but were defeated by Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Gniew . The forces required serious modernization . The Sejm passed high taxation for the defense , but collections lagged behind . The situation was partially saved by the City of Danzig , which hurriedly embarked on the construction of modern fortifications , and by Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski . The accomplished commander of the eastern borderlands fighting quickly learned the maritime affairs and contemporary methods of European warfare . Koniecpolski promoted the necessary enlargement of the naval fleet , modernization of the army , and became a fitting counterbalance for the military abilities of Gustavus Adolphus . Koniecpolski led a spring 1627 military campaign , trying to keep the Swedish army in the Duchy of Prussia from moving toward Danzig , while also intending to block their reinforcements arriving from the Holy Roman Empire . Moving quickly the Hetman recovered Puck , and then destroyed at the Battle of Czarne ( Hammerstein ) the forces intended for Gustavus . The Swedes themselves Koniecpolski 's forces kept near Tczew , shielding the access to Danzig and preventing Gustavus Adolphus from reaching his main objective . At the Battle of Oliva the Polish ships defeated a Swedish naval squadron . Danzig was saved , but the next year the strengthened in the Ducal Prussia Swedish army took Brodnica , and early in 1629 defeated the Polish units at Górzno . Gustavus Adolphus from his Baltic coast position laid an economic siege against the Commonwealth and ravaged what he had conquered . At this point allied forces under Albrecht von Wallenstein were brought in to help keep the Swedes in check . Forced by the combined Polish @-@ Austrian action Gustavus had to withdraw from Kwidzyn to Malbork , in process being defeated and almost taken prisoner by Koniecpolski at the Battle of Trzciana . But in addition to being militarily exhausted , the Commonwealth was now pressured by several European diplomacies to suspend further military activities , to allow Gustavus Adolphus to intervene in the Holy Roman Empire . The Truce of Altmark left Livonia north of the Daugava and all Prussian and Livonian seaports except for Danzig , Puck , Königsberg , and Libau in hands of the Swedes , who were also allowed to charge duty on trade through Danzig . = = Compromised power = = As Władysław IV was assuming the Commonwealth crown , Gustavus Adolphus , who had been working on organizing an anti @-@ Polish coalition including Sweden , Russia , Transylvania and Turkey , died . The Russians then undertook an action of their own , attempting to recover lands lost in the Truce of Deulino . In the fall of 1632 a well @-@ prepared Russian army took a number of strongholds on the Lithuanian side of the border and commenced a siege of Smolensk . The well @-@ fortified city was able to withstand a general onslaught followed by a ten @-@ month encirclement by an overwhelming force led by Mikhail Shein . At that time a Commonwealth rescue expedition of comparable strength arrived , under the highly effective military command of Władysław IV . After months of fierce fighting , in February 1634 Shein capitulated . The Treaty of Polyanovka confirmed the Deulino territorial arrangements with small adjustments in favor of the Tsardom . Władysław had relinquished , upon monetary compensation , his claims to the Russian throne . Having secured the eastern front , the King was able to concentrate on the recovery of Baltic areas lost by his father to Sweden . Władysław IV wanted to take advantage of the Swedish defeat at Nördlingen and fight for both the territories and his Swedish dynastic claims . The Poles were suspicious of his designs and war preparations and the King was able to proceed with negotiations only , where his unwillingness to give up the dynastic claim weakened the Commonwealth 's position . According to the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf of 1635 the Swedes evacuated Royal Prussia 's cities and ports , which meant a return of the Crown 's lower Vistula possessions , and stopped collecting custom duties there . Sweden retained most of Livonia , while the Rzeczpospolita kept Courland , which having assumed the servicing of Lithuania 's Baltic trade entered a period of prosperity . The position of the Commonwealth with respect to the Duchy of Prussia kept getting weaker , as the power in the Duchy was being taken over by the Electors of Brandenburg . Under the electors , the Duchy had become ever more closely linked to Brandenburg , which was harmful to the political interests of the Commonwealth . Sigismung III left the Duchy 's administration in the hands of Joachim Frederick , and then John Sigismund , who in 1611 acquired the right to Hohenzollern succession in the Duchy by the consent of the King and the Sejm . He actually became the Duke of Prussia in 1618 , after the death of Albert Frederick , and was followed by George William and then Frederick William , who in 1641 in Warsaw for the last time paid a Prussian homage to a Polish king . The successive Brandenburg dukes would make nominal concessions , to satisfy the Commonwealth 's expediencies and justify the granting of privileges , but an irreversible shift in relations was taking place . In 1637 Bogislaw XIV , Duke of Pomerania died . He was the last of the Slavic Griffins Dynasty of the Duchy of Pomerania . Sweden acquired the Pomeranian rule , while the Commonwealth was only able to get back its fiefs , Bytów Land and Lębork Land . Słupsk Land was also sought by Władysław IV at the peace conference , but it ended up a part of Brandenburg , which after the Peace of Westphalia controlled all of Pomerania adjacent to the border of the Commonwealth , extending south to where it met with Habsburg lands . Portions of Pomerania were populated by the Slavic Kashubians and Slovincians . The Thirty Years ' War period brought the Commonwealth a mixed legacy , rather more losses than gains , with the Polish – Lithuanian state retaining its status as one of the few great powers in central @-@ eastern Europe . From 1635 the country enjoyed a period of peace , during which internal bickering and progressively dysfunctional legislative processes prevented any substantial reforms from taking place . The Commonwealth was unprepared to deal with grave challenges that materialized in the middle of the century .
= The Fear ( Lily Allen song ) = " The Fear " is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her second studio album , It 's Not Me , It 's You ( 2009 ) . Written by Allen and Greg Kurstin , the song was released as the lead single of the album . Initially , " Everyone 's at It " was announced to be the first single from the album . However , it was ultimately decided on " The Fear " to be released on 26 January 2009 by Regal Recordings , while the demo ( which was then titled " I Don 't Know " ) leaked onto the Internet in April 2008 . The song incorporates electropop music as the lyrics articulate problems with celebrity lifestyles and include metaphors for recognised tabloid national newspapers such as The Sun . " The Fear " also references , albeit indirectly , the Great Depression of the 1930s . Contemporary critics complimented the song and its themes of consumerism and the postmodern condition . " The Fear " peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart , where it remained for four weeks . The single peaked also inside the top 20 of the charts of some European countries and Australia . It is also Allen 's second chart entry in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 . The accompanying music video portrayed a fantasy theme , with Allen dancing with giant wrapped gifts and balloons . It was shot at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire and also featured dancers dressed as butlers ; the locations were initially in a caravan in a park , and then in a giant colourful mansion , surrounded by contrasting grey clouds . The song was performed live for the first time via The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1 and during Allen 's 2009 concert tour . " The Fear " was awarded with Best Track prize at the 2009 Q Awards , and also won Allen two Ivor Novello Awards in 2010 , for best song musically and lyrically , and most performed work . = = Background and composition = = Initially , the song " Everyone 's At It " was announced to be released as the lead single from the album , but it was ultimately decided on " The Fear " . While discussing It 's Not Me , It 's You , Allen stated that her intention was to make " bigger sounding , more ethereal songs , real songs . [ ... ] I think I 've grown up a bit as a person and I hope it reflects that . " She released a demo version of the song , which was then called " I Don 't Know " , onto her MySpace account , along with another song , " I Could Say " , in April 2008 . The singer declared about the inspiration for the song , which has to do with materialism and the pressures of being rich and famous : [ I 'll ] tell you where the inspiration for it came from . I was walking down this street , in this village in the middle of the countryside in the U.K. , and there was this little girl who must have been eight or nine , walking down the street with her mum in , like , high @-@ waisted hot pants and a little crop top . And I just thought , ' That 's not really right . ' And I could tell she was the kind of girl that would be trying out for Pop Idol in five years time , and wants to be famous when she grows up . And there 's definitely the whole culture of that where I come from , and it 's not necessarily a culture that I think is particularly healthy . But at the same time , I 'm very aware that I am a part of that culture — but it 's not something that I feel particularly comfortable with . Musically , Allen adopts a more mature electropop groove for the song , which has been described to have " a pulsing , sleekly modern electro dance backing " , while coming through a " flood of soft synths " and being " eminently danceable and slightly trancey " . It is set in common time and in the key of F major and has a metronome of 134 beats per minute . Allen 's voice spans from F3 to A4 . Lyrically , the song is a satire of materialism " sung in the voice of a would @-@ be starlet " , and tackles societal consumerism and overnight @-@ fame @-@ hunting . It also makes reference , through the line " I 'll look at The Sun and I 'll look in The Mirror " , at the daily British tabloid national newspapers The Sun and Daily Mirror , which often report on Allen . The synthesiser parts were written by Greg Kurstin using Apple 's Logic Studio , using its built @-@ in instruments . = = Critical reception = = Michael Menachem from Billboard commented on the song , saying it " packs another lyrical punch " , while complimenting Allen 's vocals . The BBC interpreted the song , in which Allen " apologises for her avarice , confidently blaming the system " , but also complimented the " exquisite " production . Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph suggested that the song confirms that the singer 's " pithy observational skills and sweet musicality " remain intact , as she has been a bit bruised by her encounter with 21st @-@ century fame . Clash reporter Natasha Arico concluded that " The Fear " is somewhat trite , though " sickeningly catchy and dance friendly " , while Rolling Stone magazine failed to detect the song 's sarcasm and criticized the song for being a " cliché " delivered by Allen " with sneer " . James Montgomery of MTV gave a good review , saying it is a relatively scathing indictment of today 's glossy , " celeb @-@ ified culture " . Ryan Dombal from Pitchfork Media described the song to have a " part admission , part brag , part apocalyptic vision " and suggested that " for almost any other artist , the lines would be barbed , sarcastic , and , ultimately , uppity and bland indictments . But not for the loudmouth [ Allen ] " . Other reviews were also positive ; Sal Cinquemani form Slant Magazine suggested that " The Fear " is proof of the pop singer 's self @-@ awareness , but , given her own personal tabloid history , the song possesses a trail of irony : " I 'll look at The Sun and I 'll look in The Mirror / I 'm on the right track , yeah , we 're onto a winner . " Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly liked the song , in which Allen makes fun of her own material @-@ girl ID and went on to say that it is in fact " a tale of two Lilys : the naughty postadolescent in the rearview mirror , and the fully realized female coming around the bend . " Chris Buckle from The Skinny gave " The Fear " three stars , commenting that it " is a potent reminder that she ’ s more than just gobby gossip @-@ fodder " , but also disliked a few lyrics , which " in particular [ are ] a clumsy attempt to inject politics amongst the celeb @-@ woe naval @-@ gazing " , while About.com praised the song for being a " pop masterpiece " , Allen 's " witty intelligent lyrics " and compared it to Pink 's " Stupid Girls " . = = Commercial performance = = In the United Kingdom , " The Fear " debuted at number 168 on the UK Singles Chart on 25 January 2009 ― for the week ending dated 31 January 2009 . The following week , the song climbed 167 places to reach number one , thwarting Lady Gaga 's " Just Dance " from the summit of the chart . Gaga commented on this , saying " I 'm very familiar with Lily 's music and good job Lily for knocking me off . There always deserves to be a female on top and I don 't want to be the only one to do it . I think generally that pop music is making an enormous comeback and I 'm actually very pleased with Lily Allen 's new record as it 's decidedly pop " . The song managed to remain on top for four weeks , throughout the whole of February , until it was dethroned by Kelly Clarkson 's " My Life Would Suck Without You " . It thus earned Allen 's second chart @-@ topper , since her debut single , " Smile " , achieved the feat in July 2006 . " The Fear " also became the single which spent more weeks atop the chart of 2009 in the UK . On the single 's third week stay at number one , its parent album , It 's Not Me , It 's You topped the UK Albums Chart , having a chart double , to which Allen said : " It 's great being at the top of both charts , especially in the same week as the Brit Awards are once again celebrating the best of British music . " The song shared similar success in Australia , where it peaked at number three on the ARIA Singles Chart and stayed eight consecutive weeks in the top ten , and was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association . In Ireland , " The Fear " entered at thirty nine on the Irish Singles Chart , making a slow rise to number five , where it remained for one week after descending the chart . The song became a success in Europe , having entered the top 20 in most of its countries , which resulted in a peak of three on the European Hot 100 . Also , in New Zealand , Allen scored her fourth top 40 hit with the song placing itself at a peak of fourteen on the New Zealand Singles Chart . In North America , " The Fear " shared moderate success , charting at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 , making it Allen 's only second entry in the U.S. Despite low positions in the main chart , the single managed to become the singer 's first Hot Dance Club Play number @-@ one single , topping it for one week . In Canada , it debuted at 57 in late 2008 , afterwards leaving the chart for seven weeks ; it returned in 2009 , peaking at 33 . It was certified Gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association for shipments of over 20 @,@ 000 copies . = = Music video = = The music video was principally at shot at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire and directed by Nez . It premiered on Channel 4 on 4 December 2008 . It starts off with Allen singing from a caravan window , while a clothes line on the right has underwear and a teddybear hanging from it . As she exits , her clothes are revealed to be a smock dress with a big bow and high heels ; upon returning through the caravan door , the interior changes to that of a luxurious mansion , in reality an English country estate . The chorus starts and she walks down the hall , surrounded by butlers , all making synchronized moves and starting a choreography with Allen . Afterwards , she climbs the stairs and the camera cuts to the next scene , where she is sitting down in front of the mirror in an extravagant bedroom , with dresses , lamps , toys and cupcakes . The scene changes once again , with Allen walking into a room with giant , brightly coloured presents . They suddenly stand up , having two human legs , and begin to spin around , with the singer joining them . After descending the stairs and walking through the same hall she entered , she exits the estate , and the video takes down a darker , more serious tone , while the verse " Forget about guns and forget ammunition / ' Cause I 'm killing them all on my own little mission / Now I ’ m not a saint but I ’ m not a sinner / Now everything is cool as long as I ’ m getting thinner " is sung . The euphoric visual effects appear once again soon after , as the chorus takes place . Allen walks down the estate stairs , being surrounded by dancing balloons , hopping butlers and coloured fog . The camera zooms out showing the estate tied in a giant ribbon , but also grey , melancholic clouds , which contrast the cheerful party from before . Allen stated that she hoped the music video would convey parts of the song 's sarcasm . The video reportedly cost £ 50 @,@ 000 . During the shoot , the video was documented by MTV ; in the interview , Allen declared : I wanted to do a dance routine , even though I 'm not really doing a dance routine , other people are doing it , but I 'm part of it . I think people are quite used to girls in this industry really being able to move in front of the camera , but I 'm just rubbish at that kind of thing . I find it quite nerve @-@ racking performing , actually . Because when you write songs , you don 't really think about performing in a video . I think it 's quite fun . Lots of colour and dancing , and it 's about doing something that 's in keeping with the song , actually . = = Live performances = = While being invited to the BBC show hosted by Scott Mills , Allen talked about her struggles with the paparazzi and also premiered the song by performing it live . Other live performances of the song include the Sound on BBC 2 with Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac , Friday Night with Jonathan Ross , the Orange unsignedAct , and The Sunday Night Project . In February 2009 , she was invited at The Today Show with Matt Lauer , where she performed the song after an interview . The same month , she made an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show , and while she was singing , DeGeneres freely dispensed copies of It 's Not Me , It 's You to the audience . Afterwards , both Allen and DeGeneres performed a rendition of the song " Womanizer " by American singer Britney Spears . Allen included the song on her 2009 concert tour setlist , as part of the encore . " The Fear " was also performed at the 2010 BRIT Awards , as the opening song . Allen arrived on stage sitting on a rocket hoisted in the air , while wearing a black corset dress . She was later joined on stage by paratroopers dressed in pink military camouflage and women with Silver Cross prams . = = Media appearances = = The song was featured in the fourth episode of series three of the TV drama Skins , and , also , an instrumental version is used as accompanying music by Match of the Day 2 during the review segment showing the goals . " The Fear " was parodied by the character playing Kevin Rudd on the TV show Double Take , in which the lyrics are altered to deal with the voting campaign for Prime Minister in Australia . The song was covered by JLS for BBC Radio 1 's " Live Lounge " segment of Jo Whiley 's show on 15 September 2009 , featuring an interpolation of the Beyoncé hit " Halo " . = = Track listing = = = = Credits and personnel = = Lead vocals — Lily Allen Written by — Lily Allen and Greg Kurstin Produced by — Greg Kurstin Assistant engineer – Alex Dromgode Audio mixing — Greg Kurstin Mastered by Geoff Pesche Other management — Todd Interland = = Charts and sales = =
= The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle = The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle is a children 's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter . It was published by Frederick Warne & Co. in October 1905 . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle is a hedgehog washerwoman who lives in a tiny cottage in the fells of the Lake District . A child named Lucie happens upon the cottage and stays for tea . The two deliver freshly laundered clothing to the animals and birds in the neighbourhood . Potter thought the book would be best enjoyed by girls , and , like most girls ' books of the period , it is set indoors with a focus on housework . Potter 's pet hedgehog , Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle , and Kitty MacDonald , a Scottish washerwoman , were the inspirations for the eponymous heroine . Lucie Carr , a child friend of Potter 's , was the model for the fictional Lucie . Potter 's Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny make cameo appearances in the illustrations . The Newlands Valley and the surrounding fells are the sources for the backgrounds in the illustrations . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle has been described as one of Potter 's most positive creations , but critics consider Lucie an artistic failure . Although Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle is set in an identifiable place and time period , the tale is mythologized by reaching back to an age when household chores were performed manually and without the aid of modern mechanical inventions . The simple dwellings , rustic pathways , and stone fences enhance the tale 's timeless aspect and suggest an unchanging countryside and its way of life . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle became a popular character and the subject of considerable merchandise over the decades including nursery ware and porcelain figurines . The tale has been published in braille and the Initial Teaching Alphabet , and has been translated into French , German , and Dutch . In 1971 , Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle became a character performed by Sir Frederick Ashton in the Royal Ballet film , The Tales of Beatrix Potter . In 1993 , the tale was adapted to animation and telecast as an episode of the BBC series , The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends . = = Plot = = A little girl named Lucie lives on a farm called Little @-@ town . She is a good little girl , but has lost three pocket handkerchiefs and a pinafore . She questions Tabby Kitten and Sally Henny @-@ penny about them , but they know nothing ( especially since Tabby Kitten licks her paw , and Sally Henny @-@ penny flaps back into the barn clucking , " I go barefoot , barefoot , barefoot ! " neither of which is very helpful ) . Lucie mounts a stile and spies some white cloths lying in the grass high on a hill behind the farm . She scrambles up the hill along a steep path @-@ way which ends under a big rock . She finds a little door in the hillside , and hears someone singing behind it : Lily @-@ white and clean , oh ! With little frills between , oh ! Smooth and hot – red rusty spot Never here be seen , oh ! She knocks . A frightened voice cries out , " Who 's that ? " Lucie opens the door , and discovers a low @-@ ceilinged kitchen . Everything is tiny , even the pots and pans . At the table stands a short , stout person wearing a tucked @-@ up print gown , an apron , and a striped petticoat . She is ironing . Her little black nose goes sniffle , sniffle , snuffle , and her eyes go twinkle , twinkle , and beneath her little white cap are prickles ! She is Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle , the animals ' laundress and " an excellent clear @-@ starcher " . She keeps busy with her work . She has found Lucy 's lost things , and launders them for her . She also shows Lucie items belonging to Mrs. Tiggywinkle 's animal customers . They have tea together though Lucie keeps away from Mrs. Tiggywinkle due to the prickles . The laundered clothing is tied up in bundles and Lucie 's handkerchiefs are neatly folded into her clean pinafore . They set off together down the path to return the fresh laundry to the little animals and birds in the neighbourhood . At the bottom of the hill , Lucie mounts the stile and turns to thank Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle . " But what a very odd thing ! " Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle is " running running running up the hill " . Her cap , shawl , and print gown are nowhere to be seen . How small and brown she has grown – and covered with prickles ! " Why ! Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle [ is ] nothing but a HEDGEHOG ! " The narrator tells the reader that some thought Lucie had fallen asleep on the stile and dreamed the encounter , but if so , then how could she have three clean handkerchiefs and a laundered pinafore ? " Besides , " the narrator assures the reader , " I have seen that door into the back of the hill called Catbells – and besides I am very well acquainted with dear Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle ! " = = Background = = The story of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle was inspired by Kitty MacDonald , a Scottish washerwoman the Potters employed over the course of eleven summers at Dalguise House on the River Tay in Perthshire , writes Leslie Linder . Potter was 26 when , in 1892 , she visited MacDonald while staying at Heath Park , Birnam . She wrote in her journal : " Went out with the pony ... to see Kitty MacDonald , our old washerwoman ... Kitty is eighty @-@ three but waken , and delightfully merry ... She is a comical , round little woman , as brown as a berry and wears a multitude of petticoats and a white mutch . Her memory goes back for seventy years , and I really believe she is prepared to enumerate the articles of her first wash in the year ' 71 " . In 1942 , the year before she died , Potter 's thoughts returned to Kitty MacDonald when she wrote about a piece of crockery : Seventy eighty years ago it belonged to another old woman , old Katie MacDonald , the Highland washerwoman . She was a tiny body , brown as a berry , beady black eyes and much wrinkled , against an incongruously white frilled mutch . She wore a small plaid crossed over shawl pinned with a silver brooch , a bed jacket , and a full kilted petticoat . She dropped bob curtsies , but she was outspoken and very independent , proud and proper ... The joy of converse with old Katie was to draw her out to talk of the days when she was a wee bit lassie — herding the kine . The days when ' Boney ' was a terror ... the old woman wouldn 't dwell upon hard weather and storms ; she spoke of the sunshine and clouds , and shadows , the heather bells , the ... " the broom of the Cowden Knowes " , the sun and wind on the hills where she played , and knitted , and herded cattle and sheep . A bonny life it was , but it never came back ... " Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle may have been conceived as early as 1886 , it was not until 1901 Potter began elaborating it while on holiday at Lingholm west of Derwentwater where she met young Kathleen and Lucie Carr , daughters of the local vicar . In 1902 , it was put to paper . The Carr family lived at Skelghyl , but Potter took some artistic liberty and moved the house 's location to Little Town in the text . The family came to tea at Lingholm often with Potter delighted by the one @-@ year @-@ child 's behaviour . On one occasion , Lucie left her gloves behind at Lingholm , and Potter transformed the incident into the fictional Lucie 's propensity for losing her pocket handkerchiefs . A small copy book contains what is believed to be the earliest manuscript of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle . Its title page is inscribed : " Made at Lingholm , Sept . 01 told to cousin Stephanie at Melford Nov. 01 — written down Nov. 02 . There are no pictures , it is a good one to tell — " Potter used her cousin 's daughter , Stephanie Hyde Parker , as audience for the draft of the story . She likely meant to dedicate the book to Stephanie , writing in the manuscript , " Now Stephanie , this is a story about a little girl called Lucie ; she was smaller than you and could not speak quite plain . " . In the end however , the book was dedicated to Lucie Carr . Stephanie would receive the dedication to The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher in 1906 . Early in 1904 , Potter was putting the finishing touches on Benjamin Bunny and Two Bad Mice . At the same time , she began giving serious thought to developing the tale about Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle and Lucie . She had been working on backgrounds and had been carrying her pet hedgehog with her when travelling . On March 15 , she wrote her editor Norman Warne , " I have been drawing the stump of a hollow tree for another hedgehog drawing " . Potter and Warne agreed volume of nursery rhymes would be created in 1905 but she also brought his attention to a story she had previously written , writing to him , " I think ' Mrs. Tiggy ' would be all right ; it is a girl 's book ... there must be a large audience of little girls . I think they would like the different clothes . " She began the illustrations in the summer once he agreed to the concept . = = Illustrations and production = = Potter biographer Linda Lear writes that Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle , unlike Potter 's earlier work , was " a story set in a real place , about a real washerwoman , a real hedge @-@ hog named Tiggy @-@ winkle , and a child Lucie , from Little @-@ town in the Newlands valley " . In the summer of 1904 , Potter again took her holiday at Lingholm , and drew pen and ink illustrations for the hedgehog book based on in watercolours made of the area the previous year . After returning to London in October , family matters prevented her from continuing work on the tale ; she returned to Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle in late November 1904 . The sketchbook scenes of the path above Little Town , the Newlands Valley , the fells , and Skiddaw were reproduced in the published book almost exactly as found in the sketchbook , except for the inclusion of the figures and some minor artistic liberties . Potter included in her illustrations a depiction a small door used to close abandoned mine shafts in the fells . During her explorations of the area she visited farms at Skelghyl and sheep farms in the fells . The model for the preliminary illustrations of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle was Potter 's own pet hedgehog . Potter wrote to Warne on 12 November , " Mrs. Tiggy as a model is comical ; so long as she can go to sleep on my knee she is delighted , but if she is propped up on end for half an hour , she first begins to yawn pathetically , and then she does bite ! Nevertheless , she is a dear person ; just like a very fat rather stupid little dog . I think the book will go all right when once started . " Three weeks later , she wrote , " The hedgehog drawings are turning out very comical . I have dressed up a cottonwool dummy for convenience of drawing the clothes . It is such a figure of fun . " The dummy terrified her rabbit and her pet mouse pulled out the stuffing . " I think it should make a good book , " she wrote , " When I have learnt to draw the child . " Although Potter had little difficulty with the landscapes , the kitchen , and the birds and animals , Lucie presented a serious problem . Potter recognized and admitted the human form eluded her and confessed she faced a worrisome challenge whenever it was absolutely necessary to bring a human into an illustration . She made a number of preliminary sketches of Lucie , changed the colour of her cloak , and enlisted a real child as a model . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle 's kitchen is typical of those seen by Potter in Lakeland and Sawrey , and presented no artistic difficulties . She had been sketching interiors for years . By February 1905 , the drawings for the book sent to be converted to blocks , and , in late March , she began The Pie and the Patty @-@ Pan , the companion piece to Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle . Potter continued to fuss with the tale 's text and illustrations . The proofs of the text arrived in the beginning of June , and Potter laboured over them . She reconsidered the rhyme writing to Warne , I do not think that rhyme is right grammar ; it is the " no " that throws it out . If it were " Smooth and hot — red rusty spot never here be seen — oh ! " that would be all right . She is supposed to be exorcising spots and iron stains , same as Lady MacBeth ( ! ) . The verb is imperative , and apparently it is not reasonable to use " no " with a vocative noun . It is a contradiction to address " no spot ! " I am afraid this is rather muddled ; I used to know my Latin grammar but it has faded ... I wish another book could be planned out before the summer , if we are going on with them , I always feel very much lost when they are finished . She had enjoyed developing the book with Warne , and , on July 2 , sent him the remainder of the book , expressing her regret that its production was over . On July 25 , proofs sent to her from the publisher showed spottiness that may have been caused by the summer heat affecting the chemicals used in the engraving process ; the plates were re @-@ engraved in September . = = Publication history and adaptations = = Twenty thousand copies of the book were released in a 139 by 104 millimetres ( 5 @.@ 5 in × 4 @.@ 1 in ) format in October 1905 with The Pie and the Patty @-@ Pan . Another 10 @,@ 000 copies were released in November 1905 , and another 8 @,@ 000 in January 1906 . The dedication reads , " For the real little Lucie of Newlands " ; Lucie 's copy of the book was inscribed , " For little Lucie with much love from Beatrix Potter and from dear ' Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle ' Sept . 24 . 05 . " Soon after the book 's publication , Potter 's ageing Mrs. Tiggy began showing signs of failing health . She wrote a friend on February 1 , 1906 , " I am sorry to say I am upset about poor Mrs. Tiggy . She hasn 't seemed well the last fortnight , and has begun to be sick , and she is so thin . I am going to try some physic but I am a little afraid that the long course of unnatural diet and indoor life is beginning to tell on her . It is a wonder she has lasted so long . One gets very fond of a little animal . I hope she will either get well or go quickly . " A few weeks later Potter chloroformed her beloved hedgehog and laid her to rest in the garden at the Potter family home at 2 Bolton Gardens , Kensington . The tale has had two dramatic adaptations . In 1971 , Sir Frederick Ashton performed the role of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle in the Royal Ballet film The Tales of Beatrix Potter , which he also choreographed . In 1993 , the tale was adapted ( with The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher ) as one of six episodes of the animated BBC anthology series The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends . = = Miniature letters = = Potter created a series of miniature letters for child fans between 1907 and 1912 . These letters were written as from her characters and intended to shed light on their doings outside their tales and to tell the recipient more about them . Each letter was folded to represent an envelope , and addressed to the child recipient . There was a tiny stamp in the corner drawn with a red crayon . They were sent to the children in a miniature post bag marked G.P.O. that Potter had made herself or in a toy tin mail box enamelled bright red . " Some of the letters were very funny , " Potter wrote , " The defect was that inquiries and answers were all mixed up . " Potter sent miniature letters to the Moore children , to the Warne children , Lucie Carr and her older sister Kathleen , Master Drew Fayle , and to Master John and Miss Margaret Hough . Seven letters about Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle are extant . Mrs. Josephine Rabbit writes to complain of starch in her handkerchiefs , Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle responds with apologies , Mrs. Rabbit then writes to compliment Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle on the " getting up of the children 's muslin frocks " and promises not to seek another laundress . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle writes Master Fayle warning him that " [ e ] verything has got all mixed up in wrong bundles " and wondering if he has received Mr. Jeremy Fisher 's shirt or Mrs. Flopsy Bunny 's apron ? Mrs. Bunny writes Master Drew that she is looking for her apron . She has received a shirt marked J.F. that is 3 @-@ inches long . Jeremy writes twice to Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle . Once , to complain that he has received an apron marked F.B. and then to complain in a letter dated January 22 , 1910 : Mr. J. Fisher regrets to have to complain again about the washing . Mrs. T. Winkle has sent home an enormous handkerchief marked ' D. Fayle ' instead of the tablecloth marked J.F. If this continues every week , Mr. J. Fisher will have to get married , so as to have the washing done at home . = = Scholarly commentaries = = Ruth K. MacDonald , Professor of English at New Mexico State University , past president of the Children 's Literature Association , and author of Beatrix Potter ( 1986 ) , views the plot of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle as " thin " and lacking the complications of Potter 's previously published The Tale of Two Bad Mice ( 1905 ) and later books . The tale is held together , she asserts , by its attractive central character , and points out that , like many girls ' books of the period , it is set indoors and revolves around household chores and duties . Unlike Two Bad Mice however , there is no ironic commentary on housekeeping ; Potter gives her tacit approval to Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle 's spic and span cottage and her housekeeping practices . MacDonald points out that Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle is the first of Potter 's books to depict a countryside of simple dwellings , pathways , stone fences , and the timeless , unchanging ways of rural life . Actual place names in the tale such as Skelghyl , Garthsgate , and Little @-@ town ground the tale in a real world locality yet the tale is mythologized by suggesting a remote time before mechanical means of doing laundry had been invented . She notes that Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle has become " synonymous for female hedgehogs and for fastidious housekeepers " . M. Daphne Kutzer , Professor of English at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and author of Beatrix Potter : Writing in Code ( 2003 ) indicates Potter was venturing into new territory in creating a tale with a large human presence ( Lucie ) . Potter 's artistic uncertainty is evident in her attempt to establish a relationship between clothes and the social and animal selves of humans and animals . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle wears human clothing while the neighbourhood animals wear and shed only their skins . Logically , Kutzer points out , all the animals should wear either human clothing or only their skins . She believes Peter Rabbit 's blue jacket is used in the tale as a gimmick to remind the reader that other Potter books exist for purchase , and a gimmick that disrupts Potter 's artistic intent . If Peter wears human clothing then why do the other animals wear only their skins ? The issue of animal clothing versus human clothing is further confused when Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle sheds her human clothing at the end of the tale to reveal herself a hedgehog who may or may not be able to shed her skin as well . If she can shed her skin , then why is she wearing human clothes ? Kutzer believes these questions remain unanswered and erode the tale 's logic . Shedding one 's clothes , Kutzer observes , is a symbol of shedding the social self and its constraints to then embrace the freedom of the animal self , but Lucie , who sets off for an adventure after shedding her pinafore and handkerchiefs , fails to embrace her animal self and learns nothing new about herself . True , she learns something about the animal world – hens shed their stockings and robins their red vests – but Lucie began her adventure as a well @-@ behaved , proper young Victorian child and remains so at tale 's end , taking delight in the goffered pinafore and the laundered handkerchiefs that confine and define such a child . Having not learned something new about herself , Lucie 's success as a literary heroine is moot . By inserting her authorial voice in the tale 's epilogue , Potter reveals her uncertainty about the believability of her fantasy , and her uncertainty mars the narrative line which , Kutzer remarks , is analogous to a " comedy sketch that should have stayed at joke length , but is unwisely stretched into ten minutes of tepid comedy . " The notion of having animals shed their skins for laundering provides opportunities for amusing illustrations , but the tale does not have a strong narrative line to hold it together or to grip the reader 's attention . The tale is held together solely by the quaint language and work of the charming central character . Literary scholar Humphrey Carpenter writes in Secret Gardens The Golden Age of Children 's Literature that Potter 's work shows thematic shifts , seeing in The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle a utopian theme of nature @-@ as @-@ redemption in which the background represents a return to Arcadia of sorts . Young Lucy finds in Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle 's kitchen a place of refuge , and although unlike Potter 's previous stories the main character is unthreatened by other characters or external circumstances , Carpenter writes " while no external threat enters this most utopian of Potter 's books , there is none the less something faintly sinister about Mrs. Tiggy @-@ winkle herself " . = = Merchandise = = Potter asserted her tales would one day be nursery classics , and part of the " longevity of her books comes from strategy " , writes her biographer Ruth MacDonald . Potter was the first to exploit the commercial possibilities of her characters and tales ; between 1903 and 1905 these included a Peter Rabbit stuffed toy , an unpublished board game , and nursery wallpaper . Similar " side @-@ shows " ( as she termed the ancillary merchandise ) were produced throughout her life . Upon publication of the book , Norman Warne suggested a Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle pin cushion doll as a merchandising gimmick . Potter died on December 22 , 1943 , and left her home and the original illustrations for almost all of her books , including Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle , to the National Trust . Hilltop was opened to visitors in 1946 , and displayed her original artwork there until 1985 . In 1947 , Frederick Warne & Co. granted Beswick Pottery of Longton , Staffordshire " rights and licences to produce " the Potter characters in porcelain . The next year , Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle was one of the first set of ten porcelain figurines released . Between 1985 and 1999 Beswick produced five more porcelain collectibles featuring the hedgehog , including her head as a mug in 1988 , a larger version of the first figurine in 1996 , and a limited edition tableau showing Lucie and Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle in 1999 . Beswick Pottery was eventually acquired by Royal Doulton , which continued to issue the figurines under the " Royal Albert " brand until it was discontinued in 2002 . Stuffed toy manufacturers requested licensing for Potter 's figures as early as 1909 ; however she refused to grant permission , having been disappointed with the quality of the proposed toys . In the early 1970s Frederick Warne & Co. granted a license for plush toys to an English firm , House of Nesbit Ltd . , which produced seven characters , including Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle . Their finely detailed products were labour @-@ intensive and unprofitable , and were discontinued after a short time . In 1973 , Eden Toys of Jersey City , New Jersey received a license to manufacture stuffed animals based on Potter 's characters . Eden produced a plush Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle in 1974 , and made at least three other versions of the hedgehog over the years , including an 18 @-@ inch ( 46 cm ) " Giant " model , originally intended for display in stores . All of these were discontinued by 2001 , when Eden Toys went out of business . Potter 's illustrations of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle were featured on biscuit tins made by Huntley & Palmer between 1974 and 1978 , and on a series of enamel items made by Crummles of Poole , Dorset from 1974 to 1995 . These included five different images on four different @-@ sized enamel boxes , as well as an enamel thimble , needle case , and pin cushion . From 1977 to 1995 ( when it went out of business ) , Schmid & Co. of Toronto and Randolph , Massachusetts made or distributed a series of items featuring the hedgehog washerwoman . These included one of the first ten Potter music boxes the company released in 1977 . Schmid distributed two Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle Christmas ornaments ( 3 and 1 @.@ 5 inches ( 76 and 38 mm ) tall ) and another music box , all made by the Italian firm ANRI , as well as a figurine made by Border Fine Arts , a Scottish firm , showing Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle and other Potter characters around a Christmas tree . In 1979 , Wedgewood produced a 16 @-@ piece Queen 's Ware nursery set ; each piece was decorated with artwork and accompanying text from The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle . Wedgwood retired the items , which were similar in style to its Peter Rabbit nursery ware , in 1995 . In 1982 , Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle was featured on Wedgwood 's Happy Birthday plate , " the only year that a character other than Peter Rabbit was used on the annual plate " . = = Reprints and translations = = In 1913 , Warnes considered publishing some of Potter 's little books in French and thought it best to remove any wording in English from the pictures . Potter redrew the illustration of the spring bubbling out of the hillside to omit the words " How Keld " ( Norse for Hill Well ) . Potter noted in a letter that the words occasionally brought inquiries about their meaning . As of 2010 , all 23 of Potter 's small format books remain in print , and are available as complete sets in presentation boxes . A 400 @-@ page omnibus edition is also available . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle is available in Kindle format . First editions and early reprints are occasionally offered by antiquarian booksellers . The English language editions of the tales still bore the Frederick Warne imprint in 2010 though the company was bought by Penguin Books in 1983 . Penguin remade the printing plates from new photographs of the original drawings in 1985 , and all 23 volumes were released in 1987 as The Original and Authorized Edition . Potter 's small format books have been translated into nearly thirty languages , including Greek and Russian . Mrs. Tiggy @-@ Winkle was released in braille in 1921 , and in the Initial Teaching Alphabet in 1965 . The tale was translated into French in 1922 as Poupette @-@ à @-@ L 'Epingle , and in Dutch as Het Verhall van Vrouwtje Plooi in 1969 . In 1932 , it was translated into Welsh as Hanes Meistres Tigi @-@ Dwt , and into German in 1948 as Die Geschichte von Frau Tiggy @-@ Winkle . In 1986 , MacDonald observed that the Potter books had become a " traditional part of childhood in most only English @-@ speaking countries and in many of the countries into whose languages Potter 's books have been translated " .
= Houston Rockets = The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston , Texas . The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) , as a member club of the league 's Western Conference Southwest Division . The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center , located in downtown Houston . The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles . The team was established as the San Diego Rockets , an expansion team originally based in San Diego , in 1967 . In 1971 , the Rockets moved to Houston . The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967 . In the 1969 NBA draft , the Rockets selected power forward Elvin Hayes first overall , who would lead the team to its first playoff appearance in his rookie season . The Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976 – 77 season , when they traded for center Moses Malone . Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player ( MVP ) award twice and lead Houston to the conference finals in his first year with the team . He also led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics , led by Larry Bird and future Rockets coach Kevin McHale . In 1984 , the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon , who would be paired with 7 feet 4 inches ( 2 @.@ 24 m ) Ralph Sampson , forming one of the tallest front courts in the NBA . Nicknamed the " Twin Towers " , they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals — the second NBA Finals berth in franchise history — where Houston was again defeated by the Boston Celtics . The Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s , but failed to advance past the second round for the rest of the decade . Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991 – 92 season , ushering in the most successful period in franchise history . The Rockets would reach the 1994 NBA Finals , where Olajuwon led the team to the franchise 's first championship against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks . The team repeated as champions in 1995 as the sixth seed in the West and swept the favored Orlando Magic , who were led by a young Shaquille O 'Neal and Penny Hardaway . Houston became the lowest @-@ seeded team in NBA history to win the title . The Rockets acquired all @-@ star forward Charles Barkley in 1996 , but the presence of three of the NBA 's 50 greatest players of all @-@ time ( Olajuwon , Drexler , and Barkley ) was not enough to propel Houston past the Western Conference Finals . Each one of the aging trio had left the team by 2001 , and the Rockets of the early 21st century , led by superstars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming , followed the trend of consistent regular @-@ season respectability followed by playoff underachievement as both players struggled with injuries . After Yao 's early retirement in 2011 , the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding , completely dismantling and retooling their roster . The acquisitions of franchise players James Harden and Dwight Howard have launched the Rockets back into championship contention in the mid @-@ 2010s . The Rockets , under general manager Daryl Morey , are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics ( similar to sabermetrics in baseball ) in player acquisitions and style of play . = = Franchise history = = = = = 1967 – 1971 : San Diego Rockets = = = The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard , who paid an entry fee of US $ 1 @.@ 75 million to join the NBA as an expansion team for the 1967 – 68 NBA season . The NBA wanted to add more teams in the Western United States , and chose San Diego based on the city 's strong economic and population growths , along with the local success of an ice hockey team owned by Breitbard , the San Diego Gulls . The resulting contest to name the franchise chose the name " Rockets " , which paid homage to San Diego 's theme of " a city in motion " and the local arm of General Dynamics developing the Atlas missile and booster rocket program . Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon , then coach of the Cincinnati Royals , to serve as the Rockets ' coach and general manager . The team , that would join the league along with the Seattle SuperSonics , then built its roster with both veteran players at an expansion draft , and college players from the 1967 NBA draft , where San Diego 's first ever draft pick was Pat Riley . The Rockets lost 67 games in their inaugural season , which was an NBA record for losses in a season at the time . In 1968 , after the Rockets won a coin toss against the Baltimore Bullets to determine who would have the first overall pick in the 1968 NBA draft , they selected Elvin Hayes from the University of Houston . Hayes improved the Rockets ' record to 37 wins and 45 losses , enough for the franchise 's first ever playoff appearance in 1969 , but the Rockets lost in the semi @-@ finals of the Western Division to the Atlanta Hawks , four games to two . Despite the additions of Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich and the management of Hall of Fame coach Alex Hannum , the Rockets tallied a 57 – 97 record in the following two seasons and did not make the playoffs in either season . Because of the low performance and attendance , Breitbard looked to sell the team , and in 1971 , Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $ 5 @.@ 6 million , and moved the team to Houston . The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas , and the nickname " Rockets " took on even greater relevance after the move , given Houston 's long connection to the space industry . = = = 1971 – 1976 : Improving in Houston with Murphy and Rudy @-@ T = = = Before the start of the 1971 – 72 NBA season , Hannum left for the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association – later renamed Denver Nuggets , who joined the NBA in 1976 – and Tex Winter was hired in his place . However , Winter 's clashes with Hayes , due to a system that contrasted with the offensive style to which Hayes was accustomed , made Hayes ask for a trade , leaving for the Baltimore Bullets at the end of the 1971 – 72 season . It was also around this time that the Rockets would unveil their classic yellow and red logo and accompanying uniforms used until the end of the 1994 – 95 season . Winter left soon after , being fired in January 1973 following a ten @-@ game losing streak , and was replaced by Johnny Egan . Egan led the Rockets back to the playoffs in 1975 , where the franchise also managed to win their first round against the New York Knicks , subsequently losing to the veteran Boston Celtics in 5 games . At that time the Rockets gained popularity in Houston , selling out several home games during the regular season as the Rockets battled for a playoff spot and then selling out all of their home playoff games . = = = 1976 – 1982 : The Moses Malone era = = = In the 1975 – 76 NBA season the Rockets finally had a permanent home in Houston as they moved into The Summit , which they would call home for the next 29 years . During the period , the franchise was owned by Kenneth Schnitzer , developer of the Greenway Plaza which included The Summit . After missing the 1976 playoffs , Tom Nissalke was hired as a coach , and pressed the team to add a play @-@ making guard in college standout John Lucas and a rebounding center through Moses Malone , who he had coached in the ABA . The additions had an immediate impact , with the 1976 – 77 Rockets winning the Central Division and going all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals , losing to the Julius Erving 's Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2 . The following season had the team regressing to just 28 wins due to an injury to captain Tomjanovich , who got numerous facial fractures after being punched by Kermit Washington of the Los Angeles Lakers and wound up spending five months in rehabilitation . After trading Lucas to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Rick Barry , the Rockets returned to the playoffs in 1978 – 79 , with " The Chairman Of The Boards " Moses Malone receiving the 1979 MVP Award , but the team was swept 2 – 0 by Atlanta in the first round . Nissalke was let go , and assistant Del Harris was promoted to head coach . In 1979 George Maloof , a businessperson from Albuquerque , New Mexico , bought the Rockets for $ 9 million . He died the following year , and while the Maloof family expressed interest in selling the team , George 's 24 @-@ year @-@ old son Gavin took over the Rockets . A buyer was eventually found in 1982 as businessman Charlie Thomas purchased the franchise for $ 11 million . The Maloof period of ownership marked the first dominant period of the Rockets , highlighted by the team 's first NBA Finals appearance in 1981 . Prior to the 1980 – 81 season , the arrival of the Dallas Mavericks led to an NBA realignment that sent the Rockets back to the Western Conference . Houston qualified for the playoffs only in the final game of the season with a 40 – 42 record . The post @-@ season had the Rockets beat the Lakers , in @-@ state rivals San Antonio Spurs , and the equally underdog Kansas City Kings to become only the second team in NBA history ( after the 1959 Minneapolis Lakers ) to have advanced to the Finals after achieving a losing record in the regular season . In the final round facing Larry Bird 's Boston Celtics in the finals round , the Rockets blew a late lead in Game 1 and won Game 2 at the Boston Garden . However , afterwards the team failed to capitalize on the early success against the favored Celtics , and eventually lost in six games . While new owner Charlie Thomas expressed interest in renewing with Moses Malone , which had been again chosen as MVP in 1981 – 82 , the Rockets traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caldwell Jones , as a declining regional economy made the Rockets unable to pay Malone 's salary . When the Rockets finished a league worst 14 – 68 , Celtics coach Bill Fitch was hired to replace outgoing Del Harris , and the team won the first pick of the 1983 NBA draft , used to select Ralph Sampson from the University of Virginia . Sampson had good numbers and was awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year award , but the Rockets still finished last overall , again getting the top pick at the upcoming 1984 NBA draft , used to select Hakeem Olajuwon from the University of Houston . = = = 1984 – 2001 : The Hakeem Olajuwon era = = = = = = = 1984 – 1987 : The Twin Towers era = = = = In his first season , Olajuwon finished second to Michael Jordan in NBA Rookie of the Year balloting , and the Rockets record improved by 19 games , good enough for a return to the playoffs as the third best team in the West , where they were upset by the sixth @-@ seeded Utah Jazz . The Olajuwon and Sampson duo earned much praise , and was nicknamed " Twin Towers " . In the following season , Houston won the Midwest Division title with a 51 – 31 record . The subsequent playoffs had the Rockets sweeping the Sacramento Kings , having a hard @-@ fought six @-@ game series with Alex English 's Denver Nuggets , and then facing defending champion Lakers , losing the first game but eventually managing to win the series – the only Western Playoffs defeat of the Showtime Lakers – to get to the franchise 's second Finals appearance . The NBA Finals once again matched the Rockets up against the Celtics , a contrast to Houston 's young front challenging the playoff @-@ hardened Celtics front court of Larry Bird , Kevin McHale and Robert Parish . The Celtics won the first two games in Boston , gave the Rockets their only home playoff defeat that season in game 4 , and clinched the title as Bird scored a triple @-@ double on Game 6 . After the Finals , Boston coach K.C. Jones called the Rockets " the new monsters on the block " feeling they had a bright future . But the team had a poor start to the following season amidst players getting injured or suspended for cocaine usage , and during the playoffs were defeated in the second round by Seattle SuperSonics . Early in the 1987 – 88 season , Sampson , who had signed a new contract , was traded to the Golden State Warriors , bringing the Twin Towers era to an end just 18 months after their Finals appearance . Sampson 's once @-@ promising career was shortened due to chronic knee injuries , which forced his retirement in 1991 . Jones ' prophecy of a Rockets dynasty never materialized until the early 90 's . = = = = 1987 – 1992 : Lean years = = = = In the next five seasons , the Rockets either failed to qualify for the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round . The first elimination in 1988 led to Fitch 's dismissal , with Don Chaney replacing him as head coach . Chaney , also a former Celtic , had his best season during 1990 – 91 , where he was named the Coach of the Year after leading the Rockets to a 52 @-@ 30 record despite Olajuwon 's absence due to injury for 25 games . Despite Olajuwon 's usual strong numbers , the underwhelming roster could not be lifted out of mediocrity . However , the attempts to rebuild the team nucleus incorporated players that would later make an impact in the years to come , such as Kenny Smith , Vernon Maxwell , Robert Horry , Mario Elie , Sam Cassell and Otis Thorpe . Midway through the 1991 – 92 season , with the Rockets ' record only 26 – 26 , Chaney was fired and replaced by his assistant Rudy Tomjanovich , a former Houston player himself . While the Rockets did not make the playoffs , Tomjanovich 's arrival was considered a step forward . In the next year , the Rockets improved their record by 13 games , getting the Midwest Division title , and winning their first playoff series in 5 years by defeating the Los Angeles Clippers , before an elimination by the SuperSonics during a game 7 overtime loss . = = = = 1993 – 1995 : Clutch City championships = = = = On July 30 , 1993 , Leslie Alexander purchased the Rockets for $ 85 million . In Tomjanovich 's second full year as head coach , the Rockets began the 1993 – 94 season by tying an NBA record with a start of 15 – 0 . Led by Olajuwon , who was named the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year , the Rockets won a franchise @-@ record 58 games . Aside from the second round which went through seven games against the Phoenix Suns , the Rockets easily beat their Western Conference contestants during the playoffs to advance to their third finals . The New York Knicks opened a 3 @-@ 2 advantage , but the Rockets managed to win the last two games on their home court and claimed their first championship in franchise history . Olajuwon was awarded the Finals MVP , after averaging 27 points , nine rebounds and four blocked shots a game . The Rockets initially struggled in the first half of the 1994 – 95 season , which they fixed by sending Otis Thorpe to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Olajuwon 's former college teammate Clyde Drexler . With only 47 wins , the Rockets entered the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Western Conference . Still , a strong playoff run that earned Houston the nickname " Clutch City " had the Rockets defeating the West 's top three seeds – the Jazz , Suns and Spurs – to reach back @-@ to @-@ back finals , this time against the Orlando Magic , led by Shaquille O 'Neal and Anfernee " Penny " Hardaway . When Houston swept the series in four straight games , they became the first team in NBA history to win the championship as a sixth seed , and the first to beat four 50 @-@ win teams in a single postseason en route to the championship . Olajuwon was again the Finals MVP , only the second player after Michael Jordan to win the award two years in a row . = = = = 1995 – 2002 : Post @-@ Championship and rebuilding = = = = During the offseason , the Rockets went for a change of visual identity , making navy blue and silver the new primary colors while adopting a new cartoon @-@ inspired logo and pinstriped jerseys . The Rockets won 48 games in the 1995 – 96 campaign , in which Olajuwon became the NBA 's all @-@ time leader in blocked shots . The playoffs had the Rockets beating the Lakers before a sweep by the SuperSonics . Before the start of the succeeding season , the Rockets sent four players to Phoenix in exchange for Charles Barkley . The resulting " Big Three " of Olajuwon , Drexler , and Barkley had a strong debut season with a 57 – 25 record , going all the way to the Western Conference finals before losing to the Utah Jazz 4 – 2 on a dramatic last @-@ second shot by John Stockton . The following season was marked by injuries , and Houston finished 41 – 41 and the 8th seed , leading to another elimination by the top @-@ seeded Jazz . Drexler retired after the season , and the Rockets traded to bring in Scottie Pippen to take his place . In the strike @-@ shortened 1998 – 99 season , the Rockets lost to the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs . After the 1999 draft , the Rockets traded for the second overall pick Steve Francis from the Vancouver Grizzlies , in exchange for four players and a first @-@ round draft pick . However , after Houston traded a discontented Pippen to Portland , and Barkley suffered a career @-@ ending injury , the rebuilt Rockets went 34 – 48 and missed the playoffs , for only the second time in 15 years . In the 2000 – 01 season , the Rockets worked their way to a 45 – 37 record . However , in a competitive Western Conference where seven teams won 50 games , this left the Rockets two games out of the playoffs . In the following offseason , a 38 @-@ year @-@ old Olajuwon requested a trade , and , despite stating their desire to keep him , the Rockets reached a sign @-@ and @-@ trade agreement , sending him to the Toronto Raptors . The ensuing 2001 – 02 season — the first without Hakeem in two decades — was unremarkable , and the Rockets finished with only 28 wins . = = = 2002 – 2009 : Return to Relevance = = = = = = = 2002 – 2004 : Yao Ming arrives = = = = After Houston was awarded the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft , they selected Yao Ming , a 7 feet 6 inches ( 2 @.@ 29 m ) Chinese center . The Rockets missed the 2003 playoffs by one game , improving their record by 15 victories . The 2003 – 04 season marked the Rockets ' arrival to a new arena , the Toyota Center , a redesign of their uniforms and logo , and their first season without Rudy Tomjanovich , who resigned as head coach after being diagnosed with bladder cancer . Led by former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy , the Rockets finished the regular season with a record of 45 – 37 , earning their first playoff berth since 1999 , again losing to the Lakers in the first round . = = = = 2004 – 2009 : Yao & McGrady duo = = = = In the offseason , Houston saw major changes in the roster as the Rockets acquired Tracy McGrady in a seven @-@ player deal with the Orlando Magic . The scoring champion McGrady and the strong rebounder Yao formed a well @-@ regarded pair that helped the Rockets win 22 consecutive games in the 2007 – 08 NBA season , which was at the time the 3rd longest winning streak in NBA history . Still , the duo was plagued with injuries – of the 463 regular season games for which they were teammates , Yao missed 146 and McGrady 160 – and did not win any playoff series , despite gathering leads over the Dallas Mavericks in 2005 and the Jazz in 2007 . After the 2007 elimination , Van Gundy was fired , and the Rockets hired Rick Adelman to replace him . For the 2008 – 09 season , the Rockets signed forward Ron Artest . While McGrady wound up playing only half the games before enduring a season @-@ ending microfracture surgery , the Rockets ended the season 53 – 29 , enough for the Western Conference 's fifth seed . During the playoffs , the Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers four games to two , winning their first round since 1997 . During the series , Dikembe Mutombo injured his knee , which forced him to retire after 18 seasons in the NBA . However , the second round against the Lakers had the Rockets losing 4 @-@ 3 and Yao Ming suffering yet another season @-@ ending injury , this time a hairline fracture in his left foot . = = = 2009 – 2012 : " Competitive Rebuilding " = = = During the 2009 – 10 season , the Rockets saw the departures of Artest in the offseason and McGrady , Joey Dorsey and Carl Landry during mid @-@ season trades . Despite great play by Kevin Martin , who arrived from the Kings , and Aaron Brooks , who would eventually be chosen as the Most Improved Player of the season , the Rockets could not make it to the playoffs , finishing 42 – 40 , 3rd in the Southwest Division . At that time , the Rockets set an NBA record for best record by a team with no All @-@ Stars . The Rockets would also finish ninth in the Western Conference for the following two seasons , with Yao Ming getting a season @-@ ending injury seven games into the 2010 – 11 season and deciding to retire during the 2011 offseason . Said offseason , which saw the NBA going through a lockout , had Adelman dismissed , and general manager Daryl Morey deciding to start a revamp of the Rockets based on advanced statistical analytics ( similar to sabermetrics in baseball ) in player acquisitions and style of play . Kevin McHale was named head coach , and the roster saw significant changes . = = = 2012 – present : The James Harden era ; resurgence and inconsistency = = = After the roster moves made by Morey during the 2012 NBA offseason , only four players were left from the 2011 – 12 Rockets roster : Chandler Parsons , Greg Smith , Marcus Morris and Patrick Patterson , with the latter two leaving through trades during the 2012 – 13 NBA season . The most important acquisition was reigning sixth man of the year James Harden , who Morey called a " foundational " player which he expected to be Houston 's featured player after a supporting role in the Oklahoma City Thunder . Harden caused an immediate impact as part of the starting lineup for the Rockets , with 37 points , 12 assists , 6 rebounds , 4 steals , and a block in the season opener against the Detroit Pistons , and an average of 25 @.@ 9 points a game through the season . Combining Harden 's performance and McHale 's up @-@ tempo offense , the Rockets became one of the highest scoring offenses in the NBA , leading the league in scoring for the majority of the season . In the post @-@ season , the Rockets fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round , losing the series 4 – 2 . Eager to add another franchise player to their team , the Rockets heavily pursued free agent center Dwight Howard in the 2013 offseason . He officially signed with the Rockets on July 13 , 2013 . Led by the new inside @-@ out combination of Howard and James Harden , and with a strong supporting cast including Chandler Parsons , Jeremy Lin , and Ömer Aşık , the Rockets were expected to jump into title contention in the upcoming season . However , in the post @-@ season , the Rockets were defeated in the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers , losing the series 4 – 2 . Still , in the 2014 – 15 season , without Lin and Parsons but reinforced by Trevor Ariza , the Rockets started the season well , winning the first four games of the season for the first time since 1996 – 97 , and winning each of their first six games by 10 points or more , the first team to accomplish this feat since the 1985 – 86 Denver Nuggets . While the Rockets had many key players miss time throughout the entire season , James Harden took it upon himself to keep the Rockets near the top of the conference , turning him into an MVP front @-@ runner . He became the first Rocket to score 50 points in a game since Hakeem Olajuwon , as well as the only player in franchise history to record multiple 50 point games in a season . On April 15 , 2015 , the Rockets beat the Jazz to claim their first ever Southwest Division title and first Division crown since 1994 , and by completing 56 wins finished with the third @-@ best regular season record in franchise history . During the playoffs , the Rockets beat the Mavericks 4 – 1 in the first round , and overcame a 3 – 1 deficit against the Los Angeles Clippers to win the Western Semifinals and return to the Conference Finals for the first time in 18 years . In the Conference Finals , the Rockets were defeated by the Golden State Warriors 4 – 1 . The 2015 – 16 season saw Kevin McHale fired after a bad start where the team only won 4 of its first 11 games , and assistant J. B. Bickerstaff took over coaching duties . Inconsistent play led to the Rockets struggling to remain in the playoff qualifying zone , and surrounded by trade rumors . Houston only clinched its 2016 playoffs spot by winning its last game , finishing the season 41 – 41 to earn an eight seed and a match @-@ up against the Warriors . Like in the previous year , the Rockets were once again defeated by the Golden State Warriors in 5 games . On June 1 , 2016 , the Rockets named Mike D 'Antoni as their new head coach . = = Season @-@ by @-@ season record = = List of the last five seasons completed by the Rockets . For the full season @-@ by @-@ season history , see List of Houston Rockets seasons . Note : GP
= Games played , W = Wins , L
= Losses , % = Winning Percentage = = Home arenas = = During the four years the Rockets were in San Diego , they played their games in the San Diego Sports Arena , which had a seating capacity of 14 @,@ 400 . In their first season after moving to Houston , the Rockets did not have their own arena , and they played their first two years at various venues in the city , including the Astrodome , AstroHall , Sam Houston Coliseum and Hofheinz Pavilion , the latter eventually being adopted as their home arena until 1975 . They also had to play " home " games in other cities such as San Antonio , Waco , Albuquerque , and even San Diego in efforts to extend the fan @-@ base . During their first season , the Rockets averaged less than 5 @,@ 000 fans per game ( roughly half full ) , and in one game in Waco , there were only 759 fans in attendance . Their first permanent arena in Houston was the 10 @,@ 000 seat Hofheinz Pavilion on the campus of the University of Houston , which they moved into starting in their second season . They played in the arena for four years , before occupying The Summit in 1975 . The arena , which could hold 16 @,@ 611 spectators , was their home for the next 28 years . It was renamed the Compaq Center from 1998 to 2003 . Following the 1994 title , the Rockets had a sellout streak of 176 consecutive home games , including the playoffs , which lasted until 1999 . However , the struggling 2000 – 01 and 2001 – 02 seasons saw Houston having the worst attendance average in the league , with less than 12 @,@ 000 spectators each season . For the 2003 – 04 season , the Rockets moved into their new arena , the Toyota Center , with a seating capacity of 18 @,@ 500 . During the 2007 – 08 NBA season where the team achieved a 22 @-@ game winning streak , the Rockets got their best numbers to date , averaging 17 @,@ 379 spectators . These were exceeded once James Harden joined the team in 2013 . The Rockets averaged 18 @,@ 123 spectators during the 2013 – 14 season , selling out 39 out of the 41 home games . 2014 – 15 had even better numbers , with 40 sellouts and an average of 18 @,@ 230 tickets sold . = = Team identity = = = = = Uniforms and logos = = = When the Rockets debuted in San Diego , their colors were green and gold . Road uniforms featured the city name , while the home uniforms feature the team name , both in a serifed block lettering . This was the only uniform design the Rockets would use throughout their years in San Diego . The Rockets ' first logo featured a rocket streaking with a basketball surrounded by the team name . Upon moving to Houston in 1971 , the Rockets replaced green with red . They kept the same design from their San Diego days , save for the change of color and city name . The logo used is of a player with a spinning basketball launching upward , with boosters on his back , leaving a trail of red and gold flames and the words " Houston Rockets " below it . For the 1972 – 73 season , the Rockets introduced the famous " mustard and ketchup " logo , so dubbed by fans , featuring a gold basketball surrounded by two red trails , with " Houston " atop the first red trail and " Rockets " ( all capitalized save for the lowercase ' E ' and ' T ' ) in black surrounding the basketball . The initial home uniforms , used until the 1975 – 76 season , features the city name , numbers and serifed player name in red with gold trim , while the away uniforms feature the city name ( all capitalized except for the lower case ' T ' and ' N ' ) , numbers and serifed player name in gold with white trim . In the 1976 – 77 season , the Rockets modified their uniforms , featuring a monotone look on the Cooper Black fonts and white lettering on the road uniforms . On the home shorts , the team logo is located on the right leg , while the away shorts feature the team name wordmark on the same location . With minor modifications in the number font , this version was used in all four of their NBA Finals appearances , including their 1994 and 1995 championships . Following the 1995 title , the Rockets opted to modernize their look . After a fan contest with over 5 @,@ 000 entries , the team went with the idea of Missouri City artist Thomas Nash of a rocket orbiting a basketball , which was then reworked by Houston designer Chris Hill . Nash would later sue the Rockets for breach of contract , given they were using his idea despite not having paid the contest prizes . The NBA suggested that should go with the cartoon @-@ inspired imagery that other teams adopted during the 1990s , leading to a rocket painted with sharkmouth nose art orbiting a basketball . Red was retained , but navy blue and silver became the uniform 's primary colors . Both the home white and away navy uniforms featured gradient @-@ fading pinstripes and futuristic number fonts , with side stripes of navy fading to red . This was used until the 2002 – 03 season . The Rockets ' current logos and uniforms were introduced in the 2003 – 04 season , created by New York @-@ based agency Alfafa Studio in association with Japanese designer Eiko Ishioka . The logo is a stylized ' R ' in the shape of a rocket during takeoff , surrounded by a red orbit streak that can be interpreted as the central circle of a basketball court . Said " R " inspired the team 's new custom typeface , designed so that every single digit could be read well from a distance , whether in the arena or on television . Red once again became the dominant color , with silver and black as secondary . In 2009 , the Rockets invoked the championship years with an alternate red uniform , featuring gold numbers and side stripes . The Rockets had two sleeved alternate jerseys for the 2015 @-@ 16 season , an alternate silver @-@ colored uniform whose design referenced the design of NASA 's Gemini @-@ Titan rocket , and a red and gold jersey featuring the nickname " Clutch City " . = = = Mascots = = = The mascot of the Houston Rockets in the 1980s was called Booster . From 1993 to 1995 , the mascot was Turbo , a costumed man that performed acrobatic dunks and other maneuvers . In 1995 , the Rockets debuted Clutch the Bear as a second mascot , a large teddy bear @-@ like mascot that performs a variety of acts during the games . After eight years of serving as dual mascots , the performer playing Turbo retired , making Clutch the sole mascot for the team . = = = Rivalries = = = The Rockets have developed many rivalries within the Western Conference ever since the team returned there in 1980 . Two are interstate rivalries , with the San Antonio Spurs , who moved along with the Rockets after four years with them in the Eastern Conference , and the Dallas Mavericks , introduced that very season . Houston faced both Texas teams thrice since 1980 , beating the Spurs on all occasions and losing twice to the Mavericks . Other famed rivalries were with the Los Angeles Lakers , that in the 1980s Showtime era only missed the NBA Finals when beaten by the Rockets , and the Utah Jazz , who the Rockets beat in both championship seasons but were defeated by Utah in five other occasions . = = Honors and statistics = = = = = Individual honors = = = = = = Statistics and records = = = = = = Franchise leaders = = = Bold denotes still active with team . Italics denotes still active but not with team . Points scored ( regular season ) ( as of the end of the 2015 – 16 season ) Other Statistics ( regular season ) ( as of the end of the 2015 – 16 season ) = = Players = = = = = Current roster = = = For the complete list of Houston Rockets players see : Houston Rockets all @-@ time roster For the players drafted by Houston Rockets , see : List of Houston Rockets first and second round draft picks . = = = Retained draft rights = = = The Rockets hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA . A drafted player , either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him , is allowed to sign with any non @-@ NBA teams . In this case , the team retains the player 's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player 's contract with the non @-@ NBA team ends . This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams . = = = Notable former players = = = = = = = Retired numbers = = = = 1 Also served as head coach from 1991 to 2003 . 2 As Dawson did not play for the Rockets , the team used his initials . = = = = Unassigned numbers = = = = 11 – Yao Ming , C , ( 2002 – 11 ) The number has not been issued since Yao announced his retirement on July 20 , 2011 and will " probably " be retired , according to owner Leslie Alexander . = = = Basketball Hall of Famers = = = On April 4 , 2016 , Ming was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . He will be inducted in September 2016 . Notes : 1 All three players were also inducted to the Hall of Fame as members of the 1992 Olympic team . = = = FIBA Hall of Famers = = = = = Management = = = = = Coaches = = = San Diego Rockets Jack McMahon ( 1968 – 70 ) Alex Hannum ( 1970 – 71 ) Houston Rockets Tex Winter ( 1971 – 1973 ) Johnny Egan ( 1973 – 1976 ) Tom Nissalke ( 1976 – 1979 ) Del Harris ( 1979 – 1983 ) Bill Fitch ( 1983 – 1988 ) Don Chaney ( 1988 – 1992 ) Rudy Tomjanovich ( 1992 – 2003 ) Jeff Van Gundy ( 2003 – 2007 ) Rick Adelman ( 2007 – 2011 ) Kevin McHale ( 2011 – 2015 ) J. B. Bickerstaff ( interim ) ( 2015 – 2016 ) Mike D 'Antoni ( 2016 – present )
= Requiem ( Reger ) = Max Reger 's 1915 Requiem ( or the Hebbel Requiem ) , Op. 144b , is a late Romantic setting of Friedrich Hebbel 's poem " Requiem " for alto or baritone solo , chorus and orchestra . It is Reger 's last completed work for chorus and orchestra , dedicated in the autograph as Dem Andenken der im Kriege 1914 / 15 gefallenen deutschen Helden ( To the memory of the German heroes who fell in the 1914 / 15 War ) . Reger had composed Requiem settings before : his 1912 motet for male chorus , published as the final part of his Op. 83 , uses the same poem , and in 1914 he set out to compose a choral work in memory of the victims of the Great War . The setting is of the Latin Requiem , the Catholic service for the dead , but the work remained a fragment and was eventually designated the Lateinisches Requiem ( Latin Requiem ) , Op. 145 . The Hebbel Requiem was published by N. Simrock in 1916 , after the composer 's death , with another choral composition , Der Einsiedler ( The Hermit ) , Op. 144a , to a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff . That publication was titled Zwei Gesänge für gemischten Chor mit Orchester ( Two songs for mixed chorus with orchestra ) , Op. 144 . Reger provided a piano transcription of the orchestral parts . Max Beckschäfer arranged the work for voice , chorus and organ in 1985 . The Hebbel Requiem was first performed in Heidelberg on 16 July 1916 as part of a memorial concert for Reger , conducted by Philipp Wolfrum . Reger thought the Hebbel Requiem was " among the most beautiful things " he ever wrote . It has been described as of " lyrical beauty , a dramatic compactness , and [ of ] economy of musical means " in which the composer 's " mastery of impulse , technique , and material is apparent " . = = Background = = Reger was a German composer , born in Brand in 1873 and raised in Weiden in der Oberpfalz . He studied music theory from April to July 1890 with Hugo Riemann at the royal conservatory in Sondershausen and continued his studies , in piano and theory , at the Wiesbaden Conservatory beginning in September of that year . He established himself as a keyboard composer , performer , and teacher of piano and organ . The first compositions to which he assigned opus numbers were chamber music . In 1891 he composed his Op. 4 , a collection of songs . The first , " Gebet " ( Prayer ) , was on a text by Friedrich Hebbel , who also wrote the poem on which two of Reger 's Requiem settings are based . Reger returned to his parental home in 1898 , where he composed his first work for choir and orchestra , Hymne an den Gesang ( Hymn to song ) , Op. 21 . He moved to Munich in 1901 . Income from publishers , concerts and private teaching enabled him to marry in 1902 . His wife , Elsa von Bercken , was a divorced Protestant , and as a result he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church . In 1907 he was appointed musical director at Leipzig University and professor at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig . In 1911 Reger was appointed Hofkapellmeister ( music director ) at the court of Duke Georg II of Saxe @-@ Meiningen , while retaining his professorial duties at the Leipzig conservatory . In 1912 he set Hebbel 's poem " Requiem " as a motet for unaccompanied male choir , which was published as No. 10 of his collection Op. 83 . In 1913 he composed four tone poems on paintings by Arnold Böcklin ( Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin ) , including the painting Die Toteninsel ( Isle of the Dead ) , as his Op. 128 . He gave up the court position in 1914 for health reasons . That year , in response to the World War , he set out to compose a choral work to commemorate the soldiers who had died or were mortally wounded . He began to set the Latin Requiem but abandoned the work as a fragment . In 1915 he moved to Jena but continued teaching in Leipzig . In Jena , he composed the Hebbel Requiem for soloist , choir and orchestra , Op. 144b , again on Hebbel 's poem , as in the setting for men 's chorus . Following a full day of teaching in Leipzig , Reger died of a heart attack while staying at a hotel there on 11 May 1916 . = = Hebbel 's poem = = In 1840 the playwright Friedrich Hebbel wrote a poem in German titled " Requiem " , its Latin title alluding to " Requiem aeternam " ( eternal rest ) , the first words of the Mass for the Dead . The poem opens with an apostrophe to a " soul " in a plea , " Seele , vergiß sie nicht , Seele , vergiß nicht die Toten " ( Soul , forget them not , soul , forget not the dead ) . These words appear to echo various psalms , such as Psalm 103 , " Bless the Lord , O my soul " . Hebbel , however , evokes an " eternal rest " that is distinctly non @-@ religious : the poem offers no metaphysical reference , Christian or otherwise , but calls for remembrance as the only way to keep the dead alive . The first lines , in which the speaker calls upon the soul not to forget the dead , are repeated in the centre of the poem and again at its conclusion , as a refrain that sets apart two longer sections of verse . The first of these sections describes how the dead , nurtured by love , enjoy a final glow of life . In contrast , the latter section portrays a different fate for souls that have been forsaken : who are relegated to an unending , desolate struggle for renewed existence . The musicologist Katherine FitzGibbon notes that the speaker of this narrative is not identified , but may be " a poetic narrator , divine voice , or even the dead " . The poem was published in 1857 . Separately , Peter Cornelius set the same poem in 1863 , as a funeral motet for a six @-@ part chorus , in response to the author 's death . = = Motet = = Reger composed his first setting of Hebbel 's poem as a motet for unaccompanied male choir in 1912 in Meiningen , where he had worked from 1911 . He composed it for the Basler Liedertafel , conducted by Hermann Suter , who performed it on 18 May 1912 to celebrate their 60th anniversary before giving the official premiere at the national Schweizer Eidgenössisches Sängerfest ( Swiss federal song festival ) in Neuchâtel on 22 July 1912 . In accordance with the poem 's structure , Reger used the same material for each of the refrains , in a homophonic setting . The words " ihr verglimmendes Leben " ( their dimming life ) are illustrated by " a sequence of chromatically descending sixth chords " . Similar descending chords are often found in Reger 's works as a musical expression of " pain , fear , death , and suffering — common associations with chromaticism since the sixteenth century " , according to FitzGibbon . Both the recurring refrain and the descending chords reappear in the later setting of the poem in the Hebbel Requiem . The motet was published under the title Requiem as the closing part of Zehn Lieder für Männerchor ( Ten songs for men 's chorus ) , Op. 83 , with earlier compositions from 1904 . = = Lateinisches Requiem = = After the outbreak of war , Reger intended to compose a work commemorating the soldiers who had died or were mortally wounded , a choral work of " großen Stils " ( in great style ) . By the autumn of 1914 , he was in discussion with a theologian in Giessen about a composition tentatively " Die letzten Dinge ( Jüngstes Gericht u . Auferstehung ) " " ( The Last Things [ Final Judgment and Resurrection ] ) " . The organist Karl Straube , who had premiered several of Reger 's organ works , recommended that Reger compose the traditional Latin Requiem instead , because Die letzten Dinge would only be a variation on Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms . Following his advice , Reger managed the composition of the introit and Kyrie , combining both texts into one movement . He announced the project , a composition for soloists , chorus , orchestra and organ , to his publisher on 3 October 1914 . The Dies irae remained unfinished . Reger wrote to Fritz Stein , his friend and later biographer , that he was in the middle of its composition , but had been interrupted after the line " statuens in parte dextra " . The Lateinisches Requiem is scored for soloists ( soprano , alto , tenor , bass ) , a four @-@ part ( SATB ) choir , three flutes ( also piccolo ) , two oboes , cor anglais , two clarinets , two bassoons , contrabassoon , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , three percussionists and strings . It is Reger 's only choral composition to use four soloists . The four " Klangapparate " are used like the several choirs in compositions by Heinrich Schütz . The first movement opens with a long organ pedal point , which has been compared to the beginning of Wagner 's Das Rheingold and the Brahms Requiem . The work remained unfinished at Reger 's death , and his publisher named the first movement the Lateinisches Requiem , Op. 145a . The music was first performed by Stein in Berlin on 28 May 1938 with four soloists and the enlarged choir of the Musikhochschule Berlin . For this performance , the liturgical Latin text was replaced by a German text , adapted to suit Nazi ideology . Hellmut von Hase titled his text Totenfeier ( Rite of the Dead ) and managed to serve " the Nazi adulation of the fallen war hero " ( as FitzGibbon said ) , dropping references to the bible . He replaced for example " exaudi orationem meam , ad te omnis caro veniet " ( Hear my prayer ; to you shall all flesh come ) by " In sorrow we mutely lower the flags , for into the grave sunk what was dear to us . " This version was published in 1939 by the Max Reger Society . The unfinished Dies irae was published in 1974 and first performed in Hamburg 's St. Jakobi on 3 November 1979 by Yoko Kawahara , Marga Höffgen , Hans @-@ Dieter Bader , Nikolaus Hillebrand , the NDR Chor and NDR Sinfonieorchester , conducted by Roland Bader . The Lateinisches Requiem is officially catalogued as WoO V / 9 . = = Hebbel Requiem = = = = = History = = = Johannes Brahms , in his Ein deutsches Requiem ( A German Requiem ) , had already opened the way for the composition of a non @-@ liturgical Requiem , written in a language other than Latin while still addressing the traditional theme of rest ( requies ) for the dead . In this tradition , Reger 's 1915 Requiem , Op. 144b , is also not a setting of the Requiem in Latin , but of Hebbel 's poem . He composed it in Jena , a year before his own death , this time for a solo voice ( alto or baritone ) , chorus and orchestra . The Requiem , Op. 144b , was combined with Der Einsiedler ( The Hermit ) , Op. 144a , a setting of a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff , as Zwei Gesänge für gemischten Chor mit Orchester ( Two songs for mixed chorus with orchestra ) , Op. 144 . Reger titled the autograph of the piano version : Zwei Gesänge / für / gemischten Chor / mit Orchester / Nr.2 ) Requiem / ( Hebbel ) , and he wrote the dedication : " Dem Gedenken der im / Kriege 1914 / 15 gefallenen / deutschen Helden . " ( To the memory of the German heroes who fell in the War 1914 / 15 ) . Reger completed the composition on 25 August 1915 . He wrote to the publisher N. Simrock on 8 September : " I 've finished two choral works ( Der Einsiedler and Requiem ) . I think I can safely say that they 're both among the most beautiful things I 've ever written . " ( Ich habe nun zwei Chorwerke ( Der Einsiedler und Requiem ) fertig . Ich glaube sagen zu dürfen , daß diese beiden Chorwerke mit das Schönste sind , was ich je geschrieben habe . ) Requiem was first published by N. Simrock in 1916 , edited by Ulrich Haverkampf , with the dedication Dem Andenken der im Kriege gefallenen deutschen Helden ( To the memory of the German heroes who fell in the War ) . Simrock also published a vocal score as prepared by Reger himself . The Hebbel Requiem was first performed , together with Der Einsiedler , in Heidelberg on 16 July 1916 , after the composer 's death , as part of a memorial concert for Reger , featuring Eva Katharina Lissmann , the choirs Bachverein and Akademischer Gesangverein , and the enlarged Städtisches Orchester ( Municipal Orchestra ) , conducted by Philipp Wolfrum . In 1925 the Requiem was published in Vienna as a pocket score , Philharmonia @-@ Taschenpartitur No. 284 . Edition Peters published it in 1928 , stating the performance duration as 25 minutes , although the duration implied by the metronome marking is 14 minutes . = = = Music = = = = = = = Structure = = = = Reger 's Hebbel Requiem is in one movement . It follows the overall form of the narrated poem , but with variations , resulting in a structure of different moods . The beginning is recalled in the middle and at the end . The following table is based on the score and on an analysis by Katherine FitzGibbon . The translation of the incipits is given as in the liner notes of the 2009 recording in the translation by Richard Stokes . The four @-@ part SATB chorus is often divided . The work is in D minor and common time . The tempo marking is Molto sostenuto , and is sustained with only slight modifications ( stringendo and ritardando ) until the most dramatic section , marked Più mosso ( faster ) and later Allegro , returning to the initial tempo for the conclusion . = = = = Sections = = = = = = = = = A = = = = = The short instrumental introduction is based on a pedal point sustained for several measures , reminiscent of pedal points in funeral music by Schütz and Bach , in Mozart 's Requiem in the same key of D minor , and in Reger 's previous Latin Requiem . In a pattern similar to the beginning of A German Requiem , the bass notes are repeated , here on a low D ( D1 ) . The soloist alone sings the intimate appellation " Seele , vergiß sie nicht " ( Soul , forget them not ) on a simple melody and repeating the first line after the second . Throughout the piece the soloist sings only these words , in the beginning and in the repeats . The chorus , here divided in eight parts , evokes the start of the spiritual ascent , " Sieh , sie umschweben dich , schauernd verlassen " ( See , they hover around you , shuddering , abandoned ) , in mostly homophonic chords , marked ppp , in a fashion reminiscent of Schütz . = = = = = B = = = = = In section B , " und in den heiligen Gluten " ( and in the holy glowing ) , the pedal point ends . The chorus is divided in four to six parts , in more independent motion . As in works by Schütz , two or three voices often introduce new text . = = = = = A ' = = = = = The soloist sings the recapitulation of the beginning similar to the first time , again on the pedal point , but repeats the second line one more time , while the chorus sings about the hovering , as before . = = = = = C = = = = = In section C , " und wenn du dich erkaltend ihnen verschließest " ( and if you coldly close yourself to them , they stiffen ) , Reger uses word painting , by means of downward lines and a final decrescendo for the line erstarren sie bis hinein in das Tiefste ( they stiffen , up to the deepest ) . On the word erstarren ( stiffens ) , the chorus settles on a dissonant 5 @-@ part chord , held for two measures , suddenly fortissimo with a crescendo at the end , then repeated pianissimo , an octave lower , motionless . In great contrast , in " Dann ergreift sie der Sturm der Nacht " ( The storm of night then grips them ) , a storm is depicted in dense motion of four parts imitating a theme in triplets . = = = = = A ' ' = = = = = In the conclusion , the soloist repeats the earlier phrase , but this time the chorus finally joins in the words of the appellation . The soloist introduces a new wording Vergiß sie nicht , die Toten ( Forget them not , the dead ) . The chorus repeats this phrase , marked espressivo , dolcissimo , on the melody of the chorale O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden , five stanzas of which Bach used in his St Matthew Passion . The melody is not repeated as in the original , but continued for half a line . Reger is known for quoting chorales in general and this one in particular , most often referring to its last stanza Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden , which Bach included in the Passion right after the death of Jesus . The corresponding text would then be Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden , so scheide nicht von mir . Wenn mir am allerbängsten ... ( When I must depart one day , do not part from me then . When the greatest anxiety ... ) . Reger completes the chorale setting for the chorus , without further reference to the chorale melody , while the solo voice repeats at the same time Seele , vergiß nicht die Toten , concluding with descending tones of more than an octave . = = = = Scoring and performances = = = = The Requiem employs an orchestra of two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , cor anglais , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , three percussionists and strings . It requires a chorus to match . Reger himself wrote a version for piano . To make the music more accessible , the composer and organist Max Beckschäfer arranged the work for voice , chorus and organ in 1985 . The organ version was premiered in the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden , where Reger had played the organ himself when he studied there in the 1890s . Gabriel Dessauer conducted a project choir , later known as the Reger @-@ Chor . Beckschäfer was the organist , Ulrike Buchs the vocal soloist . The choir , expanded into the Reger @-@ Chor @-@ International by singers from Belgium , performed the work again in 2001 with organist Ignace Michiels from St. Salvator 's Cathedral , Bruges , both there and in St. Bonifatius , Wiesbaden ( recorded live ) . They performed it a third time in 2010 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Reger @-@ Chor . The Hebbel Requiem was performed as part of the Ouverture spirituelle of the 2014 Salzburg Festival , along with Bruckner 's Fourth Symphony , with Plácido Domingo as baritone soloist and the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Daniel Barenboim . = = = 2016 = = = To mark the centenary of Reger 's death in 2016 , the broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk staged a concert of the Hebbel Requiem in early May , conducted by Karl @-@ Heinz Steffens . The Bachfest Leipzig 2016 programmed several works by Reger , including the Latin Requiem fragment in the opening concert at the Thomaskirche on 10 June , and the Hebbel Requiem there on 17 June , along with Der Mensch lebt und bestehet and O Tod , wie bitter bist du . = = = Evaluation = = = In a review of a recording of choral works by Reger , Gavin Dixon said that the Requiem is " almost mystical in its use of widely spaced chords , unusual harmonic shifts and dreamy arpeggios in the accompaniment " . The program notes for the recording say that in the " anguished , expressionistic evocation of the ' shuddering ' , ' forsaken ' , ' cold ' souls , the piece seems determined to expose death in all its grim horror " . Debra Lenssen wrote in her 2002 thesis about Reger 's Op. 144 : As their composer 's final completed works for chorus and orchestra , Der Einsiedler and Requiem , Op. 144a and 144b , demonstrate Max Reger 's mature ability when setting poems of recognized literary merit . These powerful single @-@ movement works from 1915 defy many stereotypes associated with their composer . They manifest a lyrical beauty , a dramatic compactness , and an economy of musical means . The central theme of both is mortality and death . In these challenging works , his mastery of impulse , technique , and material is apparent . Op. 144 constitutes both a continuation of Reger 's choral / orchestral style in earlier works and , by dint of the composer 's death as a mid @-@ aged man , the culmination of it . = = Recordings = = = = = Scores = = = 10 Gesänge , Op.83 ( Reger , Max ) : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Requiemsatz , Op.145a : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Requiem , Op.144b : Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Zwei Gesänge für gemischten Chor mit Orchester / 2 / Requiem ( Hebbel ) . Edition Peters . 2010 . = = = Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute = = = " Curriculum vitae " . Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute . Retrieved 3 April 2010 . " Sechs Lieder Op. 4 " ( in German ) . Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute . Retrieved 17 April 2016 . " Zehn Gesänge für Männerchor Op. 83 " ( in German ) . Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute . Retrieved 3 April 2016 . " Zwei Gesänge Op. 144 / für Solostimme , gemischter Chor und Orchester " ( in German ) . Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute . Retrieved 3 April 2016 . " Requiem Op. 144b " ( in German ) . Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute . Retrieved 4 April 2016 . " Requiem WoO V / 9 " ( in German ) . Max @-@ Reger @-@ Institute . Retrieved 3 April 2016 . = = = Books = = = Grim , William ( 2005 ) . Lateinisches Requiem für Soli , Chor und Orchester , Op. 145a . Musikproduktion Höflich . Lenssen , Debra ( 2002 ) . " Max Reger 's final choral / orchestral work : a study of opus 144 as culmination within continuity " . University of Cincinnati . Retrieved 10 July 2010 . McDermott , Pamela ( 2010 ) . " The Requiem Reinvented : Brahms ‘ s Ein deutsches Requiem and the Transformation from Literal to Symbolic " ( PDF ) . p . 201 of 226 , 1 @.@ 3 MB . Retrieved 12 July 2010 . Schönstedt , Rolf ( 2002 ) . 7 . Max Reger – Das Geistliche Lied als Orgellied – eine Gattung entsteht ( in German ) . Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Herford . Im 2.Teil zitiert der Sopran den c.f. O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden original , ohne Wiederholung bis zur ersten Halbzeile nach dem Stollen , ... Inbegriff dieses Passionsliedes war für Reger wohl stets die 9 . Strophe Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden ... , was aus einem Briefzitat an Arthur Seidl 1913 als bewiesen erscheint : ' Haben Sie nicht bemerkt , wie durch alle meine Sachen der Choral hindurchklingt : Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden ? ' Sprondel , Friedrich ( 2014 ) . Und die Toten werden die Stimme Gottes hören ... ( PDF ) ( in German ) . Bachakademie . Retrieved 14 March 2015 . Werke von Max Reger . Internationale Orgelkonzerte Wiesbaden ( in German ) ( Marktkirche , Wiesbaden ) . 1985 . = = = Journals = = = FitzGibbon , Katherine ( 2014 ) . " Historicism and German Nationalism in Max Reger 's Requiems " ( PDF ) . The Choral Scholar ( National Collegiate Choral Organization ) 4 . Retrieved 14 March 2015 . = = = Newspapers = = = Hoernicke , Richard ( 2001 ) . " Wenn Freunde musizieren " . Wiesbadener Tagblatt ( in German ) . Hoernicke , Richard ( 31 August 2010 ) . " Gelungenes Finale der Musikwochen " . Allgemeine Zeitung ( in German ) . = = = Online sources = = = Dellal , Pamela ( 2016 ) . " BWV 244 – Matthäus @-@ Passion " . Emmanuel Music . Retrieved 11 April 2016 . Dixon , Gavin ( 2010 ) . " Max Reger ( 1873 @-@ 1916 ) / Choral Works " . musicweb @-@ international.com. Retrieved 14 March 2015 . Downes , Michael ( 2010 ) . " Requiem , Op 144b " . Hyperion Records . Retrieved 14 March 2015 . Eckle , Georg @-@ Albrecht ( 2014 ) . " Nur eine kleine Zeit / Max Reger 's " Requiem " " ( in German ) . Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien . Retrieved 14 March 2015 . Eckle , Georg @-@ Albrecht ( 29 April 2016 ) . " Aus dem Reich der Toten / Max Reger und " sein " Requiem " ( in German ) . Bayerischer Rundfunk . Retrieved 7 June 2016 . Farr , Robert J ( 2004 ) . " Peter Cornelius ( 1824 – 1874 ) Seele , vergiss sie nicht Requiem " . musicweb @-@ international.com. Retrieved 13 July 2010 . Katzschmann , Christian . " Max Reger ( 1873 – 1916 ) Requiem , Op. 144b ( Hebbel ) " ( in German ) . musiktext.de. Retrieved 10 July 2010 . " Max Reger : Der 100 . Psalm ; Der Einsiedler ; Requiem ( Hebbel ) " . AllMusic . 2000 . Retrieved 8 April 2016 . " Max Reger / Requiem " Seele , vergiß sie nicht " op . 144b " ( PDF ) . Musikproduktion Höflich . 2005 . Retrieved 3 April 2016 . Requiem , song for alto or baritone , chorus & orchestra , Op. 144b at AllMusic " Friedrich Hebbel / Requiem " . Freiburger Anthologie ( in German ) . Freiburg University . 2016 . Retrieved 4 April 2016 . " Max Reger ( 1873 – 1916 ) Requiem , Op. 144b / Op. 145a / Dies irae " . classics @-@ glaucus . 2009 . Retrieved 10 July 2010 . " Max Reger : Requiem , Op. 83 / 10 " . Boosey & Hawkes . 2010 . Retrieved 10 July 2010 . " Werke von Max Reger im Bachfest 2016 " ( in German ) . Bachfest Leipzig . Retrieved 16 June 2010 . " Max Reger , Chorstücke ( 1969 ) " . Junge Kantorei . Retrieved 12 April 2016 . " # 2 Gabriel Dessauer , Ignace Michiels " ( in French ) . France Orgue . Retrieved 10 July 2010 . " Reger , Max Requiem Op.144b " . Edition Peters . 2010 . Retrieved 3 January 2011 . " Reger : Requiem " . prestoclassical.co. 2010 . Retrieved 10 July 2010 . " Max Reger Kompositionen " ( in German ) . maxreger.de. 2010 . Retrieved 10 July 2010 . " Konzert 2014 " ( PDF ) . Salzburg Festival . Retrieved 10 April 2016 .
= Vauxhall Gardens = Vauxhall Gardens / ˈvɒksɔːl / was a pleasure garden in Kennington on the south bank of the River Thames and accessed by boat from London until the erection of Vauxhall Bridge in the 1810s . The wider area was absorbed into the metropolis as the city expanded in the early to mid @-@ 19th century . It was one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London , from the mid @-@ 17th century to the mid @-@ 19th century . Originally known as ' New Spring Gardens ' , the site is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660 , the first known mention being made by Samuel Pepys in 1662 . The Gardens consisted of several acres of trees and shrubs with attractive walks . Initially entrance was free , with food and drink being sold to support the venture . The site became Vauxhall Gardens in 1785 and admission was charged for its many attractions . The Gardens drew all manner of people and supported enormous crowds , with its paths being noted for romantic assignations . Tightrope walkers , hot @-@ air balloon ascents , concerts and fireworks provided entertainment . The rococo " Turkish tent " became one of the Gardens ' structures , the interior of the Rotunda became one of Vauxhall 's most viewed attractions , and the chinoiserie style was a feature of several buildings . A statue depicting George Frederic Handel , erected in the Gardens , later found its way to Westminster Abbey . In 1817 the Battle of Waterloo was re @-@ enacted , with 1 @,@ 000 soldiers participating . It closed in 1840 after its owners suffered bankruptcy , but re @-@ opened in 1841 . It changed hands in 1842 , and was permanently closed in 1859 . The land was redeveloped in the following decades , but slum clearance in the late 20th century saw part of the original site opened up as a public park . This was initially called Spring Gardens and renamed in 2012 as Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens . It is managed as a public park by the London Borough of Lambeth . Vauxhall Gardens is depicted in a tile motif at Vauxhall tube station , done in about 1971 by George Smith . = = Cultural significance = = Eminent 18th @-@ century scholar John Barrell , writing in the Times Literary Supplement , brings out Vauxhall 's significance . " Vauxhall pleasure gardens , on the south bank of the Thames , entertained Londoners and visitors to London for 200 years . From 1729 , under the management of Jonathan Tyers , property developer , impresario , patron of the arts , the gardens grew into an extraordinary business , a cradle of modern painting and architecture , and ... music .... A pioneer of mass entertainment , Tyers had to become also a pioneer of mass catering , of outdoor lighting , of advertising , and of all the logistics involved in running one of the most complex and profitable business ventures of the eighteenth century in Britain . " References to Vauxhall are , for 150 years , as ubiquitous as references to " Broadway " later would be . = = History = = The Gardens are believed to have opened just before the Restoration of 1660 , on property formerly owned by Jane Fauxe , or Vaux , widow , in 1615 . Whereas John Nichols in his History of Lambeth Parish conjectures that she was the widow of Guy Fawkes , executed in 1606 , John Timbs in his 1867 Curiosities of London states for a fact that there was no such connection , and that the Vaux name derives from one Falkes de Breauté , a mercenary working for King John who acquired the land by marriage . Jane is stated to be the widow of John , a vintner . Perhaps the earliest record is Samuel Pepys ' description of a visit he made to the New Spring Gardens on 29 May 1662 . The then name distinguished the gardens from the Old Spring Gardens at Charing Cross ; however Pepys implies that there were both Old and New Spring Gardens at Vauxhall ; and indeed Spring Gardens appears to have been a longstanding appellation for a variety of entertainment enterprises . The Gardens consisted of several acres laid out with walks . Initially admission was free , the proprietors making money by selling food and drink . John Evelyn described " the New Spring Garden at Lambeth " as a " very pretty contrived plantation " in 1661 . John Aubrey , in his Antiquities of Surrey gives the following account : At Vauxhall , Sir Samuel Morland built a fine room , anno 1667 , the inside all of looking @-@ glass , and fountains very pleasant to behold , which is much visited by strangers : it stands in the middle of the garden , covered with Cornish slate , on the point of which he placed a punchinello , very well carved , which held a dial , but the winds have demolished it . A plan of 1681 shows the circular central feature planted with trees and shrubs , and the formal allées that were to remain a feature as long as the Gardens lasted . Sir John Hawkins , in his General History of Music ( 1776 ) , says : The house seems to have been rebuilt since the time that Sir Samuel Morland dwelt in it . About the year 1730 , Mr. Jonathan Tyers became the occupier of it , and , there being a large garden belonging to it , planted with a great number of stately trees , and laid out in shady walks , it obtained the name of Spring Gardens ; and the house being converted into a tavern , or place of entertainment , was much frequented by the votaries of pleasure . Mr. Tyers opened it with an advertisement of a Ridotto al Fresco , a term which the people of this country had till that time been strangers to . These entertainments were repeated in the course of the summer , and numbers resorted to partake of them . This encouraged the proprietor to make his garden a place of musical entertainment , for every evening during the summer season . To this end he was at great expense in decorating the gardens with paintings ; he engaged a band of excellent musicians ; he issued silver tickets at one guinea each for admission , and receiving great encouragement , he set up an organ in the orchestra , and , in a conspicuous part of the garden , erected a fine statue of Mr. Handel . The ' supposed ' last night of the gardens was on 5 September 1839 when it attracted 1089 people . Vauxhall was sold at auction on 9 September 1841 for £ 20 @,@ 000 , following bankruptcy of the owners , after which it re @-@ opened , but it was permanently closed in 1859 , and most of the land sold for building purposes . = = The Spring Gardens and the Rococo in England = = The Spring Gardens were the most prominent vehicle in England for the public display of the new Rococo style . The earliest pictorial representation of Tyers ' Spring Gardens , Vauxhall , is the " Vauxhall fan " ( 1736 ) , an etching printed in blue designed to be pasted to a fan ; it shows the earliest groups of pavilions , in a sober classical taste , but the interiors of the supper boxes were painted by members of Hogarth 's St. Martin 's Lane Academy , prominent among them Francis Hayman . Hayman provided most of the subjects , which were rapidly executed by students and assistants ; Hubert Gravelot provided designs for two others , and Hogarth 's designs were pressed into service in hastily dashed @-@ off copies that filled the back of every box . At a certain hour , all the paintings were let down at once , to offer some security to the companies at supper and a suitable backdrop , one observer thought , for the live beauties of London . Frederick , Prince of Wales , who had come to England with his father George II in 1728 and who was a prominent patron of the Rococo , took sufficient interest in the Gardens to have his own pavilion built from the very first . The first fully Rococo structure erected at the Spring Gardens , Vauxhall , was the " Turkish Tent " that was still a novelty in 1744 ; " this fantastic structure introduced that element of frivolous impermanence which became so characteristic of Vauxhall , " David Coke has remarked . In the course of the 1740s it was joined by other examples of Rococo chinoiserie and above all by the Rotunda , with the most @-@ viewed Rococo interior decoration in England , designed by George Michael Moser , another member of the St. Martin 's Lane Academy ; the ornaments were " Executed by French and Italians " George Vertue noted . = = The experience = = Enormous crowds could be accommodated at Spring Gardens , Vauxhall . In 1749 a rehearsal of Handel 's Music for the Royal Fireworks attracted an audience of 12 @,@ 000 , and in 1786 a fancy @-@ dress jubilee to celebrate the proprietor 's long ownership was thronged with 61 @,@ 000 revellers . Many of the best known musicians and singers of the day performed at the Gardens , for example Sophia Baddeley . In 1732 , their fashionable status was confirmed by a fancy dress ball attended by Frederick , Prince of Wales . At that time access from the West End was by water , but the opening of Westminster Bridge in the 1740s made access easier though less charming . The main walks were lit at night by hundreds of lamps . Over time more features and eyecatchers were added : additional supper boxes , a music room , a Chinese pavilion , a gothic orchestra that accommodated fifty musicians , and ruins , arches , statues and a cascade . An admission charge was introduced from the beginning and later James Boswell wrote : Vauxhall Gardens is peculiarly adapted to the taste of the English nation ; there being a mixture of curious show , — gay exhibition , musick , vocal and instrumental , not too refined for the general ear ; — for all of which only a shilling is paid ; and , though last , not least , good eating and drinking for those who choose to purchase that regale . The unlighted ' dark walks ' or ' close walks ' were known as a place for amorous adventures . Thomas Brown in " Works Serious and Comical in Prose and Verse " ( 1760 ) says : The ladies that have an inclination to be private , take delight in the close walks of Spring @-@ Gardens , where both sexes meet , and mutually serve one another as guides to lose their way ; and the windings and turnings in the little wildernesses are so intricate , that the most experienced mothers have often lost themselves in looking for their daughters . " A great part of the entertainment was offered by the well @-@ dressed company itself . Pauses between pieces of music were intentionally long enough to give the crowd time to circulate the Gardens anew . M. Grosely , in his Tour to London ( 1772 ) says , relating to Ranelagh Gardens and Vauxhall : These entertainments , which begin in the month of May , are continued every night . They bring together persons of all ranks and conditions ; and amongst these , a considerable number of females , whose charms want only that cheerful air , which is the flower and quintessence of beauty . These places serve equally as a rendezvous either for business or intrigue . They form , as it were , private coteries ; there you see fathers and mothers , with their children , enjoying domestic happiness in the midst of public diversions . The English assert , that such entertainments as these can never subsist in France , on account of the levity of the people . Certain it is , that those of Vauxhall and Ranelagh , which are guarded only by outward decency , are conducted without tumult and disorder , which often disturb the public diversions of France . I do not know whether the English are gainers thereby ; the joy which they seem in search of at those places does not beam through their countenances ; they look as grave at Vauxhall and Ranelagh as at the Bank , at church , or a private club . All persons there seem to say , what a young English nobleman said to his governor , Am I as joyous as I should be ? The new name Vauxhall Gardens , long in popular use , was made official in 1785 . After Boswell 's time the admission charge rose steadily : to two shillings in 1792 , three @-@ and @-@ sixpence in the early 19th century , and 4 / 6 in the 1820s . Season tickets were also sold . Entertainment in this period included hot @-@ air balloon ascents , fireworks , and tightrope walkers . In 1813 there was a fête to celebrate victory at the Battle of Vitoria , and in 1827 the Battle of Waterloo was re @-@ enacted by 1 @,@ 000 soldiers . The contributor to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia ( 1830 edition ) comments that : the garden 's great attraction arises from their being splendidly illuminated at night with about 15 @,@ 000 glass lamps . These being tastefully hung among the trees , which line the walks , produce an impression similar to that which is called up on reading some of the stories in the Arabian Nights Entertainments . On some occasions there have been upwards of 19 @,@ 000 persons in them , and this immense concourse , most of whom are well dressed , seen in connection with the illuminated walks , add not a little to the brilliant and astonishing effect of the whole scene . Charles Dickens wrote of a daylight visit to Vauxhall Gardens , in Sketches by Boz , published in 1836 : We paid our shilling at the gate , and then we saw for the first time , that the entrance , if there had been any magic about it at all , was now decidedly disenchanted , being , in fact , nothing more nor less than a combination of very roughly @-@ painted boards and sawdust . We glanced at the orchestra and supper @-@ room as we hurried past — we just recognised them , and that was all . We bent our steps to the firework @-@ ground ; there , at least , we should not be disappointed . We reached it , and stood rooted to the spot with mortification and astonishment . That the Moorish tower — that wooden shed with a door in the centre , and daubs of crimson and yellow all round , like a gigantic watch @-@ case ! That the place where night after night we had beheld the undaunted Mr. Blackmore make his terrific ascent , surrounded by flames of fire , and peals of artillery , and where the white garments of Madame Somebody ( we forget even her name now ) , who nobly devoted her life to the manufacture of fireworks , had so often been seen fluttering in the wind , as she called up a red , blue , or party @-@ coloured light to illumine her temple ! The Gardens feature in a number of other works of literature . They are the scene of a brief but pivotal turning point in the fortunes of anti @-@ heroine Becky Sharp in Thackeray 's 19th @-@ century novel Vanity Fair , as well as a setting in his novel Pendennis . Thomas Hardy sets scenes in his The Dynasts in the Gardens . In Cecilia by Frances Burney the Gardens are where the character Mr Harrell commits suicide . The Gardens passed through several hands . In 1840 , the owners went bankrupt and the Gardens closed . They were revived the following year , and again in 1842 under new management , but in 1859 they closed for good .
= Frederick Delius = Frederick Theodore Albert Delius , CH ( / ˈdiːlɪəs / 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934 ) was an English composer . Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family , he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce . He was sent to Florida in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation . There he soon neglected his managerial duties , and in 1886 returned to Europe . Having been influenced by African @-@ American music during his short stay in Florida , he began composing . After a brief period of formal musical study in Germany beginning in 1886 , he embarked on a full @-@ time career as a composer in Paris and then in nearby Grez @-@ sur @-@ Loing , where he and his wife Jelka lived for the rest of their lives , except during the First World War . Delius 's first successes came in Germany , where Hans Haym and other conductors promoted his music from the late 1890s . In Delius 's native Britain , it was 1907 before his music made regular appearances in concert programmes , after Thomas Beecham took it up . Beecham conducted the full premiere of A Mass of Life in London in 1909 ( he had premiered Part II in Germany in 1908 ) ; he staged the opera A Village Romeo and Juliet at Covent Garden in 1910 ; and he mounted a six @-@ day Delius festival in London in 1929 , as well as making gramophone recordings of many of Delius 's works . After 1918 Delius began to suffer the effects of syphilis , contracted during his earlier years in Paris . He became paralysed and blind , but completed some late compositions between 1928 and 1932 with the aid of an amanuensis , Eric Fenby . The lyricism in Delius 's early compositions reflected the music he had heard in America and the influences of European composers such as Edvard Grieg and Richard Wagner . As his skills matured , he developed a style uniquely his own , characterised by his individual orchestration and his uses of chromatic harmony . Delius 's music has been only intermittently popular , and often subject to critical attacks . The Delius Society , formed in 1962 by his more dedicated followers , continues to promote knowledge of the composer 's life and works , and sponsors the annual Delius Prize competition for young musicians . = = Life = = = = = Early years = = = Delius was born in Bradford in Yorkshire . He was baptised as " Fritz Theodore Albert Delius " , and used the forename Fritz until he was about 40 . He was the second of four sons ( there were also ten daughters ) born to Julius Delius ( 1822 – 1901 ) and his wife Elise Pauline , née Krönig ( 1838 – 1929 ) . Delius 's parents were born in Bielefeld , Westphalia , of Dutch origin ; the family had for some generations been settled in German lands near the Rhine . Julius 's father , Ernst Friedrich Delius , had served under Blücher in the Napoleonic Wars . Julius moved to England to further his career as a wool merchant , and became a naturalised British subject in 1850 . He married Elise in 1856 . The Delius household was musical ; famous musicians such as Joseph Joachim and Carlo Alfredo Piatti were guests , and played for the family . Despite his German parentage , the young Fritz was drawn to the music of Chopin and Grieg rather than the Austro @-@ German music of Mozart and Beethoven , a preference that endured all his life . The young Delius was first taught the violin by a Mr. Bauerkeller of the Hallé Orchestra , and had more advanced studies under Mr. George Haddock of Leeds . Although he achieved enough skill as a violinist to set up as a violin teacher in later years , his chief musical joy was to improvise at the piano , and it was a piano piece , a waltz by Chopin , that gave him his first ecstatic encounter with music . From 1874 to 1878 , Delius was educated at Bradford Grammar School , where the singer John Coates was his slightly older contemporary . He then attended the International College at Isleworth between 1878 and 1880 . As a pupil he was neither especially quick nor diligent , but the college was conveniently close to London for Delius to attend concerts and opera . Julius Delius assumed that his son would play a part in the family wool business , and for the next three years he tried hard to persuade him to do so . Delius 's first job was as the firm 's representative in Stroud in Gloucestershire , where he did moderately well . After being sent in a similar capacity to Chemnitz , he neglected his duties in favour of trips to the major musical centres of Germany , and musical studies with Hans Sitt . His father sent him to Sweden , where he again put his artistic interests ahead of commerce , coming under the influence of the Norwegian dramatists Henrik Ibsen and Gunnar Heiberg . Ibsen 's denunciations of social conventions further alienated Delius from his commercial background . Delius was then sent to represent the firm in France , but he frequently absented himself from business for excursions to the French Riviera . After this , Julius Delius recognised that there was no prospect that his son would succeed in the family business , but he remained opposed to music as a profession , and instead sent him to America to manage an orange plantation . = = = Florida = = = Whether the move to America was Julius 's idea or his son 's is unknown . A leading Florida property firm had branches in several English cities including Bradford ; in an article on Delius 's time in Florida , William Randel conjectures that either Julius Delius visited the Bradford office and conceived the notion of sending his wayward son to grow oranges in Florida , or that Fritz himself saw it as a way to escape the hated family wool business and suggested the idea to his father . Delius was in Florida from the spring of 1884 to the autumn of 1885 , living on a plantation at Solano Grove on the Saint Johns River , about 35 miles ( 55 kilometers ) south of Jacksonville . He continued to be engrossed in music , and in Jacksonville he met Thomas Ward , who became his teacher in counterpoint and composition . Delius later said that Ward 's teaching was the only useful music instruction he ever had . Delius later liked to represent his house at Solano Grove as " a shanty " , but it was a substantial cottage of four rooms , with plenty of space for Delius to entertain guests . Ward sometimes stayed there , as did an old Bradford friend , Charles Douglas , and Delius 's brother Ernest . Protected from excessive summer heat by river breezes and a canopy of oak trees , the house was an agreeable place to live in . Delius paid little attention to the business of growing oranges , and continued to pursue his musical interests . Jacksonville had a rich , though to a European , unorthodox musical life . Randel notes that in local hotels , the African @-@ American waiters doubled as singers , with daily vocal concerts for patrons and passers @-@ by , giving Delius his introduction to spirituals . Additionally , ship owners encouraged their deckhands to sing as they worked . " Delius never forgot the singing as he heard it , day or night , carried sweet and clear across the water to his verandah at Solano Grove , whenever a steam @-@ ship passed ; it is hard to imagine conditions less conducive to cultivating oranges — or more conducive to composing . " While in Florida , Delius had his first composition published , a polka for piano called Zum Carnival . In late 1885 he left a caretaker in charge of Solano Grove and moved to Danville , Virginia . Thereafter he pursued a wholly musical career . An advertisement in the local paper announced , " Fritz Delius will begin at once giving instruction in Piano , Violin , Theory and Composition . He will give lessons at the residences of his pupils . Terms reasonable . " Delius also offered lessons in French and German . Danville had a thriving musical life , and early works of his were publicly performed there . = = = Leipzig and Paris = = = In 1886 Julius Delius finally agreed to allow his son to pursue a musical career , and paid for him to study music formally . Delius left Danville and returned to Europe via New York , where he paused briefly to give a few lessons . Back in Europe he enrolled at the conservatoire in Leipzig , Germany . Leipzig was a major musical centre , where Nikisch and Mahler were conductors at the Opera House , and Brahms and Tchaikovsky conducted their works at the Gewandhaus . At the conservatoire , Delius made little progress in his piano studies under Carl Reinecke , but Salomon Jadassohn praised his hard work and grasp of counterpoint ; Delius also resumed studies under Hans Sitt . Delius 's early biographer , the composer Patrick Hadley , observed that no trace of his academic tuition can be found in Delius 's mature music " except in certain of the weaker passages " . Much more important to Delius 's development was meeting the composer Edvard Grieg in Leipzig . Grieg , like Ward before him , recognised Delius 's potential . In the spring of 1888 , Sitt conducted Delius 's Florida Suite for an audience of three : Grieg , Christian Sinding and the composer . Grieg and Sinding were enthusiastic and became warm supporters of Delius . At a dinner party in London in April 1888 , Grieg finally convinced Julius Delius that his son 's future lay in music . After leaving Leipzig in 1888 , Delius moved to Paris where his uncle , Theodore , took him under his wing and looked after him socially and financially . Over the next eight years , Delius befriended many writers and artists , including August Strindberg , Edvard Munch and Paul Gauguin . He mixed very little with French musicians , although Florent Schmitt arranged the piano scores of Delius 's first two operas , Irmelin and The Magic Fountain ( Ravel later did the same for his verismo opera Margot la rouge ) . As a result , his music never became widely known in France . Delius 's biographer Diana McVeagh says of these years that Delius " was found to be attractive , warm @-@ hearted , spontaneous , and amorous . " It is generally believed that during this period he contracted the syphilis that caused the collapse of his health in later years . Delius 's Paris years were musically productive . His symphonic poem Paa Vidderne was performed in Christiania in 1891 and in Monte Carlo in 1894 ; Gunnar Heiberg commissioned Delius to provide incidental music for his play Folkeraadet in 1897 ; and Delius 's second opera , The Magic Fountain , was accepted for staging at Prague , but the project fell through for unknown reasons . Other works of the period were the fantasy overture Over the Hills and Far Away ( 1895 – 97 ) and orchestral variations , Appalachia ( 1896 , rewritten in 1904 for voices and orchestra ) . = = = First successes = = = In 1897 , Delius met the German artist Jelka Rosen , who later became his wife . She was a professional painter , a friend of Auguste Rodin , and a regular exhibitor at the Salon des Indépendants . Jelka quickly declared her admiration for the young composer 's music , and the couple were drawn closer together by a shared passion for the works of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the music of Grieg . Jelka bought a house in Grez @-@ sur @-@ Loing , a village 40 miles ( 64 km ) outside Paris on the edge of Fontainebleau . Delius visited her there , and after a brief return visit to Florida , he moved in with her . In 1903 they married , and , apart from a short period when the area was threatened by the advancing German army during the First World War , Delius lived in Grez for the rest of his life . The marriage was not conventional : Jelka was , at first , the principal earner ; there were no children ; and Delius was not a faithful husband . Jelka was often distressed by his affairs , but her devotion did not waver . In the same year , Delius began a fruitful association with German supporters of his music , the conductors Hans Haym , Fritz Cassirer and Alfred Hertz at Elberfeld , and Julius Buths at Düsseldorf . Haym conducted Over the Hills and Far Away , which he gave under its German title Über die Berge in die Ferne on 13 November 1897 , believed to be the first time Delius 's music was heard in Germany . In 1899 Hertz gave a Delius concert in St. James 's Hall in London , which included Over the Hills and Far Away , a choral piece , Mitternachtslied , and excerpts from the opera Koanga . This occasion was an unusual opportunity for an unknown composer at a time when any sort of orchestral concert was a rare event in London . In spite of encouraging reviews , Delius 's orchestral music was not heard again in an English concert hall until 1907 . The orchestral work Paris : The Song of a Great City was composed in 1899 and dedicated to Haym . He gave the premiere at Elberfeld on 14 December 1901 . It provoked some critical comment from the local newspaper , which complained that the composer put his listeners on a bus and shuttled them from one Parisian night @-@ spot to another , " but he does not let us hear the tuneful gypsy melodies in the boulevard cafés , always just cymbals and tambourine and mostly from two cabarets at the same time at that " . The work was given under Busoni in Berlin less than a year later . Most of Delius 's premieres of this period were given by Haym and his fellow German conductors . In 1904 Cassirer premiered Koanga , and in the same year the Piano Concerto was given in Elberfeld , and Lebenstanz in Düsseldorf . Appalachia ( choral orchestral variations on an old slave song , also inspired by Florida ) followed there in 1905 . Sea Drift ( a cantata with words taken from a poem by Walt Whitman ) was premiered at Essen in 1906 , and A Village Romeo and Juliet in Berlin in 1907 . Delius 's reputation in Germany remained high until the First World War ; in 1910 his rhapsody Brigg Fair was given by 36 different German orchestras . = = = Growing reputation = = = By 1907 , thanks to performances of his works in many German cities , Delius was , as Thomas Beecham said , " floating safely on a wave of prosperity which increased as the year went on " . Henry Wood premiered the revised version of Delius 's Piano Concerto that year . Also in 1907 Cassirer conducted some concerts in London , at one of which , with Beecham 's New Symphony Orchestra , he presented Appalachia . Beecham , who had until then heard not a note of Delius 's music , expressed his " wonderment " and became a lifelong devotee of the composer 's works . In January 1908 he conducted the British premiere of Paris : The Song of a Great City . Later that year , Beecham introduced Brigg Fair to London audiences , and Fernández Arbós presented Lebenstanz . In 1909 , Beecham conducted the first complete performance of A Mass of Life , the largest and most ambitious of Delius 's concert works , written for four soloists , a double choir , and a large orchestra . Although the work was based on the same Nietzsche work as Richard Strauss 's Also sprach Zarathustra , Delius distanced himself from the Strauss work , which he considered a complete failure . Nor was Strauss an admirer of Delius , as he was of Elgar ; he told Delius that he did not wish to conduct Paris : " the symphonic development seems to me to be too scant , and it seems moreover to be an imitation of Charpentier " . In early years of the 20th century , Delius composed some of his most popular works , including Brigg Fair ( 1907 ) , In a Summer Garden ( 1908 , revised 1911 ) , Summer Night on the River ( 1911 ) , and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring ( 1912 ) , of which McVeagh comments , " These exquisite idylls , for all their composer 's German descent and French domicile , spell ' England ' for most listeners . " In 1910 , Beecham put on an opera season at the Royal Opera House in London . Having access to the Beecham family 's considerable fortune , he ignored commercial considerations and programmed several works of limited box @-@ office appeal , including A Village Romeo and Juliet . The reviews were polite , but The Times , having praised the orchestral aspects of the score , commented , " Mr. Delius seems to have remarkably little sense of dramatic writing for the voice " . Other reviewers agreed that the score contained passages of great beauty , but was ineffective as drama . = = = War and post @-@ war = = = During the First World War , Delius and Jelka moved from Grez to avoid the hostilities . They took up temporary residence in the south of England , where Delius continued to compose . In 1915 , The Musical Times published a profile of him by his admirer , the composer Philip Heseltine ( known as " Peter Warlock " ) , who commented : [ H ] e holds no official position in the musical life of the country [ i.e. Britain ] ; he does not teach in any of the academies , he is not even an honorary professor or doctor of music . He never gives concerts or makes propaganda for his music ; he never conducts an orchestra , or plays an instrument in public ( even Berlioz played the tambourine ! ) Heseltine depicted Delius as a composer uncompromisingly focused on his own music . " There can be no superficial view of Delius 's music : either one feels it in the very depths of one 's being , or not at all . This may be a part of the reason why one so seldom hears a really first @-@ rate performance of Delius 's work , save under Mr. Beecham " . One of Delius 's major wartime works was his Requiem , dedicated " to the memory of all young Artists fallen in the war " . The work owes nothing to the traditional Christian liturgy , eschewing notions of an afterlife and celebrating instead a pantheistic renewal of Nature . When Albert Coates presented the work in London in 1922 , its atheism offended some believers . This attitude persisted long after Delius 's death , as the Requiem did not receive another performance in the UK until 1965 , and by 1980 had still had only seven performances world @-@ wide . In Germany , the regular presentation of Delius 's works ceased at the outbreak of the war , and never resumed . Nevertheless , his standing with some continental musicians was unaffected ; Beecham records that Bartók and Kodály were admirers of Delius , and the former grew into the habit of sending his compositions to Delius for comment and tried to interest him in both Hungarian and Romanian popular music . By the end of the war , Delius and Jelka had returned to Grez . He had begun to show symptoms of syphilis that he had probably contracted in the 1880s . He took treatment at clinics across Europe , but by 1922 he was walking with two sticks , and by 1928 he was paralysed and blind . There was no return to the prosperity of pre @-@ war years : Delius 's medical treatment was an additional expense , his blindness prevented him from composing , and his royalties were curtailed by the lack of continental performances of his music . Beecham gave discreet financial help , and the composer and musical benefactor H. Balfour Gardiner bought the house at Grez and allowed Delius and Jelka to live there rent @-@ free . Beecham was temporarily absent from the concert hall and opera house between 1920 and 1923 , but Coates gave the first performance of A Song of the High Hills in 1920 , and Henry Wood and Hamilton Harty programmed Delius 's music with the Queen 's Hall and Hallé Orchestras . Wood gave the British première of the Double Concerto for violin and cello in 1920 , and of A Song Before Sunrise and the Dance Rhapsody No. 2 in 1923 . Delius had a financial and artistic success with his incidental music for James Elroy Flecker 's play Hassan ( 1923 ) with 281 performances at His Majesty 's Theatre . With Beecham 's return the composer became , in Hadley 's words , " what his most fervent admirers had never envisaged — a genuine popular success . " Hadley cites , in particular , the six @-@ day Delius festival at the Queen 's Hall in 1929 under Beecham 's general direction , in the presence of the composer in his bath @-@ chair . " [ T ] he cream of his orchestral output with and without soli and chorus was included , " and the hall was filled . Beecham was assisted in the organisation of the festival by Philip Heseltine , who wrote the detailed programme notes for three of the six concerts . The festival included chamber music and songs , an excerpt from A Village Romeo and Juliet , the Piano and Violin Concertos , and premières of Cynara and A Late Lark , concluding with A Mass of Life . The Manchester Guardian 's music critic , Neville Cardus , met Delius during the festival . He describes the wreck of the composer 's physique , yet " there was nothing pitiable about him ... his face was strong and disdainful , every line graven on it by intrepid living " . Delius , Cardus says , spoke with a noticeable Yorkshire accent as he dismissed most English music as paper music that should never be heard , written by people " afraid of their feelin 's " . = = = Last years = = = A young English admirer , Eric Fenby , learning that Delius was trying to compose by dictating to Jelka , volunteered his services as an unpaid amanuensis . For five years , from 1928 , he worked with Delius , taking down his new compositions from dictation , and helping him revise earlier works . Together they produced Cynara ( a setting of words by Ernest Dowson ) , A Late Lark ( a setting of W. E. Henley ) , A Song of Summer , a third violin sonata , the Irmelin prelude , and Idyll ( 1932 ) , which reused music from Delius 's short opera Margot la rouge , composed thirty years earlier . McVeagh rates their greatest joint production as The Songs of Farewell , settings of Whitman poems for chorus and orchestra , which were dedicated to Jelka . Other works produced in this period include a Caprice and Elegy for cello and orchestra written for the distinguished British cellist Beatrice Harrison , and a short orchestral piece , Fantastic Dance , which Delius dedicated to Fenby . The violin sonata incorporates the first , incomprehensible , melody that Delius had attempted to dictate to Fenby before their modus operandi had been worked out . Fenby 's initial failure to pick up the tune led Delius to the view that " [ the ] boy is no good ... he cannot even take down a simple melody " . Fenby later wrote a book about his experiences of working with Delius . Among other details , Fenby reveals Delius 's love of cricket . The pair followed the 1930 Test series between England and Australia with great interest , and regaled a bemused Jelka with accounts of their boyhood exploits in the game . In 1933 , the year before both composers died , Elgar , who had flown to Paris to conduct a performance of his Violin Concerto , visited Delius at Grez . Delius was not on the whole an admirer of Elgar 's music , but the two men took to each other , and there followed a warm correspondence until Elgar 's death in February 1934 . Elgar described Delius as " a poet and a visionary " . Delius died at Grez on 10 June 1934 , aged 72 . He had wished to be buried in his own garden , but the French authorities forbade it . His alternative wish , despite his atheism , was to be buried " in some country churchyard in the south of England , where people could place wild flowers " . At this time Jelka was too ill to make the journey across the Channel , and Delius was temporarily buried in the local cemetery at Grez . By May 1935 , Jelka felt she had enough strength to undertake the crossing to attend a reburial in England . She chose St Peter 's Church , Limpsfield , Surrey as the site for the grave . She sailed to England for the service , but became ill en route , and on arrival was taken to hospital in Dover and then Kensington in London , missing the reburial on 26 May . The ceremony took place at midnight ; the headline in the Sunday Dispatch was " Sixty People Under Flickering Lamps In A Surrey Churchyard " . The vicar offered a prayer : " May the souls of the departed through the mercy of God rest in peace . " Jelka died two days later , on 28 May . She was buried in the same grave as Delius . = = Music = = = = = Influences = = = After the 1929 London festival The Times music critic wrote that Delius " belongs to no school , follows no tradition and is like no other composer in the form , content or style of his music " . This " extremely individual and personal idiom " was , however , the product of a long musical apprenticeship , during which the composer absorbed many influences . The earliest significant experiences in his artistic development came , Delius later asserted , from the sounds of the plantation songs carried down the river to him at Solano Grove . It was this singing , he told Fenby , that first gave him the urge to express himself in music ; thus , writes Fenby , many of Delius 's early works are " redolent of Negro hymnology and folk @-@ song " , a sound " not heard before in the orchestra , and seldom since " . Delius 's familiarity with " black " music possibly predates his American adventures ; during the 1870s a popular singing group , the Fisk Jubilee Singers from Nashville , Tennessee , toured Britain and Europe , giving several well @-@ received concerts in Bradford . When Delius wrote to Elgar in 1933 of the " beautiful four @-@ part harmonies " of the black plantation workers , he may have been unconsciously alluding to the spirituals sung by the Fisk group . At Leipzig , Delius became a fervent disciple of Wagner , whose technique of continuous music he sought to master . An ability to construct long musical paragraphs is , according to the Delius scholar Christopher Palmer , Delius 's lasting debt to Wagner , from whom he also acquired a knowledge of chromatic harmonic technique , " an endlessly proliferating sensuousness of sound " . Grieg , however , was perhaps the composer who influenced him more than any other . The Norwegian composer , like Delius , found his primary inspiration in nature and in folk @-@ melodies , and was the stimulus for the Norwegian flavour that characterises much of Delius 's early music . The music writer Anthony Payne observes that Grieg 's " airy texture and non @-@ developing use of chromaticism showed [ Delius ] how to lighten the Wagnerian load " . Early in his career Delius drew inspiration from Chopin , later from his own contemporaries Ravel and Richard Strauss , and from the much younger Percy Grainger , who first brought the tune of Brigg Fair to Delius 's notice . According to Palmer , it is arguable that Delius gained his sense of direction as a composer from his French contemporary Claude Debussy . Palmer identifies aesthetic similarities between the two , and points to several parallel characteristics and enthusiasms . Both were inspired early in their careers by Grieg , both admired Chopin ; they are also linked in their musical depictions of the sea , and in their uses of the wordless voice . The opening of Brigg Fair is described by Palmer as " perhaps the most Debussian moment in Delius " . Debussy , in a review of Delius 's Two Danish Songs for soprano and orchestra given in a concert on 16 March 1901 , wrote : " They are very sweet , very pale — music to soothe convalescents in well @-@ to @-@ do neighbourhoods " . Delius admired the French composer 's orchestration , but thought his works lacking in melody — the latter a comment frequently directed against Delius 's own music . Fenby , however , draws attention to Delius 's " flights of melodic poetic @-@ prose " , while conceding that the composer was contemptuous of public taste , of " giving the public what they wanted " in the form of pretty tunes . = = = Stylistic development = = = From the conventional forms of his early music , over the course of his creative career Delius developed a style easily recognisable and " unlike the work of any other " , according to Payne . As he gradually found his voice , Delius replaced the methods developed during his creative infancy with a more mature style in which Payne discerns " an increasing richness of chord structure , bearing with it its own subtle means of contrast and development " . Hubert Foss , the Oxford University Press 's musical editor during the 1920s and 1930s , writes that rather than creating his music from the known possibilities of instruments , Delius " thought the sounds first " and then sought the means for producing these particular sounds . Delius 's full stylistic maturity dates from around 1907 , when he began to write the series of works on which his main reputation rests . In the more mature works Foss observes Delius 's increasing rejection of conventional forms such as sonata or concerto ; Delius 's music , he comments , is " certainly not architectural ; nearer to painting , especially to the pointilliste style of design " . The painting analogy is echoed by Cardus . = = = = Towards recognition = = = = Delius 's first orchestral compositions were , in Christopher Palmer 's words , the work of " an insipid if charming water @-@ colourist " . The Florida Suite ( 1887 , revised 1889 ) is " an expertly crafted synthesis of Grieg and Negroid Americana " , while Delius 's first opera Irmelin ( 1890 – 92 ) lacks any identifiably Delian passages . Its harmony and modulation are conventional , and the work bears the clear fingerprints of Wagner and Grieg . Payne asserts that none of the works prior to 1895 are of lasting interest . The first noticeable stylistic advance is evident in Koanga ( 1895 – 97 ) , with richer chords and faster harmonic rhythms ; here we find Delius " feeling his way towards the vein that he was soon to tap so surely " . In Paris ( 1899 ) , the orchestration owes a debt to Richard Strauss ; its passages of quiet beauty , says Payne , nevertheless lack the deep personal involvement of the later works . Paris , the final work of Delius 's apprentice years , is described by Foss as " one of the most complete , if not the greatest , of Delius 's musical paintings " . In each of the major works written in the years after Paris , Delius combined orchestral and vocal forces . The first of these works was A Village Romeo and Juliet , a music drama which departs from the normal operatic structure of acts and scenes and tells its story of tragic love in a series of tableaux . Musically it shows a considerable advance in style from the early operas of the apprentice years . The entr 'acte known as " The Walk to the Paradise Garden " is described by Heseltine as showing " all the tragic beauty of mortality ... concentrated and poured forth in music of overwhelming , almost intolerable poignancy " . In this work Delius begins to achieve the texture of sound that characterised all his later compositions . Delius 's music is often assumed to lack melody and form . Cardus argues that melody , while not a primary factor , is there abundantly , " floating and weaving itself into the texture of shifting harmony " – a characteristic which Cardus believes is shared only by Debussy . Delius 's next work , Appalachia , introduces a further feature that recurred in later pieces — the use of the voice instrumentally in wordless singing , in this case depicting the distant plantation songs that had inspired Delius at Solano Grove . Although Payne argues that Appalachia shows only a limited advance in technique , Fenby identifies one orchestral passage as the first expression of Delius 's idea of " the transitoriness of all mortal things mirrored in nature " . Hereafter , whole works rather than brief passages would be informed by this idea . The transitional phase of the composer 's career concludes with three further vocal pieces : Sea Drift ( 1903 ) , A Mass of Life ( 1904 – 05 ) , and Songs of Sunset ( 1906 – 07 ) . Payne salutes each of these as masterpieces , in which the Delian style struggles to emerge in its full ripeness . Fenby describes A Mass of Life as standing outside the general progression of Delius 's work , " a vast parenthesis " , unlike anything else he wrote , but nevertheless an essential ingredient in his development . = = = = Full flowering = = = = Brigg Fair ( 1907 ) announced the composer 's full stylistic maturity , the first of the pieces for small orchestra that confirm Delius 's status as a musical poet , with the influences of Wagner and Grieg almost entirely absent . The work was followed in the next few years by In a Summer Garden ( 1908 ) , Life 's Dance ( 1911 ) , Summer Night on the River ( 1911 ) and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring ( 1912 ) . The critic R.W.S. Mendl described this sequence as " exquisite nature studies " , with a unity and shape lacking in the earlier formal tone poems . These works became part of the standard English concert repertory , and helped to establish the character of Delius 's music in the English concert @-@ goer 's mind , although according to Ernest Newman , the concentration on these works to the neglect of his wider output may have done Delius as much harm as good . The typical mature Delian orchestral sound is apparent in these works , through the division of the strings into ten or more sections , punctuated by woodwind comments and decorations . In the North Country Sketches of 1913 – 14 , Delius divides the strings into 12 parts , and harps , horns , clarinets and bassoons evoke a lifeless winter scene . In Payne 's view , the Sketches are the high water mark of Delius 's compositional skill , although Fenby awards the accolade to the later Eventyr ( Once Upon a Time ) ( 1917 ) . During this period Delius did not confine himself to purely orchestral works ; he produced his final opera , Fennimore and Gerda ( 1908 – 10 ) , like A Village Romeo and Juliet written in tableau form , but in his mature style . His choral works of the period , notably An Arabesque ( 1911 ) and A Song of the High Hills ( 1911 ) are among the most radical of Delius 's writings in their juxtapositions of unrelated chords . The latter work , entirely wordless , contains some of the most difficult choral music in existence , according to Heseltine . After 1915 , Delius turned his attention to traditional sonata , chamber and concerto forms , which he had largely left alone since his apprentice days . Of these pieces Payne highlights two : the Violin Concerto ( 1916 ) , as an example of how , writing in unfamiliar genres , Delius remained stylistically true to himself ; and the Cello Sonata of 1917 , which , lacking the familiarity of an orchestral palate , becomes a melodic triumph . Cardus 's verdict , however , is that Delius 's chamber and concerto works are largely failures . After 1917 , according to Payne , there was a general deterioration in the quantity and quality of Delius 's output as illness took hold , although Payne exempts the incidental music to Hassan ( 1920 – 23 ) from condemnation , believing it to contain some of Delius 's best work . = = = = Final phase = = = = The four @-@ year association with Fenby from 1929 produced two major works , and several smaller pieces often drawn from unpublished music from Delius 's early career . The first of the major works was the orchestral A Song of Summer , based on sketches that Delius had previously collected under the title of A Poem of Life and Love . In dictating the new beginning of this work , Delius asked Fenby to " imagine that we are sitting on the cliffs in the heather , looking out over the sea " . This does not , says Fenby , indicate that the dictation process was calm and leisurely ; the mood was usually frenzied and nerve @-@ wracking . The other major work , a setting of Walt Whitman poems with the title Songs of Farewell , was an even more alarming prospect to Fenby : " the complexity of thinking in so many strands , often all at once ; the problems of orchestral and vocal balance ; the wider area of possible misunderstandings ... " combined to leave Delius and his helper exhausted after each session of work — yet both these works were ready for performance in 1932 . Of the music in this final choral work , Beecham wrote of its " hard , masculine vigour , reminiscent in mood and fibre of some of the great choral passages in A Mass of Life " . Payne describes the work as " bracing and exultant , with in places an almost Holstian clarity " . = = = Reception = = = Recognition came late to Delius ; before 1899 , when he was already 37 , his works were largely unpublished and unknown to the public . When the symphonic poem Paa Vidderne was performed at Monte Carlo on 25 February 1894 in a programme of works from British composers , The Musical Times listed the composers as " ... Balfe , Mackenzie , Oakeley , Sullivan ... and one Delius , whoever he may be " . The work was well received in Monte Carlo , and brought the composer a congratulatory letter from Princess Alice of Monaco , but this did not lead to demands for further performances of this or other Delius works . Some of his individual songs ( he wrote more than 60 ) were occasionally included in vocal recitals ; referring to " the strange songs of Fritz Delius " , The Times critic expressed regret " that the powers the composer undoubtedly possesses should not be turned to better account or undergo proper development at the hands of some musician competent to train them " . Of the May 1899 concert at St. James 's Hall , London , The Musical Times reviewer remarked on the rawness of some of the music , but praised the " boldness of conception and virile strength that command and hold attention . " Beecham , however , records that despite this " fair show of acclaim " , for all the impetus it gave to future performances of Delius 's work the event might never have happened ; none of the music was heard again in England for many years . Delius was much better received in Germany , where a series of successful performances of his works led to what Beecham describes as a Delius vogue there , " second only to that of Richard Strauss " . In England , a performance of the Piano Concerto on 22 October 1907 at the Queen 's Hall was praised for the brilliance of the soloist , Theodor Szántó , and for the power of the music itself . From that point onwards the music of Delius became increasingly familiar to both British and European audiences , as performances of his works proliferated . Beecham 's presentation of A Mass of Life at the Queen 's Hall in June 1909 did not inspire Hans Haym , who had come from Elberfeld for the concert , though Beecham says that many professional and amateur musicians thought it " the most impressive and original achievement of its genre written in the last fifty years " Some reviewers continued to doubt the popular appeal of Delius 's music , while others were more specifically hostile . From 1910 , Delius 's works began to be heard in America : Brigg Fair and In a Summer Garden were performed in 1910 – 11 by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Walter Damrosch . In November 1915 Grainger gave the first American performance of the Piano Concerto , again with the New York Philharmonic . The New York Times critic described the work as uneven ; richly harmonious , but combining colour and beauty with effects " of an almost crass unskillfulness and ugliness " . For the rest of his lifetime Delius 's more popular pieces were performed in England and abroad , often under the sponsorship of Beecham , who was primarily responsible for the Delius festival in October – November 1929 . In a retrospective comment on the festival The Times critic wrote of full houses and an apparent enthusiasm for " music which hitherto has enjoyed no exceptional vogue " , but wondered whether this new acceptance was based on a solid foundation . After Delius 's death Beecham continued to promote his works ; a second festival was held in 1946 , and a third ( after Beecham 's death ) at Bradford in 1962 , to celebrate the centenary of Delius 's birth . These occasions were in the face of a general indifference to the music ; writing in the centenary year , the musicologist Deryck Cooke opined that at that time , " to declare oneself a confirmed Delian is hardly less self @-@ defamatory than to admit to being an addict of cocaine and marihuana " . Beecham had died in 1961 , and Fenby writes that it " seemed to many then that nothing could save Delius 's music from extinction " , such was the conductor 's unique mastery over the music . However , other conductors have continued to advocate Delius , and since the centenary year , the Delius Society has pursued the aim of " develop [ ing ] a greater knowledge of the life and works of Delius " . The music has never become fashionable , a fact often acknowledged by promoters and critics . To suggestions that Delius 's music is an " acquired taste " , Fenby answers : " The music of Delius is not an acquired taste . One either likes it the moment one first hears it , or the sound of it is once and for ever distasteful to one . It is an art which will never enjoy an appeal to the many , but one which will always be loved , and dearly loved , by the few . " Writing in 2004 on the 70th anniversary of Delius 's death , the Guardian journalist Martin Kettle recalls Cardus arguing in 1934 that Delius as a composer was unique , both in his technique and in his emotionalism . Although he eschewed classical formalism , it was wrong , Cardus believed , to regard Delius merely as " a tone @-@ painter , an impressionist or a maker of programme music " . His music 's abiding feature is , Cardus wrote , that it " recollects emotion in tranquillity ... Delius is always reminding us that beauty is born by contemplation after the event " . = = Memorials and legacy = = Just before his death , Delius prepared a codicil to his will whereby the royalties on future performances of his music would be used to support an annual concert of works by young composers . Delius died before this provision could be legally effected ; Fenby says that Beecham then persuaded Jelka in her own will to abandon the concerts idea and apply the royalties towards the editing and recording of Delius 's main works . After Jelka 's death in 1935 the Delius Trust was established , to supervise this task . As stipulated in Jelka 's will , the Trust operated largely under Beecham 's direction . After Beecham 's death in 1961 advisers were appointed to assist the trustees , and in 1979 the administration of the Trust was taken over by the Musicians ' Benevolent Fund . Over the years the Trust 's objectives have been extended so that it can promote the music of other composers who were Delius 's contemporaries . The Trust is a co @-@ sponsor of the Royal Philharmonic Society 's Composition Prize for young composers . In 1962 , enthusiasts for Delius 's music who had gone to Bradford for the centenary festival formed the Delius Society ; Fenby became its first president . With around 400 members , the Society is independent from the Trust , but works closely with it . Its general objectives are the furtherance of knowledge of Delius 's life and works , and the encouragement of performances and recordings . In 2004 , as a stimulus for young musicians to study and perform Delius 's music , the Society established an annual Delius Prize competition , with a prize of £ 1 @,@ 000 to the winner . In June 1984 , at the Grand Theatre , Leeds , the Delius Trust sponsored a commemorative production of A Village Romeo and Juliet by Opera North , to mark the 50th anniversary of Delius 's death . Public interest in Delius 's life was stimulated in the UK in 1968 , with the showing of the Ken Russell film Song of Summer on BBC Television . The film depicted the years of the Delius – Fenby collaboration ; Fenby co @-@ scripted with Russell . Max Adrian played Delius , with Christopher Gable as Fenby and Maureen Pryor as Jelka . In America , a small memorial to Delius stands in Solano Grove . The Delius Association of Florida has for many years organised an annual festival at Jacksonville , to mark the composer 's birthday . At Jacksonville University , the Music Faculty awards an annual Delius Composition Prize . In February 2012 Delius was one of ten prominent Britons honoured by the Royal Mail in the " Britons of Distinction " stamps set . Beecham stresses Delius 's role as an innovator : " The best of Delius is undoubtedly to be found in those works where he disregarded classical traditions and created his own forms " . Fenby echoes this : " the people who really count are those who discover new ways of making our lives more beautiful . Frederick Delius was such a man " . Palmer writes that Delius 's true legacy is the ability of his music to inspire the creative urge in its listeners and to enhance their awareness of the wonders of life . Palmer concludes by invoking George Eliot 's poem The Choir Invisible : " Frederick Delius ... belongs to the company of those true artists for whose life and work the world is a better place to live in , and of whom surely is composed , in a literal sense , ' the choir invisible / Whose music is the gladness of the world ' " . = = Recordings = = The first recordings of Delius 's works , in 1927 , were conducted by Beecham for the Columbia label : the " Walk to the Paradise Garden " interlude from A Village Romeo and Juliet , and On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring , performed by the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society . These began a long series of Delius recordings under Beecham that continued for the rest of the conductor 's life . He was not alone , however ; Geoffrey Toye in 1929 – 30 recorded Brigg Fair , In a Summer Garden , Summer Night on the River and the " Walk to the Paradise Garden " . Fenby recounts that on his first day in Grez , Jelka played Beecham 's First Cuckoo recording . In May 1934 , when Delius was close to death , Fenby played him Toye 's In a Summer Garden , the last music , Fenby says , that Delius ever heard . By the end of the 1930s Beecham had issued versions for Columbia of most of the main orchestral and choral works , together with several songs in which he accompanied the soprano Dora Labbette on the piano . By 1936 Columbia and HMV had issued recordings of Violin Sonatas 1 and 2 , the Elegy and Caprice , and of some of the shorter works . Full recordings of the operas were not available until after the Second World War . Once again Beecham , now with the HMV label , led the way , with A Village Romeo and Juliet in 1948 , performed by the new Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus . Later versions of this work include those of Meredith Davies for EMI in 1971 , Charles Mackerras for Argo in 1989 , and a German @-@ language version conducted by Klauspeter Seibel in 1995 . Beecham 's former protégé Norman Del Mar recorded a complete Irmelin for BBC Digital in 1985 . In 1997 EMI reissued Meredith Davies 's 1976 recording of Fennimore and Gerda , which Richard Hickox conducted in German the same year for Chandos . Recordings of all the major works , and of many of the individual songs , have been issued at regular intervals since the Second World War . Many of these recordings have been issued in conjunction with the Delius Society , which has prepared various discographies of Delius 's recorded music .
= Origin and use of the term metalloid = The origin and usage of the term metalloid is convoluted . Its origin lies in attempts , dating from antiquity , to describe metals and to distinguish between typical and less typical forms . It was first applied to metals that floated on water ( lithium , sodium and potassium ) , and then more popularly to nonmetals . Only recently , since the mid @-@ 20th century , has it been widely used to refer to elements with intermediate or borderline properties between metals and nonmetals . = = Pre @-@ 1800 = = Ancient conceptions of metals as solid , fusible and malleable substances can be found in Plato 's Timaeus ( c . 360 BCE ) and Aristotle 's Meteorology . More sophisticated classification arrangements were proposed by Pseudo @-@ Geber ( in the Geber corpus , c . 1310 ) , Paracelsus ( De Natura Rerum libri nonem , 1525 – 6 ; and later works ) , Basil Valentine ( Conclusiones , 1624 ) , and Boerhaave ( Elementa Chemiæ , 1733 ) . They attempted to separate the more characteristic metals from substances having those characteristics to a lesser degree . Such substances included zinc , antimony , bismuth , stibnite , pyrite and galena . These were all then called semimetals or bastard metals . In 1735 Brandt proposed to make the presence or absence of malleability the principle of this classification . On that basis he separated mercury from the metals . The same view was adopted by Vogel ( 1755 , Institutiones Chemiæ ) and Buffon ( 1785 , Histoire Naturelle des Minéraux ) . In the interim , Braun had observed the solidification of mercury by cold in 1759 – 60 . This was confirmed by Hutchins and Cavendish in 1783 . The malleability of mercury then became known , and it was included amongst the metals . In 1789 Fourcroy highlighted the weakness of this distinction between metals and semimetals . He said it was evident from the fact that between the extreme malleability of gold and the singular fragility of arsenic , other metals presented only imperceptible gradations of this character , and because there was probably no greater difference between the malleability of gold and that of lead , which was considered to be a metal , than there was between lead and zinc , which was classed among semi @-@ metals , while in the substances intermediate between zinc and arsenic the differences were slight . This idea of a semimetal , as a brittle ( and thereby imperfect ) metal , was gradually discarded after 1789 with the publication of Lavoisier 's ' revolutionary ' Elementary Treatise on Chemistry . = = 1800 – 1959 = = In 1800 , Pinkerton used the word metalloid , in its literal sense , to describe a mineral variety of pyroxene ' with metallic splendour.' In 1808 , Erman and Simon suggested using the term metalloid to refer to the newly discovered elements sodium and potassium . These elements were lighter than water and many chemists did not regard them as proper metals . Erman and Simon 's proposal may have been made ' [ in ] an attempt to revive this old distinction between metals and substances resembling metals ' . Their suggestion was ignored by the chemical community . In 1811 , Berzelius referred to nonmetallic elements as metalloids , in reference to their ability to form oxyanions . A common oxyanion of sulfur , for example , is the sulfate ion SO2 − 4 . Many metals can do the same . Chromium , for instance , can form the chromate ion CrO2 − 4 . Berzelius ' terminology was widely adopted although it was subsequently regarded by some commentators as counterintuitive , misapplied , incorrect or invalid . In 1825 , in a revised German edition of his Textbook of Chemistry , Berzelius subdivided the metalloids into three classes . These were : constantly gaseous ' gazolyta ' ( hydrogen , nitrogen , oxygen ) ; real metalloids ( sulfur , phosphorus , carbon , boron , silicon ) ; and salt @-@ forming ' halogenia ' ( fluorine , chlorine , bromine , iodine ) . In 1844 , Jackson gave the meaning of ' metalloid ' as ' like metals , but wanting some of their properties . ' In 1845 , in A dictionary of science , literature and art , Berzelius ' classification of the elementary bodies was represented as : I. gazolytes ; II. halogens ; III. metalloids ( ' resemble the metals in certain aspects , but are in others widely different ' ) ; and IV. metals . In 1864 , calling nonmetals ' metalloids ' was still sanctioned ' by the best authorities ' even though this did not always seem appropriate . The greater propriety of applying the word metalloid to other elements , such as arsenic , had been considered . By as early as 1866 some authors were instead using the term nonmetal , rather than metalloid , to refer to nonmetallic elements . In 1875 , Kemshead observed that the elements had been subdivided into two classes — ' non @-@ metals or metalloids , and metals . ' He added that ' [ t ] he former term , although not so convenient , because a compound word , is more correct , and is now universally employed.' In 1876 , Tilden protested against , ' the [ still ] too common though illogical practice of giving the name metalloid to such bodies as oxygen , chlorine or fluorine ' . He instead divided the elements into ( ' basigenic ' ) true metals , metalloids ( ' imperfect metals ' ) and ( ' oxigenic ' ) nonmetals . As late as 1888 , classifying the elements into metals , metalloids , and nonmetals , rather than metals and metalloids , was still regarded as peculiar and potentially confusing . Beach , writing in 1911 , explained it this way : Metalloid ( Gr . " metal @-@ like " ) , in chemistry , any nonmetallic element . There are 13 , namely , sulfur , phosphorus , fluorin [ e ] , chlorin [ e ] , iodine , bromine , silicon , boron , carbon , nitrogen , hydrogen , oxygen , and selenium . The distinction between the metalloids and the metals is slight . The former , excepting selenium and phosphorus , do not have a " metallic " lustre ; they are poorer conductors of heat and electricity , are generally not reflectors of light and not electropositive ; that is , no metalloid fails of all these tests . The term seems to have been introduced into modern usage instead of nonmetals for the very reason that there is no hard and fast line between metals and nonmetals , so that " metal @-@ like " or " resembling metals " is a better description of the class than the purely negative " nonmetals " . Originally it was applied to the nonmetals which are solid at ordinary temperature . In or around 1917 , the Missouri Board of Pharmacy wrote that : A metal may be said to differ from a metalloid [ that is , a nonmetal ] in being an excellent conductor of heat and electricity , in reflecting light more or less powerfully and in being electropositive . A metalloid may possess one or more of these characters , but not all of them ... Iodine is most commonly given as an example of a metalloid because of its metallic appearance . During the 1920s the two meanings of the word metalloid appeared to be undergoing a transition in popularity . Writing in A Dictionary of Chemical Terms , Couch defined ' metalloid ' as an old , obsolescent term for ' nonmetal . ' In contrast , Webster 's New International Dictionary noted that use of the term metalloid to refer to nonmetals was the norm . Its application to elements resembling the typical metals in some way only , such as arsenic , antimony and tellurium , was recorded merely on a ' sometimes ' basis . Use of the term metalloid subsequently underwent a period of great flux up to 1940 . Consensus as to its application to intermediate or borderline elements did not occur until the ensuing years , between 1940 and 1960 . In 1947 , Pauling included a reference to metalloids in his classic and influential textbook , General chemistry : An introduction to descriptive chemistry and modern chemical theory . He described them as ' elements with intermediate properties ... occupy [ ing ] a diagonal region [ on the periodic table ] , which includes boron , silicon , germanium , arsenic , antimony , tellurium , and polonium.' In 1959 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ( IUPAC ) recommended that ' [ t ] he word metalloid should not be used to denote nonmetals ' although it was still being used in this sense ( around that time ) by , for example , the French . = = 1960 – present = = In 1969 the classic and authoritative Hackh 's Chemical Dictionary included entries for both ' metalloid ' and ' semimetal ' . The latter term was described as obsolete . In 1970 IUPAC recommended abandoning the term metalloid because of its continuing inconsistent use in different languages . They suggested using the terms metal , semimetal and nonmetal instead . Despite this recommendation , use of the term ' metalloid ' increased dramatically . Google Ngram Viewer showed a fourfold increase in the use of the word ' metalloid ' ( as compared to ' semimetal ' ) in the American English corpus from 1972 to 1983 . There was a sixfold increase in the British English corpus from 1976 to 1983 . As at 2011 , the difference in usage across the English corpus was around 4 : 1 in favour of ' metalloid ' . The most recent IUPAC publications on chemical nomenclature ( the " Red Book " , 2005 ) and terminology ( the " Gold Book " , 2006 – ) do not include any recommendations as to the usage or non @-@ usage of the terms metalloid or semimetal . Use of the term semimetal , rather than metalloid , has recently been discouraged . This is because the former term ' has a well defined and quite distinct meaning in physics ' . In physics , a semimetal is an element or a compound in which the valence band marginally ( rather than substantially ) overlaps the conduction band . This results in only a small number of effective charge carriers . Thus , the densities of charge carriers in the elemental semimetals carbon ( as graphite , in the direction of its planes ) , arsenic , antimony and bismuth are 3 × 1018 cm − 3 , 2 × 1020 cm − 3 , 5 × 1019 cm − 3 and 3 × 1017 cm − 3 respectively . In contrast , the room @-@ temperature concentration of electrons in metals usually exceeds 1022 cm − 3 . References to the term ' metalloid ' as being outdated have also been described as ' nonsense ' noting that ' it accurately describes these weird in @-@ between elements ' .
= Action of 1 January 1800 = The Action of 1 January 1800 was a naval battle of the Quasi @-@ War that took place off the coast of present @-@ day Haiti , near the island of Gonâve in the Bight of Léogâne . The battle was fought between an American convoy of four merchant vessels escorted by the United States naval schooner USS Experiment , and a squadron of armed barges manned by Haitians known as picaroons . A French @-@ aligned Haitian general , André Rigaud , had instructed his forces to attack all foreign shipping within their range of operations . Accordingly , once Experiment and her convoy of merchant ships neared Gonâve , the picaroons attacked them , capturing two of the American merchant ships before withdrawing . Experiment managed to save the other two ships in her convoy , and escorted them to a friendly port . On the American side , only the captain of the schooner Mary was killed . Though the picaroons took heavy losses during this engagement , they remained strong enough to continue wreaking havoc among American shipping in the region . Only after Rigaud was forced out of power by the forces of Toussaint L 'Ouverture , leader of the 1791 Haitian Revolution , did the picaroon attacks cease . = = Background = = With the dawn of the Haitian Revolution in 1791 , a successful slave rebellion on the French colony , then known as Saint @-@ Domingue , allowed the local population to gain control over the government . Despite their success in removing the French colonial authorities , the various political factions that had seized control of the colony were fractious , and fighting soon broke out among them . By 1800 , the War of Knives between the pro @-@ French André Rigaud and the pro @-@ autonomy Toussaint L 'Ouverture was in full swing and Saint @-@ Domingue was divided in two . Rigaud controlled part of the southern portion of Saint @-@ Domingue while L 'Ouverture controlled the rest of the French colony . In need of supplies and materiel , Rigaud 's forces attacked any non @-@ French ship that passed them . Concurrently with the War of Knives , the United States and France were engaged in a bout of limited naval warfare in the Caribbean as part of the Quasi @-@ War . In late December 1799 the American armed schooner Experiment was escorting under convoy the brig Daniel and Mary and the schooners Sea Flower , Mary , and Washington to prevent their capture by French privateers . On 1 January 1800 , the convoy was caught in a dead calm off the north side of the present @-@ day Haitian island of Gonâve , in the Bight of Leogane . Seeing the convoy becalmed , Rigaud sent eleven armed barges out to attack and seize the American vessels . The crews of the American merchant vessels possessed only small arms , but their escort , Experiment , was a much more powerful vessel . Commanded by William Maley , the 135 @-@ ton Experiment was armed with 12 six @-@ pounder guns and had a complement of 70 men . In comparison , Rigaud 's initial attack force consisted of eleven barges crewed by 40 to 50 men each in the smaller ones , and 60 or 70 in the larger vessels . These barges were primarily propelled by oars , with 26 per vessel . The Haitian craft were each equipped with a mix of swivel guns and four @-@ pounder cannon , with most vessels armed with two or three guns as well as small arms . In addition to the vessels that set out to attack the convoy , there were more barges and men nearby that the Haitians could call upon if reinforcements were needed . In total some 37 barges and 1500 men were at Rigaud 's immediate disposal , though the Americans did not know this during the attack . Individually the Haitian barges presented only a small threat to the convoy , but when attacking en masse they could easily overwhelm and capture the American ships if they managed to board them . = = Battle = = Experiment kept her gunports closed and passed herself off as a merchantman , while the Haitians sailed closer to the convoy with the intent of boarding and capturing all five vessels . Once the Haitians were in musket range of the American vessels they opened fire on them , and Experiment returned the fire . Grapeshot from the Americans wreaked havoc among the Haitian barges and they were forced to withdraw . They stood off the American convoy for thirty minutes before beaching at the nearby island of Gonâve to land their wounded and gather reinforcements . With three more barges and fresh crews , the picaroons set off to assault the American convoy once more . They divided themselves into three squadrons of four barges each and set course to attack Experiment . The lead and centermost divisions attacked the sides of the American warship while the rear division assaulted the stern . During the lull in fighting Experiment had readied herself for the picaroons ' next assault by positioning musketeers in defensive positions , loading her main guns , and raising boarding nets . Thus , when the Haitians attacked the American warship again she was well prepared to repulse any attempt at boarding her . For three hours , Experiment battled the barges , sinking two and killing a great many of the picaroons . During this time two of the barges left the warship and attacked the merchant ships . These barges managed to protect themselves from Experiment by sailing behind the schooner Mary , which was between the two barges and the warship . The Haitians boarded Mary and killed her captain . Many of the crew jumped into the sea , and the rest hid in the hold . The second barge attempted to take Daniel and Mary but was sunk by fire from Experiment . Once the Haitians had boarded Mary , Experiment opened fire upon her with grapeshot , driving the picaroons off . The entire flotilla of Haitians once more retired to Gonâve and replaced their wounded crewmembers with fresh ones . Seeing that Daniel and Mary and Washington had drifted away from the convoy , the Haitians set out to attack them . The two civilian vessels , having drifted too far from the protection of Experiment 's guns , were abandoned by their crews and passengers who fled to the American warship . The Haitians boarded and plundered these two vessels , carrying them further away from Experiment . Experiment managed to get close enough to the barges to attack them with her cannon but could not pursue them , as two barges had broken away from the main flotilla and were positioned to take Mary and Sea Flower if Experiment left them . Eventually the remnants of the convoy managed to make it to Léogâne , where they were looked after by the American consul . = = Aftermath = = USS Experiment had succeeded in protecting two of the convoy , but the other two ships were taken by the picaroons . On the American side , only the captain of the schooner Mary had been killed . The Americans also suffered two wounded : one civilian , and Experiment 's second in command David Porter , who had been shot in the arm during the action . In exchange the Haitians had lost two of their barges and a great many casualties . Rigaud 's picaroons attacked another American convoy later in the year and continued to harass American shipping until Rigaud was ousted from Saint @-@ Domingue at the end of the War of Knives . After fleeing to Guadeloupe , he left for France on the schooner Diane , but was captured and taken to Saint Kitts when Experiment intercepted her on 1 October 1800 . The action would prove controversial in the United States as several officers ' reports suggested that Lieutenant Maley , commander of Experiment , had shown cowardice during the engagement . Lieutenant Porter stated that Maley had tried to insist on surrendering to the picaroons immediately upon their arrival . It was alleged that Maley thought the situation was hopeless due to the sheer number of pro @-@ French Haitians who were attacking the convoy , and he had attempted to strike the colors . The officers ' reports also commended Porter , stating that he had saved Experiment and her convoy by acting on his own initiative to ignore Maley 's defeatism , urging the crew to fight . Other American officials , such as the American consul at Leonge , disagreed with Porter 's accusations and instead lauded Maley for his bravery . Threats of court @-@ martial were made against Maley , but no formal charges regarding the incident were ever brought . On 16 July 1800 he was replaced as commander of Experiment by Charles Stewart . The incident haunted his career until his retirement .
= Abra Durant = Percival " Abra " Durant is a fictional character from the BBC medical drama Holby City , portrayed by actor Adrian Edmondson . The character first appeared on @-@ screen on 5 July 2005 in the episode " Tuesday 's Child " , episode 38 of the show 's seventh series . Initially making a one @-@ off , guest @-@ appearance , Edmondson has since reprised the role of Abra numerous times , stating that he has loved the show since its 1999 conception . He departed from the show for the final time on 9 December 2008 , in episode " Sweet Bitter Love " . Abra 's initial role in the show was that of Third World rights champion and humorous surgical maverick , whose major storylines centered on serious rule breaking ( including stealing returned anti @-@ retroviral drugs to send to African countries in need , performing an experimental xenotransplantation without authorisation , and secretly using Holby City Hospital 's theatres at night to perform charity operations on African children ) as well as his relationship with colleague nurse Kyla Tyson . Upon returning to the show in April 2008 , the character took a darker turn , resorting to self @-@ harm as a symptom of post @-@ traumatic stress , following a harrowing experience in the war torn Congo . Well received by the show 's fans , writers and directors , Abra has established an enduring popularity which has seen Edmondson invited back to the programme regularly . TV critics have proved almost entirely favourable to the character , even when commenting on the unrealistic quality of many of his storylines . = = Creation = = = = = Background = = = It was first announced on 4 May 2005 that comedian Adrian Edmondson would be making a guest appearance in Holby City in July of that year , although the character he would be playing was not disclosed . The storyline running at the time saw established character , General Surgical Consultant Ric Griffin ( Hugh Quarshie ) , depart from Holby to work in his brother 's hospital in Ghana , with Registrar Diane Lloyd ( Patricia Potter ) following on in an attempt to persuade him home . Edmondson 's character , Abra Durant , was introduced as a new friend and colleague of Ric 's , also working in his brother 's clinic . Although the character 's given name is actually Percival , it was explained within the episode that he goes by Abra , short for the Ghanaian name ' Abrafo ' , meaning ' troublemaker ' . The episode was shot on location in Ghana , and formed part of the BBC 's ' Africa Lives ' series , aiming " to give the viewers a more rounded portrayal of African life and culture through special editions of favourite shows as well as new commissions . " = = = Casting = = = Edmondson has discussed the surprised reaction he encountered upon assuming the role of Abra , stating : " I 'm sure people are surprised I 'm in it , but I don 't give a toss . I have always liked it . It 's like any soap - if you watch it , you get stuck in . I love working on it . " He has mentioned that he is the only cast member to have been a fan of the show since its 1999 conception , that both he and his youngest daughter Freya often watch it together " as a bonding exercise " , and going as far as to describe the role as " a dream " . Commenting on his decision only ever to reprise the role of Abra on short term contracts , Edmondson has stated that : " I don 't think I could handle any longer . The regulars on the show work very , very hard . Basically I don 't think I could do what they do and still be alive . " Several of Edmondson 's Holby City co @-@ stars have described feeling intimidated by the prospect of working alongside him for the first time , stemming from his already well established fame . Rakie Ayola explained : " I thought it was going to be difficult at the beginning because he wasn 't speaking to me . But he was initially just a little shy and sussing things out . He 's a lot quieter than you would expect but then suddenly he 'll say something that has everybody doubled up in laughter . You won 't find anyone who doesn 't like him . " Edmondson himself has added that he gets along well with the cast , although finds that the distance of Elstree Studios from most of their London homes makes them " weirdly unsociable " . Edmondson 's casting in the role followed a trend remarked upon by television critic Jim Shelley , who noted a tendency of Holby City producers toward hiring already well established actors , including Jesus of Nazareth star Robert Powell and actress Patsy Kensit . When asked in November 2007 whether she actively sought out well @-@ known names to fill new roles in the show , series producer Diana Kyle responded : " It 's lovely when we have a new member of the cast come in and bring an audience with them . But we want the best actors , and the star names we cast are always the best - which is why we go for them ! " = = Development = = = = = Personality = = = Describing the character following his October 2007 departure from the show , the BBC attested : " Rebellious surgeon Abra was an anti @-@ authoritarian and would always fight for what he believed in , even if it broke the rules . He worked hard and played hard and wasn 't afraid to push the boundaries . " The character has often been referred to as a " maverick " , with editorials also mentioning his " heavy @-@ drinking " tendencies . Edmondson has described his alter @-@ ego as " a great character - he 's a maverick and can do things the others would not be able to get away with . " , while the Daily Mirror have discussed the personality trait whereby " Abra finds it hard to conform to bureaucracy and is a risk taker . He is not afraid to fight for what he believes in - which , inevitably , lands him in all sorts of trouble . " The character 's return in April 2008 saw drastic changes to his personality . Edmondson attested that Abra returned in " a fragile state " following a traumatic incident in the Congo , and had become " genuinely horrible " . He said of the transformation : " He 's not as humorous as he used to be . I used to like that , that sardonic wit that he used to have and it 's kind of gone out of the window . But you can be quite funny when you 're feeling everything 's pointless . He does some things that are so cruel and cold that they 're actually quite funny . " While the character had once been known for his brash taste in bright , flamboyant shirts , The Sun noted that Abra 's return saw him a " shadow of his former self " , wearing far less colourful apparell as a reflection of his more subdued state of mind . Edmondson agreed that Abra 's new wardrobe of shirts " aren 't quite as bright and dazzling - but that suits his current mood . " = = = Early appearances = = = Abra first appeared in episode " Tuesday 's Child " as an ex @-@ pat colleague of longstanding character Ric Griffin , now living in Ghana . The storyline saw Ric eventually decide to return to Holby , leaving both Abra and Ghana behind . Abra returned to the show later in the series , in episode " Great Expectations " , when he accompanied an African patient to the UK for an operation . He displayed his maverick tendencies by transplanting a third @-@ hand heart , despite having been expressly forbidden to do so by the hospital chairman , Michael Beauchamp ( Anthony Calf ) . He also proved instrumental in convincing recently demoted Matron Lisa Fox ( Luisa Bradshaw @-@ White ) to leave Holby to practice medicine in Ghana . Bradshaw @-@ White said of the storyline : " I 'm pleased it 's a positive ending for her as she 's been so miserable ! " Abra returned again in episode " Prometheus Unbound " , when his ' nephew ' Kyle was brought into Holby for a live liver transplant . It was revealed that Abra was actually Kyle 's father , and that he and Kyle 's mother , Jenny , had brought the child up believing Abra to be his uncle , and his father to be Abra 's fictitious brother Harry — supposedly a war hero living abroad with a family of his own . Discussing the storyline , Edmondson commented of his character : " Typically he has been drinking and hasn 't warned Ric of his arrival . Abra tells Ric that the surgeon lined up to carry out the op has pulled out . He wants Ric to do it . " Abra proved able to convince Ric to go ahead with the operation , even talking him into allowing him to perform part of the surgery himself , despite being under the influence of alcohol . As Kyle recovered , Abra came close to admitting his paternity , however lost his nerve at the last minute and departed from the show once more , despite Jenny 's confession that she still loved him . The character returned on a more permanent basis from June 2006 . Abra confessed to old friend Diane he had been run out of Ghana by the father of a woman he had a fling with . He was offered a permanent position at Holby by Christopher Sutherland , however this was almost immediately retracted when Abra defied new protocol by utilising the designated emergency theatre for a minor gall stone operation . Edmondson explained of the storyline : " Abra promises a patient he 'll operate on her immediately , but the hospital rules say he can 't book the operating theatre for the same day . So Abra decides to do it anyway . He has a knee @-@ jerk reaction to any kind of authority . " Initially this plot strand was set to crossover with Holby 's sister show , Casualty , with Sutherland 's role instead filled by Casualty manager Nathan Spence , however this was abandoned prior to broadcast . After clashing with colleague Nick Jordan in the following episode , " Invasion " , Abra made a favourable impression on Lord Byrne , an old family friend . He then left Holby again briefly for a research project recommended by Lord Byrne . It was revealed at this point that Edmondson would be returning as Abra for six months from the autumn . Series producer Emma Turner stated : " We are delighted that Adrian has agreed to come back . He made a huge impact in the few episodes that he was involved in and there are some explosive and controversial storylines in store for his character when he returns to film with us . " = = = Xenotransplantation ; anti @-@ retrovirals = = = Abra arrived back in Holby towards the end of series 8 , immediately becoming embroiled in an illegal porcine kidney transplantation on renal patient Pete Golding . When Ric discovered what he had done , the deception strained their friendship , and Abra came close to losing his job . Eventually , Ric decided the pressure of covering up their misdoing was too great to bear , and after making up with Abra , departed once more for Africa on sabbatical . Around this time , Abra began a relationship with Acting Sister Kyla Tyson . When Ric departed for Uganda , Abra confessed the xenotransplantation secret to Kyla , who helped cover for him upon the arrival of new General Surgical Consultant Daniel Clifford . It was revealed that Abra had been stealing returned anti @-@ retroviral drugs from the hospital pharmacy to ship to African countries in need for some weeks . When Kyla discovered a small supply in his desk drawer , she assumed he was HIV positive , and after failing to extract a confession from Abra , terminated their relationship . The misunderstanding was resolved several episodes later , when Abra was able to win her back by serenading her in a grand romantic gesture in the hospital car park . Soon after , the investigation into the suspected corruption within the General Surgical department was stepped up . After some weeks of intense investigation , Clifford managed extract a confession from Abra . He revealed an admiration for Abra 's maverick ways , and instead of turning him in , instructed Abra to leave Holby immediately with his record intact . Abra penned a post @-@ it note bearing a brief message of goodbye to Kyla , and fled the country , leaving her devastated . = = = Night operations = = = Abra returned yet again to Holby in episode " The Human Jungle " . Initially , Kyla was furious with him , and resisted his attempts to win her back — blaming him for the death of her ex @-@ husband , which occurred in his absence and resulted in her son being taken into foster care . However , Abra persisted , and was able to convince her to resume their relationship , and move in with him . Ayola said of the relationship at the time : " It 's love ! Well , she loves him but I think he loves moving around the world more . He 's a drifter . I wouldn 't put any money on a happy ending for them . He 's such a rolling stone and she 's so emotionally wrong that I don 't think it 's going to work . On the plus side , I think this pair probably have a fantastic sex life and a great time down the pub . " It was revealed that his return to Holby was part of a deal made with hospital manager , Christopher Sutherland . Abra had agreed to turn around the hospital 's struggling Acute Assessment Unit , and in return , Sutherland would allow him to use the hospital 's theatres at night to operate on African children through a charity scheme Abra was involved in . The plan fell through when Sutherland was fired after the Board of Directors took a vote of no confidence in him . He was replaced by Jayne Grayson , who refused Abra 's proposal , citing budget constraints . Abra , aided by a returned Ric , decided to go ahead with the operations anyway , and secured the use of Kellar theatre at night from Clifford . However , events come to a head when they received a charity patient in episode " Duty of Care " chaperoned by Abra 's father , Cecil . Having previously told Kyla his father was dead , Abra attempted to hide his identity from her , but she was furious to discover the truth . He placated her briefly , but was so worried when his father collapsed with ill @-@ health that he ruined a social services meeting to decide whether her son may be returned from foster care . They rowed bitterly , and soon thereafter Abra 's father died . He decided to take over the running of the charity in his father 's place , and once more departed from Holby , again leaving Kyla behind . When asked whether the two characters would ever get back together , following Abra 's second abandoment , Ayola responded : " He treated Kyla like dirt , so I don ’ t know if she ’ ll forgive him , but I love working with Ade – he ’ s a gorgeous man . " = = = Post @-@ traumatic stress = = = It was announced on 7 November 2007 that Abra would again be returning to Holby City , in spring 2008 . Edmondson revealed that " Abra comes back as a patient because some trauma has happened in Africa and he will be sponging off Ric . " Expanding on this , he explained : " Abra ’ s in a very fragile state , as he ’ s suffering from post @-@ traumatic stress . He keeps hurting himself , but no one knows why . Ric ’ s pretty off with Abra at first , but he agrees to let him stay at his place for a week . Abra used to be a nice guy , but he ’ s horrible now . Something happened to him on his travels , though even I haven ’ t been told what it is yet . What I do know is that Abra has a huge machete scar on his back ... I imagine he ’ s been though some horror . " He has stated that this appearance in the show will last four or five months , and that he doesn 't yet know how the character will be written out this time , beyond there being " some kind of mental @-@ health issue . " It emerged that Abra had borne witness to a violent attack on the hospital he was working in the Congo , eventually leading to him checking into a psychiatric unit . After being discovered being treated by his own mother , Kyla and Lola Griffin convinced him to discharge himself and return to Ghana . He returned briefly to Holby in December 2008 , when he convinced Kyla to move to Ghana with him , proposing marriage to her . = = Reception = = The light @-@ hearted , comedic quality the character of Abra brought to Holby City was a focal point of early reviews . Daily Mirror TV critic Jane Simon wrote of Abra 's second Holby appearance : The laughing gas has been in desperately short supply at Holby of late . [ ... ] What they really need is for someone to come along and prove that heart transplants can be fun . It 's a job for comedy cardiac specialist Percy Durant ( guest star Ade Edmondson ) , who we last saw working out in Ghana with consultant Ric . You could easily imagine Percy driving around in a van with a big , red , plastic heart on top of it , or cracking open someone 's chest and pulling out a bunch of flowers . And when it comes to Lisa ( Luisa Bradshaw @-@ White ) , he magically comes up with the answer to all her problems . This particular episode garnered 7 @.@ 4 million viewers and a 33 percent audience share , with both The Guardian and Digital Spy mentioning Edmondson 's guest @-@ appearance as Abra as a decisive factor in the high rating . In early 2006 , the character 's " wacky " personality was deemed to have " proved such a hit , that Holby bosses got him back for two more episodes , shown in September and December ( 2005 ) . And now they want to make Abra a permanent fixture in the show . " Series producer Emma Turner said at the time that " ( Abra ) made a huge impact in the few episodes that he was involved in " and expressed her delight that Edmondson had agreed to reprise the role . TV critic Jim Shelley satirised the unrealistic storyline given to the character upon his return , deeming Abra 's line " Essentially , it 's an experiment and illegal . " when explaining to the sister of a patient that he intended to transplant a pig 's kidney into her brother 's body , his televisual ' Bad news of the week ' . However , Digital Spy 's Dek Hogan was more positive about the plot strand , and especially the role of Abra therein , stating : " It ’ s been a cracking take this , another example of the excellent form that medical drama has been in this year , thanks in no small part to Adrian Edmondson marvellous turn as maverick surgeon Abra . " Jim Shelley again commented on the outlandishness of the character 's storylines following Abra 's next return to the show , in 2007 . He wrote : " Ric and Ade Edmondson had been conducting secret operations on orphans smuggled in from Africa ( as you do ) . [ ... ] It 's TV crack — instant , mind @-@ altering , utterly addictive . " He also dubbed the line " I don 't know why people complain about the NHS . " his ' Naive statement of the week ' , with the explanation : " Hmmmm let 's see . Abra covering up that he was operating on his arms @-@ dealer father . Maddy hiding the fact she killed her junkie sister 's daughter . And secret cokehead Jesus Of Nazareth ( Robert Powell ) keeping quiet about counselling Elliot 's son for heroin addiction . Oh yeah , and in Casualty , in Holby 's A & E department , nurse Ruth Winters secretly fixed her dad 's breathalyser test . Anyone detect a theme emerging ? " Abra proved a popular character amongst fans of the show , and in the 2007 official fans awards , was voted fifth favourite male character of series 9 , and his relationship with Kyla voted fifth favourite coupling of the series . When Edmondson took time out from Holby City to work on his ITV sitcom Teenage Kicks , Mark Wright of The Stage reviewed the show poorly , urging him to " go back to Holby City , you were good in that " . Announcing that the role of Abra was indeed going to be reprised a sixth time , the Mirror described his return storyline as " sizzling " .
= Roystonea regia = Roystonea regia , commonly known as the Cuban royal palm , Florida royal palm , or simply the royal palm is a species of palm which is native to southern Florida , Mexico and parts of Central America and the Caribbean . A large and attractive palm , it has been planted throughout the tropics and subtropics as an ornamental tree . Although it is sometimes called R. elata , the conserved name R. regia is now the correct name for the species . Populations in Cuba and Florida were long seen as separate species , but are now considered to belong to a single species . Best known as an ornamental , R. regia is also used as a source of thatch , construction timber , and as a medicinal plant . The fruit is eaten by birds and bats ( which disperse the seeds ) and fed to livestock . Its flowers are visited by birds and bats , and it serves as a roosting site and food source for a variety of animals . Roystonea regia is the national tree of Cuba , and has a religious role both in Santería and Christianity , where it is used in Palm Sunday observances . = = Description = = Roystonea regia is a large palm which reaches a height of 20 – 30 metres ( 66 – 98 ft ) tall , ( with heights up to 34 @.@ 5 m ( 113 ft ) reported ) and a stem diameter of about 47 centimetres ( 19 in ) . ( K. F. Connor reports a maximum stem diameter of 61 cm ( 24 in ) . ) The trunk is stout , very smooth and grey @-@ white in colour with a characteristic bulge below a distinctive green crownshaft . Trees have about 15 leaves which can be up to 4 m ( 13 ft ) long . The flowers are white with pinkish anthers . The fruit are spheroid to ellipsoid in shape , 8 @.@ 9 – 15 millimetres ( 0 @.@ 35 – 0 @.@ 59 in ) long and 7 – 10 @.@ 9 mm ( 0 @.@ 28 – 0 @.@ 43 in ) wide . They are green when immature , turning red and eventually purplish @-@ black as they mature . Root nodules containing Rhizobium bacteria have been found on R. regia trees in India . The presence of rhizobia @-@ containing root nodules is usually associated with nitrogen fixation in legumes ; this was the first record of root nodules in a monocotyledonous tree . Further evidence of nitrogen fixation was provided by the presence of nitrogenase ( an enzyme used in nitrogen fixation ) and leghaemoglobin , a compound which allows nitrogenase to function by reducing the oxygen concentration in the root nodule . In addition to evidence of nitrogen fixation , the nodules were also found to be producing indole acetic acid , an important plant hormone . = = Taxonomy = = Roystonea is placed in the subfamily Arecoideae and the tribe Roystoneae . The placement Roystonea within the Arecoideae is uncertain ; a phylogeny based on plastid DNA failed to resolve the position of the genus within the Arecoideae . As of 2008 , there appear to be no molecular phylogenetic studies of Roystonea and the relationship between R. regia and the rest of the genus is uncertain . The species was first described by American naturalist William Bartram in 1791 as Palma elata based on trees growing in central Florida . In 1816 German botanist Carl Sigismund Kunth described the species Oreodoxa regia based on collections made by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in Cuba . In 1825 German botanist Curt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel moved it to the genus Oenocarpus and renamed it O. regius . The genus Oreodoxa was proposed by German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1807 and applied by him to two species , O. acuminata ( now known as Prestoea acuminata ) and O. praemorsa ( now Wettinia praemorsa ) . Although these species were transferred to other genera , the genus Oreodoxa continued to be applied to a variety of superficially similar species which were not , in fact , closely related . To address this problem , American botanist Orator F. Cook created the genus Roystonea , which he named in honour of American general Roy Stone , and renamed Kunth 's species Roystonea regia . Cook considered Floridian populations to be distinct from both the Cuba R. regia and the Puerto Rican R. borinquena , and he placed them in a new species , R. floridana , which is now considered a synonym of R. regia . In 1906 Charles Henry Wright described two new species based on collections from Georgetown , British Guiana ( now Guyana ) which he placed in the genus Euterpe — E. jenmanii and E. ventricosa . Both species are now considered synonyms of R. regia . The name R. regia var. hondurensis was applied by Paul H. Allen to Central American populations of the species . However , Scott Zona determined that they did not differ enough from Cuban populations to be considered a separate variety . Based on the rules of botanical nomenclature , the oldest properly published name for a species has priority over newer names . Bartram applied the Linnaean binomial Palma elata to a " large , solitary palm with an ashen white trunk topped by a green leaf sheath [ the crownshaft ] and pinnate leaves " growing in central Florida . While no type collection is known , there are no other native palms that would fit Bartram 's description . In 1946 Francis Harper pointed out that Bartram 's name was valid and proposed a new combination , Roystonea elata . Liberty Hyde Bailey 's use of the name in his 1949 revision of the genus , established its usage . Harper 's new combination immediately supplanted Cook 's R. floridana , but there was disagreement as to whether Cuban and Floridian populations represented a single species or two species . Zona 's revision of the genus concluded that they both belonged to the same species . According to the rules of botanical nomenclature , the correct name of the species should have been Roystonea elata . Zona pointed out , however , that the name R. regia ( or Oreodoxa regia ) has a history of use in horticulture that dated from at least 1838 , and that the species had been propagated around the world under that name . Roystonea elata , on the other hand , had only been used since 1949 , and was used much less widely . On that basis , Zona proposed that the name Roystonea regia should be conserved . = = = Common names = = = In cultivation , Roystonea regia is called the Cuban royal palm or simply the royal palm . Populations native to Florida are called Florida royal palms . In Cuba , the tree is called the palma real or palma criolla . In India , where it is widely cultivated , it is called vakka . = = Reproduction and growth = = Roystonea regia produces unisexual flowers that are pollinated by animals . European honey bees and bats are reported pollinators . Seeds are dispersed by birds and bats that feed upon the fruit . Seed germination is adjacent ligular — during germination , as the cotyledon expands it only pushes a portion of the embryo out of the seed . As a result , the seedling develops adjacent to the seed . The embryo forms a ligule , and the plumule protrudes from this . Seedlings in cultivation are reported to begin producing a stem two years after germination , at the point where they produce their thirteenth leaf . Growth rates of seedlings averaged 4 @.@ 2 cm ( 1 @.@ 7 in ) per year in Florida . = = Distribution = = Roystonea regia is found in southern Florida , Mexico ( Veracruz , Campeche , Quintana Roo , Yucatán ) , Central America , Cuba , Puerto Rico , the Cayman Islands , Hispaniola , the Lesser Antilles and The Bahamas . William Bartram described the species from Lake Dexter , along the St. Johns River in the area of modern Lake and Volusia Counties in central Florida , an area well north of its modern range . Today Roystonea is cultivated in tropical and subtropical climates in the United States , Australia , Brazil , and parts of southern Asia as a landscape palm . In the United States it grows mostly in central and southern Florida and in some areas of southern California . = = Ecology = = The leaves of Roystonea regia are used as roosting sites by Eumops floridanus , the Florida bonneted bat , and is used as a retreat for Cuban tree frogs ( Osteopilus septentriolalis ) , a non @-@ native species , in Florida . In Panama ( where R. regia is introduced ) , its trunks are used as nesting sites by yellow @-@ crowned parrots ( Amazona ochrocephala panamensis ) . The flowers of R. regia are visited by pollen @-@ collecting bees and are considered a good source of nectar . Its pollen was also found in the stomachs of Phyllonycteris poeyi , the Cuban flower bat ( a pollen @-@ feeder ) and Monophyllus redmani , Leach 's single leaf bat ( a nectar @-@ feeder ) . Artibeus jamaicensis , the Jamaican fruit bat , and Myiozetetes similis , the social flycatcher , feed on the fruit . Roystonea regia is the host plant for the royal palm bug , Xylastodoris luteolus , in Florida . It also serves as a larval host plant for the butterflies Pyrrhocalles antiqua orientis and Asbolis capucinus in Cuba , and Brassolis astyra and B. sophorae in Brazil . It is susceptible to bud rot caused by the oomycete Phytophthora palmivora and by the fungus Thielaviopsis paradoxa . The species is considered an invasive species in secondary forest in Panama . = = Uses = = Roystonea regia has been planted throughout the tropics and subtropics as an ornamental . The seed is used as a source of oil and for livestock feed . Leaves are used for thatching and the wood for construction . The roots are used as a diuretic , and for that reason they are added to tifey , a Haitian drink , by Cubans of Haitian origin . They are also used as a treatment for diabetes . Fibres extracted from the leaf sheath of R. regia have been found to be comparable with sisal and banana fibres , but lower in density , making it a potentially useful source for the use in lightweight composite materials . An extract from R. regia fruit known as D @-@ 004 reduces benign prostate hyperplasia ( BPH ) in rodents . D @-@ 004 , is a mixture of fatty acids , is being studied as a potential alternative to finasteride for the treatment of BPH . = = = Religious significance = = = Roystonea regia plays an important role in popular religion in Cuba . In Santería it is associated primarily with Shango or with his father Aggayú . It also has symbolic importance in the Palo faiths and the Abakuá fraternity . In Roman Catholicism , R. regia plays an important role in Palm Sunday observances .
= Superfinalen = Superfinalen ( " The Super Final " ) is a former Norwegian association football competition contested between the previous season 's champions of the Norwegian Premier League and the Norwegian Football Cup . The super cup was incorporated as part of a charity @-@ themed television show broadcast on TV2 , with the profits from the matches going to UNICEF . The competition was held twice , in 2009 and 2010 . The first competition saw Stabæk , reigning league winners , beat Vålerenga 3 – 1 . The following year , league winners Rosenborg beat cup winners Aalesund 3 – 1 . The competition was then deemed commercially unprofitable and abandoned . = = History = = There have previously been attempts at pre @-@ season friendlies between the reigning league and cup champions . For instance , the 2002 pre @-@ season match between Rosenborg and Viking was played between the reigning league and cup champions , although it had no official status . Superfinalen was the first attempt to make an official tournament . Such a super cup is common between the domestic league and cup winners in many European countries , such as the English Charity Shield . Superfinalen also introduced philanthropy into such a match : the game was to be baked into a larger television event which would include concerts and entertainment in an attempt to generate revenue for charity . The matchday profits from the inaugural season were , along with the television fundraising , given to UNICEF , who used the revenue to fund part of a school project in Africa , which had been fronted by Ole Gunnar Solskjær . The first season was organized as a trial project by the Football Association of Norway ( NFF ) , Norsk Toppfotball ( NTF ) , the clubs Stabæk and Vålerenga , and broadcaster TV2 . The 2009 edition was regarded as a success by NFF and it was decided to continue with a new edition for 2010 , which was held between Rosenborg and Aalesund . Ahead of the 2011 season , NFF and NTF stated that Superfinalen would be discontinued , stating that the championship was interesting neither from a sports nor from a commercial aspect . However , the two would @-@ be qualified teams , league winner Rosenborg and cup winner Strømsgodset , were free to play a pre @-@ season friendly , although it would not be regarded as an official match . Rosenborg has traditionally played its final pre @-@ season game against Viking and stated that they intended to take up that tradition following the abandoning of Superfinalen . = = Rules = = The date and location of the match was decided through an agreement between the two involved teams in cooperation with NFF and NTF . The assignment of referees was done by NFF . The match was not regulated as part of the NFF 's laws , and is played using the regulations regarding a regular Premier League match . If the game was a draw at the end of full @-@ time , the game was determined with a penalty shootout without an intermediate extra time . A caution ( yellow card ) would not be registered for determining disqualification in later matches , and a player sent off ( red card ) would not be disqualified if normally given one match quarantine . If a player was disqualified for more than one match because of a direct red card , he had to serve the number of matches minus one . Yellow and red cards still qualified to send off a player for the remaining of the game . = = Editions = = = = = 2009 = = = The first edition was contested between Stabæk and Vålerenga at Telenor Arena in Bærum on 8 March 2009 . It was the first official match to take place at Stabæk 's new home ground . Stabæk qualified as winners of the 2008 Norwegian Premier League , where they finished six points ahead of Fredrikstad . Vålerenga qualified as winners of the 2008 Norwegian Football Cup , where they had won the final 4 – 1 against Stabæk . As such , Superfinalen became a replay of the previous year 's cup final . Stabæk won the match 3 – 1 after goals by Daniel Nannskog , Daigo Kobayashi and Pálmi Rafn Pálmason . Mohammed Abdellaoue scored for the losing side . Martin Andresen , playing coach for Vålerenga , received two yellow cards . Match details = = = 2010 = = = The 2010 edition was contested between Rosenborg BK and Aalesund FK at Color Line Stadion in Ålesund on 7 March 2010 . Rosenborg qualified as winners of the 2009 Norwegian Premier League , where they finished 13 points ahead of Molde . Aalesund qualified as winners of the 2009 Norwegian Football Cup , where they beat Molde in a penalty shootout in the final . Rosenborg won the match 3 – 1 after leading 2 – 0 at halftime . Kris Stadsgaard and Rade Prica scored the goals in the first half , and Trond Olsen increased Rosenborg 's lead to 3 – 0 before Aalesund pulled one back , courtesy of Peter Orry Larsen . Match details = = Performances = = = = = Performance by club = = = = = = Total cup wins by city = = =
= The Bubble ( 30 Rock ) = " The Bubble " is the fifteenth episode of the third season of the American television series 30 Rock . It was written by series ' creator Tina Fey and directed by Tricia Brock . The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ) in the United States on March 19 , 2009 . Jon Hamm and Bobb 'e J. Thompson guest star in this episode , and there are cameo appearances by Calvin Klein and Meredith Vieira . In the episode , Liz Lemon ( Fey ) discovers that her boyfriend Drew ( Hamm ) lives in a " bubble " because of his good looks , and has never experienced many of the unpleasant phenomena in life . At the same time , Tracy Jordan ( Tracy Morgan ) decides to leave the fictitious sketch comedy show The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan ( TGS ) because he no longer needs the money , and Jenna Maroney ( Jane Krakowski ) decides to cut her hair as a publicity stunt . " The Bubble " received generally positive reviews . According to the Nielsen ratings system , it was watched by 7 million households during its original broadcast . For their performances in this episode , Hamm and Jack McBrayer – the latter playing Kenneth Parcell – received Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the categories for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series , respectively . = = Plot = = The episode begins with Liz Lemon ( Tina Fey ) noticing that people treat her boyfriend , Drew Baird ( Jon Hamm ) , differently because of his good looks . After watching a traffic cop , ( Frank Ridley ) rip up a ticket for Drew , and fashion designer Calvin Klein offering him a job as an underwear model , Liz brings the matter up with her boss , Jack Donaghy ( Alec Baldwin ) , who tells her that Drew is in " the bubble " . Jack tells Liz that she should stay with Drew and enjoy the perks of the bubble , but Liz begins to realize that living in the bubble has left Drew without some essential skills . After discovering that Drew cannot perform the Heimlich maneuver , even though he is a doctor , and cannot play tennis , despite the fact that he worked as a tennis coach , Liz decides that she has to leave Drew , and ends their relationship . Meanwhile , at TGS , it is time to renew Tracy Jordan 's ( Tracy Morgan ) contract , and Jack decides to approach the matter carefully as Tracy does not need the money he makes on the show . While negotiating Tracy 's new contract , Jack mentions this fact , which comes as a shock to Tracy , who had never realized that he could survive financially without the income . After realizing that Tracy has quit the show , Jack must find a way to bring him back , after Tracy 's son , Tracy Jr . ( Bobb 'e J. Thompson ) , complains to Jack about how unbearable his father is to have around the house . Meanwhile , in order to get attention for herself , Jenna Maroney ( Jane Krakowski ) decides to cut her hair for charity as a publicity stunt . Jenna makes an appearance on NBC 's Today Show , where her haircut will be broadcast . Meredith Vieira asks Jenna 's opinion on the news that Tracy has left TGS . At learning this , Jenna bails out on her haircut . After discovering that Tracy is still in contact with NBC page Kenneth Parcell ( Jack McBrayer ) , Jack realizes that their relationship is the key to bringing Tracy back to TGS . Jack , therefore , orders Kenneth to break off all contact with Tracy , although this fails because of Kenneth 's relationship with Tracy . Seeing an opportunity , Jack states that since Kenneth 's duties were primarily taking care of Tracy , and Tracy no longer works at NBC , Kenneth is no longer needed . Not wanting Kenneth to lose his job , Tracy agrees to return on the stipulation that Kenneth keeps his job . = = Production = = " The Bubble " was written by series creator , executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey . The director of this episode was Tricia Brock . This was Fey 's sixteenth writing credit , and Brock 's first directed episode . " The Bubble " originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 19 , 2009 . When actor Jon Hamm hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) in October 2008 , negotiations took place with the show 's producers for him to guest star on 30 Rock . In December 2008 , it was confirmed Hamm would appear as a love interest for Fey 's character , Liz Lemon . It was also announced by NBC that Hamm would star in a three @-@ episode arc ; he made his debut in the February 5 , 2009 , episode " Generalissimo " , and made a second appearance in " St. Valentine 's Day " . " The Bubble " was the completion of Hamm 's three episode arc , though Hamm made appearances on the show 's fourth season episodes " Anna Howard Shaw Day " and " Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land " . In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Fey said that when the writing staff is developing a script , " We 'll have an actor in mind and we 'll keep referring to them . Like for this we said , ' Then Hamm comes in , blah blah blah . ' " She believed that there was no possibility of getting Hamm though : " we were lucky with the timing because Mad Men was on hiatus and he was hosting SNL . So I called over there and asked them [ whispering ] , ' Hey , is that guy funny ? Tell me the truth . ' And they were like , ' Yes , he 's really funny . ' By Saturday I knew they were right . " All of Liz and Drew 's scenes were filmed on January 15 , 2009 , in the Upper West Side . Fashion designer Calvin Klein , playing himself , made a cameo in this episode . Klein is the father of Marci Klein , an executive producer on 30 Rock . This episode was actor Bobb 'e J. Thompson 's second appearance as Tracy 's son , Tracy Jr . , on the show . Thompson first guest starred in the episode " Gavin Volure " . " The Bubble " was Today show co @-@ host Meredith Vieira 's third guest appearance as herself , having appeared in the episodes " Greenzo " and " Larry King " . = = Cultural references = = After Kenneth buys Tracy 's food , Tracy calls Kenneth his Radar O 'Reilly , a character from M * A * S * H. He also tells him , " Now get in here and rub my feet until you hear a chopper coming . " Drew tells Liz that Prince Eric was based on pictures of him in his younger days , a reference to the animated character from the movie The Little Mermaid ( 1989 ) . Jenna talks about the Rachel haircut , made famous by actress Jennifer Aniston , as the character Rachel Green on the show Friends . Later , Jenna says she does not want to make the wrong choice with her hair explaining she does not want to end up like actress Keri Russell from Felicity season two . Kenneth tells Jack that when he and Tracy watch the show Lost he always holds Tracy 's hand , due to the show 's mysterious plots . After learning that Tracy has quit the show , Liz mocks Jack , in a deep voice , saying " Be a manager . Control your people . Buy better clothes . " Jack explains his plans to her on how he will get Tracy to return , with Liz once again mocking Jack , this time in a deep raspy voice , " Just get it done . Nope . I lost it . That was Batman " , a reference to actor Christian Bale 's voice as the superhero in the Batman films . During the scenes where Liz and Drew are together , the music piece " Theme from A Summer Place " is played . The fifteenth episode of the third season of Parks and Recreation is also entitled " The Bubble " . = = Reception = = According to the Nielsen ratings system , an average of 7 million viewers watched " The Bubble " during its original United States broadcast , placing it in fourth place for its timeslot . The show also claimed a share of 3 @.@ 2 / 8 among viewers aged 18 to 49 , meaning that 3 @.@ 2 % of all people in that group , and 8 % of all people from that group watching television at the time , watched the episode . For their performances in this episode , Jon Hamm and Jack McBrayer received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series , respectively . The episode received generally positive reviews , although most reviewers found some of the storylines more effective than others . Robert Canning of IGN wrote that " the main portion of this episode was quite funny , even if the ending lacked bite . " Similarly , Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly found that the episode was " another strong showing for 30 Rock ... although Jenna 's plotline was pretty tired . " TV Squad 's Bob Sassone was similarly positive about " The Bubble " , calling it " another good episode . " James Poniewozik of Time , also responded favorably to the episode with the exception of the Jenna storyline , writing that it " was the first one in a long time that I enjoyed almost completely without reservation ( Jenna 's subplot was off , but it was barely a blip ) . " Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for The Star @-@ Ledger disliked the bubble concept , reporting , " [ t ] he idea that attractive people get away with things that the more average @-@ looking can 't is an old joke , even on 30 Rock ( with Cerie ) " , but nonetheless enjoyed the " variations " of the joke saying they were " well @-@ conceived " . Sepinwall concluded , " this was one of the funniest 30 Rock 's of the season . Zap2it 's Rick Porter was also favorable to " The Bubble " in his recap , opining that 30 Rock " gave us a very well @-@ done episode " . As with Lyons and Poniewozik , Porter felt Jenna 's story " didn 't really click " , but liked the scene with Jenna and her stylist team firing off words to describe Jenna 's beauty as " scathingly funny . " The A.V. Club 's Nathan Rabin enjoyed Hamm 's role as Drew , reporting that his character " initially seemed too good to be true but the show gradually revealed him to be imperfect and even fucked up enough to be plausible . [ ... ] The Hamm subplot was very funny and well @-@ executed " . Sepinwall also praised Hamm , writing , " Finally ! It took three episodes ... but Tina Fey ( who wrote this one ) let Jon Hamm be funny on his way out the door . " Not all reviews were positive . Matt Mitovich of TV Guide wrote , " I must be honest ... This A @-@ story was ridiculous , and not in the hysterical way . When I first read the logline about Drew ' getting by on his good looks , ' I thought we 'd witness the occasional favoritism . But horrid doctor skills and flailing at the very public sport of tennis , and his obliviousness to it all ? Hamm got a turkey of an exit story , sorry . "
= Swords and Sorcery ( video game ) = Swords and Sorcery is a fantasy role playing video game developed and published by Personal Software Services . It was released exclusively in the United Kingdom for the ZX Spectrum in 1985 and the Amstrad CPC in 1986 . The game contains elements of dungeon crawling and revolves around a customisable player @-@ character navigating through catacombs in order to secure a large wealth of treasure , whilst simultaneously collecting seven pieces of sacred armour . The game was released with dedicated t @-@ shirts , badges and posters . It suffered from several delays throughout 1985 due to the complexity of programming . Swords and Sorcery received positive reviews from critics upon release ; prominent praise included the graphics , colours , animation and its menu interface . It also won the " Game of the Month " award from Computer and Video Games in January 1986 . = = Gameplay = = Swords and Sorcery is presented in a first person top @-@ down perspective and contains elements of dungeon crawling , a common trait of role playing video games . The game is set in a fictional land called Zob , in which he main objective is to explore its catacombs and discover a large wealth of treasure , alongside collecting seven pieces of sacred Zob armour . The game begins with allowing the player to choose their player @-@ character ; the default protagonist is called Flubbit the Dull , however there is an option to allow the player to create and personalise their own character . Once a character has been created , a 14 in @-@ game day training scheme will commence which gives the player an opportunity to improve their abilities such as lock picking , sword fighting and thieving . An in @-@ game armoury is also accessible at any time , which includes utilities such as body armour and various weaponry . The form of currency in the game is dragon 's teeth , which can be used to purchase items and equipment . Movement through the catacombs is controlled by command inputs and keywords , which is referred to in @-@ game as MIDAS . For example , entering in the word " hit " will bring down a menu which will display various forms of attacking techniques . The left side of the screen displays an animated first person perspective of the respective tunnel or room the player is in , whereas the right side of the interface displays a general top @-@ down view of the catacombs . The bottom of the screen features a command box and announces available options or hints to the player ; flashing arrows indicate where movement is possible throughout the catacombs . During the game , enemies such as gargoyles , catmen and warriors will appear at random and attack the player if confronted . Magic spells such as poison and fire are able to defeat enemies , alongside weaponry such as swords and axes . The player @-@ character has both a health and magic bar , which will slowly deplete once attacked by an enemy or by using magic spells , respectively . Items in the game include treasure and artefacts which may have a chance of giving the player negative effects , such as draining life and paralysing movement . = = Background = = Personal Software Services was founded in Coventry , England , by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in November 1981 . The company was known for creating games that revolved around historic war battles and conflicts , such as Theatre Europe , Bismarck and Falklands ' 82 . The company had a partnership with French video game developer ERE Informatique , and published localised versions of their products to the United Kingdom . The Strategic Wargames series was conceptualised by software designer Alan Steel in 1984 . During development of these titles , Steel would often research the topic of the upcoming game and pass on the findings to other associates in Coventry and London . Some games of the series were met with controversy upon release , such as Theatre Europe . In 1983 , the company received recognition for being " one of the top software houses " in the United Kingdom , and was a finalist for BBC Radio 4 's New Business Enterprise Award for that year . In 1986 , Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16 @-@ bit consoles , as he found that smaller 8 @-@ bit consoles , such as the ZX Spectrum , lacked the processing power for larger strategy games . The decision was falsely interpreted as " pulling out " from the Spectrum market by video game journalist Phillipa Irving . Following years of successful sales throughout the mid 1980s , Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties , in what Cockayne admitted in a retrospective interview that " he took his eye off the ball " . The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in February 1987 , and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt . The game was announced in summer of 1984 , but was delayed several times for over a year . Before its announcement , Swords and Sorcery had been in development from nearly two years prior to 1985 . PSS explained the delays as due to game 's complexity that required a lot programming man @-@ hours . The game was PSS 's biggest launch to date . Upon release , Swords and Sorcery came with t @-@ shirts , badges and posters . = = Reception = = The game received positive reviews upon release . Rachael Smith of Your Sinclair praised the imaginative atmosphere the game offered , stating that developers drew the players into a " convincing world " and speculated that the game would become a " cult of sorts " . Philippa Irving of Crash praised the presentation as " super " and the graphics as " rare for this type of game " , adding that it also offered " brilliant " animation which shows the detail in the " best way possible " . Gary Rook of Sinclair User opinionated that Swords and Sorcery was aimed at " Rambo @-@ style " dungeon explorers . Regarding the graphics , Rook stated that they were " not staggering " , but felt that they served a purpose and would have been " deadly dull " if the game was text @-@ based only . A reviewer of ZX Computing called it the best Dungeons and Dragons version " ever produced on a computer " , and stated that it was " worth the wait " . A reviewer of Computer and Video Games stated that the game was " unique " and could not be classified . However , the reviewer did criticise the speed of in @-@ game combat , calling it " frustrating " at times . Despite this , Computer and Video Games awarded it their " Game of the Month " award for January 1986 . Robert Fripp of German magazine Aktueller Software Markt concluded that the game presented a " successful " adventure . Bob Wade of Amstrad Action praised the game 's presentation , depth and atmosphere but criticized initial complexity and required time commitment . Computer Gamer received the game highly positively , calling it complex , difficult and immersive , giving particularly high points to atmosphere . In a later retrospect of role @-@ playing games , Advanced Computer Entertainment noted that common criticism of the game was similar to " exploring a car park " , however the reviewer praised the game 's ability to portray a " complex " world .
= Wii Sports = Wii Sports ( Wii スポーツ , Wī Supōtsu ) is a sports game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch title for the Wii video game console . The game was first released in North America along with the Wii on November 19 , 2006 , and was released in Japan , Australia , and Europe the following month . It was included as a pack @-@ in game with the Wii console in all territories except Japan and South Korea , making it the first game included with the launch of a Nintendo system since Mario 's Tennis for the Virtual Boy in 1995 . Wii Sports is now available on its own as part of the Nintendo Selects collection of games and is no longer a pack @-@ in game for the Wii . The game is a collection of five sports simulations , designed to demonstrate the motion @-@ sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote to new players . The five sports included are tennis , baseball , bowling , golf , and boxing . Players use the Wii Remote to mimic actions performed in real life sports , such as swinging a tennis racket . The rules for each game are simplified to make them more accessible to new players . The game also features training and fitness modes that monitor players ' progress in the sports . Overall , Wii Sports has been well received by critics and received awards from the gaming press and entertainment community . It is the third best @-@ selling video game of all time , behind Tetris and Minecraft , and is the best @-@ selling game of all time for a single platform as of April 2013 , having outsold the previous best @-@ seller , Super Mario Bros. , also published by Nintendo . As of March 31 , 2016 , 82 @.@ 78 million copies in total had been sold worldwide . Wii Sports has been featured on television in Wii commercials , news reports , and other programming . The game has become a popular means for social gatherings and competitions among players of varying ages . A sequel , Wii Sports Resort , was released in 2009 , featuring Wii MotionPlus support , while a high @-@ definition remake , Wii Sports Club , was released in 2013 for Wii U. = = Gameplay = = Wii Sports consists of five separate sports games — tennis , baseball , bowling , golf , and boxing — accessed from the main menu . The games use the motion sensor capabilities of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment to control the actions of the on @-@ screen ball pit . The player moves the remote in a similar manner to how the separate games are played in real life ; for example , holding and swinging the Wii Remote like a golf club , baseball bat or bowling ball . Some aspects of the gameplay are computer controlled . In tennis , player movement is controlled by the Wii , while the swinging of the racket is controlled by the player . Baseball consists of batting and pitching , with all of the fielding and baserunning handled by the Wii . The in @-@ game characters are taken from the Wii 's Mii Channel , which allows the user to create a Mii ( a customized avatar ) that can be imported into games that support the feature . Wii Sports is the first Wii title to use this feature . Miis saved on the Wii will appear in the crowd during bowling games and as members of human @-@ controlled teams in baseball . The non @-@ player characters in the game were also created using the Mii Channel toolset . Miis created on one Wii can be transferred onto the internal memory of a Wii Remote for use on another Wii with different save data . After a game , a player is awarded or penalized skill points based on performance relative to the computer 's skill level , though some games do not calculate points during multiplayer sessions . The game keeps track of these points by charting them on a graph , as well as increasing the size of the crowd in Tennis and Boxing single @-@ player modes . After obtaining 1000 skill points in a sport , a player is awarded " pro " level , along with a cosmetic feature for their Mii in Bowling and Boxing . A Mii newly turned pro will receive a message on the Wii Message Board notifying them . Wii Sports also features a fitness test that calculates a player 's fitness age ( ranging from 20 to 80 years old , 20 being the best possible ) . The test gauges the player 's performance in three randomly chosen challenges in each test from the training mode that have been played at least once , and can only be taken once a day per Mii . Calculating the fitness age takes into account a player 's balance , speed , and stamina . Fitness age results are graphed over one , two , or three months , with daily results posted on the Wii Message Board . = = Development = = Katsuya Eguchi , who managed Software Development Group 2 at Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development , produced Wii Sports . With the Wii , Nintendo desired to reach people who had not played video games before . To do this they needed software that allowed both long time and first time players to interact together in a fun way . Nintendo also wanted players to use the system daily and intended Wii Sports to be the console 's flagship title to help accomplish this . Wii Sports was designed as a simple introductory line meant to offer something for both gamers and non @-@ gamers . Sports were chosen as the theme because of the widespread familiarity with them . Rather than feature professional athletes or have realistic graphics , the game was designed to be simple so that anyone could play . Gameplay like running towards a ball in tennis was excluded to maintain simplicity . At one point in development , Mario characters were used , but were removed because of feedback from players who preferred Miis . The game supports a 16 : 9 widescreen ratio and progressive scan , runs at 60 frames per second , and makes use of the Wii Remote 's accelerometer to interpret the player 's motion . Motion @-@ sensing actions , like pitching and hitting , were prioritized to make them as realistic as possible . Because Nintendo did not expect players to purchase the Wii solely to play Wii Sports , they bundled the game with the console ; Nintendo believed players would be more likely to play Wii Sports through this distribution method . They also felt players that enjoyed the game would increase its popularity by word of mouth . Before the Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E3 ) Media and Business Summit of 2006 , the first sport in the game was announced as Wii Sports : Tennis . It was later announced , at Nintendo 's press conference prior to E3 2006 , it would be part of a sports package . Satoru Iwata introduced this package as Wii Sports , and stated it would include tennis , golf , and baseball . The game was featured as both a video demonstration and an on @-@ stage playable demo . The demo featured Iwata and Reggie Fils @-@ Aime in a doubles tennis match against Shigeru Miyamoto and Scott Dyer , a contest winner . The other sports titles were on display at E3 and shared a similar naming convention to the tennis game such as , Wii Sports : Baseball , Wii Sports : Golf , and Wii Sports : Airplane . At the time , baseball only featured a batting simulation . The airplane title was similar to Pilotwings and required the player to maneuver an airplane through rings within a time frame . It was not included in the final game , but was later incorporated into Wii Sports Resort . At the Nintendo World event on September 14 , 2006 , Reggie Fils @-@ Aime announced that Wii Sports would be included free with the Wii . The bowling and boxing titles were also introduced . = = Reception = = = = = Sales = = = Wii Sports was immensely successful commercially . At the end of 2007 , it was the best @-@ selling Wii game . In Japan , where the game was not included with the system , the game sold 176 @,@ 167 copies in the first two days of release , a record for a seventh generation console game in Japan . By February 2007 , it had sold over a million copies . In early May 2007 , game @-@ industry research firm Media Create placed Wii Sports third in their list of top @-@ 20 games in Japan . It was the best @-@ selling game of 2007 in Japan with 1 @,@ 911 @,@ 520 copies sold . It was the tenth best @-@ selling game in Japan in 2008 , selling 841 @,@ 736 copies in that year . The game sold 45 @.@ 71 million copies — including bundled copies — worldwide by March 2009 . By January 28 , 2011 , worldwide sales increased to 75 @.@ 66 million , which has increased to 82 @.@ 78 million as of March 31 , 2016 . = = = Critical response = = = Wii Sports received mostly positive reviews from critics . It received a score of 76 % on GameRankings and 76 / 100 on Metacritic . GameTrailers called it a good complement to the Wii system and referred to all five games as a " nice total package " . They commented that the games provided enough gameplay for long time gamers without making it inaccessible to novices . GameTrailers stated , however , that the lack of a tournament mode was a detractor , and did not recommend paying for the game if it did not come bundled with the system . GamePro also commented that the free addition of Wii Sports with the Wii was a positive . Matt Casamassina of IGN called it a " successful showpiece for Nintendo 's new hardware " and enjoyed the ability to import Miis . GameSpot editor Ryan Davis complimented the multiplayer aspect and the fitness test . Reviewers praised the game 's controls and ease of use . Casamassina referred to the controls as " revolutionary " and described them as intuitive . GamePro echoed similar comments , praising the ease of play and realistic motion controls , while Davis commented that the motion controls were sometimes erratic . Common criticism focused on the graphics and lack of depth in the separate games . Casamassina stated that the game " comes up short in depth and visuals " , and called the graphics " generic " and " archaic " . Other reviewers said the graphics were on par with Nintendo 's older gaming systems , the Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo 64 . Davis criticized the oversimplified nature of the games , and GamePro stated that the separate games offered less depth than regular console sports games . Nintendo Power listed Wii Sports along with its sequel Wii Sports Resort as two of the greatest multi @-@ player experiences in Nintendo 's history , stating that everyone from young children to grandparents can enjoy the games . The magazine praised the grouping of sports and the game 's longevity . The separate games garnered their own reception among critics . Casamassina called bowling , tennis , and baseball " fun and addictive " , while Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer said baseball , golf , and boxing were lacking in gameplay depth when compared to tennis and bowling . PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak , an avid bowler , praised the realistic physics used in bowling and stated , " Nintendo did a stupendous job of coding . " He complimented the addition of physical activity to video gaming , but complained that long term use caused his wrist and shoulder to become sore . Casamassina ranked bowling as the best experience of the five . Before its release , IGN 's Craig Harris commented on an exploit allowing easy strikes in the bowling game that removed the challenge and replay value . After the release , he stated that the exploit was not fixed . GameTrailers called golf the most in @-@ depth , but criticized the lack of multiple courses and unpredictable controls when trying to slice or hook a shot . GamePro said golf offered the most content and was the best looking of all the games , but commented that its controls were the most difficult to use . GameTrailers called tennis the most accessible and easy to play , but criticized the difficulty of putting spin on a shot . Casamassina stated that tennis was one of the more enjoyable games , but the lack of movement control was a detractor . GameTrailers called baseball the most " worthless " because of the luck factor associated with the computer @-@ controlled fielding . They called boxing the best workout on Wii Sports , but criticized the difficult timing needed to punch properly . Casamassina criticized boxing for being " like a chore " and ranked it as the worst experience of the five sports . = = = Awards = = = Wii Sports 's debut at 2006 E3 garnered it several awards . At the event , it won the Game Critics Award for " Best Sports Game " . 1UP.com listed it as the " Best Wii Game " and " Most Original Game " in their " Best of E3 2006 " feature . Following its release , Wii Sports received multiple awards from various organizations , websites , and magazines . IGN awarded it " Best Sports Game of 2006 " and second best game of 2006 . Time magazine listed the game as the number one game of 2006 in their list of " Top 10 Video Games of 2006 " . Wii Sports won Famitsu 's 2006 " Innovation Award " . Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded it " Best Multiplayer Experience " in their 2006 " 1Up Network Awards " . At the 2007 Interactive Achievement Awards , Wii Sports won " Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering " , " Outstanding Achievement in Game Design " , and " Outstanding Innovation in Gaming " . In 2007 , the game won the " Innovation Award " and " Best Game Design " at the Game Developers Choice Awards , and won " Grand Prize " in the entertainment division of the Japan Media Arts Festival . At the 2007 British Academy Video Games Awards , Wii Sports won six out of seven award nominations : Sports , Innovation , Gameplay , Multiplayer , Casual , and Strategy and Simulation . The New York Times named wii sports as the Game of the year , also The gaming website Gamasutra said that Wii sports was the most important game of 2006 . In 2010 , the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die . = = Impact = = Wii Sports , a major factor in the Wii 's worldwide success , was the first release among a number of core Wii games being developed at the same time , with the same philosophy ; others were released as Wii Play , Wii Fit , and Wii Music . A direct sequel to Wii Sports , titled Wii Sports Resort , was released in 2009 . The game , along with Wii Fit , has been credited with attracting more casual , female , and elderly gamers . It has also been cited as a game that can provide a bonding experience among family members , and as a means of exercising and losing weight when played regularly . A study involving 13- to 15 ‑ year @-@ old teenagers was conducted by the Liverpool John Moores University and concluded that players used 2 % more energy than by playing on other consoles . They stated that it was no substitute for playing a real sport , but could contribute to weight management . Wii Sports has been used to aid in the physical therapy of a boxer at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Canada , stroke victims in Minneapolis , Minnesota and Raleigh , North Carolina , and injured soldiers in Prescott , Arizona ; Washington , D.C. ; and Landstuhl , Germany . Wired included the game in its list of " The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade " at # 8 , for its role in popularizing motion controls and having a major impact on the " videogame landscape . " After the Wii 's release , players began incurring injuries while playing Wii Sports , among other games , when they accidentally hit other players or objects while swinging the Wii Remote . This string of accidents , and others related to players throwing the Wii Remote while playing Wii Sports , prompted Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to develop a campaign to reduce such incidents . In regard to the issue , Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa commented , " People tended to get a bit excited , especially while playing Wii Sports , and in some cases the remote would come loose from their hands . " Nintendo responded by offering replacement Wii Remote wrist straps that were almost twice as thick . Other injuries include muscle , tendon , and ligament injuries from excess playing of simulated sports on the Wii — dubbed " Wii @-@ itis " . Wii Sports has become a popular means for social gatherings and competitions . Residents at senior centers and retirement homes have formed leagues using Wii Sports bowling . After its Australian release , Nintendo and Myer , an Australian department store chain , held a Wii Sports tennis tournament in January 2007 in Melbourne , Australia . The winners competed against professional tennis players Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde , and were awarded new Wiis . An unofficial Wii Sports tennis tournament titled " Wiimbledon " was held in the Brooklyn , New York bar Barcade on June 23 , 2007 . It featured 128 competitors , many of whom were dressed in costumes . Wii Sports has been featured on television multiple times . The game was featured in commercials for the Wii system , and in news features on ABC and NBC . The game has appeared on various comedy shows . An episode of Late Night with Conan O 'Brien featured host Conan O 'Brien competing against his guest , tennis star Serena Williams , in a match of Wii Sports tennis . On an episode of the Rick Mercer Report , former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien beat Rick Mercer in a game of Wii Sports boxing . The boxing game also appeared on an episode of The Colbert Report where a clip featured Mii versions of Stephen Colbert and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boxing . At the 80th Academy Awards Show , host Jon Stewart and Jamia Simone Nash were caught playing Wii Sports tennis on one of the event 's gigantic projection screens after a commercial break as part of a joke . Wii Sports has also been featured in mainstream movies such as Tropic Thunder and in commercials for products such as Kellogg 's Smart Start . = = Series continuation = = = = = Wii Sports Resort = = = A sequel , Wii Sports Resort , was first revealed at Nintendo 's E3 2008 presentation . Development moved forward after the extent of the Wii MotionPlus was realized , though the idea for a sequel existed sooner . The game was released in Japan on June 25 , 2009 before releasing in other markets in July 2009 . = = = Wii Sports Club = = = On September 18 , 2013 , Nintendo announced Wii Sports Club for the Wii U Nintendo eShop . The game features the five games of Wii Sports remade in high @-@ definition graphics , with support for the Wii MotionPlus ( similar to Wii Sports Resort ) and online multiplayer . The game uses a ' Club ' system , in which players are registered to regional or national clubs , communicating with each other via Miiverse , and compete against other clubs for rankings . After a 24 @-@ hour free trial period , players can purchase a day pass to access all of the games , or purchase full access to the individual games . Tennis and Bowling was released on November 7 , 2013 , with the other games to follow at later dates .
= My Old Kentucky Home State Park = My Old Kentucky Home State Park is a state park located in Bardstown , Kentucky . The park 's centerpiece is Federal Hill , a farm owned by United States Senator John Rowan in 1795 . During the Rowan family 's occupation , the mansion became a meeting place for local politicians and hosted several visiting dignitaries . The farm is best known for its association with American composer Stephen Foster 's anti @-@ slavery ballad " My Old Kentucky Home , Good Night " . Foster was a cousin of the Rowan family , and was likely inspired to write the ballad both by Harriet Beecher Stowe 's anti @-@ slavery novel Uncle Tom 's Cabin and through imagery seen on visits to Federal Hill . After popularity of the song increased throughout the United States , Federal Hill was purchased by the Commonwealth of Kentucky , dedicated as a historic site , and renamed " My Old Kentucky Home " on July 4 , 1923 . Foster 's song by the same name was made the state song of Kentucky in 1928 . The Federal Hill mansion was featured on a U.S. postage stamp in 1992 , and it is one of the symbols featured on the reverse of the Kentucky state quarter issued in 2001 . = = Federal Hill = = Federal Hill , commonly known as " My Old Kentucky Home " , is a historic mansion that was planned and commissioned by Judge John Rowan and his wife Ann Lytle . The mansion 's original surrounding 1 @,@ 200 acres were also known as " Federal Hill . " The rear portion of the mansion was constructed in 1795 , additional space from 1799 – 1802 , and was completed in the form of a five @-@ bay , three @-@ story mansion from 1808 to 1818 , using slave labor . With Rowan in residence , Federal Hill was a local power center in the realms of legal , political , and social events . Prominent visitors to the home included Marquis de Lafayette , Stephen Foster , Andrew Jackson , and Henry Clay . Judge Rowan occupied a Louisville residence during the majority of his later years and was rarely in residence at Federal Hill near the end of his life . In 1839 , the house suffered fire damage to the third story and roof . Carpenter Alexander Moore was hired to repair the damage , as he had worked on the design elements and woodwork in 1818 . John Rowan , Jr. occupied Federal Hill after the death of his father . When John , Jr. died in 1855 , his widow , Rebecca Carnes Rowan , occupied Federal Hill until 1897 . The house then passed to their daughter , Madge ( Rowan ) Frost . The imagery of Federal Hill and Harriet Beecher Stowe 's anti @-@ slavery novel " Uncle Tom 's Cabin " are cited as the inspiration for Stephen Foster 's anti @-@ slavery ballad known as " My Old Kentucky Home . " According to Morrison Foster , Stephen Foster 's brother , Stephen was an occasional visitor to Federal Hill . Stephen 's sister Charlotte also visited Federal Hill and courted Atkinson Hill Rowan who unsuccessfully proposed to Charlotte . In 1922 , the " My Old Kentucky Home Commission " purchased Federal Hill from Madge Rowan Frost , the last heir of Federal Hill farm . The Commission renovated the property and gave the farm to the Commonwealth of Kentucky for use as a state park , with the official dedication on July 4 , 1923 . = = Architecture = = Federal Hill is made primarily of brick fired on @-@ site and laid in the Flemish bond pattern . The mansion possesses a foundation crafted of limestone native to the surrounding countryside . The windowsills and mantels were finely carved by a free black craftsman . The mansion is designed in the Federal Style . Federal Hill has three floors traversed by a staircase located within a central hallway on each floor and an English basement . The first floor 's main rooms are a dining room , parlor , and library . The second floor consists of three bedrooms similarly spaced to the rooms below . Auxiliary farm buildings associated with the mansion include the original springhouse . To the rear of the home the oldest section of residence can be seen . The ell consists of four rooms as well as the kitchen and smokehouse . The smokehouse was built as part of the existing structure , and not free standing as is most often seen . The rear ell structure served as the first residence for the family while the primary residence was constructed . To the east of the house is the family burial ground . Behind the house is a flower garden . The slave cemetery lies beyond the flower garden . Documented but no longer existing buildings include multiple slave houses , a large stable due @-@ west of the mansion , an ash house , and a garden house . = = State Park = = The property was originally a State Historic Site , but it was passed to the Division of State Parks in 1936 with intentions to increase the amount of activities surrounding the historic mansion . Today , the tour focuses on the career of Stephen Foster , the life of enslaved servants at Federal Hill , Kentucky traditions , and information regarding 19th century daily life on a Kentucky farm . 85 % of the furniture exhibited inside the mansion was owned by the Rowan family . The Judge Rowan family coin silver is also exhibited there . The mansion was renovated in 1977 , and again in 2006 . The 2006 renovation was funded by an anonymous donor . New floor coverings , elaborate wallpapers , and period window treatments were used to interpret the mansion to the period in which John Rowan Jr. occupied the mansion . The use of family letters , photos from the 1920s , and 1950s , assisted in the renovation . The 2006 renovation cost nearly $ 1 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 . Tour guides dress in period costumes and as of 2015 , the tour has been altered to include the singing of " My Old Kentucky Home " by tour guides who also play in The Stephen Foster Story , a musical that typically is performed daily at the park from May until August of every year . Throughout the year , various events are held at My Old Kentucky Home State Park . Special Christmas candlelight tours are offered during the holiday season each year in which the mansion is decorated for the holiday and is lit by candlelight . A new visitors center was added to the park in the 1990s , and houses a conference and wedding space , a giftshop , and kitchen . The gift shop contains Items concerning the park and the state of Kentucky , especially books by Kentucky authors and Kentucky Derby items . The park also features the Kenny Rapier Golf Course , a regulation 18 @-@ hole golf course named for a previous Kentucky Commissioner of Parks and Bardstown native , that also features a fully equipped pro shop . The 39 @-@ site campground is available mid @-@ March to mid @-@ November . = = State Quarter = = On June 1 , 1992 , a 29 @-@ cent stamp was issued honoring the park . The Federal Hill mansion was also chosen to be one of the icons featured on the Kentucky State Quarter . To the right of the stately mansion , an inscription on the coin reads " My Old Kentucky Home . " It was the 15th state quarter , released on October 18 , 2001 , denoting the fact that Kentucky was the 15th state to join the United States . The official ceremony revealing the quarter was held in the park , and was said by then @-@ governor Paul E. Patton that the mansion and the accompanying thoroughbred were : " ... the two most visible , beloved symbols in Kentucky . " = = The Stephen Foster Story and other outdoor productions = = The park features an amphitheater that is home to the long @-@ running outdoor musical , The Stephen Foster Story , which is staged during the summer . It is the longest running outdoor drama in the state of Kentucky , having started in 1959 . It was written by playwright Paul Green . Matinees are performed in an indoor theater with air conditioning . Many Foster songs are performed , with the actors dancing in antebellum period costume , in a retelling of Foster 's life . Recently , the amphitheater has incorporated new musicals into its performance schedule , in addition to The Stephen Foster Story . In 2008 , the amphitheater produced The Civil War in celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial . In 2009 , a second musical , Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , was staged . Other musicals have included The Wizard of Oz , and All Shook Up . In addition , the amphitheater hosts a summer concert series .
= Mermaid = A mermaid is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish . Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide , including the Near East , Europe , Africa and Asia . The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria , in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover . Mermaids are sometimes associated with perilous events such as floods , storms , shipwrecks and drownings . In other folk traditions ( or sometimes within the same tradition ) , they can be benevolent or beneficent , bestowing boons or falling in love with humans . The male equivalent of the mermaid is the merman , also a familiar figure in folklore and heraldry . Although traditions about and sightings of mermen are less common than those of mermaids , they are generally assumed to co @-@ exist with their female counterparts . Some of the attributes of mermaids may have been influenced by the Sirens of Greek mythology . Historical accounts of mermaids , such as those reported by Christopher Columbus during his exploration of the Caribbean , may have been inspired by manatees and similar aquatic mammals . While there is no evidence that mermaids exist outside of folklore , reports of mermaid sightings continue to the present day , including 21st century examples from Israel and Zimbabwe . Mermaids have been a popular subject of art and literature in recent centuries , such as in Hans Christian Andersen 's well @-@ known fairy tale " The Little Mermaid " ( 1836 ) . They have subsequently been depicted in operas , paintings , books , films and comics . = = Etymology and related terms = = The word mermaid is a compound of the Old English mere ( sea ) , and maid ( a girl or young woman ) . The equivalent term in Old English was merewif . They are conventionally depicted as beautiful with long flowing hair . As cited above , they are sometimes equated with the sirens of Greek mythology ( especially the Odyssey ) , half @-@ bird femmes fatales whose enchanting voices would lure soon @-@ to @-@ be @-@ shipwrecked sailors to nearby rocks , sandbars or shoals . = = = Sirenia = = = Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic , herbivorous mammals that inhabit rivers , estuaries , coastal marine waters , swamps and marine wetlands . Sirenians , including manatees and dugongs , possess major aquatic adaptations : arms used for steering , a paddle used for propulsion , and remnants of hind limbs ( legs ) in the form of two small bones floating deep in the muscle . They look ponderous and clumsy but are actually fusiform , hydrodynamic and highly muscular , and mariners before the mid @-@ nineteenth century referred to them as mermaids . = = = Sirenomelia = = = Sirenomelia , also called " mermaid syndrome " , is a rare congenital disorder in which a child is born with his or her legs fused together and small genitalia . This condition is about as rare as conjoined twins , affecting one out of every 100 @,@ 000 live births and is usually fatal within a day or two of birth because of kidney and bladder complications . Four survivors were known as of July 2003 . = = Folklore = = As the anthropologist A. Asbjørn Jøn noted : " these ' marine beasts ' have featured in folk tradition for many centuries now , and until relatively recently they have maintained a reasonably standard set of characteristics . Many folklorists and mythographers deem that the origin of the mythic mermaid is the dugong , posing a theory that mythicised tales have been constructed around early sightings of dugongs by sailors . " = = = Near East , Ancient Greece = = = The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria c . 1000 BC . The goddess Atargatis , mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis , loved a mortal ( a shepherd ) and unintentionally killed him . Ashamed , she jumped into a lake and took the form of a fish , but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty . Thereafter , she took the form of a mermaid — human above the waist , fish below — although the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as a fish with a human head and arm , similar to the Babylonian god Ea . The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo . Sometime before 546 BC , Milesian philosopher Anaximander postulated that mankind had sprung from an aquatic animal species . He thought that humans , who begin life with prolonged infancy , could not have survived otherwise . A popular Greek legend turned Alexander the Great 's sister , Thessalonike , into a mermaid after her death , living in the Aegean . She would ask the sailors on any ship she would encounter only one question : " Is King Alexander alive ? " ( Greek : " Ζει ο Βασιλεύς Αλέξανδρος ; " ) , to which the correct answer was : " He lives and reigns and conquers the world " ( Greek : " Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμον κυριεύει " ) . This answer would please her , and she would accordingly calm the waters and bid the ship farewell . Any other answer would enrage her , and she would stir up a terrible storm , dooming the ship and every sailor on board . Lucian of Samosata in Syria ( 2nd century A.D. ) , in De Dea Syria ( About the Syrian Goddess ) wrote of the Syrian temples he had visited : " Among them – Now that is the traditional story among them concerning the temple . But other men swear that Semiramis of Babylonia , whose deeds are many in Asia , also founded this site , and not for Hera but for her own mother , whose name was Derketo . " " I saw Derketo 's likeness in Phoenicia , a strange marvel . It is woman for half its length ; but the other half , from thighs to feet , stretched out in a fish 's tail . But the image in the Holy City is entirely a woman , and the grounds for their account are not very clear . They consider fish to be sacred , and they never eat them ; and though they eat all other fowls they do not eat the dove , for they believe it is holy . And these things are done , they believe , because of Derketo and Semiramis , the first because Derketo has the shape of a fish , and the other because ultimately Semiramis turned into a dove . Well , I may grant that the temple was a work of Semiramis perhaps ; but that it belongs to Derketo I do not believe in any way . For among the Egyptians some people do not eat fish , and that is not done to honor Derketo . " = = = One Thousand and One Nights = = = The One Thousand and One Nights collection includes several tales featuring " sea people " , such as " Djullanar the Sea @-@ girl " . Unlike depictions of mermaids in other mythologies , these are anatomically identical to land @-@ bound humans , differing only in their ability to breathe and live underwater . They can ( and do ) interbreed with land humans , and the children of such unions have the ability to live underwater . In the tale " Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman " , the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land . The underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist . In " The Adventures of Bulukiya " , the protagonist Bulukiya 's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas , where he encounters societies of mermaids . Due to their vaguely anthropomorphic shape , dried skates have long been described as mermaids . Often their appearance is deliberately modified to make them look even more human . In Europe , dried skates , sometimes called devil fish , ( not to be confused with devil fish or devil rays , two species of ray native to the north Atlantic ) were displayed as mermaids , angels , demons , or basilisks . In Britain they are known as Jenny Hanivers , perhaps in reference to Antwerp , where they were made by sailors . Dried skates are also known in Mexico , where they are believed to have magical powers , and are used in healing rituals . = = = British Isles = = = The Norman chapel in Durham Castle , built around 1078 by Saxon stonemasons , has what is probably the earliest surviving artistic depiction of a mermaid in England . It can be seen on a south @-@ facing capital above one of the original Norman stone pillars . Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky omens , both foretelling disaster and provoking it . Several variants of the ballad Sir Patrick Spens depict a mermaid speaking to the doomed ships . In some versions , she tells them they will never see land again ; in others , she claims they are near shore , which they are wise enough to know means the same thing . Mermaids can also be a sign of approaching rough weather , and some have been described as monstrous in size , up to 2 @,@ 000 feet ( 610 m ) . Mermaids have also been described as able to swim up rivers to freshwater lakes . In one story , the Laird of Lorntie went to aid a woman he thought was drowning in a lake near his house ; a servant of his pulled him back , warning that it was a mermaid , and the mermaid screamed at them that she would have killed him if it were not for his servant . But mermaids could occasionally be more beneficent ; e.g. , teaching humans cures for certain diseases . Mermen have been described as wilder and uglier than mermaids , with little interest in humans . According to legend , a mermaid came to the Cornish village of Zennor where she used to listen to the singing of a chorister , Matthew Trewhella . The two fell in love , and Matthew went with the mermaid to her home at Pendour Cove . On summer nights , the lovers can be heard singing together . At the Church of Saint Senara in Zennor , there is a famous chair decorated by a mermaid carving which is probably six hundred years old . Some tales raised the question of whether mermaids had immortal souls , answering in the negative . The figure of Lí Ban appears as a sanctified mermaid , but she was a human being transformed into a mermaid . After three centuries , when Christianity had come to Ireland , she was baptized . The Irish mermaid is called merrow in tales such as " Lady of Gollerus " published in the 19th century . In Scottish mythology , a ceasg is a fresh @-@ water mermaid , though little beside the term has been preserved in folklore . Mermaids from the Isle of Man , known as ben @-@ varrey , are considered more favorable toward humans than those of other regions , with various accounts of assistance , gifts and rewards . One story tells of a fisherman who carried a stranded mermaid back into the sea and was rewarded with the location of treasure . Another recounts the tale of a baby mermaid who stole a doll from a human little girl , but was rebuked by her mother and sent back to the girl with a gift of a pearl necklace to atone for the theft . A third story tells of a fishing family that made regular gifts of apples to a mermaid and was rewarded with prosperity . = = = Western Europe = = = A freshwater mermaid @-@ like creature from European folklore is Melusine . She is sometimes depicted with two fish tails , or with the lower body of a serpent . The best @-@ known example of mermaids in literature is probably Hans Christian Andersen 's fairy tale , The Little Mermaid , first published in 1837 . In the original story , a young mermaid falls in love with a human prince whom she saves from drowning when his ship is wrecked in a storm . Although her grandmother tells her not to envy humans , who live much shorter lives than mermaids , and whose only consolation is an immortal soul , the mermaid chooses to risk her life in order to be with the prince . She trades her tongue and her beautiful voice to the sea @-@ witch in exchange for a draught that will make her human and allow her to live on land . She will have to rely on her beauty and charm to win the prince 's love , as she will be entirely mute . The sea @-@ witch warns the mermaid that , although she will be graceful , each step will feel as though she is stepping on knives ; and that if she does not earn the prince 's love , she will die of a broken heart after he weds another . The spell is worked , and the mermaid is found by the prince , who sees the resemblance between her and the one who rescued him from drowning , although he does not realize that they are the same person . Although the prince cares deeply for the mermaid , he is betrothed to the daughter of a neighboring king , and the mermaid cannot prevent their marriage . The mermaid 's sisters trade their beautiful hair to the sea @-@ witch for a knife that the mermaid can use to break the spell and return to the sea . She must kill the prince before dawn on the day after his wedding . But the mermaid still loves the prince and cannot harm him . She flings the knife into the sea and jumps in after it , then begins to dissolve into foam . Then she is transformed into one of the daughters of the air , ethereal beings who strive to earn an immortal soul by doing good deeds in the world of men . A world @-@ famous statue of the Little Mermaid , based on Andersen 's fairy tale , has been in Copenhagen , Denmark since August 1913 , with copies in 13 other locations around the world – almost half of them in North America . In 1989 , Walt Disney Studios released a full @-@ length animated film based on the Andersen fairy tale . Featuring an Academy Award @-@ winning soundtrack with songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman , the film garnered glowing reviews , and was credited with revitalizing both the studio and the concept of animated feature films . Notable changes to the plot of Andersen 's story include the elimination of the grandmother character and the religious aspects of the fairy tale , including the mermaid 's quest to obtain an immortal soul . The sea @-@ witch herself replaces the princess to whom the prince becomes engaged , using the mermaid 's voice to prevent her from obtaining the prince 's love . However , on their wedding day the plot is revealed , and the sea @-@ witch is vanquished . The knife motif is not used in the film , which ends with the mermaid and the prince marrying . Among other things , the film was praised for portraying the mermaid as an independent and even rebellious young woman , rather than a passive actor content to let others determine her destiny . = = = Eastern Europe = = = Rusalkas are the Slavic counterpart of the Greek sirens and naiads . The nature of rusalkas varies among folk traditions , but according to ethnologist D.K. Zelenin they all share a common element : they are the restless spirits of the unclean dead . They are usually the ghosts of young women who died a violent or untimely death , perhaps by murder or suicide , before their wedding and especially by drowning . Rusalkas are said to inhabit lakes and rivers . They appear as beautiful young women with long pale green hair and pale skin , suggesting a connection with floating weeds and days spent underwater in faint sunlight . They can be seen after dark , dancing together under the moon and calling out to young men by name , luring them to the water and drowning them . The characterization of rusalkas as both desirable and treacherous is prevalent in southern Russia , the Ukraine and Belarus , and was emphasized by 19th @-@ century Russian authors . The best @-@ known of the great Czech nationalist composer Antonín Dvořák 's operas is Rusalka . In Sadko ( Russian : Садко ) , a Russian medieval epic , the title character — an adventurer , merchant and gusli musician from Novgorod — lives for some time in the underwater court of the " Sea Tsar " and marries his daughter before finally returning home . The tale inspired such works as the poem " Sadko " by Alexei Tolstoy ( 1817 – 75 ) , the opera Sadko composed by Nikolai Rimsky @-@ Korsakov and the painting by Ilya Repin . = = = China = = = Mermaids are included in the Shanhaijing ( Classic of Mountains and Seas ) compilation of Chinese geography and mythology , dating from the 4th century BC . A 15th @-@ century compilation of quotations from Chinese literature tells of a mermaid who " wept tears which became pearls " . An early 19th @-@ century book entitled Jottings on the South of China contains two stories about mermaids . In the first , a man captures a mermaid on the shore of Namtao island . She looks human in every respect except that her body is covered with fine hair of many colors . She can 't talk , but he takes her home and marries her . After his death , the mermaid returns to the sea where she was found . In the second story , a man sees a woman lying on the beach while his ship was anchored offshore . On closer inspection , her feet and hands appear to be webbed . She is carried to the water , and expresses her gratitude toward the sailors before swimming away . = = = Hinduism = = = Suvannamaccha ( lit. golden mermaid ) is a daughter of Ravana that appears in the Cambodian and Thai versions of the Ramayana . She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil Hanuman 's plans to build a bridge to Lanka but falls in love with him instead . She is a popular figure of Thai folklore . = = = Africa = = = Mami Water ( Lit . " Mother of the Water " ) are water spirits venerated in west , central and southern Africa , and in the African diaspora in the Caribbean and parts of North and South America . They are usually female , but are sometimes male . They are regarded as diabolical beings , and are often femme fatale , luring men to their deaths . The Persian word " برایم بمان " or " maneli " means both " mermaid " and " stay with me " . = = = Other = = = The Neo @-@ Taíno nations of the Caribbean identify a mermaid called Aycayia with attributes of the goddess Jagua and the hibiscus flower of the majagua tree Hibiscus tiliaceus . In modern Caribbean culture , there is a mermaid recognized as a Haitian vodou loa called La Sirene ( lit . " the mermaid " ) , representing wealth , beauty and the orisha Yemaya . Examples from other cultures are the jengu of Cameroon , the iara of Brazil and the Greek oceanids , nereids and naiads . The ningyo is a fishlike creature from Japanese folklore , and consuming its flesh bestows amazing longevity . Mermaids and mermen are also characters of Philippine folklore , where they are locally known as sirena and siyokoy respectively . The Javanese people believe that the southern beach in Java is a home of Javanese mermaid queen Nyi Roro Kidul . The myth of " Pania of the Reef " , a well known tale of Māori mythology , has many parallels with stories of sea @-@ people in other parts of the world . = = Reported sightings = = In 1493 , sailing off the coast of Hispaniola , Columbus reported seeing three " female forms " which " rose high out of the sea , but were not as beautiful as they are represented " . The logbook of Blackbeard , an English pirate , records that he instructed his crew on several voyages to steer away from charted waters which he called " enchanted " for fear of merfolk or mermaids , which Blackbeard himself and members of his crew reported seeing . These sightings were often recounted and shared by sailors and pirates who believed that mermaids brought bad luck and would bewitch them into giving up their gold and dragging them to the bottom of the sea . Two sightings were reported in Canada near Vancouver and Victoria , one from sometime between 1870 and 1890 , the other from 1967 . A Pennsylvania fisherman reported five sightings of a mermaid in the Susquehanna River near Marietta in June 1881 . In August 2009 , after dozens of people reported seeing a mermaid leaping out of Haifa Bay waters and doing aerial tricks , the Israeli coastal town of Kiryat Yam offered a $ 1 million award for proof of its existence . In February 2012 , work on two reservoirs near Gokwe and Mutare in Zimbabwe stopped when workers refused to continue , stating that mermaids had hounded them away from the sites . It was reported by Samuel Sipepa Nkomo , the water resources minister . = = = Animal Planet broadcasts = = = In May 2012 , a Mermaids : The Body Found , a television docufiction aired on Animal Planet which centered on the experiences of former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists , showing a CGI recreation of amateur sound and video of a beached mermaid and discussing scientific theories involving the existence of mermaids . In July 2012 in response to public inquiries , and the possibility that some viewers may have mistaken the programme for a documentary , the National Ocean Service ( a branch of NOAA ) made the unusual declaration that " no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found " . A year later in May 2013 , Animal Planet aired another docu @-@ fiction titled Mermaids : The New Evidence featuring " previously unreleased video evidence " , including what a former Iceland GeoSurvey scientist witnessed while diving off the coast of Greenland in an underwater submersible . The videos provide two different shots of what appears to be a humanoid creature approaching and touching their vehicle . NOAA once again released a statement saying " The person identified as a NOAA scientist was an actor . " The actor is separately identified as David Evans of Ontario , Canada . = = = Hoaxes = = = In the middle of the 17th century , John Tradescant the elder created a wunderkammer ( called Tradescant 's Ark ) in which he displayed , among other things , a " mermaid 's hand " . P. T. Barnum 's 19th century taxidermal hoax called the Fiji mermaid has been mentioned above . Others have perpetrated similar hoaxes , which are usually papier @-@ mâché fabrications or parts of deceased creatures , usually monkeys and fish , stitched together for the appearance of a grotesque mermaid . In the wake of the 2004 tsunami , pictures of Fiji " mermaids " circulated on the Internet as supposed examples of items that had washed up amid the devastation , though they were no more real than Barnum 's exhibit . = = Symbolism = = According to Dorothy Dinnerstein ’ s book The Mermaid and the Minotaur , human @-@ animal hybrids such as mermaids and minotaurs convey the emergent understanding of the ancients that human beings were both one with and different from animals : [ Human ] nature is internally inconsistent , that our continuities with , and our differences from , the earth 's other animals are mysterious and profound ; and in these continuities , and these differences , lie both a sense of strangeness on earth and the possible key to a way of feeling at home here . " = = Art and literature = = Famous in more recent centuries is the fairy tale The Little Mermaid ( 1836 ) by Hans Christian Andersen , whose works have been translated into over 100 languages . The mermaid ( as conceived by Andersen ) is similar to an undine , a water nymph in German folklore who could only obtain an immortal soul by marrying a human being . Andersen 's heroine inspired a bronze sculpture in Copenhagen harbour and influenced Western literary works such as Oscar Wilde 's The Fisherman and His Soul and H.G. Wells ' The Sea Lady . Sue Monk Kidd wrote a book called The Mermaid Chair loosely based on the legends of Saint Senara and the mermaid of Zennor . Sculptures and statues of mermaids can be found in many countries and cultures , with over 130 public art mermaid statues across the world . Countries with public art mermaid sculptures include Russia , Finland , Lithuania , Poland , Romania , Denmark , Norway , England , Scotland , Ireland , Germany , Netherlands , Belgium , France , Spain , Italy , Austria , Switzerland , Greece , Turkey , India , China , Thailand , South Korea , Japan , Guam , Australia , New Zealand , Brazil , Ecuador , Colombia , Mexico , Cayman Islands , Mexico , Saudi Arabia ( Jeddah ) , the United States ( including Hawaii and Virgin Islands ) and Canada . Some of these mermaid statues have become icons of their city or country , and have become major tourist attractions in themselves . The Little Mermaid ( statue ) in Copenhagen is an icon of that city as well as of Denmark . The Havis Amanda statue symbolizes the rebirth of the city of Helsinki , capital of Finland . The Syrenka ( mermaid ) is part of the Coat of Arms of Warsaw , and is considered a protector of Warsaw , capital of Poland , which publicly displays statues of their mermaid . Musical depictions of mermaids include those by Felix Mendelssohn in his Fair Melusina overture and the three " Rhine daughters " in Richard Wagner 's Der Ring des Nibelungen . Lorelei , the name of a Rhine mermaid immortalized in the Heinrich Heine poem of that name , has become a synonym for a siren . The Weeping Mermaid is an orchestral piece by Taiwanese composer Fan @-@ Long Ko . An influential image was created by John William Waterhouse , from 1895 to 1905 , entitled A Mermaid . An example of late British Academy style artwork , the piece debuted to considerable acclaim ( and secured Waterhouse 's place as a member of the Royal Academy ) , but disappeared into a private collection and did not resurface until the 1970s . It is currently once again in the Royal Academy 's collection . Mermaids were a favorite subject of John Reinhard Weguelin , a contemporary of Waterhouse . He painted an image of the mermaid of Zennor as well as several other depictions of mermaids in watercolour . Film depictions include the romantic comedy Splash ( 1984 ) and Aquamarine ( 2006 ) . A 1963 episode of the television series Route 66 entitled " The Cruelest Sea " featured a mermaid performance artist working at Weeki Wachee aquatic park . Mermaids also appeared in the popular supernatural drama television series Charmed , and were the basis of its spin @-@ off series Mermaid . In She Creature ( 2001 ) , two carnival workers abduct a mermaid in Ireland c . 1900 and attempt to transport her to America . The film Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides mixes old and new myths about mermaids : singing to sailors to lure them to their death , growing legs when taken onto dry land , and bestowing kisses with magical healing properties . Animated films include Disney 's musical version of Andersen 's tale , The Little Mermaid , and Hayao Miyazaki 's Ponyo . The Australian teen dramedy H2O : Just Add Water chronicles the adventures of three modern @-@ day mermaids along the Gold Coast of Australia . = = = Heraldry = = = In heraldry , the charge of a mermaid is commonly represented with a comb and a mirror , and blazoned as a " mermaid in her vanity " . In addition to vanity , mermaids are also a symbol of eloquence . A shield and sword @-@ wielding mermaid ( Syrenka ) is on the official coat of arms of Warsaw . Images of a mermaid have symbolized Warsaw on its arms since the middle of the 14th century . Several legends associate Triton of Greek mythology with the city , which may have been the origin of the mermaid 's association . The city of Norfolk , Virginia , also uses a mermaid as a symbol . The personal coat of arms of Michaëlle Jean , a former Governor General of Canada , features two mermaids as supporters . = = Mermaid fandom = = Interest in mermaid costuming has grown alongside the popularity of fantasy cosplay as well as the availability of inexpensive monofins used in the construction of mermaid costumes . These costumes are typically designed to be used while swimming , in an activity known as mermaiding . Mermaid fandom conventions have also been held . = = Human divers = = The Ama are Japanese skin divers , predominantly women , who traditionally dive for shellfish and seaweed wearing only a loincloth and who have been in action for at least 2 @,@ 000 years . Starting in the twentieth century , they have increasingly been regarded as a tourist attraction . They operate off reefs near the shore , and some perform for sightseers instead of diving to collect a harvest . They have been romanticized as mermaids . Professional female divers have performed as mermaids at Florida 's Weeki Wachee Springs since 1947 . The state park calls itself " The Only City of Live Mermaids " and was extremely popular in the 1960s , drawing almost one million tourists per year . Most of the current performers work part @-@ time while attending college , and all are certified Scuba divers . They wear fabric tails and perform aquatic ballet ( while holding their breath ) for an audience in an underwater stage with glass walls . Children often ask if the " mermaids " are real . The park 's PR director says " Just like with Santa Claus or any other mythical character , we always say yes . We 're not going to tell them they 're not real " . = = Gallery = =
= Lu Gambino = Lucien Anthony " Lu " Gambino ( September 21 , 1923 – July 16 , 2003 ) was an American football running back . He played college football for Indiana University , and after military service in the Second World War , the University of Maryland . While playing for Maryland , he set the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) season scoring high for 1947 with 16 touchdowns and 96 points and was named the 1948 Gator Bowl most valuable player . Gambino played professional football for two years with the Baltimore Colts in the All @-@ America Football Conference ( AAFC ) , an early competitor of the National Football League ( NFL ) . = = Early life = = Gambino was born in Berwyn , Illinois on September 21 , 1923 . He attended J.S. Morton High School in Cicero , Illinois , where he was a football and track & field standout . Gambino enrolled at Indiana University in 1941 , and he played football for the Hoosiers on the freshman team in 1941 and on the varsity team in 1942 season . That season , head coach Bo McMillin led Indiana to a 7 – 3 record , and the Hoosiers recorded six defensive shutouts and outscored their opponents 256 points to 79 . At Indiana , Gambino played alongside consensus All @-@ America back , and future Colts teammate , Billy Hillenbrand . Shortly thereafter , Gambino dropped out of school to join the United States Army Air Forces and serve during the Second World War . = = College career = = Gambino was selected in the 1945 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears in the 26th round as the 271st overall pick . In 1946 , he was discharged from the Army and enrolled at the University of Maryland . He considered Indiana to be a far superior football program and called Maryland a " cow school , " but it was located relatively close to his mother , who was widowed and living alone in Baltimore . During the 1946 season , Gambino saw limited playing time for a mediocre Terrapins football team directed by head coach Clark Shaughnessy . The following year , head coach Jim Tatum was hired , and he engineered a reversal of the team 's fortunes . Tatum took the mentorship of Gambino as a personal project and aimed to develop him into the team 's featured back . As a senior in 1947 , Gambino set the NCAA season scoring high with 16 touchdowns for 96 points . In the fifth meeting against rival West Virginia , Gambino scored three touchdowns to help Maryland take away its first victory of the series , 27 – 0 . He also scored three touchdowns against Delaware and Duquesne , and two against Vanderbilt where he also passed for a third . During the season , Gambino rushed for a total of 904 yards on 125 attempts , and as of 2009 , he was Maryland 's third @-@ leading rusher in terms of single @-@ season yards per carry ( 7 @.@ 23 ) . He was also Maryland 's season kickoff return leader , and returned seven kicks for 174 yards , an average of 24 @.@ 85 yards . Maryland finished the regular season 7 – 2 – 1 and secured the school 's first @-@ ever bowl game appearance . In the 1948 Gator Bowl against Georgia , he was honored as the Most Valuable Player . During the 20 – 20 tie , Gambino rushed to score all three of the Terrapins ' touchdowns on one- , 24- , and 35 @-@ yard runs . He compiled 165 rushing yards , a school bowl rushing record that stood for 60 years until finally broken by Da 'Rel Scott in the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl . In 1992 , for his achievement as the bowl game 's " first superb running back , " Gambino was inducted into the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame . At season 's end , he was named a first @-@ team All @-@ Southern Conference player , an All @-@ America Catholic player , and an Associated Press honorable mention All @-@ American . The Touchdown Club awarded Gambino the Arch McDonald Trophy as the best player in the Washington , D.C. area . Prior to the start of the 1948 season , the Southern Conference ruled that his college eligibility was exhausted and that he would be unable to play another year of college football . Gambino called the decision " crooked " and asserted that the standing rules did not count returning veterans ' pre @-@ war playing career against their eligibility . Geary Eppley , a Maryland athletics official and member of the Southern Conference executive committee , filed a request for a special session to consider a rule change , but it failed to garner support from the two @-@ thirds of the member schools required to call such a meeting . = = Professional career = = As the issue of his college eligibility was playing out , Gambino was being courted by several professional football teams . The Chicago Bears of the NFL , which had drafted him during the war , still had a strong interest in him , as did the Baltimore Colts of the All @-@ America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . Baltimore eventually acquired Gambino , and to do so , they traded their first @-@ round 1948 draft selection to the Cleveland Browns , who held Gambino 's AAFC draft rights . He played two seasons for the Colts from 1948 to 1949 . During his first year , he saw action in nine games including one as a starter . On 54 carries , he rushed for a total of 194 yards and a touchdown . Gambino also recorded six receptions for 28 yards and made three kickoff returns for 57 yards . The following season , he played in ten games and started in six . He made 56 carries for 208 yards and ten receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown . At the time , Gambino was one of four Colts players who were bald . The Baltimore Sun published an article that explored the unusual occurrence and concluded that it had " nothing to do with wearing a helmet . " In When the Colts Belonged to Baltimore , author William Gildea described Gambino : " In street clothes he looked like Robert Mitchum — wide @-@ brimmed hat , long overcoat , baggy but creased trousers , a cigarette between his fingers , a craggy smile . Yesteryear 's running back . " Baltimore released him during the summer of 1950 . In the winter , Gambino had knee surgery to correct a bone spur . He was then picked up by the New York Giants and placed on the reserve list in July 1951 . His professional playing career , however , was ultimately cut short by his knee . Gambino married Vivian née Senese and lived in North Riverside , Illinois . He died of heart disease on July 16 , 2003 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood , Illinois . Gambino was 79 years old .
= Vulture Street ( album ) = Vulture Street is the fifth studio album by Australian alternative rock band by Powderfinger , released on 29 July 2003 by Universal Music . It won the 2003 ARIA Music Award for Best Rock Album . Produced by Nick DiDia , Vulture Street was certified platinum , and spent 47 weeks on the ARIA Charts and peaked at # 1 . Singles from the album included " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " , " Since You 've Been Gone " , " Love Your Way " and " Sunsets " . The album received nominations for ARIA Awards in five different categories in 2003 , which included " Album of the Year " , " Best Group " and " Best Rock Album " . Vulture Street also received the award for " Best Cover Art " , which featured Czech supermodel Eva Herzigová . Vulture Street was described by certain critics as " a rawer , louder , but by no means unrefined " album . The title of the album was taken from an iconic street in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane , Queensland , the city in which all Powderfinger members grew up . = = Background , recording and production = = Following their last record , the highly successful Odyssey Number Five , the band agreed that they wanted to continue in their musical careers , but wanted to have more fun with it . They were no longer dole reliant , as they had been when they made their debut album , Parables for Wooden Ears . Drummer Jon Coghill told The Sydney Morning Herald " we wanted to have more fun and enjoy that we were a band , rather than chase what you 're supposed to do " , and guitarist Ian Haug said " We all found that this is really important to us , but we wanted to make it more fun " . Powderfinger did not enter the recording studio with a specific plan on what they wanted Vulture Street to be , but that they " felt that [ they ] wanted to write a rock album " . In the end , the album became " stuff that makes you want to jump around and feel good about yourself " — guitarist Darren Middleton said this had not been the band 's intention . Coghill said the band wanted to make an album that was fun to perform live and listen to — most of the songs on the album were performed and released live on These Days : Live in Concert . Like Powderfinger 's two previous albums , Vulture Street was produced by Nick DiDia . It was mixed by Brendan O 'Brien , who had worked with Powderfinger inspiration Neil Young . The album was recorded over a seven @-@ week period in Sydney . Prior to recording , the band had written about 50 songs , which was trimmed to the final 11 . A significant number of songs on the album were producing during jam sessions , with DiDia giving the band additional space to move in . Middleton said in an interview that the band " always start things spontaneously , because that 's when you 're thinking less and just playing . " In producing Vulture Street , Powderfinger moved in a different direction to their previous works , especially Odyssey Number Five , starting with opening song " Rockin ' Rocks " , which was written according to Middleton after " a couple of months trying really hard to write this new rock album " but not making anything they really liked . He also said the band could easily have written lots of " The Metre " -like songs , but didn 't do that " for our own interest in the band and music " . In an interview with ninemsn , lead singer Bernard Fanning said the band " tapped more into that energetic rock thing and made it really different from our other albums " when creating Vulture Street . He also said the band were a lot more serious when making this album , and this was partly due to " the way we 've matured as musicians " . = = Album and single releases = = Vulture Street was released on 29 July 2003 in Australia , with the band launching the album at the Tivoli nightclub on Vulture Street , West End , Brisbane . A special edition DVD was included with selected early copies of Vulture Street . The DVD included a documentary with all of the albums ' songs and several music videos . Vulture Street entered the ARIA Charts in Australia at # 1 , and the RIANZ Charts in New Zealand at # 17 . Vulture Street 's first single , " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " , was released on 10 November 2003 . It entered the ARIA charts at # 9 on 29 June 2003 , and spent 13 weeks in the top 50 . The song was nominated for " Song of the Year " and " Best Video " at the 2003 ARIA Awards , but won neither . The second single , " Since You 've Been Gone " , was released on 22 March 2004 . It wasn 't as successful as its predecessors , and failed to make the ARIA top 50 . " Since You 've Been Gone " was written by Fanning as a tribute to his brother . " Love Your Way " was released as the third single on 25 May 2004 from Vulture Street , and spent two weeks on the ARIA charts , entering at # 37 . The fourth single , " Sunsets " , was released on 4 June 2004 . It earned the band a nomination for " Best Group " at the 2004 ARIA Awards , but again was unsuccessful . " Sunsets " charted better than most of its predecessors , reaching # 11 on the ARIA Chart , and entering the RIANZ Chart in New Zealand at # 38 , the first single from Vulture Street to do so . = = Music and lyrics = = The music on Vulture Street was more rock orientated than Powderfinger 's past work , especially Odyssey Number Five . The opening track , " Rockin ' Rocks " , was described by Harp as " far too cheesy to open this record — or any record , for that matter " . The song became the band 's opening track for live performances , though . The first single , " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " , was one of the heavier songs on the album ; varying reviewers alikened it to AC / DC , Bad Company , and Stereophonics , and musicOMH called it " an unashamed full @-@ tilt rocker " . dB magazine said the title of " Stumblin ' " , released as a single from These Days : Live in Concert after appearing on Vulture Street , was representative of the " classic rock clichés " on the album . Second single " Since You 've Been Gone " contained similar lyrical features to " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " , but with a more mellow sound . Fanning wrote it following the death of his brother , to help deal with the event . " Sunsets " also dealt with this theme ; Fanning told MTV Scene " we write unashamedly about that emotional attachment " . " Love Your Way " saw an acoustic opening followed by a loud chorus for which Universal Music Canada recommended the air guitar. musicOMH 's Simon Evans alikened the song to Roy Harper , while David Welsh praised the three main aspects of the song — the acoustic introduction , " affected vocal delivery " , and guitar solo . On live performances , Fanning plays " Love Your Way " with an acoustic guitar to give the loud second phase of the song more " oomph " . = = Response = = Vulture Street was generally received well by critics . Allmusic 's Jason MacNeil gave the album four stars , stating the opening notes of the album had a " great rock flavor to them " . He described " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " as reminiscent of " Stereophonics rehashing old @-@ school rock for a contemporary feeling " , and said " Since You 've Been Gone " was an " uplifting gospel @-@ tinged effort " . MacNeil 's main criticism was for " Roll Right By You " , a song he described as " run @-@ of @-@ the @-@ mill " . However , MacNeil said that overall the album was " an outstanding piece of work " . The Sydney Morning Herald 's Bernard Zuel approved of the album , giving it four stars , and calling Vulture Street a " rawer , louder , but by no means unrefined , album " . He said that throughout the album , guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug " dominated in a way they haven 't since their 1994 debut , Parables for Wooden Ears " . Zuel drew several connections to Powderfinger 's early work , but noted " a superior intellect " in this album . Zuel summarised by saying it was easy to " just enjoy Vulture Street 's power and passion . And the rock . " Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the album positively , writing of a return to Powderfinger 's " bar @-@ band roots " , while still featuring some " sharp pop hooks under the riffs " . He drew references to early Radiohead and Bad Company , whom he argued Fanning was inspired by on " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " . The review was summarised by Burr describing Vulture Street as " good company " . MusicOMH reviewer Simon Evans said Powderfinger added " a real punch to songs ... far removed from your standard rock and roll fare " in Vulture Street , praising the emotion and seriousness of " Since You 've Been Gone " and " How Far Have We Really Come ? " , and the " fun " in " Don 't Panic " . Evans praised producer Nick DiDia for his work on the album , which he summarised as " a quantum leap from its rather passionless predecessor , Odyssey Number Five " . = = ARIA Award nominations = = Vulture Street received numerous nominations for ARIA Music Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association ( ARIA ) in 2003 and 2004 . To date , the album has received eight nominations in six categories , four of which they had won the award for . = = Charts = = In December 2003 Triple J listeners voted this as their favourite album for 2003 . In Triple J 's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time , 2011 . This album was voted # 14 Powderfinger 's second entry on the list . = = Personnel = = = = Track listing = = = = = CD = = = " Rockin ' Rocks " – 3 : 04 " ( Baby I 've Got You ) On My Mind " – 3 : 20 " Since You 've Been Gone " – 4 : 12 " Love Your Way " – 4 : 31 " Sunsets " – 3 : 49 " Don 't Panic " – 3 : 09 " Stumblin ' " – 3 : 46 " Roll Right by You " – 4 : 15 " How Far Have We Really Come ? " – 4 : 00 " Pockets " – 5 : 46 " A Song Called Everything " – 4 : 23 = = = Vulture Street Blues = = = A special edition DVD was included with selected early copies of Vulture Street . The DVD included a documentary with all of the albums ' songs , with the song " Sunsets " featuring twice . The DVD also included the music videos for " On My Mind " , the acoustic version of " Sunsets " and as hidden bonus features , the videos for the song " Pockets " and the keyboard version of " These Days " . Documentary " Sunsets " " Rockin Rocks " " Stumblin ' " " Pockets " " On My Mind " " Since You 've Been Gone " " Sunsets " " Love Your Way " " Don 't Panic " " How Far Have We Really Come ? " " Rita " " On My Mind " ( video ) " Sunsets " ( acoustic video ) Hidden extras : " Pockets " ( video ) " These Days " ( keyboard version ) = = Release history = =
= España @-@ class battleship = The España class was a series of three dreadnought battleships built for the Spanish Navy between 1909 and 1921 . The construction of the ships , particularly the third vessel , were significantly delayed due to shortages of materiel supplied by Great Britain during World War I , particularly armament . The class comprised España ( Spain ) , Alfonso XIII , and Jaime I. The three ships were the only Spanish dreadnoughts ever built . They were also the smallest battleships of the type constructed , owing to the weak Spanish economy . The ships were armed with eight 12 @-@ inch ( 305 mm ) guns , but their small displacement — only 15 @,@ 700 metric tons ( 15 @,@ 500 long tons ; 17 @,@ 300 short tons ) — forced the designers to compromise on armor protection and speed . España , Alfonso XIII , and Jaime I served in the 1st Squadron of the Spanish Fleet , which became the Training Squadron in the 1920s . They all saw action during the Rif War in the early 1920s supporting Spanish ground forces in North Africa . España ran aground in August 1923 and the Navy could not salvage her ; she instead broke up under tidal forces . Alfonso XIII was renamed España in 1931 after her namesake , King Alfonso XIII was forced into exile . The two surviving ships served on opposite sides of the Spanish Civil War , and both were destroyed during the conflict . España struck a naval mine laid by her own side in on 30 April 1937 and sank , and Jaime I was destroyed by an internal explosion in June 1937 . = = Development = = The Spanish public blamed the disastrous losses in the Spanish – American War of 1898 on the Navy , but recognized the need to modernize and rebuild it . The first attempt to rebuild the Navy came in the Fleet Plan of 1903 , which called for a fleet centered on seven 15 @,@ 000 @-@ metric @-@ ton ( 15 @,@ 000 @-@ long @-@ ton ) battleships and three 10 @,@ 000 @-@ metric @-@ ton ( 9 @,@ 800 @-@ long @-@ ton ) cruisers . This plan proved to be far too ambitious for the weak Spanish economy , and an unstable Spanish parliament proved unable to provide funding . It was followed by the Fleet Plan of 1905 , which proposed a fleet of eight 14 @,@ 000 t ( 14 @,@ 000 long tons ) battleships along with a number of torpedo boats and submarines . It too fell victim to the weaknesses of the Spanish government . It was not until early 1907 that a strong cabinet led by Antonio Maura came to power that the question of naval construction was settled . The Fleet Plan of 1907 proposed three 15 @,@ 000 MT battleships along with several destroyers , torpedo boats , and other craft . The construction plan was to last for eight years . Debates over the plan took place in the Cortes Generales ( General Courts — the Spanish legislature ) through November , with a final approval vote on 2 December . The Fleet Plan was formally signed into law on 7 January 1908 . The delay enabled Spain to take advantage of experience gained by Britain with the world 's first commissioned all @-@ big @-@ gun battleship , HMS Dreadnought , and by the United States with its own new battleship , USS South Carolina . The Spanish Navy was principally concerned with defending its three main naval bases : Ferrol , Cádiz , and Cartagena . Of secondary importance was the need to keep the new battleship design tightly constrained due to the frail Spanish economy and industrial sector . A third constraint was the need to build ships small enough to fit in existing dockyard facilities , since there were insufficient funds to both build larger battleships and to enlarge the navy 's dockyards . As a result , the design requirements called for relatively heavy offensive power with minimal range and armor protection . The Navy began discussing the design requirements with Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers in 1907 well before the law was actually passed . On 5 September 1907 , Vickers provided a proposed design for a 15 @,@ 000 @-@ ton battleship armed with eight 12 @-@ inch guns . This design was the basis for the requirements for the design competition , which was issued on 21 April 1908 . Four shipbuilders submitted bids : the Italian Gio . Ansaldo & C. led a group that also included the Austro @-@ Hungarian Škoda Works and the French Marrel Freres Forges de La Loire et du Midi ; the French Schneider @-@ Creusot firm partnered with Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée and Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde ; the Spanish Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval ( SECN ) , which was formed by Vickers , Armstrong Whitworth , and John Brown & Company ; and a group of Spanish industrialists backed by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company and William Beardmore and Company . Only the first three proposals were seriously considered , as the fourth was considered to be too vague . The Junta Superior de la Armada ( the Navy Staff ) and the Navy Minister were responsible for reviewing the three proposals . Ansaldo prepared two design variants ; the first called for four twin gun turrets for the main battery , with one forward , one aft , and two offset amidships . The second proposal had two triple turrets , fore and aft , with a twin turret on the centerline amidships . Artillery experts in the Navy rejected the second variant . The SECN and Schneider designs also featured the same arrangement as the first Ansaldo proposal . In October 1908 , the Artillery Committee met to make its recommendations to the Junta Superior . The Committee concluded the SECN and Schneider proposals were superior to the Ansaldo version , but neither had a marked advantage over the other . The following month , the Naval Construction Committee met to evaluate the proposals . It recommended the SECN design first , followed by Schneider , with Ansaldo last . The Office of the Navy Controller also evaluated the proposals in November , and advised the Junta Superior that only the SECN bid met the design requirements without any legal , administrative , or cost problems . In February 1909 , the Navy requested a revised design from SECN to incorporate several alterations , including an increased freeboard to improve seakeeping , an increased height and length of the main belt armor , and the addition of individual rangefinders for each gun turret . SECN agreed to make the changes on 20 March , and the company received the contract on 14 April . Due to the constraints imposed by the Spanish economy , the resulting design produced the smallest dreadnought @-@ type battleships ever built . They were also obsolescent before completion due to rapid technological change — most significantly the rise of the superdreadnought battleships — and lengthy delays in completion of the later units of the class . = = = General characteristics = = = The ships of the class were 132 @.@ 6 m ( 435 ft ) long at the waterline and 140 m ( 460 ft ) long overall . They had a beam of 24 m ( 79 ft ) and a draft of 7 @.@ 8 m ( 26 ft ) ; their freeboard was 4 @.@ 6 m ( 15 ft ) amidships , much lower than was normal for battleships of the period . They displaced 15 @,@ 700 metric tons ( 15 @,@ 500 long tons ) as designed and up to 16 @,@ 450 t ( 16 @,@ 190 long tons ) at combat load . The vessels had two tripod masts and a small superstructure . They were equipped with six 75 cm ( 30 in ) searchlights . The ships were reasonably stable compared to foreign designs , but they had a low metacentric height of 1 @.@ 56 m ( 5 ft 1 in ) at full loading . This caused them to have very low stability when damaged . Each ship had a crew of 854 officers and enlisted men . The enlisted crew spaces were located forward in the upper deck , and were cramped and unhygienic . The cabins for non @-@ commissioned officers were also located here . The superstructure included several cabins for senior officers . The ships were initially painted black but in the 1920s they were repainted gray . Alfonso XIII wore a white identification band on her funnel and Jaime I wore two , though both ships had them removed after the start of the Civil War . Jaime I was also repainted dark gray at this time . = = = Machinery = = = Their propulsion system consisted of four @-@ shaft Parsons steam turbines and twelve coal @-@ fired water @-@ tube Yarrow boilers . The turbines drove three @-@ bladed screw propellers that were 2 @.@ 4 m ( 7 ft 10 in ) wide in diameter . Two spare screws were kept aboard each ship . The boilers were trunked into a single funnel that was placed amidships ; the location of the funnel , far from the foremast , kept the latter 's spotting top free from smoke interference , but still rendered the spotting top on the mainmast essentially useless . The engines were rated at 15 @,@ 500 shaft horsepower ( 11 @,@ 600 kW ) and produced a top speed of 19 @.@ 5 knots ( 36 @.@ 1 km / h ; 22 @.@ 4 mph ) . According to the design contract , the engines were to be capable of a normal maximum of 22 @,@ 000 shp ( 16 @,@ 000 kW ) with a top speed of 19 @.@ 9 knots ( 36 @.@ 9 km / h ; 22 @.@ 9 mph ) and up to 26 @,@ 000 shp ( 19 @,@ 000 kW ) and 20 @.@ 2 knots ( 37 @.@ 4 km / h ; 23 @.@ 2 mph ) at forced draft . All three ships exceeded 20 knots ( 37 km / h ; 23 mph ) on speed trials . Each ship could store up to 1 @,@ 900 t ( 1 @,@ 900 long tons ) of coal , which permitted a cruising radius of 5 @,@ 000 nautical miles ( 9 @,@ 300 km ; 5 @,@ 800 mi ) at a speed of 10 knots ( 19 km / h ; 12 mph ) . = = = Armament = = = Their main armament consisted of eight 12 @-@ inch ( 305 mm ) 50 @-@ caliber guns manufactured by Vickers . Each weighed 65 @.@ 646 metric tons ( 64 @.@ 609 long tons ) and fired an 850 @-@ pound ( 385 kg ) shell at a muzzle velocity of 3 @,@ 000 ft / s ( 914 m / s ) . The guns had a maximum range of 23 @,@ 500 yards ( 21 @,@ 500 m ) and a rate of fire of one round per minute . These guns were housed in four twin turrets , arranged with two on the centerline fore and aft , the others en echelon on the wings . The turrets were hydraulically operated , and could be loaded at any angle of elevation . The en echelon arrangement was chosen over superfiring turrets — such as those used in the American dreadnoughts — to save weight and cost . All four turrets could in theory fire on the broadside , and three could fire ahead or astern . However , blast effects from the wing turrets generally prohibited firing them across the deck or directly ahead and astern . The secondary battery comprised twenty 4 in ( 102 mm ) 50 @-@ caliber guns mounted individually in casemates along the length of the hull . They fired a 31 @-@ pound ( 14 kg ) shell . The guns were too close to the waterline , however , and were unusable in heavy seas ; they also suffered from insufficient elevation , which limited their range . The guns were also too weak to be effective against contemporary destroyers , which were becoming increasingly powerful . The ships also carried four 3 @-@ pounder guns , two machine guns , and two landing guns that could be taken ashore . = = = Armor = = = The armor layout for the España class was essentially a scaled down version of that used in the British Bellerophon class . The reductions were due primarily to the heavy armament in a vessel of such limited displacement . The main belt armor was only 8 in ( 203 mm ) thick , and tapered to 4 in ( 102 mm ) on either end of the central citadel . The upper belt that protected the casemate guns was 6 in ( 152 mm ) thick . Each turret , which had 8 in sides , sat on a barbette that was protected with 10 in ( 254 mm ) thick plating . The conning tower also had 10 @-@ inch thick sides . Both the armored deck and the torpedo bulkhead were 1 @.@ 5 in ( 38 mm ) thick . The ships ' heavy armor plating consisted of Krupp cemented steel , with Krupp homogeneous steel used for armor thinner than 4 in ( 100 mm ) ; both types were manufactured in Britain . Though the ships were poorly armored compared to foreign designs in general , the ships ' underwater protection was the greatest weakness in the armor scheme . The torpedo bulkhead was placed too close to the outer hull , which reduced its ability to absorb damage . This weakness played a central role in the loss of both España to grounding in 1923 and the sinking of Alfonso XIII by a single mine in 1937 . = = = Modifications = = = Only limited modifications were possible due to technical constraints imposed by the need to keep displacement low and insufficient funds to effect a major reconstruction to free up tonnage for other uses . The Navy considered proposals to modernize the three battleships in the early 1920s , but the Spanish military budget was being consumed by the costs of the Rif War in North Africa and so nothing came of the proposed modernization . These plans called for installing new fire control equipment with more effective rangefinders , along with additional , newer anti @-@ aircraft guns , and building anti @-@ torpedo bulges into the hull to improve underwater protection for a loss of one knot of speed . Deck armor was also to be strengthened . Ultimately , only minor modifications were possible . In 1926 , both Jaime I and Alfonso XII had a pair of Vickers 76 @.@ 2 @-@ millimeter ( 3 @.@ 00 in ) anti @-@ aircraft guns installed , one each on top of turret numbers 1 and 2 . And in the 1930s , the foremast was reduced slightly on the two surviving ships . After she was seized by the Nationalists in 1936 , España ( ex @-@ Alfonso XIII ) had these two guns removed for use ashore . They were replaced with four German 8 @.@ 8 cm ( 3 @.@ 5 in ) SK C / 30 flak guns and two 2 cm ( 0 @.@ 79 in ) C / 30 anti @-@ aircraft guns . Jaime I , which remained with the Republicans , was reequipped with two Vickers 47 mm ( 1 @.@ 9 in ) 50 @-@ caliber anti @-@ aircraft guns and a twin 25 mm ( 0 @.@ 98 in ) Hotchkiss mounting . = = Construction = = A new 184 by 35 m ( 604 by 115 ft ) drydock and two 180 by 35 m ( 591 by 115 ft ) slipways were built at Ferrol to accommodate the construction of the three battleships . All material , save the armor plate , heavy guns , and fire control equipment , was manufactured in Spain . The contract specified a build time of four years for the first ship , five years for the second , and seven years for the third . Despite the allowance for longer construction times for the later units , their completion , and particularly the third unit , Jaime I , was held up by a lack of materials from Britain as a result of the outbreak of World War I. Most importantly , the main guns for Jaime I were not delivered until 1919 . = = History = = España was the only member of the class completed by the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , though she did not see action , as Spain remained neutral for the duration of the war . In August 1914 , she participated in the opening ceremonies for the Panama Canal . Alfonso XIII joined her in August 1915 in the 1st Squadron of the Spanish fleet . In late 1921 , Jaime I was finally completed . Throughout the early 1920s , the three ships served in the Training Squadron . During this period , Spain became involved in the Rif War in Morocco ; all three ships saw action during the conflict , primarily by providing artillery support to Spanish ground forces engaging the Rif rebels . In August 1923 , while bombarding Rif positions , España ran aground off Cape Tres Forcas . A lengthy salvage operation failed to free the ship , and in November 1924 , the stress of repeated tidal battering broke the wreck in half . In 1931 , after the overthrow of King Alfonso XIII , his namesake battleship was renamed España . In the mid @-@ 1930s , the Spanish Navy considered modernization programs for the two surviving battleships , but none came to fruition , primarily as a result of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 . The two ships found themselves on opposite sides during the conflict ; España served on the side of Francisco Franco 's Nationalists , and Jaime I fought for the Republicans . España was used for coastal bombardment and to enforce the blockade of Republican ports , while Jaime I unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the blockade , though neither ship engaged the other . In August 1936 , Jaime I was attacked and moderately damaged by Nationalist bombers ; while undergoing repairs in Cartagena , she was destroyed by an internal explosion in June 1937 . España was sunk on 30 April 1937 after striking a mine laid by her own side off the coast of Santander in northern Spain . Many of the guns from the first España were recovered and employed in coastal fortifications , some of which remained in service until 1999 . Six of Jaime I 's 12 @-@ inch guns were also salvaged and similarly employed after she was broken up in the 1940s — they too remained in service until they were decommissioned in the mid @-@ 1990s . The second España was never raised , and her wreck was discovered in the early 1980s . Several expeditions to survey the wreck took place between February and May 1984 .
= The Boat Race 1973 = The 119th Boat Race took place on 7 March 1973 . Held annually , the Boat Race is a side @-@ by @-@ side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge along the River Thames . It was won by Cambridge who passed the finishing post thirteen lengths ahead of Oxford , the largest winning margin since the 1955 race . Despite being pre @-@ race favourites , Oxford 's warm @-@ up saw them take on board a large amount of water in rough conditions . In the reserve race , Goldie beat Isis , and in the Women 's Boat Race , Cambridge were victorious . = = Background = = The Boat Race is a side @-@ by @-@ side rowing competition between the University of Oxford ( sometimes referred to as the " Dark Blues " ) and the University of Cambridge ( sometimes referred to as the " Light Blues " ) . First held in 1829 , the race takes place on the 4 @.@ 2 miles ( 6 @.@ 8 km ) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London . The rivalry is a major point of honour between the two universities and followed throughout the United Kingdom and broadcast worldwide . Cambridge went into the race as reigning champions , having beaten Oxford by a nine @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half lengths in the previous year 's race . Cambridge held the overall lead , with 66 victories to Oxford 's 51 ( excluding the " dead heat " of 1877 ) . The race was umpired by former Oxford Blue Ronnie Howard who had rowed in the 1957 and 1959 races . The first Women 's Boat Race took place in 1927 , but did not become an annual fixture until the 1960s . Up until 2014 , the contest was conducted as part of the Henley Boat Races , but as of the 2015 race , it is held on the River Thames , on the same day as the men 's main and reserve races . The reserve race , contested between Oxford 's Isis boat and Cambridge 's Goldie boat has been held since 1965 . It usually takes place on the Tideway , prior to the main Boat Race . It was the first year since 1927 that the main race was not covered in full on any of the BBC 's national radio networks . Its 4.15pm start coincided with the conclusion of the FA Cup semi @-@ finals , and it had been decided that the rowing would be broadcast in full on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio Oxford only . Commentator John Snagge who had described every race since 1931 was disappointed : " I do not want to be unreasonable but I am a little surprised that for an event like the Boat Race , with its tradition and history , the BBC cannot find 20 minutes on one of its four networks to carry it in full . " Oxford 's preparations for the race including coming second only to Leander Club in the Head of the River Race . Both crews had to cope with strong winds in their outings , with large pieces of driftwood providing additional hazards to the boats . Cambridge 's number four , Chris Baillieu , recovered from a back injury while his cox , Mike Williams , spent time before the race recuperating from an upset stomach . Their number seven , Steven Tourek , was also forced from the boat with illness , missing several days training . Cambridge were coxed by Lou Barry . Oxford 's boat , built by Swiss manufacturer Stämpfli was considered suitable for " placid Continental lakes " while Cambridge 's boat , while 30 pounds ( 14 kg ) lighter than their previous year 's craft , had a deeper hull and was " better equipped " for inclement conditions . In an interview with Barry Norman writing for The Observer , Oxford 's stroke Sawyier had prophetically suggested : " if we do lose , I hope we 're not disgraced ... it would be a kind of tawdry end of the year to be in a crew that was beaten out of sight . " = = Crews = = The Cambridge crew weighed over 5 pounds ( 2 @.@ 3 kg ) per rower more than their opponents . Oxford saw four former Blues return , Magarey , Hall , Payne and the cox Yalouris , while Cambridge welcomed back Chris Baillieu for his fourth race and Michael Hart . Oxford 's crew contained three non @-@ British competitors , Australian Magarey , and Americans Yalouris and Sawyier ( who had rowed for Harvard University and the United States Olympic team in the 1972 Summer Olympics ) , while Cambridge featured just one foreign participant , the American rower Tourek . = = Race = = Following good performances in practice in the buildup , Oxford were considered pre @-@ race favourites . They won the toss and elected to start on the Surrey station , handing the Middlesex side of the river to Cambridge . In the warm @-@ up to the race , the Light Blues opted for calm waters in Wandsworth Reach while Oxford rowed part of the course , in rough conditions , up to the Mile Post and back . Arriving back at the stake boat , the Dark Blues spent considerable time attempting to alleviate their boat of large amounts of water , using their tracksuits as makeshift sponges . Oxford made a fast start , rating over 40 strokes per minute , but in the rough conditions it resulted in more water being drawn into their boat . Cambridge " slowly but surely " took control with a lead of just under three lengths within three minutes of the start . A ten @-@ second lead at the Mile Post was extended to sixteen seconds by Hammersmith Bridge with Oxford still taking on more water in their pursuit of the Light Blues . Oxford were 26 seconds behind at Chiswick Steps and despite a last push from Oxford to reduce the deficit , Cambridge passed the finishing post in 19 minutes 21 seconds , 13 lengths and 48 seconds ahead of their opponents . It was Cambridge 's sixth consecutive victory , and their 67th overall to Oxford 's 51 wins . In the reserve race , Cambridge 's Goldie beat Oxford 's Isis by five lengths , their seventh consecutive victory . In the 28th running of the Women 's Boat Race , Cambridge triumphed , their eleventh consecutive victory . = = Reaction = = The Oxford boat club president Andy Hall said " the water was round our ankles ... we made a mistake in doing that warm @-@ up over part of the course ... there was so much water on board that I thought ' God , we 're going to sink . ' It was really hopeless after that . " In losing the race , Hall became the first Oxonian to lose four Boat Races in the 20th century . Jim Railton , writing in The Times summarised the race : " Cambridge beat the Tideway and the Tideway beat Oxford . " According to Dickie Burnell , " to say that the race was soon over would be a mis @-@ statement . It never really began . "

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