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Which cooking term is used for sprinkling something with icing sugar or flour? | Glossary of Cooking Terms
To cook by dry heat, usually in the oven.
BARBECUE:
Usually used generally to refer to grilling done outdoors or over an open charcoal or wood fire. More specifically, barbecue refers to long, slow direct- heat cooking, including liberal basting with a barbecue sauce.
BASTE:
To moisten foods during cooking with pan drippings or special sauce to add flavor and prevent drying.
BATTER:
A mixture containing flour and liquid, thin enough to pour.
BEAT:
To mix rapidly in order to make a mixture smooth and light by incorporating as much air as possible.
BLANCH:
To immerse in rapidly boiling water and allow to cook slightly.
BLEND:
To incorporate two or more ingredients thoroughly.
BOIL:
To heat a liquid until bubbles break continually on the surface.
BROIL:
To cook on a grill under strong, direct heat.
CARAMELIZE:
To heat sugar in order to turn it brown and give it a special taste.
CHOP:
To cut solids into pieces with a sharp knife or other chopping device.
CLARIFY:
To separate and remove solids from a liquid, thus making it clear.
CREAM:
To soften a fat, especially butter, by beating it at room temperature. Butter and sugar are often creamed together, making a smooth, soft paste.
CURE:
To preserve meats by drying and salting and/or smoking.
DEGLAZE:
To dissolve the thin glaze of juices and brown bits on the surface of a pan in which food has been fried, sauteed or roasted. To do this, add liquid and stir and scrape over high heat, thereby adding flavor to the liquid for use as a sauce.
DEGREASE:
To remove fat from the surface of stews, soups, or stock. Usually cooled in the refrigerator so that fat hardens and is easily removed.
DICE:
To cut food in small cubes of uniform size and shape.
DISSOLVE:
To cause a dry substance to pass into solution in a liquid.
DREDGE:
To sprinkle or coat with flour or other fine substance.
DRIZZLE:
To sprinkle drops of liquid lightly over food in a casual manner.
DUST:
To sprinkle food with dry ingredients. Use a strainer or a jar with a perforated cover, or try the good, old-fashioned way of shaking things together in a paper bag.
FILLET:
As a verb, to remove the bones from meat or fish. A fillet (or filet) is the piece of flesh after it has been boned.
FLAKE:
To break lightly into small pieces.
FLAMBE':
To flame foods by dousing in some form of potable alcohol and setting alight.
FOLD:
To incorporate a delicate substance, such as whipped cream or beaten egg whites, into another substance without releasing air bubbles. Cut down through mixture with spoon, whisk, or fork; go across bottom of bowl, up and over, close to surface. The process is repeated, while slowing rotating the bowl, until the ingredients are thoroughly blended.
FRICASSEE:
To cook by braising; usually applied to fowl or rabbit.
FRY:
To cook in hot fat. To cook in a fat is called pan-frying or sauteing; to cook in a one-to-two inch layer of hot fat is called shallow-fat frying; to cook in a deep layer of hot fat is called deep-fat frying.
GARNISH:
To decorate a dish both to enhance its appearance and to provide a flavorful foil. Parsley, lemon slices, raw vegetables, chopped chives, and other herbs are all forms of garnishes.
GLAZE:
To cook with a thin sugar syrup cooked to crack stage; mixture may be thickened slightly. Also, to cover with a thin, glossy icing.
GRATE:
To rub on a grater that separates the food in various sizes of bits or shreds.
GRATIN:
From the French word for "crust." Term used to describe any oven-baked dish--usually cooked in a shallow oval gratin dish--on which a golden brown crust of bread crumbs, cheese or creamy sauce is form.
GRILL:
To cook on a grill over intense heat.
GRIND:
To process solids by hand or mechanically to reduce them to tiny particles.
JULIENNE:
To cut vegetables, fruits, or cheeses into thin strips.
KNEAD:
To work and press dough with the palms of the hands or mechanically, to develop the gluten in the flour.
LUKEWARM:
Neither cool nor warm; approximately body temperature.
MARINATE:
To flavor and moisturize pieces of meat, poultry, seafood or vegetable by soaking them in or brushing them with a liquid mixture of seasonings known as a marinade. Dry marinade mixtures composed of salt, pepper, herbs or spices may also be rubbed into meat, poultry or seafood.
MEUNIERE:
Dredged with flour and sauteed in butter.
MINCE:
To cut or chop food into extremely small pieces.
MIX:
To combine ingredients usually by stirring.
PAN-BROIL:
To cook uncovered in a hot fry pan, pouring off fat as it accumulates.
PAN-FRY:
To cook in small amounts of fat.
PARBOIL:
To boil until partially cooked; to blanch. Usually this procedure is followed by final cooking in a seasoned sauce.
PARE:
To remove the outermost skin of a fruit or vegetable.
PEEL:
To remove the peels from vegetables or fruits.
PICKLE:
To preserve meats, vegetables, and fruits in brine.
PINCH:
A pinch is the trifling amount you can hold between your thumb and forefinger.
PIT:
To remove pits from fruits.
PLANKED:
Cooked on a thick hardwood plank.
PLUMP:
To soak dried fruits in liquid until they swell.
POACH:
To cook very gently in hot liquid kept just below the boiling point.
PUREE:
To mash foods until perfectly smooth by hand, by rubbing through a sieve or food mill, or by whirling in a blender or food processor.
REDUCE:
To boil down to reduce the volume.
REFRESH:
To run cold water over food that has been parboiled, to stop the cooking process quickly.
RENDER:
To make solid fat into liquid by melting it slowly.
ROAST:
To cook by dry heat in an oven.
SAUTE:
To cook and/or brown food in a small amount of hot fat.
SCALD:
To bring to a temperature just below the boiling point.
SCALLOP:
To bake a food, usually in a casserole, with sauce or other liquid. Crumbs often are sprinkled over.
SCORE:
To cut narrow grooves or gashes partway through the outer surface of food.
SEAR:
To brown very quickly by intense heat. This method increases shrinkage but develops flavor and improves appearance.
SHRED:
To cut or tear in small, long, narrow pieces.
SIFT:
To put one or more dry ingredients through a sieve or sifter.
SIMMER:
To cook slowly in liquid over low heat at a temperature of about 180°. The surface of the liquid should be barely moving, broken from time to time by slowly rising bubbles.
SKIM:
To remove impurities, whether scum or fat, from the surface of a liquid during cooking, thereby resulting in a clear, cleaner-tasting final produce.
STEAM:
To cook in steam in a pressure cooker, deep well cooker, double boiler, or a steamer made by fitting a rack in a kettle with a tight cover. A small amount of boiling water is used, more water being added during steaming process, if necessary.
STEEP:
To extract color, flavor, or other qualities from a substance by leaving it in water just below the boiling point.
STERILIZE:
To destroy micro organisms by boiling, dry heat, or steam.
STEW:
To simmer slowly in a small amount of liquid for a long time.
STIR:
To mix ingredients with a circular motion until well blended or of uniform consistency.
TOSS:
To combine ingredients with a lifting motion.
TRUSS:
To secure poultry with string or skewers, to hold its shape while cooking.
WHIP:
| Dredging |
The Cornish cheese yarg is wrapped in what? | What Does That Mean?! Cooking Terms Defined - How To: Simplify
What Does That Mean?! Cooking Terms Defined
August 27, 2009 by Jen
When you’re reading through a recipe, do you ever stop, scratch your head and ask, “What does that mean?” When I first ventured into the world of cooking, I often found myself a bit confused and, oftentimes, guessing on how to perform a certain task.
The more I cooked, the more I began to realize that cooking terms popped up everywhere in recipes. Thankfully, over time I’ve learned what they mean.
To beginners, and maybe even some veterans out there, a few cooking terms found in recipes might leave cooks a bit puzzled.
In an effort to lessen the confusion, I’ve compiled a list of basic cooking terms that you should be familiar with when you scope out and begin to tackle new recipes.
Basic Cooking Terms Defined
Al dente: Italian term to describe pasta and rice that are cooked until tender but still firm to the bite
Bain-marie: A pan of water that is used to help mixtures, such as custards, bake evenly and to protect them from the direct heat of the oven or stove
Bake: To cook in the oven – the terms baking and roasting are often used interchangeably, but roasting involves cooking at a higher temperature (at least in the beginning) to brown the surface of the food
Baste: To spoon, ladle or moisten with a filled baster hot cooking liquid over food at intervals during cooking to moisten and flavor the food
Beat: To make a mixture smooth with rapid and regular motions using a spatula, wire whisk or electric mixer; to make a mixture light and smooth by enclosing air
Bind: To add egg or a thick sauce to hold ingredients together when they are cooked
Blanch: To plunge some foods into boiling water for less than a minute and then immediately plunge into iced water – this is often used to brighten the color of some vegetables; to remove skin from tomatoes and nuts; or performed to halt deterioration prior to freezing
Blend: To mix two ore more ingredients thoroughly together; not to be confused with blending in an electric blender
Boil: To cook in a liquid brought to a boiling point and kept there
Braise: To cook in a small amount of liquid (also called stewing or pot roasting); not to be confused with poaching, in which the food is completely submerged in simmering liquid; braised dishes use a small amount of liquid
Bread: To coat foods to be sauteed or deep-fried with flour or a breadcrumb mixture to create a crust
Broil: To cook with a direct heat source, usually a gas flame or an electric coil above the hood
Clarify: To make a liquid clear by removing sediments and impurities; to melt far and remove any sediment
Corned: To salt and cure a meat
Coat: To dust or roll food items in flour to cover the surface before the food is cooked; also, to coat in flour, egg and breadcrumbs
Cream: To make creamy and fluffy by working the mixture with the back of a wooden spoon; usually refers to creaming butter or margarine with sugar (can also be done with an electric mixer)
Cube: To cut uniformly into small pieces with six even sides (e.g., cube of meat)
Deglaze: To dissolve dried-out cooking juices left on the base and sides of a roasting dish or frying pan; add a little water, wine, or stock, or stock and scrape and stir over heat until dissolved (resulting liquid is used to make a gravy or added to a sauce or casserole for additional full-bodied flavor)
Degrease: To skim fat from the surface of cooking liquids (e.g., stocks, soups, casseroles, sauces)
Dice: To cut food into tiny cubes (1/8 to 1/4 inch)
Dilute: To reduce a mixture’s strength by adding liquid (usually water)
Dollop: A small gob of soft food, such as whipped cream
Dredge: To heavily coat with icing sugar, flour or corn flour
Drizzle: To pour in a fine, thread-like stream moving over a surface
Dust: Lightly coating a food with a powdery substance, such as flour or powdered sugar
Egg wash: Beaten egg with milk or water used to brush over pastry, bread dough or biscuits to give a sheen and golden-brown color
Flake: To separate cooked fish into flakes, removing bones and skin, using two forks
Fold in: To combine a light, whisked or creamed mixture with other ingredients – this is accomplished by adding a portion of the other ingredients at a time and mix using a gentle circular motion, over and under the mixture so that air will not be lost (it’s always best to use a spatula)
Fry: To cook a food in a hot fat
Glaze: To brush or coat food with a liquid that will give the finished product a glossy or shiny appearance, and on baked products, a golden-brown color
Grind: To pass meats or nuts through a grinder or a food processor to reduce to small pieces
Infuse: To steep food in a liquid until the liquid absorbs the flavor
Julienne: To some food (e.g., vegetables and processed meats) into fine strips the approximate length of matchsticks
Knead: To work a yeast dough in a pressing, stretching and folding motion with the heel of the hand until it is smooth and elastic so as to develop the gluten strands
Macerate: To stand fruit in a syrup, liqueur or spirit to give added flavor
Marinate: To combine foods, usually meat or fish, with aromatic ingredients for some time to tenderize and add flavor
Mask: To evenly cover cooked food portions with sauce, mayonnaise or savory jelly
Pan-fry: To fry foods in a small amount of fat or oil, sufficient to coat the base of the pan
Pare: To peel the skim from vegetables and fruit
Pinch: The amount of dry ingredients you can hold in a pinch (between your thumb and forefinger). It’s equivalent to 1/16 teaspoon
Poach: To simmer gently in enough hot liquid to almost cover the food so shape will be retained
Puree: To work or strain foods until they are completely smooth
Saute: To cook over high heat on the stove in a small amount of fat in a saute pan or skillet
Scald: To heat milk just below the boiling point (or, to immerse a vegetable or fruit in boiling water in order to remove its skin easily)
Sear: To brown the surface of pieces of meats and/or fish by submitting them to intense initial heat
Simmer: To cook in liquid just below the boiling point (approximately 205 degrees F), with small bubbles rising gently to the surface
Skim: To remove fat or froth from the surface of simmering food
Stew: To cook in a manner similar to braising, but generally involving smaller pieces of meat, and therefore, a shorter cooking time
Stir-fry: To quickly fry small pieces of food in a large pan over very high heat while stirring
Stock: The naturally flavorful liquid produced when meat, poultry, fish or vegetables have been simmered in water to extract the flavor
Sweat: To cook sliced onions or vegetables in a small amount of butter in a covered pan over low heat to soften them and release flavor without browning
Whip: To beat a preparation with the goal of introducing air into it; also, the balloon-shaped wire whisk often used to do so
Whisk: A utensil with looped wires in the shape of a teardrop, used for whipping ingredients like batters, sauces, eggs and creams (the whisk helps air get into the batter)
Zester: A utensil with tiny cutting holes on one end that creates threadlike strips of peel when pulled over the surface of a lemon lime or orange (it removes only the colored outer portion of the peel)
What are some terms that have stopped you in your tracks when preparing a recipe?
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What is the alternative name for pimento or Jamaican pepper? | What is Allspice, Pimento, Jamaican Pepper? | Chef and Steward®
Chef and Steward®
What is Allspice, Pimento, Jamaican Pepper?
February 1, 2011
By chefandsteward
Our Trinidadian friend, Cheryl, who has subscribed to this blog (over left column) wrote asking me, “Kari, what on earth is allspice or pimento and where can I get it?” I replied, “It is a native Jamaican seasoning that looks very similar to black pepper berries and outside of my cupboard, you can find it in Choithrams (I know the Jumeira store has it) as ‘Jamaican Pepper.’ ” Since she brought it up, and we have so many recipes with it, I decided to clarify the issue and post a pic. Let me know where else you can find it. I know it is also available online at St. Mary Market . According to them:
To most English speaking people the tree is called “pimento” and the berries “allspice”. The name allspice originated from the popular notion that the pimento berry contains the characteristic flavour and aroma of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper, all combined in one spice.
| Allspice |
Whose head is to appear on a new £2 coin to commemorate the start of World War I? | Pimento seeds /Leaves-One of Jamaica's main export | Crazy Jamaica
Pimento seeds /Leaves-One of Jamaica’s main export
Pimento is used to make an essential oil that is used to:
1)massage areas with poor circulation on the body to increase blood flow.
2)Relieves muscle and joint pains.(arthritis,fatigue,muscle cramps,rheumatism,stiffness etc)
3)For respiratory disorders (chills,congested coughs,bronchitis)
4)For digestive system problems (cramps,flatulence,indigestion,nausea
5)For the nervous system(depression,nervous exhaustion,neuralgia,tension and stress).
6)As a pain reliever( for headaches ,body pain,muscular pain)
7)For tooth-ache.
PIMENTO LEAVES as a tea is – Useful treating high blood sugar, bacterial infections and fungal infections, rheumatism, amenorrhea, and colic.Pimento leaves held in the mouth will decrease the urge for cigarettes.A tea of the leaves will also keep the body warm,purify the stomach,aid digestion,relieve gas and stop vomiting. A mixture of pimento and white rum is a great remedy for menstrual cramps
OTHER USES OF PIMENTO:
cooking.
Cooking with pimento is very common in Jamaica. Many Jamaican recipe s contain grounded pimento seeds: Pimento seeds is one of the main ingredient in the Jerk seasoning used to make that delicious chicken
and pork we just crave for at times.Pimento is the essential touch needed for any meat dish especially, pork ,ox-tail,chicken,fish,stewed peas and goat.Pimento is also used in soups like red peas and mannish water(goat belly).Pimento finely ground (all spice ) is also an important ingredient in the Jamaican fruit cakes.
massaging
One of the best deep tissue massage you could do is with the pimento oil.This oil is used in the aromatherapy industry for treating poor circulation ,
muscles and joints(that is arthritis,fatigue,muscle cramp,rheumatism,stiffness,etc.) This oil penetrates the body and heals the mind ,body and soul .The pimento oil ,during a massage will penetrate deep into your tissues until you get the feeling of a tingling ,warm sensation of medicine being poured into your tired and aching body.
Food industry:
Pimento berries are used to flavour a wide range of foods. This spice is used in flavouring pickles
,ketchup,sausages,gravies and pies . A spice used in Jamaica’s favourite fruit cakes made by Island Breeze Ltd.
PIMENTO TREE is indigenous to Caribbean Islands.It was found growing in Jamaica by early Spanish explorers who were very impressed with the taste and aroma of the berries and leaves.Pimento is also grown in Mexico, but it is Jamaica that has the longest history. Jamaica is the largest exporter of pimento seeds and leaves.Pimento also known as PIMENTA DIOICA is closely related to the bay tree and to cloves.Also known as allspice, the ground pimento combines the characteristic flavour and aroma of cloves,nutmeg,cinnamon and pepper, all combined in one spice,hence the name allspice.
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In Botticelli’s famous Birth of Venus – in what is Venus standing? | The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli – Facts about the Painting
Complete Works
More than 500 years after its creation, The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli is one of the most iconic paintings ever produced, and remains among the most renowned and priceless masterpieces in the world.
Painted in 1486, The Birth of Venus has been the subject of endless intellectual speculation and interpretations of meaning.
The painting depicts a voluptuous nude female standing gracefully upon a large seashell which appears to emerge onto shore from the ocean. To her left is a male angel floating in the air and clutching a woman in a tight embrace. To the right of the Venus is another woman in flowing garments, appearing to hail the arrival of the “goddess.”
The Meaning Behind the Painting
It’s a gorgeous vision, certainly, and stunning to behold. But art critics and historians can’t help but ponder the greater meaning behind The Birth of Venus. Perhaps the most dominant view is that the painting was inspired by Neoplatonic thought. This latter body of philosophy was a revival and slight reinterpretation of the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
In the Middle Ages, intellectuals across Europe were rediscovering the works of the ancient Greeks with great enthusiasm after the long oppression of the Dark Ages. They were also applying their own meanings to what the Greek masters were talking about. Artists such as Botticelli were inspired by this and also Greek mythology. This was a break from the long dominance of art based on Christian themes and the dogma of the Catholic Church.
Physical Beauty and Intellectual Love
According to Neoplatonism, great physical beauty was a direct springboard to spiritual beauty and intellectual love. The stunning Venus perched on a half-shell is a ravishing beauty with lengthy locks of luxurious reddish-blonde hair. Her skin is pale and her stance is rather demure. Her head is tilted coquettishly. She shyly covers her genitals with a flourish of her tresses. Her right hand is poised at her breasts.
Those who viewed the painting in the 15th Century may have had their minds lifted to the ideal of Plato’s higher forms of love, as prompted by the physical beauty of the female body.
Inspired by Lorenzo de Medici
Over the years, many have offered other views, and some have even questioned the predominance of Neoplatonic thought as being influential on the scene of late 1400s Italy. Thus, others have suggested that the painting is about Lorenzo de’ Medici, the man who commissioned the painting. The images of the painting are purported to be a symbolic reflection of de Medici’s virtues.
Lorenzo de’ Medici was a powerful and extremely wealthy Italian statesman. In effect, he was the ruler of the Florentine Republic. The Medici family itself had gained great wealth in their era as bankers and captains of industry. They controlled just about every aspect of local society through their monopoly on the monetary system.
Lorenzo de’ Medici was an extreme lover of the arts, and contributed huge portions of his great wealth toward commissioning paintings by the greatest artistic masters of the day, one of whom was Botticelli.
Botticelli’s Biography
Botticelli’s full name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, but he was commonly known as Sandro. His work is assigned to the “Florentine school” and he is known for the “linear grace” of his work. He was born around 1445 and achieved his peak in the decade of 1480s when he produced The Birth of Venus, and another masterpiece, Primavera.
By 1502, Botticelli’s skill, career and talent was considered to have faded, his best years well behind him. However, with works such as The Birth of Venus under his name, Botticelli had gained an enduring reputation as one of the great masters of the “Golden Age” of Renaissance painting. Although his works fell out of favor among art experts in the 19th Century, Botticelli has never really lost his position as a timeless genius.
It should be noted that the interpretation of The Birth of Venus as extolling the virtues of Lorenzo de’ Medici is not widely accepted. That the painting was inspired by Plato simply makes more sense. The images in the painting lend themselves much more readily to a Neoplatonic view.
As we all know, he meaning of art is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, and the greatest works invite multiple interpretations – with none of them necessarily being completely right or wrong.
Today, The Birth of Venus is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
6 responses to “The Birth of Venus”
kiran
| Seashell |
Which 1960’s art vogue was based on optical illusion? | The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
Renaissance Blog
The Birth of Venus.
The Birth of Venus is probably Botticelli's most famous painting. The picture hung in the country villa of the Medici along with "Primavera", indicating that the work was commissioned by the Medici family. Venus rises from the sea, looking like a classical statue and floating on a seashell, in what is surely one of the most recognisable images in art history.
On Venus' right is Zephyrus, God of Winds, he carries with him the gentle breeze Aura and together they blow the Goddess of Love ashore. The Horae, Goddess of the Seasons, waits to receive Venus and spreads out a flower covered robe in readiness for the Love Goddess' arrival.
"Birth of Venus" 1485. Uffizi, Florence. (w)
tempera on canvas, 172.5 cm × 278.5 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in)
Botticelli has taken some inspiration from a hymn by the classical poet Homer, however it is an unusual subject for the time, as most Renaissance artists used themes from the teachings of the Catholic church for their paintings. The mythological works by Botticelli, The Venus, " Primavera ", and " Pallas and the Centaur ", typify his pagan phase.
The model for Venus is thought to be Simonetta Cattaneo de Vespucci, a great beauty and favourite of the Medici court.
(left) Simonetta Vespucci by Sandro Botticelli. (w)
Botticelli also used Simonetta as the model for several other women in his paintings supporting the view that he was actually in love with her. In fact Simonetta died at the young age of twenty-two and Botticelli expressed a wish to be buried at her feet. It is thought that Simonetta was born at Portovenere in Liguria, romantically this is the birthplace of the goddess Venus.
Venus, Goddess of Love. (detail) (s)
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To west country folk what people are ‘emmets’ and ‘grockles’? | grockle - Wiktionary
grockle
Etymology[ edit ]
A very old word of uncertain origin common for centuries in the New Forest area of Hampshire for people from outside it. In more recent times it has spread to other parts of the south coast and indeed elsewhere, including the former colonies of Northern and Southern Rhodesia as a term for a foreigner. The term is widely used in Devon where it refers to tourists or people recently relocated from elsewhere. The word was imported to the Isle of Man in 1970 by Capt McKenzie who had learned the word in Plymouth. Commonly referred to tourists in cars who can be easily identified because all Manx number plates have either MN or MAN in them.
It has also been said to have derived from the eponymous dragon in the obsolete The Dandy comic strip "Jimmy and his Grockle", popularised by the movie The System. However its use in the New Forest area and local areas of Dorset and Wiltshire is well-attested by long-term residents of those areas.
| Tourism |
In the words lithograph, lithium and Paleolithic – what does ‘lith’ mean? | What is the origin of the word ‘grock... | Oxford Dictionaries
Home Explore Word origins What is the origin of the word ‘grockle’?
What is the origin of the word ‘grockle’?
' Grockle ' is an informal and often slightly derogatory term for a tourist. It was first popularized because of its use by the characters in the film The System (1964), which is set in the Devon resort of Torquay during the summer season. Some older dictionaries suggested that it might be a West Country dialect word. Other scholars have put forward the theory that it originated in a comparison of red-faced tourists (wearing baggy clothing with handkerchiefs on their heads) to 'Grock', a clown and music-hall performer who was famous in the first half of the 20th century.
The word 'grockle' was indeed picked up by The System's scriptwriter from local people during filming in Torquay. However, it was apparently not an 'old local dialect word'. According to research by a local journalist in the mid-1990s, the word in fact originated from a strip cartoon in the children's comic Dandy entitled 'Danny and his Grockle'. (The grockle was a magical dragon-like creature.) A local man, who had had a summer job at a swimming pool during as a youngster, said that he had used the term as a nickname for a small elderly lady who was a regular customer one season. During banter in the pub among the summer workers, 'grockle' then became generalized as a term for summer visitors.
This development seems to have occurred in, or only shortly before, the summer in which The System was filmed: the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary has no examples of the word dating from before the release of The System (though one or two people from the south-west remain convinced that they knew it before then).
Which of the following is correct?
He's a socially averse intellectual
He's a socially adverse intellectual
Which of the following is correct?
It's the long hours that I'm averse to
It's the long hours that I'm adverse to
Which of the following is correct?
Investors became very market averse
Investors became very market adverse
Which of the following is correct?
There was no averse impact on service
There was no adverse impact on service
Which of the following is correct?
He's adverse to visiting the US
He's averse to visiting the US
Which of the following is correct?
Even small businesses are debt averse
Even small businesses are debt adverse
Which of the following is correct?
You can leave if the weather's averse
You can leave if the weather's adverse
Which of the following is correct?
It involved work to which he was adverse
It involved work to which he was averse
Which of the following is correct?
She's not averse to taking chances
She's not adverse to taking chances
Which of the following is correct?
This caused an averse cash-flow problem
This caused an adverse cash-flow problem
You scored /10 practise again?
Retry
Most popular in the world
Australia
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The vessel had two sister ships the Olympic and which other? | Titanic Sister Ships
Titanic Sister Ships
The Titanic and her Sisters
Assembled by the Harland Wolff Company, the Titanic was the most luxurious and celebrated vessel of her time. Built to be the apex of sophistication, the massive cruise liner was an industrial marvel and would become what is likely the most famous vessel of all time. What people might not know, is that the Titanic was actually the second of an entire line of similar cruise vessels. Each Titanic sister ship had similar composition to the maritime beast and was crafted with the same luxury in mind. The Titanic sisters were the Titanic sister Olympic and the Titanic sister Britannic.
Since tragedy befell the Titanic on the night of April 14, 1912, the Titanic’s sisters missed much recognition. Although smaller than the Titanic, the Britannic and Olympic were undoubtedly engineering feats of their time. First to be built was the RMS Olympic followed by the Titanic, and the last Titanic sister by the name of the HMHS Britannic. When exploring the history of the legendary vessel, it’s important to remember that the Titanic was not the only highly luxurious and massive cruise liner run by White Star, simply the most famous.
Each of the Titanic sister ships have their own unique story complete with triumph and tragedy.
First Titanic Film Came Out One Month After Sinking
The Sad Story
Under the command of Edward Smith, the ship leaved Southampton with 2224 passengers aboard, including some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of poor emigrants from Europe seeking a new life in North America. The ship had advanced safety features, but there were not enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard. Only 1,178 people can be carried in lifeboats.
Four days into the crossing and about 375 miles (600 km) south of Newfoundland, she hit an iceberg at 11:40 pm ship's time. The glancing collision caused Titanic's hull plates to buckle inwards along her starboard side and opened five of her sixteen watertight compartments to the sea; the ship gradually filled with water. Meanwhile, passengers and some crew members were evacuated in lifeboats, many of which were launched only partly loaded.
By 2:20 AM, the giant ship broke apart and foundered, with over 1000 people still aboard. Just under two hours after the sinking, the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived and brought aboard about 705 survivors.
Small Numbers
74: The number of years it took to find the wreck of the Ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
64 : The number of lifeboats supposed to be aboard the ship.
20 : The number of lifeboats she actually carried.
65: Maximum capacity of a lifeboat.
28 : The number of people on board the first lifeboat.
2 : The number of workers killed during the construction process.
Now On Sale
The Unsinkable Ship !
Who doesn’t know about Titanic? The famous British ship that was designed to be unsinkable, but it finally sank on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during its long trip from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. About 1,500 people died, and the largest ship made at the time led to one of the biggest disasters in modern history.
Big Numbers
$7,500,000 : The total cost of building the RMS Titanic.
12,600 feet : The depth at which the wreck of the ship lays.
882 feet : The length of the ship.
3,547 : The maximum number of people the ship could carry.
2,223 : The number of people aboard, including passengers and crew.
1,178: The number of people that could be carried in the lifeboats.
705 : The number of people who survived the tragedy.
| Britannic |
At which port did the passengers embark? | Titanic and Olympic: How to tell them apart in photographs. | joeccombs2nd
My Published Works
Titanic and Olympic: How to tell them apart in photographs.
The RMS Titanic and the RMS Olympic were sister ships (along with the HMHS Britannic). So they can be very difficult to tell apart in photographs. In my first Titanic book Titanic, A Search For Answers , I published photographs of the two on page 20 (see below)
I used photographs of the Olympic on pages 28, 30, and 32; so I wanted people to be able to see the two ships together to enable readers to tell them apart. Even so, some readers wrote to me thinking those three photographs of Olympic were Titanic. This article will enable you to tell the difference between the two sister ships, and how to tell the difference between Olympic photographs taken before and after the sinking of the Titanic . So … let’s get to it. (click on the images to make them bigger.)
The following illustration shows an image of Titanic with before and after disaster images of Olympic with the differences marked on them. After that will be photos of identifiable images of Titanic and Olympic, images of Olympic often labeled Titanic, photos that could be either ship, and last photos of the 1911 and April 1912 Olympic.
SPECIAL NOTE TO “BRENT”
We have been through this before. Your opinion, though impassioned, is not evidence. Your saying something is a fact, does not make it so. I understand you have educated yourself quite well on the Titanic, unfortunately you have not expanded your education to encompass very much beyond the Titanic in the maritime field. Until you have something new to offer, your comments will not be posted as they have already been posted and refuted.
This image explains the visual differences between the Titanic & the Olympic, and the visual changes made to Olympic after Titanic’s loss
1911 Olympic photograph.
This photograph of the RMS Olympic is often labeled “RMS TITANIC”.
Pre-Titanic loss, Olypic-class boatdeck.
Pre-Titanic loss, Olympic-class boatdeck (Titanic)
Post-Titanic loss, RMS Olympic.
Post-Titanic loss, RMS Olympic.
Pre-Titanic loss, RMS Olympic photograph
Next Sunday, March 4, 2012, my article will explain the research methods I use when analyzing evidence in historical research in all my research work.
Here is the link for the British Report on the loss of the Titanic, “Loss of the Steamship ‘Titanic’.” You can buy the print book, or download the e-book for free.
You may download a free sample of my book “Titanic, A Search For Answers” at your favorite e-book store, it is also available at Amazon in print and E-book formats . This book has more than 35 photographs (hardcover has more) some which do not appear in most Titanic books. Such as a photograph of the tug boat which met the Carpathia and its Titanic survivors. The link to the next part of this article is below the next two photographs.
If you do not have a kindle, you can download a free app for your phone or computer.
Joe C Combs 2nd signing books
I have added a photo mosaic of Titanic and Olympic at Ocean Dock in Southampton. Follow the shortlink to see this new addition. Thank you. http://wp.me/P1MLkF-7W
20 April 2012: I have added this to help me answer Jon’s comment (made on 19 April 2012 below). Olympic arrived in Southampton in late April after Titanic sank. After provisioning the Olympic was due to sail again, however the black gang mutinied over the collapsible boats that had been added to Olympic after Titanic sank. The black gang did not believe the collapsible boats were safe. This was not settled until May 4.
Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Olympic ) has a good write-up pn the Olympic class ships and talks about the mutiny and the refit after Titanic sank. Although, wikipedia states that Olympic was withdrawn from service and sent to the builders for the refit on 9 October 1912, I believe the correct date was actually 9 September 1912. I believe that Encycopedia Titanica will also say September 1912 ( http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/ ). Encyclopedia Titanica is one of the best sites on the web for information and forum discussions about the Titanic and her sister ships.
RMS Olympic arriving in New York on her maiden voyage, June 1911. The over-hanging starboard bridge-wing can be seen. Photo from wikipedia.
RMS Oylimpic entering the Thompson graving dock for repairs while Titanic is under construction. The over-hanging starboard bridge-wing can be seen in the photograph. Photo from author’s collection.
RMS Olympic entering the Thompson graving dock on 11 September 1912 for a refit after the loss of RMS Titanic. Photo from Encyclopedia Titanica (www.encyclopedia-titanica.org)
I HAVE SAID REPEATEDLY
I have said repeatedly if you wish to make a comment on this post PLEASE read the other comments to insure your comment or question is something new.
Since the Titanic Fanatics are unable or unwilling to follow these instructions the comments on this article are closed.
I am a professional author and cannot take time away from current projects to rehash the same comments over and over and over again. Nor does my staff have the time to cater only to Titanic fanatics. I have already made my opinion (or as much of it as I will) public. There are times that I do not agree with specific information. However, in an attempt to let YOU the reader choose for yourself. I post the post comments, articles, and interview comments so that you may decide for yourself.
If Titanic Fanatics wish to attempt to dominate the time of my staff and myself I will shut down the comments on all the Titanic articles one at a time.
I make my living writing. I write about many topics. Unless you are will to pay me a salary and have enough common courtesy to not repeat the same old thing time and time and time again then I will not dedicate myself to this one topic. I have written several articles and a book on this subject. I am done with this subject.
At this time if you have a comment on any of the other Titanic articles and you have checked to see if that comment has already been made, then my staff and I will continue to post those comments.
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Which vessel was the first to reach the disaster scene and pick up survivors? | 5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship - History in the Headlines
5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship
April 10, 2012 By Steven Cohen
Arthur Rostron, captain of Carpathia, receives a trophy from Titanic survivor Molly Brown in May 1912.
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5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship
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As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the most famous of all maritime catastrophes—the sinking of the White Star liner Titanic early in the morning of April 15, 1912—the heroic and perilous rescue effort that took place in response remains something of a footnote. Titanic, after all, was the largest and perhaps most opulent ocean liner of its day, while Cunard’s Carpathia was a relatively modest ship launched 10 years earlier that was coasting toward eternal obscurity when disaster struck. Explore five things you may not know about the only vessel to rescue any Titanic survivors from the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
1. The Titanic disaster launched Carpathia’s captain on a trajectory to a distinguished career.
Captain Arthur Henry Rostron—who was sufficiently anonymous at the time for many newspapers to misspell his name as “Rostrom”—spent virtually his entire life at sea after turning 17. Born near Liverpool in 1869, Rostron embarked on his maritime exploits just after completing high school, joining the ranks on a naval school ship. After serving on a variety of vessels including barques and iron clipper ships, Rostron joined the Cunard Line in 1895, soon serving as fourth officer on RMS Umbria. He then served on a number of Cunard ships and worked his way up to first officer before becoming captain of the Brescia. Leaving Cunard in 1904 for service in the Royal Navy, he returned in 1905 and became captain of the then 3-year-old Carpathia. Rostron achieved universal praise and celebrity as a result of his legendary efforts to rescue survivors of Titanic’s sinking, testifying in the British Board of Trade inquiry, traveling to the United States to appear before the Senate and receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from President William Taft. Rostron went on to command some of Cunard’s most illustrious ships, including Mauritania and Lusitania, and in 1928 he was made commodore of the Cunard fleet. He was named a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919, and in 1926 became Sir Arthur as a knight commander of the Order of the British Empire.
2. The most prestigious captain in the history of the Cunard Line was a firm believer in sea serpents.
Captain Rostron wasn’t shy about his affinity for cryptozoology, the study of creatures whose existence has not been proven. (Think of Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster, among many others.) In fact, while serving as chief officer on Campania in 1907, Rostron claimed to have sighted a sea serpent, which he later wrote about in detail in his memoir “Home from the Sea.” On the bridge while steaming off the Irish coast, Rostron warned his junior officer to steer clear of an object in the water but, he recounted, “gradually drew nearer so that we were able to make out what the unusual thing was. It was a sea monster!” Lamenting his lack of a camera, Rostron began to sketch what he saw. “I was unable to get a clear view of the monster’s features, but we were close enough to realize its head rose eight or nine feet out of the water, while the trunk of the neck was fully twelve inches thick,” he wrote. Rostron never backtracked on his account, but it certainly did not appear to impede his career advancement in any way. Today’s airline pilots reporting on UFOs might not be so fortunate.
3. Carpathia’s rescue preparations were a masterpiece of multitasking.
From the moment Captain Rostron was informed of the distress messages received from Titanic, every order he issued was intended to get to the stricken ship as quickly as possible, all the while preparing his own ship to receive the survivors and give them the care they needed. Top speed for Carpathia was about 14.5 knots, but Rostron ordered extra stokers to create the additional steam that would accelerate the ship to more than 17 knots. Rostron even ordered a reduction in the ship’s heating system so that more steam could be diverted to the engines. This extra speed was not without a significant degree of peril, however, as Carpathia endured its own hazards, dodging icebergs along the entire 58-mile route. Much later Rostron noted that the safety of his crew and passengers, and the survival of any Titanic survivors they might reach, “depended on the sudden turn of the wheel.” As Carpathia steamed through this obstacle course, Rostron assembled all of his officers and issued a myriad of orders. He had his ship’s lifeboats lowered in case they were needed to assist in the recovery of survivors. He assigned the three doctors under his command to specific stations in order to administer medical care. He oversaw the conversion of public areas on the ship, as well as the officers’ cabins, into spaces where survivors would be provided with blankets and hot drinks while they recovered from their ordeal. Finally, he saw to it that chair clings and other apparatuses were constructed in the gangway to hoist aboard children and the injured. These efforts were almost immediately acknowledged by those rescued. Even as Carpathia was returning to New York with the 705 Titanic passengers who had been plucked from the sea, the survivors formed a committee, which included the “unsinkable” Molly Brown, to collect funds to distribute to the crew. Later each crew member would receive a commemorative medal from a grateful group of survivors.
4. Titanic was not the first ship to issue an SOS message when it signaled its distress to Carpathia and other vessels.
By 1912 many ships carried wireless equipment, but it was intended to serve mostly as a convenience to passengers who wanted to send communications to shore rather than as a navigational or safety device. All ocean-going vessels would be required to have wireless capability not long after the Titanic disaster, just as they would famously be required to carry enough lifeboat capacity for every “soul” on board. In April 1912, however, the optional wireless operators on board ocean liners were not even members of the crew; instead, they were employees of Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company, whose founder, Guglielmo Marconi, the great long-distance radio pioneer, would attend the U.S. Senate inquiry to hear the testimony of Harold Bride, one of Titanic’s wireless operators. (Some of Bride’s distress dispatches to other ships were intercepted by a young Russian immigrant named David Sarnoff on the roof of New York City’s Wanamaker’s department store. Sarnoff, destined to become one of America’s seminal personalities in the history of broadcasting, eventually became president of the Radio Corporation of America, the enterprise that founded the National Broadcasting Company.) Contrary to popular myth, Titanic was not the first ship to send an SOS call; they were in use perhaps since 1908 and certainly by 1909. In the early part of the emergency, the troubled liner’s radio operators used the more conventional CQD message, which combined CQ, representing a general call to all stations, with the D for distress. (The message is often erroneously thought to stand for “Come Quick Danger.”). As precious time ticked away, the operators switched over to the relatively new SOS call, which does not stand for “Save Our Ship” but instead is simply three letters that are easily transmitted and received and cannot be misinterpreted: three dots, three dashes and three dots. Titanic sent the distress signal to multiple ships shortly after midnight on April 15, 1912; Carpathia arrived on the scene four hours later.
5. Carpathia successfully dodged icebergs in its rescue efforts but ultimately could not evade German torpedoes.
Twelve years into its transatlantic career, and only two years after its heroic rescue of the only survivors of the Titanic disaster, Carpathia was requisitioned by the British government for use as a troopship during World War I. On July 17, 1918, Carpathia was part of a convoy headed for Boston when it was attacked by a German submarine 120 miles west of Fastnet. All of the ship’s 57 passengers escaped in lifeboats and all but five of its 223 in crew survived, with the only casualties perishing on impact of the three torpedoes that ultimately sent Carpathia to the bottom. For the next 82 years Carpathia remained undisturbed in a watery grave, not unlike Titanic, until its remains were discovered by a team led by author Clive Cussler in 540 feet of water some 220 miles off the east coast of Ireland. The Carpathia is largely intact, upright where it sank 94 years ago in the service of its country.
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What is special about the species of mammal called monotremes? | 5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship - History in the Headlines
5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship
April 10, 2012 By Steven Cohen
Arthur Rostron, captain of Carpathia, receives a trophy from Titanic survivor Molly Brown in May 1912.
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5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship
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As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the most famous of all maritime catastrophes—the sinking of the White Star liner Titanic early in the morning of April 15, 1912—the heroic and perilous rescue effort that took place in response remains something of a footnote. Titanic, after all, was the largest and perhaps most opulent ocean liner of its day, while Cunard’s Carpathia was a relatively modest ship launched 10 years earlier that was coasting toward eternal obscurity when disaster struck. Explore five things you may not know about the only vessel to rescue any Titanic survivors from the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
1. The Titanic disaster launched Carpathia’s captain on a trajectory to a distinguished career.
Captain Arthur Henry Rostron—who was sufficiently anonymous at the time for many newspapers to misspell his name as “Rostrom”—spent virtually his entire life at sea after turning 17. Born near Liverpool in 1869, Rostron embarked on his maritime exploits just after completing high school, joining the ranks on a naval school ship. After serving on a variety of vessels including barques and iron clipper ships, Rostron joined the Cunard Line in 1895, soon serving as fourth officer on RMS Umbria. He then served on a number of Cunard ships and worked his way up to first officer before becoming captain of the Brescia. Leaving Cunard in 1904 for service in the Royal Navy, he returned in 1905 and became captain of the then 3-year-old Carpathia. Rostron achieved universal praise and celebrity as a result of his legendary efforts to rescue survivors of Titanic’s sinking, testifying in the British Board of Trade inquiry, traveling to the United States to appear before the Senate and receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from President William Taft. Rostron went on to command some of Cunard’s most illustrious ships, including Mauritania and Lusitania, and in 1928 he was made commodore of the Cunard fleet. He was named a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919, and in 1926 became Sir Arthur as a knight commander of the Order of the British Empire.
2. The most prestigious captain in the history of the Cunard Line was a firm believer in sea serpents.
Captain Rostron wasn’t shy about his affinity for cryptozoology, the study of creatures whose existence has not been proven. (Think of Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster, among many others.) In fact, while serving as chief officer on Campania in 1907, Rostron claimed to have sighted a sea serpent, which he later wrote about in detail in his memoir “Home from the Sea.” On the bridge while steaming off the Irish coast, Rostron warned his junior officer to steer clear of an object in the water but, he recounted, “gradually drew nearer so that we were able to make out what the unusual thing was. It was a sea monster!” Lamenting his lack of a camera, Rostron began to sketch what he saw. “I was unable to get a clear view of the monster’s features, but we were close enough to realize its head rose eight or nine feet out of the water, while the trunk of the neck was fully twelve inches thick,” he wrote. Rostron never backtracked on his account, but it certainly did not appear to impede his career advancement in any way. Today’s airline pilots reporting on UFOs might not be so fortunate.
3. Carpathia’s rescue preparations were a masterpiece of multitasking.
From the moment Captain Rostron was informed of the distress messages received from Titanic, every order he issued was intended to get to the stricken ship as quickly as possible, all the while preparing his own ship to receive the survivors and give them the care they needed. Top speed for Carpathia was about 14.5 knots, but Rostron ordered extra stokers to create the additional steam that would accelerate the ship to more than 17 knots. Rostron even ordered a reduction in the ship’s heating system so that more steam could be diverted to the engines. This extra speed was not without a significant degree of peril, however, as Carpathia endured its own hazards, dodging icebergs along the entire 58-mile route. Much later Rostron noted that the safety of his crew and passengers, and the survival of any Titanic survivors they might reach, “depended on the sudden turn of the wheel.” As Carpathia steamed through this obstacle course, Rostron assembled all of his officers and issued a myriad of orders. He had his ship’s lifeboats lowered in case they were needed to assist in the recovery of survivors. He assigned the three doctors under his command to specific stations in order to administer medical care. He oversaw the conversion of public areas on the ship, as well as the officers’ cabins, into spaces where survivors would be provided with blankets and hot drinks while they recovered from their ordeal. Finally, he saw to it that chair clings and other apparatuses were constructed in the gangway to hoist aboard children and the injured. These efforts were almost immediately acknowledged by those rescued. Even as Carpathia was returning to New York with the 705 Titanic passengers who had been plucked from the sea, the survivors formed a committee, which included the “unsinkable” Molly Brown, to collect funds to distribute to the crew. Later each crew member would receive a commemorative medal from a grateful group of survivors.
4. Titanic was not the first ship to issue an SOS message when it signaled its distress to Carpathia and other vessels.
By 1912 many ships carried wireless equipment, but it was intended to serve mostly as a convenience to passengers who wanted to send communications to shore rather than as a navigational or safety device. All ocean-going vessels would be required to have wireless capability not long after the Titanic disaster, just as they would famously be required to carry enough lifeboat capacity for every “soul” on board. In April 1912, however, the optional wireless operators on board ocean liners were not even members of the crew; instead, they were employees of Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company, whose founder, Guglielmo Marconi, the great long-distance radio pioneer, would attend the U.S. Senate inquiry to hear the testimony of Harold Bride, one of Titanic’s wireless operators. (Some of Bride’s distress dispatches to other ships were intercepted by a young Russian immigrant named David Sarnoff on the roof of New York City’s Wanamaker’s department store. Sarnoff, destined to become one of America’s seminal personalities in the history of broadcasting, eventually became president of the Radio Corporation of America, the enterprise that founded the National Broadcasting Company.) Contrary to popular myth, Titanic was not the first ship to send an SOS call; they were in use perhaps since 1908 and certainly by 1909. In the early part of the emergency, the troubled liner’s radio operators used the more conventional CQD message, which combined CQ, representing a general call to all stations, with the D for distress. (The message is often erroneously thought to stand for “Come Quick Danger.”). As precious time ticked away, the operators switched over to the relatively new SOS call, which does not stand for “Save Our Ship” but instead is simply three letters that are easily transmitted and received and cannot be misinterpreted: three dots, three dashes and three dots. Titanic sent the distress signal to multiple ships shortly after midnight on April 15, 1912; Carpathia arrived on the scene four hours later.
5. Carpathia successfully dodged icebergs in its rescue efforts but ultimately could not evade German torpedoes.
Twelve years into its transatlantic career, and only two years after its heroic rescue of the only survivors of the Titanic disaster, Carpathia was requisitioned by the British government for use as a troopship during World War I. On July 17, 1918, Carpathia was part of a convoy headed for Boston when it was attacked by a German submarine 120 miles west of Fastnet. All of the ship’s 57 passengers escaped in lifeboats and all but five of its 223 in crew survived, with the only casualties perishing on impact of the three torpedoes that ultimately sent Carpathia to the bottom. For the next 82 years Carpathia remained undisturbed in a watery grave, not unlike Titanic, until its remains were discovered by a team led by author Clive Cussler in 540 feet of water some 220 miles off the east coast of Ireland. The Carpathia is largely intact, upright where it sank 94 years ago in the service of its country.
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Who were the first ever winners of the English Football League in 1889? | The FA Cup Finalists 1880-1889 - Historical Football Kits
English League Teams > FA Cup Finals
English FA Cup Finalists 1880 - 1889
The dominance of the southern public school, army and university teams came to an end as the game took root in the industrial midlands and north-west. The 1881 final between Old Carthusians (left) and Old Etonians was the lasted contested by public school teams. With the participation of the working class, both as players and spectators, the game ceased to be the exclusive pursuit of the genteel upper and middle classes and became a mass spectator sport. The new breed of clubs built enclosed grounds, charged admission and were run for profit. Intense competition led to players being poached by one club from another and financial inducements, forbidden by the FA's strict rules on amateurism, became commonplace. In 1885 the FA bowed to the inevitable and recognised professionalism and the balance of power shifted decisively north - no amateur side has appeared in the final since then. In 1888 the Football League was formed and members have enjoyed a monopoly of the FA Cup (with one notable exception) ever since.
1879 - 1880
Blackburn Olympic 2 Old Etonians 0 (Extra Time played)
venue Kennington Oval
date 31 March 1883
The FA Cup went north for the first time but it was the unknown working men's team of Olympic rather than the former grammar school boys of Rovers that achieved the honour. Both sides changed shirts because of a colour clash. With the game scoreless after 90 minutes, Olympic showed superior stamina (they were the first team to train specifically for their cup ties) and scored twice in extra time. Their success proved to be the seed of their downfall, however, as their best players were poached the following season by their rivals and in 1889, Olympic closed down. This was the last final in which any of the old former public school sides would appear.
Blackburn Rovers 2 West Bromwich Albion 0 (Replay after 0-0 draw)
venue Kennington Oval: Replayed at The Racecourse Ground, Derby
date 3 & 10 April 1886
Blackburn Rovers appeared in their third successive final where they were nearly beaten by strong West Bromwich side. The replay took place in Derby, the first time that the final had been played outside London. Rovers led at half-time and could have had a third but the scorer, Sowerbutts, thinking that he was offside, did not appeal to the referee who, later turned out would have awarded the goal. The FA awarded Blackburn a silver shield to commemorate their achievement in winning the competition for the third time in succession. West Brom played in a change kit but Rovers declined to have a team photographs taken before the match so I have not been able to confirm their kit.
West Bromwich Albion 2 Preston North End 1
venue Kennington Oval
date 24 March 1888
Preston, with a side full of Scottish imports, demolished Hyde FC 26-0 on their way to their first final, still an English record. With 434 consecutive victories under their belt, Proud Preston were confident that they would easily beat Albion. Indeed, it is said that their captain asked for the team to be photographed with the cup before the match kicked off. In the event, it was West Brom who took the honours in their third successive final appearance. For the first time the Oval's gates were locked as 17,000 crammed into the ground.
| Preston North End F.C. |
In 1956 who became the first European Footballer of the Year? | Preston North End FC History
Preston North End FC History
Posted: Mon 23 Jul 2012
Author: Ben Rhodes
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Preston North End can be traced back to 1863, but at that time it was linked with cricket and the first game of football was fifteen years away. In the early 1860's cricket was the only organised game of note in the town and the normal venue for this activity was the Marsh, an irregular stop of land on the Ribble Estuary at Ashton and which today is the site for the GEC works. Cricket can be linked with Wellfield Road School.
In that year there was a split amongst the club members when the majority opted for a move to Moor Park where the Corporation had opened a public Cricket ground, The newly formed club using Moor Park was named North End simply as an indication of the clubs base being in the north end of the town.
The first President was George Howarth and subscriptions were 2d a week. The club fell on hard times and almost disbanded, but new members were recruited to ease the financial crisis and one of these new comers was William Sudell who became a member on 3rd August 1867 when he was 16-years-old, having lived in the town all his life. He was a good swimmer and cyclist, a keen cricketer and a very good rugby forward.
In spite of the financial problems not being resolved, the members made a memorable and courageous step on 21st January 1875 when they took a lease on a field at Deepdale, a field which was to be the home of the finest football team of the era.
Playing cricket and dabbling in other games such as lacrosse and rounders were not financially viable and so in 1877 members turned to rugby. Unfortunately, this venture was a failure since the club could not compete with the Grasshoppers who were already a well-established force. On the 5th October 1878 North End played its first game under association rules against Eagley, the game was played at Deepdale and was lost 1-0. For the record the team that played this game were: - W Sudell, W Turner, J Sefton, T Charnley, T Wadeson, J Wadeson, C Miller, T Parkinson, JF Dodgson, R Green and H S Carmel (Cpt).
The success of other clubs in Lancashire who were playing soccer had not gone unnoticed at Deepdale and in May 1880 a resolution proposing the adoption of the association code was proposed by Mr Harry Carmel and seconded by William Charnley and was carried unanimously.
In March of 1881 North End played Blackburn Rovers and were beaten 10-0. This reverse following a defeat in the Lancashire Cup versus Turton did not however diminish enthusiasm and the next big leap forward was in the summer of 1883 when William Sudell, having seen tactics employed by neighbouring clubs went north to Scotland and obtained the services of N J Ross from Heart of Midlothian, Ross became one of the best full backs of his time, other players who came from Scotland were Drummond, Russell and Gordon. Thus was formed the nucleus of the team which was to make North End so famous.
In 1884 following a draw against Upton Park at Deepdale a protest was made to the FA about the eligibility of some Preston players, but the basic reason for the protest was that Preston were paying their players. Sudell did not deny this so following expulsion from Cup competition he commenced his historical move to have professionalism legalised in that same year James Ross (younger brother of NJ) and Sam Thomson came down from Scotland and Robert Howarth, a local boy joined the club as fullback.
The success which Sudell brought to Deepdale and the short time taken to achieve this is illustrated by the fact that from 22 August 1885 to 26 April 1886, North End were undefeated and during the season won 59 out of 64 matches, scoring 318 goals and conceding only 60.
In 1886 Sudell completed his team building with the signing of a centre forward, John Goodall, and the Invincibles were on their way to making football history. Another season worthy of note was in the season 1887/88 when North End won 42 consecutive matches, but there was bitter disappointment when .as hot favourites they were beaten 2-1 in the Cup Final on 24 March 1888 by West Bromwich Albion.
However, next season 1888/89 not only were they founder members of the league but they won the FA Cup and were the first team to achieve the double, doing this at the first opportunity. In 1889/90 North End were again League Champions and were runners up in the following three seasons. A limited company was formed in 1893 which was the end of the Sudell reign but the genius of a man who could build such a team and which justly earned the name the Invincibles is fully recognised today. North End is the only club from the founder Members of the Football League who have played continuously on the same ground. Deepdale has been the venue for soccer for over a century.
The period before the First World War is often referred to as yo-yo when North End were relegated to the Second Division on two occasions and immediately came back.
In 1922 they once more reached the FA Cup Final but were beaten 1-0 by Huddersfield Town who scored from a penalty. 1924 saw the retirement of one of the Clubs great stalwarts, Joe McCall who had played at Deepdale for 20 seasons.
From September 1925 for four seasons Alex James was a favourite whose transfer to Arsenal in 1929 hit the football headlines when the fee involved was reported to be £9,000.
Following the departure of James, relegation to the Third Division was twice narrowly avoided but what happened later with a Management Committee of four under the Chairmanship of the late JI Taylor was a modern football romance. Holdcroft, Lowe, Harper, Rowley, Tremelling, Shankly, Gallimore and Dougal were signed and promotion was gained in 1934. The two Beatties, Andy and Bobbie (unrelated), together with Mutch, Smith, Milne, Fagan and the O'Donnell brothers were among the many Scots who came to Deepdale.
North End reached the Cup Final in 1937 when they lost to Sunderland and in 1938 when they reversed the result of the 1922 Final by beating Huddersfield town 1-0, the winning goal came from the first penalty awarded at Wembley, and was scored by George Mutch with the last kick of extra time.
After the war and until his retirement in 1960 the skill of Tom Finney was the most important aspect of football at Deepdale. His genius and gentlemanly conduct was and still is, and example for all footballers to follow and brought great credit, not just to the maestro but also to his home town of Preston. The honour of being made Freeman of the Borough and the award of the CBE for services to football was just reward for this footballing legend, Sadly North Ends defeat, 3-2 by Albion in the Cup Final of 1954, did not result in a Cup Winners Medal and another disappointment was in 1953 when the First Division Championship was lost to Arsenal on a goal average difference of one.
As with so many other League Clubs the decline in the fortunes of North End started with the abolition of the maximum wage and with the concentration of successful clubs within the larger cities where stadiums could be filled by drawing on a relatively small percentage of the population.
North End reached Wembley again in 1964 when they lost what is still considered to be a classic final against West ham United, the team included a young Howard Kendall.
North End is also proud to be linked with the footballing feats of goalkeeper Alan Kelly who joined the club in 1958 from Drumcondra and, until his enforced retirement, following a shoulder injury sustained in the game against Bristol City on 15 September 1973, gave sterling service, his record speaks for itself. He was first choice goalkeeper for 13 seasons and holds the Club record of 447 league appearances (keeping 126 clean sheets) and 47 caps for Eire.
North End's most recent visit to Wembley came in the 1993/94 season when the team reached the third Division play-offs. Torquay United were the opponents for the first round, with the match being played at Plainmoor, Torquay won 2-0. The second round was played on Wednesday 18 May 1994 when memorable scenes were witnessed at Deepdale. North End went one goal up within the first ten minutes, only to see a two-goal advantage regained before half time, plus, Torquay gained the valuable away goal. The sending off of Torquay defender Darren Moore ten minutes before half time spurred Preston on. They scored twice in the second half to take the game to extra time, Torquay looked like holding out and winning on the away goals rule until Paul Raynor scored with only four minutes let on the clock and so North End were to feature once more at Wembley. The team that played that night were Steve Woods, Andy Fensome, Ryan Kidd, Lee Cartwright, Stuart Hicks, David Moyes, Gareth Ainsworth, Neil Whalley, Paul Raynor, Tony Ellis, Ian Bryson, subs were Greg Challender and Richard Lucas.
Preston played Wycombe Wanderers in the final and unfortunately lost 4-2 having been 2-1 up at half time.
In 1996, however, everything went the way of North End and under the management of Gary Peters the club was promoted as champions of Division Three. During the championship season, the Sir Tom Finney Stand was opened, named in recognition of the maestro and representing the start of the redevelopment of Deepdale into a stadium for the 21st Century.
The Sir Tom Finney Stand is the home of restaurants and a conference centre. The stand seats between 7,000 and 8,000 fans and has match day facilities for spectators on concourses within the stand.
The next stage of the ground redevelopment to be completed was the Bill Shankly Kop, which was formerly the Spion Kop Stand. The work started in December 1997 and was completed in June 1998. This stand now houses a fitness centre and football museum.
After Gary Peters' resignation in January 1998, David Moyes took over as Manager and in his first full season in charge he led the club to its highest League finish since the 1980/81 season, only losing out to Gillingham in the play-offs. The following season, David went one better as he guided Preston to the Second Division title, and a place in the First Division for the first time in 20 years.
In season 2000/01, Moyes excelled himself once again as he steered the side to a highly impressive fourth position in Division One. This meant the play-offs once again and, having beaten Birmingham on penalties in the semi final, North End travelled to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to face Bolton Wanderers. Although Bolton took a deserved lead in the first half, it was North End who had most of the play in the second period. Despite putting the opposition under substantial pressure, Preston could not get an equaliser and Bolton ensured victory with two late goals, the 3-0 scoreline an untrue reflection of the game.
The following season was a year of departures, though the club did welcome the spectacular new Alan Kelly Town End stand, replacing the popular terrace that became so iconic of 'Old Deepdale'.
In October, club chairman Bryan Gray ended a seven year tenure at North End and announced his resignation at the club's AGM. Deputy chairman Derek Shaw took over in the interim.
Nine days in March saw the end of an era at North End as Jon Macken and David Moyes both departed the club. Macken left for Manchester City in a club record £5million deal while David Moyes moved to Premiership club Everton.
Kelham O'Hanlon took over temporary charge of management matters and despite difficult circumstances guided the club to a creditable eighth position a whisker away from the play-offs.
The close season saw a wind of change sweep through the Deepdale corridors. The first big change saw former Scotland manager Craig Brown unveiled as new first team manager. Kelham O'Hanlon was rewarded for his good work by retaining his assistant managers role while former Motherwell boss Billy Davies was brought in as first team coach. The influx of new faces continued as Jamaican international Ricardo Fuller became the first signing of the new era.
In late June, Baxi Partnership finally ended their association with PNE when their remaining shares were bought out by 'Friends of Preston North End' - a new company formed by club chairman Derek Shaw and Steve Jackson, the Managing Director of New Reg Ltd, the Club's official shirt sponsor.
The 2002/03 season saw Tyrone Mears, Marlon Broomes, Eddie Lewis, Brian O'Neil, Simon Lynch, Jonathan Gould and George Koumantarakis complete the North End revolution, but despite so many players coming in the final placing was slightly disappointing as they finished the season in 12th place.
The disappointment signalled the end for several experienced players, with Iain Anderson, Colin Murdock, Mark Rankine and Tepi Moilanen all leaving before the season kicked off. But despite the changes the fortunes remained the same, finishing in 15th place.
Callum Davidson, Youl Mawene and Gavin Ward all arrived in the summer of 2004 and gave the fans real hope for the new campaign, but things didn't quite go according to plan and with less than a month of the season gone, Craig Brown was relieved of his duties.
In August 2004, Billy Davies was put in temporary charge and four wins in six games earned him the job on a permanent basis, Davies and his new Assistant David Kelly were unveiled on September 27th.
The rest as they say is history and Davies led North End to fifth place in the table and a place in the Play Off Final at Cardiff, but in the end it proved to be a step too far as Bobby Zamora netted the only goal of the game.
Davies and Kelly were rewarded for their success with new and improved contracts in June 2005 and repaid the board's faith by leading North End to the Play-Offs for the second year in succession. However, this time they were knocked out in the Semi Final stage by Leeds United.
In June 2006, Billy Davies left his post at Deepdale to become manager of Derby County and he was replaced by Paul Simpson, who signed a three year contract.
In November 2006 Preston North End topped the Championship following the 1-1 draw at home to Coventry. It was the first time the Club had topped the second tier of English football since 1951.
David Nugent became the first Preston player since Sir Tom Finney to represent England, when he came on as a substitute in the friendly against Andorra and scored in injury time to help England to a 3-0 win in March 2007. In June, Nugent was sold to Portsmouth for an initial fee of £6m, bringing his short but exciting Deepdale days to an end.
In the immediate aftermath of Nugent's departure, Preston struggled for form, and this culminated in the departure of manager Paul Simpson after a 3-0 defeat at Hull City in November 2007. He was replaced by former Everton assistant manager Alan Irvine, who has steadily overseen an upturn in fortunes.
Alan Irvine steered the Club to Championship safety, completing the process when Richard Chaplow grabbed a late equaliser at Plymouth to guarantee North End's Championship status.
During the summer of 2008 the finishing touches to the new Invincibles Pavilion were put in place and the new stand was officially opened on Saturday August 16th 2008 with PNE's first home Championship clash of the season against Crystal Palace.
Deepdale's new capacity was moved up to 23,408 with more than 1,000 hospitality places and that extra seating proved useful when the Lilywhites drew Liverpool in the FA Cup Third Round. That game broke all records with 23,046 viewing the match inside the ground, the biggest crowd at Deepdale since the early 1970s. The game also saw record gate receipts and a TV viewing audience of 7.3m.
North End made the Play-Offs again at the end of that season but succumbed to Sheff Utd over two legs in the semi-final to miss out on the chance of Premier League football.
In December 2009 Alan Irvine left the Club and was succeeded by the son of Sir Alex Ferguson, Darren.
Ferguson only lasted 12 months however before being replaced by Phil Brown, but he was unable to keep the Lilywhites in the Championship and they were relegated to League One.
In a scenario very similar to that of Ferguson’s reign, Brown was replaced at Deepdale after 12 months – the same 12 that his predecessor had overseen and Graham Westley arrived with a view to changing the Club’s fortunes around.
After a huge squad overhaul in the summer of 2012, Westley was sacked in February 2013 after a disappointing tenure at Deepdale and he was replaced by former Huddersfield Town manager Simon Grayson.
Grayson had an immediate impact on the Club and under his guidance, results improved with the Lilywhites securing a respectable mid-table finish by the end of the season.
A rejuvenated North End in the 2013/14 season saw the club finish in the Play-Off places at the end of the last campaign, but Simon Grayson's side ultimately fell short of promotion losing to Rotherham in the Play-Off semi-finals.
It was during this season, that saw Preston North End lose its famous son with the death of Sir Tom Finney on the 14th February 2014.
All Lilywhites concerned will be in hope that PNE can go one step better than last year going into the 2014/15 season as a fitting tribute to the 'Preston Plumber'.
Roll Of Honour
| i don't know |
Which hero of mythology killed the Chimera? | Chimera
Chimera
by Micha F. Lindemans
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monster, depicted as an animal with the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon (sometimes it has multiple heads). It is a child of Typhon and Echidna . It terrorized Lycia (in Asia Minor), but was eventually killed by the Corinthian hero Bellerophon .
Article details:
| Bellerophon |
What was the collective name of the children of Uranus and Gaea? | Bellerophon
Bellerophon
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Bellerophon provides a lesson in the proper relationship between a mortal hero and the gods. When he was young he honored the gods and won their favor, but eventually his pride got the better of him and led to his downfall.
Bellerophon was the son of Poseidon and Eurynome , wife of Glaucus . He was raised by Glaucus who thought Bellerophon was his own son. Considering that both Poseidon and Glaucus were interested in horses, it is not surprising that Bellerophon quested after Pegasus . After many failures, he asked the seer Polyeidus for help.
Following Polyeidus' instructions, he spent the night in a temple of Athena . There, he had a dream that the goddess offered him a magical, golden bridle. He awoke and found the bridle he dreamt about in his hands. He sensibly made a sacrifice to both Athena and Poseidon . Afterwards, he went to the meadow Pegasus was grazing at, and was able to bridle and tame the horse without difficulty. Triumphant in his success, he went to King Pittheus and received permission to marry his daughter Aethra . However, before the marriage, he accidentally killed a man, possibly one of his brothers, and was banished.
He went to King Proetus to be excused for his crime. The king pardoned him, but during his stay at Proetus 's house, the King's wife, Stheneboea , attempted to seduce him. As an honorable man Bellerophon rejected her advances. This infuriated Stheneboea who then falsely accused him of attempting to seduce her.
Greatly upset, Proetus wanted to be rid of Bellerophon without having to accuse him publicly. He was also concerned about harming a house guest, as this was an offence to the gods. So, he sent Bellerophon to deliver a sealed message to his wife's father, King Iobates .
Arriving on Pegasus , Bellerophon was warmly received and settled in as Iobates ' house guest. Iobates unsealed and read the message thus learning of Stheneboea 's accusations against Bellerophon . This left Iobates in the same predicament of acting against a guest that had troubled Proetus .
Iobates ' solution was to ask Bellerophon to undertake a series of heroic, but deadly tasks. However, Bellerophon 's courage and skill as an archer, combined with Pegasus ' help, allowed him to prevail. In addition, his parentage, his sacrifices, and his acts of honour gave him the favour of the gods. His first task was to kill the terrible Chimaera . Succeeding, he was sent to conquer the neighbouring Solymi tribe, which was Iobates ' traditional enemy. When he defeated them, the King sent him to fight the Amazons . He was again victorious. In desperation, Iobates led an ambush against Bellerophon using his entire army; the army was killed to the last man.
At this point, Iobates had the wisdom to notice that something was very wrong. He realized that the gods favoured Bellerophon and that this favor would not have been given to a dishonorable house guest. Iobates succeed in making amends by giving Bellerophon half his kingdom, including the best farmlands and his daughter Philonoe in marriage.
There are two stories concerning the fate of Stheneboea . One says that Bellerophon extracted revenge by taking her for a ride on Pegasus , then shoving her off to fall to her death. In the other version, Stheneboea hears that Bellerophon has married her sister. She knows that this means her slander would be revealed and chose to kill herself.
It appeared that Bellerophon would live happily ever after. His glorious deeds were widely sung. He was happily married. Philonoe bore him two sons, Isander and Hippolochus, and two daughters, Laodameia and Deidameia. As a king his subjects loved and honored him.
However, this was not enough for Bellerophon . In his arrogance, he decided that he could ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus and visit the gods. Zeus quickly put an end to his trip by sending the gadfly to sting Pegasus and dismount Bellerophon . He survived his fall, but was crippled. He spent the rest of his life wandering the earth. No man would help him because of his offense to the gods. He died alone with no one to record his fate.
| i don't know |
Who plays Lee Mack’s father in Not Going Out? | "Not Going Out" Absent Father Christmas (TV Episode 2009) - IMDb
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Lee gets a surprise visit from Frank, the father who walked out on his family thirty-five years earlier and who never paid any maintenance. Lee is hostile but Lucy urges him to forgive and ... See full summary »
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Title: Absent Father Christmas (23 Dec 2009)
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Storyline
Lee gets a surprise visit from Frank, the father who walked out on his family thirty-five years earlier and who never paid any maintenance. Lee is hostile but Lucy urges him to forgive and forget. It is Christmas after all and Frank has terminal cancer and a hospital letter to prove it. But can Lee trust the man who ate his goldfish and made him take a drink-driving rap aged twelve? At least he gets to kiss Lucy under the mistletoe, which is the best Christmas present of all. Written by don @ minifie-1
23 December 2009 (UK) See more »
Company Credits
(Swansea, United Kingdom) – See all my reviews
Lucy's unimpressed with Lee, he's behaved badly at Christmas dinner with her parents. Barbara has suggested he tones down his laddish behaviour, and that he has a softer side. A soft lit, romantic evening is disturbed when Lee's father Frank turns up at the door. Lee is sceptical by Frank's return, Lucy convinces him to give Frank a second chance. Lee throws him out, but Frank tells Lee he's dying. Lee gives Frank a day doing what he wants, but soon discovers the truth.
What an inspired bit of casting getting Bobby Ball into the show was, I utterly love Bobby Ball, he's a true funnyman, he bounces off Lee Mack so well, they make a great combination.
Some utterly painfully hilarious lines, Not going out is famed for its Christmas specials, and this was the first of the really brilliant ones.
Just fabulous. 9/10
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| Bobby Ball |
Who plays Miranda Hart’s mother in her comedy series Miranda? | i talk: not going out
Tonight saw the second episode from the FIFTH series of Lee Mack & Tim Vine’s comedy sitcom Not Going Out air on BBC One. On the 25th of November 2011, I was lucky enough to get a ticket to watch this episode, Dads being filmed live at BBC Television Centre in London. For anyone who is not familiar with the show five series in, the show centres around it’s four main characters, Lee (Lee Mack), Tim (Tim Vine), Lucy (Sally Bretton) and Daisy (Katy Wix).
The basic plot is that Tim & Lee are best friends, Lee shares a flat with Tim’s sister Lucy and Daisy is Tim’s dippy girlfriend who was originally with Lee after a speed-dating session that ended in her being better suited to Tim.
Being a massive fan of the show, walking into the studio and seeing the set was a bit surreal yet mesmerising at the same time. What struck me most was the amount of detail that had gone into the set and to begin with I couldn’t quite believe I was there. And before you ask… no it didn’t ruin the allusion.
The studio itself was fairly small and only held about 200 people with every inch of the studio used up. On the far left of the set was the bar which Tim & Lee are often seen in, followed by the flat taking up the most space and then a small part of the studio is given over to the hallway which is only really seen when the flat door is open.
I have seen some entertainment/talk shows being filmed in the past, but the whole process of watching a live studio sitcom was new to me and one I was very keen to witness. The whole process starts off with the warm up guy, and in the case of Not Going Out it was Ray Peacock, a short guy with long hair who you may have spotted in last week’s episode after his cameo where he called Tim and his band onto the stage.
What I really liked was that at the start of the recording, Ray Peacock introduced each of the cast out one by one. First up was Lee Mack (see image left) who did a couple jokes, got the audience laughing and introduced Tim Vine to the stage who gave us a few of his famous one-liners.
Sally Bretton and the brilliant Katy Wix soon followed and then the shows special guests were announced; as a big Miranda fan I was holding out for it to be her after she played hapless cleaner Barbara in Series 2 and 3. But alas it wasn’t to be, but I was just as happy to see Bobby Ball who plays Lee’s father Frank and Geoffrey Whitehead who plays Geoffrey Adams, Tim & Lucy’s father walk onto the stage.
My favourite character, aside from Lee who’s one liners get me every time is Daisy, played by the very underrated Katy Wix (Outnumbered, Miranda, Anna & Katy) (see image right). Some of the things she comes out with never fail to make me laugh! Her and her adorably dippy ways.
As warm up guy’s go, Ray Peacock was a pretty funny guy considering his notoriously tough gig. He had a great rapport with Lee Mack which made the warm up gig a lot less uncomfortable, whereby he would keep a tally of the amount of time Lee messed up his lines as well as the rest of the cast. Peacock also had a running joke with Bobby Ball where by he’d read out excerpts from an old Cannon and Ball annual in a bid to humiliate him much to the audience’s amusement.
Before arriving at the recording I was unclear as to how they would film it. I assumed it would be an entire episode but I was unsure as to whether or not it would be shot in sequence as very often TV shows are not. However I was pleasantly surprised when the lights went down and on the two TV screens above the audience came the opening credits to Not Going Out.
And from then on everything was shot in sequence, and what impressed me most was that any external scenes were also shown on the screens, so we got to experience the entire episode with every part of the episode explained. Of course, things didn’t run exactly the same as the episode that went out. The filming took about 3 hours give or take, with most scenes being filmed two or three times after several slip-ups mostly from Bobby Ball and Lee Mack.
The episode sees Lee’s father Frank (Bobby Ball, Cannon & Ball, Mount Pleasant) turn up at the flat after an accident that has left him in a wheelchair. Not wanting anything to do with his father, Lee does all he can to avoid letting Frank get what he wants, which is to stay with Lee in the flat for the weekend.
After much deliberation Lee plays right into Frank’s hands and hilarity ensues when Frank needs some medication but nobody was jumping at the chance to give it to him… not where it’s supposed to go anyway!
So all in all in was a great experience and I wouldn’t think twice about going to see it again. I standby my previous claim on this blog that I class Not Going Out as one of my favourite comedies and more importantly one of the best sitcoms of recent times. What I particularly like is the writing, unlike most comedies this series really is a laugh a minute with some brilliant one-liners and great character relationships.
Not Going Out continues Friday nights at 9:30pm on BBC One
August 27, 2012
| i don't know |
Who plays Vic Reeves aka Jim Moir’s wife in the comedy Hebburn? | Hebburn characters - British Comedy Guide
Newspaper Editor. Played by: Chris Ramsey
The son. He starts things and never finishes them, gets into all kinds of situations, "a walking disaster zone", but loveable and almost naïve in his view of the world.
Jack loves his sister, although their relationship can be a little strained; meanwhile, he has pursued his dreams by becoming a journalist in Manchester, and has ambitions to write books and be a huge success.
Sometimes a little too impetuous and ambitious for his own good, Jack's nevertheless utterly honest, loving and loyal to his family and to Sarah, who he met in Manchester and married on impulse in Las Vegas.
Having had his dreams of publishing a major football biography dashed, Jack's reluctantly found himself Editor (and sole reporter) of the tiny local paper, the Hebburn Advertiser. He wouldn't have taken it if Sarah hadn't fallen pregnant...
Sarah Pearson
Played by: Kimberley Nixon
The wife. Middle class, from York and Jewish, Sarah is the clever half of the couple. She's studying a PhD in Psychology, looking forward to a successful career in academia and is hoping that her Jack's writing will take off so they can settle down, buy a house and live the dream.
Pregnant with their first child, she's suffering dreadfully from hormonal mood swings, and growing ever-more frustrated with not having any space, peace or privacy. Jack seems to have lost all his drive, and it's not gone un-noticed.
It'd be fair to say that Hebburn did not initially feature in her plans, but Sarah's not a snob and is really relieved that Jack's family like her.
It's a pity that the same cannot be said of her argumentative, snooty, forthright mother...
Joe Pearson
Played by: Vic Reeves (as Jim Moir)
The father, the patriach of the family, strong and silent, great in a crisis, with a dry, almost cutting sense of humour.
A big man with a big heart, capable of huge moments of generosity, while refusing to spend any money at all on himself.
Joe has worked in the Merchant Navy all his life and has often been away from home for six months at a time, but after a massive stroke he's now back in the family home for good; while there's never anything but love between him and Pauline, it's an added pressure on the Pearsons.
Pauline Pearson
Estate Agent. Played by: Gina McKee
The mother. Daft but not stupid, wise but not sensible, her entire focus is her family and getting them forward in life.
In raising her children Pauline has always tried the best for them and in moments of darkness will always "cope". Sometimes by saying the wrong thing, but she will always cope.
She is a homemaker at heart and loves looking after her children even though they are now fully grown adults.
Following Joe's stroke, Pauline's had to make a big change in her own life by becoming the breadwinner: she's got a job as an estate agent. Trouble is, she's really just a bit too honest!
Vicki
Florist. Played by: Lisa McGrillis
The daughter. Headstrong but with a good heart, Vicki lurches from moments of the desire to fit in, to the realisation she is her own person. She thinks Jack is a "waster" and they bicker constantly, but she loves Sarah and almost instantly seems to feel closer to her than she does to long-term best friend Denise.
Jack describes his sister, who idolises Cheryl Cole , as as a "loveable slapper": her somewhat brash, northern manner can disarm, but it's a thin covering over a fairly typical girly-girl.
On-off boyfriend Gervaise keeps breaking her heart, but she still loves him. However, having been more than content with a simple life as the girlfriend of a pub singer apparently on the up, she's inspired by Sarah to strive in life, and join the local college: "There's a whole world out there, and I'm gonna learn the shite out of it."
Dot
Played by: Pat Dunn
Joe's mam, Granny Dot, is the matriarch of the Pearson family. She thinks she controls the family despite a long spell in retirement home exile.
Dot is desperate to join in the conversation and is thrilled at Sarah's introduction to the family. She also enjoys Pauline's difficulties in, well, anything whatsoever, and never misses an opportunity to let her daughter-in-law know that she would do a better job.
But even though she often snipes at Pauline, Dot knows that her son's done well for himself and settled down with a good woman.
Ramsey
Phyiscal Distribution Manager. Played by: Jason Cook
One of Jack's old Hebburn mates is, on the surface, a n'er do well, but underneath he cares about his town, his mates, his tearaway son Hutchy and, particularly, Denise.
He's a weekend dad - although Hutchy is often the authority figure - who tries and fails in life.
Despite her still harbouring a deep desire for Jack, Ramsey is overjoyed when he sleeps with, and later begins a relationship (of sorts) with, Denise. He describes her as his 'dream bird', and he quickly gets her pregnant - thanks to some incredibly dodgy condoms.
He's delighted to get what is almost certainly his first job, as the local paper's Phyiscal Distribution Manager - aka, paper boy.
Big Keith
Played by: Steffen Peddie
Big Keith is Ramsey's friend. He is, as his name suggests, quite big.
His slobbish appearance is, to be fair, actually more than a little skin-deep - but Big Keith has an undoubted charm, proven when Sarah's hippy sister, Marial, goes a little bit crazy for him and his earthy masculinity.
Gervaise
Played by: Neil Grainger
Gervaise is a pub singer, and a mate of Ramsey. He has an on-off relationship with Vicki - he keeps breaking her heart, but she's hooked.
Now starting to move up in the showbiz world, Gervaise is recording an album and is back together with Vicki. But will it last?
Denise
AKA: Denise Chantelle Rutherford. Care Worker. Played by: Victoria Elliott
Jack's ex-girlfriend is a brash, outspoken good time girl.
It may've been a full five years since they split up, but unfortunately for Jack she still harbours more than a little bit of a longing for his talents in the bedroom, and as Vicki's best friend, he can never quite escape her for long.
Jack may have outgrown her uniquely classy style, but for the still Hebburn-bound Ramsey, Denise is his dream bird. Working at the local council-run OAP care home where Dot is resident, and now pregnant by Ramsey, she's developed quite the craving for Pepperami.
| Gina McKee |
What is the common name of the carambola? | Archive | Channel X
13 x 30 mins sitcom for CBBC
The Broadcast Awarding winning series returns…
Lily, Martha and Jas are super-bright, but socially awkward 13 year old girls, trying to make sense of life, boys and fitting in. While other girls are going to parties, netball practice and sleepovers, our inseparable trio are busy with chess club, homework and Friday nights in watching documentaries.
While they might be the three smartest girls in the class, they’ve got a lot to learn. But that doesn’t stop them from trying… In spite of their ups and downs they are learning that it’s not only ok to be different, it’s important. They have their own unique take on the world and, crucially, they have each other.
Detectorists Series 2
BAFTA Award winning comedy starring, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook for BBC4.
Andy (Mackenzie Crook), a wannabe archaeologist, spends time in muddy fields with a metal detector and a packed lunch alongside his friend Lance (Toby Jones). Together they dream of finding that priceless Saxon hoard that will make them rich and cement their place in detecting history.
But as they go off on their adventures, real life keeps getting in the way.
They embark on a journey of greed, betrayal, rejection and redemption as they hurtle towards Danbury Metal Detecting Club’s greatest ever find.
The Jam: About the Young Idea
Feature length documentary produced for Eagle Rock Entertainment in Association with Sky Arts
About the Young Idea is the story of The Jam. It charts their career from formation in the early seventies, through the heady days of chart success and on to their break up in 1982. The programme features extensive, brand new interviews with Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler alongside archive performance footage and new contributions from fans, journalists and many involved in the band’s career.
Liam Mullone’s Disappointing World
Pilot for BBC Radio 4
British comedy’s only contrarian libertarian antiquarian, Liam Mullone, tackles the universal theme that sums up all human endeavour – disappointment.
In this comedy lecture dedicated to history’s losers, Liam celebrates some enormously bad ideas from the world of technology.
All the images you should need are on WordPress already I think but let me know if I’ve missed anything.
Detectorists Series 1
BAFTA Award winning comedy starring, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook for BBC4.
Andy (Mackenzie Crook), a wannabe archaeologist, spends time in muddy fields with a metal detector and a packed lunch alongside his friend Lance (Toby Jones). Together they dream of finding that priceless Saxon hoard that will make them rich and cement their place in detecting history.
But as they go off on their adventures, real life keeps getting in the way.
They embark on a journey of greed, betrayal, rejection and redemption as they hurtle towards Danbury Metal Detecting Club’s greatest ever find.
So Awkward Series 1
13 x 30 mins sitcom for CBBC
Lily, Martha and Jas are super-bright, but socially awkward 13 year old girls, trying to make sense of life, boys and fitting in. While other girls are going to parties, netball practice and sleepovers, our inseparable trio are busy with chess club, homework and Friday nights in watching documentaries.
While they might be the three smartest girls in the class, they’ve got a lot to learn. But that doesn’t stop them from trying… In spite of their ups and downs they are learning that it’s not only ok to be different, it’s important. They have their own unique take on the world and, crucially, they have each other.
Sky Living
Pilot
Written by Bede Blake and starring Katherine Parkinson, Steve Edge and Emma Pierson, Officially Special tells the story of Jo Pepper, the put upon head of the ‘Miscellaneous’ department at Brewster’s World Records. With a boyfriend keen to wed, a promoted nemesis and a new colleague, Jo’s at a perilous crossroads. The pilot formed part of the Love Matters series of romantic comedies for Sky Living.
Hebburn Series 2
BBC Two Comedy Series
6×30 mins
Hebburn is a warm family sitcom created by Geordie stand up Jason Cook and co-written with Graham Duff.
Impetuous and ambitious Jack (Chris Ramsey) has left Tyneside for the bright lights and glamour of Manchester having secretly married a middle class Jewish girl, Sarah. Now it’s about time he introduced her to his family in Hebburn.
Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) and Gina McKee play Jack’s parents, Joe and Pauline, who are devoted to their family and their hometown. There’s fun-loving sister Vicki; Grandmother, Dot, who likes to keep everyone ‘up to speed’ on her bowel movements; Vicki’s boyfriend Gervaise and her best friend, Denise and Jack’s old mates Ramsey (played by Cook) and Big Keith.
Jan Ravens and Phil Nice guest star as Sarah’s parents, Susan and Ben, who have to contend with their daughter marrying into a family from a very different background.
Co-produced with Baby Cow Productions.
John Bishop’s Only Joking
Sky 1 & Sky 1 HD Comedy Series
10×30 mins
A stand-up comedy show that deals unashamedly in jokes and nothing but jokes.
In a thirty minute barrage of laughter John Bishop is joined in the studio by a host of comedians past, present and new including Jason Manford, Andi Osho, Tom O’Connor, Katherine Ryan, Jason Byrne, Stewart Francis, Jimmy Cricket, Rob Rouse and Jason Cook amongst others.
Meanwhile, cameras have travelled the length and breadth of the country to hear members of the public and celebrities alike tell us their funniest jokes. Throughout the series, we’ll hear from Robbie Williams, Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp, Warwick Davis, Robbie Savage, Davina McCall and many more.
John Bishop’s Only Joking is co-produced with Lola Entertainment.
6×30 mins
Hebburn is a warm family sitcom created by Geordie stand up Jason Cook and co-written with Graham Duff.
Impetuous and ambitious Jack (Chris Ramsey) has left Tyneside for the bright lights and glamour of Manchester having secretly married a middle class Jewish girl, Sarah. Now it’s about time he introduced her to his family in Hebburn.
Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) and Gina McKee play Jack’s parents, Joe and Pauline, who are devoted to their family and their hometown. There’s fun-loving sister Vicki; Grandmother, Dot, who likes to keep everyone ‘up to speed’ on her bowel movements; Vicki’s boyfriend Gervaise and her best friend, Denise and Jack’s old mates Ramsey (played by Cook) and Big Keith.
Jan Ravens and Phil Nice guest star as Sarah’s parents, Susan and Ben, who have to contend with their daughter marrying into a family from a very different background.
Co-produced with Baby Cow Productions.
ITV4 Factual Entertainment
1×60 min June 2012
Eurogeddon: Why England Shouldn’t Win Euro 2012 is a satirical explanation of how terrible an England victory in a major football tournament would be. Hosted by Jason Manford and starred Johnny Vegas, Angelos Epithimou, Mark Watson, Rufus Hound, Stacey Solomon and Dr David Starkey.
Lunch Monkeys Series One
6x30min for BBC Three
Comedy set in a` no win no fee’ law firm focusing on the admin team staffed by young people fresh out of college and making their way in the world of work. Written by former lawyer David Isaac and starred Nigel Havers, Sian Reeves, Steve John Shepherd and a group of talented young actors from the North West.
Jason Manford Live at the Manchester Apollo
Live DVD
Filmed live at the Manchester Apollo during his sell out tour, Jason Manford showcases some of the freshest material on the circuit in this hotly anticipated debut stand up DVD.
Three Wheeling
Sophisticated sitcom pilot starring Barunka O’Shaunessey, Gareth Tunley and John Hopkins.
Hung Out
1x30min Comedy Lab for Channel 4
A talented team of actors with their director Sam Abrahams wrote this together and the naturalistic comedy reflects this. Hung Out is about a group of friends who have moved from the Westcountry to London and the social pressures they face.
Slaterwood
1x30min Comedy Lab for Channel 4
This vehicle for Bolton character comic Peter Slater featured a variety of sketches and spoofs including the B Movie Trailer Bang Out of Order, characters like the French Mystery Man, Bobby Gold and the frightening diner owner, Tex.
Chelsey: OMG!
12 x 3 Episodes Bebo
Chelsey : OMG! is primarily set in London, England and follows the life of Chelsey Pucks a young American girl who lands a job in the world of fashion. By August 2009 the show had amassed approx 2,000,000 views.
UXB
UXB is a female skewed sketch show starring Fiona Allen and based around the pre-occupations all women, and all men who know women, would fully understand.
Mainstage
MAINSTAGE is a funny look at the music world through the eyes of TV’s top character comedians and sketch performers
Sucka Fu Chicken Hed
An eccentric sketch comedy featuring an exciting new cast of comedy performers, written by Christian Azzola.
Swizzcall
1x3omin Comedy Lab for Channel 4
A spoof of late night phone-in quiz shows, Swizzcall proved cult viewing and featured several emerging comic performers including Emma Fryer, Andrew Lawrence, Seymour Mace and Gary Morris and a cameo from Johnny Vegas. `
Jobs Jim Jeffries Shouldn’t Do
10 x shorts Paramount Comedy
Controversial Australian comedian Jim Jeffries showing us why he isn’t a professional sportsman, priest or gynecologist, amongst other things.
Golf War
1 x 15min E4 Funny Cut
Simon Farnaby, Rich Fulcher, Matt Berry, Nina Conti and Hale from Hale and Pace star in this sitcom about two rival golf clubs.
Lifeskills
1x15min for E4
Written by John Camm and Will Maclean this is a spoof of educational programmes and online videos aimed at young people – hosted by Chris Hannon and Lorna Watson with Emma Fryer, Katy Wix, Ruth Bratt, Sarah Solemani, Peter Slater, Michael Spicer and more.
Where to Mate?
20x2min online sketches
This series of taxi bases sketches were written by Jason Wingard and David Isaac with Jason directing. They featured Peter Slater and Irfan Nazir as Manchester cabbies who were joined by a range of guest passengers including Johnny Vegas, John Henshaw, Paula Wilcox and Seymour Mace.
This clip includes some swearing…
10x2min sketches for Paramount Comedy
Bolton character comic Peter Slater wrote and starred in this series of spoof infomercials.
BBC3 6×30 2006 Comedy.
Be preapaered to enter the unique world of Matt Berry & Rich Fulcher’s Snuff Box.
An unconventional ‘narrative’ sketch show from Mighty Bosh co-stars Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher set in a Gentlemen’s Club. The show follows the progress of two hangmen played by Matt and Rich as they scheme and plot against one another. The surreal nature of the series would have the couple travelling back in time or breaking out in song and dance. The series will air on BBC America in 2007.
Modern Toss
Channel 4 6×30 2006 Comedy/Animation
Based on the comic book by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage. “The stink of excellence in a world gone tits up.”
Critically acclaimed mix of animation and live action based on the popular comic book created by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage. Most popular characters include, Mr Tourette, Alan, Drive By Abuser and a bloke who turns into a giant red monster when he sees Alan Titchmarsh. The Daily Telegraph called it;
Blunder
6 X 30 MINS FOR E4/C4
Blunder is an ensemble sketch show featuring the best new character comedians in the country. The six strong cast is Rhys Thomas-Fast Show/Star Stories, Tom Meeten-Mighty Boosh, David Mitchell-Peep Show, Nina Conti – Bromwell High, Tony Way-Extras/Saxondale and Simon Farnaby-Spoons, Jam and Jersusalem.
Reversal of Fortune
1×30 2006 Quiz show pilot, hosted by Eamonn Holmes
Quiz show where being last could be better than being first; the questions are also set in a unique way in this topsy turvey stripped show.
Britcom Weekend
UKTV Gold 2006 3 6-hour themed nights about British comedy, hosted by Julian Clary
A Julian Clary hosted weekend celebrating the best of British sitcom for UKTV Gold. A mix of interviews, sketches and clips presented around the themes of Miserable Gits, Rule Britannia and Camp Comedy. The guests included John McCririck, Linda Robson, Andrew Sachs, Melvyn Hayes, Henning Wehn and Shahbaz Chaudry.
Funny Cuts
E4 2×15 2006 Comedy/Entertainment, starring Henning Wehn & Jason Manford
Channel X produced two films for E4’s Funny Cuts strand: German Tourism featuring German stand up comedian Henning Wehn extolling the virtues of the Fatherland, while Modern Worries stars Mancunian stand up Jason Manford, who ponders whether the modern generation of men have gone soft.
Living With Two People…
1x30min pilot for BBC Three
Living With Two People You Like Individually, But Not As A Couple is a studio sitcom pilot for BBC Three and was written by Mark Watson. It’s full title sums up the premise – a struggling young writer is forced to live with his financially successful brother and girlfriend, who are lovely on their own, but…
California Dreaming
Channel 4 7x 30 2005 Factual Entertainment/Reality Show for T4
In this seven part series, presented by Vernon Kay, five ambitious British showbiz wannabes are taken to Los Angles to see if they can try and ‘make it’ in the capital of showbiz. The five hopefuls – Hollyoaks star Jodi Albert, Ewen “Keith from The Office” Macintosh, presenters Giles Vickers Jones and Ashley Mulheron and singer/songwriter Anouska De Georgiou – were transformed by a series of stylists, PR’s and acting coaches, but could any of them break through in the competitive world of Hollywood showbiz?
Peter Kay – The Early Years
Paramount Comedy 1×30 2005 Archive Comedy
Unseen -’ before he was famous’ – interview footage of Britain’s favourite comedian filmed in his mum’s back yard.
Lucas and Walliams – The Early Years
Paramount Comedy 1×30 2005 Archive Comedy
This show, put together with Channel X owned archive, features rarely seen footage of the stars of Little Britain before they became the megastars they are today. We visit Matt Lucas on the set of Shooting Stars as he plays Mr T and Uncle Fester in two classic sketches and chat to Matt and Dave before they go on tour with Sir Bernard Chumley’s Gang Show.
Modern Toss Comedy Lab
C4 1×30 2005 Comedy/Animation
Unique hybrid of comedy and animation based on the cult comic of the same name created by Mick Bunnage and Jon Link.
Popetown
BBC3 10×30 2004 Animation Comedy
The most controversial animated comedy series ever made stars Matt Lucas, Bob Mortimer, Ruby Wax, Jerry Hall and Mackenzie Crook. Popetown is based the side-splittingly surreal world of the Vatican where the long suffering and good-hearted Father Nicholas struggles to walk the narrow path of righteousness, whilst surrounded by money grabbing cardinals and a pogo-stick-riding infantile pope. The show was banned by the BBC, but has been successful in Germany, Italy, France, Australia and New Zealand.
The Grill
Channel 4 10×30 2004 Comedy- Entertainment for T4
A studio based show set in LA hosted by Vernon Kay and Playboy Playmate Nikki Ziering (American Pie: The Wedding) . Each episode featured interviews with Hollywood based movie or music stars, freak show weirdos and comedy sketches in which Vernon and Nikki aped the lives of Madonna, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Catterick
BBC2/3 6×30 2004 Comedy Drama, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
A real time road trip comedy Catterick tells the story of brothers Chris and Carl who have not seen each other for 15 years. The series deal with the first three hours following their reunion.
The brothers go on a desperate mission in search of Carl’s estranged son but things do not go exactly to plan… On the way they are pursued by a murderer, are mistakenly wanted by the police and become involved with a hotel proprietor who is searching for a vital part of his anatomy.
The show’s co-stars read like a who’s who of British comedy talent; Mark Benton Morwenna Banks, Matt Lucas, Reece Shearsmith and Charlie Higson.
Shooting Stars Series 5
BBC2 10×30 2003 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
The award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson, Will Self and Johnny Vegas.
Stupid Punts
BBC3 19×30 2003 Panel Show, hosted by Patrick Kielty
Panel show based around the premise of wagering on unlikely bets. Each episode four celebrities would bet over a series of ridiculous, ludicrous but always funny situations. Which Chelsea Pensioner will talk longest about the war? How many celebrity wigs can Debbie McGee catch in a wind storm? What turns on a Star Trek fan more – a nude model or a picture of the Starship Enterprise?
The show was piloted by ABC in the states, aired as a sping break special for MTV in the US and was a ratings hit in Romania.
Shooting Stars Xmas Special
BBC2 1×40 2002 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
Christmas version of the award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson, Will Self and Johnny Vegas.
Date That
Five 13×30 2002 Dating Show
Dating format where five teenage girls from one sub-cultural groups are matched with five boys from another. Would there be love in the air or blood on the carpet when Goths from Folkstone spent the day with five model girls from Essex? Presnted by Abbie Eastwood.
Fanorama
E4 40×30 2002 Panel Show, featuring David Mitchell & Rhys Thomas
Pop culture panel show where two teams of fans are pitted against each . Contestants ranged from J-Lo junkies to Star Wars stalkers, Eminem enthusiasts to Monsters Inc maniacs. To prove their dedication they were put through 5 hilarious rounds. Hosted by Claudia Winkleman and later Lauren Laverne, and featuring David Mitchell and Rhys Thomas as team captains.
Origen’s Wake
Channel 4 1×15 2002 Animation
Channel X’s first foray into adult animation was written and produced by Waen Shepheard and is set in the north of England of the late 1970s. South Park meets Coronation Street.
Shooting Stars Series 4
BBC2 8×30 2002 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
The award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson, Will Self and Johnny Vegas.
Head to Toe
BBC Choice 13×15 2000 Fashion/Factual Entertainment, presented by Sean Rowley
A style series looking at the social and cultural history of men’s clothing and aiming to build up the perfect gentlemen’s wardrobe, from head to toe!
Paul Zenon’s Trick or Treat
Channel 4 1×60 2000 Magic/Comedy
Magic special where comic street magician Zenon takes on a Halloween theme as he befuddles and amazes the people of Prague with a collection of outrageous tricks.
Like all the Channel X Zenon shows this was a strong international seller.
Vic Reeves Examines
UK Play 13×30 2000 Entertainment
A bizarre mix of chat show and performance art as comedy star Vic Reeves In allowed guests a rare opportunity to delve into his mind and examine the contents.. Guests were invited to talk about obscure subjects like ‘cutlery’ andin the process analyse Vic’s original art work, study relevant props and artefacts, and spend time with the studio rabbit. Guests included Johnny Vegas, Ricky Gervais and, Bill Oddie.
All Back To Mine Series 2
Channel 4 9×30 2000 Music/Factual Entertainment, presented by Sean Rowley
In this grown up music show DJ Sean Rowley (Guilty Pleasures) interviewed music celebrities – Desert Island Discs style – in their homes and dipped into their record collection to reveal the soundtrack to their lives. Celebrities featured in this series included Keith Allen, Gil Scott Heron, Lemmy from Motorhead, James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers fame, Shaznay Lewis (All Saints), Huey from Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Frankie Knuckles, Patrick Cox and Moby.
Like all the Channel X Zenon shows this was a strong international seller.
The Dave Saint Show
UK Play 13×30 2000 Entertainment
John Thomson starred as a past-it DJ and rock fan who presents the drive-time show on Stoke local radio. The series was written by Alex Kirk and Simon Messingham.
Celebrities The Truth
Sky One 2×60 2000 Gossip Show
Series that looked at famous ‘urban myths’ associated with big name stars and attempted to find the truth.
Paul Zenon’s Tricky Xmas
Channel 4 1×60 1999 Magic/Comedy
Street magician Paul Zenon hits a Christmas theme in this ratings hit. Scouting the night life of inner city Britain playing tricks on the unsuspecting public, Zenon found cards in walnuts, made tax discs jump through glass and created a snowstorm with one cigarette paper.
Comedy Café
ITV 25×30 1999 Comedy Magazine Show, presented by Mackenzie Crook
Magazine show devoted to the world of comedy, presented by Mackenzie-‘The Office’- Crook, in character as the dated comedian Charlie Cheese. Guests included Ricky Gervais, The Mighty Boosh, Ross Noble, Lee Mack, Omid Dhajli, Leigh Francis, Meera Syal, Iain Lee, Simon Pegg, Jessica Stephenson, Dave Gorman, Robin Ince and more…
Families At War
BBC1 8×45 1999 Saturday Night Entertainment with Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer hosted family game show, where two familes compete against each other over a collection of bizarre challenges. The winning family then got to take control of the prize grabbing spider in the enormous Cubiscous at the end of the programme. Performances included a record breaking display of incredible strength, a bizarre ventriloquist act and a daring motorcycle stunt. Helping the family member’s display their skills each week were various celebrity guests
All Back To Mine Series 1
Channel 4 7×30 1999 Music/Factual Entertainment, presented by Sean Rowley
In this grown up music show DJ Sean Rowley (Guilty Pleasures) interviewed music celebrities – Desert Island Discs style – in their homes, dipping into their record collections to reveal the soundtrack to their lives. Celebrities featured in this series include Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook, Pete Waterman, Skin (Skunk Anansie), Alan McGee, Grant Mitchell from Massive Attack, Sharleen Spiteri of Texas and Suede frontman Brett Anderson.
Turning Tricks – Easter Special
Channel 4 1×60 1999 Magic/Comedy starring Paul Zenon
First of three one hour Paul Zenon magic specials where the street magician trawled the streets of inner city Britain bamboozling, boozed up locals, playing tricks on kebab eaters and generally sending up the pomposity of post David Blaine magic shows.
Bang Bang, It’s Reeves & Mortimer
BBC2 6×30 1998 Sketch Comedy
A follow up to The Smell Of Reeves and Mortimer, new sketches were added in this series, including the recurring sketch ‘The Club’, a spoof fly-on-the-wall documentary looking at the ups and downs of Baron’s Night Club.
Barking
Channel 4 6×30 1998
Sketch Comedy, starring Mackenzie Crook, David Walliams, Omid Djalili, Peter Kay, Tony Way, Rhys Thomas, Catherine Tate, Simon Greenhall.
Late night show ensemble sketch show featuring up and coming character comedians, most of whom have gone on to become big stars.
The Cooler
Challenge TV 30×30 1998 Game show
Bizarre popular culture game show hosted by Donna Air which featured contestants racing against each other in adult baby walkers.
The Dolls’ House
Bravo 5×30 1998 Documentary
Ob-doc about four young women living together in one of the UK’s first web-cam houses. One of the girls, Mylene Klass went onto achieve fame as a pop singer.
Families at War
BBC1 1×45 1998 Saturday Night Entertainment with Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer hosted family game show, where two familes compete against each other over a collection of bizarre challenges. The winning family then got to take control of the prize grabbing spider in the enormous Cubiscous at the end of the programme.
Food Fight
C5 13×301998 Panel Show
Food-based comedy panel show hosted by Andy Parsons with team captains Sara Cox and Henry Naylor, featured blindfolded food tasting, true or false round and milking a cow live in the studio.
Johnny Meets Madonna
Channel 4 1×60 1998 Interview
An exclusive interview with Madonna to coincide with her new LP and the first time she’d spoken in public since the birth of her daughter Lourdes. The interview is split into 3 parts, consisting of clips of Madonna’s music old & new, Channel X’s own take on the “Ray of Light” video with presenter Johnny Vaughan starring at various London locations, questions from the public, and candid chat about motherhood, horoscopes, moving to London & the identity of the world’s hottest lover.
Left Field
Bravo 5×120 1998 Sports Entertainment
Sports entertainment show hosted by Gail Porter and Paul Tonkinson. Featured oddball games, weird archive and interviews.
Turning Tricks with Paul Zenon
Channel 4 1×15 1998 Magic/Comedy
In Turning Tricks, street magician Paul Zenon trawls the night life of inner city Britain playing tricks on unsuspecting members of the public. Zenon finds cards in kebabs, baffles traffic wardens, makes real money out of blank paper and pushes a cigarette through a coin. Filmed on location in London, Blackpool, Manchester and Glasgow, Turning Tricks shows Zenon taking his magic out onto the street and drawing an audience wherever he goes.
The Best of The Last Resort
Channel 4 1×60 1997 Chat Show Compilation
Compilation of The Last Resort, talk show hosted by Jonathan Ross.
Shooting Stars Series 3
BBC2 8×30 1997 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
The award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson and Mark Lamarr. Shooting Stars was a twist on the traditional panel show, with features such as The Dove From Above, leg rubbing, bizarre film clips and UVAVU!
The Best Slices of Jo Brand through the Cakehole
Channel 4 3×30 1997 Comedy Compilation
A starring show for Jo Brand who incorporated many of her favourite topics (periods, gluttony, smoking, boozing, male inadequacy and male immaturity) into the routines and sketches. Top-name guest stars appeared throughout – including Steve Coogan, Alan Davies, Imelda Staunton and Maria McErlane.
It’s Ulrika!
BBC2 1×45 1997 Comedy Show with Ulrika Jonsson
Following from the success of Shooting Stars, Ulrika Jonsson starred in this comedy-entertainment show written and produced by Reeves and Mortimer. It’s Ulrika! showed Jonsson impersonating celebrities (Cher, Dusty Springfield, Phil Collins, Anne Robinson, Anthea Turner and others) and appearing in a number of surreal sketches, supported by a strong cast that includes Vic and Bob, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Rhys Thomas and Charlie Higson.
Phil Kay Feels…
Channel 4 6×30 1997 Stand-up & Sketch Comedy
Unique comedy talent Phil Kay’s hyper-energetic, rapid fire delivery was used to full effect in this studio show in which Phil explored a different theme every week (Phil Kay feels ‘Natural’, ‘Technical’, ‘Lovely’, ‘Entertaining’, ‘Sporty’, ‘Wet’). Thw off the wall comedy was punctuated with audience participation and film clips were used to illustrate the points made by Phil.
Funny Business
ITV 87×30 1995-97 Comedy Magazine Show
First Jo Jo Smith and the Iain Coyle presented this comedy magazine show, that was a comprehensive weekly guide to the UK funny scene. Interviewees featured included, Lee Evans, Lee and Herring, Jo Brand, Joe Pasquale, Victoria Wood, Paul Kaye, Johnny Vegas, Harry Hill, Jack Dee and the League of Gentlemen.
Shooting Stars Xmas Special
BBC2 1×40 1996 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
Special festive one off of the award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson and Mark Lamarr. Shooting Stars was a twist on the traditional panel show, with features such as The Dove From Above, leg rubbing, bizarre film clips and UVAVU!
Shooting Stars Series 2
BBC2 12×30 1996 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
The award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson and Mark Lamarr. Shooting Stars was a twist on the traditional panel show, with features such as The Dove From Above, leg rubbing, bizarre film clips and UVAVU!
Phobophilia
Channel 4 1×60 1996 Magic/Entertainment, starring Penn & Teller
A magic/comedy special starring Penn and Teller, based on the theme of fear.
Shooting Stars Xmas Special
BBC2 1×45 1995 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
One –off festive special of the award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson and Mark Lamarr. Shooting Stars was a twist on the traditional panel show, with features such as The Dove From Above, leg rubbing, bizarre film clips and UVAVU!
Shooting Stars Series 1
BBC2 1995 7×30 Panel Show, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
The award-winning panel quiz show, hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer with support from Matt Lucas as scorer George Dawes, Ulrika Jonsson and Mark Lamarr. Shooting Stars was a twist on the traditional panel show, with features such as The Dove From Above, leg rubbing, bizarre film clips and UVAVU!
Alan Davies Live At the Lyric
Polygram 1×65 1994 Stand-up Comedy
An hour of stand up from Alan Davies, featuring observational comedy on Starsky and Hutch, the invisible man, no smoking flights and teenage years amongst other subjects.
Hypnosis
Channel 4 8×30 1994 Dance Music Show
Award winning dance music show; featuring profiles, interviews and a unique music mix throughout the whole show by a guest DJ every week.
Jo Brand through the Xmas Cakehole
Channel 4 1×45 1994 Stand-up & Sketch Comedy
A starring vehicle for Jo Brand who incorporated many of her favourite topics into the routines and sketches; periods, gluttony, smoking, boozing, male inadequacy and male immaturity. Top-name guest stars appeared throughout – including Steve Coogan, Alan Davies, Imelda Staunton and Maria McErlane. The show was jointly written by Brand and Jim Miller.
Jonathan Ross Presents…
Channel 41 3×30 1994 Interviews
Jonathan Ross tppk his chat show out of the studio and into the lives of the celebrities he wanted to interview, travelling to America to do so. The stars interviewed included David Copperfield, Billy Joel, Gloria Estefan, Hulk Hogan, Barry Manilow, Michael Bolton, Chris Issak, Phil Collins, Johnny Depp, Tom Jones, Emma Thompson, Meat Loaf, Burt Reynolds and Cindy Crawford.
One for the Road
Channel 4 6×30 1994 Comedy Drama, with Alan Davies
Alan Davies starred in this spoof travelogue that charted the globetrotting adventures of timeshare salesman Simon Treat. Each episode was presented as a video-tape that Simon mailed back to England detailing his current exploits. The location shooting and performance by the likeable Davies neatly captured the flavour of the celebrity TV travelogues the series set out to lampoon, and it gained an added dimension via the device of presenting the stories as the product of a hand-held camera, complete with jump-cut editing.
The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer
BBC2 12×30 1993-94 Sketch Show
Switching from C4 to BBC2, Vic and Bob continued to mix anarchy and surrealism, much as before, delighting their loyal following. The studio-set featured the huge letters ‘R’ and ‘M’ and various columns, and once again there was a desk, from which the pair launched many of the skits. This series introduced new characters, including the bra-wearing men Pat Wright and Dave Arrowsmith; awful folk duo Mulligan and O’Hare; flatulent farceurs the Petomanes; and the Max Wall-ish Uncle Peter, played by Charlie Chuck. Among the many other highlights were occasional visits with Slade, the 1970s glam-rock group, brilliantly imitated by Reeves, Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse and Mark Williams. It is regarded by many as the pinnacle of their TV work to date.
Jo Brand through the Cakehole
Channel 4 13×35 1993-94 Stand-up & Sketch Comedy
A starring show for Jo Brand who incorporated many of her favourite topics (periods, gluttony, smoking, boozing, male inadequacy and male immaturity) into the routines and sketches. Top-name guest stars appeared throughout – including Steve Coogan, Alan Davies, Imelda Staunton and Maria McErlane. The show was jointly written by Brand and Jim Miller.
Radio 5 52×105 1993 Comedy Radio Show
Comedy radio show, featuring Mark Lammar and Johnny Vaughan
Saturday Zoo
Channel 4 13×60 1993 Topical Humour, Celebrity Chat, Music and Sketches, presented by Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross and a guest host presided over this alternative variety show featuring a high proportion of comedy, including notable appearances by Steve Coogan, Mark Thomas and Denis Leary.
XYZ
BBC1 32×30 1993 Stripped Game show
Stripped game show.
The Unpleasant World of Penn and Teller
Channel 4 6×30 1993 Magic Entertainment
American comedy/magic double act Penn and Teller brought their talents to British shores for the first time in The Unpleasant World of Penn and Teller. They performed their shocking but funny tricks with the help of guest stars, which included John Cleese, Dawn French, Christopher Reeve, Alexei Sayle, Fiona Fullerton and Stephen Fry.
Sean’s Show
Channel 4 14×30 Sitcom, starring Sean Hughes
Sean Hughes, the youngest ever winner of the Perrier Award for best newcomer, wrote and starred in this sitcom which broke down the ‘fourth wall’, allowing Hughes to address the studio audience and discuss the sitcom world in which he lives. Hughes’ flat – in Chelsea, London – was the studio set in which most of the adventures occurred. In the first series serialised storylines revolved around his rocky relationship with girlfriend Susan. For the second series he was chasing a different woman, Lizzie, who worked with him at a garage. Manic ideas littered the scripts (there were appearances by God’s brother Shaw; a flatmate spider called Elvis; and Bosnian refugee television addicts) and the whole premise was whisked smoothly along by the amiable – albeit sometimes confused – Hughes.
Americana
Channel 4 3×60 1992 Documentary series, presented by Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross gave his own unique perspective on the US of A in these three documentaries: ‘Dumb’, in which Jonathan spent a lazy afternoon playing shuffleboard (in the nude) .‘Fat’, in which he looked at the importance of food to the American way of life featuring, the museums dedicated to hamburgers and Kentucky fried chicken, roadside cafes and naked waitresses; and ‘Rich’, where Ross explored the way some Americans make money, from the Exotic Dancers’ Hall of Fame in the Mojave Desert, via the drive-thru’ funeral parlour in Louisiana, to dressing up as a chicken for the corporate mascot training school.
Fantastic Facts
ITV 13×30 1992 Factual Entertainment, presented by Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross hosted this series which looked at strange but true stories from around the world, including sheep who faint.
And God Created Tenors
Channel 4 1×30 1992 Documentary for Without Walls strand
And God Created Tenors celebrated the lives and voices of the great 20th century tenors in film clips of Enrico Caruso, Richard Tauber, Gigli, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti (as a trio) and Domingo singing outside Covent Garden. Mario Lanza is seen in The Great Caruso and Sunday Night At The Palladium and his agent from 1957, Peter Prichard, describes his eating, drinking and daily life.
Jonathan Ross Meets Madonna
Channel 4 1×60 1992 Interview
Jonathan Ross interviews Madonna in this exclusive interview.
Hang The DJ
Channel 4 1×30 1992 Documentary about Radio 1
Documentary about BBC Radio 1 and it’s appalling roster of doddery dj’s.
A Word in Your Era
BBC2 8×30 1992 Panel Show, hosted by Rory McGrath
A Word In Your Era was a comedy panel show in which top talent are asked to become their favourite character from history and explain why they deserve to be immortal. Hosted by Rory McGrath, this show also featured future stars like Steve Coogan, Kathy Burke and Tony Slattery.
Seriously Seeking Sid
Channel 4 1×60 1992 Documentary about Sid James
This New Year’s day special was a search for the real Sid James: delving into his past career and his colourful sex life. Presented by Arthur Smith Seriously Seeking Sid included interviews with families, friends, colleagues, cabbies and bookies.
Tonight with Jonathan Ross
Channel 4 149×30 1991 Chat Show
Long running early evening talk show hosted by Jonathan Ross, featuring guests such as Danny Baker, Johnny B Badd, Jeremy Beadle, James Brown, Joan Collins, Robbie Coltrane, Henry Cooper, David Cronenberg, The Cure, Jamie Lee Curtis, Roger Daltrey, Jim Davidson, Jack Dee, Johnny Depp, Sheena Easton, Ade Edmondson, EMF, Robert ‘Freddy Krueger’ Englund, Erasure, Chris Eubank, John and Justin Fashanu, Jodie Foster, Michael J Fox, Sam Fox, Mel Gibson, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, David Hasselhoff, Audrey Hepburn, Bill Hicks, Anthony Hopkins, Dennis Hopper, Frankie Howard, Rod Hull and Emu, Vanilla Ice, Billy Idol, Chaka Kahn, Jonathan King, Lenny Kravitz, Mark Lamarr, Dennis Leary, Victor Lewis-Smith, Lennox Lewis, Joanna Lumley, Massice Attack, Spike Milligan, Paul Merton, Kylie Minogue, Dudley Moore, Morrissey, Demi Moore, Piers Morgan, Mike Myers, Naughty By Nature, Leslie Nielsen, Nirvana, Sinead O’Connor, Al Pacino, Public Enemy, Enoch Powell, Pauline Quirke, Vic and Bob, Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Rivers, Smokey Robinson, Linda Robson, Jim Rosenthal, Diana Ross, Kevin Rowland, Lily Savage, Adam Sandler, Seal, Shakespears Sister, Slash, Christian Slater, Tony Slattery, Spinal Tap, Freddie Starr, Peter Stringfellow, Janet Street-Porter, Chris Tarrant, Wesley Snipes, Meera Syal, Penn and Teller, Texas, The Temptations, They Might Be Giants, Glenn Tilbrook, Lily Tomlin, Tone Loc, Trev and Simon, Kathleen Turner, Midge Ure, Sir Peter Ustinov, Jean Claude Van Damme, Dennis Waterman, Paul Weller, Wet Wet Wet, Barry White, Robin Williams and Womack & Womack.
Viva Elvis
Channel 4 1×75 1991 Elvis Special, presented by Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross presented this documentary exploring the Elvis phenomenon and the hundreds of imitators it has spawned.
Channel 4 6×30 1990
Jonathan Ross hosted Christmas collection of Chinese ghost stories.
Jonathan Ross Presents For One Night Only
Channel 4 3×45 & 1×60 1990-91 Jonathan Ross profiles filmmakers
In this series Ross celebrated the careers of filmmakers David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ari Kaurismaki, using interviews with the directors, as well as clips and comments from colleagues.
Vic Reeves Big Night Out
Channel 4 Series 1 and 2 ;14×30 1990 Comedy, starring Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s first series on TV was a refreshingly different and thoroughly original combination of surrealism and an obsession with the ridiculousness of outdated television variety shows, with the dapper host presiding over a procession of acts who could best be described as incompetently eccentric. Acts such as Graeme Lister, The Man With The Stick, Novelty Island, Talc and Turnips and Donald and Davy Stott are remembered to this day and have influenced many others who have followed in their comedy footsteps.
Son Of Incredibly Strange Film Show
Channel 4 6×45 1989 Jonathan Ross interviews cult movie figures
Jonathan Ross looked at some of the best low budget cult American cinema, in this cult series . Amongst others the show looked at creator of the zombie genre George A Romero, Tsui Hark and Steve Gordon and possibly the worst movie director ever Ed Wood Jr
One Hour with Jonathan Ross
Channel 4 15×60 1989 Chat Show
Jonathan Ross took the talk show formula a step further in this follow up series to the Last Resort. The show featured the quiz ‘Knock Down Ginger’ which introduced a host of new comedy talent including, Vic and Bob and Higson and Whitehouse.
Set of Six
Channel 4 6×30 1989 Comedy Drama, starring Rowland Rivron
Roland Rivron stared in this series of individual mock-documentary sitcoms based around his Last Resort character, Dr Scrote and his five brothers (namely a boxer, a photographer, a gangster, a farmer and an MP). Shot on film and directed by veteran satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, the high production values of Set of Six were more than matched by the quality of the scriptwriting, which employed a laid-back and naturalistic approach to comedy that was quite distinctive at the time and a clear influence on later successes like Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights.
The Incredibly Strange Film Show
Channel 4 6×45 1988 Jonathan Ross interviews cult movie figures
Ross delved into his love of cult American cinema in this much loved series. Amongst the directors profiled in the show were Russ Meyer, Sam Raimi who directed the Evil Dead series and later went on to direct Spiderman, campy Ted V Mikels, “The Guru of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis, Ray Dennis ‘Cash Flagg’ Steckler and “Pope of Trash” John Waters.
Phew Rock n Roll
Channel 4 1×60 1988 Compilation of The Last Resort
Compilation of music elements in The Last Resort, talk show, hosted by Jonathan Ross.
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Whose charity work featured in the book Something Beautiful For God? | Something Beautiful for God Study Guide - 7sistershomeschool.com
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7sistershomeschool.com » Literature Guides » High School Great Christian Writers Literature Study Guides » Something Beautiful for God Study Guide
Something Beautiful for God Study Guide
Written to accompany British author Malcolm Muggeridge’s 1971 account of Mother Teresa’s contagious compassion, this 9-page literature study guide by Sabrina Justison helps you get the most out of Something Beautiful for God. Literature study guides from 7SistersHomeschool.com inspire students rather than tire them with busywork that kills the story.
Instead of attempting to examine every element of a book on the first reading, our study guides choose two or three respected literary devices and use them as a focal point.
Our guides are easy to adapt for use at an
Average High School,
Honors level
by choosing to include or omit the enrichment activities and suggested writing assignments.
What better time than high school to study the lives of Christian role models? Mother Teresa, whose life exemplified service and sacrifice as she ministered to the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India, is a remarkable example of a fully dedicated follower of Christ.
In Something Beautiful for God, Malcolm Muggeridge captures the story of Mother Teresa’s life and driving passions. It is truly a book to shape your teen's heart and mind! The 7 Sisters study guide, written by Sabrina Justison, helps your student understand the work of Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity and think about ways God may lead him/her, also.
Something Beautiful for God Study Guide
focuses on the following literary devices:
interpretational reading
The suggested writing assignments
encourage a personal response to the text
This NO-busywork study guide enriches the reading of the book for your homeschooled high school student.
Something Beautiful for God Study Guide
is EBook curriculum complete with
background information,
| Mother Teresa |
Which fictional sleuth made his debut in Pietr The Latvian? | Interview With Missionary of Charity Father Joseph Langford
By Karna Swanson
TIJUANA, Mexico, 2 SEPT. 2010 (ZENIT)
If Blessed Teresa of Calcutta could leave the world with one last message, she would most likely encourage all who would listen to embrace suffering, especially that of the poor, says Father Joseph Langford.
Father Langford is co-founder with Mother Teresa (1910-1997) of the priestly branch of the Missionaries of Charity, as well as the author of "Mother Teresa's Secret Fire" (Our Sunday Visitor), which reveals the inspiration behind Mother Teresa's work and the details of the call she received from God in 1946 to found the Missionaries of Charity.
As the world prepares to mark the 13th anniversary of Mother Teresa's death (Sept. 5), Father Langford reflects in this interview with ZENIT about what Mother Teresa meant to him personally, as well as the power of the message that the nun transmitted with her life of service to the poor and suffering.
ZENIT: There are thousands of missionaries around the world who work to help the poor and sick. What sets Mother Teresa's call, her mission, and her life apart from others who have given their entire lives to serve the poor?
Father Langford: This has been entirely God's doing; not ours, not hers. It has not been her qualities, nor even of her holiness, since many generous and holy missionaries have gone before her. Not in a thousand years, however, not since St. Francis of Assisi, has God sought to guide us through dark times by so universally raising up a saint — before the Church, the world, other religions, even nonbelievers, and before rich and poor alike.
There are elements of her own life, however, that do set her apart. She lived a tremendous love for God and neighbor, in darkness, for 50 years. Her apostolate — to work alone in the streets of Calcutta, as a religious, outside of her convent — was entirely new in the 1950s and 1960s. But this was entirely God's plan, in every detail. She only did what was asked of her by God. He directed her in all, even in what she was to wear. For his own greater purposes, some of which we might surmise, as with Francis, it has been God who set her on the world stage, and holds her there, as her stature only continues to grow.
ZENIT: For those who never met Mother, could you describe what it was like to talk to her, to be around her, to watch her?
Father Langford: To encounter Mother was to feel the warmth of God, the love, the acceptance of God. People felt God's presence around her … often to the point of tears. When you were with her, even in a crowd, there was an easy and instant intimacy, as though you were the only person in her world. You felt drawn to God, embraced and cherished by God, not unlike what people must have felt around Jesus.
ZENIT: When most people think of Mother Teresa, they think of the nun that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. What do you think of when you remember her?
Father Langford: A mystic with her sleeves rolled up. But she was first of all a mother, always there for you, always ready to support you, ready to see the good in you, to overlook your faults, to encourage you. She never seemed to tire of hearing from you, or speaking with you.
She was someone who always reserved a special place in her heart for all those who came near to her. That is how she changed my life, without even trying, and set me on a completely different course; and joyfully, I never looked back.
She radiated both the presence of Our Lady, with whom she had a deep, unique, relationship — as I outline in my first book, "Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady," (OSV Press) — as well as the presence of her Son, who had sent her to "be his light." She was a doorway into God's heart — from us to him, and from him to us — a pathway that was accessible and observable and inviting to all.
But what comes to mind most in remembering her is not her — but the One who sent her: What does God want to tell us in sending her, in raising her up — about himself, about the way he sees us, loves us? What could be so important for us to know about him that he would anoint the carrier of his message so abundantly, and so publicly? If Mother Teresa was, as she described herself, "a pencil in God's hand, to write his love letter to the world," my constant question was what was the content of that letter written on the pages of her life, if not that first revealed to her on her train ride to Darjeeling, Sept. 10, 1946?
ZENIT: You wrote in your book "Mother Teresa's Secret Fire" about Sept. 10, 1946, the day she would refer to as "Inspiration Day." Mother rarely spoke of that event, but she revealed more about it as she neared the end of her life. What happened on that day?
Father Langford: The grace of Sept. 10 was Mother Teresa's overwhelming encounter with the unimagined depth of God's love. This fire in the heart of God, pointed to throughout Scripture (Our God is a consuming fire), but often forgotten. This was the source of her magnetism, and of all the initiative and the good she did around the world.
She herself gave a name to the secret of Sept. 10: It was the mystery of God's infinite thirst for us. "The strong grace of Divine Light and Love … received on the train journey to Darjeeling on Sept. 10, 1946, is where the Missionaries of Charity [her world-wide work of charity] begins — in the depths of God's infinite longing to love and to be loved."
Speaking of all of us, but especially of the very poor, Jesus had lamented to Mother Teresa, "They don't know me, so they don't want me." In Jesus' plan, then, she was sent first to the thousands who are born, live, and draw their last breath on Calcutta's sidewalks. The poverty and pain of their surroundings — ordained by man, not by the Creator — and the indifference of those who pass them by every day, give no hint, leave no clue that they could be so loved by anyone, much less by the Supreme Being. God, in his wisdom, sent Mother Teresa to show them, in deeds more than words, the immensity of his tenderness and longing for them. And by witnessing Mother Teresa's service to the poorest, the rest of us as well come to understand God's tender longing, not just for the most disadvantaged, but for us all.
"Try to deepen your understanding of these two words, 'Thirst of God'" (cf. John 19:28). The symbol of divine thirst is simple and universal, spanning every time and culture; though it has lost much of its urgency and power in our first world where all is ready at hand to satisfy our needs. But stop and think. As a thirsty man longs for water, so God longs for us. As a thirsty man seeks out the water, so does God seek for us. As a thirsty man thinks only of water, so God's entire being is focused on us. As a thirsty man in the desert will give anything in exchange for water, so God has gladly given all he has, and all he is, in exchange for us. This is the divine symbol entrusted to Mother Teresa on Sept. 10 — so that in an age grown cold she might both remind us of God's yearning, and reawaken our own.
ZENIT: You were the one who Mother Teresa asked to tell others about the events of that day. What have you done to spread that message? What can others do to help in the task?
Father Langford: As soon as her Nobel Prize was announced, I began traveling with the BBC film, "Something Beautiful for God," showing it to audiences of all kinds. Soon, I discovered that people had difficulty connecting the poverty and the radical charity they saw on the screen with their own more comfortable Christian lives. And so I began giving a talk after each screening, explaining that every place was a Calcutta in miniature, and that Mother Teresa was called to carry her message not only to the slums of the Third World, but to the threshold of every hurting heart. That she had brought God's yearning for us to the doorsteps of the whole world.
I explained that there was no need to go to India, nor even across town. There were hidden "Calcuttas" all around them — in their own homes and families, in the blind man down the street, in the unforgiven aunt behind the walls of the retirement home. Nor was it necessary to send a check — to compensate for not serving in foreign lands. God had not sent us a check in our need, but his Son. He gave of himself, without measure — as any of us can, anytime, anywhere. There we are all called to be. There we are sent, as surely as was Mother Teresa. She would tell us to take some step, no matter how small, to serve those around us in their daily struggles. We need nothing special in the way of talent or resources; "we need only begin," as Mother Teresa would say — even in the smallest, most insignificant ways.
Mother's message is both word and deed. People need to understand why Mother Teresa did what she did, and in whose name. We have been trying to produce pamphlets and books to help lift the veil beyond this mystery of charity. In addition to the books, the Missionary of Charity Fathers have prepared a pamphlet with a guided meditation ("I Thirst for You") to help encounter the thirst of Christ for you, and understand its meaning on a deeper level. The mediation is available by writing: [email protected] for only the price of shipping. A high quality, four color version is also available for purchase from OSV Press. Readers can request the Missionary of Charity Fathers for any number of pamphlets to distribute in parishes, among friends and families, in nursing homes, hospitals, prisons, etc., and wherever God leads them and needs them.
Of course, the most direct way to share Mother Teresa's message, and carry God's presence into a barren world as she did, will always be to share even the smallest acts of love with Jesus in his crucified mystical body in the poor and suffering, for "Every work of love brings a person face to face with God."
ZENIT: If Mother Teresa could leave the world with one last message, what would that be?
Father Langford: Be the light of God's love to the world in its present darkness. People cannot resist love. Bring Jesus and his message ("I Thirst for You") to others. Be holy for the God who made you is holy.
Don't be afraid of suffering. Don't turn away from the suffering of the poor because Jesus is there. He is always with them and within them ("Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it to me").
Don't let your own pain and suffering isolate you, rather let it become a bridge into the pain of others, and even into the pain of the One whose heart was pierced for you on Calvary.
Mother Teresa's message has never been more important, as we face our own personal Calcutta in the economic and political upheavals that face us. In the midst of global uncertainty, people are searching for something more — more lasting, more valuable, more fulfilling, for a greater security, a deeper purpose — for a way to not only survive but to contribute, as did Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta; in a word, to leave a legacy, the legacy of Christ's love alive in my life.
This article has been selected from the ZENIT Daily Dispatch
© Innovative Media, Inc.
Via della Stazione di Ottavia, 95
00165 Rome, Italy
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After World War II, what was a DP? | Displaced Person Transportation post World War II
Displaced Person Transports: Cargo of Hope
It was a short note, just a request for information about a troopship listed on this website. The author mentioned he came to the United States as a Displaced Person (D.P.), and that he has taken "many cruises on some of the world's biggest cruise ships, but this was one of the best."
"By today's standards the food was probably not great, but is was the best we had eaten in years. For the first time in my life I had oranges, bananas, nickel Cokes in bottles out of a machine, and in the evening we saw black-and-white American movies where beautiful actresses wore strapless dress and gowns.
"Although about half the bunks were not used and remained folded up it was quite crowded. The crossing was long and rough. Many passengers were seasick. We learned to avoid being downwind from the large deck vents which constantly emitted nauseating smells and fumes."
This letter brought a rush of memories, since I too came to the United States as a Displaced Person in 1949. Although at 6 years of age I was too young to form strong opinions about the cuisine, I distinctly remember eating the first orange of my life aboard the USAT General R. L. Howze. I also remember the terrible smells, since nearly all were sick during a fierce North Atlantic storm that extended our planned 10-day voyage by 4 days.
In July 1948, the U. S. Immigration Bureau announced that 205,000 D.P.'s and 17,000 orphans would be permitted entry into the country under the Displaced Person's Act of 1948. According to Watson B. Miller, Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, "A board set up in Hamburg, Germany will carefully screen all D.P.'s to sift out Communists and other subversives." [I guess I passed the test.]
Displaced Persons were mostly Eastern Europeans: people who were unable or unwilling to return to their native countries after World War II. Some were "ostarbeiter" [eastern-workers] -- people forced to work in German factories and farms, some were survivors of concentration camps, and others fled to Germany to escape Communist rule. After the war they were housed in camps administered by the International Refugee Organization.
Eventually, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Australia opened their doors to the refugees. To emigrate to the U.S., a Displaced Person needed a sponsor who arranged for housing and employment [which could not replace an American worker]. For most refugees their embarkation point was Bremerhaven; others left via Italy or Shanghai.
In 1947, USAT General S. D. Sturgis was the first American troopship to carry European refugees to their new homes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they could become farmers or factory workers. Army Transport Service and its successor, Military Sea Transportation Service, operated some of the refugee ships; others were operated under charter by private companies. These C-4 Maritime Commission ships were built to transport 3,485 GI's, but usually carried fewer than 700 refugees.
Typical C-4 Troopship used to transport Displaced Persons
"We watched them come aboard at Bremerhaven, many dressed in cast-off clothes and carrying their pitifully meager belongings. First came the orphans, then the aged and finally the families... Though there were 193 family groups aboard, there were no facilities for quartering families together. The 374 men bunked aft, the 316 women forward, with cabins reserved for the aged and for mothers with small children."
"As we moved up the Weser River towards the sea, the passengers gradually fell silent. They realized they were leaving their mother continent, probably never to return again. As long as land was in sight, the D.P.'s stood there on deck watching their past fade into oblivion..." wrote a member of the crew on one of these voyages.
Meals were taken at standing-height tables, except for mothers with small children who were given seats in the former officer's dining room. Women were assigned to help in the kitchen; men were given clean-up assignments on deck or in the engine room.
"Providing their own work details, the quarters were kept swabbed and cleaned by the passengers themselves... But duties made small demands on their time, with the whole day theirs to spend on deck. Family groups gathered to luxuriate in the joy of just being together. Others congregated in groups, telling each other of the things they had heard of the land that was now only a few days away."
My parents heard the streets in America were "paved with gold."
Crowded accommodations in the women's hold
My husband served as Third Engineer aboard the Military Sea Transportation Service operated USNS General M. B. Stewart that carried D.P.'s from Bremerhaven to New York. His living accommodations were quite different from those pictured above.
First glimpse of their new country
"As the ship approached the Statue of Liberty the fireboats sent up their streams of water and the whistles of greeting reached a crescendo. New York was welcoming these citizens-to-be as only New York can welcome... As the ship moved in toward the dock, her flags fluttered from bow to stern; while amidship were eleven foreign flags, representing the nations from which these future citizens had been drawn.
"Among them, the largest group consisted of 388 Poles, Next in number were 178 Lithuanians. The remainder were composed of 59 Czechs, 32 Latvians, 17 Ukrainians, 14 Estonians, 10 Yugoslavs, 10 Roumanians, 6 Hungarians, 16 Germans and 83 without country, all coming from lands whose people have long been known as hardworking and thrifty... Ranging in age from a seven-week-old infant-in-arms to a seventy-nine-year-old woman, with 63 orphans among their number....
Displaced Persons: young and old
"Representatives of the nation, of the state and of the city welcomed them as future citizens. There was Attorney General Tom Clark to convey a message to them from President Truman. Governor Dewey, too, sent a welcome through his representative, while Mayor O'Dwyer spoke of the people of New York City itself. Representative Frank Fellows, author of the Bill authorizing their entry into the country, was also on hand...."
The General R. L. Howze, with your webmistress aboard, was greeted by a brass band waiting on the docks of Boston harbor on an Easter Sunday. Like other Displaced Persons, we soon found out that although the streets in America were not paved with gold, America was the land of golden opportunities.
Sources:
| Displaced person |
Which digital currency debuted in 2009? | The Refugee Experience: Ukrainian Displaced Persons after World War II | CIUS Press
Ukrainian Displaced Persons after World War II
$49.95 (Cloth)
This volume, a collective study of the post-World War II Ukrainian emigrants in Germany and Austria, departs from the standard approach to immigration studies. Instead of focusing on the immigrants' adjustment to their host societies (the United States, Canada, Australia, the countries of Latin America, and others), the approach in this volume assumes the primary importance of the pre-immigration experience. The twenty-five contributions to this book present a detailed analysis of the social conditions that shaped the Ukrainian displaced …
Related Books
About The Book
This volume, a collective study of the post-World War II Ukrainian emigrants in Germany and Austria, departs from the standard approach to immigration studies. Instead of focusing on the immigrants' adjustment to their host societies (the United States, Canada, Australia, the countries of Latin America, and others), the approach in this volume assumes the primary importance of the pre-immigration experience. The twenty-five contributions to this book present a detailed analysis of the social conditions that shaped the Ukrainian displaced persons, with particular attention to the five-year period that many of them spent in internationally organized resettlement camps.
The essays in this volume are grouped in nine sections covering the most important facets of the displaced persons' lives. These include an assessment of the DP phenomenon in the context of Ukrainian history; its demographic dimensions; an examination of the economic and organizational structure of the DP camps; the role of political parties and nationalist ideology; the activities of the Catholic and Orthodox churches; the establishment of schools and women's organizations; the proliferation of literary, cultural, and scholarly activity; Soviet efforts at repatriation and the Allied response; the resettlement of Ukrainians in the USA and Canada; and a sociological and psychological interpretation of the DP experience. Four contributions by eyewitnesses round out the volume.
About The Authors
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Snape Maltings Hall is home to which annual festival, first held in 1948? | The history of Snape Maltings - Snape Maltings
The history of Snape Maltings
A place of energy and industry for over 175 years
Home About us The history of Snape Maltings
With a history as an industrial site stretching back over 175 years, the roots of Snape Maltings as it exists today were planted by the composer Benjamin Britten and landowner George Gooderham, who both recognised the potential of the striking Maltings buildings and their stunning location.
The Early Maltings
Having bought the already busy shipping port at Snape Bridge in 1841, Victorian industrial entrepreneur Newson Garrett built Snape Maltings over the following decades in order to malt barley and ship it by Thames barge to breweries in London and elsewhere. The business expanded quickly and thrived throughout for decades as demand from breweries increased. A purpose-built branch of the East Suffolk railway line was built to Snape Maltings to support the business and from 1859 to 1960 up to three trains a day would run to and from the Maltings. At full industrial use Snape Maltings grew to some seven acres of buildings and was one of the largest flat floor maltings in the country.
The Maltings Closes
In 1965, after 120 years, the malting of barley ceased, the direct result of inefficiencies of a large complex and the site was purchased by Suffolk farmer George Gooderham.
Meanwhile the composer Benjamin Britten had founded the Aldeburgh Festival, five miles from Snape, in 1948 and the festival quickly established an international reputation, outgrowing its small venues in Aldeburgh and other locations around the Suffolk coast. In the course of the 1950s and 60s Britten explored ways to build a larger venue to host the festival, and in 1965 he leased the largest building at Snape Maltings from George Gooderham to convert into the 830-seat Snape Maltings Concert Hall, which was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth in 1967. The Hall suffered serious fire damage two years later, re-opening in time for the Aldeburgh Festival in 1970. The conversion of the building was undertaken by Arup Associates, with the acoustics supervised by Derek Sugden.
From 1967 to 2015 there were parallel developments on the site, with the Gooderham family gradually creating an independent retail complex and Britten and his successors expanding beyond Snape Maltings Concert Hall to create a musical campus that would enable his vision of a place for not only an international performance programme but also work with young artists, education and community engagement. The retail and residential complex went under the banner of Snape Maltings, while the organisation running the music and arts activity became known as Aldeburgh Music, making clear that the work was the year-round expansion of the ideas and vision at the heart of Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival.
Developing young talent
The development of young musical talent had been part of the original idea of the Aldeburgh Festival from the beginning. As early as 1953, Britten and Pears, committed to the musical development of young people, formed the idea of having a school of music at Snape. The fundamental concept was ‘to prepare and promote young singers or string players for professional life at the very highest level.’ It took until September 1972 for the first masterclasses to be given, by Pears, and in 1975 a Snape Maltings Training Orchestra rehearsed and performed at the Hall for the first time. Following the death of Britten in 1976, the Benjamin Britten Memorial Appeal was launched, and the barley store adjacent to the Concert Hall was converted by Arup Associates into the Britten–Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies (today named the Britten–Pears Building). Opened on 28 April 1979 by HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the School incorporated a 120-seat recital room (today named the Peter Pears Recital Room), a top-floor Seminar Room, with many practice rooms in between and a reference library, the Holst Library.
The aim remains to bridge formal musical education and the professional life, exposing developing artists in a safe and nurturing environment to the skills and talents of world-class artists and teachers. Over the years, such leading artists as Dame Joan Sutherland, Ann Murray, Sir Thomas Allen, Galina Vishnevskaya, Murray Perahia, Sir Charles McKerras, Elisabeth Söderström and Dawn Upshaw as well as Pears himself have been notable teachers, while its many alumni have included Thomas Adès, Ian Bostridge, Simon Keenlyside and Dame Felicity Lott.
Working with the community
From the beginning, the Festival was committed to working with and for its local community, breaking down the barriers between amateur and professional. Education and working with young people always featured, and this continues today with Aldeburgh Education involving the local community as creators and performers as well as audiences. The department now runs 3 year-round programmes and in 2011/12 delivered 432 sessions, with over 15,000 participants, over 17,000 audience members and 147 artists. In 2012 the annual Celebration of Schools’ Music, presented in association with Suffolk County Council, celebrated its 25th year at Snape Maltings Concert Hall.
Aldeburgh Residencies was launched in 2003 to offer bespoke development opportunities to established artists. The Residencies enable individuals and ensembles to come to Snape to create new work, develop new partnerships and explore new possibilities.
Aldeburgh Young Musicians is a Centre for Advanced Training (CAT), created in 2007 with funding from the government to provide advanced music mentoring for exceptionally talented young musicians aged between 8 and 18 based in the Eastern Region.
Creative Campus
In 2006, Aldeburgh Music and the Gooderham family put together an ambitious scheme which enabled Aldeburgh Music to purchase the Concert Hall, the Britten-Pears Building and a number of adjacent buildings, and for the Gooderhams to develop the site. Aldeburgh Music’s creative campus opened in 2009, with many new spaces inside the Hoffmann Building, including the site’s second concert hall, the Britten Studio (capacity 340), enabling Aldeburgh Music to expand its artistic offering, leading to year-round programme of events, artist development and education.
Meanwhile the Gooderham family continued to own and operate the remaining buildings at Snape Maltings, restoring and converting the buildings for high-quality residential and holiday accommodation, as well as running a highly successful retail business, which includes the monthly farmers’ markets, and the annual Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival, now one of the UK’s largest food festivals.
A unified site and mission
In 2015 the Gooderham family put its part of the site up for sale and Aldeburgh Music purchased it with help from Arts Council England. Following this, the two organisations have come together under the name Snape Maltings to create a unified site with a unique offer for visitors.
| Aldeburgh Festival |
Jason Voorhees features in which film series? | Aldeburgh Tourist Information
Aldeburgh Tourist Information
Wildflowers on Aldeburgh Beach
Seaside gem Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Heritage Coast is internationally renowned for the Aldeburgh Music Festival. The festival takes place annually in June at Snape Maltings just 5 miles inland from Aldeburgh alongside the River Alde estuary, and the Maltings hosts year round music concerts. You can also enjoy Concert Hall tours of this unique music venue housed in a former Victorian maltings and a selection of shops, eateries, walks and river trips are all onsite.
Aldeburgh Museum on the seafront
Beautiful Aldeburgh is one of the most popular holiday locations on the Suffolk coast with a charming pebble beach dotted with wildflowers and flanked by fresh fish and seafood shacks. Situated on the promenade, the Tudor timber framed Moot Hall houses the town museum and the town centre is brimming with fine old inns, cafes, boutiques and craft shops. The wide range of character accommodation in and around Aldeburgh and Snape Maltings includes everything from historic seafront hotels and Victorian B&Bs to self-catering holiday homes and beachfront apartments.
Things to Do in Aldeburgh
The coastal stretch around Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Heritage Coast is one of England's most precious unspoilt coastlines within easy reach of the shifting coastlines of Orford Ness to the south and Dunwich to the north. The Aldeburgh Museum situated within a Tudor timber-framed building dating from 1550, digs deep into the seaside town's fishing and shipbuilding past and around King Street and the High Street you'll find a host of stylish independent boutiques and fine clothing shops, first class restaurants and outstanding craft shops, antique shops, art galleries and gift shops.
Aldeburgh High Street shops & restaurants
Aldeburgh also contains a little cinema, cookery school, a Golf Club and Yacht Club. The tourist information centre and Aldeburgh Music Box Office is located on High Street just a short stroll from Aldeburgh beach. Traditional inns and pubs are numerous along the seafront promenade and around the High Street, many serving delicious Adnams ales from the nearby Sole Bay Brewery at Southwold.
Attractions and beauty spots within easy reach include Leiston Abbey, Thorpeness Windmill, golf club and Meare. The spectacular heaths nature reserves of Dunwich Heath and RSPB Minsmere are also just minutes away and just south is the unique landscape of the Orford Ness, a shifting coastline and one of Britain's most famous shingle spits.
Seafood Shack on Aldeburgh Beach
Snape Maltings
The Snape Maltings Concert Hall sits alongside the River Alde just 5 miles inland from Aldeburgh at Snape village. The cluster of buildings include the Snape Maltings Concert Hall, the Hoffmann Building and the Britten-Pears Building, all of which are world centres for music. Snape Maltings Concert Hall is the main host venue for the incredibly popular annual June Aldeburgh Festival of Music and Arts and offers a year round programme of music from classical music concerts and opera to Jazz sessions, folk and digital art.
The internationally acclaimed music festival at the Maltings was founded in 1948 by the composer Benjamin Britten who was inspired by the Suffolk coast around Aldeburgh. Local halls and churches first served as venues for the festival which quickly grew in popularity. The famous Snape Maltings concert hall, a former Victorian maltings, became the main venue for the Aldeburgh Festival from 1967. Find out more on a backstage tour of the concert hall and new Hoffmann Building. Snape Maltings is very much an all year round music venue offering a premier programme of music featuring some of the world's best artists.
Aldeburgh Links
Aldeburgh (0.3 miles from the centre of Aldeburgh)
Sleeps 6
Per week (seasonal), sleeps 6
Spacious luxury Victorian holiday home in Aldeburgh perfect for groups with a large garden and deck, bike storage and 3 bedrooms. Welcome pack and wifi. Parking adjacent. Sleeps 6.
Aldeburgh (0.2 miles from the centre of Aldeburgh)
Sleeps 8
Per week (seasonal), sleeps 8
Stylish modern single storey holiday home in Aldeburgh town centre close to the beach and only 100 yards from shops and pubs. Perfect for groups with off road parking. Sleeps 8.
Aldeburgh (0.1 miles from the centre of Aldeburgh)
Sleeps 6
Per week (seasonal), sleeps 6
Immaculately presented Aldeburgh cottage just yards from the High St. Close to Snape Maltings with a stunning contemporary interior, 4 bedrooms & garden. Wifi. Sleeps 6.
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Karl Elsener invented which multitool in 1894? | Choosing the Best Swiss Army Knife | BestPocketKnifeToday.com
Choosing the Best Swiss Army Knife
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Swiss Army knives have been around for well over a century and it seems most of us have owned at least one one at some point in our lives. I’m often asked what is the best Swiss Army Knife…and it’s difficult to single out one model in particular so below I’ve listed my top 5 favorite SAK’s.
Model
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History
Some believe that the Swiss Army knife was first introduced and manufactured by Wenger as part of a contract to produce knives for the Swiss Army back in the late 1800’s.
However, it was Victorinox (Karl Elsener) that invented the Swiss Army knife, and the first to manufacture it. Victorinox (in existence since 1884, but under a different name) got their first contract for military pocket knives in 1891, while Wenger didn’t show up until 1893. In fact, when Victorinox and Wenger were two different companies and in competition with each other. In 1908 the Swiss Army chose to give half of the business to Wenger and half to Victorinox.
Victorinox was allowed to use the term “Swiss Army” on ALL of their products. Wenger could use “Swiss Army” ONLY in relation to their pocket knives (for example, timepieces sold by Victorinox are branded “Swiss Army”. Wenger timepieces were branded as “Swiss Military”). For the Swiss Army Knives, Victorinox used the term Original Swiss Army Knife whereas Wenger advertised as Genuine Swiss Army Knife.
While arguments go back and forth as to which company made the better knife, they were both excellent knives, but it seems Victorinox somehow had better advertising or a larger loyal customer base. Fast forward to the 21st century and Victorinox was a much more dominant player than Wenger and in 2005 they acquired Wenger and became the single supplier of knives to the Swiss Army. Victorinox allowed Wenger to continue producing Swiss Army knives until early 2013 when they announced that the Wenger brand would be merged into the single Victorinox brand.
Interestingly, the term “Swiss Army knife” was originally used by American infantry during World War II as they struggled to pronounce the German term Schweizer Offiziersmesse. It can be considered to be one of the first ever multi-tools and is still going strong as a popular utility tool today. There is a wide selection of different Swiss Army knives today each with differing tool-sets and purposes but generally each is meant to be considered an Every Day Carry (or “EDC”) tool.
Today Swiss Army knives comprise a broad range of tools including the following:
– knife blades
– bottle opener
– keyring
In recent times some higher tech components have been included such as USB drives, LED flashlights and digital clocks. The Swiss Army knife is generally most recognizable in it’s red form though as you would expect there are plenty of other styles available today and black is increasingly popular. Many variants also come with an aluminum oxide (alox) handle which is typically the best choice for most outdoorsmen.
Swiss Army knives are generally regarded as low-priced, value based products in the knife community and cannot really compete with the single blade tactical knives seen elsewhere on this site in terms of quality or performance. Still, they do serve a purpose and can represent good value for money when compared to other multi-tools. Many consider them to be a good ‘starter knife’ for junior enthusiasts and they can make great gifts.
Notable models
Below we have listed some candidates for the best swiss army knife.
Classic
What more can be said about the Classic Swiss Army knife? Every household should not be without one and it’s the perfect gift for any junior outdoorsman or cub scout. On the Classic you get the main blade, scissors, file with screwdriver, toothpick, and tweezers. What’s more it now comes in a wide range of colors and designs. Sure, red is the real classic but why not black or perhaps the silver alox? The package is all very small and light at only 2.3 inches long and weighing 0.7 oz. Again, for the price (which is typically under $15 these days) you can’t go wrong with this one.
Click here to see current pricing and reviews for the Swiss Army Classic.
Swiss Champ
If you’re looking to step it up a notch from the basic yet classic model, check out the Swiss Champ. This one comes with 33 stainless steel tools including a wood saw, corkscrew, screwdriver, magnifying glass, scissors and even a pressurized ball point pen. The Swiss Champ is essentially the most popular “do-it-all” Swiss Army Knife model but the sacrifice is clearly in it’s size and weight.
The Swiss Champ measures a fairly standard 3.6″ long but weighs a whopping 6.5 oz. This multitool really does demonstrate excellent value for money and will undoubtedly come in useful during those MacGyver moments!
One Hand Trekker
For something a little different why not try the One Hand Trekker which as the name suggests is a one handed multitool that combines 12 stainless-steel tools including the locking serrated knife blade which can be deployed using your thumb. Other notable tools include a saw, Phillips screwdriver, can opener and wire stripper. The quality really shines here and Victorinox truly stands by this knife with a lifetime warranty. What’s more many vendors like Amazon are including the Classic Swiss Army knife for free!
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What are the single most identifiable symbols in masonry? | History of the Swiss Army Knife - The New Artemis
History of the Swiss Army Knife
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The Swiss Army Knife is one of the most iconic pieces of cutlery to date. Its signature red scales are identifiable across the world, and it has become a staple in many individual’s every day carry. Yet it’s more than just a multitool—it is a symbol of craftsmanship and quality just as much as it’s a hallmark of usefulness and practicality within its functions. These knives have the special distinction to be considered acceptable and useful by almost everyone, regardless of profession or age, and there are a myriad number of models available to accommodate any need or requirement. I retain fond memories of my father and grandfather both carrying and using these little knives on occasion and recall my excitement when my father gifted me one of his.
The birth of the Swiss Army Knife took place in Switzerland (shocking, we know), specifically in the Ibach-Schwyz region, flanked by the Staatswald and Eich Wald mountain ranges. In 1884, Karl Elsener opened up a small cutlery shop in the valley and began to create small knives and tools for the surrounding townsfolk. In the meantime, the Swiss Army discovered the need for a new style of knife for infantrymen. It needed to be durable and functional, and required a screwdriver and knife blade all in one to maintain the Schmidt-Rubin M1889, the standard issue service rifle of the time. The rifle could only be cleaned and dismantled with the aid of a screwdriver, and since they weren’t practical for a soldier to carry, something needed to change.
Elsener was approached by the Swiss military in 1890 and was contracted to make an acceptable tool that would meet the needs of the average soldier. Less than a year later, he surpassed military expectations by creating the prototype for what would later become the “Schweizer Offiziersmesser,” or Swiss Officer’s Knife, dubbed the Modell 1890. It was made of blackened wood and contained a knife blade, reamer, can opener and the ever-important screwdriver. At the time, mass production of the tool was done by a German company, Wester & Co; however, Elsener ended up retiring the partnership after he was unsatisfied with the quality of production. He continued to make various variations after regaining control of his company from Wester & Co. and resumed producing quality products for years to come.
There’s an important distinction to make between the two brands, Victorinox and Wenger, that had produced incredibly similar products until very recently. Elsener began his company Victorinox, named after his mother Victoria, and dominated the market until Paul Boéchat & Cie began producing a similar product in Delémont that eventually took on the name of Wenger, after Theodore Wenger, its General Manager. The Swiss government separated the two companies in 1908 in hopes of dissuading regional preference when the began competing too heavily. Victorinox took the brand of “Original Swiss Army Knife” while Wenger took “Genuine Swiss Army Knife” after a lengthy consensus.
Over time, Victorinox and Wenger produced separate products under separate names until 2005 when Victorinox required Wenger and became the solitary provider of knives for the Swiss Armed Forces. Victorinox decided to keep the consumer line of Wenger products in production but announced that Wenger would be fully absorbed into the Victorinox line.
Wenger Swiss Army Knife (top) and a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife. Note the difference in the brand logo.
In a 2013 press release, Victorinox stated “Eight years ago, the family-owned Swiss company Victorinox took over the long-established company Wenger, headquartered in Delémont, and has since managed it as a standalone subsidiary. Now Victorinox will integrate Wenger’s knife business.”
“Many consumers can hardly distinguish between the knife products from Victorinox and Wenger and the global fight for survival is getting increasingly fierce,” says Carl Elsener, CEO of Victorinox. “That’s why we are joining forces and focusing on one brand: Victorinox.”
Wenger is not without distinction and will separately maintain all of its outside product lines such as watches, luggage and product licensing, though under the Victorinox name. According to the press release, the only thing that will cease is the production of Wenger knives.
Victorinox, and its readily apparent logo of cross and shield, remains one of the world’s most popular and recognizable brands. Having owned many knives from the Tinker to the Cadet, I can personally vouch for the outstanding quality, durability and accessibility of these fine products; however, don’t take my word for it. Go out and find a knife to suit your needs and make the decision yourself. You certainly won’t regret it.
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Which Biblical story provides the basic theme for Masonic allegorical rituals? | Section 1
BACKGROUND FOR THE STUDY ON FREEMASONRY
At the 1985 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Charles Z. Burchett of Kirbyville, Texas, introduced a resolution: "Free-masonry [sic] Not Compatible with Baptist Faith and Message, Bold Mission Thrust, or Cooperative Program." The resolution was referred to the Home Mission Board (HMB) for study. (1)
The HMB reported back to the 1986 Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta that "after a thorough study by the Interfaith Witness Department, it is the Board's conclusion that Freemasonry does not fall within the scope of assigned responsibility of the Home Mission Board." (2) The HMB report was accepted by the messengers to the Convention. The Christian Index reported that HMB leaders had concluded, "The Department of Interfaith Witness does not recognize Freemasonry as a religion." (3) During the 1992 Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, James L. Holly of Beaumont, Texas, introduced a motion on Freemasonry:
The Southern Baptist Convention in annual session June 9-11, 1992, at Indianapolis, Indiana, directs the president elected at this convention, to appoint an ad hoc committee for the study of the compatibility with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine of the organization known variously as the Masonic Lodge, Masonry, Freemasonry and/or Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. This study is to encompass any and all branches and/or lodges thereof. Furthermore, the Convention directs the president to appoint this committee within thirty days of the conclusion of this convention and to charge this committee with the responsibility of bringing a report with recommendation to the convention which is to meet in Houston, Texas, June 1993. (4)
Alvin Rowe of Rockledge, Fla., moved to amend the motion. His amended motion passed:
(1) "Proceedings," 1985 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville: Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, 1985), p. 69.
(2) "One Hundred Forty-First Annual Report, Home Mission Board," 1986 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville: Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, 1986), p. 175.
(3) The Christian Index, April 3, 1992, p. 2.
(4) "Proceedings," 1992 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville: Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, 1992), pp. 60-61.
The Southern Baptist Convention in annual session June 9-11, 1992, at Indianapolis, Indiana, directs the Interfaith Witness Department of the Home Mission Board to study the compatibility with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine of the organization known variously as the Masonic Lodge, Masonry, Freemasonry, and or Ancient and Accepted Right [sic] of Freemasonry. The study is to encompass any and all branches and or lodges thereof. Furthermore, the convention charges the Home Mission Board with the responsibility of bringing a report with recommendation to the Convention which is to meet in Houston, Texas, June 1993. (5)
Messengers at the 1992 Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution "On Christian Witness and Voluntary Associations." While not mentioning Freemasonry, many observers concluded its intent was directed at Freemasonry. Resolutions are not binding on local churches, but represent the opinions of the messengers present and voting. Still, resolutions are often used as guides by local churches. The resolution stated:
WHEREAS, We are called to be in the world but not of the world; and
WHEREAS, We are called to maintain biblical standards of holiness and to avoid compromise of our Christian witness, or cooperation which would threaten that witness: and
WHEREAS, We are called to maintain Christian witness openly before the world; and
WHEREAS, We recognize the value of many social, fraternal, and philanthropic organizations.
Therefore, Be it RESOLVED, That we, the messengers to the 135th session of the Southern Baptist Convention, call upon all Christians to maintain personal purity in all activities, associations or memberships; avoiding any association which conflicts with clear biblical teaching, including those teachings concerning the taking of oaths, the secrecy of activities, mystical knowledge, or racial discrimination; and
Be it further RESOLVED, We affirm that biblical doctrine is to be open and public knowledge and that the Christian faith is to be a clear and public expression of the truth that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, that the Bible is our infallible guide, and that salvation comes by the Gospel [sic] of grace and not by works; and
(5) Ibid., p. 86.
Be it finally RESOLVED, That we urge all Southern Baptists to refrain from participation or membership in organizations with teachings, oaths, or mystical knowledge which are contrary to the Bible and to the public expression of our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, which must be above all reproach. (6)
The Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention examined a comprehensive index of SBC annuals from 1845 to 1965 and found no mention of Freemasonry or any topic that appeared related to Freemasonry. No resolution on the subject of Freemasonry appeared in a list of resolutions between 1965 and 1992. The staff of the Historical Commission also examined titles of theses and dissertations in Southern Baptist theological seminaries, an index to the minutes to the Home Mission Board and the Executive Committee, and other sources in their library and archives. Lynn E. May Jr. concluded, "We cannot say with absolute certainty that the subject of Freemasonry does not appear in the Convention annuals in the past, but that appears to the case." (7)
(6) Ibid., pp. 89-90.
(7) Letter from Lynn E. May Jr., executive director-treasurer of the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, August 14, 1992.
Section 2
INTRODUCTION TO FREEMASONRY
There are approximately 4 million Masons in the United States. Christopher Haffner gives the number of Masons worldwide as:
Regular Freemasonry: 5,500,000
Prince Hall Freemasonry: 250,000
Grand Orient "Masonry": 90,000 (8)
A racial division in Freemasonry has existed in the United States since the late eighteenth century, when slavery was a social institution. Under the leadership of a black preacher named Prince Hall, a lodge was formed in Massachusetts in 1784. As a result of Hall's endeavour, a completely independent clandestine organization of Grand Lodges arose and spread across the United States to Canada, the West Indies, Liberia, and the British Isles. (9)
A "regular" lodge is one recognized by the Grand Lodge of the state; a "clandestine" lodge is not recognized by the regular Grand Lodge of the state. The regular Grand Lodge of each state generally refuses to recognize lodges not affiliated with it, hence the term clandestine. A parallel in Baptist life would be an independent Baptist church, which is not part of a local Southern Baptist association. Neither the independent Baptist church nor the local Southern Baptist association recognizes the other as a cooperating entity, although each knows the other exists.
This division between regular Freemasonry and Prince Hall Freemasonry is slowly being broken down. Eight Grand Lodges (state organizations) in the United States, as well as the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec, have officially recognized Prince Hall Freemasonry as regular. The U.S. Grand Lodges that recognize Prince Hall Freemasonry are Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Discussions are taking place in other Grand Lodges, and it is anticipated that mutual recognition will eventually occur. (10) Some Prince Hall Lodges have not indicated a willingness for mutual recognition. Some Grand Lodges are refusing to accept this progress toward racial reconciliation. The Georgia Grand Lodge,
(8) Christopher Haffner, Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Mason (Shepperton, England: Lewis Masonic, 1989), p. 23.
(9) Ibid., pp. 23-25.
(10) Jim Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections (Guthrie, Okla.: Unpublished manuscript, 1992), pp. 82-84. Tresner is editor of The Oklahoma Mason and director of The Masonic Leadership Institute. Two books on Prince Hall Freemasonry are recommended by Tresner. They are Joseph Walkes Jr., Black Square and Compasses: 200 Years of Prince Hall Freemasonry (Richmond: Macoy, 1979) and Henry Wilson Coil Sr., A Documentary Account of Prince Han and Other Black Fraternal Orders (Trenton: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1982).
for instance, does not recognize the Grand Lodges mentioned here, which have recognized Prince Hall Freemasonry as regular. According to Masons, this refusal to recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges in each state stems from the position that there can be only one Grand Lodge in each state, rather than simply a reluctance to recognize Prince Hall Freemasonry.
Blacks are also being accepted in some regular Lodges, such as the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, the Grand Lodge of Colorado, and the Grand Lodge of Washington. A photo in the October 1992 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal showed five black and five white Masons on a tour of the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. Two of the five black Masons hold the 32nd degree. (11)
A number of critics accuse the Masonic Lodge of racism. One critic quotes Albert Pike, who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, "I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it." (12) Some critics claim the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded by Freemasons and supported by Masons. Stating a Masonic position, Jim Tresner writes, "Membership in the KKK is sufficient cause in many states, including Oklahoma, to deny a man membership in Masonry." (13) Tresner says he has personal knowledge of "men [who] have been denied membership to Masonry on the basis of KKK membership." (14)
The Masonic Lodge has been slow to respond to the acceptance of blacks into its membership. The Lodge tends to follow the lead of the general society, rather than being a leader in racial reconciliation. However, racial reconciliation is slowly occurring in the Lodge.
A small group of Grand Orient "Masons," living primarily in France and Belgium, do not require members to believe in the existence of God and so are not accepted by regular Freemasonry. (15) This report will not address these Grand Orient Masons, since it is concerned only with American Freemasonry.
Men who become Masons join the Blue, or Symbolic, Lodge. It is usually called the Blue Lodge because the colour blue is a primary symbol of Freemasonry. (16) The origin of the use of the colour blue by Masons is uncertain; perhaps it is an analogy of the blue sky or of heaven. (17) The officers of the Blue Lodge include the Worshipful Master
(11) The Scottish Rite Journal, October 1992, p. 36.
(12) Delmar D. Darrah, History and Evolution of Freemasonry (The Charles T. Powner Co., 1954), p. 319.
(13) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections, p. 78.
(14) Ibid., p. 79.
(15) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, pp. 27-28.
(16) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses & Reflections, p. 7.
(17) Henry Wilson Coil, Cod's Masonic Encyclopedia (New York: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company, Inc., 1961), p. 99.
(president or chairman), the Senior Warden (first vice president or vice chairman), the Junior Warden (second vice president or vice chairman), the Senior and Junior Deacons (who serve as messengers during the ritual work), and the Senior and Junior Stewards (who assist the candidate during the initiation). The Blue Lodge also has a secretary, a treasurer, and a chaplain. The final officer is the Tiler, who sits outside the door and arranges the introduction of visitors and guests. (18) These titles have been used for several centuries.
Men who wish to join the Lodge must request a petition, complete it, and submit it to a Mason who will sponsor him. Masons are not allowed to ask others to join, but this prohibition is sometimes abused. A person desiring to join the Lodge is investigated by a committee and then voted on by Masons in the Lodge. Election in most states must be unanimous. Several states have discussed requiring two black balls or cubes to reject a petitioner; Texas has already done so.
There are only three requirements to join the Lodge: the individual must (1) be a man (2) of good reputation who (3) believes in God. He is not required to define who he understands God to be.
The Blue Lodge consists of three degrees: (1) the Entered Apprentice, (2) the Fellow Craft, and (3) the Master Mason. A Master Mason in the United States enjoys all of the rights and privileges of full Masonic membership.
Approximately 80 percent of all Masons stop with the Master Mason degree; they do not proceed on to higher degrees in the Scottish Rite or York Rite branches. The Scottish Rite branch of Freemasonry was founded in France, not in Scotland as its name suggests. The American Scottish Rite branch, formed in Charleston, S.C., on May 31, 1801, consists of 29 numbered degrees (4th through 32nd); the 33rd, or highest degree, is an honourary degree given only to the most faithful Scottish Rite Masons. The administrative head of Scottish Rite Masonry in a state, or "Orient," is a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, or S.G.I.G. A Master Mason joins Scottish Rite Masonry at meetings called reunions, where the degrees are presented in one-act plays, each exploring a different area of philosophy or human thought. Scottish Rite Masonry concentrates its charitable activities in three primary areas: college scholarships, childhood learning disorders, and various medical treatment and research endeavors. (19) Local Scottish Rite Masons may sponsor other charitable activities, such as providing shoes to needy elementary school children through the Mercy Shoe Fund, as has been done by the Scottish Rite Temples in Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn., every year since 1960. (20)
There are two jurisdictions within American Scottish Rite Masonry. The Southern Jurisdiction, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., consists of 35 states and the District of Columbia. The Northern Jurisdiction, with headquarters in Lexington, Mass., consists of 15 New England and Great Lakes states.
The York Rite designates its 10 degrees by name, such as Royal Arch Mason,
(18) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections, pp. 7-8.
(19) Ibid., pp. 9-11.
(20) Chattanooga Scottish Rite News, September 1992, p. 4.
Order of the Red Cross, and Order of Knights Templar Commandery. The York Rite degrees are based on traditions related to the Temple of Solomon and the Crusades of the Middle Ages. York Rite charitable activities include college scholarships. The primary charity of the York Rite is the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America has sent Christian ministers to the Holy Land for the past 15 years. The first seven ministers were sent in 1977. In 1992, 117 ministers from 40 states were given the trip, for a total of 507 ministers from 42 states since the program began. The ministers do not have to be Masons to be selected for the trip, and their expenses are paid. (21)
Although it is common to speak of the "higher degrees" of the Scottish Rite or York Rite branches, it is also said that the "highest degree in Freemasonry is the Third Degree or the level of a Master Mason." (22)
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America is distinct from other parts of Freemasonry. It was created in the late 1800s as an organization strictly for fun and fellowship. In keeping with this purpose, Shriners refer to their leader with the pompous title of Potentate. The Shrine, as it is sometimes called, is often criticized for its obvious Arabic theme, with the red fez and black tassel and logo of a sword, crescent moon, and star. This is sometimes believed to refer to a belief in the Islamic religion. Shriners say that the Arabic theme, according to tradition, was developed after an American, Billy Florence, attended a party in Marseilles, France, which was hosted by an Arabian diplomat. Fascinated with the colourful surroundings at the party, Florence is said to have created the rituals associated with the Shrine. (23) Shriners have earned a negative reputation for their rowdy, sometimes drunken, meetings. It would be, however, untrue to conclude that all, or even most, Shriners are drunken revelers.
Shriners operate 22 Shriners hospitals, 19 orthopedic hospitals, and 3 burns institutes. Their threefold purpose is treatment, research, and education. These hospitals are found in 17 U.S. states; Montreal, Canada; and Mexico City. Since 1922, when the first Shriners hospital was built, more than $2 billion has been spent building and operating the hospitals. The 1992 budget was $306 million -- $250 million of which was for the operation of the hospitals, $20 million for research, and $36 million for construction. The hospitals accept children up to age 18 if they can be helped and if treatment at another facility would place a financial burden on the family. There is absolutely no charge to the child, the family, or a third party for treatment. In 1991, the 22 Shriners hospitals admitted 21,015 children; another 197,882 patients were seen on outpatient or outreach clinic visits. The average length of stay at the orthopedic hospitals was 97 days; 103 days at the burns institutes. The hospitals are supported by an annual $5 hospital
(21) "15th Holy Land Pilgrimage," Knight Templar, May 1992, p. 18; Letter from P. Fred Lesley, co-chairman of the Committee on Holy Land Pilgrimage, Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America, October 17, 1992.
(22) L.C. Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft: Fact vs. Fiction (Richmond: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company, Inc., 1981), p. 51.
(23) "Who Are the Shriners and What Is the Shrine?" Undated pamphlet.
assessment of each of the 717,461 Shriners in 191 Shrine Temples throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Republic of Panama.(24) An endowment fund provides additional support.
Real estate, securities, and life insurance are other sources of income. In addition, Shrine Temples conduct more than 1,800 fund-raising activities annually. There are two types of Shrine fund-raisers: Charitable fund-raisers, where 100 percent of the net proceeds benefit Shriners hospitals; and Fraternal fund-raisers, which benefit the Temples, which in turn may distribute funds as they decide, including to the hospitals. (25) All Shrine fund-raising promotional materials are required to list the purpose of the fund-raiser. For example, profits from the annual Shrine Circus are for Fraternal fund-raising and are not deductible as charitable contributions. The purpose is stated on the circus ticket. Only a Mason who has achieved the 32nd degree in the Scottish Rite or the Knights Templar degree in the York Rite can become a Shriner. (26) The largest Shrine Temple, with 17,762 members, is the Murat Temple in Indianapolis.
Masonic groups are involved in a variety of other social activities. The Pennsylvania Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Among Children in Elizabethtown, Pa., provided grants totalling about $1 million during its first five years of operation. It has a 501 (c) (3) federal tax exemption. (27)
The Eastern Star, which takes its name from the Star of the Nativity (Matt. 2:2), is open to women closely related to Master Masons, as well as Master Masons themselves. Its primary charity is the Masonic Homes for the Aged. The Eastern Star also provides scholarships.
The Royal Order of the Amaranth is similar to the Eastern Star. Its primary charity is the Diabetes Foundation.
(24) Figures as of December 31, 1991, from phone conversation with C. Howard Bozeman, emeritus member, Board of Trustees, Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children, October 1, 1992.
(25) "Shrine Fund Raising Policies and Procedures" (pamphlet), Revised February 1990, p. 2.
(26) Alhambra Temple newspaper (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Spring 1992; Knight Templar, May 1992, n.p. (insert).
(27) "The Pennsylvania Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Among Children" (undated pamphlet).
Masonic youth organizations are the Order of the DeMolay, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, and Job's Daughters. The Order of the DeMolay, founded in Kansas City, Mo., in March 1919, is open to young men between the ages of 13 and 21. Its headquarters is located in Kansas City. (28) The Rainbow Girls, headquartered in McAlester, Okla., is open to all girls between the ages of 11 and 21; no Masonic affiliation is required. Rainbow girls are taught "the importance of belief in the existence of a Supreme Being, and the value of the great truths taught in the Holy Bible." (29) Job's Daughters is open to young unmarried ladies, who are related to Masons and are between ages 11 and 20. These young people volunteer time for blood drives and at nursing homes. They provided baby-sitting services during Operation Desert Storm so families of military personnel could attend support groups. The order takes its name from the Book of Job. (30)
(28) June 1969 issue of The New Age Magazine is devoted to the Order of the DeMolay. The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, introduced The New Age Magazine in 1903. The name of The New Age Magazine was changed to The Scottish Rite Journal in 1990, due to the increasing popularity of the New Age Movement and the New Age Journal. The New Age Journal promotes the New Age Movement's Hindu-based worldview and includes the following disclaimer in every issue: "The publisher of NEW AGE JOURNAL has no affiliation with any fraternal organization."
(29) "The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls" (undated pamphlet).
(30) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections, pp. 14-15; "The International Order of Job's Daughters" (undated pamphlet).
Section 3
COMMON ARGUMENTS AGAINST FREEMASONRY
Masonry critics generally cite one or more of the following reasons for being opposed to Freemasonry.
Freemasonry is a religion.
It uses childish titles and ceremonies.
It teaches that a Christian Mason's first allegiance is to the Lodge, not the church.
Its secrecy provides cover to people attempting to overthrow governments.
This study will examine each of these criticisms.
Section 4
DIFFICULTY IN REACHING OBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS
A number of difficulties in reaching objective conclusions about Freemasonry have been noted by such writers as Robert A. Morey. Recognition of these difficulties is necessary to avoid arriving at misleading or false conclusions.
1. Many Masons and their critics begin with conclusions, which they then seek to prove. Larry Kunk points out "the tendency of humans to be limited by their paradigms." A paradigm is a model that a person believes describes the truth about something. As Kunk points out, a person can be misled by his paradigm and make a false conclusion.
Many Masonry critics begin with the paradigm that Freemasonry is an anti-Christian religion. Kunk says, "The reader must look at Masonic writings from the perspective of someone who does not believe that Jesus is the only Son of God." (31) If you make up your mind before you take an objective look at Freemasonry, you will probably arrive back at your beginning point because you stay within your paradigm, namely that Freemasonry is an anti-Christian religion.
On the other hand, many Masons are guilty of believing that "Light and Truth" can be found within Freemasonry because that is what they may have been told in the beginning. That is their paradigm. Both Masons and their critics can be misled by their paradigms. If someone believes Freemasonry is a religion, he can find numerous quotes to support his paradigm. If someone believes that Freemasonry is not a religion, he can also find numerous quotes to support his paradigm. It is difficult to conclude which paradigm is correct.
2. Both Masons and their critics have created fraudulent documents to prove points, such as the antiquity of Freemasonry, or to attack Freemasonry with the often-repeated claim that Freemasonry is a "secret Luciferian devil cult." (32) Morey cites numerous fraudulent documents that have misled many people about the history of Freemasonry. (33)
Several critics cite a speech allegedly given by Albert Pike on July 14, 1889, to prove that the god of Freemasonry is Lucifer, "The Masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the higher degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian Doctrine. . . . Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god.... but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness
(31) Larry Kunk, "What Is the Secret Doctrine of the Masonic Lodge and How Does It Relate to Their Plan of Salvation?" (Unpublished manuscript, P.O. Box 291, Fishers, IN 46038, 1992), p. 1.
(32) Robert A. Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry (Southbridge, Mass.: Crown Publications, Inc., 1990), p 12. This book was released by Harvest House Publishers, in January 1993, under the new title The Truth About Masons.
(33) Ibid, pp. 7-9.
and Evil." (34)
That this quote is a hoax has been shown by Wesley P. Walters in "A Curious Case of Fraud" in The Quarterly Journal of Personal Freedom Outreach. Walters, although an anti-Mason until his death, writes that the quote is taken from a French publication of Abel Clarin De la Rive titled The Woman and Child in Universal French Masonry (La Femme et L'Enfant Dans La Franc-Maconnerie Universelle, Paris: Delhomme et Briguet, 1894). (35) The hoax was created by Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pages, who was both an anti-Mason and an anti-Catholic, in an attempt to embarrass both groups. Raised in a Jesuit school, Jogand-Pages hated the Roman Catholic Church. Using the name of Leo Taxil, he attacked the Pope in his publication The Secret Loves of Pius IX. He also joined the Masonic Lodge but was soon expelled. Taxil began to write about alleged immoralities and orgies in the Lodge, during which the forged statements of Albert Pike first appeared. He also fabricated a Diana Vaughan, who claimed she was a daughter of a Satanist in Louisville, Ky., who was associated with Albert Pike. Taxil admitted his hoax in January 1897, but some Christian writers still use his hoax as if it were true.
Many Masonry critics believe almost anything, especially the most sensational stories, that shows Freemasonry in an unfavourable light. They repeat stories they hear without checking facts, and ignore any evidence contrary to their beliefs. An untruth repeated until it becomes common knowledge does not cause it to become true.
Likewise, most Masons believe their writers without verifying accuracy and documentation. Both Masons and their critics would do well to do real historical study into the charges against Freemasonry to determine which are true and which are false.
An estimated 100,000 books have been written on or about Freemasonry. (36) Readers experience the difficulty of reading and digesting such a vast amount of literature, especially when different Masonic books directly contradict each other. It is impossible to know which books or authors accurately reflect the beliefs of all Masons, or even a majority of Masons.
(34) J. Edward Decker, The Question of Freemasonry (Issaquah, Wash.: Free the Masons Ministries, n.d.), pp. 12-14; James L. Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry (Beaumont, Texas: Mission and Ministry to Men, Inc., 1992), p. 18; and Jack Harris, Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in Our Midst (Towson, Md.: Jack Harris, 1983), pp. 24-25. Harris states the date of Pike's speech was July 4, 1889, rather than July 14, 1889. This quote is also cited by Muslim anti-Masons Muhammad Safwat al-Saqqa Amini and Sa'di Abu Habib in Freemasonry (New York: Muslim World League, 1982), p. 41. Gary H. Kah refers to the same quote in En Route to Global Occupation (Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Pub., 1992), p. 114, as do other anti-Masonic writers.
(35) Wesley P. Walters, "A Curious Case of Fraud," The Quarterly Journal, vol. 9, no. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1989), pp. 4, 7.
(36) John Ankerberg and John Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge: A Christian Perspective (Chicago: Moody Press, 1990), p. 16.
This is coupled with the fact that books on or about Freemasonry almost always have been written by individuals in one of two groups: one group, either non- or anti-Masonic, attacks Freemasonry as anti-Christian; the other group, committed Masons, defends Freemasonry as compatible with Christianity. There is virtually nothing written on or about Freemasonry by neutral or unbiased scholars. Critics of Freemasonry often are guilty of faulty research. The use of logical fallacies to prove false premises is common. One is led to conclude that even though most Masonry critics claim to do original research, many quotes and ideas are borrowed from earlier critics.
The Grand Lodges do not prohibit Masons from reading any books, no matter what the books teach about Freemasonry. (37) At the same time, the Grand Lodges do not conduct investigations to determine whether a Masonic author's book is acceptable. There is nothing to prevent a Mason from writing a book giving his personal views about religion, Freemasonry, or any other subject. This freedom sometimes comes back to haunt Masons, since some Masonic writers have their own agenda or personal ax to grind. Some Masonic writers have been non-Christians who write from a non-Christian worldview. Some Masonic writers promote pagan religions. This freedom accorded Masonic writers provides critics with a wealth of material from which to develop their anti-Masonic positions.
3. Anti-Masons typically assume that Freemasonry is based on the writings of one person. Albert Pike (1809-1891), perhaps the most controversial of all Masonic scholars, is often said by Masonry critics to be the most authoritative spokesman for Freemasonry. However, few Masons own a copy of Pike's Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and even fewer have read it. One Scottish Rite Mason estimated that fewer than 1 in 1,000 Masons had read Morals and Dogma. Masonry critics John Ankerberg and John Weldon surveyed 25 of the Grand Lodges in the United States to ask which authors and books were considered authoritative for Masons. Only 4 of the 25 Grand Lodges recommended Pike's Morals and Dogma as authoritative. (38)
Traditionally, a copy of Morals and Dogma was given to each candidate when he received the 14th degree. This practice was stopped in 1974 and candidates have not been given Morals and Dogma since then. Morals and Dogma is still available for purchase by anyone, Mason and non-Mason alike. A Bridge to Light, by Rex R. Hutchens, was published in 1988 to replace Morals and Dogma and to encourage Scottish Rite Masons "to investigate more fully the profound teachings of the Rite and learn how to apply them in their daily lives."(39) A Bridge to Light is recommended by C. Fred Kleinknecht, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction,
(37) When Walton Hannah's anti-Mason book, Darkness Visible: A Revelation & Interpretation of Freemasonry (London: Augustine Press, 1952) could not be located, a Mason loaned his personal copy.
(38) Ibid., p. 17.
(39) Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33ø, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1988), p. vii.and is unanimously approved by the Committee on Rituals and Ceremonial Forms for the Southern Jurisdiction.
Masons have never held that Pike's words in Morals and Dogma must be accepted by any Mason. In the Preface to Morals and Dogma, the reader is told, "Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound." (40) Still, it is apparent that Morals and Dogma is held in high regard by many Masons, especially Masons holding the highest degrees.
Albert Mackey's 25 landmarks of Freemasonry listed in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry are sometimes cited as the ultimate authority in Masonic activities. Mackey held that the landmarks were essential, unrepealable boundaries of Freemasonry. However, 14 Grand Lodges have created and adopted their own lists of landmarks, four Grand Lodges accept the "Old Charges" of Anderson's Constitutions as their landmarks, and 13 Grand Lodges have adopted no list of landmarks. (41)
Masons insist that the only written authorities in Freemasonry are monitors and other books approved and published by the various Grand Lodges or other official bodies. Other books may be accepted by some or many Masons, but they ultimately are the opinions of the authors, not authoritative works that all Masons must accept.
When Ankerberg and Weldon conducted a survey of the Grand Lodges in the United States, 25 of the 50 Grand Lodges responded to the question, "Which books and authors have been recommended by the Grand Lodges as being authoritative for Masons?" (42) Eleven, or 44 percent, of the Grand Lodges responded that Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, by Henry Wilson Coil, was authoritative. Nine, or 36 percent, cited Joseph Fort Newton's The Builders; and eight, or 32 percent, responded that Albert G. Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry was authoritative. Ankerberg and Weldon list six other books cited by four to six (16-24%) of the Grand Lodges as authoritative. The other books cited were Introduction to Freemasonry by Carl H. Claudy (24%), The Newly-Made Mason by H.L. Haywood (24%), A Masonic Reader's Guide by Alphonse Cerza (20%), History of Freemasonry by Robert F. Gould (20%), The Craft and Its Symbols by Allen E. Roberts (20%), and Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike (16%). No single book was cited as authoritative by more than 44 percent of the Grand Lodges responding. (43)
Ankerberg and Weldon, in The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, repeatedly cite Jonathan Blanchard's Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated. They state that Blanchard
(40) Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (Washington, D.C.: Prepared for the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States and Published by Its Authority, 1964), p. iv.
(41) Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft, pp. 33-36.
(42) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge: A Christian Perspective (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers, Inc., 1989), p. 8.
(43) Ibid., p. 9.
was "a former Sovereign Grand Commander and a 33d Degree Mason." (44) Art DeHoyos, in The Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry, responds:
In their recent book, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon seriously err in their selection of source-material for information on Masonic rituals. For information on the Scottish Rite rituals, for example, they relied on a reprint of Jonathan Blanchard's outdated Scotch Rite Freemasonry Illustrated, which was actually an exposure of Cerneauism, a "clandestine" (illegitimate) pseudo-Masonic organization of the 1800's. Most non-Masons would be unfamiliar with this fact and would likely accept its ritual as those of genuine Freemasonry. An examination of their endnotes reveals that Ankerberg and Weldon refer to Blanchard over fifty times in the book. (45)
Both the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of Scottish Rite Freemasonry deny that Blanchard was either a 33rd degree Mason or a Sovereign Grand Commander. During his years as president of Wheaton College, Blanchard was an active anti-Mason. He founded the Christian Cynosure and the National Christian Association to support his anti-Masonic activities. With his son-in-law, Ezra A. Cook, he incorporated the National Christian Association to continue his attempt to destroy all secret societies, especially Freemasonry. (46)
Haffner reminds us that "there is very little that is official or authoritative, and almost all the tens of thousands of books published about masonry [sic] in this country [England] and overseas merely represent the personal views of individual Freemasons." (47) It is apparent that Masons and their critics differ on which books are authoritative and how authoritative particular books are.
4. Many writers assume that Freemasonry is a monolithic organism, which can be traced back to a single origin. In fact, many individuals and groups have been influential in the history of Freemasonry. Likewise, not all Masons believe the same thing, nor do all Masons around the world hold identical views. Each of the 110 Grand Lodges around the world is completely independent of the others. Some Masonic groups, such as the Grand Orient Masons in Belgium and France, are not recognized by any of the 110 Grand Lodges. As Ankerberg and Weldon state, there is "no single definition of Masonry . . .
(44) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 131.
(45) Art DeHoyos, The Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry (Kila, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing Co., 1992), p. 4.
(46) J. Gordon Melton, Religious Leaders of America (Detroit, Gale Research, Inc., 1992), p. 47.
(47) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 15.
accepted by all Masons." (48) Freemasonry means different things to different people -- for some a social club, for others a benevolent organization; for some a place to meet close friends, for others a religion. Freemasonry is not consistent in its specific teachings and rituals from country to country or even from state to state. Freemasonry has even changed through the years. (49)
Stephen Knight, in The Brotherhood: The Secret World of the Freemasons, says that "Freemasonry is not a worldwide secret society.... although the British Grand Lodges recognize more than a hundred Grand Lodges (forty-nine of them in the USA), they have no control over them, and most reflect the character and political complexion of the country in which they operate." (50) Knight admits that "Perhaps a better subtitle [of his book] might therefore be Freemasonry: An Interim Report, because in addition to being wide-ranging and complicated (though always intensely fascinating), the nature of Freemasonry is changing." (51)
Morey examines the history of Freemasonry and concludes that it has changed its focus and teachings in significant areas. For example, Morey claims that a Christian interpretation of Freemasonry was the accepted norm until an anti-Masonic movement from 1826 to 1836 forced the conservative Christian majority to leave Freemasonry. Families and churches were scenes of raging controversy as Masonic church members were told to choose between membership in their church and the Lodge. More than half the lodges in the United States were closed as thousands of Christians left Freemasonry. In this vacuum of leadership, according to Morey, non-Christian and pagan leaders assumed leadership and changed the direction of Freemasonry. (52) Masons reject Morey's theory.
Knight traces the history of Freemasonry back to the conclusion of the Gothic Age in the sixteenth century when Scottish, and then English, non-Mason gentlemen joined the dying Masonic trade unions. He argues that the "de-Christianization" of Freemasonry began immediately after the formation of the first Grand Lodge in London. James Anderson's Constitutions, presented in 1723 and revised in 1738, contained only
(48) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 11.
(49) Ibid., p. 12.
(50) Stephen Knight, The Brotherhood: The Secret World of the Freemasons (New York: Dorset Press, 1984), p. 3. The setting for Knight's book is England and Freemasonry in the British Isles. He discusses Masonic influence in various areas of English life, especially in the law enforcement and legal professions. He concludes that Freemasonry is not compatible with Christianity. The last section of his book discusses "the KGB's almost certain use of Freemasonry" to threaten Britain (pp. 297-303). This book was also published by Stein and Day in 1984. Knight rejected the Christian faith, became a Sannyasin, and changed his name to Swami Puja Deval in 1983. He died in 1985. (Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 224).
(51) Ibid., p. 5.
(52) Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry, pp. 19-21.
one reference to Jesus Christ, when, in the Preamble, he noted, "in whose Reign [Caesar Augustus] was born God's Messiah, the great Architect of the Church." (53) The Preamble was removed from the Constitutions in 1815, and with it, the reference to Jesus Christ.
In addition to changes in focus and teachings in Freemasonry through the years and differences among Grand Lodges, Masonic teachings are ultimately subjective. Knight concludes:
There is therefore no authoritative statement of what Masons believe or what the Brotherhood stands for in the first, second and third degrees, to which the vast majority of members restrict themselves. Even a 33d Mason who has persevered to attain all the enlightenment that Freemasonry claims to offer could not -- even if he were freed from his oath of secrecy -- provide more than a purely personal view of the masonic message and the meaning to be attached to masonic symbolism, since this remains essentially subjective. (54)
Monitors are revised by Grand Lodges as needed. One edition of the Louisiana Masonic Monitor apparently includes quotes by Albert Pike and Max Muller. (55) The Louisiana Masonic Monitor in the HMB research library, copyrighted in 1988, does not contain either quote. In fact, neither Pike nor Muller is mentioned in the 1988 edition of the Louisiana Masonic Monitor.
5. It is usually claimed, by many Masons and their critics, that Freemasonry is a secret society. Other Masons counter that Freemasonry "is not a secret society, but rather a society of secrets." (56) To Masonry critics and many non-Masons, this is only a word game designed to hide Freemasonry's goals and objectives. Although symbolism, passwords, and rituals are used in Freemasonry, many books in academic and major public libraries detail the meanings and practices of Freemasonry. The passwords and rituals have not been changed in Freemasonry, even though they can easily be learned by non-Masons. To a casual observer, changing these would appear essential to a secret society, just as passwords are changed on computers when the passwords are compromised. Secret groups are popular among large numbers of people, from boys' clubs with passwords and rules ("No girls allowed" is usually at the head of the list of rules) to men's clubs for purely worldly ambitions. Initiation ceremony, oaths of secrecy, symbolism, and sometimes the awe of religious and moral elements are often included. One critic writes:
Masons need to understand that the Masonic secrets are known [sic] to others. We know their secrets, their signs, their Jewels, their secret so
(53) Knight, The Brotherhood, p. 27.
(54) Ibid., p. 16.
(55) Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, p. 7.
(56) Helms, A Modem Mason Examines His Craft: Fact vs. Fiction, p. 1.
called "LOST WORD", their pass-words, their due-guards, the "Grand Hailing Sign of Distress", their land-marks and their rituals with blood oaths and torture penalties; all these are KNOWN BY US. The Masonic [sic] interpretations of their rituals and symbolisms are known far and wide by thousands of people, many of whom are very outspoken about them. (57)
He is correct. Freemasonry is a secret society in name more than fact. (58) When a secret becomes known, it is no longer a secret to the person who has learned the secret. Masons point out that membership rosters are kept at every lodge and it is not difficult for non-Masons to learn who are Freemasons. In fact, Masons are quite eager to let non-Masons know of their Masonic membership. Names of lodge officers are readily available. The Masonic symbol appears on Masonic halls and temples with no attempt to conceal their existence from the public. The Jewels, to which Wilkinson refers, are listed on pages 333-334 of Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, a book readily available to anyone in any Masonic library, in some major university libraries, and for purchase from Masonic sources.
Some believe non-Masons cannot enter Masonic temples. This is not completely true. The Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Okla., is open to the public daily for self-guided tours. The 1,760-seat auditorium, where the various Scottish Rite degrees are received, is regularly used by community groups. A Childhood Language Disorders Clinic is located in the temple. The House of the Temple in Washington, D.C., provides tours daily.
Masonry critic Adrian van Leen disagreed with Christopher Haffner's parallel between Paul's experience in Athens and opportunities in Masonry for religious discussions. Van Leen wrote that "Paul had no difficulty in addressing the Areopagus.... But, Paul most certainly would not receive an invitation from a Masonic lodge today." (59) First of all, Paul did not address "the Areopagus" -- that was a location in Athens, also called Mars Hill, where anyone could speak, just as the Boston Common is a park often used by speakers to present their ideas. Second, Paul probably could have received an invitation from a Masonic lodge to speak. During the research for this report, a meeting at the Atlanta Masonic Temple was attended by several hundred Masons and their wives. The public was also invited to the meeting. The speaker was a non-Mason. While non-Masons are not allowed to be present during rituals, they are welcome at other Lodge functions.
Many organizations have closed meetings. Each lodge has an officer, called the Tyler, whose responsibility is to stand outside the door to prevent non-Masons, called cowans, from entering. The symbol of the Tyler's office is an unsheathed sword, but Masons insist it is only a symbol and not intended for use in keeping non-Masons from
(57) Aubrey Wilkinson, "Wishing Freemasons the Best" (Kyle, Texas: Unpublished manuscript, n.d.), p. 7.
(58) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 16.
(59) Adrian van Leen, "Playing Word Games with God: A Response to Freemasonry," Areopagus, (Advent 1992) p. 10.
entering the temple or hall. Human beings are naturally curious individuals; the desire to spread and listen to gossip is a case in point. Masons should not be condemned for holding closed meetings. However, the secrecy of Masonic meetings will remain a point of criticism for many non-Masons, because, for a growing number of people, things done in secret are always associated with evil.
Secrecy is probably more harmful than helpful to Freemasonry. Probably very few men become Masons because it is a secret society or even a society of secrets. Better education of Masonic members and the general public would serve Freemasonry well. Many Masons realize this. Renewal Update, a publication of The Masonic Renewal Committee of North America, states, "Masonry cannot afford to be viewed as 'out of touch' with society; it cannot afford to be secretive, hostile, misunderstood and unknown." (60) The Masonic Renewal Committee of North America has held four strategic planning conferences with leaders from 31 Grand Lodges to produce "Blueprint 2000," outlining the future needs of the fraternity.
The committee found that Masons were open to providing information requested. Committee members were given full library privileges at three Masonic libraries. Questions were answered quickly and clearly. As with all organizations, including the Christian church, some individuals were better able to answer questions than others. In nearly every situation when answers appeared less than complete, it was believed the Mason was not aware of the answer or could not articulate his answer. On only a few occasions was an attempt to be evasive observed.
Conclusions
1. Both Masons and their critics should verify their sources to determine if they are historically valid and quoted accurately.
2. Better education of Masonic members and the general public is essential.
3. The secrecy of Masonic meetings will remain a point of criticism by many non-Masons.
(60) Five Ways to Make a Lodge Relevant," Renewal Update, December 14, 1992, p. 8.
Section 5
THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY
No factual history on the origin of Freemasonry exists. John Hamill, writing in The Craft, said, "When, Why and Where did Freemasonry originate? There is one answer to these questions: We do not know, despite all the paper and ink that has been expended in examining them.... Whether we shall ever discover the true origins of Freemasonry is open to question." (61) Theories by Masons and non-Masons range from fields of fantasy, to the possible, to outright fraud. Prospective members are told, and most Masons believe, that Freemasonry can be traced back to King Solomon and the building of the first Jerusalem Temple. Occasionally, it is reported that John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, or Noah were Masons. Some Masons believe Freemasonry was first revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden. However, there is nothing in the Bible about Freemasonry. Albert Pike claimed that the Buddha was the earliest known "Masonic Legislator." (62) Others speculate that Freemasonry can be traced to the Druids in England, the Essenes, or early Egyptian mythology. More recent Masonic writers seem to be more cautious about claiming an early origin of Freemasonry. As L.C. Helms writes, "This type of blind allegiance to the past serves Freemasonry no constructive purpose." (63)
Most scholars agree that modern Freemasonry can only be traced historically with sound documentation to the Grand Lodge founded in London, England, on June 24, 1717, when two ministers, Presbyterian James Anderson and Anglican John Desaguliers, encouraged Masons in four London lodges to join them in a move toward centralization. By 1723, fifty-two Lodges comprised the Grand Lodge of London. (64) However, the existence of Masonry prior to this date is documented by other scholars. In Masonry in Texas, James David Carter mentions a report to Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1561 that "the business of Masonry is the cultivation of morality and science, harmony and peace." (65) Carter provides the names of several Masons in the United States, including Quaker William Penn, as early as 1682. (66)
Helms cites A.D. 926 as the approximate date for the origin of Freemasonry. He
(61) John Hamill, The Craft: A History of English Freemasonry (Bedfordshire, England: Crucible, 1986).
(62) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 277.
(63) Helms, A Modem Mason Examines His Craft, p. 17.
(64) Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge (London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1989), p. 175.
(65) James David Carter, Masonry in Texas: Background, History and Influence to 1846 (Waco: Committee on Masonic Education and Service for the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1955), p. 3.
(66) Ibid., pp. 21-22.
arrives at the date from "the oldest Masonic document yet discovered, the Halliwell Document or Regis Poem." (67) However, Regis Poem, written about 1390, alludes to an organization of builders, not to an organization like modern Freemasonry.
Other scholars attempt to establish a connection between Freemasonry and the Order of the Knights Templar, founded in Jerusalem in 1118. Originally called "the poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon," they protected pilgrims on the way to and from the Holy Land. The Knights Templar became a wealthy order before Roman Catholic King Philip IV of France, deep in debt to the Templars and with the support of Pope Clement V, arrested every Templar in France on October 13, 1307. (68) Fifteen thousand Templars were arrested and put in chains on Friday the 13th. The bull Pastoralis Preeminentae issued by the Pope on November 22 stated that the charges of heresy against the Templars appeared to be true and that authorities could "spare no known means of torture" to secure confessions. Thousands of French Templars were hanged, beheaded, disembowelled, and quartered; their property was confiscated by the Roman Catholic Church. Three months later, King Edward I of England, after Pope Clement V issued a formal bull against the Templars, issued orders for the arrest of the Templars in England. However, in those three months the Templars in England had disappeared, along with their treasure and records. The Knights Templar was officially abolished by Pope Clement V in 1312. (69) John J. Robinson details a possible scenario that the Knights Templars survived as a secret order until it later reappeared as the Freemasonry fraternity after England officially became a Protestant country.
Robinson argues the Knights Templar history explains the secret nature of Freemasonry. With a death sentence issued by the king and the Pope, the Templars had to develop a means to identify each other, communicate with Templars they did not recognize, plan meetings, and screen potential individuals who could not be trusted. Literally, the Templars had to have a means to trust others with their life and property. Body signals, handshakes, items of clothing, and statements of cross-examination were developed to recognize fellow Templars.
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh agree with Robinson that the deposing of pro-Catholic King James II and the crowning of anti-Catholic William of Orange as the king of England in 1688 was the catalyst for the emergence of Freemasonry. They, however, are not as convinced of the Knights Templar connection as is Robinson. They do not see the evidence that Robinson does. (70)
Other Masons trace Freemasonry, including the name, to the stonemason guilds found in various European cities and towns from the tenth to the seventeenth century when building cathedrals and castles was widespread. Some stonemasons were also called "free masons" because they were free to travel from city to city in their occupation.
(67) Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft, pp. 7, 19.
(68) John J. Robinson, Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry (New York: M. Evans & Co., 1989), p. xiv.
(69) Ibid., p. 59.
(70) Baigent and Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, p. 171.
With the decline in the building of cathedrals and castles, the free masons in guilds organized social groups and began accepting members who had never been stonemasons. These men were called speculative masons, rather than operative masons, since they never actually were stonemasons.
Freemasons, especially earlier writers such as Albert Pike and Albert Mackey, have hurt Freemasonry by their zeal to link Freemasonry with antiquity. There is, of course, no historical connection with these early religions -- Jewish, Christian, or pagan.
Conclusion
Masons would stop much of the criticism of their fraternity if they admitted that there is no connection with early religions, if they rejected such ideas found in some of their writings, and if they taught their members that there is no connection.
Section 6
IS FREEMASONRY A RELIGION OR A FRATERNITY?
The most fundamental question in this study is whether Freemasonry is a religion, as critics of Masonry charge and some Masons claim. Most books by Masons and their critics have produced more heat than light in answering this question. It is the contention of Masonry critics that Freemasonry is a religion, and that it does not conform to the beliefs and practices of the Christian faith. Since it is a religion and does not conform to the beliefs and practices of the Christian faith, it is a false religion. Since it is a false religion, critics contend, Masons are guilty of membership in a false, even Satanic, religion.
Most Masons are just as adamant that Freemasonry is not a religion. Carl Sanders states, "Freemasonry is not and has never been a religion.... Freemasonry has never asked me to choose between my Lodge and my Church.... Possibly there are those who have made a god out of Masonry. You can make a god out of anything -- your business, your labour union, your civic club, your Lodge and even your Church." (71) Still, some Masonic writers and rituals exacerbate this controversy by comparing Freemasonry to obviously pagan religions.
Critics argue that Freemasonry is a religion for several reasons. They include the Masonic requirement that all Masons must profess a belief in God, that members are required to obey God, and that they are expected to pray for divine guidance before any important undertaking.n The critics are correct that Masons are expected to believe in God, obey Him, and seek His guidance in life.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that humans are religious creatures. Darrell Robinson writes, "Humankind is incurably religious. In every person is a God-shaped void." (73) If most Masons are Christians, as they are in this country, it would be out of character to expect them to leave their faith on the doorstep when they enter the Lodge hall. Quite the contrary, Christ expects, and ministers exhort, Christians to always be "ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15, NASB).
The 1992 resolution "On Christian Witness and Voluntary Associations," cited on pages 2-3, states:
Be it further RESOLVED, We affirm that biblical doctrine is to be open and public knowledge and that the Christian faith is to be a clear and public expression of the truth that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, that the Bible is our infallible guide, and that salvation comes by
(71) Carl J. Sanders, "A Mason Without Apology," Freemasonry and Religion (Washington, D.C.: Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1990), n.p.
(72) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 38-41.
(73) Darrell W. Robinson, The Doctrine of Salvation (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 37.
the Gospel [sic] of grace and not by works.
Does this resolution establish the criterion for Christians to evaluate their free association? It could be argued that Freemasonry is not open and public, but exclusive and elitist. If Freemasonry is exclusive and elitist, then the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and other groups are also exclusive and elitist because each limits membership to selected individuals. Neither do these organizations require belief "that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation," that "the Bible is our infallible guide," or that "salvation comes by the Gospel of grace and not by works." If this is a reason for condemning Freemasonry, then Christians must reevaluate their memberships in all social and professional clubs and fraternities. This section of the resolution is describing the theology of the Christian church. It is not listing the required teachings of organizations such as DAR, VFW, or Freemasonry before a Christian may join. The resolution would apply to Freemasonry only if Freemasonry were defined as a religion or a church.
Albert G. Mackey defined Freemasonry as "a beautiful system of morals, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." (74) Mackey also wrote that "the religion of Masonry is cosmopolitan, universal; but the required belief in God is not incompatible with this universality; for it is the belief of all peoples." (75) Another Mason stated that "Masonry is a system of ethics based on the divine command, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'" (76)
Several critics have said that some Masons give more attention to their Lodge membership than their church membership. This is a serious charge. Masons admit this charge is sometimes true, but that the individual who is guilty should be criticized, not the entire fraternity.
Masons write, "Regular attendance at Lodge is no faith substitute for regular attendance at church or synagogue." (77) "The Lodge can never take the place of a man's church, synagogue, mosque, or temple." (78) Hutchens, in A Bridge to Light, wrote, "Masonry does not seek to take the place of religion but, like religion, acknowledges a higher law than that of man." (79)
(74) Carl H. Claudy, Introduction to Freemasonry, p. 8.
(75) Albert G. Mackey, M.D. An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences (Chicago: The Masonic History Co., 1921), vol. 1, p. 301.
(76) The New Age Magazine, LX, p. 488.
(77) W. Kenneth Lyons Jr. "Freemasonry and Religion," Freemasonry and Religion (Washington, D.C.: Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1990), n.p.
(78) Raymond L. Fetter, "Faith and Works," a sermon preached at the Service of Matins (or Morning Prayer) preceding the Annual Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, December 27, 1989.
(79) Hutchens, A Bridge to Light, p. 42.
Albert Pike's statement that "every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings are instruction in religion" is often quoted by Masonry critics. (80) In fact, it is probably the single most quoted passage from Masonic sources found in anti-Masonic sources. However, Pike, elsewhere in Morals and Dogma, wrote, "Masonry is not a religion. He who makes of it a religious belief, falsifies and denaturalizes it." (81)
Henry Wilson Coil, like Mackey, defined religion in a most general way, not in the same sense that a person speaks of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia states:
There can be religion without any church and, indeed, without any congregation, or even one companion, save God. There can be religion without the recitation of any liturgy; and the recitation of a formula does not necessarily induce religion. In short, there can be much religion which is neither a religion nor one of the religions. (82)
In a 1921 decision, the Supreme Court of Nebraska, in the case of the Scottish Rite Building Company vs. Lancaster County, ruled that Freemasonry was not a religion.
The true interpretation of the Masonic attitude in that respect [religion] is that no religious test at all is applied as a condition of membership. The guiding thought is not religion but religious toleration. The order simply exacts of its members that they shall not be atheists and deny the existence of any God or Supreme Being. Each member is encouraged to pay due reverence to his own God, the Deity prescribed by his own religion.... The Masonic Fraternity, in other words, refrains from intruding into the field of religion and confines itself to the teaching of morality and duty to one's fellow men, which make better men and better citizens. The distinction is clear between such ethical teachings and the doctrines of religion. (83)
William Schnoebelen, who acknowledges that he is an ex-witch, ex-Mormon, and ex-Mason, states in Masonry Beyond the Light that Freemasonry is a religion because it requires a belief in God, is highly ritualized, and has a code of ethics. (84) Other organizations have these same requirements but are not considered religions. They
(80) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 42-43; from Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 213.
(81) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 161.
(82) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512.
(83) Scottish Rite Building Company vs. Lancaster County, 106 Nebraska 95, 184 N.W. 574 (1921), pp. 102-106.
(84) William Schnoebelen, Masonry Beyond the Light (Chino, Calif.: Chick Pub., 1991), pp. 31-36.
require a belief in God, but not all members are necessarily Christians, so they would not worship the God revealed in the Bible. (85)
The Freemasons' Diary sets this priority for a Mason concerning his faith and religious practice:
A Freemason is encouraged to do his duty first to his God (by whatever name he is known) through his faith and religious practice; and then, without detriment to his family and those dependent on him, to his neighbour through charity and service. None of these ideas is exclusively Masonic, but all should be universally acceptable. Freemasons are expected to follow them. (86)
Of course, not all Masons have their priorities in the correct order.
Southern Baptist Mason James P. Wesberry wrote, "Masonry is not a religion, nor a church. A good Mason keeps his priorities in order.... For any person to allow Masonry to become his religion or to take the place of his church is a mistake and not due to Masonic teaching but to someone's misinterpretation or misunderstanding." (87) Many men make the Lodge their religion. While a survey was not conducted, these men most likely have been non-Christians searching for spiritual answers in the wrong place. The answer to every person's spiritual needs is found in Jesus Christ, not in the Lodge or any other human organization. Thomas A. Whelan, in the November 1992 issue of the Las Cruces (New Mexico) Scottish Rite Bulletin, shared with his readers, "We can reflect on our Masonic teachings and continue to support and attend the church of our choice." Ankerberg and Weldon state that Freemasonry is a religion because it has a creed, which they state is defined by Webster as "a state of belief, principles, or opinions
(85) Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of America require members to believe in God, but not all Scouts are Christians. Baptist youth certainly do not worship the physical god of Mormonism or the impersonal god of Hinduism, yet they join with youth and leaders from these religions to earn religious emblems. They have certain rituals that identify them as Scouts anywhere in the world, such as the Scout sign with three upraised fingers and the handclasp using the left hand instead of the right hand. Scouts also have a code of ethics. See Webelos Scout Book, Boy Scouts of America [no copyright information], pp. 349, 352, 402; and "Girl sues Scouts over God reference in pledge," Journal of the American Family Association, January 1993, p. 2. The article reports that a 6-year-old girl and her father claim the reference to God in the "Girl Scout Promise" is a "religious test oath."
(86) The Freemasons' Diary, 1992-1993 (London: Correspondence Circle Ltd., n.d.), p. 20
(87) James P. Wesberry, "It Is No Secret!" Freemasonry and Religion (Washington, D.C.: Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1990), n.p.
on any subject." (88) This definition does not require that the creed be religious. The word creed come from the Latin word credo, which means "I believe." Credo is the first word of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds in the Latin translation, "I believe in God the Father Almighty...." The Scottish Rite Creed was printed on the back cover of The New Age Magazine for years. Its statements are not religious in nature. Pike used the term in a different, more religious, way when he spoke of "the Masonic Creed: BELIEVE, in God's Infinite Benevolence, Wisdom, and Justice: HOPE, for the final triumph of Good over Evil, and for Perfect harmony as the final result of all the concords and discords of the Universe: and be CHARITABLE as God is, toward the unfaith, the errors, the follies, and the faults of men: for all make one great brotherhood." (89) But Pike seems to distinguish between this Masonic Creed and creed in the sense of a confession of faith. He says, "To every Mason, there is a GOD; ONE, Supreme, Infinite in Goodness, Wisdom, Foresight, Justice, and Benevolence; Creator, Disposer, and Preserver of all things. How, or by what intermediates He creates and acts, and in what way He unfolds and manifests Himself, Masonry leaves to creeds and Religions to inquire." (90) Pike "allows every brother of the Order to assign to each [great religious reformer] such higher and even Divine Character as his Creed and Truth require." (91) Elsewhere, Pike states that "Masonry propagates no creed except its own most simple and Sublime One; that universal religion, taught by Nature and by Reason." (92)
Ankerberg and Weldon state that Freemasonry is a religion because it teaches theology. (93) Masons insist they teach no theology, that "Freemasonry is religious; but it is not a religion, it is not a theology." (94)
Critics claim that Freemasonry teaches that one religion is as good as another because men of all faiths are admitted. As Baptist minister and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Thomas S. Roy, wrote:
Freemasonry does not assert and does not teach that one religion is as good as another. We do not say that all religions are equal because we admit men of all religions. We refuse to apply a theological test to a candidate. We apply a religious test only. We ask a man if he believes in
(88) Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition (Fairfax, Va.: William Collins Publishers, Inc., 1980), p. 333.
(89) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 531.
(90) Ibid., p. 524.
(93) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, pp. 16-17.
(94) Raymond L. Fetter, "Faith and Works!" Sermon preached at Harrisburg, Pa., December 27, 1989.
God, and that is a religious test only. If we asked him if he believed in Christ, or Buddha, or Allah, that would be a theological test involving a particular interpretation of God. Belief in God is faith; belief about God is theology. We are interested in faith only, and not theology. We do not set ourselves up as judges of the qualitative values of the theological interpretations of God. (95)
Ankerberg and Weldon state that the ritual in Freemasonry is really worship, because "in actuality Masons are worshipping every time they practice the ceremonies of a Lodge." (96) They quote Pike's Morals and Dogma, "Masonry is a [system of] worship." (97) Ankerberg and Weldon add the emphasis on is and the words [system of] to Pike's quote. Masonry critics charge Freemasonry is a pagan religion because prayers are offered during Masonic rituals, usually without mentioning the name of Christ. Critics are correct that prayers are offered during Masonic rituals, usually without mentioning the name of Christ. At times, prayers concluded in Christ's name may be voiced in Masonic meetings. The prayers are generally requests for God's blessing and guidance. However, the U.S. Congress opens its sessions with prayer, usually without mentioning the name of Christ. No one has ever suggested that the U.S. Congress is a religion. Prayers or invocations are offered at the sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court, at meetings of Lions Club and Rotary Club, and at some corporation luncheons. Usually, these prayers are very general and routine. No one has ever suggested that these gatherings are worship services. It simply means that these organizations, like Freemasonry, are composed of religious people who believe that their religion should enter into all of life. (98)
The title of the Lodge leader, Worshipful Master, is a point of criticism by most Masonry critics. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24, NASB). Masons insist Worshipful Master is a title of respect and honour carried over from late Medieval England and still used in England when referring to magistrates and certain others holding high rank. A Mason reminded the HMB Interfaith Witness Department staff that many Christian ministers are called "Reverend," while the Bible only uses the word in Psalm 111:9 (KJV) where the term is used of God's name, "holy and reverend is his name." Just as there is no implication of identifying the minister's name with God's name, there is no implication of giving a Master Mason the worship due only to God. Worshipful Master is an archaic title. Masons would do well to replace this title with some other title. Many Christians feel
(95) Thomas S. Roy, "An Answer to Anti-Masonic Religious Propaganda" (Boston: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1952), p. 224.
(96) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, pp. 17-18.
(97) Ibid., p. 18, from Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 526.
(98) Roy, "An Answer to Anti-Masonic Religious Propaganda," pp. 223-224.
this practice violates the biblical admonition to call no man master, Freemasonry is called a religion by critics because many of its buildings are called temples. Many Christians are also offended when Masons refer to their buildings as mosques or shrines. The building in which the Lodge meets is often called a temple. Masons insist they call their buildings temples because they symbolize the construction of Solomon's Temple; it is "a symbol of the Temple of Solomon under construction, before it was consecrated for worship." (99) Masons see life as building character in members, as earlier masons constructed Solomon's Temple. Granted, the word temple causes most people to think of a Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or other place of worship; but Webster's New World Dictionary also defines temple as "a building, usually of imposing size, etc., serving the public or an organization in some special way [a temple of art, a Masonic temple]." (100) While the symbolic connection with Solomon's Temple is held, Masons would reduce criticism if they referred to their buildings simply as "halls" or "lodges."
Lodges may elect not to "charge dues against Ministers of the Gospel, actively engaged in their calling." (101)
Masonic codes prevent lodges from holding meetings on Sundays. "It is unmasonic for a Lodge to hold a communication, regular or special, on Sunday for the transaction of any business except conducting a funeral or holding a Lodge of Sorrow. And no Lodge shall let or lease its Hall on that day except for divine worship." (102) Would Freemasons place such a restriction on the use of a Lodge if it were an anti-Christian religion?
No doubt, some non-Christian or non-church-affiliated Masons have had religious experiences in Masonic ceremonies or rituals, but does that make Freemasonry a religion? Religious experiences are not restricted to religious ceremonies in a church setting. People, even Christians, have spoken of the awe and closeness to God they have felt when they gaze into the vastness of the Grand Canyon in Arizona or walk among the towering Sequoias in California. That Masons claim to have had religious experiences in Masonic ceremonies or rituals speaks to the fact that people are religious creatures. Both Masons and non-Masons testify that this experience has led some unsaved Masons to a salvation experience with Jesus Christ and membership in His church.
Conclusions
1. Masons and their critics are divided about whether Freemasonry is a religion or a fraternity.
2. Masons use religious symbols, terms, practices, and items.
3. The term Worshipful Master is especially offensive to many Christians.
(99) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 147.
(100) Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 1464.
(101) Masonic Code (Montgomery: Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1963), p. 120.
(102) Ibid., p. 87.
Section 7
THE RITUAL
The ritual is particularly offensive to Masonry critics. For one thing, Masons are prohibited from discussing religion or politics during Masonic meetings. Therefore, no proclamation of the gospel is allowed during the meetings. Given the nature of Freemasonry, which welcomes men of different faiths and cultures to become members, religious or political discussions could quickly become disruptive to the fellowship. Nothing, though, prevents Christian Masons from developing friendships during this time, which may lead to discussions and witness outside Lodge meetings. Discussion of one's personal faith and church membership is allowed at some Lodge meetings. Invitations to visit one's church may be extended to fellow Masons. Numerous articles appear in Masonic literature, testifying of one's faith in Christ for all to read.
The so-called "bloody oaths" are regularly cited by Masonry critics and non-Masons as objectionable. Masons prefer the word "obligation" rather than oath to describe what they promise to do. The penalty that follows the obligation is the symbolic consequences of failure to keep the obligation. The Freemasons' Diary states, "The physical penalties which are purely symbolic do not form part of an Obligation." (103) The "penalty" for the Entered Apprentice degree is:
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots, and buried in the sands of the sea, at low-water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, should I, in the least, knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Entered Apprentice obligation. (104)
The "penalty" for the Fellow Craft degree is:
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked from thence, and given to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air as a prey, should I, in the least, knowingly or wittingly, violate or transgress this my Fellow Craft obligation. (105)
The "penalty" for the Master Mason degree is:
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my body severed in two,
(103) The Freemasons' Diary, 1992-1993, p. 21.
(104) Ralph P. Lester, ed. Look to the East: A Ritual of the First Three Degrees of Masonry (Chicago: Ezra A. Cook Publishers, Inc., 1975), p. 31.
(105) Ibid., p. 96.
my bowels torn from thence and burned to ashes, and these scattered before the four winds of heaven, that no more remembrance might be had among men or Masons of so vile a wretch as I should be, should I, in the least, knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Master Mason's obligation. So help me God and keep me steadfast. (106)
If John J. Robinson's and others' arguments are correct, the words of these penalties can be traced back to the Middle Ages when the Knights Templars were subject to arrest and death if their identity became known. The nature of the penalties remind the Mason of what actually happened to people for no other reason than that they belonged to an organization. As one Masonic source stated, "We do not ask you to die for Masonry, although down through the ages men have been persecuted and have suffered even death for claiming membership in our illustrious Order." (107)
A movement has developed in Freemasonry to revise or even eliminate the penalties associated with the first three degrees. Some Grand Lodges, such as Pennsylvania, have revised the penalties; others are considering revisions. This is a step in the right direction.
Ankerberg and Weldon write, "It is a fact that no candidate entering into Masonry is told during the ritual that the penalties of the oaths he is swearing to are merely symbolic." (108) William T. Still states, "The following details of the initiation oaths of the first three degrees of Masonry are closely-guarded Masonic secrets. In fact, every Mason must swear to kill any fellow Mason who reveals them." (109) Masons insist Still makes this charge for the emotional impact it must surely have on his readers because there is no truth whatsoever in his statement. Masons contend that no Mason promises to cut anyone's throat or sever a body, even by implication. They contend that candidates are told penalties described are only symbolic and that they "may not be inflicted on a
(106) Ibid., pp. 154-155.
(107) Masonic Lectures, Compiled by the Grand Lecturers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, March 1970, p. 47.
(108) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 185.
(109) William T. Still, New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies (Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Pub., 1990), pp. 99-100. Still writes, "Fortunately for humanity, however, several brave souls" have published the obligations, or "secret work." He gives thanks to "these courageous men." Like most Masonry critics, Still implies that the texts of the obligations would not be available were it not for these "brave souls" and "courageous men." To the contrary, the texts of the obligations have been well-known for decades by anyone taking time to read them. Several Masons sent unsolicited copies of monitors to the Interfaith Witness Department during the course of this study. Anti-Mason books and books giving the rituals were found in Masonic libraries where non-Masons had access.
Mason by his Brothers." (110) The obligations are seen as an undertaking between Masons and Almighty God, not a contract between Masons and the Lodge or any other group of men. They are held to be obligations, freely invoked, which cannot be broken. They are reminders of the serious consequences of being a Mason that have been experienced in the past, and which still could arise under dictatorial governments. (111) Even if symbolic, these penalties are very offensive to many Christians. Grand Lodges should either revise or eliminate the oaths and penalties.
The obligations in the Masonic rituals are taken seriously, while Masons argue that the penalties are seen as symbolic. That the Christian Mason takes the obligations by swearing on the Bible in God's name is a point of contention for many non-Mason Christians.
Likewise, while the ritual is memorized for the three Blue Lodge degrees, a great majority of Masons have no understanding of the meaning of the details of the ritual. Masonry critics underscore this weakness in Freemasonry and insist that the meanings of the ritual are intentionally withheld.
A Christian Mason who takes the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite will be exposed to beliefs and practices quite different from his own. For example, the candidate is introduced to Egyptian deities Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Amun; to Scandinavians deities Odin, Frea, and Thor; to Hindu, Greek, and Persian deities; and to Jewish Kabbalism. Masons state that a person studies how people through the centuries have attempted to understand God and His relationship to mankind in these degrees. It cannot be denied that some of the religions studied in these degrees are pagan and that their teachings are totally incompatible with Christianity. James D. Carter, in Masonry in Texas, states that "the great object of Masonry is not to tell a man what to think but to stimulate him to think for himself." (112) There is no requirement or expectation of commitment in these higher degrees. Little of the content of the Scottish Rite ritual is learned or retained, given the rapidity in which the degrees are granted. The 4th through the 32nd degrees of the Scottish Rite ritual are taken over a period of two days at the Masonic Temple in Atlanta. The ritual for each degree lasts from 25 minutes to 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The altar in the lodge is most certainly of religious origin, similar to those used in the Old Testament as places for sacrifices to God. Masons are not certain why an altar was first used in the lodge, except perhaps as a place for the Bible.
"Secret" passwords are used in Masonic degrees. The password for the Entered Apprentice degree is "Shibboleth" from Judges 12:6. According to the verse, those who mispronounced it were killed. "Tubal-Cain" is the password for the Master Mason degree. In Genesis 4:22, he was "the forger of all implements of bronze and iron." Other secret words include Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isa. 8:3); Berith (Gen. 6:18), meaning covenant; Shaddai (Ex. 6:3), meaning Almighty God; Giblite (1 Kings 5:18); and
(110) Roger M. Firestone, "Masonic Penalties," The Scottish Rite Journal, March 1990, p. 60. The bold word in the quote is found in the original text.
(111) Ibid., pp. 58-61.
(112) Carter, Masonry in Texas, p. 5.
Abaddon (Rev. 9:11). Mahabone is another secret word, but its origin is uncertain. Several Masons admit that too many meaningless words are used in Masonic rituals. Some words have been dropped from the rituals, or, if used, then only one time. The use of words such as Shaddai and Abaddon are especially offensive to many Christians.
Readers of Masonic literature will notice that dates such as 5993 A.L. are sometimes used. A.L. is an abbreviation for Anno Lucis, a Latin phrase for "the year of light." Masons use it to date God's creation of light (Gen. 1:3). It approximates Archbishop Ussher's calculation for creation in 4004 B.C. Masons tend to round the date off to 4000 B.C., thus 5993 A.L. is A.D. 1993. Genesis 1:3 and the Masonic A.L. both refer to the creation of physical light, not the Light brought in the person of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew calendar, used since A.D. 360, also begins with creation, allegedly 3,760 years and three months before the beginning of the Christian era. Therefore, January 1993 on the Gregorian calendar, used in the United States since 1752, is the year 5753 on the Hebrew calendar. The Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, replaced the Julian calendar in most Catholic countries in 1582. Other countries were slower to adopt the new calendar.
Critics charge that Freemasonry is a religion because it "uses symbols just like those found in a church or synagogue." These symbols include the letter G, the altar, the Volume of Sacred Law, and prayers. (113) Certainly, Freemasonry uses symbolism throughout its various degrees and in its buildings. Symbolism is the heart of Freemasonry. Christians also use symbols to express their faith. The fish symbolizes Christ; the Easter lily symbolizes the resurrection. A butterfly symbolizes the change Christ brings in the life of a new believer; an equilateral triangle is sometimes used to symbolize the Trinity. Meanings given to these symbols are not shared by non-Christians. The butterfly is a common New Age symbol for self-transformation. New Masons are told that the meanings of the symbols are imperfect and incomplete. Individual Masons find personal meanings beyond their stated and original meanings. Sometimes Masons misapply the symbols; sometimes Masonry critics misapply the symbols. Given the nature of Freemasonry, this is a major problem that will not disappear, but Masons can lessen the problem by explaining more clearly the meaning of their symbols to both members and nonmembers.
The "All-Seeing Eye" is well known as a Masonic symbol for God. The psalmist writes, "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him" (Ps. 33:18, NASB). Proverbs 15:3 (NASB) states, "The eyes of the Lord [YHWH] are in every place, Watching the evil and the good." This reminds the Mason that his actions do not go unnoticed by God. Masonry critics remind us that the All-Seeing Eye was also the Egyptian symbol for Osiris. Some Masons cite this use of the symbol, but others cite the biblical foundation of the All-Seeing Eye. It is uncertain when the All-Seeing Eye became a Masonic symbol. The meaning behind the All-Seeing Eye is analogous to the rainbow today. Followers of the New Age Movement have begun using the rainbow as one of their symbols. The Bible also points to the rainbow as a sign of God's covenant with Noah after the flood (Gen. 9:8-17). Symbols can mean different things to different people.
A bride normally wears a veil at her wedding, although few know the origin of this practice. Centuries ago, it was believed a rejected man might try to place a evil
(113) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on The Masonic Lodge, p. 19.
spell upon the bride. The veil was believed to provide spiritual protection from the evil spell until the bride was protected by the sacrament of marriage received from the Roman Catholic Church. Most Christians also use the Christmas tree, and many participate in Easter egg hunts. Both the Christmas tree and the Easter egg were originally pagan symbols. Shall we dispense with these traditions because their origin is rooted in the occult?
In the Masonic ritual, a sword is pointed toward a candidate's bared heart. Masons believe this part of the ritual reminds the candidate that justice will come, even though our thoughts and actions may be hidden from our fellowman. The Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Texas reminds the Master Mason that the sword:
. . . demonstrates that justice will sooner or later overtake us; and although our thoughts, words and actions may be hidden from the eyes of man, yet that ALL-SEEING EYE . . . pervades the inmost recesses of the human heart, and will reward us according to our merits. (114)
Throughout the Bible, from Genesis 3:24 to Revelation 19:21, the sword is a symbol of God's judgment against His enemies. Masons specifically refer to Simeon's prophecy in Luke 2:33-35 as key in their use of the sword. (115)
Many Christians are concerned about the use of the lambskin apron because they believe it signifies works salvation and that a Mason believes he has already achieved a pure life essential for salvation. Masons insist they use the lambskin apron as an emblem of innocence, a symbol of the purity of life and moral conduct demanded of all Masons. They insist the lambskin does not bring salvation, but rather, "the purity of life" it symbolizes brings salvation. They use the lambskin as a symbol of Christ, who is "a lamb unblemished and spotless" (1 Pet. 1:19, NASB).
Masonry critic A. Ralph Epperson quotes Albert Mackey in his discussion of the Masonic teaching concerning the direction north: "The north is Masonically a place of darkness." (116) Citing Isaiah 14:13, Epperson states that the direction north is associated with darkness in Masonry because "the God of the Bible sits in the north." Epperson claims that only when Lucifer assumes God's throne will Masons find light in the north. (117) Epperson's claim is not based on any Masonic source. In the very next sentence, Mackey explains why "the north is Masonically a place of darkness." Using the symbol of Solomon's Temple, Mackey writes, "The sun in his progress through the ecliptic [its normal path across the sky] never reaches farther than 23ø 28' north of the
(114) Monitor of the Lodge (Waco: The Grand Lodge of Texas, 1982), p. 90. See also Lester, Look to the East! p. 195.
(115) Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft, p. 69. This teaching is also found in Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual, pp. 62-63.
(116) A. Ralph Epperson, The New World Order (Tucson: Publius Press, 1990), p. 51, quoting Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. II, p. 518.
(117) Epperson, pp. 51-52
equator. A wall being erected on any part of the earth farther north than that, will therefore, at meridian, receive the rays of the sun only on its south side, while the north will be entirely in the shadow at the hour of the meridian." (118) In other words, the rays of the sun never shine on the north wall of Solomon's Temple.
Likewise, Israel's enemies were to come from the north. "Then the Lord said to me, 'Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,' declares the Lord; 'and they will come, and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah"' (Jer 1:14-15, NASB). Repeatedly, Jeremiah says Jerusalem's enemies will come from the north: "For evil looks down from the north, And a great destruction" (Jer. 6:1, NASB).
The sound of a report! Behold, it comes --
A great commotion out of the land of the north --
To make the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals (Jer. 10:22, NASB).
The directions of the compass are important in Freemasonry, as they are in the Bible. Ezekiel 40 - 43 describes in considerable detail the walls and gates of the chambers of the Temple, using the four directions of the compass. In his vision, Ezekiel saw that "the glory of the Lord came into the house [Temple] by the way of the gate facing toward the east" (Ezek. 43:4, NASB). After He entered the east gate, the Lord told Ezekiel, "'This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut"' (Ezek. 44:2, NASB).
The legend of Hiram Abif in the ritual for the Master Mason's degree is criticized by Masonry critics. According to 1 Kings 7:13-47, Hiram Abif was a bronze worker in Solomon's Temple:
Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.... Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished doing all the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of the Lord (1 Kings 7: 13-14, 40, NASB).
The ritual for the Master Mason's degree says that three workers in the Temple attempted to learn the secret Master's Word from Hiram. When he refused to reveal it, they killed Hiram and buried his body secretly. The body was discovered after King Solomon ordered a search for it. Only "the strong grip of a Master Mason" by King Solomon could raise Hiram's body from the grave. One critic writes, "After a lot of ritualized fussing around, Solomon takes the decomposing right hand of Hiram Abif by
(118) Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 2, p. 518. This idea is also found in Charles Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual, p. 28, and in the Louisiana Masonic Monitor, p. 61.
the 'Strong Grip of the Lion's Paw,' the Master Mason grip, and hauls his carcass out of the ground, apparently resurrecting him (although this is never clear)." (119) Contrary to what critics say, Masons insist Hiram was not resurrected from the dead; his body was removed from one grave and reburied in another. The ritual says they then "carried it to the Temple, and buried it in due form." (120) Quoting the Masonic Book of Constitutions, Mackey writes, ". . . after some time allowed to the Craft to vent their sorrow, ordered his obsequies to be performed with great solemnity and decency, and buried him in the Lodge near the Temple, -- according to the ancient usages among Masons, -- and long mourned his loss." (121)
Schnoebelen argues that the Order of the Eastern Star could not have borrowed their logo, the "Eastern Star," from Matthew 2:2. He rightly states that the Bible does not say "eastern star," but rather "star in the east" (Matt. 2:2, NASB) and "the star, which they had seen in the east" (Matt. 2:9, NASB). Schnoebelen concludes, "Since the wise men were from the Orient (i.e., Persia), the star which they saw over Bethlehem could not have appeared eastern to them, but western." (122) Neither does the Bible say "western star." Schnoebelen accuses the Order of the Eastern Star of "playing with words." He argues that the Eastern Star actually refers to the star Sirius, which "is sacred to the god, Set. Remember Set as the evil Egyptian god who killed Osiris? Set is probably the oldest form of Satan. The Eastern Star is the star of Set." (123) He also argues that the star, with its single point down, is the inverted pentagram, which with the goat's head inside, is the official symbol of Satanism and witchcraft. Again, symbols mean what the user intends them to mean; symbols can mean different things to different people. To the occultist, the inverted star or pentagram refers to the Goat of Mendes or Satan; to the Order of the Eastern Star, it refers to the miracle star that guided the Wise Men to the Christ child. (124) The Order of the Eastern Star teaches that the five points of the star represent the daughter of Jephthah whom he killed after taking a vow to God (Judg. 11:30-40). The Eastern Star rituals give this unnamed daughter the name Adah. The other points represent Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 1:22), Queen Esther (Esther 2:17), Martha who was Lazarus' sister (Luke 10:38-42), and Electa (2 John 1). (125)
Masonic burial and memorial services are often the target of criticism. Indeed, burial and memorial services are the most public rituals conducted by Masons. Every
(119) William Schnoebelen, Masonry: Beyond the Light, p. 149.
(120) Lester, Look to the East, pp. 184-190.
(121) Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, p. 332.
(122) Schnoebelen, Masonry: Beyond the Light, p. 100.
(123) Ibid., p. 101.
(124) Ritual of the Order of the Eastern Star (Washington, D.C.: General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, 1983), pp. 50, 159.
(125) Ibid., pp. 60-74-
Mason in good standing may request a Masonic burial service. The family normally makes the final decision concerning a Masonic funeral for a loved one. Baptist minister and Mason Don R. Long suggests to fellow Masons, "Do not force the issue of having a Masonic service if it is going to cause a great deal of hurt feelings among the family and minister. It is best not to have a masonic service than to cause trouble and hard feelings." (126) One cause of the misunderstanding that can arise between the Lodge and the minister over the funeral service is that many Lodge officers are not aware of funeral courtesies and how to work with the minister whom they may not know. The minister may resent the Lodge taking control of the service, which he believes is his responsibility. The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars will also conduct burial rites upon request. Funeral expenses will be paid by the Lodge if the Mason is indigent.
In the Louisiana Masonic Monitor, the ritual for a Lodge of Sorrow is explained. The Lodge of Sorrow "is intended to celebrate the memory of our departed brethren." It may be held in a church, public hall, or in the Lodge hall; non-Masons are permitted to attend. (127) Reference to "the ancient Egyptian ceremony of the Judgment of the Dead, or Judgment of Amenti" and the Egyptian Book of the Dead is made in the closing ceremonies of the ritual for the Lodge of Sorrow in the Louisiana Masonic Monitor. (128) To study about Egyptian religions is one thing; to incorporate teachings from the Egyptian Book of the Dead in a funeral, memorial, or Lodge of Sorrow ritual is quite another. For a Christian, this moves from the realm of the acceptable to the unacceptable. This closing ceremony will continue to be cited by Masonry critics, and rightly so, until it is removed. These references are offensive to many Christians and their use is incompatible with the Christian faith. References to Egyptian religion should be removed from this ritual. The reference to Egyptian religion was not found in any other monitor examined.
Conclusions
1. Even if symbolic, the penalties in Blue Lodge Masonry are offensive to many Christians. Grand Lodges should either revise or eliminate the oaths and penalties.
2. Masons would reduce criticism if they referred to their buildings simply as halls or lodges, rather than temples, shrines, or mosques.
3. The use of words such as Shaddai and Abaddon are especially offensive to many Christians.
4. Masons could reduce misunderstanding and criticism if they explained the meaning of the symbols to both members and nonmembers.
5. Masons should find illustrations other than obvious pagan sources to use in lessons taught in the various degrees.
(126) Don R. Long, "Masonic Funeral Courtesies," The Texas Freemason, Fall 1984, pp. 25-26
(127) Louisiana Masonic Monitor, p. 183. 128 Ibid, pp. 198-199.
(128) Ibid., pp. 198-199
Section 8
GOD
Every Mason is required to profess a belief in God, but each Mason is allowed to define his understanding of God as he wants. There is no doubt that Masons take belief in God seriously.
The North Carolina Lodge Manual speaks of a Mason's relationship with God in this way: "There are three great duties which, as a Mason, you are charged to inculcate -- to God, your neighbour, and yourself To God, in never mentioning his name but with that reverential awe which is due from a creature to his Creator." (129)
The letter G is a well-known Masonic symbol. It is found within the square and compass to form the most public symbol of Freemasonry. As with many symbols, Masons are uncertain when and why it was first used. Most Masons say the G denotes either geometry, the Grand or Great Architect, or simply God.
The true name of God has been the subject of speculation for both Jews and Christians. This problem arose because Old Testament Jews held that the name of God was too holy to utter, so the name Adoni, or Lord, was substituted for His name. The fact that the Hebrew alphabet did not use vowels until the sixth or seventh century A.D. caused the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, "YHWH," to be forgotten. Petrus Galatinus is often credited with creating an artificial word, Jehovah, in about A.D. 1520 when he combined the vowels from Adoni with the Tetragrammaton. (130) Many biblical scholars today believe the correct pronunciation of YHWH is Yahweh.
In Old Testament times, with many gods worshipped among the tribes in the Middle East, it was important to know which god men worshipped. It was thus necessary to know God's name to distinguish Him from the many other gods worshipped by non-Israelites. Micah 4:5 (NASB) reflects this belief:
Though all the peoples walk
Each in the name of his god,
As for us, we will walk
In the name of the Lord [YHWH] our God [Elohim] forever and ever.
L. James Rongstad, in How to Respond to The Lodge, says that the "rediscovered" secret name for God is "Jah-Bul-On." (131) This, Rongstad says, is the Royal Arch Masons' "Trinity." He says, "'Jah' is an abbreviation for the Hebrew name of God:
(129) Charles F. Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Co., 1929), pp. 37-38.
(130) The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 2 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), p. 817
(131) James Rongstad, How to Respond to The Lodge (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977), p. 17. This charge is cited by numerous Masonry critics including Aubrey Wilkinson, "Wishing Freemasons the Best" (Kyle, Texas: Unpublished manuscript, n.d.), p. 8.
JAHWEH, or JEHOVAH. 'Bul' or 'Bal' is the name for the Assyrian deity, and is mentioned throughout the Old Testament as 'Baal' or 'Baal-peor.' (This is the idol God told the Israelites to avoid at all costs.) 'On' is the Egyptian sun god." Edward J. Decker claims that "'ON' is the term used in the Babylonian mysteries to call upon the deity 'OSIRIS.'" (132) Osiris is an Egyptian deity, not a Babylonian deity. Ankerberg and Weldon also identify On with Osiris. (133) In other words:
Jah is from Jahweh or Jehovah.
Bul is from Baal.
On is from Osiris.
Masons insist that this argument is fallacious and that the derivation is incorrect. They insist the spelling of words are changed by Masonry critics to support their argument. Rongstad changes the spelling from Bul to Bal, which is closer to the name of the Canaanite fertility or storm god, Baal. It is a leap of faith to get "On" from Osiris since there is no "n" in Osiris.
Christopher Haffner traces this charge to anti-Mason Walton Hannah, who, in Darkness Visible: A Revelation and Interpretation of Freemasonry, wrote:
This word, JAH-BUL-ON, is explained in the Mystical Lecture as consisting of certain titles or attributes of divinity to which in English no-one [sic] could take exception. Yet this word is made up (as is also explained) of the Hebrew Jahweh coupled with the Assyrian Baal, so utterly repugnant to the prophets even as a symbol, and the Egyptian On or Osiris." (134)
Hannah offers no explanation or documentation for his charge. Haffner and other Masons insist the ritual for the Royal Arch degree, from which this identity allegedly comes, "says nothing of the sort." (135) Still, this charge has taken on a life of its own and is commonly repeated. Masons point out that the name Bul is found in the Old Testament. It is the name of the eighth month of the Jewish lunar calendar. The building of Solomon's Temple was completed in the eighth month, "And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according
(132) Edward Decker Jr. The Question of Freemasonry (Issaquah, Wash.: Free the Masons Ministries, n.d.), p. 15.
(133) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 119-120.
(134) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 221 quoting Hannah, Darkness Visible: A Revelation and Interpretation of Freemasonry (Devon: Britons, 1975), p. 35.
(135) bid., p. 221. The Royal Arch degree in English Freemasonry is seen as a completion of the Master Mason degree while in American Freemasonry the Royal Arch degree is included in the York Rite.
to all its plans" (1 Kings 6:38, NASB). It was common to add an epithet to the Semitic term (El) for God in the Old Testament to distinguish whether El was referring to a pagan or false god, or to the true God of Israel. One of the Old Testament names for YHWH is El Elyon, or God Most High. Melchizedek was "a priest of God Most High [El Elyon]" (Gen. 14:18, NASB). El Elyon is identified with YHWH in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and 2 Samuel 22:14. Another name for YHWH is Adon as in Exodus 34:23 (NASB), "Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord [Adon] God [YHWH], the God [Elohim] of Israel." Adon refers to God's eternal nature or His perpetuity. The name of God revealed an attribute about Him, such as Yahweh Shalom, meaning "the Lord of peace."
Coil admits that Masons are divided over the origin of the "On" ending. Some say it refers to the sun-god Ra, whose center of worship was in On; others claim that On refers only to the name of the city. (136) On was an Egyptian word meaning "city of the pillar," called Heliopolis or "city of the sun" in Greek, and Beth-shemesh or "city of the sun" in Hebrew (Jer. 43:13). (137) Coil writes:
Jah, Bel, and On appear in the American ritual of the Royal Arch degree on the supposition that Jah was the Syriac name of God, Bel (Baal), the Chaldean, and On, the Egyptian. But the last name seems was actually the name of a city, error having arisen from the Biblical story that Pharaoh gave Joseph, for a wife, Asenath, who was the daughter of Potepherah [Gen. 41:45], priest of On, meaning priest of the city of On, not the god
Haffner quotes Hannah, who says Jah-Bul-On:
. . . is a compound word, and the combination forms the word JAH-BUL-ON. It is in four languages, Chaldee, Hebrew, Syriac and Egyptian. JAH is a Chaldee name for God, signifying "His Essence and Majesty Incomprehensible." It is also a Hebrew word, signifying "I am and shall be," thereby expressing the actual, future and eternal existence of the Most High. BUL is a Syriac word denoting Lord or Powerful, it is in itself a compound word, being formed from the preposition Beth, in or on, and UL, Heaven or High; therefore the meaning of the word is Lord in Heaven or on High. ON is an Egyptian word, signifying Father of All, thereby expressing the Omnipotence of the Father of All, as in that well known prayer, Our Father which art in Heaven. The various significations of the words may be thus collected:
(136) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 456.
(137) Holman Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Holman Bible Pub., 1991), p. 1050. See also Numbers 16:1 and Ezekiel 30:17.
(138) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 516.
I am and shall be
Lord in Heaven or on High;
Father of All! In every age,
In every clime adored
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord. (139)
Haffner argues that Jah-Bul-On does not refer to three gods, but to Yahweh, who revealed Himself in the Old Testament. The epithet to the name speaks of specific characteristics of Yahweh, just as does Yahweh Shalom. Critics, of course, do not accept Haffner's interpretation. They see an obvious pagan origin to the name.
In the face of continued attacks by Masonry critics, as well as Christians within Masonry, over the use of Jah-Bul-On as a name for God, the Grand Lodge of England stopped using it in February 1989. (140) American Masons should follow the lead of their English brothers.
Ankerberg and Weldon quote Martin L. Wagner, "This Great Architect as conceived by Freemasons is not identical with the Jehovah of Christianity, but . . . is another and distinct entity." They further quote Wagner, that the Great Architect and Jehovah "are entirely separate and different, mutually exclusive and no syncretism can harmonize them." (141)
However, the Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Texas, in the ritual for constituting a new lodge, states, "I now solemnly consecrate this Lodge, to the honour and glory of Jehovah, the Grand Architect of the Universe." (142) Jehovah's name is mentioned two additional times in this ritual, including in the following prayer:
This Temple, designed and build [sic] by Wisdom, supported by Strength, and adorned in Beauty, we are first to consecrate in the name of the great Jehovah; which teaches us, in all our works, begun and finished, to acknowledge, adore and magnify Him. It reminds us, also, in His fear to enter the door of the Lodge, to put our trust in Him while passing its trials
(139) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 218, quoting Hannah, Darkness Visible, pp. 181-82. The copy of Darkness Visible used for this paper was published in 1952, but the page numbers coincide with Haffner's copy.
(140) Christopher Haffner, "Freemasonry." Areopagus, Pentecost 1992, p. 18.
(141) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 30. They quote from Martin L. Wagner, Freemasonry: An Interpretation, n.d., n.p. (distributed by Missionary Service and Supply, Route 2, Columbiana, OH 44408). This organization is not listed in the phone directory according to long-distance directory information, area code 216, so the quote was not verified.
(142) Monitor of the Lodge, p. 148.
and to hope in Him for the reward of its labours. (143)
Haffner states that "Christian Freemasons have always identified the 'Great Architect of the Universe,' with our Lord Jesus Christ, and far from shutting Him out of the lodges, have felt His presence in accordance with His promise." (144) The name Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe, abbreviated G.A.O.T.U. or T.G.A.O.T.U., has been used by Masons from at least as early as 1730. (145) Masons, however, were not the first to speak of God as Architect. French reformer and theologian John Calvin (1509-1564) referred to God as Architect. In his Commentary upon The Book of Psalms, Calvin writes:
David shows how it is [in Psalm 19] that the heavens proclaim to us the glory of God, namely by openly bearing testimony that they have not been put together by chance, but were wonderfully created by the supreme Architect.... As soon as we acknowledge God to be the supreme Architect, who has erected the beauteous fabric of the universe, our minds must necessarily be ravished with wonder at his infinite goodness, wisdom, and power. (146)
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote, "Hence God was pleased that a history of the creation should exist -- a history on which the faith of the Church might lean without seeking another God than Him whom Moses set forth as the Creator and Architect of the world." (147) In the same book, Calvin wrote, "The former is exemplified when we consider how great the Architect must be who framed and ordered the multitude of the starry host so admirably." (148)
Masonic writer Wallace McLeod wrote:
Actually this phrase [the Great Architect of the Universe] entered Freemasonry by way of the first Book of Constitutions [sic], printed in 1723. The compiler was Rev. Dr. James Anderson, a graduate of Aberdeen University, and minister of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Swallow Street, Piccadilly, London, from 1710 to 1734. He did not invent the phrase, but took it over from John Calvin, who uses it, for example, in his
(143) Ibid., p. 168. See page 163 for the third reference to Jehovah.
(144) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 125.
(145) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 517.
(146) John Calvin, Commentary upon the Book of Psalms, trans. James Anderson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949), p. 309.
(147) John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1953), book 1, p. 141.
(148) Ibid., p. 157.
Commentary on Psalm 19; the heavens "were wonderfully founded by the Great Architect" (ab apifice praestantissimo); again, according to the same paragraph, "when once we recognize God as Architect of the Universe" (mundi opificem), we are bound to marvel at his Wisdom, Strength, and Goodness. In fact, Calvin repeatedly calls God "the Architect of the Universe," and refers to his works in nature as "Architecture of the Universe," ten times in the Institutes of the Christian Religion alone. (149)
Even Masons admit that the term Great Architect of the Universe expresses an incomplete idea of God. (150) The Masonic Great Architect of the Universe appears more like the Aristotelian "First Cause" than the personal God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. The Masonic Great Architect of the Universe must be interpreted in light of the biblical revelation of God in Jesus Christ. While Calvin emphasized the importance of recognizing God as Creator and Architect, he also reminded us, "It was necessary, in passing from death unto life, that they should know God, not only as a Creator, but as a Redeemer also; and both kinds of knowledge they certainly did obtain from the Word." (151)
It has been said that Masons have rejected God for "the lowest-common-denominator god." (152) It is true that God is not defined by Freemasonry; each Mason is given the freedom to define God for himself. Neither is God defined in the phrase "In God We Trust" on the backs of Federal Reserve Notes. As Christians, we interpret that phrase as referring to God, who was revealed in Jesus Christ. But if that were somehow made official by an act of Congress, Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christian American citizens would immediately challenge the act. The Christian church is free to define who God is. But we must allow non-Christians the freedom to also define who God is.
One critic discusses the all-seeing eye above the pyramid on the back of $1 Federal Reserve Notes. Referring to Masonic writers Carl Claudy, Albert Mackey, Manly P. Hall, Rex Hutchens, and Albert Pike, he concludes, without offering any specific documentation, that "some of these writers have reported that the sun-god was Lucifer. So, the all-seeing eye is a symbol of Lucifer, the all-seeing god of the universe. " (153)
In response to this charge, the reader is reminded that Lucifer is a created being and not equal to God. The Bible, which must be the only source for our understanding
(149) Wallace McLeod, The Grand Design (Des Moines: Iowa Research Lodge No. 2, 1991), p. 108.
(150) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 37.
(151) Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, p. 65.
(152) Vladimir S. Borichevsky and Stephen N. Jula, "Masonry or Christ?" (Unpublished report sponsored by the Chicago Deanery of the Russian Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church, n.d.), n.p.
(153) Epperson, The New World Order, p. 142.
about Lucifer, does not speak of Lucifer as having an all-seeing eye. Only God is described as having this characteristic. God, not Lucifer, sees all things. Job 28:24 (NASB) states, "For He [God] looks to the ends of the earth, And sees everything under the heavens." Job 34:21 (NASB) says, "For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And he sees all his steps."
Psalm 33:13 (NASB) says, "The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men." Lamentations 3:50 (NASB) says, "Until the Lord looks down And sees from heaven." Albert Mackey states that the All-Seeing Eye is "an important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by Freemasons from the nations of antiquity." (154) Mackey cites Psalm 34:15 (NASB), "The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry"; Psalm 121:4 (NASB), "Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep"; and Proverbs 15:3 (NASB), "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good," in his discussion of the All-Seeing Eye. Epperson correctly cites Mackey as saying that "the Egyptians represent Osiris, their chief deity, by the symbol of an open eye." (155) However, Masons insist Mackey was simply reporting that Egyptians represented Osiris with the symbol of an open eye; Mackey nowhere said Masons must believe this.
Another critic cites W.L. Wilmshurst's allegorical interpretation of Matthew 2:15 (NASB), "'Out of Egypt did I call My Son"' in his effort to prove that the god of Masonry is Lucifer. (156) Christians will also recognize this as a quote of Hosea 11:1. Wilmshurst interprets the passage allegorically when he writes, "'Out of Egypt have I called My Son'" is, in one of its many senses, a biblical allusion to this passing on of the catholic Mysteries from Egypt to new and virgin regions, for their enlightenment." (157)
William E. Gordon concludes:
Wilmshurst's statement, while blasphemous, does not indicate that Lucifer is the god of the Lodge.... Nowhere does Wilmshurst state that Lucifer is the god of Freemasonry.... Wilmshurst teaches his pagan concept of religion under the guise of revealing the deeper symbolism of Masonry. (158)
Some critics quote Mackey in an effort to show an "intimate connection" between the Kabbala and Freemasonry, "The EN SOPH, therefore was compelled to create the
(154) Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, p. 47.
(155) Epperson, The New World Order, p. 141, citing Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, p. 48.
(156) Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, p. 19.
(157) W.L. Wilmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry (New York: Bell Publishing Co., 1980), p. 179. This book was first published in 1925.
(158) William E. Gordon Jr. "A Critique of James L. Holly's The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry" (Lilburn, Ga.: Unpublished manuscript, 1993), pp. 9-10.
world in an indirect manner, by ten emanations from the infinite light which he was and in which he dwelt. These ten emanations are the ten Sephiroth." (159) Gordon points out that "Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry does not state that this is the Masonic understanding of God. Rather, he states that this was the understanding of God taught by the Kabbala." (160) The Kabbala is a school of Jewish mysticism. En Soph is the supreme being of the Kabbala school. Mackey does find the 10 emanations of the Kabbala reflected in "the Masonic mysteries the Ladder of Kadosh, and lastly, the Theological Ladder of the Symbolical degrees." (161) As Gordon concludes, there is no proof that the god of the Lodge is Lucifer, but he does show that many influential Masons have attempted "to teach their pagan religious beliefs under the pretense of explaining the inner meaning of Masonic symbols." (162)
Mackey repudiated the idea of Masonic descent from "the Ancient Mysteries":
It has been a favourite theory with several German, French, and British scholars to trace the origin of Freemasonry to the Mysteries of Pagans, while others, repudiating the idea that the modern association should have sprung from them, still find analogies so remarkable between the two systems as to lead them to suppose that the Mysteries were an offshoot from the pure Freemasonry of the Patriarchs.
In my opinion there is not the slightest foundation in historical evidence to support either theory, although I admit the existence of many analogies between the two systems, which can, however, be easily explained without admitting any connection in the way of origin and descent between them. (163)
Conclusions
1. Freemasonry requires no specific belief about God, so there is a diversity of opinion among Masons concerning God.
2. American Masons should follow the lead of their English brothers and discontinue the use of Jah-Bul-On as a name for God.
(159) Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, p. 23. Holly cites Mackey, page 167. The three passages cited by Holly are found on p. 376 in the HMB Interfaith Witness Department's copy of Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.
(160) Gordon, "A Critique," pp. 10-11.
(161) Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 377.
(162) Gordon, "A Critique," p. 11.
(163) S. Brent Morris, "The Letter 'G,"' The Plumbline of the Scottish Rite Research Society, September 1992, p. 2, quoting Albert G. Mackey, History of Freemasonry (1906), p. 185.
Section 9
JESUS CHRIST
Masonry critics repeatedly say that "a Mason is not allowed to pray to or testify of Jesus in the Lodge. A Christian Mason cannot even share the joy of Jesus with a 'brother Mason' in the Lodge." (164) However, the Masonic Code of the Grand Lodge of Alabama gives instruction on the use of the name Jesus Christ in Lodge prayers. "A Mason offering prayer in the Lodge may pray to his God -- observing his own conception of Deity. It is therefore proper and in accordance with Masonic law and tenets for a Mason who believes in the Christ or Jesus to offer prayer in the Lodge in His Name." (165) However, a Mason must use the written prayers provided in the ritual in all ritualistic ceremonies. W.R. White, a past president of Baylor University and a Mason, wrote:
The Cross of Calvary is the symbol of our order [the Red Cross of Constantine]. One part of it is vertical; the other part is horizontal. It signifies our instrument of victory.
We look up to the God revealed in Christ. That is our vertical direction or look. Our solid ground of hope is in Him. Here is the source of our faith and power.
The other part of the Cross extends horizontally. This is the outward or manward look. We are to see man as Christ saw him from the Cross -- perverse and helpless without God. Yet, He saw man redeemable through sacrificial love. For the joy of that potential, He endured the Cross, despising the shame. (166)
Earl D. Harris, in his article on "Brotherly Love" in the Masonic Messenger, quotes Jesus by name, calls Him "The Great Teacher," and capitalizes personal pronouns referring to Him. (167) The Masonic Messenger is the official publication of the Grand Lodge of Georgia. It is not true that Masons may never talk or testify about Jesus to their fellow Masons. Masonic codes disallow this discussion or testimony only during the ritual, and the fellowship immediately afterward.
Masonry critics often claim the name of Jesus Christ is never spoken in official Masonic rituals and ceremonies. This is not completely true. Other critics state, "Masonry absolutely prohibits all attempts by Christians to share Jesus Christ with other
(164) Schnoebelen, Masonry Beyond the Light, p. 64; Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 130.
(165) Masonic Code (Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1963), p. 141.
(166) W.R. White, "Our Fraternity and Our World," The Texas Freemason, August 1970, p. 3
(167) Earl D. Harris, "Brotherly Love," Masonic Messenger, July 1992, pp. 22-23.
Masons." (168) Masons insist this restriction exists only in official Lodge meetings and does not apply outside those meetings.
The ritual for the Fellow Craft degree in The Murrow Masonic Monitor used by Oklahoma Masons includes the "Doxology," with the phrase "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." (169)
Also found in the Murrow Monitor, from the ceremony for laying a cornerstone, is, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (170)
From the ceremony of the extinguishing of the lights, a Scottish Rite ceremony held on Maundy Thursday:
My Brethren, this is the anniversary of that Last Supper of which Jesus of Nazareth partook with His humble disciples, after which He was betrayed and crucified.
Who, of any creed, can picture to himself, unmoved, that noble and sweet countenance, which never looked on any thing in anger, pale with agony, and streaming with tears? His back was torn by the lash, His brow pierced by the thorns. He suffered, willingly, until it seemed, even to Him, that His God and Father had forsaken Him.
And yet, even then, bruised, hanged upon a cross, betrayed by one He loved, suffering and, for a moment, questioning, He still calls down not curses but blessings and a prayer for forgiveness upon those who had so treated Him. When any man might be forgiven for cursing or, at the least, indulging in self-pity, He thinks not of His own pain, but of the pain and suffering of others. (171)
From the 18th degree of the Scottish Rite: "That wherein they [older forms of religion] were deficient [Masonry] found in the New Law of Love, preached by Jesus of Nazareth, and which He sealed with His blood.... We regard Him as our Master, and
(168) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 130.
(169) The Murrow Masonic Monitor (Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, revised 1988), p. 69
(170) Ibid., p. 190.
(171) Ritual of the 15d to the 18d of the Scottish Rite (no publisher information, 1957), p. 251. Many Masonic books are privately published. It is not unusual for no publisher to be given on the title page.
use such terms only as none can dissent from." (172) From the 26th degree of the Scottish Rite:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him; in Him Life was, and the Life was the Light of mankind. The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And the Word became incarnate, and dwelt in man and they beheld His glory, a glory as of the Only-born of the Father." Thus said the Ancient Christian Masons; and they said also: "There are Three that bear record in Heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these Three are One....
When the morning was come, all the Chief Priests and Elders took council against Jesus, to put Him to death. And when Pilate would have appealed to the people to release Him, the priests incited the people, so that they shouted, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him." (173)
In the ritual of the Red Cross of Constantine, a system of degrees in the York Rite, we find Mark 16:1-6 quoted verbatim. (174)
While critics can find examples where Masons have deleted the name of Jesus in books, it is not true that Freemasonry ignores or denies Jesus Christ. That Freemasonry does not refer to Jesus Christ as much as some critics would like can, in part, be attributed to the fact that Freemasonry sees itself as symbolically building Solomon's Temple, constructed 10 centuries before Christ, within each member.
Ankerberg and Weldon state that "Pike asserted that Jesus was only 'a great teacher of morality' -- but no more." (175) They refer to page 525 of Pike's Morals and Dogma. The quote actually states:
It [Freemasonry] sees in Moses, the Lawgiver of the Jews, in Confucius and Zoroaster, in Jesus of Nazareth, and in the Arabian Iconoclast, Great Teachers of Morality, and Eminent Reformers, if no more: and allows every brother of the Order to assign to each such higher and even Divine Character as his Creed and Truth require. (176)
In this statement Pike did not, and Freemasonry today does not, see Jesus as the
(172) Ibid., p. 145.
(173) Ritual of the 19d to the 30d of the Scottish Rite (no publisher or date), p. 82.
(174) Ceremonies of Subordinate Conclaves: Red Cross of Constantine (no publisher information, 1987), p. 53.
(175) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 132.
(176) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 525.
unique Son of God and Saviour of the world. As Pike says on the same page, "It is beyond the domain of Masonry to decide." Why? Masons respond that it is because Freemasonry is not a religion. Each Mason, though, as Pike states, is free to decide who Jesus is.
Conclusions
1. Masons are not supposed to talk or testify about Jesus during the ritual, and the fellowship immediately afterward. This prohibition does not apply at other times.
2. One Mason wrote that "perhaps Masons should be reminded that as we seek 'Masonic Light,' we find that Jesus is indeed 'The Light of the World.'" (177) Christian Masons affirm that Jesus Christ is "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me" (John 14:6, NASB).
(177) Letter on file.
Section 10
THE BIBLE
"The greatest Masonic symbol of light, or truth, is the Holy Bible, the Great Light of Masonry" (178) is an often-stated Masonic teaching.
Critics charge that the Bible, for Freemasonry, is "only a symbol" and not the "rule and guide for faith and practice," just as a flag is "a piece of cloth symbolizing freedom." (179) The North Carolina Lodge Manual informs Masons that "the Holy Bible is given us as the rule and guide of faith." (180) The Mason is also told that "the Bible is the light which enlightens the path of our duty to God." (181)
"The Light is the open Holy Bible that is central on the altar of every lodge. The Holy Bible reveals God's will and God's grace." (182) "What does the first marker (Commandment) reveal to you about the mind of God? The answer is very important because the first marker is the one on which all the other nine markers depend. What does it reveal? "Worship no God. but Me." . . . Our Lord . . . said that the greatest Commandment is to put God above everything else in your life." (183)
In the lectures for the Entered Apprentice degree in Louisiana, the candidate is reminded:
This Book [the Bible] contains the Word of God -- the state of man, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are Holy, its teachings are binding, is hostory [sic] is true, and its decisions are indisputable.... Read it, my brother - study it! It is God's plan of life. Live according to the light you find therein and you will indeed become a true Mason and merit the rewards God has promised. It points out the only way to salvation. (184)
Each Grand Lodge has its own monitor; the text is not identical in all monitors. The Louisiana Masonic Monitor says about the Bible:
(178) Masonic Lectures, Complied by the Grand Lecturers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, March 1990, p. 18.
(179) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 94.
(180) Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual, p. 14.
(181) Ibid., p. 58.
(182) Frank G. Ladner, "Chaplain Ladner's Corner," The Alhambran newspaper (Chattanooga, Tenn.), August 1992, p. 12. Underlined words are underlined in the original text.
(183) Ibid. Underlined words are underlined in the original text.
(184) Masonic Lectures, Complied by the Grand Lecturers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, March 1970, pp. 7-8. Most Southern Baptists believe the Bible is the Word of God rather than it "contains" the Word of God.
However they may differ in creed or theology, all good men are agreed that within the covers of the Holy Bible are found those principles of morality which lay the foundation upon which to build a righteous life.... [Freemasonry] points to the open Bible thereon [on the altar], and urges upon each that he faithfully direct his steps through life by the Light he there shall find, and as he there shall find it.... Live according to its divine teachings, with its everlasting assurances of a blessed immortality. (185).
Continuing:
Take, then, my brother, this sacred Volume, the symbol of our ancient Craft, and make it the rule and guide of your life and conduct. It is the one Volume which has lived in the hearts of the people, moulding and shaping their destinies; and it leads the way to Him who is the Light of the world. Take its divine light into your very soul and you will be thereby enabled to mount from the humble estate of your earthly nature to the glorious heights of God's eternal truth. (186)
It is well known that scriptures other than the Bible are used in some Masonic lodges. For example, the Quran may be used in lodges where Muslims are members or guests and the Vedas in lodges where Hindus are members or guests. However, Christians are never required to accept scriptures other than the Bible as authoritative; they accept a fellow Mason whose accepted scripture may be the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), Quran, or Vedas. The Grand Lodge of Israel places the Tanach, the New Testament, and the Quran on its altars. In some lodges in India and Singapore, several scriptures may be opened during the ceremony. While Christians may see this as an effort to make other scriptures equal with the Bible, Masons insist this is not true. Each Mason has the right to choose the scripture of his own faith and it is upon it that he makes his promises. To require a Mason to make a vow on a book in which he does not believe, Masons insist, would be hypocritical.
Conclusion
The Bible, along with the square and compass, are referred to as the Furniture of the Lodge. Every faith, whether Christianity or non-Christian, holds its scripture as sacred. To compare scripture to a square and compass, even symbolically, is an affront to the faith. Masons should give the Volume of Sacred Literature the supreme place in the Lodge, rather than on par with symbols such as the square and compass.
(185) Louisiana Masonic Monitor, pp. 24-25.
(186) Ibid., p. 26.
Section 11
SALVATION AND FUTURE LIFE
Many critics believe Freemasonry teaches a false path of salvation. For example, Ankerberg and Weldon cite the Tennessee Craftsman or Masonic Textbook concerning the lambskin apron worn by Masons to prove this charge:
In all ages the lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence; he, therefore, who wears the Lambskin as a badge of Masonry is continually reminded of that purity of life and conduct which is necessary to obtain admittance into the Celestial Lodge above [heaven], where the Supreme Architect of the Universe [God] presides. (187)
Masons find puzzling the use of this quote to prove that Masons believe in a works salvation. They insist that neither this statement nor its context says anything about salvation; rather, it simply states that the lambskin should remind the Mason that "purity of life and conduct . . . is necessary to obtain admittance into the Celestial Lodge." This statement does not say that wearing the lambskin or doing good works brings salvation. "Purity of life and conduct" comes only from faith in and obedience to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Ankerberg and Weldon state that "Freemasonry is a religion because it presents its own plan of salvation." (188) They ask, "At death, do all religious people believe as Masons do that they will reside in the 'Celestial Lodge in the Sky' for all eternity?" (189) This leading question is intended to draw a certain response from the reader. Do all Masons believe all Masons will reside in the Celestial Lodge in the Sky for all eternity? Masons emphatically answer no.
Masonic author Christopher Haffner, in his book Workman Unashamed, writes that a deep faith in Jesus Christ is essential for Masons since membership in the Lodge is inadequate for salvation. (190) The Monitor used by the Grand Lodge of Texas suggests the following presentation if a Bible is given to a Master Mason after receiving his degree:
Adopting no particular creed, forbidding all sectarian discussion within its Lodge rooms, but urging each to be steadfast in the faith of his profession, Masonry would take every good man by the hand, lead him to its altar, point to the open Bible thereon, and urge that he direct his way through
(187) Ibid., p. 79.
(188) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 14.
(189) Ibid., p. 16.
(190) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 6.
life by the light he there shall find. (191)
This Monitor includes a "mandatory" prayer to be offered by the Worshipful Master just before a candidate is "raised" to the Master Mason degree. The prayer concludes, "Yet, O Lord! have compassion on the children of Thy creation; administer them comfort in time of trouble, and save them with an everlasting salvation!
Amen." (192)
The Louisiana Masonic Monitor states that "the design of the Masonic Institution is to make its members wiser, better, and consequently happier." (193) Masons insist that neither this statement nor any other in the Louisiana Masonic Monitor refers to a man finding salvation through Freemasonry.
The Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Texas gives several burial and memorial services, which may be used. Statements from prayers in these services include:
O Almighty and Eternal God! There is no number of Thy days or of Thy mercies. Thou hast sent us into this world to serve Thee, but we wander far from Thee in the path of error. (194)
We place you [the deceased Mason] in the arms of our Heavenly Father who grants his love and protection to those who put their trust in him. (195)
Because of an unshaken faith in the merits of the Lion of the Tribe of
Judah, we shall gain admission into the celestial Lodge above where the
Supreme Architect of the Universe presides. (196)
The chaplain in the funeral service in the Masonic Manual of the Grand Lodge of Georgia says, "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." (197)
Masonic writer Henry W. Coil said:
Freemasonry has a religious service to commit the body of a deceased
(191) Monitor of the Lodge, p. 97.
(192) Ibid., p. 83. Emphasis added.
(193) Louisiana Masonic Monitor, p. 20.
(194) Monitor of the Lodge, p. 207.
(195) Ibid., p. 211.
(196) Ibid., p. 212.
(197) Masonic Manual of the Grand Lodge of Georgia (Macon: Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1973), pp. 145-146.
brother to the dust whence it came and to speed the liberated spirit back to the Great Source of Light. Many Freemasons make this flight with no other guarantee of a safe landing than their belief in the religion of Freemasonry. (198)
Unfortunately, just as do many Masons, many church members make their flight with no other guarantee of a safe landing than their church membership. Former Mason Jack Harris wrote, "In all the rituals that I taught for eleven years, Masonry did teach how to get to heaven.... Never at any Masonic ritual did they point out that Jesus is the way of salvation." (199) Harris became a Mason in May 1961, became a Knight Templar, and later joined the Shrine. He held various offices, including being installed as a Worshipful Master of his lodge in January 1968. Harris became a Christian in October 1970 and resigned from Freemasonry in May 1972. (200) When he taught that Masonry would lead a man to heaven, Harris was wrong, for two reasons: It is not biblical and it is not Masonic. If any man is a Mason because he believes Masonry will take him to heaven, he is a Mason for the wrong reason. Harris was typical of other Masons who hope Freemasonry will take them to heaven. When they find salvation through Jesus Christ, they become disillusioned with Freemasonry because it failed to provide what they had hoped.
Harris quotes from the Entered Apprentice ritual, "A poor blind candidate, who desires to be brought from darkness to light and receive a part of the rights and benefits of this right worshipful lodge, erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Saints John." (201) Many critics interpret "from darkness to light" as "from lostness to salvation." Coil gives a Masonic definition for this phrase:
Light is everywhere the symbol of intelligence, information, knowledge, and truth and is opposed to darkness which symbolizes ignorance and evil. So, in the ceremonies, the candidate is said to be brought from darkness to
light. (202)
Nowhere is salvation or anything related to salvation mentioned in either the phrase quoted by Harris or in the definition given by Coil. Readers must be careful that they are not guilty of reading something into a sentence that is not there.
(198) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 88, quoting Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512.
(199) Ibid., p. 89.
(200) Harris, Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in Our Midst, pp. viii-x.
(201) Ibid., p. 41.
(202) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 375.
Conclusions
1. It is indeed tragic that any Mason would base his hope for eternal life on his Masonic membership, as any Christian Mason would attest. Freemasonry does not save anyone. Any Mason who believes Freemasonry will save him will be eternally damned when he stands before God in judgment.
2. Masons would do well to emphasize that "Masonic light" does not refer to salvation, but to understanding, wisdom, and knowledge.
Section 12
INFLUENCE OF ALBERT PIKE
While the average Mason knows little or nothing about Albert Pike, his writings have been tremendously influential in Freemasonry during the past 120 years. His writings are generally the first target for Masonry critics.
Albert Pike, born December 29, 1809, was the oldest of six children born to Benjamin and Sarah Andrews Pike. Pike was raised in a Christian home and attended an Episcopal church. Pike passed the entrance examination at Harvard College when he was 15 years old, but could not attend because he had no funds. After traveling as far west as Santa Fe, Pike settled in Arkansas, where he worked as editor of a newspaper before being admitted to the bar. In Arkansas, he met Mary Ann Hamilton, and married her on November 28, 1834. To this union were born 11 children.
He was 41 years old when he applied for admission in the Western Star Lodge No. 2 in Little Rock, Ark., in 1850. (203) Active in the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Pike took the 10 degrees of the York Rite from 1850 to 1853. He received the 29 degrees of the Scottish Rite in March 1853 from Albert Gallatin Mackey in Charleston, S.C. (204) The Scottish Rite had been introduced in the United States in 1783. (205) Charleston was the location of the first Supreme Council, which governed the Scottish Rite in the United States, until a Northern Supreme Council was established in New York City in 1813. The boundary between the Southern and Northern Jurisdictions, still recognized today, was firmly established in 1828. (206) Mackey invited Pike to join the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction in 1858 in Charleston, and he became the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council the following year. Pike held that office until his death, while supporting himself in various occupations such as editor of the Memphis Daily Appeal from February 1867 to September 1868, as well as his law practice. (207) Pike later opened a law office in Washington, D.C., and argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Pike was impoverished by the Civil War and remained so much of his life, often borrowing money for basic living expenses from the Supreme Council before the council voted him an annuity in 1879 of $1,200 a year for the remainder of his life.208 He died on April 2, 1892, in Washington, D.C.
Realizing that a revision of the ritual was necessary if Scottish Rite Freemasonry
(203) Walter Lee Brown, "Albert Pike, 1809-1891." Unpublished dissertation. (Austin: University of Texas, 1955), p. 716. Brown's 910-page dissertation on Albert Pike gives considerable detail on Pike's life, but is of limited help in understanding his contribution to Scottish Rite Freemasonry.
(204) Ibid., pp. 719, 721.
(205) Ibid.
(207) Ibid., pp. 772-788.
(208) Ibid, pp. 852, 854.
were to survive, Mackey encouraged Pike to revise the ritual to produce a standard ritual for use in all states in the Southern Jurisdiction. Revision began in 1855, and after some changes, the Supreme Council endorsed Pike's revision in 1861. (209) Minor changes were made in two degrees in 1873 after the York Rite bodies in Missouri objected that the 29th and 30th degrees revealed secrets of the York Rite. (210)
Pike is best known for his major work, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, published in 1871. Morals and Dogma should not be confused with Pike's revision of the Scottish Rite ritual. They are separate works. Walter Lee Brown writes that Pike "intended it [Morals and Dogma] to be a supplement to that great 'connected system of moral, religious and philosophical instruction' that he had developed in his revision of the Scottish ritual." (211)
Morals and Dogma was traditionally given to the candidate upon his receipt of the 14th degree of the Scottish Rite. This practice was stopped in 1974. Morals and Dogma has not been given to candidates since 1974. (212) A Bridge to Light, by Rex R. Hutchens, is provided to candidates today. Hutchens laments that Morals and Dogma is read by so few Masons. A Bridge to Light was written to be "a bridge between the ceremonies of the degrees and their lectures in Morals and Dogma." (213) While recommended to Masons, we cannot conclude that Masons are expected to accept every thought in A Bridge to Light. Books by liberal theologians and writings by non-Christian philosophers are assigned by professors in Baptist colleges and seminaries. Students are not expected to accept the teachings found in these books and writings. Rather, they are assigned to help students understand the thoughts of men of the past and their struggle to understand themselves and their relationship to God. With exposure to these ideas, students can better form and defend their own understanding of these critical issues.
Texe Marrs' claim that "the Lodge encourages every Mason to consider [Morals and Dogma] as their basic guide for daily living" (214) is without foundation. Larry Kunk claims Morals and Dogma is "often called the 'Bible' of Freemasonry." (215) He does not cite any Masonic sources to support his conclusion.
Pike was deeply interested in mythology and comparative religions. He believed the history of man's thought was the only history worth studying. Morals and Dogma is a collection of his readings of mythology and comparative religions, which he believed
(209) Ibid., p. 737.
(212) Hutchens, A Bridge to Light, p. 2.
(213) Ibid., p. 4.
(214) Texe Marrs, Dark Majesty: The Secret Brotherhood and the Magic of a Thousand Points of Light (Austin: Living Truth Pub., 1992), p. 128.
(215) Kunk, "What Is the Secret Doctrine of the Masonic Lodge and How Does It Relate to Their Plan of Salvation?" p. 15.
revealed mankind's struggle to understand God. Pike's style of writing easily leads to misunderstanding. Even the Preface to Morals and Dogma hints at this. "In preparing this work, the Grand Commander has been about equally Author and Compiler; since he has extracted quite half its contents from the works of the best writers and most philosophic or eloquent thinkers. Perhaps it would have been better and more acceptable if he had extracted more and written less." (216)
Morey says that "Morals and Dogma is nothing more than a presentation of the doctrines of classical Hinduism with a mixture of astrology, magic and reincarnation." (217) Morey finds Hindu-occult teachings in Pike's book as follows:
1. Man is divine and therefore a god.
2. Truth is relative and cultural.
3. Only God, or Mind, ultimately exists.
4. Evil does not exist.
5. Man's soul came from God and will return to God through cycles of reincarnation.
6. Astrology is part of the ancient religion of Freemasonry.
7. Buddha was the first Master Mason.
8. Magic or sorcery in witchcraft, Kabbala, and other occult arts are acceptable.
Morey is correct; Hindu-occult philosophy is found in Morals and Dogma. That Pike revered the Aryans of early India is beyond doubt. However, it must be considered whether Pike was teaching those doctrines as ones he personally held or was stating them as those held by some philosophers and religious teachers. For example, it is said that Pike rejected the physical incarnation of Jesus because of the following statements: "Light appeared in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not; according to the words of St. John. The Light could not unite with the darkness. It but put on the appearance of a human body, and took the name of Christ in the Messiah, only to accommodate itself to the language of the Jews." (218)
Masons point out that this passage does not prove that Pike rejected the physical incarnation of Jesus Christ. Rather, this passage is part of Pike's discussion of the Manicheans, which began on page 565. The Manicheans were a third-century heretic Gnostic sect, which held that matter was evil; so, according to the Manicheans, it only appeared that Jesus had a physical body. (219)
C. Fred Kleinknecht, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern
Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, states the official position of Scottish Rite
(216) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. iii.
(217) Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry, p. 41.
(218) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 567. The italicized word is in Morals and Dogma.
(219) Justo L. Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought, vol. II (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971), pp. 15-16.
Freemasonry concerning Morals and Dogma: Morals and Dogma represents the opinions of Albert Pike. It does not represent dogmatic teachings for Freemasonry or for the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA, of Freemasonry. Every interested person is encouraged to read, even study, Pike's work, but should do so only after reading the book's preface which was authorized by The Supreme Council, 33d, and printed in the very first, 1871, edition of the work. This preface has been reprinted in every edition of Morals and Dogma and still applies today. (220)
The Preface states, "Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound." (221) Masons insist there is no requirement to read or accept any of the philosophical speculations contained in Morals and Dogma.
Pike affirmed this idea when he wrote, "What is truth to me is not truth to another.... No man is entitled positively to assert that he is right, where other men, equally intelligent and equally well-informed, hold directly the opposite opinion." (222)
Another Masonic philosopher often denounced by Masonry critics is Manley P. Hall. His 245-page book, An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolic Philosophy: The Secret Teachings of An Ages, has been reprinted several times since it was first published in 1928 by The Philosophical Research Society, Inc., Los Angeles, which was founded by Hall. Masonic reviewer Earl D. Harris notes that "some of it [The Secret Teachings of All Ages] can be considered as controversial, offensive and even repugnant to orthodox Christian and Jewish teachings." He cautions Masons to "be careful what, how and to whom you quote this book." (223)
No one will disagree with the right to read any book a Mason wishes, but for the Christian, Paul's recommendation may be in order: "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify" (1 Cor. 10:23, NASB).
Conclusion
Even though very few Masons will read Hall's difficult book, its recommendation is one of many reasons that non-Masons question the true nature of Freemasonry. Masons will continue to find themselves hard-pressed to defend their fraternity as long as books such as Hall's, Pike's, and others are recommended.
(220) C. Fred Kleinknecht in Rex R. Hutchens and Donald W. Monson, The Bible in Albert Pike's MORALS AND DOGMA (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1992), p. iv.
(221) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. iv.
(222) Ibid., p. 165.
(223) Carl D. Harris, "A Book Review," Masonic Messenger, July 1992, p. 18.
Section 13
ANTI-MASONRY MOVEMENTS
Freemasonry has had its opponents since the seventeenth century, earlier than the seventeenth century if Masonic tradition is considered. For example, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314 because he was a Knight Templar, not because he was a Mason.
The earliest known printed attack on Freemasonry appeared in 1698 in London, England: "All Godly people in the Citie [sic] of London" were warned to "mingle not among this corrupt People lest you be found so at the World's Conflagration." (224)
John Robison, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, published a book in 1797 entitled Proof of a Conspiracy Against An the Religions and Governments of Europe Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies, Collected from Good Authorities. (225) Robison's attack was primarily on European Freemasonry, not English Freemasonry. The book appeared soon after the American colonies won their independence from England and the Church of England with the assistance of French Freemasons such as Marquis de Lafayette. As Robison's book suggests, opponents of Freemasonry fall into two general classifications: religious and political.
The following year, 1798, Jedidiah Morse, using ideas gleamed from Robison's book, preached a sermon in the United States. The sermon was later printed in pamphlet form and circulated widely in the northern states. Morse's sermon and pamphlet fueled an anti-Masonry movement, which has continued with rising and diminishing intensity until today.
In 1826, anti-Mason William Morgan mysteriously disappeared while in the process of publishing a book, which allegedly would have revealed Masonic secrets. Because some Masons in Canandaigua, N.Y., had made statements against Morgan, the public assumed they had something to do with Morgan's disappearance. William T. Still claims, "Morgan was killed by Masons shortly after obtaining a copyright for an expose on Masonry." (226) While this is intriguing speculation and may have been true, it has never been proved. The alleged chief conspirator in the disappearance, Elihu Mather, was twice tried and twice acquitted of conspiracy in the disappearance. A motion for a third trial was denied by the state Supreme Court.
Out of this disappearance, a widespread opposition arose to all secret societies. Even college Greek fraternities, including Phi Beta Kappa, came under suspicion. The anti-Masonic feeling led to the formation of a new political party called the Anti-Masonic Party. The party held political conventions in 1830 and 1831, when it nominated William Wirt of Virginia as its presidential candidate. Wirt carried only Vermont with seven electoral votes in the 1832 presidential election. With his defeat,
(224) Alphonse Cerza, Anti-Masonry: Light on the Past and Present Opponents of Freemasonry (Columbia: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1962), p. 8.
(225) Ibid., p. 22.
(226) Still, New World Order, p. 98.
the party joined with National Republican and anti-Andrew Jackson Democrats to form the Whig Party. (227) In his newsletter, Concerning the American Underground, as recently as 1992, Wayne Lela called for the re-creation of the Anti-Mason Political Party. (228)
At the end of World War I, a German general, Eric von Ludendorff, organized a movement against Freemasonry charging that Jews were planning to take over Germany by using Freemasonry as their vehicle. He accused the League of Nations, forerunner of the United Nations, of being a Masonic conspiracy.
Freemasonry was outlawed in Russia in 1922 after the Communist Revolution of 1917.
Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator of Italy for almost 21 years, ordered members of the National Fascist Party to choose between the party and Freemasonry because "there is only one allegiance, absolute, and humble allegiance to the Duce [Mussolini] and other leaders of Fascism at all times." (229) Later, a law was passed in Italy providing for the immediate dismissal of public employees who were Masons. Masonic property was confiscated. Freemasonry was effectively suppressed in Italy until after World War II.
The National Socialist (Nazi) Party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, suppressed Masonic Lodges in Germany with a decree, "Jews, Freemasons and the ideological enemies of National Socialism." (230)
Freemasonry was suppressed in Portugal in 1931 and the Grand Master imprisoned. Lodges in Austria were pillaged in 1938 and the Grand Master imprisoned. Masons were imprisoned in Spain by pro-Fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1945 in an attempt to prevent his overthrow by secret organizations. Freemasonry was declared illegal in Hungary in 1950. Fidel Castro confiscated the Masonic Temple in Havana, arrested the Grand Lodge officers, and declared Freemasonry illegal in Cuba in 1962 after he overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista. Even the Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev is reported to have said, "Freemasonry is the greatest threat to mankind today." (231)
(227) N. Lee Dunham, "Free Masons in Government in the United States, 1776-1840." (Waco: Baylor University, 1965), pp. 101-104, 110.
(228) Wayne Lela, Concerning the American Underground (936 Warren, Downers Grove, Ill.), received on June 26, 1992.
(229) Cerza, Anti-Masonry, p. 61.
(230) Ibid., p. 66.
Section 14
OTHER DENOMINATIONS' POSITIONS
A number of Christian denominations have taken positions opposing Freemasonry. The Roman Catholic Church has been one of the most vigorous in its opposition. Pope Clement XII issued the first bull against Freemasonry on April 27, 1738. Different Popes issued six additional bulls before April 20, 1884, when Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Humanum Genus, the strongest and most comprehensive papal condemnation of Freemasonry. In it, the Pope attacked Freemasonry as a "wicked force" and a "contagious disease" because Freemasons (1) call for religious liberty, (2) call for separation of [the Roman Catholic] Church and state, (3) call for the education of children by laymen rather than the Church, and (4) believe people have the right to make their own laws and elect their own government.
Albert Pike, responding to the Humanum Genus in 1884, wrote, "This is clearly a manifesto against every other Church, calling itself 'Christian,' than the Roman Catholic Church, . . . The Pope has alone received 'the Kingdom of Jesus Christ' to protect. All so-called 'Christianity,' except the Roman Church, is 'the Kingdom of Satan.'" (232)
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been opposed to Freemasonry since at least 1948. It "has declared itself to be firmly opposed to all societies, lodges, and associations of unchristian and antichristian character." (233) The Synod "requires that pastors of the Synod do not administer Holy Communion nor admit to communicant membership members of such organizations." (234)
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), headquartered in Atlanta, asked its Masonic members to "reconsider their relationship with Freemasonry." In particular, the Ad-Interim Committee to Study Freemasonry expressed the following serious concerns: "Joining Freemasonry requires actions and vows out of accord with Scripture; participation in Masonry seriously compromises the Christian faith and testimony and may lead to diluting of commitment to Christ and His Kingdom." (235) The General Assembly rejected an "overture" from the Missouri Presbytery that "no member of a Masonic organization be received into membership of the PCA and that any present members of the church be given one year to resign from the lodge or the church or
(232) Albert Pike, A Reply of Freemasonry in Behalf of Humanity to the Encyclical Letter "Humanum Genus" of the Pope Leo XIII (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1964), p. 42. Author's emphasis.
(233) Handbook of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, pp. 141-142, quoted in manuscript received from Eldon K. Winker, executive director of the Commission on Organizations.
(234) Ibid.
(235) Report of the Ad-Interim Committee to Study Freemasonry" in the Minutes of the General Assembly meeting in 1988, received from the Office of the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, September 6, 1991.
become subject to formal church discipline." (236)
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland issued a ruling in 1927 that no member could be a Freemason. The Greek Orthodox Church condemned Freemasonry in 1933. The Church of the Nazarene condemned "oath-bound" societies in 1946. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, in Philadelphia declared itself against secret societies in 1952. The Church of the Brethren recommended in 1954 that its members not join Freemasonry.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has taken a position against the following groups for various reasons, not all of which are doctrinal: Freemasonry, Boy Scouts of America, Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, and Lions Club. Members also have been cautioned about joining veterans organizations, labour unions, and fraternities and sororities. (237)
Other Lutheran denominations in the United States have provisions in their constitutions opposing "secret societies," but do not mention Freemasonry by name.
The British Methodist Conference issued a report advising English Methodists to examine their consciences about whether Freemasonry and the Christian faith are compatible. The action did not bar Methodists from belonging to the Lodge. (238)
The Committee on Secret Societies of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, in its report to the ninth General Assembly, June 2-5, 1942, concluded that "membership in the Masonic fraternity is inconsistent with Christianity." It also cited other popular orders, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, the Improved Order of the Red Men, the Woodmen of the World, and the Order of the Eastern Star. (239)
The Assemblies of God, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and other Christian denominations have also taken positions against Freemasonry, or against secret societies without mentioning Freemasonry.
(236) The PCA Messenger, July-August 1988, included in material received from the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, September 6, 1991.
(237) The Shepherd Under Christ (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1974), pp. 340-345, cited in a notebook presented to the HMB Interfaith Witness Department by Holly and Burchett September 1992, Freemasonry and the Southern Baptist Convention, pp. 66-71.
(238) Religious News Service, August 9, 1985.
(239) Report of the Committee on Secret Societies of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, June 2-5, 1942.
Section 15
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AND FREEMASONRY
Numerous sources list prominent men in the history of our nation who were or are Masons, including as many as 14 U.S. Presidents. (240) They range from liberal Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren to arch-conservative U.S. Senator Jesse Helms.
According to the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Freemasonry did not appear as a subject of controversy at an annual meeting of the SBC until 1985 when a resolution by Charles Z. Burchett was introduced at the SBC meeting in Dallas. (241)
However, this issue has divided Baptists for two centuries. In 1798, Charleston Baptist Association, South Carolina, examined Freemasonry and "found only one fault with the Order which would militate against 'serious Christians' joining it, and that was the vow of secrecy; yet it advised that the matter be left with the judgment of the individual." (242) About the same time, Shaftsbury Baptist Association, Vermont, adopted a position similar to the position of Charleston Baptists.
Not all churches adopted such a tolerant view. Between 1822 and 1840, Freemasonry threatened the peace and harmony of many Baptist associations. Sandy Creek Baptist Association in North Carolina voted in 1827 to exclude Masons from church membership; this action was apparently ignored in later years. Many Baptist churches in Indiana adopted a similar policy. The controversy apparently died down after 1840 (243) and many well-known Southern Baptists have had Masonic membership since the formation of the SBC in 1845.
In 1991, the Home Mission Board submitted questions concerning Freemasonry in the SBC to Baptist VIEWpoll. Baptist VIEWpoll is a survey by the Corporate Market Research Department of the Sunday School Board, SBC, of 1,433 Southern Baptists (283 pastors, 430 ministers of education, 247 directors of missions, 202 deacon chairmen, and 271 church clerks). Of the 1,433 who received the questionnaire, 997 responded. One question was how important it was for the SBC to have an official statement on Freemasonry. A majority of pastors (60%), ministers of education (56%), directors of missions (72%), deacon chairmen (63~o), and church clerks (74%) felt that such a statement was either "not very important at all" or had no opinion about whether a statement was needed. When asked if the issue of Freemasonry ever caused a problem in their churches/associations, the vast majority of each group responded that their churches/associations had never dealt with Freemasonry. Of those responding, 14
(240) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 23-25.
(241) Letter from Lynn E. May Jr., executive director-treasurer of the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, August 14, 1992.
(242) Robert G. Torbet, A History of Baptists (Valley Forge: The Judson Press, 1963), p. 276. Emphasis added.
(243) Ibid., p. 277.
percent of the pastors, 5 percent of the ministers of education, 13 percent of the directors of missions, 18 percent of the deacon chairmen, and 12 percent of the church clerks were or had been Masonic or Eastern Star members. (244)
An estimated 400,000 - 500,000 Southern Baptist men are Masons. Among this number are many well-known Southern Baptist leaders. No attempt will be given to naming living Southern Baptist Masons. However, following are some well-known Southern Baptist Masons from the past. Robert E. Baylor was one of eight Masons who petitioned for a charter for Baylor University in 1845. "Every president of Baylor University has been a Master Mason." (245) One president was William R. White, 33d, who served as president of Baylor University from 1948 to 1961. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, First Baptist Church of Lubbock, and Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth. He also served as executive secretary, and later as president, of The Baptist General Convention of Texas.
The first two missionaries sent by the SBC to Texas, James Huckins and William Tryon, were Masons.
George W. Truett (1867-1944), pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas (1897-1944), president of the SBC (1927-1929), president of the Baptist World Alliance (1934-1939), and trustee of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was a Scottish Rite Mason. He was raised a Master Mason in 1920 in the Dallas Lodge No. 760; he received the 32nd degree in 1921. Of his Masonic membership, Truett said:
From my earliest recollection, sitting about my father's knees, who was a Mason, and hearing him and fellow Masons talk, I imbibed the impression in early childhood that the Masonic fraternity is one of the most helpful mediating and conserving organizations among men, and I have never wavered from that childhood impression, but it has stood steadfastly with me through the busy and vast hurrying years. (246)
Truett, in perhaps his most famous sermon, preaching on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1920, addressed the 15,000 people gathered:
The right to private judgment is the crown jewel of humanity, and for any person or institution to dare to come between the soul and God is a blasphemous
(244) Baptist VIEWpoll, November 1991, and memorandum from Steve Whitten to the HMB Administrative Council, February 20, 1992.
(245) Carter, Masonry in Texas, p. 340. R.E. Baylor was a member of Baylor Lodge No. 125.
(246) William R. Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. IV (Trenton: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1961), pp. 254-255. The quote is from an address by Truett at the Grand Lodge of Texas meeting in Waco in 1940. The full text of Truett's address is found in Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas (Waco: Grand Lodge of Texas, 1940), pp. 148 - 156.
impertinence and a defamation of the crown-rights of the Son of God.... Every one must give an account of himself to God. Each one must repent for himself, and believe for himself, and be baptized for himself, and answer to God for himself, both in time and in eternity. (247)
B.H. Carroll (1843-1914), first president of Southwestern seminary, was a member of Waco Lodge No. 92 and Herring Lodge No. 1224, both located in Waco, Texas. (248) Carroll was instrumental in the creation of the Department of Evangelism of the Home Mission Board in 1906. Carroll was the author of more than 20 books, including The Bible Doctrine of Repentance (1897), Baptists and Their Doctrines (1913), and Evangelistic Sermons (1913). It is said that his favourite causes were evangelism, prohibition, home missions, and Christian education. (249)
L.R. Scarborough (1870-1945) was a member of Gray Lodge No. 329 in Houston, Texas. (250) He served Southern Baptists as pastor of First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, from 1901 to 1908; professor of evangelism at Southwestern seminary from 1908 to 1914, when he became president of the seminary. He authored a number of books, most of which focused on evangelism, including How Jesus Won Men (1926), or were collections of his sermons. (251)
W.W. Barnes (1883-1960), professor of church history at Southwestern seminary (1913-1953), was an active 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason.
W.T. Conner (1877-1952), who taught theology at Southwestern seminary from 1910 until his retirement in 1949, was a member of Southside Lodge No. 1114 in Fort Worth until his death. James T. Draper Jr. referred to Conner as "perhaps the most famous theologian to be associated with Southwestern Seminary." (252)
William W. Hamilton, a Mason, was named the Home Mission Board's first head of the Department of Evangelism in 1906. He served as president of Baptist Bible Institute (BBI), now the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, from 1927 to 1943. While president, he saved BBI from bankruptcy in 1932, when the school defaulted on $353,000 in bonds. He was president of the SBC from 1940 to 1942.
Louie D. Newton (1892-1986), was president of the SBC (1947-1948) and vice president of the Baptist World Alliance (1939-1959), served 27 years on the SBC
(247) Powhatan W. James, George W. Truett: A Biography (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1945), p. 3.
(248) D.D. Tidwell, "Dr. George W. Truett," The Texas Grand Lodge Magazine, March 1960, p. 113, and letter from James D. Ward of Waco, Texas, December 9, 1992.
(249) Melton, Religious Leaders of America, pp. 86-87.
(250) Letter from James D. Ward of Waco, December 9, 1992.
(251) Melton, Religious Leaders of America, p. 409.
(252) James T. Draper Jr. Authority: The Critical Issue for Southern Baptists (Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1984), p. 64.
Executive Committee, and was a member of Joseph C. Greenfield Lodge No.400 in Atlanta. He received his 50-year Masonic pin in 1980. He was also a York Rite Mason and a Shriner. He was the chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta from 1939 to 1953, when he was succeeded by fellow Southern Baptist James P. Wesberry.
James P. Wesberry, who died in December 1992, was pastor of Morningside Baptist Church in Atlanta for 31 years, president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for 3 years, recording secretary for the Georgia Baptist Convention for 20 years, moderator of the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference, and executive-director of the Lord's Day Alliance. (253) He became a Mason in 1927. He was a York Rite Mason, 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Shriner. He succeeded Louie D. Newton as chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta in 1953. Wesberry was succeeded as chaplain by another Southern Baptist minister, James C. Bryant, in 1981.
Joseph Samuel Murrow (1835-1929) was an appointed Southern Baptist home missionary to the Oklahoma Indian Territory, where he established more than 100 churches, according to one report. Called "the founder of Freemasonry in Oklahoma," he established the first Masonic Lodge in the Indian Territory, served as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in the Indian Territory, and wrote the Murrow Masonic Monitor. (254) He was raised a Master Mason in 1867. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory from 1877 to 1878 and Grand Secretary from 1880 to 1909. (255)
John T. Christian (1854-1925), a Knight Templar, was chairman of the informal committee of friends who met in 1915 to consider formation of BBI. He was professor of Christian history and librarian at BBI from 1919 until his death in 1925. He donated his personal library of 15,000 volumes to BBI. The library on the New Orleans seminary campus bears his name. Christian also pastored First Baptist Church, Chattanooga; First Baptist Church, Hattiesburg; Second Baptist Church, Little Rock; and other churches.
J.B. Lawrence, a Mason, was vice president of the SBC (1916-1917) and executive secretary-treasurer of the Home Mission Board (1929-1954). In 1943, Lawrence freed the Home Mission Board from debt for the first time.
Richard A. McLemore, president of Mississippi College in Clinton (1957-1968), was a member of Hattiesburg Lodge No. 397 and a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. (256)
David E. Moore was a well-known pastor in southeastern New Mexico until his death in 1992 at the age of 103. He was pastor of Caprock Baptist Church in Caprock, N.M., for many years and was assistant pastor of First Baptist Church, Roswell, N.M., at the time of his death. On his hundredth birthday, he was honoured with the title of
(253) Sunday, September-December 1991, pp. 8-12.
(254) Unpublished manuscript from Jim Tresner, ed., The Oklahoma Mason, n.d.
(255) Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. III, pp. 249-250.
(256) The New Age Magazine, September 1968, pp. 35-36.
"Honourary Past Master of Roswell Lodge No. 18." (257)
Some insist that "Christian Masons must decide today whether they will remain Masons and deny their Lord, Jesus Christ, or whether they will do the will of their Father in heaven and leave Masonry." (258) They call for Christian Masons to reject the "hypocrisy" of being a Mason and a Christian. "Either follow God or follow Masonry. Either live as a Christian or live as a Mason." (259)
Taking an opposite position, a non-Mason Southern Baptist pastor writes, "The Masons I know are good Christians that are as active and perhaps more active than most church members and are instrumental in the spiritual growth of their peers in their respective churches." He continues, "It is time for us to lay aside our prejudices against other organizations and denominations that differ from us, and focus on the mission of the church. That is to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to reach others." (260)
Conclusion
Obviously, there is no agreement among Southern Baptists whether Christians can, or should, be Masons. Many fine conservative, Bible-believing, soul-winning men can be found on both sides of this issue. (261)
(257) Letter from Ray D. Carpenter, Albuquerque, N.M., November 6, 1992.
(258) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 44.
(259) Ibid.
(260) Letter on file.
(261) A number of anonymous letters and articles were received during the course of this study. As a general rule, all unsigned mail was immediately discarded. However, one anonymous claim about evangelist Billy Graham required investigation. It charged, among other things, that William Franklin "Billy" Graham is a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. However, neither the Northern nor the Southern Jurisdiction has any record that Billy Graham is a Mason. It seems certain that if he were a Mason, Masons would publicize his membership. The anonymous offset reasoned that if Graham were not a Mason, he would simply say so. Graham has evidently declined to respond to questions about whether he is a Mason. In some people's minds, silence is an admission of guilt. Therefore, they reason, Graham must be a Mason. Again, neither the Northern nor the Southern Jurisdiction can find any record that William Franklin "Billy" Graham is a Mason.--Letter stating Graham is not a Mason was from John Boettjer, editor of The Scottish Rite Journal, December 14, 1992.
Section 16
MEMBERSHIP TRENDS OF SELECTED GRAND LODGES
Masonry critic Robert Morey says, "Unless something radically happens to alter the present trends, Freemasonry will not enter the new century in a healthy state. To put it bluntly, Freemasonry is dying." (262) It appears that statistics support Morey's conclusion.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia reported a net loss of 16,157 members during the 10-year period from 1982 through 1991, or an average net loss of 1,615 each year. During the 12-month period from July 1990 through June 1991, 112 lodges reported a net gain in Georgia, 292 lodges reported a net loss, and 44 lodges reported no change in membership. (263)
Masons in Indiana enjoyed their peak membership of 185,211 in 1957. They have lost members every year since 1957. In 1991, their membership stood at 133,026, a loss of 28 percent in 34 years. (264)
Masons in Arkansas reported a net loss of 1,197 in 1987; 1,354 in 1988; 1,081 in 1989; 1,103 in 1990; and 989 in 1991 -- or 11.6 percent of their membership during those five years. Masonic membership in Arkansas stood at 35,598 at the end of 1991. (265)
Masons in Oklahoma enjoyed their peak membership of 86,883 in 1959. At the end of 1990, their number had dropped to 46,343, a decline of almost 47 percent in 31 years. Today, the average age of Masons in Oklahoma is 64 years. (266)
Conclusion
If Freemasonry seriously considered the concerns raised by many Christians, perhaps fewer men would resign and more would join, reversing the decline in membership.
(262) Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry, p. 121.
(263) Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Georgia (Macon: Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1991), pp. 67-68.
(264) 1992 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Indiana (Indianapolis: Grand Lodge of Indiana, 1992), p. 129.
(265) Proceedings of the Grand Lodge F&A Masons of Arkansas (Little Rock: Grand Lodge F&A Masons of Arkansas, 1989), vol. 25, no. 5, p. 111; and 1991 Proceedings, vol. 26, no. 1, p. 111; and vol. 26, no. 2, p. 116.
(266) Official Proceedings (Guthrie: Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of the State of Oklahoma, 1960), p. 290; Official Proceedings (Guthrie: Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of the State of Oklahoma, 1991), p. 386; Discussions with Jim Tresner, ed., The Oklahoma Mason, November 12, 1992.
Section 17
CONCLUSIONS
Strong feelings have been expressed on both sides of this difficult issue. While some Masonic writers and some Masons consider Freemasonry a religion, even their religion, the overwhelming majority of Masons reject the idea that Freemasonry is a religion. The various monitors of the Grand Lodges and statements from the overwhelming majority of Masonic leaders in the past and today deny that Freemasonry is a religion.
Since Freemasonry requires no doctrinal statement from members, other than the general affirmation concerning the existence of God, it is reasonable to expect that Masons profess a broad range of beliefs about religious matters. Pagan teachings are found in the writings of some well-known Masons, but there is no suggestion that Masons must accept those teachings. In fact, it would be impossible to accept all ideas proposed by Masonic writers; those ideas are too diverse and contradictory. Each Mason is encouraged to decide for himself his personal beliefs. While the vast majority of Masons are professing Christians, some Masons are non-Christians, a few are probably or have been anti-Christian. It is illogical to insist that the beliefs of one or more Masons constitute the beliefs of all Masons.
It was not found that Freemasonry is anti-Christian or Satanic, nor does it oppose the Christian church. While a few Masonic writers glorify non-Christian philosophy and religions, they are clearly a minor voice. Every organization, including the Christian church, has some individuals who espouse positions not held by the vast majority of members. Organizations must be judged by the positions of the majority, not those of a small minority.
The "secrets" of Freemasonry have long been known to anyone taking time to read any number of books presenting them verbatim. These secrets, centering primarily around methods of recognizing one another, are known by thousands of non-Masons. The penalties associated with the obligations are not taken literally by Masons. They are symbolic.
While a few Masons may believe that Freemasonry will save them, the overwhelming majority insist this is not Masonic teaching.
Each person must decide for himself or herself whether critics define Freemasonry as a religion and then condemn it because it does not accept and teach Christian theology, or whether Freemasonry is not a religion. Masons and their critics are both adamant about this issue. The answer to this question is not as black and white as critics would lead us to believe. Certainly, some Masons have made Freemasonry their religion. Other Masons are emphatic that Jesus Christ is their only hope for eternal life, that they have trusted Him alone for their salvation, and that Freemasonry is not their religion.
There are some who have found that membership in the Lodge provides Christian Masons opportunities to witness to people of other faiths that other opportunities fail to provide.
From pulpits and through every avenue from witness training conferences to Sunday School literature, Christians are encouraged to be witnesses in the marketplace and in places of leisure. Certainly, their hearts' desire is that every Mason become a Christian. What better opportunities present themselves than those where they have become friends in Freemasonry. Witnessing relationships can be built by both word and deed (Matt. 5:16) as Christian Masons discover ways to proclaim the hope they have in Jesus Christ, "yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15, NASB).
Darrell Robinson suggests that "the masses of lost people will never attend the church's meetings until someone has bridged the gap by going where the people are with the gospel of Christ." (267) Let us all recommit ourselves to the task of taking the gospel to all the people.
The Home Mission Board Interfaith Witness Department staff agree with Charleston Southern Baptists, who, in 1798, advised that the matter of Southern Baptist membership in Freemasonry "be left with the judgment of the individual." (268) They agree with George W. Truett who said, "The right to private judgement is the crown jewel of humanity, and for any person or institution to dare to come between the soul and God is a blasphemous impertinence and a defamation of the crown-rights of the Son of God." (269)
(267) Robinson, The Doctrine of Salvation, p. 133.
(268) Torbet, A History of the Baptists, p. 276.
(269) James, George W. Truett: A Biography, p. 3.
MAJOR BOOKS CONSULTED
Authors and Books Critical of Freemasonry:
Amini, Md. Safwat al-Saqqa and Habib, Sa'di Abu. Freemasonry. New York: Muslim World League Pub., 1982.
Ankerberg, John and Weldon, John. Christianity and the Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge. What Goes on Behind Closed Doors. Chattanooga: The John Ankerberg Evangelistic Assoc., 1989.
----. The Facts on the Masonic Lodge: Does Masonry Conflict with the Christian Faith Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers, Inc., 1989.
----. The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge: A Christian Perspective. Chicago: Moody Press, 1990.
Berry, Harold J. What They Believe. Masons. Lincoln: Back to the Bible, 1990.
Byers, Dale A. I Left the Lodge. A Former Mason Tells Why. Schaumburg, Ill.: Regular Baptist Press, 1988.
Caro y Rodriguez, His Eminence, the Most Reverend Cardinal, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile. The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled. Palmdale, Calif.: Christian Book Club of America, 1928 (fifth printing, 1992).
Fisher, Paul A. Behind the Lodge Door. Bowie, Md.: Shield Publishing, Inc., 1989.
Hannah, Walton. Darkness Visible. A Revelation & Interpretation of Freemasonry. London: Augustine Press, 1952.
Harris, Jack. Freemasonry. The Invisible Cult in Our Midst. Towson, Md.: Jack Harris, 1983.
Holly, James L. The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry. Beaumont, Texas: Mission and Ministry to Men, Inc., 1992.
Kah, Gary H. En Route to Global Occupation. Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Pub., 1992.
Knight, Stephen. The Brotherhood. The Secret World of the Freemasons. New York: Dorset Press (division of Marboro Books), 1984.
Kunk, Larry. "What Is the Secret Doctrine of the Masonic Lodge and How Does It Relate to Their Plan of Salvation?" Fishers, Ind. (P.O. Box 291, 46038): unpublished manuscript provided by author, 1992.
Lester, Ralph P., ed. Look to the East. A Ritual of the First Three Degrees of Masonry. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook Publications, Inc., 1975.
McClain, Alva J. Freemasonry and Christianity. Winona Lake, Ind.: BMH Books, 1969.
Morey, Robert A. The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry. Southbridge, Mass.: Crown Publications, Inc., 1990.
Morgan, William. Freemasonry Exposed. Chicago: Charles T. Powner Company, Inc., 1986 (first published, 1827).
Rice, John R. Lodges Examined by the Bible. Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Sword of the Lord Pub., 1943.
Richardson, Jabez. Richardson's Monitor of Free-Masonry. New York: Dick & Firzgerald, Pub., 1888.
Rongstad, L. James. How to Respond to the Lodge. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977.
Schnoebelen, William J. and Spencer, James R. Mormonism's Temple of Doom. Idaho Falls: Triple J. Pub., 1987.
Schnoebelen, William. Masonry: Beyond the Light. Chino, Calif.: Chick Pub., 1991.
Shaw, Jim and McKenney, Tom. The Deadly Deception.- Freemasonry Exposed ... By One of Its Top Leaders. Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Publisher, Inc., 1988.
Short, Martin. Inside the Brotherhood: Further Secrets of the Freemasons. New York: Dorset Press, 1989.
Storms, E.M. Should a Christian Be a Mason? Fletcher, N.C.: New Puritan Library, Inc., 1980.
Authors and Books Sympathetic to Freemasonry:
Bahnson, Charles F. North Carolina Lodge Manual. Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Co., 1929.
Carter, James D. Masonry in Texas: Background, History, and Influence to 1846. Waco: Committee on Masonic Education and Service for the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1955.
Cerza, Alphonse. Anti-Masonry: Light on the Past and Present Opponents of Freemasonry. Columbia: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1962.
---. "Let There Be Light". A Study in Anti-Masonry. Silver Spring, Md.: The Masonic Service Assoc., 1983.
---. Masonic Questions Answered by the Courts. Silver Spring, Md.: The Masonic Service Assoc., 1983.
Claudy, Carl H. The Master's Book. Washington, D.C.: The Temple Pub., 1974 (first printing, 1935).
Clausen, Henry C. Clausen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogma. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., 1974.
Coil, Henry W. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. New York: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company, Inc., 1961.
DeHoyos, Art. The Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry. Kila, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing Co., 1992.
Firestone, Roger M. "Masonic Penalties," The Scottish Rite Journal, March 1990.
Freemasonry and Religion. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction of the World, 1990.
Haffner, Christopher. Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Mason. Shepperton, England: Lewis Masonic, 1989.
Holy Bible [Masonic Edition]. Chicago: The John A. Hertel Co., 1942.
Hutchens, Rex R. A Bridge to Light. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A, 1988.
Hutchens, Rex R. and Monson, Donald W. The Bible in Albert Pike's MORALS AND DOGMA. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33ø, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1992.
Indiana Monitor and Freemason's Guide. Indianapolis: Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana, 1975.
Louisiana Masonic Monitor. Walker, La.: Lavergne's River Parish Press, 1988.
Mackey, Albert. An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, 2 volumes. Chicago: The Masonic History Co., 1921.
Masonic Code. Montgomery: Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1963.
Masonic Manual of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons. Macon: Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1973.
Mentor's Manual. Franklin, Ind.: Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons State of Indiana, 1953.
Monitor of the Lodge. Waco: Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. &. A.M., 1982.
Morris, S. Brent. Masonic Philanthropies: A Tradition of Caring. Lexington, Mass., and Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Councils, 33rd Degree, N.M.J. and S.J., 1991.
Murrow Masonic Monitor, Tenth Edition. Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Oklahoma, 1988.
Pike, Albert. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. Washington, D.C.: Prepared for the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction, A.A.S.R., U.S.A., 1964.
Roy, Thomas S. "An Answer to Anti-Masonic Religious Propaganda." Boston: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1952.
Truett, George W. "Address to the Grand Lodge of Texas." Waco: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1940.
Scholarly Books on Freemasonry:
| building of solomon s temple |
Who is the Great Architect of the Universe in Masonic ritual? | Section 1
BACKGROUND FOR THE STUDY ON FREEMASONRY
At the 1985 Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Charles Z. Burchett of Kirbyville, Texas, introduced a resolution: "Free-masonry [sic] Not Compatible with Baptist Faith and Message, Bold Mission Thrust, or Cooperative Program." The resolution was referred to the Home Mission Board (HMB) for study. (1)
The HMB reported back to the 1986 Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta that "after a thorough study by the Interfaith Witness Department, it is the Board's conclusion that Freemasonry does not fall within the scope of assigned responsibility of the Home Mission Board." (2) The HMB report was accepted by the messengers to the Convention. The Christian Index reported that HMB leaders had concluded, "The Department of Interfaith Witness does not recognize Freemasonry as a religion." (3) During the 1992 Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, James L. Holly of Beaumont, Texas, introduced a motion on Freemasonry:
The Southern Baptist Convention in annual session June 9-11, 1992, at Indianapolis, Indiana, directs the president elected at this convention, to appoint an ad hoc committee for the study of the compatibility with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine of the organization known variously as the Masonic Lodge, Masonry, Freemasonry and/or Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. This study is to encompass any and all branches and/or lodges thereof. Furthermore, the Convention directs the president to appoint this committee within thirty days of the conclusion of this convention and to charge this committee with the responsibility of bringing a report with recommendation to the convention which is to meet in Houston, Texas, June 1993. (4)
Alvin Rowe of Rockledge, Fla., moved to amend the motion. His amended motion passed:
(1) "Proceedings," 1985 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville: Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, 1985), p. 69.
(2) "One Hundred Forty-First Annual Report, Home Mission Board," 1986 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville: Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, 1986), p. 175.
(3) The Christian Index, April 3, 1992, p. 2.
(4) "Proceedings," 1992 Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention (Nashville: Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Convention, 1992), pp. 60-61.
The Southern Baptist Convention in annual session June 9-11, 1992, at Indianapolis, Indiana, directs the Interfaith Witness Department of the Home Mission Board to study the compatibility with Christianity and Southern Baptist doctrine of the organization known variously as the Masonic Lodge, Masonry, Freemasonry, and or Ancient and Accepted Right [sic] of Freemasonry. The study is to encompass any and all branches and or lodges thereof. Furthermore, the convention charges the Home Mission Board with the responsibility of bringing a report with recommendation to the Convention which is to meet in Houston, Texas, June 1993. (5)
Messengers at the 1992 Southern Baptist Convention approved a resolution "On Christian Witness and Voluntary Associations." While not mentioning Freemasonry, many observers concluded its intent was directed at Freemasonry. Resolutions are not binding on local churches, but represent the opinions of the messengers present and voting. Still, resolutions are often used as guides by local churches. The resolution stated:
WHEREAS, We are called to be in the world but not of the world; and
WHEREAS, We are called to maintain biblical standards of holiness and to avoid compromise of our Christian witness, or cooperation which would threaten that witness: and
WHEREAS, We are called to maintain Christian witness openly before the world; and
WHEREAS, We recognize the value of many social, fraternal, and philanthropic organizations.
Therefore, Be it RESOLVED, That we, the messengers to the 135th session of the Southern Baptist Convention, call upon all Christians to maintain personal purity in all activities, associations or memberships; avoiding any association which conflicts with clear biblical teaching, including those teachings concerning the taking of oaths, the secrecy of activities, mystical knowledge, or racial discrimination; and
Be it further RESOLVED, We affirm that biblical doctrine is to be open and public knowledge and that the Christian faith is to be a clear and public expression of the truth that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, that the Bible is our infallible guide, and that salvation comes by the Gospel [sic] of grace and not by works; and
(5) Ibid., p. 86.
Be it finally RESOLVED, That we urge all Southern Baptists to refrain from participation or membership in organizations with teachings, oaths, or mystical knowledge which are contrary to the Bible and to the public expression of our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, which must be above all reproach. (6)
The Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention examined a comprehensive index of SBC annuals from 1845 to 1965 and found no mention of Freemasonry or any topic that appeared related to Freemasonry. No resolution on the subject of Freemasonry appeared in a list of resolutions between 1965 and 1992. The staff of the Historical Commission also examined titles of theses and dissertations in Southern Baptist theological seminaries, an index to the minutes to the Home Mission Board and the Executive Committee, and other sources in their library and archives. Lynn E. May Jr. concluded, "We cannot say with absolute certainty that the subject of Freemasonry does not appear in the Convention annuals in the past, but that appears to the case." (7)
(6) Ibid., pp. 89-90.
(7) Letter from Lynn E. May Jr., executive director-treasurer of the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, August 14, 1992.
Section 2
INTRODUCTION TO FREEMASONRY
There are approximately 4 million Masons in the United States. Christopher Haffner gives the number of Masons worldwide as:
Regular Freemasonry: 5,500,000
Prince Hall Freemasonry: 250,000
Grand Orient "Masonry": 90,000 (8)
A racial division in Freemasonry has existed in the United States since the late eighteenth century, when slavery was a social institution. Under the leadership of a black preacher named Prince Hall, a lodge was formed in Massachusetts in 1784. As a result of Hall's endeavour, a completely independent clandestine organization of Grand Lodges arose and spread across the United States to Canada, the West Indies, Liberia, and the British Isles. (9)
A "regular" lodge is one recognized by the Grand Lodge of the state; a "clandestine" lodge is not recognized by the regular Grand Lodge of the state. The regular Grand Lodge of each state generally refuses to recognize lodges not affiliated with it, hence the term clandestine. A parallel in Baptist life would be an independent Baptist church, which is not part of a local Southern Baptist association. Neither the independent Baptist church nor the local Southern Baptist association recognizes the other as a cooperating entity, although each knows the other exists.
This division between regular Freemasonry and Prince Hall Freemasonry is slowly being broken down. Eight Grand Lodges (state organizations) in the United States, as well as the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec, have officially recognized Prince Hall Freemasonry as regular. The U.S. Grand Lodges that recognize Prince Hall Freemasonry are Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Discussions are taking place in other Grand Lodges, and it is anticipated that mutual recognition will eventually occur. (10) Some Prince Hall Lodges have not indicated a willingness for mutual recognition. Some Grand Lodges are refusing to accept this progress toward racial reconciliation. The Georgia Grand Lodge,
(8) Christopher Haffner, Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Mason (Shepperton, England: Lewis Masonic, 1989), p. 23.
(9) Ibid., pp. 23-25.
(10) Jim Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections (Guthrie, Okla.: Unpublished manuscript, 1992), pp. 82-84. Tresner is editor of The Oklahoma Mason and director of The Masonic Leadership Institute. Two books on Prince Hall Freemasonry are recommended by Tresner. They are Joseph Walkes Jr., Black Square and Compasses: 200 Years of Prince Hall Freemasonry (Richmond: Macoy, 1979) and Henry Wilson Coil Sr., A Documentary Account of Prince Han and Other Black Fraternal Orders (Trenton: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1982).
for instance, does not recognize the Grand Lodges mentioned here, which have recognized Prince Hall Freemasonry as regular. According to Masons, this refusal to recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges in each state stems from the position that there can be only one Grand Lodge in each state, rather than simply a reluctance to recognize Prince Hall Freemasonry.
Blacks are also being accepted in some regular Lodges, such as the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, the Grand Lodge of Colorado, and the Grand Lodge of Washington. A photo in the October 1992 issue of The Scottish Rite Journal showed five black and five white Masons on a tour of the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. Two of the five black Masons hold the 32nd degree. (11)
A number of critics accuse the Masonic Lodge of racism. One critic quotes Albert Pike, who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, "I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave Masonry, I shall leave it." (12) Some critics claim the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded by Freemasons and supported by Masons. Stating a Masonic position, Jim Tresner writes, "Membership in the KKK is sufficient cause in many states, including Oklahoma, to deny a man membership in Masonry." (13) Tresner says he has personal knowledge of "men [who] have been denied membership to Masonry on the basis of KKK membership." (14)
The Masonic Lodge has been slow to respond to the acceptance of blacks into its membership. The Lodge tends to follow the lead of the general society, rather than being a leader in racial reconciliation. However, racial reconciliation is slowly occurring in the Lodge.
A small group of Grand Orient "Masons," living primarily in France and Belgium, do not require members to believe in the existence of God and so are not accepted by regular Freemasonry. (15) This report will not address these Grand Orient Masons, since it is concerned only with American Freemasonry.
Men who become Masons join the Blue, or Symbolic, Lodge. It is usually called the Blue Lodge because the colour blue is a primary symbol of Freemasonry. (16) The origin of the use of the colour blue by Masons is uncertain; perhaps it is an analogy of the blue sky or of heaven. (17) The officers of the Blue Lodge include the Worshipful Master
(11) The Scottish Rite Journal, October 1992, p. 36.
(12) Delmar D. Darrah, History and Evolution of Freemasonry (The Charles T. Powner Co., 1954), p. 319.
(13) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections, p. 78.
(14) Ibid., p. 79.
(15) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, pp. 27-28.
(16) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses & Reflections, p. 7.
(17) Henry Wilson Coil, Cod's Masonic Encyclopedia (New York: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company, Inc., 1961), p. 99.
(president or chairman), the Senior Warden (first vice president or vice chairman), the Junior Warden (second vice president or vice chairman), the Senior and Junior Deacons (who serve as messengers during the ritual work), and the Senior and Junior Stewards (who assist the candidate during the initiation). The Blue Lodge also has a secretary, a treasurer, and a chaplain. The final officer is the Tiler, who sits outside the door and arranges the introduction of visitors and guests. (18) These titles have been used for several centuries.
Men who wish to join the Lodge must request a petition, complete it, and submit it to a Mason who will sponsor him. Masons are not allowed to ask others to join, but this prohibition is sometimes abused. A person desiring to join the Lodge is investigated by a committee and then voted on by Masons in the Lodge. Election in most states must be unanimous. Several states have discussed requiring two black balls or cubes to reject a petitioner; Texas has already done so.
There are only three requirements to join the Lodge: the individual must (1) be a man (2) of good reputation who (3) believes in God. He is not required to define who he understands God to be.
The Blue Lodge consists of three degrees: (1) the Entered Apprentice, (2) the Fellow Craft, and (3) the Master Mason. A Master Mason in the United States enjoys all of the rights and privileges of full Masonic membership.
Approximately 80 percent of all Masons stop with the Master Mason degree; they do not proceed on to higher degrees in the Scottish Rite or York Rite branches. The Scottish Rite branch of Freemasonry was founded in France, not in Scotland as its name suggests. The American Scottish Rite branch, formed in Charleston, S.C., on May 31, 1801, consists of 29 numbered degrees (4th through 32nd); the 33rd, or highest degree, is an honourary degree given only to the most faithful Scottish Rite Masons. The administrative head of Scottish Rite Masonry in a state, or "Orient," is a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, or S.G.I.G. A Master Mason joins Scottish Rite Masonry at meetings called reunions, where the degrees are presented in one-act plays, each exploring a different area of philosophy or human thought. Scottish Rite Masonry concentrates its charitable activities in three primary areas: college scholarships, childhood learning disorders, and various medical treatment and research endeavors. (19) Local Scottish Rite Masons may sponsor other charitable activities, such as providing shoes to needy elementary school children through the Mercy Shoe Fund, as has been done by the Scottish Rite Temples in Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn., every year since 1960. (20)
There are two jurisdictions within American Scottish Rite Masonry. The Southern Jurisdiction, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., consists of 35 states and the District of Columbia. The Northern Jurisdiction, with headquarters in Lexington, Mass., consists of 15 New England and Great Lakes states.
The York Rite designates its 10 degrees by name, such as Royal Arch Mason,
(18) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections, pp. 7-8.
(19) Ibid., pp. 9-11.
(20) Chattanooga Scottish Rite News, September 1992, p. 4.
Order of the Red Cross, and Order of Knights Templar Commandery. The York Rite degrees are based on traditions related to the Temple of Solomon and the Crusades of the Middle Ages. York Rite charitable activities include college scholarships. The primary charity of the York Rite is the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America has sent Christian ministers to the Holy Land for the past 15 years. The first seven ministers were sent in 1977. In 1992, 117 ministers from 40 states were given the trip, for a total of 507 ministers from 42 states since the program began. The ministers do not have to be Masons to be selected for the trip, and their expenses are paid. (21)
Although it is common to speak of the "higher degrees" of the Scottish Rite or York Rite branches, it is also said that the "highest degree in Freemasonry is the Third Degree or the level of a Master Mason." (22)
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for North America is distinct from other parts of Freemasonry. It was created in the late 1800s as an organization strictly for fun and fellowship. In keeping with this purpose, Shriners refer to their leader with the pompous title of Potentate. The Shrine, as it is sometimes called, is often criticized for its obvious Arabic theme, with the red fez and black tassel and logo of a sword, crescent moon, and star. This is sometimes believed to refer to a belief in the Islamic religion. Shriners say that the Arabic theme, according to tradition, was developed after an American, Billy Florence, attended a party in Marseilles, France, which was hosted by an Arabian diplomat. Fascinated with the colourful surroundings at the party, Florence is said to have created the rituals associated with the Shrine. (23) Shriners have earned a negative reputation for their rowdy, sometimes drunken, meetings. It would be, however, untrue to conclude that all, or even most, Shriners are drunken revelers.
Shriners operate 22 Shriners hospitals, 19 orthopedic hospitals, and 3 burns institutes. Their threefold purpose is treatment, research, and education. These hospitals are found in 17 U.S. states; Montreal, Canada; and Mexico City. Since 1922, when the first Shriners hospital was built, more than $2 billion has been spent building and operating the hospitals. The 1992 budget was $306 million -- $250 million of which was for the operation of the hospitals, $20 million for research, and $36 million for construction. The hospitals accept children up to age 18 if they can be helped and if treatment at another facility would place a financial burden on the family. There is absolutely no charge to the child, the family, or a third party for treatment. In 1991, the 22 Shriners hospitals admitted 21,015 children; another 197,882 patients were seen on outpatient or outreach clinic visits. The average length of stay at the orthopedic hospitals was 97 days; 103 days at the burns institutes. The hospitals are supported by an annual $5 hospital
(21) "15th Holy Land Pilgrimage," Knight Templar, May 1992, p. 18; Letter from P. Fred Lesley, co-chairman of the Committee on Holy Land Pilgrimage, Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America, October 17, 1992.
(22) L.C. Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft: Fact vs. Fiction (Richmond: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company, Inc., 1981), p. 51.
(23) "Who Are the Shriners and What Is the Shrine?" Undated pamphlet.
assessment of each of the 717,461 Shriners in 191 Shrine Temples throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Republic of Panama.(24) An endowment fund provides additional support.
Real estate, securities, and life insurance are other sources of income. In addition, Shrine Temples conduct more than 1,800 fund-raising activities annually. There are two types of Shrine fund-raisers: Charitable fund-raisers, where 100 percent of the net proceeds benefit Shriners hospitals; and Fraternal fund-raisers, which benefit the Temples, which in turn may distribute funds as they decide, including to the hospitals. (25) All Shrine fund-raising promotional materials are required to list the purpose of the fund-raiser. For example, profits from the annual Shrine Circus are for Fraternal fund-raising and are not deductible as charitable contributions. The purpose is stated on the circus ticket. Only a Mason who has achieved the 32nd degree in the Scottish Rite or the Knights Templar degree in the York Rite can become a Shriner. (26) The largest Shrine Temple, with 17,762 members, is the Murat Temple in Indianapolis.
Masonic groups are involved in a variety of other social activities. The Pennsylvania Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Among Children in Elizabethtown, Pa., provided grants totalling about $1 million during its first five years of operation. It has a 501 (c) (3) federal tax exemption. (27)
The Eastern Star, which takes its name from the Star of the Nativity (Matt. 2:2), is open to women closely related to Master Masons, as well as Master Masons themselves. Its primary charity is the Masonic Homes for the Aged. The Eastern Star also provides scholarships.
The Royal Order of the Amaranth is similar to the Eastern Star. Its primary charity is the Diabetes Foundation.
(24) Figures as of December 31, 1991, from phone conversation with C. Howard Bozeman, emeritus member, Board of Trustees, Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children, October 1, 1992.
(25) "Shrine Fund Raising Policies and Procedures" (pamphlet), Revised February 1990, p. 2.
(26) Alhambra Temple newspaper (Chattanooga, Tenn.), Spring 1992; Knight Templar, May 1992, n.p. (insert).
(27) "The Pennsylvania Masonic Foundation for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Among Children" (undated pamphlet).
Masonic youth organizations are the Order of the DeMolay, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, and Job's Daughters. The Order of the DeMolay, founded in Kansas City, Mo., in March 1919, is open to young men between the ages of 13 and 21. Its headquarters is located in Kansas City. (28) The Rainbow Girls, headquartered in McAlester, Okla., is open to all girls between the ages of 11 and 21; no Masonic affiliation is required. Rainbow girls are taught "the importance of belief in the existence of a Supreme Being, and the value of the great truths taught in the Holy Bible." (29) Job's Daughters is open to young unmarried ladies, who are related to Masons and are between ages 11 and 20. These young people volunteer time for blood drives and at nursing homes. They provided baby-sitting services during Operation Desert Storm so families of military personnel could attend support groups. The order takes its name from the Book of Job. (30)
(28) June 1969 issue of The New Age Magazine is devoted to the Order of the DeMolay. The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, introduced The New Age Magazine in 1903. The name of The New Age Magazine was changed to The Scottish Rite Journal in 1990, due to the increasing popularity of the New Age Movement and the New Age Journal. The New Age Journal promotes the New Age Movement's Hindu-based worldview and includes the following disclaimer in every issue: "The publisher of NEW AGE JOURNAL has no affiliation with any fraternal organization."
(29) "The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls" (undated pamphlet).
(30) Tresner, Perspectives, Responses and Reflections, pp. 14-15; "The International Order of Job's Daughters" (undated pamphlet).
Section 3
COMMON ARGUMENTS AGAINST FREEMASONRY
Masonry critics generally cite one or more of the following reasons for being opposed to Freemasonry.
Freemasonry is a religion.
It uses childish titles and ceremonies.
It teaches that a Christian Mason's first allegiance is to the Lodge, not the church.
Its secrecy provides cover to people attempting to overthrow governments.
This study will examine each of these criticisms.
Section 4
DIFFICULTY IN REACHING OBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS
A number of difficulties in reaching objective conclusions about Freemasonry have been noted by such writers as Robert A. Morey. Recognition of these difficulties is necessary to avoid arriving at misleading or false conclusions.
1. Many Masons and their critics begin with conclusions, which they then seek to prove. Larry Kunk points out "the tendency of humans to be limited by their paradigms." A paradigm is a model that a person believes describes the truth about something. As Kunk points out, a person can be misled by his paradigm and make a false conclusion.
Many Masonry critics begin with the paradigm that Freemasonry is an anti-Christian religion. Kunk says, "The reader must look at Masonic writings from the perspective of someone who does not believe that Jesus is the only Son of God." (31) If you make up your mind before you take an objective look at Freemasonry, you will probably arrive back at your beginning point because you stay within your paradigm, namely that Freemasonry is an anti-Christian religion.
On the other hand, many Masons are guilty of believing that "Light and Truth" can be found within Freemasonry because that is what they may have been told in the beginning. That is their paradigm. Both Masons and their critics can be misled by their paradigms. If someone believes Freemasonry is a religion, he can find numerous quotes to support his paradigm. If someone believes that Freemasonry is not a religion, he can also find numerous quotes to support his paradigm. It is difficult to conclude which paradigm is correct.
2. Both Masons and their critics have created fraudulent documents to prove points, such as the antiquity of Freemasonry, or to attack Freemasonry with the often-repeated claim that Freemasonry is a "secret Luciferian devil cult." (32) Morey cites numerous fraudulent documents that have misled many people about the history of Freemasonry. (33)
Several critics cite a speech allegedly given by Albert Pike on July 14, 1889, to prove that the god of Freemasonry is Lucifer, "The Masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the higher degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian Doctrine. . . . Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god.... but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness
(31) Larry Kunk, "What Is the Secret Doctrine of the Masonic Lodge and How Does It Relate to Their Plan of Salvation?" (Unpublished manuscript, P.O. Box 291, Fishers, IN 46038, 1992), p. 1.
(32) Robert A. Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry (Southbridge, Mass.: Crown Publications, Inc., 1990), p 12. This book was released by Harvest House Publishers, in January 1993, under the new title The Truth About Masons.
(33) Ibid, pp. 7-9.
and Evil." (34)
That this quote is a hoax has been shown by Wesley P. Walters in "A Curious Case of Fraud" in The Quarterly Journal of Personal Freedom Outreach. Walters, although an anti-Mason until his death, writes that the quote is taken from a French publication of Abel Clarin De la Rive titled The Woman and Child in Universal French Masonry (La Femme et L'Enfant Dans La Franc-Maconnerie Universelle, Paris: Delhomme et Briguet, 1894). (35) The hoax was created by Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pages, who was both an anti-Mason and an anti-Catholic, in an attempt to embarrass both groups. Raised in a Jesuit school, Jogand-Pages hated the Roman Catholic Church. Using the name of Leo Taxil, he attacked the Pope in his publication The Secret Loves of Pius IX. He also joined the Masonic Lodge but was soon expelled. Taxil began to write about alleged immoralities and orgies in the Lodge, during which the forged statements of Albert Pike first appeared. He also fabricated a Diana Vaughan, who claimed she was a daughter of a Satanist in Louisville, Ky., who was associated with Albert Pike. Taxil admitted his hoax in January 1897, but some Christian writers still use his hoax as if it were true.
Many Masonry critics believe almost anything, especially the most sensational stories, that shows Freemasonry in an unfavourable light. They repeat stories they hear without checking facts, and ignore any evidence contrary to their beliefs. An untruth repeated until it becomes common knowledge does not cause it to become true.
Likewise, most Masons believe their writers without verifying accuracy and documentation. Both Masons and their critics would do well to do real historical study into the charges against Freemasonry to determine which are true and which are false.
An estimated 100,000 books have been written on or about Freemasonry. (36) Readers experience the difficulty of reading and digesting such a vast amount of literature, especially when different Masonic books directly contradict each other. It is impossible to know which books or authors accurately reflect the beliefs of all Masons, or even a majority of Masons.
(34) J. Edward Decker, The Question of Freemasonry (Issaquah, Wash.: Free the Masons Ministries, n.d.), pp. 12-14; James L. Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry (Beaumont, Texas: Mission and Ministry to Men, Inc., 1992), p. 18; and Jack Harris, Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in Our Midst (Towson, Md.: Jack Harris, 1983), pp. 24-25. Harris states the date of Pike's speech was July 4, 1889, rather than July 14, 1889. This quote is also cited by Muslim anti-Masons Muhammad Safwat al-Saqqa Amini and Sa'di Abu Habib in Freemasonry (New York: Muslim World League, 1982), p. 41. Gary H. Kah refers to the same quote in En Route to Global Occupation (Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Pub., 1992), p. 114, as do other anti-Masonic writers.
(35) Wesley P. Walters, "A Curious Case of Fraud," The Quarterly Journal, vol. 9, no. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1989), pp. 4, 7.
(36) John Ankerberg and John Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge: A Christian Perspective (Chicago: Moody Press, 1990), p. 16.
This is coupled with the fact that books on or about Freemasonry almost always have been written by individuals in one of two groups: one group, either non- or anti-Masonic, attacks Freemasonry as anti-Christian; the other group, committed Masons, defends Freemasonry as compatible with Christianity. There is virtually nothing written on or about Freemasonry by neutral or unbiased scholars. Critics of Freemasonry often are guilty of faulty research. The use of logical fallacies to prove false premises is common. One is led to conclude that even though most Masonry critics claim to do original research, many quotes and ideas are borrowed from earlier critics.
The Grand Lodges do not prohibit Masons from reading any books, no matter what the books teach about Freemasonry. (37) At the same time, the Grand Lodges do not conduct investigations to determine whether a Masonic author's book is acceptable. There is nothing to prevent a Mason from writing a book giving his personal views about religion, Freemasonry, or any other subject. This freedom sometimes comes back to haunt Masons, since some Masonic writers have their own agenda or personal ax to grind. Some Masonic writers have been non-Christians who write from a non-Christian worldview. Some Masonic writers promote pagan religions. This freedom accorded Masonic writers provides critics with a wealth of material from which to develop their anti-Masonic positions.
3. Anti-Masons typically assume that Freemasonry is based on the writings of one person. Albert Pike (1809-1891), perhaps the most controversial of all Masonic scholars, is often said by Masonry critics to be the most authoritative spokesman for Freemasonry. However, few Masons own a copy of Pike's Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and even fewer have read it. One Scottish Rite Mason estimated that fewer than 1 in 1,000 Masons had read Morals and Dogma. Masonry critics John Ankerberg and John Weldon surveyed 25 of the Grand Lodges in the United States to ask which authors and books were considered authoritative for Masons. Only 4 of the 25 Grand Lodges recommended Pike's Morals and Dogma as authoritative. (38)
Traditionally, a copy of Morals and Dogma was given to each candidate when he received the 14th degree. This practice was stopped in 1974 and candidates have not been given Morals and Dogma since then. Morals and Dogma is still available for purchase by anyone, Mason and non-Mason alike. A Bridge to Light, by Rex R. Hutchens, was published in 1988 to replace Morals and Dogma and to encourage Scottish Rite Masons "to investigate more fully the profound teachings of the Rite and learn how to apply them in their daily lives."(39) A Bridge to Light is recommended by C. Fred Kleinknecht, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction,
(37) When Walton Hannah's anti-Mason book, Darkness Visible: A Revelation & Interpretation of Freemasonry (London: Augustine Press, 1952) could not be located, a Mason loaned his personal copy.
(38) Ibid., p. 17.
(39) Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33ø, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1988), p. vii.and is unanimously approved by the Committee on Rituals and Ceremonial Forms for the Southern Jurisdiction.
Masons have never held that Pike's words in Morals and Dogma must be accepted by any Mason. In the Preface to Morals and Dogma, the reader is told, "Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound." (40) Still, it is apparent that Morals and Dogma is held in high regard by many Masons, especially Masons holding the highest degrees.
Albert Mackey's 25 landmarks of Freemasonry listed in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry are sometimes cited as the ultimate authority in Masonic activities. Mackey held that the landmarks were essential, unrepealable boundaries of Freemasonry. However, 14 Grand Lodges have created and adopted their own lists of landmarks, four Grand Lodges accept the "Old Charges" of Anderson's Constitutions as their landmarks, and 13 Grand Lodges have adopted no list of landmarks. (41)
Masons insist that the only written authorities in Freemasonry are monitors and other books approved and published by the various Grand Lodges or other official bodies. Other books may be accepted by some or many Masons, but they ultimately are the opinions of the authors, not authoritative works that all Masons must accept.
When Ankerberg and Weldon conducted a survey of the Grand Lodges in the United States, 25 of the 50 Grand Lodges responded to the question, "Which books and authors have been recommended by the Grand Lodges as being authoritative for Masons?" (42) Eleven, or 44 percent, of the Grand Lodges responded that Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, by Henry Wilson Coil, was authoritative. Nine, or 36 percent, cited Joseph Fort Newton's The Builders; and eight, or 32 percent, responded that Albert G. Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry was authoritative. Ankerberg and Weldon list six other books cited by four to six (16-24%) of the Grand Lodges as authoritative. The other books cited were Introduction to Freemasonry by Carl H. Claudy (24%), The Newly-Made Mason by H.L. Haywood (24%), A Masonic Reader's Guide by Alphonse Cerza (20%), History of Freemasonry by Robert F. Gould (20%), The Craft and Its Symbols by Allen E. Roberts (20%), and Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike (16%). No single book was cited as authoritative by more than 44 percent of the Grand Lodges responding. (43)
Ankerberg and Weldon, in The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, repeatedly cite Jonathan Blanchard's Scottish Rite Masonry Illustrated. They state that Blanchard
(40) Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (Washington, D.C.: Prepared for the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States and Published by Its Authority, 1964), p. iv.
(41) Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft, pp. 33-36.
(42) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge: A Christian Perspective (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers, Inc., 1989), p. 8.
(43) Ibid., p. 9.
was "a former Sovereign Grand Commander and a 33d Degree Mason." (44) Art DeHoyos, in The Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry, responds:
In their recent book, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon seriously err in their selection of source-material for information on Masonic rituals. For information on the Scottish Rite rituals, for example, they relied on a reprint of Jonathan Blanchard's outdated Scotch Rite Freemasonry Illustrated, which was actually an exposure of Cerneauism, a "clandestine" (illegitimate) pseudo-Masonic organization of the 1800's. Most non-Masons would be unfamiliar with this fact and would likely accept its ritual as those of genuine Freemasonry. An examination of their endnotes reveals that Ankerberg and Weldon refer to Blanchard over fifty times in the book. (45)
Both the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of Scottish Rite Freemasonry deny that Blanchard was either a 33rd degree Mason or a Sovereign Grand Commander. During his years as president of Wheaton College, Blanchard was an active anti-Mason. He founded the Christian Cynosure and the National Christian Association to support his anti-Masonic activities. With his son-in-law, Ezra A. Cook, he incorporated the National Christian Association to continue his attempt to destroy all secret societies, especially Freemasonry. (46)
Haffner reminds us that "there is very little that is official or authoritative, and almost all the tens of thousands of books published about masonry [sic] in this country [England] and overseas merely represent the personal views of individual Freemasons." (47) It is apparent that Masons and their critics differ on which books are authoritative and how authoritative particular books are.
4. Many writers assume that Freemasonry is a monolithic organism, which can be traced back to a single origin. In fact, many individuals and groups have been influential in the history of Freemasonry. Likewise, not all Masons believe the same thing, nor do all Masons around the world hold identical views. Each of the 110 Grand Lodges around the world is completely independent of the others. Some Masonic groups, such as the Grand Orient Masons in Belgium and France, are not recognized by any of the 110 Grand Lodges. As Ankerberg and Weldon state, there is "no single definition of Masonry . . .
(44) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 131.
(45) Art DeHoyos, The Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry (Kila, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing Co., 1992), p. 4.
(46) J. Gordon Melton, Religious Leaders of America (Detroit, Gale Research, Inc., 1992), p. 47.
(47) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 15.
accepted by all Masons." (48) Freemasonry means different things to different people -- for some a social club, for others a benevolent organization; for some a place to meet close friends, for others a religion. Freemasonry is not consistent in its specific teachings and rituals from country to country or even from state to state. Freemasonry has even changed through the years. (49)
Stephen Knight, in The Brotherhood: The Secret World of the Freemasons, says that "Freemasonry is not a worldwide secret society.... although the British Grand Lodges recognize more than a hundred Grand Lodges (forty-nine of them in the USA), they have no control over them, and most reflect the character and political complexion of the country in which they operate." (50) Knight admits that "Perhaps a better subtitle [of his book] might therefore be Freemasonry: An Interim Report, because in addition to being wide-ranging and complicated (though always intensely fascinating), the nature of Freemasonry is changing." (51)
Morey examines the history of Freemasonry and concludes that it has changed its focus and teachings in significant areas. For example, Morey claims that a Christian interpretation of Freemasonry was the accepted norm until an anti-Masonic movement from 1826 to 1836 forced the conservative Christian majority to leave Freemasonry. Families and churches were scenes of raging controversy as Masonic church members were told to choose between membership in their church and the Lodge. More than half the lodges in the United States were closed as thousands of Christians left Freemasonry. In this vacuum of leadership, according to Morey, non-Christian and pagan leaders assumed leadership and changed the direction of Freemasonry. (52) Masons reject Morey's theory.
Knight traces the history of Freemasonry back to the conclusion of the Gothic Age in the sixteenth century when Scottish, and then English, non-Mason gentlemen joined the dying Masonic trade unions. He argues that the "de-Christianization" of Freemasonry began immediately after the formation of the first Grand Lodge in London. James Anderson's Constitutions, presented in 1723 and revised in 1738, contained only
(48) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 11.
(49) Ibid., p. 12.
(50) Stephen Knight, The Brotherhood: The Secret World of the Freemasons (New York: Dorset Press, 1984), p. 3. The setting for Knight's book is England and Freemasonry in the British Isles. He discusses Masonic influence in various areas of English life, especially in the law enforcement and legal professions. He concludes that Freemasonry is not compatible with Christianity. The last section of his book discusses "the KGB's almost certain use of Freemasonry" to threaten Britain (pp. 297-303). This book was also published by Stein and Day in 1984. Knight rejected the Christian faith, became a Sannyasin, and changed his name to Swami Puja Deval in 1983. He died in 1985. (Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 224).
(51) Ibid., p. 5.
(52) Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry, pp. 19-21.
one reference to Jesus Christ, when, in the Preamble, he noted, "in whose Reign [Caesar Augustus] was born God's Messiah, the great Architect of the Church." (53) The Preamble was removed from the Constitutions in 1815, and with it, the reference to Jesus Christ.
In addition to changes in focus and teachings in Freemasonry through the years and differences among Grand Lodges, Masonic teachings are ultimately subjective. Knight concludes:
There is therefore no authoritative statement of what Masons believe or what the Brotherhood stands for in the first, second and third degrees, to which the vast majority of members restrict themselves. Even a 33d Mason who has persevered to attain all the enlightenment that Freemasonry claims to offer could not -- even if he were freed from his oath of secrecy -- provide more than a purely personal view of the masonic message and the meaning to be attached to masonic symbolism, since this remains essentially subjective. (54)
Monitors are revised by Grand Lodges as needed. One edition of the Louisiana Masonic Monitor apparently includes quotes by Albert Pike and Max Muller. (55) The Louisiana Masonic Monitor in the HMB research library, copyrighted in 1988, does not contain either quote. In fact, neither Pike nor Muller is mentioned in the 1988 edition of the Louisiana Masonic Monitor.
5. It is usually claimed, by many Masons and their critics, that Freemasonry is a secret society. Other Masons counter that Freemasonry "is not a secret society, but rather a society of secrets." (56) To Masonry critics and many non-Masons, this is only a word game designed to hide Freemasonry's goals and objectives. Although symbolism, passwords, and rituals are used in Freemasonry, many books in academic and major public libraries detail the meanings and practices of Freemasonry. The passwords and rituals have not been changed in Freemasonry, even though they can easily be learned by non-Masons. To a casual observer, changing these would appear essential to a secret society, just as passwords are changed on computers when the passwords are compromised. Secret groups are popular among large numbers of people, from boys' clubs with passwords and rules ("No girls allowed" is usually at the head of the list of rules) to men's clubs for purely worldly ambitions. Initiation ceremony, oaths of secrecy, symbolism, and sometimes the awe of religious and moral elements are often included. One critic writes:
Masons need to understand that the Masonic secrets are known [sic] to others. We know their secrets, their signs, their Jewels, their secret so
(53) Knight, The Brotherhood, p. 27.
(54) Ibid., p. 16.
(55) Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, p. 7.
(56) Helms, A Modem Mason Examines His Craft: Fact vs. Fiction, p. 1.
called "LOST WORD", their pass-words, their due-guards, the "Grand Hailing Sign of Distress", their land-marks and their rituals with blood oaths and torture penalties; all these are KNOWN BY US. The Masonic [sic] interpretations of their rituals and symbolisms are known far and wide by thousands of people, many of whom are very outspoken about them. (57)
He is correct. Freemasonry is a secret society in name more than fact. (58) When a secret becomes known, it is no longer a secret to the person who has learned the secret. Masons point out that membership rosters are kept at every lodge and it is not difficult for non-Masons to learn who are Freemasons. In fact, Masons are quite eager to let non-Masons know of their Masonic membership. Names of lodge officers are readily available. The Masonic symbol appears on Masonic halls and temples with no attempt to conceal their existence from the public. The Jewels, to which Wilkinson refers, are listed on pages 333-334 of Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, a book readily available to anyone in any Masonic library, in some major university libraries, and for purchase from Masonic sources.
Some believe non-Masons cannot enter Masonic temples. This is not completely true. The Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Okla., is open to the public daily for self-guided tours. The 1,760-seat auditorium, where the various Scottish Rite degrees are received, is regularly used by community groups. A Childhood Language Disorders Clinic is located in the temple. The House of the Temple in Washington, D.C., provides tours daily.
Masonry critic Adrian van Leen disagreed with Christopher Haffner's parallel between Paul's experience in Athens and opportunities in Masonry for religious discussions. Van Leen wrote that "Paul had no difficulty in addressing the Areopagus.... But, Paul most certainly would not receive an invitation from a Masonic lodge today." (59) First of all, Paul did not address "the Areopagus" -- that was a location in Athens, also called Mars Hill, where anyone could speak, just as the Boston Common is a park often used by speakers to present their ideas. Second, Paul probably could have received an invitation from a Masonic lodge to speak. During the research for this report, a meeting at the Atlanta Masonic Temple was attended by several hundred Masons and their wives. The public was also invited to the meeting. The speaker was a non-Mason. While non-Masons are not allowed to be present during rituals, they are welcome at other Lodge functions.
Many organizations have closed meetings. Each lodge has an officer, called the Tyler, whose responsibility is to stand outside the door to prevent non-Masons, called cowans, from entering. The symbol of the Tyler's office is an unsheathed sword, but Masons insist it is only a symbol and not intended for use in keeping non-Masons from
(57) Aubrey Wilkinson, "Wishing Freemasons the Best" (Kyle, Texas: Unpublished manuscript, n.d.), p. 7.
(58) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 16.
(59) Adrian van Leen, "Playing Word Games with God: A Response to Freemasonry," Areopagus, (Advent 1992) p. 10.
entering the temple or hall. Human beings are naturally curious individuals; the desire to spread and listen to gossip is a case in point. Masons should not be condemned for holding closed meetings. However, the secrecy of Masonic meetings will remain a point of criticism for many non-Masons, because, for a growing number of people, things done in secret are always associated with evil.
Secrecy is probably more harmful than helpful to Freemasonry. Probably very few men become Masons because it is a secret society or even a society of secrets. Better education of Masonic members and the general public would serve Freemasonry well. Many Masons realize this. Renewal Update, a publication of The Masonic Renewal Committee of North America, states, "Masonry cannot afford to be viewed as 'out of touch' with society; it cannot afford to be secretive, hostile, misunderstood and unknown." (60) The Masonic Renewal Committee of North America has held four strategic planning conferences with leaders from 31 Grand Lodges to produce "Blueprint 2000," outlining the future needs of the fraternity.
The committee found that Masons were open to providing information requested. Committee members were given full library privileges at three Masonic libraries. Questions were answered quickly and clearly. As with all organizations, including the Christian church, some individuals were better able to answer questions than others. In nearly every situation when answers appeared less than complete, it was believed the Mason was not aware of the answer or could not articulate his answer. On only a few occasions was an attempt to be evasive observed.
Conclusions
1. Both Masons and their critics should verify their sources to determine if they are historically valid and quoted accurately.
2. Better education of Masonic members and the general public is essential.
3. The secrecy of Masonic meetings will remain a point of criticism by many non-Masons.
(60) Five Ways to Make a Lodge Relevant," Renewal Update, December 14, 1992, p. 8.
Section 5
THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY
No factual history on the origin of Freemasonry exists. John Hamill, writing in The Craft, said, "When, Why and Where did Freemasonry originate? There is one answer to these questions: We do not know, despite all the paper and ink that has been expended in examining them.... Whether we shall ever discover the true origins of Freemasonry is open to question." (61) Theories by Masons and non-Masons range from fields of fantasy, to the possible, to outright fraud. Prospective members are told, and most Masons believe, that Freemasonry can be traced back to King Solomon and the building of the first Jerusalem Temple. Occasionally, it is reported that John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, or Noah were Masons. Some Masons believe Freemasonry was first revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden. However, there is nothing in the Bible about Freemasonry. Albert Pike claimed that the Buddha was the earliest known "Masonic Legislator." (62) Others speculate that Freemasonry can be traced to the Druids in England, the Essenes, or early Egyptian mythology. More recent Masonic writers seem to be more cautious about claiming an early origin of Freemasonry. As L.C. Helms writes, "This type of blind allegiance to the past serves Freemasonry no constructive purpose." (63)
Most scholars agree that modern Freemasonry can only be traced historically with sound documentation to the Grand Lodge founded in London, England, on June 24, 1717, when two ministers, Presbyterian James Anderson and Anglican John Desaguliers, encouraged Masons in four London lodges to join them in a move toward centralization. By 1723, fifty-two Lodges comprised the Grand Lodge of London. (64) However, the existence of Masonry prior to this date is documented by other scholars. In Masonry in Texas, James David Carter mentions a report to Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1561 that "the business of Masonry is the cultivation of morality and science, harmony and peace." (65) Carter provides the names of several Masons in the United States, including Quaker William Penn, as early as 1682. (66)
Helms cites A.D. 926 as the approximate date for the origin of Freemasonry. He
(61) John Hamill, The Craft: A History of English Freemasonry (Bedfordshire, England: Crucible, 1986).
(62) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 277.
(63) Helms, A Modem Mason Examines His Craft, p. 17.
(64) Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge (London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1989), p. 175.
(65) James David Carter, Masonry in Texas: Background, History and Influence to 1846 (Waco: Committee on Masonic Education and Service for the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1955), p. 3.
(66) Ibid., pp. 21-22.
arrives at the date from "the oldest Masonic document yet discovered, the Halliwell Document or Regis Poem." (67) However, Regis Poem, written about 1390, alludes to an organization of builders, not to an organization like modern Freemasonry.
Other scholars attempt to establish a connection between Freemasonry and the Order of the Knights Templar, founded in Jerusalem in 1118. Originally called "the poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon," they protected pilgrims on the way to and from the Holy Land. The Knights Templar became a wealthy order before Roman Catholic King Philip IV of France, deep in debt to the Templars and with the support of Pope Clement V, arrested every Templar in France on October 13, 1307. (68) Fifteen thousand Templars were arrested and put in chains on Friday the 13th. The bull Pastoralis Preeminentae issued by the Pope on November 22 stated that the charges of heresy against the Templars appeared to be true and that authorities could "spare no known means of torture" to secure confessions. Thousands of French Templars were hanged, beheaded, disembowelled, and quartered; their property was confiscated by the Roman Catholic Church. Three months later, King Edward I of England, after Pope Clement V issued a formal bull against the Templars, issued orders for the arrest of the Templars in England. However, in those three months the Templars in England had disappeared, along with their treasure and records. The Knights Templar was officially abolished by Pope Clement V in 1312. (69) John J. Robinson details a possible scenario that the Knights Templars survived as a secret order until it later reappeared as the Freemasonry fraternity after England officially became a Protestant country.
Robinson argues the Knights Templar history explains the secret nature of Freemasonry. With a death sentence issued by the king and the Pope, the Templars had to develop a means to identify each other, communicate with Templars they did not recognize, plan meetings, and screen potential individuals who could not be trusted. Literally, the Templars had to have a means to trust others with their life and property. Body signals, handshakes, items of clothing, and statements of cross-examination were developed to recognize fellow Templars.
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh agree with Robinson that the deposing of pro-Catholic King James II and the crowning of anti-Catholic William of Orange as the king of England in 1688 was the catalyst for the emergence of Freemasonry. They, however, are not as convinced of the Knights Templar connection as is Robinson. They do not see the evidence that Robinson does. (70)
Other Masons trace Freemasonry, including the name, to the stonemason guilds found in various European cities and towns from the tenth to the seventeenth century when building cathedrals and castles was widespread. Some stonemasons were also called "free masons" because they were free to travel from city to city in their occupation.
(67) Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft, pp. 7, 19.
(68) John J. Robinson, Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry (New York: M. Evans & Co., 1989), p. xiv.
(69) Ibid., p. 59.
(70) Baigent and Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, p. 171.
With the decline in the building of cathedrals and castles, the free masons in guilds organized social groups and began accepting members who had never been stonemasons. These men were called speculative masons, rather than operative masons, since they never actually were stonemasons.
Freemasons, especially earlier writers such as Albert Pike and Albert Mackey, have hurt Freemasonry by their zeal to link Freemasonry with antiquity. There is, of course, no historical connection with these early religions -- Jewish, Christian, or pagan.
Conclusion
Masons would stop much of the criticism of their fraternity if they admitted that there is no connection with early religions, if they rejected such ideas found in some of their writings, and if they taught their members that there is no connection.
Section 6
IS FREEMASONRY A RELIGION OR A FRATERNITY?
The most fundamental question in this study is whether Freemasonry is a religion, as critics of Masonry charge and some Masons claim. Most books by Masons and their critics have produced more heat than light in answering this question. It is the contention of Masonry critics that Freemasonry is a religion, and that it does not conform to the beliefs and practices of the Christian faith. Since it is a religion and does not conform to the beliefs and practices of the Christian faith, it is a false religion. Since it is a false religion, critics contend, Masons are guilty of membership in a false, even Satanic, religion.
Most Masons are just as adamant that Freemasonry is not a religion. Carl Sanders states, "Freemasonry is not and has never been a religion.... Freemasonry has never asked me to choose between my Lodge and my Church.... Possibly there are those who have made a god out of Masonry. You can make a god out of anything -- your business, your labour union, your civic club, your Lodge and even your Church." (71) Still, some Masonic writers and rituals exacerbate this controversy by comparing Freemasonry to obviously pagan religions.
Critics argue that Freemasonry is a religion for several reasons. They include the Masonic requirement that all Masons must profess a belief in God, that members are required to obey God, and that they are expected to pray for divine guidance before any important undertaking.n The critics are correct that Masons are expected to believe in God, obey Him, and seek His guidance in life.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that humans are religious creatures. Darrell Robinson writes, "Humankind is incurably religious. In every person is a God-shaped void." (73) If most Masons are Christians, as they are in this country, it would be out of character to expect them to leave their faith on the doorstep when they enter the Lodge hall. Quite the contrary, Christ expects, and ministers exhort, Christians to always be "ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15, NASB).
The 1992 resolution "On Christian Witness and Voluntary Associations," cited on pages 2-3, states:
Be it further RESOLVED, We affirm that biblical doctrine is to be open and public knowledge and that the Christian faith is to be a clear and public expression of the truth that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, that the Bible is our infallible guide, and that salvation comes by
(71) Carl J. Sanders, "A Mason Without Apology," Freemasonry and Religion (Washington, D.C.: Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1990), n.p.
(72) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 38-41.
(73) Darrell W. Robinson, The Doctrine of Salvation (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 37.
the Gospel [sic] of grace and not by works.
Does this resolution establish the criterion for Christians to evaluate their free association? It could be argued that Freemasonry is not open and public, but exclusive and elitist. If Freemasonry is exclusive and elitist, then the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and other groups are also exclusive and elitist because each limits membership to selected individuals. Neither do these organizations require belief "that Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation," that "the Bible is our infallible guide," or that "salvation comes by the Gospel of grace and not by works." If this is a reason for condemning Freemasonry, then Christians must reevaluate their memberships in all social and professional clubs and fraternities. This section of the resolution is describing the theology of the Christian church. It is not listing the required teachings of organizations such as DAR, VFW, or Freemasonry before a Christian may join. The resolution would apply to Freemasonry only if Freemasonry were defined as a religion or a church.
Albert G. Mackey defined Freemasonry as "a beautiful system of morals, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." (74) Mackey also wrote that "the religion of Masonry is cosmopolitan, universal; but the required belief in God is not incompatible with this universality; for it is the belief of all peoples." (75) Another Mason stated that "Masonry is a system of ethics based on the divine command, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'" (76)
Several critics have said that some Masons give more attention to their Lodge membership than their church membership. This is a serious charge. Masons admit this charge is sometimes true, but that the individual who is guilty should be criticized, not the entire fraternity.
Masons write, "Regular attendance at Lodge is no faith substitute for regular attendance at church or synagogue." (77) "The Lodge can never take the place of a man's church, synagogue, mosque, or temple." (78) Hutchens, in A Bridge to Light, wrote, "Masonry does not seek to take the place of religion but, like religion, acknowledges a higher law than that of man." (79)
(74) Carl H. Claudy, Introduction to Freemasonry, p. 8.
(75) Albert G. Mackey, M.D. An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences (Chicago: The Masonic History Co., 1921), vol. 1, p. 301.
(76) The New Age Magazine, LX, p. 488.
(77) W. Kenneth Lyons Jr. "Freemasonry and Religion," Freemasonry and Religion (Washington, D.C.: Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1990), n.p.
(78) Raymond L. Fetter, "Faith and Works," a sermon preached at the Service of Matins (or Morning Prayer) preceding the Annual Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, December 27, 1989.
(79) Hutchens, A Bridge to Light, p. 42.
Albert Pike's statement that "every Masonic Lodge is a temple of religion; and its teachings are instruction in religion" is often quoted by Masonry critics. (80) In fact, it is probably the single most quoted passage from Masonic sources found in anti-Masonic sources. However, Pike, elsewhere in Morals and Dogma, wrote, "Masonry is not a religion. He who makes of it a religious belief, falsifies and denaturalizes it." (81)
Henry Wilson Coil, like Mackey, defined religion in a most general way, not in the same sense that a person speaks of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia states:
There can be religion without any church and, indeed, without any congregation, or even one companion, save God. There can be religion without the recitation of any liturgy; and the recitation of a formula does not necessarily induce religion. In short, there can be much religion which is neither a religion nor one of the religions. (82)
In a 1921 decision, the Supreme Court of Nebraska, in the case of the Scottish Rite Building Company vs. Lancaster County, ruled that Freemasonry was not a religion.
The true interpretation of the Masonic attitude in that respect [religion] is that no religious test at all is applied as a condition of membership. The guiding thought is not religion but religious toleration. The order simply exacts of its members that they shall not be atheists and deny the existence of any God or Supreme Being. Each member is encouraged to pay due reverence to his own God, the Deity prescribed by his own religion.... The Masonic Fraternity, in other words, refrains from intruding into the field of religion and confines itself to the teaching of morality and duty to one's fellow men, which make better men and better citizens. The distinction is clear between such ethical teachings and the doctrines of religion. (83)
William Schnoebelen, who acknowledges that he is an ex-witch, ex-Mormon, and ex-Mason, states in Masonry Beyond the Light that Freemasonry is a religion because it requires a belief in God, is highly ritualized, and has a code of ethics. (84) Other organizations have these same requirements but are not considered religions. They
(80) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 42-43; from Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 213.
(81) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 161.
(82) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512.
(83) Scottish Rite Building Company vs. Lancaster County, 106 Nebraska 95, 184 N.W. 574 (1921), pp. 102-106.
(84) William Schnoebelen, Masonry Beyond the Light (Chino, Calif.: Chick Pub., 1991), pp. 31-36.
require a belief in God, but not all members are necessarily Christians, so they would not worship the God revealed in the Bible. (85)
The Freemasons' Diary sets this priority for a Mason concerning his faith and religious practice:
A Freemason is encouraged to do his duty first to his God (by whatever name he is known) through his faith and religious practice; and then, without detriment to his family and those dependent on him, to his neighbour through charity and service. None of these ideas is exclusively Masonic, but all should be universally acceptable. Freemasons are expected to follow them. (86)
Of course, not all Masons have their priorities in the correct order.
Southern Baptist Mason James P. Wesberry wrote, "Masonry is not a religion, nor a church. A good Mason keeps his priorities in order.... For any person to allow Masonry to become his religion or to take the place of his church is a mistake and not due to Masonic teaching but to someone's misinterpretation or misunderstanding." (87) Many men make the Lodge their religion. While a survey was not conducted, these men most likely have been non-Christians searching for spiritual answers in the wrong place. The answer to every person's spiritual needs is found in Jesus Christ, not in the Lodge or any other human organization. Thomas A. Whelan, in the November 1992 issue of the Las Cruces (New Mexico) Scottish Rite Bulletin, shared with his readers, "We can reflect on our Masonic teachings and continue to support and attend the church of our choice." Ankerberg and Weldon state that Freemasonry is a religion because it has a creed, which they state is defined by Webster as "a state of belief, principles, or opinions
(85) Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of America require members to believe in God, but not all Scouts are Christians. Baptist youth certainly do not worship the physical god of Mormonism or the impersonal god of Hinduism, yet they join with youth and leaders from these religions to earn religious emblems. They have certain rituals that identify them as Scouts anywhere in the world, such as the Scout sign with three upraised fingers and the handclasp using the left hand instead of the right hand. Scouts also have a code of ethics. See Webelos Scout Book, Boy Scouts of America [no copyright information], pp. 349, 352, 402; and "Girl sues Scouts over God reference in pledge," Journal of the American Family Association, January 1993, p. 2. The article reports that a 6-year-old girl and her father claim the reference to God in the "Girl Scout Promise" is a "religious test oath."
(86) The Freemasons' Diary, 1992-1993 (London: Correspondence Circle Ltd., n.d.), p. 20
(87) James P. Wesberry, "It Is No Secret!" Freemasonry and Religion (Washington, D.C.: Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1990), n.p.
on any subject." (88) This definition does not require that the creed be religious. The word creed come from the Latin word credo, which means "I believe." Credo is the first word of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds in the Latin translation, "I believe in God the Father Almighty...." The Scottish Rite Creed was printed on the back cover of The New Age Magazine for years. Its statements are not religious in nature. Pike used the term in a different, more religious, way when he spoke of "the Masonic Creed: BELIEVE, in God's Infinite Benevolence, Wisdom, and Justice: HOPE, for the final triumph of Good over Evil, and for Perfect harmony as the final result of all the concords and discords of the Universe: and be CHARITABLE as God is, toward the unfaith, the errors, the follies, and the faults of men: for all make one great brotherhood." (89) But Pike seems to distinguish between this Masonic Creed and creed in the sense of a confession of faith. He says, "To every Mason, there is a GOD; ONE, Supreme, Infinite in Goodness, Wisdom, Foresight, Justice, and Benevolence; Creator, Disposer, and Preserver of all things. How, or by what intermediates He creates and acts, and in what way He unfolds and manifests Himself, Masonry leaves to creeds and Religions to inquire." (90) Pike "allows every brother of the Order to assign to each [great religious reformer] such higher and even Divine Character as his Creed and Truth require." (91) Elsewhere, Pike states that "Masonry propagates no creed except its own most simple and Sublime One; that universal religion, taught by Nature and by Reason." (92)
Ankerberg and Weldon state that Freemasonry is a religion because it teaches theology. (93) Masons insist they teach no theology, that "Freemasonry is religious; but it is not a religion, it is not a theology." (94)
Critics claim that Freemasonry teaches that one religion is as good as another because men of all faiths are admitted. As Baptist minister and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Thomas S. Roy, wrote:
Freemasonry does not assert and does not teach that one religion is as good as another. We do not say that all religions are equal because we admit men of all religions. We refuse to apply a theological test to a candidate. We apply a religious test only. We ask a man if he believes in
(88) Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition (Fairfax, Va.: William Collins Publishers, Inc., 1980), p. 333.
(89) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 531.
(90) Ibid., p. 524.
(93) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, pp. 16-17.
(94) Raymond L. Fetter, "Faith and Works!" Sermon preached at Harrisburg, Pa., December 27, 1989.
God, and that is a religious test only. If we asked him if he believed in Christ, or Buddha, or Allah, that would be a theological test involving a particular interpretation of God. Belief in God is faith; belief about God is theology. We are interested in faith only, and not theology. We do not set ourselves up as judges of the qualitative values of the theological interpretations of God. (95)
Ankerberg and Weldon state that the ritual in Freemasonry is really worship, because "in actuality Masons are worshipping every time they practice the ceremonies of a Lodge." (96) They quote Pike's Morals and Dogma, "Masonry is a [system of] worship." (97) Ankerberg and Weldon add the emphasis on is and the words [system of] to Pike's quote. Masonry critics charge Freemasonry is a pagan religion because prayers are offered during Masonic rituals, usually without mentioning the name of Christ. Critics are correct that prayers are offered during Masonic rituals, usually without mentioning the name of Christ. At times, prayers concluded in Christ's name may be voiced in Masonic meetings. The prayers are generally requests for God's blessing and guidance. However, the U.S. Congress opens its sessions with prayer, usually without mentioning the name of Christ. No one has ever suggested that the U.S. Congress is a religion. Prayers or invocations are offered at the sessions of the U.S. Supreme Court, at meetings of Lions Club and Rotary Club, and at some corporation luncheons. Usually, these prayers are very general and routine. No one has ever suggested that these gatherings are worship services. It simply means that these organizations, like Freemasonry, are composed of religious people who believe that their religion should enter into all of life. (98)
The title of the Lodge leader, Worshipful Master, is a point of criticism by most Masonry critics. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24, NASB). Masons insist Worshipful Master is a title of respect and honour carried over from late Medieval England and still used in England when referring to magistrates and certain others holding high rank. A Mason reminded the HMB Interfaith Witness Department staff that many Christian ministers are called "Reverend," while the Bible only uses the word in Psalm 111:9 (KJV) where the term is used of God's name, "holy and reverend is his name." Just as there is no implication of identifying the minister's name with God's name, there is no implication of giving a Master Mason the worship due only to God. Worshipful Master is an archaic title. Masons would do well to replace this title with some other title. Many Christians feel
(95) Thomas S. Roy, "An Answer to Anti-Masonic Religious Propaganda" (Boston: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1952), p. 224.
(96) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, pp. 17-18.
(97) Ibid., p. 18, from Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 526.
(98) Roy, "An Answer to Anti-Masonic Religious Propaganda," pp. 223-224.
this practice violates the biblical admonition to call no man master, Freemasonry is called a religion by critics because many of its buildings are called temples. Many Christians are also offended when Masons refer to their buildings as mosques or shrines. The building in which the Lodge meets is often called a temple. Masons insist they call their buildings temples because they symbolize the construction of Solomon's Temple; it is "a symbol of the Temple of Solomon under construction, before it was consecrated for worship." (99) Masons see life as building character in members, as earlier masons constructed Solomon's Temple. Granted, the word temple causes most people to think of a Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or other place of worship; but Webster's New World Dictionary also defines temple as "a building, usually of imposing size, etc., serving the public or an organization in some special way [a temple of art, a Masonic temple]." (100) While the symbolic connection with Solomon's Temple is held, Masons would reduce criticism if they referred to their buildings simply as "halls" or "lodges."
Lodges may elect not to "charge dues against Ministers of the Gospel, actively engaged in their calling." (101)
Masonic codes prevent lodges from holding meetings on Sundays. "It is unmasonic for a Lodge to hold a communication, regular or special, on Sunday for the transaction of any business except conducting a funeral or holding a Lodge of Sorrow. And no Lodge shall let or lease its Hall on that day except for divine worship." (102) Would Freemasons place such a restriction on the use of a Lodge if it were an anti-Christian religion?
No doubt, some non-Christian or non-church-affiliated Masons have had religious experiences in Masonic ceremonies or rituals, but does that make Freemasonry a religion? Religious experiences are not restricted to religious ceremonies in a church setting. People, even Christians, have spoken of the awe and closeness to God they have felt when they gaze into the vastness of the Grand Canyon in Arizona or walk among the towering Sequoias in California. That Masons claim to have had religious experiences in Masonic ceremonies or rituals speaks to the fact that people are religious creatures. Both Masons and non-Masons testify that this experience has led some unsaved Masons to a salvation experience with Jesus Christ and membership in His church.
Conclusions
1. Masons and their critics are divided about whether Freemasonry is a religion or a fraternity.
2. Masons use religious symbols, terms, practices, and items.
3. The term Worshipful Master is especially offensive to many Christians.
(99) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 147.
(100) Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, p. 1464.
(101) Masonic Code (Montgomery: Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1963), p. 120.
(102) Ibid., p. 87.
Section 7
THE RITUAL
The ritual is particularly offensive to Masonry critics. For one thing, Masons are prohibited from discussing religion or politics during Masonic meetings. Therefore, no proclamation of the gospel is allowed during the meetings. Given the nature of Freemasonry, which welcomes men of different faiths and cultures to become members, religious or political discussions could quickly become disruptive to the fellowship. Nothing, though, prevents Christian Masons from developing friendships during this time, which may lead to discussions and witness outside Lodge meetings. Discussion of one's personal faith and church membership is allowed at some Lodge meetings. Invitations to visit one's church may be extended to fellow Masons. Numerous articles appear in Masonic literature, testifying of one's faith in Christ for all to read.
The so-called "bloody oaths" are regularly cited by Masonry critics and non-Masons as objectionable. Masons prefer the word "obligation" rather than oath to describe what they promise to do. The penalty that follows the obligation is the symbolic consequences of failure to keep the obligation. The Freemasons' Diary states, "The physical penalties which are purely symbolic do not form part of an Obligation." (103) The "penalty" for the Entered Apprentice degree is:
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots, and buried in the sands of the sea, at low-water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, should I, in the least, knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Entered Apprentice obligation. (104)
The "penalty" for the Fellow Craft degree is:
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my left breast torn open, my heart plucked from thence, and given to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air as a prey, should I, in the least, knowingly or wittingly, violate or transgress this my Fellow Craft obligation. (105)
The "penalty" for the Master Mason degree is:
All this I most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my body severed in two,
(103) The Freemasons' Diary, 1992-1993, p. 21.
(104) Ralph P. Lester, ed. Look to the East: A Ritual of the First Three Degrees of Masonry (Chicago: Ezra A. Cook Publishers, Inc., 1975), p. 31.
(105) Ibid., p. 96.
my bowels torn from thence and burned to ashes, and these scattered before the four winds of heaven, that no more remembrance might be had among men or Masons of so vile a wretch as I should be, should I, in the least, knowingly or wittingly violate or transgress this my Master Mason's obligation. So help me God and keep me steadfast. (106)
If John J. Robinson's and others' arguments are correct, the words of these penalties can be traced back to the Middle Ages when the Knights Templars were subject to arrest and death if their identity became known. The nature of the penalties remind the Mason of what actually happened to people for no other reason than that they belonged to an organization. As one Masonic source stated, "We do not ask you to die for Masonry, although down through the ages men have been persecuted and have suffered even death for claiming membership in our illustrious Order." (107)
A movement has developed in Freemasonry to revise or even eliminate the penalties associated with the first three degrees. Some Grand Lodges, such as Pennsylvania, have revised the penalties; others are considering revisions. This is a step in the right direction.
Ankerberg and Weldon write, "It is a fact that no candidate entering into Masonry is told during the ritual that the penalties of the oaths he is swearing to are merely symbolic." (108) William T. Still states, "The following details of the initiation oaths of the first three degrees of Masonry are closely-guarded Masonic secrets. In fact, every Mason must swear to kill any fellow Mason who reveals them." (109) Masons insist Still makes this charge for the emotional impact it must surely have on his readers because there is no truth whatsoever in his statement. Masons contend that no Mason promises to cut anyone's throat or sever a body, even by implication. They contend that candidates are told penalties described are only symbolic and that they "may not be inflicted on a
(106) Ibid., pp. 154-155.
(107) Masonic Lectures, Compiled by the Grand Lecturers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, March 1970, p. 47.
(108) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 185.
(109) William T. Still, New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies (Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Pub., 1990), pp. 99-100. Still writes, "Fortunately for humanity, however, several brave souls" have published the obligations, or "secret work." He gives thanks to "these courageous men." Like most Masonry critics, Still implies that the texts of the obligations would not be available were it not for these "brave souls" and "courageous men." To the contrary, the texts of the obligations have been well-known for decades by anyone taking time to read them. Several Masons sent unsolicited copies of monitors to the Interfaith Witness Department during the course of this study. Anti-Mason books and books giving the rituals were found in Masonic libraries where non-Masons had access.
Mason by his Brothers." (110) The obligations are seen as an undertaking between Masons and Almighty God, not a contract between Masons and the Lodge or any other group of men. They are held to be obligations, freely invoked, which cannot be broken. They are reminders of the serious consequences of being a Mason that have been experienced in the past, and which still could arise under dictatorial governments. (111) Even if symbolic, these penalties are very offensive to many Christians. Grand Lodges should either revise or eliminate the oaths and penalties.
The obligations in the Masonic rituals are taken seriously, while Masons argue that the penalties are seen as symbolic. That the Christian Mason takes the obligations by swearing on the Bible in God's name is a point of contention for many non-Mason Christians.
Likewise, while the ritual is memorized for the three Blue Lodge degrees, a great majority of Masons have no understanding of the meaning of the details of the ritual. Masonry critics underscore this weakness in Freemasonry and insist that the meanings of the ritual are intentionally withheld.
A Christian Mason who takes the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite will be exposed to beliefs and practices quite different from his own. For example, the candidate is introduced to Egyptian deities Osiris, Isis, Horus, and Amun; to Scandinavians deities Odin, Frea, and Thor; to Hindu, Greek, and Persian deities; and to Jewish Kabbalism. Masons state that a person studies how people through the centuries have attempted to understand God and His relationship to mankind in these degrees. It cannot be denied that some of the religions studied in these degrees are pagan and that their teachings are totally incompatible with Christianity. James D. Carter, in Masonry in Texas, states that "the great object of Masonry is not to tell a man what to think but to stimulate him to think for himself." (112) There is no requirement or expectation of commitment in these higher degrees. Little of the content of the Scottish Rite ritual is learned or retained, given the rapidity in which the degrees are granted. The 4th through the 32nd degrees of the Scottish Rite ritual are taken over a period of two days at the Masonic Temple in Atlanta. The ritual for each degree lasts from 25 minutes to 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The altar in the lodge is most certainly of religious origin, similar to those used in the Old Testament as places for sacrifices to God. Masons are not certain why an altar was first used in the lodge, except perhaps as a place for the Bible.
"Secret" passwords are used in Masonic degrees. The password for the Entered Apprentice degree is "Shibboleth" from Judges 12:6. According to the verse, those who mispronounced it were killed. "Tubal-Cain" is the password for the Master Mason degree. In Genesis 4:22, he was "the forger of all implements of bronze and iron." Other secret words include Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isa. 8:3); Berith (Gen. 6:18), meaning covenant; Shaddai (Ex. 6:3), meaning Almighty God; Giblite (1 Kings 5:18); and
(110) Roger M. Firestone, "Masonic Penalties," The Scottish Rite Journal, March 1990, p. 60. The bold word in the quote is found in the original text.
(111) Ibid., pp. 58-61.
(112) Carter, Masonry in Texas, p. 5.
Abaddon (Rev. 9:11). Mahabone is another secret word, but its origin is uncertain. Several Masons admit that too many meaningless words are used in Masonic rituals. Some words have been dropped from the rituals, or, if used, then only one time. The use of words such as Shaddai and Abaddon are especially offensive to many Christians.
Readers of Masonic literature will notice that dates such as 5993 A.L. are sometimes used. A.L. is an abbreviation for Anno Lucis, a Latin phrase for "the year of light." Masons use it to date God's creation of light (Gen. 1:3). It approximates Archbishop Ussher's calculation for creation in 4004 B.C. Masons tend to round the date off to 4000 B.C., thus 5993 A.L. is A.D. 1993. Genesis 1:3 and the Masonic A.L. both refer to the creation of physical light, not the Light brought in the person of Jesus Christ. The Hebrew calendar, used since A.D. 360, also begins with creation, allegedly 3,760 years and three months before the beginning of the Christian era. Therefore, January 1993 on the Gregorian calendar, used in the United States since 1752, is the year 5753 on the Hebrew calendar. The Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, replaced the Julian calendar in most Catholic countries in 1582. Other countries were slower to adopt the new calendar.
Critics charge that Freemasonry is a religion because it "uses symbols just like those found in a church or synagogue." These symbols include the letter G, the altar, the Volume of Sacred Law, and prayers. (113) Certainly, Freemasonry uses symbolism throughout its various degrees and in its buildings. Symbolism is the heart of Freemasonry. Christians also use symbols to express their faith. The fish symbolizes Christ; the Easter lily symbolizes the resurrection. A butterfly symbolizes the change Christ brings in the life of a new believer; an equilateral triangle is sometimes used to symbolize the Trinity. Meanings given to these symbols are not shared by non-Christians. The butterfly is a common New Age symbol for self-transformation. New Masons are told that the meanings of the symbols are imperfect and incomplete. Individual Masons find personal meanings beyond their stated and original meanings. Sometimes Masons misapply the symbols; sometimes Masonry critics misapply the symbols. Given the nature of Freemasonry, this is a major problem that will not disappear, but Masons can lessen the problem by explaining more clearly the meaning of their symbols to both members and nonmembers.
The "All-Seeing Eye" is well known as a Masonic symbol for God. The psalmist writes, "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him" (Ps. 33:18, NASB). Proverbs 15:3 (NASB) states, "The eyes of the Lord [YHWH] are in every place, Watching the evil and the good." This reminds the Mason that his actions do not go unnoticed by God. Masonry critics remind us that the All-Seeing Eye was also the Egyptian symbol for Osiris. Some Masons cite this use of the symbol, but others cite the biblical foundation of the All-Seeing Eye. It is uncertain when the All-Seeing Eye became a Masonic symbol. The meaning behind the All-Seeing Eye is analogous to the rainbow today. Followers of the New Age Movement have begun using the rainbow as one of their symbols. The Bible also points to the rainbow as a sign of God's covenant with Noah after the flood (Gen. 9:8-17). Symbols can mean different things to different people.
A bride normally wears a veil at her wedding, although few know the origin of this practice. Centuries ago, it was believed a rejected man might try to place a evil
(113) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on The Masonic Lodge, p. 19.
spell upon the bride. The veil was believed to provide spiritual protection from the evil spell until the bride was protected by the sacrament of marriage received from the Roman Catholic Church. Most Christians also use the Christmas tree, and many participate in Easter egg hunts. Both the Christmas tree and the Easter egg were originally pagan symbols. Shall we dispense with these traditions because their origin is rooted in the occult?
In the Masonic ritual, a sword is pointed toward a candidate's bared heart. Masons believe this part of the ritual reminds the candidate that justice will come, even though our thoughts and actions may be hidden from our fellowman. The Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Texas reminds the Master Mason that the sword:
. . . demonstrates that justice will sooner or later overtake us; and although our thoughts, words and actions may be hidden from the eyes of man, yet that ALL-SEEING EYE . . . pervades the inmost recesses of the human heart, and will reward us according to our merits. (114)
Throughout the Bible, from Genesis 3:24 to Revelation 19:21, the sword is a symbol of God's judgment against His enemies. Masons specifically refer to Simeon's prophecy in Luke 2:33-35 as key in their use of the sword. (115)
Many Christians are concerned about the use of the lambskin apron because they believe it signifies works salvation and that a Mason believes he has already achieved a pure life essential for salvation. Masons insist they use the lambskin apron as an emblem of innocence, a symbol of the purity of life and moral conduct demanded of all Masons. They insist the lambskin does not bring salvation, but rather, "the purity of life" it symbolizes brings salvation. They use the lambskin as a symbol of Christ, who is "a lamb unblemished and spotless" (1 Pet. 1:19, NASB).
Masonry critic A. Ralph Epperson quotes Albert Mackey in his discussion of the Masonic teaching concerning the direction north: "The north is Masonically a place of darkness." (116) Citing Isaiah 14:13, Epperson states that the direction north is associated with darkness in Masonry because "the God of the Bible sits in the north." Epperson claims that only when Lucifer assumes God's throne will Masons find light in the north. (117) Epperson's claim is not based on any Masonic source. In the very next sentence, Mackey explains why "the north is Masonically a place of darkness." Using the symbol of Solomon's Temple, Mackey writes, "The sun in his progress through the ecliptic [its normal path across the sky] never reaches farther than 23ø 28' north of the
(114) Monitor of the Lodge (Waco: The Grand Lodge of Texas, 1982), p. 90. See also Lester, Look to the East! p. 195.
(115) Helms, A Modern Mason Examines His Craft, p. 69. This teaching is also found in Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual, pp. 62-63.
(116) A. Ralph Epperson, The New World Order (Tucson: Publius Press, 1990), p. 51, quoting Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. II, p. 518.
(117) Epperson, pp. 51-52
equator. A wall being erected on any part of the earth farther north than that, will therefore, at meridian, receive the rays of the sun only on its south side, while the north will be entirely in the shadow at the hour of the meridian." (118) In other words, the rays of the sun never shine on the north wall of Solomon's Temple.
Likewise, Israel's enemies were to come from the north. "Then the Lord said to me, 'Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,' declares the Lord; 'and they will come, and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah"' (Jer 1:14-15, NASB). Repeatedly, Jeremiah says Jerusalem's enemies will come from the north: "For evil looks down from the north, And a great destruction" (Jer. 6:1, NASB).
The sound of a report! Behold, it comes --
A great commotion out of the land of the north --
To make the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals (Jer. 10:22, NASB).
The directions of the compass are important in Freemasonry, as they are in the Bible. Ezekiel 40 - 43 describes in considerable detail the walls and gates of the chambers of the Temple, using the four directions of the compass. In his vision, Ezekiel saw that "the glory of the Lord came into the house [Temple] by the way of the gate facing toward the east" (Ezek. 43:4, NASB). After He entered the east gate, the Lord told Ezekiel, "'This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut"' (Ezek. 44:2, NASB).
The legend of Hiram Abif in the ritual for the Master Mason's degree is criticized by Masonry critics. According to 1 Kings 7:13-47, Hiram Abif was a bronze worker in Solomon's Temple:
Now King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre. He was a widow's son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill for doing any work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and performed all his work.... Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished doing all the work which he performed for King Solomon in the house of the Lord (1 Kings 7: 13-14, 40, NASB).
The ritual for the Master Mason's degree says that three workers in the Temple attempted to learn the secret Master's Word from Hiram. When he refused to reveal it, they killed Hiram and buried his body secretly. The body was discovered after King Solomon ordered a search for it. Only "the strong grip of a Master Mason" by King Solomon could raise Hiram's body from the grave. One critic writes, "After a lot of ritualized fussing around, Solomon takes the decomposing right hand of Hiram Abif by
(118) Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 2, p. 518. This idea is also found in Charles Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual, p. 28, and in the Louisiana Masonic Monitor, p. 61.
the 'Strong Grip of the Lion's Paw,' the Master Mason grip, and hauls his carcass out of the ground, apparently resurrecting him (although this is never clear)." (119) Contrary to what critics say, Masons insist Hiram was not resurrected from the dead; his body was removed from one grave and reburied in another. The ritual says they then "carried it to the Temple, and buried it in due form." (120) Quoting the Masonic Book of Constitutions, Mackey writes, ". . . after some time allowed to the Craft to vent their sorrow, ordered his obsequies to be performed with great solemnity and decency, and buried him in the Lodge near the Temple, -- according to the ancient usages among Masons, -- and long mourned his loss." (121)
Schnoebelen argues that the Order of the Eastern Star could not have borrowed their logo, the "Eastern Star," from Matthew 2:2. He rightly states that the Bible does not say "eastern star," but rather "star in the east" (Matt. 2:2, NASB) and "the star, which they had seen in the east" (Matt. 2:9, NASB). Schnoebelen concludes, "Since the wise men were from the Orient (i.e., Persia), the star which they saw over Bethlehem could not have appeared eastern to them, but western." (122) Neither does the Bible say "western star." Schnoebelen accuses the Order of the Eastern Star of "playing with words." He argues that the Eastern Star actually refers to the star Sirius, which "is sacred to the god, Set. Remember Set as the evil Egyptian god who killed Osiris? Set is probably the oldest form of Satan. The Eastern Star is the star of Set." (123) He also argues that the star, with its single point down, is the inverted pentagram, which with the goat's head inside, is the official symbol of Satanism and witchcraft. Again, symbols mean what the user intends them to mean; symbols can mean different things to different people. To the occultist, the inverted star or pentagram refers to the Goat of Mendes or Satan; to the Order of the Eastern Star, it refers to the miracle star that guided the Wise Men to the Christ child. (124) The Order of the Eastern Star teaches that the five points of the star represent the daughter of Jephthah whom he killed after taking a vow to God (Judg. 11:30-40). The Eastern Star rituals give this unnamed daughter the name Adah. The other points represent Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 1:22), Queen Esther (Esther 2:17), Martha who was Lazarus' sister (Luke 10:38-42), and Electa (2 John 1). (125)
Masonic burial and memorial services are often the target of criticism. Indeed, burial and memorial services are the most public rituals conducted by Masons. Every
(119) William Schnoebelen, Masonry: Beyond the Light, p. 149.
(120) Lester, Look to the East, pp. 184-190.
(121) Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, p. 332.
(122) Schnoebelen, Masonry: Beyond the Light, p. 100.
(123) Ibid., p. 101.
(124) Ritual of the Order of the Eastern Star (Washington, D.C.: General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, 1983), pp. 50, 159.
(125) Ibid., pp. 60-74-
Mason in good standing may request a Masonic burial service. The family normally makes the final decision concerning a Masonic funeral for a loved one. Baptist minister and Mason Don R. Long suggests to fellow Masons, "Do not force the issue of having a Masonic service if it is going to cause a great deal of hurt feelings among the family and minister. It is best not to have a masonic service than to cause trouble and hard feelings." (126) One cause of the misunderstanding that can arise between the Lodge and the minister over the funeral service is that many Lodge officers are not aware of funeral courtesies and how to work with the minister whom they may not know. The minister may resent the Lodge taking control of the service, which he believes is his responsibility. The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars will also conduct burial rites upon request. Funeral expenses will be paid by the Lodge if the Mason is indigent.
In the Louisiana Masonic Monitor, the ritual for a Lodge of Sorrow is explained. The Lodge of Sorrow "is intended to celebrate the memory of our departed brethren." It may be held in a church, public hall, or in the Lodge hall; non-Masons are permitted to attend. (127) Reference to "the ancient Egyptian ceremony of the Judgment of the Dead, or Judgment of Amenti" and the Egyptian Book of the Dead is made in the closing ceremonies of the ritual for the Lodge of Sorrow in the Louisiana Masonic Monitor. (128) To study about Egyptian religions is one thing; to incorporate teachings from the Egyptian Book of the Dead in a funeral, memorial, or Lodge of Sorrow ritual is quite another. For a Christian, this moves from the realm of the acceptable to the unacceptable. This closing ceremony will continue to be cited by Masonry critics, and rightly so, until it is removed. These references are offensive to many Christians and their use is incompatible with the Christian faith. References to Egyptian religion should be removed from this ritual. The reference to Egyptian religion was not found in any other monitor examined.
Conclusions
1. Even if symbolic, the penalties in Blue Lodge Masonry are offensive to many Christians. Grand Lodges should either revise or eliminate the oaths and penalties.
2. Masons would reduce criticism if they referred to their buildings simply as halls or lodges, rather than temples, shrines, or mosques.
3. The use of words such as Shaddai and Abaddon are especially offensive to many Christians.
4. Masons could reduce misunderstanding and criticism if they explained the meaning of the symbols to both members and nonmembers.
5. Masons should find illustrations other than obvious pagan sources to use in lessons taught in the various degrees.
(126) Don R. Long, "Masonic Funeral Courtesies," The Texas Freemason, Fall 1984, pp. 25-26
(127) Louisiana Masonic Monitor, p. 183. 128 Ibid, pp. 198-199.
(128) Ibid., pp. 198-199
Section 8
GOD
Every Mason is required to profess a belief in God, but each Mason is allowed to define his understanding of God as he wants. There is no doubt that Masons take belief in God seriously.
The North Carolina Lodge Manual speaks of a Mason's relationship with God in this way: "There are three great duties which, as a Mason, you are charged to inculcate -- to God, your neighbour, and yourself To God, in never mentioning his name but with that reverential awe which is due from a creature to his Creator." (129)
The letter G is a well-known Masonic symbol. It is found within the square and compass to form the most public symbol of Freemasonry. As with many symbols, Masons are uncertain when and why it was first used. Most Masons say the G denotes either geometry, the Grand or Great Architect, or simply God.
The true name of God has been the subject of speculation for both Jews and Christians. This problem arose because Old Testament Jews held that the name of God was too holy to utter, so the name Adoni, or Lord, was substituted for His name. The fact that the Hebrew alphabet did not use vowels until the sixth or seventh century A.D. caused the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, "YHWH," to be forgotten. Petrus Galatinus is often credited with creating an artificial word, Jehovah, in about A.D. 1520 when he combined the vowels from Adoni with the Tetragrammaton. (130) Many biblical scholars today believe the correct pronunciation of YHWH is Yahweh.
In Old Testament times, with many gods worshipped among the tribes in the Middle East, it was important to know which god men worshipped. It was thus necessary to know God's name to distinguish Him from the many other gods worshipped by non-Israelites. Micah 4:5 (NASB) reflects this belief:
Though all the peoples walk
Each in the name of his god,
As for us, we will walk
In the name of the Lord [YHWH] our God [Elohim] forever and ever.
L. James Rongstad, in How to Respond to The Lodge, says that the "rediscovered" secret name for God is "Jah-Bul-On." (131) This, Rongstad says, is the Royal Arch Masons' "Trinity." He says, "'Jah' is an abbreviation for the Hebrew name of God:
(129) Charles F. Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Co., 1929), pp. 37-38.
(130) The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 2 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), p. 817
(131) James Rongstad, How to Respond to The Lodge (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977), p. 17. This charge is cited by numerous Masonry critics including Aubrey Wilkinson, "Wishing Freemasons the Best" (Kyle, Texas: Unpublished manuscript, n.d.), p. 8.
JAHWEH, or JEHOVAH. 'Bul' or 'Bal' is the name for the Assyrian deity, and is mentioned throughout the Old Testament as 'Baal' or 'Baal-peor.' (This is the idol God told the Israelites to avoid at all costs.) 'On' is the Egyptian sun god." Edward J. Decker claims that "'ON' is the term used in the Babylonian mysteries to call upon the deity 'OSIRIS.'" (132) Osiris is an Egyptian deity, not a Babylonian deity. Ankerberg and Weldon also identify On with Osiris. (133) In other words:
Jah is from Jahweh or Jehovah.
Bul is from Baal.
On is from Osiris.
Masons insist that this argument is fallacious and that the derivation is incorrect. They insist the spelling of words are changed by Masonry critics to support their argument. Rongstad changes the spelling from Bul to Bal, which is closer to the name of the Canaanite fertility or storm god, Baal. It is a leap of faith to get "On" from Osiris since there is no "n" in Osiris.
Christopher Haffner traces this charge to anti-Mason Walton Hannah, who, in Darkness Visible: A Revelation and Interpretation of Freemasonry, wrote:
This word, JAH-BUL-ON, is explained in the Mystical Lecture as consisting of certain titles or attributes of divinity to which in English no-one [sic] could take exception. Yet this word is made up (as is also explained) of the Hebrew Jahweh coupled with the Assyrian Baal, so utterly repugnant to the prophets even as a symbol, and the Egyptian On or Osiris." (134)
Hannah offers no explanation or documentation for his charge. Haffner and other Masons insist the ritual for the Royal Arch degree, from which this identity allegedly comes, "says nothing of the sort." (135) Still, this charge has taken on a life of its own and is commonly repeated. Masons point out that the name Bul is found in the Old Testament. It is the name of the eighth month of the Jewish lunar calendar. The building of Solomon's Temple was completed in the eighth month, "And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according
(132) Edward Decker Jr. The Question of Freemasonry (Issaquah, Wash.: Free the Masons Ministries, n.d.), p. 15.
(133) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 119-120.
(134) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 221 quoting Hannah, Darkness Visible: A Revelation and Interpretation of Freemasonry (Devon: Britons, 1975), p. 35.
(135) bid., p. 221. The Royal Arch degree in English Freemasonry is seen as a completion of the Master Mason degree while in American Freemasonry the Royal Arch degree is included in the York Rite.
to all its plans" (1 Kings 6:38, NASB). It was common to add an epithet to the Semitic term (El) for God in the Old Testament to distinguish whether El was referring to a pagan or false god, or to the true God of Israel. One of the Old Testament names for YHWH is El Elyon, or God Most High. Melchizedek was "a priest of God Most High [El Elyon]" (Gen. 14:18, NASB). El Elyon is identified with YHWH in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and 2 Samuel 22:14. Another name for YHWH is Adon as in Exodus 34:23 (NASB), "Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord [Adon] God [YHWH], the God [Elohim] of Israel." Adon refers to God's eternal nature or His perpetuity. The name of God revealed an attribute about Him, such as Yahweh Shalom, meaning "the Lord of peace."
Coil admits that Masons are divided over the origin of the "On" ending. Some say it refers to the sun-god Ra, whose center of worship was in On; others claim that On refers only to the name of the city. (136) On was an Egyptian word meaning "city of the pillar," called Heliopolis or "city of the sun" in Greek, and Beth-shemesh or "city of the sun" in Hebrew (Jer. 43:13). (137) Coil writes:
Jah, Bel, and On appear in the American ritual of the Royal Arch degree on the supposition that Jah was the Syriac name of God, Bel (Baal), the Chaldean, and On, the Egyptian. But the last name seems was actually the name of a city, error having arisen from the Biblical story that Pharaoh gave Joseph, for a wife, Asenath, who was the daughter of Potepherah [Gen. 41:45], priest of On, meaning priest of the city of On, not the god
Haffner quotes Hannah, who says Jah-Bul-On:
. . . is a compound word, and the combination forms the word JAH-BUL-ON. It is in four languages, Chaldee, Hebrew, Syriac and Egyptian. JAH is a Chaldee name for God, signifying "His Essence and Majesty Incomprehensible." It is also a Hebrew word, signifying "I am and shall be," thereby expressing the actual, future and eternal existence of the Most High. BUL is a Syriac word denoting Lord or Powerful, it is in itself a compound word, being formed from the preposition Beth, in or on, and UL, Heaven or High; therefore the meaning of the word is Lord in Heaven or on High. ON is an Egyptian word, signifying Father of All, thereby expressing the Omnipotence of the Father of All, as in that well known prayer, Our Father which art in Heaven. The various significations of the words may be thus collected:
(136) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 456.
(137) Holman Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Holman Bible Pub., 1991), p. 1050. See also Numbers 16:1 and Ezekiel 30:17.
(138) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 516.
I am and shall be
Lord in Heaven or on High;
Father of All! In every age,
In every clime adored
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord. (139)
Haffner argues that Jah-Bul-On does not refer to three gods, but to Yahweh, who revealed Himself in the Old Testament. The epithet to the name speaks of specific characteristics of Yahweh, just as does Yahweh Shalom. Critics, of course, do not accept Haffner's interpretation. They see an obvious pagan origin to the name.
In the face of continued attacks by Masonry critics, as well as Christians within Masonry, over the use of Jah-Bul-On as a name for God, the Grand Lodge of England stopped using it in February 1989. (140) American Masons should follow the lead of their English brothers.
Ankerberg and Weldon quote Martin L. Wagner, "This Great Architect as conceived by Freemasons is not identical with the Jehovah of Christianity, but . . . is another and distinct entity." They further quote Wagner, that the Great Architect and Jehovah "are entirely separate and different, mutually exclusive and no syncretism can harmonize them." (141)
However, the Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Texas, in the ritual for constituting a new lodge, states, "I now solemnly consecrate this Lodge, to the honour and glory of Jehovah, the Grand Architect of the Universe." (142) Jehovah's name is mentioned two additional times in this ritual, including in the following prayer:
This Temple, designed and build [sic] by Wisdom, supported by Strength, and adorned in Beauty, we are first to consecrate in the name of the great Jehovah; which teaches us, in all our works, begun and finished, to acknowledge, adore and magnify Him. It reminds us, also, in His fear to enter the door of the Lodge, to put our trust in Him while passing its trials
(139) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 218, quoting Hannah, Darkness Visible, pp. 181-82. The copy of Darkness Visible used for this paper was published in 1952, but the page numbers coincide with Haffner's copy.
(140) Christopher Haffner, "Freemasonry." Areopagus, Pentecost 1992, p. 18.
(141) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 30. They quote from Martin L. Wagner, Freemasonry: An Interpretation, n.d., n.p. (distributed by Missionary Service and Supply, Route 2, Columbiana, OH 44408). This organization is not listed in the phone directory according to long-distance directory information, area code 216, so the quote was not verified.
(142) Monitor of the Lodge, p. 148.
and to hope in Him for the reward of its labours. (143)
Haffner states that "Christian Freemasons have always identified the 'Great Architect of the Universe,' with our Lord Jesus Christ, and far from shutting Him out of the lodges, have felt His presence in accordance with His promise." (144) The name Great (or Grand) Architect of the Universe, abbreviated G.A.O.T.U. or T.G.A.O.T.U., has been used by Masons from at least as early as 1730. (145) Masons, however, were not the first to speak of God as Architect. French reformer and theologian John Calvin (1509-1564) referred to God as Architect. In his Commentary upon The Book of Psalms, Calvin writes:
David shows how it is [in Psalm 19] that the heavens proclaim to us the glory of God, namely by openly bearing testimony that they have not been put together by chance, but were wonderfully created by the supreme Architect.... As soon as we acknowledge God to be the supreme Architect, who has erected the beauteous fabric of the universe, our minds must necessarily be ravished with wonder at his infinite goodness, wisdom, and power. (146)
In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote, "Hence God was pleased that a history of the creation should exist -- a history on which the faith of the Church might lean without seeking another God than Him whom Moses set forth as the Creator and Architect of the world." (147) In the same book, Calvin wrote, "The former is exemplified when we consider how great the Architect must be who framed and ordered the multitude of the starry host so admirably." (148)
Masonic writer Wallace McLeod wrote:
Actually this phrase [the Great Architect of the Universe] entered Freemasonry by way of the first Book of Constitutions [sic], printed in 1723. The compiler was Rev. Dr. James Anderson, a graduate of Aberdeen University, and minister of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Swallow Street, Piccadilly, London, from 1710 to 1734. He did not invent the phrase, but took it over from John Calvin, who uses it, for example, in his
(143) Ibid., p. 168. See page 163 for the third reference to Jehovah.
(144) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 125.
(145) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 517.
(146) John Calvin, Commentary upon the Book of Psalms, trans. James Anderson (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949), p. 309.
(147) John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1953), book 1, p. 141.
(148) Ibid., p. 157.
Commentary on Psalm 19; the heavens "were wonderfully founded by the Great Architect" (ab apifice praestantissimo); again, according to the same paragraph, "when once we recognize God as Architect of the Universe" (mundi opificem), we are bound to marvel at his Wisdom, Strength, and Goodness. In fact, Calvin repeatedly calls God "the Architect of the Universe," and refers to his works in nature as "Architecture of the Universe," ten times in the Institutes of the Christian Religion alone. (149)
Even Masons admit that the term Great Architect of the Universe expresses an incomplete idea of God. (150) The Masonic Great Architect of the Universe appears more like the Aristotelian "First Cause" than the personal God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. The Masonic Great Architect of the Universe must be interpreted in light of the biblical revelation of God in Jesus Christ. While Calvin emphasized the importance of recognizing God as Creator and Architect, he also reminded us, "It was necessary, in passing from death unto life, that they should know God, not only as a Creator, but as a Redeemer also; and both kinds of knowledge they certainly did obtain from the Word." (151)
It has been said that Masons have rejected God for "the lowest-common-denominator god." (152) It is true that God is not defined by Freemasonry; each Mason is given the freedom to define God for himself. Neither is God defined in the phrase "In God We Trust" on the backs of Federal Reserve Notes. As Christians, we interpret that phrase as referring to God, who was revealed in Jesus Christ. But if that were somehow made official by an act of Congress, Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christian American citizens would immediately challenge the act. The Christian church is free to define who God is. But we must allow non-Christians the freedom to also define who God is.
One critic discusses the all-seeing eye above the pyramid on the back of $1 Federal Reserve Notes. Referring to Masonic writers Carl Claudy, Albert Mackey, Manly P. Hall, Rex Hutchens, and Albert Pike, he concludes, without offering any specific documentation, that "some of these writers have reported that the sun-god was Lucifer. So, the all-seeing eye is a symbol of Lucifer, the all-seeing god of the universe. " (153)
In response to this charge, the reader is reminded that Lucifer is a created being and not equal to God. The Bible, which must be the only source for our understanding
(149) Wallace McLeod, The Grand Design (Des Moines: Iowa Research Lodge No. 2, 1991), p. 108.
(150) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 37.
(151) Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 1, p. 65.
(152) Vladimir S. Borichevsky and Stephen N. Jula, "Masonry or Christ?" (Unpublished report sponsored by the Chicago Deanery of the Russian Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church, n.d.), n.p.
(153) Epperson, The New World Order, p. 142.
about Lucifer, does not speak of Lucifer as having an all-seeing eye. Only God is described as having this characteristic. God, not Lucifer, sees all things. Job 28:24 (NASB) states, "For He [God] looks to the ends of the earth, And sees everything under the heavens." Job 34:21 (NASB) says, "For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And he sees all his steps."
Psalm 33:13 (NASB) says, "The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men." Lamentations 3:50 (NASB) says, "Until the Lord looks down And sees from heaven." Albert Mackey states that the All-Seeing Eye is "an important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by Freemasons from the nations of antiquity." (154) Mackey cites Psalm 34:15 (NASB), "The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry"; Psalm 121:4 (NASB), "Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep"; and Proverbs 15:3 (NASB), "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good," in his discussion of the All-Seeing Eye. Epperson correctly cites Mackey as saying that "the Egyptians represent Osiris, their chief deity, by the symbol of an open eye." (155) However, Masons insist Mackey was simply reporting that Egyptians represented Osiris with the symbol of an open eye; Mackey nowhere said Masons must believe this.
Another critic cites W.L. Wilmshurst's allegorical interpretation of Matthew 2:15 (NASB), "'Out of Egypt did I call My Son"' in his effort to prove that the god of Masonry is Lucifer. (156) Christians will also recognize this as a quote of Hosea 11:1. Wilmshurst interprets the passage allegorically when he writes, "'Out of Egypt have I called My Son'" is, in one of its many senses, a biblical allusion to this passing on of the catholic Mysteries from Egypt to new and virgin regions, for their enlightenment." (157)
William E. Gordon concludes:
Wilmshurst's statement, while blasphemous, does not indicate that Lucifer is the god of the Lodge.... Nowhere does Wilmshurst state that Lucifer is the god of Freemasonry.... Wilmshurst teaches his pagan concept of religion under the guise of revealing the deeper symbolism of Masonry. (158)
Some critics quote Mackey in an effort to show an "intimate connection" between the Kabbala and Freemasonry, "The EN SOPH, therefore was compelled to create the
(154) Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, p. 47.
(155) Epperson, The New World Order, p. 141, citing Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, vol. 1, p. 48.
(156) Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, p. 19.
(157) W.L. Wilmshurst, The Meaning of Masonry (New York: Bell Publishing Co., 1980), p. 179. This book was first published in 1925.
(158) William E. Gordon Jr. "A Critique of James L. Holly's The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry" (Lilburn, Ga.: Unpublished manuscript, 1993), pp. 9-10.
world in an indirect manner, by ten emanations from the infinite light which he was and in which he dwelt. These ten emanations are the ten Sephiroth." (159) Gordon points out that "Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry does not state that this is the Masonic understanding of God. Rather, he states that this was the understanding of God taught by the Kabbala." (160) The Kabbala is a school of Jewish mysticism. En Soph is the supreme being of the Kabbala school. Mackey does find the 10 emanations of the Kabbala reflected in "the Masonic mysteries the Ladder of Kadosh, and lastly, the Theological Ladder of the Symbolical degrees." (161) As Gordon concludes, there is no proof that the god of the Lodge is Lucifer, but he does show that many influential Masons have attempted "to teach their pagan religious beliefs under the pretense of explaining the inner meaning of Masonic symbols." (162)
Mackey repudiated the idea of Masonic descent from "the Ancient Mysteries":
It has been a favourite theory with several German, French, and British scholars to trace the origin of Freemasonry to the Mysteries of Pagans, while others, repudiating the idea that the modern association should have sprung from them, still find analogies so remarkable between the two systems as to lead them to suppose that the Mysteries were an offshoot from the pure Freemasonry of the Patriarchs.
In my opinion there is not the slightest foundation in historical evidence to support either theory, although I admit the existence of many analogies between the two systems, which can, however, be easily explained without admitting any connection in the way of origin and descent between them. (163)
Conclusions
1. Freemasonry requires no specific belief about God, so there is a diversity of opinion among Masons concerning God.
2. American Masons should follow the lead of their English brothers and discontinue the use of Jah-Bul-On as a name for God.
(159) Holly, The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry, p. 23. Holly cites Mackey, page 167. The three passages cited by Holly are found on p. 376 in the HMB Interfaith Witness Department's copy of Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.
(160) Gordon, "A Critique," pp. 10-11.
(161) Mackey, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 377.
(162) Gordon, "A Critique," p. 11.
(163) S. Brent Morris, "The Letter 'G,"' The Plumbline of the Scottish Rite Research Society, September 1992, p. 2, quoting Albert G. Mackey, History of Freemasonry (1906), p. 185.
Section 9
JESUS CHRIST
Masonry critics repeatedly say that "a Mason is not allowed to pray to or testify of Jesus in the Lodge. A Christian Mason cannot even share the joy of Jesus with a 'brother Mason' in the Lodge." (164) However, the Masonic Code of the Grand Lodge of Alabama gives instruction on the use of the name Jesus Christ in Lodge prayers. "A Mason offering prayer in the Lodge may pray to his God -- observing his own conception of Deity. It is therefore proper and in accordance with Masonic law and tenets for a Mason who believes in the Christ or Jesus to offer prayer in the Lodge in His Name." (165) However, a Mason must use the written prayers provided in the ritual in all ritualistic ceremonies. W.R. White, a past president of Baylor University and a Mason, wrote:
The Cross of Calvary is the symbol of our order [the Red Cross of Constantine]. One part of it is vertical; the other part is horizontal. It signifies our instrument of victory.
We look up to the God revealed in Christ. That is our vertical direction or look. Our solid ground of hope is in Him. Here is the source of our faith and power.
The other part of the Cross extends horizontally. This is the outward or manward look. We are to see man as Christ saw him from the Cross -- perverse and helpless without God. Yet, He saw man redeemable through sacrificial love. For the joy of that potential, He endured the Cross, despising the shame. (166)
Earl D. Harris, in his article on "Brotherly Love" in the Masonic Messenger, quotes Jesus by name, calls Him "The Great Teacher," and capitalizes personal pronouns referring to Him. (167) The Masonic Messenger is the official publication of the Grand Lodge of Georgia. It is not true that Masons may never talk or testify about Jesus to their fellow Masons. Masonic codes disallow this discussion or testimony only during the ritual, and the fellowship immediately afterward.
Masonry critics often claim the name of Jesus Christ is never spoken in official Masonic rituals and ceremonies. This is not completely true. Other critics state, "Masonry absolutely prohibits all attempts by Christians to share Jesus Christ with other
(164) Schnoebelen, Masonry Beyond the Light, p. 64; Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 130.
(165) Masonic Code (Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1963), p. 141.
(166) W.R. White, "Our Fraternity and Our World," The Texas Freemason, August 1970, p. 3
(167) Earl D. Harris, "Brotherly Love," Masonic Messenger, July 1992, pp. 22-23.
Masons." (168) Masons insist this restriction exists only in official Lodge meetings and does not apply outside those meetings.
The ritual for the Fellow Craft degree in The Murrow Masonic Monitor used by Oklahoma Masons includes the "Doxology," with the phrase "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." (169)
Also found in the Murrow Monitor, from the ceremony for laying a cornerstone, is, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (170)
From the ceremony of the extinguishing of the lights, a Scottish Rite ceremony held on Maundy Thursday:
My Brethren, this is the anniversary of that Last Supper of which Jesus of Nazareth partook with His humble disciples, after which He was betrayed and crucified.
Who, of any creed, can picture to himself, unmoved, that noble and sweet countenance, which never looked on any thing in anger, pale with agony, and streaming with tears? His back was torn by the lash, His brow pierced by the thorns. He suffered, willingly, until it seemed, even to Him, that His God and Father had forsaken Him.
And yet, even then, bruised, hanged upon a cross, betrayed by one He loved, suffering and, for a moment, questioning, He still calls down not curses but blessings and a prayer for forgiveness upon those who had so treated Him. When any man might be forgiven for cursing or, at the least, indulging in self-pity, He thinks not of His own pain, but of the pain and suffering of others. (171)
From the 18th degree of the Scottish Rite: "That wherein they [older forms of religion] were deficient [Masonry] found in the New Law of Love, preached by Jesus of Nazareth, and which He sealed with His blood.... We regard Him as our Master, and
(168) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 130.
(169) The Murrow Masonic Monitor (Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Oklahoma, revised 1988), p. 69
(170) Ibid., p. 190.
(171) Ritual of the 15d to the 18d of the Scottish Rite (no publisher information, 1957), p. 251. Many Masonic books are privately published. It is not unusual for no publisher to be given on the title page.
use such terms only as none can dissent from." (172) From the 26th degree of the Scottish Rite:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him; in Him Life was, and the Life was the Light of mankind. The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And the Word became incarnate, and dwelt in man and they beheld His glory, a glory as of the Only-born of the Father." Thus said the Ancient Christian Masons; and they said also: "There are Three that bear record in Heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these Three are One....
When the morning was come, all the Chief Priests and Elders took council against Jesus, to put Him to death. And when Pilate would have appealed to the people to release Him, the priests incited the people, so that they shouted, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him." (173)
In the ritual of the Red Cross of Constantine, a system of degrees in the York Rite, we find Mark 16:1-6 quoted verbatim. (174)
While critics can find examples where Masons have deleted the name of Jesus in books, it is not true that Freemasonry ignores or denies Jesus Christ. That Freemasonry does not refer to Jesus Christ as much as some critics would like can, in part, be attributed to the fact that Freemasonry sees itself as symbolically building Solomon's Temple, constructed 10 centuries before Christ, within each member.
Ankerberg and Weldon state that "Pike asserted that Jesus was only 'a great teacher of morality' -- but no more." (175) They refer to page 525 of Pike's Morals and Dogma. The quote actually states:
It [Freemasonry] sees in Moses, the Lawgiver of the Jews, in Confucius and Zoroaster, in Jesus of Nazareth, and in the Arabian Iconoclast, Great Teachers of Morality, and Eminent Reformers, if no more: and allows every brother of the Order to assign to each such higher and even Divine Character as his Creed and Truth require. (176)
In this statement Pike did not, and Freemasonry today does not, see Jesus as the
(172) Ibid., p. 145.
(173) Ritual of the 19d to the 30d of the Scottish Rite (no publisher or date), p. 82.
(174) Ceremonies of Subordinate Conclaves: Red Cross of Constantine (no publisher information, 1987), p. 53.
(175) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 132.
(176) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 525.
unique Son of God and Saviour of the world. As Pike says on the same page, "It is beyond the domain of Masonry to decide." Why? Masons respond that it is because Freemasonry is not a religion. Each Mason, though, as Pike states, is free to decide who Jesus is.
Conclusions
1. Masons are not supposed to talk or testify about Jesus during the ritual, and the fellowship immediately afterward. This prohibition does not apply at other times.
2. One Mason wrote that "perhaps Masons should be reminded that as we seek 'Masonic Light,' we find that Jesus is indeed 'The Light of the World.'" (177) Christian Masons affirm that Jesus Christ is "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me" (John 14:6, NASB).
(177) Letter on file.
Section 10
THE BIBLE
"The greatest Masonic symbol of light, or truth, is the Holy Bible, the Great Light of Masonry" (178) is an often-stated Masonic teaching.
Critics charge that the Bible, for Freemasonry, is "only a symbol" and not the "rule and guide for faith and practice," just as a flag is "a piece of cloth symbolizing freedom." (179) The North Carolina Lodge Manual informs Masons that "the Holy Bible is given us as the rule and guide of faith." (180) The Mason is also told that "the Bible is the light which enlightens the path of our duty to God." (181)
"The Light is the open Holy Bible that is central on the altar of every lodge. The Holy Bible reveals God's will and God's grace." (182) "What does the first marker (Commandment) reveal to you about the mind of God? The answer is very important because the first marker is the one on which all the other nine markers depend. What does it reveal? "Worship no God. but Me." . . . Our Lord . . . said that the greatest Commandment is to put God above everything else in your life." (183)
In the lectures for the Entered Apprentice degree in Louisiana, the candidate is reminded:
This Book [the Bible] contains the Word of God -- the state of man, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are Holy, its teachings are binding, is hostory [sic] is true, and its decisions are indisputable.... Read it, my brother - study it! It is God's plan of life. Live according to the light you find therein and you will indeed become a true Mason and merit the rewards God has promised. It points out the only way to salvation. (184)
Each Grand Lodge has its own monitor; the text is not identical in all monitors. The Louisiana Masonic Monitor says about the Bible:
(178) Masonic Lectures, Complied by the Grand Lecturers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, March 1990, p. 18.
(179) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 94.
(180) Bahnson, North Carolina Lodge Manual, p. 14.
(181) Ibid., p. 58.
(182) Frank G. Ladner, "Chaplain Ladner's Corner," The Alhambran newspaper (Chattanooga, Tenn.), August 1992, p. 12. Underlined words are underlined in the original text.
(183) Ibid. Underlined words are underlined in the original text.
(184) Masonic Lectures, Complied by the Grand Lecturers of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, March 1970, pp. 7-8. Most Southern Baptists believe the Bible is the Word of God rather than it "contains" the Word of God.
However they may differ in creed or theology, all good men are agreed that within the covers of the Holy Bible are found those principles of morality which lay the foundation upon which to build a righteous life.... [Freemasonry] points to the open Bible thereon [on the altar], and urges upon each that he faithfully direct his steps through life by the Light he there shall find, and as he there shall find it.... Live according to its divine teachings, with its everlasting assurances of a blessed immortality. (185).
Continuing:
Take, then, my brother, this sacred Volume, the symbol of our ancient Craft, and make it the rule and guide of your life and conduct. It is the one Volume which has lived in the hearts of the people, moulding and shaping their destinies; and it leads the way to Him who is the Light of the world. Take its divine light into your very soul and you will be thereby enabled to mount from the humble estate of your earthly nature to the glorious heights of God's eternal truth. (186)
It is well known that scriptures other than the Bible are used in some Masonic lodges. For example, the Quran may be used in lodges where Muslims are members or guests and the Vedas in lodges where Hindus are members or guests. However, Christians are never required to accept scriptures other than the Bible as authoritative; they accept a fellow Mason whose accepted scripture may be the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), Quran, or Vedas. The Grand Lodge of Israel places the Tanach, the New Testament, and the Quran on its altars. In some lodges in India and Singapore, several scriptures may be opened during the ceremony. While Christians may see this as an effort to make other scriptures equal with the Bible, Masons insist this is not true. Each Mason has the right to choose the scripture of his own faith and it is upon it that he makes his promises. To require a Mason to make a vow on a book in which he does not believe, Masons insist, would be hypocritical.
Conclusion
The Bible, along with the square and compass, are referred to as the Furniture of the Lodge. Every faith, whether Christianity or non-Christian, holds its scripture as sacred. To compare scripture to a square and compass, even symbolically, is an affront to the faith. Masons should give the Volume of Sacred Literature the supreme place in the Lodge, rather than on par with symbols such as the square and compass.
(185) Louisiana Masonic Monitor, pp. 24-25.
(186) Ibid., p. 26.
Section 11
SALVATION AND FUTURE LIFE
Many critics believe Freemasonry teaches a false path of salvation. For example, Ankerberg and Weldon cite the Tennessee Craftsman or Masonic Textbook concerning the lambskin apron worn by Masons to prove this charge:
In all ages the lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence; he, therefore, who wears the Lambskin as a badge of Masonry is continually reminded of that purity of life and conduct which is necessary to obtain admittance into the Celestial Lodge above [heaven], where the Supreme Architect of the Universe [God] presides. (187)
Masons find puzzling the use of this quote to prove that Masons believe in a works salvation. They insist that neither this statement nor its context says anything about salvation; rather, it simply states that the lambskin should remind the Mason that "purity of life and conduct . . . is necessary to obtain admittance into the Celestial Lodge." This statement does not say that wearing the lambskin or doing good works brings salvation. "Purity of life and conduct" comes only from faith in and obedience to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Ankerberg and Weldon state that "Freemasonry is a religion because it presents its own plan of salvation." (188) They ask, "At death, do all religious people believe as Masons do that they will reside in the 'Celestial Lodge in the Sky' for all eternity?" (189) This leading question is intended to draw a certain response from the reader. Do all Masons believe all Masons will reside in the Celestial Lodge in the Sky for all eternity? Masons emphatically answer no.
Masonic author Christopher Haffner, in his book Workman Unashamed, writes that a deep faith in Jesus Christ is essential for Masons since membership in the Lodge is inadequate for salvation. (190) The Monitor used by the Grand Lodge of Texas suggests the following presentation if a Bible is given to a Master Mason after receiving his degree:
Adopting no particular creed, forbidding all sectarian discussion within its Lodge rooms, but urging each to be steadfast in the faith of his profession, Masonry would take every good man by the hand, lead him to its altar, point to the open Bible thereon, and urge that he direct his way through
(187) Ibid., p. 79.
(188) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 14.
(189) Ibid., p. 16.
(190) Haffner, Workman Unashamed, p. 6.
life by the light he there shall find. (191)
This Monitor includes a "mandatory" prayer to be offered by the Worshipful Master just before a candidate is "raised" to the Master Mason degree. The prayer concludes, "Yet, O Lord! have compassion on the children of Thy creation; administer them comfort in time of trouble, and save them with an everlasting salvation!
Amen." (192)
The Louisiana Masonic Monitor states that "the design of the Masonic Institution is to make its members wiser, better, and consequently happier." (193) Masons insist that neither this statement nor any other in the Louisiana Masonic Monitor refers to a man finding salvation through Freemasonry.
The Monitor of the Grand Lodge of Texas gives several burial and memorial services, which may be used. Statements from prayers in these services include:
O Almighty and Eternal God! There is no number of Thy days or of Thy mercies. Thou hast sent us into this world to serve Thee, but we wander far from Thee in the path of error. (194)
We place you [the deceased Mason] in the arms of our Heavenly Father who grants his love and protection to those who put their trust in him. (195)
Because of an unshaken faith in the merits of the Lion of the Tribe of
Judah, we shall gain admission into the celestial Lodge above where the
Supreme Architect of the Universe presides. (196)
The chaplain in the funeral service in the Masonic Manual of the Grand Lodge of Georgia says, "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." (197)
Masonic writer Henry W. Coil said:
Freemasonry has a religious service to commit the body of a deceased
(191) Monitor of the Lodge, p. 97.
(192) Ibid., p. 83. Emphasis added.
(193) Louisiana Masonic Monitor, p. 20.
(194) Monitor of the Lodge, p. 207.
(195) Ibid., p. 211.
(196) Ibid., p. 212.
(197) Masonic Manual of the Grand Lodge of Georgia (Macon: Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1973), pp. 145-146.
brother to the dust whence it came and to speed the liberated spirit back to the Great Source of Light. Many Freemasons make this flight with no other guarantee of a safe landing than their belief in the religion of Freemasonry. (198)
Unfortunately, just as do many Masons, many church members make their flight with no other guarantee of a safe landing than their church membership. Former Mason Jack Harris wrote, "In all the rituals that I taught for eleven years, Masonry did teach how to get to heaven.... Never at any Masonic ritual did they point out that Jesus is the way of salvation." (199) Harris became a Mason in May 1961, became a Knight Templar, and later joined the Shrine. He held various offices, including being installed as a Worshipful Master of his lodge in January 1968. Harris became a Christian in October 1970 and resigned from Freemasonry in May 1972. (200) When he taught that Masonry would lead a man to heaven, Harris was wrong, for two reasons: It is not biblical and it is not Masonic. If any man is a Mason because he believes Masonry will take him to heaven, he is a Mason for the wrong reason. Harris was typical of other Masons who hope Freemasonry will take them to heaven. When they find salvation through Jesus Christ, they become disillusioned with Freemasonry because it failed to provide what they had hoped.
Harris quotes from the Entered Apprentice ritual, "A poor blind candidate, who desires to be brought from darkness to light and receive a part of the rights and benefits of this right worshipful lodge, erected to God and dedicated to the Holy Saints John." (201) Many critics interpret "from darkness to light" as "from lostness to salvation." Coil gives a Masonic definition for this phrase:
Light is everywhere the symbol of intelligence, information, knowledge, and truth and is opposed to darkness which symbolizes ignorance and evil. So, in the ceremonies, the candidate is said to be brought from darkness to
light. (202)
Nowhere is salvation or anything related to salvation mentioned in either the phrase quoted by Harris or in the definition given by Coil. Readers must be careful that they are not guilty of reading something into a sentence that is not there.
(198) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, p. 88, quoting Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 512.
(199) Ibid., p. 89.
(200) Harris, Freemasonry: The Invisible Cult in Our Midst, pp. viii-x.
(201) Ibid., p. 41.
(202) Coil, Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia, p. 375.
Conclusions
1. It is indeed tragic that any Mason would base his hope for eternal life on his Masonic membership, as any Christian Mason would attest. Freemasonry does not save anyone. Any Mason who believes Freemasonry will save him will be eternally damned when he stands before God in judgment.
2. Masons would do well to emphasize that "Masonic light" does not refer to salvation, but to understanding, wisdom, and knowledge.
Section 12
INFLUENCE OF ALBERT PIKE
While the average Mason knows little or nothing about Albert Pike, his writings have been tremendously influential in Freemasonry during the past 120 years. His writings are generally the first target for Masonry critics.
Albert Pike, born December 29, 1809, was the oldest of six children born to Benjamin and Sarah Andrews Pike. Pike was raised in a Christian home and attended an Episcopal church. Pike passed the entrance examination at Harvard College when he was 15 years old, but could not attend because he had no funds. After traveling as far west as Santa Fe, Pike settled in Arkansas, where he worked as editor of a newspaper before being admitted to the bar. In Arkansas, he met Mary Ann Hamilton, and married her on November 28, 1834. To this union were born 11 children.
He was 41 years old when he applied for admission in the Western Star Lodge No. 2 in Little Rock, Ark., in 1850. (203) Active in the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Pike took the 10 degrees of the York Rite from 1850 to 1853. He received the 29 degrees of the Scottish Rite in March 1853 from Albert Gallatin Mackey in Charleston, S.C. (204) The Scottish Rite had been introduced in the United States in 1783. (205) Charleston was the location of the first Supreme Council, which governed the Scottish Rite in the United States, until a Northern Supreme Council was established in New York City in 1813. The boundary between the Southern and Northern Jurisdictions, still recognized today, was firmly established in 1828. (206) Mackey invited Pike to join the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction in 1858 in Charleston, and he became the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council the following year. Pike held that office until his death, while supporting himself in various occupations such as editor of the Memphis Daily Appeal from February 1867 to September 1868, as well as his law practice. (207) Pike later opened a law office in Washington, D.C., and argued a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. However, Pike was impoverished by the Civil War and remained so much of his life, often borrowing money for basic living expenses from the Supreme Council before the council voted him an annuity in 1879 of $1,200 a year for the remainder of his life.208 He died on April 2, 1892, in Washington, D.C.
Realizing that a revision of the ritual was necessary if Scottish Rite Freemasonry
(203) Walter Lee Brown, "Albert Pike, 1809-1891." Unpublished dissertation. (Austin: University of Texas, 1955), p. 716. Brown's 910-page dissertation on Albert Pike gives considerable detail on Pike's life, but is of limited help in understanding his contribution to Scottish Rite Freemasonry.
(204) Ibid., pp. 719, 721.
(205) Ibid.
(207) Ibid., pp. 772-788.
(208) Ibid, pp. 852, 854.
were to survive, Mackey encouraged Pike to revise the ritual to produce a standard ritual for use in all states in the Southern Jurisdiction. Revision began in 1855, and after some changes, the Supreme Council endorsed Pike's revision in 1861. (209) Minor changes were made in two degrees in 1873 after the York Rite bodies in Missouri objected that the 29th and 30th degrees revealed secrets of the York Rite. (210)
Pike is best known for his major work, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, published in 1871. Morals and Dogma should not be confused with Pike's revision of the Scottish Rite ritual. They are separate works. Walter Lee Brown writes that Pike "intended it [Morals and Dogma] to be a supplement to that great 'connected system of moral, religious and philosophical instruction' that he had developed in his revision of the Scottish ritual." (211)
Morals and Dogma was traditionally given to the candidate upon his receipt of the 14th degree of the Scottish Rite. This practice was stopped in 1974. Morals and Dogma has not been given to candidates since 1974. (212) A Bridge to Light, by Rex R. Hutchens, is provided to candidates today. Hutchens laments that Morals and Dogma is read by so few Masons. A Bridge to Light was written to be "a bridge between the ceremonies of the degrees and their lectures in Morals and Dogma." (213) While recommended to Masons, we cannot conclude that Masons are expected to accept every thought in A Bridge to Light. Books by liberal theologians and writings by non-Christian philosophers are assigned by professors in Baptist colleges and seminaries. Students are not expected to accept the teachings found in these books and writings. Rather, they are assigned to help students understand the thoughts of men of the past and their struggle to understand themselves and their relationship to God. With exposure to these ideas, students can better form and defend their own understanding of these critical issues.
Texe Marrs' claim that "the Lodge encourages every Mason to consider [Morals and Dogma] as their basic guide for daily living" (214) is without foundation. Larry Kunk claims Morals and Dogma is "often called the 'Bible' of Freemasonry." (215) He does not cite any Masonic sources to support his conclusion.
Pike was deeply interested in mythology and comparative religions. He believed the history of man's thought was the only history worth studying. Morals and Dogma is a collection of his readings of mythology and comparative religions, which he believed
(209) Ibid., p. 737.
(212) Hutchens, A Bridge to Light, p. 2.
(213) Ibid., p. 4.
(214) Texe Marrs, Dark Majesty: The Secret Brotherhood and the Magic of a Thousand Points of Light (Austin: Living Truth Pub., 1992), p. 128.
(215) Kunk, "What Is the Secret Doctrine of the Masonic Lodge and How Does It Relate to Their Plan of Salvation?" p. 15.
revealed mankind's struggle to understand God. Pike's style of writing easily leads to misunderstanding. Even the Preface to Morals and Dogma hints at this. "In preparing this work, the Grand Commander has been about equally Author and Compiler; since he has extracted quite half its contents from the works of the best writers and most philosophic or eloquent thinkers. Perhaps it would have been better and more acceptable if he had extracted more and written less." (216)
Morey says that "Morals and Dogma is nothing more than a presentation of the doctrines of classical Hinduism with a mixture of astrology, magic and reincarnation." (217) Morey finds Hindu-occult teachings in Pike's book as follows:
1. Man is divine and therefore a god.
2. Truth is relative and cultural.
3. Only God, or Mind, ultimately exists.
4. Evil does not exist.
5. Man's soul came from God and will return to God through cycles of reincarnation.
6. Astrology is part of the ancient religion of Freemasonry.
7. Buddha was the first Master Mason.
8. Magic or sorcery in witchcraft, Kabbala, and other occult arts are acceptable.
Morey is correct; Hindu-occult philosophy is found in Morals and Dogma. That Pike revered the Aryans of early India is beyond doubt. However, it must be considered whether Pike was teaching those doctrines as ones he personally held or was stating them as those held by some philosophers and religious teachers. For example, it is said that Pike rejected the physical incarnation of Jesus because of the following statements: "Light appeared in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not; according to the words of St. John. The Light could not unite with the darkness. It but put on the appearance of a human body, and took the name of Christ in the Messiah, only to accommodate itself to the language of the Jews." (218)
Masons point out that this passage does not prove that Pike rejected the physical incarnation of Jesus Christ. Rather, this passage is part of Pike's discussion of the Manicheans, which began on page 565. The Manicheans were a third-century heretic Gnostic sect, which held that matter was evil; so, according to the Manicheans, it only appeared that Jesus had a physical body. (219)
C. Fred Kleinknecht, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern
Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, states the official position of Scottish Rite
(216) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. iii.
(217) Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry, p. 41.
(218) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 567. The italicized word is in Morals and Dogma.
(219) Justo L. Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought, vol. II (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971), pp. 15-16.
Freemasonry concerning Morals and Dogma: Morals and Dogma represents the opinions of Albert Pike. It does not represent dogmatic teachings for Freemasonry or for the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA, of Freemasonry. Every interested person is encouraged to read, even study, Pike's work, but should do so only after reading the book's preface which was authorized by The Supreme Council, 33d, and printed in the very first, 1871, edition of the work. This preface has been reprinted in every edition of Morals and Dogma and still applies today. (220)
The Preface states, "Every one is entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to be untrue or unsound." (221) Masons insist there is no requirement to read or accept any of the philosophical speculations contained in Morals and Dogma.
Pike affirmed this idea when he wrote, "What is truth to me is not truth to another.... No man is entitled positively to assert that he is right, where other men, equally intelligent and equally well-informed, hold directly the opposite opinion." (222)
Another Masonic philosopher often denounced by Masonry critics is Manley P. Hall. His 245-page book, An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolic Philosophy: The Secret Teachings of An Ages, has been reprinted several times since it was first published in 1928 by The Philosophical Research Society, Inc., Los Angeles, which was founded by Hall. Masonic reviewer Earl D. Harris notes that "some of it [The Secret Teachings of All Ages] can be considered as controversial, offensive and even repugnant to orthodox Christian and Jewish teachings." He cautions Masons to "be careful what, how and to whom you quote this book." (223)
No one will disagree with the right to read any book a Mason wishes, but for the Christian, Paul's recommendation may be in order: "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify" (1 Cor. 10:23, NASB).
Conclusion
Even though very few Masons will read Hall's difficult book, its recommendation is one of many reasons that non-Masons question the true nature of Freemasonry. Masons will continue to find themselves hard-pressed to defend their fraternity as long as books such as Hall's, Pike's, and others are recommended.
(220) C. Fred Kleinknecht in Rex R. Hutchens and Donald W. Monson, The Bible in Albert Pike's MORALS AND DOGMA (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1992), p. iv.
(221) Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. iv.
(222) Ibid., p. 165.
(223) Carl D. Harris, "A Book Review," Masonic Messenger, July 1992, p. 18.
Section 13
ANTI-MASONRY MOVEMENTS
Freemasonry has had its opponents since the seventeenth century, earlier than the seventeenth century if Masonic tradition is considered. For example, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314 because he was a Knight Templar, not because he was a Mason.
The earliest known printed attack on Freemasonry appeared in 1698 in London, England: "All Godly people in the Citie [sic] of London" were warned to "mingle not among this corrupt People lest you be found so at the World's Conflagration." (224)
John Robison, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, published a book in 1797 entitled Proof of a Conspiracy Against An the Religions and Governments of Europe Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies, Collected from Good Authorities. (225) Robison's attack was primarily on European Freemasonry, not English Freemasonry. The book appeared soon after the American colonies won their independence from England and the Church of England with the assistance of French Freemasons such as Marquis de Lafayette. As Robison's book suggests, opponents of Freemasonry fall into two general classifications: religious and political.
The following year, 1798, Jedidiah Morse, using ideas gleamed from Robison's book, preached a sermon in the United States. The sermon was later printed in pamphlet form and circulated widely in the northern states. Morse's sermon and pamphlet fueled an anti-Masonry movement, which has continued with rising and diminishing intensity until today.
In 1826, anti-Mason William Morgan mysteriously disappeared while in the process of publishing a book, which allegedly would have revealed Masonic secrets. Because some Masons in Canandaigua, N.Y., had made statements against Morgan, the public assumed they had something to do with Morgan's disappearance. William T. Still claims, "Morgan was killed by Masons shortly after obtaining a copyright for an expose on Masonry." (226) While this is intriguing speculation and may have been true, it has never been proved. The alleged chief conspirator in the disappearance, Elihu Mather, was twice tried and twice acquitted of conspiracy in the disappearance. A motion for a third trial was denied by the state Supreme Court.
Out of this disappearance, a widespread opposition arose to all secret societies. Even college Greek fraternities, including Phi Beta Kappa, came under suspicion. The anti-Masonic feeling led to the formation of a new political party called the Anti-Masonic Party. The party held political conventions in 1830 and 1831, when it nominated William Wirt of Virginia as its presidential candidate. Wirt carried only Vermont with seven electoral votes in the 1832 presidential election. With his defeat,
(224) Alphonse Cerza, Anti-Masonry: Light on the Past and Present Opponents of Freemasonry (Columbia: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1962), p. 8.
(225) Ibid., p. 22.
(226) Still, New World Order, p. 98.
the party joined with National Republican and anti-Andrew Jackson Democrats to form the Whig Party. (227) In his newsletter, Concerning the American Underground, as recently as 1992, Wayne Lela called for the re-creation of the Anti-Mason Political Party. (228)
At the end of World War I, a German general, Eric von Ludendorff, organized a movement against Freemasonry charging that Jews were planning to take over Germany by using Freemasonry as their vehicle. He accused the League of Nations, forerunner of the United Nations, of being a Masonic conspiracy.
Freemasonry was outlawed in Russia in 1922 after the Communist Revolution of 1917.
Benito Mussolini, the Fascist dictator of Italy for almost 21 years, ordered members of the National Fascist Party to choose between the party and Freemasonry because "there is only one allegiance, absolute, and humble allegiance to the Duce [Mussolini] and other leaders of Fascism at all times." (229) Later, a law was passed in Italy providing for the immediate dismissal of public employees who were Masons. Masonic property was confiscated. Freemasonry was effectively suppressed in Italy until after World War II.
The National Socialist (Nazi) Party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, suppressed Masonic Lodges in Germany with a decree, "Jews, Freemasons and the ideological enemies of National Socialism." (230)
Freemasonry was suppressed in Portugal in 1931 and the Grand Master imprisoned. Lodges in Austria were pillaged in 1938 and the Grand Master imprisoned. Masons were imprisoned in Spain by pro-Fascist dictator Francisco Franco in 1945 in an attempt to prevent his overthrow by secret organizations. Freemasonry was declared illegal in Hungary in 1950. Fidel Castro confiscated the Masonic Temple in Havana, arrested the Grand Lodge officers, and declared Freemasonry illegal in Cuba in 1962 after he overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista. Even the Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev is reported to have said, "Freemasonry is the greatest threat to mankind today." (231)
(227) N. Lee Dunham, "Free Masons in Government in the United States, 1776-1840." (Waco: Baylor University, 1965), pp. 101-104, 110.
(228) Wayne Lela, Concerning the American Underground (936 Warren, Downers Grove, Ill.), received on June 26, 1992.
(229) Cerza, Anti-Masonry, p. 61.
(230) Ibid., p. 66.
Section 14
OTHER DENOMINATIONS' POSITIONS
A number of Christian denominations have taken positions opposing Freemasonry. The Roman Catholic Church has been one of the most vigorous in its opposition. Pope Clement XII issued the first bull against Freemasonry on April 27, 1738. Different Popes issued six additional bulls before April 20, 1884, when Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Humanum Genus, the strongest and most comprehensive papal condemnation of Freemasonry. In it, the Pope attacked Freemasonry as a "wicked force" and a "contagious disease" because Freemasons (1) call for religious liberty, (2) call for separation of [the Roman Catholic] Church and state, (3) call for the education of children by laymen rather than the Church, and (4) believe people have the right to make their own laws and elect their own government.
Albert Pike, responding to the Humanum Genus in 1884, wrote, "This is clearly a manifesto against every other Church, calling itself 'Christian,' than the Roman Catholic Church, . . . The Pope has alone received 'the Kingdom of Jesus Christ' to protect. All so-called 'Christianity,' except the Roman Church, is 'the Kingdom of Satan.'" (232)
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been opposed to Freemasonry since at least 1948. It "has declared itself to be firmly opposed to all societies, lodges, and associations of unchristian and antichristian character." (233) The Synod "requires that pastors of the Synod do not administer Holy Communion nor admit to communicant membership members of such organizations." (234)
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), headquartered in Atlanta, asked its Masonic members to "reconsider their relationship with Freemasonry." In particular, the Ad-Interim Committee to Study Freemasonry expressed the following serious concerns: "Joining Freemasonry requires actions and vows out of accord with Scripture; participation in Masonry seriously compromises the Christian faith and testimony and may lead to diluting of commitment to Christ and His Kingdom." (235) The General Assembly rejected an "overture" from the Missouri Presbytery that "no member of a Masonic organization be received into membership of the PCA and that any present members of the church be given one year to resign from the lodge or the church or
(232) Albert Pike, A Reply of Freemasonry in Behalf of Humanity to the Encyclical Letter "Humanum Genus" of the Pope Leo XIII (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, 1964), p. 42. Author's emphasis.
(233) Handbook of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, pp. 141-142, quoted in manuscript received from Eldon K. Winker, executive director of the Commission on Organizations.
(234) Ibid.
(235) Report of the Ad-Interim Committee to Study Freemasonry" in the Minutes of the General Assembly meeting in 1988, received from the Office of the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, September 6, 1991.
become subject to formal church discipline." (236)
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland issued a ruling in 1927 that no member could be a Freemason. The Greek Orthodox Church condemned Freemasonry in 1933. The Church of the Nazarene condemned "oath-bound" societies in 1946. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, in Philadelphia declared itself against secret societies in 1952. The Church of the Brethren recommended in 1954 that its members not join Freemasonry.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has taken a position against the following groups for various reasons, not all of which are doctrinal: Freemasonry, Boy Scouts of America, Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, and Lions Club. Members also have been cautioned about joining veterans organizations, labour unions, and fraternities and sororities. (237)
Other Lutheran denominations in the United States have provisions in their constitutions opposing "secret societies," but do not mention Freemasonry by name.
The British Methodist Conference issued a report advising English Methodists to examine their consciences about whether Freemasonry and the Christian faith are compatible. The action did not bar Methodists from belonging to the Lodge. (238)
The Committee on Secret Societies of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, in its report to the ninth General Assembly, June 2-5, 1942, concluded that "membership in the Masonic fraternity is inconsistent with Christianity." It also cited other popular orders, including the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, the Improved Order of the Red Men, the Woodmen of the World, and the Order of the Eastern Star. (239)
The Assemblies of God, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and other Christian denominations have also taken positions against Freemasonry, or against secret societies without mentioning Freemasonry.
(236) The PCA Messenger, July-August 1988, included in material received from the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, September 6, 1991.
(237) The Shepherd Under Christ (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1974), pp. 340-345, cited in a notebook presented to the HMB Interfaith Witness Department by Holly and Burchett September 1992, Freemasonry and the Southern Baptist Convention, pp. 66-71.
(238) Religious News Service, August 9, 1985.
(239) Report of the Committee on Secret Societies of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, June 2-5, 1942.
Section 15
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION AND FREEMASONRY
Numerous sources list prominent men in the history of our nation who were or are Masons, including as many as 14 U.S. Presidents. (240) They range from liberal Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren to arch-conservative U.S. Senator Jesse Helms.
According to the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Freemasonry did not appear as a subject of controversy at an annual meeting of the SBC until 1985 when a resolution by Charles Z. Burchett was introduced at the SBC meeting in Dallas. (241)
However, this issue has divided Baptists for two centuries. In 1798, Charleston Baptist Association, South Carolina, examined Freemasonry and "found only one fault with the Order which would militate against 'serious Christians' joining it, and that was the vow of secrecy; yet it advised that the matter be left with the judgment of the individual." (242) About the same time, Shaftsbury Baptist Association, Vermont, adopted a position similar to the position of Charleston Baptists.
Not all churches adopted such a tolerant view. Between 1822 and 1840, Freemasonry threatened the peace and harmony of many Baptist associations. Sandy Creek Baptist Association in North Carolina voted in 1827 to exclude Masons from church membership; this action was apparently ignored in later years. Many Baptist churches in Indiana adopted a similar policy. The controversy apparently died down after 1840 (243) and many well-known Southern Baptists have had Masonic membership since the formation of the SBC in 1845.
In 1991, the Home Mission Board submitted questions concerning Freemasonry in the SBC to Baptist VIEWpoll. Baptist VIEWpoll is a survey by the Corporate Market Research Department of the Sunday School Board, SBC, of 1,433 Southern Baptists (283 pastors, 430 ministers of education, 247 directors of missions, 202 deacon chairmen, and 271 church clerks). Of the 1,433 who received the questionnaire, 997 responded. One question was how important it was for the SBC to have an official statement on Freemasonry. A majority of pastors (60%), ministers of education (56%), directors of missions (72%), deacon chairmen (63~o), and church clerks (74%) felt that such a statement was either "not very important at all" or had no opinion about whether a statement was needed. When asked if the issue of Freemasonry ever caused a problem in their churches/associations, the vast majority of each group responded that their churches/associations had never dealt with Freemasonry. Of those responding, 14
(240) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge, pp. 23-25.
(241) Letter from Lynn E. May Jr., executive director-treasurer of the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, August 14, 1992.
(242) Robert G. Torbet, A History of Baptists (Valley Forge: The Judson Press, 1963), p. 276. Emphasis added.
(243) Ibid., p. 277.
percent of the pastors, 5 percent of the ministers of education, 13 percent of the directors of missions, 18 percent of the deacon chairmen, and 12 percent of the church clerks were or had been Masonic or Eastern Star members. (244)
An estimated 400,000 - 500,000 Southern Baptist men are Masons. Among this number are many well-known Southern Baptist leaders. No attempt will be given to naming living Southern Baptist Masons. However, following are some well-known Southern Baptist Masons from the past. Robert E. Baylor was one of eight Masons who petitioned for a charter for Baylor University in 1845. "Every president of Baylor University has been a Master Mason." (245) One president was William R. White, 33d, who served as president of Baylor University from 1948 to 1961. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Austin, First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, First Baptist Church of Lubbock, and Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth. He also served as executive secretary, and later as president, of The Baptist General Convention of Texas.
The first two missionaries sent by the SBC to Texas, James Huckins and William Tryon, were Masons.
George W. Truett (1867-1944), pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas (1897-1944), president of the SBC (1927-1929), president of the Baptist World Alliance (1934-1939), and trustee of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was a Scottish Rite Mason. He was raised a Master Mason in 1920 in the Dallas Lodge No. 760; he received the 32nd degree in 1921. Of his Masonic membership, Truett said:
From my earliest recollection, sitting about my father's knees, who was a Mason, and hearing him and fellow Masons talk, I imbibed the impression in early childhood that the Masonic fraternity is one of the most helpful mediating and conserving organizations among men, and I have never wavered from that childhood impression, but it has stood steadfastly with me through the busy and vast hurrying years. (246)
Truett, in perhaps his most famous sermon, preaching on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 16, 1920, addressed the 15,000 people gathered:
The right to private judgment is the crown jewel of humanity, and for any person or institution to dare to come between the soul and God is a blasphemous
(244) Baptist VIEWpoll, November 1991, and memorandum from Steve Whitten to the HMB Administrative Council, February 20, 1992.
(245) Carter, Masonry in Texas, p. 340. R.E. Baylor was a member of Baylor Lodge No. 125.
(246) William R. Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. IV (Trenton: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1961), pp. 254-255. The quote is from an address by Truett at the Grand Lodge of Texas meeting in Waco in 1940. The full text of Truett's address is found in Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas (Waco: Grand Lodge of Texas, 1940), pp. 148 - 156.
impertinence and a defamation of the crown-rights of the Son of God.... Every one must give an account of himself to God. Each one must repent for himself, and believe for himself, and be baptized for himself, and answer to God for himself, both in time and in eternity. (247)
B.H. Carroll (1843-1914), first president of Southwestern seminary, was a member of Waco Lodge No. 92 and Herring Lodge No. 1224, both located in Waco, Texas. (248) Carroll was instrumental in the creation of the Department of Evangelism of the Home Mission Board in 1906. Carroll was the author of more than 20 books, including The Bible Doctrine of Repentance (1897), Baptists and Their Doctrines (1913), and Evangelistic Sermons (1913). It is said that his favourite causes were evangelism, prohibition, home missions, and Christian education. (249)
L.R. Scarborough (1870-1945) was a member of Gray Lodge No. 329 in Houston, Texas. (250) He served Southern Baptists as pastor of First Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas, from 1901 to 1908; professor of evangelism at Southwestern seminary from 1908 to 1914, when he became president of the seminary. He authored a number of books, most of which focused on evangelism, including How Jesus Won Men (1926), or were collections of his sermons. (251)
W.W. Barnes (1883-1960), professor of church history at Southwestern seminary (1913-1953), was an active 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason.
W.T. Conner (1877-1952), who taught theology at Southwestern seminary from 1910 until his retirement in 1949, was a member of Southside Lodge No. 1114 in Fort Worth until his death. James T. Draper Jr. referred to Conner as "perhaps the most famous theologian to be associated with Southwestern Seminary." (252)
William W. Hamilton, a Mason, was named the Home Mission Board's first head of the Department of Evangelism in 1906. He served as president of Baptist Bible Institute (BBI), now the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, from 1927 to 1943. While president, he saved BBI from bankruptcy in 1932, when the school defaulted on $353,000 in bonds. He was president of the SBC from 1940 to 1942.
Louie D. Newton (1892-1986), was president of the SBC (1947-1948) and vice president of the Baptist World Alliance (1939-1959), served 27 years on the SBC
(247) Powhatan W. James, George W. Truett: A Biography (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1945), p. 3.
(248) D.D. Tidwell, "Dr. George W. Truett," The Texas Grand Lodge Magazine, March 1960, p. 113, and letter from James D. Ward of Waco, Texas, December 9, 1992.
(249) Melton, Religious Leaders of America, pp. 86-87.
(250) Letter from James D. Ward of Waco, December 9, 1992.
(251) Melton, Religious Leaders of America, p. 409.
(252) James T. Draper Jr. Authority: The Critical Issue for Southern Baptists (Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1984), p. 64.
Executive Committee, and was a member of Joseph C. Greenfield Lodge No.400 in Atlanta. He received his 50-year Masonic pin in 1980. He was also a York Rite Mason and a Shriner. He was the chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta from 1939 to 1953, when he was succeeded by fellow Southern Baptist James P. Wesberry.
James P. Wesberry, who died in December 1992, was pastor of Morningside Baptist Church in Atlanta for 31 years, president of the Georgia Baptist Convention for 3 years, recording secretary for the Georgia Baptist Convention for 20 years, moderator of the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference, and executive-director of the Lord's Day Alliance. (253) He became a Mason in 1927. He was a York Rite Mason, 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Shriner. He succeeded Louie D. Newton as chaplain of the Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta in 1953. Wesberry was succeeded as chaplain by another Southern Baptist minister, James C. Bryant, in 1981.
Joseph Samuel Murrow (1835-1929) was an appointed Southern Baptist home missionary to the Oklahoma Indian Territory, where he established more than 100 churches, according to one report. Called "the founder of Freemasonry in Oklahoma," he established the first Masonic Lodge in the Indian Territory, served as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in the Indian Territory, and wrote the Murrow Masonic Monitor. (254) He was raised a Master Mason in 1867. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory from 1877 to 1878 and Grand Secretary from 1880 to 1909. (255)
John T. Christian (1854-1925), a Knight Templar, was chairman of the informal committee of friends who met in 1915 to consider formation of BBI. He was professor of Christian history and librarian at BBI from 1919 until his death in 1925. He donated his personal library of 15,000 volumes to BBI. The library on the New Orleans seminary campus bears his name. Christian also pastored First Baptist Church, Chattanooga; First Baptist Church, Hattiesburg; Second Baptist Church, Little Rock; and other churches.
J.B. Lawrence, a Mason, was vice president of the SBC (1916-1917) and executive secretary-treasurer of the Home Mission Board (1929-1954). In 1943, Lawrence freed the Home Mission Board from debt for the first time.
Richard A. McLemore, president of Mississippi College in Clinton (1957-1968), was a member of Hattiesburg Lodge No. 397 and a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. (256)
David E. Moore was a well-known pastor in southeastern New Mexico until his death in 1992 at the age of 103. He was pastor of Caprock Baptist Church in Caprock, N.M., for many years and was assistant pastor of First Baptist Church, Roswell, N.M., at the time of his death. On his hundredth birthday, he was honoured with the title of
(253) Sunday, September-December 1991, pp. 8-12.
(254) Unpublished manuscript from Jim Tresner, ed., The Oklahoma Mason, n.d.
(255) Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons, vol. III, pp. 249-250.
(256) The New Age Magazine, September 1968, pp. 35-36.
"Honourary Past Master of Roswell Lodge No. 18." (257)
Some insist that "Christian Masons must decide today whether they will remain Masons and deny their Lord, Jesus Christ, or whether they will do the will of their Father in heaven and leave Masonry." (258) They call for Christian Masons to reject the "hypocrisy" of being a Mason and a Christian. "Either follow God or follow Masonry. Either live as a Christian or live as a Mason." (259)
Taking an opposite position, a non-Mason Southern Baptist pastor writes, "The Masons I know are good Christians that are as active and perhaps more active than most church members and are instrumental in the spiritual growth of their peers in their respective churches." He continues, "It is time for us to lay aside our prejudices against other organizations and denominations that differ from us, and focus on the mission of the church. That is to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them to reach others." (260)
Conclusion
Obviously, there is no agreement among Southern Baptists whether Christians can, or should, be Masons. Many fine conservative, Bible-believing, soul-winning men can be found on both sides of this issue. (261)
(257) Letter from Ray D. Carpenter, Albuquerque, N.M., November 6, 1992.
(258) Ankerberg and Weldon, The Facts on the Masonic Lodge, p. 44.
(259) Ibid.
(260) Letter on file.
(261) A number of anonymous letters and articles were received during the course of this study. As a general rule, all unsigned mail was immediately discarded. However, one anonymous claim about evangelist Billy Graham required investigation. It charged, among other things, that William Franklin "Billy" Graham is a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. However, neither the Northern nor the Southern Jurisdiction has any record that Billy Graham is a Mason. It seems certain that if he were a Mason, Masons would publicize his membership. The anonymous offset reasoned that if Graham were not a Mason, he would simply say so. Graham has evidently declined to respond to questions about whether he is a Mason. In some people's minds, silence is an admission of guilt. Therefore, they reason, Graham must be a Mason. Again, neither the Northern nor the Southern Jurisdiction can find any record that William Franklin "Billy" Graham is a Mason.--Letter stating Graham is not a Mason was from John Boettjer, editor of The Scottish Rite Journal, December 14, 1992.
Section 16
MEMBERSHIP TRENDS OF SELECTED GRAND LODGES
Masonry critic Robert Morey says, "Unless something radically happens to alter the present trends, Freemasonry will not enter the new century in a healthy state. To put it bluntly, Freemasonry is dying." (262) It appears that statistics support Morey's conclusion.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia reported a net loss of 16,157 members during the 10-year period from 1982 through 1991, or an average net loss of 1,615 each year. During the 12-month period from July 1990 through June 1991, 112 lodges reported a net gain in Georgia, 292 lodges reported a net loss, and 44 lodges reported no change in membership. (263)
Masons in Indiana enjoyed their peak membership of 185,211 in 1957. They have lost members every year since 1957. In 1991, their membership stood at 133,026, a loss of 28 percent in 34 years. (264)
Masons in Arkansas reported a net loss of 1,197 in 1987; 1,354 in 1988; 1,081 in 1989; 1,103 in 1990; and 989 in 1991 -- or 11.6 percent of their membership during those five years. Masonic membership in Arkansas stood at 35,598 at the end of 1991. (265)
Masons in Oklahoma enjoyed their peak membership of 86,883 in 1959. At the end of 1990, their number had dropped to 46,343, a decline of almost 47 percent in 31 years. Today, the average age of Masons in Oklahoma is 64 years. (266)
Conclusion
If Freemasonry seriously considered the concerns raised by many Christians, perhaps fewer men would resign and more would join, reversing the decline in membership.
(262) Morey, The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry, p. 121.
(263) Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Georgia (Macon: Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1991), pp. 67-68.
(264) 1992 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Indiana (Indianapolis: Grand Lodge of Indiana, 1992), p. 129.
(265) Proceedings of the Grand Lodge F&A Masons of Arkansas (Little Rock: Grand Lodge F&A Masons of Arkansas, 1989), vol. 25, no. 5, p. 111; and 1991 Proceedings, vol. 26, no. 1, p. 111; and vol. 26, no. 2, p. 116.
(266) Official Proceedings (Guthrie: Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of the State of Oklahoma, 1960), p. 290; Official Proceedings (Guthrie: Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of the State of Oklahoma, 1991), p. 386; Discussions with Jim Tresner, ed., The Oklahoma Mason, November 12, 1992.
Section 17
CONCLUSIONS
Strong feelings have been expressed on both sides of this difficult issue. While some Masonic writers and some Masons consider Freemasonry a religion, even their religion, the overwhelming majority of Masons reject the idea that Freemasonry is a religion. The various monitors of the Grand Lodges and statements from the overwhelming majority of Masonic leaders in the past and today deny that Freemasonry is a religion.
Since Freemasonry requires no doctrinal statement from members, other than the general affirmation concerning the existence of God, it is reasonable to expect that Masons profess a broad range of beliefs about religious matters. Pagan teachings are found in the writings of some well-known Masons, but there is no suggestion that Masons must accept those teachings. In fact, it would be impossible to accept all ideas proposed by Masonic writers; those ideas are too diverse and contradictory. Each Mason is encouraged to decide for himself his personal beliefs. While the vast majority of Masons are professing Christians, some Masons are non-Christians, a few are probably or have been anti-Christian. It is illogical to insist that the beliefs of one or more Masons constitute the beliefs of all Masons.
It was not found that Freemasonry is anti-Christian or Satanic, nor does it oppose the Christian church. While a few Masonic writers glorify non-Christian philosophy and religions, they are clearly a minor voice. Every organization, including the Christian church, has some individuals who espouse positions not held by the vast majority of members. Organizations must be judged by the positions of the majority, not those of a small minority.
The "secrets" of Freemasonry have long been known to anyone taking time to read any number of books presenting them verbatim. These secrets, centering primarily around methods of recognizing one another, are known by thousands of non-Masons. The penalties associated with the obligations are not taken literally by Masons. They are symbolic.
While a few Masons may believe that Freemasonry will save them, the overwhelming majority insist this is not Masonic teaching.
Each person must decide for himself or herself whether critics define Freemasonry as a religion and then condemn it because it does not accept and teach Christian theology, or whether Freemasonry is not a religion. Masons and their critics are both adamant about this issue. The answer to this question is not as black and white as critics would lead us to believe. Certainly, some Masons have made Freemasonry their religion. Other Masons are emphatic that Jesus Christ is their only hope for eternal life, that they have trusted Him alone for their salvation, and that Freemasonry is not their religion.
There are some who have found that membership in the Lodge provides Christian Masons opportunities to witness to people of other faiths that other opportunities fail to provide.
From pulpits and through every avenue from witness training conferences to Sunday School literature, Christians are encouraged to be witnesses in the marketplace and in places of leisure. Certainly, their hearts' desire is that every Mason become a Christian. What better opportunities present themselves than those where they have become friends in Freemasonry. Witnessing relationships can be built by both word and deed (Matt. 5:16) as Christian Masons discover ways to proclaim the hope they have in Jesus Christ, "yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15, NASB).
Darrell Robinson suggests that "the masses of lost people will never attend the church's meetings until someone has bridged the gap by going where the people are with the gospel of Christ." (267) Let us all recommit ourselves to the task of taking the gospel to all the people.
The Home Mission Board Interfaith Witness Department staff agree with Charleston Southern Baptists, who, in 1798, advised that the matter of Southern Baptist membership in Freemasonry "be left with the judgment of the individual." (268) They agree with George W. Truett who said, "The right to private judgement is the crown jewel of humanity, and for any person or institution to dare to come between the soul and God is a blasphemous impertinence and a defamation of the crown-rights of the Son of God." (269)
(267) Robinson, The Doctrine of Salvation, p. 133.
(268) Torbet, A History of the Baptists, p. 276.
(269) James, George W. Truett: A Biography, p. 3.
MAJOR BOOKS CONSULTED
Authors and Books Critical of Freemasonry:
Amini, Md. Safwat al-Saqqa and Habib, Sa'di Abu. Freemasonry. New York: Muslim World League Pub., 1982.
Ankerberg, John and Weldon, John. Christianity and the Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge. What Goes on Behind Closed Doors. Chattanooga: The John Ankerberg Evangelistic Assoc., 1989.
----. The Facts on the Masonic Lodge: Does Masonry Conflict with the Christian Faith Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers, Inc., 1989.
----. The Secret Teachings of the Masonic Lodge: A Christian Perspective. Chicago: Moody Press, 1990.
Berry, Harold J. What They Believe. Masons. Lincoln: Back to the Bible, 1990.
Byers, Dale A. I Left the Lodge. A Former Mason Tells Why. Schaumburg, Ill.: Regular Baptist Press, 1988.
Caro y Rodriguez, His Eminence, the Most Reverend Cardinal, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile. The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled. Palmdale, Calif.: Christian Book Club of America, 1928 (fifth printing, 1992).
Fisher, Paul A. Behind the Lodge Door. Bowie, Md.: Shield Publishing, Inc., 1989.
Hannah, Walton. Darkness Visible. A Revelation & Interpretation of Freemasonry. London: Augustine Press, 1952.
Harris, Jack. Freemasonry. The Invisible Cult in Our Midst. Towson, Md.: Jack Harris, 1983.
Holly, James L. The Southern Baptist Convention and Freemasonry. Beaumont, Texas: Mission and Ministry to Men, Inc., 1992.
Kah, Gary H. En Route to Global Occupation. Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Pub., 1992.
Knight, Stephen. The Brotherhood. The Secret World of the Freemasons. New York: Dorset Press (division of Marboro Books), 1984.
Kunk, Larry. "What Is the Secret Doctrine of the Masonic Lodge and How Does It Relate to Their Plan of Salvation?" Fishers, Ind. (P.O. Box 291, 46038): unpublished manuscript provided by author, 1992.
Lester, Ralph P., ed. Look to the East. A Ritual of the First Three Degrees of Masonry. Chicago: Ezra A. Cook Publications, Inc., 1975.
McClain, Alva J. Freemasonry and Christianity. Winona Lake, Ind.: BMH Books, 1969.
Morey, Robert A. The Origins and Teachings of Freemasonry. Southbridge, Mass.: Crown Publications, Inc., 1990.
Morgan, William. Freemasonry Exposed. Chicago: Charles T. Powner Company, Inc., 1986 (first published, 1827).
Rice, John R. Lodges Examined by the Bible. Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Sword of the Lord Pub., 1943.
Richardson, Jabez. Richardson's Monitor of Free-Masonry. New York: Dick & Firzgerald, Pub., 1888.
Rongstad, L. James. How to Respond to the Lodge. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1977.
Schnoebelen, William J. and Spencer, James R. Mormonism's Temple of Doom. Idaho Falls: Triple J. Pub., 1987.
Schnoebelen, William. Masonry: Beyond the Light. Chino, Calif.: Chick Pub., 1991.
Shaw, Jim and McKenney, Tom. The Deadly Deception.- Freemasonry Exposed ... By One of Its Top Leaders. Lafayette, La.: Huntington House Publisher, Inc., 1988.
Short, Martin. Inside the Brotherhood: Further Secrets of the Freemasons. New York: Dorset Press, 1989.
Storms, E.M. Should a Christian Be a Mason? Fletcher, N.C.: New Puritan Library, Inc., 1980.
Authors and Books Sympathetic to Freemasonry:
Bahnson, Charles F. North Carolina Lodge Manual. Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Co., 1929.
Carter, James D. Masonry in Texas: Background, History, and Influence to 1846. Waco: Committee on Masonic Education and Service for the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1955.
Cerza, Alphonse. Anti-Masonry: Light on the Past and Present Opponents of Freemasonry. Columbia: Missouri Lodge of Research, 1962.
---. "Let There Be Light". A Study in Anti-Masonry. Silver Spring, Md.: The Masonic Service Assoc., 1983.
---. Masonic Questions Answered by the Courts. Silver Spring, Md.: The Masonic Service Assoc., 1983.
Claudy, Carl H. The Master's Book. Washington, D.C.: The Temple Pub., 1974 (first printing, 1935).
Clausen, Henry C. Clausen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogma. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., 1974.
Coil, Henry W. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. New York: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company, Inc., 1961.
DeHoyos, Art. The Cloud of Prejudice: A Study in Anti-Masonry. Kila, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing Co., 1992.
Firestone, Roger M. "Masonic Penalties," The Scottish Rite Journal, March 1990.
Freemasonry and Religion. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction of the World, 1990.
Haffner, Christopher. Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Mason. Shepperton, England: Lewis Masonic, 1989.
Holy Bible [Masonic Edition]. Chicago: The John A. Hertel Co., 1942.
Hutchens, Rex R. A Bridge to Light. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33d, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A, 1988.
Hutchens, Rex R. and Monson, Donald W. The Bible in Albert Pike's MORALS AND DOGMA. Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33ø, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1992.
Indiana Monitor and Freemason's Guide. Indianapolis: Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana, 1975.
Louisiana Masonic Monitor. Walker, La.: Lavergne's River Parish Press, 1988.
Mackey, Albert. An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, 2 volumes. Chicago: The Masonic History Co., 1921.
Masonic Code. Montgomery: Grand Lodge of Alabama, 1963.
Masonic Manual of the Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons. Macon: Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Georgia, 1973.
Mentor's Manual. Franklin, Ind.: Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons State of Indiana, 1953.
Monitor of the Lodge. Waco: Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. &. A.M., 1982.
Morris, S. Brent. Masonic Philanthropies: A Tradition of Caring. Lexington, Mass., and Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Councils, 33rd Degree, N.M.J. and S.J., 1991.
Murrow Masonic Monitor, Tenth Edition. Guthrie: Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Oklahoma, 1988.
Pike, Albert. Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. Washington, D.C.: Prepared for the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction, A.A.S.R., U.S.A., 1964.
Roy, Thomas S. "An Answer to Anti-Masonic Religious Propaganda." Boston: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1952.
Truett, George W. "Address to the Grand Lodge of Texas." Waco: Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 1940.
Scholarly Books on Freemasonry:
| i don't know |
Which composer attempted suicide by throwing himself into the river Rhine? | Who Is / Was the Craziest Most Insane Composer of All Time
Who Is / Was the Craziest Most Insane Composer of All Time
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17
Who Is / Was the Craziest Most Insane Composer of All Time
Most Genius composers were/ are either somewhat crazy, totally crazy or even evil crazy. Who is your pick as the craziest- either musically/ or personally?
I'll start of by Nominating some:
Richard Wagner - In 1839 he was forced to flee Riga, Russia(money issues) then flee Germany because there was a warrant out for his arrest (revolt) etc affairs with married women and on and on...
Robert Schumann - attempted suicide, angelic visions / demonic visionsSchumann finally confined to a mental institution after he attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine River. Rescued by boatmen he asked to be taken to an asylum for the insane.
Alessandro Stradella - hired assassin took care of him
Smetana - Spent his last months in the Prague Insane Asylum
Hugo Wolf - Attempted to drown himself ended up in a insane asylum - seems a very familar theme
Mozart and Salieri ????
5
Originally Posted by EddieRUKiddingVarese
I think I get it now- but wait I have a thought "There is an idea, the basis of an internal structure, expanded and split into different shapes or groups of sound constantly changing in shape, direction, and speed, attracted and repulsed by various forces."
I'm I crazy too
Cognitive therapy may help........
But that's not irrational, it's just a visualization, a visual metaphor, of a musical idea, it's subjective by nature, although it may be or not be understood in a more direct way. Art is not irrational, it is just art. Irrational would be, for example, saying that there's a god who created the world without giving any philosophical or scientific support for that affirmation.
Last edited by aleazk; Jan-14-2013 at 07:10.
17
Originally Posted by aleazk
But that's not irrational, it's just a visualization, a visual metaphor, of a musical idea, it's subjective by nature, although it may be or not be understood in a more direct way. Art is not irrational, it is just art, rational thinking is not a central thing. Irrational would be, for example, saying that there's a god who created the world without giving any philosophical or scientific support for that affirmation.
Very good point you make - and I course I will agreed with it - why wouldn't I, unless I was crazy.
Note the quote I'm made was not from my current reincarnated form but from the original Edgard Varese (thought i'd better share that).
"Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes"
and I need the knits, the double knits!
| Schumann |
Which composer of the Baroque period had 20 children? | Robert Schumann - the German composer in a nutshell
Robert SCHUMANN
8 June 1810 - 29 July 1856 age 46
Robert Schumann was one of the most important Romantic composers of the 19th century. He was also a pianist, influential music critic and editor of 'The New Journal of Music'.
He was a champion of young composers including Chopin and Brahms.
His wife Clara , also a composer, was one of the most outstanding pianists of her day.
Born: 8 June 1810 Zwickau, Saxony
Father: August Schumann, bookseller, writer and publisher
Mother: Johanna
Wife: Clara Josephine Wieck 1819-96, (daughter of his piano teacher)
Children: eight
Died: 29 July 1856 age 46
Cause of death: syphilis
Buried: Zentral Friedhof, Bonn. see findagrave
Works
Influenced by: Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Paganini, Schubert, Clara Schumann
Influenced: too many to list!
Orchestral:
over 400 including lieder (solo voice + piano), partsongs, duets and trios
Choral music, opera and drama
- Genoveva (opera)
- age 18 began studying law at Leipzig University
- age 20 attending a concert by Paganini convinced him to follow a career in music.
- age 24-34 Edited the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music) which he jointly founded. He championed young composers including Chopin and Brahms.
- age 30 - married Clara , his piano teacher's daughter, much against her father's will
- met Liszt
- doctorate from Universty of Jena
- age 40 Appointed music director in Dusseldorf.
- age 44 - attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine.
- Requested to be put into an asylum where he stayed until he died.
- age 46 - died
Schumann in art
Health and personality
- As his father was a bookseller he was exposed to books and developed a great love of literature and thought about becoming a novelist. George Bernard Shaw once remarked that he was as much a literary man as a musician.
- It was soon apparent that he was a good pianist. He had aspirations to becoming a concert pianist but an injury his right hand ended that possibility. One theory is that the damage to his hand was caused by a device for strengthening his fingers, but a more recent theory is that it was caused by mercury poisoning from treatment of syphilis.
- He was not an effective teacher and neither was he a popular conductor.
- He suffered various personal tragedies during his life and from the age of 43 he suffered from bipolar disorder, also called manic depression.
Piano Concerto
Fantasy Pieces for Piano & Clarinet
Symphony No.3 -1st Mov
Quotes
"Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm."
"If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place. "
"The painter turns a poem into a painting; the musician sets a picture to music."
"In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of."
Links, sources and where to go for more information
Answers.com a collection of reference sites including Wikipedia
Classical Net short bio and recommended recordings
mfiles.co.uk a short biography and overview
DSO Kids A children's introduction
If you would like to recommend a website please go to submit a URL
Or you can submit your own content at 'Your Contributions'
New! Comments
| i don't know |
Which composer was Franz Liszt’s son-in-law? | Franz Liszt - Biography - IMDb
Franz Liszt
Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Trivia (2)
Overview (4)
6' 1" (1.85 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Franz Liszt, the virtuoso pianist and composer, was the most famous concert superstar of the 19th century. He was born in what was then the Austrian Empire. His father was Hungarian and his mother was Austrian. At age 6 he took music lessons from his father, Adam Liszt, who worked at the Court of Count Esterhazy, the main sponsor of Liszt's education and career. Liszt continued his music studies in Vienna under Carl Czerny and Antonio Salieri .
In 1823, at the young age of 12, Liszt moved with his parents to Paris. There he enjoyed an early friendship with Frédéric Chopin , but later they became rivals. At that time young Liszt began his career of a travelling virtuoso. He was adulated all-over Europe, from Ireland to Russia. His concert performances included his own compositions, regarded by many as the most difficult piano music ever written. His elegant, worldly manners in combination with diabolic cynicism and his impressive stage presence and supernatural virtuosity gave cause for rumors, that he must have made a deal with the Devil. His "Mephisto Waltz" depicts the Devil playing a Paganini-style violin on the piano.
Franz Liszt became a friend of many important cultural figures of his time. He attended the Paris premiere of the "Symphonie Fantastique" by Hector Berlioz and the two composers became good friends. Liszt shared mutual respect with Mikhail Glinka . He also admired Aleksandr Borodin and promoted his first symphony for performances in Western Europe. Liszt was a friend of Richard Wagner , who was Liszt's son-in-law, until their differences led to cooler relationship in their later years. Liszt's influence on his fellow musicians was legendary. He made superb piano transcriptions of symphonies, operas and large orchestral works of other composers, such as Ludwig van Beethoven , Hector Berlioz , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner . Operas and symphonies in Liszt's transcriptions became valuable repertoire of many pianists.
Liszt lived and travelled with the married Countess Marie D'Agoult for 12 years and they had three children. In 1847, in Russia, Liszt met the beautiful and wealthy Princess Carolyne Wittgenstein, who soon left her husband for Liszt. In 1848 he became the Director of Music at the Court of Weimar. There, living with Carolyne in her mansion, he composed and revised his most important music, including the "Dream of Love", dedicated to Carolyne. The Church did not allow Liszt to marry Carolyne and also did not allow Carolyne to divorce Wittgenstein, with whom she had a daughter. In 1861 Liszt settled in Rome where Carolyne bought a home and they tried to marry again, but the Church did not terminate Carolyne's marriage until her husband died in 1864. She then changed her mind and lived with unmarried Liszt, who was stuck in this painful situation until the end of his life. Under her influence, he became a religious man and in 1865 Pope admitted Liszt into Holy Orders and commissioned the church music. Since 1870s Liszt taught at the Budapest Conservatory and also participated with Wagner in several concert events in Bayreith. He spent his last years between Rome, Weimar, Budapest and Bayreuth, where he died in 1886.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov
Trivia (2)
He eloped to Switzerland with Countess Marie d'Agoult. Their idealistic relationship eventually disintegrated in 1844. Together, Liszt and d'Agoult had three children: daughters Blandine (born 1835) and Cosima (born 1837), and son Daniel (born 1839). Daniel died in 1859 at the tender age of 21. Liszt would write "Two Episodes from Lenau's Faust" and "Les Morts" to honour his memory. In 1862, his daughter Blandine died in childbirth. His other daughter, Cosima, later left her husband to be with composer Richard Wagner , to whom she bore daughters Isolde in 1865 and Eva in 1867 and son Siegfried in 1869 before they finally married in 1870.
| Richard Wagner |
What is produced by the reaction of mercury with another metal? | Superstar, ladies' man: Happy 200th Franz Liszt | Reuters
Wed Feb 9, 2011 | 10:30 AM EST
Superstar, ladies' man: Happy 200th Franz Liszt
1/5
A statuette of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven decorating a music-case is seen with a statue of Hungarian composer Ferenc Liszt in the background in a museum February 5, 2011.
Reuters/Laszlo Balogh +
2/5
Hungarian pianist Jeno Jando plays one of Ferenc Liszt's pianos in Budapest's Liszt museum February 5, 2011.
Reuters/Laszlo Balogh +
3/5
Hungarian pianist Jeno Jando is reflected in a portrait of Ferenc Liszt as he plays at a piano in Budapest's Liszt museum February 5, 2011.
Reuters/Laszlo Balogh +
4/5
The first edition of musical notes composed by Hungary's Ferenc Liszt is seen on display at a museum February 5, 2011.
Reuters/Laszlo Balogh +
5/5
Director of Budapest's Liszt museum Zsuzsanna Domonkos points to Ferenc Liszt special desk February 5, 2011.
Reuters/Laszlo Balogh +
By Michael Roddy | BUDAPEST
BUDAPEST (Reuters Life!) - He was the world's first musical superstar, a bigger-than-life personality with a wild mane of hair who seated adoring women around his piano onstage and had his own "mania" cult long before the Beatles.
This year marks the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt, that demon of the keyboard who made women swoon, men gape and rivals jealous. But his music is often deemed second rate, and while his piano works and concertos are played, many casual listeners may know him best from Tom & Jerry television cartoons ("Cat Concerto").
"I think he's criticized too many times considering that he was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century," said pianist and conductor Zoltan Kocsis, music director of Hungary's National Philharmonic Orchestra and the country's Liszt year "ambassador."
Liszt, the grand man of Hungarian music, who in Hungary goes by the first name Ferenc, was born in the then-Hungarian, now Austrian, village of Doborjan, on Oct 22, 1811.
Kocsis, who has performed Liszt's music for decades and orchestrated some of his piano works, is perfectly aware of Liszt's reputation as a grandmaster flash of the 19th century.
Contemporary caricatures of him, legs akimbo, fingers flashing, have an echo today in the style of the Chinese pianist Lang Lang. The caricatures say "showman," not deep thinker.
"They say he didn't really write masterpieces, he didn't reach the height of Wagner or other composers, but I think a composer's value should be established from the peaks, not the valleys," Kocsis said.
This year, anyone with the remotest interest in Liszt will have every opportunity to test out Kocsis's, and other musicians', opinion that Liszt not only invented the modern piano recital, he also paved the way for Debussy, Bartok and even Wagner -- who, among other things, was Liszt's son in law.
"Liszt was ahead of his era at least by 30 years, so of course his contemporaries didn't really understand him," said pianist Jeno Jando, playing an excerpt from a Liszt rhapsody for Reuters Television on one of Liszt's own pianos in Budapest's Liszt Museum.
The museum is a treasure trove for anyone trying to understand the "Lisztomania" that gripped Europe, including a solid-silver piano music stand dripping with silvery violins and horns that is so over the top it could only have been Liszt's.
"He was an extraordinary personality, pointing forward, not only by developing piano technique to where Rachmaninov continued it but he used the piano as if it was a symphonic orchestra," Jando said.
WORLD LISZT DAY
From Seoul to Beijing to the concert halls of Europe and the U.S., this is the year to hear not only Liszt's famous Faust Symphony, Mephisto Waltz and Hungarian Rhapsodies, but also little-known church works and more rarely heard showpieces like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony he transcribed for the piano.
Hungary will re-enact a famous "piano duel" between Liszt and a rival (the rival was deemed the better pianist but the main woman judge concluded "there is only one Liszt").
There will be a dramatization of the life of this globe trotter, ladies' man (he fathered three children out of wedlock, with another man's wife), and religious mystic who in later life wore priestly robes and had a private audience with the Pope.
It all comes to a head on Oct 22, which the Hungarians have declared "World Liszt Day," an occasion for orchestras and choirs across the globe to perform his infrequently heard Christus Oratorio. Seoul and Beijing have signed up, as have a half dozen Hungarian cities, but anyone else is welcome.
"It's not closed," said Orsolya Erdody, a violinist and the office director of Hungarofest, the organizing body, who wants as many choruses and orchestras as possible to participate.
Erdody, a Liszt booster if ever there was one, says she originated a plan that could, if not entirely close off debate over Liszt's ambiguous heritage, at least make everyone flying to Hungary think he's Hungarian: name the airport after him.
"It's important to have something from the Liszt year which will be there, will remain for a long time, for our children and that's why I think it would be an important act to give the Budapest airport another name, which is even an international name, so everybody in the world knows Liszt Ferenc," she said.
There's more to this than simple national pride.
Liszt's father, though a German speaker, was Hungarian. But his mother was Austrian, his mother tongue was German, his best language was French, he never really learned Hungarian and his hometown became part of Austria after World War One and was renamed Raiding. To top it off, he is buried in Bayreuth, that musical temple to his son-in-law, the ultra-German Wagner.
"FOR US HE IS AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN"
"For us he was an Austro-Hungarian," said Sigrid Weiss, who handles media relations for the Liszt events in Raiding.
It's not a debate that the naming of one airport is going to resolve. Nor does it end with the famous quote from Liszt: "Je suis Hongrois" -- his way of saying "I am a Hungarian" in French, possibly because he didn't know the Hungarian.
What may prove the point, though, is Liszt's music.
"Liszt did not live in Hungary but he felt homesick all the time," said Petra Kiss, a piano student at Budapest's Liszt Academy. "As a Hungarian I feel he is close to me and I can understand his personality."
"He had a very diverse character, his late religious works that he wrote after his daughter died and his love left him are very different...so he must have been a very extreme person."
(Additional reporting by Krisztina Fenyo, editing by Paul Casciato)
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In the movie Carry On Dick – who was the Dick referred to? | Carry on Dick (1974) - IMDb
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Dick Turpin is terrorising the countryside around Upper Dencher. Captain Fancey and Sergeant Jock Strapp plan to put an end to his escapades, and enlist the help of the Reverend Flasher. ... See full summary »
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Title: Carry on Dick (1974)
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Henry VIII has just married Marie of Normandy, and is eager to consummate their marriage. Unfortunately for Henry, she is always eating garlic, and refuses to stop. Deciding to get rid of ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
A group of holidaymakers head for the Spanish resort of Elsbels for a 4-day visit. When they get there, they find the Hotel still hasn't been finished being built, and the weather is awful.... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
The Wedded Bliss computer dating agency aims to bring together the lonely hearts of Much-Snoggin-in-the-Green. Its owner, Sidney Bliss, has enough complications in his own love life, but ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
A gang of thieves plan to make their fortune by stealing a shipment of contraceptive pills from Finisham maternity hospital. They assume disguises and infiltrate the hospital, but ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
Dr Nookey is disgraced and sent to a remote island hospital. He is given a secret slimming potion by a member of staff, Gladstone Screwer, and he flies back to England to fame and fortune. ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
Local councillor Sidney Fiddler persuades the Mayor to help improve the image of their rundown seaside town by holding a beauty contest. But formidable Councillor Prodworthy, head of the ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
Professors Vooshka and Crump decide to visit an archaeological site to study the artifacts there. Lo and behold, it's right next to a caravan site where all manner of people are staying. ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
The Carry On team send up the Tarzan tradition in great style. Lady Evelyn Bagley mounts an expedition to find her long-lost baby. Bill Boosey is the fearless hunter and guide. Prof. Tinkle... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond looks after the British outpost near the Khybar pass. Protected by the kilted Third Foot and Mouth regiment, you would think they were safe. But the Khazi of Kalabar... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
A bogus legionnaire proves his mettle during an Arab attack.
Director: Gerald Thomas
This is the tale of industrial strife at WC Boggs' Lavatory factory. Vic Spanner is the union representative who calls a strike at the drop of a hat; eventually everyone has to get fed up ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
The popular Dr Kilmore is sacked after being discovered in a compromising position on the roof of the nurses' home. The patients are determined not to lose him, and so take on the might of ... See full summary »
Director: Gerald Thomas
Edit
Storyline
Dick Turpin is terrorising the countryside around Upper Dencher. Captain Fancey and Sergeant Jock Strapp plan to put an end to his escapades, and enlist the help of the Reverend Flasher. Little do they know that the priest leads a double life. Then Madame Desiree and her "Birds of Paradise" arrive in the village... Written by Simon N. McIntosh-Smith <[email protected]>
Dick Turpin carries on with his flintlock cocked
Genres:
25 December 1974 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Der total verrückte Straßenräuber See more »
Filming Locations:
Did You Know?
Trivia
This was Sidney James ' final film before his death on April 26, 1976 at the age of 62. See more »
Goofs
When Dick Turpin teaches Harriet to count, his coat keeps on vanishing. See more »
Quotes
Reverend Flasher : William, don't you think it's time you came to church again?
William : What do you mean, Rector? Don't you remember? I was there last Sunday. I took the collection.
Reverend Flasher : I know. Next Sunday I want you to bring it back.
Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past
(uncredited)
Words by Isaac Watts and music by William Croft
Sung in the church
This the best carry on ever!
18 November 2006 | by m_pratt
(United Kingdom) – See all my reviews
This carry on is a great carry on!. The actors are great. Most of the gang are here except Charles Hawtrey who got the boot after Abroad. Patsy Rowland's is underused which is a great shame as is Bill Maynard they have both got good talent. Sid Jame's is just as good as ever in his final carry on. Barbara Windsor is great as Harriet, as is Hatttie Jacques.Jack Douglas and Kenneth William's are great this film is the last true carry on film behind wasn't the same. This was good clean fun the last 3 England Behind and Emmanuelle resort to nudity to get laughs this had the talent the actors and the script its go the lot. This one and Cleo are the best Historical ones!. After this they where never the same!..
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| Dick Turpin |
Zen is which country’s form of Buddhism? | Carry On Dick Plot and Cast | Movies.com
DVD
FULL SYNOPSIS
This threadbare "Carry On" comedy is set in the 18th century and concerns a fellow with a dual identity: by day, he's the Reverend Flasher; after dusk, he moonlights as the treacherous highwayman Dick Turpin. (Both are played by Sidney James). Dogooders Captain Desmond Fancey (Kenneth Williams) and Sgt. Jock Strapp (Jack Douglas) search for this elusive scoundrel who is robbing travelers every evening. Adding fool to the fire is Mme. Desiree (Joan Sims) and her entourage of doxies. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Cast
| i don't know |
Chiroptera is the scientific name for what creatures? | Chiroptera
Chiroptera
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.
You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.
For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification . To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.
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Containing group: Eutheria
Introduction
The clade Chiroptera includes two extant clades, Megachiroptera (Old World Fruit Bats) and Microchiroptera (echolocating bats). In addition, Chiroptera includes at least four extinct clades that are most closely related to Microchiroptera. There are over nine hundred extant species of bats (Koopman, 1993). Bats vary greatly in size. The smallest bat, Craseonycteris thonglongyai (Microchiroptera), weighs less than 2 g and has a wingspan of 12-13 cm, while the largest bats, those of the genus Pteropus (Megachiroptera), weigh up to 1.5 kg and may have a wing span over 2m (Fenton, 1992).
Bats are unique among mammals as they are the only group to have evolved true powered flight. Some other mammals such as "flying" squirrels and "flying" lemurs can glide through the air for long distances, but they are not capable of sustained flight. In contrast, bats can propel themselves with their wings, gaining and loosing altitude and flying for long periods.
Bats are nocturnal and usually spend the daylight hours roosting in caves, rock crevices, trees, or manmade structures such as houses and/or bridges. Some bats are solitary, while others are found in colonies that may include over a million individuals.
Activity begins around dusk, when bats leave the day roost and start feeding. The clade Chiroptera includes species with very diverse food preferences, including bats that eat either meat, insects, fish, fruit, nectar, or a variety of food types. Only three species of bats actually feed on blood Desmodontinae). Many bats remain at their feeding sites until just before dawn when they return to the day roost.
Classification outlines the higher-level classifications within Chiroptera.
Characteristics
Unique Characteristics
One unique feature of bats is their modified forelimbs, which support a wing membrane (patagium). The basic elements of the mammalian limb are present in bats, although the relative sizes of most bones and muscles differ from those of nonflying mammals. The most elongated parts of the limb are those of the hand (metacarpal bones) and fingers (phalanges). The primary functions of these bones in bats is to provide support for the patagium and control its movements. The patagium stretches between the fingers and attaches to the side or back of the bat and the lower leg. Part of the membrane extends between the hindlimbs. Numerous blood vessels and nerves are present throughout the wing membrane. Bats also have five unique muscles present in the patagium, and use additional muscles in the chest and back to move the wings up and down.
The most obvious difference between bird wings and those of bats is that bird wings are made of feathers, not a skin membrane. Birds have an elongated arm, but do not have elongated fingers like bats. Additionally, the muscles used in both the upstroke and downstroke are found in the chest of birds, while the upstroke muscles are on the back in bats (Fenton, 1983).
The orientation of the hindlimb is also unique to bats. The hip joint is rotated 90� so that the legs project sideways and the knee faces almost backwards. Due in part to the rotation of the hindlimb, the walking motion of bats differs from other tetrapods, often appearing awkward. The hindlimb is designed to support the patagium in flight and allow the bat to roost hanging from its hindlimbs. Most bats have a tendon system in the toes that locks the claws in place so the bat can hang upside down even when asleep.
Bats have other unique characteristics including many morphological synapomorphies .
General Characteristics
The body of a bat is ventrally compressed with a short neck region. The bones tend to be slender and light-weight. The majority of the body weight is concentrated in the chest region due to the large flight muscles.
The overall shape of the head varies more in bats than within most other groups of mammals. Some bats have very elongated muzzles while others have broad, short faces. There is a correlation between the shape of the head and the type of food eaten. For example, most nectar feeders have long, narrow muzzles that are good for reaching into flowers, while many fruit eaters have short, broad faces good for biting rounded fruits (Hill and Smith, 1984).
The ears range from small and round to large and pointed, and often have a cartilaginous fold (tragus) present at the notch of the ear. There is additional variation in the nasal and lip regions of bats. Some bats have complex noseleafs, folds, or wrinkles on their muzzles. The function of facial ornamentation is not well understood, although it may effect the emission of echolocation calls in some taxa (Fenton, 1992).
A major misconception about bats is that they are blind. This idea originated from the fact that bats are able to successfully maneuver in the dark and often have small eyes. While some bats do have very small eyes (most Microchiroptera ) many have large and complex eyes (Megachiroptera). Experiments on several species of bats have shown that they are able to distinguish patterns even at low light levels (Hill and Smith, 1984).
Bats usually have black or brown fur, although the fur can also be gray, white, red, or orange. In some species there are stripes on the face or down the back, or patches of white on the face or above the shoulder. The length of the fur also varies among species from short and dense to long and fluffy. The wing membrane is usually dark in color, although it may have white on the tips or be a lighter color around the bones in the membrane. A few bats have white or pale yellow wings. There are also little hairs on the membrane itself. These hairs can be the color of the wing or the same color as the body.
Bat Monophyly
Until the 1970s, most evolutionary biologists assumed that bats form a monophyletic group. Recently, however, several authors have questioned monophyly of Chiroptera (Jones and Genoways, 1970; Smith, 1976, 1980; Smith and Madkour, 1980; Hill and Smith, 1984; Pettigrew, 1986, 1991a, 1991b; Pettigrew and Jamieson, 1987; Pettigrew et al., 1989) creating what has become known as the “bat monophyly controversy”. Proponents of the hypothesis that bats are diphyletic pointed out that many similarities between Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera involve the flight mechanism. It is therefore possible that convergent evolution of aerial locomotion, rather than shared ancestry, might account for the similarities found between megachiropteran and microchiropteran bats (Jones and Genoways, 1970).
The bat monophyly hypothesis states the Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera are each others closest relatives in an evolutionary sense (i.e., they form a clade). If this is true, then their shared characteristics, including the ability to fly, would have been present in their most recent common ancestor (Simmons, 1994; 1995). It follows from this that there was only one origin of powered flight in mammals. In contrast, the diphyly hypothesis states that megachiropteran and microchiropteran bats do not form a monophyletic group, instead having evolved independently from two different groups of non-flying mammals. It has been suggested that Megachiroptera is more closely related to Dermoptera and Primates than to Microchiroptera (Smith and Madkour, 1980; Pettigrew, 1986, 1991a, b, 1995; Pettigrew and Jamieson, 1987; Pettigrew et. al., 1989). In this case, the characteristics common to both groups of bats either evolved as a result of convergent evolution or are simply the result of retention of primitive features. If bats are diphyletic, the ability to fly must have evolved once in Megachiroptera and again in Microchiroptera.
There have been numerous studies using biochemical, molecular, and/or morphological data to analyze the relationship between Megachiroptera, Microchiroptera and other taxa. Diphyly has only been supported in two data sets: features of the nervous system (Pettigrew, 1986, 1991a, 1991b; Pettigrew et. al., 1989; Johnson and Kirsch, 1993) and of the penis (Smith and Madkour, 1980). In contrast, monophyly has been supported in studies examining a large and diverse set of morphological features, including those of the nervous and reproductive systems (Luckett, 1980a, 1993; Wible and Novacek, 1988; Kovtun, 1989; Thewissen and Babcock, 1991, 1993; Kay et. al., 1992; Novacek, 1992, 1994; Beard, 1993; Simmons, 1993a, 1994, 1995; Wible and Martin, 1993; Simmons and Quinn, 1994, Miyamoto, 1996), DNA-DNA hybridization data (Kirsch et al., 1995; Hutcheon and Kirsch, 1996; Kirsch, 1996), and DNA nucleotide sequence data from mitochondrial and nuclear genes (Adkins and Honeycutt, 1991, 1993, 1994; Mindell et al., 1991; Ammerman and Hillis, 1992; Bailey at al., 1992; Stanhope et al., 1992, 1993, 1996; Honeycutt and Adkins, 1993; Knight and Mindell, 1993; Novacek, 1994, Allard et al., 1996; Miyamoto, 1996; Porter et al., 1996).
Because the vast majority of available data strongly support a sister-group relationship between Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera, bat monophyly is now regarded as a very strongly supported hypothesis.
Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships
The fossil record of bats extends back at least to the early Eocene, and chiropteran fossils are known from all continents except Antarctica. Icaronycteris, Archaeonycteris, Hassianycteris, and Palaeochiropteryx, unlike most other fossil bats, have not been referred to any extant family or superfamily. These Eocene taxa are known from exceptionally well-preserved fossils, and they have long formed a basis for reconstructing the early evolutionary history of Chiroptera (see review in Simmons and Geisler, 1998).
Smith (1977) suggested that these taxa represent an extinct clade of early microchiropterans ("Palaeochiropterygoidea"). In contrast, Van Valen (1979) argued that these fossil forms are representatives of a primitive grade ancestral to both Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera ("Eochiroptera"). Novacek (1987) reanalyzed morphology of Icaronycteris and Palaeochiropterx and concluded that they are more closely related to Microchroptera than to Megachiroptera. Most recently, Simmons and Geisler (1998) found that Icaronycteris, Archaeonycteris, Hassianycteris, and Palaeochiropteryx represent a series of consecutive sister-taxa to extant microchiropteran bats.
Geographic Distribution
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The geographical distribution of bats is shown in red. Distribution from Hill and Smith (1984).
Other Names for Chiroptera
Bats
References
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Kirsch, J. A., J. M. Hutsceon, D. G. Byrnes & B. D. Lloyd. 1998. Affinites and hidtorical zoogeography of the New Zealand Short-tailed bat, Mystacina tuberculata Gray 1843, inferred from DNA-hybridization comparisons. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 5(1): 33-64.
Knight, A., and D. P. Mindell. 1993.Substitution bias, weighting of DNA sequence evolution, and the phylogenetic position of Fea’s viper. Systamatic Zoolology 38: 7-25.
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Luckett, W. P. 1993. Developmental evidence from the fetal membranes for assessing archontan relationship. In R. D. E. MacPhee (ed.), Primates and their relatives in phylogenetic perspective. Adv. Primatol. Ser., pp. 149 186. New York: Plenum.
Mindell, D. P., C. W. Dick, & R. J. Baker. 1991. Phylogenetic relationships among megabats, microbats, and primates. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88: 10,322-10,326.
Miyamoto, M. M. 1996. A congruence study of molecular and morphological data for eutherian mammals. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 6: 373-390.
Miyamoto, M. M. 1992. Fossils as critical data for phylogeny. In M. J. Novacek and Q. D. Wheeler (eds.), Extinction and phylogeny, pp. 46-88. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
Miyamoto, M. M. 1994. Morphological and molecular inroads to phylogeny. In L. Grande and O. Rieppel (eds), Interpreting the hierarchy of nature: from systematic patterns to evolutionary process theories, pp. 85-131. New York: Academic Press.
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Pettigrew, J. D. 1988. Microbat vision and echolocation in an evolutionary context. In P. E. Nachtigill and P. W. B. Moore (eds.), Animal sonar: processes and performance, pp. 645-650. New York: Plenum.
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Pettigrew, J. D. 1995. Flying primates: crashed, or crashed through? In P. A. Racey and S. M. Swift (eds.), Ecology, evolution and behavior of bats. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London 67: 3-26.
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Pettigrew, J. D., B. G. M. Jamieson, S. K. Robson, L. S. Hall, K. I. McAnally, & H. M. Cooper. 1989. Phylogenetic relations between microbats, megabats and primates (Mammalia: Chiroptera and Primates). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 325: 489-559.
Porter, C. A., M. Goodman, & M. J. Stanhope. 1996. Evidence on mammalian phylogeny from sequences of exon 28 of the von Willebrand Factor gene. Molecular Phylogenetic Evolution 5: 89-101.
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Information on the Internet
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Which island group was once called the Somers Islands? | Bats Northwest
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Scientific Classification and Names - Translations
A Bat by any other Name....is a Bat.... So...what are these fancy names and what do they mean?
Classification, taxonomy, scientific names... these terms are enough to send chills down the backs of those who have taken an Introductory Zoology course, and for the rest, a miasma of terms that might as well be a foreign language. Well, in fact, it is.
As humans, we seem to enjoy naming things – our cars, pets, and computers – but why do scientists need such complicated terms? Common names may or may not be of any help. After all, in Nebraska, a 'gopher' is a rodent, while in Florida, a 'gopher' is a turtle - go figure. Other problems exist, such as finding enough names to cover 45,000 Chordate species, 120,000 Mollusk species, and the five million or so Insect species alive today on our planet.
To solve these problems, Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) prepared a classification scheme that we still use today. At the heart of it are latinized binomials, i.e., two-part names that use root-words of a language that most of us don't think very much about these days - Latin (sometimes Greek). Often, latinized names are intentionally descriptive (Marmota flaviventris: one who lives among the rocks + yellow belly = Yellow Bellied Marmot), sometimes they honor a special scientist (Koopmania concolor, Koopman's uniformly-colored bat, named after the late Karl Koopman, one of the world's most respected bat taxonomists), and sometimes they use common, immediately recognizable, commonly-heard terms (Bison bison: the American Bison). When mixed around, there are plenty of Latin roots and "latinized" terms to keep systematists quite content (perhaps someday, one of them will explain to me why the American Robin was named Turdus migratorius?). When we use this detailed terminology, we must relate the entire binomial (genus and species), capitalize the genus, and if we need to save space we can abbreviate the genus name, e.g., Homo sapiens; H. sapiens.
Equipped with our binomials, we are faced with a greater challenge of fitting each taxon (species) into the greater framework. Keep in mind that of the nearly 4000 species of mammals that are still alive on our planet, we are but one, Homo sapiens. Remember Class: Order: Family: Genus: Species? Each category is progressively more narrowly defined such that humans are classified as Vertebrata: Mammalia: Primates: Hominidae: Homo sapiens. Translation? "We are animals with backbones: We are warm blooded and the females produce milk: We are bipeds with relatively unspecialized skeletons and large brains: For our body size, we have really, REALLY large brains." For those of us wishing to study vampire bats, Vertebrata: Mammalia: Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Desmodontidae: Desmodus rotundus. For those of you wishing to ward-off vampires, Garlic (Monocotyledoneae: Liliales: Liliaceae: Allium sativum) does quite nicely.
Bats belong to the mammalian Order, Chiroptera; the term is derived from two words that pretty much sum it all up... [Chiro-hand + ptero-wing = hand-wing]; bats fly with wings that are really greatly expanded hands. Within the Order, there are two distinct kinds (Infraorders) of bats, the Megachiroptera and the Microchiroptera, literally the big and little bats. [NOTE: There is some argument as to the exact number of bat species and even bat genera; Herein I will follow the statistics listed in "Walker's Bats of the World"; Nowak, 1991; ISBN 0-8018-4986-1].
The Megabats (aka. Mega,s, Old World Fruit Bats, Flying Foxes) aren't particularly "huge" as the name would imply, but are good-sized animals in the grand scale of things. [NOTE: human beings are very large animals and are ranked in the top 5% of mammals on the basis of body size.] Megabats have large eyes and large brains and range from 15 to 1500 grams in body size (if converted to common weight, say a quarter (25¢), then Mega,s range from 3-300 quarters -- up to about 3 pounds). Megabats have never evolved true echolocation, though several species within the Genus Rousettus do quite well at navigating using tongue-clicking noises when they are in caves or in dark jungles. Mega's are most often active during the daytime when they forage for fruit, pollen and nectar. Several species have distinct faces that resemble those of foxes, and it is incorrect to apply the term "flying foxes" to all Mega's. Most megabats are communal, that is, they live in family groups, in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World (Africa, Asia, Australia, South Pacific). There is only one family of Megachiroptera (Pteropodidae) that is further divided into three distinct sub-groups (sub-families) with 42 genera and 166 distinct species:
Subfamily: Pteropodinae: Flying foxes
Subfamily: Macroglossinae: Long-tongued bats
Subfamily: Nyctimeninae: Tube-nosed bats.
The Micro's/Microbats aren't really all that small. Actually, many of the largest microbats are considerably larger than the smallest megabats (range: 2-190 grams; the weight of a single penny up to a small sack of 33 quarters). Microbats navigate through the night skies with the aid of ultrasonic echolocation -- vocal cries produced in the voice box (larynx). As a group, microbats exhibit an extraordinary degree of anatomical and ecological diversity: their eyes may be large or small, their faces may or may not be adorned with fleshy pads of skin that aid echolocation (nose leafs are attached to bats that emit their echolocation calls through their noses), their ears may be small and mouse-like, or the ears may be longer than the bat's entire body! They are found world-wide with the rule of thumb that if there are insects present, microbats won't be too far behind. Though each species has specific dietary needs and tastes, as a group, the microchiroptera will eat just about everything: fruit, nectar, pollen, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals including other bats.
It is easiest to pool the microchiroptera into four distinct sub-groups (Super-families) of microbats with 135 genera and 759 distinct species:
The Superfamily Emballonuroidea; these are small, insectivorous, plain-faced, plain-eared bats that are relatively primitive in form.
Family: Rhinopomatidae: Mouse-tailed bats
Family: Emballonuridae: Sac-winged, Sheath-tailed and Ghost bats
Family: Craseonycteridae, Hog-nosed bats
The Superfamily Rhinolophoidea; these are nasal-emitting bats that range in size and have very unique facial features, including nose-leaves that aid in echolocation.
Family: Nycteridae: Slit faced bats
Family: Megadermatidae: False vampire and Yellow-winged bats
Family: Rhinolophidae: Horse-shoe bats
Family: Hipposideridae: Old World Leaf-nosed bats
The Superfamily Phyllostomoidea; this is an incredibly diverse group that includes carnivores, frugivores and insectivores. Presently, there is a great deal of research exploring the relationships within this complex group.
Family: Mystacinidae: New Zealand Short-tailed bats
Family: Noctilionidae: Fisherman bats
Family: Mormoopidae: Moustached and Naked-backed bats
Family: Phyllostomidae: New World Leaf-nosed bats [Alone, the Phyllostomids are a huge (148 species) and incredibly diverse group including: large carnivores, vampire bats, delicate nectar-feeding bats, small insectivores, and a large variety of fruit bats].
The Superfamily Vespertilionoidea are generally small, insectivorous, plain-faced bats.
Family: Natalidae: Funnel eared bats
Family: Furipteridae: Thumbless bats
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Lamaism is which country’s form of Buddhism? | Lamaism | Define Lamaism at Dictionary.com
Lamaism
[lah-muh-iz-uh m] /ˈlɑ məˌɪz əm/
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noun
1.
the Buddhism of Tibet and Mongolia, a Mahayana form including non-Buddhist Indian elements as well as elements of the preexisting Bön shamanism.
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Historical Examples
It was about this time that the theory of successive incarnations which is characteristic of Lamaism was developed and defined.
| Tibet |
Aves is the scientific name for which creatures? | Basic Concepts of Tibetan Buddhism
BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO BASIC CONCEPTS OF "TIBETAN" BUDDHISM
Page 4
THE QUESTION OF BON AND INDIGENOUS BELIEFS
When Buddhism was introduced into Tibet in the seventh century under King Songtsen Gampo, it was apparently centered in the royal court and did not, at first, put down deep roots. Almost a century passed until it found favor again under King Trisong Detsen, who with the aid of Padmasambhava strengthened its position. But even after that "first diffusion," the new religion lost ground, and it was not until the "second diffusion" of Buddhism in the ninth and tenth centuries that it became firmly and finally established as the majority religion of Tibet.
While this basic outline is not disputed, scholars have disagreed about precisely what it was that Buddhism replaced. Certainly, indigenous religious beliefs and practices dominated Tibet before even the first introduction of Buddhism in the seventh century, and during the subsequent stages of its history there. But with what did Buddhism struggle during that period between the "first" and "second" diffusions? And what were the influences that led Tibetan Buddhism to diverge so markedly from Indian Buddhism that later observers attached to it a new name -- Lamaism -- as to a separate, distinct cult?
The great Tibetologist, Giuseppe Tucci, called Tibet's indigenous religious beliefs and practices "the folk religion," for which R.A. Stein adopted the
telling designation, "the nameless religion." Just as various Middle-Eastern and European "pagan" beliefs, deities, customs and practices were absorbed into Christianity, so in Tibet many traces of the folk religion still exist, interwoven into Buddhist practices. But besides those popular beliefs, with their local cults and magical rites, another belief system either pre-dated Buddhism in Tibet or co-existed with it, and the relation of those two has been the subject of research and controversy.
That other religion is Bon. Giuseppe Tucci, David Snellgrove, and other scholars have worked to reconstruct the theology and iconography of early Bon, and have researched the question of Bon's origins, its history, and the extent of its relation to Buddhism. Tucci and other scholars believe that Bon preceded the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. They identify divination and exorcism as central elements of the indigenous folk religion but also of Bon, and believe that both the folk religion and the more structured Bon contributed to the undeniably shamanistic aspect of Tibetan religious practice and customs. In this view, Bon brought a multiplicity of gods, demons, and spirits of nature into the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, where they joined the gods absorbed from Indian tantrism. Tucci attributed Bon's formal doctrinal structure to a later borrowing from Buddhism. According to the standard history, Bon vied with Buddhism for dominance during the early centuries after the introduction of the new religion, and during the period between the first and second diffusions. In any case, Buddhism prevailed, but Bon, or some form of it, has survived in parts of Tibet as well as in remote Himalayan areas, such as Dolpo in northwestern Nepal, and there has recently been a Bon revival in the West.
According to this line of thought, the Bon that has survived was so heavily influenced and infused with later adaptations and borrowings from Buddhism that its original form can no longer be definitively distinguished from what is now the majority religion. Yet Buddhism was also heavily influenced by Bon: both shared traditions of magic and exorcism, and both were influenced by the still potent "folk religion." (Tucci considers that Bon was also influenced by Persian Zoroastrianism and by Shaivism, the cult of Shiva, which reached Tibet from the states on the western edge of the Himalayas.)
David Snellgrove, in contradiction, argues that Bon is not the old indigenous religion of Tibet. He agrees with the claim of present-day Bonpos (adherents of Bon) that their religion was, from the beginning, a form of Buddhism, however heterodox. Snellgrove maintains that before the famous introduction of Buddhism to Tibet in the seventh century under royal sponsorship, forms of Buddhism that had reached Central Asia were actually familiar to some Tibetans, and that Bon developed in Western or Central Asia earlier than its arrival, as traditionally understood, in Tibet. He points out that the Bonpos, like the orthodox sects, believe in an enlightened being, Shen-rab, analogous to Buddha, and that Shen-rab, like Shakyamuni, had previous incarnations and appears in various manifestations; he maintains, moreover, that the Bonpos also have a fully developed theology and a set of tantras that he finds corresponds with Buddhist practice. Snellgrove considers Bon much closer to the Nyingma-pa, known among the recognized orthodox Buddhist sects as the "old" school, than it is to the popular folk religion with its multitude of spirits, magical rites, divination, exorcism, auguries, etc. He argues that those supernatural aspects of the indigenous cult were accepted perforce by both Bonpos as well as Buddhists, as old, deeply ingrained customs against which it was futile to contend, however irrelevant or alien to their own beliefs.
To complicate matters, some Bonpos of the present time identify Bon as the religion that prevailed in Tibet prior to the introduction of Buddhism, a position that contradicts those who argue that Bon is merely another form of Buddhism, having developed at about the same time as Buddhism reached Tibet, if not somewhat earlier. And while Bonpos consider their religion as a form of Buddhism, present-day Tibetan Buddhists regard Bon as a distinct, different religion, not as a heterodox form of Buddhism.
In light of these contending, disparate views about the origin, history, and nature of Bon, and its disputed relation to Buddhism, Per Kvaerne has thus defined the three main theories:
Bon was the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet, its central figure a king with sacred powers;
Bon was a form of Buddhism that developed in western Tibet at least as early as the period in which Buddhism was introduced into Tibet, and was similar in many respects to orthodox Buddhism;
Bon, so-called, was not a religion in its own right, but the sum of all the indigenous beliefs, cults of local gods, popular rites, etc., that were once prevalent across Tibet.
Whatever the true origin, history, and nature of Bon, Tibetan Buddhist monastic orders are broadly tolerant of the old practices, some of which have almost no recognizable affinity with Buddhist belief. These native elements, whether they derive from Bon or from a folk religion, were strongly concerned with defence against hostile or ambivalent powers, ensuring that the dead do no harm to the living.
Many of the rites and practices meant to defeat such hostile powers have survived not only in the folk religion, but were even, in Buddhist guise, absorbed into orthodox Buddhist ritual. The people of the Tibetan cultural world are profoundly, devoutly Buddhist, yet the ancient traditions of folk religion not only remain vital, but have left their indelible stamp on Tibetan Buddhism, contributing to its distinctive nature. Basically, Tibetan Buddhism is the intersection of Mahayana and of Vajrayana Buddhism, with its component of Indian Tantrism, along with traditional, pre-Buddhist beliefs, whether Bon or not. And it is clear that in Tibet, rather than opposing the folk tradition, Buddhism accepted and absorbed it -- and in so doing, allowed its borders to stretch. Buddhism has never concerned itself with extirpating heresy, and has no concept of excommunication.
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Which island group was once called the Spanish East Indies? | East Indies | islands, Southeast Asia | Britannica.com
islands, Southeast Asia
Alternative Titles: archipelagic Southeast Asia, insular Southeast Asia, Spice Islands
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East Indies, the islands that extend in a wide belt along both sides of the Equator for more than 3,800 miles (6,100 km) between the Asian mainland to the north and west and Australia to the south. Historically, the term East Indies is loosely applied to any of three contexts . The most restrictive and best-known use is as a synonym for the islands that now constitute the Republic of Indonesia (formerly known as the Netherlands Indies, or Dutch East Indies); these include the Greater Sunda Islands (Borneo, Celebes, Java, and Sumatra), the Lesser Sunda Islands (stretching eastward from Bali to Timor), the Moluccas, and New Guinea (including Papua New Guinea on the eastern half of the island). In a second, larger sense, East Indies refers to the Malay Archipelago (including the Philippines), which now is more commonly called insular (or archipelagic) Southeast Asia . Finally, in its broadest context , the term East Indies encompasses the foregoing plus all of mainland Southeast Asia and India .
Learn More in these related articles:
Malay Archipelago
largest group of islands in the world, consisting of the more than 17,000 islands of Indonesia and the approximately 7,000 islands of the Philippines. The regional name “East Indies” is sometimes used as a synonym for the archipelago. New Guinea is usually arbitrarily included in the...
in Indonesia: Expansion of European influence
...VOC]) received its charter, two years after the formation of the English East India Company. The VOC then inaugurated an effort to exclude European competitors from the archipelago—called the East Indies by Europeans. It also sought to control the trade carried on by indigenous Asian traders and to establish its own commercial monopoly.
in Netherlands: The economy
...(who also ruled Portugal and its possessions from 1580 to 1640) to exclude Dutch merchants and shippers from the lucrative colonial commerce with East Asia led the Dutch to trade directly with the East Indies. Individual companies were organized for each venture, but the companies were united by command of the States General in 1602 in order to reduce the costs and increase the security of...
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Assorted References
East Indies - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
The East Indies is the world’s largest island group. It is sometimes known as the Malay Archipelago. The East Indies includes the Moluccas, which were once fabled as the Spice Islands. For centuries the East Indies was an important trading zone.
East Indies - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Once fabled as the Spice Islands, the East Indies extends in a great arc of islands astride the Equator across the Indian and Pacific oceans in Southeast Asia. The East Indies is also known as the Malay Archipelago. The world’s largest island group, it includes thousands of islands in an area that extends more than 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers) between mainland Southeast Asia to the north and west and Australia to the south. Geographically the 7,000 islands of the Philippines are part of the archipelago, but for historical reasons the name East Indies usually refers to the islands to their south.
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Date Published: July 20, 1998
URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Indies
Access Date: January 19, 2017
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An 1801 map of the East Indies.
The East Indies or Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia . [1] In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago . [1] [2] The name "Indies" is derived from the river Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural influence (except Vietnam which is in the Chinese cultural sphere ).
Dutch-held colonies in the area were known for about 300 years as the Dutch East Indies before Indonesian independence , while Spanish-held colonies were known as the Spanish East Indies before the US conquest and later Philippines' independence. The East Indies may also include the former French-held Indochina , former British territories Brunei and Singapore , and former Portuguese East Timor . It does not, however, include the former Dutch New Guinea western New Guinea (West Papua), which is geographically considered to be part of Melanesia .
The inhabitants of the East Indies are almost never called East Indians, distinguishing them both from inhabitants of the Caribbean (which is also called the West Indies ) and from the indigenous peoples of the Americas who are often called "American Indians." In colonial times they were just "natives". However, the peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single ethnic group. Buddhism , Islam , Christianity and Hinduism are the most popular religions throughout the region, while Sikhism , Jainism , Chinese folk religion and various other traditional beliefs and practices are also prominent in some areas. The major languages in this area draw from a wide variety of language families , and should not be confused with the term Indic , which refers only to a group of Indo-Iranian languages from South Asia .
The extensive East Indies are subdivided into two sections (from a European perspective), archaically called Hither India and Further India . The first is the former British India , the second is Southeast Asia .
Regions of the East Indies are sometimes known by the colonial empire they once belonged to, hence, British East Indies refers to Malaysia , the Dutch East Indies means Indonesia , and Spanish East Indies means the Philippines .
Historically, the king of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia ) was identified with " Prester John of the Indies", since that part of the world was imagined to be one of "Three Indias".
History
West Indies
Countries sometimes included in West Indies
Exploration of these regions by European powers first began in the late 15th century and early 16th century led by the Portuguese explorers . [3] The Portuguese described the entire region they discovered as the Indies. Eventually, the region would be broken up into a series of Indies. The East Indies, which was also called "Old Indies" or "Great Indies", consisting of India , and the West Indies, also called "New Indies" or "Little Indies", consisting of the Americas . [4]
These regions were important sources of trading goods, particularly cotton , indigo and spices after the establishment of European trading companies: the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company , among others, in the 17th century.
The New World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the Indies by explorer Christopher Columbus , who had grossly underestimated the westerly distance from Europe to Asia. Later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the "West Indies", while the original Indies came to be called the "East Indies".
The designation East Indian was once primarily used to describe people of all of the East Indies, in order to avoid the potential confusion from the term American Indian who were once simply referred to as Indians (see the Native American name controversy for more information).
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What is the middle name of Ex-President Jimmy Carter? | Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States and Founder of The Carter Center
Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.), thirty-ninth president of the United States, was born October 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. His father, James Earl Carter, Sr., was a farmer and businessman; his mother, Lillian Gordy Carter, a registered nurse.
He was educated in the public school of Plains, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant. Chosen by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the nuclear submarine program, he was assigned to Schenectady, New York, where he took graduate work at Union College in reactor technology and nuclear physics, and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the Seawolf, the second nuclear submarine.
On July 7, 1946, he married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. When his father died in 1953, he resigned his naval commission and returned with his family to Georgia. He took over the Carter farms, and he and Rosalynn operated Carter's Warehouse, a general-purpose seed and farm supply company in Plains. He quickly became a leader of the community, serving on county boards supervising education, the hospital authority, and the library. In 1962 he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign in 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia's 76th governor on January 12, 1971. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections.
President Jimmy Carter
On December 12, 1974, he announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He won his party's nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and was elected president on November 2, 1976.
Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration's achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Books & Accomplishments
Mr. Carter is the author of twenty-nine books, many of which are now in revised editions: Why Not the Best? 1975, 1996; A Government as Good as Its People, 1977, 1996; Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President, 1982, 1995; Negotiation: The Alternative to Hostility, 1984, 2003; The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East, 1985, 1993, 2007; Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, written with Rosalynn Carter, 1987, 1995; An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections, 1988, 1994; Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age, 1992; Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation, 1993, 1995; Always a Reckoning, and other Poems, 1995; The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer, illustrated by Amy Carter, 1995; Living Faith, 1996; Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith, 1997; The Virtues of Aging, 1998; An Hour before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood, 2001; Christmas in Plains: Memories, 2001; The Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2002; The Hornet's Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War, 2003; Sharing Good Times, 2004; Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, 2005; Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, 2006, 2007; Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope, 2007; A Remarkable Mother, 2008; We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work, 2009; White House Diary, 2010; Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President, 2011; as general editor, NIV Lessons from the Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter, 2012; A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power, 2014; and A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety, 2015.
The Carter Center
In 1982, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded The Carter Center. Actively guided by President Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy. Carter Center staff and associates join with President Carter in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. The Center has spearheaded the international effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, which is poised to be the second human disease in history to be eradicated.
President Carter and The Carter Center have engaged in conflict mediation in Ethiopia and Eritrea (1989), North Korea (1994), Liberia (1994), Haiti (1994), Bosnia (1994), Sudan (1995), the Great Lakes region of Africa (1995-96), Sudan and Uganda (1999), Venezuela (2002-2003), Nepal (2004-2008), Ecuador and Colombia (2008), and the Middle East (2003-present). Under his leadership The Carter Center has sent one hundred election-observation missions to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. These include Panama (1989), Nicaragua (1990), China (1997), Nigeria (1998), Indonesia (1999), East Timor (1999), Mexico (2000), Guatemala (2003), Venezuela (2004), Ethiopia (2005), Liberia (2005), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2006), Nepal (2008), Lebanon (2009), Sudan (2010), Tunisia (2011), Egypt (2011-2012), Kenya (2013), Mozambique (2014), and Guyana (2015).
The permanent facilities of The Carter Presidential Center were dedicated in October 1986, and include the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives. Also open to visitors is the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains, administered by the National Park Service.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes for themselves. Since 2007, President Carter also has served as a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders. He teaches Sunday school and is a deacon in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains. For recreation, he enjoys fly-fishing, woodworking, and swimming. The Carters have three sons, one daughter, nine grandsons, three granddaughters, four great-grandsons, and six great-granddaughters.
On December 10, 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Mr. Carter "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development."
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Jimmy Carter’s Early Life and Start in Politics
Born in Plains, Georgia , on October 1, 1924, James Earle Carter Jr. attended the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating in 1946. Shortly thereafter he married Rosalynn Smith, a fellow native of Plains; the couple would have four children. Carter’s seven-year career in the Navy included five years on submarine duty. In 1953, he was preparing to serve as an engineering officer on the submarine Seawolf when his father died. Carter returned home and was able to rebuild his family’s struggling peanut warehouse business after a crippling drought.
Did You Know?
Iran finally released the hostages on January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan's inauguration. Reagan invited former President Carter to greet the freed hostages in Germany.
Active in community affairs and a deacon at the Plains Baptist Church, Carter launched his political career with a seat on his local board of education. In 1962, he won election to the Georgia State Senate as a Democrat; he was reelected in 1964. Two years later, he ran for the governor’s office, finishing a disappointing third. The loss sent Carter into a period of depression, which he overcame by finding renewed faith as a born-again Christian. He ran again for the governorship in 1970 and won. A year later, Carter was featured on the cover of Time magazine as one of a new breed of young political leaders in the South, known for their moderate racial views and progressive economic and social policies.
Carter and the Presidential Election of 1976
Carter announced his candidacy for president in 1974, just before his gubernatorial term was up. For the next two years, he traveled around the country making speeches and meeting as many people as possible. His core message was one of values: He called for a return to honesty and an elimination of secrecy in government, and repeatedly told voters, “I’ll never tell a lie.”
At a time when Americans were disillusioned with the executive branch of government in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Carter managed to build a constituency by marketing himself as an outsider to Washington politics. He won the Democratic nomination in July 1976 and chose Senator Walter F. Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate. In the general election, Carter faced Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford, who had succeeded to the presidency after Nixon’s resignation. In November, Carter won a narrow victory, capturing 51 percent of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes (compared with Ford’s 240).
“Outsider” in Washington
As president, Carter sought to portray himself as a man of the people, dressing informally and adopting a folksy speaking style. He introduced a number of ambitious programs for social and economic reform, and included a relatively large number of women and minorities in his cabinet. Despite Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Congress blocked Carter’s proposal for welfare reform, as well as his proposal for a long-range energy program, a central focus of his administration. This difficult relationship with Congress meant that Carter was unable to convert his plans into legislation, despite his initial popularity.
Carter’s relationship with the public suffered in 1977, when Bert Lance–a close friend of the president whom he had named as director of the Office of Management and Budget–was accused of financial misdealings in his pre-Washington career as a Georgia banker. Carter initially defended Lance, but was later driven to ask for his resignation. Though Lance was later cleared of all charges, the scandal marred the president’s much-vaunted reputation for honesty.
Jimmy Carter’s Leadership Abroad and at Home
In 1977, Carter brokered two U.S. treaties with Panama; the following year, he presided over a tough round of meetings between Egypt’s President Anwar el-Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David. The resulting Camp David Accords ended the state of war between the two nations that had existed since Israel was founded in 1948. Carter also reopened diplomatic relations between the United States and China while breaking ties with Taiwan, and signed a bilateral strategic arms limitation treaty (SALT II) with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
Throughout his presidency, Carter struggled to combat the nation’s economic woes, including high unemployment, rising inflation and the effects of an energy crisis that began in the early 1970s. Though he claimed an increase of 8 million jobs and a reduction in the budget deficit by the end of his term, many business leaders as well as the public blamed Carter for the nation’s continuing struggles, saying he didn’t have a coherent or effective policy to address them. In July 1979, Carter called a special summit with national leaders at Camp David. His televised speech after the meeting diagnosed a “crisis of confidence” occurring in the country, a mood that he later referred to as a “national malaise.”
Hostage Crisis and Carter’s Defeat
In November 1979, a mob of Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took its diplomatic staff hostage as a protest against the arrival in the United States of the deposed Iranian shah, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, in order to receive medical treatment. The students had the support of Iran’s revolutionary government, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Carter stood firm in the tense standoff that followed, but his failure to free the hostages led his government to be perceived as inept and inefficient; this perception increased after the failure of a secret U.S. military mission in April 1980.
Despite sagging approval ratings, Carter was able to defeat a challenge by Senator Edward Kennedy to win the Democratic nomination in 1980. He was defeated by a large margin in the general election that year by Ronald Reagan , a former actor and governor of California who argued during his campaign that the problem facing the country was not a lack of public confidence, but a need for new leadership.
Jimmy Carter’s Post-Presidency Career
With his wife Rosalynn, Carter established the nonprofit, nonpartisan Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta in 1982. In the decades that followed, he continued his diplomatic activities in many conflict-ridden countries around the globe. In 1994 alone, Carter negotiated with North Korea to end their nuclear weapons program, worked in Haiti to ensure a peaceful transfer of government and brokered a (temporary) ceasefire between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims.
Carter has also built homes for the poor with the organization Habitat for Humanity and worked as a professor at Emory University. He is the author of numerous books, the topics of which range from his views on the Middle East to memories of his childhood; they also include a historical novel and a collection of poetry. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize committee cited his role in helping forge the Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt during his presidency, as well as his ongoing work with the Carter Center.
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In 1948, which Vickers aircraft became the first turboprop airliner to enter active service? | Vickers Viscount - airplanes
List of Different Types of Airplanes in the World
Vickers Viscount - airplanes
Picture has been licensed under a GFDL license.
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Author: MilborneOne
The Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. It would go on to be one of the most successful of the first generation postwar transports with 445 being built.
The Vickers Viscount was the most successful post-war British airliner. It made its first flight on 16 July 1948 as 'Type 630', with four Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.1 turboprops. 1
British Midland Airways BMI Vickers Viscount a Classic A3 colour illustration British Midland Airways BMI Vickers Viscount a Classic A3 colour illustration Paypal £9. 2
View the full size photo! British Air Ferries (BAF) G-APEY Vickers Viscount 806 London Gatwick Airport - EGKK Aircraft: British Air Ferries (BAF) Vickers Viscount 806 3
A Vickers Viscount 700 at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland Role Turboprop airliner Manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs First flight 4
Vickers Viscount and Vanguard (Crowood Aviation Series) 2. Vickers Viscount and Vanguard (Crowood Aviation Series) by Malcolm L. 5
Vickers Viscount 814 - Click here for a bigger picture and more information Photographer: Tom Higgs Location: Moreton-in-Marsh Fire Service College, 6
Vickers Viscount For USA - Capital Airliners… 1955 - Please ensure you have JavaScript turned on and have the latest version of Adobe 7
4th worst accident involving a Vickers Viscount (at the time) 5th worst accident involving a Vickers Viscount (currently) 4th worst accident in France (at the time) 10th worst accident 8
Why is there a Vickers Viscount aircraft by the side of the main road from Gent to Zeebrugge in Belgium? Just came back from two weeks in Gent,loverly country. 9
British European Airways Vickers Viscount 802 at London Heathrow Airport in 1964. 10
Vickers Viscount 807 - Click here for a bigger picture and more information Photographer: Steve Homewood Location: Christchurch, New Zealand 11
Vickers Viscount G-ALWFFlightlineVickers Viscount 701Introduction Designed by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd 445 Viscount aircraft were built between 1948 and 1964. 12
Vickers Viscount "ZK-BRF," "City of Christchurch," New Zealand National Airways (1:200) Vickers Viscount "ZK-BRF," "City of Christchurch," New Zealand National Airways (1:200) - 13
Made by Vickers-Armstrongs.
from this list Vickers Viscount Crash SiteVickers Viscount Crash SiteOn 19 January 1973, a British European Airways Vickers Viscount 802, registration G-AOHI, crashed on these slopes in white-out conditions whilst only 14
Vickers Viscount VH-TVC en route to Canberra had taken off at Sydney shortly after 7.00 p.m. and, subsequently, all communication had been lost. 15
Vickers Viscount is part of the selection of the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona. 16
The Vickers Viscount became the first medium-range turboprop airliner in the world when it was first flown in 1948. 17
Vickers Viscount Lufthansa version Vickers Viscount Lufthansa version Vickers Viscount D-ANUN made by Biller in Western Germany "Swiss 18
Old Vickers Viscount Photo at Classic Aircraft = This Vickers aircraft photograph is one of over 100 rare aviation images that Dave kindly sent over, 19
PersonaliseHobby Master Vickers Viscount ZK-BRF "City of Christchurch", 1960s (Pre-order) Hobby Master Vickers Viscount ZK-BRF "City of Christchurch", 1960s (Pre-order) * Hobby Master Vickers Viscount ZK-BRF "City of 20
A BEA Vickers Viscount at London Heathrow airport Photo: 1964 Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone). 21
Vickers Viscount series 700 of BEA (photo by unknown photographer - The Aviation Buffs archive) Vickers Viscount series 700 of BEA 22
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. 23
Vickers Viscount had a far inferior range to the other two - not suited to most international routes at all. 24
The film tells the tale of the Vickers Viscount by having dad tell his two young excited sons about the new aircraft. 25
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Lunch in first class on board a BEA Vickers Viscount, 1953. Flying was still a luxurious mode of transport, with space for congenial eating and seating arrangements; one could also enjoy an after-dinner smoke. // Airline: Style at 30,000 Feet (mini edition). Courtesy of Laurence King Publishing. // http://www.yatzer.com/airline-style-at-30-000-feet
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Which Channel Four game show was remade in the USA under the title Junkyard Wars? | Junkyard Wars Needs A Few Good Contestants - Slashdot
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Andy B writes: "At long last, we have got an address for aspiring contestants to send their Junkyard Wars applications to (Slashdot slightly jumped the gun last autumn). Hurry to get you applications in, as the deadline for applications is Fri 16th Feb."
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Yes, but its license states that it must act as a public service broadcaster:
This [itc.org.uk] is taken from the ITC [itc.org.uk] website:
The main points in the new licence are:
redefinition of the remit in relation to all channels, not just ITV, and further commitment to innovation and experiment;
a revised and strengthened statement on education;
a commitment to provide at least three hours on average per week of multicultural programmes, and also to schedule at least some of these in peak time;
a major commitment to the UK film industry, giving some preference to innovative and risky subjects and treatments;
a new commitment to programmes for and about people with disabilities;
increased requirement of 60 per cent of programmes specially commissioned for the Channel by 1999;
a new commitment for production outside the London region, including a minimum requirement of 30 per cent by 2002;
new maxima for repeats;
a new commitment and new minimum requirement for spending on training;
a new requirement for diversity in the peak-time schedule, including news, current affairs, educational, religious and multicultural programmes;
revised commitments to subtitling and other provisions for those with hearing and sight impairments.
I think it's not fully privatised either - doesn't the government still own a proportion of it and fund it a bit too?
by MrP- ( 45616 ) writes:
if you watched the last episode of junkyard wars (the rocket one), cathy said you can go to the site and submit an idea for them to build, i forget what site she said, probably either the junkyard wars site, or tlc.com, either way you should submit that, that would be cool to see... but only thing is theyd probably want to fight during the show at the end, unless they go tape the fight at battlebots, show the match during junkyard wars, then battle bots later, like they did with jay lenos chinkilla, they aired the match early on the tonight show then again on battle bots... but i dont know since battle bots is comedy centrals, maybe theyd have to do robot wars, but they dont air robot wars enough in america
:(
by Uberminky ( 122220 ) writes:
The new Junkyard Wars episodes stink. I mean yeah, it's still a cool show, but it's just not what it used to be. I miss the silly Brits, they cracked me up. But yunno... maybe it's just me, but I swear the type of things they do on the show have changed since they got the new host and stuff. I mean.. one of the last episodes the Scrapheap Challenge did was drag racing. And what's the first Junkyard Wars thing? Drag racing. They also did all-terrain vehicles, which Scrapheap Challenge did.. and.. just tons of them. They're all the same sorts of things. Maybe it's just my perception, and the fact that I miss the old show, but it really seems like they've dumbed it down to suit us redneck Americans or something. I dunno... I just wish they'd give me my Scrapheap Challenge... Looking forward to next week's episode....
by ScuzzMonkey ( 208981 ) writes:
I haven't seen all that many episodes, but of those I have seen, this seems to be the theme. The team that comes up with the more brilliant, elegant design has it crap out on them almost immediately, because, after all, it's made out of junk. The crowd that bangs together some brute-force job powers through and wins it.
Apparently, it doesn't pay to get too creative.
Makes it more fun to watch, though.
by Uberminky ( 122220 ) writes:
that would be so lame. On the one hand, we have people turning scrap metal and garbage into working mechanical beasts that they bring to life to do their bidding. And on the other hand... we have a bunch of computer geeks, whose whole world exists on a hard drive somewhere. What's the absolute most exciting ending the show could have? They.... make a computer system work. Hoooo boy...
Now robotics... There's something cool. A mixture of computing and mechanics. The software and the hardware, the virtual and the real, all blending together into one. You may think it's cool to make a few characters appear on your 31337 console, but that just can't come close to making a thinking machine that exists in reality, and that can directly have an impact on the real world. I say make a cross between Junkyard Wars and Battlebots, and have two teams with a bunch of robot parts, that have to build robots to do some task! WHOOO!!! (And none of this lame Battlebots crap. I don't care how well you make it, a machine that you completely control with remote controls is just lame. That's no "robot", that's a remote controlled car. WHERE IS THE REAL CHALLENGE?!?! WHERE ARE THE ROBOTS!?)
Ok, enough of my ranting for now.
by Fixer ( 35500 ) writes:
I always thought that the original, all-British Junkyard Wars was already pretty dumbed down.
I'd have liked more commentary on the specifics of each machine, how certain problems are being solved, techniques, etc.
But then again, I'm a freak.
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
The post said Nationalised. That is not the same as 'not for profit'.
Channel 4 was established as a not-for-profit business, paid for by skimming the budgets of the commercial ITV broadcasters in the UK.
The whole Channel 4 set-up is a complex arrangement - it is paid for by advertising revenues, has no shareholders, and a license that obliges (obligates?) it to carry out a public service remit.
This [uwaterloo.ca] link explains it all in more detail. It's quite interesting, especially to open-sourcerers..
So, your uninformed commie is probably slightly more informed than you are.
You could argue thant 'nationalised' was probably the wrong word, but since channel 4 doesn't have shareholders, 'commercial' is equally inaccurate. It's a strange beast: there probably isn't one adjective to describe it...
Uban_Existentialist is just a troll trying to bait the libertarians on
/. (I bit, for one)
Take a look at his other comments & Bio. He's either a troll (and I hope he is) or a clueless 16 year old who is hell bent on saving everyone from themeselves. Either way, not someone to be taken seriously.
-Red
by MikeOrr ( 21603 ) writes:
I'm sure the costume department had several identical ties, just in case he somehow gets it caught in a naked fanbelt and survives
I remember one episode, he got a big oil/grease/dirt/etc stain on his tie. The very next episode it was obvious that it was the very same tie, it was tied up so much shorter so the stain would be under/in the knot.. Hilarious.. the end of the tie only reached mid-chest..
by Nemix ( 35844 ) writes:
My first exposure to the show was the rocket building one. Personally, I found it disappointing they had "experts". To me, this turns the team into nothing more than order takers and labor.
I say increase the quality of the teams and drop the "experts".
by Xel ( 84370 ) writes:
I can see it now, someone builds a computer with a full AI to control their machine out of old car parts.
I can see it now, too. 7 1/2 minutes before the deadline, the Slashdot team has a working artificially intelligent fire extinguishing hydrogen powered hovercraft, with AI, running on Linux.
Just as victory seems imminent, one of the team members runs back off into the junkyard screaming something about a beowolf cluster, and the team is disqualified because they can't find him for 3 hours while he frantically tunnels through dead washing machines and microwaves looking for Pentium mobos.
But the real highlight comes halfway through the show. What did the team bring for lunch?
Why, hot grits, of course.
by shadoelord ( 163710 ) writes:
I love watching british comedy on PBS. I wouldn't want to increase their funding though, since they are soo full of liberals that decide what to put on the tv.
I'll stick with Discovery Channel, TLC, and the History Channel for now (along with Fox News and Cartoon Network)
-Shadoelord
If can't weld.
If you don't know a carburetor from an alternator.
If all you know how to do to your car is check and maybe change the oil.
If your idea of a good weekend is sitting at home and compiling the latest kernel.
The only tools you own see most of their use on computer cases.
Your idea of spare parts is few old motherboards and some hard drives under 5 gig.
And most importantly, if you can't handle 10+ hours of manual labor in whatever conditions present themselves on the days of taping.
by The Cunctator ( 15267 ) writes:
Wow, that's some bad moderation...Golias's post marked as flamebait?
Fortunately, the show is basically about using actual junkyard parts to make stuff, even with the seeding. But there certainly is the potential for this to get out of hand if they keep on making episodes, and the challenges become more unrealistic without basically having the parts and the bluprints laid out in front of the contestants.
I for one would be happy watching simpler challenges (like the classic build-a-wrecking-machine) that don't require as much seeding.
But seeing cool complicated contraptions is fun too. I hope they manage to strike a reasonable balance.
by GregWebb ( 26123 ) writes:
I don't agree with your post on any level - but it's actually wrong too.
Channel 4 show Scrapheap Challenge / Junkyard Wars. Yes, the government own them but no, they're not funded through tax. They carry adverts.
Now, I'd argue that the BBC produces substantially better programming (as a rule) than either ITV, Channels 4 or 5 or the various digital channels (and yes, I've had digital / sattelite TV for years) and is consequently well worth the license fee. But, even if you disagree with this on principle for whatever reason, _it_ _doesn't_ _apply_ _to_ _Channel_ _4_!
by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) writes:
Now, if I had been in charge of the show, I would have expected them to make the engines, too... A little bit of powerdered aluminium would not have been hard to dig up... finding magnesium might have been difficult, I wonder what else they could have used?
Remember, in the hovercraft episode, they found jet engine nacelles. That's a hell of a junkyard. And, uhhh, I don't think I'd try welding to those (though they did), if you know what I mean.
Lots of mid-80s Volvos have magnesium rims.
Even so, you could do a thermite with just powdered rust and powdered aluminum. In the 1800s, it was how large welding was done.
by ledbetter ( 179623 ) writes:
While it's a great show, the participants who can enter the show are pretty limited. There are legions of us resourceful computer geeks out there who would be perfect for a sister-show to Junkyard Wars--based on computers. The contestants could be put in a warehouse filled with old 386's/486's and different obsolete software packages and the goal could be to assemble a specific type of computing system! (and perhaps to hack the opposing team's network!)
by omarius ( 52253 ) writes:
Maybe someone should explain "Logic" to them on their videotape... they have two "most important" questions.
"Okay, I'll be P, you be Q, and Ray here will be the equal sign. Do you have the NOT? Who's got the not?"
!
by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) writes:
And the old host was hilarious. He'd look at a teams work, crack a joke and laugh hysterically. It was great.
I agree. And I loved his ties.
by jitterbug ( 38915 ) writes:
If I'm supposed to "beware of programmers carrying screwdrivers", what do I do if I see one with a cutting torch? I think I would run for the hills!
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
This point is illogical
I'm afraid I don't agree, but it was nice of you to warn us in advance... Rather than being illogical, IMHO, your executive summary wasn't representative of the original post. Illogical, no, unrepresentative, possibly...
As I understood it, the original argument was that broadcasters who are not obliged to continually chase the bottom line are more likely to come up with something creative and interesting. Occasionally these also turn out to very popular. Channel 4, like other PSB's, is legally obliged to spend a certain amount of its output on education, multi-cultural broadcasting and the like. Scrapheap challenge (or Junkyard Wars, if you prefer) is probably a direct consequence of them being forced to produce something educational and show it in peak time.
Seems fairly logical to me...
by MrChrome ( 248936 ) writes:
What makes this show so interesting to watch is that they are not, how should I put this, bound to selling the show. Its all about the actually building, testing, and spirit of the game. They never say "Lets play, who wants to be a millionaire!"
by Urban Existentialist ( 307726 ) writes:
What a purblind opinion you have. Why, I have, (very occasionally) expressed a reasoned opinion different from that of the mainstream! Anyone who does that must be a troll, it stands to reason. I suggest that you haven't researched properly - if you had, you would realise that I am no different from anybody else, with deviances from the groupthink that occur to the same degree as in anybody eses posts. My posts are very rarely controversial, but you appear to have made your mind up rather quickly on the matter, so what can I do?
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
by Sebby ( 238625 ) writes:
Any, and I mean ANY show which is Americanized turns out worse than its UK counter part
Besides, US networks can hardly ever come up with anything new on their own. They BUY most of their shows. Just look at 'Whose Line Is It Anyway', TLC's trauma crap, 'Trading Places', and 'Junkyard Wars': all these shows are bought/ripoffs of UK shows.
I think any UK-turned-US shows should always have the following added onto the title:
"Now with more commercials!(TM)"
by Jack Porter ( 310054 ) writes:
I agree, it's a pity that TLC felt the needed to Americanize the show and produce a version only for the US market. Don't they realize that the fact that it is distinctly british is one of the best things about the show?
The previous series with Robert Llewellen (Kryten) were made as "Scrapheap Challenge" only for the UK market, and were picked up by TLC and renamed for the US. My hope is that they continue to make the UK series with Kryten and these eventually find their way to our US screens.
The series starting this Monday is actually the first british series which hasn't been shown on US TV before. I've seen parts of it on the "Best of Scrapheap Challenge" VHS I ordred from Amazon.co.uk. (The channel4 website also carries the tape but it doesn't deliver internationally).
Journal
Yes, but it's gotten worse with each season. The very first season or two from England had much less obvious or near-nonexistent seeding. The seeding with the latest English and American episodes is going too far, and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I can understand it a bit from the perspective that they've already built a lot of the things that one can build, and they always need to come up with something new..., but it's still gone too far. (And they never should have replaced Robert Llewellyn in the American series, good thing they kept whats-her-name, if they'd replaced her with some stupid blonde-bubble-gum girl, I'd have puked.)
by Acous ( 141729 ) writes:
"Junkyard Wars" is the US version of "Scrapheap Challenge". Scrapheap Challenge was made for Channel Four in the UK, which is not a state funded channel (i believe).
however c4 is a relatively liberal station, maybe thats what you need in the US.. not neccisarily nationalisation?
by ckedge ( 192996 ) writes:
> For example in the hovercraft episode, we got to watch someone make a roughly 4' diameter propeller from a block of wood and a chainsaw. The NERDS last year made a 3000rpm centrifugal water pump out of a brake rotor and some scrap metal.
Yep, those two items were *quite* impressive. I'm amazed that the prop stayed together. And that you could build a vehicle based on sytrofoam! (albeit thick styrofoam, with a little extra strengthening).
by Jack Porter ( 310054 ) writes:
While I agree with your argument about publically funded broadcasters making quality TV, Junkyard Wars was not created by the BBC. It was created as Scrapheap Challenge [channel4.com] by Channel4 in the UK, a commercial TV station.
But, the fact that the BBC generates such quality programming in general is definitely responsible for the quality of programming coming out of other UK channels such as Channel4 and ITV.
by sycorob ( 180615 ) writes:
Sorry, I'm paying more attention to Cathy Rogers. She's pretty hot. I can't find a damn picture of her anywhere on the web though.
Something that can't be found on the web? Impossible! Sounds like a challenge.
She's not that hot, in my opinion. Here's some pictures [topcath.co.uk] anyways.
Oh, you meant those kinds of pictures. Oops.
by Jack Porter ( 310054 ) writes:
Actually, checking out Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge [channel4.com] page, the poor brits are going to get the US series of Junkyard Wars. But at least they're telling their audience it's definitely not the same show, and there's a new series of "Scrapheap Challenge" in production at the moment, presumably with Llewellen.
by tiefling ( 155137 ) writes:
Bugger you mean they changed it? @!#$@#$ Dammit thats what I get for not watching it in a long time. *sigh* back to Red Dwarf reruns.
by SEWilco ( 27983 ) writes:
That's why I phrased it the way I did. The two contestant robots would fight on JW. The winner would become a RW/BB contestant. If it's an American JW, BB; if it's a British JW, RW.
by MajroMax ( 112652 ) writes:
Sadly, even when it's possible to do otherwise, seeding is necessary for the safety factor.
In you example, you provided several good methods of creating rocket propulsion, and they would likely work. However, they're also a LOT more prone to blowing up on the launchpad or workshop... just think of welding a makeshift rocket (with live fuel inside) to the main body... goodbye team.
Similarly, they've been known to seed the junkyard for other vital parts. In one of the eps in the last series, the challenge was a steam-powered car (see www.the-nerds.org for one of the teams' website with design notes). For that, they provided steam boilers and engines, for both the safety and complexity factor...
Making a steam engine in the 10 hr time limit would be horrible, especially in conjunction with the rest of the car. Making a boiler would not only be as bad but also dangerous - the seeded ones had inspection certificates on file. Also, reportedly they needed a licensed plumber to inspect the plumbing on the cars before the race.
The purpose of this show is to highlight brilliant hackish mechanical engineering, not to be ultra-realistic, and it works.
by MajroMax ( 112652 ) writes:
The blonde host, Cathy (Iforgetherlastname), is also one of the executive producers of the show, as I remember... they're not likely to remove her.
:)
Channel 4 is publically owned, but funds itself through advertising.
John
by MaxQuordlepleen ( 236397 ) writes:
Damn it, I hate to agree with one of those sanctimonious, scary, right wing Libertarimericans but he does actually have a point. We don't have free speech in Canada due to that hideous "notwithstanding clause". The Quebec government has been limiting reasonable speech for years with it's language laws.
The notion that any government, federal or provincial can pass unconstitutional laws simply by invoking the notwithstanding clause is horrible. A government can run rampant until it's mandate ends, which is too long.
Lots of things about the USA don't appeal to me: fetishism of money & the market, intolerance, ignorance. Unfortunately, there are an equal number of things about Canada that I don't like: our celebration of mediocrity, our provincial attitude (ie; we're always somebody's bitch, whether it be Uncle Sam or Mother England), and most especially our willingness to sacrifice our principles (ie the Charter) for political expediency (ie the notwithstanding clause).
Just because Upton Sinclair was right doesn't mean Solzhynitzen wasn't also right.
by malachid69 ( 306291 ) writes:
Well, there are two things that suck about PBS. One is the seemingly non-stop fund-raisers interrupting the one show in a hundred you care about. The second is the message at the end of the half hour show telling you that you can get it on VHS for only $400!
But, there ARE alternatives. For example, here in the Portland (OR) area, there are 3 channels that are Community Access (NOT PBS)... I am planning on going down and taking their class this summer so I can get free use of their camera, editing rooms, mobile editing studio, studios, blue screens, and oh-yes, the AIR TIME.
Oh, and did I mention that they DO NOT EDIT FOR CONTENT?
by Beowulf_Boy ( 239340 ) writes:
I was watching Junk-yard-wars the other day (the one were they built the rocket). THey pulled two brand-new rocket engines OUT OF THE BACK OF A TRUCK!!!! what kind of junk-yard is this?
by mobets ( 101759 ) writes:
Some one should get a slashdot team team together.
I can see it now, someone builds a computer with a full AI to control their machine out of old car parts.
_________________________________
by hamshere ( 148365 ) writes:
I'd say that while the point itself is made in a slightly illogical way, what Urban was saying was true. The vast majority of the funniest, most interesting, most entertaining programmes have their roots in the BBC or Channel 4.
We've got Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, Monty Python, Black Adder, the Goon Show, the Crystal Maze, Blue Peter excetera excetera excetera.
Admittedly, some of my favourite shows come from syndicated stations such as Buffy, Frasier, Cheers, Mash... but they are few and far between.
I couldn't say what the difference really is, but I strongly suspect it is that the BBC and C4 don't always say 'no that's a silly idea'. They don't try to stick to tried and tested, formulaic shows. IIRC, Who Wants to be a Millionaire is the only interesting show that ITV have ever produced.
They get their audience by providing bad sitcoms and bad drama that people watch because it looks flashy or has some good actors in it. The BBC has always been about introducing new faces and new writers and new types of show.
Tom 2.0
by Urban Existentialist ( 307726 ) writes:
Yes, however C4 is chartered to create minority programs and gets a good deal of its cash in a bursary style payment from ITV. Also, it has to compete with the BBC in a public television environment, so really, the point still applies rather well, if not better.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
by malachid69 ( 306291 ) writes:
I think that would be great -- depending on the challenge... Like, perhaps an AUTOMATED ______... In fact, I think I will go submit an idea... Remember all those old games where you have to program a robot to make it through the maze on their own??? Of course, neither a Palm Pilot or Lego RCX would really do for a brain.
Homepage
Junkyard Wars is an excellent program, and it could only be a product of a nationalised television broadcasting agency. Consider what would happen if a commercial bigwig were presented with the idea. His reaction would probably be "Are you mad? I asked for a 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' clone. Get the fuck outta here!".
It is then a good job that Nationalised television exists in Britain in a happy symbiosis with the private sector, and is therefore free to bumble along making programs for their own sake, for the love of it, and not because of what focus groups and market ratings say. Thats what happened with Monty Python - it was literally made in a fit of absent mindedness by the relevant authorities at the BBC. If only America had a similar system.
It would greatly improve American Television, IMHO, if they were to greatly increase funding for PBS, such that it would have money to not just show BBC reruns, but to make its own innovative programs for a variety of channels as well. The beauty of this is that it would force the commercial companies to stop making pap, and start focusing on making interesting programs for once. Things could only improve.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
by malachid69 ( 306291 ) writes:
Update: Due to the fact that I did not want to register for YET ANOTHER account, I did not post the suggestion. If anyone else wants to, feel free.
by The-Zaphod ( 306293 ) writes:
No no no, this would be the perfect test ground for a slashdot team to build a totally recyaled mobil, wireless, laptop that could roam on its own to search the junkyard for even more useless and usable devices to better it self. By using the Paper phone [slashdot.org] and the paper laptop as controlling devices, it could easyly just use household glue to constantly upgrade it self with even more sharmin (tolit paper) to become the biggest Mobil trash ball in the world!
The Zaphod -Didn''t you hear I come in six packs now!
by Aunt Mable ( 301965 ) writes:
It's not entirely a salvage show. They plant many things throughout the heap. It's rather obvious though, you can tell they've found a planted item when the presenters talk about how they've found the smaller 2000rpm model; heavy emphasis on comparasons.
Now as to whether it's a bad thing. They do supply them with tools, and things like scotch-tape and glue which aren't salvaged. They use these in what they make. Welding gunk too.
If they wanted to do rockets there's no way they could have done impressive rockets without some planted items, but I would prefer that they choose not to do rockets and keep the show untainted from plants.
-- Eat your greens or I'll hit you!
by jonskerr ( 217459 ) writes:
You're in luck, Bender 22! There's a film out in Japan now that has this 'best of both worlds' flavor. In BATTLE ROYALE, they take like 32 or so school kids to an island with explosive collars around their necks, and tell them they have 48 hours to kill each other off but for one. If there are any more than 1 of them, all the collars explode. Needless to say, the film's a bit controversial.
by multipartmixed ( 163409 ) writes:
The hosts clearly stated that the rockets were planted in the junkyard, as they knew that there would be no naturally-occuring rocket engines there, but they still wanted to make the contestants search for parts.
Now, if I had been in charge of the show, I would have expected them to make the engines, too... A little bit of powerdered aluminium would not have been hard to dig up... finding magnesium might have been difficult, I wonder what else they could have used?
At any rate, I'm sure that the show's producers thought it best to hide the rocket engines to guarantee a finale which made for good television.
--
Homepage
The issue of "seeding" the yard has caused the most ire from JYW fans. Most times objects such as rocket engines, and steam engines are planted in the interest of safety laws and time constraints. Before the competition takes place, the expert submits a list of parts they would like and their preliminary plans for the build. The producers then decide what items will be hidden (such as mylar for the blimp in the bombing episode). It is not always as extreme as that--most times it's just throwing a few more old cars on the heap.
Also, the UK has very stringent laws about safety that the show has to obey. For example, every valve and connector for air, fuel, etc. has to be brand new and installed by a certified installer. It's all done for the safety of the participants. For a more detailed description check out the website of The N.E.R.D.S. at Answers to its fake, they seed the yard [the-nerds.org]
The US does have somthing like what you are talking about, we call it PBS(Public Broadcasting System). Its amusing beacuse 1) there are no commercials, and 2) their programming doesnt suck.
/*
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
by peter hoffman ( 2017 ) writes:
The phrase broadcasters who are not obliged to continually chase the bottom line are more likely to come up with something creative and interesting is an assertion, not an argument. My point is that there is nothing in the original post to support the assertion, no matter how it is phrased.
There is also the slippery slope of defining terms. What do "creative" and "interesting" mean? What is creative/interesting to one person is trite/boring to another. In any case, there is no proven connection with the method of funding the production.
by MrP- ( 45616 ) writes:
Maybe you should have read his whole post:
"It would greatly improve American Television, IMHO, if they were to greatly increase funding for PBS, such that it would have money to not just show BBC reruns, but to make its own innovative programs for a variety of channels as well. The beauty of this is that it would force the commercial companies to stop making pap, and start focusing on making interesting programs for once. Things could only improve."
by jfunk ( 33224 ) writes:
Ok, I'll bite.
Do not comment on what you clearly do not understand. As for Communism, it is probably one of the greatest evils ever inflicted on man. Horror, strife, demoralization and death of the human spirit are born of this atrocity.
...and you put both sentences right there together. Bravo, hypocrite.
Interesting getting such a lecture from a citizen of a country without free speech. Anyway we've wasted enough time. Back to work. Nose to the grindstone citizen we have a 5 year plan to complete!
That you would even say such a thing shows how truly clueless you are. We have more free speech than you. Censorship is rampant in your country, in case you haven't noticed. We didn't make DeCSS illegal. We didn't pass some stupid DMCA law.
How about a cluelink [justice.gc.ca]. Note that freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is worded to allow for new technologies.
This is a country that released a pamphlet about how to use encryption.
Need I go on?
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
The phrase
The phrase broadcasters who are not obliged to continually chase the bottom line are more likely to come up with something creative and interesting is an assertion, not an argument.
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
Sorry, I couldn't resist. I think I just thought you jumped down the guy's neck a bit...
I think we're also somewhat offtopic by now
:-)
by NetCultureGuide ( 310042 ) writes:
Have to agree I liked the Brit version better!
Some Americans can pull off wryness and non-guffaw humor, but that never seems to make it onto television in the U.S.
Yet it's part of the national culture across the Pond.
I also agree the mullets have to go!
Would like to see a kitchen version of the show where teams have to make edible meals from whatever happens to be left in the cabinet... ketchup, beer, flour, beer, etc.
Wait a second, that's Welsh rarebit, isn't it?
by SEWilco ( 27983 ) writes:
Junkyard Wars should make the contestants build a robot for Robot Wars or Battle Bots...after arranging for the winner of JW to become an RW/BB contestant.
by sane? ( 179855 ) writes:
Oh boy, foot - gun - ready, aim, fire!
First, Junkyard (nee Scrapheap) Wars is made for Channel 4 (a commercial channel) by an independent producer. "Who wants to be a Millionaire" is also a UK programme, made for a commercial station by an independent company.
The real difference between the US and UK systems?
Well, Junkyard Wars is losely based on "The Great Egg Race" which WAS a BBC programme, but the real difference is that there is a tradition of 'different' programmes which pop up from time to time as a result of producers being able to point to an identifiable demographic of 'nutty eccentric' as a means to justify pilots for new shows.
Yes, we get the "Millionaire" shows, but we also get the gems that would never be accepted in the rote reproduction environment of the US system, where the committee is king.
'Too much' TV programming is as problematic as 'too little'. Unless it tries to appeal to a mass demographic, no programme has a chance under the US system of drawing a large enough audience to sustain its existance until a large enough audience will be attracted.
In the UK BECAUSE we have had limited programming, the same people have attempted to produce 'something different' than their usual favorites, if only to attempt to stem the irate letters. They weren't aiming for "Monty Python" - they probably didn't like it - but the complex environment was right for its (and others) emergence.
If you want a different TV industry, you have to change the basic, underlying rules - change the complex attractors. Then, and only then, will the quality of the programming change.
As a start, value and promote those who produce the different; you may not like them, but they change the basic rules for the rest. Give them guarantees of at least one season, let them have the room to change your preconceptions.
In short, you get the programming you deserve...
by Sloppy ( 14984 ) writes:
I am really disappointed with this aspect of the show, which seems worse this season. I remember one episode where they had two boats (one was a planing boat and one was a displacement boat). And they mentioned (more than once) that displacement boats go faster if they are longer. I wondered, "Why?" thinking that in a few seconds, they would cut to an animation that would show the forces and answer the obvious question. Instead, they skipped over it, and actually made a comment about not wanting to get into it because it was too technical. Too technical?!? Fuckin' A, I thought this was The Learning Channel. I guess not.
---
by S1mon_Jester ( 223331 ) writes:
Not only is she the executive producer...she invented the show. She got the idea from watching Apollo 13.
by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) writes:
I remember one episode, he got a big oil/grease/dirt/etc stain on his tie. The very next episode it was obvious that it was the very same tie, it was tied up so much shorter so the stain would be under/in the knot.. Hilarious.. the end of the tie only reached mid-chest..
And every episode since...
It seems to me that (until the American episodes stupidly ditched him) the tie was always tied ridiculously.
Damn it.
Last night, I watched an episode that was on TLC a few weeks ago, and that I hadn't had time to watch until now: Hovercraft.
This morning, before leaving for work, I found myself rummaging around the garage, looking for an old horizontal crankshaft Briggs and Stratton engine and a couple of furnace blowers that I have kicking around.
Tonight, I guess I'll put aluminum wire into the MIG welder and throw together a lightweight frame...
by EricFenderson ( 64220 ) writes:
Well, I agree that Llewellen was a better host. He fit in with the format much better. But he quit! TV personalities have lives and preferences too --- aparantly his weren't in JYW. A pity, yea, but don't blame TLC! If you need a new host, it's gonna change the show.
by Alien54 ( 180860 ) writes:
This certainly requires a certain talent and familiarity with practical engineering. and the ability to through away everything that is not essential to the job at hand.
Given how much code we have seen that shows just the opposite focus, I got to wonder how would this all work out.
Imagine a contest, for example, between the Microsoft team (the Shaft Warriors) and the "Penguinistas", or whatever.
what kind of designs would the various camps build?
the old satirical bits come to mind, "If OSs were airlines","if systems were beer", etc.
How would the different corporate teams refelct the philosophy of their companies, and how would this reflect in their success on the show?
| Scrapheap Challenge |
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1380727 story
on Saturday January 27, 2001 @09:07AM
from the gentlemen-start-your-torches dept.
Andy B writes: "At long last, we have got an address for aspiring contestants to send their Junkyard Wars applications to (Slashdot slightly jumped the gun last autumn). Hurry to get you applications in, as the deadline for applications is Fri 16th Feb."
←
You may like to read:
→
Yes, but its license states that it must act as a public service broadcaster:
This [itc.org.uk] is taken from the ITC [itc.org.uk] website:
The main points in the new licence are:
redefinition of the remit in relation to all channels, not just ITV, and further commitment to innovation and experiment;
a revised and strengthened statement on education;
a commitment to provide at least three hours on average per week of multicultural programmes, and also to schedule at least some of these in peak time;
a major commitment to the UK film industry, giving some preference to innovative and risky subjects and treatments;
a new commitment to programmes for and about people with disabilities;
increased requirement of 60 per cent of programmes specially commissioned for the Channel by 1999;
a new commitment for production outside the London region, including a minimum requirement of 30 per cent by 2002;
new maxima for repeats;
a new commitment and new minimum requirement for spending on training;
a new requirement for diversity in the peak-time schedule, including news, current affairs, educational, religious and multicultural programmes;
revised commitments to subtitling and other provisions for those with hearing and sight impairments.
I think it's not fully privatised either - doesn't the government still own a proportion of it and fund it a bit too?
by MrP- ( 45616 ) writes:
if you watched the last episode of junkyard wars (the rocket one), cathy said you can go to the site and submit an idea for them to build, i forget what site she said, probably either the junkyard wars site, or tlc.com, either way you should submit that, that would be cool to see... but only thing is theyd probably want to fight during the show at the end, unless they go tape the fight at battlebots, show the match during junkyard wars, then battle bots later, like they did with jay lenos chinkilla, they aired the match early on the tonight show then again on battle bots... but i dont know since battle bots is comedy centrals, maybe theyd have to do robot wars, but they dont air robot wars enough in america
:(
by Uberminky ( 122220 ) writes:
The new Junkyard Wars episodes stink. I mean yeah, it's still a cool show, but it's just not what it used to be. I miss the silly Brits, they cracked me up. But yunno... maybe it's just me, but I swear the type of things they do on the show have changed since they got the new host and stuff. I mean.. one of the last episodes the Scrapheap Challenge did was drag racing. And what's the first Junkyard Wars thing? Drag racing. They also did all-terrain vehicles, which Scrapheap Challenge did.. and.. just tons of them. They're all the same sorts of things. Maybe it's just my perception, and the fact that I miss the old show, but it really seems like they've dumbed it down to suit us redneck Americans or something. I dunno... I just wish they'd give me my Scrapheap Challenge... Looking forward to next week's episode....
by ScuzzMonkey ( 208981 ) writes:
I haven't seen all that many episodes, but of those I have seen, this seems to be the theme. The team that comes up with the more brilliant, elegant design has it crap out on them almost immediately, because, after all, it's made out of junk. The crowd that bangs together some brute-force job powers through and wins it.
Apparently, it doesn't pay to get too creative.
Makes it more fun to watch, though.
by Uberminky ( 122220 ) writes:
that would be so lame. On the one hand, we have people turning scrap metal and garbage into working mechanical beasts that they bring to life to do their bidding. And on the other hand... we have a bunch of computer geeks, whose whole world exists on a hard drive somewhere. What's the absolute most exciting ending the show could have? They.... make a computer system work. Hoooo boy...
Now robotics... There's something cool. A mixture of computing and mechanics. The software and the hardware, the virtual and the real, all blending together into one. You may think it's cool to make a few characters appear on your 31337 console, but that just can't come close to making a thinking machine that exists in reality, and that can directly have an impact on the real world. I say make a cross between Junkyard Wars and Battlebots, and have two teams with a bunch of robot parts, that have to build robots to do some task! WHOOO!!! (And none of this lame Battlebots crap. I don't care how well you make it, a machine that you completely control with remote controls is just lame. That's no "robot", that's a remote controlled car. WHERE IS THE REAL CHALLENGE?!?! WHERE ARE THE ROBOTS!?)
Ok, enough of my ranting for now.
by Fixer ( 35500 ) writes:
I always thought that the original, all-British Junkyard Wars was already pretty dumbed down.
I'd have liked more commentary on the specifics of each machine, how certain problems are being solved, techniques, etc.
But then again, I'm a freak.
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
The post said Nationalised. That is not the same as 'not for profit'.
Channel 4 was established as a not-for-profit business, paid for by skimming the budgets of the commercial ITV broadcasters in the UK.
The whole Channel 4 set-up is a complex arrangement - it is paid for by advertising revenues, has no shareholders, and a license that obliges (obligates?) it to carry out a public service remit.
This [uwaterloo.ca] link explains it all in more detail. It's quite interesting, especially to open-sourcerers..
So, your uninformed commie is probably slightly more informed than you are.
You could argue thant 'nationalised' was probably the wrong word, but since channel 4 doesn't have shareholders, 'commercial' is equally inaccurate. It's a strange beast: there probably isn't one adjective to describe it...
Uban_Existentialist is just a troll trying to bait the libertarians on
/. (I bit, for one)
Take a look at his other comments & Bio. He's either a troll (and I hope he is) or a clueless 16 year old who is hell bent on saving everyone from themeselves. Either way, not someone to be taken seriously.
-Red
by MikeOrr ( 21603 ) writes:
I'm sure the costume department had several identical ties, just in case he somehow gets it caught in a naked fanbelt and survives
I remember one episode, he got a big oil/grease/dirt/etc stain on his tie. The very next episode it was obvious that it was the very same tie, it was tied up so much shorter so the stain would be under/in the knot.. Hilarious.. the end of the tie only reached mid-chest..
by Nemix ( 35844 ) writes:
My first exposure to the show was the rocket building one. Personally, I found it disappointing they had "experts". To me, this turns the team into nothing more than order takers and labor.
I say increase the quality of the teams and drop the "experts".
by Xel ( 84370 ) writes:
I can see it now, someone builds a computer with a full AI to control their machine out of old car parts.
I can see it now, too. 7 1/2 minutes before the deadline, the Slashdot team has a working artificially intelligent fire extinguishing hydrogen powered hovercraft, with AI, running on Linux.
Just as victory seems imminent, one of the team members runs back off into the junkyard screaming something about a beowolf cluster, and the team is disqualified because they can't find him for 3 hours while he frantically tunnels through dead washing machines and microwaves looking for Pentium mobos.
But the real highlight comes halfway through the show. What did the team bring for lunch?
Why, hot grits, of course.
by shadoelord ( 163710 ) writes:
I love watching british comedy on PBS. I wouldn't want to increase their funding though, since they are soo full of liberals that decide what to put on the tv.
I'll stick with Discovery Channel, TLC, and the History Channel for now (along with Fox News and Cartoon Network)
-Shadoelord
If can't weld.
If you don't know a carburetor from an alternator.
If all you know how to do to your car is check and maybe change the oil.
If your idea of a good weekend is sitting at home and compiling the latest kernel.
The only tools you own see most of their use on computer cases.
Your idea of spare parts is few old motherboards and some hard drives under 5 gig.
And most importantly, if you can't handle 10+ hours of manual labor in whatever conditions present themselves on the days of taping.
by The Cunctator ( 15267 ) writes:
Wow, that's some bad moderation...Golias's post marked as flamebait?
Fortunately, the show is basically about using actual junkyard parts to make stuff, even with the seeding. But there certainly is the potential for this to get out of hand if they keep on making episodes, and the challenges become more unrealistic without basically having the parts and the bluprints laid out in front of the contestants.
I for one would be happy watching simpler challenges (like the classic build-a-wrecking-machine) that don't require as much seeding.
But seeing cool complicated contraptions is fun too. I hope they manage to strike a reasonable balance.
by GregWebb ( 26123 ) writes:
I don't agree with your post on any level - but it's actually wrong too.
Channel 4 show Scrapheap Challenge / Junkyard Wars. Yes, the government own them but no, they're not funded through tax. They carry adverts.
Now, I'd argue that the BBC produces substantially better programming (as a rule) than either ITV, Channels 4 or 5 or the various digital channels (and yes, I've had digital / sattelite TV for years) and is consequently well worth the license fee. But, even if you disagree with this on principle for whatever reason, _it_ _doesn't_ _apply_ _to_ _Channel_ _4_!
by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) writes:
Now, if I had been in charge of the show, I would have expected them to make the engines, too... A little bit of powerdered aluminium would not have been hard to dig up... finding magnesium might have been difficult, I wonder what else they could have used?
Remember, in the hovercraft episode, they found jet engine nacelles. That's a hell of a junkyard. And, uhhh, I don't think I'd try welding to those (though they did), if you know what I mean.
Lots of mid-80s Volvos have magnesium rims.
Even so, you could do a thermite with just powdered rust and powdered aluminum. In the 1800s, it was how large welding was done.
by ledbetter ( 179623 ) writes:
While it's a great show, the participants who can enter the show are pretty limited. There are legions of us resourceful computer geeks out there who would be perfect for a sister-show to Junkyard Wars--based on computers. The contestants could be put in a warehouse filled with old 386's/486's and different obsolete software packages and the goal could be to assemble a specific type of computing system! (and perhaps to hack the opposing team's network!)
by omarius ( 52253 ) writes:
Maybe someone should explain "Logic" to them on their videotape... they have two "most important" questions.
"Okay, I'll be P, you be Q, and Ray here will be the equal sign. Do you have the NOT? Who's got the not?"
!
by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) writes:
And the old host was hilarious. He'd look at a teams work, crack a joke and laugh hysterically. It was great.
I agree. And I loved his ties.
by jitterbug ( 38915 ) writes:
If I'm supposed to "beware of programmers carrying screwdrivers", what do I do if I see one with a cutting torch? I think I would run for the hills!
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
This point is illogical
I'm afraid I don't agree, but it was nice of you to warn us in advance... Rather than being illogical, IMHO, your executive summary wasn't representative of the original post. Illogical, no, unrepresentative, possibly...
As I understood it, the original argument was that broadcasters who are not obliged to continually chase the bottom line are more likely to come up with something creative and interesting. Occasionally these also turn out to very popular. Channel 4, like other PSB's, is legally obliged to spend a certain amount of its output on education, multi-cultural broadcasting and the like. Scrapheap challenge (or Junkyard Wars, if you prefer) is probably a direct consequence of them being forced to produce something educational and show it in peak time.
Seems fairly logical to me...
by MrChrome ( 248936 ) writes:
What makes this show so interesting to watch is that they are not, how should I put this, bound to selling the show. Its all about the actually building, testing, and spirit of the game. They never say "Lets play, who wants to be a millionaire!"
by Urban Existentialist ( 307726 ) writes:
What a purblind opinion you have. Why, I have, (very occasionally) expressed a reasoned opinion different from that of the mainstream! Anyone who does that must be a troll, it stands to reason. I suggest that you haven't researched properly - if you had, you would realise that I am no different from anybody else, with deviances from the groupthink that occur to the same degree as in anybody eses posts. My posts are very rarely controversial, but you appear to have made your mind up rather quickly on the matter, so what can I do?
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
by Sebby ( 238625 ) writes:
Any, and I mean ANY show which is Americanized turns out worse than its UK counter part
Besides, US networks can hardly ever come up with anything new on their own. They BUY most of their shows. Just look at 'Whose Line Is It Anyway', TLC's trauma crap, 'Trading Places', and 'Junkyard Wars': all these shows are bought/ripoffs of UK shows.
I think any UK-turned-US shows should always have the following added onto the title:
"Now with more commercials!(TM)"
by Jack Porter ( 310054 ) writes:
I agree, it's a pity that TLC felt the needed to Americanize the show and produce a version only for the US market. Don't they realize that the fact that it is distinctly british is one of the best things about the show?
The previous series with Robert Llewellen (Kryten) were made as "Scrapheap Challenge" only for the UK market, and were picked up by TLC and renamed for the US. My hope is that they continue to make the UK series with Kryten and these eventually find their way to our US screens.
The series starting this Monday is actually the first british series which hasn't been shown on US TV before. I've seen parts of it on the "Best of Scrapheap Challenge" VHS I ordred from Amazon.co.uk. (The channel4 website also carries the tape but it doesn't deliver internationally).
Journal
Yes, but it's gotten worse with each season. The very first season or two from England had much less obvious or near-nonexistent seeding. The seeding with the latest English and American episodes is going too far, and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I can understand it a bit from the perspective that they've already built a lot of the things that one can build, and they always need to come up with something new..., but it's still gone too far. (And they never should have replaced Robert Llewellyn in the American series, good thing they kept whats-her-name, if they'd replaced her with some stupid blonde-bubble-gum girl, I'd have puked.)
by Acous ( 141729 ) writes:
"Junkyard Wars" is the US version of "Scrapheap Challenge". Scrapheap Challenge was made for Channel Four in the UK, which is not a state funded channel (i believe).
however c4 is a relatively liberal station, maybe thats what you need in the US.. not neccisarily nationalisation?
by ckedge ( 192996 ) writes:
> For example in the hovercraft episode, we got to watch someone make a roughly 4' diameter propeller from a block of wood and a chainsaw. The NERDS last year made a 3000rpm centrifugal water pump out of a brake rotor and some scrap metal.
Yep, those two items were *quite* impressive. I'm amazed that the prop stayed together. And that you could build a vehicle based on sytrofoam! (albeit thick styrofoam, with a little extra strengthening).
by Jack Porter ( 310054 ) writes:
While I agree with your argument about publically funded broadcasters making quality TV, Junkyard Wars was not created by the BBC. It was created as Scrapheap Challenge [channel4.com] by Channel4 in the UK, a commercial TV station.
But, the fact that the BBC generates such quality programming in general is definitely responsible for the quality of programming coming out of other UK channels such as Channel4 and ITV.
by sycorob ( 180615 ) writes:
Sorry, I'm paying more attention to Cathy Rogers. She's pretty hot. I can't find a damn picture of her anywhere on the web though.
Something that can't be found on the web? Impossible! Sounds like a challenge.
She's not that hot, in my opinion. Here's some pictures [topcath.co.uk] anyways.
Oh, you meant those kinds of pictures. Oops.
by Jack Porter ( 310054 ) writes:
Actually, checking out Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge [channel4.com] page, the poor brits are going to get the US series of Junkyard Wars. But at least they're telling their audience it's definitely not the same show, and there's a new series of "Scrapheap Challenge" in production at the moment, presumably with Llewellen.
by tiefling ( 155137 ) writes:
Bugger you mean they changed it? @!#$@#$ Dammit thats what I get for not watching it in a long time. *sigh* back to Red Dwarf reruns.
by SEWilco ( 27983 ) writes:
That's why I phrased it the way I did. The two contestant robots would fight on JW. The winner would become a RW/BB contestant. If it's an American JW, BB; if it's a British JW, RW.
by MajroMax ( 112652 ) writes:
Sadly, even when it's possible to do otherwise, seeding is necessary for the safety factor.
In you example, you provided several good methods of creating rocket propulsion, and they would likely work. However, they're also a LOT more prone to blowing up on the launchpad or workshop... just think of welding a makeshift rocket (with live fuel inside) to the main body... goodbye team.
Similarly, they've been known to seed the junkyard for other vital parts. In one of the eps in the last series, the challenge was a steam-powered car (see www.the-nerds.org for one of the teams' website with design notes). For that, they provided steam boilers and engines, for both the safety and complexity factor...
Making a steam engine in the 10 hr time limit would be horrible, especially in conjunction with the rest of the car. Making a boiler would not only be as bad but also dangerous - the seeded ones had inspection certificates on file. Also, reportedly they needed a licensed plumber to inspect the plumbing on the cars before the race.
The purpose of this show is to highlight brilliant hackish mechanical engineering, not to be ultra-realistic, and it works.
by MajroMax ( 112652 ) writes:
The blonde host, Cathy (Iforgetherlastname), is also one of the executive producers of the show, as I remember... they're not likely to remove her.
:)
Channel 4 is publically owned, but funds itself through advertising.
John
by MaxQuordlepleen ( 236397 ) writes:
Damn it, I hate to agree with one of those sanctimonious, scary, right wing Libertarimericans but he does actually have a point. We don't have free speech in Canada due to that hideous "notwithstanding clause". The Quebec government has been limiting reasonable speech for years with it's language laws.
The notion that any government, federal or provincial can pass unconstitutional laws simply by invoking the notwithstanding clause is horrible. A government can run rampant until it's mandate ends, which is too long.
Lots of things about the USA don't appeal to me: fetishism of money & the market, intolerance, ignorance. Unfortunately, there are an equal number of things about Canada that I don't like: our celebration of mediocrity, our provincial attitude (ie; we're always somebody's bitch, whether it be Uncle Sam or Mother England), and most especially our willingness to sacrifice our principles (ie the Charter) for political expediency (ie the notwithstanding clause).
Just because Upton Sinclair was right doesn't mean Solzhynitzen wasn't also right.
by malachid69 ( 306291 ) writes:
Well, there are two things that suck about PBS. One is the seemingly non-stop fund-raisers interrupting the one show in a hundred you care about. The second is the message at the end of the half hour show telling you that you can get it on VHS for only $400!
But, there ARE alternatives. For example, here in the Portland (OR) area, there are 3 channels that are Community Access (NOT PBS)... I am planning on going down and taking their class this summer so I can get free use of their camera, editing rooms, mobile editing studio, studios, blue screens, and oh-yes, the AIR TIME.
Oh, and did I mention that they DO NOT EDIT FOR CONTENT?
by Beowulf_Boy ( 239340 ) writes:
I was watching Junk-yard-wars the other day (the one were they built the rocket). THey pulled two brand-new rocket engines OUT OF THE BACK OF A TRUCK!!!! what kind of junk-yard is this?
by mobets ( 101759 ) writes:
Some one should get a slashdot team team together.
I can see it now, someone builds a computer with a full AI to control their machine out of old car parts.
_________________________________
by hamshere ( 148365 ) writes:
I'd say that while the point itself is made in a slightly illogical way, what Urban was saying was true. The vast majority of the funniest, most interesting, most entertaining programmes have their roots in the BBC or Channel 4.
We've got Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, Monty Python, Black Adder, the Goon Show, the Crystal Maze, Blue Peter excetera excetera excetera.
Admittedly, some of my favourite shows come from syndicated stations such as Buffy, Frasier, Cheers, Mash... but they are few and far between.
I couldn't say what the difference really is, but I strongly suspect it is that the BBC and C4 don't always say 'no that's a silly idea'. They don't try to stick to tried and tested, formulaic shows. IIRC, Who Wants to be a Millionaire is the only interesting show that ITV have ever produced.
They get their audience by providing bad sitcoms and bad drama that people watch because it looks flashy or has some good actors in it. The BBC has always been about introducing new faces and new writers and new types of show.
Tom 2.0
by Urban Existentialist ( 307726 ) writes:
Yes, however C4 is chartered to create minority programs and gets a good deal of its cash in a bursary style payment from ITV. Also, it has to compete with the BBC in a public television environment, so really, the point still applies rather well, if not better.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
by malachid69 ( 306291 ) writes:
I think that would be great -- depending on the challenge... Like, perhaps an AUTOMATED ______... In fact, I think I will go submit an idea... Remember all those old games where you have to program a robot to make it through the maze on their own??? Of course, neither a Palm Pilot or Lego RCX would really do for a brain.
Homepage
Junkyard Wars is an excellent program, and it could only be a product of a nationalised television broadcasting agency. Consider what would happen if a commercial bigwig were presented with the idea. His reaction would probably be "Are you mad? I asked for a 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' clone. Get the fuck outta here!".
It is then a good job that Nationalised television exists in Britain in a happy symbiosis with the private sector, and is therefore free to bumble along making programs for their own sake, for the love of it, and not because of what focus groups and market ratings say. Thats what happened with Monty Python - it was literally made in a fit of absent mindedness by the relevant authorities at the BBC. If only America had a similar system.
It would greatly improve American Television, IMHO, if they were to greatly increase funding for PBS, such that it would have money to not just show BBC reruns, but to make its own innovative programs for a variety of channels as well. The beauty of this is that it would force the commercial companies to stop making pap, and start focusing on making interesting programs for once. Things could only improve.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
by malachid69 ( 306291 ) writes:
Update: Due to the fact that I did not want to register for YET ANOTHER account, I did not post the suggestion. If anyone else wants to, feel free.
by The-Zaphod ( 306293 ) writes:
No no no, this would be the perfect test ground for a slashdot team to build a totally recyaled mobil, wireless, laptop that could roam on its own to search the junkyard for even more useless and usable devices to better it self. By using the Paper phone [slashdot.org] and the paper laptop as controlling devices, it could easyly just use household glue to constantly upgrade it self with even more sharmin (tolit paper) to become the biggest Mobil trash ball in the world!
The Zaphod -Didn''t you hear I come in six packs now!
by Aunt Mable ( 301965 ) writes:
It's not entirely a salvage show. They plant many things throughout the heap. It's rather obvious though, you can tell they've found a planted item when the presenters talk about how they've found the smaller 2000rpm model; heavy emphasis on comparasons.
Now as to whether it's a bad thing. They do supply them with tools, and things like scotch-tape and glue which aren't salvaged. They use these in what they make. Welding gunk too.
If they wanted to do rockets there's no way they could have done impressive rockets without some planted items, but I would prefer that they choose not to do rockets and keep the show untainted from plants.
-- Eat your greens or I'll hit you!
by jonskerr ( 217459 ) writes:
You're in luck, Bender 22! There's a film out in Japan now that has this 'best of both worlds' flavor. In BATTLE ROYALE, they take like 32 or so school kids to an island with explosive collars around their necks, and tell them they have 48 hours to kill each other off but for one. If there are any more than 1 of them, all the collars explode. Needless to say, the film's a bit controversial.
by multipartmixed ( 163409 ) writes:
The hosts clearly stated that the rockets were planted in the junkyard, as they knew that there would be no naturally-occuring rocket engines there, but they still wanted to make the contestants search for parts.
Now, if I had been in charge of the show, I would have expected them to make the engines, too... A little bit of powerdered aluminium would not have been hard to dig up... finding magnesium might have been difficult, I wonder what else they could have used?
At any rate, I'm sure that the show's producers thought it best to hide the rocket engines to guarantee a finale which made for good television.
--
Homepage
The issue of "seeding" the yard has caused the most ire from JYW fans. Most times objects such as rocket engines, and steam engines are planted in the interest of safety laws and time constraints. Before the competition takes place, the expert submits a list of parts they would like and their preliminary plans for the build. The producers then decide what items will be hidden (such as mylar for the blimp in the bombing episode). It is not always as extreme as that--most times it's just throwing a few more old cars on the heap.
Also, the UK has very stringent laws about safety that the show has to obey. For example, every valve and connector for air, fuel, etc. has to be brand new and installed by a certified installer. It's all done for the safety of the participants. For a more detailed description check out the website of The N.E.R.D.S. at Answers to its fake, they seed the yard [the-nerds.org]
The US does have somthing like what you are talking about, we call it PBS(Public Broadcasting System). Its amusing beacuse 1) there are no commercials, and 2) their programming doesnt suck.
/*
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
by peter hoffman ( 2017 ) writes:
The phrase broadcasters who are not obliged to continually chase the bottom line are more likely to come up with something creative and interesting is an assertion, not an argument. My point is that there is nothing in the original post to support the assertion, no matter how it is phrased.
There is also the slippery slope of defining terms. What do "creative" and "interesting" mean? What is creative/interesting to one person is trite/boring to another. In any case, there is no proven connection with the method of funding the production.
by MrP- ( 45616 ) writes:
Maybe you should have read his whole post:
"It would greatly improve American Television, IMHO, if they were to greatly increase funding for PBS, such that it would have money to not just show BBC reruns, but to make its own innovative programs for a variety of channels as well. The beauty of this is that it would force the commercial companies to stop making pap, and start focusing on making interesting programs for once. Things could only improve."
by jfunk ( 33224 ) writes:
Ok, I'll bite.
Do not comment on what you clearly do not understand. As for Communism, it is probably one of the greatest evils ever inflicted on man. Horror, strife, demoralization and death of the human spirit are born of this atrocity.
...and you put both sentences right there together. Bravo, hypocrite.
Interesting getting such a lecture from a citizen of a country without free speech. Anyway we've wasted enough time. Back to work. Nose to the grindstone citizen we have a 5 year plan to complete!
That you would even say such a thing shows how truly clueless you are. We have more free speech than you. Censorship is rampant in your country, in case you haven't noticed. We didn't make DeCSS illegal. We didn't pass some stupid DMCA law.
How about a cluelink [justice.gc.ca]. Note that freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is worded to allow for new technologies.
This is a country that released a pamphlet about how to use encryption.
Need I go on?
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
The phrase
The phrase broadcasters who are not obliged to continually chase the bottom line are more likely to come up with something creative and interesting is an assertion, not an argument.
by gattaca ( 27954 ) writes:
Sorry, I couldn't resist. I think I just thought you jumped down the guy's neck a bit...
I think we're also somewhat offtopic by now
:-)
by NetCultureGuide ( 310042 ) writes:
Have to agree I liked the Brit version better!
Some Americans can pull off wryness and non-guffaw humor, but that never seems to make it onto television in the U.S.
Yet it's part of the national culture across the Pond.
I also agree the mullets have to go!
Would like to see a kitchen version of the show where teams have to make edible meals from whatever happens to be left in the cabinet... ketchup, beer, flour, beer, etc.
Wait a second, that's Welsh rarebit, isn't it?
by SEWilco ( 27983 ) writes:
Junkyard Wars should make the contestants build a robot for Robot Wars or Battle Bots...after arranging for the winner of JW to become an RW/BB contestant.
by sane? ( 179855 ) writes:
Oh boy, foot - gun - ready, aim, fire!
First, Junkyard (nee Scrapheap) Wars is made for Channel 4 (a commercial channel) by an independent producer. "Who wants to be a Millionaire" is also a UK programme, made for a commercial station by an independent company.
The real difference between the US and UK systems?
Well, Junkyard Wars is losely based on "The Great Egg Race" which WAS a BBC programme, but the real difference is that there is a tradition of 'different' programmes which pop up from time to time as a result of producers being able to point to an identifiable demographic of 'nutty eccentric' as a means to justify pilots for new shows.
Yes, we get the "Millionaire" shows, but we also get the gems that would never be accepted in the rote reproduction environment of the US system, where the committee is king.
'Too much' TV programming is as problematic as 'too little'. Unless it tries to appeal to a mass demographic, no programme has a chance under the US system of drawing a large enough audience to sustain its existance until a large enough audience will be attracted.
In the UK BECAUSE we have had limited programming, the same people have attempted to produce 'something different' than their usual favorites, if only to attempt to stem the irate letters. They weren't aiming for "Monty Python" - they probably didn't like it - but the complex environment was right for its (and others) emergence.
If you want a different TV industry, you have to change the basic, underlying rules - change the complex attractors. Then, and only then, will the quality of the programming change.
As a start, value and promote those who produce the different; you may not like them, but they change the basic rules for the rest. Give them guarantees of at least one season, let them have the room to change your preconceptions.
In short, you get the programming you deserve...
by Sloppy ( 14984 ) writes:
I am really disappointed with this aspect of the show, which seems worse this season. I remember one episode where they had two boats (one was a planing boat and one was a displacement boat). And they mentioned (more than once) that displacement boats go faster if they are longer. I wondered, "Why?" thinking that in a few seconds, they would cut to an animation that would show the forces and answer the obvious question. Instead, they skipped over it, and actually made a comment about not wanting to get into it because it was too technical. Too technical?!? Fuckin' A, I thought this was The Learning Channel. I guess not.
---
by S1mon_Jester ( 223331 ) writes:
Not only is she the executive producer...she invented the show. She got the idea from watching Apollo 13.
by BigBlockMopar ( 191202 ) writes:
I remember one episode, he got a big oil/grease/dirt/etc stain on his tie. The very next episode it was obvious that it was the very same tie, it was tied up so much shorter so the stain would be under/in the knot.. Hilarious.. the end of the tie only reached mid-chest..
And every episode since...
It seems to me that (until the American episodes stupidly ditched him) the tie was always tied ridiculously.
Damn it.
Last night, I watched an episode that was on TLC a few weeks ago, and that I hadn't had time to watch until now: Hovercraft.
This morning, before leaving for work, I found myself rummaging around the garage, looking for an old horizontal crankshaft Briggs and Stratton engine and a couple of furnace blowers that I have kicking around.
Tonight, I guess I'll put aluminum wire into the MIG welder and throw together a lightweight frame...
by EricFenderson ( 64220 ) writes:
Well, I agree that Llewellen was a better host. He fit in with the format much better. But he quit! TV personalities have lives and preferences too --- aparantly his weren't in JYW. A pity, yea, but don't blame TLC! If you need a new host, it's gonna change the show.
by Alien54 ( 180860 ) writes:
This certainly requires a certain talent and familiarity with practical engineering. and the ability to through away everything that is not essential to the job at hand.
Given how much code we have seen that shows just the opposite focus, I got to wonder how would this all work out.
Imagine a contest, for example, between the Microsoft team (the Shaft Warriors) and the "Penguinistas", or whatever.
what kind of designs would the various camps build?
the old satirical bits come to mind, "If OSs were airlines","if systems were beer", etc.
How would the different corporate teams refelct the philosophy of their companies, and how would this reflect in their success on the show?
| i don't know |
In cricket parlance, what are ‘buzzers’? | Glossary of Cricket Terms and Cricket Terminology
top A
Agricultural shot
this is a swing across the line of the ball (resembling a scything motion) played without much technique. Often one that results in a chunk of the pitch being dug up by the bat. A type of a slog.
All out
when an innings is ended due to ten of the eleven batsmen on the batting side being either dismissed or unable to bat because of injury or illness.
All-rounder
a player adept at both batting and bowling. In the modern era, this term can also refer to a wicket-keeper adept at batting.
Anchor
a top-order batsman capable of batting for a long duration throughout the innings. Usually batsman playing at numbers 3 or 4 play such a role, especially if there is a batting collapse. An anchor plays defensively, and is often the top scorer in the innings.
Appeal
the act of a bowler or fielder shouting at the umpire to ask if his last ball took the batsman's wicket. Usually phrased in the form of howzat (how-is-that?). Common variations include 'Howzee?' (how is he?), or simply turning to the umpire and shouting.
Approach
The motion of the bowler prior to bowling the ball. It is also known as the run-up. Also the ground a bowler runs on during his run up. Eg: "Play was delayed because the bowler's approaches were slippery."
Arm ball
a deceptive delivery bowled by an off spin bowler that is not spun, so, unlike the off break, it travels straight on (with the bowler's arm). A particularly good bowler's arm ball might also swing away from the batsman in the air (or in to him when delivered by a left-armer).
Around the wicket or round the wicket
a right-handed bowler passing to the right of the stumps during his bowling action, and vice-versa for left-handed bowlers.
Ashes, the
the perpetual prize in England v Australia Test match series. The small wooden urn contains ashes collected after burning the bails used when Australia first beat England in England, at The Oval in 1882 (the first Test match between the two nations was in Melbourne in 1877).
Asking rate
the rate at which the team batting needs to score to catch the opponents score in a limited overs game.
Attacking shot
A shot of aggression or strength designed to score runs.
Average
A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowler (including wides and no-balls) divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler. A batsman's batting average is defined as the total number of runs scored by the batsman divided by the number of times he has been dismissed.
Away Swing
top B
Back foot
in a batsman's stance the back foot is the foot that is nearer to the stumps. A bowler's front foot is the last foot to contact the ground before the ball is released. The other foot is the back foot. Unless the bowler is bowling off the wrong foot the bowling foot is the back foot.
Back foot contact
is the position of the bowler at the moment when his back foot lands on the ground just prior to delivering the ball.
Back foot shot
a shot played with the batsman's weight on his back foot (i.e. the foot furthest from the bowler).
Back spin
(also under-spin) a delivery which has a rotation backwards so that after pitching it immediately slows down, or bounces lower and skids on to the batsman.
Backing up
1. The non-striking batsman leaving his crease during the delivery in order to shorten the distance to complete one run. A batsman "backing up" too far runs the risk of being run out, either by a fielder in a conventional run out, or - in a "Mankad" - by the bowler themself.
2. after a fielder chases the ball, another fielder placed at a further distance also moves into position so that if the fielder mis-fields the ball, the damage done is minimal. Also done to support a fielder receiving a throw from the outfield in case the throw is errant or not caught.
Backlift
the lifting of the bat in preparation to hit the ball.
Bail
one of the two small pieces of wood that lie on top of the stumps to form the wicket.
Ball
the round object which the batsman attempts to strike with the bat. Also a delivery.
Bang (It) In
to bowl a delivery on a shorter length with additional speed and force.
Bat
the wooden implement with which the batsman attempts to strike the ball.
Bat-pad
a fielder who is in position close to the batsman to catch the ball if it hits the bat, then the pad, and rises to a catchable height. Also a defense against being given out lbw, that the ball may have hit the bat first, however indiscernible.
Batsman
(also, particularly in women's cricket, bat or batter) a player on the batting side, or a player whose speciality is batting.
Batting
the act and skill of defending one's wicket and scoring runs.
Batting average
the average number of runs scored per innings by a batsman, calculated by dividing the batsman's total runs scored during those innings in question by the number of times the batsman was out. Compare innings average.
Batting end
the end of the pitch at which the striker stands.
Batting order
the order in which the batsmen bat, from the openers, through the top order and middle order to the lower order.
BBI or Best
an abbreviation for the best bowling figures in an innings throughout the entire career of the bowler. It is defined as, firstly, the greatest number of wickets taken, and secondly the fewest runs conceded for that number of wickets. (Thus, a performance of 7 for 102 is considered better than one of 6 for 19.)
Beach cricket
an informal form of the game, obviously cricket played on beaches, particularly in Australia and cricket-playing Caribbean countries.
Beamer
a delivery that reaches the batsman at around head height without bouncing. Due to the risk of injury to the batsman, a beamer is an illegal delivery, punishable by a no ball being called.
Beat the bat
when a batsman narrowly avoids touching the ball with the edge of his bat, through good fortune rather than skill. Considered a moral victory for the bowler. The batsman is said to have been beaten. In some cases, this may be expanded to "beaten all ends up".
Beehive
a diagram showing where a number of balls, usually from a particular bowler, have passed the batsman. Compare pitch map.
Bend the back
of a pace bowler, to put in extra effort to extract extra speed or bounce.
Belter
a belter of a pitch is a pitch offering advantage to the batsman.
Bite
the turn a spin bowler is able to produce on a pitch.
Block
2. To play a defensive shot.
Block hole
the area between where the batsman rests his bat to receive a delivery and his toes. It is the target area for a yorker.
Bodyline
a tactic (now suppressed by law changes restricting fielders on the leg side) involving bowling directly at the batsman's body, particularly with close fielders packed on the leg side. The term "Bodyline" is usually used to describe the contentious 1932-33 Ashes Tour. The tactic is often called "fast leg theory" in other contexts.
Bosie or Bosey
See Googly
Bottom hand
The hand of the batsman that is closest to the blade of the bat. Shots played with the bottom hand often are hit in the air and described as having a lot of bottom hand.
Bouncer
a fast short pitched delivery that rises up near the batsman's head.
Boundary
1. the perimeter of the ground;
2. four runs. Also used to mention a four and a six collectively;
3. the rope that demarcates the perimeter of the ground.
Bowled
a mode of a batsman's dismissal. Occurs when a delivery hits the stumps and removes the bails.
Bowled out
of the batting side, to have lost ten out of its eleven batsmen (thus having no more legal batting partnerships). (It has nothing to do with the particular dismissal bowled.)
Bowler
the player on the fielding side who bowls to the batsman.
Bowling
the act of delivering the cricket ball to the batsman.
Bowling action
the set of movements that result in the bowler releasing the ball in the general direction of the wicket.
Bowl-out
a method of determining the result in a limited overs match that has been tied. Five players from each team bowl at a single stump, and the team with the most hits wins. If the number of hits is equal after both team's turns, further sudden death turns are taken. The concept is analogous to the penalty shootout used in other sports.
Bowling analysis
(also called bowling figures) a shorthand statistical notation summarising a bowler's performance.
Bowling average
the average number of runs scored off a bowler for each wicket he has taken. i.e. total runs conceded divided by number of wickets taken.
Bowling end
the end of the pitch from where the bowler bowls.
Bowling foot
the foot on the same side of the body that a bowler holds the ball. For a right handed bowler the bowling foot is the right foot.
Box
a protective item shaped like a half-shell and worn down the front of a player's (particularly a batsman's) trousers to protect his or her genitalia from the hard cricket ball. Also known as an 'abdominal protector', 'Hector protector', 'ball box', 'protector' or 'cup'.
Brace
two wickets taken off two consecutive deliveries.
Break
a suffix used to describe the ball changing direction after pitching caused by the bowler'sspin or cut. For example, a leg spinner will deliver leg breaks (moving from leg to off).
Breaking the wicket
the act of dislodging the bails from the stumps.
Buffet bowling
bowling of a very poor quality, such that the batsmen is able to "come and help himself" to runs, also Cafeteria Bowling.
Bump ball
a delivery that bounces very close to the batsman's foot, after he has played a shot, such that it appears to have come directly from the bat without ground contact. The result is often a crowd catch.
Bumper
old-fashioned name for a bouncer.
Bunny
see rabbit.
Bunsen
A pitch on which spin bowlers can turn the ball prodigiously. From the rhyming slang: 'Bunsen Burner' meaning 'Turner'.
Bye
extras scored in the same way as normal runs when both the batsman and the wicket-keeper miss a legal delivery.
top C
Cameo
An innings, usually by a middle order or lower order batsman who scores very quickly e.g. "He played a little cameo of an innings".
Cap
awarded by countries for each appearance at Test level. At county level, just one is given and is awarded not on a player's first appearance, but at a later stage when it is felt he has "proved himself" as a member of the team; some players never receive one. Worcestershire have now abolished this system and award "colours" to each player on his debut.
Captain's Innings/Captain's Knock
a high-scoring individual innings by the captain of the batting team considered to have changed the course of a match.
Carrom Ball
a style of bowling delivery used in cricket, named because the ball is released by flicking the ball between the thumb and a bent middle finger in order to impart spin
Carry
if a hit ball is caught by a fielder on the fly, it is said to have carried. If it bounces just short of the fielder, it is said not to have carried.
Carry the bat
an opener who is not out at the end of a completed innings is said to have carried his bat.
Castled
out bowled often by a full length ball or a Yorker.
Catch
to dismiss a batsman by a fielder catching the ball after the batsman has hit it with his bat but before it hits the ground.
Charge
when the batsman uses his feet and comes out of his batting crease towards the bowler, trying to hit the ball. Also known as giving the bowler the charge, or stepping down the wicket.
Century
an individual score of at least 100 runs, a significant landmark for a batsman. Sometimes used ironically to describe a bowler conceding over 100 runs in an innings.
Cherry
The (red) cricket ball, particularly the new ball.
Chest on (also front on)
1. A chest on bowler has chest and hips aligned towards the batsman at the instant of back foot contact.
2. A batsman is said to be chest on if his hips and shoulders face the bowler.
Chin music
The use of a series of bouncers from pace bowlers to intimidate a batsman. Historically, it has been used as a tactic particularly against sub-continental teams because of their inexperience of bouncers. Term taken from baseball.
Chinaman
a left-handed bowler bowling wrist spin (left arm unorthodox). For a right-handed batsman, the ball will move from the off side to the leg side (left to right on the TV screen). Named after Ellis "Puss" Achong, a West Indian left-arm wrist-spin bowler of Chinese descent.
Chinese cut (also French cut, Harrow Drive, Staffordshire cut or Surrey cut)
an inside edge which misses hitting the stumps by a few centimeters.
Chuck
to throw the ball instead of bowling it (i.e. by straightening the elbow during the delivery); also chucker: a bowler who chucks; and chucking: such an illegal bowling action. All are considered offensive terms as they imply cheating.
(The) Circle
a painted circle (or ellipse), centred in the middle of the pitch, of radius 30 yard (27 m) marked on the field. The circle separates the infield from the outfield, used in policing the fielding regulations in certain one-day versions of the game. The exact nature of the restrictions vary depending on the type of game: see limited overs cricket, Twenty20 and powerplay (cricket).
Clean bowled
bowled, without the ball first hitting the bat or pad.
Close infield
the area enclosed by a painted dotted circle of 15 yard (13.7 m) radius measured from the wicket on each end of the pitch. Used only in ODI matches.
Coil
alternative term for back foot contact.
Collapse
the loss of several wickets in a short space of time.
Come to the crease
A phrase used to indicate a batsman walking onto the playing arena and arriving at the cricket pitch in the middle of the ground to begin batting.
Corridor of uncertainty
a good line. The corridor of uncertainty is a notional narrow area on and just outside a batsman's off stump. If a delivery is in the corridor, it is difficult for a batsman to decide whether to leave the ball, play defensively or play an attacking shot. The term was popularised by former England batsman, now commentator, Geoffrey Boycott.
County cricket
the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales.
Covers
1. A fielding position between point and mid-off.
2. The equipment used to protect the pitch from rain.
Cow corner
the area of the field (roughly) between deep mid-wicket and wide long-on. So called because few 'legitimate' shots are aimed to this part of the field, so fielders are rarely placed there - leading to the concept that cows could happily graze in that area.
Cow shot
a hard shot, usually in the air, across the line of a full-pitched ball, aiming to hit the ball over the boundary at cow corner, with very little regard to proper technique. Very powerful and a good way of hitting boundary sixes, but must be timed perfectly to avoid being bowled, or either skying the ball or getting a leading edge and so being caught. A type of slog.
Crease
one of several lines on the pitch near the stumps (the "popping crease", the "return crease" and the "bowling crease") most often referring to the popping crease.
Cricket ball
a hard, solid ball of cork, wound string and polished leather, with a wide raised equatorial seam.
Cricketer
a person who plays cricket.
Cross-bat shot
a shot played with the bat parallel with the ground, such as a cut or a pull. Also known as a horizontal-bat shot.
Crowd catch
a fielder's stop which leads to a roar from the crowd because at first impression it is a dismissal, but which turns out to be not out (because of a no ball or a bump ball).
Cut
a shot played square on the off side to a short-pitched delivery wide of off stump. So called because the batsman makes a "cutting" motion as he plays the shot.
Cutter
a break delivery bowled by a fast or medium-pace bowler with similar action to a spin bowler, but at a faster pace. It is usually used in an effort to surprise the batsman, although some medium-pace bowlers use the cutter as their stock (main) delivery.
When a ball rolls along the pitch or bounces more than 2 times
Dead ball
1. the state of play in between deliveries, in which batsmen may not score runs or be given out.
2. called when the ball becomes lodged in the batsman's clothing or equipment.
3. called when the ball is (or is about to be) bowled when the batsman is not yet ready.
4. called when a bowler aborts his run up without making a delivery.
5. called when the batsmen attempt to run leg-byes after the ball has struck the batsman's body, but is deemed to have not offered a shot.
Dead bat
the bat when held with a light grip such that it gives when the ball strikes it, and the ball loses momentum and falls to the ground.
Death overs
the final 10 overs in a one-day match, in which most bowlers are, usually, hit for lots of runs. Also known as Slog Overs. Bowlers who bowl during the death overs are said to "bowl at the death"
Declaration
the act of a captain voluntarily bringing his side's innings to a close, in the belief that their score is now great enough to prevent defeat. Occurs almost exclusively in timed forms of cricket where a draw is a possible result (such as first class cricket), in order that the side declaring have enough time to bowl the opposition out and therefore win.
Declaration bowling
a phrase used to describe delibrately poor bowling (Full tosses and Long hops) from the fielding team to allow the batsman to score runs quickly and encourage the opposing captain to declare.
Delivery
the act of bowling the ball.
Devil's number (also Dreaded number)
a score of 87, regarded as unlucky in Australian cricket. According to Australian superstition, batsmen have a tendency to be dismissed for 87. The superstition is thought to originate from the fact that 87 is 13 runs short of a century. The English equivalent is Nelson.
Diamond duck
regional usage varies, but either a dismissal (usually run out) without facing a delivery, or a dismissal (for zero) off the first ball of a team's innings.
Dibbly Dobbly
1. a bowler of limited skill.
2. a delivery that is easy to hit.
Dink
A ball with a very high trajectory prior to bouncing.
Doosra
a relatively new off spin delivery developed by Saqlain Mushtaq; the finger spin equivalent of the googly, in that it turns the "wrong way". From the Hindi or Urdu for second or other. Muttiah Muralitharan is an expert bowler of doosra.
Dot ball
a delivery bowled without any runs scored off it, so called because it is recorded in the score book with a single dot.
Double
normally the scoring of a 1000 runs and the taking of 100 wickets in the same season.
Double Hat-trick
bowler taking a wicket off each of four consecutive deliveries that he bowls. Achieved once in international cricket by Lasith Malinga at the 2007 World Cup. Former Hampshire player Kevin James is the only player in first class cricket's history to take a double hat-trick and score a century in the same match, achieved against India at Southampton in 1996.
Down the Pitch (also Down the Wicket)
describing the motion of a batsman towards the bowler prior to or during the delivery, made in the hope of turning a good length ball into a half-volley.
Draw
1. a result in timed matches where the team batting last are not all out, but fail to exceed their opponent's total. Not to be confused with a tie, in which the side batting last is all out or run out of overs with the scores level.
2. an antiquated stroke that has fallen into disuse, it was originally a deliberate shot that resembled the Chinese cut - the ball being played between one's own legs.
Drift
the slight lateral curved-path movement that a spinner extracts while the ball is in flight. Considered very good bowling.
Drinks
a short break in play, generally taken in the middle of a session, when refreshments are brought out to the players and umpires by the twelfth men of each side. Drinks breaks do not always take place, but they are usual in test matches, particularly in hot countries.
Drinks Waiter
a jocular term for the twelfth man, referring to his job of bringing out drinks.
Drive
a powerful shot generally hit along the ground or sometimes in the air in a direction between cover point on the off side and mid-wicket on the leg side, or in an arc between roughly thirty degrees each side of the direction along the pitch.
Drop
1. the accidental "dropping" of a ball that was initially caught by a fielder, thus denying the dismissal of the batsman; when such an event occurs, the batsman is said to have been "dropped".
2. the number of dismissals which occur in a team's innings before a given batsman goes in to bat; a batsman batting at 'first drop' is batting at number three in the batting order, going in after one wicket has fallen.
Drop-in pitch
a temporary pitch that is cultivated off-site from the field which also allows other sports to share the use of the field with less chance of injury to the players.
Duck
a batsman's score of nought (zero), as in "he was out for a duck" or "she hasn't got off her duck yet". Originally called a "duck's egg" because of the "0" shape in the scorebook.
Duck under delivery
a short pitched delivery that appears to be a bouncer, making the striker duck to avoid from being hit; but instead of bouncing high, it has a low bounce which causes the batsman to be dismissed LBW, or occasionally bowled.
Duckworth-Lewis method
a mathematically based rule that derives a target score for the side batting second in a rain-affected one-day match.
top E
Economical
a bowler who concedes very few runs from his over(s), i.e. has a low economy rate. The opposite of expensive.
Economy rate
the average number of runs scored per over in the bowler's spell.
Edge (or snick or nick)
a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat. Top, bottom, inside and outside edges denote the four edges of the bat. The notional four edges are due to the bat being either vertical (inside/outside edge), or horizontal (top/bottom edge). See also leading edge.
Eleven
another name for one cricket team, which is made of eleven players.
End
An area of the ground directly behind one of the stumps, used to designate what end a bowler is bowling from (i.e. the Pavilion End).
Expensive
a bowler who concedes a large number of runs from his over(s), i.e. has a high economy rate. The opposite of economical.
Extra (also sundry)
a run not attributed to any batsman; there are five types: byes, leg byes, penalties, wides and no-balls. The first three types are called 'fielding' extras (i.e. the fielders are determined to be at fault for their being conceded) and the last two are called 'bowling' extras (the bowler being considered to be at fault for their being conceded) which are included in the runs conceded by the bowler. Should a bowler concede fielding extras when s/he bowls an over but no other runs they are still counted as having bowled a maiden.
top F
Fall
a verb used to indicate the dismissal of a batsman, eg "Bradman fell for 12 [runs]"
Fall of wicket ("FoW")
the batting team's score at which a batsman gets out.
Farm the strike (also shepherd the strike or farm the bowling)
of a batsman, contrive to receive the majority of the balls bowled.
Fast bowling (also pace bowling)
a style of bowling in which the ball is delivered at high speeds, typically over 90 mph (145 km/h). Fast bowlers also use swing.
Fast leg theory
A variant of leg theory in which balls are bowled at high speed, aimed at the batsman's body. See Bodyline.
Feather
a faint edge.
Featherbed
A wicket which is considered to be good for batting on, offering little, if any, help for a bowler.
-fer
a suffix to any number, meaning the number of wickets taken by a team or bowler. (See also fifer/five-fer)
Ferret
an exceptionally poor batsman, even more so than a rabbit. Named because the ferret goes in after the rabbits. Sometimes referred to as a weasel for the same reason. See also walking wicket.
Fielder (also, but more rarely, fieldsman)
a player on the fielding side who is neither the bowler nor the wicket-keeper, in particular one who has just fielded the ball.
Five-for (also five-fer, Fifer, five wicket haul, or shortened to 5WI or FWI)
five or more wickets taken by a bowler in an innings, considered a very good performance. Abbreviated from the usual form of writing bowling statistics, e.g. a bowler who takes 5 wickets and concedes 117 runs is said to have figures of "5 for 117". Sometimes called a "Michelle", after actress Michelle Pfeiffer.
Fill-up game
when a match finished early a further game was sometimes started to fill in the available time and to entertain the paying spectators.
Fine
of a position on the field, close to the line of the pitch (wicket-to-wicket); the opposite of square.
Fishing
being tempted into throwing the bat at a wider delivery outside off-stump and missing, reaching for a wide delivery and missing.
First-class cricket
the senior form of the game; usually county, state or international. First-class matches consist of two innings per side and are usually played over three or more days.
'Forty-Five
A fielding position akin to a short third-man, roughly halfway between the pitch and the boundary.
Flash
to wield the bat aggressively, often hitting good line and length deliveries indiscriminately. Often applied in a caribbean context, as in 'a flashing blade'.
Flat throw
a ball thrown by the fielder which is almost parallel to the ground. Considered to be a hallmark of good fielding if the throw is also accurate because flat throws travel at a fast pace.
Flat-track bully
a batsman high in the batting order who is very good only when the pitch is not giving the bowlers much help.
Flick
a gentle movement of the wrist to move the bat, often associated with shots on the leg side.
Flight
a delivery which is thrown up at a more arched trajectory by a spinner. Considered to be good bowling. Also loop.
Flipper
a leg spin delivery with under-spin, so it bounces lower than normal, invented by Clarrie Grimmett.
Floater
a delivery bowled by a spinner that travels in a highly arched path appearing to 'float' in the air.
Fly slip
a position deeper than the conventional slips, between the slips and third man.
Follow on
the team batting second continuing for their second innings, having fallen short of the "follow on target". The definition of this target has changed over time, but is currently 200 runs behind the first teams score in a 5 day game, 150 runs in a 3 or 4 day game, 100 runs in a 2 day event and 75 in a single day.
Follow through
a bowler's body actions after the release of the ball to stabilise their body.
Footwork
the necessary (foot) steps that a batsman has to take so as to be at a comfortable distance from where the ball has pitched, just right to hit the ball anywhere he desires, negating any spin or swing that a bowler attempts to extract after bouncing.
Forward defence
a commonly-employed defensive shot.
Four
a shot that reaches the boundary after bouncing, so called because it scores four runs to the batting side.
Free hit
a penalty given in some forms of cricket when a bowler bowls a no-ball. The bowler must bowl another delivery, and the batsman cannot be out off that delivery (except by being run out). Between the no-ball and the free hit, the fielders may not change positions (unless the batsmen changed ends on the no-ball).
French cricket
an informal form of the game. The term "playing French Cricket" can be used by commentators to indicate that a batsman has not moved his feet and looks ungainly because of this.
French Cut (also Chinese Cut or Surrey cut or Harrow drive)
an inside edge which misses hitting the stumps by a few centimetres.
Front foot
in a batsman's stance the front foot is the foot that is nearer to the bowler. A bowler's front foot is the last foot to contact the ground before the ball is released.
Front foot contact
is the position of the bowler at the moment when his front foot lands on the ground just prior to delivering the ball.
Front-foot shot
a shot played with the batsman's weight on his front foot (i.e. the foot nearest the bowler).
Full length
a delivery that pitches closer to the batsman than a ball pitching on a good length, but further away than a half-volley.
Full toss (also full bunger)
a delivery that reaches the batsman on the full, i.e. without bouncing. Usually considered a bad delivery to bowl as the batsman has a lot of time to see the ball and play an attacking shot. Also, it does not have a chance to change direction off the ground, making it the ultimate crime for a spin or seam bowler.
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Gardening
a batsman prodding at the pitch with his bat between deliveries, either to flatten a bump in the pitch, to soothe his own frazzled nerves or simply to waste time or upset the rhythm of the bowler. Considered facetious as there is not really a point to it.
Gazunder
a delivery that fails to bounce to the expected height after bouncing, thus beating the batsman and "goes under" the bat. Often results in batsmen being out bowled.
Getting your eye in
when the batsman takes his time to assess the condition of the pitch, ball or weather etc before starting to attempt more risky strokes.
Glance
the shot played very fine behind the batsman on the leg side. A glance is typically played on a short-pitched ball. See also flick.
Glove
part of a batsman's kit worn to protect the hands from accidental injury. When a hand is in contact with the bat it is considered part of the bat and so a player can be given out caught to a ball that came off the glove hence "gloved a catch."
Glovemanship (also Gauntlet work)
the art of wicketkeeping. eg 'A marvellous display of glovemanship from the wicketkeeper.'
Golden duck
a dismissal for nought (zero), from the first ball faced in a batsman's innings.
Golden pair (also King pair)
a dismissal for nought (zero) runs off the first ball faced in each of a batsman's two innings of a two-innings match (see this list of Pairs in test and first class cricket).
Good length
the ideal place for a stock delivery to pitch in its trajectory from the bowler to the batsman. It makes the batsman uncertain whether to play a front-foot or back-foot shot. A good length differs from bowler to bowler, based on the type and speed of the bowler. The "good length" is not necessarily the best length to bowl, as a bowler may wish to bowl short or full to exploit a batsman's weaknesses.
Googly
a deceptive spinning delivery by a leg spin bowler, also known (particularly in Australia) as the wrong 'un. For a right-hander bowler and a right-handed batsman, a googly will turn from the off side to the leg side. Developed by Bosanquet around 1900, and formerly called a bosie or bosey.
Gouging
causing intentional damage to the pitch or ball.
Grafting
batting defensively with strong emphasis on not getting out, often under difficult conditions.
Green Top
a pitch with an unusually high amount of visible grass, that might be expected to assist the bowlers.
Grip
the rubber casings used on the handle of the bat. The term is also used to describe how the bowler holds the ball and how the batsman holds the bat.
Groundsman (or curator)
a person responsible for maintaining the cricket field and preparing the pitch.
Grubber
a delivery that barely bounces.
(Taking) Guard
the batsman aligning his bat according with a stump (or between stumps) chosen behind him. Typically, the batter marks the position of the bat on the pitch. The marking(s) give the batter an idea as to where s/he is standing in relation to the stumps. See also LBW.
Gully
a close fielder near the slip fielders, at an angle to a line between the two sets of stumps of about 100 to 140 degrees.
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Hack
A batsman of generally low skill with an excessively aggressive approach to batting, commonly with a preference towards lofted cross bat shots. A poor defensive stance and lack of defensive strokes are also features of a hack. Can also be used to describe one particular stroke
Half Century
an individual score of over 50 runs, reasonably significant landmark for a batsman and more so for the lower order and the tail-enders.
Half-tracker
another term for a long hop. So called because the ball roughly bounces halfway down the pitch.
Half-volley
a delivery that bounces just short of the block hole. Usually easy to drive or glance away.
Harrow Drive (also known as Chinese Cut or French cut)
a misplayed shot by the batsman which comes off the inside edge and narrowly misses hitting the stumps, typically going to fine leg.
Hat-trick
a bowler taking a wicket off each of three consecutive deliveries that he bowls (whether in the same over or split up in two consecutive overs, or two overs in two different spells.).
Hat-trick ball
a delivery bowled after taking two wickets with the previous two deliveries. The captain will usually set a very attacking field for a hat-trick ball, to maximise the chances of the bowler taking a hat-trick.
Hawk-Eye
a computer-generated graphic showing the probable trajectory of the ball if it were not hindered by the batsman. Used by commentators to estimate whether an lbw decision was correctly made by an umpire, as well as to assess bowlers' deliveries.
Hit wicket
a batsman getting out by dislodging the bails of the wicket behind him either with his bat or body as he tries to play the ball or set off for a run.
Hoik
an unrefined shot played to the leg side usually across the line of the ball.
Hoodoo
A bowler is said to 'have the hoodoo' on a batsman when they have got them out many times in their career. (See rabbit II.)
Hook
a shot, similar to a pull, but played so that the ball is struck when it is above the batsman's shoulder.
Hot Spot
a technology used in television coverage used to evaluate snicks and bat-pad catches. The batsman is filmed with an infrared camera, and friction caused by the strike of the ball shows up as a white "hot spot" on the picture.
"How's that?" (or "Howzat?")
the cry of a fielding team when appealing, notable because an umpire is not obliged to give the batsman 'out' unless the question is asked.
Hutch
of a batsman, presently batting.
Incoming batsman
the batsman next to come in in the listed batting order. The incoming batsman defined thus is the one who is out when a "Timed Out" occurs.
Indipper
a delivery that curves into the batsman before pitching.
Inswing or in-swinger
a delivery that curves into the batsman in the air from off to leg.
In-Cutter
a delivery that moves into the batsman after hitting the surface.
Infield
the region of the field that lies inside the 30 yard circle (27 m) or, in the days before defined circles, the area of the field close to the wicket bounded by an imaginary line through square leg, mid on, mid off and cover point. .
Innings
one player's or one team's turn to bat (or bowl). Unlike in baseball, and perhaps somewhat confusingly, in cricket the term "innings" is both singular and plural.
short form of Wicket-keeper.
King pair (also Golden pair)
a batsman who gets out for zero runs off the first ball he faces in both innings of a two-innings match (see this list of Pairs in test and first class cricket).
Knock
a batsman's innings. A batsman who makes a high score in an innings can be said to have had a "good knock".
Kolpak
an overseas players who plays in English domestic cricket under the Kolpak ruling.
Kwik cricket
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Lappa
The Indian version of the hoick. Comes from the English 'lap', and old term for a stroke somewhere between a pull and a sweep.
Leading edge
the ball hitting the front edge of the bat as opposed to its face, when playing a cross-bat shot such as a pull. Often results in an easy catch for the bowler or a skier for someone else.
Leave (noun)
the action of the batsman not attempting to play at the ball. He may do this by holding the bat above his body. However, there is a clause in the LBW rules making him more susceptible to getting out this way. He may also not claim any leg byes, because if he does, the Umpire will call Dead Ball and runs will not be allowed
Leg before wicket (LBW)
a way of dismissing the batsman. In brief, the batsman is out if, in the opinion of the umpire, the ball hits any part of the batsman's body (usually the leg) before hitting the bat and would have gone on to hit the stumps.
Leg break
a leg spin delivery which, for a right-hander bowler and a right-handed batsman, will turn from the leg side to the off side (usually away from the batsman).
Leg bye
extras taken after a delivery hits any part of the body of the batsman other than the bat or the gloved hand that holds the bat. If the batsman makes no attempt to play the ball with the bat, leg byes may not be scored.
Leg cutter
a break delivery bowled by a fast or medium-pace bowler with similar action to a spin bowler, but at a faster pace. The ball breaks from the leg side to the off side of the batsman.
Leg glance
a delicate shot played at a ball aimed slightly on the leg side, using the bat to flick the ball as it passes the batsman, deflecting towards the square leg or fine leg area.
Leg side
the half of the field to the rear of the batsman as he takes strike (also known as the on side).
Leg slip
a fielding position equivalent to a slip, but on the leg side.
Leg spin
a form of bowling in which the bowler imparts spin on the ball by turning the wrist as the ball is delivered, and for that reason also known as "wrist spin". The stock delivery for a leg spinner is a leg break; other leg spin deliveries include the googly, the top spinner, and the flipper. The term leg spinner is usually reserved for right handed bowlers who bowl in this manner. Left handers who bowl with wrist spin are known as unorthodox spinners. This is also known as the Chinaman.
Leg theory
a style of bowling attack where balls are aimed towards the leg side, utilizing several close-in, leg side fielders. The aim of leg theory is to cramp the batsman so that he has little room to play a shot and will hopefully make a mistake, allowing the close fielders to prevent runs from being scored or to catch him out. Leg theory is considered boring play by spectators and commentators since it forces batsmen to play conservatively, resulting in few runs being scored. See also fast leg theory and Bodyline.
Length
the place along the pitch where a delivery bounces (see short pitched, good length, half-volley, full toss).
Life
a noun that refers to a batsman being reprieved because of a mistake by the fielding team, through dropping a catch or the wicket-keeper missing a stumping.
Light
short for "bad light." Umpires offer the batsmen the option to cease play if conditions become too dark to be safe for batting.
Limited overs match
a one-innings match where each side may only face a set number of overs. Another name for one-day cricket.
Line (also see Line and length)
the deviation of the point along the pitch where a delivery bounces from the line from wicket-to-wicket (to the leg side or the off side).
Line and length bowling
bowling so that a delivery pitches on a good length and just outside off stump. This forces the batsman to play a shot as the ball may hit the stumps.
List A cricket
the limited-overs equivalent of first-class cricket.
Long hop
a delivery that is much too short to be a good length delivery, but without the sharp lift of a bouncer. Usually considered a bad delivery to bowl as the batsman has a lot of time to see the ball and play an attacking shot.
Loop
the curved path of the ball bowled by a spinner.
Loosener
a poor delivery bowled at the start of a bowler's spell.
Lower order
the batsmen who bat at between roughly number 7 and 10 or 11 in the batting order and who are not very good at batting, being either specialist bowlers or wicket-keepers with limited batting ability.
Luncheon
the first of the two intervals taken during a full day's play, which usually occurs at lunchtime at about 12:30 p.m. (local time).
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Maiden over
an over in which no runs are scored off the bat, and no wides or no balls are bowled.
Maker's Name
The full face of the bat, where the manufacturer's logo is normally located. Used particularly when referring to a batsman's technique when playing a straight drive, e.g. "Strauss played a beautiful on-drive for four, giving it plenty of maker's name...".
Manhattan
also called the Skyline. A bar graph the runs scored off each over in a one day game, with dots indicatingthe overs in which wickets fell. The name is alternatively applied to a bar graph showing the number of runs scored in each innings in a batsmen's career. So called because the bars supposedly resemble the skyscrapers that dominate the skyline of Manhattan.
Mankad
the running out of a non-striking batsman who leaves his crease before the bowler has released the ball. It is named after Vinoo Mankad, an Indian bowler, who controversially used this method in a Test match. This is relatively common in indoor cricket and is noted separately from run outs, though almost unheard of in first-class cricket.
Man of the match
In cricket, the Man of the Match award may be given to the highest scoring batsman, leading wicket taker or best overall performance.
Marillier shot
a shot played with the bat held parallel to the pitch in front of the batsman, with the toe of the bat pointing towards the bowler. The batsman attempts to flick the ball over the wicket-keeper's head. The most famous exponent of the shot is former Zimbabwean international Douglas Marillier.
Marylebone Cricket Club ("MCC")
the custodian of the laws of cricket.
Match fixing
bribing players of one of the teams to deliberately play poorly, with the intention of cashing in on bets on the result of the game.
Match referee
an official whose role is to ensure that the spirit of the game is upheld. He has the power to fine players and/or teams for unethical play.
Meat of the bat
the thickest part of the bat, from which the most energy is imparted to the ball.
Medium-pace
a bowler who bowls slower than a pace bowler, but faster than a spin bowler. Speed is important to the medium-pacer, but they try and defeat the batsman with the movement of the ball, rather than the pace at which it is bowled. Medium-pacers either bowl cutters or rely on the ball to swing in the air. They usually bowl at about 55-70 mph (90-110 km/h).
Michelle
five wickets taken by a bowler in an innings, named after actress Michelle Pfeiffer (a "five-for").
Middle of the bat
the area of the face of the bat that imparts maximum power to a shot if that part of the bat hits the ball. Also known as the "meat" of the bat. Effectively the same as the sweet spot; however, a shot that has been "middled" usually means one that is hit with great power as well as timing.
Middle order
the batsmen who bat at between roughly number 5 and 8 in the batting order. Can include some all-rounders, a wicket-keeper who can bat a bit but not enough to be considered a wicket-keeper/batsman, and specialist bowlers with some skill at batting.
Military medium
medium-pace bowling that lacks the speed to trouble the batsman. Often has derogatory overtones, suggesting the bowling is boring, innocuous, or lacking in variety.
Mis-field
a fielder failing to collect the ball cleanly, often fumbling the ball or dropping a catch.
Mullygrubber
a ball that doesn't bounce after pitching. This term was coined by legendary player and commentator Richie Benaud.
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Negative bowling
a persistent line of bowling down the leg-side of a batsman to stymie the batsman from scoring (particularly in Test matches).
Nelson
a score of 111, either of a team or an individual batsman, regarded by some as unlucky. To prevent bad luck, some people stand on one leg. Scores of 222 and 333 are called Double and Triple Nelson respectively.
Nervous nineties
the period of batsman's innings when his or her score is between 90 and 99. During this phase many players bat extremely cautiously in order to avoid being out before they obtain a century.
Nets
a pitch surrounded on three sides by netting, used by for practice by batsman and bowler.
Net run rate (NRR)
the run rate scored by the winning team subtracted by run rate scored by losing team. The winning team gets positive value, losing team the negative value. In a series, the mean of the NRR for all matches played by the team is taken. Alternatively, for a series, a team's NRR can be calculated as (total runs scored) / (total overs received) - (total runs conceded) / (total overs bowled)
Nick
1. An edge
2. Recent consistent form, either good or bad, especially while batting. A batsman who has recently scored a lot of runs is in "good nick", a batsman after a run of low scores is in "bad nick".
Nightwatchman
(in a first-class game) a lower order batsman sent in when the light is dimming to play out the remaining overs of the day in order to protect more valuable batsmen for the next days play.
No ball
an illegal delivery, usually because of the bowler overstepping the popping crease, scoring an extra for the batting side. Full tosses that pass above the waist of the batsman are also deemed no balls. See beamer.
Non-striker
the batsman standing at the bowling end.
Not out
1. a batsman who is in and has been not yet been dismissed, particularly when play has ceased.
2. the call of the umpire when turning down an appeal for a wicket.
Nurdle
to score runs by gently nudging the ball into vacant areas of the field. Also called milking around eg: "He milked the bowler around".
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Odds match
a match in which one side has more players than the other. Generally the extra players were allowed to field as well as bat and so the bowling side had more than 11 fielders.
One Day International (ODI)
a match between two national sides limited to 50 overs per innings, played over at most one day.
Off break
an off spin delivery which, for a right-handed bowler and a right-handed batsman, will turn from the off side to the leg side (usually into the batsman).
Off cutter
an off break delivery bowled by a fast or medium-pace bowler which moves into the batsmanafter hitting the surface. (The ball breaks from the off-side to the leg side of the batsman.)(see In-Cutter)
Off side
the half of the pitch in front of the batsman's body as he takes strike. For the right handed batsman this is the right half of the pitch, looking up the wicket towards the bowler, and the left half for the left handed batsman.
Off spin
a form of bowling in which the bowler imparts spin on the ball with the fingers as the ball is delivered, and for that reason also known as "finger spin". The usual stock delivery for an off spinner is an off break, but other off spin deliveries includes the arm ball and the doosra. The term off spinner is usually reserved for right handed bowlers who bowl in this manner. Left handers are described as orthodox or unorthodox.
On side
the half of the pitch behind the batsman's body as he takes strike i.e. the left half for a right-handed batsman and the right for a left-hander (also known as the leg side).
On a length
describing a delivery bowled on a good length.
On strike
the batsman currently facing the bowling attack is said to be on strike.
On the up
describes a batsman playing a shot, usually a drive, to a ball that is quite short and has already risen to knee height or more as the shot is played.
One-day cricket
an abbreviated form of the game, with just one innings per team, usually with a limited number of overs and played over one day.
One down
a batsman who bats at #3, a crucial position in the team's batting innings.
One short
the term used when a batsman fails to make contact with the ground beyond the popping crease, and turns back for an additional run.
Opener
1. a batsman skilled at batting at the beginning of an innings, when the ball is new.
2. one of the bowlers who open the innings, usually the fastest bowlers in the side.
Orthodox
1. shots played in the accepted "textbook" manner, and batsmen who play in this manner.
2. a left arm spin bowler who spins the ball with his fingers. This imparts spin in the same direction as a right-handed leg spin bowler. See: Left-arm orthodox spin.
Out
1. the state of a batsman who has been dismissed.
2. the word sometimes spoken while raising the index finger by the umpire when answering an appeal for a wicket in the affirmative.
Out dipper
a dipper that curves away from the batsman before pitching.
Outswing
a delivery that curves away from the batsman.
Outfield
the part of the field lying outside the 30 yard (27 m) circle measured from the centre of the pitch or, less formally, the part of the pitch furthest from the wickets.
Over
the delivery of six consecutive balls by one bowler.
Over rate
the number of overs bowled per hour.
Over the wicket
a right-handed bowler bowling to the left of the stumps, and vice-versa for a left-handed bowler.
Overarm
the action of bowling with the arm swinging from behind the body over the head, releasing the ball on the down swing without bending the elbow. This type of bowling is the only type allowed in all official cricket matches. Compare with underarm.
Overpitched delivery
a delivery that is full pitched but not a yorker, bouncing just in front of the batsman. Considered a poor delivery, as it easy for the batsman to get the middle of the bat to the ball. An overpitched ball is often a half-volley.
Overthrows also buzzers
the scoring of extra runs due to an errant throw from a fielder. Occasionally used erroneously for any runs scored after a fielder misfields the ball. Also the throw itself.
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Pace bowling (also fast bowling)
a style of bowling in which the ball is delivered at high speeds, typically over 90 mph (145 km/h). Pace bowlers also use swing.
Pads
protective equipment for batsmen and wicket-keepers, covering the legs.
Pad away or pad-play
use the pads hit the ball away from the wicket, only possible when there is no danger of LBW (for example, if the ball pitched on the leg side). Using the pad instead of the bat removes the danger of being caught by close fielders.
Paddle sweep
A very fine sweep, almost just a tickle of the delivery pitched on or outside leg stump.
Paddle scoop
A shot where the batsman scoops the ball over his/her shoulder in order to find a boundary either behind the wicketkeeper or in the fine leg region.
Pair
a "pair of spectacles" (0-0) or a "pair of ducks". A batsman's score of nought (zero) runs in both innings of a two-innings match (see this list of Pairs in test and first class cricket).
Partnership
the number of runs scored between a pair of batsmen before one of them gets dismissed. This also includes the deliveries faced and time taken.
Part Time
a bowler who doesn't always bowl but is adequate enough to bowl seldom and is often successful because of variation in performance and their surprising attributes.
Peach
a delivery bowled by a fast bowler described as unplayable, usually a really good delivery that a batsman gets out to.
Perfect over, The
For a bowler, it would be a Maiden over by scoring all 6 wickets within an over. For a batsman, it would be scoring 36 runs (or more by extras) by scoring all sixes off a single bowler in a single over.
Perfume ball
a bouncer on or just outside off-stump that passes within inches of the batsman's face. So called because the ball is supposedly close enough to the batsman's face that he can smell it.
Picket fences
an over in which one run is scored off each delivery. It looks like picket fences 111111, hence the name.
Pie Chucker (or Pie Thrower)
A poor bowler, usually of slow to medium pace whose deliveries are flighted so much as to appear similar to a pie in the air. Considered easy to score off by batsmen - see Buffet Bowling.
Pinch hitter
a lower order batsman promoted up the batting order to increase the run rate. The term, if not the precise sense, is borrowed from baseball.
Pitch
1. the rectangular surface in the centre of the field where most of the action takes place, usually made of earth or clay. It is 22 yards in length.
2. of the ball, to bounce before reaching the batsman after delivery.
3. the spot where the ball pitches (sense 2).
Pitch (It) Up
to bowl a delivery on a fuller length.
Pitch map
a diagram showing where a number of balls, usually from a particular bowler, have pitched. Compare beehive.
Placement
the term used to denote the ball hit, such that it bisects or trisects the fielders placed on the field. The ball usually ends up being a four.
Playing on
for the batsman to hit the ball with his bat but only succeed in diverting it onto the stumps. The batsman is thus out bowled. Also known as "dragging on" or "chopping on"
Plumb
of a dismissal by LBW: indisputable, obvious. Of a wicket, giving true bounce.
Point
A fielding position square of the batsman's off side.
Point of release
the position of the bowler at the moment when the ball is released.
Pongo
a term (used primarily by UK county players) to describe a very high volume of run-making, or batting assault.
Popper
a ball that rises sharply from the pitch when bowled ('pops up').
Powerplay
a block of overs that in One Day Internationals offer a temporary advantage to the batting side.
Pro20
South African form of twenty20
Pro40
The name of a limited overs competition played in England towards the late summer. Games are arranged in group stages with later knockout stages for the qualifiers. So named as there are 40 overs per side.
Pull
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Quota
the total number of overs (maximum 10) allotted to a bowler in an ODI match. Typically total overs in the innings divided by 5, rounded to next highest integer.
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Rabbit
I. a particularly bad batsman, usually a specialist bowler. A "rabbit" often seems unsure of how he should even hold his bat, as typified by Phil Tufnell, Allan Donald, Courtney Walsh, Glenn McGrath and Chris Martin. See also ferret.
II. The term is also used for a higher order batsman who is out frequently to the same bowler, although then most often in the form bunny; for example, Mike Atherton is sometimes described by commentators as "Glenn McGrath's bunny".
Rain rule
any of various methods of determining which team wins a rain-shortened one-day match. The current preferred method is the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Red cherry
a nickname for the red cricket ball. See cherry.
Referral
a system which allows for batsmen or fielding captains to appeal an umpiring decision to the third umpire. Still in the experimental stage and not currently used for all Test series.
Rest day
a non-playing day in the middle of a multiple day game.
Retire
for a batsman to voluntarily leave the field during his innings, usually because of injury. A player who retires through injury ("retired hurt") may return in the same innings at the fall of a wicket, and continue where he left off. A player who is uninjured ("retired out") may return only with the opposing captain's consent.
Reverse Sweep
a right handed batsman sweeping the ball like a left handed batsman and vice-versa.
Reverse swing
the art of swinging the ball contrary to how a conventionally swung ball moves in the air; i.e. movement away from the rough side. Many theories as to how this may occur. Usually happens with an older ball than conventional swing, but not always, atmospheric conditions and bowler skill also being important factors. It has been espoused that once the 'rough' side becomes extremely rough a similar effect to that of a dimpled golf ball may cause it to move more quickly through the air than the 'shiny' side of the ball.
Rib Tickler
A ball bowled short of a length that bounces up higher than expected and strikes the batsman in the midriff (usually the side) and hits several ribs. Not a nice ball to play.
Ring field
A field which is set primarily to save singles, consisting of fieldsmen in all or most of the primary positions forward of the wicket, on or about the fielding circle (or where it would be).
Rogers
The 2nd XI of a club or county. From the Warwickshire and New Zealand player Roger Twose.
Roller
an cylindrical implement used to flatten the pitch before play.
Rotate the strike
to look to make singles wherever possible, in order to ensure that both batsmen are continually facing deliveries and making runs. The opposite of farming the strike.
Rough
a worn-down section of the pitch, often due to bowlers' footmarks, from which spinners are able to obtain more turn.
Roundarm bowling
the type of bowling action in which the bowler's outstretched hand is perpendicular to his body when he releases the ball. Round arm bowling is legal in cricket.
Ruby Duck
A duck when dismissed without facing a ball. e.g. run out without facing or stumped off a wide on the first ball faced.
Run out
dismissal by a member of the fielding side breaking the wicket while the batsman is outside his/her crease in the process of making a run.
Run rate
the average number of runs scored per over.
Run up
see approach.
Runner
a player of the batting side assisting an injured batsman in running between the wickets. The runner must wear and carry the same equipment and both the injured batsman and the runner can be run out, the injured batsman having to stay in his ground.
A batsman who has been wrongly or unluckily given out by an umpire.
Scorer
Someone who scores the progress of the game. Runs, wickets, extras etc
Seam
the stitching on the ball.
Seam bowling
a bowling style which uses the uneven conditions of the ball -- specifically the raised seam -- to make it deviate upon bouncing off the pitch. Contrast with swing bowling.
Selector
a person who is delegated with the task of choosing players for a cricket team. Typically the term is used in the context of player selection for national, provincial and other representative teams at the professional levels of the game, where a "panel of selectors" acts under the authority of the relevant national or provincial cricket administrative body.
Session
A period of play, from start to lunch, lunch to tea and tea until stumps.
Shepherd the strike (also farm the strike)
of a batsman, contrive to receive the majority of the balls bowled, often to protect a weaker batting partner.
Shooter
a delivery that skids after pitching (i.e. doesn't bounce as high as would be expected), usually at a quicker pace, resulting in a batsman unable to hit the ball cleanly.
Short-pitched
a delivery that bounces relatively close to the bowler. The intent is to make the ball bounce well above waist height (a bouncer). A slow or low-bouncing short-pitched ball is known as a long hop.
Shot
the act of the batsman hitting the ball with his bat.
Side on
1. A side on bowler has back foot, chest and hips aligned towards the batsman at the instant of back foot contact.
2. A batsman is side on if his hips and shoulders are facing at ninety degrees to the bowler.
Sightscreen
a large board placed behind the bowler, beyond the boundary, used to provide contrast to the ball, thereby aiding the striker in seeing the ball when it is delivered. Typically coloured white to contrast a red ball, or black to contrast a white ball.
Silly
a modifier to the names of some fielding positions to denote that they are unusually close to the batsman, most often silly mid-off, silly mid-on, silly midwicket and silly point.
Single
a run scored by the batsmen physically running once only between the wickets.
Six (or Sixer)
a shot which passes over the boundary without having bounced, so called because it scores six runs to the batting side.
Sitter
an easy catch (or occasionally a stumping) that should generally be taken.
Skier
(pronounced Sky-er) A mis-timed shot hit almost straight up in the air, to the sky. Usually results in the batsman being caught out. Occasionally however the fielder positions himself perfectly to take the catch but misses it or drops it. Such an error is considered very embarrassing for the fielder.
Skipper
alternative name for Manhattan.
Slash
a cut, but played aggressively or possibly recklessly - a cut (qv) being a shot played square on the off side to a short-pitched delivery wide of off stump. So called because the batsman makes a "cutting" motion as he plays the shot.
Sledging
verbal abuse in simple terms, or a psychological tactic in more complex terms. Used by cricketers both on and off the field to gain advantage of the opposition by frustrating them and breaking the concentration of the opposition. Considered in some cricketing countries to be against the spirit of the game, although occasional sledging remains common.
Slice
a kind of cut shot played with the bat making an obtuse angle with the batsman.
Slider
a wrist spinner's delivery where backspin is put on the ball.
Slip
a close fielder behind the batsman, next to the wicket-keeper on the off-side. There can be as many as four slips for a faster bowler. Also ("in the slips", "at first slip") the positions occupied by such fielders.
Slipper
a player who specialises in fielding in the slips e.g. "Gubby rates our cricketing Prime Minister as having been a distinctly good slipper, as well as a useful away swing bowler and a determined bat."
Slog
a powerful shot, usually hit in the air in an attempt to score a six, often without too much concern for proper technique.
Slog overs
the final 10 overs (particularly the last five) in an ODI match during which batsmen play aggressively scoring at a very high rate.
Slog sweep
a sweep shot hit hard and in the air, over the same boundary as for a hook. Used exclusively against spin bowlers. A type of slog.
Slogger
a batsman who hits a lot of slogs.
Slower ball
a medium-pace delivery bowled by a fast bowler. Designed to deceive the batsman into playing the ball too early and skying it to a fielder. Has several variations.
Snick (also edge)
a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat. Top, bottom, inside and outside edges denote the four edges of the bat.
Snick-o-Meter
a device used to measure the distinct sound generated when a batsman snicks the ball. The distinct sound is shown as a high spike (like one generated by a seismograph during an earthquake) on the Snick-o-Meter. Sometimes called snicko.
Specialist
a player selected in the team primarily for a single skill, i.e. not an all-rounder or a wicketkeeper-batsman. Such players can be described as specialist batsmen, specialist bowlers or specialist wicketkeepers.
Spell
1. the number of continuous overs a bowler bowls before being relieved.
2. the total number of overs that a bowler bowls in an innings.
Spider Graph
similar to a Wagon Wheel, where different coloured lines are drawn to where a batsman has hit the ball during his innings. This accumulates into a spider looking graph. Each amount of runs, 1's, 2's etc. are represented with a separate colour. This can show which stroke(s) each batsman is dominant at eg. Matthew Hayden would have a strong down the ground graph with many 4's straight of the wicket.
Spin bowling
a style of bowling in which a spin bowler ("spinner") attempts to deceive the batsman by imparting spin on the ball using either their fingers or their wrist. Spin bowling is most effective when the ball is travelling relatively slowly, and so most spinners bowl at a pace between 40 and 55mph.
Splice
the joint between the handle and the blade of a bat; the weakest part of the bat. If the ball hits the splice it is likely to dolly up for an easy catch.
Square
1. of a position on the field, perpendicular to the line of the pitch; the opposite of fine.
2. the area in the middle of the ground where the pitches are prepared.
Square-cut
A Cut shot, played square, i.e. perpendicular to the bowler's delivery.
Stance (also batting stance)
the posture of a batsman holding his bat when facing a delivery.
Stand (noun)
A synonym for partnership.
Standing up
position adopted by a Wicket-keeper, close to the stumps, when a slow (or, occasionally, medium pace) bowler is operating.
Start
a batsman is said to have a start when he successfully avoids being dismissed for very few runs; in Australia, this is generally understood to mean a score of twenty runs.
Steaming in
a bowler taking a fast run-up to bowl is said to be steaming in.
Sticky dog
a drying wicket that is exceedingly difficult to bat on. Uncommon if not non-existent in recent years due to the routine covering of pitches.
Sticky wicket
a difficult wet pitch.
Stock bowler
a bowler whose role is to restrict scoring rather than to take wickets. Usually called upon to bowl large amounts of overs at a miserly run rate while strike bowlers rest between spells or attempt to take wickets from the other end.
Stock delivery (also stock ball)
a bowler's standard delivery; the delivery a bowler bowls most frequently. Bowlers usually have one stock delivery and one or more variation deliveries.
Stodger
a batsmen who makes it their job to defend and to score at a mediocre rate. This style is prone to derogatory comments but also compliments on resilience and technique.
Straight bat
the bat when held vertically, or when swung through a vertical arc
Straight up-and-down
pejorative term used to describe a fast or medium paced bowler who cannot swing or seam the ball.
Strangle
form of dismissal whereby a batsman, in trying to play a glance very fine to a leg-side ball, get's an inside edge which is caught by the wicket-keeper.
Street
a pitch which is easy for batsmen and difficult for bowlers. Sometimes called a road, highway, and various other synonyms for street.
Strike
the position as batsman, as opposed to non striker. Often, 'Keep [the] strike', to arrange runs on the last ball of an over so as to face the first ball of the next. 'Shepherd the Strike': to keep doing this to protect a less skillful batsman.
Strike bowler
an attacking bowler whose role is to take wickets rather than to restrict scoring. Usually a fast bowler or attacking spinner who bowls in short spells to attacking field settings.
Strike rate
1. (batting) a percentage equal to the number of runs scored by a batsman divided by the number of balls faced.
2. (bowling) the average number of deliveries bowled before a bowler takes a wicket.
Striker
the batsman who faces the deliveries bowled.
Stroke
an attempt by the batsman to play at a delivery.
Stump
1. one of the three vertical posts making up the wicket ("off stump", "middle stump" and "leg stump");
2. a way of dismissing a batsman; or
3. ("stumps") the end of a day's play.
Sun Ball
A method of bowling where the ball is intentionally bowled at a great height and a sluggish pace. This is done to interrupt the batsman's field of vision using the suns rays often causing disastrous consequences such as blunt strikes to the head.
Sundry (also extra)
a run not attributed to any batsman, such as a bye, wide or no-ball.
Supersub
Under experimental One-Day International rules introduced in July 2005, the twelfth man became a substitute, able to come on and replace any player, with the substitute able to take over the substituted player's batting and bowling duties. A twelfth man used as a substitute in this way was known as the supersub. The first supersub was Vikram Solanki, who replaced Simon Jones at Headingley on 7 July 2005. However, as Solanki replaced Jones after England had bowled, and England only lost one wicket in chasing down Australia's target, Solanki did not get to play any part in the game. The ICC cancelled the experiment in February 2006.
Surrey Cut (also Chinese Cut or French cut or Harrow Drive)
an inside edge, often from a drive which narrowly misses hitting the stumps. The ball often runs down to fine leg.
Sweep
a shot played to a good length slow delivery. The batsman gets down on one knee and "sweeps" the ball to the leg side.
Sweet spot
the small area on the face of the bat that gives maximum power for minimum effort when the ball is hit with it. Also known as the "middle" or "meat" of the bat. A shot that is struck with the sweet spot is referred to as being "well timed" (see timing).
Sweep
a shot general played to spinners, where the bat is played horizontally and low to the ground in an effort to sweep the ball around the back of the legs.
Swing
a bowling style usually employed by fast and medium-pace bowlers. The fielding side will polish the ball on one side of the seam only; as the innings continues, the ball will become worn on one side, but shiny on the other. When the ball is bowled with the seam upright, the air will travel faster over the shiny side than the worn side. This makes the ball swing (curve) in the air. Conventional swing would mean that the ball curves in the air away from the shiny side. (see reverse swing).
Switch hit
a shot played by a batsman who reverses both his stance and his grip during the bowler's run up, so that a right-handed batsman would play the shot as an orthodox left-hander. The shot was popularised by England batsman Kevin Pietersen, prompting some discussion about its impact on the rules, eg for lbw decisions in which it is necessary to distinguish between off and leg stumps.
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Tail
Also called the lower order refers to the last batsmen in a teams innings that are usually made up of specialist bowlers and usually contains one rabbit or more. A long tail means that a team contains many specialist bowlers while shorter tails means there are more batsmen/all-rounders in the team. If the tail performs well it is said that the tail wagged.
Tail-ender
a batsman who bats towards the end of the batting order, usually a specialist bowler or wicket-keeper with relatively poor batting skills. The last of the tail-enders are colloquially known as "rabbits".
Tea
the second of the two intervals during a full day's play is known as the tea interval, due to its timing at about tea-time. In matches lasting only an afternoon, the tea interval is usually taken between innings.
Tea towel explanation
a popular comic explanation of the laws of cricket.
Teesra
A variation delivery for an off spin bowler, Saqlain Mushtaq has been credited with creating it. Teesra comes from the Urdu meaning the third one.
1. A doosra with extra bounce.
2. A ball that drifts in from wide of off stump and turns away from the right hander sharply with extra bounce.
The actual definition of this ball has yet to have been definitively announced.
Test match
a cricket match with play spread over five days with unlimited overs played between two senior international teams. Considered the highest level of the game.
Textbook Shot
A shot played by the batsmen with perfect technique, also known as a cricket shot
Third umpire
an off-field umpire, equipped with a television monitor, whose assistance the two on-field umpires can seek when in doubt.
Through the gate
"bowled through the gate": dismissed with a ball that passes between the bat and the pads before hitting the wicket.
Throwing
of a bowler, an illegal bowling action in which the arm is straightened during the delivery.
Tice
An old name for a yorker.
Tickle
An edge to the wicket-keeper or slips. Alternatively a delicate shot usually played to third man or fine leg.
Tie
the (very rare) result in which the two teams' scores are equal and the team batting last is all out (or, in a limited overs match, the allotted overs have been played) . Not to be confused with a draw, in which the scores are not equal.
Timed match
a match whose duration is based on a set amount of time rather than a set number of overs. Timed matches usually have a draw as a potential result, in addition to the win/loss or tie that can be achieved in limited overs cricket. First-class cricket consists of timed matches.
Timing
the art of striking the ball so that it hits the bat's sweet spot. A "well-timed" shot imparts great speed to the ball but appears effortless.
Ton (also century)
100 runs scored by a single batsman in an innings.
Top order
the batsmen batting at number 3 and 4 (and sometimes at 5 as well) in the batting order.
Top spin
forward rotation on the ball, causing it to increase speed immediately after pitching.
Tour
An organised itinerary of matches requiring travel away from the team's usual base. Used especially in international cricket to describe the representative team of one nation playing a series of matches in another nation.
Tourist
A member of a cricket team undertaking a tour.
Track
another term for the pitch.
Trundler
a reliable, steady medium-pace bowler who is not especially good, but is not especially bad either.
Twelfth man
Traditionally, the first substitute player who fields when a member of the fielding side is injured. In Test matches, twelve players are named to a team prior to the match, with the final reduction to eleven occurring immediately prior to play commencing on the first day. This gives the captain some flexibility in team selection, dependent on the conditions (e.g. a spin bowler may be named to the team, but omitted if the captain feels that the pitch is not suitable for spin bowling).
Twenty20
a new, fast paced, form of cricket limited to twenty overs per innings, plus some other rules changes, specifically designed to broaden the appeal of the game.
one of the two (or three) enforcers of the rules and adjudicators of play.
Underarm
the action of bowling with the arm swinging from behind the body in a downswing arc and then releasing the ball on the up swing without bending the elbow. This type of bowling is now illegal in formal cricket, but commonly played in informal types of cricket. Compare with overarm.
Under-spin (also back-spin)
backward rotation on the ball, causing it to decrease speed immediately after pitching.
Unorthodox
1. a shot played not in the accepted "textbook" manner, often with a degree of improvisation.
2. a left arm spin bowler who spins the ball with his wrist. This imparts spin in the same direction as a right-handed off spin bowler. See: Left-arm unorthodox spin.
Unplayable delivery
a ball that is impossible for the batsman to deal with; used to imply that the batsman was out more through the skill of the bowler than through his own error.
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Vee
1. an unmarked, loosely defined V-shaped area on the ground at which the batsman stands at the apex. The two sides of the "V" go through the mid-off and mid-on regions. Most shots played into this region are straight-batted shots, which don't involve the risks associated with playing across the line.
2. the V-shaped joint between the lower end of the handle and the blade of the bat (see also splice).
Village or Village cricket
the kind of level of cricket played by the majority of the cricket-watching public. Traditionally applied pejoratively when the standard of play (particularly from professionals) is very low. e.g. "That shot/dropped catch/bowling was village"
when tail-enders score more runs than they are expected to (the tail wagged).
Wagon wheel
a graphical chart which divides a cricket ground into six sectors (looking like the spokes of a wagon style wheel), and shows how many runs a batsman has scored into each area.
Waft
A loose non-comittal shot, usually played to a ball pitched short of length and well wide of the off stump. He wafted at that and snicked it to the 'keeper
Walk
of a batsman, to walk off the pitch, knowing or believing that he is out, rather than waiting for an umpire to give him out (forfeiting the chance that the umpire may give the benefit of the doubt regarding a dismissal if he is not certain that the batsman is out). Generally considered to be sporting behaviour though increasingly rare in international cricket.
Walking wicket
a very poor batsman, particularly tail-end batsmen, who are usually specialist bowlers. Statistically, any batsman averaging under 5.
Wicket-keeper
the player on the fielding side who stands immediately behind the batting end wicket. A specialist position, used throughout the game.
Wicket-keeper/batsman
a wicket-keeper who is also a very good batsman, capable of opening the batting or at least making good scores in the top order.
Wicket maiden
a maiden over in which the bowler also dismisses a batsman. A double wicket maiden if two wickets are taken, and so on.
Wicket-to-wicket
an imaginary line connecting the two wickets, also a style of straight, un-varied bowling.
Wide
a delivery that passes illegally wide of the wicket, scoring an extra for the batting side. A wide does not count as one of the six valid deliveries that must be made in each over - an extra ball must be bowled for each wide.
Wood
a bowler who consistently dismisses a certain batsman is said to "have the wood" over that player.
Worm
a plot of either the cumulative runs scored, or the progressive run rate achieved by a team (the y-axis) against the over number (x-axis) in limited-overs cricket.
Wrong foot
when the bowling foot is the front foot the delivery is said to be bowled off the wrong foot. Such a bowler is said to bowl off the wrong foot.
Wrong footed
when the batsman is initially moving either back or forward to a delivery and then has to suddenly change which foot he uses (back or front), he is said to have been wrong-footed. Usually applies to spin bowling.
Wrong 'un
top X
Xavier Tras
as Extras are not credited to a batsman, and cricket has a long tradition of providing full lists of scorer names and initials, the Extras total is sometimes personified as 'X. Tras' or 'Xavier Tras'. This can mean that 'Xavier Tras' can be the highest 'scorer' in an innings.
top Y
(The) Yips
The Yips are occasionally experienced by bowlers suffering from a loss of confidence. A psychological condition whereby the bowler is unable to sufficiently relax when delivering the ball - often holding the ball too long before release, losing flight, turn and accuracy in the process. Bowlers have been known to suffer from The Yips for as little as a few overs, up to the course of an entire season or more.
Yorker
a (usually fast) delivery that is pitched very close to the batsman. The intent is for it to bounce exactly underneath his bat or on his toes, in the block hole. A perfectly-pitched fast yorker is almost impossible to keep out; a bad yorker can turn into a half-volley (too short) or a full toss (too full).
| overthrows |
Edmond Dantès is the eponymous protagonist of which novel of 1844? | cricket
cricket
This article is about the sport. For the insect, see Cricket (insect) . For other uses, see Cricket (disambiguation) .
"Cricketer" redirects here. For other uses, see Cricketer (disambiguation) .
Cricket
A bowler bowling to a batsman . The paler strip is the cricket pitch . The two sets of three wooden stumps on the pitch are the wickets . The two white lines are the creases .
substitute fielders (only) are permitted in cases of injury or illness
Mixed gender
1900 Summer Olympics only
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on a field , at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch . One team bats , trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields , trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the runs scored by the batting team. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of an innings .
In professional cricket the length of a game ranges from 20 overs of six bowling deliveries per side to Test cricket played over five days. The Laws of Cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) with additional Standard Playing Conditions for Test matches and One Day Internationals. [1]
Cricket was first played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had developed into the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century the first international matches were being held. The ICC, the game's governing body, has ten full members . [2] The game is played particularly in Australasia , the Indian subcontinent , the West Indies, Southern Africa and England.
Contents
Main article: History of cricket
Early cricket was at some time or another described as "a club striking a ball (like) the ancient games of club-ball, stool-ball, trap-ball, stob-ball". [3] Cricket can definitely be traced back to Tudor times in early 16th-century England. Written evidence exists of a game known as creag being played by Prince Edward , the son of Edward I (Longshanks) , at Newenden, Kent in 1301 [4] and there has been speculation, but no evidence, that this was a form of cricket.
A number of other words have been suggested as sources for the term "cricket". In the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598, [5] it is called creckett. Given the strong medieval trade connections between south-east England and the County of Flanders when the latter belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy , the name may have been derived from the Middle Dutch [6] krick(-e), meaning a stick (crook); or the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff. [7] In Old French , the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick. [8] In Samuel Johnson 's Dictionary, he derived cricket from "cryce, Saxon, a stick". [9] Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church and which resembled the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket. [10] According to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of Bonn University , "cricket" derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey , met de (krik ket)sen (i.e., "with the stick chase"). [11] Dr Gillmeister believes that not only the name but the sport itself is of Flemish origin. [12]
The first English touring team on board ship at Liverpool in 1859
The earliest definite reference to cricket being played in England (and hence anywhere) is in evidence given at a 1598 court case which mentions that "creckett" was played on common land in Guildford , Surrey, around 1550. The court in Guildford heard on Monday, 17 January 1597 (Julian date, equating to the year 1598 in the Gregorian calendar) from a 59 year-old coroner , John Derrick , who gave witness that when he was a scholar at the "Free School at Guildford", fifty years earlier, "hee and diverse of his fellows did runne and play [on the common land] at creckett and other plaies." [13] [14] It is believed that it was originally a children's game but references around 1610 [14] indicate that adults had started playing it and the earliest reference to inter-parish or village cricket occurs soon afterwards. In 1624, a player called Jasper Vinall was killed when he was struck on the head during a match between two parish teams in Sussex. [15]
During the 17th century, numerous references indicate the growth of cricket in the south-east of England. By the end of the century, it had become an organised activity being played for high stakes and it is believed that the first professionals appeared in the years following the Restoration in 1660. A newspaper report survives of "a great cricket match" with eleven players a side that was played for high stakes in Sussex in 1697 and this is the earliest known reference to a cricket match of such importance.
The game underwent major development in the 18th century and became the national sport of England. Betting played a major part in that development with rich patrons forming their own "select XIs". Cricket was prominent in London as early as 1707 and large crowds flocked to matches on the Artillery Ground in Finsbury. The single wicket form of the sport attracted huge crowds and wagers to match. Bowling evolved around 1760 when bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it towards the batsman. This caused a revolution in bat design because, to deal with the bouncing ball, it was necessary to introduce the modern straight bat in place of the old "hockey stick" shape. The Hambledon Club was founded in the 1760s and, for the next 20 years until the formation of MCC and the opening of Lord's Old Ground in 1787, Hambledon was both the game's greatest club and its focal point. MCC quickly became the sport's premier club and the custodian of the Laws of Cricket . New Laws introduced in the latter part of the 18th century included the three stump wicket and leg before wicket (lbw).
Don Bradman had a Test average of 99.94 and an overall first-class average of 95.14, records unmatched by any other player. [16]
The 19th century saw underarm bowling replaced by first roundarm and then overarm bowling . Both developments were controversial. Organisation of the game at county level led to the creation of the county clubs, starting with Sussex CCC in 1839, which ultimately formed the official County Championship in 1890. Meanwhile, the British Empire had been instrumental in spreading the game overseas and by the middle of the 19th century it had become well established in India, North America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In 1844, the first international cricket match took place between the United States and Canada (although neither has ever been ranked as a Test-playing nation).
In 1859, a team of England players went on the first overseas tour (to North America). The first Australian team to tour overseas was a team of Aboriginal stockmen who travelled to England in 1868 to play matches against county teams. [17] In 1862, an English team made the first tour of Australia and in 1876–77, an England team took part in the first-ever Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia .
W.G. Grace started his long career in 1865; his career is often said to have revolutionised the sport. [18] The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882 and this has remained Test cricket's most famous contest[ citation needed ]. Test cricket began to expand in 1888–89 when South Africa played England. The last two decades before the First World War have been called the " Golden Age of cricket ". It is a nostalgic name prompted by the collective sense of loss resulting from the war, but the period did produce some great players and memorable matches, especially as organised competition at county and Test level developed.
The inter-war years were dominated by one player: Australia's Don Bradman , statistically the greatest batsman of all time. It was the determination of the England team to overcome his skill that brought about the infamous Bodyline series in 1932–33, particularly from the accurate short-pitched bowling of Harold Larwood . Test cricket continued to expand during the 20th century with the addition of the West Indies , India , and New Zealand before the Second World War and then Pakistan , Sri Lanka , and Bangladesh in the post-war period. However, South Africa was banned from international cricket from 1970 to 1992 because of its government's apartheid policy.
Cricket entered a new era in 1963 when English counties introduced the limited overs variant. As it was sure to produce a result, limited overs cricket was lucrative and the number of matches increased. The first Limited Overs International was played in 1971. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) saw its potential and staged the first limited overs Cricket World Cup in 1975. In the 21st century, a new limited overs form, Twenty20 , has made an immediate impact.
Rules and game-play
Main article: Laws of cricket
Summary
A cricket match is played between two teams of eleven players each [19] [20] on a grassy field , typically 137–150 metres (150–160 yd) in diameter. [21] The Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field [22] but it is often oval.
A cricket match is divided into periods called innings. During an innings (innings ends with 's' in both singular and plural form), one team fields and the other bats. The two teams switch between fielding and batting after each innings. All eleven members of the fielding team take the field, but only two members of the batting team (two batsmen ) are on the field at any given time.
The key action takes place in the pitch , a rectangular strip in the centre of the field. The two batsmen face each other at opposite ends of the pitch, each behind a line on the pitch known as a crease. The fielding team's eleven members stand outside the pitch, spread out across the field.
Behind each batsman is a target called a wicket. One designated member of the fielding team, called the bowler, is given a ball, and attempts to send (bowl) the ball from one end of the pitch to the wicket behind the batsman on the other side of the pitch. The batsman tries to prevent the ball from hitting the wicket by striking the ball with a bat. If the bowler succeeds in hitting the wicket, or if the ball, after being struck by the batsman, is caught by the fielding team before it touches the ground, the batsman is dismissed. A dismissed batsman must leave the field, to be replaced by another batsman from the batting team.
If the batsman is successful in striking the ball and the ball is not caught before it hits the ground, the two batsmen may then try to score points (runs) for their team by running across the pitch, grounding their bats behind each other's crease. Each crossing and grounding by both batsmen is worth one run. The batsmen may attempt multiple runs or elect not to run at all. By attempting runs, the batsmen risk dismissal, which can happen if the fielding team retrieves the ball and hits a wicket with the ball before either batsman reaches the opposite crease.
If the batsman hits the bowled ball over the field boundary without the ball touching the field, the batting team scores six runs and may not attempt more. If the ball touches the ground and then reaches the boundary, the batting team scores four runs and may not attempt more. When the batsmen have finished attempting their runs, the ball is returned to the bowler to be bowled again. The bowler continues to bowl toward the same wicket, regardless of any switch of the batsmen's positions. [23]
After a bowler has bowled six times (an over), another member of the fielding team is designated as the new bowler. The new bowler bowls to the opposite wicket, and play continues. Fielding team members may bowl multiple times during an innings, but may not bowl two overs in succession.
The innings is complete when 10 of the 11 members of the batting team have been dismissed, one always remaining "not out", or when a set number of overs has been played. The number of innings and the number of overs per innings vary depending on the match.
Objectives
The objective of each team is to score more runs than the other team. In Test cricket , it is necessary to score the most runs and dismiss the opposition twice in order to win the match, which would otherwise be drawn.
Pitch, wickets and creases
The cricket pitch dimensions
At either end of the pitch, 22 yards (20 m) apart, are placed the wickets . These serve as a target for the bowling (aka fielding ) side and are defended by the batting side which seeks to accumulate runs. The pitch is 22 yards (20 m) or one chain [24] in length between the wickets and is 10 feet (3.0 m) wide. It is a flat surface and has very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses. The "condition" of the pitch has a significant bearing on the match and team tactics are always determined with the state of the pitch, both current and anticipated, as a deciding factor.
Each wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed in a straight line and surmounted by two wooden crosspieces called bails ; the total height of the wicket including bails is 28.5 inches (720 mm) and the combined width of the three stumps is 9 inches (230 mm).
Aerial view of the MCG displaying the stadium, ground and pitch
Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the "popping" (or batting) crease, the bowling crease and two "return" creases.
A wicket consists of three stumps that are hammered into the ground, and topped with two bails .
The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these must be 22 yards (20 m) apart. A bowling crease is 8 feet 8 inches (2.64 m) long with the middle stump placed dead centre. The popping crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is 4 feet (1.2 m) in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least 8 feet (2.4 m).
When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his "delivery stride" must land within the two return creases while his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler breaks this rule, the umpire calls "No ball".
The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory for he can be stumped or run out (see Dismissals below) if the wicket is broken while he is "out of his ground".
Bat and ball
Main articles: Cricket bat and Cricket ball
The essence of the sport is that a bowler delivers the ball from his end of the pitch towards the batsman who, armed with a bat is "on strike" at the other end.
The bat is made of wood (usually White Willow ) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 4.25 inches (108 mm) wide and the total length of the bat not more than 38 inches (970 mm).
The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of 9 inches (230 mm). The hardness of the ball, which can be delivered at speeds of more than 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), is a matter for concern and batsmen wear protective clothing including pads (designed to protect the knees and shins), batting gloves for the hands, a helmet for the head and a box inside the trousers (to protect the crotch area). Some batsmen wear additional padding inside their shirts and trousers such as thigh pads, arm pads, rib protectors and shoulder pads.
Umpires and scorers
Main articles: Umpire (cricket) and Scorer
The game on the field is regulated by two umpires , one of whom stands behind the wicket at the bowler's end, the other in a position called "square leg", a position 15–20 metres to the side of the "on strike" batsman. When the bowler delivers the ball, the umpire at the wicket is between the bowler and the non-striker. The umpires confer if there is doubt about playing conditions and can postpone the match by taking the players off the field if necessary, for example rain or deterioration of the light.
An umpire
Off the field and in televised matches, there is often a third umpire who can make decisions on certain incidents with the aid of video evidence. The third umpire is mandatory under the playing conditions for Test matches and limited overs internationals played between two ICC full members. These matches also have a match referee whose job is to ensure that play is within the Laws of cricket and the spirit of the game.
Off the field, the match details including runs and dismissals are recorded by two official scorers , one representing each team. The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire. For example, the umpire raises a forefinger to signal that the batsman is out (has been dismissed); he raises both arms above his head if the batsman has hit the ball for six runs. The scorers are required by the Laws of cricket to record all runs scored, wickets taken and overs bowled. In practice, they accumulate much additional data such as bowling analyses and run rates.
Innings
The innings (ending with 's' in both singular and plural form) is the term used for the collective performance of the batting side. [25] In theory, all eleven members of the batting side take a turn to bat but, for various reasons, an innings can end before they all do so.
Depending on the type of match being played, each team has one or two innings apiece. The term "innings" is also sometimes used to describe an individual batsman's contribution ("he played a fine innings").
The main aim of the bowler, supported by his fielders, is to dismiss the batsman. A batsman when dismissed is said to be "out" and that means he must leave the field of play and be replaced by the next batsman on his team. When ten batsmen have been dismissed (i.e., are out), then the whole team is dismissed and the innings is over. The last batsman, the one who has not been dismissed, is not allowed to continue alone as there must always be two batsmen "in". This batsman is termed "not out".
An innings can end early for three reasons: because the batting side's captain has chosen to "declare" the innings closed (which is a tactical decision), or because the batting side has achieved its target and won the game, or because the game has ended prematurely due to bad weather or running out of time. In each of these cases the team's innings ends with two "not out" batsmen, unless the innings is declared closed at the fall of a wicket and the next batsman has not joined in the play.
In limited overs cricket, there might be two batsmen still "not out" when the last of the allotted overs has been bowled.
Overs
Main article: Over (cricket)
The bowler bowls the ball in sets of six deliveries (or "balls") and each set of six balls is called an over . This name came about because the umpire calls "Over!" when six balls have been bowled. At this point, another bowler is deployed at the other end, and the fielding side changes ends while the batsmen do not. A bowler cannot bowl two successive overs, although a bowler can bowl unchanged at the same end for several overs. The batsmen do not change ends and so the one who was non-striker is now the striker and vice-versa. The umpires also change positions so that the one who was at square leg now stands behind the wicket at the non-striker's end and vice-versa.
Team structure
A team consists of eleven players. Depending on his or her primary skills, a player may be classified as a specialist batsman or bowler . A well-balanced team usually has five or six specialist batsmen and four or five specialist bowlers. Teams nearly always include a specialist wicket-keeper because of the importance of this fielding position. Each team is headed by a captain who is responsible for making tactical decisions such as determining the batting order, the placement of fielders and the rotation of bowlers.
A player who excels in both batting and bowling is known as an all-rounder . One who excels as a batsman and wicket-keeper is known as a "wicket-keeper/batsman", sometimes regarded as a type of all-rounder. True all-rounders are rare as most players focus on either batting or bowling skills.
Bowling
Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan , the highest wicket taker in both Test and ODI forms of cricket bowls to Adam Gilchrist .
The bowler reaches his delivery stride by means of a "run-up", although some bowlers with a very slow delivery take no more than a couple of steps before bowling. A fast bowler needs momentum and takes quite a long run-up, running very fast as he does so.
The fastest bowlers can deliver the ball at a speed of over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) and they sometimes rely on sheer speed to try and defeat the batsman, who is forced to react very quickly. Other fast bowlers rely on a mixture of speed and guile. Some fast bowlers make use of the seam of the ball so that it "curves" or "swings" in flight. This type of delivery can deceive a batsman into mistiming his shot so that the ball touches the edge of the bat and can then be "caught behind" by the wicketkeeper or a slip fielder.
At the other end of the bowling scale is the "spinner" who bowls at a relatively slow pace and relies entirely on guile to deceive the batsman. A spinner will often "buy his wicket" by "tossing one up" (in a slower, higher parabolic path) to lure the batsman into making a poor shot. The batsman has to be very wary of such deliveries as they are often "flighted" or spun so that the ball will not behave quite as he expects and he could be "trapped" into getting himself out.
In between the pacemen and the spinners are the "medium pacers" who rely on persistent accuracy to try and contain the rate of scoring and wear down the batsman's concentration.
All bowlers are classified according to their looks or style. The classifications , as with much cricket terminology, can be very confusing. Hence, a bowler could be classified as LF, meaning he is a left arm fast bowler; or as LBG, meaning he is a right arm spin bowler who bowls deliveries that are called a " leg break " and a " Googly ".
During the bowling action the elbow may be held at any angle and may bend further, but may not straighten out. If the elbow straightens illegally then the square-leg umpire may call no-ball : this is known as "throwing" or "chucking", and can be difficult to detect. The current laws allow a bowler to straighten his arm 15 degrees or less.
Fielding
Fielding positions in cricket for a right-handed batsman
All eleven players on the fielding side take the field together. One of them is the wicket-keeper aka "keeper" who operates behind the wicket being defended by the batsman on strike. Wicket-keeping is normally a specialist occupation and his primary job is to gather deliveries that the batsman does not hit, so that the batsmen cannot run byes. He wears special gloves (he is the only fielder allowed to do so), a box over the groin, and pads to cover his lower legs. Owing to his position directly behind the striker, the wicket-keeper has a good chance of getting a batsman out caught off a fine edge from the bat. He is the only player who can get a batsman out stumped .
Apart from the one currently bowling, the other nine fielders are tactically deployed by the team captain in chosen positions around the field. These positions are not fixed but they are known by specific and sometimes colourful names such as "slip", "third man", "silly mid on" and "long leg". There are always many unprotected areas.
The captain is the most important member of the fielding side as he determines all the tactics including who should bowl (and how); and he is responsible for "setting the field", though usually in consultation with the bowler.
In all forms of cricket, if a fielder gets injured or becomes ill during a match, a substitute is allowed to field instead of him. The substitute cannot bowl, act as a captain or keep wicket. The substitute leaves the field when the injured player is fit to return.
Batting
Main articles: batsman and batting (cricket)
English cricketer W.G. Grace "taking guard" in 1883. His pads and bat are very similar to those used today. The gloves have evolved somewhat. Many modern players utilise more defensive equipment than was available to Grace, notably helmets and arm guards.
At any one time, there are two batsmen in the playing area. One takes station at the striker's end to defend the wicket as above and to score runs if possible. His partner, the non-striker, is at the end where the bowler is operating.
Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order , decided by the team captain. The first two batsmen – the "openers" – usually face the hostile bowling from fresh fast bowlers with a new ball. The top batting positions are usually given to the most competent batsmen in the team, and the non-batsmen typically bat last. The pre-announced batting order is not mandatory and when a wicket falls any player who has not yet batted may be sent in next.
If a batsman "retires" (usually due to injury) and cannot return, he is actually "not out" and his retirement does not count as a dismissal, though in effect he has been dismissed because his innings is over. Substitute batsmen are not allowed.
A skilled batsman can use a wide array of "shots" or "strokes" in both defensive and attacking mode. The idea is to hit the ball to best effect with the flat surface of the bat's blade. If the ball touches the side of the bat it is called an " edge ". Batsmen do not always seek to hit the ball as hard as possible, and a good player can score runs just by making a deft stroke with a turn of the wrists or by simply "blocking" the ball but directing it away from fielders so that he has time to take a run.
There is a wide variety of shots played in cricket. The batsman's repertoire includes strokes named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed: e.g., " cut ", "drive", "hook", "pull".
Note that a batsman does not have to play a shot and can "leave" the ball to go through to the wicketkeeper, providing he thinks it will not hit his wicket. Equally, he does not have to attempt a run when he hits the ball with his bat. He can deliberately use his leg to block the ball and thereby "pad it away" but this is risky because of the leg before wicket rule.
In the event of an injured batsman being fit to bat but not to run, the umpires and the fielding captain may allow another member of the batting side to be a runner . The runner's only task is to run between the wickets instead of the injured batsman. The runner is required to wear and carry exactly the same equipment as the incapacitated batsman. It is possible for both batsmen to have runners.
Runs
Main article: Run (cricket)
The directions in which a right-handed batsman intends to send the ball when playing various cricketing shots. The diagram for a left-handed batsman is a mirror image of this one.
The primary concern of the batsman on strike (i.e., the "striker") is to prevent the ball hitting the wicket and secondarily to score runs by hitting the ball with his bat so that he and his partner have time to run from one end of the pitch to the other before the fielding side can return the ball. To register a run, both runners must touch the ground behind the crease with either their bats or their bodies (the batsmen carry their bats as they run). Each completed run increments the score.
More than one run can be scored from a single hit; but, while hits worth one to three runs are common, the size of the field is such that it is usually difficult to run four or more. To compensate for this, hits that reach the boundary of the field are automatically awarded four runs if the ball touches the ground en route to the boundary or six runs if the ball clears the boundary on the full. The batsmen do not need to run if the ball reaches or crosses the boundary.
West Indian Brian Lara holds the record for highest score in both Tests and first-class cricket.
Hits for five are unusual and generally rely on the help of "overthrows" by a fielder returning the ball. If an odd number of runs is scored by the striker, the two batsmen have changed ends, and the one who was non-striker is now the striker. Only the striker can score individual runs, but all runs are added to the team's total.
The decision to attempt a run is ideally made by the batsman who has the better view of the ball's progress, and this is communicated by calling: "yes", "no" and "wait" are often heard.
Running is a calculated risk because if a fielder breaks the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman is out of his ground (i.e., he does not have part of his body or bat in contact with the ground behind the popping crease), the batsman is run out .
A team's score is reported in terms of the number of runs scored and the number of batsmen that have been dismissed. For example, if five batsmen are out and the team has scored 224 runs, they are said to have scored 224 for the loss of 5 wickets (commonly shortened to "224 for five" and written 224/5 or, in Australia, "five for 224" and 5/224).
Extras
Main article: Extra (cricket)
Additional runs can be gained by the batting team as extras (called "sundries" in Australia) due to errors made by the fielding side. This is achieved in four ways:
No ball: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he breaks the rules of bowling either by (a) using an inappropriate arm action ; (b) overstepping the popping crease; (c) having a foot outside the return crease. In addition, the bowler has to re-bowl the ball. In limited overs matches, a no ball is called if the bowling team's field setting fails to comply with the restrictions. In shorter formats of the game (20–20, ODI) the free hit rule has been introduced. The ball following a front foot no-ball will be a free-hit for the batsman, whereby he is safe from losing his wicket except for being run-out.
Wide: a penalty of one extra that is conceded by the bowler if he bowls so that the ball is out of the batsman's reach; as with a no ball, a wide must be re-bowled.
Bye: extra(s) awarded if the batsman misses the ball and it goes past the wicketkeeper to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way (note that one mark of a good wicketkeeper is one who restricts the tally of byes to a minimum).
Leg bye: extra(s) awarded if the ball hits the batsman's body, but not his bat, while attempting a legitimate shot, and it goes away from the fielders to give the batsmen time to run in the conventional way.
When the bowler has bowled a no ball or a wide, his team incurs an additional penalty because that ball (i.e., delivery) has to be bowled again and hence the batting side has the opportunity to score more runs from this extra ball. The batsmen have to run (i.e., unless the ball goes to the boundary for four) to claim byes and leg byes but these only count towards the team total, not to the striker's individual total for which runs must be scored off the bat.
Dismissals (outs)
Main article: Dismissal (cricket)
There are ten ways in which a batsman can be dismissed; five relatively common and five extremely rare. The common forms of dismissal are "bowled", "caught", "leg before wicket" (lbw), "run out", and "stumped". Less common methods are "hit wicket", "hit the ball twice", "obstructed the field", "handled the ball" and "timed out" - these are almost unknown in the professional game.
Before the umpire will award a dismissal and declare the batsman to be out, a member of the fielding side (generally the bowler) must "appeal". This is invariably done by asking (or shouting) "how's that?" - normally reduced to howzat? If the umpire agrees with the appeal, he will raise a forefinger and say "Out!". Otherwise he will shake his head and say "Not out". Appeals are particularly loud when the circumstances of the claimed dismissal are unclear, as is always the case with lbw and often with run outs and stumpings.
Bowled : the bowler has hit the wicket with the delivery and the wicket has "broken" with at least one bail being dislodged (note that if the ball hits the wicket without dislodging a bail it is not out). [26]
Caught : the batsman has hit the ball with his bat, or with his hand which was holding the bat, and the ball has been caught before it has touched the ground by a member of the fielding side. [27]
Leg before wicket (lbw): the ball has hit the batsman's body (including his clothing, pads etc. but not the bat, or a hand holding the bat) when it would have gone on to hit the stumps. This rule exists mainly to prevent the batsman from guarding his wicket with his legs instead of the bat. To be given out lbw, the ball must not bounce outside leg stump or, if the batsman made a genuine attempt to play the ball, outside off stump. [28]
Run out : a member of the fielding side has broken or "put down" the wicket with the ball while the nearest batsman was out of his ground; this usually occurs by means of an accurate throw to the wicket while the batsmen are attempting a run, although a batsman can be given out Run out even when he is not attempting a run; he merely needs to be out of his ground. [29]
Stumped is similar except that it is done by the wicketkeeper after the batsman has missed the bowled ball and has stepped out of his ground, and is not attempting a run. [30]
Hit wicket : a batsman is out hit wicket if he dislodges one or both bails with his bat, person, clothing or equipment in the act of receiving a ball, or in setting off for a run having just received a ball. [31]
Hit the ball twice is very unusual and was introduced as a safety measure to counter dangerous play and protect the fielders. The batsman may legally play the ball a second time only to stop the ball hitting the wicket after he has already played it. [32]
Obstructing the field : another unusual dismissal which tends to involve a batsman deliberately getting in the way of a fielder. [33]
Handled the ball : a batsman must not deliberately touch the ball with his hand, for example to protect his wicket. Note that the batsman's hand or glove counts as part of the bat while the hand is holding the bat, so batsmen are frequently caught off their gloves (i.e. the ball hits, and is deflected by, the glove and can then be caught). [34]
Timed out usually means that the next batsman did not arrive at the wicket within three minutes of the previous one being dismissed. [35]
In the vast majority of cases, it is the striker who is out when a dismissal occurs. If the non-striker is dismissed it is usually by being run out, but he could also be dismissed for obstructing the field, handling the ball or being timed out.
A batsman may leave the field without being dismissed. If injured or taken ill the batsman may temporarily retire, and be replaced by the next batsman. This is recorded as retired hurt or retired ill . The retiring batsman is not out, and may resume the innings later. An unimpaired batsman may retire, and this is treated as being dismissed retired out ; no player is credited with the dismissal. Batsmen cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped or hit wicket off a no ball. They cannot be out bowled, caught, leg before wicket, or hit the ball twice off a wide. Some of these modes of dismissal can occur without the bowler bowling a delivery. The batsman who is not on strike may be run out by the bowler if he leaves his crease before the bowler bowls, and a batsman can be out obstructing the field or retired out at any time. Timed out is, by its nature, a dismissal without a delivery. With all other modes of dismissal, only one batsman can be dismissed per ball bowled.
Innings closed
Main article: End of an innings (cricket)
An innings is closed when:
Ten of the eleven batsmen are out (have been dismissed); in this case, the team is said to be "all out"
The team has only one batsman left who can bat, one or more of the remaining players being unavailable owing to injury, illness or absence; again, the team is said to be "all out"
The team batting last reaches the score required to win the match
The predetermined number of overs has been bowled (in a one-day match only, commonly 50 overs; or 20 in Twenty20 )
A captain declares his team's innings closed while at least two of his batsmen are not out (this does not apply in one-day limited over matches)
Results
Main article: Result (cricket)
If the team that bats last is all out having scored fewer runs than their opponents, the team is said to have "lost by n runs" (where n is the difference between the number of runs scored by the teams). If the team that bats last scores enough runs to win, it is said to have "won by n wickets", where n is the number of wickets left to fall. For instance a team that passes its opponents' score having only lost six wickets would have won "by four wickets".
In a two-innings-a-side match, one team's combined first and second innings total may be less than the other side's first innings total. The team with the greater score is then said to have won by an innings and n runs, and does not need to bat again: n is the difference between the two teams' aggregate scores.
If the team batting last is all out, and both sides have scored the same number of runs, then the match is a tie ; this result is quite rare in matches of two innings a side. In the traditional form of the game, if the time allotted for the match expires before either side can win, then the game is declared a draw .
If the match has only a single innings per side, then a maximum number of deliveries for each innings is often imposed. Such a match is called a "limited overs" or "one-day" match, and the side scoring more runs wins regardless of the number of wickets lost, so that a draw cannot occur. If this kind of match is temporarily interrupted by bad weather, then a complex mathematical formula, known as the Duckworth-Lewis method after its developers, is often used to recalculate a new target score. A one-day match can also be declared a "no-result" if fewer than a previously agreed number of overs have been bowled by either team, in circumstances that make normal resumption of play impossible; for example, wet weather.
Distinctive elements
Individual focus
For a team sport, cricket places individual players under unusual scrutiny and pressure. Bowler, Batsman, and fielder all act essentially independent of each other. While team managements can signal bowler or batsman to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is slightly mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the wicket for a long time.
Spirit of the Game
This section requires expansion .
Cricket is a unique game where in addition to the laws, the players have to abide by the "Spirit of the Game". [36] The standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase "it's just not cricket" was coined in the 19th Century to describe unfair or underhanded behaviour in any walk of life. In the last few decades though, cricket has become increasingly fast-paced and competitive, increasing the use of appealing and sledging , although players are still expected to abide by the umpires' rulings without argument, and for the most part they do. Beginning in 2001, the MCC has held an annual lecture named after Colin Cowdrey on the spirit of the game. [37] Even in the modern game fielders are known to signal to the umpire that a boundary was hit, despite what could have been considered a spectacular save (though they might be found out by the TV replays anyway). In addition to this, some batsmen have been known to "walk" when they think they are out even if the umpire does not declare them out. This is a high level of sportsmanship, as a batsman can easily take advantage of incorrect umpiring decisions.
Influence of weather
Cricket is a sport played predominantly in the drier periods of the year. But, even so, the weather is a major factor in all cricket matches.
A scheduled game of cricket cannot be played in wet weather. Dampness affects the bounce of the ball on the wicket and is a risk to all players involved in the game. Many grounds have facilities to cover the cricket pitch (or the wicket). Covers can be in the form of sheets being laid over the wicket to elevated covers on wheels (using the same concept as an umbrella) to even hover covers which form an airtight seal around the wicket. However, most grounds do not have the facilities to cover the outfield. This means that in the event of heavy bouts of bad weather, games may be cancelled, abandoned or suspended due to an unsafe outfield.
Another factor in cricket is the amount of light available. At grounds without floodlights (or in game formats which disallow the use of floodlights), umpires can stop play in the event of bad light as it becomes too difficult for the batsmen to be able to see the ball coming at them, (and in extreme cases, members of the fielding team).
On the other hand, in instances of good light, batsmen can utilize sight-screens which enable batsmen to have a white background against which they can pick out the red ball (or black background for white ball) with greater ease.
The umpires always have the final decision on weather related issues.
Uniqueness of each field
This section requires expansion .
Unlike those of most sports, cricket playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the pitch and infield are specifically regulated, the Laws of Cricket do not specify the size or shape of the field. [22] The field boundaries are sometimes painted and sometimes marked by a rope. Pitch and outfield variations can have a significant effect on how balls behave and are fielded as well as on batting. Pitches vary in consistency, and thus in the amount of bounce, spin, and seam movement available to the bowler. Hard pitches are usually good to bat on because of high but even bounce. Dry pitches tend to deteriorate for batting as cracks often appear, and when this happens to the pitch, spinners can play a major role. Damp pitches, or pitches covered in grass (termed "green" pitches), allow good fast bowlers to extract extra bounce. Such pitches tend to offer help to fast bowlers throughout the match, but become better for batting as the game goes on. While players of other outdoor sports deal with similar variations of field surface and stadium covering, the size and shape of their fields are much more standardized. Other local factors, such as altitude and climate, can also significantly affect play. These physical variations create a distinctive set of playing conditions at each ground. A given ground may acquire a reputation as batsman friendly or bowler friendly if one or the other discipline notably benefits from its unique mix of elements. The absence of a standardized field affects not only how particular games play out, but the nature of team makeup and players' statistical records.
Types of matches
Cricket is a multi-faceted sport which, in very broad terms, can be divided into major cricket and minor cricket based on playing standards. A more pertinent division, particularly in terms of major cricket, is between matches in which the teams have two innings apiece and those in which they have a single innings each. The former, known as first-class cricket , has a duration of three to five days (there have been examples of "timeless" matches too); the latter, known as limited overs cricket because each team bowls a limit of typically 50 or 20 overs, has a planned duration of one day only (a match can be extended if necessary due to bad weather, etc.).
Typically, two-innings matches have at least six hours of playing time each day. Limited overs matches often last six hours or more. There are usually formal intervals on each day for lunch and tea with brief informal breaks for drinks. There is also a short interval between innings. Historically, a form of cricket known as single wicket had been extremely successful and many of these contests in the 18th and 19th centuries qualify as major cricket matches. In this form, although each team may have from one to six players, there is only one batsman at a time and he must face every delivery bowled while his innings lasts. Single wicket has rarely been played since limited overs cricket began.
Test cricket
Main article: Test cricket
A Test match between South Africa and England in January 2005. The men wearing black trousers are the umpires . Teams in Test cricket, first-class cricket and club cricket wear traditional white uniforms and use red cricket balls .
Test cricket is the highest standard of first-class cricket. A Test match is an international fixture between teams representing those countries that are Full Members of the ICC.
Although the term "Test match" was not coined until much later, Test cricket is deemed to have begun with two matches between Australia and England in the 1876–77 Australian season . Subsequently, eight other national teams have achieved Test status: South Africa (1889), West Indies (1928), New Zealand (1929), India (1932), Pakistan (1952), Sri Lanka (1982), Zimbabwe (1992) and Bangladesh (2000). Zimbabwe suspended its Test status in 2006 due to its inability to compete against other Test teams, [38] and returned in 2011. [39]
Welsh players are eligible to play for England, which is in effect an England and Wales team. The West Indies team comprises players from numerous states in the Caribbean, notably Barbados , Guyana , Jamaica , Trinidad & Tobago , the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands .
Test matches between two teams are usually played in a group of matches called a "series". Matches last up to five days and a series normally consists of three to five matches. Test matches that are not finished within the allotted time are drawn. In the case of Test and first-class cricket : the possibility of a draw often encourages a team that is batting last and well behind to bat defensively, giving up any faint chance at a win to avoid a loss. [40]
Since 1882, most Test series between England and Australia have been played for a trophy known as The Ashes . Some other bilateral series have individual trophies too: for example, the Wisden Trophy is contested by England and West Indies; the Frank Worrell Trophy by Australia and West Indies and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia.
Limited overs
See also: One Day International and Twenty20
An ODI match between India and Australia in January 2004. The men wearing black trousers are the umpires . Teams in limited overs games, such as ODIs and T20s, wear multi-coloured uniforms and use white cricket balls .
Standard limited overs cricket was introduced in England in the 1963 season in the form of a knockout cup contested by the first-class county clubs. In 1969, a national league competition was established. The concept was gradually introduced to the other major cricket countries and the first limited overs international was played in 1971. In 1975, the first Cricket World Cup took place in England. Limited overs cricket has seen various innovations including the use of multi-coloured kit and floodlit matches using a white ball.
A "one day match", named so because each match is scheduled for completion in a single day, is the common form of limited overs cricket played on an international level. In practice, matches sometimes continue on a second day if they have been interrupted or postponed by bad weather. The main objective of a limited overs match is to produce a definite result and so a conventional draw is not possible, but matches can be undecided if the scores are tied or if bad weather prevents a result. Each team plays one innings only and faces a limited number of overs, usually a maximum of 50. The Cricket World Cup is held in one day format and the last World Cup in 2011 was won by the co-hosts, India. The next World Cup will hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015.
Twenty20 is a new variant of limited overs itself with the purpose being to complete the match within about three hours, usually in an evening session. The original idea, when the concept was introduced in England in 2003, was to provide workers with an evening entertainment. It was commercially successful and has been adopted internationally. The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship was held in 2007 and won by India. 2009's Twenty20 World Championship was staged in England and won by Pakistan. The next Twenty20 World Championship will be held in the West Indies. After the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 many domestic Twenty20 leagues were born. First of them was Indian Cricket League which is a rebel league since it is unauthorized by BCCI and led to form an official league called the Indian Premier League . Both these leagues are cash rich and attracted players and audience around the globe. Recently Twenty20 Champions League was formed as a tournament for domestic clubs of various countries.
National championships
Main article: First-class cricket
Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1895. The team won the first of its 30 County Championship titles in 1893.
First-class cricket includes Test cricket but the term is generally used to refer to the highest level of domestic cricket in those countries with full ICC membership, although there are exceptions to this. First-class cricket in England is played for the most part by the 18 county clubs which contest the County Championship . The concept of a champion county has existed since the 18th century but the official competition was not established until 1890. The most successful club has been Yorkshire County Cricket Club with 30 official titles.
Australia established its national first-class championship in 1892–93 when the Sheffield Shield was introduced. In Australia, the first-class teams represent the various states. New South Wales has won the maximum number of titles with 45 to 2008.
National championship trophies to be established elsewhere included the Ranji Trophy (India), Plunket Shield (New Zealand), Currie Cup (South Africa) and Shell Shield (West Indies). Some of these competitions have been updated and renamed in recent years.
Domestic limited overs competitions began with England's Gillette Cup knockout in 1963. Countries usually stage seasonal limited overs competitions in both knockout and league format. In recent years, national Twenty20 competitions have been introduced, usually in knockout form though some incorporate mini-leagues.
Other types of matches
Main article: Forms of cricket
Indian boys playing tennis ball cricket on the street in Uttar Pradesh , India .
There are numerous variations of the sport played throughout the world that include indoor cricket , French cricket , beach cricket , Kwik cricket and all sorts of card games and board games that have been inspired by cricket. In these variants, the rules are often changed to make the game playable with limited resources or to render it more convenient and enjoyable for the participants.
Indoor cricket is played in a netted, indoor arena, and is quite formal but many of the outdoor variants are very informal.
Families and teenagers play backyard cricket in suburban yards or driveways, and the cities of India and Pakistan play host to countless games of "Gully Cricket" or "tapeball" in their long narrow streets. Sometimes the rules are improvised: e.g. it may be agreed that fielders can catch the ball with one hand after one bounce and claim a wicket; or if only a few people are available then everyone may field while the players take it in turns to bat and bowl. Tennis balls and homemade bats are often used, and a variety of objects may serve as wickets: for example, the batter's legs as in French cricket , which did not in fact originate in France, and is usually played by small children.
In Kwik cricket , the bowler does not have to wait for the batsman to be ready before a delivery, leading to a faster, more exhausting game designed to appeal to children, which is often used PE lessons at English schools. Another modification to increase the pace of the game is the "Tip and Run", "Tipity" Run, "Tipsy Run" or "Tippy-Go" rule, in which the batter must run when the ball touches the bat, even if it the contact is unintentional or minor. This rule, seen only in impromptu games, speeds the match up by removing the batsman's right to block the ball.
In Samoa a form of cricket called Kilikiti is played in which hockey stick -shaped bats are used. In original English cricket, the hockey stick shape was replaced by the modern straight bat in the 1760s after bowlers began to pitch the ball instead of rolling or skimming it. In Estonia , teams gather over the winter for the annual Ice Cricket tournament. The game juxtaposes the normal summer pursuit with harsh, wintry conditions. Rules are otherwise similar to those for the six-a-side game.
In addition, there is also Tape ball and Tennis ball cricket . Both variations use a tennis ball instead of a regular cricket ball to play. In Tape ball cricket, the ball is additionally covered with electric tape. The variation was pioneered in Pakistan and is greatly attributed to Pakistan's famous production of Fast bowlers as children are brought up playing the game using a tape ball in which various skills are developed. The increasing popularity of the tape ball in informal, local cricket has transformed the way games are played in cricket-loving nations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
International structure
Main articles: International structure of cricket , International Cricket Council , and World Cricket League
ICC member nations. The (highest level) Test playing nations are shown in orange; the associate member nations are shown in yellow; the affiliate member nations are shown in purple.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), which has its headquarters in Dubai , is the international governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa, renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name in 1989.
The ICC has 104 members : 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 34 Associate Members, and 60 Affiliate Members. [41] The ICC is responsible for the organisation and governance of cricket's major international tournaments, notably the Cricket World Cup. It also appoints the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. Each nation has a national cricket board which regulates cricket matches played in its country. The cricket board also selects the national squad and organises home and away tours for the national team. In the West Indies these matters are addressed by the West Indies Cricket Board which consists of members appointed by four national boards and two multi-national boards.
Members
Main article: List of International Cricket Council members
Full Members
Full Members are the governing bodies for cricket in a country or associated countries. Full Members may also represent a geographical area. All Full Members have a right to send one representative team to play official Test matches. Also, all Full Member nations are automatically qualified to play ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals . [42] West Indies cricket team does not represent one country instead an amalgamation of over 20 countries from the Caribbean . The English Cricket team represents both England and Wales.
Nation
Main article: Cricket statistics
Organized cricket lends itself to statistics to a greater degree than many other sports. Each play is discrete and has a relatively small number of possible outcomes. At the professional level, statistics for Test cricket, one-day internationals, and first-class cricket are recorded separately. However, since Test matches are a form of first-class cricket, a player's first-class statistics will include his Test match statistics—but not vice versa. The Guide to Cricketers was a cricket annual edited by Fred Lillywhite between 1849 and his death in 1866. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was founded in 1864 by the English cricketer John Wisden (1826–1884) as a competitor to The Guide to Cricketers. Its annual publication has continued uninterrupted to the present day, making it the longest running sports annual in history.
Certain traditional statistics are familiar to most cricket fans
The basic batting statistics include:
Innings (I): The number of innings in which the batsman actually batted.
Not outs (NO): The number of times the batsman was not out at the conclusion of an innings they batted in.1
Runs (R): The number of runs scored.
Highest Score (HS/Best): The highest score ever made by the batsman.
Batting Average (Ave): The total number of runs divided by the total number of innings in which the batsman was out. Ave = Runs/[I - NO] (also Avge or Avg.)
Centuries (100): The number of innings in which the batsman scored one hundred runs or more.
Half-centuries (50): The number of innings in which the batsman scored fifty to ninety-nine runs (centuries do not count as half-centuries as well).
Balls Faced (BF): The total number of balls received, including no balls but not including wides.
Strike Rate (SR): The number of runs scored per 100 balls faced. (SR = [100 * Runs]/BF)
Run Rate (RR): Is the number of runs a batsman (or the batting side) scores in an over of six balls.
The basic bowling statistics include:
Overs (O): The number of overs bowled.
Balls (B): The number of balls bowled. Overs is more traditional, but balls is a more useful statistic because the number of balls per over has varied historically.
Maiden Overs (M): The number of maiden overs (overs in which the bowler conceded zero runs) bowled.
Runs (R): The number of runs conceded.
Wickets (W): The number of wickets taken.
No balls (Nb): The number of no balls bowled.
Wides (Wd): The number of wides bowled.
Bowling Average (Ave): The average number of runs conceded per wicket. (Ave = Runs/W)
'Economy Rate (Econ): The average number of runs conceded per over . (Econ = Runs/overs bowled).
In popular culture
This section requires expansion .
Cricket has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the Commonwealth of Nations and elsewhere. Cricket has had an influence on the lexicon of these nations, especially the English language, with such phrases as "that's not cricket" (unfair), "had a good innings", "sticky wicket", and "bowled over". There have been many cricket films . The term "Bradmanesque" from Don Bradman's name has become a generic term for outstanding excellence, both within cricket and in the wider world. [44] The amateur game has also been spread further afield by expatriates from the Test-playing nations. In the late 19th century, a former cricket player, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn , New York , was responsible for the "development of the box score , tabular standings, the annual baseball guide, the batting average , and most of the common statistics and tables used to describe baseball". [45] The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick came to be known as Father Baseball. [45]
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ICC Rankings logo
The ICC Player Rankings are a widely followed system of rankings for international cricketers based on their recent performances. The current sponsor is Reliance Mobile who have signed a deal with the ICC that will last until 2015. [1]
The ratings were developed at the suggestion of Ted Dexter in 1987. The intention was to produce a better indication of players' current standing in the sport than is provided by comparing their averages. Career averages are based on a player's entire career and do not make any allowance for match conditions or the strength of the opposition, whereas the ratings are biased towards recent form and account for match conditions and the quality of the opponent using statistical measures.
Initially the rankings were for Test cricket only, but separate One Day International rankings were introduced in 1998. Both sets of rankings have now been calculated back to the start of those forms of the game.
Contents
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The ICC Test Championship is an international competition run by the International Cricket Council in the sport of cricket for the 10 teams that play Test cricket . The competition is notional in the sense that it is simply a ranking scheme overlaid on all international matches that are otherwise played as part of regular Test cricket scheduling with no consideration of home or away status.
In essence, after every Test series, the two teams involved receive points based on a mathematical formula. The total of each team's points total is divided by the total number of matches to give a 'rating', and the Test-playing teams are ranked by order of rating (this can be shown in a table).
The points for winning a Test match or series are greater than the team's rating, increasing the rating, and the points for losing the match or series are always less than the rating, reducing the rating. A drawn match between higher and lower rated teams will benefit the lower-rated team at the expense of the higher-rated team. An 'average' team that wins as often as it loses while playing a mix of stronger and weaker teams should have a rating of 100.
The International Cricket Council awards a trophy, the ICC Test Championship mace, to the team holding the highest rating. The mace is transferred whenever a new team moves to the top of the rating list. [1]
As of 06 February 2012, England lead the ICC Test Championship with a rating of 118, while the lowest rated team, Bangladesh , has a rating of 8.
Contents
Reference: ICC Rankings
Since the ICC officially began ranking teams in 2003, Australia has dominated as it had done so in Test cricket since around 1995. However from 2009, several teams (Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England) have competed for the top positions.
The ICC recently applied its current rating system to results since 1952 providing ratings for the end of each month back to 1952 further indicating Australia's historical dominance in Test Cricket with the most consecutive months ranked first (95) from September 2001 to July 2009, the highest number of months ranked first (317) and the highest rating (143). The table only begins from 1952 as prior to this date, there is not enough data available due to the infrequency of matches and the small number of competing teams in the earlier periods.
The teams that have successively held the highest rating since January 1952 till May 2003, by whole month periods, are:
Team
Reference: ICC Historical Rankings
Tournament format
For the past few years there has been speculation that the ICC would introduce a Test Championship tournament, similar to that of the World Cup , Champions Trophy , World Twenty20 and ICC Intercontinental Cup .
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has proposed a quadrennial tournament with the four best-performing nations to meet in semi-finals and a final, in a bid to boost flagging interest in the longest form of the sport. The first tournament could replace the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. [2] [3] However, this now seems unlikely as the ICC has stated that it does not have the support of its broadcast partner - ESPN STAR Sports. This is mainly because the broadcast of the Champions Trophy would generate much more revenue than a Test Championship. The ICC has said the inaugural ICC Test Championship tournament is likely to be delayed to 2017.
Glossary of cricket terms
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The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International (ODI) cricket . The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years. The tournament is the world's fourth-largest and fourth-most-viewed sporting event. [1] [2] According to the ICC, it is the most important tournament and the pinnacle of achievement in the sport. [3] [4] The first Cricket World Cup contest was organised in England in 1975. A separate Women's Cricket World Cup has been held every four years since 1973.
The finals of the Cricket World Cup are contested by all ten Test -playing and ODI-playing nations, together with other nations that qualify through the World Cup Qualifier . Australia has been the most successful of the five teams to have won the tournament, taking four titles. The West Indies and India have won twice, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have each won once.
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was co-hosted by Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka from February 19 to April 2, 2011. 14 countries participated in the tournament. India won the cup by defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final in Mumbai on 2 April and became the first team to win the World Cup final on home soil. [5]
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Main article: History of the Cricket World Cup
[ edit ] Before the first Cricket World Cup
The first ever international cricket match was played between Canada and the United States, on the 24 and 25 September 1844. However, the first credited Test match was played in 1877 between Australia and England , and the two teams competed regularly for The Ashes in subsequent years. South Africa was admitted to Test status in 1889. [6] Representative cricket teams were selected to tour each other, resulting in bilateral competition. Cricket was also included as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Games , where Great Britain defeated France to win the gold medal . [7] This was the only appearance of cricket at the Summer Olympics .
The first multilateral competition at international level was the 1912 Triangular Tournament , a Test cricket tournament played in England between all three Test-playing nations at the time: England, Australia and South Africa. The event was not a success: the summer was exceptionally wet, making play difficult on damp uncovered pitches, and attendances were poor, attributed to a "surfeit of cricket". [8] In subsequent years, international Test cricket has generally been organised as bilateral series: a multilateral Test tournament was not organised again until the quadrangular Asian Test Championship in 1999.
The number of nations playing Test cricket increased gradually over the years, with the addition of West Indies in 1928, New Zealand in 1930, India in 1932, and Pakistan in 1952, but international cricket continued to be played as bilateral Test matches over three, four or five days.
In the early 1960s, English county cricket teams began playing a shortened version of cricket which only lasted for one day. Starting in 1962 with a four-team knockout competition known as the Midlands Knock-Out Cup, [9] and continuing with the inaugural Gillette Cup in 1963 , one-day cricket grew in popularity in England. A national Sunday League was formed in 1969 . The first One-Day International event was played on the fifth day of a rain-aborted Test match between England and Australia at Melbourne in 1971 , to fill the time available and as compensation for the frustrated crowd. It was a forty over match with eight balls per over. [10] In the late 1970s, Kerry Packer established the rival World Series Cricket (WSC) competition, and it introduced many of the features of One Day International cricket that are now commonplace, including coloured uniforms, matches played at night under floodlights with a white ball and dark sight screens, and, for television broadcasts, multiple camera angles, effects microphones to capture sounds from the players on the pitch, and on-screen graphics. The first of the matches with coloured uniforms was the WSC Australians in wattle gold versus WSC West Indians in coral pink, played at VFL Park in Melbourne on 17 January 1979. It was credited[by whom?] with making cricket a more professional sport. The success and popularity of the domestic one-day competitions in England and other parts of the world, as well as the early One-Day Internationals, prompted the ICC to consider organising a Cricket World Cup. [11]
[ edit ] Prudential World Cups
The Prudential Cup trophy
The inaugural Cricket World Cup was hosted in 1975 by England, the only nation able to put forward the resources to stage an event of such magnitude at that time. The 1975 tournament started on 7 June. [12] The first three events were held in England and officially known as the Prudential Cup after the sponsors Prudential plc . The matches consisted of 60 six-ball overs per team, played during the daytime in traditional form, with the players wearing cricket whites and using red cricket balls . [13]
Eight teams participated in the first tournament: Australia, England, India, New Zealand , Pakistan, and the West Indies (the six Test nations at the time), together with Sri Lanka and a composite team from East Africa . [14] One notable omission was South Africa , who were banned from international cricket due to apartheid . The tournament was won by the West Indies, who defeated Australia by 17 runs in the final at Lord's . [14]
The 1979 World Cup saw the introduction of the ICC Trophy competition to select non-Test playing teams for the World Cup, [15] with Sri Lanka and Canada qualifying. [16] West Indies won a second consecutive World Cup tournament, defeating the hosts, England, by 92 runs in the final. At a meeting which followed the World Cup, the International Cricket Conference agreed to make the competition a quadrennial event. [16]
The 1983 event was hosted by England for a third consecutive time. By this time, Sri Lanka had become a Test-playing nation, and Zimbabwe qualified through the ICC Trophy. A fielding circle was introduced, 30 yards (27 m) away from the stumps . Four fieldsmen needed to be inside it at all times. [17] India, an outsider quoted at 66–1 to win by bookmakers before the competition began, were crowned champions after upsetting the West Indies by 43 runs in the final. [11] [18]
[ edit ] 1987–1996
The 1987 tournament , named the Reliance World Cup after their Indian sponsors, was held in India and Pakistan, the first time that the competition was held outside England. The games were reduced from 60 to 50 overs per innings, the current standard, because of the shorter daylight hours in the Indian subcontinent compared with England's summer. [19] Australia won the championship by defeating England by 7 runs in the final, the closest margin in World Cup final history. [20] [21]
The 1992 World Cup , held in Australia and New Zealand, introduced many changes to the game, such as coloured clothing, white balls, day/night matches, and an alteration to the fielding restrictions. The South African cricket team participated in the event for the first time, following the fall of the apartheid regime and the end of the international sports boycott . [22] Pakistan overcame a dismal start to emerge as winners, defeating England by 22 runs in the final. [23]
The 1996 championship was held in the Indian subcontinent for a second time, with the inclusion of Sri Lanka as host for some of its group stage matches. [24] In the semi-final, Sri Lanka, heading towards a crushing victory over India at Eden Gardens ( Calcutta ) after their hosts lost eight wickets while scoring 120 runs in pursuit of 254, were awarded victory by default after crowd unrest broke out in protest against the Indian performance. [25] Sri Lanka went on to win their maiden championship by defeating Australia by seven wickets in the final, which was held in Lahore . [26]
[ edit ] Australian treble
In 1999 the event was hosted by England, with some matches also being held in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Netherlands. [27] [28] Australia qualified for the semi-finals after reaching their target in their Super 6 match against South Africa off the final over of the match. [29] They then proceeded to the final with a tied match in the semi-final (also against South Africa) where a mix-up between South African batsmen Lance Klusener and Allan Donald saw Donald drop his bat and stranded mid-pitch to be run out . In the final, Australia dismissed Pakistan for 132 and then reached the target in less than 20 overs, with eight wickets in hand. [30]
A large crowd of over 10,000 fans welcome the Australian team on completing the first World Cup hat-trick – Martin Place, Sydney.
South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya hosted the 2003 World Cup . The number of teams participating in the event increased from twelve to fourteen. Kenya 's victories over Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, among others – and a forfeit by the New Zealand team, which refused to play in Kenya because of security concerns – enabled Kenya to reach the semi-finals, the best result by an associate. In the final, Australia made 359 runs for the loss of two wickets, the largest ever total in a final, defeating India by 125 runs. [31] [32]
In 2007 the tournament was hosted by the West Indies ; the Cricket World Cup became the first such tournament to be hosted on all six populated continents. [33] Bangladesh progressed to the second round for the first time, after defeating India , and they later went on to defeat South Africa in the second round. [34] Ireland making their World Cup debut tied with Zimbabwe and defeated Pakistan to progress to the second round, where they went on to defeating Bangladesh to get promoted to the main ODI table . [35] Following their defeat to Ireland, the Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room; it was later found out that he died of heart failure, [36] though his death may not have been a direct result of the match's outcome. Australia defeated Sri Lanka in the final by 53 runs (D/L), in farcical light conditions, extending their undefeated run in the World Cup to 29 matches and winning three straight World Cups. [37]
Main article: 2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 Cricket World Cup was jointly hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Pakistan were stripped of their hosting rights following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team , with the games originally scheduled for Pakistan redistributed to the other host countries.
The 2011 World Cup was the tenth edition of the tournament. Fourteen teams participated, split into two pools of seven teams each. The top four teams from each group qualified for the quarter-finals. India won their second World Cup title by beating Sri Lanka in the finals.
Main article: Cricket World Cup qualification
The Test-playing nations qualify automatically for the World Cup main event, while the other teams have to qualify through a series of preliminary qualifying tournaments. The One Day International playing nations automatically enter the final qualification tournament, the World Cup Qualifier, along with other nations who have qualified through separate competitions.
Qualifying tournaments were introduced for the second World Cup , where two of the eight places in the finals were awarded to the leading teams in the ICC Trophy . [15] The number of teams selected through the ICC Trophy has varied throughout the years; currently, six teams are selected for the Cricket World Cup. The World Cricket League (administered by the International Cricket Council ) is the qualification system provided to allow the Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC more opportunities to qualify.The name "ICC Trophy" has been changed to "ICC World Cup Qualifier". [38]
Under the current qualifying process, the World Cricket League, all 91 Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC are able to qualify for the World Cup. Associate and Affiliate members must play between two and five stages in the ICC World Cricket League to qualify for the World Cup finals, depending on the Division in which they start the qualifying process.
Process summary in chronological order:
Regional tournaments: Top teams from each regional tournaments will be promoted to a division depending on the teams' rankings according to the ICC and each division's empty spots.
Division One : 6 Teams – All automatically qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
Division Three : 6 Teams – Top 2 promoted to Division Two.
Division Two : 6 Teams – Top 4 qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
Division Five : 6 Teams – Top 2 promoted to Division Four.
Division Four : 6 Teams – Top 2 promoted to Division Three.
Division Three (second edition): 6 Teams – Top 2 qualify for the World Cup Qualifier.
World Cup Qualifier : 12 Teams – Top 6 are awarded ODI status and Top 4 qualify for the World Cup.
See also: History of the Cricket World Cup#Historical formats of final tournament
The captains of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The format of the Cricket World Cup has changed greatly over the course of its history. Each of the first four tournaments was played by eight teams, divided into two groups of four. [39] There, competition comprised two stages, a group stage and a knock-out stage. The four teams in each group played each other in the round-robin group stage, with the top two teams in each group progressing to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals played against each other in the final. With the return of South Africa in 1992 after the ending of the apartheid boycott, nine teams played each other once in the group phase, and the top four teams progressed to the semi-finals. [40] The tournament was further expanded in 1996, with two groups of six teams. [41] The top four teams from each group progressed to quarter-finals and semi-finals.
A new format was used for the 1999 and 2003 World Cups. The teams were split into two pools, with the top three teams in each pool advancing to the Super 6. [42] The "Super 6" teams played the three other teams that advanced from the other group. As they advanced, the teams carried their points forward from previous matches against other teams advancing alongside them, giving them an incentive to perform well in the group stages. [42] The top four teams from the "Super 6" stage progressed to the semi-finals, with winners playing in the final.
The last format used in the 2007 World Cup , features 16 teams allocated into four groups of four. [43] Within each group, the teams play each other in a round-robin format. Teams earn points for wins and half-points for ties. The top two teams from each group move forward to the Super 8 round. The "Super 8" teams play the other six teams that progressed from the different groups. Teams earned points in the same way as the group stage, but carrying their points forward from previous matches against the other teams who qualified from the same group to the "Super 8" stage. [44] The top four teams from the "Super 8" round advance to the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals play in the final.
The current format, approved by ICC to be used in 2011 World Cup , features 14 teams allocated. Within each group, the teams will play in a round-robin format. The top four teams from each group will proceed to the knock out stage playing quarter-finals. Winners of the quarter-finals will play semi-finals and the winning semi-finalists will play in the final.
Main article: Cricket World Cup Trophy
The ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy is presented to the winners of the World Cup finals. The current trophy was created for the 1999 championships, and was the first permanent prize in the tournament's history; prior to this, different trophies were made for each World Cup. [45] The trophy was designed and produced in London by a team of craftsmen from Garrard & Co over a period of two months.
The current trophy is made from silver and gild , and features a golden globe held up by three silver columns. The columns, shaped as stumps and bails , represent the three fundamental aspects of cricket: batting , bowling and fielding , while the globe characterises a cricket ball . [46] It stands 60 cm high and weighs approximately 11 kilograms. The names of the previous winners are engraved on the base of the trophy, with space for a total of twenty inscriptions.
The original trophy is kept by the ICC. A replica, which differs only in the inscriptions, is permanently awarded to the winning team.
[ edit ] Media coverage
Mello
The tournament is the world's third largest (with only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics exceeding it), being televised in over 200 countries to over 2.2 billion television viewers. [1] [2] [47] [48] Television rights , mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup, were sold for over US$1.1 billion, [49] and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million. [50] The 2003 Cricket World Cup matches were attended by 626,845 people, [51] while the 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets and recorded the highest ticketing revenue for a Cricket World Cup. [52] [53]
Successive World Cup tournaments have generated increasing media attention as One-Day International cricket has become more established. The 2003 World Cup in South Africa was the first to sport a mascot, Dazzler the zebra . An orange raccoon -like creature known as Mello was the mascot for the 2007 Cricket World Cup . Stumpy , a blue elephant was the mascot for the 2011 World Cup. [54]
[ edit ] Selection of hosts
Main article: Cricket World Cup hosts
The International Cricket Council's executive committee votes for the hosts of the tournament after examining the bids made by the nations keen to hold a Cricket World Cup. [55]
England hosted the first three competitions. The ICC decided that England should host the first tournament because it was ready to devote the resources required to organising the inaugural event. [12] India volunteered to host the third Cricket World Cup, but most ICC members believed England to be a more suitable venue because the longer period of daylight in England in June [56] meant that a match could be completed in one day. [57] The 1987 Cricket World Cup was the first hosted outside England, held in Pakistan and India.
Many of the tournaments have been jointly hosted by nations from the same geographical region, such as South Asia in 1987, 1996 and 2011, Australasia in 1992, Southern Africa in 2003 and West Indies in 2007.
[ edit ] Performances by teams
Map of each nation's best results
Nineteen nations have qualified for the finals of the Cricket World Cup at least once (excluding qualification tournaments). Seven teams have competed in every finals tournament, five of which have won the title. [11] The West Indies won the first two tournaments, and Australia has won four, India has won two, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have each won once. The West Indies ( 1975 and 1979 ) and Australia ( 1999 , 2003 and 2007 ) are the only nations to have won consecutive titles. [11] Australia has played in 6 of the 10 final matches (1975, 1987 , 1996 , 1999, 2003, 2007). England has yet to win the World Cup, but has been runners-up three times (1979, 1987, 1992 ). The best result by a non-Test playing nation is the semi-final appearance by Kenya in the 2003 tournament; while the best result by a non-Test playing team on their debut is the Super 8 (second round) by Ireland in 2007. [11]
Sri Lanka, who co-hosted the 1996 Cricket World Cup, was the first host to win the tournament, though the final was held in Pakistan. [11] India won the 2011 as host and was the first team to win in a final played in their own country. [58] Other countries which have achieved or equalled their best World Cup results while co-hosting the tournament are New Zealand, semi-finalists in 1992; Zimbabwe, reaching the Super Six in 2003; and Kenya, semi-finalists in 2003. [11] In 1987, co-hosts India and Pakistan both reached the semi-finals, but were eliminated by Australia and England respectively. [11]
The sport has been played since the 1920s.
[ edit ] Within the United Kingdom
The founding members of the British Blind Sport organization were cricketers, and the association is the administrative body for the sport within the United Kingdom .
Blind cricket being played at the County Ground, Hove
The rules of blind cricket are based on the standard Laws of cricket with some essential modifications.
In terms of playing equipment, the major adaptation is the ball, which is significantly larger than a standard cricket ball and filled with ball bearings. The size allows partially sighted players to see the ball and the contents allow blind players to hear it. The wicket (stumps) is also larger, to allow partially sighted players to see and blind players to touch it in order to correctly orient themselves when batting or bowling.
Various other modifications to the rules apply. Verbal signals are widely used both by umpires and players: in particular, the bowler must shout 'Play!' as he releases the ball. The delivery is required to pitch at least twice when bowled to a completely blind batsman (once when bowled to a partially sighted batsman), but must not be rolling. Totally blind batsmen cannot be out stumped , and must be found to be LBW twice before going out. Totally blind fielders are allowed to take a catch on the bounce.
[ edit ] United Kingdom
Two domestic competitions are run: the two-division BBS Cricket League, based around single-innings matches played around the country throughout the cricket season; and the BBS Primary Club National Knockout Cup, a knockout competition of limited-overs matches held each August at Lord's Cricket Ground .
[ edit ] Australia
Blind cricket is widely played in Australia , with teams playing regular fixtures in the states of Queensland , New South Wales , Victoria , South Australia and Western Australia , as well as in the Australian Capital Territory . Every two years State cricket teams meet for the Australian Blind Cricket Championships. The 31st National Blind Cricket Championships will be held in Queensland in 2012.
[ edit ] United Kingdom v Australia
The first Blind Cricket Ashes competition was held in England in August 2004. 5 matches were played, with England winning the Ashes by 3 games to 2. A return series of 5 matches was held in Sydney, Australia, in December 2008. The series results show another victory for England, winning 3-0. England won the first, third and fourth matches, with the second rained out, and the final match a surprising 331 run draw.
[ edit ] Organisations
[ edit ] Victorian Blind Cricket Association (VBCA)
The Victorian Blind Cricket Association (VBCA) is the home of blind cricket in Victoria. Blind cricket was invented in Melbourne in 1922. The world's first sports ground and clubhouse for blind people was developed at Kooyong Kooyong, Victoria , Melbourne in 1928 and is still used today as the home of the VBCA.
The Association now has four clubs and approximately 70 vision impaired and blind members and several volunteers.
Current clubs:
Glenferrie Lions Blind Cricket Club
Institute Blind Cricket Club
St. Paul's Blind Cricket Club
The Victorian Blind Cricket Association is located in the Charlie Bradley Pavilion, at the rear of 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong VIC 3144 (opposite the Kooyong Tennis Stadium Kooyong Stadium ). Games are played on Saturday afternoons from October through to March and spectators are most welcome.
The VBCA provides an important role in the community by developing and providing opportunities for people who are blind or vision impaired to enjoy the recreational and social benefits of cricket. Additionally, the VBCA participates in cricket matches against sighted opposition in keeping with the philosophy of integration and working to remove barriers and isolating influences of having limited vision.
The ongoing aims and objectives of the VBCA are as follows:
To further promote the game of Blind Cricket in Victoria
Provides sport, fitness, and physical recreation opportunities for individuals of all ages who are legally blind
Aims to improve the physical capabilities and self-confidence of individuals who are blind, visually impaired
[ edit ] Blind Cricket New South Wales (BCNSW)
Blind Cricket New South Wales (BCNSW) is the home of blind cricket in New South Wales.
[ edit ] World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC)
The WBCC was established in 1996 during an international cricket meeting held in New Delhi, India in September 1996. The WBCC was set up with the objective of promoting and administering the game of blind cricket globally. Today the WBCC has 10 full members namely Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. George Abraham of India is the founding Chairman of the WBCC. Under his leadership, the inaugural Blind Cricket World Cup was held in New Delhi in November 1998. Seven countries participated. South Africa defeated Pakistan in the final while India and Australia were the two semi-finalists.
The second Blind Cricket World Cup was held in Chennai, India in December 2002. Pakistan defeated South Africa in the finals.
Peter Donovan of Australia took over as Chairman in 2004.
Pakistan hosted the third World Cup in Islamabad 2006 under the able leadership of Aga Shaukat-Ali, President of Pakistan Blind Cricket Council. Pakistan beat India in the final.
In November 2008, George Abraham was re-elected as President of the WBCC.
[ edit ] Cricket Association for the Blind in India [CABI]
Starting 2011, Cricket Association for the Blind in India [CABI] is in place of Association for Cricket for the Blind India (ACBI) set up in 1996. George Abraham is the founder of the registered voluntary body. Its objectives are to use competitive cricket to teach the blind to look at life positively, gain in confidence and strive to be winners rather than dependents; and to use the game as a medium to transmit the message of ability and talent to the society. The ACBI organised the first two Blind Cricket World Cups in 1998 and 2002.
CABI is the apex body that organizes and conducts cricket for blind across India. CABI is a sports initiative of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled. It is a registered Non Profit Organization, affiliated to the World Blind Cricket Council (WBCC). Conferred the hosting rights of the First Ever T – 20 World Cup in Bangalore in November /December 2012.
Comparison of cricket and baseball
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(April 2010)
Cricket and baseball are the best-known members of a family of related bat-and-ball games .
Despite their similarities, the two sports also have many differences in play and in strategy. A comparison between cricket and baseball can be instructive to followers of either sport, since the similarities help to highlight nuances particular to each game.
Contents
[ edit ] Bat-and-ball games
Bat-and-ball games, in general, are sports in which one team (the fielding team) has possession of the ball and delivers it to a member of the other team (the batting team), who tries to hit it. The two opposing teams take turns playing these two distinct roles, which are continuous during a specified interval. This contrasts with "goal-oriented" games, such as all forms of football, hockey and basketball, in which possession of the ball or puck can change in an instant, and thus "attackers" and the "defenders" frequently reverse roles during the course of the game.
In both cricket and baseball, the players of one team attempt to score points known as runs by hitting a ball with a bat, while the members of the other team field the ball in an attempt to prevent scoring and to put batting players out.
In both games, there is a defensive aspect to the batting team concurrent with its "offensive" or "attacking" aspect of trying to score runs. In cricket, the batsman is attempting to defend the wicket. In baseball, the batter is attempting to defend the strike zone. In practice, however, the terms "offense" and "defense" are not normally used in cricket parlance, compared to their more frequent use in baseball.
Once a certain number of batting players are out (different in the two sports), the teams swap roles. This sequence of each team taking each role once is called an inning in baseball, and an innings in cricket (the singular form having a terminal 's'). The single/plural usage in cricket is comparable to the baseball slang term for a single inning as the team's "ups". A baseball game consists of nine innings, while a cricket match may have either one or two innings per team.
[ edit ] Baseball
A view of the playing field at Fenway Park in Boston .
Baseball is played in a quadrant of fair territory between foul lines. The official minimum distance from home plate to the far edge of fair territory is 250 feet (76.2 m), but the recommended distances are at least 325 feet (99 m) along the foul lines and 400 feet (120 m) in center field . [1] This produces a recommended fair territory field area just over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2). Most Major League Baseball parks have fair territory areas in the range of 110,000 to 120,000 square feet (10,000 to 11,000 m2). [2]
A panoramic view of Wankhede Stadium , Mumbai , India during the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final .
In contrast, Test and One Day International cricket is played on a field with a minimum width of 420 feet (128.0 m) and length 426 feet (129.8 m), giving a minimum area of 140,500 square feet (13,050 m2), assuming an elliptical shape. However the shape of a cricket ground is not fixed. Test grounds around the world are typically 450 by 500 feet (140 by 150 m), an area of 175,000 square feet (16,300 m2), and range up to the Melbourne Cricket Ground at 479 by 561 feet (146.0 by 171.0 m) or 270,000 square feet (25,000 m2).
[ edit ] Consequences
Discounting the pitcher/bowler and catcher/wicket-keeper, this means Major League Baseball fielders must cover an average of approximately 16,500 square feet (1,530 m2) per fielder, while Test cricketers cover 19,500 square feet (1,810 m2) per fielder. That average is misleading because the difference between area covered on the parts of outfielders (on the one hand) and infielders (on the other), is vast. In baseball, infielders cover a small area in which the ball moves very fast, while three outfielders must cover an area that encompasses a much greater proportion of the playing surface. Something similar — if not quite as pronounced — is true in cricket. In practice, fielders in both sports cover variable amounts of territory, with outfielders potentially having to run much farther to field a ball than infielders do.
Another consequence is that the maximum distance from the batsman in cricket to the boundary is far smaller than the maximum distance from the batter in baseball and the outfield wall. Since the pitch in cricket lies at the center of the field, a ball can often be driven beyond the boundary at even the greatest distance from the pitch by a blow that travels around 275 feet (83.8 m). By contrast, a home run to 'dead center' in baseball must travel more than 400 feet (121.9 m). This means that outfielders in baseball must frequently cover considerably greater distances than those fielding a ball in cricket. When hit squarely in baseball the ball leaves the bat at a higher velocity, and travels farther, than in cricket.
A batsman in cricket has a greater variety of strokes he can play, due to the lack of fouls and strikes; this combined with the shape of the field means he can play shots in any direction, including directly behind him.
[ edit ] Bowling/Pitching distance
In cricket, the distance between the two wickets that the batsmen defend is 22 yards (20.1 m), 66 feet, or 1 chain (4 rods ) in the old English system of measurement. The rectangular area between the two lines is called the pitch. In baseball, the pitcher must deliver from a rubber slab (officially called the "pitcher's plate" and typically called "the rubber") whose front is 60.5 feet (18.4 m) from the point of home plate (officially called "home plate" and often simply "home"). Before the advent of the pitcher's mound and the rubber, the pitcher threw from within a rectangular "pitcher's box". There was a large rectangular dirt area, between the pitcher's box and the batting areas around home, which resembled the cricket pitch.
In cricket, the striker's end stumps and the bowling crease are 66 feet (20.12 m) apart. The popping creases are 4 feet (1.22 m) in front of the stumps and thus are 58 feet (17.7 m) feet apart. The bowler's release point could be perhaps 1 foot (0.30 m) beyond his popping crease. The batsman tends to "take guard" or "block" on the popping crease, i.e. he stands 4 feet (1.22 m) in front of his stumps. That nets to a typical distances of about 57 feet (17.4 m) between delivery point and bat. In baseball, the pitcher's release point could be about 55 feet (16.8 m) depending on his delivery style, but the batter also tends to stand back or "deep" in the batter's box, to maximize his time to "look the ball over", up to 2 feet (0.61 m) farther from the pitching rubber than the point of home plate is. Although the delivery distance, from release of the ball by the pitcher/bowler to its arrival at the batter/batsman, appears to be similar in both sports, the ball actually travels further in cricket as it bounces off the ground first.
Main articles: Baseball positions , Baseball positioning , Fielding (cricket)
The main difference from fielding in the two sports is that even though a cricket ball is harder and heavier than a baseball the fielders in cricket are more restricted in the use of protection for the hands. The only fielders who can wear protective gear are the wicket-keeper, who is allowed to wear padded gloves as well as leg guards and a box ; and fieldsmen in close-in positions such as silly point and short leg , who may wear shinpads, boxes and helmets but they are still not allowed to wear any gloves. In baseball, catchers and first basemen normally wear mitts , which have no fingers and are specially designed for each position respectively. The other fielders wear gloves with fingers. (Note that early baseball was also played bare-handed; gloves were adopted in the latter 19th Century.) This means that the risk of hand injury due the impact of the ball is far higher in cricket. Also, especially in Test cricket, it is common for several fielders to be stationed close to the bat (slips, short leg, silly point and similar positions) since the value of dismissing a batsman off a catch is higher. Catching at these positions require exceptional reflexes, skill and courage, associated with bare-handed catching of a hard ball traveling at up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), with reaction times of the order of 0.2 seconds.
Baseball games have far lower scores than cricket matches. The largest combined runs total in a single game in the history of Major League Baseball is 49, whereas first-class cricket matches, including Tests , have produced combined totals from both innings of over a thousand runs.
For a more direct comparison, matches in Twenty20 cricket, a form of limited overs cricket in which games last about as long in time as a regulation baseball game, regularly produce combined run totals of 300 or more, with the all-time record being 443. Each run in a baseball game is roughly seventy-five times the magnitude of a run in a Test cricket match; therefore moments of poor pitching and individual fielding mistakes are much more costly. A player who is a good batter, but who is not a competent fielder, will not play regularly, or only in the designated hitter position in leagues that use it.
Navy shortstop Nick Driscoll catches throw from Navy catcher Steve Soares and tries to tag out a runner who is sliding headfirst, attempting to reach second base during the annual Service Academy Spring Classic baseball tournament.
Baseball players often need to throw immediately after catching the struck ball (for example, the double play ), while this is unnecessary in cricket as the ball is deemed "dead" when a dismissal takes place. Hence, fielders in Cricket have a greater incentive to dive and take a catch due to the fact that a run out is much harder to achieve.
India 's Mahendra Singh Dhoni successfully stumps a South African batsman out during a match played in Chennai in 2008.
The configuration of the baseball diamond effectively bars left-handers from the fielding positions that make throwing to first base a primary responsibility. Right-handers can throw to their left — i.e., toward first base — with much greater ease than can left-handers, so virtually all second basemen, shortstops, and third basemen are right-handed. Left-handed catchers are also exceedingly rare; while the reasons appear to be primarily cultural, handling bunts up the third-base line and throws on plays at home pose particular obstacles to left-handed catchers. [3]
While most throws a first baseman must make go to the right, which a left-hander can generally accomplish with greater speed and fluency, this is a relatively small factor in the advantage for left-handed first baseman. More important advantages are related to the position of a left-handed first baseman with respect to the base. First, a left-handed first baseman has an advantage over his right-handed counterpart when catching a pickoff throw from the pitcher—when a first baseman is in pickoff position, standing in front of the bag, the left-hander can catch the ball and make a tag without having to move his arm across his body. (See the picture in the Strategy over the course of the game section below for the standard pickoff position with a right-handed first baseman.) Second, because the first baseman starts most plays with his left leg closer to the base, the left-hander does not have to make a half-pivot in order to get into the correct position to stretch out for a throw. For these reasons, left-handed throwers are far more common at first base than in the general population of baseball players. In contrast, cricket is fielded in the round: the handedness of the fielder in any given position is of far less consequence due to the priority being placed on catching rather than throwing, and both left-handed and right-handed throwers are found in all parts of the field.
A One Day International cricket match in progress at Eden Park . The lighter strip is the cricket pitch .
Body contact between runner and fielder is frequent in baseball, particularly at home plate. This is driven to a large extent by the manner in which a runner is put out. In both sports, rules prohibit interfering with runners. However, in baseball, the runner himself (or the base he is advancing to, if forced) must be tagged by a fielder holding the ball, in order to be put out. The catcher awaiting a throw will often stand between the plate and the runner. Once he catches it, the runner might try to go around the catcher, or he might simply bowl the catcher over, if he thinks he can dislodge the ball by such contact; and if the catcher does not have the ball, the runner may still bowl the catcher over, which is considered fair because by rule a fielder without a ball cannot impede a runner. By contrast, in cricket, the stumps are the target for "tagging" rather than the runner. No contact of the runners is either necessary or allowed. Contact between opposing sides is rare, and is usually not deliberate. Violent contact between players was once even greater in baseball, as before the Knickerbocker Rules it was permitted in some versions of the game to literally "throw out" a runner by hitting him (or "soaking" him) with a thrown ball (in lieu of hitting a base or stake that would equate to cricket's wickets). This rule still exists in some versions of the baseball variant called kickball , which is played with a soccer ball and thus is much less injurious. Kickball also calls for literal "bowling" of the ball, underhand, as with the old rules of both cricket and baseball.
Main articles: Batting (cricket) , Batting (baseball)
There are many possibilities for a batsman in cricket.
One of the main differences between baseball and Test cricket is the primary intent of the batsman. Usually, in Test cricket, wickets come at a far higher premium, since survival is of primary importance. While nine innings are played in a baseball game within a few hours, only two are played in Test cricket over five days (thirty hours), so the cost of a dismissal is far higher in cricket. It should be kept in mind that a batsman in cricket is not obligated to take a run after striking the ball nor is there any penalty for swinging at the ball and missing unless it hits the stumps, and there is no limit to the number of deliveries a batsmen can face. Therefore a batsman with the concentration and technical ability to bat for several hours without being dismissed is able to do. So the quality of his defensive game is of the utmost importance. The nuances of batting technique are also greater in cricket, since the interplays between bowling variations, field placements and scoring strengths are more dynamic. Since cricket is played over an extended duration, it gives the bowler and the fielding captain time to "work over" a batsman. Thus, cricket batting requires a very tight technique and the ability to withstand sustained examinations.
The area for legal deliveries is much larger in Cricket than it is in baseball, overlapping the batsman's entire body. Deliveries that reach the batsmen at rib or shoulder height are not illegal, and quite common. Depending on the version of the game, a greater or fewer number of deliveries can be bowled to reach the batsmen at throat or head level. Any fear or hesitation can lead to a batsman playing a poor shot and giving away his wicket (being dismissed).
Since the cricket bat is wide and flat, while the baseball bat is narrow and round, on the whole cricket batsmen find it easier to hit and direct the ball than baseball batters, resulting in much greater number of runs being scored in a cricket match. While bowlers can influence the ability of the batsmen to do so, perhaps the most famous episode being the now-banned Bodyline tactic, cricket batsmen are able to use a wider variety of batting strokes to direct the ball in many directions into a field which provides much more open space than in baseball. In addition, cricket batsmen are under no obligation to attempt to score a run after any stroke, but must strike balls in order to prevent them from hitting the wicket. Many strokes are in fact defensive in nature against a well-bowled ball and the quality of defensive batting is often the determining factor of a batsman's success over his career, especially in the longer forms of the game.
The follow-through in the baseball swing of Barry Bonds .
By contrast, the balance of power is largely reversed in baseball. While particularly skilled batters have some ability to place hit and direct the ball to desired locations, the pitcher's influence is much more dramatic. Pitchers induce more ground outs, fly outs, or strikeouts, depending on the style of pitch. Thus particular pitchers are known for causing batters to make certain kinds of outs, depending on their mastered pitches. Also in contrast to cricket, baseball batters must attempt to take first base on any ball put into fair territory, and failing to do so will result in an out, but the size of the strike zone more strictly limits the set of deliveries that must be swung at compared to cricket. Like cricket, baseball batters do have a defensive tactic available; many batters will often attempt to deliberately foul off pitches that are strikes yet difficult to hit well, by hitting them into foul territory, awaiting an easier delivery later in the at-bat. Since an uncaught foul ball cannot be a third strike (unless it was a bunt attempt), this tactic allows the batter to receive more pitches.
Ricky Ponting swings with a pull shot towards mid wicket region in this picture.
In the early generations of baseball, the emphasis was mostly on bat control, place hitting, bunting, etc., and that is still true for the most part today. An accomplished hitter must know how to bunt, 'serve' a pitch down the line or over the infield, collapse his hands and go the other way, pull in his hands in order to turn on the ball inside, and so on. But, starting in 1919, several factors resulted in a dramatic expansion of strategic orientation, supplementing traditional "small ball" with the "power game": a "livelier" ball, because of better materials and a tighter weave; more frequent substitutions of new balls; lighter, more flexible bats; the outlawing of the spitball ; and the increase in attendance which drove owners to build more outfield seating, thus reducing the outfield area significantly. The power game has been encouraged further in recent years, by the construction of new ballparks with smaller outfields than previously, and even the reduction of field size at "classic" ballparks known for spacious outfields; for example, the distance to the fence in deep left field at the original Yankee Stadium was reduced from 430 to 399 feet (130 to 122 m) between 1984 and 1988 (the post-1988 dimensions were maintained at the current Yankee Stadium ). Still, it is generally agreed that no one can hit a home run at will, and every successful batter knows never to go to the plate intending to hit a home run. Rather, he should attempt a level swing, try to pull only the ball on the inside of the plate, go the other way with balls low and outside, and otherwise start each at bat intending to drive the ball up the middle, which is the most vulnerable part of the infield (especially if the pitcher is not particularly good at fielding his position).
The games emphasize power hitting to different degrees. Cricket requires the accumulation of large numbers of runs, so placement of the ball between the fielders produces runs efficiently and is generally accepted as a better strategy than "swinging for sixes". In baseball, power hitting can produce runs quickly and frequently in many situations[ citation needed ], as well as force pitching changes and other fielding moves; but it can also result (because of the great difficulty of driving a ball off a cylindrical bat) in a great many strike outs, fly outs, and ground outs. "Manufacturing runs" or "small ball" is still the soundest means for scoring runs against good pitching and defense. Teams with winning records are those that combine deep pitching and defense with a good balance of small ball and power hitting. In most game situations, the classic methods for manufacturing runs are the most successful. The final play of the 2001 World Series was a flare single to drive in the winning run. Batter Luis Gonzalez , a power hitting outfielder, stated in the Series DVD commentary that he choked up on the bat and went for a single, a small ball strategy with a much greater likelihood of success than "swinging for the fences". In cricket, however, situations can arise in a match where power hitting, also called "slogging", is required. This typically occurs towards the final overs of a limited overs game. So, though baseball is the game that features more power hitting, as a strategy there are far fewer situations in baseball in which it would be correct to rely on the power game.
A cricket ball
Main articles: pitching (baseball) and bowling (cricket)
Cricket bowlers, since they are not restricted to a small strike zone as their target, also use a wide variety of approaches which are not available to baseball pitchers. These involve varying the line and length of deliveries and using unpredictable movement caused by the ball bouncing on the pitch before it reaches the batsman. Baseball pitchers, by contrast, must use changes in ball speed and movement (cricket bowlers also vary ball speed) caused only by air friction and spin to deceive batters, as most pitches which come near touching the ground are ineffectively allowed to pass as balls . The raised undulating stitching on a baseball allows an accomplished pitcher to create a huge variety of motions in the air; even fastballs are thrown in such a way as to create certain kinds of movement. The cricket ball also moves in the air, to a lesser degree than the baseball, but it achieves its most pronounced movement on the bounce. Furthermore, pitchers must begin their throw from a stationary position, while bowlers may run up to their delivery. (In the early days of baseball, the pitcher pitched from anywhere within a "box" and so had more flexibility as to where to stand when releasing the ball, before the 1880s.) Baseball pitchers also throw from an elevated mound (10 in or 25 cm above the level of home plate), while cricket bowlers are at the same height as the batsman and must bowl with an overarm (or roundarm , a style rarely seen today) rotation of the arm during which the arm must be kept straight within 15 degrees. (This was also a restriction on pitchers in the early days of baseball, abolished in the 1880s.) Despite the differences in delivery action, the delivery speeds are similar for both sports with the fastest bowlers and pitchers propelling the ball in the region of 95–100 mph (150–160 km/h): the fastest recorded cricket delivery is 100.2 mph (161.26 km/h) [4] [5] with baseball's record quicker at 105 mph (169.0 km/h). [6] It is the case, however, that baseball pitches near or at 100 mph are considerably more common than bowled balls of comparable velocity in cricket. The bowler in cricket is much more restricted as far as how much he can bend his arm in delivering the ball, and this is one very significant reason why baseball pitchers can deliver the ball faster with more frequency.
One main difference, however, is that the ball in cricket is harder and heavier in weight. The legal weight for the ball in baseball must weigh between 5 to 5.25 ounces (142 to 149 g). Whereas, the ball in cricket must weigh between 5.5 to 5.8 ounces (156 to 164 g).
Another reason for the difference in pace is also the fact that in baseball the ball reaches the batter on the full, whereas in cricket most of the time the ball is bounced off the pitch before reaching the batsman which does take pace off the ball.
Cricket's bowlers are grouped into different categories based on their bowling style— pacemen , seamers , off-spinners (or finger-spinners ), leg-spinners (or wrist-spinners )—though a bowler may fall into more than one category (pace and seam bowling, for instance, largely overlap).
The typical bowling action of a fast bowler.
The typical motion of a baseball pitcher throwing from a set position.
Baseball's pitchers are classified primarily by their throwing hand (left or right) and their usual role in games. A starting pitcher begins games, typically not more than one game in five, in a rotation with four teammates who are also starters who will start games in a sequential cycle, and usually pitch five or more innings. Starters rarely appear as substitutes in games started by others. A relief pitcher enters games later, sometimes on short notice in crisis situations in which there are already runners on base and/or the opponent's best hitters due to bat, and usually pitches fewer innings in any given game. But relievers may be called upon to pitch in several games consecutively. Some relievers even specialize further strictly as closers brought in just to pitch the last inning of a game in which his team leads by a narrow margin. Perhaps the most specialized group of relievers is left-handed specialists —left-handed pitchers who pitch almost exclusively to left-handed batters (sometimes to switch-hitters who are weaker batters right-handed). More often than not, such a pitcher will face only one batter in a given game.
Pitchers are sometimes secondarily grouped according to pitching style, type of pitch most often used, or velocity. However, there are many different variations on how the pitch is actually delivered, this includes the conventional overhand, in which the ball is thrown from the 12 o'clock position, and 3/4 styles (with the arm moving towards the plate between 12 and 3 o'clock) as well as the less common sidearm (3 o'clock arm angle, compare roundarm bowling in cricket) and 'submarine' (below 3 o'clock, compare underarm bowling in cricket) deliveries.
For reasons that continue to spur debate, it is historically the case that most right-handed pitchers succeed at higher rates against right-handed hitters than against left-handers, and that most left-handed pitchers succeed at higher rates against left-handed hitters than right-handers.
One substantial strategic element to baseball is to utilize this phenomenon as much as possible. Defenses try to force a match between pitcher and hitter by side, and offenses attempt to mismatch them; both teams use substitutions at times to accomplish the desired outcome. One response to this phenomenon is that many hitters, among them a number of the finest and most powerful to play the game, such as Mickey Mantle , Eddie Murray , and Chipper Jones , became adept as youngsters to hitting both left-handed and right-handed to prevent defenses from utilizing that advantage against them. Many professional clubs employ as many as two or three switch hitters so as to neutralize the advantage of side selection. However, no switch pitchers have played in the major leagues in modern times.
Australian Fast bowler Brett Lee 's follow through
In addition, if a baseball batter is struck with a pitch, he is awarded first base ; "hitting" the batter includes hitting loose parts of his uniform without hitting his body (baseball rules specify that a player's person includes his uniform and equipment). Pitchers may throw close to the batters, and a "brushback" is often used as an intimidation tactic. Deliberately hitting a batter is fairly uncommon, however, chiefly because it is punished severely. If the umpire believes a batter was intentionally hit, the umpire has his discretion on a first offense to warn both benches that the pitcher for either team will be expelled from the game if there are any further hit batsmen (the one baseball term in which "batsman" is used). The warning—and the power to expel if it is contravened—is intended not only to protect batters but to avert fighting; being hit by a fastball is taken seriously by batters, and bench-clearing brawls occasionally result when one team decides the other is deliberately throwing at its batters. Amazingly, in the history of the major league game, only one player has ever been killed by a pitched ball striking him in the head. This occurred before the invention of the batting helmet and was the principal cause for introducing this piece of equipment into the game.
In cricket, bowlers consider the right to hit a batsman as part of their armoury; indeed, one of the most common methods of dismissal ( leg before wicket ) requires the bowler to hit the batsman's body rather than his bat. A fast bowler will punctuate his overs with deliveries intended to bounce up toward the batsman's head, either to induce a poor shot from self-defence which may result in the batsman being caught out, or to intimidate the batsman, making him less likely to play forward to the next few deliveries for fear of injury. These tactics have long been an accepted part of cricket. In the modern game, batsmen usually wear helmets and heavy padding, so that being struck by the ball only rarely results in significant injury—though it is nevertheless often painful, sometimes causing concussion or fractures. Baseball batters wear helmets, but they are unsecured and lack the "cage" since only one side of the head/face is exposed. Catchers typically wear a helmet with a cage or protective bars. An equivalent ball to striking the batter in baseball would be a beamer , where the ball hits the batman's upper body area without bouncing first. These are rare and usually caused by the ball slipping out of the top of the bowler's hand. The even rarer intentional beamer provokes strong reaction from batsman and crowd alike. The umpire is authorized to take disciplinary action in such instances. The bowler is generally given a first warning, and is dismissed from the game if the offence is repeated. A notable case of this happening was between Waqar Younis and Andrew Symonds in which Younis was banned from bowling by umpire David Shepherd for delivering a beamer to Symonds During the match between Pakistan and Australia at the 2003 World Cup .
There is a major difference in the way in which different bowlers or pitchers contribute to a single game. In baseball, a single pitcher starts the game, and makes every pitch until a point where the manager replaces the tiring pitcher with a relief pitcher. Replaced pitchers cannot return to pitch again in the same game (unless they are shuttled to another position in the field and thus stay in the lineup, a move rarely done in the major leagues), and a succession of pitchers may come into the game in sequence until it ends. In cricket, multiple bowlers begin the game, with those not actively bowling spending time as fielders as every player in the team including the wicket-keeper but excluding the 12th man is available to be used as a bowler. Bowlers alternate bowling overs of six balls each, moving to fielding positions to rest before returning to bowl again later in the game. A bowler will usually bowl for a 'spell' of several (alternate) overs, and will generally bowl the entire spell from the same end of the pitch. A second bowler will bowl the overs missed by the first, from the other end of the pitch, for his own spell. Although moving a pitcher to a fielding position and returning him to pitch later in the game is legal in baseball, it is a rarely used and potentially risky strategy, as the pitcher may be unprepared to play another position.
The terms "bowling" and "pitching", as words, both denote underarm deliveries, as were once required in both games. The rules for delivery were also initially very similar. Once overhand deliveries were permitted in the respective sports, and pitchers were compelled to toe the pitching rubber instead of throwing from anywhere within the "pitcher's box", the actions of bowling and pitching diverged significantly.
The " wide " in cricket and the " ball " in baseball both derive from the concept of a "fair" delivery, i.e. a delivery that the batter or batsman has a fair chance of making contact with his bat. While there is no sharply defined "strike zone" in cricket as there is in baseball, in both cases the umpire must judge whether the ball was delivered fairly. Both the "wide" and the "ball" result in a "penalty". In cricket, like a no-ball a single run is charged and it does not count as a legal delivery. In baseball, a ball is called, and if a pitcher gives up four balls the batter is awarded first base, which is called a "base on balls" or a "walk". A walk will only score a run directly if the bases are already loaded, forcing the runner at third base to advance to home (known as "walking in a run"); otherwise the threat is merely of another runner reaching base instead of making an out. However since runs are scored so much more frequently in cricket, a wide scores a run directly shouldn't be taken too seriously, although the extra delivery can be of vital significance toward the end of a match. In both games, a wide or a ball can be the decisive factor in winning a match or a game.
[ edit ] Running
Running plays a much larger role in baseball because of the low scoring, because they must run much further in order to score, because runners may remain in play (that is, on the bases) without scoring, and because baserunners can advance to the next base before the ball is hit again ( steal the base) as soon as the ball is live. Base stealing often requires sliding , in which the runner throws himself to the ground to avoid both being tagged and overrunning the base. The runner may also deliberately slide into the fielder at the base he is trying to steal to keep him from catching the ball or to disrupt a double play. At home plate the runner often will simply, and legally, run into a catcher who is blocking the baseline but who does not have the ball (a defensive player may not impede the runner unless he has the ball or is in the process of catching it).
The equivalent in cricket is almost impossible because the bowler is next to the runner, and in fact used to be able to mankad him if he strayed out of his crease; nowadays the batsman can leave the crease when the bowler's back foot touches the ground during his delivery action without risk of being 'Mankaded'. Tactical running in cricket rarely strays beyond the consideration of "can I make it to the other end before the ball does". One exception of this is towards the end of a limited overs game, where a batsman (normally a tail-ender) would sacrifice his wicket in order to allow the better batsman to remain on strike, usually in the last few balls. While in baseball, steals, sacrificial running, forces, double plays, intimidation, and physical contact enter into the equation.
Making contact with a fielder, as baserunners often do, would be unsportsmanlike in cricket, and unnecessary, as play stops when a single wicket is taken. Occasionally a cricket runner will dive over the crease, but in baseball this is a regular occurrence, as players are frequently forced to run even when their chances are slim.
Since a team almost always scores fewer runs in a baseball game than its number of outs, a baserunner will frequently take risks attempting to advance an extra base or score a run, resulting in close plays at a base. In cricket, since the number of runs scored is much greater than the number of wickets taken in a match, a batsman would be very foolish to risk getting run out in an attempt to score an extra run without a very high expected chance of success. In general, cricket batsmen are run out due to exceptional fielding, poor judgment/communication, or a combination of any of these factors. In baseball, runners are often out not of their own accord - they are simply forced out.
[ edit ] Strategy
A wide array of factors affect both games (from composition of the pitch or field soil to weather conditions, wind, and moisture) and numerous strategies in both games can be employed to exploit these different factors. Other than the bowler, cricket places very few restrictions on fielding placement , even for the wicket-keeper, and its variety of bowling styles, 360 degrees of open field, wide bowling area (target zone), and so on provide for strategic play. Notable exceptions include the limit of two fielders in the leg side quadrant, introduced to prevent the use of Bodyline tactics, and limiting outfield players in the early stages of one-day cricket matches. In baseball, has very specific rules about the positions of the pitcher and the catcher at the start of each play. The positioning of the other seven fielders is as flexible as cricket, except that each one must start the play positioned in fair territory. The fielders are otherwise free to position themselves anywhere on the playing field, at their discretion based on the game situation.
[ edit ] Condition of the ball
A major element of strategy in these sports is the condition of the ball. Since bowling in cricket has greater number of variations (such as bounce, swing, seam movement, off-spin, leg-spin and so on), the condition of the ball also affects play to a great degree. In Test cricket, the same ball must be used for at least 80 overs unless it is lost, damaged or illegally modified and then it must be replaced with a ball of a similar condition, after which, obtaining a new ball is at the discretion of the fielding captain whereas, in baseball the ball is replaced numerous times during an inning to ensure it is in optimum condition. Often, the fielding captain might opt for the new ball straightaway, since a new ball is harder, bounces higher and has an intact seam, which produces greater conventional swing. But when a captain feels that a spin bowling attack is more likely to be successful, he will persist with the old ball, which is rougher and better grips the surface as well the bowler's fingers.
The aerodynamics of swing in cricket are different from in baseball. Moreover, the raised seam also causes movement off the pitch in cricket, which is a very important part of medium pace bowling. Once a particular hemisphere of the cricket ball is more rough or scratched than the other, the fielding team meticulously works to preserve the shine on the other half by rubbing it on their clothes or by applying saliva (no "external" substances can be applied to alter the condition of the ball). Bowlers very carefully regulate their wrist position at the point of release to ensure the shine is preserved only on one half of the ball, since it will swing towards the rough side.
The old ball in cricket also tends to generate greater amounts of reverse swing, which is swing towards the polished side. This can be exploited by a captain with genuinely fast bowlers (usually, those who can bowl over 90 mph or 140 km/h) at his disposal. Especially on pitches in the Indian sub-continent, which tend to have abrasive surfaces, bowlers might resort to bowling across the seam as early as the tenth over, so as to quickly scruff up the ball and generate reverse swing early on. Strategies that rely on early reverse swing also need the backup of effective spin bowlers to be able to exploit the roughed up ball.
Due to these factors, a batsman in cricket needs to very carefully watch how the bowler grips the ball even during his run-up, as well as the type of revolutions on the ball as it approaches. Master spin bowlers like Shane Warne & Muttiah Muralitharan, who were able to dramatically vary the trajectory, direction and extent of spin, regularly bowled deliveries with a scrambled seam to disguise the type of ball actually bowled.
[ edit ] Batting first or last
In cricket, since the strategies are greatly influenced by factors such as soil characteristics of the pitch, condition of the ball, time of the day, weather and atmospheric conditions, the decision to bat first or last is of great tactical importance.
The team that wins the coin toss has the choice of batting first or last. Selection of batting first or last can be crucial to success; particularly in Test cricket . As the pitch is used for up to five consecutive days with little maintenance, the deterioration of the pitch with wear can have a major influence on the result of the match (e.g. Typically the ability of spin bowlers to ‘turn’ the ball increases toward the end of a Test match, whereas fast bowlers often prefer a harder and bouncier pitch often found at the start of a test match). It is usual for some amount of grass to be left on the pitch on the first day of a Test, since it helps bind the surface. The presence of grass on the pitch is conducive for pace bowling, so a grassy pitch may also tempt a captain to bowl first. Sometimes, current weather conditions also influence the decision, since a cloud cover has empirically been known to assist swing bowling. Aggressive captains such as Allan Border of Australia have been known to bat first in Test cricket regardless of the conditions.
In One Day International cricket, the time of day is also a crucial factor in determining the captain's decision at the toss. In some parts of the world, dew on the ground can be significant. For a day-night game, grounds in some countries like India or South Africa become wet due to dew, which makes it difficult for a spinner to grip the ball. The captain must balance this against a consideration for bowling becoming more effective under lights, since the ball might skid off any dew on the pitch or get assistance in swing from the cooler night-time air. Even for a day game, the captain might be inclined to exploit early morning dew on the pitch.
In baseball, on the other hand, the "home" team always bats last. This was not originally the case. In the early years, the winner of a coin toss could decide whether to bat first or last. The more offense-oriented aspect of the early game might influence a team's decision to bat first and hope to get a quick lead. This led to the occasional unfortunate situation where the home town crowd would have to watch their team lose a game in the last of the ninth inning, in "sudden victory" fashion by the visiting team. By the late 1800s, the rule was changed to compel the home team to bat last. At a "neutral" site, such as the College World Series , the "home" team may be decided by coin toss, but that "home" team must bat last.
[ edit ] Fielding strategy
The normal fielding arrangement in baseball.
In cricket, since the batsmen can hit the ball with greater variation and different objectives, the field placements are more important and varied. Modern-day coaches and captains have intricate knowledge of the strengths of opposition batsmen, so they try to plug the dominant scoring areas for each batsman. Moreover, since the bowling attack has greater variety in cricket, the field placements required for each type and line of attack also vary greatly.
Depending on the scoring strengths of the batsman (off-side, leg-side, straight, square, front foot, back foot, power hitter, "finds the gap", "clears the field" and so on), the captain must make adjustments to the field each time the batting pair score a run and change ends, which can possibly happen after every ball in an over. To meet the demands of a speedy over-rate (typically, about 15 overs an hour), the captain must arrange the fielders in a way that they can swiftly interchange positions for the two batsmen. This is especially important if one batsman is right-handed, while the other is left-handed. And also in one- day cricket if the umpires deem the over rate of the team fielding first is too slow they can dock them overs so they may have less than 50 overs to reach their target score when it is their turn to bat.
Fielders in cricket can field in all positions, but modern players have specialized field positions. In particular, slip positions require special skills since the slip fielder is placed behind the batsman and the ball comes directly off the edge of the bat. Close catching positions such as forward short leg and silly point, as well as positions for the cut shot such as gully and point, require very fast reflexes and canny anticipation, so they are also specialist positions.
Cricket strategy requires creative use of the many possible fielding positions.
In baseball, although only the positions of pitcher and catcher are prescribed by the rules, fielders' positions are dictated closely by custom, and shifts in fielders' positions according to circumstance are less dramatic; the strike zone and smaller angle of fair territory limit the usefulness of some strategies which cricket makes available to batsmen. The chief occasion on which fielding placement differs markedly from the usual is the presence of a pull, or dead-pull, hitter at bat (such hitters almost never, except on the rare occasion of a fluke or mishit, hit the ball in any direction except towards the same side of the field as they stand at the plate, i.e. a right-handed pull hitter hits everything toward left field). In such case the fielders will move so far in the direction of the pull that one half of the field is almost completely unprotected. This is called an overshift. A six-man infield has also been used when circumstances warrant. For the great majority of batters, however, the traditional fielding arrangement is used, with minor changes in position to accommodate the batter's power or bat-handling ability, the location of runners, or the number of outs. (For example, with a base runner on third with less than two out, the importance of fielders being able to throw quickly to home plate on a bunt is increased, and the infielders will play closer to home plate.) However, Baseball has no equivalent of Cricket's close-in fielders, because it is impractical to have fielders so close to the bat as they would have virtually no chance of latching onto a ball travelling so fast. It is possible to place a close-in fielder to catch a bunt, but this practice is not followed in real life.
In cricket, coaches cannot intervene or direct gameplay; the captain must make all the calls once the players are out on the field. However, the coach may convey messages to the captain or the players at any time, since there is no restriction on signaling or speaking to players on the field. In dynamic situations, like a run chase with an imminent possibility of rain, it is quite common for coaches to update tactics using signals. Hansie Cronje, the former cricket captain of South Africa, once took the field with a wireless link to the coach, Bob Woolmer. Subsequently, the use of gadgets to transmit messages was banned by the International Cricket Council. Regardless, the coach is merely an adviser, it is almost always the case that the cricket captain has complete authority over the team once play starts. In baseball, by contrast, managers and coaches will often direct the players (through hand signals) to carry out a play (such as a stolen base or hit and run ), or to field at a particular depth.
[ edit ] Strategy over the course of the game
Pickoff attempt on runner (in red) at first base
In both sports, strategy varies with the game situation. In baseball, pitcher, batter and fielders all play far differently in the late innings of a close game (e.g., waiting for walks, trying for stolen bases or the squeeze play to score a decisive run) than they do early, or when one team has already scored many more runs than the other (where batters will be likely to swing at many more pitches and try for extra-base hits and even home runs ). The number, speed, and position of baserunners, which have no equivalent in cricket, all dramatically change the strategies used by pitcher and batter. A runner on first base must decide how large a lead to take off the base—the larger the lead, the greater the chance of advancing on a stolen base or batted ball, but also the greater the risk of being picked off by the pitcher. In leagues which do not allow designated hitters, strategic thinking also enters into substitutions. For example, in the double switch , the substitution of a relief pitcher is combined with the substitution of a pinch hitter who takes the pitcher's spot in the batting order so that the new pitcher will come to bat later (as almost all pitchers are poor hitters). Since players may not return to the game after being substituted for, a manager cannot take lightly the decision when and if to substitute a better-fielding but worse-hitting player if his team is ahead.
The essential action in baseball is either (for the offense) to advance runners around the bases or (for the defense) to halt that advance. As simple as this is in principle, in practice it generates a remarkably large range of strategies. Any given situation—the number of runners on base, the bases they occupy, their skills as runners or base-stealers, the count on the hitter, the number of outs, the specialties of the pitcher and the batter, the catcher's skill at throwing out runners, the positioning of fielders, which inning is being played, and so on—allows for a considerable variety of possible plays, on either side of the ball. At any moment, one manager may be calculating how to advance his runners (whether to call for the steal, the hit-and-run, sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, a double steal, the squeeze, and so on) while the opposing manager is calculating how best to thwart his opponent (not only through the pitching approach and positioning of fielders, but by, say, calling for a pitch-out when a steal is anticipated, and so on). Since the variables that determine which strategies are possible or advisable change from pitch to pitch, and according to all the varieties of play situation that may come about in any game, the game played between the two managers is the most intricate aspect of the game, and for many followers of the sport[ who? ] is considered the true 'inner game'. In this sense, baseball is far more of a 'board game' than cricket is.
First-class cricket also has a number of strategic elements not found in baseball, simply because the maximum time duration of the game is fixed (which can be up to five days for Test cricket ) and a match not completed by the end of the time duration results in a draw regardless of the relative score. By contrast, baseball games are played to completion regardless of the time duration and there is no possibility for a tie or draw (with the exception of certain exhibition games such as the MLB All-Star Game , or in the case of Japan, where games are declared ties after 12 innings [7] [8] ). There are no equivalents in baseball of, for example, deciding when to declare or whether or not to make your opponent follow on .
[ edit ] Strategy based on the playing surface
The condition of the playing strip (the pitch ) in cricket is of vital significance as, unlike baseball, the ball is deliberately bounced on the pitch before reaching the batsman. While in baseball, playing conditions between different stadia are much the same (except for perhaps small differences in the dimensions of the field, whether the outfield is fast or slow, and if the field is grass or artificial turf), the physical characteristics of the cricket pitch can vary over the course of the game, or from one field to another, or from one country to another. On the Indian subcontinent, for instance, pitches tend to be dry, dusty and soft. These pitches offer less assistance to fast bowlers because the ball tends to bounce slower and lower, where most fast bowlers rely on bounce and speed to defeat the batsman. On the other hand, spin bowlers prefer this surface because it gives greater traction to the ball and will result in the ball breaking or turning more when it hits the surface. When such a delivery is bowled, the ball is said to have "turned". Conversely, pitches in places such as Australia, England, South Africa or the West Indies tend to be hard, true surfaces, called "batting wickets" or "roads" because the ball bounces uniformly and thus batsman find it easier to score runs, although these wickets suit fast bowlers more than spinners. Accordingly, teams are generally much harder to beat in their own country, where both their batsmen and bowlers are presumably suited to the types of pitches encountered there. On any given pitch, however, conditions will become more suitable for spinners as time progresses as the pitch becomes softer and worn through use, making the spin bowler something of a cricketing "closer".
Baseball parks are also not completely uniform, however many of the variations in playing conditions in baseball also arise in cricket. Stadiums with retractable roofs, for example, usually play differently with and without the roof. For example, with the roof open the wind will affect how far the ball carries. Against a running team the basepaths may be heavily watered. Many stadiums have idiosyncratic features – for example, the short right field and high left field wall (called the Green Monster ) at Fenway Park , the hill and flagpole in the outfield ( Tal's Hill ) at Minute Maid Park , or numerous "porches" (parts of the grandstands hanging over the outfield, such as the "Short Porch in Right" at Yankee Stadium ) which allow short home runs. There is an equivalent for this in cricket, where the placement of the pitch may render one perpendicular boundary significantly shorter than the other. For example, at a particular ground, the leg-side boundary may be 15 feet closer to the batsman than the off-side boundary. Such a boundary can then be targeted by batmen in search of quick runs.
The altitude of the stadium (most notably Coors Field ) can also impact the distance a batted ball travels and the amount of ball movement a pitcher can generate with his deliveries, although recently balls have begun being placed in humidors at high-altitude parks to negate these effects. The baseball behaves differently in those stadiums with artificial turf as well. The amount of moisture in the dirt on the basepaths can also affect the behavior of ground balls and the ease with which players may steal bases; some teams are known to alter the amount of watering done to the dirt depending on the skills of the home and visiting team. The amount of foul territory is also an important variable, since foul pop-ups that would be outs in some parks (e.g. the Oakland Coliseum ) may end up in the stands in other parks, thereby allowing the batter to remain at the plate (e.g. Fenway Park and Coors Field). On the whole, though, these variations do not produce effects as great as variations in cricket pitches, with one arguable exception being Coors Field.
[ edit ] Strategy based on batting order
The batting order in baseball must be declared before the game begins, and can only be changed if a substitution occurs. Batting out of turn is a rule violation resulting in a penalty. When a manager makes a substitution, the new player must occupy the same place in the batting order as the old one. To allow more complicated changes in batting order, managers may use the double switch , substituting for two players simultaneously. This is typically used to replace the pitcher but put the new pitcher in a spot in the batting order that will not come up to bat soon, previously occupied by another fielder (pitchers are almost uniformly poor hitters much like most frontline bowlers are poor batsmen). However, the rule remains that no individual player can ever change his position in the batting order within the same game.
Unlike baseball, the batting order in cricket is not fixed, and can be changed at any time, provided each player bats at most once. This gives rise to the "pinch hitter" in cricket - a non-specialist batsman promoted up the order to get quick runs -, and the Nightwatchman . This latter is typically a non-batsman promoted up the order at the end of the day to avoid a better batsman having to make two cold starts, a particular risk. If a batsman is not ready to bat at the fall of a wicket, another batsman- typically the player who occuipes the next spot in the batting order will go out to bat in his place in order to eliminate the risk of him being timed out.
The roles of individual players in the batting order are strikingly similar. In both sports, the players near the top of the batting order are considered superior batters or batsmen. The initial batters or batsmen generally specialize in avoiding making outs, while the third through fifth batters and batsmen are considered their team's best at providing runs. After that, the talent generally drops off, with the pitchers and bowlers generally being the worst at batting. However, since in baseball a batter who puts the ball in play does not get another at-bat until the entire batting order is cycled through, the opposing team may pitch around a skilled batter, walking him or otherwise relying on getting other batters out. In cricket, a batsman remains at the pitch until he is out (or the team is all out or, his captain declares or, the set number of overs have been bowled), and the other team must bowl to him until he is out. The only way captains can negate the influence of superior batters similar to pitching around is to try and keep the more skilled batsman off-strike. This can be seen at the end of closely fought Test matches, where a captain might try and maximize the number of deliveries his bowlers can bowl at a non-specialist batsman. The exception is if the player is injured and has to leave the field for treatment, the next batsman in the order will take his place. If the original batsman is able to continue later on, he can join the game again when one of his teams batsmen is out provided his injury time has expired or after 5 wickets have fallen, whichever comes first.
[ edit ] Game length
A direct comparison is difficult since cricket is predominantly played three different formats: Test , One Day and Twenty20 . Of these, the Twenty20 format is similar in terms of the amount of time it takes to play a game of baseball, around three to three-and-a-half hours. Baseball games are generally much shorter than Test and One Day cricket games. Most Major League Baseball games last between two-and-a-half and four-and-a-half hours. Because the Major League playing season is 6 months long (183 days, between April and October with Spring Training in February and March), with 81 games played at home and 81 away (162 in all, not counting the postseason or the All-Star Game), baseball teams often find themselves playing double-headers and series games. A doubleheader entails two games, played back to back, in one day. This usually occurs when a game needed to be rescheduled, and is fairly common. A series occurs when two teams play on several consecutive days. This is an even more common occurrence in baseball because of the number of games required in a season, and because there are large distances between stadiums in the U.S. and Canada, thus conserving time and resources by allowing the teams to spend several days in a single location. In Major League Baseball there is a maximum of 20 days consecutively played before a break in games must be observed.
Test Cricket games can last up to five days with scheduled breaks each day for lunch and tea, giving three sessions of play each day. The one-day games version of the sport usually lasts from five to seven hours, but can sometimes continue for longer than eight hours. Twenty20 has innings of twenty overs per team. The average time it takes to play an individual game of Twenty20 cricket is similar to the amount of time it takes to play a game of baseball, around three to three-and-a-half hours.
ODI and Twenty20 cricket, with their inherent limit on the number of fair deliveries, do not have an exact equivalent in baseball. The closest comparison would be games that have a pre-set number of innings shorter than the standard 9 (as with the second game of a doubleheader at some levels) or a pre-set time limit of some kind, such as a curfew restriction, or in the case of one of baseball's cousins, recreational softball , a pre-set length of the game, such as one hour.
[ edit ] Equipment
Professional baseball bats are typically made of ash or maple; hickory used to be popular, as well.
Baseball players use thin, round bats and wear gloves to field, while cricketers use wide, flat bats and field barehanded (except for the wicket-keeper, who wears gloves and protective leg pads). In cricket a batsman wears protective gear such as pads, gloves, thigh pads, helmet, a chest guard, an arm pad and a box (which is used to protect the groin area), whereas the only required protective gear for baseball batters is an unsecured helmet (as required in major league baseball rule 1.16); many batters also use elbow, shin, ankle, hand, or groin protectors, and most use batting gloves (similar to golf gloves) to aid grip.
Another difference between the two sports involves the condition of the ball as a match progresses. In cricket, if a ball is hit into the stands, the spectators must return it to the field. Also, a ball that is scuffed or scratched will continue in use; a ball must be used for a minimum number of overs (currently 80 in Test cricket & 25 in One-Day-International Cricket with a different ball being used from each end) before it can be replaced. If a ball is damaged, lost, or illegally modified, it is replaced by a used ball of similar condition to the old one. Finally, cricketers are allowed sparingly to modify the ball, though this is highly restricted. The ball may be polished (usually on a player's uniform) without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and have mud removed from it under supervision; all other actions which alter the condition of the ball are illegal. In Major League Baseball, a ball that is hit into the stands is never returned to play and spectators are free to keep any balls that come into their possession (although local tradition may provide for a ball to be thrown back, specifically in the case of home-run balls hit against the Chicago Cubs when playing at Wrigley Field ).
Moreover, baseballs are replaced on a regular interval during the course of a game. Major League Baseball requires the home team to supply the baseballs that will be used during that day's games. The MLB further require that the home team make available at least 90 new baseballs to the umpires prior to the start of the game. Generally, a baseball is replaced every time it either is hit by a batter or touches the ground. In a typical Major League Baseball game, baseballs are replaced every 5 pitches or so with a total game average of around 70 baseballs being used.
Because baseball hitting is difficult, baseball rules prohibit the deliberate scratching or scuffing of a ball, or the application of any foreign substance that could conceivably affect the flight or visibility of a ball. Balls that are deliberately made more difficult to hit by applying foreign substances are often known as spitballs , regardless of the specific substance applied (such as Vaseline). Both spitballs and those that become scuffed or scratched through normal game play are immediately removed from play and never reused. The current rules regarding the condition of baseballs did not come into effect until 1920, after the death of Ray Chapman from being hit with a Carl Mays spitball. Before that point, the rules were similar to those still present in cricket. However, the new rules were not consistently enforced for several decades afterwards, and several pitchers (most notably Gaylord Perry ) built careers around skirting these rules, doing such things as hiding nail files in their gloves or putting Vaseline on the underside of their hats. In modern baseball, however, the prohibition against modifying the baseball in almost any way is strictly enforced and players found to be in violation of this rule are not only ejected from the game in which the infraction occurred, but are also subject to a suspension. The only substance applied to a baseball is the Delaware River mud formula that umpires rub in before a game to remove the "shine" from the ball and improve its grip. The pitcher is also allowed to use rosin on his hands (via a rosin bag) to improve his grip, and to blow on his hands in cold weather.
[ edit ] Statistics
Both games have a long history of using a vast array of statistics .The scorers are directed by the hand signals of an umpire. Every play or delivery is logged, and from the log, or scoresheet, is derived a summary report .Baseball commonly uses times at bat, base hits , RBIs , stolen bases , errors , strikeouts and other occurrences. These are then often used to rate the player. Although cricket uses detailed statistics as a guide, owing to the variety of situations in cricket, they are not always considered a true reflection of the player. Ian Botham is an example of a player who, despite relatively poor averages, was particularly noted as one of England's greatest cricketers for his ability to dominate games. [9]
In baseball, questioning of the validity and utility of conventional baseball statistics has led to the creation of the field of sabermetrics , which assesses alternatives to conventional statistics. Conclusions are sometimes drawn from inadequate samples – for example, an assertion that a batter has done poorly against a specific pitcher, when they have only faced each other a handful of times, or that a player is "clutch" due to having more success with runners in scoring position or during the late innings with rather small sample sizes.
[ edit ] Culture
This section may contain original research . Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references . Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page .
(May 2008)
Children playing cricket on a makeshift pitch in a park. It is common in many countries for people to play cricket on such pitches and makeshift grounds.
Both sports play an important part in the culture of the societies in which they are popular. Baseball is deeply ingrained in the American psyche, and is known in the United States as "the national pastime". It is one of the sports most readily identified with the United States. Baseball references abound in American English , and the sport is well represented in American cinema in numerous baseball movies . Baseball also plays important cultural in many parts of Latin America, (specifically Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), as well as in East Asia . Many terms and expressions from the sport have entered the English lexicon. Examples are "getting to first base," "coming out of left field," "having two strikes against him/her," "he struck out," "that's a home run," and " southpaw " (baseball diamonds are traditionally built with home plate to the west so hitters do not have to fight the setting sun as well as the pitch, a pitcher's left arm is always to the south).
Cricket has an equally strong influence on the culture of many nations, mainly Commonwealth nations , including England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, the English-speaking Caribbean and especially in the Indian-subcontinent where it is often said to be followed like a religion. Canada has seen a marked increase in domestic, as well as interest in international cricket, over the past decade. This can be attributed, in large part, to the growing subcontinental diaspora in Canada. Cricket is the most popular sport or a major sport in most former British Colonies. Like baseball, cricket has had an influence on the lexicon of these nations with such phrases as "that's not cricket" (unfair), "had a good innings", "sticky wicket", "played with a straight bat" and "bowled over".
The ten Test-playing nations regularly participate in tours of other nations to play usually both a Test and One Day International series. Twenty20 is becoming more popular in international competition. The amateur game has also been spread further afield by expatriates from the Test-playing nations. Many of these minor cricketing nations (including the USA and Canada and other nations, such as the Netherlands, which do not have a British heritage) compete to qualify for the Cricket World Cup . The very first international cricket match was played between the USA and Canada. [10] [11]
Baseball in a similar way has also been spread around the world, most notably in Central America, and east Asia. Canadian baseball developed as a minor league sport in parallel to the US major leagues before eventually joining them, first with the Montreal Expos in 1969 (now the Washington Nationals ) and then with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1977. Though baseball has not yet made its mark in professional international competition, its popularity is slowly growing around the world, especially with the emergence of competitions like the World Baseball Classic . Interestingly, there have been several Australian Major League Baseball players , a country where cricket is more popular by far.
The nature of the top elite level in both sports differs markedly. Nearly all cricket revenue comes from international matches,[ citation needed ] and domestic leagues serve largely as a development ground for international players. By contrast nearly all baseball revenue comes from domestic leagues, most notably in the United States and Japan.[ citation needed ]
Cricket's international programme allows the weaker cricketing nations to play against the best in the world, and the players have the chance to become national heroes. On the other hand, the dominance of national teams also means that a great many talented cricketers in nations such as Australia and India will never receive recognition or prestige unless they make it into the national team.[ citation needed ]
[ edit ] Sportsmanship
This section may contain original research . Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references . Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page .
(May 2008)
Standards of sportsmanship differ. In cricket, the standard of sportsmanship has historically been considered so high that the phrase 'it's just not cricket' was coined in the 19th Century to describe unfair or underhanded behavior in any walk of life. In the last few decades though, cricket has become increasingly fast-paced and competitive, increasing the use of appealing and sledging , although players are still expected to abide by the umpires' rulings without argument, and for the most part they do. Even in the modern game fielders are known to signal to the umpire that a boundary was hit, despite what could have been a spectacular save (though this may well be that they will be found out by the TV umpire anyway) and also signal if they did not take a catch even if it appeared that they did. In addition to this, some cricket batsmen have been known to "walk" when they think they are out even if the umpire does not declare them out. This is considered a very high level of sportsmanship, as a batsman can easily take advantage of incorrect umpiring decisions but with the introduction of the decision review system this has become more difficult if the system is in use.
In baseball, a player correcting an umpire's call to his own team's detriment is unheard of, at least at the professional level. Individual responsibility and vigilance are part of the game's tradition. It is the umpire's responsibility to make the right call, and matters of judgment are final. Similarly, when a runner misses a base or leaves too early on a caught fly ball, the umpire keeps silent, as it is the fielder's responsibility to know where the runners are and to make an appeal. When a fielder pretends not to know where the ball is (the " hidden ball trick "), the umpire keeps silent, as it is the runner's responsibility to know where the ball is.
Analogous concepts and similar terms
Term
A bowler bowling to a batsman .
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to cricket:
Cricket – a bat-and-ball team sport. Many variations exist, with its most popular form played on an oval-shaped outdoor arena known as a cricket field at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard (20.12 m) long pitch that is the focus of the game. A game (or match) is contested between two teams of eleven players each. One team bats , and will try to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields , trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the runs scored by the batting team. A run is scored by the striking batsman hitting the ball with his bat, running to the opposite end of the pitch and touching the crease there without being dismissed. The teams switch between batting and fielding at the end of an innings .
Contents
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Which poet was shot in the wrist by his lover, fellow poet Paul Verlaine? | Symbolist Poet Shoots Boy Toy Paramour | The Write Stuff
Symbolist Poet Shoots Boy Toy Paramour
On this date in 1873, after a brief, passionate affair, French symbolist poet Paul Verlaine shoots his lover, fellow French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud was slightly injured in his wrist; Verlaine served two years in prison for his crime.
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Voiced by Steve Carell, Gru is the supervillain in which animated film and its sequel? | Interview: Lydia Loveless Strikes Fear in the Hearts of Her Exes on ‘Somewhere Else’ « Radio.com
Interview: Lydia Loveless Strikes Fear in the Hearts of Her Exes on ‘Somewhere Else’
February 19, 2014 10:58 AM
(Blackletter / Patrick Crawford)
By Shannon Carlin
Lydia Loveless doesn’t have a problem speaking her mind, which should make her ex-boyfriends very, very nervous.
On her third album Somewhere Else , the 23-year-old Ohioan wanted to take a sophisticated look at love and heartbreak, all while taking the piss out of a few of her former flames. “I thought more about the lyrics and the pain this time around,” Loveless told Radio.com over the phone. “I didn’t want to make the same album so I do think it was a conscience decision to be more eloquent and I guess, sexy.”
She says this last part with a laugh, admitting that many have told her this new album is not sexy at all. But Loveless’ version of sexy is a little rough around the edges. On the mostly autobiographical Somewhere Else, she sings about her resurfaced feelings for an ex with wine-stained lips, mocks her Chris Isaak -loving high school beau and writes the most depressing song about oral sex aptly titled “Head.”
“I just wanted to make an album that sounded like, not a diary by a whiney girl, but just something open and sort of pulsing,” she explained. “Like when I was writing it and still when I play the songs, I feel sort of cut open. I wanted to get that across without sounding too girly or me talking about my period.”
With her previous two releases—2010’s The Only Man and 2012’s Indestructible Machine—Loveless said that she didn’t have much of a female audience, even though she was writing about very feminine topics. Instead her bourbon-soaked brand of alt-country was attracting a lot of middle-aged men who were misinterpreting the message.
“I feel like I’m being extremely feminine, but [men] hear it and go, ‘Oh, she’s really manly’ and ‘She’ll kick your ass,'” Loveless explained. “But no, I’m being extremely girly right now, talking about my feelings, but I happen to be really intense or upset about something. Men take that as sort of threatening.” Not that this is such a bad thing in Loveless’ book. “I like that being really feminine is threatening and scary,” she says with a raspy laugh that makes you feel like she might not kick your ass, but she definitely could.
While Loveless speaks honestly about the men of her past, there is one man she isn’t talking about on this record, her husband Ben Lamb. One reason she says she married Lamb, who also happens to be her bass player, was because he never questions who her songs are about. “In previous relationships, the guys used to ask, like, ‘Is that about me?’ ‘Well, no,’ which they don’t like to hear,” Loveless said. “I think a guy would rather hear a song is about him than not.”
Lucky for some of those guys, they finally got what they wanted. And even luckier for Loveless it led her to make an album she’s completely in love with.
“This time around I feel confident about every track, and I didn’t feel like there was anything I could have thrown away without crying and yelling,” she explained. “I feel like it’s a lot stronger of an album in that regard. So I’m a lot more excited about it. I found my place as a songwriter.”
While speaking with Radio.com, Loveless shared the stories behind five songs off her latest album, Somewhere Else, including why she feels a kinship with French poet Paul Verlaine and which song she wrote with Swedish pop star Robyn in mind.
One the next page , Loveless discusses “Wine Lips”, “Chris Isaak” and a battle twixt two French poets…
“Wine Lips”
Loveless wrote this one about an ex-boyfriend from New York City, who she had met at summer camp. “His family was a lot more well off than mine,” she said. “I grew up on a farm…he was a little different from me.”
She was looking to impress him and his family and actually lied and told his mom that she spoke fluent French. “She like got on the phone one day and started speaking French to me,” Loveless said laughing. That incident sparked the line, “Tell your mom, my French has finally improved,” which it has.
“I ran into him eight years after that and hadn’t seen him in that long and we met up in New York,” she explained. “It was really weird and strange and I just felt really exhilarated and wrote that song about it.”
When she saw him he was drinking sangria that had stained his lips. “I just liked the expression ‘wine lips’ and wanted to use it, but not really be a joke at the same time,” she said. Besides “sangria lips” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
“Verlaine Shot Rimbaud”
The Richard Hell-esque track was written about French poet Paul Verlaine shooting his fellow poet Arthur Rimbaud in the wrist after a lover’s quarrel. Verlaine’s passion was something Loveless could definitely connect with. “He’s angry and wants to fight all the time, which is very similar to me,” she said. “I love conflict and getting a rise out of people and I don’t really like to be content all the time because I’m a person who just causes problems in my life.”
Loveless says the song–her favorite on the record–is an “insane, crazed song” about a power struggle in a relationship and plays off her own downtrodden attitude. “I can be very negative and I think my band knows that more than anyone,” she said. “My guitar player calls me a bowl of sunshine, very sarcastically.”
But the young singer found a commonality with Verlaine, who she says had an influence on 80% of the album and whose poem “Aspiration” also found its way into the album’s liner notes. “I just sort of related to that need to sort of be throwing pots and pans and then go write a poem.”
“Really Wanna See You”
The album’s opener was written at Loveless’ husband’s grandma’s house in the middle of the night while thinking about Robyn . She envisioned the track as a production heavy pop song, but soon realized she couldn’t make it work. “I was just like, ‘Well, I can’t really do this because I don’t know anything about programming beats,'” Loveless noted of the guitar-layered number.
People have asked her whether the reference to the Magic 8 Ball was a metaphor for drugs, which it definitely isn’t. “It’s actually literally about when I go to my parent’s house and go into my room and find my Magic 8 ball and ask like, ‘Will I ever do this right?'” she said.
Though she did have a boyfriend who used to do drugs and call her, wishing they could get back together. “It was kind of making fun of him too,” Loveless admits. “Not necessarily to be like funny, but just to sort of say, ‘You do sort of realize you’re an idiot right?’ I just wanted to kind of rile him up a little bit.”
“Chris Isaak”
One particular old flame of Loveless’ inspired the majority of her last record and with this new one she started feeling like she just couldn’t write anything else about this same guy. “I literally sat down and was like, ‘I’m going to write one more song and it better be good and it can’t be some moody crap,'” Loveless explained.
So did she really spend a lot of time in this guy’s basement listening to Isaak’s 1995 album Forever Blue?
“Yeah for sure, that was kind of our favorite pastime,” Loveless said. “It’s definitely an embarrassing line or it will be when I see him.” Loveless says the guy will be at her upcoming show in Cleveland show.
“I think the guy knows it’s about him,” Loveless explained. “He’s also a huge fan so he’ll probably be a little upset by that song, but I had to get it off my chest. It was so many years of torture.”
“Somewhere Else”
“I remember just hearing it pop into my head in the middle of the night. And I’m really glad that for once in my life I didn’t go, ‘Oh I’ll remember it in the morning,'” Loveless said of her second favorite song on the record. “I jumped out of bed and made a little demo of it. And then I realized it was really simple so it was easy to remember.”
Loveless wrote the title track, which she says reminds her of Fleetwood Mac , while she was in Austin, TX for South by Southwest. “It was just sort of about being discontent,” she said. “I prefer to be traveling and in a new place all the time and always want to move away and I’m like, ‘No, I need to stay near my family.’ And I’m also kind of a b—-. I’m sort of always wondering if I should be in a certain place or be with a certain person and it’s just sort of about my restless and depressed nature.”
“I just have a lot of discontent and restlessness. So it’s mostly about that, just about me being a jerk who wants to run away,” Loveless said laughing.
On the song she also sings, “I just wanted to 867-5309 you, honey” making Tommy Tutone’s 1982 song sound like some sort of lewd sex act.
“It was kind of an accident because when I write lyrics I’m sort of rambling and doing stream of consciousness and yelling out nonsense, and I couldn’t think of anything,” she said. “I had the bridge written, but couldn’t really write the words. I said, something about “867-5309” and I was like, ‘I could totally turn that into a verb’ because when you think about it, it is. Finding the number and sort of loving and leaving. It ended up fitting and making sense and I’m glad it worked because I really like it.”
Some of her bandmates though weren’t too happy with the ad lib. “My band was like, ‘You can’t do that!'” she said. “And, ‘I was like, ‘Oh, yes I can!’”
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Which city hosted the first stage of the 2014 Giro d’Italia? | Belfast mooted to host start of 2014 Giro d'Italia in joint Irish bid | Sport | The Guardian
Belfast mooted to host start of 2014 Giro d'Italia in joint Irish bid
• Race will head to Republic of Ireland with stage to Dublin
• Republic's capital hosted 1998 Tour de France Grand Départ
Mark Cavendish, centre, took a tumble during a sprint stage of the Giro d'Italia that took place in Horsens, Denmark, in 2012. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters
Friday 11 January 2013 12.40 EST
First published on Friday 11 January 2013 12.40 EST
Close
This article is 4 years old
There are strong indications that in 2014 the United Kingdom will host the Giro d'Italia as well as the Tour de France, which will start in Leeds . The French newspaper L'Equipe reported that according to sources in Italy, Belfast is set to be the start city for the 2014 Giro, which will then head south into the Republic of Ireland, with a stage to Dublin. The Giro d'Italia organisers, RCS Sport, were not available for comment as of Friday afternoon.
The joint Irish bid was leaked in late October to the Belfast Telegraph. Costs for the bid have been estimated at just under £4m, with an estimated income for the local economy of about £10m. The bid was put together by the Northern Irish Tourist Board and Failte Ireland with input from both Stormont and the Irish government. Belfast city council is also understood to be putting in £400,000.
It is expected that the Giro's start, known as the Grande Partenza, would take place over the bank holiday weekend of 2-4 May. The event normally encompasses six days, with a three-day festival being followed by the first three stages of the race proper.
Asked about the report, the Giro director, Michele Acquarone, told Cycling Weekly that he first needed to concentrate on the start of the 2013 season before giving full concentration to the 2014 Giro. The Giro press officer Matteo Cavazzuti said that "at the moment our position is no comment".
The Giro this year starts in Naples on 4 May with a sprint stage that should suit Mark Cavendish and Omega Pharma-QuickStep. The Tour de France champion, Bradley Wiggins ,will lead Team Sky.
"It's complicated in this moment, we are navigating in the dark right now, one step at a time," Acquarone added. "We have a lot of irons in the fire, and until the season gets going I won't rest easy."
While Dublin has hosted world class cycling before, having been the site for the Grand Départ of the 1998 Tour de France, the Giro start would be a novelty for Northern Ireland, which boasts a five-day amateur stage race, the Tour of the North, and which occasionally hosted brief diversions by the erstwhile Nissan Classic professional Tour of Ireland.
The Giro d'Italia will start in Naples this year but has made regular excursions far outside the confines of Italy, with a race start in Belgium as long ago as 1972. A Belfast start in 2014 would follow a recent pattern whereby the Giro starts outside Italy every other year: in 2012 the race began in Herning, Denmark, with a time trial and two flat stages, while the 2010 event started in Amsterdam, Holland.
The precise details for the Leeds start of the Tour de France in 2014 will be revealed on Thursday afternoon with simultaneous presentations in the Yorkshire City and Paris.
| Belfast |
Which Scottish border village lies at the northernmost end of the Pennine Way? | Car bomb found in Dublin thought to be for Northern Ireland attack | World news | The Guardian
World news
Car bomb found in Dublin thought to be for Northern Ireland attack
Bomb discovered hidden in Belfast-registered car outside hotel hours before city hosted stage of Giro d'Italia cycle race
The Giro D’Italia opened in Belfast on Friday and Sunday’s stage three took riders from Armagh to Dublin. Photograph: Art Widak/Demotix/Corbis
Monday 12 May 2014 12.35 EDT
First published on Monday 12 May 2014 12.35 EDT
Close
This article is 2 years old
A bomb found in a hotel on the western edge of Dublin was destined for a republican dissident attack across the border, it emerged on Monday.
The 50lb device was discovered in a Belfast registered car on Saturday night just hours before the climax of the Ireland stage of the Giro d'Italia cycle race.
The bomb, which was made of fertiliser mix, had been discovered in the hotel car park in Lucan, west Dublin. Hundreds of wedding party guests had to flee the luxury Finnstown Country House Hotel during a follow up security operation.
Dissident republicans are being blamed for leaving the device although it is understood the hotel was not their target.
A Belfast man was later arrested in the Irish capital in connection with the explosive find and is being questioned by Garda detectives.
The suspect was believed to be connected at one time to the hardline Continuity IRA although it is believed he has recently been linked with the new IRA terror alliance.
Under the Irish Republic's anti-terror laws, the Offences Against the State Act, he can be held for up to 72 hours.
The device, which was hidden inside a milk churn, also contained a sophisticated time power unit designed to set off the bomb, which was of a similar type to those used by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles.
Gardai also found other bomb-making material including mercury tilt switches in a follow-up search operation at a property in central Dublin on Sunday.
Irish army bomb disposal experts made the device safe at the scene but hundreds of guest attending a wedding at the hotel had to be evacuated on Saturday evening.
Security sources in Northern Ireland said they believed the bomb was for a target in the region rather than anywhere in the Irish Republic.
Although dissident republicans have been involved in gangland-style warfare with non-political criminal gangs in Dublin, the sources said the seize of the device and the intelligence that led to its interception and later arrest indicated it was being prepared to be transported into Northern Ireland.
•This article was amended on Monday 12 May to correct the size of the bomb. It was a 50lb bomb and not a 500lb, as the article stated earlier
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Which moorland plateau is the highest point in Derbyshire? | Hayfield – Travel guide at Wikivoyage
Understand[ edit ]
Hayfield is an attractive stone-built village on the River Sett. It lies close to Kinder Scout, a moorland plateau that includes the highest point in Derbyshire (636m). Hill-walking, fell-running and mountain-biking are probably the most popular activities for visitors.
Hayfield is surrounded by the Peak District National Park and was the site of the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932, a key moment in the history of rights of way in the United Kingdom.
Hayfield was the filming location for many of the village scenes in the BBC TV series The Village (other scenes were filmed in or near Edale , Glossop and Chapel-en-le-Frith ).
Nearest railway stations (accessible by bus or taxi):
New Mills Central (3 miles): trains from Manchester Piccadilly (c.30 mins) and Sheffield (c.55 mins)
New Mills Newtown (3 miles): trains from Manchester Piccadilly and Buxton (c.26 mins)
Glossop (7 miles): trains from Manchester Piccadilly (c.33 mins)
By car[ edit ]
Via M67/A57/A624 or M60/A6/A6015 from Manchester and the west; A57/A624 from the east; A6/A624 from the south. There is a large pay-and-display car park at the Countryside Centre on the site of the former railway station (Station Road), close to the village centre; follow brown tourist signs for Sett Valley Trail. Parking in the village centre is limited. For walks to the east of the village, follow signs to the campsite and park at or near Bowden Bridge Car Park (20 spaces; £3.50 per day as of 2013). Free parking is often available along the roadside near the car park, but there is no parking beyond the car park.
See[ edit ]
Bowden Bridge
53.3792 -1.9473 1 Hayfield Countryside Centre, Station Road, ☎ +44 1663 746222 . Visitor centre, with local maps and booklets, toilets available. At eastern end of Sett Valley Trail.
53.3974 -1.8763 2 Kinder Scout. Probably the destination of most visitors to Hayfield, Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau containing Derbyshire's highest point, and highest waterfall.
53.3799 -1.9264 3 Bowden Bridge (1 mile east of village along Kinder Road; fork right at Bowden Bridge car park). An attractive 18th-century packhorse bridge.
Hayfield village. Within the village, for architecture buffs, are St Matthews Church ( Grade II listed ; largely 19th-century), a number of rustic weavers' cottages and the 17th-century Fox Hall .
Do[ edit ]
Kinder Downfall
53.3794 -1.9283 1 Kinder Scout. Hayfield and Edale are the traditional starting points for ascents of Derbyshire's highest hill (636m). From Hayfield, the nearest point to the hill with public parking is Bowden Bridge Car Park (20 spaces; £3.50 per day as of 2013) on Kinder Road about a mile east of the village centre. There is a plaque here commemorating the Mass Trespass. The main focus of most hikes is Kinder Downfall (a 30-metre waterfall, impressive in spate but little more than a trickle most of the time). A visit to the Downfall requires a minimum walk of 6 miles (around 3 miles each way) from Bowden Bridge with around 400m of ascent over sometimes rough ground; reasonable fitness is required, and inexperienced hillwalkers should not attempt the trip during bad weather. The two most common routes to the Kinder plateau, which combine to form a circular route of around 7½ miles from Bowden Bridge, are via Kinder Reservoir and William Clough, or via Tunstead Clough Farm and Kinderlow End.
Long-distance walking routes. Hayfield lies directly on the route of the Pennine Bridleway and within a few miles of the Pennine Way . The Sett Valley Trail is a 2½-mile rail trail, accessible to horse-riders and cyclists as well as walkers, connecting the village to New Mills .
Other walks. Other possible destinations for shorter day walks include Kinder Reservoir, Lantern Pike or Edale Cross/South Head. A linear walk to Edale (via various routes) is possible, returning via train to New Mills Central, and then a bus back to Hayfield.
Short walks. For the less ambitious, easy strolls with mild gradients may be had westwards from the village along the Sett Valley Trail to Bluebell Wood Nature Reserve (best in spring) and beyond, or upstream along the River Sett (Kinder and Valley Roads) towards Bowden Bridge. The Calico Trail is a recently conceived short walk around the village, visiting sites associated with the local calico-printing industry; leaflets are available from the Countryside Centre.
Well dressing . Local wells are decorated with flower petals in artistic designs, in July of each year. The wells are blessed in a Christian ceremony, and a leaflet describing a route visiting each well is produced and sold for charity.
53.3948 -1.9512 2 Hayfield Country Show and Sheepdog Trials , Spray House Farm, Little Hayfield. This popular event, including various rural exhibits, demonstrations, stalls and businesses, and involving a fell race as well as the main event of the sheepdog trials, takes place every September.
53.3792 -1.9442 3 Hayfield Cricket Club . Hayfield CC play each Saturday afternoon between late April and early September; the picturesque riverside ground is behind the Royal Hotel in the centre of the village. Free.
Buy[ edit ]
53.3792 -1.9473 1 Hayfield Countryside Centre, Station Road, ☎ +44 1663 746222 . Local maps and guidebooks.
53.3792 -1.9454 2 Village Store, 15 Church St, ☎ +44 1663 747939 . Decent takeaway sandwiches, cakes and pies + off-licence and groceries, etc.
53.3797 -1.9455 3 Hayfield News , Market St, ☎ +44 1663 746283 , e-mail: [email protected] . Newspapers and magazines, good selection of local guidebooks and maps.
As well as the hotels listed below.
Pubs and bars[ edit ]
53.3774 -1.9349 2 Sportsman Inn , Kinder Road (SK22 2LE), ☎ +44 1663 741565 , e-mail: [email protected] .
Restaurants and tearooms[ edit ]
53.3790 -1.9456 3 Golden Galleon, 10–12 Church Street (SK22 2JE), ☎ +44 1663 743124 . Traditional fish and chips.
| Kinder Scout |
Who played the title role in the recent ITV biographical drama Cilla? | Peak District | Kinder Scout
Peak District
Peak District Summits
Kinder Scout
Kinder Scout is the highest point in the Peak District and the home to some of the finest gritstone scenery in the country.
Height (m)
1 , 2
Kinder Scout Gallery: Click on the photos below to enlarge.
More about Kinder Scout: Kinder Scout is without doubt one of the most well known mountains in England and was the scene of the famous 'Mass Trespass' in 1932 which was a protest at the lack of access people had at the time to England's hills. Kinder Scout is the highest point in the Peak District and is also the highest point in Derbyshire. It takes the form of a large moorland plateau rimmed with an impressive series of gritstone outcrops including, amongst others, Crowden Tower, Fairbrook Naze, Nether Tor, Upper Tor and the brilliantly named Ringing Roger.
"While Kinder's edges are very popular with walkers it is not a mountain that many visitors feel the need to reach the top of."
Perhaps the most famous feature of Kinder Scout is Kinder Downfall. This is the point where the modest Kinder River plunges 30 metres over the the plateau edge. It is apparently quite common to witness an 'upfall' where strong winds actually blow the water back up over the edge. Another remarkable natural feature are the Woolpacks, a large collection of boulders standing above the southern edge.
Another feature of Kinder are the numerous steep sided cloughs such as Crowden Clough, Grindsbrook Clough and Jaggers Clough that carve their way dramatically into the plateau. Sitting between the first of these two cloughs is Grindslow Knoll which juts out from the southern edge and is deserving of being regarded as a separate summit. Finally Kinder is also famous as the first stage of the famous Pennine Way as it makes its way from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland.
While Kinder's edges are very popular with walkers it is not a mountain that many visitors feel the need to reach the top of. The summit is only a few metres higher than the easily accessible trig point on Kinder Low but can only be reached a pathless trudge over numerous peat hags and groughs, an uninviting prospect in wet weather or low cloud.
On my first visit to Kinder it was on a bright sunny day after a prolonged dry spell. I had a fantastic climb up to Ringing Roger before following the southern edge around over Nether Tor, Upper Tor, Grindslow Knoll and Crowden Tower before striking out for the summit from the Woolpacks. Due to the dry conditions the peat had almost baked dry so I had an easy walk to the summit, a modest cairn with two stakes sticking out of it. While it was not a particularly inspiring place it did have the advantage of being the only time on the walk where there was another person in sight, the edges themselve being quite busy.
In many ways my second visit to Kinder was even better. On this occasion I walked along the northern edges visiting a superb series of gritstone features, perhaps even better than the more frequently visited features above Edale. Indeed the walk along Seal Edge to Fairbrook Naze and continuing along The Edge is one of the finest few miles of walking I've done anywhere.
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Which film had the tag line ‘One dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty below zero’? | Cool Runnings (1993) - Taglines - IMDb
Cool Runnings (1993)
Inspired by the true story of the first Jamaican Olympic bobsled team.
Jamaican Bobsledders?
One dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty below zero.
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Who had ‘flaming locks of auburn hair, with ivory skin and eyes of emerald green’? | D.A.Y.U.N.G @ A.V.I.R.O.N: COOL RUNNING - One Dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty Below Zero.
Monday, July 20, 2009
COOL RUNNING - One Dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty Below Zero.
Based on the true story of the First Jamacian bobsled team trying to make it to the winter olympics
In the beginning we see Derice Bannock (Leon) running across the island of Jamaica. Derice is training for the 1988 Olympic Games, and Derice hopes to be a gold-medal winner just like his father.
Before the trial run, Derice visits his friend Sanka Coffee (Doug E. Doug), who is competing in a pushcart race. Sanka wins the race but ends up crashing just after he crosses the finish line, to everyone's amusement.
Later that day, Sanka joins Derice's family at the track for the Olympic run. Derice is preparing to race, meeting a few other competitors-including one short man named Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis). The race starts off great, but halfway across the track Junior stumbles and trips several runners, including Derice. Derice stumbles back to his feet as the finish-line tape is broken, watching his dreams go up in smoke...
Derice confronts Coolidge (Winston Stona), the man in charge of the Jamaican Athletic competition. He begs for a chance to run again but he refuses. Derice then notices a photo of his father on his wall, next to an unfamiliar man. Coolidge identifies the man as Irving Blitzer, an American now living on the island. He had tried to convince his father, Ben to compete in bobsledding. Derice, seeing another chance to compete as a bobsledder, takes the picture and goes to meet with Irv.
Sanka hears about Derice's idea. At first he is excited but balks upon learning that bobsledding is a WINTER sport. Eventually Sanka is persuaded to help his best friend. The two men find Irv Blitzer (John Candy) working as a bookie in a run-down pool hall. He is far from eager to help them, and does not want anything to do with the sport of bobsledding. However, the two men doesn't give up. Upon learning that Derice is the son of his old friend & colleague, Irv relents.
Next day, Irv tries to recruit additional team members. The first newcomer is a bald man Sanka recognizes from the Olympic running trials. The man (Malik Yoba) introduces himself as Yul Brenner, and is more than willing to compete in bobsledding so long as it leads him to the Olympics. Only one other man shows up to join the sled team- Junior, the clumsy runner from the track. Yul is immediately hostile to Junior (he was one of the other runners tripped up by Junior's fall) but relents since without Junior they don't have a full team.
Irv begins training the four immediately. He builds a makeshift bobsled and has them push it down a steep slope, telling the team that if they can't get a push-start completed in under 6 seconds, they won't have a chance at competing. Yul is the second mildde man, Junior is the first middle man. Irv chooses Sanka as brakes, but he argues with it. He reminds him that the driver in bobsledding has alot more responsiblities than a push car racer and can't go out to have fun with his teammates. Sanka relents and decides Derice could be the driver.
After the first day of training, Junior returns home with the intention of telling his father about the team. But Mr. Bevil (Charles Hyatt) comes home and tells Junior that he has gotten his son a job with a brokerage house in Miami, which he is expected to take by the end of the month. Junior clams up and cannot say anything more.
Initially, the Bobsled training does not go well. The group stumbles and falls several times, not even able to get into the sled. But, after several tries they climb in together and rocket down the mountain, eventually crashing into a police car. Irv runs after the team cheering- they got started in 5.9 seconds! He tells them to bring the sled up on the mountain, making the team groan.
Now that the team is in good shape, Irv goes to Coolidge to ask for funding to get to the Olympics. But Coolidge refuses, thinking that the team will be humiliated. Derice is not shaken, he decides they will try to get the money elsewhere. After several fund-raising endeavors, they are far short of the goal. Junior comes back to the team after a day away, announcing that he has sold his car to get the required funds. Derice does not want to take the money from Junior at first, thinking it to be too much. But Junior explains that he still feels guilty for costing Derice and the others their first Olympic chance, and gladly gives up the money.
The team heads out to Calgary for the Olympic Games. Irv adjusts to the environment easily, but the Jamaicans are unprepared for the severely-cold weather. They buy heavy-duty coats as soon as the plane lands.
Irv registers the team for competition, and meets a few colleagues from his days in bobsledding. Irv has lunch with one friend, Roger (Paul Coeur) and asks for a sled so his team can compete. Roger is reluctant but agrees to sell off an old backup sled from the US team.
The team begins learning how to move & walk on ice, using a hockey rink for practice. It does not go well at first, but they eventually make progress. That night, Derice watches the Swiss bobsled team practicing. He becomes enamored with their efficient performance.
Irv shows off the sled he purchased to the team - it is rusted and old but still works fine.
On their first day at the track, the Jamaican team is met with ridicule and scorn by other competitors. Irv tells them that a push-start will not be necessary for the initial run; they will just be nudged down the slide instead. The run starts off fine but the sled ends up crashing before the finish line. Their next run does not go well either; the Jamaicans end up chasing the sled down the track. A photographer snaps a picture of the group running after the sled, and it makes the papers. This doesn't sit in well with Mr.Bevil and Cooledge.
Derice is repairing the sled when he meets one of Irv's old colleagues. Derice finds out that during the1972 competition, Irv hid weights at the bottom of the bobsled to accelerate its speed. As a result, he was kicked out and had his gold medals revoked.
The following night at the hotel, Sanka tries to pose as a maid, but Yul brushes him aside, thinking he's insane. Junior receives a telegram from his father - the news story about the Jamaican team had alerted Mr. Bevil to his activities and he is now ordering his son home.
While they are out in a bar that night, Yul encourages Junior to stand up for himself. He immediately responds by confronting the German team members who had insulted their team. This results in a huge bar-fight between Yul, Sanka, Junior and the Germans.
At the Relax Inn Motel, Derice berates his teammates for what happened and tells them the Swiss team would never resort to stunts like that because they're awlays focused on their performance. Yul, Sanka and Junior don't take him seriously and continued snickering. Sanka makes a crude joke about the Swiss team and what happens if they try to push a pretty girl off the ice. A few minutes later, Irv comes in and berates the three for not taking things seriously. He reminds them that everyone hates them and they need to get their act together.
After thinking things over, the Jamaicans resume serious training once more. With Irv's help, they are quickly whipped back into shape.
Finally, the night of the Jamaican team's qualifying run has arrived. Irv presents the team with special competition suits as a reward for their changed behavior. Irv then meets with the 3 judges, who remind him that the team must make it off the slope and across the finish line in under 1 minute in order to be eligible. The team sets out, and despite a few bumps they get across the line safely. After several tense moments, their time is revealed: 59.46! Irv & the team are overjoyed at their success.
The guys celebrate by painting their sled with Jamaica's colors. Derice decides to christen the sled "Cool Runnings." At that moment, Irv gets a letter from the judges - the Jamaican team has been disqualified.
Irv angirlly storms into the offices of the men in charge, demanding to know why. Apparently, there is a rule stating that a team must compete in an international race to qualify. Previously, an Olympic trial would be considered an international race, but this time the committee decided to change the rules. However, he isn't fooled and immediately knows the truth - his former coach(from the '72 Olympic Winter Games and currently a primary judge of the '88 Olympic Winter Games) Kurt Hemphill is still punishing him for embarrassing the U.S.A by cheating. Irv confronts his coach and confesses that 16 years ago, he made the biggest mistake of his life. He resorted to cheating because he wanted to win and didn't care what the consequences were. Instead, he ended up disgracing the Americans by embarrassing everyone(including his coach, teammates his friends and family) and his gold medals were revoked as a result. Irv also reminds Kurt that it was HIS mistake and if he wants revenge, he should do it to him because he screwed up, not the Jamacian bobsledding team. They deserve to represent their country by competing in the Winter Games as contenders and doesn't deserve to suffer because of his past mistakes. That night at their hotel, the team gets a phone call. The committee has reverse their decision - the Jamaicans are back in!
Everyone on the island of Jamaica watches the bobsled team wave their flag as they enter the Olympic stadium. After the opening ceremony, Irv tries to find some inspirational words for the team. But this conversation is cut short by the arrival of Mr. Bevil, who has come to collect his son.
He tells Junior that he is only looking out for his sons' best interest, and demands the young boy to gather his things. He draws on Yul's advice and stands up to his father. He tells his father he's staying with his team because he cared about his own interest in making himself look good more than his son's. Junior tells him he's an Olymic athlete now, not his puppet and sends Mr.Bevil on his way.
On the first day of competition, the Jamaican team is scheduled last. Derice tries to psyche up his team, imitating the behavior of the Swiss again. The team begins their run, essentially stumbling down the track and bouncing off the edges. Their end run time is 58.04, landing the Jamaicans in last place.
Derice again tries to imitate the Swiss, but the team is fed up with his attitude. Sanka immediately sets him straight by pointing out that they cannot copy the movements of another team; they must get their own style. Derice insists that he just wants to be the best they can be. Sanka counters that "the best [they] can be is Jamaican," and that they didn't come all this way to forget about their heritage. Derice relents after realizing that his friend and their teammates were right.
On the second day of competition, the Jamaican team is psyched up for sledding. They pull together a push-start within a fraction of their previous time, and wind up getting off even faster than the Swiss team. Their finishing time is 56.53, rocketing the Jamaicans into 8th Place! They are now considered high contenders for the medal.
That night while studying the track, Derice asks Irv about why he cheated. He explains that he'd become so focused on winning that he couldn't picture life without it, a horrible thing for an athlete to do. Irv tells Derice that he doesn't want him making the same mistakes that he made 16 years earlier. He tells him to focus on what happens tomorrow.
The last day of competition arrives, and the fans are eager to see Jamaica's performance. They start off with an even better formation than yesterday, but the ancient sled is unknowingly in poor shape. A bad bounce sends the sled careening out of control, and eventually the sled turns over-sending the team on a terrible out of control path.
When the sled finally skids to a stop, several tense seconds pass before the team even moves. Finally, Derice regains consciousness and sees the finish line mere feet away. Paramedics rush down to tend to the Jamaicans - only to part as they rise to their feet. The guys hoist the sled over their shoulders and begin walking toward the finish line, determined to finish the race no matter what.
The crowd, awestruck by the Jamaicans performance, claps and cheers them on as they finish. Everybody, even Mr. Bevil (now wearing a Jamaican souvenir shirt) - shows their appreciation. Even though their chances of winning are gone, Jamaica finishes with dignity and pride.
Text at the end reveals that Derice, Sanka, Junior and Yul returned to Jamaica as heroes - then four years later returned to the Olympics as equals.
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In July 2014, Judith Weir became the first woman to be appointed to which post? | Judith Weir prepares to be a radical master of the Queen's music | Music | The Guardian
Classical music
Judith Weir prepares to be a radical master of the Queen's music
For Weir, the first woman in the position, it means supporting composers and exploring the state of music education
Judith Weir: 'They said it's absolutely up to the person who does it to make it their own.' Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian
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Judith Weir must be the most modest master of the Queen's music in the job's 388-year history. "The palace asked a lot of people who it should be, and I said Jonathan Dove would be the best person," she said, after her appointment was confirmed on Monday. "But they took no notice of me and a few weeks ago they told me they had had the most suggestions that it ought to be me – so well done."
But it's a mistake to read 60-year-old Weir's self-deprecation as a sign that she is not up for the public profile of the role. I first met her more than a decade ago, but have never known her to be more relaxed, forthcoming or fired-up. Weir, who is the first woman to hold the job, is clearly going to be in her element as she tackles this position.
"They had a great sentence in the appointment letter," she says, "something like: 'The Queen would like the position of the master of the Queen's music to be for the enjoyment and openness of music in the nation.' So it's a very wide description, and they said it's absolutely up to the person who does it to make it their own."
For Weir, that doesn't mean writing pieces for royal occasions. Just the opposite: it means supporting and speaking up for her composer colleagues, challenging the function that contemporary music fulfils in society, and embarking on a nationwide exploration of the state of music education in order to create pieces that will be useful for schoolchildren and amateur musicians.
But before she tells me about her softly spoken but radical plans for the decade-long, £15,000-a-year appointment, I ask if she felt any twinges of conscience in taking up the job.
The last incumbent, Peter Maxwell Davies, who was appointed 2004, was a model of how the master's public voice could still be a dissenting one – about the war in Iraq, the state of education, the traducing of the values of classical music in culture – even while he spoke from the centre of the establishment.
What is Weir's relationship with the monarchy and the 'establishment'? "Britain isn't in any state at the moment to become a republic," she says. "We're not there as a country. And for me, the Queen is a fantastic 88-year-old woman of incredible energy. I just have great admiration for her and it is an honour to do something in her name. And as for 'the establishment' – well, who is the establishment now? Sir Mick Jagger?"
Weir says there is still a sneaking suspicion that the world of classical music is carved up by a few big institutions and a handful of powerful cultural leaders. That really is an establishment; but Weir does not need the role of the master for access to classical music's top table. The opportunity of the role, she says, "is to avoid all that – and go and meet the other people".
By "other people", Weir is talking about the musicians and composers who are working in schools and communities, often unsung and underpaid, the grassroots of our musical culture. "I have an interest in teaching at all levels, but taking up this job has reminded me how sketchy my knowledge really is of what's going on in schools. The yearly stipend will help me to travel around the UK – without doing that, it's very difficult to know what's really happening – and possibly to have the time to do a piece every year for those communities. The question of music education over the last few years has been full of rhetorical behaviour. It's been a Punch and Judy show on both sides. And the media love it as well."
As Nicky Morgan takes over as education secretary , there is a looming sense of disaster about the way music is funded in schools in England and Wales. Weir is more pragmatic. "I feel it's rather a fortuitous new start: we have had an education secretary leave and something new will now happen. Each school is different and what's happening in some of them can be remarkably good."
Weir wants to challenge her composer colleagues to write "in a simpler mode, without changing their style" to create music that is accessible for the widest range of people to play and enjoy.
Weir will not be the kind of person to pontificate from the sidelines, but she will lead by the example of her music. Her work is a kind of transcendence of the ordinary, in which often simple ideas, harmonies, and stories become newly rich and magical. She makes us see and feel a sense of wonder, without preaching, without idealism, but with her feet and her ears to the ground.
There will be challenges in her tenure, most obviously the decision her fellow Scots will make in the independence referendum on 18 September (she admits she is delighted that, whatever happens, the Queen's sovereignty looks likely to remain intact over the whole of Great Britain), as well as whatever the next government decides to do to music in schools. And there is also her blog, which launches on Tuesday and which proves that Weir is as fastidious and poetic a writer as she is a composer.
But at least there was one test that Weir did not have to face: what she was going to be called. The palace never even suggested "mistress" of the Queen's music and neither did she. But a friend of hers did come up with "mastress", she tells me with a twinkle in her eye.
The 60-year-old composer is the first female master of the Queen's music, a position that has existed since 1625
Published: 3 Jul 2014
Scottish-born composer will succeed Peter Maxwell-Davies in role described as musical equivalent of poet laureate
Published: 29 Jun 2014
| Master of the Queen's Music |
Which English chemist published the first scientific study on colour blindness? | Archives for July 2014 | NEWS
New Acquistion - CD Anne LeBaron
29/07/14 14:32 Filed in: muziektheater
Anne LeBaron (Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 1953) is one of the most vital composers of the post-war generation. Her overall aesthetic is steeped in the sound world of the European-American avant-garde of the mid-twentieth century, but like others of her post-war generation, LeBaron rejects the premise of stylistic continuity that underlies much classical music. LeBaron's aesthetic is defined by supplementation: The sound world of the European/American avant-garde is supplemented with a host of others-popular music, jazz, historical styles of the classical tradition, religious music, and so on.
Pope Joan and Transfiguration, were released in 2007. Both compositions are theatrical works for soprano and chamber ensemble. These works both use a variety of vocal delivery, from aria-like melodic singing to recitative-like declamation to impassive chanting. Pope Joan will be broadcasted on August 3 via Radio Monalisa .
23/07/14 15:29 Filed in: new release
GlamourTango marks a multimedia show of music and dance, theatrical set and lighting, created as a tribute to those women who quietly wrote the pages of Tango from the very beginning. This is a unique approach within the Tango style, since all performing artists on this show are female. A new CD release by includes compositions by Eladia Blazquez and Rosa Rodríguez Quiroga, among others.
Polly Ferman's Glamour Tango - Tango in Feminine Form - 4Tay - CD 4037
23/07/14 10:57 Filed in: new release
Karen Mantler (New York, 1966) is back, with a new collection of songs about the human condition and troubles large and small. Nonchalantly and disarmingly, Karen sings of homeless people in the park, the disappearance of friends, the frustrations of being monolingual, the challenge of improvisation, music with a mind of its own, and encounters with bill collectors, lawyers, snowstorms, and ash-spewing volcanoes. Through it all she sounds like a survivor, monitoring mishaps with deadpan humour.
Business is Bad
Première - Vanessa Lann
22/07/14 15:37 Filed in: concert
moonshadow sunshadow, a new violin duo by Vanessa Lann, will be performed at the opening of the Delft Chamber Music Festival .
With violinists Liza Ferschtman and Esther Hoppe.
25 juli 2014 - 20.15 uur - Van der Mandele Zaal, Delft
10/07/14 09:53 Filed in: new release
Sonic Halo is het nieuwe album van Tineke Postma en Greg Osby. De Nederlandse Edisonwinnares en de Amerikaanse jazz-ster zullen het album op het North Sea Jazz Festival 2014 presenteren. Op het album staat moderne, groovy muziek. Een opname met twee sopraansaxofonisten is ongebruikelijk en werd zelden eerder uitgebracht. Desondanks komen de stijlen van de twee muzikanten prachtig samen. Osby's moderne spel laat conceptuele en akoestische geluiden horen die samen komen met de melodische, Europese achtergrond van Postma.
Het is drie jaar geleden dat Tineke haar laatste album uitbracht. Het album laat haar muzikale ontwikkeling van de afgelopen jaren zien, welke sterk werd beïnvloed door haar lange verblijven in New York en optredens met de top van de Amerikaanse jazzscene.
01/07/14 14:52 Filed in: muziek en meer
Queen Elizabeth has had four masters of music: Judith Weir will be her fifth, more than any other monarch.
The Queen is to appoint the first woman to the prestigious post of master of the Queen’s music since the position was created almost 400 years ago.
Judith Weir will become the successor to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in Buckingham Palace next month.
Listen to Radio Monalisa on Sunday, July 6th, when we will broadcast music by Judith Weir.
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According to Shakespeare, who was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine? | Drowned in a Butt of Malmsey
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable — D
Drowned in a Butt of Malmsey
George, Duke of Clarence, being allowed to choose by what death he would die, chose drowning in malmsey wine (1477). See the continuation of Monstrelet, 196; Fulgosus, ix. 12; Martin du Bellais's Memoirs (year 1514).
Admitting this legend to be an historic fact, it is not unique: Michael Harslob, of Berlin, wished to meet death in a similar way in 1571, if we may credit the inscription on his tomb: -
In cyatho vini pleno cum musca periret, Sic, ait Oeneus, sponte perire velim.'
When in a cup of wine a fly was drowned. So, said Vinarius, may my days be crowned.
Source:
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
| Duke of Clarence |
What is the capital of the Canadian province of New Brunswick? | George, Duke of Clarence: drowned in a butt of malmsey
What happened on this day in history.
FEBRUARY 18th
On this day in history in 1478, died George, Duke of Clarence.
Clarence was a royal prince of the House of York who plotted with the Lancastrians against his brother, King Edward IV, and was assassinated by drowning in a butt of malmsey wine.
George of Clarence was the second son of Richard, Duke of York, claimant to the throne of England. Richard fought a series of battles with king Henry VI, in the Wars of The Roses, but was eventually defeated and killed in battle. His elder son, Edward, carried on the conflict, deposing Henry VI, and proclaiming himself king Edward IV in 1461.
The new king elevated his brother, George, to the title of Duke of Clarence, but the young duke conspired with Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, against Edward. Clarence married Warwick�s daughter, Isabel, forming an alliance and the two conspirators raised a force in the North and led an uprising against Edward, deposing him from the throne in 1470. They restored the ineffectual, and by now insane, monarch Henry VI to the throne, using him as a puppet king while they had power over the kingdom.
But Clarence soon became embittered with Warwick�s government and reconciled himself with his brother, fighting another series of battles, deposing Henry VI and restoring Edward to the throne once more in 1471.
But Edward, now restored to the throne, did not trust his younger brother. He suspected that he was plotting against him again and had him thrown into the Tower. Edward complained to Parliament that Clarence had been preparing yet another rebellion and Parliament passed a �Bill of Attainder� sentencing Clarence to death by beheading.
The circumstances of Clarence�s death are unclear. Some say that he was beheaded secretly, some say that he was murdered by his younger and more ambitious brother, Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III , but the most prevalent rumour was that he had been despatched by drowning in a in a butt of malmsey wine. A body, supposedly that of Clarence, was later exhumed from the Tower, but the corpse was intact complete with head, and was buried as Clarence in Tewksbury Abbey. [Church Street, Tewksbury, Gloucester, GL20 5RZ]
Edward IV died mysteriously in 1483, and was succeeded by his son, Edward V, who was deposed and murdered by the third brother, Richard III.
For other unusual royal deaths see 24th March.
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Voiced by Nicholas Parsons, Tex Tucker was the hero of which Supermarionation series? | Filmed in Supermarionation | Film from RadioTimes
Filmed in Supermarionation
Video clips are automatically supplied by broadcasters and distributors. RadioTimes.com is not responsible for the clip's contents.
Stephen La Rivière (2014)
Our Score
by Jeremy Aspinall
Whether you are young or old, the impact of Gerry Anderson and his iconic TV puppet adventures will have no doubt made an impression. This fabulous documentary charts his career from the early basic puppetry of Twizzle, Torchy the Battery Boy and western show Four Feather Falls via more sophisticated "Supermarionation" in Supercar and Fireball XL5, and peaking with spectacular colour extravaganzas like Stingray and especially Thunderbirds (of which mogul Lew Grade said, "This is not a TV series, this is a feature film."). Those looking for a nostalgic wallow will find plenty to enjoy here, with the now elderly puppeteers and special-effects techies reflecting on a happy history of producing some of the most popular and memorable shows on British TV - even if they were made in a lock-up in Slough. Narrated by Thunderbirds characters Lady Penelope (voiced by Anderson's ex-wife, Sylvia) and Parker (David Graham), it's captivatingly comprehensive, fun and brimming with anecdotes, trivia (Nicholas Parsons voiced Four Feathers' cowboy hero Tex Tucker) and intriguing insights (was Joe 90 merely a nine-year-old brainwashed into killing enemy agents?). Special-effects guru Derek Meddings and composer of rousing scores Barry Gray are also singled out for their crucial contributions. Fans couldn't ask for anything more.
Summary
Documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the sci-fi puppet show Thunderbirds, featuring clips from the series and interviews with the original cast and crew.
Cast & Crew
Gerry Anderson Gerry Anderson (1)
Sylvia Anderson Sylvia Anderson
| Four Feather Falls |
The Cathy and Claire problem page was a popular feature of which weekly for girls? | Dune | Film from RadioTimes
Our Score
by Jeremy Aspinall
Whether you are young or old, the impact of Gerry Anderson and his iconic TV puppet adventures will have no doubt made an impression. This fabulous documentary charts his career from the early basic puppetry of Twizzle, Torchy the Battery Boy and western show Four Feather Falls via more sophisticated "Supermarionation" in Supercar and Fireball XL5, and peaking with spectacular colour extravaganzas like Stingray and especially Thunderbirds (of which mogul Lew Grade said, "This is not a TV series, this is a feature film."). Those looking for a nostalgic wallow will find plenty to enjoy here, with the now elderly puppeteers and special-effects techies reflecting on a happy history of producing some of the most popular and memorable shows on British TV - even if they were made in a lock-up in Slough. Narrated by Thunderbirds characters Lady Penelope (voiced by Anderson's ex-wife, Sylvia) and Parker (David Graham), it's captivatingly comprehensive, fun and brimming with anecdotes, trivia (Nicholas Parsons voiced Four Feathers' cowboy hero Tex Tucker) and intriguing insights (was Joe 90 merely a nine-year-old brainwashed into killing enemy agents?). Special-effects guru Derek Meddings and composer of rousing scores Barry Gray are also singled out for their crucial contributions. Fans couldn't ask for anything more.
Summary
A far-flung galactic empire is sustained by a priceless mind-expanding spice found only on a desolate desert world. Rival factions seeking to take over production plunge the planet into war, while the native people await the coming of a prophesied saviour who will lead them to freedom. David Lynch's sci-fi fantasy based on Frank Herbert's novel, starring Kyle MacLachlan, Francesca Annis, Sting, Patrick Stewart and Kenneth McMillan.
Cast & Crew
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Who acted as coach to Jermain Jackson, the 2014 winner of The Voice UK? | The Voice 2014: Jermain Jackman wins – Will.i.am gets emotional in the final show | Metro News
Alice Wright for Metro.co.uk Saturday 5 Apr 2014 9:16 pm
Jermain Jackman began The Voice UK final as the outsider – but went on to triumph over the competition (Picture: BBC)
The result was a shock one – but Jermain Jackman has been voted your winner of The Voice 2014, following a closely fought final.
In a public vote between the remaining three singers Sally Barker, Christina Marie and Jermain it was Will.i.am’s act who took it.
Sure fire favourites Sally and Christina Marie were left standing as the boy from Hackney with the very low voice and very high ambitions came through in the end.
It was a smashing final song that surely sealed the deal for him as he really took his performance to a new level and maybe viewers thought they had already seen the best of the other two acts? Or dare I say it many voters felt Christina Marie and Sally had the winning votes already in the bag and went for the underdog? Who knows, but personally I’m very happy with that result.
The flashy final (but still overly long) show started with an odd group song from the coaches – group songs STILL don’t work, stop trying to make them happen TV people. On with the acts…
Christina Marie kicked off the show in a very ill-fitting frock, but sang Coldplay’s Fix You beautifully thankfully without the shouting theatrics of last week but still let her voice soar. Will said she never hit a low note and coach Ricky tearfully begged for votes for her.
Christina Marie left Ricky Wilson emotional with her rendition of Coldplay’s Fix You (Picture: BBC)
Sally Barker went back to basics after last weeks bizarre rocky choice and sang Both Sides Now with newly huge hair and her traditional earnest voice. Will said her vocal wouldn’t be out of place in a ‘Disney cartoon’ – damning with faint praise maybe?
The first few bars of Jermain Jackman’s version of the infamous Wrecking Ball had me worried but of course he absolutely smashed it but sadly that song is far too well known for him to have any impact with it. Still the audience loved the performance and he managed to shoehorn in some of his very low notes.
And in a rather lovely staged moment Cheryl Cole rang Will to tell him that his boy had done great! Good to know she’s so secure in her role on The X Factor she’s fine with bigging up acts on The Voice too.
| Will.i.am |
Who was the President of the USA at the start of the 20th Century? | The Voice, the final: as it happened - Telegraph
The Voice, the final: as it happened
Join Catherine Gee as she settles in to watch the final of BBC One's The Voice
Jermain Jackman wins The Voice UK 2014
* Opinion: Why The Voice is now better than The X Factor
JERMAIN JACKMAN HAS BEEN CROWNED WINNER OF THE VOICE UK 2014
21.15 Thank you for joining us tonight. I hope you'll join me in wishing Jermain the best and hoping to see lovely Sally Barker performing in a nice folk club nearby soon. Goodnight.
21.05 So that's that. Jermain is the third The Voice UK winner. He certainly has more star power than past victors Leanne Mitchell and Andrea Begley, who, let's be honest, have all but sunk without a trace. The inclusion of the two new coaches certainly added some extra oomph to the series and the lack of back-biting and mockery is certainly a refreshing change from other talent shows. Yet, it hasn't exactly been a stellar year. There have been few stand-out personalities but it's been... nice enough. Personally I'd rather see Jermain take on Westminster. Another Luther Vandross-esq singer is nothing new. Seeing this nice young man from Hackney attempt to rock the government boat would be far more entertaining.
21.00 "This is an achievement for everyone around the world who has had a dream and worked hard to achieve that dream," says Jermain.
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20.59 Utter restraint shown by BBC producers not to announce them in ascending order of votes, there. Well done. will.i.am is now all misty.
20.58 The winner is... JERMAIN JACKMAN.
20.57 It's time!
20.53 Oh no it's fine.
20.52 Aloe Blacc is on and everything has gone black and white except for his blue suit. Has my TV broken?
20.50 Will just made up a rap. I really hope that was made up, anyway. It was very good, for a made up rap. The vote has also now closed.
20.40 Well Jermain belted that out. Not bad for a guy from Hackney, eh? I mean Hackney. No one famous has ever come from Hackney... in London. Oh, wait.
20.34 Sally Barker now also revisiting her battle song and still giving Olly Murs a run for his money. I doubt she's become any more of a fan of his since being forced to learn who he was, though.
20.28 The Power of Love seems to be a song on permanent rotation in talent shows. One day, one day, they'll sing the Huey Lewis and the News version instead and the world will be a better place.
20.22 What a treat to see someone not collapse into a flood of tears. How very refreshing. I get the feeling Kylie won't be taking him on tour, though. Nice squirming there.
Kylie reacts to Jamie's departure
20.20 The first to go is... Jamie Johnson. Apparently the love of a good Kylie was not enough to save him.
20.16 It seems some bloke called James Arthur, who may or may not have won The X Factor in 2012, is also tweeting along.
@Rickontour Rickey Wilson and Christina's duet on the voice was really good, great to see some identity! Stuff gets a bit stagey at times..
— James Arthur (@JamesArthur23) April 5, 2014
20.13 Paloma Faith always strikes me as the sort of person who knocks things over a lot. She's bringing a nice bit of groove to the proceedings here though.
20.05 RECAPS. Time to grab a drink or dash for the loo.
20.03 Kylie and Jamie's performance of Eurythmics There Must Be an Angel was... quite good.
20.00 Jamie got to meet Justin Timberlake. Lucky lucky bloke. In case you missed it, The Telegraph gave his London O2 show a hefty five stars .
19.57 What will Kylie choose for her duet? I'm harbouring a secret hope for I Should Be So Lucky.
will.i.am and Jermain Jackman duet on The Voice UK
19.55 will.i.am has chosen a quirky track for his duet with Jermain. Well, the Charlie and Chocolate Factory song certainly adds some variety.
19.49 What we're seeing now is two vets performing live under the guise of a talent show. It's a shame a woman of Sally's talent and experience hasn't been able to forge success on her own terms.
Sally Barker and Tom Jones perform a duet on The Voice UK
19.47 Rosie21 in the comments says...
I loved the Sally Barker song, a lovely mature lady with a beautiful voice, I'd like her to win.
She does indeed.
19.43 Are we going to have a segment where all the coaches perform their new singles with their contestants? Ricky and Christina just showcased the new Kaiser Chiefs track.
19.35 It's a good thing Jamie can sing because that dolphin will get him nowhere.
Jamie Johnson giving it his best on The Voice UK
19.33 19-year-old Jamie Johnson took on a tricky song in Missing You (also sung by Tina Turner) there. Luckily that voice held out. "I'm in love with you," declares Kylie.
19.25 He's a devious one is will.i.am. Pulling a stunt by getting Cheryl Cole to ring his futuristic watch phone and wish Jermaine well, no doubt hoping to sway the public vote. I'd suspect it was also a sneaky attempt at product placement had the phone reception not been so terrible.
Jermain Jackman on The Voice UK
19.22 Showing my age here but whenever anyone says "Wrecking Ball" my head still goes to Bruce Springsteen. Every time it's a disappointment. Anyway. Jermain Jackman, the man who wants to be the first black prime minister, is singing Miley Cyrus's popular song as the last remaining member of Team Will - who is now stood on his chair.
19.16 "She touched me and she still touches me. And I hope she's touched everyone at home." Oh Sir Tom, you knew full well how that was going to come out.
19.14 Not only is Sally Barker just lovely, she's sending some tingles across the skin with this beautiful Joni Mitchell number Both Sides Now.
19.08 Ricky looks all misty-eyed at Christina's glammed up version of Coldplay's Fix You. I guess we're still not trusted to be able to sit through whole versions of songs despite there only being four contestants left and the show being two hours long.
19.05 The coaches conveniently have one contestant left each. It's Team Ricky up first, with Christina Marie from Bristol.
19.00 And we're off with another collaborative performance of Primal Scream's Rocks from our estemmed coaches. For a moment I thought will.i.am was wearing a harness and might be about to take off but sadly that's just his shirt.
18.45 Good evening and welcome to our live blog of The Voice UK final. Christina Marie, Sally Barker, Jamie Johnson, Jermain Jackman battle it out for the title. The show begins at 7pm, so be sure to come back then for the latest view from the sofa.
Please join me and share your thoughts/predictions, either in the comments box below, by emailing me at [email protected] or on Twitter, to @catherinegee.
| i don't know |
In his eponymous TV show, which comedian and actor played obstetrician Cliff Huxtable? | The Cosby Show (TV Series 1984–1992) - IMDb
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The goings-on in the life of a successful African American family.
Stars:
It's Russell and Anna Huxtable's 49th anniversary, and the Huxtables observe the occasion with a classic impression of Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time."
8.4
Theo's Holiday
Theo's confident when he's 18 and moves out on his own, he'll be able to get a job as a model and make a lot of money; the family puts him to a test to see how well he'd make it in the real world.
8.4
Theo gets a shirt that cost too much, so Denise makes him an "Exact" replica.
8.2
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Title: The Cosby Show (1984–1992)
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Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 51 wins & 56 nominations. See more awards »
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Storyline
Long-running popular comedy television series about the Huxtable family. Doctor Heathcliff Huxtable and Clair Huxtable, a happily married couple, are raising their children (Sondra, Denise, Theodore, Vanessa, and Rudy). The two oldest daughters eventually live successful adult lives and get married (Sondra to Elvin and Denise to Martin). As the children get older, the family gets larger and, to the chagrin of Cliff, keep on coming back home when he wants them to move out and live on their own for good. Written by Anonymous
In a house filled with love . . . there's always room for more.
Genres:
20 September 1984 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Die Bill Cosby Show See more »
Filming Locations:
Did You Know?
Trivia
The façade of the Huxtables' home is located at 10 St. Luke's Place in Manhattan, even though the family is supposed to live in Brooklyn. See more »
Goofs
When Cliff and Clair leave Theo alone in the house while they go on a ski trip, Cliff is carrying some skis out. He drops a ski and it knocks everything off Clair's desk. In the next scene, the objects are on the desk again. See more »
Quotes
[after the saxophone opening theme ends]
Cliff : This is the best elevator music I've ever heard!
See more »
Crazy Credits
The credit sequences that varied from season to season all have one thing in common-the last shot in each one is a closeup of Bill Cosby's face, and in all but the first, he is smiling. See more »
Connections
Referenced in Blitz (2011) See more »
Soundtracks
(Virginia Beach) – See all my reviews
I rarely go to DVDs of old TeeVee shows. The edge that could have made many of then work when new has long dulled. Nostalgia is a bad way to motivate a life. But this was a reminder of a day, shortly after the US almost lost itself forever. The great national tragedy was slavery not that it happened, because nations do many dishonorable things. But because we clung to it so tightly, reinventing it in subtle ways.
In my memory, three things changed that. There was the civil rights movement of course and its nobility in peaceful stands for justice. There was the profound decision by Coca-Cola to fashion ads that portrayed a nation of many colors. Many people overlook the significance of this and its powerful effect, cinematic equality.
And then there was Cosby. Here was a man with practices affability. No joke was demeaning. All jokes had to do with family, kinship, a world with no disharmony and only small everyday events. He did not invent domestic humor. TeeVee had it cooking long before he arrived. But he did it better than anyone then and since. His warmth made it. And he had a black face.
That face is the device on which all episodes of the show rely. A setup, a comment and then Bill's face reacting. A simple formula. Simple jokes; powerful face. I wouldn't want to overemphasize his intent or impact. He happened to be a good man at the right time, but no less obsessed and commercial than Opra, who inherited and demeaned the role.
Revisiting these shows is revisiting history, a noble history of a noble time before the US found another way to marginalize: let kids do it by themselves.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
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| Bill Cosby |
Who played Ensign Wesley Crusher in Star Trek, The Next Generation? | Cosby Show: Season 1 DVD 1985 Region 1 US Import NTSC: Amazon.co.uk: DVD & Blu-ray
Product Description
From Amazon.co.uk
Looking back at Series 1 of The Cosby Show, it's easy to forget that momentous history was being made. Not only did this immensely popular sitcom hold the #1 spot among all network TV shows for five consecutive seasons (a record that still stands), but it promoted an evolutionary progression that influenced the entire TV industry from that point forward. African Americans had enjoyed sitcom success in the past (on Julia, The Jeffersons, and Good Times), but the idealised family of Cliff and Clair Huxtable ( Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad ) represented a new and quietly revolutionary perspective; married for 21 years with five children (one in college, a detail unmentioned in the pilot episode), the Huxtables were happy and successful (he's a doctor, she's a lawyer), and issues of race were almost entirely irrelevant to the show's universal appeal. More to the point, The Cosby Show was eminently respectable family entertainment, perhaps too squeaky-clean for some tastes, but immediately popular at a time when Eddie Murphy (in Beverly Hills Cop) was honing a more profane image that Cosby disapproved of.
The show was also perfectly cast for mass appeal, from the irresistible precociousness of Keshia Knight Pulliam (as the youngest and most charming Huxtable daughter, Rudy) to the stylish adolescence of Lisa Bonet (years before her controversial role in Angel Heart) as 16-year-old Denise; Malcolm-Jamal Warner as outspoken teenager Theo; Tempestt Bledsoe as sensible younger daughter Vanessa; and Sabrina LaBeauf as college student and eventual mother of twins, Sondra. Combined with the effortless chemistry of Cosby and Rashad (credited in Season 1 as Phylicia Ayers Allen), the entire cast forged an easygoing, loosely-rehearsed dynamic that was genuinely familial. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to an alternate DVD edition.
Synopsis
Already a presence on television for much of the 1960s and 1970s, in 1984 Bill Cosby debuted his new series The Cosby Show, which went on to become one of the most popular shows on American television. Even in its very first year, The Cosby Show was the third highest rated show in America. On the programme, Cosby played Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, who along with his wife Claire, an attorney, struggled to balance the challenges of their successful careers with the demands of their five children. The five kids all varied greatly in age and each had their own problems, which lead to a variety of plotlines for the sitcom to utilise. Cosby's goal with the show was to present a positive view of a regular, middle-class, and successful African-American family. The first series of the show features famous guest stars like Dizzy Gillespie and Lena Horne, and others who got their start on the program, like Blair Underwood, Iman, and Alicia Keys. --This text refers to an alternate DVD edition.
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For which film of 1948 did father and son Walter and John Huston both win Oscars? | 1948 Academy Awards® Winners and History
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Actor:
LAURENCE OLIVIER in "Hamlet", Lew Ayres in "Johnny Belinda", Montgomery Clift in "The Search", Dan Dailey in "When My Baby Smiles at Me", Clifton Webb in "Sitting Pretty"
Actress:
JANE WYMAN in "Johnny Belinda", Ingrid Bergman in "Joan of Arc", Olivia de Havilland in "The Snake Pit", Irene Dunne in "I Remember Mama" , Barbara Stanwyck in "Sorry, Wrong Number"
Supporting Actor:
WALTER HUSTON in
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" , Charles Bickford in "Johnny Belinda", Jose Ferrer in "Joan of Arc", Oscar Homolka in "I Remember Mama" , Cecil Kellaway in "The Luck of the Irish"
Supporting Actress:
CLAIRE TREVOR in "Key Largo", Barbara Bel Geddes in "I Remember Mama" , Ellen Corby in "I Remember Mama" , Agnes Moorehead in "Johnny Belinda", Jean Simmons in "Hamlet"
Director:
JOHN HUSTON for
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" , Anatole Litvak for "The Snake Pit", Jean Negulesco for "Johnny Belinda", Laurence Olivier for "Hamlet", Fred Zinnemann for "The Search"
This was the Academy's twenty-first year. In previous years, British films had been making serious inroads into Hollywood. For instance, Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944) - which had a 1946 US release date and was eligible for awards in that year - and Great Expectations (1947), were both Best Picture nominees, and their success fully flowered in 1948 with two major British films vying for prizes. Two of the five nominees for Best Picture were British productions:
Laurence Olivier's superb black and white UK film Hamlet (with a total of seven nominations and four wins), a two and one half hour Shakespeare adaptation
Michael Powell's-Emeric Pressburger's production of the richly beautiful, Technicolor balletic melodrama The Red Shoes (with a total of five nominations and two wins), the top money-maker of the year about a young ballerina forced to choose between love and career
The two British films earned six Oscar awards between them (Hamlet - (4) for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best B/W Art/Set Decoration, and Best B/W Costume Design, and The Red Shoes - (2) for Best Color Art/Set Decoration and Best Score). [Powell and Pressburger had already teamed up to produce The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1944), I Know Where I'm Going (1945), and Black Narcissus (1947).]
Hamlet was both the first British production and the first non-American or non-Hollywood (foreign-made) film to be presented with the industry's top honor - Best Picture. It is the only film adapted from one of William Shakespeare's plays to win Best Picture. Hamlet's greatest competition was not from The Red Shoes, but from director John Huston's
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (with four nominations and three wins - Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Screenplay) about three prospectors and their obsessive search for gold.
Two of the other Best Picture nominees that were predicted to win managed to be nominated eighteen times, but only won one award apiece:
the sentimental melodrama Johnny Belinda (with twelve nominations and one win - Best Actress) directed by Jean Negulesco, about a young deaf mute girl - it was a major upset that Johnny Belinda lost to Hamlet
** Johnny Belinda was one of the dozen or so films in Academy history that received nominations in all four acting categories (Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress).
[The others, in chronological order, were: My Man Godfrey (1936) , Mrs. Miniver (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943),
Bonnie And Clyde (1967) , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Network (1976) , Coming Home (1978), and Reds (1981).]
The Snake Pit (with six nominations and one win - Best Sound Recording) directed by Anatole Litvak, the socially-conscious film about mental illness and life in a mental institution. It was one of the first films to explore the subject in a compassionate style. Litvak's film was based on Mary Jane Ward's semi-autobiographical novel (with screenplay by Millen Brand) about the experiences of a mentally-disturbed woman within an asylum
Another contender for awards this year was the Swiss-made film by director Fred Zinnemann, The Search (with four nominations and one win - Best Motion Picture Story, and a Special Award for Ivan Jandl - "outstanding juvenile performance of 1948"), the first film to be made in Europe after WWII with an American director and cast.
John Huston won the Best Director award (and the Best Screenplay award) for his cynical tale of gold prospectors,
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , defeating Fred Zinnemann for one of his earliest feature films, The Search, Anatole Litvak for The Snake Pit, Jean Neguleso for Johnny Belinda, and Best Picture-winning producer/actor Laurence Olivier for Hamlet. Huston's film, filmed on location in Mexico, was the first Hollywood-American film made entirely outside the US. [These would turn out to be John Huston's only Oscar wins in his entire career - his last nomination was as Best Director for Prizzi's Honor (1985).]
Forty-one year-old Laurence Olivier also won the Best Actor race for his title role as the melancholy Dane in Hamlet, becoming the first (and the only) person to win as actor and as producer. In other words, he was the first actor to direct his own Oscar-winning performance - in a unique position, he was Best Director-nominated for his own Oscar-winning Best Actor role. Italian actor Roberto Benigni repeated this feat for Life is Beautiful (1998, It.) fifty years later. Britisher Laurence Olivier was the first non-American director to win Best Picture.
Although he had been nominated three times previously for superb performances in
Wuthering Heights (1939) ,
Rebecca (1940) , and Henry V (1946), this was his first earned Best Actor award.
(Olivier would be nominated six more times in his career for acting, but would never win again. In his career, Olivier had a total of 10 nominations with this - his only Oscar win. [Olivier and wife Vivien Leigh became the first Academy Awards-winning couple - they were the first husband and wife to receive Oscars.] Olivier's accomplishment was topped by Jack Nicholson who (as of the 2005 awards) was the most-nominated male performer in Oscars history with twelve career nominations and three Oscar wins.)
Olivier's competition for Best Actor was not very strong (and Humphrey Bogart's performance in
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was unjustly ignored!):
Lew Ayres (with his sole career nomination), who was originally a silent star who had played the lead role in an early Best Picture winner
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) , now in a basically supportive role as New England Dr. Robert Richardson in Johnny Belinda
Clifton Webb (with his third and last unsuccessful career nomination) as babysitter Lynn Belvedere (a character he would play again in two film sequels) in director Walter Lang's comedy Sitting Pretty (the film's sole nomination)
Dan Dailey (with his sole career nomination) as Skip - a burlesque team song-and-dance man in another Walter Lang film - a Fox musical When My Baby Smiles at Me (with two nominations and no wins)
Montgomery Clift (with his first of four unsuccessful career nominations) as caring GI soldier Ralph Stevenson in The Search (Clift became a star through his un-nominated appearance in
Red River (1948) , released six months earlier, but filmed later than The Search)
Playing a silent role as a convincing deaf mute Maine farm girl named Belinda McDonald facing small-town prejudice in Johnny Belinda, Jane Wyman won the Best Actress award for probably her greatest performance ever. [She became the first actress since silent films to receive an Oscar for a non-speaking role.] When as a single mother, she is raped and bears an illegitimate child that she fights to keep, she is befriended by the town's new doctor (Lew Ayres). The film was released a few years following her two other major career performances - in the Best Picture winner The Lost Weekend (1945) , and her first nominated role in The Yearling (1946). Some interpreted her win as a sympathy vote - tragic circumstances in her life corresponded to her work in Johnny Belinda - a baby that she had been expecting was born prematurely and died just before filming commenced, and soon after the film was finished, she divorced her husband - future President Ronald Reagan.
Wyman's competition for Best Actress was impressive and considerable. Two of the other nominated roles were also for roles involving handicapped or severely 'crippled' persons:
Olivia de Havilland (with her fourth nomination) as institutionalized mental patient Virginia Cunningham who suffers harrowing experiences in an asylum in The Snake Pit
Barbara Stanwyck (with the last of her four unsuccessful nominations) as Leona Stevenson - a wealthy, bed-ridden heiress/hypochondriac and target of a killer in director Anatole Litvak's thriller Sorry, Wrong Number (the film's sole nomination)
The other two Best Actress nominees were:
Ingrid Bergman (with her fourth nomination) as burned-at-the-stake Joan of Arc in director Victor Fleming's last film and box-office failure Joan of Arc (with seven nominations and only two wins - Best Color Cinematography and Best Color Costume Design)
Irene Dunne (with the last of five unsuccessful nominations) as Mama in director George Stevens' story of a turn-of-the-century immigrant Norwegian family in San Francisco in I Remember Mama (with five nominations and no wins). It was the 2nd film in Academy history to receive four acting nominations without a Best Picture nomination (this also occurred in 1936, 1965, and 2008). [Shortly after producer Walter Wanger's disastrous Joan of Arc, in the early 50s, he served a short jail term for attempted murder in a Beverly Hills parking lot of Jennings Lang, MCA talent agent of his suspected unfaithful wife Joan Bennett. This incident supposedly was an indirect inspiration for Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960) .]
One of the year's firsts was that sixty-four year old Walter Huston (with his fourth and last career nomination - and sole Oscar win) finally won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role as Howard - a wise old, toothless gold prospector (searching for gold in Mexico with Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) in his own son/director John Huston's adventure film
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre . Huston was the first Best Director winner to direct his own father to an acting Oscar award. Thirty-seven years later in his fortieth film Prizzi's Honor (1985), Huston directed his daughter Angelica in an Oscar-winning role. [This remarkable feat made the Hustons the first family with three generations of Oscar winners. This was also the second time in awards history that blood relatives won awards in the same year - previously this occurred in 1929/30.]
The other Best Supporting Actor nominees were:
Charles Bickford (with his third and last unsuccessful nomination) as Black McDonald (Jane Wyman's fisherman father) in Johnny Belinda
Puerto Rican-born Jose Ferrer (with his first nomination) as the Dauphin in Joan of Arc
Oscar Homolka (with his sole career nomination) as Uncle Chris in I Remember Mama
South Africa-born actor Cecil Kellaway (with his first of two unsuccessful career nominations) as a leprechaun named Horace in director Henry Koster's The Luck of the Irish (the film's sole nomination)
Claire Trevor (with her second of three career nominations - and her sole Oscar win) won the Best Supporting Actress recognition for her role as a pathetic alcoholic moll named Gaye Dawn, the mistress of gangster co-star Edward G. Robinson who holds up Lionel Barrymore's Florida hotel in director John Huston's Key Largo (with only one nomination and one win). [Trevor had been nominated previously for Best Supporting Actress for Dead End (1937) and would later be nominated as Best Supporting Actress for The High and the Mighty (1954)). One of her best un-nominated roles was as a prostitute with a heart of gold in
The other Best Supporting Actress nominees included two co-stars in I Remember Mama :
Barbara Bel Geddes (with her sole nomination) as daughter Katrin
Ellen Corby (with her sole nomination) as Aunt Trina
The remaining two nominees were Agnes Moorehead (with her third of four unsuccessful career nominations) as Aunt Aggie McDonald in Johnny Belinda, and nineteen year-old Jean Simmons (with her first of two unsuccessful career nominations) as the driven-mad Ophelia in Olivier's Hamlet.
This year introduced Best Costume Design awards for color and B/W feature films - a new category of awards. Multiple-winner Edith Head began her impressive run of nineteen straight years of nominations in this category with her first nomination for The Emperor Waltz, but surprisingly lost to Joan of Arc (Dorothy Jeakins and Madame Karinska). She went on to accumulate thirty-four nominations, and eight wins during her career.
Oscar Snubs and Omissions:
Neglected Best Picture nominees included:
Howard Hawks'
Red River (its two nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Film Editing were unsuccessful)
three films without any nominations: Fort Apache, the first of John Ford's "cavalry trilogy", Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai , and Max Ophuls' exquisite and dreamy melodrama
Letter From an Unknown Woman
In the Best Actress category, there could have been a re-match between sisters Fontaine and de Havilland (similar to the 1941 contest) if Joan Fontaine's touching and sensitive portrayal as romantically-obsessed 'unknown woman' Lisa Berndle had been nominated in Ophuls' film. And Ann Miller was neglected in the list of nominees for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Astaire's tap-dancing partner Nadine Gale in MGM's Easter Parade. Also, the previous year's Best Actress winner Loretta Young was un-nominated for her fine performance as a college professor accused of murdering one of her students (in self-defense) in the melodramatic film noir The Accused.
Given many weak performances in the Best Actor nominations, it was shocking that Humphrey Bogart wasn't nominated in one of his finest career performances as Fred C. Dobbs, an obsessed gold-hunter in
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre . Overshadowed by another Huston/Bogart effort, Key Largo received only one nomination (but it was a win for Claire Trevor).
Many other superb performances were neglected among the acting nominations: John Wayne as single-minded cattle-driver Tom Dunson or Montgomery Clift as his adopted, estranged son in the undervalued western classic
Red River , or Henry Fonda as cavalry commander in Fort Apache, or John Garfield as cynical lawyer Joe Morse in the dark film Force of Evil, or James Stewart as crusading newspaper reporter McNeal in Call Northside 777, or Anton Walbrook as impresario Boris Lermontov in Powell's and Pressburger's ballet classic The Red Shoes, or Edward G. Robinson as cigar-chomping gangster Johnny Rocco in John Huston's atmospheric drama Key Largo. (Unfortunately, Robinson was never nominated for an Oscar, but he was given an Honorary Award in 1972).
| The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
In which 1944 film does a drama critic learn that his two maiden aunts are serial killers? | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Film) - TV Tropes
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
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Howard: Aah, gold's a devilish sort of thing, anyway. You start out, you tell yourself you'll be satisfied with 25,000 handsome smackers worth of it. "So help me, Lord, and cross my heart." Fine resolution. After months of sweatin' yourself dizzy, and growin' short on provisions, and findin' nothin', you finally come down to 15,000, then ten. Finally, you say, "Lord, let me just find $5,000 worth and I'll never ask for anythin' more the rest of my life.
Flophouse Bum: $5,000 is a lot of money.
Howard: Yeah, here in this joint it seems like a lot. But I tell you, if you was to make a real strike, you couldn't be dragged away. Not even the threat of miserable death would keep you from trying to add 10,000 more. Ten, you'd want to get twenty-five; twenty-five you'd want to get fifty; fifty, a hundred. Like roulette. One more turn, you know. Always one more.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 film directed and written by John Huston , starring his father Walter Huston and Humphrey Bogart , and adapted from a 1927 novel by B. Traven. Father and son both won Academy Awards for their achievements in the film, which was also nominated for Best Picture.
A trio of down-on-their-luck gringos in Mexico — Fred C. Dobbs (Bogart), Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), and elderly prospector Howard (Walter Huston) — decide to search for gold in the eponymous mountain range. At first, the adventure seems simple enough; in fact, they even find their gold. What they didn't count on might just be the greatest obstacle of all: themselves.
This film provides examples of:
Adaptation Distillation : A considerable part of Dobbs' wandering and several chapter long tales told by Howard and Lacaud are missing from the movie.
Adaptation Dye-Job :In the book, Dobbs is blond.
Adaptation Name Change : In the book, Cody's name is Lacaud.
Alas, Poor Villain : Dobbs wanders off alone (with the gold) and gets caught by the Mexican bandits from earlier, who ultimately kill him with a machete. You almost feel sorry for him. Almost.
Artistic License � Geography : Mention is made of "hardly any snow" in the fruit groves of... Dallas, Texas, a place where snow would be remarkable if it happened at all, to say nothing of the complete absence of orchards.
Aside Glance : Howard, in his hammock when one of the Mexican girls helps him lit a cigarette.
Bandito : The fake Federales who deliver the film's most famous line.
Gold Hat: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges.
Bar Brawl : Dobbs and Curtin get into a fistfight with McCormick at a cantina.
Bittersweet Ending : Dobbs' insanity catches up with him, he dies, and the treasure is lost, rendering 10 months of Curtin and Howard's lives a waste. But Howard gets a nice position as a medicine man, and Curtin may yet get his dream of a nice peach farm.
Bottomless Magazines : A nice aversion. In every major action scene, we see both the heroes and villains reloading constantly.
Chekhov's Gun :
The lottery ticket Dobbs buys early on. He forgets all about it until the kid returns to inform him of his win.
The burros the group rent. Or rather, their branding marks. The bandits who kill Dobbs are caught when someone recognizes the mark.
Chromosome Casting : Features an all-male cast.
Composite Character : Gold Hat and two of his followers replace the bandits who kill Dobbs at the end.
Cool Old Guy : Howard. Face it, without him, Dobbs and Curtin would not have lasted more than a week (Howard himself points this out). Being the only one who can identify Fool's Gold and speak Spanish certainly helps.
Creator Cameo : That's John Huston as the white-suited man Dobbs keeps accosting for a handout in Tampico.
Dead Hat Shot : The dead bandito's "gold hat" is flying around the scene after the execution.
Death by Adaptation : Cody is killed by bandits. Lacaud is last seen still prospecting on the mountain the protagonists are leaving.
Death by Materialism : Dobbs.
Deal with the Devil : not really, despite the tagline. The descicion to kill each other over the gold might be seen as a metaphorical one. And it turns out like the classic " Was It Really Worth It? " aesop the classic Faustian Bargain story has. Nobody profits except ol' Scratch in the end.
Dig Your Own Grave : Happens to the three banditos.
Evil Laugh : Dobbs develops an unsettling one as he gets crazier.
Faux Affably Evil : The bandit leader, Gold Hat, who speaks in a friendly manner and claims to be one of the "mounted police" in an attempt to get Dobbs and his cohorts to lower their guard.
Foreshadowing :
Howard's little spiel about partners in a gold claim going crazy with greed and turning on each other is a neat summary of what happens.
Also, early on they are hit by a "Norther", which Howard explains are high-speed winds that blow across the land from the north. At the end, they are hit by another which blows the gold dust away before they make it to the ruins.
Howard mentioning that Dobbs and Curtin wouldn't last very long without him. The moment Howard's gone, Dobbs and Curtin start feuding, and nearly kill each other several times, which ultimately culminates in Dobbs leaving Curtin for dead. Then Dobbs is on his own and gets whacked by the Mexican bandits.
The Friend Nobody Likes : Cody is treated as the odd man out when he approaches the group with the intention of joining them. Which leads to the decision to kill him.
From Nobody to Nightmare : Dobbs starts off as nothing more than a beggar; by the third act, he's ready to kill someone if it means preserving his share of the gold.
Gold Fever : A driving force in the plot. The experienced Howard seems mostly immune to it, remaining rational throughout, but Dobbs and Curtin both fall under its spell. Dobbs is the only one who turns to killing to make sure he comes out on top, however, and it doesn't end well for him.
Gory Discretion Shot : Of Dobbs being sliced up by machetes.note Apparently, they filmed but did not use a shot of his severed head rolling into the waterhole. In the film you can still see the water rippling where it rolled in.
Hand in the Hole : Curtin dares Dobbs to put his hand into the hole where the gold — and a deadly lizard — are hidden.
Happy Dance : Courtesy of Howard, when they find the gold vein.
Hat Damage : Dobbs fires a warning shot right into the bandito leader's hat.
The Heavy : Dobbs winds up becoming the main threat (aside from the Mexican bandits).
Mysterious Middle Initial : Fred C. Dobbs.
Native Guide : As a veteran gold digger and being fluent in Spanish, Howard gets hired by the two novices to lead them to the right grounds.
Nice Hat : Gold Hat insists on putting his sombrero back on before being executed.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown : Dobbs and Curtin give McCormick (the foreman of their work crew) one of these after he cheats them out of their pay.
No Name Given : We never learn Howard's surname. And the leader of the Mexican bandits is known only as " Gold Hat ".
Off with His Head! : Although we don't see it, it's strongly implied (and has been confirmed by the director) that Dobbs is decapitated.
One Last Job : That's what Cody promised to his wife in his letter, which really makes things awkward when the trio attempted to kill him themselves earlier on.
Pet the Dog : Whether you find the protagonists sympathetic or not: fixing the mountain when they leave, burying Cody's body, and informing his widow of her husband's death.
Prospector : All three main characters, but Howard in particular exemplifies the "old and grizzled" stereotype of the trope.
The character of Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2 is a direct parody of Howard.
Protagonist Journey to Villain : Dobbs, who starts off as the main character of the story, but our allegiance gradually switches to his comrades when he goes off the deep end.
Sanity Slippage : Dobbs becomes increasingly unhinged and paranoid as the movie progresses. Howard mentions it happening to his comrades before.
Sound-Only Death : A few: Gold Hat, Dobbs, banditos, Bob (although he doesn't get killed).
Talking Your Way Out : Dobbs tries to do this when he finds himself at the mercy of Gold Hat and his remaining banditos. Doesn't save him.
Third-Person Person : Dobbs starts to do this when he grows more unhinged.
Token Evil Teammate : Dobbs gradually grows into this role in the group as The Cynic viewpoint, where it gets so bad that he generates most of the conflict in the story because of his opportunity to become somebody. The only time his cynicism helped the mining group was running off the bandits the first time. Other than that, well...
Token Good Teammate : Howard, being the only one who doesn't consider killing his comrades. Admittedly, he does kill off a few bandits (but that was purely in self-defense), and the only voluntary killing he comes close to doing is shooting Cody (which in turn was a result of being overruled in the decision by Dobbs and Curtin). Noticeably, when Cody is given a chance to prove himself by keeping an eye on the fake Federales, Howard is all for letting him live, though, which shows he was relieved to not have to kill him.
Ungrateful Bastard : Even getting rescued from a mine collapse and then a Gila monster doesn't make Dobbs any less suspicious of his partners.
Unsatisfiable Customer : Dobbs apparently plans to be one after he strikes it rich.
Dobbs: Then, I'm goin' to a swell cafe and order everything on the bill of fare, and if it ain't just right — or maybe even if it is — I'm gonna bawl the waiter out and make him take the whole thing back.
Villain Protagonist : It will surprise nobody who pays attention for the first ten minutes to know that Dobbs turns out this way. From blowing off helping a child to panhandling specifically to rich people, the only reason Dobbs got anywhere is one good impression to Howard and Curtin.
What You Are in the Dark : The mine caves in on Dobbs. Curtin calls out to him, then has second thoughts and turns around, leaving Dobbs to die. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he turns around again and digs Dobbs out.
Worthless Yellow Rocks : The bandits who kill Dobbs steal his gold, but mistake it for sand and dump it off; it gets blown away by a windstorm.
The X of Y : The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
:: Indexes ::
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Who wrote the 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s? | Book vs. Movie: Kelly from Stacked on Breakfast at Tiffany's - The Readventurer
The Readventurer
Written by Truman Capote and published in 1956.
Directed by Blake Edwards, screenplay by George Axelrod. Released in 1961.
Today, we're happy to welcome brilliant librarian/blogger Kelly Jensen from Stacked for a Book vs. Movie comparison of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Take it away, Kelly...
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I can properly talk about how great it was to read Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote then follow it up with a screening of the film.
The premise of Capote’s 1958 novella is exceedingly simple. The nameless narrator, a young male writer, receives a phone call from a former friend, and it’s through reconnecting with the former friend wherein the narrator realizes what a great story he has to tell about Holly Golightly, the girl who had been his neighbor just a few years prior. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a roughly 100-page character sketch about a girl who talks a big game but who is at her core exceptionally sad, lonely, and empty. Golightly likes to spend her time around socialites, around money, and she throws parties with the best of them. Her apartment lacks furnishing, and the only thing she keeps close to her is her cat. Each time the narrator attempts to forge communication with her and tries to get to her to open up, he is thwarted. Which is not to say he’s a hero in the story - he’s not. He pushes her too hard and he cares far too much about a girl who does not wish for that sort of relationship.
Nineteen-year-old Golightly is a complex character. She presents herself as anything by throwing these parties, by associating herself with wealth and luxury and fascination with little things. She does it even further through her job, which can best be described as a liaison among a bunch of men who are into drugs. Yes, there’s an air of intrigue about her, but she presents herself as simplistic because it is easiest. It’s the narrator who chips away at this facade though, as he continually pushes her to talk with him. To let him inside the cage she’s built for herself.
See, Golightly has built this world around her so she can distance herself not just from other people but so that she can distance herself from her worst enemy - herself. Her life. Where it looked like she was treating everyone around her as worthless, as artifice and throwaway, what the narrator learns about Golightly was that she was really treating herself as such. It was just easier to project upon those around her. This comes full circle with the story of the cat, Golightly’s one true possession. When she’s preparing to leave New York City, to leave the past she’s already ditched elsewhere, to leave the former marriage and children and responsibilities that show up to remind her that she is worth something to other people and to herself, Golightly dumps the cat in Spanish Harlem. Tells the cat it was a great run but no one belongs to anyone else and so now he has the chance to start fresh.
Just like her.
Capote’s novella is a character sketch, but it’s not just a character sketch of Golightly, but of the writer. The narrator is a writer, yet somehow Capote is able to take the narrator and make him a commentary on writing and on narration as craft, too. Here’s a character writing about a pained, removed, relationship-avoiding girl and as much as he tries to crack her open, she is beyond his control. As much as he wants to have a relationship with her and allow her to see her value and worth and her autonomy and her ability to be cared for and treated with respect, he is only the writer. He can only do so much for her. He can sprinkle his depiction of her with pretty words and descriptions - and this is a huge strength of the novella - but ultimately, Golightly is a character who has to play out her story the way her story is meant to be played out. He can only direct her so far. The rest is up to her... and to the reader.
In other words, Capote’s given us the writer’s experience with writing. With creating a character and a back story and a world. Then he lets it go. What’s masterful about how he does this is that he himself is never the actual narrator in the story -- he’s not the one writing Golightly’s story. He’s writing the story of the narrator who is then writing Golightly’s story.
It’s meta!
In 1961, George Axelrod took a stab at taking Capote’s character sketch and turning it into a film starring Audrey Hepburn as a much-aged-past-19 Holly Golightly; blue-eyed George Peppard as the flawless and swoon-worthy narrator, now named Paul; Patricia Neal as the woman who is Peppard’s “keeper” (yeah I don’t know either); Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi; and most noteworthy
Putney, who played the role of Cat.
As is the case with the bulk of film adaptations, Axelrod made the story his own. He borrowed a bit from the source material, but he made this story his own. Which makes sense because Capote didn’t write a story -- he wrote a character writing a character.
In this adaptation of the story, Paul (who Golightly calls Fred throughout because he reminds her of her “brother” Fred) meets Golightly near immediately. There’s not a passage of time, but rather, he runs into her as he moves into the apartment complex where she dwells. Paul is a writer, but he’s not writing Golightly’s story in the film; rather, he’s writing “novels” and “other things.” He’s also a kept man. And boy, who wouldn’t want to keep a man like that? He’s dreamy. Whenever he bats his eyes, the angels sing and the world opens up and all women just flock to him. Neal is really lucky in her role as his keeper - she has him on a leash. He’s all hers. I want it noted right now that Hepburn and Neal are only three years apart in age but boy, did Axelrod play up an age difference.
We can agree though that Hepburn is definitely not playing a 19-year-old in the movie.
The film itself is not told through Paul’s point of view. We get a story about Paul. But really, that doesn’t matter; what does matter is that Golightly is the object of Paul’s affection. Because he’s so dreamy, he can just chase what it is he wants. Oh and does he try. He attends Golightly’s parties - where she is certainly engaged in the crowd, enamored with the wealth and glory that rubbing elbows with socialites brings - and he tells her on more than one occasion just how much he loves her and cares about her. He doesn’t want her to have the autonomy to chase the money (err... men) she wishes to. He keeps reminding her that, you know, there’s a really attractive man living right beneath your nose you can have.
Lucky for Paul, after enough pushing, Golightly changes her mind. She was wrong all along, silly girl. Maybe he was right for her and maybe he did know what was best for her.
I jumped ahead, I know. We do get to know some of Golightly’s back story in the film. However, it’s secondary. It’s hardly even a blip on developing her character at all. It’s sort of shoved in the middle of the film that Golightly was a married woman who fled her family and that Paul’s meant to be the messenger about her much older husband being back to retrieve her and remind her that he loves her and that people back home depend upon her. It’s also sort of shoved in there that she feels lost and lonely and like her life is meaningless.
Actually, no it’s not at all.
At the very beginning of the film, I felt like Hepburn was really channeling Capote’s character. There’s a genuine listlessness, and she plays it so well. But the minute Paul enters her life and starts to be the Man She Needs, suddenly Hepburn’s portrayal of the sad and lonely Golightly changes. (See what happens when the writer inserts himself in the character?)
During the pivotal party scene, where her apartment is littered with rich people and things, Golightly engages with her fellow attendees, and she’s an active part of the festivities.
The moment when Hepburn cuts ties with “brother” Fred and the life she left before moving to NYC, the emotions ring false. And while this is a clear moment of portraying just how phony she’s become (paging Holden Caulfield), the inconsistency with her character up to this point and the lack of development of this pretty important back story, Hepburn failed to advance her character. We know she’s going to run to Paul, and it was impossible for me to not sigh after this scene because after Fred leaves, Golightly gets drunk and becomes Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG). She transforms! She’s free from her past! She’s attractive! Watch her sparkle!
She never feeds her damn cat when he is hungry! DID SHE NOT HEAR HIM MEOWING? ALL HE WANTED WAS SOME FOOD!
So after this transformation, when Golightly and Paul have their day - the one day that is the iconic piece of what people remember of the film and where she goes to Tiffany’s and lusts after finer things which isn’t really what Capote meant by the whole thing in the book - she’s not at all removed from the situation. She is fully invested in the story and in her life. Hepburn doesn’t portray her as playing along reluctantly; she’s not playing at all. She’s living and engaging. She’s playing the customers and management at the dime store where they steal the masks from. This girl isn’t sad or removed from herself or her life. She’s been shown the way by a pair of baby blue eyes.
Thank god.
I could go on about the ending and about how it’s the happily ever after that gets a crowd going and leaves viewers with a sense of hope about love. But it was so disingenuous to not just Capote’s story, but to the characters, too. Golightly goes from being the kind of character Capote envisioned into what it is society thinks that a woman should be. Or maybe that’s not fair - she becomes the romanticized idealized MPDG to Paul. And that he gets her to bend to his will and succumb to the realization that yeah, he was the love of her life and that she needs him? Man I love a satisfying ending like that. Particularly when it’s so true, that indeed, Golightly IS a woman who can be caged and protected by someone like Paul.
Wait, what?
This is the total opposite of what Capote intended. TOTAL. OPPOSITE. His story ends by suggesting that no character can be colored by happily ever after, and yet, Axelrod has taken the story and done nothing but make it a happily ever after. He’s corralled the character who couldn’t be corralled. Which -- if you’re a screenwriter making an adaptation of a film, you have total control over storylines and melding it to be your own vision. But to take a storyline and drop it entirely on its head? Why then have a source material at all?
Let’s talk about a couple other minor quibbles I have: what about the amazing portrayal of the exotic in the film? It makes sense because Golightly is trying to be a socialite and an elite member of the NYC world that she would want to surround herself with Asians, with Brazilians, and she’d want to spend time at a dance club where she could then watch something foreign before her. But what the hell was this Mickey Rooney character?
A racist. That’s what.
This was incredibly uncomfortable to watch, and not just because it was sheerly racist. While the story took place in a time where that kind of portrayal might have been acceptable in society, the fact is, Mr. Yunioshi in the book is NOT the stereotypical Asian as he’s made to be in the film. In fact, he plays a bit of a bigger role in the book in that he tries, too, to engage with Golightly. He isn’t some insensitive neighbor working to bust up her fun - he actually wants her to, you know, live.
That he’s then just a throw away stereotype in the film is unfortunate.
There’s terrible pacing in the movie, and there’s an odd jump in passage of time that happens near the end, where we don’t know what had happened to Paul nor what happened to Golightly. But we know that Golightly is happy and is going to get married and Paul won’t let that happen. Blah blah blah, then they are together. Time apart only made their feelings stronger, you know.
Most importantly, I think what Axelrod’s film could have done with is much more Cat and much less Hep. Because did you see the acting by Cat? It was great! Not just the acting was impeccable, but the fact he was so horribly mistreated by Hepburn also merits some applause.
That cat does not look happy. And that’s more authentic emotion right there than is shown throughout the rest of the film.
Then there is this moment in the film, and I let it speak for itself:
Now that you’ve endured my lengthy critique of Axelrod’s adaptation of Capote’s work, I hope it’s obvious that these aren’t the same story, not even a little bit. Maybe Axelrod had hoped to take this character and give her a story and play around with the notion of the writer and the lives his characters can take when left to do so. But Axelrod didn’t do that. He told an entirely different story, and he kept a tight leash on his characters and how they were allowed to move and think and feel. And those things all fell into predictable and ugh-worthy tropes.
Does that mean Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a bad movie? No.
Does that mean Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not worth watching? No.
Does that mean Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a horrific adaptation that has nothing to do with the book and in fact contradicts the entire point of the book? Yep.
Even Capote thought the adaptation was pretty awful. According to Turner Classic Movies , this was his reaction:
"Even though Breakfast at Tiffany's was a success and nominated for five Academy Awards, the one person who was not happy with the film was author Truman Capote. He was outspoken in his disapproval of what had been done with his book. He was unhappy with everything: the tone, the casting, the director. He felt betrayed by Paramount. 'I had lots of offers for that book, from practically everybody,' he said, 'and I sold it to this group at Paramount because they promised things, they made a list of everything, and they didn't keep a single one.' Capote was unhappy with the casting. 'It was the most miscast film I've ever seen,' he said. 'Holly Golightly was real-a tough character, not an Audrey Hepburn type at all. The film became a mawkish valentine to New York City and Holly, and, as a result, was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly. It bore as much resemblance to my work as the Rockettes do to Ulanova.'
After the release of the film version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, author Truman Capote was very vocal about his disdain for the film, and especially the casting of Audrey Hepburn as Holly, a role that he hoped would go to his friend, Marilyn Monroe.
Truman Capote later said that he considered actress Jodie Foster the perfect person to play Holly Golightly as he originally wrote her."
Yeah, you know? Jodie Foster as Holly Golightly would have been THE RIGHT CHOICE. Not the light-on-her-feet, MPDG-playing Hepburn. And it’s not simply that she wasn’t the right choice for Golightly. It’s that her acting wasn’t even GOOD. It was inconsistent all over the place. Whether it’s her fault or Axelrod’s, she didn’t understand the character and that shines through in spades.
Okay, so. If you want a fantastic character sketch that showcases the furthest thing from a MPDG as possible, pick up Capote’s novella. It is dark, complicated, and utterly satisfying to think about. If you want a love story, watch Axelrod’s film. Just do not connect the two.
To round out this post, I’d like to remind you about this:
I think this might be the faithful adaptation of Capote’s book. If it were set in the 90s, with bad hair, bad fashion, and way-too-catchy lyrics.
Final Rating:
"Barely tolerable, I dare say. But not handsome enough to tempt me."
(From Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen and directed by Joe Wright in 2005)
We'd watch this, but only to make fun of it.
Kelly would like it to be known that she wishes she could give it 1.5 stars but that she rounded up "for the cat's sake."
Well, it certainly sounds like someone else felt the same way about this movie that I did. I'm of the opinion once is enough. And I'm so glad someone finally had the guts to give Putney the cat the kudos he so richly deserved. Including that song which shall not be named was really uncalled for though. But I suppose it couldn't be helped.
What do you all think? Have you read the book? And what the heck was Mickey Rooney thinking with that?
Thanks for visiting, Kelly! Don't forget to visit her at her usual blogspace, Stacked and on twitter .
| Truman Capote |
Who wrote the 1957 poem Not Waving but Drowning? | Breakfast At Tiffany’s: Summary & Analysis | Online Homework Help | SchoolWorkHelper
Breakfast At Tiffany’s: Summary & Analysis
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Truman Capote wrote the novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s without a rhyme or a reason. He used real life characters possessing different names. It is stated that the narrator just might have been Truman himself during his early years in New York. It is clear that Mr. Capote does not believe in traditional values. He himself did come from a wealthy unorthodox family life. Capote’s ideal woman was created in Holly Golightly, also known as Lulamae Barnes before she was married as a child bride to a southerner named Doc Golightly. Other people Capote met in his experiences where also included, such as Mag Wildwood (a cunning southern bell from Arkansas who had stolen away Holly’s would be boyfriend, Rusty Trawler.), Sally Tomato (a stock mobster inclined to use innocent girls to fulfill his own needs.), O.J. Berman (a typical Hollywood agent picking up young girls from the mid-west promising them stardom.)
Joe Bell (a shy bar owner who conceals his feeling about the rambunctious Holly.), and Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar (an eccentric Brazilian politician
who was involved with Holly for some time.) All or these characters here used to add depth and local color to the story. The theme of the novel is, friendship can make people take drastic measures in helping a friend, which is explained by the narrator’s relationship with Holly. The narrator goes out of his way to be with Holly, such as horseback riding even though he is uneasy about horses and stealing masks from a costume store. The narrator also tries to help Holly as much as possible by taking care of her one-eyed cat while she was gone and helping her escape from jail. This novel appears to be written for pleasure purposes.
At the beginning of the novel the narrator starts by explaining the friendship between Joe Bell, Holly, and himself. Capote keeps the reader on his or her toes by there being arguments that would create conflicts putting a halt to the friendships between the main characters. Such as when Holly travels to Brazil with Mag, Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar, and Rusty Trawler ( Holly’s current boyfriend before Mag had stolen him away and left Holly grateful , but only for awhile, with Jose`) Then, after all was finished, Holly and the narrator would meet and make up over a drink at Joe Bell’s bar or Holly’s apartment room. The whole novel is based around an eccentric friendship. The friendship is still maintained long after Holly’s apparent disappearance from society.
The literary movement in this story is Authentic Modernism. Authentic Modernism is marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques. It is a means for an author to live out his fantasies by writing about them. It also implies a historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, of loss, of despair. It rejects history and its society and traditional values. It prefers the unconscious to the self-conscious. “You b-b-boys not vexed at me for butting in on your p-p-party.” was said by Mag Wildwood, one of Holly’s party friends. Another quote from the story showing unconventional technique and humor is Mag saying,” I’ve ten pairs of Argyles in less than three months. And this is the second sweater. What’s the point, though? Sweaters in Brazil. I ought to be making s-s-sun helmets.
Holly Golightly is a nineteen year-old self-sufficient woman. Some of her personality traits are admirable, affectionate, while being sort of cold hearted. She is motivated in life by striving for her purpose in life, which is to be rich and famous while keeping her ego. She believes that love is not sexual. An important action that Holly did was to make peace with the narrator so easily after a fight, this reinforces Capote’s concept of friendship. Other characters responded very well to Holly, she was very easy to befriend. She had a short relationship with the Brazilian politician Jose` Ybarra-Jaegar, but that was ended by her arrest for helping a drug triangle headed by Sally Tomato unknowingly. She was seeing Sally in jail just to comfort him but Sally was really using her to relay information to his drug empire. Holly was a unique character; she was so well liked because she had a peculiar approach to situations.
In conclusion, Capote’s ideal woman was created in Holly Golightly. The theme reached is, friendship can make people take drastic measures in helping a friend, which is displayed by the narrator’s actions toward Holly. Capote used Authentic Modernism brilliantly. Holly was well liked by everyone she came into contact, even though she came across as inconsiderate. Capote creates Holly for his own pleasure and writes her in an unorthodox way. Holly was an unrealistic person in a realistic world interacting with real people is a surreal way.
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In which children’s series did the character Zoonie the Lazoon appear? | Zoonie (Character)
Zoonie (Character)
from "Fireball XL5" (1962)
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| Fireball XL5 |
Who released the critically acclaimed albums Blue and Court and Spark? | Fireball XL5: Trial by Robot review
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Fireball XL5: Trial by Robot is a bit like watching a crazed man going even crazier. All across the galaxy, robots are being reported missing and no one knows why. Space City’s head folks begin to suspect robot expert, Professor Himber, of the crimes, though they have no
proof. Soon, though, they get their proof, when Himber robot -naps Robert the Robert, part of Fireball XL5’s crew.
The weirdness is really watching how Himber is portrayed. He’s one very psychotic puppet. This guy is wacky beyond belief. He’s a nut job, and there’s no hiding that.
I ...
did have a problem with the robots because they all sound like Robert the Robot. There should have been some variation in there somewhere. They did look different, but their vocalization was identical.
Gerry Anderson, the creator of the series, voice Robert the Robot. That’s the only character he did.
Of course, it was the easiest one. Robert didn’t have much of a personality except for when Zoonie the Lazoon was causing smoke to come out of his stack.
Overall, Fireball XL5: Trial by Robot is an okay episode. It’s not on my top shows, but it’s still good to watch.
Don't Be Nice. Be Helpful.
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Fireball XL5: Wings of Danger has some neat moments to it and at the center of the show is something basic to human nature -- revenge. Okay, so it's aliens who want the revenge. It's the group from Planet 46 (the first episode of Fireball XL5, in ...
The review was published as it's written by reviewer in February, 2010. The reviewer certified that no compensation was received from the reviewed item producer, trademark owner or any other institution, related with the item reviewed. The site is not responsible for the mistakes made. 10402980571128/k2311a024/2.4.10
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What was the B-side of Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 single Substitute? | GLORIA GAYNOR Substitute 7 Inch Version - YouTube
GLORIA GAYNOR Substitute 7 Inch Version
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Published on Jul 2, 2014
1978 and Gloria Gaynor's LP 'Love Tracks' is released and the first single is this disco version of the track 'Substitute', a hit around the world that year for Clout and also for Peaches. The song did sell well enough to be a 'Bubbling Under' chart entry on Billboard's Top 100, but thanks to the airplay for the B side 'I will survive', the song was flipped to become the 'other' side for the now classic feminist and gay anthem that sold 2 million alone in America.
Composed by Willie H Wilson, it was first recorded by The Righteous Brothers in 1975, but it was the South African band Clout and their version of 'Substitute' that made the song part of the pop culture. Gloria's hi energy version moves along, but i prefer the other versions from 1978. One can only wonder what would have happened to Gloria Gaynor, had 'I will survive' not been flipped to the A side of the 'Substitute' single. A twelve inch version to follow.
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| I Will Survive |
Who was the principal female figure in the scandal that became known as ‘Zippergate’? | Gloria Gaynor Celebrates 30th Anniversary of "I Will Survive" | SoulTracks - Soul Music Biographies, News and Reviews
Soul Music Biographies, News and Reviews
Gloria Gaynor Celebrates 30th Anniversary of "I Will Survive"
"The song represents the tenacity of the human spirit. We all have survived something in life - relationships, divorce, death, illnesses, marriages, accidents, - and we will all continue to survive these things."
…
"The song represents the tenacity of the human spirit. We all have survived something in life - relationships, divorce, death, illnesses, marriages, accidents, - and we will all continue to survive these things."
West Hollywood, CA (PRWEB) March 6, 2009 -- March 2009 will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of one of the world's greatest anthem's, "I Will Survive". The song was recorded in 1978 by Gloria Gaynor while in a back brace and was released by Polydor in early 1979 as a 'B' side song of 'Substitute'.
The song climbed to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 Charts and claimed the #1 position on two different occasions in March of 1979. Little did Gloria Gaynor know, the song would grow into the banner for social and personal survival which is still relevant after three decades of international airplay. The song itself has survived in various forms and has been re-recorded over 200 times by various artists such as Gladys Knight, Chantay Moore, Diana Ross and Cake..
When asked why she thinks it is STILL popular among those from 2 to 102, and Gaynor quips, "The song represents the tenacity of the human spirit. We all have survived something in life - relationships, divorce, death, illnesses, marriages, accidents, - and we will all continue to survive these things." The song's anniversary comes at quite the opportune time as 2009 ushers in hope and change for our country and the world. "Dance music and feel-good music has always thrived in economically challenged times, "I Will Survive" was #1 during the 1979 energy crisis, people want to dance and take their minds off the tough times. The song not only is a great dance song, but it has a message of hope and survival." explains Gaynor.
Next week, Gaynor re-releases the single, "I Will Survive" along with a Spanish version of the song.
Trivia Regarding "I Will Survive"
In 1980, the song won a Grammy for Best Disco Song in 1979
It has been included in over 50 movie and TV soundtracks.
In 2000 VH-1 honored Ms. Gaynor with the number one spot during their countdown of the Top 100 Dance Records of All Time. In 2005 Gloria was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame during a ceremony that took place in New York City.
The song was originally released as the "B" side of the single, "Substitute"
It has been re-recorded over 200 times by various artists such as Gladys Knight, Chantay Moore, Diana Ross and Cake
#1 Karaoke Song Worldwide
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Which BP rig sank in April 2010, causing a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? | Gulf or BP Oil Spill
Physical Methods
GRAND ISLE, La. -- Brown pelicans congregate on containment boom that surrounds Queen Bess Island, a few miles north of Grand Isle, La. August 25, 2010. The island is a sensitive nesting area for brown pelicans. More about the Gulf oil spill can be found in our Gulf oil spill featured story.
Credit:
Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall, U.S. Coast Guard
When oil spills into the ocean, it is difficult to clean up. When you have 3.19 million barrels to clean up, it is even harder.
Part of the difficulty is that no two spills are alike. The amount and type of oil (whether crude or refined) affects how it spreads, and a spill in seawater spreads differently than freshwater. Local environmental conditions also play a huge role: currents, tides, weather, wind speed and direction, air temperature, water temperature and presence of ice all affect how the oil spreads and how well cleanup workers can access the spill area. This variability makes it difficult to plan for spills ahead of time.
The most basic method of clean up is to control the spread of the oil using physical barriers. When oil spills in water, it tends to float to the surface and spread out, forming a thin slick just a few millimeters thick. (A very thin slick is called a sheen, which often looks like a rainbow and can be seen in parking lots after a rainstorm.) Cleanup workers first surround the slick with floating booms to keep it from spreading to harbors, beaches or biologically important areas like marshes. Then they can use different tools to remove the collected oil. Often they will drive skimmers, boats that skim spilled water from the water's surface, through the slick.
After most of the oil is removed by skimmers, workers use sorbents to mop up the trace amounts left behind. Sorbents either absorb oil like a sponge or adsorb oil, which means that oil sticks to its surface. They come in three main types: natural organic materials like peat moss, straw, hay and sawdust; natural inorganic materials like clay, volcanic ash, sand, or vermiculite; and synthetic sorbents made of materials similar to plastic like polyurethane, polypropylene, and polyethylene. Which type is used will depend on the particular spill, as some types of sorbents work best on different types of oil and under different weather conditions.
Another option is to speed up the oil's natural biodegradation using dispersants. (See next section.)
Striped dolphins swim among emulsified oil patches on April 29, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, a few days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Credit:
NOAA
There were some immediate impacts to the animals of the Gulf of Mexico that could be seen with the naked eye: pelicans black with oil, fish belly-up in brown sludge, smothered turtles washed up on beaches. But not much time has passed since the spill, and it will take many more years of monitoring and research to understand what happened.
Strandings of both dolphins and sea turtles increased significantly in the years following the spill. "From 2002 to 2009, the Gulf averaged 63 dolphin deaths a year. That rose to 125 in the seven months after the spill in 2010 and 335 in all of 2011, averaging more than 200 a year since April 2010," reported Reuters in 2015 . Since then, dolphin deaths have declined, and long-term impacts on the population are not yet known. Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests have gone down in the years since the spill, and long-term effects are not yet known.
Seabirds were initially harmed by crude surface oil—even a small bit of oil on their feathers impeded their ability to fly, swim and find food by diving. Seabird losses may have numbered in the hundreds of thousands , but reliable estimates are hard to come by. Looking beyond the sea, researchers are currently studying how oil may have affected land birds that live in the marshes along the Gulf coast .
Invertebrates in the Gulf were hard hit by the Deepwater Horizon spill—both in coastal areas and in the deep. Shrimp fisheries were closed for much of the year following the spill, but these commercially-important species now seem to have recovered. Deep-water corals grow very slowly and can live for many centuries. Found as deep as 4,000 feet below the surface, corals near the blowout showed signs of tissue damage and were covered by an unknown brown substance, later identified as oil from the spill. Laboratory studies conducted with coral species showed that baby coral exposed to oil and dispersant had lower survival rates and difficulty settling on a hard surface to grow.
The impact of the spill on fish communities is still largely unknown. Lab studies have shown that oil can cause heart defects in the developing larvae of bluefin tuna and other fish , but we won't know if this occurred in the wild until after those larvae would have grown up. Some fish larvae populations actually grew after the spill , as they had more food in the form of oil-eating microbes.
There were some reports of deformed wildlife after the spill. For years following the spill there were reports of fish with lesions and deformities, and some reports of eyeless and deformed shrimp after the spill. However, consuming Gulf seafood is now completely safe.
An autonomous underwater vehicle from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) being launched from the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter in the Gulf of Mexico.
Credit:
Yanwu Zhang © 2010 MBARI
In May 2010, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) sent a high-tech robotic submersible to the oily waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Like other autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), the robotic sub was programmed at the surface to navigate through the water on its own, collecting information on deep oil plumes from the Deepwater Horizon spill as it traveled. Although satellites and aircraft helped show the extent of the spill at the surface, researchers hoped that the AUV would allow them understand what was happening farther down in the water column.
During the NOAA-sponsored expedition, MBARI's AUV mapped part of a plume 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below the surface, and collected water samples at various depths. The resulting data helped the researchers identify a persistent deep oil plume and link the oil in this plume to its source: the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
Drifters deployed into the Gulf of Mexico sent location information back to scientists through a GPS satellite. Some of the 5.7 million data points about the drifters locations are seen in this map of the Gulf.
Credit:
Photo courtesy of CARTHE
Once the over 200 million gallons of oil began spewing out of the damaged wellhead—where did it go? Keeping track of that much oil—especially as it sinks into the deep sea—is a difficult task that can't be done with eyes alone. Along with visual tracking, computer models of the oil's movement helped researchers get a better sense of what path it took and where it ended up.
To build the models, researchers first had to understand where ocean eddies, currents and waves carried the tiny oil particles. To understand surface water movement better, researchers set small, yellow boards made of wood afloat on the ocean's surface and asked beachgoers to report where they found these “drift cards” when they washed up on shore. This citizen scientist endeavor provided general information about how far the waves can carry a floating object and specific data points that can be used to improve models of where the oil disperses.
Further data collection has been ongoing since the spill by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). CARTHE has more high-tech "drift cards:" their “drifters” are small buoy-like instruments with GPS, which ping their locations to satellites as they drift on ocean currents. Their location gets tracked for weeks or months at a time and provide an unprecedented amount of location-based data for modeling. This information can be used to better predict oil movement in case of future spills.
Video of Bob the Drifter - A Waterlust &amp; CARTHE film about ocean currents
An environmental chemist collects samples of oil in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon spill. The resulting chemical “fingerprint” of the oil will help determine the origin of other samples.
Credit:
J. Short, Oceana, and S. Senner, Ocean Conservancy
After the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil was mixed throughout the ocean and made its way to coastal and deep-sea sediments. Researchers continue to collect samples from both the water and the sediment to determine if oil is present, and where exactly it came from. Chemical analysis of oil found after a spill can be used to determine its original source. In the case of Deepwater Horizon, tracking the origins of oil slicks that appeared after the well was capped proved helpful in determining if a new leak might have sprung.
One-meter-tall plastic drifters are released into the Gulf of Mexico in 2012. Over 300 of these drifters were released and their location information was sent to researchers every five minutes through GPS satellite.
Credit: Photo courtesy of CARTHE
About a month after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (while the oil was still leaking out of the Macondo wellhead) BP announced that they would provide $500 million to fund an independent research program that would study the impacts of the spill on the environment and public health. With this funding, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) was formed as a 10-year independent research program. The GoMRI research board, which is independent from BP, makes funding and research decisions, and as of early 2014 over $175 million has been distributed to research institutions, many of which are located in Gulf states.
At the outset, the twenty-person GoMRI board adopted five main research themes to focus on: physical movement of the oil and dispersant, degradation of the oil and its interaction with the ecosystem, environmental effects of the oil and dispersant, development of technology for improved response and remediation, and the effects of oil and dispersant on human health. GoMRI funded studies have examined where the oil went after the spill , and how the oil affected many types of marine life, including deep-sea coral ecosystems, seabirds, and jellyfish, to name just a few.
Read more about GoMRI research:
The Smithsonian's Department of Invertebrate Zoology has a collection of over 57,000 specimens from over 5,700 sites in the Gulf of Mexico, which are now catalogued on Google Earth
Credit:
Smithsonian Institution NMNH Department of Invertebrate Zoology
As scientists in the Gulf collect organisms potentially affected by the oil, they will need to compare them to animals from previous decades to identify how they have changed, if at all.
Here's where Smithsonian Collections can play a role. Soon after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Smithsonian Collections staff plotted invertebrate holdings from the Gulf onto Google Earth. Since 1979, invertebrate specimens have been deposited in the national collections of the National Museum of Natural History's Department of Invertebrate Zoology . In the Gulf of Mexico, more than 57,000 invertebrates (points on the map) from 5,789 distinct collecting sites from 14 Mineral Management Service survey programs (point colors) have been cataloged.
Following the Deepwater Horizon incident in late April 2010, collections staff updated the files to reflect the latest areas affected by the spill in real-time. “The points on the map represent less than half of our Gulf of Mexico holdings, the rest—approximately 75,000—still need to be processed and cataloged,” said Bill Moser, museum specialist.
Dr. Chris Reddy, an environmental chemist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, studies oil spills and their long-term impacts.
Credit:
History Channel & Smithsonian Institution
At Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, Chris Reddy studies the long-term effects of oil spills, as well as natural oil seeps that occur off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. In this video , watch as he digs beneath the surface in Wild Harbor salt marsh in Cape Cod, Massachusetts to find layers of oil from a spill that occurred more than 40 years ago. This leftover oil continues to impact the wetland's ecology and wildlife. “When this spill first occurred in 1969, about a month after I was born, people thought that it would only last a week,” he says. And to the naked eye, the marsh looks beautiful and pristine. But oil has persisted in the sediments and continues to adversely affect the marsh’s mussels, crabs, and grasses. “ Oil can last for a long time and has a lot of biological impact.” In June 2010, Dr. Reddy testified before a Congressional panel (pdf) investigating the Gulf oil spill.
Workers contracted by BP load oily waste onto a trailer on Elmer's Island, just west of Grand Isle, La., May 21, 2010.
Credit:
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley
In the immediate aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, concerns about public health focused on people coming into direct contact with the oil and dispersants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered safety advice to Gulf Coast residents and relief workers and the EPA conducted toxicity tests on dispersants. However, long-term questions about oil spills and their impact on human health remain. The National Institutes of Health began to address these in a study that is tracking 33,000 cleanup workers and volunteers for a decade. The research will assess whether exposure to crude oil and dispersants has an effect on physical and mental health.
As the days, weeks, and months progressed the indirect impacts related to seafood consumption also gained attention. The chemicals in oil that are of most concern to humans are called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Some of these are known to cause cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is charged with monitoring the levels of PAHs in Gulf Coast seafood. It works in conjunction with NOAA, the EPA, and state agencies to determine which fisheries are safe to open and which ones should be closed. In order for a fishery to be reopened, it must pass both a "smell" test and a chemical analysis . Seafood cannot go to market if it contains harmful levels of PAHs or if it emits an odor associated with petroleum or dispersants. Fishing area closures peaked on June 2, 2010 , when 88,522 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico were off-limits. On April 19, 2011, NOAA announced that commercial and recreational fishing could resume in all of the federal waters that were affected by the spill.
Rescuing Animals in the Oil Spill
One of many Kemp’s ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) recovering at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Turtles were cleaned and nursed back to health with the help of New England Aquarium staff.
Credit:
New England Aquarium
Pictures of pelicans, sea turtles, and other Gulf of Mexico wildlife struggling in oil were among some of the most disturbing images of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in 2010. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, thousands of “visibly” oiled animals (pdf) —which include birds, sea turtles , and marine mammals—were collected by authorities in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Many of the animals were already dead, but for those found alive, dozens of organizations, including the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park and the New England Aquarium (NEA), were mobilized to rescue, rehabilitate, and later release animals affected by the spill. National Zoo personnel were dispatched to the Gulf largely to assist with the process of relocating animals affected by the spill and helping to identify future release sites for those rescued. Dr. Luis Padilla, a Zoo veterinarian who helped with a pelican release in Texas , and Dr. Judilee Marrow were among those who assisted in the Gulf.
NEA staff who helped to rehabilitate sea turtles rescued from the Gulf oil spill offered a behind-the-scenes view on the aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Team Blog . The blog described how rescuers in boats and spotter planes were “looking for rounded mounds on the surface of the oil, which usually means that there is a turtle floating under the surface of the oil." The rescue team, based at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, treated dozens of endangered sea turtles, such as Kemp's ridley, loggerheads, green sea turtles, and hawksbills. To learn more about how oil affects marine life, watch this video from the Pew Environment Group that explains the impact of oil on marine life throughout the water column and check out this fact sheet from U.S. Fish and Wildlife which summarizes “Effects of Oil on Wildlife and Habitat.” (pdf) We may not know the full effects of the spill on animals - both big and small - for years to come. (See "Ecosystem Effects." )
Credit:
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
In testimony before a committee (pdf) of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and former chief scientist of NOAA, offered specific suggestions for addressing the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf and delivered an impassioned call for greater investment in ocean research—including more expeditions to explore the Gulf’s deep waters, establishing permanent monitoring stations and protocols, and encouraging tri-national collaboration among scientists and institutions around the Gulf. “No one has descended to the greatest depth in the Gulf of Mexico, about three miles down in the Sigsbee Deep near Yucatan. In fact, no one knows for sure exactly where the deepest place in the Gulf is, or if they do, proving it has been an elusive goal,” she said.
| Deepwater Horizon |
In the world of Private Eye, Ron Knee is the manager of which football club? | Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 | oil spill, Gulf of Mexico | Britannica.com
Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010
oil spill, Gulf of Mexico
Written By:
Gulf of Mexico
Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010, largest marine oil spill in history, caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig—located in the Gulf of Mexico , approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana —and its subsequent sinking on April 22.
Debris and oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig after it sank on April 22, 2010.
U.S. Coast Guard
The explosion
The Deepwater Horizon rig, owned and operated by offshore-oil-drilling company Transocean and leased by oil company BP , was situated in the Macondo oil prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, a valley in the continental shelf. The oil well over which it was positioned was located on the seabed 4,993 feet (1,522 metres) below the surface and extended approximately 18,000 feet (5,486 metres) into the rock. On the night of April 20 a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed by contractor Halliburton in order to seal the well for later use. It later emerged through documents released by Wikileaks that a similar incident had occurred on a BP-owned rig in the Caspian Sea in September 2008. Both cores were likely too weak to withstand the pressure because they were composed of a concrete mixture that used nitrogen gas to accelerate curing.
Fireboat response crews battling the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon in …
Video courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy
Once released by the fracture of the core, the natural gas traveled up the Deepwater rig’s riser to the platform, where it ignited, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The rig capsized and sank on the morning of April 22, rupturing the riser, through which drilling mud had been injected in order to counteract the upward pressure of oil and natural gas. Without any opposing force, oil began to discharge into the gulf. The volume of oil escaping the damaged well—originally estimated by BP to be about 1,000 barrels per day—was thought by U.S. government officials to have peaked at more than 60,000 barrels per day.
Leaking oil
Triangle shirtwaist factory fire
Although BP attempted to activate the rig’s blowout preventer (BOP), a fail-safe mechanism designed to close the channel through which oil was drawn, the device malfunctioned. Forensic analysis of the BOP completed the following year determined that a set of massive blades known as blind shear rams—designed to slice through the pipe carrying oil—had malfunctioned because the pipe had bent under the pressure of the rising gas and oil. (A 2014 report by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board claimed that the blind shear rams had activated sooner than previously thought and may have actually punctured the pipe.)
Map depicting the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, caused by the explosion of an oil rig …
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Efforts in May to place a containment dome over the largest leak in the broken riser were thwarted by the buoyant action of gas hydrates —gas molecules in an ice matrix—formed by the reaction of natural gas and cold water. When an attempt to employ a “ top kill,” whereby drilling mud was pumped into the well to stanch the flow of oil, also failed, BP in early June turned to an apparatus called the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) cap. With the damaged riser shorn from the LMRP—the top segment of the BOP—the cap was lowered into place. Though fitted loosely over the BOP and allowing some oil to escape, the cap enabled BP to siphon approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day to a tanker. The addition of an ancillary collection system comprising several devices, also tapped into the BOP, increased the collection rate to approximately 25,000 barrels of oil a day.
Britannica Stories
Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent
In early July the LMRP cap was removed for several days so that a more permanent seal could be installed; this capping stack was in place by July 12. Though the leak had slowed, it was estimated by a government-commissioned panel of scientists that 4,900,000 barrels of oil had already leaked into the gulf. Only about 800,000 barrels had been captured. On August 3 BP conducted a “ static kill,” a procedure in which drilling mud was pumped into the well through the BOP. Though similar to the failed top kill, mud could be injected at much lower pressures during the static kill because of the stabilizing influence of the capping stack. The defective BOP and the capping stack were removed in early September and replaced by a functioning BOP.
Disasters of Historic Proportion
The success of these procedures cleared the way for a “ bottom kill,” considered to be the most likely means of permanently sealing the leak. This entailed pumping cement through a channel—known as a relief well—that paralleled and eventually intersected the original well. Construction of two such wells had begun in May. On September 17 the bottom kill maneuver was successfully executed through the first relief well. The second had been intended to serve as a backup and was not completed. Two days later, following a series of pressure tests, it was announced that the well was completely sealed.
Claims by several research groups that subsurface plumes of dispersed hydrocarbons had been detected in May were initially dismissed by BP and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). However, it was verified in June that the plumes were in fact from the Deepwater spill. The effect of the microscopic oil droplets on the ecosystem was unknown, though their presence, along with that of a layer of oil several inches thick discovered on portions of the seafloor in September, cast doubt on earlier predictions about the speed with which the discharged oil would dissipate. Bacteria that had adapted to consuming naturally occurring gas and oil seeping from the seabed were thought to have consumed a portion of it.
Cleanup efforts
The petroleum that had leaked from the well before it was sealed formed a slick extending over thousands of square miles of the Gulf of Mexico. To clean oil from the open water, 1.8 million gallons of dispersants —substances that emulsified the oil, thus allowing for easier metabolism by bacteria—were pumped directly into the leak and applied aerially to the slick. Booms to corral portions of the slick were deployed, and the contained oil was then siphoned off or burned. As oil began to contaminate Louisiana beaches in May, it was manually removed; more difficult to clean were the state’s marshes and estuaries , where the topography was knit together by delicate plant life. By June, oil and tar balls had made landfall on the beaches of Mississippi , Alabama , and Florida . In all, an estimated 1,100 miles (1,770 km) of shoreline were polluted.
Controlled burn of oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of Mexico, May 6, 2010. The …
EPA
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The various cleanup efforts were coordinated by the National Response Team, a group of government agencies headed by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). BP, Transocean, and several other companies were held liable for the billions of dollars in costs accrued. Coast Guard cleanup patrols ultimately drew to a close in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi in June 2013 and in Louisiana in April 2014.
Aftermath and impact
Economic prospects in the Gulf Coast states were dire, as the spill affected many of the industries upon which residents depended. More than a third of federal waters in the gulf were closed to fishing at the peak of the spill, due to fears of contamination . A moratorium on offshore drilling, enacted by U.S. Pres. Barack Obama ’s administration despite a district court reversal, left an estimated 8,000–12,000 temporarily unemployed. Few travelers were willing to face the prospect of petroleum-sullied beaches, leaving those dependent on tourism struggling to supplement their incomes. Following demands by Obama, BP created a $20 billion compensation fund for those affected by the spill. A year later nearly a third of the fund had been paid out, though lack of oversight allowed government entities to submit wildly inflated claims, some unrelated to the spill. By 2013 the fund was largely depleted.
Workers contracted by BP cleaning up oil on a beach in Port Fourchon, La., May 23, 2010.
PO3 Patrick Kelley/U.S. Department of Defense
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Recovery was incremental. As oil dispersed, portions of the gulf began reopening to fishing in July, and by October the majority of the closed areas were judged safe. State governments struggled to draw attention to unsoiled or newly scrubbed beaches with advertising campaigns, often drawing on funds from BP. Oil continued to wash ashore in many areas, and much of it could not be removed, either because of logistical reasons—mats of submerged oil and organic matter collected in tidal zones that were difficult to reach—or because cleaning it up would inflict greater harm on the ecosystem. The drilling moratorium, initially set to expire in November 2010, was lifted in mid-October, though new drilling permits were not issued until February of the subsequent year following mounting government and industry pressure to increase domestic oil production.
The emergence of BP chief executive Tony Hayward as the public face of the oil giant further inflamed public sentiment against the embattled company. The Englishman—who at one point remarked, “I’d like my life back”—was derided for his alternately flippant and obfuscating responses in media interviews and while testifying before the U.S. Congress . He was replaced in October. By the next year, the company had lost almost a quarter of its market value and had hemorrhaged over $40 billion in costs associated with cleanup and recovery.
The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, formed by Obama in May 2010, faulted the Obama administration’s response to the spill in a report issued in October. The commission’s final report, issued in January 2011, attributed the spill to a lack of regulatory oversight by the government and negligence and time-saving measures on the part of BP and its partners.
A report released in September by the Joint Investigation Team of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and the U.S. Coast Guard emphasized BP’s ultimate responsibility for the disaster. (BOEMRE had supplanted the Minerals Management Agency, which had regulated drilling before the spill, in June 2010.) The report noted that, although the defective concrete cap had been installed by Halliburton, decisions about the installation process made by BP had been the cause of the failure. The investigation further found that BP and Transocean employees aboard the rig had—while engaged in testing procedures—ignored early indications of a problem and thus missed opportunities to prevent a full-scale blowout. Though representatives of BP conceded that the company was responsible for some of the factors contributing to the spill, they stressed that their partner companies were also to blame. Halliburton and Transocean similarly pointed to failures on the part of the other parties involved.
Legal action
Eyjafjallajökull volcano
Charges, settlements, and penalties
A formal civil and criminal investigation into the spill was initiated in June 2010 by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In August 2010 Louisiana district court judge Carl Barbier was appointed to oversee the consolidated proceedings relating to the spill, which had prompted numerous lawsuits and precipitated a morass of complex legal entanglements, private and public. The DOJ sued BP, Transocean, and Anadarko, a minority owner of the well, in New Orleans civil court in December 2010 for violating the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act.
In early March 2012 BP agreed to settle claims made by the plaintiffs’ steering committee, the consolidated representative body for many of the individual victims of the spill, for at least $7.8 billion. (The move followed the postponement of a trial scheduled in late February in Louisiana district court.) The monies were to be drawn from the compensation fund mandated by the Obama administration. Previously managed by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg—who had also overseen the compensation fund for victims of the September 11 attacks —the fund was transferred to court control as part of the accord. In addition to covering economic losses sustained in the wake of the spill, the settlement mandated the payment of medical claims (which had previously been denied by the fund) and provided for 21 years of further medical monitoring and care, allowing for the delayed onset of symptoms and illnesses. BP remained liable for substantial additional claims by local and state entities as well as by the federal government. An effort by the company to appeal the agreement, which received final approval in December 2012, was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2014.
In November 2012 BP reached an agreement with the DOJ to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges, among them 11 counts of felony manslaughter, and violations of the Clean Water and Migratory Bird Treaty acts. The agreement carried penalties and fines amounting to more than $4.5 billion, of which nearly $1.26 billion would go to a discretionary fund overseen by the DOJ, some $2.4 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and $350 million to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). BP also agreed to pay more than half a billion dollars to the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading its shareholders about the magnitude of the oil spill. The deal was approved in January 2013.
Later in November 2012, the EPA suspended BP from entering into any new federal contracts. That suspension, initially thought to be temporary, was reinforced in January 2013. In February the EPA also issued a separate suspension to the BP subsidiary that had operated the well, the Dallas-based BP Exploration & Production Inc., citing a violation of the Clean Water Act. In August 2013 the company filed suit against the EPA in Texas federal court, asking that the ban be lifted. It was not lifted until March 2014; the company successfully bid on 24 federal contracts later that month.
In January 2013 Transocean agreed to a $1 billion civil penalty under the Clean Water Act. Approximately $800 million of that amount was earmarked for restoration projects in the gulf, and the remainder was paid to the federal government. The company also pled guilty to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, resulting in a $400 million criminal penalty. Of that money, $300 million was evenly divided between restoration projects administered by the NFWF and an offshore oil safety research endowment administered by the NAS. The remainder funded a liability trust to be drawn upon in the event of later spills. In May 2015 Transocean resolved claims made by the plaintiffs’ steering committee for some $211.7 million.
In July 2013 Halliburton agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty after pleading guilty to criminal charges that its employees had destroyed evidence related to the spill. It settled claims with the plaintiffs’ steering committee for some $1.1 billion in September 2014. In November 2015 Anadarko was judged liable for some $159.5 million in civil penalties for its role in the disaster.
Charges against individuals
In April 2012 the first criminal charges to come out of the disaster were filed against a former senior drilling engineer for BP. Kurt Mix, who had worked for BP until January 2012, was charged in federal court with obstructing justice for deleting hundreds of text messages concerning the flow rate of oil despite having received legal notification to preserve the correspondence. Some of the messages were forensically recovered; one contained a flow rate estimate three times higher than what BP had publicly attested to at the time. He was convicted in December 2013.
In November 2012 two senior officers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, were charged with manslaughter. David Rainey, the former vice president for exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, was charged with obstructing Congress and making false statements to law enforcement concerning the rate at which oil was leaking from the rig. The Supreme Court refused to hear a 2015 appeal by the latter official to dismiss the obstruction charge.
To the dismay of many observers, none of the individuals who were charged with criminal offenses related to the spill ultimately received prison sentences. Rainey was acquitted in June 2015. Mix was granted a retrial owing to juror misconduct and instead pled guilty to misdemeanor computer fraud charges. He was sentenced to probation and community service in November 2015. The manslaughter charges against Kaluza and Vidrine were dropped in December 2015 at the request of the prosecution. Vidrine pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of pollution under the Clean Water Act and in April 2016 was sentenced to probation, community service, and the payment of a fine. Kaluza pled not guilty to the same charge and was cleared in February 2016.
The civil trial
The civil trial of BP, Halliburton, and Transocean began in late February 2013 in New Orleans. The federal government, as well as individual states and entities, was among the plaintiffs. The trial was intended to determine liability under the Clean Water Act and Natural Resource Damage Assessments under the Oil Pollution Act, addressing charges not covered by previous settlement agreements. The proceedings were arranged in three phases. The first, which ended in April, was to assess the degrees to which the three companies were culpable. Of particular import was the distinction between “gross negligence” and “negligence”; the former designation would result in fines approximately four times higher than those assessed for the latter. The second phase of the trial, which began in late September, was intended to establish the volume of oil released by the spill and whether the preparedness and damage-control efforts of the involved parties were adequate. It ended in late October. The third phase, in which damages would be determined, finished in February 2015.
The ruling on the first phase, announced in September 2014, found BP to be 67 percent culpable for the spill and thus grossly negligent. Transocean was held 30 percent liable and Halliburton 3 percent liable; both companies were deemed negligent. The ruling on the second phase, announced in January 2015, set the legal amount of oil for which the involved parties would be liable at 3.19 million barrels. BP had claimed that approximately 2.45 million barrels had leaked, while the U.S. government contended that 4.19 million barrels had spewed into the gulf. In July 2015, in the wake of a rejected Supreme Court appeal regarding the maximum fines for the disaster, a tentative settlement was reached between BP, the federal government, and the five states affected by the spill, with BP estimating that it would cost the company $18.7 billion. A finalized settlement of $20.8 billion was announced in October 2015, bringing the third phase to a close. It was the largest financial penalty ever leveled by the U.S. government against a single company. However, some observers noted that a substantial portion of the settlement could be written off on the company’s taxes as a business expense and consequently questioned the severity of the punishment. The settlement was formally approved in April 2016.
Environmental costs
Thousands of birds , mammals , and sea turtles were plastered with leaked oil. There was speculation that a spike in cetacean strandings and deaths that was recorded by NOAA beginning in February 2010 was further exacerbated by the spill. Typical causes of such widespread fatalities, including morbillivirus and toxins from red tides , were ruled out, and there was an unusual incidence of Brucella infection in stranded dolphins, leading researchers to suspect that contaminants from the spill had made cetaceans more vulnerable to other environmental dangers. A December 2013 study of living dolphins in Barataria Bay , Louisiana, found that roughly half were extremely sick; many suffered from lung and adrenal disorders known to be linked to oil exposure. Some 1,400 whales and dolphins had been found stranded by the end of 2015, a figure representing only a tiny percentage of the animals affected. Though the number of dead animals had begun to taper off, substantial decreases in dolphin fertility persisted. It was thought that the strandings represented the largest mortality event to occur in the Gulf of Mexico.
A dead bird covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, East Grand …
Charlie Riedel/AP
Birds were particularly vulnerable to the oil’s effects, and many perished—from ingesting oil as they tried to clean themselves or because the substance interfered with their ability to regulate their body temperatures. The brown pelican , recently delisted as an endangered species, was among the species most affected. A 2014 study projected that perhaps 12 percent of the brown pelicans and more than 30 percent of the laughing gulls in the area hit by the spill had been wiped out. According to another 2014 study, up to 800,000 birds were thought to have died. Even individuals not directly contaminated by oil were affected. A 2012 study determined that white pelicans that had migrated from the gulf to Minnesota to breed were producing eggs that contained discernible amounts of compounds that were traceable to the BP spill. Eggs containing traces of contaminants were found in Iowa and Illinois as well.
Animals that were found alive in the wake of the spill were transported to rehabilitation centres and, after being cleaned and medically evaluated, were released into oil-free areas. Concerns about the offspring of sea turtles that nested on the gulf coasts of Alabama and Florida led wildlife officials to dig up thousands of eggs and hatch them in a warehouse for later release on the Atlantic coast. By late 2012 some 1,700 turtles had been found dead. A long-term satellite tracking study released in May 2013 showed that the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle was likely severely affected, as its preferred foraging territory was within the area damaged by the spill. It was estimated that up to 65,000 imperiled turtles had died during 2010 alone, mostly as a result of oil contamination. It was also estimated that some 300,000 turtles, some of which were originally from breeding populations in other parts of the world, were in the region of the spill when it occurred, leading scientists to point out the global impacts of the disaster.
The impacts on smaller species were more difficult to determine. Numerous species of fish and invertebrates spawned in the gulf, and it was thought likely that some would succumb to the toxic effects of the oil. A 2014 study showed that the larvae of commercially important fish species, including tuna, likely developed heart defects after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from the oil. Areas of the seabed that had been coated by by-products of bacteria were essentially dead zones; many sedentary organisms had suffocated or been sickened by the material, and most mobile organisms had fled.
Reefs outside a 12-mile (19-km) radius from the Deepwater well appeared largely unaffected, but those within were heavily stressed. Laboratory studies suggested that oil and dispersants made coral reproduction more difficult. Coral larvae, which are initially mobile, attached to mature corals at much-reduced rates following exposure to the substances. Tests also determined that oil and dispersants were fatal to rotifers, microorganisms crucial to the gulf food web. A modeling study released in February 2016 suggested that the activity of oil-eating microbes was negatively affected by blooms of other species of microbes that preferred to feed on the dispersants. An April 2014 mission conducted by the research group Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG) aboard the submersible Alvin —which had famously been involved in investigating the wreckage of the Titanic —noted some ecological recovery of oiled areas of the seafloor, though detectable oil levels in sediment cores remained the same as they had been four years earlier.
It was hoped that extensive revisions to offshore-drilling regulations, prompted by the spill and issued in April 2016, would mitigate the likelihood of future disasters.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in pictures
Images of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010
Fireboat response crews attempting to extinguish the blaze aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, set off the previous day by an eruption of natural gas.
The U.S. Coast Guard collecting oil with a skimming boom off the coast of Mobile, Ala.
Sand covered with oil on Pensacola Beach, Fla.
Heavily oiled brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) captured at Grand Isle, La., waiting to be cleaned.
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama inspecting a tar ball from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the beach in Port Fourchon, La.
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What is the minimum period for which scotch whisky can be aged? | The Age in Scotch Whisky
The Age in Scotch Whisky
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Age has been a hot topic for whisky lovers all over the world for the last couple of years. Most of the producers follow the "orthodox" approach but there are some distilleries that they start experimenting in various ways in order to give to the consumer a different perspective. As James Mackie (White Horse), said "Scotch Whisky should always be well aged and good quality".
In 1887, Canada was the first nation to put minimum age requirements on whisky. The minimum age requirement was one year, which was increased to two years in 1890.
According to the 2009 Scotch Whisky Regulations, Scotch whiskies have minimum maturation of three years in oak casks. Whiskies do not mature in the bottle, only in the cask. The "age" is only the time between distillation and bottling. The age statement on the label should state the age of the youngest barrel used for the production of the batch.
Vintage Single Malt Whiskies are permitted to list only one year on the label, and it can be either the "distilled on" or "bottled on" date.
Maturation time is important because more than two thirds of the colour, flavour and character of a whisky are developed during the aging in the barrel, while the other third in the production process of the "new make". Age statement is considered as a marker of quality and a lot of people are driven from this statement in order to choose a whisky. Sadly, the maturation process is not as simple as "the longer you leave it, the woodier it gets" and certainly not as simple as the older the whisky, the better it tastes.
If we follow the "orthodox" approach, ageing has a far greater effect the longer the spirit spends in the cask but only really becomes relevant if the other variables are made aware to us. The size of the cask, the type and condition of wood, charring or toasting level, temperature and location of storage and many other factors will play an important role as well. The alcohol will be converted into aldehydes by the oxidative effects, which in turn will be converted into fruit esters. Extractive effects cause reactions between hemicellulose in the wood and fatty acids in the spirit, softening and integrating the product. Finally, the infusion adds vanillin, tannin, spice and nutty flavours in various degrees to barrel-aged spirits.
An increasing number of distilleries are focusing on taste and moving away from age statements. The intention is to persuade whisky lovers that even a young whisky can taste great, and that's all that really matters. Some examples are The Macallan 1824 Series, Talisker Storm, The Glenfiddich Cask Collection, Glenmorangie Companta, The Glenlivet Alpha, The Singleton Tailfire and Sunray and Cardhu Amber Rock.
Another challenge to the distilleries is to upgrade the age instead of no age statement. This decision is not easy because the age would require sufficient stocks to be laid down for years. The demand should be scheduled for a period of more than 12 years with a view to the change.
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In the Loop was a film spin-off from which satirical television series? | The Food Lab, Drinks Edition: Does Longer Aging Improve Whisky? | Serious Eats
The Food Lab, Drinks Edition: Does Longer Aging Improve Whisky?
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[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
Back in the heyday of my family's Scotch-whisky-as-ideal-Christmas-present phase, it wasn't uncommon for every member of the family to receive a bottle of fancy single-malt Scotch for Christmas—except for my mother, that is. I think it's written somewhere—on the side of storied ruins of Craigmillar Castle perhaps—that mothers are not allowed to enjoy Scotch. At The Great Christmas of 2007—at least I'm told it was great; I frankly don't remember much of it—a record-shattering 16 bottles of Scotch were given and received between six people.
Clearly, a tasting was in order, so we proceeded to pour ourselves 16 tastes in un-marked glasses, carefully examining, sipping, and knocking back each one before silently voting on our favorite. The results were all over the map with some of us picking out the strongly peated Laphroaig while others veered towards the sweeter, honeyed-notes of Macallan or Dalwhinnie. Age seemed to have little bearing on our preferences either—in a break from U.S. national policy, 12-year-olds were equally represented right alongside 18 and 21-year-olds.
This tasting, conducted in my own home by a group of eager amateurs, was inconclusive to say the least, but it got me thinking: Does longer aging really make for better whisky, and how much of that effect is purely psychological?
I decided to find out.
Why Age?
First off, what exactly is aging, and what is it supposed to accomplish?
Aging is the process of storing whisky in large, breathable oak casks for an extended period of time, from as little as three years (the minimum for a spirit to be labeled as Scotch Whisky) all the way up to 25 or more. The barrels were traditionally repurposed casks used in Sherry production, but these days can come from a variety of sources including bourbon, madeira, or even French wines. As the whisky sits, natural changes in atmosphere cause it to seep in and out of the wood, slowly picking up flavors from both the wood and its previous contents. At the same time, some proportion of the whisky evaporates, resulting in a decrease in its alcohol content (the stuff the floats off into the atmosphere is referred to as the "angel's share"), and a mellowing of its flavor.
The complete nature of changes whisky undergoes during aging are not fully understood. Like a living thing, reactions are constantly taking place between the chemicals in the whisky, the air, and the wood, destroying some flavor compounds while creating brand new, potentially more complex ones.
And of course, there's another thing that aging has a profound effect on: price. The price of whisky tends to go up exponentially with its age. While most single malt whiskies (those are whiskies that are bottled from a single batch as opposed to blended from multiple batches) in the 12-year range hover in the $100-and-under range, there are many 25-year-old whiskies that can top $500 per bottle!
The Whiskies
To test whether or not these bottles are really worth the premium they command, our first order of business was to isolate age out of all the other variables—not an easy task! Even amongst the same distilleries, batches of whisky can change from year to year, particularly at the smaller distilleries (larger distilleries have a more codified process with more quality and consistency controls set in place). After that, you've got to find whiskies that were all aged in the same type of barrels. Many producers use multiple types of barrels to distinguish whisky of different ages in their lines.
In the end, we ended up talking to the kind folks at The Macallan , one of the world's largest whisky distilleries producing some of our favorite Highland malts. In the interest of pure scientific inquiry, they agreed to donate three bottles that were perfectly suited for our cause. All three bottles were aged from the same whisky (due to Macallan's large size, we're fairly confident that the starting spirits were similar in nature) and aged in the same Sherry oak casks. The only difference between them is the number of years they have been aged.
Here's what we had:
The Macallan 12-year-old , around $40 retail. Cost per year in barrel: $3.33
The Macallan 18-year-old , around $130 retail. Cost per year in barrel: $7.22
The Macallan 25-year-old , around $500 retail. Cost per year in barrel: $20
Notice that the 25-year-old whisky costs 600% more than the 12-year-old!
The Setup
In order to gauge whether or not older whiskies are truly better, I assembled a group of a dozen world class whisky drinkers, including such literary luminaries as Jeffrey Steingarten, bar owners like Kenny McCoy and Michael Neff of Ward III , professional distillers and brewers like Colin Spoelman of King's County Distillery and Gable Erenzo of Tuthilltown Spirits , and our own Cocktail 101 columnist Mike Dietsch . A powerhouse of drinkers, to be sure. I assembled them in two separate groups at the rooftop bar of the Gramercy Park Hotel (one of the greatest drinking spots in the city, helmed by bar manager Kevin Denton) in order to conduct several blind tastings.
I divided the tasters into three separate groups.
The first group of tasters knew exactly what they were tasting. They knew the maker, the ages, and which whisky was in which glass. The tasting was completely silent, marked only by the careful sniffs of tasters and the occasional clink of glasses. Indeed, for the first 10 minutes, most tasters didn't even take a sip of their whisky, instead examining its color and aroma. After collecting their scores and comments, I wasn't surprised to find that they unanimously picked the same order for overall quality—after all, they've all had experience with these three bottles in the past—but was surprised to see that in fact, all of them had chosen the 18-year-old as the superior whisky. While the 12-year old was still a little rough around the edges, the 25 was described as being "unbalanced," compared to the 18, with a bit too much vanilla and sweet sherry characteristics.
Interesting and certainly telling that the decision was unanimous, but there was still plenty of room for preconceived bias in this open tasting.
The second group of tasters tasted 100% blind. Tasters were given three identical glasses of whisky. They were not aware of the brand, of the age, or even that there was any difference at all between the three glasses. Thirty minutes later, I looked over their score sheets and found that once again, the Macallan 18 had come out on top, with three out of four tasters picking it as their favorite. For the record, Steingarten was the sole taster who felt the 25-year-old barely edged out the 18, proclaiming, "ah! So I'm the only one who got it right!" when the bottles were revealed.
Very interesting. It seems that the experts do indeed seek out certain characteristics in their Scotch and tend to agree upon what makes one Scotch better than another.
Knowing now that most professionals agree that the 18-year-old Macallan is the best of the three, I decided to shake things up a bit. For my final tasting, the tasters were all told what whiskies they would be drinking, but every sample would be deliberately mislabeled. So a glass labeled 18-year-old might actually be holding 12-year-old. My hope was that perhaps some sort of learned psychological bias on the part of the tasters might influence them enough to override their palates and pick based on the knowledge that the 18-year-old should taste better than the 12 or the 25.
Kenny McCoy of Ward III, Colin Spoelman of King's County Distillery, Brian Facquet of Prohibition Distillery, and Elana Effrat of Lot 18
No such luck. The tally was once again unanimously in favor of the 18-year-old Mac, regardless of the label on the glass!
"The Macallan 18 is a classic," said Kenny McCoy. "I could drink this stuff like water."
Stephanie Moreno of Astor Wine and Spirits agreed that the whisky is so well-regarded as to almost be cliché. "People come in all the time asking for it, to the point that I'll sometimes try and steer them towards a more obscure bottle," she says.
In my mind, that cleared up the answer to my initial question once and for all: longer aging does not necessarily make for better tasting whisky. Not that the 25-year-old whisky was bad, per se. Every taster marked it as a close second to the 18-year-old, and indeed, some mentioned that they really enjoyed drinking it if only because it provided an interesting counterpoint to the younger whiskies, clearly demonstrating the effects of aging. To draw a limited analogy, I'd liken it to the fact that I'd never claim Let It Be to be the greatest Beatles album, but I still love listening to it because of the role it plays in the Beatles' oeuvre, and indeed, would pay a premium for it if it was the only hole in my collection.
All of this begs the question, why is The Macallan 25 so much more expensive than the 18?
It's partially a production cost. Barrels are expensive, and they take up space (and space costs money, too.) But even more than that, it's a matter of scarcity. There simply aren't nearly as many bottles of Macallan 25 around, making it a sought-after prize for collectors—even those who might not necessarily drink the whisky.
Kevin Denton of Gramercy Park Hotel
But there's another thing to consider: amateurs. That is, people who can afford to buy whisky, but don't necessarily have the vocabulary or training to explain why one whisky may be "better" than another, or even whether it's better at all.
I decided to repeat the same series of tests, but this time, my tasting pool would consist of casual whisky drinkers. Those who, like myself, drink whisky fairly regularly, but rarely stop to concretely analyze what makes one whisky better than another.
This time, the results were drastically different: in all three tastings, there was no clear consensus. When tasters were given labeled glasses, the vote was split evenly between the 18- and 25-year-old whiskys (nobody picked the glasses labeled 12 as their favorite)—even when the glasses labeled 25 or 18 were actually holding 12-year-old whisky. In the completely blind tasting (which unfortunately was only held between three people—my pool of friends and supply of whisky is outreached by my curiosity), each whisky ended up receiving a vote.
So what does this all mean? Well for starters, we can say with a good amount of certainty that at least within the criteria of what experts define as "good" whisky—that is, complexity, smoothness, and overall drinkability—the 18-year-old Macallan is clearly superior to the 25. This indicates that if your goal is to align your tastes with the experts, then you'd be a fool to spend the extra $370 on a bottle of the older stuff.
On the other hand, if an expert's opinion has little to no merit to you—which is true for many people, myself included, to a degree—then you're far better off finding a good bottle that you can afford to like and sticking with it, whether it's young or old.
Steingarten prepares for a quaff
Is this study conclusive? Of course not. My sample size was fairly small, and the whiskies we tasted were all from a single distillery amongst a sea of excellent whiskies. It could easily be the case that Macallan is simply a fluke, that had we repeated the test with whiskies from a different distillery, the results would have been drastically different.
Like any purchasing decision, selecting a bottle of whisky is a cost-benefit analysis. But the knowledge that spending far more money on a bottle just because it's older may not actually deliver a whisky that tastes better to me will figure heavily into my future buys.
With the money I save on next year's Christmas presents, I may buy myself a nice bottle of the Macallan 18.
And in case anyone is wondering, Steingarten's current favorite whisky is Kavalan, a single malt from Taiwan. I've not had it, but I'd love to taste it.
Blind, of course.
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Which date has been unofficially designated “Star Wars Day”? | Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You | StarWars.com
tv shows
Why is May the 4th Called Star Wars Day? //
Say “May the 4th Be With You” out loud and you’ll hear the pun that Star Wars fans worldwide have turned into a rallying cry to proclaim their love of the saga. It’s the worldwide day to say “May the Force be with you” to all, and celebrate the beloved Star Wars story that binds our galaxy together.
One of the earliest known records of “May the 4th” used in popular culture is in 1979, as described here by author Alan Arnold while he was chronicling the making of The Empire Strikes Back for Lucasfilm:
Friday, May 4
“Margaret Thatcher has won the election and become Britain’s first woman prime minister. To celebrate their victory her party took a half page of advertising space in the London Evening News. This message, referring to the day of victory, was ‘May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations,’ further proof of the extent to which Star Wars has influenced us all.”
Once the Internet allowed Star Wars fans around the world to connect with one another, May the 4th soon became a grassroots tradition each year, with fans online and offline proclaiming it “Star Wars Day.”
While the idea of May the 4th did not start with Lucasfilm, the film company that created Star Wars has fully embraced the spirit of fandom that makes the day so special. StarWars.com as well as the official Star Wars social media channels (hashtag #StarWarsDay ) help spread the word and showcase fan activity. More and more official partners have offered sales, giveaways and exclusives, and have hosted parties and other activities to mark the day.
May the 4th kicks off a season of celebration, particularly since the month of May has always been important to Star Wars fans. The six live-action movies of the Star Wars saga debuted in May (starting with the original Star Wars on May 25, 1977). The month of May includes George Lucas’ birthday (May 14, 1944), and has been the traditional start date of the popular Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World Resort.
With the launch of a new era of Star Wars thanks to The Force Awakens — which continues with Rogue One later this year — this day to celebrate the saga and its amazing fans is bigger (and more fun) than it’s ever been.
Video //
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Played by Laila Rouass, Amber Gates was a major character in which ITV drama series? | LDSDaily.com | News, FHE Lessons, Tips, Helps, & Discusssion
The Light Calls To You
April 7, 2016 Personal
Since I watched the new Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens” I’ve been thinking continually about light versus darkness. In the movie, one of the most impactful scenes for me personally was when Kylo Ren was talking to the old helmet of Darth Vader, who, SPOILER ALERT, is his grandfather. In the scene he tells his grandfather, “Forgive me. I feel …
President Uchtdorf Celebrates Aviation with Harrison Ford, Gail Halvorsen
January 27, 2016 World
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, was able to join fellow aviation lovers recently at an event for Living Legends of Aviation. Officially an award, President Uchtdorf has been designated a Living Legend of Aviation. According to the official website for the group, “the ‘Living Legends of Aviation’ are admirable people of remarkable accomplishment in aviation, …
How Mormon Missionaries are like Jedi
December 17, 2015 Entertainment
As a missionary we often would talk about how Missionaries were like the Jedi, it was even brought up in a Zone Conference, one of the Assistants said, “President Wilkey is like Yoda, listen to him”. At lunch, everyone talked about how Missionaries are like Jedi. Here are a few ways that Missionaries are like Jedi, if I missed one, …
BYU Noteworthy Celebrates Star Wars With New Mashup
December 17, 2015 Entertainment
To celebrate the new Star Wars movie, the girls of BYU’s Noteworthy has created a fun a capella mashup of favorite songs from the original Star Wars soundtrack. You can watch the entire video above!
10 Star Wars Quotes That Sound A Lot Like General Conference
May 4, 2015 Entertainment
May 4 is considered, unofficially, to be National Star Wars Day! To celebrate, here are 10 of our favorite Star Wars quotes (in no particular order) with their General Conference counterparts. May the Fourth Be With You! Number One Number Two Number Three Number Four Number Five Number Six Number Seven Number Eight Number Nine Number Ten
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Who designed the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles on which the match was played? | The PGA Centenary | Gleneagles
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The PGA Centenary
Created by Jack Nicklaus, the PGA Centenary Course was venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup, where the cream of European and American golf battled it out on Scottish soil for the first time in more than 40 years.
Host Venue of The 2014 Ryder Cup and 2019 Solheim Cup.
The PGA® Centenary Course, created by Jack Nicklaus, is a modern classic.
Even for a champion and acclaimed golf architect like Nicklaus, The PGA Centenary Course was a challenge. It had to be a truly great golf course, set as it is in the heart of Scotland, the country that gave the world golf. Thankfully Nicklaus described the course as "the finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with".
It had to be unique in its challenge, a golf course in the modern design ethos that at its fullest stretch tests the greatest players, while, in the immortal phrase of Bobby Jones, "offering problems a man may attempt according to his ability... never hopeless for the lesser player nor failing to concern and interest the expert".
The tees are graded at each hole in five stages, including a challenging 6,815 yards from the white markers down to 5,322 from the red. Fittingly, The PGA Centenary Course begins by playing southeast towards the glen, sweeping up the Ochil Hills to the summit of the pass below Ben Shee which joins it to Glendevon.
A feature of The PGA Centenary Course is the feast of views of the spectacular countryside in which Gleneagles is set. Putting on the two-tier second green, you are distracted by the lush panorama of the rich Perthshire straths. As you move westwards over the next few holes, the rugged Grampians come into view on the right, then distantly purple ahead, Ben Vorlich and the mountains above the Trossachs.
® PGA is a registered trademark of The Professional Golfers' Association Limited
| Jack Nicklaus |
Who played the U-boat commander in the ‘Don’t tell him, Pike’ scene from Dad’s Army? | 2014 Ryder Cup dates set, event to be played in late September in Scotland
2014 Ryder Cup dates set, event to be played in late September in Scotland
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The 2014 Ryder Cup will be the event's 40th staging and the second time it has been held in Scotland.
By
Series: Ryder Cup
Published: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 | 1:10 p.m.
Howling winds and torrential rains accompanied Tuesday's date announcement for the 2014 Ryder Cup, but organizers dismissed fears of another weather-disrupted event in Britain.
The 2014 biennial match between Europe and the United States will take place Sept. 26-28 on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles.
RYDER CUP
Relive the 2012 Ryder Cup
Europe currently holds the Ryder Cup, having triumphed at Celtic Manor last October in an event that went into a fourth day for the first time in history due to adverse weather in Wales.
While golf's entry into the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will lead to a restructuring of the sport's already-packed calendar, the 2014 Ryder Cup will remain in its traditional place on the schedule, rather than an earlier date that might be less susceptible to bad weather.
The wet surroundings and lying water on the King's Course by the Dormy Clubhouse, where Tuesday's announcement was made, must have made for uncomfortable viewing, but European Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills maintained the weather is not a concern.
"It's in its traditional date," said Hills. "We are not an indoor sport. You have instances where tournaments in July have had to go into Mondays, so it's not an unusual occurrence. We have to deal with what we've been given.
The possibility of changing the date was examined, he said, adding that Ryder Cup officials were comfortable with the late September slot.
"If we had played the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor we'd have had three days' straight sunshine this year," he said. "We're very confident of delivery in this particular date."
The competition will be played in the traditional three-day, 28-point format and there is the possibility of an additional day's play, if required.
"There's always been a provision that you could run over into that extra day," Hills added.
It will be the 40th staging of the Ryder Cup and the second time the event has been held in Scotland. In 1973, the contest was played at Muirfield in East Lothian.
There is a particular poignancy about the event returning to Gleneagles, too.
"The precursor to the first match in 1927 was a friendly match played here, at Gleneagles, in 1921," Hills explained. "It's something of a homecoming."
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond was present at the announcement. He estimates the Scottish economy will benefit by up to $150 million from the event, which is to take place in the same year as Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games.
In an effort to allay fears over the Scottish climate, Salmond read out figures relating to conditions at Gleneagles earlier this year, describing them as "balmy sunshine."
And the SNP leader, for one, is relishing the prospect of the Ryder Cup returning to Scotland.
"It's going to be enormous. I'm feeling the excitement already -- 2014's the next year of Homecoming (a celebration of Scottish ancestry)," he said. "It's also the year of the Commonwealth Games, where the whole Commonwealth will come to Glasgow for a great multi-sport event. And then in September it's the Ryder Cup."
The 2012 Ryder Cup will take place at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago next September, with Jose Maria Olazabal as captain.
Scotland will have to wait until early 2013 to discover if Colin Montgomerie -- or any other Scot -- is awarded the captaincy for 2014. It was a debate Salmond avoided.
"It's a decision which is taken by the tournament committee of the PGA European Tour," Hills said. "Normally that would take place in the second committee after the Chicago match, sometime early in 2013."
Two other announcements were made, with drinks giant Diageo joining as an official partner of the 2014 tournament.
Changes to the course were also made public, with adjustments made at the ninth, 10th and 18th holes following proposals by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus.
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The holder of which post is also the Minister for the Civil Service? | Prime Minister - GOV.UK
GOV.UK
Announcements
Responsibilities
The Prime Minister is head of the UK government and is ultimately responsible for the policy and decisions of the government.
As head of the UK government the Prime Minister also:
oversees the operation of the Civil Service and government agencies
appoints members of the government
is the principal government figure in the House of Commons
Current role holder: The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Theresa May became Prime Minister on 13 July 2016. Theresa served as Home Secretary from May 2010 until July 2016. She was elected Conservative MP for Maidenhead in May 1997.
Education
Theresa had a varied education, spanning both the state and private sectors and attending both grammar school and comprehensive school. She studied geography at St Hugh’s College, Oxford University.
Political career
Theresa has been involved in politics at all levels for many years, beginning by stuffing envelopes at her local Conservative association before going on to be a councillor in the London borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994. During her time at Merton, Theresa was Chair of Education from 1988 to 1990 and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesperson from 1992 to 1994.
Theresa was elected MP for Maidenhead in May 1997, after which she held several shadow positions, including:
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment 1999 to 2001
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 2001 to 2002
Shadow Secretary of State for the Family 2004 to 2005
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 2005
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 2005 to 2009
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women and Equalities 2010 to 2012
Theresa served as Home Secretary from May 2010 until July 2016.
Career outside politics
After starting her career at the Bank of England, Theresa went on to the Association for Payment Clearing Services, firstly as Head of the European affairs unit from 1989 to 1996 and then as Senior Adviser on international affairs from 1996 to 1997.
Previous holders of this role
Find out more about previous holders of this role in our past Prime Ministers section.
Announcements
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| Prime minister |
Count Duckula was a spinoff from which other children’s animated series? | Prime Minister - Wikinfo
Prime Minister
Alternate meaning: Prime Minister (band)
A prime minister is the chief member of the cabinet in a parliamentary system of government , or alternatively an official in a presidential system or semi-presidential system whose duty is to execute the directives of the President and manage the civil service .
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II
In a parliamentary system, such as the Westminster System , the Prime Minister is generally in practice the head of the government while the head of state is largely a ceremonial position. In some monarchies the prime minister exercises powers (known as the Royal Prerogative ) which are constitutionally vested in the monarch and which can be exercised without the approval of parliament.
Contents
8.1 References
Prime Ministers in both Republics & Monarchies
Prime Ministers can be found in both constitutional monarchies (as is the case in the United Kingdom, Norway and Japan ), and in republics , where the head of state is an elected or unelected official with varying degrees of real power. This contrasts with a presidential system , where the President (or equivalent) is both the head of state and the head of the government. See also " First Minister ", " Premier " which are distinct from "prime minister."
In some presidential or semi-presidential systems such as France , Russia , South Korea or Taiwan the prime minister is an official generally appointed by the President but approved by the legislature and responsible for carrying out the directives of the President and managing the civil service. In these systems, it is possible for the president and the prime minister to be from different political parties if the legislature is controlled by a party different than that of the president. This is a situation which is known as cohabitation .
Method of Entry into Office
Prime Minister of Canada in the 1920s to the 1940s
In parliamentary systems a prime minister can enter into office by a number of means.
by appointment by the head of state without the need for confirmation by parliament;' Example: The United Kingdom, where the monarch appoints a prime minister without the need for confirmation from parliament, which gets its first chance to indicate its view on the new government in the vote on the Speech from the Throne , in which the new government outlines its legislative programme. The method of prime ministerial appointment by the British sovereign is known as to Kiss Hands . Article 190 of the 1982 Portuguese Constitution, for example, states that
The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President of the Republic after consultation and with the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic, due regard being had to the [general] election results.
appointment by the head of state after parliament nominates a candidate; Example: The Republic of Ireland where the President of Ireland appoints the Taoiseach on the nomination of Dáil Éireann .)
the head of state nominates a candidate for prime minister who is then submitted to parliament for approval before appointment as prime minister; Example: Spain , where the King sends a nomination to parliament for approval. Also Germany where under the Basic Law (constitution) the Bundestag votes on a candidate nominated by the Federal President. In these cases, parliament can choose another candidate who then would be appointed by the head of state.)
the head of state appoints a prime minister who has a set timescale within which s/he must gain a vote of confidence; (Example: Italy .)
direct election by parliament (the premiers of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut );
appointment by a state office holder other than the head of state or his/her representative; Example: Under the modern Instrument of Government 1974, which came into force in 1975, the power of commissioning someone to form a government was moved from the King of Sweden to the Speaker of Parliament, who, once it has been approved, formally makes the appointment.
Though most prime ministers are 'appointed', they are generally if inaccurately described as 'elected'.
Prime Ministers in Constitutions
Prime Minister of Australia in the 1970s
The position, power and status of prime ministers differ depending on the age of the constitution in individuals.
Britain's unwritten constitution makes no mention of a prime minister. Though it had de facto existed for centuries, its first official mention in official state documents did not occur until the first decade of the twentieth century.
Australia's Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (1900) makes no mention of a prime minister of Australia. The office has a de facto existence at the head of the Executive Council.
Ireland's constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann (1937) provided for the office of taoiseach in detail, listing powers, functions and duties.
Germany 's Basic Law (1949) lists the powers, functions and duties of the federal Chancellor .
Exit from Office
Contrary to popular and journalistic myth, most prime ministers in parliamentary systems are not appointed for a specific term of office and in effect may remain in power through a number of elections and parliaments. For example, Margaret Thatcher was only ever appointed prime minister on one occasion, in 1979 . She remained continually in power until 1990, though she used the assembly of each House of Commons after a general election to reshuffle her cabinet. Some states, however, do have a term of office of the prime minister linked to the period in office on the parliament. Hence the Irish Taoiseach is formally 'renominated' after every general election. (Some constitutional experts have questioned whether this process is actually in keeping with the provisions of the Irish constitution, which appear to suggest a taoiseach should remain in office, without the requirement of a renomination, unless s/he has clearly lost the general election.)
Prime Minister of India from 1947 - 1964
In parliamentary systems, governments are generally required to have the confidence of the lower house of parliament (though a small minority of parliaments, by giving a right to block Supply to upper houses, in effect make the cabinet responsible to both houses, though in reality upper houses, even when they have the power, rarely exercise it). Where they lose a vote of confidence, have a motion of no confidence passed against them, or where they lose Supply, most constitutional systems require either:
resignation, or
a request of a parliamentary dissolution.
The latter in effect allows the government to appeal the opposition of parliament to the highest court in the land, the court of public opinion through an election. However in many jurisdictions a head of state may refuse a parliamentary dissolution, requiring the resignation of the prime minister and his or her government. In most modern parliamentary systems, the Prime Minister is the person who decides when to request a parliamentary dissolution. Older constitutions often vest this power in the cabinet. (In Britain, for example, the tradition whereby it is the prime minister who requests a dissolution of parliament dates back to 1918. Prior to then, it was the entire government that made the request. Similarly, though the modern 1937 Irish constitution grants to the Taoiseach the right to make the request, the earlier 1922 Irish Free State Constitution vested the power in the Executive Council (the then name for the Irish cabinet).
Title of Prime Minister
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What is the maximum permitted length of an entry in the Eurovision Song Contest? | Rules | Eurovision Song Contest
Download the full Rules of the 2017 Eurovison Song Contest (PDF) or read the excerpts below.
Excerpts from the Rules
A maximum of 46 Active EBU Members shall be allowed to participate.
Active EBU Members from a maximum total of 26 countries shall compete in the Final. There shall be six guaranteed places therein: the Host Broadcaster, five EBU Members from France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The contest is composed of three live Shows, two Semi- Finals usually taking place on Tuesdays and on Thursdays and one Final taking place on Saturdays.
Viewers in the countries of the Participating Broadcasters are invited to vote for their favourite songs (without the possibility of voting for the song representing their own country) by means of televoting.
In addition, in each participating country, there shall be a National Jury to be appointed by that country's Participating Broadcaster to vote in the Semi-Finals and in the Final.
With respect to the televoting, the song which has received the highest number of votes shall be ranked first, the song which has received the second highest number of votes shall be ranked second and so on until the last song.
With respect to the National Jury voting, the jury members shall rank first their favourite song, second, their second favourite song, third, their third favourite song, and so on until their least favourite song which shall be ranked last. Abstentions are not allowed, except that the song representing the country of the Participating Broadcaster which has appointed the National Jury shall be excluded from the vote.
In both Semi-Finals and in the Final, the ranks of the televoting and the National Jury shall be combined.
The compositions (lyrics and music) must not have been commercially released before the 1st of September 2016. In case the composition has been made available to the public, for example, but not limited to, on online video platforms, social networks or (semi-) publicly accessible databanks, the Participating Broadcaster must inform the Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor, who shall have authority to evaluate whether the composition is eligible for participation in the Event.
The maximum duration of each song is three minutes.
Each performance may consist of a maximum of six people on stage. No live animals shall be allowed on stage.
All artists competing in a Semi-Final must be aged at least 16 on the day of the Final. All artists competing only in the Final must be aged at least 16 on the day of the Final.
No artist may compete for more than one country in the Eurovision Song Contest in a given year. Each Participating Broadcaster is free to decide the language in which its artist(s) will sing.
Artists shall perform live on stage, accompanied by a recorded backing-track which contains no vocals of any kind or any vocal imitations.
The lyrics and/or performance of the songs shall not bring the Shows, the Eurovision Song Contest as such or the EBU into disrepute. No lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature shall be permitted during the Eurovision Song Contest. No swearing or other unacceptable language shall be allowed in the lyrics or in the performances of the songs. No messages promoting any organisation, institution, political cause or other, company, brand, products or services shall be allowed in the Shows and within any official Eurovision Song Contest premises (i.e. at the venue, the Eurovision village, the Press Centre, etc.). A breach of this rule may result in disqualification.
The full results of the televoting and jury voting in the Semi-Finals and the Final, as well as the individual ranking submitted by each jury member, shall be announced on the official website of the ESC, www.eurovision.tv, after the end of the Final and such results may be made available on National Websites of the Participating Broadcasters.
Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede hosted the two Semi-Finals and Grand Final in 2016.
| Three Minutes |
What type of soup is a consommé or broth garnished with long thin strips of vegetables? | Eurovision 2011: 18 bizarre facts about the contest - Telegraph
Eurovision
Eurovision 2011: 18 bizarre facts about the contest
Abba and Céline Dion are past winners of the Eurovision Song Contest - an event that once featured a Turkish song repeating only the word 'Opera'
Abba demo From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel is to be officially released. Photo: EPA
8:51AM BST 13 May 2011
• The Eurovision Song Contest was first staged in Switzerland on 24th May 1956.
• More than 125 million people across the world are expected to watch the 2011 contest.
• The UK has won five times and been second 15 times. Ireland, represented this year by Jedward, is the country with the highest number of wins (seven).
• Each song cannot be longer than three minutes and a maximum of six people are permitted on the stage at any time for each country. Live animals are banned.
• In 2006 Ireland's Brian Kennedy, who has sung duets with Van Morrison, became the 1000th act to sing on the Eurovision stage with Every Song Is A Cry For Love. He came tenth.
Related Articles
• The UK has hosted the competition five times - in London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Harrogate and Birmingham.
• Bruce Forsyth's daughter, Julie Forsyth, appeared with Guy 'n' Dolls in 1979.
• A singer named Ruslana won for Ukraine in 2004 and was later rewarded with a seat in parliament.
• 2,500 journalists are covering this year's event.
• Norway are the Eddie the Eagle of Euro pop. They have scored "nul points" more times (four) than any other country in Eurovision history and have also appeared at the bottom of the polls the most number of times (10).
• Among the contestants who have had successful careers are ABBA (1974), Céline Dion, Cliff Richard and Julio Iglesias. Dion won for Switzerland in 1988 with the song Ne partez pas sans moi.
Cliff Richard competed twice, finishing in second and third place in 1968 and 1973 respectively and Grease star Olivia Newton-John also took to the Eurovision stage, singing her way to fourth place in Brighton in 1974. Other artists who have achieved varying degrees of success after winning include Dana, Brotherhood of Man, Marie Myriam, Johnny Logan, Bucks Fizz and Nicole.
• Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest three times; in 1980, 1987 and 1992.
• Italy boycotted the 1981 Eurovision Song contest, saying that it was too old fashioned.
• Titles of songs have included Boom Bang-aBang (UK, 1969), A-Ba-Ni-Ba (Israel, 1978), Bana Bana (Turkey, 1989) and Bourn Badaboru (Monaco, 1967).
• 1983 the Turkish Eurovision entry, Opera consisted entirely of the word 'Opera' being repeated over and over. Spain's cleverly titled, La La La contained no fewer than 138 la's.
• Norway's 1980 song was about the construction of a hydro-electric power station.
• The youngest winner was 13-year-old Sandra Kin from Belgium in 1986.
* The first Eurovision Contest broadcast in colour was held at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, in 1968.
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What is the name of the river on which Bakewell stands? | Bakewell Derbyshire - central to the Peak District
Bakewell Derbyshire - central to the Peak District
Bakewell is the home of the Peak District National Park Authority. Founded by the Romans at a crossing of the River Wye. In Saxon times Edward the Elder built a fort here. Jane Austen stayed in the Rutland Arms, where the Bakewell Pudding was invented.
Local Attractions
Bakewell Church
Bakewell's name is said to derive from the warm springs in the area - the Domesday book entry calls the town 'Badequella', meaning Bath-well.
The town was built on the West bank of the Wye at a spot where it was fordable and the site was probably occupied in Roman times (there is a Roman altar at Haddon Hall , found nearby). The Saxons left their mark here and in 924 Edward the Elder ordered a fortified borough to be built here.
The church was founded in 920 and some Saxon fragments can be seen in the porch. However, although parts are Norman, most of the modern building dates from the 13th century and it was then virtually rebuilt in the 1840s. It contains many interesting monuments and is well worth a visit.
A few yards up the hill from the church is the award-winning Old House Museum, housed in one of the few genuinely medieval buildings of the area. This house serves as a local history museum and is in the care of the Bakewell Historical Society. Other places of historical interest include Bagshaw Hall, a fine 17th century house built by a rich lawyer, and several old buildings down King Street, such as the Old Town Hall, the Red Tudor House and the Hospital of the Knight of St John. Just off the Buxton Road lies Victoria Mill, which ground corn from water power until 1939.
The old bridge at Bakewell
Two of the original wells (which serve up water rich in iron at a temperature of 15 degrees Centigrade) still survive. These are the Bath-well in Bath Street and Holywell (or Pete well) in the recreation ground. The others have been filled in long ago. Likewise, little except the bridge across the Wye (built around 1300 though widened since then) now survives of the old Bakewell, which was quite medieval in character until the early 19th century. In 1777 Arkwright opened a mill in the town and it was perhaps the resulting surge in prosperity which caused the town to be largely rebuilt in the 19th century.
One such building is the Rutland Arms, overlooking the town square and built in 1804. Jane Austen stayed here in 1811 and in Pride and Prejudice she has Elizabeth Bennet stopping here to meet the Darcys and Mr Bingley. However the Rutland Arms' chief claim to fame is as the place where the Bakewell Pudding (Bakewell has never heard of tarts) was invented by a chef of 1859 who made a mistake. You can now buy Bakewell Puddings at several establishments across the town, all claiming to have the original unique recipe.
Bakewell has one of the oldest markets in the area, dating from at least 1300. The first recorded fair was held in 1254. Markets are still held every Monday and, unlike most of the other local centres, there is a thriving livestock market at the recently rebuilt Agricultural Centre, which is well worth a visit. The big event of the year is the annual Bakewell Show, which takes place the first Wednesday and Thursday in August and attracts farmers and many others from all over the Peak District and surrounding area.
Bakewell from the river
There are some very pleasant walks along the river from the bridge in the centre of town. Downstream leads to the recreation ground and upstream takes you to the site of Arkwright's mill, via Holme Hall (a fortified manor house dated 1626) and Holme Bridge (dated 1664). The mill burned down in 1868, but the cottages associated with it (Lumford Terrace), still survive.
Bakewell has a full range of shops, pubs and restaurants. There are numerous options for accommodation and there is also a Youth Hostel.
Bakewell has an annual well dressing and carnival, held in late June and it is the home of the Peak District National Park Authority, who have their main offices at Aldern House, Baslow Road. They also operate the town's information centre which is in the old Market Hall in Bridge street, with a parking area (except on market days) and public toilets next to it. It is open daily 9.30am - 5.30pm in summer and 9.30am - 1pm in winter. Telephone: 01629 813227
| Wye |
Which river features in Jimmy Nail’s 1995 Top 20 hit, ‘Big River’? | Bakewell, Derbyshire
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Bakewell's medieval bridge
There was a fortified town at this ford on the River Wye in Saxon times, built in the early 10th century by Edward the Elder, but a Roman altar found at nearby Haddon Hall suggests that there was a Roman presence in the area long before Edward's time.
Even before Edward ordered Bakewell to be fortified there was a church in the town, founded in 920. Two Saxon crosses in the churchyard probably predate the church, and further Saxon stonework can be seen in the church. The current church building is largely a product of the 13th century, and it boasts a lovely 14th century tower and spire. In the church interior are fine monuments to the Vernon family of Haddon Hall.
The name 'Bakewell' betrays the town's origins; In the Domesday Book of 1086 Bakewell was called "Badequella", or "Bath well", a reference to the natural mineral springs are common in this area of Derbyshire. There are still two springs in Bakewell, one in Bath Street, and the other at Holywell, in the town recreation grounds. Every August the wells are "dressed" in a traditional ceremony that probably dates back to the pre-Christian era.
St John's Hospital (Bakewell Almshouses)
There is a musical procession to the well, and the well head is decorated with colourful blossoms and artwork. It is thought that the practice is a form of ancient fertility rite, though now it owes more to promoting tourism than any sense of linkage to the past.
Richard Arkwright chose Bakewell as the site of a cotton mill in 1777, and the resulting prosperity changed the character of the town. Today very little of medieval Bakewell remains, and the town has a decidedly Georgian and Victorian flavour. The early 14th century bridge across the Wye still stands as does 17th century Bagshaw Hall.
The Old House Museum, close by the church, houses a local history museum in one of the few remaining medieval buildings in town. The Old House was adapted by Richard Arkwright for his workers, and you can trace the history of how the house changed and how the mill-workers used the building.
Also near the church is St John's Hospital, not a hospital in the modern sense, but a row of almshouses built in 1709 on the site of earlier almshouses founded in 1597 by Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury. The Manners family, Dukes of Rutland, maintained the almshouses for over 200 years, until 1920.
The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop
Bakewell is also the home of the Peak District National Park administration, with offices in Baswell Road. The town makes an excellent centre for exploring the Peak District.
BAKEWELL PUDDING
The delicious concoction that bears Bakewell's name came about as the result of an accident in 1859. Apparently a cook at the White Horse inn, now demolished, was making jam tarts and almond cake at the same time. She mistakenly poured half of the cake mixture into the prepared jam tart crust. Not wishing to throw out the unintentional mix, she popped it in the oven. The result was Bakewell Pudding, which proved an instant success.
Several Bakewell bakeries claim to produce the original Bakewell Pudding. Perhaps none has a better claim than the The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop on The Square, which has been selling the puddings since 1865. The shop was founded by Mrs Wilson, wife of a tallow candle maker, who bought the original recipe and launched the shop from the 17th century building her family rented from the Dukes of Rutland. All puddings are hand-made, using the still-secret recipe. There is also a traditional Bakewell Tart, made with cake crumbs.
About Bakewell
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Who wrote the novels The Sicilian and The Last Don? | Mario Puzo : THE LAST DON (novel)
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To the Clericuzio family, life is like a box of hand grenades. Mario Puzo is back with a vengeance in his first Mafia novel since The Godfather, a thrilling saga of the last great American crime family and its reach into Hollywood and Las Vegas.
The Last Don
Twenty-seven years ago, Mario Puzo created a popular classic with the publication of The Godfather. Now, after writing bestselling novels about Las Vegas, Sicily, and Washington, Puzo has at last returned to the subject he knows best--the inner workings of an American crime family. The Last Don is the most ambitious novel of Puzo's legendary career, the product of five years of work and a lifetime of research into the mores of the mob, Vegas, and Hollywood.
The last don is Domenico Clericuzio, a ferocious old man who is determined to secure his family's future in an era of legalized gambling, motion-picture investments, and the threat of government informers. The don is close to achieving his vision when secrets buried in his family's past threaten to undermine his plan and spark a war between two blood cousins.
Only an Academy Award® winner with an insider's knowledge of Hollywood could write such a sizzling account of the movie business.
Only a writer who understands the hearts of thieves could describe mafia life with such authenticity. The Last Don proves once again that Mario Puzo knows where the bodies are buried.
| Mario Puzo |
Harrison Schmitt was the most recent man to do what? | The Sicilian ISBN 9780345441706 PDF epub | Mario Puzo ebook | eBookMall
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After Mario Puzo wrote his internationally acclaimed The Godfather, he has often been imitated but never equaled. Puzo's classic novel, The Sicilian, stands as a cornerstone of his work--a lushly romantic, unforgettable tale of bloodshed, justice, and treachery. . . .
The year is 1950. Michael Corleone is nearing the end of his exile in Sicily. The Godfather has commanded Michael to bring a young Sicilian bandit named Salvatore Guiliano back with him to America. But Guiliano is a man entwined in a bloody web of violence and vendettas. In Sicily, Guiliano is a modern day Robin Hood who has defied corruption--and defied the Cosa Nostra. Now, in the land of mist-shrouded mountains and ancient ruins, Michael Corleone's fate is entwined with the dangerous legend of Salvatore Guiliano: warrior, lover, and the ultimate Siciliano.
From the Paperback edition.
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The St. Leger and the Lincoln Handicap are both run at which racecourse? | History
HISTORY
ST LEGER WINNERS
Doncaster is one of the oldest established centres for horse racing in Britain, with records of regular race meetings going back to the 16th century. In 1600 the corporation tried to put an end to the races because of the number of ruffians they attracted, but by 1614 it acknowledged failure and instead marked out a racecourse.
Ladbrokes St. Leger Festival
The earliest important race was the Doncaster Gold Cup, first run over Cantley Common in 1766, ten years before a move to the racecourse's present location. In 1776 Colonel Anthony St. Leger founded a race in which five horses ran. This race has remained in existence and become the world's oldest classic race. During the first world war the racecourse was used for military purposes and substitute races were run at Newmarket from 1915 to 1918.
Doncaster has the distinction of both starting and ending the flat season on turf. Every September, Doncaster hosts the prestigious four-day St. Leger Festival, which is acclaimed as the premier sporting occasion of the Autumn calender. Doncaster has also taken over events whose traditional homes have closed, such as the Lincoln in 1965.
More history was made at Doncaster in 1992 when it staged the first ever Sunday meeting on a British racecourse, a crowd of 23,000 turned up despite there being no betting.
Today, after more than four hundred years of racing, the St. Leger is undoubtedley still the highlight of Doncaster's year. Throughout the racing calendar there is a full programme of top class racing, with flat racing in the summer and jumping action all winter.
early leger Early running of the St Leger B&W Historical Jockey John Singleton with the first ever St Leger winner in 1776 Allabaculia
The Lincoln
THE WILLIAM HILL LINCOLN FACTS AND FIGURES
A race called the Lincolnshire Handicap was first run over two miles at Lincoln in August, 1849.
In 1853, a new fixture was staged at Lincoln in February and featured a race called the Lincoln Spring Handicap,run over a mile and a half and won by Caurire. The distance of this contest was reduced to a mile in 1855 and moved to a date in March.
In 1859, the two races merged to become the Lincolnshire Handicap, run over a mile in March.
The Lincolnshire Handicap was run at Lincoln (AThe Carholme@) up to and including 1964. Following that course's closure, the race moved to Doncaster in 1965 and was renamed the Lincoln Handicap.
Along with the Grand National, the William Hill Lincoln forms the ASpring Double.@ Jockey Dave Dick achieved the unique distinction of winning both races - he scored in the Lincoln of 1941 on Gloaming, carrying just 7st 4lb and went to triumph in the ADevon Loch@ Grand National of 1956 on ESB, who shouldered 11st 3lb to victory.
During World War II, three runnings were held at Pontefract (1943-1945). The 1916 renewal was at Lingfield, while there was no race in 1917 or 1918 due to World War I. Due to a £34 million redevelopment at Doncaster, the 2006 renewal was held at Redcar, while in 2007 the race was hosted by Newcastle. It returned to a revamped Doncaster in 2008.
The dozen winners of the William Hill Lincoln between 1926 and 1937 (King Of Clubs (1926), Priory Park (1927), Dark Warrior (1928), Elton (1929), Leonidas II (1930), Knight Error (1931), Jerome Fandor (1932), Dorigen (1933), Play On (1934), Flamenco (1935), Overcoat (1936) and Marmaduke Jinks (1937)) gave their names to the horses used in the popular board game Totopoly.
There have been only two dual winners of the William Hill Lincoln - Ob (1906 & 1907) and Babur (1957 & 1958). No horse has managed to win more than once since the race was transferred to Town Moor.
The biggest shocks came with the 100/1 shots King Of Clubs (1926), Elton (1929) and Jockey Treble (1947). Since it has been run at Doncaster, the biggest-price winner was the 50/1 shot Bronze Hill (1973) while there have been six 33/1 successes during the same period - Southwark Star (1975), Cuvee Charlie (1988), Evichstar (1990), Roving Minstrel (1995), Stone Ridge (1996) and Zucchero (2002).
The shortest-price winner was Saucebox (1855, Evens). During its time at Doncaster, eigth favourites have obliged - Riot Act (1966), Captains Wings (1978), Cataldi (1985), Right Wing (1999), John Ferneley (2000), Nimello (2001), Stream Of Gold (2005) and Expresso Star (2009).
Since its transfer to Doncaster, the most successful trainer has been Paul Cole, with three wins (Kuala Lipis 1997, John Ferenely, 2000 and Nimello, 2001).
Jimmy Fortune, successful in 2000, 2001 and 2009, is the only jockey since 1965 to win the race on three occasions. Richard Quinn and Jimmy Quinn are the only other current jockeys to have won the race twice, joining Scobie Breasley, Sandy Barclay, Edward Hide and Greville Starkey. The Lincoln was one of the few races to elude Lester Piggott.
Since 1965, Cataldi (1985) and Babodana (2004) share the honour of having carried the biggest weight to victory - 9st 10lb. The lowest winning weight during the same period was the 7st 3lb carried by Southwark Star (1975).
The Grimthorpe Chase
Historical Doncaster
This Doncaster race has a long and varied history but is now a prime stop on the road to Aintree.
The Grimthorpe Chase, run here at Doncaster, has had a varied and intermittent history. Some years it dipped out of the programme book completely while at other times the distance of the race has been radically altered. However in the spirit of Charles Darwin, whose The Origin of Species is currently celebrating its 150th anniversary, the Grimthorpe which may once have been teetering on the edge of extinction has adapted to suit prevailing conditions evolving into a leading Grand National trial.
The eponymous Grimthorpe family have been involved in racing for many years. Ralph Beckett, the third Baron Grimthorpe owned Fragrant Mac, who won the 1952 Scottish Grand National, as well as Fortina who was victorious in the 1947 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Fortina went on to sire Fort Leney and Glencaraig Lady who emulated his feat at Prestbury Park. Christopher Beckett, the fourth Baron, was a member of the Jockey Club and director of Thirsk Racecourse.
Prior to the early 1980s the Grimthorpe was run over two miles and 150 yards, taking place on the same card as the Rossington Main Hurdle. The distance was then upped dramatically nearly doubling to a stamina testing four miles and 100 yards.
The 1987 renewal, over the longer trip, included the winners of the last three Scottish Nationals in the form of dual-winner Androma and Hardy Lad. The latter won the race however third-placed Little Polveir went on to win at Ayr, reversing the placings with Hardy Lad, and followed up two years later in the Grand National.
The distance was changed again to the current trip of three and a quarter miles in the 1990s when it was run as the Velka Pardubicka Grimthorpe Chase. This provided a tie-in with the famous race run in the Czech Republic (previously Bohemia) which is an exacting challenge over varied obstacles, including sections over ploughed fields. The Velka Parubicka course was based on the Grand National course of the 1880s inspired by the Aintree success of Bohemia-born Count Kinsky on his own Zoedene.
| Doncaster |
Anatomy. Why is it that cartilage grows and repairs more slowly than other tissues? | Racecourse Information | Doncaster Racing & Events, Yorkshire: 01302 304200
ACCESSIBILITY
A friendly Yorkshire welcome awaits you at Doncaster Racecourse - home to the Ladbrokes St. Leger Festival.
The busy, thrilling atmosphere of a day at the races is matched by our impressive racing pedigree. When it comes to racing fixtures, Doncaster is the busiest dual-purpose racecourse in the UK. During 2015, we will hold a mixture of 36 National Hunt and Flat race meetings throughout the year, including the Worldâs oldest Classic, the Ladbrokes St. Leger Festival.
For sheer spectacle, atmosphere and excitement a day at Doncaster Racecourse is a tradition that is hard to beat. Racedays at Town Moor have been drawing appreciative crowds for centuries and Doncaster has long been regarded as one of the finest racecourses in Europe and the best place for horse racing in Yorkshire.
After a £34 million redevelopment, racegoers can enjoy an amazing raceday experience at this world-class venue. At the heart of this new development is an impressive five-storey grandstand. The main stand includes stunning new private hospitality suites, a wide range of places to eat and drink, plus luxury dining experiences.
Superbly located in the heart of Doncaster, the stunning recourse is a convenient venue for nearby Sheffield and Leeds, whilst links to the A1, M1, M18 and M62 make it easily accessible to other areas of the UK.
A day at the races is as casual or as formal as you want to make it. For most it's an excuse to dress up for the occasion, especially on Ladies Day when many ladies wear their best outfits and hats - not obligatory, but great fun!
Families are always welcome with accompanied children under 18 entering for free with free entertainment on racedays.
With racing every month - from midweek fixtures to weekend and evening racedays we combine the excitement of racing with entertainment, expect live music and plenty of activities for children, there is a raceday for everyone.
So, whether you're a racing enthusiast, a corporate group or visiting us with family or friends, we guarantee a warm welcome and a great day out!
Our spectacular raceday, hospitality, conference and exhibition facilities will truly match the exceptional quality of our racing.
Doncaster Racecourse is proud of the position it holds within the history and heritage of the industry, which provides Town Moor, in particular the Ladbrokes St. Leger Festival, with a national and international profile.
Here are some interesting facts about some of the most famous fixtures hosted at Doncaster:
Did you know that the St. Leger Race was named after Lieutenant Colonel Anthony St. Leger?
Did you know that the Lincoln Handicap was first run in 1858 at Lincoln Racecourse. The race was not moved to Doncaster until 1965 in order that it may run over the straight mile.
Did you know that Doncaster officially opens the British Flat Racing Season with the Lincoln Meeting held each March and ends the season with the November Handicap.
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Planktology, malacology and primatology are all branches of which science? | Malacology : definition of Malacology and synonyms of Malacology (English)
Teuthology , a branch of malacology, deals with the study of cephalopods , such as the giant squid pictured
Malacology [1] is the branch of invertebrate zoology which deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species [2] after the arthropods . Mollusks include snails and slugs , clams , octopus and squid , and numerous other kinds, many (but by no means all) of which have shells . One division of malacology, conchology , is devoted to the study of mollusk shells.
Fields within malacological research include taxonomy , ecology and evolution . Applied malacology studies medical, veterinary, and agricultural applications, for example mollusks as vectors of disease, as in schistosomiasis .
Archaeology employs malacology to understand the evolution of the climate , the biota of the area, and the usage of the site.
In 1681, Filippo Bonanni wrote the first book ever published that was solely about seashells, the shells of marine mollusks. [3] The book was entitled: Ricreatione dell' occhio e dela mente nell oservation' delle Chiociolle, proposta a' curiosi delle opere della natura, &c.. [4] In 1868, the German Malacological Society was founded.
Obvious zoological methods are used also in malacological research. Various malacological field methods and laboratory methods (such as collecting, documenting and archiving, mollecular techniques) were summarized by Sturm et al. (2006). [5]
Contents
| Zoology |
One meaning of ‘contubernal’ is ‘living in the same …’ what? | Journal of Zoological and Bioscience Research
Editorial Team Focus & Scope
About Us : Focus and Scope
The Journal of Zoological and Bioscience Research is a quarterly international peer reviewed journal that accepts research articles, reviews and short communications of content related to zoology & Bioscience. Research articles and short communications must report original work not previously published in any language and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
The main aim of Journal of Zoological and Bioscience Research is to publish papers that report research findings on the following topics: Anatomy, Anthropology, Anthrozoology, Apiology, Arachnology, Arthropodology, Behaviour, Cetology Conchology, Developmental biology, Ecology, Entomology, Ethology, genetics, Helminthology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Malacology, Mammalogy, Molecular biology, Morphology, Myrmecology, Nematology, Neuroethology, Ornithology, Paleozoology, Parasitology, Physiology, Planktology, Primatology, Reproductive biology, Environmental Sciences, Evolutionary biology, Fisheries and Aqua – Sciences, Forestry, Genetics, Horticultural Sciences, Human biology and Science, Pest, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Systematics and evolution, Zoogeography, Zoosemiotics, Soil Sciences, Taxonomy and Veterinary Sciences.
Research articles make an original and significant contribution to the field of study within the scope of the journal. These articles should be of interest to a broad audience, scientifically sound, well written and concise.
Short communications must report completed work, not preliminary findings.
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Which sport is thought to derive its name from the French for ‘take it’ (and thus ‘play’)? | Sport | Define Sport at Dictionary.com
sport
noun
1.
an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2.
a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
3.
sports, (used with a singular verb) such athletic activities collectively:
Sports is important in my life.
4.
What he said in sport was taken seriously.
6.
They made sport of him.
7.
an object of derision; laughingstock.
8.
something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything.
9.
something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc.
10.
Informal. a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accommodating person:
He was a sport and took his defeat well.
12.
Informal. a person who is interested in sports as an occasion for gambling; gambler.
13.
Informal. a flashy person; one who wears showy clothes, affects smart manners, pursues pleasurable pastimes, or the like; a bon vivant.
14.
Biology. an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation.
15.
of, relating to, or used in sports or a particular sport:
sport fishing.
suitable for outdoor or informal wear:
sport clothes.
to amuse oneself with some pleasant pastime or recreation.
19.
to play, frolic, or gambol, as a child or an animal.
20.
to engage in some open-air or athletic pastime or sport.
21.
to trifle or treat lightly:
to sport with another's emotions.
22.
to mock, scoff, or tease:
to sport at suburban life.
23.
to pass (time) in amusement or sport.
25.
to spend or squander lightly or recklessly (often followed by away).
26.
Informal. to wear, display, carry, etc., especially with ostentation; show off:
to sport a new mink coat.
27.
Archaic. to amuse (especially oneself).
Idioms
sport one's oak. oak (def 5).
Origin of sport
1350-1400; Middle English; aphetic variant of disport
Related forms
outsport, verb (used with object)
unsported, adjective
1. game. 4. amusement, fun, entertainment. See play . 19. romp, caper. 21. toy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Examples from the Web for sport
Expand
Contemporary Examples
The NFL seems a particularly complicated place for this to change given the extreme masculinity and the physicality of the sport.
Historical Examples
Thus a man who is noted for his dress is a "swell," a "dude," or a "sport."
British Dictionary definitions for sport
Expand
noun
1.
an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, etc
2.
any particular pastime indulged in for pleasure
4.
the pleasure derived from a pastime, esp hunting, shooting, or fishing: we had good sport today
5.
playful or good-humoured joking: to say a thing in sport
6.
derisive mockery or the object of such mockery: to make sport of someone
7.
someone or something that is controlled by external influences: the sport of fate
8.
(informal) sometimes qualified by good, bad, etc. a person who reacts cheerfully in the face of adversity, esp a good loser
9.
(informal) a person noted for being scrupulously fair and abiding by the rules of a game
10.
(informal) a person who leads a merry existence, esp a gambler: he's a bit of a sport
11.
(Austral & NZ, informal) a form of address used esp between males
12.
(biology)
an animal or plant that differs conspicuously in one or more aspects from other organisms of the same species, usually because of a mutation
an anomalous characteristic of such an organism
verb
13.
(transitive) (informal) to wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner: she was sporting a new hat
14.
(intransitive) to skip about or frolic happily
15.
to amuse (oneself), esp in outdoor physical recreation
16.
(intransitive) often foll by with. to dally or trifle (with)
17.
(rare) (transitive) often foll by away. to squander (time or money): sporting one's life away
18.
(archaic) (intransitive) often foll by with. to make fun (of)
19.
C15 sporten, variant of disporten to disport
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sport
Expand
v.
c.1400, "to take pleasure, to amuse oneself," from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport "pastime, recreation, pleasure," from desporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see disport ). Sense of "to amuse oneself by active exercise in open air or taking part in some game" is from late 15c. Meaning "to wear" is from 1778. Related: Sported; sporting .
n.
mid-15c., "pleasant pastime," from sport (v.). Meaning "game involving physical exercise" first recorded 1520s. Original sense preserved in phrases such as in sport "in jest" (mid-15c.). Sense of "stylish man" is from 1861, American English, probably because they lived by gambling and betting on races. Meaning "good fellow" is attested from 1881 (e.g. be a sport, 1913). Sport as a familiar form of address to a man is from 1935, Australian English. The sport of kings was originally (1660s) war-making.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Slang definitions & phrases for sport
Expand
sport
noun
Astylish and rakish man • Often used as a term of address, sometimes with an ironical tinge: What did she tell you, sport? (1923+)
| Tennis |
Which game gets its name from the Spanish for ‘ball’? | Sport | Define Sport at Dictionary.com
sport
noun
1.
an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2.
a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
3.
sports, (used with a singular verb) such athletic activities collectively:
Sports is important in my life.
4.
What he said in sport was taken seriously.
6.
They made sport of him.
7.
an object of derision; laughingstock.
8.
something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything.
9.
something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc.
10.
Informal. a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accommodating person:
He was a sport and took his defeat well.
12.
Informal. a person who is interested in sports as an occasion for gambling; gambler.
13.
Informal. a flashy person; one who wears showy clothes, affects smart manners, pursues pleasurable pastimes, or the like; a bon vivant.
14.
Biology. an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation.
15.
of, relating to, or used in sports or a particular sport:
sport fishing.
suitable for outdoor or informal wear:
sport clothes.
to amuse oneself with some pleasant pastime or recreation.
19.
to play, frolic, or gambol, as a child or an animal.
20.
to engage in some open-air or athletic pastime or sport.
21.
to trifle or treat lightly:
to sport with another's emotions.
22.
to mock, scoff, or tease:
to sport at suburban life.
23.
to pass (time) in amusement or sport.
25.
to spend or squander lightly or recklessly (often followed by away).
26.
Informal. to wear, display, carry, etc., especially with ostentation; show off:
to sport a new mink coat.
27.
Archaic. to amuse (especially oneself).
Idioms
sport one's oak. oak (def 5).
Origin of sport
1350-1400; Middle English; aphetic variant of disport
Related forms
outsport, verb (used with object)
unsported, adjective
1. game. 4. amusement, fun, entertainment. See play . 19. romp, caper. 21. toy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Examples from the Web for sport
Expand
Contemporary Examples
The NFL seems a particularly complicated place for this to change given the extreme masculinity and the physicality of the sport.
Historical Examples
Thus a man who is noted for his dress is a "swell," a "dude," or a "sport."
British Dictionary definitions for sport
Expand
noun
1.
an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, etc
2.
any particular pastime indulged in for pleasure
4.
the pleasure derived from a pastime, esp hunting, shooting, or fishing: we had good sport today
5.
playful or good-humoured joking: to say a thing in sport
6.
derisive mockery or the object of such mockery: to make sport of someone
7.
someone or something that is controlled by external influences: the sport of fate
8.
(informal) sometimes qualified by good, bad, etc. a person who reacts cheerfully in the face of adversity, esp a good loser
9.
(informal) a person noted for being scrupulously fair and abiding by the rules of a game
10.
(informal) a person who leads a merry existence, esp a gambler: he's a bit of a sport
11.
(Austral & NZ, informal) a form of address used esp between males
12.
(biology)
an animal or plant that differs conspicuously in one or more aspects from other organisms of the same species, usually because of a mutation
an anomalous characteristic of such an organism
verb
13.
(transitive) (informal) to wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner: she was sporting a new hat
14.
(intransitive) to skip about or frolic happily
15.
to amuse (oneself), esp in outdoor physical recreation
16.
(intransitive) often foll by with. to dally or trifle (with)
17.
(rare) (transitive) often foll by away. to squander (time or money): sporting one's life away
18.
(archaic) (intransitive) often foll by with. to make fun (of)
19.
C15 sporten, variant of disporten to disport
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sport
Expand
v.
c.1400, "to take pleasure, to amuse oneself," from Anglo-French disport, Old French desport "pastime, recreation, pleasure," from desporter "to divert, amuse, please, play" (see disport ). Sense of "to amuse oneself by active exercise in open air or taking part in some game" is from late 15c. Meaning "to wear" is from 1778. Related: Sported; sporting .
n.
mid-15c., "pleasant pastime," from sport (v.). Meaning "game involving physical exercise" first recorded 1520s. Original sense preserved in phrases such as in sport "in jest" (mid-15c.). Sense of "stylish man" is from 1861, American English, probably because they lived by gambling and betting on races. Meaning "good fellow" is attested from 1881 (e.g. be a sport, 1913). Sport as a familiar form of address to a man is from 1935, Australian English. The sport of kings was originally (1660s) war-making.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Slang definitions & phrases for sport
Expand
sport
noun
Astylish and rakish man • Often used as a term of address, sometimes with an ironical tinge: What did she tell you, sport? (1923+)
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Which horse finished second in the Grand National? | Grand National 2014 as it happened - BBC Sport
BBC Sport
Grand National 2014 as it happened
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Pineau De Re wins 167th Grand National at Aintree
Balthazar King second, Double Seven third
Alvarado fourth, Rocky Creek fifth
18 finishers from 40 starters
| Balthazar King |
In which character-based comedy sketch show did she play the part of Myfanwy? | Grand National 2014: live - Telegraph
Grand National 2014: live
Follow live race commentary of the 2014 Crabbie's Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, April 5 2014
Decisions, decisions: punters pick their horses for the 2014 Grand National Photo: GETTY IMAGES
17.50 Right then. Thanks for following this with us. Hope that you had a succesful afternoon. There's a full list below of how each and every horse got on. Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the sporting weekend.
17.40 Here is an email from Helen Lilley:
I can't remember which year it was 1958-9 that I put 1shilling on oxo and it came in at sixteen to one,and i as a teenager was over the moon as i only got 5 bob pocket money.lol.
17.35 And here is Pineau getting the better of Balthazar King and Double Seven.
17.30 Here's a picture of Nick Schofield taking a header off Teaforthree
17.15 So a traditional Grand National - triumph and disaster, with something of an underdog story in the shape of the winner, who is trained by a part-timer. The best news of the day was that all jockeys and horses got home in one piece.
17.13 And here are the quotes from Ruby Walsh, refered to in that PETA statement, in more detail; he was speaking during the Cheltenham Festival last month.
“Horses are horses,” he said. “You can replace a horse. It’s sad, but horses are animals, outside your back door. Humans are humans, they are inside your back door. You can replace a horse but you can’t replace a human being.”
He later expanded to say: "We look after horses like they’re pets. There’s a huge difference between your pet and your family, that’s the point I was making. There’s a big difference between you going home tonight and something’s happened to your dog, and you go home tonight and something’s happened to one of your kids. There’s a huge difference. At the end of the day, it’s still your pet. It ain’t your son, your daughter, your brother, your sister.”
17.10 Here is a statement from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
While it's a relief that no horses died at Aintree today, the mere fact that this is a cause for celebration says everything that anyone should need to know about the Grand National and the horse-racing industry. Hundreds of horses are killed on British racetracks every year – and for nothing more than a bet. And then there are the unseen victims, the thousands of foals bred for racing who don't make the grade and are either dumped at rescue charities, shot at stables or sold for meat. Even horse-racing stars have been sent to slaughter or found in a state of neglect, such as 1984 Grand National winner Hallo Dandy, who was found without proper food and shelter and covered with sores from rain scald. Forget the finish line – this deadly industry is all about the bottom line, where the horses are viewed as "replaceable" in the words of racing's favourite son, jockey Ruby Walsh – disposable commodities to be dispatched behind the tarpaulin.
17.00 Here's a full list of how everyone did.
Aintree 4.15
1 Pineau De Re (L P Aspell) 25-1
2 Balthazar King (R Johnson) 14-1
3 Double Seven (A P McCoy) 10-1 Jt Fav
4 Alvarado (Paul Moloney) 33-1
5 Rocky Creek (N Fehily) 16-1
6 Chance Du Roy (T O'Brien)
7 Monbeg Dude (P Carberry)
8 Raz de Maree (D Condon)
9 Swing Bill (C O'Farrell)
10 Kruzhlinin (W Renwick)
11 Buckers Bridge (A Lynch)
12 The Package (T Scudamore)
13 Vesper Bell (K Walsh)
14 Across The Bay (H Brooke)
15 Mr Moonshine (R Mania)
16 Prince De Beauchene (P Townend)
17 Hunt Ball (A Tinkler)
18 Hawkes Point (R Mahon)
40 ran
Also: 10-1 Jt Fav Teaforthree
Tote: win £32.80 places £8.80 £3.90 £3.60 £10.30
Tote Exacta: £580.30
PRP Battle Group did not start
Twirling Magnet fell at the first.
Burton Point unseated rider at the second
Big Shu fell at the third
Last Time D'Albain fell at the sixth
Tidal Bay unseated rider at the eighth
Our Father unseated rider at the eighth
Golan Way fell at the eighth
Long Run fell at the ninth
Mountainous fell at the ninth
The Rainbow Hunter unseated rider at the ninth
Teaforthree unseated rider at the 15th
Shakalakaboomboom pulled up at the 20th
Quito de la Roque pulled up at the 21st
Triolo D'Alene pulled up at the 22nd
One In A Milan fell at the 22nd
Colbert Station pulled up at the 25th
Vintage Star pulled up at the 26th
Rose of the Moon fell at the 26th
Lion Na Bearnai pulled up at the 27th
Wayward Prince fell at the 28th
Walkon pulled up at the 29th
16.50 Looking at the replay now. Pineau De Re makes a bad mistake at the 13th and Aspell did brilliantly to hold on. Teaforthree was going fine until he got a bit close to the Chair and ended up going through it halfway up. Meanwhile, Monica Pearce writes:
I think it was 4 years ago I won the grand national with a 100 to 1 winner and the money I won went towards my daughters wedding dress. What a result, I was thrilled!
16.48 Read JA McGrath's report on the race here .
Leighton Aspell, who retired from riding several seasons ago only to come back better than ever, rode the most confident of races to land the Crabbie's Grand National at 25-1 at Aintree.
Trained by Worcester-based Dr Richard Newland, Pineau De Re was travelling beautifully for the entire second circuit after surviving a bad mistake at the 13th fence.
Balthazar King (14-1) battle hard for Richard Johnson to take second, with AP McCoy's mount Double Seven, sent off the 10-1 joint-favourite (together with Teaforthree, who fell at The Chair) in third.
Alvarado ran his heart out to take fourth at 33-1, with 16-1 chance Rocky Creek fifth, and Chance Du Roy sixth.
16.45 Best news of the day: all horses and jockeys have come back okay.
16.40 News wire report.
Pineau De Re claimed Crabbie's Grand National glory at Aintree for trainer Dr Richard Newland and jockey Leighton Aspell.
The 11-year-old was a 25-1 shot after finishing third in the Pertemps Final over hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival and moved into the race travelling powerfully.
He jumped the final fence in a clear lead and his pursuers never looked like bridging the gap as he galloped all the way to the line to secure a momentous five-length victory.
Balthazar King ran a fine race to finish second, ahead of champion jockey Tony McCoy aboard Double Seven.
Alvarado stayed on from a long way back to finish fourth.
Aspell, who at one stage had retired from riding, said: "It's a wonderful day, this is what we do it for.
"I've been watching the National since I was a very young boy. As much as you enjoy sharing everyone's success, you crave a bit too.
"To get a chance to ride in the National is a great thing, and to get on one with a chance is even better.
16.39 Trainer of the runner up Philip Hobbs says "Frustrated to be second but enormously proud of this horse, who is a real superstar, so relaible and he tries so hard."
16.35 Great tale about the winning owner John Provan, a Glaswegian who is an amateur rider. "We've brought everybody, we're all sharing in this magnficent day. We love taking on the big boys."
And here's the trainer Dr Richard Newland. He has been a GP, specialised in anorexia clinics and did some work in prostate cancer research. And then decided he fancied training some racehorses! Amazing stuff.
16.33 More:
Jockey Leighton Aspell, who was second in the race in 2003 before quitting jump racing only to return because he missed National Hunt, said: "I feel a combination of tiredness and adrenaline. He's a small horse and he had to try to do well on the jumps, which he did. I've been watching the National since I was a young boy and it is great just to have the chance to ride in it. This is why I came back to the sport."
16.28 Leighton Aspell the winning jockey is playing it very cool in his post race interview. I don't think I have heard a more restrained chat with a National winning jockey. he's 37, and had previously retired. He tells the BBC's Alice Plunkett: "From the Canal Turn the second time we had plenty of daylight. It's a wonderful day. I've been watching the National since I was a young boy. You see other people doing well and you're pleaed for them but you secretly crave a bit of success. To get a ride in the National is a great thing and to get one with a live chance is even better."
Aintree 4.15
1 Pineau De Re (L P Aspell) 25-1
2 Balthazar King (R Johnson) 14-1
3 Double Seven (A P McCoy) 10-1 Jt Fav
4 Alvarado (Paul Moloney) 33-1
5 Rocky Creek (Noel Fehily) 16-1
40 ran Also: 10-1 Jt Fav Teaforthree CSF: £316.27 Tricast: £3790.64
There's one faller at the first, Twirling Magnet. Burton Port is gone at the second, nasty fall for jockey Hardy. Long Run is up in the front, but Big Shu falls at the third. no fallers at the fourth. All over the fifth safely. Across The Bay leads. They come to Beecher's Brook, over Foinanvon now. Balthazar, Golan Way, getting mentions. Tidal Bay, Our Father brought down. Long Run down.The Rainbow Hunter and Mountainous down. Coming up to the open ditch it is Mr Moonshine and Across The Bay And Colbert Station leading. Monbeg Dude gets a mention. There's Rose of the Moon and Tea For Three. Shakalakaboomboom getting a mention. Teaforthree has fallen. Halfway stage. Across The Bay has run off the track. Glorious madness! Oh he's back. Oh, horse. You are a foolish horse. Right then. So at the 17th everyone is over, there are 23 still standing. Rocky Creek is up there. Hawkes Point is over. Shakalakaboomboom has been pulled up. Coming up to Beecher's. Rocky Creek, Mr Moonshine, Double Seven up there. Triolene de Lene pulled up. Canal Turn, Mr Moonshine is in the lead, Monbeg Dude up there. Last year's winner Ryan Mania leading. AP up there on Double Seven. There are three left to jump. Rocky Creek takes it up from MIster Moonshine, Balthazar is in with chances. Monbeg Dude and Chance To Roy all involved Prince de Beauchenne.. Here comes AP to the second last and coming up to the last it's Pineau De Re, jumps the last in the lead, here comes Balthazar King as they come to the elbow, Double Seven in third. But it's going to be Pineau de Re who wins it by several lengths, Double Seven and Balthazar King battle it out for second.
16.16 It looks a good old fashioned fiasco . Anyway, they are finally off.
16.15 Dearie me. Naughty PRP Battle Group, he's ruined it for everyone. No Polo mints for you, Battle Group. Someone's lost a shoe!
16.14 They're off! But it's a false start.
16.10 Battlegroup is hanging back. He doesn't want to race. The rest of them are all ready.
16.06 Rishi down at the start, a couple of them having a look at the first. Concerns about PRP Battle Group, who is prone to unseating a rider. Jockeys can't afford to be too picky at the start. They'll just be looking to get them off in a reasonably fair fashion.
16.05 Someone's had three grand each way on Shakalakaboomboom.
16.00 Can Long Run become the first half since 1975 to double down on the Gold Cup and Grand National? I am hoping that Teaforthree jumps as well as he did last year. He's in to 10/1. Double Seven is second fave at 11/1.
15.58 Exciting! Who is going to win, then? I have bet on, deep breath, Teaforthree, Balthazar King, Hawkes Point and Vesper Bell. You?
15.55 Here's the jockeys' parade, they're lead out by last year's winner Ryan Mania. And now time for a group photograph.
15.53 Prince De Beauchene is an unknown factor, and there's Burton Port who hasn't won a race for four years, but that sucess was here at Aintree.
15.52 Triolo has never fallen, he's won the Hennessy, but he faded badly in the Gold Cup. Balthazar King, they're hoping won't go too mad on the pace.
15.51 Long Run has a lot to do, but is a class act.
15.50 Tidal Bay first ran at Aintree eight years ago. Long time since a 13 year old won the National.
15.47 Alice Plunkett introduces Zara Phillips. "You're related to Monbeg Dude. Well, not related to him..." Alice clarifies that she means Zara has been involved in his training. That's not to say that someone in the Royal Family couldn't be an acutal horse, who knows. They have had some pretty rum marriages throughout history. But I digress. Zara is quietly confident but a bit nervous and says that she just hopes all the horses come back in one piece. Jumping would be the question mark over Monbeg Dude.
15.45 The gamble seems to be for Shakalakaboomboom. I'm just hoping I don't have to type his name too often. He's into 20-1 from 33s.
15.35 Video news! Here's Thom Gibbs with a guide to the National .
15.30 Good news for me, I guess, in that Richard Johnson will ride Balthazar King in the National with my fiver each way aboard. Here's an email from Alan Brant:
I can remember way back in the 60’s that I worked all day on Saturday ,so asked my dad to put 3 bets on for me in the National. He decided to double up on 2 of them but decided that the 3rd choice had no chance. That was Kilmore who won at pretty good odds !
Aintree 3.25
1 Duke Of Lucca (R Johnson) 12-1
2 Vino Griego (J E Moore) 25-1
3 Gullinbursti (N Fehily) 10-1
4 Kian's Delight (B Hughes) 14-1
17 ran Also: 5-1 Fav Victor Hewgo Non Runner: 15 Tote: win £15.50 places £3.60 £4.40 £2.60 £4.30 Tote Exacta: £444.60 CSF: £286.80 Tricast: £3110.92 Tote Trifecta: £5,107.30
15.26 Anyway, this Handicap. Our Mick putting in a heroic front-running effort but he has been hauled injust before the last, and it's Duke Of Luca taking it up against Vino Griego, these two both tiring badly but they're bravely battling to the line. This is going to be so close - it's Duke Of Luca by a head.
15.25 I don't fancy the look of Moonbeg Dune much.
15.20 Least favourite one is that year that they had the false start. Anyway. They're about to go off in the 3.25pm, which is a Listed Handicap Chase.
15.15 Bit of rain about. Favourite Aintree memories, then? Mine is from 2012, when I was at Lord's with my mate who owns Planet Of Sound. I dunno why he wasn't at Aintree. Anyway, Planet - who was a really classy horse - was leading in the National for a bit. He didn't win in the end, but for a few minutes there...
Aintree 2.50
1 Whisper (B J Geraghty) 4-1
2 At Fishers Cross (A P McCoy) 11-8 Fav
3 Thousand Stars (P Townend) 11-1
7 ran Also: 10-3 Zarkandar 4th Tote: win £4.70 places £2.30 £1.60 Tote Exacta: £11.80 CSF: £9.85
14.50 They're off in the third race, the 2.50. Stayers' hurdle. BIg Buck's won this four times, by the way. Zarakandar thought leads them around with At Fisher's Cross, those two are a good eight lengths clear with eight hurdles to jump. There's some light rain as they come into the back straight, Melodic Rendezvous is in third. With three to jump, still At Fisher's Cross and Zarkandar, these two still clear of the pack. Turning for home, At Fishers Cross lurches to the right jumping the third last. Whisper and At Fisher's Cross duke it out in the straight and At Fisher's Cross rallies gamely, but Whisper has got just enough in the tank. He holds off the strong challenge of McCoy and At Fisher's Cross.
14.40 Who is everyone betting on. I am keen on Teaforthree and Balthazar King. Now I need a rank outsider or two.
14.39 Right. What else have we got? Here's a horse's eye video of the Aintree course.
14.36 Thirty nine blokes and one woman this year: Katie Walsh, who is a late sub and will ride Vesper Bell. Katie Walsh is an extremely impressive person, in my opinion. Ruby is recovering at home after injury at Cheltenham. Here's that brilliant portrait of her in the NPG.
14.35 Here is the Telegraph's own Marcus Armytage, one of the few jockeys to be in a very select and prestigious group.
14.30 Another shout for our guide to the National runners and riders .
14.25 Next race is a the stayers' hurdle. Prior to that, we're introduced to all the National winning jockeys. What an amazing bunch of blokes they are.
14.15 Look, some famous people being interviewed about the National. It's that Paddy McGuiness and Gemma Merna, who used to be in Holyoaks, or so I have just learned from my colleague Giles Mole.
14.10 So a good win for Alan King, and a result for Marlborough with his nap of the day.
Aintree 2.05
1 Balder Succes (W Hutchinson) 7-2
2 Simply Ned (Brian Harding) 12-1
3 Trifolium (A P McCoy) 11-4 Fav
7 ran Also: 9-2 Moscow Mannon 4th Tote: win £4.00 places £2.40 £3.00 Tote Exacta: £43.60 CSF: £38.34
Next Sensation leads them around and he's jumping nicely, Trifolium also going well in second. They're coming in front of the stand swinging left handed . Pace looks a bit hot to me, with eight to jump. Moscow Mannon moves through to join those first two, but doesn't jump very well seventh out. Balder Succes coming through. Simply Ned good progress. Four to jump. Bad mistake Trifolium four out but he's fighting back. With three to jump, Trifolium and Next Sesnation, SImply Ned and Balder Succes with a run. Coming over the last it is Balder Suces from Simply Ned, Trifolium is beaten and Balder Succes is streaking away. Wins it in some style.
14.05 They're off in the second race.
13.55 Attention now turns to a Novice Chase, run over two miles, with AP in the bike of the favourite Trifolium. Mind you, our expert Marlborough has napped Balder Succes. Seven runners. They run on the Mildmay ccourse, going's good. Five of the last ten faves have won this. I've had a small taster on Trifolium.
13.45 This is a nice piece by Sarah Rainey on what it's like to commentate on a horse race . Bloody difficult, is her verdict.
Aaand they’re off! Aaand I’ve completely lost the power of speech. “Um,” I stutter, squinting at the galloping mass hundreds of metres down below. “It’s the second race of the day at Aintree and the horses are running … really fast … and they’ve gone over the first jump …” I feel a sharp elbow in my ribcage. “Sorry – over the 'flight’ … and the red one’s in the lead, with another reddish one – no, it’s purple – just behind him…” I gabble incoherently, pointing out everything from the colour of the grass to the lovely hats worn by the female spectators. The man to my right buries his head in his hands.
Four floors above the Aintree racecourse, I’m standing in a tiny box, armed with binoculars and a microphone, being tutored by Simon Holt, Channel 4’s master commentator. Holt is, I am told, the “AP McCoy of the commentary world”, who’s called some of the biggest races in history and covered the Cheltenham Gold Cup 14 consecutive times. On Thursday, as crowds of 33,000 flocked to the opening day of the biggest race meeting of the year, he agreed to teach me the tricks of the commentary trade. His expectations, he tells me, are “low” – and I’m certainly living up to them.
“This job is not easy,” insists Holt. “I still get nervous going into the big meetings – you have to mask it and try to sound as calm as possible. The pressure of getting it right can be immense. It is an adrenalin rush but you have good days and bad days. That’s the beauty of horse racing. It’s very risky trying to pre-prepare lines because you have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen.”
13.40 So is that a good omen for AP McCoy and his many supporters? Lac Fontana looks a good battler, he won the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and this is now becoming an impressive CV.
13.38 Incidentally, if you want to donate to the Racehorse Rescue Centre , which aims to rehome ex-racers then you can do so by donating here .
13.35 And it's a cracking race! Lac Fontana and Splash of Ginge with a heroic battle up the home straight, both of them absolutely giving their all but AP McCoy just will not be beaten on Lac Fontana. He manages to wrestle his mount home and the champ takes the first race. No disgrace for Sam Twiston-Davies and Splash of Ginge in second. Oscar Hoof had a bad fall but both he and jockey Barry Geraghty are ok.
Aintree 1.30
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