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What is Coronation Street’s local newspaper? | News | Coronation Street | ITV
Coronation Street
The Voice UK visits Coronation Street
0:01 - 13 Jan 2017
We invited our new neighbours will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson, Sir Tom Jones and Gavin Rossdale from The Voice UK over for a cheeky hotpot in the Rovers with Beverley Callard!
Beverley Callard said:
“It was such an honour showing the coaches round the Rovers, my late mum was the biggest Tom Jones fan of all time and my Grandchildren are huge fans of Will.
"My mum would have been so thrilled to know he was behind the bar with me and I was a very cool grandma when I took home my photos of me showing Will how to pull a pint," continued Beverley.
"Will even said he’d like to film a pop video in our pub!"
Jennifer was so glam and gorgeous, Liz would love to have her work behind the bar,
– Beverley Callard
"Gavin told me he grew up in a pub so he was a natural when it came to how everything worked. And can you imagine Karaoke nights in the Rovers if these guys worked for Liz!”
Don't miss The Voice UK, Saturday 8pm on ITV and keep an eye out on Coronation Street's socials over the weekend for more from the Coaches' surprise visit!
National Television Awards
15:14 - 3 Jan 2017
The votes are in, the viewers have spoken and Britain’s best-loved programmes and performers are lined up on the shortlist for the 22nd National Television Awards!
Coronation Street is nominated in the Serial Drama category, watch the montage above to remind yourself of all the great moments!
But that's not Coronation Street's only nomination...
Serial Drama Performance
Jack P Shepherd has been nominated for his portrayal of David Platt - VOTE NOW
Newcomer
New kid on the block, Faye Brookes has been nominated for her turn as Kate Connor - VOTE NOW
All new votes will be added to those cast in the first round and the results will be revealed, live, at the NTA ceremony on 25th January 2017 on ITV.
Heartbreak for Michelle and Steve
0:01 - 31 Dec 2016
Coronation Street is to tackle the difficult subject of late miscarriage when Michelle Connor loses her baby at 23 weeks.
Actress Kym Marsh has taken the brave decision to be involved in the storyline just a few years after she lost her son Archie at a similar stage of pregnancy.
Kym and producer Kate Oates discussed the storyline early in 2016 and Kym felt, that as it was a subject so close to her heart, she wanted to help raise awareness of the issues surrounding late miscarriage.
The programme has worked closely with Stillbirth and Neonatal death charity Sands on the episode which will air on ITV week beginning January 9th 2017.
In the coming weeks viewers will see Michelle and Steve struggle to come to terms with the loss of their beloved baby boy Ruairi (pronounced Rory) after she goes into early labour.
The heartbreaking scenes explore how the death affects both the mother and father and also the extended family.
Kym Marsh said:
“I thought long and hard before agreeing to take on the challenge of this storyline. It is obviously a cause very close to my heart having lost my beautiful Archie at 21 weeks and 5 days. I discussed it with my family and friends, all of who were very supportive.
“In the end I felt it was an important story to tell in order to raise awareness of something which affects thousands of women every year.
“I have had to go to some very dark places in my mind whilst filming these heartbreaking scenes but my family, friends and colleagues have been incredible. Losing a child is something that never leaves you so to revisit those feelings as Michelle has been challenging.
“Coronation Street ensured that I had a counsellor on set at all times to go to after filming the scenes but for me the best tonic after a hugely emotional day was to go home to my kids and be reminded of how lucky I am to have them.
“I am very proud of what we have done with this storyline and I hope it helps raise awareness and helps people to talk about their own experiences.”
Coronation Street producer Kate Oates said:
”The subject of miscarriage will always be sensitive; but telling this story with Simon and Kym at the centre would always have an extra poignancy. Through careful writing and research, we hope we are able to encourage discussion, understanding and compassion for those viewers affected by the loss of a baby.
"The cast were in safe hands with our amazing and empathetic director Tony Prescott, and it has been humbling to see all the actors involved being so selfless and generous in their performances.”
Barlow Dynasty
9:41 - 8 Nov 2016
Storm clouds are gathering on Coronation Street this winter as Ken Barlow finds himself at the centre of a power struggle when his estranged son and grandson arrive in Weatherfield.
The return of Peter Barlow last month rocked the cobbles when a massive row between him and his dad ended in Ken suffering a stroke.
But things take an even more dramatic twist next week when Ken’s son Daniel and grandson Adam join Peter in returning to the Barlow fold.
And with Tracy less than impressed at the Barlow boys’ posturing it looks like Ken’s road to recovery is going to be a rocky one!
Viewers will see Adam first on Wednesday 16th November when he rolls onto the cobbles in a red jag, wearing a camel coat and puffing on a cigar - an image which will no doubt remind viewers of his dad Mike Baldwin.
Whilst Daniel is discovered by a shocked Barlow clan the same night, sitting at Ken’s hospital bedside, reading King Lear aloud to his father.
The coming weeks and months will see tempers flare and tensions rise at number 1 as Tracy, Peter, Daniel and Adam jostle for position in the Barlow household.
Rob Mallard plays Daniel Osbourne
Rob Mallard has been cast as Daniel, Ken’s son by Denise Osbourne, who we last saw nine years ago when Ken went to stay with the pair.
While Sam Robertson will reprise his role as Adam Barlow, the son of Ken’s late daughter Susan and Mike Baldwin, who has been living in Canada since he left Weatherfield in 2007.
Rob, whose previous credits include No Offence, Fresh Meat and Emmerdale, said:
“It feels great to be starting work on Coronation Street and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone.
"I grew up watching Coronation Street, so the chance to be in it, especially playing a part like Daniel, is very exciting.”
Sam Robertson, who also starred in E4’s Beaver Falls, said:
“I’m delighted to be back, Coronation Street was my first job as an actor and is a special place for me.
"As a young actor it was a little overwhelming so I’m looking forward to coming back and stamping my mark on the character, I feel there’s unfinished business with Adam.”
Producer Kate Oates added:
“The Barlows have been at the centre of Coronation Street since it started in 1960 and I felt it was time to remind ourselves of the dynasty that Ken has built up over the past 50 years."
I am excited about the dynamics of having the different generations living together on the same street and exploring the drama that will bring.
– Kate Oates
“When Peter turned up first in October his arrival immediately had consequences for the family when Ken suffered his stroke. He is followed this week by Adam and Daniel. I am delighted to have Sam back, his time away from Weatherfield has hardened Adam and although he is a Barlow the Baldwin genes are evident from the moment he arrives."
Adam arrives in a flash sports car looking to cause mischief.
“Daniel is a different Barlow altogether, more sensitive and bookish, he is clearly a chip off the old block, but there is more to Ken’s youngest son than meets the eye. Rob is a talented young actor who is perfect for the role.”
Daniel visits Ken in hospital
Jean Alexander
8:44 - 15 Oct 2016
Everyone at Coronation Street is saddened to hear that actress Jean Alexander, best known for her iconic role as Hilda Ogden, has died aged 90.
Jean, who played the legendary character from 1964 until 1987, passed away on Friday.
Hilda and her on-screen husband Stan (Bernard Youens), were two of the most memorable characters of all time with Jean voted the 'Greatest Soap Star of all Time' in a 2005 poll by the TV Times.
She retired from acting in 2012, two years after her last television appearance, following an acting career which lasted more than 60 years.
"Everyone who loves what is special about Coronation Street will know how sad it is to hear that Jean Alexander has died," said ITV Creative Director, Serial Dramas John Whiston.
"Hilda Ogden was the earthy heart of the show for very many years, and the brilliance of Jean as an actor was that she could shift from high comedy to deeply emotional and moving drama in a heartbeat. That takes real skill and real acting but also real humanity.
"That is what the world has lost with her passing."
Michael Le Vell added, “This has come as such shock - Jean was the biggest iconic soap character to walk the planet! My proudest and most exciting moment on the show was when Kevin and Sally moved in with Hilda as it meant I would have loads of scenes with her.
"She was such a warm caring person and a joy to work with. She was also great fun we used to watch snooker in the green room with her as she loved snooker! For such an iconic character she was always one of the first people to make a new arrival feel so welcome. She was an all round lovely lady and such a talent I will never forget the scenes I had with her and what she taught me.
"It was an honour and a privilege to work with her and she is is a huge loss to the industry."
"Jean was such an inspiration to me as a young actress," echoed Sally Dynevor.
"So professional and generous with her advice. Michael and I loved her, and any scenes we did with her we always wanted to do our very best. Hilda will always be my favourite Corrie character.”
William Roache said, "Jean created one of the most iconic Coronation Street characters in Hilda Ogden. She could make you laugh, particularly with Hilda's comedy singing, but she could also deliver incredibly moving performances and make you cry. She was a wonderful actress."
7:29 - 5 Oct 2016
Rosie Webster is to make a welcome return to the cobbles - five years after leaving Weatherfield.
Actress Helen Flanagan is to reprise the role she made famous and will begin filming at the end of the year. She will be on screen until the Spring.
Viewers will first see Rosie in February. She surprises her parents when she arrives back to visit them with sister Sophie who’s returning from their trip to Miami.
Rosie left Weatherfield to star in a reality TV Show in February 2012, viewers have seen mum Sally go to visit her on numerous occasions but she has never come home - until now!
Storyline details are being kept under wraps but one thing is certain - Rosie’s visit to see her family won’t be uneventful.
Coronation Street Producer Kate Oates said:
“The Websters have missed Rosie and so have we. With Sophie away on holiday with her sister it seemed like the ideal time to bring Rosie back home with her for a visit.
"We are delighted that Helen is as keen explore what Rosie has been up to away from the cobbles as we are.”
Helen Flanagan said:
“I'm so excited to be returning to Coronation Street and being part of the Webster family again.”
The Websters back in 2006
Toyah Battersby to return to Coronation Street
7:28 - 20 Sep 2016
Actress Georgia Taylor will return to the role of Toyah Battersby next month and will appear on screen this December.
Christmas is a time for families and Leanne Battersby is heading for a festive family reunion with her step-sister Toyah.
With Leanne pregnant with Steve McDonald’s baby the sisters have a lot of catching up to do, but viewers will have to wait and see what exactly brings ‘Our Toyah’ back to Weatherfield.
Toyah was last seen on the cobbles 13 years ago in February 2003. She left Weatherfield after finding out her college lecturer boyfriend had got her friend Maria pregnant.
Toyah left Weatherfield with Spider in 2003
She has been mentioned regularly in scripts by Leanne who has visited her sister a few times.
How has Toyah changed in the past 13 years? Does she have unfinished business with certain residents? What baggage will she bring with her to Weatherfield and is she here to stay? All will be revealed this Christmas on the ITV soap.
Producer Kate Oates said:
“I am delighted that Georgia Taylor has agreed to return to the role of Toyah. She is a talented actress who has had great success since leaving the show in 2003.
“Family relationships are the lifeblood of soap operas and I am excited to explore the drama that Toyah will bring with her to the cobbles. She has led an interesting life away from Weatherfield and she has secrets she has kept even from Leanne.
“Her arrival this Christmas looks set to put the cat amongst the Coronation Street pigeons.”
Toyah and Leanne back in 1997
Georgia Taylor said:
“I am thrilled to be re-joining my old friends on the cobbles and hugely excited to be given the opportunity to explore the character of Toyah 13 years on.
“Coronation Street has always had a place in my heart and I'm delighted to be working again with my good friend Jane Danson and bringing the Battersby sisters back together.
“The script writers and producers have come up with some fantastic, clever, and detailed story-lines that have inspired me and I feel excited to get started!”
The Barlow Boys Are Back In Town
7:00 - 14 Sep 2016
It looks like Ken is going to have his work cut out this autumn as son Daniel and grandson Adam join Peter in returning to the Barlow fold.
Rob Mallard has been cast as Daniel, Ken’s son by Denise Osbourne, who we last saw nine years ago when Ken went to stay with the pair.
While Sam Robertson will reprise his role as Adam Barlow, the son of Ken’s late daughter Susan and Mike Baldwin, who has been living in Canada since he left Weatherfield in 2007.
Peter is returning to the Street!
Viewers will first see Ken’s troubled son, Peter Barlow, return to the street in October. But as his return sends shockwaves through the Barlow household, the family will be further shaken when Daniel and Adam join Ken, Tracy, Amy and Peter at No. 1 in November.
Rob, whose previous credits include No Offence, Fresh Meat and Emmerdale , said:
“It feels great to be starting work on Coronation Street and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone.
"I grew up watching Coronation Street, so the chance to be in it, especially playing a part like Daniel, is very exciting.”
Sam Robertson, who also starred in E4’s Beaver Falls, said:
“I’m delighted to be back, Coronation Street was my first job as an actor and is a special place for me.
"As a young actor it was a little overwhelming so I’m looking forward to coming back and stamping my mark on the character, I feel there’s unfinished business with Adam.”
Producer Kate Oates said:
“The Barlows have been at the centre of Coronation Street since it started in 1960 and I felt it was time to remind ourselves of the dynasty that Ken has built up over the past 50 years.
“I am excited about the dynamics of having the different generations living together and exploring the drama that will bring."
Sam Robertson as Adam back in 2007
“Peter turns up first in October and almost immediately his arrival has consequences for the family. He is followed in early November by Adam and Daniel. I am delighted to have Sam back, his time away from Weatherfield has hardened Adam and although he is a Barlow the Baldwin genes are evident from the moment he arrives.
“Daniel is a different Barlow altogether, more sensitive and bookish, he is clearly a chip off the old block, but there is more to Ken’s youngest son than meets the eye. Rob is a talented young actor who is perfect for the role.”
Follow Coronation Street on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram for more exclusive news!
| Weatherfield |
Madrid stands on which river? | Coronation Street drops 25-year-old actress who claimed to be 19 - BBC News
Coronation Street drops 25-year-old actress who claimed to be 19
19 January 2015
Image copyright Jo McLintock
Image caption Katie Redford had not filmed any scenes before being dropped from the soap
Producers of Coronation Street have dropped actress Katie Redford from the show, after it emerged she gave a false age to win a part as a 14-year-old.
ITV announced Redford was joining the soap last week, playing the role of Bethany Platt, granddaughter to Gail McIntyre.
A press release, issued on Friday, described the actress as 19.
But fans on showbiz site Digital Spy found evidence, including a CV, suggesting she was actually 25.
I'm feeling really stressed and so sorry for Katie. She's a star in the making
Joanne McLintock, Katie Redford's agent
A spokeswoman for the actress later confirmed she had auditioned "as a 19-year-old".
Producers only became aware of the discrepancy at the weekend, after the discussion gained momentum online.
As a result, ITV announced on Monday morning: "Coronation Street have taken the decision to recast the part of Bethany Platt".
It is understood that producers have another actress in mind for the role, and there will not be a new audition process.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat, Redford's agent said it "wasn't [Katie's] idea to audition as a 19-year-old.
"People in the industry do it regularly and she sort of went along with what we said," Joanne McLintock said.
"I'm feeling really stressed and so sorry for Katie. It's her first real job and she's a star in the making."
'Dream come true'
The character of Bethany was last seen in 2007 when she moved to Italy with her mother, Sarah Louise.
Bethany was previously played by three child actors - Mia Cookson and Amy and Emily Walton.
The teenager's reappearance paves the way for the return of Tina O'Brien, 31, who plays 27-year-old Sarah Louise.
Image caption Bethany Platt is the daughter of Sarah Louise Platt (Tina O'Brien, left) and granddaughter to Gail McIntyre (Helen Worth)
In its press release last week, ITV said Bethany would be returning to the soap as a regular character.
The statement continued: "Nottingham-born Katie, 19, will debut as tearaway teenager Bethany this spring when she arrives unannounced in Weatherfield from her home in Milan."
It also contained a quote from Redford who said the role was "a dream come true".
"Until I'm actually on set, I genuinely don't think it will sink in that I'm joining the cast of Coronation Street," she added.
The actress, who trained at the National Youth Theatre, had not filmed any scenes before the decision was taken to drop her from the show.
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Ray Parker Jnr sang the theme song to which famous 1984 movie? | Original GhostBusters Theme Song - YouTube
Original GhostBusters Theme Song
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| Ghostbusters |
In which capital city is the stadium nicknamed ‘The Birds Nest’? | Who Sang The Original Theme For “Ghostbusters” Back In 1984? « Cleveland's Star 102
Who Sang The Original Theme For “Ghostbusters” Back In 1984?
June 24, 2016 8:13 AM
Filed Under: trump toohey
1. HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY TO CANDACE CAMERON BURE AND HER HUBBY. THEY ARE CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF WEDDED BLISS, AND POSTED A THROWBACK WEDDING PHOTO YESTERDAY ON INSTAGRAM. WHAT ROLE DID SHE PLAY ON THE SHOW “FULL HOUSE”?
2. YOU MIGHT’VE HEARD IT EARLIER IN THE SHOW, FALL OUT BOY AND MISSY ELLIOT, HAVE REMADE THE TITLE TRACK “GHOSTBUSTERS” FOR THE NEW MOVIE. IT’S TRACK #8 ON THE NEW MOVIE SOUNDTRACK. WHO SANG THE ORIGINAL THEME FOR “GHOSTBUSTERS” BACK IN 1984?
3. LED ZEPPELIN DID NOT STEAL A RIFF FROM ANOTHER BAND, AND USE IT DURING THE OPENING OF THEIR FAMOUS SONG “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN”. A JURY DID ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE BAND HAD ACCESS TO THE 1967 SONG “TAURUS” BY THE BAND SPIRIT, BUT THE CHORDS USED BY ZEPPELIN WERE NOT “…INTRINSICALLY SIMILAR…” TO THAT PARTICULAR SONG. WHAT YEAR WAS “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN” RELEASED? 1969? 1971? 1973?
4. IT WAS ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY THAT KATHERINE HEIGL IS PREGNANT! HE 37 YEAR OLD ACTRESS, AND HER HUSBAND SINGER JOSH KELLY, ARE EXPECTING A BABY BOY IN JANUARY. THEY ARE ALREADY PARENTS TO A 7 YEAR OLD, AND 4 YEAR OLD. KATHERINE HEIGL, PROBABLY BEST KNOWN FOR HER ROLE ON GREY’S ANATOMY, STARRED ALONGSIDE SETH ROGEN IN THIS COMEDY BACK IN 2007.
5. MICHAEL STRAHAN GAVE HIS FIRST POST “LIVE! WITH KELLY AND MICHAEL” INTERVIEW TO CHELSEA HANDLER. BY THE WAY, HE DOESN’T MISS THE SHOW, AT ALL! HE SAYS, “I THINK I’VE BEEN WORKING SO HARD FOR THE LAST SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS SINCE I RETIRED FROM FOOTBALL, THAT IT’S BEEN A RELIEF.” WE ALL KNOW THAT HE ANNOUNCED HE WAS LEAVING THE SHOW TO BE FULL TIME AT GOOD MORNING AMERICA, BUT HE’S ALSO HOSTING WHICH THROWBACK GAME SHOW WHICH PREMIERS THIS SUNDAY?
D.J. TANNER
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Which palindrome means a principle of belief? | Principle | Define Principle at Dictionary.com
principle
[prin-suh-puh l] /ˈprɪn sə pəl/
Spell
an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct:
a person of good moral principles.
2.
a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived:
the principles of modern physics.
3.
a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion:
the principles of the Stoics.
4.
principles, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management:
to adhere to one's principles; a kindergarten run on modern principles.
5.
guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct:
a person of principle.
an adopted rule or method for application in action:
a working principle for general use.
7.
a rule or law exemplified in natural phenomena, the construction or operation of a machine, the working of a system, or the like:
the principle of capillary attraction.
8.
the method of formation, operation, or procedure exhibited in a given case:
a community organized on the patriarchal principle.
9.
a determining characteristic of something; essential quality.
10.
an originating or actuating agency or force:
growth is the principle of life.
11.
an actuating agency in the mind or character, as an instinct, faculty, or natural tendency:
the principles of human behavior.
12.
Chemistry. a constituent of a substance, especially one giving to it some distinctive quality or effect.
13.
in principle, in essence or substance; fundamentally:
to accept a plan in principle.
15.
according to personal rules for right conduct; as a matter of moral principle:
He refused on principle to agree to the terms of the treaty.
according to a fixed rule, method, or practice:
He drank hot milk every night on principle.
Origin of principle
Latin
1350-1400
1350-1400; Middle English, alteration of Middle French principe or Latin prīncipium, on the analogy of manciple . See principium
Can be confused
principal , principle (see usage note at principal ; see synonym study at the current entry)
Synonyms
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
1–3. Principle, canon, rule imply something established as a standard or test, for measuring, regulating, or guiding conduct or practice. A principle is a general and fundamental truth that may be used in deciding conduct or choice: to adhere to principle. Canon, originally referring to an edict of the Church (a meaning that it still retains), is used of any principle, law, or critical standard that is officially approved, particularly in aesthetics and scholarship: canons of literary criticism. A rule, usually something adopted or enacted, is often the specific application of a principle: the golden rule. 2. theorem, axiom, postulate, proposition. 5. integrity, probity, rectitude, honor.
Usage note
Examples from the Web for principle
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Contemporary Examples
Zealous populist patriots might pal around on principle, but banding together effectively is another matter.
Stanford Stories Charles K. Field
Restoration of true Religion and Government on their first principle, v.285.
British Dictionary definitions for principle
Expand
a standard or rule of personal conduct: a man of principle
2.
(often pl) a set of such moral rules: he'd stoop to anything, he has no principles
3.
adherence to such a moral code; morality: it's not the money but the principle of the thing, torn between principle and expediency
4.
a fundamental or general truth or law: first principles
5.
the essence of something: the male principle
6.
a source or fundamental cause; origin: principle of life
7.
a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the behaviour of a system: the principle of the conservation of mass
8.
an underlying or guiding theory or belief: the hereditary principle, socialist principles
9.
(chem) a constituent of a substance that gives the substance its characteristics and behaviour: bitter principle
10.
in principle, in theory or essence
11.
on principle, because of or in demonstration of a principle
Usage note
Principle and principal are often confused: the principal (not principle) reason for his departure; the plan was approved in principle (not in principal)
Word Origin
| Tenet |
On which US state’s flag can the Union Jack be seen? | Tenet | Define Tenet at Dictionary.com
tenet
[ten-it; British also tee-nit] /ˈtɛn ɪt; British also ˈti nɪt/
Spell
noun
1.
any opinion, principle, doctrine, dogma, etc., especially one held as true by members of a profession, group, or movement.
Origin of tenet
Pronunciation note
Expand
The word tenet , defined here, should not be hard to pronounce. For speakers of American English, say the number ten, then add the pronoun it , and you have tenet , pronounced (ten ʹ it). Unfortunately, there is a similar-looking and similar-sounding word in English that is much more common—the word tenant , meaning someone who rents and occupies an apartment, office, etc. This word is pronounced (ten ʹ ənt), and its pronunciation is frequently used in error by people who intend to say tenet . Because both words involve sequences of the same letters t and n —both of which are pronounced with the tongue in the same place, touching the upper palate—it is easy for the extra n of the more common word tenant to creep into the pronunciation of tenet . With care, one can learn to pronounce these two words differently and appropriately.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Examples from the Web for tenet
Expand
Contemporary Examples
Asked who would have made the order, Clarke replies, “I would think it would have been made by the director,” referring to tenet.
Inside the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon Tim Mak December 8, 2014
Historical Examples
The splendid creature felt the warmth of tenet's breath upon her neck, and her skin tingled under that burning contact.
British Dictionary definitions for tenet
Expand
a belief, opinion, or dogma
Word Origin
C17: from Latin, literally: he (it) holds, from tenēre to hold
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 tenet
Expand
n.
"principle," properly "a thing held (to be true)," early 15c., from Latin tenet "he holds," third person singular present indicative of tenere "to hold, to keep, to maintain" from PIE root *ten- "to stretch" (cf. Sanskrit tantram "loom," tanoti "stretches, lasts;" Persian tar "string;" Lithuanian tankus "compact," i.e. "tightened;" Greek teinein "to stretch," tasis "a stretching, tension," tenos "sinew," tetanos "stiff, rigid," tonos "string," hence "sound, pitch;" Latin tendere "to stretch," tenuis "thin, rare, fine;" Old Church Slavonic tento "cord;" Old English thynne "thin"). Connection notion between "stretch" and "hold" is "to cause to maintain." The modern sense is probably because tenet was used in Medieval Latin to introduce a statement of doctrine.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Which steak is cut from between the ribs? | Cook's Thesaurus: Beef Rib Cuts
home > meats > beef > rib cuts
Beef Rib Cuts
Meat from the rib section tends to be tender and well marbled with the fat that makes steaks and roasts juicy and flavorful. Rib steaks and roasts are sometimes called "prime rib" even when the meat isn't good enough to be graded "prime" by the USDA. It's best not to marinate rib cuts.
Cuts:
back ribs = rib bones = barbecue beef ribs = Texas ribs Notes: These aren't very meaty, but the ribs are long and fun to eat. They come in slabs containing several ribs. Grill the whole slab, then cut them into individual ribs when you serve them. Allow 1/2 to 1 pound per person. Substitutes: pork spareribs
rib-eye roast = Delmonico roast. Notes: The juicy rib-eye comes from the same muscle that gives us those exquisite top loin and top sirloin cuts. This cut can be roasted to make a boneless version of a rib roast, or cut into individual steaks, called rib-eye steaks. Rib-eye roasts are very tender, well marbled with fat, and fairly expensive. Substitutes: tenderloin roast OR rib roast
rib-eye steak = Delmonico steak = Spencer steak = market steak = fillet steak = beauty steak Notes: Rib-eye steaks are very tender, well marbled with fat, and fairly expensive. They're usually boneless, but you can sometimes find bone-in rib-eye steaks. Note that club steaks are also sometimes called Delmonico steaks. Substitutes: club steak OR Porterhouse steak OR T-bone steak OR strip steak
rib roast Notes: The entire rib section includes seven ribs, but it's usually cut into smaller chunks. Each rib will feed about two people, so if you're feeding, say, six people, you should get a three-rib roast. You can buy this cut as a standing rib roast, with the bones left in, or as a rolled rib roast, which is boned, then rolled and tied. The nice thing about a standing rib roast is that it can stand by itself in the oven pan without a rack, plus the bones provide added flavor. A large end rib roast is cut from the part of the rib section nearest the chuck, so the steaks are bigger but tougher. The small end rib roast = sirloin tip roast includes the ribs next to the choice loin section, so the meat's more tender and lean. If the short ribs are lopped off of a rib roast, you get a half standing rib roast. A steak cut from a rib roast is called a rib steak. Substitutes: rib eye roast (similar, but boneless) OR veal rib roast (much less fat) OR top loin roast OR whole tenderloin (more tender and more expensive)
rib steak = entrecote Notes: Rib steaks are cut from rib roast, and shouldn't be confused with rib-eye steaks, which have less fat and bone. Rib steaks are sometimes called club steaks, though that name is usually reserved for a different cut from the loin. Substitutes: club steak OR rib-eye steak
| Entrecôte |
What did Sherlock Holmes keep in the toe of a Persian slipper? | The Four High End Steaks You Should Know | Serious Eats
The Four High End Steaks You Should Know
85
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, except where noted]
We do quite a bit of steak talk around here, but we've never covered the true basics: how to pick the one you want.
First, a definition. Steaks are basically any piece of meat that falls under the category of "fast-cooking" cuts—cuts that are low enough in connective tissue that they don't require the long cooking times that "slow-cooking" cuts require. The difference between a steak and roast essentially comes down to size. Any good roast can be cut into individual steaks (although, unfortunately, it's not possible to put together several steaks into a large roast without the aid of transglutaminase , or at the very least, a reliable time machine).
While cheaper cuts like sirloin, flank, and skirt, or cheffy cuts like hanger and flatiron are becoming increasingly popular and available these days (my favorite is hanger), the kings of the steakhouse are still those cuts that come from the Longissimus dorsi and the Psoas major. The Longissimus dorsi are a pair of long, tender muscles that run down either side of the spine of the steer, outside the ribs, all the way from the neck to the hip. The tenderness of a steak is inversely related to the amount of work that a muscle does during the steer's lifetime. So as a relatively unused muscle, the Longissimus dorsi (commonly referred to as the loin or the backstrap) are extremely tender, making them an ideal candidate for steak (and also quite expensive).
The Psoas major are a pair of shorter muscles that starts about two-thirds of the way down the steer's spine and run on the opposite side of the ribs to the Longissimus—the inside. Commonly referred to as the filet mignon or tenderloin, they're by far the tenderest piece of meat on the steer. That, coupled with their small size make it them most expensive cut at the butcher (that whole supply and demand thing, you know?)
Out of these two muscles come a number of cuts. Here's what you'll find at the typical butcher.
The Ribeye
Also Sold As: Beauty Steak, Market Stek, Delmonico Steak, Spencer Steak, Scotch Filet, Entrecôte.
Where It's Cut From: The front end of the Longissimus dorsi, from the Rib primal of the steer. The further towards the head of the steer you get, the more of the Spinalis muscle you'll find in your steak—that's the cap of meat that wraps around the fatter end of the steak.
What It Tastes Like: Highly marbled with a large swath of fat separating the Longissiumus from the Spinalis. Fat is where a lot of the distinctive flavor of beef comes from, making ribeye one of the richest, beefiest cut available. The central eye of meat tends to be smooth textured with a finer grain than a strip steak, while the Spinalis section will have a looser grain and more fat. Many people (myself included) consider the Spinalis to be the absolute tastiest quick-cooking cut on the cow.
The Best Way to Cook It: Pan-frying , grilling , broiling. Because its copious fat is prone to causing flare-ups, grilling can be a bit tricky. Have a lid ready, and stand by with the tongs in case you need to rapidly spring into action and retrieve them from the depths of a fireball. This is my favorite cut for pan-searing.
The Strip
Also Sold As: New York Strip, Kansas City Strip, Top Sirloin (which has nothing to do with the Sirloin primal of the steer, or the Sirloin Steak, which is an entirely different cut), Top Loin, Shell Steak (when sold bone-in), Contre-filet
Where It's Cut From: The Longissimus dorsi muscle, towards the rear-end of the steer in the Short loin primal (that's the primal just behind the ribs)
What It Tastes Like: Tight texture with a definite grain means strip steaks are moderately tender, but still have a bit of chew. Good marbling and a strong beefy flavor. Not as robust as ribeye, but much easier to trim with no large pockets of fat, making it an easy-to-cook, easy-to-eat cut. A favorite of steakhouses.
The Best Way to Cook It: Pan-frying , grilling , broiling. It's easier to grill than ribeyes, as less fat means less flarreups, and less burning.
The Tenderloin
Also Sold As: Filet, Filet mignon, Fillet, Châteaubriand (when cut as a large, center-cut roast feeding two or more), Tournedo (when cut from the smaller tapered section of the tenderloin closest to the Rib primal).
Where It's Cut From: The central section of the Psoas major muscle in the Short loin primal of the steer.
What It Tastes Like: Extremely tender with an almost buttery texture. Very low in fat, and correspondingly low in flavor. To be honest, unless you are looking for a low-fat cut or prize tenderness above all-else, you're better off with one of the other, less expensive cuts.
The Best Way to Cook It: Pan-frying , or grilling . Because it's so low in fat and fat conducts heat more slowly than muscle, tenderloins tend to cook much faster than other steaks and are far more prone to drying out. Pan-frying in oil and finishing by basting it with butter helps add some richness, as does wrapping it in bacon before grilling (a very common approach). Even better is to purchase and roast or grill-roast it whole as a Châteaubriand—less surface area means less moisture loss. Because of its mild flavor, it's often paired with flavorful sauces or compound butters.
The T-Bone
Also Sold As: Porterhouse (when tenderloin section is 1 1/2-inches or wider)
Where It's Cut From: The T-bone is a two-for-one cut—it's comprised of a piece of tenderloin, and a piece of strip separated by a T-shaped bone. The regular T-bone is cut from the front end of the Short loin primal, just after the tenderloin starts, giving it a smallish piece of tenderloin (between 1/2- and 1 1/2-inches wide). A Porterhouse steak, on the other hand, is cut from further back and has a section of tenderloin at least 1 1/2-inches wide.
See how the two steaks fit together?
What It Tastes Like: The strip section tastes like strip, and the tenderloin tastes like, well, tenderloin.
The Best Way to Cook It: Grilling , broiling. Because of the irregularly-shaped bone, pan-searing is extremely difficult with a T-bone. As the meat cooks, it tends to shrink down a bit. The bone ends up protruding, preventing the meat from getting good contact with the pan surface, and inhibiting browning. Because of this, you're much better off grilling it.
But even grilling isn't completely straight-forward. Remember how the leaner tenderloin cooks faster than the fattier strip? That problem is compounded by the fact that the tenderloin section of the T-bone or Porterhouse is much smaller than the strip. The result is a tenderloin that ends up overcooking before the strip is even close to done.
But never fear! There's an easy way to fix this problem. When grilling or broiling, just make sure you position the steak such that the tenderloin is further away from the heat source than the strip. Under a broiler, that means that the steak should be oriented so the strip rests closer to the heating element or flame. On a grill, this means building a modified two-level fire (that's all the coals under one half of the grill, leaving the other half empty; on a gas grill, light one or two of the burners, leaving the other one off), then positioning the steak over the fire so that the tenderloin sections are closest to the empty side of the grill.
[Photograph: Josh Bousel]
For complete instructions on effectively grilling porterhouse, check out Josh's recipe here .
Do you guys have a favorite cut of steak?
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What is the title of the French National Anthem? | La Marseillaise Lyrics in French and English
By Laura K. Lawless
Updated August 30, 2016.
La Marseillaise is the French national anthem and it has a long history that speaks to the history of France itself. In both French and English, the song is a powerful and patriotic anthem that is known throughout the world.
If you are studying the French language, learning the words to La Marseillaise is definitely recommended. In this lesson, you will see a side-by-side translation from French to English that will help you understand its meaning and why it is so important to the people of France.
The Lyrics for La Marseillaise (L'Hymne national français)
La Marseillaise was composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792 and was first declared the French national anthem in 1795. There is much more to the song's story, which you can find below. First, however, let's learn how to sing La Marseillaise and understand the English translation of the lyrics.
Rouget de Lisle originally wrote the first six verses. The seventh was added sometime later in 1792, according to the French government, though no one knows whom to credit for the last verse.
It is typical that the refrain is repeated after each stanza.
At public French performances today, including sporting events, you will often find that only the first verse and the refrain are sung.
On occasion, the first, sixth, and seventh verses are sung. Again, the refrain is repeated between each.
French
We will enter the pit
When our elders are no longer there;
There, we will find their dust
And the traces of their virtues. (repeat)
Much less eager to outlive them
Than to share their casket,
We will have the sublime pride
Of avenging them or following them!
The History of La Marseillaise
On April 24, 1792, Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle was a captain of engineers stationed in Strasbourg near the Rhine River. The mayor of the town called for an anthem just days after the French declared war on Austria. The story says that the amateur musician penned the song in a single night, giving it the title of “Chant de guerre de l’armée du Rhin” (“Battle Hymn of the Army of the Rhine”).
Rouget de Lisle's new song was an instant hit with the French troops as they marched. It soon took on the name La Marseillaise because it was particularly popular with volunteer units from Marseille.
On July 14, 1795, the French declared La Marseillaise the national song.
As you may have noted in the lyrics, La Marseillaise has a very revolutionary tone. It is said that Rouget de Lisle himself supported the monarchy, but the spirit of the song was quickly picked up by revolutionaries. The controversy did not stop in the eighteenth century, but has lasted over the years and the lyrics remain the subject of debate today.
Napoleon banned La Marseillaise under the Empire (1804-1815).
It was also banned in 1815 by King Louis XVIII.
La Marseillaise was reinstated in 1830.
Again, the song was banned during the rule of Napoleon III (1852-1870).
La Marseillaise was once again reinstated in 1879.
In 1887 an "official version" was adopted by France's Ministry of War.
After the liberation of France during World War II, the Ministry of Education encouraged school children to sing La Marseillaise to "celebrate our liberation and our martyrs."
La Marseillaise was declared the official national anthem in Article 2 of the 1946 and 1958 constitutions.
La Marseillaise is widely popular and it is not uncommon for the song to make an appearance in popular songs and movies. Most famously, it was used in part by Tchaikovsky in his "1812 Overture" (debuted in 1882). The song also formed an emotional and unforgettable scene in the 1942 classic film, "Casablanca."
Source:
| La Marseillaise |
Who wrote ‘Not Waving But Drowning’? | What is the French National anthem? England fans urged to sing along at Wembley - Mirror Online
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What is the French National anthem? England fans urged to sing along at Wembley
Supporters at Wembley are being urged to sign France's national anthem - La Marseillaise - ahead of England's encounter with Didier Deschamps' side
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Coming together: England fans will join France in singing La Marseillaise
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Fans at Wembley tomorrow night are urged to sing the French national anthem as a sign of solidarity with the nation following the Paris terror attacks.
England will face France in an international friendly just four days after at least 129 people were killed in the country's capital city by ISIS terrorists on Friday night.
Fans are being warned to arrive early for the game, with a massive security blanket being thrown over the stadium complex, including extra security personnel and bag checks.
But once inside, the crowd will have a chance to show solidarity with France.
Solidarity: Wembley will be united in support with France on Tuesday night (Photo: PA)
The words to the French national anthem La Marseillaise will be shown on the big screens at Wembley and supporters from both nations will be encouraged to join in.
It is a move welcomed by the Football Association’s official England Supporters’ Club after the game was given the go-ahead despite security fears.
French national anthem lyrics - click on the image below, print and join in:
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In bridge what jargon word is used for the condition of holding no trumps? | chicane - definition and meaning
chicane
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
intransitive v. To resort to tricks or subterfuges; use chicanery.
transitive v. To trick; deceive.
n. Chicanery.
n. Games A bridge or whist hand without trumps.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
n. A temporary barrier, or serpentine curve, on a vehicular path, especially one designed to reduce speed.
n. Chicanery.
v. To use chicanery, tricks or subterfuge.
v. To deceive.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The use of artful subterfuge, designed to draw away attention from the merits of a case or question; -- specifically applied to legal proceedings; trickery; chicanery; caviling; sophistry.
n. In bridge, the holding of a hand without trumps, or the hand itself. It counts as simple honors.
intransitive v. To use shifts, cavils, or artifices.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
To use chicane; employ shifts, tricks, or artifices.
To treat with chicane; deceive; cheat; bamboozle.
n. The art of gaining an advantage by the use of evasive stratagems or petty or unfair tricks and artifices; trickery; sophistry; chicanery.
n. A game similar to pall-mall, played on foot, in Languedoc and elsewhere, with a long-handled mallet and a ball of hard wood. It is played in an open field, like polo.
n. A quibble: as, a chicane about words.
n. In bridge whist, a hand which is void of trumps; it entitles the holder to score simple honors. When the hands of two partners are both void of trumps it is called double chicane.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
v. raise trivial objections
| Chicane |
Performing which move can a chess player move two pieces at the same time? | Bridge Terminology | American Contract Bridge League
Z
A
ABOVE THE LINE. A phrase denoting all scores in rubber bridge entered above a horizontal line on the score sheet, including penalties and the premiums for honors, slams, rubbers, overtricks and fulfilling a doubled or redoubled contract.
ACBL RANK CLASSIFICATIONS. http://www.acbl.org//masterpoints-results/masterpoint-ranks/
ACCORDING TO HOYLE. A phrase indicating that a procedure is sanctioned legally and ethically and that it has the backing of custom. Edmond Hoyle (1672–1769) was the noted authority on card games in his lifetime. His reputation was so great that the phrase “According to Hoyle” came to mean correct procedure in general.
ACCREDITED TEACHERS. Accredited Teachers earn the title by successfully completing ACBL’s Teacher Accreditation Program (TAP). The TAP was created in 1986 as part of ACBL’s new Bridge Education Program. It is a 10-hour seminar designed by Audrey Grant, a Canadian educator, to develop new bridge teachers and to introduce them to ACBL’s Teaching Series. Many established bridge teachers have participated in the TAP as a form of continuing education and are also accredited teachers. Interested ACBL members and volunteer workers have taken the TAP course and have earned the title of ACBL Accredited Teacher.
Special programs for Accredited Teachers are offered at each NABC. These include dinner meetings and special workshops/seminars. A quarterly newsletter, The Bridge Teacher, is published by ACBL and contains news of the organization’s activities, teaching tips, special funded teaching programs and general information of interest to this group.
ACE-HIGH. This describes a suit held by one player in which the ace is the top card without other top honors.
ACTIVE ETHICS. Actions to enable all players to have equal access to methods and understandings used by their opponents. The concept was first broached by Hall of Famer Bobby Wolff during his tenure as president of the ACBL in 1987. According to Wolff, Active Ethics has nothing to do with such items as score corrections – players are supposed to make sure they have the right scores whether or not the adjustment favors them. Instead, Wolff characterized Active Ethics as the desire not to take advantage – the desire to make sure that the opponents are privy to all of a partnership’s conventions, treatments, habits and idiosyncrasies. “The game itself is more important than winning,” said Wolff.
AGGREGATE SCORE. The same as total-point scoring.
ALERT. The word used by a player to make sure the opponents are aware that the Alerter’s partner has made a bid that has a conventional or unusual meaning.
ALERTING. A method of drawing the opponents’ attention to the fact that a particular bid has a conventional or unusual meaning.
ANNOUNCEMENT. Part of the ACBL’s Alert procedure. An Announcement is one word or a short phrase that tells the opponents directly the meaning of partner’s call. When bidding boxes are used, the “Alert” strip is tapped also. For example after a natural 1NT opening bid, the partner of the bidder will say aloud, “15 to 17.”
ARRANGEMENT OF TRICKS. In duplicate bridge, the act of turning a card face down on the edge of the table immediately in front of a player after four cards have been played to a trick, with the long axis of the card pointing to the players who won the trick. In rubber bridge, the act of collecting the cards played to a trick by a member of the side that won the trick and then turning them face down on the table so that the tricks are identifiable in proper sequence.
ATTITUDE SIGNAL. The interest or lack of interest of a defender in having a suit led or continued by his partner. The usual method of encouraging the lead or continuation of a suit is a high-low signal. Low-high is discouraging.
AUCTION. The bidding sequence made by the four players for the contract. The first call is made by the dealer, who may pass or bid. Thereafter, each player makes a valid call, the bidding continuing in a clockwise direction. The bidding ends when, after the dealer’s initial bid, there are three consecutive passes. The final contract is the last bid, which may have been doubled or redoubled.
AUTHORIZED INFORMATION. Information legally available. This includes information such as meanings of calls, explanations of the Laws and methods used to show count and attitude.
AVERAGE HAND. A hand that contains 10 high-card points. An ace, king, queen and jack, or one-fourth of all the high honors, is the average expectation of each player before the hands are seen. This basic assumption furnishes the player with a simple yardstick for measuring the relative high-card strength of a given hand, and may assist materially in estimating the game potential or penalty expectancy of any bid. Hence, two or three points added to an average hand is the valuation of a hand with a minimum opening bid.
AVERAGE SCORE. One-half the matchpoints possible on a given deal or in a particular session of a matchpoint pairs tournament.
In IMP pairs games, average on a given board is the arithmetical mean of all scores on that board, usually excluding the highest and the lowest. This constructed average is called a datum.
The average score is usually the basis on which adjusted scores are awarded when a particular deal cannot be properly played. When the deal cannot be played through no fault of one pair, the adjustment is usually 60% of the available matchpoints. Deduction from the average score is made by the tournament director when one of the pairs is at fault. These adjustments are referred to as average-plus and average-minus.
B
Back to Top
BACK IN. To make the first bid for one’s side after passing on a previous round in the face of opposing bidding. This action sometimes will be balancing.
BALANCED DISTRIBUTION (or BALANCED PATTERN). A hand that appears suitable for notrump rather than trump contracts. Standard types are 4-4-3-2, 4-3-3-3 and 5-3-3-2 (5-4-2-2 and 6-3-2-2 are borderline cases). The completely balanced 4-3-3-3 distribution can be described colloquially as flat, square or round, an example of the strangeness of bridge geometry.
Balanced distribution can also refer to an even division of one suit around the table.
BELONG. An expression to indicate which side can legitimately expect to buy the contract. A player who says he knew that “the hand belonged to the opponents” indicates that he judged the opposition could make the highest positive score on the deal. In such circumstances, it may pay to take an advance save or other preemptive action. Alternatively, a player who judges that he will be outgunned in high cards may prefer to remain silent on the theory that he will end up as a defender and does not wish to give information that may help the declarer.
An alternative meaning of the word in modern bridge jargon, especially in a postmortem, is to indicate the most desirable contract for a side: “We belong in 5♦.”
BELOW THE LINE. Points at rubber bridge entered below the horizontal line on the score sheet. These points are solely those made by bidding and making partscores, games or slams. All other points are scored above the line only. Points scored below the line count toward winning a game or rubber. At duplicate bridge or Chicago, the term may be used loosely to refer to trick score.
BID. A call by which a player proposes a contract that his side will win at least as many odd tricks (tricks in excess of six – the book) as his bid specifies, provided the contract is played at the denomination named.
BIDDER. A player who states or indicates a bid. The term is occasionally used to indicate a player who is prone to overbid, or one who will prefer trying a doubtful contract rather than defending in a competitive bidding situation. Also, any player during the auction period.
BIDDING. The period following the deal and ending after the third successive pass of any bid, double or redouble.
BIDDING BOX. The almost universal means of bidding in most duplicate sessions today. The typical bidding box contains cards for all bids from 1♣ to 7NT, several Pass cards, cards for Double and Redouble, a Stop card (used when there is a skip bid) and a blue strip to be removed from the box when making an Alert.
BIDDING CARD. The card indicating a bid or a call printed on it that is part of the collection of such cards in a bidding box.
BIDDING SPACE. The amount of room used in terms of bids that have been skipped. A response of 1 ♥ to 1 ♦ , for example, uses no bidding space, but a response of 2 ♣ would use up a good deal of bidding space. The general theory is that the length of a suit tends to increase as the bidding space consumed in bidding increases.
BIFF. Colloquial for ruffing the led suit, particularly a winning card on an early lead.
BLANK. A void. Used as an adjective, it indicates lack of a protecting small card for an honor, as a singleton or “blank” king. As a verb, it means to discard a protecting small card, as to blank a king. Blank honors, whether singleton or doubleton, are slightly devalued in most point-count methods.
BLANK HAND. A hand with seemingly no trick-taking potential, also sometimes referred to (usually erroneously) as a yarborough.
BLIND LEAD. The first lead on any hand, so called because the opening leader has not seen the dummy. This term is particularly applied when the leader’s partner did not bid, and the declarer’s side has bid only one denomination. Terence Reese is quoted as saying, “Blind leads are for deaf players.”
BLOCK. A situation in which entry problems within a particular suit make it difficult or impossible to cash winners or possible winners in that suit.
BLUFF FINESSE. A play undertaken as though is it a legitimate finesse, as when leading the queen, holding Q-x-(x), from hand with A-x-(x) in dummy.
BOARD. (1) A duplicate board. (2) The table on which the cards are played. (3) The dummy’s hand, so called because it lies on the table.
BOARD-A-MATCH. A method of playing multiple team matches in which each team plays against a variety of opponents and each board is worth one point. The format was prevalent at one time in North America but has been largely displaced by Swiss teams, which is scored by International Matchpoints (IMPs).
BOARD-A-MATCH SWISS TEAMS. The difference between this type of Swiss Teams and others is the method of scoring. After play is finished and the teams compare scores, one matchpoint is awarded for each board won, and half a matchpoint for each board tied. The margin of difference on any board is of no consequence – winning a board by 10 is the same as winning a board by 4000 – it’s one. This type of game is rare.
BODY. A term used to describe a hand with useful intermediate cards such as 10s, nines and eights. Some authorities advocate counting a 10 as half a point, sometimes only for notrump purposes. The 10 is of greatest value in combination with one or two higher honors, such as K-10-x, Q-10-x or K-Q-10. It has least value when isolated (10-x-x) or in a solid suit (A-K-Q-J-10). Similarly, a nine may be valuable in combination (Q-10-9) but almost worthless in isolation.
Body may be a decisive factor in making a bidding decision. For example:
♠ K 10 5 4 ♥ A Q 9 ♦ Q 10 9 ♣ K J 8
This hand counts 15 points in high cards, but the intermediate cards make it a “good” 15, and most experts would treat it as a 16-point hand.
Body is a factor to consider when making a borderline opening bid. As the bidding proceeds, a player can often revalue his intermediate cards. A holding of 10-9-2 is certainly worthless if the bidding marks partner with a singleton or a void, and very probably worthless opposite a doubleton. But there is a good chance that the 10-9 will be valuable opposite a probable three card suit: Partner may have something like A-J-3, K-J-3, or Q-8-3.
BONUS. A term used in all types of bridge to describe various premiums given under the scoring rules to sides or partnerships who accomplish specified aims.
In rubber bridge, bonuses are awarded for the winning of the rubber by scoring two games before the opponents have scored two games. A bonus of 700 points is credited to the side winning a two-game rubber before the opponents have won even one game. If the opponents have won a game, the bonus becomes 500 points. A bonus of 50 points is paid any side scoring a successful doubled contract, and similarly, 100 for making a redoubled contract. A bonus is scored above the scoring line for a side that, in the given deal, has held honors in trump or all the aces in one hand at notrump. This bonus is either 100 or 150 points. Bonus scores are given to sides that successfully bid and make a slam. If a rubber of bridge has to be terminated before its regular conclusion, a bonus of 300 points is given to a side that is a game ahead. A partscore (below-game score) earns a bonus of 100 points.
In the Chicago format, bonuses can occur on each of the four deals. In this type of contest, each deal is really almost a separate game of itself. A non-vulnerable side scoring a game in Chicago is credited with 300 points immediately, a vulnerable side 500. Slam bonuses are the same as in rubber bridge, and honors are likewise scored. A partial score achieved on the fourth or final deal, however, acquires an extra bonus of 100 points. This bonus is awarded only for partials actually acquired on the last deal – there is no premium for a partial remaining open at the conclusion of a four-deal chukker.
In duplicate bridge, a bonus is awarded for making any partscore on a given deal. The bonus is 50 points. The regular slam premiums apply in duplicate scoring as explained previously, but there are no bonuses for honors, except in total-point scoring. In duplicate, the regular Chicago bonuses for games bid and made apply, e.g., 300 for making a non-vulnerable game and 500 for making a vulnerable game.
BOOK. The tricks won by a side that have no value in the score. For the declarer, the first six tricks taken constitute his book. For the adversaries, book is the number of the declarer’s bid subtracted from seven, or the maximum number of tricks the adversaries may take without defeating declarer’s contract. The origin of the term apparently lies in the old practice of forming the first six tricks into a “book” by placing them all in one stack.
BOTH VULNERABLE. A term applied to the situation when both sides are subject to larger awards and penalties. In rubber bridge, a side becomes vulnerable by winning a game during the rubber. The side that wins the second game out of three wins a 500-point bonus. In Chicago, the vulnerability situation is predetermined – both sides are vulnerable only on the fourth deal. In duplicate, once again the vulnerability is predetermined. The vulnerability is set up in 16-board segments. Both sides are vulnerable on boards 4, 7, 10 and 13. Only North-South are vulnerable on boards 2, 5, 12 and 15. East-West are vulnerable on boards 3, 6, 9 and 16. Neither side is vulnerable on boards 1, 8, 11 and 14. A side that is vulnerable has to be more careful about taking chances and saves because the penalties are substantially higher. At the same time, in team play it pays to go for the game because the bonus points are substantially higher. In England, both sides vulnerable is known as “game all.”
BOTTOM. In tournament play, the lowest score on a particular deal in the group in direct competition. It is extended, in conversation, to indicate an excruciatingly bad result.
BOX A CARD. To place a hand in a duplicate board with a card, usually not the top card, turned face up.
BREAK. The distribution of outstanding cards in a suit in a manner favorable to declarer. This may imply that a suit was divided evenly or nearly so, or that an adversely held honor was positioned so that it did not develop into a winning trick. The term “break” is also used to indicate the actual distribution of cards outstanding in the suit; or with the adjective “bad” to indicate unfavorable distribution from the declarer’s standpoint.
In most contexts, “split” may be used as a synonym for “break,” both as a noun and a verb: “The suit split (or broke) badly (or well).” “There was a bad split (or break) in spades.”
BRING IN. To establish a suit and make effective use of the established winners. The ability to bring in a suit may be affected by considerations of entry, tempo, controls or ducking or by the suit combinations in the suit being established.
BROKEN SEQUENCE. Combination of at least three high cards with at least two of the cards in sequence. There is a difference of opinion about what constitutes a broken sequence. One camp says the non-touching honor must be the highest honor of the sequence (A-Q-J, K-J-10, Q-10-9) and that any other combination (A-K-J, K-Q-10, etc.) should be described as an interior sequence. The other camp asserts that a broken sequence applies to both combinations.
BROKEN SUIT. A suit containing no honor cards in sequence.
BUSINESS DOUBLE. A penalty double. A penalty pass can convert a takeout double to a business double.
BUST. Bridge slang term for a seemingly valueless hand.
BUTCHER. Colloquialism to indicate a bad misplay: “He butchered the hand.”
BUY. In a competitive auction, to make a bid that the opponents do not contest. “He bought it for three hearts.”
C
CALL. Any bid, double, redouble or pass.
CASH. To play a winning card while on lead.
CASH IN (also CASH OUT). To take a series of tricks by playing winning cards one after another. The term is usually applied to a situation where a player realizes that he is on lead for probably the last time during that particular deal and, while in control, decides to take his tricks then. The term can be applied to a declarer as well as defenders.
CHEAPEST BID. The most economical bid available at any particular point in the auction, such as 1 ♦ in response to or as an overcall of 1 ♣. Many conventional bids and systems make use of this principle of economy by attaching special meanings to bids of clubs at various levels, and occasionally to diamond bids. The same principle of economy is followed in making natural opening bids and responses.
CHUKKER. A term for four deals of Chicago. It is also used in a long team match for a group of boards followed by comparison of scores. The term is borrowed from polo.
CLAIM. The Laws (68A) defines a claim this way: “Any statement to the effect that a contestant will win a specific number of tricks is a claim of those tricks. A contestant also claims when he suggests that play be curtailed, or when he shows his cards (unless he demonstrably did not intend to claim – for example, if declarer faces his cards after an opening lead out of turn . . .).”
CLEAR A SUIT. At notrump play, to clear a suit is to force out, by continued leads of the suit, adversely held high cards so that the remainder of the cards in that suit are winners. At suit play, the term is used also to indicate a line of play in which winners in one side suit are cashed before the balance are ruffed out so as to eliminate all cards of the suit from declarer’s and dummy’s hands. If a trick is lost to the defense later, a further lead of this suit gives declarer the option of ruffing in one hand while discarding a potential loser in the other. This is part of an “elimination” play.
CLOSED HAND. The hand of the declarer, as distinct from the open hand, now legally referred to as the dummy. The term dates from bridge whist, which introduced the idea of an exposed hand visible to the other players.
CLUB. The symbol ♣, which appears on the 13 cards of the lowest ranking of the four suits in a bridge deck. It stems from the French (trefle), but the name seems to be of Spanish or Italian origin as a translation of basto or bastone. The outline of the club suggests a cloverleaf.
COFFEEHOUSE BRIDGE. Card playing in European coffee houses frequently featured conversational or other gambits designed to mislead opponents, and the term “coffeehouse bridge” became a synonym for legal but unethical gambits. Such questions as, “Did you bid a spade?” with a rising inflection to inform partner of a sound spade holding in one’s own cards, or, “What did you bid first over 1 ♦ ?” to right-hand opponent when one wants his partner to lead that suit against a notrump contract, are gambits that are easily caught. Such a player is ostracized at rubber bridge, and the offense is adjudicated in duplicate bridge when a director is present. Action on a doubtful hand after a slow pass by partner is somewhat harder to classify, but the ethical player will pass all such doubtful hands after such a slow pass by partner.
Conversational gambits, even when made without any devious intent, have no place at the bridge table among serious, ethical players.
COFFEEHOUSING. Indulging in unethical actions with full intent to mislead opponents.
K J
Q 2 A 5
4 3
The 4 is led from the closed hand, and West hesitates before playing the obvious 2. This is coffeehousing – an attempt to make the declarer believe that West was thinking of playing the ace. If this happens in tournament play, South should call the director and is likely to get redress under Law 73D2.
COLD. Bridge slang term describing an easily makable contract. In postmortem heat, players tend to exaggerate the degrees of coldness. Frigid and icy are similar terms. A colorful variation is “colder than a creek rock” or “crick rock.”
COLOR. A rarely used term that distinguishes suit-play from notrump play. In the bidding, to “change the color” means to bid a new suit. The term is virtually synonymous with “suit.” In non-English languages, the common term is color, not suits.
Originally there were four colors – white, red, blue and black. The associated symbols – the spear, the heart, the rhombus and the clover – became dominant in France and spread to other countries.
COMPARISONS. At duplicate, comparisons are made between pairs (or players) who played a board in the same direction, and consequently under similar conditions of dealer, vulnerability, and holding.
COMPETITION. (1) Any duplicate bridge contest or (2) a bidding situation in which both sides are active.
CONCESSION. The Laws (68B) define a concession this way: “Any statement to the effect that a contestant will lose a specific number of tricks is a concession of those tricks; a claim of some number of tricks is a concession of the remainder, if any. A player concedes all the remaining tricks when he abandons his hand.”
CONSTRUCTIVE. A description applied to a bid that suggests game prospects but is not forcing. The partner will take further action more often than not. Equivalent to encouraging.
CONSTRUCTIVE BIDDING. Descriptive of an auction, usually without interference by the opponents, that is aimed at finding the best contract.
CONTESTANT. One or more players competing for a combined score. In an individual contest, each player enters as an individual, changing partners as the movement requires and receiving credit for his own score on each board he plays. In a pairs contest, players enter as pairs, playing with the same partner throughout for a common score on all boards played. In a teams contest, players enter as teams of four to six, changing partners among their own teammates as permitted by the conditions of contest, but competing for a common score. In World Bridge Federation events, it is usual to classify the non-playing captain as a contestant.
CONTESTED AUCTION. An auction in which both sides are bidding, often with at least one side aiming to disrupt the other side’s communication.
CONTRACT. (1) The undertaking by declarer’s side to win, at the denomination named, the number of odd tricks specified in the final bid, whether undoubled, doubled or redoubled. (2) Informally, the game of contract bridge.
CONTRACTING. A word that signifies the act of agreeing to take a certain number of tricks in a deal of bridge.
CONTRACTING SIDE. Declarer and his partner. The opponents are the defending side.
CONTROLS. Generally, holdings that prevent the opponents’ winning one, two or conceivably three immediate tricks in a specified suit. Also, specifically aces and kings. Many bidding systems incorporate control-asking bids.
CONVENIENT CLUB/CONVENIENT MINOR. Usually a staple of systems that require five cards to open the bidding with one of a major. This often forces opener to start with 1 ♣ on a three-card suit. Less often, a 1 ♦ opener is made on a three-card holding.
CONVENTION. A call or play with a defined meaning that may be artificial. The oldest convention is the fourth-best lead, which dates back to Hoyle about 1740. The oldest bidding convention is the takeout double, which is more obvious today than when it originated about 1912.
CONVENTIONAL. Describing a bid that is based on the use of a convention.
CONVERSATION. Conversation is carried on at the bridge table in the language of the bidding and the play of cards. Any other conversation during the bidding or play of the hand is distracting (and therefore discourteous), revealing (and therefore improper and even illegal) or misleading (as with coffeehousing). Although bridge is a social game, any socializing or gossiping should be confined to the short period of the deal, prior to the start of the game or during a refreshment intermission.
COUNT. A term used in three distinct senses, referring to: (1) the number of cards held in a suit, as in counting a hand or a count signal, (2) the strength of a hand, e.g. point count and distributional count and (3) the number of tricks that must be lost for the operation of a squeeze, as in rectifying the count.
COURTESY BID. A response made on a very weak hand to allow for the possibility that the opener has great strength. The courtesy response is never made in response to a major suit, partly because partner’s next action may be a game bid and partly because the contract of 1 ♥ or 1 ♠ will be playable. The courtesy response with a very weak hand is often indicated if the opening bid is 1 ♣ and responder is short in clubs. If he is 4=4=4=1, for example, a 1 ♦ response avoids the risk of playing in a 3-1 fit and may improve the contract. But there is some risk. This situation illustrates a weakness of standard bidding vis-à-vis strong club methods.
CRACK. As an adjective, an expert player, partnership or team. As a verb, there are three meanings: (1) to obtain bad results after a period of success; (2) to double; (3) to open a new suit during the play. The latter two meanings are bridge colloquialisms.
CROSSRUFF. To score trumps in each hand.
CUMULATIVE SCORE. In tournament bridge, when an event is scheduled for more than one session of play and there is no elimination of players from the event, the winner of the event is decided by cumulative score – that is, the total of the scores made in each of the sessions.
However, should there be a different average score for the two or more sessions (owing to playing a different number of boards, a no-show for the second session, or other reason), the later sessions’ scores are factored by a multiplier that makes the sessions comparable to the first session, so that a particularly high score in any session would carry the same weight as in any other session.
In rubber bridge, where the partnerships change from rubber to rubber, a cumulative score of points won or lost in each rubber is kept so that each player’s status of winnings or losses is shown at the termination of each rubber.
In progressive or party bridge, the cumulative score is the totality of points won at all tables at which the player played. Generally, only plus scores are considered, and losses are not deducted before being entered onto the cumulative score sheet.
In knockout team-of-four matches, all points are scored both plus and minus for both pairs of both teams, and the team with a greater plus total than minus total is the winner. This is referred to as aggregate score (British usage)ortotal-point scoring and has been almost completely supplanted in head-to-head matches by International Matchpoints.
CUT. (1) At the commencement of rubber bridge play, a pack of cards is spread, face downward, and each player draws one card, turning it face up. Rank and suit of these cards determine the makeup of the first partnerships, and the original dealer. (2) At the conclusion of each deal, the cards are gathered together and reshuffled for the next deal. The new dealer presents the shuffled deck to the right-hand opponent, who cuts the pack by removing more than four but fewer than 48 cards from the top of the deck, and placing the cards removed alongside the balance of the deck, nearer to the dealer. The dealer then completes the cut by placing the part of the pack that was originally on the bottom above the part originally on the top. (3) A colloquial term for the verb “ruff,” used commonly in Scotland. (4) To terminate a movement before the scheduled completion.
CUT IN. To assert the right to become a member of an incomplete table, or to become a member of a complete table at such time as it may become incomplete.
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DANGER HAND. The player who, should he gain the lead, can cash established winners or play through a vulnerable holding in declarer’s hand or in dummy (e.g., K-x, when the ace is known or likely to be over the king). With options for developing tricks, an experienced declarer will select the option that, should it fail, will leave the “non-danger” on lead.
DECK. (1) All 52 cards. In some sections of the world, all 52 cards are called the pack instead of the deck. (2) A wealth of high cards held either in one hand or over the period of many hands, as in the statement, “I had the deck.”
DECLARER. The player who first bid the denomination of the final bid. If the final bid is hearts, the player who first named hearts is the declarer. He becomes the declarer when the opening lead is faced, and controls the play of the dummy and his own hand as a unit.
DEAD. Bridge jargon to describe a player in a hopeless situation. It usually refers to the play of the hand, as in, “North made a killing shift, and I was dead.” Also said of a hand, especially dummy, which has been robbed of (or never had) an entry, or of a worthless holding, such as three low ones: “Dummy had three dead hearts.”
DEAL. (1) To distribute the 52 cards at contract; (2) the privilege of thus distributing the cards; (3) the act of dealing; (4) the cards themselves when distributed.
The dealer distributes the cards face down, one at a time in rotation into four separate hands of 13 cards each, the first card to the player on his left and the last card to himself. If he deals two cards simultaneously or consecutively to the same player, or fails to deal a card to a player, he may rectify the error, provided he does so immediately and to the satisfaction of the other players. The dealer must not allow the face of any card to be seen while he is dealing. Until the deal is completed, no player but the dealer may touch any card except to correct or prevent an irregularity.
In duplicate, the cards may be placed into any pocket. If the sponsoring organization wishes, the dealing may be from computer printouts or by dealing machine.
DEALER. The player who distributes the cards in a game of bridge. At the start of a rubber of regular bridge or of Chicago, a cut is made for partners and for the deal privilege. The player who receives the highest card becomes dealer. The entire deck is given out one by one in turn to each player starting at the left of the dealer, each fourth card going to the dealer himself. The dealer speaks first in the auction by bidding or passing. Subsequent calls proceed normally in a clockwise direction.
The term dealer is also a specialized slang word applying to a person who knows how to cheat at cards by arranging or stacking the deck in such fashion as to give himself and/or his partner by far the best of the cards continuously.
DEATH HOLDING. A holding in a suit that seems an a priori certainty to kill the partnership’s chances of playing or defending successfully. Among the most common examples are (1) a holding of two low cards in the opponents’ suit in a deal with slam possibilities; with a low doubleton in one hand, it is likely that neither partner can adequately control the opponents’ suit for slam play; (2) a defensive holding of Q-x in front of a long suit headed by A-K in dummy or declarer’s hand; such a holding gives little hope of a trick on power, and no hope that declarer will misplay or misguess.
DEFEAT THE CONTRACT. To prevent the declaring side from making as many tricks as required by the final contract.
DEFENDER. An opponent of the declarer; one whose main aim is to attempt to prevent declarer from making his contract or to hold declarer to the fewest tricks possible.
DEFENDING HAND. Either opponent of the declarer; occasionally used in the bidding to refer to an opponent of the player who opened the bidding.
DEFENSIVE BIDDING. Bidding by a partnership after the opponents have opened the bidding, although at times the bidding by the opening side could be termed defensive.
DEFENSIVE TRICK. A card or card combination that may be expected to win a trick if an opponent becomes the declarer.
In some situations, a player with a solitary defensive trick may need to take positive action. If 6 ♥ is reached voluntarily and the bidding has indicated that 6 ♠ is a possible sacrifice, the player with a hand that is known to be very weak may have the conventional agreement to double with one defensive trick. This should help partner make the right decision (which may still be to bid 6 ♠), and avoid a “phantom sacrifice” or “phantom save.”
Artificial uses of doubles and passes to reveal whether the partnership has enough defensive tricks to defeat the slam is part of a common agreement known as “double for sacrifice.”
DENOMINATION. The suit or notrump specified in a bid. A synonym is “strain.”
DESCENDING ORDER. The order of the rank of the denominations: notrump, spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. The opposite order is up the line.
DEUCE. Another name for the two. The card of lowest rank in a suit.
DIAMOND. (1) The suit second lowest in rank, next above the club suit, represented by the symbol ♦ . This represents the third estate, although the symbolism is not obvious. (2) The symbol. The suit originated in France in the 16th Century. The name obviously comes from the diamond-shaped lozenge used for the pips.
DIRECTION. The designation of North, South, East, West or the hand held by these players, respectively.
DISCARD. (1) To play a card that is neither of the suit led nor of the trump suit, or (2) the card so played. Colloquialisms for discard include ditch, pitch and shake. Defenders can and do convey information to each other by the specific nature of certain discards.
DISCARD. (1) To play a card that is neither of the suit led nor of the trump suit, or (2) the card so played. Colloquialisms for discard include ditch, pitch and shake. Defenders can and do convey information to each other by the specific nature of certain discards.
DISCIPLINE. The ability of both members of a partnership to follow an agreed system when partnership action is called for. The Roth-Stone system was the first to stress partnership discipline as a requirement, although all systems imply its necessity without stressing it. Discipline is considered a key component of a successful partnership and for a player individually.
The term can also describe actions taken against players who break the rules of the game. Disciplines run the gamut from reprimand to expulsion.
DISTRIBUTION. The manner in which the cards of a suit are dispersed among the four hands of a deal, or the manner in which the number of cards in the four suits are distributed in one hand. Variations in distribution are the basis of various bidding systems in use.
DOUBLE. A call that increases the scoring value of odd tricks or undertricks of an opponent’s bid. A double can be made only over the opponent’s last bid with only passes intervening. Double has many meanings in today’s modern bidding beyond penalty.
DOUBLE DUMMY. (1) Play by declarer or defender(s) that cannot be improved upon, as though the person or pair could see all four hands, as in Double Dummy Problems (next entry).
Originally, double dummy was a two-handed form of whistin which each player had a dummy. Some players exposed all four hands, thus giving rise to the modern usage.
Some bridge-playing computer programs can look at the cards of the other three players during play in order to play as well as possible. (2) Trademark of a two-hand contract game, introduced in 1975, in which each player has a dummy. Since each player already sees two hands, no dummy hand is put down on the table.
DOUBLE DUMMY PROBLEM. Problems in the play of the hand in which the solver knows the holdings in all four hands – as opposed to single-dummy problems, in which the solver can see only the declaring hand and the dummy. In double-dummy problems, the contract and the opening lead are specified. The software program known as Deep Finesse is a double-dummy deal analyzer.
DOUBLE TENACE. A tenace in which the sequence is broken in two places, such as A-Q-10, K-J-9.
DOUBLED INTO GAME. Making a doubled contract and collecting a game bonus that would not have been scored without the double – i.e., any doubled contract, except 3NT, between 2 ♥ and 4 ♦ .
DOUBLER. A player who has doubled.
DOUBLETON. An original holding of only two cards in a suit. If an opening lead is made from a doubleton, the top card is customarily led first. (A low lead from a doubleton is normal in Polish systems and also occasionally in Italian.) Related: Distributional Point Count.
DOWN. Defeated. Said of a declarer who has failed to make a contract. The term is used in various ways, such as, “We are down two” or “down 800,” meaning the side has failed to make a doubled contract by three tricks (four if not vulnerable) or has incurred a penalty of 800 points.
DRIVE OUT. To force the play of a high card, i.e., to lead or play a card sufficiently high in rank to force the play of an adverse commanding card to win the trick, or to continue until this result is achieved, as in “drive out the ace.”
DROP. To capture an adverse potential winning card by the direct lead of a higher card or series of higher cards, as to drop an unguarded king by the play of an ace; also, the play that is aimed at capturing an adverse card, as to “play for the drop” instead of finessing.
Whether to finesse or play for the drop is generally a case of determining the correct mathematical probabilities. However, this preference is considerably modified by information derived from the bidding and play, and it is the policy of good players to obtain as much information as possible, inferential as well as exact, before committing themselves.
For example:
1 ♣ Pass Pass 1NT
Pass 3NT All Pass
If East shows up with an ace or king during the play, it is highly unlikely that he will hold another high honor or he would not have passed his partner’s opening bid. It would therefore be indicated for South to disregard the mathematical probabilities and confidently place all missing honors in the West hand.
DROP-DEAD BID. A bid that tells partner to do no more bidding. The most common bid of this type is a two-level non-conventional response (2 ♦ , 2 ♥ or 2 ♠) to 1NT, showing a weak hand – or at least no interest in exploring for game. Another common variety is a 3NT response to 1NT.
DUB. (1) A player whose game is below the standards of the players with whom he competes. (2) A doubleton (colloquial).
DUCK. To deliberately not win a trick when one had the possibility of so doing. This is a common tactic in card play.
DUFFER. A bridge player of inferior ability.
DUMMY. (1) The declarer’s partner after he has placed his cards face up on the table, which is done immediately after the opening lead is faced by the opponent on the declarer’s left; (2) the cards held by the declarer’s partner, also called the dummy’s hand. The name originated in dummy whist, in which there were only three players, the fourth hand being exposed as the “dummy,” an imaginary and silent player. The dummy in bridge takes no part in the play; he may not suggest by word or gesture any lead or play, but at the conclusion of play, he may call attention to irregularities. In North America, dummy may ask partner if he has any or none of the suit led to prevent a revoke. If dummy looks at his partner’s hand or the hand of either adversary, he forfeits his right to protect his partner from revoking.
DUMMY PLAY. The management of the assets of the declarer and the dummy, synonymous with “declarer’s play.”
DUMMY REVERSAL. A procedure by which declarer takes ruffs in his own hand – which usually has longer trumps than dummy – rather than the dummy.
DUPLICATE. A term applied to the playing of the same deal of cards by more than one table of players; successively applied to whist, auction bridge and contract bridge.
DUPLICATE BOARD. Also known simply as a “board.”
DUPLICATION OF DISTRIBUTION. More widely known as “mirror distribution.” This occurs where the suit lengths in a partnership’s hands are evenly matched. A distributional flaw that limits the trick-taking potential of a pair of hands, it manifests itself in the absence of a long suit that can be developed.
♠ A Q 10 ♠ K J 9
♥ K Q J 9 ♥ A 10 6 2
♦ A 10 3 ♦ 9 7 6
♣ 6 4 2 ♣ Q 7 3
The presence of a long card in either hand would permit the development of an additional trick, but with the above distribution, no game contract is likely to be fulfilled, though sufficient values are held.
DUPLICATION OF VALUES. A concentration of strength and control in the same suit between two partners.
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EAST. One of the four positions at the bridge table. East is the partner of West and the left-hand opponent of North.
ECHO. A high-low signal. In England, it is called a “peter.”
ECONOMY OF HONORS. A technique in card play intended to preserve honor cards from capture by opposing honors or trumps.
EIGHT or EIGHT-SPOT. The seventh-highest ranking card in each suit, having eight pips of the suit to which it belongs on the face.
EMPTY. A colloquial term indicating that the spot cards in a suit are of no value. “King empty fourth” means a four-card suit headed by the king with poor spot cards.
ENCOURAGING. (1) A term applied to a bid that strongly urges partner to continue to game. Similar to invitational. (2) A term applied to a defensive signal by which a player urges his partner to continue playing the suit led.
ENTRY. (1) The form used for entering events at bridge tournaments and clubs. At tournaments, the entry blanks are used to control seating assignments, in particular to assure proper seeding (certain entries are set aside for known expert players so that in multi-section events, the top players do not end up in one or two sections). (2) A means of securing the lead in a particular hand.
EQUAL VULNERABILTY. Both sides are vulnerable or both sides are not vulnerable. The vulnerability is a significant factor in competitive bidding decisions, notably when the vulnerability is “favorable” to one side (not vulnerable when the other is) or “unfavorable” (vulnerable when the other is not).
EQUALS. Cards that are in sequence, or cards that are effectively in sequence because all cards of intervening rank have been played.
ESTABLISH. To make a suit or an individual card good by forcing out the opponents’ guards or winners. For example, you can establish four tricks with K-Q-J-10-9 of a suit by driving out the ace.
ESTABLISHED CARD. A card that has been promoted to winning rank after all higher-ranking cards in the other hands have been played.
ESTABLISHED ENTRY. An entry developed by driving out a higher card.
ESTABLISHED REVOKE. With one exception, a revoke that may not be corrected. A revoke becomes established as soon as the revoking player or his partner leads or plays to the next trick, or, if the revoke is made in leading, as soon as the revoking player’s partner plays to the trick on which the revoke is made; or by the act of making a claim. A revoke made on the 12th trick must be corrected.
ESTABLISHED SUIT. A long suit in which a player holds all the remaining high cards, which at notrump or after trumps have been drawn in a suit contract will all be winners when the suit is led and run. The object of notrump play is essentially to establish one or more long suits by drawing or forcing out whatever high cards the opponents may hold in that suit.
EVEN. A term applying to the equal distribution of the outstanding cards in a suit, as a 3-3 division of six outstanding cards.
EVENT. A contest of one or more sessions in duplicate bridge played to determine a winner.
EXHAUST. To draw all cards of a suit from the hand of any player. A player becoming void of a suit during the play is said to be exhausted of that suit, as distinguished from holding no cards of that suit originally.
EXIT. To “get out of one’s hand,” particularly when it is undesirable to have the lead, usually by making a lead that is not likely to jeopardize the value of any partnership holding.
EXIT CARD. A card by which one can exit from one’s hand, offering an escape from an opponent’s attempted throw-in or elimination play.
EXTRA TRICK. A trick scored in excess of the number of tricks required to fulfill a contract. In rubber bridge, such tricks are scored above the line and do not count toward game at their trick value. Extra tricks – also called overtricks – carry premium values if the contract has been doubled or redoubled. In duplicate pairs games, extra tricks are so highly regarded that a declarer often will risk his contract for an overtrick.
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FACE (of a card). The front of a playing card, containing the suit and rank of the card.
FACE CARD. The cards that have a representation of a human figure, originally called coat cards, later court cards.
FALL, FALL OF THE CARDS. The play of a card or cards on a trick; the order in which they are played.
FALSE PREFERENCE. A return to partner’s original suit at the lowest level when holding greater length in the second suit. For example, holding:
♠7 5 4 ♥ K 3 ♦Q 10 8 ♣A 7 6 5 4,
if partner opens 1 ♥ and rebids 2 ♦ over your 1NT response, a false preference to 2♥ could work out well if opener has a forward-going hand, perhaps:
♠A K 9 ♥ A Q 10 7 6 ♦K 9 4 3 ♣J.
Keeping the bidding open will allow opener to make one more move.
FAST PASS. An action at a speed that may improperly and unethically convey weakness. The prevention of a fast pass is one of the justifications for the skip-bid warning. When bidding boxes are in use, the Stop card takes the place of the skip-bid warning.
FAVORABLE VULNERABILITY. Not vulnerable against vulnerable. Penalties are smaller, so there are more opportunities for competitive bidding and sacrifices. Preempts are much more likely to prove effective, in part because vulnerable opponents will often push on instead of doubling for what might be a lesser score than the value of their game. On occasion, bidding on instead of doubling will result in a minus for the vulnerable opponents. Experienced players usually take the sure plus by doubling.
FEATURE, FEATURE SHOWING. A feature is usually defined as an ace or king (occasionally a queen) that may be of particular importance in a given deal. Showing of features in a hand through the bidding commences usually when a suit is agreed on and a game is assured. A familiar tool for responding to weak two-bids is to use 2NT as a feature-asking bid. Opener is directed to show a side ace or king if he is at the top of the range for his weak two-bid.
FIELD. All the players entered in an event.
FIFTH HONOR. The ten-spot of the trump suit.
FINAL BID. The last bid in the auction, followed by three consecutive passes. There can be no further bidding. The final bid becomes the contract.
FIRST HAND, FIRST SEAT. The dealer.
FIT. A term referring to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of two partnership hands in combination commonly used to refer specifically to the trump suit. When the deal as a whole is considered, the fit may be distributional. With a sound trump fit, a shortage in each hand in different suits is likely to lead to an effective crossruff.
When both hands are balanced or even have identical or “mirror” distribution, this is considered an unsatisfactory fit. Fit can also be considered in terms of honor cards, which may or may not be effective in play.
FIVE or FIVE-SPOT. The tenth-ranking card in a suit, having five pips of the suit to which it belongs.
FIVE OR SEVEN. A phrase indicating the type of partnership holdings on which a successful play makes a grand slam, but if the play is not successful, the opponents can cash a second trick immediately, holding the result to five-odd.
In rubber bridge, probably the grand slam contract should be preferred, but there may be situations at duplicate where a six-odd contract is tactically better, even though this is neither the maximum nor the safest contract.
FIVE-BID. Any bid at the five level, to take 11 tricks if it becomes the final contract. As an opening bid, it indicates a hand of unusual power. As a bid made during the auction, it may be a slam invitation or part of a specialized slam convention. To play 5♠ or 5♥ voluntarily and fail is one of the most ignominious results possible at the bridge table. Experts prefer to estimate slam possibilities below the game level. A direct bid of five in raising partner can also be an advance save.
FIXED. A colloquial term to describe a pair or team saddled with a bad score through no fault of their own. It was initially applied to a situation in which an opposing player made a technical error or suffered a legal misadventure and gained a good result thereby. His innocent opponents, who suffered, but probably not in silence, can say that they have been fixed. Now it can be any successful good play by a bad player or even being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as when an expert reaches a difficult contract at one’s table and brings it home. Some players have been known to complain about being fixed by their system, meaning that a bid that could extricate a pair from a difficult situation is not available because it has a meaning that would not be successful in the given case.
FLAT. (1) Hand: A hand without distributional values, particularly one with 4-3-3-3 distribution. “Square” and “round” are also used to describe this type of hand.(2) Board: A deal on which no variations in result are expected in the replays. In team play, a board in which the two scores are identical and therefore do not affect the score – known as a “push.”
FLIGHT. A division of a game in which competitors are separated according to the number of masterpoints held. Usually the top flight is open to all comers, while lower flights have upper masterpoint limits.
FLOAT. A colloquialism meaning that three passes follow. “1NT, float” means 1NT – Pass – Pass – Pass. A similar term is swish. In the play, declarer may be said to float a card when he leads it and passes it for a finesse.
FLUKE. A lucky profit. An extreme case would be represented by a player dropping a card that appears disastrous but produces a brilliant result. It would also be considered a fluke if an inexperienced pair – with all their mistakes working out to their benefit – won in a field of much more accomplished players.
FOLLOWING SUIT. The legal obligation of each player to play a card of the suit led if possible.
FORCE. (1) Noun: Any bid making it incumbent upon the bidder’s partner to bid at least once more. (2) Verb: To cause to ruff; to cause a player to use a high card.
FORCED BID. A bid a player must make according to the system being played. When playing Cappelletti, for example, the partner of the player who overcalls 1NT with 2 ♣ must normally bid 2 ♦ if there is no intervening action.
FORCING. A bid or call requiring further action by partner.
FORCING BID. A bid that, because of system or convention, requires partner to keep the bidding open by making some call other than a pass if there is no intervening call.
Perhaps the most widely used forcing bids are the strong jump shift by an unpassed hand and a response of 1/1 (e.g., 1 ♣ – Pass – 1 ♥ ) or 2/1 (e.g., 1 ♠ – Pass – 2 ♦ ) by an unpassed hand.
FORCING CLUB. A bidding system in which a bid of 1 ♣ is strong, artificial and forcing. The most widely known system is Precision.
FORCING PASS. A pass that forces partner to take action – usually relevant in a competitive bidding context.
FORCING RAISE. Perhaps nothing in bidding has changed as much over the years as the way in which responder makes a forcing raise of opener’s suit, particularly when the opening is in a major suit. A double raise used to be the only way to indicate a forcing raise. Today, in a non-competitive auction, the double raise usually is a limit bid (even a weak raise in some systems). Diverse methods of showing the forcing raise have been developed, and the most prevalent in tournament play is a response of 2NT to an opening bid of one of a major to indicate a hand with at least four-card trump support and game-going values. There are many other methods that carry the same message.
FORCING REBID. A rebid by the opening bidder to show sufficient values for game even if responder has a minimum for his action.
FORCING SEQUENCE. A series of bids that requires the bidding to continue.
FORWARD GOING. Synonymous with “constructive” in the context of bidding.
FOUR or FOUR-SPOT. The eleventh-ranking card of each suit, designated by four pips of the suit symbol on the face.
FOUR-BID. A bid at the four level to take 10 tricks if it becomes the final contract.
FOUR-DEAL BRIDGE. The Chicago form of rubber bridge.
FOUR-ODD. Four tricks over book, or 10 tricks in all.
FOURTH HAND. The fourth player to have the opportunity to make a call or play to a trick. The player to the dealer’s right.
FOURTH-SUIT ARTIFICIAL. This usually refers to the convention known as fourth-suit forcing, which most players play as forcing to game.
FOUR-THREE-TWO-ONE COUNT. The elements of point-count hand evaluation.
FREE BID. A bid made by a player whose partner’s bid has been overcalled or doubled by right-hand opponent. A similar term, now obsolete, is voluntary bid.
FREE DOUBLE. A double of a contract that represents a game if undoubled. Usually confined to rubber bridge, when a partscore will convert an earlier partscore into game. If both sides have a partscore, judgment of a high level is required. All players may be straining their resources.
Doubles of game and slam contracts cannot properly be described as free.
FREE FINESSE. A defensive lead that allows declarer to take a finesse without the risk of losing the trick, or which allows him to take a finesse that could not normally be taken.
FREE RAISE. A single raise of opener’s suit after an overcall.
FRIGID. Another variation on “cold,” used to describe a contract that should make easily barring exceedingly poor play.
FULFILLING A CONTRACT. Taking as many tricks, in the play of the hand, as contracted for in addition to the book of six, i.e., eight tricks in a contract of two. A bonus of 50 points is awarded for a less-than-game contract in duplicate, 300 for a non-vulnerable game and 500 for a vulnerable game.
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GADGET. A general reference to a bidding tool that can be added to standard bidding methods but that is not part of any system. Examples include Unusual over Unusual (a defense to the unusual 2NT, which shows minors, when opener’s suit is a major), Michaels cuebid and Puppet Stayman. Nearly all artificial bids could be considered gadgets.
GAME. In duplicate bridge, this is a bid for 3NT, four of a major suit or five of a minor suit.
GAME BONUS. Points awarded for bidding and making a game. In duplicate and Chicago, the award is 500 if vulnerable, 300 if not vulnerable. In rubber bridge, the award is 700 for winning a rubber two games to none and 500 for winning a rubber two games to one.
GAME CONTRACT. An undertaking of a contract which, if successful, will earn enough points in trick-score to make or complete the 100 required for a game. In notrump, three-odd; in hearts or spades, four-odd, and in clubs or diamonds, five-odd tricks produce at least the 100 points necessary from a love score. With a partscore, lower contracts become game contracts. Some rubber bridge players will double a game contract more freely than below-game contracts, although such tactics are misconceived.
GAME-FORCING BID. A bid that announces that the partnership should reach a game contract or higher, and thereby establishes a game-forcing situation.
GAME-FORCING SITUATION. A sequence of bids that, taken together, commit both members of a partnership to reach a game contract. These are also known as forcing sequences.
GAME-GOING. A term applied to any hand or bidding situation that promises to develop a game for the partnership.
GET A COUNT. To determine during play the number of cards held in one or more suits by one of the hidden hands. This can also refer to getting a count on the location of the opposition high cards.
GIN. Colloquialism indicating total certainty of making a contract: “When the heart finesse won, I was gin.”
GIVE COUNT. As a defender, to give a length signal to one’s partner.
GO DOWN. Fail to make a contract.
GO FOR A NUMBER. Suffering a heavy penalty, presumably in four figures, almost always doubled.
GO OFF. Fail to make a contract.
GO TO BED. Failure to take an obvious winner, usually an ace, and never taking a trick with it: “West went to bed with the ace of spades.”
GO UP. To play a high and possibly winning card when faced with a choice of playable cards.
GOLDEN RULE. The Golden Rule of bidding, as laid down by Alan Truscott, is that a suit should not be bid twice unless it has at least six cards. This applies to opener, responder, and the opponents of the opening bidder. Beginners do well to adhere to this rule, which is valid more than 90% of the time. Experienced players will be aware of some exceptions: (1) when a fit has been established, directly or by implication, (2) after a 2/1 response, guaranteeing a rebid in the modern style and (3) in a second suit. A player with 6-5 or 5-5 distribution can bid first suit, second suit and second suit again.
GOOD. An adjective used to describe a hand that is better than the simple point count would suggest, as in “a good 18.” This may be owing to distributional factors, to the presence of body (10s and 9s), to the location of honors in long suits or to a combination of these items.
Also a description of a set of cards that have been established during play and are winners ready to cash. This usually occurs toward the end of a deal and is expressed in a claim by declarer: “My hand is good” or “Dummy is good.”
In a wide sense, a player of a partnership holding good cards has more than a fair share of the honor strength. But the term is sometimes used in a more precise technical meaning, referring to honor cards that have improved in value as a result of the auction. In a competitive auction, the improvement may arise because the significant honors are over the opponent who has bid the suit – a positional factor.
GOREN POINT COUNT. Traditional method of valuation: ace = 4 points; king = 3; queen = 2; jack = 1. The method also incorporates distributional count.
GRAND SLAM. The winning of all 13 tricks by the declarer. The bonus for a grand slam, 1000 points when not vulnerable and 1500 when vulnerable, make a grand slam, bid and made, one of the best-rewarded accomplishments at rubber bridge, and one of the more effective methods of shooting at duplicate. While the general tendency among rubber bridge players is to avoid bidding grand slams except in ironclad situations, the mathematics of the game suggest rather freer acceptance of the risks involved in view of the large rewards.
For a brief period (1932-1935) the grand slam bonuses were higher than they are now: 1500 non-vulnerable, 2250 vulnerable.
GRASS ROOTS. A term used by ACBL to describe an event for which qualification begins at the club or unit level. Pairs or teams that qualify must further qualify at the district level in order to compete in the final stages at one of the ACBL major tournaments. The pairs events are known as North American Pairs and Grand National Teams.
GUARD (STOPPER). An honor holding in a suit that will or may prevent the opponents from running the suit.
A guard may be:
(1) Positive: A, K-Q, Q-J-10, J-10-9-8, 10-9-8-7-6.
(2) Probable: K-J-x, K-10-x, Q-J-x.
(3) Possible: Q-x-x, J-9-x-x.
(4) Positional: K-x.
(5) Partial: K, Q-x, J-x-x, 10-x-x-x.
GUARDED HONOR or GUARDED SUIT. A high card with enough accompanying low cards that the high card will not be captured if the outstanding higher card(s) in the suit are cashed: e.g. K-x, Q-x-x, J-x-x-x. All are subject to capture, of course, from a positional standpoint, as when the doubleton king is led through and the ace is over the king.
GUIDE CARD. A card, usually printed, with prearranged instructions to each contestant, telling him which seat to occupy and which boards to play at each round. The guide card may also enable a contestant to check the positions and identities of his opponents.
Guide cards may be in the form of printed instruction cards remaining permanently at each table (suitable only for cyclic movements) or they may be in the form of separate cards to be hand-carried by each contestant (suitable for either cyclic or non-cyclic movements).
Guide cards are used for Howell movement pairs games, team games and individual contests.
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HALF TRICK. A holding in a suit that will yield a trick about 50% of the time, although the valuation may change with information gained from the bidding. The most common half-trick holdings are A-Q and a guarded king. In the former, a finesse against the king is a priori a 50% proposition, as is a finesse against the ace in the latter. The bidding, however, may reveal that a finesse in either cases is doomed to failure.
HAND. Thirteen cards held by one player. Hand and “deal” (all 52 cards) technically are not synonymous, although popular usage has made them so. The term is also used to indicate the order in bidding rotation, as in “second hand” or “fourth hand.”
HAND HOG. A player who (often mistakenly) feels that he is better qualified than his partner to manage the hands as declarer. The usual method of operation is to pass with minimum opening bids but to respond with jumps in notrump.
HAND RECORDS. (1) Diagrams set up by players after a deal in a major match is completed; (2) the sheets on which individual computer-dealt hands are printed for distribution to players for duplication; (3) the sheets distributed to players at the conclusion of a game on which all the hands from that session are printed.
In some tournaments, particularly in Europe, players make a record of each hand after they have played it on the first round. This card is then placed with the hand in the pocket, and can be used by succeeding players to check whether the cards they hold are the ones that were originally dealt into that hand. Such hand records are known as Curtain Cards.
HARD VALUES. Aces and kings. Also known as “primary values.”
HEART. The symbol © for the second-ranking suit in bridge. Hearts are between spades and diamonds in ranking order. The suit designation originated in France in the 16th Century and takes its name from the shape of the pips used in designating card rank.
HIGH CARD. A ranking card, an honor card, a card that wins a trick by virtue of its being higher in pip value than the other three cards in the trick. A spot card that becomes the master card in the suit also is said to be high.
HIGH-CARD POINTS. A basis for determining the relative strength of a hand, especially for notrump contracts. The most common method for figuring high-card points is: ace = 4, king = 3, queen = 2, jack = 1. Many authorities also count an extra point for holding all four aces and a half point for each 10. Most of the schemes for opening notrump bids are based on this count.
The total of high-card points, taking into consideration suit lengths, often is used as a basis for opening the bidding with a suit bid. Usually a hand that contains a total of 13 points in combined high-card plus distributional points is considered an opening bid; a 12-point hand usually is considered optional, although the modern style has migrated more and more to light opening bids.
Great efforts by Charles Goren in many books and articles popularized the point-count method of bidding. Bridge players everywhere suddenly found they could estimate the strength of their hands reasonably accurately by using this method. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in notrump bidding. Goren told his students that 26 HCP in the partnership hands usually would be enough to produce game, and statistical studies have proved him correct.
The 4-3-2-1 method of evaluating high cards is not the only one that has been promulgated. It is acknowledged that the ace is somewhat undervalued using this count, so there also have been adherents of a 6-4-2-1 count. Another that has had its share of popularity is the 3-2-1-½ count. But the method used by the vast majority of players all over the world is the 4-3-2-1. Although it may not be the most accurate, it is easy to use and accurate enough to get a partnership to the correct bidding level the vast majority of the time.
HIT. Slang used as two distinct transitive verbs: (1) To double. (2) To ruff.
HOLD. (1) To possess a certain card or cards. A player will often start a problem or account of a bridge adventure with, “You hold … ” (2) To win or guarantee the winning of a trick (by the play of a certain card), as in “hold the lead.” Thus, if partner plays the king when you hold the ace, and no ruff is impending, the king is said to hold the trick unless you decide to overtake it.
HOLD OFF. To refuse to play a winning card.
HOLD UP. The refusal to win a trick.
HOLDING. (1) The cards one is dealt in a particular suit, as in the expression, “a club holding of king, queen and two low.” (2) A descriptive term used in reckoning one’s entire hand, and often used in the question, “What would you bid holding five spades to the ace-queen. . .?”
HONOR SCORE. An extra bonus in rubber bridge and in Chicago scored above the line when claimed by a player (declarer, dummy, or defender) who held during the current deal any of certain honor card holdings as follows: 100 points for holding any four of the five top trump honors, 150 points for all five trump honors and 150 points for all the aces at notrump. Honors are not scored at duplicate.
HONORS. The five highest-ranking cards in each suit, specifically – for the purpose of scoring honor premiums – the ace, king, queen, jack, and 10 of the trump suit or the four aces at notrump.
HOOK. Colloquialism for a finesse.
HOSPITALITY. The general term for efforts by a host unit at a bridge tournament to make the players feel more comfortable and welcome. Among the forms that hospitality takes are souvenir programs and pencils; free juice, coffee or soft drinks; after-game refreshments; between-sessions buffets and even dinners; after-session dancing; morning tours to places of local interest; style shows and brunches; panel discussions; daily bulletins, etc.
HOT. Vulnerable.
ICY. Synonym for cold, as in a “cold contract.”
IMP. Abbreviation for International Matchpoint.
IN BACK OF. A term describing the relationship of a player to the opponent on his right; i.e., a player who plays after the player on his right is said to be “in back of” that player. Equivalent terms are “over” and “behind.”
IN FRONT OF. The phrase used to describe the relationship between a player and his left-hand opponent; i.e., the player who plays before another player is said to be “in front of” that player. An equivalent term is “under.”
IN THE RED. A seeming paradox in bridge terminology: In rubber bridge or Chicago it would mean being a loser, but in duplicate, it describes a score good enough to earn masterpoints, because rankings that qualify for points used to be indicated in red on the recap sheet before computer scoring.
INITIAL BID. The first bid of any deal.
INITIAL LEAD. The first lead of any deal.
INSTANT SCORER. A small sheet that lists all possible scores for all possible contracts.
INSULT. The 50-point penalty the doubling side pays for doubling a contract that the declaring side makes. The insult bonus is 100 if the contract succeeds when redoubled.
INTERIOR CARD. An intermediate card; formerly, the second card in sequence, as the jack in a holding of queen, jack, and others.
INTERIOR SEQUENCE. A sequence within a suit such that the top card of the suit is not a part of the sequence, as the Q-J-10 in a holding of A-Q-J-10, or the J-10-9 in a holding of A-J-10-9. Some experts play that the lead of the jack against notrump denies a higher honor, and therefore lead the 10 from A-J-10 and K-J-10. By extension, a lead of the 10 can promise a higher honor by partnership agreement. The 9 would then be led from a holding headed by 10-9.
INTERMEDIATE CARDS. Usually 10s and nines, occasionally eights, all of which add “body” to a suit and improve its valuation.
INTERNATIONAL MATCHPOINTS (abbreviated IMP). A method of scoring used in most team events, especially Swiss teams and knockouts, and occasionally in pairs events.
INTERVENTION, INTERVENOR. Action by a player (intervenor) when the opponents have opened the bidding.
INVITATION, INVITATIONAL BID. A bid that encourages the bidder’s partner to continue to game or slam, but offers the option of passing if there are no reserve values in terms of high-card strength or distribution.
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JACK. The fourth-ranked card in the deck. In some countries, the jack is known as the knave, and it is one of the so-called “coat cards.”
JETTISON. The discard of a high-ranking honor, usually an ace or a king, to effect an unblock or other advanced play.
JUMP BID. A bid at a level higher than is necessary to raise the previous bid. A bid of two or more than necessary is termed a double jump, etc. Skip bid is a more general term, embracing jumps to any level.
JUMP SHIFT. A new suit response at a level one higher than necessary:
West East West East
1 ♥ 2 ♠ or 1 ♥ 3 ♣
In standard methods this shows a hand of great strength that can almost guarantee a slam (19 points or more including distribution). The hand is usually one of four types: a good fit with opener’s suit, a strong single-suiter, a strong two-suiter or a balanced hand with more than 18 points.
JUNIOR. In international competition, a player 25 years old or younger.
JUNK. A term used to describe a hand or a holding felt to be particularly valueless by the person describing it.
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KEEPING THE BIDDING OPEN. Bidding instead of passing. This can apply when responding to an opening bid or to the action of balancing.
KEY CARD. Each of the aces and the king of the agreed trump suit when using any of the key card ace-asking bids.
KIBITZER. An non-playing onlooker at bridge or other games.
KILLED. (1) Captured, as in, “The king was killed by the ace.” (2) The fate of a player or pair playing well but scoring badly. At duplicate, the term implies that the opponents have played luckily and well on a group of boards. At rubber bridge, it would refer to a session of poor cards and bad breaks. The term is always born of frustration and frequently of a desire to avoid admissions to one’s teammates or oneself of poor play; (3) Denuded of whatever entries it may have had, as “The spade lead killed the dummy.”
KISS OF DEATH. A penalty of 200 points on a partscore deal in a pairs contest, usually down two vulnerable or down one doubled vulnerable.
KITCHEN BRIDGE. A social game, perhaps within a family, with little emphasis on technique and skill.
KNAVE. The jack, the fourth-highest ranking card of a suit. This term is obsolete in American usage, and obsolescent elsewhere, although it had considerable currency in England and Continental Europe until the Forties. One reason for the quick acceptance of the term “jack” instead of “knave” is that in reporting hands or in any abbreviated diagram or description of play, the initial J can be used, whereas previously “Kn” had to be used because a plain K would have been ambiguous.
KNOCKOUT TEAMS. An event with a descriptive name: Contestants play head-to-head matches scored by IMPs (International Matchpoints), and the loser is eliminated or “knocked out.” The major world championships are contested as knockouts (usually after a series of qualifying rounds) and three major North American championships are played in knockout format – the Vanderbilt, the Spingold and the Grand National Teams. Bracketed knockout teams are the most popular form of the contest and are featured at most regional tournaments today. Especially at large regionals and NABCS, losers in the KOs usually do not have to wait more than half a day to enter another knockout event. There are many different formats for KOs, all of which can be found in Tournaments.
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LAYDOWN. A colloquial adjective describing a contract so solid (or seemingly so) that declarer can claim virtually as soon as dummy is exposed. Of course, surprising things happen to “laydown” contracts with disconcerting frequency. Pianola is a synonym.
LEAD THROUGH. To lead through a particular opponent is to initiate the lead in the hand to the right of that opponent, forcing that opponent to play to the trick before the leader’s partner plays to it. A dubious tenet of defensive play is to lead “through strength and up to weakness.”
LEAD UP TO. To lead, in defense, with the object of enabling partner’s hand to win a trick because of weakness in the hand on the leader’s right. Occasionally, a strong hand may be led up to, when the object is not necessarily to win the trick.
LEADER. The person who first plays to any given trick. The person who leads at trick one is known as the opening leader.
LEAGUE. Informally, the ACBL. Also, an organization (also called association, federation or union) that may be on a local, regional, national or international scale. Members of the league may be individuals, clubs, teams or other groupings.
LEFT-HAND OPPONENT. The player on your left, abbreviated LHO. In assessing penalties, there has been a differentiation between left- and right-hand opponents in respects to power or right to invoke penalties. Generally, however, the term is restricted to use in describing situations on play. A colloquialism is “Lefty.”
LENGTH. The number of cards in a particular suit, usually referring to five or more, as opposed to strength, a reference to the high-card values held in a suit.
LEVEL. The “odd-trick” count in excess of the book – that is, each trick over six. Thus, an overcall of two (suit or notrump) is at the two level, contracting to make eight tricks. An opening bid of four is said to be made at the four level.
LHO. Left-hand opponent.
LIGHT. (1) Down in a contract – “He was two light.” (2) Fewer than standard values, especially in opening the bidding.
LIMIT BID. A bid with a limited point-count range. Although a traditional forcing jump raise (1 ♠ – Pass – 3 ♠) is limited in the wide sense of the term, limit is normally applied only to non-forcing bids below the game level. With some exceptions, a bid is limited and non-forcing if it is in notrump, if it is a raise, if it is a preference or if it is a minimum rebid in a suit previously bid by the same player.
Opening notrump bids are invariably limited. Once it has been decided that a certain bid is limited, the vital question arises: How wide can the limits be? The nearer the bidding is to game, the closer the limits must be.
When the bidding reaches 2NT with the possibility of 3NT, or when the bidding reaches 3 ♠, there is no longer any margin for exploration. So to give partner the chance to make an accurate decision, all such bids must have a range of approximately 2 points.
Thus, 1 ♥ – Pass – 2NT by a passed hand shows 11–12, and 1 ♥ – Pass – 1NT – Pass; 2NT shows 17–19. Similarly 1 ♠ – Pass – 3 ♠ by a passed hand shows 10-11 or the equivalent, and 1 ♥ – Pass – 1 ♠ – Pass; 3 ♠ shows 17–18 or the equivalent. All these are typical encouraging bids, indicating that the partnership has a minimum of 23-24 points and urging partner on to game if he has a little more than his promised minimum.
Conversely, any bid of 1NT and any limited bid of two of a suit can afford a range of 3 or 4 points because there is still room for partner to make an encouraging bid below the game level. So 1 ♥ – Pass – 1NT or 1 ♥ – Pass – 2 ♥ are each 6-9 (and may have to stretch a little), and 1 ♥ – Pass – 1 ♠ – Pass; 2 ♠ is 13–16, or the distributional equivalent.
LOCK. A colloquial term used principally in postmortems to mean a 100% sure play or contract. For example, “Four spades was a lock.”
LOCKED (IN OR OUT OF A HAND). To win a trick in a hand from which it is disadvantageous to make the lead to the next (or some later) trick is to be locked in. It usually refers to an endplay against a defender (as in a “throw-in”) or to a declarer who is forced to win a trick in the dummy hand, when he has high cards established in his own hand, which he is unable to enter. Locked out refers to situations in which established cards in dummy cannot be cashed because an entry is not available.
LONG CARDS. Cards of a suit remaining in a player’s hand after all other cards of that suit have been played.
LONG HAND. The hand of the partnership that has the greater length in the trump suit, or, in notrump play, the hand that has winners that are or may be established. This can have application in avoidance plays.
LONG SUIT. A suit in which four or more cards are held. Frequently the term is used in connection with a hand of little strength but with great length in a particular suit.
LONG TRUMP. Any card of the trump suit remaining after all other players’ cards of the suit have been played.
LOSER. A card that must lose a trick to the adversaries if led or if it must be played when the suit is led by an adversary. At notrump, all cards below the ace and not in sequence with it are possible losers, but may become winners if the play develops favorably. At a suit contract, the same may be said with the exception that losers may possibly be ruffed. A distinction must be made between possible losers and sure losers. The former may be discarded on a suit that has been established, or they may be ruffed. Occasionally it is an effective strategy to discard a loser on a winner led by an opponent. If a loser cannot be disposed of, it must, of course, lose a trick to the opponents.
LOW CARD. Any card from the two to the nine, sometimes represented by an “x” in card or hand descriptions. Sometimes inappropriately called “small” card.
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MAJOR SUIT. Either of the two highest-ranking suits, hearts and spades, so characterized because they outrank the third and fourth suits in the bidding and scoring. The term is sometimes shortened to “major.”
MAJOR TENACE. An original holding of ace-queen (without the king) of a suit. After one or more rounds of a suit have been played, the highest and third-highest remaining cards of the suit in the hand of one player are called a major tenace (when the second highest remaining card is not held by the same player).
MAKE. Used in bridge in four different senses. As a verb, it may mean (1) to shuffle the deck, as in “make the board,” (2) to succeed in a contract, (3) to win a trick by the play of a card. As a noun, it means (4) a successful contract but usually a hypothetical one in the postmortem: “Five diamonds would have been a make.”
MARKED CARD. (1) A card that is known, from the previous play, to be in a particular hand. (2) A damaged card. (3) A card fixed so that it can be read in a cheating situation.
MARKED FINESSE. A finesse that is certain to win because (1) an opponent shows out, (2) the position of an honor has been pinpointed by the bidding or (3) the previous play has indicated the location of a crucial opposing card.
MASTER CARD. The highest unplayed card of a suit. It can also be thus characterized while actually being played.
MASTER HAND. The hand that controls the situation – more particularly, the one that controls the trump suit, leading out high trumps to prevent adverse ruffs and retaining a trump or two to prevent the adverse run of a long side suit. It is usually declarer’s hand, but sometimes, when declarer’s trumps are more valuable for ruffing, dummy is made the master hand as in a dummy reversal.
MASTERPOINT. A measurement of achievement in bridge competition (ACBL). In general, at tournaments, the larger the field and the more expert the competitors (as in the Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs), the greater the masterpoint award will be for those who place in the overall. Masterpoints at clubs are usually limited, although special games can increase the payoff.
MATCH. A session or event of head-to-head competition between two pairs or two teams.
MATCH PLAY. A team-of-four contest in which two teams compete for an appreciable number of boards.
MATCHPOINT. A credit awarded to a contestant in a pairs or individual event for a score superior to that of another contestant in direct competition.
MIDDLE CARD. The middle card of an original three-card holding. Generally referred to in connection with opening leads.
MINIMUM. The least possible for a particular action. It can apply to suit length or high-card points. Examples: (1) 12 HCP to open bidding; (2) 6 HCP for a response to an opening suit bid; (3) 15 HCP for a strong 1NT opening bid; (4) 4 HCP for a positive response to an forcing two-bid; (5) a six-card suit for a preemptive bid, etc.
MINI-NOTRUMP. An opening 1NT with a range considerably lower than the standard 15-17 high-card points – usually 10-12 HCP. Other very weak ranges are sometimes used, but are often barred by organizing bodies. Lighter 1NT openings are allowed by ACBL, but conventional responses (including Stayman) are prohibited.
MINOR PENALTY CARD. A single card below honor rank that is exposed (faced) inadvertently – as by accidentally dropping it on the table face up – is a minor penalty card.
MINOR SUIT. Either of the two lower-ranking suits, diamonds or clubs.
MINOR TENACE. An original holding of king-jack (without the ace or queen) of a suit. After one or more rounds of a suit have been played, the second and fourth highest remaining cards of the suit in the hand of one player are also called a minor tenace.
MIRROR DISTRIBUTION. Both partners have identical suit distribution. Also known as Duplication of Distribution.
MISBOARD. Replacement of hands in the wrong slots in duplicate play. If the next table is unable to play the board, the guilty pair or pairs may be penalized. A misboard may also occur during duplication.
MISERE. A bad line of play that seems guaranteed to fail. The name comes from solo and other card games in which it may be desirable to lose tricks. An alternative term is butcher.
MISFIT. A situation in which two hands opposite each other are unbalanced, each containing two long suits and extreme shortages or voids in the third and fourth suits, and further, where these lengths are met by shortages in partner’s hand, and the short suits correspondingly are met by lengths in the reverse hand. Where not even one 4-4 or better trump fit can be found in a set of 26 cards, the deal may be said to be a misfit as respects those two hands.
MISINFORMATION. Incorrect information given to opponents. It includes such items as wrong explanations of bids, incorrect rulings by the director and incorrect advisories on signaling methods. Rulings by directors are subject to review if players feel the director made a wrong interpretation or applied the wrong Law. Situations involving misinformation given to opponents frequently are subject to appeal.
MONSTER. A bridge hand of great trick-taking potential either because of a preponderance of high-card winners or because of concentrated strength in long suits and extreme shortness in weak suits. Also, a very big score, usually in a single session – a big game.
MOVE. The change of seats in duplicate bridge after a round has been completed.
MOYSIAN FIT. A contract in which declarer’s trump suit is divided 4-3, usually thus described when the selection is made deliberately. Named for Alphonse Moyse Jr., whose ardent advocacy of this choice was part of his case in favor of opening four-card majors and raising with three trumps.
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NATURAL CALL. A call that reflects the character of the hand, suggests a suitable final strain and does not have an artificial or semi-artificial meaning. A bid is not natural if it promises possession of a specific other suit.
NEGATIVE RESPONSE. An artificial response that shows weakness.
NEWCOMER. The term for a new player, replacing the out-of-favor “novice.”
NON-FORCING. Description of a bid that can be passed by the partner of the player making the bid.
NON-VULNERABLE. Not vulnerable.
NORMAL EXPECTANCY. The holding in either high cards or distribution that a player might expect in partner’s hand when he decides whether to open the bidding. For an unpassed partner, this can be roughly approximated as one-third of the missing high cards or high-card points, and one-third of the remaining cards in the suit. Partner’s responses and future actions modify this concept as the bidding progresses.
NORTH. A position in a bridge foursome or in a bridge diagram opposite South and to the left of West. In duplicate games, scoring is usually done by North (although in some countries it is always South), a matter designated by the sponsoring organization. In print and electronic media, North is usually the dummy.
NOT VULNERABLE. A term applied to a side that is subject to smaller rewards and penalties.
NOTRUMP. A ranking denomination in which a player may bid at bridge. Notrump is just above spades in precedence. Only nine tricks are necessary for game at notrump because the first trick over book of six counts 40 points and the subsequent tricks are 30 points each, as in a major suit. As the name denotes, contracts in notrump are played without a trump suit. The play therefore is entirely different from that of suit contracts, one of the chief differences being that declarer, while planning his line of play, attempts to count winners rather than losers. At notrump, a primary concern of the side contracting for game or partial is stoppers in the suits bid or held by the opponents. More game contracts are played at notrump than at any other denomination. In Britain, it is normal to use two words and pluralize the second: “no trumps.” The hyphenated form – “no-trump” – is a compromise in common usage in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
NOTRUMP DISTRIBUTION. Balanced distribution.
NPC. Non-playing captain.
NUISANCE BID. A bid made to hinder the opponents by disrupting the flow of their bidding.
NUMBER. Used as in “going for a number,” after having been doubled for penalty. Number as used here refers to the high numerical value of a set contract that a competitor sustains (e.g., 500, 800, 1100). A number usually represents a loss because it exceeds the value of the score the opponents could have obtained on their own by declaring the contract plus any bonuses that might be connected to the fulfillment of their contract.
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ODD TRICK. A trick won by declarer in excess of the first six tricks. The term is a holdover from whist, in which the winning of the odd trick was paramount.
OFFENDER. The player who commits an irregularity (Laws).
OFFENSE. The attack. An offensive play or bid is an attacking move, as distinguished from a defensive play or bid. This is not to be confused with declarer or defender because both must take offensive or defensive positions with certain suit holdings. Also, a breach of law (Laws).
OFFICIAL SCORE. In duplicate bridge, the account prepared by the director (or the official scorer) that sets forth each contestant’s score for each board, his score and rank for the session and for the event. Scoring can be done via written pickup slips or by wireless scoring devices. The final scores are posted after the last result is made available to the director. The final score becomes the official score after expiration of the correction period.
OFFSIDE. A card so placed that a finesse, if taken, will lose: “The king was offside.”
OFFSIDE DOUBLE. A penalty double, usually of a game contract in a suit, based on an inference by the doubler that his partner has trump length. The bidding may have made it clear that the declaring side is at full stretch, with borderline game values.
ONE-BID. A bid contracting to win one odd trick, seven tricks in all.
ONE-SUITER. A hand with a suit at least six cards long that contains no other suit with more than three cards.
ONSIDE. A card so placed that a finesse, if taken, will win: “The king was onside.”
OPEN. (1) To make the first bid in a given auction, (2) to lead to the first trick in the play, (3) description of a tournament contest (pairs and teams) in which any pair or team of whatever constituency may play, (4) description of a room in a championship event in which spectators may be present in somewhat substantial numbers as opposed to a closed room that is limited as to both audience and accessibility, (5) description of a club game in which anyone may play.
OPEN HAND. The dummy’s hand, exposed on the table, as distinguished from the closed hand of the declarer.
OPENING BID. The first call in the auction other than a pass.
OPENING BIDDER or OPENER. The player who makes the first bid of an auction.
OPPONENT. A member of the adverse team or pair at bridge.
OPPOSITION. (1) The opponents at the table on a deal, set of deals or rubber; (2) the contestants in direct competition (in some cases, pairs sitting the same direction as you), (3) the balance of the field, (4) the other team in a head-on team event.
OVER. One’s position at the table in respect to one’s right-hand opponent.
OVERBID. A call offering to undertake a contract for a greater number of tricks than is justified by the bidder’s holding. In competitive auctions or auctions that are likely to become competitive, an apparent overbid may be an advance save or sacrifice.
OVERBIDDER. A player who consistently bids higher than his high-card and distributional strength justify. Playing with an overbidder, it is an accepted strategy to be conservative.
OVERBOARD. The state of being too high in a given auction.
OVERCALL. In a broad sense, any bid by either partner after an opponent has opened the bidding.
OVERRUFF. To ruff higher than the right-hand opponent after a plain-suit lead. Sometimes incorrectly called “overtrump.”
OVERTRICK. A trick taken by declarer in excess of the number of tricks required for his contract. If a player is in 4 ♠ and takes 12 tricks, he has made two overtricks. If a contract is doubled or redoubled, and overtricks are taken, the premium accruing to declarer’s side can be substantial. Under certain conditions, redoubled overtricks can be worth more than the corresponding slam premium. At duplicate, making an overtrick can be all-important – it can actually win a board or even an entire tournament.
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PAIR. A twosome or partnership of two players. All games at bridge come down to the basic competitive situation of pair versus pair, bridge being a partnership, or pairs, game.
PAR. The result on a deal if both sides have done as well as possible.
PAR HAND. A hand prepared for use in a par contest. By extension, a randomly dealt hand suitable for inclusion in such a contest because a single technical aspect of play or defense is dominant.
PARTNER. The player with whom one is paired in a game of bridge.
PARTNERSHIP. The two players sitting North-South or the two players sitting East-West. Players who play together frequently are considered to be an established partnership. Players who pair up for a particular event, having played together either seldom or never, have a more casual partnership.
PARTSCORE. A partial; a trick score of fewer than 100 points. At rubber bridge, a successful partscore counts toward game and enables one pair to make game by fulfilling an additional partscore or partscores.
If one side scores a game while the other side has a partscore, that frame ends and both sides start anew in pursuit of game. But that partscore still is added at the end of the rubber (or, in Chicago, after the fourth deal).
In duplicate, the score for making a partial is the sum of the trick score and 50.
PASS. A call by which a player indicates that, at that turn, he does not choose to contract for a number of odd tricks at any denomination, nor does he choose, at that turn, to double a contract of the opponents or redouble a contract by his side that opponents have doubled.
The proprieties require that only one term be used in passing. “No bid” is an acceptable alternative (standard in England), but all calls must be made with uniform usage. The widespread use of bidding boxes has virtually eliminated this as an issue.
PASS OUT or THROW IN. A deal in which all four players pass on the first round of bidding. The score is zero. In duplicate, the deal is scored and returned to the board. Some players believe, mistakenly, that the board can be redealt if passed out on the first round. This is illegal. In rubber bridge, the deal passes to the next player, but in Chicago, a redeal by the same dealer is required. The term “pass out” is also applied to the action of the player who, after two passes, declines to reopen the bidding at a comparatively low level. He is said to be in the “passout seat” or the “passout position.”
PASSED HAND. A player who has passed at his first turn to bid.
PASSOUT SEAT. The position of a player who can end the bidding by making the third consecutive pass.
PATTERN. In general, a reference to hand patterns indicating the number of cards held in each suit – 4-3-3-3, 5-3-3-2, 7-2-2-2, etc. Note that 4-3-3-3 indicates any four-card suit with three cards in the other suits, whereas 4=3=3=3 indicates four spades and three cards each in hearts, diamonds and clubs.
PEARSON POINT COUNT. A guideline for deciding to open the bidding in fourth seat. At one time, the general guideline was that if the total of high-card points and spades held was 14 or more, the bidding should be opened. Most players today use 15 (HCP plus spades) as the benchmark.
PENALTY. The adjustment made in the case of an irregularity or rule violation. The minus score incurred by a player whose contract is defeated.
PENALTY PASS. A pass by a player after a takeout double or balancing double by his partner and a pass by right-hand opponent. For example, if your left-hand opponent opened 1 ♠, your partner doubled for takeout and RHO passed, you would convert the takeout double to penalty by passing if you held:
♠Q J 10 9 8 ♥K 10 4 ♦7 3 ♣Q J 8
Similarly, if you held:
♠5 4 ♥A J 10 9 6 ♦A J 9 ♣Q 7 6
and heard your RHO open 2 ♥, you would pass for penalty if your partner balanced with a double after LHO’s pass.
PERCENTAGE. A quotient obtained by dividing the actual matchpoint score of a contestant by the possible score of that contestant, which is then expressed as a percentage of the possible score. A score of 190 in a game with 13 rounds of two boards each and a top of 12 (312 maximum) would work out to 60.89% (190 divided by 312).
PERCENTAGE PLAY. A play influenced by mathematical factors when more than one reasonable line of play is available. For example, supposed you have a two-way guess for a queen – K-J-8-3 opposite A-10-5-4. If you could ascertain that one opponent had three of the suit and the other two, unless you had other information to guide you (e.g., from the bidding) the percentage play would be to finesse for the queen against the opponent holding three of the suit.
PERFECT BRIDGE HAND. A hand that will produce 13 tricks in notrump irrespective of the opening lead or the composition of the other three hands.
PERMANENT TRUMP. At whist, a variation in which club card committees or other governing bodies declared a suit to be trump for all games under their jurisdiction. The rules of whist provided that the trump suit was the suit of the last card dealt by the dealer to himself.
PHANTOM PAIR. In a pairs game with an odd number of pairs, the pair that would (if present) complete the last table. The contestants scheduled to play against the phantom pair have a bye round.
PHANTOM SACRIFICE. A sacrifice bid against a contract that would have been defeated. Also known as a phantom save. For example, a bid of 5♦ doubled, down two for minus 300, looks good against a vulnerable 4♥ contract, which would have been minus 620 for your side – until you determine that the opponents’ limit in a heart contract was nine tricks.
PIANOLA. A contract at bridge that presents no problems to declarer, so easily makeable that it almost plays itself. The name derives from the old player piano or “pianola” that would “play” itself.
PICK UP. To capture or “drop” an outstanding high card, as in picking up or dropping a doubleton queen offside by playing the ace and king rather than taking an available finesse. Similarly, to drop a singleton king offside by eschewing a finesse and playing the ace. This action is usually the result of declarer’s determining that the key card must be offside, making a finesse a sure loser.
PIP. A small design indicating the suit to which a particular card belongs. The spade suit is indicated by a spearhead, the heart suit by a heart, the diamond suit by a diamond, the club suit by a clover leaf. The spot cards have as many pips as the rank of the card indicates, from 1 (ace) to 10 in the standard deck, in addition to two indices, the lower half of which is a pip. In German cards, the pips of leaves and acorns usually have stems, and are often attached as if on a branch. In the Trappola Pack, the pips often vary in size and design, and the swords and cudgels are usually interlaced.
PITCH. A colloquial term for discard.
PITCH COUNT. An old name for the 4-3-2-1 point count.
PLAIN SUIT. A suit other than the trump suit.
PLATINUM POINTS. Masterpoints awarded by the ACBL in nationally rated events with no upper masterpoint limit at North American Championships. ACBL’s Player of the Year is determined on platinum points earned in a calendar year. Similarly, qualification for the Norman Kay Platinum Pairs, which debuted in 2010, is strictly by platinum masterpoints.
PLAYER NUMBER. The seven-digit number assigned to each member upon joining the ACBL. When the player becomes a Life Master, the first number changes to a letter, starting with J for 1, K for 2, etc.
PLAYING TRICKS. Tricks that a hand may be expected to produce if the holder buys the contract; attacking tricks or winners, as distinguished from defensive tricks or winners when the holder must play against an adverse contract. In estimating the trick-taking strength of a hand, the holder assumes that his long suit (or suits) will break evenly among the other three hands unless the auction indicated otherwise, and adds the number of tricks his long suit (or suits) is likely to yield to his quick-trick total of the other suits. For example, the following hand
♠ K 5 ♥ A Q J 8 6 2 ♦ A Q 7 ♣ 9 3
contains about seven playing tricks: five in hearts, ½ quick trick in spades, 1½ quick tricks in diamonds.
When the long suit is not solid or semi-solid, estimation of playing tricks becomes more difficult because a second factor must be considered – the position of the missing honor cards. Thus, a suit such as ♥K J 8 6 5 3 is worth approximately 3½ playing tricks. With normal distribution, declarer might make four tricks if he can lead toward the suit or find the missing honors well placed, but he could be limited to two or three tricks.
Assessment of playing tricks is particularly important when considering a preemptive bid or an overcall. The Rule of Two and Three is one guideline.
POCKET. One of four rectangular areas in a duplicate board that hold the four hands, designated North, South, East and West.
POINTED. A term coined to describe the spade suit and the diamond suit because the suits have pips that are pointed at the top. The converse (rounded suits) indicates hearts and clubs.
POINTS. (1) The score earned by a pair as a result of the play of a hand, including trick points, premium scores and bonus. (2) A unit by which a hand is evaluated (point count). (3) The holding of masterpoints that have been credited to a player-member in any national contract bridge organization that has a masterpoint system.
POSITION. The place at a table occupied by a player. The various positions are called by the compass points: i.e., North, South, East and West. Also, “position” can describe one’s place in the order of bidding during a given auction. “Second position” means that position directly to the left of the dealer. “Fourth position” is the seat to the dealer’s right. Position also can refer to where an individual, pair or team places in a set of standings.
POSITIVE RESPONSE. A natural constructive response in a forcing situation where there is a bid available for an artificial negative or waiting response.
POSTMORTEM. A term applied to the discussion of bridge hands after conclusion of play or any time thereafter. Generally speaking, postmortems can be of significant value when engaged in by experts, as points of great interest are sometimes highlighted by this type of discussion, and unusual features of a hand often are brought into better perspective.
POWERHOUSE. A descriptive term usually signifying a hand that is very strong in high-card points, but it can apply to one that has extraordinary playing strength.
PRE-ALERT. In ACBL tournaments, players are required to explain or pre-Alert to opponents regarding certain aspects of their methods, including unusual bidding treatments and/or defensive conventions, such as the agreement to lead the low card from a worthless doubleton. In such cases, the opponents may need to discuss their defenses to the unusual systems before play begins.
PREEMPTIVE BID. Sometimes called a shutout bid. An opening bid of three or more with a hand containing a long suit and limited high-card strength. The bid is usually defensive in purpose.
PREPARED CLUB. An opening bid on a three-card suit, used mainly by partnerships employing five-card majors.
PRESSURE BID. An overbid made necessary by opposing action.
PRIMARY HONORS. Top honors, i.e., aces and kings. The king of a suit may instead be considered a secondary honor when it is unaccompanied by the ace or queen and when it is in a suit in which partner is known to be short. Primary honors usually carry more weight in suit contracts than in notrump.
PRIMARY TRICKS. A term first used by P. Hal Sims to describe high cards that will win tricks no matter who eventually plays the hand.
PRIMARY VALUES. Aces and kings, also called “hard values.”
PRIVATE SCORECARD. Players competing in duplicate events usually keep a written record of their performance. Cards that enable participants to keep such a record usually are given out by the host organization. The inside of the ACBL convention card is a private scorecard. There are spaces for the contract, the declarer and the score, as well as matchpoints or IMPs. The ACBL card also lists an IMP scale and two scales for victory point scoring.
PROBABLE TRICK. A playing trick that can be reasonably counted on when attempting to forecast the play during the bidding. The guarded king of a suit bid voluntarily on the right is an example.
PROGRESSION. (1) The movement of players in duplicate, (2) the movement of the boards in duplicate, (3) the movement of players in progressive bridge.
PROGRESSIVE BRIDGE. A form of competition at contract bridge played in the home or among social groups. Party contract bridge uses a progressive movement.
PROMISE. A bidding statement indicating the smallest number of cards in a suit or high-card points in a hand. For example, an opening bid of 1 ♣ promises a minimum of three cards in standard methods.
PROTECT. (1) To guard with a low card, as an honor, (2) to make a bid in order that partner may have another opportunity to bid, thus “protecting” him if he has greater strength than his first call has implied (this usage is obsolete), (3) in England, to balance.
PROVEN FINESSE. A finesse whose success is guaranteed. For example:
North
South
♠ 10 9 5 3
The ♠10 is led and wins, while right-hand opponent discards. Subsequent finesses in the suit are proven or established. Also called a marked finesse, a slightly less absolute circumstance.
PSYCH. A deliberate and gross misstatement of honor strength and/or of suit length.
PUNISH. To double an opponent for penalties.
PUSH. (1) A raise of partner’s suit, usually at the partscore level, aimed at pushing the opponents to a level at which they may be defeated. For example:
West North East South
Neither side is vulnerable and South holds:
♠ 6 5 3 ♥ K 9 ♦ A 8 4 2 ♣ Q 7 3 2.
It seems likely to West that both sides will make about eight tricks, so he bids 3 ♥. East is marked with, at worst, a good five-card heart suit. If North-South continue to 3 ♠, in which they will have more heart losers than they expect, they may be defeated, and West will have turned a minus score into a plus. The chance of being doubled in 3 ♥ is slight, and East should be wary of continuing to game.
(2) A board in a team match in which the result is the same at both tables or, in Swiss teams, with a difference of only 10 points (as plus 110 compared to plus 100). At board-a-match scoring, any difference results in a win for the higher-scoring side.
(3) A rubber in which the net score is zero after rounding off.
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QUACK. A contraction of “queen” and “jack” used to indicate (1) either the queen or the jack in situations where it is of no consequence which of the two cards is held or played in the context of a decision involving the theory of “restricted choice,”(2) the two cards together in the context of hand evaluation: Possession of “quacks” usually means the hand holding one or more of the combinations is not as good as the high-card point count might indicate.
QUALIFYING. Finishing high enough in a qualifying session to continue competing in the final session(s) of the event. Such matters are governed by the conditions of contest for the event.
QUALIFYING SESSION. In an event of two or more sessions, one or more of them may be designated as qualifying sessions to select contestants eligible for continued play in the remaining sessions.
QUANTITATIVE. A bid is quantitative if it is natural and limited. A bid of 4NT in response to a 1NT opener (15-17) is said to be quantitative in the sense that it asks the 1NT bidder to advance to 6NT with a maximum -– 17 HCP or perhaps 16 with a five-card suit.
QUEEN ASK. Part of the Roman Key Card Blackwood convention.
QUICK TRICK. A high-card holding that in usual circumstances will win a trick by virtue of the rank of the cards in either offensive or defensive play. Of course, in some distributional holdings or freak hands, such defensive values evaporate. The accepted table of quick tricks is:
2 A-K of same suit
1½ A-Q of same suit
1 A or K-Q of same suit
½ K-x
QUOTIENT. A device used to determine the winner in team competition if a round-robin ends in a tie either in won and lost matches or in victory points won and lost. The total number of IMPs won by a team against all round-robin opponents is divided by the number lost to determine the quotient. Italy won two European Championships by quotient, over France in 1956 and over Great Britain in 1958.
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RAGS. Low spot cards.
RAISE. As a noun, an increase of the contract in the denomination named by partner. As a verb, to make a bid increasing the contract in the denomination named by partner.
RANK. (1) The priority of suits in bidding and cutting. Starting at the bottom, the suits rank clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades, with notrump at the top of the list. (2) The trick-taking power of each card within a suit. The ace, king, queen, jack have priority in that order. The lower cards rank numerically. (3) The status of a player in a masterpoint ranking system.
RANKING. The position of a player, pair or team in the section or in the overall.
RATING POINTS. A measure of achievement in bridge competition at an ACBL-sanctioned club. At the beginning of the rating-point system, 100 rating points – initially issued on slips of paper – equaled one masterpoint. Today, clubs report masterpoint earnings of players electronically.
RECAPITULATION SHEET (RECAP). A large printed form on which the scores from a bridge game are posted. In club games and tournaments without electronic scoring devices, most scores are recorded from pickup slips.
Virtually all scoring today is accomplished by using the ACBLscore software, which is programmed to score pairs games and team games (and make matches in Swiss teams).
Instead of the old recap sheet, the product of computer scoring is a printout with matchpoints for every board and scores for every pair. It resembles a smaller version of the old recap. Masterpoint awards for the event are posted alongside the names of players who earned awards (calculated by the computer program). If the event is multi-session, it also indicates the seating assignment for the subsequent session.
RED. Vulnerable. Also a British colloquialism: The “red” side is vulnerable and the opponents are not. Compare to amber, green and white.
RED POINT. Masterpoints won in regional tournaments and NABCs. Red points are required for advancement in rank, starting with Regional Master.
REDEAL. A second or subsequent deal by the same dealer to replace his first deal. Hands are never redealt at duplicate except in special cases on the director’s instructions.
REDOUBLE. A call that increases the scoring value of odd tricks or undertricks of your partnership’s bid following a double by the opponents of your partnership’s bid. A redouble can be made only after an opponent doubles and only when the intervening calls were passes.
RE-ENTRY. A card by which a player who has had the lead (including the opening lead) can regain it.
REFUSE. (1) Deliberate failure to win a trick because of reasons of strategy. (2) Used in the sense of refusing to finesse, i.e., not taking what was previously a winning finesse in order to ensure the contract. (3) An obsolete term formerly used in whist and auction bridge, the laws of which defined it as “to fail to follow suit.”
REMOVE. To bid on when partner has doubled for penalties or has suggested notrump as a contract.
RENEGE. Colloquial synonym for revoke (fail to follow suit when able to). The term is borrowed from such games as two-handed pinochle and French whist, in which it is permissible to revoke.
REPEATED FINESSE. More than one finesse in the same suit, as with leading to the A-Q-10 and playing the 10, followed by a return to hand to play to the queen.
RERAISE. A colloquialism for opener’s rebid of three of his suit after responder has raised to two:
1 ♠ – Pass – 2 ♠ – Pass; 3 ♠. Some players use the reraise as a preemptive device; others consider it an invitational bid.
RESCUE. To bid another suit, or conceivably notrump, when partner has been doubled for penalties. The most common rescuing situation arises when an overcall has been doubled for penalties, a rarer event than it was before negative doubles became popular.
There are three points for the rescuer to consider:
(1) His length in the doubled suit. The more cards he holds, the less desirable a rescue becomes – it is rarely right with a doubleton and virtually never right with more than two cards.
(2) The level of the potential rescue. Rescuing is more likely to be effective at the one level and may sometimes be attempted when holding a singleton or void in the doubled suit but no suit of more than five cards. There is less reason for rescuing if it must be done at a higher level.
(3) The quality of the rescuer’s suit compared with the likely quality of the doubled suit. There must be a reasonable expectation that the rescuer’s suit is more substantial than the doubled suit. In most circumstances, a strong six-card suit or a seven-card suit is necessary.
Another common rescue situation occurs when a 1NT opening has been doubled. Here it is seldom right for responder to sit if he has no high-card strength or if he has a long suit.
RESCUE BID. A bid, based on a long suit, made with less-than-normal values because of a misfit with partner’s bid suit after it has been doubled.
RESERVE. A back-up line of play.
RHO. Right-hand opponent.
RHYTHM. Bidding and play at a uniform speed. The stress here is on uniformity and not on speed. An expert player attempts to foresee possible problems that may evolve during bidding, before choosing his first action so that he may avoid the agony of a later huddle. A good player knows that a huddle followed by a pass, or even a double, places the onus on his partner to not be influenced by the fact that he had a problem. Therefore, he will try to solve his future problems before they occur rather than after.
In the play, the shrewd declarer sometimes attempts to cause opponents to be careless in defense by playing with unusual rapidity, as though the contract was practically a pianola. When confronted by a rapid tempo, a thoughtful defender will deliberately slow his own tempo so that he has the opportunity to analyze declarer’s play to see whether or not he has a problem.
In the play, too, the necessity for defenders to establish a rhythmic tempo to their play is important. In attempting to locate a particular card, such as an adversely held ace or queen, declarer is frequently put on the right track by applying the old adage, “He who hesitates has it.” A declarer takes advantage of a hesitation at his own risk, but the opponent who hesitates before making a play with intent to deceive the declarer is guilty of unethical conduct and is subject to penalty. This is an important element of the Proprieties.
RIDE. (1) To take a finesse with. For example, “Dummy’s jack was led and declarer let it ride.” (2) A large penalty, derived from underworld argot in which a victim is “taken for a ride” by his would-be murderers.
RIFFLE. A light shuffle of the deck; a flexing of the deck with the cards bent and held between the fingers so that a rapid motion ensues as the pack is straightened out.
RIGHT-HAND PLAYER. The player who, in rotation, acts before the given player. There are distinctions in the rules between irregular acts committed by the right-hand or left-hand player. The term is generally used, however, to refer to the player on declarer’s right, after play commences.
RIGHT SIDE. The hand of the declaring partnership that can more successfully cope with the opening lead against the chosen contract. For example, assuming all other suits are adequately stopped, the hand holding A-Q-5 opposite 6-4-3 is the right side from which to play. Sometimes there is no right or wrong side.
The rightness of one side and wrongness of the other may relate to factors other than the safety of the declarer’s holding in the suit led; for example, the inability of one defender to lead the suit profitably (e.g., from four to the king when the declaring side has the ace and queen), or the inability of one defender to diagnose the most effective lead, whereas from his partner’s hand the “right” (most effective) lead would be obvious.
RIGHTY. Right-hand opponent.
RKCB. Roman Key Card Blackwood.
ROCK CRUSHER. A hand with tremendous trick-taking ability, often based on high-card strength.
RONF. An acronym for Raise Only Non-Force, usually applied when one player opens a weak two-bid. Most pairs have the agreement that a raise is the only non-forcing response to a weak two-bid by an unpassed hand.
ROTATION. The clockwise order in which actions take place at the bridge table.
ROUND. A part of a session of bridge at a tournament during which the players and the boards remain at a table. When two boards are played during a round, its duration should be about 15 minutes. Three-board rounds require about 20 minutes; four-board rounds 25.
In rubber bridge, a round refers to the three or four rubbers (or double rubbers) during which each of the players plays with each of the other players as partners.
ROUND HAND. A colloquialism for a hand with balanced distribution, particularly 4-3-3-3. Flat and square are also used to describe such a hand.
ROUNDED. A term used to describe the combination of hearts and clubs, these suits having pips rounded at the tops. The converse is “pointed” to indicate spades and diamonds.
ROUND-ROBIN. A form of competition in which each of the contesting groups (usually teams, though occasionally pairs) plays against each of the other groups in head-on competition. “League” is used as an equivalent term in England.
RUFF. To use a trump to attempt to win a trick when a plain suit is led.
RUFFING TRICK. A trick won by ruffing.
RULE OF ELEVEN. A mathematical calculation applicable when the original lead is construed as fourth best. It is sometimes possible to obtain an exact reading of the distribution in all four hands. The discovery of the rule is generally credited to Robert F. Foster and was published by him in his Whist Manual.
First put in writing in a letter from Foster to a friend in 1890, it is said to have been discovered independently by E.M.F. Benecke of Oxford at about the same time. The rule states: “Subtract the pips on the card led from 11; the result gives the number of higher cards than the one led in the other three hands.” Counting such cards in his own hand and in the dummy, both the leader’s partner and the declarer can determine the number of such cards in the concealed hand of the other. The application of the rule is easier than stating it. For example:
Dummy
K 5 2
7 led A 10 9 3
If the lead of the 7 is a fourth-best lead, third hand subtracts 7 from 11 and knows that four cards higher than the 7-spot are held in his, dummy’s, and declarer’s hands. He has three and dummy one, therefore declarer has no card higher than the 7, which can be permitted to ride.
Frequently, only the declarer gains from the application of this rule.
A Q 9 5 4
6 led 3 played
10 7 2
Declarer sees in his own hand and the dummy five cards higher than the 6, so he can bring in the entire suit by successively finessing against the king, jack and 8.
The Rule of Eleven often spots a singleton lead.
For example:
A 10 8 7 4
5 led K 9 3 2
Q J 6
If 5 is subtracted from 11, the third hand knows that this is the number of cards higher than the 5 held by himself, dummy and declarer. He sees six of them, so declarer holds none if his partner’s lead is a fourth best. Declarer ducks, the king is played, and declarer plays a seventh card higher than the 5. Third hand sees all cards lower than the 5; therefore the opening lead must have been a singleton.
The rule is based on an honest lead of fourth best in a suit. There is a modern tendency to be less revealing on the opening lead, with the lead of a low card indicating a suit whose return is desired and a middle card to indicate a suit to be abandoned. Care must therefore be taken not to apply the rule rigorously when the lead is not certainly a fourth best.
RULING. An adjudication by the director after an irregularity has occurred at a bridge tournament or a club; in rubber bridge, an application of law by agreement among the players.
RUN. (1) Bidding: to take partner (or yourself) out into a different suit (or notrump) when the first suit is doubled. (2) Play or “run” (a suit): to cash all the winning cards of an established or solid suit by playing them one after the other. (3) Play a card from hand or dummy and, when not covered, play low from the other hand, “running” it through the next player.
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SAC. Colloquialism for sacrifice or save, as in, “We took the sac.”
SAFETY LEVEL. The maximum level a partnership is willing to reach, without undue risk, to investigate a higher contract or compete against enemy bids.
SANCTION. The permission given by ACBL to a club, unit or district to hold a duplicate event within ACBL territory. In general, a specific sanction to hold a tournament must be obtained from ACBL well in advance of the date scheduled for the tournament. ACBL sends the sponsoring organization a form for reporting the results of the tournament. The report is used by ACBL to record masterpoints won by contestants.
Approximately 3200 bridge clubs in North America have been given the right to hold games sanctioned by ACBL. An affiliated club awards masterpoints based on the type of game and number of participants. Information concerning masterpoints won is relayed to ACBL either on disk or on a monthly report form. Formerly, masterpoints were distributed to players as fractional certificates that had to be bundled by the player and mailed to ACBL. Computers put an end to the need for fractional certificates.
SCORE. (1) Noun: the number of game or premium points earned as a result of the bidding and play of a contract, rubber or session of bridge. (2) Verb: to record the score.
There are slight differences, because of the nature of the games, between the scoring at rubber bridge, Chicago and tournament bridge. In addition, tournament bridge has different scoring procedures and values, depending on the type of event.
SCORE PAD. A printed tablet of sheets of paper used to keep a record of the scores in a game of rubber or Chicago. Score pads come in various shapes and sizes, and some are imprinted with the name of the club at which they are used, but they are all ruled with printed lines, leaving spaces for entering game and partial score results and extra premiums such as undertrick penalties and slam and rubber bonuses and honors. In North America, each sheet of the pad will have a large cross at the top, like a letter X, so that players can keep track of the deal number at Chicago.
SCORE SHEET. In club games, the summary sheet on which the matchpoints won by a pair are entered for ease in totaling; in larger tournaments, the recapitulation sheet, to which the scores are posted from the pickup slips. These are seldom used in tournaments today because most tournaments are scored by computer programs.
SCORECARD. A personal (or private) scorecard used in tournaments is called a convention card. When used in party or progressive bridge, it is called a tally.
SCORESLIP. A printed form at each table on which the results of a round of duplicate play are entered. Caddies collect the scoreslips after each round and give them to the director, who enters the scores either in the computer or on a recap sheet. At a growing number of tournaments and bridge clubs, scoring is done via wireless electronic devices, eliminating the need for scoreslips except as backups.
SCRATCH. (1) In pairs play, a colloquialism for placing high enough in a section or overall standings to earn masterpoints; (2) in a handicap game, a pair with a zero handicap is said to be a scratch pair. (3) Starting with nothing, as in “starting from scratch.”
SCREEN. An opaque barrier placed diagonally across the bridge table so that no player can see his partner
SCRIP. Financial certificates, today known as Bridge Bucks, issued by the ACBL for use as prizes at tournaments and as a convenience for buying entries (scrip can be charged to credit cards). The certificates may be used to pay ACBL dues.
SEAT. The position a contestant takes at a table; usually designated by one of the four principal points of the compass, North, South, East or West. The first two and the last two are partners, and each pair is the opponent of the other pair.
SECOND HAND. (1) The player to the left of the dealer. (2) The player who plays second to a trick.
SECONDARY HONORS. The lower honors, i.e., queens and jacks, as opposed to primary honors – aces and kings. The king of a suit may also be considered a secondary honor when it is not accompanied by the ace. Secondary honors generally carry their weight better in notrump than in suit contracts, especially when they are not located in partner’s long suits.
SECONDARY VALUES. Queens and jacks, also called soft values, as distinct from ace and kings, which are primary or “hard” values.
SECTION. A group of contestants who constitute a self-contained unit in the competition in one event for one session of a tournament.
SELF-SUFFICIENT SUIT. A solid suit – perhaps A-K-Q-J-x-x or A-K-Q-x-x-x-x.
SEMI-BALANCED. A hand with 5-4-2-2 or 6-3-2-2 distribution.
SEMI-SOLID SUIT. A suit of at least six cards that appears to contain only one loser or a suit that is one high card short of being a solid suit, for example, A-K-J-10-7-6, A-Q-J-10-8-4, A-K-8-7-6-5-3, K-Q-J-8-7-4-3.
SEND IT BACK. Redouble (colloquialism).
SEQUENCE. Two or more cards in consecutive order of rank, such as A-K-Q, a sequence of three, or Q-J-10-9, a sequence of four.
SESSION. A period of play during which each contestant is scheduled to play a designated series of boards against one or more opponents. A session may consist of one or more rounds.
SET. (1) The group of duplicate boards to be played in a round; (2) all the boards in play in a section or match; (3) the number of boards in a board case, usually 32 or 36; (4) the defeat of a contract – “Declarer suffered a two-trick set”; (5) to defeat a contract – “The defense set declarer two tricks”; (6) a partnership that plays together regularly – Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth are a set partnership; (7) a partnership that plays intact through a session of rubber bridge or Chicago; (8) a game in which both partnerships are set partnerships.
SET GAME. A pre-arranged match between two partnerships, with each pair almost always remaining the same for the duration of the contest. There have been set games where one of the players has been spelled for a while by some other player who had been waiting in reserve for such an instance. Generally, set games involve only four people and last for several rubbers as previously agreed upon.
SET UP. To establish one or more cards in the hand of the player himself, his partner or an opponent.
SET-UP SUIT. An established suit.
SEVEN or SEVEN-SPOT. The eighth-ranking card in a suit, located between the 8 and the 6.
SEVEN-ODD. Seven tricks over book, or 13 tricks in all.
SHADE, SHADED. A bid made on slightly less than technical minimum requirements.
SHAKE. A colloquialism meaning discard.
SHAPE. The distribution of a hand: 5-4-3-1, for example.
SHIFT (or switch). To change suit from one originally led on defense; alternatively, a change of suit by declarer in the development of his play. Shift can also be used to describe a bid in a new suit by the opening bidder, his partner or an overcaller or his partner.
SHORT HAND. A term used to describe the hand of the partnership that contains the fewer cards in the trump suit, such as in the reference, “Declarer took the ruff in the short hand.” Occasionally, the term may be applied to a hand that is short in a non-trump suit and therefore expects to ruff.
SHORT SUIT. In an original hand of 13 cards, a suit containing two or fewer cards. In some contexts, a short suit would be defined as a singleton or a void.
SHORTEN. To force; to shorten in trumps by forcing to ruff.
SHOW. Indicate a certain number of high-card points or other feature of a hand. A response to Blackwood, for example, shows aces or key cards. Similarly, a cuebid can show a control, and an opening bid of 1 ♠ shows a minimum of five spades in standard.
SHOW OUT. To fail to follow suit for the first time during the play of that suit, usually because of being void, but it could be from revoking.
SIDE SUIT. In bidding, a suit of at least four cards held by a player whose first bid is in another suit. In play, a suit of at least four cards other than trumps held by declarer in his own hand or dummy.
SILVER POINTS. Masterpoints won at ACBL sectional tournaments or Sectional Tournaments at Clubs (STaC). As of Jan. 1, 2010, a player must earn at least 75 silver points as one of the qualifications for advancing to the rank of Life Master. Excepted from this requirement are players who joined the ACBL prior to Jan. 1, 2010, and maintained continuous membership.
SIMPLE. As applied to an overcall or response, the definition is non-jump, merely sufficient to overcall or respond.
SIMPLE FINESSE. A finesse for a single card held by the adversaries.
SIMPLE HONORS. A term used in auction bridge to denote three honors in the trump suit, for which 30 points were scored.
SINGLE-DUMMY PROBLEM. A problem solver is given the two hands of a partnership holding, approximating the conditions facing a declarer at the bridge table. Among the foremost inventors of these problems was Paul Lukacs of Israel.
SINGLETON. An original holding of exactly one card in a suit. Also called a stiff (colloquial).
SIT, SIT FOR. Usually used in reference to a pass of partner’s penalty double. Passing a takeout double is usually referred to as converting the takeout double to penalty.
SIT OUT. (1) (Verb) To miss a round of play in a duplicate game because there is an odd number of pairs. (2) Wait to cut in to a Chicago or rubber bridge game.
SITTING. A session of bridge. Also a descriptive term referring to one’s position at the table, i.e., “Sitting North.”
SIX-ODD. Six tricks over book, or 12 tricks in all.
SKIP BID. A bid skipping one or more levels of bidding, as in an opening two-bid or a preemptive jump overcall (1 ♣ – 2 ♠). Also known as a jump bid.
SLAM. A contract requiring declarer to win 12 tricks (small slam, previously called little slam) or all 13 tricks (grand slam). An original feature in the earliest forms of whist (some of which were called “Slamm”), these results were rewarded with bonuses in bridge whist and auction bridge regardless of the declaration, so much so that in auction bridge, a side that bid seven and won 12 tricks still received the 50-point premium for a small slam although the contract was down one. In contract bridge, however, slam bonuses are paid only when the slam is bid and made.
The slam bonus in duplicate: small slams, 500 non-vulnerable, 750 vulnerable; grand slams, 1000 non-vulnerable, 1500 vulnerable.
SLIDING BOX. A tray for moving boards back and forth.
SLUFF. To dispose of a loser by throwing it off on the lead of a suit not held by the sluffer. The word derives from slough, to cast off and is almost always used in the context of a “ruff and a sluff.”
SMALL CARD. The incorrect designation of a low card.
SMALL SLAM. A contract requiring declarer to make six-odd, or 12 tricks in all.
SOCIAL BRIDGE. Played in a person’s home for moderate or no stakes. In larger gatherings, a reference to party bridge or progressive bridge. In expert circles, social bridge increasingly is taking the form of team-of-four competition, with a stake based on IMPs.
SOFT VALUES. Queens and jacks, which may well have no role in the play, as distinct from “hard values,” i.e., aces and kings.
SOLID SUIT. A holding that is expected, at a trump or notrump contract, to win as many tricks as there are cards in the suit. Theoretically, it should contain as many high cards as there are outstanding cards in the suit: nine to the A-K-Q might lose a trick if all four missing cards are in the same opponent’s hand. Culbertson’s rule of thumb is that a suit is solid if half the outstanding cards were in one hand and could still be picked up by successive leads.
An alternative definition, similar in effect, is “a suit which can be expected to lose no tricks with a singleton in dummy, and may lose no tricks opposite a void.” By this standard, A-K-Q-x-x-x-x, A-K-Q-10-x-x qualify, but A-K-Q-x-x-x does not.
SOUTH. One of the compass points used in describing the players at the table. South’s partner is North. South is “over” the East hand but “under”the West hand.
SPADES. The highest ranking of the four suits at bridge. The 13 cards of the suit are indicated with a black symbol. In American and British decks, and some made for export to North America, the ace of spades usually carries a special design, trademarked by the manufacturer, on its face. The word “spade” is not agricultural. It designates a broadsword, derived from spatha in Greek and Latin. It is the point of a spear in French (pique) and German (pic).
SPLIT. The division of a suit, usually in the context of an assessment of outstanding cards in a key suit, as in a 4-1 split (or “break”) in the trump suit.
SPLIT EQUALS. To play a card from two equals when following suit with a lower card is possible, as in playing the queen from K-Q-5 when declarer leads a low card from dummy.
SPOT CARD. Cards ranking below the jack, from the 10 down to the 2. Of the 13 tricks that are won on each deal, approximately eight are won with aces, kings, queens, and jacks; the remaining five tricks are won with spot cards. A fraction more than five tricks are won by the lower cards in trump contracts, because low trumps win tricks that are not available in notrump contracts.
SPREAD. (1) Verb: to spread the hand, either as a claim or as a concession of the remaining tricks. (2) Noun: the difference between the minimum and maximum values shown by a particular bid; in Standard American, the range of values for an opening bid of 1NT is 15 to 17 high-card points, a spread of three, while an opening bid of one in a suit may have a high-card point-count spread of 10 to 24, or 15 points; (3) Adjective: unbeatable, as “The hand was spread for four hearts.”
STACK, STACKED. (1) The cards are said to be stacked against one when a single opponent holds all or nearly all of the cards in a crucial suit. (2) To stack a deck is to arrange cards in an undealt deck in order to put predetermined holdings into one or more hands.
STAND, STAND FOR. To pass partner’s penalty double or takeout double.
STAND UP. In defensive play, a high card that wins a trick. A suit is said to stand up until it is ruffed by declarer. On offense or on defense, a high card is said to stand up if it wins the trick, even though a higher card may be outstanding in the suit.
STICK. Colloquial term for an ace. “I had two sticks,” meaning, “I had two aces.”
STIFF. (1) Adjective or noun: Colloquialism for singleton, frequently used in reference to a major honor (ace, king, or queen) without guards. (2) Verb: Colloquially, to blank; to discard the guards, as in “He stiffed his king.”
STOP BID. A bid that fixes the final contract and commands partner to pass. Responses of 4 ♠ or 3NT to an opening notrump bid are examples. Signoff bids are virtually stop bids, but in some cases partner may have a reason to violate and continue with the auction.
STOPPER. A card or combination of cards that may reasonably be expected to or actually does stop the run of a suit. To be counted in the auction as a stopper, a high card, except an ace, must usually be accompanied by lower cards so that it will not have to be played on a higher one if the holder of the higher card decides to play for the drop. The number of low cards, or guards, needed is in inverse proportion to the rank of the honor. Thus, the king must ordinarily be accompanied by at least one guard, and the queen by at least two unless the bidding indicates that a higher-ranking card is held by partner.
Stoppers are particularly important at notrump contracts. Holdings such as Q-x and J-x-x are partial stoppers, needing help from partner to build a full stopper. For example, if you have Q-x and partner has J-x-x, you have a full stopper.
STOPPING ON A DIME. Ending the bidding one short of game (or perhaps slam) and making exactly the right number of tricks.
STRAIN. A term encompassing all four suits plus notrump. A synonym for denomination.
STRENGTH. The top-card holding in a suit, either as stoppers in notrump, for drawing adversely held trumps, for trick-taking potential or to set up long cards as winners.
STRONG SUIT. A suit of four or more cards containing a minimum of 6 high-card points.
SUBSTITUTE. (1) Call. When a player makes an illegal call, he may be required to substitute a legal call with appropriate penalties against his partner.
(2) Player. In rubber bridge, a player who replaces a member of the table who is called away or must leave during or before the finish of a rubber. Such a substitute must be acceptable to all members playing at the table, and he would be assumed to have no financial responsibility unless agreed otherwise.
(3) Player. In duplicate, a player who is permitted by the director to replace a player who is unable to finish a session or play in a second or later session.
(4) Board. In team play, a board is introduced by the director at a table when an irregularity has occurred that makes a normal result impossible. Such a board is withdrawn after play, but reinstated when the teammates of the pairs who played it are scheduled to play that board. If the substitute board is needed on the replay (after the teammates have recorded a result), an offending side causing the substitution may be playing for at best a halved board.
SUCKER DOUBLE. A double of a freely bid game or slam contract by a player who is relying solely on defensive high-card strength. Against good opponents such doubles rarely show more than a small profit. They can, however, result in a disastrous loss, especially when the double helps declarer to make his contract. The probability is that the declaring side has distributional strength to compensate for the relative lack of high-card strength.
SUIT. One of four denominations in a pack of cards: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Each suit has 13 cards, ranked from the ace to the deuce.
SUPPORT. Verb: to raise partner’s bid. Noun: (1) a raise; (2) whatever strength partner has in support of one’s bid. Trump support is usually three or more cards in the major suit opened by partner, four or more cards in the minor suit opened by partner.
SURE TRICK. A trick that a player will win no matter what. For example: the ace of trumps, the guarded king of trumps when it is behind the ace, the ace of a suit you intend to lead against notrump. The lead of an ace against a suit contract, even though it be from a short suit not mentioned in the bidding, is not necessarily a sure trick, as declarer or dummy may be void.
The term is also used by George Coffin to describe single-dummy problems in which correct play will ensure the making of a specific number of tricks.
SWING. (1) The difference between the actual score made on a deal and “what might have been” if the bidding, play or defense had been different. Thus, if poor dummy play by declarer results in down one on a vulnerable 6 ♠ contract, the swing is said to be 1530 points if the slam is bid and made at the other table. (2) The term frequently used in team matches to name the actual gain or loss on a single hand. The term may be in total points or in IMPs. If North-South make 3 ♠ for 140 points and their teammates defeat 4 ♠by 50 points, the swing is 190 points or 5 IMPs.
SWISH. A colloquialism indicating that a bid is followed by three passes. A similar term is “float.”
SWITCH. Most commonly used to indicate a defender’s change of suits from the one originally led.
SYSTEM FIX. A bad result caused by one’s own bidding methods.
SYSTEM ON (or SYSTEM OFF). An agreement to apply (or not to apply) certain artificial methods in slightly changed circumstances. The most common example occurs after a 1NT overcall. The partnership may agree to respond exactly as if the overcaller had opened 1NT. Also relevant against interference in certain circumstances.
SYSTEM VIOLATION. Deliberately ignoring the boundaries of one’s bidding system for reasons of judgment or expedience. This is not illegal or a breach of proprieties but can have a negative effect on a partnership.
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TABLE. Four players, two pairs, or one team, in duplicate play, for individual, pairs and team movements suitable to a particular number of tables.
The table most frequently used for bridge is a folding square table, about 30 inches on a side, and from 26 to 27 inches in height. In a social or “party bridge” game, the accoutrements should include two score pads, two decks of bridge cards, two sharp pencils, coasters and four chairs. A table of similar size is used in a duplicate game, but the table could contain bidding boxes, boards and scoreslips.
Other meanings are:
(1) The dummy. “The lead is on the table.”
(2) To face one’s cards, either as dummy or in making a claim. Dummy’s “tables” his hand after the opening lead. Declarer “tables” or exposes his cards in making a claim. Defenders can also claim in the same way.
(3) A way of measuring tournament attendance: four players playing one session of bridge equals one table.
TABLE FEEL or TABLE PRESENCE. One of the features that enable a good bridge player to become an expert is the indefinable something that is referred to as table presence. It is a combination of instinct; the drawing of correct inferences from any departure from rhythm by the opponents; the exercise of discipline in bidding; the ability to coax maximum performance from partner, and the ability to make the opponents feel that they are facing a player of a higher order. It also includes a poised demeanor that does not give clues.
TACTICS. Various maneuvers in the play of a contract, bidding nuances and choices of action, taking into consideration the methods of scoring, quality of the competition and conditions of contests.
TANK. A colloquialism in the phrase “go into the tank” or “to tank,” meaning to fall into a protracted huddle.
TAP. (1) Shortening a hand in trumps by forcing it to ruff (colloquial). (2) The Teacher Accreditation Program used by the Education Department of the ACBL.
TEAM. Four, five or six players competing as a unit in bridge tournaments.
TEAMMATES. The other members of a team of four, five or six.
TEMPO. (1) The element of timing in card play, with special reference to the use of opportunities to make an attacking lead.
♠ 4 3
♠ Q 8 6 2 ♠ 7 5
♥ A K Q 10 ♥ 9 5 3 2
♦ 8 7 ♦ 10 9 5
♣ J 9 7 ♣ Q 10 5 4
♠ A K J 10 9
♥ J
♦ A J 6 4 2
♣ K 8
West leads two rounds of hearts against South’s 4 ♠ contract. South should avoid losing a tempo in drawing trumps by cashing the ♠A and ♠K immediately and then starting his diamonds. The defenders can score the two remaining trumps but cannot damage the contract. If South loses a tempo by taking a spade finesse, the defense will continue hearts, reducing South’s trumps to one fewer than West’s. Should South allow this to happen, the defense will score a trick with a long heart and defeat the contract.
(2) The speed with which a bid or a play is made. Experienced players attempt to adjust the speed of their own bidding and play so as always to use the same tempo and thus not convey information to partner or to the opponents. Players sometimes seek to force a rapid tempo of play, hoping to gain an advantage by encouraging an error by the opponents or by obtaining information from the opponents’ pauses to think. The best defense against this somewhat unsporting tactic is to refuse to alter the tempo of one’s own play, or even to slow the tempo down so as to protect one’s partner. The term tempo, however, does not stretch to include deliberate hesitation when in fact a player has no problem.
TENACE. Two cards in the same suit, of which one ranks two degrees lower than the other; the major tenace is A-Q; the minor tenace is K-J; more broadly, any holding of cards not quite in sequence in a suit.
THEIR HAND. Term used by a player who believes his opponents can make the highest positive score, usually because of holding more high-card points.
THIN. An adjective used to describe (1) a hand without body; “a thin 15-count” indicates a hand with 15 high-card points that lacks intermediates (9s and 10s); (2) a makeable contract with fewer than the expected HCP between the two hands.
THIRD (similarly, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc.). An adjective that, when used after naming a specific card, counts the number of cards held in the suit, e.g., “ace-third” denotes the holding of A-x-x.
THIRD HAND. In bidding, the partner of the dealer; in play, the partner of the leader to a trick.
THIRTEENER. The card remaining in a suit when all other cards in that suit have been played on the first three tricks of the suit.
THREE BID. An opening bid at the three level, almost always preemptive.
3NT. The lowest bid in quantitative terms that produces a game from a zero score; nine tricks without benefit of a trump suit.
THREE-ODD. Three tricks over book, or nine tricks.
THREE-QUARTER NOTRUMP. The use of a weak 1NT opener in all situations except vulnerable against non-vulnerable. Players who combine this with a fourth-hand weak notrump at all vulnerabilities (safe because neither opponent can double and dummy must have some values) can be said to play 13/16ths.
THREE-SUITER. A hand with at least four cards in each of three suits, and therefore distributed 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0.
THROW AWAY. (1) To discard. (2) To defend or play so badly that a very poor score results.
THROW IN. (1) To make a throw-in play. (2) In rubber bridge, to toss the cards into the center of the table, after four passes. Used in Great Britain as a synonym for pass out.
THROWING THE LEAD (into a desired defender’s hand). Another way of describing the Throw-in Play.
TICKETS. A colloquialism used to refer to (1) pick-up slips, (2) the right high cards for a particular action, as in, “He had the tickets.”
TIE. Equality of result in a competition. (1) On a board; (2) in a knockout match, additional boards must be played in accordance with the conditions of contest to determine a winner; (3) in overall standings or section standings. Since 1992, in ACBL contests, any margin is a win.
TIGHT. A colloquialism usually indicating a doubleton or tripleton, as in “ace-king tight,” meaning a doubleton A-K.
TIMING. An element in the play of a contract similar to tempo.
TOP. (1) On a board, the best score made in the play of a particular hand in a duplicate tournament. If one pair earns a top, their opponents must score zero points or a bottom. (2) Score: the best score for a session of play among the contestants in direct competition (3) A card: to play a card higher in rank than the ones previously played by the second or third player to play to the trick; (4) The highest card in dummy’s suit, as, declarer called for the top heart.
TOP HONOR. A primary honor (ace or king).
TOP OF NOTHING. The normal lead in many partnerships from three low cards, particularly in leading partner’s suit after having supported it.
TOP ON A BOARD. The maximum number of matchpoints possible on a board. Two different methods are used, one by ACBL and the other by the rest of the world. In ACBL, top on a board is the number of times the board is played minus one. In the rest of the world, top on a board is the number of times the board is played multiplied by two, minus two. In ACBL, a board played 13 times would have a top of 12 (13 times played minus 1). In the rest of the world, a board played 13 times would have a top of 24 (13 times 2 = 26, minus 2 = 24). Effectively, all matchpoint scores in the rest of the world are double those in ACBL, but this in no way affects the outcome. The difference in scoring methods is one of the major reasons why most final scores are now posted as percentages.
TOTAL-POINT SCORING. Computation of scores based on points earned minus points lost, from the scoring table of contract bridge. The British term is aggregate scoring.
TOTAL TRICKS, LAW OF. The theory that the number of tricks on a particular deal will be roughly equal to the number of trumps in the best fits by both sides.
TOUCHING CARDS. (1) Cards that are in sequence in the same suit, as the 10 and 9 in a holding of K-10-9-6. (2) In duplicate bridge, it is illegal for any player to touch any cards other than his own, unless he is arranging the dummy’s cards and so declares.
TOUCHING SUITS. Suits that, within the order of ranking, are next to each other: spades and hearts, hearts and diamonds, and diamonds and clubs are touching suits.
TOURNAMENT. In the days of whist, gatherings of players for the purpose of competing at the game were termed “congresses,” a term still current in Britain and Australia. As auction bridge replaced whist, the term “congress” gave way to “tournament,” as the accent shifted from sociability to competition. A tournament can describe a club game among local groups, up to competition at national and international levels. The essentials of a tournament are the planning thereof by a sponsoring organization, publicity and promotion, the programming of events, the competition itself, the scoring and determination of winners, and the hospitality in connection there with.
TRAIN BRIDGE. Regular games on commuter trains.
TRAM TICKETS. Very poor cards (British colloquialism). This is usually used in a pejorative sense to intimate that a player showed poor bidding judgment: “He was bidding on tram tickets.”
TRANCE. A protracted break in the tempo of bidding or play during which a player attempts to solve a problem. Trances and huddles are frequent causes of ethical difficulties and disputes.
TRANSPORTATION. A synonym for communication between hands. This can apply to declarer and dummy or to the defenders. If declarer has “transportation” to the dummy, he has a means of entering dummy when he wishes. If a defender has a suit ready to run and there is “transportation” to his hand, the defenders will prevail.
TRAP PASS. A pass by a player holding a strong defensive hand, hoping the opposition will bid themselves into difficulties. It is usually made by a player holding length and strength in the suit bid by the opener on his right.
TRAVELING SCORE SLIP (TRAVELER, TRAVELLING SCORESHEET in Britain).The official score of each deal in a pair duplicate game may be recorded either of two ways: on a traveling score slip or an individual pick-up card, assuming wireless electronic scoring is not being used.
A majority of clubs and lesser championship events use the traveling score slip. This slip travels with the board, folded and inserted in a pocket so that scores for tables that have played it earlier are not visible until the slip is opened after the board has been played. The score at the new table is then entered. At the end of the session, when the board has been played at each table in the game, all results have been entered on the slip. The tournament director then enters the scores on his computer or matchpoint the scores if he is scoring manually.
TRAY. (1) An obsolete term for a board. (2) The tray that is pushed back and forth under the screen in major championships, carrying the bids selected from the bidding box cards from one pair of opponents to the other pair. It was invented by Henny Dorsman of Aruba and introduced at the Central American and Caribbean Championships at Aruba in 1977.
TREY. The 3 or three-spot of each suit.
TRIAL BID. A game suggestion made by bidding a new suit after a major suit fit has been located.
TRICK. Four cards played in rotation after a card has been led by the player whose turn it was to lead (play first). A trick is won (1) by the player who plays the highest card of the suit initially led; (2) by the player who is out of the suit led and plays the highest (or only) trump to ruff that suit; (3) by the player who has established a suit by repeated leads and thus has the only cards of the suit remaining (in notrump contracts).
TRIPLE RAISE. A raise of partner’s opening suit bid to the four level.
TRIPLETON. A holding of three cards in a given suit. The term is usually used to describe an original or dealt combination, as an ace-king tripleton in diamonds.
TRUMP. The suit named in the final bid, other than notrump. Such suit is the trump suit, and a card of the trump suit, when played, is a winner over any card of a plain (not trump) suit. If two or more trumps are played on the same trick, the highest trump card played wins the trick. Sometimes used erroneously to mean ruff.
TRUMP TRICK. A playing trick in the trump suit.
TURN. (1) Noun: the appropriate moment for a player to make a bid or play, as in “It’s your turn to bid;”(2) verb: to quit a card at duplicate or a trick at rubber bridge (turn it over) after all four players have played; (3) verb: to take a trick, as “We turned six tricks against 3♠.”
TWO or TWO-SPOT. The lowest-ranking card in any given suit. Sometimes referred to as the deuce.
TWO-DEMAND BID. A forcing opening bid at the two level when playing strong two-bids.
TWO-ODD. Two tricks over book or eight tricks in all.
TWO-SUITER. A hand with one suit of more than four cards and another suit of more than three cards. The term used to be confined to hands with at least five cards in each of two suits. A 5-4 distribution was called a semi-two-suiter.
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UNBALANCED DISTRIBUTION. Referring to either the distribution of the suits in a hand or the distribution of one suit among the four hands. Unbalanced is the opposite of balanced distribution. Among the requirements for unbalanced distribution is the combination of one or more long suits and one or more singletons or voids.
UNBEATABLE. The same as “cold” or “frigid” in reference to a contract that cannot be defeated if played competently.
UNBID SUIT. Usually considered in the context of a defender selecting an opening lead, it is a suit that has not been bid by declarer or his partner during the auction. Frequently, without any attractive opening lead, a player will select a lead on the basis that the suit has not been bid. This applies particularly to a major suit against a notrump contract. Bidding an unbid suit may be a useful waiting move in the auction, as with the convention fourth-suit forcing.
UNCONSTRUCTIVE. A bid that is distinctly discouraging, but does not bar partner from making a further move. Non-constructive is a synonym.
UNDER THE GUN. A term borrowed from poker meaning the hand betting immediately after the dealer. In bridge, there are various meanings, both in bidding and play. The term can be used in bidding situations to cover the position where a hand or player can be said to be “under the gun” if he is bidding directly after a preemptive bidder and before a hand that has not yet been heard from. The term also can describe a position where a player has to make a bid-or-double decision at the slam level. In play, it is used to describe the hand between dummy and declarer that has a high card or high cards that are finessable and are in a vulnerable position as a result.
UNDERBID. A bid lower than the value of the hand warrants.
UNDERBIDDER. A player who regularly bids slightly less than the value his hand warrants. He is rarer and easier to play with than the overbidder. His psychological motivation is usually a reluctance to be set in any contract.
UNDERLEAD. The lead of a low card in a suit in which the master card or cards is held.
UNDERRUFF. To play a low trump when a trick has already been ruffed with a higher trump. This is usually not intentional. When it is intentional, it often qualifies as a brilliant play.
UNDERTRICK. Each trick by which declarer fails to fulfill his contract.
UNFACED HAND. During the play, the hands of the declarer and both defenders. After the opening lead, declarer’s partner’s hand is faced up on the table so that all players may see the cards (dummy’s hand). Prior to the play, none of the hands is faced. In claiming or conceding tricks, a player faces his hand in properly stating his claim.
UNFAVORABLE VULNERABILITY. Your side is vulnerable and your opponents are not. Preempts must be stronger because penalties mount much faster at this vulnerability. Balancing and sacrifices also need careful evaluation.
UNFINISHED RUBBER. A rubber ended by agreement before either side has won two games. A side that has won one game is credited with a bonus of 300 points; a side that has the only partial is credited with a bonus of 100 points (it was 50 until a change in the 1993 Code).
UNLAWFUL. An action not in accordance with the rules and mechanics of the game.
UNLIMITED BID. A bid with wide limits in valuation.
UNMAKABLE. Describing a contract that cannot succeed without error(s) by the defenders.
UPPERCUT. A ruff, usually by a defender, aimed at promoting a trump trick for partner. Sometimes confused with trump promotion.
UP THE LINE. In bidding, the practice of making the cheapest bid when responding or rebidding with two or three four-card suits.
UP TO. Toward the hand that will play last to a particular trick (as in the next entry) or toward a vulnerable third-hand holding such as K-x-x or K-Q-x, as opposed to leading away from such a holding.
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VALUES. Strength in high cards or in distribution.
VIEW, TO TAKE A. To make a decision in the bidding or play, often used to explain or excuse an unsuccessful effort taken against normal odds, as in, “I took a view.”
VIOLATION (system). A deliberate breach of a system agreement. Judgment may occasionally lead an expert player to pass a forcing bid or continue bidding after a signoff bid, but such violations are very rare among good players, mostly for the sake of partnership confidence. A mistaken bid that is not according to the adopted system is not considered a violation but merely an erroneous action.
VOID. No cards in a suit, whether the hand originally held none or became void from playing all the cards in that suit. “Chicane” is a much older term. “Blank” is a synonym once in use.
VULNERABILITY. The condition of being subject to greater undertrick penalties and eligible to receive greater premiums as provided by the scoring table. In rubber bridge, vulnerability comes about by having won one game toward rubber. In duplicate bridge, vulnerability is arbitrarily assigned by board numbers. Vulnerability in duplicate is on a 16-board cycle, repeating for each succeeding 16 boards; boards 1, 8, 11 and 14 have no vulnerability; boards 2, 5, 12, and 15 have North-South vulnerable, East-West not vulnerable; boards 3, 6, 9 and 16 have East-West vulnerable, North-South not vulnerable; boards 4, 7, 10 and 13 have both sides vulnerable. This can be remembered fairly easily by the 16 letters forming this arrangement:
O N E B
E B O N
B O N E
where O stands for no vulnerability, N for North-South, E for East-West and B for both.
In Chicago, a four-hand variation of rubber bridge, the vulnerability also is arbitrarily assigned in similar fashion; no vulnerability on the first hand; dealer vulnerable on the second and third hands; and everyone vulnerable on the last hand. A variation in a few clubs that is technically, perhaps, a slight improvement assigns the vulnerability on the second and third hands to the opponents of the dealer. The purpose is to allow opener more latitude in preempting.
The feature of vulnerability gives rise to many variations in the strategy of bidding and play. These variations probably are foremost among the reasons for the great interest that contract bridge has stimulated. Some strategies: (1) bidding low-point games when vulnerable, (2) preempting with minimum values when not vulnerable, (3) taking saves when not vulnerable, etc.
VULNERABLE. A term indicating that the values of premiums and the severity of penalties are greatly increased. In rubber bridge, a pair becomes vulnerable when they win their first game of a rubber. In duplicate and Chicago, vulnerability is arbitrarily assigned. Premiums for bidding and making slam or game are larger, but penalties when set, especially when doubled, are much greater than when not vulnerable. The term was coined by a woman aboard the ship on which Cornelius Vanderbilt codified contract bridge.
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WALLET. British name for a form of duplicate board in which each pocket is formed in the fold of a wallet-shaped receptacle. The board can be folded into one-half size for ease in carrying. Plastic wallet boards are popular in Europe. They date back to the 1932 World Bridge Olympics.
WEAK SUIT. A suit the opponents are likely to lead and in which they can probably cash several tricks. Sometimes the term refers to an unstopped suit, but if a notrump contract is being considered, it could also apply to a suit in which the opponents hold nine or more cards and in which declarer has only one stopper.
The weakness of a suit is relative to the auction. A low doubleton used to be regarded as a weak suit for the purposes of a 1NT opening, although there are two schools of thought, and few modern players would allow themselves to be deterred. For the purposes of a notrump rebid, a low doubleton in an unbid suit is undesirable, and a low tripleton is unattractive. The chance that the opponents will lead the suit is increased, and the chance that partner can guard it is decreased.
If a side has bid three suits, a notrump bid requires at least one positive stopper and preferably two in the fourth suit.
Sometimes anything less than a double stopper would certainly represent a weak suit:
West North East South
1 ♦
Dbl Pass 3NT
As West is likely to have a diamond shortage, the jump to 3NT shows a double diamond stopper. Anything less would constitute a weak suit, unless perhaps East held a single stopper with a long strong club suit.
WEAK TAKEOUT. An English term for a natural unconstructive suit response to 1NT. The American colloquialism is “drop-dead bid.”
WEAK TWO-BID. An opening two-bid used to show a long suit and values below those for an opening one-bid.
WEAKNESS RESPONSE. A natural response that indicates a strong desire to close the auction.
The most common case is the response of 2♠, 2♥, or perhaps 2 ♦ to an opening 1NT bid. Using traditional methods (no transfers) with the Stayman 2 ♣ convention, responder shows at least a five-card suit and no desire to progress toward game.In rare circumstances, the opener may make one further bid if he has a fine fit with responder, presumably four cards and a maximum notrump opening consisting largely of top honors, usually including two of the three top honors in responder’s suit. If opener raises to the three level and the contract fails, it may prove that the raise has forestalled a successful balancing action by the opponents.
If opener bids a new suit (1NT – 2♥; 3♣) he implies a maximum with a fine fit for responder’s suit. The clubs may be, by agreement, either a doubleton or concentrated strength.
Another example of a weakness response:
West North East South
1♣
1NT 2♥
North’s failure to double 1NT marks him with a weak hand (fewer than 8 or 9 high-card points) and heart length. South will rarely be strong enough to attempt a game, and should rarely rescue relatively.
Weakness responses, which are natural, are sometimes confused with negative responses, which are conventional. Examples of these would be a negative 2♦ response to a conventional 2 ♣ bid, or a Herbert Negative.
WEST. The player who sits to the left of South. South is to his right and North to his left. He is the partner of East.
WHITE. Not vulnerable. Also British colloquialism meaning neither side vulnerable.
WIDE OPEN. A phrase describing a suit in which declarer has no stopper or is extremely vulnerable to attack. For example, “Declarer was wide open in spades.”
WINNER. (1) A card that may reasonably be expected to win a trick in dummy or declarer’s hand. On defense, a card that will win a trick during the play of a given hand may be termed a winner, as well. (2) The player, the pair or team with the highest score in an event at a duplicate tournament.
WINNING CARD. The card that takes the trick. In a notrump declaration, this is always the highest card played in the suit that has been led; it may be a long card, led in a suit to which the other players cannot follow. In suit declarations, the above will apply, except that on a trick where more than one trump is played, the highest trump wins the trick.
WINNING TIE. In win-loss Swiss teams, a match that is won by 1 or 2 IMPs. It counts as three-fourths of a win.
WISH TRICK. The play of an ace, 2, 3 and 4 on the same trick. The cards do not necessarily have to be in order.
WORKING CARD. A high card or cards that, on the basis of the auction, rate to mesh well with partner’s hand for suit play. For example, a secondary honor or an unsupported king is usually discounted opposite a known singleton, whereas any top honor is likely to be “working” if it is in one of partner’s suits.
WRONG SIDE. The hand of the declaring partnership that is less well equipped to cope with the opening lead. The opposite of “right-siding” the contract.
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X. (1) A symbol used in lower case in bridge literature to signify an insignificant low card in any suit, a card lower than a 10. Thus, K-x-x means the king and two low cards in that suit. (2) A capital X indicates a call of double, and is used in recording bidding, and in written bidding, by hand, in important matches. Similarly, XX means “redouble.”
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YARBOROUGH. Any hand containing no card higher than a 9, named after an English lord who customarily would offer to wager 1000 pounds to one against the chance of such a hand being held by a player. The odds against holding a yarborough are 1,827 to one, so he was giving himself a substantial edge. In postmortem discussions, the term “yarborough” has gained currency to describe bad hands even if they do not meet the strict requirements. In some circles, any hand with no card higher than a 10 is considered a yarborough.
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ZERO. The lowest score possible on a duplicate board, hence loosely, a very bad score. It also refers to a lost board in a team-of-four contest. Note that a score on a board of zero points (all four hands pass) may be any matchpoint score from none to top.
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Which vertical take-off jet made its first flight in 1966? | Mirage III V: France's VTOL Attempt - Aircraft InFormation.info
The end of the programme
Early VTOL history
When the Cold War was at its peak from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, military technology was being developed at a fast and ever-increasing pace. New weapons kept the two superpowers locked in a spiralling arms race, with each one developing something new to outdo the other. The ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) was one of these new weapons that had a great impact on the design and operation of Cold War weapons. It caused many aircraft, especially bombers and fighter-bombers, to be cancelled as ICBMs were seen as quicker, cheaper, less vulnerable and more effective than manned aircraft.
Since the 1950s aircraft had become bigger, heavier, faster and had come to depend on large, fixed runways that were difficult to conceal. Governments, and especially NATO, were worried that ICBMs, both nuclear and conventional, could easily wipe out these conspicuously visible bases. The solution was thought to be dispersed basing, which would require VTOL, or at least STOVL (Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) aircraft.
NATO was so keen to develop V/STOL aircraft that in 1960 they drew up 'NATO Basic Military Requirement 3', which was designed to produce a V/STOL aircraft that would enter service in 1964. But in March 1961 the requirement was changed to a VTOL aircraft that could do Mach 2.2 at high altitude, Mach 1 at low altitude and deliver nuclear weapons over a 460 km (285 mile) radius. The British Hawker P.1154 and Mirage III V (pronounced ‘three-V’, the V for VTOL) took part.
The Hawker P.1154 was to be powered by a four-exhaust-nozzle vectored thrust Bristol-Siddeley BS 100 engine developing 15 000 kg (33 000 lb) of thrust with afterburning (the afterburning taking place at the front two exhaust nozzles of the engine). In April 1962 the P.1154 ‘won’ the contest, but the French refused to accept the British aircraft. Because of this, and doubts over the feasibility of workable VTOL aircraft, NATO decided not to choose between either aircraft and the project subsequently lapsed, leaving nations to develop their own VTOL aircraft.
Even before the NATO competition, a number of governments began designing V/STOL aircraft. The British began work on the Hawker P.1127, which first flew in October 1960 and soon led to the BAe (British Aerospace – now BAE Systems) Harrier. The Americans tested a number of VTOL aircraft, including designs like the Lockheed XV-4 Hummingbird and Ryan XV-6 Vertifan. Some success was achieved with designs like the X-13 Vertijet and the Convair XFY-1 'Pogo', which took off with their noses pointed into the air. However, landing difficulties ensured they never went into production.
The Dutch and West Germans collaborated to produce the VFW-Fokker Vak 191B, which was powered by two lift jets and a vectored/propulsive turbofan for vertical and horizontal flight, in many ways similar to the Harrier. The first prototype made its maiden flight in 1971, but was cancelled in the mid-1970s. The Soviets achieved some success with their Yak-38 'Forger', which was powered by two lift jets behind its cockpit and one vectored thrust turbojet used for vertical and horizontal flight. Although less capable than the Harrier, it was only the second VTOL aircraft to enter service, which it did in 1976.
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Early French VTOL history
The French had made good progress with vectored thrust engines and, ironically, it is to the French engineer Michel Wibault that the Harrier owes its engine. Wibault filed the patent for a jet engine whose exhaust was directed through two jet pipes which could be swivelled horizontally or vertically. As the French government was not interested, Wibault sold the idea to the British company Bristol, who bought the license for it. They modified Wibault’s engine and produced the Pegasus turbojet which used four swivelling jets. (Rolls Royce now produces the Pegasus engine.)
France’s biggest aviation company Dassault noted British progress with the Pegasus and began design work a swept-wing aircraft that would be built around the Pegasus engine or an equivalent. This aircraft was called the Cavalier and the first version, the MD 610, was planned to have a Bristol BE 53/8 engine developing 8 600 kg (19 000 lb) of thrust with two vectored thrust exhaust nozzles on each side of the fuselage. The aircraft was similar to the Harrier in layout and had twin air intakes mounted on each side of the fuselage, a gently swept shoulder-mounted wing and a single vertical tailfin with the tailplane mid-mounted on it. Landing gear was a bicycle-type with twin outriggers. The aircraft would have a VTOL operating weight of around 7 480 kg (16 500 lb).
Dassault briefly studied another two Cavalier variants. The MD 620 was planned to have a Rolls Royce RB 165 engine developing 4 080 kg (9 000 lb) of thrust and four Rolls Royce RB 153 lift engines producing 1 590 kg (3 500 lb) of thrust each. Other changes were mid-mounted wings and conventional tricycle-type landing gear. The MD 630 Cavalier was the third variant and was planned with two RB 165 engines and two RB 162 lift engines developing 2 270 kg (5 000 lb) of thrust each. For VTOL operation it would weigh around 5 580 kg (12 300 lb).
The vectored thrust engine Cavalier was presented to the French Air Force general staff. However, it was not approved since it didn’t allow supersonic flight – the swivelling exhaust nozzles would not permit it. In addition, it was considered less safe than a multi-engined aircraft.
After their initial lack of interest, the French government warmed to the idea of a VTOL aircraft. On 16 September 1959 the DTIA (Direction Technique et Industrielle de l' Aeronautique) issued a requirement to the French aviation industry for a VTOL attack and reconnaissance aircraft that would be able to use any front-line airstrip and would be able to carry nuclear weapons. The French government later specified that the aircraft had to have a top speed of Mach 2 and would have to carry nuclear and conventional weapons as well as two internal 30-mm cannons.
Dassault proposed its Mach 2 capable Mirage III V and in September 1960 it was accepted. Around 120 aircraft were required to replace L'Armee de L'Air (French Air Force) Mirage IIIE attack aircraft by 1967.
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The Balzac V
To prove the viability of VTOL flight, which was still in its early stages, Dassault teamed up with Sud-Aviation and built the Balzac V demonstration aircraft (the ‘V’ again standing for VTOL). On 2 February 1961 the DTIA officially ordered the aircraft to be built, using part of the wing from a Mirage III prototype and a fuselage designed and built by Sud-Aviation. The whole aircraft was actually the modified Mirage III prototype, but the entire centre fuselage was replaced.
The aircraft had nine engines: one conventional horizontally-mounted Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus 3 turbojet producing 2 268 kg (5 000 lb) of thrust for horizontal flight and eight Rolls-Royce RB 108 turbojets for vertical lift. There were four compartments in the aircraft, each containing two vertically mounted engines: one compartment on the outside of each air intake of the Orpheus engine and one compartment on each side of the Orpheus exhaust pipe. Four intakes situated on the top of these compartments provided the lift jets with air, while their exhausts were situated in apertures underneath the fuselage. The exhausts were fitted with blanking caps that were closed during horizontal flight to minimise drag. If one lift jet failed, its diagonal opposite would be reduced to idle in order to maintain stability.
Each RB 108 engine weighted 122 kg (269 lb) and generated a total of 1 002 kg (2 210 lb) of thrust, of which 82 kg (180 lb), 11 % of the total thrust, was bled off for the jet reaction control system. This system was comprised of a series of pipes that used lift jet bleed air to provide thrust and keep the Balzac V stable in flight. One pair of pipes exhausted just under the nose, one pair exhausted under the middle of each wing leading edge and another pair exhausted below the tail.
A control valve, which the pilot could alter by using a joystick, distributed the exhaust gases for the reaction control stabilisation system. To control the physical stabilization jets, a triple channel electronic flight control system was used. It was chosen over conventional linkage controls in order to provide greater precision. This system was the beginning of modern fly-by-wire flight controls in that there was redundancy (through the three channels) and no linkage.
Total internal fuel capacity of the Balzac V was just 1650 litres, which gave an endurance of just 12 minutes with all engines running. The Balzac V was unarmed and carried no operational equipment. Even so, it didn’t have a high enough thrust-to-weight ratio to fly past Mach 1 – its maximum speed was only Mach .90. In addition, the area-ruled ‘wasp-waist’ of the Mirage III that decreased drag and increased speed was not included on the Balzac. This helped make it a much slower aircraft than it could have been.
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Balzac V flight testing
The Balzac V made its first (and second) tethered flight on 12 October 1962 at Melun-Villaroche with Ren� Bigand at the controls. Nylon cables attached to lifting points near its nose and main landing gear tethered it firmly to the ground. On 18 October it made its first free hovering flight and on 1 March the next year it made its first conventional flight. Finally, on 18 March 1963, the aircraft made its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight. The Balzac V made its first complete cycle of taking off vertically, flying horizontally and then landing vertically on 29 March. It was successfully demonstrated at the Paris Air Show in June 1963.
These successes were overshadowed by two fatal accidents that were partly as a result of the complexity of the flight control system, jet reaction control system and nine-engine layout. The first accident occurred on 10 January 1964 on the Balzac V’s 125th sortie. Jean Pinier, of France's Flight Test Centre, lost control of the aircraft after he directed it into a crosswind to eliminate drift. The speed and angle of attack were beyond the safe limits of controlled flight and so the aircraft crashed, killing Pinier. After the crash the aircraft was rebuilt and first flew again in February 1965.
The United States Air Force also tested the Balzac and lost one of their pilots as a result – ironically with the rebuilt aircraft that killed Pinier. On 8 September 1965 USAF pilot Major Neal was killed when the vertical lift jets ran out of fuel and his ejection seat malfunctioned.
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International agreements
Development of the Mirage III V was very costly and highly complex and so Dassault began to look for support from other countries. On 27 October 1961, representatives from Dassault and BAC (British Aircraft Corporation, later British Aerospace) met to discuss support for the French project. BAC suggested that the Mirage III V would be of interest to the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, and would support the French with their project and in their relations with the British government and NATO. However, work had already begun on the Hawker P.1154, which led to the Harrier, and the British government gave priority to this programme. British interest soon faded away and eventually disappeared.
In the early 1960s, Boeing was looking to enter the light combat aircraft market and saw co-operation with Dassault as the key. On 23 December 1961, the two corporations signed technical co-operation and licensing agreements, mainly to do with vertical takeoff stabilisation devices and Dassault-designed flight controls. One of their first joint project goals was an aircraft that would be entered in the NATO Basic Military Requirement 3 competition. Since Boeing was involved in the project, giving technical assistance to Dassault, they were obliged to offer it to the US government as well as NATO and the French government. Early in 1963 the US Air Force considered buying three two-seat Mirage III Vs with the intention to test them and in May 1964 was prepared to buy. Boeing was to reassemble the aircraft in the US and test them there, but in the end the deal fell through and no aircraft were bought.
In 1963 Dassault tried to collaborate with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) on the single- and two-seater combat prototype Mirage III Vs. Three prototypes were planned in 1963, but were reduced to two in May 1964, to be designated Mirage III V 03 and 04. After no one showed any serious interest in a two-seater, the idea was dropped.
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The Mirage III V 01
While the Balzac V was being tested, development of the Mirage III V progressed swiftly. Full-scale design and development of the aircraft began on 29 August 1961 when the DTIA ordered Dassault and Sud-Aviation to produce two Mirage III V prototypes.
The new lift jets, internal weapons bay, and extra fuel made the Mirage III V much larger and heavier than the Balzac V. The Mirage III V also differed from the Balzac V in that it had a taller vertical tail fin and the wing was larger, thinner and had a cranked leading edge. Unlike previous Mirage designs, twin landing gear wheels were used on all three legs. Armament was to consist of two 30 mm DEFA cannon with 125 rounds each and a mere 544 kg (1 200 lb) of ordnance in an internal weapons bay. Even for the mid-1960s, this was an unacceptably small weapon load for any fighter. Unfortunately it was the eight vertical lift jets that weighed the Mirage III V down and greatly limited weapons (and fuel) carriage.
The first Mirage III V prototype, the Mirage III V 01, was fitted with a TF 104B engine (modified Pratt and Whitney [P&W] turbofan) developing around 6 400 kg (14 100 lb) of thrust in afterburner, and eight Rolls Royce RB 162-1 lifting jets. The new lifting jets had fibreglass casings and incorporated reinforced plastics to reduce weight and cost. Each engine weighed 125 kg (275 lb), was 1.315 metres (4 ft 4 in) long and had a diameter of 66 cm (2 ft 2 in). Its normal thrust rating was 2 000 kg (4 409 lb), but it could produce 2 140 kg (4 718 lb) in an emergency.
The modified P&W engine was still at its development stage and size and weight had not been finalised. It was decided to first test the American engine, and so a Mirage III was converted into a flying test-bed called the Mirage III T and equipped with the TF 104 developing 6 300 kg (13 900 lb) of thrust. It made its first flight at Istres on 25 January 1965, piloted by Jean Coureau, with the more powerful TF 106 engine (also a modified P&W). Many problems were encountered with both engines, the worst of which was stalling on takeoff! The Americans experienced similar problems when they installed the engines in their own aircraft.
Free-hovering trials with the Mirage III V 01 began on 12 February 1965 at Melun-Villaroche with Ren� Bigand at the controls. There were many problems that emerged during testing. The TF 104 was troublesome, the lift engines didn’t give the expected thrust and the airframe was too heavy. The more powerful TF 106 engine developing about 8 tons (17 000 lb) of thrust was installed in the Mirage III V 01 in December 1965 for the aircraft’s 15th sortie.
By this time the French authorities were beginning to doubt the viability of VTOL aircraft, especially with all the problems encountered with the Balzac V and Mirage III V. The excessive weight of the lift engines significantly limited performance and weapons load, greatly restricting the aircraft’s fighting abilities. And ground support for a dispersed VTOL aircraft would prove very difficult – all the fuel, spares and weapons would have to be transported to the aircraft, which could be almost anywhere – in a forest, on an island, in a swamp, or high up on a mountain. The aircraft would be an easy target if it had to re-supply from fixed bases.
In addition, there were problems with operating on unprepared ground. Debris from roughly prepared landing ground was often sucked back into the Mirage III V’s engines, causing them to stall. A semi-prepared landing zone would be needed to ensure the engines didn’t stall, but even this was no guarantee, since the engines also stalled when their own exhaust gases were sucked back into their intakes. Meanwhile other aircraft were improving their short-field performance, especially swing-wing aircraft like the American General Dynamics F-111 and Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23. These aircraft had been designed to STOL requirements and were much more successful than VTOL aircraft in that they could use short, roughly prepared and dispersed airstrips with minimal effort and be able to carry a heavy weapon load over long ranges.
By the end of 1965, even though VTOL was beginning to look increasingly impracticable, the French Air Force staff had not totally given up on Dassault’s project. Instead, they drew up requirements for the Mirage III V ‘1970’, as they saw a need for a nuclear-armed aircraft to replace the Air Force’s F-100s and Mirage IIIEs by 1970.
In the meantime, the Mirage III V 01 reached a significant milestone: it made its first full transitioning flight on 24 March 1966, piloted by Jean-Marie Saget. But even this achievement was overshadowed by lateral instability during the transition phase of the flight. On 28 March 1966 the Defence Ministry halted the Mirage III V production programme for technical and financial reasons. Only limited testing was allowed to continue in order to gain more experimental data on VTOL aircraft. The Mirage III V 01 eventually went supersonic when it was flown to Mach 1.35 without its lift engines.
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Mirage III V 02
The second prototype, the Mirage III V 02, was built with a new engine, the Snecma (Soci�t� Nationale d’Etudes et de Constructions de Moteurs d’Aviation) TF 306C twin-spool afterburning turbofan, which developed 9 299 kg (20 500 lb) of thrust with afterburner and 5 307 kg (11 700 lb) of thrust without. This engine was in fact based on the Pratt & Whitney TF 30, which later created enormous problems with the F-111 and Grumman F-14, and caused many of them to crash. The Mirage III V 02 was also equipped with new air intakes over its eight RB 162 lift engines. Instead of scoop lift-engine doors (as on the Mirage III V 01) the Mirage III V 02 had side-hinged doors that allowed air to flow straight to the lift jets.
Piloted by Jean-Marie Saget, the second prototype made its first flight on 22 June 1966. On 12 September that year, on its 11th sortie, it reached Mach 2.03 in level flight, breaking the world speed record for a VTOL aircraft. Today it is still the only such aircraft to have exceeded Mach 2 - the closest any other VTOL aircraft came was the prototype Yak-141, which reached Mach 1.69.
Top
The end of the programme
Both Mirage III Vs continued to be tested at Istres and Melun-Villaroche until the Mirage III V 02 was accidentally destroyed during crabbing/sideslip flight tests. On 28 November 1966 Bernard Ziegler was flying the aircraft at Istres when it became uncontrollable and he ejected. After the crash the programme was terminated and the French government abandoned their VTOL aircraft project.
Instead of the Mirage III V, the French Defence Ministry pursued other aircraft that could take off and land in short distances from roughly prepared strips. First were the Mirage F1 and F2/F3. These all had the same general configuration of a high-mounted swept wing with high-lift devices and horizontal tail surfaces. They had much better slow-speed performance than Dassault’s other delta-winged designs, as well as greater internal fuel capacity.
At the same time Dassault developed a series of swing-wing aircraft, the first of which was the single-engine Mirage G. First flown on 18 November 1967, it showed great promise, but the French Air Force dropped the project after they opted for a twin-engine variant. Thus the Mirage G4/G8 was developed. The Mirage G4 was the initial two-seat variant, but was abandoned in favour of the single-seat Mirage G8. First flown on 8 May 1971, it was cancelled because of high costs and changing mission requirements. In the end, the Mirage F1 was put into production and went on to sell around the world. Together with the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar, the F1 filled the Mirage III V’s intended role, with the Jaguar being used for attack and the F1 being used mainly for interception.
The Mirage III V programme was abandoned because the aircraft was extremely complex, resulting in many crashes, and could not carry a large enough payload because of the heavy lifting jets. Fuel consumption was extremely high, especially during hovering flight and consequently range was very poor. The Harrier, which uses a vectored thrust engine, is so successful because it uses the same engine for vertical and horizontal flight and doesn’t have to carry heavy lift jets that remain unused for most of the flight.
The Mirage III V programme failed in the end and cost a lot of money - in 1972 the French Court of Auditors estimated the cost at 270 million francs. However, the Mirage III V programme did have some use in the end. Much of the research data gained in the Balzac V’s 179 flights, the Mirage III V 01’s 40 flights and the Mirage III V 02’s 24 flights was used in other Dassault programmes and increased the knowledge of VTOL aircraft flight characteristics.
Advances made with the Mirage III V’s triple channel analogue flight control system were later applied to the variable geometry, or ‘swing-wing’, version of the Falcon 20 business jet, the Mirage 2000 and the Rafale.
The Balzac V was the first aircraft to transmit flight data to the ground by telemetering and pioneered the process. Together with tape recording, telemetering greatly increased the amount and quality of data gathered. Although France’s VTOL aircraft programme was cancelled in the end, it was not considered to have been a complete failure. Through various spin-offs, many aircraft flying today owe something to the Balzac V and Mirage III V. Although the two aircraft never entered service, they opened up the then unexplored field of VTOL flight – they were the early pioneers.
With special thanks to Dassault, who made this article possible by providing much of the information used here.
| Harrier |
Which year was renowned as ‘The Year of Revolutions’? | German Jet VTOL: VJ 101C, Do 31, & VAK 191B
German Jet VTOL: VJ 101C, Do 31, & VAK 191B
v1.0.2 / 01 aug 16 / greg goebel
* The 1960s were the great era of "vertical take-off & landing (VTOL)" aircraft, with a large number of different prototypes, some of them pretty wild, built and test-flown. The Germans were among those who tinkered with the technology, developing three jet VTOL aircraft in that era, including the EWR "VJ 101C" fighter, the Dornier "Do 31" transport, and the VFW "VAK 191B" fighter. As with most of the early VTOL designs, they were technically interesting but not judged practical for operational use, and never entered production. This document provides a history and description of these German jet VTOL aircraft.
[1] VJ 101 ORIGINS
* During World War II, German aircraft designers came up with a set of concepts for VTOL aircraft, most fighters of "tailsitter" or "pogo" configuration, with the aircraft taking off and landing pointing upward. Nothing much came of them, and work elsewhere on pogo aircraft showed they weren't a very good idea, at least for 20th-century aviation technology.
In the late 1950s, the German Heinkel firm began to investigate a VTOL jet fighter -- the idea being that, in case of a Soviet attack, VTOL would support dispersal of combat aircraft assets to small and easily concealed operating bases. Heinkel engineers initially focused on the pogo configuration, but by that time experience with pogo demonstrator aircraft had shown they were a nonstarter, and so interest quickly moved on to a "tiltjet" configuration, in which jet engines were mounted in wingtip pods that could be tilted straight up or horizontal for vertical or forward flight respectively.
A tiltjet machine had already been flown, the US Bell company having thrown together a demonstrator designated the "Model 65 Air Test Vehicle (ATV)", using:
A sailplane fuselage.
Flight surfaces from other small aircraft and helicopter landing skids.
Twin Fairchild J44 turbojets with 4.4 kN (450 kgp / 1,000 lbf) thrust each, pivoting from the vertical to the horizontal on each side of the fuselage under the wing.
It also featured a Turbomeca Palouste auxiliary power unit (APU) to drive wingtip compressed-air "puffer" control system with thrusters in the wingtips and tail, puffer systems being a common element in VTOL jets to permit flight control in hover.
The ATV performed its initial flight on 16 November 1954, though the flight test program was short-lived; it did demonstrate useful VTOL technologies, but it was a very limited machine, being painfully underpowered, and its potential was quickly exhausted. The US Air Force worked with Bell to develop an operational tiltjet fighter, the "XF-109", but nothing came of it. The ATV ended up in the hands of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, being placed in storage where it remains at last notice.
The Germans liked the tiltjet concept and followed it up. By mid-1958, Heinkel had roughed out the configuration of the "He 231" tiltjet fighter, attracting the interest of the German government. Since development of a VTOL fighter promised to be a challenge for a single firm, the West German government encouraged Heinkel, Boelkow, and Messerschmitt to collaborate on the effort. In early 1959, the three firms formed a joint organization, Entwicklungsring Sud (EWR Sud / Development Group South), to build the aircraft, which was given the designation of "VJ 101", where "VJ" stood for "Versuchsjaeger (Research Fighter)".
* EWR engineers began by visiting Britain to inspect the Short SC.1 demonstrator, at the time arguably the most advanced VTOL aircraft in the world. The visitors also became interested in work by the British Rolls-Royce engine firm, which had been working on "liftjets" -- relatively small jet engines that could generate high thrust levels for a short period of time to get a VTOL aircraft off the ground.
A number of different configurations for the VJ 101 were considered. The initial concept, the "VJ 101A", featured a canard layout, with dual lift-thrust jets on each wingtip and a single jet on the tips of each canard fin; all the jets tilted up for VTOL operation. The "VJ-101B", in contrast, had a tailed delta layout, with all the engines in the fuselage, including two forward-thrust afterburning turbojets in the rear fuselage, with diverter exhausts for VTOL operation, and twin liftjets mounted vertically behind the cockpit.
After some puzzling about, the decision was made to combine the two concepts in the "VJ 101C", which would have twin tilting jets on each wingtip and twin liftjets behind the cockpit -- it had much the same configuration as the proposed Bell XF-109. The VJ 101C didn't require a puffer system; instead it was to maneuver in hover by differentially tilting the engine pods and selective control of engine thrust. The go-ahead was given for two prototypes in the spring of 1960. The way to the prototypes was paved by a series of "flying bedframe" demonstrators based on the Rolls-Royce RB.108 liftjet, with a maximum thrust of 10.4 kN (1,060 kgp / 2,340 lbf).
The first was the "Wippe (Seesaw)". It wasn't actually a "flying" demonstrator, being a frame fixed to the ground with a pivoting arm that could move and down like a seesaw, featuring a "pilot's" seat at the end with an RB.108 directly behind. This item was used to investigate RB.108 throttle response; since the VJ 101C was completely reliant on engine thrust to stay aloft in vertical flight, it was imperative that the RB.108's throttle responsiveness be very well understood. Test with the Wippe began in the spring of 1960, being mostly conducted by George Bright, EWR's American test pilot. With the engine right behind the exposed pilot's seat, one suspects it was a noisy ride.
The second demonstrator was the "Schwebestegell" hover test rig, which was a crucifix-shaped frame with a pilot's seat at the base of the crucifix, an RB.108 right behind the pilot's seat, and an RB.108 in each arm of the crucifix. It was designed to evaluate how well the three-point configuration of the VJ 101C could handle hovering. It was originally flown connected to a telescoping pillar, the first such test being on 1 March 1962; Bright made the first free flight on 13 March. For free flights, the hover rig was fitted with a canvas underbody of sorts to evaluate "ground effect", factoring what the exhaust backblast from the surface below the rig might do to handling. The hover rig also worked out well, being used to test out different manual and automatic flight control systems.
[2] VJ 101C SUPERSONIC VTOL DEMONSTRATOR
* In the meantime, in 1961 NATO had issued a specification, the "NATO Basic Military Requirement 3 (NBMR-3)", for a VTOL fighter / reconnaissance platform for frontline combat support, to replace the Fiat G.91 light attack aircraft. Later the requirement would be split into two specs for VTOL combat aircraft -- one a subsonic attack aircraft, the other for a Mach 2 air superiority aircraft.
The VJ 101 seemed to fit NBMR-3 as it was specified at the outset, and work went forward on the first VJ 101C prototype, the "X1". A new powerplant, a derivative of the RB.108 designated the "RB.145" was development for this machine by a collaboration between Rolls-Royce and MAN Turbo of Germany. The RB.145 added another compressor stage to get nine stages and provided a maximum dry thrust of 12.3 kN (1,250 kgp / 2,750 lbf); it could also be used for sustained thrust. Initial bench tests of the RB.145 had been conducted in 1961.
The VJ 101C X1 was ready for testing in late 1962. It had a distinct resemblance to the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, with a spikelike fuselage and tricycle landing gear -- all with single wheels, all retracting backward into the fuselage. However, it was hardly a "VTOL Starfighter", EWR engineers simply finding the F-104 inspirational. The VJ 101C X1 obviously differed from the Starfighter in having a conventional instead of tee tail, and high-mounted swept wings, with a leading-edge sweep of 39 degrees, instead of mid-mounted wedge-shaped wings -- and particularly differed from the F-104 in its engine arrangement, being fitted with a total of six RB.145 engines:
Two mounted vertically in the fuselage behind the cockpit, being used solely for vertical flight and covered by doors top and bottom when not in use.
Two mounted in a rotating pod fixed to each wingtip, the engines being arranged top and bottom relative to the pod being in the horizontal position. The forward section of the pod could be slid up slightly in vertical flight to provide an auxiliary intake for more airflow.
The futuristic appearance of the VJ 101 led to it being nicknamed the "Traumjaeger (Dream Fighter)". The VJ 101C X1 was strictly a demonstrator, the RB.145 not having adequate power for an operational machine. Aside from the propulsion system, there was absolutely nothing fancy about it, the aircraft being equipped only with test telemetry systems on top of basic avionics.
It did have a pressurized cockpit and a Martin-Baker GA7 ejection seat, an early "zero-zero" seat with rocket boost to get a pilot safely out of the aircraft at zero speed and zero altitude. Up to that time, ejection seats had generally needed some minimum speed and altitude to work safely, but since a VTOL machine could come to grief hovering just above the ground, zero-zero operation was absolutely essential.
Bright began tests on a improved telescoping ground fixture on 19 December 1962, with initial hover flight on 10 April 1963, the press being invited to observe a test flight a month later. Bright performed the first conventional take-off and landing in the X1 on 29 August 1963, and through the fall methodically pushed the machine through its envelope until he could take off vertically, transition to forward flight, transition back to vertical flight, and then land. The sophistication of the flight control system was such that transition from vertical to horizontal flight and the reverse, a tricky "three-handed" operation in the British Harrier jumpjet, was not particularly troublesome.
On 29 July 1964, Bright broke Mach 1 in a shallow dive -- but the X1 went out of control on conventional take-off due to an autopilot glitch and was lost on 14 September of that year, Bright ejecting safely. That didn't stall the program for long, with the "VJ 101C X2" beginning tests on 27 October, performing its first free hover on 12 June 1965, working up to full vertical-horizontal-vertical flights by the fall.
The X2 was very similar to the X1 except for using afterburning RB.145s, designated "RB.145R", with a maximum afterburning thrust of 16.2 kN (1,655 kgp / 3,650 lbf), and with longer tilting wingtip nacelles to accommodate the afterburning engines. Bright eventually got it up to Mach 1.14 in level flight. The engines proved temperamental in VTOL mode, but by that time the momentum was draining out of the program anyway.
EWR VJ 101C X2: _____________________ _________________ _______________________ spec metric english _____________________ _________________ _______________________ wingspan 6.61 meters 21 feet 8 inches wing area 18.6 sq_meters 200 sq_feet length 15.7 meters 51 feet 6 inches height 4.13 meters 13 feet 6 inches MTO weight 8,000 kilograms 17,640 pounds max speed at altitude Mach 1.14 _____________________ _________________ _______________________
Nobody had ever seen the VJ 101C as an operational machine, the RB.145 engines not having the power to haul operational loads. The expectation was to move on to a Mach 2 "VJ 101D" with Rolls-Royce / MAN RB.153 afterburning engines, providing 53.8 kN (5,490 kgp / 12,100 lbf) thrust, but the engine was simply too big to work in pivoting wingtip pods. As a result, the design concept for the VJ 101B was dusted off, with the VJ 101D envisioned as having two RB.153 liftjets with pivoting exhausts in the rear fuselage, and a row of five RB.162 advanced liftjets behind the cockpit.
The VJ 101D by all appearances would have been an operationally useful and indeed impressive aircraft -- but it was also complicated, and there was the question of exactly how much benefit a supersonic VTOL fighter really offered over a conventional take-off fighter. The more people looked at the VJ 101D, the less attractive the idea seemed. It was never built, with the VJ 101 development program finally given the axe in 1968; NMBR-3 came to nothing in the end. A two-seat "VJ 101C X3" also remained unbuilt. However, the VJ 101C X2 continued to fly various flight trials until 1971, when it was passed on to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it still resides today.
[3] DORNIER DO 31 VTOL TRANSPORT
* Following up on the NMBR-3 requirement, in 1962 NATO then issued the NMBR-4 requirement, which was for a VTOL transport to service the dispersed bases from which the NMBR-3 VTOL fighters were to operate. In response, the German Dornier firm began work on a demonstrator for a VTOL transport, which was given the designation of "Do 31".
As envisioned, the Do 31 would feature a pod on each wingtip with a set of vertically-mounted Rolls-Royce liftjets, plus a Bristol-Siddeley Pegasus vectored-thrust engine mounted at the middle of each wing. The Pegasus was being developed for what would emerge as the Harrier, the engine being a turbofan featuring four rotating, side-mounted exhausts to permit both horizontal and vertical thrust. The West German government authorized development of two flying "bedframes" for technology demonstration, and three Do 31 prototypes.
The first "bedframe" was the "systems test rig" or "small hover rig", which was merely a cross-shaped flying bedframe, with four RB.108 lift engines -- one in each "wingtip" and one in "midwing" -- and the engines feeding a bleed-air puffer system in the tail. It was used to investigate control and stability issues, beginning test flights in April 1964.
The second "bedframe" was the "large hover rig", which actually had some resemblance to the intended Do 31 design, with twin Pegasus 5 engines and a pod on each wingtip with three RB.162 lift engines. It had a more or less proper canopy, a simple cylinder for a main fuselage, an exposed metal frame for a tail, and fixed landing gear. After a long series of tests on a telescoping ground rig, the large hover rig performed its first free flight on 7 February 1967.
The first Do 31 prototype, the "Do 31E-1", performed its initial flight only two days later, on 9 February 1967. It had the full Do 31 airframe, but no liftjets in the wingtip pods, flying solely on its twin Pegasus 5 engines in conventional take-off mode only. The "Do 31E-2" never flew, being a static evaluation machine that was tested to destruction. However, the third prototype, the "Do 31E-3", was fully functional, performing its initial flight in conventional take-off mode on 14 July 1967. The test pilot was another American, Drury W. Wood. The rest of the year was spent in extending the machine's envelope, with the first full vertical take off, transition to horizontal flight, transition back to vertical flight, and vertical landing in January 1968.
* The Do 31 had a fairly typical cargolifter fuselage, with a high tail, a rear loading ramp, and a greenhouse-style cockpit -- along with a capacity of about a fully equipped platoon of troops, or payloads of 3 tonnes (3.3 tons). It had a fold-down "airstair" door on the forward left side of the fuselage for crew access, and escape hatches above the cockpit. It featured tricycle landing gear, all gear assemblies with twin wheels and retracting backwards, the main gear tucking into the main engine nacelles. It had a high wing, straight in the back and with a slight sweep up front, with ailerons outboard and flaps inboard; it had a conventional tail arrangement, with a swept tailfin and a mid-mounted tailplane with a form factor similar to the wing.
The Do 31's engine arrangement was what made it interesting. It was fitted with a total of ten engines:
A Pegasus 5 engine in a pod in the middle of each wing, each providing 69 kN (7,030 kgp / 15,500 lbf) thrust.
Four RB.162 liftjets, each with 19.6 kN (2,000 kgp / 4,400 lbf) thrust, in big pod at each wingtip with doors top and bottom. The large hover rig had got by with three engines instead of four in its pods, since it weighed less than the Do 31.
The nozzles of the RB.162s could be vectored 15 degrees fore and aft; it appears, sources are not clear on this, that vectoring of the engines in one pod was independent of the vectoring in the other pod to permit yaw control in hover, with the relative thrust of each pod throttled to perform roll trim -- nobody would actually try to perform a roll in hover, of course. A control system ensured that if a liftjet engine in one pod went offline, its equivalent in the other pod was shut down as well, to prevent the aircraft from flipping over. There was a bleed air puffer unit in the tail to provide pitch control. The design arrangement gave the option of deleting the wingtip pods to give a short take-off and landing transport, using Pegasus power alone -- an interesting idea that seems could have led to an effective short-take-off machine, but it appears one that was never seriously pursued.
DORNIER DO 31: _____________________ _________________ _______________________ spec metric english _____________________ _________________ _______________________ wingspan 18.06 meters 59 feet 3 inches wing area 57 sq_meters 613 sq_feet length 16.4 meters 68 feet height 8.53 meters 28 feet MTO weight 27,500 kilograms 60,500 pounds cruse speed 650 KPH 405 MPH / 3.51 KT service ceiling 10,500 meters 34,500 feet range, max payload 1,800 KM 1,120 MI / 975 NMI _____________________ _________________ _______________________
By early 1968, the US National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) had acquired an interest in the program, seeing the Do 31 as the basis for a jetliner that could relieve airport congestion. A formal collaborative agreement was signed in early 1969, with NASA constructing a flight simulator stateside to train American pilots, who were then sent to Germany to help put the Do 31 through its paces.
* In the meantime, Dornier worked on the design of a production derivative, the "Do 231", a VTOL jetliner with a passenger capacity of 100. It had only the most general resemblance to the Do 31, looking more like a mutant derivative of a regional jetliner. It seemed conventional enough with its high-mounted swept wing, an RB.230 turbofan with 107 kN (10,900 kgp / 24,000 lbf) thrust under each wing, fairings for main landing gear, and a swept tee tail. It was much more unconventional in having a pod outboard of the engine on each wing containing four RB.202 liftjet turbofans with 58.3 kN (5,940 kgp / 13,100 lbf) each; two more liftjets in the nose and another two in the tail, for a total of twelve; and RB.230 turbofans with vectored exhausts.
A "Do 231M" military transport was also envisioned, much the same as the Do 231 but with a modified, bulged rear fuselage featuring clamshell loading doors. How the exhaust from the rear two liftjets was routed around the doors is an interesting question.
The Do 231 never came close to happening. The Do 31 flew well enough in evaluations, but analysis of its operating costs showed it to be painfully uncompetitive with conventional-take-off jetliners, such as the Boeing 737. There was also a realization that the facilities required to operate a large CTOL transport were comparable to those of a conventional airfield; the idea of, say, flying off the tops of buildings turned out to be impractical on analysis. The Do 31 was a very interesting machine, but it was of questionable utility, and nobody wanted to follow it up. The program was finally shut down in April 1970, with the Do 31E-3 ending up in the Deutsches Museum along with the VJ 101C.
[4] VAK 191B VTOL TACTICAL FIGHTER
* The VJ 101 was not the end of German interest in developing a VTOL fighter to meet the NBMR-3 specification. In 1963, the Germans decided to work on another VTOL fighter, the "VAK 191" -- where "VAK" stood for "Vertikalstartendes Aufklaerungs und Kampfflugzeug (VTOL Reconnaissance & Attack Aircraft)", and the "191" indicated that it was follow-on to the G.91.
After consideration of various options, the effort focused on the "VAK 191B", to be developed in a partnership of VFW of Germany and Fiat of Italy, with six prototypes to be turned out. The VAK 191B was to be built around the Rolls-Royce / MAN RB.193 turbofan, a vectored-thrust engine derived from the Rolls-Royce Spey bypass turbojet with a configuration similar to the Rolls-Royce Pegasus, but smaller and with less thrust -- 45.2 kN (4,600 kgp / 10,150 lbf), about two-thirds the thrust of the Pegasus 5. Since that wasn't enough to get the fighter aloft vertically, an RB.162 liftjet was mounted near-vertically behind the cockpit and in the tail.
Yet another "flying bedframe", the "SG 1262", was developed to support the program. It had no specific resemblance to the VAK 191B as it was projected, being strictly intended to validate control system technologies; the SG 1262 simply consisted of a frame with a pilot's seat up front and five RB.108 liftjets in a row behind it, along with a bleed-air puffer jet on an arm to each side. Initial flights were on a telescoping ground rig, with first free flight on 5 August 1966, VFW chief test pilot Ludwig Obermeier at the controls.
By that time, however, the program was slowing down, NATO having lost interest in the NMBR-3 effort. In 1966, the decision was made to reduce the VAK 191B program to a strictly experimental effort, with the number of prototypes cut to three, and in 1968 the Italians pulled out of the collaboration. Prototype construction continued, however, with the first prototype being rolled out on 24 April 1970, and after captive tests performing its first flight on 10 September 1971 -- about three years later than originally scheduled. The other two prototypes the first into the air over the subsequent months. The prototypes were labeled "VFW-Fokker", the two companies having merged in 1969.
* The VAK 191B had a clear resemblance to the BAE Harrier, not surprising because both were built around a vectored-thrust engine with four rotating nozzles. The engine was of necessity at the center of gravity, with the wing, featuring a leading-edge sweep of 48 degrees, of similar necessity being high mounted. The wing had ailerons and single-piece flaps, the flaps being used effectively as airbrakes.
Both aircraft had a "bicycle" type landing gear arrangement to get around the engine -- twin wheels on the rear gear assembly, one wheel on the front -- and had outriggers near the wingtip, which demanded that the wing feature a steep anhedral droop. Both had a conventional tail arrangement, with the all-moving tailplane also featuring a noticeable anhedral droop. Like the Harrier, the VAK 191B had an elaborate bleed-air puffer system with thrusters in wingtips, tail, and nose to provide three-axis control in hovering flight. It had an APU to support flight operations at forward airfields. The pilot sat under a rear-hinged clamshell canopy, with a negligible rear view, on a Martin-Baker Mark 9 zero-zero ejection seat.
VFW-FOKKER VAK 191B: _____________________ _________________ _______________________ spec metric english _____________________ _________________ _______________________ wingspan 6.16 meters 20 feet 2 inches wing area 12.5 sq_meters 134.5 sq_feet length (no probe) 14.72 meters 48 feet 4 inches height 4.3 meters 14 feet 1 inch empty weight 5,560 kilograms 12,235 pounds MTO weight 8,510 kilograms 18,715 pounds max speed at altitude Mach 0.92 service ceiling 15,000 meters 49,200 feet operational radius 370 kilometers 230 MI / 200 NMI _____________________ _________________ _______________________
Beyond all that, however, the Harrier and the VAK 191B were clearly different machines, most notably in the fact that the VAK 191B had liftjets fore and aft, which also gave it a stockier appearance than the Harrier when seen from the side. As with the Do 31, the liftjets were coupled to make sure that the failure of one wouldn't flip the aircraft over. There were doors on the top and bottom of the lift engines; the doors on top were half-circles that opened to the side, the doors on the bottom were rectangular and opened fore and aft, allowing them to be used to provide a small amount of thrust vectoring.
For additional airflow at take-off and landings, as with the VJ 101C the main engine intakes of the VAK 191B slid forward to provide auxiliary airflow. The VAK 191B had a triple-redundant electronic "fly by wire" flight control system -- advanced technology for the era. The aircraft had an internal weapons bay under the main engine, though it was only used to carry test gear in trials, the aircraft being unarmed. A production aircraft was to have external stores pylons and cannon in the bottom of the nose.
The VAK 191B evaluation went well, with 91 flights into 1975, but it was yet another non-starter. As it turned out, the Pegasus continued to be refined to provide more thrust, and the VAK 191B was gradually outstripped by the Harrier, which didn't have to lug around two liftjets that were just dead weight in forward flight. The three VAK 191B prototypes did fly to test avionics for the Panavia Tornado multirole combat aircraft program. All three prototypes have survived, one currently residing at the Deutsches Museum along with the VJ 101C and Do 31E-3 prototypes.
* Roughly in parallel with the VAK 191B program, the US and West Germany collaborated on another short-take-off aircraft project, the "Advanced Vertical Strike (AVS)" aircraft. Following a litter of design studies through the early 1960s by various firms, the AVS program was formally initiated in 1966. As ultimately conceived, the AVS was a fairly tidy large variable-geometry ("swing wing") fighter that had twin vectored-thrust engines in the rear fed by intakes on top of the fuselage, plus two liftjets on each side of the forward fuselage that hinged out for take-offs and landings. It was ingenious in concept -- but also clearly very complicated and likely to be expensive, and it got the axe in 1968. The program eventually led, by no direct path, to West German participation in the Panavia Tornado program.
[5] COMMENTS, SOURCES, & REVISION HISTORY
* The history of German jet VTOL in the 1960s seems to reflect to a degree the odd tendency of German engineering to be too clever for its own good, churning out ingenious and technically sound designs that proved useless in practice. That's not really fair, however; it more sums up the general infatuation with VTOL in that decade that was hardly restricted to Germany. Dozens of VTOL prototypes were flown around the world, some of them seeming like they had promise -- but the only result of significance of all that effort was the BAE Harrier. The big problem was that VTOL, though technically possible, required a number of compromises, and most potential operators didn't see it as a bargain after they balanced the benefits versus the liabilities.
Some observers suggest the refusal to take VTOL more seriously was short-sighted, that in the event of a general European war airfields in Western Europe would be quickly neutralized, and VTOL fighters would then be the only game in town. That's arguable -- one observation being that the Swedes implemented a dispersed airfield scheme known as BASE-90, organized around stretches of reinforced highway, from which combat aircraft without extreme short-take-off capability operated with no great difficulty. If NATO had been serious about airfield dispersal, much the same scheme could have been implemented across Western Europe, and it's hard to say that the dispersed bases for a VTOL combat aircraft would have been any easier to support or more effective.
There was also the question of how credible the idea of a general European war actually was. Both the East and West were armed for such a clash, but neither wanted it, both realizing that a major confrontation was likely to "go nuclear" sooner rather than later, the result being mutual annihilation. In the end, the real question becomes more one of why both sides invested such resources in conventional forces that weren't going to be put to use. The answer's obvious, it was the inevitable result of superpower paranoia -- neither side willing to appear weak, and invite attack by the other.
* As concerns copyrights and permissions for this document, all illustrations and images credited to me are public domain. I reserve all rights to my writings. However, if anyone does want to make use of my writings, just contact me, and we can chat about it. I'm lenient in giving permissions, usually on the basis of being properly credited.
* Sources include:
VTOL MILITARY RESEARCH AIRCRAFT by Mike Rogers, Haynes Publishing, 1989.
"German Jet VTOL" by Bill Gunston, WINGS OF FAME, Volume 5 /1996, 114:127.
* Revision history:
| i don't know |
The original ‘Gang of Four’ was a political group in which country? | Gang of Four Trial
For additional information about the trial and a Chinese language version of this account, see: http://zhenghaiping.fyfz.cn/
The Gang of Four (GoF) was the name given to a leftist political group composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members. They wielded significant power during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and were subsequently charged of various crimes. Their trial in late 1980 represented a significant change in China’s history since the founding of P.R.C. in 1949.
The Gang of Four at trial. From left to right: Zhang Chunqiao,Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, Jiangqing. (1980/11/20)
I. Background
In 1966, Mao Zendong, the Chairman of the CCP, launched the Cultural Revolution, the proclaimed aim of which was to “root out and right-wing capitalist who infiltrated the party.” In the following ten years or so, millions of “Red Guards” (mostly young people) across the country were mobilized to destroy the “right-wing capitalists” --- mostly the intelligentsia and bureaucrats. While Mao was worshiped like a “living God,” almost all the high-level officials who disagreed with Mao were persecuted.
During the Cultural Revolution, the GoF, representing the leftist political faction within the CCP, essentially became the central mobilizing force at the National level. The leading figure of the GoF was Jiangqing, Mao’s third and last wife, who became a member of the Politburo in 1969. Her three other associates were all high-level officials by 1976 ---- Zhang Chuanqiao was a vice-Primer Minister of the State Council, Wang Hongwen was vice-chairman of CCP, Yao Wenyuan was a Sectary of CCP in Shanghai. They also held many other positions in the Party, government and even military.
Immediately after Mao’s Death on December 9, 1976, a power struggle occurred between the “leftists” GoF and the “rightists”--- an alliance led by Deng Xiaoping and Marshall Ye Jianying. At that time, the nominal “head” of the country was Hua Guofeng, who was Mao’s designated successor. Although Hua was clearly faithful to Mao, it was unclear whether he would support the “leftist” or the “rightist.” Indeed, Mao chose Hua as his successor largely because Hua was a compromise candidate between the “leftists” and “rightists.” Upon Mao’s death, both sides attempted to convince or even coerce Hua to surrender power to them. The GoF were particularly aggressive. With effective control over the State’s media, the GoF continued to denounce Deng and his “rightist” ally.
The top leaders of China standing before Mao's remains after Mao's death on Sep. 9, 1976. From left to right: Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen, Jiang Qing, Hua Guofeng, Mao Yuanxin, Yao Wenyuan, Chen Xillian, Wang Dongxing. (1976/9/12)
After almost three weeks’ struggle, Hua finally leaned toward the “rightist” side. He consented to Marshall Ye’s suggestion to arrest the GoF. However, they knew it was not an easy task. The GoF had certain control in military. Being aware the risk, Hua and Ye secretly worked out a detailed “kidnap” plan.
II. Arrest
In the evening of October 6, 1976, each member of the GoF was informed to attend an emergency session of the Politburo. The session was to take place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. As several important issues were to be discussed, all Politburo members were required to attend the session.
Some time between 7:55 PM and 8:30 PM on that day, the members of GoF came to the Great Hall of People. One by one, they were apprehended by military personnel as soon as they passed through the doors into the entrance lobby. All was done in superb efficiency. Without any gunfire, the members of GoF and some of their associates were captured. They did not even have a chance to cry for “help.”
In the same night, the GoF and their associates were transported to Qincheng prison, a maximum-security prison located in northwestern Beijing. Also in that night, the Hua group met with other Politburo members informed them that the GoF had been arrested.
Soon, the public denunciations of the GoF began. In many cities around the country, a lot of people gathered to celebrate the arrest of GoF. The trial, however, would not begin until four years later.
III. Between Arrest and Trial
Between the arrest of the GoF in October 1976 and their formal trial in November 1980, China’s political landscape underwent significant changes. While the “rightists” gradually consolidated their power, the GoF’s influence was quickly diminishing.
In July 1977, the “rightist” leader Deng Xiaoping came to power. A year later, the Third Plenum of the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee (NPCCC) became a turning point in modern Chinese history. In the Plenum, the Party officially ended the Culture Revolution and its class-struggle ideology, proclaiming “Four Modernization” as its goal.
In September 1979, in the Fourth Plenum of the Eleventh NPCCC, Marshal Ye Jianying declared that the Cultural Revolution “an appalling catastrophe” and “the most severe setback to the socialist cause since 1949.” During the same Plenum, Deng proposed to hold an open trial of the GoF so as to show the CCP’s determination to “correct” the mistakes of Cultural Revolution and to educate the public. A special panel was formed to direct the trial.
In February 1980, Deng called on the convention of the Fifth Plenum of the Eleventh NPCCC. The Committee elevated Deng's proteges Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. In addition, the Committee ｄｅｃｌａｒｅd the innocence of Liu Shaoqi, one top CCP leader who was allegedly persecuted to death by the GoF during the Cultural Revolution.
At the Fifth National People's Congress session in August and September 1980, Deng's protege Zhao Ziyang became the Primer Minister. Also, the Congress authorized the establishment of a “Special Prosecutor Team” as well as two “Special Courts” to try the GoF and their associates. The trial was to begin in November 1980.
IV. Trial
The trial formally began on November 20 , 1980. More than 880 “representatives of the masses” from all parts of the country attended the “open trial.” Among them were some family members of senior officials who were prosecuted during the Cultural Revolution. Also, there were more than 300 journalists from various parts of the country.
All the ten defendants, including GoF and their six associates, were brought to court on the first day of the trial. Also, ten defense attorneys appeared with their clients. (Several days before the trial, the defendants were asked whether they want a defense attorney to represent them. Five of the ten defendants said “yes” while the other five said “no.” Each defendant who wanted the assistance of council was assigned two attorneys.)
The courtroom on the first day of trial. Ten defendants were sitting in the front row. (1980/11/20)
At about 3:20 PM, the prosecution began the “opening statement.” They had prepared a 20,000-word indictment, portions of which had been printed in China’s major newspapers the day before the trial. The indictment charged the GoF and their associates of various crimes that took place during the Cultural Revolution, including treasure, persecution of others, attempts to seize power, training a large militia to oppose the regular army, and other “Anti-Revolution crimes.” Particularly, it specified that during the Cultural Revolution, the GoF “persecuted” 750,000 people, 34,375 of whom died, though it is dubious how these ten individuals could persecute so many people.
Because the indictment was too long for a prosecutor to read, two prosecutors alternated in reading the indictment. Although the defense attorneys were present in the courtroom, they did not have a chance to make their “opening statement” that day.
In the following forty days or so, the GoF were to be tried by the No. 1 “Special Court,” while their associates would be tried by the No. 2 “Special Court.” It is impossible to provide a detailed account of the trial here. The following part outlines some of the major issues raised during the trial of GoF in the No. 1 “Special Court.”
A. The Plot to Seize Power (of CCP)
In the morning of November 24, the prosecution announced the charge against the GoF that they attempted to seize power in 1974. According to the prosecutor, when the former Primer Minister Zhou En’lai fell ill in 1972, he convinced Chairman Mao to bring back the then “exiled” Deng Xiaoping to serve as the First Vice-Primer Minister. Because the GoF “purged” and exiled Deng during Cultural Revolution, they worried about Deng’s retaliation. Therefore, they conspired to prevent Deng from re-gaining power.
The first witness took stand was Wang Hongwen, who testified that he secretly went to see Mao on October 18, 1974. The purpose was to intimated Mao that Deng and Prime Minister Zhou were conspiring against Mao’s leadership, so as to undermine Deng’s “rehabilitation.” He further testified that he was acting under the instructions of Jiang and Zhang.
In the afternoon of the same day, Yao Wenyuan also admitted that he participated in the plot. However, he attempted to defend himself by reading a “defense statement” he himself drafted before the trial. Also, Yao’s lawyers argued that Yao only played an “accessory” role during the plot and therefore should be treated leniently. [i]
On November 26, Jiang testified for the first time. When the judge asked her about the plot, she replied with “I can not remember.” Then, the prosecutor called on Wang and two other individuals to testify about the plot. Upon hearing the testimony, Jiang still denied any participation in the plot. She requested to “cross-examine” Wang. But the judge dismissed her request. Jiang began to shout, “This trial is nothing more than a parody of justice!” At that point, the judge ordered the court personnel to escort Jiang out of the courtroom.
B. Persecution of Liu Shaoqi
The trial revealed many details of GoF’s persecution of senior officials during the Cultural Revolution. Particularly, the persecution of Liu Shaoqi gained special attention during the trial.
Liu had been one of the top leaders of CCP during China’s revolutionary years since 1920s. In 1959, he was elected to be the Chairman of PRC, succeeding Mao, who served as the Chairman between 1954 and 1959. He was then re-elected to be the Chairman in 1965. However, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Liu quickly became the subject of Red Guards’ attack. In December 1966, the Red Guards began to publicly denounce Liu as a “traitor.” Within three years, Liu was persecuted to death. Liu’s wife was “arrested” by Red Guards in January 1967 and then imprisoned for almost twelve years before being released in 1979. She was attending the trial as an observer. [ii]
Wang Guangmei, Liu Shaoqi's wife, was being publicly denounced at Tsinghua University. (1967/4/1)
On November 27, 1980, Zhang Chunqiao was brought to the court. After the prosecutors announced the changes that Zhang played a key role in persecuting several of former Chinese leaders, the judge demanded Zhang to respond. However, Zhang refused to speak. The chief judge warned Zhang that he could be convicted despite his silence. Zhang disregarded the warning as if he heard nothing. Later, reporters would describe Zhang as “the most obstinate member of the GoF” because he barely said anything throughout the forty-day trial. As Zhang had rejected government’s offer to provide attorney assistance, none spoke on his behalf throughout the trial.
Then the prosecutor called on its witness Kuai Dafu, who was a student at Stinghua University in 1966 and later became a prominent leader of “Red Guards” in Beijing. Kuai testified that on December 18, 1966, Zhang privately met him and instigated him to mobilize Red Guards to “overthrow” Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, the deputy Prime Minister at that time. Under the instructions of Zhang, Kuai summoned more than 5,000 students on December 25, and began to publicly denounce Liu and Deng. The news shocked many Chinese at that time. After all, both Liu and Deng were top leaders of PRC.
On December 3 and December 5, the prosecutors introduced further evidence that the GoF, particularly Jiang and Zhang, played a key role in persecuting Liu and other senior officials. Several witnesses testified that they were tortured to “expose” Liu and his wife’s “crimes." Also, the prosecutor introduced evidence that several individuals were tortured to death because they refused to falsely testify against Liu. Finally, another individual testified that Kang Sheng, one of Jiang’s close associates in the early years of Cultural Revolution, wrote the report about Liu’s crime based on mostly fabricated evidence or allegations without evidence. Jiang then relied on the report to “convict” Liu. The persecution eventually resulted in Liu’s death in November 12，1969.
Faced with the evidence, Jiang did not deny her participation in the persecution of Liu. However, she argued that she was only an “assistant” in persecuting Liu, implicating that she was merely following the orders of Mao. Moreover, she asked: “most members of the CCP Central Committee at that time denounced Liu. If I am guilty, why not hold them guilty as well?” This remark irritated the Chief Judge. He ordered Jiang to “shut up!” In response, Jiang shouted “Revolution is glorious! Revolution is no crime!” This is a familiar slogan during Culture Revolution. The judge ordered the court personnel to escort Jiang out of the courthouse. At that point, Jiang seemed to be crazy, reportedly shouted “I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bit!" Again, she implicated Mao into the persecution of Liu and other senior officials.
Jiang Qing at trial. On the left, she was listening to the indictment. On the right, Jiang was being escorted out of the courthouse. She was still shouting "Revolution is glorious!" (1980/11)
C. Jiang’s Persecution of Artists
Before marrying Mao in 1938, Jiang had been an actress in Shanghai. In early 1930s, Jiang fell in love with Tang Na. Many artist friends witnessed their love affairs. After marrying Mao, Jiang attempted to cover up her earlier “scandals.” Particularly during the Cultural Revolution, she threw many of her early artist friends to prison so that they would not disclose her “private matters” to the public.
Several witnesses were called on to testify about Jiang’s persecution of some of her artist friends. For example, Jiang Tengjiao testified that in October 1966 he lead 40 people to carry out raids on the homes of several well-know actors and writers. They were acting under the order of Jiang Qing. The purpose of the raids was to search for “love letters,” photos and other potentially damaging materials related to Jiang Qing's early career in Shanghai. Later, they arrested the actors and threw them in jail.
Another witness was Huang Chen, the wife of a famous artist. She described how their home was searched and their property confiscated or destroyed by “Red Guarders” dispatched by Jiang, and how her husband was secretly arrested and then tortured to death. Huang shed tears while recapitulating the story. Jiang attempted to converse with Huang by saying “A’Huang, I do not know about this.” Huang was in such a rage that she shouted “shut up! You are such an evil person that you have no right to talk with me at all!”
D. Summary of the Trial
As the trial went on, Jiang became increasingly defiant. On December 24, after the Chief Judge summarized the charges against Jiang, Jiang suddenly stand up and loudly accused the Chief Judge as a “fascist.” She claimed that “the real purpose of the trial is to vilify Chairman Mao and the great Cultural Revolution initiated by Mao.” Obviously she was “defending” herself by cloaking herself in Mao's mantle. When the Judge reminded her to “rationally” defend herself, Jiang became even angry. “This trial is only a show trial. I do not bother to defend myself.” Jiang then announced that it would be “more glorious to have my head chopped off” and dared the court to execute her.
On December 29, 1980, after the testimony of forty-nine witnesses and the showing of more than 870 pieces of evidence, the trial finally came to the end.
Summing up the case, the Chief prosecutor acknowledged Chairman Mao’s “great contribution” to China, but also noted that Mao was responsible for the “plight” of people during the Cultural Revolution. He argued that the GoF (particularly Jiang) can not escape punishment by raising Chairman Mao as a “shield.” He then cited some remarks of Mao in 1974 and 1975, trying to demonstrate that Mao disagreed with the GoF on many issues. He then demanded death sentence for Jiang.
Upon hearing this, Jiang immediately began to shout “Revolution is glorious! Revolution is no crime!” Again, she was dragged out of the courthouse.
On January 25, 1981, the sentences were handled down. Jiang and Zhang were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. Wang was sentenced to life imprisonment. Yao received a 20-year imprisonment sentence. There was no appeal process.
IV. Aftermath
On January 25, 1983, Both Jiang and Zhang death penalty sentence were commuted to life imprisonment. It was reported that Jiang showed no repentance on receiving the reduced sentence. Instead, she shouted “kill me! Why you do not kill me?” More than nine years later, on May 14, 1992, Jiang committed suicide in a hospital, after being released on medical grounds.
All other three members of the GoF have died. Wang Hongwen passed away in 1992. Yao Wenyuan was released on October 5, 1996, after finishing his twenty-year imprisonment. He then passed away in December 2006. Zhang Chunqiao passed away in 2005.
Many westerners criticized the trial as a “show trial.” Indeed, the GoF were declared to be “guilty” in major Chinese newspapers moths before the trial. Also, some participating judges later revealed that the sentence to Jiang and Zhang ---- death penalty with a two-year reprieve --- were determined by the Politburo of CCP Central Committee before the trial. The real question was the “appropriate” sentences for other members of the GoF and their associates.
Nevertheless, the trial was significant in China for several reasons. First, it discredited the GoF and other leftist radicals who initiated the Cultural Revolution. Second, it lowered public esteem for Mao without entirely discrediting him. Third, it afforded the defendants an “open trial.” In spite of its numerous defects, the trial represented a progress compared with the situation in Culture Revolution, when individuals can be arrested, jailed and tortured without any formal trial.
[i] Among the four members of the GoF, Yao Wenyuan was probably the one who made best efforts to defend himself. While all other three dismissed the government’s offer of assistance of lawyer, Yao did “accept” the offer.
[ii] See., Liu Shaoqi (Wikipedia), available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Shaoqi .
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Which famous building was burned down by British forces in 1812? | What Was the Gang of Four?
Asian History Expert
By Kallie Szczepanski
The Gang of Four, or siren bang, was a group of four influential Chinese Communist Party figures during the latter years of Mao Zedong's rule. The Gang consisted of Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, and her associates Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, and Zhang Chunqiao. Wang, Yao, and Zhang were all major party officials from Shanghai. They rose to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), pushing Mao's policies in China's second city. When Mao's health began to decline over that decade, they gained control of a number of major government functions.
It is not clear how much control the Gang of Four really exercised over the policies and decisions surrounding the Cultural Revolution, and to what extent they simply carried out Mao's wishes. Although the Red Guards who implemented the Cultural Revolution across the country did revive Mao's political career, they also brought a dangerous degree of chaos and destruction to China. The unrest sparked a political struggle between a reformist group, including Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, and Ye Jianying, and the Gang of Four.
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When Mao died on September 9, 1976, the Gang of Four sought to take control of the country, but in the end none of the major players took power. Mao's choice, and his eventual successor, was the previously little known but reform-minded Hua Guofeng. Hua publicly denounced the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. On October 6, 1976, he ordered the arrest of Jiang Qing and the other members of her cabal.
The official press gave the purged officials their nickname, "The Gang of Four," and asserted that Mao had turned against them in the last year of his life. It also blamed them for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, setting off a nation-wide round of denunciations against Jiang and her allies. Their major supporters in Shanghai were invited to Beijing for a conference, and were immediately arrested as well.
In 1981, the members of the Gang of Four went on trial for treason and other crimes against the Chinese state. Among the charges were the deaths of 34,375 people over the course of the Cultural Revolution, as well as the persecution of three-quarters of a million innocent Chinese.
The trials were strictly for show, so the three male defendants did not mount any defense. Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan both confessed to all the crimes with which they were charged, and offered their repentance. Zhang Chunqiao quietly and steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout. Jiang Qing, on the other hand, yelled, cried, and ranted during her trial, shouting that she was innocent and had only obeyed orders from her husband, Mao Zedong.
In the end, all four defendants were convicted. Wang Hongwen was sentenced to life in prison; he was released to a hospital in 1986, and died of an unspecified liver ailment in 1992 at just 56 years of age. Yao Wenyuan received a twenty year sentence; he was released from prison in 1996, and passed away from complications of diabetes in 2005.
Both Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao were sentenced to death, although their sentences were later commuted to life in prison. Jiang was moved to house arrest at her daughter's home in 1984, and committed suicide in 1991. She reportedly had been diagnosed with throat cancer, and hanged herself to avoid suffering any longer from the condition. Zhang was released from prison on medical grounds in 1998 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer . He lived until 2005.
The downfall of the Gang of Four signaled widespread changes for the People's Republic of China. Under Hua Guofeng and the rehabilitated Deng Xiaoping, China moved away from the worst excesses of the Mao era. It established diplomatic and trade relations with the United States and other western countries, and began to pursue its current course of economic liberalization paired with firm political control.
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Trinidad sits only 6.8 miles from the coast of which South American country? | Guyana's Beaches | PanamericanWorld
63 Beach in Berbice, Guyana. Photo Credit: http://www.guyanatimesinternational.com/
Posted by Lynie Awywen on December 17, 2013
Guyana lies in far northeast South America. Its northern shore faces the Atlantic Ocean. The small country shares a border with Venezuela to the west and Suriname to the east. Brazil sits to the south. Guyana is the only South American country where English is the official language. The coastal belt stretches 270 miles along the ocean, and features a pristine beach and ecosystem. In addition, huge rivers flow from inland points to the Atlantic, and provide several beach options. The country lies in the tropics, enabling beach goers to enjoy warm weather activities all year.
Shell Beach
Guyana's well-known Shell Beach extends about 90 miles along undisturbed coastline in northwest Guyana. True to its name, the beach is covered with tiny shells. It is known for swimming, but more for turtle swimming, than for humans. Every year from early spring to mid-summer four of the world's eight turtle species climb up the beach, dig nests among the shells, lay eggs and then return to the ocean. Some turtles lay as many as 120 eggs. Visitors to the area may accompany conservationists to view the nocturnal turtle activity. The area features mangroves interspersed with sandy beaches. The natural ecosystem also supports manatees, jaguars and monkeys. Small villages provide accommodations.
63 Beach Berbice
For more traditional beach activities, 63 Beach Berbice lies near Corriverton on the southeast Atlantic coast close to the Suriname border. The beach stretches for 10 miles, connecting several villages along the Corentyne River as it approaches the coast. The beach may be crowded, particularly on weekends. Beach activities include swimming, beach volleyball and fishing. Basic accommodation is available in Corriverton. New Amsterdam, about 60 miles from the beach, offers moderate accommodations.
Inland Beaches
Several rivers flow north from the rain forests to the ocean, and one entices beach goers. The enormous Essequibo River is South America's third largest. As it nears the Atlantic, the mouth widens to 20 miles, and hundreds of islands dot the river landscape. The river offers three beach options, one close to the ocean, and two further inland. Bartica Beach sits on the north side of the river near its mouth. The area attracts many locals, and beach parties last until dawn. Further south where the river narrows, Saxacalli Beach boasts one of the finest beaches in Guyana, and is an easy day trip from Georgetown, Guyana's capital. At Tiger Island's popular Hamburg Beach, more than 15,000 celebrate Guyana's Emancipation Day. The event occurs on the first Monday in August.
Other Attractions
Guyana is an eco-tourist's wonderland. Besides Shell Beach, several other areas attract visitors. The North Rupununi Wetland covers 54,000 acres, and is home to 400 species of fish. Untouched savannas support a wide variety of wildlife, including jaguars. Many tour operators offer tours to the area. River resorts provide fine amenities, some with private beaches.
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What is the capital of Barbados? | Columbus lands in South America - Aug 01, 1498 - HISTORY.com
Columbus lands in South America
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Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sets foot on the American mainland for the first time, at the Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela. Thinking it an island, he christened it Isla Santa and claimed it for Spain.
Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Little is known of his early life, but he worked as a seaman and then a sailing entrepreneur. He became obsessed with the possibility of pioneering a western sea route to Cathay (China), India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. At the time, Europeans knew no direct sea route to southern Asia, and the route via Egypt and the Red Sea was closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire, as were many land routes. Contrary to popular legend, educated Europeans of Columbus’ day did believe that the world was round, as argued by St. Isidore in the seventh century. However, Columbus, and most others, underestimated the world’s size, calculating that East Asia must lie approximately where North America sits on the globe (they did not yet know that the Pacific Ocean existed).
With only the Atlantic Ocean, he thought, lying between Europe and the riches of the East Indies, Columbus met with King John II of Portugal and tried to persuade him to back his “Enterprise of the Indies,” as he called his plan. He was rebuffed and went to Spain, where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella also rejected him at least twice. However, after the Spanish conquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada in January 1492, the Spanish monarchs, flush with victory, agreed to support his voyage.
On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa María, the Pinta, and the Niña. On October 12, the expedition sighted land, probably Watling Island in the Bahamas, and went ashore the same day, claiming it for Spain. Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and in December the expedition landed on Hispaniola, which Columbus thought might be Japan. He established a small colony there with 39 of his men. The explorer returned to Spain with gold, spices, and “Indian” captives in March 1493 and was received with the highest honors by the Spanish court. He was given the title “admiral of the ocean sea,” and a second expedition was promptly organized. He was the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland in the 10th century.
Fitted out with a large fleet of 17 ships with 1,500 colonists aboard, Columbus set out from Cádiz in September 1493 on his second voyage to the New World. Landfall was made in the Lesser Antilles in November. Returning to Hispaniola, he found the men he left there slaughtered by the natives, and he founded a second colony. Sailing on, he explored Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and numerous smaller islands in the Caribbean. Columbus returned to Spain in June 1496 and was greeted less warmly, as the yield from the second voyage had fallen well short of its costs.
Isabella and Ferdinand, still greedy for the riches of the East, agreed to a smaller third voyage and instructed Columbus to find a strait to India. In May 1498, Columbus left Spain with six ships, three filled with colonists and three with provisions for the colony on Hispaniola. This time, he made landfall on Trinidad. He entered the Gulf of Paria in Venezuela and planted the Spanish flag in South America on August 1, 1498. He explored the Orinoco River of Venezuela and, given its scope, soon realized he had stumbled upon another continent. Columbus, a deeply religious man, decided after careful thought that Venezuela was the outer regions of the Garden of Eden.
Returning to Hispaniola, he found that conditions on the island had deteriorated under the rule of his brothers, Diego and Bartholomew. Columbus’ efforts to restore order were marked by brutality, and his rule came to be deeply resented by both the colonists and the native Taino chiefs. In 1500, Spanish chief justice Francisco de Bobadilla arrived at Hispaniola, sent by Isabella and Ferdinand to investigate complaints, and Columbus and his brothers were sent back to Spain in chains.
He was immediately released upon his return, and Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to finance a fourth voyage, in which he was to search for the earthly paradise and the realms of gold said to lie nearby. He was also to continue looking for a passage to India. In May 1502, Columbus left Cádiz on his fourth and final voyage to the New World. After returning to Hispaniola, against his patrons’ wishes, he explored the coast of Central America looking for a strait and for gold. Attempting to return to Hispaniola, his ships, in poor condition, had to be beached on Jamaica. Columbus and his men were marooned, but two of his captains succeed in canoeing the 450 miles to Hispaniola. Columbus was a castaway on Jamaica for a year before a rescue ship arrived.
In November 1504, Columbus returned to Spain. Queen Isabella, his chief patron, died less than three weeks later. Although Columbus enjoyed substantial revenue from Hispaniola gold during the last years of his life, he repeatedly attempted (unsuccessfully) to gain an audience with King Ferdinand, whom he felt owed him further redress. Columbus died in Valladolid on May 20, 1506, without realizing the great scope of his achievement: He had discovered for Europe the New World, whose riches over the next century would help make Spain the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth.
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A Wayzgoose is an annual outing or party in which industry? | World Wide Words: Wayzgoose
Wayzgoose
Pronounced /ˈweɪzɡuːs/
The end of summer came early in old-time printing shops. By the third week in August candles were needed to light the final hours of the long working day. To mark this shift to winter working, it was usual for the master printer to give his journeymen a feast around St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August). This was the wayzgoose or way-goose.
Its earliest recorded use is this:
The Master Printer gives them a Way-goose; that is, he makes them a good Feast, and not only entertains them at his own House, but besides, gives them Money to spend at the Ale-house or Tavern at Night. ... These Way-gooses, are always kept about Bartholomew-tide. And till the Master-Printer have given this Way-goose, the Journey-men do not use to Work by Candle Light.
Mechanick Exercises, by Joseph Moxon, 1683.
A rather splendid ditty the following century retold the story behind the practice in rhyming couplets:
The season comes to light the tapers up,
To gild the night, and drink the festive cup;
Now darkness treads upon the heels of day,
And earlier now dispatches him away. ...
We sacrific’d the goose, and mirth pursu’d;
As that delicious bird about this time,
Call’d for the knife, and was in season prime. ...
The masters hence their journeymen invite,
To dine abroad, or spend the merry night.
Lloyd’s Evening Post, 1750, quoted in Notes and Queries, 4 August 1866.
The name is baffling. In 1731, lexicographer Nathaniel Bailey argued, in the fifth edition of his Universal Etymological English Dictionary, that it came from wayz, meaning stubble, respelling the word wayzgoose to make the supposed derivation clearer. Though it continued to be spelled as way-goose by almost everybody except Bailey, nineteenth-century etymologists stuck the “z” in to make it fit Bailey’s story. A minor edifice of conjecture was built on his suggestion, which asserted that a goose fattened on harvest stubble was served as the crowning dish at the feast. A goose might indeed have been served, as the 1750 poem suggests, but there’s no known connection between the name and the fowl.
The term evolved to mean the annual summer dinner or outing held for the printers in a publishing house or newspaper office. Once the old connection with wintertime working by candlelight had been lost through advances in lighting methods and reductions in working hours, the event was often held in July instead.
It’s not a term that appears much in literature, though a satirical poem by Roy Campbell entitled The Wayzgoose was published in 1928 and a figurative example is known from a little earlier:
Carriages were chartered, an enormous quantity of eatables and drinkables provided, and away we went, a regular wayzgoose or bean-feast party.
The Cruise of the Cachalot, by Frank T Bullen, 1897.
It seemed at one point that with changes in printing technology and practice the term would die out, but events under this name are still held, sometimes as a deliberate reintroduction. It also turns up from time to time as a gently whimsical term for some anthology or book-related festivity.
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What is a hen party called in the USA? | What does wayzgoose mean?
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word wayzgoose
Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:
wayzgoose(Noun)
a holiday or party for the benefit of printers, traditionally held in August
Origin: - a fat goose suitable for stuffing
Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:
Wayzgoose
A wayzgoose was at one time an entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen each year on or about St Bartholomew's Day. It marked the traditional end of summer and the start of the season of working by candlelight. Later, the word came to refer to an annual outing and dinner for the staff of a printing works or the printers on a newspaper.
Numerology
The numerical value of wayzgoose in Chaldean Numerology is: 4
Pythagorean Numerology
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In Scottish courts three verdicts are allowed – guilty, not guilty and which other? | BBC - Intermediate 2 Bitesize Modern Studies - The Court System in Scotland : Revision
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The Court System in Scotland
Criminal Justice is a power devolved to the Scottish Parliament. However, Scotland has long had a unique court and criminal justice system which is very different to that within the rest of the UK.
There are two types of criminal justice procedure in Scotland; Solemn procedure and Summary procedure.
The choice of whether to prosecute a case under solemn or summary procedure is made by the prosecution service, known as the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). This affects the sentences available to the court on conviction. The vast majority of criminal court cases are dealt with under summary procedure – 96% of criminal court disposals during 2010-11 were in the summary courts.
Solemn procedure involves the most serious of criminal cases and may ultimately lead to a trial either before a judge in the High Court or before a sheriff in one of the sheriff courts. Trials under solemn procedure are conducted with a jury.
Summary procedure is used for less serious offences (with the charges set out in a complaint) and may ultimately lead to a trial before a sheriff or, in justice of the peace courts. Trials under summary procedure are conducted without a jury.
A jury in a Scottish criminal case is made up of 15 people, with a simple majority (8 or more out of 15) sufficient to establish guilt.
Scottish courts can deliver one of three possible verdicts: guilty, not guilty, and not proven. The not proven verdict is unique to Scotland and has been controversial in the past. Essentially the not proven verdict means that the jury believes the accused may have committed the crime but does not have sufficient evidence to award a guilty verdict. On the other hand, it is not sufficiently convinced that the accused is not guilty. Note that there is not a verdict of innocence. An accused is innocent until proven guilty.
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| Not proven |
To which club did Mr Winkle, Mr Tupman and Mr Snodgrass belong? | Jury service - Citizens Advice Scotland
Citizens Advice Scotland
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Jury service
This information applies to Scotland only
Table of contents
Financial arrangements
Being called for jury service
If you are called for jury service you will usually have to serve at a criminal trial, but you can be called to serve at a civil trial.
Criminal trials take place in either the High Court or the Sheriff Court depending on the seriousness of the crime. Civil trials with a jury can either take place in the Court of Session or the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court.
Generally, both types of trial proceed in the same way. There is a lot of helpful information about the court system and going to court as a juror on www.scotcourts.gov.uk .
Summoning the juror
To be selected for jury service your name is selected at random from the electoral register. The way in which you are summoned to jury service is changing. It is being rolled-out gradually throughout Scotland. You may receive two legal documents under the pre-June 2016 summoning procedure, or a single legal document called a jury citation, under the new procedure. The new single document procedure will be used throughout Scotland from 6 June 2016 and the current procedure will end.
Under the current (pre-June 2016) procedure the first document is a notice to potential jurors which you must read carefully to check if you are able to sit on a jury. Some time later you will get a Jury Citation. This is explained more fully below.
Under the new procedure you will only receive a Jury Citation.
Pre-June 2016 summoning procedure
Notice to potential jurors
The Notice to Potential Jurors tells you that you may be called for jury service at some point in the near future. You are being asked to be part of a 'pool' of people who can be called. There is a list of types of people on the notice that are disqualified from being on a jury. There is also a list of people who are not eligible to serve on a jury, for example, a police officer.
If you are allowed to serve on a jury you must let the Clerk of Court know of your holiday arrangements or other commitments in the next twelve month period.
If you don't return this form completed you can be fined.
Jury citation
If you are not excluded from serving on a jury you should receive the Jury Citation, approximately four weeks prior to the trial date. lt will give you information about where and when to attend the court. The citation should also include information on details of current allowances, the claim form for allowances and details of the jurors' attendance update line.
You should take the citation with you to court.
New summoning procedure
Under the new summoning procedure you will only receive one legal document, a Jury Citation. You will receive this between three and nine weeks prior to the trial date. It will give you information about where and when to attend the court.
You must respond to the jury citation by going to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk . You must provide your contact telephone number and date of birth. If you do not have internet access, you can telephone the court that cited you. You may be fined if you do not respond to the citation.
Before responding to the citation, you should read the guidance documents available on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk and make sure that you are not ineligible or disqualified from serving on a jury.
You should take the citation with you to court.
Applying to be excused from the jury because you are disqualified or ineligible
You must let the Clerk of the Court know if you are not allowed to be on a jury because you are either ineligible or disqualified. Under the pre-June 2016 summoning procedure, you can do this on the form claiming exemption that you receive with the Notice to Potential Jurors. Under the new summoning procedure, you should obtain the form from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
and return this to the Clerk of Court. If you do not have internet access, you can obtain a copy from the court that sent you the citation.
You should receive a letter from the court advising if this has been granted or not. If you do not receive anything then you should contact the court.
Who is disqualified from serving
You will be disqualified from serving on a jury if at any time in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man you:-
have been sentenced to imprisonment for life or for a term of 5 years or more, or
have been sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's, the Secretary of State's or the Governor of Northern Ireland's pleasure (i.e. sentenced for murder while under the age of 18), or
in the last 7 years (or 3.5 years where you were under 18 on the date of conviction) served any part of a sentence of imprisonment or detention, which was for between 3 months and 6 months, or
in the last 10 years (or 5 years where you were under 18 on the date of conviction) served any part of a sentence of imprisonment or detention, which was for between 6 months and 30 months, or
at any time served any part of a sentence of imprisonment or detention, which was for between 30 months and 5 years, or
in the last 7 years been detained in a borstal institution
are on bail, or in connection with, criminal proceedings in any part of the United Kingdom, or
have been convicted of an offence and the penalty of a probation order, drug treatment and testing order, community service order, youth community order, community payback order, restriction of liberty order, supervision order, curfew order or attendance centre order was imposed and is not yet spent.
Who is ineligible to serve
Those ineligible to serve on a jury include:-
advocates and solicitors, or
apprentices of and legal trainees employed by solicitors, or
officers and staff of any court, or
constables of any police force, or
police cadets, or
members of children's panels, or
someone who is receiving compulsory medical treatment for mental disorder and is detained in hospital for that treatment, or
someone who is receiving medical treatment for mental disorder and is under guardianship because s/he cannot manage her/his affairs.
For a full list of persons ineligible to serve on a jury, see the guidance on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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Applying to be excused from jury service on other grounds
You may wish to apply to be excused from jury service. If you have served on a jury in the last five years, you can apply to be excused 'as of right'. You can make this application on the prescribed form for excusal or exemption, available on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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If you have a medical condition or ailment that would make it difficult or impossible for you to serve as a juror you should contact the court immediately. You may have to provide a medical certificate.
You should receive a letter from the court advising if this has been granted or not. If you do not receive anything then you should contact the court.
Persons ineligible to serve 'as of right', due to age or occupation
You can be excused from jury service because of your occupation, for example, if you are a politician, a doctor, a minister or in the armed forces. Those who are ineligible 'as of right' include:
members of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government or a Junior Scottish Minister, or
members or officers of either Houses of Parliament, or
representatives to the European Assembly, or
full-time serving members of the forces, or
practising members of the medical or similar profession, or
ministers of religion or member of a religious body, or
those aged 71 and over who not wish to serve on a jury, or
those who have previously attended court for jury service and the period of exemption has not expired, or
those who have been excused for any other reason, and the period of excusal has not expired.
A full list of those ineligible 'as of right' is available on the Scottish Courts and Tribunal website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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You will only be excused 'as of right' if you apply within 7 days of receiving the jury citation. If you apply after this, then you will be required to provide a good reason for excusal and this will be considered by the Clerk of Court. This does not apply if you are aged 71 or over. In these circumstances you can apply for exemption up until the date you attend court but it may be helpful to let the court know as soon as possible.
How long does a trial last
It is difficult to estimate the exact length of any trial. The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service says that jury service is unlikely to last for more than a week but this depends on several factors e.g. a trial with a large number of witnesses will usually take longer than a trial with only a few. Cases that do take longer than a week are more likely to be in the High Court, but this can also happen in the Sheriff Court.
Who can serve on a jury
Criminal trials
To be qualified to serve on a jury for a criminal case you must:-
be 18 years of age or older. There is no upper age limit for serving on a jury for a civil case but you can be excused from jury service if you are 71 years of age or older and you do not want to serve on a jury
be on the electoral register
have lived in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for a period of at least five years since the age of 13
not be on the list of people who are either disqualified or ineligible. The list of disqualified or ineligible people includes staff of the court service and police and anyone with a criminal conviction which is not yet spent.
Civil trials
To be qualified to serve on a jury for a civil case you must:-
be 18 years of age or older. There is no upper age limit for serving on a jury for a criminal case but you can be excused from jury service if you are 71 years of age or older and you do not want to serve on a jury
be on the electoral register
have lived in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for a period of at least five years since the age of 13
not be on the list of people who are either disqualified or ineligible. The list of disqualified or ineligible people includes staff of the court service and police and anyone with a criminal conviction which is not yet spent.
Do I have to attend court when I am called?
Deferring jury service
You could have your jury service deferred but you would need to show good reason, for example, you have a holiday booked. You would have to show the court some proof that the holiday was booked.
Release during the period of jury service
Generally you will not be relieved from jury service once you have been sworn in.
Conscientious objection to serving on a jury
You do not have the right to refuse to serve on a jury on the grounds that you object to jury service in principle. If you want to object to serving on the jury because of the subject matter of the case you can only be excused at the court's discretion.
Excused because of previous jury service
If you have been called for jury service in the past you do have the right to be excused if:
you have attended court for jury service within the last two years but were not selected to serve on a jury, or
you have attended court for jury service and were selected to serve on a jury, within the last five years.
Court discretion to excuse
A court has discretion to excuse someone from serving on a jury but there needs to be a very good reason why you can be excused, for example, you have scheduled exams that cannot be changed.
Application to be excused is refused
If your application to be excused from jury service has been refused you do not have the right of appeal. When you appear in court to serve on the jury the judge usually asks if there is any reason why someone on the jury cannot serve on it. You can state your case to be excused again and the judge has discretion to excuse you.
Illness and jury service
If you are unwell on a day that you are due to be in court for jury service, you must inform the Clerk of Court as soon as possible. The contact details are on the paperwork that you get from the court but can also be found on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk . You must provide a medical certificate for the court. A medical certificate that is requested from a GP for jury service is exempt from payment. You should tell the GP surgery why you need the certificate, and if you have any difficulty in getting the certificate free of charge you should refer the surgery to the law that provides for the exemption from payment of the fee: The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
Being a juror
Detailed information about jury service is provided on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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The jurors' attendance update phone line
After 5pm on the evening before you are due to attend the court, you should phone the dedicated phone number given on your citation. A pre-recorded message will tell you what time you should arrive at the court the next day. If you are unable to phone, you should attend the court at the time indicated on your citation.
Selection process
When all those who have been called for jury service have arrived, the Clerk of Court will talk to you all about what is involved in being a juror.
When it is known that the trial is going ahead, the Clerk will randomly select fifteen people (twelve people in a civil trial) to serve on the jury. If you are not selected, or if the trial is no longer going ahead, you could be recalled a few days later to serve on another jury. Attendance at court for the purpose of being selected for a jury is unlikely to last for more than a week. It is also difficult to estimate the exact duration of any trial .
During selection of a jury, an objection to a juror could be lodged by either side in the case. If it is a joint objection you may not become part of the jury. If just one side objects, a reason must be given and the judge will decide whether you should be excused or not.
Knowledge of the accused
If you have any personal knowledge of the case, know anyone involved, or if you work for the same employer as the accused but do not know the person, you should tell the Clerk of Court immediately. The judge/sheriff will decide whether you should be excused from serving as a juror or not.
Juror is disabled
If you have been selected for jury service and have a disability for which you need assistance you should contact the court.
Swearing in
If you are selected to serve on a jury, you will be sworn in. The Clerk of Court will administer the oath. This process is called 'swearing in'. You can use a process to affirm instead of swearing the oath. Affirming means that you make a (non religious) promise before the court that you will try the case faithfully and reach a true verdict on the evidence presented. However, prior notice should be given to the Clerk if you wish to affirm.
Sequence of events
The judge will explain to you what is going to happen. Witnesses are brought before the court to give evidence. Each witness is questioned by the Crown who is prosecuting the case and by the defence. The accused is also called to give evidence. You will have paper and a pencil for taking notes about the evidence presented to the court. There is more useful information about the trial process on www.scotcourts.gov.uk .
When all the evidence has been presented and the judge/sheriff has addressed the jury, s/he will ask you to retire to the jury room, appoint a spokesperson and consider your verdict.
What if I become ill
Once the trial has started, if you become unwell overnight or over the weekend and cannot return to the court, you must inform the court and provide evidence.
Confidentiality about the case
Once the trial has begun, you must not discuss the case with anyone except fellow jurors and then, only in the jury room. Mobile phones and computers are not allowed in the jury room. You will also be instructed not to look in the media for any information about the case in question. The permission of the court is needed if anyone, for example, the media or members of the public, want to use text-based devices to communicate directly from the court.
You may not leave the court during the lunch break. You must remain with the other members of the jury.
When the jury has retired to reach a verdict and has not reached one by the end of the day, it is possible that the judge/sheriff will ask you to go to a hotel. The rules about confidentiality still apply in overnight accommodation.
It is contempt of court, punishable by imprisonment or a fine, for you to discuss, for example, statements made or votes cast by members of the jury, even long after the trial has ended. It is also contempt of court for any person to try and obtain such information from a juror.
Intimidation
It is a criminal offence to intimidate, bully or attempt to influence you when you are serving on a jury. If anyone tries to do this you must report what has happened to the Clerk of Court.
Security
If you feel threatened at any time by gesture, word or action you should inform any court official or police officer immediately.
The verdict
When the jury reach an agreement either as a majority or unanimously you return to court to give the verdict.
In a criminal trial there are three verdicts open to the jury: guilty; not guilty and not proven. Not guilty and not proven both mean that the accused cannot be tried again for that offence unless there is new compelling evidence, the original trial was tainted with intimidation or harassment of witnesses or the accused admits guilt after the trial. If the verdict on any charge is guilty there must be at least 8 jurors in favour of that verdict. The judge decides on the sentence for the accused although may not do so immediately.
In a civil trial the jury will be asked if they have reached a verdict. If they have, they will then be asked a number of questions, for example, is the pursuer liable and if so, to what extent.
Financial arrangements
What you can claim
You will not be paid for jury service but you may be reimbursed subject to a maximum daily amount for:
the cost of transport to court
subsistence (for the extra cost of meals etc that you buy while attending court)
loss of earnings or benefits
the extra cost of childminding and babysitting
the extra cost of caring for a dependant adult.
A full list of what you can claim and how much is covered on the website of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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You can claim for loss of earnings or expenses at the end of the period of jury service. The expenses claim form is available on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
. Payment is made by a crossed cheque sent to your home address within 7 to 10 working days.
If you have attended the court but not been selected, you are entitled to claim expenses subject to the specified limits. You can either claim expenses before leaving the court or send your form at a later date.
Travelling allowance
You can claim the cost of the journey between home and the court, for example, the cost of a return bus or train fare. If you travel by bike or private car you can claim a maximum rate per mile. In an emergency or when there is no public transport, the court may pay the cost of a taxi. You should keep any tickets and evidence of transport costs and include these with the claim form.
Subsistence allowance
This allowance is for the extra expense of meals and other out-of-pocket expenses you pay for while attending court. You cannot claim this allowance if the court has provided, or offered to provide, your meals or refreshments.
Financial allowance for loss of earnings
For the period you serve as a juror, you are entitled to claim if:
your employer does not pay you, or
you suffer financial loss – for example, you are self employed and suffer loss of earnings or have to pay someone to substitute for you while you are away. You cannot claim for both loss of earnings and for someone to substitute for you.
An employer is not obliged to pay her/his employee while s/he is on jury service unless this is specified in the contract of employment. There is more information for employers on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk .
To claim loss of earnings, in addition to the claim form, you will need to ask your employer to fill in a certificate of loss of earnings and stamp it with an official stamp. The certificate is available to download from the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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You can get National Insurance credits if you do not have these paid during the period of jury service. You must write to your local HM Revenue and Customs office before the end of the benefit year following the tax year in which jury service occurred, for example, if jury service was in December 2004, the tax year will end in April 2005 and the next benefit year will end on 31 December 2006.
Childminding expenses
If you employ a baby-sitter or childminder whilst serving on the jury, you will be reimbursed only if the child minder is not part of your normal childcare arrangements, or the hours you need to have covered are more than usual. A certificate from the baby-sitter or childminder stating their hourly rate must accompany the expenses claim form. This certificate can be obtained from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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If the childminder is registered with the Care Inspectorate, a maximum of £6 per hour can be claimed. If your childminder is not registered only £1 an hour per child can be claimed.
Dependent adult expenses
If you employ a carer for an adult for whom you care whilst serving on the jury, you will be reimbursed only if the carer is not part of your normal care arrangements, or the hours you need to have covered are more than usual. A certificate from the carer stating their hourly rate must accompany the expenses claim form. This certificate can be obtained from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk
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If the carer is registered by the Care Inspectorate a maximum of £6 per hour can be claimed. If your carer is not registered only £1 an hour per dependent adult can be claimed.
Jurors on benefits
Travel, subsistence and childcare reimbursements are ignored as income for means-tested benefits.
You may be able to apply for loss of benefit if your benefit is withdrawn during your period of jury service. You should contact your local benefits office to advise them of the requirement for you to attend for jury service. If they tell you that they are going to withdraw your benefit during your period of jury service, you should contact the court to request a ‘Certificate of Loss of Benefit’ which you should ask the benefits office to complete. Without this certificate being completed and the required evidence being produced, payment cannot be made.
Income Support
You can claim income support while on jury service because you are not required to be available for work. Some jurors may be working (less than 16 hours) as well as claiming income support. If you are not paid your earnings while on jury service you can claim a loss of earnings allowance . As the allowance is treated in the same way as earnings by the Department for Work and Pensions no adjustment is normally needed to income support.
Tax credits
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Which Old Testament character died at the age of 950? | Were people in the Old Testament really that Old? Neanderthal man buried alive jack Cuozzo old age patriarchs
Were people in the Old Testament really that Old?
I would like to jump ahead to chapter 5 of Genesis for a moment, and then go back to chapter 4.
The fifth chapter of Genesis is the genealogy of Adam and Eve. It gives us the ages of some of Adam's children (and their children�s children).
Many times in the Old Testament we see the life span of humans reaching great ages. Many as old as 900 years.
The Bible tells us that:
Adam lived 930 years. (Genesis 5:5)
Seth lived 912 years.(Genesis 5:8)
Methuselah lived 969 years.(Genesis 5:27)
And Noah lived 950 years. (Genesis 9:29)
Many people wonder how, or if this is possible.
"These great ages are not presented in the Bible as if they are in any way extraordinary for their times, let alone miraculous."
Carl Wieland Creation Ex Nihilo 20(4):10�13, September�November 1998
What is the answer? Did humans once have a much longer lifespan? If so, why is it that many people today do not live to be 100?
The answer I believe in part lies in the state of the earth when God first Created it, compared to the sin wrecked world we live in today.
When you look at the age of the Patriarchs (Adam's descendants) in Genesis you will see two things. One, is that from Adam to Noah the average life span was somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 years. These people lived in a very different world than we do today (this was at a time before the flood described in Genesis). God Created the earth perfect. But when Adam sinned this world began to decay.
Then when the flood came, things really got wrecked. Some Creationists believe that the pre-flood vapor canopy (the firmament in GEN 1:6 ) would filter out radiation, and hold in incoming solar heat making the earth a warmer place to live. This "expanse" separated the "waters above" from the "waters below" in the Creation week. I believe that the firmament may have collapsed at the time of the flood.
As a result harmful radiation can enter the earth more easily than before, bringing with it all kinds of damaging effects.
The life span of man has been declining since the flood. The average age of man quickly dropped to less than 100 in the 200 years after the flood.
(chart from AIG)
Some critics claim that the 900 years of life mentioned in the Bible were not literal years. They claim that back then people counted each month as a year. They claim that you have to take the age given in the Bible and divide by 12 months.
This is wrong for many reasons. The Bible tells us how old the patriarchs were when their children were born. Cainan was 70 when his son was born. If you divided the age by 12, then that means he would have had a child at 5 years old. - This is impossible.
Also Moses compiled Genesis. He could clearly differentiate between a month and a year. He did so many times in his writing.
Also, when Jesus came to earth he taught us many things. If the Patriarchs did not live as long as the Bible claims then Jesus would have told us.
The ages given in Genesis are literal years.
Rather than evolving, we are degenerating. And will continue to do so until Christ returns.
Neanderthal man - Why did they look the way they do?
This page will show you that these people were human, but had odd facial features resulting from living to great ages.
---------------------- Why do Neanderthals look the way they do?
The Neanderthal morphology is one of the most misunderstood in all of anthropology. Many people claim that Neanderthals were primitive, dimwitted cave men. The truth is Neanderthals were fully human.
Neanderthals did look a little different than we do today. The question is "How different?" and "Why did they look this way?"
How did the Neanderthals look different?
Compared to people living today, the Neanderthal adults had a more prominent brow ridge and some also had a chinless appearance. These features do not make them less human, nor do they make them primitive.
Why did they look this way?
The bible describe people in the early parts of Genesis that lived for hundreds of years. One of the things that we have learned from modern science is that the bones of the head and face continue to grow through our entire adult life (though at a slower rate than when we are children).
What would the faces of people who lived for hundreds of years look like? Dr. Jack Cuozzo has studied both the Bible and the Neanderthal remains in depth, he believes these people would look like (and consequently are) the Neanderthals.
| Noah |
Henry VIII had six wives, but which of his wives had four husbands? | How Did Methuselah Die? | The Institute for Creation Research
How Did Methuselah Die?
Evidence for Creation › Evidence from Scripture › Assessable Results › Accurate Predictions
One of the favorite characters in the Old Testament is Methuselah, who lived 969 years ( Genesis 5:27 ), longer than anyone else recorded. His father was Enoch, of whom it is said he "walked with God" (5:24) but who was taken to heaven without dying at 365 years. Methuselah's son Lamech died a few years before the Flood at 777 years (5:31) after bearing Noah.
When Methuselah was born, his godly father must have prophetically known of coming things for his son's name means "when he dies, judgment," and interestingly enough, Methuselah died in the same year God judged the sinful world with the great Flood of Noah's day.
There are many details of the Flood account about which we can only speculate, but perhaps Noah was given up to 120 years of warning that the Flood was coming (6:3), and we are told he was a "preacher of righteousness" ( 2 Peter 2:5 ) during the building, yet only "eight souls were saved" ( 1 Peter 3:20 ). Why didn't he influence more people? His faithful obedience in building a huge boat on dry land must have been both attention-getting and a source of conviction to the surrounding sinful people. We might suspect that Lamech and Methuselah espoused the same testimony, yet only the eight close family members boarded the Ark.
Since Methuselah died the same year of the Flood, some have wondered if he was likewise an unbeliever and perished in the Flood waters. Of his spiritual condition we know little, other than that he was the son of godly Enoch, and his son Lamech prophesied with spiritual insight at the birth of Noah ( Genesis 5:29 ).
Here are a few more hints to ponder. God had promised that "the seed of the woman," Eve (3:15) would one day destroy Satan, and ever since Satan, in his hatred for God and His image in man, had schemed to thwart God's plan (4:7, 6:2). Furthermore, man thought of "only evil continually" (6:5) and "the earth |was| filled with violence through them" (6:13). If left unchecked, there soon would be no survivor of Eve remaining.
Certainly the violence took the lives of many. Animals became violent and bloodthirsty. Wars must have been rampant as man's sinful nature had full sway. Would we not be correct in assuming that the violence was directed toward believers most of all? Perhaps Noah had many more converts over the years, and the only ones left were the eight mentioned.
And this may have been what happened to Methuselah. Perhaps he was the last martyr, and when he was killed, God's patience was over. In order to preserve mankind, and in particular Eve's lineage through whom the Redeemer would one day come, God's justice was finally unleashed.
*Dr. John D. Morris is the President of the Institute for Creation Research.
Cite this article: John D. Morris, Ph.D. 2006. How Did Methuselah Die? . Acts & Facts. 35 (12).
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Hatha, Jnana and Karma are all forms of which activity? | The Branches of the Yoga Tree | Yoga Philosophy | Yoga for Beginners
The Branches of the Yoga Tree
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In ancient times yoga was often referred to as a tree, a living entity with roots, a trunk, branches, blossoms, and fruit. Hatha yoga is one of six branches; the others include raja, karma, bhakti, jnana, and tantra yoga. Each branch with its unique characteristics and function represents a particular approach to life. Some people may find one particular branch more inviting than another. However, it is important to note that involvement in one of these paths does not preclude activity in any of the others, and in fact you’ll find many paths naturally overlapping.
Raja Yoga
Raja means “royal,” and meditation is the focal point of this branch of yoga. This approach involves strict adherence to the eight “limbs” of yoga as outlined by Patanajli in the Yoga Sutra. Also found in many other branches of yoga, these limbs, or stages, follow this order: ethical standards, yama; self-discipline, niyama; posture, asana; breath extension or control, Pranayama; sensory withdrawl, pratyahara ; concentration, dharana; meditation, dhyana; and ecstasy or final liberation, samadhi . Raja yoga attracts individuals who are introspective and drawn to meditation. Members of religious orders and spiritual communities devote themselves to this branch of yoga. However, even though this path suggests a monastic or contemplative lifestyle, entering an ashram or monastery is not a prerequisite to practicing raja yoga.
Karma Yoga
The next branch is that of karma yoga or the path of service, and none of us can escape this pathway. The principle of karma yoga is that what we experience today is created by our actions in the past. Being aware of this, all of our present efforts become a way to consciously create a future that frees us from being bound by negativity and selfishness. Karma is the path of self-transcending action. We practice karma yoga whenever we perform our work and live our lives in a selfless fashion and as a way to serve others. Volunteering to serve meals in a soup kitchen or signing up for a stint with the Peace Corps or Habitat for Humanity are prime examples of selfless service associated with the karma yoga path.
Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti yoga describes the path of devotion. Seeing the divine in all of creation, bhakti yoga is a positive way to channel the emotions. The path of bhakti provides us with an opportunity to cultivate acceptance and tolerance for everyone we come into contact with.
Bhakti yogis express the devotional nature of their path in their every thought, word, and deed—whether they are taking out the trash or calming the anger of a loved one. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., are prime examples of bhakti yogis. The life and work of Mother Teresa epitomize the combination of the karma and bhakti yoga paths with devotional aspects of bhakti and the selfless service of karma yoga.
Jnana Yoga
If we consider bhakti to be the yoga of the heart, then jnana yoga is the yoga of the mind, of wisdom, the path of the sage or scholar. This path requires development of the intellect through the study of the scriptures and texts of the yogic tradition. The jnana yoga approach is considered the most difficult and at the same time the most direct. It involves serious study and will appeal to those who are more intellectually inclined. Within the context of our Western religious traditions, Kabalistic scholars, Jesuit priests, and Benedictine monks epitomize jnana yogis.
Tantra Yoga
Probably the most misunderstood or misinterpreted of all the yogas, tantra, the sixth branch, is the pathway of ritual, which includes consecrated sexuality. The key word here is “consecrated,” which means to make sacred, to set apart as something holy or hallowed. In tantric practice we experience the Divine in everything we do. A reverential attitude is therefore cultivated, encouraging a ritualistic approach to life. It is amusing to note that, although tantra has become associated exclusively with sexual ritual, most tantric schools actually recommend a celibate lifestyle. In essence, tantra is the most esoteric of the six major branches. It will appeal to those yogis who enjoy ceremony and relate to the feminine principle of the cosmos, which yogis call shakti. If you see—and are deeply moved by—the significance behind celebration and ritual (holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and other rites of passage), tantra yoga may be for you. Many tantric yogis find magic in all types of ceremony, whether it be a Japanese tea ceremony, the consecration of the Eucharist in a Catholic mass, or the consummation of a relationship.
Combining the Paths
You may already be involved in one or more of these branches. For example, you may already be a hatha yogi or yogini practicing the postures with a teacher or by yourself. If you are a hospice volunteer for AIDS patients, or a participant in a Big Brother/Big Sister program, you are actively practicing karma yoga. Perhaps reading this book will spark an in-depth study of yoga philosophy , setting you on the path of jnana yoga. Remember you need not be limited to one expression—you may practice hatha yoga, taking care of your physical body, while simultaneously cultivating the lifestyle of a bhakti yogi, expressing your compassion for everyone you meet. Trust that whichever avenue of yogic expression draws your interest, it will probably be the right yoga path for you.
| Yoga |
We call it jam – what does an American call it? | Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga focuses on the physical body. Through gentle bending and stretching postures, deep breathing, techniques for deep relaxation, and cleansing practices, the physical body is made strong and supple. Anyone of any age or physical condition can practice Hatha Yoga, although those with disabilities or who are frail, will need to practice variations of some of the practices.
Hatha Yoga helps purify the body of toxins - waste products and other harmful chemicals that lie in the body and cause fatigue, disease, and restlessness. The subtle nervous system, similar to the meridians of acupuncture, is also toned and brought into balance.
There are important differences between Hatha Yoga and other forms of physical exercise. There should never be any strain when performing the stretches or breathing practices. In the postures, students move into whatever is the maximum position for them at that time. There is effort, but no shaking of the body, or grunting and groaning to attain a supposedly advanced pretzel-like shape. Progress is made gradually and naturally. Strain is also avoided
while practicing the breathing practices: there is no strenuous holding of the breath, sweating or shaking of the body. Even if the student feels light-headed or dizzy, the practice is paused until the feeling passes. Practicing Hatha Yoga in this way brings rapid progress, while insuring that you remain injury free.
Hatha Yoga is a powerful way to attain good health. It revitalizes the body, inside and out, and increases suppleness, balance, and strength. Every bodily system is benefited: digestive, respiratory, immune, urinary, cardiovascular, and more. Hatha Yoga achieves these goals in many ways, but let's consider two of the most important: the spine and the endocrine system.
The organs and systems of the body are like members of an orchestra where each musician plays his or her part in order to create harmony. To experience optimum health, all aspects of the body need to communicate with the others. This communication is achieved through two major communication systems, the nervous system and the endocrine system.
There is an old saying in Yoga: you are only as old as your spine. The spinal cord and brain form the axis of the nervous system, the body's electrical communication network. By keeping the spine flexible and well nourished with blood and oxygen, the nerves that exit from the spinal column can function at their optimum efficiency.
The endocrine system forms the body's chemical communication system. One of the great advantages of Hatha Yoga compared to many other forms of physical activity is that it has many practices that directly benefit the endocrine system.
By the end of a good Hatha Yoga session, the organs are toned, the mind calmed, cleared, and more focused, and the body and mind in harmony.
To read about any of the six major branches of Yoga, please visit:
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Who traded places with Eddie Murphy in the film Trading Places? | Amazon.com: Trading Places: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Denholm Elliott, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, John Landis: Movies & TV
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Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy are at the top of their game in this unique take on a rags to riches story. Hilarious, and with a few wonderful twists along the way. Jamie Lee Curtis gives a solid performance and the Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) offer up a great interpretation of the filthy rich...."Mother always said you were greedy...She meant it as a compliment"....Tells you all you'll need to know as the Dukes, Murphy and Aykroyd go at it. Brief Nudity, some language. Not for kids but a hoot just the same!
| Dan Aykroyd |
In Indian cuisine which vegetable is ‘aloo’? | Trading Places Reviews - Metacritic
9
FranzHcritic Apr 29, 2015
I enjoyed it throughout. The two leads, (Eddie Murphy the standout), make good chemistry as scientific experiments at the whims of two conniving billionaires. The writing flows and the film never ceases to be mundane or bland like many comedies I know. Where has Eddie Murphy gone now? And Dan Akroyd. They were so talented, and this is a prime example of it.
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
9
PatC.Jun 14, 2007
The ease in which the hilarity oozes from this movie obscures its greater achievement, which is the deft way it presents its plot. It takes a broad spectrum of characters and plays them off each other in a merciless mix of outrageousness and serious restriant. This is textbook on how to tell a story. Top drawer comedy.
1 of 1 users found this helpful
8
MovieGuys May 20, 2014
Trading Places is a very successful comedy as well as a very successful drama rolled into one. The comparison between rich and poor and the way the movie portrays it is well-executed. Some moments feel a bit manufactured and manipulative, possibly even overwrought, but the pros outweigh the cons here. It is just high entertainment of the first degree, with great performances from Akroyd and Murphy and smooth transitions in the story.
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
7
Spangle Jul 2, 2013
This comedy succeeds where most comedies fail; it has a plot while also providing laughs. Its sole purpose was to not just provide cheap laughs, but to also tell a story. Murphy and Aykroyd were both good in their roles and overall, I enjoyed this movie a lot.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
7
DuckNation May 25, 2014
Trading Places is such a great movie i dont see how this is not rated higher here on listal. Its really one of the only watchable Wall Street movies as most of them are rather boring but this with its different take on it and making it a comedy was a nice change and it pays off. Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy play off each other very well and their comedy was pure gold like when Aykroyd is on the train dressed as Santa eating the fish drunk as hellTrading Places is such a great movie i dont see how this is not rated higher here on listal. Its really one of the only watchable Wall Street movies as most of them are rather boring but this with its different take on it and making it a comedy was a nice change and it pays off. Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy play off each other very well and their comedy was pure gold like when Aykroyd is on the train dressed as Santa eating the fish drunk as hell and Murphy when throwing away all the drugs and talking bad about them ends up taking a joint and smoking it later those two parts are just a few of many great moments in the movie. Jamie Lee Curtis as a hooker was funny and she did have a pretty great body back then also Paul Gleason again does a great job being a big A-hole he is like that in all his movies he is just too good at it. I think the best thing about this movie is that it all comes down to frozen orange juice its just so random.
Overall i give it a 7.7 This is one of the movies i never get tired of watching its just that great of a movie… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
6
TrilobiteG Dec 4, 2015
A serviceable comedy about morals and social standards which doesn't give away any exhausting laughter but a few admirable chuckles. It's good intentions still are dragged down by it's slow pace and a slight tinge of unsatisfying character arcs.
0 of 1 users found this helpful01
3
Will Sep 2, 2011
Many of the jokes fail and those that are funny are played out far too long. Nothing is done to make the "wrongfully accused" cliche more believable. There are a couple great scenes, and Aykroyd and Murphy both try hard, but their characters almost never interact with each other. Wasted potential.
0 of 9 users found this helpful09
| i don't know |
What is the capital of Latvia? | Riga | national capital, Latvia | Britannica.com
national capital, Latvia
Riga, Latvian Rīga, city and capital of Latvia . It occupies both banks of the Daugava ( Western Dvina ) River, 9 miles (15 km) above its mouth on the Gulf of Riga . Pop. (2011) 658,640; (2015 est.) 641,007.
The Old Town of Riga, Latvia, astride the Daugava (Western Dvina) River.
© Clara maigi/Shutterstock.com
Dom Square in Riga, Latvia.
Peter Adams—The Image Bank/Getty Images
History
An ancient settlement of the Livs and Kurs, Riga emerged as a trading post in the late 12th century. Seagoing ships found a natural harbour where the small Ridzene River once flowed into the Daugava, a major trade route to points east and south from the Viking Age onward. Albert of Buxhoevden arrived in 1199 with 23 ships of Crusaders and established the military Order of the Brothers of the Sword (reorganized in 1237 as the Livonian Order, a branch of the Teutonic Order ). The city of Riga, founded in 1201, was the seat of Albert’s bishopric (archbishopric in 1253) and a base for conquering the lands of Livonia to the northeast, Courland to the west, and Semigallia to the south. The city joined the Hanseatic League in 1282 and became the dominant centre of trade on the Baltic Sea ’s eastern shore. The Reformation gained a foothold in Riga in the 1520s; the Livonian Order was secularized, and, along with the Livonian Confederation, dissolved in 1561.
Riga was briefly an independent city-state but passed to Poland in 1581. It was captured by Sweden in 1621 and then taken in 1709–10 by Peter the Great , with Sweden formally ceding the city to Russia by the Peace of Nystad in 1721. Riga’s German-speaking nobles and merchants retained local privileges under all of the above monarchies. In the late 18th century the city was a haven of Enlightenment thought; the publisher Hartknoch printed major treatises by philosophers Johann Georg Hamann , Johann Gottfried von Herder , and Immanuel Kant as well as German translations of the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau .
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The population grew exponentially in the 1800s, spurred by the 1817–19 abolition of serfdom in Lifland and Kurland as well as by the expansion of railroads (1861). The city’s manufacturing sector expanded to include foundries and machine works, shipbuilding yards, and factories that produced railroad cars, electric appliances, chemicals, and, from the early 1900s, automobiles and airplanes. The removal of Riga’s medieval fortress walls began in 1857 to speed business, and a railroad bridge across the Daugava was built in 1872. Railroads also made it possible for Latvians to travel from across the country to the first Latvian national song festival, organized in 1873 by the Riga Latvian Society. Telegraph (1852) and telephone (1882) connected Riga’s citizens to the world, and modernizing infrastructure , such as gasworks (1862) and a centralized electrical supply (1905), improved the quality of life for Rigans.
On the eve of World War I , Riga was the Russian Empire’s third largest city, with a population of 517,000. From 1915 to 1917, however, one of the war’s front lines lay along the Daugava, resulting in heavy damage on both shores; hundreds of thousands were relocated into Russia, and 400 factories were evacuated with all their machinery, never to return.
Latvia’s independence was declared in Riga on November 18, 1918, and the city became the new republic’s capital. With the Russian border closed to eastern trade, the port’s transit role declined, but its agricultural and timber exports became the core of the national economy. Industry shifted to consumer goods, among them the world’s smallest camera, the VEF Minox. The ķegums hydroelectric power station was completed 30 miles (roughly 50 km) upstream in 1939, and domestic and international flights to Riga’s airport began in the 1920s. The University of Latvia, the Art Academy of Latvia, and the Latvian Conservatoire (now the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music) were established in 1919–22, and the Latvian Open-Air Ethnographic Museum (1924) was just one example of the repositories of national history and culture to appear in the 1920s. Public education tripled the number of municipal schools in the city, serving a diverse ethnic population with instruction in nine languages. Among Riga’s Germans was Paul Schiemann, a leader of the European minorities movement and framer of Latvia’s laws on cultural autonomy for minorities. A large community of Russian refugees made Riga a critical listening post for Western intelligence regarding the Soviet Union .
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Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent
Latvia was occupied and annexed by the Soviets in 1940, and Riga lost thousands of people in 1940–41 to Soviet deportations and executions. Nazi Germany occupied the city from 1941 to 1944 during World War II , making it the administrative capital of Ostland, a territory encompassing Estonia , Latvia, Lithuania , and Belarus . More than 25,000 of the city’s Jews were imprisoned in the Riga ghetto, shot in the Rumbula forest, and buried in mass graves on November 29–30 and December 8–9, 1941. The Soviets returned in October 1944, and for the next four decades Riga was the Soviet Baltic Military District’s command post. The population vacuum created by war deaths, emigration , and deportations was filled by Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians who settled the Baltic region as part of a Soviet internal immigration policy that continued through the 1980s. The city was made a Soviet leader in metalworking as well as in the production of railroad cars and electronics. Riga’s hydroelectric power station went online in 1974.
Capitals & Cities: Fact or Fiction?
Latvia declared renewed independence in May 1990, mobilizing nonviolent resistance to achieve that goal in August 1991. Monuments near Riga’s canal mark the spot where five civilians were killed by Soviet soldiers during the independence struggle. Latvia was admitted to the United Nations in autumn 1991 and joined the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) military alliance in 2004. Riga hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, the NATO summit in 2006, and Latvia’s EU presidency in 2015.
The contemporary city
Today Riga’s port facilitates export and transit trade from Russia and Belarus to European ports and beyond; a daily ferry carries passengers and cars to Stockholm . The Via Baltica highway is a major trucking route to Tallinn , Kaunas , and Warsaw . Riga International Airport is the hub of the national airline, airBaltic, and is served by daily flights to most European countries. Riga’s factories, many of them now affiliates of transnational corporations, build and repair ships, machine tools, rolling stock, diesel engines, and streetcars. Biotechnology and information technology are growing economic sectors, and services, notably tourism, are increasingly important. Riga’s municipal government is typically formed by a coalition of diverse political parties. The city’s Russian community, which accounted for some two-fifths of Riga’s population in the early 21st century, maintains strong ties to Russia, and it was instrumental in electing the city’s first ethnic Russian mayor in 2009.
The Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia.
© Andrei/Fotolia
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The historic centre of Riga was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. Many medieval buildings survive, among them the 13th-century Riga Dom (cathedral), the 14th-century Riga Castle (1330), and merchants’ homes and warehouses. The canal around the city’s Old Town was the fortress moat. Nearby, many elaborate facades in the Jugendstil artistic style testify to Riga’s wealth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the public buildings that were renovated in the 1990s was the National Opera, first built as the Riga German Theatre in 1863. The 14th-century House of Blackheads, damaged during World War II and razed in 1954, was rebuilt in 2000. Early 21st-century construction included high-rise towers, a hockey stadium that hosted the 2006 Ice Hockey World Championship, and the National Library, completed 2013.
Three Brothers building complex in the Old Town of Riga, Latvia.
© Paul D Smith/Shutterstock.com
(From left) Riga Dom (cathedral), St. Peter’s Church, and St. Saviour’s Anglican Church in Riga, …
© formiktopus/Fotolia
Learn about the architecture of Riga, Latvia.
Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz
Among Riga’s best-known institutions of higher education are the Riga Stradiņš University, Riga Technical University, and the University of Latvia. Numerous world-class performers began their careers at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. Tens of thousands of people converge on Riga’s Meaparks choral stage every five years for a celebration of Latvian heritage in song. In 2003 UNESCO proclaimed the song and dance festival, along with similar events in Estonia and Lithuania, to be masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
| Riga |
Which carnivore’s liver is so packed with Vitamin A it would kill you if you ate it? | Capital FM Latvia - Live Online Radio
Capital FM Latvia
Category: Latvia | Genres: Adult Contemporary , Folk
Capital FM is a popular hit radio channel based in Riga, Latvia. It plays various types of music genres like Adult Contemporary, Folk, and is very conscious about listeners’ demand and choice. Getting audience’s good feedback, this radio channel is developing playlists continuously. It also operates various informative programs that includes listeners’ participation. Capital FM official website address is www.capitalfm.lv
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In 1972 Mother and Child Reunion was the first solo UK hit for which artist? | Paul Simon - Mother And Child Reunion - 1972 official video - YouTube
Paul Simon - Mother And Child Reunion - 1972 official video
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Published on Mar 17, 2015
"Mother and Child Reunion" is a song by Paul Simon on his album, Paul Simon (1972), his first solo album after Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was released as a single on February 5, 1972, reaching No. 1 in South Africa and No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 57 song for 1972. It was one of the earliest songs by a white musician to feature prominent elements of reggae.
The song was inspired by Simon's grief over the death of his family's dog,[citation needed] while he has said that the title has its origin in a chicken-and-egg dish called "Mother and Child Reunion" that Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant's menu. James Benninghof wrote that Simon predicted the title event, the "mother and child reunion," while the second verse describes the effect of what happened on "the strange and mournful day," but without making clear what it was.[1]
The song was recorded at Dynamic Sounds Studios at Torrington Bridge in Kingston, Jamaica, with Jimmy Cliff's backing group. Guitarist Huks ("Hux") Brown and bass guitarist Jackie Jackson were also long-time members of Toots & the Maytals. Cissy Houston sang background vocals on the recording.
Personnel Lead Vocal: Paul Simon Drums: Winston Grennan Lead guitar: Hux Brown Organ: Neville Hinds Bass guitar: Jackie Jackson EP: Larry Knechtel Percussion: Denzil Laing Rhythm guitar: Wallace Wilson Backup singers: Cissy Houston, Von Eva Sims, Renelle Stafford, Deirdre Tuck
In media
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2015)
Alvin and the Chipmunks sang this song in the 1985 animated television special A Chipmunk Reunion when they were on a search for their biological mother.
"Mother and Child Reunion" was featured on The Simpsons 19th season episode "Mona Leaves-a" in which Homer's mother, Mona Simpson, dies, and also on the episode "My Mother the Carjacker" from season 15, during a montage of Mona catching up on Homer's missed childhood.
It was used in the second season episode of The Sopranos, "Do Not Resuscitate".
The song was also used at the end of the fifth episode in Season 1 of HBO's "Enlightened."
Charts
| Paul Simon |
Who topped the charts in 1996 with Breathe and Firestarter? | Paul Simon - Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Weeks Charted: 36
Certified Platinum: 11/21/86
It's been reported that Paul Simon is wondering about his place in musical history, presumably because he fears his work may not be judged by future generations as on a par with such giants as Lennon & McCartney and Dylan. Why even think about it, Paul? If the experts of the 21st century and beyond can't appreciate your contribution, it's their loss.
Original album advertising art.
Click image for larger view.
Take this album, for example. It's been eagerly awaited, since it represents Simon's first step without the company of Art Garfunkel. But also because we of the present really need his curious bled of innate paranoia and irrepressible good humor -- all of it set to melodies which almost instantly take hold and shoot through our lifestreams. For his first solo entry Paul has composed eleven songs. Some, like the reggae-styled "Mother And Child Reunion" and "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard," have an uptempo charm which refuses to be denied. Each brings you on to a different side of the record, clearing the way for what lies deeper -- pieces in which Simon touches on the alienation and frustrations felt by a man who has grown to maturity and seen ideals and dreams burned right away. "Duncan" is a recollection of the losing of innocence and the desperation attached to that move. "Everything Put Together Falls Apart" and "Run That Body Down" are gentle admonitions which raise several serious questions about the advantages of living at a speedy urban pace. "Armistice Day" and "Peace Like A River" are poems of love in the face of repression and silence. In "Papa Hobo" the life of a drifter is painted in sombre shades and in "Paranoia Blues" Paul deftly extracts the Fun from New York City.
In just about anyone else's hands all of this would make for a pretty depressing album. But perhaps because Simon retains just a glimmer of hope -- expressing it mainly in his vocal approach -- the record is strangely exhilarating. Simon is taking a long hard look at himself here and giving us his findings with an almost clinical air. Like all of us he has lived through some turbulent times and like most of us he has been scarred. But like only the most honest of us, he can point to those scars and even admit to a fascination with their shape and texture. This is a highly personal record -- in some ways even a confession -- but it has a moving universality to it. Paul co-produced the set and selected only the finest musicians (David Spinoza, Airto Moreira and Charlie McCoy to name just three) as his accompanists. Tracks were recorded in Paris, Kingston, Jamaica, San Francisco and New York. That made for a lot of traveling, but in the sum total of the album's tracks Paul Simon has very definitely and quite marvelously come home.
- Ed Kelleher,
4-72.
Bonus Reviews!
In his first solo album, Paul Simon superbly combines the sound of the Simon and Garfunkel team with arrangements going from the Jamaican style "Mother and Child Reunion" to the quiet protest "Armistice Day." An assortment of sidemen play and sing along helping make this a marvelous entry.
-
Billboard,
1972.
Everything about Paul Simon's solo album suggests ease and sincerity. Unlike some past Simon and Garfunkel performances,
Paul Simon
generally avoids the cryptic, the cute and the catchy for songs of genuine musical power. Paul is at his best in a tune such as "Run That Body Down," taking a seriocomic detached tone about things, dipping periodically into a relaxed falsetto, clearly getting it off with some of the best musicians in the business, including Jerry Hahn (electric guitar) and Ron Carter (bass). The supporting personnel throughout are superb, even to including Hot Club of France veteran Stephane Grappelli, but it is Simon's production that brings off the special effects of instruments such as bass harmonicas and bottleneck guitars and makes them work. He is becoming a master of such effects, viz., the unison, self-accompanied vocal of "My and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" and the old-timy sound of "Papa Hobo." The disc is a joy from beginning to end, because it's both casual and self-assured.
-
Playboy,
6-72.
"Congratulations, oh, seems like you've done it again." The two year wait was worthwhile. Paul Simon has come up with 11 great new songs. Art Garfunkel's voice is missed but Paul sings with such feeling, you forget he wasn't always the soloist.
The new album has all kinds of music: jazz ("Hobo's Blues"), soul ("Mother and Child Reunion"), reggae ("Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard") and latin ("Duncan"). The lyrics mention everything from drugs to congressmen, to peace, to pollution. But despite these "heavy" subjects, Simon's album is fun. Just about every song has a line or two that brings a smile to your face -- meanwhile he is saying something important and easy to identify with.
This album belongs within the ranks of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." It will strengthen Paul's reputation as a songwriter, producer, and guitarist. But perhaps most important, this LP heralds the coming of Paul Simon, a great performer.
- Patricia Fernandez,
Hit Parader,
9/72.
I've been saying nasty things about Simon since 1967, but this is the only thing in the universe to make me positively happy in the first two weeks of February 1972. I hope Art Garfunkel is gone for good -- he always seemed so vestigial, but it's obvious now that two-part harmony crippled Simon's naturally agile singing and composing. And the words! This is a professional tour of Manhattan for youth culture grads, complete with Bella Abzug, hard rain, and people who steal your chow fong. The self-production is economical and lively, with the guitars of Jerry Hahn and Stefan Grossman and Airto Moreira's percussion especially inspired. William Carlos Williams after the repression: "Peace Like a River." A+
- Robert Christgau,
Christgau's Record Guide,
1981.
Probably his least guarded recording. Simon's sense of joy and exhilaration at being unleashed from the personal and musical constraints of the sixties folk/rock duo, Simon & Garfunkel, is palpable in the eleven selections that make up
Paul Simon.
From its better-known cuts, "Mother and Child Reunion," "Duncan," and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," to lesser-known classics like "Peace Like a River," the CD's enhanced dynamics and openness give this release an appealing intimacy its vinyl predecessor lacked. As the first chapter of a solo career notable for its high quality and duration, this remains one of the highlights of a body of recordings that now spans three decades. It also presaged Simon's involvement with World Beat, as it was one of the first U.S. mainstream recordings to use Jamaican reggae. The CD's sound does betray its analog roots, evidencing slight hiss and some compression, but it is a marked improvement over the LP. A+
- Bill Shapiro,
Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD,
1991.
Backing away from the heavy production of the last Simon & Garfunkel album, Paul Simon's first solo outing is a quiet affair based around acoustic guitar. "Mother and Child Reunion," a successful experiment with reggae, is included, as is "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard"; the great Stephane Grappelli guests on "Hobo's Blues." Many of Simon's finest songs are found here. * * * * *
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine,
The All-Music Guide to Rock,
1995.
If any musical justification were needed for the breakup of Simon and Garfunkel, it could be found on this striking collection, Paul Simon's post-split debut. From the opening cut, "Mother And Child Reunion" (a Top Ten hit), Simon, who had snuck several subtle musical explorations into the generally conservative S&G sound, broke free, heralding the rise of reggae with an exuberant track recorded in Jamaica for a song about death. From there, it was off to Paris for a track in South American style and a rambling story of a fisherman's son, "Duncan" (which made the singles chart). But most of the album had a low-key feel, with Simon on acoustic guitar backed by only a few trusted associates (among them Joe Osborn, Larry Knechtel, David Spinoza, Mike Manieri, Ron Carter, and Hal Blaine, along with such guests as Stefan Grossman, Airto Moreira, and Stephane Grappelli), singing a group of informal, intimate, funny, and closely observed songs (among them the lively Top 40 hit "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard"). It was miles removed from the big, stately ballad style of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and signalled that Simon was a versatile songwriter as well as an expressive singer with a much broader range of musical interests than he had previously demonstrated. You didn't miss Art Garfunkel on
Paul Simon,
not only because Simon didn't write Garfunkel-like showcases for himself, but because the songs he did write showed off his own, more varied musical strengths. (Originally released by Columbia Records in January 1972 as Columbia 30750,
Paul Simon
was reissued in 1988 by Warner Brothers Records as Warner Brothers 25588.)
- William Ruhlmann,
The All-Music Guide to Rock.
Paul Simon
picks up the world music groove -- which Paul Simon lightly persued with Art Garfunkel -- on the hits "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard." * * * *
- Leland Rucker,
Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide,
1996.
The Seventies' confessional singer-songwriters have been oft-maligned, probably because they oft sucked. But Paul Simon's 1972 solo debut holds up as that oddest of rock & roll oddities: a perfect album -- eleven great songs, some viciously funny, some mournfully sad, no sap or sentiment, every emotion brought to life over a mellow but physically gripping acoustic groove. And although Simon is one of the most acclaimed songwriters of his generation,
Paul Simon
remains a curiously overlooked gem, as unique in the context of his career as it is outside it. In the aftermath of Simon and Garfunkel's acrimonious breakup, Simon came ready to show and prove, stripping the songs down to give the music room to breathe. He cut back on the flowery poesy of his early work, using his nimble doo-wop voice and his startingly articulate guitar to flesh out the most adult songs he'd ever written: the late-night brooding of "Peace Like a River," the emotional devastation of "Mother and Child Reunion," the hard-ass New York wit of "Everything Put Together Falls Apart."
Paul Simon
has the eclectic instrumental touches that came to be a Simon trademark -- one track cut in Jamaica with reggae producer Leslie "King" Kong, another cut in Paris with jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli -- but it flows and even swings as a whole. The bodily grace of the music gives Simon a spiritual lift as he sings about the collapse of the Sixties dream, whether he's cracking wise about personal vices ("Run That Body Down") or facing up to political struggles ("Armistice Day"). "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" is the funniest song about Catholic guilt ever written by a Jewish guy: Simon stumbles into a hilariously sordid sexual awakening, waves goodbye to a home he can never return to, boogies to Airto Moreira's percussion and knocks off one of the great whistling solos in rock history, all in less than three minutes. Beck would kill to have written this song. Simon would go on to score bigger hits, would even get splashier reviews, but he has never made another album that sounded quite like
Paul Simon
-- and neither has anybody else. * * * * *
- Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
11-8-01.
If Paul Simon was not already sure the game was up, then the recording of "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" surely confirmed it. The closing track on side one of
Bridge Over Troubled Water
was sung with inimitable grace by Art Garfunkel, seemingly unaware that Simon had written the song about the dissolution of their friendship. Simon kept "The Only Living Boy In New York" for himself, but the water came from the same well: Simon's sadness at Garfunkel's desire to spend less time on the group and more on his movie career. The album emerged in early 1970, but the partnership did not much outlast the Grammys in March.
With Garfunkel filming
for much of its recording,
Bridge Over Troubled Water
was virtually a Simon solo album in all but name.
Paul Simon
was a very different record, though. There are signs of Simon's magpie enthusiasm for exotic musics: the reggae lilt of "Mother And Child Reunion," featuring an assortment of Jamaican music notables (the title was inspired by a chicken-and-egg dish Simon ate at a Chinese restaurant), and "Hobo's Blues," with Simon playing Django to violinist Stephane Grappelli.
But
Paul Simon
is best approached as one of the best singer-songwriter albums of the Seventies. With the microphone to himself, Simon's in wonderful vocal form, yet his compositional voice is stronger on "Duncan" ("The Boxer" meets "El Condor Pasa"), on the waltzing melancholia of "Congratulations," and on "Everything Put Together Falls Apart," whose flowing yet labyrinthine chord structure is a supreme two-minute masterclass in sophisticated songwriting.
- Will Fulford-Jones,
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,
2005.
In the wake of
Bridge Over Troubled Water
's massive success and deliberate grandeur, the first album of Simon's new solo career seemed musically spare and more modest in reach. But its expansive geniality -- the warming-reggae optimism of "Mother and Child Reunion," recorded in Jamaica; the adolescent bounce of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" -- was perfect pop in design and delivery.
- David Fricke,
| i don't know |
What is the only New Testament Gospel that is not synoptic? | Synoptic Gospels - Life, Hope & Truth
Synoptic Gospels
by Richard Thompson
What are the synoptic Gospels? Of what value are they in the account of the life of Jesus Christ? How do they help us know and believe our Savior?
Students of the Bible are well aware that there are four Gospels. Those four Gospels — Matthew , Mark , Luke and John —each provide different information about the life of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, three of the accounts are similar in their presentation; and one, the Gospel of John, is quite different from the other three.
Do the four Gospels contradict one another in their accounts of Jesus’ life? After all, four men wrote about Jesus , His teachings, His actions and His life on earth. It is important to know not only if they are accurate, but if they provide any help for human beings in the 21st century.
What are the synoptic Gospels?
The word synoptic is defined as “taking a common view: used chiefly in reference to the first three Gospels” (Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 1991).
Merrill C. Tenney wrote the following regarding the synoptic Gospels: “Between the first three Gospels, however, there is a closer interrelation in content and manner of expression. They have consequently been called the Synoptic Gospels, from the Greek, syn, together, and optanomai, to see, since they take a common view of the life of Christ” (New Testament Survey, 1961, p. 133).
The three Gospels that “take a common view” of Christ’s life are Matthew, Mark and Luke. Each writer affords us a special look into the life and teachings of Christ in a different way. One may provide one detail, and another may provide a detail that adds to the account so that the Bible student is able to receive additional insights. These insights give a more complete picture of what Christ was teaching or give details of an event that help us have greater understanding of the heart and mind of Christ.
The synoptic Gospels do not contradict one another, but all three together provide a more complete account of Jesus’ life. The more information a Bible student is provided about Jesus, the more one has to understand and incorporate into one’s life.
Additional information regarding the synoptic Gospels
According to The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, “There is overlapping between the first three and the fourth gospels, especially in the passion story, but only about nine per cent of the material in the Synoptics coincides with material in the fourth. The coincidence of material as among the Synoptics is much higher. Approximately ninety-one per cent of Mark is paralleled in one of the other two gospels or in both. The same thing can be said of about fifty per cent of Matthew and about forty-one per cent of Luke” (1962, article “Synoptic Problem,” p. 492).
The truth of God’s inspired Word
Although three different men wrote the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and there are certain differences in what they wrote, there is a very important underlying law that governs the Bible . It is the most special Book ever written, and it is essential that every serious Bible student believe in how the Bible was written. There are no “conflicts” among the accounts in the synoptic Gospels and the book of John because God inspired them all. All apparent conflicts can be explained when one carefully considers the content and purpose of each writer.
We read in Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, New Revised Standard Version). With that statement, the apostle Paul says that all Scripture in the Bible—the synoptic Gospels included—is needed for the spiritual growth and fulfillment of life’s purpose of anyone who “belongs to God.”
Therefore, for about 2,000 years the synoptic Gospels have played a very important role in adding to the understanding of Jesus Christ and the part He should play in the lives of human beings. The life of Jesus Christ and the words inspired by God to Matthew, Mark and Luke provide humans in the 21st century with eternal words from the Creator and Ruler of the universe.
The part that Jesus should have in the lives of all human beings cannot be overstated. The synoptic Gospels provide instruction, inspiration, encouragement and admonition regarding the most important life to ever be flesh and blood—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. According to Scripture, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NRSV).
The most important point about the synoptic Gospels
The most important point to be made regarding the synoptic Gospels or any other book of the Bible is this: God , through His Holy Spirit, inspired the Bible to be written through human instruments. The Bible is God’s instruction book to humanity in answering why human beings exist and giving us hope for the future. It provides us with what only God can do for us and what we have as a personal responsibility to do with His help through the Holy Spirit .
The synoptic Gospels provide humanity with a view of our Creator and Savior Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we have access to God the Father and the path to fulfilling our purpose in life. The synoptic Gospels are three books that provide valuable lessons and guides for us in our daily lives and in the way that leads to eternal life in God’s family. We encourage you to read and study them carefully and regularly.
For more study on this topic, see the article “ Gospels ” and the individual articles about Matthew , Mark and Luke .
| John |
To which of the tribes of Israel did Samson belong? | The Synoptic Problem | Bible.org
The Synoptic Problem
Related Media
Any serious discussion of the Synoptic Gospels must, sooner or later, involve a discussion of the literary interrelationships among Matthew, Mark, and Luke. This is essential in order to see how an author used his sources (both for reliability’s sake as well as for redactional criticism), as well as when he wrote.
Robert H. Stein’s The Synoptic Problem: An Introduction 1 summarizes well the issues involved in the synoptic problem—as well as its probable solution. For the most part, our discussion will follow his outline. 2
A. The Literary Interdependence of the Synoptic Gospels
It is quite impossible to hold that the three synoptic gospels were completely independent from each other. In the least, they had to have shared a common oral tradition. But the vast bulk of NT scholars today would argue for much more than that. 3 There are four crucial arguments which virtually prove literary interdependence.
1. Agreement in Wording
The remarkable verbal agreement between the gospels suggests some kind of interdependence. It is popular today among laymen to think in terms of independence—and to suggest either that the writers simply recorded what happened and therefore agree, or that they were guided by the Holy Spirit into writing the same things. This explanation falls short on several fronts.
a. Historical Naiveté
This approach is historically naive for the following reasons.
First, it cannot explain the differences among the writers—unless it is assumed that verbal differences indicate different events. In that case, one would have to say that Jesus was tempted by the devil twice, that the Lord’s Supper was offered twice, and that Peter denied the Lord six to nine times! In fact, one might have to say that Christ was raised from the dead more than once if this were pressed!
Second, if Jesus spoke and taught in Aramaic (at least sometimes, if not usually), then why are these verbal agreements preserved for us in Greek? It is doubtful that each writer would have translated Jesus’ sayings in exactly the same way so often.
Third, even if Jesus spoke in Greek exclusively, how is it that not only his words but his deeds are recorded in verbal identity? There is a material difference between remembering the verbiage of what one heard and recording what one saw in identical verbiage.
Fourth, when one compares the synoptic materials with John’s Gospel, why are there so few verbal similarities? On an independent hypothesis, either John or the synoptics are wrong, or else John does not record the same events at all in the life of Jesus.
b. Naiveté Regarding Inspiration
This approach is also naive regarding the role of the Spirit in inspiring the authors of the gospels.
First, if identical verbiage is to be attributed to Spirit-inspiration, to what should verbal dissonance be attributed?
Second, since John’s Gospel is so dissimilar (92% unique), does this imply that he was not inspired by the Spirit in the writing of his gospel?
In sum, it is quite impossible—and ultimately destructive of the faith—to maintain that there is total independence among the gospel writers.
2. Agreement in Order
Although there is a great deal of disagreement in the order of the pericopae among the synoptic gospels, there is an even greater amount of agreement. If one argues that the order is strictly chronological, there are four pieces of data which overrule this. First, there is occasional disagreement in the order. For example, many of Matthew’s parables in chapter 13 are found in Luke 8 or Luke 13. The scribe who approached Jesus about the great commandment is placed in the Passion Week in Matthew and Mark, and vaguely arranged elsewhere in Luke. Second, it is evident that quite a bit of material is grouped topically in the gospels—e.g., after the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew come several miracles by Jesus. Indeed, “Matthew has furthermore arranged his entire Gospel so that collections of narratives alternate with collections of sayings.” 4 Third, the early patristic writers (e.g., Papias) recognized that the gospel writers did not follow a strict chronological arrangement. Fourth, there is a studied reserve in the gospels from pinpointing the dates of the various incidents. Introductory comments such as, “immediately,” “after this,” “on another occasion,” “one day,” etc. are the norm. In other words, there seems to be no intent on the part of the evangelists to present a strict chronological sequence of events.
3. Agreement in Parenthetical Material
“One of the most persuasive arguments for the literary interdependence of the synoptic Gospels is the presence of identical parenthetical material, for it is highly unlikely that two or three writers would by coincidence insert into their accounts exactly the same editorial comment at exactly the same place.” 5 One of the most striking of these demonstrates, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the use of written documents: “When you see the desolating sacrilege . . . (let the reader understand) . . . ” (Matt 24:15/Mark 13:14). It is obvious that this editorial comment could not be due to a common oral heritage, for it does not say, “let the hearer understand.” Cf. also Matt 9:6/Mark 2:10/Luke 5:24; Matt 27:18/Mark 15:10.
4. Luke’s Preface
Luke begins his gospel in a manner similar to ancient historians: “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative . . . it seemed good to me also . . . to write an orderly account for you . . . .” In the least this implies two things: (1) Luke was aware of written (and oral) sources based on eyewitness accounts; (2) Luke used some of these sources in the composition of his gospel.
5. Conclusion
Stein has summarized ably what one should conclude from these four areas of investigation:
We shall see later that before the Gospels were written there did exist a period in which the gospel materials were passed on orally, and it is clear that this oral tradition influenced not only the first of our synoptic Gospels but the subsequent ones as well. As an explanation for the general agreement between Matthew-Mark-Luke, however, such an explanation is quite inadequate. There are several reasons for this. For one the exactness of the wording between the synoptic Gospels is better explained by the use of written sources than oral ones. Second, the parenthetical comments that these Gospels have in common are hardly explainable by means of oral tradition. This is especially true of Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14, which addresses the readers of these works! Third and most important, the extensive agreement in the memorization of the gospel traditions by both missionary preachers and laypeople is conceded by all, it is most doubtful that this involved the memorization of a whole gospel account in a specific order. Memorizing individual pericopes, parables, and sayings, and even small collections of such material, is one thing, but memorizing a whole Gospel of such material is something else. The large extensive agreement in order between the synoptic Gospels is best explained by the use of a common literary source. Finally, as has already been pointed out, whereas Luke 1:2 does refer to an oral period in which the gospel materials were transmitted, Luke explicitly mentions his own investigation of written sources. 6
B. The Priority of Mark
There are three types of theories which have arisen to explain the literary relationships among the synoptic gospels. First, Schleiermacher in 1817 held that the apostles had written down brief memorabilia which were later collected and arranged according to their particular type of genre. The problem with this view is that it fails to explain the overall arrangement of the synoptic gospels.
Second, G. E. Lessing (1776) and J. G. Eichhorn (1796) argued for an Ur-Gospel, written in Aramaic, which ultimately stood behind the synoptic gospels. The various synoptic writers then used different revisions/ translations of this Ur-Gospel. The main problem with this theory is that it looks no different than an Ur-Mark which, in turn, looks no different than Mark. Thus, rather than postulating any kind of Ur-Gospel, a simpler theory which accounted for the data just as well was that Mark stood behind Luke and Matthew.
Third, the theory of interdependence (sometimes known as utilization) has been suggested. In other words, one or more synoptic gospel used one or more synoptic gospel. Altogether there are eighteen possible permutations of this theory, 7 though three have presented themselves as the most plausible: (1) the Augustinian hypothesis: Matthew wrote first and was utilized by Mark whose gospel was used by Luke; (2) the Griesbach hypothesis (suggested by J. J. Griesbach in 1776): Matthew wrote first and was used by Luke, both of whom were used by Mark; and (3) the Holtzmann/Streeter hypothesis (suggested by H. J. Holtzmann in 1863, and refined [and complicated!] by B. H. Streeter in 1924): Mark wrote first and was used independently by Matthew and Luke. 8
The majority of NT scholars hold to Markan priority (either the two-source hypothesis of Holtzmann or the four-source hypothesis of Streeter). This is the view adopted in this paper as well. 9 Stein puts forth eight categories of reasons why Mark ought to be considered the first gospel. Though not all of his arguments are of equal weight, both the cumulative evidence and several specific arguments are quite persuasive.
1. Mark’s Shortness: The Argument from Length
Mark’s brevity can be measured in terms of verses or words:
MATTHEW
11,025
19,376
When one compares the synoptic parallels, some startling results are noticed. Of Mark’s 11,025 words, only 132 have no parallel in either Matthew or Luke. Percentage-wise, 97% of Mark’s Gospel is duplicated in Matthew; and 88% is found in Luke. On the other hand, less than 60% of Matthew is duplicated in Mark, and only 47% of Luke is found in Mark. 10
What is to account for the almost total absorption of Mark into Matthew and Luke? The Griesbach hypothesis 11 suggests that Mark was the last gospel written and that the author used Matthew and Luke. But if so, why did he omit so much material? What Mark omits from his gospel cannot be considered insignificant: the birth of Jesus, the birth of John the Baptist, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer, the resurrection appearances by Jesus, 12 much teaching material, etc. Further, he has abbreviated accounts of the Lord’s temptation and baptism. There are two reasons 13 usually given as to why Mark would omit so much material: (1) Mark wanted to provide an abridged gospel for use in the churches; (2) Mark only wanted to record material that was found in both Matthew and Luke, perhaps on the analogy of Deut 17:6-7/19:15 (the voice of at least two witnesses confirmed a truth). Both of these reasons seem inadequate however, for the following reasons.
(1) Mark’s Gospel is not really an abridgment: “whereas Mark is considerably shorter in total length than Matthew and Luke, when we compare the individual pericopes that they have in common, time and time again we find that Mark is the longest!” 14 In other words, Mark’s Gospel, where it has parallels with Matthew and Luke, is not an abridgment, but an expansion. Not only this, but the very material he omits would have served a good purpose in his gospel. For example, Mark attempts to emphasize Jesus’ role as teacher (cf. 2:13; 4:1-2; 6:2; 8:31; 12:35, 38, etc.), yet he omits much of what he actually taught. The best explanation of this would seem to be that he was unacquainted with some of these sayings of Jesus, rather than that he intentionally omitted so much—in particular, the Sermon on the Mount. “An abridged work becomes shorter by both eliminating various materials and abbreviating the accounts retained.” 15 But the material which Mark eliminates is quite inexplicable on the assumption of Markan posteriority; and the accounts which he retains are almost always longer than either Luke’s or Matthew’s.
(2) It is fallacious to argue that Mark only wanted to record material found in both Matthew and Luke. Yet, W. R. Farmer comes close to this view when he writes that Mark’s Gospel was created as:
a new Gospel out of existing Gospels on an “exclusive” principle. . . . [It was written for liturgical purposes as] a new Gospel [composed] largely out of existing Gospels concentrating on those materials where their texts bore concurrent testimony to the same Gospel tradition. The Gospel of Mark to a considerable extent could be understood as just such a work . . . 16
There is a threefold problem with this. First, it is rather doubtful that Mark intended to write his gospel by way of confirming what was found in both Matthew and Luke. There is little evidence in his gospel that this was an important motif. Rather, if any gospel writer employed this motif, it was Matthew not Mark. 17
Second, there is much material—and very rich material—found in both Matthew and Luke that is absent in Mark. In particular, the birth narrative, Sermon on the Mount, Lord’s Prayer, and resurrection appearances. If Mark only produced material found in both Matthew and Luke, why did he omit such important passages which are attested by these other two gospels?
Third, it is quite an overstatement to say that Mark only produced material found in the other two: much of his gospel includes pericopes which are found in only one other gospel.
For examples of exclusively Mark-Luke parallels, note the following: the healing of the demoniac in the synagogue (Mark 1:23-28/Luke 4:33-37); the widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44/Luke 21:1-4).
For examples of exclusively Mark-Matthew parallels, note the following: the offending eye/hand (Matt. 5:29-30 and 18:8-9/Mark 9:43-47); the details about the death of John the Baptist (Matt. 14:3-12/Mark 6:17-29); Jesus walking on the water (Matt 14:22-33/Mark 6:45-52); Isaiah’s prophecy about a hypocritical people and Jesus’ application (Matt 15:1-20/Mark 7:1-23); the Syrophoenicean woman pericope (Matt 15:21-28/Mark 7:24-30); the healing of the deaf-mute (Matt 15:29-31/Mark 7:31-37); the feeding of the four thousand (Matt 15:32-39/Mark 8:1-10); Elijah’s coming (Matt 17:10-13/Mark 9:11-13); the withering of the fig tree (Matt 21:20-22/Mark 11:20-26); the soldiers’ mockery of Jesus before Pilate (Matt 27:28-31/Mark 15:17-20).
What these double-gospel parallels reveal is two things: (1) Mark did not follow the principle of exclusivity, for he includes quite a bit of material which is found only in one other gospel; (2) Mark parallels Matthew far more often than he does Luke (only two pericopes in Mark-Luke vs. ten in Mark-Matthew), negating Farmer’s claim that where Mark only followed one gospel he did so in a balanced way, preferring neither Matthew nor Luke. 18
Against a theory of Matthean priority stands the supposition that Luke and Matthew used additional source(s). If so, then the reason they shortened the pericopes they shared with Mark was so that they might include other materials within the length of their scrolls. 19
In sum, we could add the now famous statement of G. M. Styler: “given Mk, it is easy to see why Matt. was written; given Matt., it is hard to see why Mk was needed.” 20
2. Mark’s Poorer Writing Style: The Argument from Grammar 21
Stein lists three broad categories of Mark’s poorer stylistic abilities: (1) colloquialisms and incorrect grammar, (2) Aramaic expressions, and (3) redundancies. The first and second arguments are significant for pericopes which Mark shares with either Matthew or Luke; the third is valuable for considering material omitted in Mark.
a. Colloquialisms and Incorrect Grammar 22
For example, Mark uses κράβαττον in 2:4, a slang word for “mattress” which was banned by such literary writers of the period as Phrynichus and Moeris. The parallels in Matthew and Luke change the word to some form from the root κλιν- (κλίνη, κλινίδιος), which was an acceptable literary term. This argument gains strength when it is seen that neither Matthew nor Luke ever uses κράβαττον 23 (though Mark on three occasions does use the correct word).
Secondly, it is characteristic of Mark to use φέρω in the sense of “lead,” while, strictly speaking, ἄγω means “lead,” and φέρω means “bring, carry.” Cf. Mark 7:32 and 8:22.
Sir John C. Hawkins added numerous other grammatical anomalies in Mark including instances of anacoluthon and instances of asyndeton which were corrected or deleted in Matthew or Luke. 24
b. Aramaic Expressions
Many have seen Aramaisms in Mark in the very warp and woof of his grammar; in addition to these are seven clear Aramaic expressions in Mark. For example, in Mark 3:17 James and John are called “Boanerges,” an expression not found in the parallels in either Matthew or Luke. Mark speaks of the “Corban” (Mark 7:11), an expression deleted in Matthew’s parallel. Cf. also Mark 7:34/Matt 15:30; etc. “In these seven illustrations the Aramaic expression is missing in all five parallel accounts in Luke and in at least five of the seven parallel accounts in Matthew. . . . for Mark to have added into his Gospel all these Aramaisms, which were not in his source(s), is unexplainable.” 25
c. Redundancy
Mark has redundant expressions on several occasions where both Matthew and Luke omit the unnecessary phrases. For example, in Matt 27:35 we read that the soldiers “divided his garments among them by casting lots”; Luke 23:34 parallels this with “they cast lots to divide his garments”; Mark, on the other hand, adds material easily implied in the others: “they divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take” (Mark 15:24). Cf. also Mark 2:18/Matt 9:14/Luke 5:33.
T. R. W. Longstaff has recently argued that Mark’s redundancies are merely conflations by Mark of what he found in Matthew and Luke. This is analogous to early Byzantine scribal tendencies to conflate material found in earlier witnesses (i.e., in Alexandrian and ‘Western’ MSS). 26 However, this view is inadequate because of the 213 conflations detected in Mark, on only 17 occasions are there two “prongs”—one in Matthew and the other in Luke—which could form the basis for conflation in Mark. 27 Thus in something quite a bit less than 10% of the instances could conflation be detected as the motive!
What further argues against the possibility of conflation is the motive:
It is difficult to think that Mark chose to eliminate such material as the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer, and the birth narratives but chose in the examples above to enlarge his accounts by the use of redundant expressions. Such a use of Matthew and Luke by Mark is much more difficult to accept than to believe that Matthew and Luke tended to make such redundant expressions shorter. The redundancy of Mark is best explained on the basis of a Markan priority. 28
3. Mark’s Harder Readings
There are several passages in Mark which paint a portrait of Jesus (or the disciples, etc.) that could be misunderstood. These passages have been altered in either Matthew or Luke or both on every occasion. It is the conviction of many NT scholars that this category is a very strong blow to the Griesbach hypothesis—and one which has not been handled adequately by Matthean prioritists. 29 Among the several possible passages which scholars have noticed, the following are particularly impressive to me. Still, the cumulative effect is what makes the biggest impression.
(1) Mark 6:5-6/Matt 13:58—“he could not do any mighty work there except . . . ”/“he did not do many works there . . . because of their unbelief.” On this text Farmer comments: “the passage offers no clear indication that . . . Matthew has ‘toned down’ a phrase in Mark which ‘might cause offense or suggest difficulties’.” 30 But this ignores the verbs used, for Mark suggests inability on Jesus’ part, while Matthew simply indicates unwillingness (οὐκ ἐδύνατο vs. οὐκ ἐποίησεν). Cf. also Mark 1:32-34/Matt 8:16/Luke 4:40 for a similar text.
(2) Mark 10:18/Matt 19:17/Luke 18:19—“Good teacher . . . Why do you call me good?” (in Mark and Luke) vs. “Teacher . . . Why do you ask me about what is good?” (Matthew). The text, as Mark has it, might imply that Jesus denies his own deity. It is apparent that Luke did not read it that way, but Matthew probably did. Indeed, in the Holtzmann/Streeter view, Matthew and Luke copied Mark independently of one another. Thus what might offend one would not necessarily offend the other. 31
(3) Mark 3:5/Luke 6:10—“he looked around at them with anger/he looked around on them all.” Matthew omits the verse entirely, though he includes material both before and after it (12:12-13). That Luke would omit a statement regarding Jesus’ anger is perfectly understandable.
(4) Mark 1:12/Matt 4:1/Luke 4:1—“the Spirit drove him into the desert” (Mark)/ “Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit” (Matthew and Luke). Mark uses the very harsh ἐκβάλλω, while Matthew and Luke use (ἀν)άγω, a much gentler term, to describe the Spirit’s role in bringing Jesus to the desert for temptation.
(5) Mark 8:24-26—the different stages of a particular healing story, omitted in Matthew and Luke. The blind man is partially healed the first time by Jesus, then fully the second time. This is the only healing story in the synoptic gospels which required two stages. Perhaps this was the reason for its omission in Matthew/Luke, or perhaps it was the fact that saliva was used as the means of healing. 32
(6) Mark 3:20-21—The statement that Jesus’ mother and brothers tried to seize him because they said that he was insane (ἐξέστη). Neither Matthew nor Luke have this verse, apparently because it would cast aspersions on Jesus’ mother and brothers.
4. The Lack of Matthew-Luke Agreements Against Mark:
The Argument from Verbal Agreements
Stein points out that “Matthew-Luke agreements against Mark are considerably less frequent than any of the other forms of agreement” 33 and that what best explains this phenomenon is Markan priority in which Matthew and Luke copied Mark independently of one another. In particular, Markan priority best answers three questions:
(1) Why at times Matthew and Mark agree against Luke—Luke diverges from his Markan source whereas Matthew does not.
(2) Why at times Mark and Luke agree against Matthew—Matthew diverges from his Markan source whereas Luke does not.
(3) Why Matthew and Luke seldom agree against Mark—this would require a coincidental change on the part of Matthew and Luke of their Markan source in exactly the same manner. 34
5. The Lack of Matthew-Luke Agreements Against Mark: The Argument from Order
What has indisputably been considered to be the strongest argument for Markan priority is the argument from order. Karl Lachmann was the first to articulate it clearly. The basic argument is both positive and negative: (1) positively: when all three gospels share pericopae, Matthew and Luke agree in the order of those pericopae a great deal; (2) negatively: when either Matthew or Luke departs from the order of Mark in the arrangement of pericopae, they never agree against Mark. To put this another way: in the narratives common to all three, Matthew and Luke agree in sequence only when they agree with Mark; when they both diverge from Mark, they both go in different directions. What best accounts for this? Most NT scholars have assumed that Markan priority does. Some have gone so far as to say that Lachmann proved Markan priority.
In recent decades, however, students of the Griesbach school have debated the argument from order. In particular, B. C. Butler in 1951 boldly called this “the Lachmann fallacy.” His argument was that “if Matthew, Mark, and Luke are directly related to one another rather than being indirectly related through some earlier source which all three have independently copied, then the phenomenon of order no more supports the priority of Mark than priority of Matthew or Luke.” 35 This is so because if Mark is the last gospel, then this author could have arranged his material on the basis of common arrangement between Matthew and Luke, and would have followed one or the other whenever they disagreed. This has been quite a tour de force for Matthean prioritists. 36
There are four problems with this tour de force. First, this view must presuppose that either Matthew used Luke or that Luke used Matthew. Once that is assumed, several problems surface that are not easily explained.
Second, on this presupposition, one has to wonder why the second gospel (i.e., Matthew or Luke using the other) diverges in its order from the first so frequently. If Luke used Matthew, for example, why did he break up the Sermon on the Mount, leaving out several pericopae? Further, why did he alter/replace the birth narrative with one less colorful—and indeed, one less well suited to his purposes?
Third, this view does not easily explain the large amount of material common to Matthew and Luke, but absent in Mark. But “if we once accept Matthew’s and Luke’s use of a major common source other than Mark to explain this common material, there seems little reason to reject the theory of Markan priority.” 37
Fourth, a careful examination of Mark 1:1–6:6 and the parallels in Matthew and Luke 38 reveals that the reasons for Luke’s/Matthew’s departures from Mark’s order are well-suited to their various literary purposes, while the supposition that Mark rearranged the material does not fit any easily detected pattern in his gospel. 39
In sum, although it would be too bold to say that Markan priority is completely demonstrated by the argument from order, it certainly looks like the most plausible view. Once it is kept in mind that historical reconstruction is concerned with probability vs. possibility, rather than absolute proof either for or against a position, Markan priority stands as quite secure.
6. Literary Agreements
“There exist in the synoptic Gospels a number of literary agreements that can best be explained on the basis of a Markan priority. These involve certain omissions and wordings that make much more sense on the basis of Matthew and/or Luke having changed their Markan source than vice versa.” 40
7. The Argument from Redaction
“Probably the most weighty argument used today in favor of a Markan priority involves the comparison of the synoptic Gospels in order to note their respective theological emphases.” 41 Most commentators assume Markan priority (the commentaries by Mann, Guelich, and Gundry are rare exceptions). “In general it would appear that a Matthean use of Mark provides a clear and consistent redactional emphasis. The same can also be said of Luke’s handling of Mark. On the other had, from the viewpoint of a Markan redaction criticism, a Markan use of Matthew (and/or Luke) seems most unlikely.” 42 Several examples can be adduced to show this.
a. Matthean Redactional Emphases Compared with Mark and Luke
1) “Son of David” 43
This phrase occurs eleven times in Matthew, four in Mark and Luke. Sheer numbers do not do this justice. Matthew begins his gospel with this phrase (1:1). Further, when a comparison is made, pericope by pericope, it can be seen that this is truly a Matthean emphasis. Cf., e.g., Matt 12:22-24/Mark 3:22/Luke 11:14-15. If Matthew were the first gospel, why would Mark and Luke omit this phrase seven times? That they have no aversion to it is seen from the four references. Further, the four references in Mark match the four in Luke, suggesting that Luke used Mark but was unaware of Matthew.
2) Fulfillment Motif
Matthew’s ten (or eleven) introductory formulae (“this was to fulfill...”) are not duplicated exactly in either Mark or Luke. Since both Mark and Luke use other introductory formulae (such as “it is written”), this shows that they too were interested in linking the life of Jesus to the OT. But would they omit all of Matthew’s formulae? It is easier to believe that Matthew added them to his copy of Mark, in order to show to Jewish Christians that Jesus truly was the Christ. “That the formula quotations are secondary additions to the text is evident in Matthew 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; and 27:9. These passages could all be simply excised from their context, and although we would be much poorer as a result, their omission would never be noticed.” 44
b. Markan Stylistic Features Compared with Matthew
1) “Immediately”
The word “immediately” (εὐθύς) is distinctively Markan, occurring over 40 times. Every time Matthew has the word, there is a parallel in Mark. Further, the alternate spelling, εὐθέως, is almost always paralleled in Mark by εὐθύς. “Of the 18,293 words found in Matthew, 10,901 have Markan parallels. In these 10,901 words, ‘immediately’ occurs seventeen times, but in the 7,392 words in Matthew that do not have a Markan parallel, it occurs only once.” 45 On the Griesbach hypothesis, we would expect to see twelve instances of “immediately” in the material which finds no parallel with Mark. In other words, Mark’s usage is consistent throughout, while Matthew’s increases only in parallels with Mark. This strongly suggests that Matthew used Mark.
2) “For”
Mark uses an explanatory γάρ in an editorial comment 34 times (of his 66 uses of this conjunction). Matthew, on the other hand, uses γάρ 11 times in editorial comments (out of his 123 total uses), ten of which parallel Mark’s usage. “Statistically [assuming Matthean priority], one would expect approximately seven such clauses [in Matthew’s non-parallel material]. On the other hand, on the basis of Markan priority, one would expect a greater occurrence of the Markan stylistic feature in the sections of Matthew that have parallels to Mark than in the other sections, and this is exactly what we find.” 46
3) Historical Present
Mark has 151 historical presents, compared to Matthew’s 78 and Luke’s nine. There was an aversion to the historical present by the most literary authors, which well explains Luke’s usage (five of his historical presents are, in fact, found in the parables of Jesus and do not belong to his own narrative style). This consistent use of the historical present by one author vs. the inconsistent use by the other two argues not only that Mark was the first gospel but also that Luke, at least, felt some aversion to the use of the historical present, and consequently chose to alter it to a more literary tense. 47
In sum, the redactional argument gains weight on a cumulative basis. When the same redactional, grammatical, and stylistic patterns emerge in one gospel but are inconsistent in another gospel, one has to ask why. If the pattern is insignificant and merely stylistic (such as the use of conjunctions), then presumably the first gospel would be the more consistent one. On the other hand, if the pattern has meaning (e.g., “Son of David”) then the omission/addition of such a rich phrase by one writer would have to be intentional. On this score, it is much easier to see why an author would add such an expression than omit it. On both fronts, then (the significant and insignificant patterns), Mark looks like the source Matthew used, rather than vice versa.
8. Mark’s More Primitive Theology
There are many lines which one could draw to illustrate Mark’s more primitive theology. One particular piece of evidence is the use of “Lord” (κύριος) in the Synoptic Gospels. Mark uses it of Jesus only six times in the triple tradition; Matthew, on the other hand, has it fifteen times in the triple tradition. “It seems reasonable, simply on the basis of numbers, to understand the greater number of instances in which Jesus is called kyrios in Matthew as a secondary development in which this favorite title of the early church is read more and more into the gospel accounts.” 48 When one compares all three gospels in their triple tradition, it is evident that nowhere does Mark have “Lord” when either Matthew or Luke has a more primitive term (such as “Rabbi,” or “Teacher”), but on several occasions either Matthew or Luke changes Mark’s less colorful term to “Lord.”
9. Conclusion
To sum up reasons for Markan priority, the following eight arguments have been given.
(1) The argument from length. Although Mark’s Gospel is shorter, it is not an abridgment, nor a gospel built exclusively on Matthew-Luke agreement. In fact, where its pericopae parallel Matthew and/or Luke, Mark’s story is usually the longest. The rich material left out of his gospel is inexplicable on the Griesbach hypothesis.
(2) The argument from grammar. Matthew and especially Luke use better grammar and literary style than Mark, suggesting that they used Mark, but improved on it.
(3) The argument from harder readings. On the analogy of early scribal habits, Luke and Matthew apparently removed difficulties from Mark’s Gospel in making their own. If Matthean priority is assumed, then what is inexplicable is why Mark would have introduced such difficulties.
(4) The argument from verbal agreement. There are fewer Matthew-Luke verbal agreements than any other two-gospel verbal agreements. This is difficult to explain on the Griesbach hypothesis, much easier on the Lachmann/Streeter hypothesis.
(5) The argument from agreement in order. Not only do Luke and Matthew never agree with each other when they depart from Mark’s order, but the reasons for this on the assumption of Markan priority are readily available while on Matthean priority they are not.
(6) The argument from literary agreements. Very close to the redactional argument, this point stresses that on literary analysis, it is easier to see Matthew’s use of Mark than vice versa.
(7) The argument from redaction. The redactional emphases in Mark, especially in his stylistic minutiae, are only inconsistently found in Matthew and Luke, while the opposite is not true. In other words, Mark’s style is quite consistent, while Luke and Matthew are inconsistent—when they parallel Mark, there is consistency; when they diverge, they depart from such. This suggests that Mark was the source for both Matthew and Luke.
(8) The argument from Mark’s more primitive theology. On many fronts Mark seems to display a more primitive theology than either Luke or Matthew. This suggests that Matthew and Luke used Mark, altering the text to suit their purposes.
Of these eight arguments, the ones that have been most convincing to me are (in order): the argument from order, the argument from Mark’s harder readings (including his more primitive theology), 49 the argument from length, and the argument from redaction. On the other hand, what those of the Griesbach school have failed at is to give a convincing reason as to why Mark was ever written. And once written, why would it ever be preserved? 50
There are still two questions which must be resolved if Markan priority is to be established as the most probable hypothesis. First, there are numerous places where Matthew and Luke have common material that is absent from Mark. This raises the question as to whether they both used a common source or whether one borrowed from the other. Markan prioritists would say that they both used a common source—given the title “Q” 51 (whose nature and existence are disputed)—while Matthean prioritists would argue that Luke used Matthew. Second, there are minor agreements between Matthew and Luke in triple tradition passages which suggest some kind of literary borrowing between these two—if so, then Markan priority is thereby damaged (for Matthew and Luke, in this case, would not have used Mark independently of one another).
C. The Existence of Q
Matthew and Luke have in common about 235 verses not found in Mark. 52 The verbal agreements between these two is often as striking as it is between Matthew and Mark, Mark and Luke, or Matthew and Mark and Luke. Cf., e.g., Matt 6:24/Luke 16:13; Matt 7:7-11/Luke 11:9-13. Only two viable reasons for such parallels can be given: either one gospel writer knew and used the gospel of the other, or both used a common source. Lukan priority is virtually excluded on the basis of a number of considerations (not the least of which is his improved grammar, as well as the major gap in his use of Mark), 53 leaving Matthean priority as the only viable option for intra-gospel borrowing. There are a number of considerations against this, however, as well as a number of arguments in favor of the existence of Q.
1. Did Luke Not Know Matthew?
a. Luke’s Lack of Matthean Additions to the Triple Tradition
“One of the strongest arguments against the use of Matthew by Luke is the fact that when Matthew has additional material in the triple tradition (‘Matthean additions to the narrative’), it is ‘never’ found in Luke.” 54 In particular, one ought to note the fulfillment motif of Matthew which is not duplicated in Luke (cf. Matt 8:16-17/Mark 1:32-34/Luke 4:40-41). There is a double problem for the Griesbach school in passages of this sort: (1) Why would Luke omit such rich material, especially since it would well serve the purpose of his gospel? (2) How can we account for the fact that both Luke and Mark omit this material? In the Holtzmann/Streeter hypothesis, however, Luke copied Mark as he had it, while Matthew added material. “If Matthew and Luke both used Mark independently, we would expect that their editorial additions to the account would seldom, if ever, agree with one another. Rather, they would appear as ‘Matthean additions’ and ‘Lukan additions’ to the narratives. And this is exactly what we find.” 55
b. Luke’s Different Context for the Q Material
If Luke used Matthew, why does he never place the common (double tradition) material in the same context as it appears in Matthew? Matthew has five well-defined sections of sayings of Jesus which are, for the most part, absent in Mark but present in Luke. In each he concludes the section with “and when Jesus finished these sayings.” But Luke scatters these sayings throughout his gospel. The most common explanation is that Matthew has rearranged the Q material into five topics, while Luke has simply incorporated Q into his document. 56 “The thesis that Luke obtained the Q material from Matthew cannot explain why Luke would have rearranged this material in a totally different and ‘artistically inferior’ format.” 57
c. Luke’s More Primitive Context for the Q Material
“The arrangement of the material in Matthew is extremely well done. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) ranks as one of the greatest works of literature ever written. Why would Luke, who was by no means an inept writer, choose to break up this masterpiece and scatter its material in a far less artistic fashion throughout his Gospel?” 58 Again, this argument assumes that Matthew has rearranged Q and Luke has not, and it is supported by the premise that Luke’s arrangement is inferior. This argument cannot carry as much weight as Stein gives it if Luke’s structure is also highly artistic, as has recently been demonstrated. However, it still bears some weight: if Luke’s structure is highly artistic as well as Matthew’s, there is every likelihood that both authors have rearranged the material.
d. The Form of the Q Material
On the Griesbach hypothesis, if Luke used Matthew, we would expect Luke to have a more refined development (in theology, dominical sayings, etc.), and Matthew would evidence greater primitivity. Yet, there are times when Matthew is more developed theologically (e.g., the use of κύριος to describe Jesus, etc.). If, on the other hand, both used Q (and Mark) independently of one another, we would expect both gospels to alternate between primitivity and development. This, indeed, is what is found. For example, the Lord’s Prayer in Matt 6:9-13 is more elaborate than it is in Luke 11:2-4 (especially in that it adds “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”). Yet, at the same time, it displays greater primitivity in that it says “forgive us our trespasses” while Luke has “forgive us our sins.” In Matt 7:9-11/Luke 11:11-13 we see that “your heavenly Father gives good things to those who ask him” in Matthew, while he “gives the Holy Spirit” in Luke. Further, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew speaks of “the poor in spirit” and those who “hunger for righteousness” while Luke simply refers to the poor and the hungry. Matthew clearly has a more developed articulation of the implication of Jesus’ words than does Luke. 59
Overall, Luke has a greater number of harder readings than does Matthew in the common material. This is quite difficult to explain on the basis of Matthean priority. Especially is this so when Luke’s gospel involves certain motifs that would have benefited from Matthew’s articulation. Personally, I regard this as a very strong argument against Matthean priority.
e. Matthew’s and Luke’s Lack of Agreement in Order
Although (as it has been pointed out) Matthew’s and Luke’s complete lack of agreement in order whenever they disagree with Mark does not prove Markan priority, if Markan priority is assumed, this does establish that Matthew and Luke used Mark independently of one another. Thus, at least one permutation is negated by this evidence, viz., that either Matthew used Luke or Luke used Matthew as a secondary source. 60
f. Luke’s Lack of M Material
Finally, the fact that Luke lacks the ‘M’ material (material unique to Matthew) and, conversely, the fact that Matthew lacks the ‘L’ material, argues that neither knew the other. It should be carefully noted that this is not circular reasoning, though on the face of it it seems to be. As soon as we define ‘M’ as material unique to Matthew, then of course Luke would lack it! But that is not the real point of this argument. Rather, it is that there is so much material in Matthew—and rich material at that—which would in all probability have been utilized by Luke had he known of it, that for him not to have used it strongly suggests that he did not know of its existence. (The same can be said for Matthew’s lack of ‘L’ material.) For example, Luke lacks the coming of the magi to Jesus after his birth (Matt 2:1-12)—yet these are Gentiles (a key motif in Luke-Acts). The flight to Egypt, the Great Commission (again, picking up a motif relevant to a Gentile audience) are also missing. In fact, Luke has almost no narrative (as opposed to didactic) material that is not found in Mark. Further, Luke’s birth narrative is so different from Matthew’s that one wonders why he would not try to harmonize it better, assuming that he thought Matthew’s account was reliable. 61
As Stein points out,
It is, of course, impossible to know what was going through the mind of Luke when he wrote and why he might have omitted this or that account from his Gospel. Such mental acts are beyond the capacity of the exegete to reconstruct with any certainty. Nevertheless, it is possible to discuss which procedure appears more probable in light of how an Evangelist handles the other material found in his Gospel. It would therefore appear that Luke’s use of Matthew is improbable, due to the lack of his incorporation of the M material into his Gospel. 62
In other words, historical reconstruction belongs to the realm of probability vs. possibility, not truth vs. falsehood or certainty vs. uncertainty. To be sure, it is possible that Matthew’s Gospel was the first—and none of the arguments for Markan priority can completely erase that possibility. But whether it most probably is the first gospel is another issue. The arguments for Markan priority speak loudly against that supposition. 63
To sum up, if Luke did not use Matthew (as the evidence seems to indicate), then why do Matthew and Luke share so much common material not found in Mark? The only solution is that they got their information from a common source. But was this source oral tradition or a written document? We will deal with this question in the next section, and finally conclude with arguments for the existence of Q.
2. Was “Q” a Written Source?
Scholars have presented four primary arguments that Q was a single, written document.
a. The Exactness of Wording
Many common pericopae between Matthew and Luke have identical or near identical wording, such as is common to triple tradition material. If the exactness of wording in the triple tradition argues that Matthew and Luke used a written document—namely, Mark—as the source, it would seem that double tradition exactness would argue for a written document shared by Matthew and Luke—namely, Q. However, two points militate against this to some degree: (1) There are not nearly as many pericopae in Matthew-Luke as there are in Matthew-Mark-Luke (or Matthew-Mark or Mark-Luke). (2) Several of the pericopae shared by Matthew and Luke have quite dissimilar wording. Thus, Q does not altogether parallel Mark either in quantity (number of pericopae) or quality (identical wording). The evidence, on the whole, argues that Q was both a written document and oral traditions.
b. The Order of the Material
Although there are several disagreements in order in the Q material between Matthew and Luke, there are also some general correspondences, and a few that are even striking. 64 Still, “if Matthew’s and Luke’s use of Mark can serve as a pattern for how they used their sources, at least one of them did not use his Q source in the same way that he used Mark!” 65 Overall, the argument from order still carries some weight, though there seems to be the distinct possibility that Q was both a written document and oral traditions.
c. “Doublets” in Matthew and Luke
Several scholars see doublets as the primary evidence of a written Q. A doublet “refers to the appearance of the same account or text two times in a Gospel.” 66 Usually this is a saying of Jesus, though scholars have detected a small number of narratives that seem to be doublets. What is most significant about these doublets is that in almost all of them, one half of the doublet is paralleled in Mark and one half in Q. Altogether, scholars have detected eleven such doublets in Luke and twenty-two in Matthew. 67 For example, Matthew records twice the dominical saying about cutting off the offending appendage. Matthew records this saying in Matt 5:29-30 and 18:8-9; it is found in Mark 9:45, 47. Yet, only one of these Matthean texts actually parallels Mark’s passage. Matthew 18:8-9 parallels Mark 9:45, 47 in (1) its arrangement in relation to other pericopae, (2) the amount of verbal agreement, 68 and (3) the order and amount of offending body parts within the pericope (Matt 5 has right eye, right hand; Matt 18/Mark 9 have hand, foot, eye [‘right’ is not mentioned in either]).
As striking as these examples are, they stop short of proving that Q was a written source, though they do strongly suggest that Matthew and Luke had some common source besides Mark.
d. A Common Vocabulary and Style
This last argument has suggested that there is a common vocabulary and style in the Q material, suggesting that it is more than mere oral tradition. However, snippets of dominical sayings are so guided by form-critical concerns, 69 as well as by the possibility of ipsissima verba and certainly ipsissima vox, that these cannot prove a written document. 70 Consequently, most scholars have abandoned this approach in the latter part of the twentieth century.
To sum up, that Q existed is a necessary postulate of Markan priority. For many scholars, this is the very weakness of that hypothesis. But given the severe problems of the other approaches to the interdependence of the gospels, Markan priority stands out as by far the most plausible. If it is true, then Q existed. But what shape did it take? I am inclined to think that Q represented both a written source and oral traditions. I do not think that it has been proved that Q was only a written source. This can especially be measured when one compares the use of Mark in Matthew-Luke with that of Q. If Q was a single written source, it was used in a way that is quite different from how Mark was used.
3. Conclusion
By way of conclusion, we want to address the arguments against the existence of Q (regardless of what kind of source Q really was).
There are three principle arguments against the existence of Q: (1) Why was it not preserved? (2) If it existed, it apparently consisted almost exclusively of dominical sayings, lacking the birth narrative, the resurrection, etc. Is it conceivable that such a document could have been produced? (3) “It requires a certain overlapping with the materials in order to explain such Matthew-Luke agreements as we find in the baptismal accounts . . . ; the Beelzebul incident . . . ; the parable of the mustard seed . . . ; and the mission charge . . . . The overlapping of the Q material with Mark has often been viewed as an embarrassment for the Q hypothesis and has even been sarcastically referred to as the ‘blessed overlap.’” 71 We will address these arguments in chiastic fashion.
First, one should expect some degree of overlap between Q and Mark, especially in the dominical sayings. Not only do the doublets show this, but the fact that both are dealing with the same person would make zero overlap almost inconceivable.
. . . on a purely theoretical basis, it would be most unusual if two sources concerning Jesus, such as Mark and Q, did not overlap in some way. After all, they do deal with the same person, with incidents in his life and sayings that he uttered, so that some overlap would be expected. The issue of overlap serves as an embarrassment for the Q hypothesis only if the hypothesis requires an inordinate amount of such overlapping and is inherently “unlikely” in individual instances. Overlap in the baptism accounts, for example, is by no means that surprising. 72
Second, as strange as it may sound to modern ears to think that a document simply of sayings of Jesus might have existed at some time—and would have been meaningful to the early Christians—there are parallels to this.
(1) First, and most important, is the Gospel of Thomas which comprises 114 sayings of Jesus without any connection between them. Although this was a heretical document written at a later date, the analogy is not disturbed: a book of Jesus’ sayings had meaning in the early church.
(2) Second, if Papias’ statement about Matthew writing the λογία of Jesus in Hebrew is authentic in any way, then even Matthew himself might have written a book or several pamphlets of dominical sayings. 73 In the Fragments of Papias 2:16 (preserved by Eusebius), Papias says this about Matthew’s Gospel: 74 “And concerning Matthew he said the following: ‘Instead [of writing in Greek], 75 Matthew arranged the oracles 76 in the Hebrew dialect, and each man interpreted them as he was able.’”
(3) Third, there were several agrapha “floating” around in the first two or three centuries of the Church which many patristic writers felt were authentic dominical sayings. Several of them even crept into MSS of the Gospels. It is quite possible that portions of Q have been preserved for us in the agrapha. And if this is not the case, in the least something like Q has been preserved in these agrapha, though in an admittedly fragmentary way. 77
Third, why was Q not preserved? As we have suggested, it may well have been preserved in part—either as part of Matthew (who may have authored some of it in the first place), or in the agrapha found in the gospel MSS and among patristic citations. But beyond this are three other considerations. (1) First, in light of Luke’s preface, he apparently used a lot of materials which were not preserved. Why should Q be any different? On any view, the canonical gospels absorbed the best of the previous written documents. (2) Second, transmission history reveals that non-canonical books did not get copied very much at all. (3) Third, patristic writers (and other ancient writers) frequently mention books—and very important and valuable books, judging by their descriptions—which are no longer extant. Why should Q be an exception to this? In light of all this, it is hardly surprising that we do not have Q (especially if it was fragmentary, and, in part, merely oral tradition). Indeed, it would be most surprising if Q was preserved past the end of the first century! 78
D. The Matthew-Luke Agreements Against Mark
In this final section on the synoptic problem, we will consider what has been termed as “the major stumbling-block for acceptance of the two-source hypothesis”:
Clearly the key question and major stumbling-block for acceptance of the two-source hypothesis . . . involves the issue of the various Matthew-Luke agreements against Mark. If these “require” that Luke knew (used) Matthew, then both the Q hypothesis and the priority of Mark become questionable. Q would then become unnecessary, for its existence is dependent on Matthew and Luke not knowing each other’s work. Also, although one could still argue for Markan priority if Luke used Matthew, many of the arguments for Markan priority would have been compromised and a Matthean priority would become more attractive. 79
To be more specific, there are, in the triple tradition pericopes, four different kinds of minor agreements between Matthew and Luke that are not shared by Mark: (1) agreement in omission of details found in Mark; (2) agreement in addition of details not found in Mark; (3) agreement in expressions and wording against Mark; and (4) agreement in divergence from Mark’s expressions. Altogether, scholars have detected between 272 and 770 minor agreements. 80 Our approach will be to look at three categories of minor agreements (organized on a somewhat different principle than above, though excluding none of it), with an attempted response from the Holtzmann/Streeter school.
1. Matthew-Luke Agreements in Omission
The great majority of Matthew-Luke agreements belong to this category (180 of the 272, according to Stoldt). This is quite significant, because “if Matthew and Luke omit respectively 6,593 and 8,038 words of Mark’s 11,025 words, there would have to be numerous agreements in omission as a matter of course! 81 Not only this, but the argument cuts both ways: If Mark were the last gospel, what is to explain his 180 additions—especially if his was an “abridged” version? Further, on the assumption of Markan priority, if Matthew and Luke wanted to add material from other sources (e.g., Q), many of their common omissions are quite predictable, in light of Mark’s redundancies, Aramaic expressions, etc.
2. Matthew-Luke Agreements in Grammar and Editing
There are scores of agreements between Matthew and Luke against Mark in terms of grammar and editing. On the assumption of Matthean priority, these may well look impressive. But on the assumption of Markan priority, they seem quite irrelevant. Four kinds are discussed below.
a. Historical Present
Mark uses the historical present 151 times; Matthew, 78; Luke, 9. The data can be used to argue for several different hypotheses. Stein summarizes well how they are used both by those of the Griesbach school and those of the Holtzmann/Streeter school:
Farmer has argued that Luke did not have a strong aversion to the use of the historical present since he has six examples of this in his non-Mark material. This argument is fallacious, however, because according to Farmer, Luke used Matthew. If Luke avoided at least seventy-two of the seventy-eight times in which the historical present is found in Matthew, certainly we cannot disallow his seeking to do the same if he used Mark! Actually the one clear example we possess of how the historical present is treated by a later gospel writer is found in the Gospel of Luke. Luke’s clear tendency, whether he used Matthew or Mark, is to eliminate the historical present. On the basis of the two-document hypothesis, all we need to do to explain these agreements is to presume that Matthew had a similar, although not as thorough, tendency in this area as Luke. On the other hand, according to the Griesbach Hypothesis, we must explain two equally strong but opposite tendencies: Luke sought to avoid the historical present in his Matthean source, and Mark sought to add the historical present to his Matthean source, even though his Lukan source avoided it. To explain the data, the Griesbach Hypothesis therefore requires two totally opposite tendencies on the part of Mark and Luke. The two-source hypothesis does not. The Griesbach Hypothesis also has difficulties in explaining why Mark, with his strong inclination toward using the historical present, did not follow Matthew in the following instances when he has the historical present in the triple tradition: Matthew 8:26; 9:28; 15:12; 17:20; 19:7, and 8. The theory that Matthew and Luke did not know each other does not encounter any real problem in this particular type of Matthew-Luke agreement against Mark. 82
b. Coordinating Conjunctions
In over 30 instances Matthew and Luke use δεv while Mark in the parallel passage uses καιv. This is hardly an argument for Matthean priority, for (1) Matthew and Luke both use δεv approximately twice as often as does Mark; (2) literary Greek tried to avoid simple paratactic constructions (especially the overuse of καί)—hence, a more literary author would tend to replace καιv with other conjunctions; (3) it has been demonstrated that the apocryphal gospels based on Mark tended to replace καιv with δεv. 83
c. Verb Usage
As we have discussed earlier, Mark uses φέρω in the sense of “to lead” where Matthew and Luke use the more correct ἄγω. This kind of agreement is, therefore, quite predictable, given Markan priority and given Luke’s and Matthew’s superior literary skills.
d. Miscellaneous
Again, there are a number of miscellaneous agreements between Matthew and Luke which are quite predictable given Markan priori. For example, Matthew and Luke have the more natural and chronologically correct “Moses and Elijah” while Mark has “Elijah with Moses” (Mark 9:4) in the transfiguration account; Matthew and Luke give Herod the more accurate title “tetrarch” while Mark calls him “king” (Mark 6:14); Matthew and Luke speak of Jesus’ resurrection as occurring “on the third day” rather than the more confusing “after three days” (Mark 8:31; 10:34); etc. 84 Indeed, these minor agreements are so predictable, given Markan priori, that rather than supporting the Griesbach hypothesis, they strongly confirm the two-source hypothesis!
3. The Most Significant Matthew-Luke Agreements
To be sure, not all the Matthew-Luke agreements are capable of such an easy explanation if Markan priority is true. The number of really significant agreements varies with different scholars: “Fitzmyer lists six: Matthew 26:68, 75; 17:3, 17; 9:7, 20 and their parallels; Hawkins lists twenty[-one]; and Stoldt apparently lists fifty-seven.” 85 Among the most significant of these are the following (listed only by Markan reference): Mark 1:7-8; 2:12; 14:65; 3:24, 26-29; 5:27; 6:33; 9:2, 19; 14:72.
Rather than discuss these passages one by one (this paper is already too long!), we will suggest a four-fold complex of reasons as to why such agreements could take place. What should be noted at the outset is two things: (1) since the synoptic problem is not really solved on a single issue, but is rather based on strong cumulative evidence, the very paucity of significant examples of Matthew-Luke agreements is very telling; 86 (2) the most significant kind of significant problem will involve places where Matthew and Luke are perceived to be more primitive than Mark. Yet again, even if one or two examples could be produced (and they can), this does not overthrow both the quality and quantity of examples produced on the other side: on almost all fronts Mark’s Gospel appears more primitive.
4. Explanations for the Matthew-Luke Agreements
a. Coincidences Caused by their Redactional Treatment of Mark
As we have argued, many of the less significant agreements between Matthew and Luke can be explained this way (e.g., the omission of the historical present), although few, if any, of the most significant agreements can.
b. The Overlapping of Q
Although one has to be careful not to appeal to Q simply to get out of a difficulty, 87
it is inconceivable to think that along with Mark (or Matthew or Luke!) there were not also other collections of sayings or gospel-like collections that existed. Time and time again they must have overlapped. Hypothetically there is therefore no reason why Matthew and Luke could not have been influenced by such accounts in the writing of their Gospels. If Farmer can appeal to overlapping traditions, why cannot Streeter? . . . Possibly the Matthew-Luke agreements against Mark in the baptismal accounts can be explained in this manner. Other agreements that may be due to such overlapping are the temptation, the Beelzebul controversy, the parable of the mustard seed, and the mission charge. 88
To elaborate on but one example given above: in John the Baptist’s preaching, after all three gospels record him as saying, “I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8), both Matthew and Luke add “and with fire” and then the threat about the winnowing fork (Matt 3:11-12/Luke 3:16-17). But in light of John the Baptist’s message being found in all four gospels, it is obvious that a common oral tradition was known to all four evangelists. There is, then, in this very pericope, evidence of the intermingling of Mark and oral tradition in Luke and Matthew. Whether Q was oral tradition or a written source in this instance, there should be no surprise about overlapping traditions.
c. Textual Corruption
This category has been argued in various ways. For example, Streeter felt that our present copies of Matthew and Luke (i.e., the current critical text of Westcott-Hort used in his day) may be corrupt. Hence, if we were to restore the text properly these minor agreements would disappear. Although there is merit in the text-critical principle of disharmony, 89 one must never use this to the neglect of the external evidence. Otherwise, this approach looks suspiciously like the tail wagging the dog! For the most part, however, the modern critical texts have excellent credentials in the external evidence. Yet, a few significant Matthew-Luke agreements still remain (even where no MSS produce a disharmony). Thus, this explanation cannot handle all the data. 90
d. Overlapping Oral Traditions
In Stein’s argument for Markan priority in the face of the minor Matthew-Luke agreements, he lists overlapping oral traditions separately from Q. But if Q = a written source and oral traditions, then this really is not a separate category. 91 Nevertheless, regarding oral traditions, a further point could be made: if certain oral traditions were known and well rehearsed from the earliest days, they would be more familiar to Matthew and Luke than Mark’s Gospel. Hence, if Mark’s Gospel deviated from the oral tradition, Matthew and Luke would be expected to follow the more familiar oral tradition.
In sum, these four reasons for minor Matthew-Luke agreements can explain, to a large extent, why Matthew and Luke have those minor agreements. Indeed, they explain even the most significant Matthew-Luke agreements. However, there is one category of agreement that would seem difficult to explain on this hypothesis: material in the triple tradition in which Matthew and Luke have a more primitive expression than Mark does. Are there any such places where Mark’s phrase is more developed than both Matthew and Luke’s? The answer to this is a qualified “yes.” I have noticed one text in the triple tradition in which Mark is more developed than Matthew-Luke. 92 In Mark 14:62, Jesus’ response to the high priest as to whether he was the Christ is “I am” while in Matthew-Luke his response is “you have said it/you say so” (Matt. 26:64/Luke 22:70). 93 Although it is possible to see oral tradition playing a strong role especially in a text such as this, one still has to wonder why Matthew and Luke would not alter the text to the stronger affirmation found in Mark. Still, in the overall scheme of things, one text 94 is hardly enough to overthrow Markan priori—especially when there are scores of passages in Mark which give the appearance of being much more primitive than either Matthew or Luke.
E. Conclusion and Implications
By way of conclusion, the evidence seems overwhelmingly to support Markan priority. With the labors of William R. Farmer et al., however, the issue is once more becoming alive in English-speaking circles. Perhaps a new breakthrough in how we view the literary relationships is on the horizon. Until then, one has to operate under some hypothesis. And mine is the two-source hypothesis.
The implications of this affect authorship, date, and purpose of the first three gospels. In particular, these areas are impacted once a fairly firm date for Acts can be established. If Acts was written toward the end of Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (c. 61-2 CE), 95 then Luke must have preceded it. And if Luke preceded it, Mark must have preceded Luke (mid to late 50s seems most probable). Further, if both Matthew and Luke used Mark independently of one another, it is difficult to conceive of Matthew having been written much later than 62, even if he were cut off as it were from the literary fruits of the nascent Church. Mid-60s would seem to be the latest date for Matthew. Once such a date is assigned for each of these books, then their traditional authorship becomes virtually unassailable. And the purpose for each book would need to be found within the framework of such a date. There is one more implication which can be made from all this, in regard to date: if neither Matthew nor Luke knew of each other’s work, but both knew and used Mark, how long would it take before someone such as John would become aware of any of these books? Since Gardner-Smith demonstrated long ago John’s independence of the Synoptic Gospels, such independence becomes increasingly incredible with every passing year. There is the very distinct possibility that John, too, was written in the mid-60s. 96
1 Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987.
2 Indeed, I have found Stein’s book so helpful a synthesis of the issues involved, that to a some degree our comments here will be merely a distillation of his work. It should be mentioned, however, that his book is mistitled, for it is not really an even-handed approach to the synoptic problem, but a defense of the priority of Mark.
3 Remarkably, Bo Reicke, in the last book he ever published, argued that the interrelationship among the synoptic writers was that of oral tradition rather than literary (i.e., documentary) borrowing (B. Reicke, The Roots of the Synoptic Gospels [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986]). As careful a scholar as Reicke has always shown himself to be during his career, it is difficult to see in this work much of substance. In the least the argumentation seems strained at several points, and is often built upon speculation, mere possibility, or argument from silence, rather than sound scholarship.
4 Stein, Synoptic Problem, 37.
66 Ibid., 107.
67 Ibid., 107. See Hawkins, Horae Synopticae, 80-107, for the data.
68 Matthew 5:29-30 has only twenty words in common with Mark 9:45, 47, while Matt 18:8-9 has more than fifty (Hawkins, Horae Synopticae, 83).
69 By this we simply mean that the oral tradition certainly lent shape to different kinds of forms, such as healing stories, pronouncement stories, miracles, etc. This is hardly saying any more than that a TV weather report will not resemble the headline stories in form, nor the sports update. By way of comparison, the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas contains 114 snippets of dominical sayings, each imbibing in a similar form—and that form coming very close to the form of dominical sayings found in the canonical gospels. This does not mean, however, either that Thomas has authentic sayings of Jesus or even that it was the work of one author.
70 One could see an analogy in oral traditions about famous people. For example, if I were to attempt to imitate Richard Nixon, I would stretch my arms over my head, flashing the victory sign, and begin with “My fellow Americans . . . .” Such a form, however, does not presuppose a written document—even though it would be universally known.
71 Stein, Synoptic Problem, 110.
72 Ibid. We can add here an analogy. Over fifty years ago, P. Gardner-Smith virtually proved Johannine independence from the Synoptic Gospels. Yet, there are some common accounts found in all four gospels (e.g., the feeding of the five thousand, the cleansing of the temple, the statements about John the Baptist, certain dominical sayings, etc.). And in these common accounts there are occasionally remarkable verbal parallels. Yet, if John did not employ the synoptics to write his gospel, why are these parallels so remarkable? There must have been a common oral tradition that both John and the synoptics drew from. If this is so where all four gospels are concerned, then could it not also be so where only three are concerned? In fact, this creates the distinct possibility that, at times, Matthew and/or Luke altered Mark in light of the oral tradition with which they were more familiar.
73 It is my tentative opinion, though I cannot develop it in this paper, that Matthew might have written several pamphlets of dominical sayings in Aramaic. This is what Papias is referring to (λογία, after all, is not “acts” but “discourses, sayings,”). When Mark’s Gospel was published, Matthew’s audience wanted a framework for the sayings of Jesus. It would have been at this time that Matthew organized the sayings into five thematic units, and used Mark’s Gospel as a framework for them. One of the evidences of this internally is that the narrative material in Matthew is almost merely “stage setting” for the didactic material—each narrative section (except for the birth and passion narratives) concludes with a message by Jesus. The point is that Matthew himself may well have written a document very much like Q (is it even possible that he wrote Q?!).
74 The above is my translation, taken from the most recent critical edition of The Fragments of Papias.
75 μὲν οὖν—this both looks back and is mildly contrastive (‘rather, indeed’). The contrast could either be to the language or to the arrangement.
76 τὰ λογία—if Papias had just spoken of Mark’s gospel, then the reference is to the same thing (i.e., oral tradition about the life of Jesus). But if Eusebius is merely quoting without giving us a proper context (i.e., if Eusebius has juxtaposed two statements by Papias about the gospel writers which, when originally written, were in different contexts), then τὰ λογία could refer to the sayings of Jesus. (The problem with seeing Papias’ statements as coming from different contexts is both the subject matter [composition of the gospels] and the connective μὲν οὖν.)
Nevertheless, in light of the possibility that Papias was speaking about the sayings of Jesus, I suggest the following hypothesis about the composition of the first two gospels. Mark recorded Peter’s messages about Jesus while Peter was still alive. At about the same time, Matthew published isolated sayings of Jesus in Aramaic for his and other Jewish-Christian communities. He would, therefore, have been unaware of Mark’s work, just as Mark would have been unaware of Matthew’s. Over the next few years, the dominical material of Matthew would have been translated into Greek. At the same time, Matthew’s own community wanted a framework for these sayings, in light of the publication of Mark’s Gospel. Mark was at hand for the framework, and some of Mark’s material duplicated Matthew’s (e.g., the Olivet Discourse) and was already in Greek. Hence, Matthew used Mark as his basic framework, even where sermonic material was found in Mark. Then, Matthew reorganized these isolated sayings of Jesus into five great sermons (though one was already found in Mark—viz., the Olivet Discourse). For the rest, Matthew simply supplemented Mark with a fulfillment-motif, birth narrative, etc. This hypothesis both affirms Markan priority and Papias’ statement about Matthew’s ‘Hebrew.’ As well, it strongly affirms that Matthew implicitly recognized the reliability of Mark’s Gospel. Still, it does leave several questions open: (1) Does Papias really mean ‘sermons’ when he writes τὰ λογία for Matthew, but oral tradition or worse, historical narrative when he refers to Mark’s λογία? (See Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, s.v., λογίον [806], for definitions of Papias’ usage as an argument for our hypothesis.) The quotation by Eusebius seems to imply that the same idea is meant for both authors. (2) If Papias really meant Jesus’ sermons for Matthew’s logiva, then he seems to be privy to a very short-lived tradition (i.e., from the time of the writing of the sermons to their packaging in a Greek gospel), without evidencing knowledge of the Greek gospel itself. (3) Internally, there are still problems between the two gospels: the overlap of the Olivet Discourse seems especially to abandon Ockham’s razor for our hypothesis. Still, if this hypothesis (or a modification of it) has validity, it satisfies not only Markan priority and Papias’ reliability, but also gives strong precedence for something like Q in that Matthew himself would originally have been interested only in the sayings of Jesus.
77 Nevertheless, if Q were more than one document, the fragmentary nature of the agrapha makes them a very close parallel indeed!
78 Once the gospels were produced, why would anyone want to make copies of Q? If not, then the most recent copies of Q would have been from the first century. And since we have no extant New Testament MSS from the first century, why should we expect copies of Q to survive?
79 Stein, Synoptic Problem, 113-14.
80 Ibid., 114. The divergences are due to the very definitions involved.
81 Ibid., 116. Stein quotes Streeter to the same effect: “. . . it would have been quite impossible for two persons to abbreviate practically every paragraph in the whole of Mark without concurring in a large number of their omissions.”
82 Stein, Synoptic Problem, 119-20.
83 The first and third points are mentioned by Stein, 120.
84 Cf. Stein, Synoptic Problem, 121, for more examples.
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What shape is rigatoni pasta? | Pasta Shapes Dictionary - Pasta Fits
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Pasta Shapes Dictionary
There is a pasta shape to complement every pasta dish out there. Pairing the correct pasta shape can make a big difference in your overall satisfaction when cooking.
Pasta shapes with holes or ridges like mostaccioli or radiatore are perfect for chunkier sauces, but remember no matter what shape you chose, portion control is key.
The Shapes
Acini di Pepe
(“Peppercorn”) Acini di Pepe is perfect to use in soup recipes. Include them with plenty of vegetables in broths and you’ll have a wonderful outcome.
Alphabet Pasta
This favorite kids’ shape makes any meal fun. Have a child that’s too picky to eat their veggies? Pair alphabet pasta with some vegetables or soup to win them over.
Recipes
Anelli
Small rings of pasta. It can be used in various soups and is also a complement to the fresh vegetables in a number of salads. Its smaller version, Anellini, can also be used in its place.
Recipes
Angel Hair
Long, thin noodle with a round shape. It can be used with light sauces and vegetables as well as traditional Italian sauces. Although it resembles another spaghetti, another long and thin pasta, Angel hair is much more fine.
Recipes
Bucatini
This straw-like pasta is shaped like thick Spaghetti but is hollow in the center. Bucatini is the perfect choice for nearly any sauce, or it can be baked in casseroles or stirfried in dishes. Try it with different lean proteins and sauces for a change of pace.
Recipes
Campanelle
(“Bells”) Campanelle pasta resembles a small cone with a ruffled edge. Campanelle pasta can be paired with lean proteins, vegetables or sauces of any base. These shapes can also be a treat in a cold pasta salad.
Recipes
Cappelletti
Cappelletti pasta is folded and then twisted to form the shape of a small hat. On occasion, this pasta is sometimes referred to as an alpine hat.
Recipes
Cavatappi
(“Corkscrew”) The tight spiral locks-in the flavor, allowing the shape to pair with both simple and sophisticated sauces. Pair Cavatappi with sauces of any base or partner it with vegetables or lean protein and this pasta is sure to impress. Also, these shapes are great when used in pasta salads.
Recipes
Casarecce
Casarecce pasta is shaped like a very narrow, twisted and rolled tube. This pasta is best used when served with chunky sauce and can be used in a variety of casserole dishes.
Recipes
Cavatelli
Cavatelli resembles tiny hot dog buns. These shapes are commonly served with thick, chunky sauces or in pasta salads. Cavatelli pairs nicely with meat, cream, seafood or vegetable sauces.
Recipes
Conchiglie (Shells in Small, Medium, and Large)
Shells make a great addition to soups or as the base of a wonderful salad. For a fun twist on a time-honored tradition, try remaking your favorite Macaroni and Cheese using Shells. Large Shells are best when stuffed with your favorite mixtures of cheese, meat and vegetables. Stuff with meat flavored with taco seasoning, top with salsa and bake for a delicious Mexican dish, or create your own stuffed treat.
Recipes
Ditalini
(“Little Thimbles”) This versatile shape can be used as the base of any dish. Bake it, stir it into soups, or create great salads and stir-fry dishes.
Recipes
Egg Noodles (Medium and Wide)
(From “Nudel,” German meaning paste with egg) – This size of Egg Noodle can be baked, tossed in soups or salads, or topped with cream, tomato, cheese or meat sauces. Go beyond the traditional Stroganoff and use Wide Egg Noodles to create soups, salads and casseroles. Or, top with a variety of sauces.
Recipes
Elbow Macaroni
A highly versatile shape that can be topped with any sauce, baked, or put in soups, salads and stir-fry dishes. Elbow Macaroni is traditionally used to make Macaroni and Cheese, but why not change it up and add in some seasonings, proteins, or veggies for a delightful dish.
Recipes
Farfalle (Bow Ties)
(“Butterflies”) Bow Ties brighten any meal with their interesting shape. Thick enough for a variety of sauces, or a perfect addition to a number of salad or soup recipes.
Recipes
Farfalline
Farfalline is a small version of the bow tie or butterfly shaped pasta. This versatile shape can be used as the base of any dish. Bake it, stir it into soups, or create great salads and stir-fry dishes.
Recipes
Fettuccine
This thick ribbon-like pasta is often paired with thick meat-based sauces. One of the more popular pasta recipes is the rich fettuccine alfredo sauce.
Recipes
Fideo
Short thin strands of pasta that are slightly curved. Fideo pasta is commonly partners with veggies and lean proteins to be used in various soup recipes.
Recipes
Fusilli
(“Twisted Spaghetti”) This long, spiraled shape can be topped with any sauce, broken in half and added to soups, or turned into a beautiful salad. Fusilli also bakes well in casseroles.
Recipes
Gemelli
(“Twins”) Add a touch of style to any dish with this distinctive shape. Gemeilli pairs nicely with meat, cream, seafood and vegetable sauces.
Recipes
Gigli
(“Lilies”) Gigli is a fluted edge piece of pasta that has been rolled into a coneshaped flower. Gigli is perfect for heavier sauces, like cheese, meat and tomato or it is a perfect addition to a number of casseroles.
Recipes
Lasagna
(From “lasanum,” Latin for pot) Create original Lasagna casseroles by using chopped vegetables, cheeses and any kind of sauce. You can also assemble your casserole and freeze it for a later meal.
Recipes
Lasagne
This wide flat-shaped pasta is arguably one of the oldest types of pasta. The word Lasagne refers to a dish made with Lasagne sheets alternating with sauces and other ingredients in many languages.
Recipes
Linguine
(“Little Tongues”) A great shape to complement a variety of sauces. Also a good choice for salads and stir-fry dishes.
Recipes
Mafalda
This flat wide ribbon pasta is said to be similar in shape to the lasagne noodle but with a slightly narrower in size. The pasta comes in both short and long lengths.
Recipes
Manicotti
(“Small Muffs”) Stuff Manicotti with a mixture of meat, cheese and vegetables, top with your favorite sauce, and bake.
Recipes
Orzo
(“Barley”) This small, grain shaped pasta can be topped with any sauce, added to soups, or baked as a casserole. Perfect as a side dish as well as a main course.
Recipes
Pappardelle
This Italian flat pasta is usually cut into a broad ribbon shape. It’s width is between Lasagna and tagliatelle. Pappardelle goes great with heavy rich sauces. This pasta is very popular during the winter months.
Recipes
Pastina
This super tiny pasta is perfect for children. They are traditionally used in soups with Italian and Turkish cuisine.
Recipes
Penne
(“Quills” or “Feathers”) Penne complement virtually every sauce and are exceptional when paired with a chunky sauce. Penne pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil based sauces. Also, these shapes are great for baking dishes.
Recipes
Penne Mostaccioli
(“Quills” and “Small Mustaches”) This tubular pasta complements a variety of sauces, is frequently used in salads, baked in casseroles, or made into stirfry dishes.
Recipes
Penne Rigate
(“Quills” or “Feathers”) Penne compliment virtually every sauce and are exceptional when paired with a chunky sauce. Penne Rigate are ridged and ideal to lock-in flavor. Penne Rigate pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil based sauces. Also, these shapes are great for baking dishes.
Recipes
Pipe Rigate
A hollow curved pasta that resembles a snail shell. This shape has a wide opening at one end and the other end is flattened. Pipe Rigate pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oilbased sauces.
Recipes
Pipette Rigate
This shape is a smaller version of Pipe Rigate. Pipette Rigate pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil-based sauces. Also, these shapes are great for baking dishes.
Recipes
Radiatori
(“Radiators”) This ruffled, ridged shape adds elegance to any sauce. It also works well baked in casseroles, or used in salads and soups.
Recipes
Rigatoni
(“Large Grooved”) Rigatoni’s ridges and holes are perfect with any sauce, from cream or cheese to the chunkiest meat sauces.
Recipes
Rotelle
(“Little Wheels”) The cartwheel is not a classic Italian shape, but due to the variety of color and entertaining shape they are a crowd favorite. Because the spokes of the wheels are good for capturing flavor, these shapes are easy to pair. Rotelle pasta pairs nicely with meat, cream, seafood or vegetable sauces.
Recipes
Rotini
(“Spirals” or “Twists”) Rotini’s twisted shape holds bits of meat, vegetables and cheese, so it works well with any sauce, or you can use it to create fun salads, baked casseroles, or stir-fry meals.
Recipes
Ruote (Wagon Wheels)
(“Wheels”) Wagon Wheels make interesting salads, casseroles and stir-fry dishes. Add to soups, or simply top with sauce and enjoy.
Recipes
Spaghetti
(“A length of cord”) America’s favorite shape, Spaghetti is the perfect choice for nearly any sauce, or it can be used to make casseroles or stir-fry dishes. Go beyond tomato sauce and see what your favorite becomes.
Recipes
Tagliatelle
The Tagliatelle pasta is long and ribbon-like in shape, very similar to the fettuccine. It can be served with an array of sauces but a classic meat sauce tends to be the way to go.
Recipes
Thin Spaghetti
Thin Spaghetti is very similar to Vermicelli. Each one is slightly thinner than Spaghetti. Thin Spaghetti is perfect topped with any sauce, or as a salad or stir-fry ingredient.
Recipes
Tortellini
Tortellini is a ring-shaped pasta typically stuffed with meat, cheese or vegetables. Tortellini is commonly served in a broth or cream sauce.
Recipes
Tortiglioni
Tortiglioni is narrow, tubular pasta. This shape is commonly used to add decoration to salads or paired with a simple sauce.
Recipes
Tripolini
Tripolini is a tiny bow tie-shaped pasta used in soups and salads or paired with a simple sauce.
Recipes
Tubini
A medium-sized, tubular pasta shape, Tubini is perfect for chunky sauces and meat dishes. It also makes wonderful salads, baked dishes and stir-fry meals.
Recipes
Vermicelli
(“Little Worms”) Slightly thinner than Spaghetti, Vermicelli is good topped with any sauce, or as a salad or stir-fry ingredient.
Recipes
Ziti
(“Bridegrooms”) A medium-sized, tubular pasta shape, Ziti is perfect for chunky sauces and meat dishes. It also makes wonderful salads, baked dishes and stir-fry meals.
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Softly scrambled egg spread on toast and coated in anchovy paste is called what? | Perfect pairings: How to match pasta shapes to sauces | BBC Good Food
Perfect pairings: How to match pasta shapes to sauces
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Choosing a pasta shape to suit the nature of your sauce makes a big difference to the finished dish. Do it the Italian way with help from our guide to expert pairings and how to cook your pasta to perfection.
While spaghetti Bolognese is one of the world's most well-known pasta dishes, it is fundamentally inauthentic. Italian cooks would seldom serve a thick, saucy ragu with thin pasta ribbons - they're far more likely to team such a sauce with large shells or tubes to capture the sauce, or thicker long pasta, like tagliatelle and pappardelle.
Generally, the larger shapes work better with thick, robust sauces, while skinny shapes, like strands of delicate vermicelli, suit light, cream sauces. Follow our suggestions of what shape to combine with what accompaniment - and share your own ideas with us below.
Spaghetti, linguine, fusilli lunghi, vermicelli
Light seafood sauces , cream- or oil-based sauces.
Heavy cream or meat sauces; large ones can be stuffed .
Twists
Fusilli, trofie, strozzapreti, caserecce, gemelli
Lighter, smoother sauces which will cling to the twists, such as pesto .
Tubes
Hearty vegetable sauces, or baked cheese dishes. Also good with Bolognese or ragu.
Mini shapes
In soups and stews or as pasta salads.
Filled pasta
Ravioli, tortellini, cappelletti
As the filling contains lots of flavour, these are traditionally served with a light butter or oil sauce.
Top cooking tips
• Always cook pasta in a very large pan of salted, boiling water. If you don’t give the pasta enough space to move in the pan, it will stick together. Italians say the water should be as salty as the sea to flavour the pasta.
• There is no need to add olive oil to your pasta when cooking. It won’t prevent it from sticking together, and will just end up down the drain.
• The classic British version of spag bol usually consists of cooked spaghetti topped with saucy mince, but in Italy, the pasta and sauce are always combined in the pan to ensure every piece of pasta is coated.
• Don’t cook the pasta all the way through in the water. Instead, drain it when it still has a little bite, then add to the sauce and continue cooking for a few minutes more until the pasta is cooked and has absorbed a little of the sauce.
• When draining the pasta, make sure you save a cup of the pasta water. Then, when you add the pasta to the sauce, splash in a little of the water if it looks too dry. The starch in the water will help the sauce cling to the pasta.
What are your top pasta tips? Share your thoughts with us below... We also have plenty of pasta recipes to get you inspired, plus a guide to the pasta shapes of Italy .
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Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of which country? | Did UNESCO Declare India's 'Jana Gana Mana' the World's Best National Anthem? : snopes.com
Did UNESCO Declare India's 'Jana Gana Mana' the World's Best National Anthem?
Jana Mana Gana
Reports that India's national anthem, "Jana Gana Mana," has been declared the world's best by UNESCO are an old hoax.
Claim: UNESCO declared India's national anthem, 'Jana Gana Mana,' to be the world's best.
FALSE
Example: [Collected via Facebook, March 2016]
Origin:In March 2016, a message claiming that UNESCO had named India's "Jana Gana Mana" as the best anthem in the world began circulating on Facebook. This rumor was a reiteration of one that originated in 2008, when it was widely shared via e-mail.
According to India Today , the original e-mailed version was linked to a Yahoo Groups site called 'MumbaiHangOut' and may have been a ploy to increase membership in that group:
When India Today wrote to the UNESCO asking for details and clarifications regarding this 'announcement', Sue Williams (Chief, Editorial, Press Relations and Unesco Courier, Bureau of Public Information, Unesco) wrote back that no such award has been announced.
She wrote that the UNESCO was aware of this mail, but it was not true.
"We are aware of several blogs in India reporting this story, but can assure you that Unesco has made no such announcement concerning the anthem of India or any country," she wrote.
Regardless of the original intent behind the spreading of this rumor, there is no truth to it. UNESCO has not named India's national anthem, or any other national anthem, to be the world's best:
Last updated: 08 January 2017
Originally published: 14 March 2016
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| India |
A pangram is a sentence containing what? | Jana Gana Mana may not remain national anthem forever: Ex JNU prof
india Updated: Feb 26, 2016 09:55 IST
PTI
JNU students protest demanding the release of Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others arrested on sedition charges at the university campus in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)
Efforts are being made to change the country’s national anthem and replace ‘Jana Gana Mana’ with ‘Vande Mataram’ as has been demanded by the right-wing groups, historian Tanika Sarkar said on Friday.
“The right-wing groups have been demanding since long to make ‘Vande Mataram’ the national anthem. So, don’t be sure that ‘Jana Gana Mana’ will remain national anthem forever,” Sarkar, a former JNU professor, told students at the varsity.
Sarkar was fifth lecturer in the series of the “nationalism” open-air lectures, organised at the varsity in protest of the branding of the university as “anti-national”, in the wake of an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The professor who retired from JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies to which Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya belong, made the remarks during a lecture titled ‘Gandhi’s Nation’.
Khalid and Bhattacharya, besides JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, have been arrested on charges of sedition.
Member of Parliament and former education minister of Kerala ET Mohammed Basheer, said the agitation in JNU was not just about the particular university but about the nation.
“The government wants to attack the entire country by attacking autonomy of institutions. This agitation is not just for JNU but for the entire nation,” he said.
Professors from various universities are conducting lectures on ‘nationalism’ at JNU.
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| i don't know |
In which novel was Aunt Ada Doom shocked by something nasty in the woodshed? | Frances Fyfield - Blind Date - Book Review | BookPage
Blind Date
BookPage review by Roger Miller
Something nasty in the woodshed Sometimes when I read mysteries by British women writers, which is as often as I can, a phrase from Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm comes to mind: the something nasty in the woodshed once seen by Aunt Ada Doom.
An odd connection to make, you may think, considering that Gibbons's brilliant parody is not a mystery and that a woodshed is not a common element in mysteries. But for me the connection is real and, given the odd workings of my mind and the principle of six degrees of separation, easily made. Usually there is something indefinably nasty lurking in the background of such British mysteries, something shudderingly different from the garden-variety sex, violence, and betrayal of American crime novels. Just as we never quite learn what it was in the woodshed that frightened Aunt Ada Doom, so are we often uncertain of the source of the nastiness in the mysteries. Sometimes even after we've read the last page.
So it is in Frances Fyfield's latest suspense novel, Blind Date. In it, the kernel of the mystery as well as the wellsprings of the nastiness might lie in the sentiment, How do you make people love you? Variations on the enigmatic phrase are planted throughout, either as a thought of one of the characters or as the unseen narrator's comment.
Caroline Smythe thinks it early in the novel. Caroline is spending, as she has for years, a two-week holiday at the bed-and-breakfast of an old acquaintance, Diana Kennedy. To say that Diana's family are old friends would be false, as Caroline bitterly knows; what Diana has offered over the years is merely a pretense of friendship, laced with insults and rejection. Caroline has more than a passing interest in love in at least one of its forms. She runs an introduction service, a dating agency. The phrase arises again, twice, when Patsy, one of a quartet of young women friends, signs up with her agency.
Another of the quartet is Elisabeth, Diana's daughter and a former policewoman who is recovering from severe wounds inflicted by an attacker. The wounds pain her less than the memory of her sister, Emma, slain by an attacker. Even more painful is her belief that she had caught the attacker, but he was freed by a judge who ruled her pursuit entrapment. The man subsequently killed himself, leaving behind the horrifying suspicion that he was not the killer after all. How, Elisabeth wonders, had she made the suspect love her? Even young Matthew, Emma's son being raised partly by Diana, is affected. Stubbornly independent, reclusive, and besotted with gems as his late jeweler grandfather was, Matthew thinks, You are only as good as the people who love you. . . . How do you make people love you? Perhaps there can be too much of love, if it's of the wrong kind, such as the smothering love of Caroline for her mama's-boy son, Michael. He is, to return to that word, a nasty piece of work, just like his mother. He emulated her gleeful messing up of other lives, but he took it to extremes. Patsy is injured by an attacker and yet another of the quartet, Angela, is murdered by one. Are all of the attacks and murders being committed by the same person? Other questions arise, as they often do in mysteries. Did Matthew witness the murder of his mother and the attack on his Aunt Elisabeth? Who is Joe Maxell, besides being an acquaintance of Michael's, and why is he sharing Elisabeth's flat in the tower of a London church, a place so eccentric it defied belief? Why do all of these people seem to know each other? If there is any noticeable weakness in the novel, it rises out of that last question. The stew of personalities and murky motivations can be frustrating to deal with. On the other hand, it could be said that muddle is not a flaw but a hallmark of the mystery novel, so many of which have trouble keeping up with the dead bodies and how and why they got that way.
Fyfield's mystery finally answers most of the questions it raises. It doesn't open wide the door to the identity of the killer, but we know who's behind it, and we've been led to the doorstep fairly early. The central, repeated question, however, goes unanswered. As to that, Joe and Elisabeth could tell us, you don't make it happen, it just does.
Roger Miller is a freelance writer. He can be reached at [email protected]
| Cold Comfort Farm |
What is the name of France’s equivalent to our own Britannia? | A reader's guide to Cold Comfort Farm - OpenLearn - Open University
A reader's guide to Cold Comfort Farm
A reader's guide to Cold Comfort Farm
Something nasty in the woodshed, but there's something wonderful in Gibbon's novel.
Updated Friday 1st September 2006
Introductory level
Print
Copyrighted image Copyright: BBC Cold Comfort Farm
is the amusing story of Flora Poste, a sensible young woman from London who goes to live with relatives in Sussex, the eccentric Starkadders.
The author, Stella Gibbons, had grown up among weird relations. When she was just eleven she had to talk her father out of committing suicide, and was astonished to realize that he was actually relishing their melodramatic conversation. Her family seemed partial to creating scenes, but with a clear thread of pretence running through their ‘performances’.
Gibbons felt that the genre of the rural novel – ‘The Loam and Lovechild School of Fiction’ - had run its course and offered itself to parody. Writers such as Mary Webb irritated her, so she offered an alternative vision of country living. Stock characters – the religious bigot, the overbearing matriarch, the local Lothario etc. – were reinvented. There are passages which mock the style of D.H. Lawrence: note, for example, the characters Mr Mybug and Seth Starkadder.
Reference to
Cold Comfort Farm
usually triggers the famous quote that there was ‘something nasty in the woodshed’. Aunt Ada Doom claims to have seen it when she was ‘no bigger than a titty wren’. Gibbons would never reveal what the ‘something nasty’ was; but it represents childhood trauma, whether real or imagined, and the way its ‘victims’ use it to excuse their behaviour.
The novel contains delicious examples of local dialect and of parodied rural expressions. Kenneth Williams read the book on the radio, and this must have been wonderful to hear!
Share your views in the comments box below.
| i don't know |
The Folketing is the parliament of which country? | IPU PARLINE database: DENMARK (Folketinget), Full text
10 multi-member constituencies corresponding to counties, subdivided into 92 nomination districts.
Voting system
Proportional: Proportional representation system according to a modified version of the St. Laguë method and Hare quota and using the method of greatest remainders. Each elector can cast either a "personal vote" for one of the candidates or a vote for one of the party lists. They can vote for any of the candidates or parties of their constituency, not being limited to those of their nomination district.
Of the 175 seats reserved for Denmark proper, 135 seats are distributed among the constituencies. In order to distribute these constituency seats among the political groups in contention, the total vote of each party in a constituency is divided by 1, 3, 5 and so on by odd numbers in order to arrive at the quotients on the basis of which seats are allocated). Utilization of this method ensures representation for smaller parties.
The 40 remaining, or compensatory, seats are then distributed among the parties which either have won at least one constituency seat; have obtained, in two electoral regions, at least as many votes as the average number of valid votes cast in the region, per constituency seat; or have obtained at least 2% of all valid votes cast in the country as a whole. Such distribution, based on votes obtained on the national scale, is aimed at redressing the imbalance caused through the distribution of the constituency seats.
When it has been decided which parties are entitled to a share of the compensatory seats, the number of seats which each party is proportionately entitled to of the 175 seats is calculated on the basis of the total number of votes cast for these parties in all parts of the country. From the number of seats thus arrived at for each party, the number of constituency seats already obtained by the party is deducted. The resulting figure is the number of compensatory seats due to the party.
The end result of this system is a distribution of seats in the Folketing that faithfully reflects the share of the popular votes received by the parties.
Candidates who have been nominated but not elected figure on a list of substitute members drawn up by the Ministry of Interior after each general election. These substitute members fill the seats which become vacant between general elections.
Voting is not compulsory.
Dates of election / renewal (from/to)
18 June 2015
Timing and scope of renewal
The Blue bloc, a four-party centre-right alliance, led by former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, won 90 of the 175 seats at stake in these earlier-than-scheduled elections. Eighty-five seats were won by the Red bloc, a five-party centre-left alliance (see note 1) led by Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (see note 2). Although her Social Democratic Party remained the largest party with 47 seats, the Prime Minister conceded defeat and resigned as party leader after ten years in charge. The Danish People's Party led by Kristian Thulesen Dahl, became the second largest party, winning 37 seats compared to 22 in 2011.
On 28 June, Mr. Rasmussen formed a minority government, comprising only the members of his Liberal Party (Venstre). As Venstre won 34 out of 179 seats, it has formed the second smallest administration ever, after the one formed in 1973 by Poul Hartling (Venstre), which had 22 seats.
The elections were called four months early. Ms. Thorning-Schmidt said that the timing for an election was right and pointed to positive growth forecasts for the Danish economy. The major electoral issues included immigration, welfare spending, job creation and economic growth. In the run-up to polling day, the country's cradle-to-grave welfare system took centre-stage, with major parties debating the scope of unemployment benefits.
Note 1:
- The Blue bloc comprised the Liberal Party (Venstre), the Danish People's Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party.
- The Red bloc comprised the Social Democratic Party, the Social Liberal Party (RV), the Socialist People's Party, the Unity List-Red-Green Alliance and the Alternative (A).
Note 2:
Ms. Thorning-Schmidt's minority government, formed in October 2011, initially comprised her Social Democratic Party, the Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party. The Socialist People's Party left the government in January 2014.
Date of previous elections: 15 September 2011
Date of dissolution of the outgoing legislature: 18 June 2015*
*The outgoing legislature was dissolved at 20:00 on 18 June 2015 in accordance with section 32 (4) of the Constitution which stipulates No seats shall be vacated until a new election has been held.
Timing of election: Early elections
Expected date of next elections: June 2019
Number of seats at stake: 179 (full renewal)
Number of candidates: 799 (549 men, 250 women)
Percentage of women candidates: 31.3%
Number of parties contesting the election: 10
Number of parties winning seats: 9
Alternation of power: Yes
Number of parties in government: 1
Names of parties in government: Liberal Party (Venstre)
Date of the first session of the new parliament: 2 July 2015 *
*In accordance with Section 35 (1) of the Constitution, the newly elected Folketing shall assemble at twelve oclock noon on the twelfth weekday after the day of election, unless the King has previously summoned a meeting of its members.
Name of the new Speaker: Ms. Pia Kjaersgaard (Danish People's Party)
STATISTICS
APPOINTMENT AND TERM OF OFFICE
Title
President of the Danish Parliament
Term
- duration: 1 year at the beginning of every sessional year (October), may be re-elected;
- reasons for interruption of the term: resignation, death
Appointment
- elected by the Members of the Folketing, at the opening of every session and when the Folketing meets for the first time after a general election
- after the approval of the validity of the general election
Eligibility
all Members are eligible, notified by parties
Voting system
- vote may be omitted if there is only one candidate and there are no objections to this candidate
- vote by public ballot, usually (may be secret if the Folketing so decides)
- if one of the Members nominated gets more than half of the votes cast, he/she is elected - if not, another free vote is held - if this does not result in the said majority of votes either, a third vote is held - the third vote is confined to the two candidates who received the largest number of votes during the second vote, and lots will be drawn in the event of a parity of votes.
Procedures / results
- the most senior Member presides over the Assembly during the voting, at the opening of a sessional year
- the tellers count the votes and notify the Speaker of the result
- the most senior Member announces the results without any delay
- 60 Members can request in writing and with at least 3 days' notice a new election for the Speakership
STATUS
Status
- ranks third in the hierarchy of State, after the Head of State and the Leader of the Government
- represents the Assembly with the public authorities
- is ex officio chairman of the Folketing committees
- in the absence of the Speaker, one of the Deputy-Speakers (and in their absence, one of the tellers) can assume his/her role and functions
Board
- the Presidium consists of the Speaker and the 4 Deputy Speakers:
- the Standing Orders Committee (SOC) consists 21 Members who are ex officio Members and whose chairman is the Speaker); the other 16 Members are elected on a pro rata basis, every year at Membersthe opening of the session and after a general election
- meets when necessary when convened by the Speaker
- the Speaker has the final say in most matters - in some matters, the SOC must be consulted
Material facilities
- special allowance equivalent to that for a Minister (DKK 380 703 per annum)
- right to a pension as a former Speaker
- official residence in the parliamentary building
- official car with a driver
- secretariat
- establishes and modifies the agenda
- organizes the debates and sets speaking time
- examines the admissibility of bills and amendments
- refers texts to a committee for study - the Folketing can, if it so desires, refers bills to other committees than those recommended by the Speaker (this very rarely occurs)
Chairing of public sittings
- can open, adjourn and close sittings
- ensures respect for provisions of the Constitution and Standing Orders
- makes announcements concerning the Assembly
- takes disciplinary measures in the event of disturbance, and lifts such measures
- establishes the list of speakers, gives and withdraws permission to speak
- establishes the order in which amendments are taken up
- calls for a vote, decides how it is to be carried out, verifies the voting procedure and cancels a vote in the event of irregularities
- checks the quorum after the vote
- authenticates the adopted texts and the records of debates
- interprets the rules or other regulations governing the life of the Assembly, according to precedents
Special powers
- the Presidium discusses proposals for the Folketing's budget and submits a recommendation to the SOC
- employs and dismisses civil servants and other employees in the administration
- employs and dismisses senior civil servants (including the Clerk) after discussion with the 4 Deputy Speakers and following approval by the SOC
- manages the organization of the internal affairs in consultation with the 4 Deputy Speakers
- is responsible for relations with foreign Parliaments
- is responsible for safety, and in this capacity, can call the police in the event of disturbance in the Chamber
Speaking and voting rights, other functions
- can take the floor in legislative debates
- can cut off a debate which goes too far in relation to the bill which is being debated
- takes part in voting
- normally does not propose bills or amendments except in special cases such as bills which concerns parliamentary conditions
- intervenes in the parliamentary oversight procedure
- signs the laws together with one of the tellers and transmits them to the appropriate Ministry
· Free representation (S. 56 of the Constitution Act of 05.06.1953)
Start of the mandate
· On the election day, when the election has ended. Certain rights only accrue to MPs when their election has been approved and they have made the declaration of adherence to the Constitution Act (S. 32 (7) of the Constitution Act, SO 1 (8) and (9) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
· Procedure
Validation of mandates
· Validation by the Folketing on recommendation of a committee (S. 33 of the Constitution Act, SO 1 (2) to (7), and 7 (1) (2.) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing, S. 86 and 87 of the Parliamentary Election Act)
· Procedure
End of the mandate
· On the day of new elections (S. 32 (4) of the Constitution Act; the same applies in case of early dissolution, see S. 32 (2) and (3) of the Constitution Act)
Can MPs resign?
Yes
· Yes, of their own free will
· Procedure (SO 40 of the Standing Orders of the Folketing, S. 92 of the Parliamentary Election Act)
Can MPs lose their mandate ?
Yes
Definitive exclusion from Parliament by the latter:
- Loss of mandate for loss of eligibility (S. 29, 30, 32 (6), and 33 of the Constitution Act, and SO 7 (1) (2.) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Invalidation of election after approval by the Folketing (S. 33 of the Constitution Act, SO 1 (5) to (7), and SO 7 (1) (2.) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
STATUS OF MEMBERS
Indemnities, facilities and services
· Official passport. Certain MPs may apply for diplomatic passports.
· Basic salary (see also S. 58 of the Constitution Act): DKK 586,525 per year (as of 1 Oct. 2009)
+ Cost allowance: in accordance with residence
· Exemption from tax for the cost allowance. The basic salary is not exempted from tax.
· Pension scheme (Law on Election to the Danish Parliament, Lb. no. 271 of 13.05.1987, as amended by the laws no. 744 of 07.12.1988 and no. 245 of 19.04.1989)
· Other facilities:
(c) Free housing for the 5 Members of the Presidium in Christiansborg
(d) Postal and telephone services
(e) Travel and transport
Obligation to declare personal assets
No
Parliamentary immunity - parliamentary non-accountability
· The concept does exist (S. 57 of the Constitution Act).
· Parliamentary non-accountability applies to words spoken and written by MPs both within and outside Parliament, provided that they are pronounced in the exercise of the mandate.
· Derogations: consent of the Folketing; improper statements or offence (SO 29 (2) to (4) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing; see Discipline)
· Non-accountability takes effect on the day when the mandate begins and offers, after the expiry of the mandate, protection against prosecution for opinions expressed during the exercise of the mandate.
Parliamentary immunity - parliamentary inviolability
· The concept does exist (S. 57 of the Constitution Act).
· It applies to criminal and civil proceedings, covers all offences with the exception of minor offences (i.e. ticket fines), and protects MPs from arrest, from being held in preventive custody, and from the opening of judicial proceedings against them. It does not protect them from their homes being searched.
· Derogations: in the case of flagrante delicto, the consent of the Folketing is not necessary.
· Parliamentary inviolability does not prevent MPs from being called as witnesses before a judge or tribunal.
· Protection is provided from the start to the end of the mandate and also covers judicial proceedings instituted against MPs before their election.
· Parliamentary immunity (inviolability) can be lifted (S. 57 of the Constitution Act):
- Competent authority: the Folketing
In this case, MPs need not be heard. They do not have means of appeal.
· Parliament cannot subject the prosecution and/or detention to certain conditions.
· Parliament cannot suspend the prosecution and/or detention of one of its members.
· In the event of preventive custody or imprisonment, the MPs concerned cannot be authorised to attend sittings of Parliament.
EXERCISE OF THE MANDATE
Training
· There is a training/initiation process on parliamentary practices and procedures for MPs. It consists of introduction lectures and courses.
· It is provided by officials of Parliament.
· Handbooks of parliamentary procedure:
- The Standing Orders of the Folketing
- Guide for Members of Parliament
Participation in the work of the Parliament
· It is not compulsory for MPs to be present at plenary sittings, committee meetings, or other meetings (for leave of absence, see S. 41 of the Constitution Act).
· There are no penalties foreseen.
Discipline
· The rules governing discipline within Parliament are contained in SO 29 to 31 of the Standing Orders of the Folketing.
· Disciplinary measures foreseen :
- Order to sit down (SO 29 (1) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Call to order (SO 29 (2) and (3) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Order to discontinue the speech (SO 29 (2) and (3) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Declining to call upon the Member to speak again (SO 29 (2) and (3) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Suspension from Parliament (SO 29 (2) and (3) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Adjournment or close of the sitting (SO 29 (4), and 30 of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Closure of the debate (SO 31 of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
· Specific cases:
- Improper statements or offence (SO 29 (2) to (4) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
· Competent body to judge such cases/to apply penalties:
- Order to sit down, call to order, order to discontinue the speech, declining to call upon the Member to speak again, adjournment or close of the sitting, improper statements or offence: the President
- Suspension from Parliament: the Standing Orders Committee
- Closure of the debate: the Folketing
· Procedure:
- Order to sit down (SO 29 (1) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Call to order, order to discontinue the speech, declining to call upon the Member to speak again, suspension from Parliament (SO 29 (2) and (3) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Adjournment or close of the sitting (SO 29 (4), and 30 of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Closure of the debate (SO 31 of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
- Improper statements or offence (SO 29 (2) to (4) of the Standing Orders of the Folketing)
Code (rules) of conduct
| Denmark |
What is the common name for the Earth’s lithosphere? | Folketing - definition of Folketing by The Free Dictionary
Folketing - definition of Folketing by The Free Dictionary
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Folketing
Also found in: Encyclopedia , Wikipedia .
Folketing
(Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the unicameral Danish parliament
[Danish, from folk the people, folk + Old Norse thing assembly]
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References in periodicals archive ?
In the Folketing administration, a number of employees who must wear specific clothing or uniform in accordance with specific rules.
QUIZ OF THE DAY
A letter was addressed to all Members of the Folketing (Danish Parliament) and signed by 660 Israeli public figures calling upon them to vote in favor of Denmark recognizing the State of Palestine, not for the sake of Palestine, but for the sake of Israeli future and security.
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| i don't know |
Ben’s first success as a writer was in co-writing which 1980s TV comedy? | Ben Elton Biography
Ben Elton Biography
Ben Elton (born May 3, 1959) is a British comedian and writer. Born in Catford, London of an immigrant family of academics, he studied at Godalming Grammar School and became a stand-up comedian and comedy writer shortly after leaving Manchester University in 1980. He was a central figure in the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.
In 1980 he wrote and appeared in Granada Television's sketch show Alfresco, which was also notable for early appearances by Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane but which received poor ratings.
His first major success was as co-writer of the television sitcom The Young Ones. This was followed by Happy Families � a six-part series starring Jennifer Saunders and Adrian Edmondson � then Filthy, Rich and Catflap which was assumed by many to be a sequel to The Young Ones. He went on to co-write the second and subsequent series of Blackadder starring Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson, while simultaneously becoming well-known for his television appearances as host of Channel 4's Saturday Live � later moved and renamed Friday Night Live � which was seen as a UK version of Saturday Night Live. Many of his catchphrases became well-known, for example the "double seat, double seat" chant (tired commuters wanting space to themselves on the train home). He graduated from his closing slot in the first series of Saturday Live to hosting the show.
In 1990 he starred in his own stand-up comedy and sketch series entitled The Man From Auntie, which had a second series in 1994. A similar format was used for The Ben Elton Show which aired in 1998. His most recent television sitcom was The Thin Blue Line, set in a police station and also starring Atkinson, which ran for two series (1995, 1996).
Prolific and ambitious, he began writing novels and plays, including Stark (1989, made into a television series in which Elton starred), Gridlock (1991), This Other Eden (1993), Popcorn (1996), Blast From the Past (1998) and Inconceivable. The latter, which is based on the author's own experiences of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, was made into a film under the title Maybe Baby (2000), directed by Elton himself. More recently, he has embarked on a career in musical theatre, co-writing The Beautiful Game with Andrew Lloyd Webber, and then the rock musicals We Will Rock You with music by Queen and Tonight's The Night with music by Rod Stewart. His latest novels are Dead Famous (2001), a variation on the classical whodunnit of the 1930s and 1940s set around a reality TV series akin to Big Brother, and High Society (2002), a novel exploring the social consequences of drug illegality in Britain.
He currently lives in Notting Hill, London with his wife Sophie Gare (saxophonist in an all-girl band called The Boom Babies).
| The Young Ones |
Which musical has characters Columbia, Magenta and Dr Everett Scott? | Ben Elton interview on ROVE (Australia) 2009 - YouTube
Ben Elton interview on ROVE (Australia) 2009
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Uploaded on Nov 9, 2009
Ben Elton interview on ROVE (live in studio with Rove McManus).
Official ROVE site - http://RoveDaily.com.au
(Roving Enterprises, Melbourne Australia)
Broadcast date: 8 November, 2009 - Episode 35 of 2009 (s10e35) 08-11-09 Plus cameo from MC Hammer.
Brought to you by Rove McManus site - http://www.RoveOnline.com (unofficial) | http://twitter.com/RoveOnline
Successful British stand-up comic and provocative and entertaining writer of hit international novels and musicals, his latest novel, Meltown, is a biting satire on the credit crunch.
BEN ELTON is a leading figure in the generation of British comedy stars, which emerged in the 1980s. At 23 he co-wrote the ground breaking smash hit BBC situation comedy The Young Ones, which became a worldwide award winning cult hit. Ben went on to write for all the principle comedians of his generation.
In 1985 Ben began his phenomenally successful writing partnership with Richard Curtis on the Emmy and BAFTA award-winning TV series Blackadder 2, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth.
Ben is also a hugely successful an influential stand up comedian, he is one of Britains biggest selling live acts and his TV shows have won numerous awards.
Ben published his first novel, Stark in 1988. Set in Australia, Stark became an instant #1 best-seller and sold over a million copies. He has written 11 novels since then Gridlock (1991) UK #1; This Other Den (1993) UK #1; Popcorn (1996) UK #1 and Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award for fiction; Blast From the Past (1998) UK top 5; Inconceivable (1999) UK top 5; Dead Famous (2001) UK #1; High Society (2002) UK #1 and WH Smiths Peoples Choice Fiction Award; Past Mortem (2004) UK top 5 and winner of best international detective novel at Prix Polar International 2007; The First Casualty (2005 UK top 5; Chart Throb (2006) UK Top 5; Blind Faith (2007) UK top 10. Bens novels have all been hugely successful in Australia and around the world.
Bens ambitions were originally theatrical and hes written the hit plays: Gasping (1990); Silly Cow (1991); Popcorn (1996); and Blast From the Past (1998) - all performed regularly around the world. In 1992 Ben began his acting career, starring in his own adaptation of his novel, Stark. This ABC co-production was filmed entirely in Australia. That year Ben also appeared alongside Michael Keaton as Verges in Kenneth Branaghs acclaimed feature film Much Ado About Nothing.
In 2000 Ben wrote and directed his first movie, the hit romantic comedy Maybe Baby which starred Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson. Ben then gained success in the world of musical theatre collaborating with Andrew Lloyd Weber on the award-winning The Beautiful Game; the award-winning international hit We Will Rock You; and his last musical Tonights the Night featuring the songs of Rod Stewart.
In 2005 Ben returned to stand up for the first time since 1997, touring the UK with Get A Grip. He then took the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 2006 and a subsequent DVD release followed.
His latest book Meltown is a biting satire of the credit crunch is out
Category
| i don't know |
In which musical did Michael Ball play Edna Turnblad in the West End? | Michael Ball to Play Edna in West End Hairspray; Newcomer Jones is Tracy | Broadway Buzz | Broadway.com
Michael Ball to Play Edna in West End Hairspray; Newcomer Jones is Tracy
News By Theatre.com Staff June 15, 2007 - 5:24PM
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Michael Ball is preparing to step into the role of Edna Turnblad in the forthcoming West End transfer of hit Broadway musical Hairspray. The show is set to begin previews on October 11 and open on October 30 at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Newcomer Leanne Jones will play the starring role of Edna's daughter Tracy Turnblad.
Getting into drag for the role of the domineering mother in the stage adaptation of John Waters' cult film comedy marks a distinct change of style for Ball to say the least. The role of Edna Turnblad was played in the original movie by gay icon Divine, while Ball is best known for his dashing roles in shows such as The Phantom of the Opera and Aspects of Love. "The secret is to play Edna as a woman and not as a man in drag," Ball told The Daily Mail. "You behave like a woman and you convince people and find the pathos, the way Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie.”"
Among his long list of achievements in musical theater, Ball starred in The Woman in White and Aspects of Love both in London and on Broadway. Other London credits include Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Pirates of Penzance, Passion and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1999, the actor was presented with the Theatregoers Club of Great Britain's Award for Most Popular Musical Actor of the last 21 years. He has also established himself as a recording artist, releasing a dozen solo albums. He was named The Variety Club of Great Britain's Best Recording Artist in 1998. Ball starred in the New York City Opera's production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Patience in 2005.
Hairspray tells the story of Edna and Tracy Turnblad and the latter's dream to dance on TV on the Corny Collins Show. An affectionate satire of early 1960s social mores and a celebration of the dance craze culture of that era, the story charts "pleasantly plump" Tracy's transformation from social outcast to overnight sensation. Duly ascended to the ranks of local celebrity in her home town of Baltimore, she must use her newfound power to vanquish the reigning teen queen, win the affections of heartthrob Link Larkin and racially integrate the Corny Collins Show's audience—all without denting her spectacular bouffant hairdo.
With music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman, a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan and direction by Jack O'Brien, the show became an immediate Broadway smash when it premiered at the Neil Simon Theatre in the summer of 2002, where it continues to run. The U.S. production received five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as seven Drama Desk Awards and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical. A film of the musical, starring John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, will be released this summer.
| Hairspray |
What is the occupation of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady? | Brian Conley gears up for Hairspray the musical | Theatre | Entertainment | Daily Express
THEATRE
Brian Conley gears up for Hairspray the musical
HE MAY be greying a little around the temples but the perennially youthful and ever-jovial Brian Conley is, at 47, facing a new and welcome challenge: “I’ve never played an 18-stone woman from Baltimore before,” he laughs.
00:00, Sun, Jul 26, 2009
DRESSING UP: Brian Conley will play Edna Turnblad in the West End hit musical
Tomorrow evening he will step on stage as Edna Turnblad in the hit West End musical Hairspray, inheriting the role from Michael Ball, who won an Olivier Award and played the role for 21 months.
“They are great shoes to fill but he’s been very charming and given me advice,” he says. It’s not the first time he’s followed Ball: he also inherited the role of Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium.
“Whatever Michael does, I tend to follow him but he never took over from me in Jolson!”
That was the title part that Conley originated in the West End in 1995.
“That show turned it all around for me,” he says. “Until then, I was always ‘zany comedian Brian Conley’ but once I did that perceptions changed. that pretty much summed it up.”
Brian checks out his new dressing room... and costume
For Conley, who started his career in TV light entertainment as warm-up man for the likes of Terry Wogan, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett, that label has been hard to shake off.
“I’ve been in the game a long time and my initial shot to fame was in my early 20s and people still remember that; they’re afraid that the Pontins’ Bluecoat is always going to come out. I always tell them: ‘Yes, I was a Bluecoat but it was 30 years ago and I only did it for three months and I’ve moved on!’ ”
not in every way though: he’s particularly pleased to be back on stage singing for a living, which is how he began his career, in nightclubs. “I always say I was born to sing, everything else I learnt. The comedy came later, when I was about 18 or 19.” He’s proud of the fact that he’s recorded three albums (“They’ve always gone cardboard,” he quips).
It has equipped him well for a career in West End musicals, though. His first, Me And My Girl, in 1992, saw him playing a cockney barrow boy (“so it wasn’t much of a push, really”).
“They said I was born to play it but then everything I have done since they’ve said the same thing so it will be interesting whether they think that of Edna!”
Then again his career never has been minutely mapped out. “I don’t think it can be; things just come about. I was doing a theatre show in which we played some of the classic moments from my 35 years in the business and it worked a treat. Then suddenly the call came to see if I’d like to audition for Hairspray and now here I am. I’ve just got out of my fat suit and I’ve been kissing Nigel Planer this morning!” (Planer plays Edna’s husband Wilbur, reuniting the pair after TV sitcom The Grimleys.)
His biggest problem isn’t that fat suit: “I’m coping with that but the one thing that doesn’t sit right is the false eyelashes! It’s a bit like having a couple of boxing gloves above your eyes but I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually.”
One place he is more than used to is being on stage: “I love it there. I love taking the audience somewhere and blowing them away. Every performance is 110 per cent. It’s my job, it’s what I do; I could never short-change the audience. It’s an obligation.
“The reason I am sitting here is because of The Music Man that I did in Chichester last year, so this job will fuel the next one. I don’t do as much telly as I’d like to. I’ve had chances to do reality shows but it never appealed. If you’re not on the box, people assume you’ve disappeared but there’s lots of work out there.”
He is totally sober too: “I don’t drink; I haven’t had a drink for the past five-and-a-half years so I wake up feeling pretty much the same as I did the day before!”
He’s never felt better, professionally speaking, either: “There was a time in my late 30s when I thought I’d have a stab at doing some film and more acting parts on TV but I wasn’t enjoying it. I did a play in town, Elton John’s Glasses, but didn’t enjoy it.
"It got very polite applause and polite laughter but I love getting them up on their feet. I know at the end of the night that if they’re all standing, we’ve all done our job. I love making them laugh and as you get older, you realise what your strengths are. There are lots of great comics and actors out there but not many people who can grab an audience and take them along.”
And that’s exactly what he’ll be doing eight times a week from tomorrow.
Hairspray, Shaftesbury Theatre, London WC2
Box office: 020 7379 5399, or visit www.hairspraythemusical.com
Most read in Theatre
| i don't know |
‘We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologist are at work upon it now’ – which book? | Althouse: "We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now."
"We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now."
"There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent there will be no need of science. There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."
#2 on the list of most depressing quotes from George Orwell's "1984."
Linked in the comments to this Metafilter post on an article titled "The masterpiece that killed George Orwell."
Posted by Ann Althouse at 11:54 AM
Let's be clear from the start:
Orwell was writing (Big Brother)about the people who today label themselves "progressives".
If the show fits . . . .
re the Blogger line break problem
You just have to hit the spacebar before you hit return. And curse Blogger.
As for 1984, you don't have to fear a dystopia that everyone recognizes as a dystopia. We should be much more afraid of Walden Two.
John said...
"As for 1984, you don't have to fear a dystopia that everyone recognizes as a dystopia. We should be much more afraid of Walden Two."
That is just the problem. Dystopias only look unpopular in restrospect. At the time they are happening they are wildly popular. When they end, people feel guilty and re-write history. They say that it was horrible and were forced into by "other people" when in reality they cheered the whole way. Everyone who sees a dstopia coming and tries to stop it, usually ends up dead. Afterwards, the living who either stood by and did nothing or helped it happen, conviently forget how popular it was at the time.
Orgasm ends sex, at least for men.
Phenomenologically it's a surprise ending.
Doing away with it needs to think it through more.
somefeller said...
By chance, I happened to finish re-reading 1984 this weekend. On a lark, I decided to re-read Brave New World and 1984 back-to-back. I hadn't read either of them in probably 20 years, and I thought it would be interesting to revisit those books.
I always thought 1984 was a better-written book than Brave New World, and that opinion hasn't changed. Orwell was a master of detail and imagery, and Brave New World sometimes veered too far into cartoonishness. Brave New World was funnier than I remembered it, however, and now I see it as more of a dark social satire than I did when I was a teenager. It had real laugh-out-loud moments to it, while 1984 certainly didn't.
As the article linked to points out, much of our contemporary language regarding dictatorship has been influenced by Orwell. This is all to the good, though I'd argue there has also been a bit of a debasement of language relating to Orwell's terminology. Orwell's Oceania was a horror-show of a state, and use of Orwellian terminology for non-totalitarian states and their activities (like, ahem, some people are doing here) diminishes the strength of Orwell's critique and message when properly employed. The boy who cried Orwell can be a useful term for a lot of political commentators of various stripes.
All that having been said, I think Brave New World is the more relevant book. While it's a lesser masterpiece, it's easier to see the world moving in the direction of a hedonistic therapeutic authoritarianism then one that requires constant violence, terror and poverty. That sort of state seems to burn itself out or get burned up from the outside sooner or later. Like Huxley said, "you rule with the brains and the buttocks, never with the fists".
It's funny to see self-righteous conservatives claiming that it is progressives who represent Big Brother.
Let's see...
It's not progressives who want to censor the internet or remove books and magazines from libraries and store shelves.
It's not progressives who want to tell a woman she does not control her own reproductive choices.
It's not progressives who want to tell you that you can't grow your own medicine.
It's not progressives who want to tell you who you can and who you cannot marry.
It's not progressives who believe it is OK for the government to search your home without your knowledge, wiretap your communications without a warrant and detain an American citizen without filing charges for years.
And you nimrods claim that it is progressives that represent Big Brother? Boy, are you a bunch of pawns.
Eli:
It's progressives who are scared to use the term liberal.
It's liberals who tell bar owners they can't let their own paying customers smoke inside a private business.
It's liberals who want to put a GPS system in every car (not just terrorists) so liberals can levy higher taxes.
It's liberals who won't allow parents to send their kids to charter schools even when the public schools are failing.
It's liberals who won't say how much money schools need. The schools just need more and more and more.
It's liberals who refuse to admit the cost of college has skyrocketed just because the colleges spend more and more money. Instead liberals blame the govt for not shoveling even more in tax money to college students to keep up with the growing cost of college.
It's liberals who conspired with Republicans to bankrupt the federal safety nets (Medicare and Soc Security) but these same liberals want to create more and more federal boondoggles.
It's liberals who believe we are all dying to ride mass transit and keep subsidizing Amtrak to the tune of $50 per passenger.
It's liberals who spend $400 Million (in one big city) per year on HUD & homeless but won't admit it is not fixing the problem.
It's liberals like those in Massachusetts who thought it was a good idea to give cars to welfare recipients.
It's liberal thinking that gives govt workers salaries and benefits and pensions that far exceed the national average.
It's liberal thinking that takes the drivers' bridge toll money and uses it to bestow multi-million $$ grants on private companies and for so-called economic development pet projects.
It's liberals who decide we should stop using the term "terrorist" and say "man-caused disasters".
It's liberals who decide illegal immigrants are now "undocumented workers".
I don't make this stuff up. Should I go on?
John said...
"It's not progressives who want to censor the internet or remove books and magazines from libraries and store shelves."
Yes it is. Progressive want to implement the fairness doctrine and local ownership rules to control the content of radio broadcasts and want to apply McCain Feingold to the internet to control political speech. Further, progressive support hate speech legislation to criticize offensive speech. Progressives in control of Canada and the UK have effectively outlawed objectionable poltical speech.
"It's not progressives who want to tell you that you can't grow your own medicine."
No, they just want to have universal government controled health care to tell you what treatments your doctor can give you. Also, progressives have long supported the FDA which tells people and their doctors what treatments they can take in the name of "safety".
"It's not progressives who want to tell you who you can and who you cannot marry."
No, but their President does. Obama is a long time opponent of gay marriage. He attended church every Sunday for 20 years and has stated on numerous occasions that marriage is a union of a man and a woman.
"It's not progressives who believe it is OK for the government to search your home without your knowledge, wiretap your communications without a warrant and detain an American citizen without filing charges for years."
First, their President does. He has no plans to release many of the people at GUITMO and voted to renew FISA and is now using it. Further, progressives do think the government should have the power to go through your garbage, monitor the number of miles you drive in your car, tell you what foods you can and cannot eat in a restaurant (transfat bans) and if you can smoke in your own home.
Progressives want the government to control what you can and cannot eat, what healthcare you get, what car you can drive, what you can and cannot throw away, what you can set your theormostat to, how often you can travel(UK wants to give everyone a carbon ration that you would use to buy things like train and plane tickets), and nearly every aspect of your life outside of aborotion I guess.
MnMark said...
Both liberals and conservatives have some things they believe government ought to regulate. But the party of Big Government, the party that believes that government management of our lives is going to improve things, is the liberal party. And it is much more likely that the party that sees Big Government as the solution is the party that would turn into Big Brother.
I think this is a pretty good description of the basic moral worldview of progressives: "we will throw away the traditional religious and social restrictions on sexual behavior. You will be able to engage in all the licentious sex you want, freed of traditional limitations. No perversion will be off limits. Abort babies at your convenience. Flaunt homosexuality in public - heck, we'll even let homosexuals "marry". But that is the only sphere of human activity where we will grant you unqualified freedom. Beyond that, everything important - speech, self-defense, money you earn, how you raise and educate your children, what you eat or smoke -- all of this will be fair game for us to manage as we see fit. You can have whatever freedom is left over in these areas after we are done taking what we want."
It's progressives that are outlawing an emotion ("hate"). It's progressives that want the populace disarmed. It's progressives who founded the Soviet Union, communist China, communist Cuba, communist North Korea, and so on. On the other hand it's American traditionalist conservatives who uphold the Founding Fathers' principles of limited government, individual liberty, the right to keep and bear arms, the rights of free speech and free association (a right completely destroyed by progressives) and so on. Progressives want to move away from what the Founders gave us ; freedom is not good enough for them because it doesn't shape the world the way they think it should be shaped.
So yes, progressives are much more likely to be the party of Big Brother than traditionalist American conservatives who look back to the Founders for guidance.
| one thousand nine hundred and eighty four |
Which character said ‘Why is a raven like a writing desk’? | Nineteen Eighty-Four - Wikiquote
Nineteen Eighty-Four
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To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone — to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink — greetings!
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel by the English writer George Orwell , published in 1949. The story, which focuses on the life of Winston Smith, was Orwell's vision of a totalitarian state which has absolute control over every action and thought of its people through propaganda, secrecy, constant surveillance, and harsh punishment. In some editions it is retitled 1984.
See also:
Part One[ edit ]
The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary.
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.
The instrument (the telescreen it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs.
The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic. And yet the rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp.
Then the face of Big Brother faded away again and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitals:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed— would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper— the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime , they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.
It was always at night—the arrests invariably happened at night. The sudden jerk out of sleep, the rough hand shaking your shoulder, the lights glaring in your eyes, the ring of hard faces round the bed. In the vast majority of cases there was no trial, no report of the arrest. People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.
Chapter 2[ edit ]
Thoughtcrime does not entail death, thoughtcrime IS death
It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which The Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak — 'child hero' was the phrase generally used — had overheard some compromising remark and denounced its parents to the Thought Police.
On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on banners, on posters, and on the wrappings of a cigarette Packet — everywhere. Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed — no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.
To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone — to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink — greetings!
Thoughtcrime does not entail death, thoughtcrime IS death
Chapter 3[ edit ]
Tragedy, he perceived, belonged to the ancient time.
If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened — that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed -if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'.
The past, he reflected, had not merely been altered, it had been actually destroyed. For how could you establish even the most obvious fact when there existed no record outside your own memory?
His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget, whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself — that was the ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.
Chapter 5[ edit ]
It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn't only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take "good", for instance. If you have a word like "good", what need is there for a word like "bad"? "Ungood" will do just as well — better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of "good", what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like "excellent" and "splendid" and all the rest of them? "Plusgood" covers the meaning, or "doubleplusgood" if you want something stronger still. Of course we use those forms already. but in the final version of Newspeak there'll be nothing else. In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words — in reality, only one word. Don't you see the beauty of that, Winston?
Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed, will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten.
Orthodoxy is unconsciousness
It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.
Chapter 6[ edit ]
Your worst enemy […] was your own nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom.
The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act. Not love so much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it. All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose, and — though the principle was never clearly stated — permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another. The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the Party. Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema. This again was never put into plain words, but in an indirect way it was rubbed into every Party member from childhood onwards.
The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime.
Chapter 8[ edit ]
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness, O’Brien had said to him.
But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that. When you put it in words it sounded reasonable: it was when you looked at the human beings passing you on the pavement that it became an act of faith.
Within twenty years at the most, he reflected, the huge and simple question, 'Was life better before the Revolution than it is now?' would have ceased once and for all to be answerable. But in effect it was unanswerable even now, since the few scattered survivors from the ancient world were incapable of comparing one age with another. They remembered a million useless things, a quarrel with a workmate, a hunt for a lost bicycle pump, the expression on a long-dead sister's face, the swirls of dust on a windy morning seventy years ago: but all the relevant facts were outside the range of their vision. They were like the ant, which can see small objects but not large ones. And when memory failed and written records were falsified — when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested.
It would not matter if they killed you at once. To be killed was what you expected. But before death (nobody spoke of such things, yet everybody knew of them) there was the routine of confession that had to be gone through: the grovelling on the floor and screaming for mercy, the crack of broken bones, the smashed teeth, and bloody clots of hair. Why did you have to endure it, since the end was always the same? Why was it not possible to cut a few days or weeks out of your life? Nobody ever escaped detection, and nobody ever failed to confess. When once you had succumbed to thoughtcrime it was certain that by a given date you would be dead. Why then did that horror, which altered nothing, have to lie embedded in future time?
He thought with a kind of astonishment of the biological uselessness of pain and fear, the treachery of the human body which always freezes into inertia at exactly the moment when a special effort is needed. It struck him that in moments of crisis one is never fighting against an external enemy but always against one's own body.
Chapter 2[ edit ]
His heart leapt. Scores of times she had done it: he wished it had been hundreds — thousands. Anything that hinted at corruption always filled him with a wild hope. Who knew, perhaps the Party was rotten under the surface, its cult of strenuousness and self-denial simply a sham concealing iniquity. If he could have infected the whole lot of them with leprosy or syphilis, how gladly he would have done so! Anything to rot, to weaken, to undermine!
In the old days, he thought, a man looked at a girl's body and saw that it was desirable, and that was the end of the story. But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.
But by degrees the flood of music drove all speculations out of his mind. It was as though it were a kind of liquid stuff that poured all over him and got mixed up with the sunlight that filtered through the leaves. He stopped thinking and merely felt.
Chapter 3[ edit ]
If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.
When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?
There was a direct intimate connexion between chastity and political orthodoxy. For how could the fear, the htred, and the lunatic credulity which the Party needed in its members be kept at the right pitch, except by bottling down some powerful instinct and using it as a driving force? The sex impulse was dangerous to the Party, and the Party had turned it to account. They had played a similar trick with the instinct of parenthood. The family could not actually be abolished, and, indeed, people were encouraged to be fond of their children, in almost the old-fashioned way. The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations. The family had become in effect an extension of the Thought Police. It was a device by means of which everyone could be surrounded night and day by informers who knew him intimately.
"Actually, it would have made no difference," he said.
"Then why are you sorry you didn't do it?"
"Only because I prefer a positive to a negative. In this game that we're playing, we can't win. Some kinds of failure are better than other kinds, that's all."
"We're not dead yet," said Julia prosaically.
"Not physically. Six months, a year--five years, conceivably. I am afraid of death. You are young, so presumably you're more afraid of it than I am. Obviously we shall put it off as long as we can. But it makes very little difference. So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing."
Chapter 4[ edit ]
The tune had been haunting London for weeks past. It was one of countless similar songs published for the benefit of the proles by a sub-section of the Music Department. The words of these songs were composed without any human intervention whatever on an instrument known as versificator.
[Winston] turned over toward the light and lay gazing into the glass paperweight. The inexhaustibly interesting thing was not the fragment of coral but the interior of the glass itself. There was such a depth of it, and yet it was almost as transparent as air. It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky, enclosing a tiny world with its atmosphere complete. He had the feeling that he could get inside it, and that in fact he was inside it, along with the mahogany bed and the gateleg table and the clock and the steel engraving and the paperweight itself. The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.
Chapter 5[ edit ]
Both of them knew — in a way, it was never out of their minds — that what was now happening could not last long. There were times when the fact of impending death seemed as palpable as the bed they lay on, and they would cling together with a sort of despairing sensuality, like a damned soul grasping at his last morsel of pleasure when the clock is within five minutes of striking. But there were also times when they had the illusion not only of safety but of permanence. So long as they were actually in this room, they both felt, no harm could come to them. Getting there was difficult and dangerous, but the room itself was sanctuary.
But she only questioned the teachings of the Party when they in some way touched upon her own life. Often she was ready to accept the official mythology, simply because the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to her.
It was all nonsense, as they both knew. In reality there was no escape. Even the one plan that was practicable, suicide, they had no intention of carrying out. To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one's lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available.
Once when he happened in some connexion to mention the war against Eurasia, she startled him by saying casually that in her opinion the war was not happening. The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, 'just to keep people frightened'. This was an idea that had literally never occurred to him.
"You're only a rebel from the waist downwards," he told her.
In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.
Chapter 7[ edit ]
"Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn't matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you—that would be the real betrayal."
She thought it over. "They can't do that," she said finally. "It's the one thing they can't do. They can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you."
"No," he said a little more hopefully, "no; that's quite true. They can't get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them."
It would not have occurred to her that an action which is ineffectual thereby becomes meaningless. If you loved someone, you loved him and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love. When the last of the chocolate was gone, his mother had clasped the child in her arms. It was no use, it changed nothing, it did not produce more chocolate, it did not avert the child's death or her own; but it seemed natural for her to do it. The refugee woman in the boat had also covered the little boy with her arm, which was no more use against the bullets than a sheet of paper. The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world. When once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing, made literally no difference. Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor your actions were ever heard of again. You were lifted clean out of the stream of history. And yet to the people of only two generations ago, this would not have seemed all-important, because they were not attempting to alter history. They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself.
Facts, at any rate, could not be kept hidden. They could be tracked down by enquiry, they could be squeezed out of you by torture. But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make? They could not alter your feelings: for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable.
Chapter 8[ edit ]
The Brotherhood cannot be wiped out because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense. Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible. You will never have anything to sustain you, except the idea. You will get no comradeship and no encouragement. When finally you are caught, you will get no help. We never help our members. At most, when it is absolutely necessary that someone should be silenced, we are occasionally able to smuggle a razor blade into a prisoner's cell. You will have to get used to living without results and without hope. You will work for a while, you will be caught, you will confess, and then you will die. Those are the only results that you will ever see. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. But how far away that future may be, there is no knowing. It might be a thousand years. At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little. We cannot act collectively. We can only spread our knowledge outwards from individual to individual, generation after generation. In the face of the Thought Police there is no other way.
Chapter 9[ edit ]
All rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers.
This section has been organized based on order of occurrence. Please consult the placement of the other quotes before adding another.
The object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war.
From the moment when the machine first made its appearance it was clear to all thinking people that the need for human drudgery, and therefore to a great extent human inequality, had disappeared. If the machine were used deliberately for that end, hunger, overwork, dirt, illiteracy, and disease could be eliminated within a few generations. And in fact, without being used for any such purpose, but by a sort of automatic process—by producing wealth which it was sometimes impossible not to distribute—the machine did raise the living standards of the average human being very greatly over a period of about fifty years at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. But it was also clear that an all-round increase in wealth threatened the destruction—indeed, in some sense was the destruction—of a hierarchical society. In a world in which everyone worked short hours, had enough to eat, lived in a house with a bathroom and a refrigerator, and possessed a motor-car or even an aeroplane, the most obvious and perhaps the most important form of inequality would already have disappeared. If it once became general, wealth would confer no distinction.
In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.
The problem was how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world. Goods must be produced, but they need not be distributed. And in practice the only way of achieving this was by continuous warfare.
The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.
In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. In practice the needs of the population are always underestimated, with the result being that there is a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life; but this is looked upon as an advantage. It is deliberate policy to keep even the favored groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another.
War, it will be seen, not only accomplishes the necessary destruction, but accomplishes it in a psychologically acceptable way. In principle it would be quite simple to waste the surplus labour of the world by building temples and pyramids, by digging holes and filling them up again, or even by producing vast quantities of goods and then setting fire to them. But this would provide only the economic and not the emotional basis for a hierarchical society.
The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc. And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty.
The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought.
All rulers in all ages have tried to impose a false view of the world upon their followers.
War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible. But when war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous. When war is continuous there is no such thing as military necessity. Technical progress can cease and the most palpable facts can be denied or disregarded.
Nothing is efficient in Oceania except the Thought Police.
War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word "war", therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist.
A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This—although the vast majority of Party members understand it only in a shallower sense—is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: War is Peace.
The book fascinated him, or more exactly it reassured him. In a sense it told him nothing that was new, but that was part of the attraction. It said what he would have said, if it had been possible for him to set his scattered thoughts in order. It was the product of a mind similar to his own, but enormously more powerful, more systematic, less fear-ridden. The best books, he perceived, are those that tell you what you know already.
The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim—for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives—is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal.
The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians. These people, whose origins lay in the salaried middle class and the upper grades of the working class, had been shaped and brought together by the barren world of monopoly industry and centralized government. As compared with their opposite numbers in past ages, they were less avaricious, less tempted by luxury, hungrier for pure power, and, above all, more conscious of what they were doing and more intent on crushing opposition. This last difference was cardinal. By comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient. The ruling groups were always infected to some extent by liberal ideas, and were content to leave loose ends everywhere, to regard only the overt act and to be uninterested in what their subjects were thinking. Even the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages was tolerant by modern standards. Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the process further. With the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end. Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda, with all other channels of communication closed. The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time.
There are only four ways in which a ruling class can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle Group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern. These causes do not operate singly, and as a rule all four of them are present in some degree. A ruling class which could guard against all of them would remain in power permanently. Ultimately the determining factor is the mental attitude of the ruling class itself.
What opinions the masses hold, or do not hold, is looked on as a matter of indifference. They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect.
Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity.
Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.
Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. […] The process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.
The Party intellectual knows in which direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of doublethink he also satisfies himself that reality is not violated.
For the secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one's own infallibility with the power to learn from past mistakes.
The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture, and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink. For it is only by reconciling contradictions that power can be retained indefinitely. In no other way could the ancient cycle be broken. If human equality is to be forever averted—if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently—then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.
Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.
Sanity is not statistical.
Chapter 1[ edit ]
"They’ve got you too!" he cried.
"They got me a long time ago," said O’Brien with a mild, almost regretful irony .
One question at any rate was answered. Never, for any reason on earth, could you wish for an increase of pain. Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes, no heroes, he thought over and over as he writhed on the floor, clutching uselessly at his disabled left arm.
Chapter 2[ edit ]
That was doublethink. He had a feeling of deadly helplessness. If he could have been certain that O'Brien was lying, it would not have seemed to matter. But it was perfectly possible that O'Brien had really forgotten the photograph. And if so, then already he would have forgotten his denial of remembering it, and forgotten the act of forgetting. How could one be sure that it was simple trickery? Perhaps that lunatic dislocation in the mind could really happen: that was the thought that defeated him.
I tell you Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the party holds to be truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.
"How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four."
"Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane."
Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.
When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us: so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation. In the old days the heretic walked to the stake still a heretic, proclaiming his heresy, exulting in it. Even the victim of the Russian purges could carry rebellion locked up in his skull as he walked down the passage waiting for the bullet. But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.
The command of the old despotisms was Thou Shalt Not. The command of the totalitarians was Thou Shalt. Our command is Thou Art. No one whom we bring to this place ever stands out against us. Everyone is washed clean.
Do not imagine that you will save yourself, Winston, however completely you surrender to us. No one who has once gone astray is ever spared. And even if we chose to let you live out the natural term of your life, still you would never escape from us. What happens to you here is for ever. Understand that in advance. We shall crush you down to the point from which there is no coming back. Things will happen to you from which you could not recover, if you lived a thousand years. Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves.
Chapter 3[ edit ]
The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy — everything.
He knew in advance what O'Brien would say. That the Party did not seek power for its own ends, but only for the good of the majority. That it sought power because men in the mass were frail cowardly creatures who could not endure liberty or face the truth, and must be ruled over and systematically deceived by others who were stronger than themselves. That the choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better. That the party was the eternal guardian of the weak, a dedicated sect doing evil that good might come, sacrificing its own happiness to that of others. The terrible thing, thought Winston, the terrible thing was that when O'Brien said this he would believe it.
The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.
We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.
'We are the priests of power. God is power. But at present power is only a word so far as you are concerned. It is time for you to gather some idea of what power means. The first thing you must realize is that power is collective. The individual only has power in so far as he ceases to be an individual. You know the Party slogan: "Freedom is Slavery". Has it ever occurred to you that it is reversible? Slavery is freedom. Alone — free — the human being is always defeated. It must be so, because every human being is doomed to die, which is the greatest of all failures. But if he can make complete, utter submission, if he can escape from his identity, if he can merge himself in the Party so that he is the Party, then he is all-powerful and immortal.
What can you do, thought Winston, against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing, and then simply persists in his lunacy?
The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except through human consciousness.
Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.
The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy — everything.
We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science.
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.
We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable.
If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are alone? You are outside history, you are non-existent.
"Tell me," [Winston] said, "how soon will they shoot me?"
"It might be a long time," said O'Brien. "You are a difficult case. But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you."
Chapter 4[ edit ]
How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed. It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude: the predestined thing happened in any case. He hardly knew why he had ever rebelled.
"Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!"
For a moment he had had an overwhelming hallucination of her presence. She had seemed to be not merely with him, but inside him. It was as though she had got into the texture of his skin. In that moment he had loved her far more than he had ever done when they were together and free. Also he knew that somewhere or other she was still alive and needed his help.
He lay back on the bed and tried to compose himself. What had he done? How many years had he added to his servitude by that moment of weakness?
For the first time he perceived that if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself. You must know all the while that it is there, but until it is needed you must never let it emerge into your consciousness in any shape that could be given a name. From now onwards he must not only think right; he must feel right, dream right. And all the while he must keep his hatred locked up inside him like a ball of matter which was part of himself and yet unconnected with the rest of him, a kind of cyst.
To die hating them, that was freedom.
Chapter 5[ edit ]
"You asked me once," said O'Brien, "what was in Room 101 . I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world."
"By itself," he said, "pain is not always enough. There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable — something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved. If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air. It is merely an instinct which cannot be destroyed. It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wished to. You will do what is required of you."
Chapter 6[ edit ]
The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc , but to make all other modes of thought impossible.
"They can't get inside you," she had said. But they could get inside you. "What happens to you here is forever," O'Brien had said. That was a true word. There were things, your own acts, from which you could never recover. Something was killed in your breast: burnt out, cauterized out.
"In that moment you really do mean it"
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
Appendix[ edit ]
The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc , but to make all other modes of thought impossible.
George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four
Quotes about Nineteen Eighty-Four[ edit ]
Newspeak was supposed to have become general by 2050, and yet it appears that it did not last that long, let alone triumph, that the ancient humanistic ways of thinking inherent in standard English have persisted, survived, and ultimately prevailed, and that perhaps the social and moral order it speaks for has even, somehow, been restored. ~ Thomas Pynchon
Alphabetized by author
Found the P.M. absorbed in George Orwell's book, 1984. ‘Have you read it, Charles? Oh, you must. I'm reading it for a second time. It is a very remarkable book.’
Charles Wilson (Lord Moran) recounting a conversation with Winston Churchill in his diary for 19 February 1953, in Lord Moran, Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940-1965 (Sphere, 1968), p. 423.
1984 has taught millions to look at the conflict between East and West in terms of black and white, and it has shown them a monster Bogy and a monster Scapegoat for all the ills that plague mankind... It would be dangerous to blind ourselves to the fact that millions of people in the West may be inclined, in their anguish and fear, to flee from their own responsibility for mankind's destiny and to vent their anger and despair on the giant Bogy-cum-Scapegoat which Orwell's 1984 has done so much to lay before their eyes.
Isaac Deutscher , in "1984 —The Mysticism of Cruelty" in Heretics and Renegades (1955)
"Have you read this book? You must read it, sir. Then you will known why we must drop the atom bomb on the Bolshies!" With these words a blind, miserable news-vendor recommended to me 1984 in New York, a few weeks before Orwell's death. Poor Orwell, could he ever imagine that his own book would become so prominent an item in the programme of Hate week?
Isaac Deutscher, in "1984 —The Mysticism of Cruelty" in Heretics and Renegades (1955)
In North Korea , every person is property and is owned by a small and mad family with hereditary power. Every minute of every day, as far as regimentation can assure the fact, is spent in absolute subjection and serfdom. The private life has been entirely abolished. One tries to avoid cliché, and I did my best on a visit to this terrifying country in the year 2000, but George Orwell 's 1984 was published at about the time that Kim Il-sung set up his system, and it really is as if he got hold of an early copy of the novel and used it as a blueprint.
| i don't know |
Which solid has the biggest volume for a given surface area? | TIMES MODULE M11 - Area, volume and surface area
Area, volume and surface area
Measurement and Geometry : Module 11
Year : 8-10
Knowledge of the areas of rectangles, triangles, circles and composite figures.
The definitions of a parallelogram and a rhombus.
Familiarity with the basic properties of parallel lines.
Familiarity with the volume of a rectangular prism.
Basic knowledge of congruence and similarity.
Since some formulas will be involved, the students will need some experience with substitution and also with the distributive law.
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Motivation
The area of a plane figure is a measure of the amount of space inside it. Calculating areas is an important skill used by many people in their daily work. Builders and tradespeople often need to work out the areas and dimensions of the structures they are building, and so do architects, designers and engineers.
While rectangles, squares and triangles appear commonly in the world around us, other shapes such as the parallelogram, the rhombus and the trapezium are also found. Consider, for example, this aerial view of a roof.
The view consists of two trapezia and two triangles.
Similarly, solids other than the rectangular prism frequently occur. The Toblerone ©
packet (with the base at the end) is an example of a triangular prism, while an oil drum
has the shape of a cylinder. It is important to be able to find the volume of such solids.
Medical specialists measure such things as blood flow rate (which is done using the velocity of the fluid and the area of the cross-section of flow) as well as the size of tumours and growths.
In physics the area under a velocity-time graph gives the distance travelled.
In this module we will use simple ideas to produce a number of fundamental formulas
for areas and volumes. Students should understand why the formulas are true and commit them to memory.
Area of a parallelogram
A parallelogram is a quadrilateral with opposite sides equal and parallel.
We can easily find the area of a parallelogram, given its base b and its height h.
In the diagram below, we draw in the diagonal BD and divide the figure into two triangles, each with base length b and height h. Since the area of each triangle is
bh the total area A is given by
A= bh.
Note that the two triangles in the diagram not only have the same area, they are actually congruent triangles.
Some teachers may prefer to establish the area formula for a parallelogram without using the area of a triangle formula so that they can develop the area of a triangle using the area formula for a parallelogram.
This can be done by showing that the triangle on the right in the left hand diagram below can be positioned on the left to form a rectangle whose base and height are the same as
those of the parallelogram, so again, the area is equal to bh.
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Area of a trapezium
A trapezium is a quadrilateral that has one pair of opposite sides parallel. (The name comes from the Greek word for table.)
We can find the area of a trapezium if we know the lengths of the two parallel sides and the perpendicular distance between these two sides.
As we did with the parallelogram, we draw one of the diagonals. We then have two triangles, both with height h, and one with base a, one with base b.
Thus the area A of the trapezium is
A
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Area of a rhombus and A kite
A rhombus is a quadrilateral with all sides equal. In the module, Rhombuses, Kites and Trapezia using simple geometric arguments, we showed
the opposite sides are parallel
the diagonals bisect each other at right angles
Thus a rhombus is a parallelogram and we can calculate the area of a rhombus using the formula for the area of a parallelogram.
Now take a rhombus with diagonals of length x and y.
Standing the rhombus on one corner, we see that the two diagonals cut the rhombus into four right-angled triangles, which can be completed to form four rectangles inside
a larger rectangle.
Since the eight triangles have the same area, (indeed, they are all congruent), the area of the rhombus is one half the area of the large rectangle, which is xy.
Hence, if x and y are the lengths of the diagonals of a rhombus, then
Area of a rhombus =
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Area of Polygons
Any polygon may be dissected into triangles. Hence the area of any polygon is defined and can be calculated by calculating the area of each triangle.
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Volume of a Prism
A polyhedron is a solid bounded by polygons. A right prism is a polyhedron that has two congruent and parallel faces (called the base and top) and all its remaining faces are rectangles. This means that when a right prism is stood on its base, all the walls are vertical rectangles. We will generally say ‘prism’ when we really mean ‘right prism’. A prism has uniform cross-section. This means that when you take slices through the solid parallel to the base you get polygons congruent to the base. So the area of each slice is always the same. In a rectangular prism, the cross-section is always a rectangle.
In the module Introduction to Measurement we saw that the volume of a rectangular prism is given by the area of the base times the height, or
Volume = lwh, where l and w are the length and width of the prism and h is the height.
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Triangular Prisms
In a triangular prism, each cross-section parallel to the triangular base is a triangle congruent to the base.
Suppose we have a triangular prism whose length is 4 cm as shown in the diagram.
We can cut the prism into layers, each of length of 1 cm.
We saw earlier that we can complete an acute-angled triangle to form a rectangle with twice the area.
Similarly we can complete the triangular prism to form a rectangular prism. The volume of each of the 1 cm layers is half the volume of the corresponding rectangular prism, i.e.
Volume of each layer =
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Volume of a Cylinder
Cylinders are ubiquitous in everyday life. For example tinned food normally comes in a can whose shape is a cylinder.
If we slice a cylinder parallel to its base, then each cross-section is a circle of the same size as the base.
Thus a cylinder has the same basic property as a prism and we will take the formula for the volume of a cylinder to be the area of the circular base times the height. We cannot prove this formula rigorously at this stage, because the proof involves constructing the cylinder as a limit of prisms.
If the base circle of the cylinder has radius r, then we know that the area of the circle is
A =π r2. If the height of the cylinder is h, then its volume is
Volume = π r2 × h = π r2h.
Example
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Surface Area of a Prism
Suppose we take a rectangular prism whose dimensions are 3 cm by 4 cm by 5 cm and open it out as shown below.
We can find the area of the flattened rectangular prism by adding up the areas of the six rectangles. There are three pairs of equal rectangles, so the total area is
A = 2 × (3 × 4 + 3 × 5 + 4 × 5) = 94 cm2.
This is called the surface area of the prism.
Thus the surface area of a prism is the sum of the areas of its faces. Indeed, the surface area of a polyhedron is also the sum of the areas of all its faces.
Example
Links Forward
Areas
We can now find the areas of the basic figures of geometry. We have also seen, in the module on circles, that the area of a circle is given by A = π r2, where r is the radius. To make sense of the area of a figure that is not bounded either by straight lines or circular arcs, we need integral calculus. While these ideas go back to Archimedes and Eudoxus, the systematic development of integral calculus is due to Newton and Leibniz.
We can use trigonometry, to find the areas of various figures given enough information about their sides and angles.
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Volumes: pyramids and prisms
It can be shown that the volume of a square pyramid is one third of the volume of the corresponding right prism with the same height and base.
Volume of a pyramid =
where A is the area of the base
and h is the perpendicular height
measured from the base.
This formula holds for pyramids with a polygonal base with area A.
The cross-sections of a cone (or sphere) are circles but the radii of the cross-sections differ. The volume of a cone is one third of the volume of the corresponding cylinder with the same height and radius.
Volume of a cone =
where r is the radius of the
base and h is the height.
Finally, the volume of a sphere is given by
Volume of a sphere =
where r is the radius of the sphere.
This completes the volume formulas for the basic solids. Solids with irregular boundaries can be dealt with using integral calculus. These are all treated in the module, Cones, Pyramids and Spheres .
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Surface area
In the same way that we ’cut open’ a prism to find the surface area, we can ’cut open’ a cylinder of radius r and height h to show that the area of the curved surface is 2π rh. Adding in the two circular ends, we arrive at the formula A = 2π rh + 2π r2 for the total surface area of a cylinder. The surface area formula for a cone is A = π r2 + π rl, where r is the radius and l is the slant height. Finally, the surface area of a sphere is given by A = 4π r2, where r is the radius of the sphere.
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History and Applications
Many of the names of the figures and solids whose area and volume we have found come from the Greek. For example, trapezium (despite the Latin ending) comes from the Greek word for table, while prism is derived from a Greek word meaning to saw (since the cross-sections, or cuts, are congruent), also the word cylinder is from a Greek word meaning to roll. The ancient Greeks were the first to systematically investigate the areas and volumes of plane figures and solids.
During the Hellenistic Period, the great mathematician Archimedes (c. 287 − 212 BC) approximated the area of a circle using inscribed polygons and found very good approximations to π . He also derived the formulas for the volume and surface area of the sphere. Archimedes developed a technique to find areas and volumes called ‘the method of exhaustion’ that came close to the ideas used in modern calculus.
Prior to the development of the integral calculus, which took areas and volumes to a new level of abstraction, the Italian mathematician Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri (1598-1647) developed a result known as Cavalieri’s Principle which states that two objects have the same volume if the areas of their corresponding cross-sections are equal in all cases. (The same principle had been previously discovered by Zu Gengzhi (480−525) in China.) A clever use of this method shows that the volume of a hemisphere radius r is the same as the volume of the solid obtained by removing a cone of radius r and height r from a cylinder of the same height and radius, thus showing that the volume of the hemisphere is
π r3.
Cavalieri’s principle can be used to find the volume of oblique solids (as opposed to right solids). Thus, an oblique prism has parallel horizontal base and top but the sides are not vertical. Such a solid is called a parallelepiped (another Greek word meaning parallel planes.)
Using Cavalieri’s principle, it can shown that the volume formula is the same as that
for a prism, namely:
Volume = area of base × perpendicular height.
The next big advance came with integral calculus, when sense could be made of the concept of area under a curve using the ideas of a limit. Although much progress had been made on this by Fermat and Descartes, it was the (independent) work of Newton and Leibniz that led to the modern theory of integration.
There are approximate methods for finding the area of a figure with an irregular boundary. One quite accurate one is called Simpson’s Rule, which was, in fact, known by Cavalieri, rediscovered by Gregory (1638-1675), and attributed to Thomas Simpson (1710-1761). This rule enables us to find an approximate value of the area of an irregular figure by taking measurements across the figure at various points along some axis. It is used today by cardiologists in measuring, for example, the right ventricular (RV) volume relating to blood flow in the heart.
| Sphere |
Which type of rock is formed by heat or pressure? | Isoperimetric Theorem and Inequality
Isoperimetric Theorem and Inequality
Isoperimetric Theorem has been known from the time of antiquity. Elegant all by itself, the Theorem also has a fascinating history. The most essential contribution towards its rigorous proof was given in 1841 and is due to Jacob Steiner (1796-1863). At the time it stood at the center of controversy between adherents of analytic (i.e. using Calculus) and synthetic (pure Geometric) methods. Although accepting validity of the analytic methods, Steiner only used synthetic approach. His proof contained a flaw that later was fixed by analytic approach. To better understand the nature of the discussion let me first formulate two equivalent statements. The Isoperimateric Theorem deals with the area and perimeter (circumference) of circle :
Statement 1
Among all planar shapes with the same perimeter the circle has the largest area.
Statement 2
Among all planar shapes with the same area the circle has the shortest perimeter.
Theorem
The two Statements 1 and 2 are equivalent.
Proof
As a shorthand, denote Statement 1 as A and Statement 2 as B. Assume A holds and let us prove B. Suppose, on the contrary, that B is false. Then for a given circle C there exists a figure F with the same area but with a perimeter shorter than that of C. Shrink C into a smaller circle C' whose perimeter equals that of F. The area of C' will clearly be smaller than that of C and, consequently, it will be smaller than the area of F. Now, this contradicts our assumption that A holds: C' and F have the same perimeter but the area of the circle C' is less than the area of F.
Thus A ⇒ B.
The implication B ⇒ A is proven in precisely the same fashion. Q.E.D.
Note that we did not prove either A or B but rather that they are either both true or both false. Mathematical theorems in general have premises and conclusions and assert that the latter follow from the former. Human reasoning often resorts to the well known modus ponens syllogism: if A=>B and A are true then so is B. Oftentimes, the premise A seems to be so obviously true that a proof of A=>B is mistakenly substituted for a proof of B.
See if you can detect an inconsistency in the following
Proof of Statement 1
The proof will proceed in several steps. First of all, let us note that the figure that solves Statement 1 (we hope it's a circle) must be convex. Indeed, assume it's not (see Fig 1).
This would imply existence of two points from the figure such that the connecting segment would not itself lie inside our shape. Then reflecting a region between the segment and the boundary of the shape as on Fig. 2, it would be possible to increase its area without modifying its perimeter.
On the second step we proof the following
Lemma 1
Let two points S and T be selected on the boundary of the shape solving Statement 1 such that the points divide the perimeter into two equal parts. Then the segment ST must divide the area of the shape into two equal parts.
Proof of Lemma 1
Assume, on the contrary, the area S1T is larger than T2S (Fig 3). Then reflecting S1T in ST will get the shape S1T3 with the same perimeter as S1T2 but a larger area.
From this proof it appears that it's sufficient to solve the following "half" of the problem: Among all arcs with a given length and endpoints on a line ST find the one that along with the line ST encloses the largest area. This question was previously posed elsewhere on this site.
Lemma 2
Consider all the arcs with a given length and the endpoints S and T on a fixed straight line. The curve that encloses the maximum area between the curve and the straight line is a semicircle.
Proof of Lemma 2
Suffice it to show that every angle inscribed into the arc is right. If there is a point on the arc, say P, for which ∠SPT is not right, slide either point S or point T along the straight line ST until the angle becomes right. Let pieces of the arc move along. As an exercise prove that among all triangles with two given sides the one whose sides enclose a right angle has the largest area.
Since the area of the two red regions did not change but the area of the triangle (Fig 5) grew, the whole area between the new curve SPT and the line ST has increased. This shows that unless the curve is a semicircle we can always increase the area in question by moving points S and T. This proves Lemma 2 and with it Statement 1.
Elegant as it is this proof of Statement 1 contains a flaw. On each of the three steps we assumed that the shape answering conclusions of the steps existed and the Lemmas have only been proved under this assumption. Ultimately, we assumed that there exists a figure having a maximum area among all the shapes with the same perimeter. Under this assumption we proved that such a shape is bound to be a circle. Denote the existence hypothesis as H. What we have actually shown is an implication
H ⇒ A.
In order to prove A we still have to demonstrate that H holds true.
Existence of the optimal shape in the sense of Statement 1 is not at all obvious. For example, if Statement 1 required us to determine a shape with the smallest area for a given perimeter, such shape would not exist at all. Once we understood this point it's less important to actually complete the proof. H is proven with a limiting procedure which is quite simple but requires some basic elements of Calculus.
Both Statements 1 and 2 can be expressed in a more algebraic form which indeed underlines the fact that they are equivalent. Denote the perimeter and area of a planar shape L and A, respectively. Then
4πA ≤ L²,
which is known as the Isoperimetric Inequality. The equality only holds for a circle. Fixing L we get Statement 1. Fixing A Statement 2. Isoperimetric Inequality can be generalized in several ways. For one, it extends into higher dimensional spaces. For example, if S is a surface area while V a volume of a 3d body then
36πV² ≤ S³.
The inequality translates into two equivalent statements of which one claims that among all three dimensional solid bodies with a given surface area the sphere has the largest volume. What is the other one?
Another generalization pertains to the Geometric Theory of Fuzzy Sets. Regular sets for which it's assumed to be known whether a point belongs to a set or not are called crisp among the fuzzy sets. For a fuzzy set a point may belong to a set with a certain degree that changes from 0 (does not belong at all) to 1 (belongs unequivocally). The theory defines fuzzy circles and fuzzy spheres. In Reference [1] I have shown that the general Isoperimetric Inequality holds for fuzzy sets. The equality is only reached for crisp circles, spheres and their multidimensional analogues.
Pappus of Alexandria (ca 300 A.D.) wrote
Bees, then, know just this fact which is useful to them, that the hexagon is greater than the square and the triangle and will hold more honey for the same expenditure of material in constructing each. But we, claiming a greater share of wisdom than the bees, will investigate a somewhat wider problem, namely that, of all equilateral and equiangular plane figures having the same perimeter, that which has the greater number of angles is always greater, and the greatest of them all is the circle having its perimeter equal to them.
In a sense it is very satisfying to have the circle as a solution to Statement 1. The circle is unique in its roundness. It's symmetric in every straight line passing through its center. The circle is perfect and, thus, is a good candidate to satisfy the Isoperimetric Theorem. Polygons are less smooth than a circle, less perfect one can say. Still in every family of polygons there is one which is less imperfect than the rest. Interestingly, in their respective families these "less imperfect shapes" satisfy isoperimetric conditions.
Among all quadrilaterals with the same perimeter, the square has the largest area
In particular , among all rectangles with the same perimeter, the square has the largest area
This latter fact is equivalent to √ab ≤ (a + b)/2, a particular case of the inequality between the geometric an arithmetic means.
...
Among any finite number of regular polygons with the same perimeter, the one with the largest number of sides has the largest area.
Among all n-gons (n fixed) with the same perimeter the regular one has the largest area. (This is known as Zenodorus Theorem, see [ Tikhomirov , pp 11-15].
Each of the statements above has an equivalent where the area is given.
As in Lemma 2, among all plane curves of fixed length with fixed endpoints , a circular arc encloses a maximum area between it and the line joining its endpoints.
Of all polygons with n sides inscribed in a given circle, the regular one has the largest area.
References
A. Bogomolny, On the Perimeter and Area of Fuzzy Sets, International Journal of Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 23(1987), 257-269.
R. Courant and H.Robbins, What is Mathematics? , Oxford University Press, NY, 1996.
| i don't know |
Who is the current Shadow Home Secretary? | BBC News - Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet and ministerial teams
Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet and ministerial teams
Click on the faces for profiles
Here are details of Ed Miliband's ministerial team following his October 2013 reshuffle. This page is no longer being updated. For latest, click here .
ED MILIBAND - LABOUR LEADER
The then 40-year-old beat older brother and former foreign secretary David to the Labour leadership in 2010 by the narrowest of margins, with the backing of the trade unions proving decisive. Attempted to shake-off his "Red Ed" tag by talking about the "squeezed middle" - but faced criticism the party lacked direction.
He launched a two-year policy review and consultation exercise on "refounding" Labour as a more modern and inclusive party. He faced criticism his leadership lacked edge, but won support over his reaction to the phone-hacking scandal - and his decision to burn the party's bridges with Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
The son of a Marxist intellectual and an MP since 2005, he was formerly an adviser to Gordon Brown. After entering Parliament, he enjoyed a rapid rise, becoming energy and climate change secretary in 2008. Married his long-term partner and mother of his two young children, Justine Thornton in 2011.
ED BALLS - SHADOW CHANCELLOR
As Gordon Brown's chief economic adviser, he was at the chancellor's side for many years. After being elected an MP in 2005, he quickly became a Treasury minister but had to deny accusations of briefing against Tony Blair. Later he became schools secretary and narrowly held on to his seat in the 2010 election after being targeted by the Tories. Came third in the Labour leadership contest and was named shadow home secretary, despite being tipped for shadow chancellor. His public calls for Labour to change its position on the deficit were widely seen as having lost him the job. However, following Alan Johnson's resignation in January 2011, Mr Balls, at the age of 44 , became shadow chancellor after all. Married to shadow cabinet colleague Yvette Cooper.
YVETTE COOPER - SHADOW HOME SECRETARY AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES
Popular throughout the party, the then 42-year old got the most votes of any MP in the shadow cabinet elections. A former journalist with the Independent, she was marked out early on as a rising star after being elected in 1997. Two years later, at the age of 30, she became a minister - the youngest at the time. She rose quickly up the ministerial ladder, working in the Treasury before becoming work and pensions secretary. Was urged by some to run for the leadership but decided against it, saying it was not the right time. Another of those seen as a potential shadow chancellor, she was in fact appointed shadow foreign secretary in Ed Miliband's first front bench line-up, but moved to the home affairs brief after Alan Johnson's resignation. Married to Ed Balls - they are the first married couple to serve as cabinet ministers at the same time. They have three children.
DOUGLAS ALEXANDER - SHADOW FOREIGN SECRETARY
The former solicitor is one of only a handful of senior Labour figures who were close to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Once Gordon Brown's speechwriter, he served as Scottish secretary and transport secretary under Tony Blair and international development secretary under Gordon Brown. Blamed by some for the election that never was in 2007 after urging Gordon Brown to call a snap poll. Aged 43 , he co-ordinated the 2010 Labour general election campaign. Backed David Miliband in the leadership contest, chairing his campaign.
TRISTRAM HUNT - SHADOW EDUCATION SECRETARY
Historian Tristram Hunt, MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central since 2010, was promoted from shadow minister to shadow education secretary in the October 2013 reshuffle. He replaced Stephen Twigg. Mr Hunt is best known as a regular newspaper columnist, broadcaster and history lecturer. After taking a first-class degree in history from Cambridge University, he served as an exchange fellow at the University of Chicago before returning to Cambridge to complete his doctorate. He went on to work for Tony Blair in the Labour Party HQ on the 1997 General Election campaign and became a special adviser to former Science Minister Lord Sainsbury.
ANDY BURNHAM - SHADOW HEALTH SECRETARY
Turning 40 in 2010, Burnham was the youngest candidate in the Labour leadership contest, in which he came fourth. During the campaign, he argued that Labour had lost touch with its grass roots supporters and been dazzled by wealth. Like many senior figures in the party, he is a former special adviser. He rose quickly through the ranks after becoming an MP, serving as chief secretary to the Treasury, culture secretary and health secretary. He is a keen football player and avid Everton fan. Looked after education in Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet before returning to his previous love, health in 2011.
HARRIET HARMAN - DEPUTY LEADER AND SHADOW CULTURE SECRETARY
Labour's deputy leader, she took over from Gordon Brown as acting leader in May 2010, capping a remarkable political comeback after she was sacked from Tony Blair's first cabinet in 1998 in a row over welfare reform. She worked her way back into favour and held a number of ministerial positions, including solicitor general, before beating Alan Johnson to the deputy leadership in 2007, at the age of 56 . A longstanding campaigner for women's rights, she led a drive while in government to have domestic violence taken more seriously. Widely commended for her Commons performances as acting leader. Swapped briefs with Ivan Lewis in October 2011, having previously spoken on international development.
RACHEL REEVES - SHADOW WORK AND PENSIONS SECRETARY
Shortly after returning from maternity leave she was promoted in October 2013 from the post of shadow treasury secretary having been shadow pensions minister in Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet. The MP for Leeds West was first elected to Parliament at the age of 31 in 2010. A former Bank of England economist, Ms Reeves quickly became a strong voice in opposition and penned an entry in the Purple Book - produced by Lord Mandelson's Progress group - warning that Labour should address the UK's poor rates of saving with targeted tax relief. Oxford and LSE-educated, she also worked at the British Embassy in Washington and at Halifax Bank of Scotland before entering Parliament.
CHUKA UMUNNA - SHADOW BUSINESS SECRETARY
A former employment lawyer turned MP for the London constituency of Streatham, Mr Umunna has seen his stock rise inexorably since he was elected in 2010. A former PPS to Ed Miliband, he's already been a shadow business minister and also sat on the powerful Treasury select committee. He has attacked the coalition government for not doing enough to foster bank lending through its Project Merlin agreement. Just 31 when elected, he is already been talked of as a potential future leader.
HILARY BENN - SHADOW COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECRETARY
As the son of former Labour Cabinet minister Tony Benn, the MP for Leeds Central is part of a political dynasty. Regarded as more pragmatic than his father, he was a union official and special adviser to then education and employment minister David Blunkett before becoming an MP in 1999. Well-regarded as international development and environment secretary under Gordon Brown despite having a generally low profile. At the age of 53 stood for the deputy leadership in 2007, coming fourth. One of Ed Miliband's primary supporters in the leadership contest.
SADIQ KHAN - SHADOW JUSTICE SECRETARY
One of the most high profile Muslim MPs, the then 40-year-old was an early backer of Ed Miliband to be Labour leader and went on to run his campaign. Before becoming an MP in 2005 he was a leading human rights solicitor and chairman of pressure group Liberty. He is a former government whip, local government minister and transport minister, who was promoted to shadow transport secretary when Lord Adonis stood down after the 2010 general election. Since taking on the justice brief, he has admitted Labour did not do enough to tackle reoffending but accused the coalition of focusing on cutting costs not crime. Leading light in Labour think tanks The Fabian Society and Progress.
VERNON COAKER - SHADOW DEFENCE SECRETARY
Moving to defence from shadow Northern Ireland secretary in October 2013, the MP for Gedling held several ministerial positions in the last Labour government. One of those jobs was to look after policing - something he continued in Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet. He was also minister for drugs and crime reduction under Tony Blair and sparked controversy, given that role, when he admitted having smoked cannabis as a student. Mr Coaker first entered Parliament in 1997, aged 43, having failed to win seats in both 1992 and 1987. Married with two children, he's also a former government whip.
CAROLINE FLINT - SHADOW ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE SECRETARY
The then 47-year old caused a stir in 2009 when she quit the government and accused Gordon Brown of regarding her and other senior women in the Cabinet as "window dressing". Like many leading female MPs, the former union worker entered Parliament in the 1997 Labour landslide. Responsible for the controversial eco-town project as housing minister before becoming Europe minister in 2008. Supported David Miliband in the leadership contest. A beneficiary of Ed Miliband's first reshuffle, she moved from the communities and local government brief in October 2011.
ANGELA EAGLE - SHADOW LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
One of twin sisters in the shadow cabinet, the MP for Wallasey in Merseyside joined the Labour party when she was 17. The former union official was present on the Labour frontbench throughout the Blair and Brown years, without ever making the Cabinet. Her middle-ranking roles included social security minister and pensions minister. One of Labour's first openly gay MPs, she formed a civil partnership with her long-term partner in 2008. She supported David Miliband in the leadership contest. In Ed Miliband's 2011 reshuffle, at the age of 50 , she was shifted to shadow leader of the Commons from shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
CHRIS LESLIE - SHADOW CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY
Chris Leslie has been appointed shadow chief secretary to the Treasury in the latest Labour frontbench reshuffle. The former Bradford councillor was elected MP for Shipley - a Tory stronghold in Yorkshire - in 1997. He held several junior positions in the former Labour government within the Cabinet Office, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Constitutional Affairs. He lost his Shipley seat in 2005, but re-entered Parliament in 2010 as MP for Nottingham East. He went on to serve as shadow financial secretary to the Treasury on Labour's front bench in the Commons.
MARY CREAGH - SHADOW TRANSPORT SECRETARY
Mary Creagh has moved from shadow environment secretary to shadow transport secretary in October 2013. When she was appointed to Ed Miliband's first shadow cabinet in October 2010, the then 42-year old had never held a frontbench role before. The Wakefield MP worked for the European Parliament and in academia before entering Parliament in 2005. A keen Europhile, she is fluent in French and Italian. Worked as parliamentary private secretary to Andy Burnham but voted for David Miliband in the leadership contest.
MARIA EAGLE - SHADOW ENVIRONMENT SECRETARY
Maria Eagle moved in October 2013 to shadow environment secretary in a job swap with Mary Creagh. She is the sister of Angela but chose to support Ed Miliband in the leadership contest. Ms Eagle was a solicitor in Liverpool before entering Parliament in 1997. She held a series of ministerial positions under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, including children's minister and equalities minister. Like her twin, she lists cricket as one of her interests and is a proficient chess player.
JIM MURPHY - SHADOW INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY
Jim Murphy was moved - demoted in many people's eyes - in October 2013 from shadow defence secretary. He is a Blairite who worked on David Miliband's leadership campaign. He has held a string of government jobs since entering Parliament in 1997, after snatching the Conservative Party's safest seat in Scotland. He served Labour in power as a whip, Cabinet Office minister, welfare minister, Europe minister and, finally, at the age of 41 , Scottish secretary. The East Renfrewshire MP is a former president of the National Union of Students, who lists his hobbies as model trains and playing football.
MARGARET CURRAN - SHADOW SCOTTISH SECRETARY
Previously an MSP, Ms Curran represented Glasgow Bailliestone since the Scottish Parliament's inception in 1999. But when that constituency was torn up in boundary changes she made the move to Westminster in 2010. Under her, Labour took back Glasgow East having lost it in a by-election defeat by the SNP in 2008. In Holyrood, she held various posts, including minister for communities, overseeing the executive's flagship anti-social behaviour laws. Before entering politics she was a lecturer in community education. The then 52-year-old took up her first full shadow cabinet role in October 2011.
JON TRICKETT - DEPUTY LABOUR PARTY CHAIR
Jon Trickett takes over from the departing Tom Watson as deputy Labour party chair. Gordon Brown's former parliamentary aide, Mr Trickett previously attended shadow cabinet as a junior minister and became a full member as shadow Cabinet Office minister in Ed Miliband's 2011 reshuffle. The then 61-year-old MP for Hemsworth took over the role from Tessa Jowell.
MICHAEL DUGHER - SHADOW CABINET OFFICE MINISTER
Michael Dugher became shadow Cabinet Office minister in October 2013 after attending the shadow cabinet as shadow minister without portfolio. Mr Dugher won the seat of Barnsley East at the 2010 General Election, after serving as chief political spokesman for the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Having joined the ranks of the Labour parliamentary party, he then became a parliamentary private secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband. He is also currently vice-chairman of the Labour Party.
GLORIA DE PIERO - WOMEN AND EQUALITIES MINISTER
Gloria De Piero was appointed shadow women and equalities minister in the October 2013 reshuffle. The former GMTV political editor was an political admirer of Tony Blair and backed David Miliband as party leader. She was elected as MP for Ashfield at the 2010 General Election and appointed to a junior role in the shadow Department for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. Since October 2011, Ms De Piero has served as a junior shadow Home Office minister.
OWEN SMITH - SHADOW WELSH SECRETARY
Former BBC radio producer and special adviser who has risen quickly through the ranks. The then 40-year-old was elected in 2010 for Pontypridd, but previously stood unsuccessfully in the 2006 Blaenau Gwent by-election where he lost to independent Dai Davies. He supported Ed Miliband for the leadership and was given a role in his shadow team five months after entering the House, first as shadow Wales minister and then in the shadow Treasury team. This is his first shadow cabinet role.
IVAN LEWIS - SHADOW NORTHERN IRELAND SECRETARY
Moving from shadow minister for international development in October 2013, former charity worker and chief executive of the Manchester Jewish Federation, Mr Lewis held a string of junior ministerial posts in the Labour government after becoming an MP in 1997 at the age of 31. He started out as a parliamentary private secretary to then Trade Secretary Stephen Byers, before going on to be an education minister, Treasury minister, health minister and international development minister. Most recently, he was minister of state at the Foreign Office. His previous shadow cabinet role was as culture spokesman in which he was a vocal campaigner on phone hacking.
ROSIE WINTERTON - CHIEF WHIP
The then 52-year-old was elected unopposed in a ballot for chief whip in 2010. A former local government minister, the Doncaster Central MP is responsible for maintaining discipline among Labour MPs in crucial Commons votes.
BARONESS ROYALL - SHADOW LEADER OF THE LORDS
Continues to lead her party in the Lords, having done the job, while in government, under Gordon Brown. She is also a spokesman on education, work and pensions, Northern Ireland and equality issues. Born in 1955 , she started her political career as a special adviser to Neil - now Lord - Kinnock in the 1980s.
LORD BASSAM - LABOUR CHIEF WHIP IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS
A long-serving leader of Brighton and Hove Council, Lord Bassam was given a peerage in 1997 at the age of 44. The former local government official has continued as Labour's chief whip in the Lords, having done the job since before the 2010 general election.
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Who won the African Cup of Nations recently? | Labour Shadow Ministers
LABOUR SHADOW MINISTERS
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Who won the Women’s Singles at the 2015 Australian Open Tennis Championships? | 2015 Australian Open -- Women's semifinals
Only Maria Sharapova stands between Serena Williams and her 19th major title. We look back at Serena's 18 Grand Slam triumphs ahead of Saturday's Australian Open final.
2 Related
It's the first time since 2004 that the top two seeds will meet in the women's final at Melbourne Park.
The 33-year-old Williams will be the oldest player to reach the Australian Open final in the Open era. She won each of the previous five Aussie Open title matches she played in.
Sharapova won the 2008 title, but was comprehensively outplayed in her two other trips to the final -- by Williams in 2007 and by Victoria Azarenka in 2012.
Williams, who has been struggling with a cold for a week, said she'd recover from a tough workout in the all-American semifinal against Keys, who pounded her with heavy groundstrokes and a big serve for the first set.
"She pushed me really hard the first set ... and I had to really dig deep mentally to get through that," Williams said. "It was a little frustrating. I had like nine or 10 match points and couldn't close it out. That doesn't happen so much. She played like she didn't have anything to lose."
Keys, playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, saved seven match points on serve in a penultimate game that lasted more than 11 minutes. Williams kept her cool, though, wasting one match point on her serve before closing with an ace to reach her 23rd major final.
"I think she can be the best in the world," Williams said of Keys. "The way she played today, I definitely think she has potential to be No. 1 -- and win Grand Slams."
Williams was at her best after dropping her opening service game, finishing the match with just one double-fault, firing 13 aces and defending when she needed to defend.
Maria Sharapova has beaten Serena Williams only twice in 18 meetings.
MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP/Getty Images
Keys, who beat fourth-seeded and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the third round and Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, had control until she was broken in the sixth game.
She held in the 12th game, closing with an ace to force a tiebreaker, but quickly fell behind 4-1 with Serena firing two aces. She saved two set points with aces but had no chance of extending the tiebreaker when Williams hit another unreturnable serve, and started jumping for joy.
Williams broke early in the second set and raced to a 5-1 lead before Keys held, temporarily denying victory for the woman who inspired her to take up tennis.
Until now, Keys had never made it past the third round of a major. But the Australian Open marked many firsts for the American teen.
"Did I think it was going to happen here? Not particularly. But I'm very happy it did," said Keys, who won over many fans with her sense of humor and big smile
"This week has definitely shown me that I can play the top players, and I can do well against them. I can play the No. 1 player in the world in a pretty close match."
Top-ranked Williams hasn't been in peak form in Australia, starting with a lackluster hit-out at the Hopman Cup, but has found a way to reach her first final at Melbourne Park since 2010.
"I was so off. I felt like I wasn't moving well. I just wasn't feeling great on the court," she said. "It's been so long since I've even been in a final here. I was kind of like, 'Oh, let me just try.' My theory now is to relax and play the match as best as I can."
One-Sided Affair
Serena Williams is 16-2 all-time against Maria Sharapova and 4-1 in Grand Slam events heading into the Australian Open women's singles final. The tale of the tape:
Williams
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To which school of art did Jackson Pollock and Mark Rotho belong? | Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova to win Australian Open – as it happened | Sport | The Guardian
Australian Open 2015
Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova to win Australian Open – as it happened
Serena Williams claimed her 16th straight victory over Maria Sharapova, winning 6-3, 7-6, to secure her 19th grand slam title and sixth in Australia
Updated
Saturday 31 January 2015 06.05 EST
First published on Saturday 31 January 2015 03.11 EST
06:05
Right, that’s it from me, I’ll leave you with Kevin Mitchell’s match report:
What was most remarkable about Serena Williams’s 17th career win over Maria Sharapova, delivering her a 19th major to draw within three of Steff Graf’s Open era record of 22, was that she could not lose, whatever the result. So publicly had she suffered throughout the 2015 Australian Open with a hacking cough that could be heard even over the screaching of the game’s loudest interjectionists, it was impossible for Sharapova to win. As it happened, their 19th encounter went the way of nearly all the others, Williams winning 6-3, 7-6, despite the Russian’s best fighting instincts. In grand slam finals, Williams, the oldest champion here in the Open era, is 19-4, the best percentage performance in either the men’s or women’s game. She is a phenomenon.
“I love you back,” she shouted to a fan in the audience before accepting the trophy on court. “In the end I was able to come through. I also have to congratulate Maria who really pushed me tonight. She gave us a great final. “Growing up I wasn’t the richest, but I had a rich family in spirit. Standing here with 19 championships is something I never thought would happen. I went on a court just with a ball and a racket and with a hope.” Thirty years after she won her third Australian Open , Martina Navratilova was on hand to witness Williams’s untrammelled progress towards further glory.
You can read the rest by clicking here . Thanks for joining me, and do come back tomorrow for game-by-game coverage of the men’s final. I believe a certain man named Andy Murray is playing. Bye!
Updated
05:57
And here comes Williams, described by the announcer as a “phenomenon, an icon and a legend.” Navratilova hands over the Daphne Akhurst trophy and Williams holds it aloft. Navratilova looks extremely gracious, considering Williams has just overtaken her tally of 18 grand slam singles titles. “I love you Serena!” shouts one fan. “I love you too,” replies Williams.
I have to congratulate Maria. She gave us a great final, not only for you guys but for women’s tennis. I’m really honoured I got to play you in the final. Growing up, I wasn’t the richest, but I had a rich family in spirit and support, and standing here with 19 championships is something I never thought would happen. I just went on court with a ball, a racket and a hope, that’s all I had. And it’s an inspiration for you guys who want to be the best – you can be, never give up and you don’t know who you can inspire. You never know what can happen. I’m so honoured to be here tonight and to hold this 19th trophy.
Williams looked quite choked there, that was a heartfelt speech. The 19th title clearly means so much to her. And so it should. She’s proved her tennis greatness once again and, if she can stay fit, has a fantastic chance of closing in on Graf’s record of 22. We’re so lucky to be able to watch such a wonderful player, athlete and competitor in this era.
Serena Williams receives the trophy from Martina Navratilova. Photograph: Rob Griffith/AP
Updated
05:50
Trophy time
Sharapova trudges up to collect her third runners-up plate at the Australian Open from Martina Navratilova. Here’s what she has to say:
First of all I’ve got to congratulate Serena for creating history. It’s really an honour playing against her. I haven’t beaten her in a really long time, but I really love playing against her as she is the best and you want to play against the best. So congratulations on an incredible achievement. It’s been a long couple of weeks. I was almost down and out in the second round, so I feel like I had a second life in this tournament. It wasn’t quite enough today, but I gave it everything. I love playing in the Rod Laver Arena, I’ve had some of my best memories and toughest losses, but that’s the life of a tennis player.
Maria Sharapova during the presentation ceremony. Photograph: Made Nagi/EPA
Updated
05:39
SERENA WILLIAMS WINS 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) TO BECOME THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPION FOR A SIXTH TIME!
Williams think she’s won it with an ace – the crowd think she’s won it – but the umpire calls a let! But Williams recovers her poise, and settles matters with another ace, her 18th of the day. A fairly fitting end given her serving performance in this final. Williams looks subdued for a second, probably checking the umpire’s not going to halt her celebration this time, before skipping to the net and a fairly warm exchange with Sharapova, it has to be said. Williams jumps up and down with joy, lets out a squeal or two before signalling to her box. She’s the Australian Open champion for a sixth time, it’s her 19th grand slam title (she’s now only three behind Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 and moves ahead of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all-time grand slam winners’ list) and, once again, Sharapova ends up being a vehicle for Williams’s greatness.
Serena Williams is jubilant after winning her sixth Australian Open title. Photograph: Barbara Walton/EPA
Updated
05:27
Second set: Williams 6-3, 6-6 Sharapova
Sharapova steps up, trying to force the tie-break. She takes two quick opening points. 30-0. Williams gives herself a bit of a talking to. And then an ace down the middle brings up game point. Williams is left stretching a sliding, and just fails to get her racket to it. A one-two punch from Sharapova and we’re into a tie-break. It’s the first of the tournament for Sharapova, the second for Williams following her semi-final against Madison Keys. Surprisingly, these two have only played two breakers in all their meetings, and Williams has won both.
Serena Williams reacts to a point as he tries to finish off a fighting Sharapova in two sets. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty
Updated
05:19
Second set: *Williams 6-3, 5-5 Sharapova (*denotes next server)
So after an hour and 27 minutes Sharapova walks out to serve, knowing she must win this game to stay in the final and avoid a 16th straight defeat to Williams. Sharapova doesn’t get off to a good start, as a short ball near the T allows Williams to batter away a winner. 0-15. Williams looks like calmness personified, no “COME ON” there. A deep serve from Sharapova and Williams’s timing is off on the return. 15-all. Another gutsy serve from Sharapova and she pulls off a classic one-two punch, straight out of the tennis textbook. 30-15. But this time she goes for too much on the second serve and double faults. 30-all. The camera pans in on Williams with the trophy in the background. In two points’ time it could be hers for a sixth time. Make that one point. Sharapova looks like she’s going to make a forehand cross-court winner, but it flashes just wide. 40-30, championship point. Sharapova goes out wide with her serve, which sets up the point for her. Deuce. Even Williams uses her racket to applause. And then Sharapova reels Williams in with a drop shot! What a time to play it! Williams charges into the net, but almost too quickly. She can’t control the ball. Advantage Sharapova! And Sharapova holds! This is captivating tennis.
Maria Sharapova is producing a determined display and some high quality tennis to stay in the final. Photograph: Made Nagi/EPA
Updated
05:07
Second set: Williams 6-3, 4-3 Sharapova* (*denotes next server)
Williams finds herself in a bit of a hole at 0-30. But she was 0-30 down in her previous service game and rattled off the next four points. She’s on course to repeat the trick as 15-30 becomes 30-all which becomes 40-30, courtesy of a 198 kph ace. Nothing Sharapova can do about that. Williams has only lost four points behind her first serve in the whole match. But Williams gives Sharapova a look-in on a second serve and Sharapova attacks for her 11th winner (Williams has hit 26 so far). Deuce. An unreturned serve down the T, advantage Williams. “COME ONNNNNNN!!!!” she screams, directly in Sharapova’s direction. Cue a steely Sharapova stare. And Williams gets called for a hindrance after a premature celebration on what she thought was a service winner! Deuce. Advantage Sharapova, as the Russian gets in on the “COME ONNNNNNN” act. These two are trying all they can to psych each other out. An inside-out forehand winner gets Williams to advantage and from there she takes the game with yes, you’ve guessed it, another ace, her 13th of the contest.
Serena Williams screams after winning a point against Sharapova. Photograph: Paul Crock/AFP/Getty
Updated
04:59
Second set: *Williams 6-3, 3-3 Sharapova (*denotes next server) UGGGH! UGGGGH! UGGGGGGH! UGGGGGGGH! UGGGGGGGGH! UGGGGGGGGGGGH! UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH! Sharapova is giving it all she’s got, she has to to even stay in touch with Williams. 30-all. Sharapova can’t quite get the depth on her shot, Williams pounces with a cross-court backhand winner. 30-40. Break point. Williams loops a backhand into the tramlines. Deuce. Can Sharapova hold again from break points down? Possibly, because she somehow wins a point she didn’t look like she was going to as Williams slaps a forehand into the net and sinks to her knees in disgust. Advantage Sharapova. And she holds. Wonderful stuff. The intensity at the moment is quite frightening and the hitting breathtaking, especially considering how out of breath Williams was earlier in this match.
Serena Williams reacts after hitting a return to Maria Sharapova who is battling hard to stay in the match. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
Updated
04:34
WILLIAMS WINS THE FIRST SET 6-3
The second point has Williams fist pumping, somehow she stays in the rally, eventually leaving Sharapova with a tricky half-volley which the Russian nets. 0-30. And then Sharapova blazes wide. And look, another three break points. Make that set points. Williams has a 100% conversion rate on break points so far. A record she maintains as she blazes a backhand out of Sharapova’s reach. Williams affords herself a roar, despite her fragile condition. She’s a set up after 47 minutes.
Serena Williams celebrates winning a point in the first set, which she takes 6-3 Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Updated
04:14
RAIN INTERRUPTS PLAY
Woof. Take that. Sharapova gets to 0-15 with a ferocious return, but Williams comes back at her, 15-all. These two are battering the lines to within about a millimetre of their lives at the moment. Again, Sharapova’s shot skids off the baseline. 15-30. 30-all. But oh no, it’s raining. And now it looks like it’s pouring. The umpire stops play, Williams and Sharapova are sitting on their chairs waiting to see if the rain will ease, but the skies look very ominous. And then the ball kids are on court, on their knees, mopping the rain up with their towels. It’s like the US Open. You’d think in the 21st century they could use something a bit more high-tech, wouldn’t you? It’s announced that the roof will be closed, it’s already half-closed, so the delay shouldn’t be too long. So it’ll be an indoor final from here on in.
Ground staff dry the court surface during the rain delay. Photograph: Lee Jin-man/AP
Updated
03:36
Here they are, weaving and winding their way through the corridors of Rod Laver Arena. Sharapova is striding about 10 metres ahead of Williams, the pair don’t acknowledge each other, no surprise there then. Sharapova is introduced to the crowd first, then follows Williams. Sharapova perhaps shades the reception. It doesn’t look like there’s a spare seat in the house. It’s a fairly chilly night in Melbourne, around 17 degrees, but that seems positively balmy compared to my icy/snowy journey into the office in zero-degree darkness.
Serena Williams arrives on court. She has been struggling this week with a high temperature. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty
Updated
16:57
Preamble
Good morning! (or afternoon or evening depending on your whereabouts). Welcome to coverage of the Australian Open women’s final and the latest instalment of the rivalry between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Except in head-to-head terms it isn’t much of a rivalry at all. While this will be their 19th meeting, Sharapova has lost 15 matches in a row since defeating Williams to win Wimbledon as a 17 year old in 2004. For us regular folk, it’s like playing that annoying older sibling who’s just that bit better than you. However hard you try, however many glimpses you get during the match, you get beaten up in the end. It’s inevitable. As inevitable as you choosing to go back for another beating. Time and time again. Because you think that maybe, just maybe, it’ll be different next time.
“It’s been a really difficult matchup for me,” said Sharapova after the semi-finals on Thursday (she declined to speak to the media on the eve of the final, presumably because she was tired of answering questions about her rotten run against Williams). “But I am a competitor. I will go out and do everything I can to try to change that result around. I think my confidence should be pretty high going into a final of a grand slam, no matter who I’m facing and whether I’ve had a terrible record – to say the least – against someone. It doesn’t matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot. I will do everything I can to get the title.”
Sharapova certainly is a fierce competitor – the toughest on tour alongside Williams – which makes the world No2’s record against the world No1 all the more surprising. She’s rarely come close to beating Williams during the 10-and-a-half-year hoodoo, and has won only one set in their past 11 meetings. The statistics must be even more galling for Sharapova because there’s a bit of needle between her and Williams (much like two siblings, come to think of it, stretching the analogy further). They have battled each other off the court, most memorably in 2013 when they traded barbs about their personal lives . It’s no secret that these two don’t like each other very much, which makes this strangest of (un-)rivalries all the more compelling.
Updated
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Which motorcycle manufacturer made the Trident and Bonneville models? | Triumph Motorcycles
Back
TRIUMPH HERITAGE
Through the Fifties and Sixties, names such as Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando cemented the Triumph legend, while numerous land speed records and race track successes gave bikes like the Thunderbird, Bonneville, Tiger and Trident iconic status.
1902
The first Triumph motorcycle is produced, powered by a 2.2hp Minerva engine and subsequently known as No. 1.
1907
A new 450cc motor making 3.5 hp is produced. As annual production reaches 1,000 units, the factory moves main production to a larger site on Priory Street in Coventry.
1915
Triumph is chosen to supply the Type H ‘Trusty’ motorcycle for Allied military service. Of 57,000 manufactured, 30,000 of the 499cc air cooled single cylinder bikes see active service.
1927
The Coventry factory, now standing at 500,000 sq ft and employing 3000 people, produces 30,000 units per annum.
1936
Triumph’s car and motorcycle businesses are split. Edward Turner is appointed as chief designer.
1937
Turner unveils the 498cc Speed Twin (T100) that has a top speed of over 90 mph. It is the definitive British motorcycle and establishes a pattern for Triumph bikes that will last more than 40 years.
1940
Over 50,000 motorcycles are sold to the military as motorcycle production is geared towards the war effort. The Priory Street factory is demolished on November 14, 1940 in the blitz of Coventry. Temporary premises in Warwick are used until a new plant opens in Meriden in 1942.
1946
With the return of peace, the company focuses on three models, the Tiger 100 (piloted to a maiden win at the 1946 Manx Grand Prix by Eric Lyons), the Speed Twin and the smaller touring 349cc 3T. All models feature a telescopic front fork.
1954
Marlon Brando rides a 650cc Thunderbird 6T in ‘The Wild One’.
1955
Johnny Allen hits 193 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, riding a streamliner powered by a tuned 650cc Thunderbird motor. It’s the start of a remarkable era of performance dominance, when Triumph held the absolute motorcycle land speed record for 15 consecutive years, except for one brief 33-day period.
1959
The iconic T120 Bonneville 650 is introduced. Named in honour of the location of the setting of countless World speed records, the Bonneville is destined to become one of the greatest motorcycles, and the highest selling British twin of all time
1963
A TR6 650 Trophy is ridden, jumped and crashed by Bud Ekins, and more famously Steve McQueen, in ‘The Great Escape’.
1966
Buddy Elmore wins the Daytona 200 on a factory-prepped 500cc Tiger. The Gyronaut X-1, a streamliner powered by two Triumph 650cc motors, records 245.6 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
1967
Gary Nixon proves that last year’s Daytona 200 win was no fluke by repeating the feat aboard a Tiger 100. Further racing success is enjoyed in the Production TT by John Hartle on a production TT. 28,700 Triumphs are sold in the USA.
1968
The 750cc Triple finally makes an appearance, powering both the Trident and the BSA Rocket 3. Evel Knieval attempts to jump the fountain at Caesar’s Palace casino in Las Vegas on a Bonneville.
1969
Malcolm Uphill wins the Production TT on a Bonneville. In the process he puts in the first-ever lap over 100 mph on a production motorcycle. Motorcycle production at Meriden peaks at approximately 46,800 units.
1970
Malcolm Uphill again wins the production TT on a Triple destined for further fame and subsequently referred to as Slippery Sam.
1975
Bonneville production continues after the workers form a co-op to keep the Meriden factory going. Slippery Sam wins the ten lap Production TT for the fifth year running.
1983
The Meriden factory closes its doors. John Bloor acquires the Triumph name and Meriden site and licenses a small number of Bonnevilles to continue to be produced by Les Harris in Devon.
1987
The first ‘new‘ Triumph motor, a 1200cc four cylinder, runs on a test bench.
1990
Triumph returns! Six new models are unveiled at the Cologne Show: The unfaired Trident 750 and 900 Triples, the touring Trophy 900 Triple and 1200 Four and the sports-oriented Daytona 750 Triple and 1000 Four.
1994
The game-changing Speed Triple is introduced and secures Triumph’s return to motorcycle sport at the inaugural ‘Speed Triple Challenge Race’. Triumph confirms is return to the USA with the introduction of a new subsidiary, Triumph Motorcycles America being founded. Planning permission is granted for a new factory on a 40 acre site in Hinckley.
1995
The Triple Connection clothing range and accessory range of products are launched Production stands at around 12,000 units per year. The 30,000th Hinckley Triumph manufactured, a Thunderbird, ships to Australia.
1996
The Daytona T595 bursts onto the scene. It’s stunning styling contributed to lengthy deposit lists. 12 months later, a T595 became the 50,000th motorcycle to be manufactured at Hinckley.
2000
A decade after Triumph’s rebirth, the Bonneville returns to the Triumph line up. The bike appealed to not only riders who remembered the Bonneville, but also to those who appreciated the modern function and guaranteed good handling of a modern day parallel twin.
2002
A massive fire guts the main factory 1 assembly plant. The factory is rebuilt, refitted with state of the art tooling and manufacturing motorcycles less than 6 months after the fire. The Daytona 600 supersports bike is released, and enjoys a magnificent victory at the Isle of Man TT in 2003 in the hands of Kiwi, Bruce Anstey.
2004
Another game changer. The Triumph Rocket III is released. The figures from the Triple engine are simply astonishing. 2,294cc, 140 Cubic Inches and 147ft.lbs torque at 2500rpm. At launch, and to this day, it remains the largest production motorcycle in the World.
2006
An all new, 675cc Triple Daytona is released. The 675 goes on to win the respected Supertest ‘King of Supersports’ award for an unprecedented four years consecutively. As factory 4 in Thailand opens, build volume rise to 41,974 units.
2007
The Street Triple, a mix of the styling and entertainment of the Speed Triple and the power and handling of the Daytona 675 bursts onto the scene and instantly creates a new, and highly successful segment in the motorcycle market place.
2009
Triumph takes its first journey in the ‘R’ sector with the launch of the Street Triple R. Higher specification braking and suspension elevates the class-leading package to new heights.
2010
Triumph Hinckley’s first belt driven bike, the 1600cc parallel-Twin is launched and brings Triumph’s reputation for handling and engineering excellent to the mainstream cruiser market. The bike impresses US magazine Cycle World enough to vote it as their ‘Cruiser of the Year’.
2011
Triumph launches the Tiger 800 & 800XC, Speed Triple, Daytona R, America, Speedmaster and Thunderbird Storm. The greatest number of launches in any year for Triumph.
2012
110 years of motorcycle manufacturer is celebrated with a host of new bike launches. The Tiger Explorer, a 1215cc shaft driven adventure bike makes waves in the growing adventure sector. The same engine is used to power Triumphs new Trophy. To round off a busy year, there are major updates to the 675cc Street Triple and Daytona platforms. Sales reach 50,000 units, supported by the opening of a new subsidiary in Brazil.
2013
As Triumph’s market share in the +500cc sector reaches 6.2%, expansion continues with Triumph’s launch into India.
| Triumph |
What was the maiden name of tennis player Billy Jean King? | British Classic Motorcycles - Triumph Page 2
Back to Triumph Page 1
In order to fulfil an order for 350cc single cylinder Model 3HW motorcycles for military use, the machine tooling was recovered from the destroyed factories and production began at a new factory at Meriden in 1942.
During the war, a version of the 500cc twin engine had been used as a generator to charge aircraft batteries in flight.
To reduce weight, the cylinder barrel and cylinder head were made in alloy.
After the war, privateer racers put wartime surplus alloy barrels on their Tiger 100 racers.
Their success led to Triumph producing the GP model.
Also after the war, production of the Edward Turner designed Triumph Speed Twin was carried out in large numbers.
The Speed Twin and Tiger 100 both became available with sprung hub rear suspension.
The 498cc TR5 Trophy Twin, introduced at the 1948 Motor Cycle Show, used a single carburettor, low compression version of the Grand Prix engine.
Allan Jefferies won the 1948 International Six Days Trial on a prototype version.
To satisfy the American market, Turner built a 649cc version of the Speed Twin design known as the Thunderbird 6T, a low compression machine suited to long distances.
The Thunderbird was introduced in late 1949.
The 498cc Tiger 100 was still considered the performance machine.
By 1950, the supply of alloy barrels was exhausted, and the GP model was dropped.
In 1951, Jack Sangster sold the Triumph Motorcycle concern to rivals BSA and became a member on the BSA board.
Marlon Brando rode a 1950 Thunderbird 6T in the 1953 movie, 'The Wild One'.
This was good publicity for Triumph, particularly in the United States.
In 1953, Triumph directors, Edward Turner, Bob Fearon and Alex Masters rode 149cc OHV Triumph Terriers from Land's End to John O'Groats in a publicity stunt known as the Gaffers' Gallop.
You may enjoy this book, "Travelling With Mr.Turner" by Nigel C. Winter.
The author takes a few days off to ride his modern day Triumph to follow in the tyre tracks of Edward Turner's historic 1953 journey from Land's End to John O'Groats.
It is available now from Amazon and directly from the publisher.
Click on the photograph of the book for more details.
In the 1960s, Triumph produced two scooters, the Tina and the Tigress.
1962 was the last year of the 'pre-unit' models, all future models having the engine and gearbox together in a 'unit construction'.
In 1969, Malcolm Uphill won the Isle of Man Production TT riding a Bonneville.
He averaged 99.99mph and recorded the first ever lap over 100mph on a production motorcycle at 100.37mph.
By 1969, over half the US market for motorcycles over 500cc belonged to Triumph, however, the Japanese were arriving on the scene.
With their smooth running, oil tight overhead camshaft engines often featuring electric starters with reliable electrics, the Japanese had the edge over Triumph and other British motorcycles.
The Japanese machines were also cheaper to buy.
In the 1970s, the US government insisted that all motorcycle imports had to have their gearshift on the left and brake pedal on the right.
This required expensive modifications to Triumphs built for export to the USA.
Initially, the Japanese were only producing small engined motorcycles.
Triumph and BSA felt safe.
When the four cylinder Honda CB750 was shown at the Tokyo Motorcycle show in 1968 and released for sale to the public in 1969, Triumph and BSA were heading for trouble.
The Triumph Trident and the BSA Rocket 3 were developed to compete against the Japanese four cylinder machines.
These both featured 741cc three cylinder engines. The engines were similar in specification although not identical.
The BSA had an inclined cylinder block while the Triumph block was vertical.
Triumph Trident T150 painting by Steve Dunn.
The 1970 Tiger and Bonneville models were re-designed, however this was not enough.
The Japanese motorcycles to arrive in 1969 were different and exciting....
.....machines such as the four cylinder overhead camshaft Honda CB750 Four and the two stroke triple cylinder Kawasaki 500 Mach 3.
In 1971, BSA recorded huge losses and it was proposed to close the Small Heath factory and transfer all production to the Triumph factory at Meriden.
However, this did not happen, and in 1973 the BSA group was sold to Norton Villiers to form Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT).
In September 1973, the chairman of NVT, Dennis Poore announced that the Triumph factory at Meriden would close in February 1974 and production would remain at the BSA Small Heath factory.
He had not expected the determined reaction of the Meriden workforce. The workers held a sit in.
The Labour government had just come into power and with backing from Tony Benn, the minister for trade and industry, the Meriden Motorcycle Co-Operative was formed to manufacture Triumph 750cc motorcycles.
NVT still owned the rights to Triumph when the Meriden Motorcycle Co-Operative was formed.
The co-operative was merely a manufacturing group who built the machines that were then sold by NVT.
The co-operative was assisted by the General Electric Company who agreed to purchase two thousand Bonnevilles from them.
This gave the co-operative some valuable cash flow and, along with further government loans, finally helped them to achieve their dream of purchasing the Triumph rights from NVT in 1977 to form Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Limited.
They continued to build and sell the 750cc Bonneville and 750cc Tiger.
The Queen's Silver Jubilee was in 1977 and the limited edition Silver Jubilee Bonneville was introduced to commemorate this.
By 1978, this was the top selling European motorcycle in the US market.
Over the next few years came improvements such as an electric starter motor, alloy wheels and twin front disc brake option, however none of this was sufficient to compete with the Japanese motorcycles that were becoming more popular.
In 1980, the new Conservative Government wrote off huge debts that were owed by the company.
Meriden introduced several new models such as the dual purpose TR7T Tiger Trail and the 650cc Triumph TR65 Thunderbird.
In 1981, the Triumph Royal Wedding T140LE Bonneville was introduced to celebrate the wedding of HRH the Prince of Wales. This sold well.
1982 was the last year of production.
The Triumph T140 TSX and 8-valve Triumph T140W TSS models were launched, but again, these were last ditch attempts at keeping an old design competitive.
Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Ltd. finally went bankrupt on 23 August 1983.
John Bloor, a wealthy property developer and builder from the Midlands bought the Triumph name and manufacturing rights from the Official Receiver in 1983.
John Bloor agreed that Triumph enthusiast, Les Harris could continue to produce the Triumph Bonneville under licence until 1988.
Triumph has produced motorcycles continuously since 1902 and is the manufacturer with the longest continuous production of motorcycles in the world.
Triumph now makes a range of motorcycles, some reviving the names of the past, such as the newly designed Bonneville twin.
Triumph Motorcycles (Hinckley) Ltd. is the longest surviving British motorcycle manufacturer.
Triumph logo reproduced with the permission of Triumph Motorcycles Limited.
“Paul Mercer is a participant in the eBay Partner Network (ePN), an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to eBay."
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To which school of art did Matisse and Vlaminck belong? | Maurice De Vlaminck - Artist Profile
Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Fauvism is the movement with which Vlaminck will always be most closely associated.
However, Fauvism was a very short movement and the artist had a very long career. His work briefly leaned towards Cubism (which he professed to loathe) prior to World War I; afterwards it settled into an Expressionistic style that Vlaminck maintained for the rest of his life. The important thing to remember is that, regardless of which labels we now assign to his work, he (a self-taught artist) operated instinctively. He didn't and wouldn't care what we call his approach--he was simply being true to his gut.
Date and Place of Birth:
April 4, 1876, Paris
Maurice was born to two musicians: Edmond Julien de Vlaminck, his father, was a pianist, violinist and tenor. His mother, Josephine Grillet, who was from Lorraine, was also a pianist. Because the artist grew up in this household, music came as naturally to him as breathing.
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In the early years of his adult life, he was able to help support his young family by taking on violin students and getting the occasional paying gig. But, even though it was second-nature, music never lit the fires of passion in Vlaminck that visual art did.
Early Life:
Young Maurice didn't have the benefit of a top-drawer education, but he was intellectually curious, emotionally fearless and physically imposing. Vlaminck grew to be a tall, strong, red-haired man prone to wearing loud colors and a gaudy wooden necktie. He married for the first time in his teens and worked (in addition to giving music lessons) to support his wife and daughters as a wrestler, billiards shooter, mechanic, laborer and professional cyclist before a bout with typhus weakened him. He also discovered that he could write, and penned several risqué novels--anything to pay the bills.
How He Came to Art:
Vlaminck had taken a smattering of drawing classes and tried his hand at painting, but it was a chance incident that reportedly led him to make art his career. While serving his mandatory 3-year military obligation, he met the painter André Derain in 1900, when the train on which both men were riding derailed. A lifelong friendship was struck, as well as a deal to share a studio in Chatou. It was in this picturesque Seine valley village--previously popular with the Impressionists--that Vlaminck began painting in earnest. (Never a thought towards selling, mind you. He quite simply was overcome by the urge to paint.)
When Art Noticed Him:
Vlaminck attended a Parisian van Gogh exhibition in 1901 and was blown away by Vincent's color choices. At this same show, Derain introduced his studio mate to Henri Matisse --perhaps the most bold colorist to ever hold a brush. Vlaminck absorbed these options, and spent the next few years pouring riotously-hued landscapes back out onto canvas.
Convinced by Derain and Matisse to show, Vlaminck began exhibiting with them in 1904. The 1905 Salon d'Automne exhibition was where the trio and a few other like minded artists received the (snarky) moniker fauves (wild beasts) from the art critic Louis Vauxcelle.
Ironically, the indifferent-to-sales Vlaminck began to sell any- and everything he painted, so in demand were the canvases of this "wild beast." After meeting Paul Cézanne , Vlaminck's work took a turn towards balancing color with more structured compositions.
He is best known today for his Fauvism period--a span of no more than seven years. Vlaminck's later work (the bulk of his career) continued to concentrate on color, sell well and be seen in exhibitions that he did not attend. In addition to painting, he produced some fine lithographs, etchings and woodcuts, and authored and illustrated a number of books.
Important Works:
Man Smoking a Pipe, 1900
Portrait of Derain, 1905
Self Portrait, 1912
The Red Tractor, 1956
See pictures of Maurice de Vlaminck's work in the Special Exhibition Gallery - Vlaminck, a Fauvist Instinct .
Date and Place of Death:
October 11, 1958, Rueil-la-Gadelière, Eure-et-Loir, France
Vlaminck apparently expended most of the drama in his life on his paintings. He died peacefully of old age at "La Tourillière," the farmhouse he bought in 1925.
How To Pronounce "Vlaminck":
vlah·mink
This is the French pronunciation of the Belgian spelling of Vlaming, more commonly known as Fleming ("person from Flanders") in the English-speaking world.
Quotes From Maurice de Vlaminck:
Good painting is like good cooking; it can be tasted, but not explained.
I heightened all my tone values and transposed into an orchestration of pure color with every single thing I felt. I was a tender-hearted savage filled with violence. I translated what I saw instinctively, without any method, and conveyed truth, not so much artistically but humanely.
I seem initially to have followed Fauvism, and then to have followed in Cézanne's footsteps. Whatever--I do not mind ... as long as first of all I remained Vlaminck.
Sources and Further Reading
| Fauvism |
Which motorcycle manufacturer made the Dominator and Commando models? | Fauvism
Fauvism
University of Maryland at Baltimore County
Fauvism
The Barnes Foundation
The starting point was identified by Henri Matisse, the sober and rather professional leader of the Fauves, as "the courage to return to the purity of means." Matisse and his fellow painters—Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Rouault, Raoul Dufy, and others—allowed their search for immediacy and clarity to show forth with bold, almost unbearable candor.
While devesting themselves of Symbolist literary aethetics, along with fin-de-siecle morbidity, the Fauves reclaimed Impressionism's direct, joyous embrace of nature and combined it with Post-Impression's heightened color contrasts and emothional, expressive depth.
The word fauves made particular reference to these artists' brilliant, arbitrary color, more intense than the "scientific" color of the Neo-Impressionists and the nondescriptive color of Gauguin and Van Gogh, and to the direct, vigorous brush strokes with which Matisse and his friends had been experimenting with.
Henri Matisse
Matisse, one of the pioneers of twentieth century experiment in painting, seems to belong to a later generation and to a different world. In 1891 he enrolled in the Academie Julian, studying briefly with the academic painter Bouguereau, who came to represent everything be rejected in art. The following yer he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was fortunate enough to study with Gustave Moreau, a dedicated teacher who encouraged his students to find ther own directions through constant study in museums, as well as through individual experiment.
His work developed slowly from the dark tonalities and literal subjects he first explored. By the late 1890s he had discovered Neo-Impressionism and artist such as Toulouse-Lautred and, most importantl, Cezanne. In about 1898 he began to experiment with figures and still lifes painted in bright, nondescript color.
Meeting Andre Derain in the atelier of Eugene Carriere in 1900, who introduced him toVlaminck the following year, completing the principal Fauve trio. Around this time, Matisse also workedin the Studio of Antoine Bourdelle, making his first attemps at scupture adn demonstrating the abilities that were to make him one of the great painter-scultors of the twentieth century.
André Derain
The Tate Collection
"Derain was born in 1880 at Chatou, which was then a kind of artists' colony at the gates of Paris. His father was a successful patissier (pastry chef) and a town councillor and Derain was given a middle-class education. He disliked school - much later, he said that 'the teachers, ushers and pupils were a far more bitter memory for me than the darkest hours of my military career.'
He left 'with few regrets and the reputation of being a bad, lazy and noisy scholar', but with a prize for drawing. He took his first lessons in painting in 1895 from an old friend of his father's and of Cézanne's (but who nevertheless thoroughly disliked Cezanne's work), and in 1898 he went to the Académie Carriere in Paris, where he met Matisse.
In June 1900 he met Maurice de Vlaminck, and formed a close friendship with him. The two young artists rented a disused restaurant in Chatou which they used as a studio, and often shocked their neighbours with their antics. Meanwhile, Derain pursued his studies, copying in the Louvre and visiting exhibitions of contemporary art. In igoi he was extremely impressed by the Van Gogh retrospective at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, and it was here that he introduced his two friends, Vlaminck and Matisse, to one another.
In the autumn of that year Derain was called up for military service. He could do little work, but carried on a lively correspondence with Vlaminck until his release in September 1904. He returned to Chatou, and it was at about this time that he got to know the poet Guillaume Apollinaire.
The following year, 1905, was an important one for him. The dealer Ambroise Vollard, to whom he had been introduced by Matisse, bought the entire contents of his studio (he did the same with Vlaminck).
Derain exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and sold four pictures, and then at the Salon d'Automne where he, Matisse, Vlaminck and others were hung together as a group, in a space which was promptly dubbed the 'Cage aux Fauves' ('Cage of Wild Beasts') by a facetious critic, and Fauvism was officially born.
Maurice de Vlaminck
Foundation Beyeler
Maurice was three years old when his family moved from Paris to Vésinet. He first pursued the same musical career as his parents, who were both musicians, leaving his home as a trained double-bass player in 1892 to move to Chatou near Versailles.
After absolving his military service in Vitré Maurice Vlaminck worked as a musician until he accidentally met André Derain in 1900. It was Derain who kindled Vlaminck's artistic ambitions. He decided to become a painter and rented an old hut in which he and Derain shared a studio.
A crucial turning point in Vlaminck's artistic development was a visit to a van Gogh exhibition in Paris in the following year. In 1902 the young painter met Henri Matisse, who encouraged him to exhibit at the "Salon des Indépendents".
In 1905 Maurice Vlaminck had a group exhibition with Matisse, Derain, Friesz, Manguin and others at the "Salon d'automne". The radically new colour scheme with large areas of pure colour inspired the critic Vauxelles to refer to the artists as the "Fauves".
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What was the maiden name of tennis player Margaret Court? | Players | WTA Tennis English
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ò Accumulated 24 Grand Slam singles titles, 19 doubles and 19 mixed; holds all-time records for most Grand Slam singles titles (24), mixed doubles titles (19) and total titles (62)
ò In 1970, became second woman in tennis to achieve the Grand Slam - Australian, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and United States singles titles in the same calendar year; at Roland Garros, trailed Olga Morozova 6-3, 5-2 and suffered from leg cramps before coming back; injured ankle during Wimbledon, so rushed the net as much as possible in defeating Billie Jean King in final; also is the only player to achieve a Grand Slam in both singles and mixed doubles, winning all four mixed titles with Ken Fletcher in 1963
ò In four years, 1962, 65, 69 and 73, won three of the four Grand Slams; only Wimbledon eluded her in 1962, 69 and 73, and Roland Garros in 1965
ò In the 1970 Wimbledon final, defeated Billie Jean King 14-12, 11-9; the 46 games in the match and 26-game first set are both Wimbledon finals records
ò One of three women to accomplish Triple Crowns (Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles) at the 1963 Australian and 1970 US Open (King and Navratilova are the others)
ò Won the Australian Open a record 11 times
ò Never seeded lower than No. 2 at Wimbledon; first appearance was in 1961
ò Lost to Bobby Riggs 6-2, 6-1 on Mother's Day in 1973 in an exhibition match
SINGLES
Winner (92 Open Era): 1968 - Hurlingham, Manchester, Beckenham, Irish Open, Hoylake, Dutch Open, Berkeley, Dewar-Stalybridge, Dewar-Perth, Dewar-Aberavon, Dewar-Torquay, Queen's Covered Court Champs, Dewar Cup Finals-London; 1969 - Australian Open , Roland Garros , US Open , Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Caracas, San Juan, Charlotte, Houston, Bournemouth, Hurlingham, Bristol, Newport-Wales, Frinton, Rock Invitation-NY, Merion GC Champs-Philadelphia, US Champs-Boston, Berkeley; 1970 - Australian Open , Roland Garros , Wimbledon , US Open , Perth, Hobart, Victorian Open-Melbourne, ITPA Philadelphia, Vanderbilt-New York, Dallas, South African Open, Sutton, Bournemouth, Guildford, Bristol, Queen's London Champs, Frinton, Budapest International, Dutch Open, Merion Grass Champs-Pennsylvania, Canadian Open; 1971 - Australian Open , Sydney, Perth, Auckland, Durban, South African Open, Hurlingham, Bournemouth, Queen's London GC Champs, Irish Open; 1972 - Western Champs [Cincinatti], VS Newport [RI], VS Oakland, Dewar-Edinburgh, Dewar-Glasgow, Dewar-Birmingham, Dewar-Manchester, Dewar-London, Perth, Sydney; 1973 - Australian Open , Roland Garros , US Open , BMC Oakland, BMC Los Angeles, Washington DC, Miami Indoors, VS Detroit, Chicago, Richmond, Philadelphia, Boston, Jacksonville, Irish Open, Nashville, Allaire [NJ], Newport [RI], World Invitational-Sea Pines; 1974 - West Australian Champs [Perth]; 1975 - Chicago; 1976 - Toyota-Melbourne.
DOUBLES
Winner (48 Open Era): 1976 - Melbourne (w/Stove); 1975 - US Open (w/Wade), Bridgestone Doubles (w/Wade); 1973 - Australian Open (w/Wade), Roland Garros (w/Wade), US Open (w/Wade); 1971 - Australian Open (w/Goolagong), South African Open (w/Goolagong); 1970 - Australian Open (w/Dalton), Wimbledon (w/Dalton), Melbourne (w/Dalton), Sydney (w/Dalton), Frinton (w/Lloyd), Eastbourne (w/Tegart); 1969 - Perth (w/Tegart), Melbourne (w/Tegart), Sydney (w/Tegart), Brisbane (w/Tegart); 1968 - US Open (w/Bueno), Rome (w/Wade), Manchester (w/Bueno), Berkeley (w/Bueno), Beckenham (w/Bueno), West Kirby (w/Wade), Perth (w/Walkden), Aberavon (w/Walkden), London I (w/Walkden).
MIXED DOUBLES
Winner (19 Open Era): 1975 - US Open ; 1974 - South Africian Open (w/Riessen); 1972 - US Open (w/Riessen); 1971 - South African Open (w/Stolle); 1970 - US Open (w/Ralston), South Africian Open (w/Riessen); 1969 - Roland Garros (w/Riessen), US Open (w/Riessen); 1968 - Rome (wRiessen), Berkeley (w/Smith), West Kensington (w/Smith).
Overall Stats
| Smith |
What was the name of the Girl From Uncle? | Margaret Smith Court
Margaret Smith Court
Member of the Australian Federation Cup Team 1963-1965, 1968-1970
Member of the Australian Championship Federation Cup Team 1964-1965, 1968, 1970
Overall Record: 35-5
Citizenship: AUS Born: July 16, 1942 in Albury, Australia Played: Right-handed
Dominating.
There’s no better or more appropriate word to describe Margaret Smith Court’s assault on worldwide tennis courts.
It can be debated, with plenty of supportive reference material, that no athlete – male or female – has so thoroughly dominated their sport like Court, certainly not in tennis. Her name is plastered throughout the record books, some of her accomplishments needing a second read to make sure they’re not a typographical error. From 1960 until 1975, Court won a record 24 major singles titles, best in history, regardless of gender. Court tacked on 21 major titles in mixed doubles and another 19 in doubles, pushing her total to a mind-boggling 64 major championships. By comparison, Martina Navratilova earned 59 major titles in her glorious career and all-time male leader Roy Emerson won 28. In 1970, she became the second female in history to win a calendar year Grand Slam (first in the Open Era), joining Maureen Connolly, who was the inaugural titlist in 1953. Steffi Graf became only the third female Grand Slam winner in 1988. On three occasions, in 1965, 1969, and 1973, Court won three of the four major events she played.
Court’s career spanned both amateur and professional eras, amassing a 1,180-107 record – the most in history – which equates to a remarkable 92 percent winning mark. When the Open Era commenced in 1968, Court compiled a 593-56 record and won at the same uncanny clip. She was a buzz saw with the sharpest blades, winning 24 of her major titles in 29 opportunities (83 percent). She went 11-of-12 in championship matches in the Open Era (92 percent), when the competition and stakes were ratcheted up considerably higher.
Court is one of only five players in tennis history, joining Navratilova, Serena Williams, Roy Emerson, and Frank Sedgman, to win a career Grand Slam in two categories, but she stands alone as the only player in history to win multiple Grand Slams in all three categories. Court won singles, doubles, and mixed doubles championships at all four majors, and only Navratilova and Doris Hart can claim the same, but Court won all 12 majors twice. No one in history has come remotely close to that record.
An astonishing 40 of her major championships came in doubles, the coup de grace coming in 1963 when she teamed with fellow Aussie Ken Fletcher to win the mixed doubles Grand Slam. In 1965 she became the only female player in history to win a mixed doubles Grand Slam twice, winning the French and Wimbledon with Fletcher, the Australian with John Newcombe and the U.S. Nationals with Fred Stolle. Court’s 40 doubles and mixed doubles titles were enormous accomplishments, winning 11 at the Australian, eight at the French, seven at Wimbledon, and 12 the U.S. Nationals/US Open (The Australian doubles titles in 1965 and 1969 were shared due to inclement weather postponing the final).
Court was born in Albury, New South Wales, Australia and won 23 of her 64 majors at the Australian Nationals/Open. In 1960, when she was 17, Court won the first of seven consecutive Australian championships (1960-66) and 11 overall (1969, 1970-71, 1973). She was a different breed of tennis player, placing paramount importance on fitness training, a discipline instilled into her from her coach Stan Nicholls. Court, who was nicknamed the “Aussie Amazon,” was perhaps the fittest player on tour, her strength and endurance buoyed by weight, circuit, and cardio training and running sand hills. Her physical advantage enabled her to overpower her opponent in a relentless serve-and-volley game. Court’s reach at net was all-encompassing, prompting fellow Hall of Famer Billie Jean King to tab her “The Arm.” Court had a powerful serve, using all of her body parts effectively – employing a strong knee bend and a smooth arm rotation. Her supreme fitness enabled her to return to competitive tennis on three occasions after having children. After her third child was born in 1975, Court’s career had only two years remaining. She shares the record for the most major titles by a mother with Belgium’s Kim Clijsters.
Court won 13 major singles titles as an amateur, defeating fellow Aussie Jan Lehane O’Neill four times, Maria Bueno three times, Lesley Turner Bowrey twice, Billie Jean Moffitt/King twice, and Darlene Hard and Nancy Richey once each. In those 13 championships, Court swept her opponent eight times, three went the distance, one came when her opponent retired (Bueno at the 1965 Australian when down 5-2 in the third), and one was in a walkover (Richey at the 1966 Australian). In her 11 Open Era titles, she upended eight different opponents, including Evonne Goolagong Cawley three times. Only Goolagong Cawley defeated Court in a major final, winning the 1971 Wimbledon Ladies Championship in three sets. “After I defeated Margaret Court at Wimbledon in 1971, I found out later she was pregnant and I thought, ‘so that’s why she played so badly,’” Goolagong joked.
Court won more than 100 matches five times in her career, but the pinnacle came in 1970 when she won 21 of 27 tournaments and 104 of 110 matches en route to winning the Grand Slam. She was particularly punishing that year, losing just 13 games at the Australian Open in six matches and rolling through fellow Aussie Kerry Melville, 6-3, 6-1, to win the first leg. The French Open was slightly more difficult, just one potential stumbling block in the second round when Russian Olga Morozova pushed Court to three sets, including 6-6 in the second, before the No. 1 seed prevailed, 3-6, 8-6, 6-1. Come the semifinals and finals, Court lost eight total games in defeating Julie Heldman, 6-0, 6-2, and West German Helga Niessen, 6-2, 6-4, for the second leg. The Wimbledon Ladies Singles final featured No. 1 Court against No. 2 Billie Jean King, and the match was as competitive as any final Court had played in thus far. She earned the third leg of her Grand Slam, but it wasn’t a cakewalk, 14-12, 11-9. The US Open was the last major in Court’s path, and though she lost only 13 games in her five matches leading to the championship match against No. 2 seed Rosie Casals, the final went three sets.
Against Casals, Court displayed a range of shots that complimented her serve and volley technique. Her lob was particularly proficient that afternoon before a capacity crowd hopeful to witness tennis history. The match was tied a one set apiece, but in the third, Court executed her serve, approach shots, net play, lob, and overhead to perfection and cruised to victory, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. When Casals’s forehand went wide and Court had etched her name in the record books, there was no triumphant tossing of the racquet or leaping the net or falling the court in disbelief. Court methodically and calmly walked to the net and shook Casals’s hand. She retreated to her seat courtside $7,500 richer – which was the biggest monetary prize in women’s tennis at the time – and had become a calendar year Grand Slam champion, fulfilling a dream long in the making. Court was calm, cool and composed.
Court missed the 1967 (temporarily retired) and most of the 1972 season after the birth of first child. Each return to tennis produced a better version, and the 1973 season was no different. She won 18 tournaments and 102 of 108 matches. She won her last majors – the Australian over Goolagong (6-4, 7-5) and the French over a defiant young Chris Evert, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. In that victory, Court displayed her multi-faceted game against the proficient groundstroke attack Evert employed. She often traded strokes with the baseliner, would chip and charge the net off either her backhand or forehand side, served with great aplomb, and displayed great lateral mobility. With the victory, she was halfway towards a second calendar year Grand Slam. As the No. 1 seed at Wimbledon, Court advanced to the semifinals, where Evert exacted a measure of revenge, stopping Court from becoming the only female player in history to win two Grand Slams, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. For the Aussie it was the third of four losses in a Wimbledon semifinal, the last coming in 1975 after she returned to the tour after the birth of her second child. Court displayed her champion mettle at the US Open two months later, defeating compatriot Goolagong, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2, for her fifth and final title in New York.
Between 1961 and 1975, Court was the world’s top ranked player, a distinction that made her a target for the hustling tennis promoter Bobby Riggs, who challenged her to a tennis match in Ramona, California on May 13, 1973, which happened to fall on Mother’s Day. The made-for-television event on ABC brought out a gallery of celebrities and tennis stars, including John Wayne, Don Budge, Pancho Segura, Casals, and more each who had an opinion on who would win. Court did not take the match particularly seriously and wasn’t prepared for Riggs, who hit soft and short and used dinks and lobs to defeat Court, 6-2, 6-1, in what was dubbed “The Mother’s Day Massacre.” Court’s loss led to Riggs and Kings meeting in the famous “Battle of the Sexes” four months later in Houston’s Astrodome.
In no fashion could that loss tarnish Court’s accomplishments. She had won more than half of the majors she competed in in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970 and 1973. On 36 occasions she was a semifinalist and reached the quarterfinals in 43 of 47 singles majors.
Court seemingly never tired of playing tennis, finding time to win four championships (1964, 1965, 1968, 1970) as a member of the Aussie Fed Cup team.
Honors abounded for Court. She was made Member of the Order of the British Empire (1967), inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (1985), the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame (1993), earned the ITF’s Phillippe Chatrier Award (2006), and was made Officer of the Order of Australia for her services to tennis (2007). In January 2003, Show Court One at Melbourne Park, home to the Australian Open since 1988, was renamed Margaret Court Arena.
The soft-spoken and quiet Court found her calling in religion following her tennis career. She was ordained as a minister in 1991, first touring throughout Australia in a mobile ministry. “I pastor a very large church in western Australia,” Court said. “We have over 2,000 people, a Bible School, community services, a lot of things linked with it. So my life is very full today. Not enough days in the week.”
Her autobiography, Court on Court, was published in 1975.
Grand Slam Best Results
24 Singles | 19 Doubles | 21 Mixed Doubles
Singles
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The object in pontoon is 21 – what is it in baccarat? | Pontoon - Wizard of Odds
Pontoon
Introduction
There are two completely different blackjack variants known as Pontoon. One is played at Internet casinos using Real Time Gaming software, and is described in my page on RTG Pontoon . The other is played in Australia, and is very similar to what is called Spanish 21 in North America. This page shall address the latter Australian version. I can't speak for the rest of Australia, but in Sydney, Pontoon offers a much better bet than conventional blackjack , with a house edge about 1/3 less.
The Rules
Pontoon uses four to eight Spanish decks, each deck consisting of 48 cards — the regular 52 cards, less the four tens. Any card counter can tell you that removing any 10-point card from the cards favors the dealer. To make up for this, Pontoon gives to the player a host of bonuses and favorable rules. The following rules are consistent to Pontoon, across Australia.
Fixed Rules
Double after split allowed.
Dealer does not take a hole card.
Player may double on 9 to 11 only. If player were to double on a soft hand, the ace would be forced to count as 1.
Player may take "late surrender." If the dealer has a ten or ace up, a laminated marker saying "surrender" will be put on the player's bet. In the event the dealer gets a blackjack, the player will lose the entire bet.
A player 21 or blackjack wins immediately.
Player may surrender after doubling, known as "double down rescue." The player forfeits an amount equal to his original bet. The surrender is adjudicated immediately, so it is like early surrender.
A five-card 21 pays 3 to 2, a six-card 21 pays 2 to 1, a seven-or-more-card-21 pays 3 to 1. However, the bonuses are not paid if the player doubled.
A 6-7-8 or 7-7-7 of mixed suits pays 3 to 2, of the same suit pays 2 to 1, and of spades pays 3 to 1. These bonuses do not pay after doubling.
Suited 7-7-7, when the dealer has a seven face up, pays $1000 for bets of $5-$24 and $5000 for bets of $25 or over. In addition, all other players receive a $50 "envy bonus." This bonus does not pay after doubling or splitting.
The European no-hole-card rule strongly favors the player in Pontoon. This is because a player 21 automatically wins, even if the dealer gets a blackjack. In American Spanish 21, the dealer blackjack beats anything except a player blackjack, depressing the player's odds.
Variable Rules
Four to eight Spanish decks.
Hole-card rule. There are various possibilities, which are explained below.
Number of splits allowed, either one or two.
Resplitting aces may or may not be allowed.
Doubling may be allowed with any number of cards, or only two.
Hole-Card Rules
What happens when the player doubles or splits, and the dealer gets a blackjack, depends on which casino you are in. In most cases, the rules followed are found nowhere else on earth besides Australia, so new terminology had to be established. Other sources on Pontoon and blackjack do not use the same terminology as I do, or use them differently. I have decided to go with the terms as used in the book The Pro's Guide to Spanish 21 and Australian Pontoon by Katarina Walker. Please do not write and tell me I have the terminology wrong, quoting some other web site. Nobody knows Pontoon better than Walker, so I can think of no better standard to measure to.
OBO (Original Bets Only): This is the rule followed in North America, where the player loses only his original bet if the dealer gets a blackjack. Usually the dealer will peek at the hole card if a blackjack is possible, so players won't waste time trying to beat an unbeatable hand. I have an unconfirmed report that the OBO rule is followed in Queensland.
BB+1 (Busted Bets Plus One): Under this rule, the player will lose any hands he busted, plus an amount equal to his original bet, if he has anything left.
OBBO (Original and Busted Bets Only): Under this rule, the player will lose any hands he busted, plus an amount equal to his original wager per hand. In other words, if the dealer gets a blackjack, the player is penalized for splitting, but not doubling.
ENHC (European no Hole Card): Under this rule, the player loses every bet on the table if the dealer gets a blackjack.
Let's look at an example. Suppose the player bets $10 and then splits eights against a dealer ten, to the following:
Hand 1: Player hits to 18.
Hand 2: Player hits and busts.
Hand 3: Player doubles to 20.
Then, the dealer gets a blackjack. The following is what would happen under all four possible hole-card rules.
OBO: The remaining $30 on the table would push, because the player already lost $10 on the hand that busted.
BB+1: The dealer would take $10 from the remaining $30 on the table.
OBBO: The dealer would take $20, $10 from each of the two hands left.
ENCH: The dealer would take all $30 on the table.
Strategy
The following table shows the basic strategy for Pontoon.
Next are the three tricky hands that depend on the hole-card rule being followed.
If the player splits eights against a ten, under the BB+1 rule, then he will be motivated to hit less. This is because a busted hand is always lost, but if the dealer gets a blackjack, only one split hand will be lost. In this situation, the player should stand on 16, instead of hitting. The only exception is if it is that last hand to be played, and all earlier hands busted.
House Edge
I'm going to use the rules in Sydney as the base rules. The variable rules in other parts of Australia are as follows.
8 decks.
Player may split only once.
Player may double on any number of cards.
Under the Sydney rules, the house edge is 0.42%.
The following list is of rule variations you may encounter in Austalia. The table shows the change in the player's excpected value, so positive effects are good.
Effets of Rule Variations
0.64%
Updates
I have had the following unconfirmed reports of rule changes since I wrote the rule table above.
In Adelaide the player may now split twice.
The Adelaide casino now uses four decks instead of eight. (6/9/13)
Sydney uses six decks instead of eight. (5/7/16)
Super Bonus
The probability of hitting the Super Bonus is 1 in 668,382, with six decks, and 1 in 549,188, with eight decks. The reduction in the house edge depends on the bet amount, and to a lesser extent, the number of players. With no other players, and bets of exactly $5 or $25, the Super Bonus lowers the house edge by 0.030% in a six-deck game, and 0.036% in an eight-deck game. At a bet of exactly $5, the Envy Bonus lowers the house edge by an additional 0.0015% in a six-deck game, and 0.0018% in an eight-deck game, per additional player.
For bet amounts other than those indicated above, the benefit of the Super Bonus will go down as the bet amount goes up.
Acknowledgments
Katarina Walker is the undisputed queen of Spanish 21 and Pontoon. I only had time to visit one casino during my trip to Australia in 2008, the Star City in Sydney. Kat's book and answers to my many e-mail were invaluable for knowing Pontoon rules in the rest of Australia. She has also been good about catching minor mistakes in my Spanish 21 page . I'm sorry to report that Kat died in 2015.
MGP was kind enough to give me a copy of his amazing blackjack calculator. Put in any set of rules, and it will give you the correct strategy and house edge. It handles all kinds of obscure rules, including all the Pontoon rules. MGP was extremely patient and gracious in answering my numerous questions too. I think, and hope, the blackjack world will be hearing more from MGP in the future.
| 9 |
... a mineral, varieties of which include emerald and aquamarine? | Baccarat Rules - Basic Variations like Chemin de Fer
Baccarat Rules and Variations
What a Baccarat Table Looks Like
Baccarat is a game associated with high dollar players, because it is traditionally played by well-dressed players in a roped-off section of the casino. New gamblers might think such a game is “elite” because it requires special skills and knowledge. In truth, the exact opposite is true. Baccarat offers a house edge as low as any other game which doesn’t require specialized strategy knowledge, which is why casino operators haven’t always offered it to the general public. The game is easy to learn, easy to play, and requires no skill to play. One you determine how much to gamble, the game plays out with a clockwork regimentation.
One might wonder why baccarat would be a preferred game for an action movie star like James Bond, and how the movie makers can make 007’s favorite game look so exciting. I suppose the elitist nature of the game made it glamorous and mysterious to the public. In a time when people couldn’t Google the rules of baccarat, most gamblers who didn’t play knew very little of the game. So when a super spy amazes his opponents with his boldness and dash, people might not have realized he was making foolhardy gambles on a game he couldn’t control.
Basic Rules
The object of baccarat is to get as close to 9 as possible with the two dealt cards, or three if a draw is required. Punto banco and its variants are point-based games. Suits, straights, and pairing have no meaning. Aces are worth 1 point. Tens, jacks, queens, and kings are worth 0. All cards from 2 to 9 are worth their face value. Aces are worth 1. If your hand reaches 10 or more, you simply start over the count. So a combined ten is worth “0”, a combined eleven is worth “1”, and so on.
If the player has an 8 or 9, the hand is over and the highest number wins. If the player has less than 7 or less, they may ask for a third card. The dealer may do the same. After three cards are drawn, the winner is determined. The version of the game played most often in American casinos is “punto banco”, but two other distinct versions exist.
Baccarat Variations
One reason the game isn’t easy to know is the game is available in several variations. Baccarat chemin de fer and baccarat banque, also known as “a deux tableaux”, are two games which became popular in the United States. Punto banco is the variant played in the United States and Canada. This game has no decision making aspects, so no skill is required to play it.
Chemin de Fer Rules
“Chemin de Fer”, or “railroad”, is the French version of the game. Two to eight gamblers are allowed to play. In this variation, the croupier sets out a stake. The major difference in this game and the one Americans know is the fact players bet against each other, instead of the house. If a player wants to match the dealer’s stake, they are entitled to say “Banco” or “go to bank”.
When this happens, they become the banker. If not, they make a wager less than the full stake. Betting goes around the table (to the dealer’s right). If the banker’s stake is not matched, then betting continues. Anyone else standing around the table is given the right to add to the wagers, but if the banker’s stake is matched, then no more betting is allowed. If someone wishes to exceed the banker’s total, the croupier has a right to refuse the bet.
Once this is done, cards are dealt: one to the players, one to the banker, another one to the players, and one more to the banker. The player with the highest stake plays for his group of bettors. If they have an 8 or 9, they turn the cards over. If their hand is higher, the dealer pays everyone’s stake. If their hand is lower, the dealer collects all wagers. The house edge in Chemin de Fer comes from the 5% commission the casino takes when the banker wins.
Baccarat Banque Rules
The variation in baccarat banque is the banker role is auctioned at the beginning of the game. This is another French and/or European variation and it is sometimes known as “a deux tableaux”, which translates into English as “two tables”. Instead of the banker role rotating around the table as in Chemin de Fer, at the start of each round, that role is determined at the start of the game. In many venues, the banker is the player with the biggest wager. I should mention that in other establishments, the decision is determined traditionally, so it rotates around the table with the right of first refusal for the player whose turn it is.
Three decks of cards are combined by the shoe deck. Once the cards are shuffled, two hands are dealt to the players and one hand to the bank. One hand is dealt to the right side of the table, while a second hand is dealt to the left side. Players must bet on the hand on their side of the table, but they have the option to bet on both player hands, if they choose. When this happens, the wager goes to the center of the table. Players can bust the dealer by “going bank”. If the player’s challenge wins, they occupy the banking seat. If they fail at three challenges, they cannot try to bust the current banker again.
Baccarat in Macau
Baccarat is preeminent is Macau, where it is by far the most popular casino game. Western gamblers who visit Macau might wonder at the immense popularity of the game in China’s gaming capital. Part of the allure is the fact players control their destiny, unlike slots. Though no strategy exists, the ability to choose either banker or players gives players a sense of controlling their destiny.
The idea of “flow” is innate to Chinese thought, due to the concept of “chi” flowing through the human body and our surroundings. In Macau, players are allowed to view the game without betting, so when a gambler begins, they wait a few hands to sense the flow of the cards. While rationalists will argue this has no connection to probability, it’s an important concept in the Far East and one at the heart of baccarat’s popularity.
When playing in Chinese casinos like the Venetian Macau, you’ll notice that crowds of people gather at a table when the flow of cards is thought to be good. These people bet en masse, much like the wagers at a craps table. Those who bet against the table are given dirty looks when they win–and laughed at when they lose. These people are seen as going against the flow of the game.
Featured Card Games
| i don't know |
James Joyce’s Ulysses ends with an extended monologue by which character? | Ulysses - Modernism Lab Essays
Ulysses
by Pericles Lewis
“It is a book to which we are all indebted and from which none of us can escape,” wrote T. S. Eliot of James Joyce ’s Ulysses ( 1922 ). [1] Joyce’s novel describes a day in the life of an advertising canvasser in pre-war Dublin, drawing implicit parallels between his adventures and those described in Homer’s Odyssey. Joyce began the novel in a stream-of-consciousness or “interior monologue” technique that developed naturally out of his experiments in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ( 1916 ). [2] During the course of writing Ulysses, however, he largely abandoned this method and replaced it with a vast array of styles, so that the reader’s attention is directed as much to Joyce’s use of a variety of literary techniques as to the events he describes.
Ulysses demonstrates most of the notable characteristics of the modern novel. As an exploration of consciousness or the inner life, it inspired Woolf ’s injunction that the novelist should “consider the ordinary mind on an ordinary day.” [3] For Joyce this entails a preference for an anti-hero, or at any rate a hero who does not resemble the heroes of earlier novels, as well as an exploration of subject matter that, while a part of ordinary consciousness, is often taboo in art, such as defecation and masturbation. As a notable experiment in the rendering of time, Ulysses displays a modernist skepticism about the linear or sequential arrangement of events into traditional plots. In contrast with the earlier tendency to make the prose of novels generally referential, Joyce was particularly self-conscious about the literary quality or style of novelistic language he used; he experimented with narrative devices and combined the realist representation of the world with esoteric symbolism. Finally, Ulysses called attention to its own status as fiction and to relationship between fiction and history, the question of the novel as a modern form of epic. [4]
Ulysses is set in Dublin on June 16, 1904, now celebrated by Joyce’s fans as “Bloomsday.” The day has no particular historical significance, except that it was on June 16, 1904 that Joyce had his first date with his future wife Nora Barnacle. (Joyce and Nora lived together for twenty-seven years before marrying; Joyce objected to most institutions, including that of marriage, but eventually submitted to it for the sake of his children’s legal status.) It is, in Woolf’s phrase, “an ordinary day,” although with more hours of daylight than most because of its proximity to midsummer and Dublin’s northerly latitude. Along with a seemingly endless cast of Dubliners, the novel features three major characters, Stephen Dedalus (the protagonist of Portrait), Leopold Bloom (the advertising canvasser), and Molly Bloom (Leopold’s wife). Through the course of the novel, the attentive reader learns that Leopold and Molly have not had sexual intercourse since the death of their infant son Rudy, ten and a half years earlier. On the afternoon of June 16, Molly is expecting a visit from Blazes Boylan, who will become her lover. Bloom suspects his wife of having had many adulterous affairs, but Blazes is the only clear-cut case. According to the parallel with the Odyssey, Bloom spends the day in exile, like Odysseus on his way back from the Trojan war, before returning home at the end of the day. Where Odysseus slaughtered the suitors who had tried to seduce his faithful wife Penelope, however, Bloom meekly accepts Molly’s unfaithfulness.
The novel’s other plot-line features Stephen as a modern equivalent of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. Like Bloom, Stephen is exiled from his home, a tower on Dublin Bay, by a usurper, his sometime friend Buck Mulligan. Stephen’s mother has recently died, so, like Hamlet, he wears black. Bloom too dresses in black, for the funeral of a friend, Paddy Dignam, who has fallen off a ladder in a drunken stupor (paralleling the death of a minor character, Elpenor, in the Odyssey). Stephen thinks of himself as Hamlet, but Joyce casts him as Telemachus, in search of a father, and the “quest for a father” became a major theme of early criticism of the novel. The novel associates Bloom with Hamlet’s father’s ghost as well as with Odysseus. Stephen’s real father, Simon, is quite incompetent, and when Bloom rescues Stephen from a brawl near the end of the novel, the two men return to Bloom’s home together. Their meeting is fairly brief, however, and it is unclear whether or not Stephen has really found the spiritual father he needs. (The encounter is loosely based on an occasion when Joyce himself was rescued from a fracas by Arthur H. Hunter, one of the models for Bloom). The novel ends, after Bloom returns to bed, with the unsurpassable interior monologue of Molly Bloom, a sort of soliloquy that gives her account of her childhood, her married life, and her other loves, as well as her views on matters such as war and music.
Joyce wrote Ulysses while living in Trieste, Zürich, and Paris, having gone into voluntary “exile” from Ireland because of its conservative social and intellectual climate. He was in close touch with avant-garde circles in all three cities, and their experiments influenced his. The novel appeared in installments in The Little Review beginning in 1918 , but publication was interrupted in 1920 when its publishers were prosecuted for obscenity, over an episode in which Bloom masturbates. Once complete, the novel had to be published in Paris and was banned in England, Ireland, and the United States for over a decade. English customs officials and the U. S. Post Office seized and destroyed most copies of the first two editions. During the 1920s, the novel was known in the English-speaking world mainly through some smuggled copies. After 1930 , readers could purchase Stuart Gilbert’s commentary, which contained excerpts of the novel that had not been judged obscene.
In order to make the novel easier to understand, Joyce gave his French and Italian translators schemas explaining that each “episode” had its own distinctive time, scene, style, bodily organ, art, colors, and symbol, and outlining the correspondences between characters and their counterparts in The Odyssey and, to a lesser extent, Hamlet. (The “episodes,” as the chapters are called, are known by the names Joyce gave them in his schemas, although these are not usually printed in editions of the novel itself.) There are also Biblical parallels, but they have a somewhat different status; the characters themselves are unaware of the similarities between their own lives and those of the characters in The Odyssey, but they frequently invoke the Bible to explain their circumstances. [5]
The Homeric references in Ulyssesraise a number of critical issues. The use of parallels with one of the great classical epics to describe the humdrum and sordid marital affairs of a reasonably intelligent but not otherwise remarkable lower middle-class hero can be understood as a form of mock epic, in which high style is applied to low matter. Joyce’s attitude would then be seen as satirical, like Eliot ’s attitude towards such characters as Sweeney and the typist in The Waste Land . More frequently, however, readers have seen Joyce as trying to represent what Baudelaire called the “heroism of modern life.” [6] Bloom, who appears merely comic at the beginning of the novel, seems to become more heroic, more like Odysseus, as the narrative progresses.
Another debate concerns how much weight readers should place on the schemas in which Joyce outlined the mythic parallels. Eliot praised Joyce’s “mythic method,” but many critics disagree with Eliot and see the parallels as a kind of scaffolding, not essential to the structure of the work, and interpret Joyce’s purpose as less unifying than Eliot suggests. In other words, they see Joyce not as a high modernist, but as the first postmodernist, discarding the unifying myths that Eliot wanted to maintain. The reality is complex: both Joyce and Eliot did seek myths that could make sense of contemporary history, but they both also recognized that, to be compelling, these modern myths must be complex, ironic, and multifarious. The seeds of postmodernism are present in the highest of high modernist works. [7] [8]
For particular episodes of Ulysses see:
| Molly Bloom |
Maureen ’Mo’ Tucker was the drummer in which seminal 1960s rock band? | Ulysses Chapters 16-18 Summary and Analysis | GradeSaver
Chapter Sixteen: Eumaeus
Summary:
After Stephen is revived, Bloom directs him towards a "cabman's shelter," a coffeehouse owned by a man named "Skin-the-Goat" Fitzharris. As Stephen begins to slowly sober up, Bloom begins a conversation in earnest, discussing his ideas of love and politics. Bloom's desperation makes his desire for a "son" transparent and even when Stephen is sober, he does not seem to be particularly interested in Bloom's thoughts. The conversation between Bloom and Dedalus resembles the conversation in the Dignam funeral carriage, where Bloom appears as a man who is desperate for acceptance.
In his efforts to win Stephen¹s favor, Bloom attempts to play the role of an intellectual. Upon entering the cabman¹s shelter, Bloom hears a few Italians speaking their native language and he turns to Stephen, to proclaim his love of the Italian language, specifically its phonetics. Stephen (who knows Italian) calmly replies that the Italian melody that Bloom has heard, was a base squabble over money. Though Bloom soon realizes that he does not know the brooding young Dedalus very well, he believes that the student's company would be beneficial for the Blooms. He could perhaps be a singer like his father and his economic potential is all the more pleasant to Bloom because he considers Stephen to be an "edifying" partner in conversation. Later in the conversation, Bloom demonstrates his intellectual deficiencies as he attempts to discuss politics with Dedalus arguing a shallow and superficial Marxist Leninism. Bloom¹s reform calls first, for all citizens to "labor" and second, for all citizen¹s needs to be secured regardless of their varying abilities, provided that this reform is carried out "in installments." Perceiving Stephen¹s negative reaction to be a non-intellectual aversion, Bloom seeks to immediately assuage Dedalus by explaining that poetry is "labor."
Bloom leaves the cabman's shelter and invites Stephen to his home at 7 Eccles Street and the young man grudgingly accepts. While inside the coffeehouse, Stephen's paid less attention to Bloom and more attention to a man named W. B. Murphy, a self-described world sailor who had just come home to see his wife after many years. The comic sea bard adds a comic note to the tiring chapter, with his stories of acrobats, conspiracies and tattoos. As he is leaving the cabman's shelter, Stephen sees his dissipated friend, Corley. When Corley explains that he is in need of work, Stephen suggests that Corley visit Mr. Deasy's school to apply for an opening, as Dedalus intends to vacate his post.
Analysis:
Homer's Eumaeus was a herder who sheltered Ulysses when he first arrived in Ithaca. The "Eumaeus" parallel is the "cabman's shelter" which provides sustenance for Dedalus and Bloom, who are nearing the end of their wanderings. Fitzharris' nickname, "Skin-the-goat," presents a superficial parallel to the Ithaca herder and W. B. Murphy is close to the Ulysses prototype than Bloom is. It is Murphy who has traveled the world and has now returned home, fearing what infidelity may have transpired in his absence.
The long-winded prose of this chapter resembles the anonymous narrating of the fourteenth chapter, "Nausicaa." Both chapters emulate medieval morality tales and Christian parables and this chapter also develops the theme of the story-telling wanderer. Like the "Ancient Mariner," W. B. Murphy performs in a role similar to Ulysses' role in Homer's "Nausicaa" episode. The dissipated, wandering style of the narrative is meant to evoke the listlessness of the weary travelers. The sentences are long and winding; often times, they are not completed and this narrator seems too weary to offer a penetrating gaze into the minds of Bloom and Dedalus.
In his arrangement of motifs, Joyce makes specific reference to Christ's parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son as well as legendary wanderers like Jupiter Fluvius and the "Flying Dutchman." The words of W. B. Murphy ("my wife believes me dead, rocked in the cradle of the deep") link all of these figures together as they bedeviled by questions of recognition. Both Stephen and Bloom have been irrevocably changed on June 16, and after their pained wandering, they may not resemble the people they once were. Joyce realizes this and as Ithaca approaches, the men contemplate the fragility and endurance of love. Bloom thinks to himself: "love me, love my dirty shirt," a maxim of forgiveness that both he and Molly would need to learn. The narrator is more explicit in the questions posed to the reader: "Can real love, supposing there happens to be another chap in the case, exist between married folk?"
Chapter Seventeen: Ithaca
Summary:
The novel's penultimate chapter marks the pre-dawn hours of June 17, 1904. Stephen returns with Bloom to his residence at 7 Eccles Street and after a strained conversation and a cup of cocoa, Dedalus departs, turning down Bloom's invitation to stay for the night. When the two gentlemen reach 7 Eccles, Bloom realizes that he does not have his key and he is forced to literally jump over a gate in order to gain entry into the house. After navigating his way through the dark house, Bloom retrieves a candle and returns to lead Stephen through the dark house. Their conversation is more spirited as Stephen is considerably more conscious and lucid than he was in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters. And unlike his demeanor in the cabman¹s shelter, Stephen is less sullen as he sits in the Bloom residence drinking cocoa. Bloom¹s conversation eventually tires Dedalus though, and despite Bloom¹s efforts, he departs without committing to Bloom¹s offer for a future engagement for "intellectual" conversation. Dedalus does not know where he is going to go, as he declines returning to his father¹s house and is locked out of Martello. Guiding Stephen outside of the house, Bloom lingers outside to stare at the multitude of early morning stars. Upon re-entering the house, Bloom retires for the night, focusing his thoughts on the untidy house.
There is visible evidence of Boylan's earlier visit and after briefly contemplating a divorce, Bloom silently climbs into bed, offering Molly a kiss on the rear end. It seems that Bloom is eager to forget the matter, and will sacrifice his self-respect for comforts of married stability. Bloom's submissiveness presents a sharp contrast to the triumphal actions of Homer's Ulysses. In the original "Ithaca" episode, Ulysses and his son Telemachus attack Penelope's suitors, executing them all before re-establishing Ulysses on his throne.
Analysis:
"Ithaca" has long beguiled many literary critics; the chapter is structured as an interrogation or catechism. Through the answers to 307 posed questions, the reader gleans an account of Bloom's early morning activity. Again, an anonymous narrator accompanies Joyce's complicated narrative structure. The tone and scope of the questions alternates from philosophical to personal, effecting a new experience for the reader; all the while, "Ithaca" is bursting with the usual Joycean humor and wordplay. The narrator asks why Bloom was "doubly irritated" discovering the absence of his key; the response: "he had forgotten and because he remembered that he had reminded himself twice not to forget." Later, the narrator describes Bloom's "firm full masculine feminine passive active hand" and refers to Bloom's "clandestine satisfaction of erotic irritation in masculine brothels." The narrator also mimics Bloom's ambiguities and obsequious manners. Recounting Bloom's previous invitation to visit the Dedalus family, the narrator explains: "Very gratefully, with grateful appreciation, with sincere appreciative gratitude, in appreciatively grateful sincerity of regret, he declined." At some points, the obsessive narrator is self-satirical: "they [Stephen and Bloom] drank in jocoserious silence Epp's massproduct, the creature cocoa."
At the same time that the narrator humorously delves into Bloom's psyche, the questions present an equally impersonal universality leading some critics to liken the chapter to a catechism, an Olympian divinity/oracle or the Old Testament "voice of the whirlwind." Others suggest another Old Testament parallel to God's interrogation of the Biblical character, Job. The language of the chapter is both scientific and theoretical, reducing Bloom's spiritual conundrums to neat formulas and observations. Remarking on the human-ness and universality of Bloom's solitude, the narrator describes Bloom as "assumed by any or known to none. Everyman or Noman." "Everyman" and "Noman" link Bloom to a medieval morality play and Homer's Ulysses, respectively. Bloom's fatalism is recast as his cognizance of "the futility of triumph or protest or vindication," ultimately citing "the apathy of the stars" as the source of his anti-heroic stance. Most critics agree that the questions and answers of "Ithaca," whatever their thematic import, produce an "objectivity" that none of the other narrators have created. Bloom's emotional discovery of "evidence" of Boylan's visit could have easily upset the tonal balance of the anti-sentimental novel. Instead, Ulysses remains on track, for even as Bloom experiences his heartbreak, he is reduced to size: Bloom is only one of billions of souls whose "allotted human life formed a parenthesis of infinitesimal brevity."
Joyce's portrait of Bloom defies Homeric heroics to stress the mundane qualities that Bloom shares with all of humanity. Similarly, with a more pacifist and mellow union between Joyce's Ulysses and Telemachus figures replaces the martial vengeance of Homer's father and son pair. Again, Joyce gives Bloom a tint of the religious imagery that was first employed in "Nausicaa." Bloom and Stephen resemble a Catholic procession, as Bloom searches for a "lucifer match" before lighting a candle to guide Stephen into the house. As "Stephen obeys his [Bloom's] sign" to enter, the young Dedalus links Bloom with the Catholic "Fathers" he has obeyed since his schooldays. This Christian imagery is deepened when we learn that Bloom has been baptized three times throughout his life, and his final site of baptism is the same site where Stephen was baptized. The religious imagery ends with Stephen's departure from 7 Eccles and it is described as "the exodus from the house of bondage to the wilderness of inhabitation," ironically drawing attention to Bloom's Jewishness while alluding to a well-known Psalm shared by both Judeo-Christian traditions.
Even as Stephen subconsciously admits him as a "Father," Bloom's messianic ambitions flare and he imagines himself as the "light to the Gentiles." Though Joyce has continually satirized his heroes' messianic complexes, in this chapter it seems that Bloom's imperfect desire to help Stephen is enough to merit the ultimate respect and admiration of the narrator. Bloom has plenty of faults and his schemes for the betterment of others often seem hypocritical. Joyce also paints Bloom as the shallow bourgeois type-he dreams of a utopian settlement called "Flowerville" or "Bloom Cottage" all the while conceding that Marx's "revolution" is both desirable and inevitable, only it must come in "installments." Bloom befriends Stephen, in part, because he believes that his conversation is edifying and that he would be a good tutor to teach Molly how to speak Italian.
Bloom has a sincere desire to "better" the world and the souls around him and this considerably affects his interactions with others. When faced with Stephen's unexpected brusqueness, Bloom is hesitant to judge him, instead suggesting that Stephen is simply in need of etiquette lessons. Bloom's own failings are laughable-at the end of the chapter he considers leaving his wife but after contemplating the Ulysses-like life of a wanderer, he concludes that it is too late in the night for a "departure." And to the catalogue of Bloom's weaknesses and moments of indecision, Joyce adds the details of the unflattering minutia of Bloom's life: his urination, his flatulence and his painful bee sting. For the narrator, and perhaps for the reader, Bloom's heroism comes from his constant desire for a better world, his untiring acts of benevolence and his eagerness to see the best in people while forgiving the most painful offenses. By the conclusion of "Ithaca," Bloom has not mastered the kingliness of a veritable messiah, nor has he amassed a congregation of devotees. Nonetheless, the God-like narrator acknowledges Bloom's faults and forgives him with the same alacrity that Bloom has demonstrated earlier.
In "Ithaca," the relationship between Bloom and Stephen touches upon a few biographical details of Joyce. One of the narrator's tangents discusses the age ratio between the two heroes. Ulysses is set in 1904, as Stephen is 22 years old and Bloom is 38. In "Wandering Rocks," Mulligan and Haines jokes that Stephen Dedalus would perhaps be able to "write something ten years from now." In 1914, Joyce first published selections of his novella, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and the relationship between Joyce and Dedalus is strengthened by the fact that in 1904, James Joyce and Stephen Dedalus were both 22 years old. Dedalus, like Joyce, left for Paris in 1902 and the conclusion of "Ithaca" foresees that in 1904, Dedalus, like Joyce, will leave Ireland to take up permanent residency elsewhere.
Bloom is sixteen years Stephen's senior, at the age of 38. Not coincidentally, Joyce completed Ulysses in 1920, at the age of 38, having effectively written two avatars of himself into the novel-a younger Joyce and his older counterpart. In the novel's repeated references to Dante's Divine Comedy, Joyce has suggested the Bloom/Dedalus relationship as a parallel to the Virgil/Dante relationship and now we find that Joyce is effectively mentoring his younger self via Bloom. Not only does this account for Bloom's (perhaps, Darwinian) desire to assist Stephen, but it also explains the excessive similarities between the two characters who are described as the "keyless couple," a pair of Prince Hamlets who ponder whether "to enter or not to enter. To knock or not to knock." For his part, Bloom is largely unaware of what influence he may have had on Dedalus. While under Bloom's beneficent gaze, Dedalus has decided to quit his job at Mr. Deasy's school. We can't know whether Bloom motivated this liberation, we do know that Bloom at least provided a place of "refuge" for Stephen while he was drunk and abused in Nighttown. Bloom's course as a Throwaway officially ends when Stephen leaves his house for the "wilderness of inhabitation," doomed to wander for a time, as he is without key. No doubt Bloom is somewhat relieved to see the burdensome hero's mantle set upon young Stephen's shoulders.
Chapter Eighteen: Penelope
Summary:
"Penelope" is Ulysses' eighteenth and final chapter. Molly Bloom thinks on her life before marriage and she defends and regrets her affair with Boylan, while bemoaning the social restrictions on women. Mrs. Bloom catalogues the detriments of her married life, describing her nagging loneliness, the deceptive allures of adultery and the betrayals she has suffered on account of her emotionally absent "Poldy." Molly¹s narrative quickly slides between the distant and recent past and we learn of her years as an unmarried and attractive young lady in Gibraltar, a British colony on the southernmost tip of Spain. Her years with her mother Lunita and her father, a military man named Tweedy, seem to offer her the most pleasure as she is largely displeased with Boylan¹s rough manners and her husband¹s effeminate deficiencies.
For all of the negative assessments of hearth and home, "Penelope" is emphatically braced with the word "Yes" at the beginning and conclusion, and we have every reason to believe that-at least for June 17-the Bloom's intend to preserve their marriage. Perhaps in irritation and gratitude for Bloom's "kiss on the rump," Molly intends to turn his servility on its head by waking up early to serve Bloom "his breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs." After analyzing Bloom¹s faults, Molly suggests that she knows Bloom better than anyone else and that their shared memories represent an emotional wealth that she would be unable to duplicate in a relationship with Boylan.
Analysis:
The final chapter is named for "Penelope," the faithful wife of the Greek hero, Ulysses. When suitors overran her husband's palace and forced her to concede Ulysses' death and remarry, Penelope remained faithful, claiming that she had to knit a funereal shroud in memory of her husband before she could choose a suitor. After spending each day earnestly knitting, Penelope would spend the night unraveling the work that she had done. Eventually, her suitors tired of the ruse and Ulysses' triumphal return could not have come a moment later as it had been twenty years (and two Homeric epics) since Ulysses first left Ithaca to assist King Menelaus and the Greeks at Troy. As Ulysses and Telemachus reclaim the palace, Penelope has locked herself in her bedroom chamber and when Ulysses enters the chamber to greet his wife, she does not recognize him. Ulysses must prove himself by recounting the story of their wedding bed's construction, a secret that Penelope knows that only Ulysses would know. The end of epic is a portrait of marital bliss, even as the king and queen are physically altered, haggard and aged. Furthermore, Ulysses has more difficulties to endure.
"Penelope" lacks the few narrative pretenses that are found in other chapters, expressing the simple and unstructured "interior monologue" of Molly Bloom. Unlike the other interior monologues, Molly's is uncorrupted by dialogue or outside distraction because it occurs when she is half-asleep. Because "Penelope" is so heavily foreshadowed in the seventeen previous chapters, some readers erroneously conclude that this final chapter functions like the Earl of Dudley's cavalcade in the final section of the "Wandering Rocks" chapter: a chronology that retraces the narrative timeline from start to finish, existing simultaneously in time. Even though Molly presents a fairly complete chronology of June 16 (as well as a few other historical moments), "Penelope" is very clearly a catalogue of Molly's thoughts beginning at the precise moment when she is stirred by Bloom's arrival into their bed. This is after 3 am and is probably closer to four or five in the morning as the light of the summer dawn is fast approaching. "Penelope" is the novel's final, most daring attempt to capture the essence of the human mind at work. Joyce complicates this mission and the "Penelope" that we see is Molly whose subconscious is at work while she is drifting into sleep. The non-narrative prose skips coherently from fragment to fragment and the lack of punctuation suggests a hallucination that is distinct from the regimented hallucinations of "Circe." That the chapter's mere eight sentences span over 1600 lines of text is evidence enough that "Penelope" is Ulysses' closest approximation to the "stream of consciousness," functioning almost exclusively as a series of linked ideas rather than words.
Just as "Penelope" carries the tropes of Modernism, it also represents a twentieth-century alternative to Homer's scheme of marital bliss. Joyce's revision is "modernized" and made "real" by Molly's infidelity and unabashed sexuality. The obsolescence of epic, battlefield heroism is chronicled in the story of Bloom-as-Ulysses just as the decline of sexual purity and marital devotion is captured in Molly's role as Penelope. The Blooms deviate from the classical ideal but they are able to attain a degree of marital bliss and perhaps it is more meaningful because they have both strained and struggled. Joyce argues in "Penelope" that even though his Ulysses and Penelope are imperfect, they are able to unite because their love for each other is uncorrupted and solid.
The "wedding bed" motif was developed midway through Ulysses, foreshadowing the treatment of the marriage bed in "Penelope." In "Scylla and Charybdis," Stephen's Shakespearean criticism expounded upon Ann Hathaway's infidelity and the "secondbest bed" that her playwright husband bequeathed to her. The "jingle jangle jingling" of the loose bed figured as a musical confession of Molly's rather athletic sexual encounter with her energetic paramour, Blazes Boylan. Joyce's "Penelope" takes place in the mind of the unfaithful wife who is sleeping in the "jingle jangle jingling" bed where she committed adultery earlier in the afternoon. In this regard, Molly cannot be any more different from Penelope who marital devotion is unmatched. This final chapter provides the resolution of the "jingling" while delivering Molly's much anticipated presence. Mrs. Bloom briefly appeared in "Calypso,' in a similarly half-asleep state and Molly is also a fleeting character in "Wandering Rocks," offering a coin of charity to a beggar. The conspicuous narrative presence of Blazes Boylan, the recurring "jingle jangle" of the bed and Bloom's own foreknowledge and reflection of Molly's affair force Joyce to present Molly's "side" of the story.
Molly appears as the sum total of all of the novel's female characters. Fusing Mrs. Breen and Mrs. Cunningham together, Molly presents herself as the beleaguered wife of a difficult man, all the while admitting her own "kimono" antics. Molly's thoughts on maternity contrast with Mina Purefoy and the midwives, because of her dismal attitude, no doubt influenced by her husband's refusal to inseminate her during sex. Molly also evokes the images of sexual conquest and competition, having vanquished Martha Clifford, Molly confirms the superiority of songs over flowers-as the medium of love. In this regard, Molly Bloom resembles Douce and Kennedy of the Ormond Bar, but her closest link is to the "Nausicaa" character, Gerty MacDowell. Molly's first sexual experience involves masturbating a man into her handkerchief and like MacDowell, she found religious confession to be an inhumane institution: "theres nothing like a kiss long and hot down your to soul almost paralyses you then I hate that confession when I used to go to Father Corrigan." Molly's possessiveness and odd sense of piety produce a Nausicaa-like commentary: "hed [Leopold Bloom] never find another woman like me to put up with him."
"Penelope" is perhaps, most notorious for Molly's coarse language and sexual frankness. In considering how she has aged and her beauty has faded, Molly thinks to herself, "would I be like that bath of the nymph with my hair down yes only shes younger or Im a little like that dirty bitch in that Spanish photo." And in regarding her own body and her retentive physical charms, Molly exclaims, "how soft like a peach easy God I wouldnt mind being a man and get up on a lovely woman." Later, Molly explains her sexual frankness saying "it didnt make me blush why should it either its only nature." And with a commitment to honesty, Molly assesses her two paramours. She reveals Bloom's (unsurprising) sexual proclivities, his penchant for voyeurism and pornography ("the smutty photo"), his anal fetishes, and his coprophilia: "hed like me to walk in all the horse dung I could find but of course hes not natural like the rest of the world." Rather casually, Molly admits: "its a wonder Im not an old shrivelled hag before my time living with him so cold never embracing me." It is not difficult to detect the sadness that she has thinly veiled behind her exacting honesty when she compresses her "infertility" and "loneliness" into one charge, citing Bloom as the wrongdoer. When Molly confesses, "the last time he [Bloom] came on my bottom when was it the night Boylan gave my hand a great squeeze," we finally understand that Bloom's emotional distance corrupted their sexual union and forced Molly to seek companionship elsewhere. Like Douce and Kennedy, Molly refers to Bloom's "boiled [greasy] eyes" and in her biting commentary, Mrs. Bloom renames her husband "Poldy pigheaded" because "he thinks he knows a great lot," ending the subject with the backhanded moniker "L Boom." Apparently, she has read the evening press regarding Dignam's funeral.
"Penelope" offers an equally descriptive portrait of Blazes Boylan, confirming his legendary sexual prowess: "he must have come 3 or 4 times with that tremendous big red brute of a thing he has." Molly even considers eloping with Boylan but she quickly admits that Boylan has his own faults. In her overtures, Molly resembles a hybrid of MacDowell's "Nausicaa" and Bloom's penpal, Martha Clifford: "I wishsomebody would write me a loveletter his wasnt much and I told him he could write what he liked yours ever Hugh Boylan." Boylan's rough and casual demeanor complements his athletic sexuality. Molly describes him as "vulgar" and comments that she "didnt like his slapping me behind going away so familiarly in the hall though I laughed Im not a horse." Molly's final judgment of Boylan, "no that's no way for him has he no manners nor no refinement nor no nothing in his nature," is a lasting one and it is not a mere coincident that the word "no" occurs five times in this fragment. Molly's final image, her memory of Howth Head, where she " gave him [Bloom] the bit of seedcake out of my mouth" presents the word "yes" thirteen times within the span of ten lines.
As "Penelope" concludes, Molly's acceptance of Bloom, stems from their shared memories and Mrs. Bloom assumes a defiant tone in her defense of Leopold. To the women of Dublin, she remarks, "let them get a husband first thats fit to be looked at and a daughter like mine." And she chides the men of Dublin for their treatment of Bloom, "making fun of him then behind his back I know well when he goes on with his idiotics because he has sense enough not to squander every penny piece he earns down their gullets and looks after his wife and family goodfornothings poor Paddy Dignam..." Molly admits to the reader that she "loves to hear him [Bloom] falling up the stairs of a morning," suggesting that his awkward foibles ("falling up") have an endearing quality to them, and like Nausicaa, Molly prides herself on her unique ability to perceive Bloom's brooding thoughts and melancholy. Bloom is "a madman nobody understands his cracked ideas but me."
Molly's most revealing confession comes in her discussion of love songs. She remembers Ben Howth and confides that she needed to hear Poldy admit his love of her: "I had the devils own job to get it out of him though I liked him for that." When she explains the nature of Bloom's adoration, Molly takes on the imagery of the Virgin Mary: "O Maria Santisima...he said hed kneel down in the wet" and several times, Molly refers to "a Gorgeous wrap of some special kind of blue colour," a chromatic link between "Penelope" and the avatar of Mary that appears in "Nausicaa." Molly's refrain, "yes Ill sing," is tempered by her confession: "I could have been a prima donna only I married him comes looooves old deep down." Her final conclusion is that the love song that she sings is the song of her marriage, with all of its troubles and joys. Her thoughts on Rudy's death are reflected when she notes that her husband got her on stage "to sing in the Stabat Mater." The Stabat Mater, concerns the sadness of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, standing at the cross of her dead son; the opening lines of the hymn, stabat mater, dolorosa, confirm the messianic potential of the Bloom-Virag lineage and similarly recall "Dolorosa," the Spanish "Queen of Heaven" whose song commingles beauty and pain. In this regard, the Stabat Mater of "Penelope" is a fitting conclusion to Love's bitter mystery, sung by Stephen Dedalus at his mother's deathbed. In typical Joycean style, a living son's song to his dead mother has been answered by a living mother's song to her dead son.
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Classical musician Alison Balsom is a virtuoso player of which instrument? | Alison Balsom (trumpet) on CD, SACD & download (MP3 & FLAC) - Buy online from Presto Classical
The Choir Of King’s College, Cambridge , Stephen Cleobury
The first release of 2015 from the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge presents the choir singing anthems based on hymn tunes from the Anglican choral tradition.
'English Hymn Anthems' continues the choir’s active commitment to expanding the popular understanding of choral repertoire through original research and recording. Highlights include Parry’s epic' Hear my words, ye people' and 'Lord, Thou has been our refuge' by Vaughan Williams, featuring the trumpeter Alison Balsom. It provides at once a survey of traditional services at King’s College Chapel and a window into the little-known form of the hymn-anthem. The album joins the label’s other critically-acclaimed recordings including the chart-topping 'Favourite Carols from King’s', debut release 'Nine Lessons and Carols', which reached number 2 in the UK Specialist Classical Chart, 'Mozart Requiem Realisations', and the celebrated Fauré 'Requiem' which received Recording of the Month from BBC Music Magazine, number 4 on Classic FM’s Albums of 2014 and an IRR Outstanding from International Record Review. The album’s release will be accompanied by an extensive international press and marketing campaign. At the end of March 2015, the choir will embark on a tour of the United States, performing a repertoire of sacred choral music including repertoire from this album.
King’s College Choir owes its existence to King Henry VI, who envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel; the 16 choristers are educated at King’s College School, whilst the 14 choral scholars and two organ scholars study a variety of subjects in the College. This remains the Choir’s raison d’être, but its worldwide fame and reputation, enhanced by its many recordings and broadcasts, has led to high-profile performances around the world. The highlight of the choral year is the worldwide live radio broadcast of the renowned Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and the television broadcasts of Carols from King’s and Easter from King’s.
“The King's performance [of the Parry] is predictably idiomatic, if a touch carefully preened and respectful...[Ireland's] is a more explicitly dramatic setting, and the singers seem to relish this...Parker Ramsay's organ accompaniment is a model of intelligent supportiveness.” BBC Music Magazine, Awards Issue 2015 ****
“The airy acoustic of the chapel coupled with the fine Harrison & Harrison (mostly) organ help to define a peculiarly and uniquely English sound, especially suited to the repertoire on this fine disc...this is King's playing to its considerable strengths at all levels” Gramophone Magazine, June 2015
Alison Balsom (trumpet)
The Guy Barker Orchestra, Guy Barker
An ‘astonishing virtuosa’ (The Times) with ‘limitless potential’ (The Guardian), Alison Balsom is a multi-faceted trumpet player involved in a broad range of musical projects. The pieces on this collection inhabit a common Parisian musical world, but the voices that emerge from them are incredibly varied. From Ravel to Reinhardt, Balsom illustrates the flexibility and expressiveness of her instrument, supported by the orchestra of jazz composer and trumpeter Guy Barker.
One of today’s most in-demand classical music personalities, English trumpeter and BBC Proms darling Alison Balsom shares her love of Paris on this new solo album. After becoming the first British woman to win Gramophone Magazine’s prestigious Artist of the Year award, Alison brings her glamour, poise and dazzling virtuosity to Paris with a selection of music written in and inspired by the most romantic city in the world.
This album marks a major departure for Alison Balsom from the core classical repertoire, with which she has established her distinguished recording and performing career to date, to a crossover album, taking inspiration from a number of different artists and influences. The concept of the album is Paris as seen by artists and composers as diverse as Olivier Messiaen, Astor Piazzolla, Django Rheinardt and Cole Porter. In collaboration with Guy Barker – a trumpeter who has worked with the biggest names in the business, and with a solid reputation in the jazz world – Alison reinterprets the greatest music written about in and about Paris. With guest artists Miloš Karadaglić, and Julian Ovenden on a bonus track available on iTunes, this album is sure to position Alison amongst the top-selling classical artists with mainstream appeal and broad recognition.
Read Presto's complete review of this disc here .
“Balsom is a long-term Francophile...and affection and empathy radiates from all the material on this disc. Lovers of Balsom’s glorious, malleable sound will need no prompting from me, but even if you’d normally find the prospect of an entire trumpet disc a little indigestible you’ll be won over.” Presto Classical, 8th September 2014
“This potpourri of a recital is...very much of its own time, eclectically flavoured in its collaborative elements and juxtaposition of music languages [sic], and deftly underpinned by Balsom's considered curating.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2014
Presto Disc of the Week
8th September 2014
The English Concert , Trevor Pinnock
In the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, Alison Balsom celebrates the heroic era of the Baroque trumpet in works by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Henry Purcell (1658 or 1659-1695), whose anthems, odes, sinfonias and operas have provided the music for numerous royal celebrations from their own day to the present.
Joining forces with Trevor Pinnock, harpsichordist, conductor and pioneer of historical performance, and with the English Concert orchestra that he founded, Balsom demonstrates the versatility and expressive power of her valve-less instrument in original works and new arrangements. These include Purcell’s Sound the trumpet and Handel’s Eternal Source of light divine in duet with countertenor Iestyn Davies and Purcell’s The Plaint from The Fairy Queen in duet with soprano Lucy Crowe. Further repertoire includes suites from Purcell’s semi-operas King Arthur (1691) and The Fairy Queen (1692) in new arrangements by Balsom and Pinnock, Handel’s Water Piece in D Major HWV 341 and his Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Major HWV 301 transposed into C Major.
Alison Balsom is one of today’s most popular classical musicians. Having managed to break through to the mainstream without abandoning her musical integrity, she continues to draw ever-wider audiences for her performances and recordings of diverse repertoire.
Read Presto's complete review of this disc here .
“This charming disc contains some of the most imaginative and polished trumpet playing you're ever likely to hear...Born-again authenticists may cavil at Balsom's vented trumpet, a modern development aiding intonation. But her flexible tuning, scrupulously focused to blend with the harmony, is a relief from the compromised tuning needed to play certain notes on true 18th-century instruments.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 *****
“One of the disc’s chief merits is the skill with which Balsom demonstrates the versatility of natural trumpets, reminding us that they are capable of a wide range of colours.” Early Music Today ****
“when the instrument is played as fluidly agreeably as it is here, nobody could doubt that it is the right tool for the job...And it all works. This is rattling good music, and so easily does the trumpet fit into it that often it is hard to recall what the original scorings were anyway. Balsom, too, sounds utterly at home...and [is] wonderfully backed by the English Concert and the bright natural musicianship of Trevor Pinnock” Gramophone Magazine, December 2012
“Up at the top of her range, or down below, fast or slow, she is in superb control and form...the lightness of the string accompaniments, the calm attention to springy rhythms, the unobtrusive sensitivity of the phrasing, all done without exaggerated emphasis or anachronistic flamboyance, are a sheer delight...[Pinnock] is surely a national treasure” International Record Review, December 2012
“the music-making is a joy from beginning to end. Alison Balsom’s playing is stunning. The tone and intonation are fabulous; the lip trills, ornaments and runs simply staggering. How she achieves this level of technical assurance on an instrument without valves is remarkable...Crowe’s rendition of The Plaint from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is sensitively and beautifully sung and it’s obvious that there’s an equal musical partnership captured here” MusicWeb International, April 2013
“the easy rapport between soloist and band is evident from every bar of every work...One of the great pleasures of this disc is the seamless and apparently effortless blend of trumpet and each voice: Alison colours her timbre to take on almost crumhorn-ish tones when duetting with Crowe, whilst there’s plenty of ‘front’ and metal in the sound when she joins Davies for the more vigorous Purcell.” Katherine Cooper, Presto Classical, 8th October 2012
“Her distinctive tone remains clearly recognisable, despite the instrument's limitations. The timbre is sweeter, less aggressively strident than that of the modern trumpet, and she’s paired with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert, providing crisp, bouncy support.” The Arts Desk, 1st December 2012
“For historical accuracy, she plays the valve-less “natural” trumpet: it really does appear to offer a more direct access to the human voice, a quality confirmed when she duets with countertenor Iestyn Davies” The Independent, 13th October 2012 ****
“The music is glorious; so is Balsom’s artistry as she weaves a flawless path alongside Trevor Pinnock’s English Concert” The Times, 19th October 2012 ***
Presto Disc of the Week
8th October 2012
Alison Balsom (trumpet)
Alison Balsom is the world’s preeminent female classical trumpeter. She is an unique and independent artist who have broken through to the mainstream whilst retaining her integrity and core musical values. Exceptional talent, a glamorous stage presence and a witty and engaging personality make Alison one of the most exciting and bankable artists in the core classical world today.
Alison’s new recording of modern and contemporary repertoire marks an important artistic stepping stone in her career. This labour of love features the world premiere recording of Seraph, James MacMillan’s trumpet concerto written for Alison, works by Takemitsu and Zimmermann and includes her long-awaited recording of the ever popular Arutunian Trumpet Concerto.
Read Presto's complete review of this disc here .
“what really makes this performer so magnetic and distinctive is the quality of the notes that tumble so effortlessly from whatever trumpet she holds in her hands, and whatever music she plays....[Zimmermann's] stylistically eclectic, passionate plea for racial harmony makes an immediate impact, especially when jazz kicks in and the music excitingly hurtles forward two thirds of the way through.” The Times, 6th January 2012
“the highlight is James MacMillan's "Seraph", with the assertive opening brio giving way to a more reflective Adagio dialogue between trumpet and violin, before emerging refreshed for the animated closing movement.” The Independent, 6th January 2012 ***
“[Macmillan's concerto] deftly combines trumpet and strings in music that ranges from the incisiveness of its first movement, via the 'seraphic' plaintiveness of its lightly textured Adagio to the robust interplay of the finale. Balsom takes its not inconsiderable demands in her stride, with the Scottish Ensemble unstinting in its support.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012
“[Balsom] plays [the Macmillan] radiantly with the Scottish Ensemble. Concertos by Alexander Arutiunian and Bernd Alois Zimmermann, played with the BBC SSO, highlight Balsom’s technical and interpretative aplomb.” The Telegraph, 18th January 2012 ****
“'Seraph' is concise and communicative, and, as expected from Macmillan, approachable. Balsom gets its (one hopes) long career off to a strong start...[in the Zimmermann] Balsom is in her element. She advocates for this music with passion and dignity, and the strength of her technique allows her to focus on communicating the work's emotional content...this disc speaks well of her continuing maturation as an artist.” International Record Review, January 2012
“Seraph may not quite be another Veni, Veni Emmanuel...But it's still very enjoyable, from the Haydn-tinged jollity of the first movement, through a mysterious and lyrical slow movement to the rousing finale...Balsom is a superb advocate, combining technical brilliance with penetrating musicianship - a true poet of the trumpet as well as a formidable athlete.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 *****
“Balsom’s glorious sound makes you forgive any musical shortcomings [in the Arutunian]...Less pretentious and more musically satisfying than one has any right to expect, [the Zimmermann] is possibly a masterpiece...there’s something calmly uplifting about good brass playing. And this disc, well, uplifts.” The Arts Desk, 24th March 2012
“MacMillan clearly understands the varied and subtle colours and emotions that the instrument can express...With unstinting commitment from Balsom, who plays with real passion and belief throughout, this is a memorable performance [of the Zimmermann] and well worth returning to.” Chris O'Reilly, Presto Classical, 6th February 2012
Presto Disc of the Week
6th February 2012
Scottish Ensemble
'She makes the trumpet sing with an irresistible exuberance and eloquence.' With the human voice a particular inspiration in the music of Italy, the words of The Times have a special resonance for Alison Balsom in these works composed or inspired by Italian composers of the 18th century. This collection provides an apt vehicle for the award-winning trumpeter's characteristic brilliance and grace.
Following the popular and critical international success of her Haydn and Hummel concertos recording, Alison Balsom has recorded a programme of Italian Baroque concertos. The album has quickly garnered critics’ praise: “The fast movements are played with sparkling ease and technical brilliance. The slow movement [Balsom] forms delicately, tenderly, yet without denying she’s playing a brass instrument.” - MDR Figaro
After the release of Caprice in 2006, Gramophone wrote, “It's not often that a young musician appears on the scene abundantly blessed with everything both an A&R and marketing person could dream of, but the young British trumpeter Alison Balsom fulfils just such a dream. She's a musician of prodigious talent with an inquisitive, fresh approach to music-making. She is connected to her public, and rewards their attention with playing of a winning ease and fluency. She has an engaging personality … and the intelligence to take her burgeoning career well in her stride.” In this new recording, Balsom, the 2009 Classical BRIT Artist of the Year, plays popular concertos originally composed for the violin or oboe by Vivaldi, Tartini, B. Marcello, Albinoni and Cimarosa, accompanied by the Scottish Ensemble.
“The days are long gone when blowing a brass instrument was a male preserve. Even so, the young trumpeter Alison Balsom remains a singular figure. It’s not that she's long and blonde; it's the roar of her talent that makes her stand out, along with her knack for breaking down barriers and making the trumpet so much more than a toot machine.” The Times
“Her playing is breathtaking, first in the bubbling fluency of Vivaldi violin concerto allegros...while her fluent technique elicits some exhilarating tempos. No less arresting is her creamy tone in slow movements...Listening to it is nothing short of a life-enhancing experience.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 *****
“Balsom takes the first movement [of the Vivaldi] at such a lick that it's over before you know it; but the clarity and precision of her articulation make it an exhilarating experience...Her orchestrated version of an Albinoni violin sonata is notable for some nimble playing in the first Allegro.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2010 ****
“Balsom, sweetly accompanied by the Scottish Ensemble, glides through the decorative slides with ease.” Financial Times, 23rd October 2010 ***
“suave, characterful performances...Wistfulness and exuberance combined come to the fore in the Cimarosa, while Balsom's clear, focused tone irradiates Albinoni's less exciting Oboe Concerto in B flat with a warmth and intensity that is carried over into the penultimate work on the disc, Tartini's D major Trumpet Concerto” Gramophone Magazine, December 2010
“This is above all a disc of virtuoso brilliance, with the soloist performing her pyrotechnics with consummate ease; her tone is bright and open yet possessing a creamy timbre throughout the range...Each of the concertos here presents something to delight the ear.” International Record Review, May 2011
“It's a typically elegant affair: Balsom's bright tone and tight phrasing on the opening Allegro of "Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A Minor" gives way to more subtle work on the Largo, with a series of delicate, feathery trills...her nimble fingering on the opening section of [the Albinoni] is supplanted by long, poised notes on the Adagio section. An eloquent performance.” The Independent, 15th October 2010 ***
“This cheering disc features the brilliant talent of Alison Balsom and a spruce Scottish Ensemble in six 18th-century concertos...None of the concertos...were originally written for the trumpet. But Balsom’s flawless technique and glorious tone make them sound thoroughly natural.” The Telegraph, 15th October 2010 ***
Up to 40% off Warner Classics
Kate Royal (soprano), Alison Balsom (trumpet) & Alice Halstead (soprano)
Ethic Percussion Orchestra, Tenebrae Choir & Members of Adiemus, Karl Jenkins
"As a composer, he recognises no boundaries - musical, commercial, geographical or cultural. His is a way of thinking and composing that is perfectly in tune with the spirit of the times." Classic FM Magazine
Karl Jenkins, the classically trained master of global ‘crossover,’ has composed a new work for choir and orchestra, Stella natalis, as a gift to music lovers of all stylistic and spiritual backgrounds for the 2009 holiday season. Its coupling, Joy to the world, features arrangements by Jenkins of carols from around the globe in keeping with the composer’s inclusive and universal approach to the message of music.
The performers represent a mixture of classical and popular artistry. “It has been a privilege,” said Karl Jenkins recently, “to feature the astounding talents of fellow EMI artists Kate Royal [soprano] and Alison Balsom [trumpet] and to introduce BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the year 2008, Alice Halstead. The choir is Tenebrae, whilst as a counterpoint to their ‘classical’ sound, I have revisited my past and re-introduced the ethnic sound of Adiemus, featuring Mary Carewe, who sang on the first Adiemus album Songs of Sanctuary, and Mae McKenna. My orchestration has the usual classical and ethnic percussion mix, the latter played by Jody K Jenkins and Zands. The orchestra is the Marylebone Camerata, a hand-picked group of the finest young players in London, assembled by cellist Jonathan Byers.”
“Stella natalis means ‘star of birth’ or ‘star of origin,’ continues Jenkins, “and the music conveys the Christmas message of peace, goodwill, compassion and a new beginning whilst using a wider palette of inspiration than is usual in such treatments: Zulu text, reference to Hindu gods, as well as the Old Testament, all make an appearance! The libretto, for the most part, is by Carol Barratt together with some established text in Latin and English.”
Joy to the world consists of a set of idiosyncratic arrangements by Karl Jenkins to carols from England, Germany, France, Spain, the West Indies and the African-American Go tell it on the mountain.
Alison Balsom (www.alisonbalsom.com), the highly acclaimed trumpeter, is one of music's great ambassadors. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music, at the Paris Conservatoire and with Håkan Hardenberger. While under the aegis of the Young Concert Artists Trust, she caught the eye of EMI Classics with whom she records exclusively. Alison has also participated in BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme, through which she has performed at the Wigmore Hall and with all of the BBC Orchestras. For EMI, Alison Balsom has recorded a Bach Trumpet and Organ disc, which was enthusiastically received internationally; Caprice, which also won great critical acclaim, and a CD featuring the Haydn and Hummel Trumpet Concertos, which was named among the “24 records of 2008” by The New York Times. Alison Balsom won the Classic FM Listener’s Award at the 2006 Gramophone Awards and was hailed as “Rising Artist of the Year” the following year at the Echo Klassik Awards. In 2009 she became the first Briton ever to be crowned Female Artist of the Year at the Classical BRITs. As a featured performer at the 2009 Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, she played the Haydn Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and David Robertson and works by Gershwin and Piazzola.
“A natural communicator, [endowed with] musicality, a lyric soprano of rare loveliness, a poised and dignified manner and [gorgeous] looks,” (The Sunday Times), Kate Royal signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics in 2006. Since then, the Guildhall and National Opera Studio graduate and winner of Kathleen Ferrier, John Christie and Royal Philharmonic Society awards has recorded two critically acclaimed solo albums: the eponymous Kate Royal and Midsummer Night, an atmospheric recital collection focusing on female characters in 20th century opera and operetta. She has also been featured in albums with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Ian Bostridge and Sir Paul McCartney. Equally at home in opera and recital, classical and ‘crossover,’ Kate has wowed audiences and critics alike with her appearances at Glyndebourne, the Wigmore Hall, Edinburgh Festival and Royal Opera House. Upcoming appearances include the Berlin Philharmonic and the Orchestra of Bavarian Radio under Simon Rattle, Le Concert d’Astrée with Emanuelle Haïm, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Les Musiciens du Louvre. She has sung Donna Elvira at Glyndebourne, Pamina and Micaëla at the Bavarian State Opera and Pamina and Anne Trulove at the Royal Opera House. (www.royalmidsummer.com)
Soprano Alice Halstead (www.alicehalstead.com), a choir girl at St Alphege Church, Solihull and a pupil at King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham, won the coveted title of “BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year 2008” award at St. Paul's Cathedral, London. From the age of four she has attended the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire where she studies singing, cello and piano. She is also a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain (Training North). Alice has appeared several times on BBC One’s “Songs of Praise” and has featured in many national radio broadcasts including Good Morning Sunday with Aled Jones and Friday Night Is Music Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra on BBC Radio 2, In Tune on BBC Radio 3 and Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4.
The chief librettist for Stella natalis Carol Barratt is a composer, pianist, lyricist and music educator with over 70 publications in print. She has written text for many works by Karl Jenkins, to whom she has been married for 34 years.
Karl Jenkins is one of the most prolific and performed composers in the world today – his anti-war work alone, The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds for the Millennium celebrations and premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April 2000, has been performed nearly four hundred times in recent years.
Born in Wales and a graduate of Cardiff University followed by post-graduate studies at London’s Royal College of Music, Jenkins was originally an oboist. It was a passion for jazz – he was a member of the bands Nucleus and Soft Machine – that led him to composition. Classically trained, but drawing on a diverse range of global influences, his composing style has transcended musical boundaries, including memorable ad jingles for Delta Air Lines, the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society, De Beers diamonds, British Airways and Levi’s Jeans, the global ‘crossover’ phenomenon Adiemus, more ‘classical’ commissions such as Requiem, Stabat Mater, Quirk and The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace and television and feature film soundtracks.
Recent recordings include Kiri Sings Karl with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; Requiem and Stabat Mater, which was premiered and released in March 2008, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus and the EMO ensemble from Helsinki.
The highest placed living composer in Classic FM’s “Hall of Fame,” Karl Jenkins’s recordings have won seventeen gold or platinum disc awards. Jenkins holds Fellowships or Professorships at five universities/conservatoires, including the Royal Academy of Music. He was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen in the 2005 New Years Honours List and a ‘Red f’ from Classic FM for ‘outstanding service to classical music.” He has been a castaway on BBC Radio 3’s Desert Island Discs and featured on ITV’s The South Bank Show.
“Karl Jenkins is a rarity among contemporary composers, balancing popularity with innovation.” (The Independent)
Up to 40% off Warner Classics
Göteborgs Symfoniker , Edward Gardner
“The young British trumpeter Alison Balsom is a real star: resplendent and well-varied tone, crisp attack, absolute ease of production throughout the range.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 *****
“What comes across is Balsom's sheer exuberance and joy in making music. Be astonished at the variety of moods the trumpet is capable of.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2010 *****
“In the Latin-inspired pieces, Balsom's awareness of the choreographic suggestiveness in the raunchy Piazzolla and smouldering Falla brings exhilarating freedom and colour. …another infectious performance from a dazzling young British talent in fine form, one whose programming ideas and emerging musical personality go from strength to strength.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards 2006
Up to 40% off Warner Classics
Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV1067: Badinerie
Mass in B minor, BWV232: Agnus Dei
Alison Balsom (trumpet), Colm Carey (organ), Alina Ibragimova (violin), Alistair Ross (harpsichord & chamber organ) & Mark Caudle (viola de gamba)
Gramophone described her Bach album as “splendid stuff” and the pieces “showcase Balsom’s phenomenal technique and gleaming expressiveness”
“…as a showcase for this young artist's mesmerising virtuosity the disc does its job admirably, and presents some familiar and less familiar Bach in new guises at the same time. The supporting instrumentalists, especially organist Colm Carey, make a sterling contribution...” BBC Music Magazine, February 2006 *****
“A disc of arrangements which is impressive on every level. Beautifully mellow playing contrasting with virtuosic moments.” Classic FM Magazine, March 2006 *****
“Two transposed movements from BWV1008 and a mischievous solo take on the Badinerie (from BWV1067) showcase Balsom's phenomenal technique and gleaming expressiveness. Period-instrument practitioners Alina Ibragimova, Mark Caudle and Alastair Ross provide superb accompaniment in a charismatic version of the Trio Sonata. A surprisingly diverse range of textures and moods makes this disc a beguiling experience.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2006
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Who is the lead female protagonist of Benjamin Britten’s opera Gloriana? | Alison Balsom - Google+
Alison Balsom
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"Alison Balsom is a virtuoso player and a natural, gifted communicator, but what really comes across is her sheer exuberance and joy in making music." Classic FM Magazine
Introduction
"She makes the trumpet sing with an irresistible exuberance and eloquence." Richard Morrison, The Times, September 2008
Alison Balsom has cemented an international reputation as one of classical music’s great ambassadors. She has been honoured with numerous awards by Classic FM, Gramophone and Echo Klassik and in 2009 she became the first ever Briton to be crowned “Female Artist of the Year” at the Classical BRITs. In September 2009 Alison headlined classical music’s most celebrated concert – The Last Night of the BBC Proms – which reached its biggest ever global audience of an estimated 150 million.
Recent and upcoming highlights include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Alison also looks forward to embarking on major international tours with I Musici di Roma, the Scottish Ensemble and Alison’s own Balsom Ensemble in 10/11 and beyond.
While represented by the Young Concert Artists Trust, Alison caught the ear of EMI Classics with whom she records exclusively. Her internationally celebrated Bach Trumpet and Organ disc of 2005 was quickly followed by the Caprice album which won her further critical acclaim. Her third album, featuring the great pillars of the trumpet repertoire, the concertos of Haydn and Hummel, firmly established her as the world's leading trumpeter. Her eagerly awaited follow up album which was released in autumn 2010 to great critical acclaim includes a selection of Italian Baroque Concertos
Under the auspices of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, Alison performed at the Wigmore Hall and with all of the BBC orchestras.
Alison studied trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music, the Paris Conservatoire, and with Håkan Hardenberger. She was previously a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Alison was a concerto finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition in 1998 and received the Feeling Musique Prize for quality of sound in the 4th Maurice André International Trumpet Competition. She is Visiting Professor of Trumpet to the Guildhall School of Music. Alison performs a wide range of recital and concerto repertoire, from Albinoni to Zimmermann and performs on both modern and baroque trumpets.
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The Trial and The Castle are works by which Czech author? | Franz Kafka (Author of The Metamorphosis)
Fiction , Philosophy , Short Stories
Influences
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Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature.
His stories include The Metamorphosis (1912) and In the Penal Colony (1914), while his novels are The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
Kafka's first language was German, but he was also fluent in Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of French language and culture; one of his favorite authors was Flaubert .
Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinan Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature.
His stories include The Metamorphosis (1912) and In the Penal Colony (1914), while his novels are The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).
Kafka's first language was German, but he was also fluent in Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of French language and culture; one of his favorite authors was Flaubert .
Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague, but switched after two weeks to law. This offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod , who would become a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch , who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.
Kafka's writing attracted little attention until after his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels, unless "The Metamorphosis" is considered a (short) novel. Prior to his death, Kafka wrote to his friend and literary executor Max Brod: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod overrode Kafka's wishes, believing that Kafka had given these directions to him specifically because Kafka knew he would not honor them—Brod had told him as much. Brod, in fact, would oversee the publication of most of Kafka's work in his possession, which soon began to attract attention and high critical regard.
Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling Kafka's notebooks into any chronological order as Kafka was known to start writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, etc.
All of Kafka's published works, except several letters he wrote in Czech to Milena Jesenská, were written in German. ...more
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Who composed the tone poem The Swan of Tuonela? | Famous People and Czech and Prague patriots | Prague.net
Famous People and Czech and Prague patriots
The Czech Republic, regardless of its small size, is surprisingly rich in interesting characters. Czechs are all around the world, bringing ideas, scoring goals, or distributing beauty.
This part of our web doesn’t try to be an encyclopedia of famous people, it just brings in some selected characters, who somehow got into world consciousness for something they did. Czech are always outnumbered, but never defeated.
Who are the people the world talks about?
Let us start with the Miss World of 2006, Tatana Kucharova. But there are many other beauties, like Eva Herzigova, Petra Nemcova, Tereza Maxova, Ivana Trump. But beauty is not a privilege of top-models in the Czech Republic; the country is sometimes said to have the most beautiful girls in the world.
Musicians; one Czech saying, roughly translated, goes: every Czech is a musician. Americans have a good consciousness of the Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904), the author of Slavonic Dances and of the symphony From the New World. The others would be Bedrich Smetana, Leos Janacek or Zdenek Fibich.
Czech writers are no less renown. The famous Jewish writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924), even when wrote in German, spent most of his life in Prague. Famous if for his works Metamorphosis, The Trial or The Castle. The Czech writer Josef Capek invented the word robot, in his play RUR. Living in France, one of the best contemporary authors Milan Kundera (1929) gained his renown by his novels The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality.
Sportsmen from the Czech republic excel especially in football and ice hockey teams. The best hockey players are Jaromir Jagr (1972), playing attack in the NHL and goalkeeper Dominik Hasek (1965) who helped the Czech team to get the Olympic Gold in Nagano. The football player Petr Cech was two times awarded the Best Goalkeeper of the UEFA Champions League.
There are many others, we also like to take pride we had Vaclav Havel (1936) as our president – Vaclav Havel used to be a spiritual leader of the dissidents during the communist regime, after the Velvet Revolution he became the leader of the nation for 13 years. He stays a well known dramatist, essayist, philosopher, and overall humanist person, who is popular in the Czech Republic and abroad as well.
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Four of the first five Presidents of the USA came from which state? | Birthplace of Presidents - Virginia Is For Lovers
Virginia is for Lovers
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Birthplace of Presidents
As the first, largest and most prosperous of the British colonies in America, Virginia provided four of the first five presidents of the United States — eight in all , more than any other state.
Enjoy a trip to any historic home, church, tavern or other building frequented by a president and you'll gain important insight into the character of these early American leaders: George Washington , Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson.
George Washington
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What comes next in this sequence: butane, propane, ethane, ... ? | Governors Who Became President | Center on the American Governor
Center on the American Governor
by David J. Andersen and John Weingart
Center on the American Governor
Since its founding in 1787, the United States has had 43 presidents and over 2,300 governors. While the paths to the White House have ranged from long careers in lower levels of politics to military backgrounds to only brief prior forays in the public domain, one of the most common prior experiences has been serving as a state’s governor. Seventeen presidents* (almost 40%) had previously held office as chief executive of a state, providing them with experience in running a government bureaucracy, dealing with a legislature and responding to the judiciary.
________________________________________________
*
Grover Cleveland, president for two non-consecutive terms, is counted as only one of the nation’s 43 presidents and one of the 17 who had been a state’s governor.
**
Elected vice-president, ascended to the presidency upon the death of the president, but never elected president in his own right.
***
Elected vice president, ascended to the presidency and later elected president in own right
The first governor to win the White House, Thomas Jefferson from Virginia, was elected in 1800. The most recent, George W. Bush from Texas, won exactly 200 years later. While examining the 17 governors and 23 non-governors elected over that time yields no discernable pattern, potentially interesting observations can be advanced:
The 17 presidents came from ten states with New York providing four, Virginia three and Ohio and Tennessee two each. The others were from Arkansas, California, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Texas.
One Governor has followed another to the White House five times:
1845, when James K. Polk (TN) succeeded John Tyler (VA);
1897, when William McKinley (OH) followed Grover Cleveland (NY);
1901, when Vice President Theodore Roosevelt (NY) succeeded William McKinley (OH) after his assassination;
1981, when Ronald Reagan (CA) followed Jimmy Carter (GA);
2001, when George W. Bush (TX) followed Bill Clinton (AR).
The two longest runs of presidents who were not governors were from:
1849 to 1865 (16 years) when five non-governors served between John Tyler (VA) and Andrew Johnson (TN); and
1945-1977 (32 years) when six non-governors served between Franklin Roosevelt (NY) and Jimmy Carter (GA)
Four of the six most recent presidents (66%) were governors, and Four of the 12 most recent presidents (33%) were governors
Governors Jimmy Carter(GA), Ronald Reagan(CA), Bill Clinton(AR) and George W. Bush(TX) were immediately preceded by:
Six non-governors who were president between 1945-1977:
Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford
Two of the 17 governors elected to the presidency did not carry the state they had led:
James K. Polk TN) in 1844
Woodrow Wilson NJ) in 1916
Eight of the 17 were serving as governor when they successfully ran for president while nine had a gap between the two offices.
The first governor to seek the presidency while serving as governor was Rutherford B. Hayes OH) in 1876 followed by Grover Cleveland (NY) in 1884, William McKinley (OH) in 1896, Woodrow Wilson (NJ) in 1912, Calvin Coolidge (MA) in 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt (NY) in 1932, Bill Clinton (AR) in 1992 and George W. Bush (TX) in 2000.
The nine presidents who held other positions between their governorships and their successful races for the White House included the first six to hold both jobs: Thomas Jefferson (VA) in 1800, James Monroe VA) in 1816, Martin Van Buren (NY) in 1836, William Harrison (Ind. Terr.) in 1840, James K. Polk (TN) in 1844, and Andrew Johnson (TN) who ascended in 1865, as well as Grover Cleveland (NY) in 1884, Jimmy Carter (GA) in 1976 and Ronald Reagan (CA) in 1980.
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What nationality is Richard Flanagan, winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction? | The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014: shortlist announced | The Man Booker Prizes
Home / The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014: shortlist announced
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014: shortlist announced
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014: shortlist announced
Published on Submitted by Leah on Tue, 2014-09-09 10:05
For immediate release, Tuesday 9 September
2014 Man Booker Prize: shortlist announced
The first year that the prize is open to all authors writing in English, regardless of nationality
Howard Jacobson in the running to be the first British man to win twice
Joshua Ferris, Richard Flanagan, Karen Joy Fowler, Howard Jacobson, Neel
Mukherjee and Ali Smith are today, Tuesday 9 September, announced as the shortlisted authors for the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.
Their names were revealed by chair of judges, AC Grayling , at a press conference at the headquarters of Man Group, a leading investment management firm and the prize’s sponsor since 2002.
The judges praised the ‘depth and range’ of the list, which includes writers from Britain, the United States and Australia.
The shortlist of six, taken from a longlist of 13, is:
Joshua Ferris (US) To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Viking)
Richard Flanagan (Australian) The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Chatto & Windus)
Karen Joy Fowler (US) We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Serpent's Tail)
Howard Jacobson (British) J (Jonathan Cape)
Neel Mukherjee (British) The Lives of Others (Chatto & Windus)
Ali Smith (British) How to be Both (Hamish Hamilton)
Chair of the 2014 judges, AC Grayling, comments on behalf of the judges:
‘We are delighted to announce our international shortlist. As the Man Booker Prize expands its borders, these six exceptional books take the reader on journeys around the world, between the UK, New York, Thailand, Italy, Calcutta and times past, present and future.
‘We had a lengthy and intensive debate to whittle the list down to these six. It is a strong, thought-provoking shortlist which we believe demonstrates the wonderful depth and range of contemporary fiction in English.’
This is the first list to reflect the diversity of the novel in English regardless of the author’s nationality, as the Man Booker Prize has opened up to any author writing originally in English and published in the UK. Previously, the prize was open to authors from the UK & Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.
Two authors have previously appeared on the prize shortlist. Howard Jacobson is a former winner of the prize, with The Finkler Question, in 2010. Ali Smith has been shortlisted twice before, with The Accidental (2005) and Hotel World (2001).
AC Grayling is joined on the 2014 panel of judges by: Jonathan Bate ; Sarah Churchwell ; Daniel Glaser ; Alastair Niven and Erica Wagner . The 2014 judges will now re-read the shortlisted titles in order to select the winner, whose name will be revealed on Tuesday 14 October 2014 at a ceremony at London’s Guildhall. The winner announcement will be televised by the BBC, the prize’s media partner.
Man Group has sponsored the prize since 2002. A leading investment management firm, Man Group was recognised as a partner who mirrored the quality, integrity and longevity of the Booker Prize.
Manny Roman, CEO of Man Group, comments:
‘We are very proud to sponsor the Man Booker Prize, recognising the hard work and creativity of these talented authors. The prize underscores Man Group's charitable focus on literacy and education as well as our commitment to excellence and entrepreneurship. Together with the wider charitable activities of the Man Booker Foundation, the prize plays a very important role in promoting literary excellence that we are honoured to support. Many congratulations to the shortlisted authors.’
The shortlisted authors will take part in a series of public events in the week leading up to the winner announcement, to include: an event for members of the public and UK library staff at the Library of Birmingham on Wednesday 8 October; a talk and signing at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday 11 October and an audience with the authors at the Southbank Centre on Monday 13 October, hosted by broadcaster Kirsty Wark. Finally, there will be an audience with the winner at Apple’s Regent Street branch on Thursday 16 October.
The Man Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize, was first awarded in 1969 to PH Newby for Something to Answer For. It is widely regarded as a touchstone for high quality literary fiction written in English, including in its canon many of the literary trailblazers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: from Salman Rushdie to Hilary Mantel , Iris Murdoch to Peter Carey .
The rules of the prize changed at the end of 2013, to embrace ‘the freedom of English in all its vigour, its vitality, its versatility and its glory wherever it may be’, opening up to writers beyond the UK and Commonwealth. Other changes this year include the number of books a publisher can submit, based on their success in longlists over the previous five years.
The shortlisted authors each receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book. On winning the Man Booker Prize, an author will receive a further £50,000 and can expect overnight fame and international recognition, not to mention a dramatic increase in book sales. Sales of Hilary Mantel’s winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, have exceeded a million copies in their UK editions published by Fourth Estate. Granta, publisher of Eleanor Catton’s 2013 winner, The Luminaries, has sold 300,000 copies of the book in the UK and almost 500,000 worldwide.
To hear the most up-to-date news on this year’s prize, learn more about its history and share your thoughts online, visit:
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
By Joshua Ferris
Published by Viking (£16.99)
Paul O'Rourke, 40 year-old slightly curmudgeonly dentist, runs a thriving practice in New York. Yet he is discovering he needs more in his life than a steady income and the perfect mochaccino. But what? As Paul tries to work out the meaning of life, a Facebook page and Twitter account appear in his name. What's at first an outrageous violation of privacy soon becomes something more frightening: the possibility that the online "Paul" might be a better version of the man in the flesh. Who is doing this and will it cost Paul his sanity?
Joshua Ferris was born in Illinois in November 1974. He is the author of two previous novels, Then We Came to the End, which was nominated for the National Book Award, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and the highly acclaimed The Unnamed. In 2010, Joshua Ferris was selected for The New Yorker's '20 Under 40' list of fiction writers. He lives in New York.
For further information, please contact Anna Ridley at Viking
Tel: 0207 010 3278, email: [email protected]
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
By Richard Flanagan
Published by Chatto & Windus (£16.99)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a love story unfolding over half a century between a doctor and his uncle’s wife. Taking its title from one of the most famous books in Japanese literature, written by the great haiku poet Basho, Flanagan’s novel has as its heart one of the most infamous episodes of Japanese history, the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death Railway in World War II. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Death Railway, surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.
Born in Tasmania in July 1961, Richard Flanagan is one of Australia’s leading novelists. His novels, Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould's Book of Fish (winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize), The Unknown Terrorist and Wanting have received numerous honours and been published in 26 countries. His father, who died the day Flanagan finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North, was a survivor of the Burma Death Railway. He lives in Tasmania.
For further information, please contact Lisa Gooding at Chatto & Windus
Tel: 0207 840 8677, email: [email protected]
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Karen Joy Fowler
Published by Serpent's Tail (£12.99)
As a child, Rosemary used to talk all the time. So much so that her parents used to tell her to
start in the middle if she wanted to tell a story. Now Rosemary has just started college and
she barely talks at all. And she definitely doesn’t talk about her family. So we're not going to
tell you too much either: you'll have to find out for yourself what it is that makes her
unhappy family unlike any other. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a
sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone - vanished from her life.
But there's something unique about Rosemary's sister, Fern. So now she's telling her story; a
looping narrative that begins towards the end, and then goes back to the beginning. Twice.
Karen Joy Fowler was born in Indiana in February 1950. She is the author of six novels and three short story collections. The Jane Austen Book Club spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Sarah Canary won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, and was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. She is the co-founder of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the current president of the Clarion Foundation (also known as Clarion San Diego). She lives in California.
For further information, please contact Hannah Ross at Serpent’s Tail
Tel: 0207 841 6307, email: [email protected]
Published by Jonathan Cape (£18.99)
Set in the future, a world where the past is a dangerous country, not to be talked about or visited, J is a love story of incomparable strangeness, both tender and terrifying. Two people fall in love, not yet knowing where they have come from or where they are going. Kevern doesn’t know why his father always drew two fingers across his lips when he said a world starting with a J. It wasn’t then, and isn’t now, the time or place to be asking questions. Ailinn too has grown up in the dark about who she was or where she came from. On their first date Kevern kisses the bruises under her eyes. He doesn’t ask who hurt her. Brutality has grown commonplace. They aren’t sure if they have fallen in love of their own accord, or whether they’ve been pushed into each other’s arms. But who would have pushed them, and why? Hanging over the lives of all the characters in this novel is a momentous catastrophe – a past event shrouded in suspicion, denial and apology, now referred to as What Happened, If It Happened.
An award-winning writer and broadcaster, Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester in August 1942, brought up in Prestwich and was educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied under FR Leavis. He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His books include: The Mighty Waltzer (1999), winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize; Kalooki Nights (2006), longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and The Finkler Question (2010), winner of the Man Booker Prize. He lives in London.
For further information, please contact Alice Broderick at Jonathan Cape
Tel: 020 7840 8425, email: [email protected]
The Lives of Others
Published by Chatto & Windus (£16.99)
Calcutta, 1967. Unnoticed by his family, Supratik has become dangerously involved in extremist political activism. Compelled by an idealistic desire to change his life and the world around him, all he leaves behind before disappearing is this note…
The ageing patriarch and matriarch of his family, the Ghoshes, preside over their large household, unaware that beneath the barely ruffled surface of their lives the sands are shifting. More than poisonous rivalries among sisters-in-law, destructive secrets, and the implosion of the family business, this is a family unravelling as the society around it fractures. For this is a moment of turbulence, of inevitable and unstoppable change: the chasm between the generations, and between those who have and those who have not, has never been wider.
Neel Mukherjee was born in Calcutta in March 1970. His first novel, A Life Apart (2010), won the Vodafone-Crossword Award in India, the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award for best fiction, and was shortlisted for the inaugural DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. The Lives of Others is his second novel. He lives in London.
For further information, please contact Ruth Warburton / Kate Bland at Chatto & Windus
Tel: 0207 840 8688, email: [email protected]
Published by Hamish Hamilton (£16.99)
How to be Both is a novel all about art's versatility. Borrowing from painting's fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it's a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There's a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There's the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life's givens get given a second chance.
Ali Smith was born in Inverness in August 1962. She won the Saltire First Book Award and a Scottish Arts Council Award in 1995 for her first collection of stories, Free Love. Her first novel, Like, was published in 1997 and her second collection of stories, Other Stories and Other Stories, in 1999. Hotel World, her second novel, was shortlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. The Accidental, was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize in 2005. She lives in Cambridge.
For further information, please contact
Tel: 0207 010 3278, email: [email protected]
The six shortlisted books were chosen from a longlist of 13 books. They were:
Joshua Ferris To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Viking)
Richard Flanagan The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Chatto & Windus)
Karen Joy Fowler We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Serpent's Tail)
Siri Hustvedt The Blazing World (Sceptre)
Howard Jacobson J (Jonathan Cape)
Paul Kingsnorth The Wake (Unbound)
David Mitchell The Bone Clocks (Sceptre)
Neel Mukherjee The Lives of Others (Chatto & Windus)
David Nicholls Us (Hodder & Stoughton)
Joseph O'Neill The Dog (Fourth Estate)
Richard Powers Orfeo (Atlantic Books)
Ali Smith How to be Both (Hamish Hamilton)
Niall Williams History of the Rain (Bloomsbury)
The longlisted books were selected from a total of 154 titles, nine of which were called in by the judges
UK publishers may submit novels written in the English language and published in the UK between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2014. The number of books a publisher can submit will depend on that publisher’s inclusion in longlists over the previous five years, as follows:
| Australians |
Snooker cues, baseball bats, and cricket stumps are traditionally made from which wood? | Man Booker Prize 2014: At a glance - BBC News
BBC News
Man Booker Prize 2014: At a glance
9 September 2014
Close share panel
Image copyright Man Booker
Image caption Man Booker authors: (clockwise from top left) Joshua Ferris, Richard Flanagan, Neel Mukherjee, Ali Smith, Howard Jacobson, Karen Joy Fowler
This year's Man Booker Prize includes writers from Britain, the United States and Australia. It is the first year that the prize is open to all authors writing in English, regardless of nationality.
"It is a strong, thought-provoking shortlist which we believe demonstrates the wonderful depth and range of contemporary fiction in English," said AC Grayling, chair of judges.
Here is a brief guide to the six books, and their authors.
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
By Joshua Ferris
Image copyright Viking
Published by Viking
About the book: Paul O'Rourke, a successful New York dentist, wants more out of life, and is puzzled when someone sets up an online Facebook and Twitter account in his name.
About the author: Joshua Ferris was born in Illinois in November 1974. His previous novels are Then We Came to the End and The Unnamed. In 2010, he was selected for The New Yorker's 20 Under 40 list of fiction writers.
The judges said: "It was a book that made the judges laugh out loud. It has a mordant overbite of wit and a black tongue of satire directed at our social media-mediated modernity."
The reviews said: "To Rise Again at a Decent Hour at times struggles to bear the weight of its conceit... but at its best it is enormously impressive: profoundly and humanely engaged with the mysteries of belief and disbelief, linguistically agile and wrong footing, and dismayingly funny in the way that only really serious books can be." Alex Clark, The Guardian
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
By Richard Flanagan
Image copyright Chatto and Windus
Published by Chatto & Windus
About the book: Taking its title from a book by the haiku poet Basho, Flanagan's novel is a love story set against the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death Railway in World War Two. In a Japanese POW camp, surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle's young wife two years earlier.
About the author: Richard Flanagan was born in Tasmania in 1961. His previous novels include Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould's Book of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist and Wanting. His father, a survivor of the Burma Death Railway, died the day Flanagan finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
The judges said: "An extraordinary examination of the motivation of people who are caught up in a war and the acts of extreme cruelty they can be driven to... it's a highly readable page-turning novel, but complex in its narration. It's sophisticated in structure and we think it is a fairly profound book about the nature of being Australian."
The reviews said: "Flanagan's writing courses like a river, sometimes black with mud, sludge and corpses, sometimes bright with moonlight. Danger is omnipresent, even after combat recedes; nature careless and monumental in its rains, its bushfires. The hallucinations caused by privation, be it physical hunger or erotic yearning, are unapologetically evoked. The stories of these casualties of fate catch at the soul." Catherine Taylor, The Telegraph
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
By Karen Joy Fowler
Image copyright Serpent's Tail
Published by Serpent's Tail
About the book: Narrated by Rosemary while at college, the book tells the story of her family and in particular her unique "sister", Fern, who is no longer in her life.
About the author: Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels including The Jane Austen Book Club. Born in Indiana in 1950, her other novels include Sister Noon and Sarah Canary. Her short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, while her collection What I Didn't See won the same award in 2011.
The judges said: "A book that bears re-reading despite its twist. It seems to be quite a simple book, narrated clearly and plainly, but it's a deeply sophisticated book not only about families but also about stories and the nature of storytelling."
The reviews said: "What does it mean to be human, she asks, and what does it mean to be humane? Although there's little doubt where her sympathies lie, Fowler manages to subsume any polemical motive within an unsettling, emotionally complex story that plumbs the mystery of our strange relationship with the animal kingdom — relatives included." Ron Charles, Washington Post
J
Image copyright Jonathan Cape
Published by Jonathan Cape
About the book: A satire set in a Britain of the future after a catastrophe referred to as What Happened, If It Happened.
About the author: Howard Jacobson is in the running to be the first British man to win twice. Born in Manchester in 1942, his books include: The Mighty Waltzer, Kalooki Nights, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and The Finkler Question, which won him the Booker in 2010.
The judges said: "It's a novel about things that may or may not have happened, with historical echoes of tragedies going back through time... it says things which are not really said in polite discourse in this country."
The reviews said: "A provocative dystopian fantasy to stack next to Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, J has the kind of nightmarish twist which makes you want to turn back to page one immediately and read the whole thing again.
"On a first reading, much of the novel is perplexing, slow, and perversely humourless, given that its author is a revered humorist. However once you know the story's secret, it takes on an electrifying power and when you get close to the end, it's all worth it." Nicholas Barber, The Express
The Lives of Others
Image copyright Chatto and Windus
Published by Chatto & Windus
About the book: A sweeping account of life in 1960s Calcutta which focuses on the secrets and rivalries within the Ghosh family.
About the author: Neel Mukherjee was born in Calcutta in 1970. His first novel, A Life Apart (2010), won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for best fiction, and was shortlisted for the inaugural DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
The judges said: "A rich, multi-layered, fascinating novel which explores the relationships within the family against the background of a tumultuous political scene in that part of India."
The reviews said: "One of Mukherjee's great gifts is precisely his capacity to imagine the lives of others. He can move from inside one head to inside another in a conversation or conflict and take the reader with him. He isn't really an omniscient narrator, there is no authorial voice - just an imagination that is more than adequate to its task." AS Byatt, The Guardian
How to be Both
Published by Hamish Hamilton
Image copyright Hamish Hamilton
About the book: The two-part novel focuses on two lives: a teenage girl in the present day wrestling with grief and a renaissance artist in the 1460s. The book comes in two versions, with the same cover but with the main parts switched. It doesn't matter which part is read first.
About the author: Ali Smith has been shortlisted twice before, with The Accidental (2005) and Hotel World (2001). Born in Inverness in 1962, her first novel, Like, was published in 1997.
The judges said: "It is about starting over, the consolations of art, the exhilaration of imagination, the joy of breaking down barriers between different people and different historical eras - and even different books."
The reviews said: "There is no doubt that Smith is dazzling in her daring. The sheer inventive power of her new novel pulls you through, gasping, to the final page." Elizabeth Day, The Observer
| i don't know |
In which board game is the ‘huffing’ rule sometimes adopted? | The Rules of Draughts
Game Categories
The Rules of Draughts
The game of Draughts goes by a variety of different names and has several different variations. The game given first is English Draughts which is known as Checkers in North America. Also given is Polish Draughts, which is played all over Western Europe and which is the most commonly played version of the game in International competition.
Draughts or Checkers
Equipment
The game of Draughts is played on a standard Chess board 64 black and white chequered squares. Each player has 12 pieces normally in the form of fat round counters. The real shades of the pieces and the board do not necessarily need to be black and white but they are normally referred to as black and white, regardless. The board is placed between the two opponents so that the near right-hand corner square is white for both players (in the same way as for Chess).
Preparation and Objective
Black always plays first. A coin is tossed to decide which player will be black. Each player's pieces are placed on the 12 black squares nearest to that player. The white squares are not used at all in the game - the pieces only move diagonally and so stay on the black squares throughout.
The objective of the game is to take all of the opponent's pieces or to produce a position such that the opponent is unable to move.
Play
Players take turns to move a piece of their own colour. Any piece that reaches the far edge of the board is immediately crowned and is thereafter known as a "King". The act of crowning is a physical one - another piece of the same shade is placed on top of the piece in order to distinguish it from an ordinary piece.
Until a piece is "crowned", it can only move and capture in a diagonally forwards direction. Kings are allowed to move and capture diagonally forwards and backwards and are consequently more powerful and valuable than ordinary pieces. However, ordinary pieces can capture Kings.
Whenever a piece has an opponent's piece adjacent to it and the square immediately beyond the opponent's piece is vacant, the opponent's piece can be captured. If the player has the opportunity to capture one or more of the opponent's pieces, then the player must do so. A piece is taken by simply hopping over it into the vacant square beyond and removing it from the board. Unlike an ordinary move, a capturing move can consist of several such hops - if a piece takes an opponent's piece and the new position allows it to take another piece, then it must do so straight away. The move finishes only when the position of the capturing piece no longer allows it to taken any more pieces or when an uncrowned piece arrives at the far edge of the board and is crowned.
If more than one piece can capture, then the player is entirely free to choose which of those pieces to move. Likewise, if a capturing piece is able to capture in more than one direction, the player is free to choose which direction to move in. i.e. it is not compulsory to move the piece or take the route that will result in the maximum number of captures.
If no capturing moves are available, then an ordinary move is made by moving a piece one square diagonally.
In the past, the "huffing" rule was used. For this, if a player noticed that the opponent had failed to capture when the option was open (even if the offending piece had already captured one or more pieces that turn), the player can huff the offending piece before the next move is made and it is removed from the board. Nowadays, this rule is rarely used. Instead a player just points out the error and the opponent is forced to make the correct move.
Finishing
The game is won by the player who first manages to take all his opponent's pieces or renders them unable to move.
A draw occurs by agreement at any point during the game. If a player refuses the offer of a draw, that player is required to force a win or show a decided advantage within 40 of that players own moves from that point. Draws are fairly common in the game of draughts - especially at the top level of the game.
Polish Draughts
Equipment
Polish Draughts is played on a 10 x 10 chequered board with 20 black pieces and 20 white pieces. The pieces start on the black squares of the four rows nearest to the players.
Play
The game is played in a similar fashion to English Draughts but the pieces move and capture in an extended fashion. Crowned pieces are called Queens. The following are the additional rules:
Un-crowned pieces can only move diagonally forwards but can capture diagonally forwards AND backwards.
A Queen moves by diagonally traversing any number of unoccupied squares. Likewise, when capturing, a Queen can travel over any number of unoccupied squares before and after hopping the piece.
Capturing is compulsory and where there is a choice, the move that captures the greatest number of pieces must be made.
Captured pieces are not removed from the board until the end of a move. Any pieces which have been captured but not yet removed cannot be hopped over again during the course of the move - dead pieces form an impassable barrier.
A piece is only crowned if the piece finishes the move on the final square. So, if a piece moves onto and off the final row during the course of a capturing move, and does not finish on the final row, it is not crowned.
Competitions
In competitions, to reduce the chance of draws and make the opening moves less predictable, a "three-move ballot" scheme is usually adopted. A number of opening sequences of three moves are written on cards and a card is selected at random to start the game. The game then proceeds with white playing the fourth move. Once the game is finished, players swap sides and play a second game with the same starting card. The player who achieves the best result over the pair of games is the winner.
| Draughts |
In poker, which hand beats a flush but loses to four of a kind? | Italian Checkers - Android Apps on Google Play
Italian Checkers
( 6,415)
Description
"Italian checkers is a variant of the checkers family played mainly in Italy and Northern Africa. It is a two-handed game played on a board consisting of sixty-four squares, thirty-two white and thirty-two black. There are twenty-four pieces: twelve white and twelve black. The board is placed so that the rightmost square on both sides of the board is black.
White always moves first, and players alternate moving. Men move one square diagonally forward. Should they reach the file farthest from the player to which they belong, they become kings. This is denoted by placing another piece of the same colour on top of them (or, if this is impossible, placing another piece of the other colour underneath them). Kings can move forward or back one square, again only diagonally.
Capturing is mandatory in Italian draughts. Should a man be found neighbouring an opposing piece behind which is an empty position, the player is compelled to attain this empty position and remove the opposing man from the board. The huffing rule (if a piece that must capture does not do so, the opponent may, at his option, take it before his own move) was stricken from the official rules in 1934. Men may only capture diagonally forward, and can capture a maximum of three pieces in a row. Kings move, as well as capture, backwards; also, they are immune to men---they can only be captured by other kings.
A player wins when he has succeeded in capturing all of his opponent's pieces, or if his opponent resigns. A draw occurs when neither player can theoretically take an opposing piece." [Wikipedia]
In italian checkers capturing is mandatory, the failure to capture may lead to a stalemate in the game.
You can see an extract of the rules in the help.
In order to play on Google Play Games you must have a G+ user and start the match with the appropriate icon Google Play Games. If you are starting a new game you will have the white pieces and you must make the first move waiting for an opponent available. If you join a game started by others, your pieces will be black.
Read more
| i don't know |
The Black Mountains are part of which UK national park? | The Black Mountain Centre, Brynaman - Tourism
Tourism
Tourism
Visit the Black Mountain Centre Tourist Information Point TODAY!
We have recently refurbished our tourist information point with funding support from Brecon Beacons National Park and Carmarthenshire County Council. We received grant funding in the amount of £10,000 from the Sustainable Development Fund and the Sustainable Community Tourism Fund. We have upgraded the reception area with bespoke units, touchscreen computers, signage and a series of wall mounted maps. We aim to provide the visitor with a wealth of information and advice, from leaflets, pocket guides, to posters, internet access, local knowledge and expertise.
CALCH
CALCH is repairing some of the surviving structures at Herbert's Quarry and is developing self-guided trails around the site to encourage visitors. The project is also ivestigating the history of the lime industry to discover and celebrate its links with local communities.
For further information please visit CALCH's website: www.calch.org
The Brecon Beacons National Park ( www.breconbeacons.org )
The Brecon Beacons is a beautiful part of Wales, with traditional market towns, stunning landscape, canal paths, castles and plenty of family attractions. The scenery is both beautiful and diverse - rolling countryside and valleys, wide open spaces to the wild beauty of the waterfalls and caves.
The National Park Authority also runs an excellent programme of www.breconbeacons.org/events
Fforset Fawr Geopark
The Centre works in close partnership with the Brecon Beacons National Park and helps promote the Geopark to visitors. There are a number of interpretive images panels within the Centre displaying the wonderful scenery and heritage of the Black Mountain and also a selection of leaflets to inform visitors of the geopark and also local walks around Brynaman and the Upper Amman Valley.
For further information please visit www.fforestfawrgeopark.org.uk
CALCH: Celebrating the Industrial Heritage of the Black Mountain
CALCH, an exciting new project which aims to showcase Herbert's Quarry and lime kilns on the north side of the Black Mountain, as a landmark of our industrial heritage.
CALCH is a joint venture by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, The Dyfed Archaeological Trust, The National Museum of Wales and The Black Mountain Centre. With the participation of local communities, CALCH will rediscover, conserve and celebrate the role of the lime industry in the development of Wales as an Industrial Nation.
For more information, please contact Menna Bell at the Dyfed Archaeological Trust at [email protected] or 01558 825997.
The Black Mountain Centre Hosted The Valleys Regional Park Community Tourism Ambassador Training in April 2011
Community Tourism Ambassadors are important to the development of the Valleys as a tourism destination. The Ambassador will represent The Valleys and influence the visitor to stay and spend within our community. This training will enable the Ambassadors to become a beacon of knowledge within the community and they will be able to provide helpful, accurate and friendly advice.
Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary
Brynaman Public Hall Cinema www.bp-hall.co.uk
Brynaman Swimming Pool
SUSTRANS Biking Trails Sustrans Cymru | Sustrans
Aman & Loughor village walks Amman
Ynys Dawela Nature Reserve
Accommodation
Nant Melyn Cottage
A small 160 year old welsh cottage located in the centre of the village of Brynaman, within walking distance to many local amenities including local shop, the Black Mountain tourist centre, idyllic cinema, public houses, and to the Amman valley cycle path. Located at the very top of the Amman valley, and on the very edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The cottage itself is one of the very first dwellings of the village which dates back to 1851.
For further information or to book your stay at Nant Melyn Cottage visit their website, www.nantmelyn.com or phone 01237459 955
Talarbongam B&B
Talarbongam is an impressive, detached property within a 4 acre small holding in the village of Brynaman. With an acre of land for guests to enjoy and a footpath leading through the grounds directly on to the majestic Black Mountains and National Park. Within a short distance from Talarbongan are a number of pubs and take-aways, a cinema and the Black Mountain Centre with its tourist information and heritage displays.
| Brecon Beacons |
What is the signature feature of footwear designed by Christian Louboutin? | Restoring the Black Mountains | Brecon Beacons National Park Authority
Brecon Beacons National Park Authority
Search…
Restoring the Black Mountains
Natural England, Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, Natural Resources Wales (formerly Countryside Council for Wales) and the Welsh
Assembly Government are part of an informal partnership that is working to improve the condition of the Black Mountains SSSI especially in the cross
border area.
The SSSI is subject to a number of pressures including grazing and recreation and is currently in an unfavourable condition.
To ensure that this SSSI returns to a ‘favourable’ condition a number of actions are being undertaken:
Some bracken control
Heather management
Path management to reduce erosion
Erosion repair works on 2 large areas on the Hatterrall ridge that have not recovered following uncontrolled fires in c. 1976.
In England sheep grazing is being removed in Winter and reduced in Summer
The erosion control works on the Hatterrall ridge involve slowing water flows to reduce the erosive energy of the water and soil stabilization o exposed soils and peat to encourage regrowth of indigenous flora.
Water flows are being managed by construction of small timber, plastic, coir and timber brash dams.
Soil stabilization will be achieved by laying sheets of geojute on the ground and covering with heather brash and by breaking up surface ‘pans’ and incorporating organic material to improve permeability.
| i don't know |
Which quiz-show host will provide the new voice of Danger Mouse later in 2015? | ‘Danger Mouse’ Sees Comic-Con 2015 Preview | Animation World Network
How To Succeed in Animation
‘Danger Mouse’ Sees Comic-Con 2015 Preview
‘Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey and comedian and talk show host John Oliver are set to join the multi-talented voice cast led by comedy actor Alexander Armstrong.
By Jennifer Wolfe | Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at 5:06pm
In 2D , Cartoons , Event , People , Television | ANIMATIONWorld , Headline News | Blogs: Animated Travels | Special Events: Comic-Con | Geographic Region: Europe , North America
‘Game of Throne’s Lena Headey will voice U.S. Secret Agent Jeopardy Mouse.
The team behind FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment’s new reboot of the iconic 80s animation series Danger Mouse wowed the crowds at Comic-Con 2015 in San Diego last week with a lively panel which discussed the series’ return, revealed exclusive casting news and debuted a world preview exclusive.
With the eagerly-anticipated new series set to screen on CBBC in the U.K. later this year and rollout in the U.S. and internationally on Netflix in 2016, the Comic-Con panel comprised series executive producers Bob Higgins (Aquabats Supershow, The Ricky Gervais Show) and Chapman Maddox (Grojband, Max Steel), executive producer and head of CBBC acquisitions, animation and drama development Sarah Muller (Wolfblood, Strange Hill High), and lead writer Ben Ward (Horrible Histories, Tracy Beaker).
The panel revealed that actress Lena Headey (Game of Thrones, Dredd) and leading comedian, satirical presenter and talk show host John Oliver (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) are set to join the multi-talented voice cast led by comedy actor Alexander Armstrong in the role of Danger Mouse. Headey is set to provide the super-smart voice of U.S. Secret Agent Jeopardy Mouse, while Oliver will voice the role of mad scientist wolf Dr. Augustus P Crumhorn III.
It was also revealed exclusively that villainous vampire duck and original Danger Mouse spin-off character Count Duckula will appear in the new series, testing Danger Mouse’s resolve with his traditionally dark and dangerous ways.
Meanwhile a world-exclusive preview of the new series was shown to great acclaim, while the panel also discussed the enduring appeal of the 80s TV icon and discussed the challenges of updating a much-loved cartoon character for a whole new generation of viewers.
Check out the preview in the player below:
“The Con fans were amazing and wildly supportive in the room,” said FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment EVP of production and creative Bob Higgins. “The reaction to the episode and to the casting announcements was truly overwhelming…and I’m psyched that the excitement seems to be extending into social media and with the preview clip being shared globally!”
Licensed to thrill a whole new generation of fans, this reimagined new series follows the misadventures of the heroic, small but perfectly formed super spy Danger Mouse who returns in style to save a world teetering on the edge of disaster. Bursting with boundless confidence the show’s hero is still as cool as ever as he attempts to overthrow a host of villainous rivals with the help of hapless hamster Penfold and a collection of state-of-the-art gadgetry and vehicles.
Commissioned by Controller of CBBC, Cheryl Taylor, the co-production with FremantleMedia Kids & Family is being animated by Boulder Media, with Sarah Muller executive producer for CBBC, and Bob Higgins and Chapman Maddox executive producers for FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment. FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment owns the global TV and licensing rights to the series.
Source: FremantleMedia Kids & Family
| Alexander Armstrong |
The Prostate Years is the final instalment of whose diaries? | Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong to swap quiz questions for high notes as he prepares to release his debut album
By Ellie Walker-Arnott
Friday 8 May 2015 at 12:37PM
Michael Bublé, Robert Plant, Boyzone and... Pointless host Alexander Armstrong. The 45-year-old presenter and comedian has joined the music stars at Warner Music Group imprint East West Records, and is poised to release his first album later this year.
It might seem like a strange move if you only know Armstrong for his comedy roles, as well as his long-running job hosting quiz show Pointless, but the Armstrong and Miller star does have plenty of singing experience.
Armstrong's musical career first started when he was a chorister at St Mary's Cathedral and Trinity College Cambridge as a child, and he now tours with The Alexander Armstrong Band. He's also performing on BBC1's VE Day 70: a Party to Remember tomorrow, and will sing on ITV's Sunday Night At The Palladium on Sunday. Who knew, eh?
"I am so excited to be joining the illustrious stable at East West and to be working with this wonderful team. Singing has had to take a back seat for the past 25 years of my life, but with this fabulous project I get to put that right," said Armstrong.
His musical debut will "celebrate songs of the British Isles" and reflect "the diversity and beauty of Britain’s pastoral song tradition."
The album, which will be recorded this summer, will be produced by Simon Franglen, who has worked on award-winning films Titanic, Avatar and Skyfall.
| i don't know |
Star Beast was the working title for which 1979 blockbuster film? | Sex in Cinema: 1979 Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes
The Demonic Beast
Female vs. Beast
It was rich with Freudian sexual metaphors and sexually-charged images and symbols of sexual violation and biological reproduction:
a huge alien spacecraft with numerous vaginal orifices
the face-hugger
in the film's most startling scene, one of the male crew members Kane (John Hurt), who had been 'impregnated' by the insidious creature as a surrogate mother, 'gave birth' to the baby alien - the newborn alien burst from his chest
the slimy penis-headed beast, with a dripping, open mouth
the sequence of Lambert's (Veronica Cartwright) death - with the creature's phallic tail sliding up between her legs and her pseudo-orgasmic grunts and howls of pain over an intercom as she was killed (offscreen)
the scene of Ash's stuffing of an adult magazine into heroine Ellen Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) mouth
the ending sequence with Ripley's appearance in a braless, sleeveless undershirt and skimpy mini-panties as she confronted the threatening alien beast
The Alien Egg
The "Birth" of the Alien
Being There (1979)
The provocative black comedy Being There (1979) from director Hal Ashby, based upon Jerzy Kosinski's 1971 novella, was a wonderful, insightful tale that satirized politics, celebrity, media-obsession and television.
In a later protracted 'seduction' scene, the main character - reclusive, illiterate, passive and simple-minded gardener Chance (Peter Sellers), declared: "I like to watch." He was in the company of unsatisfied, love-starved Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), a dying financier's wife. She desperately tried to arouse the unresponsive Chauncey - he only responded, with a shocking but understandable line, that he "like(s) to watch" - and "it's very good, Eve" and then sat on the end of the bed (oblivious to her)
His most famous line about his joy of watching TV was misinterpreted or misunderstood by the amorous Eve as an invitation to voyeurism:
"You mean you'd like to watch me...do it?"
She viewed his statement as an invitation to sexually arouse and stimulate herself. She complied with his request by reclining on the floor. She laid on a full-sized bear-skin rug while grabbing the bedpost. Meanwhile, he was watching an exercise program on TV from the nearby bed and mimicking the exercises (he even performed a hand-stand), oblivious to her sexual pleasure as she masturbated herself nearby.
Eve Rand
(Shirley MacLaine)
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-VIXENS (1979)
Independent film-maker and producer Russ Meyer's ("King Leer") last theatrical feature film was this vulgar and crude adult comedy (co-written with critic Roger Ebert - with pseudonym R. Hyde). It was a cartoonish parody of Beneath the Valley of the Dolls (1970). Its tagline was:
"Six Chicks in search of a Cluck!...and so hilariously funny!"
The lewd and unbelievable film was mostly a series of exaggerated soft-core vignettes. None of Meyer's films included penetrative sex - which was where the industry was heading at the time, although this film came close. The introduction of pornography on videocassettes had spelled the end of theatrical films of this type that could only be screened at porno theaters with much harder-core fare.
Lavonia/Lola Langusta (Kitten Natividad)
It starred a number of big-breasted females as was typical of all of Meyer's films, including main star Francesca "Kitten" Natividad (the director's wife) as Americana Small Town wife Lavonia. She had typical sexual problems with her anal-sex obsessed, redneck husband Lamar Shedd (Ken Kerr), a "rear window man." After unsuccessful in trying to seduce him for straight sex when he completely ignored her, she pursued others for sex, including teenaged Rhett (Steve Casey) while skinny-dipping in a lake. She also disguised herself as Lola Langusta with a wig and Mexican accent, and took up stripping at the local club - where Lamar happened to be drinking beer, but didn't recognize her. She drugged his drink, then raped him via normal vaginal sex in a squalid upstairs bedroom to try and cure him.
Another town member was busty blonde radio evangelist Miss Eufala Roop (Ann Marie) who enjoyed love-making in a coffin with the local funeral home owner Martin Bormann (Henry Rowland). Lavonia also had lesbian sex via a long double-ended dildo with doctor's nurse Flovilla Thatch (Sharon Hill), and Lamar was eventually saved from his affliction and preserved his marriage after a visit to healing Miss Roop for a drowning baptismal rape. There was also a short reprising cameo by Meyer favorite Uschi Digard as SuperSoul.
Sister Eufaula Roop
(Uschi Digard)
Caligula (1979, It./US)
This was Hollywood's first big-budget ($17 million), bizarre blockbuster sexploitation epic of 'classy' hardcore sex and gory violence - and it became both a critical and commercial disaster. Originally self-rated as X and shown as unrated in a 156-minute version, it was then severely edited for an R-rating down to about 105 minutes. It was the last major attempt of its era to include graphic sexual content in a mainstream film.
This objectionable and depraved movie, condemned as worthless fantasy trash, arrived just before the new conservatism that took place during the Reagan administration and its subsequent Meese Commission Study of Pornography (finally published in mid-1986). The film's director Tinto Brass had only one major film in his resume, Salon Kitty (1976) about a German brothel used by the Nazis. And in addition, the film was produced and financed by Penthouse's Bob Guccione from a script by Gore Vidal (who later disowned it and removed his name).
It was noted as the most expensive pornographic film ever made, and was originally intended to be high-art (although it turned out to be excessive cinematic sleaze), with major and notable stars (Malcolm McDowell as the crazed and corrupt Roman emperor Caligula, John Gielgud, Helen Mirren, and Peter O'Toole).
Major Stars in an Excessive X-Rated Film
Caligula (Malcolm McDowell)
with sister Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy) (left)
and bride Livia (Mirella D'Angelo) (right)
Courtesan Caesonia
(Helen Mirren)
An encounter between two lesbians Messalina (Penthouse Pet Marjorie Thoreson (as Anneka Di Lorenzo)) and Agrippina (Penthouse Pet Lori Wagner) was filmed later and inserted for prurient interest, to depict explicit oral sex. The sordid film also included graphic and steamy sex scenes of sexual depravity and orgiastic decadence, including a large-scale orgy, a phallic swing, masturbation, rape, sleeping with a horse, and incest (Caligula's interest in his sister), among other thngs.
Tiberius
Part of Censored Hard-core Lesbian Scene
Hair (1979)
Hair was first presented as a controversial, cult musical play from 1968-1972 with memorable songs ("The Age of Aquarius" among others). It was then made into a major film studio event by Czech director Milos Forman - a bit outdated by the time it arrived in the late 1970s.
It featured rebellious anti-establishment and anti-war themes and the hippie lifestyle of the late 60s. The film's political viewpoint was clear from the following quote: "The draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people!"
The film began with the departure of draftee Claude Hooper Bukowski (John Savage) on a bus from Oklahoma to NYC, where he encountered a tribal group of long-haired hippies in Central Park, led by free-spirited George Berger (Treat Williams in his first leading film role). During the few days before he was shipped off to Nevada, he and the hippies smoked hash, crashed a wealthy family's dinner party, and Claude met the unattainable love interest of his life - rich high society debutante Sheila Franklin (young Beverly D'Angelo). During an LSD trip, Claude imagined what it would be like to be married to Sheila. When he was deployed for training at boot camp in Nevada, Berger hijacked the car of Sheila's brother and drove the hippie group to the base, where he swapped identities with Claude to allow him time to see Sheila.
The film's minor plot twist was that during the afternoon's picnic, Berger was shipped off to Vietnam (in Claude's place) - and was killed in action. His gravestone revealed that Berger died in Vietnam on April 6, 1968 at the age of 22 1/2, as the group sang: "Let the Sunshine In." Massive protest riots erupted and groups of young people surrounded the White House.
Sexual frankness included skinny-dipping in Central Park at night, when Sheila (stripped down to her panties) jumped into the water after Claude. A prank was pulled on them while they swam - Berger stole their clothes. Unamused, Sheila was forced to run half-naked up a hillside and hail a passing cab to return home. Sheila also went topless in the front seat of a car when stealing an officer's uniform in order to help enter the Nevada army base.
Another indication of sexual freedom at the time was the song "Sodomy," full of sexual terms:
"Sodomy, Fellatio, Cunnilingus Pederasty, Father, why do these words sound so nasty? Masturbation can be fun, Join the holy orgy, Kama Sutra Everyone!"
Sheila Franklin
(Beverly D'Angelo)
Hanover Street (1979, UK)
Director Peter Hyams' WWII war-time romantic drama with a sweeping John Barry score featured a love triangle between:
David Halloran (a young Harrison Ford), an American pilot
Margaret Sellinger (Lesley-Anne Down), a pretty British nurse
Paul (Christopher Plummer), an English secret agent/spy
The plot revolved around the question posed to David: should Margaret's husband Paul have his life saved or sacrificed during combat?
Margaret Sellinger
(Lesley-Anne Down)
Hardcore (1979)
Writer/director Paul Schrader's film, similar to John Ford's western The Searchers (1956) , told about the one-man crusade of conservative businessman and religious Michigan Calvinist Jake Van Dorn (George C. Scott), a single parent.
His obsessed objective was to find his misguided daughter Kristen (Ilah Davis), who had run away from Grand Rapids, Michigan (while attending a youth convention with her Calvinist church) to California to join the world of the underground porn film industry. The pornographic film-making industry was shown, for instance, in the filming of a porn scene in a cheap motel room, between a male and two females (porn actress Niki (Season Hubley) wearing a wig, and Serena (real-life porn star Serena)).
It included the scene of the screening of an ultra-low budget 8mm X-rated scratchy peep-show porno, titled Slave of Love, of Jake's daughter found by sleazy Los Angeles private investigator Andy Mast (Peter Boyle) (with Jake's anguished screaming "TURN IT OFF!") as he watched the sex unfold ("Oh my God! That's my daughter!").
In other scenes, Van Dorn visited the "Les Girls" strip club in Los Angeles that featured a titillating, topless re-enactment of the Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker lightsaber battle on the main stage. The busty topless clerk (Linda Morell) told him that it was $5 for two minutes in one of the private booths, the price of one token. She had a coin-change maker strapped to her waist and conveniently provided change.
Van Dorn spoke by a red booth phone to sweet-natured stripper/prostitute and porn actress Niki (Season Hubley), as he posed as a porn-film producer. She boldly placed both legs up on the window glass to display herself to him. She became a surrogate daughter to him as they allied together.
The World of Strip Clubs:
Private Phone Booth Stripper Niki (Season Hubley)
The ending's reunion between father and daughter was predictable, but heart-breaking and revealing, when the desperate Jake caught up with Kristen in San Francisco. She was rumored to be under the tutelage and control of S&M pornographer Ratan (Marc Alaimo) whose specialty was 'snuff' movies, and Jake became worried about Kristen's fate. He pressured Niki to reveal information that might lead to Ratan's location: "Listen to me, young lady. My daughter's been missing for five months. And I've gone through a lot to try to find out what's happened to her. Now today, I saw Ratan kill a girl, and I'm not gonna let this Tod slip through my hands. Now where is he?" When Niki wouldn't answer and instead responded: "But then you'll forget about me" - he viciously slapped her to get her to talk. Then, he reassuringly kissed her forehead: "I won't forget you."
After beating up Tod (Gary Graham) at a bondage house, Van Dorn traced Kristen to a SF nightclub where she was in the audience watching a live sex show with Ratan. During a struggle, Van Dorn was slashed in the left arm by Ratan, but as Ratan fled, he was shot and killed by investigator Mast on the street - and collapsed dead in front of another porn theater. Afterwards, Van Dorn confronted his daughter and let her decide whether to come home or not (although he begged her to return), but she at first rejected him in anger for not loving her:
Kristen: "Don't hurt me."
Jake: "I know it's been terrible for you, but it's over now. You can come home now. It doesn't matter what they made you do."
Kristen: "They didn't make me do anything. I wanted to leave."
Jake: "Well, that's not true, baby. You didn't leave. They took you away. I love you."
Kristen: "Don't touch me, you c--ksucker. You never gave a f--k about me before. You didn't, so don't touch me now. I didn't fit into your god-damned world. I wasn't pretty or good enough for you. You never approved of any of my friends. You drove 'em all away. I'm with people who love me now. You robbed my life."
Saddened and crying, the emotionally-challenged Van Dorn asserted: "I do love you. I just never knew how to show you. It's very difficult for me - nobody able to talk. I'll try. It's just my damnable pride." When she pleaded for her father to "just get away," he promised to leave her alone ("Do you really want me to go?"). However, she relented and changed her mind ("No"), and he responded: "Then you take me home" as he reached out his hand to her, and covered her shoulders with his coat.
In the final scene on the street, Niki walked up to Van Dorn and then wordlessly walked away from him and refused to speak to him (she had not forgotten that he had slapped her earlier) - she was resigned to her life on the streets because it was all she knew. Mast told Jake to return home: "You don't belong here," and he quietly obeyed - he joined his daughter in the back of a police car as the film concluded (to the sound of Susan Raye singing Buck Owens' song: "Precious Memories").
Peep-Show Film with Jake's Daughter Kristen (Ilah Davis)
Strip Club Clerk (Linda Morell)
Filming a Scene in The Porn Industry
Sex-worker Felice (Leslie Ackerman)
Jake's Last Look at Niki
H.O.T.S. (1979)
This R-rated, raunchy and witless campus comedy was typical of the late 70s and 80s (that played on late-night cable TV) - it followed on the successful heels of Animal House (1978) and other soft-core "cheerleader" films of the time.
It boasted a screenplay scripted by two women (Cheri Caffaro and Joan Buchanan). The setting was Faireville University (aka F.U.), and conflict between two groups of sorority girls: the blue bloods at Pi ("Perfectly Ideal Girls") sorority, and the sorority rejects (H.O.T.S.):
Honey Shane (Playboy Playmate Susan Kiger)
O'Hara (Playboy Playmate Lisa London)
Terri Lynn (Playboy Playmate Pamela Jean Bryant)
Sam (Kimberly Cameron/Carson)
Shenanigans included a swimming pool party with a kissing booth (and Danny Bonaduce singing), topless parachuting by Boom Boom Bangs (Angela Aames), interrupted topless sunbathing with banana cream pies, a housekeeping robot, a slinky seal, Sugar Bear (the rival school's mascot), a jock-strap raid, a lecherous dean (Ken Olfson), and a wet T-shirt contest (and cat fight) at a disco party.
The climactic sequence was an all-girl topless-strip football game in which the H.O.T.S. females wore red and white-striped bikinis and the opposing team green bikinis. Every time a team scored a touchdown, the opposing team had to remove clothing. There were two memorable topless football huddles of the attractive players, taken from the ground's point of view.
All-Girls Topless Football
l to r: Stephanie (Sandy Johnson) and Cynthia (K.C. Winkler)
The Lady in Red (1979)
Actress Pamela Sue Martin, better known for her role as cute, good-girl 'Nancy Drew' in TV's Nancy Drew Mysteries in the late 70s, and in ABC's TV long-running soap Dynasty in the early 1980s, starred in this low-budget gangster (fictionalized) biopic produced by Roger Corman, with a script written by future director John Sayles (his first major screenplay).
It was another Bonnie and Clyde knock-off, coming after Corman's own Bloody Mama (1970), Big Bad Mama (1974) with Angie Dickinson, Martin Scorsese's similar Boxcar Bertha (1972) with Barbara Hershey, and John Milius' Dillinger (1973) from AIP.
Shedding her former image in this coming-of-age tale of a female in jeopardy - laced with social commentary, Martin's breakout lead role in a feature film was as Polly Franklin - the daughter of a strictly-religious farmer in the 1930s. Abused and tyrannized as a poor farm girl, she left and ended up in Chicago. There, she was ill-paid and exploited in a sewing sweat-shop working for sleazy manager Patek (Dick Miller).
She was arrested as a dancer after propositioning a cop in a dance-hall and was subjected to a brief stint in a woman's prison (and subjected to a strip-search and line-up by a tyrannical, white-coated warden). In the scene, the naked female inmates were threatened by Alice (Nancy Parsons), who spoke menacingly while adjusting latex gloves on her hands:
"Ladies, my name is Alice. And from now on, you are to address me as 'Yes, ma'am, and No, ma'am'. And if you think you can get around me, or if you think you can hide anything from me, even up your kiesters, well then you'd better think twice. From now on, I rate top-billing in all your nightmares. Now bend over and spread 'em wide."
To escape incarceration, she became a professional hooker in a bordello run by immigrant madam Anna Sage (Louise Fletcher). Eventually, she became the inaccurately-dubbed 'lady in red' - girlfriend to notorious Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Robert Conrad).
Polly Franklin
(Pamela Sue Martin)
"10" (1979)
Writer/director Blake Edwards' sex comedy's title helped to popularize the objectification and rating of women on a perfection scale from 1-10.
It told about how mid-life crisis suffering song writer George Webber (Dudley Moore), with a long suffering stage actress girlfriend Samantha Taylor (Julie Andrews), followed a fantasy girl of his dreams to Acapulco, where he voyeuristically saw the nubile newlywed Jenny Miles/Hanley honeymooning (Bo Derek in her screen debut and in the role that made her a sex symbol).
This was the film's indelible and iconic image of her corn-rowed, beaded hair (which set off a national frenzy) and skimpy bathing suit while sunning herself and then running along the beach in slow-motion.
Iconic Images of a "10" Beauty - Jenny (Bo Derek)
After saving her husband David from the water, he was rewarded by her. She greeted him at the door in only a towel, slick and wet from a recent shower. He was seduced in a darkly-lit scene - memorably played to the sounds of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero." She wanted to have him undress quickly, so that the record wouldn't have to be restarted.
Jenny
| Alien |
‘Stop all the clocks’ are the opening words of which poem by W. H. Auden? | Alien (1979) - Release Info - IMDb
Alien (1979)
Alien: Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt
Denmark
Alien, el octavo pasajero: El montaje del director
Finland (Swedish title)
Alien, o epivatis tou diastimatos
Greece
Άλιεν: Ο επιβάτης του διαστήματος
Croatia
A nyolcadik utas: a Halál
Israel (Hebrew title)
Alien - Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt
World-wide (Spanish title)
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Which poem by Philip Larkin describes a train journey on a hot bank-holiday Saturday? | Poetry Analysis: Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings” | Rukhaya M.K
Poetry Analysis: Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings”
November 30, 2014 / rukhaya / 1 Comment
“It would be not too much to claim that it is one of the best poems written so far in this century,” says Galvin Ewart of Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings.”
The poem reminds us of W.H.Auden’s “The Night Mail” passing through many locations. Whitsun is the seventh day after marriage. In the 1950s, British tax law made the Whitsun weekend a financially advantageous time to be married. Larkin, therefore, commercializes marriage as an institution here, by adopting the specific title. Philip Larkin describes his stopping-train journey through East Yorkshire from Paragon Station, Kingston upon Hull to Kings Cross, London on a hot and humid Whitsun Saturday afternoon in the late 1950s. Larkin through his simple, yet elegant style divulges the details of a commonplace journey into a beautiful poem. The poem describes a train journey, and the poet occasionally stops at certain lines as though he is pausing at railway stations. Larkin’s intricate detailing of the scenes he sees, hold our attention right at the beginning: the backsides of houses with windows, fish-dock not seen, but felt through the senses, the confluence of two rivers that form the estuary of River Humber. The afternoon was a stiflingly humid one as the train shot past fields with grazing cattle, canal contaminated with industrial wastes, a glass house growing plants, the smell of the grass contrasted with the stale smell of the upholstery, dumped dismantled cars. etc. The poet contrasts natural scenic beauty with the ugliness of the pseudo-modern civilized world.
The river’s level drifting breadth began,
Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet.
Here the poet juxtaposes the earth, water and sky, and signal their meeting point-The author at the point, was himself above elemental thinking. Larkin, a librarian, immerses himself in reading as well.
The poet focuses on the various bridal couples waving good bye to their friends and dodging fresh showers of confetti as they board the train. He does this with his “piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent.” The observant bachelor-poet comprehends their feelings which they are too pre-occupied to do. His curiosity is struck as he watches the various people before him. With his typical misogynistic stance, he describes the women around him as parodies of fashion and as moving jewelry shops. He claims that the ‘wedding days’ was coming to an end. The initial excitement would die out and lose colour gradually.
In the beginning, he uses”I”,; later he uses “we’ signifying the movement of the individual to the universal. The poet juxtaposes his social isolation in the train, as well as in real life, with marriage-a social institution. He uses the term “happy funeral” to refer the institution of marriage signaling the end of freedom. He also terms it a “religious wounding.” A marriage is supposed to be a happy event and an occasion of jubilation. But to Larkin, it carries within it the seeds of discontent and despondency that are likely to sprout in the course of time. Larkin’s cynical and misogamist views regarding marriage are explicit here. Although he had a couple of affairs, Larkin dreaded marriage and family, and never married. “Two can live as stupidly as one,” he said. Being a bachelor poet, he notices the fathers first: fathers with broad belts under their suits and seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat, an uncle shouting obscene language. From the descriptions, it is evident: Larkin’s concept of Marriage and Family gathers overtones of being ‘loud’ and bombastic and not subtle.
Anthony Thwaite states that rain emblematizes tragedy and failure in Larkin’s poetry. However, here it could alternatively be regarded as a happy one, since the falling rain make crops grow, just how marriages being celebrated now will lead to the bearing of children tomorrow. Again, rain is the traditional symbol of fertility. The phrase “like an arrow shower” may signify ‘Cupid’s arrow’. Rain comes out in the end. There is somewhere indeed an indication of hope in spite of all the skepticism. The journey ends and the train finally halts at the London Station It sped past stationary buses, Pullman porters and black-mosses walls. When it stops, the poet captures the scattering of passengers in different directions like arrow showers. The people ultimately reach their various destinations. And the journey at once transforms into the journey of life.
©Rukhaya MK 2010
The content is the copyright of Rukhaya MK. Any line reproduced from the article has to be appropriately documented by the reader. ©Rukhaya MK. All rights reserved.
| The Whitsun Weddings |
Who played Watson in Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film Sherlock Holmes? | Detailed Interpretations | S-cool, the revision website
S-cool, the revision website
Faith Healing
This poem describes watching the women who queue to be blessed by an American faith healer. The encounter each woman has with the healer is very brief - twenty seconds, in which he asks her to tell him 'what's wrong' and then asks God to cure the troubled part: 'this eye, that knee'. The women are deeply affected by this experience. Larkin wonders what motivates people to need faith healing. He concludes that within everyone is a sense of the life they could have lived if they had loved more, or, particularly, if they had been loved more. Nothing cures this ache, but the healing experience relieves by loosening suppressed emotions.
Time and voice: The poem is written in the present tense - giving it immediacy. Larkin is a detached, third person observer of the experience. We share his analytical view of the emotional event he witnesses. This gives authority to his general conclusions in the final stanza 'in everyone there sleeps / A sense of life lived according to love'.
Structure
The poem is divide into three stanzas of ten lines, with five stresses each, and a regular but complex rhyming pattern: ABCABDABCABD. This pattern mirrors the regular succession of women who file up to meet the faith healer. The three stanzas divide the poem's action: in the first the women file forward; in the second they disperse; in the third Larkin takes over with his exclamation 'What's wrong!' and analysis. Notice how the phrase 'then, exiled' causes an abrupt break at the end of the first stanza. This makes us feel the women's loneliness as they move away from the comfort of the faith healer's grasp. The lines are not end-stopped, but run on into each other - this helps to create a sense of movement and progression.
Language and Imagery: One important image is of rain/tears. Do you see the 'warm spring rain of loving care' in line 5? This is a metaphor: rain releases the fruitfulness of the soil that has been hardened by winter's frost; similarly, the healer's loving care releases the women's pent-up feelings. This links to the 'tears' and 'eyes squeezing grief' in stanza 2, and 'thawing, the rigid landscape weeps' in stanza 3. Another image is of being a child. The faith healer's repeated words 'now, dear child' are emphasised by italics, in stanzas 1 and 3. His silver hair and blessing make the healer himself seem like God, and emphasise his fatherly role. In stanza 2 Larkin imagines that 'a kind of dumb, idiot child' is reawakened in the women by their experience - they cry and lose control of speech like young children. Look at the phrase 'tongues blort' in line 19. A made-up word, near to 'blurt', its sound suggests their lack of rationality, an excited confusion echoed by 'jam', 'crowd' and 'rejoice'. Larkin uses the vocabulary of Christianity (which refers to worshippers as 'children' and 'sheep') to suggest that the women's need for religious blessing arises from a common craving for human, especially parental, love. The poem's title could therefore be a play on words - perhaps it is simply the act of trust in others, rather than religion, which heals us.
The Whitsun Weddings
This poem describes a train journey on a hot Saturday afternoon. Newly wed couples board at each station. Larkin watches them, and their families left behind on the platform. He thinks about the transition that marriage represents, and the 'frail travelling coincidence' which the passengers share as they journey onward.
Time and voice: The poem is written in the past tense and the first person. It is based on an autobiographical experience, which Larkin had in 1955. Whitsun was originally a church festival where newly baptised people wore white. This makes it an appropriate holiday to associate with weddings, which are also festivals of change, where the bride wears white.
Structure: The poem has eight rhymed stanzas, of ten lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDECDE. The lines in each stanza have five stresses except the second line, which has only two. The shorter line introduces a visual contrast and may suggest to you the alternating but regular rhythm of a train. This rhythm is also created by run-on lines which pause briefly in the middle of sentences: 'all sense / Of being in a hurry gone'; 'we ran / Behind the backs of houses'.
Language and imagery: The language of the first part of the poem appeals to our senses - the feel of the 'hot cushions', the sight of cars' 'blinding windscreens' reflecting the sun, the smell of the fish-dock, of grass and of the train's upholstery. A warm, sleepy atmosphere is created which draws the reader in. Larkin gives us quick snapshots of the passing landscape. As in the poem 'Here', we see industry as well as countryside. The canal's 'industrial froth' and the 'new and nondescript' towns with 'acres of dismantled cars' suggest that Larkin doesn't find modern scenery entirely sympathetic. When he finally notices the wedding parties he is ruthless in his description of their style - the women?s dresses are 'parodies of fashion', they are 'grinning' (a word often associated with stupidity) and 'pomaded' (covered in hair gel). The mothers are 'loud and fat', the uncles 'shout smut' the fathers are sweaty ('seamy foreheads'). You might consider whether Larkin's presentation of the wedding parties also reflects his view of their social class.
Gradually, Larkin and the reader become involved in the moment of transition when the newly married couples leave their families and join the train. This 'moving on' is both actual and symbolic. Women 'share the secret like a happy funeral': a conjunction of words, which at first seems contradictory. How can a funeral be happy, or a wedding resemble a funeral? Larkin uses the odd juxtaposition to suggest the conflicting emotions, which marriage inspires - it is both joyful, and represents a loss. Part of this loss can be a loss of sexual virginity, implied by the 'religious wounding', which awes the girls.
The vocabulary of Larkin's poems is typically familiar (look for everyday words like 'perm', 'nylon', 'Odeon') but in the last two stanzas the imagery becomes more metaphorical. London in the sun seems like a golden field, its postal districts 'packed like squares of wheat', the train with all its passengers is compared to 'an arrow-shower' shooting forward - a positive image of shared experience. Change brings energy and 'power'. Larkin stands halfway between involvement and detachment - observing marriage's rite of passage without directly participating in it.
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Which two islands are linked by the 33 and a half-mile-long Seikan rail tunnel? | Seikan Tunnel | tunnel, Japan | Britannica.com
Seikan Tunnel
Katsura Imperial Villa
Seikan Tunnel, Japanese Seikan Tonneru, undersea tunnel linking Japan’s main island of Honshu with the northern neighbouring island of Hokkaido . The Seikan Tunnel is the second longest tunnel in the world, after the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland. It is 33.4 miles (53.8 km) long, 14.3 miles (23.3 km) of which lie under the Tsugaru Strait that separates Honshu from Hokkaido. The tunnel contains a rail line, and the building of the tunnel was sponsored by the Japanese National Railways . Construction of the tunnel began in 1964 and was completed in 1988. The digging employed as many as 3,000 workers at one time and took 34 lives in all because of cave-ins, flooding, and other mishaps.
The Seikan Tunnel, connecting Honshu, the main island of Japan, with the island of Hokkaido. With a …
Ariake
Despite the tremendous engineering, construction, and financial efforts that it involved, the Seikan Tunnel is only of limited use, since air travel between Honshu and Hokkaido is quicker and is almost as cheap as rail travel through the tunnel itself. When the tunnel was first planned in the 1950s, ferries were the chief means of transport between the main island and Hokkaido, and the sinking of a ferry boat in the Tsugaru Strait during a typhoon in 1954 with a loss of more than 1,400 lives galvanized plans for the tunnel’s construction. Since then, air transport has become much more practicable, and the Seikan Tunnel seems fated to carry significantly fewer passengers between the two islands than aircraft do. The tunnel remains one of the most formidable engineering feats of the 20th century, however.
Learn More in these related articles:
| honshu and hokkaido |
Which amendment to the Constitution mandated prohibition in the USA? | 7 record-breaking tunnels from around the world | Fox News
7 record-breaking tunnels from around the world
Published April 04, 2013
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Tunnels provide travelers with a quick and easy way to access hard-to-reach destinations, so it’s no surprise that every year cities map out new tunnel designs. But high-tech building materials and advances in design are allowing for engineering feats never seen before. At higher altitudes, over longer distances, here are seven record-breaking tunnels that are stand alone tourist destinations.
1. Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland
AlpTransit Gotthard Ltd.
Once completed in 2016, the Gotthard Base Tunnel will be the longest railway tunnel in the world. The 35-mile tunnel cuts under the Swiss Alps at 8,000 feet below sea level and is expected to reduce travel time between Zurich and Milan by about an hour. The building of the tunnel was an arduous feat as eight lives were lost during the process. For an up-close look at the construction, the public can visit a multimedia exhibition for free or take a tour of a construction site along the tunnel.
2. Yerba Buena Island Tunnel, California
Caltrans
To cross over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, drivers must travel through Yerba Buena Island by way of the Yerba Buena Island Tunnel. The tunnel, completed in 1936, remains the largest single-bore tunnel in the world, measuring 76 feet wide and 58 feet high. To accommodate the large amount of traffic that travels across the bridge, the tunnel consists of two decks, each carrying five lanes.
3. Lærdal Tunnel, Norway
Innovation Norway
Stretching 15 miles long, the Lærdal Tunnel is the longest road tunnel in the world. The tunnel cuts through a mountain range that sits between the cities of Oslo and Bergen, providing a faster and safer route for drivers, especially during the wintertime. To keep drivers alert during the 20-minute underground journey, architects built in three “caves” or resting areas that feature vivid blue and yellow lights.
4. Aizhai Extra Large Suspension Bridge, China
Hunan Government
This two-way, four-lane bridge is the highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel suspension bridge in the world. The bridge, built to ease traffic, measures almost 4,000 feet long and crosses over a canyon 1,164 feet deep. It carries the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, which runs through a total of 18 different tunnels.
5. Channel Tunnel
Eurotunnel
The Channel Tunnel, commonly referred to as the Chunnel, is the world’s longest undersea tunnel. Of its 31 miles, 23 miles are situated beneath the English Channel. The tunnel transports passengers and freight from Folkestone, Kent in England to Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais in France in as little as 30 minutes. As an added bonus, the Le shuttle and Eurostar trains that travel through the tunnel operate 365 days a year.
6. Seikan Tunnel, Japan
Hokkaido Railway Company
Until the Gotthard Base Tunnel is completed in 2016, the Seikan Tunnel holds the title of the longest operational railway tunnel in the world. Completed in 1988, the tunnel measures 33.5 miles long and links the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. It is located almost 800 feet below sea level (beneath the Tsugaru Strait), making it one of the deepest railway tunnels in the world. Before the installation of the tunnel, ferries carried passengers across the strait, but when a typhoon sank five ferries killing over 1,000 people, Japan honed in on a new means of transportation.
7. Fenghuo Mount Tunnel, China
AP
The Fenghuo Mount Tunnel is the world’s highest railway tunnel, reaching an elevation of 16,093 feet. The tunnel encases part of the scenic Golmud-to-Lhasa route, which is a route on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The train that travels the railway is nicknamed the “rocket to the rooftop of the world” because 80% of its route is at an elevation above 13,000 feet. To compensate for the lack of oxygen at such an altitude, the train is equipped with two oxygen sources as well as personal oxygen canisters.
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What was Queen Victoria’s first name at birth, in May 1819? | Queen Victoria - Biography - IMDb
Queen Victoria
Biography
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Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (2) | Trivia (31) | Personal Quotes (6)
Overview (5)
5' (1.52 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Princess Alexandrina Victoria was born on May 24, 1819 to the Duke and Duchess of Kent. Victoria as she was called was the granddaughter of King George III. When she was less than a year old her father died leaving her mother broke and at the mercy of her brother Leopold, the King of Belgium. Victoria lead a sheltered life in Kensington Palace while growing up. She was not allowed to see anybody besides her mother, half-sister and brother, and the comptroller of the household and reputed lover of the Duchess of Kent, Sir John Conroy. When she was 17 she met for the first time her cousins Albert and Ernest (sons of her mother's brother Ernest) The meeting went well but nothing happened. Several months later Victoria's Uncle King William IV died and she became Queen at the age of 18. Three years later she and Albert met again and this time they fell in love. They got married on Feburary 10, 1840 and In November of that year they welcomed their first child named Victoria. In 1841 they had Albert Edward, who would be Prince of Wales and then Edward VII. Followed by Alice (b. 1843),Alfred (b. 1844), Helena (b. 1846), Louise (b. 1848) Arthur (b. 1850) and Leopold (b. 1853) and Beatrice (b. 1857.) In 1860, though something happened that brought Victoria's world to a stand-still. Her beloved husband died on December 14 after a short illness with Thyphoid. This did not hinder any plans though. Their oldest daughter had been married to the Prussian Prince Fritz for several years by then, but their daughter Alice and son Bertie were almost to be married at the time of their father's death. A few months later Alice married Prince Louis of Hess and several months after that Bertie married Prince Alexandra of Denmark. For the rest of her life Victoria missed Albert and insisted in a funereal like atmosphere in her household. The only thing that could lift her spirits where her 40 grandchildren. On that fateful December 14 of 1878 Victoria lost her daughter, Alice, and mourned her. After several months though she recovered enough to concoct an idea. She would have her son in law Louis marry her daughter Beatrice so that her several grandchildren could be near her. This did not happen though. On January 22, 1901 Victoria died in Osbourn House in the arms of her grandson Kaiser William II. Her children and grandchildren stretched all over the globe, reigning as sovereigns or consorts. From the UK, Germany, Romania, Russia, Greece, and Spain her children and grandchildren would change the face of the world.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: anonymous
Spouse (1)
( 10 February 1840 - 14 December 1861) (his death) (9 children)
Trade Mark (2)
Her phrase "We are not amused"
Black Clothing
Trivia (31)
Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India.
Was the longest reigning monarch in British history (64 years), until she was surpassed by her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II on September 9, 2015.
Mother of King Edward VII , Victoria, Princess Royal, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. Mother-in-law of Queen Alexandra .
Great-great-grandmother of: Prince Philip , Edward Windsor , King Michael , George Earl of Harewood , King Peter II of Yugoslavia , Queen Elizabeth II , Princess Margaret , King Harald V , Juan Carlos de Borbón , Margrethe II , King Constantine II , Sofía de Grecia , Princess Irene of Greece , Prinsesse Benedikte , Duke of Gloucester , and Queen Anne-Marie .
Kept a painting of Prince Albert in his coffin by her bedside.
Until the age of three, she spoke German only, and, according to contemporary accounts, never fully mastered English. She later learned Italian because of her love for opera.
Delivered by Marianna Theodore Charlotte Heidenreich von Siebold, the first women in Germany to earn a medical degree, and believed to be the world's first female gynecologist. Three months later, she delivered Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria's future husband.
Third great-grandmother of Prince Charles , Princess Anne , Prince Andrew , Edward Wessex , Viscount Linley , Sarah Armstrong-Jones , Prins Gustav af Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg , Prinsesse Alexandra af Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg , Alexander Crownprince of Yugoslavia , Kronprins Haakon , Prinsesse Märtha Louise , Kronprins Frederik , Prins Joachim , Cristina de Borbón , Elena de Borbón , King Felipe of Spain , Crown Prince Pavlos , Prince Nikolaos , Theodora Greece .
Because she carried the gene for hemophilia, speculation ran rampant for decades that Victoria was not fathered by Edward Augustus, The Duke of Kent. However, researchers on her medical background believe that the disease was more likely to have resulted from genetic mutation, a by-product of royal intermarriages.
Asked Prince Albert to marry her (because she was Queen, he couldn't ask her to marry him)
Her mother was Prince Albert 's aunt, and his father was her uncle.
The Duke and Duchess of Kent wanted to name their daughter Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Alexandrina Victoria. However, the baby's godfather, the Prince Regent, refused to allow his (George) or his late daughter's (Charlotte Augusta) name to be bestowed upon the possible future monarch. He announced she would be named Alexandrina after her other godfather, Tsar Alexander I.
Was so overcome with grief by the death of her son Prince Leopold in 1884, she was unable to walk and was in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
At the time of her death, she was ruler of a quarter of the human race.
After Albert's death, she wore only black for the rest of her life.
Fourth great-grandmother of Prince William , Prince Harry Windsor , Zara Tindall , Peter Phillips, Princess Beatrice , Prins Christian , Princess Eugenie , Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y Borbón , Victoria Federica de Marichalar y Borbón , Juan Urdangarín Borbón , Pablo Urdangarín Borbón , Miguel Urdangarín Borbón , Prins Nikolai , and Prins Felix .
On September 22, 1896 - having reigned for 59 years and 97 days - she surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. On September 9, 2015, her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II surpassed her as the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
When she first visited Benjamin Disraeli at Hughenden Manor, she ordered the legs of her dining chair to be cut so that her feet would touch the floor when she dined. This chair can still be found in the Manor today.
She, Prince George , and Princess Augusta of Cambridge were the grandchildren of King George III. Prince George's and Princess Augusta's niece, Queen Mary , married Victoria's grandson, King George V .
Buried at Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park, London. [February 1901]
The first British monarch to be filmed, during her autumn holiday in Balmoral in 1896. Also appearing were the infant Prince Edward (later Duke of Windsor ), Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.
Dedicated the Royal Albert Hall to the memory of Prince Albert .
| Alexandrina |
By what name are the Society of London Theatre’s annual awards known? | SparkNotes: Queen Victoria: Victoria's Childhood
Victoria's Childhood
Important Terms, People, and Events
Victoria's Childhood, page 2
page 1 of 2
When Alexandrina Victoria was born in Kensington Palace on May 24, 1819, there seemed little chance that she would ever succeed as the ruling monarch of Great Britain and Ireland eighteen years later. Her father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, was the fourth son of the reigning King George III. He was one of the less inspiring figures of the populous royal family--a man of somewhat middle-class sensibilities who had been discharged from the army for brutal behavior, accrued large debts, and lived for many years with a French singer before marrying Victoria's mother. King George had other sons who would succeed him--the future George IV and William IV--and it was generally assumed that at least one of them would eventually sire a legitimate male heir to the throne.
Victoria's mother was Victoire of Saxe-Coburg, Princess of Leiningen, a small German principality. The sister of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and widow of Prince Emich Charles of Leiningen, she married Prince Edward with hopes of providing him with a son. However, "Drina," as young Victoria was called, was their only child (Princess Victoire had two other daughters by her first marriage, Charles and Feodora). Edward died in January 1820 of pneumonia, the same year that his father King George III passed away.
While her uncle King George IV reigned over Great Britain and Ireland, Victoria lived a quiet, secluded childhood in Kensington Palace with her mother and a largely German-speaking household. German was Victoria's first language, though she soon mastered English. Not expected ever to reign as monarch, her upbringing was left largely to her mother, who saw to it that her daughter received a liberal education in music, drawing, natural philosophy, history, and foreign languages. A German governess named Louise Lehzen, who sparked the future queen's life-long interest in reading history, tutored Victoria. Young Victoria showed exceptional talent with French and Italian as well as with her drawing and singing lessons.
As a child, Victoria was described as warmhearted, lively, and occasionally mischievous. She also exhibited a natural gracefulness, carrying herself with unselfconscious dignity. During these early years of her life she began to keep regular diaries, a habit that she never dropped, enabling modern historians to gain a thorough, intimate look at the course of her whole life. In those diaries, Victoria revealed a simple Lutheran piety, which she had inherited from her mother, as well as a contrasting, deeply romantic streak that spoke to her complex, introspective personality.
In 1830, King George IV passed away, and the succession of his brother, William IV, signalled to their eleven-year-old royal niece Victoria that she might play more important a role in British politics than her family had expected. King William had several illegitimate children, and also a legitimate royal daughter, who died in infancy. By Victoria's teen years, it became apparent that she would be heir to the throne, and this circumstance greatly altered the quiet, unassuming life she and her mother had led in Kensington Palace. The princess became the pawn of several unfortunate family feuds.
A feud erupted when the duchess kept Princess Victoria from attending her uncle William's coronation, allegedly over the fact that Victoria was improperly assigned a place in the coronation procession behind the dukes rather than directly behind the king, where his heir belonged. Sir John Conroy, the comptroller of the Duchess Victoire's household, was involved in this decision. In 1832, he organized a series of semi-royal tours during which the princess V was formally presented to the nation. These affairs enraged King William, as they were carried about with certain hostility toward his reign, and because Conroy went out of his way to foster a sort of rival royalty, exploiting the emotions aroused that year by the Reform Bill, which had greatly pitted the Whig and Tory parties against one another. Conroy and the duchess were very friendly toward the liberal Whigs while the King and his household was much more conservative and Tory in cast.
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Which all-Pullman train ran between London and Brighton from 1931 to 1972? | Brighton Belle
Brighton Belle
The Brighton Belle passing Purley Oaks at speed in June 1964.
The Brighton Belle was a named train which was operated by the Southern Railway and subsequently by British Rail from Victoria Station in London to Brighton , on the Sussex coast. Commissioned as the flagship of the Southern Railway’s mass electrification project, which commenced in January 1931, the world’s only electric all- Pullman service ran daily between London Victoria and Brighton from 1 January 1933 until 30 April 1972.
Contents
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History
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) began using Pullman cars in its express trains in 1875, and in December 1881 they introduced the first all-Pullman train in the UK. Known as the Pullman Limited, this ran between London Victoria and Brighton via Horsham and subsequently ordinary rolling stock was added to the service. In 1888 a second all-Pullman service was instituted, using cars lit by electricity and designed by William Stroudley . [1]
The LB&SCR was the origin of the British umber and cream Pullman livery. In 1903 R. J. Billinton changed the colour of the ordinary LB&SCR coaches to umber brown with white or cream upper panels, and in 1906 this colour scheme was also adopted by the Pullman Car Co., with the name of the car in large gilt letters on the lower panel and flanked on each side by a coloured transfer of the Pullman Company’s crest.
Another all-Pullman service was introduced in 1908 under the name of the Southern Belle. Contemporary advertising by the LB&SCR claimed that this was “… the most luxurious train in the world…”. In 1908 this could be experienced for a special London Victoria to Brighton day return fare of 12 shillings, a premium rate at a time when average earnings were around £1 a week (or 20 shillings). The Southern Belle was steam hauled until 1 January 1933, when electric units were introduced. Trial trains had commenced running between London and Brighton on 2 November 1932, using an experimental five-coach unit (No. 2001) and examples of the new rolling stock were exhibited at London Victoria and Brighton stations from 29 December 1932. [2] With the arrival of the mid-day Victoria to Brighton service at Brighton Station on 29 June 1934, the Mayor of Brighton, Margaret Hardy, [3] renamed the train the Brighton Belle, [4] and it retained this title until withdrawal. The service was scheduled to take 60 minutes for the 51-mile express journey.
Three five-car all-Pullman electric multiple units designated 5-BEL were commissioned by the Southern Railway as the flagship of the world’s then-largest electrification project, which covered over 160 track miles. The 15 cars – built in 1932 by Metropolitan-Cammell at its Saltley works in Birmingham – were operated in trains comprising two units, the remaining unit normally held in reserve. The ‘spare’ multiple unit set was used for a Sunday Pullman service from Eastbourne , known as the Eastbourne Pullman for much of the 1950s, but this service was discontinued in 1957.
During the Second World War the service was suspended after Unit 3052 was badly damaged by aerial bombing at London Victoria; all cars were placed in safe storage at Crystal Palace (High Level) station , but the service was progressively reinstated in 1946.
The trains were refurbished and overhauled in 1955, but by 1972 the stock was old and rode poorly by contemporary standards. Despite protests, [5] the decision was taken not to replace the rolling stock and the service was withdrawn on 30 April 1972. Every car was preserved, in most cases to meet the ambitions of major breweries to ‘bolt on’ Pullman restaurants to pubs and hotels, although most were removed relatively quickly because of the high cost of maintenance and refurbishment. [6] A number were progressively acquired by the Venice Simplon Orient Express , while one still remains in use as B&B accommodation at the Little Mill Inn, Rowarth, Derbyshire. [7] Motor brake car 90 was used for passenger service on the Nene Valley Railway between 1980 and 1990, but was subsequently scrapped at Bury in 1995 following a series of arson attacks.
The Southern ran three Pullman trains with the suffix Belle. The others were the Bournemouth Belle and the Devon Belle . British Railways introduced the Thanet Belle (later renamed the Kentish Belle) in 1948. [8]
Restoration
Driving Cars 88 and 91 were coupled together for the very first time when the latter arrived at Rampart of Derby for restoration in September 2009.
A campaign [9] to return the Brighton Belle to mainline service was launched by the 5-BEL Trust [10] in 2009. The trustees had been concerned for some time about the worrying state of electric train preservation in Britain and wanted to raise the profile of the issue and to deal with the issues of financial support and covered accommodation. The project was launched at the National Railway Museum following the acquisition of two of the surviving 14 cars; by early 2009 four out of the five cars needed to form a complete unit [11] had been acquired and the trust had set in place agreements to cover refurbishment of the cars, which began at Pullman restoration specialists Rampart Engineering at the Barrow Hill Engine Shed in February 2009.
When the 5-BEL project is completed, it will be returned to mainline service. Despite the high cost of the restoration (approaching £6 million) the programme is seen as an investment for future generations. Progress with the restoration of the Brighton Belle to mainline use will depend in part on the level of public donations. This is the first time that a complete train will have been restored in Britain. [12] A short train of three cars will undergo mainline proving trials in 2016, with mainline excursions with a four car unit commencing shortly afterwards. [13] A restored fifth car will be added before the end of 2016, with the final car expected to be completed in 2017.
Train unit completed
Brighton Belle Car 88 on display in Brighton for the first time in 40 years to celebrate the acquisition of the fifth car needed to form a complete Belle unit.
Pullman First Class Car ‘Hazel’ had been continuously used as a restaurant attached to the ‘Black Bull’ at Moulton, Yorks, since 1972. It took two enormous mobile cranes to perform the delicate removal operation on 10 August 2012.
During February 2011, Driving Car 88 was displayed on the Brighton seafront to celebrate the acquisition of the Trust’s fifth car. [14] The fifth 5BEL car required was Pullman First Doris, then based at the Bluebell Railway for the Bluebell’s pullman rake, and thus a swap was arranged. The 5-BEL Trust had purchased Golden Arrow Pullman Kitchen Car Carina and supplied this to the Bluebell railway in exchange for Doris, allowing the Bluebell Railway to complete a five-car all-Pullman Golden Arrow rake. Carina is of considerable heritage importance, having formed part of Winston Churchill ‘s funeral train which carried the principal mourners from London to Bladon on 30 January 1965.
The 5-BEL Trust said at the time that acquiring Doris as the trust’s fifth car was not only the right move from a heritage standpoint but also it demonstrated the benefits of like-minded organisations working together. The following year, on 6 September 2012, the 5BEL Trust announced [15] that, following two years of complex negotiations with the owners of the Black Bull at Moulton, near Richmond, it had purchased Pullman first ‘Hazel’ (no. 279) the previous month and had removed the car by road to the Brighton Belle shed at Barrow Hill. The car had been in continuous use as a highly praised restaurant since 1972 and her removal was an extremely delicate operation, involving the use of two of the largest mobile cranes in Britain. The acquisition of a second first class car, originally considered as an impossible outcome, permits the correct unit configuration of two motor brakes, two trailer kitchen firsts and a trailer parlour third, with a trailer held in reserve.
Brighton mural
On 23 September 2010, the then Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Geoffrey Wells, and Sir William McAlpine jointly unveiled [16] a commemorative Brighton Belle street mural . This striking feature has been painted into the arches in Trafalgar Street underneath Brighton Station, and runs along the length of the Brighton Toy and Model Museum .
See also
| Brighton Belle |
The Palk strait separates which two countries? | Brighton Belle
Brighton Belle
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Bring Back the Brighton Belle
The Brighton Belle represents an important part of our railway heritage, the only all-electric Pullman car train in the world. Launched by the Southern Railway in 1933, it offered passengers travelling between London and Brighton a unique blend of romance, luxury and personal service. When the Brighton Belle was withdrawn from service in 1972, it looked like not only the end of a glorious era, but also the permanent loss of a railway icon.
History of the Brighton Belle
Pullman cars were first introduced to Britain in the 1870s by the Midland Railway. George Mortimer Pullman, an American, pioneered the idea of charging a premium fare for travel in luxury cars with at-seat meal service. At first his cars ran singly or in pairs in normal railway company trains, but in 1899 the London Brighton and South Coast Railway experimented with an all-Pullman summer excursion train, the Brighton Sunday Pullman Limited. It proved such a success that it was extended to an all-the-year-round service. A new 7-car train was introduced to the route in 1908 and carried the name Southern Belle. Other notable steam-hauled Pullman trains operated by the Southern Railway were the White Pullman from 1924 (later renamed the Golden Arrow) and the Bournemouth Belle from 1931. Certain boat train services to Southampton also featured Pullman cars.
On 1st January 1933 the Southern Railway began operating main line multiple-unit electric trains between London and Brighton. To fit in with this scheme, the Southern Belle was equipped with three new five-car sets of Pullmans, built by Metropolitan-Cammell at Saltley, Birmingham. Each set provided seats for 40 first class and 132 third class passengers. Painted in the distinctive Pullman livery of umber and cream and adorned with the Pullman Car Company coat of arms, the sets had driver's and guard's compartments at the outer ends and were commonly coupled together as a ten-car train. The service provided three 60-minute runs in each direction and, apart from a change of name to the Brighton Belle in 1934 and wartime interruptions, continued virtually unchanged for the next thirty-odd years.
Changes began to escalate in the 1960s. As with other trains, for the benefit of track staff the end panels were treated to, first, a yellow warning patch, then an overall yellow face. The traditional livery was replaced with standard rail blue and grey as the Pullman Car Co was no longer an independent company. Kippers disappeared from the breakfast menu. The journey time was cut to 55 minutes, provoking complaints of rough riding. Finally, having outlasted their contemporaries and showing their age, the three sets were withdrawn after April 1972 and replaced with standard Brighton-line trains. The Brighton Belle was no more.
Many mourned the passing of the Belle and crowds swarmed on the platforms to say goodbye on its last day. Something of profound importance had been lost. The Belle had personality - a whiff of luxury, an air of excitement, an aura of romance - reinforced by the people who travelled in it, an esoteric community of film stars, politicians, the aristocracy and the rich, the celebrities of the age.
Life after death
When the Brighton Belle was withdrawn, the fifteen cars were sold at auction and dispersed across Britain - although not, as some had feared, to America. Fourteen are still in existence in various collections: all have been repainted into the traditional colours but many still need extensive restoration inside and out. There is now a very real chance that future generations will be able to experience this wonderfully evocative train following the launch by the Transport Trust of the Bring Back the Brighton Belle campaign. The objective is to restore at least 3 cars to an operational train set.
This campaign will be the beacon to fill a gap in our transport heritage by creating a working home for electric multiple-unit trains. The cars will be refurbished one by one as funds permit. The Belle is poised to be reborn, initially as a 3-car set capable of being propelled by, for example, a class 73 electro-diesel locomotive. It is hoped one day to gather two more trailers and fit electric motors again so that the Belle may run once more as a self-contained train into the historic station at Brighton.
The project now has its own website, brightonbelle.com .
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What is the most populous city on the Japanese island of Hokkaido? | Overview of the Four Islands of Japan
• Honshu
Honshu is the largest island of Japan and it is where the majority of the country's cities are located ( maps ). The Tokyo Osaka-Kyoto area is the core Honshu and Japan and 25% of the island's population lives in the Tokyo region. Honshu has a total area of 88,017 square miles (227,962 sq km) and it is the world's seventh largest island. The island is 810 miles (1,300 km) long and it has a varied topography that includes many different mountain ranges, some of which are volcanic. The highest of these is the volcanic Mount Fuji at 12,388 feet (3,776 m). Like many areas of Japan, earthquakes are also common on Honshu.
Honshu is divided into five regions and 34 prefectures . The regions are Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai and Chugoku. More »
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• Hokkaido
Hokkaido is the second largest island of Japan with a total area of 32,221 square miles (83,453 sq km). The population of Hokkaido is 5,507,456 (October 2010 estimate) and the main city on the island is Sapporo, which is also the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture. Hokkaido is located to the north of Honshu and the two islands are separated by the Tsugaru Strait ( map ). The topography of Hokkaido consists of a mountainous volcanic plateau in its center that is surrounded by coastal plains. There are a number of active volcanoes on Hokkaido, the tallest of which is Asahidake at 7,510 feet (2,290 m).
Since Hokkaido is located in northern Japan, it is known for its cold climate. Summers on the island are cool, while winters are snowy and icy. More »
• Kyushu
Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan and it is located to the south of Honshu ( map ). It has a total area of 13,761 square miles (35,640 sq km) and a 2006 population of 13,231,995 people. The largest city on Kyushu is Fukuoka and it is divided into seven prefectures. Kyushu's topography consists mainly of mountains and the most active volcano in Japan, Mt. Aso, is located on the island. In addition to Mt. Aso, there are also hot springs on Kyushu and the highest point on the island, Kuju-san at 5,866 feet (1,788 m) is also a volcano.
Since it is in southern Japan, Kyushu has a subtropical climate and its inhabitants produce a variety of agricultural products. These include rice, tea, tobacco, sweet potatoes and soy. More »
• Shikoku
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan's main islands with a total area of 7,260 square miles (18,800 sq km). This area is made up of main island as well as the small islets surrounding it. It is located to the south of Honshu and to the east of Kyushu and has a population of 4,414,955 (2005 estimate) ( map ). The largest city of Shikoku is Matsuyama and the island is divided into four prefectures. Shikoku has a varied topography that consists of a mountainous south, while there are small lowland plains on the Pacific coast near Kochi. The highest point on Shikoku is Mount Ishizuchi at 6,503 feet (1,982 m).
Like Kyushu, Shikoku has a subtropical climate and agriculture is practiced in its fertile coastal plains, while fruit is grown in the north. More »
| Sapporo |
Port Louis is the capital city of which island nation? | The Four Largest Islands of Japan | USA Today
The Four Largest Islands of Japan
Osaka, in Honshu, circa 1830
(Photo: Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images )
How to Go to Japan for Vacation
The Japanese archipelago consists of thousands of islands, but the Japan of world maps -- the bow-shaped country in the Pacific curling around the east coast of continental Asia -- is made up of four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. Honshu is the largest, roughly the size of Minnesota, followed by Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Each island offers something a little different for the tourist, but the four are unified by Japan's technology and hospitality.
Honshu
When you look at a map of Japan, you can see the divides between its four main land masses. Honshu is central, with Tokyo in the central part of the island. The main island is also home Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nagoya, and the majority of Japan's population lives here. Most international flights to Japan arrive through Tokyo or Osaka, so Honshu is the most frequently visited island, partly by default. Its large cities take some getting used to for the traveler, but with great reward. Starting a Honshu trip in Osaka makes sense, as Kobe, Kyoto and the spectacular Nara are only an hour away by train, some high-speed, some commuter. All major cities in Honshu are connected by rail, though flying on the longer trips -- Hiroshima to Tokyo, for example -- might be more economical.
Hokkaido
Hokkaido is the dot on the Japanese "j," the second-largest and northernmost island. Hokkaido's largest city is Sapporo, where the well known Japanese beer of the same name comes from, and most Hokkaido vacations begin here. The island is known for its natural landscape, with an abundance of national parks and festivals celebrating its earthly beauty. Hokkaido's Winter Festival brings visitors from around the world and around Japan to the region each year, and the Hokkaido's mountains draw skiers and snowboarders to their deep, pristine powder.
Kyushu
Kyushu is Japan's third-largest island and the southernmost of the main four. Despite being separated by a small gulf from Honshu, Kyushu is well-connected by rail and bus service to Honshu. Kyushu's largest city is Fukuoka, the fourth-largest city in Japan, an industrial metropolis on the northern edge of Kyushu. While Fukuoka is the central hub of the island, it's by no means the most interesting city. Nagasaki is smaller, but quaint, with old stone streets, trolleys, shopping and museums. Kumamoto, two hours south of Fukuoka, is an old fortress city, with one of Japan's oldest and best-maintained feudal castles and walls evoking the Japan of the nation's nightly historical dramas.
Shikoku
The smallest of Japan's four main islands, Shikoku has a bit of a little-sibling complex. It doesn't boast mountains as big as those in northern Honshu or Hokkaido, and it doesn't have the same near-tropical climate as southern Kyushu. So Shikoku is modest, offering tourists a tamer version of the busier tourist regions of Japan. Its natural scenery is its key draw, with smallish mountains under 6,000 feet that appeal to outdoors enthusiasts in moderate physical shape. Each year, Shikoku is home to a Buddhist pilgrimage, as pilgrims, mostly from around Japan, come to circumnavigate the island. In the past, pilgrims walked clockwise around the island and some disappeared forever in the mountainside forests; now, motorways and cell phones make disappearing almost impossible, but the festival remains strongly rooted in the Shikoku consciousness.
References
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When used as an artists’ pigment, the oxide of which metal is known as Chinese white? | Pigments through the Ages - History - Zinc white
Technical details
History of Zinc white:
Zinc has been known as a mineral since antiquity when it was melted with copper to form brass. It was also known then, as it is today, as a medicinal ointment. Sources differ on who first isolated the element. Harley and Wehlte claim it was Henkel in 1421 who first produced metallic zinc. Gettens and Stout maintain it was the German chemist, Margraaf in 1746. Historians agree, however, that in 1782, zinc oxide was suggested as a white pigment. Guyton de Morveau at L'Académie de Dijon, France, reported on white pigments and the raw materials which might serve as white pigments, including zinc oxide in that year. He suggested zinc oxide as a substitute for white lead. Metallic zinc had originally come from China and the East Indies. When zinc ore was found in Europe, large-scale production of the extracted metallic zinc began. In 1794 and 1796 patents were issued for the manufacture of zinc oxide to the English colormaker John Atkinson of Harrington Near Liverpool.
Zinc white was accepted as a watercolor by 1834 but it was some years later before its difficulties in oil were overcome. In 1834, Winsor and Newton, Limited, of London, introduced a particularly dense form of zinc oxide which was sold as Chinese white. It was different from former zinc white in that the zinc was heated at much higher temperatures than the late eighteenth century variety. The name 'Chinese white' is said to have come from the oriental porcelain that was very popular in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. George H. Backhoffner of London disputed Winsor and Newton's claim of their superior white watercolor in his book Chemistry as Applied to the Fine Arts, London, 1837. Backhoffner recommended Flemish white as superior (white lead). Winsor and Newton believed that although scientists would ignore Backhoffner, artists would not use the Chinese white because Backhoffner lectured widely in the Art Academies and his opinion would be well known to them. In 1837, Winsor and Newton published a response to Backhoffner in Remarks on White Pigments used by WaterColour Painters and distributed copies to the artists. They were successful in convincing artists of the superiority of Chinese white because the name is still synonymous today for all zinc white in watercolor.
By 1844, a better zinc white for oil was developed by LeClaire in Paris. He ground the zinc oxide with poppy oil that had been made fast drying by boiling it with pyrolusite (MnO2). In 1845, he was producing the oil paint on a large scale. By 1850, zinc white was being manufactured throughout Europe.
Zinc white was still a slow drying white requiring twenty-three parts of oil to one hundred parts of pigment whereas lead white requires fifteen parts of oil. Zinc is essentially permanent in sunlight although the yellowing in oil affects its brightness. It had advantages over white lead because it was not blackened by sulphur-bearing air or other pigments containing sulphur, as lead is. It is non-toxic and more economical than white lead.
It is neiter as opaque nor heavy as lead white and it takes much longer to dry. Because zinc white is so "clean" it is very valuable for making tints with other colors. Tints made with zinc white show every nuance of a color's undertones to a degree greater than tints made with other whites, and the artist has time to complete his work before the paint dries. Despite its many advantages over lead white, zinc white oil color also has a drawback; it makes a rather brittle dry paint film when used unmixed with other colors. Zinc whites' lack of pliancy can cause cracks in paintings after only a few years if this color is used straight up to excess. For example, during the late 1890's and very early 1900's some artists used zinc white as a ground for their oil paintings. They wanted to utilize the brilliance of this color, but did not realize its long term disadvantage. After a period of years, all of these paintings developed cracks where older works painted on more traditional grounds remained free from cracks.It is perfectly safe to use in moderate amounts for normal color mixing and for painting. Because it is relatively slow drying, zinc white is also useful for highlighting, as it will not dry faster than the color it was painted over. However, it would be a poor choice for painting a Winterscape or similar paintings having large expanses of white, because zinc white dries to a brittle film that would crack.
When was Zinc white used?
Discovery
| Zinc |
What word links a walrus and a telecommunications pioneer? | handprint : colormaking attributes
-45
8,8
Lamp black PBk6 is a very lightfast, very opaque, heavily staining black pigment, available from 6 pigment manufacturers worldwide. The ASTM (1999) rates its lightfastness in watercolors as "excellent" (I). This is typically the darkest valued, most opaque black in a watercolor line (ivory or bone black is usually offered as a slightly less intense, warmer alternative). Because it is so dark, it shows a large proportional drying shift increasing in lightness by 180%.
Note that all watercolor black paints applied to white paper have a value range of 75 or less that is, a CIE lightness of about 20, which makes them all dark grays. These paints require a light valued surround to appear really "black"; combined with other dark pigments they will instead appear dark gray.
Daniel Smith lamp black shows some granulation in wet applications; the Winsor & Newton blue black (now discontinued) was very finely divided. All carbon blacks stain heavily, as the particle size is very small and dispersants are often added during milling to completely wet the pigment.
The watercolorists' four traditional shadow or foundation colors were neutral tint, payne's gray, indigo (see these indigo convenience mixtures) and sepia (see the convenience mixtures under PBr7 ). Today these are all imitated by convenience mixtures based on carbon black.
Neutral tint was developed by 18th century English watercolorists as a mixture of light red (red iron oxide) and indigo (or iron blue) with a touch of yellow, such as gamboge or yellow ochre. It was preferred to sepia ink as a neutralizing (desaturating) mixer or a foundation tint because it did not dull either warm or cool paints. Most artists today use a neutral tint in preference to a pure carbon black. Winsor & Newton neutral tint mixes lamp black with a dark blue ( PB15 ) and red violet ( PV19 ) to give the color a slight but noticeable violet bias. The mixture is typically used to dull and darken paints, and to provide a shadow color, without changing the apparent hue of mixtures; it also makes an effective stormy sky color, modulated by added blue or violet.
Payne's gray was developed by William Payne as a mixture of iron blue ( PB27 ), yellow ochre and a crimson lake, used as a dark violet shadow color. Shown here are the M. Graham and Winsor & Newton versions. The paints typically have a very dull, dark bluish cast, closer to a neutral dark gray than an indigo convenience mixture.
Either of these near black paints is excellent for monochrome value paintings , though for that purpose I prefer convenience mixtures such as indigo or sepia that develop a more pronounced hue as they are diluted into tints.
The common complaint against any carbon black paint is that the dullness of the finished pigment contrasts unpleasantly with the other paints around it, even other dark paints. This is because carbon pigments are totally opaque, and therefore the light scattering from the surface of the pigment is enhanced after the paint dries , adding a distinct whitish veil to the finished color. There are two solutions to this problem. One is to glaze the black areas with one or more coats of a moderately diluted gum arabic solution, which reduces the surface scattering and so darkens and enriches the color. The other is to mix carbon black paints with a small amount of a strongly tinting dark paint a clean burnt umber, phthalo blue or dioxazine violet, for example which seems to reduce the fading effect. But use with extreme caution: if applied in a painting where its deep value is not harmonious with the rest of the picture, black passages can stand out unnaturally. See also the section on natural organic pigments.
Incidentally, a rich, transparent, extremely lightfast and flexible alternative to all carbon black and convenience dark neutral paints (indigo, sepia, neutral tint, payne's gray, etc.) is the generic mixture I call synthetic black. I originally developed this mixture using the additive (RGB) primaries indanthrone blue ( PB60 ), benzimida brown ( PBr25 ) and phthalocyanine green ( PG7 ), roughly in the proportions 8:6:1, although any transparent, dull and/or dark red orange, green and blue or violet paint mixture will work fine. The reasons for using the additive primaries are that (1) they enhance the light canceling effects of subtractive mixture more than a mixture of the subtractive (CYM) primaries, and (2) the paint proportions can be varied slightly to shift the "black" mixture toward any hue of dark shade (as demonstrated in this painting ).
However, if a potent, achromatic dark gray is the goal, then it is more efficient to use two mixing complements . The darkest and most efficient mixture along the red/green contrast consists of perylene maroon ( PR179 ) and phthalocyanine green BS ( PG7 ), roughly in the proportions 5:1; along the orange/blue contrast the darkest mixture is quinacridone orange ( PO48 ) and iron blue ( PB27 ) in roughly 4:1 proportions. (Exact recipes depend on paint brands; alternative mixtures are listed in the page on watercolor mixing complements .) Daniel Smith, M. Graham, and Da Vinci offer all four paints; Winsor & Newton, Rowney Artists and MaimeriBlu make a quinacridone maroon ( PR206 ) that you can substitute for the perylene maroon and quinacridone orange.
In the correct proportions, either the three paint or two paint mixtures give an extremely dark, dead on black color; tweaking the proportions of the paints will shift the hue to mimic any commercial dark shade paint (sepia, perylene black, indigo, neutral tint, payne's gray), as well as dark shades that are magenta, turquoise or deep yellow. In masstone applications these mixtures are actually darker valued than most lamp or ivory blacks ( PBk9 ). They create a velvety luster, rather than the usual carbon black dullness, that harmonizes well with other dark valued paints; they can be used to produce shades of any paint, and when applied wet in wet or used in diluted glazes, color separation among the pigments will produce subtle and shimmering color effects.
PBk7
carbon black mixed with lamp black (antiquity)
carbon black
+10
8,8
Charcoal black PBk8 is a very lightfast, semitransparent, moderately staining, subtly textured, very dark valued black pigment, available from only one registered manufacturer worldwide (W. Hawley & Son, UK). The ASTM (1999) and my own tests rate its lightfastness in watercolors as "excellent" (I). It is traditionally a pure wood charcoal made from carbonized willow stems, which must be ground into pigment; this produces coarser pigment particles than amorphous or soot blacks, giving charcoal blacks a subtle texture. Old Holland vine black is very textural in nearly all applications, making it most suitable for light application or very romantic textural effects in stormy skies or desert landscapes. The gum vehicle can cause noticeable lifting, splotching or bronzing if paint layers are laid over it. The Winsor & Newton, now discontinued, was much darker and easier to work with, creating a lovely deep powdery black when rewetted. See also the section on natural organic pigments.
PBk9
soot from burned animal bone (antiquity)
ivory black
8,8
TOP 40 PIGMENT
Bone or ivory black PBk9 is the third of the three major black pigments, available from 3 pigment manufacturers worldwide. Like the other carbon blacks, it is very lightfast, semitransparent, staining, slightly textured, and active in wet applicatons. The ASTM (1999) and my own tests rate its lightfastness in watercolors as "excellent" (I). The apparent drying shift is less than for other black pigments (a mere 85% increase in lightness), because the color is slightly lighter to begin with. The traditional method of manufacture was to place ivory shavings in iron casks that were heated in ceramic ovens until entirely carbonized; modern pigments are made from bone. Many artists prefer ivory black because it harmonizes better with other watercolor pigments. M. Graham ivory black and Rowney Artists ivory black are semitransparent, staining and among the darkest ivory blacks available; both take on a beautiful slate color in tints. Winsor & Newton ivory black is lighter but an equally neutral and finely milled paint; it is the "warm" black to complement the "cool" and slightly darker lamp black ( PBk6 ). Daniel Smith ivory black is more coarsely milled, producing ultramarine-like textural effects in wet applications. The MaimeriBlu bone black is a thinly concentrated cool gray, less suitable for very dark passages. See also the section on natural organic pigments.
PBk10
115
paint introduced after my last pigment tests
Magnetic black or iron oxide black PBk11 is a very lightfast, semiopaque, staining, very dark valued black pigment, offered by over 20 pigment manufacturers worldwide, for use in paints, cosmetics, construction materials and to provide machine readable magnetic printing on bank checks. Unrated by the ASTM, my lightfastness tests put it solidly in the "excellent" (I) category. Daniel Smith lunar black produces an extraordinary etched granulation from the mangetization of the iron particles; the capillary movement of water in blossoming cuts veins of pure white against pure black. Excellent for unusual textural effects, but these will stand out unless you know the pigment well. The Winsor & Newton mars black has a smoother consistency with less assertive texturing, but it provides a more intense "black" (dark gray) color than some carbon blacks.
CAUTION. The more I use this paint, the less comfortable I am with it. The texture is very difficult to control, and the paint acquires a kind of gouache flatness in tints. It is a very unsatisfactory shadow color, and so far has only proven useful to represent black stained work or black wool sweaters. However, a small amount added to an earth yellow or red can produce interesting and manageable mineral textures. See also the section on iron pigments.
PBk19+PW4
black chalk + zinc oxide + carbon black
davy's gray [hue]
-10
5,5
Davy's gray was originally a slate pigment developed by Winsor & Newton for an 18th century English drawing master (known for his use of the paint); it is now replicated through compounds made with black chalk (carbonaceous hydrated aluminum silicate, PBk19). The ASTM (1999) rates its lightfastness in watercolors as "excellent" (I). However, in my tests the Winsor & Newton davy's gray, an opaque, staining, mid valued gray convenience mixture with a slight greenish cast, was impermanent. It lightened and became more opaque after 6 weeks of sunlight exposure ( BWS 6 ), apparently due to the admixture of chinese white (see the caution under PW4 ). It is a very pretty pigment that is especially good for very light gray passages, as its coverage remains smooth at those values (many blacks will look blotchy or granulate at that dilution).
lightfastness test sample
unexposed (top); exposed 800+ hours (bottom)
PBk31
-3
7,8
TOP 40 PIGMENT Perylene black PBk31 is a very lightfast, semitransparent, staining, very dark valued dark shade pigment (yellow green hue), manufactured by BASF as Paliogen Black. Unrated by the ASTM, my lightfastness tests put it in the "excellent" (I) category, with slight fading in the tint after 800+ hours of sunlight exposure. It has a greenish black color, approximately the same hue as chromium oxide green ( PG17 ), that becomes more apparent in tints. The average CIECAM J,a,b values for perylene green (PBk31) are: 21, -8, 8, with chroma of 11 (estimated hue purity of 13) and a hue angle of 133.
Winsor & Newton perylene green is the only commercial source of the pure pigment in watercolors, and after I had tried this paint I did not know how I had gotten along without it. In concentrated form the paint produces a very dark near neutral hue, almost indistinguishable from a true black, with a relatively small drying shift; mixed with an unadulterated dioxazine violet, quinacridone violet or perylene violet ( PV29 ) it creates a darker and more stable black than most carbon based paints. (Note that additives used to adulterate these expensive pigments or adjust the vehicle may cause an unexpected whitening of the dried color. If you don't get a deep black, try another brand of paints.) In tints it creates a dull, light valued sap green or hooker's green, often ideal for distant landscape foliage. It is very effective for darkening all foliage greens and as a shadow color for botanicals and landscapes, but also (in very dilute glazes) as a shadow tint for portraits and figure paintings; excellent for desaturating and darkening warm paints, and for mixing dull, dark greens with yellow, green or blue paints. See also the section on perylene pigments.
PW4
+5
8,8
Chinese white (or zinc white) PW4 is a very lightfast, opaque, moderately staining white pigment, available from 4 pigment manufacturers worldwide. The ASTM (1999) rates its lightfastness in watercolors as "excellent" (I), but I discovered in my 2004 tests that the pigment becomes somewhat brighter and noticeably more opaque after 4 to 6 weeks of sunlight exposure ( BWS 6 ). The standard paint lightfastness tests do not catch changes in paint transparency, so this effect goes unnoticed in the paint lightfastness ratings.
Known since antiquity as a byproduct of copper smelting, zinc oxide was first adopted as an artists' pigment in the 18th century (in part to replace the toxic lead whites, in use since Roman times). It commonly goes by the name chinese white, the proprietary name given to a particularly dense formulation developed by Winsor & Newton in 1834. Zinc oxide is a slightly warm shade of white that completely absorbs ultraviolet radiation at wavelengths below 370nm. Like a good cadmium pigment, it changes reflectivity with viewing angle: appearing as a pure white from a perpendicular view, but slightly grayed (less reflective) from the side.
White pigments show almost no drying shift, although they become much less opaque: a completely hiding coat of wet paint will appear translucent when it dries. Chinese white is usually deemed the "transparent" white in comparison to "opaque" titanium white ( PW6 ) because zinc white has a lower refractive index , although this difference is rather subtle in watercolors and easily shifted one way or the other by paint dilution or pigment load. (In my tests, chinese whites were slightly though consistently more opaque than titanium whites.)
Most brands of zinc oxide are indistinguishable, except for slight variations in milling additives, pigment load or vehicle formulation. The pigment itself is extremely cheap, and when watercolor manufacturers offer a single white paint, this is typically the pigment they carry. Winsor & Newton chinese white is very opaque and fairly inert in wet applications. It covers reasonably well and mixes smoothly as a bodycolor with other paints. Zinc oxide is slightly warm, appearing to have a vague pink or brown cast in masstone, and this harmonizes well with the ivory tone of most watercolor papers. However, it can appear bluish in tints, especially when glazed over other colors.
CAUTION. Many convenience paints formulated with zinc white, such as the typical naples yellow or Winsor & Newton's winsor emerald , fade markedly after a month of direct sunlight exposure. It is also common painter's lore that some dark pigments, such as iron blue ( PB27 ) or dixoazine violet ( PV23 ) become significantly less lightfast if mixed with a white paint. I have not tested zinc white used as a foundation layer to whiten paper, as a top glaze to veil and lighten color, or when mixed directly with other paints, but I ask you to send me any observations you may have made and suggest you test paints mixed in this way through your own lightfastness tests . See also the section on zinc pigments.
PW6
7,6
TOP 40 PIGMENT
Titanium white PW6 (titanium dioxide) is a very lightfast, semiopaque, lightly staining white pigment, available from about 30 pigment manufacturers worldwide. The ASTM (1999) and all manufacturers rate its lightfastness in watercolors as "excellent" (I). White pigment watercolors show almost no drying shift, although they become much less opaque as they dry: a totally hiding wet coat of paint will appear translucent when it dries. The economic importance of titanium dioxide cannot be overstated: it represents more than 60% of the world's total pigment production, and provides the highly hiding (opaque), white base for nearly all oil, latex and acrylic paints sold for home and architectural uses and as a whitening additive to paper. (The primary alternative has been somewhat grayer lithopone, a calcined coprecipitate of zinc sulfide and barium sulfate.) Titanium white is a brighter (more reflective) and more perfectly neutral white than any other pigment; it is also one of the most opaque. In first appears in artists' (oil) paints around the turn of the 19th century, but has been widely available only since the 1950's.
Winsor & Newton titanium white is a slightly brighter, cleaner white than chinese white; in most watercolor applications it will appear stiff or artificial unless used very sparingly, or as a bodycolor mixed with more saturated paints. (Note the misleading marketing name adopted by Holbein: their "chinese white" is simply a less opaque and slightly warmer formulation of titanium white.) Daniel Smith buff titanium white is made from titanium pigment heated to high temperatures with a larger pigment particle size; this shifts the color toward a light valued, very dull latte brown, making it a good pigment to lighten and desaturate greens or blues, for example, or to render gray desert foliage. I found that it grayed significantly in masstone after a week or two of direct sunlight exposure, but did not worsen thereafter, causing the final color shift to be comparatively small. Both types of titanium are moderately active in wet applications, which usually also means they will mix well with other pigments. See also the section on titanium pigments.
KEY TO THE PAINT RATINGS. Summarized as numbers: Tr = Transparency: 0 (very opaque) to 4 (transparent) - St = Staining: 0 (nonstaining) to 4 (heavily staining) - VR = Value Range: the value of the masstone color subtracted from the value of white paper, in steps of a 100 step value scale - Gr = Granulation: 0 (liquid texture) to 4 (granular) - Bl = Blossom: 0 (no blossom) to 4 (strong blossom) - Df = Diffusion: 0 (inert) to 4 (very active diffusion) - HA = Hue Angle in degrees of the CIELAB a*b* plane - HS = Hue Shift as the undertone hue angle minus the masstone hue angle, in degrees of the CIELAB a*b* plane - Lf = Lightfastness: 1 (very fugitive) to 8 (very lightfast) for paint in tint,full strength - Mentioned in pigment notes: Chroma: For the masstone paint on white watercolor paper. - Drying Shift: Change in masstone color appearance from a glistening wet to completely dry paint swatch, in units of lightness, chroma and hue angle in CIELAB. For more information see What the Ratings Mean .
Last revised 07.I.2015 © 2015 Bruce MacEvoy
| i don't know |
Edmund II, son of Æthelred the Unready, was known by what appellation? | Edmund Ironside
Encyclopedia > History > Biographies > British and Irish History: Biographies
Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside, d. 1016, king of the English (1016), son of Æthelred the Unready. Contrary to the wishes of his father, he married (1015) the widow of Siferth, a Danish thane, and was accepted as ruler of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw . When Canute invaded England in 1015, Emund led the fighting against him. However, the people apparently felt that he was a rebel against his father, for he found it hard to gain a following without his father's aid. At Æthelred's death (Apr., 1016) Edmund was proclaimed king in London, but most of the nobles gave their support to Canute. Edmund continued the struggle with great courage (which earned him the appellation Ironside) and considerable success until he was defeated in the disastrous battle of Assandun (Oct. 18, 1016). He and Canute agreed to partition the country, but Edmund died the following month.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
| Ironside |
Lawyer Miriam González Durántez is married to which prominent UK politician? | Ethelred the Unready | king of England | Britannica.com
Ethelred the Unready
Alternative Titles: Aethelred, Aethelred Unraed, Ethelred II
Ethelred the Unready
Edward
Ethelred the Unready, also spelled Aethelred, also called Ethelred II, or Aethelred Unraed (born 968?—died April 23, 1016, London , England ), king of the English from 978 to 1013 and from 1014 to 1016. He was an ineffectual ruler who failed to prevent the Danes from overrunning England. The epithet “unready” is derived from unraed, meaning “bad counsel” or “no counsel,” and puns on his name, which means “noble counsel.”
Ethelred II, coin, 10th century; in the British Museum.
Peter Clayton
The son of King Edgar (ruled 959–975), Ethelred ascended the throne upon the assassination of his half brother King Edward the Martyr in March 978. Widespread suspicion that Ethelred may have had a part in the murder created much of the distrust and disloyalty that undermined his authority. Hence, there was no unified defense when the Danish invasions resumed in 980.
Nearly all of the country was ravaged, and Ethelred’s efforts to buy peace only made the invaders more rapacious . When they did begin to settle down in towns, Ethelred provoked further invasions by launching a massacre of Danish settlers (Nov. 13, 1002). By the end of 1013 the Danish king Sweyn I had been accepted as king in England, and Ethelred had fled to Normandy .
After Sweyn died in February 1014, Ethelred’s council of advisers invited him to return to the throne on condition that he agree to satisfy their grievances. At the time of Ethelred’s death in 1016, Sweyn’s son Canute was ravaging England. Ethelred was succeeded by his son Edmund II Ironside (ruled 1016); one of his other sons ruled England as Edward the Confessor from 1042 to 1066. Despite the overall failures of the reign, evidence from his charters and coinage suggest that Ethelred’s government was more effective than was once believed.
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Which legendary American folk singer died in January 2014 at the age of 94? | Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger dies at 94 - CNN.com
Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger dies at 94
By Jethro Mullen, CNN
Updated 8:54 AM ET, Tue January 28, 2014
Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.
Photos: Photos: Folk legend Pete Seeger
Folk legend Pete Seeger – Legendary folk singer and political activist Pete Seeger died of natural causes on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94. Pictured, Seeger performs on stage in 1970.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger, center, performs with his group, the Weavers, at the Blue Angel nightclub in New York, circa 1948.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Musician Alan Lomax, center, and Seeger sing and play instruments as they practice for a concert in 1959.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger, center, appears as a musical guest on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with Tom Smothers, left, and Dick Smothers in 1967.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger appears with Johnny Cash on "The Johnny Cash Show" in 1970.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger participates in a shoreside festival at the Hudson River in New York in 1978.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger, from left, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman rehearse for a reunion concert of the Weavers in 1980.
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Photos: Photos: Folk legend Pete Seeger
Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger poses for a photograph in Beacon, New York, in 1995.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger participates in a protest march in New York City on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger performs with Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, left, and Bruce Springsteen, right, at "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial" in 2009.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger performs during the 2009 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize special outdoor tribute at Hunts Point Riverside Park in New York City in 2009.
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Folk legend Pete Seeger – Seeger sings with Occupy Wall Street protesters in October 2011 in New York City.
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Pete Seeger dies of natural causes in a New York hospital, his family says
His career spanned more than 70 years, often courting controversy
He is known for songs like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone"
Pete Seeger, the man considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary folk music who inspired legions of activist singer-songwriters, died Monday.
He was 94.
Seeger's best known songs include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)."
But his influence extended far beyond individual hits.
His grandson Kitama Cahill Jackson told CNN that the singer died of natural causes at New York Presbyterian Hospital on Monday evening.
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Folk icon Pete Seeger dies at 94 01:35
Photos: Photos: People we lost in 2014
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People we lost in 2014 – Click through to see people who died in 2014.
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People we lost in 2014 – Edward Herrmann , the versatile, honey-voiced actor whose roles included patricians and politicians such as "Gilmore Girls" father Richard Gilmore, "The Practice" law professor Anderson Pearson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, died on Wednesday, December 31. He was 71.
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People we lost in 2014 – Luise Rainer , who won back-to-back Oscars in the 1930s for "The Great Ziegfeld" and "The Good Earth," has died at the age of 104, her daughter reported on Tuesday, December 30.
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People we lost in 2014 – Christine Cavanaugh , who lent her distinctive voice to the title pig in "Babe," Chuckie Finster on "Rugrats" and Dexter of "Dexter's Laboratory," died December 22. She was 51.
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People we lost in 2014 – British rocker Joe Cocker died December 22 after a battle with lung cancer, Sony Music said in a statement. He was 70.
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People we lost in 2014 – Norman Bridwell , the creator of "Clifford the Big Red Dog," died December 12 in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, according to his publisher, Scholastic. Bridwell was 86.
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People we lost in 2014 – Legendary photographer Michel du Cille , a 26-year veteran of The Washington Post, died December 11 while on assignment in Liberia. The Post said du Cille, 58, collapsed "during a strenuous hike on the way back from a village" affected by the African country's Ebola outbreak.
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People we lost in 2014 – Mary Ann Mobley , the first Miss America from Mississippi who turned that achievement into a movie career, died December 10 after battling breast cancer. She was 77.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ken Weatherwax, who played Pugsley on the 1960s TV show "The Addams Family," died December 7, according to the Ventura County Coroner's Office. He was 59.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ian McLagan , a fun-loving keyboardist who played on records by such artists as the Rolling Stones, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen and his own bands -- the Small Faces and its successor, the Faces -- died December 3, according to a statement from his record label, Yep Roc Records. He was 69.
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People we lost in 2014 – American saxophonist Bobby Keys , who for years toured and recorded with the Rolling Stones, died on December 2. "The Rolling Stones are devastated by the loss of their very dear friend and legendary saxophone player, Bobby Keys," the band said on Twitter .
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People we lost in 2014 – To the world, he was known as "Chespirito." Roberto Gomez Bolanos gained fame as a comedian, but he was also a writer, actor, screenwriter, songwriter, film director and TV producer. The legendary entertainer died November 28 at the age of 85.
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People we lost in 2014 – British crime novelist P.D. James died November 27 at her home in Oxford, England. She was 94.
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People we lost in 2014 – Lebanese singer and actress Sabah , one of the Arab world's most prolific entertainers with a career spanning more than six decades, died November 26, in Beirut, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. She was 87.
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People we lost in 2014 – Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry is dead at the age of 78, a hospital spokeswoman said on November 23. Barry was elected four times as the city's chief executive. He was once revered nationally as a symbol of African-American political leadership. But his professional accomplishments were often overshadowed by drug and personal scandals.
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People we lost in 2014 – Acclaimed film director Mike Nichols died on November 19. Nichols, pictured here with his wife, journalist Diane Sawyer, was best known for his films "The Graduate," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "The Birdcage." He was 83.
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People we lost in 2014 – Jimmy Ruffin , silky-voiced singer of the Motown classic "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," died November 19 in Las Vegas. He was 78.
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People we lost in 2014 – 'Knight Rider" and "Battlestar Galactica" producer Glen A. Larson passed away November 14 after a battle with cancer. He was 77.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actress Carol Ann Susi , best known for voicing the unseen Mrs. Wolowitz on "The Big Bang Theory," died November 11. She was 62.
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People we lost in 2014 – Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson , a member of the hip-hop group the Sugarhill Gang, died November 11 of complications from cancer. He was 55.
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People we lost in 2014 – Tom Magliozzi , left, half of the "Click and Clack" team of brothers who hosted NPR's "Car Talk" radio show, died November 3. He was 77.
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People we lost in 2014 – "House of Cards" actress Elizabeth Norment passed away at the age of 61, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed October 28 via Norment's sister Kate. According to the star's obituary in The Washington Post, Norment died of cancer on October 13 at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York.
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People we lost in 2014 – Jack Bruce , bassist for the legendary 1960s rock band Cream, died October 25 at age 71.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ben Bradlee , the zestful, charismatic Washington Post editor who guided the paper through the era of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate and was immortalized on screen in "All the President's Men," died on October 21. He was 93.
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People we lost in 2014 – Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died on October 20, close friends of the family and industry colleagues told CNN. He was 82.
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People we lost in 2014 – "August: Osage County" actress Misty Upham was declared dead by a Washington coroner after her body was found along a river in suburban Seattle on October 16.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actress Elizabeth Pena died October 14, according to her manager. She was 55.
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People we lost in 2014 – Isaiah "Ikey" Owens , the keyboardist in Jack White's backing band, died October 14. The musician also played with bands such as Mars Volta and Free Moral Agents. He was 38.
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People we lost in 2014 – Mark Bell , who founded the highly influential techno-music duo LFO and later collaborated with Bjork on several iconic albums, died of complications from a surgery, his record label said October 13.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actress and comedian Jan Hooks died in New York on October 9. Her representative, Lisa Lieberman, confirmed the death to CNN but provided no additional information. According to IMDb.com, Hooks was 57.
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People we lost in 2014 – Geoffrey Holder , a versatile artist known for his ability as a dancer, actor and a pitchman for 7Up, died from complications due to pneumonia, his family's attorney said on October 6. Holder was 84.
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People we lost in 2014 – Paul Revere , leader of the 1960s rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders, died October 4 at his home in Idaho, according to the band's website. He was 76.
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People we lost in 2014 – Emmy-winning actress Polly Bergen , whose TV and movie career spanned more than six decades, died on September 20, according to her publicist. She was 84, according to IMDb.com.
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People we lost in 2014 – Singer George Hamilton IV , known as the "International Ambassador of Country Music," died at a Nashville hospital on September 17 following a heart attack, the Grand Ole Opry said in a press release. He was 77.
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People we lost in 2014 – Northern Ireland's former first minister and former Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley has died, his wife, Eileen, said in a statement on September 12. He was 88.
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People we lost in 2014 – Richard Kiel , the actor best known for playing the James Bond villain "Jaws," died September 10 at a California hospital, St. Agnes Medical Center spokeswoman Kelley Sanchez said. He was 74.
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People we lost in 2014 – Joan Rivers , the sassy comedian whose gossipy "can we talk" persona catapulted her into a career as a headlining talk-show host, best-selling author and red-carpet maven, died September 4. She was 81.
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People we lost in 2014 – Jimi Jamison , lead singer of the 1980s rock band Survivor, died at the age of 63, it was announced September 2.
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People we lost in 2014 – Acclaimed actor-director Richard Attenborough died on August 24, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported, citing his son. Attenborough was 90.
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People we lost in 2014 – Don Pardo , the man whose voice introduced the cast of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" for decades, died at the age of 96, the network announced August 19.
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People we lost in 2014 – Skateboarding legend Jay Adams died of a heart attack August 14 while vacationing in Mexico with his wife. He was 53.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ed Nelson , best known for playing a doctor in the 1960s nighttime soap opera "Peyton Place," died on August 13, his family said. He was 85.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actress Arlene Martel , whom "Star Trek" fans knew as Spock's bride-to-be, died in a Los Angeles hospital August 12 after complications from a heart attack, her son said. Martel was 78.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actress Lauren Bacall , the husky-voiced Hollywood icon known for her sultry sensuality, died on August 12. She was 89.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actor and comedian Robin Williams died at his Northern California home on August 11. Williams apparently took his own life, law enforcement officials said. He was 63.
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People we lost in 2014 – JJ Murphy , an actor who was set to join the "Game of Thrones" cast, died August 8, his agent said. He was 86.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actor Charles Keating , who had been fighting lung cancer for several years, died on August 8, his son Sean Keating said. Charles Keating was known for his role of villain Carl Hutchins on the daytime drama "Another World." He was 72.
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People we lost in 2014 – James Brady , the former White House press secretary who was severely wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, has died, the White House said on August 4. He was 73. Later in the week, authorities told CNN they are investigating it as a homicide.
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People we lost in 2014 – Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk , the last crewman of the U.S. plane that dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, died of natural causes on July 28, according to his daughter Vicki Triplett. He was 93.
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People we lost in 2014 – James Shigeta , a prolific and pioneering Asian-American actor whose 50-year career included the movies "Die Hard" and "Flower Drum Song," died in his sleep in Los Angeles on July 28, his agent said. He was 81.
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People we lost in 2014 – Skye McCole Bartusiak , who played Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in "The Patriot," died July 19, at her home in Houston, her mother said Sunday. She was 21. While investigators didn't immediately determine a cause of death, Bartusiak had been suffering from epileptic seizures, according to her mother.
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People we lost in 2014 – James Garner , the understated, wisecracking everyman actor who enjoyed multigenerational success on both the small and big screens, died of natural causes on July 19. He was 86.
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People we lost in 2014 – Broadway legend Elaine Stritch died July 17. According to her longtime friend Julie Keyes, Stritch died at her home in Birmingham, Michigan, surrounded by her family. She was 89 years old.
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People we lost in 2014 – Blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter died July 16 in a Swiss hotel room, his representative said. He was 70.
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People we lost in 2014 – Nadine Gordimer, a South African author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, died on July 13 , according to her family. She was 90.
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People we lost in 2014 – Renowned conductor Lorin Maazel died from complications of pneumonia on July 13, according to his family. He was 84.
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People we lost in 2014 – Grammy-winning jazz bassist Charlie Haden , whose music career spanned seven decades and several genres, died July 11, according to his publicist. He was 76.
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People we lost in 2014 – Drummer Tommy Ramone , the last living original member of the pioneering punk band The Ramones, died on July 11, according to the band's Facebook page . He was 65.
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People we lost in 2014 – Eileen Ford , who founded the Ford Model Agency 70 years ago, died July 9 at the age of 92, the company said.
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People we lost in 2014 – Richard Percy Jones , the actor who gave Pinocchio his voice in the 1940 Disney movie, died at his California home on July 8. He was 87.
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People we lost in 2014 – David Legeno , known for playing Fenrir Greyback in the "Harry Potter" movies, was found dead July 6, by hikers in a remote desert location in Death Valley, California. He was 50. "It appears that Legeno died of heat-related issues, but the Inyo County Coroner will determine the final cause of death," read a press release from the Inyo County Sheriff's Department. "There are no signs of foul play."
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People we lost in 2014 – Rosemary Murphy , an Emmy Award-winning actress known for her roles in the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" as well as TV soap operas "All My Children" and "Another World," died July 5 at the age of 89. The New York Times cited cancer as the cause of death.
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People we lost in 2014 – Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini , the subject of the book and upcoming film "Unbroken," died July 2 after a recent battle with pneumonia. The 97-year-old peacefully passed away in the presence of his entire family, according to a statement.
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People we lost in 2014 – Walter Dean Myers , a beloved author of children's books, died on July 1 following a brief illness, according to the Children's Book Council.
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People we lost in 2014 – Paul Mazursky , a five-time Oscar nominee who directed and wrote such films as "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," "An Unmarried Woman" and "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," died at the age of 84, his agent said July 1.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actor Meshach Taylor died June 28 at his Los Angeles-area home, his agent, Dede Binder, said. He was 67. Taylor had fought a terminal illness and faded markedly in recent days, Binder said. His wife, children, grandchildren and mother surrounded him as he passed away.
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People we lost in 2014 – Legendary soul singer Bobby Womack died June 27, according to Womack's publicist. He was 70.
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People we lost in 2014 – Character actor Eli Wallach , seen here in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," died on June 24, according to a family member who did not want to be named. Wallach was 98.
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People we lost in 2014 – Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died June 16 at the age of 54, according to a release from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Gwynn, who had 3,141 hits in 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, had cancer.
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People we lost in 2014 – Radio personality Casey Kasem died June 15. He was 82 and had been hospitalized in Washington state for two weeks.
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People we lost in 2014 – Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll died June 13. He had suffered from Alzheimer's and heart disease. He was 82.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ruby Dee , an award-winning actress whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, died June 12. She was 91.
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People we lost in 2014 – Former baseball star Bob Welch passed away on June 9 after suffering a heart attack, according to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was 57.
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People we lost in 2014 – British actor and comedian Rik Mayall , who appeared in the TV series "Blackadder," died June 9 at the age of 56, his agent said. The cause of death was not immediately reported.
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People we lost in 2014 – Chester Nez , the last of the original Navajo code talkers credited with creating an unbreakable code used during World War II, died June 5 at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation President said. Nez was 93.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ann B. Davis , who played Alice the maid on "The Brady Bunch," died from a subdural hematoma on June 1. She was 88.
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People we lost in 2014 – Maya Angelou , a renowned poet, novelist and actress, died at the age of 86, her literary agent said on May 28. Angelou was also a professor, singer and dancer whose work spanned several generations.
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People we lost in 2014 – Australian racing legend Jack Brabham died on May 19, according to Brabham's son David. Brabham, 88, was a three-time Formula One world champion.
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People we lost in 2014 – Malik Bendjelloul , the Oscar-winning director of "Searching for Sugar Man," died suddenly on May 13, police said. He was 36.
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People we lost in 2014 – H.R. Giger , the Swiss surrealist artist whose works of sexual-industrial imagery and design of the eponymous creature in the "Alien" movies were known around the world, died on May 12. He was 74.
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People we lost in 2014 – Former professional tennis player Elena Baltacha died at the age of 30 after losing her battle with liver cancer on May 4. Before retiring in November, she had reached a career high of 49th in the world rankings.
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People we lost in 2014 – Al Feldstein , who guided Mad magazine for almost three decades as its editor, died on April 29, according to a Montana funeral home. He was 88.
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People we lost in 2014 – Oscar-nominated British actor Bob Hoskins , known for roles in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Mona Lisa," died April 29 at age 71, his publicist said.
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People we lost in 2014 – Hall of Fame basketball coach John "Dr. Jack" Ramsay , who became a television analyst years after winning a league championship with the Portland Trail Blazers, died on April 28, according to his longtime employer ESPN. Ramsay was 89.
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People we lost in 2014 – Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova , who had been battling cancer, died at the age of 45, the club announced April 25.
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People we lost in 2014 – Country singer Kevin Sharp died from "complications due to cancer" on April 19, his mother told CNN. He was 43.
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People we lost in 2014 – Rubin "Hurricane" Carter , the middleweight boxing contender who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey in the 1960s, died April 20 at the age of 76, according to Win Wahrer, the director of client services for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted.
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People we lost in 2014 – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the influential, Nobel Prize-winning author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera," passed away on April 17, his family and officials said. He was 87.
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People we lost in 2014 – Jose Luis "Cheo" Feliciano , a giant of salsa music and a Puerto Rican legend, died in a car crash April 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to police. He was 78.
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People we lost in 2014 – Days after being inducted into World Wrestling Entertainment's Hall of Fame, WWE superstar Ultimate Warrior died April 8. Born James Hellwig, he legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. He was 54.
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People we lost in 2014 – Comedian John Pinette , 50, was found dead in a Pittsburgh hotel room on April 5. Pinette died of natural causes stemming from "a medical history he was being treated for," the medical examiner's spokesman said. An autopsy will not be done because his personal doctor signed the death certificate.
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People we lost in 2014 – Mickey Rooney , who started as a child star in vaudeville and went on to star in hundreds of movies and TV shows, died April 6 at the age of 93.
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People we lost in 2014 – DJ Frankie Knuckles , a legendary producer, remixer and house music pioneer, died March 31 at the age of 59.
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People we lost in 2014 – Kate O'Mara , the British actress best known for playing Joan Collins' sister on the 1980s show "Dynasty," died March 30. She was 74.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ralph C. Wilson Jr. , the founder and longtime owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, died at age 95, the team announced March 25.
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People we lost in 2014 – Gwar lead singer Dave Brockie died March 23 at the age of 50, his manager said. The heavy-metal group formed in 1984, billing itself as "Earth's only openly extraterrestrial rock band." Brockie performed in the persona of Oderus Urungus.
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People we lost in 2014 – James Rebhorn , whose acting resume includes a long list of character roles in major films and TV shows, died March 21, his representative said. Rebhorn was 65.
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People we lost in 2014 – L'Wren Scott , a noted fashion designer and girlfriend of musician Mick Jagger, was found dead of an apparent suicide March 17, according to a law enforcement official. She was 49.
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People we lost in 2014 – Drummer Scott Asheton, who co-founded and played drums for the influential proto-punk band The Stooges, died March 15. He was 64.
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People we lost in 2014 – Comedian David Brenner , a regular on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," died after a battle with cancer, a family spokesman said March 15. He was 78.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actress Sheila MacRae , who portrayed Alice Kramden in a 1960s revival of "The Honeymooners" on "The Jackie Gleason Show," died on March 6, according to her family. She was 92.
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People we lost in 2014 – Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia , seen here in 2006, died February 25 of an apparent heart attack. He was 66. De Lucia transformed the folk art of flamenco music into a more vibrant modern sound.
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People we lost in 2014 – Actor, writer and director Harold Ramis , seen here on the far left with fellow "Ghostbusters" Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, died at his Chicago-area home on February 24. He was 69. Other popular Ramis films include "Stripes," "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This."
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People we lost in 2014 – Maria von Trapp , seen here posing with a photo of her family, was the last of the singing siblings immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music." She died February 18 of natural causes at her Vermont home, according to her family. She was 99.
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People we lost in 2014 – Journalist Garrick Utley died at age 74 following a long battle with cancer, his wife of 40 years said in February. Utley worked for CNN after his 30-year career at NBC News.
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People we lost in 2014 – Devo guitarist Bob Casale , known by fans as "Bob 2," died February 17, his brother and band mate announced. Casale was 61.
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People we lost in 2014 – John Henson , the son of Jim Henson who is perhaps most notable for his portrayal of Sweetums on "The Muppets," died after a "sudden, massive heart attack," his family's company said on February 15.
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People we lost in 2014 – Veteran actor Ralph Waite died at 85 on February 13, according to an accountant for the Waite family and a church where the actor was a regular member. Waite was best known for his role as John Walton Sr. on 'The Waltons."
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People we lost in 2014 – Sid Caesar , whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," died on February 12. He was 91.
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People we lost in 2014 – Hollywood child star Shirley Temple , who became diplomat Shirley Temple Black, died February 10 at her Woodside, California, home. She was 85.
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People we lost in 2014 – Joan Mondale , the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, died on February 3, according to a statement from the family's church.
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People we lost in 2014 – Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources said February 2.
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People we lost in 2014 – Maximilian Schell died on February 1 in a Austrian hospital with his wife by his side, his agent Patricia Baumbauer said. He was 83. Schell was nominated for an Oscar three times. He won in 1962 for "Judgment at Nuremberg."
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People we lost in 2014 – Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger , known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ruth Robinson Duccini , who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95.
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People we lost in 2014 – Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known.
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People we lost in 2014 – Hiroo Onoda , center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91.
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People we lost in 2014 – Russell Johnson , center, stands with Alan Hale Jr., left, and Bob Denver in an episode of "Gilligan's Island" in 1966. Johnson, who played "the professor" Roy Hinkley in the hit television show, passed away January 16 at his home in Washington state, according to his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson was 89.
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People we lost in 2014 – Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85.
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People we lost in 2014 – Franklin McCain , seen center wearing glasses, one of the "Greensboro Four," who made history for their 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter, died on January 10 after a brief illness, according to his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University.
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People we lost in 2014 – Larry Speakes , who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74.
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People we lost in 2014 – Poet Amiri Baraka , who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died on January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79.
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People we lost in 2014 – Sir Run Run Shaw , the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said.
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People we lost in 2014 – Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata , who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86.
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People we lost in 2014 – Portugal football legend Eusebio , who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica.
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People we lost in 2014 – Alicia Rhett , who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98.
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People we lost in 2014 – Singer Phil Everly , left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74.
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| Pete Seeger |
18 June will mark the 200th anniversary of which famous battle? | Pete Seeger US folk singer and activist dies - BBC News
BBC News
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Pete Seeger US folk singer and activist dies
28 January 2014 Last updated at 07:24 GMT
Pete Seeger, one of the legendary figures of American folk music, has died at the age of 94.
A singer, banjo player and composer, his hits included songs such as If I Had a Hammer, and Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
He also had a significant part in the campaigns for civil rights and against the Vietnam War.
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In the Christian festival of Christingle, which fruit is used to represent the world? | Christingle - Origins and Meaning
Thurstable and Winstree Team Ministry
serving the parishes of Tolleshunt Knights with Tiptree, Great Braxted, Copford, Easthorpe, Messing, Inworth,
Layer de la Haye, Layer Breton with Birch, and Layer Marney
The 'Layer' Parishes
Layer de la Haye • Layer Breton with Birch • Layer Marney
Christingle
This is a joyful all-age service to delight children and 'grown ups'.
The Meaning and Origins of Christingle
Every year thousands of churches now hold special Christingle services or celebrations between Advent and Candlemas. Christingle, which means 'Christ Light', is a symbol of the Christian faith. During the service each child is presented with a Christingle - an orange decorated with a candle, red ribbon, fruit and sweets. The orange represents the world, the red ribbon around it the blood of Christ, the fruit symbolises God's creation and the candle Jesus, the Light of the World.
The Christingle Story
The custom of the Christingle began in the Moravian Church and was first used as part of a Christmas Children's Festival in the Marienborn Congregation in Germany on the 24th December 1747.
No one knows for certain when the word "Christingle" was first used or from what it derived, but wherever the Moravians went in the great outreach of missionary evangelism in the 18th and 19th centuries they took with them the custom of the Christingle.
The symbolism gradually developed and today in the Moravian Church in Britain, the Christingle consists of an orange representing the World, with the candle inserted in the centre and lit to represent Christ the Light of the World.
The candle used to be held on a goose quill, part of which was split into fronds, on which were impaled nuts, fruits, raisins and sweets. These stood for the created order over which Christ is King, and for the fruits of the earth and the benefits that come to our lives through God's bounty and goodness. Today the fruit is usually slid onto cocktail sticks stuck into the orange, the wood still being part of God's created order.
Sometimes red crepe paper is used to form a frill at the base of the candle which is a reminder of Christ's Passion, through which our redemption has come. A white frill often used denotes the purity of Christ's life as an example for us all.
The Christingle Service is usually held on the Sunday before Christmas, and is a children's celebration in which we place the child in the midst of all we do, just as the Christ child is the centre of all our lives.
At the climax of the service, each child receives a lighted Christingle and in the magical moment of the darkened Church, the visual symbol tells the truth of the Christmas story, - that in the darkness of the world there has shined a great light. In the darkness, with the lighted Christingle, the children often sing the Traditional Moravian Carol: Morning Star, O Cheering sight.
One story told about the origins of Christingle is this:
Many years ago, children were asked to take a gift to put beside the crib in church. One family had no money for gifts but were determined to take something. They found an orange which they felt would be okay, but were disappointed to find it was going mouldy at the top. However, they thought they would scoop out the bad bits and put a candle in the top and turn it into a lantern. Thinking that it looked a bit ordinary, one of the girls took a red ribbon from her hair and tied it around the middle. They had difficulty getting it to stay in place, so fastened it with four small sticks, on the ends of which they put a few raisins. They took their lantern to church and were afraid of the reactions of the other children. However, the priest acknowledged their gift and told the congregation how special it was for the following reasons:
The orange is round like the world.
The candle stands tall and straight and gives light in the dark like the love of God.
The red ribbon goes all around the 'world' and is a symbol of the blood Jesus shed when he died for us.
The four sticks point in all directions and symbolise North, South, East and West - they also represent the four seasons.
The fruit and nuts (or sometimes sweets!) represent the fruits of the earth, nurtured by the sunshine and the rain.
| Orange |
Which vegetable is used to layer a traditional Greek moussaka? | What is Christingle, what does it mean? | The Children's Society
Home » What you can do » Fundraising and events » Christingle » What is Christingle?
What is Christingle?
Christingle is a celebratory event that takes place in thousands of churches and schools across the country, raising funds that help us continue our work supporting young people
Christingle celebrations are named after the Christingles that are lit during the service. Christingles are made from an orange decorated with red tape, sweets and a candle. Find out more about the meaning of each element of the Christingle below.
The symbolism of Christingle
Each piece of the Christingle holds special symbolism to help children understand the importance of Jesus and the Gospel, and its relevance at Christmas time.
The orange represents the world
The red ribbon (or tape) symbolises the love and blood of Christ
The sweets and dried fruit represent all of God’s creations
The lit candle represents Jesus’s light in the world, bringing hope to people living in darkness
Want to have a go at making a Christingle? Watch our handy tutorial video and learn how to make your own.
What happens at a Christingle celebration?
From traditional services to outdoor events, street parades and Messy Christingles, there is no one way to hold a Christingle celebration. Some common aspects of the services include prayers, readings, hymns or carols and a collection in support of our work – not to mention the all important lighting of the Christingles, a moment filled with awe and wonder for all.
Because Christingle was specifically created with children in mind, the celebrations are the perfect event to take children along to, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages – even if they don’t regularly attend church.
By taking part in Christingle this year, you too can enjoy the warmth and vibrancy of this wonderful celebration and play a key part in transforming the lives of thousands of children.
Everything you need
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Who designed the modern glass pyramid that sits at the entrance to the Louvre in Paris? | Louvre Pyramid, Paris
Louvre Pyramid
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161 votes
The Louvre Pyramid was built in the 1980s as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum . The modern glass structure, which forms a nice contrast with the historic facades of the Louvre, has become a landmark in its own right.
Louvre Museum Expansion
Louvre Pyramid
The Louvre Pyramid was built as part of a project known as the 'Grand Louvre', first proposed in 1981 by the French president François Mitterrand, to expand and modernize the Louvre Museum .
In the 1970s the centuries-old Louvre Palace struggled to cope with the rising number of visitors. The entrances were too small, each wing had a different entrance and the layout was so confusing that visitors struggled to find the entrance or the exit.
Mitterrand suggested to expand the museum by relocating the Ministry of Finance - which had occupied the Richelieu wing of the Louvre since 1873 - to the Bercy neighborhood. Finally the Louvre Museum could occupy the whole U-shaped building.
Subterranean entrance
Hall Napoléon
Miterrand rejected the idea of a competition for the Grand Louvre project, and appointed the Chinese-born American architect Ieoh Ming Pei to modernize the Louvre and integrate the different wings. Pei suggested excavating the Cour Napoléon - a central courtyard - and create a subterranean entrance hall - the Hall Napoléon - with access to the three different wings and space for shops, restaurants and other amenities. This would solve the accessibility problem of the Louvre Museum .
The Pyramid
Geometric Shape
Pyramid Fountain
For the entrance to the subterranean level, Pei wanted to avoid it looking like a mere subway station and he needed the right kind of building to draw visitors to the museum's entrance. A solid concrete structure - like his East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC - was out of the question, since this would clash with the classical facades of the Louvre palace.
After studying the works of André Le Nôtre - France's great landscape designer - who strictly followed geometric patterns, Pei came up with the shape of a pyramid, which would form a beacon at the center of the courtyard. He opted for a glass cladding since this would be the least intrusive and it would also allow light to enter the foyer below.
A Hostile Reception
Louvre reflected in one of the pools
As soon as word leaked that a modern pyramid would be built at the heart of the Louvre , most critics were quick to attack the audacious design. The plans also caused an outcry with Parisians, who had become weary of modern projects after the construction of the Montparnasse Tower and the bland towers of La Défense . Polls indicated a large majority of the French citizens opposed the structure. But soon after the official inauguration of the pyramid in March 1989, the opposition quickly subsided and the Louvre Pyramid became one of Paris's most beloved modern landmarks.
The Design
The pyramid at night
Aerial view
The pyramid is rather modest in size compared to the surrounding palace wings of the Louvre . It has a height of about 22 meters (72ft) and at its base measures just over 35 meters (116ft). It is flanked by three smaller pyramids and reflecting pools with modern fountains.
Much effort was made to make the pyramid as transparent as possible. The 675 diamond-shaped and 118 triangular panes were specifically fabricated to make them completely clear. Attention was also paid to the 128 steel girders and 16 steel cables that hold the panes together. Technology from high tech yachts was used to make them as small and unobtrusive as possible.
The Inverted Pyramid
Inverted Pyramid
In 1993 the underground area expanded with the opening of a modern shopping mall, the Carrousel du Louvre. It is anchored by an inverted glass pyramid, known as the Pyramide Inversée (Inverted Pyramid), which nicely complements the Louvre Pyramid.
The pyramid was designed by the American architecture firm of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, who created a smaller version of Pei's pyramid, turned it upside down right and suspended it right above a small stone pyramid.
| I. M. Pei |
Whose greatest work was laying out the plan for the city of New Delhi, India? | Louvre
Encyclopedia > Literature and the Arts > Art and Architecture > Art museums
Louvre
Louvre (lōˈvrə) [ key ], foremost French museum of art, located in Paris. The building was a royal fortress and palace built by Philip II in the late 12th cent. In 1546 Pierre Lescot was commissioned by Francis I to erect a new building on the site of the Louvre. During his reign, several paintings by Leonardo, including the Mona Lisa, and works of other Italian masters came into the royal collections. In 1564, Catherine de' Medici commissioned Philibert Delorme to build a residence at the Tuileries and to connect it to the Louvre by a long gallery. The Grande Galerie was completed in 1606 under Henri IV.
While Cardinal Richelieu collected art with state funds, work on the buildings was continued under Louis XIII. Lescot's architectural designs were expanded by Jacques Lemercier in 1624, and under Louis XIV the magnificent colonnade was brought to completion (1670) by Louis Le Vau and Claude Perrault . In 1750 part of the royal collections was put on view in the Luxembourg palace. The modern museum, made for the use of the French people, was a direct result of the French Revolution; the revolutionary regime passed (1791) a law that brought it into being. In 1793, in the midst of the Reign of Terror, the Musée Central des Arts was created and the Grande Galerie of the Louvre was officially opened. For many years the area beneath the Grande Galerie served as artists' studios and workshops. The museum's first collection consisted largely of works taken from aristocratic émigrés and royal academies as well as possessions of the king and his court.
Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon assumed the directorship of the Louvre in 1802 and his patron, Napoleon I, added vastly to its collections by his conquests, systematically looting the treasures of W Europe and Egypt and shipping them off to the museum. Under Denon's leadership the museum became the first public institution in which works of art and objects taken from other locations were displayed in a systematic and educational fashion to a large public audience. In 1803 the museum was proclaimed the Musée Napoléon, keeping that title until 1814, when Napoleon fell. Many famous works were returned after his downfall, and Denon resigned his directorship, but about half of the works taken by Napoleon's army remained in the museum. The grand architectural scheme of the Louvre that was completed by Napoleon III remained unmodified until the late 20th cent. The museum is famous for its enormous collection of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities, and for its superb old masters, a collection especially rich in works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, and Leonardo. Its most famous sculptures include the Nike, or Victory, of Samothrace and the Venus of Milo. A part of the museum building houses the Museum of Decorative Arts, a private institution.
In 1984 excavations began for the gradual expansion of the Louvre underground; construction was completed in 1993. A glass pyramid, designed by I. M. Pei and opened in 1989, sits atop the entrance to this new space. At first controversial and considered by some a defacement, the pyramid has become a landmark. Pei also oversaw the extensive renovations and expansions of exhibition space that continued through the 1990s. The Islamic Gallery, which opened in 2012 and was designed by Italian Mario Bellini and Frenchman Rudy Ricciotti, is within the Visconti Courtyard; it is topped by a billowing golden roof that rises into the courtyard and appears to float within it.
See R. Huyghe, ed., Art Treasures of the Louvre (1960); C. Gould, Trophy of Conquest: The Musée Napoléon and the Creation of the Louvre (1965); G. D. Regoli et al., Louvre, Paris (1968); P. Schneider, Louvre Dialogues (tr. 1971); A. McClellan, Inventing the Louvre (1994); G. B. Bauier, The Louvre (1995).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Art museums
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