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Which actor, from 1980 to 1982 played the roll of Yosser Hughes in the TV comedy series Boys from the Black Stuff? | Bernard Hill - IMDb
IMDb
Bernard Hill was born on December 17, 1944 in Manchester, England. He is known for his work on Titanic (1997), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). He is married to Marianne. They have one child. See full bio »
Born:
| Bernard Hill |
In relation to phobias, which word describes the fear of heights? | Boys from the Blackstuff [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Michael Angelis, Tom Georgeson, Bernard Hill, Alan Igbon, Peter Kerrigan, Julie Walters, Philip Saville, Michael Wearing: DVD & Blu-ray
Boys from the Blackstuff [DVD]
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Subtitles: English
Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired: English
Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats. )
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
DVD Release Date: 26 May 2003
Run Time: 306 minutes
Product Description
Product Description
Alan Bleasdale's hugely acclaimed series echoes the misery and despair of long-term unemployment. Set in Liverpool, these profoundly moving human dramas follow in turn the attempts of five working-class heroes to survive.
Running Time: 306 minutes + 110 minutes approx.
From Amazon.co.uk
Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff gripped television audiences in 1982 with its bleak, fiercely funny exploration of the effect of the UK's economic depression on a group of Merseyside characters, originally introduced in his 1978 play, The Blackstuff. Bleasdale's writing is unsparing in both its pain and its unconditional affection for characters being pushed to the very limit of civilisation. Yosser Hughes (the outstanding Bernard Hill) is still, and rightly, recognised as one of the great creations of modern television drama: a man on the brink of madness, unlikeable, ostracised, digging a deeper hole with every desperate act, but ultimately a human being deserving our sympathy.
The performances are wonderful throughout: particularly Peter Kerrigan as Malone, the once giant union leader reduced to a shadow but still with the spark that commands love and respect; Michael Angelis as Chrissie and, in a typically sharp cameo, Julie Walters as his wife. "My dreams still give me hope and faith in my class. I can't believe there's no hope," says Chrissie towards the end. And it's testament to Bleasdale's skill and the resilience of his characters that somehow, that flicker of hope remains unextinguished.
The blackstuff--the tarmac--of the title becomes increasingly ironic. There is none. The boys have no work. The dole office scenes have a grimly nostalgic, documentary quality. Each second drips another droplet of disillusionment on people whose expectations are crushed by every effort to haul themselves up. Thatcher's Britain was a cruel place for many people. The unspoken question that hangs in the air after watching Bleasdale's poetic dissection of ruined lives is, have things really changed that much? Television drama doesn't come any more powerful or honest than this.
On the DVD: Boys from the Blackstuff is presented in standard 4:3 TV format with a mono soundtrack that often suffers from a muffled quality. There's only one additional feature, but it's a treasure: The Blackstuff, Alan Bleasdale's original 90-minute play, is presented as a prelude to the series with the bonus of an insightful commentary from the author and the director, Jim Goddard. --Piers Ford
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Which actor from 1979 to 1984 played the role of James Shelley in the TV comedy series Shelley? | Shelley (TV Series 1979–1983) - IMDb
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Long-running British sitcom about James Shelley - an educated, sardonic, permanently unemployed 'professional freelance layabout'. Following his battles with authority, the tax-man, his landlady and his girlfriend Fran.
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Thérèse Raquin (TV Mini-Series 1980)
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Two teenagers fall in love, but their feuding families and fate itself cause the relationship to end in tragedy.
Director: Alvin Rakoff
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Stars: Robert Lindsay, Mike Grady, Hilda Braid
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The Barchester Chronicles (TV Mini-Series 1982)
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When a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires, scandal taints the cozy community of Barchester when their local church becomes the object of a scathing, investigative report.
Stars: Donald Pleasence, Janet Maw, Nigel Hawthorne
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Bless This House centres on life in Birch Avenue, Putney, where travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott (Sidney James) and his wife Jean (Diana Coupland) live with their teenagers: Mike (... See full summary »
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Four women who are nothing alike end up living together in a flat in England.
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At a home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva and the former wife of one of the residents.
Director: Dustin Hoffman
Compassionate look at the troubles of two young newlyweds, whose marriage has yet to be consummated.
Director: Roy Boulting
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Long-running British sitcom about James Shelley - an educated, sardonic, permanently unemployed 'professional freelance layabout'. Following his battles with authority, the tax-man, his landlady and his girlfriend Fran.
12 July 1979 (UK) See more »
Company Credits
(United Kingdom) – See all my reviews
Despite their protestations ITV are not known for their sit-coms. It is usually a mirth fee zone but every now and then a gem is discovered and Shelly is a bona fide, premium grade comedy classic.
Hywel Bennett plays the over educated professional layabout Shelley whose mission in life is to avoid work and muse about life. It was anti establishment and anti Tory which gave it a political edge.
It had sharp writing and funny without resorting to knockabout comedy. In Hywel Bennett they found the perfect actor. Bennett was someone who was a rising star in the late 1960s but problems in his personal life meant he hit skid row in the early 70s and was out of the limelight until the late 1970s.
Shelley established him back to the forefront, he might had looked older and less baby faced than before but still attractive enough to make Shelley appealing enough to women and an everyman philosopher without turning to bombast.
Later series had to deal with issues when his screen wife left the show and had him musing to a tape recorder to his daughter now relocated to Canada. Later the Shelly returned, more wiser, more cynical but still funny as ever.
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| Hywel Bennett |
What is the name of the British former teacher who, in December 2007 turned up at a West End police station five years after he was thought to have died following a canoeing accident? | About: Hywel Bennett
About: Hywel Bennett
An Entity of Type : person , from Named Graph : http://dbpedia.org , within Data Space : dbpedia.org
Hywel Thomas Bennett (born 8 April 1944) is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcoms Shelley (1979–84) and its sequel The Return of Shelley (1988–92).After becoming known for his role in the comedy film The Virgin Soldiers (1969), Bennett made appearances in films such as Loot (1970) and Percy (1971). He was in EastEnders during 2003 as gangster Jack Dalton.
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abstract
Hywel Thomas Bennett (born 8 April 1944) is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcoms Shelley (1979–84) and its sequel The Return of Shelley (1988–92). After becoming known for his role in the comedy film The Virgin Soldiers (1969), Bennett made appearances in films such as Loot (1970) and Percy (1971). He was in EastEnders during 2003 as gangster Jack Dalton.
(en)
Hywel Thomas Bennett, né à Garnant (Carmarthenshire) le , est un acteur gallois, connu pour son rôle récurrent de James Shelley dans la sitcom Shelley (en) (1979-1984) et de sa suite Le Retour de Shelley (en) (1988-1992).
(fr)
Hywel Thomas Bennett, né à Garnant (Carmarthenshire) le , est un acteur gallois, connu pour son rôle récurrent de James Shelley dans la sitcom Shelley (en) (1979-1984) et de sa suite Le Retour de Shelley (en) (1988-1992).
(fr)
Hywel Thomas Bennett (born 8 April 1944) is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcoms Shelley (1979–84) and its sequel The Return of Shelley (1988–92).After becoming known for his role in the comedy film The Virgin Soldiers (1969), Bennett made appearances in films such as Loot (1970) and Percy (1971). He was in EastEnders during 2003 as gangster Jack Dalton.
(en)
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Which famous British actor, now deceased, was once given a nickname by his wife as being the Frank Sinatra of Shakespeare? | Orson Welles - Biography - IMDb
Orson Welles
Biography
Showing all 184 items
Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trade Mark (4) | Trivia (82) | Personal Quotes (73) | Salary (17)
Overview (4)
6' 1½" (1.87 m)
Mini Bio (1)
His father was a well-to-do inventor, his mother a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died (he was seven) he traveled the world with his father. When his father died (he was fifteen) he became the ward of Chicago's Dr. Maurice Bernstein. In 1931, he graduated from the Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois; he turned down college offers for a sketching tour of Ireland. He tried unsuccessfully to enter the London and Broadway stages, traveling some more in Morocco and Spain (where he fought in the bullring). Recommendations by Thornton Wilder and Alexander Woollcott got him into Katherine Cornell's road company, with which he made his New York debut as Tybalt in 1934. The same year, he married, directed his first short, and appeared on radio for the first time. He began working with John Houseman and formed the Mercury Theatre with him in 1937. In 1938, they produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" (intended as a Halloween prank). His first film to be seen by the public was Citizen Kane (1941), a commercial failure losing RKO $150,000, but regarded by many as the best film ever made. Many of his next films were commercial failures and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948. In 1956, he directed Touch of Evil (1958); it failed in the United States but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. In 1975, in spite of all his box-office failures, he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984, the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award. His reputation as a filmmaker has climbed steadily ever since.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan < [email protected]>
Spouse (3)
Frequently cast Joseph Cotten , Everett Sloane and Oja Kodar
Frequently wrote, directed and starred in films that feature the rise and fall of main characters (Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941), Gregory Arkadin in _Confidential Report (1955)_, Detective Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil (1958)) who, in classic Shakespearean style, are unmade by their own vices.
Known for his use of low camera angles, tracking shots, deep focus and elaborate crane shots in his films.
Trivia (82)
Once ate 18 hot dogs in one sitting at Pink's, a Los Angeles hot dog stand.
Welles' Oscar statuette sold for $861,542, when it was auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Memorabilia on December 20, 2011.
H.G. Wells was driving through San Antonio, Texas, and stopped to ask the way. The person he happened to ask was none other than Welles', who had recently broadcast "The War of the Worlds" on the radio. They got on well and spent the day together.
ABC-TV wanted him to play Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island (1977), but the series' producer, Aaron Spelling , insisted on Ricardo Montalban .
He died on the same day as his The Battle on the River Neretva (1969) co-star Yul Brynner : October 10, 1985.
Ashes are buried inside an old well covered by flowers, within the rural property of the now-deceased, then-retired bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez , Ronda, Malaga, Spain.
One of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance. The other five actors are: Paul Muni , Lawrence Tibbett , Alan Arkin , James Dean and Montgomery Clift .
On October 30, 1938, he directed "The Mercury Theatre On the Air" in a dramatization of "The War of the Worlds", based on H.G. Wells ' novel. Setting the events in then-contemporary locations (The "landing spot" for the Martian invasion, Grover's Mill, New Jersey, was chosen at random with a New Jersey road map) and dramatizing it in the style of a musical program interrupted by news bulletins, complete with eyewitness accounts, it caused a nationwide panic, with many listeners fully convinced that the Earth was being invaded by Mars. The next day, Welles publicly apologized. While many lawsuits were filed against both Welles and the CBS radio network, all were dismissed. The incident is mentioned in textbook accounts of mass hysteria and the delusions of crowds.
Despite his reputation as an actor and master filmmaker, he maintained his memberships in the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians (neither of which are unions, but fraternal organizations), and regularly practiced sleight-of-hand magic in case his career came to an abrupt end. Welles occasionally performed at the annual conventions of each organization, and was considered by fellow magicians to be extremely accomplished.
A bootleg tape of a short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Welles arguing with a recording engineer during a voice-over session has been widely distributed. It was used as the basis for an episode of the animated series Pinky and the Brain (1995), with The Brain reading cleaned-up versions of Orson's rantings (the episode's title, "Yes, Always", is taken from one of Welles' complaints). Ironically, the actor who plays The Brain, Maurice LaMarche , dubbed the voice of the actor who portrays Welles in Ed Wood (1994).
He was born on the same day that Babe Ruth hit his very first home run.
He tried to make a film version of Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra ' book "Don Quixote". He started working on it in 1955 and continued to film through the 1970s with Francisco Reiguera and Akim Tamiroff starring. An incomplete version was released in Spain in 1992.
Made a Hollywood satire, The Other Side of the Wind (2016), starring John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich . Though it was completed, the post-production process was not and the film also ran into legal problems.
Posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
Frank Sinatra was the godfather of his and Rita Hayworth 's daughter, Rebecca Welles .
Host/narrator of the BBC/Mutual Radio's "The Black Museum" (1952).
He portrayed the title character on the syndicated radio show "The Lives of Harry Lime" (also known as "The Third Man") (1951-52). This was based on his character from the film The Third Man (1949).
Has the distinction of appearing in both the American Film Institute and British Film Institute's #1 movie. For AFI, it was Citizen Kane (1941). For BFI, it was The Third Man (1949). Welles shares this distinction with Joseph Cotten , who also starred in both movies.
He was the studio's first choice to play the voice-over role of OMM in THX 1138 (1971). However, director George Lucas insisted on casting the relatively unknown stage actor James Wheaton instead.
Has provided voice for some songs by the heavy metal band Manowar: "Dark Avenger" and "Defender".
He became obese in his 40s, weighing over 350 pounds towards the end of his life.
Was possibly not as tall as is often reported. According to Simon Callow 's "Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu", medical records exist from a Welles physical in 1941. His weight is listed as 218, and his height at 72" - 6 feet even. Biographers Charles Higham and Frank Brady describe Welles as being 6'2", though they never provide a source. Biographer Barbara Leaming often comments on his height, but never gives an exact measurement. An early Current Biography article on Welles describes him as being "tall and chubby", while a later one gives the obviously incorrect 6'3-1/2" height. If you average all the figures and based on his size compared to other actors, he probably in fact stood a little over 6 feet tall (6'1" to 6'2").
Was voted the Second Greatest Film Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890- 1945". Pages 1168-1185. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
His 1937 Broadway stage production of William Shakespeare 's "Julius Caesar"--in which the setting was changed to a modern Fascist Rome to reflect the Benito Mussolini era, but in which Shakespeare's language was completely retained--became, and still remains, the longest-running Broadway production of the play. Welles played Brutus. This production was never filmed, but years later Welles' former working partner John Houseman produced a traditional film version of the play for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring James Mason as Brutus, Marlon Brando as Marc Antony, and John Gielgud as Cassius.
Was suggested as a possible suspect by author Mary Pacios, in the mutilation murder of actress Elizabeth Short , known as "The Black Dahlia" case, in Los Angeles in 1947. Among other reasons, Pacios suggested Welles as a suspect because Welles' artwork for the surreal bizarre funhouse set in The Lady from Shanghai (1947) was similar in many ways to the mutilation and bisection of Elizabeth Short. Harry Cohn , the head of Columbia Pictures--the studio that produced The Lady from Shanghai--ordered the footage cut before release because of its disturbing resemblance to the murder.
When he signed on to direct Touch of Evil (1958), instead of reading the book on which it was based--a pulp novel named "Badge of Evil"--Welles completely changed an early draft of the script.
Told Peter Bogdanovich that, as a practicing magician, he became adept at the old carny trick of fortune-telling, but he became so good at it that it scared him. He was worried that he would come to believe he actually did have the power to tell the future, like the self-deluded fortune tellers known as a "shut eye".
He had wanted to make films of two literary masterpieces, Herman Melville 's "Moby Dick" and Joseph Heller 's "Catch-22", but had to be satisfied in having supporting roles in the films made of the two books by John Huston ( Moby Dick (1956)) and Mike Nichols ( Catch-22 (1970)).
Wrote his novel "Mr. Arkadian" during an extended stay with Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh . Welles was appearing at Olivier's St. James Theater in London at the time.
Laurence Olivier had wanted to cast him as Buckingham in Richard III (1955), his film of William Shakespeare 's play "Richard III", but gave the role to Ralph Richardson , his oldest friend, because Richardson wanted it. In his autobiography, Olivier says he wishes he had disappointed Richardson and cast Welles instead, as he would have brought an extra element to the screen, an intelligence that would have gone well with the plot element of conspiracy.
Lobbied to get the role of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), even offered to lose a good deal of weight in order to get the role. Francis Ford Coppola , a huge fan of his, had to turn him down because he already had Marlon Brando in mind for the role and felt Welles would not be right for the role.
He made The Lady from Shanghai (1947) towards the end of his marriage to Rita Hayworth . They were constantly fighting at the time and (some say as a comeuppance to Hayworth) he made her cut off most of her long, luxurious red hair and dye it bright platinum blonde.
Was named #16 on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list of the American Film Institute.
Was the narrator for many of the trailers for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
Before deciding on adapting the life of William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane (1941), Welles intended his first film to be an adaptation of Joseph Conrad 's "Heart of Darkness". Coincidentally, he was Francis Ford Coppola 's first choice for the role of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), itself an adaptation of "Heart of Darkness".
His average dinner famously consisted of two steaks cooked rare and a pint of scotch whiskey. This contributed to his obesity in his later life and his eventual death.
Ranked #9 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005].
His father was an alcoholic.
Considered black and white to be "the actor's best friend", feeling that it focused more on the actor's expressions and feelings than on hair, eye or wardrobe color.
Was very good friends with Peter Bogdanovich , in whose house he lived for several years during Bogdanovich's affair with Cybill Shepherd . Welles even gave Bogdanovich written instructions to finish his last film, The Other Side of the Wind (2016), before his death.
Was a passionate painter
Most of his movie projects never got finished or released due to financial problems and disputes with studio executives. Some of his unfinished productions are: The Deep (1970) ( Laurence Harvey 's death made a finished movie impossible), The Merchant of Venice (1969) and Don Quixote (1992).
Longtime companions with Oja Kodar . They lived together until his death.
Has been played by Vincent D'Onofrio twice: Ed Wood (1994) and Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005).
In the 1930s, he worked at various radio stations in New York City, at different times of the day. He found it difficult to be on time for his live shows because he had to use taxicabs and the heavy New York City traffic meant that he was often late. He soon found a loophole in the law that said you didn't have to be sick to hire an ambulance, so he did just that and had the drivers blast their sirens as he traveled from one station to the next, and that way he was on time.
Profiled in in J.A. Aberdeen's "Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers" (Palos Verdes Estates, CA: Cobblestone Entertainment).
Merv Griffin claimed in his DVD collection "Merv Griffin: Interesting People" that Welles died two hours after giving Merv an interview in which he had said to ask him anything, "for this interview, there are no subjects about which I won't speak". In the past, Welles refused to speak about the past.
His performance as Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949) is ranked #93 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His performance as Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) is ranked #12 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Hated working on The Transformers: The Movie (1986), where he voiced Unicron. When asked about the film, he not only could not remember the name of his character, but he described the film as being "I play a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys.".
John Ford , whom Welles admired as the greatest American director and who, in turn, admired Welles as a director and actor, wanted to cast him as Mayor Frank Skeffington in his movie adaption of Edwin O'Connor 's novel The Last Hurrah (1958). Welles was unable to accept the role due to scheduling conflicts, and Spencer Tracy was cast instead.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 861-864. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
CBS wanted him to host The Twilight Zone (1959) but the producers felt that he requested too much money. He was ultimately ruled out in favor of the show's creator, Rod Serling .
Was George Lucas ' first choice as the voice for Darth Vader, but he thought the voice would be too recognizable.
He was of German, Irish and Scottish heritage.
He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
Was close friends with Bud Cort .
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1600 Vine Street; and for Radio at 6652 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He died only two hours after being interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show (1962) on October 10, 1985. Reportedly, Welles died working with a typewriter in his lap.
When execs at RKO could not decide to greenlight Citizen Kane (1941), Welles asked the studio for film equipment and a small crew so he could spend the midway time doing test shots. Not wanting its new import from New York to sour on his deal with RKO, the studio granted the request. Welles proceeded to shoot actual scenes of the movie. By the time execs realized what he had done, Welles had many key scenes completed. RKO greenlit the film, having already--albeit unknowingly--financed the picture.
Was friends with Josip Broz Tito , a partisan guerrilla leader who fought the Nazis in World War II Yugoslavia, and who later became president of the country.
His last completed work as director was "The Orson Welles Show", a never broadcast television show.
He directed two actors to Oscar nominations: Himself (Best Actor, Citizen Kane (1941)), and Agnes Moorehead (Best Supporting Actress, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)).
He and John Huston were good friends from the 1940s to Welles' death in 1985. Both men coincidentally made their spectacular debut as directors in 1941 (Welles with Citizen Kane (1941) and Huston with The Maltese Falcon (1941)). Both would eventually be directed by the other: Welles' had a cameo in Huston's adaptation of Moby Dick (1956) and Huston played the lead in Welles' unfinished The Other Side of the Wind (2016).
He remained good friends with Joseph Cotten until the end of his life, despite a working relationship that was often considered demanding of the older Cotten.
George, his given name, was in honor of his father's friend, humorist George Ade .
Film critics lobbied for him to record an audio commentary for Citizen Kane (1941), but he refused, stating that he was tired of talking about it.
Welles was so impressed with Dorothea Durham that he walked on stage where she was performing at the Club Rhumboogie and put $500 in her hand. Durham, who went by the stage name La Garbo, was a popular dancer in the 1930s and 1940s on the West Coast. She also danced at the Cotton Club in Harlem and in Duke Ellington 's "Jump for Joy", and appeared as a dancer in movies such as Cabin in the Sky (1943).
Once referred to the audience as "the big, many-headed beast crouching out there in the darkness".
Became a father for the first time at age 22 when his first wife Virginia Nicolson gave birth to their daughter Christopher Welles on March 27, 1938.
Became a father for the second time at age 25 when his married lover Geraldine Fitzgerald gave birth to their son Michael Lindsay-Hogg on June 5, 1940.
Became a father for the third time at age 29 when his second wife Rita Hayworth gave birth to their daughter Rebecca Welles on December 17, 1944.
Became a father for the fourth time at age 40 when his third wife Paola Mori gave birth to their daughter Beatrice Welles on November 13, 1955.
The Last Picture Show (1971) was filmed in black and white because of Welles' famous remark to Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt , when director and crew were uncertain on how to film the locations without using too many colors. Welles, who was on the set, replied: "Of course you'll film it in black and white!" The advice proved to be helpful because the film was praised for (among other qualities) its cinematography, which earned Robert Surtees an Oscar nomination.
His full name is George Orson Welles. He was named "George" in honor of writer George Ade , who was a friend of the family. His middle name was in honor of another family friend, a man named Orson Wells (without the "e").
He had three Shakespearean roles in common with Laurence Olivier : (1) Welles played Othello in Othello (1951) while Olivier played him in Othello (1965), (2) Welles played King Lear in Omnibus: King Lear (1953) while Olivier played him in King Lear (1983) and (3) Welles played Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1969) while Olivier played him in The Merchant of Venice (1973).
Laurence Olivier strongly considered casting Welles as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III (1955) but felt obligated to cast his close friend Ralph Richardson in the role. Olivier came to regret this decision as he believed that Welles would have added an element of conspiracy to the film.
Has been played by Steven Lamprinos in Hollywood Mouth 2 (2014). The director of that film, Jordan Mohr , wanted an Orson Welles character in the movie because she is from Venice, California, where Touch of Evil (1958) was filmed.
Was the voice of Unicron in the theatrical release of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), but was replaced by Roger C. Carmel (after he died) for the third season of the animated series The Transformers (1984).
Along with Laurence Olivier , Woody Allen , Warren Beatty , Kenneth Branagh , Clint Eastwood and Roberto Benigni , he is one of only seven men to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Director for the same film: Welles for Citizen Kane (1941), Olivier for Hamlet (1948), Allen for Annie Hall (1977), Beatty for both Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981), Branagh for Henry V (1989), Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) and Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997).
Spoke French fluently.
Personal Quotes (73)
Even if the good old days never existed, the fact that we can conceive such a world is, in fact, an affirmation of the human spirit.
[on pop idol Donny Osmond ] He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
I'm not very fond of movies. I don't go to them much.
I started at the top and worked down.
I'm not bitter about Hollywood's treatment of me, but over its treatment of D.W. Griffith , Josef von Sternberg , Erich von Stroheim , Buster Keaton and a hundred others.
Movie directing is the perfect refuge for the mediocre.
[on Hollywood in the 1980s] We live in a snake pit here... I hate it but I just don't allow myself to face the fact that I hold it in contempt because it keeps on turning out to be the only place to go.
I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys.
I hate it when people pray on the screen. It's not because I hate praying, but whenever I see an actor fold his hands and look up in the spotlight, I'm lost. There's only one other thing in the movies I hate as much, and that's sex. You just can't get in bed or pray to God and convince me on the screen.
[on Citizen Kane (1941) being colorized] Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie.
[At RKO Radio Pictures working on "Heart of Darkness", a film he later abandoned] This is the biggest electric train set any boy ever had!
For thirty years, people have been asking me how I reconcile X with Y! The truthful answer is that I don't. Everything about me is a contradiction and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don't reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.
I think I'm... I made essentially a mistake staying in movies, because I... but it... it's the mistake I can't regret because it's like saying, "I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman, but I did because I love her." I would have been more successful if I'd left movies immediately. Stayed in the theater, gone into politics, written--anything. I've wasted the greater part of my life looking for money, and trying to get along... trying to make my work from this terribly expensive paint box which is an... a movie. And I've spent too much energy on things that have nothing to do with a movie. It's about 2% movie making and 98% hustling. It's no way to spend a life.
I think it is always a tremendously good formula in any art form to admit the limitations of the form.
I don't pray because I don't want to bore God.
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theater, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai.
The word "genius" was whispered into my ear, the first thing I ever heard, while I was still mewling in my crib. So it never occurred to me that I wasn't until middle age.
I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
I'm not rich. Never have been. When you see me in a bad movie as an actor (I hope not as a director), it is because a good movie has not been offered to me. I often make bad films in order to live.
Everybody denies that I am genius - but nobody ever called me one.
A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong.
Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation.
I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.
Race hate isn't human nature; race hate is the abandonment of human nature.
Living in the lap of luxury isn't bad, except you never know when luxury is going to stand up.
I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act.
If spiritually you're part of the cat family, you can't bear to be laughed at. You have to pretend when you fall down that you really wanted to be down there to see what's under the sofa. The rest of us don't at all mind being laughed at.
[on his favorite directors] I prefer the old masters; by which I mean: John Ford , John Ford and John Ford.
[on James Cagney ] No one was more unreal and stylized, yet there is no moment when he was not true.
[on René Clair ] A real master: he invented his own Paris, which is better than recording it.
[on Federico Fellini ] His films are a small-town boy's dream of a big city. His sophistication works because it is the creation of someone who doesn't have it. But he shows dangerous signs of being a superlative artist with little to say.
[on Edward G. Robinson ] An immensely effective actor.
The optimists are incapable of understanding what it means to adore the impossible.
[on Stanley Kubrick ] Among the young generation, Kubrick strikes me as a giant.
[to Dick Cavett ] I'm always sorry to hear that anybody I admire has been an actor... When did you go straight?
I don't think history can possibly be true. Possibly! I'll tell you why. We all know people who get things written about, and we know that they're lies written. I told a story to Buck Henry , last year in Weymouth, and he told the story that he thought I told him to a newspaper that I read the other day, and it bears not the *slightest* resemblance to what I said! Now, that's an intelligent man, a year later, meaning me well, and that's the gospel according to Buck Henry, and it's totally apocryphal. Imagine what nonsense everything else is!
[on Nostradamus' ability to predict the future] One might as well make predictions based on random passages from the phone book.
[on Jean-Luc Godard ] His gifts as a director are enormous. I just can't take him very seriously as a thinker - and that's where we seem to differ, because he does. His message is what he cares about these days, and, like most movie messages, it could be written on the head of a pin.
The only good artists are feminine. I don't believe an artist exists whose dominant characteristic is not feminine. It's nothing to do with homosexuality, but intellectually an artist must be a man with feminine aptitudes.
I know that in theory the word is secondary in cinema, but the secret of my work is that everything is based on the word. I always begin with the dialogue. And I do not understand how one dares to write action before dialogue. I must begin with what the characters say. I must know what they say before seeing them do what they do.
A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a director an army.
I liked the cinema better before I began to do it. Now I can't stop myself from hearing the clappers at the beginning of each shot. All the magic is destroyed.
I think it's very harmful to see movies for movie makers because you either imitate them or worry about not imitating them and you should do movies innocently and i lost my innocence. Every time i see a picture i lose something i don't gain. I never understand what directors mean when they compliment me and say they've learned from my pictures because i don't believe in learning from other people's pictures. You should learn from your own interior vision and discover innocently as though there had never been D.W. Griffith or [ Sergei M. Eisenstein ] or [ John Ford ] or [ Jean Renoir ] or anybody.
[on a lunch encounter with Richard Burton ] Richard Burton had great talent. He's ruined his great gifts. He's become a joke with a celebrity wife. Now he just works for money, does the worst shit. And I wasn't rude. To quote Carl Laemmle , "I gave him an evasive answer. I told him, 'Go fuck yourself'.".
I never could stand looking at Bette Davis , so I don't want to see her act, you see. I hate Woody Allen physically, I dislike that kind of man. [ Henry Jaglom ], I've never understood why. Have you met him? Oh, yes. I can hardly bear to talk to him. He has the [ Charles Chaplin ] disease. That particular combination of arrogance and timidity sets my teeth on edge... Like all people with timid personalities, his arrogance is unlimited. Anybody who speaks quietly and shrivels up in company is unbelievably arrogant. He acts shy, but he's not. He's scared. He hates himself, and he loves himself, a very tense situation. It's people like me who have to carry on and pretend to be modest. To me, it's the most embarrassing thing in the world-a man who presents himself at his worst to get laughs, in order to free himself from his hang-ups. Everything he does on the screen is therapeutic.
After [ Irving Thalberg ] died, Norma Shearer --one of the most minimally talented ladies ever to appear on the silver screen and who looked like nothing, with one eye crossed over the other--went right on being the queen of Hollywood. Everybody used to say, "Mrs. Thalberg is coming", "Miss Shearer is arriving", as though they were talking about Sarah Bernhardt .
In his time, Samuel Goldwyn was considered a classy producer because he never deliberately did anything that wasn't his idea of the best-quality goods. I respected him for that. He was an honest merchant. He may have made a bad picture, but he didn't know it was a bad picture. And he was funny. He actually once said to me, in that high voice of his, "Orson, for you I'd write a blanket check." He said, "With Warner Brothers, a verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it's written on.".
[ Louis B. Mayer ] offered me his studio! He was madly in love with me, because I wouldn't have anything to do with him, you know? Twice he brought me over--spent all day wooing me. He called me "Orse". Whenever he sent for me, he burst into tears, and once he fainted. To get his way. It was fake, absolutely fake. The deal was, I'd have the studio, but I'd have to stop acting, directing and writing--making pictures. But Mayer was self-righteous, smarmy, waving the American flag, doing deals with The Purple Gang [a violent gang of hijackers and killers] in Detroit... before the unions, it was all Mafia. But no one called it the Mafia. Just said "the mob".
[on Meyer Lansky ] He was probably the #1 gangster in America. I knew them all. You had to. If you lived, as I did, on Broadway during that period, if you lived in nightclubs, you could not not know them. I liked screwing the chorus girls, and I liked meeting all the different people who would come in, and I liked staying up until five in the morning, and they used to love to go to nightclubs. They would come and sit at your table... [asked how Lee Strasberg did with the Hyman Roth character, who was supposed to be Lansky, in The Godfather: Part II (1974)] Much better than the real thing. Meyer Lansky was a boring man. Hyman Roth is who he should have been! They all should have been like that, and none of them were. "The Godfather" was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed. The best of them were the kind of people you'd expect to drive a beer truck. They had no class. The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention.
[ Irving Thalberg ] was the biggest single villain in the history of Hollywood. Before him, a producer made the least contribution, by necessity. The producer didn't direct, he didn't act, he didn't write--so, therefore, all he could do was either (a) mess it up, which he didn't do very often, or (b) tenderly caress it. Support it. Producers would only go to the set to see that you were on budget, and that you didn't burn down the scenery... Once you got the educated producer, he has a desk, he's gotta have a function, he's gotta do something. He's not running the studio and counting the money--he's gotta be creative. That was Thalberg. The director became the fellow whose only job was to say, "Action!" and "Cut!". Suddenly you were "just a director" on a "Thalberg production". A role had been created in the world. Just as there used to be no conductor of symphonies... He convinced [ Louis B. Mayer ] that without him, his movies wouldn't have any class. Remember that quote Mayer gave? All the other moguls were "dirty kikes making nickelodeon movies". He used to say that to me all the time.
[on rumors that he, and not Robert Stevenson , directed Jane Eyre (1943)] I invented some of the shots--that's part of being that kind of producer. And I collaborated on it, but I didn't come around behind the camera and direct it. Certainly, I did a lot more than a producer ought to, but Stevenson didn't mind that. And I don't want to take credit away from him, all of which he deserves... In fact, we got along very well, and there was no trouble.
[on Anthony Asquith ] One of the nicest, most intelligent people who was ever in films... and my God, he was polite. I saw him, all alone on the stage once, trip on an electric cable, turn around, and say, "I beg your pardon" to it.
[on television] We live in a world of happy endings with audiences who make every show, no matter how doomed it is and ready to be canceled, sound like a smash hit. And if not, they have a little black box full of laughter, and they add that to the jokes. And you know that most of the people laughing on that box died long ago.
I have all the equipment to be a politician. Total shamelessness.
[on Gary Cooper ] You'd see him working on the set and you'd think, "My God, they're going to have to retake that one!". He almost didn't seem to BE there. And then you'd see the rushes, and he'd fill the screen.
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
Hollywood died on me as soon as I got there. I wish to God I'd gone there sooner. It was the rise of the independents that was my ruin as a director.
[on shooting Macbeth (1948)] Our best crowd scene was a shot where all the massed forces of Macduff's army are charging the castle. There was a very vivid sense of urgency to it, because what was happening, really, was that we'd just called noon break, and all those extras were rushing off to lunch.
[on making I tartari (1961)] Victor Mature and I had an extended sword fight, on which I worked day after day. And in no shots--full, long, medium--at any moment is Victor Mature EVER involved! Not even to hold the sword and look menacing... He said, "Oh, I don't want to do any of that stuff.".
[on the many documentary films he had narrated] I never saw the movies. That's always been a condition of mine in narrating a film--that I don't have to see any footage. Otherwise, I won't accept the job.
[on Luis Buñuel ] He's a deeply Christian man who hates God as only a Christian can and, of course, he's very Spanish.
[on working with Charlton Heston ] All you have to do is point and Chuck can go in any direction. He's spent a lot of years being a movie star.
[asked about the rumor that he directed part of Compulsion (1959), credited to Richard Fleischer ] Dick Fleischer is a director who doesn't need and wouldn't welcome any help from me.
[on his friend William Faulkner ] I never saw him anything but wildly drunk through the years. He must have been sober to produce that great body of work.
[on finding work to Hollywood in the late 1950s after spending several years in Europe] I went a year without almost nothing, just sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. And then I got a couple of jobs. The Long, Hot Summer (1958), which I hated making--I've seldom been as unhappy in a picture.
[on his famous "cuckoo clock" speech in The Third Man (1949) ("In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love--they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.] When the picture came out, the Swiss very nicely pointed out that they've never made any cuckoo clocks--they all come from the Schwarzwald [Black Forest] in Bavaria.
[on director W.S. Van Dyke , aka "Woody"] Woody made some very good comedies. And what a system he had!... His retakes sometimes took longer than his original shooting schedule... He'd shoot a "Thin Man" or something like that in about 20 days. Then he'd preview it and come back to the studio for 30 days of retakes. For comedy, when you're worried about the laughs, that makes a lot of sense.
[on why he hired Fortunio Bonanova for Citizen Kane (1941)] I saw him as the leading man with Katharine Cornell in "The Green Hat" when I was about eight years old. I never forgot him. He looked to me like a leading man in a dirty movie. Sent for him the minute I wrote that part. He was a great romantic leading man. When he was prompting her [ Dorothy Comingore ] in the opera, he was so marvelous. God, he was funny.
[on Tim Holt , with whom he worked in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)] One of the most interesting actors that's ever been in American movies, and he decided to be just a cowboy actor. Made two or three important pictures in his career, but was very careful not to follow them up--went straight back to bread-and-butter Westerns... he was the most marvelous fellow to work with you can imagine.
You know, I always loved Hollywood. It was just never reciprocated.
Salary (17)
| Richard Burton |
On which English motorway can you find services called Heston, Membury and Leigh Delamere? | Orson Welles - Biography - IMDb
Orson Welles
Biography
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Jump to: Overview (4) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (3) | Trade Mark (4) | Trivia (82) | Personal Quotes (73) | Salary (17)
Overview (4)
6' 1½" (1.87 m)
Mini Bio (1)
His father was a well-to-do inventor, his mother a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died (he was seven) he traveled the world with his father. When his father died (he was fifteen) he became the ward of Chicago's Dr. Maurice Bernstein. In 1931, he graduated from the Todd School in Woodstock, Illinois; he turned down college offers for a sketching tour of Ireland. He tried unsuccessfully to enter the London and Broadway stages, traveling some more in Morocco and Spain (where he fought in the bullring). Recommendations by Thornton Wilder and Alexander Woollcott got him into Katherine Cornell's road company, with which he made his New York debut as Tybalt in 1934. The same year, he married, directed his first short, and appeared on radio for the first time. He began working with John Houseman and formed the Mercury Theatre with him in 1937. In 1938, they produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" (intended as a Halloween prank). His first film to be seen by the public was Citizen Kane (1941), a commercial failure losing RKO $150,000, but regarded by many as the best film ever made. Many of his next films were commercial failures and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948. In 1956, he directed Touch of Evil (1958); it failed in the United States but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. In 1975, in spite of all his box-office failures, he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984, the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award. His reputation as a filmmaker has climbed steadily ever since.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan < [email protected]>
Spouse (3)
Frequently cast Joseph Cotten , Everett Sloane and Oja Kodar
Frequently wrote, directed and starred in films that feature the rise and fall of main characters (Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941), Gregory Arkadin in _Confidential Report (1955)_, Detective Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil (1958)) who, in classic Shakespearean style, are unmade by their own vices.
Known for his use of low camera angles, tracking shots, deep focus and elaborate crane shots in his films.
Trivia (82)
Once ate 18 hot dogs in one sitting at Pink's, a Los Angeles hot dog stand.
Welles' Oscar statuette sold for $861,542, when it was auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Memorabilia on December 20, 2011.
H.G. Wells was driving through San Antonio, Texas, and stopped to ask the way. The person he happened to ask was none other than Welles', who had recently broadcast "The War of the Worlds" on the radio. They got on well and spent the day together.
ABC-TV wanted him to play Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island (1977), but the series' producer, Aaron Spelling , insisted on Ricardo Montalban .
He died on the same day as his The Battle on the River Neretva (1969) co-star Yul Brynner : October 10, 1985.
Ashes are buried inside an old well covered by flowers, within the rural property of the now-deceased, then-retired bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez , Ronda, Malaga, Spain.
One of only six actors to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his first screen appearance. The other five actors are: Paul Muni , Lawrence Tibbett , Alan Arkin , James Dean and Montgomery Clift .
On October 30, 1938, he directed "The Mercury Theatre On the Air" in a dramatization of "The War of the Worlds", based on H.G. Wells ' novel. Setting the events in then-contemporary locations (The "landing spot" for the Martian invasion, Grover's Mill, New Jersey, was chosen at random with a New Jersey road map) and dramatizing it in the style of a musical program interrupted by news bulletins, complete with eyewitness accounts, it caused a nationwide panic, with many listeners fully convinced that the Earth was being invaded by Mars. The next day, Welles publicly apologized. While many lawsuits were filed against both Welles and the CBS radio network, all were dismissed. The incident is mentioned in textbook accounts of mass hysteria and the delusions of crowds.
Despite his reputation as an actor and master filmmaker, he maintained his memberships in the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians (neither of which are unions, but fraternal organizations), and regularly practiced sleight-of-hand magic in case his career came to an abrupt end. Welles occasionally performed at the annual conventions of each organization, and was considered by fellow magicians to be extremely accomplished.
A bootleg tape of a short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Welles arguing with a recording engineer during a voice-over session has been widely distributed. It was used as the basis for an episode of the animated series Pinky and the Brain (1995), with The Brain reading cleaned-up versions of Orson's rantings (the episode's title, "Yes, Always", is taken from one of Welles' complaints). Ironically, the actor who plays The Brain, Maurice LaMarche , dubbed the voice of the actor who portrays Welles in Ed Wood (1994).
He was born on the same day that Babe Ruth hit his very first home run.
He tried to make a film version of Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra ' book "Don Quixote". He started working on it in 1955 and continued to film through the 1970s with Francisco Reiguera and Akim Tamiroff starring. An incomplete version was released in Spain in 1992.
Made a Hollywood satire, The Other Side of the Wind (2016), starring John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich . Though it was completed, the post-production process was not and the film also ran into legal problems.
Posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
Frank Sinatra was the godfather of his and Rita Hayworth 's daughter, Rebecca Welles .
Host/narrator of the BBC/Mutual Radio's "The Black Museum" (1952).
He portrayed the title character on the syndicated radio show "The Lives of Harry Lime" (also known as "The Third Man") (1951-52). This was based on his character from the film The Third Man (1949).
Has the distinction of appearing in both the American Film Institute and British Film Institute's #1 movie. For AFI, it was Citizen Kane (1941). For BFI, it was The Third Man (1949). Welles shares this distinction with Joseph Cotten , who also starred in both movies.
He was the studio's first choice to play the voice-over role of OMM in THX 1138 (1971). However, director George Lucas insisted on casting the relatively unknown stage actor James Wheaton instead.
Has provided voice for some songs by the heavy metal band Manowar: "Dark Avenger" and "Defender".
He became obese in his 40s, weighing over 350 pounds towards the end of his life.
Was possibly not as tall as is often reported. According to Simon Callow 's "Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu", medical records exist from a Welles physical in 1941. His weight is listed as 218, and his height at 72" - 6 feet even. Biographers Charles Higham and Frank Brady describe Welles as being 6'2", though they never provide a source. Biographer Barbara Leaming often comments on his height, but never gives an exact measurement. An early Current Biography article on Welles describes him as being "tall and chubby", while a later one gives the obviously incorrect 6'3-1/2" height. If you average all the figures and based on his size compared to other actors, he probably in fact stood a little over 6 feet tall (6'1" to 6'2").
Was voted the Second Greatest Film Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890- 1945". Pages 1168-1185. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
His 1937 Broadway stage production of William Shakespeare 's "Julius Caesar"--in which the setting was changed to a modern Fascist Rome to reflect the Benito Mussolini era, but in which Shakespeare's language was completely retained--became, and still remains, the longest-running Broadway production of the play. Welles played Brutus. This production was never filmed, but years later Welles' former working partner John Houseman produced a traditional film version of the play for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring James Mason as Brutus, Marlon Brando as Marc Antony, and John Gielgud as Cassius.
Was suggested as a possible suspect by author Mary Pacios, in the mutilation murder of actress Elizabeth Short , known as "The Black Dahlia" case, in Los Angeles in 1947. Among other reasons, Pacios suggested Welles as a suspect because Welles' artwork for the surreal bizarre funhouse set in The Lady from Shanghai (1947) was similar in many ways to the mutilation and bisection of Elizabeth Short. Harry Cohn , the head of Columbia Pictures--the studio that produced The Lady from Shanghai--ordered the footage cut before release because of its disturbing resemblance to the murder.
When he signed on to direct Touch of Evil (1958), instead of reading the book on which it was based--a pulp novel named "Badge of Evil"--Welles completely changed an early draft of the script.
Told Peter Bogdanovich that, as a practicing magician, he became adept at the old carny trick of fortune-telling, but he became so good at it that it scared him. He was worried that he would come to believe he actually did have the power to tell the future, like the self-deluded fortune tellers known as a "shut eye".
He had wanted to make films of two literary masterpieces, Herman Melville 's "Moby Dick" and Joseph Heller 's "Catch-22", but had to be satisfied in having supporting roles in the films made of the two books by John Huston ( Moby Dick (1956)) and Mike Nichols ( Catch-22 (1970)).
Wrote his novel "Mr. Arkadian" during an extended stay with Laurence Olivier and his wife Vivien Leigh . Welles was appearing at Olivier's St. James Theater in London at the time.
Laurence Olivier had wanted to cast him as Buckingham in Richard III (1955), his film of William Shakespeare 's play "Richard III", but gave the role to Ralph Richardson , his oldest friend, because Richardson wanted it. In his autobiography, Olivier says he wishes he had disappointed Richardson and cast Welles instead, as he would have brought an extra element to the screen, an intelligence that would have gone well with the plot element of conspiracy.
Lobbied to get the role of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), even offered to lose a good deal of weight in order to get the role. Francis Ford Coppola , a huge fan of his, had to turn him down because he already had Marlon Brando in mind for the role and felt Welles would not be right for the role.
He made The Lady from Shanghai (1947) towards the end of his marriage to Rita Hayworth . They were constantly fighting at the time and (some say as a comeuppance to Hayworth) he made her cut off most of her long, luxurious red hair and dye it bright platinum blonde.
Was named #16 on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list of the American Film Institute.
Was the narrator for many of the trailers for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
Before deciding on adapting the life of William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane (1941), Welles intended his first film to be an adaptation of Joseph Conrad 's "Heart of Darkness". Coincidentally, he was Francis Ford Coppola 's first choice for the role of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (1979), itself an adaptation of "Heart of Darkness".
His average dinner famously consisted of two steaks cooked rare and a pint of scotch whiskey. This contributed to his obesity in his later life and his eventual death.
Ranked #9 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Greatest directors ever!" [2005].
His father was an alcoholic.
Considered black and white to be "the actor's best friend", feeling that it focused more on the actor's expressions and feelings than on hair, eye or wardrobe color.
Was very good friends with Peter Bogdanovich , in whose house he lived for several years during Bogdanovich's affair with Cybill Shepherd . Welles even gave Bogdanovich written instructions to finish his last film, The Other Side of the Wind (2016), before his death.
Was a passionate painter
Most of his movie projects never got finished or released due to financial problems and disputes with studio executives. Some of his unfinished productions are: The Deep (1970) ( Laurence Harvey 's death made a finished movie impossible), The Merchant of Venice (1969) and Don Quixote (1992).
Longtime companions with Oja Kodar . They lived together until his death.
Has been played by Vincent D'Onofrio twice: Ed Wood (1994) and Five Minutes, Mr. Welles (2005).
In the 1930s, he worked at various radio stations in New York City, at different times of the day. He found it difficult to be on time for his live shows because he had to use taxicabs and the heavy New York City traffic meant that he was often late. He soon found a loophole in the law that said you didn't have to be sick to hire an ambulance, so he did just that and had the drivers blast their sirens as he traveled from one station to the next, and that way he was on time.
Profiled in in J.A. Aberdeen's "Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers" (Palos Verdes Estates, CA: Cobblestone Entertainment).
Merv Griffin claimed in his DVD collection "Merv Griffin: Interesting People" that Welles died two hours after giving Merv an interview in which he had said to ask him anything, "for this interview, there are no subjects about which I won't speak". In the past, Welles refused to speak about the past.
His performance as Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949) is ranked #93 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
His performance as Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941) is ranked #12 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Hated working on The Transformers: The Movie (1986), where he voiced Unicron. When asked about the film, he not only could not remember the name of his character, but he described the film as being "I play a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys.".
John Ford , whom Welles admired as the greatest American director and who, in turn, admired Welles as a director and actor, wanted to cast him as Mayor Frank Skeffington in his movie adaption of Edwin O'Connor 's novel The Last Hurrah (1958). Welles was unable to accept the role due to scheduling conflicts, and Spencer Tracy was cast instead.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 861-864. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
CBS wanted him to host The Twilight Zone (1959) but the producers felt that he requested too much money. He was ultimately ruled out in favor of the show's creator, Rod Serling .
Was George Lucas ' first choice as the voice for Darth Vader, but he thought the voice would be too recognizable.
He was of German, Irish and Scottish heritage.
He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
Was close friends with Bud Cort .
He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 1600 Vine Street; and for Radio at 6652 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
He died only two hours after being interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show (1962) on October 10, 1985. Reportedly, Welles died working with a typewriter in his lap.
When execs at RKO could not decide to greenlight Citizen Kane (1941), Welles asked the studio for film equipment and a small crew so he could spend the midway time doing test shots. Not wanting its new import from New York to sour on his deal with RKO, the studio granted the request. Welles proceeded to shoot actual scenes of the movie. By the time execs realized what he had done, Welles had many key scenes completed. RKO greenlit the film, having already--albeit unknowingly--financed the picture.
Was friends with Josip Broz Tito , a partisan guerrilla leader who fought the Nazis in World War II Yugoslavia, and who later became president of the country.
His last completed work as director was "The Orson Welles Show", a never broadcast television show.
He directed two actors to Oscar nominations: Himself (Best Actor, Citizen Kane (1941)), and Agnes Moorehead (Best Supporting Actress, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)).
He and John Huston were good friends from the 1940s to Welles' death in 1985. Both men coincidentally made their spectacular debut as directors in 1941 (Welles with Citizen Kane (1941) and Huston with The Maltese Falcon (1941)). Both would eventually be directed by the other: Welles' had a cameo in Huston's adaptation of Moby Dick (1956) and Huston played the lead in Welles' unfinished The Other Side of the Wind (2016).
He remained good friends with Joseph Cotten until the end of his life, despite a working relationship that was often considered demanding of the older Cotten.
George, his given name, was in honor of his father's friend, humorist George Ade .
Film critics lobbied for him to record an audio commentary for Citizen Kane (1941), but he refused, stating that he was tired of talking about it.
Welles was so impressed with Dorothea Durham that he walked on stage where she was performing at the Club Rhumboogie and put $500 in her hand. Durham, who went by the stage name La Garbo, was a popular dancer in the 1930s and 1940s on the West Coast. She also danced at the Cotton Club in Harlem and in Duke Ellington 's "Jump for Joy", and appeared as a dancer in movies such as Cabin in the Sky (1943).
Once referred to the audience as "the big, many-headed beast crouching out there in the darkness".
Became a father for the first time at age 22 when his first wife Virginia Nicolson gave birth to their daughter Christopher Welles on March 27, 1938.
Became a father for the second time at age 25 when his married lover Geraldine Fitzgerald gave birth to their son Michael Lindsay-Hogg on June 5, 1940.
Became a father for the third time at age 29 when his second wife Rita Hayworth gave birth to their daughter Rebecca Welles on December 17, 1944.
Became a father for the fourth time at age 40 when his third wife Paola Mori gave birth to their daughter Beatrice Welles on November 13, 1955.
The Last Picture Show (1971) was filmed in black and white because of Welles' famous remark to Peter Bogdanovich and Polly Platt , when director and crew were uncertain on how to film the locations without using too many colors. Welles, who was on the set, replied: "Of course you'll film it in black and white!" The advice proved to be helpful because the film was praised for (among other qualities) its cinematography, which earned Robert Surtees an Oscar nomination.
His full name is George Orson Welles. He was named "George" in honor of writer George Ade , who was a friend of the family. His middle name was in honor of another family friend, a man named Orson Wells (without the "e").
He had three Shakespearean roles in common with Laurence Olivier : (1) Welles played Othello in Othello (1951) while Olivier played him in Othello (1965), (2) Welles played King Lear in Omnibus: King Lear (1953) while Olivier played him in King Lear (1983) and (3) Welles played Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1969) while Olivier played him in The Merchant of Venice (1973).
Laurence Olivier strongly considered casting Welles as the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III (1955) but felt obligated to cast his close friend Ralph Richardson in the role. Olivier came to regret this decision as he believed that Welles would have added an element of conspiracy to the film.
Has been played by Steven Lamprinos in Hollywood Mouth 2 (2014). The director of that film, Jordan Mohr , wanted an Orson Welles character in the movie because she is from Venice, California, where Touch of Evil (1958) was filmed.
Was the voice of Unicron in the theatrical release of The Transformers: The Movie (1986), but was replaced by Roger C. Carmel (after he died) for the third season of the animated series The Transformers (1984).
Along with Laurence Olivier , Woody Allen , Warren Beatty , Kenneth Branagh , Clint Eastwood and Roberto Benigni , he is one of only seven men to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Director for the same film: Welles for Citizen Kane (1941), Olivier for Hamlet (1948), Allen for Annie Hall (1977), Beatty for both Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981), Branagh for Henry V (1989), Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992) and Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997).
Spoke French fluently.
Personal Quotes (73)
Even if the good old days never existed, the fact that we can conceive such a world is, in fact, an affirmation of the human spirit.
[on pop idol Donny Osmond ] He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
I'm not very fond of movies. I don't go to them much.
I started at the top and worked down.
I'm not bitter about Hollywood's treatment of me, but over its treatment of D.W. Griffith , Josef von Sternberg , Erich von Stroheim , Buster Keaton and a hundred others.
Movie directing is the perfect refuge for the mediocre.
[on Hollywood in the 1980s] We live in a snake pit here... I hate it but I just don't allow myself to face the fact that I hold it in contempt because it keeps on turning out to be the only place to go.
I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts.
If there hadn't been women we'd still be squatting in a cave eating raw meat, because we made civilization in order to impress our girlfriends. And they tolerated it and let us go ahead and play with our toys.
I hate it when people pray on the screen. It's not because I hate praying, but whenever I see an actor fold his hands and look up in the spotlight, I'm lost. There's only one other thing in the movies I hate as much, and that's sex. You just can't get in bed or pray to God and convince me on the screen.
[on Citizen Kane (1941) being colorized] Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie.
[At RKO Radio Pictures working on "Heart of Darkness", a film he later abandoned] This is the biggest electric train set any boy ever had!
For thirty years, people have been asking me how I reconcile X with Y! The truthful answer is that I don't. Everything about me is a contradiction and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don't reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.
My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.
I think I'm... I made essentially a mistake staying in movies, because I... but it... it's the mistake I can't regret because it's like saying, "I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman, but I did because I love her." I would have been more successful if I'd left movies immediately. Stayed in the theater, gone into politics, written--anything. I've wasted the greater part of my life looking for money, and trying to get along... trying to make my work from this terribly expensive paint box which is an... a movie. And I've spent too much energy on things that have nothing to do with a movie. It's about 2% movie making and 98% hustling. It's no way to spend a life.
I think it is always a tremendously good formula in any art form to admit the limitations of the form.
I don't pray because I don't want to bore God.
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.
I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theater, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai.
The word "genius" was whispered into my ear, the first thing I ever heard, while I was still mewling in my crib. So it never occurred to me that I wasn't until middle age.
I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time.
I'm not rich. Never have been. When you see me in a bad movie as an actor (I hope not as a director), it is because a good movie has not been offered to me. I often make bad films in order to live.
Everybody denies that I am genius - but nobody ever called me one.
A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong.
Hollywood is the only industry, even taking in soup companies, which does not have laboratories for the purpose of experimentation.
I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money.
Race hate isn't human nature; race hate is the abandonment of human nature.
Living in the lap of luxury isn't bad, except you never know when luxury is going to stand up.
I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act.
If spiritually you're part of the cat family, you can't bear to be laughed at. You have to pretend when you fall down that you really wanted to be down there to see what's under the sofa. The rest of us don't at all mind being laughed at.
[on his favorite directors] I prefer the old masters; by which I mean: John Ford , John Ford and John Ford.
[on James Cagney ] No one was more unreal and stylized, yet there is no moment when he was not true.
[on René Clair ] A real master: he invented his own Paris, which is better than recording it.
[on Federico Fellini ] His films are a small-town boy's dream of a big city. His sophistication works because it is the creation of someone who doesn't have it. But he shows dangerous signs of being a superlative artist with little to say.
[on Edward G. Robinson ] An immensely effective actor.
The optimists are incapable of understanding what it means to adore the impossible.
[on Stanley Kubrick ] Among the young generation, Kubrick strikes me as a giant.
[to Dick Cavett ] I'm always sorry to hear that anybody I admire has been an actor... When did you go straight?
I don't think history can possibly be true. Possibly! I'll tell you why. We all know people who get things written about, and we know that they're lies written. I told a story to Buck Henry , last year in Weymouth, and he told the story that he thought I told him to a newspaper that I read the other day, and it bears not the *slightest* resemblance to what I said! Now, that's an intelligent man, a year later, meaning me well, and that's the gospel according to Buck Henry, and it's totally apocryphal. Imagine what nonsense everything else is!
[on Nostradamus' ability to predict the future] One might as well make predictions based on random passages from the phone book.
[on Jean-Luc Godard ] His gifts as a director are enormous. I just can't take him very seriously as a thinker - and that's where we seem to differ, because he does. His message is what he cares about these days, and, like most movie messages, it could be written on the head of a pin.
The only good artists are feminine. I don't believe an artist exists whose dominant characteristic is not feminine. It's nothing to do with homosexuality, but intellectually an artist must be a man with feminine aptitudes.
I know that in theory the word is secondary in cinema, but the secret of my work is that everything is based on the word. I always begin with the dialogue. And I do not understand how one dares to write action before dialogue. I must begin with what the characters say. I must know what they say before seeing them do what they do.
A poet needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a director an army.
I liked the cinema better before I began to do it. Now I can't stop myself from hearing the clappers at the beginning of each shot. All the magic is destroyed.
I think it's very harmful to see movies for movie makers because you either imitate them or worry about not imitating them and you should do movies innocently and i lost my innocence. Every time i see a picture i lose something i don't gain. I never understand what directors mean when they compliment me and say they've learned from my pictures because i don't believe in learning from other people's pictures. You should learn from your own interior vision and discover innocently as though there had never been D.W. Griffith or [ Sergei M. Eisenstein ] or [ John Ford ] or [ Jean Renoir ] or anybody.
[on a lunch encounter with Richard Burton ] Richard Burton had great talent. He's ruined his great gifts. He's become a joke with a celebrity wife. Now he just works for money, does the worst shit. And I wasn't rude. To quote Carl Laemmle , "I gave him an evasive answer. I told him, 'Go fuck yourself'.".
I never could stand looking at Bette Davis , so I don't want to see her act, you see. I hate Woody Allen physically, I dislike that kind of man. [ Henry Jaglom ], I've never understood why. Have you met him? Oh, yes. I can hardly bear to talk to him. He has the [ Charles Chaplin ] disease. That particular combination of arrogance and timidity sets my teeth on edge... Like all people with timid personalities, his arrogance is unlimited. Anybody who speaks quietly and shrivels up in company is unbelievably arrogant. He acts shy, but he's not. He's scared. He hates himself, and he loves himself, a very tense situation. It's people like me who have to carry on and pretend to be modest. To me, it's the most embarrassing thing in the world-a man who presents himself at his worst to get laughs, in order to free himself from his hang-ups. Everything he does on the screen is therapeutic.
After [ Irving Thalberg ] died, Norma Shearer --one of the most minimally talented ladies ever to appear on the silver screen and who looked like nothing, with one eye crossed over the other--went right on being the queen of Hollywood. Everybody used to say, "Mrs. Thalberg is coming", "Miss Shearer is arriving", as though they were talking about Sarah Bernhardt .
In his time, Samuel Goldwyn was considered a classy producer because he never deliberately did anything that wasn't his idea of the best-quality goods. I respected him for that. He was an honest merchant. He may have made a bad picture, but he didn't know it was a bad picture. And he was funny. He actually once said to me, in that high voice of his, "Orson, for you I'd write a blanket check." He said, "With Warner Brothers, a verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it's written on.".
[ Louis B. Mayer ] offered me his studio! He was madly in love with me, because I wouldn't have anything to do with him, you know? Twice he brought me over--spent all day wooing me. He called me "Orse". Whenever he sent for me, he burst into tears, and once he fainted. To get his way. It was fake, absolutely fake. The deal was, I'd have the studio, but I'd have to stop acting, directing and writing--making pictures. But Mayer was self-righteous, smarmy, waving the American flag, doing deals with The Purple Gang [a violent gang of hijackers and killers] in Detroit... before the unions, it was all Mafia. But no one called it the Mafia. Just said "the mob".
[on Meyer Lansky ] He was probably the #1 gangster in America. I knew them all. You had to. If you lived, as I did, on Broadway during that period, if you lived in nightclubs, you could not not know them. I liked screwing the chorus girls, and I liked meeting all the different people who would come in, and I liked staying up until five in the morning, and they used to love to go to nightclubs. They would come and sit at your table... [asked how Lee Strasberg did with the Hyman Roth character, who was supposed to be Lansky, in The Godfather: Part II (1974)] Much better than the real thing. Meyer Lansky was a boring man. Hyman Roth is who he should have been! They all should have been like that, and none of them were. "The Godfather" was the glorification of a bunch of bums who never existed. The best of them were the kind of people you'd expect to drive a beer truck. They had no class. The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention.
[ Irving Thalberg ] was the biggest single villain in the history of Hollywood. Before him, a producer made the least contribution, by necessity. The producer didn't direct, he didn't act, he didn't write--so, therefore, all he could do was either (a) mess it up, which he didn't do very often, or (b) tenderly caress it. Support it. Producers would only go to the set to see that you were on budget, and that you didn't burn down the scenery... Once you got the educated producer, he has a desk, he's gotta have a function, he's gotta do something. He's not running the studio and counting the money--he's gotta be creative. That was Thalberg. The director became the fellow whose only job was to say, "Action!" and "Cut!". Suddenly you were "just a director" on a "Thalberg production". A role had been created in the world. Just as there used to be no conductor of symphonies... He convinced [ Louis B. Mayer ] that without him, his movies wouldn't have any class. Remember that quote Mayer gave? All the other moguls were "dirty kikes making nickelodeon movies". He used to say that to me all the time.
[on rumors that he, and not Robert Stevenson , directed Jane Eyre (1943)] I invented some of the shots--that's part of being that kind of producer. And I collaborated on it, but I didn't come around behind the camera and direct it. Certainly, I did a lot more than a producer ought to, but Stevenson didn't mind that. And I don't want to take credit away from him, all of which he deserves... In fact, we got along very well, and there was no trouble.
[on Anthony Asquith ] One of the nicest, most intelligent people who was ever in films... and my God, he was polite. I saw him, all alone on the stage once, trip on an electric cable, turn around, and say, "I beg your pardon" to it.
[on television] We live in a world of happy endings with audiences who make every show, no matter how doomed it is and ready to be canceled, sound like a smash hit. And if not, they have a little black box full of laughter, and they add that to the jokes. And you know that most of the people laughing on that box died long ago.
I have all the equipment to be a politician. Total shamelessness.
[on Gary Cooper ] You'd see him working on the set and you'd think, "My God, they're going to have to retake that one!". He almost didn't seem to BE there. And then you'd see the rushes, and he'd fill the screen.
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
Hollywood died on me as soon as I got there. I wish to God I'd gone there sooner. It was the rise of the independents that was my ruin as a director.
[on shooting Macbeth (1948)] Our best crowd scene was a shot where all the massed forces of Macduff's army are charging the castle. There was a very vivid sense of urgency to it, because what was happening, really, was that we'd just called noon break, and all those extras were rushing off to lunch.
[on making I tartari (1961)] Victor Mature and I had an extended sword fight, on which I worked day after day. And in no shots--full, long, medium--at any moment is Victor Mature EVER involved! Not even to hold the sword and look menacing... He said, "Oh, I don't want to do any of that stuff.".
[on the many documentary films he had narrated] I never saw the movies. That's always been a condition of mine in narrating a film--that I don't have to see any footage. Otherwise, I won't accept the job.
[on Luis Buñuel ] He's a deeply Christian man who hates God as only a Christian can and, of course, he's very Spanish.
[on working with Charlton Heston ] All you have to do is point and Chuck can go in any direction. He's spent a lot of years being a movie star.
[asked about the rumor that he directed part of Compulsion (1959), credited to Richard Fleischer ] Dick Fleischer is a director who doesn't need and wouldn't welcome any help from me.
[on his friend William Faulkner ] I never saw him anything but wildly drunk through the years. He must have been sober to produce that great body of work.
[on finding work to Hollywood in the late 1950s after spending several years in Europe] I went a year without almost nothing, just sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. And then I got a couple of jobs. The Long, Hot Summer (1958), which I hated making--I've seldom been as unhappy in a picture.
[on his famous "cuckoo clock" speech in The Third Man (1949) ("In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love--they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.] When the picture came out, the Swiss very nicely pointed out that they've never made any cuckoo clocks--they all come from the Schwarzwald [Black Forest] in Bavaria.
[on director W.S. Van Dyke , aka "Woody"] Woody made some very good comedies. And what a system he had!... His retakes sometimes took longer than his original shooting schedule... He'd shoot a "Thin Man" or something like that in about 20 days. Then he'd preview it and come back to the studio for 30 days of retakes. For comedy, when you're worried about the laughs, that makes a lot of sense.
[on why he hired Fortunio Bonanova for Citizen Kane (1941)] I saw him as the leading man with Katharine Cornell in "The Green Hat" when I was about eight years old. I never forgot him. He looked to me like a leading man in a dirty movie. Sent for him the minute I wrote that part. He was a great romantic leading man. When he was prompting her [ Dorothy Comingore ] in the opera, he was so marvelous. God, he was funny.
[on Tim Holt , with whom he worked in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)] One of the most interesting actors that's ever been in American movies, and he decided to be just a cowboy actor. Made two or three important pictures in his career, but was very careful not to follow them up--went straight back to bread-and-butter Westerns... he was the most marvelous fellow to work with you can imagine.
You know, I always loved Hollywood. It was just never reciprocated.
Salary (17)
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On which English motorway can you find services called Baldock, Wetherby and Washington? | Services on the A1 - Motorway Services Online, A1 | service stations
Motorway Services Online
search services
Services on the A1
Here are details on the services on the A1, truck road, starting at London and ending at Edinburgh. Also on Motorway Services Online: Services on the M1 and M18 , M25 , M62 , A14 , A17 , A19 , A46 , A47 , A168 , A421 , A689 and the former Oaktree , Rainton and Wansford services.
Contents
Between Edgware and Hatfield, Hertfordshire, EN6 3QQ. [ Google Maps ]
Large Welcome Break at the busy M25 junction.
Baldock
Between Baldock and Biggleswade, Hertfordshire, SG7 5TR. [ Google Maps ]
Modern Extra site at the end of this section of the A1(M) motorway.
Northway
Between Stevenage and Biggleswade, Hertfordshire, SG5 4BL. [ Google Maps ]
The services are open 24 hours
Northbound
BP , Nisa Local, Subway , Costa Express HGV Parking available
Southbound
Redwings Lodge BP , BP Connect , Wild Bean Cafe , AdBlue Cannisters
BP Express operate the southbound filling station
Notes: Both sides of the services were home to Little Chef restaurants. The northbound restaurant was known as the Astwick branch which opened in 1980/81 and the southbound restaurant was known as the Baldock branch which opened in 1996/97 when it replaced a Happy Eater restaurant. The southbound restaurant was accompanied by a Travelodge hotel which was known as the Hinxworth Baldock hotel.
In 2004/05, the Astwick Little Chef closed and remained boarded up for a while until it was demolished in 2010. It was said that the restaurant was still fully furnished and was left unlocked when it closed. In 2010, the Baldock Little Chef closed, marking the end of the Northway Little Chefs. The restaurant was left to stand empty. In 2013, the Travelodge on the southbound side also ceased trading, leaving just the BP filling stations to soldier on alone.
In the past, there used to be another cafe on the southbound side. However, this closed and has since been demolished.
Wyboston
| M1 |
Which English author who died in 1870 had the middle names John Huffam? | Services on the A1 - Motorway Services Online, A1 | service stations
Motorway Services Online
search services
Services on the A1
Here are details on the services on the A1, truck road, starting at London and ending at Edinburgh. Also on Motorway Services Online: Services on the M1 and M18 , M25 , M62 , A14 , A17 , A19 , A46 , A47 , A168 , A421 , A689 and the former Oaktree , Rainton and Wansford services.
Contents
Between Edgware and Hatfield, Hertfordshire, EN6 3QQ. [ Google Maps ]
Large Welcome Break at the busy M25 junction.
Baldock
Between Baldock and Biggleswade, Hertfordshire, SG7 5TR. [ Google Maps ]
Modern Extra site at the end of this section of the A1(M) motorway.
Northway
Between Stevenage and Biggleswade, Hertfordshire, SG5 4BL. [ Google Maps ]
The services are open 24 hours
Northbound
BP , Nisa Local, Subway , Costa Express HGV Parking available
Southbound
Redwings Lodge BP , BP Connect , Wild Bean Cafe , AdBlue Cannisters
BP Express operate the southbound filling station
Notes: Both sides of the services were home to Little Chef restaurants. The northbound restaurant was known as the Astwick branch which opened in 1980/81 and the southbound restaurant was known as the Baldock branch which opened in 1996/97 when it replaced a Happy Eater restaurant. The southbound restaurant was accompanied by a Travelodge hotel which was known as the Hinxworth Baldock hotel.
In 2004/05, the Astwick Little Chef closed and remained boarded up for a while until it was demolished in 2010. It was said that the restaurant was still fully furnished and was left unlocked when it closed. In 2010, the Baldock Little Chef closed, marking the end of the Northway Little Chefs. The restaurant was left to stand empty. In 2013, the Travelodge on the southbound side also ceased trading, leaving just the BP filling stations to soldier on alone.
In the past, there used to be another cafe on the southbound side. However, this closed and has since been demolished.
Wyboston
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David Reid is the current chairman of which leading supermarket chain? | Tesco announces new Chairman to replace David Reid - Retail Gazette
Retail Gazette
Tesco announces new Chairman to replace David Reid
Wednesday 11 May 2011 - Editorial Assistant
Sir Richard Broadbent has been hired to become the new Chairman of the UK’s leading retailer Tesco, it was confirmed today.
The company’s current Chairman David Reid is stepping down from the position this year having worked on the Tesco executive board for over quarter of a decade.
Broadbent is currently Deputy Chairman at the global financial services company Barclays and will initially join the Tesco board as a non-executive director from July 2nd 2011 before taking over the top job on November 30th.
Reid commented: “I am very pleased that Richard will be joining our board and then succeeding me as Chairman later in the year. I am sure that with his wide expertise, his board experience and his personal qualities he will contribute greatly to the future growth of the group.
“Good management succession is very important to Tesco and this appointment is the result of a thorough process led by Senior Independent Director Patrick Cescau and endorsed by all members of the board.
“It has been an honour and a pleasure to have worked with the Tesco team for so many exciting and fruitful years, first as an Executive Director for 18 years and since 2004 as Chairman.”
| Tesco |
Sticky Fingers and Goat's Head Soup were number one albums in the 1970's for which famous band? | David Reid
More in this category: « Fons Trompenaars Michael Bergdahl »
David Reid
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In 2004, David Reid was appointed Chairman of Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket chain. He was earlier their Finance Director and subsequently also took responsibility for IT and Distribution before being appointed Deputy Chairman with responsibility for Business Development, Strategic Planning and the International Operations in Central Europe, Asia and the Republic of Ireland.
Global retailing - capabilities and how to add value;
International retailing - local appeal to customers but with global synergies;
Establishing market leadership through greater access to customers.
English;
Asia/Middle East : £30k to £50k
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Sir David Reid is Chairman of Intertek Group plc, a global quality and safety services group that is listed on the London Stock Exchange in the FTSE 100, Support Services sector and has a network of over 30,000 employees in over 100 countries. Intertek helps many of the world's most well known brands and companies in a wide range of industries to develop the quality, safety, environmental and social impact of their products and processes. He was appointed to the Board in December 2011 and became Chairman in January 2012.
Sir David retired as Non-Executive Chairman of Tesco PLC in November 2011 after serving in that role since April 2004. Prior to that, he served as their Deputy Chairman with responsibility for Business Development, Strategic Planning and the International Operations in Central Europe, Asia and the Republic of Ireland, since 1996. He had served as an Executive on the Tesco Board since 1985. S
ir David is currently the Senior Non-Executive Director of Reed Elsevier Group PLC. In 2008 he was appointed Chairman of the charity Whizz-Kidz which provides mobility equipment for disabled children.
He was formerly Chairman of Kwik-Fit Group Ltd, Non-Executive Director at Greenalls Group plc (now De Vere Group), Legal & General Group Plc and Westbury plc. He is the former President of the food industry trade association, IGD.
In November 2010, Sir David was appointed one of Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Ambassadors.
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What is the christian name of the title character in the 1857 novel Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens? | The Morality of Sacrifice in "Little Dorrit"
[ Victorian Web Home —> Authors —> Charles Dickens —> Little Dorrit
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Where possible, bibliographical information appears in the form of in-text citations, which refer to the bibliography that appears below in this column.
Clicking on superscript numbers will take you to longer notes, which appear in this column; clicking the back button on your web browser will return you to your place in the main text.
Links in the text take you to other documents and images in the Victorian Web.
Notes
1 . Can You Forgive Her (1864); The Eustace Diamonds (1873); The Small House at Allington (1864); The Warden (1855); The Last Chronicle of Barset (1866)
2 . Later references to this character will be simply written as “Blandois,” the last pseudonym he assumes in the novel.
3 These traits, and other references to abstract character traits that contribute the given character’s immoral behavior, are capitalized to elevate the power these traits have over a character’s moral disposition.
4 James Kay Shutlesworth’s work, from which Armstrong draws her claims, was done in the mid-1830s, about 20 years before Dickens began serially publishing Little Dorrit.
5 The Tu quoque fallacy is “the fallacy of defending an error in one's reasoning by pointing out that others have made the same error. An error is still an error, regardless of how many people make it.” (Taken from the webpage of Glenn Whitman, Professor at CSU, Northridge.)
6 Langland attributes this claim to the work of Michael E. Rose, who according to Langland, argued that “the middle classes saw the lower classes qualitatively different from themselves.” Her citation of Rose’s work is as follows: Rose, Michael E. “The Disappearing Pauper” Victorian Attitudes to the Relief of the Poor.” Sigsworth 56-72.
7 I had also intended to consider Tatttycoram as a character who sacrifices herself, however her circumstances deposit her directly between the two groups of characters I have mentioned so far — those who sacrifice others, and those who sacrifice themselves for others. Tattycoram ultimately sacrifices herself (particularly her individuality), but it is not for others, and is actually for her own conditional happiness with the Meagles family. It seems then that her sacrifice was executed to relieve herself of a worse condition (the one with Ms. Wade), which can be likened to Mr. Merdle’s suicide, but of course is much different for several reasons. It is for these reasons that I have chosen to address Tattycoram in this footnote rather than in the body of the essay, but for what it is worth, I believe the novel neither rewards nor punishes Tattycoram for her unique circumstance of sacrifice.
Works Cited
Anderson, Amanda. The Powers of Distance: Cosmopolitanism and the Cultivation of Detachment. Princeton University Press, 2001.
Armstrong, Nancy. “History in the House of Culture: Social Disorder and Domestic Fiction in Early Victorian England.” Poetics Today. 7.4 (1986): 641-71
Blumberg, Ilana. Unnatural Self-Sacrifice: Trollope’s Ethic of Mutual Benefit. University of California Press, 2004. 506-46
Dickens, Charles. Little Dorrit. Penguin Books, 2003.
Fleishman, Avrom. “Master and Servant in Little Dorrit” Studies in English Literature 14.4 (1974): 575-86.
Goodlad, Lauren. “A Middle-Class Cut in Two: Historiography and Victorian National Character.” ELH 67.1 (2000): 143-78.
Langland, Elizabeth. “Nobody’s Angels: Domestic Ideology and Middle-Class Women in the Victorian Novel.” PMLA (1992): 290-304.
Whitman, Glen. “Logical Fallacies and the Art of Debate” http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/ index.html. Accessed May, 2009.
Yeazell, Ruth Bernard. “Do It or Dorrit” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 25.1 (1991): 33-49.
I. Introduction
Most readers of Charles Dickens will have noticed that his novels employ characters from various social classes of Victorian England, each character developed enough for the reader to make an inference about Dickens’s commentary on social or domestic order, or at least enough for the reader to know that commentary is afoot, whether or not he or she is able to make anything of it. Additionally, most scholars who have read literary criticisms of Charles Dickens will have very likely been exposed to an extensive array of theories concerning what his commentary on social order, and the characters’ particularly defined roles within it, actually is. “It is Dickens’s almost unique genius,” begins Avrom Fleishman, Professor Emeritus of English at Johns Hopkins University, “to tell us not only how it feels to be alive in class society, but also how people shape their own character under the spell of inequality” (575). Although Fleishman does not expand on his statement in this way, it can be read as if to say that although Dickens’s develops his characters within a specific social framework, the most provocative commentary rests not in the roles, responsibilities, virtues, and vices stereotypically found among the Victorian social classes, but rather through the ways in which the characters define their own moral characters, independent of their assigned social order. That is to say, one orphan may act entirely different than another orphan (Great Expectations’ Pip and Oliver Twist’s title orphan), one capitalist entirely different from another capitalist (Little Dorrit’s Mr. Meagles and Hard Times’ Bounderby), one cosmopolitan character entirely different from another cosmopolitan character (Little Dorrit’s Arthur Clennam and Monsieur Rigaud, to foreshadow a later discussion), and so on. Dickens’s novel then shifts from a commentary on Victorian social class, to a commentary on the individuals who are thrust, aptly or otherwise, into those classes. This shift does not deny the existence of social and domestic categories, but instead suggests that each character has the willful agency to behave in a way that is morally independent of those who share his or her social or domestic category.
Dickens’s 1857 novel, Little Dorrit, serves well — perhaps inadvertently — to demonstrate that a character’s moral development has more to do with the individual’s disposition than his or her standing in the social and domestic hierarchies of Victorian England. Ruth Bernard Yeazell, in her essay “Do It or Dorrit”, similarly theorizes that “more than most Dickens’s novels, Little Dorrit frustrates any attempt to trace human acts — or failures to act — to single determining origins” (39). In order to exercise my claim, I will investigate the ways in which Little Dorrit’s characters engage their moral identities through acts of sacrifice — both in terms of sacrificing oneself for others, and of sacrificing others, either for oneself or otherwise. This should be an important and fruitful exercise, as “the relation of sacrifice to the mid-Victorian novel is an extraordinarily rich, surprisingly understudied topic” (Blumberg 515). It is indeed surprising, for as Blumberg goes on to note, “mid- to late-nineteenth century writings are exceptionally prone to conceive of social relations in terms of sacrifice” (515). Although her essay focuses this trope of sacrifice on five Anthony Trollope novels, the mid-Victorian novels with which she expands her claim are Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847); Charolette Mary Yonge’s The Heir of Radcliffe (1853); George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss (1860) and Silas Marner (1861); Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone (1868) and No Name (1862); Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861) and A Tale of Two Cities (1869). 1 With regards to George Eliot, this trope could as well include Daniel Deronda (1876), and with regards to Dickens, we might also consider Bleak House (1853) in which Esther Summerson, determined to do good and “win some love”, is confronted with a potential sacrifice of her happiness in her efforts to thank Mr. Jarndyce. Additionally, investigations of the individual and sacrifice have also resonated in political and fantastical novels of the Victorian era. Regarding the political, Beauchamp’s Career (1875) by George Meredith involves the sacrifice of its protagonist to selfless morality as he attempts to save a street urchin from drowning, while previously sacrificing his connection with a rich uncle in his attraction to the Radical ideology. Regarding sacrifice in the fantastical, the conclusion of George MacDonald’s Phantastes (1858), while vague, ought to be considered as the character Cosmo sacrifices his own life to save the soul of his beloved. It appears then that Blumberg is correct in noting the tendencies of mid-Victorian novels to conceive of relationships in terms of sacrifice; however, Little Dorrit separates itself with greater emphasis on morality and individuality, and this essay will be chiefly concerned with that emphasis.
To capture a broad perspective of sacrifice, my investigation will consider several of Little Dorrit’s developed characters — from the pivotal players of Arthur Clennam, Mr. Merdle, and Amy (Little) Dorrit, to the supporting cast members such as Tattycoram, Rigaud/Langier/Blandois, 2 and Ms. Wade, among others. Ultimately, the novel suggests that those characters who sacrifice others, either for their own personal benefit or in negligence, will in turn find themselves fatally sacrificed by the very forces within themselves — Greed, Ignorance, Pressure, 3 etc. — that catalyzed their sacrifice of others. Conversely, the novel suggests that those characters who sacrifice themselves for others will in turn find themselves rewarded with happiness, perhaps the most beloved reward of them all.
II. Sacrificing Others
Let us first consider those characters who sacrifice others, knowingly or negligently. With each character thus analyzed, I will show, in order, who they sacrificed, why their social class or label cannot be an excuse for their moral flaw, and finally how they in turn become sacrificed by the forces within themselves that catalyzed their sacrifice of others. Since the novel begins with the sinister Monsieur Rigaud, so then will I. It will be first useful to identify him, as he does himself, as a “cosmopolitan gentleman” (24). More explicitly, he declares, “I own no particular country. My father was Swiss — Canton de Vaud. My mother was French by blood, English by birth. I myself was born in Belgium. I am a citizen of the world” (24). This “gentleman” makes three attempts at sacrificing others, two of them successfully, the other nearly executed, but ultimately unsuccessful. First, he kills his wife — “Struggling with her — assassinating her!” (27) Then he deliberately poisons the Gowon’s dog — both instances of course contrary to his own side of the story. The third instance materializes in his unsuccessful attempt to sacrifice Mrs. Clennam by exposing her lie that concerns Arthur’s legitimacy, and likewise the legitimacy of her motherhood.
The reader may now wonder why I found it “useful” to identify Monsieur Rigaud as cosmopolitan. First, with regards to a character’s moral disposition, Rigaud’s cosmopolitan nature coincides with Amanda Anderson’s observation of how Dickens involves cosmopolitan characters in Victorian English society:
On the one hand, Dickens ambitiously strove in his novels to comprehend a social whole, and his narratives repeatedly assert omniscient and comparative knowledge as an intellectual and ethical value. On the other hand, insofar as the knowledge embodied in the narratives, and accessible to select characters, involves exposure to scathing truths about economic inequities or systemic corruption, it actually becomes a negative force as well, threatening the individual’s sense of purpose and capacity for clear moral vision when dealing with others who are suddenly viewed as fully complicit in the forms of power that structure the social world more broadly [emphasis added] (70).
In short, Anderson argues that a character’s cosmopolitanism can sometimes generate an “ethical value,” and sometimes it can generate an ethical flaw. While this argument is not false, I believe it requires a slight adjustment.
I would like to suggest that a character’s moral behavior is not governed by cosmopolitanism itself, but is governed rather by the character’s individual response to his or her cosmopolitanism — that is, how the characters use their cosmopolitanism, and not how cosmopolitanism uses the characters. To assert that Monsieur Rigaud’s “capacity for clear moral vision” is “threatened” is to put it as mildly as our English vocabulary allows. But to use the vocabulary that Anderson uses, what is his capacity for moral vision threatened by? For Anderson, it is the very actuality of his cosmopolitanism. In chapter two of her book, The Powers of Distance, she alludes to Dickens’s broader anxiety that “cultivated detachment — aesthetic, scientific, and cosmopolitan — poses a distinct threat to moral integrity, purposiveness, and forms of belonging” [emphasis added] (82). She goes on, however, to stress that “in many of [cosmopolitanism’s] Enlightenment manifestations, it comprises both intellectual and ethical dimensions, with a prominent emphasis on the practice of self-cultivation” (64). Since other cosmopolitan characters — in Little Dorrit, in other Dickens’s novels, and in other Victorian works — behave much differently than Rigaud, it seems more reasonable to say that his capacity for moral integrity is not threatened by cosmopolitanism, but rather his individual response to it. The moral differences between the cosmopolitan characters are therefore determined not by cosmopolitanism’s effect on the individual, but by the individual’s effect on cosmopolitanism — by the degree to which they use cosmopolitanism to morally cultivate themselves. This is an important distinction to make because by shifting accountability to the characters themselves, the novel is justified in the rewards or punishments it allots to the moral or amoral characters, respectively.
Although granting that Monsieur Rigaud is perhaps more cosmopolitan than other characters who seem to be worthy of such a label, it must be noted that these other characters with traces of cosmopolitanism adhere to an entirely different program of moral values. After all, the “Fellow Travellers” from the East in Chapter Two behave without the coldness, deceitfulness, and manipulation to which Rigaud subscribes. The Meagles, granting their unwillingness to (further) improve Tattycoram’s well-being, by and large behave respectfully. Miss Wade, while pessimistic and suspicious, commits no real harm. And Arthur Clennam, the novel’s hero, might be regarded as Rigaud’s moral antithesis. Additionally, although she is not one of these “Fellow Travelers,” the cosmopolitan Mrs. General, who “in the course [of about seven years] made the tour of Europe, and saw most of that extensive miscellany of objects which it is essential that all persons of polite cultivation should see with other people’s eyes, and never their own . . . was a name more honorable than ever” (473). Hence it is Rigaud’s reaction to — and decided involvement with — his cosmopolitanism that defines his moral makeup. When viewed in this light, the collection of cosmopolitan characters crumbles down, and the individuals, with their own unique dispositions, remain unscathed by this social category. The novel, with regards to moral temperament, is therefore neither pro- nor anti-cosmopolitan; however, it is decidedly in favor of those who react to their cosmopolitanism honorably and selflessly (sacrificing themselves for others), and is against those who react dishonorably and selfishly (sacrificing others, knowingly or otherwise).
Part of my thesis stated that those characters who sacrifice others, either for their own personal benefit or otherwise, will in turn find themselves fatally sacrificed by the very forces within themselves that catalyzed their sacrifice of others. As just shown, the catalyst cannot be Rigaud’s cosmopolitanism, as this trait surfaces in some of the moral characters of the novel as well. Manipulation, Deceit, and Malice, therefore, seem to be the safest bets — what instigated these traits, one can only guess. In any case, it follows then that Rigaud fittingly dies beneath the very house that he tried to manipulate, or literally, “the great beam that lay upon him, crushing him” (828).
Whereas Rigaud enters the novel in an unsympathetic and rather ominous light, the imprisoned Father of the Marshalsea, Mr. William Dorrit, is first introduced as “a very amiable and very helpless middle-aged gentleman . . . .a shy, retiring man; well-looking, though in an effeminate style; with a mild voice, curling hair, and irresolute hands” (73). Yet Mr. Dorrit, instead of sacrificing himself for the sake of his children, imposes sacrifices upon them — Little Dorrit bearing most, but Fanny and Tip (because of their unwillingness to sacrifice themselves for others) suffering most. He loosely spends Testimonial money from visitors and perpetuates his stay in the Marshalsea, which perpetuates the misfortune of the Dorrit children. The most poignant demonstration of Mr. Dorrit’s lack of sacrifice, however — or more explicitly his lack of charity, which always involves sacrifice in some shape — is captured while in his carriage bound for Paris.
While “every cripple at the post-houses, not blind, who shoved his little battered tin box in at [Mr. Dorrit’s] carriage window for Charity in the name of heaven, Charity in the name of our Lady, Charity in the name of all the Saints,” Mr. Dorrit preoccupies himself with “castle-building.... running towers up, taking towers down, adding a wing here, putting on a battlement there, looking to the walls, strengthening the defenses, giving ornamental touches to the interior, making in all respects a superb castle of it” (664). Not only does he sacrifice his own children, but he fails to make a charitable sacrifice when the opportunity stares him in the face — which especially weakens his moral character when the reader recalls that acts of charity or sacrifice by visitors to the Marshalsea (strangers to Mr. Dorrit) were that which made his bitter imprisonment tolerable, and daresay comfortable.
Of what Mr. Dorrit is supposed to be representative, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell. He is literally a father, though for most of the novel cared for as a child. He was “brought up as a gentleman,” and “Ed’cated at no end of expense,” though often times detrimentally ignorant (79). It is perhaps for these reasons that we need not demonstrate any further how the novel distinguishes Mr. Dorrit as a morally unique individual, but it should be remembered that no character — save for Mr. Merdle — who at any time shares a social or domestic category with him, behaves with the immoral recklessness to which Mr. Dorrit subscribes. The closest argument would go to the cosmopolitan Rigaud, but this obliges one to see Mr. Dorrit’s travel experiences as cosmopolitan, which becomes difficult to do when he simply surrounds himself with Englishmen while abroad. He is like the American who vacations in Japan and books a reservation at Planet Hollywood — not exactly the cosmopolitan experience. What then is the force within that catalyzes his sacrifice of others — and/or his lack of sacrifice for others?
Some critics of Victorian-era behavior, both in and outside of the novel, want to blame disrupted households. Contemporary critic Nancy Armstrong, recalling the research of James Shuttleworth, explains that machinization and problems of political order produced disorder in Victorian households, and likewise that “geographies of domestic disorder were also maps of moral disorder” (654). 4 First, this starkly contrasts with Elizabeth Langland’s assertion that “the nineteenth-century novel presents the household as a secure and moral shelter from economic and political storms,” however neither Armstrong’s nor Langland’s assertions add up in Little Dorrit, if at all elsewhere. Concerning Armstrong’s view that domestic disorder produced moral disorder, we have only to recall that not only do Amy Dorrit and her father both subscribe to domestic disorder, but they are in the same family! How did Amy evade moral degeneracy while it captured the rest of the family? How did Arthur behave so well despite the troubling circumstances of the Clennam household? Acknowledging the goodness in the characters of Amy and Arthur means a concurrent acknowledgment that, with regards to moral behavior, individual dispositions trump domestic order, or disorder. Mr. Dorrit therefore has no social or domestic category to blame; the most likely culprit seems to be a combination of Self-Absorption and Ignorance.
This combination surfaces visibly in the “castle building” scene mentioned earlier, though Ignorance takes precedence concerning the sacrifice of his children: “All I have been able to do, I have done,” he says to Amy (248). And again to Amy: “I cannot, my dear child, think of engrossing, and — ha — as it were, sacrificing you” (638). Both forces (Self-Absorption and Ignorance) again contribute to his injurious investments with Mr. Merdle: his Self-Absorption drives him into the company of society’s most esteemed members, and his Ignorance of how to manage himself and his money in a society for which he pretends to be equipped (“though of course I should, under any circumstances, like the rest of the civilized world, have followed in Mr. Merdle’s train”) drives him to lose everything, bringing his children down with him, again (643). Early in the novel, Amy foreshadows the danger of her father trying to exist in the world outside the prison, saying “he might not be so fit himself for the life outside, as he is for [the Marshalsea]” (113). Because of this he is in turn sacrificed by the resulting pressure of his humiliation that follows these unfavorable endeavors. One might sympathize with a man who caught the same Epidemic “in common with the rest of the world,” but the Ad Hominem fallacy “Tu quoque,” 5 while often tempting, is hardly a worthy excuse (538).
Mr. Merdle brings us to my last — though not the novel’s sole remaining — example of these amoral sacrificers. He is, however, the most obvious example, making sacrifices of everyone who trusted him with their investments, and spreading the symptoms (with help) of his own Epidemic. Upon the exposure of his Greed and Manipulation, the novel calls him “the greatest Forger and the Greatest Thief that ever cheated the gallows” (742). The novel explicitly labels Mrs. Merdle as one of his victims, explaining that she “had been sacrificed to the wiles of a vulgar barbarian” [emphasis added] (838). Mr. Merdle, however, attempts to save face — as most guilty people do — by attempting to explain the “sacrifices” he had born. While discussing society with his wife, Mr. Merdle claims she does “not know anything of the sacrifices [he makes] for it,” but these “sacrifices,” just like his self-sacrifice of suicide, are made solely for his benefit — the former contributing to his bottomless pockets, the latter relieving him of the impending humiliation. He is thus ultimately sacrificed by the Greediness that caused him to sacrifice others — or at least the “Pressure” resulting from that greed (741).
Like Mr. Dorrit and Monsieur Rigaud, Mr. Merdle’s amoral inclination to sacrifice others for himself stands independent of any social or domestic category. His behavior actually subscribes to the kind of morality that most middle-class citizens assigned to the bottom rungs of society. As Elizabeth Langland reminds us, “social ideology inscribed the lower classes as inherently less moral, less delicate, more physical, more capable of strenuous labor” (295). 6 To what then can we attribute his extreme lack of morals? It cannot be that he is a father; consider Mr. Meagles, the elder John Chivery, the kind-hearted plasterer Mr. Plornish, and Mr. Rugg. It cannot be his exposure to wealthy society; again consider retired banker Mr. Meagles and Mr. Rugg (and to an extent even the Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office, who do nothing at all). It cannot be his capitalist nature; consider Daniel Doyce, who Arthur describes as “the honest, self-helpful, indefatigable old man, who has worked his way all through his life,” and who Mr. Meagles reminds us, “never complains” (134). Mr. Meagles’ description of Doyce especially contrasts with Mr. Merdle when we recall that Merdle’s “complaint had been, simply, Forgery and Robbery” (742) [emphasis added]. As the narrator in Chapter Eleven points out, “There never was, there never had been, there never again should be, such a man as Mr. Merdle” (597).
III. Self-Sacrifice
Just as the novel demonstrates — again, perhaps inadvertently — the amoral independence of characters such as Monsieur Rigaud, Mr. Dorrit, and Mr. Merdle, and punishes them accordingly by killing them at the hand of those forces within themselves that catalyzed their sacrifice of others — Malice, Self-absorption, Ignorance, Greed, etc. — the novel also displays those moral, self-sacrificing characters, as independent of social or domestic categories. That is to say, it is not only the amoral characters who eradicate a moral mold of social or domestic distinctions. Let us now consider for what or for whom these self-sacrificing characters sacrificed themselves, how they stand morally independent of social or domestic category, and likewise how the novel rewards them for this moral behavior.
The obvious example is Amy Dorrit, who sacrifices herself for just about everybody she meets in the novel (excepting young John Chivery, poor fellow). In fact, she sacrifices so much for the well-being of others that her family’s existence entirely depends on Amy’s selfless industriousness: “My brother would have been quite lost without Amy,” says Mr. Dorrit. “We should all have been lost without Amy” (108). Any reader of Little Dorrit should not need further examples of Amy’s sacrificial character; however, her moral independence may not be as obvious.
That she is the daughter of a poor family, or even that she is a child of an imprisoned widower (and therefore might seem to be saddled with greater responsibility), is not enough to explain her selfless actions for others; consider Tip and Fanny, both of whom are thrust into the same circumstances, and both of whom unload the sacrifices they ought to make onto the already feeble back of their youngest sibling. Additionally, just as was the case with her father, Amy’s actions stand entirely independent of Armstrong’s supposed cause-and-effect of domestic disorder and moral degeneracy. Amy also pays no heed to the “social ideology [that] inscribed the lower classes as inherently less moral, less delicate, more physical, and more capable of strenuous labor” (Langland, 295). Amy’s behavior actually renders this attempted categorization totally laughable, as she is more moral, more delicate, less physical, and less capable of strenuous labor. The novel itself identifies Amy as morally independent of others who share her social or domestic category, explaining that “she was inspired to be something which was not what the rest were, and to be that something, different and laborious, for the sake of the rest” (86).
Amy’s ideals of being something, or doing something, “for the sake of the rest” is perhaps one of wholesome nostalgia. (Esther Somerson from Bleak House, as mentioned earlier, might coincide with Amy here as well). In the same article referenced earlier concerning domestic and moral disorder, Nancy Armstrong discusses Peter Gaskell’s lamentation of
the passing of a time when families were �bound together by the strong link of affection, each member in its turn, as it attained an age fitted for the loom, joined its labor to the general stock, its earnings forming part of a fund, the whole of which was placed at the disposal of the father or the mother, as the case may be; and each individual looked to him or to her for the adequate supply of its wants.’ [656]
Aside from the discussion of role reversals — upon which this paper’s thesis could have rested entirely (and differently), and for which another twenty pages would be necessary — this passage, when considering the Dorrit family’s dependence upon Amy’s sacrifices, seems to deposit her amid an old-fashioned family unity that the rest of the Dorrits selfishly resist. Or perhaps the rest of the Dorrits are unknowingly caught in the sway of what Blumberg calls “the emergent system of consumer capitalism, [which] with its emphasis on materialism and material success, recommended taking advantage of the sacrifices of others” (513). Among other things, considering the Dorrit family in accordance with Gaskell’s lamentation serves to morally distinguish her from others in her social or domestic sphere.
This lack of help from the family becomes more interesting when the novel reaches its conclusion and Arthur, perhaps siding with the reader, declares to Amy, “It is not my imprisonment only that will soon be over. This sacrifice of you must be ended” (849). I mention Arthur’s acknowledgement of Amy’s sacrifices here specifically with regard to the lack of offered help from Amy’s family because it seems the person best equipped to help Amy is a self-sacrificing character who also subscribes to a similar set of moral principles. Amy, of course, is not the only character benefiting from Arthur’s self-sacrifices. The entire Dorrit family benefits from the sacrifices of his time, energy, and money, and if these were not enough, he accepts the full burden of the ruined partnership venture with Daniel Doyce. In addition to mentioning for what or for whom Arthur sacrifices himself, it is important to reveal how the novel describes the beautiful history of his moral development:
He was a dreamer in such wise, because he was a man who had deep-rooted in his nature, a belief in all the gentle and good things this life had been without. Bred in meanness and hard dealing, this had rescued him to be a man of honorable mind and open hand. Bred in coldness and severity, this had rescued him to have a warm and sympathetic heart. Bred in a creed to darkly audacious to pursue, through its process of reversing the making of man in the image of his Creator to the making of his Creator in the image of an erring man, this had rescued him to judge not, and in humility to be merciful, and have hope and charity. [180]
It is hardly worth pointing out that Arthur’s moral character is independent of social and domestic categories, since the novel tells us it is rather “deep-rooted in his nature.” However, for the sake of thicker substance, I will say that his moral character cannot be attributed to his experiences in travel (or to Cosmopolitanism), for we have only to look at Rigaud and Mr. Merdle; it cannot be that he is a son (of any social class), for we have only to look at Tip Dorrit and Henry Gowon; it cannot be his domestic rootlessness or his bitter upbringing, firstly because he lives unaware of his illegitimacy, but secondly — and more importantly — because Ms. Wade, also “bred in coldness and severity,” while committing no real harm, has anything but “hope and charity.” It cannot be the domestic disorder of the Clennam household — this paper has already said plenty on that topic. In short, it cannot be anything to do with social or domestic classes. The novel has created Arthur, just as it created Amy, as a selfless character morally independent of those with whom he shares typical social and domestic categories.
Whereas the novel punishes those characters who sacrificed others — particularly by sacrificing them to the vices that catalyzed those sacrifices — the characters who have sacrificed themselves for others — Little Dorrit and Arthur Clennam — find themselves rewarded for their moral behavior. 7 Specifically, they tie the knot and enter “a modest life of usefulness and happiness” (859). This contrasts with Beauchamp’s Career in which the protagonist, while curiously in a loveless yet happy marriage, is punished (drowned) in his selfless moral act of saving a drowning child. One might read a reward into that, though that is for another essay all together. Similarly, the Tulliver children of Mill on the Floss are punished (drowned) in their attempt to find and save Lucy Deane, however both children can as well be guilty of sacrificing others for their own ends, and thus deserve the drowning according to the reward-punishment system discussed above. Regarding Little Dorrit’s self-sacrificers, the reader should understand that although Arthur and Amy’s reward does not necessarily cease their sacrifices — they continue “to give a mother’s care to Fanny’s neglected children no less than their own . . . and to give a tender nurse and friend to Tip” — this does not negate their reward. The novel describes them as “inseparable and blessed” and knows that they find “happiness” in seeing “the light shine on others and hailing it” (859, 181). Of course, neither one of them has hardly any capital to their name, but with the fates of other characters mentioned in this essay, it is hard to imagine they would prefer anything to honorable moral company.
IV. Conclusion
By now, it might be tempting to recall the characters this paper has put beneath the moral microscope and think that many of them have found ways to except themselves from the rule, as the saying goes. That is to say, the novel makes judgments about the morals of specific social and domestic categories — parents, children, cosmopolitan, provincial, poor, wealthy, etc. — but shows how certain characters have found ways to behave outside of those conventions. However, when the number of exceptions becomes equal to or near the amount of rules, the foundations of the rules (behavioral conventions and stereotypes in this case) become brittle at best. This is especially the case when there exists more than one exception to a given convention. Arthur Clennam is not the only cosmopolitan character who subscribes to honorable moral behavior; consider Mr. Meagles and Mrs. General. Likewise, Monsieur Rigaud is not the only cosmopolitan character to behave wickedly; remember “the greatest Forger and the Greatest Thief that ever cheated the gallows” (742). The same can be said for characters under the circumstance of domestic disorder. Arthur and Amy both emerge as the novel’s two most selfless, morally behaving characters, yet the other members of the Dorrit family are morally blind or shallow. No matter which social or domestic category presents itself in Little Dorrit, there are always at least two characters who behave morally independent of that category.
It is important to notice that behaving independently of social or domestic category is not synonymous with behaving in a certain way despite behavioral conventions typically associated with a given social or domestic categeory. After all, to behave despite X first requires an acknowledgement of X’s existence and then requires one to behave in a way contrary to X — X in this case meaning “lower-class citizens behave this way,” or “capitalists behave this way,” and so on. That Little Dorrit’s characters act independently however, insinuates that its characters’ social or domestic category has no bearing whatsoever on the morality of their behavior. This does not suggest that social or domestic categories do not exist in Little Dorrit (that would be downright silly), but rather suggests, as the reader may recall from the introduction, that each character has the willful agency to behave in a way that is morally independent of those who share his or her social or domestic category. Removing morality from the discussion, there are undoubtedly many things which social and domestic categories can and probably do influence, inside and outside of the novel. However, that is not with what this paper, in its limited scope, concerns itself.
By demonstrating — again, perhaps inadvertently — that characters (and likely the citizens of the society within which, for which, or about which the novel was written) can act morally and selflessly independent of any social or domestic category, Little Dorrit creates individuals in a society obsessed with compartmentalizing the many levels of social and domestic life in Victorian England. Amanda Anderson is perhaps the literary critic most in touch with this as she explains “it is crucial to note that Dickens does seek at least partly to ground the capacity for achieved attachments in individual nature or temperament” (76). She carries this idea further by saying “the true moral distinction that Dickens makes is between those who assert forms of redemptive belief against such bleak conditions and those who fail to do so” [emphasis added] (76). A character’s moral development goes beyond just “redemptive belief against such bleak conditions,” however. As exemplified in Mr. Merdle, it is the characters in all conditions of society — from top to bottom, side to side — who must strive to hone selfless moral dispositions.
Critics of the Victorian novel, and likewise of Charles Dickens, will continue to draw lines around social and domestic categories, shaping and reshaping them as a new theory demands it. However, with the lens of morality, these boundaries dissipate more and more, and eventually disappear. This dissipation especially plays out in moral boundaries concerning social classes — that is lower-, middle-, or upper-class distinctions. As we see in Little Dorrit, members of the upper-classes include both moral and amoral characters, and the same can be said for the lower-classes. Most interesting perhaps is Mr. Dorrit, who moves from the lower society of the Marshalsea to upper-society toward the end of the novel, and behaves immorally in both.
The creation of these morally independent characters also justifies the reward or punishment divvied out to them. Since it is easier to gauge a character’s moral disposition by the extreme forms of morality, there was no better assessment than to follow Little Dorrit’s characters into their engagement with sacrifice — sacrificing oneself for the sake of others being the extreme form of selfless moral behavior, and sacrificing others (either in full knowledge or negligence) being the extreme form of immoral behavior. Little Dorrit rightfully rewards those characters — Arthur and Amy — who willing sacrificed themselves for the sake of others by granting them happiness. Conversely, the novel punishes (by death) those characters who sacrificed others, fittingly at the hand of the forces within themselves that catalyzed their sacrifice of others. In other words, none of the immoral characters die accidentally; if a character is guilty of something as serious as sacrificing others, he or she can never be an innocent bystander. As more critics begin to consider the ways in which Little Dorrit exercises the ideas of morality, sacrifice, and individuality as discussed in this paper, this novel will likely join other Victorian works considered to be one of the “novels [that] served among the century’s chief agents in secularizing and spreading the gospel of self-sacrifice” (Blumberg 514). This consideration will perhaps prove useful in an analysis of Victorian culture outside the novel as well, with the understanding that
the nineteenth-century novel is drawn to self-sacrifice in part as an exploration of its own aesthetic and historical tensions: between individual psychology and social structure; between idealized and realist representation; between the sympathetic, socially concerned aims of its writers and their professional, commercial ambitions. [Blumberg 516]
Not only does Little Dorrit demonstrate the possibility of moral self-cultivation, but insists on it, and rewards or punishes those characters according to their moral behavior. In short, no one gets away with anything because everyone’s accountable for themselves. Optimists would love to believe this is representative of real Victorian society and even of real life today, but realists who want justice served ought to stay inside and read another book.
| Amy (disambiguation) |
Which influential American painter, born in 1912, died at the age of 44 in 1956 in an alcohol related car accident along with a passengger, Edith Metzger? | Little Dorrit Essay - Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens - eNotes.com
Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens
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Little Dorrit Charles Dickens
The following entry presents criticism of Dickens's novel Little Dorrit (1857). See also Charles Dickens Short Story Criticism, A Christmas Carol Criticism, A Tale of Two Cities Criticism, Our Mutual Friend Criticism, and Hard Times Criticism.
Judged Dickens's worst novel by many nineteenth-century critics, Little Dorrit has been reevaluated in the second half of the twentieth century and is today considered a masterpiece by many scholars who praise its criticism of the modern world's corrupt social and political institutions.
Biographical Information
Charles Dickens, the second of eight children, was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, to John and Elizabeth Barrow Dickens. His childhood was spent on the southern coast of England where he attended a good school until his family moved to London when he was eleven. Dickens's father was a minor government official who habitually lived beyond his means, and in 1824 he was sent to the Marshalsea debtors' prison, the same institution that became the setting for Little Dorrit. Although the rest of the family took up residence in the prison along with him, young Charles was sent to work in a factory, living on his own in a state of near starvation. When his father was released from prison a few months later, Dickens returned to school in London, but the humiliating experience had a lasting effect on his life and his writings. Although he did not attend college, Dickens was admitted as a reader to the library of the British Museum, where he immersed himself in the study of literature, particularly Shakespeare. He worked as a clerk in a law office, as a shorthand reporter, and eventually as a journalist before he started producing sketches and novels for a variety of London periodicals.
Dickens published Sketches by Boz in 1836 and it was an immediate success with both readers and critics. His first novel, Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837), was published, as were all of his novels, in serial form. By the time the fourth monthly installment appeared, Dickens was the most popular author in England. He produced many successful novels over the course of his writing career, many of them containing images or characters inspired by his brief unhappy experience involving the debtors' prison and the blacking factory, among them Oliver Twist (1838), David Copperfield (1850), and Great Expectations (1861). In none of these is the image of the prison as ubiquitous as it is in Little Dorrit, which many critics have termed Dickens's most harrowing novel, the product of his late or “dark” period. In 1870, while working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens suffered an aneurysm in the brain and died the next day. He was buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Plot and Major Characters
The title character of the novel, Amy Dorrit, or Little Dorrit as she preferred to be called, was born inside the walls of the Marshalsea debtor's prison; her family's home because of her father's financial failings. Amy's mother died shortly after her birth, but Amy and her siblings continued to live inside the prison until they were grown. Trained as a seamstress by one of the other inmates, Amy left the prison every day to sew for Mrs. Clennam, a widowed invalid confined to her home. Mrs. Clennam's son Arthur had spent twenty years in the Orient working with his father and when Mr. Clennam died, Arthur returned to England. He refused to join his cold, miserly mother in her business, preferring to take his portion of the inheritance and go off on his own.
Impressed by Little Dorrit's sweet nature, Arthur tried to help the girl by working to secure her father's release from prison, by helping her to obtain more customers for her needlework, and by sending her small amounts of money. In the course of the investigation into William Dorrit's debts, it was discovered that he was the sole surviving heir of a large estate, which he promptly claimed. Dorrit paid his creditors and left the prison that had been his family's home for twenty years. Ungrateful for Arthur's efforts on their behalf, the Dorrits, with the exception of Amy, refused to speak to him any longer.
Determined to put the past behind them, and indeed, to deny that the past had ever existed, the Dorrits traveled to the continent where they gained admission to the community of wealthy Englishmen living abroad. Amy's older sister Fanny was pursued by Mr. Sparkle, the stepson of Mr. Merdle, a wealthy and influential banker. Both families were motivated by greed in agreeing to the match. Although Fanny didn't love Sparkle, she was anxious to marry into a wealthy family, and while Mrs. Merdle was aware of Fanny's past as a dancer, she was impressed with the Dorrit fortune. The couple married and returned to London where Mr. Merdle offered to invest Mr. Dorrit's money and make his estate even larger. Only Little Dorrit remained unspoiled by the family's newly-found wealth; she continued to correspond with Arthur, grateful for his assistance to the family.
Still in London, Arthur was investigating a mystery involving some unsavory characters and his mother. While trying to determine what business his mother could possibly have with these rogues, Arthur lost his inheritance, which he had invested with Mr. Merdle, and was sent to debtors' prison. When Little Dorrit returned to England, she again took up residence in the Marshalsea to care for Arthur just as she had for her father for so many years. Mrs. Clennam was being blackmailed and to avoid payment she decided to reveal the truth to her son. She visited him in prison to tell him that she was not his real mother and that for many years she had been withholding money from him and from Little Dorrit. Arthur was released from prison and shortly thereafter he and Little Dorrit were married.
Major Themes
The most common image and theme of Little Dorrit is that of the prison. Dickens, thoroughly humiliated and deeply scarred from his own family's experience in the Marshalsea, used images of prison life in several of his novels, but in Little Dorrit they pervade the entire book. In addition to the literal use of the prison—that is, the plot elements involving the jail at Marseilles and the Dorrit family's long residence in the Marshalsea—it is also used metaphorically to represent the constraints and inhibitions of Victorian society, the rigid bonds inherent in the class system, and the inescapable maze of red tape associated with governmental bureaucracy.
The family provides another prominent theme of the novel. In contrast to some of the happy, loving families of Dickens's earlier works, those featured in Little Dorrit appear as pathological case studies. Parents are self-absorbed and incompetent at best, greedy and cruel at worst. Again, the corruption and distorted values of Victorian culture are reflected on a smaller scale within the dynamics of the family. Material concerns completely govern human affairs and the normal parent/child relationship is reversed, the children bearing the responsibilities their elders have abdicated. For characters embroiled in such perverted family relationships, it becomes essential that they never acknowledge the reality of their situation; thus the importance of maintaining appearances and illusions of normalcy and gentility at all costs becomes another prominent theme of the novel. The inhabitants of the debtors' prison, for example, refer to themselves as “collegians” rather than prisoners; Mr. Dorrit denies the source of the income he receives from his daughters' employment and from the “tributes” granted him by other prisoners; and once they leave England, the Dorrits attempt to obliterate their prison experience from their personal histories.
Victorian society's corruption is also rendered metaphorically by the many references to disease and ill health in Little Dorrit. From the fetid air of the prison to the filthiness of the streets, conditions in the nineteenth-century city make for inhabitants who suffer from nameless infections and infirmities, both physical and psychological.
Critical Reception
In the nineteenth century, Little Dorrit was not well received by critics if, in fact, it was mentioned at all. It was widely considered Dickens's worst novel. Since the mid-twentieth century, however, scholars have reassessed the work and many now believe it is a masterpiece, even in some cases, the author's best work. Robert Barnard (1971), for example, claims that to many modern critics, it is “the crowning achievement of Dickens's maturity”; he describes Little Dorrit as “a despairing plea to a whole people to find out how it had gone astray, how it had entrapped itself in decaying institutions and perverted modes of thinking.” George Bernard Shaw's published criticism of the novel, praising it as a revolutionary work that exposed the corruption and abuses of Victorian society, is often credited with the reevaluation of Little Dorrit. Where earlier scholars had concentrated on perceived flaws in plot and character development, later critics either followed Shaw's lead in focusing on social and political themes or they examined Dickens's imaginative use of images and metaphors.
Some modern critics have even objected to the original negative assessment of Little Dorrit's plot and characters. Tom Linehan (1976) takes issue with the nearly unanimous critical belief that the novel's plot is incoherent and its characters two-dimensional and unbelievable. While Linehan acknowledges the limitations of the plot, he maintains that an understanding of it is essential in order to appreciate the moral virtues Dickens revered and articulated within the events of the narrative. Other scholars, however, have pointed out ambiguities in Little Dorrit and have criticized the novel's unsatisfactory and inconclusive ending. Sylvia Manning (1991), for example, claims that the Circumlocution Office, a government bureaucracy Dickens employs to satirize British inefficiency, “becomes an (unintended) figure of the novel itself.” According to Manning: “In the Circumlocution Office secrets are buried, information is obscured, and in consequence an endless flow of language—most of it on paper—is generated. So, too, in the novel.” George Holoch (1978) suggests that Dickens's overall vision of society is also ambiguous as evidenced by the dilemma of characters who share “the social bitterness” of the author/narrator. For Holoch, “the attempt to reconcile moral imperatives with social judgment is one of the sources of tension in the novel, a tension which is left unresolved at the conclusion.”
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Which ex make of car shares its name with an American Indian chief who led a rebellion against the British between 1763 and 1766? | US History Timeline: 1700 - 1800
Before 1600 | 1600 - 1700 | 1700 - 1800 | 1800 - 1900 | 1900 - 2000 | American Revolution Timeline | Cold War Timeline
1690 - The beginning of King William's War as hostilities in Europe between the French and English spill over to the colonies. In February, Schenectady, New York is burned by the French with the aid of their Native American allies. THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION IN AMERICA
1691 - In New York, the newly appointed Governor of New England, Henry Sloughter, arrives from England and institutes royally sanctioned representative government. In October, Massachusetts gets a new royal charter which includes government by a royal governor and a governor's council.
1692 - In May, hysteria grips the village of Salem, Massachusetts, as witchcraft suspects are arrested and imprisoned. A special court is then set up by the governor of Massachusetts. Between June and September, 150 persons are accused, with 20 persons, including 14 women, being executed. By October, the hysteria subsides, remaining prisoners are released and the special court is dissolved.
1693 - The College of William and Mary is founded in Williamsburg, Virginia.
1696 - The Royal African Trade Company loses its slave trade monopoly, spurring colonists in New England to engage in slave trading for profit. In April, the Navigation Act of 1696 is passed by the English Parliament requiring colonial trade to be done exclusively via English built ships. The Act also expands the powers of colonial custom commissioners, including rights of forcible entry, and requires the posting of bonds on certain goods.
1699 - The English Parliament passes the Wool Act, protecting its own wool industry by limiting wool production in Ireland and forbidding the export of wool from the American colonies.
1700 - The Anglo population in the English colonies in America reaches 275,000, with Boston (pop. 7000) as the largest city, followed by New York (pop. 5000).
1700 - In June, Massachusetts passes a law ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave the colony within three months, upon penalty of life imprisonment or execution. New York then passes a similar law.
1701 - In July, The French establish a settlement at Detroit. In October, Yale College is founded in Connecticut.
1702 - In March, Queen Anne ascends the English throne. In May, England declares war on France after the death of the King of Spain, Charles II, to stop the union of France and Spain. This War of the Spanish Succession is called Queen Anne's War in the colonies, where the English and American colonists will battle the French, their Native American allies, and the Spanish for the next eleven years.
1706 - January 17, Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston. In November, South Carolina establishes the Anglican Church as its official church.
1711 - Hostilities break out between Native Americans and settlers in North Carolina after the massacre of settlers there. The conflict, known as the Tuscarora Indian War will last two years.
1712 - In May, the Carolina colony is officially divided into North Carolina and South Carolina. In June, the Pennsylvania assembly bans the import of slaves into that colony. In Massachusetts, the first sperm whale is captured at sea by an American from Nantucket.
1713 - Queen Anne's War ends with the Treaty of Utrecht.
1714 - Tea is introduced for the first time into the American Colonies. In August, King George I ascends to the English throne, succeeding Queen Anne.
1716 - The first group of black slaves is brought to the Louisiana territory.
1718 - New Orleans is founded by the French.
1720 - The population of American colonists reaches 475,000. Boston (pop. 12,000) is the largest city, followed by Philadelphia (pop. 10,000) and New York (pop. 7000).
1725 - The population of black slaves in the American colonies reaches 75,000.
1727 - King George II ascends the English throne.
1729 - Benjamin Franklin begins publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette, which eventually becomes the most popular colonial newspaper.
1730 - Baltimore is founded in the Maryland colony.
1731 - The first American public library is founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin.
1732 - February 22, George Washington is born in Virginia. Also in February, the first mass is celebrated in the only Catholic church in colonial America, in Philadelphia. In June, Georgia, the 13th English colony, is founded.
1732-1757 - Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac, containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.
1733 - The Molasses Act, passed by the English Parliament, imposes heavy duties on molasses, rum and sugar imported from non-British islands in the Caribbean to protect the English planters there from French and Dutch competition.
1734 - In November, New York newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger is arrested and accused of seditious libel by the Governor. In December, the Great Awakening religious revival movement begins in Massachusetts. The movement will last ten years and spread to all of the American colonies.
1735 - John Peter Zenger is brought to trial for seditious libel but is acquitted after his lawyer successfully convinces the jury that truth is a defense against libel.
1739 - England declares war on Spain. As a result, in America, hostilities break out between Florida Spaniards and Georgia and South Carolina colonists. Also in 1739, three separate violent uprisings by black slaves occur in South Carolina.
1740 - Fifty black slaves are hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, after plans for another revolt are revealed. Also in 1740, in Europe, the War of the Austrian Succession begins after the death of Emperor Charles VI and eventually results in France and Spain allied against England. The conflict is known in the American colonies as King George's War and lasts until 1748..
1750 - The Iron Act is passed by the English Parliament, limiting the growth of the iron industry in the American colonies to protect the English Iron industry.
1751 - The Currency Act is passed by the English Parliament, banning the issuing of paper money by the New England colonies.
1754 - The French and Indian War erupts as a result of disputes over land in the Ohio River Valley. In May, George Washington leads a small group of American colonists to victory over the French, then builds Fort Necessity in the Ohio territory. In July, after being attacked by numerically superior French forces, Washington surrenders the fort and retreats.
1755 - In February, English General Edward Braddock arrives in Virginia with two regiments of English troops. Gen. Braddock assumes the post of commander in chief of all English forces in America. In April, Gen. Braddock and Lt. Col. George Washington set out with nearly 2000 men to battle the French in the Ohio territory. In July, a force of about 900 French and Indians defeat those English forces. Braddock is mortally wounded. Massachusetts Governor William Shirley then becomes the new commander in chief.
1756 - England declares war on France, as the French and Indian War in the colonies now spreads to Europe.
1757 - In June, William Pitt becomes England's Secretary of State and escalates the French and Indian War in the colonies by establishing a policy of unlimited warfare. In July, Benjamin Franklin begins a five year stay in London.
1758 - In July, a devastating defeat occurs for English forces at Lake George, New York, as nearly two thousand men are lost during a frontal attack against well entrenched French forces at Fort Ticonderoga. French losses are 377. In November, the French abandon Fort Duquesne in the Ohio territory. Settlers then rush into the territory to establish homes. Also in 1758, the first Indian reservation in America is founded, in New Jersey, on 3000 acres.
1759 - French Fort Niagara is captured by the English. Also in 1759, war erupts between Cherokee Indians and southern colonists.
1759 - 13 September-The Fall of Quebec - Battle of the " Plains of Abraham " - British defeat French, thus gaining control of Canada.
1760 - The population of colonists in America reaches 1,500,000. In March, much of Boston is destroyed by a raging fire. In September, Quebec surrenders to the English. In October, George III becomes the new English King.
1762 - England declares war on Spain, which had been planning to ally itself with France and Austria. The British then successfully attack Spanish outposts in the West Indies and Cuba.
1763 - The French and Indian War, known in Europe as the Seven Year's War, ends with the Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba.
1763 - In May, the Ottawa Native Americans under Chief Pontiac begin all-out warfare against the British west of Niagara, destroying several British forts and conducting a siege against the British at Detroit. In August, Pontiac's forces are defeated by the British near Pittsburgh. The siege of Detroit ends in November, but hostilities between the British and Chief Pontiac continue for several years.
1763 - The Proclamation of 1763, signed by King George III of England, prohibits any English settlement west of the Appalachian mountains and requires those already settled in those regions to return east in an attempt to ease tensions with Native Americans.
1764 - The Sugar Act is passed by the English Parliament to offset the war debt brought on by the French and Indian War and to help pay for the expenses of running the colonies and newly acquired territories. This act increases the duties on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines and indigo (dye). It doubles the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and also forbids the import of foreign rum and French wines.
1764 - The Currency Act prohibits the colonists from issuing any legal tender paper money. This act threatens to destabilize the entire colonial economy of both the industrial North and agricultural South, thus uniting the colonists against it.
1765 - In March, the Stamp Act is passed by the English Parliament imposing the first direct tax on the American colonies, to offset the high costs of the British military organization in America. Thus for the first time in the 150 year old history of the British colonies in America, the Americans will pay tax not to their own local legislatures in America, but directly to England.
Under the Stamp Act, all printed materials are taxed, including; newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards. The American colonists quickly unite in opposition, led by the most influential segments of colonial society - lawyers, publishers, land owners, ship builders and merchants - who are most affected by the Act, which is scheduled to go into effect on November 1.
1765 - Also in March, the Quartering Act requires colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.
1765 - In May, in Virginia, Patrick Henry presents seven Virginia Resolutions to the House of Burgesses claiming that only the Virginia assembly can legally tax Virginia residents, saying, "If this be treason, make the most of it." Also in May, the first medical school in America is founded, in Philadelphia.
1765 - In July, the Sons of Liberty, an underground organization opposed to the Stamp Act, is formed in a number of colonial towns. Its members use violence and intimidation to eventually force all of the British stamp agents to resign and also stop many American merchants from ordering British trade goods.
1765 - August 26, a mob in Boston attacks the home of Thomas Hutchinson, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, as Hutchinson and his family narrowly escape.
1765 - In October, the Stamp Act Congress convenes in New York City, with representatives from nine of the colonies. The Congress prepares a resolution to be sent to King George III and the English Parliament. The petition requests the repeal of the Stamp Act and the Acts of 1764. The petition asserts that only colonial legislatures can tax colonial residents and that taxation without representation violates the colonists' basic civil rights.
1766 - In January, the New York assembly refuses to completely comply with Gen. Gage's request to enforce the Quartering Act.
1766 - In March, King George III signs a bill repealing the Stamp Act after much debate in the English Parliament, which included an appearance by Ben Franklin arguing for repeal and warning of a possible revolution in the American colonies if the Stamp Act was enforced by the British military.
1766 - On the same day it repealed the Stamp Act, the English Parliament passes the Declaratory Act stating that the British government has total power to legislate any laws governing the American colonies in all cases whatsoever.
1766 - In April, news of the repeal of the Stamp Act results in celebrations in the colonies and a relaxation of the boycott of imported English trade goods.
1766 - In August, violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and armed colonists, including Sons of Liberty members. The violence erupts as a result of the continuing refusal of New York colonists to comply with the Quartering Act. In December, the New York legislature is suspended by the English Crown after once again voting to refuse to comply with the Act.
1767 - In June, The English Parliament passes the Townshend Revenue Acts, imposing a new series of taxes on the colonists to offset the costs of administering and protecting the American colonies. Items taxed include imports such as paper, tea, glass, lead and paints. The Act also establishes a colonial board of customs commissioners in Boston. In October, Bostonians decide to reinstate a boycott of English luxury items.
1768 - In July, the governor of Massachusetts dissolves the general court after the legislature defies his order to revoke Adams' circular letter. In August, in Boston and New York, merchants agree to boycott most British goods until the Townshend Acts are repealed. In September, at a town meeting in Boston, residents are urged to arm themselves. Later in September, English warships sail into Boston Harbor, then two regiments of English infantry land in Boston and set up permanent residence to keep order.
1769 - In July, in the territory of California, San Diego is founded by Franciscan Friar Juniper Serra. In October, the boycott of English goods spreads to New Jersey, Rhode Island, and then North Carolina.
1770 - The population of the American colonies reaches 2,210,000 persons.
1770 - Violence erupts in January between members of the Sons of Liberty in New York and 40 British soldiers over the posting of broadsheets by the British. Several men are seriously wounded.
March 5, 1770 - The Boston Massacre occurs as a mob harasses British soldiers who then fire their muskets pointblank into the crowd, killing three instantly, mortally wounding two others and injuring six. After the incident, the new Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, at the insistence of Sam Adams, withdraws British troops out of Boston to nearby harbor islands. The captain of the British soldiers, Thomas Preston, is then arrested along with eight of his men and charged with murder.
Capt. Preston’s account of the event: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1751-1775/bostonmassacre/prest.htm
1770 - In April, the Townshend Acts are repealed by the British. All duties on imports into the colonies are eliminated except for tea. Also, the Quartering Act is not renewed.
1770 - In October, trial begins for the British soldiers arrested after the Boston Massacre. Colonial lawyers John Adams and Josiah Quincy successfully defend Captain Preston and six of his men, who are acquitted. Two other soldiers are found guilty of manslaughter, branded, then released.
1772 - In June, a British customs schooner, the Gaspee, runs aground off Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay. Colonists from Providence row out to the schooner and attack it, set the British crew ashore, then burn the ship. In September, a 500 pound reward is offered by the English Crown for the capture of those colonists, who would then be sent to England for trial. The announcement that they would be sent to England further upsets many American colonists.
1773 - In March, the Virginia House of Burgesses appoints an eleven member committee of correspondence to communicate with the other colonies regarding common complaints against the British. Members of that committee include, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee. Virginia is followed a few months later by New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and South Carolina.
1773 - May 10, the Tea Act takes effect. It maintains a threepenny per pound import tax on tea arriving in the colonies, which had already been in effect for six years. It also gives the near bankrupt British East India Company a virtual tea monopoly by allowing it to sell directly to colonial agents, bypassing any middlemen, thus underselling American merchants. The East India Company had successfully lobbied Parliament for such a measure. In September, Parliament authorizes the company to ship half a million pounds of tea to a group of chosen tea agents.
December 16, 1773 - About 8000 Bostonians gather to hear Sam Adams tell them Royal Governor Hutchinson has repeated his command not to allow the ships out of the harbor until the tea taxes are paid. That night, the Boston Tea Party occurs as colonial activists disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians then board the ships and dump all 342 containers of tea into the harbor.
1774 - In March, an angry English Parliament passes the first of a series of Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans) in response to the rebellion in Massachusetts. The Boston Port Bill effectively shuts down all commercial shipping in Boston harbor until Massachusetts pays the taxes owed on the tea dumped in the harbor and also reimburses the East India Company for the loss of the tea.
1774 - May 12, Bostonians at a town meeting call for a boycott of British imports in response to the Boston Port Bill. May 13, General Thomas Gage, commander of all British military forces in the colonies, arrives in Boston and replaces Hutchinson as Royal governor, putting Massachusetts under military rule. He is followed by the arrival of four regiments of British troops.
1774 - May 20, The English Parliament enacts the next series of Coercive Acts, which include the Massachusetts Regulating Act and the Government Act virtually ending any self-rule by the colonists there. Instead, the English Crown and the Royal governor assume political power formerly exercised by colonists. Also enacted; the Administration of Justice Act which protects royal officials in Massachusetts from being sued in colonial courts, and the Quebec Act establishing a centralized government in Canada controlled by the Crown and English Parliament. The Quebec Act greatly upsets American colonists by extending the southern boundary of Canada into territories claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.
1774 - In June, a new version of the 1765 Quartering Act is enacted by the English Parliament requiring all of the American colonies to provide housing for British troops in occupied houses and taverns and in unoccupied buildings. In September, Massachusetts Governor Gage seizes that colony's arsenal of weapons at Charlestown.
1774 - September 5 to October 26, the First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with 56 delegates, representing every colony, except Georgia. Attendants include Patrick Henry, George Washington, Sam Adams and John Hancock.
On September 17, the Congress declares its opposition to the Coercive Acts, saying they are "not to be obeyed," and also promotes the formation of local militia units. On October 14, a Declaration and Resolves is adopted that opposes the Coercive Acts, the Quebec Act, and other measure taken by the British that undermine self-rule. The rights of the colonists are asserted, including the rights to "life, liberty and property." On October 20, the Congress adopts the Continental Association in which delegates agree to a boycott of English imports, effect an embargo of exports to Britain, and discontinue the slave trade.
1775 - February 1, in Cambridge, Mass., a provincial congress is held during which John Hancock and Joseph Warren begin defensive preparations for a state of war. February 9, the English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. March 23, in Virginia, Patrick Henry delivers a speech against British rule, stating, "Give me liberty or give me death!" March 30, the New England Restraining Act is endorsed by King George III, requiring New England colonies to trade exclusively with England and also bans fishing in the North Atlantic.
1775 - In April, Massachusetts Governor Gage is ordered to enforce the Coercive Acts and suppress "open rebellion" among the colonists by all necessary force.
April 18, 1775 - General Gage orders 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy the colonists' weapons depot. That night, Paul Revere and William Dawes are sent from Boston to warn colonists. Revere reaches Lexington about midnight and warns Sam Adams and John Hancock who are hiding out there.
At dawn on April 19 about 70 armed Massachusetts militiamen stand face to face on Lexington Green with the British advance guard. An unordered 'shot heard around the world' begins the American Revolution. A volley of British rifle fire followed by a charge with bayonets leaves eight Americans dead and ten wounded. The British regroup and head for the depot in Concord, destroying the colonists' weapons and supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, a British platoon is attacked by militiamen, with 14 casualties. 2 Colonists killed.
British forces then begin a long retreat from Lexington back to Boston and are harassed and shot at all along the way by farmers and rebels and suffer over 250 casualties. News of the events at Lexington and Concord spreads like wildfire throughout the Colonies.
April 23, 1775 - The Provincial Congress in Massachusetts orders 13,600 American soldiers to be mobilized. Colonial volunteers from all over New England assemble and head for Boston, then establish camps around the city and begin a year long siege of British-held Boston.
April 19, 1782 - The Dutch recognize the United States of America as a result of negotiations conducted in the Netherlands by John Adams.
February 4, 1783 - England officially declares an end to hostilities in America.
March 10, 1783 - An anonymous letter circulates among Washington's senior officers camped at Newburgh, New York. The letter calls for an unauthorized meeting and urges the officers to defy the authority of the new U.S. national government (Congress) for its failure to honor past promises to the Continental Army. The next day, Gen. Washington forbids the unauthorized meeting and instead suggests a regular meeting to be held on March 15. A second anonymous letter then appears and is circulated. This letter falsely claims Washington himself sympathizes with the rebellious officers.
March 15, 1783 - General Washington gathers his officers and talks them out of a rebellion against the authority of Congress, and in effect preserves the American democracy. Read more about this
April 26, 1783 - 7000 Loyalists set sail from New York for Canada, bringing a total of 100,000 Loyalists who have now fled America.
July 8, 1783 - The Supreme Court of Massachusetts abolishes slavery in that state.
September 3, 1783 - The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain. Congress will ratify the treaty on January 14, 1784.
October 7, 1783 - In Virginia, the House of Burgesses grants freedom to slaves who served in the Continental Army.
November 2, 1783 - George Washington delivers his farewell address to his army. The next day, remaining troops are discharged.
December 23, 1783 - Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, George Washington, victorious commander in chief of the American Revolutionary Army, appears before Congress and voluntarily resigns his commission , an event unprecedented in history.
January 14, 1784 - The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress. The Revolutionary War officially ends.
September 22, 1784 - Russians establish their first settlement in Alaska, on Kodiak Island.
February 24, 1785 - Although England refuses to send an ambassador to the U.S., John Adams is sent as the American ambassador to Britain. He will spend the next three years trying without success to settle problems regarding the existence of a string of British forts along the Canadian border, pre-war debts owed to British creditors, post-war American treatment of Loyalists, and the closing of the West Indian colonies to American trade.
May 8, 1785 - Congress passes the Land Ordinance of 1785 which divides the northwest territories into townships, each set at 6 square miles, subdivided into 36 lots of 640 acres each, with each lot selling for no less than $640.
Summer of 1786 - Americans suffer from post-war economic depression including a shortage of currency, high taxes, nagging creditors, farm foreclosures and bankruptcies.
August 22-25, 1786 - Angry representatives from 50 towns in Massachusetts meet to discuss money problems including the rising number of foreclosures, the high cost of lawsuits, heavy land and poll taxes, high salaries for state officials, and demands for new paper money as a means of credit.
August 31, 1786 - In Massachusetts, to prevent debtors from being tried and put in prison, ex-Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays, who is now a bankrupt farmer, leads an armed mob and prevents the Northampton Court from holding a session.
September 20, 1786 - In New Hampshire, an armed mob marches on the state assembly and demands enactment of an issue of paper money.
September 26, 1786 - Shays' rebels, fearing they might be charged with treason, confront 600 militiamen protecting the state Massachusetts Supreme Court session in Springfield and force the court to adjourn.
October 20, 1786 - Congress authorizes Secretary of War Henry Knox to raise an army of 1340 men over concerns of the safety of the federal arsenal at Springfield, Mass.
December 26, 1786 - Shays assembles 1200 men near Worcester, Mass. and heads toward Springfield. Massachusetts Governor, Bowdoin, then orders mobilization of a 4400 man force.
January 26, 1787 - Shays' rebels attack the federal arsenal at Springfield but are unsuccessful. Revolutionary War hero, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, then arrives with reinforcements from Boston to pursue the rebels.
February 21, 1787 - Amid calls for a stronger central government, due in part to Shays' Rebellion, Congress endorses a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia, beginning in May.
May 25, 1787 - With 29 delegates from nine states present, the constitutional convention begins in the state house (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. A total of 73 delegates have been chosen by the states (excluding Rhode Island) although only 55 will actually attend. There are 21 veterans of the Revolutionary War and 8 signers of the Declaration of Independence. The delegates are farmers, merchants, lawyers and bankers, with an average age of 42, and include the brilliant 36 year old James Madison, the central figure at the convention, and 81 year old Ben Franklin. Thomas Jefferson, serving abroad as ambassador to France, does not attend.
The delegates first vote is to keep the proceedings absolutely secret. George Washington is then nominated as president of the constitutional convention.
June 19, 1787 - Rather than revise the Articles of Confederation, delegates at the constitutional convention vote to create an entirely new form of national government separated into three branches - the legislative, executive and judicial - thus dispersing power with checks and balances, and competing factions, as a measure of protection against tyranny by a controlling majority.
July 13, 1787 - Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance which establishes formal procedures for transforming territories into states. It provides for the eventual establishment of three to five states in the area north of the Ohio River, to be considered equal with the original 13. The Ordinance includes a Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of religion, the right to trial by jury, public education and a ban on slavery in the Northwest.
July 16, 1787 - At the constitutional convention, Roger Sherman proposes a compromise which allows for representation in the House of Representatives based on each state's population and equal representation for all of the states in the Senate. The numerous black slaves in the South are to counted at only three fifths of their total number. A rough draft of the constitution is then drawn up.
August 6-10, 1787 - Items in the draft constitution are debated including the length of terms for the president and legislators, the power of Congress to regulate commerce, and a proposed 20 year ban on any Congressional action concerning slavery.
September 17, 1787 - Thirty nine delegates vote to approve and then sign the final draft of the new Constitution.
September 19, 1787 - For the first time the proposed Constitution is made public as printed copies of the text are distributed. A storm of controversy soon arises as most people had only expected a revision of the Articles of Confederation, not a new central government with similarities to the British system they had just overthrown.
October 27, 1787 - The Federalists, who advocate a strong central government and approval of the new Constitution, begin publishing essays in favor of ratification. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the total number of articles will eventually reach 85 and be compiled and published as the Federalist Papers. Federalist Papers at Library of Congress
December 7, 1787 - Delaware is the first of the nine states needed to ratify the Constitution. To be followed by: Pennsylvania (Dec. 12) New Jersey (Dec. 18) Georgia (Jan. 2, 1788) Connecticut (Jan. 9) Massachusetts (Feb. 7) Maryland (April 28) South Carolina (May 23) and New Hampshire (June 21).
February 6, 1788 - Anti-Federalists in Massachusetts, led by Sam Adams and John Hancock, favor a more decentralized system of government and give their support to ratification of the Constitution only after a compromise is reached that amendments will be included which guarantee civil liberties.
February 27, 1788 - In Massachusetts, following an incident in which free blacks were kidnapped and transported to the island of Martinique, the Massachusetts legislature declares the slavery trade illegal and provides for monetary damages to victims of kidnappings.
March 24, 1788 - In Rhode Island, the Constitution is rejected by a popular referendum. The state, fearful of consolidated federal power, had refused to send a delegation to the constitutional convention in Philadelphia and had subsequently rejected a state convention to consider ratification.
June 2, 1788 - In Virginia, anti-Federalist forces, led by Patrick Henry and George Mason, oppose ratification of the Constitution. They are joined by Richard Henry Lee who calls for a bill of rights and a lower house set up on a more democratic basis.
June 25, 1788 - In Virginia, the Federalists, led by James Madison, finally prevail as ratification of the Constitution (with a proposed bill of rights and 20 other changes) is endorsed by a close vote of 89 to 75.
July 2, 1788 - A formal announcement is made by the president of Congress that the Constitution of the United States is now in effect, having been ratified by the required nine states.
July 26, 1788 - The state of New York votes 30 to 27 to endorse ratification while also recommending a bill of rights be included.
September 13, 1788 - New York City is chosen by Congress to be the temporary seat of the new U.S. government.
October-December - Commodity prices stabilize, spurring economic recovery and a gradual return to pre-war levels of prosperity.
December 23, 1788 - Maryland proposes giving a 10 square-mile area along the Potomac River for the establishment of a federal town to be the new seat of the U.S. government.
January 23, 1789 - Georgetown University, the first Catholic college in the U.S., is founded by Father John Carroll.
April 30, 1789 - On the balcony of New York's Federal Hall, George Washington, at age 57, is sworn in as the first President of the United States. He then enters the Senate chamber to deliver his inaugural address .
July 4, 1789 - Congress passes its first tax, an 8.5 percent protective tax on 30 different items, with items arriving on American ships charged at a lower rate than foreign ships.
July 14, 1789 - In France, the French Revolution begins with the fall of the Bastille in Paris, an event witnessed by the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson.
July 20, 1789 - Congress passes the Tonnage Act of 1789 levying a 50 cents per ton tax on foreign ships entering American ports, 30 cents per ton on American built but foreign owned ships, and 6 cents per ton on American ships.
September 25, 1789 - Congress submits 12 proposed constitutional amendments to the states for ratification. The first ten will be ratified and added to the Constitution in 1791 as the Bill of Rights .
September 29, 1789 - The U.S. Army is established by Congress. Totaling 1000 men, it consists of one regiment of eight infantry companies and one battalion of four artillery companies.
March 1, 1790 - A Census Act is passed by Congress. The first census, finished on Aug. 1, indicates a total population of nearly 4 million persons in the U.S. and western territories. African Americans make up 19 percent of the population, with 90 percent living in the South. Native Americans were not counted, although there were likely over 80 tribes with 150,000 persons. For white Americans, the average age is under 16. Most white families are large, with an average of eight children born. The white population will double every 22 years.
The largest American city is Philadelphia, with 42,000 persons, followed by New York (33,000) Boston (18,000) Charleston (16,000) and Baltimore (13,000). The majority of Americans are involved in agricultural pursuits, with little industrial activity occurring at this time.
April 17, 1790 - Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84. His funeral four days later draws over 20,000 mourners.
July 10, 1790 - The House of Representatives votes to locate the national capital on a 10 square-mile site along the Potomac, with President George Washington choosing the exact location.
Source of much of the above: The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/rev-early.htm
America - 1790 to 1810
Peaceful transition – but problems, and problem people – party formation: Washington to Adams to Jefferson to Madison
The people:
James Madison - http://www.virginia.edu/pjm/
September 25, 1789 - Congress submits 12 proposed constitutional amendments to the states for ratification. The first ten will be ratified and added to the Constitution in 1791 as the Bill of Rights .
September 29, 1789 - The U.S. Army is established by Congress. Totaling 1000 men, it consists of one regiment of eight infantry companies and one battalion of four artillery companies.
March 1, 1790 - A Census Act is passed by Congress. The first census, finished on Aug. 1, indicates a total population of nearly 4 million persons in the U.S. and western territories. African Americans make up 19 percent of the population, with 90 percent living in the South. Native Americans were not counted, although there were likely over 80 tribes with 150,000 persons. For white Americans, the average age is under 16. Most white families are large, with an average of eight children born. The white population will double every 22 years.
The largest American city is Philadelphia, with 42,000 persons, followed by New York (33,000) Boston (18,000) Charleston (16,000) and Baltimore (13,000). The majority of Americans are involved in agricultural pursuits, with little industrial activity occurring at this time.
1790 - the first decade
April 17, 1790 - Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84. His funeral four days later draws over 20,000 mourners.
July 10, 1790 - The House of Representatives votes to locate the national capital on a 10 square-mile site along the Potomac, with President George Washington choosing the exact location.
- Source of much of the above: The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/rev-early.htm
- July 4. Jefferson submits to Congress his Report on the Subject of Measures, Weights, and Coins, an effort to establish uniform standards for coinage and weight measures. Jefferson is particularly excited by the discovery that the established weight for the American version of the Spanish dollar equals an ounce. He develops an ideal system of equivalencies between money and weight standards, but it is at odds with that of Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton, whose proposal is based on current business practices
1791 - February 15. Jefferson sends President George Washington, his Opinion of the Constitutionality of the Bill for Establishing a National Bank. Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton argues that the Constitution provides implied powers to establish a Bank. Jefferson disagrees, and he sees Hamilton's plans for a national bank, the development of manufactures, and other related financial policies as creating conditions for the accumulation of the kind of power and corruption identified with the courts and monarchies of Europe.
1792 - Fall. In one of the first openly partisan electoral contests, George Clinton is supported by Jefferson's allies for the office of governor of New York, while Hamiltonians support John Jay . Clinton wins. Officials canvassing votes void some of those for Jay.
1793 - Cotton Gin invented November 16. Jefferson writes to Eli Whitney, telling him that he approves of his efforts to win a patent for his cotton gin. Jefferson to Eli Whitney, November 16, 1793.
- Fugitive Slave Act passed
- April 28. As Secretary of State, Jefferson writes an opinion for President Washington arguing that acceptance of the new French minister to the United States, Edmond Genet, is an acceptance of the new revolutionary government in Paris, led by the Girondins. Jefferson argues that the current French government is continuous with that of Louis XVI, with which the United States made a formal treaty of alliance in 1778 during the American Revolution. Hamilton argues that the treaty and diplomatic relationship were with the monarchy of Louis XVI and ended when Louis was dethroned, imprisoned, and executed on January 21, 1793, and that the relationship must be renegotiated. Democratic-Republican clubs, that have sprung up in the United States in support of France. Genet plans to appeal to Americans over the head of President Washington. Jefferson concludes that he has gone too far. In mid-August, the Jacobins gain control of the French government and many Girondists are imprisoned. Although recalled, Genet, a Girondin, dares not return to France, and he eventually receives asylum in the United States, settles on a farm in upstate New York, and marries Cornelia Clinton, the daughter of Governor George Clinton.
1795 - Bowdoin College founded – became a center for Abolitionist movements; Gen. Howard (Howard University) graduated; Harriet Beecher Stowe taught there and she began to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin there (in 1850)
- October. James Madison visits Monticello to discuss the Jay Treaty with Jefferson. They are both opposed to its ratification. The treaty, negotiated with Great Britain by John Jay, addresses issues left unresolved since the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. The Jay Treaty provides for compensation to British creditors from American debtors, many of whom are Virginians, and it arranges for the evacuation of British troops still occupying northwestern posts in the United States. However, it fails to address the all-important issue of American trading rights, especially in the British West Indies, and leaves the problem of the impressment of American seamen by the British navy unresolved. The treaty is immensely unpopular and furthers the development of party politics. The Senate narrowly ratifies it in April 1796.
1796 - December 7. John Adams is elected second president of the U.S. Jefferson is elected vice president, having received the second largest number of electoral votes.
1797 - March 4. Adams inaugurated as President - Jefferson is inaugurated as vice president of the United States and begins gathering information on rules of parliamentary practice. As vice president, Jefferson presides over the Senate.
1798 - June-July. Congress passes what are collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts, the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act, the Sedition Act, and the Alien Enemies Act, are passed in the midst of a quasi-war with France and heightened public criticism of foreign policy.
1799 - Jefferson leaves Philadelphia for Monticello, arriving there on the 8th. Throughout the coming year he devotes himself to Monticello's development. On his way to Philadelphia in November, he visits the new federal city, Washington, D.C., which he plays a key role in designing. ( Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation , Library of Congress Exhibitions)
December 14. George Washington dies at Mount Vernon.
1800 - June. The U. S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
- December 3. Electors meet in their states and cast votes for the next president of the United States. A tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr does not become known till the end of the month. This throws the election into the House of Representatives which addresses the matter on February 11, 1801.
1801 - February 11. The electors' votes for president are officially opened and counted in Congress, which already knows that the vote is tied between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives meets separately and continues balloting for six days. On February 17, on the thirty-sixth ballot, Jefferson is elected president and Aaron Burr becomes vice president.
New York passes Emancipation Act
Population 5.3 million (1 million of African decent)
1802 - Ohio outlaws slavery -- September. James Callender makes the accusation that Thomas Jefferson has "for many years past kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves," Sally Hemings. It is published in the Richmond Recorder that month, and the story is soon picked up by Federalist presses around the country. Callender, a Republican, has previously been an avid investigator of Federalist scandals. In 1798, Jefferson had helped pay for the publication of Callender's pamphlet The Prospect Before Us, which claimed to expose John Adams as a monarchist. However, when Jefferson, now president, fails to reward Callender with the office of postmaster in Richmond, Virginia, Callender turns on him.
1803 - Louisiana Purchase January 18. Jefferson asks Congress for funds for an expedition to explore the Mississippi River and beyond in search of a route to the Pacific. Meriwether Lewis , Jefferson's private secretary, begins planning the expedition, which forms late in 1803.
- April 30. Robert Livingston, ambassador to France, and James Monroe, special envoy, conclude a treaty of cession in Paris in which the United States purchases from France the whole of the Louisiana territory for fifteen million dollars. The territory, approximately 800,000 square miles comprising the Mississippi River Valley and most of the present-day Midwest, almost doubles the size of the United States. Jefferson's original expectation was that Livingston and Monroe might persuade the French to yield a portion of the Mississippi River Valley for ten million dollars. However, Emperor Napoleon of France has just lost an army and the island of Santo Domingo in the Caribbean to Toussaint L'Overture, leader of a slave insurrection, and he is no longer interested in maintaining a French foothold in North America. He offers the United States the whole of the territory.
| Pontiac |
Which famous figure married 30 year old Autumn Kelly on May 17th 2008? | DBQ #2 - MVHS APUSH 2013
MVHS APUSH 2013
APUSH UNIT II Test Review: Bailey 8-12 and APT 1-2
Everyone PLEASE contribute! Timeline at the bottom as well!
Don’t write FALSE Information
Guys we need contributions to the DBQ prompts because they are on Tuesday and Wednesday!
Romir did everything for Articles already, add and edit his horrible grammar.
Possible Document Based Question questions in the time period from collegeboard.com:
PK for this dbq (list any analysis for docs AND personal knowledge): http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/ushistory/ap05_frq_us_history.pdf
Document Based Question #2 Hints
There are two (2) topics for this particular unit…be prepped because 100% chance you DEFINITELY will receive ONE of the TWO! A 50% chance you will get 1 or 2!
Topic #1 – The time era is the Confederation Period: The focus is on the Articles of Confederation and its role in dealing with the problems of this time era.
Articles of Confederation made in Second Continental Congress
Confederation fails, since it does not work, government has only paper powers, and everything must have consent of the states: Government can declare war, make taxes, make treaties, but does not have the power to enforce it.
CRITICAL PERIOD/CONFEDERATION PERIOD: (1783-1789)
National Government in debt
States also in debt and arguing with each other, conflicting tariff and navigation laws between states
foreign countries refuse to trade with US (French and Britain mad at America, other countries don’t expect payment from someone in debt, no public credit)
Spain controls Mississippi River (threatening)
Britain still occupies their forts on U.S. soil (because Americans didn’t follow Treaty of Paris in 1783, Loyalists)
France closes off West Indies trade, demands payment for loans given during Revolutionary War
United States in economic turmoil
Annapolis Convention: Focus is on commerce between states, only 5/13 attend. HOWEVER, it is important that they agree to meet at a future date to REVISE the Articles of Confederation, agreement led by Alexander Hamilton
1786: Shay’s Rebellion reveals weakness’ of national government, harms of mobocracy or direct democracy (Articles of Confederation)
Feb. 1787: Continental Congress allows meeting of revising the Articles of Confederation. (states fear rebellions going across the entire states)
May-Sept 1787: Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
12/13 states attend, 55 delegates, no Rhode Island
James Madison - Father of The constitution, wrote Bill of Rights
created entire new gov, where everything done without consent of states
Virginia Plan: MAKE A WHOLE NEW GOV, since they knew it wouldnt work
agreed to not talk about anything that happens
let leak out that George Washington was chairman
Weaknesses of the Articles:
National government couldn't control commerce, made a uniform tariff policy states engaged in economic battles, launching extremely high tariffs against other state’s products. Also there was shitty public credit, so much poverty and debt in society.
This left states in charge of commerce and trade, and rivalry developed
No taxation
No swift way for country to make money
Congress had to beg from the states
No executive power which would means any law passed by national government wouldn't be enforced or followed. Shays Rebellion shows how no power at all to enforce laws by national gov. Furthermore, interpretation of the law would be made by state judicial branches and not coincide with the federal interpretations
The congress again had to beg from the States
Gov couldn't coerce states, states did whatever the shit they wanted. Made separate treaties that undermined the national government ones. ex: Virginia 1783
States held all the power, the national government influenced and controlled by the poor. No difference of interests. State legislators = supreme power so Poor peeps that control legislatures = supreme national power. Mob Power seen when national capital moved by several states
Gov could raise an army, but states supplied money and soldiers.
Minorities rights infringed upon.
High amount of disunity. Poor credit score and high debts because of this as poor didnt want to pay back debts.
Ultimately, wasn’t the stuff the US was looking for
Strengths behind Articles:
Created two land laws: Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Land ordinance dealt with surveying and distribution of land. Northwest = governance, after 60,000 peeps born would make them a state withe same rights as other states. Was teh best cuz no land ordinances would mean rebellion, similar to colonies being controlled by tyrants in Britain.
Set a temporary government in place, a good step towards making an eventually strong government. Kept stability during revolutionary war
Resulted in France joining the war even though they were passed in 1781
Congress got power to make a postal service which was good.....I guess
Was a paramount example of a pure democracy. Wasnt necessarily good to have a pure democracy as clearly the majority had power, and the minority got a bowl full of turd in return. However, did stress on state’s rights and State sovereignty.
Wasn’t the best, but showed what was right and wrong
People had direct control of the gov, so no tyrants.......
Getting away from King George
Effectiveness of Articles:
Prevented rebellion between west and east, with the land laws. Kept a stable nation in time of war as French joined, and kept some form of government. (Depends on what range Confederation means). Set a precedent for a constitutional government. Strong states rights prevented tyranny by a single body or person, which was good from a democratic standpoint but bad from a national standpoint. Also no slavery for new states admitted in the union. Ineffective from unity, states acted out of their own self interest, seen by Virginia treaty with Britain in 1783. Also, high amount of economic turmoil as no taxes and high debts were not repayed. Only represented interests of poor, not rich. Minorites harmed and couldnt raise an army to kill Brits in North with Indians, or Spanish in south. Horrible credit because debts aren't being paid back and no order in nation. Shay’s rebellion was an example of how a strong central authority is necessary.
Topic #2 – The time era is the Jefferson & Madison presidencies: The focus is the two political parties. Given the issues and events of the time and the party in control of the government – do each of the two parties remain consistent with their original founding principles
Jefferson-> Loose? interpretation-> Louisiana purchase
Madison -> War of 1812
- Naturalization Law of 1802: 14 → 5 years for citizenship
- let national bank expire (madison only rechartered it because they had no choice)
- repealed the excise tax, which cost the US a million in revenue
- Repealed Judiciary Act of 1801: 16 “midnight judges”
Inconsistent:
- Louisiana Purchase (Constitution doesn’t say anything about territorial expansion)
- Left Hamiltonian program mostly intact
State’s Rights/Weak central gov’t:
Inconsistent: Judicial Review belongs to Supreme Court, not states, Enforcing legislation (Embargo act)
Neutrality:
- War with Barbary Pirates (Jefferson)
- Macon’s Bill No. 2 (Madison)
Topic #2 – The time era is the Jefferson & Madison presidencies: The focus is the two political parties. Given the issues and events of the time and the party in control of the government – do each of the two parties remain consistent with their original founding principles?
Jefferson: Democratic Republican 1801 - 1809; Madison: Democratic Republican 1809 - 1816
Federalist
Issues and Events: How they were dealt with
Power of the federal government over states
Nonsupport for agrarians & dislike of French
Loose -> strict construction; unity -> disunity
Marbury vs. Madison: Federalist Marshall reinforced judicial review (under Republican President Jefferson)
War of 1812: condemned because against the British that they support & acquisition of Canada would add more agrarian states
Hartford Convention: response to Embargo of 1807 by Republican President Jefferson; doctrines of disunity
~know the various propositions of the Hartford Convention!
Democratic-Republican
Issues and Events: How they were dealt with
Strict -> unconstitutionality & support for expansion
Opposition to Federalists -> embracing
Support of the French & expansionism
Disliked Federalists -> out-Federalise them; distrust -> support for manufacturing
The Louisiana Purchase
Under Jefferson, Hamiltonian framework essentially intact; later embraced Federalism
Jefferson removed Hamiltonian excise tax which burdened the farmers
Jefferson's embargo, nonintercourse act, & Madison's War of 1812 helped boost manufacturing
War of 1812 under Madison: against Britain, Canada: tempting prize
Tariff of 1816: 1st protective tariff in US
*Note: Bailey 8-12 is our main content resource…but don’t forget that there is rich good sexy stuff in APT 1 and 2 J (apt is bullcrap)
Jefferson:
Jefferson Republican beliefs:
Was a total Boss. Followed his republican beliefs and Washington’s Farewell address throughout his presidency
No war
No tangling alliances
Shrunk the navy and army ‘cause he feared tyranny with military force. Weak Gov.
He passed naturalization laws back to normal, 5 years to gain citizenship. Also pardoned dudes imprisoned by Alien and Sedition Acts.
He removed the excise tax on Whiskey as it harmed the livelihood of farmers, but cost the nation millions each year in revenue.
Repealed the Judiciary act of 1801 as it made inequlaity of power in the government, Federalists controlled all of Judicial Branch. He opposed the idea of judicial review established by John Marshall, felt states should interpret constitution, not the supreme court. Tried and failed to impeach Fed. Justice Samuel Chase.
Louisiana Purchase, although its purchase was unconstitutional, benefited agrarians.
Took idea from small mosquito bitch navy from Barbary pirates and made that the official one. Destroyed by hurricane; big waste of money.
Embargo of 1807 was a prime move of isolationist. Didnt declare war on Britain despite Chesapeake affair, chose to economically coerce them. This harmed farmers and manufacuteres. (Wasnt really a Republican belief, but did support Washington’s beliefs in his Farewell Address)
Didnt let up but released the non-intercourse agreement on 1809 3 days before he left office, was the final attempt to prevent war with Europe and maintain economic security of America.
Federalist Actions:
He didn’t really add much to the existing government but didn’t reverse the Federalist-inspired structures in government started by the Washington and Adams administrations.
He kept the bank, and didn't fire many federalists in government, besides Samuel Chase and Marshall (which failed). Retained Hamilton's economic plan (except Whiskey tax), knew that by repealing it would kill the entire country’s economy and his reputation.
Louisiana Purchase, was unconstitutional to buy land (the D-R kind of unconstitutional: the Constitution never forbade this but it never gave the executive branch the power to do so), but did it for the benefit of agrarians and industry.
Began to support manufacturing in 1805, saw that they needed to be independent from Europe during Napoleonic Wars, thus agreed the need for Manufacturing and agrarianism.
Madison Republican beliefs:
Found Henry Clay’s American system plan to be unconstitutional as the government giving money to the states to invest in their infrastructure went against their republican, pro-states-rights policies.
Launching war on Britain was republican, fuelled by War Hawks.
The prompt says how EACH of the parties remained consistent/inconsistent with original principles. So when it talks about Feds, I think it’s referring to how the Fed party was inconsistent/consistent with their own beliefs - not how Jeff./Mad. acted like Feds...
Federalist Beliefs:
Macon’s Bill No. 2 was federalist, as they didn’t want war at the time, the war hawks did, and so by passing this bill still wanted to prevent war. (how is this federalist-related?)
Tariff of 1816 federalist as it supported manufacturing and it was even higher than Hamiltonian one. Brough back the bank in 1816 to supply money for businesses.
Armistice was Federalist as ended the war without really winning the war, as the War hawks believed that they lost the war.
Names
James Madison: (1809-1817)
a. Anti-Federalist (Democratic Republican) - however, before the rift, was a Federalist when he wrote the Federalist Papers.
b. Strict Interpretation
c. Secretary of state during Jefferson presidency
d. War of 1812
e. Macon’s Bill No. 2
f. Although initially opposed it, he renewed Bank of U.S.’s charter
g. Passed the tarrif of 1816, higher than the Hamiltonian one
h. Found Henry Clay’s American system plan to be unconstitutional as government shouldnt give states money for their own infrastructure.
Alexander Hamilton:
a. Secretary of Treasury under George Washington
b. Proposed Hamilton Finance System
c. Leader of the (High) Federalists party, especially during J.Adams presidency
d. Strong advocate of Industry
e. Opponent of Aaron Burr, John Adams (wanted war w/ France)
f. Loose Construction
c. Set precedent for smooth transition between parties
d. Louisiana Purchase
g. Opposed Slavery (Yet had a lot of slaves)
h. Minister to France
i. Secretary of State (under GW), VP (under John)
j. Two Jeffersons: one Philosophical Theorist and one politician (they are very different and sometimes oppose each other)
k. Legislator of Virginia early on in his life
George Washington:
a. No party, but usually sided with the Federalist
b. Neutrality Proclaimation1793
i. “No entangling alliances”, did not want to military fight and self-dependent
c. Farewell Address-self interest
e. Set precedent for 2 terms in office
f. Head of the Constitutional Convention
John Jay:
b. Negotiated Treaty of Paris (1787)
c. Jay’s Treaty (unpopular, seen as Pro-British)
d. Federalist Papers
e. first chief justice under George Washington
John Marshall:
a. Chief Court Justice appointed by John Adams
b. Continued the Federalist Legacy many years after the last Federalist President was in office. Established the precedence of Judicial Review.
Benjamin Franklin:
a. Seen as second only to GW
b. Very influential, kind of a wise old grandpa
Aaron Burr:
a. Jefferson’s vice president, tied for electoral votes after helping the Democratic Republicans win New York, killed Hamilton in duel
b. Tried to convince the West to secede from the US, was tried as a traitor but the lack of testimonies saved him
c. After shooting Hamilton, career was over
Pontiac:
a. Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766), an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War.
Massosoit:
a. Prevented the failure of Plymouth Colony/certain starvation that the Pilgrims faced during the earliest years of the colony's establishment (irrelevant ?? )
Tecumseh:
a. Shawnee leader who led Tecumseh's War (War of 1812) who led Indians to fight for their own land
b. Indian war quickly ended when he died at Thames
c. Patrick Henry said some words about him (<- useless info sorta :P)
John Adams:
b. Put patriotism above party when he did not declare war on France
c. XYZ affair
e. Midnight judges (judicial review)
John Quincy Adams:
a. Son of John Adams
b. was president in 1825-1829 (so we don’t need to know him)
Napoleon Bonaparte:
b. His Napoleonic Wars engulfed all of Europe, nearly took over all of Continental Europe
c. Sold Louisiana to Jefferson to fund his wars
d. Severed the Franco-American Alliance
James Monroe:
a. The Rush-Bagot Treaty
b. The Treaty of 1818
i. Set the northern limit boundary, joint occupation of Oregon, showed American relations with Britain improving
ii. US shares Newfoundland fisheries w/ Canada
c. The Adams-Onis Treaty: Florida Purchase
i. America gained Florida, Spain got murky rights to Texas
ii. Spain gave up rights to Oregon
d. Monroe Doctrine (immediate proceeds George Canning’s Proposition)
e. Era of Good Feelings
f. Democratic-Republican
a. An American naval commander, one of the first naval heroes.
b. Was in military service during the Quasi-War and fought against Barbary Pirates.
Cornwallis:
a. British General who commanded a large army in the South.
b. His defeat in Yorktown caused the collapse of the Tory Ministry in Britain and was ultimately the killing blow to the British war effort.
Citizen Genet:
a. French minister to U.S. who hired soldiers and privateers in the U.S. for the French
b. Recruited armies to invade Spanish Florida, Louisiana, and British Canada
c. Not called for in the Franco-American Alliance
d. Believed that the neutrality act didn’t really reflect the wishes of the people
e. Washington kicked him out and replaced by a less impulsive emissary
f. Even Jefferson and Madison thought that his conduct was improper
Treaties
Treaty of Paris 1783:
a. Did not say that the Tories (Loyalists) would be repaid for lost land but said that Congress would try to repay them (never happened)
b. British recognized American Independence and granted them generous boundaries (Mississippi river to the west, great lakes to the north, north of Florida to the south)
c. U.S. to retain right to fish in the Newfoundland fisheries
d. Pre-war debts to be repaid to Britain
Jay’s Treaty:
a. Hamilton tells Britain U.S. negotiation strategies
b. The British promised to retreat from the U.S soil, pay for American ships (North), but did not say anything about future impressments and armament of Native Americans (main issues)
c. The Americans (South) had to pay back all pre revolutionary debts still owed
d. Southern Democratic Republicans were outraged; Favored the North
e. France saw it as betrayal of Franco-Am. alliance (entangling alliance)
Pinckney Treaty:
a. Direct result of Jay’s treaty due to fear
b. Nanchez+ right to use Mississippi
Rush-Bagot Treaty:
a. Removed naval armaments on the great lakes w/ GB
Adams-Onis/Transcontinental Treaty:
a. Settled border disputes with Spain- U.S. gained Florida and ceded Texas, Spain cedes claims to Oregon
Treaty of Ghent:
a. Tsar Alexander I of Russia wanted Britain to stop fighting in the New World and concentrate against Napoleon
i. Yet again the Americans luck out by world powers playing each other off
b. Britain wanted a lot of things, Maine, Great Lakes buffer, but Americans rejected
c. Virtual stalemate
d. Did wonders for American reputation with other nations, American ministers where generally respected
e. Showed that Americans could fight off a world power such as Britain
f. antebellum status quo
a. Ended battle of Fallen Timbers
b. Indians would disarm, give “their” land of Northwest territory to US
Convention of 1800:
a. Ended the Franco-American alliance
Louisiana Purchase:
a. Napoleon sells Louisiana Territory (past Mississippi River) for $15 million
b. Brought on by Toussaint L’Ouverture’s rebellion in Santo Domingo- Napoleon frustrated
c. Debatable Constitutionality (against express powers)
Franco-American Alliance:
a. Alliance from the Revolutionary War
b. America had to protect French West Indies islands when called upon to
c. America disobeyed it when declared itself neutral midst British and French Wars
d. Ended during the Convention of 1800
Monroe Doctrine:
a. President Monroe said that no European colonizations of America
b. No teeth to it, Europeans only afraid of British Navy.
c. George Canning’s Proposition: Britain and American pair up; America renounces interests in Latin America and warn away other Euro nations; America says a controversial statement, but Britain defends it.
Documents
Articles of Confederation - ratification, weaknesses, powers:
Constitution - the convention, who what, when, why:
Bill of Rights - especially 1st Amendment:
Declaration of Independence - who, what, when, why:
Federalist Papers - who , what, when, why:
a. Letters published to convince New York to adopt new constitution but reprinted throughout
b. Written by John Jay, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton in support for the new Constitution
c. The greatest piece on government
d. #15 – Hamilton discusses weakness of government under Articles of Confederation
e. #39 – Madison strives to show that the constitution establishes government with both national and federal features
f. #51 – Madison on Separation of Powers and Complex system of Checks and Balances
g. #70 – Hamilton supports the executive branch of government
h. #78 – Hamilton supports the judicial branch of government
Acts - Bills - Resolutions
a. Made it harder for aliens to naturalize and people to speak out against government
b. One needed 14 years for naturalization instead of 5 years
c. President could deport/imprison anyone he deemed harmful to the security of the USA during peace
d. Sedition acts claimed that anyone who spoke out against government or falsely accused its officials could be charged with libel (fined) and be jailed, a suppression of freedom of speech granted in Amendment 1
Judiciary Act 1789:
a. Passed during the last days of Adam’s Presidency.
b. Created multiple offices for judges that were appointed for life.
c. Was an attempt to cement Federalist power in the Judicial Branch.
d. Was repealed by Jefferson during his term.
Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions:
a. Compact theory used in civil war arguments
b. Jefferson – Kentucky in 1798
c. Madison – Virginia in 1798 but less extreme
d. the compact theory stated that the 13 sovereign states, in creating a federal government, had entered into a contract regarding its jurisdiction
e. basically states have the rights to nullify any federal law and to determine its constitution
f. In other words, the states had the final say on whether the fed government had overstepped its line
i. Concluded that with the Alien/Sedition acts it had overstepped that line
g. No other states followed suit
h. Founding fathers had no intention of breaking up the union, just unseat the Federalist party in upcoming election
Embargo Act:
a. Triggered by merchant impressments and aggressive hostile polices of France and Britain
b. Shows American policy of isolationism
c. Shows U.S. unwillingness to fight; instead tried to make damage through economic means
d. Elevated problems in American relationship with Britain and France
e. Backfired on Jefferson (cheaper to fight)
f. Hated, Unemployment rose
g. Unexportable cotton, grain, tobacco, and other products started to pile up in stock rooms
h. Helped American industries
i. Lasted 15 months, (1808-9)
j. Would have worked if kept a few months longer
k. Ironically, the offending British Acts were repealed a few days BEFORE the embargo ended.
Non-Intercourse Act:
a. Would trade with rest of the world except England and France
Macon’s Bill #2:
a. U.S. resumes trading with either Britain or France, whoever repeals their commercial restrictions
b. Napoleon, master of deceit, said he was eager to repeal them
Hamilton’s Financial Plan:
a. National debt is a blessing
b. Accumulate all state debts
c. People will look to the National Government and care about it’s success, because if it
fails, they lose their money
d. Create a National Bank
i. Helps reduce the National Debt
ii. Stores spare money for the Treasury
iii. Prints money for the Nation
Hartford Convention:
a. Event during the War of 1812 in which New England's opposition to the war reached discussion of secession. The end of the war with a return to the status quo ante bellum disgraced the Federalist Party, which disbanded in most places.
b. proposed several amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These attempted to combat the policies of the ruling Republicans by:
i. Prohibiting any trade embargo lasting over 60 days;
ii. Requiring a two-thirds Congressional majority for declaration of war, admission of a new state, or interdiction of foreign commerce;
iii. Removing the three-fifths representation advantage of the South;
iv. Limiting future Presidents to one term (hence preventing VA dynasty);
v. Requiring each President to be from a different state than his predecessor
c. States Represented: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont
Land Ordinance of 1785:
a. Acreage of the northwest to be sold and pay off national debt
b. Vast area was to be surveyed first before sale and settlement
c. Area to be divided into townships, 6 miles square, divided into 36 squares, 1 square mile each
d. 16th square was set aside for the benefit of a public school
Northwest Ordinance of 1787:
a. 2 stages from territory to state:
i. 1st – subordinate of the federal government
ii. 2nd – when 60,000 inhabitants, it was admitted into the congress with the privileges of the 13 original states
d. Also forbade slavery in the old northwest – a path breaking gain for freedom
Wars
American Revolution - who, what, when, where, why, results, major battles:
War of 1812 - who, what, when, where, why, War Hawks, results:
a. Purposed acquisition of Canada and Florida in War of 1812 – Southern slaveholders and Western expansionists
b. Basically War Hawks said “On to Canada”, and they didn’t get anything
i. Thought it was going to be easy to capture
ii. Launched a 3-pronged attack – Detroit, Niagara, Lake Champlain but were all beaten back after they crossed the Canadian border
iii. Should have gone for center of population – Montreal
c. No nationalism at first
d. Oliver Hazard Perry maintained control of great lakes by defeat British there
e. General Harrison’s army won in Battle of Thames in 1813
f. Washington DC was burned
g. British had difficulty capturing U.S. because U.S. was a big countryside and had no well-defined center of population
h. British defeated at New Orleans by Andrew Jackson
i. Royal Navy blockade American coast
i. American economic life crippled, government revenue choked off, fishing non-existent, treasury not able to meet demands
Barbary Pirates - who, what, when, where, why, results:
French Revolution and war between France and Great Britain (Napoleonic wars):
French Revolution=World Revolution
a. Impose shackles on King Louis XVI
b. Americans were cheered and gave streets/places French names
c. Guillotine was set up, Church attacked – few Americans thought ok of this
d. “Few thousand aristocratic heads were a cheap price to pay for human freedom”
Miscellaneous
Post Revolution American art: LANDSCAPES IM SO BOSS KNOWING THIS~fdaviddumass
New State Government Structure:
Post Revolution American religion: freedom of religion
Anglican Church: Disestablished
Federalists v. Demo-Republicans:if you don’t know this you’ll fail the test (yay gonna fail)
Death of the Federalists: Hartford Convention -> many ppl believed it to be treasonous/secession -> Federalist shame -> gradually desolved
Sectional strife over all issues: North were federalists, South were DR, they didn’t agree on pretty much everything
Relations with Native Americans: Much worse
XYZ affair:
France decided they wanted to make the U.S. pay a bribe to even let them SPEAK with their government officials, something they would never do to Britain. U.S. decided that they didn’t like that and decided not to negotiate anything with France. France got angry, started the quasi-war(never really declared).
Loose v. Strict Construction:
Loose=Hamiltonian=Elastic Clause=The Federal government has power to do stuff not specifically stated in Constitution, Strict=Jeffersonian=Amendment 10=Federal government is specifically binded to the power given to it by the Constitution( Note they were not arguing the validity of Amendment X which states that all powers not given to the Federal Government are given to either the states or individual, instead they were arguing about whether such things as the power to create a bank were given to the Federal government by the elastic clause)
Post Revolution and “new ship of state” foreign relations & trade relations:
Complete Timeline Chapters (8-12)
1774
First Continental Congress calls for abolition of slave trade: Decided it was too controversial to accept; postponed it.
1775
Quakers found world’s first antislavery society: Significant because it is self-explanatory.
Battles of Lexington and Concord: Shot heard ‘round the world - this was the kick-off point for the Revolution and served as a springboard for anger in the North - the last straw.
Second Continental Congress: Full thirteen colonies represented. Still conservative. Anticipated rebuff, voted for navy and army and raising money. Voted for Commander in chief (Washington [showed that Virginia also wanted to rebel]). Appeals spurned.
Americans capture British at Ticonderoga, Crown Point: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold surprised the British and captured them; got gunpowder and artillery was secured.
Bunker Hill: Took a hill (actually Breed’s Hill) and mowed down enemies left and right, abandoned the hill after they ran out.
Formal declaration by King George - colonies in rebellion: Treason; rejected Olive Branch Petition.
Failed invasion of Canada: Was a contradiction - was not a redress for grievances, was an assault. Pushed back, leaders shot and killed.
1776
New Jersey Constitution temporarily gives women votes: First sign of democracy.
Paine’s Common Sense: Helped push for the independence. Showed all the rights that Britain was taking away from the US. Republicanism.
Declaration of Independence: The US fully independent from Britain's control.
Battle of Trenton: Sailed through the frozen Delaware river and captured sleeping Hessians. Awesome victory.
1777
Articles of Confederation adopted by Second Continental Congress: The first Constitution for the US. Was a precedent for the Constitution of the US. Showed the idea logy of the people after the War.
Battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Saratoga: Loss, loss; British surrender entire of Burgoyne’s command at Saratoga.
1778
Franco-American Alliance, Battle of Monmouth: Both stood to gain from alliance, happened. Monmouth - indecisive, British escaped to New York.
1778-1779 Rogers Clark’s victories in West: Captured several forts, Clark’s admirers claimed it caused the British to cede much of the West.
1780
MA adopts first constitution drafted in convention and ratified by popular vote: shows democratic thinking.
1781
Articles of Confederation put into effect: Was the first real democratic government,
Greene leads Carolina campaign, Battles of King’s Mountain and Cowpens led by american riflemen, Yorktown: Greene had strategy of delay, worked well; Cornwallis exhausted. King’s mountain and Cowpens - Militia take out British. Yorktown - Cornwallis surrenders, end of significant wars.
1782
Lord North’s ministry in Britain collapses: Whig regimen replaced it.
1783
Treaty of Paris: Officially ended hostilities between the British and the Americans/French. British formally recognized the independendce of the United States. They also granted generous boundaries which stretched to the Mississippi on the west and to the Great Lakes on the north, and also to Spanish Florida on the south. Also promised to take away the people in the North; did not happen. Jay made it. The Americans could not further persecute Loyalists and Congress was to recommend to the state legislatures that confiscated Loyalist property be restored.
1785
Land Ordinance of 1785: Government owns all Trans-Allegheny land - Distribution of land. Part of land has to be center for schools. People can buy land from government.
1786
Shays’s Rebellion: Scared the crap out of many people, fearing a mobocracy. Also showed the weaknesses of the Articles by demonstrating that there was no authority to enforce law and order. Angry with inflation/prices of property that were unregulated.
Meeting of five states to discuss revision of the Articles of Confederation: Led to Annapolis Convention - resolution that we would meet at PA and would revise Articles.
1787
Northwest Ordinance: Dealt with governing the Trans-Allegheny area. For now, the gov. owned it. 60,000 people: apply for statehood.
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia: Founding Fathers decided to throw out the Articles and base their new constitution on compromises of the members present.
1788
Ratification by nine states guarantees new government under the Constitution: 9 had to ratify it; section of the Constitution itself says those states will be under the Constitution.
1789
Constitution formally put into effect: yay.
Judiciary Act of 1789: Created many positions that could be filled with Federalist judges. Lower courts established by Congress; attorney general + chief justice + 5 subordinates makes up Supreme Court
Washington elected first President: Only unanimous election in the history of U.S. Set precedents like Cabinet composed of secretaries, isolationism, 2-term.
French Revolution begins: Created a rift between the DR’s and the Federalists. DRs pro-French - believed that the French, although spilled blood, were doing so for a noble cause. Federalists opposed.
1790 - First official census: Showed the US population was still booming. Also showed the reality of slaves being a significant portion of out people.
1791 - Bill of Rights adopted: Satisfied the States enough for the remainder to adopt the Const.
VT becomes 14th state: First new state admitted under the Const.
Bank of the United States created: Important, albeit controversial part of Hamilton’s financial plan. Established a central source of credit for the U.S. Also where government could print currency and collect taxes/surplus money.
Excise tax passed: Pissed off the farmers because it was their barter system - Whiskey Rebellion put down strongly by Washington, urged by Hamilton. DRs saw this as an unnecessary show of power and did not like the showcase.
1792 - Washington reelected president: He helped steer the US into clearer waters.
1792-1793 - Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties formed: Solidified by disagreements as to the French Revolution see below.
1793
Louis XVI beheaded, radical phase of French Rev.: Frightened many Federalists, some DR’s were ashamed/disappointed because of the bloodshed, but were happy that freedom was coming albeit a cost.
France declares war on Britain, Spain: DR’s wanted to side with French against Britain. Put Americans in a spot to honor the Franco-American alliance of 1778.
Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation: Urged isolation against Britain, which very possibly would have dissolved the Union.
Citizen Genet Affair: Tried to recruit privateers, attempted to incite war, which pissed off the political elite (GW, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, etc.) and was removed from his post.
1794
Whiskey Rebellion: Angry farmers rebelled over the whiskey tax, Federal Gov. marches in with 13,000 men and beats the crap out of them, allows new government to flex it’s muscles.
Battle of Fallen Timbers: Ended Northwest Indian War and ended all Indian resistance until Tecumseh’s War.
Jay’s Treaty with Britain: Americans must pay off pre-war debt, Britain evacuates out of Ohio River Valley, Northern merchants get reparations, no word of ending Indian attacks.
1795
Treaty of Grenville - Indians cede Ohio territory: All the Indians are kicked out of the Northern States.
Pinckney’s Treaty: Made with Spain after Jay’s Treaty, gave trading rights to US in Mississippi River and storage areas in New Orleans, and parts of Natchez.
1796
Washington’s Farewell Address: Affected lots of future decisions by the United States. Should not be in any foreign entanglements (temporary) only if we stand to gain.
1797
Adams becomes President: He had some big fatass shoes to step into, did not do very well in terms of PR.
XYZ Affair: Adams wanted to flaunt the sovereignty of America rather than stick to isolationism; he sent emissaries to France to ask why they were assaulting their navy. Did not work, Talleyrand was pissed; asked for a huge unreasonable bribe(was the norm to bribe the government to see a diplomat). John Marshall declined, caused a rise in nationalistic pride.
1798
Alien and Sedition Acts: Showed that the barrier into the U.S. was closed because the federalists were afraid that the French and other potentially harmful people would have a say in their government too soon. Also did not want to call their President fat/other ugly shit. Targeted Republicans by not allowing French in/banning freedom of speech. Expired in 1801 - showed it could not be used against federalists in upcoming election.
1798-1799
Kentucky and Virginia Revolutions: Kentucky=Jefferson - Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional. Madison=Virginia.
1798-1800 - Undeclared war with France: Quasi-War showed that the people of France were still angry at the Americans - XYZ Affair, Jay’s treaty (Britain coupling). This led to this undeclared war.
1800
Convention of 1800: Ended both the Quasi-War and the Franco-American Alliance with the change of leadership in France to Napoleon - Napoleon had other fish to fry, like take over Europe.
1800 - Jefferson defeats Adams for presidency: Jefferson won the election by a majority of 73 to 65 votes. Adams got more popular votes, but Jeffitha got NY. The vote, according to the Constitution, would now to go the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives. because of Aaron Burr.
1801
Judiciary Act of 1801: passed by the federalists in their last days of congress domination in 1801, packed newly created judgeships with Federalist backing men, so as to prolong their legacy. Called for the creation of 16 midnight judges (last minute judges) that were Pro-Federalist. Last act of Adams.
1801-1805 - Naval war with Tripoli: Barbary affair where Jefferson refused the Pasha of Tripoli tribute - war was cheaper than the tribute, started the war against the pirates.
1802
Revised naturalization law: Returned it to 5 years, reversed Alien Acts.
Judiciary Act of 1801 repealed: last-ditch effort for Adams to assert power, and the people found it unnecessary.
Marbury vs. Madison: Happened in Jefferson’s presidency: Marbury was fired because he was a midnight judge; Marbury wanted to sue Congress and took trial straight to the Supreme Court, unconstitutional. Marshall said the case was unconstitutional because he skipped courts; judicial review power testament.
1803
Louisiana Purchase: Finalized on 4/30/1803 for a grand total of $15 million. This was over the given budget of $10 mill, but Napoleon gave a deal of selling new Orleans and the land WEST of it... they primarily wanted just new orleans and the land east to it.
1804
Jefferson reelected president: the Purchase made everyone love him, no candidate against him.
Impeachment of Justice Chase: Jefferson tried, failed. He was a loudmouth.
1804-1806 - Lewis and Clark expedition: Met a Shoshoni woman by the name of Sacajawea, and spend 2.5 years exploring land. Went all the way to Oregon and Pacific before returning.
1805
Peace with Tripoli: Jefferson had a problem as to whether or not to fight, and reluctantly sent the infant navy to the shores of Tripli, where fighting went for 4 years before a peace treaty was sought from Tripoli $60,000. The peace treaty was created in 1805.
1805-1807
Pike’s explorations: trekked to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1805-1806 and ventured to the southern portion of Louisiana and sighted Pike’s Peak
1806
Burr treason trial: Burr wanted to take New England and secede from the Union (treason) and because there was a lack of witnesses Burr was not convicted.
1807
Chesapeake Affair: A ship called the Chesapeake was stopped by the British and 4 sailors on it were claimed to be “deserters” and the British asked for them back and impressed them. The most publicized event in impressment.
Embargo Act: forbade the export of all goods from the United states whether in American or American ships.
1808
Madison elected President: no other competition - Jefferson did not want it anymore.
1809
Non-Intercourse Act replaces Embargo Act: embargo Act too harmful.
1810
Macon’s Bill No. 2: Whoever declares themselves respectful toward the American trade, they will be our ally in the future.
Napoleon announces (falsely) repeal of blockade decrees: he lied. hehehhe.
Madison reestablishes nonimportation against Britain: Britain neglected to respond to the Bill No. 2.
Fletcher vs. Peck ruling asserts right of the Supreme Court to invalidate state laws deemed unconstitutional.
1811
Battle of Tippecanoe: significant - William Henry Harrison defeats Tecumseh
1812
United States declares war on Britain - War of 1812: Declared for 3 reasons; Indians attacking them (supplied by British, because against pushing frontier); Western states were pissed because could not flaunt their democracy; trade not flourishing. Wanted Canada and Florida to be added to their territory. SIGNIFICANCE: U.S. could resist against “grievous wrongs”, other nations developed respect for military, Federalist party almost dead.
Madison reelected President: No Federalist party. No other option.
1813
Battle of the Thames: Harrison kills Tecumseh. The last aggregated effort by the Indians against American frontier life. One of the few battles the Americans won.
Battle of Lake Erie: naval battle, Oliver Hazard Perry beasts, defeats British.
1814
Battle of Horseshoe Bend: Jackson killed Creeks; last vestige of Indian resistance.
Battle of Plattsburgh: When Brits invaded Plattsburgh and destroyed militia, went on to burn capital.
British burn Washington: Symbol of their unity destroyed.
Treaty of Ghent signed, ended War of 1812: Armistice - no one won. War hawks did not gain anything - not a single acre gained.
1814-1815 - Hartford Convention: Delegation sent by New England sent to Congress; wanted to make amendments to Constitution (Embargo lasts for 60 days max., one third of states can veto war or embargoes; Federalists hindered by war; Congress had to vote to admit a state to the union). Reparations for loss of trade; became strict constructionists despite being Federalists. Thought that south caused their economic problems, meaning that the war hawks were responsible for the decline in New England. Prevented that from happening again, therefore sectionalism. Some thought that Federalists would split from union. Federalists died out soon afterwards.
1815
Battle of New Orleans: Jackson fought 8,000 British men. Gained national recognition.
North American Review begins publication: first newspaper widely read
1816
Second Bank of the United States founded: Proposed by Democratic Republican Madison - needed to make manufacturing, needed credit; made bank instead of begging from people.
Protectionist Tariff of 1816: Also proposed by Democratic Republican Madison - British were sending imports at a cheaper price than domestic American products - made a tariff to protect the economy. Discouraged import.
Federalist Party dead, sent their last political candidate to beat Monroe, lost
Monroe elected President: Era of Good Feelings started. No party balance, only one-party rule.
1817
Rush-Bagot agreement limits British naval armament on Great Lakes: significant because U.S. and Britain are started to be seen on the same side in global affairs.
1818
Treaty of 1818 with Britain, Rush-Bagot actually enforced: Oregon Country and Newfoundland are shared. Made a set border b/w Lousiana and Canada.
Jackson invades Florida: Spain had to deal with the revolution in Latin America; Spaniards invaded America, and ran back. Monroe told Jackson to attack them in Florida. Florida taken.
1819
Panic of 1819: Economic crisis! High amount of debt, little social migration. Mass poverty, overspeculation in frontier lands (not much land). high unemployment. Ended later.
Spain cedes Florida to the United States (Florida Treaty, Florida Purchase Treaty, Adams-Onis Treaty, Transcontinental Treaty): Spain gave land in Oregon Country; gave Florida to U.S. In return, the U.S. would not attack Texas.
1820
Missouri Compromise: Missouri would be accepted as a slave state if Maine is a free state. Showed the trade-off between free/slave states. No political instability.
Missouri and Maine admitted to Union.
Land Act of 1820: Eliminated purchase of public land on credit(one of the key factors contributing to the Panic of 1819).
Monroe reelected as President: He’s back?
1823
Secretary Adams proposed Monroe Doctrine: Empty threat, only reason European powers heeded it was out of fear of the British.
1824
Russo-American Treaty of 1824: Russian abandoned it’s claims in Oregon and GTFO’d.
1825
| i don't know |
What is the Christian name of the title character in the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens? | The Pickwick Papers | All The Tropes Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
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Haiku • Laconic
Full title The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, but usually known under this title.
Charles Dickens ' first novel and still one of his best known, it's a far more comedic read than his later stuff, although with strong touches of darkness, especially the Fleet Prison part of the book.
First published in 1837 (but set in 1827-28, a fact Dickens sometimes forgot in his writing ), it was originally a 20-part serial. It follows the misadventures of a bunch of comedy clichés as they go about southern England. Along the way, a variety of interesting side-stories are related.
It wasn't doing too well, sales wise, until Samuel Weller entered the story. Weller, an early example of the chirpy Cockney archetype, is prone to punching people with little provocation, dispensing Cockney wisdom and engaging in an entire series of "as the X said" jokes, but adding something before and afterwards, such as:
"Wotever is, is right, as the young nobleman sveetly remarked wen they put him down in the pension list cos his mother's uncle's vife's grandfather vunce lit the king's pipe vith a portable tinder-box".
As can be seen from the above quote, the Cockney accent has changed a lot since 1837; without Dickens's habit of using Funetik Aksent to show Weller's pronunciation, this fact would be unknown to modern linguists.
The book became a literary phenomenon, Weller became a very popular character and the book became subject to one of the earlier major cases of book piracy.
Contains the best surviving fictional account of a pre-1832 British by-election, an account of the Fleet debtors' prison that was a major eye-opener at the time and some rather good Lampshade Hanging on a couple of tropes.
Includes a character, Joe, who is rather obese and falls asleep frequently with no warning. This is exactly like the condition Obesity-Hypoventilation Syndrome , which is also known as "Pickwickian syndrome" because of it.
This book contains examples of:
| Samuel |
As well as the traditional tokens, a token in the shape of which creature is included in the Australian version of Monopoly? | 1837 1st ed Charles Dickens 1st Novel PICKWICK PAPERS England Satire ILLUSTRATED | Schilb Antiquarian
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1837 1st ed Charles Dickens 1st Novel PICKWICK PAPERS England Satire ILLUSTRATED
1837 1st ed Charles Dickens 1st Novel PICKWICK PAPERS England Satire ILLUSTRATED
Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 – 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world’s most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (also known as The Pickwick Papers) is Charles Dickens’s first novel. He was asked to contribute to the project as an up-and-coming writer following the success of Sketches by Boz, published in 1836 (most of Dickens’ novels were issued in shilling installments before being published as complete volumes). Dickens (still writing under the pseudonym of Boz) increasingly took over the unsuccessful monthly publication after the original illustrator Robert Seymour had committed suicide.
Other examples of this same 1st edition are for sale elsewhere for as much as $7,500!
Title: The posthumous papers of the Pickwick club
Published: London : Chapman and Hall, 1837.
1st edition in book form
43 engravings by Seymour and Phiz
Wear: wear as seen in photos
Binding: tight and secure leather binding;
Pages: complete with all 609 pages; plus indexes, prefaces, and such
Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall, 1837.
Size: ~8.5in X 5.5in (22cm x 14cm)
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Charles John Huffam Dickens (/ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world’s most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period.[1] During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.[2][3]
Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens was forced to leave school to work in a factory when his father was thrown into debtors’ prison. Although he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. Over his career he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children’s rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens sprang to fame with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.[4][5] The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience’s reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback.[5] For example, when his wife’s chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens went on to improve the character with positive features.[6] His plots were carefully constructed, and Dickens often wove in elements from topical events into his narratives.[7] Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha’pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.[8]
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age.[9] His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, is one of the most influential works ever written, and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Set in London and Paris, his 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is the best selling novel of all time.[10] His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.[11]
Contents [hide]
2 Ordnance Terrace, Chatham, Dickens’ home 1817–1822
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at Landport in Portsea Island, the second of eight children to John Dickens (1785–1851) and Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow; 1789–1863). His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily on duty in the district. Very soon after his birth the family moved to Norfolk Street, Bloomsbury, and then, when he was four, to Chatham, Kent, where he spent his formative years until the age of 11. His early years seem to have been idyllic, though he thought himself a “very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy”.[12]
Charles spent time outdoors, but also read voraciously, especially the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. He retained poignant memories of childhood, helped by an excellent memory of people and events, which he used in his writing.[13] His father’s brief period as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office gave him a few years of private education, first at a dame-school, and then at a school run by William Giles, a dissenter, in Chatham.[14]
drawing
Illustration by Fred Bernard of Dickens at work in a shoe-blacking factory after his father had been sent to the Marshalsea, published in the 1892 edition of Forster’s Life of Dickens[15]
This period came to an abrupt end when financial difficulties forced the family to move to Camden Town in London in 1822. Living beyond his means,[16] John Dickens was forced by his creditors into the Marshalsea debtors’ prison in Southwark London in 1824. His wife and youngest children joined him there, as was the practice at the time. Charles, then 12 years old, boarded with Elizabeth Roylance, a family friend, at 112 College Place, Camden Town.[17] Roylance was “a reduced [impoverished] old lady, long known to our family”, whom Dickens later immortalised, “with a few alterations and embellishments”, as “Mrs. Pipchin”, in Dombey and Son. Later, he lived in a back-attic in the house of an agent for the Insolvent Court, Archibald Russell, “a fat, good-natured, kind old gentleman … with a quiet old wife” and lame son, in Lant Street in The Borough.[18] They provided the inspiration for the Garlands in The Old Curiosity Shop.[19]
On Sundays—with his sister Frances, free from her studies at the Royal Academy of Music—he spent the day at the Marshalsea.[20] Dickens would later use the prison as a setting in Little Dorrit. To pay for his board and to help his family, Dickens was forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, on Hungerford Stairs, near the present Charing Cross railway station, where he earned six shillings a week pasting labels on pots of boot blacking. The strenuous and often harsh working conditions made a lasting impression on Dickens and later influenced his fiction and essays, becoming the foundation of his interest in the reform of socio-economic and labour conditions, the rigours of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor. He later wrote that he wondered “how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age”.[21] As he recalled to John Forster (from The Life of Charles Dickens):
The blacking-warehouse was the last house on the left-hand side of the way, at old Hungerford Stairs. It was a crazy, tumble-down old house, abutting of course on the river, and literally overrun with rats. Its wainscoted rooms, and its rotten floors and staircase, and the old grey rats swarming down in the cellars, and the sound of their squeaking and scuffling coming up the stairs at all times, and the dirt and decay of the place, rise up visibly before me, as if I were there again. The counting-house was on the first floor, looking over the coal-barges and the river. There was a recess in it, in which I was to sit and work. My work was to cover the pots of paste-blacking; first with a piece of oil-paper, and then with a piece of blue paper; to tie them round with a string; and then to clip the paper close and neat, all round, until it looked as smart as a pot of ointment from an apothecary’s shop. When a certain number of grosses of pots had attained this pitch of perfection, I was to paste on each a printed label, and then go on again with more pots. Two or three other boys were kept at similar duty down-stairs on similar wages. One of them came up, in a ragged apron and a paper cap, on the first Monday morning, to show me the trick of using the string and tying the knot. His name was Bob Fagin; and I took the liberty of using his name, long afterwards, in Oliver Twist.[21]
The Marshalsea around 1897, after it had closed
A few months after his imprisonment, John Dickens’s paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Dickens, died and bequeathed him the sum of £450. On the expectation of this legacy, Dickens was granted release from prison. Under the Insolvent Debtors Act, Dickens arranged for payment of his creditors, and he and his family left Marshalsea,[22] for the home of Mrs. Roylance.
Charles’ mother Elizabeth Dickens did not immediately remove him from the boot-blacking factory. This incident may have done much to confirm Dickens’s view that a father should rule the family, a mother find her proper sphere inside the home. “I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back”. His mother’s failure to request his return was a factor in his dissatisfied attitude towards women.[23]
Righteous anger stemming from his own situation and the conditions under which working-class people lived became major themes of his works, and it was this unhappy period in his youth to which he alluded in his favourite, and most autobiographical, novel, David Copperfield:[24] “I had no advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no consolation, no assistance, no support, of any kind, from anyone, that I can call to mind, as I hope to go to heaven!”[25]
Charles was eventually sent to the Wellington House Academy in Camden Town, but did not consider it to be a good school. “Much of the haphazard, desultory teaching, poor discipline punctuated by the headmaster’s sadistic brutality, the seedy ushers and general run-down atmosphere, are embodied in Mr. Creakle’s Establishment in David Copperfield.”[25]
Dickens worked at the law office of Ellis and Blackmore, attorneys, of Holborn Court, Gray’s Inn, as a junior clerk from May 1827 to November 1828. Then, having learned Gurney’s system of shorthand in his spare time, he left to become a freelance reporter. A distant relative, Thomas Charlton, was a freelance reporter at Doctors’ Commons, and Dickens was able to share his box there to report the legal proceedings for nearly four years.[26][27] This education was to inform works such as Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son, and especially Bleak House—whose vivid portrayal of the machinations and bureaucracy of the legal system did much to enlighten the general public and served as a vehicle for dissemination of Dickens’s own views regarding, particularly, the heavy burden on the poor who were forced by circumstances to “go to law”.
In 1830, Dickens met his first love, Maria Beadnell, thought to have been the model for the character Dora in David Copperfield. Maria’s parents disapproved of the courtship and ended the relationship by sending her to school in Paris.[28]
Journalism and early novels
In 1832, at age 20, Dickens was energetic, full of good humour, enjoyed mimicry and popular entertainment, lacked a clear sense of what he wanted to become, and yet knew he wanted to be famous. He was drawn to the theatre and landed an acting audition at Covent Garden, for which he prepared meticulously but which he missed because of a cold, ending his aspirations for a career on the stage. A year later he submitted his first story, “A Dinner at Poplar Walk” to the London periodical, Monthly Magazine.[29] He rented rooms at Furnival’s Inn and worked as a political journalist, reporting on Parliamentary debate and travelling across Britain to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle. His journalism, in the form of sketches in periodicals, formed his first collection of pieces Sketches by Boz—Boz being a family nickname he employed as a pseudonym for some years—published in 1836.[30][31] Dickens apparently adopted it from the nickname Moses, which he had given to his youngest brother Augustus Dickens, after a character in Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield. When pronounced by anyone with a head cold, ‘Moses’ became ‘Boses’, and was later shortened to Boz.[31][32] Dickens’s own name was considered “queer” by a contemporary critic, who wrote in 1849: “Mr Dickens, as if in revenge for his own queer name, does bestow still queerer ones upon his fictitious creations.” He continued to contribute to and edit journals throughout his literary career.[29]
Catherine Hogarth Dickens by Samuel Lawrence (1838)
The success of these sketches led to a proposal from publishers Chapman and Hall for Dickens to supply text to match Robert Seymour’s engraved illustrations in a monthly letterpress. Seymour committed suicide after the second instalment and Dickens, who wanted to write a connected series of sketches, hired “Phiz” to provide the engravings (which were reduced from four to two per instalment) for the story. The resulting story was The Pickwick Papers with the final instalment selling 40,000 copies.[29]
In November 1836 Dickens accepted the job of editor of Bentley’s Miscellany, a position he held for three years, until he fell out with the owner.[33] In 1836 as he finished the last instalments of The Pickwick Papers he began writing the beginning instalments of Oliver Twist—writing as many as 90 pages a month—while continuing work on Bentley’s, and also writing four plays, the production of which he oversaw. Oliver Twist, published in 1838, became one of Dickens’s better known stories, with dialogue that transferred well to the stage (most likely because he was writing stage plays at the same time) and, more importantly, it was the first Victorian novel with a child protagonist.[34]
Young Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise (1839)
On 2 April 1836, after a one year engagement during which he wrote The Pickwick Papers, he married Catherine Thomson Hogarth (1816–1879), the daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the Evening Chronicle.[35] After a brief honeymoon in Chalk, Kent, they returned to lodgings at Furnival’s Inn.[36] The first of ten children, Charley, was born in January 1837, and a few months later the family set up home in Bloomsbury at 48 Doughty Street, London, (on which Charles had a three-year lease at £80 a year) from 25 March 1837 until December 1839.[35][37] Dickens’s younger brother Frederick and Catherine’s 17-year-old sister Mary moved in with them. Dickens became very attached to Mary, and she died in his arms after a brief illness in 1837. Dickens idealised her and is thought to have drawn on memories of her for his later descriptions of Rose Maylie, Little Nell and Florence Dombey.[38] His grief was so great that he was unable to make the deadline for the June instalment of Pickwick Papers and had to cancel the Oliver Twist instalment that month as well.[34]
At the same time, his success as a novelist continued. The young Queen Victoria read both Oliver Twist and Pickwick, staying up until midnight to discuss them.[39] Nicholas Nickleby (1838–39), The Old Curiosity Shop and, finally, Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of ‘Eighty as part of the Master Humphrey’s Clock series (1840–41), were all published in monthly instalments before being made into books.[40]
First visit to the United States
In 1842, Dickens and his wife made their first trip to the United States and Canada. At this time Georgina Hogarth, another sister of Catherine, joined the Dickens household, now living at Devonshire Terrace, Marylebone, to care for the young family they had left behind.[41] She remained with them as housekeeper, organiser, adviser and friend until Dickens’s death in 1870.[42]
Sketch of Dickens in 1842 during American Tour. Sketch of Dickens’s sister Fanny, bottom left
He described his impressions in a travelogue, American Notes for General Circulation. Some of the episodes in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–44) also drew on these first-hand experiences. Dickens includes in Notes a powerful condemnation of slavery, which he had attacked as early as The Pickwick Papers, correlating the emancipation of the poor in England with the abolition of slavery abroad[43] citing newspaper accounts of runaway slaves disfigured by their masters. From Richmond, Virginia Dickens returned to Washington, D.C. and started a trek westward to St. Louis. While there, he expressed a desire to see an American prairie before returning east. A group of 13 men then set out with Dickens to visit Looking Glass Prairie, a trip 30 miles into Illinois. The entourage stayed at The Mermaid House, an inn in Lebanon, Illinois.[citation needed]
From Richmond Dickens returned to Washington and started a trek westward to St. Louis. During his visit, Dickens spent a month in New York City, giving lectures and raising the question of international copyright laws and the pirating of his work in America.[44][45] He persuaded twenty five writers, headed by Washington Irving, to sign a petition for him to take to Congress, but the press were generally hostile to this, saying that he should be grateful for his popularity and that it was mercenary to complain about his work being pirated.[46]
Soon after his return to England, Dickens began work on the first of his Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol, written in 1843, which was followed by The Chimes in 1844 and The Cricket on the Hearth in 1845. Of these A Christmas Carol was most popular and, tapping into an old tradition, did much to promote a renewed enthusiasm for the joys of Christmas in Britain and America.[47] The seeds for the story were planted in Dickens’s mind during a trip to Manchester to witness the conditions of the manufacturing workers there. This, along with scenes he had recently witnessed at the Field Lane Ragged School, caused Dickens to resolve to “strike a sledge hammer blow” for the poor. As the idea for the story took shape and the writing began in earnest, Dickens became engrossed in the book. He wrote that as the tale unfolded he “wept and laughed, and wept again” as he “walked about the black streets of London fifteen or twenty miles many a night when all sober folks had gone to bed.”[48]
After living briefly in Italy (1844), Dickens travelled to Switzerland (1846); it was here he began work on Dombey and Son (1846–48). This and David Copperfield (1849–50) mark a significant artistic break in Dickens’s career as his novels became more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early works.
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uploaded: 2 January 1999 / last modified: 1 January 2000
Archived royal news from my old website for the year 1999.
January 2nd
Anne of Great Britain, the Princess Royal, has retained her position as the royal family's busiest member in 1998. She carried out 679 engagements; the Queen herself in second place only had 574 engagements. In total the British royal family carried out 3705 engagements (all together 13 members).
January 3rd
The British Queen Elizabeth wants to open the art collection of the royal family for the public. Therefore an architect is going to design a new gallery in Buckingham Palace. The collection contains paintings of Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, Michelangelo, Raphael and others. It should be opened in February 2002, in the year the Queen hopes to celebrate her 50th reign anniversary.
January 4th
If necessary King Sihanouk of Cambodge wants to testify himself if the UN should establish an international court of justice to trial the Red Khmer leaders arrested for two weeks. He would even give up his royal and constitutional immunity and even accept an eventually imprisonment himself. King Sihanouk has also been King for a short while during the Red Khmer domination in the 70's.
According to some reports the British Princes William and Harry and about 20 friends celebrated a party at Windsor Castle on December 20th after Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip went to bed. It seems they played music and drank alcohol. They should have gone sleighing in the garden on serving-trays from the kitchen.
During a ski trip in Are, Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden gave first aid to a Japanese tourist who lost his friends out of sight. They stayed with him until there came some help. When the friends and the Japanese man wanted to thank the rescuers they had already disappeared.
January 5th
Princess Juliana of the Netherlands (89) was taken to hospital in Utrecht yesterday, after she felt unwell at her home. It seems it goes about hart problems. After some examinations she went home in the evening today.
January 6th
The news everybody was waiting for has been announced finally by Buckingham Palace: Prince Edward, youngest son of the Queen, is finally getting married. The happy girl is Sophie Rhys-Jones, his girlfriend since at least 1993. The wedding will probably take place in the late spring or early summer, with the couple favouring St.George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. It seems Edward finally asked Sophie to marry him just before Christmas and she was fully surprised. Sophie Rhys-Jones was born in Oxford on January 20th 1965 as the only daughter of Christopher and Mary Rhys-Jones. She attended Dulwich College in Cranbrook and West Kent College in Pembury. She worked for Capital Radio and Jet Services before going into PR-business. She runs her own company now.
January 7th
On New Year's Day Prince Bernhard jr. of the Netherlands broke his left leg during snowboarding in Austria.
January 9th
In St.Michael's Church in Ghent, Belgium (and not Antwerp), Arch Duchess Catharina of Habsburg married Count Massimiliano Secco di Aragona. In 1500 the Roman Emperor Charles V (from whom Catharina descents) was born in this parish. Hundreds of guests from the European nobility, amongst them members of the Belgian royal family, joined the celebration. On December 4th the couple had celebrated their civil wedding in Woluwe, Brussels, Belgium.
January 10th
No one will be officially blamed for the accident in which Princess Diana, Dodi El-Fayed and driver Henri Paul found the death. However the Court of Justice in Paris says they didn't finish the case yet.
One of Britains most notorious aristocrats, the Marques of Bristol (44), died in his sleep at his home Little Horringer Hall, on the Ickworth estate in Suffolk. After inheriting lots of money from his father, he drifted into drug addiction. He was jailed a few times: once for smuggling cocaine into Jersey (one year) and twice for possessing heroin and cocaine.
The Dutch government will reconsider the appointment of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander as a member of the International Olympic Committee, after speculations on fraud and members accepting bribes. Since Nagano February 1998 the Prince is candidate member for the Netherlands, and his confirmation was planned in Seoul, Corea, next July.
Sophie Rhys-Jones, the fianc�e of Prince Edward of Great Britain, asks people not to compare her with Princess Diana. She is a person of her own.
January 16th
According to The Sun Edward & Sophie will marry on June 19th in St.George's Chapel at Windsor. About 500 guests should be invited for the ceremony and another 500 for a buffet wedding reception afterwards in the castle's St.George's Grand Hall, among them many many royals. Buckingham Palace says this is only a speculation. It is too early to confirm any date.
A bill abolishing the centuries old rights of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords will be introduced into the Commons next week. It looks set to spark heated debates ass Opposition MP's and many peers have vowed to fight it at every stage.
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden opened the biggest water sport fair worldwide 'Boot '99' in the German town D�sseldorf.
January 18th
The Mirror published two letters of Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales, written in 1983 and 1984 to some close relatives. The Mirror says they were publishing because they show that Charles and Diana have loved each other in the beginning of their marriage. Diana wrote: "I can hardly bear being separated from him", and Charles wrote: "She has a great way to mix with other people."
Today Felipe Prince of Asturia will start his five-week trainee at the European Union. It brings him to the EU-institutions in Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Frankfurt am Main (Germany) and Luxembourg. In Brussels King Albert II and Philippe Duke of Brabant will receive him.
January 19th
King Hussein of Jordan has returned to his country after staying for six months in the USA for cancer treatment. He came from London, England, where he had spent some weeks to recover his strength. In the pouring rain hundred thousands of people stood along the road from Amman airport to the city of Amman to welcome their king. He will come back to the USA for a check-up in March.
January 20th
The leader of the House of Lords Baroness Jay said: "A fundamental anachronism can be removed as we reach the millennium. The presence of the hereditary peerage has weakened the legitimacy and effectiveness of our second chamber." About the presence of the peerage, lately a documentary on BBC told that lots of peers hardly show up at the House of Lords.
King Hussein of Jordan told on CNN that he had thoughts and ideas about replacing his younger brother Hassan as heir designate. "I have always had to take the final decisions and I will come to it in the appropriate time."
January 22nd
Buckingham Palace announced officially that Edward and Sophie will get married at St.George's Chapel, Windsor, on June 19th.
Prince Laurent of Belgium spent some days in the hospital of Ukkel, Brussels, last week with flu and a nervous collapse. He has been released today but should need some further treatment.
King Hussein of Jordan has deprived the crown prince title from his brother Hassan (who owed this title since 1965). King Hussein was not satisfied about the way Hassan reigned the country when the King was staying in the USA. The new crown prince should be one of Hussein's own sons. Most likely it will be the oldest son Abdullah (36), but Ali (25) and Hamzah (17) are also mentioned.
January 23rd
Unexpectedly Princess Caroline of Monaco married (civil) her friend Ernst August Prince of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland, in the Room of Mirrors in the royal palace in Monte Carlo. Invited were some close family members and eight friends. It was strange that Princess Stephanie didn't show up. Further the rumours are that Caroline is pregnant.
It is said the relationship of the Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander and his girlfriend Emily Bremers has never been broken up. They should have told the media so, because they were sick of all the media interest in their relationship. People have seen them together in the evening-life of Brussels and London.
January 24th
The Queen Mother has undergone a one hour-long minor operation to stop her nose bleeding at the hospital in King's Lynn, England. She later returned to her home at Sandringham. She is fine again.
Some pieces of the wedding dress of Princess Diana of Wales will be put up for an auction. Before the wedding Diana lost some weight and the dress had to be made smaller. The designer of the dress gave the pieces to her older babysitters who sell the pieces now to collect money to finance the last years of their lives. They ask an amount of about $125.000.
January 25th
King Hussein of Jordan has appointed his eldest son Prince Abdullah ibn Hussein as his heir. Former Crown Prince Hassan will serve as his deputy. Abdullah is a son of King Hussein with his second wife, the English Tony Averil Gardiner (known as Princess Mouna), and was born on January 30, 1962. He is the leader of the special picked troops, as being a lieutenant general he is very popular in the army. Since 1993 he is married to Palestinian Rania Yassine and has two children: Hussein (1994) and Iman.
About one week ago the engagement of Princess Irina of Hesse (born Munich, Germany, April 1, 1971) and count Alexander of Sch�nburg- Glauchau (born Mogadiscio, Somalia, August 15, 1969) was announced. Marriage will take place in May. Count Alexander is a brother of Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, and since September 1998 head of the House of Sch�nburg-Glauchau.
January 26th
Unexpected: King Hussein returned to the USA for further medical tests. It is said he is feeling very tired.
January 27th
Jordan's new Crown Prince Abdullah is sworn in as acting sovereign of Jordan. There are fears his father's cancer has returned. He suffers from an elevated white cell count. In hospital they have stabilized the platelet count and the temperature of the King. He is to undergo tests in preparation for a bone marrow transplant.
Princess Irene of the Netherlands gave an interview on Dutch breakfast TV. She told about her close relationship with nature (trees) and animals, which she developed step by step. It is known that she 'talks' with the nature and animals. She wrote two books on this subject.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has ordered the police to expel the sausage-sellers in front of Buckingham Palace. The royals are getting crazy from the terrible smell, it is said especially Prince Andrew, whose apartments are on the front of the palace.
January 28th
The Prince of Wales and his girlfriend Camilla Parker-Bowles appeared in public together for the very first time. About 200 photographers were waiting outside the Ritz Hotel in London to shoot the photo of the year. Charles and Camilla were at the hotel to celebrate the 50th birthday of Camilla's younger sister. When they came out Charles briefly put his arm around Camilla before they stepped into the car and were driven away. The whole scene was over in about 20 seconds.
The wedding of Prince Eudes of France, Duke of Angoul�me, and Marie-Liesse de Rohan-Chabot will take place in Brittany, France, on her family's estate, on July 3rd.
January 29th
Paris prosecutors have announced the end of the official investigations into the death of Princess Diana.
David, viscount Linley and his wife Serena have announced they are expecting their first child in June. The couple married in 1993. Viscount Linley is the son of Princess Margaret of Great Britain.
January 30th
King Hussein of Jordan's situation is stable. The new chemotherapy dose has come to an end and on Tuesday and Wednesday he will have two bone marrow transplants. As in December the donor will be his sister Basma.
January 31st
Last week the Saudi-dynasty celebrated the fact that they owe the throne of Saudi Arabia already since one century.
Prince Ernst August of Hanover wants back hundreds of pieces of art and antique from the German federal republic of Saxe-Anhalt. After the family of Hanover had to leave their estates in eastern Germany at the end of WW II, the government of East Germany confiscated the belongings of the family. Now Saxe-Anhalt doesn't want to give its museum treasures back.
February 2nd
Today King Hussein of Jordan underwent a bone marrow transplant. The doctors will closely monitor him for the next two weeks. The King was holding up very well his spokesman said.
February 3rd
Sixty-four love letters written between December 1990 and March 1991 by Princess Diana to her lover James Hewitt have been returned to him. They were allegedly taken from the safe in his home in Devon last March by his former fianc�e Anna Ferretti who tried to sell the letters to a newspaper.
February 4th
The court of justice of Potsdam, Germany, have dismissed 18 claims of the House of Hohenzollern on getting back former Prussian fortune, amongst it 244 real estates in the Potsdam area. The total amount should have been about 50 million dollar. According to the court of justice the expropriation after WW I was legal.
Princess Alexia of Greece and Carlos Morales Quintana are getting married in London�s Greek Church on July 9th. Count Alexander of Sch�nburg-Glauchau and Princess Irina of Hessen are getting married on May 29th, where I couldn't find out.
February 5th
This evening, in Johannesburg, South-Africa, the police have arrested the Albanian pretender to the throne Leka I. They found lots of weapons and ammunition at the houses of him and two others. Leka earns his money by trading in weapons.
King Hussein of Jordan was brought back to his own country. He wants to die there. Most of his internal organs don't work anymore and he is kept alive by a life-support machine.
February 6th
Jordanian officials have begun to prepare for a funeral. King Hussein was declared unable to reign and was pronounced clinically death. His son Abdallah was sworn in as a regent.
February 7th
Jordan and the whole world are mourning. King Hussein of Jordan died in the morning in Amman, surrounded by members of his family. His eldest son Abdallah was sworn in in the parliament as the new King just a few hours later. He appointed his younger half-brother Hamzah (18) as the new Crown Prince following the wish of his father.
Life and death are closely related. In Great Britain Lady Sarah, daughter of Princess Margaret, gave birth to a healthy boy, whose name is not known yet. The baby was born on February 5th.
February 8th
King Hussein's funeral brought about 800.000 Jordanese people to Amman, who lined the route of the funeral procession. Jordanian and world dignities from about 70 countries said goodbye to the King in the throne-room at the Raghadan Palace in Amman. After a short ceremony at a mosque the King was laid to rest at the Royal Cemetery. Only the male members of the Jordanian royal family attended the funeral as according to Islamic traditions females are not allowed to attend. Queen Noor and the other female members of the family stayed in the palace. Among the mourners from all over the world were leaders from Israel, Syria, Egypt and the USA. Royal guests included King Juan Carlos of Spain with his wife Sofia and crown prince Felipe, King Harald V of Norway, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, ex-king Constantinos of Greece with his son Pavlos, the Prince of Wales, Sultan Qaboos of Oman and the crown princes of Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia and Morocco.
February 9th
Many Jordanian people come to the royal palace to condole the royal family with the death of the King. Queen Noor and other female members of the family went to the grave and held private prayers.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has decided to postpone his activities for the International Olympic Committee at least until the meetings in March about the corruption within the IOC. Then the position of the Prince will be watched again.
Mohammed al-Fayed is still there. He is now offering an award of about $ 1.700.000 for information on the crash in which Princess Diana and his son Dodi died in August 1997. He made the offer in a quarter-page advertisement in France Soir newspaper. He wants anything that could identify a white Fiat Uno or two motorbikes, which may have been involved.
February 10th
Former crown prince Hassan of Jordan has promised his loyalty and full support to the new Jordanian King Abdallah. Prince Hassan will also help the new Crown Prince Hamzah by his preparations for his new duties.
February 11th
The Wiener Opernball (Opera ball of Vienna) seems to have been fun. There were about 7000 guests. Traditionally the ball was opened by 200 young couples (debutants).
The talk show of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, on Sky-TV has been cancelled after one delivery, because almost nobody was watching it. Sky-TV will keep on working with her.
Liechtenstein keeps on celebrating. Yesterday Princess Tatjana von und zu Liechtenstein became engaged to Philipp von Lattorff (30), son of Claus-J�rgen von Lattorff and Julia Countess Batthy�ny. They will marry in the St.Florian Church in Vaduz on June 5. Tatjana's brother Constantin will marry Marie Countess Kaln�ky in the middle of July in Slovakia.
A German magazine tells that Princess Sophie von und zu Liechtenstein, wife of the hereditary Prince Alois, will have her third baby in April.
February 12th
Who wants to buy a real castle? In Brumma, near Stockholm, Sweden, you can buy the 17th century Castle Ulvsunda, with a huge garden. In Pl�n, Germany, they are looking for someone who wants to buy the Princehouse (Prinzenhaus), which is a part of the castle of Pl�n. It once belonged to the royal family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderborg-Pl�n. The house is more than 200 years old.
February 18th
In Cuernavaca, Mexico, Luis Reyna Corval�n y Dillon (born Cord�ba April 18, 1939) died. He was the husband of Maria Beatrice Princess of Savoya (Italy). His gardener found him dead in his home. He was possibly killed by burglars, but that is not sure yet.
In Hechingen, Germany, Emanuel Prince of Hohenzollern died just two weeks before his 70th birthday. He had been ill for a while and he was in a nursing home. He has been buried last Saturday in the Castle of Sigmaringen.
Karl Archduke of Austria and his wife Francesca are going to have a third child in a few months time it is said. They deny it themselves. They already have two children: Eleonore (1994) and Ferdinand Zvonimir (1998).
February 20th
Heavy snowfall in the Alps also affected royal guests like Princess Caroline of Monaco and her husband Ernst August Duke of Hannover. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Crown Prince Willem-Alexander were brought back to save grounds by helicopter from Lech, where they were enjoying their ski holidays. Prince Claus later left when the helicopter of Caroline and Ernst August picked him up.
February 21st
It seems that his chauffeur strangled Luis Reyna with the string of his bath-wrap. There should also have been a bootlace bound around his penis. Sounds like a terrible way to die.
Discussions are going on about the title Prince Edward will get when he marries Sophie Rhys-Jones. I heard that he will be earl of Cambridge, but the Observer said it will be Duke of Windsor. What is the next suggestion?
February 22nd
According to the historian Robert Torrens the French Emperor Napoleon I's grandfather was Scottish. This William Bayn (or Buon) fled with his sons from the Scottish village Crieff in 1745. They were shipwrecked near Corsica, where the family was called "Buon e parte" (Buon and his troup). Nice story, but I thought his grandfathers name wasn't William at all.
February 23rd
The Mexican police wants to question Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy and her daughter Asaea on the death of Luis Reyna. It also seems the body hasn't been claimed yet, which the police thinks is strange.
Chinese archaeologists probably have found the 600-year-old grave of the founder of the Ming dynasty, Emperor Ming Hongwu, behind a 120 m long hall near the old capital of Nanjing. It has not been opened yet. They think to find there the mortal remains of the Emperor, his wife and 46 concubines.
The Japanese Prince Hitashi, the younger brother of emperor Akihito, and his wife, will pay a month visit to Europe in March. They first go to Greece, and also Germany is on the programme.
The former Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who hopes to celebrate her 90th birthday on April 30th, has written an open letter to the Dutch people to ask them to let her celebrate her birthday in private with her family. She wrote that she is not able anymore to answer all the evidence of sympathy and heartiness.
February 24th
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands makes a three-days visit to St.Petersburg, Russia. He joined the Conference "The Future of War" and will pay a visit to Kronstad.
Beginning on September 10th Belgium celebrates the Emperor Charles V's Year. The party starts in Ghent, the place where the Emperor was born on February 24th, 1500. There will be many exhibitions on the Emperor. Celebrations are especially held in Ghent, Mechelen and Brussels.
March 2nd
Andrew The Duke of York arrived in Vietnam for a five-day visit to promote trade and other links with Great Britain. He will visit a Royal Navy frigate stationed there temporarily, and also the Cu Chi underground tunnels, which were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.
March 3rd
On February 25th King Opoku Ware II of Ashanti died in Kumasi, Ashanti, Ghana. He was born on November 30th, 1919. He was the 15th Asantehene.
Baroness Christina Silfverschi�ld, daughter of Princess D�sir�e of Sweden, celebrated her engagement with Hans de Geer af Finsp�ng on Valentine's Day (February 14th). It is most likely that they will get married this summer.
March 8th
Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein has been operated on his Achilles tendon after a fall during his ski-holidays in St.Christof am Arlberg, Austria, on March 1st. He is recovering at home now.
On September 11th Sigismund Archduke of Habsburg-Tuscany is going to marry Elyssa Edmonstone in London.
March 9th
The Prince of Wales started a visit to Argentina. He laid some wreaths and joined a banquet. He made a good speech on the links with Great Britain.
On March 6th Sheikh Isa bin Sulman al-Khalifa Emir of Bahrain (since 1961) has died after a heart attack. He was born on June 3, 1933. His eldest son Crown Prince Hamad (49) was sworn in as the new Emir soon after his father's death.
March 12th
Some genealogical stuff: Ferfried Prince von Hohenzollern (55) has planned his third marriage for next April (and some people seem not to be happy with it). His new wife will be Maja Meinert (27). In Berlin, Germany, at the end of June, Ferdinand Archduke of Habsburg is going to marry Katharina 'Tita' countess von Hardenberg. Some more babies are going to be born soon. Constanza Archduchess von Habsburg, who married Franz Josef Prince von Auersperg-Trautson some years ago, is expecting a child. The same counts for India Hicks, granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, and her friend David Flint Wood. They are expecting their second child in about four months time. Also pregnant is Clotilde d'Orl�ans, granddaughter of the count of Paris.
March 13th
Someone who was walking with his dog near the seafront at Ayr, Scotland, found 70 pages thick confidential medical records of the royal family dumped by the side of the road. The records contained information on the blood groups of some members of the royal family (including the Queen), and told details about the security arrangements for royal visits. The records were not recent and already lost since 1994. Now an inquiry has begun.
The Prince of Wales continued his South-American visit at the Falklands Islands. He is the most senior member of the British royal family to visit the Islands after the Falkland War between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982.
March 15th
Prince Pieter-Christiaan of the Netherlands has got his diploma from the University of Utrecht. Since 1993 he studied law there. The newspapers showed him together with his proud parents.
March 16th
One of the commissioners of the European Commission that resigned yesterday evening is Hans van den Broek (Netherlands). His daughter married Prince Maurits of the Netherlands in May 1998. Happily in the thick damning report on the Commission was not a word about him, so he is not to blame for the fraud and mismanagement of some members of the Commission.
In the German Filmmuseum in Frankfurt am Main an exhibition was opened on the actress Romy Schneider, who committed suicide in 1982. Until June 13th you can see about 500 photos, 50 film posters, letters, parts out of her diary, and original requisites. Of course there is also something on the films she especially became famous for: her role as Sissi (Empress Elisabeth of Austria).
March 18th
The British Queen-Mother Elizabeth should have debts from about $2.000.000. She seems to have a lavish way of living and spends lots of money on food, drinks, clothes and parties. The money she spends on horse races is on someone else's account.
The Duke of York has suffered a minor fracture to his left foot. The injury happened when the Duke fell over as he climbed into a car after a dinner in London on Monday night.
Clotilde d'Orl�ans and her husband Edouard Cr�py got a third son at the beginning of this month. His name is Gaspard.
March 21st
King Abdallah of Jordan has made his wife Rania a Queen. The widow of the late King Hussein, Queen Noor, will keep her title.
March 22nd
Infante Cristina of Spain and her husband I�aki Urdangar�n are going to have their first baby in October according to the Spanish royal court.
March 23rd
A government commission of the Netherlands has given a positive advice on the definitive entry of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander into the IOC. It seems the confirmation can take place in July in Seoul, Korea.
March 24th
Margaretha Kooperberg-De Jong (86) has died on March 12th in the nursing home Nieuw Lindenoord, Wolvega, the Netherlands. From 1932 to 1940 she was the governess of the later Belgian Kings Baudouin and Albert II. At the funeral on March 17th in Oldeberkoop, the Netherlands, a wreath of King Albert II of Belgium was laid on the grave. The royal family of Belgium has always stayed in contact with the old governess.
The Princely House of Liechtenstein has given up its presenting rights on ecclesiastical level. The right to appoint people in ecclesiastical functions in five of the Liechtenstein municipalities will now go to the Archbishop of Vaduz, presently Wolfgang Haas, who has been appointed by Pope John Paul II.
March 25th
Prince Ferfried von Hohenzollern has married Maja Meinert on March 19th at the registration Service in Dresden, Germany. Only some of her family members were there. They will celebrate it with other family and friends later.
March 31st
Yesterday the Danish royal court announced that Prince Joachim and his wife Princess Alexandra will have their first baby in the beginning of September. The baby is planned to be born at the Rigshospital in Copenhagen. Also expecting a baby in September is Joachim's cousin Alexandra countess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, who married Count Jefferson-Friedrich von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth in June 1998. The baby of lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto finally got names. He was born on February 5th and his full names are Arthur Robert Nathaniel.
The ARD (German TV) broadcasts two royal portraits this weekend. On April 4th at 21:45h Prince Philippe of Belgium will be the subject. On April 5th at 21:55h it will be Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje. I have watched some before and they are really good.
Prince Serge of Yugoslavia should stand trial on charges of drug dealing. He is accused of buying cocaine for the purpose of furnishing third parties during soirees in Turin, Italy.
April 2nd
On April 15 Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece, son of Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Maria, will be baptized at St. Sophia's Greek Cathedral in London. Prince William of Wales will be one of the godparents. The other godparents are the baby's uncle Prince Nikolaos, crown prince Frederik of Denmark, Felipe prince of Asturias, crown princess Victoria of Sweden, prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, princess Alexandra zu F�rstenberg (born Miller) and someone called Doris Robbs. After the christening there will be a private dinner at Claridge's.
April 6th
Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje can restart his work for the International Olympic Committee according to the Dutch government. The Prime Minister, Wim Kok, said that the crown prince can pay a contribution to the future of a new IOC.
April 7th
The last genealogical news for everyone who is interested in it. On March 15th, in Madrid, Spain, Fernando de Baviera y Mesia, a Spanish descendant of the Royal House of Bavaria, died aged 61. He was buried the next day in the presence of King Juan Carlos of Spain, his sister Margarita and her husband Carlos Zurita. On March 23 Prince Kardam of Bulgaria and his wife Miriam got their second son, Beltr�n. He was born at the Cl�nica Ruber International in Madrid, Spain.
April 8th
The Duchess of York is to become the USA-spokeswoman for the pottery and china firm Wedgwood. She will only represent the Stoke-on-Trent firm that has a royal warrant from the Queen. She will get paid 500.000 English Pounds a year for the job.
Prince Heinrich von Hannover (37), youngest brother of Ernst August, will marry Thyra Donata Sixtina von Westernhagen (born in Oldenburg on August 14th 1973 as a daughter of Burkhard von Westernhagen and Uta Maria von Pape) on June 19 in Teistungen im Eichsfeld, Germany, where the family-estate of the bride's family is.
The website of The British Monarchy has been updated. New is the monthly online magazine Royal Insight.
April 9th
On July 1st Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales will take part in the opening ceremony of Scotland's first parliament for nearly 300 years.
April 12th
Accidents in the British royal family: On Saturday April 10th surgeons have operated on the left index-finger of Prince William, which he fractured before Christmas during a rugby-match at Eton College. He was operated under general anaesthetic at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. After the surgery William went home. It was made public that princess Margaret, not seen in public since February, scalded her feet while taking a too hot bath about one month ago. The accident happened at her holiday-house 'Les Jolies Eaux' at the Caribean Island of Mustique. She is still recovering and is taken care of by a nurse at Windsor Castle. As she is a little older (she is 68) the burns don't heal very quickly.
April 14th
Born on April 1st Zita, daughter of Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon de Parme and his wife Constance.
On April 11th Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, her husband Prince Claus and Crown Prince Willem-Alexander arrived in HongKong and started their eight-day state-visit to China the next day in Beijing. An earlier state-visit to China in 1989 was cancelled after the bloody student- demonstrations. Now the Dutch royals met the president of China and enjoyed a 10-course dinner at the beginning of the visit. On April 13th they opened an M. Escher-exhibition in the Forbidden City and had a meeting with Dutch people living in China. On April 14th Willem-Alexander visited the Chinese Wall.
April 15th
Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece has been baptized at the St.Sophia Greek Cathedral in Bayswater, London, today, under the eye of all of his godparents. On the right of the photo: Prince William of Great Britain.
April 17th
It has been made official that in March 1991 it was discovered that the Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander suffers from the disease of Besnier Boeck. This illness has something to do with the lungs and the defence system of the human body. It seems the disease has stopped in the first phase. The Prince needs to be controlled from time to time.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark broke the marathon record of the royals. He ran the Paris Marathon in 3 hours and 33 minutes and seems to be very fit.
April 19th
Queen Beatrix ended her state visit to China in rainy Hongkong. She spent the weekend at the country in China, and visited Shanghai on Friday. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander left on Friday and was visited during the weekend by Dutch speed skater Rintje Ritsma.
A man was arrested after jumping over the gates of Buckingham Palace. It was understood that he was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
Sibylla Ambler and her husband baron Cornelius von Dinckelage got a daughter. Madeleine Charlotte Margaretha was born in Munich, Germany, on March 15th.
April 20th
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands ended a two-day visit to Albania. She went there as the vice-chairwoman of the Dutch Red Cross. She spoke with various delegations of the International Red Cross and with the Albanian president Mejdani. She also visited some centres for refugees from Kosovo, and cried when she told on TV how she was moved by what she saw there.
Hereditary Prince Alois and Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein got another son today. His name is Georg Antonius Constantin Maria, and he was born at the Spital Grabs.
April 22nd
Queen Elizabeth II concluded her state visit to South Korea by meeting British and Commonwealth veterans of the Korean War (50's) at a special royal garden party. In the earlier days of the visit the Queen and her husband watched a taekwondo demonstration and had tea in the cafetaria of Ewha University in Seoul. At her birthday on April 21st she was offered a 47-dish feast at the village of Hahoe, but she declined.
April 23rd
Princess Caroline of Monaco is learning the German language. She and her husband Prince Ernst von Hannover bought the house of designer Karl Lagerfeld near Paris. Caroline's son Andrea is visiting a school in the neighbourhood.
April 24th
A poster of the painting 'Clouds and violence' of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, of which 8000 copies were made for selling them, was sold out within 3 hours. The proceeds were for the people in Kosovo.
April 25th
The Prince of Wales joined a celebration of the 300th anniversary of the formal founding of the Sikh brotherhood in the Royal Albert Hall in London.
James Hewitt is said to be auctioning the newspaper rights to his memoirs of his five-year affair with Princess Diana. He is talking to the Mail on Sunday and the News of the World about selling the serialisation rights for more than 500.000 pounds, the Sunday Telegraph said today. It is understood extracts from Diana's letters will not appear in the memoirs.
April 26th
The Sultan of Selangor Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, a former school inspector and army major, has been installed as the 11th King (since 1957) of Malaysia in a glittering ceremony. Of the 13 states of Malaysia, 9 have royal families. They take turns to serve as king for a five-year term. The King is nominally head of state, but his powers are largely ceremonial. The real power lies by Prime Minister Mahathir.
April 27th
Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York has paid about $15.000 for a four-day course in Italian language. Her teacher was Michael Thomas from Los Angeles.
April 30th
In the Netherlands Queen's Day was celebrated. A special day as former Queen Juliana had her 90th birthday. The Queen, her husband, her three sons, her sister and husband with three of the four sons (one with wife), visited Houten and Utrecht this time. They enjoyed themselves very much. Prince Claus, the Queen's husband, stole the show. When the family had to cycle he gave lifts to nice girls, and later on made a dance with his brother-in-law Pieter van Vollenhoven. The crowd loved it.
May 3rd
King Abdallah of Jordan gave his first TV-interview on CNN. It mostly was about politics.
May 4th
Queen Beatrix, Prince Claus and Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands commemorated the death of World War II on the Dam Square in Amsterdam.
May 5th
Liberation Day in the Netherlands. Prince Bernhard went to Wageningen for the commemoration of the German surrendering in 1945. In the evening Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus attended a classical open-air concert in Amsterdam in the rain.
The emir of Kuwait has dissolved the parliament and called for elections. The motive was the vote of no confidence against the minister for Islamite Affairs, who was reproached a mistake in a new issue of the Koran.
Buckingham Palace has refused to comment on claims that Sophie Rhys-Jones, the fianc�e of Prince Edward, is under armed police protection. She allegedly arrived for work yesterday escorted by a police bodyguard. Reason should be that Sophie looks like killed BBC-presentator Jill Dando.
May 7th
Prince Carl Alexander von Hohenzollern seems to have recorded a song for Kosovo.
May 9th
Prince Edward of Great Britain and his fianc�e Sophie Rhys-Jones seem to have a big list of presents they hope to get for their wedding, all very expensive. It is said Edward wants the title Duke of Cambridge as a present from his mother (then she should have the cheapest present of all guests).
Prince Rainier III of Monaco celebrates that he reigns his country since May 9th, 1949 - so that is 50 years now. First there was a mess in the cathedral of Monte Carlo where the Prince was accompanied by all his children and his sister Antoinette. Then there was an official lunch, followed by a big reception on the palace square, where Prince Rainier III told everyone he didn't think of abdicating at all, so Albert have to wait a little longer. In the evening there was a huge party in the harbour with fire works.
May 10th
King Abdallah of Jordan arrived for a two-day visit in Germany. He will amongst others meet president Roman Herzog and chancellor Gerhard Schr�der.
King Albert II of Belgium and his wife Queen Paola started a three-day state visit to Poland. They were welcomed by president Kwasniewski in the capital Warschaw.
After June 1st Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy is going to live together with his girlfriend Natascha Andress (Boston, USA, December 24th, 1968), niece of ex-Bondgirl Ursula Andress. They will share an apartment in Geneva, Switzerland. There relationship started in November 1997.
May 11th
In their magazine the Consumer's Association criticized 21 British tourist attractions. On the list: Buckingham Palace (the rooms felt sterile and didn't tell the visitors any story about the House), Windsor Castle (the state apartment's tour failed to bring the rooms to life) and the London Tower (boring queues). I have never visited those places, so I can't judge.
The House of Lords is to try to agree a compromise deal that should settle the immediate future of hereditary peers. The government had originally wanted to remove all of them from the Upper House in one go. But after fierce opposition, a plan has been put forward to allow 90 of them to stay on temporarily until ministers reveal how they intend to replace them. The amendment will be debated during the committee stage of the Bill.
May 12th
King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium ended their visit to Poland with a visit to Wroclaw's university where they met Polish students who study the Dutch language.
May 13th
Queen Noor of Jordan made her first trip to another country since her husband King Hussein died in February. She visited a peace-conference in the Congress Centre in The Hague, the Netherlands. She arrived on May 12th and first had dinner with Queen Beatrix. At the conference she spoke to some people, including children, and led some meetings. In an interview on Dutch television she told that she and her family want to continue the important work of the late King Hussein. She also told she sometimes has the feeling she and the children haven't had time yet to cope with his death.
German television broadcasted a new number of the series on German noble houses. This time Bavaria was the subject. They followed Duke Franz (modern art and charity work for Romania), his brother Max Emanuel (beer brewery, nice film on his family), Prince Leopold (racing, his friends the royal family of Sweden, his family -including light-autistic daughter Pilar), and Prince Luitpold (beer brewery, knight-feast.
May 14th
In Antwerp, Belgium, Philippe Duke of Brabant, opened the biggest exhibition ever on painter Antonie van Dijck, in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten. The painter was born in Antwerpen 400 years ago.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (almost 89) had an operation in the Academic Hospital of Utrecht to widen his trachea.
May 17th
Some genealogical stuff: Princess Urraca of Bourbon-Sicilies died in Sigmaringen, Germany, on May 3rd, Archduchess Maria Ludowika of Austria- Tuscany died in Vienna on April 17th, and Archduke Friedrich Salvator of Austria-Tuscany died on March 26th.
A friend claims that 24-year old Tom Parker Bowles, son of Camilla (the girlfriend of the Prince of Wales, and his godfather) takes cocaine from time to time. It is said (and later denied) that the Prince of Wales has phoned Tom and gave him a severe scolding. He should have told him: "You've been a bloody fool. Pull yourself together." The Prince of Wales is also said to have had a frank talk to his own sons William and Harry. William and Tom are good friends.
May 19th
In D�rres, Albania, Philippe Duke of Brabant (Belgium) opened the first Belgian Red Cross refugees camp for refugees from Kosovo.
May 20th
The hour-long wedding service of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones on June 19th, will be broadcasted live on BBC, Buckingham Palace has announced. Further about 8000 people are allowed to enter the grounds of Windsor Castle to cheer the bride & groom and their guests.
After a few months work the restoration of the in 1843 heavily damaged tomb of Emperor Charles the Great (747-814) has been successfully finished art the Museum f�r Sp�tantike und Byzantinische Kunst in Berlin, Germany. Originally the Emperor was buried at the Pfalzkapelle in Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany. From 23 July the marble tomb will be shown as one of the showpieces at the exhibition '799 - Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit' in Paderborn.
There are still 40.000 tickets for sale for a visit to the grave (not the island were she really was buried) of Princess Diana at Althorpe House. It will open again in six weeks. The tickets of about $15 are including a visit to the Diana Museum.
Matthias Count of Castell-R�denhausen and his wife Christiane baptized their daughter Victoria in the church of R�denhausen, Germany.
May 22nd
Georg Prince of Liechtenstein, son of hereditary prince Alois and his wife Sophie, was baptized on May 13th. His godfather was his uncle Prince Constantin.
Today the wedding of Ferdinand Archduke of Austria and Countess Katharina of Hardenberg took place in Potsdam, Germany.
May 23rd
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands left the hospital of Utrecht after his successful operation.
May 24th
Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein opened the eight European Olympic Games of Small States, which are held in Liechtenstein from 24 to 29 May. Also present were Prince Albert of Monaco, and the hereditary couple of Luxembourg, Henri and Maria Teresa.
May 26th
King Abdallah of Jordan paid a visit to the Palestinian city of Gaza and had a meeting with Palestine president Yasser Arafat.
Queen Elizabeth II, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales are to attend the formal opening of the Welsh Assembly. After a morning service at Cardiff's Cathedral they will travel by open carriages to the Cardiff Bay site. The formal opening ceremony will be relayed live to crowds outside and at certain venues throughout the capital. The day's events will conclude with a star-studded open-air concert.
May 28th
In the park of Ludwigslust Castle, Mecklenburg, Germany, the tea pavilion (18th century baroque) has been restored, and the L�genbr�cke (bridge) that leads to a small island has been rebuilt. Further restorations are following.
May 29th
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Claus made a visit to Weimar, Germany, the European cultural capital of 1999. They visited the Goethe House, made a tour through the city and met students of the musical gymnasium. Striking was the visit to Belvedere Castle where they saw the vexed exhibition 'Aufstieg und Fall der Moderne' on Nazi-art from the private collection of Adolf Hitler, and of art of the former German Democratic Republic.
Archduchess Astrid of Austria-Este, Princess of Belgium, opened the 9th AIDS Memorial Day in Antwerpen, Belgium.
May 30th
King Fahd of Saudi-Arabia underwent an eye-operation last Thursday and left the hospital in Riyaad one or two days later. The day after his release he was admitted in the hospital again.
June 1st
A painting of the British King George V, painted in 1931 by John AA Berrie, and stolen from the Army in 1995, was safely found back in Orford Park, Warrington, Cheshire, Great Britain, wrapped in a quilt cover. The police approached a man in the park acting suspiciously. He ran off and when the police searched for him they found the painting back.
June 2nd
Dom Duarte de Bragan�a (Portugal) and his wife Do�a Isabel are expecting their third child in December. A German magazine says the baby of Karl and Francesca von Habsburg will arrive in the beginning of July. The full date of the marriage of actress Catherine Oxenberg (who's mother is Princess Elisabeth of Yougoslavia) with actor Casper van Dien is May 8th.
June 4th
The Prince and Princess of Japan (don't know which) plan to visit Thailand next month for the Thai King's 72nd birthday.
King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan celebrated his 25th reigning anniversary. On this occasion he gave his people television and Internet, which was forbidden in Bhutan till now. Can they finally watch my page there too!
An interesting inquiry in the Euro Business Magazine: the richest individual royal is the Dutch Queen Beatrix with a fortune of about $2 milliard, second is Jean Grand Duke of Luxemburg with only about $1,5 milliard and in third place is Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein with about $1 milliard. King Albert II of Belgium owns about $0,8 milliard. Watching the whole royal families: 1 is Liechtenstein (about $5,5 milliard), 2 is Luxemburg (about $5 milliard), 3 is Great Britain (about $4,5 milliard). Others on the list (from rich to poor): Belgium (fifth with about $4,2 milliard), Spain (about $1,7 milliard), Monaco (about $1,1 milliard), Sweden (about $0,8 milliard), Denmark (about $0,15 milliard) and Norway (a little bit poorer than Denmark). Still would like to have just a little bit of that money. Buckingham Palace gave its reaction by telling this inquiry is completely exaggerated and speculative.
June 5th
In the cathedral of Vaduz, Liechtenstein, the wedding of Princess Tatjana von und zu Liechtenstein with Philipp von Lattorff (Graz, Austria, March 25, 1968) took place. Archbishop Wolfgang Haas led the wedding. It was an intime wedding. During the service Tatjana's brother Maximilian spoke, as well as Stephan von Lattorff, a brother of the groom. Witness for Tatjana was her brother Constantin, who is going to get married in a few weeks time.
The Crown Prince of Saudi-Arabia finished a five-nation Arab tour in Cairo with a 2-day talk on the Middle East peace with the Egyptian president.
The second big journey of Czar Peter the Great of Russia to Western Europe (1716-17) is the subject of an exhibition in Bad Pyrmont Castle, in co-operation with the State Historical Museum in Moscow. The exhibition will be held from June 6 to September 12, 1999.
June 6th
On May 29th Alexander Count of Sch�nburg-Glauchau and Irina Princess of Hesse married in the Pfarrkirche St. C�cilia in Heusenstamm, Hesse, Germany. The groom was brought into the church by his sister Gloria, Princess of Thurn und Taxis.
King Albert II of the Belgians celebrated his 65th birthday together with some hundreds of neighbours from Laken. He invited them at the Royal Palace of Laken. They got a tour through the beautiful garden and there was a party in the orangery.
June 8th
The wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones on June 19th will break with tradition by banning hats (lots of royal family members will not like this!). On the other hand an old tradition, almost never used anymore, survived: Sophie will pledge to obey Edward! 600 Guests are invited to the 45-minute service at St.George's Chapel at Windsor (and we have to watch BBC) and some thousands of people can enter the grounds around Windsor to cheer the bride and groom and the guests. The Rt Rev Peter Nott Bishop of Norwich will lead the service, and the Rt Rev David Conner, Dean of Windsor, will lead the prayers.
June 9th
King Abdallah II of Jordan is enthroned formally taking over for his late father King Hussein. Abdallah and his wife Rania waived to the many subjects on the side of the road as they drove in a car through the streets of Amman. June 9th will officially be a national feastday from now on.
In the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten in Brussels, Belgium, they started the sale of the household effects of a Flemish-Brabant castle. Name and place are not told. They sell as the family failed to arrange the heritage. Weapons, furniture, silverware, Chinese and Japanese porcelain and tapestries are sold. Already sold are two paintings of Pieter Breughel the Younger, for some millions of dollars.
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway graduated from Berkeley University lately. Hopefully he returns to Europe.
Another wedding (possibly May 22): Isabella Countess von und zu Arco-Zinneberg (26) married the Belgian count Alexander Stefanovich (30) at St. Martin Castle in Austria.
June 11th
Also Carl Philipp Prince of Sweden finished his school, only it was high school.
Japan's Cabinet voted to recognize the rising sun flag and anthem to Emperor Akihito as state symbols, despite use in its militaristic past.
June 12th
Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain reportedly left for his first visit to Amman, Jordan, since he took over power on March 6th.
Thousands of people lined the Horse Guards Parade near Buckingham Palace for this years Trooping the Colour, the official celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's birthday (who actually has her birthday on April 21). It was an historical ceremony as a number of Grenadier Guardswomen were due to march beside their male comrades. Also the Princess Royal (Anne) broke with the rule of riding sidesaddle at state-occasions. She rode astride her horse. The Queen, with a yellow silk dress, yellow coat and hat and white gloves, came at the ceremony in a carriage followed by Princess Anne and Prince Philip. The Queen Mother, Edward & Sophie followed in another carriage.
On the occasion of her birthday, Queen Elizabeth II gave lots of birthday-honours (knighthoods). Historian Antonia Fraser who wrote some books on the British royal family got an OBE.
There is an inquiry going on on possible tax-fraud at Ritzen Koeriers (courier company), of which Prince Bernhard Jr of the Netherlands is one of the founders and joint directors. It should be about a few 10.000 of dollars.
June 13th
BBC broadcasted the Royal Wedding Interview with Edward and Sophie. They were interviewed by Sue Barker at Bagshot Park. It was especially on their lives before the wedding and the plans they have made for the future. It is obvious they do not want to have children immediately after the wedding. They plan to go on with their jobs and furnish their home further and create a nice garden. They were also asked about Princess Diana. Sophie said she was very flattered to be compared with such a beautiful woman, but is a totally different personality.
June 14th
A Spanish weekly magazine announced that Crown Prince Felipe will get engaged to a certain Gabriela Sebastian de Erice (26), witness for Tatjana of Liechtenstein at her wedding, on June 24th. Of course another rumour about a girl, but still interesting. Gabriela's father is Jose Pedro Sebastian de Erice, the Spanish ambassador in Germany. She works for an American bank in London, England. Both the royal family as her family denied the rumour officially.
June 15th
At the dinner, which will be held after the wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones, the guests have to get their food out of the dishes their selves. Probably only the Queen, Prince Philipp and the Queen Mum will get their food from a servant.
June 16th
Ready for the royal wedding Saturday (19th)? Some more to come: the civil wedding ceremony of Eudes Duke of Angoul�me and Marie-Liesse de Rohan-Chabot will take place on June 19th in Dreux, the religious wedding will take place on July 10th in Antrain-sur-Couesnon. Prince Tassilo of Ratibor and Corvey will marry countess Clarissa of Toerring-Jettenbach on July 4th.
Some more royal babies: Sophie Princess of Romania is expecting her first child. Carl-Alban Count of Sch�nburg-Glauchau and his wife Juliet expect their second child.
June 17th
At a service held in Stary Sacz, Poland, on the 12th day of his visit to the country, Pope John Paul II canonized the 13th century Hungarian Princess Kinga, who was known for charity. About 650.000 people attended the service.
June 18th
Yesterday Willem-Alexander Prince of Orange took the oath as a member of the IOC at the beginning of their general member's meeting. He promised not to get involved in political and commercial influences and carry out the Olympic ideals. The meeting will last 4 days. Today he visited the United Nations Memorial Service in Pusan where 117 Dutchmen are buried who lost their lives during the Korean War (1951-53). Later this week he will meet the Korean president Kim Dae-Jung.
June 19th
Some hours before the wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones the Queen announced the titles the bride and groom will wear from now on. Surprisingly Prince Edward will be His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex (a title used for the last time in the 11th century by King Harold who was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066), and Viscount Severn (an 18th century title). He will inherit the title Duke of Edinburgh after the death of both his parents. Sophie will be styled Her Royal Highness the Countess Wessex. When the couple gets children they will not be dubbed Royal Highnesses was announced, the Queen in consultation with the bride and groom decided this.
Prince Heinrich of Hannover and Thyra von Westernhagen married in the St.Andreaskirche in Teistungen, Germany. The bride came at the church in a beautiful decorated carriage, accompanied by horsemen. She wore a simple, long, cream dress, with long veil, and a little black cross on a necklace. One of the guests was Heinrich's brother Ernst August who didn't bring his wife Caroline with him.
Henri d'Orl�ans Comte de Paris died at his domicile in Dreux, France, during the civil wedding ceremony of his grandson Eudes with Marie-Liesse de Rohan-Chabot. He had been ill since Friday evening and therefore wasn't able to attend the service. It was noticed by the people who watched the wedding that the Countess of Paris was there, but not the Count himself. The civil wedding took place at the domain of the royal chapel Saint-Louis. The new count of Paris is the oldest son Henri, Comte de Clermont.
June 20th
Edward and Sophie left for their secret honeymoon place in the middle of the night after their wedding reception. They smiled and waved as their car pulled away with red-heart-shaped helium balloons tied to it. Guests at the reception told that also members of the royal family had taken turns to serve themselves at the buffet. Meanwhile Madame Tussauds in London is due to put a wax figure of Sophie on show with a copy of the wedding dress.
June 21st
The new-created Earl and Countess of Wessex (formerly known as Edward & Sophie) are just taking a four-day honeymoon at Balmoral, because of their busy working schedules. Yesterday afternoon they flew to Scotland by helicopter. Before they had an informal champagne brunch at Bagshot Park hosted by Sophie's parents, Christopher and Mary Rhys-Jones, and attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince William of Wales received a 'sensible' car (heard it is a Volkswagen) for his 17th birthday today. He already could drive the motorbike. Now he is 17 he is also allowed to drive the car on public roads. But first he needs to pass his driving test.
June 23rd
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands reopened the renovated Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. There's a new oval wing, designed by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. The first exposition is based on the collection of painter Vincent van Gogh's brother Theo.
Queen Elizabeth II is to appear live in an Internet broadcasting when she attends the opening of the Scottish Parliament on July 1st. The project has been organized by the Parliament and software giant Microsoft. Viewers will be able to select their own shots of the ceremony and see background material.
A German magazine tells that Catherine Oxenburg married Caspar van Dien, forgetting to get an annullement of her marriage with Robert Evans whom she married in 1998 (she left him after only 10 days marriage).
June 24th
King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia left his country for medical checks in China. He will be abroad for about two months.
The lavish palace of the Roman Emperor Nero is being reopened to the public after 20 years of restoration (costs about 4.000.000 dollars). The 150-room palace was called the Golden House because of the amount of gold leaf adorning many parts of it. The site in Rome was abandoned in the Middle Ages, and robbers hurrowed into the ruins to remove statues. But traces of many of the original paintings and mosaics can still be seen now.
June 28th
Henri d'Orl�ans, Count of Paris was laid to rest in Dreux. The ceremony was attended by members of the high European nobility (amongst others Felipe of Spain). The religious wedding of his grandson Eudes on July 10th will go on, but will be an intime family wedding.
June 30th
Prince Konstantin of Bulgaria and his wife Maria expect twins; it will be their first children. They married in 1994.
July 1st
Queen Elizabeth opened the first Scottish Parliament since 1707. She said Scotland was stepping across the threshold of a new constitutional age. A variety of guests saw the Queen unveil a gift of a silver mace for the new Parliament.
The Diana Museum at Althorp is open again for July and August. There are still lots of tickets available.
July 2nd
The Viscount and Viscountess Linley have got a son, who was born in London's Portland Hospital yesterday and has not be named yet (which can be done in Britain until six weeks after the birth).
July 3rd
Another 19th June marriage: Prince Vincenz von und zu Liechtenstein, who divorced Helene de Coss�-Brissac, remarried Roberta Valeri Manera in Venice, Italy, in the St. Marie-de-Lys church.
Also married is Count Wolfgang de Limburg Stirum. He married Martine Eykerman at Saint Etienne's Church in Ohain, Belgium.
July 7th
The Emir of Kuwait has appointed Crown Prince Sheik al-Sabah again as Prime Minister, despite the victory of the opposition during the elections of last Saturday.
July 8th
At night the biggest auction ever held in Europe took place. It was the sale of Rothschild art treasures looted by the Nazis in 1938 in Vienna, Austria, as Jewish capital. Christies' London sale of works once owned by barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild raised 56,7 million English pounds, three times its estimated value. Under the sold pieces of art were a 16th century prayer book and a Louis XVI commode.
July 9th
Princess Alexia of Greece married Carlos Morales Quintana in the Saint Sophia Orthodox Church in London. Present were eight Queens, amongst others Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and three Kings. Many royal guests showed up including members of the royal houses of Denmark, Spain and Sweden. Prince Frederik of Denmark had the company of Xenia Princess zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (27) and Danish magazines see a new relationship in it: don't believe it!
Some more marriages: Constantin-Christian Count von Berckheim (42), cousin of Prince Joachim zu F�rstenberg, married Esperanza Sobrina de Santiago (39) in Aigen near Salzburg, Austria. A cousin of Anton-Wolfgang Count Faber-Castell, Nadine von K�lichen (30) married Christoph P�ppinghaus (38) in the Martin Luther Church in Stein near N�rnberg, Germany.
July 11th
The Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward) is to deliver talks to tourists about the rebuilding of Windsor Castle that was burned down partly in 1992. He will take part in a series of four lectures in which he will detail the work that went on after the fire. The lectures have been organised by the earl's Ardent TV production company in association with a travel company. The lectures are being held at the Theatre Royal in Windsor.
July 14th
The celebration of the National Feastday in France amongst others showed the traditional military parade. Among them 500 infantrymen of the Moroccan Royal Guards. French President Jacques Chirac therefore got assistance of King Hassan II of Morocco.
The Prince of Wales joined dozens of stars at the Royal premiere in London of 'Episode I-The Phantom Menace' the latest Star Wars offering.
July 15th
Welsh opera star Bryn Terfel is set to be crowned the first British 'King' since George VI in 1937, it has emerged. The tiny island of Bardsey off the Lleyn Peninsula is set to restore its crowned head of state. Although the Welsh royal lineage died out with Owain Glyndwr 500 years ago, Bardsey had its own King until 1927. Schoolchildren are making Mr. Terfel a crown after members of the island's trust decided to grant him the title.
July 16th
Tassilo Metternich-S�ndor, Prince von Ratibor und Corvey, Prince zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsf�rst, married Countess Clarissa zu Toerring-Jettenbach on July 4th in the St.Peter & Paul church in Winh�ring, Bavaria, Germany.
July 17th
Prince Constantin von und zu Liechtenstein married Countess Marie K�lnoky in a very private ceremony in Csics�, Slovakia. Archbishop Wolfgang Haas led the ceremony in the little village church. About 260 guests attended the wedding, which got almost all people living in the small village on their feet.
The Royal Albert Memorial in London -a statue of Prince Albert (1819-1861) who was the husband of Queen Victoria of Great Britain- has been damaged. Two men have been arrested for break off some fingers and damaging a crown and a sceptre. The statue had just been reopened last October after a four-year restoration.
On �land, Sweden -near Solliden, the summer residence of the Swedish royal family- a 35-year old Danish psychiatric patient has been arrested for stalking. He sent letters to crown princess Victoria, thinking he was engaged to her.
Prince Bernhard Jr. of the Netherlands wants to sell the Internetshop he started with some other people about four years ago.
July 18th
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia started his summer-holidays. With eight airplanes he flew to Marbella in Spain. It is the first time in 5 years the King leaves his country. The airplanes contained a big staff, for whom 200 rooms in the best hotels of Marbella were reservated. The King himself and some of his family members stay in his own palace near Marbella.
July 19th
The legendary Bernstein-room from the czar palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, should be reconstructed. A company from Essen, Germany, offered about $ 3,5 million for that. The valuable wall lining was a gift from King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia to Czar Peter the Great in 1716. In 1945 the wall lining disappeared and despite a big search it has never been found back.
July 20th
In the hospital of V�cklabruck, Upper Austria, the first child of Prince Ernst August of Hanover and Princess Caroline of Monaco was born. The daughter's name is Alexandra. Both mother and daughter are in good health.
On July 8th Maria Teresita, 4th child and first daughter of Alexander Afif Prince of Saxony-Gessaphe (Heir of the royal house of Saxony) and his wife Gisela, was born.
Carl Christian Prince of Hohenzollern, son of Prince Johann Georg and Princess Birgitta of Sweden, and Nicole Neschitsch married on July 9th or 10th in Munich, Germany.
The Castle of Versailles, near Paris in France, will be restored the next 10 years. Special attention will be paid to a good security system. Also the garden will get a facelift.
Victor Emmanuel di Savoia, Heir to the Italian throne, wants to go to the European Court in Strassbourg to protest against violation of human rights. He says it is not fair that the male descendants of his father King Umberto II and his grandfather King Victor Emmanuel III still can't go back to Italy. They went into exile in 1946 when Italy became a republic. The Italian National Assembly voted for ending the exile in December, but the Italian Senate is still debating on the subject.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark announced that Christian VII's Palace, part of Amalienborg, will be opened for the public until August 8th. Since 1996 it had been restored.
An archaeological dig to find the final resting place of the British King Alfred the Great of Wessex (+899) is getting under way at a car park. He is thought to have been buried in front of an altar at Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Great Britain. The abbey is believed to have been near a site now occupied by the River Park Leisure Centre in the city of Winchester. Archaeologists are confident that they can locate the grave, but are not so sure any remains will be found.
July 22nd
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has arrived at the Dutch Antilles for a work visit. He landed at Curacao, and in the weekend he will open the Koninkrijksspelen (Kingdom Games) at St.Maarten. He will fly back to the Netherlands on Monday evening.
Princess Caroline of Monaco and Baby Alexandra left hospital in a four-car convoy together with Ernst August Prince of Hannover. They returned to Auerbach Castle in Gr�nau, Austria, where they were also staying just before the birth of Alexandra. According to a nurse the baby has dark brown hair and looks like her mother. Soon after the birth Ernst August tried to hit some photographers who came to close to the hospital room of his wife Caroline. The day after the birth Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the happy grandfather, arrived to watch the baby.
July 23rd
King Hassan II of Morocco died because of a heart attack at the age of 70.
July 25th
In Rabat, the capital of Morocco, King Hassan II of Morocco was buried in the mausoleum where his father rests since 1961. The King was born in Rabat on July 9th 1929 and reigned since 1961. Hundred thousands of mourning and emotional people were standing along the 3 kilometre long road to the mausoleum to say goodbye to their King. Under the guests who attended the funeral were King Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. The new King will be Hassan's oldest son, who will reign as King Mohammed VI. The new King seems to be liberal and stands open for new things (read modernization). He doesn't speak English and doesn't have the charisma of his father, which may be a problem. He was born in 1963.
July 26th
Carl Christian Prince of Hohenzollern married 35-year old Nicole Neschitsch in Kreuzpullach, Bavaria, Germany. They will get their first child in three months time.
The baby son of the Viscount and Viscountess Linley's name is Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong Jones.
Sebastian Knecht, grandson of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, has married to Donatella Dugaginy.
July 28th
The Spanish newspaper El Pais says that the new Moroccan King Mohammed VI married last Friday to the Berber woman Amina, who is of Saharian origine (from Tafilalt). There has not been made an official announcement. It is Moroccan tradition that a new King marries just before he officially ascends the throne.
July 29th
Last week Prince William of Great Britain passed his driving tests in one time. Now he can drive the new VW-golf he got for his 17th birthday a couple of weeks ago.
Dressed as an old man, in traditional clothes and with a beard, King Abdullah of Jordan walked around in the free trade zone of the industrial town of Zarqa. He said he was a TV reporter. His PR-chef acted as his cameraman. The King asked people about their lives and they told him about their complaints and troubles. After five hours the management of the free trade zone came to ask what he was doing there as no TV-team had asked for permission to film in the zone. Then the King made himself known. The audience cheered loudly.
In the north of Iraq a farmer discovered a more than one meter high stele of the Assyrian King Sanherib. It is only the third stele of the king ever found in the world. The other two were found outside Iraq. The stele contains 26 lines of cuneiform written text, which deal with rules for the construction of streets and houses in the Assyrian capital Ninive. Sanherib was a great conqueror who lead the Assyrian conquests in the 8th century BC and destroyed the biblical town of Samaria.
July 31st
Lord 'Lucky' Lucan disappeared in 1974 on the night the nanny Sandra Rivett was found battered to death. Now, 25 years later, the Lord's son George Bingham has been denied the right to take the missing peer's title, the Lord Chancellor's office has said. George Bingham had applied to take up his father's place in the House of Lords, which has been vacant since his father vanished.
August 4th
Queen Mother Elizabeth of Great Britain celebrated her 99th birthday. She hosted a lunch for her daughters Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, and also grandchildren and great-grandchildren were joining the party at Clarence House, the London residence of the Queen Mother. Two salutes -41 guns then 65 guns- thundered across London. The Queen Mother made her traditional walk about in a sunshine yellow outfit and was greeted by cheers of many people. She received bouquets and gifts. After the Welsh Guards marched past Clarence House and played 'Happy birthday to you' the Queen Mother rode in a golf buggy to meet more crowds before going inside her house again.
August 5th
The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles go on holiday together with the Prince's two sons William and Harry. They are going to sail on the Mediterranean Sea.
August 6th
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark seems to have a new girlfriend. According to the German newspaper her name is Kirstin �dum (24) and she studies in London. Frederik visits her as much as he can. The Danish Billed Bladet say they went on vacation to France together and her name should be Bettina Odum (23). What's in a name!
August 8th
The Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, has been blotched with text. The offenders are still unknown. The text was a protest against the clearing of the occupied Gutmann Villa in Potsdam, which will be sold soon. The text was removed from the Palace as soon as possible.
Schl�ssernacht (night of the palaces) in Potsdam on August 21st. Palaces and parks will be open between 5:00pm and 2:00am. There will be lots of music and food. The past centuries will be evoked.
August 13t
According to a newspaper there is something going on between Willem-Alexander Prince of Orange and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. Her parents should have asked him to prolong his visit to Stockholm to go to a party with Victoria, and he should have agreed.
Princess Caroline of Monaco and Prince Ernst August of Hannover gave a party at their house near the Austrian village of Gr�nau in honour of the solar eclipse last Wednesday. Two guards received the instruction to remove the photographers Horst and Alfred Sternberger, who were beaten by the guards while Prince Ernst August was watching.
August 14th
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden sealed the completion of a bridge with a hug and a kiss. The 7,8 km long bridge over the �resund between the Danish capital Copenhagen and the Swedish town Malm� finally connects the two countries over land. Now also Scandinavia is connected with the European continent. The Danish Queen Margrethe II and the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf will open the bridge for cars and trains on July 1st, 2000.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands opened the exhibition 'Onder den Oranjeboom' (Under the Orange tree) at the Oranienburg palace in Oranienburg, Germany, which reopened its gates with this excellent exhibition after a few years of restoration. The Queen and her husband Prince Claus were welcomed by more than 2000 people, including some Dutch (and myself). Under the invited guests who were able to attend the opening in the palace was Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia. The exhibition will stay in Oranienburg until November 14th. From December 16, 1999, until March 20, 2000, the exhibition can be seen in Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.
August 15th
A Greek-Cypriot man has threatened the Prince of Wales with a harpoon during the Prince's vacation in the Mediterranean Sea area. The Prince was unhurt.
Although it rained some 500 people attended the reception in the garden of Vaduz Castle, Liechtenstein, on the National Feastday. The hosts of the reception were Prince Hans Adam II, his wife Princess Marie, Hereditary Prince Alois and his wife Sophie, and Prince Maximilian. Hans Adam II in his speech said that this was the last National Feastday of this millennium. He also declared again that he soon after the start of the new millennium will appoint Prince Alois as his regent.
August 16th
The Oranje-Nassau Museum in Baarn, the Netherlands, is going to move to Het Loo Palace in the future.
On a charity ball the Princess Royal, Anne, wore a dress she already wore in 1973 at a party in Berlin, Germany.
Prince Stephan Leopold zur Lippe and his wife Maria will get their third child in October. They already have two sons: Bernhard Leopold (1995) and Heinrich Otto (1997).
August 22nd
Prince Faisal bin Fahd (54), the oldest son of King Fahd of Saudi-Arabia, has died of a heart attack. He died in the afternoon of August 21st in Riyadh's King Faisal Hospital hours after he was admitted with heart problems. Prince Faisal was not in line for the throne. King Fahd's younger brother Abdallah is heir to the throne. Prince Faisal was Minister of Sport. Arab dignities, including the Jordanian crown prince Hamza, arrived in Riyadh for the funeral on August 22nd. King Fahd didn't return from his holiday-house in Spain for the funeral of his son.
August 24th
The leaked final report into the car crash in which Diana Princess of Wales died on August 31st 1997, is due to come out later this month. It reportedly clears the photographers who were following the car of manslaughter. However it criticises Dodi Al-Fayed for his handling of the security arrangement.
August 25th
Two people died. Anne Princess of Bavaria n�e de Lustrac, widow of Prince Heinrich of Bavaria (1922-1958), died in an accident in Milan on August 16th. She was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on September 28th, 1927. Her late husband Prince Heinrich was a half-brother of Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, who's son Franz is now the Duke of Bavaria. Prince Anthony Radziwill, first cousin of John Fitzgerald Kennedy jr, died on August 10th. He was buried on August 13th in Easthampton.
August 27th
King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi of Buganda (45 or 43) married Sylvia Nagginda Luswata (38) in the Anglican Cathedral of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. It was the first royal wedding in 50 years in the country. The 600-year old Kingdom of Buganda came to an end in the 60's, but was restored a short time ago by the president of Uganda, although now the Kingdom only has a ceremonial function. The groom lived in England for years, didn't finish his study at the University of Cambridge and had several jobs, before returning to Uganda. The British-born bride lived the last 20 years in the USA where she was educated to be a public relations expert. She was an employee of the World Bank. The bride and groom invited some thousands of guests to join their wedding party. Some ten thousands of people were invited for a reception in a sports stadium. The people in Uganda were thrilled to have this wedding in their country. Now they wait for the first child. The King already has a child with a former girlfriend, which relationship never has been official, although everybody knew about it.
August 28th
Prince Joachim and Princess Alexandra of Denmark became the proud parents of a healthy boy. He was born in the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen at 11:52am. The baby weighs 2655 grammes and his length is 48 cm. Prince Joachim himself cut through the umbilical cord Billed-Bladet said.
In the Netherlands there are many speculations about a new girlfriend of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. He should want to marry a Miss Herzog, who's parents live in Argentina, but are German. A former potential wedding candidate, jonkvrouwe Vanessa Loudon married today with Janus Smalbraak, a friend of Willem-Alexander. They married in Leende, and had invited about 1600 guests for a party on De Valkenhorst, which was transformed into a Magic Eastern Dessert Kingdom (party in the oasis).
August 30th
Thousands of people placed flowers at the gates of London's Kensington Palace and Althorp House to commemorate the eve and night of the second anniversary of Princess Diana's death. There were fewer bouquets than last year. No official ceremonies are planned to mark this day. The royal family will be at Balmoral castle, and will attend a church service on Sunday. Meanwhile singer Elton John said during a concert in Leeds, Great Britain, that it should be about time that there will come a monument for Princess Diana. He got the applause of about 10.000 people who visited his concert after he said it.
The Dutch play 'Wilhelmina. Je Maintiendrai' about the life of the late Queen Wilhelmina, broke all after-war records, by attracting 125.000 visitors during the first theatre-season. It is now beginning its second season.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his girlfriend, yet named by a newspaper as Maxima Herzog from Argentina, joined the wedding of Vanessa Loudon and Janus Smalbraak together last Saturday according to the same newspaper. How does this sound: Crown Princess Maxima or Queen Maxima; never heard such a combination before!
August 31st
Saxony and the royal house of Saxony (Wettin) have come to an agreement about compensation after two years of negotiations. For 23,6 million DM Saxony buys more than 1000 pieces of art, among them the throne of King August the Strong, many paintings, furniture and Meissner porcelain. The Wettin family has the right on about 15000 pieces of art from Dresden�s collections. The pieces of art, which are not bought by Saxony, will be given back to the royal house of Saxony.
The newest on the new girlfriend of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The Volkskrant finally seem to have turned up with the right name. Her name is Maxima Zorroguita, 27 or 28 years old, from Buenos Aires in Argentina. Despite other rumours she is 100% Argentinian. She has studied economics in New York and seems to work now for a bank in New York. Her father has been Minister of Agriculture around 1980 during the military regime. She thus is from a good family. She has (dark) blond hair. According to Argentinian sources, the NOS-news said, the relationship is serious. The Dutch Government Information Service denies all rumours. The newspaper tells that Maxima introduced the Prince to her family during a skiing-holiday in Bariloche, Argentina, some time ago, as her fianc�. They told the family after three days who the young Dutchman really was.
September 1st
The Government Information Service has said that Prime Minister Wim Kok has had a conversation with Crown Prince Willem-Alexander about his friendship with Maxima Zorreguieta. Supplementary information will not be given. In fact this means that the relationship has become official, a stage no other girlfriend has ever reached. New facts on Maxima. She should be 28, works for the German-British bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in New York. She has two younger brothers and a sister. Her father's reputation in the military government has been spoken off a lot in the Netherlands and Argentina. Although he was a commoner in the government some people think he is still partly responsible for the awful treatment of people during the military regime.
The royal family of the Netherlands can be found on the Internet. The website started today.
The right spelling of the name of the new girlfriend of Prince Willem-Alexander is Maxima Zorreguieta. She is 27 years old, born and raised in Buenos Aires. She studied in New York and found work afterwards at the Deutsche Bank (German Bank) in New York. She works in financial public relations. Her father, Jorge Horacio Zorreguieta, was vice-secretary of cattle breeding, and Secretary of State of Agriculture from 1979 to 1981. Although it was during the military regime he was a commoner in the government and not a service man. He is now President of the Centro Azucero Argentino (Union of Sugar Producents in Buenos Aires) and director of the Banco Commercial del Norte. He is (according to the Internet) also in the direction of the Forum Consultivo Economico e Social and the Fundacion Vasco Argentina Juan de Garay. Maxima's mother's name is Maria del Carmen. They have 5 children. The parents met Willem-Alexander during a skiing-holiday in San Carlos de Bariloche in the beginning of August. The Dutch press fall upon this relationship, which seems very interesting for them. That is why I have news every day at the moment.
September 2nd
Princess Alexandra of Denmark and her baby son (still without a name) have left the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. The press got the possibility to shoot some pictures.
The Earl of Wessex has attacked the way he is treated by the British media. "They hate anyone who succeeds." He found Hollywood a 'breath of fresh air', he told the New York Times. 'There was a much greater openness and willingness to take us for what we are here. Over there there's more baggage.' Prince Edward is in Los Angeles on business for his TV-production company Ardent Productions.
September 3rd
M�xima Zorreguieta is a catholic. Yesterday the Argentinian television broadcasted the first video-shot of M�xima. De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper published the first good photos of her (shoot from the video-tape). A good recent photo of M�xima can be sold to a Dutch gossip-magazine for about $20.000. The Dutch television broadcasted the video-shots in the evening, after a 'war' between two channels about the right to broadcast first: as the commercial channel said they had bought the rights for the Netherlands, the public channel decided not to go too far to avoid a process in court and broadcasted the shots about one hour after the commercial channel. Prime Minister Kok told the press that he hopes, now the Dutch know what M�xima looks like, the press will stop the publicity to give the couple the chance to find out what they want. The prime minister said that he had already said that there was nothing to expect soon.
French judges have dismissed the charges against nine photographers and a motorcyclist in the 1997 car crash, which killed Princess Diana. Investigating magistrates found that chauffeur Henri Paul was mainly to blame because he was drunk. Mohammed el-Fayed, father of Diana's friend Dodi, is to appeal against the decision. Diana's brother Earl Spencer said he respects the court's decision. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
The Prince of Wales and his sons William and Harry witnessed a military display at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, at the official launch of the Army's Newest Brigade - billed as the most powerful airborne fighting unit the nation has ever produced. It had been formed as a result of the Strategic Defence Review.
September 4th
In the Sint-Pieterabdij in Ghent, Belgium, there will be an exhibition of paintings from the time of Emperor Charles V, from November 6th until January 30th, 2000. It is called 'Carolus. Karel V 1500-1558'. In the same city, in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in the Citadelpark, will be an exhibition called 'Mise-en-Sc�ne. Keizer Karel en de verbeelding van de 19de eeuw' (Emperor Charles and the imagination of the 19th century).
September 5th
Princess Michael of Kent says she is disappointed, but is confident her son Lord Frederick Windsor assured her he will never take cocaine again. He was seen snorting the drug at a party in West London last June. Confronted by reporters, he confessed that he had experimented with cocaine.
In Cairo, Egypt, an American bodyguard of Prince Turki bin Abd el Aziz of Saudi Arabia has been given one year in prison for punching an Egyptian chef.
September 7th
Prince Philippe of Belgium was in London, Great Britain, to open the exhibition on the painter Anthonie van Dyck, which could be seen in Antwerpen, Belgium, before. It can be seen now at the Royal Academy. More than 100 paintings are shown. Van Dyck amongst others was painter at the court of the British King Charles I.
September 8th
In an interview (?) in the Rotterdams Dagblad (a newspaper) Jorge Zorreguieta, the father of Maxima, can imagine that in the Netherlands a discussion has begun about his role during the military regime in Argentina. He worked on the Ministry of Agriculture from 1976 to 1981. He says he doesn't feel responsible for the things that happened during the General Videla regime. He said he just dealt with agriculture. Zorreguieta told that he is very proud of the friendship between his daughter and the Dutch crown prince Willem-Alexander, who he calls a very nice boy.
September 10th
At about 3:30pm the Belgian King Albert II and Queen Paola announced the engagement of their oldest son, Philippe Duke of Brabant (39), with jonkvrouwe Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz (born Uccle, Belgium, January 20th, 1973). The marriage will take place on Saturday December 4th in the St.Goedele and St.Michielscathedral Brussels. On Monday September 13th the fianc�e of the crown prince will officially be represented to the press and the public. The Belgian government has already given her approval to the wedding. On Thursday the first rumours about a coming engagement showed up in the Belgian newspapers, which continued with the story on Friday. Soon afterwards the engagement was announced, but it is obvious it was supposed to become public some weeks later. Philippe and Mathilde seem to have known each other already for about three years. The dark-haired Mathilde comes from an old Flemish noble family. Her parents are jonkheer Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz and countess Anna Maria Komorowska. They live in the very small village of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, near Bastogne, near the Luxemburg border. Mathilde is the oldest of five children. She was followed by Marie-Alix (1974 - car crash in Brussels 1997), Elisabeth (22), H�l�ne (almost 20) and Charles-Henri (14). Mathilde went to primary school in Bastogne, followed the secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fid�le in Brussels, and studied speech therapy. She has her own practice in speech therapy in Brussels. Also her sister Elisabeth, with who she lives together, is a speech therapist. Mathilde has travelled a lot, should be socially moved, loves modern and classical music, and loves nature. She is said to speak French, Dutch, English and Italian. According to people who know her she is charming, serious, full of energy and very obliging.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will finish his work as first secretary at the Danish Embassy in Paris this month. There will be a press-meeting on September 28th at 4:00pm in Det Danske Hus at the Champs-Elys�es 142, in Paris.
September 11th
Christina Silfverschi�ld, daughter of Princess D�sir�e of Sweden married today to Baron Hans de Geer af Finspang in the Lagmansered Church in Koberg, Sweden. The bride's aunts, and uncle King Carl XVI Gustaf with family attended the wedding.
Princess Mafalda of Hesse is five months pregnant. The father is her new Italian lover Ferdinando Brancchati. She has already two daughters with her second husband, whom she divorced in 1997. Also Mafalda's sister Elena seems to be pregnant. The magazine didn�t tell who the father is. Elena is still unmarried.
September 12th
Visibly weak King Norodom Sihanouk (76) told his country Cambodia via TV that his health is failing and he may not have long to live.
September 13th
In the afternoon Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz, the fianc�e of Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium, was introduced to the Belgian and the international press at Laken Castle. After some photos were taken with parents, brothers and sisters, the press got the chance to ask the couple several questions, which they answered in Dutch, French and even Italian. Both Philippe and Mathilde seemed to feel a little bit strange. They told the press they were delighted that the people in Belgium agreed with their relationship. Prince Philippe said that noone had introduces them to each other and that they were not coupled by someone. Philippe told he immediately knew that she was the one he had been looking for when he met her three years ago. Mathilde said that she had thought very carefully about her choice, but although she has given up her work now, she is very happy with Philippe and is looking forward to the future. After the interview the couple made a walk in the garden of Laken Castle followed by the exciting press. Afterwards even the press was introduced for a drink (but without bringing cameras). King Albert II said that he was very happy his son has found his big love, and that now only prince Laurent has to find someone. Nothing however was said about an eventually abdication of the King, of which has been heard some rumours. At the end of the afternoon Philippe and Mathilde left Laken Castle in Philippe's Porsche. They stopped a while in front of the gate to give the people who were standing there the chance to see their new princess. They cheered loudly and the couple waved enthusiastically. Mathilde seemed very spontaneous and natural.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (88) will undergo an operation at the Academic Hospital in Utrecht again at the end of the week. Doctors will replace the tube in his trachea for an other model.
The Prince of Wales paid a moral-boosting visit to the British troops in Kosovo today. He witnessed first-hand the work of the British peacekeepers and their reconstruction efforts. He met a wide range of personnel. He also was going to meet Kosovans in the capital Pristina, but that appointment was cancelled due to security.
September 14th
Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and her husband Count Jefferson-Friedrich von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth have become the proud parents of a healthy boy. He was born at 10:40am in the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. He weighs 3125 grammes and his length is 51 cm.
September 15th
A 178-diamond and pearl necklace worn by Princess Diana at her last official engagement is set to be auctioned on December 16th in New York.
The activities on the inside of the St. Michiels and St. Goedele Cathedral in Brussels, Belgium, where Prince Philippe and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz will marry on December 4th, - which should normally not end until the spring - will be finished already before the wedding.
September 16th
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has been operated on his trachea. He will be in hospital for some days. He is doing very well the doctors said.
September 17th
The Belgian royal family is not amused at all and says it is an encroachment on their privacy. The AIDS-Telephone broadcasts commercials on wireless-stations with the help of famous Belgians. With these commercials they will show that the use of condoms is still alive. However an advertisement in the newspaper De Morgen, telling 'Zet 'm op Filip' (Go for it, Philippe), went too far. It settles the unspoken question how the sexual life of Crown Prince Philippe and his fianc�e Mathilde is.
Princess Caroline of Monaco gets $ 50.000 compensation from the magazine 'Gala', which has violated her private life by publishing photos of her on her yacht and in church.
With the discovery of an armour, countless statues of warriors and helmets in the grave of the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shihuang, who died in 210 BC, China has made an important archaeological discovery. The 2200-year-old objects are of an exceptional quality. The porcelain statues have green-painted faces, and vivid-coloured bodies in seven colours.
The foreign office has dismissed claims by Mohamed al-Fayed that security services caused the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed. They say there is not a shred of truth in his story.
Mohamed al-Fayed has demanded an inquiry into what the security and intelligence services know about the death of Princess Diana. He believes that she and his son Dodi were murdered by the secret services of France and Great Britain. He also believes that chauffeur Henri Paul was not drunk but was acting under orders from the secret services. Mr al-Fayed made his allegiations in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today.
September 19th
Princess Alexandra of Hannover was baptized at her father's hunting lodge Auerbach near Gr�nau, Austria.
September 20th
Yesterday the Prince of Wales attended a service in Westminster Abbey, London, to honour the British airmen who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1944.
Yesterday Bua Kitiyakara, the mother of Queen Sirikit of Thailand died, aged 89.
The Prince of Orange is busy showing his country to his girlfriend M�xima Zorreguieta. They spent the weekend on the Island of Schiermonnikoog in the north of the Netherlands together with some others. Real Dutch - they went on a cycling tour on the island, which didn't seem to be very common for M�xima.
September 21st
Prinsjesdag in the Netherlands: a live report.
Rectification: M�xima was not with the group Prince Willem-Alexander spent some days with on the Island of Schiermonnikoog. It was told in a newspaper but they weren't correct according to the royal house and the owner of the hotel where the prince stayed.
The countess of Wessex is writing to all her public relations clients to reassure them it is business as usual. It follows press speculations that Queen Elizabeth II was to tell Sophie to choose between royal duties and her career. Sophie writes that she is totally committed to Rhys-Jones Public Relations. And she stresses that she has the full support of Buckingham Palace.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has left hospital in the morning. They say he is doing fine.
September 22nd
The Duchess of Kent is said to be considering a boycott of the Royal Box at Wimbledon next year after tennis chiefs banned her from taking children there. She usually presents the winners' trophies at the annual event. John Curry, Wimbledon's chairman, says it is Wimbledon's policy not to allow children to be in the Royal Box. He apologised for any unintentional hurt this may have caused the Duchess.
A chair used by Bonnie Prince Charlie on his way to the Battle of Culloden has fetched about $ 5000 at auction. The oak chair was borrowed from the Earl of Moray's castle in Forres near Inverness, Scotland, as the Prince drank in a tavern in 1746. The son of the current Earl of Moray has bought the chair at a Sotheby's auction in Billingshurst, West Sussex. He said: "We will be a bit more careful before we lend anything again."
The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said a permanent memorial to the late Princess Diana is to be built in the shape of a fountain in a royal London park.
September 23rd
Malaysia installed its 11th King Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah at the Istana Negara Palace in Kuala Lumpur.
King Albert II of Belgium suffers from acute sciatica. He has to postpone his activities for some days at least.
The next few months Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium and his Mathilde will visit all 10 Belgian provinces. They start on October 21st in Luxemburg and go to West-Flanders on October 25th. Finally on March 23rd, 2000, the province of Limburg will be able to welcome the new Belgian Crown Princess.
The son of Prince Joachim and Princess Alexandra of Denmark will be baptised in the Fredensborg Slotskirke (Castle Church of Fredensborg) on November 6th at 11:00am.
September 25th
Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium and his fianc�e jonkvrouwe Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz (with engagement ring) together started the website of the Fund Prince Philippe yesterday. The press came in force to get a glimpse of Mathilde.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Claus will pay a three-day visit to Bulgaria in two weeks on invitation of the Bulgarian President Stoyanov. They amongst others will visit the parliament in Sofia.
Princess Ann-Mari von Bismarck died on September 22nd in Marbella, Spain. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 26th, 1907, and thus 92 years old. She was the widow of Otto Prince von Bismarck (1897-1975).
September 26th
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is returning home after spending several months in Spain.
September 27th
The wedding of Philippe and Mathilde will be solemnized on December 4th as already was said. The civil marriage will take place in the Town hall of Brussels at 10:00am, and the religious marriage at 11:00am at the St.Michiels- & St.Goedele Cathedral in Brussels. At about 1:30pm a lunch is held in the Royal Palace in Brussels, and at 6:00pm the reception at Laken Castle begins. Already on November 13th the couple hosts a festive evening at Laken Castle with guests out of all groups of people and from all Belgian provinces.
According to The Sunday Telegraph Prince William of Great Britain is going to work at farms in Argentina and Australia for one year after his exams at Eton in June 2000. 26-year-old Edward van Cutsem, son of one of the Prince of Wales�s friends, will accompany him. Afterwards William is probably going to study at Bristol University.
September 28th
Philippe and Mathilde have expressed their wish that people shouldn't give them personal gifts, flowers or telegrams for their wedding. They hope people will donate money instead to the Fund Prince Philippe or one of the funds the new Belgian Princess will establish.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and former German president Richard von Weizs�cker have opened the newly built part of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Before there was a meeting in the Westerkerk nearby.
September 29th
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia left Spain, where he stayed for 2 1/2 months in Marbella, and returned to his own country. Seven airplanes were on the airport of Malaga to return the king and his household of 400 people. Two other airplanes carried 200 tons of luggage and a part of the royal suite.
The baby of Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg has been named Friedrich Richard Oscar Jefferson, official first name is Richard after his maternal grandfather.
At 2:10am Cristina Infante of Spain Duchess of Palma de Mallorca gave birth to her first son at the Teknon Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. The baby is 53 cm tall, and weighs 4030 grammes. His proud father I�aki Urdangar�n told that the baby has blond hair like his mother and that they will name him Juan after his grandfather. He himself cut the umbilical cord. The godparents of the baby will be Infanta Elena and Mikel Urdangar�n.
It is rumoured in Luxembourg that Grand Duke Jean will abdicate at the mid of November.
September 30th
An exhibition with 14 articles of dress of the late Princess Diana will be opened at the Kensington Palace in London tomorrow. American collector Maureen Rorech-Dunkel bought the dresses. The exhibition will be shown until March. From 2001 the dresses will become a part of the collection of royal festive clothing.
16 Inca graves were discovered in the 500-year old Sacsuahan temple that overlooks the town of Cusco, Peru. The graves contain skeletons likely from the royal Inca families. Near the bodies archaeologists found clothing, pottery and jewels.
October 1st
Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual chief of the Islam, and his wife the Begum Inaara (former Gabrielle Thyssen), who married in 1998, will get a baby in March 2000. He has one married daughter and two sons from a previous marriage. She has a seven-year-old daughter with Prince Karl-Emich zu Leiningen, whom she divorced in 1998.
Paris Match and Bunte gave more information on the christening of the little Princess Alexandra von Hannover, which took place on September 19th. She has been baptized as a protestant with the names Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Maryam Virginia. Her godmothers were Alexandra Princess zu Leiningen n�e Princess von Hannover (sister of Ernst August, former sister-in-law of the Begum Inaara mentioned above), her halfsister Charlotte Casiraghi, Ulrike Umschneider, Maryam Sachs (a Moslem woman) and Virginia Gallico. Godfathers were George Condo and Eric Maier.
Former British royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke (34) is going to marry her childhood sweetheart Charles Pettifer later this month, The Mirror says. It is said the Prince of Wales and his two sons are invited.
October 2nd
Yesterday Princess Cristina of Spain left the hospital with her new baby Juan, named after both grandfathers and Cristina's grandfather.
October 3rd
Police are investigating an alleged theft at Buckingham Palace, Scotland Yard has said. The News of the World told "fabulous jewels and heirlooms" were looted, including a necklace belonging to the Princess Royal. A police spokeswoman said: "It is not an accurate story. The items which are stolen are items of intrinsic value, but not highly valuable."
A special operations police officer allegedly linked to Buckingham Palace has been arrested in connection with bribery and conspiracy charges for one week. The officer was arrested at Gatwick airport. The Mail on Sunday claims the case relates to the selling of security details about the Royal Family.
October 5th
According to the Sun Newspaper Prince William of Great Britain has invited several male and female friends to a Millennium Eve Party at Windsor Castle. It is said he promised them a night they'd never forget, with the possibility to 'sleep' in the castle that night.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Prince Henrik and Crown Prince Frederik are at 3:00pm at the opening of a Gobelin-exhibition at the Mus�e du Luxembourg in Paris, France, on October 8th. The exhibition shows the 17 Gobelins (tapestries) made as 50th birthday present for Queen Margrethe II. The Gobelins, made between 1988 and 1999 deal with Denmarks history. The exhibition will be in Paris until November 20th. Between December 17th, 1999 and February 2000 they will be shown in the Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. Around the Queen's 60th birthday (April 16th, 2000) they are in the Riddersal of the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark.
October 6th
The Prince of Wales has visited survivors of the Paddington rail crash of yesterday in St.Mary's Hospital, London. He also met staff that deals with the emergency.
Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, for a three-day state visit. They were welcomed by president Stoyanov and music. After a visit to the parliament, they visited the Saint Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral, where beautiful orthodox music was played. Later at the day there was a meeting with Prime Minister Kostov. In the evening a state banquet took place. Tomorrow they are going to visit the Rila Monastery.
Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, who lately finished his work in Brussels for the European Committee, will start the study Master of Business Administration at the INSEAD Institute in Fontainebleau, France, in January 2000. Also his brother Johan Friso has studied there for a while.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain only finished 89th in a list of the 100 most influential British women, compiled by Good Housekeeping magazine, after a survey. The list is led by Elisabeth Murdoch, managing director of Sky Networks, and in second place Baroness Jay, the Labour Party's leader in the House of Lords.
October 7th
In the presence of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona, after the Bastille in Paris the biggest Opera in Europe, has been reopened. It burned down in January 1994. The King and Queen watched the first performance: Puccini's Turandot.
The telephone exchange of the Royal Palace in Oslo, Norway, had to work up more than 2000 phone calls the past two weeks. The people who called wanted to be connected with King Harald V. Nobody succeeded so far. The calls are the result of a message on mobile phones in western Norway, in which all Norwegians were asked to honour their King with a personal phone call. The phone-number of the palace is mentioned plainly. When the phone-terror goes on, the Royal Court wants to ask for the Police's help.
October 8th
Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands finished their state visit to Bulgaria today by visiting Bourgas. Yesterday evening the Royal Couple offered their hosts a ballet of the Nederlands Danstheater (Dutch Dance Theatre). For the reception afterwards 30 lackeys were flown in from the Netherlands.
October 9th
The Duke of Kent and South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki led wreaths for the victims of the Boer War, to mark the war's centenary. In this war 70.000 people perished, many in British-run camps. It was the first time black people killed on both sides have been honoured. In a speech the Duke of Kent criticised the "dreadful abuses" against black people and Afrikaners in the war. He said: "Never again the disregard of rights of black South Africans".
October 10th
On September 25th Princess Marie-Louise von Baden married Richard Baker in Salem, Germany.
October 11th
This morning also Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain visited the scene of the Paddington rail disaster.
On October 20th Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and King Harald V of Norway, together with the presidents of Finland and Iceland, will inaugurate 'The Nordic Embassies' in Berlin, Germany. The five Nordic countries have built an interesting and beautiful complex in the centre of Berlin for their embassies.
October 12th
King Mohammed VI of Morocco travelled to Casablanca, his first step on an 11-day tour to several Moroccan provinces, to promote development in the country.
October 13th
Today the Dutch TV-channel RTL4 starts broadcasting a series on the House of Oranje-Nassau (Netherlands). In six deliveries several members of the royal family will be presented. In order this will be: Prince Bernhard Sr, Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince Claus, Princess Irene, and the married couple Prince Maurits and Princess Maril�ne. The series will give old and new material and interviews with Oranje-specialists. Might be interesting.
October 15th
The Duchess of York celebrates her 40th birthday. In an interview in The Mirror last week she told she feels happier than ever before. She said that she and Andrew Duke of York are the happiest divorced couple in the world. They still live in one house together with their children. About the Queen she said that she prefers not to meet her, but that she is a great grandmother for her daughters.
The hotel schools of Koksijde, Wemmel and Namen (all in Belgium) have the honour to serve at the wedding reception of Prince Philippe of Belgium and his Mathilde on December 4th at Laken Castle.
October 16th
Former British royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke (34) married Charles Pettifer (34) at her family estate on the outskirts of Crickhowell, Wales. The Princes William and Harry attended the wedding.
This morning at 8:30am was born in the Fatima Hospital in Sevilla, Spain, Cayetana, daughter of Don Francisco Rivera Ordo�ez and Do�a Eugenia Mart�nez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart (of the Dukes of Alba).
Yesterday morning just after 10 o'clock Archduke Karl of Austria and his wife Francesca became the proud parents of a baby girl, born a little too late in the Diakonissenspital in Salzburg, Austria. Her name is Gloria, her length is 52 cm, and she weighs 3,7 kg.
It seems the Duchess of York speaks out all her frustrations to the press on the occasion of her 40th birthday. In an interview with The Times she has accused the Prince of Wales of abandoning her after years of friendship. She said they have not spoken to each other for more than a year. She also claims that she is banned from seeing the princes William and Harry. The Duchess also told the paper that she would like another baby and suggested that the Duke of York and she may one day remarry.
October 17th
The Princess Royal will be present at a service at St.Mary the Virgin Church in Reading, England, in memory of the victims of the Paddington rail crash. She will meet bereaved families and friends.
October 18th
The Sunday Times reports that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is planning to offer her daughter Anne the Princess Royal a new title. The Princess should gain a new Scottish title in an attempt to demonstrate the Royal Family's deep commitment to Scotland. The paper suggests the title would be the Princess Lyon, based on the old Scottish spelling of lion. In Scotland the Lord Lyon King of Arms presides over the college of heralds, and so the title is thought to reflect Scottish tradition. The paper also suggests that the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will become a working palace, with the Princess Royal living in it for at least two months a year, and Prince Charles also spending part of the year there. The reason for all this is simple: research by Buckingham Palace has found out that the Royal Family looses popularity in Scotland.
October 19th
Chinese president Jiang Zemin has been given a full ceremonial welcome at the start of his historic visit to Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh met him at London�s Horse Guards Parade. Afterwards they went by carriage to Buckingham Palace, where the president will stay during his visit. In the evening at the banquet the Queen praised the president for the way Hong Kong was handed over.
Today an unofficial biography about Queen Paola of Belgium was released. The book by Mario Danneels (18 years old) is titled 'Paola. Van 'la dolce vita' tot koningin' (Paola. From 'la dolce vita' to Queen). Most interesting detail is that Danneels tells that some people have told him that King Albert has a daughter out of a relationship he had some 30 years ago. No name of the mother or the daughter is mentioned. The daughter should be an artist and lives in London, Great Britain, where her father visits her from time to time. The palace gives no comment.
Prince Talal and Princess Ghida of Jordan are the proud parents of a baby boy since Friday October 15th. His name is Hussein.
On Thursday Willem-Alexander the Prince of Oranje will attend the funeral of ex-president Nyerere of Tanzania. He replaces his father, Prince Claus, for who the trip will be to exhausting.
An odd story: a French fake-count, Arnaud de Poligny, has bamboozled the upper class for about 20 years. He had a big circle of acquaintances, including Olivier Giscard d'Estaing (brother of the former French president), some African presidents, Nancy Reagan and King Fahd of Saudi-Arabia, who asked for his advise. Even the fake-count's wife, Marie-Laurence, whom he married in 1986, believed she had married a real count. Not earlier than in the beginning of the 90's there grew suspicion at the French treasury and thereafter also at his friends and wife. In 1995, after he had divorced his wife, the fake-count and his two children fled to the Bahamas. In 1997 they had to flee to Vancouver, Canada, where he lived quite a sober life. After a little car accident two months ago the fake-count was caught by accident. The children were reunited with their mother in France. Meanwhile the fake-count has been released from prison, with the promise that he will not leave the Canadian territory. By the way, the real name of the count is Patrick Campion, born in 1950 as the son of a French grocer from Biarritz. To be continued ...?
October 20th
The Belgian royal palace let know they give no comment to gossips. They say the story about an illegitimate daughter of King Albert (a woman named Delphine). Her mother should be a noble woman who is married to a Belgian industrialist) is an ill gossip. The palace says these gossips mean a split with the Belgian tradition to respect the private life of well-known people.
James Hewitt, the ex-lover of the late Diana Princess of Wales says that she told him she believed that the British government knew about their affair. In an interview on BBC radio 4 he said that because of the security surrounding her it would be foolish to imagine that people weren't aware. He also added that he believed that Buckingham Palace had known about the affair - but did nothing to stop it.
Queen Noor of Jordan ended her tour promoting land mine awareness by visiting amputees living near the Angkor Temple, Cambodia.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, and King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden, together with the presidents of Finland and Iceland, have opened their united Embassy in Berlin, Germany, today.
People from the archaeology section of the Belgian University of Ghent have laid bare a permanent frozen Scytho-Siberian grave of a king. In the grave from the 4th century BC there were twelve harnessed horses. In the sepulchral chamber all organic material has been kept because of the permanent frost. The Scythes were nomadic people.
October 21st
Prince Philippe of Belgium and his fianc�e Mathilde have started their 'Blijde Inkomst' (Happy Entrance) in the province of Luxemburg. They landed in Bastogne by helicopter and were welcomed by schoolchildren and about 4000 people, who were gathered in spite of the cold. In Arlon the couple joined a lunch with 10 young people, and later visited a 100-year-old school in Virton. At the end of the day they visited the Abbey of Orval. The people were very enthusiastic everywhere, Mathilde smiled all the time and was clearly the most important person this day. Prince Philippe just walked behind her and looked very proud and caring. They got lots of flowers and presents.
In Romania there is a fight about new history books. In a new schoolbook is said that Prince Vlad Tepes (better known as Count Dracula), who lived in the Middle Ages, is the example of a leeching vampire in films and on television. Some people in Romania want the history book to be burned. Don't know why, as the news I read didn't give more details. In Romania the old communistic way of teaching teaches children the heroic deeds of heads of state of their country.
King Albert of Belgium's probably illegitimate daughter is mentioned as Delphine Boel, born in 1968, officially as the daughter of industrialist Jacques Boel, and Sybille Baronesse de Selys Longchamps, who divorced later.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands has received the Flying Doctors Award 1999 for his efforts for the work of medics in Africa, like the Flying Doctors.
October 23rd
The Prince of Wales didn't show up at an official Chinese state banquet in honour of the Queen last Thursday. Press speculates why not. It is said the Prince boycotted the event to show his contempt for China's human rights record, some others newspapers state he was motivated by his support for the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader in exile. Officially the Prince had a private engagement that kept him from the banquet.
October 24th
A Dutch florist has grown a tulip that is named after the British Queen Mum. The purple-blue-pink tulip should grow next spring in the gardens of Glamis Castle, Scotland, where the bulbs of the tulip were planted.
Sunday Express reports that the Queen is to move her court from Buckingham Palace to Scotland for up to half the year.
October 25th
Prince Philippe of Belgium and his fianc�e Mathilde visited Bruges on their second Happy Entrance in the province of West Flanders. They were welcomed on the market square by some 7500 enthusiastic people. Thereafter they had lunch in Koksijde, and visited Poperinge where Mathilde's uncle is the major. There were about 4000 people.
The lion stairs of the town hall of Brussels, which lead to the hall where Prince Philippe will marry his Mathilde (civil), will be renovated very urgently.
Thousands of Australians living in Great Britain are voting on whether the Queen should stay as their head of state. More than 20.000 are expected to make their choice either by post or in person over the next two weeks.
Sotheby will auction the fountain pen King Edward VIII used to sign away the British throne in December 1936.
The Duchess of York is given an award by a cancer centre in California, USA, for her encouraging positive, healthy lifestyle.
In the Daily Telegraph the Earl of Wessex has spoken out to silence the critics who claim a conflict of interest between his wife's public relations career and her royal status.
October 26th
The Earl of Burford has been ejected from the House of Lords. The earl, who as heir to the Duke of St.Albans, is not entitled to speak in the Lords, leapt on the Lord Chancellor's seat. He attempted to make a speech blaming the European Union for plans to reform the Lords, but was shouted down by peers. Peers vote tonight on the Third Reading of the House of Lords Bill.
Three Egyptian princesses (names not known to me) have begun a lawsuit to get back the Tahira Palace in Cairo, Egypt, which was nationalized by the Egyptian government in 1952, when it was the property of the mother of the princesses. The palace now is the favourite shelter of the Egyptian president Mubarak, but it seems he has to leave the palace quite soon.
October 27th
The House of Lords in Great Britain have agreed to the ending of a 700-year old tradition with the axing of hereditary peers' rights to sit and vote, after hours of emotional debate. Peers approved the passage of the House of Lords Bill by an overwhelming 221 votes to 81. Earlier opposition peers' leader Lord Strathclyde urged Tories to abstain. MPs will now consider the changes made by peers during its passage.
After 25 years Lord Lucan has finally been declared officially dead The Times reports. They say his family has been granted full probate by the High Court, allowing his will to be dealt with. Lucan went missing following the murder of family nanny Sandra Rivett in 1974, who was beaten to death. He allegedly tried to murder his wife apparently mistaking the nanny for Lady Lucan after a family row.
A survey among British children gives the interesting answer that they think that the Queen drinks wine all day long. Better off being Prime Minister Tony Blair, who the children describe as a kind of God.
October 28th
The visit of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands to Groningen on Tuesday November 2nd, when she will open the restored hall of the central railway station and pay a visit to the art Academie Minerva, will be shown live on the Internet from 11:45 to 14:15 Amsterdam time.
Prince Philippe and his fianc�e Mathilde visited the province of Waals-Brabant. After they met the governor and a Belgian minister at the Castle of Belloy, they visited Wavre. In Louvain-la-Neuve the couple had lunch with some students of the local university. Outside one of the regular visitors of this site (Tanguy) waited, and he mailed me yesterday to tell me that he shook the hands of both Prince Philippe and Mathilde. After Louvain-la-Neuve also Nivelles was visited, where the couple was shown a company and a restored church. Again thousands of people were standing along the streets. The last visit before the wedding takes place will be in Vlaams-Brabant next Thursday.
Is someone busy trying to destroy the Belgian monarchy? Latest gossips in the Belgian illegitimate child campaign: Prince Laurent shouldn't be the son of King Albert, but the son of Queen Paola and a Spanish noble man. Why then does Laurent look that much like King Albert?
October 29th
The House of Lords of Great Britain has elected 15 hereditary peers as office holders, allowing them to keep their seats. The 15 will be among the 92 allowed to stay on after the state opening of Parliament next month.
October 31st
Prince Laurent of Belgium is angry because the Belgian government gives his brother Crown Prince Philippe and his sister Princess Astrid extra money, and he doesn't get extra. He is especially angry because he had to read this news in the press.
Lord Lucan's widow may take her son to court to recover personal family papers she fears will be used in a book. It is the latest twist in a family rift, which began in 1982 when her three children left home to live with an aunt. Lady Lucan plans to write a book about her (late?) husband. But son George is trying to steal a march on her.
Yesterday The Prince of Wales took his son Prince William to a foxhunting outing at the Beaufort Hunt in Gloucestershire. Prince Harry followed the hunting on the back of a motorcycle. The newspapers in Great Britain were full of criticism. Foxhunting has become an intensely political issue in Britain.
November 1st
Emperor Akihito of Japan had lunch with German chancellor Gerhard Schr�der. Schr�der pays a visit to Japan.
King Harald V of Norway and his wife Queen Sonja welcomed USA president Bill Clinton when he arrived at the royal palace in Oslo. Clinton is in Norway for a peace conference on the Middle East to commemorate the death of Israeli Yitzhak Rabin a few years ago.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark arrived in New York to close a promotion of modern Danish culture. She will attend the final of the Carl Nielsen Competition for young musicians and is going to visit a number of exhibitions of young Danish artists. She will return home on the 3rd of November.
November 2nd
Queen Beatrix visited Groningen, a town in the north of the Netherlands. She reopened the restored railway station from 1896. After that she walked to the Academie Minerva (an art academy) where she watched an art exhibition. Some hundreds of people of all ages were there to see their Queen.
Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss von Plauen died in Sweden on October 29th, after loosing the battle against cancer. He was married to Annifrid Lyngstad, former member of the Swedish popgroup ABBA.
November 3rd
Last night a 16th century castle in Gross Germersleben near Magdeburg, Germany, was burned down. It took hours to put the fire out. The damage is millions of dollars. It is not known yet how the fire started. The monumental castle recently had been restored, and was supposed to be changed into a hotel.
Princess Margaret of Great Britain's former husband, the Earl of Snowdon, is to be made a life peer so he can stay in the reformed House of Lords, Downing Street has said. The photographer, made a hereditary peer a year after he wed the Queen's sister in 1960, will become a baron.
A handbag containing confidential royal telephone numbers and an undeveloped film on the Prince of Wales and his sons has reportedly been stolen from Tiggy Legge-Bourke. The bag was taken from the open front door of her car in London.
November 4th
Prince Philippe of Belgium and his fianc�e Mathilde paid their last visit of the Blijde Inkomst (Happy Entrance) before their wedding takes place. In the province of Vlaams-Brabant they visited a sugar refinery in Tienen in the morning. Then they visited Leuven. In Sint-Stevens-Woluwe they had lunch in a restaurant where people with a handicap get an education in serving. At the end of the afternoon the couple made a walk through the scenic area Torfbroek in Kampenhout.
A month long party in Thailand started to celebrate the 72nd birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. To start the festivities the King sailed on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok to the Temple of the Sunrise. 52 decorated boats sailed by 2082 rowers in traditional Siamese costumes followed the royal boat. Along the shores of the river were standing ten thousands of people, while millions of Thai people watched the ceremony on television.
November 5th
In the St. Pieters Abbey in Ghent, Belgium, the big exhibition 'Carolus, Charles V, 1500-1558' was opened. It follows the story of the Emperor's life. It also sketches the spirit of the 16th century.
In Cameroon the 60.000 members of the Babete tribe have chosen the 6-year-old Sob Ngoumbo Soumo as their new King. He was chosen out of the 24 children of his father King Soumo I who died in August last year. Until he is 18 his mother and the notables of the tribe will reign for him.
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was chosen again as chairwoman of the Standing Commission of the International Red Cross.
Lord Montague of Oxford (67), who became a life peer in 1997, has died of a heart attack after collapsing during a debate on business in the House of Lords.
The results of the first elections for hereditary peers have been announced today, exactly 394 years after Guy Fawkes (in 1605) tried and failed to blow up the House of Lords. From the 646 hereditary peers only 92 will stay on. Last week already 15 were chosen, amongst others the Countess of Mar, whose title already exists since 1115. The only other persons who are sure of their place right now are the Lord Chamberlain, head of the royal household, and the Earl Marshal, who takes care of the ceremonial events. In the House of Lords further the about 500 life peers will stay on, as well as the 26 Lords spiritual (archbishops and bishops) and he 24 Law Lords (the highest judges in the country).
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain seems to be certain to remain head of state in Australia after tomorrow's historic constitutional referendum, opinion polls have suggested.
In a book named 'Predictions', released yesterday, some very intelligent people give predictions for the next millennium. One of the predictions is that Prince Harry will be the first member of the British royal family in space. This event should take place in 2010.
November 6th
The little Danish prince was baptized this morning at the Fredensborg Slotkirke. The baby was finally named: Nikolai William Alexander Frederik. His godmother was Alexandra Princess of Denmark, his mother (which is quite normal in Denmark). His other 'godparents' (in Denmark people have only one godmother or godfather) were Crown Prince Frederik, Nicola Baird (Princess Alexandra's sister), Camilla Flinth (a friend of Alexandra) and Peter Steenstrup (a friend of Prince Joachim). Among the 150 invited guests were many members of the Royal Family of Denmark (except for Princess Benedikte and her family, they were represented by Count Friedrich-Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth), and many of Princess Alexandra's family members.
Australian voters say 'no' to dropping the monarch, thus Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The Australian republicans have conceded their defeat. Some 54 % said yes to the monarchy. Only in the state of Victoria voters, with a very small majority, choose for a republic.
A policeman accidentally fired his gun when he was emptying it in a secure area inside St. James's Palace, London, Great Britain. Nobody was hurt and noone has been in danger. The Palace is the London residence of the Prince of Wales. and it is close to Clarence House where the Queen Mother lives.
November 7th
Prince Pieter-Christiaan was the fourth Dutch Prince who finished in the New York marathon. In 1992 his cousin Willem-Alexander ran this marathon, and in 1994 Pieter-Christiaan's brothers Maurits and Bernhard.
Juan, the son of Infanta Cristina of Spain and I�aki Urdangar�n, will be baptised at the Palacio de la Zarzuela on December 12th.
The Observer claims that the Prince of Wales has indicated that he wants British voters to decide on the future of the monarchy in Great Britain by referendum. However, a spokeswoman of St.James's Palace denies that the Prince has said something like this, and says the claim is a pure speculation.
November 8th
Yesterday Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and the Duke of Edinburgh started a three-nation tour in Ghana. Tribal leaders welcomed them. The Queen praised the country as leader of continental renaissance, at the parliament. Today she was greeted by a crowd of around one and a half million people in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. In the evening the Queen and the Duke were guests of honour at a state banquet.
In March 2000 Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje will preside the Second World Water Forum in The Hague, the Netherlands. Policy makers and scientists will speak there about problems as pollution, annoyance, deficiencies and water destruction.
November 9th
The Danish Crown Prince Frederik visited the World Expo Exhibition in Hannover, Germany. The Danes have four pavilions on the exhibition, like islands surrounded by water. The Crown Prince celebrated the opening of the pavilions with Danes, workmen and guests. It is likely that the Danish royal family will visit the Expo on June 27th, 2000. The Crown Prince said he was already looking forward to it.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and the Duke of Edinburgh renewed their friendship with former South African president Nelson Mandela on the first day of their visit to South Africa. They were formally welcomed by the present president Thabo Mbeki at the Union Building in Pretoria. A 21-gun salute sounded nearby. They already heard a 21-gun salute when leaving Ghana in the morning.
November10th
Paul Burrell, the former butler of the late Princess Diana of Wales, has told on CNN Princess Diana would still be championing her favourite causes of landmines and Aids if she were alive. He said Princess Diana was realizing her ambitions in a strong and positive way in which she could help people. He also said he had no knowledge of any plans for her marry Dodi al-Fayed, but said he was a kind man and she was very happy.
November 11th
Prince Heinrich Ruzzo Reuss Count von Plauen (49 years old) was buried in H�rsl�v, Sweden. Present were King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, an old schoolfriend of Prince Heinrich, and his wife Queen Silvia, who were accompanied by their son Prince Carl Philip. Prince Heinrich leaves behind his wife Annifrid (former ABBA-member), whom he married in 1992, his twin daughters Henriette and Pauline (22 years old) and his ex-wife Mette.
At various places in Belgium the end of World War I was commemorated. King Albert II of Belgium laid flowers at the grave of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels. Crown Prince Philippe is to attend the ceremony in Flanders Field, and the Last Post at the Menengate in Ypres.
Hundreds of hereditary peers have sat in the House of Lords for the last time after the Government's Lord reform bill cleared its final hurdle. Some were close to tears as they left the chamber for the last time. The 92 elected hereditary peers are to stay until further reforms are agreed. A Royal Commission on the future of the Lords is expected to propose the introduction of elected peers.
November 12th
Emperor Akihito of Japan celebrated his 10th year on the throne today with a parade and a feast for the people. The celebrations broke with old traditions of exclusivity and starchy sphere. Also rock music was on the programme. An official ceremony was there for 1300 dignitaries at the National Theatre in Tokyo. Some thousands of people waited in front of the royal palace in Tokyo to pay an homage to the Emperor and his wife Empress Michiko.
November 13th
1500 Guests, among them 1000 commoners, were invited for the engagement party at Laeken Castle, Belgium, of Prince Philippe and his fianc�e Mathilde. The guests were spread in different feast halls and the Winter garden of the castle, where tables with chairs and long buffets waited. The parents, sisters and brother of Mathilde arrived. Also King Albert II and Queen Paola, Queen Fabiola, Princess Astrid with husband Lorenz and the oldest three children Amedeo, Maria-Laura and Joachim, and Prince Laurent attended the evening. Philippe and Mathilde, the last one in a royal blue cocktail dress with interesting necklace, arrived just after 7:30 in the evening. They had to do the opening dance together on 'Wonderful tonight' of Eric Clapton, sung by the famous Belgian singer Raymond van het Groenewoud, with Toots Thielemans on mouth organ. The royals switched from room to room all evening.
On December 4th jonkvrouwe Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz will become Princess of Belgium for life. She also will become Duchess of Brabant. Her father and uncle will become counts.
The Duchess of York is due to tie a giant ribbon around the Survivor's Tree on the site of the Oklahoma City bomb explosion of 1995, which killed 168 people, in memory of the children who died. The Duchess's charity has supported a new paediatric unit at the hospital.
Some 61% of the British people think the Prince of Wales should marry Camilla Parker Bowles. But 78% don't want her to become Queen.
November 14th
Grand Duke Jean of Luxemburg celebrated his 35th anniversary on the throne. He followed his mother Grand Duchess Charlotte on November 14th, 1964.
At the engagement party Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz, the fianc�e of Prince Philippe of Belgium, who is already a speech therapist, has told her professor that she will continue her study psychology at the university of Louvain-la-Neuve, She said she hopes to do her practise next year.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Claus arrived at Curacao for a 12-day visit to the Dutch Antilles. They were welcomed with lots of ceremony and people. A children's choir sang for them.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and the Duke of Edinburgh laid wreaths at a memorial service in Durban, South Africa, to remember the soldiers who died in the Great War. It was the first time in 16 years that the Queen didn't lead the national mourning in London. The Prince of Wales replaced his mother at the Remembrance commemorations to Britain's war dead at the Cenotaph in London. The Queen Mother didn't attend as she was suffering from a slight chill, Buckingham Palace said.
The Duke of York has spoken on TV of how his experiences in the Falkland conflict changed his life. "There were a great many sharp edges as there are on all young people and it knocked a couple of corners off". The Duke was 22 when he was sent to the Falklands as a helicopter pilot. He added: "War teaches more about yourself than you actually want to learn- well, it certainly taught me".
November 15th
The Koningsfeest (King's Day) in Belgium was celebrated with the traditional Te Deum at the Basilica at the Koekelberg in Brussels.
Queen Beatrix will meet Governor Saleh at Curacao. Later she will start the first broadcasting of the Caribbean news on the World channel. This evening she and her husband Prince Claus will attend a presentation on 500 years written history of Curacao.
Queen Elizabeth II is flying to Mozambique for a one-day state visit on the final leg of her African tour. She and her husband will meet President Joaquim Chissano. It is the Queen's first visit to Mozambique, which is the newest member of the Commonwealth.
9-year-old Farah Aljadir of the Netherlands, who suffers from a skin disease, will drink tea with King Mohammed VI of Morocco today at his palace. The visit is arranged by the Foundation 'Make a Wish', which tries to fulfil wishes of children who are ill.
November 16th
According to The Sun the Prince of Wales has invited (horse-riding) friends and neighbours to a Millennium party. They are supposed to bring their own drinks. Camilla Parker Bowles is going to cook with the help of some friends.
Luxemburg linguist Guy Berg has discovered an epic from the Middle Ages, which was believed to have disappeared. It is a handwriting on vellum, named the 'Codex Mariendalensis', and it is a poem of almost 6000 stanzas, who describe the life of Princess Yolanda of Vianden. The Codex is the first literary work in the moselfr�nkische language.
The oil-painting "Portrait of a Pomeranian Prince" by Lucas Cranach, which had disappeared after World War II and was found back in 1994 in Vienna, will be shown at the National Museum in Stettin, Poland.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands started a three-day-visit to Great Britain. He met the Prince of Wales for tea at York House. In the evening he had dinner with the Duke of York and his own brother Prince Johan Friso, who works in London. Tomorrow he'll visit some projects of the Prince of Wales's Trust.
The hurricane Lenny, which goes through the Caribbean area, could disarrange the visit of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands to the Windward Islands of the Dutch Antilles. The Queen is planning to visit St.Maarten on Wednesday.
King Juan Carlos of Spain has called for full democracy and respect for human rights in a speech at an Ibero-American summit in Cuba.
November 17th
A 41-pearl necklace, which is said to have belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette of France, has been auctioned in Geneva, Switzerland, for about 1,5 million dollar.
In traditional pomp and pageantry Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain opened the reshaped Parliament. The Queen read the legislative plans for the forthcoming parliamentary session.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is not be to visit the island of Sint Maarten, as the hurricane Lenny will pass the island today. She will fly to Bonaire for a visit and return to Curacao. Yesterday evening she unexpectedly paid a visit to the Michielsbaai where the hurricane had caused some damage earlier that day. People were very happy with the visit. The Queen noticed some of Lenny as she became wet by a high splashing wave.
November 18th
I read at alt.talk.royalty that Pieter van der Byl, husband of Charlotte Princess von und zu Liechtenstein, died in Fairfield, South Africa, on November 15th.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will have a day rest. Tomorrow she will go to Aruba, where she was supposed to go next week. She hopes she can visit Sint Maarten later on during her Dutch Antilles trip.
November 19th
National feastday in Monaco on the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Prince Rainier III. The Prince appeared on the balcony with children and grandchildren. Also present were Princess Caroline and Prince Ernst August with their 4-month-old daughter Alexandra.
November 20th
Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands visited Aruba. On a reception of Prime Minister Eman the Queen expressed her sympathy with the people at the Dutch Antille- Islands Sint Maarten (where 3 people died), Saba (10% of the houses are destroyed) and Sint Eustatius. She said to find it difficult to celebrate as her thoughts were with the people there.
The Hohenzollern vault at the Dom of Berlin, Germany, has been reopened today, after 3-years of restoration. The 97 sarcophags are shown for the first time together in the 500-year existence of the vault. Lately only a few sarcophags were shown. The Dom used to be the Hohenzollern court's church. The Hohenzollern reigned Germany as Emperors from 1871 to 1918 and were Kings of Prussia and electors of Brandenburg before. The Dom hopes also the sarcophag of King Friedrich Wilhelm I (1688-1740) of Prussia will be transported from the Mausoleum in the Sanssouci Park in nearby Potsdam.
Thai censors ban previews and posters for "Anna and the King" as they find them disrespectful to the Thai monarchy. The film itself may be banned also.
Downing Street has quashed claims that the British government is planning to overturn a 300-year-old law preventing Roman Catholics ascending the British throne. Former Tory secretary Lord Forsyth of Drumlean is proposing changes to the 1701 Act.
November 21st
The Dutch version of the musical 'Elisabeth', about the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, went through its first night in Scheveningen, the Netherlands. Among the guests was Pieter van Vollenhoven, husband of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands.
In Monte Carlo Prince Albert of Monaco presented the prizes for the best athletes of the century to the Dutch Fanny Blankers-Koen and American Carl Lewis.
Today Queen Margrethe II of Denmark moves from Fredensborg Castle to the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, her winter residence.
On December 2nd a ball will be held in Laeken Castle to celebrate the wedding of Prince Philippe of Belgium and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz. Lots of nobility (many from the Gotha) are invited. Unfortunately no press will be allowed to cover it for the public.
Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands will visit Sint Maarten today, and Sint Eustatius and Saba tomorrow, to watch the damage after the hurricane Lenny their selves.
November 23rd
King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium started a 3-day state visit to Portugal.
Mentioned on the newest guest list for the Belgian royal wedding of the year: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and husband, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with Queen Silvia, King Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja, the Prince of Wales, Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje, Crown Prince Felipe of Spain, Prince Albert of Monaco, Prince Dipendra of Nepal, and Prince Naruhito of Japan with his wife.
November 24th
33-year-old Samantha Tabell, mother of three children, ran up bills of more than $7000 after claiming to be the daughter of Camilla Parker-Bowles. She was charged with fraud and dishonestly gaining benefits by the court in Brisbane, Australia. It heard that she persuaded a limousine firm that she was Camilla's daughter. The firm also arranged bodyguards, hotels, flights and a secretary.
Buckingham Palace has rejected suggestions that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain might relinquish her duties. The denial followed comments from the Duke of Edinburgh interpreted as a hint that the monarch might choose not to rule throughout her old age. Prince Philip told royal biographer Douglas Keay it was better to retire 'while you are still capable'.
King Albert II of Belgium cancelled some of his appointments on the second day of his state visit to Portugal because he suffers from gout. Queen Paola visited the Penna Palace in Sintra alone.
November 25th
Born this morning at 8:40 at the Hospital da Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa in Lissabon, Portugal, Diniz de Santa Maria Francisco Jo�o. He is the son of Dom Duarte Duke of Braganca, pretender to the Portuguese throne, and his wife Isabel de Her�dia. He will be baptized in February 2000 in Oporto.
Leka King-in-exile of Albania received sentence in absentia of three years in jail for his part in a 1997 deadly rally.
On December 18th little Richard Count von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth will be baptized. His Danish family will not be there because they are busy.
Prince Heinrich of Hessen, younger brother of head of the house Landgrave Moritz, died on November 18th. He has been buried on November 22nd in Kronberg. He was born in Rome in 1927.
November 26th
Little Arch Duchess Gloria of Austria will not be baptized on December 9th, but in January in Salzburg-Morzg if everything goes well. She was taken to hospital on November 12th after she became very ill. She was diagnosed meningitis. After four days the danger for life was happily gone.
Prince Konstantin-Assen of Bulgaria and his wife Maria got a son and a daughter on November 20th. It seems they are named Umberto and Sophia.
Buckingham Palace says Princess Margaret of Great Britain is resting and recovering after being taken ill. A spokeswoman denied a report that the Queen's 69-year-old sister may have suffered a minor stroke. A doctor was called to Kensington Palace on Tuesday evening when the princess had collapsed. She may not be able to fulfil next week's official engagements.
December 1st
In a poll by BBC News Online India's first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been voted the greatest woman of the last 1000 years. She pushed ahead of Queen Elizabeth I of Great Britain to win by a large majority.
Queen Elizabeth II is set to reopen the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London. The opera house has been closed for 30 months because of refurbishing.
December 4th
Full live coverage of the wedding of Prince Philippe of Belgium and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.
December 6th
The Dutch historian Kikkert has declared in an interview that Willem-Alexander Prince of Oranje has given an interview to a newspaper in 1995, which wasn't published according to the Government Information Service and the newspaper. Kikkert says that the Crown Prince has said that he doesn't care too much about a possible ending of the monarchy in a united Europe. He also should have said that he isn't really interested in religious affairs.
The viewing figures for the wedding of Philippe and Mathilde are lower than expected, as the amount of people who came to Brussels to watch the wedding live. In total some 3.237.000 Flemish people watched the 13-hour-long broadcasting on Flemish television, which by average attracted some 600.000 people. Some 1.700.000 people watched the ceremony in the cathedral.
Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has reportedly spent almost 9000 English pounds buying Christmas puddings from a supermarket (and not from Harrod's as usual) as festive gifts for her staff. The 1411 puddings will be rewrapped in silver foil and a royal crest added.
December 7th
Prince Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah from Kuwait (70 years old) headed for the USA for medical care. He recently had colon surgery.
December 8th
Another show of Prince Claus of the Netherlands at this year's presentation of the Prince Claus Prizes at the Palace at the Dam in Amsterdam. He showed up without tie. Although the speech he was supposed to give was handed over on paper to the people attending the presentation, Prince Claus gave an improvised speech. Queen Beatrix, who attended also, was mentioned in the speech, which made her laugh and she seemed to feel quite embarrassed by it. The theme of this year's prizes was 'Create space for freedom'.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark has been voted Dane of the year for the third time in succession by an opinion poll by Gallup. Frederik is in Greenland right now to prepare himself for the 5-month expedition that will begin on February 1st. He will stay there until December 22nd.
The Hungarian government plans to ring in the millennium by restoring the royal crown of Saint Stephan to its former role as the Hungarian state symbol.
There is a special service planned for July 2000 at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Queen Mother Elizabeth of Great Britain, which is on August 4th, 2000. Seems a little too early to me.
December 10th
Media reports say that Princess Masako of Japan has shown signs of pregnancy after more than six years of marriage. We'll see if it is another rumour.
Magazines report that the Hon. Charles Armstrong-Jones, the grandson of Princess Margaret of Great Britain, has been baptized in the royal chapel at St. James's Palace lately.
A Flemish nationalist says the civil wedding of Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde is not valid as it was held in Flemish, French and German - the three official languages in Belgium. He says that according to the language-laws in the country the use of German language in Brussels is forbidden.
December 11th
Indian officials have agreed to open the Taj Mahal for night visits by tourists. For the last 15 years the monument has closed at 7pm because of security threats. But visitors to Uttar Pradesh will now be able to see the Taj Mahal on nights with full moon. The State Tourism Minister said it was a millennium gift to the world.
Dom Diniz de Braganca will be baptized in Oporto on February 5th, 2000.
December 12th
The son of Princess Cristina of Spain and I�aki Urdangar�n y Liebaert was baptized Juan Valentin de Todos los Santos at the royal chapel at the palace in Madrid. He was named Valentin after an uncle of his father's grandmother Ana Berriochoa, St. Valentin who was beheaded in 1861 in Asia.
Japan is eagerly waiting to discover this week whether or not Crown Princess Masako is pregnant.
In Brussels Princess Astrid of Belgium attended the drawing for the European Championships Football 2000, which will be held in Belgium and the Netherlands.
December 13th
Readers of The Big Issue magazines have voted the Prince of Wales �Hero of the Year�. Hailed as a maverick that is unafraid to tackle the Government he tops the publication's annual Heroes and Villains poll. The Prince told the magazine that he was delighted and touched to be chosen by Big Issue readers as their hero of the year.
December 14th
In Vienna, Austria, the Hungarian writer Count Peter Esterh�zy de Gal�ntha has received the Austrian State Prize for European literature. His work is said to be a gentle subversion against all order. As Hungarian cult-figure of his generation he places the search for mental-moral autonomy in the centre of writing. Amongst the earlier winners of the prize are Vaclav Havel and Salman Rushdie.
From this year on Prince Bernhard and Princess Juliana of the Netherlands will not send Christmas cards anymore. It has become too hard for them to sign hundreds of wishes personally.
King Juan Carlos I of Spain attended the handover-ceremony by the USA of the Panama Canal, which has been American since 1903. In 1977 US-President Jimmy Carter, who was present at the handover, signed a treaty that said that the Canal would be Panamese officially at December 31st, 1999.
The French magazine Paris Match has to pay 150.000 French francs for a renewed publishing of the kiss-photos of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed.
December 15th
Princess Caroline of Monaco has gained a partly success against paparazzi-photos. A German court has decided that publishing private photos of Caroline's children will not be allowed anymore to protect the children from photographers.
December 16th
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and her family (except for Princess Juliana) will celebrate the New Year in India. They will be there from December 26th to January 3rd.
Prince Rainier III of Monaco has been operated in his country. A cardiac examination before showed problems with the artery of the abdomen. The palace states that he is fine now.
December 17th
A necklace worn by Princess Diana on her last public engagement in June 1997 has been sold in New York for about $550.000. The pearl and diamond piece, made by London based royal jewellers Garrard's, was bought by an American collector.
On Ellingen Castle, Germany, the engagement of Princess D�sir�e of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (25) and Florian Count von und zu Hoensbroech (30) was celebrated. They are planning to get married next year, after Princess D�sir�e has finished her studies at St. Andrew's, Scotland.
December 18th
Sotheby�s in London has auctioned The Moritzburg treasure of the Kings and Electors of Saxony for 7.196.000 German Marks. Just for the end of World War II the sons of the last king Friedrich August III had buried the treasure in the wood to hide it for the approaching Russian Red Army. In 1996 hobby treasure-diggers found it back. 143 pieces of the treasure were auctioned; most of it was bought by German art-dealers.
On December 28th King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will open the Museum Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) in the cellars of the Royal Palace in Stockholm. It will show the Swedish history since the 13th century.
December 19th
German television (ARD) broadcasts three new documentaries in the series of German Royal Houses. On Monday December 20th at 15:15 Anhalt is the subject, the next day at the same time Castell-Castell, and on Wednesday December 22nd at the same time Hannover.
The Sunday Telegraph says that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is going to withdraw her endorsement of Harrods department store next year. Royal Family lawyers may sue store's boss Mohammed Al-Fayed. The Queen is angry about allegations he has made against the Duke of Edinburgh, claiming that the Duke was linked to Princess Diana's death.
December 20th
A man armed with a sword, an axe and two knives was wrestled to the ground by police within yards of Buckingham Palace. The man drove into a cordoned-off area between two police vehicles outside the palace railings yesterday evening. Dressed in black military-style clothing, he was taken to a police station.
43-Year old Francisco Manoel from Lissabon, Portugal, threatens to bring Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain to court to force her to give him her DNA-material. According to the Sunday Telegraph he wants to prove that he descends from Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington. Manuel's great-grandfather Marcos Manuel should have been born out of this 1833-relationship on the Isle of Wight in April 1834. Further Manuel says it has been proven that Queen Victoria's youngest daughter Beatrice has destroyed her mother's notes after the Queen died.
December 22nd
The Liechtenstein princely family announced the engagement of Prince Maximilian, second son of reigning prince Hans Adam II, with Angela Brown, who was born in Bocas del Toro, Panama, as daughter of Javier Francisco Brown and Silvia Maritza Burke. Angela Brown is an American fashion designer. The couple will get married in New York on January 29th, 2000.
On December 18th little Count Richard von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth was baptised in the Danish way in the chapel of Berleburg Castle, Germany. His mother Alexandra n�e Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was his godmother. The supporters were Prince Gustav zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Prince Nikolaos of Greece, Princess M�rtha-Louise of Norway, Prince Philipp von Hessen, Countess Andrea von Pfeil-Haag, and Nadine Keltaneh-Farah.
Great Britain will build a children's playground based on the adventures of the eternally youthful Peter Pan to commemorate the life of Princess Diana. Work will start in January 2000 near her former London home in Kensington Gardens. The project manager said that the playground will commemorate her love for children.
December 24th
This morning the Prime Minister of Luxemburg announced in the Parliament that Grand Duke Jean will abdicate in September 2000. The Prime Minister read a letter of the Grand Duke, which said that he was "in the conviction that by the dawn of a new millennium, and after 35 years of reign, it seems wise to me to retire". His oldest son Henri will succeed Grand Duke Jean.
In his Christmas message King Albert II of the Belgians thanked everybody who has competed in the joy of the wedding of his son Philippe with Mathilde d�Udekem d�Acoz. The King further said: "The Queen and I have thought back to very happy times, but also to the crisis we went through now 30 years ago. Together we�ve managed to bring about a deep bond of love and unity. Some time ago this crisis was brought back to our memories. We don�t wish to talk about it further. It belongs to our private life." It is said it is a clear reference to the reports about the King�s supposed illegitimate daughter Delphine.
Prince Laurent of Belgium visited deprived people in Brussels on Christmas Eve bringing them soup. He was dresses as Santa Claus, and believe me that he looked funny.
The royal crown of St. Stephan causes sensation in Hungary. The plan of the Prime Minister to bring the crown and the crown jewels from the national museum to the building of the Parliament has evoked the anger of the opposition. They say the Prime Minister disuses the crown for his own glory. The crown of St. Stephan is regarded as the symbol of Hungarian unity.
December 25th
In her Christmas speech Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands asked to respect the privacy of her and her family. She says the question for openness is justified, but when commerce makes liberty to a public possession, it threatens to violate the right to have a personal sphere of life.
December 26th
Because of heavy hurricanes in Europe amongst others the windows and roofs of the Versailles Palace in France were damaged. Further thousands of trees in the park were uprooted.
December 27th
The authorities in Thailand have banned the new film 'Anna and the King' saying it insults the country�s monarchy. The film portraits the relationship between a Thai king and an English governess. Thailand�s censorship board says the film was historically inaccurate and made jokes at the monarchy�s expense. It said removing the offending scenes would cut the film to just 20 minutes.
December 29th
The Prince of Wales is to champion the Marie Curie Cancer Care as its president. He is taking over from the Duchess of Kent, who is scaling down her public commitments. The Queen Mother has been the charity�s patron for 45 years.
December 30th
The Imperial Household Agency announced that Crown Princess Masako of Japan had a miscarriage. Doctors had diagnosed the miscarriage as the Princess underwent a pregnancy test. They performed an operation on the Princess who is in good condition but remains in hospital for observation.
A survey was held in France to find out who was the most beautiful woman of the century. In first place came actress Romy Schneider, who became famous for playing Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the Sissi-films, followed by Princess Grace of Monaco n�e Kelly. In 7th place was Princess Diana of Wales.
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Yvonne's Royalty Home Page
"Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and
wayward youngsters and of family disagreements." - Queen Elizabeth II
Author's Note
This document consists of the christening details of the Royal Family from King George I in 1660 including Queen Victoria in 1819 to their present-day male-line descendants (who were titled Prince or Princess of Great Britain with the style Royal Highness) who received the Rite of Baptism. These are the following exceptions:
√ included:
� the spouses of selected sovereigns (Prince Albert, Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the Duke of Edinburgh)
� the spouses of the current Prince of Wales (Diana, Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall)
� the spouses of selected royal peers (the Duchesses of Gloucester: Alice and her daughter-in-law Birgitte; the Duchesses of Kent: Marina and her daughter-in-law Katharine)
� the only child of HRH Prince Arthur of Great Britain (Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught)
� the children of HRH Prince William Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester (Sophia Matilda, Caroline and William, Duke of Gloucester)
not included:
� the descendants of George V, King of Hanover (son of Prince Ernest Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Cumberland, later Ernst August, King of Hanover)
� the descendants of Prince Charles Edward of Great Britain, Duke of Albany (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany)
"Christening Information" is divided into ten sections. The first section is the Author's Note; the second section (Introduction) provides a brief history of royal christenings; the third section (Christening Robes) discusses christenings heirlooms; the fourth section (Baptismal Fonts) reviews the fonts used at christenings; the fifth section (Christening Cakes) describes selected christenings cakes; the sixth section (Christening Locations) looks at the various christening locations; the seventh section (Christenings of the Royal Family) contains the baptismal information for members of the royal family; the eighth section features three appendices ("Churching" and Royal Mothers, Christening Trivia, and The Royal Christening Robe); the ninth section contains the sources used and consulted during the preparation of this document; the tenth and final section is the Acknowledgments.
The seventh section (Christenings of the Royal Family) is presented in chronological order, beginning in 1660 and ending in 2004. Each entry (105 individuals) consists of the following data: the name (and/or title) of the individual; the names of his or her parents; the date and location of birth (and death, where applicable); the christening date, location, and principal officiating clergy; the name (or names) the child received at christening; the names of the godparents; and the main sources used to compile this information.
Unless otherwise indicated, the christenings were performed according to the Church of England (Anglican) rite.
When information is unknown or incomplete, this is indicated.
The date following an individual's name at the start of his or her entry indicates the year of his or her christening. If the christening date is unknown, the year of birth is indicated in parentheses. If more than one child was christened in a particular year, the month and the year of christening are indicated.
Introduction
A christening is a religious occasion, which marks a child's entry into his or her Church. It is an outward sign of becoming a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. As the first sacrament in a person's life, baptism "marks the start of a journey of faith". (For information about infant baptism in the Church of England, see http://www.cofe.anglican.org/lifeevents/baptismconfirm/ ) Queen Victoria, who was not prone to 'religious dogmatizing', remarked that a christening was "indeed a holy and most important" ceremony and "an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace".1
Modern royal christenings are simple and quiet in character. They are held privately, by invitation, and attended by a small, exclusive group (members of the Royal family, godparents* and close friends). An exception was the baptism of Princess Eugenie, younger daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, who was christened during a regular Sunday morning service at St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham two days before Christmas 1990.2
* Royal godparents are usually called sponsors, but the term godparents will be used throughout this document.
Christenings are often held one or two months after the birth of a royal child, but have occurred much earlier if the child is in danger of not surviving. The infant son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who was born prematurely in April 1871 and lived only a few hours, was hastily christened the evening of his birth. One of the longest wait for a christening was the one held in December 1990 for Princess Eugenie, who was nine months old.
Royal christenings follow a long-established pattern, and almost always include three traditional items: the Honiton lace christening robe, the Lily Font, and consecrated water from the river Jordan. (The royal family's use of this water dates back to King Richard I, and is based on Christ's immersion in the Jordan river by John the Baptist.)3 The ceremony lasts about half an hour, and takes place in the late morning or afternoon. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as the spiritual head of the Church of England, often has the honour of baptising the baby. A hymn and sometimes an anthem are sung, with music selections ranging from specially-composed songs (such as Jubilate, composed by Prince Albert for the christening of his daughter Princess Helena in 1846) to Christmas carols (such as Away In A Manger, sung at Princess Beatrice of York's christening in December 1988). The royal family, godparents, guests and attendants place themselves near the font. The infant is carried into the room by the head nurse, who is accompanied by his or her mother's lady-in-waiting. The service begins with a hymn, and after a few words from the celebrant, the baby is placed in the arms of the main godparent, who in turn hands the child to the Archbishop. Holding the child, the Archbishop asks what the child's names are, and pours a little water over its forehead as he declares: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The infant is then returned to the arms of the main godparent, who holds him or her briefly before placing the infant in the arms of the head nurse. Another hymn is sung, and the newly baptised child is lead out of the room by the nurse and lady-in-waiting. The company leaves the room in the order in which they entered, and proceed to a nearby room, where the baptismal register is signed.4 A reception follows the ceremony; photographs of the baby are taken with his or her family and godparents, and a light luncheon or tea party, including a christening cake, is served.
Compared to today's royal christenings, the early Georgian kings, and later Queen Victoria, with their love for pageantry, preferred highly organized, extravagant and expensive affairs. These christenings were often State occasions, with invitations issued to prominent individuals, such as members of foreign royal families, prime ministers, diplomats, and other illustrious guests. The baptisms were usually scheduled in the evening, as early as 6:30 p.m. (for the baptism of Princess Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria, in 1841) and as late as 9:30 p.m. (for the baptism of Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince and Princess of Wales, in 1796). The baptism of the first-born son and heir to King George III in 1762 was the occasion for as much splendour as the proud sovereign could arrange. A new gilded mahogany state bed was built for Queen Charlotte; its only purpose: for Her Majesty to lounge upon during the ceremony.5 The bed, of "superlative magnificence", was embellished and ornamented with carvings, white ostrich plumes, gold lace-trimmed crimson velvet valances and curtains, and five mattresses. A "suit [matching set] of superfine Flanders point lace" costing �2,699 was added to the satin quilt, completing the ornate ensemble.6
For the christening of Queen Victoria's son and heir in 1842, Her Majesty spent £200,000, creating an event of 'unprecedented grandeur'.7 The baptism included a banquet, a christening cake over eight feet in diameter, fireworks and other entertainment.8 Her Majesty wore state jewels, the women wore evening dresses and tiaras, and the men wore uniforms and decorations. The Queen invited so many people to the event, that some of her guests had difficulty seeing much of the christening. The soon-to-be appointed royal Governess, the Dowager Baroness Lyttelton, described "being squeezed very close between the Duke of Wellington [...] and a somebody with an enormous silver mace on each side of me. Before me were numberless 'broad backs', and occasionally I could just see half the Queen's head through a crevice between elbows." Fortunately, Lady Lyttelton managed to catch a glimpse of "His Royal Highness [the infant Prince of Wales], mantle and lace and all" being handed to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Queen's Mistress of the Robes, the Duchess of Buccleuch, then being taken back by her.9 The Prince of Wales's christening was not only memorable in its magnificence, but also unique because two royal baptismal fonts were used. The 1660 font, which was regilt and ornamented for the occasion by the Bond Street silversmith firm Storr and Mortimer, was used in conjunction with the newer Lily Font.10
The christening of Queen Victoria's fourth child, Prince Alfred, in 1844 was on a less grand scale than the one held for his elder brother, but it was nevertheless a chance for Her Majesty to celebrate lavishly. One of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting noticed the lack of restraint on this occasion, and wrote with some criticism that "everything Royal that can be collected comes for the Christening", adding "there were so many Bishops & Church dignatories [sic] that it looked almost like a Roman Catholic ceremony, for it was in the little Chapel by candlelight just before dinner".11 Queen Victoria took no notice of such grumblings, not even public ones like those found in the satirical magazine Punch, which stated in 1853 after Prince Leopold's christening, that Her Majesty should "release all future Royal Christenings from the trappings of pomp and vanity with which custom has hitherto entangled them".12
Christening ceremonies of the last few decades have been relatively free of problems, but this has not always been the case. In the past, some royal parents had their children's names imposed on them, such as when Queen Victoria chose, without first notifying the parents, 'Albert Victor' as the name of the newborn son of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1864. (The Queen showed some consideration for her son and daughter-in-law's feelings by not 'objecting' to the young couple choosing additional names for their son.) Parents also had their choices of children's names vetoed by the monarch, for instance when King George IV requested 'Elizabeth' instead of 'Georgina' for the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Clarence in 1820. Christening dates are usually chosen in consultation with the Sovereign (or the Regent), but not for the Duke and Duchess of Kent, who were told at the last minute the date of the ceremony in 1819. Some parents weren't allowed to organise or participate in the planning of their child's christening, such as Queen Victoria's. Her uncle the Prince Regent ordered a private ceremony with only a few family members present, with "no dressing up, no uniforms glittering with gold [and no] grand occasion" allowed.13
Christenings have also had their share of 'bad fairies', who caused distress to the parents. For example, at the christening of Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Alice, in 1843, the Queen's uncle, the King of Hanover, arrived late for the ceremony, behaved rudely, "never [spoke] a kind word", and made a public fuss about the dispute with his niece over the ownership of Queen Charlotte's jewels.14 (Queen Victoria might have agreed with the future Prime Minister Lord Robert Cecil's commentary on royal pageantry in 1861 when he wrote that "something always breaks down, somebody contrives to escape doing his part, or some bye-motive is suffered to interfere and ruin it all.")15
There were no 'bad fairies' at the christening of the Queen's grandson, the infant Duke of Albany, in December 1884. The weather was fine, and the church bells rang, but the ceremony was overshadowed with sadness and poignancy, for the prince's father, Leopold (Queen Victoria's youngest son), had died tragically earlier that year. The Duke's mother and grandmother wore mourning: the former in "widow's weeds and [...] a long black crape veil" and the latter in a "black silk costume and black bonnet".16 After the ceremony, the Queen wrote to her granddaughter in Darmstadt that "the Christening at Claremont was very touching. [...] Poor dear Aunt Helen was [greatly] tried but behaved so courageously tho' she was nearly breaking down often, but she bore up till it was all over".17
Perhaps the last word on unhappy christenings should go to the events surrounding the baptism of Prince George, the King's grandson, the child. In November 1717, the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King George II and Queen Caroline), wanted the King (George I) and the King's brother (Prince Ernst August) to be godparents to their infant son. The Prince and his father quarrelled when His Majesty asserted his right to choose the godparents. A bitter fall-out resulted. The Prince of Wales was put under house arrest, and then was subsequently banished from his home at St James's Palace. The disgraced Prince and his wife faced further anguish when they lost the guardianship of their young children, Frederick, Anne, Amelia and Caroline, and were allowed to see them only with the King's permission. (Prince George - the child 'at the centre of a royal feud' - died when he was three months old in February 1718.)18
Footnotes:
1. Queen Victoria's Journal, 2 June 1843, quoted in Noel, Alice, p. 26.
2. Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004.
3. Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 17.
4. Royal register books have been maintained for centuries. The present brown-leather Royal register, with its cover stamped with the Royal Arms in gold, dates from 1963. Each entry in the Register records the details of the christening, such as the date; the names of the child; the signature of the person who officiated at the ceremony; and the signatures of the Royal Family who attended the baptism. ("The Monarchy Today: Ceremonies and Pageantry" from the British Monarchy website's at http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page3978.asp )
5. Hedley, Queen Charlotte, p. 76. The Queen's bed, known as the "Queen's Sitting-up State Bed", was built in sections and could be disassembled and reassembled when needed. The bed was used at the christenings of Her Majesty's other children.
6. Hedley, Queen Charlotte, pp 76-77 and Greig, Diaries, p. 50.
7. Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 17, and The Times, 10 January 1842.
8. Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 17.
9. Wyndham, Correspondence, pp 325-326.
10. The Times, 26 January 1842. Sir George Hayter's commemorative painting of the infant Prince's christening (The Christening of the Prince of Wales) illustrates how the older font was employed as a sort of holder or pedestal for the newer font. (See, for example, Gernsheim, Queen Victoria, p. 73, illustration 57)
11. Surtees, Canning, p. 127.
12. Quoted in Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 450.
13. Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 34.
14. Longford, Victoria, p. 171, quoting the Queen's Journal, 2 June 1843. The disagreement between Queen Victoria and King Ernest centered upon the jewels acquired by the late Queen Charlotte during her marriage. Some of the jewels were considered part of the regalia of the kingdom of Hanover, but they had not left for that country in 1837 when Victoria succeeded in Great Britain and Ernest in Hanover. Despite a legal claim made in King Ernest's name soon after Queen Victoria came to the throne, a settlement was not reached until 1857, a few years after the King's death. It was left to his son, King George, to see his father's claim vindicated when he received the jewels in early 1858. (Twining, History, p. 165 and p. 370, and Bury, Jewellery, Vol. II, pp 792-798)
15. Cannadine, Ritual, p. 102. Lord Robert succeeded as 3rd Marquess of Salisbury in 1868. His royal 'observations' were published anonymously in an article in The Saturday Review, 9 February 1861.
16. The Times, 5 December 1884.
17. Hough, Advice, p. 71.
18. Plumb, First Four Georges, pp 55-56. According to Wallace/Taylor, Royal Mothers, p. 123, Prince George had been born with "a growth on his heart", and this condition contributed to his early death.
Honiton Lace Christening Robe*
* The first two syllables of Honiton rhyme with honey.
The Honiton lace christening robe, a "garment fashioned in a fairy-tale", began much in the same way as another 'fairy-tale' garment -- Queen Victoria's wedding dress.1 Her Majesty wore a dress of creamy white lightweight finely-woven Spitalfields silk satin trimmed with Honiton bobbin lace at her wedding in February 1840.2 Within a few months, the Queen turned to the same Devonshire village and commissioned a lace-maker from Honiton to make the lace for a christening gown.3 Sources claim the christening gown was based on the same design as Her Majesty's wedding dress.4 Picture evidence shows otherwise, because the wedding dress and the christening robe are of different styles, and the wedding lace and the christening lace are of different patterns.5
It is not known who was entrusted with the precious task of making the lace, but perhaps it was one of the women who held royal appointments to Her Majesty as manufacturers of Honiton lace between 1837 and 1842: Miss Jane Bidney and Mrs Esther Clark.6 It is also not known who created the design for the christening lace (although it might have been William Dyce, a pre-Raphaelite painter, who designed the Queen's wedding lace), nor is it known who was responsible for the design and the making of the satin christening robe itself. At the time of her marriage, Queen Victoria had two principal London dressmakers, Mrs Mary Bettans (who, it is speculated, might have been responsible for the Queen's wedding dress) and the firm Vouillon & Laure.7 It is possible that one of them made the christening robe. The lace for the royal robe was completed after labour-intensive manual work. Each square inch of lace took four hours to complete.8
The royal christening robe* of Honiton lace over white silk satin follows classical lines of such garments: a high waist, short sleeves, and a long skirt. The robe is composed of four main elements: the gown, cap, cloak and mantle. (A fifth element might have been tiny matching satin slippers or shoes (commonly known as booties) to complete the christening ensemble.) Over the full-length dress (sometimes referred to as a petticoat or lining) of white Spitalfields silk satin is netting of fine white Honiton cotton lace in an intricate floral design. The dress has cap sleeves (also of fine white Honiton cotton lace), and a wide, full-length sash with fringed ends gathered in a large bow that hangs from the bodice.9 Narrow bands of ruched (pleated) silk trim each side of the decorative centre spray of open ribbed leaves and flowers. There is also a matching cap of Honiton lace, a cloak of crimson-coloured velvet lined with ermine, and a mantle of white satin edged with Honiton lace. Queen Victoria was a sentimental woman and kept some of her children's first or early clothing, including the "ermine-trimmed velvet christening capes used for her two eldest children [Vicky and Bertie]".10 Princess Vicky's cape or mantle is now preserved in the Museum of London.11
* The description of the robe is a blend of details from two sources: Luxton, Royal Honiton Lace, p. 48 and The Times (3 June 1843, 29 June 1853 and 11 March 1864).
The robe, which gained fame as "an institution in Queen Victoria's family", was first worn by Her Majesty's eldest child, Princess Victoria, at her christening in February 1841.12 Following the ceremony, Her Majesty wrote in her Journal that her infant daughter "looked very dear in a white Honiton point lace robe and mantle, over white satin".13 Sources that claim the robe was made in 1841-1842 and first worn by the Prince of Wales are unfortunately mistaken.14 When Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor, was christened in 2004, Buckingham Palace issued a press release that stated the "Royal christening robe, of fine Honiton lace lined with white satin, was made in 1841 for the christening of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal."15 In 1894, the Queen gave the guardianship of the heirloom robe to her granddaughter-in-law the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary).16
The 165-year old robe is in good condition, but its net background has become fragile and delicate, its white lace has turned creamy, and its Victorian satin has worn out. (The robe's original colour has subtly changed over the century, evolving from "white to cream, from cream to ivory, from ivory to icy, smooth magnolia".)17 The gown required mending by royal couturier Norman Hartnell before it was worn by Princess Anne's son Peter Phillips at his christening in 1977.18 After each use, the royal christening robe is carefully hand-washed in sterilised water, and dried before being wrapped in layers of black tissue paper and placed in an airtight container. The robe is stored at Buckingham Palace.19
Between 1841 and 2004, the royal christening robe was worn by approximately sixty-two individuals.* (For a list of Queen Victoria's descendants who wore the royal christening robe at their baptism, see Appendix 2: "The Royal Christening Robe", further below.)
* Guinness World Records, in its "Most Babies Christened in the Same Robe" category, asserts that "To date [April 2000], 68 royal babies have been christened in the robe."20
Other Royal Christening Gowns
Queen Victoria was not the only member of the royal family to use a christening robe featuring Honiton lace. Her aunt, the Duchess of Cambridge, had a Regency-style gown with matching baby cap of Honiton lace appliqu� on machine net made for the christening of her three children (born between 1819 and 1833).21
The christening robe worn by King George III at his baptism in 1738 left the Royal Family's possession when Queen Charlotte, the King's wife, gave the heirloom to the Ritso family. George Frederick Ritso, a Captain in the Royal Engineers, was a childhood playmate of His Majesty. (His wife Louisa was employed in Queen Charlotte's household.) Captain Ritso's granddaughter, who died in 1915 at the age of 103, wore the robe at her christening.22
Another royal christening robe that might have been given away by the Royal Family was the one worn by Prince Edward (later Duke of Kent), younger son of King George III and Queen Charlotte, at his baptism in 1767. The nearly 150-year old robe was worn by the son and heir of the Earl and Countess Clanwilliam at his christening in July 1914.23
For his christening in September 1762, the future King George IV wore a "richly embroidered satin robe and sleeves", and was supported on a "white satin pillow bordered with flowers worked in gold and spangles".24
Following the birth of her granddaughter in January 1796, Queen Charlotte sent gifts to her son, the future King George IV. Along with the gifts, the Queen sent a letter in which she explained that, in addition to sending a cradle, a "Christning [sic] suit accompanies this, which is trimmed with the Princess lace, as also the cushion and sheet of the cradle."25
In early 1920, The Times reported that the infant daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of Carisbrooke (eldest son of HRH Princess Beatrice) wore a christening robe that had belonged to Queen Victoria. This does not seem to be the Honiton lace christening robe, however, based on the newspaper's description of a "cream satin [robe] trimmed with Brussels lace [...] worn with a cloak of corded silk [and] ornamented with old Irish lace".26
As for what the infant Queen Victoria wore at her baptism, there is unfortunately no surviving account or description of her christening gown. But in 1819, the Duchess of Kent spent �103 18s 6d 'for dressmaking for Princess Victoria'; it is possible that some of this money was spent on christening apparel for her daughter.27
Footnotes:
1. Arnold, Little Princes, p. 86. Unfortunately, the author makes an error when she says the christening robe is "made of pure Holland lace".
2. Costume, Number 17, p. 1. Honiton lace "is a bobbin lace in which the separately worked motifs are joined together by hand or applied to machine-made net." (Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 120)
3. Costume, Number 17, p. 7.
4. Majesty, Vol. 11, No. 12, December 1990, p. 39 and People Weekly, Fall 1990, p. 132.
5. Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 119 and Luxton, Royal Honiton Lace, pp 49-51.
6. Yallop, Honiton Lace Industry, p. 150. Records indicate that Miss Bidney (who made the lace for the Queen's wedding dress) received �250 in payment in 1840, and that Mrs Clarke received �111 in 1840-1841. Perhaps a portion of these amounts were for producing christening lace.
7. Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 121. The robe was entirely of British manufacture. (The Times, 3 June 1843)
8. Majesty, Vol. 11, No. 12, December 1990, p. 39 and People Weekly, Fall 1990, p. 132.
9. The sash can be clearly seen with the christening robe in photographs taken at the baptism of the future King Edward VIII in July 1894. See the four-generation christening photograph (by W. & D. Downey) of the infant prince sleeping in the arms of his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, with his grandfather the Prince of Wales and his father the Duke of York standing behind the Queen. (Gernsheim, Queen Victoria, p. 229, illustration 286) Also, the sash is clearly visible in the photographs taken (by Patrick Lichfield) at the baptism of Lady Louise Windsor (Queen Elizabeth II's youngest granddaughter) in April 2004. (Majesty, Vol. 25, No. 6, June 2004, p. 35)
10. Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 124.
11. Costume, Number 17, p. 31 note 16. A mantle is a sleeveless garment similar to a cloak but shorter.
12. Costume, Number 17, p. 7.
13. Queen Victoria's Journal for 10 February 1841, quoted in Costume, Number 17, p. 7.
14. These incorrect sources include Luxton, Royal Honiton Lace, p. 44, Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 15, Majesty, Vol. 9, No. 10, February 1988, p. 33, People Weekly, Fall 1990, p. 132, and The Times, 4 August 1982 (regarding the christening of Prince William of Wales).
15. Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004.
16. The Times, 10 December 1948 and Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004.
17. Arnold, Little Princes, p. 86.
18. Luxton, Royal Honiton Lace, p. 48; Majesty, Vol. 9, No. 10, February 1988, p. 33; Majesty, Vol. 11, No. 12, December 1990, p. 39 and People Weekly, Fall 1990, p. 132.
19. Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 15; Majesty, Vol. 11, No. 12, December 1990, p. 39; and People Weekly, Fall 1990, p. 132. According to Kidd, Royal Children, p. 130, the christening robe is stored in a cedarwood chest.
20. Guinness World Records at http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/index.asp?id=54514
21. Luxton, Royal Honiton Lace, p. 66. This information is in contrast with Jackman, People's Princess, p. 21 where the author (who unfortunately does not cite his source) states that the Duchess of Cambridge's youngest child, Princess Mary Adelaide, wore at her christening a "long robe '� drap d'argent all tied with pink bows, and an enormous long train of the same all trimmed with fine Brussels lace'".
22. The Times, 2 March 1915. Captain Ritso's parents were employed in the household of the Prince and Princess of Wales (Frederick and Augusta), while his brother-in-law Dr. John Frederick Charles Grimm was Court Physician to the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, grandfather of Prince Albert. (The Times, 25 September 1866)
23. The Times, 9 July 1914. The robe was either lent specially for the event, or had left the possession of the Royal Family.
24. Hedley, Queen Charlotte, p. 77. According to the author, the christening robe is now in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.
25. Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 34, quoting Queen Charlotte's letter to her son the Prince of Wales from A. Aspinall, ed. The Correspondence of George, Prince of Wales 1770-1812, vol. III, p. 151.
26. The Times, 2 March 1920.
27. Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 82.
Baptismal Fonts
Lily Font
The Lily Font was first used at the baptism of Queen Victoria's eldest child, Princess Victoria, in 1841.1 Lacking "doctrinal symbolism", the font nevertheless has a "natural floral charm", and, as mentioned in a contemporary newspaper account, was "very elegant in its form, and exquisitely finished".2 The font was designed by Prince Albert,3 but no drawing or sketch of this design has been found.4 It is said that the font was made because Queen Victoria "objected to an earlier font on the ground that the illegitimate children of one of her predecessors had been christened in it".5 In 1978, The Times stated that a ewer was made simultaneously with the Lily Font, but this is probably an error.6 There isn't any evidence for this 1841 ewer in The Crown Jewels, although it says that an earlier ewer (made ca 1835, see below) "is now used for Royal christenings with the Lily font".7
The font was crafted by Edward Barnard and his sons Edward Jr., John and William, of Barnard & Company, whose mark is found in full on the outer edge of the font's foot, and found in part on the inside of the bowl.8 After completion, the font was invoiced to the London goldsmiths firm E. & W. Smith the day before the christening in February 1841.9
The one-piece portable Lily Font is 17" (432 mm) high, with the bowl having a diameter of 17" (432 mm); the total weight is 319 oz. 12 dwt (9.94kg).10 The Times described the font as a "beautifully formed tazza of silver-gilt", which "showed a great deal of elegant fancy in the design, and the most consummate skill in the execution".11
Starting with the base*, the wide triangular plinth is entirely decorated with foliage of acanthus leaves and a trio of cherubs playing the lyre.12 Resting their backs against the font's stem, the infant angels, who are "boldly executed in full relief", sit above "three coats-of-arms and supporters, the first of Queen Victoria accol� with Prince Albert, the second of the Prince with the Garter Motto and the third of the Princess Royal, with bold fluted scrolls between", also in full relief.13 The high, sturdy leaf stem is "composed of outcurved matted leaves".14 It supports a large round shell, whose rim has "an applied border of eight open water-lilies with buds and leaves between, and a central lily rosette".15
* The description of the font is drawn from three sources: The Crown Jewels (a scholarly work, which provides two comprehensive descriptions of the Lily Font, with accompanying photo), The Times (various christening accounts of Queen Victoria's children), and The Royal Encyclopedia (its article "Lily Font").
The font was used primarily in the private chapels at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, but it was also used outside these traditional royal venues, such as at St Ann's Church in Bagshot for the christening of Princess Patricia (the youngest child of the Duke of Connaught) in 1886, and at White Lodge in Richmond Park for the christening of Prince Edward (eldest child of the Duke of York) in 1894. Additionally, the use of the font was not limited to the christenings of Queen Victoria's male-line descendants, but was also used at some of her female-line descendants, such as at the christening of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (eldest child of Princess Alice) at Windsor Castle in 1863, and at the christening of Princess Victoria's son, the future Earl Mountbatten of Burma, at Frogmore House in 1900.
The Lily Font was stored at Windsor Castle until the mid-1960s when it moved to the Tower of London, where it joined other royal exhibits in the Jewel House.16
Other Royal Baptismal Fonts
The earliest surviving royal font is the silver-gilt font and basin made on the orders of King Charles II.17 It is dated 1660, and is sometimes referred incorrectly as the 'gold font' or the '1660 gold font'.18 The font was made by an unknown craftsman, although the mark RF (which appears in several places on the font) suggests the possibility that it might have been goldsmith Richard Farmer, who worked in London at this time.19
The font is 37 1/2" (952 mm) high overall, with a 23 1/8" (587 mm) wide basin. The font and cover weigh 621 oz. 10 dwt (19.33 kg), while the basin weighs 292 oz. 12 dwt (9.10 kg); the overall weight is 914 oz. 3 dwt (28.43 kg).20
This unique font of 'considerable virtuosity' is described by the authoritative Crown Jewels as:
a circular bowl supported by a tall cylindrical stem with a central knop [a small decorative knob] and spreading circular foot. Its domed cover rises to a circular vase finial [an ornamental terminating part] [...]. The bowl of the font is repouss� and finely chased* with ropes and drapery involving six cherubs [...]. The stem is chased with flowers and foliage in flat relief and the knop and foot with acanthus and palm leaves. The cover border is similarly decorated to the bowl [...]. The basin or dish stand is of shaped circular outline, finely chased with birds, flowers and cherubs [...]21
* repouss� and chasing are metalsmithing techniques; one method of repouss� is "the combination of tracing the design on the front of the piece using liners (tracers), raising a relief by pushing from the back using different punches, and finally working the details on the front of the piece", while chasing involves "working on the front of the piece only". (from "Ornamental Chasing and Repouss�", by Valentin Yotkov, Bulgarian master silversmith at http://www.valentinyotkov.com/article.htm )
The font was first officially used for the christening of Prince James Francis Edward, son of King James II, in October 1688.22 It was regilt in 1702, and was then used at royal christenings until Princess Charlotte's baptism in 1796, apparently the last recorded occasion.23 (The font was used for nearly all of King George III's children, according to certain sources.)24 Although there isn't any official documentation, records suggest it was also used at the christening of the future Queen Victoria in 1819.25 The font was used at the christening of Victoria's son in 1842, but it played a supporting role. The font, standing in its basin, rested on a low platform; within this larger font was placed the smaller Lily Font that held the water with which the Prince of Wales was christened.26 The 1660 font was used perhaps for the last time at the christening of Princess Alice, Queen Victoria's third child, in 1843, where it was used in the same manner as in the previous year.27 After this date, though, it does not seem to have been used, either as the principal font, or as a secondary font. No mention of its use is found in descriptions of subsequent royal christenings (for example, those in The Times), nor is it featured in paintings of royal christenings (for example, the Christening of Prince Alfred, by James Doyle, in 1844).
The 1660 christening font and basin is part of the kingdom's regalia and is stored in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.28
Other items associated with past royal baptisms include a silver-gilt christening basin and ewer of British manufacture made about 1735. Engraved inscriptions found on both items state that "this ewer and basin was used at the Christening of George the Third [and] at the Christening of H.R.H. Prince Alfred Son of George the Third".29 The oval basin is 18" (457 mm) long and weighs 80 oz. 1 dwt (2.49 kg). The overall height of the pear-shaped ewer is 18" (457 mm), and weighs 97 oz. 8 dwt (2.47 kg). Both pieces are engraved with the Royal arms of King George III. The maker and supplier of the basin and ewer are unknown, but it was possibly goldsmith George Wickes, a royal warrant holder of Frederick, Prince of Wales.30
Finally, a large, round silver dish and matching rose-water ewer, made in Augsburg ca 1715, were used at the christening of the future Queen Mary in July 1867. The dish was also used at the christening of Prince Edward of York, later King Edward VIII, in 1894 and possibly used at the christening of his younger brother Albert (later King George VI) in 1896. The two pieces, decorated in "the formal baroque manner", were sold at auction for �900 in April 1968.31
Footnotes:
1. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449, and Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948. Vicky's christening is commemorated in the painting Christening of the Princess Royal, by C.R. Leslie. (See, for example, Gernsheim, Queen Victoria, p. 70, illustration 53)
2. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 443, and The Times, 11 February 1841.
3. Allison/Riddell, Royal Encyclopedia, p. 313.
4. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 450.
5. The Times, 22 March 1978.
6. The Times, 22 March 1978. A ewer is a decorative water pitcher with handle and spout.
7. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 447.
8. Blair, Crown Jewels, pp 449-450.
9. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449. Twice, on the occasions of the christenings of Princess Victoria and her sister Princess Helena, The Times reported that the firm "Messrs. E. and W. Smith" was responsible for the new font. (The Times, 11 February 1841 and 24 July 1846). Nearly one hundred years later, a letter to the editor of The Times written a few days after the christening of the Duke of Kent's daughter, Princess Alexandra, in 1937 stated that firm "E. J. and W. Barnard" made the font. (The Times, 12 February 1937) The Times was correct in its reports, in so far that both firms were involved with the font.
10. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449. This source features a photograph of the Lily Font (p. 448). The Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948, also features a large photograph of the font (p. 685).
11. The Times, 11 March 1864 and The Times, 11 February 1841. A tazza is an ornamental cup or vase with a large, flat, shallow bowl, resting on a pedestal.
12. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449, and The Royal Encyclopedia, p. 313.
13. The Times, 24 July 1846, and Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449.
14. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449. Allison/Riddell, Royal Encyclopedia, p. 313 says the stem is lily-shaped.
15. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 449.
16. Allison/Riddell, Royal Encyclopedia, p. 313. The newly-renovated underground Jewel House, which displays and stores the Lily font, Crown jewels, Coronation robes, and many other priceless items, was opened to the public in July 1967. (The Times, 6 July 1967) The font was kept at Windsor Castle as late as 1962, when it was brought to Buckingham Palace for the christening of the Earl of St. Andrews, elder son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, in September 1962. (The Times, 15 September 1962)
17. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 444, which adds that the King's cypher CR and crown are engraved upon the font. The Times, 12 February 1937 gives a range of years, that is, 1660-1661.
18. The only gold font in England (the "most valuable vessel in private hands") seems to have been the solid gold font (222 oz. of 22-carat gold) made in the 1790s by goldsmith Paul Storr's firm for the christening of Viscount Woodstock, grandson of the 3rd Duke of Portland. Known as the "Portland Font" or the "George III Font", it was sold at auction for �950,400 in 1985 after the death of the 7th Duke of Portland in 1977. (The Times, 3 June 1985, 4 July 1985, 9 July 1985 and 12 July 1985)
19. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 444.
20. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 443.
21. Blair, Crown Jewels, pp 443-444.
22. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 444, and Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 35. Other sources incorrectly report when the font was first used. For example, The Times, 26 January 1842, on the occasion of the christening of the Prince of Wales, stated that the font was "used at the christening of Charles II". St Aubyn, Edward VII, p. 17 goes further back in time by stating that the Prince was baptised from "the font used for the christening of Charles I".
23. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 445.
24. The Times, 12 February 1937, and Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 35.
25. Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 35. The author adds that "the weight of contemporary evidence is so great that the use of the 'gold font' [at the christening] is accepted as an historical fact". According to other biographies of Her Majesty (among them Lee, Queen Victoria, p. 11, and Longford, Victoria, p. 24), the 'gold font' was part of the christening ceremony.
26. The Christening of the Prince of Wales, by Sir George Hayter, in, for example, Gernsheim, Queen Victoria, p. 73, illustration 57.
27. Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948. (which shows, on p. 686, an engraving of Princess Alice's christening taken from an 1843 Illustrated London News.)
28. King Charles II's font seems to be the same one as the "London No. 1, Tower of London Regalia royal font (London)" mentioned in the 'Font Inventory' of Baptisteria Sacra: An Iconographic Index of Baptismal Fonts (at http://www.library.utoronto.ca/bsi/index.html ), and the same font itemized in the official list of the Regalia stored in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, and which is described as "a noble silver font, double gilt, that the kings and royal family were christened in". (London in 1731, by Don Manoel Gonzales, London: Cassell & Co., reprinted 1888, and seen as a Project Gutenberg etext at http://etext.teamnesbitt.com/books/etext/etext01/londn10.txt.html ) This last list seems to be taken from a broadsheet titled "A List of Her [Majesty's] Regalia, besides Plate, and other Rich Things, at the Jewel-House in the Tower of London" and circulated during the reign of Queen Anne. It is reproduced as an illustration (Plate 38) on p. 64 of The English Regalia: Their History, Custody & Display, by Martin Holmes and H.D.W. Sitwell (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1972). The font is item number 8: "A Noble Silver Font, double Gilt, that the Queen and Royal Family were [Christened] in."
29. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 447.
30. Blair, Crown Jewels, p. 447.
31. The Times, 11 April 1968. The dish and ewer were sent to the Christie's sale by Lady Mary Whitley, a great-niece of Queen Mary.
Christening Cakes
Princess Victoria of Great Britain, Princess Royal
The Princess Royal's christening cake was described by The Times in the following words: it was "of the most enormous dimensions; round it was a wreath of flowers; on the top of it a rock, surmounting which Neptune, driving his hippocampi, and in the car a figure of Britannia, holding in her arms the Infant Princess Royal, the whole being executed in sugar, and being a very fair specimen of the confectioner's skill".1
Queen Victoria kept samples of Vicky and Bertie's christening cakes in small silver boxes.2
King Edward VII
The Prince of Wales's christening cake was an even more elaborate creation than the cake served at his elder sister's baptism. Two men were responsible for making this cake: Mr. Mawditt (first yeoman in the confectionery department) and his assistant Mr. Thomas (second yeoman). They began their task in mid-December 1841 with the "manufacture of some splendid and appropriate devices for the 'christening cake' of the infant Prince [...]".3 The finished product was put on display in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle, which adjoins the lengthy and lofty St George's Hall where the guests dined at the State Banquet, and where the cake was cut and distributed to the guests.4 The Times reported that the cake was:
"on a scale of magnitude and magnificence quite unrivalled, [it] stands on a silver plateau about 30 inches in diameter, and is, with its figured ornaments, upwards of 4 feet high. Without its ornaments it would appear like a Colosseum of sugar. The base is ornamented with the rose, shamrock, and thistle. Immediately above are medallions in silver of the Queen and Prince, all around alternating with the Prince of Wales's plume. Over the medallions are placed the Royal arms, while above the feathers appear the arms and emblems (the harp and leek) of Wales. The upper edge of the cake is corniced with an ornamental scroll. Above this are six pediments, with three pedestals on the uppermost, on which are placed female figures representing Ceres, Justice, and Plenty, and on yet loftier pedestals appear Britannia bearing the infant Prince, Clio with her historic pencil in hand, and St. David with his harp invoking a blessing on the child. Between these three last figures is the baptismal font, the whole being executed in a style of exquisite art by the Chief Yeoman of Her Majesty's Confectionary, Mr. Mawditt."5
Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
Prince Alfred's christening cake was placed on display in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. The cake's decoration was again entrusted to Mr. Mawditt, Her Majesty's Confectioner. It was on a somewhat less grand scale than the cake prepared for the Prince of Wales, but nonetheless elegant. (Viscountess Canning, one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting who was in attendance at the dinner thought the cake looked 'small and genteel'.)6 The "top [of the cake] was covered with a representation of an elegant fountain [...] from the centre of which arose a figure of Peace, bearing in her hand a crown of laurel; a cornucopia at her feet and supported by a number of infantine figures; the sides of the cake were tastefully decorated with garlands of artificial flowers."7
Princess Helena of Great Britain
Princess Helena's cake was the "principal ornament of the supper table" at the banquet held on the evening of her christening at Buckingham Palace. Mr. Mawditt, Her Majesty's Confectioner, once again had the honour of making the cake, which was "encircled with garlands of flowers, and was covered with an open circular temple supported by arcades, the front of each pier having a column entwined with small artificial flowers, while miniature bouquets were inserted in vases placed in the opening of each arch."8
Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught
Prince Arthur's "magnificent christening cake" was "exquisitely decorated" and an "object of great interest".9 The cake was placed "on the middle of the dinner table on the plateau of the magnificent service of gold plate" during the banquet that was held after his baptism. The top of the cake "represented an octangular [octagonal] fountain, ornamented with a number of small vases filled with miniature bouquets. The fountain rested on a circular plinth, containing a number of painted vignettes set in silver frames."10
Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany
Prince Leopold's cake was on display "in the centre of the table opposite to Her Majesty's seat" during the State Banquet in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace. The christening cake "was raised in three portions or stages, the base being decorated with wreaths of white and red roses. The two upper divisions were faced with crimson satin, on which were displayed, in white letters, the initials "P.L.", surmounted by a crown varied with ornaments of pearls and white roses. The cake was crowned with a golden cup, filled with flowers. Oval ornaments, representing the four seasons, were placed round the cake."11
Prince Albert Victor of Great Britain, Duke of Clarence
Prince Albert Victor had a "superb christening cake" that was placed "conspicuously" in the Ball Supper Room, where the royal guests assembled for their refreshments.12
Prince Arthur of Great Britain
Following the baptism of her grandson Prince Arthur in February 1883, Queen Victoria sent "some of little Baby Arthur's Christening cake" to her Hessian grandchildren in Darmstadt.13
The Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII)
The future King Edward VIII had at least three christening cakes. In addition to the two cakes that had been received at White Lodge where the christening took place, the ladies of Cheltenham gave as their gift to the infant Prince a cake paid for through subscription.14
Princess Mary of Great Britain, Princess Royal
Princess Mary's christening cake was made by the Edinburgh firm McVitie and Price. The cake "weighed about 70lb., and was surmounted by a banner bearing the Royal coronet and the letters 'V.A.A.M.', the initials of the Princess."15
HM The Queen
The future Queen Elizabeth II's christening cake was also made by McVitie and Price.16 After her afternoon christening, "there was a small family tea party at 17 Bruton Street, residence of the Duke and Duchess of York, when the Duchess cut the magnificent christening cake, which was ornamented in traditional fashion with a silver cradle."17 It seems that just a handful of newspapers reported the christening or published a photograph of the "simple cake decorated with the white roses of the House of York and a little silver cradle with a baby inside".18
Princess Margaret of Great Britain
An "enormous cake was sent down from Scotland" for Princess Margaret's christening.19 Soon after the baptism, her mother the Duchess of York "sent to each home in Glamis [in Scotland] a piece of Princess Margaret Rose's christening cake. The boxes, each bearing the inscription, "H.R.H. Princess Margaret Rose of York's christening cake" have just been delivered by post", reported The Times.20
HRH The Duke of Kent
Prince Edward's "big white christening cake was cut in one of the State rooms" at Buckingham Palace.21
HRH The Prince of Wales
Three main cakes were made for Prince Charles' christening in December 1948. All of them were on display in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, where a family reception was held after the ceremony.22 The principal cake was made by McVitie and Price from the top tier of the official cake made for the wedding of Prince Charles' parents. More precisely, this top tier was "redecorated to form a christening cake for the Prince by hands which assisted in making the christening cake for his mother". It featured intricate lace work done in icing and was topped with a silver cradle in which a "baby doll dressed by the Royal School of Art Needlework in a christening robe" slept.23 The second confection was a "magnificent christening cake" that weighed 130 lbs and was 36 inches high.24 It was made by the students of the National Bakery School from ingredients supplied from around the British Empire.25 The cake, exhibited at the Borough Polytechnic before the christening. is a sturdy, square-shaped cake topped with a coronet.26 The third cake of two tiers was a group effort, and was contributed by the Universal Cookery and Food Association. The ingredients were supplied by the Association, the marzipan was made by students of the Acton Technical College, and the icing and decoration were made by Mr. E.C. Bell of the Worshipful Company of Bakers. The lower tier was made by the Manchester Training College of Domestic Economy, and the upper tier was made by the Monkey Club. The cake was decorated with small silver charms and other silver ornaments that were made by war-disabled ex-service silversmiths.27 Last, a smaller cake (made for a 'private celebration') was baked by Mrs. Barnes, the cook at Prince Charles' parents' rented country house, Windlesham Moor in Berkshire. Mrs. Barnes "was obliged to limit the amount of sugar in the cake" due to war-time rations that were still in effect.28
HRH The Princess Royal
Princess Anne had a "one-tier christening cake covered with white icing and surmounted by a small silver cradle containing a baby dressed in ivory lace. The front panel of the cake was decorated with the coats of arms of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh."29
HRH Prince William of Great Britain
Prince William's christening cake was "by tradition the top layer of the Prince and Princess [of Wales'] wedding cake". Pieces of the cake were "distributed to 182 men of the Welsh Guards and the Parachute Regiment wounded in the Falklands conflict."30
Footnotes:
1. The Times, 11 February 1841.
2. Staniland, In Royal Fashion, p. 124.
3. The Times, 18 December 1841.
4. Kidd, Royal Children, p. 30.
5. The Times, 26 January 1842.
6. Surtees, Charlotte Canning, p. 128.
7. The Times, 7 September 1844.
8. The Times, 27 July 1846.
9. Aston, His Royal Highness, p. 37.
10. The Times, 24 June 1850.
11. The Times, 29 June 1853.
12. Illustrated London News, 12 March 1864 and The Times, 11 March 1864.
13. Hough, Advice, p. 43.
14. The Times, 16 July 1894.
15. The Times, 8 June 1897.
16. The Times, 1 May 1926.
17. quoted in Rhodes (Usenet).
18. Courtney, Royal Children, p. 123.
19. Clear, Royal Children, p. 99.
20. The Times, 25 November 1930.
21. The Times, 21 November 1935.
22. The Times, 15 December 1948, The Times, 16 December 1948 and Holden, Prince Charles, p. 63.
23. Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948, which shows, on p. 687, a photograph of the cake and a close-up of the silver cradle.
24. Kidd, Royal Children, p. 122.
25. Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948.
26. Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948 and Kidd, Royal Children, p. 122. Photographs of the cake are found on p. 687 and p. 122 of these publications respectively.
27. Illustrated London News, 18 December 1948.
28. Kidd, Royal Children, pp 122-123.
29. The Times, 23 October 1950.
30. The Times, 5 August 1982.
Churches
All Saints Church, St Paul's Walden Bury
All Saints is located near the house of St Paul's Walden Bury, Hertfordshire. It is a small and pretty 12th-century village church. One of its south aisle windows contains a memorial to the Honourable Sir David Bowes-Lyon, youngest brother of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who was for many years church warden at All Saints.
Christ Church, Esher
Christ Church, built in 1854, is also known as Esher (Parish) Church. It is located in the centre of the small community of Esher, Surrey about 15 miles southwest of London. Nearby is Claremont, once the home of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (Queen Victoria's youngest son). Christ Church's architectural style is described as "restrained Victorian Gothic". The Church, with its "fine tower and spire", has monuments to Prince Leopold, husband of Princess Charlotte, heiress presumptive from 1796-1817 (Leopold later became King of the Belgians in 1831), and to the Duke of Albany.
St Anne's Church, Bagshot
St Anne's is a neo-gothic style church in Bagshot, Surrey. The church was built in 1883-1884 on land donated by HRH The Duke of Connaught (Queen Victoria's younger son) from his estate called Bagshot Park. The pews of St Anne's are made from specially imported Canadian pine. In March 1990, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother unveiled a plaque in memory of Lady Patricia Ramsay (n�e Princess Patricia, younger daughter of the Duke of Connaught), who lived nearby in the village of Windlesham and who worshipped regularly at St Anne's. Other Connaught links include the Duke's silken Garter banner, which his family gave to the Church after his death in 1942, a seascape near the lectern painted by Lady Patricia, and a carving over the pulpit depicting the Crucifixion that was given by the Duke's son, Prince Arthur.
St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham
St Mary Magdalene is also known as Sandringham Church or Sandringham Parish Church. It is located on the Sandringham estate near King's Lynn, Norfolk. The church's history dates to at least 1321, but its association with the royal family begins in 1862 when the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) bought the Sandringham estate. The royal family worships here when it is in residence at Sandringham; two pews in the chancel are reserved for the royal family, its guests and members of the Household. The public is welcome to attend the services. The christening font is at the west end of the church. Princess Eugenie of York, Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, is the most recent member of the royal family to be christened here in 1990.
St Peter's, Hovingham
St Peter's is a small church, located next door to Hovingham Hall near York, Yorkshire, the home of the Worsley baronets. Its rose-marble christening font dates back to Saxon times.
Chapels
Chapel Royal, St James's Palace
The Chapel Royal is one of two chapels at St James's Palace (the other is the Queen's Chapel). King Henry VIII acquired a convent on the site of what is now St James's Palace in 1531. He had the convent rebuilt, but little of the building remains today except for the chapel. In 1836, the chapel was enlarged and renovated with oak panelling and a new ceiling. It was damaged during World War II, and subsequently restored. The chapel is used as a place of worship and has been the location of weddings (for example, Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) and christenings (the most recent one seems to be that of Lady Amelia Windsor, granddaughter of HRH The Duke of Kent, in December 1995). It was here that the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales was placed before the altar prior to her funeral in September 1997. The Royal Chapel is not open to the public except for Sunday services from October to Easter.
Private Chapel, Buckingham Palace
One of King George III's libraries, the Octagon Library, built in the 1760s, was converted into a chapel; it was located on the south side of Buckingham Palace. In the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, Her Majesty had one of the Palace's conservatories (located on the west garden side of Buckingham Palace) transformed into a chapel, because she did not like the older octagonal chapel. When it was completed, the new chapel was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in March 1843, just in time for the christening of Queen Victoria's daughter Alice that June. Nearly one hundred years later, the chapel was destroyed during World War II when the Palace was hit by bombs in September 1940. Princess Alexandra, daughter of the Duke of Kent, and Princess Irene, granddaughter of Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, were the last royal children to be christened in the chapel in 1937 and 1940 respectively before it was destroyed in the Blitz. Some years later, the site of the former chapel was restored, and a small section of it was made over into a tiny chapel. However, at Prince Philip's suggestion, most of the original site became the Queen's Gallery where royal art treasures are exhibited. (The Gallery was opened to the public for the first time in July 1962.)
Private Chapel, Kensington Palace
The Private Chapel at Kensington Palace was originally built for King William III, and had its own resident chaplain. The Chapel did not have a fixed location throughout most of its history, being relocated in various areas of the Palace from time to time. It finally had a permanent location (where it is currently situated), when King Edward VII ordered the Chapel closed in 1901 and abolished the position of the chaplain. Much restoration work was done to the Chapel between 1999 and 2002, when HM The Queen re-opened the Chapel during her Golden Jubilee. Lady Davina Windsor, elder daughter of HRH The Duke of Gloucester, was married in the Chapel in the summer of 2004.
Private Chapel, Windsor Castle
The Private Chapel in Windsor Castle is located between St George's Hall and the Crimson Drawing Room. It was a somewhat gloomy chapel until Queen Elizabeth II ordered its renovation in 1976. The Chapel was the site of the 1992 fire at the Castle, which started when some curtains caught alight. (Part of this area is now the Lantern Lobby and a plaque indicates where the fire started.) Instead of restoring the Chapel in its entire former location, a new neo-Gothic style Private Chapel was designed by Giles Downes and built nearby in what used to be the Holbein Room. Viscount Linley, the Queen's nephew, designed and made a new altar for the Chapel, while the Duke of Edinburgh designed six new stained glass windows depicting the November 1992 fire. Lady Louise Windsor, Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, is the most recent member of the royal family to be christened here in 2004.
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel is located within the grounds of Windsor Castle, just outside the town of Windsor, about twenty miles west of London. The present chapel dates to 1475 when King Edward IV was responsible for its construction; it was completed in 1528 during the reign of King Henry VIII. The public is welcome to attend the services. (The royal family worships here, or at All Saints Church, near Royal Lodge, when it is in residence at Windsor Castle.) Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth II's grandson, is the most recent member of the royal family to be christened here in 1984.
Other Locations
Cupola Room, Kensington Palace
The Cupola Room, sometimes known as the "grand saloon", is one of the State Apartments at Kensington Palace. It is lavishly decorated, and is centrally located within the Palace. The Room has marble niches, a fireplace, and column-framed doors, but its outstanding feature is the unique ceiling. With its steeply curved or coved sides, the ceiling is "entirely of architectural trompe l'oeil, representing a four-sided coffered cupola of a type well represented in Roman architecture, but with a Garter Star at its apex".
Lower Bow Room, Buckingham Palace
The Lower Bow Room, known today as the Bow Room, was also known as the Bow Library or the 1853 Room, so-called because it contains the portraits of the distinguished visitors who attended the christening of Queen Victoria's son, Prince Leopold, in 1853. This Semi-State Apartment is decorated in white and gold, and is located on the ground floor of Buckingham Palace, directly below the Music Room (see the following entry). The Bow Room faces the west (garden) side of the Palace, and is familiar to the many people who are invited every year to the royal garden-parties, as they make their way through its five tall window-doors that open onto the broad terrace and the expansive lawns of Buckingham Palace.
Music Room, Buckingham Palace
This bow-fronted room, once known as the Bow Drawing Room, is painted white and gold, and located on the principal floor of the Palace facing the west garden side. Like the room below it, the Bow Room on the ground floor (see the previous entry), it also has a bay of five graceful windows. The Music Room is used by HM The Queen for receptions and for receiving guests during State visits, as well as for christenings of members of her extended family. Prince William of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II's grandson, is the most recent member of the royal family to be christened here in 1982.
� George, Elector of Hanover (later George I, King of Great Britain, his grandfather)
� Friedrich I, King of Prussia (his great-uncle)
Princess Anne of Hanover, later of Great Britain, Princess Royal
1709
Parents: George, Electoral Prince of Brunswick and L�neburg, Marquess and Duke of Cambridge and Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (later King George II and Queen Caroline)
Born: 22 October (Old Style)/2 November (New Style) 1709 at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover; Died: 12 January 1759 at The Hague
Christened: [information incomplete] 22 October (Old Style)/2 November (New Style) 1709 at Schloss Herrenhausen*
Names: Anne�
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: AD III:124 note 37
* Princess Anne was christened shortly after her birth, according to the baptismal registers of the Schlosskirche. (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 124 note 37)
� She was named in honour of Queen Anne.
Princess Amelia of Hanover, later of Great Britain
(1711)
Parents: George, Electoral Prince of Brunswick and L�neburg, Marquess and Duke of Cambridge and Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (later King George II and Queen Caroline)
Born: 30 June (Old Style)/10 July (New Style) 1711 at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover; Died: 31 October 1786 at her house in Cavendish Square (London)
Christened: [information unknown]
Princess Caroline of Hanover, later of Great Britain
(1713)
Parents: George, Electoral Prince of Brunswick and L�neburg, Marquess and Duke of Cambridge and Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (later King George II and Queen Caroline)
Born: 30-31 May (Old Style)/10-11 June (New Style) 1713 at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover; Died: 28 December 1757 at St James�s Palace
Christened: [information incomplete] 1 (Old Style)/12 June (New Style) 1713 at Schloss Herrenhausen*
Names: Caroline Elizabeth
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: AD III:125 note 44; BBR:59
* Princess Caroline was christened shortly after her birth, according to the baptismal registers of the Schlosskirche. (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 125 note 44)
Prince George of Great Britain
1717
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (later King George II and Queen Caroline)
Born: 2 (Old Style)/13 November (New Style) 1717 at St James�s Palace; Died: 6 (Old Style)/17 February (New Style) 1718 at Kensington Palace
Christened: 28 November 1717 (Old Style) at St James�s Palace* by John Robinson, Bishop of London�
Names: George William�
Godparents:
� King George I (his grandfather)
� Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (Lord Chamberlain of the King�s Household)
� the Duchess of St Albans (wife of the 1st Duke, and First Lady of the Bedchamber and Lady of the Stole to the Princess of Wales)�
Sources: BBR:173; CP XI:288 note g; Plumb:55-56; Pyne III:40-41; Sheppard II:48-49; Sinclair:100-101
* The Bishop of London baptised the infant Prince, according to Pyne, History, Vol. III, p. 40, but Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 48 says it was the Archbishop of Canterbury.
� Prince George�s christening took place in his mother�s bedchamber at St James�s Palace. (Pyne, History, Vol. III, p. 40, Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 48 and Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 100) According to Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 173, the event was recorded in the baptismal registers of St-Martin-in-the-Fields.
� Wallace/Taylor, Royal Mothers, p. 122 states that his parents wanted to name their son 'William', but his grandfather the King said he would be named George in his honour. Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 100 mistakenly refers to this child as "Frederick, Prince of Wales".
� A quarrel between his parents and his grandfather King George I regarding the choice of his godparents led to his parents being expelled from St James�s Palace by the King. The Prince of Wales 'detested' the Duke of Newcastle, and wanted the King and the King's brother, Ernst August, to be godparents. (Plumb, First Four Georges, pp 55-56; Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, pp 100-101; Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 173) His Majesty got his way, though, for he and the Duke were godfathers. To make matters worse, the Prince and Princess of Wales were expelled from their home, lost the guardianship of their children, and were allowed to visit their children only after they first got permission from the King. George I had sought the opinion of judges on this matter, and it was determined in 1718 that "the education and care of all the king's grandchildren while minors, and the care and approbation of their marriages, when grown up, did belong of right to his [Majesty] as king of this realm, during their father's life." (Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book 1, Chapter 4, "Of the King's Royal Family", p. 219, at http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/bk1ch4.htm )
Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Cumberland
(1721)
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (later King George II and Queen Caroline)
Born: 15 (Old Style)/26 April (New Style) 1721 at Leicester House (London)*; Died: 31 October 1765 at his house in Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair
Christened: [information unknown]
� Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia
� Queen Sophie Dorothea in Prussia (his paternal uncle and aunt)�
Sources: BBR:91-92; CP III:572; Marples:122
* Prince William was born at St James�s Palace, according to Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 572, but Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 91 says he was born at Leicester House.
� They did not appear at the christening as expected. (Marples, Poor Fred, p. 122)
Princess Mary of Great Britain
(1723)
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (later King George II and Queen Caroline)
Born: 22 February (Old Style)/5 March (New Style) 1723 at Leicester House (London); Died: 14 January 1772 at Hanau
Christened: [information unknown]
Princess Augusta of Great Britain, Princess Royal
1737
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 31 July (Old Style)/11 August (New Style) 1737 at St James�s Palace*; Died: 23 March 1813 in Hanover Square (London)
Christened: 29 August 1737 (Old Style) at St James's Palace by John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: Augusta�
Godparents:
� King George II (her paternal grandfather, who was represented by Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, Lord Chamberlain of the Household)
� Queen Caroline (her paternal grandmother, who was represented by proxy)
� the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha (her maternal grandmother, who was represented by proxy)�
Sources: AD III:115-116 note 4; BBR:36; Gent. Mag., Vol. 7, August 1737, p. 504 and p. 513; Marples:66-67; Pyne III:58-59; Sheppard II:21-22 and 51-52; Sinclair:101
* Princess Augusta was born on 31 July (Old Style), according to her father, the Prince of Wales, in a letter dated St James's 31 July 1737 in which he informs his mother, Queen Caroline, that his wife "a �t� d�livr�e une heur apr�s [...] d'une fille" (quoted in Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 21). Further, Sheppard quotes from John, Lord Hervey's Memoirs of the Reign of George II (Hervey was Vice Chamberlain of the Household 1730-1740) that "At a quarter before eleven she [the Princess of Wales] was delivered of a little rat of a girl [...]". Gentleman�s Magazine (August 1737, p. 504) also gives the date of birth as 31 July, as seen from its report dated Hampton Court, Monday, August 1: �Yesterday [31 July 1737] being Sunday [...] her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales [...] was a little after 11 o�Clock safely and happily delivered of a Princess�. (Pyne, History, Vol. III, p. 58, also says that Princess Augusta was born on 31 July 1737, at 11 p.m.) However, Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 130 and p. 111 says the Princess was born on "12-8-1737 n.s.", and cites two sources as proof: the baptismal registers of the Chapel Royal, St James�s Palace (which states: "Princess Augusta [...] Born August 1st 1737 - Baptised August 29"), and the Gazette de France, which published on 24 August a dispatch from London dated 15 August that read: �Le 11, � dix heures du soir, la princesse de Galles revint de Hamptoncourt au Palais de St James et vers une heure apr�s minuit, elle accoucha heureusement d�une princess.� (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, pp 115-116 note 4)
� According to Gent. Mag., Vol. 7, August 1737, p. 513, Princess Augusta was christened �about Eight o'Clock in the Evening�. Additionally, �the Font and Flaggons for the Christening were brought from the Tower, and were those used for the Royal Family for some hundred Years past.� Pyne, History, Vol. III, p. 59, also mentions the use of the font and flagons at Princess Augusta�s christening. Unfortunately, neither source provides a description of this font.
� Princess Augusta was named after her mother. Her father wanted her referred to as HRH Lady Augusta instead of Princess Augusta, because the �title was reserved for his wife�. (Marples, Poor Fred, p. 66)
� Every godparent suggested by the Prince and Princess of Wales was turned down by King George II. In the end, �the King and Queen themselves could scarcely avoid being god-parents, but took care to be represented by proxies�, while the Dowager Duchess� absence from the christening was due to the �difficulty and inconvenience of the long journey from Gotha�. (Marples, Poor Fred, p. 67) According to Gent. Mag., Vol. 7, August 1737, p. 513, Queen Caroline was represented by the Countess of Burlington (wife of the 3rd Earl, and Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Caroline) and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha was represented by Lady Torrington (wife of the 2nd Viscount, and Lady of Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales). However, Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 519 (which seems to be quoting a text that is very nearly phrased the same as Gent. Mag.) says that the Queen was represented by the Duchess of Richmond (first Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Caroline) and that the Dowager Duchess was represented by the Countess of Burlington.
King George III
1738
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 24 May (Old Style)/4 June (New Style) 1738 at Norfolk House, St James's Square, London; Died: 29 January 1820 at Windsor Castle
Christened: publicly 21 June 1738 (Old Style)* at Norfolk House by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of Oxford�
Names: George William Frederick
Godparents:
� Frederik I, King of Sweden
� Friedrich I, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel (for whom Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore (Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales) stood proxy)
� Friedrich III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (his maternal uncle, for whom James Brydges, 1st Marquess of Carnarvon stood proxy)�
� Queen Sophia Dorothea of Prussia (his great-aunt, for whom Lady Charlotte Edwin [Edwyn] (Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales) stood proxy)
Sources: Gent. Mag., Vol. 8, May 1738, p. 275 and Vol. 8, June 1738, p. 323; The Times, 26 January 1842
* The Times, 26 January 1842 states that the public christening took place 22 June 1783.
� The future King George III was born prematurely between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. Because he 'was very ill', he was baptized privately that same day at 11:00 p.m. by the Bishop of Oxford, who was also rector of St. James's, Westminster. He was given the name George, but at his public baptism that June, he received the names George William Frederick.
� Gent. Mag., Vol. 8, June 1738, p. 323 identifies the proxy for the Duke of Saxe-Gotha as "the Marquess of Caernarvon" [sic]. This gentleman is presumably Henry Brydges, styled by courtesy Marquess of Carnarvon, who succeeded his father as 2nd Duke of Chandos in 1744. Lord Carnarvon served the Prince of Wales in various capacities: Lord of the Bedchamber, Master of the Horse, and Groom of the Stole. (Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 131 and Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Household of Frederick, Prince of Wales 1729-51 at http://www.history.ac.uk/office/fred.html )
Prince Edward of Great Britain, Duke of York
1739
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 14 (Old Style)/25 March (New Style) 1739 at Norfolk House, St James�s Square, London; Died: 17 September 1767 at the Palais Princier in Monaco
Christened: 11 April 1739 (Old Style) at Norfolk House by Thomas Secker, Bishop of Oxford
Names: Edward Augustus
Godparents:
� Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia (his great-uncle, for whom Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry (Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales) stood proxy)
� Karl I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (a distant relative, for whom the Marquess of Carnarvon stood proxy)*
� the Duchess of Saxe-Weissenfels (n�e Duchess Friederike of Saxe-Gotha, his maternal aunt, for whom Lady Charlotte Edwin [Edwyn] (Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales) stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:352; CP XII/2:920; Gent. Mag., Vol. 9, March 1739, p. 159 and p. 214
* Gent. Mag., Vol. 9, March 1739, p. 214 identifies the proxy for the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel as "the Marquis of Carnarvan" [sic]. (For more information regarding this gentleman's presumed identity, see "King George III 1738" above.)
Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain
1741
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 30 December 1740 (Old Style)/10 January 1741 (New Style) at Norfolk House, St James�s Square; Died: 4 September 1759 at Kew Palace
Christened: 24 January 1741 (Old Style) at Norfolk House by Thomas Secker, Bishop of Oxford
Names: Elizabeth Caroline
Godparents:
� Karl, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (her father�s cousin-in-law, for whom Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore (Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales) stood proxy)
� Queen Sophia Magdalena of Denmark (wife of King Christian VI, for whom the Viscountess Irwin stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha (Louise Dorothea, wife of Friedrich III (brother of the Princess of Wales), for whom Lady Archibald Hamilton stood proxy)*
Sources: BBR:139; Gent. Mag., Vol. 10, January 1741, p. 49
* Gent. Mag., Vol. 10, January 1741, p. 49 identifies the proxy for Queen Sophia Magdalena as �the Lady Viscountess Irwin�. The Viscountess was presumably the former Lady Anne Howard, widow of the 5th Viscount Irwin [Irvine], who married secondly Colonel William Douglas in 1737. Anne was Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess of Wales 1736-1764. (Complete Peerage, Vol. VII, p. 74 and Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Household of Princess Augusta 1736-72 at http://www.history.ac.uk/office/augusta.html ) As for the proxy for the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha, Gent. Mag., Vol. 10, January 1741, p. 49 identifies her as �the Lady of Lord Archibald Hamilton�. Lady Archibald is presumably the former Lady Jane Hamilton, 3rd wife of Lord Archibald Hamilton, who was Cofferer to the Prince of Wales. (Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Household of Frederick, Prince of Wales 1729-51 at http://www.history.ac.uk/office/fred.html )
Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester
1743
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 14 (Old Style)/25 (New Style) November 1743 at Leicester House (London); Died: 25 August 1805 at his residence Gloucester House, Grosvenor Street, Middlesex
Christened: [information incomplete] 25 November 1743 (Old Style) at Leicester House
Names: William Henry
� Willem IV, Prince of Orange (his uncle, represented by proxy)
� Prince William, Duke of Cumberland (his paternal uncle)
� Princess Amelia (his paternal aunt)
Sources: BBR:177; CP V:744; Gent. Mag., Vol. 13, November 1743, p. 612
* Complete Peerage, Vol. V, p. 744 states that Prince William's christening took place at St Anne�s, Soho, Middlesex. This is probably incorrect, because as all the Prince of Wales' children were christened where they were born, it seems unlikely that his christening was elsewhere. What is more likely is that the christening took place at Leicester House (Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 177), and that it was recorded in the baptismal registers of St Anne�s. (This theory is further strengthened by the fact that Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 573 states that Prince William's brother's christening (Henry, in 1745) was registered at St Anne's.)
Prince Henry of Great Britain, Duke of Cumberland
1745
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 27 October (Old Style)/7 November (New Style) 1745 at Leicester House (London)*; Died: 18 September 1790 at his residence Cumberland House in Pall Mall, St James�s
Christened: [information incomplete] 19 November 1745 (Old Style) at Leicester House�
Names: Henry Frederick
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: AD III:141 note 47; BBR:92; CP III:573; Gent. Mag., Vol. 15, October 1745, p. 557
* Prince Henry was born 26 October 1745 according to Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 573 and Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 92. However, Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 141 note 47 and Gent. Mag., Vol. 15, October 1745, p. 557 state that he was born 27 October 1745.
� His christening was recorded in the baptismal registers of St Anne�s, Soho, Middlesex, his father�s residence being located in that parish. (Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 573 and Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 92)
Princess Louisa of Great Britain
1749
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 8 (Old Style)/19 March (New Style) 1749 at Leicester House (London); Died: 13 May 1768 at Carlton House, St James�s
Christened: [information incomplete] 1 (Old Style)/11 April (New Style) 1749 at Leicester House
Names: Louisa Anne
Godparents:
� the Prince of Hesse (as is in Gent. Mag.; presumably Prince Friedrich (later Landgrave Friedrich II) of Hesse-Cassel, her father's brother-in-law)
� the Queen of Denmark (Louisa, her paternal aunt, wife of King Frederik V)
� the Princess of Orange (Anne, Princess Royal, her paternal aunt, wife of Willem IV)
(all were represented by proxy)
Sources: BBR:245; Gent. Mag., Vol. 19, March 1749, p. 141 and Vol. 19, April 1749, p. 183
Prince Frederick of Great Britain
1750
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 13 (Old Style)/24 May (New Style) 1750 at Leicester House (London)*; Died: 29 December 1765 at Leicester House
Christened: 17 June 1750 (Old Style) at Leicester House by Thomas Secker, Bishop of Oxford
Names: Frederick William
Godparents:
� Prince George (later King George III, his brother)
� Prince Wilhelm of Saxe-Gotha (his maternal uncle, for whom Francis North, 7th Lord North (Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales) stood as proxy)
� Princess Augusta (his eldest sister)
Sources: BBR:157; Gent. Mag., Vol. 20, May 1750, p. 236 and Vol. 20, June 1750, p. 281
* According to Gent. Mag., Vol. 20, May 1750, p. 236, the �Princess of Wales [was delivered] of a princess� on this date. (�Princess� is obviously a typographical error.)
Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain
1751
Parents: Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Duchess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 11 (Old Style)/22 July (New Style) 1751 at Leicester House (London); Died: 10 May 1775 at Schloss Celle, near Hanover
Christened: 21 July (Old Style)/1 August (New Style) 1751 at Leicester House by Thomas Hayter, Bishop of Norwich
Names: Caroline Matilda
� Prince George (later King George III, her brother)
� Princess Caroline (her paternal aunt, represented by proxy)
� Princess Augusta (her sister)
Sources: BBR:59
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 12 August 1762 at St James's Palace; Died: 26 June 1830 at Windsor Castle
Christened: 8 September 1762* in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace� by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: George Augustus Frederick
Godparents:
� Adolf Friedrich IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (his maternal uncle, for whom William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire (Lord Chamberlain of His Majesty's Household) stood proxy)
� Prince William, Duke of Cumberland (his paternal great-uncle)
� the Dowager Princess of Wales (his paternal grandmother Augusta)
Sources: BBR:166; CP III:450; Greig:50-51; Hedley:76; Hibbert (George IV):18; Sheppard II:53; Sinclair:101; Smith:2; Walkley:122-123
* The future King George IV was christened on his parents' first wedding anniversary. (Hedley, Queen Charlotte, p. 76) The Duchess of Northumberland, Queen Charlotte's Mistress of the Robes, described the christening in her Diary. In her account, she mentions that "at the Feet [of the Queen's State bed] on Table stood a large Gilt Bowl on High Step & on each side Gilt Flaggons." The 'gilt bowl' is possibly the 1660 font (see Baptismal Fonts further above). (Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland, Diaries 1716-1776, ed. James Gray, 1926 quoted in Walkley, Welcome, p.123)
� According to Hedley, Queen Charlotte, p. 76, the baptism was held in the Great Drawing Room at the Palace. Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 450, Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 101, and Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 166 state that the christening took place 8 September 1762 at St James's Palace. The Times, 8 February 1841 gives the same date (8 September 1762) and adds that the christening was held "in the Great Council Chamber of the Palace, [and] the bedchamber of the Queen was thrown open [...]". According to Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 101, "when the christenings were held in this State room, the bed of the mother was placed where the Throne and Canopy usually stood, and all filed by as at a Drawing-room. Refreshments, such as tea-cakes and caudle, were afterwards served." The following sources give incorrect information: Hibbert, George IV, p. 18 (which says the christening took place in the Queen's drawing-room at St James's Palace); Kiste, George III's Children, p. 10 (which says the future King was baptized 16 September 1762 and adds it was an "unpretentious ceremony in the Queen's drawing-room at St James's"); The Times, 26 January 1842 and Smith, George IV, p. 2 (both state that the christening took place on 18 September 1762).
Prince Frederick of Great Britain, Duke of York
1763
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 16 August 1763 at St James�s Palace; Died: 5 January 1827 at the Duke of Rutland�s house, Arlington Street, St James�s
Christened: 14 September 1763 in the Presence Chamber at St James�s Palace by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Frederick Augustus
Godparents:
� Friedrich III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (his great-uncle, for whom Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� Prince Edward, Duke of York (his uncle, for whom Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon (Groom of the Stole) stood proxy)
� Princess Amelia (his paternal great-aunt)
Sources: BBR:352; CP XII/2:921; Hedley:87; Sheppard II:54; Sinclair:101
* Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 101 makes a typographical error when it says the christening took place 14 September 1762.
King William IV
1765
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 21 August 1765 at Buckingham House (later Buckingham Palace); Died: 20 June 1837 at Windsor Castle
Christened: 18 September 1765 at St James's Palace by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: William Henry
� Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (his uncle)
� Prince Henry (later Duke of Cumberland, his uncle)
� Princess Augusta (later the Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, his aunt)�
Sources: BBR:343; CP III:261; Hedley:98; Sheppard II:55; Sinclair:101-102; The Times, 26 January 1842
* The christening of the future King William IV took place 18 September 1765 (Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 55, Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102 and Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 343) in the Presence Chamber of St James's Palace (Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 55 and Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102) or in the Great Council Chamber there (Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 343). Complete Peerage, Vol. III, p. 261 states that the christening was held 20 September 1765 at (an unspecified location within) St James's Palace. The Times, 26 January 1842 gives the same date as Complete Peerage, but adds that the ceremony was held in the Great Council Chamber at the Palace.
� Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 343 says Princess Augusta (King George III's elder sister) was godmother, but Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 55 says it was Princess Louisa (the King's younger sister).
Princess Charlotte of Great Britain, Princess Royal
1766
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 29 September 1766 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 6 October 1828 at Ludwigsburg, W�rttemberg
Christened: 27 October 1766 at St James's Palace* by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: Charlotte Augusta Matilda
Godparents:
� Christian VII, King of Denmark (her uncle, for whom William Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark (his wife, her paternal aunt, for whom the Dowager Countess of Effingham stood proxy)�
� Princess Louisa (her paternal aunt)
Sources: BBR:77; Fraser:6-8; Sheppard II:55-56; Sinclair:102
* The specific christening location within the Palace was the Drawing Room, according to Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 55 and Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102, or the Chapel Royal, according to Fraser, Princesses, p. 6.
� A very large crowd of people ('many thousands') had assembled at St James's Palace on the day of the christening in order to partake of the customary cake and caudle that were served to visitors on such an occasion. When the Palace doors were finally opened, an 'extraordinary rush for admittance' occurred and many women 'were nearly killed' in the stampede. (Mrs. Matthew Hall, Royal Princesses of England, quoted in Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 56)
� The Dowager Countess of Effingham (n�e Elizabeth Beckford) was the widow of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte from 1761-1769. (For more information regarding Elizabeth Beckford, see "Princess Mary of Great Britain May 1776" further below.)
Prince Edward of Great Britain, Duke of Kent
1767
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 2 November 1767 at Buckingham House (later Buckingham Palace); Died: 23 January 1820 at Woodbrook Cottage, Sidmouth, Devon
Christened: 30 November 1767 at Buckingham Palace* by Richard Terrick, Bishop of London�
Name: Edward Augustus�
Godparents:
� the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (later Karl II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel, for whom Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� Prince Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (his maternal uncle, later Karl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for whom Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon (Groom of the Stole) stood proxy)
� the Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel (his great-aunt Mary, daughter of King George II, for whom the Duchess of Hamilton stood proxy)�
� the Hereditary Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (his aunt Augusta, sister of King George III, who was represented by proxy)
Sources: BBR:233; CP VII:179; Duff (Edward):41 and 44; Gent. Mag., Vol. 37, Dec. 1767, p. 606; Sheppard II:56
* Complete Peerage, Vol. VII, p. 179 states that Prince Edward was christened at Buckingham Palace, and that the event was recorded in the baptismal registers of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. However, Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 56 and Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 233 say the Prince was christened at St James Palace, while Duff, Edward, p. 44 specifies that it was held there in the Chapel Royal. Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102 states the infant Prince was christened at St James's Palace, but adds incorrectly "the evening of his birth; probably in his mother's room".
� The Bishop of London officiated at the baptism because the Archbishop of Canterbury was "indisposed". (Gent. Mag., Vol. 37, December 1767, p. 606)
� The prince was baptised 'Edward' (Gent. Mag., Vol. 37, Dec. 1767, p. 606 and Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 56), or 'Edward Augustus', the second name "after the uncle whose funeral knell had so closely followed his own joy bells" (Duff, Edward, p. 44).
� Duff, Edward, p. 44 and Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 56 mention only three godparents, omitting the Hereditary Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel, while Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 233 adds the Hereditary Princess. Duff, Edward, p. 44 identifies the proxy for the Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel as the "Duchess of Hamilton". The Duchess was presumably the former Elizabeth Gunning, widow of the 6th Duke of Hamilton, who married secondly the 5th Duke of Argyll in 1759. (For more information regarding Elizabeth Gunning, see "Princess Mary of Great Britain May 1776" further below.) Elizabeth was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte from 1761-1784.
Princess Augusta of Great Britain
1768
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 8 November 1768 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 22 September 1840 at Clarence House, St James�s
Christened: 6 December 1768 in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Augusta Sophia
Godparents:
� Prince Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (later Karl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, her maternal uncle, who was on a visit to England and was present at the christening)
� Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark (her paternal aunt, for whom the Duchess of Ancaster (wife of the 3rd Duke, Mistress of the Robes) stood proxy)
� the Hereditary Princess (later Duchess) of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (Augusta, her paternal aunt, for whom the Duchess of Northumberland (wife of the 1st Duke, and a Lady of the Bedchamber) stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:39; Sheppard II:56-57; Sinclair:102
* Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 39 states that Princess Augusta was christened 7 December 1768.
Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain
1770
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 22 May 1770 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 10 January 1840 at Frankfurt-am-Main
Christened: 17 June 1770 in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Elizabeth
Godparents:
� the Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Cassel (later Wilhelm I, Elector of Hesse, her father�s cousin, for whom Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� the Princess of Nassau-Weilburg (her father�s cousin, n�e Princess Caroline of Orange, wife of the (Reigning) Prince Karl, for whom the Dowager Countess of Effingham stood proxy)�
� the Crown Princess (later Queen) of Sweden (her father�s cousin, n�e Princess Sophie Magdalene of Denmark, wife of the future Gustaf III, King of Sweden, for whom the Countess of Holdernesse (wife of the 4th (and last) Earl of Holdernesse) stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:133; Cunnington/Lucas:55; Sheppard II:57; Sinclair:102
* Cunnington/Lucas, Costume, p. 55 states that her christening "was not even solemnized in church", although it was a "costly affair", and quotes from The Ipswich Journal, 19th June 1770: "... The Mantle which the young Princess wore ... was white satin, lined with pink, edged with ermine, and adorned with precious stones; the principal of which is said to be worth �1000, the whole mantle is valued at �2800."
� The Dowager Countess of Effingham (n�e Elizabeth Beckford) was the widow of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte from 1761-1769. (For more information regarding Elizabeth Beckford, see "Princess Mary of Great Britain May 1776" further below.)
Prince Ernest Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Cumberland (later Ernst August, King of Hanover)
1771
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 5 June 1771 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 18 November 1851 at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover
Christened: 1 July 1771 in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Ernest Augustus
Godparents:
� Prince Ernst of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (his maternal uncle)
� Duke Moritz of Saxe-Gotha (his paternal great-uncle, for whom Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� the Hereditary Princess of Hesse-Cassel (n�e Princess Caroline of Denmark, wife of the future Wilhelm I, Elector of Hesse (George III's cousin) for whom the Countess of Egremont stood proxy)*
Sources: BBR:93; CP III:573; Greig:71; Sheppard II:57-58; Sinclair:102
* Lady Egremont seems to be the widow of the 2nd Earl of Egremont (the former Alicia Maria Carpenter, daughter of the 2nd Baron Carpenter and sister of the 1st Earl of Tyrconnel), who was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte. Lady Egremont married in 1767 Hans Moritz, Count von Bruhl.
Prince Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Sussex
February 1773
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 27 January 1773 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 21 April 1843 at Kensington Palace
Christened: 25 February 1773 in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Augustus Frederick
Godparents:
� Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (his father�s cousin, for whom Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� Prince Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (his maternal uncle, for whom George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (Groom of the Stole and First Lord of the Bedchamber) stood proxy)
� Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel (presumably n�e Princess Louise of Denmark, wife of Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Cassel, his father�s cousins, for whom Viscountess Weymouth (wife of the 3rd Viscount, and Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte) stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:323; CP XII/1:535; Gent. Mag., Vol. 43, January 1773, p. 45 and Vol. 43, February 1773, p. 102; Sheppard II:58; Sinclair:102
* Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 323, Gent. Mag., Vol. 43, February 1773, p. 102, and Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102 state that Prince Augustus� christening took place at St James�s Palace, but Complete Peerage, Vol. XII/1, p. 535 states that it occurred at the Queen's Palace (now Buckingham Palace). Complete Peerage, Vol. VII, p. 179 states almost the same thing for Prince Augustus' elder brother Edward -- that he was christened at Buckingham Palace, and that the event was recorded in the baptismal registers of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. Since most reference works state that all of King George III's children were christened in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace (with the possible exception of the King's youngest son Prince Alfred), it is reasonable to think that Prince Augustus and Prince Edward were christened at St James's Palace like their siblings.
Princess Sophia of Great Britain
June 1773
Parents: Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester and Maria Walpole
Born: 29 May 1773 at Gloucester House*; Died: 29 November 1844 at the Ranger�s House, Blackheath, Greenwich
Christened: privately 26 June 1773 at Gloucester House by Charles Moss, Bishop of St David�s (and rector of St George's, Hanover Square)�
Names: Sophia Matilda
� Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland (her uncle)
� the Duchess of Cumberland (his wife, the former Lady Anne Luttrell)
� Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark (her paternal aunt, who was represented by proxy)�
Sources: BBR:318; Gent. Mag., Vol. 43, June 1773, p. 297 and p. 301; Greig:204
* Princess Sophia was born at her father�s residence, which was located in the parish of St George, Hanover Square.
� She was christened 26 June 1773, according to Gent. Mag., Vol. 43, June 1773, p. 301. (Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 318 says 27 June 1773.) The baptism was a private, quiet affair and only a few members of the Royal Family were present. (Greig, Diaries, p. 204) Princess Sophia's parents, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, had incurred her uncle King George III's displeasure because he disapproved of their marriage. Consequently, no "proper officers" were dispatched to witness the Princess' birth, and when London aldermen proposed a "humble address of congratulations" be sent to the King, the motion was opposed because it was seen as "an affront to the King, his Majesty having never owned the Lady for his sister". (Gent. Mag., Vol. 43, June 1773, p. 297)
� King George III was asked to be a godfather, but he was upset by his brother having married a commoner and refused. (Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 318)
Prince Adolphus of Great Britain, Duke of Cambridge
March 1774
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 24 February 1774 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 8 July 1850 at his residence Cambridge House, Piccadilly, Middlesex
Christened: 24 March 1774 in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Adolphus Frederick
Godparents:
� Duke Johann Adolf of Saxe-Gotha (his great-uncle, Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Cassel (his cousin, for whom George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey (Extra Lord of the Bedchamber) stood proxy)
� the Princess of Orange (n�e Princess Friederike Wilhelmine of Prussia, wife of (Reigning Prince) Willem V, his cousin, for whom the Dowager Countess of Effingham stood proxy)*
Sources: BBR:56; Sheppard II:58; Sinclair:102
* The Dowager Countess of Effingham (n�e Elizabeth Beckford) was the widow of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte from 1761-1769. (For more information regarding Elizabeth Beckford, see "Princess Mary of Great Britain May 1776" further below.)
Princess Caroline of Great Britain
July 1774
Parents: Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester and Maria Walpole
Born: 24 June 1774 at Gloucester House; Died: 14 March 1775 at Gloucester House*
Christened: [information incomplete] privately 22 July 1774
Names: Caroline Augusta Maria
Godparents:
� the Hereditary Prince (later the Duke) of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (Karl, her uncle)
� the Hereditary Princess (later the Duchess) of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (his wife Augusta, her paternal aunt)
� the Duchess of Gloucester (her mother)
Sources: BBR:63-64; Gent. Mag., Vol. 44, July 1774, p. 331
* Princess Caroline was born and died at her father�s residence, which was located in the parish of St George�s, Hanover Square.
Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester
February 1776
Parents: Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester and Maria Walpole
Born: 15 January 1776 at the Teodoli Palace in Rome; Died: 30 November 1834 at Bagshot Park, Surrey
Christened: 12 February 1776 at the Teodoli Palace by the Reverend Mr. Salter*
Names: William Frederick
� Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (his father�s cousin)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha (his wife n�e Duchess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen)
� Karl Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (his father�s second cousin)
Sources: CP V:745; Gent. Mag., Vol. 46, February 1776, p. 92 and Vol. 46, March 1776, p. 138
* Prince William was christened �in the presence of the English gentlemen who were at Rome.� (Gent. Mag., Vol. 46, March 1776, p. 138)
Princess Mary of Great Britain
May 1776
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 25 April 1776 at the Queen�s Palace (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 30 April 1857 at her residence Gloucester House, Piccadilly, Middlesex
Christened: 19 May 1776* in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: Mary
Godparents:
� Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel (presumably Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel, her father�s cousin, for whom Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha (n�e Duchess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of Ernst II, her father�s cousin, for whom the Duchess of Argyll was proxy)�
� Princess Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (n�e Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, wife of the future Karl, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, her father�s cousin, for whom the Dowager Countess of Effingham was proxy)
Sources: BBR:259; CP V:746; Gent. Mag., Vol. 46, April 1776, p. 191 and Vol. 46, May 1776, p. 238; Sheppard II:58; Sinclair:102
* Princess Mary was baptized on her mother�s birthday, according to Gent. Mag., Vol. 46, May 1776, p. 238, which reported the following: �Being the birth-day [19 May 1776] of her Majesty [�] his Majesty received the compliments of the nobility, etc. on that occasion. The same evening the young Princess [his infant daughter] was christened by the name of Mary.� Complete Peerage, Vol. V, p. 746 states incorrectly that the christening took place 10 May 1776, while Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102 makes a typographical error by saying 25 April 1771.
� The christening was recorded in the baptismal registers of the Chapel Royal, St James�s Palace. (Complete Peerage, Vol. V, p. 746, Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 58 and Williamson, Brewer�s British Royalty, p. 259)
� The Duchess of Argyll (n�e Elizabeth Gunning) was the wife of John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, and the widow of the 6th Duke of Hamilton. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte from 1761-1784. The Duchess was �of irreproachable character, and the object of the life long admiration of George III�. (Complete Peerage, Vol. I, p. 210 note a) The day after Princess Mary�s christening, the Duchess was created Baroness Hamilton on 20 May 1776. The Dowager Countess of Effingham (n�e Elizabeth Beckford) was the widow of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte from 1761-1769. Two days after the Princess� christening, the Dowager Countess married Field Marshal Sir George Howard on 21 May 1776.
Princess Sophia of Great Britain
1777
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 3 November 1777 at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace); Died: 27 May 1848 at her house in Vicarage Place, Kensington
Christened: 1 December 1777 in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Sophia
Godparents:
� Prince August of Saxe-Gotha (her father�s cousin)
� the Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (n�e Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia, her paternal grandfather�s cousin, wife of (Reigning) Duke Karl I)
� the Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (n�e Duchess Luise Friederike of W�rttemberg, wife of her mother�s cousin (Reigning) Duke Friedrich II)
(all were represented by proxy)
Sources: BBR:316; Sheppard II:59; Sinclair:102
* Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 102 makes a typographical error when it says the christening occurred 1 December 1771.
Prince Octavius of Great Britain
1779
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 23 February 1779 at the Queen�s House (now Buckingham Palace)*; Died: 3 May 1783 at Kew Palace
Christened: 23 March 1779 in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Octavius
Godparents:
� Karl I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (his paternal grandfather�s cousin-in-law, for whom Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford (Lord Chamberlain of the Household) stood proxy)
� Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (his mother�s cousin, for whom John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham (Groom of the Stole and First Lord of the Bedchamber) was proxy)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (n�e Princess Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt, wife of Duke (later Grand Duke) Carl August, a close relative, for whom Countess of Egremont was proxy)�
Sources: BBR:284; Sheppard II:59; Sinclair:102
* According to Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 26, Prince Octavius was born 23 February 1779 at St James's Palace, and died 2 May 1783.
� Lady Egremont seems to be the widow of the 2nd Earl of Egremont (the former Alicia Maria Carpenter, daughter of the 2nd Baron Carpenter and sister of the 1st Earl of Tyrconnel), who was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte. Lady Egremont married in 1767 Hans Moritz, Count von Bruhl.
Prince Alfred of Great Britain
1780
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 22 September 1780 at Windsor Castle*; Died: 20 August 1782 at Windsor Castle
Christened: 21 October 1780 in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Alfred
Godparents:
� the Prince of Wales (later King George IV, his eldest brother)
� Prince Frederick (Prince Bishop of Osnabr�ck, later Duke of York, his elder brother)
� the Princess Royal (Charlotte, his eldest sister)
Sources: BBR:18; Sheppard II:59; Sinclair:103
* Prince Alfred was "handicapped and delicate from birth, perhaps a 'blue baby'". (Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 18)
Princess Amelia of Great Britain
1783
Parents: King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 7 August 1783 at Royal Lodge, Windsor Great Park; Died: 2 November 1810 at Augusta Lodge, Windsor Great Park
Christened: 18 September 1783 in the Great Council Chamber at St James�s Palace by John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Amelia
� the Prince of Wales (later King George IV, her eldest brother)
� the Princess Royal (Charlotte, her eldest sister)
� Princess Augusta (her elder sister)
Sources: BBR:23; Fraser:75; Sheppard II:60; Sinclair:103
* According to Fraser, Princesses, p. 75, Amelia's christening took place on 17 September 1783 in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace.
Princess Charlotte of Great Britain
1796
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (later King George IV and Queen Caroline)
Born: 7 January 1796 at Carlton House, London; Died: 6 November 1817 at Claremont House, near Esher, Surrey
Christened: 11 February 1796 in the Great Audience Chamber at Carlton House by John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Charlotte Augusta
� King George III (her paternal grandfather)
� Queen Charlotte (her paternal grandmother)
� the Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenb�ttel (Augusta, her maternal grandmother, for whom the Princess Royal stood proxy)
Sources: AD III:173 note 1; BBR:79; Sheppard II:60-61; Sinclair:103; The Times, 12 February 1796 and 17 February 1796
* Princess Charlotte was christened at Carlton House, according to her baptismal report in The Times, 12 February 1796, and according to the official announcement of her baptism dated Carlton House 16 February 1796 in the London Gazette, 16 February 1796, which appeared in The Times, 17 February 1796. (Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 79 also says the christening took place at Carlton House.) Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, pp 60-61 and Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 103 incorrectly say the christening occurred at St James's Palace, although the event was presumably recorded in the Palace's official Register Book.
Princess Charlotte of Great Britain
March 1819
Parents: Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Clarence and Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (later King William IV and Queen Adelaide)
Born: 27 March 1819 at (her father's residence) the Fürstenhof in (the city of) Hanover*; Died: 27 March 1819 at the Fürstenhof
Christened: [information incomplete] privately 27 March 1819 at the F�rstenhof�
Names: Charlotte Augusta Louisa
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: AD III:173-174 note 4-5; BBR:79; The Times, 7 April 1819
* Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 27 states incorrectly that Princess Charlotte was born at St James's Palace.
� According to The Times, 7 April 1819 (p. 6), Princess Charlotte was born prematurely at 7:10 a.m. Her christening took place privately at 9:00 a.m. She died that afternoon at 1:00 p.m. (The same edition of The Times (p. 7) says that the child was born at 6:30 a.m. and died a few hours later at 1:00 p.m.) The parish registers of the Schlosskirche at Hanover give slightly different times for these events: born at 7:00 a.m., immediately baptised, and died the same day at 12:30 p.m. (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Vol. III, pp 173-174 note 4-5)
Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of Cambridge
May 1819
Parents: Prince Adolphus of Great Britain, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel
Born: 26 March 1819 at Cambridge House in (the city of) Hanover; Died: 17 March 1904 at his residence Gloucester House, Piccadilly
Christened: 11 May 1819 at Hanover by Reverend John Stanford (Chaplain to the Duke of Cambridge)*
Names: George William Frederick Charles
Godparents [incomplete list?]:
� the Prince Regent (later King George IV, his uncle, for whom Prince William, Duke of Clarence stood proxy)
� the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV, his uncle, for whom John Bourke, 4th Earl of Mayo stood proxy)�
Sources: AD III:177 note 13a; St Aubyn (George):4
* The christening (according to rites of the Church of England) was recorded in the parish registers of the Schlosskirche at Hanover. (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 177 note 13a)
� The Earl of Mayo was a Representative Peer for Ireland from 1816-1849. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Guelphs of Hanover (G.C.H.) in 1819. Lord Mayo was one of the British officials present at the births of the children of the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Clarence in March 1819. (The Times, 7 April 1819) His wife, the former Arabella Praed, would later be a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Adelaide from 1830-1837. (Complete Peerage, Vol. VIII, p. 609 and Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Household of Queen Adelaide 1830-37 at http://www.history.ac.uk/office/queenade.html )
Queen Victoria
June 1819
Parents: Prince Edward of Great Britain, Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Born: 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace; Died: 22 January 1901 at Osborne House, Isle of Wight
Christened: privately 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace by Charles Manners-Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Alexandrina Victoria�
Godparents:
� Alexander I, Emperor of Russia (in whose honour she received her first name and for whom her paternal uncle, the Duke of York, stood proxy)
� the Prince Regent (her uncle, later King George IV)
� the Dowager Queen of W�rttemberg (her aunt Charlotte, Princess Royal for whom another aunt, Princess Augusta, stood proxy)
� the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (her maternal grandmother Auguste, for whom her aunt Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester stood proxy)�
Sources: BBR:332; Charlot:32-33; Lee (Victoria):11-12; Longford (Victoria):24-25; The Times, 25 June 1819; Weintraub (Victoria):41-43; Woodham-Smith:34-36
* The christening was recorded in the baptismal registers of the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. (The Times, 25 June 1819, p. 3, and Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 36) It was a private affair, with only a few close family members present, by order of the Prince Regent, as opposed to other christenings in the Royal Family, which had been public events where government officials, ambassadors and the like were invited.
� The baptismal names were decided upon at the last possible moment because most of her parents' first choice of names for their daughter was forbidden by the Duke of Kent's brother, the Prince Regent. The Duke (and his wife) had settled on five names and submitted them to the Prince Regent in advance of the christening, the Duke confiding to a friend "and I hope to hold to it" [his choice of names]. (Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 34) There are slight variations in these names and in their order, depending on the Queen's biographers; for example: Victoire Georgina Alexandrina Charlotte Augusta (Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 34, quoting the Duchess of Kent's reminiscences of her daughter's christening to the Prime Minister Earl Grey, 28 January 1831), or Victoire Georgiana Alexandrina Charlotte Augusta (Charlot, Victoria, p. 32; Hibbert, Queen Victoria, p. 12), or Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Alexandrina Victoria (Longford, Victoria, p. 24, Weintraub, Victoria, p. 42). Why did the Prince Regent object to these names, which, for the most part, were traditional in the Royal Family? Other than loathing his brother, he didn't want his name (the feminized version Georgina) to come before or after that of the Russian Emperor (in its feminized form Alexandrina); he didn't want Charlotte because it was the name of his daughter, his only child, who had recently died; and he didn't want Augusta because it sounded too grand. (Hibbert, Queen Victoria, pp 12-13; Longford, Victoria, p. 24; Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 15) It wasn't until the christening, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, holding the month-old Princess in his arms, asked by what name he might baptize the child, that the Prince Regent said abruptly "Alexandrina". When the Duke of Kent requested another name be added, suggesting Elizabeth, Charlotte, or Augusta, the Prince refused. (The Prince had told the Duke of Kent the previous night that he would not allow the name Georgina.) Finally, the Prince Regent said brusquely: "Give her the mother's name also then, but it cannot precede that of the Emperor". (Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 34, quoting the Duchess of Kent's reminiscences of her daughter's christening to the Prime Minister Earl Grey, 28 January 1831)
� Lee, Queen Victoria, p. 11, omits the Prince Regent from the list of godparents. Various sources (for example, Charlot, Victoria, p. 32; Lee, Queen Victoria, p. 12; Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 332; Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 35) say the Duke of York was proxy for the Emperor of Russia, but Longford, Victoria, p. 25 says that honour went to the wife of the Russian Ambassador, Princess Lieven.
Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of Cumberland (later George V, King of Hanover)
July 1819
Parents: Prince Ernest Augustus of Great Britain, Duke of Cumberland (later Ernst August, King of Hanover) and Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 27 May 1819 at Berlin; Died: 12 June 1878 Paris
Christened: 6 July 1819 at his father's residence in Berlin by the Duke's domestic Chaplain*
Names: George Frederick Alexander Charles Ernest Augustus
Godparents:
� Alexander I, Emperor of Russia
� Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia
� the Prince Regent (later King George IV, his uncle)
� the Princes of Prussia (as is in The Times)
� the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (as is in The Times)
� Queen Wilhelmine of the Netherlands (n�e Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia, wife of King Willem I)
� the Electoral Princess of Hesse (as is in The Times; possibly n�e Princess Caroline of Denmark, wife of Wilhelm I, Elector of Hesse)
� the Duchess of Dessau (as is in The Times; presumably n�e Princess Friederike of Prussia, wife of Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau)
� Grand Duchess Alexandrina (as is in The Times; possibly n�e Princess Charlotte of Prussia, who became Alexandra Feodorovna upon Orthodox baptism, wife of the future Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia)
� the Prussian and British Princesses (as is in The Times)
Sources: BBR:93-94; The Times, 21 July 1819
* Prince George was baptised according to rites of the Church of England.
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Consort
September 1819
Parents: Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha
Born: 26 August 1819 at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg; Died: 14 December 1861 at Windsor Castle
Christened: 19 September 1819 in the Marmorsaal (Marble Hall) at Schloss Rosenau by General Superintendent Genzler (the Court Chaplain)*
Names: Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel�
Godparents:
� Franz I, Emperor of Austria
� the Duke of Saxe-Gotha (August, his maternal grandfather)
� Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen
� Emanuel, Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly (his father's brother-in-law)
� the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (his paternal grandmother, née Countess Auguste Reuss-Ebersdorff, who was away in Prague and represented by proxy)
Sources: Grey:32 and 34; James (Albert):23-24; Ponsonby:106; Weintraub (Albert):21
* Prince Albert was baptised according to the rites of the Lutheran Evangelical Church. It was an "elaborate christening", and the baptismal water was taken from the Itze river, which flowed by Schloss Rosenau. (Weintraub, Albert, p. 21)
� Depending on the source, the order of Prince Albert's names is somewhat different, but always contains these five names. For example, Grey, Early Years, p. 34 and Weintraub, Albert, p. 465 give the order as 'Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel', while Ponsonby, Lost Duchess, p. 106 states 'Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emanuel'.
Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain
1820
Parents: Prince William of Great Britain, Duke of Clarence and Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (later King William IV and Queen Adelaide)
Born: 10 December 1820 at St James's Palace; Died: 4 March 1821 at St James's Palace
Christened: 10 December 1820 at St James's Palace by William Howley, Bishop of London*
Names: Elizabeth Georgiana Adelaide�
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: AD III:174 note 7; BBR:139; Sheppard II:27 and 61; Sinclair:103
* Princess Elizabeth was born prematurely, about six weeks before she was expected. Sheppard, Memorials, Vol. 2, p. 61 (quoting the Palace's baptismal register) and Sinclair, The Chapels Royal, p. 103, state that she was baptized the day she was born. According to Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 139, her christening took place in private the following evening.
� The Duke and Duchess of Clarence wanted to name their daughter Georgina (as her first name), but "they deferred to the King's requests that she should be called Elizabeth". (Kiste, George III's Children, p. 132 and Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 139)
Princess Augusta of Great Britain
1822
Parents: Prince Adolphus of Great Britain, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel
Born: 19 July 1822 at Schloss Montbrillant, near Hanover; Died: 5 December 1916 at Neustrelitz
Christened: 16 August 1822 at Schloss Montbrillant by Reverend Edward Curtis Kemp (Chaplain to the Right Honourable Sir George Rose, British Ambassador to the Court of Berlin)*
Names: Augusta Caroline Charlotte Elizabeth Mary Sophia Louisa
Godparents:
� Prince Frederick, Duke of York (her paternal uncle)
� the Queen of W�rttemberg (Charlotte, Princess Royal, her paternal aunt)
� the Electress of Hesse (n�e Princess Auguste of Prussia, wife of Wilhelm II, her mother�s cousin)
� the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Princess Marie, her maternal aunt)
� the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg (Princess Elizabeth, her paternal aunt)
� the Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Mary, her paternal aunt)
� Princess Augusta (her paternal aunt)
� Princess Sophia (her paternal aunt)
� the Princess Charlotte Louisa Landgravine of Hesse (as is in The Times; presumably n�e Princess Charlotte of Denmark, wife of Landgrave Wilhelm, her mother�s brother)
� the Landgravine Caroline of Hesse (presumably n�e Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen, her maternal grandmother, who was present)
� the Princess Louisa, Landgravine of Hesse (who was present; possibly n�e Princess Louisa of Denmark, wife of Landgrave Karl, her mother�s paternal uncle, or, possibly Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, her mother�s sister)
� Princess Louisa of Nassau-Usingen (presumably her maternal aunt, her mother�s unmarried sister, who was present)
Sources: AD III:184 note 17; BBR:38; The Times, 27 August 1822 and 9 September 1822
* The christening (according to rites of the Church of England) was recorded in the parish registers of the Schlosskirche at Hanover. (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 184 note 17)
Princess Mary Adelaide of Great Britain
1834
Parents: Prince Adolphus of Great Britain, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel
Born: 27 November 1833 at Hanover; Died: 27 October 1897 at White Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey
Christened: 9 January 1834 at Cambridge House in (the city of) Hanover by Reverend John Ryle Wood (Chaplain to the Duke of Cambridge)*
Names: Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth�
Godparents:
� King William IV (her paternal uncle)
� Queen Adelaide (his wife)
� the Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Mary, her paternal aunt)
� the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (n�e Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel, her maternal aunt)
� the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg (Princess Elizabeth, her paternal aunt, and the only godparent who was present)
� Princess Friedrich of Anhalt-Dessau (n�e Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel, her cousin)
Sources: AD III:184 note 20; BBR:267; London Gazette of 7 February 1834 (as seen in The Times of 8 February 1834); Jackman:21
* The christening (according to rites of the Church of England) was recorded in the parish registers of the Schlosskirche at Hanover. (Huberty, Allemagne Dynastique, Tome III, p. 184 note 20) Her elder brother who was present at the baptism recorded in his diary that "Yesterday evening the christening of Mary took place. A most solemn and beautiful ceremony and the service was well performed by Mr W. The little baby did not cry at all. I signed my name as witness." (St Aubyn, George, pp 15-16)
� She was named Mary (after her aunt the Duchess of Gloucester, her father's favourite sister), Adelaide (after King William's wife), Wilhelmina (after King William), and Elizabeth (the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg). (Jackman, People's Princess, pp 20-21)
Princess Victoria of Great Britain, Princess Royal
1841
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 21 November 1840 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 5 August 1901 at Friedrichshof, Kronberg-im-Taunus
Christened: 10 February 1841* in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa
Godparents:
� Leopold I, King of the Belgians (her great-uncle)�
� Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her paternal grandfather, for whom the Duke of Wellington stood proxy)
� Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex (her great-uncle)
� Dowager Queen Adelaide (widow of King William IV)
� the Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Mary, her great-aunt)
� the Duchess of Kent (her grandmother)
Sources: BBR:331; Kidd:28; The Times, 11 February 1841; Woodham-Smith:224
* The christening took place on Prince Albert and Queen Victoria's first wedding anniversary. Two days later, the Prince wrote to his step-grandmother Duchess Caroline (widow of August, Duke of Saxe-Gotha), informing her that "the Christening went off very well. Your little great-grandchild behaved with great propriety, and like a Christian. She was awake, but did not cry at all [...] The ceremony took place at half-past six p.m. [...]" (Jagow, Letters, p. 72)
� Kidd, Royal Children, p. 28 and Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 224 state incorrectly that Princess Victoria's christening took place in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. The error seems to be due to a confusion between where the christening occurred (Buckingham Palace) and where the christening was registered (Chapel Royal, St James's Palace).
� The christening of Queen Victoria's first child was an event deemed "of great importance" by her uncle King Leopold I. His Majesty was determined to be present at the ceremony (which he indeed was), because he had not attended the Queen's accession, coronation and marriage due to what he called "motives of discretion". (Benson/Esher, Letters, Vol. I, p. 258)
King Edward VII
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 9 November 1841 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 6 May 1910 at Buckingham Palace
Christened: 25 January 1842 at St George's Chapel, Windsor by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Albert Edward
� Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia�
� Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (his great-uncle)
� Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his great-uncle)�
� the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (née Duchess Marie of Württemberg, his step-grandmother, for whom his grandmother the Duchess of Kent was proxy)
� the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha (née Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Cassel, his step-great-grandmother, widow of Duke August, for whom his great-aunt the Duchess of Cambridge was proxy)
� Princess Sophia (his great-aunt, sister of the Duke of Cambridge, who was absent due to illness and for whom his mother's cousin Princess Augusta of Cambridge was proxy)
Sources: CP III:451; Kidd:29-30; Lee (Edward VII):10; St Aubyn (Edward VII):16-17; The Times, January 26 1842; The Times, 28 January 1842
* The Archbishop of Canterbury was the first Primate of England who crowned and married the reigning Sovereign, and afterwards christened that Sovereign's heir apparent. (The Times, 22 November 1841)
� Ten days after the birth of the Prince of Wales, Prince Albert, writing on behalf of the Queen, asked King Friedrich Wilhelm if he'd consent to be godfather to their first-born son. Prince Albert added: "I admit without hesitation that the friendly fulfilment of this desire would give us very genuine pleasure." (Jagow, Letters, p. 74) One month later, Albert wrote to his brother Ernst complaining that their father "is annoyed about the arrangement for the Christening and has reproached me very seriously, because the child is not be called Ernst and because neither he nor you are to be godfathers." (Bolitho, Prince Consort, p. 47)
� Lee, Edward VII, p. 10 states incorrectly that only two of the sponsors attended the christening (the King of Prussia and the Duke of Cambridge). See The Times, 26 January 1842, which reports that a third godparent was present, namely Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Princess Alice of Great Britain
1843
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 25 April 1843 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 14 December 1878 at Neues Palais, Darmstadt
Christened: 2 June 1843 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace* by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: Alice Maud Mary
Godparents:
� Ernst August, King of Hanover (her great-uncle, for whom the Duke of Cambridge stood proxy)�
� the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her uncle, the future Duke Ernst II, for whom the Hereditary Grand Duke (later Grand Duke) Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz stood proxy)
� the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Queen Victoria's half-sister Feodore, wife of the (Reigning) Prince Ernst, for whom the Duchess of Kent stood proxy)
� Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester (her maternal grandfather's cousin)
Sources: BBR:21; Noel:25-26; The Times, 3 June 1843
* Princess Alice was the first royal child to be christened in the newly-renovated Palace chapel, which had been consecrated 25 March 1843. (The Times, 27 March 1843)
� The Archbishop forgot to make the sign of the cross as he baptised Princess Alice, but was fortunately reminded by one of the bishops who was present. Later on in the ceremony, the "leaves of the prayer book stuck together and the Archbishop and attendants struggled in vain to separate them". (Noel, Alice, p. 26)
� The King of Hanover kept the Royal Family wondering if he'd appear at his great-niece's christening; he eventually arrived, but "just in time to be too late", annoying Queen Victoria. (Benson/Esher, Letters, Vol. I, p. 481) His brother the Duke of Cambridge acted as proxy, because King Ernst August arrived "an hour after banquet was over". (Bolitho, Prince Consort, p. 58)
Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
1844
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 6 August 1844 at Windsor Castle; Died: 30 July 1900 at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg
Christened: 6 September 1844 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Alfred Ernest Albert
Godparents:
� Carl, Prince of Leiningen (Queen Victoria's half-brother, for whom the Duke of Wellington stood proxy)
� Prince George of Cambridge (his mother's cousin, for whom his father the Duke of Cambridge stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his aunt, Alexandrine, for whom his grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, stood proxy)�
Sources: Bolitho (Prince Consort):72; BBR:108; Kidd:32; Kiste/Jordaan:16; The Times, 7 September 1844
* Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 108 gives an incorrect date for Prince Alfred's christening (7 September 1844), as well as Kidd, Royal Children, p.33 (14 September 1844).
� Kiste/Jordaan, Dearest Affie, p. 16 fail to mention the Prince of Leiningen as one of the godfathers, but include Prince William of Prussia (later Emperor Wilhelm I) as a godfather. The Times, while acknowledging the presence of Prince William at the ceremony, does not mention him as a godparent. Further, Prince Albert, in a letter dated 22 August 1844 to his brother the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, refers to only three godparents: Carl, George and Alexandrine. (Bolitho, Prince Consort, p. 72) A few years later, Prince Albert wrote to Prince William after the birth of his son Arthur in 1850, asking him to be a godfather to that child, adding: "You have been present at the christenings of two of our children, but have not so far assumed the sacred office of god-father". (Jagow, Letters, p. 159)
Queen Alexandra
(1844)
Parents: Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (later Christian IX, King of Denmark) and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel
Born: 1 December 1844 at the G�le Palais (Yellow Palace), Copenhagen; Died: 20 November 1921 at Sandringham House, Norfolk
Christened: [information incomplete] at the Yellow Palace*
Names: Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: Tooley:5
* The future Queen Alexandra was baptised according to the rites of the Lutheran Evangelical Church. The "priceless silver-gilt font of the Royal Danish House" was used at her baptism. (Tooley, Life of Queen Alexandra, p. 5)
Princess Helena of Great Britain
1846
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 25 May 1846 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 9 June 1923 at her residence Schomberg House, London
Christened: 25 July 1846 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Helena Augusta Victoria*
Godparents:
� Hereditary Grand Duke (later Grand Duke) Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (husband of Queen Victoria's cousin, Princess Augusta of Great Britain)
� the Duchess of Orléans (née Duchess Hélène of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, for whom her grandmother the Duchess of Kent stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Cambridge (née Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, her great-aunt)
Sources: BRR:188 and The Times, 27 July 1846
* She was named in honour of her godmothers, the Duchess of Orl�ans and the Duchess of Cambridge, and her mother.
Princess Louise of Great Britain
1848
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 18 March 1848 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 3 December 1939 at Kensington Palace
Christened: 13 May 1848 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Louisa Caroline Alberta�
Godparents:
� Duke Gustav of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (for whom her father Prince Albert stood proxy)�
� the Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen (née Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel, for whom Dowager Queen Adelaide stood proxy)
� the Hereditary Grand Duchess (later Grand Duchess) of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (née Princess Augusta of Great Britain, the Queen's cousin, for whom Augusta's mother the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:246; Illustrated London News, 30 May 1848; The Times, 15 May 1848; Wake:19-20
* Queen Victoria's elderly aunt, Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, was a guest at the ceremony. The Duchess was, however, "in one of her nervous states", according to Her Majesty when she wrote to her uncle King Leopold I three days later, "and gave us a dreadful fright at the Christening by quite forgetting where she was, and coming and kneeling at my feet in the midst of the service. Imagine our horror!" (Benson/Esher, Letters, Vol. II, p. 174)
� The names pronounced at Princess Louise's christening were Louisa Caroline Alberta, but within a few years, "the first name by which she was known [Louisa] took the form of Louise". (Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 246)
� Princess Louise's parents had initially chosen a fourth godparent for their daughter (the Prince of Prussia, the future German Emperor Wilhelm I), but it was deemed politically prudent not to have a member of a royal family whose throne was seen as unstable during the revolutionary state of affairs in Europe at this time. (Wake, Princess Louise, p. 20)
Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught
1850
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 1 May 1850 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 16 January 1942 at his residence Bagshot Park, Surrey
Christened: 22 June 1850 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Arthur William Patrick Albert*
Godparents:
� the Prince of Prussia (later Wilhelm I, German Emperor, King of Prussia)�
� Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (a career soldier, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, and twice Prime Minister)
� Princess Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (née Princess Ida of Saxe-Meiningen, for whom the Duchess of Kent was proxy)
Sources: Aston:33-37; BBR:85; CP III:398; Frankland (Arthur):2; The Times, 24 June 1850
* The Prince's last names (Patrick Albert) were chosen by his parents "for the Irish to show our gratitude for their friendly reception of us last year [and] Victoria's love has always insisted on my name to finish up with". (Jagow, Letters, p. 159)
� The future Emperor Wilhelm was, for the first time, godparent to one of Queen Victoria's children. In a letter dated 1 May 1850, Prince Albert asked Wilhelm to be a godfather to his newborn son, Prince Arthur: "In memory of Belle Alliance of 1815 [the Waterloo campaign], and trusting in your friendship, we hope you will not refuse our invitation to stand god-father to our son along with the aged hero [the Duke of Wellington]." Prince Albert added that Princess Ida was also a godparent "in memory of poor Queen Adelaide [who died five months earlier], who would certainly have been delighted at this addition to our family." (Jagow, Letters, p. 159)
Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany
1853
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 7 April 1853 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 28 March 1884 at Villa Nevada, Cannes, France
Christened: 28 June 1853 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Leopold George Duncan Albert
Godparents:
� George V, King of Hanover (his mother's cousin)
� Ernst, 4th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (husband of Queen Victoria's half-sister Feodore)
� the Princess of Prussia (née Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, later German Empress Augusta)*
� Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (later the Duchess of Teck, his mother's cousin)
Sources: CP I:85; Illustrated London News, 2 July 1853; The Times, 29 June 1853; Zeepvat:4
* The day after the birth of his fourth son, Prince Albert wrote to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, asking if "the good cousin [Wilhelm's wife Augusta] be so friendly as to consent to be a godmother at the christening", adding "would you be so good as to set this proposal before her, and put in a good word for it yourself?" (Jagow, Letters, p. 190)
Princess Beatrice of Great Britain
1857
Parents: Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Queen Victoria
Born: 14 April 1857 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 26 October 1944 at Brantridge Park, Balcombe, Sussex
Christened: 16 June 1857 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore
Godparents:
� Prince Friedrich William of Prussia (her sister's fianc�, the future German Emperor Friedrich III)
� the Duchess of Kent (her grandmother)
� Princess Victoria, Princess Royal (her eldest sister)
Sources: BBR:42; Duff (Shy Princess):21; The Times, 17 June 1857
Prince Albert Victor of Great Britain, Duke of Clarence
1864
Parents: Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Born: 8 January 1864 at Frogmore House, Windsor Great Park, Berkshire; Died: 14 January 1892 at Sandringham House, Norfolk
Christened: 10 March 1864 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Albert Victor Christian Edward�
Godparents:
� Leopold I, King of the Belgians (his father's great-uncle)
� Christian IX, King of Denmark (his grandfather, for whom his great-uncle Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg stood proxy)
� the Landgrave of Hesse (as is in The Times; presumably Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel, his great-grandfather, for whom the Duke of Cambridge stood proxy)
� Prince Alfred of Great Britain (his uncle, later Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
� Queen Victoria (his grandmother)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (n�e Princess Alexandrine of Baden, his great-aunt, for whom the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz stood proxy)
� the Dowager Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (n�e Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, his great-grandmother, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy)
� the Crown Princess of Prussia (his aunt, Victoria, the Princess Royal, for whom her sister Princess Helena stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:82; CP III:262; Illustrated London News, 12 March 1864; Kiste (Edward):12; Lee (Edward VII):180; The Times, 11 March 1864; Tisdall:77
* Incorrect christening locations are given in Kiste, Edward VII's Children, p. 12 (Windsor) and Tisdall, Alexandra, p. 77 (St. George's Chapel). As it happened, Queen Victoria would have preferred Windsor, but she agreed with the Prince of Wales that it was "best for the people of London that they should not be deprived of the honour and gratification of having some event in town [...] by having it [...] in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace". (Buckle, Letters, Vol. I, p. 268)
� Queen Victoria wrote to her daughter Vicky with a touch of criticism that "the poor baby roared all through the ceremony - which none of you did". (Fulford, Dearest Mama, p. 306)
King George V
1865
Parents: Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Born: 3 June 1865 at Marlborough House, St James's, Westminster; Died: 20 January 1936 at Sandringham House, Norfolk
Christened: 7 July 1865 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle* by Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: George Frederick Ernest Albert�
Godparents:
� George V, King of Hanover (Queen Victoria's cousin, represented by proxy by Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach)
� Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his grandfather's brother, for whom Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (Lord President of the Council) stood proxy)
� Ernst, 4th Prince of Leiningen (his father's close friend and relative)
� the Crown Prince of Denmark (his uncle, later King Frederick VIII, for whom John Townshend, 3rd Viscount Sydney (Lord Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household) stood proxy)
� Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (Queen Victoria's cousin)
� Queen Louise of Denmark (his maternal grandmother, for whom his paternal grandmother Queen Victoria stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Cambridge (née Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, his great-great-aunt, represented by proxy by his aunt Princess Helena)
� Princess Alice (his paternal aunt, wife of the future Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, represented by proxy by her sister Princess Louise)
Sources: BBR:169; CP XII/1:924; Gore:4; Illustrated London News, 8 July 1865; Illustrated London News, 15 July 1865; Kiste (Edward):15; Lee (Edward VII):180-181;Nicolson:4; The Times, 8 July 1865
* The Times, 8 July 1865 states that the christening took place "in the chapel within Windsor Castle". Further evidence that the ceremony took place there include such descriptions in The Times' christening report as: "The Ministers and other company invited to the present proceeded on arrival to the Green Drawing-room, and thence were shown to seats provided for them in the Chapel." and "Her Majesty the Queen then retired from the Chapel to the Red Drawing Room [...]". Note that the Green Drawing Room and the adjoining Red (Crimson) Drawing Room at Windsor Castle are a few footsteps away from the Private Chapel. (The Illustrated London News' christening reports also say that the location was the Private Chapel in Windsor Castle.) It is therefore a mystery as to why certain publications (particularly Gore, George V, p. 4 and Nicolson, King George V, p. 4, and Kiste, Edward VII's Children, p. 15) state that the christening took place at St. George's Chapel.
� The christening was held "quietly and not en grande tenue", as Queen Victoria wrote to her uncle King Leopold I on the day of the ceremony. (Buckle, Letters, Vol. I, p. 271)
� Queen Victoria was not fond of the names chosen for her grandson. A few days after the child was born, she wrote to the Prince of Wales to tell him that "I fear I cannot admire the names you propose to give the baby. I had hoped for some fine old name. Frederic is, however, the best of the two, and I hope you will call him so; George only came over with the Hanoverian family. [...] Of course you will add Albert at the end, like your brothers, as you know we settled long ago that all dearest Papa's male English descendants should bear that name [...]". (Buckle, Letters, Vol. I, p. 268)
Princess Louise of Great Britain, Princess Royal
May 1867
Parents: Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Born: 20 February 1867 at Marlborough House, St James's, Westminster; Died: 4 January 1931 at her residence 15 Portman Square, Marylebone, London
Christened: 10 May 1867 at Marlborough House by Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar�
Godparents:
� George I, King of the Hellenes (her maternal uncle)
� the Crown Prince of Prussia (later German Emperor Friedrich III)
� Karl, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (her maternal great-uncle)
� Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel (possibly her mother's maternal great-uncle)
� Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (nephew of the late Queen Adelaide)
� Queen Louise of Denmark (her maternal grandmother, who was present)
� the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (n�e Princess Augusta of Great Britain, also present)
� Grand Duchess and Cesarevna (later Empress) Maria Feodorovna of Russia (her maternal aunt)
� Princess Alice (her paternal aunt, later Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine)
� Princess Helena (her paternal aunt)
� Princess Louise (her paternal aunt, later Duchess of Argyll)
(only two godparents attended: Queen Louise and Grand Duchess Augusta; all the others were represented by proxies)
Sources: Battiscombe:85; CP V:380; Illustrated London News, 18 May 1867; Kiste (Edward):17; Longford:95; The Times, 11 May 1867; Tisdall:91
* The christening took place at Marlborough House either in the Princess of Wales's bedroom (Duff, Alexandra, p. 82), or in her sitting room (Longford, Darling Loosy, p. 95, quoting from a letter dated Marlborough House 6 May 1867 from the Prince of Wales to his sister, Princess Louise, in which he writes: "Both Alix and I are very anxious that you should be Godmother to our little girl, especially as she is to bear your name. The christening is to take place here (quite privately) in Alix's sitting room on Friday next."), or in the drawing room (Tisdall, Alexandra, p. 91). Biographers also differ as to how Alix (who was suffering from rheumatic fever brought on by her pregnancy) attended her daughter's baptism. She was laying in bed according to one author (Duff, Alexandra, p. 82), or she walked into the room "hobbling on two sticks" according to another (Tisdall, Alexandra, p. 91), or she was "still in bed but looking ravishingly pretty with a pink bow in her hair [when] she was wheeled in to attend the ceremony of her baby's christening" (Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, p. 85).
� Queen Victoria did not have a lot of influence over her son and daughter-in-law's decisions regarding the christening of their first daughter. The Queen fussed over the large quantity of godparents, and more importantly, was disappointed and hurt that the child was named for her maternal grandmother instead of herself. She complained about this situation to her daughter Vicky, writing: "I really don't know why they had such hosts of sponsors. The child ought to be called 'Victoria'. But upon those subjects Bertie and Alix do not understand the right thing. Just as your children were called after the Prussian Royal Family, Bertie's ought to be after the English Family". (Fulford, Dear Letter, p. 135)
Queen Mary
July 1867
Parents: Franz, Prince (later Duke) of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Great Britain
Born: 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace; Died: 24 March 1953 at Marlborough House, St James's, Westminster
Christened: 27 July 1867 in the Private Chapel at Kensington Palace by Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes�
Godparents:
� the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII and her future father-in-law)
� Queen Victoria (her mother's cousin, for whom Princess Mary Adelaide stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Cambridge (née Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, her maternal grandmother)
Sources: BBR:271-272; CP XII/2:925 note (d); Illustrated London News, 3 August 1867; Pope-Hennessy:27; The Times, 29 July 1867
* Queen Mary was baptised in a christening robe that was later used at the christenings of her three brothers, and at the christening of her great-niece Anne Abel Smith in 1932. (Golden, Royal, p. 28) At Anne's baptism, it was stated that the robe had been worn by her mother Lady May Abel Smith and by her grandmother Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. The christening dress was described as a "very long robe of antique Valenciennes lace and muslin [...]". (The Times, 29 August 1932)
� The sequence of names was originally 'Agnes Augusta Victoria Mary Louise Olga Pauline Claudine', but was changed prior to the christening. Queen Victoria, one of the godparents, was upset at this last-minute modification. Her Majesty wrote to Princess Mary Adelaide on the day of the baptism to say "I am shocked you have been worried out of calling the Baby Agnes - such a pretty name and I think the father's family ought always to be considered first. However Mary is of course dear to us - for your & dear [Aunt] Gloucester's sakes." (Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 27)
Princess Victoria of Great Britain
1868
Parents: Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Born: 6 July 1868 at Marlborough House, St James's, Westminster; Died: 3 December 1935 at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire
Christened: 6 August 1868 at Marlborough House by Archibald Campbell Tait, Bishop of London
Names: Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary
Godparents:
� Alexander II, Emperor of Russia (for whom His Excellency the Russian ambassador, Baron de Brunnow, stood proxy)
� Grand Duke and Cesarevitch Alexander Alexandrovitch of Russia (later Emperor Alexander III)
� Prince Arthur (later the Duke of Connaught, her paternal uncle)
� Prince Ludwig (later Grand Duke Ludwig IV) of Hesse and by Rhine (her father's brother-in-law)
� Prince Georg of Hesse-Cassel (her mother's great-uncle)
� Queen Victoria (her grandmother, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy)
� Queen Olga of Greece (her mother's sister-in-law, for whom the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz stood proxy)
� Dowager Queen Caroline of Denmark (widow of King Christian VIII)
� Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (n�e Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel)
� Princess Mary Adelaide, Princess of Teck (Queen Victoria's cousin)
� Princess Friedrich of Anhalt-Dessau (n�e Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel)
Sources: BBR:330; Illustrated London News, 8 August 1868; The Times, 7 August 1868
Princess Maud of Great Britain
1869
Parents: Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Born: 26 November 1869 at Marlborough House, St James's, Westminster; Died: 20 November 1938 in a nursing home in London
Christened: 24 December 1869 at Marlborough House by John Jackson, Bishop of London*
Names: Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria
Godparents:
� Carl XV, King of Sweden and Norway (represented by His Excellency the Swedish and Norwegian Minister, Baron Hochschild)
� Prince Leopold (later Duke of Albany, her paternal uncle, who was represented by the Duke of Cambridge)
� Landgrave Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse (represented by the Prince (later Duke) of Teck)
� Count Gleichen (Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg)
� the Duchess of Nassau (n�e Princess Adelheid of Anhalt-Dessau, for whom Princess Mary Adelaide, Princess of Teck stood proxy)
� the Princess of Leiningen (n�e Princess Marie of Baden, represented by Princess Claudine of Teck)
� Grand Duchess Cesarevna (later Empress) Maria Feodorovna of Russia (her maternal aunt, represented by Baroness de Brunnow, the Russian ambassador's wife)
� Crown Princess Louise of Denmark (her aunt, wife of the future King Frederik VIII, represented by Madame de B�low, the Danish Minister's wife)
� the Duchess of Inverness (widow of Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex)
Sources: BBR:276; Illustrated London News, 1 January 1870; The Times, 25 December 1869
* Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 276 and The Times, 25 December 1869 state that Princess Maud's christening took place at Marlborough House, without specifying in which part of the house. Tisdall, Alexandra, p. 107, quoting Princess Mary Adelaide, Princess of Teck's Journal for 24 December 1869, states that "the grand christening took place in the inner hall [at Marlborough House]. I represented Adelaide Nassau, and held the baby, who was named Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria. The Bishop of London officiated."
Prince John of Great Britain
1871
Parents: Prince Albert Edward of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra)
Born: 6 April 1871 at Sandringham House, Norfolk; Died: 7 April 1871 at Sandringham House
Christened: privately 6 April 1871 at Sandringham by Reverend W. Lake Onslow (Rector of Sandringham and Domestic Chaplain to the Prince of Wales)*
Names: Alexander John Charles Albert
Godparents: [information unknown]
Sources: Buckle II:127; Duff (Alexandra):85-86; Kidd:59; The Times, 8 April 1871
* Prince John was born prematurely at 2:45 p.m. Because he was in a "very feeble state", his christening took place privately that evening in the presence of his parents, his mother's lady-in-waiting, and one of the doctors who attended his birth. The infant Prince died the following day at 2:00 p.m. (The Times, 8 April 1871) Kidd, Royal Children, p. 59 states that the Princess of Wales was only told about her child's baptism the next morning when she woke up, while Duff, Alexandra, p. 85, states that "when Alexandra awoke next morning it was to be told that [her infant son] was dead". Neither of these accounts is correct. Alix was present at her son's christening, and her son did not die the 'next morning', according to two sources: The Times' report, and the Prince of Wales's letter to the Queen dated 7 April 1871 informing Her Majesty about his son's death: "We both of us quite broke down at the short and simple Christening yesterday evening, and also to-day when I had to tell dear Alix all was over." (Buckle, Letters, Vol. II, p. 127)
Prince Alfred of Great Britain (later the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
1874
Parents: Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia
Born: 15 October 1874 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 6 February 1899 at Meran, Tyrol
Christened: 23 November 1874 in the Lower Bow Room at Buckingham Palace by Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Alfred Alexander William Ernest Albert
Godparents:
� Alexander II, Emperor of Russia (his grandfather, for whom the future Emperor Alexander III stood proxy)
� Wilhelm I, German Emperor (for whom his uncle Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught stood proxy)
� Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his father's uncle, for whom Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein [Helena's husband] stood sponsor)
� the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII, his uncle)
� Queen Victoria (his grandmother)
� the German Crown Princess (his father's sister, Princess Victoria, Princess Royal, who was represented by her sister Princess Helena)
Sources: Bolitho (Further Letters):201-203; CP V:8; Fulford (Darling Child):163; Illustrated London News, 28 November 1874; Illustrated London News, 5 December 1874; Kiste/Jordaan:100; Longford (Darling Loosy):187; The Times, 24 November 1874
* Kiste/Jordaan, Dearest Affie, p. 100 state incorrectly that Prince Alfred was christened 28 November 1874 "in the chapel at Windsor Castle". Contemporary evidence proves that the christening ceremony took place prior to this date at Buckingham Palace, for example the Illustrated London News and The Times' christening reports, and Queen Victoria's letters to her daughters Vicky (the German Crown Princess) and Louise (the Marchioness of Lorne), and her letter to Emperor Wilhelm I (Vicky's father-in-law). Both the Illustrated London News and The Times give the correct date and location of the christening (23 November 1874 in the Lower Bow Room at Buckingham Palace). The Illustrated London News (28 November 1874) reported that "the christening was performed in the lower Bow-Room in the palace", to which The Times (24 November 1874) added that the room "had been selected by the Queen for this purpose in consequence of its proximity to the apartments occupied by the Empress of Russia." The Times further stated that the Lower Bow Room "is also called the '53 Room' [and that] the font was placed near the window which opens on the Palace gardens, and the officiating clergy stood round it." In Queen Victoria's letter dated 27 November 1874 to Princess Louise, Her Majesty informs her younger daughter that "the Christening I thought a flat, dull affair [...] the room was so badly arranged and might have been prettily so - and tho' very large - people did not see as well as they might have done." (Longford, Darling Loosy, p. 187) Two days earlier, in her letter of 25 November 1874 to her eldest daughter Victoria, the Queen explained that the room where the christening occurred "was not tastefully arranged and though very large not disposed so as to admit of people seeing well [...] I would have arranged all differently had it been possible, but the Bow or '53 room was used as a passage for the Empress and some of her people stood there [...]". (Fulford, Darling Child, p. 163) In her letter dated 25 November 1874 to the child's godfather Wilhelm I, the Queen reports that the christening "went off well, although with less ceremony than usual, since it took place in the great hall downstairs at the palace [...]". (Bolitho, Further Letters, p. 202) From these epistolary descriptions, it would seem that the christening was not held in the Lower Bow Room, but in a room next door to it. In the first two letters, the location is a "very large" room, while in the third letter the location is a "great hall". (This hall was presumably the 60 meter-long Marble Hall, situated on the ground floor, and is one of the many long corridors at Buckingham Palace. The Lower Bow Room, as well as other semi-state apartments at this level, is accessed from the Marble Hall.) The Illustrated London News and The Times accurately described the Lower Bow Room in their respective reports. Further, the Illustrated London News' article is supported by its accompanying illustration ("The Royal Christening At Buckingham Palace") of the infant Prince seen in the arms of the Archbishop and on the point of receiving the sacred rite. The Lower Bow Room's distinctive bay and some of its window-doors are clearly identifiable. (Illustrated London News, 5 December 1874). Therefore, as unlikely as it seems, Queen Victoria's memory was faulty on this point, and some of the information in her letters is incorrect.
Princess Marie of Great Britain
1875
Parents: Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia
Born: 29 October 1875 at Eastwell Park, near Ashford, Kent; Died: 18 July 1938 at Pelisor, Sinaia, Roumania
Christened: privately 15 December 1875 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Honourable and Very Reverend Gerald Wellesley, Dean of Windsor*
Names: Marie Alexandra Victoria
Godparents:
� Grand Duke and Cesarevitch Alexander Alexandrovitch of Russia (later Emperor Alexander III, her uncle)
� Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (her uncle)
� Empress Marie of Russia (her maternal grandmother)
� the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (n�e Princess Alexandrine of Baden, her father's paternal aunt)
� the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra, her aunt)
Sources: The Times, 16 December 1875
* The christening "was of a strictly private nature", because it was performed on the day following the 14th anniversary of the death of the Prince Consort. (The Times, 16 December 1875)
Princess Victoria Melita of Great Britain
1877
Parents: Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia
Born: 25 November 1876 at the Palace of San Antonio, Malta; Died: 2 March 1936 at Amorbach
Christened: 1 January 1877 at the Palace of San Antonio, Malta by the British Naval Chaplain
Names: Victoria Melita
Godparents [incomplete list]:
� Queen Victoria (her grandmother, who was represented by proxy)
Sources: Illustrated London News, 6 January 1877; Illustrated London News, 13 January 1877; The Times, 2 January 1877; The Times, 11 January 1877
Princess Alexandra of Great Britain
1878
Parents: Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia
Born: 1 September 1878 at Edinburgh Palace, Coburg; Died: 16 April 1942 at Schwäbisch Hall, Württemberg
Christened: 2 October 1878 at Edinburgh Palace, Coburg*
Names: Alexandra Louise Olga Victoria
Godparents [incomplete list]:
� Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch of Russia (her uncle, who was present)
Sources: Illustrated London News, 5 October 1878; The Times, 19 September 1878; The Times, 3 October 1878
* Princess Alexandra was baptised according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church, presumably by the Duchess of Edinburgh's Greek chaplain, who arrived at Coburg in mid-September. (The Times, 19 September 1878)
Princess Margaret of Great Britain
1882
Parents: Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
Born: 15 January 1882 at Bagshot Park, Surrey; Died: 1 May 1920 at Stockholm, Sweden
Christened: 11 March 1882 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Margaret Victoria Augusta Charlotte Norah
Godparents:
� Wilhelm I, German Emperor (represented by the German Ambassador Count M�nster)
� the Prince of Wales (her uncle, the future King Edward VII)
� Prince Karl of Prussia (her great-grandfather, for whom her uncle Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, stood proxy)
� Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (her grandfather, for whom her uncle Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, stood proxy)
� Queen Victoria (her grandmother)
� the German Crown Princess (her aunt Victoria, Princess Royal, represented by her aunt Princess Christian [Helena] of Schleswig-Holstein)
� Princess Friedrich Karl of Prussia (her grandmother, represented by proxy by her aunt Princess Beatrice)
� the Duchess of Cambridge (her father's great-aunt, for whom her aunt Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne, stood proxy)*
Sources: BBR:255; Frankland (Arthur):88; Illustrated London News, 18 March 1882; The Times, 13 March 1882
* Williamson, Brewer's British Royalty, p. 255 says that the German Empress Augusta was a godparent, but does not include the Duchess of Cambridge. Neither the Illustrated London News nor The Times show Empress Augusta in their lists of the godparents.
Prince Arthur of Great Britain
February 1883
Parents: Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
Born: 13 January 1883 at Windsor Castle; Died: 12 September 1938 in a nursing home in Belgrave Square, London
Christened: 16 February 1883 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by John Jackson, Bishop of London
Names: Arthur Frederick Patrick Albert
Godparents:
� Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (Queen Victoria's cousin)
� Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, his uncle for whom the future King Edward VII stood proxy)
� Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia (his uncle, for whom the German Ambassador, Count M�nster, stood proxy)
� Queen Victoria (his grandmother)
� the German Empress Augusta (for whom his aunt Princess Beatrice stood proxy)
� Princess Hendrik of the Netherlands (née Princess Marie of Prussia, his aunt, represented by Countess M�nster, the German Ambassador's wife)
Sources: BBR:34; The Times, 17 February 1883
Princess Alice of Great Britain
March 1883
Parents: Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany and Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Born: 25 February 1883 at Windsor Castle; Died: 3 January 1981 at Kensington Palace
Christened: 26 March 1883 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline�
Godparents:
� Willem III, King of the Netherlands (for whom the Netherlands Minister His Excellency Count de Bylandt stood proxy)
� Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (for whom her uncle, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh stood proxy)
� the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII, her uncle)
� Prince Wilhelm of Württemberg (the future Wilhelm II, King of Württemberg, for whom the Duke of Teck stood proxy)
� Queen Victoria (her grandmother)
� the German Empress Augusta (for whom her aunt, Princess Beatrice, stood proxy)
� the Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont (née Princess Helene of Nassau, her maternal grandmother)
� the German Crown Princess (her aunt Victoria, Princess Royal, for whom her aunt, the Princess of Wales, stood proxy)
� the Duchess of Cambridge (for whom the Duchess of Teck stood proxy)
� the Hereditary Princess of Bentheim and Steinfurt (n�e Princess Pauline of Waldeck and Pyrmont, her aunt, for whom another aunt, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, stood proxy)
Sources: BBR:20; The Times, 27 March 1883; Zeepvat:176
* Princess Alice was baptised on Easter Monday. Her christening robe featured a tulle veil, which had been used at her mother's wedding, and which was later used at the christening of her brother and later at her confirmation. (The Times, 3 October 1907)
� She was named for her late aunt, Princess Alice, elder sister of the Duke of Albany, who died of typhoid in 1878. The Duke wanted the Princess' husband, Grand Duke Ludwig, to be a godfather, and wrote to him asking: "dear Louis, will you associate our child still more with Her [Alice] dear memory by standing Godfather? It would give us so much pleasure." (Zeepvat, Leopold, p. 176)
Princess Beatrice of Great Britain
May 1884
Parents: Prince Alfred of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia
Born: 20 April 1884 at Eastwell Park, near Ashford, Kent; Died: 13 July 1966 at Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain
Christened: 17 May 1884 in the library at Eastwell House by the Reverend W. Lloyd, R.N. (Chaplain to the Duke of Edinburgh)
Names: Beatrice Leopoldine Victoria
� Princess Beatrice of Great Britain (her paternal aunt)
Sources: The Times, 19 May 1884
Prince Charles Edward of Great Britain, Duke of Albany (later the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
December 1884
Parents: Prince Leopold of Great Britain, Duke of Albany and Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Born: 19 July 1884 at Claremont House, near Esher, Surrey; Died: 6 March 1954 at Coburg
Christened: 4 December 1884 at Christ Church, Esher, Surrey by Edward Harold Browne, Bishop of Winchester*
Names: Leopold Charles Edward George Albert�
Godparents:
� the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII, his uncle)
� Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (his maternal grandfather)�
� Alexis, 4th Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt (his mother's brother-in-law)
� Queen Victoria (his grandmother)
� Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (his aunt Princess Helena)
� Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne (later the Duchess of Argyll, his aunt)
� Baroness Alfons von Pawel-Rammingen (n�e Princess Friederike of Hanover, her father's second cousin)
Sources: CP I:87; The Times, 9 August 1884; The Times, 5 December 1884; The Times, 6 December 1884
* About two weeks after his birth, the infant Prince was "not quite well" and "it was thought advisable to baptize him" privately at home on 4 August 1884. This baptism was performed by the Reverend Samuel Warner, rector of Christ Church, Esher. (The Times, 9 August 1884)
� His christening robe featured a tulle veil, which had been used at his mother's wedding, and which was used at his sister's christening and later at her confirmation. (The Times, 3 October 1907)
� The Prince of Waldeck and the Prince of Bentheim were "unavoidably prevented from coming" to the ceremony. (The Times, 6 December 1884)
Princess Patricia of Great Britain
1886
Parents: Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
Born: 17 March 1886 at Buckingham Palace; Died: 12 January 1974 at Ribsden Holt, Windlesham, Surrey
Christened: 1 May 1886 at St Anne's Church, Bagshot, Surrey by Edward Harold Browne, Bishop of Winchester
Names: Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth
Godparents:
� Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (represented by Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein)
� the German Crown Prince (later Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia, represented by Count Hatzfeldt, the German Ambassador)
� Prince Albrecht of Prussia (represented by Hereditary Grand Duke Peter (later Grand Duke Peter II) of Oldenburg)
� Queen Victoria (her grandmother)
� the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Oldenburg (née Princess Elisabeth of Prussia, her aunt)
� Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (her paternal aunt Helena)
Sources: The Times, 3 May 1886
The Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII)
1894
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of York and Princess Mary of Teck (later King George V and Queen Mary)
Born: 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park, Surrey; Died: 28 May 1972 at his home in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris
Christened: 16 July 1894 in the Green Drawing Room at White Lodge by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David
Godparents:
� Christian IX, King of Denmark (his great-grandfather, for whom his maternal uncle Prince Adolphus of Teck stood proxy)
� Wilhelm II, King of Württemberg (his mother's distant cousin, for whom Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught stood proxy)
� the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his great-uncle, Alfred, for whom Prince Louis of Battenberg stood proxy)
� the Prince of Wales (his grandfather, later King Edward VII)
� the Grand Duke and Cesarevitch Nicholas Alexandrovitch of Russia (the future Emperor Nicholas II, his father's cousin)
� the Duke of Teck (his maternal grandfather)
� Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (his mother's uncle)
� Queen Victoria (his great-grandmother)
� Queen Louise of Denmark (his paternal great-grandmother, for whom his paternal aunt the Duchess of Fife stood proxy)
� Queen Olga of Greece (his great-aunt, for whom his paternal aunt Princess Victoria stood proxy)
� the Princess of Wales (his grandmother, later Queen Alexandra)
� the Duchess of Teck (his maternal grandmother)
Sources: BBR:120-121; Courtney: 83-84; Kidd:80; The Times, 17 July 1894; Windsor:5-6
* Courtney, Royal Children, p. 83 states incorrectly that the christening was held in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace.
King George VI
1896
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of York and Princess Mary of Teck (later King George V and Queen Mary)
Born: 14 December 1895 at York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk; Died: 6 February 1952 at Sandringham House
Christened: 17 February 1896* at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham by John Sheepshanks, Bishop of Norwich�
Names: Albert Frederick Arthur George
Godparents:
� the Crown Prince of Denmark (his great-uncle, later King Frederick VIII, for whom his grandfather the Prince of Wales stood proxy)
� Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (for whom his grandfather the Duke of Teck stood proxy)
� Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (his great-uncle)
� Prince Adolphus of Teck (his maternal uncle)
� Queen Victoria (his great-grandmother, for whom his grandmother the Princess of Wales stood proxy)
� the Empress Frederick (his great-aunt, Victoria, Princess Royal, for whom his aunt Princess Victoria stood proxy)
� the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (née Princess Augusta of Great Britain, his mother's maternal aunt, for whom his aunt Princess Maud stood proxy)
� Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife (his paternal aunt)�
Sources: BBR:170; Kidd:81; Pope-Hennessy:316-317; The Times, 18 February 1896; Wheeler-Bennett:8-9
* The christening was originally planned for 3 February 1896, but was postponed until after the funeral of Prince Henry of Battenberg (Queen Victoria's son-in-law), who died unexpectedly that January. (Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 316)
� The ceremony "took place at the entrance to the chancel [the space around the altar for the clergy], where a temporary pedestal had been set up draped with white satin, with flowers arranged round the base. A gold font was let into the top of the pedestal, into which was poured water from the river Jordan." (The Times, 18 February, 1896) The "gold font" was perhaps the "rose-water dish of solid gold" that was given to the Duke and Duchess of York as a wedding present from the city of Edinburgh in 1893. (The Times, 20 May 1893)
� Wheeler-Bennett, King George VI, p. 8 note c incorrectly identifies the "Crown Prince of Denmark" as being "Subsequently King Christian X of Denmark [...]".
Princess Mary of Great Britain, Princess Royal
1897
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of York and Princess Mary of Teck (later King George V and Queen Mary)
Born: 25 April 1897 at York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk; Died: 28 March 1965 at Harewood House, Leeds, Yorkshire
Christened: 7 June 1897 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham by William Dalrymple Maclagan, Archbishop of York*
Names: Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary�
Godparents:
� George I, King of the Hellenes (her great-uncle)
� the Prince of Wales (her grandfather, later King Edward VII)
� Prince Francis of Teck (her uncle)
� Queen Victoria (her great-grandmother)
� the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (her great-aunt, sister of the Princess of Wales)
� the Princess of Wales (her grandmother, later Queen Alexandra)
� the Duchess of Teck (her maternal grandmother)
� Princess Victoria (her father's sister)
Sources: BBR:261; The Times, 8 June 1897
* Princess Mary's baptismal service was "performed at the entrance to the chapel, where a temporary font had been erected, the gold bowl being used which was presented as a wedding gift by the city of Edinburgh to the Duke and Duchess of York." (The Times, 8 June 1897) This gold bowl seems to be the same one used at the christening of her elder brother at Sandringham in 1896.
� If Queen Victoria had had her way, her great-granddaughter would have been christened 'Diamond', because she was born during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year. Mary's parents refused, and Her Majesty had to be satisfied with calling Mary "my little Diamond Jubilee baby". (Clear, Royal Children, p. 78, and The Times, 29 March 1965)
Prince Henry of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester
May 1900
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of York and Princess Mary of Teck (later King George V and Queen Mary)
Born: 31 March 1900 at York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk; Died: 10 June 1974 at Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire
Christened: 17 May 1900 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Randall Thomas Davidson, Bishop of Winchester
Names: Henry William Frederick Albert
Godparents:
� Wilhelm II, German Emperor (his father's cousin, for whom Prince Albrecht of Prussia, Regent of Brunswick stood proxy)
� Prince George of Greece (his father's cousin, for whom the future King Edward VII stood proxy)
� Prince Alexander of Teck (his maternal uncle, later the Earl of Athlone, for whom Prince George, Duke of Cambridge stood proxy)
� Field-Marshal Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (Commander-in-Chief, Boer War), for whom General Sir Dighton Probyn stood proxy)
� Queen Victoria (his grandmother)
� the Duchess of Cumberland (née Princess Thyra of Denmark, his great-aunt, for whom her sister, the future Queen Alexandra, stood proxy)
� Princess Carl of Denmark (his father's sister, Maud, later Queen Maud of Norway, for whom her sister Princess Victoria stood proxy)
� Princess Henry of Battenberg (his great-aunt, Beatrice, daughter of Queen Victoria)
Sources: Frankland (Henry):4-5; The Times, 18 May 1900
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
September 1900
Parents: Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis (later the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne) and Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck
Born: 4 August 1900 in London*; Died: 30 March 2002 at Royal Lodge, Windsor Great Park
Christened: 23 September 1900 (after morning service) at All Saints Church, St Paul's Walden Bury, near Hitchin, Hertfordshire by the vicar Reverend Tristram Henry Valentine
Names: Elizabeth Angela Marguerite
� Lady Maud Bowes-Lyon (her father's sister)
� Mrs. Arthur James (the former Venetia Cavendish-Bentinck, her mother's second cousin)�
Sources: BBR:141; Courtney:104; Morrow:33; Mortimer:15-17; The Times, 4 May 1948
* The future Queen Elizabeth's birth was registered incorrectly (by her father six weeks late) as having taken place at the Strathmore family's English country house at St Paul's Walden Bury. Nevertheless, she was born in London, according to the information found on her passport (Number 380040, issued by the Foreign Office 23 May 1921). (Forbes, My Darling Buffy, pp 3-6) Her Majesty's birth occurred possibly at her father's townhouse 20, St James's Square (Morrow, Queen Mother, p. 33) or at her maternal grandparents' apartment in Belgrave Mansions, Grosvenor Gardens, Westminster (Mortimer, Queen Elizabeth, p. 15).
� All but two of the godparents "forgot to sign the register". (Mortimer, Queen Elizabeth, p. 15)
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
(1901)
Parents: John Montagu-Douglas-Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (later the 7th Duke of Buccleuch) and Lady Margaret Bridgeman
Born: 25 December 1901 at Montagu House, Whitehall, London; Died: 29 October 2004 at Kensington Palace
Christened: [information unknown]
Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of Kent
1903
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Mary of Teck (later King George V and Queen Mary)
Born: 20 December 1902 at York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk; Died: 25 August 1942 at Morven, Scotland
Christened: 26 January 1903 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford*
Names: George Edward Alexander Edmund
Godparents:
� King Edward VII (his paternal grandfather)
� Prince Waldemar of Denmark (his great-uncle, represented by Prince Carl of Denmark, the future Haakon VII, King of Norway)
� Prince Louis of Battenberg (later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, a distant relative)
� Queen Alexandra (his paternal grandmother)
� the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (his great-aunt, for whom his father's sister Princess Victoria stood proxy)
� Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (his great-aunt, Helena, Queen Victoria's daughter)
Sources: BBR:235 and The Times, 27 January 1903
* This was one of the rare occasions where ordinary water was used at a royal christening instead of water from the Jordan river. (The Times, 27 January 1903)
Prince John of Great Britain
1905
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Princess Mary of Teck (later King George V and Queen Mary)
Born: 12 July 1905 at York Cottage, Sandringham, Norfolk; Died: 18 January 1919 at Wood Farm, Wolferton, near Sandringham
Christened: 3 August 1905 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham by the Reverend Canon J.N. (John Neale) Dalton (Domestic Chaplain to the Prince of Wales)*
Names: John Charles Francis
Godparents:
� Carlos I, King of Portugal
� the Duke of Sparta (his father's cousin, the future Constantine I, King of the Hellenes)
� Prince Carl of Denmark (his father's cousin, the future Haakon VII, King of Norway)
� Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gl�cksburg (his great-great-uncle)
� Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (brother-in-law of King George V)
� the Duchess of Sparta (née Princess Sophie of Prussia, his father's paternal cousin)
� Princess Alexander of Teck (née Princess Alice of Great Britain, later the Countess of Athlone, his father's cousin)�
Sources: The Times, 4 August 1905
* Rev. Canon Dalton officiated at Prince John's funeral in 1919. (The Times, 22 January 1919)
� The Prince of Wales represented four godparents (the King of Portugal, the Duke of Fife, Prince Carl and Prince Johann), while his sister Princess Victoria represented the Duchess of Sparta and Princess Alexander of Teck. (The Times, 4 August 1905)
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
(1906)
Parents: Prince Nicholas of Greece and Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia
Born: 30 November (Old Style)/13 December (New Style) 1906 at the Nicholas Palace (Le Petit Palais) in Athens, Greece; Died: 27 August 1968 at Kensington Palace
Christened: [information incomplete]*
� George I, King of the Hellenes (her grandfather)
� King Edward VII (her great-uncle)
� Prince Andrew of Greece (her uncle)
� Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovitch of Russia (her maternal uncle)
� the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Mary)
� Grand Duchess Kirill Vladimirovitch of Russia (née Princess Victoria Melita of Great Britain, her aunt)
Sources: Watson:24
* Princess Marina was baptised according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church. (Watson, Marina, p. 24)
Prince Alastair of Great Britain (later Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught)
1914
Parents: Prince Arthur of Great Britain and Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
Born: 9 August 1914 in Mount Street, Mayfair, London; Died: 26 April 1943 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Christened: 25 August 1914 at 54 Mount Street, Mayfair by the Reverend Canon Edgar Sheppard, D.D. (Sub-Dean of His Majesty's Chapels Royal and Domestic Chaplain)*
Names: Alastair Arthur
Godparents:
� King George V (his uncle)
� Alfonso XIII, King of Spain (for whom Horace Farquhar, 1st Baron Farquhar (a Lord in Waiting to King George V) stood proxy)
� Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (his grandfather, for whom Major Malcolm Murray stood proxy)
� Queen Alexandra (his maternal grandmother)
� Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (his great-aunt)
� Princess Mary, Princess Royal (his cousin)
Sources: The Times, 26 August 1914
* Prince Alastair was christened privately at home during the evening "owing to the approaching departure of Prince Arthur [his father] on active service." (The Times, 26 August 1914)
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
(1921)
Parents: Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg
Born: 28 May (Old Style)/10 June (New Style) 1921 at Villa "Mon Repos", near Corfu town, (Isle of) Corfu, Greece
Christened: [information incomplete] at St. George's Church in the Old Fortress (Palaio Frourio) in Corfu town*
Name: Philippos (Philip)
Godparents:
� Queen Olga of Greece (his grandmother, who was represented by her granddaughter Princess Olga of Greece)
� the Corfu City Council (represented by Alexander S. Kokotos, Mayor of Corfu, and Stylianos I. Maniarizis, Chairman of the City Council)
Sources: Judd: 51; The Times, 14 June 1921; Yannis (Usenet)
* Prince Philip was baptised according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church. (Judd, Prince Philip, p. 51) According to Buckingham Palace, "there are no firm details available about the Duke of Edinburgh's christening, but his sister, Princess [Sophie], has said that his godparents were his grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece, and the Mayor of Corfu, representing the Corfu community. The actual date of the christening is a mystery, but as he was born on 10 June 1921, it is assumed that he was probably christened soon after in Corfu." (Majesty, Vol. 15, No. 12, December 1994, p. 66)
HM The Queen
1926
Parents: Prince Albert of Great Britain, Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth)
Born: 21 April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London
Christened: 29 May 1926 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of York*
Names: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary�
Godparents:
� King George V (her paternal grandfather)
� Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (Queen Victoria's son, her father's great-uncle)
� Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (her maternal grandfather)
� Queen Mary (her paternal grandmother)
� Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles (later the Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood, her paternal aunt)
� Lady Elphinstone (the former Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon, her maternal aunt)
Sources: Bradford:28; Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Courtney:122-123; Kidd:99; The Times, 31 May 1926; Wheeler-Bennett:210
* The future Queen apparently cried so much at her christening that "her nurse dosed her with dill water, an old-fashioned remedy, to the amusement of her uncle, the Prince of Wales." (Bradford, Elizabeth, p. 28)
� The infant was named after her mother, paternal great-grandmother (who died the previous November) and paternal grandmother. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, were fortunate that their first choice of names for their daughter was "readily approved" by the King, who replied to his son: "I like it & think it is a pretty name". To his wife Queen Mary, George V said: "I have heard from Bertie about the names, he mentions Elizabeth, Alexandra, Mary. I quite approve & will tell him so, he says nothing about Victoria. I hardly think that necessary." (Wheeler-Bennett, King George VI, p. 210 and p. 210 note a)
Princess Margaret of Great Britain
1930
Parents: Prince Albert of Great Britain, Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth)
Born: 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle, Forfarshire, Scotland; Died: 9 February 2002 at King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, London
Christened: 30 October 1930 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Margaret Rose*
Godparents:
� the Prince of Wales (her uncle the future King Edward VIII, for whom his brother Prince George stood proxy)
� the Honourable (later the Honourable Sir) David Bowes-Lyon (her maternal uncle)
� Princess Ingrid of Sweden (later Queen Ingrid of Denmark, for whom Lady Patricia Ramsay (Queen Victoria's granddaughter) stood proxy)
� Princess Victoria (her paternal great-aunt, King George V's sister)
� Lady Rose Leveson-Gower (later Countess Granville, her maternal aunt)
Sources: Aronson:21-22; BBR:252; Seward:48; The Times, 31 October 1930�
* The Duke and Duchess were not as fortunate in their original choice of names for their second daughter as they were with their first child's names. When they proposed "Ann Margaret", King George V disliked the name Ann, much to their disappointment. But the couple was determined to have their next choice approved, as the Duchess explained to her mother-in-law Queen Mary: "Bertie & I have decided now to call our little daughter 'Margaret Rose', instead of M. Ann, as Papa does not like Ann - I hope that you like it [the new name]. I think that it is very pretty together." (Wheeler-Bennett, King George VI, p. 253)
� The Times states incorrectly that the christening gown was of Brussels lace, and that it was "first used at Queen Victoria's christening".
HRH The Duchess of Kent
1933
Parents: Captain W. A. Worsley (later Sir William Worsley, 4th Baronet) and Joyce Brunner
Born: 22 February 1933 at Hovingham Hall, York
Christened: 2 April 1933 at All Saints' Church, Hovingham by Reverend John E. N. Jackson*
Names: Katharine Lucy Mary
� Sir Felix Brunner, 3rd Baronet (her maternal uncle)
� Major Sir Digby Lawson, 2nd Baronet (a family friend)
� Mrs. W. Arthur Colegate (later Lady Colegate, her paternal aunt, the former Winifred Worsley Pemberton)
� Mrs. Ronald Fife (n�e Margaret Rutson, a family friend and neighbour)
Sources: Riddell:18; The Times, 3 April 1933
* The future Duchess of Kent's christening took place at All Saints, according to The Times, 3 April 1933. However, Riddell, Duchess, p. 18, states that the ceremony took place at St Peter's, the small church next to Hovingham Hall, the ancestral home of the Worsley family.
HRH The Duke of Kent
1935
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece
Born: 9 October 1935 at 3 Belgrave Square, London
Christened: 20 November 1935 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick
Godparents:
� King George V (his paternal grandfather)
� the Prince of Wales (his uncle, the future King Edward VIII and later HRH the Duke of Windsor)
� Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (Queen Victoria's son, for whom his son Prince Arthur of Connaught stood proxy)
� Prince Nicholas of Greece (his maternal grandfather)
� Queen Mary (his paternal grandmother)
� Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (Queen Victoria's daughter)
� Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (his aunt)
Sources: BBR:235 and The Times, 21 November 1935*
* The Times states incorrectly that the christening gown was of "old Brussels lace", and that it "was made for Queen Victoria's christening more than 100 years ago".
HRH Princess Alexandra of Great Britain
1937
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece
Born: 25 December 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square, London
Christened: 9 February 1937 in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel
Godparents:
� King George VI (her uncle)
� Carl Theodor, Count of Toerring-Jettenbach (her mother's brother-in-law)
� Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone (her father's maternal uncle)
� Queen Elizabeth (her aunt, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother)
� Queen Maud of Norway (her father's paternal aunt)
� Princess Nicholas of Greece (Helen, her maternal grandmother)
� Princess Paul of Yugoslavia (Olga, her maternal aunt)
� Princess Henry of Battenberg (Queen Victoria's daughter, Beatrice)
(the King and Queen, and Lord Athlone were the only godparents who were present at the ceremony)*
Sources: James (Alexandra):8-9; Seward:143; The Times, 10 February 1937�
* Seward, Royal Children, p. 143 does not mention Princess Beatrice as a godparent.
� The Times states incorrectly that the christening gown was of Brussels lace.
Prince William of Great Britain
February 1942
Parents: Prince Henry of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas Scott
Born: 18 December 1941 at the Carnarvon Nursing Home, Barnet, Hertfordshire; Died: 28 August 1972 at Halfpenny Green Airport, near Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
Christened: 22 February 1942 in the Private Chapel in Windsor Castle by Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: William Henry Andrew Frederick
Godparents:
� King George VI (his uncle)
� John Prendergast, 6th Viscount Gort (Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar, who was unable to attend because of military commitments abroad)
� Major Lord William Montagu-Douglas-Scott (his uncle)
� Queen Mary (his grandmother)
� Princess Helena Victoria (his grandfather King George V's cousin)
� Lady Margaret Hawkins (his maternal aunt)
Sources: DBRC:156; Frankland (Henry):160-161; Kidd:154 and 156; Courtney:191; St Aubyn (William):11; The Times, 23 February 1942
* Because of the war, The Times did not identify the actual location of the christening, and said instead that it took place at "a private chapel in the country".
HRH Prince Michael of Great Britain
August 1942
Parents: Prince George of Great Britain, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece
Born: 4 July 1942 at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire
Christened: 4 August 1942 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury*
Names: Michael George Charles Franklin
Godparents:
� King George VI (his paternal uncle)
� Haakon VII, King of Norway (Michael's great-uncle who was present)
� Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the U.S.A. (for whom Prince George, Duke of Kent stood proxy)
� Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (his paternal uncle, who was unable to be present)
� Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands (represented by her son-in-law Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands)
� Crown Princess Frederica of Greece (wife of the future Paul I, King of Greece, who was also unable to be present)
� the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (Queen Victoria's granddaughter)
� Lady Patricia Ramsay (Queen Victoria's granddaughter)
Sources: BBR:277-278; Seward:146; The Times, 5 August 1942
* Like the christening report for Prince William earlier that year, The Times did not specify where Prince Michael's christening took place, simply saying that it occurred "in the country".
HRH The Duke of Gloucester
1944
Parents: Prince Henry of Great Britain, Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott
Born: 26 August 1944 at St. Matthew's Nursing Home, Northampton
Christened: 20 October 1944 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Archbishop Lord Lang of Lambeth (Cosmo Gordon Lang, lately Archbishop of Canterbury)*
Names: Richard Alexander Walter George
Godparents:
� Walter Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch (his maternal uncle)
� George Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge (his father's distant cousin)
� General the Honourable Sir Harold Alexander (later Field-Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, for whom his wife Lady Alexander stood proxy)
� Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, his aunt)
� Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (Queen Victoria's granddaughter, for whom her daughter Lady May Abel Smith stood proxy)
� Princess Marie Louise (Queen Victoria's granddaughter)
� Lady Sybil Phipps (his maternal aunt)
Sources: Frankland (Henry):178-179; Kidd:156; The Times, 21 October 1944
* Once again because of the war, The Times did not identify the actual location of the christening, stating only that it took place at "a private chapel in the country".
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
(1946)
Parents: Asger Henriksen and Vivian van Deurs
Born: 20 June 1946 at Odense, Denmark
Christened: [information unknown]
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
1947
Parents: Major Bruce Shand and the Honourable Rosalind Cubitt
Born: 17 July 1947 at King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London
Christened: 1 November 1947 at Firle Church, Sussex by Reverend Francis Browne
Names: Camilla Rosemary
� the Honourable Harry Cubitt (her maternal uncle, later the 4th Baron Ashcombe)
� Major Neil Speke
� Mrs. Lombard Hobson
� Mrs. Heathcoat Amory
� Miss Vivien Mosley (possibly the daughter of Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet (by his first wife Lady Cynthia Curzon), who was later the Honourable Mrs. Desmond Forbes Adam)
Sources: The Times, 4 November 1947
HRH The Prince of Wales
1948
Parents: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II)
Born: 14 November 1948 at Buckingham Palace
Christened: 15 December 1948* in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: Charles Philip Arthur George
Godparents:
� King George VI (his grandfather)
� Haakon VII, King of Norway (for whom the Earl of Athlone stood proxy)
� Prince George of Greece (his father's uncle, for whom Prince Philip stood proxy)
� the Honourable (later the Honourable Sir) David Bowes-Lyon (his mother's maternal uncle)
� Queen Mary (his great-grandmother)�
� Princess Margaret (his aunt, later Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon)
� the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his paternal great-grandmother)
� Baroness Brabourne (his father's cousin, the former Lady Patricia Mountbatten, later Countess Mountbatten of Burma)
Sources: Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Courtney:21; Kidd:122-123; Seward:61-62; The Times, 10 December 1948; The Times, 15 December 1948; The Times, 16 December 1948
* Majesty, Vol. 5, No. 9, January 1985, p. 17 says incorrectly that the christening took place on 10 December 1948, while Courtney, Royal Children, p. 21 says 16 December 1948. Courtney also states incorrectly that Queen Elizabeth (Prince Charles' grandmother) was a godparent.
� The christening could not be held in the Palace's Private Chapel because it was badly damaged during World War II.
� Queen Mary was thrilled with the birth of her great-grandson. She wrote in her Diary on the day of the christening: "I gave the baby a silver gilt cup & cover which George III had given to a godson in 1780", and added proudly "I gave a present from my [great] grandfather, to my great grandson 168 years later". (Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 616)
HRH The Princess Royal
Parents: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II)
Born: 15 August 1950 at Clarence House, London
Christened: 21 October 1950 in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by Cyril Forster Garbett, Archbishop of York
Names: Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise
Godparents:
� Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (Prince Philip's uncle)
� Reverend the Honourable Andrew Elphinstone (her mother's cousin)
� Queen Elizabeth (her maternal grandmother, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother)
� Princess Andrew of Greece (her paternal grandmother, for whom Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone stood proxy)
� Princess Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Prince Philip's sister Margarita)
Sources: Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Courtney:164; Kidd:130; Seward:83; The Times, 10 October 1950; The Times, 21 October 1950; The Times, 23 October 1950
HRH The Duke of York
1960
Parents: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II
Born: 19 February 1960 at Buckingham Palace
Christened: 8 April 1960 in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Andrew Albert Christian Edward
Godparents:
� Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (his grandfather's brother)
� John Elphinstone, 17th Lord Elphinstone (his mother's cousin)
� Hugh FitzRoy, Earl of Euston (later the 11th Duke of Grafton)
� Princess Alexandra (later Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, his mother's cousin)
� Mrs. Harold Phillips (the former Georgina Wernher, later Lady Kennard)
Sources: BBR:353; Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Courtney:176; Seward:92; The Times, 9 April 1960
Diana, Princess of Wales
1961
Parents: John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer) and the Honourable Frances Burke Roche
Born: 1 July 1961 at Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk; Died: 31 August 1997 at Paris, France
Christened: 30 August 1961 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham by the rector Right Reverend Percy Herbert*
Names: Diana Frances
� John Floyd (Chairman of Christie's, the auctioneers, and her father's friend)
� Alexander Gilmour (her father's cousin)
� Lady Mary Colman (later Lady Colman, wife of the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, and niece of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother)
� Mrs. Michael Pratt (Sarah, daughter of a former Dean of Hereford, and friend and neighbour of Diana's parents)
� Mrs. William (Carol) Fox (another friend and neighbour of Diana's parents)
Sources: DBRC:167; Courtney:43-44; Junor:37-38; Kidd:167; Seward:119; The Times, 31 August 1961; The Times, 28 July 1981 (which shows her baptismal certificate)
* Rt. Rev. Percy Herbert, the retired Bishop of Norwich, was a Spencer family friend, who had married Diana's parents at Westminster Abbey in 1954. (Courtney, Royal Children, p. 43)
HRH The Earl of Wessex
1964
Parents: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II
Born: 10 March 1964 at Buckingham Palace
Christened: 2 May 1964 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Robert Woods, Dean of Windsor
Names: Edward Antony Richard Louis
Godparents:
� Prince Richard of Gloucester (later HRH the Duke of Gloucester)
� Prince Louis of Hesse (his father's distant cousin)
� Antony Armstrong-Jones 1st Earl of Snowdon (his uncle)
� the Duchess of Kent (for whom Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent stood proxy as Katherine was unable to attend due to the recent birth of her daughter)
� Princess George of Hanover (the Duke of Edinburgh's sister Sophie)
Sources: BBR:111; Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Courtney:178; Kidd:137; Seward:102; The Times, 4 May 1964
HRH Prince William of Great Britain
1982
Parents: Prince Charles of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer
Born: 21 June 1982 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington
Christened: 4 August 1982* in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury�
Names: William Arthur Philip Louis�
Godparents:
� Constantine II, King of the Hellenes (his father's second cousin)
� Norton Knatchbull, Baron Romsey (his father's second cousin)
� Sir Laurens van der Post (the South African writer and explorer)
� Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Mrs (later Honourable Lady) Ogilvy (his paternal grandmother's first cousin)
� the Duchess of Westminster (the former Natalia Phillips)
� Lady Susan Hussey (the former Lady Susan Waldegrave, now Lady Hussey, a Woman of the Bedchamber to HM The Queen since 1960)
(all the godparents were present)
Sources: BBR:346; Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Kidd:174; Seward:214; The Times, 5 August 1982
* The Prince was baptised on the 82nd birthday of his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The day was specially chosen by his parents "to do honour to the Queen Mother, principal guest at the baptism". (The Times, 4 August 1982)
� The day before the christening, Buckingham Palace released last-minute information to the media. The Palace reported that the baptism could not take place in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace due to damage it had sustained during World War II. This comment about the Private Chapel's lack of usability is rather odd, because the Chapel had been the scene of christenings in May and July 1964 of James Ogilvy and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones respectively. (The Times, 4 August 1982) The day after the christening, The Times stated that ordinary water was used at the baptism, because the "Palace's supply of Jordan water [ran out] some royal babies ago". (The Times, 5 August 1982)
� The Prince's names were announced when he was one week old. His father the Prince of Wales explained that "the name [William] had been chosen because he had no close relatives of that name." The names of the six godparents were also announced at this time. (The Times, 29 June 1982)
HRH Prince Henry (Harry) of Great Britain
1984
Parents: Prince Charles of Great Britain, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer
Born: 15 September 1984 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington
Christened: 21 December 1984 at St George's Chapel, Windsor by Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury
Names: Henry Charles Albert David
Godparents:
� Prince Andrew (later The Duke of York, his uncle)
� Bryan Organ (a portrait painter)
� Gerald Ward (friend of Prince Charles)
� Lady Vestey (the former Celia Knight, wife of the 3rd Baron Vestey, friend of Prince Charles)
� Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (later Lady Sarah Chatto, his father's first cousin)
� Mrs. William Bartholomew (the former Carolyn Pride, one of Diana's best friends)
Sources: Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Seward:214; The Times, 22 December 1984
HRH Princess Beatrice of Great Britain
1988
Parents: Prince Andrew of Great Britain, Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson
Born: 8 August 1988 at Portland Hospital, London
Christened: 20 December 1988 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace by John Habgood, Archbishop of York*
Names: Beatrice Elizabeth Mary
� David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (her father's cousin)
� Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo (a friend of Sarah's father)
� the Duchess of Roxburghe (the former Lady Jane Grosvenor, later Lady Jane Dawnay)
� the Honourable Mrs. John Greenall (the former Gabrielle James, a friend of Sarah's)
� Mrs. Henry Cotterell (the former Carolyn Beckwith-Smith, a friend of Sarah's)
Sources: BBR:43; Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; People, 9 January 1989; Royalty Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 5, February 1989; Seward:233�
* The official photographs were taken by Prince Andrew in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace. (Royalty Monthly, Vol. 8, No. 5, February 1989, p. 37)
� People, 9 January 1989 states incorrectly that the "cream-colored Honiton-lace christening gown [worn by Princess Beatrice] was tatted for Queen Victoria's eldest son, the future Edward VII".
HRH Princess Eugenie of Great Britain
1990
Parents: Prince Andrew of Great Britain, Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson
Born: 23 March 1990 at Portland Hospital, London
Christened: 23 December 1990 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, Norfolk by Peter Nott, Bishop of Norwich*
Names: Eugenie Victoria Helena
Godparents:
� James Ogilvy (her father's cousin)
� Captain Alastair Ross (former Commander of HMS Edinburgh on which Prince Andrew served, and who was unable to attend because he was detained by naval duties at sea)
� Mrs. Ronald Ferguson (Sarah's step-mother)
� Mrs. Patrick Dodd-Noble (Julia, a friend of Andrew and Sarah)
� Miss Louise Blacker (a school friend of Sarah)
Sources: BBR:150; Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Seward:236
* The font at St Mary Magdalene was used instead of the Lily Font for Princess Eugenie's baptism. (Allison/Riddell, Royal Encyclopedia, p. 312)
HRH Princess Louise of Great Britain (Lady Louise (Mountbatten-)Windsor)
2004
Parents: Prince Edward of Great Britain, Earl of Wessex and Sophie Rhys-Jones
Born: 8 November 2003 at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey
Christened: 24 April 2004 in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by David Conner, Dean of Windsor
Names: Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary
Godparents:
� Lord Ivar Mountbatten (her father's second cousin)
� Rupert Elliott (a friend of her father's who was at Cambridge University with him, and who was an usher at his wedding)
� Lady Sarah Chatto (her father's cousin, daughter of the late Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon)
� Lady Alexandra Etherington (her father's third cousin, the daughter of the Duke of Fife)
� Mrs. Urs Schwarzenbach (Francesca, a friend of her parents)
(all the godparents were present)
Sources: Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004; Majesty, Vol. 25, No. 6, June 2004, pp 34-36; The Times, 26 April 2004
Appendix 1: "Churching" and Royal Mothers.
The Rite of Churching, also known as The Churching of Women, or "Churching", or is 'the ritual purification of a woman at her first visit to church after the birth of a child'.1 The rite is derived from an ancient Hebrew custom, and is found in non-Christian and Christian faiths (for example, Judaism, Anglican, Orthodox, Roman Catholic).
Examples of 'churching' are found in the Bible.* One is in the Old Testament, where it is written: "Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said [...] If a woman conceives and gives birth to a boy, she is to be unclean for seven days [...] She must not touch anything consecrated nor go to the sanctuary until the time of her purification is over. [...] The priest is to perform the rite of atonement over her and she will be purified." (Leviticus 12:1-4, 8) Another one is in the New Testament, with the purification of Mary, mother of Jesus: "And when the day came for them to be purified [that is, for the mother to be 'purified' and the child 'redeemed'] as laid down by the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord". (Luke 2:22-23)
* Quotations are from The Jerusalem Bible, Reader's Edition, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1968.
In modern times, the rite was not a rule or law of the Church, but a 'pious and praiseworthy custom'.2 A mother was usually churched before her child's christening in order for her to be ready to attend the "sacramental entrance of her child into the Kingdom of Christ".3 Women throughout the ages took part in this ritual, including royal mothers from (at least) the Middle Ages with Elizabeth of York, wife of King Henry VII, after the birth of her son Prince Arthur in 1486, to Mary of Teck, wife of the future King George V, after the birth of her first child Prince Edward in 1894.4
From the 'royal' examples I've found, "churching" was a quiet, unpretentious ceremony, at which typically only a handful of people, close to the young mother, witnessed the age-old ceremony. The following list features selected royal and royal-related mothers who were 'churched'.
� the Duchess of Kent:
- 27 June 1819 (in the afternoon), the Duchess was "publicly churched in the parish church in Kensington, by the Bishop of Salisbury", three days after the baptism of her daughter, Victoria5
� Queen Victoria:6
- 15 December 1840 (at 3:00 p.m.) in her private apartments at Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, three weeks after the birth of her first child Princess Victoria
- 4 December 1841 (shortly after 12 noon) at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, one month after the birth of the Prince of Wales
- 28 August 1844 (in the morning) in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Hon. and Reverend C. Leslie Courtenay, three weeks after the birth of her younger son Prince Alfred
- 21 May 1850 (at 9:30 a.m.) in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by the Hon. and Reverend Gerald Wellesley, Her Majesty's domestic chaplain, three weeks after the birth of her son Prince Arthur
- 28 April 1853 (at 9:30 a.m.) in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace by the Hon. and Reverend Gerald Wellesley, Her Majesty's domestic chaplain, three weeks after the birth of her youngest son Prince Leopold
� Princess Alice, the Queen's younger daughter:
- 26 April 1863 (in the morning) in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Hon. and Very Reverend Dean of Windsor, the day before her first child's christening7
� the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra):8
- 2 February 1864 (in the morning) in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Dean of Windsor, one month after the birth of her first child
- 30 June 1865 (at 1:00 p.m.) at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace by the Dean of Westminster, one week before her second son's baptism in 1865
� Princess Helena, younger daughter of Queen Victoria:
- 27 May 1870 (time not indicated) at All Saints' Church in Windsor Great Park, three weeks after the birth of her third child9
� the Duchess of Connaught, the Queen's daughter-in-law:
- on 8 March 1882 (in the morning) in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Hon. and Very Reverend Gerald Wellesley, three days before her first child's baptism10
� Princess Louis of Battenberg (n�e Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, the Queen's granddaughter):
- 30 March 1885 (in the morning) in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Very Reverend Dean of Windsor, five weeks after the birth of her first child11
� Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter:
- 19 December 1886 (in the morning) in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by the Very Reverend Dean of Windsor, one month after the birth of her first child12
� Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife (the eldest daughter of the future King Edward VII):
- 13 June 1891 (time not indicated) at East Sheen Church by the Reverend Canon Teignmouth Shore, after the birth of her second (but first surviving) child13
� the Duchess of York, wife of the future King George V:
- 28 July 1894 (in the morning) at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace by the Reverend Sub-Dean, nearly two weeks after the christening of her first child14
Footnotes:
1. "The Implications of Exclusion: The Regulation of Churching in Medieval Northern France", by Paula M. Rieder in Essays in Medieval Studies, Vol. 15, 1998 at http://www.luc.edu/publications/medieval/vol15/15ch7.html
2. Churching of Women at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03761a.htm
3. The Rite of Churching at http://dev.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=288469&forum_id=15
4. Arnold, Little Princes, p. 72 & p. 74. Other royal courts, such as Prussia and Spain, also had provisions for ''churching" mothers7.
5. The Times, 30 June 1819.
6. The Times, 16 December 1840; The Times, 6 December 1841; The Times, 29 August 1844; The Times, 22 May 1850; The Times, 29 April 1853.
7. Illustrated London News, 2 May 1863; The Times, 27 April 1863.
8. The Times, 3 February 1864; Illustrated London News, 8 July 1865; The Times, 1 July 1865.
9. The Times, 1 June 1870.
10. Illustrated London News, 18 March 1882; The Times, 9 March 1882.
11. The Times, 31 March 1885 and Vickers, Alice, p. 14.
12. The Times, 20 December 1886.
13. The Times, 15 June 1891.
14. The Times, 30 July 1894.
First royal child christened in public:
- Princess Eugenie, younger daughter of HRH The Duke of York, in 1990.
First royal child christened in the Honiton lace robe:
- Princess Victoria, first daughter and eldest child of Queen Victoria, in 1841.
First royal child christened in the Lily Font:
- Princess Victoria, eldest child of Queen Victoria, in 1841.
First royal child christened in the newly-renovated Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace (since Queen Victoria's accession):
- Princess Alice, the Queen's third child, in 1843.
First royal descendant of Queen Victoria baptised in a church:
- The Duke of Albany (infant son of the late Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany) at Christ Church in Esher, Surrey in 1884.
First use of gas illuminations at a royal christening:
- The Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace for the baptism of Princess Helena, younger daughter of Queen Victoria, in 1846.
Last royal child (among Queen Victoria's descendants) christened in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace:
- Princess Alexandra, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, in 1937.
Most christening locations:
- St James's Palace, where at least 18 baptisms were held.
Most christening names:
- The future Queen Mary, consort of King George V, received eight names at her baptism in 1867.
Most godparents:
- Princess Augusta (later Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz) and the future King Edward VIII each had 12 godparents at their christenings in 1822 and 1894 respectively.
Simultaneous use of two christening fonts:
- The 1660 font and the Lily Font used at the baptism of the future King Edward VII in 1842.
Tallest christening cake:
- The 4 foot tall cake made for the baptism of Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in 1842.
Appendix 3: The Royal Christening Robe.
This appendix is an attempt at identifying the male-line descendants (with some female-line exceptions) of Queen Victoria who wore, or who did not wear, the royal christening robe. Of the eighty descendants shown in the table, I am reasonably certain that sixty-two of them wore the heirloom gown. (They are shown in bold type in the table.) Of the sixty-two descendants, 44 were or are styled His or Her Royal Highness or His or Her Majesty; 12 have courtesy styles as children of peers (royal or aristocratic); and 6 are commoners.
Those who are 'entitled' to wear this family heirloom fall into two groups:
(a) individuals who bear the title Prince or Princess of Great Britain with the style His or Her Royal Highness:
� children of a sovereign (the children of Queen Victoria and of Queen Elizabeth II)
� children of an heir apparent or an heir presumptive to the throne (the children of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), of the Duchess of Edinburgh (later Queen Elizabeth II), and of the current Prince of Wales)
� male-line grandchildren of a sovereign (the children of Queen Victoria's sons (the Dukes of Edinburgh, Connaught, and Albany); the children of King George V's son (the Dukes of York (later King George VI), Gloucester, and Kent); the children of the current Duke of York and of the Earl of Wessex)
� male-line great-grandchildren of a sovereign (the children of the future King Edward VII's son the Duke of York (later King George V); the children of the current Dukes of Gloucester and of Kent; the children of Prince Michael of Kent)
(b) individuals whose mothers or grandmothers were Princesses of Great Britain with the style Her Royal Highness:
� the children of the late Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (daughter of King George VI)
� the grandchildren of the late Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (her son's son and daughter, and her daughter's two sons)
� the children of the Princess Royal (daughter of Queen Elizabeth II)
� the children of Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy (male-line granddaughter of King George V)
m
Sources:
1. Letter from Queen Victoria to her daughter Louise dated 27 November 1874, in which Her Majesty states: �The �Babe� was in the old family Christening dress � worn by you 9 and Bertie�s 5�. (Longford, Darling Loosy, p. 187)
2. �The infant Duke of Albany wore the robe and cloak of Honiton lace in which all Her Majesty�s children and all those of the sons of the Queen were christened.� (The Times, 6 December 1884)
3. �The dear fine baby [was] wearing the Honiton lace robe (made for Vicky's christening, worn by all our children and my English grandchildren)�. (Windsor, A King's Story, p. 5)
4. The future King George VI �was wearing a lace robe which has been worn at their baptism by all the children of the Queen and by all the children of the Prince and Princess of Wales�. (The Times, 15 February 1896)
5. Queen Victoria�s Journal dated 17 May 1900, in which Her Majesty states: �The Baby was brought into the Chapel after the 1st Hymn (by my dearest Albert) & wore the old historic robe which was first made and worn by Vicky�. (Frankland, Prince Henry, p. 4)
6. Princess Alexandra �wore the Brussels lace and cream satin robes which were used at the christening of Queen Victoria�s children.� (The Times, 10 February 1937. N.B.: The Times is incorrect when it says the robe was of Brussels lace.)
7. �This [christening] robe was worn by Queen Victoria's children [...], by the King [George VI] and by all his Majesty's brothers and by the Princess Royal and then by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. It was also worn both by the children of the [Prince Henry] Duke of Gloucester and by the children of the late [Prince George] Duke of Kent.� (Buckingham Palace announcement re: Prince Charles� christening, The Times, 10 December 1948)
8. �Princess Anne, like Prince Charles, will wear the historic royal christening robe [...] which was worn by all Queen Victoria's children, by the King [George VI], his brothers and the Princess Royal, by Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, and the children of the [Prince Henry] Duke of Gloucester and of the late [Prince George] Duke of Kent.� (Buckingham Palace announcement re: Princess Anne�s christening, The Times, 10 October 1950)
9. �A statement issued from Coppins [...] said that Lord St. Andrews was dressed in the christening robe of Honiton lace which has been used by members of the Royal Family since the christening of Queen Victoria's children. Both the Duke of Kent and his father, the late Duke of Kent, wore this robe when they were christened.� (Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire (country home of the Duke and Duchess of Kent) announcement re: the Earl of St Andrew�s christening, The Times, 15 September 1962)
10. �The Royal christening robe [...] was made in 1841 for the christening of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal. In 1894 the robe was given by Queen Victoria to the Duchess of York (later Queen Mary), all of whose children were christened in it. In the next generation, it was worn by the children of King George VI, of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and of Prince George, Duke of Kent. The children of The Queen [Elizabeth II] and of Princess Margaret were christened in it, and it has subsequently been used for the christenings of all The Queen�s grandchildren and other royal babies, including the grandchildren of Princess Margaret.� (Buckingham Palace press release (Christening of Lady Louise Windsor) dated 8 April 2004)
11. �The infant Prince was dressed in a christening robe of white silk and Honiton lace, used by all the children of Queen Victoria. The robe had also been worn by Victoria's four granddaughters present at the christening in 1948. They were the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, Princess Marie Louise, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, and Lady Patricia Ramsay.� (Prince of Wales�s biography on The Prince of Wales website at http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/about/bio_christened.html . Holden, Prince Charles, p. 63 also states that these four women wore the royal christening robe. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem accurate to say that the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (n�e Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine) and Princess Marie Louise (of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg) wore the royal christening robe, because they were not male-line descendants of Queen Victoria.) In 1932, The Times stated that Princess Alice, her daughter May and her daughter's daughter Ann wore a "very long robe of antique Valenciennes lace and muslin", at their christenings. (The Times, 29 August 1932)
12. �The Royal infant was attired in a robe of Honiton lace � the same that was worn by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at his christening � with a cap of Honiton lace; a cloak of crimson velvet lined with ermine, and a mantle of white satin edged with Honiton lace.� (Illustrated London News, 12 March 1864; The Times, 11 March 1864)
13. �The dress of Her Royal Highness the infant Princess was a robe of Honiton lace over white silk made at Spitalfields, and cap to correspond; the whole dress of British manufacture.� (The Times, 3 June 1843)
14. �His Royal Highness was dressed in a robe and cap of Honiton point lace over rich white satin.� (The Times, 7 September 1844)
15. �The infant Princess was dressed in a rich robe of Honiton lace over white satin.� (The Times, 27 July 1846)
16. �The Royal infant was dressed in a robe of Honiton lace over white satin.� (Illustrated London News, May 30 1848; The Times, 15 May 1848)
17. �The infant Prince had a robe and mantle of Honiton lace over white satin, with a cap to correspond.� (The Times, June 24 1850)
18. �The Royal infant wore a Honiton lace dress over white satin.� (The Times, 29 June 1853)
19. �It may be observed that his Royal Highness [Prince Leopold] is painted [in a portrait on display in the 1853 Room at Buckingham Palace] as wearing the identical christening robe in which Prince Alfred of Edinburgh was christened.� (The Times, 24 November 1874)
20. �The infant Princess wore a robe of Honiton lace over white satin.� (The Times, 17 June 1857)
21. Princess Mary �wore the Royal christening robe�. (The Times, 8 June 1897)
22. Princess Margaret �wore the christening robe of cream satin and Brussels lace which was first used at Queen Victoria�s christening, and worn last by Princess Elizabeth.� (The Times, 31 October 1930. N.B.: The Times is incorrect as to the type of lace, and as to when the robe was first used.)
23. �The infant Prince wore the christening robe of old Brussels lace and cream satin which was made for Queen Victoria�s christening more than 100 years ago, and which has been used at every Royal christening since.� (The Times, 21 November 1935. N.B.: The Times is incorrect as to the type of lace, and as to when the robe was first made.)
24. Picture evidence of Prince William�s christening. (The Times, 23 February 1942)
25. Picture evidence of HRH The Duke of Gloucester�s christening. (The Times, 21 October 1944)
26. �The Queen's three children [...] wore the robe of Honiton lace ordered for Queen Victoria's children.� (announcement re: Viscount Linley�s christening, The Times, 5 December 1961)
27. �Prince Andrew will wear the Honiton lace christening robe made on the instruction of Queen Victoria for the christening of a daughter.� ( Buckingham Palace announcement re: Prince Andrew�s christening, The Times, 31 March 1960)
28. Princess Alexandra wore the traditional Honiton lace christening gown made for Queen Victoria's first child in 1840. It was later to be worn by Alexandra's own children [...]". (James, Princess Alexandra, p. 8)
29. "Lady Helen Windsor [...] was baptized in the traditional Honiton lace gown in the private chapel at Windsor." (Riddell, Duchess, p. 116)
30. Picture evidence of Marina�s christening. (The Times, 10 November 1966, and Majesty, Vol. 18, No. 4, April 1997, pp 48-49)
31. Picture evidence of Peter�s christening. (The Times, 23 December 1977)
32. "The Duchess of Gloucester with her elder daughter, Lady Davina Windsor, leaving Barnwell Parish Church where she was christened wearing the famous robe of Honiton lace." (Kidd, Royal children, p. 158, sidebar photograph)
33. Picture evidence of Lord Frederick�s christening. (Kidd, Royal Children, p. 139)
34. Usenet newsgroup information. (From: Marlene A Koenig / Subject: Re: Meet Diana�s 17 Godchildren Who Are To Benefit By Diana�s Will / Newsgroups: alt.gossip.royalty / Date: 1998/02/27)
35. Picture evidence of Lady Rose�s christening. (Kidd, Royal Children, p. 143)
36. Prince Harry was �dressed in the traditional Honiton lace robes used by generations of Royal babies.� (The Times, 22 December 1984)
37. Picture evidence of Samuel's christening. (Majesty, Vol. 18, No. 4, April 1997, p. 47). Additionally, �In keeping with royal tradition the young Samuel was photographed in the robe that was made in 1841 for the christening of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal.� (Majesty, Vol. 18, No. 4, April 1997, p. 50)
38. Picture evidence of the Hon. Charles' christening. (Majesty, Vol. 21, No. 2, February 2000, pp 12-13)
39. Picture evidence of the Hon. Margarita's christening. (Majesty, Vol. 24, No. 2, February 2003, cover page and pp 6-10)
Notes:
a. Presumably did not wear the royal christening robe, because he was christened hastily due to his premature birth.
b. Possibly did not wear the royal christening robe, because her baptism took place outside the U.K.
c. Possibly did not wear the royal christening robe.
d. Possibly wore the royal christening robe. The Times, 26 March 1923, in its account of the christening of the elder son of Princess Mary (only daughter of King George V), reported that �the child wore a christening gown of beautiful old lace, reputed to have been used at the christening of his great-grandfather, King Edward the Seventh�. However, judging by the photographs of his baptism, it does not seem that he is wearing the royal christening robe. (Warwick, Queen Mary, p. 91)
e. Did not wear the royal christening robe. Usenet newsgroup information (From: Marlene A Koenig / Subject: Re: Meet Diana�s 17 Godchildren Who Are To Benefit By Diana�s Will / Newsgroups: alt.gossip.royalty / Date: 1998/02/27). Additionally, picture evidence of Edward�s christening showing a newer-looking white gown. (Majesty, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 1989, pp 58-59)
f. Did not wear the royal christening robe. Picture evidence of Marina-Charlotte�s christening showing her wear the same gown as her brother. (Majesty, Vol. 14, No. 3, March 1992, p. 53)
g. Did not wear the royal christening robe. Usenet newsgroup information (From: Marlene A Koenig / Subject: Re: Meet Diana�s 17 Godchildren Who Are To Benefit By Diana�s Will / Newsgroups: alt.gossip.royalty / Date: 1998/02/27)
h. Christened at the same ceremony.
i. Unknown date of christening.
j. Did not wear the royal christening robe. (She presumably wore the same gown that her elder brother and sister wore at their baptisms. See e. and f. above)
k. Approximate date of christening.
l. Approximate date of christening. (The Times, 4 August 1999 in its account of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's 99th birthday, included a photograph of Her Majesty cradling in her arms her great-grandson Arthur Chatto. �The picture was taken last month at the christening of the second son of Daniel Chatto and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, daughter of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, who took the photograph.�)
m. Did not wear the royal christening robe. Usenet newsgroup information, which states that her brothers did not wear the robe. If her brothers did not wear the robe, it is reasonable to assume neither did she. (From: Marlene A Koenig / Subject: Re: Meet Diana�s 17 Godchildren Who Are To Benefit By Diana�s Will / Newsgroups: alt.gossip.royalty / Date: 1998/02/27)
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Today in History
Historic events on September 12
1015 - Henry I becomes earl of Leuven
1213 - Battle at Muret: Crusade of Simon de Montfort beat Pedro II of Aragon
1217 - French prince Louis & English king Henry III sign peace treaty
1229 - The Aragonese army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Pon�a, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the island.
1396 - Crusaders under earl of Nevers reaches Nicopolis
1543 - Treaty of Venlo: Duke Willem of Gulik & Emperor Charles V
1556 - Emperor Charles resigns, his brother Ferdinand van Austria takes over
1624 - 1st submarine tested (London)
1635 - Sweden & Poland sign ceasefire Treaty of Stuhmsdorf
1639 - Viceroy Thomas Wentworth sails back to England
1673 - Prince Willem III occupies Naarden
1683 - Turkish troops attacks Vienna overthrows by Polish king Sobieski
1683 - Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna - several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire.
1695 - NY Jews petition governor Dongan for religious liberties
1703 - Emperor Leopold I ends contacts on Spanish heritage
1703 - English army under arch duke Charles of Austria lands in Portugal
1720 - Isaak of Hoornbeek elected Dutch pension advisor
1722 - Russian troops occupy Baku & Derbent on Persia
1733 - Polish Landowners select Stanislaw Lesczynski king
1745 - Duke of Toscane chosen German emperor Frans I Stefanus
1751 - Amsterdam refuses establishment of Jewish ghetto
1758 - Charles Messier observes Crab Nebula & begins catalog
1759 - British soldiers capture the town of Quebec.
1776 - Nathan Hale leaves Harlem Heights Camp (127th St) for spy mission
1787 - Black Masons form 1st lodge
1814 - Battle of North Point fought near Baltimore during War of 1812
1840 - Composer Robert Schumann marries Clara Wieck
1847 - Mexican-American War: the Battle of Chapultepec begins.
1848 - Switzerland becomes a Federal state.
1857 - 423 die when "Central America" sinks off Cape Romain SC
1862 - Battle of Harpers Ferry VA
1867 - 2nd synagogue in Curacao, Emanu-El of Willemstad, inaugurated
1874 - 1874 The District of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada is founded.
1876 - King Leopold II opens Congo-conference
1878 - Cleopatra Needle installed in London
1882 - Belgian King Leopold II receives Pierre de Brazza
1885 - Highest score (35) recorded in any 1st-class soccer match is set
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Greek Interpreter" (BG)
1890 - Cecil Rhodes' colonies reach Mashonaland (Ft Salisbury)
1890 - Salisbury, Rhodesia, is founded.
1895 - Defender (US) beats Valkyrie III (Engld) in 10th America's Cup
1897 - Tirah Campaign: Battle of Saragarhi
1901 - Arabs attack Gedara Palestine
1906 - The Newport Transporter Bridge is opened in Newport, South Wales by Viscount Tredegar.
1907 - Lusitania arrives in NYC after 5 day crossing of Atlantic (record)
1908 - Winston Churchill marries Clementine Hozier
1910 - Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony premieres in Munich with 1028 musicians
1910 - World's 1st female cop, Alice Stebbins Wells, appointed (LAPD)
1911 - Boston's Cy Young vs Christy Mathewson of Giants, Giants win 9-0
1912 - Dutch Olympian Committee forms (NOC)
1914 - Yankee shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, 23, becomes youngest manager
1918 - During WW I, US forces launch an attack on German-occupied St Mihiel
1920 - 7th Olympic games close in Antwerp Belgium
1922 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 5000m (14:35.4)
1923 - Britain takes over Southern Rhodesia from British South Africa Co
1925 - 20th Davis Cup: USA beats France in Philadelphia (5-0)
1927 - Sigmund Romberg's musical "My Maryland," premieres in NYC
1928 - -17] Hurricane in Florida, kills 6,000
1928 - Katharine Hepburn's NY stage debut in "Night Hostess"
1930 - Brooklyn catcher Al Lopez hits major league's last recorded bounce HR
1931 - 51st US Mens Tennis: H E Vines beats George M Lott Jr (79 63 97 75)
1932 - Bkln Dodger Johnny Frederick hits his record 6th pinch hit HR
1932 - German government of Papen falls/Reichstag dissolved
1933 - Alejandro Lerroux forms new Spanish government
1933 - Dutch parliament accepts ban on uniforms
1933 - Le� Szil�rd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
1934 - Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania signs Baltic Entente, against USSR
1935 - 55th US Mens Tennis: Wilmer L Allison beats Sidney B Wood (62 62 63)
1935 - Millionaire Howard Hughes flies his own designed plane at 352.46 mph
1936 - 50th US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (46 63 62)
1936 - 56th US Mens Tennis: Fred Perry beats J Donald Budge (26 62 86 16 108)
1938 - Adolph Hitler demands self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czech
1940 - 49 die & 200 injured when Hercules Powder Co plant explodes (NJ)
1940 - Italian troops enter Egypt
1940 - 4 teens, following their dog down a hole near Lascaux France discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as Lascaux Cave Paintings
1941 - 1st German ship in WW II captured by US ship (Busko)
1942 - Battle of Edson's Ridge begins at Guadalcanal
1942 - Free-Poland & Belgium asks pope to condemn nazi-war crimes
1943 - Free French lands on Corsica
1943 - Waffen-SS (Skorzeny) frees Benito Mussolini at Gran Sasso
1943 - German paratroopers, on orders of Adolf Hitler, seize former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini who was being held prisoner by the government
1944 - -16] Hurricane, kills 389 in NC
1944 - Noorbeek & Mheer freed
1944 - US Army troops entered Germany for 1st time
1946 - Court martial convicts Henry de Man to 20 years, in Brussels
1947 - Pirate Ralph Kiner hits his record 8th HR in 4 games
1948 - Invasion of the State of Hyderabad by the Indian Army on the day after the Pakistani leader Jinnah's death.
1949 - Theodor Heuss elected 1st pres/Conrad Adenauer 1st PM of German FR
1950 - Belgian government dismisses all communist civil servants
1952 - Noel Coward's "Quadrille," premieres in London
1953 - "Carnival in Flanders" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 6 perfs
1953 - Brooklyn Dodgers, clinch NL pennant earlier than any other team
1953 - Sen John F Kennedy, 36, marries Jacqueline Bouvier, 24
1954 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA St Louis Golf Open
1954 - Indians sweep Yanks at Municipal Stadium; largest AL crowd (86,563)
1954 - WLBZ TV channel 2 in Bangor, ME (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 - White Sox win 90th game, 1st time they win this many since 1920
1955 - KNTV TV channel 11 in San Jose, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 - Black students enter & are barred from Clay Ky elementary school
1957 - Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus visits US
1958 - US Supreme Court orders Little Rock Ark high school to integrate
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - "Bonanza" premieres on NBC-TV
1959 - Janos K�d�r becomes premier of Hungary
1959 - Luna 2 launched by USSR; 1st spacecraft to impact on Moon
1960 - "Vintage '60" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 8 performances
1960 - John F. Kennedy avers he does not speak for the Roman Catholic Church, and neither does the Church speak for him.
1961 - NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 34,840 m
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Wash Senator Tom Cheney strikes out record 21 Orioles in 16 inn game
1963 - WHYY TV channel 12 in Wilmington, DE (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - 1st football game at Shea Stadium, Jets defeat Denver 30-6
1964 - Ralph Boston of US, sets then long jump record at 27' 4�"
1964 - Canyonlands National Park is designated as a National Park.
1965 - 79th US Womens Tennis: Margaret Smith beats Billie Jean King (86 75)
1965 - 85th US Mens Tennis: Manuel Santana beats Cliff Drysdale (62 79 75 61)
1965 - Hurricane Betsy strikes Florida & Louisiana kills 75
1965 - Manuel Santana wins US Tennis Open
1965 - Mary Mills wins LPGA Eugene Golf Open
1965 - WCEE TV channel 23 in Rockford, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - "Monkees" premieres on NBC-TV
1966 - Gemini XI (Charles Conrad & R Gordon) launched for 71-hour flight
1966 - KPNE TV channel 9 in North Platte, NB (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - WCES TV channel 20 in Wrens, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - WUSF TV channel 16 in Tampa-St Petersburg, FL (PBS) 1st broadcast
1966 - Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor Mich begins teaching
1968 - Albania announces it is withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact
1970 - 1st Concorde lands at Heathrow airport
1970 - Luna 16 Launch (Moon Sample Return)
1970 - Phyllis Ann George (Texas), 21, crowned 43rd Miss America 1971
1970 - Supersonic airliner Concorde lands for 1st time at Heathrow airport
1970 - US LSD professor Timothy Leary escapes from California jail
1970 - USSR launches Luna 16; returns samples from lunar Sea of Fertility
1970 - Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman.
1971 - 85th US Womens Tennis: Billie Jean King beats Rosemary Casals (64 76)
1971 - 91st US Mens Tennis: Stan Smith beats Jan Kodes (36 63 62 76)
1972 - Ciod War: Icelandic gunboats sink 2 British trawlers in North Sea
1972 - Lord Michael Killanin succeeds Avery Brundage as head of Olympics
1973 - 2 bettors win largest US Daily Double ($19,909.60 in Detroit)
1973 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1974 - Coup overthrows Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia (National Day)
1974 - Jeff "Skunk" Baxter joins Doobie Brothers
1976 - 96th US Mens Tennis: Jimmy Connors beats Bjorn Borg (64 36 76 64)
1976 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1976 - Seattle Seahawks play 1st regular-season game (St L 30, Sea 24)
1976 - White Sox Minnie Minoso, 53, is oldest to get a hit in majors
1978 - Fidel Castro visits Addis Abba
1978 - Situation comedy "Taxi" premieres on ABC television
1979 - Carl Yastrzemski, is 15th to get 3,000 hits
1979 - Hurricane Frederick hits Mobile Alabama; 5 die & $23 million damage
1979 - Indiana Pacers cut Ann Meyers, 1st woman on an NBA club
1979 - Red Carl Yastrzemski gets his 3,000th hit off Yankee Jim Beattie
1979 - Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale.
1980 - Military coup under General Kenan Evren in Turkey
1981 - 95th US Womens Tennis: Tracy Austin beats M Navratilova (16 76 76)
1981 - Elizabeth Ward (Arkansas), 20, crowned 54th Miss America 1982
1981 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1981 - Red Sox rookie Bob Ojeda no-hits Yanks for 8 innings before Rick Cerone & Dave Winfield lead off 9th with back-to-back doubles
1982 - 102nd US Mens Tennis: Jimmy Connors beats Ivan Lendl (63 62 46 64)
1982 - Gerard Nijboer (2:15:16) & Rosa Mota (2:36:04) win marathon
1982 - Sandra Spuzich wins LPGA Mary Kay Golf Classic
1983 - Albert Rizzo trod water at sea for 108 hours 9 minutes
1983 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1983 - Security guard Victor Gerena robs West Hartford company of $7 million
1983 - USSR vetoes UN resolution deploring its shooting down of Korean plane
1984 - Country singer Barbara Mandrell is badly injured in a car accident
1984 - Cyndi Lauper sings "She-Bop" on Tonight Show
1984 - Ethiopia forms socialist republic
1984 - NY Met Dwight Gooden sets rookie strike out record at 251
1985 - Flight readiness firing of Atlantis' main engines; 20 seconds
1986 - 240.49 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
1986 - Twins fire manager Ray Miller & replace him with coach Tom Kelly
1986 - US professor Joseph Cicippio is kidnapped & held hostage in Beirut
1987 - 101st US Womens Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Steffi Graf (76 61)
1987 - Ethiopia adopts constitution
1987 - Vince Coleman steals his 100th base for 3rd straight year
1988 - 1st NFL regular-season game played in Phoenix; Cowboys beat Card
1988 - Gilbert, strongest hurricane ever (160 mph), devastates Jamaica
1989 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1990 - "Les Miserables," opens at Cirkus Theater, Stockholm
1990 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1990 - US, England, France, USSR, East & West Germanys sign agreements allowing 2 Germanys to merge
1991 - Nolan Ryan's 4-3 victory over Twins is his 312th career win
1991 - Space shuttle STS 48 (Discovery 14) launched
1992 - 106th US Womens Tennis: Monica Seles beats A Sanchez Vicario (63 63)
1992 - Hurricane Inuki pounds Hawaii
1992 - STS-47 (Endeavour 2) launches
1992 - Stefan Edberg beats Michael Chang in what is believed to be the longest match in US Open history (5hr 26min)
1993 - 113rd US Mens Tennis: Pete Sampras beats Cedric Pioline (64 64 63)
1993 - Donna Andrews wins Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
1993 - Junxia Cheek runs 3000 m ladies world record (8:12.29)
1993 - Paul Molitor at 37 is oldest to reach 100 RBIs for 1st time in career
1993 - STS-51 (Discovery) launches into orbit
1994 - Cessna crashes in White House front yard
1994 - Country singer George Jones undergoes triple bypass surgery
1994 - Parti Qu�b�cois wins parliamentary election
1995 - INXS' Michael Hutchence pleads guilty to punching a photographer
1995 - Belarus military shoots down a hydrogen balloon, killing its two American pilots.
1997 - NY Met John Olerud hits for the cycle
1999 - Indonesia announces it will allow international peace-keepers into East Timor.
2000 - Holland (the Netherlands) passes law allowing same-gender marriage, adoption and divorce.
2001 - Article V of the NATO agreement is invoked for only the second time (the other being in Bosnia) in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States of America.
2001 - Ansett Australia, Australia's first commercial interstate airline, collapses due to increased strain on the international airline industry leaving 10000 people unemployed.
2003 - In Fallujah, US forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
2003 - The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
2005 - The red-green coalition, led by Jens Stoltenberg, wins the Norwegian parliamentary election, taking 87 of 169 seats in the parliament.
2005 - Israel completes its withdrawal of all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.
2005 - The bodies of more than 40 patients discovered in a flooded hospital in New Orleans.
2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
2007 - Shinzo Abe announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister of Japan.
2007 - Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of the crime of plunder.
2009 - The 9-12 Project organized multiple marches and demonstrations across the USA to protest government spending.
Music history on September 12
1940 - Johnny Long�s orchestra recorded the classic, "A Shanty in Old Shanty Town."
1948 - Elvis Presley, age 13, moved with his parents to Memphis, TN.
1953 - Luigi Vena sang "Ave Maria" at the wedding of U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
1966 - ABC-TV's "The Roger Miller Show" premiered.
1966 - The Beatles received a gold record for "Yellow Submarine."
1966 - The Monkees TV show premiered on NBC.
1970 - "Josie and the Pussycats," the cartoon, debuted on CBS.
1970 - "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor was released. It was his first single.
1987 - Morrissey left The Smiths for a solo career.
1990 - Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie both announced that they would no longer perform with Fleetwood Mac.
1996 - Oasis canceled their U.S. tour citing "internal differences" as the cause.
1980 - An in-depth report on the death of Elvis Presley aired on ABC-TV�s "20/20". It raised so many unanswered questions that the official case concerning Elvis� death was reopened.
1998 - A concert by Shania Twain was televised live on DirecTV. It was the first time direct broadcast had been used for a country star.
1998 - Vince Gill made his 100th appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.
2000 - The family of Jimi Hendrix released 56 rare tracks in a 4-CD boxed set, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience."
2002 - The house that Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) lived in as a child, from 11-15, was sold on eBay for $210,000. The house had been valued at $52,660 in 2000.
2002 - John Houston Entertainment LLC filed a $100 million lawsuit against Whitney Houston for breach of contract.
2006 - The iTunes Music Store reached 1.5 billion songs and 45 million videos sold.
2009 - Steve Jobs announced that Apple's iTunes had 88% of the legal U.S. music download market.
Sports history on September 12
1979 - Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to get 3,000 career hits and 400 career home runs.
1984 - Michael Jordan signed a seven-year contract to play basketball with the Chicago Bulls.
1984 - Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets set a rookie strikeout record with his 251st strikeout of the season.
2002 - A judge announced that a jury would have to decide who would get the ball that Barry Bonds hit for his record 73rd home run. The ownership of the ball, with an estimated value of $1 million, was being disputed between two men that had been in the bleachers.
2006 - Rick DiPietro (New York Islanders) signed a 15-year contract worth $67.5 million
Famous birthdays on September 12
Richard Gatlin 1818
Tony Bellamy (The Tornados) 1940
Maria Muldaur 1943
Barry Andrews (King Crimson, XTC) 1956
Brian Robertson (Wild Horses, Thin Lizzy) 1956
Rachel Ward 1957
Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five) 1966
Larry LaLonde (Primus) 1968
Paul Walker 1973
Quote for today:
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
- Oscar Wilde
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 12 2012, 05:31 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Member No.: 22,154
Historical events on September 13
509 BC - The temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.
122 - Building begins on Hadrian's Wall
533 - General Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimium, near Carthage, North Africa.
604 - Sabinian begins his reign as Pope replacing Pope Gregory the Great
1125 - Duke Lotharius of Supplinburg crowned as German king Lotharius III
1224 - Francis of Assisi is afflicted with stigmata.
1440 - Gilles de Rais is finally taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes.
1503 - Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.
1504 - Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a Royal Warrant for the construction of a Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) to be built.
1515 - -14] Battle at Marignano: France beats Habsburgers & Pope Leo X
1549 - Pope Paul III signs Council of Bologna
1553 - English Hugh Latimer arrested
1556 - Charles V & Maria of Hungary march into Spain
1574 - Turkish fleet recaptures Tunis
1579 - Breda forms Union of Utrecht
1625 - 16 Rabbis (including Isiah Horowitz) are imprisoned in Jerusalem
1631 - Admiral Tholen conquerors 30+ Spanish frigates
1663 - 1st serious slave conspiracy in colonial America (Virginia)
1743 - England, Austria & Savoye-Sardinia sign Treaty of Worms
1751 - England signs Austrian & Russian alliance
1759 - British beat French forces at Plains of Abrahams (Quebec)
1775 - Gotthold Lessing's "Die Juden," premieres in Frankfurt-am-Main
1787 - Prussian army moves into Netherlands
1788 - NY City becomes 1st capital of US
1789 - 1st loan to US government (from NYC banks)
1791 - France's King Louis XVI accepts constitution
1800 - Curacao in English hands (until Jan 1803)
1808 - Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von D�beln beat the Russians, making von D�beln a Swedish war hero.
1847 - American-Mexican war: US Gen Winfield Scott captures Mexico City
1849 - 1st US prize fight fatality (Tom McCoy)
1858 - Hamburg-US ship Austria catches fire & sinks, 471 die
1861 - 1st naval battle of Civil War, Union frigate "Colorado" sinks privateer "Judah" off Pensacola, Fla
1867 - Gen E R S Canby orders SC courts to impanel blacks jurors
1869 - Jay Gould & James Fisk attempt to control US gold market
1881 - Lewis Latimer invents & patents electric lamp with a carbon filament
1882 - Battle at Count el-Kebir: British troops invade Egypt
1883 - Cleveland Hugh Daily no-hits Phila 1-0
1883 - Hugh Daily, a one-armed pitcher for Cleveland (Forest City), tosses 1-0 no-hitter against Phila
1890 - Cecil Rhodes' colonies hoist Union Jack in Mashonaland & Salisbury
1898 - 20,000 Paris construction workers go on strike
1898 - Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film
1899 - Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199m - 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
1900 - Filipino resistance fighters defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine-American War.
1906 - 1st airplane flight in Europe
1907 - Interprovincial Rugby Football union (Big Four) forms with Hamilton Tigers, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders & Montreal Foot Ball
1909 - Ty Cobb clinches AL HR title with his 9th HR (all inside-the-park)
1910 - Regina Rugby Club forms
1918 - Train accident at Weesp Neth, kills 42
1919 - Guy Bolton & George Middleton's "Adam & Eve," premieres in NYC
1922 - 136.4�F (58�C), El Aziziyah, Libya in shade (world record)
1923 - With Spain's king Alfonso XIII assist, army coup under de Rivera
1924 - 19th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in Philadelphia (5-0)
1925 - 1st US University for Blacks, Xavier University, opens in New Orleans
1925 - Bkln Dodger Dazzy Vance no-hits Phillies, 10-1
1927 - Yanks clinch pennant, Ruth hits 2 HRs (52 en route to 60)
1927 - Waite Hoyt became only 20 game winner of 1927 Yankees
1928 - KOH-AM in Reno NV begins radio transmissions
1930 - 50th US Mens Tennis: J H Doeg beats Francis Shields (10-8 16 64 16-14)
1930 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 20,000m (1:04:38.4)
1930 - Tommy Armour wins PGA golf tournament
1930 - Winnipeg Rugby Football Club 1st game, loses to St John's Rugby, 7-3
1931 - Capt G H Stainworth flies world speed record (655 kph)
1931 - Right-radical coup of Dr Pfrimer fails in Austria
1932 - NY Yankees clinch their 7th AL pennant
1934 - Judge Landis sells World Series broadcast rights to Ford for $100,000
1935 - Rockslide near Whirlpool Rapids Bridge ends the Great Gorge and International Railway.
1936 - Cleve Bob Feller strikes out then record 17 in a game (vs Phila A's)
1938 - Alexander Cartwright selects to Baseball's Hall of Fame
1939 - First (tethered) flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, one of the first viable American helicopters
1940 - Buckingham Palace destroyed by German bombs
1940 - Italian troops under Marshal Graziani attack Egypt
1942 - Battle of Edson's Ridge (2nd Japanese assault) at Guadalcanal
1942 - Cubs shortstop Leonard Merullo makes 4 errors in 1 inning
1942 - German forces attack Stalingrad
1943 - Chiang Kai-shek became president of China
1943 - German counter attack at Salerno
1943 - Having been Generalissimo since 1928, Chiang Kai-shek elected pres
1943 - The Municipal Theatre of Corfu is destroyed during an aerial bombardment by Luftwaffe.
1944 - 30th Infantry division of US 1st Army frees Margraten
1944 - Last transport out camp Westerbork to Bergen Belsen
1944 - US 28th Infantry division opens assault on Siegfried line/Westwall
1946 - Boston Red Sox clinch AL pennant
1947 - WPVI TV channel 6 in Philadelphia, PA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1948 - Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me) elected senator, 1st woman to serve in both houses of Congress
1949 - Ladies Pro Golf Association of America formed in NYC
1951 - St Louis Cards beat NY Giants 6-4 (rescheduled from 9/12) then at night lose to Boston Braves 2-0
1952 - Adolfo Ruiz Cortinez elected president of Mexico
1953 - Pitcher Bob Trice is 1st black to play on Phila A's
1954 - Reds Ted Kluszewski scores a run in record 17 consecutive games
1954 - WPBN TV channel 7 in Traverse City, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - Dike around Dutch polder Eastern Flevoland closes
1956 - Stravinsky's "Canticum Sacrum," premieres in Venice
1956 - IBM introduces the first computer disk storage unit, the RAMAC 305.
1958 - Braves Warren Spahn is 1st lefty to win 20 or more games 9 times
1958 - Queen Juliana christens passenger ship Rotterdam
1959 - 73rd US Womens Tennis: Maria Fraser beats Christine Truman (61 64)
1959 - 79th US Mens Tennis: Neale Fraser beats Alejandro Olmedo (63 57 62 64)
1959 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Memphis Golf Open
1959 - USSR's Luna 2 becomes 1st probe to contact another celestial body
1960 - Dutch 1st Chamber condemns soccer-law
1961 - "Car 54 Where are You?" premieres on TV
1961 - Battles between UN & Katanga troops in Congo
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1961 - Unmanned Mercury-Atlas 4 launched into Earth orbit
1963 - "Outer Limits" premieres on ABC TV
1963 - Barbra Striesand & Elliot Gould marry
1963 - Jim Bouton's 20th win clinches Yanks 28th pennant
1963 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 - 3rd sitting of 2nd Vatican council opens in Rome
1964 - 78th US Womens Tennis: Maria Fraser beats Carole Graebner (61 60)
1964 - 84th US Mens Tennis: Roy Emerson beats Frederick S Stolle (64 62 64)
1964 - Mary Mills wins LPGA Eugene Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - St Louis is 1st NL to score runs in every game since 1923, win 15-2
1964 - WKEF TV channel 22 in Dayton, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
1965 - Beatles release "Yesterday"
1965 - Beatles win 1st Grammy, for Best Group of 1964
1965 - Today Show's 1st totally color broadcast
1965 - Willie Mays's 500th HR (off Don Nottebart), Giants 11th straight win
1966 - Johannes Balthazar Vorster sworn in as premier of South Africa
1968 - Albania leaves Warsaw pact
1969 - Baltimore Orioles, win earliest AL Eastern division title
1969 - Bobby Bonds is baseballs 4th 30-HR, 30-steal player
1969 - Plastic Ono Band's (John, Yoko & Eric Clapton) 1st live performance
1970 - 1st NYC Marathon won by Gary Muhrcke in 2:31:38
1970 - 84th US Womens Tennis: M Smith Court beats Rosemary Casals (62 26 61)
1970 - 90th US Mens Tennis: Ken Rosewall beats Tony Roche (26 64 76 63)
1970 - IBM announces System 370 computer
1970 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Wendell-West Golf Open
1970 - Palestine guerillas conquer Irbid Jordania
1971 - 11 guards & 31 prisoners die in take over at Attica State Prison
1971 - Frank Robinson hits his 500th HR
1971 - Nikita Krushchev, Soviet premier, buried in Moscow
1971 - WIIQ TV channel 41 in Demopolis, AL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1971 - World Hockey Association forms
1972 - 1st TV broadcast of "Waltons" on CBS
1973 - ABC announces it obtained TV rights for 1976 Olympics
1973 - Congress passes & sends a bill to Nixon to lift football's blackout
1973 - Syrian/Israeli dogfight over Mediterranean Sea
1974 - -17] 3 Japanese kidnap French ambassador in Hague
1974 - 1st broadcast of "Rockford Files" on NBC-TV
1974 - Phillies set NL record, using 27 players in a game, St Louis uses 24, tying record of 51. Phils win 7-3 in 17
1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1975 - -27] Hurricane Eloise, kills 71 in Caribbean & US
1976 - 2nd Enterprise, approach & lands Test Cricket (ALT) flight (5m28s)
1977 - 1st TV viewer discretion warning-Soap
1977 - 2nd Test Cricket of Space Shuttle Enterprise
1977 - General Motors introduces 1st US diesel auto (Oldsmobile 88)
1978 - 1st flight of McDonnell Douglas F-18A Hornet
1978 - NY Yanks win to gain sole possession of 1st place from 14 games back
1979 - China PR performs nuclear test
1979 - South Africa grants Venda independence (Not recognized out of S Afr)
1980 - 1st United Negro College Fund
1981 - 101st US Mens Tennis: John McEnroe beats Bjorn Borg (46 62 64 63)
1981 - 33rd Emmy Awards: Taxi, Hill St Blue, Judd Hirsh & Isabel Sanford wins
1981 - April Moon sets women's handbow distance record of 1,039 yds & 13"
1981 - Atlanta Falcons tie record of 31 points in 4th quarter (vs Green Bay)
1981 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - 50 die in Spantax Airlines DC-10 on takeoff from Malaga, Spain
1982 - Joe Lefevre gets 6 hits in one baseball game
1983 - Dan Quisenberry record 39th season save
1983 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1983 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson 3rd straight 100 steals for season
1983 - Steve O'Shaughnessy scores 100 in 35 mins, Lancs v Leics
1983 - US mint strikes 1st gold coin in 50 years (Olympic Eagle)
1984 - STS 41-G launch vehicle moves to launch pad
1984 - Simon Peres forms Israeli government with Likoed
1985 - 2nd MTV Awards: Bruce Springsteen
1985 - John Williams introduces new Today Show theme
1986 - Bert Blyleven gives up a record 44 HRs in a season
1986 - Kellye Cash (Tenn), 21, crowned 60th Miss America 1987
1987 - Cesium-137 stolen from abandoned hospital in Rio de Janeiro
1987 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Cellular One-Ping Golf Championship
1987 - Paul Lynch of Great Britain does 32,573 push-ups in 24 hours
1988 - 10th time, 4 players hit baseball major-league record grand slams
1988 - 9 hard/software manufacturers announce EISA computer bus in NY
1988 - Gilbert is strongest (26.13 barometer) hurricane in Western Hemisphere
1989 - "Les Miserables," opens at Fisher Theatre, Detroit
1989 - Desmond Tutu leads biggest anti-apartheid protest march in South Africa
1989 - Fay Vincent elected baseball's 8th commissioner
1990 - Commuter train at Johannesburg South Africa attacked, 36 die
1990 - Iraqi troops storm residence of French ambassador in Kuwait
1990 - Robert E Nederlander appointed NY Yankee managing general partner
1990 - Senate Judiciary Com opens hearing on confirmation of David Souter
1991 - 55 ton concrete beam falls in Montreal's Olympic Stadium
1991 - Joe Carter is 1st to have 3 consec 100-RBI seasons with 3 differ teams
1991 - Joe Coleman 3rd 100 RBI season in a row 3 teams (Cleve, SD & Toronto)
1991 - Kim Zmeskal is 1st American to win a medal at World Gymnastics Championships, she wins the gold with 39.848 pts
1992 - 112th US Mens Tennis: Stefan Edberg beats Pete Sampras (36 64 76 62)
1992 - NY Giants trailing Dallas Cowboys 34-0 in 3rd, lose 34-28
1992 - Nancy Lopez wins Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
1992 - Steffan Edberg beats Pete Sampress to win US Open
1993 - Israeli min of Foreign affairs Peres & PLO-Abu Mazen sign peace accord
1993 - Junxia Cheek runs ladies world record 3000m (8:06.11)
1993 - Queens NY begins required recycling
1993 - Public unveiling of the Oslo Accords, an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement initiated by Norway.
1994 - George Burns, undergoes surgery to drain fluid from his brain
1994 - Space probe Ulyssus passes south pole of Sun
1996 - Phil Simmons scores 171 & takes 6-14 for Leics v Durham
1997 - Carolina Hurricane's 1st exhibition game beat NY Islanders 4-1
1997 - Katherine Shindle (Ill), 24, crowned 71st Miss America 1998
1998 - 112th US Womens Tennis
1998 - 118th US Mens Tennis
1998 - SAFECO Golf Classic
1999 - Bomb explodes in Moscow, Russia. At least 119 people are killed.
2001 - Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2006 - At Dawson College (Montreal), Kimveer Gill kills one student and wounds 19 others before committing suicide.
2008 - Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
Musical history on September 13
1819 - Composer Clara Wieck Schumann was born.
1874 - Composer Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg was born.
1954 - Judy Garland was on the cover of "Life" magazine.
1960 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned payola.
1965 - The song "Yesterday/Act Naturally" was released by the Beatles.
1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band made their live debut at the Rock 'n' Roll Revival Concert. Eric Clapton was on guitar.
1969 - The Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival took place.
1974 - Stevie Wonder started his first tour since his near-fatal car accident.
1977 - Symphonic conductor Leopold Stokowski died at the age of 95.
1979 - Abba began their first North American tour in Edmonton, Alberta.
1982 - RCA Records announced that David Bowie had left for the South Seas where the filming of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" was to begin.
1983 - "Sports" by Huey Lewis and the News was released.
1985 - Sting began his first solo tour in San Diego. The tour was to support the album "Dream Of The Blue Turtles."
1989 - Bruce Springsteen recorded "Viva Las Vegas" for "The Last Temptation of Elvis."
1989 - Sting made his stage debut at the Threepenny Opera in Washington, DC.
1991 - Alice Cooper sold his new album "Hey Stoopid" in New York's Times Square for 99 cents.
1994 - The debut album "Ready to Die" was released by The Notorious Big.
1996 - Tupac Shakur died six days after being shot four times in a drive-by shooting.
1996 - CMT (Country Music Television) was allowed to resume broadcasting in Canada. The network had been taken off the air over a broadcasting rights dispute.
1998 - Mel B (Spice Girls) and Jimmy Gulzarof were married.
1999 - Marcelo Rodriguez, a Beverly Hills police officer, filed a multi-million dollar slander lawsuit against George Michael. The suit alleged that the singer had committed slander in the song and video for "Outside." Rodriguez had arrested Michael on charges of lewd behavior in a public park on April 7, 1998.
Sports history on September 13
1849 - In Hastings, NY, The first recorded death in a boxing match occurred after Chris Lilly knocked out Tom McCoy. McCoy died a short time later.
1923 - George Burns (Boston Red Sox) performed the third unassisted triple play in baseball history.
1932 - Joe McCarthy became the first manager to win pennants in both baseball leagues when his New York Yankees clinched the American League pennant.
1946 - Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox) hit his only inside-the-park home run.
1949 - The Ladies Professional Golf Association of America was formed.
1965 - Willie Mays became the fifth player in major league history to hit 500 career home runs.
1970 - The first New York City Marathon took place. Fireman Gary Muhrucke won the race. The race was run entirely inside Central Park.
1971 - The World Hockey Association was formed.
1971 - Frank Robinson (Baltimore Orioles) hit his 500th career home run.
1981 - John McEnroe won his third consecutive U.S. Open.
1986 - Bert Blyleven (Minnesota Twins) surrendered five homes runs. The game raised Blyleven's total to 44 for the year setting an American League record.
1989 - Fay Vincent was named commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the late A. Bartlett Giamatti.
1996 - Alex Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners) set a team record when he became the first player for the Mariners to reach 200 hits in a season.
1996 - Charlie O'Brien (Toronto Blue Jays) became the first catcher in major league baseball history to wear a hockey goalie-like catcher's mask. The game was against the New York Yankees.
1996 - John Wetteland (New York Yankees) became on the second Yankee to record 40 or more saves in a season.
2002 - Mike Vernon retired after a 19-year career as a player in the NHL.
2003 - In Oakland, CA, Frank Francisco (Texas Rangers), a relief pitcher, threw a chair into the right field box seats. Two spectators were hit in the head. The game was delayed for 19 minutes. The Athletics won the game 7-6 in the 10th inning.
Famous birthdays on September 13
1087 - John II Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1143)
1157 - Alexander Neckum/de Sancto Albano, English theologist/encyclopedist
1475 - Cesare Borgia, Italian aristocrat (d. 1507)
1502 - John Leland, English antiquarian (d. 1552)
1520 - William Cecil 1st baron Burghley, English premier
1551 - Pandolfo Zallamella, composer
1604 - William Brereton, English soldier and politician (d. 1661)
1673 - Hercule Brehy, composer
1676 - �lisabeth Charlotte of Orl�ans, Duchess of Lorraine (d. 1741)
1682 - Theodor Christleib Reinhold, composer
1688 - Luca Antonio Praedieri, composer
1694 - Yeongjo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1776)
1739 - Giuseppe Sigismondo, composer
1739 - Grigory Potemkin, army officer, statesman, Catherine II's lover, OS
1751 - Henry Kobell, Dutch painter/cartoonist
1755 - Oliver Evans, pioneered high-pressure steam engine
1766 - Samuel Wilson, possible namesake of Uncle Sam (d. 1854)
1775 - Laura Secord, Canadian war heroine (d. 1868)
1802 - Arnold Ruge, German philosopher and writer (d. 1880)
1806 - Joseph Lewis Hogg, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), die in 1862
1806 - Moritz Ganz, composer
1813 - John Sedgwick, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1814 - Nicolas Beets, [Hildebrand], Dutch writer (Camera Obscura=
1817 - John McAuley Palmer, US Union msj-gen/(Gov-Ill, 1868-72)
1818 - Olivier Gloux, [Aimard], Fren world explorer/writer (Grande Flibuste)
1819 - Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (d. 1896)
1830 - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer (d. 1916)
1836 - John McCausland, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1927
1841 - Johannes de Koo, Dutch journalist/stage writer
1842 - Odon Peter Jozsef de Mihalovich, composer
1842 - John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator (d. 1920)
1846 - Richard Kiepert, German cartographer (Africa)
1847 - Charles Dupee Blake, composer
1851 - Walter Reed, US Army Surgeon, proved mosquitoes transmit yellow fever
1857 - Milton S Hershey, Derry Township, Pennsylvania, chocolate manufacturer/philanthropist, (d. 1945)
1857 - Michał Drzymała, Polish peasant rebel (d. 1937)
1858 - Catherinus Elling, composer
1860 - John J Pershing (Blackjack), Laclede, Missouri, US commander (WW I), (d. 1948)
1862 - Dirk Bos, Dutch liberal 2nd Member of parliament
1863 - Arthur Henderson, Britain, socialist/disarmament worker (Nobel 1934)
1866 - Adolf Meyer, US, psychiatrist/neurologist (pioneered mental hygiene)
1871 - Alma Kruger, Pittsburgh PA, actress (Made For Each Other)
1874 - Arnold Franz Walter Schonberg, Vienna Austria, composer (2nd Quartet)
1874 - Henry Fountain Ashurst, American politician (d. 1962)
1874 - Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian-born composer (d. 1951)
1876 - Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio, author/publisher (Winesburg)
1877 - Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer (d. 1957)
1877 - Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (d. 1962)
1882 - Henri Potiron, composer
1882 - Ram�n Grau, Cuban president (d. 1969)
1885 - Wilhelm Blaschke, Austrian geometer (d. 1962)
1886 - Alain L Lovke, philosopher
1887 - Lavoslav Ruzicka, Croatian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)
1893 - Larry Shields, American musician (d. 1953)
1894 - Anton Roosjen, Dutch politician/NCRV-chairman
1894 - John B[oynton] Priestly, author (Good Companions)/wed Jessica Hawkes
1894 - Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (d. 1953)
1895 - Ruth McDevitt, Coldwater Mich, actress (Jo-All in the Family)
1896 - Morris Kirksey, US, 4 X 100m (Olympic-gold-1920)
1897 - Gaspar Cassado Moreu, composer
1899 - Anton Constandse, Dutch anarchist/writer
1899 - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the Iron Guard (d. 1938)
1901 - Philip Dorn, Scheveningen Netherlands, actor (I Remember Mama)
1902 - Hermine Heijermans, Dutch actress/author
1902 - Leland Hayward, US producer (Spirit of St Louis)
1903 - Claudette Colbert, [Lily Chauchoin], Paris, actress (Texas Lady)
1904 - Gladys George, Patten Maine, actress (Roaring Twenties)
1907 - Victor Reinganum, artist
1908 - Ray Burns Green, composer
1909 - Herbert Berghof, Vienna Austria, actor (Belarus File)
1911 - Bill Monroe, Rosine Ky, country singer (Blue Moon of Kentucky)
1912 - Reta Shaw, South Paris Maine, actress (Ghost & Mrs Muir)
1913 - Roy Engle, Mo, actor (Police Chief-My Favorite Martian)
1914 - Leonard Geoffrey Feather, jazz critic/musician
1915 - Peter Guy Wykeham-Barnes, fighter Pilot
1916 - Roald Dahl, Llandaff, Cardiff, author (Over to You, Taste, 2 Fables), (d. 1990).
1916 - Dick Haymes, Argentine vocalist (d. 1980)
1917 - Jon Thorarinsson, composer
1917 - Robert Eugene Ward, Cleveland Ohio, composer (Pantaloon)
1918 - Ray Charles, Chicago, orchestra leader (Perry Como)
1919 - Mary Midgley, American philosopher
1920 - Carole Mathews, Montgomery Ill, actress (Wilma-Californians)
1922 - Charles Brown, American singer and pianist (d. 1999)
1923 - Reninca, [Ren�e Lauwers], Flemish author (Seed in the Wind)
1923 - Edouard Boubat, French photographer (d. 1999)
1924 - Maurice Jarre, Lyons France, composer (Dr Zhivago-Acad Award 1966)
1924 - Norman Alden, Fort Worth Tx, actor (Pilaski-Hennesey, Al-Fay), (d. 2012)
1924 - Scott Brady, Bkln NY, actor (China Syndrome, Gremlins, Johnny Guitar)
1924 - Harold Blair, Australian tenor, Aboriginal activist (d. 1976)
1925 - Gabriel Charpentier, composer
1925 - Mel Torm�, American singer (d. 1999)
1926 - Emile Francis, NHL player/coach/GM (Rangers, Blues, Whalers)
1928 - Ernest L Boyer, educator/chancellor (NY's State Universities-SUNY)
1929 - Nicolai Ghiaurov, Bulgarian opera singer (d. 2004)
1930 - James McLane, US, 1500m freestyle swimmer (Olympic-gold-1948)
1930 - Robert Gavron, English publisher/multi-millionaire (St Ives)
1931 - Barbara Bain, Chic, actress (Cinnamon-Mission Impossible, Space 1999)
1931 - Marjorie Jackson, Australia, sprinter (Olympic-gold-1952) [or Feb 13]
1932 - Bengt Hallberg, composer
1933 - Eileen Fulton, Asheville NC, actress (Our Private World)
1936 - Stefano Delle Chiaie, Italian neo-Nazi
1937 - Fred Silverman, broadcasting exec (ABC/NBC/CBS)
1937 - Don Bluth, American animator
1938 - Judith Martin, author/journalist/columnist (Miss Manners)
1939 - Larry Speakes, presidential press secretary
1939 - Richard Kiel, Detroit Mich, actor (So Fine, Jaws-Moonraker, Skidoo)
1940 - Joyce Schouten, Dutch singer (Fouryo's)
1940 - �scar Arias, Costa Rican politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1941 - Tadao Ando, Japanese architect
1941 - Ahmet Necdet Sezer, 10th President of Turkey
1943 - Ray Elliott, rock pianist/saxophonist (Them)
1944 - Peter Cetera, Chicago, lead singer (Chicago-25 or 6 to 4, Old Days)
1944 - [Winifred] Jacqueline Bisset, England, actress (Class, Deep, Secrets)
1945 - Alain Louvier, composer
1945 - No�l Godin, Belgian humorist
1945 - Andres K�ng, Swedish-Estonian politician, journalist (d. 2002)
1948 - Clyde Kusatsu, Honolulu Hawaii, actor (Ali-Bring 'em Back Alive)
1948 - Nell Carter, Birmingham Ala, actress (Nell-Gimme a Break, Lobo)
1948 - Dimitri Nanopoulos, Greek physicist
1950 - Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Polish politician
1951 - David Clayton-Thomas, singer (Blood Sweat & Tears - Joy to the World)
1951 - Jean Smart, American actress
1952 - Johanna Klier-Schaller, German DR, 100m hurdler (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 - Karen Wyman, Bronx NY, singer (Long & Winding Road)
1952 - Randy Jones, American musician (The Village People)
1952 - Raymond O'Connor, American actor
1952 - Don Was, American singer
1953 - Taryn Power, LA CA, daughter of Tyrone Power/actress (Maria)
1954 - Ted Mueller, rock drummer (Axe)
1955 - Joe Morris, American musician
1956 - [Joan] Joni Sledge, Phila, vocalist (Sister Sledge-We are Family)
1957 - Mark Charles Wiebe, Seaside OR, PGA golfer (1985 Anheuser-Busch)
1957 - John G. Trueschler, American politician
1958 - Ann Dusenberry, Tucson Az, actress (Jaws 2, Lies, Basic Training)
1959 - Jean Smart, Seattle Wash, actress (Charlene-Designing Women)
1960 - Greg Baldwin, American voiceover actor (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
1961 - Dave Mustaine, American musician (ex-Metallica, Megadeth)
1961 - KK Null, Japanese musician
1961 - Peter Roskam, Republican Congressman from Illinois
1962 - Brian Andrew Fowler, Christchurch NZ, cyclist (Olympics-96)
1962 - Grady Neal Lancaster, Smithfield NC, PGA golfer (1994 Byron Nelson)
1962 - T�nu �nnepalu, Estonian poet and author
1963 - Theodoros Roussopoulos, Greek politician
1964 - Peter Remie, soccer player (NAC)
1965 - Zak Starsky, rock drummer, son of Beatle Ringo
1965 - Zak Starkey, British musician
1965 - Annie Duke, American poker player
1965 - Jeffrey Ross, American Comedian
1966 - Igor Kravchuk, Ufa Russia, NHL defenseman (Team Russia, St Louis)
1966 - Maria Furtw�ngler, German physician
1966 - Louis Mandylor, Australian actor
1967 - Michael Johnson, Dallas Tx, 200m/400m runner (Olympic-2 gold-96)
1967 - Tim 'Ripper' Owens, American singer (Iced Earth, ex-Judas Priest)
1968 - Bernie Williams, San Juan Puerto Rico, outfielder (NY Yankees)
1968 - Brad Johnson, NFL quarterback (Minnesota Vikings)
1968 - Chris Morris, CFL tackle (Edmonton Eskimos)
1968 - Denny Neagle, Prince Georges Cnty, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1968 - Emma Sj�berg, Swedish model
1969 - Igor Kravchuk, NHL defenseman (Ottawa Senators, Russia Oly-Sil-98)
1969 - Ilka Knickenberg, German actress
1970 - Marc Latupeirissa, soccer player (Willem II)
1970 - Mart�n Herrera, former Argentine footballer
1970 - Louise Lombard, British actress
1970 - Yuki Matsuoka, Japanese voice actress
1971 - Goran Ivanisevic, Crotia, tennis star (1994 Wimbledon finalist)
1971 - Nancy Anne Roberts, Miss Vermont USA (1996)
1971 - Richie Anderson, NFL running back (NY Jets)
1971 - Stella Nina McCartney, daughter of Paul & Linda McCartney
1971 - Ted Drury, Boston Mass, US hockey forward (Olympics-1994)
1971 - Manabu Namiki, Japanese composer
1973 - Brian Evans, NBA forward (Orlando Magic)
1973 - Philip Dulebohn, Washington DC, figure skater (1997 Eastern Sr - 3rd)
1973 - Fabio Cannavaro, Italian footballer
1973 - Marcelinho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
1973 - Christine Arron, French runner
1973 - Kelly Chen, Chinese singer
1974 - Travis Knight, NBA center (Boston Celtics)
1974 - Keith Murray, American rapper
1975 - Patricia Spehar, Miss France Universe (1997)
1975 - Sean McClain, Dayton Ohio, fencer-foil (Olympics-96)
1975 - Joe Don Rooney, American musician (Rascal Flatts)
1975 - Akihiro Asai, Japanese racing driver
1976 - Giorgos Koltzos, Greek footballer
1976 - Craig McMillan, New Zealand cricketer
1976 - Jos� Th�odore, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 - Fiona Apple, American singer
1977 - Ivan De Battista, Maltese Actor, singer and composer
1977 - Daisuke Tsuda, Japanese singer (Maximum the Hormone)
1978 - Megan Henning, American actress
1978 - Darren Kenton, English footballer
1979 - Geike Arnaert, Belgian singer (Hooverphonic)
1979 - Ivan Miljković, Serbian volleyball player
1980 - Ben Savage, actor (Little Monsters, Wild Palms)
1980 - Evangelos Nastos, Greek footballer
1980 - Han Chae Young, South Korean actress
1980 - Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japanese baseball player
1980 - Michelle Nolan, American musician (Straylight Run)
1980 - Teppei Teranishi, American guitarist (Thrice)
1981 - Koldo Fern�ndez, Spanish cyclist
1981 - Antonio Lopez Spanish footballer
1981 - Angel Williams, Canadian wrestler
1982 - Nen�, Brazilian basketball player
1982 - Rickie Weeks, American baseball player
1982 - Miha Zupan, Slovenian basketball player
1983 - Sean Brosnan II, American actor and son of actor Pierce Brosnan
1983 - James Bourne, English musician
1984 - Nabil Abou-Harb, Arab-American filmmaker
1985 - Keyunta Dawson, National Football League player
1986 - Kamui Kobayashi, Japanese racing driver
1986 - Sean Williams, American basketball player
1987 - Luke Fitzgerald, Irish rugby union footballer
1988 - Keith Treacy, Irish footballer
Quote for today:
Man is not made for society, but society is made for man. No institution can be good which does not tend to improve the individual.
- Margaret Fuller, American social reformer (1810-1850).
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 13 2012, 09:27 AM
--------------------
If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historical events on September 14
81 - Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
786 - Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi.
891 - Stephen V ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1163 - Pastor Frederik forms convent at Mariengaarde Friesland
1180 - Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.
1515 - Battle at Marignano ends in French/Venetian victory
1607 - Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland.
1629 - Spanish garrison surrenders to prince Frederik Henry
1662 - Netherlands & England sign peace treaty
1682 - Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, founded.
1716 - 1st lighthouse in US lit (Boston Harbor)
1741 - George Frederick Handel finishes "Messiah" oratorio, after working on it non-stop for 23 days
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Composer George Friedrich Handel
1752 - US & England adopts Gregorian calender (no Sept 3-Sept 13th)
1759 - Austrian troops occupy Dresden
1807 - Aaron Burr acquitted of a misdemeanor charge
1812 - Napoleon occupies Moscow & fires start (fire extinguished on the 19th)
1814 - Francis Scott Key inspired to write "Star-Spangled Banner"
1829 - Peace of Adrianopel: ends Russian-Turkish war
1830 - Princess WFLC Marianne marries Albrecht of Prussia
1834 - Charles Darwins company passes Tagua-tagua-more Chile
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Naturalist Charles Darwin
1847 - US Marines under General Scott enter Mexico City (halls of Montezuma)
1848 - Alexander Stewart opens 1st US dept store
1852 - 18th Postmaster General: Samuel D Hubbard of Conn takes office
1854 - Allied armies, including those of Britain & France, land in Crimea
1856 - Battle of San Jacinto, Nicaragua defeats invaders
1862 - Battle at Crampton's Gap: Union troops chases away Confederates
1862 - Battle at South Mountain: Union troops chases away Confederates
1862 - Battle of Munfordsville KY
1862 - Federal troops escape from beleaguered Harpers Ferry West Virginia
1862 - Skirmish at Mountain MD (Boonesboro, Crampton's Gap, Fox's Gap)
1868 - Golf's 1st recorded hole-in-one (Tom Morris at Prestwick's 8th hole)
1872 - Britain pays US$15�m for damages during Civil War
1876 - Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Rwanda
1876 - Leopold II closes Congo-conference
1882 - British General Wolseley reaches Cairo
1886 - George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee patents typewriter ribbon
1891 - "Empire State Express" train goes from NYC to East Buffalo, a distance of 436 miles, in a record 7H6M
1892 - AP Giannini marries Clorinda Cuneo
1894 - Hottentotten uprising in Southwest-Africa fails
1899 - Henry Bliss becomes 1st automobile fatality (NY)
1903 - NY Giant Red Ames no-hits St Louis, 5-0 in a 5 inning game
1905 - Albert Cuypstrat street market in Amsterdam inaugurated
1905 - Dutch AR-politician AWF Idenburg named governor of Suriname
1905 - RAC Tourist Trophy, 1st run, on Isle of Man
1913 - 27th US Womens Tennis: Mary K Browne beats Dorothy Green (62 75)
1913 - Cubs Larry Cheney hurls record 14-hit shutout against Giants (7-0)
1914 - German staff-chief von Moltke replaces von Falkenhayn
1914 - German troops withdraw from Aisne/invent trenches
1916 - Christy Mathewson pitches & wins his final game
1917 - Kerenski regime declares Russian republic
1917 - Provisional government of Russia forms, Republic proclaimed
1919 - British regime forbids Sinn Fein D�il
1923 - Jack Dempsey KOs Luis Firpo in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
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Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey
1923 - Miguel Primo de Rivera becomes dictator of Spain
1923 - Red Sox 1st baseman George Burns pulls off an unassisted triple play
1924 - Walter Johnson elected AL MVP
1926 - Guido Companions birthplace as a museum opens
1929 - 49th US Mens Tennis: Bill Tilden beats Francis Hunter (36 63 46 62 64)
1929 - A's clinch AL pennant with a 5-0 win over White Sox
1930 - Detroit Lions (as Portsmouth Spartans) play 1st NFL game, win 13-6
1930 - Nazis gain 107 seats in German election
1932 - Military coup in Chile under Arturo Alessandri
1933 - 2 billion board feet of lumber destroyed in Tillamook Oregon fire
1933 - Schaduwproces-Rijksdagbrand opens in London
1936 - Paul Waner ties Rogers Hornsby's NL record of 200 hits for 7 times
1938 - Graf Zeppelin II, world's largest airship, makes maiden flight
1939 - British fleet attacks German U-39 boat
1939 - Minister Winston Churchill visits Scapa Flow
1940 - Congress passes 1st peace-time conscription bill (draft law)
1940 - German bomb hits shelter in Chelsea; 100s die
1942 - Battle of Edson's Ridge (Japanese assault) at Guadalcanal
1942 - German troops occupy train station Stalingrad-1
1942 - Yanks clinch pennant #13
1943 - Yanks clinch pennant #14
1944 - 6,500 Dutch/Indonesian captives sent to Junyo Maru
1944 - Gulpen, Meerssen & Maastricht freed
1944 - Hurricane hits New England: 389 die
1944 - US 28th Infantry division occupies 1.5 km of Roscheid
1944 - US 4th Ivy League Inf division pushes through Westwall
1947 - 61st US Womens Tennis: A Louise Brough beats M O duPont (86 46 61)
1947 - 67th US Mens Tennis: Jack Kramer beats Frank A Parker (46 26 61 60 63)
1948 - Gerald Ford upsets Rep Bartel J Jonkman in Mich 5th Dist Rep primary
1948 - Ground breaking ceremony for UN world headquarters
1948 - Milton Berle starts his TV career on Texaco Star Theater
1950 - Western allies rearm West Germany
1951 - Giant's Bob Niemans homers on his 1st 2 at bats
1953 - Nikita Khrushchev appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev
1953 - Yanks clinch 5th straight pennant with 8-5 win over Indians
1954 - Comedians Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara marry
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Comedian Jerry Stiller
1954 - B Britten's opera "Turn of the Screw," premieres in Venice
1954 - Giants' Willie Mays gets 82nd extra-base hit, breaks Mel Ott's record
1954 - Hurricane Edna (2nd of 1954) hits NYC, $50 million damage
1954 - USSR performs nuclear test
1955 - Herb Score sets rookie record of 235 strikeouts (en route 245)
1956 - 1st prefrontal lobotomy performed, Washington DC
1957 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
1957 - UN resolution deplores & condemns USSR invasion of Hungary
1957 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - Jackie Pung wins LPGA Jackson Golf Open
1958 - WTAE TV channel 4 in Pittsburgh, PA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 - Yankees win 24th pennant, & 9th under Casey Stengel
1958 - Two rockets designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, the first German post-war rockets, reach the upper atmosphere.
1959 - Soviet Union's Luna-2 is 1st spacecraft to land on the Moon
1959 - WQEX TV channel 16 in Pittsburgh, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1960 - Chubby Checker's "Twist" hits #1
1960 - Coup under Col Joseph-Desire Mobutu in Congo
1960 - Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia & Venezuela form OPEC
1960 - KERA TV channel 13 in Dallas, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1960 - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forms
1961 - Dmitri Shostakovitch becomes member of CP of USSR
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 - Mary Ann Fischer, Aberdeen, SD, gave birth to America's 1st surviving quintuplets, 4 girls & a boy
1964 - WCVE TV channel 23 in Richmond, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - Walt Disney awarded Medal of Freedom at White House
1965 - "F-Troop" premieres
1965 - 4th meeting of 2nd Vatican council opened
1967 - Melville Abrams Ball Field in Bronx named
1967 - Thomas Pell Wildlife Refuge & Sanctuary opens in Bronx
1968 - Jimmy Ellis beats Floyd Patterson in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1968 - 1st broadcast of "60 Minutes" on CBS-TV
1968 - Detroit Tigers' Denny McLain's 30th victory of season
1968 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 12th string quartet, premieres in Moscow
1968 - USSR's Zond 5 is launched on 1st circumlunar flight
1969 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Wendell-West Golf Open
1969 - Males of Swiss kanton Schaffhausen rejects female suffrage
1970 - Stevie Miracle marries Rita Wright, [Syreeta]
1971 - Cleve Indians & Wash Senators, play 20 innings
1972 - "Waltons" TV program premieres
1972 - Jason Miller's "That Championship Season," premieres in NYC
1972 - West Germany & Poland establish diplomatic relations
1973 - Indianapolis is awarded a WHA franchise
1973 - Israel shoots down 13 Syrian MIG-21s
1973 - Pres Nixon signed into law a measure lifting pro football's blackout
1974 - Charles Kowal discovers Leda, 13th satellite of Jupiter
1975 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Southgate Golf Open
1975 - Pope Paul VI declares Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton 1st US saint
elizabeth_ann_bayley_seton.jpg ( 12.57K ) Number of downloads: 0
1st American-born Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton
1975 - Rembrandts "Nightwatch" slashed & damaged in Amsterdam
1975 - Robin Yount breaks Mel Ott's record, playing in 242 games as a teen
1977 - Christmas Tinto sentenced to 7 years in Robbeneiland South Africa
1978 - Braves' Jim Bouton, 38, beats Giants, his 1st win since 1970
1978 - Portugal government of Da Costa falls
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1979 - Theodore Coombs completes 5,193 mile roller skate from LA to NYC & back to Yates Center, Ks
1980 - "Charlie & Algernon" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 17 perfs
1980 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1980 - Dwight Clark begins NFL streak of 105 consecutive game receptions
1981 - Entertainment Tonight premieres on TV
1982 - 36" snow (Red Lodge, MT)
1982 - Cindy Nicholas of Canada makes her 19th swim of English Channel
1982 - Trevor Baxter sets skateboard high jump record of 5' 5.7"
1983 - US House of Representatives votes, 416 to 0, in favor of a resolution condemning Russia for shooting down a Korean jetliner
1984 - 1st MTV awards-Bette Midler & Dan Aykroyd host
1985 - Susan Akin (Miss), 21, crowned 59th Miss America 1986
1986 - Bo Jackson's 1st HR-a 475-foot blast (longest at Royal Stadium)
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 2 killed
1986 - Bomb explosion on airport Kimpo at Seoul, 5 killed
1986 - Judy Dickinson wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1986 - Saskatchewan & Hamilton play 1st CFL regular-season overtime game
1987 - "Les Miserables," opens at Rock Theatre, Vigzinhaz Budapest
1987 - 107th US Mens Tennis: Ivan Lendl beats Mats Wilander (67 60 76 64)
1987 - Cal Ripken's streak of 8,243 consecutive innings (908 games) is broken
1987 - Toronto Blue Jays hit a record 10 HRs vs Baltimore Orioles
1988 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1989 - Calgary Flames become 1st NHL team to play in USSR, win 4-2
1989 - Jeff Reardon is 1st to record 30 saves in 5 consecutive seasons
1989 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 - Ken Griffey, Sr & Jr, hit back-to-back HRs in 1st inning
1991 - Carolyn Suzanne Sapp (Hawaii), 24, crowned 65th Miss America 1992
1991 - Freshman Marshall Faulk of San Diego State rushed for NCAA record
1991 - Magic Johnson weds Erieatha "Cookie" Kelly
1991 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 - 386 yards & scored 7 touchdowns as the Aztecs beat Pacific 55-34
1992 - 1st subway car completed to be exported from US (to Taiwan)
1994 - All 28 baseball owners vote to cancel rest of 1994 season
1995 - Body Worlds opens in Tokyo, Japan
1996 - A's Mark McGwire is 13th player to hit 50-HRs in a season
1996 - Dean Headley takes 3rd cricket hat-trick of season, Kent v Hampshire
1996 - NY Met Todd Huntley sets record of 41 HRs by a catcher
1996 - Tara Dawn Holland (Kansas), 23, crowned 70th Miss America 1997
1997 - 49th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
1997 - Bank One Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Chicago Whites Sox retire Carlton Fisk's #72
1997 - Karrie Webb wins LPGA SAFECO Classic
1997 - Loren Roberts wins CVS Charity Golf Classic with a 266
1998 - Week of Fed Cup
1998 - Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
1999 - Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
2001 - Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital.
2003 - In a referendum Sweden rejects adopting the euro.
2003 - Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
2007 - Restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass are officially removed in the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum takes effect.
pope_benedict_xvi.jpg ( 15.16K ) Number of downloads: 0
265th Pope Benedict XVI
Music history on September 14
1737 - Composer Johann Michael Haydn was born.
1741 - George Handel completed "Messiah" in time for an orphan's charity concert.
1760 - Composer Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini was born.
1814 - Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the "Star-Spangled Banner." The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.
1927 - Gene Austin recorded "My Blue Heaven."
1968 - "The Archies" premiered on CBS. The cartoon was based on the comic book series.
1969 - Genesis played their first gig for money in Surrey, England, at a cottage owned by a Sunday school teacher.
1976 - Jeff Beck's second album, "Wired," goes gold.
1979 - Kenny Rogers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1981 - Pink Floyd's movie "The Wall" began production.
1983 - Metallica introduced a new song, "Disposable Heroes," at the Metal Hammer festival in Germany.
1985 - The MTV Awards are held for the first time. Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd co-hosted the show.
1991 - David Bowie's band Tin Machine released their second album "II." They also kicked off their first and only tour.
1993 - "The Hits/The B-Sides" box set was released by Prince.
1994 - The Temptations receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1995 - Earth, Wind and Fire received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1995 - Hand written lyrics for "Getting Better" by Paul McCartney sold for $249,000 at a Sotheby's auction.
1998 - Metallica began recording the album "Garage Inc."
2010 - George Michael was sentenced to eight weeks in jail after he plead guilty to driving under the influence and drug possession. The incident occurred on July 4 when Michael's crashed his car into a store.
Sports history on September 14
1916 - Christy Mathewson (Cincinnati Reds) won his 373rd career game. It was the only victory he had earned for a team other than the New York Giants during his 17-year career.
1959 - The $32 million Aqueduct, operated by the New York Racing Association, opened.
1968 - Denny McLain (Detroit Tigers) became baseball's first 30-game winner in 34 years. Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) had earned 30 wins in 1934.
1986 - Bob Brenley (San Francisco) tied a major league baseball record when he committed four errors in one inning.
1987 - Tony Magnuson cleared 9.5 feet above the top of the U-ramp and set a new skateboard high jump record.
1987 - The Toronto Blue Jays set a club record of 10 home runs when the defeated the Baltimore Orioles 18-3.
1990 - Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. (Seattle Mariners) hit back-to-back home runs off California Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill in the first inning. The Angels won the game 7-5.
1994 - It was announced that the season was over for the National Baseball League on the 34th day of the players strike. The final days of the regular season were canceled. Baseball owners had voted 26-2 in favor of ending the season. The result was a year with no World Series for the first time since 1904.
1999 - Leon Lett (Dallas Cowboys) was suspended for seven games as punishment for a fifth violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy.
2002 - Tim Montgomery (American) set a world record in the 100 meters when he finished in 9.78 seconds. The previous record had been set in 1999 by Maurice Green (9.79 seconds).
2003 - Jamal Lewis (Baltimore Ravens) set an NFL record for yards gained in a single-game when he gained 295 yards rushing. The Ravens beat the Cleveland Browns 33-13.
2003 - Vinny Testaverde (New York Jets) became the ninth player in NFL history to pass for over 40,000 yards.
Sports Quote
I didn't like the '50s, you know. I appreciate Elvis, but I'm not a big fan. I'm not a rockabilly fan. And the '60s and early '70s were, to me, the greatest times to live.
- Brett Hull
Famous birthdays on Sept. 14
Ivan Pavlov 1849
John "Bowser" Bauman (Sha Na Na) 1947
Steven Gaines (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 1949 - Lynyrd Skynyrd Merchandise
Paul Kossoff (Free) 1950
Barry Cowsill (The Cowsills) 1954
Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) 1955
Joe Penny 1956
Adam Lamberg 1984
Quote for today:
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
- Henry Louis Mencken
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 14 2012, 09:48 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 15
608 - St Boniface IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.
921 - Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.
1514 - Thomas Wolsey appointed archbishop of York
1556 - Vlissingen ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain
1584 - San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid finished
1590 - Giambattista Catagna elected as Pope Urban VII
1600 - Battle of Sekigahara.
1616 - The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.
1619 - Prince Bethlen Gabors troops occupy Pozsony (Pressburg) Hungary
1620 - Mayflower departs from Plymouth England with 102 pilgrims [OS May 8]
1621 - Swedish troops occupy Riga
1644 - Giambattista Pamfili replaces Pope Urban VII as Innocent X
1656 - England & France sign peace treaty
1683 - Germantown Pa founded by 13 immigrant families
1707 - R�k�czi II & Czar Peter the Great sign social security agreement
1733 - King Frederik Willem I divides Prussia-Brandenburg in Cantons
1762 - Battle of Signal Hill.
1774 - Cossack Emilian Pugachev captured
1776 - British forces capture Kip's Bay Manhattan during Revolution
1787 - -16] Utrecht patriots flee to Amsterdam
1789 - Dept of Foreign Affairs, renamed Dept of State
1795 - Cape Colony surrenders to England
1812 - French army under Napoleon reaches Kremlin, Moscow
1820 - Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal; (see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
1821 - Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras & Nicaragua gain independ
1830 - 1st National Negro Convention begins in Phila
1830 - 1st to be run-over by a railroad train (William Huskisson, England)
1830 - Duke of Wellington opens Liverpool & Manchester Railway
1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
1835 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reaches Galapagos Islands
1846 - Jung Bahadur Rana grabs power in Nepal
1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1853 - 1st US woman ordained a minister, Antoinette Blackwell
1857 - Timothy Alder patents typesetting machine
1862 - Confederates conquer Union-weapon arsenal at Harpers Ferry WV
1870 - Dutch 1st Chamber abolishes Capital punishment (20-18)
1873 - Last German troops leave France
1879 - Pim Mulier forms "Haarlem Football Club"
1882 - British general Wolseley occupies Cairo
1887 - Phila celebrates 100th anniversary of US Constitution
1894 - Japan defeats China in Battle of Ping Yang
1898 - National Afro-American Council forms in Rochester NY
1899 - 5th US Golf Open: Willie Smith shoots a 315 at Baltimore CC MD
1903 - Queen Wilhelmina calls railroad strikers "criminals"
1904 - Wilbur Wright makes his 1st airplane flight
1910 - Boers & Afrikaners win 1st general elections in Union of South-Africa
1912 - Red Sox pitcher Joe Wood ties then record of 16 straight wins
1912 - War between Turkey & Montenegro breaks out in Albania
1913 - 1st US milch goat show held, Rochester, NY
1914 - Battle of Aisne begins between Germans & French during WW I
1914 - US Marines march out of Vera Cruz, Mexico
1916 - 1st tank used in war, "Little Willies" at Battle of Flors, France
1916 - Britains 1st use of tanks (Battle of Somme)
1917 - Russia proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky
1918 - CH Chubb gives Stonehenge to English state
1921 - Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical Alcohol Paraclitus
1921 - WBZ-AM in Boston MA begins radio transmissions
1922 - Catcher Butch Henline is 1st NLer to hit 3 HRs in a game since 1897
1923 - 43rd US Mens Tennis: William T Tilden beats W M Johnston (64 61 64)
1923 - Bill Tilden wins US Lawn Tennis Open
1923 - Gov Walton of Oklahoma declares state of siege because of KKK terror
1926 - Failed attempt on Benito Mussolini
1928 - 400 kg Fournier-albums (forged postage stamps) burn in Geneva
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1928 - Cards set NL record of 18 men left on base beating Phillies 8-6
1928 - Stothard, Kalmar & Ruby's musical "Good Boy," premieres in NYC
1928 - Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
1930 - 1st intl bridge match is held in London. US team defeats England
1931 - British naval fleet mutinies at Invergordon over pay cuts
1931 - Phila A's clinch pennant, beating Cleveland
1935 - Nuremberg Laws deprives German Jews of citizenship & makes swastika official symbol of Nazi Germany
1937 - WPA extends L-Taraval streetcar to SF Zoo (at Sloat Blvd)
1938 - British PM Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgarden
1938 - John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 350.2 MPH (lasts 1 day)
1938 - Only time brothers hit back-to-back HRs (Lloyd & Paul Waner, Pitts)
1940 - 3rd American Football League plays 1st game (Milw 14, Columbus 2)
1940 - Chicago Tribune sponsors Ted Lyons Day (White Sox pitcher)
1940 - Luftwaffe bombs Bristol Aeroplane Company
1940 - PM Winston Churchill visits #11 Fighter Group
1940 - Tide turns in Battle of Britain in WW II, RAF beats Luftwaffe
1941 - Nazis kill 800 Jewish women at Shkudvil Lithuania
1942 - US aircraft carrier Wasp torpedoed at Guadalcanal
1943 - Benito Mussolini forms a rival fascist government in Italy
1943 - Concentration Camp Vaivara in Estonia opens
1943 - Concentration Camp Kauwen in Lithuania opens
1944 - British bombers hit Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs
1944 - Russian troops free Sofia Bulgaria
1944 - US 1st Infantry division pushes through to Westwall
1944 - US 28th Infantry division occupies Hill 555 at Roscheid
1944 - US troops lands on Palau & Morotai
1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
1946 - Dodgers beat Cubs 2-0 in 5 inns, games called because of gnats
1947 - 1st 4 engine jet propelled fighter plane tested, Columbus, Oh
1947 - Yanks clinch pennant #15
1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
1947 - Typhoon Kathleen hit Tone River, Saitama and Tokyo area, killing at least 1,930 and injuring 1,750..
1948 - "Small Wonder" opens at Coronet Theater NYC for 134 performances
1948 - F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speech record of 1080 kph
1948 - WHN-AM in NY City changes call letters to WMGM
1949 - "Lone Ranger" premieres on ABC-TV
1949 - WJAC TV channel 6 in Johnstown, PA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1949 - WJXT TV channel 4 in Jacksonville, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - During Korean conflict, UN forces land at Inchon in South Korea
1950 - East German premier Grotewohl pleads for German reunification
1950 - For a record 6th time, NY Yankee Johnny Mize hits 3 HRs in one game
1950 - Longest game in Phila's Shribe Park, Phils beat Reds 8-7 in 19
1950 - UN lands at Inchon to drive North Korean troops out of the south
1950 - US troop land on Wolmi-Do island off of Seoul
1951 - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" closes at Ziegfeld NYC after 740 perfs
1951 - Emile Zatopek runs world record 20k (1:01:15.8)
1951 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Ingruentium Malorum
1952 - Braves last game in Boston's Braves Field before move to Milwaukee
1952 - European Parliament forms in Strasbourg
1952 - UN turns over Eritrea to Ethiopia
1953 - Boxing's NBA adopts 10-pt-must-scoring-system (10 pts to round winner)
1953 - KVOA TV channel 4 in Tucson, AZ (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WVEC TV channel 13 in Hampton-Norfolk, VA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - WCTV TV channel 6 in Tallahassee-Thomasville, FL (CBS) begins
1957 - "Bachelor Father" with John Forsythe premieres
1957 - Adenauers CDU wins parliamentary election in West Germany
1957 - SF Seals (Pacific Coast League) play their last game
1958 - 48 die in a train crash in Elizabethport NJ
1958 - Commuter train crashes through drawbridge, killing 48 (Newark NJ)
1959 - Soviet Premier Khrushchev arrives in US to begin a 13-day visit
1960 - France spends 9 billion guilders on atomic experiments
1961 - 61st US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 mph
1962 - "Bravo, Giovanni" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 76 perfs
1962 - Australia's 1st entry in America's Cup yacht race (US wins)
1962 - KC A's Bill Fischer sets record of 69 1/3 innings without a walk
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - WOKR TV channel 13 in Rochester, NY (ABC) begins broadcasting
1963 - 4 children killed in bombing of a black Baptist church in Birmingham
1963 - Alou brothers-Felipe, Matty, & Jesus-appear in SF outfield for 1 inn
1963 - Ben Bella elected 1st president of Algeria
1963 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Eugene Ladies' Golf Open
1963 - WNTV TV channel 29 in Greenville, SC (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - Beatles play at Public Auditorium in Cleveland
1964 - Final edition of socialist British newspaper "Daily Herald"
1965 - "Lost in Space" premieres
1966 - 1st British nuclear sub HMS Resolution launched
1966 - Dutch political party (D'66) forms
1966 - Gemini XI (Conrad/Gordon) returns to Earth
1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
1967 - KPOB TV channel 15 in Poplar Bluff, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
1968 - "Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park" Show on CBS TV
1968 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1968 - Launch of Zond 5, 1st lunar fly-around with Earth reentry
1968 - NY Zendo (Shoboji) was opened by S Nakagawa & D S Harada
1968 - WUAB TV channel 43 in Lorain-Cleveland, OH (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 - WXON TV channel 20 in Detroit, MI (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 - Probable Test flight for a manned fly-around (scooped by Apollo 8)
1969 - Cards Steve Carlton sets record by striking out 19 NY Mets in a game
1970 - Decca awards Bing Crosby a 2nd platinum disc for selling 300 million
1970 - PLO leader Arafat threatens to make a cemetery of Jordan
1970 - Rotterdam harbor strikes end
1971 - 1st broadcast of "Columbo" on NBC-TV
1972 - WMAO TV channel 23 in Greenwood, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.
1972 - An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malm�-Bulltofta Airport.
1973 - "Star Trek-Animated" premieres on TV
1973 - Dutch Guilder devalued 5%
1973 - Ohio State's Archie Griffith begins record 31 cons 100 yd rushing
1973 - Secretariat wins Marlboro Cup in world record 1:45 2/5 for 1� miles
1974 - Market Square Arena in Indianapolis opens
1974 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Charity Golf Classic
1974 - Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.
1975 - Mike Vail extends hitting streak ton rookie-record 23 straight game
1975 - The French d�partement of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
1976 - Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who ...," premieres in NYC
1976 - Soyuz 22 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit for 8 days
1977 - "Man of La Mancha" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 124 performances
1977 - Orioles forfeit to Blue Jays when mgr Earl Weaver pulls team off field in 5th citing hazardous condition (small tarpaulin on bullpen mound)
1977 - Pres Carter meets with 15 record company execs
1977 - Rock Music Award
1977 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1978 - Dodgers become 1st major league team to draw 3 million fans
1978 - Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1978 - Yanks beat Boston 4-0, Guidry wins # 22, Yanks lead 2� games
1979 - Red Sox Bob Watson is 1st to hit for cycle in AL & NL (Astros)
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - Paul McCartney releases "Temporary Secretary"
1981 - US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor
1981 - Pope John Paul II publishes encyclical "Laborem exercens" against capitalism/marxism
1981 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.
1981 - Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations.
1982 - 1st issue of "USA Today" published by Gannett Co Inc
1982 - Israeli forces began pouring into west Beirut
1982 - Pope John Paul II receives PLO leader Yasser Arafat
1983 - Cops beat to death Michael Stewart for graffiting NYC subway
1983 - Israel premier Begin resigns
1984 - Morocco Showcase opens
1984 - Sharlene Wells (Utah), 20, crowned 58th Miss America 1985
1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1985 - 26th Ryder Cup: Europe beat US, 16�-11� at The Belfry, England
1985 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1985 - Olof Palme forms Sweden minority government
1985 - Senate judiciary committee begins Robert Bork confirmation hearings
1985 - Willie Nelson's Farm Aid concert
1985 - Yanks trade Jim Deshaies to Astros for 40-year-old Joe Niekro
1986 - 1st broadcast of "LA Law" on NBC-TV
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 1 dead
1988 - "Les Miserables," opens at Raimund Theatre, Vienna
1988 - Lillehammer, Norway upsets Anchorage to host 1994 Winter olympics
1988 - Museum of Moving Image in London opens
1988 - Test Cricket debut of Ian Healy, vs Pakistan at Karachi
1989 - The U.S. Congress recognizes Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.
1990 - 42nd Emmy Awards - LA Law & Murphy Brown win
1990 - Chicago White Sox Bobby Thigpen is 1st to record 50 saves
1990 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1990 - Florida lottery goes over $100,000,000
1990 - France announce it will send 4,000 troops to Persian Gulf
1991 - "Party Machine with Nia Peeples" final show
1991 - 19th du Maurier Golf Classic: Nancy Scranton
1991 - NBA star Magic Johnson marries Earletha "Cookie" Kelly
1991 - SD State freshman Marshall Faulk sets NCAA rushing record of 386 yds
1991 - US women's gymnastics team win 1st World Championships medal (silver)
1992 - Ted Weiss, despite dying on 14th, wins congressional NYC seat
1993 - Liechtenstein prince Hans-Adam II disbands parliament
1994 - "Sound of Motown," premieres in Rotterdam
1994 - Dennis Richardson sworn in as head of St Maarten
1994 - Moslem fundamentalists kidnap & behead 16 citizens in Algeria
1995 - Cards shortstop Ozzie Smith sets record of 1,554 double plays
1996 - 2nd Presidents Golf Cup: US beats Intl team 16�-15� at Robert Jones Va
1996 - Bangladesh beat UAE by 104 runs to win the ACC Trophy Final
1996 - Karrie Webb wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1996 - Texas Rangers retire their 1st number, Nolan Ryan's #34
1997 - Edison Intl purchases Anaheim Stadium naming rights for $50M
1997 - Oprah Winfrey announces she will continue her show through 2000
1998 - With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.
2000 - Opening ceremony of the XXVII Olympics in Sydney, Australia
2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announces a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 16
1400 - Owain Glyndŵr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers.
1575 - King Johan Casimir of Palts promises military aid to hugenots
1597 - French troops chase away Albrecht of Austria
1630 - Mass village of Shawmut changes name to Boston
1652 - Spanish troops occupy Dunkerk
1654 - Russian troops occupy Smolensk on Poland
1662 - Flamsteed sees solar eclipse, 1st known astronomical observation
1666 - "Messiah" Sjabtai Tswi becomes Islamiet
1668 - King John II Casimir of Poland resigns, flees to France
1701 - James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.
1702 - Emperor Leopold I declares war on France, Cologne & Bavaria
1729 - Willem KH Friso installed as viceroy of Groningen
1741 - George Frederick Handel's "The Messiah," premieres in Dublin
1747 - French troops occupy Bergen on Zoom
1782 - Great Seal of US used for 1st time
1795 - British capture Capetown South Africa
1795 - United Kingdom conquers Cape Town, South Africa.
1810 - Mexico issues Grito de Dolores, which called for the end of Spanish rule Mexican Independence Day celebrates this event
1812 - Fire of Moscow
1830 - Oliver Wendell Holmes writes "Old Ironsides"
1847 - United Shakespeare Company buys his home in Stratford-upon-Avon
1848 - Slavery abolished in all French territories
1857 - Mexican constitution of force (fiercely attacked by Pope Pius IX)
1857 - Typesetting machine patent
1858 - 1st overland mail for California
1859 - Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi's boundary with Tanzania & Mozambique discovered by British explorer David Livingstone
1861 - Battle of Princeton WV
1861 - British Post Office Savings Banks opens
1862 - Gen Bragg's army surrounds 4,000 federals at Munfordville, KY
1862 - Liliuokalani, queen of Hawaii (1891-93) marries John Owen Dominis
1863 - Robert College of Istanbul-Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.
1864 - Battle of Coggin's Point, Virginia (Hampton-Rosser Cattle Raid)
1867 - Ottawa Rough Riders & Senators play Canadian Football game
1873 - German troops leave France
1885 - Puritan (US) beats Genesta (England) in 6th running of America's Cup
1890 - Newswriter George Whitney Calhoun names Green Bay team Packers
1892 - Amsterdam swim club renamed "The Y"
1893 - Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma opens white settlement homesteaders
1901 - Alturas, California, is incorporated as the only city in Modoc County.
1906 - Kaarlo Nieminen wins 1st Finnish marathon
1906 - Roald Amundsen discovers Magnetic South Pole
1908 - Carriage-maker, William Durant, founded General Motors Corp
1908 - William Crapo Durant incorporates General Motors in Janesville Wisc
1913 - 1000s of women demonstrate for Dutch female suffrage
1915 - Czar Nicolas II adjourns 4th Duma
1915 - US takes control of customs & finances of Haiti for 10 years
1919 - American Legion incorporated by an act of Congress
1919 - Dutch Ruether beats Giants 4-3 to clinch Cincinnati 1st NL pennant
1920 - Bomb explosion in Wall Street, kills 30
1922 - 42nd US Mens Tennis: Bill Tilden beats W M Johnston (46 36 62 63 64)
1922 - Turkish troops chase Greeks out of Asia
1924 - Cardinal Jim Bottomley bats in 12 RBIs in 1 game
1926 - -22] Hurricane in Florida & Alabama, kills 372
1926 - Italian-Romanian peace treaty signed
1926 - Philip Dunning & George Abbott's "Broadway," premieres in NYC
1926 - St Louis Cards beat Phillies 23-3
1927 - Rene Lacoste beats Bill Tilden for US Lawn Tennis Association title
1928 - Hurricane hits West Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee Florida; 3,000 die
1929 - Police shoots at strikers at Maastricht, 2 killed
1930 - Phillies trailing 10-5, score 5 in 9th, then Pirates score 4 in top of 10th, so Phillies score 5 in bottom of 10th to win 15-14
1931 - Blimp is moored to Empire State Building (NYC)
1931 - St Louis Cards repeat as NL champions with a 6-3 win over Phillies
1932 - 30.8 cm rainfall at Westerly, Rhode Island (state record)
1938 - George E T Eyston sets world auto speed record at 357.5 MPH
1939 - 53rd US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (60 810 64)
1939 - 59th US Mens Tennis: Robert L Riggs beats S Welby van Horn (64 62 64)
1939 - NY Yankees clinch their 11th & 4th successive pennant
1940 - Dutch SS forms
1940 - FDR signs Selective Training & Service Act (1st peacetime draft)
1940 - Leo Durocher suspended from Ebbetts Field for "inciting a riot"
1940 - Luftwaffe attacks center of London
1940 - Samuel T Rayburn of Tx elected speaker of House
1940 - St Louis Browns Johnny Lucadello is 2nd to HR from each side of plate
1941 - German armour troops surround Kiev Ukraine
1941 - Hitler orders for every dead German, 100 Yugoslavian be killed
1941 - Jews of Vilna Poland confined to Ghetto
1942 - Japanese attack on Port Moresby repelled
1943 - Montgomery's 8th army contacts invasion - arm forces at Salerno
1943 - Soviet army under general Vatutin reconquer Romny
1945 - Barometric pressure at 856 mb (25.55") off Okinawa (record low)
1947 - John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 394.2 MPH
1947 - Typhoon Kathleen hit Saitama, Tokyo and Tone River erea, at least 1,930 killed.
1948 - "Heaven on Earth" opens at Century Theater NYC for 12 performances
1948 - "Mr Strauss Goes to Boston" closes at Century NYC after 12 perfs
1949 - KABC TV channel 7 in Los Angeles, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1950 - Cleveland Rams (formerly AAFC) play 1st NFL game, beat Phila 35-10)
1950 - Viet Minh-offensive against French bases in Vietnam
1951 - 6th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Betsy Rawls
1951 - NL ump Frank Dascoli clears the Dogers bench ejecting 15 players
1953 - AL approves St Louis Browns move to become Baltimore Orioles
1954 - CKLW TV channel 9 in Windsor, ON (CBC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Bauer & Berra homer in 9th beating Red Sox 5-4 taking over 1st
1955 - US Auto Club forms to oversee 4 major auto reacing categories
1955 - Yankee Mickey Mantle pulls a hamstring muscle running out a bunt
1956 - Marlene Bauer wins LPGA Clock Golf Open
1957 - Coup in Thailand (Premier Songgram deposed)
1957 - LA City Council approves 300-acre site in Chavez Ravine for Dodgers
1959 - President De Gaulle recognizes Algerian right of self determination
1960 - Amos Alonzo Stagg retires as a football coach at 98
1960 - Mil Brave Warren Spahn no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 4-0
1961 - CDU loses West German election
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1961 - WLKY TV channel 32 in Louisville, KY (ABC) begins broadcasting
1962 - Brian Kilby wins marathon: (2:23:18.8)
1962 - Gerda Kroon runs European record 800 m in 2:02.8
1962 - Public TV channel 13 begins in NYC
1962 - Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Sacramento Golf Open
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - "Outer Limits" premieres on ABC-TV
1963 - Malaysia formed from Malaya, Singapore, Br No Borneo & Sarawak
1963 - WVAN TV channel 9 in Savannah, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - "Shindig" premieres on ABC-TV
1965 - Boston Red Sox Dave Morehead no-hits Cleve Indians, 2-0
1965 - Sobibor trial opens in Hagen West Germany
1966 - Metropolitan Opera opens at NY's Lincoln Center
1967 - Anni Pede runs female world record marathon (3:07:26)
1967 - KPAZ TV channel 21 in Phoenix, AZ (IND) begins broadcasting
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1968 - KLNI (now KADN) TV channel 15 in Lafayette, LA (IND) begins
1968 - Richard Nixon appears on "Laugh-in"
1970 - Jordan king Hussein forms military government
1971 - 6 Klansmen arrested in connection with bombing of 10 school buses
1971 - West German chancellor Willy Brandt meets with Soviet president Brezhnev
1972 - 1st TV series about mixed marriage-Bridgit Loves Bernie
1972 - Penny Marshall appears on Bob Newhart Show in "Fly Unfriendly Skies"
1973 - "Desert Song" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 15 performances
1973 - Buff Bill OJ Simpson rushes 250 yards (2 TDs), beating NE Pats 31-13
1973 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Southgate Ladies Golf Open
1974 - BART begins regular transbay service
1974 - Bob Dylan records Blood on the Tracks
1974 - Pres Ford announces conditional amnesty for US, Vietnam War deserters
1974 - US General Haig becomes NATO-supreme commander in Europe
1975 - Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia (National Day)
1975 - Pirates beat Cubs 22-0, Rennie Stennett is 3rd to go 7 for 7
1975 - Rennie Stennett is 2nd to hit 7-for-7 in a 9-inning game
1975 - The first prototype of the MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.
1976 - Egypt president Sadat re-elected
1976 - Episcopal Church approves ordination of women as priests & bishop
1976 - Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from the trolleybus that had fallen into Erevan reservoir.
1977 - 90 minute pilot of "Logan's Run" premieres on TV
1977 - Ringo releases "Drowning in Sea of Love"
1977 - Seattle beats Royals, 4-1, to end KC's winning streak at 16 games
1978 - 25,000 die in 7.7 earthquake in Tabar Iran
1978 - Filming on Monty Python's Life of Brian, begins
1978 - Grateful Dead perform in Cairo Egypt
1978 - Yanks beat Red Sox for 6th time in 2 weeks, 3-2
1979 - 23rd Ryder Cup: US wins, 17-11 at The Greenbrier (White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, US)
1979 - Catfish Hunter Day at Yankee Stadium
1979 - Coup in Afghanistan under Hafizullah Amin
1979 - KC's Willie Wilson hits 5th inside-the-park HR (most since 1925)
1979 - Nancy Lopez/JoAnn Washam wins Portland- Ping Team Golf Championship
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test
1981 - 1st broadcast of "Miami Vice" on NBC-TV
1982 - Massacre of 1000+ Palestinian refugees at Chatila & Sabra begins
1983 - Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes a US citizen
1984 - "Miami Vice" premieres
1984 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1984 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1986 - Fire in Kinross gold mine, Transvaal South Africa, 177 killed
1987 - Calif's Bob Boone catches record 1,919th major league game
1987 - NASA launches space vehicle S-209
1987 - NY's WNET-TV channel 13 begins round clock broadcasting
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - Cin Reds Tom Browning pitches a perfect game, beats Dodgers, 1-0
1988 - Fish leaves rock group Marillion
1988 - Javed Miandad completes 211, his 5th Test Cricket double, v Australia
1988 - Jury awards Valerie Harper $1.6 M in dispute over TV series
1988 - Tom Browning of Cincinnati Reds pitches a perfect game against LA
1989 - Debbye Turner (Mont), 23, crowned 63rd Miss America 1990
1989 - Singer Natalie Cole marries record producer Andre Fisher
1990 - 101 year old Sam Ackerman weds 95 year old Eva in New Rochelle NY
1990 - 42nd Emmy Awards: LA Law, Murphy Brown, Peter Falk & Patricia Wettig
1990 - Dennis Quaid & Meg Ryan wed
1990 - Iraq televises an 8 minute uncensored speech from George Bush
1990 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1990 - Pirate Radio NY International begins transmissions on WWCR
1991 - Atlanta's Otis Nixon suspended for rest of 1991 due to cocaine
1991 - US trial of Panamanian leader Noriega begins
1991 - Norm Charlton suspended for 7 days for intentionally hitting Steve Scioscia with a pitch
1992 - "Les Miserables," opens at Nuevo Apolo, Madrid
1992 - 900 die in flood in Pakistan
1992 - FCC votes to allow competition for local phone service
1993 - Minnesota Twins Dave Winfield, is 19th to get 3,000 hits
1993 - Singer Karen Akers (48) weds businessman Kevin Powers (41)
1994 - Fire Dept puts out smokey electrical fire in White House
1995 - Greg Maddux of Braves sets record of 17 consecutive road victory
1995 - Shawntel Smith (Okla), 24, crowned 69th Miss America 1996
1995 - Stephen Hawkins (53) weds Elaine Mason
1996 - 1st one-day international in Canada, India v Pakistan at Toronto
1996 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Panama City FL on WTBB 97.7 FM
1996 - Paul Molitor of Twins is 21st player to reach 3,000 hits
1996 - Space Shuttle STS 79 (Atlantis 17), launches into space
1997 - ABL MVP Nikki McCray signs with WNBA
1997 - Apple Computer Inc names co-founder Steve Jobs temporary CEO
1997 - Mark McGwire signs with the St Louis Cards for $26M
2000 - Sammy Sosa's becomes the second player to hit 50 or more home runs in three consecutive years, joining Mark McGwire
2005 - Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples.
2007 - One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 carrying 128 crew and passengers crashes in Thailand killing 89 people.
Music history on Sept. 16
1920 - Enrico Caruso recorded his last work for Victor Records.
1938 - "Boogie Woogie" was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.
1963 - "She Loves You" was released by the Beatles.
1964 - "Shindig!" premiered on ABC. The first show opened with Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, The Wellingtons, The Righteous Brothers, Bobby Sherman and Alan Sues.
1965 - The second season of "Shindig!" was opened with the Rolling Stones performing "Satisfaction." The Kinks, Byrds and Everly Brothers also appeared on the season opener.
1965 - The Grace Cathedral in San Francisco was the site of Duke Ellington's first concert.
1966 - The Metropolitan Opera opened its new opera house at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
1966 - Pete Quafe left the Kinks and was replaced by John Dalton.
1970 - Jimi Hendrix made his final public appearance. He appeared with Eric Burdon and War at a club in London. The opening performance was Samuel Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra."
1977 - Marc Bolan (T. Rex) died in a car accident at the age of 29.
1978 - The Grateful Dead recorded a concert at the pyramids in Egypt.
1979 - The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" by was released.
1980 - Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall officially opened.
1985 - KISS released the album "Asylum."
1991 - Willie Nelson and makeup artist Ann-Marie D'Angelo got married.
1992 - Barbara Streisand made her first live appearance in six years at a fundraiser for the U.S. Democratic party.
1993 - Grace Slick's home was destroyed by fire.
1997 - The Delfins debuted their first album "Azul" ("Blue") in Madrid's Las Venats bullfight arena.
1998 - The members of Mott The Hoople played together for the first time in 24 years at the Virgin Megastore on London's Oxford Street.
Sports history on September 16
1924 - Jim Bottomley knocked in 12 runs in a single game setting a major league baseball record.
1953 - The St. Louis Browns of the American League were given permission to move to Baltimore, MD, where they became the Baltimore Orioles.
1988 - Tom Browning pitched the 12th perfect game in major league baseball.
2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman imposed a lockout due to an impasse in contract negotiations. The players union and NHL officials did not meet again until December 9.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 16
Louis XIV (France) 1638
Bernie Calvert (The Hollies) 1942
Linda Henning 1944
Betty Kelly (Martha and the Vandellas) 1944
Susan Ruttan 1948
Kenney Jones 1948 - Musician (Faces, The Who), The Who Merchandise
Ed Begley, Jr. 1949
David Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers) 1950
Ron Blair 1952
Marc Anthony 1968 - Marc Anthony Merchandise
Madeline Zima 1985
Happiness is a very small desk and a very big wastebasket.
- Robert Orben
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 16 2012, 08:35 AM
--------------------
If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historical events on September 17
335 - Church of Heilig Grave initiated in Jerusalem
642 - Arabs conquer Alexandria, library destroyed
1156 - Markgraafschap Austria becomes a temple (Privilegium minus)
1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought.
1394 - Jews are expelled from France by order of King Charles VI
1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec) is fought during Thirteen Years' War.
1562 - Council of Trente takes ecclesiastical canon
1584 - Gent surrenders to duke of Parma
1595 - Pope Clemens VIII recognizes Henri IV as king of France
1598 - Netherland sailors discover Mauritius
1630 - The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1631 - Battle of Breitenfeld: King Gustaaf Adolf defeats Gen Tilly
1644 - French troops occupy Mainz
1678 - France & Spain signs peace treaty
1683 - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek reports existence of bacteria
1691 - Colony Massachusetts Bay gets new charter
1697 - Battle at Zenta: Prince Eugen of Savoye beats Turks
1730 - Turkish coup under Mahmud I; Sultan Ahmed III flees
1737 - Georg-August University opens in G�ttingen
1745 - Edinburg occupied by Jacobites under Young Pretenders
1776 - Presidio of SF forms as a Spanish fort
1776 - The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
1778 - 1st treaty between the US & Indian tribes signed (Fort Pitt)
1787 - Prussian troops conquer Gorinchem
1787 - US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention
1789 - William Herschel discovers Mimas, satellite of Saturn
1809 - Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
1819 - 1st whaling ship arrives in Hawaii
1835 - Charles Darwins lands on Chatham Galapagos-archipelago
1850 - Great fire in San Francisco
1859 - Man in SF claims himself Norton I, emperor of America
1861 - 1st day school for freedmen forms at Fortress Monroe Virginia
1861 - Hampton Institute forms
1862 - Battle of Antietam, bloodiest day in Civil War (Sharpsburg Md), 23, 110 die
1862 - Battle of Cumberland Gap, TN-evacuted by Federals
1862 - Battle of Mumfordville, KY-US Col J Wilder surrenders city
1862 - American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
1863 - Pope Pius IX encyclical On persecution in New Grenada
1864 - Grant approves Sheridan's plan for Shenandoah Valley Campaign
1871 - Mont Cenis railway tunnel Switzerland opens
1872 - Phillip W Pratt patents his sprinkler system for extinguishing fires
1873 - 19 students attend opening class at Ohio State University
1876 - Race riots in SC
1897 - 3rd US Golf Open: Joe Lloyd shoots a 162 at Chicago GC in Wheaton Ill
1899 - 1st British troops leave Bombay for South Africa
1900 - Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed
1900 - Queen Victoria disbands British parliament
1900 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
1901 - Battle at Blood River Port: Boer Gen Botha beats mjr Goughs cavalry
1901 - Battle at Elands River Port: Boer Gen Smuts destroys unit 17th Lancers
1902 - US protests anti-semitism in Romania
1903 - Boston Pilgrims clinch AL pennant, beating Cleveland, 14-3
1906 - Playing as "Sullivan," Columbia U jr Eddie Collins debuts with A's
1908 - Thomas Selfridge becomes 1st fatality of powered flight
1911 - 1st transcontinental airplane flight, NY-Pasadena in 82 hrs 4 min
1911 - 25th US Womens Tennis: Hazel H Wightman beats F Sutton (8-10 61 97)
1912 - Center fielder Casey Stengel breaks in with Brooklyn & hits 4 singles
1914 - Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
1916 - 40,000 Amsterdam demonstrators demand general voting right
1916 - World War I: Manfred von Richthofen [The Red Baron], a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkr�fte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
1920 - Cards set a record of 12 consecutive hits in 4th (10) & 5th (2) innings
1920 - National Football League organizes in Canton Ohio 12 teams pay $100 each to join American Prof Football Association
1922 - Bicyclist Piet Moeskops becomes world sprint champ
1922 - Radio Moscow begins transmitting (12 KWs-most powerful station)
1923 - Sutton Vane's "Outward Bound," premieres in London
1924 - Italy signs treaty of Rapallo
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami & Palm Beach Florida; about 450 die
1927 - 47th US Mens Tennis: Rene Lacoste beats William T Tilden (119 63 119)
1927 - Charles Lindbergh visits San Francisco
1928 - 48th US Mens Tennis: Henri Cochet beats F T Hunter (46 64 36 75 63)
1928 - Henri Cochet wins US Tennis Open
1928 - Hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee Florida drowning 1,800-2500
1928 - Pitcher Ray Boggs hits 3 batters in 1 inning
1929 - British troops begin evacuating
1931 - 1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed
1931 - Operetta "Victoria & Her Husband," premieres in London
1931 - Red Sox Earl Webb sets record with 65 en route to 67 doubles
1934 - RCA Victor re leases 1st 33 1/3 rpm recording (Beethoven's 5th)
1934 - USSR joins League of Nations (Netherland, Switz & Portugal vote no)
1935 - Manuel Luis Quez�n y Molina chosen 1st president of Philippines
1937 - 1st NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3
1938 - 52nd US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Nancye Wynne Bolton (60 63)
1938 - 58th US Mens Tennis: J Donald Budge beats C Gene Mako (63 68 62 61)
1938 - British premier Neville Chamberlain leaves Munich
1938 - Don Budge wins US Tennis open & completes Grand Slam
1939 - German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die
1939 - Poland's president Moscicki & PM Slawoj-Skladkowski flee to Romania
1939 - Russia invades Eastern Poland, takes 217,000 Poles prisoner
1939 - Soviet Union invades Poland during WW II
1939 - Taisto M�ki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6
1940 - Nazis deprive Jews of possessions
1941 - Cards' Stan Musial makes his major league debut, going 2-for-4
1941 - World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, is issued
1943 - Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at Norfolk Naval Air Station
1943 - Red Army recaptures Brjansk
1943 - World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is liberated from Nazis.
1944 - British Premier Winston Churchill travels to US
1944 - Dutch begin railroad strike against German occupiers
1944 - Operation Market Garden: British airborne division lands Arnhem Neth
1946 - "Gypsy Lady," opens at Century Theater NYC for 79 performances
1946 - "If the Shoe Fits," opens at Century Theater NYC for 20 performances
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of Year by Sporting News
1947 - James Forrestal sworn in as 1st US secretary of defense
1947 - US Dept of Defense forms
1948 - KCOP TV channel 13 in Los Angeles/Hollywood, CA (IND) begins
1948 - WLS TV channel 7 in Chicago, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting
1949 - 128 die as fire guts Canadian passenger steamer Noronic in Toronto
1949 - 8th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 7-5 at Ganton GC, England
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Council meets for 1st time
1949 - WFAA TV channel 8 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
1950 - San Francisco 49ers (formerly AAFC) play 1st NFL game, lose 21-17
1951 - "Borscht Capades" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 90 performances
1951 - Romanian bishop A Pacha of Timisoara sentenced to 18 years
1952 - "I am an American Day" & "Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
1953 - 1st successful separation of Siamese twins
1953 - Ernie Banks becomes Chicago Cubs 1st black player
1954 - Rocky Marciano KOs Ezzard Charles in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
1955 - "Ankles Aweigh" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 176 perfs
1955 - Future Hall of Famer Oriole Brooks Robinson goes 2-4 in his 1st game
1956 - Black students enter Clay Ky elementary school
1956 - Yanks clinch pennant #22 on Mantle's 50th homer of year
1956 - Television is first broadcast in Australia.
1957 - KETV TV channel 7 in Omaha, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
1957 - Scott Crossfield takes X-15 up for 1st powered flight
1957 - Thailand military coup under marshal Sarit Thanarat
1957 - 2 male attorneys "stand in" as actress Sophia Loren & producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico
1957 - The North East Humanists group is founded in Newcastle upon Tyne.
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 59th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
1959 - Transit 1A, 1st navigational satellite launched; failed to orbit
1959 - Typhoon kills 2,000 in Japan & Korea
1960 - "Vintage '60" closes at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC after 8 perfs
1960 - Cuba nationalizes US banks
1961 - Minnesota Vikings' 1st NFL game (beat Chicago Bears 37-13)
1961 - Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days," premieres in NYC
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1962 - Justice Dept files 1st suit to end segregation in public schools
1962 - US space officials announce selection of 9 new astronauts
1963 - "Fugitive" premieres on ABC TV
1963 - Train struck makeshift bus full of migrant workers, killing 32
1964 - "Bewitched" premieres on ABC TV
1964 - Beatles are paid a then record $150,000 for a concert (Kansas)
1964 - Mickey Mantle gets hits #1999, 2000 & 2001 & his 450th HR
1964 - Supremes release "Baby Love"
1965 - WPHL TV channel 17 in Philadelphia, PA (IND) begins broadcasting
1966 - Cleve pitchers set AL record striking out 19 batters in 1st 9 innings
1967 - "Mission Impossible" premieres on CBS-TV
1967 - Mount Washington cog railway train derails, kills 8 (NH)
1967 - New Orleans Saints 1st NFL game, they lose to LA Rams 27-13
1967 - Shirley Englehorn wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1968 - Gaylord Perry (Giants) no-hits St Louis Cardinals, 1-0
1968 - Zond 5 completes circumnavigation of Moon
1970 - Jordan launches offensive against guerrilla army
1970 - Jordanian King Hussein moves against PLO guerrillas
1970 - WSWP TV channel 9 in Grandview, WV (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 - "M*A*S*H," premieres on NBC TV
1972 - BART begins passenger service in SF
1972 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Quality First Golf Classic
1972 - Tanzania troops march in to Uganda
1974 - Courageous (US) beats Southern Cross (Aust) in 23rd America's Cup
1975 - Rollout of 1st space shuttle orbiter Enterprise (OV-101)
1976 - Amnesty International receives Erasmus-prize
1976 - NASA publicly unveils space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, Calif
1976 - Ringo releases "Ringo's Rotogravure" album
1977 - 22nd Ryder Cup: US, 12�-13� at Royal Lytham & St Annes England
1977 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1977 - Dave Kingman hits his 1st Yankee homer, Reggie hits 2 more
1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" is #1 for 19th straight week
1978 - 30th Emmy Awards: All in the Family, Ed Asner & Sada Thompson win
1978 - Begin, Sadat & Carter sign Camp David accord
1978 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Golf Tournament
1978 - Red Sox finally beat Yanks in Sept 1978, 7-3
1979 - Pietro Mennea runs world record 200 m (19.72")
1979 - Royals George Brett is 6th to have 20 doubles/triples/HRs in a season
1980 - "Divine Madness" starring Bette Midler, premieres
1980 - Iraq (Saddam Hussein) signs accord with Algeria
1980 - Solidarity labor union in Poland forms
1980 - South Korea opposition leader Kim Dae Jung sentenced to death
1980 - Oak A's Rick Langford is removed with 2 outs in 9th inning ending his consecutive complete-game streak at 22
1981 - Fernando Valenzuela sets NL rookie record with 8th shutout of season
1982 - NJ Devils 1st exhibition game, beating Caps 3-1 in Hershey Pa
1983 - Chicago White Sox clinch their 1st-ever AL West championship
1983 - Vanessa Williams (NY), 20, crowned 56th Miss America 1984, 1st black
1984 - Brian Mulroney sworn in as Canada's 18th PM succeeding John Turner
1984 - Dwight Gooden ties record of 32 strikeouts in consecutive games
1984 - Reggie Jackson is 13th to hit 500 HRs
1984 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1985 - Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 6 killed
1986 - Marina Stepanova of USSR sets 400m hurdle woman's record (52.94)
1986 - Mets clinch NL East Championship
1986 - US Senate confirms William Rehnquist as 16th chief justice
1987 - Phila celebrates 200th anniversary of Constitution
1988 - 24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea
1988 - Jeff Reardon becomes 1st to record 40 or more saves in both AL & NL
1988 - Military coup in Haiti: Lt Gen Avril takes control, Henri Namphy flees
1989 - -21] Hurricane Hugo, kills 85 in Charleston SC
1989 - 41st Emmy Awards: LA Law, Cheers, Dana Delany & Candice Bergen win
1989 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1989 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1989 - Hurricane Hugo begins 4 day sweep through Caribbean, killing 62
1989 - NYC court of appeals overturns lower court decision & returns America's Cup back to US (from NZ)
1990 - Newspaper Guild votes 242-35 to keep NY Post publishing
1990 - Soviet Union & Saudi Arabia restore diplomatic ties
1991 - 4,355 turn out to see Expos play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1991 - UN admits Estonia, Latvia, Lithuiania, North & South Korea, Marshall Islands & Micronesia
1991 - The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
1992 - Amsterdam stock exchange hits record �8.8 billion
1992 - House votes 280 to 128 to give FCC control of cable TV rates
1992 - NFL decides to suspend World League Football
1993 - Last Russian troops leave Poland.
1994 - Andy Waller out handled the ball for Mashonaland CD v Mash U24
1994 - Heather Whitestone, 21, (Ala), crowned 68th Miss America 1995
1994 - Princess Christina separates
1995 - "Love! Valor! Compassion!" closes at Walter Kerr NYC after 276 perfs
1995 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1996 - Dodger Hideo Nomo no-hits Colo Rockies, 9-0 at Coors Field
1997 - Dr Sam Sheppard's body (Fugitive) is exhumed for DNA test
2004 - Tamil is declared the first classical language in India.
2007 - AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York, New York.
2008 - The IAU named another dwarf planet, Haumea
2010 - The 54 year run of the soap opera As the World Turns ends as its final episode is broadcast.
2011 - Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zucotti Park, New York City
--------------------
If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historical events on September 18
96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated.
324 - Chrysopolis emperor Constantine beats emperor Licinius
1180 - Philip Augustus becomes king of France.
1437 - Farmer uprising in Transsylvania
1454 - In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years' War.
1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th & last voyage
1544 - Charles V of Germany & Francis I of France sign Peace of Crepy
1544 - English King Henry VIII's troops occupy Boulogne
1544 - Peace of Cr�py: German emperor Charles V & French king Francois I
1573 - Spanish attack Alkmaar
1635 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares war on France
1679 - New Hampshire becomes a county Massachusetts Bay Colony
1739 - Turkey & Austria sign peace treaty-Austria cedes Belgrade to Turks
1755 - Fort Ticonderoga, New York opens
1759 - Battle of Quebec ends, French surrender to British
1759 - The British capture Quebec City.
1769 - John Harris builds 1st spinet piano (US)
1789 - 1st loan is made to pay salaries of the presidents & Congress
1793 - Pres Washington lays cornerstone of Capitol building
1809 - Royal Opera House in London opens
1810 - Chile declares independence from Spain (National Day)
1811 - English expeditionary army conquerors Dutch Indies
1812 - Fire in Moscow destroys 90% of houses & 1,000 churchs
1830 - Horse beats 1st US made locomotive (near Baltimore)
1838 - Anti-Corn Law League established by Richard Cobden
1842 - 1st edition of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published
1846 - Elizabeth Barrett & R Browning exchange last letters before eloping
1848 - Baseball rules 1st baseman can tag base for out instead of runner
1849 - De Kempenaer's Dutch government resigns
1850 - Congress passes Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850
1851 - New York Times starts publishing (2 cents a copy)
1862 - Confederate armies officially divide into corps
1862 - General Read army pulls out of Antietam Creek Virginia
1864 - Battle of Martinsburg WV
1872 - King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1873 - Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall St
1873 - The Panic of 1873 begins.
1879 - The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.
1881 - Chicago Tribune reports on a televideo experiment
1882 - Pacific Stock Exchange opens (as Local Security Board)
1885 - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Sign of Four" (BG)
1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse is 1st white woman to become an Indian chief
1895 - Booker T Washington delivera "Atlanta Compromise" address
1895 - D D Palmer of Davenport, Iowa, becomes 1st chiropractor
1895 - Daniel David Palmer gives the first chiropractic adjustment.
1897 - Gustave Kecker/Hugh Martin's musical "Belle of NYC," premieres in NYC
1898 - Lord Kitcheners ships reach Fashoda Sudan
1903 - Phillie's Chick Fraser no-hits Chicago Cubs, 10-0
1905 - Electric tramline opens in Rotterdam
1906 - A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
1908 - Cleve Indian Bob "Dusty" Rhoades no-hits Boston, 2-1
1909 - Largest paid baseball attendance (35,409), A's beat Tigers, 2-0 in Det
1910 - 25,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam for general male/female suffrage
1911 - Britain's 1st twin-engine airplane (Short S.39) test flown
1911 - Louis Napoleon Parker's "Disraeli," premieres in NYC
1914 - Battle of Aisne ends with Germans beating French during WW I
1914 - Gen von Hindenburgs named commander of German armies on Eastern Front
1914 - Irish home rule bill receive Royal assent
1914 - South African troops land in German South West Africa
1915 - Boston Braves trounce St Louis Cardinals 20-1
1918 - Battle of Megiddo (Palestine) starts
1919 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts female suffrage
1919 - Hurricane tides 16 feet above normal drown 280 along Gulf Coast
1922 - 2nd government of Ruys de Beerenbrouck installed in Neth
1922 - Browns George Sisler's 41-game hit streak is stopped by NY's Joe Bush
1922 - Hungary admitted to League of Nations
1924 - Government routes 7 Provinces to Peking
1925 - Bill Tilden wins 6th straight US tennis championship
1926 - 46th US Mens Tennis: Rene Lacoste beats Jean Borotra (64 60 64)
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami, kills 250
1926 - Jean Rene Lacoste wins US Tennis Open
1927 - 18 station CBS radio network begins, (WOR is NYC affiliate)
1927 - The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.
1928 - Cards beat Phillies for 20th of 22 games in 1928
1928 - Juan de la Cierva flies 1st helicopter above Channel
1929 - Pirates loss to Braves & clinch NL pennant for the Cubs
1929 - Preston Sturges' "Strictly Dishonorable," premieres in NYC
1930 - Enterprise (US) beats Shamrock V (England) in 15th America's Cup
1930 - NY Yankee pitcher Red Ruffing hits 2 HRs to beat St Louis Browns, 7-6
1930 - Phila A's win AL championship for 2nd year in a row
1931 - Japan takes Manchuria, renames it Manchukuo
1932 - Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1934 - St Louis Brown Bobo Newsom loses no-hitter to Boston in 10, 2-1
1934 - USSR admitted to League of Nations
1938 - Chicago Bears beat Green Bay Packers 2-0
1938 - Despite losing a double header, Yanks clinch pennant #10
1939 - Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania
1939 - William Joyce's first Nazi propaganda broadcast.
1940 - 19 German aircrafts shot down above England
1940 - Elmer Harris' "Johnny Belinda," premieres in NYC
1940 - Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani
1942 - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized for radio service
1943 - Cardinals clinch NL pennant
1943 - Hitler orders deportation of Danish Jews (unsuccessful)
1944 - British submarine Tradewind torpedoes Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed
1944 - Eindhoven free (Lightly Day)
1944 - US 266th division occupiers Brest Bretagne
1945 - 1000 whites walk out of Gary Ind schools to protest integration
1946 - Joe Louis KOs Tami Mauriello in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1947 - National Security Act, passes
1947 - USAF (US Air Force) forms
1948 - "Hilarities (of 1949)" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 14 perfs
1948 - Communist Madiun-uprising in Dutch Indies (Muso/Sjarifudin)
1948 - Ralph J Bunche confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine
1949 - Baseball major league record 4 grand slams hit
1950 - Nakagawa Soen, Zen teacher, receives dharma transmission
1954 - Cleveland Indians clinch AL pennant, beat Tigers (3-2)
1954 - KTUL TV channel 8 in Tulsa, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 - WLOS TV channel 13 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (ABC) 1st broadcast
1955 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Mile High Golf Open
1955 - Willie Mays hits record tying 9th HR at Ebbets Field (ties Joe Adcock)
1956 - Mickey Mantle is 8th to hit 50 HRs in a seaon
1957 - "Wagon Train" premieres
1957 - Electric train joining in Amsterdam-Brussels
1959 - Vanguard 3 launched into Earth orbit
1960 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Memphis Golf Open
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Bob Aspromonte sets NL 3rd baseman record of 57 cons errorless games
1962 - Charlie Finley is denied permission to move A's to Dallas-Fort Worth
1962 - Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica & Trinidad admitted (105th-108th) to UN
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Final game at Polo Grounds, 1,752 see Phillies beat Mets 5-1
1963 - USSR orders 58.5 million barrels of cereal from Australia
1964 - Greek king Constantine II marries Danish princess Anne-Marie
1964 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1965 - "Get Smart" premieres
1965 - Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee Stadium: Mantle play his 2,000th game
1966 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1967 - Intrepid (US) beats Dame Pattie (Aust) in 21st America's Cup
1968 - Ray Washburn (Cards) no-hits SF Giants 2-0
1969 - Tiny Tim & Miss Vicky get engaged
1971 - 19th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 18�-13� at Old Warson Country Club (St. Louis, Missouri, US)
1972 - 1st black NL umpire (Art Williams-Los Angeles vs San Diego)
1973 - German FR & German DR admitted to UN
1974 - Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, 5,000 die
1975 - Heiress/bank robber Patricia Campbell Hearst captured by FBI in SF
1976 - Cleve manager Frank Robinson last game as a player
1976 - Dom Mintoff's Labour Party wins Malta election
1976 - Rev Sun Myung Moon holds "God Bless America" convention
1976 - Rock Music Award
1976 - Mao Zedong's funeral takes place in Beijing.
1977 - All 4 Kiss members release solo albums
1977 - Brooks Robinson Night in Baltimore
1977 - Courageous (US) sweeps Australia (Aust) in 24th America's Cup
1977 - Joanne Carner/Judy Rankin wins LPGA National Team Golf Championship
1977 - US Voyager I takes 1st space photograph of Earth & Moon together
1979 - Bolshoi Ballet dancers Leonid & Valentina Kozlov defect
1979 - Steven Lachs, appointed Calif's 1st admittedly gay judge
1979 - The Who opens NYC concerts at Madison Square Garden
1980 - "Les Miserables," opens at Palais des Sports, Paris
1980 - Royals Willie Wilson steals AL-record 28 consecutive base
1980 - Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station
1981 - Assembl�e Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
1982 - Christian militia begin massacre of 600 Palestinians in Lebanon
1983 - George Meegen completes 2,426d (19K mi) walk across Western Hemisphere
1983 - Juli Inkster wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1983 - Lebanese & Syrian army battle
1983 - New Orleans Saints 1st OT victory; beating Chic Bears 34-31
1984 - Joe Kittinger completes 1st solo balloon crossing of Atlantic
1984 - Tigers clinch AL East championship (spent all year in 1st place)
1984 - Tim Raines is 1st player with 4 consecutive 70-stolen-base seasons
1985 - "Song & Dance" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 474 performances
1985 - BBC Radio reports prime # 2^216091-1 found in Houston
1986 - David Boon's 3rd Test cricket century, 122 v India at Madras
1987 - Detroit Tiger Darrell Evans is 1st 40 year old to hit 30 HRs
1987 - US & Russia sign accord to remove mid range missiles
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - Burma suspends its constitution
1988 - Coup in Haiti
1988 - Juli Inkster wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1989 - Hurricane Hugo causes extensive damage in Puerto Rico
1990 - 500 lb 6' Hershey Kiss is displayed at 1 Times Square, NYC
1990 - Atlanta is chosen to host 1996 (centennial) Summer Olympics
1990 - Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.
1991 - John Hart becomes general manager of Cleveland Indians
1991 - NCAA places Tenn on 2 yrs probation for football recruting violations
1991 - Robert Helmick resigns as pres of US Olympic Committee
1991 - Space shuttle STS 48 (Discovery 14) lands
1991 - Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of 7 Adriatic port cities.
1993 - Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC), 18, crowned 67th Miss America 1994
1993 - LA Mighty Ducks play their 1st NHL pre-season game against Penguins
1993 - Trailing 3-1 with 2 outs in 9th, time is called prior to Mike Stanley pop out, gets a 2nd chance, & Yanks rally to beat Boston 4-3
1994 - 1st Presidents Golf Cup: US beats Intl team 20-12 at Robert Jones Va
1994 - Austrian conservative FVP wins elections/extreme right gets 18.5%
1994 - Deb Richard wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1994 - Ken Burn's "Baseball" premieres on PBS
1994 - Sweden social-democratic SPD wins parliamentary election
1995 - Art Modell 1st meets (he claims) with Balt to move Browns
1995 - Space shuttle STS-69 (Endeavour 9), lands
1996 - Roger Clemens ties his own major league record with 20 strikeouts
1997 - Seve Ballesteros & Nick Faldo elected to World Golf Hall of Fame
1997 - Ted Turner gives $1 billion to UN
1997 - Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) on a referendum on Welsh autonomy.
1998 - ICANN is formed.
2001 - First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2003 - The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent.
2006 - Right wing protesters riot the building of the Hungarian Television in Budapest, Hungary, one day after an audio tape was made public, in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs�ny admitted he and his party lied during the 2006 general elections.
2007 - Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected president.
2007 - Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.
2009 - The 72 year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ends as its final episode is broadcast.
Music history on Sept. 18
1947 - Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, NY. It was the first country show at the venue.
1957 - "The Big Record" premiered on CBS-TV. The show only lasted one season.
1969 - Tiny Tim announced on "The Tonight Show" to Johnny Carson his engagement to Miss Vicki Budinger. Carson asked the two to be married on the show. They made TV history with the wedding on December 17, 1969.
1970 - James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix died in his London apartment at the age of 27. The death was from an overdose of sleeping pills.
1971 - Pink Floyd performed "Atom Heart Mother" at the Classical Music Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland.
1972 - The Who headlined the Rock At The Oval festival in London.
1976 - The second annual Rock Music Awards ran on CBS.
1976 - "More Than A Feeling" by Boston was released.
1978 - The members of KISS all released solo albums. The members at the time were Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss.
1983 - The album "Lick It Up" was released by KISS.
1983 - The members of Kiss appeared on MTV without makeup.
KISS Store
1987 - KISS released the album "Crazy Nights."
1998 - Reba McEntire received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2002 - Bon Jovi performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. More than 375,000 people viewed the live Web cast of the show.
2004 - Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were married. The legal documents were not filed until early October.
Sports history on Sept. 18
1915 - The first asphalt covered automobile race track was opened in Cranston, RI.
1956 - Mickey Mantle hit his 50th home run.
1962 - Charlie Finley was denied permission to move the Athletics to Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX.
1965 - Mickey Mantle played in his 2,000th game.
1972 - Art Williams became the first black umpire in National League history.
1993 - The Anaheim Mighty Ducks played the Pittsburg Penguins in their first NHL pre-season game.
1997 - Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo were elected to World Golf Hall of Fame.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 18
Samuel Johnson 1709
Dee Dee Ramone (The Ramones) 1952
Holly Robinson Peete 1964
Ricky Bell (Bell Biv Devoe, New Edition) 1967
Joanne Catherall (Human League) 1962
Blas Elias (Slaughter) 1967
In plain words, Chaos was the law of nature Order was the dream of man.
- Henry Adams, American writer and historian.
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 18 2012, 07:41 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 19
335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I.
1356 - English defeat French at Battle of Poitiers
1523 - Emperor Charles I & England sign anti-French covenant
1559 - 5 Spanish ships sinks in storm off Tampa, about 600 die
1580 - Treaty of Plessis-lez-Tours (Anjou/Dutch States-General)
1602 - Grave surrenders to earl Mauritius
1642 - Perpignan surrenders to French troops
1656 - Treaty of Labiau: Sweden gives Prussia, Brandenburg
1657 - Brandenburg & Poland sign Treaty of Wehlau
1668 - Polish king John II Kazimierz resigns/goes to France
1676 - Rebels under Nathaniel Bacon set Jamestown Va on fire
1755 - England & Russia sign military agreement
1777 - Battle of Freeman's Farm (Bemis Heights) or 1st Battle of Saratoga
1778 - The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.
1795 - Tula, leader of Curacao slave opposition, imprisoned
1796 - George Washington's farewell address as president
1799 - English & Russian invasion army conquerors Receiver
1833 - Charles Darwin visits Guardia del Monte, Argentina
1838 - Ephraim Morris patents railroad brake
1848 - Hyperion, moon of Saturn, discovered by Bond (US) & Lassell (England)
1849 - 1st commercial laundry established, in Oaklan, California
1854 - Henry Meyer patents sleeping rail car
1862 - -20] Battle at Blackford's Ford Virginia
1862 - Battle at Iuka Mississippi (1,700 casualties)
1863 - Battle of Chickamauga GA (near Chattanooga) begins; Union retreat
1864 - 3rd Battle of Winchester Virginia (Opequon, 3rd Winchester)
1865 - Atlanta University forms
1870 - Siege of Paris begins
1873 - Black Friday: Jay Cooke & Co fails, causing a securities panic
1876 - 1st carpet sweeper patented (Melville Bissell of Grand Rapids, Mich)
1876 - Talks begin to set up a football club in Ottawa
1879 - Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track & field record pole-vaulting 11' 2�" at age 17 years & 198 days
1888 - World's 1st beauty contest (Spa Belgium)
1890 - Turkish frigate "Ertogrul" burns off of Japan, kills 540
1893 - NZ is 1st country to grant all its women the right to vote
1901 - 11 baseball games canceled due to funeral of Pres William McKinley
1903 - King Leopold II deny Belgian cruelty in Congo
1904 - Gen Nogi's assault on Port Arthur: 16,000 Japanese casualties
1908 - Gustav Mahler's 7th Symphony, premieres in Prague
1910 - George Cohan's "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford," premieres in NYC
1911 - Red Tuesday-20,000 protest for universal rights
1912 - Pius X encyclical Singular quadam, against interconfess unions
1912 - Soccer team NAC (Noad Advendo Combination) forms in Breda
1914 - Brooklyn's Ed Lafitte no-hits KC (Federal League), 6-2
1916 - 1st landing on Schiphol (Farman F-22 of Soesterberg)
1916 - Belgian troops conquer Tabora, German East Africa
1921 - 41st US Mens Tennis: William T Tilden beats Wm M Johnston (61 63 61)
1922 - Queen Wilhelmina's takes Dutch throne with 119 word speech
1923 - Ernst Tollers "Hinkemann," premieres in Leipzig
1925 - 45th US Mens Tennis: Wm T Tilden beats Wm M Johnston (46 119 63 46 63)
1926 - 80,000 demonstrate for democratic peace in Hague
1926 - The San Siro is inaugurated with a match between AC Milan and Inter.
1928 - Mickey Mouse's screen debut (Steamboat Willie at Colony Theater NYC)
1929 - Latvia dictator A Woldemaras chased out
1931 - 14th PGA Championship: Tom Creavy at Wannamoisett CC Rumford RI
1931 - Japanese troops conquer Mukden, South Manchuria
1931 - Lefty Grove wins his 30th game of season over White Sox, 2-1
1933 - NY Giants clinch the pennant
1934 - Bruno Haptmann arrested for kidnapping Lindbergh baby
1939 - British Expeditionary Force reaches France
1939 - Lord Haw-Haw becomes radio host of Reichsrundfunk Berlin
1939 - Wehrmacht (German regular army) murders 100 Jews in Lukov Poland
1940 - Nazi decree forbids gentile woman to work in Jewish homes
1940 - Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.
1941 - 1st meeting of partizans Tito & Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia
1941 - German army conquerors Kiev
1941 - Nazi's force German Jews, 6 & over to wear Jewish stars
1943 - Fanny Whiteers-Koen breaks jumping world record
1943 - Liberator bombers sinks U-341
1944 - Finland & Russia agree to cease fire
1944 - Luftwaffe bombs Eindhoven: 200 killed
1944 - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union is signed. (End of the Continuation War).
1945 - Kim Il Sung arrives in harbor of Wonsan, Korea
1945 - Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named 1947 "Rookie of Year"
1948 - 62nd US Womens Tennis: M Osborne duPont beats A L Brough (46 64 15-13)
1948 - 68th US Mens Tennis: "Pancho" Gonzales beats E Sturgess (62 63 14-12)
1948 - Richard A Gonzales wins US Tennis Open
1950 - European Payment Union forms in Paris
1950 - Great Three acknowledge Bond government as only German government
1950 - UN reject membership of China's People Republic
1951 - 1st broadcast of "Search for Tomorrow" on CBS-TV
1951 - Italian civil servants strike for pay increase
1952 - The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.
1953 - "Hazel Flagg" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 190 perfs
1954 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Wichita Golf Open
1955 - Argentine president Juan Peron, resigns & flees
1955 - Cubs slugger Ernie Banks hits record 5th grand slam of season
1955 - Hurricane Hilda, kills 200 in Mexico
1956 - 1st intl conference of black writers & artists meets (Sorbonne)
1957 - 1st underground nuclear explosion at Las Vegas Nevada
1957 - First American underground nuclear bomb test.
1957 - Dalida is the first artist to be awarded a gold record in France for 300,000 sales of "Bambino".
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - Nikita Khrushchev is denied access to Disneyland
1960 - Chubby Checkers' "Twist" reaches #1
1961 - Betty and Barney Hill claim that they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them.
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is founded at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
1965 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Visalia Golf Open
1965 - Erhards CDU wins West German parliament elections
1966 - Mike Burke named Yankees pres
1967 - Nigeria begins offensive against Biafra
1968 - Denny McLain's 31st win & Mickey Mantle's 535th HR
1970 - "Mary Tyler Moore" show premieres
1971 - 1st NYC Women's Marathon won by Beth Bonner in 2:55:22
1971 - 2nd NYC Marathon won by Norman Higgins in 2:22:54
1972 - A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
1973 - Carl XVI Gustaf, becomes King of Sweden
1973 - Frank Robinson homers in record 32nd ML park (Arlington Tx)
1973 - NL refuses to allow San Diego Padres move to Washington DC
1973 - Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May NJ) forms
1973 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1974 - -20] Hurricane Fifi hits coast of Honduras; about 5,000 die
1975 - Indonesia sends troops to Portuguese East Timor
1976 - "Going Up" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 49 performances
1976 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Portland Golf Classic
1979 - No Nukes Concert at Madison Square Garden includes Springsteen & Crosby, Stills & Nash
1980 - Titan II missile explosion (Damascus, AR)
1981 - Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel perform a reunion concert in Central Park
1981 - Satellites China 10 & 11 launched into Earth orbit by B-1 rocket
1981 - Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a NYC Central Park concert
1982 - 34th Emmy Awards: Hill St Blue, Barney Miller, Alan Alda & Carol Kane
1982 - New Orleans Saints 1st road shutout victory beating Chic Bears 10-0
1982 - Sandra Haynie/Kathy McMullen wins Portland Ping Team Golf Championship
1982 - Streetcars stop running on Market St after 122 years of service
1983 - David Slowinski on 2 CRAY-1 comp's find 2^132049-1 prime #
1983 - St Kitts & Nevis declares independence from UK
1984 - Britain & China complete a proposed agreement to transfer Hong Kong to China by 1997
1985 - 12,000 die & 40,000 injured in Mexico's earthquake (8.1)
1986 - "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson premieres
1986 - Chic White Sox Joe Crowley no-hits California Angels, 7-1
1986 - Dean Jones scores 210 v India at Madras
1986 - Fed health officials announce AZT will be available to AIDS patients
1987 - Kaye Lani Rae Rafko (Mich), 24, crowned 61st Miss America
1988 - Israel launches 1st satellite, for secret military reconnaissance
1988 - US Olympic diver Greg Louganis hits his head on diving board
1989 - Chase Manhattan Discovery Center at Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens
1989 - French DC-10 crashes near Niger, 171 die
1989 - Appeals court restores America's Cup to US after NY Supreme Court gave it to NZ (NZ protested US's use of a catamaran)
1991 - Precious Bunny wins the 46th Little Brown Jug
1991 - �tzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.
1992 - Sergei Boebka pole vaults world record (6.13m)
1992 - UN Security Council votes 12-0 (3 abstentions) to dump Yugoslavia
1992 - Barry Bonds joins Willie Mays, Howard Johnson & Ron Gant as having (2) 30-HR/30-steal seasons
1993 - 45th Emmy Awards: Seinfeld, Picket Fences & Ted Danson wins
1993 - Actress Michele Phillips (Knots Landing) is robbed at gunpoint
1993 - Brandie Burton wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1993 - Kimberly Clarice Aiken, 18, Miss SC wins 67th Miss America
1993 - Parliamentary election in Poland
1993 - Tom Glavine wins 20 games in 3 straight years
1994 - 3000 US militia lands on Haiti
1994 - Swedish government of Bildt resigns
1995 - Andres Galarraga is 4th to hit 30 HRs for Rockies in 1995
1995 - Padres Ken Caminiti switch hits HRs in 3rd of 4 games
1995 - The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber's manifesto.
1996 - "Skylight" opens at Royale Theater NYC
1997 - Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed.
2000 - Ken Griffey, Jr. pinch-hits his 400th home run. The first major leaguer to reach the mark as a pinch-hitter
2006 - The Thai military stages a coup in Bangkok. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
Music history on Sept. 19
1928 - "The Singing Fool," with Al Jolson, was released.
1936 - "Indian Love Call" was recorded by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.
1953 - Gisele MacKenzie took over as host on NBC-TV�s "Your Hit Parade."
1955 - Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman starred in the "Producer�s Showcase" presentation of "Our Town" on NBC-TV.
1958 - Elvis Presley left a Brooklyn naval base to sail to Germany to be with his army unit.
1968 - Steppenwolf won its first gold record for "Born to be Wild."
1970 - "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out" was released by the Rolling Stones.
1973 - Gram Parsons of the Byrds died of a drug overdose.
1974 - Max Weinberg made his debut as the drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
1974 - Bad Company's debut album (self titled) goes gold.
1975 - Eric Clapton got a gold record for "I Shot The Sheriff."
1978 - "Living in the U.S.A." was released by Linda Ronstadt.
1979 - The first MUSE concert took place. The Musicians United for Safe Energy was better known as "No-Nukes."
1981 - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel recorded "The Concert in Central Park" for an HBO special. The material was recorded live in New York's Central Park.
1985 - A U.S. Senate committee heard testimony on labeling and rating of rock music, initiated by the Parents Music Resource Center.
1986 - "Press To Play" was released by Paul McCartney.
1987 - The Farm Aid concert took place at the University of Nebraska.
1987 - "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" was released by Pink Floyd. It was the first release after Roger Waters departure.
1987 - Taja Seville released her self-titled debut album.
1988 - Erasure's "A Little Respect" was released.
1992 - "The One" was released by Elton John.
1997 - VH1 aired "Storytellers" live for the first time. The show was a 90 minute special featuring Elton John from the House of Blues in New Orleans, LA.
1997 - Rich Mullins died in a car accident in LaSalle County, IL.
2000 - Madonna's album "Music" was released.
2010 - In Baltimore, MD, a bronze bust of Frank Zappa was dedicated outside an east Baltimore library.
Sports history on Sept. 19
1901 - All major league baseball games were canceled for the funeral of U.S. President William McKinley.
1949 - Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh Pirates) became the first National League player to hit 50 home runs in two different seasons.
1984 - Pete Rose reached the 100-hit plateau for the 22nd consecutive year. He also tied the National League record for doubles with 725.
1997 - Mark McGwire became the first major league player to hit 20 or more home runs for two teams in the same season. It was his 54th home run of the year.
1999 - Sammy Sosa was became the first major league player to hit 60 home runs twice.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 19
Jan Luyts 1655
Billy Ward (Billy Ward and the Dominoes) 1921
Duke Snider 1926
Nick Massi (The Four Seasons) 1935
Al Oerter 1936
Sylvia Tyson (Ian and Sylvia) 1940
Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers) 1940
Joe Morgan 1943
"Mama" Cass Elliott (The Mamas and Papas) 1943
Randolph Mantooth 1945
John Coghlan (Status Quo) 1946
Lol Creme (10cc, Godley & Creme) 1947
Jeremy Irons 1948
Espraronza Griffin (Society of Soul) 1969
Quote for today:
C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg.
- Bjarne Stroustrup
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 19 2012, 05:40 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 20
368 - Emperor Valentinianus visits Nijmegen
451 - General Aetius defeats Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne
622 - Prophet Mohammed/Abu Bakr arrives in Jathrib (Medina)
1066 - Battle at Fulford: King of Norway, Harald III Hardrada defeats British militia
1187 - Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
1258 - Cathedral of Salisbury inaugurated
1378 - Robert de Geneve, "butcher of Cesena" crowned anti-pope Clemens VII
1519 - Ferdinand Magellan starts 1st successful circumnavigation of world
1530 - Luther advises protestant monarch compromise
1565 - Spaniards capture Fort Caroline Fla & massacre the French
1596 - Diego de Montemayor founded the city of Monterrey in New Spain.
1604 - Spanish army under Spinola recaptures Oostende
1620 - Battle at Jassy: Turks beat king Sigismund III of Poland
1643 - 1st battle at Newbury: King Charles I vs Robert Devereux' armies
1664 - Maryland passes 1st anti-amalgamation law to stop intermarriage of English women & black men
1674 - 2nd West Indie Company forms
1688 - French troops occupies Palts
1697 - Peace of Saki (ends 9 years war)
1737 - Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase forcing the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km�) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie flees to France from Scotland
1777 - Paoli massacre
1787 - Prince Willem V returns to Hague
1792 - French defeat Prussians at Valmy
1793 - British troops under maj-gen Williamson lands on (French) Haiti
1797 - US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
1830 - 1st Negro Convention of Free Men agree to boycott slave-produced goods
1833 - Charles Darwin rides horse to Buenos Aires
1835 - Farroupilha's Revolution begins in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
1839 - 1st railroad in Netherland opens (Amsterdam-Haarlem)
1848 - The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
1850 - Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue
1854 - Battle at Alma Krim: 1,000 British soldiers died
1854 - British & French defeat Russians at Alma, in Crimea
1859 - George Simpson patents electric range
1860 - 1st British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII)
1861 - Battle of Lexington, MI-captured by Union
1863 - Battle of Shepardstown VA
1863 - Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga Tenn, ends
1870 - Italian army under Victor Emmanuel II seizes Rome from the French
1870 - Mayor William Tweed accused of robbing NY treasury
1870 - Pope Pius IX surrenders to King Victor Emmanuel
1871 - Bishop John Coleridge Patteson martyred on the island of Nukapu, a Polynesian outlier island now in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. He was the first bishop of Melanesia.
1873 - Panic sweeps NY Stock Exchange (railroad bond default/bank failure) NY shut banks for 10 days due to a bank scandal
1876 - Ottawa Football Club forms
1877 - Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan)
1879 - US Grants come to SF for elaborate extended visit
1881 - Chester A Arthur sworn in as 21st president
1884 - 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria
1884 - Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for Pres & VP
1891 - The first gasoline-powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
1902 - Chic White Sox Jim Callahan no-hits Detroit Tigers, 3-0
1904 - George Ade's "College Widow," premieres in NYC
1904 - Orville & Wilbur Wright fly a circle in their Flyer II
1905 - Cleveland makes AL record 7 errors in an inning
1906 - Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania is launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle, England.
1907 - Pitts Nick Maddox no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 2-1
1908 - Chic White Sox Frank Smith 2nd no-hitter, beats Phila 1-0
1911 - Yanks set team record 12 errors in a double header
1913 - 19th US Golf Open: Francis Ouimet shoots a 304 at The Country Club MA
1917 - British assault on Polygon-forest, France
1917 - Paraguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1918 - Royal Dutch Blast furnace & Steel factory opens in Hague
1919 - 2nd PGA Championship: Jim Barnes at Engineers CC Roslyn NY
1919 - Babe Ruth ties Ned Williamson's major league mark of 27 HRs
1919 - Booth Tarkington's "Clarence," premieres in NYC
1920 - Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
1922 - Goodman & Atteridge's musical "Passing Show," premieres in NYC
1922 - Rogers Hornsby ends hitting streak of 33 games
1924 - Carl Mays is 1st pitcher to win 20 games seasons for 3 different teams
1924 - Cub's Grover Cleveland Alexander beats NY Giants to win 300th game
1927 - NY Yankee Babe Ruth hits record 60th HR of season off Tom Zachry
1930 - Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is formed by Archbishop Mar Ivanios.
1931 - Lou Gehrig's 4 RBIs break his old RBI mark of 175 en route to 184
1932 - Chicago Cubs clinch the NL pennant
1932 - Dutch South Seas rebaptized in IJsselmeer
1932 - Gandhi begins hunger strike against treatment of untouchables
1933 - Pittsburgh Steelers (as Pirates) play 1st NFL game, lose 23-2
1935 - Pitts Crawfords beat NY Cubans to win Negro NL Championship, 3-0
1938 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's Suite for jazz orchestra, premieres
1938 - Emlyn Williams' "Corn is Green," premieres in London
1939 - British fleet takes German U-27 boat
1939 - Joe Louis KOs Bob Pastor in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1942 - Gunther Hagg becomes world champ of all records from 1500m to 5000m
1943 - Liberator bombers sinks U-338
1944 - Nijmegen is liberated from German occupation
1944 - Polish forces free Terneuzen Neth
1945 - German rocket engineers begin work in US
1946 - Churchill argues for a "US of Europe"
1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival is held.
1948 - "Magdalena" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 48 performances
1948 - Mexican Baseball league disbanded
1949 - Dutch Guilder devalued 30.3%
1949 - Tennis player Pancho Gonzales turns professional
1951 - 1st North Pole jet crossing
1951 - NL President Ford Frick elected 3rd commissioner of baseball
1951 - Swiss males votes against female suffrage
1952 - KPTV TV channel 12 in Portland, OR (IND) begins broadcasting
1953 - Cubs Ernie Banks hits his 1st major league HR
1954 - 1st FORTRAN computer program run
1954 - 1st National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution
1954 - KETC TV channel 9 in Saint Louis, MO (PBS) begins broadcasting
1954 - Los Stravinsky's "In Memoriam Dylan Thomas," premieres in Angeles
1954 - Roger Bannister awarded Britain's Silver Pears Trophy
1954 - New Zealand's Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents reports just ten days after concluding hearings.
1955 - Willie Mays (Giants) homers off Vern Law (Pirates) in both ends of DH
1955 - Willie Mays is 7th player to reach 50 HRS in a season
1958 - Baltimore Oriole knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm no-hits NY Yankees 1-0
1958 - Ferhat Abbas forms Algerian government in exile (Cairo)
1958 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1959 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Links Golf Invitation Open
1960 - UN General Assembly admit 13 African countries & Cyprus (96 nations)
1960 - WFSU TV channel 11 in Tallahassee, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1961 - After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls
1961 - James Meredith refused access as a student in Mississippi
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1961 - Roger Maris hits home run # 59 & barely misses # 60 in game 154 of the season. Yanks clinch pennant #26
1962 - Ben Bella wins 1st elections in independent Algeria
1962 - Gov R Barnett refuses to admit a black to Miss Univ (James Meredith)
1963 - JFK proposes a joint US-Soviet voyage to the moon
1964 - Gunter Grass' "Die Plebejern proben den Aufstand," premieres in Berlin
1964 - Paramount Theater (NYC) presented the Beatles with Steve & Eydie
1965 - WXXW (now WYCC) TV channel 20 in Chicago, IL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - Passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II launched
1966 - US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept 23
1967 - Benin separates from Nigeria
1967 - British liner Queen Elizabeth II launched at Clydebank Scotland
1967 - Hurricane Beulah hits Texas-Mexican border, kills 38
1967 - WCAE TV channel 50 in St John, IN (PBS) begins broadcasting
1967 - WCIX TV channel 6 in Miami, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - Mickey Mantle hits final career homer # 536
1969 - 18th Ryder Cup: Draw, 16-16 at Royal Birkdale, England
1969 - Archies' "Sugar Sugar" hits #1
1969 - Pitts Pirate Bob Moose no-hits NY Mets, 4-0
1970 - Jim Morrison found not guilty of "lewd" behavior
1970 - Luna 16 lands on Moon's Mare Fecunditatis, drills core sample
1972 - Police find cannabis growing on Paul & Linda McCartney's farm
1973 - Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match
1973 - Willie Mays announces retirement at end of 1973 season
1975 - 21st Ryder Cup: US, 21-11 at Laurel Valley Golf Club (Ligonier, Pennsylvania, US)
1975 - David Bowie's "Fame," single goes #1 for 2 weeks
1975 - Gary Sentman draws a record 176 lb longbow to a maximum 28�" draw
1976 - Metroliner official opens in Brussels
1976 - Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women
1976 - Sid Berstein offers $230 million charity concert for Beatle reunion
1977 - "Estrada" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 7 performances
1977 - Vietnam & Djibouti ask for membership in UN
1978 - "Eubie!" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 439 performances
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1978 - Yamada Mumon Roshi visits Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach Germany
1979 - Coup in Central African Rep: David Dacko overthrows emperor Bokassa I
1979 - Jose E dod Santos becomes president of Angola
1979 - NASA launches HEAO
1979 - Lee Iacocca is elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.
1979 - The Punjab wing of the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) formally splits and constitutes a parallel UCCRI(ML).
1979 - Assassination of French left-wing militant Pierre Goldman.
1980 - Bronze plaque dedicated to memory of Thurman Munson at Yankee Stadium
1980 - George Brett goes 0-for-4 dropping his avg below .400 for good
1980 - Plaque dedicated in Thurman Munson's memory at Yankee Stadium
1980 - Spectacular Bid runs in Belmont alone as 3 horses drop out
1981 - 24th Ryder Cup: US, 18�-9� at Walton Heath Golf Club (Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England)
1981 - Belize declares independence
1981 - Joe Danelo kicks then NY Giant record 55 yard field goal
1981 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Henredon Golf Classic
1982 - Jalaluddin takes a one-day hat-trick Pakistan v Australia
1982 - NFL players begin a 57 day strike
1983 - 3,112 turn out to see Pirates play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1983 - Cryptographic Communications System & Method (RSA) patented
1984 - "Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV
1984 - Cubs break 2 million in home attendance for 1st time
1984 - Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut, kills 23
1985 - Curtis Strong is convicted for selling cocaine to pro baseball players
1985 - Walt Disney World's 200-millionth guest
1986 - Wichita State Shockers blow a 35-3 lead; lose 36-35 to Morehead State
1987 - "Big River" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 1005 perfs
1987 - 39th Emmy Awards: LA Law, Bruce Willis & Sharon Gless wins
1987 - Alain Prost wins record 28th Formula one auto race
1987 - Dwight Clark ends NFL streak of 105 consecutive game receptions
1987 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1987 - Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown
1988 - Darrell Evans hits his 400th career home run
1988 - Greg Louganis wins Olympic gold medal in springboard diving
1988 - Wade Boggs is 1st player to get 200 hits for 6 consecutive seasons
1989 - FW De Klerk sworn in as president of South Africa
1989 - Musical "Miss Saigon," premieres in London
1989 - USAir overshoots runway at LaGuardia Airport in NYC, 2 people die
1990 - Both Germanys ratify reunification
1990 - Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message
1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 - South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
1991 - Lion's Terry Taylor reinstated after 1 year drug related suspension
1992 - Colleen Walker wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1992 - France votes in favor of Maastricht treaty
1992 - Leanza Cornett (Florida), 21, crowned 66th Miss America 1993
1992 - Phils' Mickey Moradini makes an unassisted triple play
1992 - Space shuttle STS-47 (Endeavour 2) lands
1994 - Space shuttle STS-64 (Discovery 20), lands
1995 - Cincinnati Reds becomes 1st team to clinch NL Central
1997 - Yanks clinch 37th appearance in post season, 3rd consecutive
1998 - Solheim Cup
2000 - Patent on RSA cryptograph algorithm ends
2000 - The British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by a Russian-built Mark 22 anti-tank missile.
2001 - In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror".
2002 - The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide started.
2003 - Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Mal�.
2003 - A referendum is held in Latvia to decide the country's accession to the European Union.
2011 - The United States ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
Music history on Sept. 20
1877 - Composer Armand Marsick was born.
1948 - The Four Freshman got their first gig in Fort Wayne, IN.
1964 - After a charity show that finished their U.S. tour, the Beatles appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show."
1966 - George Harrison went to India for his first visit to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
1969 - Associated TV bought control of the Beatles' music publishing company, Northern Songs, for a million pounds.
1970 - Jim Morrison was found guilty, in Miami, FL, of indecent exposure and profanity. He was acquitted on charges of "lewd and lascivious" behavior. The charges were related to a performance by the Doors.
1971 - Peter Frampton quit Humble Pie to follow a solo career.
1972 - Police found cannabis growing on the farm of Paul and Linda McCartney.
1973 - Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash on his way to Sherman, TX, for a concert. Maury Muehleisen and four others were also killed.
1973 - The Roxy Theater opened in Los Angeles, CA. The opening acts were Elton John, Carole King and Jackson Browne.
1975 - The Bay City Rollers appeared live on the premiere of the Howard Cosell's Saturday Night show on ABC-TV. It was their U.S. debut.
1975 - The single "Born to Run" was released by Bruce Springsteen.
1976 - The Captain & Tennille show premiered on ABC-TV.
1983 - The ARMS Benefit concert was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The concert was to raise money for research of Multiple Sclerosis.
1995 - Natalie Merchant started her first solo tour after leaving the 10,000 Maniacs. She was supporting her first solo album "Tigerlily."
1998 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum paid tribute to Robert Johnson with eight days of activities. Johnson only recorded 29 songs before dying in August of 1938.
Sports history on Sept. 20
1876 - Candy Cummings (Hartford) pitched two complete games in one day. He won 14-4 and 8-4.
1902 - Jim Callaghan pitched the first no-hitter in Chicago White Sox history.
1927 - Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season. He beat his own record of 59 that he set in 1921.
1955 - Ernie Banks (Chicago Cubs) set a major league record with his fifth grand slam of the year.
1968 - Denny McClain (Detroit Tigers) became the first player to achieve 31 wins in 37 years.
1973 - Willie Mays announced that he would retire at the end of the season.
1973 - In an exhibition tennis match, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in three straight sets. The event is viewed as a milestone in women's sports.
1981 - Marcus Allen (USC) rushed for 274 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 21-0 victory over Indiana.
1982 - The NFL Players Association announced that a strike would begin at the completion of the Packers-Giants game on Monday night.
1984 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) recorded his 100th hit of the season. It was the 22nd consecutive season he had recorded at least 100 hits in a season.
1985 - Tommy Kramer (Minnesota Vikings) threw for 436 yards and three touchdowns. The Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears 33-24.
1986 - Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres) stole five bases in one game against Houston.
1987 - Walter Payton scored his 107th touchdown to break the NFL record held by Jim Brown.
1993 - John Carney (San Diego Chargers) kicked six field goals to extend his consecutive field goal streak to 29 straight games. The Chargers beat the Houston Oilers 18-17.
1998 - Cal Ripken, Jr. (Baltimore Orioles) ended his record streak of playing in 2,632 games. He had played in every game since May 30, 1982.
2002 - Tom Gamboa, coach of the Kansas City Royals, was attacked by a man and his son while he was standing near first base. The two fans were arrested and charged with battery.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 20
Upton Sinclair 1878
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton 1890
Chuck Dressen 1898
John (Chuck) Panozzo (Styx) 1947
Guy LaFleur 1951
Alannah Currie (Thompson Twins) 1957
Crispin Glover 1964
I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.
- Elvis Presley
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 20 2012, 05:34 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 21
1192 - English king Richard I the Lion hearted, captured
1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights.
1348 - Jews in Zurich Switzerland are accused of poisoning wells
1435 - Treaty of Atrecht: Philip of Bourgondy vs French king Charles II
1451 - Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa orders Jews of Holland to wear a badge
1589 - Battle at Arques: French king Henri IV beats Catholic League
1591 - French bishops recognize Henri IV as king of France
1621 - King James of England gives Canada to Sir Alexander Sterling
1648 - -23] Battle at Pilawce: Bohdan Chmielricki's beats John Casimir [NS]
1676 - Benedetto Odescalchi elected as Pope Innocent XI
1677 - John & Nicolaas van der Heyden patents fire extinguisher
1745 - Battle at Preston Pans: Bonnie Prince Charles beats English army
1746 - French expeditionary army occupies Labourdonnais & Dupleix Madras
1765 - Antoine de Beauterne announces he had killed the Beast of G�vaudan, but was later proved wrong by more attacks.
1776 - 5 days after British take NY, a � of city burns down
1776 - Great fire in NY1776 - Nathan Hale, spied on British for American rebels, arrested
1780 - Benedict Arnold gives British Major Andre plans to West Point
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US Defector General Benedict Arnold
1784 - 1st daily newspaper in America (Penns Packet & General Advertiser)
1784 - Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser 1st success US daily newspaper
1792 - 1st French Republic forms
1792 - Proposal by Collot D'Herbois, to abolish the monarchy in France
1814 - "Star Spangled Banner" published as a poem
1815 - King Willem I takes oath in Brussels
1823 - Moroni 1st appears to Joseph Smith, according to Smith
1827 - According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Joseph translated into The Book of Mormon.
1837 - Charles Tiffany founded his jewelry & china stores
1860 - In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Baliqiao.
1863 - Union forces retreat to Chattanooga after defeat at Chickamauga
1872 - John Henry Conyers of SC becomes 1st black student at Annapolis
1883 - 1st direct US-Brazil telegraph connection
1885 - Dutch demonstrate for general voting right
1893 - Frank Duryea drives 1st US made gas propelled vehicle (car)
1895 - 1st auto manufacturer opens-Duryea Motor Wagon Company
1896 - General Kitcheners army occupies Dongola Sudan
1897 - NY Sun runs famous "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus," editorial
1898 - China's empress-mother Ci Xi & emperor De Zong arrested
1898 - Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
1903 - 1st cowboy film "Kit Carson," premieres in US
1905 - Atlanta Life Insurance Co forms
1906 - Yankee 1st baseman Hal Chase's 22 put-outs ties record
1913 - 1st aerobatic maneuver, sustained inverted flight, performed in France
1913 - Turkey & Bulgaria sign peace treaty in Constantinople
1915 - CH Chubb buys Stonehenge for �6,600
1915 - Emanuel Querido ("Kerido") begins publishing Querido
1919 - 33rd US Womens Tennis: Hazel H Wightman beats M Zinderstein (61 62)
1921 - Gas explodes at Bradishe Aniline chemical works in Germany, 565 die
1921 - Pope Benedictus XV donates 1 million lire to feed Russians
1921 - Oppau explosion, a storage silo at a fertilizer producing plant exploded in Oppau, Germany, 500�600 killed.
1922 - Pres Warren G Harding signs a joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine
1928 - "My Weekly Reader" magazine made its debut
1929 - 1st legal pass in Canada was thrown by Gerry Seiberling & 1st reception by Ralph Losie of Calgary Altomah-Tigers against Edmonton
1930 - Johann Ostermeyer patents flashbulb
1931 - Britain abandons gold standard/pound devalues 20%
1933 - Trial against Marinus der Lubbe opens
1934 - St Louis Card Paul Dean no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 3-0
1934 - Typhoon strikes Honshu Island Japan, kills 4,000
1936 - Spanish fascist junta names Franco to generalissimo/supreme commander
1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is published
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Writer J. R. R. Tolkien
1938 - Hurricane (183 MPH winds) in New England kills 700
1938 - Winston Churchill condemns Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia
1938 - The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people.
1939 - Reinhard Heydrich meets in Berlin to discuss final solution of Jews
1941 - US launches its 1st Liberty-ship, "Patrick Henry"
1942 - 116 hostages executed by Nazis in Paris
1942 - Transport nr 35 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1943 - Arundel (Solomon Island) in US hands
1943 - Lynch Triangle (Square) in Bronx named
1943 - Russian 13th/61st Army reconquer Chyernigov
1943 - Soviet forces reach Dnjepr
1944 - Last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrenders
1946 - Indians play their final game in League Park, ending a 55-year stay
1948 - "Texaco Star Theater" with Milton Berle premieres on NBC-TV
1949 - Chinese Communist leaders proclaims People's Republic of China
1949 - Federal Republic of [West] Germany created under 3-power occupation
1950 - George Marshall sworn in as the 3rd Secretary of Defense of United States.
1951 - Emil Zatopek runs 15,000m in record 44 min, 54.6 sec
1953 - Allied forces form West Germany
1953 - KRDO TV channel 13 in Colorado Spgs-Pueblo, CO (ABC) 1st broadcast
1954 - 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, commissioned
1954 - Kleffens appointed chairman of General Meeting UN
1955 - Last allied occupying troops leave Austria
1955 - Rocky Marciano KOs Archie Moore in 9 for heavyweight boxing title
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Heavyweight Champion Boxer Rocky Marciano
1955 - USSR performs nuclear test
1955 - Heavyweight champ Rocky Mariano KOs Archie Moore in round 9
1956 - Yanks set dubious record, stranding 20 men on base Mantle hits a 500' plus homer but Red Sox win 13-9 in Fenway
1957 - "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr premieres on CBS-TV
1957 - German sailing school ship Pamir sails Atlantic Ocean
1957 - Olav V, becomes king of Norway
1957 - Pote Sarasin forms government in Thailand
1958 - 1st airplane flight exceeding 1200 hours, lands, Dallas Tx
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 600 Indian Dutch emigrate to US
1961 - Antonio Abertondo swims English Channel round trip (44 miles)
1961 - Maiden flight of the CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter.
1964 - Constellation (US) beats Sovereign (England) in 20th America's Cup
1964 - Malta gains independence from Britain
1964 - Reds Chico Ruiz steals home, beats Phillies 1-0. Phillies start a 10 game losing streak that gives Cards the pennant
1964 - Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1964 - The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first Mach 3 bomber, made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.
1965 - O Kommissarova (USSR) sets women's longest parachute jump (46,250')
1965 - Singapore admitted as a part of the United Nations.
1966 - 5" of rain falls on NYC
1966 - Jimmy Hendrix changes spelling of his name to Jimi
1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 - 58th Davis Cup: USA beats Romania in Cleveland (5-0)
1969 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Lincoln-Mercury Golf Open
1969 - NY Jet Steve O'Neal punts 98 yards against Denver Broncos
1969 - Ron Hill wins European marathon (2:16:47.8)
1970 - "Monday Night Football" premieres on ABC - Browns 31, Jets 21
1970 - KAPP TV channel 35 in Yakima, WA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1970 - Luna 16 leaves Moon
1970 - Oakland A's Vida Blue no-hits Minnesota Twins, 6-0
1970 - New York Times starts first modern op-ed page.
1971 - AL OKs Washington Senator move to Arlington (Texas Rangers)
1971 - John Lennon & Yoko Ono are Dick Cavett's only guest
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Artist & Musician Yoko Ono
1972 - Marcos declares martial law in Philippines
1972 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1973 - Jackson Pollocks painting "Blue Poles" sold for $2,000,000
1973 - NY Mets go into 1st place (at .500) after trailing 12� games
1973 - Nate Archibald signs 7 yr contract with NBA KC Kings for $450,000
1974 - US Mariner 10 makes 2nd fly-by of Mercury
1975 - Jo Ann Washam wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Classic
1976 - Wings performs in Zagreb Yugoslavia
1976 - Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.
1977 - US minister of Foreign affairs Cyrus Vance dismissed
1979 - Two RAF Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump-jets from RAF Wittering collide over the UK. Both pilots ejected safely. One of the jets broke up in midair and fell harmlessly into a field but the other dropped onto the centre of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, destroying two houses and a bungalow. Several people were injured in the accident and three people were killed.
1980 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA ERA Real Estate Golf Classic
1980 - LA Ram Johnnie Johnson scores a 99 yard interception
1980 - Richard Todd of NY Jets completes 42 passes in a game (NFL record)
1980 - Kerry GAA beat Roscommon GAA in Croke Park during the All-Ireland Football Final by 1-9 to 1-6 thus winning the championship and a three-in-a-row.
1981 - Belize (British Honduras) gains independence from UK
1981 - Sandra Day O'Conner becomes 1st female Supreme Court Justice
1981 - Steve Carlton strikes out NL record 3,118th (Andre Dawson)
1982 - 2,251 turn out to see Expos play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1982 - Devils beat Rangers 3-2 in exhibition; 1st hockey in Meadowlands (NJ)
1982 - NFL players begin a 57 day strike
1982 - SF cable cars cease operations for 2 years of repairs
1982 - STS-5 vehicle moves to launch pad
1983 - 11 killed in anti Marcos demonstrations in Manila
1983 - David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," premieres in London
1983 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 - NASA launches Galaxy-C
1985 - Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion
1986 - 38th Emmy Awards: Golden Girls, Cagney & Lacey & Michael J Fox win
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Actor Michael J. Fox
1986 - Miami Dan Marino passes for 6 touchdowns vs NY Jets (51-45)
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Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback Dan Marino
1986 - NY Jets beat Miami Dolphins 51-45 in OT; record 884 passing yards
1986 - New Orleans Saints Mel Gray returns kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown
1986 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1986 - SD Padre Jimmy Jones pitchs 1-hitter in his major league debut
1986 - Kerry GAA beat Tyrone GAA in Croke Park during the All-Ireland Football Final by 2-15 to 1-10 thus winning the championship and a three-in-a-row.
1987 - 3 Belgian minesweepers depart to Persians Gulf
1988 - Mike Tyson smashes TV camera outside his Bernardsville NJ home
1989 - Poland's Sejm (National Assembly) approves prime minister Mazowiecki
1990 - Oakland A's Bob Welch becomes 1st 25 game winner in 10 years
1990 - Pirate Bobby Bond is 2nd to hit 30 HRs & steal 50 bases in a season (so he can play in 6 decades) because it is a publicity stunt
1990 - Faye Vincent turns down White Sox bid to reinstate Minnie Minoso, 68
1991 - Armenia votes on whether to remain in Soviet Union
1991 - USA Basketball announces "Dream Team" for the 1992 Olympics
1993 - Ukraine government of Kutshma resigns
1994 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Ft Laud/Miami Fl (WBGG 105.9 FM)
1995 - The Hindu milk miracle occurs, in which statues of the Hindu God Ganesh began drinking milk when spoonfuls were placed near their mouths.
1996 - Christie Brinkey gets married for 4th time, she marries Peter Cook
1996 - John F Kennedy Jr marries Caroline Bisset
1997 - Brickyard Crossing Senior Golf Championhsip
1997 - Liselotte Neumann wins LPGA PING Welch's Championship
1997 - Mike Piazza is 2nd to hit a HR out of Dodger Stadium
1997 - NY Yankee Cecil Fielder hits his 300th HR
1997 - Tim Herron wins Texas Golf Open shooting a 271
1999 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.
2001 - Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.
2001 - University of Roorkee, becomes India's 7th Indian Institute of Technology, rechristened as IIT Roorkee
2001 - AZF chemical plant explodes in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people
2003 - Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
2004 - The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merge to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
2004 - Construction of the Burj Dubai starts.
2008 - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.
2008 - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa resigns from office, effective September 25.
2008 - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel formally resigns from office, effective as soon as his successor Tzipi Livni has successfully assembled a new government.
2008 - The final home game is played at Yankee Stadium against the Baltimore Orioles.
Music history on September 21
1874 - Composer Gustav Theodore Holst was born.
1968 - "All Along the Watchtower" was released by Jimi Hendrix.
1972 - ABC-TV debuted "In Concert." Alice Cooper appeared in the first episode.
1974 - BTO released "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."
1974 - Jeff "Skunk" Baxter joined the Doobie Brothers.
1976 - The 20th album by the Bee Gees, "Children of the World," was released.
1980 - Elton John signed a long-term exclusive contract with Geffen Records.
1984 - "Tonight" was released by David Bowie.
1989 - The Bangles broke up.
1993 - Nirvana's album "In Utero" was released.
1996 - Hank Williams III, at 23 years old, made his Grand Ole Opry debut.
1999 - HBO's live music show, "Reverb," debuted with performances by Alanis Morissette and Everlast.
2001 - "America: A Tribute to Heroes" was shown on 35 seperate broadcast and cable networks simultaneously. The telethon raised $150 million in pledges to benefit families of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. The pledges were made from September 21 through September 24, 2001.
2003 - In San Francisco, CA, Duran Duran played a concert in Golden Gate Park.
Sports history on September 21
1970 - "NFL Monday Night Football" made its debut on ABC-TV. The game was between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. The Browns won 31-21.
1971 - The American League approved the move of the Washington Senators to Arlington, TX.
1982 - National Football League (NFL) players began a 57-day strike. It was their first regular-season walkout.
2008 - The New York Yankees played their last game at Yankee Stadium. The new Yankee Stadium opened across the street in 2009.
Famous birthdays on September 21
1051 - Bertha of Savoy, German queen and Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1087)
1328 - Hongwu Emperor of China (d. 1398)
1372 - Frederik I van Hohenzollern, monarch of Brandenburg (1417-40)
1411 - Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (d. 1460)
1415 - Frederick III, Innsbruck Austria, German Emperor (1440-1493)
1428 - Jingtai Emperor of China (d. 1457)
1452 - Girolamo Savonarola, monk/reformer/dictator of Florence (1494-98)
1527 - Matthaus Ludecus, composer
1629 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1694)
1645 - Louis Joliet, Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
1706 - Jacob Wilhelm Lustig, composer
1706 - Polyxena Christina of Hesse-Rotenburg, queen of Sardinia (d. 1735)
1728 - Louis Emmanuel Eadin, composer
1737 - Francis Hopkinson, US, writer/lawyer (helped design Stars & Stripes)
1752 - Louise MC, countess of Albany
1756 - John Loudon McAdam, created macadam road surface (asphalt)
1758 - Christopher Gore, 8th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1827)
1760 - Gaetano Valeri, composer
1760 - Ivan Dmitriev, Russian statesman (d. 1837)
1788 - Margaret Smith Taylor, 1st lady (1849-50)
1817 - Carter Littlepage Stevenson, Major General (Confederate Army)
1817 - Charles Balmer, composer
1819 - Princess Louise Marie Th�r�se of France (d. 1864)
1820 - Williams Carter Wickham, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1824 - Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, Brigadier General (Union volunteers)
1827 - Michael Corcoran, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1832 - Friedrich Wilhelm Langhans, composer
1832 - Samuel Sprigg Carroll, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1893
1833 - Josef Richard Rozkosny, composer
1840 - Murad V, sultan of Turkey (1876)
1842 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
1843 - David Emlyn Evans, composer
1849 - Edmund Gosse, London, translator/critic (Father & Son)
1849 - Maurice Barrymore, Indian-born patriarch of the Barrymore family (d. 1905)
1853 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist (liquid helium, Nobel 1913)
1859 - Cyriel Buysse, Flemish baron/writer (Sursum Corda, Ace Knave)
1862 - James E. Talmage, LDS apostle and author (d. 1933)
1863 - John Bunny, American film comedian (d. 1915)
1866 - Charles Jean Henri Nicolle France, bacteriologist (Nobel-1928)
Science Fiction Writer H. G. Wells (1866) 1866 - H. G. Wells, Bromley, Kent, , English writer (War of the Worlds, Kipps), (d. 1946)
1867 - Henry Lewis Stimson, US minister of War (1911-13)
1869 - Henryk Melcer-Szczawinski, composer
1871 - Ernst Heldring, Dutch merchant/ship owner/financier
1873 - Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
1874 - Gustav Theodore Holst, Cheltenham, England, composer (Planets)
1880 - Henry Louis Mencken, US essayist/critic (American Mercury)
1882 - Alf Thorbald Hurum, composer
1884 - Hugh "Shorty" Ray, supervisor of NFL officials, HOF member
1885 - Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann, composer
1886 - Teiichi Igarashi, Japan, climed Mt Fuji at age 99
1887 - Lodewijk de Vocht, composer
1889 - Otto Forst de Battaglia, Austrian diplomat/genealogist
1893 - Moses Pergament, composer
1894 - Tullio Carminati, Zara Dalmatia Italy, actor (Roman Holiday)
1895 - Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (d. 1925)
1898 - Tushar Kanti Ghosh, world's oldest/longest serving newspaper Editor
1899 - Luc Haesaerts, Flemish art critic (Flandre)
1899 - Frederick Coutts, the 8th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1986)
1901 - Adele Bochner
1902 - Allen Lane, English publisher/founder (Penguin Books)
1902 - Learie [Nicholas] Constantine, Trinidad cricket player
1902 - Limari Salminen, Finland, 10K run (Olympic-gold-1936)
1904 - Hans Hartung, German/French painter
1905 - Robert Lebel, French Canadian ice hockey executive (d. 1999)
1906 - Derrick De Marney, London England, actor (Inheritance)
1906 - Henry Beachell, American plant breeder (d. 2006)
1907 - Helen Foster Snow, writer
1907 - Lloyd Gough, actor (Mike Axford-Green Hornet)
1912 - Chuck Jones, animator (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck)
1912 - Gy�rgy S�ndor, Hungarian pianist (d. 2005)
1913 - Ulrich Ernst Simon, theologian
1914 - John Kluge, Chemnitz Germany, media CEO (Metromedia)/billionaire
1916 - Jagernath Lachmon, premier Suriname
1916 - Fran�oise Giroud, French journalist and politician (d. 2003)
1917 - Phyllis Nicolson, British mathematician (d. 1968)
1918 - Rand Brooks, LA California, actor (Cpl Boone-Rin Tin Tin)
1919 - Aya Zikken, author (Atlasvlinder, Rameh)
1919 - Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
1919 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (d. 1988)
1920 - Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends, Bullwinkle)
1922 - Lode Backx, Flemish pianist
1923 - Harry JN Vane 11th Lord Barnard, English large landowner
1924 - Gail Russell, Chicago IL, actress (Uninvited, Moonrise, Unseen)
1926 - Donald A Glaser, physicist (Nobel-1960)
1926 - Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d. 2000)
1929 - Bernard Williams, English philosopher (d. 2003)
1929 - S�ndor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (d. 1979)
1930 - Dawn Addams, Felixstown Engl, actress (Alan Young Show, Star Maidens)
1931 - Larry Hagman, Fort Worth Tx, TV actor (I Dream of Jeannie, JR-Dallas)
1932 - Don Preston, rocker (Mothers Of Invention)
1932 - Melvin Van Peebles, US, playwright/director (Watermelon Man)
1934 - Leonard Cohen, Montreal, singer/songwriter (Death of Ladies Man)
1935 - Henry Gibson, Germantown Pa, comedian (Nashville, Laugh-In's poet)
1935 - Jimmy Armfield, Former English Footballer and Manager
1936 - Yuriy Luzhkov, Russian politician, mayor of Moscow
1936 - Dickey Lee, American singer and songwriter
1938 - Atli Heimir Sveinsson, composer
1938 - Yuji Takahashi, composer
1940 - Bill Kurtis, Pensacola Fla, newscaster (American Parade)
1940 - Hermann Knoflacher, Austrian civil engineer
1941 - Tony Moon, rocker
1941 - R. James Woolsey, Jr., Central Intelligence Agency director
1941 - Jack Brisco, American professional wrestler
1942 - Ann Elder, Cleve Oh, comedienne (Smothers Brothers Show, Laugh-In)
1943 - Dickey Lee, [Dick Lipscomb], rocker
1944 - Fannie Flagg, Birmingham Ala, actress/comediene (Candid Camera)
1944 - Hamilton Jordan, political advisor (Crisis, Last Year of Carter Pres)
1944 - Susan Maureen Fleetwood, Scotland, actress (Krays, Sacrifice)
1944 - Steve Beshear, Democratic Governor of Kentucky.
1945 - Bjarni V Tryggvason, Reykjavik Iceland, astronaut (STS 85)
1945 - Ombrettqa Colli, Italian entertainer
1945 - Richard Childress, NASCAR team owner
1945 - Shaw Clifton, the 18th General of The Salvation Army
1946 - Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councilor
1947 - Don Felder, Gainesville Florida, American rocker (Eagles)
Horror Author Stephen KIng (1947) 1947 - Stephen King, Portland, Maine, sci-fi/horror author (Carrie, Shining, Kujo)
1947 - Marsha Norman, American playwright
1948 - Artis Gilmore, ABA all star (Kentucky Colonels)
1948 - Michael Finneran, diver (1st perfect 10 on 10m platform)
1950 - Bill Murray, Evanston Ill, Wilmette, Illinois, actor/comedian (Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters)
1950 - Charles Clarke, British politician
1951 - Bob Franks, (Rep-R-NJ)
1951 - Bruce Arena, Bkln NY, soccer coach (Olympics-gold-96)
1951 - Henk Hofstede, Dutch singer/guitarist/keyboardist (Nits)
1951 - Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen rebel leader (d. 2005)
1952 - Anneliese Michel, German exorcism victim (d. 1976)
1953 - Betty Wright, rocker
1953 - John Mengatti, NYC, actor (Nick-White Shadow, For Love & Honor)
1954 - Philthy Animal, [Philip Taylor], rock drummer (Motorhead)
1954 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
Actor/Comedian Bill Murray (1950) 1955 - Rebecca Balding, Little Rock Ark, actress (Carla-Lou Grant, Soap)
1955 - Richard J Hieb, Jamestown ND, astronaut (STS 39, 49, 65)
1955 - Mika Kaurism�ki, Finnish director
1956 - Jack Givens, American basketball player
1956 - Marta Kauffman, American television producer
1957 - Ethan Coen, Minneapolis Mn, producer (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink)
1957 - Lynette Love, US tai kwan do champ 1987/(Olympics 1988)
1957 - Kevin Rudd, Australian politician
1958 - Rick Mahorn, NBA forward (Detroit Pistons)
1958 - Bruno Fitoussi, French poker player
1959 - Corrinne Drewery, rocker (Swing Out Sister-Swing Out)
1959 - David Coulier, Detroit, actor (Joey Gladstone-Full House)
1960 - David James Elliott, Toronto, actor (Seinfeld, Lt Harmon Rabb-Jag)
1961 - Michel R Vassallucci, French/Neth publisher (Arena)
1961 - Nancy Travis, NYC, actress (Kim-Almost Perfect, Chaplin, 8 Men Out)
1962 - Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Alberta, NHL goalie (Oilers)
1962 - Rob Morrow, New Rochelle NY, actor (Dr Fleishman-Northern Exposure)
1963 - Cecil Fielder, LA California, infielder (Detroit Tigers, NY Yankees)
1963 - Curtly Ambrose, Antiguan West Indies cricketer
1963 - Angus Macfadyen, Scottish actor
1964 - Danny Hoekman, soccer player (NEC)
1964 - Danny Villa, NFL guard (KC Chiefs)
1964 - Jorge Drexler, Uruguayan singer and composer
1965 - Richard Brown, NFL linebacker (Minnesota Vikings)
1966 - Ronna Reeves, Big Spring TX
1967 - Andrea Thies, Irvington NY, rower (Olympics-92, 96)
1967 - Romeo van Aerde, soccer player (RKC)
1967 - Faith Hill, American singer
1967 - Tyler Stewart, Canadian drummer (Barenaked Ladies)
1968 - Ricki Lake, NYC, actress (Hairspray)/talk show host (Ricki)
1968 - Trugoy, rocker (De La Soul)
1969 - Jason Christiansen, Omaha NE, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1969 - Lia Biehl, LPGA golfer
1969 - Randal Hill, NFL wide receiver (Miami Dolphins)
1970 - Michael O'shea, CFL linebacker (Toronto Argonauts)
1970 - John Cudia, American actor
1971 - Alfonso Ribeiro, NYC, actor/pianist (Alfonso-Silver Spoons)
1971 - John Crawley, English cricketer
1971 - Luke Wilson, American actor
1972 - Alicia Rickter, Long Beach CA, playmate (Oct, 1995)
1972 - Brooke Bushnell, LA California, rhythmic gymnast (US team-96)
1972 - Jon Kitna, NFL quarterback (Seattle Seahawks)
1972 - Liam Gallagher, English singer (Oasis)
1972 - David Silveria, American drummer (KoЯn)
1973 - Virginia Ruano-Pascual, Madrid Spain, tennis star
1973 - Oswaldo Sanchez, Mexican footballer
1973 - Vanessa Grigoriadis, American journalist
1974 - Taral Hicks, American musician
1974 - Andy Todd, English footballer
1975 - Doug Davis, American baseball player
1976 - Adrian Olivo, Arlington Va, canoe (alt-Olympics-96)
1976 - Jana Kandarr, tennis star
1976 - Poul H�bertz, Danish footballer
1976 - Jonas Bjerre, Danish singer and guitarist (Mew)
1977 - Brian Tallet, American baseball player
1978 - Doug Howlett, New Zealand rugby union footballer
1979 - Richard Dunne, Irish footballer
1979 - Chris Gayle, Jamaican West Indies cricketer
1979 - Julian Gray, English footballer
1979 - Jaymee Ong, Chinese-Australian model
1980 - Raegan Tomaster, East Patgchogue NY, gymnast (alt-Olympics-96)
1980 - Robert Hoffman, American actor
1980 - Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
1980 - Nyree Lewis, British Paralympic swimmer
1980 - Aleksa Palladino, American actress
1980 - Autumn Reeser, American actress
1980 - Tomas Scheckter, South African racing driver
1981 - Nicole Richie, American socialite
1981 - Rimi Sen, Indian actress
1981 - Meilinda Soerjoko, Indonesian-Australian actress
1982 - Eduardo Azevedo, Brazilian racing driver
1982 - Danny Kass, American snowboarder
1982 - Marat Izmailov, Russian footballer
1982 - Rowan Vine, English footballer
1983 - Joseph Mazzello, actor (Internal Affairs)
1983 - Fernando Cavenaghi, Argentinian footballer
1983 - Maggie Grace, American actress
1983 - Anna Meares, Australian cyclist
1984 - Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner, American swimmer
1985 - Maryam Hassouni, Dutch actor
1986 - Faris Rotter, English vocalist (The Horrors)
1987 - Jimmy Clausen, American football player
1987 - Courtney Paris, American basketball player
1987 - Ashley Paris, American basketball player
1988 - Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician
1989 - Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, American skateboarder
1990 - Allison Scagliotti, American actress
1990 - Christian Serratos, American actress
1991 - Jordan Hasay, American track and field athlete
1998 - Brino quadruplets, American actor/actresses
Quote for today:
Choose the way of life. Choose the way of love. Choose the way of caring...
Choose the way of goodness. It's up to you. It's your choice.
- Leo Buscaglia
Historical events on September 22
66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica.
530 - Boniface II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
530 - St Felix IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope
530 - [Discorus] begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1236 - The Lithuanians and Semigallians defeat the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in Battle of �iauliai.
1499 - Switzerland became an independent state.
1504 - Settle engagement of Karel of Luxembourg & Claudia the Beaujeu
1504 - Treaty of Blois: Philip van Bourgondie & Maximilian I & Louis XII
1529 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey lays-off English Lord Chancellor
1586 - Battle at Zutphen: English vs Dutch army
1598 - Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter.
1656 - All female jury hears case of woman who killed her child (acquit her)
1665 - Molieres "L'amour Medecin," premieres in Paris
1692 - Last (8) person hanged for witchcraft in US (Salem Mass)
1699 - People of Rotterdam strike over high cost of butter
1711 - French troops occupy Rio de Janeiro
1733 - Polish King Lesczynski flees to Danzig
1735 - Robert Walpole is 1st British PM to live at 10 Downing Street
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army returns to Edinburgh
1753 - Pangeran Gusti installed as sultan of Banten
1756 - Nassau Hall opens at Princeton University
1761 - Coronation of George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte.
1784 - Russian trappers established a colony on Kodiak Island, AK
1789 - Office of Postmaster General is created under the Treasury Department
1792 - Origin of French Republican Era
1817 - John Quincy Adams becomes secretary of State
1851 - The city of Des Moines, Iowa was incorporated as Fort Des Moines.
1861 - Fort Fauntleroy (Wingate), rapes Navaho Indians
1862 - President Lincoln, says he will free slaves in all states on Jan 1
1864 - Battle of Fisher's Hill VA-Gen Early Retreats to Brown's Gap
1864 - Sheridan sets up camp in Harrisonburg VA
1866 - Decisive battle of Curupaity in the War of the Triple Alliance.
1868 - Race riots in New Orleans La
1869 - Richard Wagner's opera "Rhine Gold," premieres in Munich
1885 - Lord Randolph Churchill makes a speech in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule e.g. "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right".
1893 - 1st auto built in US (by Duryea brothers) runs in Springfield
1896 - Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
1903 - Italo Marchiony granted patent for ice cream cone
1905 - 11th US Golf Open: Willie Anderson shoots a 314 at Myopia Club Mass
1905 - Race riot in Atlanta Georgia (10 blacks & 2 whites killed)
1906 - Race riot in Atlanta Georgia, kills 21
1908 - Bulgaria declares independence from Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
1910 - England's 1st aircraft flight
1910 - Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union forms
1910 - The Duke of York's Cinema opened in Brighton. It is still operating today, making it the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.
1911 - Cy Young beats Pitts 1-0 for his final career victory, number 511
1912 - Eddie Collins repeats record of stealing 6 bases in a game (9/7/12)
1913 - Coal mine explosion kills 263 at Dawson New Mexico
1913 - George Cohan's "7 Keys to Baldpate," premieres in NYC
1914 - 1 German submarine sinks 3 British ironclads, 1,459 die
1915 - Red Sox ask Braves for use of their larger park for World Series
1915 - Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its 1st class
1915 - Xavier University, 1st Black Catholic College in US, opens in NO LA
1919 - -Jan 20] Steel strike in the US
1920 - Chicago grand jury convenes to investigate charges that 8 White Sox players conspired to fix the 1919 World Series
1921 - Estonia & Lithuania admitted to League of Nations
1921 - Music Box Theater opens at 239 W 45th St NYC
1925 - Yank Ben Paschal hits 2 inside-the-park-homers
1926 - Belgian crown prince Leopold & Swedish princess Astrid get engaged
1927 - Famous "Long count" fight (Dempsey loses boxing title to Tunney)
1927 - Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
1927 - Yanks Earle Coombs hits 3 triples
1932 - Hungarian government of K�rolyi falls
1934 - An explosion takes place at Gresford Colliery in Wales, leading to the deaths of 266 miners and rescuers.
1935 - Boston Braves lose NL record 110th game of year en route to 115
1937 - Forest fire kills 14 & injures 50 in Cody Wyoming
1937 - Spanish Civil War: Pe�a Blanca is taken; the end of the Battle of El Mazuco.
1941 - British signal officer Bill Hudson lands in Montenegro
1942 - Meulenberg robs of church bells
1943 - British dwarf submarines attack Tirpitz
1943 - Destroyer Itchen torpedoed & sinks
1943 - Destroyer Keppel sinks U-229
1944 - Boulogne reoccupied by Allies
1944 - Operation Market Garden: Polish paratroopers land at Driel
1944 - US troops land on Ulithi
1945 - Stan Musial gets 5 hits off 5 pitchers on 5 consecutive pitches
1946 - Evelyn Dick charged with butchering husband
1947 - Dodgers clinch NL pennant
1949 - USSR detonates its 1st atomic bomb
1949 - WFMY TV channel 2 in Greensboro-High Point, NC (CBS) 1st broadcast
1950 - Nobel peace prize awarded to Ralph J Bunche (1st black winner)
1950 - Omar N Bradley promoted to rank of 5-star general
1953 - Islamic uprising in Atjeh at Indonesia
1954 - Bkln Dodger Karl Spooner strikes out 15 NY Giants in his 1st game
1955 - (ITV) Commercial TV begins in England
1955 - -28] Hurricane Janet, kills 500 in Caribbean
1957 - "Maverick" premieres
1957 - Duke Snider's 39th & 40th home runs are last hit at Ebbets Field
1958 - KTVK TV channel 3 in Phoenix, AZ (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 - US nuclear sub USS Skate remains 31 days under Pole (record)
1959 - Chicago White Sox clinch AL pennant
1960 - Mali (formerly French Sudan) declares independence from France
1961 - Antonio Albertondo (Argentina) at 42, completes 1st "double" crossing swim of English Channel in 43 hrs 10 min
1961 - Jim Gentile's ties record of 5 grand slams in a year
1962 - Bob Dylan plays NYC Carnegie Hall
1963 - Czechoslovakian premier Sikory deposed by Josef Lenart)
1963 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Visalia Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - "Fiddler on the Roof" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 3242 perfs
1964 - "Man from U.N.C.L.E," premieres on NBC-TV
1965 - India & Pakistan ceases-fire goes into effect
1966 - Edward Albee's "Delicate Balance," premieres in NYC
1966 - KMEB TV channel 10 in Wailuku, HI (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - Only 413 show up at a Yankee Stadium game
1966 - Orioles beat A's 6-1 to clinch their 1st AL pennant
1966 - Surveyor 2 crashes on Moon
1967 - Phillies release pitcher Dallas Green, their future manager
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1968 - Iraq adopts constitution
1968 - KMTC (now KDEB) TV channel 27 in Springfield, MO (IND) 1st broadcast
1968 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Kings River Golf Open
1968 - Twins' Cesar Tovar pitched a hitless inning & plays all 9 positions
1968 - Zond 5 completes flight
1969 - "Music Scene" debuts on ABC-TV
1969 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1969 - SF Giant Willie Mays, becomes second player to hit 600 home runs
1970 - Pres Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses
1971 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 - Dictator Idi Amin throws 8,000 Asians out of Uganda
1973 - "Little Night Music" opens at Majestic Theater on Broadway
1973 - 20th Ryder Cup: US, 19-13 at Muirfield, Scotland
1973 - Balt Oriole Al Bumbry hits 3 triples vs Milwaukee Brewers
1973 - Henry Kissinger, sworn in as America's 1st Jewish Secretary of State
1975 - Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate President Ford in SF Calif
1975 - World Football League folds
1977 - Minn Twin Bert Blyleven no-hits California Angels, 9-0
1977 - Preston Jones' "Texas Trilogy," premieres in NYC
1977 - West German RAF terrorist kills policeman in Utrecht
1978 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin returns home after Camp David summit
1979 - Israel performs nuclear test at Indian Ocean
1979 - Larry Parrish (Expos) HRs off Rawly Eastwick (Phillies) in DH
1980 - Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway
1980 - Iraqi troops seize part of Iran in a border dispute; war begins
1980 - John & Yoko sign a recording contract with Geffin Records
1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor appointed to Supreme Court
1982 - Duleep Mendis completes twin cricket tons for Sri Lanka v India
1982 - SF's cable cars made a final run before closing down for 20-month
1983 - Everly Brothers reunite after 10 years (Royal Albert Hall)
1983 - NASA launches Galaxy-B
1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - Zhu Jianhau (China) sets high jump record at 7'9 3/4"
1984 - Brussels princess Astrid marries arch duke Lorenz of Austrian-Este
1985 - 37th Emmy Awards: Cagney & Lacey, Cosby Show & Tyne Daly win
1985 - Billy Martin's right arm is broken by pitcher Ed Whitson
1985 - Earthquake strikes Mexico, 2,000 killed
1985 - France premier confesses on attack of Rainbow Warrior
1985 - Rock and country musicians participate in FarmAid in Champaign, Illinois
1985 - Val Skinner wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1985 - St Louis Cardinals set an unusual streak record by winning 9 of 10 games, each pitched by a different man
1985 - The Plaza Accord was signed in New York City.
1986 - 35 countries signs disarmament accord in Stockholm
1986 - India v Australia Test Cricket at Madras finishes in a tie
1986 - LA Dodger Fernando Valenzuela is 1st Mexican to win 20 games
1987 - 2nd regular-season National Football League player strike begins
1987 - Dow-Jones index rises record 75.23 points
1987 - Janet B Evans swims female world record 400m freestyle (4:03.85)
1987 - NFL players go on strike for 24 days
1987 - Red Sox Wade Boggs ties AL record of 200 hits for 5 straight seasons
1988 - Canada begins production of a $5 silver Maple Leaf bullion coin
1988 - South Korean coaches attack NZ referee after disputing his decision, Olympic Korean boxer stages a 67 minute sit-in
1989 - Cards outfielder Leon Durham suspended for 60 days due to drugs
1989 - IRA-bomb kills 10 British marines in Kent
1990 - Saudi Arabia expels many Jordanian & Yemeni envoys
1990 - Andre Dawson steals his 300th base & is only player other than Willie Mays to have 300 HRs, 300 steals & 2,000 hits
1991 - ABN & AMRO Dutch banks merge
1991 - California University makes Dead Sea Scrolls public
1991 - Harry Gant wins NSACAR Goody's 500
1991 - Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula records his 300th career NFL victory
1991 - NY MTA yanks 6,000 ads for "Dr Tusch" (Dr Jeffrey Lavigne)
1991 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1992 - Heavy storm in South France, 34 die
1993 - Nolan Ryan, 46, pitches his last game
1993 - STS-51 (Discovery) lands
1993 - Supreme Soviet dismisses president Boris Yeltsin
1993 - A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia.
1994 - Rasmussen government in Denmark, resigns
1995 - E-3B AWACS crashed outside of Elmendorf AFB, Alaska after multiple bird strikes to two of the four engines soon after takeoff; all 24 on board killed
1996 - 4th Solheim Cup: US beats Europe 17-11 at St Pierre Wales
1997 - Elton John releases Diana tribute "Candle in the Wind 1997"
1997 - Marv Albert pleads not guilty to sexual charges
1997 - Bentalha massacre in Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.
2003 - David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.
2006 - A German maglev train crashes, killing 23.
2006 - The F-14 Tomcat retires from the United States Navy.
2006 - Hezbollah claims "Divine Victory" over Israel in a massive demonstration in Beirut.
2011 - CERN scientists announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light
Music history on Sept. 22
1935 - 1935 - Benny Goodman and his band recorded the "King Porter Stomp."
1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on "The Steve Allen Show." He was told not to dance and Allen had him sing "Hound Dog" to a real basset hound wearing tails.
1963 - "She Loves You" and "I'll Get You" were recorded by the Beatles.
1973 - "Jesus Christ Superstar" closed in New York City after 720 performances on Broadway.
1978 - Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" was released.
1981 - John Morey (Steppenwolf) died in a car accident at the age of 32.
1984 - The album "Animalize" was released by KISS.
1987 - The Grateful Dead's "In The Dark" LP was released.
Sports history on Sept. 22
1927 - In Chicago, IL, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight.
1934 - The NHL approved a new rule that allowed the awarding of penalty shots.
1968 - Cesar Tovar became the second major league baseball player to play all nine positions in one game.
1969 - Willie Mays hit his 600th career home run.
2006 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) tied Hank Aaron's National League home run record when he hit is 733rd.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 22
Michael Faraday 1791
Historic events on September 23
951 - Otto I the Great becomes king of Italy
1122 - Concordat of Worms.
1408 - Battle of Othee
1459 - Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
1513 - King Henry III & Emperor Maximilian conquer Doornik
1561 - King Philip II of Spain forbids Spanish settlements in Florida
1642 - Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass, 1st commencement
1666 - Princess Maria of Orange-Nassau marries Mauritius earl of Simmeren
1719 - Liechtenstein declares independence from German empire
1739 - Russia & Turkey sign Peace of Belgrade
1746 - Jacob Gilles appointed Dutch pension advisor
1779 - John Paul Jones' "Bon Homme Richard" defeats HMS Serepis
1780 - Brit Maj John Andre reveals Benedict Arnold's plot to betray West Point
benedict_arnold.jpg ( 14.86K ) Number of downloads: 0
US Defector General Benedict Arnold
1795 - Conseil of the Cinq-Cents (Council of 500), forms in Paris
1803 - Battle of Assaye-British-Indian forces beat Maratha Army
1806 - Lewis & Clark return to St Louis from Pacific Northwest
1818 - Border demarcation markers for Moresnet formally installed.
1821 - Fall of Tripolitsa, Greece, massacre of 30.000 Turks.
1830 - Dutch troops occupy Brussels
1835 - HMS Beagle sails to Charles Island in Galapagos archipelago
1845 - 1st baseball team, NY Knickerbockers organize, adopt rule code
1845 - Hunger strike in Hague
1846 - Johann Gottfried Galle & Heinrich d'Arrest find Neptune
1857 - Russian warship Leffort disappears in Finland Gulf in storm; 826 die
1862 - Lincoln's Emancipation is published in Northern Newspapers
1863 - Confederate siege of Chattanooga begins
1864 - Battle of Athens VA
1868 - Grito de Lares proclaims Puerto Rico's independence (crushed by Spain)
1873 - Tom Allen beats Mike McCale for Heavyweight Boxing title
1876 - Ottawa Rough Riders play their 1st game
1877 - Hurricane strikes Curacao & Bonaire kills 200
1879 - Baldwin steam motors tram 1st tried in Sydney Australia
1879 - Richard Rhodes invented a hearing aid called the Audiophone
1880 - Jules Ferry forms French government
1884 - Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine.
1889 - Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
1890 - Ed Cartwright bats in 7 RBIs in 1 inning
1895 - French labor union CGT (Confederation Generale du Travail) forms
1897 - 1st frontier days rodeo celebration (Cheyene Wyoming)
1905 - Mbunga-siege of Fort Mahenge German East-Africa broken
1907 - Proclamation sets fineness & weight of silver & bronze coins of Canada
1908 - Giant Fred (Bonehead) Merkle fails to touch 2nd, causes 3rd out in 9th & disallows winning run (game ends tied, Cubs win replay & pennant)
1908 - University of Alberta opens
1911 - Earl Ovington becomes 1st air mail pilot
1912 - 1st Mack Sennett "Keystone Comedy" movie released
1912 - Mark Sennet presents 1st Keystone Cops film (Cohen Collects a Debt)
1913 - Roland Garros is 1st to fly over Mediterranean Sea
1913 - Serbian troops march into Albania
1914 - Reds drop their 19th straight game, then beat Boston Braves
1920 - Alexander Millerand elected president of France
1922 - B Brechts "Drum in the Night," premieres in Germany
1922 - Gdynia Seaport Construction Act passed by the Polish parliament.
1923 - 80,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against Fleet law
1925 - George Kaufman's "Butter & Egg Man," premieres in NYC
1925 - Washington shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh is named AL MVP
1926 - Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
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Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey
1932 - Kingdom of Hejaz & Nejd merge into Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1933 - Yanks commit 7 errors in 1 game but beat Boston 16-12
1936 - Giants Carl Hubbell notches his 16th en route to 24 consecutive wins
1937 - Yankees lose 9-5 but clinch pennant when Red Sox beat Detroit
1938 - British premier Neville Chamberlain flies to Munich
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British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
1938 - Time capsule, to be opened in 6939, buried at World's Fair in NYC (capsule contained a woman's hat, man's pipe & 1,100' of microfilm)
1939 - Cookie Lavagetto goes 6 for 6-Dodgers get 27 hits & beat Phillies 22-4
1940 - -27] French/British assault on French fleet in Dakar, flees
1940 - Dutch nazi collaborator Mussert's 1st meeting with Hitler
1941 - General de Gaulle forms government in exile in London
1941 - German air raid on Russ naval base Kronstadt (battleship Marat sinks)
1941 - The first gas murder experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
1942 - Auschwitz begins experimental gassing executions
1942 - Russian counter offensive at Stalingrad
1942 - Transport nr 36 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1948 - Braves clinch NL pennant
1949 - Indian owner Bill Veeck holds funeral services to bury 1948 pennant
1949 - Harry Truman announces evidence of USSR's 1st nuclear device detonation
1950 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Sunset Hills Golf Open
1950 - Phila A's Joe Astroth is 4th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (6th)
1950 - US Mustangs accidentally bombs British on Hill 282 Korea, 17 killed
1952 - 1st closed circuit pay-TV telecast of a sports event
1952 - Dodgers clinch NL pennant
1952 - Richard Nixon makes his "Checker's" speech
1952 - Rocky Marciano KOs Jersey Joe Walcott in 13 for heavyweight boxing title
1953 - KHQA TV channel 7 in Hannibal-Quincy, MO (CBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - Pakistan signs Pact of Baghdad
1955 - Yanks clinch pennant by beating Red Sox, 3-2
1957 - "That'll Be Day" by Buddy Holly & Crickets reaches #1
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Singer Buddy Holly
1957 - Milwaukee Braves clinch NL pennant by beating Cards 4-2
1957 - WTIC TV channel 61 in Hartford, CT (CBS/FOX) begins broadcasting
1957 - White mob forces 9 black students who had entered a Little Rock high school in Arkansas to withdraw
1958 - Great Britain performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
1958 - Stravinsky's "Thieni," premieres in Veneti�
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 1959 The M/S Princess of Tasmania Australia's first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry makes maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
1961 - 1st movie to become a TV series-How to Marry a Millionaire
1961 - Ernie Banks ends 717 consecutive-games-played streak
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Hall of Fame MLB shortstop Ernie Banks
1962 - ABC's 1st color TV series-Jetsons
1962 - LA Dodger Maury Wills steals record setting #97 on his way to 104
1962 - Martin Walser's "Esche und Angora," premieres in Berlin
1962 - Mary Lena Faulk wins LPGA Visalia Golf Open
1962 - NY's Philharmonic Hall (since renamed Avery Fisher Hall) opens as 1st unit of Lincoln Center for Performing Arts
1963 - Georgette Ciselet is 1st woman on Belgian Council of State
1963 - WMEB TV channel 12 in Orono, ME (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - "Fiddler on the Roof" with Zero Mostel premieres in NYC
1967 - Greek Colonels regime frees ex-premier Georgios Papandreou
1967 - Radio Malta stops testing
1968 - WKAS TV channel 25 in Ashland, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKGB TV channel 53 in Bowling Green, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKLE TV channel 46 in Lexington, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKMA TV channel 35 in Madisonville, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKMR TV channel 38 in Morehead, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKON TV channel 52 in Owenton, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKSO TV channel 29 in Somerset, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKZT TV channel 23 in Elizabethtown, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 - 1st broadcast of "Marcus Welby MD" on ABC-TV
1969 - Northern Star and Illinois Univ newspaper start rumors that Paul McCartney is dead
1970 - Abdul Razak bin Hussain becomes premier of Malaysia
1970 - Gary Muhrcke wins 1st NY Marathon
1971 - John Vermeers painting "The liefdesbrief" stolen
1972 - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law
1972 - President Marcos ends emergency crisis in Philippines
1973 - Former Argentine President Juan Peron returns to power
1973 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Open
1973 - Largest known prime, 2 ^ 132,049-1, is discovered
1974 - "Gypsy" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 120 performances
1974 - BBC Ceefax begins 1st teletext service
1976 - Ford-Carter TV debate
1976 - South Africa decides to allow multi-racial teams to represent them
1976 - Soyuz 22 returns to Earth
1977 - 3rd test of Space Shuttle Enterprise
1977 - Cheryl Ladd replaces Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels
1978 - 100,000 cheering Egyptians welcome Sadat home from Camp David summit
1979 - Jane Fonda & 200,000 attend anti-nuke rally in Battery Park, NYC
1979 - Sandra Post wins LPGA ERA Real Estate Golf Classic
1979 - Somali constitution approved by president
1979 - St Louis legend Lou Brock steals 938th & final base of his career
1980 - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opens
1982 - "Doll's Life" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 5 performances
1982 - Amin Gemayel sworn in as president of Lebanon
1982 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1983 - Argentina milt regime gives amnesty to military/political assassins
1983 - Columbia moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating in preparation of STS-9
1983 - Gerrie Coetzee KOs Michael Dokes in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
1983 - Heavyweight Gerrie Coetzee KOs Michael Dokes in Ohio
1983 - Phillies Steve Carlton is 16th to wins 300 game (beating Cards)
1984 - 36th Emmy Awards: Hill St Blue, Cheers, John Ritter & Tyne Daly
1984 - Amy Alcott wins LPGA San Jose Golf Classic
1984 - SF 49er Joe Montana misses his 1st start in 49 games
1984 - Sparky Anderson is 1st manager to win 100 games in both leagues
1986 - Astro Jim Deshaies strikes out 1st 8 Dodger of game (ends with 10)
1986 - Congress selects the rose as US national flower
1988 - Fiji's new constitution is proposed
1988 - Jose Canseco is baseball's 1st to steal 40 bases & hit 40 HRs
1988 - Rosa Mota wins 2nd female olympic marathon (2:25:39)
1989 - Blue Jays bat out of order against Brewers in 6th inning
1990 - Nancy Lopez wins MBS LPGA Golf Classic
1990 - PBS begins an 11 hour miniseries on Civil War
1990 - Saddam says he will destroy Israel
1992 - Bill Comrie purchases BC Lions from CFL
1992 - Bradlees announces it will take over Alexander's dept stores in NYC
1992 - Jackson Browne reportedly beats girlfriend Daryl Hannah
1992 - Mud storm kills 30 in South France
1992 - 1st female to play in a NHL exhibition game (Manon Rheaume, goalie) for Tampa Bay Lightning - gives up 2 goals on 9 attempts in 1 period
1993 - "Les Miserables," opens at Playhouse, Edinburgh
1993 - Paul Chu group reports super conduction at -123�C (record high)
1996 - Howard Stern radio show premieres in Wilkes-Barre PA (WZMT 97.9 FM)
1996 - Howard Stern radio show premieres in West Palm Beach FL (WCLB 95.5 FM)
1997 - Seattle Mariners break record for most HRs in a year (258)
1999 - NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
1999 - Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only received minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history to date.
2002 - The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
2004 - At least 1,070 in Haiti reported killed by floods due to Hurricane Jeanne
2005 - FBI killing of Filiberto Ojeda on Plan Bonito Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.
Music history on Sept. 23
1923 - "720 in the Books" was recorded by Jan Savitt and his Orchestra.
1952 - Hank Williams did his last recording session.
1956 - Mickey Dolenz began his television career in NBC's "Circus Boy" series. He later became a member of the Monkees.
1966 - The Rolling Stones released the song "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby."
1967 - "People Are Strange" was released by the Doors.
1969 - It was reported by "The London Daily Mirror" that Paul McCartney was dead. It was the first time the rumor was printed.
1972 - Mott The Hoople released "All The Young Dudes."
1974 - Robbie McIntosh (Average White Band) died of a heroin overdose at the age of 24.
1980 - Foreigner released their second album "Double Vision."
1980 - Philip Anglim was replaced by David Bowie in the play "The Elephant Man" in New York City, NY.
1986 - An anti-crack rally was headlined by James Brown, Freddie Jackson, and Melba Moore at New York's Plaza Hotel.
1980 - David Bowie made his acting debut in the Broadway show "The Elephant Man". He performed the role until January 3, 1981. br>
1991 - Izzy Stradlin left Guns N' Roses. Gilby Clarke replaced him.
1996 - In Sweden, Agnetha Faltskog (Abba) published her autobiography "As I Am."
1997 - MCA Records reissued Average White Band's label debut "Show Your Hand" as part of the band's 25th anniversary.
1997 - Elton John's single "Candle in the Wind" was released in the U.S.
1997 - The album "Falling Into Infinity" was released by Dream Theater.
1997 - Elektra Entertainment released "The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne."
1997 - The Rolling Stones began their "Bridges to Babylon" tour in Chicago, IL.
1998 - The first Lilith Fair concert outside North America took place at London's Royal Albert Hall.
1999 - Shirley Manson (Garbage) unveiled her own line of lip gloss.
1999 - Coolio appeared on TV's "Judge Joe" to settle a financial dispute with his backing band the Wyld Bunch. The judge ruled the band was due $4,000 in unpaid earnings.
2003 - The Outkast album "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was released.
Sports history on Sept. 23
1845 - The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York was formed by Alexander Joy Cartwright. It was the first baseball team in America.
2001 - Barry Bonds hit his 65th and 66th home run of the season to tie Sammy Sosa for the second most home runs in a season.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 23
480 BC -Euripides, Salam�s, Greek playwright (Medea), (d. 406 BC)
63 BC - Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
1158 - Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
1161 - Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
1215 - Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
1434 - Yolande of Valois, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1478)
1555 - Louise de Coligny, French 4th wife of Willem of Orange
1591 - Michael Lohr, composer
1598 - Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
1605 - Daniel von Czepko, German poet
1641 - Adrian "Aart" van Wijck, theologist (against jansenisme)
1642 - Giovanni Maria Bononcini, composer
1647 - Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
1650 - Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
1684 - Johann Theodor Romhild, composer
1703 - Jean-Marie Leclair, composer
1712 - Ferdinand VI, the wise, King of Spain (1746-59)
1740 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar (63 BC) 1745 - John Sevier, Tennessee, indian fighter (Gov/Rep-Tn)
1768 - William Wallace, Scottish mathematician (Rights of Wallace)
1771 - Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
1781 - Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
1782 - Jacques-Fereol Mazas, composer
1791 - Johann F Encke, German astronomer (Encke Comet)
1791 - Karl T Korner, German poet (Zriny, Leyer und Schwerdt)
1800 - William H McGuffey, educator (McGuffey Readers)
1804 - David Van de Kellen, coin engraver
1805 - Matthew Adams Stickney, Rowley Mass, numismatist
1816 - Elihu Benjamin Washburne, MC (Union), died in 1887
1816 - Julius White, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1890
1817 - Leon Charles Francois Kreutzer, composer
1819 - Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
1820 - Thomas Kilby Smith, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1838 - Victoria Chaflin Woodhull, Ohio US, feminist/reformer
1842 - Karl Munzinger, composer
1849 - Mikhail Mikhaylovich Ivanov, composer
1852 - William Stewart Halsted, established 1st US surgical school
1853 - Marcel Planiol, French private law scholar
1854 - Cornelis W Lely, Dutch engineer/gov of Suriname (1902-05)
1856 - William Archer, Scotland, writer (Green Goddess)
1861 - Edmond H H Allenby, English fieldmarshal/high director (Egypt)
1861 - Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
1863 - Alexandre EJ Yersin, Swiss/French bacteriologist (bacteria plague)
1863 - Mary Church Terrell, civil rights activist
1864 - Draga Ma�in, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
1866 - Edouard Combe, composer
1870 - John Lomax, Miss, folk song collector/ethnomusicologist
1871 - Frantisek Kupka, Czech writer
1880 - John Boyd Orr, nutritionist, UN's FAO (Nobel 1949)
1888 - Gerhard Kittel, German anti-semitic theologist (Die Oden Salomons)
1889 - Walter Lippmann, NYC, journalist/political writer (Men of Dystany)
1890 - Arthur Walter Kramer, composer
1890 - Friedrich von Paul, German gen-fieldmarshal (Netherlands)
1890 - Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
1894 - Kornelis H Miskotte, theologist (Edda & Thora)
1895 - Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
1895 - Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1897 - Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (surrealist)
1897 - Walter Pidgeon, New Brunswick Can, actor (Mrs Miniver, Madame Curie)
1899 - Louise Nevelson, sculptor
1899 - Marcel Dalio, [Israel Blauschild], Paris France, actor (China Gate)
1899 - William Levi Dawson, composer
1900 - Louise Nevelson, US, sculptor (Sky Cathedral)
1900 - Bill Stone, British serviceman; one of the last surviving veterans of World War I
1901 - Adrian Pitlo, lawyer
1901 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech poet (Nobel 1984)
1902 - Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
1904 - Meyer Schapiro, art historian
1904 - Wallace "Scotty" Scott, rock vocalist (Whispers)
1905 - Jeno Kenessey, composer
1906 - Willard F McMurry, musician
1907 - Jarmila Novotna, soprano (Met Opera)/pres of Czechoslovakia (1957-68)
1907 - Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
1907 - Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (d. 1976)
1909 - Marianne Straub, weaver
1910 - Elliot Roosevelt, son of FDR/writer (Murder in the Oval Office)
1910 - Soulima Stravinsky, Lausanne Switz, Russian pianist (Igor's son)
1911 - Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (d. 2003)
1912 - Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani researcher, critic and linguist (d. 2005)
1912 - Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
1913 - Alexey Davidovich Machavariani, composer
1914 - Norman Cazden, composer
1914 - Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
1915 - Finn Arnestad, composer
1916 - Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
1917 - Imry Nemeth, Hungary, hammer thrower (Olympic-gold-1948)
1920 - Alexander Arutiunian, composer, (d. 2012)
1920 - Gerard W Taylor, South African/British surgeon
1920 - Jiri Jaroch, composer
1920 - Mickey Rooney, American actor
1922 - Philip Owen Arnould Sherrard, scholar theologian poet/translator
1925 - Barry Linehan, actor (Bullseye, Dark Places, Witchcraft)
1925 - Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (d. 2006)
1925 - Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress
1926 - John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist (Round Midnight)
1928 - Robert Helps, composer
1930 - Colin Blakely, Bangor N Ireland, actor (Shattered, Equus, King Lear)
1930 - Pyotr Ivanovich Kolodin, cosmonaut (Soyuyz 7, 10, 11 backup)
Musician Ray Charles (1930) 1930 - Ray Charles [Robinson], Albany Ga, singer/pianist (Georgia), (Georgia on My Mind, Mess Around) (d. 2004)
1930 - Sehba Akhtar,poet of Pakistan (d.1996)
1931 - Ruud van den Hende, sports reporter
1931 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
1934 - Per Olov Enquist, Swedish writer (Hour of the Lynx)
1935 - Pierre Marietan, composer
1936 - Valent�n Paniagua, Peruvian politician
1938 - Clifford Ann Creed, LPGA golfer
1938 - Romy Schneider, Vienna Austria, actress (Bloodline, Death Watch)
1938 - Tom Lester, American actor
1939 - Roy Buchanan, Ozark Ark, rocker
1939 - Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
1939 - Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
1939 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
1940 - Tim Rose, rocker
1941 - Simon Nolet, French-Canadian ice hockey player
1942 - Sila Mar�a Calder�n, Puerto Rican politician
1943 - Bob Clement, (Rep-D-Tennessee)
1943 - Julio Iglesias, Spain, singer (Of All the Girls I Loved Before)
1943 - Walter Scott, rock vocalist (Whispers)
1943 - Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
1944 - Loren J Shriver, Iowa, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 51-C, STS 31, STS 46)
1945 - Paul Petersen, Glendale California, actor (Jeff Stone-Donna Reed Show)
1945 - Ronald Bushy, Washington DC, rock drummer (Iron Butterfly)
1945 - Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
1946 - Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
1947 - Don Grolnick, jazz musician
1947 - Mary Kay Place, Tulsa Oklahoma, actress/country singer (Mary Hartman!)
1948 - Rob van Koningsbruggen, sculptor
1949 - Bruce Springsteen, [Boss], Asbury NJ, rock musician (Born in the USA)
1951 - Ron Klink, (Rep-D-Pennsylvania)
1954 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
1955 - Patti Weaver, WV, actress (Days of our Life, Gina-Young & Restless)
1956 - June Forester, Chattanooga Tn, country singer (Forester Sister-Men)
1956 - Lili Carati, Varese Italy, Miss Italy (1975)/actress (Alcove)
1956 - Maren Jensen, Arcadia California, actress (Athena-Battlestar Galactica)
1956 - Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
1956 - Peter David, American writer
1957 - Sylvie Garant, Montmagny Quebec, playmate (Nov, 1979)
1957 - Tony Fossas, Cuba, pitcher (St Louis Cardinals)
1957 - Rosalind Chao, American actress
1957 - Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
1958 - Larry Hogan Mize, Augusta GA, PGA golfer (1987 Masters)
1958 - Danielle Dax, British musician
1958 - Marvin Lewis, American football coach
1959 - Heather Drew, St Louis MO, LPGA golfer (1987 Henredon Classic-5th)
1959 - Jason Alexander, [Greenspan], Newark NJ, actor (George-Seinfeld)
1959 - Elizabeth Pe�a, American actress
1960 - John Rocca, English funk singer (Southern Freeze)
1961 - Elizabeth Pena, Havana Cuba, actress (La Bamba, Jacob's Ladder)
1961 - Phyllis Hines, Nashville TN, cyclist (Olympics-96)
1961 - William C McCool, San Diego California, Lt Cmdr USN/astronaut
1961 - Chi McBride, American actor
1962 - Jack Warren Pierce, Cherry Hill NJ, hurdler
1963 - Gabriele Reinsch, German DR, discus thrower (world record 1988)
1964 - Diane Dixon, Bkln NY, 4x400m runner (Olympic-silver-1988)
1964 - Leon Meijs, soccer player (Willem II)
1964 - Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
1964 - Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
1965 - Ian Leggatt, Cambridge Ont, Canadian Tour golfer (1990 Canadian Tour)
1965 - Mark Woodforde, Adelaide Australia, tennis star (1993 Wimbledon mixed)
1966 - Doug Widell, NFL guard (Detroit Lions)
1966 - Pete Harnisch, Commack NY, pitcher (NY Mets)
1966 - LisaRaye, American actress
1968 - Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
1969 - Jeff Cirillo, Pasadena CA, infielder (Milwaukee Brewers)
1969 - Patrick Fiori, French singer
1969 - Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
1970 - Brian Wells, Carmel California, pairs skater (& Lyons-1995 Midwest champ)
1970 - Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
1970 - Ani DiFranco, American musician
1971 - Eric Montross, NBA center (Detroit Pistons)
1971 - Marcel Boudesteyn, soccer player (Excelsior/FC Groningen)
1971 - Osamu Nishimura, wrestler (NJPW)
1971 - Taunya Harris, Miss USA-New Mexico (1997)
1971 - Willie Greene, Milledgville GA, infielder (Cin Reds)
1972 - Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
1973 - Grant McDonald, Australian baseball outfielder (Olympics-1996)
1973 - Michelle Tolson, Manchester NH, Miss America-NH (1997)
1973 - Ingrid Fliter, Argentinian pianist
1974 - Doris Glenn Easterly, Richmond Va, diver (Olympics-96)
1974 - Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
1974 - Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
1975 - Vitaliy Yeremeyev, hockey goalie (Team Kazkhstan 1998)
1975 - Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
1975 - Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
1975 - Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
1976 - Faune A. Chambers, American actress
1976 - Kip Pardue, American actor and model
1977 - Rachael Yamagata, American singer and songwriter
1977 - Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 - Susan Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2008)
1978 - Worm Miller, American filmmaker
1978 - Keri Lynn Pratt, American actress
1979 - Red, LA California, rapper (Another Bad Creation)
1979 - Ricky Davis, American basketball player
1980 - Cameron Litvack, American television producer
1981 - Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
1981 - Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
1981 - Misti Traya, American actress
1984 - Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
1984 - Louie Stephens, American musician (Rooney)
1984 - Nathan Jendrick, American author
1984 - Matt Kemp, American baseball player
1985 - Maki Goto, Japanese pop singer
1985 - Jared High, American victim of bullying (d. 1998)
1985 - Brian Brohm, American football player
1985 - Luk� Ka�par, Czech ice hockey player
1985 - Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
1985 - Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
1986 - Martin Cranie, English footballer
1989 - Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
Quote for today:
Historic events on September 24
312 - Start of Imperial Indication
366 - Liberius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
673 - Synod of Hertford opens; canons made for English Church
787 - 2nd Council of Nicaea (7th ecumenical council) opens in Asia Minor
1180 - Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1493 - Columbus' 2nd expedition to New World
1537 - Uprising in Lubeck fails
1625 - Dutch attack San Juan, Puerto Rico
1629 - Jacques Specx appointed governor-general of Dutch-Indies
1657 - 1st autopsy & coroner's jury verdict is recorded in state of Maryland
1664 - Dutch Fort Orange (Albany NY) surrenders to English
1664 - The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
1683 - King Louis XIV expels all Jews from French possessions in America
1688 - France declares war on German
1706 - Treaty of Altranst�dt: Charles XII of Sweden & August II of Saksen
1732 - 21 homosexuality burned in South Horn
1742 - Faneuil Hall opens to public
1776 - 1st St Leger horesrace held at Doncaster
1776 - St Leger horse race run for 1st time
1789 - Congress creates Post Office
1789 - Federal Judiciary Act is passed & creates a six-person Supreme Court
1789 - President George Washington appointed John Jay the 1st Chief Justice
1789 - US Attorney General Office is created
1829 - Russia & Ottoman Empire sign Peace Treaty of Adrianople
1838 - Anti-Corn-Law League forms to repeal English Corn Law
1841 - Britain obtains Sarawak from Brunei (James Brooke appointed Rajah)
1850 - Papal Bull issued, establishes Roman Catholic hierarchy in England
1852 - Henri Giffard, a French engineer, makes 1st dirigible flight
1852 - The first airship is displayed.
1853 - 1st round-the-world trip by yacht (Cornelius Vanderbilt)
1853 - France annexes Caledonia
1853 - Northern Daily Times, 1st provincial daily newspaper, starts in London
1862 - Confederate Congress adopts confederacy seal
1864 - Battle of Pilot Knob MO
1864 - Invasion of MO by Price
1865 - James Cooke walks tightrope from Cliff House to Seal Rocks, SF
1869 - Black Friday; Wall St panic after Gould & Fisk attempt to corner gold
1872 - Franz Grillparzer's "Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg," premieres in Vienna
1877 - Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
1881 - Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congo monarch
1883 - National black convention meets in Louisville, Kentucky
1884 - Dixey, Rice & Gill's musical "Adonis," premieres in NYC
1885 - 5 German warships depart to Zanzibar
1889 - Alexander Dey patents dial time recorder
1890 - Pres of Mormon Church in Salt Lake City issues a manifesto advising members that teaching & practice of polygamy should be abandoned
1895 - 1st round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle (took 15 months)
1902 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Red Circle" (BG)
1903 - Alfred Deakin succeeds Edmund Baston as Australia premier
1903 - Bill Bradley becomes 1st Cleveland baseball player (Cleveland Naps) to hit for cycle
1906 - St Louis Card Stony McGlynn no-hits Dodgers, 1-1 in 7 inning game
1906 - V Herbert & H Blossom's musical "Red Mill," premieres in NYC
1908 - Robert B Rhoads becomes 1st Cleveland pitcher (Cleveland Naps) to toss a no-hit game, Cleveland 2, Boston 1
1916 - Indians Marty Kavanaugh, hits AL's 1st pinch-hit grand slam
1919 - Babe Ruth sets season homer mark at 28 off of Yankee Bob Shawkey
1922 - Neurenberg fusion congress USDP-SPD; picks Karl Kautsky
1922 - Roger Hornsby sets NL HR mark at 42
1923 - Premiere of 1st celluloid film "Das Leben auf dem Dorfe" (Berlin)
1924 - Boston, Massachusetts opens its airport
1926 - Cardinals clinch NL pennant by beating Giants 6-4
1927 - NHL's Toronto St Patricks become Maple Leafs
1927 - Yanks set record of 106 victories
1928 - Cohan/Lardner's musical "Elmer the Great," premieres in NYC
1929 - Lt James H Doolittle guides a Consolidated N-Y-2 Biplane over Mitchell Field in NY in 1st all-instrument flight
1929 - Yanks Tom Zachary ends season 12-0
1930 - G Kaufman & M Hart's "Once in a Lifetime," premieres in NY
1930 - Noel Coward's "Private Lives," premieres in London
1930 - Portsmouth beats Brooklyn in 1st NFL game played under floodlights
1931 - Round-robin playoff among NYC's 3 major league teams, to raise money for unemployed, concludes with Brooklyn losing to both Giants & Yanks
1932 - NY Gov Franklin D Roosevelt visits LA
1934 - 2500 fans see Babe Ruth's farewell Yankee appearance at Yankee Stadium
1934 - Idle Detroit wins pennant, as Red Sox beat Yankees 5-0
1935 - Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi
1938 - Alice Marble wins her 2nd singles US tennis title
1938 - Don Budge becomes 1st tennis player to grand slam
1940 - Jimmy Foxx hits his 500th career HR
1940 - Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire-factory in Southampton
1941 - Nine Allied governments pledge adherence to the common principles of policy set forth in the Atlantic Charter
1941 - Bomb explosion in German headquarter in Hotel Continental in Kiev
1943 - Soviet forces reconquer Smolensk
1946 - Yanks set season attendance record of 2,309,029 besting 1929 Cubs
1948 - Mildred Gillars (Axis Sally) pleads innocent in Wash DC
1948 - Yanks, Boston & Cleveland are tied for 1st place in AL (91-56)
1948 - The Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 - "Operation Magic Carpet"-All Jews from Yemen move to Israel
1951 - Industrial estate at Harlow New Town UK opens
1951 - USSR performs nuclear test
1952 - Dutch minister Dark sentences war criminal W Lages to death
1952 - Underwater volcano explodes under research vessel Kaiyo-maru-5
1953 - "Take a Giant Step," opens on Broadway
1953 - Rocky Marciano TKOs Roland LaStarza in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1954 - Tonight Show premieres on NBC (Johnny takes over 8 years later)
1954 - Yanks tie a record, 3 of their pinch hitters strike out in 1 inning
1955 - "Catch a Star" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 23 performances
1955 - Pres Eisenhower suffers a heart attack on vacation in Denver
1955 - Washington Senators lose their 99th & 100th games of season
1956 - 1st trans atlantic telephone cable in use (Newfoundland-Scotland)
1957 - Bkln Dodgers play last game at Ebbets Field, defeat Pirates 2-0
1957 - Eisenhower orders US troops to desegregate Little Rock schools
1957 - Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1958 - 1st welded aluminum girder highway bridge completed, Urbandale, Ia
1960 - 1st nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, launches (USS Enterprise)
1960 - International Development Association (UN agency) comes into existence
1960 - USS Enterprise, 1st nuclear power aircraft carrier, launches
1961 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Sacramento Valley Golf Open
1962 - KWSU TV channel 10 in Pullman, WA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962 - US Circuit Court of Appeals orders Meredith admitted to U of Miss
1963 - Idle Dodgers clinch their 2nd LA pennant as Cubs beat Cards
1963 - Senate ratifies treaty with Britain & USSR limit nuclear testing
1964 - "Munsters" premieres on TV
1964 - 1st Minuteman II ICBM was tested
1964 - Ringo forms Brikley Building Company Ltd
1964 - Willi Stoph succeeds Otto Great as premier of German DR
1965 - Belgium Victor Leemans elected chairman of European Parliament
1965 - Saudi-Arabian & Egyptian accord about Yemen
1965 - Stefan Stefanopoulos forms Greek government
1966 - -30] Hurricane Inez, kills 293 in Caribbean, Florida & Mexico
1966 - France performs nuclear test at Fangataufa Island
1967 - Cards Jim Bakken kicks 7 field goals vs Steelers
1967 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Mickey Wright Golf Invitational
1968 - "60 Minutes" premieres on CBS-TV
1968 - "That's Life" premieres-A Broadway musical type TV show
1968 - NY Met manager Gil Hodges suffers a heart attack
1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 - 1st Elvis convention, 2500 fans attend in Cincinnati
1969 - NY Mets clinch NL East pennant
1969 - Ton Duc Thang elected president of North Vietnam
1969 - Trial of "Chicago 8" (protesters at Dem Natl Conv) begins
1970 - 1st Automated return of lunar sample by Luna 16
1970 - Soviet Luna 16 lands on earth after 1st unmanned round trip to moon
1971 - 90 Russian diplomats expelled from Britain for spying
1971 - Eyskens-Cools disbands Belgium parliament
1971 - Houston Astros beat SD Padres, 2-1, in 21 innings
1972 - Antique F86 Sabrejet fails to takeoff at air show, kills 22
1972 - Jack Tatum, Oakland, returns a fumble 104 yds vs Green Bay (rec)
1972 - NY Jet Joe Namath passes for 6 touchdowns vs Balt Colt (44-34)
1973 - Guinea-Bissau declares independence
1973 - St Louis Cards Jim Bakken sets NFL record kicking 7 field goals
1974 - Al Kaline, Detroit Tiger, is 12th to get 3,000 hits
1974 - Clarence Jones of Kintetsu Buffaloes hits his 38th HR, 1st American to win a Japanese HR title
1976 - "Oh! Calcutta!" opens at Edison Theater NYC for 5959 performances
1976 - Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst sentenced to 7 years for her part in a 1974 bank robbery. Released after 22 months by Pres Carter
1977 - "Estrada" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 7 performances
1977 - 1st broadcast of "Love Boat" on ABC-TV
1977 - Ken Hinton of CFL British Columbia Lions returns a punt 130 yards
1978 - Donna Caponi Young/Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Ping Team Golf Classic
1978 - Dutch women hockey team wins world championship
1978 - Ron Guidry beats Cleveland 4-0, raising his record to 23-3 ERA 1.74
1978 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1979 - CompuServe began operation as 1st computer information service
1979 - Ghana adopts constitution
1979 - Pete Rose reaches 200 hits in a season for 10th time
1979 - Russian ice skaters Protopopov & Beloussova ask for asylum in Switz
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1980 - Braves join every NL team with 1,000,000+ attendance for this season
1980 - Iraqi troops cross Iran's border, encircling Abadan
1981 - Enterprise Radio (all sports) resigns air
1981 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1982 - Tennis great Bjorn Borg retires at 26
1982 - US, Italian & French peacekeeping troops begin arriving in Lebanon
1983 - Braves Dale Murphy is 6th to hit 30 HRs & steal 30 bases in season
1983 - Test cricket debut of Shoaib Mohammad, son of Hanif, v India Jullundur
1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1984 - Cubs clinch NL East title
1984 - Paul McCartney release "No More Lonely Nights"
1985 - Apollo Computer Inc lays off 300 employees
1985 - Fastest English Channel crossing by a relay team set (15h 30m)
1985 - Expos Andre Dawson joins Willey McCovey to hit 2 HRs in an inn twice
1985 - Montreal Expo Andre Dawson is 9th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (5th)
1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1988 - Barbara C Harris of Mass, elected 1st woman Episcopal bishop
1988 - Canada's Ben Johnson runs drug-assisted 100 m in 9.79 sec
1988 - Carl Lewis runs world record 100m (9.92 sec)
1988 - Dave Stieb has no-hitter broken up with 2 outs in the 9th
1988 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee of USA sets heptathlon woman's record (7,291)
1989 - 28th Ryder Cup: US & Europe draw, 14-14 at The Belfry, England
1989 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Nippon Travel-MBS Golf Classic
1990 - East Germany leaves Warsaw Pact
1990 - South African president F W de Klerk meets Pres Bush in Wash DC
1990 - Supreme Soviet gives approval to switch to free market
1990 - West German Pres Richard von Weizsaecker signs reunification treaty
1990 - Periodic Great White Spot observed on Saturn
1991 - "Good & Evil" & "Sibs" premieres on ABC TV
1991 - After 3 year reign as AL champs, A's are eliminated from AL West
1991 - Deion Sanders, left Braves July 31 to report to NFL Falcons, returns
1991 - Doogie Howser loses his virginity
1991 - Robin Yount is 37th to hit 2,000 singles
1992 - John Jaha ties record of 11 teammates to steal 10 bases (Brewers)
1992 - Scott Stevens is named 5th Captain in NJ Devils history
1992 - Toronto's Dave Winfield, 40, is oldest player to reach 100-RBI
1993 - 1st Israeli killed by Islamics after PLO signs peace accord
1993 - Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty (Brenda) weds Ashley Hamilton
1993 - Norodom Sihanouk again installed as king of Cambodia
1994 - Parliamentary election in Ukraine
1994 - National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.
1995 - 31st Ryder Cup: Europe beats US, 14�-13� at Oak Hill County Club (Rochester, New York, US)
1995 - Annika Sorenstam wins LPGA GHP Heartland Golf Classic
1995 - Emillio & Gloria Estefan's boat hits & kills a jet skiier
1995 - Mt Ruapehu Volcano (North Island, NZ) erupts
1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
1997 - Drug kingpin Ramon Arellano Felix placed on FBI's 10 most-wanted
2005 - Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.
2007 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives a controversial speech on the campus of Columbia University.
Music history on Sept. 24
1942 - Glenn Miller ended his broadcasts for Chesterfield Cigarettes so he could go to World War II.
1955 - Judy Garland made her TV debut on the "Ford Star Jubilee" on CBS.
1957 - "Mister Rock and Roll" debuted at the Paramount in New York City, NY.
1968 - The Vogues receive a gold record for "Turn Around Look at Me."
1977 - "The Love Boat" debuted on ABC-TV. The theme song was sung by Jack Jones and was written by Paul Williams and Charles Fox.
1977 - The first Elvis Presley convention took place in Memphis, TN.
1977 - "Come Sail Away" was released by Styx.
1982 - Prince's "1999" single was released.
1984 - Paul McCartney released "No More Lonely Nights."
1988 - Graham Parker opened a solo acoustic tour.
1988 - James Brown was arrested in Georgia after a two state car chase.
1989 - Prince made an appearance on the 15-year anniversary of Saturday Night Live.
1991 - Nirvana's album "Nevermind" was released.
1991 - The album "The Low End Theory" was released by A Tribe Called Quest.
1993 - Guns N' Roses reached a settlement with their former drummer Steven Adler. Adler had been kicked out of the band for not kicking his heroin habit.
1994 - Eric Clapton performed on the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live."
1998 - Steven Adler was sentenced to 150 days in jail for two counts of battery and probation violation (from a 1997 conviction).
1998 - Elvis Presley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
1998 - Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) threw out the first pitch at the Expos-Cardinal game in St. Louis, MO.
Sports history on Sept. 24
1934 - Babe Ruth played his last game as a New York Yankee player.
1937 - The NHL Board of Governors introduced legislation that discouraged "icing" during the League's semi-annual meeting. The new rules would cause a face-off in the defending zone if a team shot the puck all the way down the ice without scoring a goal.
1938 - Don Budge became the first tennis player to win all four of the major titles when he won the U.S. Tennis Open. He had already won the Australian Open, the French Open and the British Open.
1940 - Jimmie Foxx hit his 500th career home run.
1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field.
1989 - O.J. Simpson was a guest on the 15th Anniversary Special of "Saturday Night Live."
2006 - The Detroit Tigers clinched their first playoff berth since 1987.
2006 - Atlanta was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 24
John Marshall 1755
2008 - China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 25
1358 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1408)
1525 - Steven Borough, English explorer (d. 1584)
1593 - Matthew Merian, the Elder, engraver/bookseller
1599 - Francesco Borromini, Italian architect (d. 1667)
1612 - Mark Zuesius Boxhorn, Dutch historian
1644 - Ole R�mer, Danish astronomer (d. 1710)
1683 - Jean-Philippe Rameau, Dijon France, composer (Traite) (baptized)
1711 - Qianlong Emperor of China (d. 1799)
1714 - Jean-Benoit Leclair, composer
1725 - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, designed & built 1st automobile
1729 - Christian G Heyne, German archaeologist
1738 - Nicholas Van Dyke, American lawyer and President of Delaware (d. 1789)
1741 - Vaclav Pichl, composer
1744 - Frederik Willem II, king of Prussia (1786-97)
1752 - Carl Stenborg, composer
1764 - Fletcher Christian, English Bounty mutineer (d. 1793)
1766 - Armand-Emmanuel, duc de Richelieu, French PM (1815-18, 1820-21)
1773 - Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist (d. 1856)
1780 - Jason Fairbanks, American murderer (d. 1801)
1782 - Charles Robert Maturin, Irish playwright and novelist (d. 1824)
1785 - George Frederic Pinto, composer
1793 - Felicia Dorothea Hermans, poet
1796 - Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (d. 1875)
1798 - Henri Scheffer, painter
1798 - JBAL Leonce Elie de Beaumont, French mine engineer/geologist
1805 - Henry P Scholte, Dutch/US vicar/founder (Pella colony in Iowa)
1822 - Adolph Wilhelm August Friedrich von Steinwehr, Brig Gen (Union vol)
1823 - Thomas John Wood, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1906
1829 - William Michael Rossetti, civil servant
1830 - Karl Klindworth, pianist/conductor
1832 - William Le Baron Jenney, US, architect/"father of skyscraper"
1839 - Karl A von Zittel, German geologist/paleontologist (Libya)
1839 - [Wilhel]Mina JPR Kruseman, writer/feminist
1852 - Cornelis J Snijders, supreme commander of Dutch Navy (1910-18)
1852 - Hans Vaihinger, German philosopher (Nietzsche Philosophy)
1858 - Emmeline Pankhurst-Goulden, English feminist
1862 - Leon Boellmann, French organist/composer (Variations Symphoniques)
1862 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1952)
1866 - Thomas Hunt Morgan, US, biologist (Nobel-1933)
1867 - Evgenii Miller, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1938)
1872 - Charles Blake Cochran, impresario
1877 - Plutarco Elias Calles, Mexican revolutionary, president (1924-28)
1879 - Luis da Costa, composer
1879 - Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer and labor leader, Father of the Philippine National Language and Grammar (d. 1963)
1881 - Lu Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1936)
1884 - Cornelis "Kees" Boeke, Dutch educationalist
1886 - Jesus Guridi, composer
1886 - John Howard Lawson, scriptwriter/playwright
1887 - May Sutton Bundy, US, 1st US woman to win Wimbledon (US 1904)
1889 - George Douglas Howard Cole, socialist/novelist
1889 - C. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Scottish writer and translator (d. 1930)
1896 - Elsa Triolet, writer
1896 - Sandro Pertini, president Italy
1897 - Teddy Hart, NYC, actor (3 Men on a Horse)
1897 - William Faulkner, New Albany Mississippi, author (Sound & Fury-Nobel 1949), (d. 1962)
1898 - Robert Brackman American artist (d. 1980)
1901 - Robert Bresson, French film director (d. 1999)
1902 - Ernst von Salomon, German writer (Kette Der Tausend Kraniche)
1902 - Jeno Takacs, composer
1903 - John Everett Allen, US businessman
1903 - Mark Rothko, [Marcus Rothkovich], US, painter (Green on Blue)
1905 - Nahman Avigad, Israeli archaeologist (Discovering Jerusalem)
1905 - Red Smith, Green Bay Wisc, sportscaster/columnist (Fight Talk)
1906 - Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, St Petersburg Russia, composer [NS]
1906 - Jaroslav Jezek, composer
1907 - Phyllis Pearsall-Gross, British Geographer (A to Z Map Company)
1907 - Robert Bresson, France, director (Pickpocket, Mouchette)
1908 - Eugen Suchon, composer
1909 - Florizel A Glasspole, governor-gen of Jamaica (1973-91)
1911 - Lionel Henry Nowak, composer
1911 - Eric Williams, first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 1981)
1913 - David Hunt, British diplomat/quiz winner
1914 - Frederick William Sternfield, musicologist
1915 - Ethel Rosenberg, American Communist (d. 1953)
1916 - Tolia Nikiprowetzsy, composer
1917 - Johnny Sain, American baseball player (d. 2006)
1918 - Phil Rizzuto, Bkln NY, sportscaster/shortstop (NY Yankees-MVP 1950)
1920 - Sergey Bondarchuk, Belozerka Ukraine, director (War & Peace)
1921 - Remy C, de Kerckhove, Flemish poet
1921 - Robert Muldoon, premier NZ (1975-84)/chairman (IMF)
1922 - John Farr, British MP
1922 - Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (d. 1992)
1924 - Norman Ayrton, opera director (Royal Shakespearean Acad - UK)
1925 - Silvana Pampanini, Rome Italy, actress (Day in Court, Island Sinner)
1925 - William Edgar Mitchell, physicist
1925 - Paul MacCready, engineer/inventor (1st man-powered aircraft)
1926 - Aldo Ray, Pen Argyl PA, actor (God's Little Acre, Green Beret)
1926 - John Ericson, Dusseldorf Germany, actor (Sam Bolt-Honey West)
1926 - Sergei Filatov, USSR, equestrian dressage (Olympic-gold-1960)
1926 - Jack Hyles, Baptist pastor (d. 2001)
1927 - Carl Braun, basketball player (NY Knicks)
1927 - Colin Rex Davis, Weybridge England, conductor (NY Met 1967-71)
1928 - Hendrika G "Tine" de Vries, actress (Seaman's Wife)
1929 - John Rutherford, cricketer (one Test for Australia 1956)
1929 - Ronnie Barker, British comedian (2 Ronnies)
1929 - Barbara Walters, American broadcaster
1929 - Kevin White, Boston, Massachusetts, American politicians (Mayor of Boston, 1968-1984), (d. 2012)
1930 - H Heckmann, writer
1930 - Shel Silverstein, American humorist and author (d. 1999)
1931 - Barbara Walters, Boston Mass, newscaster (Today, 20/20, ABC-TV)
1931 - Patrick WIlliam Walker, British astrologer
1931 - Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (d. 2005)
1932 - Andrew Gardner, British broadcaster
1932 - Daphne Swallow, commandant/director (WRNS)
1932 - Glenn Herbert Gould, Toronto Canada, pianist (sued Steinway Piano)
1932 - Terry Medwin, Welsh retired footballer
1933 - Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez, premier of Spain (1976-81)
1933 - Erik Darling, Baltimore MD, rocker (Rooftop Singers)
1933 - Ian Tyson, rocker
1933 - Hubie Brown, American basketball coach and broadcaster
1934 - John S Bull, Memphis Tennessee, astronaut
1934 - Struther Arnott, professor (St Andrew University)
1934 - Jean Sorel, French actor
1936 - Edward Jones, UK military rep to NATO
1936 - Juliet Prowse, Bombay India, actress/dancer (Who Killed Teddy Bear)
1936 - Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, bluesman
1937 - Michael Gibbs, jazz composer
1937 - Thomas Kessler, composer
1939 - Joseph "Jesse" Russell, US singer (Slip Sliding Away)
1939 - Leon Britain, vice president (Commission of European Communities)
1939 - Feroz Khan, Indian actor
1940 - Timothy Severin, author/explorer
1941 - Vivian Stern, director (Nacros)
1942 - John Taylor, jazz pianist
1942 - Michael Stephen, MP
1942 - Peter Petherick, cricketer (NZ slow lefty 1976-77, hat-trick on debut)
1943 - Gary Alexander, TN, rock vocalist/guitarist (Association)
1943 - John Locke, LA Clif, rock keyboardist (Spirit-I Got A Line on You)
1943 - Robert Walden, NYC, actor (Joe Rossi-Lou Grant, New Doctors)
1943 - Robert Gates, American Secretary of Defense
1944 - Eugenia Zukerman, Cambridge Ms, flutist/novelist (Deceptive Cadence)
1944 - Grayson Shillingford, cricket bowler (WI 1969-71, 7 Tests 15 wickets)
1944 - Michael Douglas, NJ, actor (Coma, Wall St, Jewel of the Nile)
1944 - Doris Matsui, American politician
1945 - Kathleen Brown, state treasurer (D-California, 1991- )
1945 - Owen "Onnie" McIntyre, Scotland, guitarist (Average White Band)
1945 - Reynold Henry Weidenaar, composer
1946 - Bishan Bedi, cricketer (mighty Indian slow left-armer 1966-79)
1946 - Felicity Kendal, Indies/British actress (Shakespeare Wallah)
1946 - Gilmer Bryan Morgan, Wewoka OK, PGA golfer (1977 BC Open)
1947 - Cheryl Tiegs, Minnesota, model (Sports Illustrated)
1947 - John Fiddler, England, rock vocalist/guitarist (British Lions)
1949 - Anson Williams, LA California, actor (Potsie-Happy Days)
1949 - Inshan Ali, cricketer (big-spinning WI chinaman bowler 1971-77)
1949 - Jerry F Costello, (Rep-D-Illinois)
1949 - Mimi Kennedy, Rochester NY, actress (Spencer, 3 girls 3, Under 1 Roof)
1951 - Bob McAdoo, NBA forward/center (Buffalo Braves, LA Lakers)
1951 - Burleigh Drummond, rocker (Ambrosia)
1951 - Mark Hamill, Oakland California, actor (Luke Skywalker-Star Wars)
1951 - Pedro Almodovar, Spain, director/screenwriter (Kika, Matador)
1952 - Christopher Reeve, NYC, actor (Superman, Somewhere in Time)
1952 - Tommy Norden, NYC, actor (Flipper)
1952 - Gloria Jean Watkins, American scholar
1953 - Richard Harvey, British musician and composer (Gryphon)
1954 - Sylvester Croom, American college football coach
1954 - Juande Ramos, Spanish Football Manager
1955 - Adelmo "Zucchero" Fornaciari, Italian R&B-singer (Senza una Donna)
1955 - Steven Severin, British pop bassist (Siouxsie & Banshees-Wild Thing)
1955 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German footballer
1955 - Ludo Coeck, Belgian footballer (d. 1985)
1956 - Jamie Hyneman, American visual effects technician
1957 - Rupert Haselden, journalist/Screenwriter
1957 - Ian Reddington, English actor
1958 - Michael Madsen, Chicago, actor (Reservoir Dogs, Straight Talk)
1958 - Eamonn Healy, Irish chemist
1959 - Andy Waller, cricketer (big-hitting Zimbabwe batsman-1992 World Cup)
1960 - John Hills, horse trainer
1960 - Igor Belanov, Ukrainian footballer
1960 - Sonia Benezra, Canadian television host
1961 - Heather Locklear, LA Ca, actress (Stacy-T J Hooker, Sammy Jo-Dynasty)
1961 - Tim Zoehrer, cricketer (Aussie keeper, & occasional WA leggie)
1962 - Rajiv Kulkarni, cricketer (Indian Test pace bowler 1986-87)
1963 - Keely Shaye Smith, correspondent (Unsolved Mysteries)
1964 - Bryan Tooley, Eugene Ore, kayak (alt-Olympics-96)
1964 - Anita Barone, American actress
1964 - Joey Saputo, Canadian businessman and sports executive
1964 - Gary Ayles, British racing driver
1964 - Maria Doyle Kennedy, Irish actress and singer
1965 - Scottie Pippen, Hamburg Ak, basket forward (Bulls, Oly-2 gold-92, 96)
1965 - Scottie Pippen, NBA forward (Chicago Bulls)
1966 - Elizabeth "Liz" Tchou, Medford NJ, field hockey defender (Olympics-96)
1966 - Todd Philcox, NFL quarterback (Tampa Bay Bucs)
1967 - Lezlie Lund, Tolna ND, Miss ND-America (1991)
1967 - Kim Issel, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Will Smith [The Fresh Prince], actor/rapper (Men in Black, Independence Day, Fresh Prince)
1968 - Johan Friso, prince of Orange-Nassau, Netherlands
1968 - Reggie Jefferson, Tallahassee FL, 1st baseman (Cin, Cleve, Sea, Bos)
1968 - John Worsfold, Australian rules football coach
1969 - Catherine Zeta Jones, Swansea Wales, actress (Christopher Columbus)
1969 - David Weathers, Lawrencburg TN, pitcher (Florida Marlins, NY Yankees)
1969 - Hansie Cronje, cricket capt (solid South African batsman)
1969 - Michae Wright, WLAF cornerback (Barcelona Dragons)
1969 - Hal Sparks, American actor
1970 - Curtis Buckley, NFL safety (Tampa Bay Bucs)
1970 - Damon Pieri, NFL safety (Carolina Panthers)
1970 - Doug Pelfrey, NFL kicker (Cin Bengals)
1970 - Kerri Kendall, San Diego Ca, playmate (Sep, 1990)
1970 - Shannon Jones, WLAF linebacker (Scottish Claymores)
1970 - Dean Ween, American musician (Ween)
1971 - John Lynch, NFL safety (Tampa Bay Bucs)
1971 - Tony Harrison, WLAF receiver (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1971 - Brian Dunkleman, American actor
1972 - Kevin Mason, CFL quarterback (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1972 - Nikole Viola, Miss USA-Louisiana (1997)
1973 - Bridgette LeAnn Wilson, Gold Beach Oregon, Miss Teen USA (1990)
1973 - Melonie McGarrah, Rogers Arkansas, Miss America-Arkansas (1997)
1973 - Tijani Babangida, soccer player (Roda JC)
1973 - Bridget Marquardt, American model
1974 - Brigette Wilson, actress (Mortal Kombat, Billy Madison, Save by Bell)
1974 - Daniel Kessler, American musician (Interpol)
1975 - Declan Donnelly, English television presenter (Ant and Dec)
1975 - Matt Hasselbeck, American football player
1975 - Daniel Hyde, British actor
1976 - Chauncey Billups, NBA guard (Boston Celtics)
1977 - Clea DuVall, American actress
1977 - Mike Krahulik, Illustrator
1977 - Wil Nieves, Puerto Rican baseball player
1978 - Laura Nicholls, Kitchener Ontario, 50m swimmer (Olympics-96)
1978 - Roudolphe Douala, Cameroonian footballer
1978 - Ricardo Gardner, Jamaican footballer
1978 - Jodie Kidd, English model
1978 - Joel Pineiro, Puerto Rican baseball player
1980 - T.I., American rapper
Historical events on September 27
70 - Walls of upper city of Jerusalem battered down by Romans
489 - Odoacer attacks Theodoric at the Battle of Verona, and is defeated again.
1066 - William the Conqueror troops set sail for England
1290 - Earthquake in Gulf of Chili China, reportedly kills 100,000
1312 - Duke John II of Brabant ends Charter of Kortenberg
1331 - The Battle of Płowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
1509 - Storm ravages Flemish/Dutch/Friese coast, 1000s killed
1540 - Pope Paul III recognizes Society of Jesus/Order of the Jesuits
1540 - Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded by Ignatius Loyola
1590 - Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
1605 - The armies of Sweden are utterly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
1694 - Hurricane hits Carlisle Bay Barbados; 27 Brit ships sink & 3,000 die
1777 - Battle of Germantown; Washington defeated by British [NS=Oct 6]
1777 - English General William Howe occupies Philadelphia
1779 - John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain
1787 - Constitution submitted to states for ratification
1794 - French troops conquer Cr�vecoeur
1821 - Mexican Empire declares its independence
1821 - Revolutionary forces occupy Mexico City as Spanish withdraw
1822 - Jean-Fran�ois Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
1825 - Railroad transportation is born with 1st track (Stockton-Darlington)
1830 - Dutch army leaves Brussels, after 100s killed
1833 - Charles Darwin rides horse to Santa Fe
1834 - Charles Darwin returns to Valparaiso
1852 - George L Aiken's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," premieres in Troy, NY
1854 - Steamship "Arctic" sinks with 300 people on board
1855 - George F Bristow's "Rip Van Winkle," 2nd American opera, opens in NYC
1863 - Jo Shelby's cavalry in action at Moffat's Station, Arkansas
1864 - Battle at Pilot Knob (Ft Davidson), Missouri: 1700 killed/injured
1864 - Centralia Massacre (Missouri): "Bloody Bill" Anderson/Frank/
1864 - Jesse James' gang surprise attack train: 150 killed
1877 - John Mercer Langston named minister of Haiti
1881 - Chicago Cubs beat Troy 10-8 before record small "crowd" of 12
1892 - Book matches are patented by Diamond Match Company
1894 - Aqueduct racetrack opens in NY
1900 - Victory Theater (Republic, Belasco) opens at 207 W 42nd St NYC
1903 - Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
1905 - 1st published blues composition forms sale, WC Handy Memphis Blues
1905 - Boston's Bill Dinneen no-hits Chic White Sox, 2-0
1905 - The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc�.
1908 - The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1909 - 29th US Mens Tennis: W A Larned beats W J Clothier (61 62 57 16 61)
1910 - 1st test flight of a twin-engined airplane (France)
1912 - W C Handy publishes "Memphis Blues" 1st Blues Song, 1912
1914 - Cleveland 2nd baseman Nap Lajoie collects his 3,000th hit
1916 - 1st Native American Day celebrated, honoring American Indians
1916 - Emperor Lidj Jasu of Ethiopia flees
1916 - Iyasu is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zauditu.
1917 - Broadhurst Theater opens at 235 W 44th St NYC
1917 - EHC soccer team forms in Hoensbroek Neth
1919 - British troops withdraw from Archangelsk
1919 - Democratic National Committee voted to allow female members
1919 - Pitcher Bob Shawkey sets then Yank record with 15 strike-outs
1919 - Babe Ruth's 29th HR is 1st of year in Wash (1st in every park in league in one season)
1921 - Yanks beat Indians 21-7 in Polo Grounds
1922 - King Constantine I of Greece abdicates
1923 - Italian troops leave occupied Korfu
1923 - NY Yankee Lou Gehrig hits 1st of his 493 HRs
1924 - Giants clinch their 4th straight pennant, beating Phils 5-1
1928 - US recognizes Nationalist Chinese government
1928 - The Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
1930 - 34th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Bobby Jones
1930 - Cub's Hack Wilson's 2 HRs give him NL record 56 HRs
1930 - White Sox 1st baseman Bud Clancy didn't handle ball at all in a 9 inning game vs St Louis Browns
1931 - Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
1931 - Closest NL batting race ends Chick Hafey (.3488) beats Bill Terry's
1935 - Chicago Cubs win 21st consecutive game & clinch NL pennant
1936 - 1st baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game
1936 - Franco troops conquer Toledo
1936 - Netherlands leave Gold Standard/devaluate guilder
1937 - 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
1937 - Balinese Tiger declared extinct.
1938 - British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth," launches at Clydebank Scotland
1938 - Jewish lawyers forbidden to practice in Germany
1938 - League of Nations declares Japan the aggressor against China
1938 - Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth launched at Glasgow
1939 - Warsaw Poland, surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance
1939 - White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose to Cleve, 5-2 & 7-5
1940 - 55 German aircrafts shot down above England
1940 - Black leaders protest discrimination in US armed forces
1940 - Floyd Giebells, 1st game, 2-0 pennant clinching beating Bob Feller
1940 - Nazi-Germany, Italy & Japan sign 10 year formal alliance (Axis)
1940 - Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935
1941 - 1st WW II liberty ship, freighter Patrick Henry, launched
1942 - Heavy German assault in Stalingrad
1942 - NY Giants beat Wash Redskins 14-7 without making a 1st down
1942 - Reinhard Heydrich, "butcher of Prague," appointed SS-general
1942 - St Louis Cards win NL pennant on last day of season
1943 - Anti-fascism opposition begins in Naples
1943 - Dutch opposition newspaper "The Slogan" publishes KZ-Lower letter
1944 - Helmond & Oss Neth liberated
1946 - King George II of Greece returns from exile
1947 - "Sweethearts" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 288 performances
1948 - "Carib Song" opens at Adelphi Theater NYC for 36 performances
1950 - Dr Ralph Bunche receives Nobel Peace Prize
1950 - Ezzard Charles beats Joe Louis in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1950 - Heavyweight champ Ezzard Charles KOs Joe Louis in NYC
1951 - Persian troops occupies oil refinery at Abadan
1953 - Bert Bechichar, Baltimore Colts, kicks a 56-yard field goal
1953 - KCMO (now KCTV) TV channel 5 in Kansas City, MO (CBS) begins
1953 - KNOE TV channel 8 in Monroe-West Monroe, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - KOLO TV channel 8 in Reno, NV (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - KQTV TV channel 2 in Saint Joseph, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - St Louis Browns play last game in Sportsman's Park, losing 100th game
1953 - Typhoon destroys 1/3 of Nagoya Japan
1953 - WHBQ TV channel 13 in Memphis, TN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WMAZ TV channel 13 in Macon, GA (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WTOK TV channel 11 in Meridian, MS (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
1954 - 1st African American Supreme Court page is CV Bush
1954 - School integration begins in Wash DC & Baltimore Md public schools
1954 - Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" premieres
1957 - Giants rent Seals Stadium until Candlestick is built
1959 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Opie Turner Golf Open
1959 - Braves & Dodgers finish in a tie (86-68)
1959 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev concludes his US visit
1960 - Europe's 1st "moving pavement," (travelator), opens at Bank station
1961 - Sandy Koufax sets NL strikeout season record at 269
1961 - Sierre Leone becomes 100th member of UN
1962 - Military uprising under Col Abdullah as-Sallal North Yemen
1962 - US sells Israel, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles
1963 - At 10:59 AM census clock, records US population at 190,000,000
1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald visits Cubans consulate in Mexico
1964 - Despite 3 HRs by Johnny Callison, Phils are 14-8 losers to Braves
1964 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Visalia Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - Phillies 7th straight loses sends them into 2nd place
1964 - Warren Commission released, finds Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
1967 - Phillies Jim Bunning ties NL record of 5, 1-0 losses in a year
1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 - "Hair" opens in London
1968 - Cardinal's super pitcher Bob Gibson's 13th shutout of year
1968 - France refuses UK entry into common market
1970 - Ken Boswell sets 2nd baseman record of 85 games without an error
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1972 - 1st game at Nassau Coliseum, Rangers beat Islanders 6-4 (exhibition)
1973 - Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 in 11 innings, for record 383 of season
1973 - Soyuz 12 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit (2 days)
1973 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1974 - -10/26] Rome: 4th bishop synod
1974 - Austr National Gallery buys W de Kooning's "Woman V" for $850,000
1975 - Government De Uyl recalls Dutch ambassador from Spain
1977 - Phillies clinch 2nd straight NL East Division title
1978 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1979 - Congress' final approval to create Dept of Education
1979 - Elton John, sick with flu, collapse on Hollywood Universal Ampitheater
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - WHOT (Bkln NY pirate radio station) begins on 1620 AM & 92.5 FM
1980 - Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
1981 - "Day in Hollywood, A Night..," closes at John Golden NY after 588 perf
1982 - Cards clinching NL East title
1982 - Filming begins on "Never Say Never Again"
1982 - Jan Wolkers awarded but refuses Constantine Huygens-prize
1982 - John Palmer becomes news anchor of Today Show
1983 - South Africa worker's union leader Curnick Ndlovu freed after 19 years
1983 - Tim Raines is 1st since Ty Cobb to steal 70 & drive in 70 runs
1985 - 8 killed as roof collapses in Brussel's supermarket
1985 - Hurricane Gloria's 130 MPH wind hits Atlantic coast
1986 - Senate joins House of Reps voting for sweeping tax reforms
1987 - 27th Ryder Cup: Europe beats US, 15-13 at Muirfield Village GC (Ohio)
1987 - Jan Stephens wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1987 - NFL players' strike
1987 - Phil Niekro final appearance & is pounded for 5 runs in 3 innings
1988 - Grand jury evidence shows Tawana Brawley fabricated rape story
1988 - Senate votes for major federal tax code changes
1988 - The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded.
1989 - Oakland wins AL West & SF wins NL West title
1989 - Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion cash
1990 - Dee Dee Ramone arrested on marijuana possession
1990 - Deposed emir of Kuwait address UN General Assembly
1990 - Gunman holds 33 people (killing 1) hostage in Berkeley Calif
1990 - Senate Judiciary committee approves Souter's Supreme Court
1990 - Tour de France champion Greg LeMond visits White House
1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 - "Princesses" premieres on CBS TV
1991 - Pres Bush decides to end full-time B-52 bombers alert
1991 - 1st scheduled NHL exhibition game in St Petersburg Fla, is cancelled due to poor ice conditions (NY Islanders vs Boston Bruins)
1992 - ASPCA stops Santeria ceremony in Bronx halts sacrifice of 42 animals
1992 - LA Dodgers for 1st time in history clinch last place
1992 - Military transport plane crashes in Lagos, Nigeria killing 163
1992 - Nancy Scranton wins Los Coyotes LPGA Golf Classic
1992 - Pittsburgh Pirates win their 3rd straight NL East title
1992 - Seattle's Randy Johnson ties AL record for lefties with 18 strike outs
1993 - Actor Daniel Day Lewis pleads guilty to speeding charges
1993 - The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
1996 - Balt Oriole Roberto Alomar spits in face of umpire John Hirschbeck
1996 - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
1996 - The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
1998 - Core States Betsy King Golf Classic
1998 - Google is launched.
2002 - Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.
2003 - Actress Halle Berry announces her separation from second husband, R&B singer Eric Benet
2003 - Smart 1 satellite is launched.
2005 - Atlanta Braves clinch their 14th straight division title thanks to Philadelphia's loss to the New York Mets
2008 - CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
Music history on Sept. 27
1898 - Composer and musician Vincent Youmans was born.
1933 - "Waltz Time" debuted on NBC Radio. It stayed on the network until 1948.
1938 - Artie Shaw recorded "Nightmare."
1938 - "Thanks for the Memory" was heard for the first time on the "The Bob Hope Show."
1942 - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time. Miller volunteered for the U.S. Army and disappeared December 15, 1944 over the English Channel.
1943 - "Pistol Packin' Mama" and "Jingle Bells" were recorded by Bing Crosby, the Vic Schoen Orchestra and the Andrews Sisters.
1962 - "The New York Times" ran the story "Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk Song Stylist" after a concert at Carnegie Hall.
1964 - The Beach Boys appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. They performed "I Get Around."
1972 - Rory Storme (Hurricanes) committed suicide in what appeared to be suicide pact with his mother. The Hurricanes were the group that Ringo Starr left in order to join the Beatles.
1973 - Rolling Stone magazine reported that Carlos Santana had changed his name to Devadip now that he was a disciple of Sri Chinmoy.
1979 - Elton John collapsed onstage while performing "Better Off Dead" at the Universal Amphitheatre. After a ten-minute delay John returned and completed the concert. He was suffering from exhaustion brought on by the flu.
1979 - The LP "Eat To The Beat" was released by Blondie.
1979 - The Police released, "Regatta de Blanc", their second album.
1986 - Cliff Burton (Metallica) was killed when the band tour bus crashed in Sweden. Burton was 24.
1995 - The album "Wazbones" was released by Tigertailz.
1995 - Time Warner severed its ties with its rap label Interscope rather than release the debut album by Tha Dogg Pound.
2002 - Vince Neil pled guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly attacking a record producer in West Hollywood on April 28, 2002.
2004 - Record producer Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of Lana Clarkson at his mansion in 2003.
2004 - It was announced that Betrand Cantat of Noir Desir (Black Desire) would be leaving the next day for France. He had arranged to spend the remainder of his manslaughter sentence in a French prison. Cantat had beaten French actress Marie Trintignant to death in July 2003.
2010 - Tickets to Michael Jackson's "THIS IS IT" went on sale.
Sports history on September 27
1923 - Lou Gehrig (New York Yankees) hit his first of 493 career home runs.
1930 - Hack Wilson (Chicago) hit two home runs to give him 56 for the year.
1930 - At the annual NHL Governor's meeting a new rule was passed concerning offsides. The rule was that "the puck must be propelled into the attacking zone before any player of the attacking side can enter that zone."
1953 - The St. Louis Browns played their final game before moving to Baltimore to become the Orioles.
1964 - Houston played its final game at Colts Stadium. They lost 1-0 to Los Angeles in 12 innings.
1973 - Nolan Ryan (California Angels) struck out 16 batters for the Minnesota Twins. The feat established a modern day single season mark of 383 strikeouts in a season.
1983 - Larry Bird signed a seven-year contract with the Boston Celtics worth $15 million. The contract made him the highest paid Celtic in history.
1996 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) became the second MLB player to record 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same year.
1998 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) set a major league baseball record when he hit his 70th home run of the season. Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs) ended the season with 66 home runs. Both players surpassed Roger Maris' record of 61.
1998 - Greg Vaughn (San Diego Padres) hit his 50th home run of the season. It marked the first time that four players finished the regular season with 50 or more home runs.
1999 - The last game was played at Tiger Stadium. The Detroit Tigers defeated the Kansas City Royals 8-2.
2000 - Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles) signed a 12-year contract that involved a $20.5 million signing bonus. The deal made McNabb the highest paid NFL player in history.
2003 - Javier Lopez (Atlanta Braves) became the first catcher to hit 42 home runs in a season.
2009 - The Detroit Lions defeated the Washington Redskins to end a 19-game losing streak dating back to December, 2007.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 27
George Cruikshank 1792
Thomas Nast 1840 - Political cartoonist that created the Republican elephant and the Democrat donkey
Vincent Youmans 1898
1362 - Guillaum de Grimoard elected as Pope Urban V
1394 - Cardinal Pedro de Luna of Aragon chosen (anti)pope Benedictus XIII
1448 - Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
1521 - Turkish sultan Suleiman I's troops occupy Belgrade
1528 - Spanish fleet sinks in Florida hurricane; about 380 die
1538 - Battle at Preveza: Turkish fleet under Barbarossa beats Spanish
1542 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, at San Diego Bay
1621 - Battle at Chocim Dniester: King Sigismund II beats Turks
1652 - English-Dutch sea battle at Kentish Knock
1678 - "Pilgrim's Progress" published
1687 - Venetians take Athens from the Turks
1701 - Divorce legalized in Maryland, USA
1704 - Maryland allows divorce if wife mispleases clergyman/preacher
1708 - Battle at Lesnaya: Russian army captures Swedish convoy
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes king of Scotland
1760 - Russian & Austrian army occupies Berlin
1767 - Gentlemen 17 forbid private slave transport India to Cape of Good Hope
1779 - American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1781 - 9,000 American forces & 7,000 French forces begin siege of Yorktown
1785 - Napoleon Bonaparte (16) graduates from the military academy in Paris (42nd in a class of 51)
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French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
1787 - Congress sends Constitution to state legislatures for their approval
1815 - Joachim Murats fleet sails from Corsica to Naples
1829 - Walker's Appeal, racial antislavery pamphlet, published in Boston
1844 - Oscar I of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1850 - US Navy abolishes flogging as punishment
1858 - Donati's comet becomes 1st to be photographed
1864 - -30) Battle of Fort Harrison VA (Chaffin's Farm New Market Heights)
1867 - Toronto becomes capital of Ontario
1867 - The United States takes control of Midway Island.
1868 - Battle of Alcolea, causes Queen Isabella 2 of Spain to flee to France
1868 - Opelousas Massacre at St Landry Parish Louisiana (200 blacks killed)
1879 - Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route
1887 - Gele River (Huang Ho) in China floods, kills about 1.5 million
1889 - Carlos I crowned King of Portugal (1889-1908)
1889 - The first General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice.
1892 - 1st night football game played (Mansfield Pa)
1894 - Simon Marks & Tom Spencer open Penny Bazaar in Manchester
1899 - Transvaal mobilizes
1901 - Guerrilla's assault unarmed US soldiers in Balangiga Phil, 38 killed
1904 - Woman arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on 5th Avenue, NYC
1906 - US troops reoccupy Cuba, stay until 1909
1912 - "Kiche Maru" sinks off Japan, killing 1,000
1912 - SS Kichemaru disappears in storm off Japanese coast, 1,000 die
1914 - German forces move into Antwerp Belgium (WW I)
1915 - Battle of Kut-el-Amara: Brits defeat Turks in Mesopotamia
1919 - Fastest major league game (51 mins), Giants beat Phillies 6-1
1920 - 8 White Sox indicted, threw 1919 World Series (Black Sox scandal)
1920 - Dirk Fock appointed as gov-gen of Neth Indies
1921 - 4th PGA Championship: Walter Hagen at Inwood CC Far Rockaway NY
1922 - Benito Mussolini marches on Rome
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Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini
1923 - Abyssinia (Ethiopia) leaves League of Nations
1923 - Radio Times 1st published
1923 - Yanks slaughter Red Sox 24-4
1924 - 2 US Army planes end around-world flight, Seattle to Seattle, 57 stops
1924 - French government names Gen Serrail gov-gen of Syria
1924 - Gen Plutarco Calles elected president of Mexico
1926 - Russia & Latvia treaty of neutrality signed
1928 - 1st recording session in Nashville (Warmack's Gully Jumpers)
1928 - Juan de la Cierva makes 1st helicopter flight over English Channel
1928 - NY Yanks clinch pennant #6
1928 - Prussia forbids speech from Adolf Hitler
1928 - US acknowledge Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek
1928 - Valentin Katayev's "Kvadratura Kruga," premieres in Moscow
1928 - UK passes the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.
1929 - 1st CF interception return for a touchdown (Joe Hess-U of Alberta)
1930 - Lou Gehrig's errorless streak ends at 885 consecutive games
1931 - Peking (200,000 demonstrators demand declaration of war on Japan)
1932 - 1932 Baseball World Series opens with the Chicago Cubs vs. NY Yankees (6-12)
1933 - Greer Garson wed Edward Snelson
1933 - Sally Eilers weds Harry Joe Brown
1936 - Bachelor's Children debuts on CBS radio (at 9:45 am)
1936 - Brooklyn & Boston play a penalty free NFL game
1937 - FDR dedicates Bonneville Dam on Columbia River (Oregon)
1937 - Martha Raye divorces Bud Westmore
1938 - Clare Boothe's "Boys Goodbye," premieres in NYC
1938 - Dutch Premier Colijn sends radio message "No war coming"
1939 - Estonia accepts Soviet military bases
1939 - Final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard on radio
1939 - Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland (WW II) & gives Lithuania to USSR, last Polish troops surrender
1940 - Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard touchdowns
1940 - Nazi occupiers present "New Dutch Culture" in German
1940 - Bud Brennan, a fan at Memorial Stadium, races out of stands & attempts to tackle Tom Harmon at 3-yard line, Harmon easily evades Brennan
1941 - Phillies lose club record 111th game
1941 - Ted Williams ended the baseball season with .406 batting avg
1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad
1942 - NY Americans NHL team folded
1944 - 1st TV Musical comedy (The Boys from Boise)
1944 - Battle of Arnhem, Germans defeat British airborne in Netherlands
1944 - Nazi murders in Marzabotto, Italy (SS-major Reder)
1945 - "Mildred Price" starring Joan Crawford opens at Strand
1945 - Canadian football's Calgary Bronks changes its name to Stampeders
1945 - Robert T Duncan appears as Tonio in "I Pagliacci"
1946 - Greek king George II back in Athens
1948 - WBAP-TV, (NBC affiliate) Fort Worth Texas, begins broadcasting
1949 - "My Friend Irma" is 1st of 12 films starring Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
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Comedian Jerry Lewis
1950 - Indonesia becomes 60th member of UN
1951 - Allie Reynolds' 2nd no-hitter of 1951; Yanks clinch pennant #18
1951 - Franchot Tone wed Barbara Payton
1951 - Norm Van Brocklin of Rams passes for NFL-record 554 yards
1953 - "Bob & Ray Show," TV Variety; last air on NBC
1953 - "Juvenile Jury," TV Childrens, last airs on NBC, moved to CBS
1953 - "Racket Squad," TV Crime Drama, last airs on CBS
1953 - Dutch government proclaims 5% general pay increase on Jan 1, 1954
1953 - KOAT TV channel 7 in Albuquerque, NM (ABC/PBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - 1st World Series color TV broadcast on NBC-TV (Yanks beat Dodgers)
1955 - WITN TV channel 7 in Washington, NC (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - "Johnny Carson Show," TV Variety; last airs on CBS-TV
1956 - RCA Records reports Elvis Presley sold over 10 million records
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Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley
1957 - "Dollar A Second," last airs on NBC-TV
1957 - "Gisele MacKenzie Show," debuts on NBC-TV
1957 - "Honeycomb," by Jimmie Rodgers hits #1
1957 - Dutch Queen Juliana opens Velser Tunnels
1958 - France adopts constitution
1958 - Guinea votes for independence from France
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - USAF selects Thor over Jupiter rocket for mass production as ICBM's
1959 - "Hennesey," debuts on CBS-TV
1959 - Edward Franklin Albee's "zoo story," premieres in Berlin
1959 - Explorer VI reveals an intense radiation belt around Earth
1960 - "Millionaire," last airs on CBS-TV
1960 - "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own," by Connie Francis hits #1
1960 - "Queen For A Day," moves to ABC-TV
1960 - "Sunrise at Campobello" premiered at Palace theater
1960 - Ted Williams hits his final homer #521 (off Jack Fisher)
1961 - "Doctor Kildare," debuts on NBC-TV
1961 - "Hazel," starring Shirley Booth debuts on NBC-TV
1961 - "Purlie Victorious," a farce by Ossie Davis, opens on Broadway
1961 - Syria withdraws from United Arab Republic
1961 - USN Comdr Forrest S Petersen takes X-15 to 30,720 m
1961 - Walt Disney's movie "Grey Friars Bobby" premieres
1962 - "Brighter Day," last airs on CBS-TV daytime
1962 - "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster," debuts on ABC-TV
1962 - "Jan Murray Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1962 - "Tonight Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1962 - "Verdict Is Yours," last airs on CBS-TV
1962 - Alouette (Canada), 1st Canadian satellite, launched
1962 - Paddington tram depot fire destroys 65 trams in Brisbane, Australia.
1963 - "King Leonardo," cartoon last airs on NBC-TV
1963 - "Little Deuce Coupe" by The Beach Boys peaks at #15
1963 - "Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells peaks at #1
1963 - "New Phil Silvers Show," debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - "Nick Teen & Al K Hall" by Rolf Harris peaks at #95
1963 - "Sally, Go 'Round The Roses" by Jaynetts peaks at #2
1963 - "Shari Lewis Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1963 - "Surfer Joe" by Surfaris peaks at #62
1963 - "Tennessee Tuxedo," cartoon debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - Giuseppe Cantarella roller-skates record 25.78 mph (415 k) for 440 yds
1963 - Murray The K, a NY DJ plays "She Loves You" on the radio
1964 - 53rd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Cleveland (3-2)
1964 - Suriname governor A Currie resigns
1965 - Jack McKay in X-15 reaches 90 km
1965 - Lava flows kill at least 350 (Taal Philippines)
1965 - Volcano explodes on Luzon Philippines; 500 killed
1967 - Walter Washington elected 1st mayor of Washington, DC
1968 - "Happy Time" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 286 performances
1968 - "Noel Coward's Sweet Potato" opens at Barrymore NYC for 17 perfs
1968 - Alberto Giolani of Italy roller skates record 23.133 miles in 1 hr
1968 - Atlanta Chiefs beat San Diego Toros 3-0 for NASL championship
1968 - Beatles "Hey Jude," single goes #1 and stays #1 for 9 weeks
1968 - Chuck Hixson (Southern Methodist) completes 37 of record 69 passes
1968 - Janis Joplin announces she's leaving "Big Brother & Holding Co"
1968 - Marisa Danisi of West Germany roller skates record 21.995 miles in 1 hr
1969 - Joe Kapp (Minnesota Vikings) passes for 7 touchdowns vs Balt Colts (52-14)
1969 - Minnesota vs Baltimore, gains 530 yards passing!
1969 - SPD wins West German Parliament elections
1970 - "Words & Music," debuts on NBC-TV
1970 - Anwar Sadat replaces Egyptian President Nassar
1970 - Intrepid (US) beats Gretel II (Aust) in 22nd America's Cup
1971 - Cardinal Josef Mindszenty of Hungary took refuge in US Embassy in
1971 - NY Times reports growing interest of white youth in black gospel music
1971 - Budapest in 1956 to escape treason charges, ends exile & flies to Rome
1971 - UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
1972 - David Bowie sells out his 1st show in NY Carnegie Hall
1972 - Japan & Communist China agree to re-establish diplomatic relations
1972 - Canada defeats the USSR in the eigth and final game of the ice hockey Summit Series.
1973 - Palestinian Terrorists hijack Austrian train
1973 - ITT Building in New York City bombed to protest ITT's involvement in the September 11 1973 coup d'�tat in Chile.
1974 - "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" by Aretha Franklin peaks at #47
1974 - "I'm A Ramblin' Man" by Waylon Jennings peaks at #75
1974 - "Live It Up Part 1" by Isley Brothers peaks at #52
1974 - "Papa Don't Take No Mess Part 1" by James Brown peaks at #31
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Godfather of Soul James Brown
1974 - "Rock Me Gently" by Andy Kim peaks at #1
1974 - "Surfin' USA" by Beach Boys reenters chart & peaks at #36
1974 - 1st Lady Betty Ford undergoes a radical mastectomy
1974 - California Angel Nolan Ryan 3rd no-hitter beats Minn Twin, 4-0
1974 - John Lennon appears as guest dj on WNEW-FM (NYC)
1974 - Mick Ronson joins Mott the Hoople
1975 - 5th NYC Women's Marathon won by Kim Merritt in 2:46:14
1975 - 6th NYC Marathon won by Tom Fleming in 2:19:27
1975 - Bill authorizes admission of women to military academies
1975 - Oakland A's Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Linblad & Rollie Fingers, no-hits California Angels 5-0
1975 - The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people were taken as hostages, takes place in London.
1976 - A&M sues George Harrison who fails to meet deadline for LP completion
1976 - Congress passes Toxic Substances Control Act
1976 - Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1978 - Israeli Knesset endorses Camp David accord
1978 - Pieter Botha succeeds Vorster as premier of South Africa
1978 - Syrians & Lebanese engage in heavy fighting in Lebanon
1979 - Larry Holmes TKOs Earnie Shavers in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1980 - "Charlie & Algernon" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 17 perfs
1980 - Carl Sagan's 13 part "Cosmos" premieres on PBS
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Carl Sagan
1980 - Jaromir Wagner is 1st to fly Atlantic standing on wing
1980 - Jerilyn Britz wins LPGA Mary Kay Golf Classic
1981 - Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 2 black joggers in Salt Lake City
1982 - 1st reports appear of death from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules
1982 - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 505
1983 - STS-9 vehicle moves to launch pad
1984 - 1st floodlit ODI outside of Australia (India v Aust, New Delhi)
1984 - Cleve Indians down 0-10 to Minnesota Twins, win 11-10
1985 - "Don't Lose My Number" by Phil Collins peaks at #4
1985 - "Every Step Of The Way" by John Waite peaks at #25
1985 - "Freedom" by Wham! peaks at #3
1985 - "Janet" by Commodores peaks at #87
1985 - NASA launches Intelsat VA
1985 - Race riot in London area of Brixton
1986 - Record 23,000 start in a marathon (Mexico City)
1986 - Tight end Brian Foster of RI catches NCAA record 18 passes for 327 yds
1986 - Cleveland Browns' Gerald McNeil sets the team record for the longest punt return with an 84-yard run (and TD), Browns 24, Detroit 21
1987 - "Star Trek: The Next Generation," debuts on syndicated TV
1987 - Gladys Knight & Smokey Robinson on "$10,000 Pyramid"
1988 - Bronx Museum for Arts opens
1988 - Javed Miandad scores his 19th Test Cricket century (v Aus, Faisalabad)
1988 - LA Dodger Orel Hershiser sets record for consecutive scoreless inns
1990 - Exiled emir of Kuwait visits White House
1990 - Marvin Gaye gets a star on Hollywood's walk of fame
1991 - "Commish," debuts on ABC-TV
1991 - "Good Time" by Ziggy Marley & Melody Makers peaks at #85
1991 - "Love Of A Lifetime" by Firehouse peaks at #5
1991 - "Shiny Happy People" by REM peaks to #10
1991 - NY Yankees set record of 75 games without a complete pitched game
1991 - UN weapons inspectors ends 5-day standoff with Iraq
1992 - "Barry Manilow's Showstoppers" closes at Paramount Theater NYC
1992 - "Dog City," cartoon debuts on Fox-TV
1992 - Oakland A's win AL West title
1992 - Pakistani Airbus A-300 crashes into mountain at Kathmandu, 167 dies
1993 - Dennis Martinez is 7th to win 100 games in AL & NL
1993 - Gas field in Caracas explodes, 53 killed
1993 - Ron Wood releases "Slide On Live"
1994 - "Baseball" TV Miniseries last airs on PBS
1994 - "Cats" 5,000th Broadway performance (joins Chorus Line & Oh! Calcutta!)
1994 - "Ed Wood" premieres
1994 - 909 people died when an Estonian ferry capsized & sank in Baltic sea
1994 - Ferry boat Estonia capsize & sinks in East Sea, 909 killed
1995 - "Batman Forever" released Czech Republic
1995 - Dennis Martinez pitch breaks Kirby Puckett's jaw in Indians 12-4 win
1995 - Mary Tyler Moore returns to series TV in "NY News," on CBS
1995 - Singer Bobby Brown escapes injury in gun battle
1995 - Troy Dixon scores cricket century on 1st-class debut for Qld v W Prov
1995 - Yitzhak Rabin & Yasir Arafat, sign accord to transfer West Bank
1995 - Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of Comoros in a coup.
1996 - 1st ODI played in Kenya between home team & Sri Lanka
1996 - Joyce Giraud, crowned 8th Ms Venus Swimwear
1996 - NY Yankee Jim Leyitz is 2nd catcher to wear a hockey mask
1996 - Nebraska & Penn State are 5th & 6th major colleges to win 700
1996 - Orioles' Roberto Alomar suspended 5 games for spitting at ump
1996 - Troy Davis of Iowa State ran for 378 yards, 3rd highest in college football games (others: Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas & Alabama)
1997 - 32nd Ryder Cup: Europe wins 14�-13� to retain the Cup at Sotogrande Spain
1997 - Emerald Coast Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Newscaster David Brinkley, 74, retires after 54 years in broadcasting
1997 - St Louis Card Mark McGwire hits his 58th HR of 1997 (34 with Oak A's)
1997 - Wendy Ward wins LPGA Fieldcrest Cannon Classic
2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
2008 - SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2009 - The military junta leading Guinea, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, sexually assaulted, killed and wounded protesters during a protest rally in a stadium called Stade du 28 Septembre.
Music history on Sept. 28
1928 - Glen Gray's Orchestra recorded "Under a Blanket of Blue." Kenny Sargeant performed the vocals.
1958 - "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears was released. The song was written and composed by 18-year old Phil Spector.
1963 - "She Loves You" by the Beatles was played on the radio by Murry The K in New York. It is believed that this was the first time a Beatles song was played in the U.S.
1968 - Janis Joplin's manager announced that she has left Big Brother and the Holding Company.
1972 - David Bowie sold out New York's Carnegie Hall. It was his first sell out in the U.S.
1973 - The Rolling Stones appeared on U.S. television for the first time since 1967.
1975 - Jerry Garcia and Friends and Jefferson Starship gave a free show to 40,000 fans in San Francisco's Lindley Park.
1976 - A&M Records sued George Harrison for failing to deliver his LP "33 1/3" on time.
1979 - Jimmy McCulloch was found dead in London at the age of 26.
1987 - Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson were guests on the television show "$10,000 Pyramid."
1989 - "Tales From Margaritaville" was published by Jimmy Buffet. It was a book of short stories.
1991 - The Garth Brooks album "Ropin' the Wind" became the first country album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
1995 - Bobby Brown's car was riddled with bullets in Boston's Roxbury section. The gun battle killed his sister's fianc�.
1997 - The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was held in New York City, NY. The official debut of the DVD format was featured.
2001 - Courtney Love filed a claim against Geffen Records and two musicians from her late husband's band, Nirvana. The suit was aimed at invalidating a 1997 agreement over the group's body of work. Love claimed that she signed the deal while she was distressed.
2004 - In Beverly Hills, CA, a tribute concert to honor Ray Charles raised $15 million for Morehouse College Center for the Arts in Atlanta. The performers included Bill Cosby as the host, Stevie Wonder, Travis Tritt, Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), James Ingram and Patti Austin. They sang Charles' hits, such as "Georgia On My Mind," "What I'd Say" and "Hit the Road Jack." Charles had died of acute liver disease on June 10, 2004.
2004 - Randy Travis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sports history on Sept. 28
1892 - The first nighttime football game in the U.S. took place under electric lights. The game was between the Mansfield State Normal School and the Wyoming Seminary.
1919 - The New York Giants beat Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in a day game that lasted 51 minutes. The time set a National League record.
1941 - Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox) hit .400 for the season. He was the last major league player of the century to achieve this statistic.
1955 - The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1968 - The Atlanta Chiefs won the first North American Soccer League Championship.
1978 - Don Sherman, editor of Car & Driver, set a new Class E record in Utah. Driving the Mazda RX7 he reached a speed of 183.904 mph.
1991 - Michael Jordan was a guest on "Saturday Night Live."
1995 - Randy Myers (Chicago Cubs) was charged by a 27-year-old man while standing in the outfield. Myers saw him coming, dropped his glove and knocked the man down with his forearm.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 28
Confucius 551 B.C. - Teacher and philosopher
Georges Clemenceau (France) 1841
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Historic events on September 12
1015 - Henry I becomes earl of Leuven
1213 - Battle at Muret: Crusade of Simon de Montfort beat Pedro II of Aragon
1217 - French prince Louis & English king Henry III sign peace treaty
1229 - The Aragonese army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Pon�a, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the island.
1396 - Crusaders under earl of Nevers reaches Nicopolis
1543 - Treaty of Venlo: Duke Willem of Gulik & Emperor Charles V
1556 - Emperor Charles resigns, his brother Ferdinand van Austria takes over
1624 - 1st submarine tested (London)
1635 - Sweden & Poland sign ceasefire Treaty of Stuhmsdorf
1639 - Viceroy Thomas Wentworth sails back to England
1673 - Prince Willem III occupies Naarden
1683 - Turkish troops attacks Vienna overthrows by Polish king Sobieski
1683 - Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna - several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire.
1695 - NY Jews petition governor Dongan for religious liberties
1703 - Emperor Leopold I ends contacts on Spanish heritage
1703 - English army under arch duke Charles of Austria lands in Portugal
1720 - Isaak of Hoornbeek elected Dutch pension advisor
1722 - Russian troops occupy Baku & Derbent on Persia
1733 - Polish Landowners select Stanislaw Lesczynski king
1745 - Duke of Toscane chosen German emperor Frans I Stefanus
1751 - Amsterdam refuses establishment of Jewish ghetto
1758 - Charles Messier observes Crab Nebula & begins catalog
1759 - British soldiers capture the town of Quebec.
1776 - Nathan Hale leaves Harlem Heights Camp (127th St) for spy mission
1787 - Black Masons form 1st lodge
1814 - Battle of North Point fought near Baltimore during War of 1812
1840 - Composer Robert Schumann marries Clara Wieck
1847 - Mexican-American War: the Battle of Chapultepec begins.
1848 - Switzerland becomes a Federal state.
1857 - 423 die when "Central America" sinks off Cape Romain SC
1862 - Battle of Harpers Ferry VA
1867 - 2nd synagogue in Curacao, Emanu-El of Willemstad, inaugurated
1874 - 1874 The District of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada is founded.
1876 - King Leopold II opens Congo-conference
1878 - Cleopatra Needle installed in London
1882 - Belgian King Leopold II receives Pierre de Brazza
1885 - Highest score (35) recorded in any 1st-class soccer match is set
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Greek Interpreter" (BG)
1890 - Cecil Rhodes' colonies reach Mashonaland (Ft Salisbury)
1890 - Salisbury, Rhodesia, is founded.
1895 - Defender (US) beats Valkyrie III (Engld) in 10th America's Cup
1897 - Tirah Campaign: Battle of Saragarhi
1901 - Arabs attack Gedara Palestine
1906 - The Newport Transporter Bridge is opened in Newport, South Wales by Viscount Tredegar.
1907 - Lusitania arrives in NYC after 5 day crossing of Atlantic (record)
1908 - Winston Churchill marries Clementine Hozier
1910 - Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony premieres in Munich with 1028 musicians
1910 - World's 1st female cop, Alice Stebbins Wells, appointed (LAPD)
1911 - Boston's Cy Young vs Christy Mathewson of Giants, Giants win 9-0
1912 - Dutch Olympian Committee forms (NOC)
1914 - Yankee shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, 23, becomes youngest manager
1918 - During WW I, US forces launch an attack on German-occupied St Mihiel
1920 - 7th Olympic games close in Antwerp Belgium
1922 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 5000m (14:35.4)
1923 - Britain takes over Southern Rhodesia from British South Africa Co
1925 - 20th Davis Cup: USA beats France in Philadelphia (5-0)
1927 - Sigmund Romberg's musical "My Maryland," premieres in NYC
1928 - -17] Hurricane in Florida, kills 6,000
1928 - Katharine Hepburn's NY stage debut in "Night Hostess"
1930 - Brooklyn catcher Al Lopez hits major league's last recorded bounce HR
1931 - 51st US Mens Tennis: H E Vines beats George M Lott Jr (79 63 97 75)
1932 - Bkln Dodger Johnny Frederick hits his record 6th pinch hit HR
1932 - German government of Papen falls/Reichstag dissolved
1933 - Alejandro Lerroux forms new Spanish government
1933 - Dutch parliament accepts ban on uniforms
1933 - Le� Szil�rd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
1934 - Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania signs Baltic Entente, against USSR
1935 - 55th US Mens Tennis: Wilmer L Allison beats Sidney B Wood (62 62 63)
1935 - Millionaire Howard Hughes flies his own designed plane at 352.46 mph
1936 - 50th US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (46 63 62)
1936 - 56th US Mens Tennis: Fred Perry beats J Donald Budge (26 62 86 16 108)
1938 - Adolph Hitler demands self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czech
1940 - 49 die & 200 injured when Hercules Powder Co plant explodes (NJ)
1940 - Italian troops enter Egypt
1940 - 4 teens, following their dog down a hole near Lascaux France discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as Lascaux Cave Paintings
1941 - 1st German ship in WW II captured by US ship (Busko)
1942 - Battle of Edson's Ridge begins at Guadalcanal
1942 - Free-Poland & Belgium asks pope to condemn nazi-war crimes
1943 - Free French lands on Corsica
1943 - Waffen-SS (Skorzeny) frees Benito Mussolini at Gran Sasso
1943 - German paratroopers, on orders of Adolf Hitler, seize former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini who was being held prisoner by the government
1944 - -16] Hurricane, kills 389 in NC
1944 - Noorbeek & Mheer freed
1944 - US Army troops entered Germany for 1st time
1946 - Court martial convicts Henry de Man to 20 years, in Brussels
1947 - Pirate Ralph Kiner hits his record 8th HR in 4 games
1948 - Invasion of the State of Hyderabad by the Indian Army on the day after the Pakistani leader Jinnah's death.
1949 - Theodor Heuss elected 1st pres/Conrad Adenauer 1st PM of German FR
1950 - Belgian government dismisses all communist civil servants
1952 - Noel Coward's "Quadrille," premieres in London
1953 - "Carnival in Flanders" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 6 perfs
1953 - Brooklyn Dodgers, clinch NL pennant earlier than any other team
1953 - Sen John F Kennedy, 36, marries Jacqueline Bouvier, 24
1954 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA St Louis Golf Open
1954 - Indians sweep Yanks at Municipal Stadium; largest AL crowd (86,563)
1954 - WLBZ TV channel 2 in Bangor, ME (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 - White Sox win 90th game, 1st time they win this many since 1920
1955 - KNTV TV channel 11 in San Jose, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 - Black students enter & are barred from Clay Ky elementary school
1957 - Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus visits US
1958 - US Supreme Court orders Little Rock Ark high school to integrate
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - "Bonanza" premieres on NBC-TV
1959 - Janos K�d�r becomes premier of Hungary
1959 - Luna 2 launched by USSR; 1st spacecraft to impact on Moon
1960 - "Vintage '60" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 8 performances
1960 - John F. Kennedy avers he does not speak for the Roman Catholic Church, and neither does the Church speak for him.
1961 - NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 34,840 m
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Wash Senator Tom Cheney strikes out record 21 Orioles in 16 inn game
1963 - WHYY TV channel 12 in Wilmington, DE (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - 1st football game at Shea Stadium, Jets defeat Denver 30-6
1964 - Ralph Boston of US, sets then long jump record at 27' 4�"
1964 - Canyonlands National Park is designated as a National Park.
1965 - 79th US Womens Tennis: Margaret Smith beats Billie Jean King (86 75)
1965 - 85th US Mens Tennis: Manuel Santana beats Cliff Drysdale (62 79 75 61)
1965 - Hurricane Betsy strikes Florida & Louisiana kills 75
1965 - Manuel Santana wins US Tennis Open
1965 - Mary Mills wins LPGA Eugene Golf Open
1965 - WCEE TV channel 23 in Rockford, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - "Monkees" premieres on NBC-TV
1966 - Gemini XI (Charles Conrad & R Gordon) launched for 71-hour flight
1966 - KPNE TV channel 9 in North Platte, NB (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - WCES TV channel 20 in Wrens, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - WUSF TV channel 16 in Tampa-St Petersburg, FL (PBS) 1st broadcast
1966 - Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor Mich begins teaching
1968 - Albania announces it is withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact
1970 - 1st Concorde lands at Heathrow airport
1970 - Luna 16 Launch (Moon Sample Return)
1970 - Phyllis Ann George (Texas), 21, crowned 43rd Miss America 1971
1970 - Supersonic airliner Concorde lands for 1st time at Heathrow airport
1970 - US LSD professor Timothy Leary escapes from California jail
1970 - USSR launches Luna 16; returns samples from lunar Sea of Fertility
1970 - Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman.
1971 - 85th US Womens Tennis: Billie Jean King beats Rosemary Casals (64 76)
1971 - 91st US Mens Tennis: Stan Smith beats Jan Kodes (36 63 62 76)
1972 - Ciod War: Icelandic gunboats sink 2 British trawlers in North Sea
1972 - Lord Michael Killanin succeeds Avery Brundage as head of Olympics
1973 - 2 bettors win largest US Daily Double ($19,909.60 in Detroit)
1973 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1974 - Coup overthrows Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia (National Day)
1974 - Jeff "Skunk" Baxter joins Doobie Brothers
1976 - 96th US Mens Tennis: Jimmy Connors beats Bjorn Borg (64 36 76 64)
1976 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1976 - Seattle Seahawks play 1st regular-season game (St L 30, Sea 24)
1976 - White Sox Minnie Minoso, 53, is oldest to get a hit in majors
1978 - Fidel Castro visits Addis Abba
1978 - Situation comedy "Taxi" premieres on ABC television
1979 - Carl Yastrzemski, is 15th to get 3,000 hits
1979 - Hurricane Frederick hits Mobile Alabama; 5 die & $23 million damage
1979 - Indiana Pacers cut Ann Meyers, 1st woman on an NBA club
1979 - Red Carl Yastrzemski gets his 3,000th hit off Yankee Jim Beattie
1979 - Indonesia is hit with an earthquake that measures 8.1 on the Richter scale.
1980 - Military coup under General Kenan Evren in Turkey
1981 - 95th US Womens Tennis: Tracy Austin beats M Navratilova (16 76 76)
1981 - Elizabeth Ward (Arkansas), 20, crowned 54th Miss America 1982
1981 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1981 - Red Sox rookie Bob Ojeda no-hits Yanks for 8 innings before Rick Cerone & Dave Winfield lead off 9th with back-to-back doubles
1982 - 102nd US Mens Tennis: Jimmy Connors beats Ivan Lendl (63 62 46 64)
1982 - Gerard Nijboer (2:15:16) & Rosa Mota (2:36:04) win marathon
1982 - Sandra Spuzich wins LPGA Mary Kay Golf Classic
1983 - Albert Rizzo trod water at sea for 108 hours 9 minutes
1983 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1983 - Security guard Victor Gerena robs West Hartford company of $7 million
1983 - USSR vetoes UN resolution deploring its shooting down of Korean plane
1984 - Country singer Barbara Mandrell is badly injured in a car accident
1984 - Cyndi Lauper sings "She-Bop" on Tonight Show
1984 - Ethiopia forms socialist republic
1984 - NY Met Dwight Gooden sets rookie strike out record at 251
1985 - Flight readiness firing of Atlantis' main engines; 20 seconds
1986 - 240.49 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
1986 - Twins fire manager Ray Miller & replace him with coach Tom Kelly
1986 - US professor Joseph Cicippio is kidnapped & held hostage in Beirut
1987 - 101st US Womens Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Steffi Graf (76 61)
1987 - Ethiopia adopts constitution
1987 - Vince Coleman steals his 100th base for 3rd straight year
1988 - 1st NFL regular-season game played in Phoenix; Cowboys beat Card
1988 - Gilbert, strongest hurricane ever (160 mph), devastates Jamaica
1989 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1990 - "Les Miserables," opens at Cirkus Theater, Stockholm
1990 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1990 - US, England, France, USSR, East & West Germanys sign agreements allowing 2 Germanys to merge
1991 - Nolan Ryan's 4-3 victory over Twins is his 312th career win
1991 - Space shuttle STS 48 (Discovery 14) launched
1992 - 106th US Womens Tennis: Monica Seles beats A Sanchez Vicario (63 63)
1992 - Hurricane Inuki pounds Hawaii
1992 - STS-47 (Endeavour 2) launches
1992 - Stefan Edberg beats Michael Chang in what is believed to be the longest match in US Open history (5hr 26min)
1993 - 113rd US Mens Tennis: Pete Sampras beats Cedric Pioline (64 64 63)
1993 - Donna Andrews wins Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
1993 - Junxia Cheek runs 3000 m ladies world record (8:12.29)
1993 - Paul Molitor at 37 is oldest to reach 100 RBIs for 1st time in career
1993 - STS-51 (Discovery) launches into orbit
1994 - Cessna crashes in White House front yard
1994 - Country singer George Jones undergoes triple bypass surgery
1994 - Parti Qu�b�cois wins parliamentary election
1995 - INXS' Michael Hutchence pleads guilty to punching a photographer
1995 - Belarus military shoots down a hydrogen balloon, killing its two American pilots.
1997 - NY Met John Olerud hits for the cycle
1999 - Indonesia announces it will allow international peace-keepers into East Timor.
2000 - Holland (the Netherlands) passes law allowing same-gender marriage, adoption and divorce.
2001 - Article V of the NATO agreement is invoked for only the second time (the other being in Bosnia) in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States of America.
2001 - Ansett Australia, Australia's first commercial interstate airline, collapses due to increased strain on the international airline industry leaving 10000 people unemployed.
2003 - In Fallujah, US forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
2003 - The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
2005 - The red-green coalition, led by Jens Stoltenberg, wins the Norwegian parliamentary election, taking 87 of 169 seats in the parliament.
2005 - Israel completes its withdrawal of all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.
2005 - The bodies of more than 40 patients discovered in a flooded hospital in New Orleans.
2005 - Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
2007 - Shinzo Abe announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister of Japan.
2007 - Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of the crime of plunder.
2009 - The 9-12 Project organized multiple marches and demonstrations across the USA to protest government spending.
Music history on September 12
1940 - Johnny Long�s orchestra recorded the classic, "A Shanty in Old Shanty Town."
1948 - Elvis Presley, age 13, moved with his parents to Memphis, TN.
1953 - Luigi Vena sang "Ave Maria" at the wedding of U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
1966 - ABC-TV's "The Roger Miller Show" premiered.
1966 - The Beatles received a gold record for "Yellow Submarine."
1966 - The Monkees TV show premiered on NBC.
1970 - "Josie and the Pussycats," the cartoon, debuted on CBS.
1970 - "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor was released. It was his first single.
1987 - Morrissey left The Smiths for a solo career.
1990 - Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie both announced that they would no longer perform with Fleetwood Mac.
1996 - Oasis canceled their U.S. tour citing "internal differences" as the cause.
1980 - An in-depth report on the death of Elvis Presley aired on ABC-TV�s "20/20". It raised so many unanswered questions that the official case concerning Elvis� death was reopened.
1998 - A concert by Shania Twain was televised live on DirecTV. It was the first time direct broadcast had been used for a country star.
1998 - Vince Gill made his 100th appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.
2000 - The family of Jimi Hendrix released 56 rare tracks in a 4-CD boxed set, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience."
2002 - The house that Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) lived in as a child, from 11-15, was sold on eBay for $210,000. The house had been valued at $52,660 in 2000.
2002 - John Houston Entertainment LLC filed a $100 million lawsuit against Whitney Houston for breach of contract.
2006 - The iTunes Music Store reached 1.5 billion songs and 45 million videos sold.
2009 - Steve Jobs announced that Apple's iTunes had 88% of the legal U.S. music download market.
Sports history on September 12
1979 - Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to get 3,000 career hits and 400 career home runs.
1984 - Michael Jordan signed a seven-year contract to play basketball with the Chicago Bulls.
1984 - Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets set a rookie strikeout record with his 251st strikeout of the season.
2002 - A judge announced that a jury would have to decide who would get the ball that Barry Bonds hit for his record 73rd home run. The ownership of the ball, with an estimated value of $1 million, was being disputed between two men that had been in the bleachers.
2006 - Rick DiPietro (New York Islanders) signed a 15-year contract worth $67.5 million
Famous birthdays on September 12
Richard Gatlin 1818
Tony Bellamy (The Tornados) 1940
Maria Muldaur 1943
Barry Andrews (King Crimson, XTC) 1956
Brian Robertson (Wild Horses, Thin Lizzy) 1956
Rachel Ward 1957
Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five) 1966
Larry LaLonde (Primus) 1968
Paul Walker 1973
Quote for today:
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
- Oscar Wilde
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 12 2012, 05:31 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Member No.: 22,154
Historical events on September 13
509 BC - The temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.
122 - Building begins on Hadrian's Wall
533 - General Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimium, near Carthage, North Africa.
604 - Sabinian begins his reign as Pope replacing Pope Gregory the Great
1125 - Duke Lotharius of Supplinburg crowned as German king Lotharius III
1224 - Francis of Assisi is afflicted with stigmata.
1440 - Gilles de Rais is finally taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes.
1503 - Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.
1504 - Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a Royal Warrant for the construction of a Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) to be built.
1515 - -14] Battle at Marignano: France beats Habsburgers & Pope Leo X
1549 - Pope Paul III signs Council of Bologna
1553 - English Hugh Latimer arrested
1556 - Charles V & Maria of Hungary march into Spain
1574 - Turkish fleet recaptures Tunis
1579 - Breda forms Union of Utrecht
1625 - 16 Rabbis (including Isiah Horowitz) are imprisoned in Jerusalem
1631 - Admiral Tholen conquerors 30+ Spanish frigates
1663 - 1st serious slave conspiracy in colonial America (Virginia)
1743 - England, Austria & Savoye-Sardinia sign Treaty of Worms
1751 - England signs Austrian & Russian alliance
1759 - British beat French forces at Plains of Abrahams (Quebec)
1775 - Gotthold Lessing's "Die Juden," premieres in Frankfurt-am-Main
1787 - Prussian army moves into Netherlands
1788 - NY City becomes 1st capital of US
1789 - 1st loan to US government (from NYC banks)
1791 - France's King Louis XVI accepts constitution
1800 - Curacao in English hands (until Jan 1803)
1808 - Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von D�beln beat the Russians, making von D�beln a Swedish war hero.
1847 - American-Mexican war: US Gen Winfield Scott captures Mexico City
1849 - 1st US prize fight fatality (Tom McCoy)
1858 - Hamburg-US ship Austria catches fire & sinks, 471 die
1861 - 1st naval battle of Civil War, Union frigate "Colorado" sinks privateer "Judah" off Pensacola, Fla
1867 - Gen E R S Canby orders SC courts to impanel blacks jurors
1869 - Jay Gould & James Fisk attempt to control US gold market
1881 - Lewis Latimer invents & patents electric lamp with a carbon filament
1882 - Battle at Count el-Kebir: British troops invade Egypt
1883 - Cleveland Hugh Daily no-hits Phila 1-0
1883 - Hugh Daily, a one-armed pitcher for Cleveland (Forest City), tosses 1-0 no-hitter against Phila
1890 - Cecil Rhodes' colonies hoist Union Jack in Mashonaland & Salisbury
1898 - 20,000 Paris construction workers go on strike
1898 - Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film
1899 - Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199m - 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
1900 - Filipino resistance fighters defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine-American War.
1906 - 1st airplane flight in Europe
1907 - Interprovincial Rugby Football union (Big Four) forms with Hamilton Tigers, Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Rough Riders & Montreal Foot Ball
1909 - Ty Cobb clinches AL HR title with his 9th HR (all inside-the-park)
1910 - Regina Rugby Club forms
1918 - Train accident at Weesp Neth, kills 42
1919 - Guy Bolton & George Middleton's "Adam & Eve," premieres in NYC
1922 - 136.4�F (58�C), El Aziziyah, Libya in shade (world record)
1923 - With Spain's king Alfonso XIII assist, army coup under de Rivera
1924 - 19th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in Philadelphia (5-0)
1925 - 1st US University for Blacks, Xavier University, opens in New Orleans
1925 - Bkln Dodger Dazzy Vance no-hits Phillies, 10-1
1927 - Yanks clinch pennant, Ruth hits 2 HRs (52 en route to 60)
1927 - Waite Hoyt became only 20 game winner of 1927 Yankees
1928 - KOH-AM in Reno NV begins radio transmissions
1930 - 50th US Mens Tennis: J H Doeg beats Francis Shields (10-8 16 64 16-14)
1930 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 20,000m (1:04:38.4)
1930 - Tommy Armour wins PGA golf tournament
1930 - Winnipeg Rugby Football Club 1st game, loses to St John's Rugby, 7-3
1931 - Capt G H Stainworth flies world speed record (655 kph)
1931 - Right-radical coup of Dr Pfrimer fails in Austria
1932 - NY Yankees clinch their 7th AL pennant
1934 - Judge Landis sells World Series broadcast rights to Ford for $100,000
1935 - Rockslide near Whirlpool Rapids Bridge ends the Great Gorge and International Railway.
1936 - Cleve Bob Feller strikes out then record 17 in a game (vs Phila A's)
1938 - Alexander Cartwright selects to Baseball's Hall of Fame
1939 - First (tethered) flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, one of the first viable American helicopters
1940 - Buckingham Palace destroyed by German bombs
1940 - Italian troops under Marshal Graziani attack Egypt
1942 - Battle of Edson's Ridge (2nd Japanese assault) at Guadalcanal
1942 - Cubs shortstop Leonard Merullo makes 4 errors in 1 inning
1942 - German forces attack Stalingrad
1943 - Chiang Kai-shek became president of China
1943 - German counter attack at Salerno
1943 - Having been Generalissimo since 1928, Chiang Kai-shek elected pres
1943 - The Municipal Theatre of Corfu is destroyed during an aerial bombardment by Luftwaffe.
1944 - 30th Infantry division of US 1st Army frees Margraten
1944 - Last transport out camp Westerbork to Bergen Belsen
1944 - US 28th Infantry division opens assault on Siegfried line/Westwall
1946 - Boston Red Sox clinch AL pennant
1947 - WPVI TV channel 6 in Philadelphia, PA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1948 - Margaret Chase Smith (R-Me) elected senator, 1st woman to serve in both houses of Congress
1949 - Ladies Pro Golf Association of America formed in NYC
1951 - St Louis Cards beat NY Giants 6-4 (rescheduled from 9/12) then at night lose to Boston Braves 2-0
1952 - Adolfo Ruiz Cortinez elected president of Mexico
1953 - Pitcher Bob Trice is 1st black to play on Phila A's
1954 - Reds Ted Kluszewski scores a run in record 17 consecutive games
1954 - WPBN TV channel 7 in Traverse City, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - Dike around Dutch polder Eastern Flevoland closes
1956 - Stravinsky's "Canticum Sacrum," premieres in Venice
1956 - IBM introduces the first computer disk storage unit, the RAMAC 305.
1958 - Braves Warren Spahn is 1st lefty to win 20 or more games 9 times
1958 - Queen Juliana christens passenger ship Rotterdam
1959 - 73rd US Womens Tennis: Maria Fraser beats Christine Truman (61 64)
1959 - 79th US Mens Tennis: Neale Fraser beats Alejandro Olmedo (63 57 62 64)
1959 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Memphis Golf Open
1959 - USSR's Luna 2 becomes 1st probe to contact another celestial body
1960 - Dutch 1st Chamber condemns soccer-law
1961 - "Car 54 Where are You?" premieres on TV
1961 - Battles between UN & Katanga troops in Congo
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1961 - Unmanned Mercury-Atlas 4 launched into Earth orbit
1963 - "Outer Limits" premieres on ABC TV
1963 - Barbra Striesand & Elliot Gould marry
1963 - Jim Bouton's 20th win clinches Yanks 28th pennant
1963 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 - 3rd sitting of 2nd Vatican council opens in Rome
1964 - 78th US Womens Tennis: Maria Fraser beats Carole Graebner (61 60)
1964 - 84th US Mens Tennis: Roy Emerson beats Frederick S Stolle (64 62 64)
1964 - Mary Mills wins LPGA Eugene Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - St Louis is 1st NL to score runs in every game since 1923, win 15-2
1964 - WKEF TV channel 22 in Dayton, OH (NBC) begins broadcasting
1965 - Beatles release "Yesterday"
1965 - Beatles win 1st Grammy, for Best Group of 1964
1965 - Today Show's 1st totally color broadcast
1965 - Willie Mays's 500th HR (off Don Nottebart), Giants 11th straight win
1966 - Johannes Balthazar Vorster sworn in as premier of South Africa
1968 - Albania leaves Warsaw pact
1969 - Baltimore Orioles, win earliest AL Eastern division title
1969 - Bobby Bonds is baseballs 4th 30-HR, 30-steal player
1969 - Plastic Ono Band's (John, Yoko & Eric Clapton) 1st live performance
1970 - 1st NYC Marathon won by Gary Muhrcke in 2:31:38
1970 - 84th US Womens Tennis: M Smith Court beats Rosemary Casals (62 26 61)
1970 - 90th US Mens Tennis: Ken Rosewall beats Tony Roche (26 64 76 63)
1970 - IBM announces System 370 computer
1970 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Wendell-West Golf Open
1970 - Palestine guerillas conquer Irbid Jordania
1971 - 11 guards & 31 prisoners die in take over at Attica State Prison
1971 - Frank Robinson hits his 500th HR
1971 - Nikita Krushchev, Soviet premier, buried in Moscow
1971 - WIIQ TV channel 41 in Demopolis, AL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1971 - World Hockey Association forms
1972 - 1st TV broadcast of "Waltons" on CBS
1973 - ABC announces it obtained TV rights for 1976 Olympics
1973 - Congress passes & sends a bill to Nixon to lift football's blackout
1973 - Syrian/Israeli dogfight over Mediterranean Sea
1974 - -17] 3 Japanese kidnap French ambassador in Hague
1974 - 1st broadcast of "Rockford Files" on NBC-TV
1974 - Phillies set NL record, using 27 players in a game, St Louis uses 24, tying record of 51. Phils win 7-3 in 17
1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1975 - -27] Hurricane Eloise, kills 71 in Caribbean & US
1976 - 2nd Enterprise, approach & lands Test Cricket (ALT) flight (5m28s)
1977 - 1st TV viewer discretion warning-Soap
1977 - 2nd Test Cricket of Space Shuttle Enterprise
1977 - General Motors introduces 1st US diesel auto (Oldsmobile 88)
1978 - 1st flight of McDonnell Douglas F-18A Hornet
1978 - NY Yanks win to gain sole possession of 1st place from 14 games back
1979 - China PR performs nuclear test
1979 - South Africa grants Venda independence (Not recognized out of S Afr)
1980 - 1st United Negro College Fund
1981 - 101st US Mens Tennis: John McEnroe beats Bjorn Borg (46 62 64 63)
1981 - 33rd Emmy Awards: Taxi, Hill St Blue, Judd Hirsh & Isabel Sanford wins
1981 - April Moon sets women's handbow distance record of 1,039 yds & 13"
1981 - Atlanta Falcons tie record of 31 points in 4th quarter (vs Green Bay)
1981 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - 50 die in Spantax Airlines DC-10 on takeoff from Malaga, Spain
1982 - Joe Lefevre gets 6 hits in one baseball game
1983 - Dan Quisenberry record 39th season save
1983 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1983 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson 3rd straight 100 steals for season
1983 - Steve O'Shaughnessy scores 100 in 35 mins, Lancs v Leics
1983 - US mint strikes 1st gold coin in 50 years (Olympic Eagle)
1984 - STS 41-G launch vehicle moves to launch pad
1984 - Simon Peres forms Israeli government with Likoed
1985 - 2nd MTV Awards: Bruce Springsteen
1985 - John Williams introduces new Today Show theme
1986 - Bert Blyleven gives up a record 44 HRs in a season
1986 - Kellye Cash (Tenn), 21, crowned 60th Miss America 1987
1987 - Cesium-137 stolen from abandoned hospital in Rio de Janeiro
1987 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Cellular One-Ping Golf Championship
1987 - Paul Lynch of Great Britain does 32,573 push-ups in 24 hours
1988 - 10th time, 4 players hit baseball major-league record grand slams
1988 - 9 hard/software manufacturers announce EISA computer bus in NY
1988 - Gilbert is strongest (26.13 barometer) hurricane in Western Hemisphere
1989 - "Les Miserables," opens at Fisher Theatre, Detroit
1989 - Desmond Tutu leads biggest anti-apartheid protest march in South Africa
1989 - Fay Vincent elected baseball's 8th commissioner
1990 - Commuter train at Johannesburg South Africa attacked, 36 die
1990 - Iraqi troops storm residence of French ambassador in Kuwait
1990 - Robert E Nederlander appointed NY Yankee managing general partner
1990 - Senate Judiciary Com opens hearing on confirmation of David Souter
1991 - 55 ton concrete beam falls in Montreal's Olympic Stadium
1991 - Joe Carter is 1st to have 3 consec 100-RBI seasons with 3 differ teams
1991 - Joe Coleman 3rd 100 RBI season in a row 3 teams (Cleve, SD & Toronto)
1991 - Kim Zmeskal is 1st American to win a medal at World Gymnastics Championships, she wins the gold with 39.848 pts
1992 - 112th US Mens Tennis: Stefan Edberg beats Pete Sampras (36 64 76 62)
1992 - NY Giants trailing Dallas Cowboys 34-0 in 3rd, lose 34-28
1992 - Nancy Lopez wins Ping-Cellular One LPGA Golf Championship
1992 - Steffan Edberg beats Pete Sampress to win US Open
1993 - Israeli min of Foreign affairs Peres & PLO-Abu Mazen sign peace accord
1993 - Junxia Cheek runs ladies world record 3000m (8:06.11)
1993 - Queens NY begins required recycling
1993 - Public unveiling of the Oslo Accords, an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement initiated by Norway.
1994 - George Burns, undergoes surgery to drain fluid from his brain
1994 - Space probe Ulyssus passes south pole of Sun
1996 - Phil Simmons scores 171 & takes 6-14 for Leics v Durham
1997 - Carolina Hurricane's 1st exhibition game beat NY Islanders 4-1
1997 - Katherine Shindle (Ill), 24, crowned 71st Miss America 1998
1998 - 112th US Womens Tennis
1998 - 118th US Mens Tennis
1998 - SAFECO Golf Classic
1999 - Bomb explodes in Moscow, Russia. At least 119 people are killed.
2001 - Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2006 - At Dawson College (Montreal), Kimveer Gill kills one student and wounds 19 others before committing suicide.
2008 - Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.
Musical history on September 13
1819 - Composer Clara Wieck Schumann was born.
1874 - Composer Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg was born.
1954 - Judy Garland was on the cover of "Life" magazine.
1960 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned payola.
1965 - The song "Yesterday/Act Naturally" was released by the Beatles.
1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band made their live debut at the Rock 'n' Roll Revival Concert. Eric Clapton was on guitar.
1969 - The Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival took place.
1974 - Stevie Wonder started his first tour since his near-fatal car accident.
1977 - Symphonic conductor Leopold Stokowski died at the age of 95.
1979 - Abba began their first North American tour in Edmonton, Alberta.
1982 - RCA Records announced that David Bowie had left for the South Seas where the filming of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" was to begin.
1983 - "Sports" by Huey Lewis and the News was released.
1985 - Sting began his first solo tour in San Diego. The tour was to support the album "Dream Of The Blue Turtles."
1989 - Bruce Springsteen recorded "Viva Las Vegas" for "The Last Temptation of Elvis."
1989 - Sting made his stage debut at the Threepenny Opera in Washington, DC.
1991 - Alice Cooper sold his new album "Hey Stoopid" in New York's Times Square for 99 cents.
1994 - The debut album "Ready to Die" was released by The Notorious Big.
1996 - Tupac Shakur died six days after being shot four times in a drive-by shooting.
1996 - CMT (Country Music Television) was allowed to resume broadcasting in Canada. The network had been taken off the air over a broadcasting rights dispute.
1998 - Mel B (Spice Girls) and Jimmy Gulzarof were married.
1999 - Marcelo Rodriguez, a Beverly Hills police officer, filed a multi-million dollar slander lawsuit against George Michael. The suit alleged that the singer had committed slander in the song and video for "Outside." Rodriguez had arrested Michael on charges of lewd behavior in a public park on April 7, 1998.
Sports history on September 13
1849 - In Hastings, NY, The first recorded death in a boxing match occurred after Chris Lilly knocked out Tom McCoy. McCoy died a short time later.
1923 - George Burns (Boston Red Sox) performed the third unassisted triple play in baseball history.
1932 - Joe McCarthy became the first manager to win pennants in both baseball leagues when his New York Yankees clinched the American League pennant.
1946 - Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox) hit his only inside-the-park home run.
1949 - The Ladies Professional Golf Association of America was formed.
1965 - Willie Mays became the fifth player in major league history to hit 500 career home runs.
1970 - The first New York City Marathon took place. Fireman Gary Muhrucke won the race. The race was run entirely inside Central Park.
1971 - The World Hockey Association was formed.
1971 - Frank Robinson (Baltimore Orioles) hit his 500th career home run.
1981 - John McEnroe won his third consecutive U.S. Open.
1986 - Bert Blyleven (Minnesota Twins) surrendered five homes runs. The game raised Blyleven's total to 44 for the year setting an American League record.
1989 - Fay Vincent was named commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the late A. Bartlett Giamatti.
1996 - Alex Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners) set a team record when he became the first player for the Mariners to reach 200 hits in a season.
1996 - Charlie O'Brien (Toronto Blue Jays) became the first catcher in major league baseball history to wear a hockey goalie-like catcher's mask. The game was against the New York Yankees.
1996 - John Wetteland (New York Yankees) became on the second Yankee to record 40 or more saves in a season.
2002 - Mike Vernon retired after a 19-year career as a player in the NHL.
2003 - In Oakland, CA, Frank Francisco (Texas Rangers), a relief pitcher, threw a chair into the right field box seats. Two spectators were hit in the head. The game was delayed for 19 minutes. The Athletics won the game 7-6 in the 10th inning.
Famous birthdays on September 13
1087 - John II Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1143)
1157 - Alexander Neckum/de Sancto Albano, English theologist/encyclopedist
1475 - Cesare Borgia, Italian aristocrat (d. 1507)
1502 - John Leland, English antiquarian (d. 1552)
1520 - William Cecil 1st baron Burghley, English premier
1551 - Pandolfo Zallamella, composer
1604 - William Brereton, English soldier and politician (d. 1661)
1673 - Hercule Brehy, composer
1676 - �lisabeth Charlotte of Orl�ans, Duchess of Lorraine (d. 1741)
1682 - Theodor Christleib Reinhold, composer
1688 - Luca Antonio Praedieri, composer
1694 - Yeongjo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1776)
1739 - Giuseppe Sigismondo, composer
1739 - Grigory Potemkin, army officer, statesman, Catherine II's lover, OS
1751 - Henry Kobell, Dutch painter/cartoonist
1755 - Oliver Evans, pioneered high-pressure steam engine
1766 - Samuel Wilson, possible namesake of Uncle Sam (d. 1854)
1775 - Laura Secord, Canadian war heroine (d. 1868)
1802 - Arnold Ruge, German philosopher and writer (d. 1880)
1806 - Joseph Lewis Hogg, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), die in 1862
1806 - Moritz Ganz, composer
1813 - John Sedgwick, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1814 - Nicolas Beets, [Hildebrand], Dutch writer (Camera Obscura=
1817 - John McAuley Palmer, US Union msj-gen/(Gov-Ill, 1868-72)
1818 - Olivier Gloux, [Aimard], Fren world explorer/writer (Grande Flibuste)
1819 - Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (d. 1896)
1830 - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer (d. 1916)
1836 - John McCausland, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1927
1841 - Johannes de Koo, Dutch journalist/stage writer
1842 - Odon Peter Jozsef de Mihalovich, composer
1842 - John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator (d. 1920)
1846 - Richard Kiepert, German cartographer (Africa)
1847 - Charles Dupee Blake, composer
1851 - Walter Reed, US Army Surgeon, proved mosquitoes transmit yellow fever
1857 - Milton S Hershey, Derry Township, Pennsylvania, chocolate manufacturer/philanthropist, (d. 1945)
1857 - Michał Drzymała, Polish peasant rebel (d. 1937)
1858 - Catherinus Elling, composer
1860 - John J Pershing (Blackjack), Laclede, Missouri, US commander (WW I), (d. 1948)
1862 - Dirk Bos, Dutch liberal 2nd Member of parliament
1863 - Arthur Henderson, Britain, socialist/disarmament worker (Nobel 1934)
1866 - Adolf Meyer, US, psychiatrist/neurologist (pioneered mental hygiene)
1871 - Alma Kruger, Pittsburgh PA, actress (Made For Each Other)
1874 - Arnold Franz Walter Schonberg, Vienna Austria, composer (2nd Quartet)
1874 - Henry Fountain Ashurst, American politician (d. 1962)
1874 - Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian-born composer (d. 1951)
1876 - Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio, author/publisher (Winesburg)
1877 - Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer (d. 1957)
1877 - Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (d. 1962)
1882 - Henri Potiron, composer
1882 - Ram�n Grau, Cuban president (d. 1969)
1885 - Wilhelm Blaschke, Austrian geometer (d. 1962)
1886 - Alain L Lovke, philosopher
1887 - Lavoslav Ruzicka, Croatian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)
1893 - Larry Shields, American musician (d. 1953)
1894 - Anton Roosjen, Dutch politician/NCRV-chairman
1894 - John B[oynton] Priestly, author (Good Companions)/wed Jessica Hawkes
1894 - Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (d. 1953)
1895 - Ruth McDevitt, Coldwater Mich, actress (Jo-All in the Family)
1896 - Morris Kirksey, US, 4 X 100m (Olympic-gold-1920)
1897 - Gaspar Cassado Moreu, composer
1899 - Anton Constandse, Dutch anarchist/writer
1899 - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the Iron Guard (d. 1938)
1901 - Philip Dorn, Scheveningen Netherlands, actor (I Remember Mama)
1902 - Hermine Heijermans, Dutch actress/author
1902 - Leland Hayward, US producer (Spirit of St Louis)
1903 - Claudette Colbert, [Lily Chauchoin], Paris, actress (Texas Lady)
1904 - Gladys George, Patten Maine, actress (Roaring Twenties)
1907 - Victor Reinganum, artist
1908 - Ray Burns Green, composer
1909 - Herbert Berghof, Vienna Austria, actor (Belarus File)
1911 - Bill Monroe, Rosine Ky, country singer (Blue Moon of Kentucky)
1912 - Reta Shaw, South Paris Maine, actress (Ghost & Mrs Muir)
1913 - Roy Engle, Mo, actor (Police Chief-My Favorite Martian)
1914 - Leonard Geoffrey Feather, jazz critic/musician
1915 - Peter Guy Wykeham-Barnes, fighter Pilot
1916 - Roald Dahl, Llandaff, Cardiff, author (Over to You, Taste, 2 Fables), (d. 1990).
1916 - Dick Haymes, Argentine vocalist (d. 1980)
1917 - Jon Thorarinsson, composer
1917 - Robert Eugene Ward, Cleveland Ohio, composer (Pantaloon)
1918 - Ray Charles, Chicago, orchestra leader (Perry Como)
1919 - Mary Midgley, American philosopher
1920 - Carole Mathews, Montgomery Ill, actress (Wilma-Californians)
1922 - Charles Brown, American singer and pianist (d. 1999)
1923 - Reninca, [Ren�e Lauwers], Flemish author (Seed in the Wind)
1923 - Edouard Boubat, French photographer (d. 1999)
1924 - Maurice Jarre, Lyons France, composer (Dr Zhivago-Acad Award 1966)
1924 - Norman Alden, Fort Worth Tx, actor (Pilaski-Hennesey, Al-Fay), (d. 2012)
1924 - Scott Brady, Bkln NY, actor (China Syndrome, Gremlins, Johnny Guitar)
1924 - Harold Blair, Australian tenor, Aboriginal activist (d. 1976)
1925 - Gabriel Charpentier, composer
1925 - Mel Torm�, American singer (d. 1999)
1926 - Emile Francis, NHL player/coach/GM (Rangers, Blues, Whalers)
1928 - Ernest L Boyer, educator/chancellor (NY's State Universities-SUNY)
1929 - Nicolai Ghiaurov, Bulgarian opera singer (d. 2004)
1930 - James McLane, US, 1500m freestyle swimmer (Olympic-gold-1948)
1930 - Robert Gavron, English publisher/multi-millionaire (St Ives)
1931 - Barbara Bain, Chic, actress (Cinnamon-Mission Impossible, Space 1999)
1931 - Marjorie Jackson, Australia, sprinter (Olympic-gold-1952) [or Feb 13]
1932 - Bengt Hallberg, composer
1933 - Eileen Fulton, Asheville NC, actress (Our Private World)
1936 - Stefano Delle Chiaie, Italian neo-Nazi
1937 - Fred Silverman, broadcasting exec (ABC/NBC/CBS)
1937 - Don Bluth, American animator
1938 - Judith Martin, author/journalist/columnist (Miss Manners)
1939 - Larry Speakes, presidential press secretary
1939 - Richard Kiel, Detroit Mich, actor (So Fine, Jaws-Moonraker, Skidoo)
1940 - Joyce Schouten, Dutch singer (Fouryo's)
1940 - �scar Arias, Costa Rican politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1941 - Tadao Ando, Japanese architect
1941 - Ahmet Necdet Sezer, 10th President of Turkey
1943 - Ray Elliott, rock pianist/saxophonist (Them)
1944 - Peter Cetera, Chicago, lead singer (Chicago-25 or 6 to 4, Old Days)
1944 - [Winifred] Jacqueline Bisset, England, actress (Class, Deep, Secrets)
1945 - Alain Louvier, composer
1945 - No�l Godin, Belgian humorist
1945 - Andres K�ng, Swedish-Estonian politician, journalist (d. 2002)
1948 - Clyde Kusatsu, Honolulu Hawaii, actor (Ali-Bring 'em Back Alive)
1948 - Nell Carter, Birmingham Ala, actress (Nell-Gimme a Break, Lobo)
1948 - Dimitri Nanopoulos, Greek physicist
1950 - Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Polish politician
1951 - David Clayton-Thomas, singer (Blood Sweat & Tears - Joy to the World)
1951 - Jean Smart, American actress
1952 - Johanna Klier-Schaller, German DR, 100m hurdler (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 - Karen Wyman, Bronx NY, singer (Long & Winding Road)
1952 - Randy Jones, American musician (The Village People)
1952 - Raymond O'Connor, American actor
1952 - Don Was, American singer
1953 - Taryn Power, LA CA, daughter of Tyrone Power/actress (Maria)
1954 - Ted Mueller, rock drummer (Axe)
1955 - Joe Morris, American musician
1956 - [Joan] Joni Sledge, Phila, vocalist (Sister Sledge-We are Family)
1957 - Mark Charles Wiebe, Seaside OR, PGA golfer (1985 Anheuser-Busch)
1957 - John G. Trueschler, American politician
1958 - Ann Dusenberry, Tucson Az, actress (Jaws 2, Lies, Basic Training)
1959 - Jean Smart, Seattle Wash, actress (Charlene-Designing Women)
1960 - Greg Baldwin, American voiceover actor (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
1961 - Dave Mustaine, American musician (ex-Metallica, Megadeth)
1961 - KK Null, Japanese musician
1961 - Peter Roskam, Republican Congressman from Illinois
1962 - Brian Andrew Fowler, Christchurch NZ, cyclist (Olympics-96)
1962 - Grady Neal Lancaster, Smithfield NC, PGA golfer (1994 Byron Nelson)
1962 - T�nu �nnepalu, Estonian poet and author
1963 - Theodoros Roussopoulos, Greek politician
1964 - Peter Remie, soccer player (NAC)
1965 - Zak Starsky, rock drummer, son of Beatle Ringo
1965 - Zak Starkey, British musician
1965 - Annie Duke, American poker player
1965 - Jeffrey Ross, American Comedian
1966 - Igor Kravchuk, Ufa Russia, NHL defenseman (Team Russia, St Louis)
1966 - Maria Furtw�ngler, German physician
1966 - Louis Mandylor, Australian actor
1967 - Michael Johnson, Dallas Tx, 200m/400m runner (Olympic-2 gold-96)
1967 - Tim 'Ripper' Owens, American singer (Iced Earth, ex-Judas Priest)
1968 - Bernie Williams, San Juan Puerto Rico, outfielder (NY Yankees)
1968 - Brad Johnson, NFL quarterback (Minnesota Vikings)
1968 - Chris Morris, CFL tackle (Edmonton Eskimos)
1968 - Denny Neagle, Prince Georges Cnty, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1968 - Emma Sj�berg, Swedish model
1969 - Igor Kravchuk, NHL defenseman (Ottawa Senators, Russia Oly-Sil-98)
1969 - Ilka Knickenberg, German actress
1970 - Marc Latupeirissa, soccer player (Willem II)
1970 - Mart�n Herrera, former Argentine footballer
1970 - Louise Lombard, British actress
1970 - Yuki Matsuoka, Japanese voice actress
1971 - Goran Ivanisevic, Crotia, tennis star (1994 Wimbledon finalist)
1971 - Nancy Anne Roberts, Miss Vermont USA (1996)
1971 - Richie Anderson, NFL running back (NY Jets)
1971 - Stella Nina McCartney, daughter of Paul & Linda McCartney
1971 - Ted Drury, Boston Mass, US hockey forward (Olympics-1994)
1971 - Manabu Namiki, Japanese composer
1973 - Brian Evans, NBA forward (Orlando Magic)
1973 - Philip Dulebohn, Washington DC, figure skater (1997 Eastern Sr - 3rd)
1973 - Fabio Cannavaro, Italian footballer
1973 - Marcelinho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
1973 - Christine Arron, French runner
1973 - Kelly Chen, Chinese singer
1974 - Travis Knight, NBA center (Boston Celtics)
1974 - Keith Murray, American rapper
1975 - Patricia Spehar, Miss France Universe (1997)
1975 - Sean McClain, Dayton Ohio, fencer-foil (Olympics-96)
1975 - Joe Don Rooney, American musician (Rascal Flatts)
1975 - Akihiro Asai, Japanese racing driver
1976 - Giorgos Koltzos, Greek footballer
1976 - Craig McMillan, New Zealand cricketer
1976 - Jos� Th�odore, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 - Fiona Apple, American singer
1977 - Ivan De Battista, Maltese Actor, singer and composer
1977 - Daisuke Tsuda, Japanese singer (Maximum the Hormone)
1978 - Megan Henning, American actress
1978 - Darren Kenton, English footballer
1979 - Geike Arnaert, Belgian singer (Hooverphonic)
1979 - Ivan Miljković, Serbian volleyball player
1980 - Ben Savage, actor (Little Monsters, Wild Palms)
1980 - Evangelos Nastos, Greek footballer
1980 - Han Chae Young, South Korean actress
1980 - Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japanese baseball player
1980 - Michelle Nolan, American musician (Straylight Run)
1980 - Teppei Teranishi, American guitarist (Thrice)
1981 - Koldo Fern�ndez, Spanish cyclist
1981 - Antonio Lopez Spanish footballer
1981 - Angel Williams, Canadian wrestler
1982 - Nen�, Brazilian basketball player
1982 - Rickie Weeks, American baseball player
1982 - Miha Zupan, Slovenian basketball player
1983 - Sean Brosnan II, American actor and son of actor Pierce Brosnan
1983 - James Bourne, English musician
1984 - Nabil Abou-Harb, Arab-American filmmaker
1985 - Keyunta Dawson, National Football League player
1986 - Kamui Kobayashi, Japanese racing driver
1986 - Sean Williams, American basketball player
1987 - Luke Fitzgerald, Irish rugby union footballer
1988 - Keith Treacy, Irish footballer
Quote for today:
Man is not made for society, but society is made for man. No institution can be good which does not tend to improve the individual.
- Margaret Fuller, American social reformer (1810-1850).
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 13 2012, 09:27 AM
--------------------
If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historical events on September 14
81 - Domitian becomes Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus.
786 - Harun al-Rashid becomes the Abbasid caliph upon the death of his brother al-Hadi.
891 - Stephen V ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1163 - Pastor Frederik forms convent at Mariengaarde Friesland
1180 - Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.
1515 - Battle at Marignano ends in French/Venetian victory
1607 - Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland.
1629 - Spanish garrison surrenders to prince Frederik Henry
1662 - Netherlands & England sign peace treaty
1682 - Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, founded.
1716 - 1st lighthouse in US lit (Boston Harbor)
1741 - George Frederick Handel finishes "Messiah" oratorio, after working on it non-stop for 23 days
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Composer George Friedrich Handel
1752 - US & England adopts Gregorian calender (no Sept 3-Sept 13th)
1759 - Austrian troops occupy Dresden
1807 - Aaron Burr acquitted of a misdemeanor charge
1812 - Napoleon occupies Moscow & fires start (fire extinguished on the 19th)
1814 - Francis Scott Key inspired to write "Star-Spangled Banner"
1829 - Peace of Adrianopel: ends Russian-Turkish war
1830 - Princess WFLC Marianne marries Albrecht of Prussia
1834 - Charles Darwins company passes Tagua-tagua-more Chile
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Naturalist Charles Darwin
1847 - US Marines under General Scott enter Mexico City (halls of Montezuma)
1848 - Alexander Stewart opens 1st US dept store
1852 - 18th Postmaster General: Samuel D Hubbard of Conn takes office
1854 - Allied armies, including those of Britain & France, land in Crimea
1856 - Battle of San Jacinto, Nicaragua defeats invaders
1862 - Battle at Crampton's Gap: Union troops chases away Confederates
1862 - Battle at South Mountain: Union troops chases away Confederates
1862 - Battle of Munfordsville KY
1862 - Federal troops escape from beleaguered Harpers Ferry West Virginia
1862 - Skirmish at Mountain MD (Boonesboro, Crampton's Gap, Fox's Gap)
1868 - Golf's 1st recorded hole-in-one (Tom Morris at Prestwick's 8th hole)
1872 - Britain pays US$15�m for damages during Civil War
1876 - Henry Morton Stanley's expedition leaves Rwanda
1876 - Leopold II closes Congo-conference
1882 - British General Wolseley reaches Cairo
1886 - George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee patents typewriter ribbon
1891 - "Empire State Express" train goes from NYC to East Buffalo, a distance of 436 miles, in a record 7H6M
1892 - AP Giannini marries Clorinda Cuneo
1894 - Hottentotten uprising in Southwest-Africa fails
1899 - Henry Bliss becomes 1st automobile fatality (NY)
1903 - NY Giant Red Ames no-hits St Louis, 5-0 in a 5 inning game
1905 - Albert Cuypstrat street market in Amsterdam inaugurated
1905 - Dutch AR-politician AWF Idenburg named governor of Suriname
1905 - RAC Tourist Trophy, 1st run, on Isle of Man
1913 - 27th US Womens Tennis: Mary K Browne beats Dorothy Green (62 75)
1913 - Cubs Larry Cheney hurls record 14-hit shutout against Giants (7-0)
1914 - German staff-chief von Moltke replaces von Falkenhayn
1914 - German troops withdraw from Aisne/invent trenches
1916 - Christy Mathewson pitches & wins his final game
1917 - Kerenski regime declares Russian republic
1917 - Provisional government of Russia forms, Republic proclaimed
1919 - British regime forbids Sinn Fein D�il
1923 - Jack Dempsey KOs Luis Firpo in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
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Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey
1923 - Miguel Primo de Rivera becomes dictator of Spain
1923 - Red Sox 1st baseman George Burns pulls off an unassisted triple play
1924 - Walter Johnson elected AL MVP
1926 - Guido Companions birthplace as a museum opens
1929 - 49th US Mens Tennis: Bill Tilden beats Francis Hunter (36 63 46 62 64)
1929 - A's clinch AL pennant with a 5-0 win over White Sox
1930 - Detroit Lions (as Portsmouth Spartans) play 1st NFL game, win 13-6
1930 - Nazis gain 107 seats in German election
1932 - Military coup in Chile under Arturo Alessandri
1933 - 2 billion board feet of lumber destroyed in Tillamook Oregon fire
1933 - Schaduwproces-Rijksdagbrand opens in London
1936 - Paul Waner ties Rogers Hornsby's NL record of 200 hits for 7 times
1938 - Graf Zeppelin II, world's largest airship, makes maiden flight
1939 - British fleet attacks German U-39 boat
1939 - Minister Winston Churchill visits Scapa Flow
1940 - Congress passes 1st peace-time conscription bill (draft law)
1940 - German bomb hits shelter in Chelsea; 100s die
1942 - Battle of Edson's Ridge (Japanese assault) at Guadalcanal
1942 - German troops occupy train station Stalingrad-1
1942 - Yanks clinch pennant #13
1943 - Yanks clinch pennant #14
1944 - 6,500 Dutch/Indonesian captives sent to Junyo Maru
1944 - Gulpen, Meerssen & Maastricht freed
1944 - Hurricane hits New England: 389 die
1944 - US 28th Infantry division occupies 1.5 km of Roscheid
1944 - US 4th Ivy League Inf division pushes through Westwall
1947 - 61st US Womens Tennis: A Louise Brough beats M O duPont (86 46 61)
1947 - 67th US Mens Tennis: Jack Kramer beats Frank A Parker (46 26 61 60 63)
1948 - Gerald Ford upsets Rep Bartel J Jonkman in Mich 5th Dist Rep primary
1948 - Ground breaking ceremony for UN world headquarters
1948 - Milton Berle starts his TV career on Texaco Star Theater
1950 - Western allies rearm West Germany
1951 - Giant's Bob Niemans homers on his 1st 2 at bats
1953 - Nikita Khrushchev appointed First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev
1953 - Yanks clinch 5th straight pennant with 8-5 win over Indians
1954 - Comedians Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara marry
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Comedian Jerry Stiller
1954 - B Britten's opera "Turn of the Screw," premieres in Venice
1954 - Giants' Willie Mays gets 82nd extra-base hit, breaks Mel Ott's record
1954 - Hurricane Edna (2nd of 1954) hits NYC, $50 million damage
1954 - USSR performs nuclear test
1955 - Herb Score sets rookie record of 235 strikeouts (en route 245)
1956 - 1st prefrontal lobotomy performed, Washington DC
1957 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
1957 - UN resolution deplores & condemns USSR invasion of Hungary
1957 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - Jackie Pung wins LPGA Jackson Golf Open
1958 - WTAE TV channel 4 in Pittsburgh, PA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 - Yankees win 24th pennant, & 9th under Casey Stengel
1958 - Two rockets designed by the German engineer Ernst Mohr, the first German post-war rockets, reach the upper atmosphere.
1959 - Soviet Union's Luna-2 is 1st spacecraft to land on the Moon
1959 - WQEX TV channel 16 in Pittsburgh, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1960 - Chubby Checker's "Twist" hits #1
1960 - Coup under Col Joseph-Desire Mobutu in Congo
1960 - Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia & Venezuela form OPEC
1960 - KERA TV channel 13 in Dallas, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1960 - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forms
1961 - Dmitri Shostakovitch becomes member of CP of USSR
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 - Mary Ann Fischer, Aberdeen, SD, gave birth to America's 1st surviving quintuplets, 4 girls & a boy
1964 - WCVE TV channel 23 in Richmond, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - Walt Disney awarded Medal of Freedom at White House
1965 - "F-Troop" premieres
1965 - 4th meeting of 2nd Vatican council opened
1967 - Melville Abrams Ball Field in Bronx named
1967 - Thomas Pell Wildlife Refuge & Sanctuary opens in Bronx
1968 - Jimmy Ellis beats Floyd Patterson in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1968 - 1st broadcast of "60 Minutes" on CBS-TV
1968 - Detroit Tigers' Denny McLain's 30th victory of season
1968 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 12th string quartet, premieres in Moscow
1968 - USSR's Zond 5 is launched on 1st circumlunar flight
1969 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Wendell-West Golf Open
1969 - Males of Swiss kanton Schaffhausen rejects female suffrage
1970 - Stevie Miracle marries Rita Wright, [Syreeta]
1971 - Cleve Indians & Wash Senators, play 20 innings
1972 - "Waltons" TV program premieres
1972 - Jason Miller's "That Championship Season," premieres in NYC
1972 - West Germany & Poland establish diplomatic relations
1973 - Indianapolis is awarded a WHA franchise
1973 - Israel shoots down 13 Syrian MIG-21s
1973 - Pres Nixon signed into law a measure lifting pro football's blackout
1974 - Charles Kowal discovers Leda, 13th satellite of Jupiter
1975 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Southgate Golf Open
1975 - Pope Paul VI declares Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton 1st US saint
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1st American-born Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton
1975 - Rembrandts "Nightwatch" slashed & damaged in Amsterdam
1975 - Robin Yount breaks Mel Ott's record, playing in 242 games as a teen
1977 - Christmas Tinto sentenced to 7 years in Robbeneiland South Africa
1978 - Braves' Jim Bouton, 38, beats Giants, his 1st win since 1970
1978 - Portugal government of Da Costa falls
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1979 - Theodore Coombs completes 5,193 mile roller skate from LA to NYC & back to Yates Center, Ks
1980 - "Charlie & Algernon" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 17 perfs
1980 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic
1980 - Dwight Clark begins NFL streak of 105 consecutive game receptions
1981 - Entertainment Tonight premieres on TV
1982 - 36" snow (Red Lodge, MT)
1982 - Cindy Nicholas of Canada makes her 19th swim of English Channel
1982 - Trevor Baxter sets skateboard high jump record of 5' 5.7"
1983 - US House of Representatives votes, 416 to 0, in favor of a resolution condemning Russia for shooting down a Korean jetliner
1984 - 1st MTV awards-Bette Midler & Dan Aykroyd host
1985 - Susan Akin (Miss), 21, crowned 59th Miss America 1986
1986 - Bo Jackson's 1st HR-a 475-foot blast (longest at Royal Stadium)
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 2 killed
1986 - Bomb explosion on airport Kimpo at Seoul, 5 killed
1986 - Judy Dickinson wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1986 - Saskatchewan & Hamilton play 1st CFL regular-season overtime game
1987 - "Les Miserables," opens at Rock Theatre, Vigzinhaz Budapest
1987 - 107th US Mens Tennis: Ivan Lendl beats Mats Wilander (67 60 76 64)
1987 - Cal Ripken's streak of 8,243 consecutive innings (908 games) is broken
1987 - Toronto Blue Jays hit a record 10 HRs vs Baltimore Orioles
1988 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1989 - Calgary Flames become 1st NHL team to play in USSR, win 4-2
1989 - Jeff Reardon is 1st to record 30 saves in 5 consecutive seasons
1989 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 - Ken Griffey, Sr & Jr, hit back-to-back HRs in 1st inning
1991 - Carolyn Suzanne Sapp (Hawaii), 24, crowned 65th Miss America 1992
1991 - Freshman Marshall Faulk of San Diego State rushed for NCAA record
1991 - Magic Johnson weds Erieatha "Cookie" Kelly
1991 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 - 386 yards & scored 7 touchdowns as the Aztecs beat Pacific 55-34
1992 - 1st subway car completed to be exported from US (to Taiwan)
1994 - All 28 baseball owners vote to cancel rest of 1994 season
1995 - Body Worlds opens in Tokyo, Japan
1996 - A's Mark McGwire is 13th player to hit 50-HRs in a season
1996 - Dean Headley takes 3rd cricket hat-trick of season, Kent v Hampshire
1996 - NY Met Todd Huntley sets record of 41 HRs by a catcher
1996 - Tara Dawn Holland (Kansas), 23, crowned 70th Miss America 1997
1997 - 49th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
1997 - Bank One Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Chicago Whites Sox retire Carlton Fisk's #72
1997 - Karrie Webb wins LPGA SAFECO Classic
1997 - Loren Roberts wins CVS Charity Golf Classic with a 266
1998 - Week of Fed Cup
1998 - Telecommunications companies MCI Communications and WorldCom complete their $37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom.
1999 - Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
2001 - Historic National Prayer Service held at Washington National Cathedral for victims of the September 11 attacks. A similar service is held in Canada on Parliament Hill, the largest vigil ever held in the nation's capital.
2003 - In a referendum Sweden rejects adopting the euro.
2003 - Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum.
2007 - Restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass are officially removed in the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum takes effect.
pope_benedict_xvi.jpg ( 15.16K ) Number of downloads: 0
265th Pope Benedict XVI
Music history on September 14
1737 - Composer Johann Michael Haydn was born.
1741 - George Handel completed "Messiah" in time for an orphan's charity concert.
1760 - Composer Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini was born.
1814 - Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the "Star-Spangled Banner." The song became the official U.S. national anthem on March 3, 1931.
1927 - Gene Austin recorded "My Blue Heaven."
1968 - "The Archies" premiered on CBS. The cartoon was based on the comic book series.
1969 - Genesis played their first gig for money in Surrey, England, at a cottage owned by a Sunday school teacher.
1976 - Jeff Beck's second album, "Wired," goes gold.
1979 - Kenny Rogers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1981 - Pink Floyd's movie "The Wall" began production.
1983 - Metallica introduced a new song, "Disposable Heroes," at the Metal Hammer festival in Germany.
1985 - The MTV Awards are held for the first time. Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd co-hosted the show.
1991 - David Bowie's band Tin Machine released their second album "II." They also kicked off their first and only tour.
1993 - "The Hits/The B-Sides" box set was released by Prince.
1994 - The Temptations receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1995 - Earth, Wind and Fire received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1995 - Hand written lyrics for "Getting Better" by Paul McCartney sold for $249,000 at a Sotheby's auction.
1998 - Metallica began recording the album "Garage Inc."
2010 - George Michael was sentenced to eight weeks in jail after he plead guilty to driving under the influence and drug possession. The incident occurred on July 4 when Michael's crashed his car into a store.
Sports history on September 14
1916 - Christy Mathewson (Cincinnati Reds) won his 373rd career game. It was the only victory he had earned for a team other than the New York Giants during his 17-year career.
1959 - The $32 million Aqueduct, operated by the New York Racing Association, opened.
1968 - Denny McLain (Detroit Tigers) became baseball's first 30-game winner in 34 years. Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) had earned 30 wins in 1934.
1986 - Bob Brenley (San Francisco) tied a major league baseball record when he committed four errors in one inning.
1987 - Tony Magnuson cleared 9.5 feet above the top of the U-ramp and set a new skateboard high jump record.
1987 - The Toronto Blue Jays set a club record of 10 home runs when the defeated the Baltimore Orioles 18-3.
1990 - Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. (Seattle Mariners) hit back-to-back home runs off California Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill in the first inning. The Angels won the game 7-5.
1994 - It was announced that the season was over for the National Baseball League on the 34th day of the players strike. The final days of the regular season were canceled. Baseball owners had voted 26-2 in favor of ending the season. The result was a year with no World Series for the first time since 1904.
1999 - Leon Lett (Dallas Cowboys) was suspended for seven games as punishment for a fifth violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy.
2002 - Tim Montgomery (American) set a world record in the 100 meters when he finished in 9.78 seconds. The previous record had been set in 1999 by Maurice Green (9.79 seconds).
2003 - Jamal Lewis (Baltimore Ravens) set an NFL record for yards gained in a single-game when he gained 295 yards rushing. The Ravens beat the Cleveland Browns 33-13.
2003 - Vinny Testaverde (New York Jets) became the ninth player in NFL history to pass for over 40,000 yards.
Sports Quote
I didn't like the '50s, you know. I appreciate Elvis, but I'm not a big fan. I'm not a rockabilly fan. And the '60s and early '70s were, to me, the greatest times to live.
- Brett Hull
Famous birthdays on Sept. 14
Ivan Pavlov 1849
John "Bowser" Bauman (Sha Na Na) 1947
Steven Gaines (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 1949 - Lynyrd Skynyrd Merchandise
Paul Kossoff (Free) 1950
Barry Cowsill (The Cowsills) 1954
Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) 1955
Joe Penny 1956
Adam Lamberg 1984
Quote for today:
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
- Henry Louis Mencken
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 14 2012, 09:48 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 15
608 - St Boniface IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.
921 - Saint Ludmila is murdered at the command of her daughter-in-law at Tetin.
1514 - Thomas Wolsey appointed archbishop of York
1556 - Vlissingen ex-emperor Charles V returns to Spain
1584 - San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid finished
1590 - Giambattista Catagna elected as Pope Urban VII
1600 - Battle of Sekigahara.
1616 - The first non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy.
1619 - Prince Bethlen Gabors troops occupy Pozsony (Pressburg) Hungary
1620 - Mayflower departs from Plymouth England with 102 pilgrims [OS May 8]
1621 - Swedish troops occupy Riga
1644 - Giambattista Pamfili replaces Pope Urban VII as Innocent X
1656 - England & France sign peace treaty
1683 - Germantown Pa founded by 13 immigrant families
1707 - R�k�czi II & Czar Peter the Great sign social security agreement
1733 - King Frederik Willem I divides Prussia-Brandenburg in Cantons
1762 - Battle of Signal Hill.
1774 - Cossack Emilian Pugachev captured
1776 - British forces capture Kip's Bay Manhattan during Revolution
1787 - -16] Utrecht patriots flee to Amsterdam
1789 - Dept of Foreign Affairs, renamed Dept of State
1795 - Cape Colony surrenders to England
1812 - French army under Napoleon reaches Kremlin, Moscow
1820 - Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal; (see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
1821 - Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras & Nicaragua gain independ
1830 - 1st National Negro Convention begins in Phila
1830 - 1st to be run-over by a railroad train (William Huskisson, England)
1830 - Duke of Wellington opens Liverpool & Manchester Railway
1831 - The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
1835 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reaches Galapagos Islands
1846 - Jung Bahadur Rana grabs power in Nepal
1851 - Saint Joseph's University is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1853 - 1st US woman ordained a minister, Antoinette Blackwell
1857 - Timothy Alder patents typesetting machine
1862 - Confederates conquer Union-weapon arsenal at Harpers Ferry WV
1870 - Dutch 1st Chamber abolishes Capital punishment (20-18)
1873 - Last German troops leave France
1879 - Pim Mulier forms "Haarlem Football Club"
1882 - British general Wolseley occupies Cairo
1887 - Phila celebrates 100th anniversary of US Constitution
1894 - Japan defeats China in Battle of Ping Yang
1898 - National Afro-American Council forms in Rochester NY
1899 - 5th US Golf Open: Willie Smith shoots a 315 at Baltimore CC MD
1903 - Queen Wilhelmina calls railroad strikers "criminals"
1904 - Wilbur Wright makes his 1st airplane flight
1910 - Boers & Afrikaners win 1st general elections in Union of South-Africa
1912 - Red Sox pitcher Joe Wood ties then record of 16 straight wins
1912 - War between Turkey & Montenegro breaks out in Albania
1913 - 1st US milch goat show held, Rochester, NY
1914 - Battle of Aisne begins between Germans & French during WW I
1914 - US Marines march out of Vera Cruz, Mexico
1916 - 1st tank used in war, "Little Willies" at Battle of Flors, France
1916 - Britains 1st use of tanks (Battle of Somme)
1917 - Russia proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky
1918 - CH Chubb gives Stonehenge to English state
1921 - Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical Alcohol Paraclitus
1921 - WBZ-AM in Boston MA begins radio transmissions
1922 - Catcher Butch Henline is 1st NLer to hit 3 HRs in a game since 1897
1923 - 43rd US Mens Tennis: William T Tilden beats W M Johnston (64 61 64)
1923 - Bill Tilden wins US Lawn Tennis Open
1923 - Gov Walton of Oklahoma declares state of siege because of KKK terror
1926 - Failed attempt on Benito Mussolini
1928 - 400 kg Fournier-albums (forged postage stamps) burn in Geneva
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1928 - Cards set NL record of 18 men left on base beating Phillies 8-6
1928 - Stothard, Kalmar & Ruby's musical "Good Boy," premieres in NYC
1928 - Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
1930 - 1st intl bridge match is held in London. US team defeats England
1931 - British naval fleet mutinies at Invergordon over pay cuts
1931 - Phila A's clinch pennant, beating Cleveland
1935 - Nuremberg Laws deprives German Jews of citizenship & makes swastika official symbol of Nazi Germany
1937 - WPA extends L-Taraval streetcar to SF Zoo (at Sloat Blvd)
1938 - British PM Chamberlain visits Hitler at Berchtesgarden
1938 - John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 350.2 MPH (lasts 1 day)
1938 - Only time brothers hit back-to-back HRs (Lloyd & Paul Waner, Pitts)
1940 - 3rd American Football League plays 1st game (Milw 14, Columbus 2)
1940 - Chicago Tribune sponsors Ted Lyons Day (White Sox pitcher)
1940 - Luftwaffe bombs Bristol Aeroplane Company
1940 - PM Winston Churchill visits #11 Fighter Group
1940 - Tide turns in Battle of Britain in WW II, RAF beats Luftwaffe
1941 - Nazis kill 800 Jewish women at Shkudvil Lithuania
1942 - US aircraft carrier Wasp torpedoed at Guadalcanal
1943 - Benito Mussolini forms a rival fascist government in Italy
1943 - Concentration Camp Vaivara in Estonia opens
1943 - Concentration Camp Kauwen in Lithuania opens
1944 - British bombers hit Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs
1944 - Russian troops free Sofia Bulgaria
1944 - US 1st Infantry division pushes through to Westwall
1944 - US 28th Infantry division occupies Hill 555 at Roscheid
1944 - US troops lands on Palau & Morotai
1945 - A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
1946 - Dodgers beat Cubs 2-0 in 5 inns, games called because of gnats
1947 - 1st 4 engine jet propelled fighter plane tested, Columbus, Oh
1947 - Yanks clinch pennant #15
1947 - RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube.
1947 - Typhoon Kathleen hit Tone River, Saitama and Tokyo area, killing at least 1,930 and injuring 1,750..
1948 - "Small Wonder" opens at Coronet Theater NYC for 134 performances
1948 - F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speech record of 1080 kph
1948 - WHN-AM in NY City changes call letters to WMGM
1949 - "Lone Ranger" premieres on ABC-TV
1949 - WJAC TV channel 6 in Johnstown, PA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1949 - WJXT TV channel 4 in Jacksonville, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - During Korean conflict, UN forces land at Inchon in South Korea
1950 - East German premier Grotewohl pleads for German reunification
1950 - For a record 6th time, NY Yankee Johnny Mize hits 3 HRs in one game
1950 - Longest game in Phila's Shribe Park, Phils beat Reds 8-7 in 19
1950 - UN lands at Inchon to drive North Korean troops out of the south
1950 - US troop land on Wolmi-Do island off of Seoul
1951 - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" closes at Ziegfeld NYC after 740 perfs
1951 - Emile Zatopek runs world record 20k (1:01:15.8)
1951 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Ingruentium Malorum
1952 - Braves last game in Boston's Braves Field before move to Milwaukee
1952 - European Parliament forms in Strasbourg
1952 - UN turns over Eritrea to Ethiopia
1953 - Boxing's NBA adopts 10-pt-must-scoring-system (10 pts to round winner)
1953 - KVOA TV channel 4 in Tucson, AZ (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WVEC TV channel 13 in Hampton-Norfolk, VA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - WCTV TV channel 6 in Tallahassee-Thomasville, FL (CBS) begins
1957 - "Bachelor Father" with John Forsythe premieres
1957 - Adenauers CDU wins parliamentary election in West Germany
1957 - SF Seals (Pacific Coast League) play their last game
1958 - 48 die in a train crash in Elizabethport NJ
1958 - Commuter train crashes through drawbridge, killing 48 (Newark NJ)
1959 - Soviet Premier Khrushchev arrives in US to begin a 13-day visit
1960 - France spends 9 billion guilders on atomic experiments
1961 - 61st US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 mph
1962 - "Bravo, Giovanni" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 76 perfs
1962 - Australia's 1st entry in America's Cup yacht race (US wins)
1962 - KC A's Bill Fischer sets record of 69 1/3 innings without a walk
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - WOKR TV channel 13 in Rochester, NY (ABC) begins broadcasting
1963 - 4 children killed in bombing of a black Baptist church in Birmingham
1963 - Alou brothers-Felipe, Matty, & Jesus-appear in SF outfield for 1 inn
1963 - Ben Bella elected 1st president of Algeria
1963 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Eugene Ladies' Golf Open
1963 - WNTV TV channel 29 in Greenville, SC (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - Beatles play at Public Auditorium in Cleveland
1964 - Final edition of socialist British newspaper "Daily Herald"
1965 - "Lost in Space" premieres
1966 - 1st British nuclear sub HMS Resolution launched
1966 - Dutch political party (D'66) forms
1966 - Gemini XI (Conrad/Gordon) returns to Earth
1966 - U.S. President Lyndon B Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
1967 - KPOB TV channel 15 in Poplar Bluff, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
1968 - "Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park" Show on CBS TV
1968 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1968 - Launch of Zond 5, 1st lunar fly-around with Earth reentry
1968 - NY Zendo (Shoboji) was opened by S Nakagawa & D S Harada
1968 - WUAB TV channel 43 in Lorain-Cleveland, OH (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 - WXON TV channel 20 in Detroit, MI (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 - Probable Test flight for a manned fly-around (scooped by Apollo 8)
1969 - Cards Steve Carlton sets record by striking out 19 NY Mets in a game
1970 - Decca awards Bing Crosby a 2nd platinum disc for selling 300 million
1970 - PLO leader Arafat threatens to make a cemetery of Jordan
1970 - Rotterdam harbor strikes end
1971 - 1st broadcast of "Columbo" on NBC-TV
1972 - WMAO TV channel 23 in Greenwood, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.
1972 - An SAS domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm was hijacked and flown to Malm�-Bulltofta Airport.
1973 - "Star Trek-Animated" premieres on TV
1973 - Dutch Guilder devalued 5%
1973 - Ohio State's Archie Griffith begins record 31 cons 100 yd rushing
1973 - Secretariat wins Marlboro Cup in world record 1:45 2/5 for 1� miles
1974 - Market Square Arena in Indianapolis opens
1974 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Charity Golf Classic
1974 - Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.
1975 - Mike Vail extends hitting streak ton rookie-record 23 straight game
1975 - The French d�partement of Corse (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.
1976 - Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who ...," premieres in NYC
1976 - Soyuz 22 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit for 8 days
1977 - "Man of La Mancha" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 124 performances
1977 - Orioles forfeit to Blue Jays when mgr Earl Weaver pulls team off field in 5th citing hazardous condition (small tarpaulin on bullpen mound)
1977 - Pres Carter meets with 15 record company execs
1977 - Rock Music Award
1977 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1978 - Dodgers become 1st major league team to draw 3 million fans
1978 - Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1978 - Yanks beat Boston 4-0, Guidry wins # 22, Yanks lead 2� games
1979 - Red Sox Bob Watson is 1st to hit for cycle in AL & NL (Astros)
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - Paul McCartney releases "Temporary Secretary"
1981 - US Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor
1981 - Pope John Paul II publishes encyclical "Laborem exercens" against capitalism/marxism
1981 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, DC.
1981 - Vanuatu becomes a member of the United Nations.
1982 - 1st issue of "USA Today" published by Gannett Co Inc
1982 - Israeli forces began pouring into west Beirut
1982 - Pope John Paul II receives PLO leader Yasser Arafat
1983 - Cops beat to death Michael Stewart for graffiting NYC subway
1983 - Israel premier Begin resigns
1984 - Morocco Showcase opens
1984 - Sharlene Wells (Utah), 20, crowned 58th Miss America 1985
1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1985 - 26th Ryder Cup: Europe beat US, 16�-11� at The Belfry, England
1985 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1985 - Olof Palme forms Sweden minority government
1985 - Senate judiciary committee begins Robert Bork confirmation hearings
1985 - Willie Nelson's Farm Aid concert
1985 - Yanks trade Jim Deshaies to Astros for 40-year-old Joe Niekro
1986 - 1st broadcast of "LA Law" on NBC-TV
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 1 dead
1988 - "Les Miserables," opens at Raimund Theatre, Vienna
1988 - Lillehammer, Norway upsets Anchorage to host 1994 Winter olympics
1988 - Museum of Moving Image in London opens
1988 - Test Cricket debut of Ian Healy, vs Pakistan at Karachi
1989 - The U.S. Congress recognizes Terry Anderson's continued captivity in Beirut.
1990 - 42nd Emmy Awards - LA Law & Murphy Brown win
1990 - Chicago White Sox Bobby Thigpen is 1st to record 50 saves
1990 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1990 - Florida lottery goes over $100,000,000
1990 - France announce it will send 4,000 troops to Persian Gulf
1991 - "Party Machine with Nia Peeples" final show
1991 - 19th du Maurier Golf Classic: Nancy Scranton
1991 - NBA star Magic Johnson marries Earletha "Cookie" Kelly
1991 - SD State freshman Marshall Faulk sets NCAA rushing record of 386 yds
1991 - US women's gymnastics team win 1st World Championships medal (silver)
1992 - Ted Weiss, despite dying on 14th, wins congressional NYC seat
1993 - Liechtenstein prince Hans-Adam II disbands parliament
1994 - "Sound of Motown," premieres in Rotterdam
1994 - Dennis Richardson sworn in as head of St Maarten
1994 - Moslem fundamentalists kidnap & behead 16 citizens in Algeria
1995 - Cards shortstop Ozzie Smith sets record of 1,554 double plays
1996 - 2nd Presidents Golf Cup: US beats Intl team 16�-15� at Robert Jones Va
1996 - Bangladesh beat UAE by 104 runs to win the ACC Trophy Final
1996 - Karrie Webb wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1996 - Texas Rangers retire their 1st number, Nolan Ryan's #34
1997 - Edison Intl purchases Anaheim Stadium naming rights for $50M
1997 - Oprah Winfrey announces she will continue her show through 2000
1998 - With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.
2000 - Opening ceremony of the XXVII Olympics in Sydney, Australia
2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announces a lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL head
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 16
1400 - Owain Glyndŵr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers.
1575 - King Johan Casimir of Palts promises military aid to hugenots
1597 - French troops chase away Albrecht of Austria
1630 - Mass village of Shawmut changes name to Boston
1652 - Spanish troops occupy Dunkerk
1654 - Russian troops occupy Smolensk on Poland
1662 - Flamsteed sees solar eclipse, 1st known astronomical observation
1666 - "Messiah" Sjabtai Tswi becomes Islamiet
1668 - King John II Casimir of Poland resigns, flees to France
1701 - James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.
1702 - Emperor Leopold I declares war on France, Cologne & Bavaria
1729 - Willem KH Friso installed as viceroy of Groningen
1741 - George Frederick Handel's "The Messiah," premieres in Dublin
1747 - French troops occupy Bergen on Zoom
1782 - Great Seal of US used for 1st time
1795 - British capture Capetown South Africa
1795 - United Kingdom conquers Cape Town, South Africa.
1810 - Mexico issues Grito de Dolores, which called for the end of Spanish rule Mexican Independence Day celebrates this event
1812 - Fire of Moscow
1830 - Oliver Wendell Holmes writes "Old Ironsides"
1847 - United Shakespeare Company buys his home in Stratford-upon-Avon
1848 - Slavery abolished in all French territories
1857 - Mexican constitution of force (fiercely attacked by Pope Pius IX)
1857 - Typesetting machine patent
1858 - 1st overland mail for California
1859 - Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi's boundary with Tanzania & Mozambique discovered by British explorer David Livingstone
1861 - Battle of Princeton WV
1861 - British Post Office Savings Banks opens
1862 - Gen Bragg's army surrounds 4,000 federals at Munfordville, KY
1862 - Liliuokalani, queen of Hawaii (1891-93) marries John Owen Dominis
1863 - Robert College of Istanbul-Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.
1864 - Battle of Coggin's Point, Virginia (Hampton-Rosser Cattle Raid)
1867 - Ottawa Rough Riders & Senators play Canadian Football game
1873 - German troops leave France
1885 - Puritan (US) beats Genesta (England) in 6th running of America's Cup
1890 - Newswriter George Whitney Calhoun names Green Bay team Packers
1892 - Amsterdam swim club renamed "The Y"
1893 - Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma opens white settlement homesteaders
1901 - Alturas, California, is incorporated as the only city in Modoc County.
1906 - Kaarlo Nieminen wins 1st Finnish marathon
1906 - Roald Amundsen discovers Magnetic South Pole
1908 - Carriage-maker, William Durant, founded General Motors Corp
1908 - William Crapo Durant incorporates General Motors in Janesville Wisc
1913 - 1000s of women demonstrate for Dutch female suffrage
1915 - Czar Nicolas II adjourns 4th Duma
1915 - US takes control of customs & finances of Haiti for 10 years
1919 - American Legion incorporated by an act of Congress
1919 - Dutch Ruether beats Giants 4-3 to clinch Cincinnati 1st NL pennant
1920 - Bomb explosion in Wall Street, kills 30
1922 - 42nd US Mens Tennis: Bill Tilden beats W M Johnston (46 36 62 63 64)
1922 - Turkish troops chase Greeks out of Asia
1924 - Cardinal Jim Bottomley bats in 12 RBIs in 1 game
1926 - -22] Hurricane in Florida & Alabama, kills 372
1926 - Italian-Romanian peace treaty signed
1926 - Philip Dunning & George Abbott's "Broadway," premieres in NYC
1926 - St Louis Cards beat Phillies 23-3
1927 - Rene Lacoste beats Bill Tilden for US Lawn Tennis Association title
1928 - Hurricane hits West Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee Florida; 3,000 die
1929 - Police shoots at strikers at Maastricht, 2 killed
1930 - Phillies trailing 10-5, score 5 in 9th, then Pirates score 4 in top of 10th, so Phillies score 5 in bottom of 10th to win 15-14
1931 - Blimp is moored to Empire State Building (NYC)
1931 - St Louis Cards repeat as NL champions with a 6-3 win over Phillies
1932 - 30.8 cm rainfall at Westerly, Rhode Island (state record)
1938 - George E T Eyston sets world auto speed record at 357.5 MPH
1939 - 53rd US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Helen Hull Jacobs (60 810 64)
1939 - 59th US Mens Tennis: Robert L Riggs beats S Welby van Horn (64 62 64)
1939 - NY Yankees clinch their 11th & 4th successive pennant
1940 - Dutch SS forms
1940 - FDR signs Selective Training & Service Act (1st peacetime draft)
1940 - Leo Durocher suspended from Ebbetts Field for "inciting a riot"
1940 - Luftwaffe attacks center of London
1940 - Samuel T Rayburn of Tx elected speaker of House
1940 - St Louis Browns Johnny Lucadello is 2nd to HR from each side of plate
1941 - German armour troops surround Kiev Ukraine
1941 - Hitler orders for every dead German, 100 Yugoslavian be killed
1941 - Jews of Vilna Poland confined to Ghetto
1942 - Japanese attack on Port Moresby repelled
1943 - Montgomery's 8th army contacts invasion - arm forces at Salerno
1943 - Soviet army under general Vatutin reconquer Romny
1945 - Barometric pressure at 856 mb (25.55") off Okinawa (record low)
1947 - John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 394.2 MPH
1947 - Typhoon Kathleen hit Saitama, Tokyo and Tone River erea, at least 1,930 killed.
1948 - "Heaven on Earth" opens at Century Theater NYC for 12 performances
1948 - "Mr Strauss Goes to Boston" closes at Century NYC after 12 perfs
1949 - KABC TV channel 7 in Los Angeles, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1950 - Cleveland Rams (formerly AAFC) play 1st NFL game, beat Phila 35-10)
1950 - Viet Minh-offensive against French bases in Vietnam
1951 - 6th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Betsy Rawls
1951 - NL ump Frank Dascoli clears the Dogers bench ejecting 15 players
1953 - AL approves St Louis Browns move to become Baltimore Orioles
1954 - CKLW TV channel 9 in Windsor, ON (CBC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Bauer & Berra homer in 9th beating Red Sox 5-4 taking over 1st
1955 - US Auto Club forms to oversee 4 major auto reacing categories
1955 - Yankee Mickey Mantle pulls a hamstring muscle running out a bunt
1956 - Marlene Bauer wins LPGA Clock Golf Open
1957 - Coup in Thailand (Premier Songgram deposed)
1957 - LA City Council approves 300-acre site in Chavez Ravine for Dodgers
1959 - President De Gaulle recognizes Algerian right of self determination
1960 - Amos Alonzo Stagg retires as a football coach at 98
1960 - Mil Brave Warren Spahn no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 4-0
1961 - CDU loses West German election
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1961 - WLKY TV channel 32 in Louisville, KY (ABC) begins broadcasting
1962 - Brian Kilby wins marathon: (2:23:18.8)
1962 - Gerda Kroon runs European record 800 m in 2:02.8
1962 - Public TV channel 13 begins in NYC
1962 - Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Sacramento Golf Open
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - "Outer Limits" premieres on ABC-TV
1963 - Malaysia formed from Malaya, Singapore, Br No Borneo & Sarawak
1963 - WVAN TV channel 9 in Savannah, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - "Shindig" premieres on ABC-TV
1965 - Boston Red Sox Dave Morehead no-hits Cleve Indians, 2-0
1965 - Sobibor trial opens in Hagen West Germany
1966 - Metropolitan Opera opens at NY's Lincoln Center
1967 - Anni Pede runs female world record marathon (3:07:26)
1967 - KPAZ TV channel 21 in Phoenix, AZ (IND) begins broadcasting
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1968 - KLNI (now KADN) TV channel 15 in Lafayette, LA (IND) begins
1968 - Richard Nixon appears on "Laugh-in"
1970 - Jordan king Hussein forms military government
1971 - 6 Klansmen arrested in connection with bombing of 10 school buses
1971 - West German chancellor Willy Brandt meets with Soviet president Brezhnev
1972 - 1st TV series about mixed marriage-Bridgit Loves Bernie
1972 - Penny Marshall appears on Bob Newhart Show in "Fly Unfriendly Skies"
1973 - "Desert Song" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 15 performances
1973 - Buff Bill OJ Simpson rushes 250 yards (2 TDs), beating NE Pats 31-13
1973 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Southgate Ladies Golf Open
1974 - BART begins regular transbay service
1974 - Bob Dylan records Blood on the Tracks
1974 - Pres Ford announces conditional amnesty for US, Vietnam War deserters
1974 - US General Haig becomes NATO-supreme commander in Europe
1975 - Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia (National Day)
1975 - Pirates beat Cubs 22-0, Rennie Stennett is 3rd to go 7 for 7
1975 - Rennie Stennett is 2nd to hit 7-for-7 in a 9-inning game
1975 - The first prototype of the MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.
1976 - Egypt president Sadat re-elected
1976 - Episcopal Church approves ordination of women as priests & bishop
1976 - Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from the trolleybus that had fallen into Erevan reservoir.
1977 - 90 minute pilot of "Logan's Run" premieres on TV
1977 - Ringo releases "Drowning in Sea of Love"
1977 - Seattle beats Royals, 4-1, to end KC's winning streak at 16 games
1978 - 25,000 die in 7.7 earthquake in Tabar Iran
1978 - Filming on Monty Python's Life of Brian, begins
1978 - Grateful Dead perform in Cairo Egypt
1978 - Yanks beat Red Sox for 6th time in 2 weeks, 3-2
1979 - 23rd Ryder Cup: US wins, 17-11 at The Greenbrier (White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, US)
1979 - Catfish Hunter Day at Yankee Stadium
1979 - Coup in Afghanistan under Hafizullah Amin
1979 - KC's Willie Wilson hits 5th inside-the-park HR (most since 1925)
1979 - Nancy Lopez/JoAnn Washam wins Portland- Ping Team Golf Championship
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test
1981 - 1st broadcast of "Miami Vice" on NBC-TV
1982 - Massacre of 1000+ Palestinian refugees at Chatila & Sabra begins
1983 - Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes a US citizen
1984 - "Miami Vice" premieres
1984 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1984 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1986 - Fire in Kinross gold mine, Transvaal South Africa, 177 killed
1987 - Calif's Bob Boone catches record 1,919th major league game
1987 - NASA launches space vehicle S-209
1987 - NY's WNET-TV channel 13 begins round clock broadcasting
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - Cin Reds Tom Browning pitches a perfect game, beats Dodgers, 1-0
1988 - Fish leaves rock group Marillion
1988 - Javed Miandad completes 211, his 5th Test Cricket double, v Australia
1988 - Jury awards Valerie Harper $1.6 M in dispute over TV series
1988 - Tom Browning of Cincinnati Reds pitches a perfect game against LA
1989 - Debbye Turner (Mont), 23, crowned 63rd Miss America 1990
1989 - Singer Natalie Cole marries record producer Andre Fisher
1990 - 101 year old Sam Ackerman weds 95 year old Eva in New Rochelle NY
1990 - 42nd Emmy Awards: LA Law, Murphy Brown, Peter Falk & Patricia Wettig
1990 - Dennis Quaid & Meg Ryan wed
1990 - Iraq televises an 8 minute uncensored speech from George Bush
1990 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1990 - Pirate Radio NY International begins transmissions on WWCR
1991 - Atlanta's Otis Nixon suspended for rest of 1991 due to cocaine
1991 - US trial of Panamanian leader Noriega begins
1991 - Norm Charlton suspended for 7 days for intentionally hitting Steve Scioscia with a pitch
1992 - "Les Miserables," opens at Nuevo Apolo, Madrid
1992 - 900 die in flood in Pakistan
1992 - FCC votes to allow competition for local phone service
1993 - Minnesota Twins Dave Winfield, is 19th to get 3,000 hits
1993 - Singer Karen Akers (48) weds businessman Kevin Powers (41)
1994 - Fire Dept puts out smokey electrical fire in White House
1995 - Greg Maddux of Braves sets record of 17 consecutive road victory
1995 - Shawntel Smith (Okla), 24, crowned 69th Miss America 1996
1995 - Stephen Hawkins (53) weds Elaine Mason
1996 - 1st one-day international in Canada, India v Pakistan at Toronto
1996 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Panama City FL on WTBB 97.7 FM
1996 - Paul Molitor of Twins is 21st player to reach 3,000 hits
1996 - Space Shuttle STS 79 (Atlantis 17), launches into space
1997 - ABL MVP Nikki McCray signs with WNBA
1997 - Apple Computer Inc names co-founder Steve Jobs temporary CEO
1997 - Mark McGwire signs with the St Louis Cards for $26M
2000 - Sammy Sosa's becomes the second player to hit 50 or more home runs in three consecutive years, joining Mark McGwire
2005 - Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples.
2007 - One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 carrying 128 crew and passengers crashes in Thailand killing 89 people.
Music history on Sept. 16
1920 - Enrico Caruso recorded his last work for Victor Records.
1938 - "Boogie Woogie" was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.
1963 - "She Loves You" was released by the Beatles.
1964 - "Shindig!" premiered on ABC. The first show opened with Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, The Wellingtons, The Righteous Brothers, Bobby Sherman and Alan Sues.
1965 - The second season of "Shindig!" was opened with the Rolling Stones performing "Satisfaction." The Kinks, Byrds and Everly Brothers also appeared on the season opener.
1965 - The Grace Cathedral in San Francisco was the site of Duke Ellington's first concert.
1966 - The Metropolitan Opera opened its new opera house at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
1966 - Pete Quafe left the Kinks and was replaced by John Dalton.
1970 - Jimi Hendrix made his final public appearance. He appeared with Eric Burdon and War at a club in London. The opening performance was Samuel Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra."
1977 - Marc Bolan (T. Rex) died in a car accident at the age of 29.
1978 - The Grateful Dead recorded a concert at the pyramids in Egypt.
1979 - The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" by was released.
1980 - Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall officially opened.
1985 - KISS released the album "Asylum."
1991 - Willie Nelson and makeup artist Ann-Marie D'Angelo got married.
1992 - Barbara Streisand made her first live appearance in six years at a fundraiser for the U.S. Democratic party.
1993 - Grace Slick's home was destroyed by fire.
1997 - The Delfins debuted their first album "Azul" ("Blue") in Madrid's Las Venats bullfight arena.
1998 - The members of Mott The Hoople played together for the first time in 24 years at the Virgin Megastore on London's Oxford Street.
Sports history on September 16
1924 - Jim Bottomley knocked in 12 runs in a single game setting a major league baseball record.
1953 - The St. Louis Browns of the American League were given permission to move to Baltimore, MD, where they became the Baltimore Orioles.
1988 - Tom Browning pitched the 12th perfect game in major league baseball.
2004 - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman imposed a lockout due to an impasse in contract negotiations. The players union and NHL officials did not meet again until December 9.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 16
Louis XIV (France) 1638
Bernie Calvert (The Hollies) 1942
Linda Henning 1944
Betty Kelly (Martha and the Vandellas) 1944
Susan Ruttan 1948
Kenney Jones 1948 - Musician (Faces, The Who), The Who Merchandise
Ed Begley, Jr. 1949
David Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers) 1950
Ron Blair 1952
Marc Anthony 1968 - Marc Anthony Merchandise
Madeline Zima 1985
Happiness is a very small desk and a very big wastebasket.
- Robert Orben
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 16 2012, 08:35 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historical events on September 17
335 - Church of Heilig Grave initiated in Jerusalem
642 - Arabs conquer Alexandria, library destroyed
1156 - Markgraafschap Austria becomes a temple (Privilegium minus)
1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought.
1394 - Jews are expelled from France by order of King Charles VI
1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec) is fought during Thirteen Years' War.
1562 - Council of Trente takes ecclesiastical canon
1584 - Gent surrenders to duke of Parma
1595 - Pope Clemens VIII recognizes Henri IV as king of France
1598 - Netherland sailors discover Mauritius
1630 - The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1631 - Battle of Breitenfeld: King Gustaaf Adolf defeats Gen Tilly
1644 - French troops occupy Mainz
1678 - France & Spain signs peace treaty
1683 - Antonie van Leeuwenhoek reports existence of bacteria
1691 - Colony Massachusetts Bay gets new charter
1697 - Battle at Zenta: Prince Eugen of Savoye beats Turks
1730 - Turkish coup under Mahmud I; Sultan Ahmed III flees
1737 - Georg-August University opens in G�ttingen
1745 - Edinburg occupied by Jacobites under Young Pretenders
1776 - Presidio of SF forms as a Spanish fort
1776 - The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
1778 - 1st treaty between the US & Indian tribes signed (Fort Pitt)
1787 - Prussian troops conquer Gorinchem
1787 - US constitution adopted by Philadelphia convention
1789 - William Herschel discovers Mimas, satellite of Saturn
1809 - Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
1819 - 1st whaling ship arrives in Hawaii
1835 - Charles Darwins lands on Chatham Galapagos-archipelago
1850 - Great fire in San Francisco
1859 - Man in SF claims himself Norton I, emperor of America
1861 - 1st day school for freedmen forms at Fortress Monroe Virginia
1861 - Hampton Institute forms
1862 - Battle of Antietam, bloodiest day in Civil War (Sharpsburg Md), 23, 110 die
1862 - Battle of Cumberland Gap, TN-evacuted by Federals
1862 - Battle of Mumfordville, KY-US Col J Wilder surrenders city
1862 - American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
1863 - Pope Pius IX encyclical On persecution in New Grenada
1864 - Grant approves Sheridan's plan for Shenandoah Valley Campaign
1871 - Mont Cenis railway tunnel Switzerland opens
1872 - Phillip W Pratt patents his sprinkler system for extinguishing fires
1873 - 19 students attend opening class at Ohio State University
1876 - Race riots in SC
1897 - 3rd US Golf Open: Joe Lloyd shoots a 162 at Chicago GC in Wheaton Ill
1899 - 1st British troops leave Bombay for South Africa
1900 - Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed
1900 - Queen Victoria disbands British parliament
1900 - Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
1901 - Battle at Blood River Port: Boer Gen Botha beats mjr Goughs cavalry
1901 - Battle at Elands River Port: Boer Gen Smuts destroys unit 17th Lancers
1902 - US protests anti-semitism in Romania
1903 - Boston Pilgrims clinch AL pennant, beating Cleveland, 14-3
1906 - Playing as "Sullivan," Columbia U jr Eddie Collins debuts with A's
1908 - Thomas Selfridge becomes 1st fatality of powered flight
1911 - 1st transcontinental airplane flight, NY-Pasadena in 82 hrs 4 min
1911 - 25th US Womens Tennis: Hazel H Wightman beats F Sutton (8-10 61 97)
1912 - Center fielder Casey Stengel breaks in with Brooklyn & hits 4 singles
1914 - Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
1916 - 40,000 Amsterdam demonstrators demand general voting right
1916 - World War I: Manfred von Richthofen [The Red Baron], a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkr�fte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
1920 - Cards set a record of 12 consecutive hits in 4th (10) & 5th (2) innings
1920 - National Football League organizes in Canton Ohio 12 teams pay $100 each to join American Prof Football Association
1922 - Bicyclist Piet Moeskops becomes world sprint champ
1922 - Radio Moscow begins transmitting (12 KWs-most powerful station)
1923 - Sutton Vane's "Outward Bound," premieres in London
1924 - Italy signs treaty of Rapallo
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami & Palm Beach Florida; about 450 die
1927 - 47th US Mens Tennis: Rene Lacoste beats William T Tilden (119 63 119)
1927 - Charles Lindbergh visits San Francisco
1928 - 48th US Mens Tennis: Henri Cochet beats F T Hunter (46 64 36 75 63)
1928 - Henri Cochet wins US Tennis Open
1928 - Hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee Florida drowning 1,800-2500
1928 - Pitcher Ray Boggs hits 3 batters in 1 inning
1929 - British troops begin evacuating
1931 - 1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed
1931 - Operetta "Victoria & Her Husband," premieres in London
1931 - Red Sox Earl Webb sets record with 65 en route to 67 doubles
1934 - RCA Victor re leases 1st 33 1/3 rpm recording (Beethoven's 5th)
1934 - USSR joins League of Nations (Netherland, Switz & Portugal vote no)
1935 - Manuel Luis Quez�n y Molina chosen 1st president of Philippines
1937 - 1st NFL game in Washington, DC; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3
1938 - 52nd US Womens Tennis: Alice Marble beats Nancye Wynne Bolton (60 63)
1938 - 58th US Mens Tennis: J Donald Budge beats C Gene Mako (63 68 62 61)
1938 - British premier Neville Chamberlain leaves Munich
1938 - Don Budge wins US Tennis open & completes Grand Slam
1939 - German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die
1939 - Poland's president Moscicki & PM Slawoj-Skladkowski flee to Romania
1939 - Russia invades Eastern Poland, takes 217,000 Poles prisoner
1939 - Soviet Union invades Poland during WW II
1939 - Taisto M�ki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6
1940 - Nazis deprive Jews of possessions
1941 - Cards' Stan Musial makes his major league debut, going 2-for-4
1941 - World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, is issued
1943 - Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at Norfolk Naval Air Station
1943 - Red Army recaptures Brjansk
1943 - World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is liberated from Nazis.
1944 - British Premier Winston Churchill travels to US
1944 - Dutch begin railroad strike against German occupiers
1944 - Operation Market Garden: British airborne division lands Arnhem Neth
1946 - "Gypsy Lady," opens at Century Theater NYC for 79 performances
1946 - "If the Shoe Fits," opens at Century Theater NYC for 20 performances
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of Year by Sporting News
1947 - James Forrestal sworn in as 1st US secretary of defense
1947 - US Dept of Defense forms
1948 - KCOP TV channel 13 in Los Angeles/Hollywood, CA (IND) begins
1948 - WLS TV channel 7 in Chicago, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting
1949 - 128 die as fire guts Canadian passenger steamer Noronic in Toronto
1949 - 8th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 7-5 at Ganton GC, England
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Council meets for 1st time
1949 - WFAA TV channel 8 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
1950 - San Francisco 49ers (formerly AAFC) play 1st NFL game, lose 21-17
1951 - "Borscht Capades" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 90 performances
1951 - Romanian bishop A Pacha of Timisoara sentenced to 18 years
1952 - "I am an American Day" & "Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
1953 - 1st successful separation of Siamese twins
1953 - Ernie Banks becomes Chicago Cubs 1st black player
1954 - Rocky Marciano KOs Ezzard Charles in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
1955 - "Ankles Aweigh" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 176 perfs
1955 - Future Hall of Famer Oriole Brooks Robinson goes 2-4 in his 1st game
1956 - Black students enter Clay Ky elementary school
1956 - Yanks clinch pennant #22 on Mantle's 50th homer of year
1956 - Television is first broadcast in Australia.
1957 - KETV TV channel 7 in Omaha, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
1957 - Scott Crossfield takes X-15 up for 1st powered flight
1957 - Thailand military coup under marshal Sarit Thanarat
1957 - 2 male attorneys "stand in" as actress Sophia Loren & producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico
1957 - The North East Humanists group is founded in Newcastle upon Tyne.
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 59th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
1959 - Transit 1A, 1st navigational satellite launched; failed to orbit
1959 - Typhoon kills 2,000 in Japan & Korea
1960 - "Vintage '60" closes at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC after 8 perfs
1960 - Cuba nationalizes US banks
1961 - Minnesota Vikings' 1st NFL game (beat Chicago Bears 37-13)
1961 - Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days," premieres in NYC
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1962 - Justice Dept files 1st suit to end segregation in public schools
1962 - US space officials announce selection of 9 new astronauts
1963 - "Fugitive" premieres on ABC TV
1963 - Train struck makeshift bus full of migrant workers, killing 32
1964 - "Bewitched" premieres on ABC TV
1964 - Beatles are paid a then record $150,000 for a concert (Kansas)
1964 - Mickey Mantle gets hits #1999, 2000 & 2001 & his 450th HR
1964 - Supremes release "Baby Love"
1965 - WPHL TV channel 17 in Philadelphia, PA (IND) begins broadcasting
1966 - Cleve pitchers set AL record striking out 19 batters in 1st 9 innings
1967 - "Mission Impossible" premieres on CBS-TV
1967 - Mount Washington cog railway train derails, kills 8 (NH)
1967 - New Orleans Saints 1st NFL game, they lose to LA Rams 27-13
1967 - Shirley Englehorn wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1968 - Gaylord Perry (Giants) no-hits St Louis Cardinals, 1-0
1968 - Zond 5 completes circumnavigation of Moon
1970 - Jordan launches offensive against guerrilla army
1970 - Jordanian King Hussein moves against PLO guerrillas
1970 - WSWP TV channel 9 in Grandview, WV (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 - "M*A*S*H," premieres on NBC TV
1972 - BART begins passenger service in SF
1972 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Quality First Golf Classic
1972 - Tanzania troops march in to Uganda
1974 - Courageous (US) beats Southern Cross (Aust) in 23rd America's Cup
1975 - Rollout of 1st space shuttle orbiter Enterprise (OV-101)
1976 - Amnesty International receives Erasmus-prize
1976 - NASA publicly unveils space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, Calif
1976 - Ringo releases "Ringo's Rotogravure" album
1977 - 22nd Ryder Cup: US, 12�-13� at Royal Lytham & St Annes England
1977 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1977 - Dave Kingman hits his 1st Yankee homer, Reggie hits 2 more
1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" is #1 for 19th straight week
1978 - 30th Emmy Awards: All in the Family, Ed Asner & Sada Thompson win
1978 - Begin, Sadat & Carter sign Camp David accord
1978 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Golf Tournament
1978 - Red Sox finally beat Yanks in Sept 1978, 7-3
1979 - Pietro Mennea runs world record 200 m (19.72")
1979 - Royals George Brett is 6th to have 20 doubles/triples/HRs in a season
1980 - "Divine Madness" starring Bette Midler, premieres
1980 - Iraq (Saddam Hussein) signs accord with Algeria
1980 - Solidarity labor union in Poland forms
1980 - South Korea opposition leader Kim Dae Jung sentenced to death
1980 - Oak A's Rick Langford is removed with 2 outs in 9th inning ending his consecutive complete-game streak at 22
1981 - Fernando Valenzuela sets NL rookie record with 8th shutout of season
1982 - NJ Devils 1st exhibition game, beating Caps 3-1 in Hershey Pa
1983 - Chicago White Sox clinch their 1st-ever AL West championship
1983 - Vanessa Williams (NY), 20, crowned 56th Miss America 1984, 1st black
1984 - Brian Mulroney sworn in as Canada's 18th PM succeeding John Turner
1984 - Dwight Gooden ties record of 32 strikeouts in consecutive games
1984 - Reggie Jackson is 13th to hit 500 HRs
1984 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1985 - Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station
1986 - Bomb attack in Paris, 6 killed
1986 - Marina Stepanova of USSR sets 400m hurdle woman's record (52.94)
1986 - Mets clinch NL East Championship
1986 - US Senate confirms William Rehnquist as 16th chief justice
1987 - Phila celebrates 200th anniversary of Constitution
1988 - 24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea
1988 - Jeff Reardon becomes 1st to record 40 or more saves in both AL & NL
1988 - Military coup in Haiti: Lt Gen Avril takes control, Henri Namphy flees
1989 - -21] Hurricane Hugo, kills 85 in Charleston SC
1989 - 41st Emmy Awards: LA Law, Cheers, Dana Delany & Candice Bergen win
1989 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1989 - Emmy Creative Arts Award presentation
1989 - Hurricane Hugo begins 4 day sweep through Caribbean, killing 62
1989 - NYC court of appeals overturns lower court decision & returns America's Cup back to US (from NZ)
1990 - Newspaper Guild votes 242-35 to keep NY Post publishing
1990 - Soviet Union & Saudi Arabia restore diplomatic ties
1991 - 4,355 turn out to see Expos play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1991 - UN admits Estonia, Latvia, Lithuiania, North & South Korea, Marshall Islands & Micronesia
1991 - The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
1992 - Amsterdam stock exchange hits record �8.8 billion
1992 - House votes 280 to 128 to give FCC control of cable TV rates
1992 - NFL decides to suspend World League Football
1993 - Last Russian troops leave Poland.
1994 - Andy Waller out handled the ball for Mashonaland CD v Mash U24
1994 - Heather Whitestone, 21, (Ala), crowned 68th Miss America 1995
1994 - Princess Christina separates
1995 - "Love! Valor! Compassion!" closes at Walter Kerr NYC after 276 perfs
1995 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1996 - Dodger Hideo Nomo no-hits Colo Rockies, 9-0 at Coors Field
1997 - Dr Sam Sheppard's body (Fugitive) is exhumed for DNA test
2004 - Tamil is declared the first classical language in India.
2007 - AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York, New York.
2008 - The IAU named another dwarf planet, Haumea
2010 - The 54 year run of the soap opera As the World Turns ends as its final episode is broadcast.
2011 - Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zucotti Park, New York City
--------------------
If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historical events on September 18
96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated.
324 - Chrysopolis emperor Constantine beats emperor Licinius
1180 - Philip Augustus becomes king of France.
1437 - Farmer uprising in Transsylvania
1454 - In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years' War.
1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th & last voyage
1544 - Charles V of Germany & Francis I of France sign Peace of Crepy
1544 - English King Henry VIII's troops occupy Boulogne
1544 - Peace of Cr�py: German emperor Charles V & French king Francois I
1573 - Spanish attack Alkmaar
1635 - Emperor Ferdinand II declares war on France
1679 - New Hampshire becomes a county Massachusetts Bay Colony
1739 - Turkey & Austria sign peace treaty-Austria cedes Belgrade to Turks
1755 - Fort Ticonderoga, New York opens
1759 - Battle of Quebec ends, French surrender to British
1759 - The British capture Quebec City.
1769 - John Harris builds 1st spinet piano (US)
1789 - 1st loan is made to pay salaries of the presidents & Congress
1793 - Pres Washington lays cornerstone of Capitol building
1809 - Royal Opera House in London opens
1810 - Chile declares independence from Spain (National Day)
1811 - English expeditionary army conquerors Dutch Indies
1812 - Fire in Moscow destroys 90% of houses & 1,000 churchs
1830 - Horse beats 1st US made locomotive (near Baltimore)
1838 - Anti-Corn Law League established by Richard Cobden
1842 - 1st edition of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, published
1846 - Elizabeth Barrett & R Browning exchange last letters before eloping
1848 - Baseball rules 1st baseman can tag base for out instead of runner
1849 - De Kempenaer's Dutch government resigns
1850 - Congress passes Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850
1851 - New York Times starts publishing (2 cents a copy)
1862 - Confederate armies officially divide into corps
1862 - General Read army pulls out of Antietam Creek Virginia
1864 - Battle of Martinsburg WV
1872 - King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1873 - Government bond agent Jay Cooke & Co collapses, causing panic on Wall St
1873 - The Panic of 1873 begins.
1879 - The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.
1881 - Chicago Tribune reports on a televideo experiment
1882 - Pacific Stock Exchange opens (as Local Security Board)
1885 - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Sign of Four" (BG)
1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse is 1st white woman to become an Indian chief
1895 - Booker T Washington delivera "Atlanta Compromise" address
1895 - D D Palmer of Davenport, Iowa, becomes 1st chiropractor
1895 - Daniel David Palmer gives the first chiropractic adjustment.
1897 - Gustave Kecker/Hugh Martin's musical "Belle of NYC," premieres in NYC
1898 - Lord Kitcheners ships reach Fashoda Sudan
1903 - Phillie's Chick Fraser no-hits Chicago Cubs, 10-0
1905 - Electric tramline opens in Rotterdam
1906 - A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
1908 - Cleve Indian Bob "Dusty" Rhoades no-hits Boston, 2-1
1909 - Largest paid baseball attendance (35,409), A's beat Tigers, 2-0 in Det
1910 - 25,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam for general male/female suffrage
1911 - Britain's 1st twin-engine airplane (Short S.39) test flown
1911 - Louis Napoleon Parker's "Disraeli," premieres in NYC
1914 - Battle of Aisne ends with Germans beating French during WW I
1914 - Gen von Hindenburgs named commander of German armies on Eastern Front
1914 - Irish home rule bill receive Royal assent
1914 - South African troops land in German South West Africa
1915 - Boston Braves trounce St Louis Cardinals 20-1
1918 - Battle of Megiddo (Palestine) starts
1919 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts female suffrage
1919 - Hurricane tides 16 feet above normal drown 280 along Gulf Coast
1922 - 2nd government of Ruys de Beerenbrouck installed in Neth
1922 - Browns George Sisler's 41-game hit streak is stopped by NY's Joe Bush
1922 - Hungary admitted to League of Nations
1924 - Government routes 7 Provinces to Peking
1925 - Bill Tilden wins 6th straight US tennis championship
1926 - 46th US Mens Tennis: Rene Lacoste beats Jean Borotra (64 60 64)
1926 - Hurricane hits Miami, kills 250
1926 - Jean Rene Lacoste wins US Tennis Open
1927 - 18 station CBS radio network begins, (WOR is NYC affiliate)
1927 - The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.
1928 - Cards beat Phillies for 20th of 22 games in 1928
1928 - Juan de la Cierva flies 1st helicopter above Channel
1929 - Pirates loss to Braves & clinch NL pennant for the Cubs
1929 - Preston Sturges' "Strictly Dishonorable," premieres in NYC
1930 - Enterprise (US) beats Shamrock V (England) in 15th America's Cup
1930 - NY Yankee pitcher Red Ruffing hits 2 HRs to beat St Louis Browns, 7-6
1930 - Phila A's win AL championship for 2nd year in a row
1931 - Japan takes Manchuria, renames it Manchukuo
1932 - Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1934 - St Louis Brown Bobo Newsom loses no-hitter to Boston in 10, 2-1
1934 - USSR admitted to League of Nations
1938 - Chicago Bears beat Green Bay Packers 2-0
1938 - Despite losing a double header, Yanks clinch pennant #10
1939 - Polish government of Moscicki flees to Romania
1939 - William Joyce's first Nazi propaganda broadcast.
1940 - 19 German aircrafts shot down above England
1940 - Elmer Harris' "Johnny Belinda," premieres in NYC
1940 - Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani
1942 - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized for radio service
1943 - Cardinals clinch NL pennant
1943 - Hitler orders deportation of Danish Jews (unsuccessful)
1944 - British submarine Tradewind torpedoes Junyo Maru: 5,600 killed
1944 - Eindhoven free (Lightly Day)
1944 - US 266th division occupiers Brest Bretagne
1945 - 1000 whites walk out of Gary Ind schools to protest integration
1946 - Joe Louis KOs Tami Mauriello in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1947 - National Security Act, passes
1947 - USAF (US Air Force) forms
1948 - "Hilarities (of 1949)" closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 14 perfs
1948 - Communist Madiun-uprising in Dutch Indies (Muso/Sjarifudin)
1948 - Ralph J Bunche confirmed as acting UN mediator in Palestine
1949 - Baseball major league record 4 grand slams hit
1950 - Nakagawa Soen, Zen teacher, receives dharma transmission
1954 - Cleveland Indians clinch AL pennant, beat Tigers (3-2)
1954 - KTUL TV channel 8 in Tulsa, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 - WLOS TV channel 13 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (ABC) 1st broadcast
1955 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Mile High Golf Open
1955 - Willie Mays hits record tying 9th HR at Ebbets Field (ties Joe Adcock)
1956 - Mickey Mantle is 8th to hit 50 HRs in a seaon
1957 - "Wagon Train" premieres
1957 - Electric train joining in Amsterdam-Brussels
1959 - Vanguard 3 launched into Earth orbit
1960 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Memphis Golf Open
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - Bob Aspromonte sets NL 3rd baseman record of 57 cons errorless games
1962 - Charlie Finley is denied permission to move A's to Dallas-Fort Worth
1962 - Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica & Trinidad admitted (105th-108th) to UN
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Final game at Polo Grounds, 1,752 see Phillies beat Mets 5-1
1963 - USSR orders 58.5 million barrels of cereal from Australia
1964 - Greek king Constantine II marries Danish princess Anne-Marie
1964 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1965 - "Get Smart" premieres
1965 - Mickey Mantle Day at Yankee Stadium: Mantle play his 2,000th game
1966 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1967 - Intrepid (US) beats Dame Pattie (Aust) in 21st America's Cup
1968 - Ray Washburn (Cards) no-hits SF Giants 2-0
1969 - Tiny Tim & Miss Vicky get engaged
1971 - 19th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 18�-13� at Old Warson Country Club (St. Louis, Missouri, US)
1972 - 1st black NL umpire (Art Williams-Los Angeles vs San Diego)
1973 - German FR & German DR admitted to UN
1974 - Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, 5,000 die
1975 - Heiress/bank robber Patricia Campbell Hearst captured by FBI in SF
1976 - Cleve manager Frank Robinson last game as a player
1976 - Dom Mintoff's Labour Party wins Malta election
1976 - Rev Sun Myung Moon holds "God Bless America" convention
1976 - Rock Music Award
1976 - Mao Zedong's funeral takes place in Beijing.
1977 - All 4 Kiss members release solo albums
1977 - Brooks Robinson Night in Baltimore
1977 - Courageous (US) sweeps Australia (Aust) in 24th America's Cup
1977 - Joanne Carner/Judy Rankin wins LPGA National Team Golf Championship
1977 - US Voyager I takes 1st space photograph of Earth & Moon together
1979 - Bolshoi Ballet dancers Leonid & Valentina Kozlov defect
1979 - Steven Lachs, appointed Calif's 1st admittedly gay judge
1979 - The Who opens NYC concerts at Madison Square Garden
1980 - "Les Miserables," opens at Palais des Sports, Paris
1980 - Royals Willie Wilson steals AL-record 28 consecutive base
1980 - Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station
1981 - Assembl�e Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
1982 - Christian militia begin massacre of 600 Palestinians in Lebanon
1983 - George Meegen completes 2,426d (19K mi) walk across Western Hemisphere
1983 - Juli Inkster wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1983 - Lebanese & Syrian army battle
1983 - New Orleans Saints 1st OT victory; beating Chic Bears 34-31
1984 - Joe Kittinger completes 1st solo balloon crossing of Atlantic
1984 - Tigers clinch AL East championship (spent all year in 1st place)
1984 - Tim Raines is 1st player with 4 consecutive 70-stolen-base seasons
1985 - "Song & Dance" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 474 performances
1985 - BBC Radio reports prime # 2^216091-1 found in Houston
1986 - David Boon's 3rd Test cricket century, 122 v India at Madras
1987 - Detroit Tiger Darrell Evans is 1st 40 year old to hit 30 HRs
1987 - US & Russia sign accord to remove mid range missiles
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - Burma suspends its constitution
1988 - Coup in Haiti
1988 - Juli Inkster wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1989 - Hurricane Hugo causes extensive damage in Puerto Rico
1990 - 500 lb 6' Hershey Kiss is displayed at 1 Times Square, NYC
1990 - Atlanta is chosen to host 1996 (centennial) Summer Olympics
1990 - Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.
1991 - John Hart becomes general manager of Cleveland Indians
1991 - NCAA places Tenn on 2 yrs probation for football recruting violations
1991 - Robert Helmick resigns as pres of US Olympic Committee
1991 - Space shuttle STS 48 (Discovery 14) lands
1991 - Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of 7 Adriatic port cities.
1993 - Kimberly Clarice Aiken (SC), 18, crowned 67th Miss America 1994
1993 - LA Mighty Ducks play their 1st NHL pre-season game against Penguins
1993 - Trailing 3-1 with 2 outs in 9th, time is called prior to Mike Stanley pop out, gets a 2nd chance, & Yanks rally to beat Boston 4-3
1994 - 1st Presidents Golf Cup: US beats Intl team 20-12 at Robert Jones Va
1994 - Austrian conservative FVP wins elections/extreme right gets 18.5%
1994 - Deb Richard wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1994 - Ken Burn's "Baseball" premieres on PBS
1994 - Sweden social-democratic SPD wins parliamentary election
1995 - Art Modell 1st meets (he claims) with Balt to move Browns
1995 - Space shuttle STS-69 (Endeavour 9), lands
1996 - Roger Clemens ties his own major league record with 20 strikeouts
1997 - Seve Ballesteros & Nick Faldo elected to World Golf Hall of Fame
1997 - Ted Turner gives $1 billion to UN
1997 - Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) on a referendum on Welsh autonomy.
1998 - ICANN is formed.
2001 - First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2003 - The United Kingdom's Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, receives Royal Assent.
2006 - Right wing protesters riot the building of the Hungarian Television in Budapest, Hungary, one day after an audio tape was made public, in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs�ny admitted he and his party lied during the 2006 general elections.
2007 - Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected president.
2007 - Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.
2009 - The 72 year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ends as its final episode is broadcast.
Music history on Sept. 18
1947 - Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, NY. It was the first country show at the venue.
1957 - "The Big Record" premiered on CBS-TV. The show only lasted one season.
1969 - Tiny Tim announced on "The Tonight Show" to Johnny Carson his engagement to Miss Vicki Budinger. Carson asked the two to be married on the show. They made TV history with the wedding on December 17, 1969.
1970 - James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix died in his London apartment at the age of 27. The death was from an overdose of sleeping pills.
1971 - Pink Floyd performed "Atom Heart Mother" at the Classical Music Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland.
1972 - The Who headlined the Rock At The Oval festival in London.
1976 - The second annual Rock Music Awards ran on CBS.
1976 - "More Than A Feeling" by Boston was released.
1978 - The members of KISS all released solo albums. The members at the time were Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Peter Criss.
1983 - The album "Lick It Up" was released by KISS.
1983 - The members of Kiss appeared on MTV without makeup.
KISS Store
1987 - KISS released the album "Crazy Nights."
1998 - Reba McEntire received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2002 - Bon Jovi performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. More than 375,000 people viewed the live Web cast of the show.
2004 - Britney Spears and Kevin Federline were married. The legal documents were not filed until early October.
Sports history on Sept. 18
1915 - The first asphalt covered automobile race track was opened in Cranston, RI.
1956 - Mickey Mantle hit his 50th home run.
1962 - Charlie Finley was denied permission to move the Athletics to Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX.
1965 - Mickey Mantle played in his 2,000th game.
1972 - Art Williams became the first black umpire in National League history.
1993 - The Anaheim Mighty Ducks played the Pittsburg Penguins in their first NHL pre-season game.
1997 - Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo were elected to World Golf Hall of Fame.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 18
Samuel Johnson 1709
Dee Dee Ramone (The Ramones) 1952
Holly Robinson Peete 1964
Ricky Bell (Bell Biv Devoe, New Edition) 1967
Joanne Catherall (Human League) 1962
Blas Elias (Slaughter) 1967
In plain words, Chaos was the law of nature Order was the dream of man.
- Henry Adams, American writer and historian.
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 18 2012, 07:41 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 19
335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I.
1356 - English defeat French at Battle of Poitiers
1523 - Emperor Charles I & England sign anti-French covenant
1559 - 5 Spanish ships sinks in storm off Tampa, about 600 die
1580 - Treaty of Plessis-lez-Tours (Anjou/Dutch States-General)
1602 - Grave surrenders to earl Mauritius
1642 - Perpignan surrenders to French troops
1656 - Treaty of Labiau: Sweden gives Prussia, Brandenburg
1657 - Brandenburg & Poland sign Treaty of Wehlau
1668 - Polish king John II Kazimierz resigns/goes to France
1676 - Rebels under Nathaniel Bacon set Jamestown Va on fire
1755 - England & Russia sign military agreement
1777 - Battle of Freeman's Farm (Bemis Heights) or 1st Battle of Saratoga
1778 - The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.
1795 - Tula, leader of Curacao slave opposition, imprisoned
1796 - George Washington's farewell address as president
1799 - English & Russian invasion army conquerors Receiver
1833 - Charles Darwin visits Guardia del Monte, Argentina
1838 - Ephraim Morris patents railroad brake
1848 - Hyperion, moon of Saturn, discovered by Bond (US) & Lassell (England)
1849 - 1st commercial laundry established, in Oaklan, California
1854 - Henry Meyer patents sleeping rail car
1862 - -20] Battle at Blackford's Ford Virginia
1862 - Battle at Iuka Mississippi (1,700 casualties)
1863 - Battle of Chickamauga GA (near Chattanooga) begins; Union retreat
1864 - 3rd Battle of Winchester Virginia (Opequon, 3rd Winchester)
1865 - Atlanta University forms
1870 - Siege of Paris begins
1873 - Black Friday: Jay Cooke & Co fails, causing a securities panic
1876 - 1st carpet sweeper patented (Melville Bissell of Grand Rapids, Mich)
1876 - Talks begin to set up a football club in Ottawa
1879 - Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track & field record pole-vaulting 11' 2�" at age 17 years & 198 days
1888 - World's 1st beauty contest (Spa Belgium)
1890 - Turkish frigate "Ertogrul" burns off of Japan, kills 540
1893 - NZ is 1st country to grant all its women the right to vote
1901 - 11 baseball games canceled due to funeral of Pres William McKinley
1903 - King Leopold II deny Belgian cruelty in Congo
1904 - Gen Nogi's assault on Port Arthur: 16,000 Japanese casualties
1908 - Gustav Mahler's 7th Symphony, premieres in Prague
1910 - George Cohan's "Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford," premieres in NYC
1911 - Red Tuesday-20,000 protest for universal rights
1912 - Pius X encyclical Singular quadam, against interconfess unions
1912 - Soccer team NAC (Noad Advendo Combination) forms in Breda
1914 - Brooklyn's Ed Lafitte no-hits KC (Federal League), 6-2
1916 - 1st landing on Schiphol (Farman F-22 of Soesterberg)
1916 - Belgian troops conquer Tabora, German East Africa
1921 - 41st US Mens Tennis: William T Tilden beats Wm M Johnston (61 63 61)
1922 - Queen Wilhelmina's takes Dutch throne with 119 word speech
1923 - Ernst Tollers "Hinkemann," premieres in Leipzig
1925 - 45th US Mens Tennis: Wm T Tilden beats Wm M Johnston (46 119 63 46 63)
1926 - 80,000 demonstrate for democratic peace in Hague
1926 - The San Siro is inaugurated with a match between AC Milan and Inter.
1928 - Mickey Mouse's screen debut (Steamboat Willie at Colony Theater NYC)
1929 - Latvia dictator A Woldemaras chased out
1931 - 14th PGA Championship: Tom Creavy at Wannamoisett CC Rumford RI
1931 - Japanese troops conquer Mukden, South Manchuria
1931 - Lefty Grove wins his 30th game of season over White Sox, 2-1
1933 - NY Giants clinch the pennant
1934 - Bruno Haptmann arrested for kidnapping Lindbergh baby
1939 - British Expeditionary Force reaches France
1939 - Lord Haw-Haw becomes radio host of Reichsrundfunk Berlin
1939 - Wehrmacht (German regular army) murders 100 Jews in Lukov Poland
1940 - Nazi decree forbids gentile woman to work in Jewish homes
1940 - Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.
1941 - 1st meeting of partizans Tito & Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia
1941 - German army conquerors Kiev
1941 - Nazi's force German Jews, 6 & over to wear Jewish stars
1943 - Fanny Whiteers-Koen breaks jumping world record
1943 - Liberator bombers sinks U-341
1944 - Finland & Russia agree to cease fire
1944 - Luftwaffe bombs Eindhoven: 200 killed
1944 - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union is signed. (End of the Continuation War).
1945 - Kim Il Sung arrives in harbor of Wonsan, Korea
1945 - Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London
1947 - Jackie Robinson is named 1947 "Rookie of Year"
1948 - 62nd US Womens Tennis: M Osborne duPont beats A L Brough (46 64 15-13)
1948 - 68th US Mens Tennis: "Pancho" Gonzales beats E Sturgess (62 63 14-12)
1948 - Richard A Gonzales wins US Tennis Open
1950 - European Payment Union forms in Paris
1950 - Great Three acknowledge Bond government as only German government
1950 - UN reject membership of China's People Republic
1951 - 1st broadcast of "Search for Tomorrow" on CBS-TV
1951 - Italian civil servants strike for pay increase
1952 - The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.
1953 - "Hazel Flagg" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 190 perfs
1954 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Wichita Golf Open
1955 - Argentine president Juan Peron, resigns & flees
1955 - Cubs slugger Ernie Banks hits record 5th grand slam of season
1955 - Hurricane Hilda, kills 200 in Mexico
1956 - 1st intl conference of black writers & artists meets (Sorbonne)
1957 - 1st underground nuclear explosion at Las Vegas Nevada
1957 - First American underground nuclear bomb test.
1957 - Dalida is the first artist to be awarded a gold record in France for 300,000 sales of "Bambino".
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - Nikita Khrushchev is denied access to Disneyland
1960 - Chubby Checkers' "Twist" reaches #1
1961 - Betty and Barney Hill claim that they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them.
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is founded at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
1965 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Visalia Golf Open
1965 - Erhards CDU wins West German parliament elections
1966 - Mike Burke named Yankees pres
1967 - Nigeria begins offensive against Biafra
1968 - Denny McLain's 31st win & Mickey Mantle's 535th HR
1970 - "Mary Tyler Moore" show premieres
1971 - 1st NYC Women's Marathon won by Beth Bonner in 2:55:22
1971 - 2nd NYC Marathon won by Norman Higgins in 2:22:54
1972 - A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
1973 - Carl XVI Gustaf, becomes King of Sweden
1973 - Frank Robinson homers in record 32nd ML park (Arlington Tx)
1973 - NL refuses to allow San Diego Padres move to Washington DC
1973 - Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May NJ) forms
1973 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1974 - -20] Hurricane Fifi hits coast of Honduras; about 5,000 die
1975 - Indonesia sends troops to Portuguese East Timor
1976 - "Going Up" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 49 performances
1976 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Portland Golf Classic
1979 - No Nukes Concert at Madison Square Garden includes Springsteen & Crosby, Stills & Nash
1980 - Titan II missile explosion (Damascus, AR)
1981 - Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel perform a reunion concert in Central Park
1981 - Satellites China 10 & 11 launched into Earth orbit by B-1 rocket
1981 - Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a NYC Central Park concert
1982 - 34th Emmy Awards: Hill St Blue, Barney Miller, Alan Alda & Carol Kane
1982 - New Orleans Saints 1st road shutout victory beating Chic Bears 10-0
1982 - Sandra Haynie/Kathy McMullen wins Portland Ping Team Golf Championship
1982 - Streetcars stop running on Market St after 122 years of service
1983 - David Slowinski on 2 CRAY-1 comp's find 2^132049-1 prime #
1983 - St Kitts & Nevis declares independence from UK
1984 - Britain & China complete a proposed agreement to transfer Hong Kong to China by 1997
1985 - 12,000 die & 40,000 injured in Mexico's earthquake (8.1)
1986 - "Captain EO" with Michael Jackson premieres
1986 - Chic White Sox Joe Crowley no-hits California Angels, 7-1
1986 - Dean Jones scores 210 v India at Madras
1986 - Fed health officials announce AZT will be available to AIDS patients
1987 - Kaye Lani Rae Rafko (Mich), 24, crowned 61st Miss America
1988 - Israel launches 1st satellite, for secret military reconnaissance
1988 - US Olympic diver Greg Louganis hits his head on diving board
1989 - Chase Manhattan Discovery Center at Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens
1989 - French DC-10 crashes near Niger, 171 die
1989 - Appeals court restores America's Cup to US after NY Supreme Court gave it to NZ (NZ protested US's use of a catamaran)
1991 - Precious Bunny wins the 46th Little Brown Jug
1991 - �tzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.
1992 - Sergei Boebka pole vaults world record (6.13m)
1992 - UN Security Council votes 12-0 (3 abstentions) to dump Yugoslavia
1992 - Barry Bonds joins Willie Mays, Howard Johnson & Ron Gant as having (2) 30-HR/30-steal seasons
1993 - 45th Emmy Awards: Seinfeld, Picket Fences & Ted Danson wins
1993 - Actress Michele Phillips (Knots Landing) is robbed at gunpoint
1993 - Brandie Burton wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1993 - Kimberly Clarice Aiken, 18, Miss SC wins 67th Miss America
1993 - Parliamentary election in Poland
1993 - Tom Glavine wins 20 games in 3 straight years
1994 - 3000 US militia lands on Haiti
1994 - Swedish government of Bildt resigns
1995 - Andres Galarraga is 4th to hit 30 HRs for Rockies in 1995
1995 - Padres Ken Caminiti switch hits HRs in 3rd of 4 games
1995 - The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber's manifesto.
1996 - "Skylight" opens at Royale Theater NYC
1997 - Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed.
2000 - Ken Griffey, Jr. pinch-hits his 400th home run. The first major leaguer to reach the mark as a pinch-hitter
2006 - The Thai military stages a coup in Bangkok. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
Music history on Sept. 19
1928 - "The Singing Fool," with Al Jolson, was released.
1936 - "Indian Love Call" was recorded by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.
1953 - Gisele MacKenzie took over as host on NBC-TV�s "Your Hit Parade."
1955 - Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman starred in the "Producer�s Showcase" presentation of "Our Town" on NBC-TV.
1958 - Elvis Presley left a Brooklyn naval base to sail to Germany to be with his army unit.
1968 - Steppenwolf won its first gold record for "Born to be Wild."
1970 - "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out" was released by the Rolling Stones.
1973 - Gram Parsons of the Byrds died of a drug overdose.
1974 - Max Weinberg made his debut as the drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
1974 - Bad Company's debut album (self titled) goes gold.
1975 - Eric Clapton got a gold record for "I Shot The Sheriff."
1978 - "Living in the U.S.A." was released by Linda Ronstadt.
1979 - The first MUSE concert took place. The Musicians United for Safe Energy was better known as "No-Nukes."
1981 - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel recorded "The Concert in Central Park" for an HBO special. The material was recorded live in New York's Central Park.
1985 - A U.S. Senate committee heard testimony on labeling and rating of rock music, initiated by the Parents Music Resource Center.
1986 - "Press To Play" was released by Paul McCartney.
1987 - The Farm Aid concert took place at the University of Nebraska.
1987 - "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" was released by Pink Floyd. It was the first release after Roger Waters departure.
1987 - Taja Seville released her self-titled debut album.
1988 - Erasure's "A Little Respect" was released.
1992 - "The One" was released by Elton John.
1997 - VH1 aired "Storytellers" live for the first time. The show was a 90 minute special featuring Elton John from the House of Blues in New Orleans, LA.
1997 - Rich Mullins died in a car accident in LaSalle County, IL.
2000 - Madonna's album "Music" was released.
2010 - In Baltimore, MD, a bronze bust of Frank Zappa was dedicated outside an east Baltimore library.
Sports history on Sept. 19
1901 - All major league baseball games were canceled for the funeral of U.S. President William McKinley.
1949 - Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh Pirates) became the first National League player to hit 50 home runs in two different seasons.
1984 - Pete Rose reached the 100-hit plateau for the 22nd consecutive year. He also tied the National League record for doubles with 725.
1997 - Mark McGwire became the first major league player to hit 20 or more home runs for two teams in the same season. It was his 54th home run of the year.
1999 - Sammy Sosa was became the first major league player to hit 60 home runs twice.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 19
Jan Luyts 1655
Billy Ward (Billy Ward and the Dominoes) 1921
Duke Snider 1926
Nick Massi (The Four Seasons) 1935
Al Oerter 1936
Sylvia Tyson (Ian and Sylvia) 1940
Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers) 1940
Joe Morgan 1943
"Mama" Cass Elliott (The Mamas and Papas) 1943
Randolph Mantooth 1945
John Coghlan (Status Quo) 1946
Lol Creme (10cc, Godley & Creme) 1947
Jeremy Irons 1948
Espraronza Griffin (Society of Soul) 1969
Quote for today:
C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg.
- Bjarne Stroustrup
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 19 2012, 05:40 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 20
368 - Emperor Valentinianus visits Nijmegen
451 - General Aetius defeats Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne
622 - Prophet Mohammed/Abu Bakr arrives in Jathrib (Medina)
1066 - Battle at Fulford: King of Norway, Harald III Hardrada defeats British militia
1187 - Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
1258 - Cathedral of Salisbury inaugurated
1378 - Robert de Geneve, "butcher of Cesena" crowned anti-pope Clemens VII
1519 - Ferdinand Magellan starts 1st successful circumnavigation of world
1530 - Luther advises protestant monarch compromise
1565 - Spaniards capture Fort Caroline Fla & massacre the French
1596 - Diego de Montemayor founded the city of Monterrey in New Spain.
1604 - Spanish army under Spinola recaptures Oostende
1620 - Battle at Jassy: Turks beat king Sigismund III of Poland
1643 - 1st battle at Newbury: King Charles I vs Robert Devereux' armies
1664 - Maryland passes 1st anti-amalgamation law to stop intermarriage of English women & black men
1674 - 2nd West Indie Company forms
1688 - French troops occupies Palts
1697 - Peace of Saki (ends 9 years war)
1737 - Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase forcing the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km�) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie flees to France from Scotland
1777 - Paoli massacre
1787 - Prince Willem V returns to Hague
1792 - French defeat Prussians at Valmy
1793 - British troops under maj-gen Williamson lands on (French) Haiti
1797 - US frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides) launched in Boston
1830 - 1st Negro Convention of Free Men agree to boycott slave-produced goods
1833 - Charles Darwin rides horse to Buenos Aires
1835 - Farroupilha's Revolution begins in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
1839 - 1st railroad in Netherland opens (Amsterdam-Haarlem)
1848 - The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
1850 - Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue
1854 - Battle at Alma Krim: 1,000 British soldiers died
1854 - British & French defeat Russians at Alma, in Crimea
1859 - George Simpson patents electric range
1860 - 1st British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII)
1861 - Battle of Lexington, MI-captured by Union
1863 - Battle of Shepardstown VA
1863 - Civil War Battle of Chickamauga, near Chattanooga Tenn, ends
1870 - Italian army under Victor Emmanuel II seizes Rome from the French
1870 - Mayor William Tweed accused of robbing NY treasury
1870 - Pope Pius IX surrenders to King Victor Emmanuel
1871 - Bishop John Coleridge Patteson martyred on the island of Nukapu, a Polynesian outlier island now in the Temotu province of the Solomon Islands. He was the first bishop of Melanesia.
1873 - Panic sweeps NY Stock Exchange (railroad bond default/bank failure) NY shut banks for 10 days due to a bank scandal
1876 - Ottawa Football Club forms
1877 - Chase National Bank opens in NYC (later merges into Chase Manhattan)
1879 - US Grants come to SF for elaborate extended visit
1881 - Chester A Arthur sworn in as 21st president
1884 - 6.2 mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria
1884 - Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for Pres & VP
1891 - The first gasoline-powered car debuts in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
1902 - Chic White Sox Jim Callahan no-hits Detroit Tigers, 3-0
1904 - George Ade's "College Widow," premieres in NYC
1904 - Orville & Wilbur Wright fly a circle in their Flyer II
1905 - Cleveland makes AL record 7 errors in an inning
1906 - Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania is launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle, England.
1907 - Pitts Nick Maddox no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 2-1
1908 - Chic White Sox Frank Smith 2nd no-hitter, beats Phila 1-0
1911 - Yanks set team record 12 errors in a double header
1913 - 19th US Golf Open: Francis Ouimet shoots a 304 at The Country Club MA
1917 - British assault on Polygon-forest, France
1917 - Paraguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1918 - Royal Dutch Blast furnace & Steel factory opens in Hague
1919 - 2nd PGA Championship: Jim Barnes at Engineers CC Roslyn NY
1919 - Babe Ruth ties Ned Williamson's major league mark of 27 HRs
1919 - Booth Tarkington's "Clarence," premieres in NYC
1920 - Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
1922 - Goodman & Atteridge's musical "Passing Show," premieres in NYC
1922 - Rogers Hornsby ends hitting streak of 33 games
1924 - Carl Mays is 1st pitcher to win 20 games seasons for 3 different teams
1924 - Cub's Grover Cleveland Alexander beats NY Giants to win 300th game
1927 - NY Yankee Babe Ruth hits record 60th HR of season off Tom Zachry
1930 - Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is formed by Archbishop Mar Ivanios.
1931 - Lou Gehrig's 4 RBIs break his old RBI mark of 175 en route to 184
1932 - Chicago Cubs clinch the NL pennant
1932 - Dutch South Seas rebaptized in IJsselmeer
1932 - Gandhi begins hunger strike against treatment of untouchables
1933 - Pittsburgh Steelers (as Pirates) play 1st NFL game, lose 23-2
1935 - Pitts Crawfords beat NY Cubans to win Negro NL Championship, 3-0
1938 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's Suite for jazz orchestra, premieres
1938 - Emlyn Williams' "Corn is Green," premieres in London
1939 - British fleet takes German U-27 boat
1939 - Joe Louis KOs Bob Pastor in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1942 - Gunther Hagg becomes world champ of all records from 1500m to 5000m
1943 - Liberator bombers sinks U-338
1944 - Nijmegen is liberated from German occupation
1944 - Polish forces free Terneuzen Neth
1945 - German rocket engineers begin work in US
1946 - Churchill argues for a "US of Europe"
1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival is held.
1948 - "Magdalena" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 48 performances
1948 - Mexican Baseball league disbanded
1949 - Dutch Guilder devalued 30.3%
1949 - Tennis player Pancho Gonzales turns professional
1951 - 1st North Pole jet crossing
1951 - NL President Ford Frick elected 3rd commissioner of baseball
1951 - Swiss males votes against female suffrage
1952 - KPTV TV channel 12 in Portland, OR (IND) begins broadcasting
1953 - Cubs Ernie Banks hits his 1st major league HR
1954 - 1st FORTRAN computer program run
1954 - 1st National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution
1954 - KETC TV channel 9 in Saint Louis, MO (PBS) begins broadcasting
1954 - Los Stravinsky's "In Memoriam Dylan Thomas," premieres in Angeles
1954 - Roger Bannister awarded Britain's Silver Pears Trophy
1954 - New Zealand's Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents reports just ten days after concluding hearings.
1955 - Willie Mays (Giants) homers off Vern Law (Pirates) in both ends of DH
1955 - Willie Mays is 7th player to reach 50 HRS in a season
1958 - Baltimore Oriole knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm no-hits NY Yankees 1-0
1958 - Ferhat Abbas forms Algerian government in exile (Cairo)
1958 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1959 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Links Golf Invitation Open
1960 - UN General Assembly admit 13 African countries & Cyprus (96 nations)
1960 - WFSU TV channel 11 in Tallahassee, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1961 - After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls
1961 - James Meredith refused access as a student in Mississippi
1961 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1961 - Roger Maris hits home run # 59 & barely misses # 60 in game 154 of the season. Yanks clinch pennant #26
1962 - Ben Bella wins 1st elections in independent Algeria
1962 - Gov R Barnett refuses to admit a black to Miss Univ (James Meredith)
1963 - JFK proposes a joint US-Soviet voyage to the moon
1964 - Gunter Grass' "Die Plebejern proben den Aufstand," premieres in Berlin
1964 - Paramount Theater (NYC) presented the Beatles with Steve & Eydie
1965 - WXXW (now WYCC) TV channel 20 in Chicago, IL (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - Passenger ship Queen Elizabeth II launched
1966 - US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashed Sept 23
1967 - Benin separates from Nigeria
1967 - British liner Queen Elizabeth II launched at Clydebank Scotland
1967 - Hurricane Beulah hits Texas-Mexican border, kills 38
1967 - WCAE TV channel 50 in St John, IN (PBS) begins broadcasting
1967 - WCIX TV channel 6 in Miami, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - Mickey Mantle hits final career homer # 536
1969 - 18th Ryder Cup: Draw, 16-16 at Royal Birkdale, England
1969 - Archies' "Sugar Sugar" hits #1
1969 - Pitts Pirate Bob Moose no-hits NY Mets, 4-0
1970 - Jim Morrison found not guilty of "lewd" behavior
1970 - Luna 16 lands on Moon's Mare Fecunditatis, drills core sample
1972 - Police find cannabis growing on Paul & Linda McCartney's farm
1973 - Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match
1973 - Willie Mays announces retirement at end of 1973 season
1975 - 21st Ryder Cup: US, 21-11 at Laurel Valley Golf Club (Ligonier, Pennsylvania, US)
1975 - David Bowie's "Fame," single goes #1 for 2 weeks
1975 - Gary Sentman draws a record 176 lb longbow to a maximum 28�" draw
1976 - Metroliner official opens in Brussels
1976 - Playboy releases Jimmy Carter's interview that he lusts for women
1976 - Sid Berstein offers $230 million charity concert for Beatle reunion
1977 - "Estrada" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 7 performances
1977 - Vietnam & Djibouti ask for membership in UN
1978 - "Eubie!" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 439 performances
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1978 - Yamada Mumon Roshi visits Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach Germany
1979 - Coup in Central African Rep: David Dacko overthrows emperor Bokassa I
1979 - Jose E dod Santos becomes president of Angola
1979 - NASA launches HEAO
1979 - Lee Iacocca is elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.
1979 - The Punjab wing of the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) formally splits and constitutes a parallel UCCRI(ML).
1979 - Assassination of French left-wing militant Pierre Goldman.
1980 - Bronze plaque dedicated to memory of Thurman Munson at Yankee Stadium
1980 - George Brett goes 0-for-4 dropping his avg below .400 for good
1980 - Plaque dedicated in Thurman Munson's memory at Yankee Stadium
1980 - Spectacular Bid runs in Belmont alone as 3 horses drop out
1981 - 24th Ryder Cup: US, 18�-9� at Walton Heath Golf Club (Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England)
1981 - Belize declares independence
1981 - Joe Danelo kicks then NY Giant record 55 yard field goal
1981 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Henredon Golf Classic
1982 - Jalaluddin takes a one-day hat-trick Pakistan v Australia
1982 - NFL players begin a 57 day strike
1983 - 3,112 turn out to see Pirates play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1983 - Cryptographic Communications System & Method (RSA) patented
1984 - "Cosby Show" premieres on NBC-TV
1984 - Cubs break 2 million in home attendance for 1st time
1984 - Suicide car bomb attacks US Embassy annex in Beirut, kills 23
1985 - Curtis Strong is convicted for selling cocaine to pro baseball players
1985 - Walt Disney World's 200-millionth guest
1986 - Wichita State Shockers blow a 35-3 lead; lose 36-35 to Morehead State
1987 - "Big River" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 1005 perfs
1987 - 39th Emmy Awards: LA Law, Bruce Willis & Sharon Gless wins
1987 - Alain Prost wins record 28th Formula one auto race
1987 - Dwight Clark ends NFL streak of 105 consecutive game receptions
1987 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1987 - Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown
1988 - Darrell Evans hits his 400th career home run
1988 - Greg Louganis wins Olympic gold medal in springboard diving
1988 - Wade Boggs is 1st player to get 200 hits for 6 consecutive seasons
1989 - FW De Klerk sworn in as president of South Africa
1989 - Musical "Miss Saigon," premieres in London
1989 - USAir overshoots runway at LaGuardia Airport in NYC, 2 people die
1990 - Both Germanys ratify reunification
1990 - Saddam Hussein demands US networks broadcast his message
1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1990 - South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
1991 - Lion's Terry Taylor reinstated after 1 year drug related suspension
1992 - Colleen Walker wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1992 - France votes in favor of Maastricht treaty
1992 - Leanza Cornett (Florida), 21, crowned 66th Miss America 1993
1992 - Phils' Mickey Moradini makes an unassisted triple play
1992 - Space shuttle STS-47 (Endeavour 2) lands
1994 - Space shuttle STS-64 (Discovery 20), lands
1995 - Cincinnati Reds becomes 1st team to clinch NL Central
1997 - Yanks clinch 37th appearance in post season, 3rd consecutive
1998 - Solheim Cup
2000 - Patent on RSA cryptograph algorithm ends
2000 - The British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by a Russian-built Mark 22 anti-tank missile.
2001 - In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror".
2002 - The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide started.
2003 - Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Mal�.
2003 - A referendum is held in Latvia to decide the country's accession to the European Union.
2011 - The United States ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
Music history on Sept. 20
1877 - Composer Armand Marsick was born.
1948 - The Four Freshman got their first gig in Fort Wayne, IN.
1964 - After a charity show that finished their U.S. tour, the Beatles appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show."
1966 - George Harrison went to India for his first visit to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
1969 - Associated TV bought control of the Beatles' music publishing company, Northern Songs, for a million pounds.
1970 - Jim Morrison was found guilty, in Miami, FL, of indecent exposure and profanity. He was acquitted on charges of "lewd and lascivious" behavior. The charges were related to a performance by the Doors.
1971 - Peter Frampton quit Humble Pie to follow a solo career.
1972 - Police found cannabis growing on the farm of Paul and Linda McCartney.
1973 - Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash on his way to Sherman, TX, for a concert. Maury Muehleisen and four others were also killed.
1973 - The Roxy Theater opened in Los Angeles, CA. The opening acts were Elton John, Carole King and Jackson Browne.
1975 - The Bay City Rollers appeared live on the premiere of the Howard Cosell's Saturday Night show on ABC-TV. It was their U.S. debut.
1975 - The single "Born to Run" was released by Bruce Springsteen.
1976 - The Captain & Tennille show premiered on ABC-TV.
1983 - The ARMS Benefit concert was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The concert was to raise money for research of Multiple Sclerosis.
1995 - Natalie Merchant started her first solo tour after leaving the 10,000 Maniacs. She was supporting her first solo album "Tigerlily."
1998 - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum paid tribute to Robert Johnson with eight days of activities. Johnson only recorded 29 songs before dying in August of 1938.
Sports history on Sept. 20
1876 - Candy Cummings (Hartford) pitched two complete games in one day. He won 14-4 and 8-4.
1902 - Jim Callaghan pitched the first no-hitter in Chicago White Sox history.
1927 - Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season. He beat his own record of 59 that he set in 1921.
1955 - Ernie Banks (Chicago Cubs) set a major league record with his fifth grand slam of the year.
1968 - Denny McClain (Detroit Tigers) became the first player to achieve 31 wins in 37 years.
1973 - Willie Mays announced that he would retire at the end of the season.
1973 - In an exhibition tennis match, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in three straight sets. The event is viewed as a milestone in women's sports.
1981 - Marcus Allen (USC) rushed for 274 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 21-0 victory over Indiana.
1982 - The NFL Players Association announced that a strike would begin at the completion of the Packers-Giants game on Monday night.
1984 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) recorded his 100th hit of the season. It was the 22nd consecutive season he had recorded at least 100 hits in a season.
1985 - Tommy Kramer (Minnesota Vikings) threw for 436 yards and three touchdowns. The Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears 33-24.
1986 - Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres) stole five bases in one game against Houston.
1987 - Walter Payton scored his 107th touchdown to break the NFL record held by Jim Brown.
1993 - John Carney (San Diego Chargers) kicked six field goals to extend his consecutive field goal streak to 29 straight games. The Chargers beat the Houston Oilers 18-17.
1998 - Cal Ripken, Jr. (Baltimore Orioles) ended his record streak of playing in 2,632 games. He had played in every game since May 30, 1982.
2002 - Tom Gamboa, coach of the Kansas City Royals, was attacked by a man and his son while he was standing near first base. The two fans were arrested and charged with battery.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 20
Upton Sinclair 1878
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton 1890
Chuck Dressen 1898
John (Chuck) Panozzo (Styx) 1947
Guy LaFleur 1951
Alannah Currie (Thompson Twins) 1957
Crispin Glover 1964
I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.
- Elvis Presley
This post has been edited by wingsovernc: Sep 20 2012, 05:34 AM
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If you have one true friend in the world you are very rich.
~ Alistair Begg
Historic events on September 21
1192 - English king Richard I the Lion hearted, captured
1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights.
1348 - Jews in Zurich Switzerland are accused of poisoning wells
1435 - Treaty of Atrecht: Philip of Bourgondy vs French king Charles II
1451 - Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa orders Jews of Holland to wear a badge
1589 - Battle at Arques: French king Henri IV beats Catholic League
1591 - French bishops recognize Henri IV as king of France
1621 - King James of England gives Canada to Sir Alexander Sterling
1648 - -23] Battle at Pilawce: Bohdan Chmielricki's beats John Casimir [NS]
1676 - Benedetto Odescalchi elected as Pope Innocent XI
1677 - John & Nicolaas van der Heyden patents fire extinguisher
1745 - Battle at Preston Pans: Bonnie Prince Charles beats English army
1746 - French expeditionary army occupies Labourdonnais & Dupleix Madras
1765 - Antoine de Beauterne announces he had killed the Beast of G�vaudan, but was later proved wrong by more attacks.
1776 - 5 days after British take NY, a � of city burns down
1776 - Great fire in NY1776 - Nathan Hale, spied on British for American rebels, arrested
1780 - Benedict Arnold gives British Major Andre plans to West Point
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US Defector General Benedict Arnold
1784 - 1st daily newspaper in America (Penns Packet & General Advertiser)
1784 - Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser 1st success US daily newspaper
1792 - 1st French Republic forms
1792 - Proposal by Collot D'Herbois, to abolish the monarchy in France
1814 - "Star Spangled Banner" published as a poem
1815 - King Willem I takes oath in Brussels
1823 - Moroni 1st appears to Joseph Smith, according to Smith
1827 - According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Joseph translated into The Book of Mormon.
1837 - Charles Tiffany founded his jewelry & china stores
1860 - In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Baliqiao.
1863 - Union forces retreat to Chattanooga after defeat at Chickamauga
1872 - John Henry Conyers of SC becomes 1st black student at Annapolis
1883 - 1st direct US-Brazil telegraph connection
1885 - Dutch demonstrate for general voting right
1893 - Frank Duryea drives 1st US made gas propelled vehicle (car)
1895 - 1st auto manufacturer opens-Duryea Motor Wagon Company
1896 - General Kitcheners army occupies Dongola Sudan
1897 - NY Sun runs famous "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus," editorial
1898 - China's empress-mother Ci Xi & emperor De Zong arrested
1898 - Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
1903 - 1st cowboy film "Kit Carson," premieres in US
1905 - Atlanta Life Insurance Co forms
1906 - Yankee 1st baseman Hal Chase's 22 put-outs ties record
1913 - 1st aerobatic maneuver, sustained inverted flight, performed in France
1913 - Turkey & Bulgaria sign peace treaty in Constantinople
1915 - CH Chubb buys Stonehenge for �6,600
1915 - Emanuel Querido ("Kerido") begins publishing Querido
1919 - 33rd US Womens Tennis: Hazel H Wightman beats M Zinderstein (61 62)
1921 - Gas explodes at Bradishe Aniline chemical works in Germany, 565 die
1921 - Pope Benedictus XV donates 1 million lire to feed Russians
1921 - Oppau explosion, a storage silo at a fertilizer producing plant exploded in Oppau, Germany, 500�600 killed.
1922 - Pres Warren G Harding signs a joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine
1928 - "My Weekly Reader" magazine made its debut
1929 - 1st legal pass in Canada was thrown by Gerry Seiberling & 1st reception by Ralph Losie of Calgary Altomah-Tigers against Edmonton
1930 - Johann Ostermeyer patents flashbulb
1931 - Britain abandons gold standard/pound devalues 20%
1933 - Trial against Marinus der Lubbe opens
1934 - St Louis Card Paul Dean no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 3-0
1934 - Typhoon strikes Honshu Island Japan, kills 4,000
1936 - Spanish fascist junta names Franco to generalissimo/supreme commander
1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is published
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Writer J. R. R. Tolkien
1938 - Hurricane (183 MPH winds) in New England kills 700
1938 - Winston Churchill condemns Hitler's annexation of Czechoslovakia
1938 - The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island in New York. The death toll is estimated at 500-700 people.
1939 - Reinhard Heydrich meets in Berlin to discuss final solution of Jews
1941 - US launches its 1st Liberty-ship, "Patrick Henry"
1942 - 116 hostages executed by Nazis in Paris
1942 - Transport nr 35 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1943 - Arundel (Solomon Island) in US hands
1943 - Lynch Triangle (Square) in Bronx named
1943 - Russian 13th/61st Army reconquer Chyernigov
1943 - Soviet forces reach Dnjepr
1944 - Last British paratroopers at bridge of Arnhem surrenders
1946 - Indians play their final game in League Park, ending a 55-year stay
1948 - "Texaco Star Theater" with Milton Berle premieres on NBC-TV
1949 - Chinese Communist leaders proclaims People's Republic of China
1949 - Federal Republic of [West] Germany created under 3-power occupation
1950 - George Marshall sworn in as the 3rd Secretary of Defense of United States.
1951 - Emil Zatopek runs 15,000m in record 44 min, 54.6 sec
1953 - Allied forces form West Germany
1953 - KRDO TV channel 13 in Colorado Spgs-Pueblo, CO (ABC) 1st broadcast
1954 - 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, commissioned
1954 - Kleffens appointed chairman of General Meeting UN
1955 - Last allied occupying troops leave Austria
1955 - Rocky Marciano KOs Archie Moore in 9 for heavyweight boxing title
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Heavyweight Champion Boxer Rocky Marciano
1955 - USSR performs nuclear test
1955 - Heavyweight champ Rocky Mariano KOs Archie Moore in round 9
1956 - Yanks set dubious record, stranding 20 men on base Mantle hits a 500' plus homer but Red Sox win 13-9 in Fenway
1957 - "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr premieres on CBS-TV
1957 - German sailing school ship Pamir sails Atlantic Ocean
1957 - Olav V, becomes king of Norway
1957 - Pote Sarasin forms government in Thailand
1958 - 1st airplane flight exceeding 1200 hours, lands, Dallas Tx
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 600 Indian Dutch emigrate to US
1961 - Antonio Abertondo swims English Channel round trip (44 miles)
1961 - Maiden flight of the CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter.
1964 - Constellation (US) beats Sovereign (England) in 20th America's Cup
1964 - Malta gains independence from Britain
1964 - Reds Chico Ruiz steals home, beats Phillies 1-0. Phillies start a 10 game losing streak that gives Cards the pennant
1964 - Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1964 - The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world's first Mach 3 bomber, made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.
1965 - O Kommissarova (USSR) sets women's longest parachute jump (46,250')
1965 - Singapore admitted as a part of the United Nations.
1966 - 5" of rain falls on NYC
1966 - Jimmy Hendrix changes spelling of his name to Jimi
1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 - 58th Davis Cup: USA beats Romania in Cleveland (5-0)
1969 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA Lincoln-Mercury Golf Open
1969 - NY Jet Steve O'Neal punts 98 yards against Denver Broncos
1969 - Ron Hill wins European marathon (2:16:47.8)
1970 - "Monday Night Football" premieres on ABC - Browns 31, Jets 21
1970 - KAPP TV channel 35 in Yakima, WA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1970 - Luna 16 leaves Moon
1970 - Oakland A's Vida Blue no-hits Minnesota Twins, 6-0
1970 - New York Times starts first modern op-ed page.
1971 - AL OKs Washington Senator move to Arlington (Texas Rangers)
1971 - John Lennon & Yoko Ono are Dick Cavett's only guest
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Artist & Musician Yoko Ono
1972 - Marcos declares martial law in Philippines
1972 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1973 - Jackson Pollocks painting "Blue Poles" sold for $2,000,000
1973 - NY Mets go into 1st place (at .500) after trailing 12� games
1973 - Nate Archibald signs 7 yr contract with NBA KC Kings for $450,000
1974 - US Mariner 10 makes 2nd fly-by of Mercury
1975 - Jo Ann Washam wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Classic
1976 - Wings performs in Zagreb Yugoslavia
1976 - Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Chilean socialist government of Salvador Allende, overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet.
1977 - US minister of Foreign affairs Cyrus Vance dismissed
1979 - Two RAF Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump-jets from RAF Wittering collide over the UK. Both pilots ejected safely. One of the jets broke up in midair and fell harmlessly into a field but the other dropped onto the centre of Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, destroying two houses and a bungalow. Several people were injured in the accident and three people were killed.
1980 - Donna Caponi Young wins LPGA ERA Real Estate Golf Classic
1980 - LA Ram Johnnie Johnson scores a 99 yard interception
1980 - Richard Todd of NY Jets completes 42 passes in a game (NFL record)
1980 - Kerry GAA beat Roscommon GAA in Croke Park during the All-Ireland Football Final by 1-9 to 1-6 thus winning the championship and a three-in-a-row.
1981 - Belize (British Honduras) gains independence from UK
1981 - Sandra Day O'Conner becomes 1st female Supreme Court Justice
1981 - Steve Carlton strikes out NL record 3,118th (Andre Dawson)
1982 - 2,251 turn out to see Expos play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
1982 - Devils beat Rangers 3-2 in exhibition; 1st hockey in Meadowlands (NJ)
1982 - NFL players begin a 57 day strike
1982 - SF cable cars cease operations for 2 years of repairs
1982 - STS-5 vehicle moves to launch pad
1983 - 11 killed in anti Marcos demonstrations in Manila
1983 - David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," premieres in London
1983 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 - NASA launches Galaxy-C
1985 - Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion
1986 - 38th Emmy Awards: Golden Girls, Cagney & Lacey & Michael J Fox win
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Actor Michael J. Fox
1986 - Miami Dan Marino passes for 6 touchdowns vs NY Jets (51-45)
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Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback Dan Marino
1986 - NY Jets beat Miami Dolphins 51-45 in OT; record 884 passing yards
1986 - New Orleans Saints Mel Gray returns kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown
1986 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1986 - SD Padre Jimmy Jones pitchs 1-hitter in his major league debut
1986 - Kerry GAA beat Tyrone GAA in Croke Park during the All-Ireland Football Final by 2-15 to 1-10 thus winning the championship and a three-in-a-row.
1987 - 3 Belgian minesweepers depart to Persians Gulf
1988 - Mike Tyson smashes TV camera outside his Bernardsville NJ home
1989 - Poland's Sejm (National Assembly) approves prime minister Mazowiecki
1990 - Oakland A's Bob Welch becomes 1st 25 game winner in 10 years
1990 - Pirate Bobby Bond is 2nd to hit 30 HRs & steal 50 bases in a season (so he can play in 6 decades) because it is a publicity stunt
1990 - Faye Vincent turns down White Sox bid to reinstate Minnie Minoso, 68
1991 - Armenia votes on whether to remain in Soviet Union
1991 - USA Basketball announces "Dream Team" for the 1992 Olympics
1993 - Ukraine government of Kutshma resigns
1994 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Ft Laud/Miami Fl (WBGG 105.9 FM)
1995 - The Hindu milk miracle occurs, in which statues of the Hindu God Ganesh began drinking milk when spoonfuls were placed near their mouths.
1996 - Christie Brinkey gets married for 4th time, she marries Peter Cook
1996 - John F Kennedy Jr marries Caroline Bisset
1997 - Brickyard Crossing Senior Golf Championhsip
1997 - Liselotte Neumann wins LPGA PING Welch's Championship
1997 - Mike Piazza is 2nd to hit a HR out of Dodger Stadium
1997 - NY Yankee Cecil Fielder hits his 300th HR
1997 - Tim Herron wins Texas Golf Open shooting a 271
1999 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.
2001 - Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.
2001 - University of Roorkee, becomes India's 7th Indian Institute of Technology, rechristened as IIT Roorkee
2001 - AZF chemical plant explodes in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people
2003 - Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
2004 - The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merge to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
2004 - Construction of the Burj Dubai starts.
2008 - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.
2008 - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa resigns from office, effective September 25.
2008 - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel formally resigns from office, effective as soon as his successor Tzipi Livni has successfully assembled a new government.
2008 - The final home game is played at Yankee Stadium against the Baltimore Orioles.
Music history on September 21
1874 - Composer Gustav Theodore Holst was born.
1968 - "All Along the Watchtower" was released by Jimi Hendrix.
1972 - ABC-TV debuted "In Concert." Alice Cooper appeared in the first episode.
1974 - BTO released "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet."
1974 - Jeff "Skunk" Baxter joined the Doobie Brothers.
1976 - The 20th album by the Bee Gees, "Children of the World," was released.
1980 - Elton John signed a long-term exclusive contract with Geffen Records.
1984 - "Tonight" was released by David Bowie.
1989 - The Bangles broke up.
1993 - Nirvana's album "In Utero" was released.
1996 - Hank Williams III, at 23 years old, made his Grand Ole Opry debut.
1999 - HBO's live music show, "Reverb," debuted with performances by Alanis Morissette and Everlast.
2001 - "America: A Tribute to Heroes" was shown on 35 seperate broadcast and cable networks simultaneously. The telethon raised $150 million in pledges to benefit families of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. The pledges were made from September 21 through September 24, 2001.
2003 - In San Francisco, CA, Duran Duran played a concert in Golden Gate Park.
Sports history on September 21
1970 - "NFL Monday Night Football" made its debut on ABC-TV. The game was between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. The Browns won 31-21.
1971 - The American League approved the move of the Washington Senators to Arlington, TX.
1982 - National Football League (NFL) players began a 57-day strike. It was their first regular-season walkout.
2008 - The New York Yankees played their last game at Yankee Stadium. The new Yankee Stadium opened across the street in 2009.
Famous birthdays on September 21
1051 - Bertha of Savoy, German queen and Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1087)
1328 - Hongwu Emperor of China (d. 1398)
1372 - Frederik I van Hohenzollern, monarch of Brandenburg (1417-40)
1411 - Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (d. 1460)
1415 - Frederick III, Innsbruck Austria, German Emperor (1440-1493)
1428 - Jingtai Emperor of China (d. 1457)
1452 - Girolamo Savonarola, monk/reformer/dictator of Florence (1494-98)
1527 - Matthaus Ludecus, composer
1629 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1694)
1645 - Louis Joliet, Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
1706 - Jacob Wilhelm Lustig, composer
1706 - Polyxena Christina of Hesse-Rotenburg, queen of Sardinia (d. 1735)
1728 - Louis Emmanuel Eadin, composer
1737 - Francis Hopkinson, US, writer/lawyer (helped design Stars & Stripes)
1752 - Louise MC, countess of Albany
1756 - John Loudon McAdam, created macadam road surface (asphalt)
1758 - Christopher Gore, 8th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1827)
1760 - Gaetano Valeri, composer
1760 - Ivan Dmitriev, Russian statesman (d. 1837)
1788 - Margaret Smith Taylor, 1st lady (1849-50)
1817 - Carter Littlepage Stevenson, Major General (Confederate Army)
1817 - Charles Balmer, composer
1819 - Princess Louise Marie Th�r�se of France (d. 1864)
1820 - Williams Carter Wickham, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1824 - Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, Brigadier General (Union volunteers)
1827 - Michael Corcoran, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1832 - Friedrich Wilhelm Langhans, composer
1832 - Samuel Sprigg Carroll, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1893
1833 - Josef Richard Rozkosny, composer
1840 - Murad V, sultan of Turkey (1876)
1842 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
1843 - David Emlyn Evans, composer
1849 - Edmund Gosse, London, translator/critic (Father & Son)
1849 - Maurice Barrymore, Indian-born patriarch of the Barrymore family (d. 1905)
1853 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist (liquid helium, Nobel 1913)
1859 - Cyriel Buysse, Flemish baron/writer (Sursum Corda, Ace Knave)
1862 - James E. Talmage, LDS apostle and author (d. 1933)
1863 - John Bunny, American film comedian (d. 1915)
1866 - Charles Jean Henri Nicolle France, bacteriologist (Nobel-1928)
Science Fiction Writer H. G. Wells (1866) 1866 - H. G. Wells, Bromley, Kent, , English writer (War of the Worlds, Kipps), (d. 1946)
1867 - Henry Lewis Stimson, US minister of War (1911-13)
1869 - Henryk Melcer-Szczawinski, composer
1871 - Ernst Heldring, Dutch merchant/ship owner/financier
1873 - Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
1874 - Gustav Theodore Holst, Cheltenham, England, composer (Planets)
1880 - Henry Louis Mencken, US essayist/critic (American Mercury)
1882 - Alf Thorbald Hurum, composer
1884 - Hugh "Shorty" Ray, supervisor of NFL officials, HOF member
1885 - Thomas Alexandrovich de Hartmann, composer
1886 - Teiichi Igarashi, Japan, climed Mt Fuji at age 99
1887 - Lodewijk de Vocht, composer
1889 - Otto Forst de Battaglia, Austrian diplomat/genealogist
1893 - Moses Pergament, composer
1894 - Tullio Carminati, Zara Dalmatia Italy, actor (Roman Holiday)
1895 - Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (d. 1925)
1898 - Tushar Kanti Ghosh, world's oldest/longest serving newspaper Editor
1899 - Luc Haesaerts, Flemish art critic (Flandre)
1899 - Frederick Coutts, the 8th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1986)
1901 - Adele Bochner
1902 - Allen Lane, English publisher/founder (Penguin Books)
1902 - Learie [Nicholas] Constantine, Trinidad cricket player
1902 - Limari Salminen, Finland, 10K run (Olympic-gold-1936)
1904 - Hans Hartung, German/French painter
1905 - Robert Lebel, French Canadian ice hockey executive (d. 1999)
1906 - Derrick De Marney, London England, actor (Inheritance)
1906 - Henry Beachell, American plant breeder (d. 2006)
1907 - Helen Foster Snow, writer
1907 - Lloyd Gough, actor (Mike Axford-Green Hornet)
1912 - Chuck Jones, animator (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck)
1912 - Gy�rgy S�ndor, Hungarian pianist (d. 2005)
1913 - Ulrich Ernst Simon, theologian
1914 - John Kluge, Chemnitz Germany, media CEO (Metromedia)/billionaire
1916 - Jagernath Lachmon, premier Suriname
1916 - Fran�oise Giroud, French journalist and politician (d. 2003)
1917 - Phyllis Nicolson, British mathematician (d. 1968)
1918 - Rand Brooks, LA California, actor (Cpl Boone-Rin Tin Tin)
1919 - Aya Zikken, author (Atlasvlinder, Rameh)
1919 - Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
1919 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (d. 1988)
1920 - Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky & his Friends, Bullwinkle)
1922 - Lode Backx, Flemish pianist
1923 - Harry JN Vane 11th Lord Barnard, English large landowner
1924 - Gail Russell, Chicago IL, actress (Uninvited, Moonrise, Unseen)
1926 - Donald A Glaser, physicist (Nobel-1960)
1926 - Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d. 2000)
1929 - Bernard Williams, English philosopher (d. 2003)
1929 - S�ndor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (d. 1979)
1930 - Dawn Addams, Felixstown Engl, actress (Alan Young Show, Star Maidens)
1931 - Larry Hagman, Fort Worth Tx, TV actor (I Dream of Jeannie, JR-Dallas)
1932 - Don Preston, rocker (Mothers Of Invention)
1932 - Melvin Van Peebles, US, playwright/director (Watermelon Man)
1934 - Leonard Cohen, Montreal, singer/songwriter (Death of Ladies Man)
1935 - Henry Gibson, Germantown Pa, comedian (Nashville, Laugh-In's poet)
1935 - Jimmy Armfield, Former English Footballer and Manager
1936 - Yuriy Luzhkov, Russian politician, mayor of Moscow
1936 - Dickey Lee, American singer and songwriter
1938 - Atli Heimir Sveinsson, composer
1938 - Yuji Takahashi, composer
1940 - Bill Kurtis, Pensacola Fla, newscaster (American Parade)
1940 - Hermann Knoflacher, Austrian civil engineer
1941 - Tony Moon, rocker
1941 - R. James Woolsey, Jr., Central Intelligence Agency director
1941 - Jack Brisco, American professional wrestler
1942 - Ann Elder, Cleve Oh, comedienne (Smothers Brothers Show, Laugh-In)
1943 - Dickey Lee, [Dick Lipscomb], rocker
1944 - Fannie Flagg, Birmingham Ala, actress/comediene (Candid Camera)
1944 - Hamilton Jordan, political advisor (Crisis, Last Year of Carter Pres)
1944 - Susan Maureen Fleetwood, Scotland, actress (Krays, Sacrifice)
1944 - Steve Beshear, Democratic Governor of Kentucky.
1945 - Bjarni V Tryggvason, Reykjavik Iceland, astronaut (STS 85)
1945 - Ombrettqa Colli, Italian entertainer
1945 - Richard Childress, NASCAR team owner
1945 - Shaw Clifton, the 18th General of The Salvation Army
1946 - Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councilor
1947 - Don Felder, Gainesville Florida, American rocker (Eagles)
Horror Author Stephen KIng (1947) 1947 - Stephen King, Portland, Maine, sci-fi/horror author (Carrie, Shining, Kujo)
1947 - Marsha Norman, American playwright
1948 - Artis Gilmore, ABA all star (Kentucky Colonels)
1948 - Michael Finneran, diver (1st perfect 10 on 10m platform)
1950 - Bill Murray, Evanston Ill, Wilmette, Illinois, actor/comedian (Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters)
1950 - Charles Clarke, British politician
1951 - Bob Franks, (Rep-R-NJ)
1951 - Bruce Arena, Bkln NY, soccer coach (Olympics-gold-96)
1951 - Henk Hofstede, Dutch singer/guitarist/keyboardist (Nits)
1951 - Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen rebel leader (d. 2005)
1952 - Anneliese Michel, German exorcism victim (d. 1976)
1953 - Betty Wright, rocker
1953 - John Mengatti, NYC, actor (Nick-White Shadow, For Love & Honor)
1954 - Philthy Animal, [Philip Taylor], rock drummer (Motorhead)
1954 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
Actor/Comedian Bill Murray (1950) 1955 - Rebecca Balding, Little Rock Ark, actress (Carla-Lou Grant, Soap)
1955 - Richard J Hieb, Jamestown ND, astronaut (STS 39, 49, 65)
1955 - Mika Kaurism�ki, Finnish director
1956 - Jack Givens, American basketball player
1956 - Marta Kauffman, American television producer
1957 - Ethan Coen, Minneapolis Mn, producer (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink)
1957 - Lynette Love, US tai kwan do champ 1987/(Olympics 1988)
1957 - Kevin Rudd, Australian politician
1958 - Rick Mahorn, NBA forward (Detroit Pistons)
1958 - Bruno Fitoussi, French poker player
1959 - Corrinne Drewery, rocker (Swing Out Sister-Swing Out)
1959 - David Coulier, Detroit, actor (Joey Gladstone-Full House)
1960 - David James Elliott, Toronto, actor (Seinfeld, Lt Harmon Rabb-Jag)
1961 - Michel R Vassallucci, French/Neth publisher (Arena)
1961 - Nancy Travis, NYC, actress (Kim-Almost Perfect, Chaplin, 8 Men Out)
1962 - Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Alberta, NHL goalie (Oilers)
1962 - Rob Morrow, New Rochelle NY, actor (Dr Fleishman-Northern Exposure)
1963 - Cecil Fielder, LA California, infielder (Detroit Tigers, NY Yankees)
1963 - Curtly Ambrose, Antiguan West Indies cricketer
1963 - Angus Macfadyen, Scottish actor
1964 - Danny Hoekman, soccer player (NEC)
1964 - Danny Villa, NFL guard (KC Chiefs)
1964 - Jorge Drexler, Uruguayan singer and composer
1965 - Richard Brown, NFL linebacker (Minnesota Vikings)
1966 - Ronna Reeves, Big Spring TX
1967 - Andrea Thies, Irvington NY, rower (Olympics-92, 96)
1967 - Romeo van Aerde, soccer player (RKC)
1967 - Faith Hill, American singer
1967 - Tyler Stewart, Canadian drummer (Barenaked Ladies)
1968 - Ricki Lake, NYC, actress (Hairspray)/talk show host (Ricki)
1968 - Trugoy, rocker (De La Soul)
1969 - Jason Christiansen, Omaha NE, pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates)
1969 - Lia Biehl, LPGA golfer
1969 - Randal Hill, NFL wide receiver (Miami Dolphins)
1970 - Michael O'shea, CFL linebacker (Toronto Argonauts)
1970 - John Cudia, American actor
1971 - Alfonso Ribeiro, NYC, actor/pianist (Alfonso-Silver Spoons)
1971 - John Crawley, English cricketer
1971 - Luke Wilson, American actor
1972 - Alicia Rickter, Long Beach CA, playmate (Oct, 1995)
1972 - Brooke Bushnell, LA California, rhythmic gymnast (US team-96)
1972 - Jon Kitna, NFL quarterback (Seattle Seahawks)
1972 - Liam Gallagher, English singer (Oasis)
1972 - David Silveria, American drummer (KoЯn)
1973 - Virginia Ruano-Pascual, Madrid Spain, tennis star
1973 - Oswaldo Sanchez, Mexican footballer
1973 - Vanessa Grigoriadis, American journalist
1974 - Taral Hicks, American musician
1974 - Andy Todd, English footballer
1975 - Doug Davis, American baseball player
1976 - Adrian Olivo, Arlington Va, canoe (alt-Olympics-96)
1976 - Jana Kandarr, tennis star
1976 - Poul H�bertz, Danish footballer
1976 - Jonas Bjerre, Danish singer and guitarist (Mew)
1977 - Brian Tallet, American baseball player
1978 - Doug Howlett, New Zealand rugby union footballer
1979 - Richard Dunne, Irish footballer
1979 - Chris Gayle, Jamaican West Indies cricketer
1979 - Julian Gray, English footballer
1979 - Jaymee Ong, Chinese-Australian model
1980 - Raegan Tomaster, East Patgchogue NY, gymnast (alt-Olympics-96)
1980 - Robert Hoffman, American actor
1980 - Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
1980 - Nyree Lewis, British Paralympic swimmer
1980 - Aleksa Palladino, American actress
1980 - Autumn Reeser, American actress
1980 - Tomas Scheckter, South African racing driver
1981 - Nicole Richie, American socialite
1981 - Rimi Sen, Indian actress
1981 - Meilinda Soerjoko, Indonesian-Australian actress
1982 - Eduardo Azevedo, Brazilian racing driver
1982 - Danny Kass, American snowboarder
1982 - Marat Izmailov, Russian footballer
1982 - Rowan Vine, English footballer
1983 - Joseph Mazzello, actor (Internal Affairs)
1983 - Fernando Cavenaghi, Argentinian footballer
1983 - Maggie Grace, American actress
1983 - Anna Meares, Australian cyclist
1984 - Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner, American swimmer
1985 - Maryam Hassouni, Dutch actor
1986 - Faris Rotter, English vocalist (The Horrors)
1987 - Jimmy Clausen, American football player
1987 - Courtney Paris, American basketball player
1987 - Ashley Paris, American basketball player
1988 - Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician
1989 - Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, American skateboarder
1990 - Allison Scagliotti, American actress
1990 - Christian Serratos, American actress
1991 - Jordan Hasay, American track and field athlete
1998 - Brino quadruplets, American actor/actresses
Quote for today:
Choose the way of life. Choose the way of love. Choose the way of caring...
Choose the way of goodness. It's up to you. It's your choice.
- Leo Buscaglia
Historical events on September 22
66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica.
530 - Boniface II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
530 - St Felix IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope
530 - [Discorus] begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1236 - The Lithuanians and Semigallians defeat the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in Battle of �iauliai.
1499 - Switzerland became an independent state.
1504 - Settle engagement of Karel of Luxembourg & Claudia the Beaujeu
1504 - Treaty of Blois: Philip van Bourgondie & Maximilian I & Louis XII
1529 - Cardinal Thomas Wolsey lays-off English Lord Chancellor
1586 - Battle at Zutphen: English vs Dutch army
1598 - Ben Jonson is indicted for manslaughter.
1656 - All female jury hears case of woman who killed her child (acquit her)
1665 - Molieres "L'amour Medecin," premieres in Paris
1692 - Last (8) person hanged for witchcraft in US (Salem Mass)
1699 - People of Rotterdam strike over high cost of butter
1711 - French troops occupy Rio de Janeiro
1733 - Polish King Lesczynski flees to Danzig
1735 - Robert Walpole is 1st British PM to live at 10 Downing Street
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army returns to Edinburgh
1753 - Pangeran Gusti installed as sultan of Banten
1756 - Nassau Hall opens at Princeton University
1761 - Coronation of George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte.
1784 - Russian trappers established a colony on Kodiak Island, AK
1789 - Office of Postmaster General is created under the Treasury Department
1792 - Origin of French Republican Era
1817 - John Quincy Adams becomes secretary of State
1851 - The city of Des Moines, Iowa was incorporated as Fort Des Moines.
1861 - Fort Fauntleroy (Wingate), rapes Navaho Indians
1862 - President Lincoln, says he will free slaves in all states on Jan 1
1864 - Battle of Fisher's Hill VA-Gen Early Retreats to Brown's Gap
1864 - Sheridan sets up camp in Harrisonburg VA
1866 - Decisive battle of Curupaity in the War of the Triple Alliance.
1868 - Race riots in New Orleans La
1869 - Richard Wagner's opera "Rhine Gold," premieres in Munich
1885 - Lord Randolph Churchill makes a speech in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule e.g. "Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right".
1893 - 1st auto built in US (by Duryea brothers) runs in Springfield
1896 - Queen Victoria surpasses her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.
1903 - Italo Marchiony granted patent for ice cream cone
1905 - 11th US Golf Open: Willie Anderson shoots a 314 at Myopia Club Mass
1905 - Race riot in Atlanta Georgia (10 blacks & 2 whites killed)
1906 - Race riot in Atlanta Georgia, kills 21
1908 - Bulgaria declares independence from Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
1910 - England's 1st aircraft flight
1910 - Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union forms
1910 - The Duke of York's Cinema opened in Brighton. It is still operating today, making it the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.
1911 - Cy Young beats Pitts 1-0 for his final career victory, number 511
1912 - Eddie Collins repeats record of stealing 6 bases in a game (9/7/12)
1913 - Coal mine explosion kills 263 at Dawson New Mexico
1913 - George Cohan's "7 Keys to Baldpate," premieres in NYC
1914 - 1 German submarine sinks 3 British ironclads, 1,459 die
1915 - Red Sox ask Braves for use of their larger park for World Series
1915 - Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its 1st class
1915 - Xavier University, 1st Black Catholic College in US, opens in NO LA
1919 - -Jan 20] Steel strike in the US
1920 - Chicago grand jury convenes to investigate charges that 8 White Sox players conspired to fix the 1919 World Series
1921 - Estonia & Lithuania admitted to League of Nations
1921 - Music Box Theater opens at 239 W 45th St NYC
1925 - Yank Ben Paschal hits 2 inside-the-park-homers
1926 - Belgian crown prince Leopold & Swedish princess Astrid get engaged
1927 - Famous "Long count" fight (Dempsey loses boxing title to Tunney)
1927 - Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
1927 - Yanks Earle Coombs hits 3 triples
1932 - Hungarian government of K�rolyi falls
1934 - An explosion takes place at Gresford Colliery in Wales, leading to the deaths of 266 miners and rescuers.
1935 - Boston Braves lose NL record 110th game of year en route to 115
1937 - Forest fire kills 14 & injures 50 in Cody Wyoming
1937 - Spanish Civil War: Pe�a Blanca is taken; the end of the Battle of El Mazuco.
1941 - British signal officer Bill Hudson lands in Montenegro
1942 - Meulenberg robs of church bells
1943 - British dwarf submarines attack Tirpitz
1943 - Destroyer Itchen torpedoed & sinks
1943 - Destroyer Keppel sinks U-229
1944 - Boulogne reoccupied by Allies
1944 - Operation Market Garden: Polish paratroopers land at Driel
1944 - US troops land on Ulithi
1945 - Stan Musial gets 5 hits off 5 pitchers on 5 consecutive pitches
1946 - Evelyn Dick charged with butchering husband
1947 - Dodgers clinch NL pennant
1949 - USSR detonates its 1st atomic bomb
1949 - WFMY TV channel 2 in Greensboro-High Point, NC (CBS) 1st broadcast
1950 - Nobel peace prize awarded to Ralph J Bunche (1st black winner)
1950 - Omar N Bradley promoted to rank of 5-star general
1953 - Islamic uprising in Atjeh at Indonesia
1954 - Bkln Dodger Karl Spooner strikes out 15 NY Giants in his 1st game
1955 - (ITV) Commercial TV begins in England
1955 - -28] Hurricane Janet, kills 500 in Caribbean
1957 - "Maverick" premieres
1957 - Duke Snider's 39th & 40th home runs are last hit at Ebbets Field
1958 - KTVK TV channel 3 in Phoenix, AZ (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 - US nuclear sub USS Skate remains 31 days under Pole (record)
1959 - Chicago White Sox clinch AL pennant
1960 - Mali (formerly French Sudan) declares independence from France
1961 - Antonio Albertondo (Argentina) at 42, completes 1st "double" crossing swim of English Channel in 43 hrs 10 min
1961 - Jim Gentile's ties record of 5 grand slams in a year
1962 - Bob Dylan plays NYC Carnegie Hall
1963 - Czechoslovakian premier Sikory deposed by Josef Lenart)
1963 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Visalia Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - "Fiddler on the Roof" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 3242 perfs
1964 - "Man from U.N.C.L.E," premieres on NBC-TV
1965 - India & Pakistan ceases-fire goes into effect
1966 - Edward Albee's "Delicate Balance," premieres in NYC
1966 - KMEB TV channel 10 in Wailuku, HI (PBS) begins broadcasting
1966 - Only 413 show up at a Yankee Stadium game
1966 - Orioles beat A's 6-1 to clinch their 1st AL pennant
1966 - Surveyor 2 crashes on Moon
1967 - Phillies release pitcher Dallas Green, their future manager
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1968 - Iraq adopts constitution
1968 - KMTC (now KDEB) TV channel 27 in Springfield, MO (IND) 1st broadcast
1968 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Kings River Golf Open
1968 - Twins' Cesar Tovar pitched a hitless inning & plays all 9 positions
1968 - Zond 5 completes flight
1969 - "Music Scene" debuts on ABC-TV
1969 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1969 - SF Giant Willie Mays, becomes second player to hit 600 home runs
1970 - Pres Nixon requests 1,000 new FBI agents for college campuses
1971 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1972 - Dictator Idi Amin throws 8,000 Asians out of Uganda
1973 - "Little Night Music" opens at Majestic Theater on Broadway
1973 - 20th Ryder Cup: US, 19-13 at Muirfield, Scotland
1973 - Balt Oriole Al Bumbry hits 3 triples vs Milwaukee Brewers
1973 - Henry Kissinger, sworn in as America's 1st Jewish Secretary of State
1975 - Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate President Ford in SF Calif
1975 - World Football League folds
1977 - Minn Twin Bert Blyleven no-hits California Angels, 9-0
1977 - Preston Jones' "Texas Trilogy," premieres in NYC
1977 - West German RAF terrorist kills policeman in Utrecht
1978 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin returns home after Camp David summit
1979 - Israel performs nuclear test at Indian Ocean
1979 - Larry Parrish (Expos) HRs off Rawly Eastwick (Phillies) in DH
1980 - Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway
1980 - Iraqi troops seize part of Iran in a border dispute; war begins
1980 - John & Yoko sign a recording contract with Geffin Records
1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor appointed to Supreme Court
1982 - Duleep Mendis completes twin cricket tons for Sri Lanka v India
1982 - SF's cable cars made a final run before closing down for 20-month
1983 - Everly Brothers reunite after 10 years (Royal Albert Hall)
1983 - NASA launches Galaxy-B
1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - Zhu Jianhau (China) sets high jump record at 7'9 3/4"
1984 - Brussels princess Astrid marries arch duke Lorenz of Austrian-Este
1985 - 37th Emmy Awards: Cagney & Lacey, Cosby Show & Tyne Daly win
1985 - Billy Martin's right arm is broken by pitcher Ed Whitson
1985 - Earthquake strikes Mexico, 2,000 killed
1985 - France premier confesses on attack of Rainbow Warrior
1985 - Rock and country musicians participate in FarmAid in Champaign, Illinois
1985 - Val Skinner wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1985 - St Louis Cardinals set an unusual streak record by winning 9 of 10 games, each pitched by a different man
1985 - The Plaza Accord was signed in New York City.
1986 - 35 countries signs disarmament accord in Stockholm
1986 - India v Australia Test Cricket at Madras finishes in a tie
1986 - LA Dodger Fernando Valenzuela is 1st Mexican to win 20 games
1987 - 2nd regular-season National Football League player strike begins
1987 - Dow-Jones index rises record 75.23 points
1987 - Janet B Evans swims female world record 400m freestyle (4:03.85)
1987 - NFL players go on strike for 24 days
1987 - Red Sox Wade Boggs ties AL record of 200 hits for 5 straight seasons
1988 - Canada begins production of a $5 silver Maple Leaf bullion coin
1988 - South Korean coaches attack NZ referee after disputing his decision, Olympic Korean boxer stages a 67 minute sit-in
1989 - Cards outfielder Leon Durham suspended for 60 days due to drugs
1989 - IRA-bomb kills 10 British marines in Kent
1990 - Saudi Arabia expels many Jordanian & Yemeni envoys
1990 - Andre Dawson steals his 300th base & is only player other than Willie Mays to have 300 HRs, 300 steals & 2,000 hits
1991 - ABN & AMRO Dutch banks merge
1991 - California University makes Dead Sea Scrolls public
1991 - Harry Gant wins NSACAR Goody's 500
1991 - Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula records his 300th career NFL victory
1991 - NY MTA yanks 6,000 ads for "Dr Tusch" (Dr Jeffrey Lavigne)
1991 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1992 - Heavy storm in South France, 34 die
1993 - Nolan Ryan, 46, pitches his last game
1993 - STS-51 (Discovery) lands
1993 - Supreme Soviet dismisses president Boris Yeltsin
1993 - A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia.
1994 - Rasmussen government in Denmark, resigns
1995 - E-3B AWACS crashed outside of Elmendorf AFB, Alaska after multiple bird strikes to two of the four engines soon after takeoff; all 24 on board killed
1996 - 4th Solheim Cup: US beats Europe 17-11 at St Pierre Wales
1997 - Elton John releases Diana tribute "Candle in the Wind 1997"
1997 - Marv Albert pleads not guilty to sexual charges
1997 - Bentalha massacre in Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.
2003 - David Hempleman-Adams becomes the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open-air, wicker-basket hot air balloon.
2006 - A German maglev train crashes, killing 23.
2006 - The F-14 Tomcat retires from the United States Navy.
2006 - Hezbollah claims "Divine Victory" over Israel in a massive demonstration in Beirut.
2011 - CERN scientists announce their discovery of neutrinos breaking the speed of light
Music history on Sept. 22
1935 - 1935 - Benny Goodman and his band recorded the "King Porter Stomp."
1956 - Elvis Presley appeared on "The Steve Allen Show." He was told not to dance and Allen had him sing "Hound Dog" to a real basset hound wearing tails.
1963 - "She Loves You" and "I'll Get You" were recorded by the Beatles.
1973 - "Jesus Christ Superstar" closed in New York City after 720 performances on Broadway.
1978 - Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" was released.
1981 - John Morey (Steppenwolf) died in a car accident at the age of 32.
1984 - The album "Animalize" was released by KISS.
1987 - The Grateful Dead's "In The Dark" LP was released.
Sports history on Sept. 22
1927 - In Chicago, IL, Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the famous "long-count" fight.
1934 - The NHL approved a new rule that allowed the awarding of penalty shots.
1968 - Cesar Tovar became the second major league baseball player to play all nine positions in one game.
1969 - Willie Mays hit his 600th career home run.
2006 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) tied Hank Aaron's National League home run record when he hit is 733rd.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 22
Michael Faraday 1791
Historic events on September 23
951 - Otto I the Great becomes king of Italy
1122 - Concordat of Worms.
1408 - Battle of Othee
1459 - Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
1513 - King Henry III & Emperor Maximilian conquer Doornik
1561 - King Philip II of Spain forbids Spanish settlements in Florida
1642 - Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass, 1st commencement
1666 - Princess Maria of Orange-Nassau marries Mauritius earl of Simmeren
1719 - Liechtenstein declares independence from German empire
1739 - Russia & Turkey sign Peace of Belgrade
1746 - Jacob Gilles appointed Dutch pension advisor
1779 - John Paul Jones' "Bon Homme Richard" defeats HMS Serepis
1780 - Brit Maj John Andre reveals Benedict Arnold's plot to betray West Point
benedict_arnold.jpg ( 14.86K ) Number of downloads: 0
US Defector General Benedict Arnold
1795 - Conseil of the Cinq-Cents (Council of 500), forms in Paris
1803 - Battle of Assaye-British-Indian forces beat Maratha Army
1806 - Lewis & Clark return to St Louis from Pacific Northwest
1818 - Border demarcation markers for Moresnet formally installed.
1821 - Fall of Tripolitsa, Greece, massacre of 30.000 Turks.
1830 - Dutch troops occupy Brussels
1835 - HMS Beagle sails to Charles Island in Galapagos archipelago
1845 - 1st baseball team, NY Knickerbockers organize, adopt rule code
1845 - Hunger strike in Hague
1846 - Johann Gottfried Galle & Heinrich d'Arrest find Neptune
1857 - Russian warship Leffort disappears in Finland Gulf in storm; 826 die
1862 - Lincoln's Emancipation is published in Northern Newspapers
1863 - Confederate siege of Chattanooga begins
1864 - Battle of Athens VA
1868 - Grito de Lares proclaims Puerto Rico's independence (crushed by Spain)
1873 - Tom Allen beats Mike McCale for Heavyweight Boxing title
1876 - Ottawa Rough Riders play their 1st game
1877 - Hurricane strikes Curacao & Bonaire kills 200
1879 - Baldwin steam motors tram 1st tried in Sydney Australia
1879 - Richard Rhodes invented a hearing aid called the Audiophone
1880 - Jules Ferry forms French government
1884 - Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine.
1889 - Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
1890 - Ed Cartwright bats in 7 RBIs in 1 inning
1895 - French labor union CGT (Confederation Generale du Travail) forms
1897 - 1st frontier days rodeo celebration (Cheyene Wyoming)
1905 - Mbunga-siege of Fort Mahenge German East-Africa broken
1907 - Proclamation sets fineness & weight of silver & bronze coins of Canada
1908 - Giant Fred (Bonehead) Merkle fails to touch 2nd, causes 3rd out in 9th & disallows winning run (game ends tied, Cubs win replay & pennant)
1908 - University of Alberta opens
1911 - Earl Ovington becomes 1st air mail pilot
1912 - 1st Mack Sennett "Keystone Comedy" movie released
1912 - Mark Sennet presents 1st Keystone Cops film (Cohen Collects a Debt)
1913 - Roland Garros is 1st to fly over Mediterranean Sea
1913 - Serbian troops march into Albania
1914 - Reds drop their 19th straight game, then beat Boston Braves
1920 - Alexander Millerand elected president of France
1922 - B Brechts "Drum in the Night," premieres in Germany
1922 - Gdynia Seaport Construction Act passed by the Polish parliament.
1923 - 80,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against Fleet law
1925 - George Kaufman's "Butter & Egg Man," premieres in NYC
1925 - Washington shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh is named AL MVP
1926 - Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
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Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey
1932 - Kingdom of Hejaz & Nejd merge into Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1933 - Yanks commit 7 errors in 1 game but beat Boston 16-12
1936 - Giants Carl Hubbell notches his 16th en route to 24 consecutive wins
1937 - Yankees lose 9-5 but clinch pennant when Red Sox beat Detroit
1938 - British premier Neville Chamberlain flies to Munich
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British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
1938 - Time capsule, to be opened in 6939, buried at World's Fair in NYC (capsule contained a woman's hat, man's pipe & 1,100' of microfilm)
1939 - Cookie Lavagetto goes 6 for 6-Dodgers get 27 hits & beat Phillies 22-4
1940 - -27] French/British assault on French fleet in Dakar, flees
1940 - Dutch nazi collaborator Mussert's 1st meeting with Hitler
1941 - General de Gaulle forms government in exile in London
1941 - German air raid on Russ naval base Kronstadt (battleship Marat sinks)
1941 - The first gas murder experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
1942 - Auschwitz begins experimental gassing executions
1942 - Russian counter offensive at Stalingrad
1942 - Transport nr 36 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1948 - Braves clinch NL pennant
1949 - Indian owner Bill Veeck holds funeral services to bury 1948 pennant
1949 - Harry Truman announces evidence of USSR's 1st nuclear device detonation
1950 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Sunset Hills Golf Open
1950 - Phila A's Joe Astroth is 4th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (6th)
1950 - US Mustangs accidentally bombs British on Hill 282 Korea, 17 killed
1952 - 1st closed circuit pay-TV telecast of a sports event
1952 - Dodgers clinch NL pennant
1952 - Richard Nixon makes his "Checker's" speech
1952 - Rocky Marciano KOs Jersey Joe Walcott in 13 for heavyweight boxing title
1953 - KHQA TV channel 7 in Hannibal-Quincy, MO (CBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - Pakistan signs Pact of Baghdad
1955 - Yanks clinch pennant by beating Red Sox, 3-2
1957 - "That'll Be Day" by Buddy Holly & Crickets reaches #1
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Singer Buddy Holly
1957 - Milwaukee Braves clinch NL pennant by beating Cards 4-2
1957 - WTIC TV channel 61 in Hartford, CT (CBS/FOX) begins broadcasting
1957 - White mob forces 9 black students who had entered a Little Rock high school in Arkansas to withdraw
1958 - Great Britain performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
1958 - Stravinsky's "Thieni," premieres in Veneti�
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1959 - 1959 The M/S Princess of Tasmania Australia's first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry makes maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
1961 - 1st movie to become a TV series-How to Marry a Millionaire
1961 - Ernie Banks ends 717 consecutive-games-played streak
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Hall of Fame MLB shortstop Ernie Banks
1962 - ABC's 1st color TV series-Jetsons
1962 - LA Dodger Maury Wills steals record setting #97 on his way to 104
1962 - Martin Walser's "Esche und Angora," premieres in Berlin
1962 - Mary Lena Faulk wins LPGA Visalia Golf Open
1962 - NY's Philharmonic Hall (since renamed Avery Fisher Hall) opens as 1st unit of Lincoln Center for Performing Arts
1963 - Georgette Ciselet is 1st woman on Belgian Council of State
1963 - WMEB TV channel 12 in Orono, ME (PBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - "Fiddler on the Roof" with Zero Mostel premieres in NYC
1967 - Greek Colonels regime frees ex-premier Georgios Papandreou
1967 - Radio Malta stops testing
1968 - WKAS TV channel 25 in Ashland, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKGB TV channel 53 in Bowling Green, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKLE TV channel 46 in Lexington, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKMA TV channel 35 in Madisonville, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKMR TV channel 38 in Morehead, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKON TV channel 52 in Owenton, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKSO TV channel 29 in Somerset, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - WKZT TV channel 23 in Elizabethtown, KY (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 - 1st broadcast of "Marcus Welby MD" on ABC-TV
1969 - Northern Star and Illinois Univ newspaper start rumors that Paul McCartney is dead
1970 - Abdul Razak bin Hussain becomes premier of Malaysia
1970 - Gary Muhrcke wins 1st NY Marathon
1971 - John Vermeers painting "The liefdesbrief" stolen
1972 - Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law
1972 - President Marcos ends emergency crisis in Philippines
1973 - Former Argentine President Juan Peron returns to power
1973 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Open
1973 - Largest known prime, 2 ^ 132,049-1, is discovered
1974 - "Gypsy" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 120 performances
1974 - BBC Ceefax begins 1st teletext service
1976 - Ford-Carter TV debate
1976 - South Africa decides to allow multi-racial teams to represent them
1976 - Soyuz 22 returns to Earth
1977 - 3rd test of Space Shuttle Enterprise
1977 - Cheryl Ladd replaces Farrah Fawcett on Charlie's Angels
1978 - 100,000 cheering Egyptians welcome Sadat home from Camp David summit
1979 - Jane Fonda & 200,000 attend anti-nuke rally in Battery Park, NYC
1979 - Sandra Post wins LPGA ERA Real Estate Golf Classic
1979 - Somali constitution approved by president
1979 - St Louis legend Lou Brock steals 938th & final base of his career
1980 - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opens
1982 - "Doll's Life" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 5 performances
1982 - Amin Gemayel sworn in as president of Lebanon
1982 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1983 - Argentina milt regime gives amnesty to military/political assassins
1983 - Columbia moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating in preparation of STS-9
1983 - Gerrie Coetzee KOs Michael Dokes in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
1983 - Heavyweight Gerrie Coetzee KOs Michael Dokes in Ohio
1983 - Phillies Steve Carlton is 16th to wins 300 game (beating Cards)
1984 - 36th Emmy Awards: Hill St Blue, Cheers, John Ritter & Tyne Daly
1984 - Amy Alcott wins LPGA San Jose Golf Classic
1984 - SF 49er Joe Montana misses his 1st start in 49 games
1984 - Sparky Anderson is 1st manager to win 100 games in both leagues
1986 - Astro Jim Deshaies strikes out 1st 8 Dodger of game (ends with 10)
1986 - Congress selects the rose as US national flower
1988 - Fiji's new constitution is proposed
1988 - Jose Canseco is baseball's 1st to steal 40 bases & hit 40 HRs
1988 - Rosa Mota wins 2nd female olympic marathon (2:25:39)
1989 - Blue Jays bat out of order against Brewers in 6th inning
1990 - Nancy Lopez wins MBS LPGA Golf Classic
1990 - PBS begins an 11 hour miniseries on Civil War
1990 - Saddam says he will destroy Israel
1992 - Bill Comrie purchases BC Lions from CFL
1992 - Bradlees announces it will take over Alexander's dept stores in NYC
1992 - Jackson Browne reportedly beats girlfriend Daryl Hannah
1992 - Mud storm kills 30 in South France
1992 - 1st female to play in a NHL exhibition game (Manon Rheaume, goalie) for Tampa Bay Lightning - gives up 2 goals on 9 attempts in 1 period
1993 - "Les Miserables," opens at Playhouse, Edinburgh
1993 - Paul Chu group reports super conduction at -123�C (record high)
1996 - Howard Stern radio show premieres in Wilkes-Barre PA (WZMT 97.9 FM)
1996 - Howard Stern radio show premieres in West Palm Beach FL (WCLB 95.5 FM)
1997 - Seattle Mariners break record for most HRs in a year (258)
1999 - NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
1999 - Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only received minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history to date.
2002 - The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
2004 - At least 1,070 in Haiti reported killed by floods due to Hurricane Jeanne
2005 - FBI killing of Filiberto Ojeda on Plan Bonito Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.
Music history on Sept. 23
1923 - "720 in the Books" was recorded by Jan Savitt and his Orchestra.
1952 - Hank Williams did his last recording session.
1956 - Mickey Dolenz began his television career in NBC's "Circus Boy" series. He later became a member of the Monkees.
1966 - The Rolling Stones released the song "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby."
1967 - "People Are Strange" was released by the Doors.
1969 - It was reported by "The London Daily Mirror" that Paul McCartney was dead. It was the first time the rumor was printed.
1972 - Mott The Hoople released "All The Young Dudes."
1974 - Robbie McIntosh (Average White Band) died of a heroin overdose at the age of 24.
1980 - Foreigner released their second album "Double Vision."
1980 - Philip Anglim was replaced by David Bowie in the play "The Elephant Man" in New York City, NY.
1986 - An anti-crack rally was headlined by James Brown, Freddie Jackson, and Melba Moore at New York's Plaza Hotel.
1980 - David Bowie made his acting debut in the Broadway show "The Elephant Man". He performed the role until January 3, 1981. br>
1991 - Izzy Stradlin left Guns N' Roses. Gilby Clarke replaced him.
1996 - In Sweden, Agnetha Faltskog (Abba) published her autobiography "As I Am."
1997 - MCA Records reissued Average White Band's label debut "Show Your Hand" as part of the band's 25th anniversary.
1997 - Elton John's single "Candle in the Wind" was released in the U.S.
1997 - The album "Falling Into Infinity" was released by Dream Theater.
1997 - Elektra Entertainment released "The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne."
1997 - The Rolling Stones began their "Bridges to Babylon" tour in Chicago, IL.
1998 - The first Lilith Fair concert outside North America took place at London's Royal Albert Hall.
1999 - Shirley Manson (Garbage) unveiled her own line of lip gloss.
1999 - Coolio appeared on TV's "Judge Joe" to settle a financial dispute with his backing band the Wyld Bunch. The judge ruled the band was due $4,000 in unpaid earnings.
2003 - The Outkast album "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was released.
Sports history on Sept. 23
1845 - The Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York was formed by Alexander Joy Cartwright. It was the first baseball team in America.
2001 - Barry Bonds hit his 65th and 66th home run of the season to tie Sammy Sosa for the second most home runs in a season.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 23
480 BC -Euripides, Salam�s, Greek playwright (Medea), (d. 406 BC)
63 BC - Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
1158 - Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
1161 - Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
1215 - Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
1434 - Yolande of Valois, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1478)
1555 - Louise de Coligny, French 4th wife of Willem of Orange
1591 - Michael Lohr, composer
1598 - Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
1605 - Daniel von Czepko, German poet
1641 - Adrian "Aart" van Wijck, theologist (against jansenisme)
1642 - Giovanni Maria Bononcini, composer
1647 - Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
1650 - Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
1684 - Johann Theodor Romhild, composer
1703 - Jean-Marie Leclair, composer
1712 - Ferdinand VI, the wise, King of Spain (1746-59)
1740 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar (63 BC) 1745 - John Sevier, Tennessee, indian fighter (Gov/Rep-Tn)
1768 - William Wallace, Scottish mathematician (Rights of Wallace)
1771 - Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
1781 - Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
1782 - Jacques-Fereol Mazas, composer
1791 - Johann F Encke, German astronomer (Encke Comet)
1791 - Karl T Korner, German poet (Zriny, Leyer und Schwerdt)
1800 - William H McGuffey, educator (McGuffey Readers)
1804 - David Van de Kellen, coin engraver
1805 - Matthew Adams Stickney, Rowley Mass, numismatist
1816 - Elihu Benjamin Washburne, MC (Union), died in 1887
1816 - Julius White, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1890
1817 - Leon Charles Francois Kreutzer, composer
1819 - Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
1820 - Thomas Kilby Smith, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1838 - Victoria Chaflin Woodhull, Ohio US, feminist/reformer
1842 - Karl Munzinger, composer
1849 - Mikhail Mikhaylovich Ivanov, composer
1852 - William Stewart Halsted, established 1st US surgical school
1853 - Marcel Planiol, French private law scholar
1854 - Cornelis W Lely, Dutch engineer/gov of Suriname (1902-05)
1856 - William Archer, Scotland, writer (Green Goddess)
1861 - Edmond H H Allenby, English fieldmarshal/high director (Egypt)
1861 - Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
1863 - Alexandre EJ Yersin, Swiss/French bacteriologist (bacteria plague)
1863 - Mary Church Terrell, civil rights activist
1864 - Draga Ma�in, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
1866 - Edouard Combe, composer
1870 - John Lomax, Miss, folk song collector/ethnomusicologist
1871 - Frantisek Kupka, Czech writer
1880 - John Boyd Orr, nutritionist, UN's FAO (Nobel 1949)
1888 - Gerhard Kittel, German anti-semitic theologist (Die Oden Salomons)
1889 - Walter Lippmann, NYC, journalist/political writer (Men of Dystany)
1890 - Arthur Walter Kramer, composer
1890 - Friedrich von Paul, German gen-fieldmarshal (Netherlands)
1890 - Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
1894 - Kornelis H Miskotte, theologist (Edda & Thora)
1895 - Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
1895 - Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1897 - Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (surrealist)
1897 - Walter Pidgeon, New Brunswick Can, actor (Mrs Miniver, Madame Curie)
1899 - Louise Nevelson, sculptor
1899 - Marcel Dalio, [Israel Blauschild], Paris France, actor (China Gate)
1899 - William Levi Dawson, composer
1900 - Louise Nevelson, US, sculptor (Sky Cathedral)
1900 - Bill Stone, British serviceman; one of the last surviving veterans of World War I
1901 - Adrian Pitlo, lawyer
1901 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech poet (Nobel 1984)
1902 - Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
1904 - Meyer Schapiro, art historian
1904 - Wallace "Scotty" Scott, rock vocalist (Whispers)
1905 - Jeno Kenessey, composer
1906 - Willard F McMurry, musician
1907 - Jarmila Novotna, soprano (Met Opera)/pres of Czechoslovakia (1957-68)
1907 - Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
1907 - Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (d. 1976)
1909 - Marianne Straub, weaver
1910 - Elliot Roosevelt, son of FDR/writer (Murder in the Oval Office)
1910 - Soulima Stravinsky, Lausanne Switz, Russian pianist (Igor's son)
1911 - Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (d. 2003)
1912 - Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani researcher, critic and linguist (d. 2005)
1912 - Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
1913 - Alexey Davidovich Machavariani, composer
1914 - Norman Cazden, composer
1914 - Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
1915 - Finn Arnestad, composer
1916 - Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
1917 - Imry Nemeth, Hungary, hammer thrower (Olympic-gold-1948)
1920 - Alexander Arutiunian, composer, (d. 2012)
1920 - Gerard W Taylor, South African/British surgeon
1920 - Jiri Jaroch, composer
1920 - Mickey Rooney, American actor
1922 - Philip Owen Arnould Sherrard, scholar theologian poet/translator
1925 - Barry Linehan, actor (Bullseye, Dark Places, Witchcraft)
1925 - Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (d. 2006)
1925 - Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress
1926 - John Coltrane, jazz saxophonist (Round Midnight)
1928 - Robert Helps, composer
1930 - Colin Blakely, Bangor N Ireland, actor (Shattered, Equus, King Lear)
1930 - Pyotr Ivanovich Kolodin, cosmonaut (Soyuyz 7, 10, 11 backup)
Musician Ray Charles (1930) 1930 - Ray Charles [Robinson], Albany Ga, singer/pianist (Georgia), (Georgia on My Mind, Mess Around) (d. 2004)
1930 - Sehba Akhtar,poet of Pakistan (d.1996)
1931 - Ruud van den Hende, sports reporter
1931 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
1934 - Per Olov Enquist, Swedish writer (Hour of the Lynx)
1935 - Pierre Marietan, composer
1936 - Valent�n Paniagua, Peruvian politician
1938 - Clifford Ann Creed, LPGA golfer
1938 - Romy Schneider, Vienna Austria, actress (Bloodline, Death Watch)
1938 - Tom Lester, American actor
1939 - Roy Buchanan, Ozark Ark, rocker
1939 - Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
1939 - Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
1939 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
1940 - Tim Rose, rocker
1941 - Simon Nolet, French-Canadian ice hockey player
1942 - Sila Mar�a Calder�n, Puerto Rican politician
1943 - Bob Clement, (Rep-D-Tennessee)
1943 - Julio Iglesias, Spain, singer (Of All the Girls I Loved Before)
1943 - Walter Scott, rock vocalist (Whispers)
1943 - Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
1944 - Loren J Shriver, Iowa, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 51-C, STS 31, STS 46)
1945 - Paul Petersen, Glendale California, actor (Jeff Stone-Donna Reed Show)
1945 - Ronald Bushy, Washington DC, rock drummer (Iron Butterfly)
1945 - Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
1946 - Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
1947 - Don Grolnick, jazz musician
1947 - Mary Kay Place, Tulsa Oklahoma, actress/country singer (Mary Hartman!)
1948 - Rob van Koningsbruggen, sculptor
1949 - Bruce Springsteen, [Boss], Asbury NJ, rock musician (Born in the USA)
1951 - Ron Klink, (Rep-D-Pennsylvania)
1954 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
1955 - Patti Weaver, WV, actress (Days of our Life, Gina-Young & Restless)
1956 - June Forester, Chattanooga Tn, country singer (Forester Sister-Men)
1956 - Lili Carati, Varese Italy, Miss Italy (1975)/actress (Alcove)
1956 - Maren Jensen, Arcadia California, actress (Athena-Battlestar Galactica)
1956 - Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
1956 - Peter David, American writer
1957 - Sylvie Garant, Montmagny Quebec, playmate (Nov, 1979)
1957 - Tony Fossas, Cuba, pitcher (St Louis Cardinals)
1957 - Rosalind Chao, American actress
1957 - Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
1958 - Larry Hogan Mize, Augusta GA, PGA golfer (1987 Masters)
1958 - Danielle Dax, British musician
1958 - Marvin Lewis, American football coach
1959 - Heather Drew, St Louis MO, LPGA golfer (1987 Henredon Classic-5th)
1959 - Jason Alexander, [Greenspan], Newark NJ, actor (George-Seinfeld)
1959 - Elizabeth Pe�a, American actress
1960 - John Rocca, English funk singer (Southern Freeze)
1961 - Elizabeth Pena, Havana Cuba, actress (La Bamba, Jacob's Ladder)
1961 - Phyllis Hines, Nashville TN, cyclist (Olympics-96)
1961 - William C McCool, San Diego California, Lt Cmdr USN/astronaut
1961 - Chi McBride, American actor
1962 - Jack Warren Pierce, Cherry Hill NJ, hurdler
1963 - Gabriele Reinsch, German DR, discus thrower (world record 1988)
1964 - Diane Dixon, Bkln NY, 4x400m runner (Olympic-silver-1988)
1964 - Leon Meijs, soccer player (Willem II)
1964 - Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
1964 - Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
1965 - Ian Leggatt, Cambridge Ont, Canadian Tour golfer (1990 Canadian Tour)
1965 - Mark Woodforde, Adelaide Australia, tennis star (1993 Wimbledon mixed)
1966 - Doug Widell, NFL guard (Detroit Lions)
1966 - Pete Harnisch, Commack NY, pitcher (NY Mets)
1966 - LisaRaye, American actress
1968 - Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
1969 - Jeff Cirillo, Pasadena CA, infielder (Milwaukee Brewers)
1969 - Patrick Fiori, French singer
1969 - Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
1970 - Brian Wells, Carmel California, pairs skater (& Lyons-1995 Midwest champ)
1970 - Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
1970 - Ani DiFranco, American musician
1971 - Eric Montross, NBA center (Detroit Pistons)
1971 - Marcel Boudesteyn, soccer player (Excelsior/FC Groningen)
1971 - Osamu Nishimura, wrestler (NJPW)
1971 - Taunya Harris, Miss USA-New Mexico (1997)
1971 - Willie Greene, Milledgville GA, infielder (Cin Reds)
1972 - Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
1973 - Grant McDonald, Australian baseball outfielder (Olympics-1996)
1973 - Michelle Tolson, Manchester NH, Miss America-NH (1997)
1973 - Ingrid Fliter, Argentinian pianist
1974 - Doris Glenn Easterly, Richmond Va, diver (Olympics-96)
1974 - Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
1974 - Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
1975 - Vitaliy Yeremeyev, hockey goalie (Team Kazkhstan 1998)
1975 - Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
1975 - Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
1975 - Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
1976 - Faune A. Chambers, American actress
1976 - Kip Pardue, American actor and model
1977 - Rachael Yamagata, American singer and songwriter
1977 - Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 - Susan Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2008)
1978 - Worm Miller, American filmmaker
1978 - Keri Lynn Pratt, American actress
1979 - Red, LA California, rapper (Another Bad Creation)
1979 - Ricky Davis, American basketball player
1980 - Cameron Litvack, American television producer
1981 - Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
1981 - Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
1981 - Misti Traya, American actress
1984 - Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
1984 - Louie Stephens, American musician (Rooney)
1984 - Nathan Jendrick, American author
1984 - Matt Kemp, American baseball player
1985 - Maki Goto, Japanese pop singer
1985 - Jared High, American victim of bullying (d. 1998)
1985 - Brian Brohm, American football player
1985 - Luk� Ka�par, Czech ice hockey player
1985 - Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
1985 - Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
1986 - Martin Cranie, English footballer
1989 - Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
Quote for today:
Historic events on September 24
312 - Start of Imperial Indication
366 - Liberius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
673 - Synod of Hertford opens; canons made for English Church
787 - 2nd Council of Nicaea (7th ecumenical council) opens in Asia Minor
1180 - Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1493 - Columbus' 2nd expedition to New World
1537 - Uprising in Lubeck fails
1625 - Dutch attack San Juan, Puerto Rico
1629 - Jacques Specx appointed governor-general of Dutch-Indies
1657 - 1st autopsy & coroner's jury verdict is recorded in state of Maryland
1664 - Dutch Fort Orange (Albany NY) surrenders to English
1664 - The Netherlands surrenders New Amsterdam to England.
1683 - King Louis XIV expels all Jews from French possessions in America
1688 - France declares war on German
1706 - Treaty of Altranst�dt: Charles XII of Sweden & August II of Saksen
1732 - 21 homosexuality burned in South Horn
1742 - Faneuil Hall opens to public
1776 - 1st St Leger horesrace held at Doncaster
1776 - St Leger horse race run for 1st time
1789 - Congress creates Post Office
1789 - Federal Judiciary Act is passed & creates a six-person Supreme Court
1789 - President George Washington appointed John Jay the 1st Chief Justice
1789 - US Attorney General Office is created
1829 - Russia & Ottoman Empire sign Peace Treaty of Adrianople
1838 - Anti-Corn-Law League forms to repeal English Corn Law
1841 - Britain obtains Sarawak from Brunei (James Brooke appointed Rajah)
1850 - Papal Bull issued, establishes Roman Catholic hierarchy in England
1852 - Henri Giffard, a French engineer, makes 1st dirigible flight
1852 - The first airship is displayed.
1853 - 1st round-the-world trip by yacht (Cornelius Vanderbilt)
1853 - France annexes Caledonia
1853 - Northern Daily Times, 1st provincial daily newspaper, starts in London
1862 - Confederate Congress adopts confederacy seal
1864 - Battle of Pilot Knob MO
1864 - Invasion of MO by Price
1865 - James Cooke walks tightrope from Cliff House to Seal Rocks, SF
1869 - Black Friday; Wall St panic after Gould & Fisk attempt to corner gold
1872 - Franz Grillparzer's "Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg," premieres in Vienna
1877 - Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion
1881 - Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congo monarch
1883 - National black convention meets in Louisville, Kentucky
1884 - Dixey, Rice & Gill's musical "Adonis," premieres in NYC
1885 - 5 German warships depart to Zanzibar
1889 - Alexander Dey patents dial time recorder
1890 - Pres of Mormon Church in Salt Lake City issues a manifesto advising members that teaching & practice of polygamy should be abandoned
1895 - 1st round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle (took 15 months)
1902 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Red Circle" (BG)
1903 - Alfred Deakin succeeds Edmund Baston as Australia premier
1903 - Bill Bradley becomes 1st Cleveland baseball player (Cleveland Naps) to hit for cycle
1906 - St Louis Card Stony McGlynn no-hits Dodgers, 1-1 in 7 inning game
1906 - V Herbert & H Blossom's musical "Red Mill," premieres in NYC
1908 - Robert B Rhoads becomes 1st Cleveland pitcher (Cleveland Naps) to toss a no-hit game, Cleveland 2, Boston 1
1916 - Indians Marty Kavanaugh, hits AL's 1st pinch-hit grand slam
1919 - Babe Ruth sets season homer mark at 28 off of Yankee Bob Shawkey
1922 - Neurenberg fusion congress USDP-SPD; picks Karl Kautsky
1922 - Roger Hornsby sets NL HR mark at 42
1923 - Premiere of 1st celluloid film "Das Leben auf dem Dorfe" (Berlin)
1924 - Boston, Massachusetts opens its airport
1926 - Cardinals clinch NL pennant by beating Giants 6-4
1927 - NHL's Toronto St Patricks become Maple Leafs
1927 - Yanks set record of 106 victories
1928 - Cohan/Lardner's musical "Elmer the Great," premieres in NYC
1929 - Lt James H Doolittle guides a Consolidated N-Y-2 Biplane over Mitchell Field in NY in 1st all-instrument flight
1929 - Yanks Tom Zachary ends season 12-0
1930 - G Kaufman & M Hart's "Once in a Lifetime," premieres in NY
1930 - Noel Coward's "Private Lives," premieres in London
1930 - Portsmouth beats Brooklyn in 1st NFL game played under floodlights
1931 - Round-robin playoff among NYC's 3 major league teams, to raise money for unemployed, concludes with Brooklyn losing to both Giants & Yanks
1932 - NY Gov Franklin D Roosevelt visits LA
1934 - 2500 fans see Babe Ruth's farewell Yankee appearance at Yankee Stadium
1934 - Idle Detroit wins pennant, as Red Sox beat Yankees 5-0
1935 - Earl Bascom and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi
1938 - Alice Marble wins her 2nd singles US tennis title
1938 - Don Budge becomes 1st tennis player to grand slam
1940 - Jimmy Foxx hits his 500th career HR
1940 - Luftwaffe bombs Spitfire-factory in Southampton
1941 - Nine Allied governments pledge adherence to the common principles of policy set forth in the Atlantic Charter
1941 - Bomb explosion in German headquarter in Hotel Continental in Kiev
1943 - Soviet forces reconquer Smolensk
1946 - Yanks set season attendance record of 2,309,029 besting 1929 Cubs
1948 - Mildred Gillars (Axis Sally) pleads innocent in Wash DC
1948 - Yanks, Boston & Cleveland are tied for 1st place in AL (91-56)
1948 - The Honda Motor Company is founded.
1950 - "Operation Magic Carpet"-All Jews from Yemen move to Israel
1951 - Industrial estate at Harlow New Town UK opens
1951 - USSR performs nuclear test
1952 - Dutch minister Dark sentences war criminal W Lages to death
1952 - Underwater volcano explodes under research vessel Kaiyo-maru-5
1953 - "Take a Giant Step," opens on Broadway
1953 - Rocky Marciano TKOs Roland LaStarza in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1954 - Tonight Show premieres on NBC (Johnny takes over 8 years later)
1954 - Yanks tie a record, 3 of their pinch hitters strike out in 1 inning
1955 - "Catch a Star" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 23 performances
1955 - Pres Eisenhower suffers a heart attack on vacation in Denver
1955 - Washington Senators lose their 99th & 100th games of season
1956 - 1st trans atlantic telephone cable in use (Newfoundland-Scotland)
1957 - Bkln Dodgers play last game at Ebbets Field, defeat Pirates 2-0
1957 - Eisenhower orders US troops to desegregate Little Rock schools
1957 - Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona.
1958 - 1st welded aluminum girder highway bridge completed, Urbandale, Ia
1960 - 1st nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, launches (USS Enterprise)
1960 - International Development Association (UN agency) comes into existence
1960 - USS Enterprise, 1st nuclear power aircraft carrier, launches
1961 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Sacramento Valley Golf Open
1962 - KWSU TV channel 10 in Pullman, WA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962 - US Circuit Court of Appeals orders Meredith admitted to U of Miss
1963 - Idle Dodgers clinch their 2nd LA pennant as Cubs beat Cards
1963 - Senate ratifies treaty with Britain & USSR limit nuclear testing
1964 - "Munsters" premieres on TV
1964 - 1st Minuteman II ICBM was tested
1964 - Ringo forms Brikley Building Company Ltd
1964 - Willi Stoph succeeds Otto Great as premier of German DR
1965 - Belgium Victor Leemans elected chairman of European Parliament
1965 - Saudi-Arabian & Egyptian accord about Yemen
1965 - Stefan Stefanopoulos forms Greek government
1966 - -30] Hurricane Inez, kills 293 in Caribbean, Florida & Mexico
1966 - France performs nuclear test at Fangataufa Island
1967 - Cards Jim Bakken kicks 7 field goals vs Steelers
1967 - Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Mickey Wright Golf Invitational
1968 - "60 Minutes" premieres on CBS-TV
1968 - "That's Life" premieres-A Broadway musical type TV show
1968 - NY Met manager Gil Hodges suffers a heart attack
1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 - 1st Elvis convention, 2500 fans attend in Cincinnati
1969 - NY Mets clinch NL East pennant
1969 - Ton Duc Thang elected president of North Vietnam
1969 - Trial of "Chicago 8" (protesters at Dem Natl Conv) begins
1970 - 1st Automated return of lunar sample by Luna 16
1970 - Soviet Luna 16 lands on earth after 1st unmanned round trip to moon
1971 - 90 Russian diplomats expelled from Britain for spying
1971 - Eyskens-Cools disbands Belgium parliament
1971 - Houston Astros beat SD Padres, 2-1, in 21 innings
1972 - Antique F86 Sabrejet fails to takeoff at air show, kills 22
1972 - Jack Tatum, Oakland, returns a fumble 104 yds vs Green Bay (rec)
1972 - NY Jet Joe Namath passes for 6 touchdowns vs Balt Colt (44-34)
1973 - Guinea-Bissau declares independence
1973 - St Louis Cards Jim Bakken sets NFL record kicking 7 field goals
1974 - Al Kaline, Detroit Tiger, is 12th to get 3,000 hits
1974 - Clarence Jones of Kintetsu Buffaloes hits his 38th HR, 1st American to win a Japanese HR title
1976 - "Oh! Calcutta!" opens at Edison Theater NYC for 5959 performances
1976 - Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst sentenced to 7 years for her part in a 1974 bank robbery. Released after 22 months by Pres Carter
1977 - "Estrada" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 7 performances
1977 - 1st broadcast of "Love Boat" on ABC-TV
1977 - Ken Hinton of CFL British Columbia Lions returns a punt 130 yards
1978 - Donna Caponi Young/Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Ping Team Golf Classic
1978 - Dutch women hockey team wins world championship
1978 - Ron Guidry beats Cleveland 4-0, raising his record to 23-3 ERA 1.74
1978 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1979 - CompuServe began operation as 1st computer information service
1979 - Ghana adopts constitution
1979 - Pete Rose reaches 200 hits in a season for 10th time
1979 - Russian ice skaters Protopopov & Beloussova ask for asylum in Switz
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1980 - Braves join every NL team with 1,000,000+ attendance for this season
1980 - Iraqi troops cross Iran's border, encircling Abadan
1981 - Enterprise Radio (all sports) resigns air
1981 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1982 - Tennis great Bjorn Borg retires at 26
1982 - US, Italian & French peacekeeping troops begin arriving in Lebanon
1983 - Braves Dale Murphy is 6th to hit 30 HRs & steal 30 bases in season
1983 - Test cricket debut of Shoaib Mohammad, son of Hanif, v India Jullundur
1983 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1984 - Cubs clinch NL East title
1984 - Paul McCartney release "No More Lonely Nights"
1985 - Apollo Computer Inc lays off 300 employees
1985 - Fastest English Channel crossing by a relay team set (15h 30m)
1985 - Expos Andre Dawson joins Willey McCovey to hit 2 HRs in an inn twice
1985 - Montreal Expo Andre Dawson is 9th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (5th)
1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1988 - Barbara C Harris of Mass, elected 1st woman Episcopal bishop
1988 - Canada's Ben Johnson runs drug-assisted 100 m in 9.79 sec
1988 - Carl Lewis runs world record 100m (9.92 sec)
1988 - Dave Stieb has no-hitter broken up with 2 outs in the 9th
1988 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee of USA sets heptathlon woman's record (7,291)
1989 - 28th Ryder Cup: US & Europe draw, 14-14 at The Belfry, England
1989 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Nippon Travel-MBS Golf Classic
1990 - East Germany leaves Warsaw Pact
1990 - South African president F W de Klerk meets Pres Bush in Wash DC
1990 - Supreme Soviet gives approval to switch to free market
1990 - West German Pres Richard von Weizsaecker signs reunification treaty
1990 - Periodic Great White Spot observed on Saturn
1991 - "Good & Evil" & "Sibs" premieres on ABC TV
1991 - After 3 year reign as AL champs, A's are eliminated from AL West
1991 - Deion Sanders, left Braves July 31 to report to NFL Falcons, returns
1991 - Doogie Howser loses his virginity
1991 - Robin Yount is 37th to hit 2,000 singles
1992 - John Jaha ties record of 11 teammates to steal 10 bases (Brewers)
1992 - Scott Stevens is named 5th Captain in NJ Devils history
1992 - Toronto's Dave Winfield, 40, is oldest player to reach 100-RBI
1993 - 1st Israeli killed by Islamics after PLO signs peace accord
1993 - Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty (Brenda) weds Ashley Hamilton
1993 - Norodom Sihanouk again installed as king of Cambodia
1994 - Parliamentary election in Ukraine
1994 - National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.
1995 - 31st Ryder Cup: Europe beats US, 14�-13� at Oak Hill County Club (Rochester, New York, US)
1995 - Annika Sorenstam wins LPGA GHP Heartland Golf Classic
1995 - Emillio & Gloria Estefan's boat hits & kills a jet skiier
1995 - Mt Ruapehu Volcano (North Island, NZ) erupts
1996 - U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
1997 - Drug kingpin Ramon Arellano Felix placed on FBI's 10 most-wanted
2005 - Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating Beaumont, Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana.
2007 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives a controversial speech on the campus of Columbia University.
Music history on Sept. 24
1942 - Glenn Miller ended his broadcasts for Chesterfield Cigarettes so he could go to World War II.
1955 - Judy Garland made her TV debut on the "Ford Star Jubilee" on CBS.
1957 - "Mister Rock and Roll" debuted at the Paramount in New York City, NY.
1968 - The Vogues receive a gold record for "Turn Around Look at Me."
1977 - "The Love Boat" debuted on ABC-TV. The theme song was sung by Jack Jones and was written by Paul Williams and Charles Fox.
1977 - The first Elvis Presley convention took place in Memphis, TN.
1977 - "Come Sail Away" was released by Styx.
1982 - Prince's "1999" single was released.
1984 - Paul McCartney released "No More Lonely Nights."
1988 - Graham Parker opened a solo acoustic tour.
1988 - James Brown was arrested in Georgia after a two state car chase.
1989 - Prince made an appearance on the 15-year anniversary of Saturday Night Live.
1991 - Nirvana's album "Nevermind" was released.
1991 - The album "The Low End Theory" was released by A Tribe Called Quest.
1993 - Guns N' Roses reached a settlement with their former drummer Steven Adler. Adler had been kicked out of the band for not kicking his heroin habit.
1994 - Eric Clapton performed on the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live."
1998 - Steven Adler was sentenced to 150 days in jail for two counts of battery and probation violation (from a 1997 conviction).
1998 - Elvis Presley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
1998 - Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) threw out the first pitch at the Expos-Cardinal game in St. Louis, MO.
Sports history on Sept. 24
1934 - Babe Ruth played his last game as a New York Yankee player.
1937 - The NHL Board of Governors introduced legislation that discouraged "icing" during the League's semi-annual meeting. The new rules would cause a face-off in the defending zone if a team shot the puck all the way down the ice without scoring a goal.
1938 - Don Budge became the first tennis player to win all four of the major titles when he won the U.S. Tennis Open. He had already won the Australian Open, the French Open and the British Open.
1940 - Jimmie Foxx hit his 500th career home run.
1957 - The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field.
1989 - O.J. Simpson was a guest on the 15th Anniversary Special of "Saturday Night Live."
2006 - The Detroit Tigers clinched their first playoff berth since 1987.
2006 - Atlanta was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 24
John Marshall 1755
2008 - China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 25
1358 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1408)
1525 - Steven Borough, English explorer (d. 1584)
1593 - Matthew Merian, the Elder, engraver/bookseller
1599 - Francesco Borromini, Italian architect (d. 1667)
1612 - Mark Zuesius Boxhorn, Dutch historian
1644 - Ole R�mer, Danish astronomer (d. 1710)
1683 - Jean-Philippe Rameau, Dijon France, composer (Traite) (baptized)
1711 - Qianlong Emperor of China (d. 1799)
1714 - Jean-Benoit Leclair, composer
1725 - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, designed & built 1st automobile
1729 - Christian G Heyne, German archaeologist
1738 - Nicholas Van Dyke, American lawyer and President of Delaware (d. 1789)
1741 - Vaclav Pichl, composer
1744 - Frederik Willem II, king of Prussia (1786-97)
1752 - Carl Stenborg, composer
1764 - Fletcher Christian, English Bounty mutineer (d. 1793)
1766 - Armand-Emmanuel, duc de Richelieu, French PM (1815-18, 1820-21)
1773 - Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist (d. 1856)
1780 - Jason Fairbanks, American murderer (d. 1801)
1782 - Charles Robert Maturin, Irish playwright and novelist (d. 1824)
1785 - George Frederic Pinto, composer
1793 - Felicia Dorothea Hermans, poet
1796 - Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (d. 1875)
1798 - Henri Scheffer, painter
1798 - JBAL Leonce Elie de Beaumont, French mine engineer/geologist
1805 - Henry P Scholte, Dutch/US vicar/founder (Pella colony in Iowa)
1822 - Adolph Wilhelm August Friedrich von Steinwehr, Brig Gen (Union vol)
1823 - Thomas John Wood, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1906
1829 - William Michael Rossetti, civil servant
1830 - Karl Klindworth, pianist/conductor
1832 - William Le Baron Jenney, US, architect/"father of skyscraper"
1839 - Karl A von Zittel, German geologist/paleontologist (Libya)
1839 - [Wilhel]Mina JPR Kruseman, writer/feminist
1852 - Cornelis J Snijders, supreme commander of Dutch Navy (1910-18)
1852 - Hans Vaihinger, German philosopher (Nietzsche Philosophy)
1858 - Emmeline Pankhurst-Goulden, English feminist
1862 - Leon Boellmann, French organist/composer (Variations Symphoniques)
1862 - Billy Hughes, seventh Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1952)
1866 - Thomas Hunt Morgan, US, biologist (Nobel-1933)
1867 - Evgenii Miller, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1938)
1872 - Charles Blake Cochran, impresario
1877 - Plutarco Elias Calles, Mexican revolutionary, president (1924-28)
1879 - Luis da Costa, composer
1879 - Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer and labor leader, Father of the Philippine National Language and Grammar (d. 1963)
1881 - Lu Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1936)
1884 - Cornelis "Kees" Boeke, Dutch educationalist
1886 - Jesus Guridi, composer
1886 - John Howard Lawson, scriptwriter/playwright
1887 - May Sutton Bundy, US, 1st US woman to win Wimbledon (US 1904)
1889 - George Douglas Howard Cole, socialist/novelist
1889 - C. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Scottish writer and translator (d. 1930)
1896 - Elsa Triolet, writer
1896 - Sandro Pertini, president Italy
1897 - Teddy Hart, NYC, actor (3 Men on a Horse)
1897 - William Faulkner, New Albany Mississippi, author (Sound & Fury-Nobel 1949), (d. 1962)
1898 - Robert Brackman American artist (d. 1980)
1901 - Robert Bresson, French film director (d. 1999)
1902 - Ernst von Salomon, German writer (Kette Der Tausend Kraniche)
1902 - Jeno Takacs, composer
1903 - John Everett Allen, US businessman
1903 - Mark Rothko, [Marcus Rothkovich], US, painter (Green on Blue)
1905 - Nahman Avigad, Israeli archaeologist (Discovering Jerusalem)
1905 - Red Smith, Green Bay Wisc, sportscaster/columnist (Fight Talk)
1906 - Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, St Petersburg Russia, composer [NS]
1906 - Jaroslav Jezek, composer
1907 - Phyllis Pearsall-Gross, British Geographer (A to Z Map Company)
1907 - Robert Bresson, France, director (Pickpocket, Mouchette)
1908 - Eugen Suchon, composer
1909 - Florizel A Glasspole, governor-gen of Jamaica (1973-91)
1911 - Lionel Henry Nowak, composer
1911 - Eric Williams, first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 1981)
1913 - David Hunt, British diplomat/quiz winner
1914 - Frederick William Sternfield, musicologist
1915 - Ethel Rosenberg, American Communist (d. 1953)
1916 - Tolia Nikiprowetzsy, composer
1917 - Johnny Sain, American baseball player (d. 2006)
1918 - Phil Rizzuto, Bkln NY, sportscaster/shortstop (NY Yankees-MVP 1950)
1920 - Sergey Bondarchuk, Belozerka Ukraine, director (War & Peace)
1921 - Remy C, de Kerckhove, Flemish poet
1921 - Robert Muldoon, premier NZ (1975-84)/chairman (IMF)
1922 - John Farr, British MP
1922 - Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (d. 1992)
1924 - Norman Ayrton, opera director (Royal Shakespearean Acad - UK)
1925 - Silvana Pampanini, Rome Italy, actress (Day in Court, Island Sinner)
1925 - William Edgar Mitchell, physicist
1925 - Paul MacCready, engineer/inventor (1st man-powered aircraft)
1926 - Aldo Ray, Pen Argyl PA, actor (God's Little Acre, Green Beret)
1926 - John Ericson, Dusseldorf Germany, actor (Sam Bolt-Honey West)
1926 - Sergei Filatov, USSR, equestrian dressage (Olympic-gold-1960)
1926 - Jack Hyles, Baptist pastor (d. 2001)
1927 - Carl Braun, basketball player (NY Knicks)
1927 - Colin Rex Davis, Weybridge England, conductor (NY Met 1967-71)
1928 - Hendrika G "Tine" de Vries, actress (Seaman's Wife)
1929 - John Rutherford, cricketer (one Test for Australia 1956)
1929 - Ronnie Barker, British comedian (2 Ronnies)
1929 - Barbara Walters, American broadcaster
1929 - Kevin White, Boston, Massachusetts, American politicians (Mayor of Boston, 1968-1984), (d. 2012)
1930 - H Heckmann, writer
1930 - Shel Silverstein, American humorist and author (d. 1999)
1931 - Barbara Walters, Boston Mass, newscaster (Today, 20/20, ABC-TV)
1931 - Patrick WIlliam Walker, British astrologer
1931 - Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (d. 2005)
1932 - Andrew Gardner, British broadcaster
1932 - Daphne Swallow, commandant/director (WRNS)
1932 - Glenn Herbert Gould, Toronto Canada, pianist (sued Steinway Piano)
1932 - Terry Medwin, Welsh retired footballer
1933 - Adolfo Suarez Gonzalez, premier of Spain (1976-81)
1933 - Erik Darling, Baltimore MD, rocker (Rooftop Singers)
1933 - Ian Tyson, rocker
1933 - Hubie Brown, American basketball coach and broadcaster
1934 - John S Bull, Memphis Tennessee, astronaut
1934 - Struther Arnott, professor (St Andrew University)
1934 - Jean Sorel, French actor
1936 - Edward Jones, UK military rep to NATO
1936 - Juliet Prowse, Bombay India, actress/dancer (Who Killed Teddy Bear)
1936 - Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, bluesman
1937 - Michael Gibbs, jazz composer
1937 - Thomas Kessler, composer
1939 - Joseph "Jesse" Russell, US singer (Slip Sliding Away)
1939 - Leon Britain, vice president (Commission of European Communities)
1939 - Feroz Khan, Indian actor
1940 - Timothy Severin, author/explorer
1941 - Vivian Stern, director (Nacros)
1942 - John Taylor, jazz pianist
1942 - Michael Stephen, MP
1942 - Peter Petherick, cricketer (NZ slow lefty 1976-77, hat-trick on debut)
1943 - Gary Alexander, TN, rock vocalist/guitarist (Association)
1943 - John Locke, LA Clif, rock keyboardist (Spirit-I Got A Line on You)
1943 - Robert Walden, NYC, actor (Joe Rossi-Lou Grant, New Doctors)
1943 - Robert Gates, American Secretary of Defense
1944 - Eugenia Zukerman, Cambridge Ms, flutist/novelist (Deceptive Cadence)
1944 - Grayson Shillingford, cricket bowler (WI 1969-71, 7 Tests 15 wickets)
1944 - Michael Douglas, NJ, actor (Coma, Wall St, Jewel of the Nile)
1944 - Doris Matsui, American politician
1945 - Kathleen Brown, state treasurer (D-California, 1991- )
1945 - Owen "Onnie" McIntyre, Scotland, guitarist (Average White Band)
1945 - Reynold Henry Weidenaar, composer
1946 - Bishan Bedi, cricketer (mighty Indian slow left-armer 1966-79)
1946 - Felicity Kendal, Indies/British actress (Shakespeare Wallah)
1946 - Gilmer Bryan Morgan, Wewoka OK, PGA golfer (1977 BC Open)
1947 - Cheryl Tiegs, Minnesota, model (Sports Illustrated)
1947 - John Fiddler, England, rock vocalist/guitarist (British Lions)
1949 - Anson Williams, LA California, actor (Potsie-Happy Days)
1949 - Inshan Ali, cricketer (big-spinning WI chinaman bowler 1971-77)
1949 - Jerry F Costello, (Rep-D-Illinois)
1949 - Mimi Kennedy, Rochester NY, actress (Spencer, 3 girls 3, Under 1 Roof)
1951 - Bob McAdoo, NBA forward/center (Buffalo Braves, LA Lakers)
1951 - Burleigh Drummond, rocker (Ambrosia)
1951 - Mark Hamill, Oakland California, actor (Luke Skywalker-Star Wars)
1951 - Pedro Almodovar, Spain, director/screenwriter (Kika, Matador)
1952 - Christopher Reeve, NYC, actor (Superman, Somewhere in Time)
1952 - Tommy Norden, NYC, actor (Flipper)
1952 - Gloria Jean Watkins, American scholar
1953 - Richard Harvey, British musician and composer (Gryphon)
1954 - Sylvester Croom, American college football coach
1954 - Juande Ramos, Spanish Football Manager
1955 - Adelmo "Zucchero" Fornaciari, Italian R&B-singer (Senza una Donna)
1955 - Steven Severin, British pop bassist (Siouxsie & Banshees-Wild Thing)
1955 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German footballer
1955 - Ludo Coeck, Belgian footballer (d. 1985)
1956 - Jamie Hyneman, American visual effects technician
1957 - Rupert Haselden, journalist/Screenwriter
1957 - Ian Reddington, English actor
1958 - Michael Madsen, Chicago, actor (Reservoir Dogs, Straight Talk)
1958 - Eamonn Healy, Irish chemist
1959 - Andy Waller, cricketer (big-hitting Zimbabwe batsman-1992 World Cup)
1960 - John Hills, horse trainer
1960 - Igor Belanov, Ukrainian footballer
1960 - Sonia Benezra, Canadian television host
1961 - Heather Locklear, LA Ca, actress (Stacy-T J Hooker, Sammy Jo-Dynasty)
1961 - Tim Zoehrer, cricketer (Aussie keeper, & occasional WA leggie)
1962 - Rajiv Kulkarni, cricketer (Indian Test pace bowler 1986-87)
1963 - Keely Shaye Smith, correspondent (Unsolved Mysteries)
1964 - Bryan Tooley, Eugene Ore, kayak (alt-Olympics-96)
1964 - Anita Barone, American actress
1964 - Joey Saputo, Canadian businessman and sports executive
1964 - Gary Ayles, British racing driver
1964 - Maria Doyle Kennedy, Irish actress and singer
1965 - Scottie Pippen, Hamburg Ak, basket forward (Bulls, Oly-2 gold-92, 96)
1965 - Scottie Pippen, NBA forward (Chicago Bulls)
1966 - Elizabeth "Liz" Tchou, Medford NJ, field hockey defender (Olympics-96)
1966 - Todd Philcox, NFL quarterback (Tampa Bay Bucs)
1967 - Lezlie Lund, Tolna ND, Miss ND-America (1991)
1967 - Kim Issel, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Will Smith [The Fresh Prince], actor/rapper (Men in Black, Independence Day, Fresh Prince)
1968 - Johan Friso, prince of Orange-Nassau, Netherlands
1968 - Reggie Jefferson, Tallahassee FL, 1st baseman (Cin, Cleve, Sea, Bos)
1968 - John Worsfold, Australian rules football coach
1969 - Catherine Zeta Jones, Swansea Wales, actress (Christopher Columbus)
1969 - David Weathers, Lawrencburg TN, pitcher (Florida Marlins, NY Yankees)
1969 - Hansie Cronje, cricket capt (solid South African batsman)
1969 - Michae Wright, WLAF cornerback (Barcelona Dragons)
1969 - Hal Sparks, American actor
1970 - Curtis Buckley, NFL safety (Tampa Bay Bucs)
1970 - Damon Pieri, NFL safety (Carolina Panthers)
1970 - Doug Pelfrey, NFL kicker (Cin Bengals)
1970 - Kerri Kendall, San Diego Ca, playmate (Sep, 1990)
1970 - Shannon Jones, WLAF linebacker (Scottish Claymores)
1970 - Dean Ween, American musician (Ween)
1971 - John Lynch, NFL safety (Tampa Bay Bucs)
1971 - Tony Harrison, WLAF receiver (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1971 - Brian Dunkleman, American actor
1972 - Kevin Mason, CFL quarterback (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1972 - Nikole Viola, Miss USA-Louisiana (1997)
1973 - Bridgette LeAnn Wilson, Gold Beach Oregon, Miss Teen USA (1990)
1973 - Melonie McGarrah, Rogers Arkansas, Miss America-Arkansas (1997)
1973 - Tijani Babangida, soccer player (Roda JC)
1973 - Bridget Marquardt, American model
1974 - Brigette Wilson, actress (Mortal Kombat, Billy Madison, Save by Bell)
1974 - Daniel Kessler, American musician (Interpol)
1975 - Declan Donnelly, English television presenter (Ant and Dec)
1975 - Matt Hasselbeck, American football player
1975 - Daniel Hyde, British actor
1976 - Chauncey Billups, NBA guard (Boston Celtics)
1977 - Clea DuVall, American actress
1977 - Mike Krahulik, Illustrator
1977 - Wil Nieves, Puerto Rican baseball player
1978 - Laura Nicholls, Kitchener Ontario, 50m swimmer (Olympics-96)
1978 - Roudolphe Douala, Cameroonian footballer
1978 - Ricardo Gardner, Jamaican footballer
1978 - Jodie Kidd, English model
1978 - Joel Pineiro, Puerto Rican baseball player
1980 - T.I., American rapper
Historical events on September 27
70 - Walls of upper city of Jerusalem battered down by Romans
489 - Odoacer attacks Theodoric at the Battle of Verona, and is defeated again.
1066 - William the Conqueror troops set sail for England
1290 - Earthquake in Gulf of Chili China, reportedly kills 100,000
1312 - Duke John II of Brabant ends Charter of Kortenberg
1331 - The Battle of Płowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
1509 - Storm ravages Flemish/Dutch/Friese coast, 1000s killed
1540 - Pope Paul III recognizes Society of Jesus/Order of the Jesuits
1540 - Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded by Ignatius Loyola
1590 - Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
1605 - The armies of Sweden are utterly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
1694 - Hurricane hits Carlisle Bay Barbados; 27 Brit ships sink & 3,000 die
1777 - Battle of Germantown; Washington defeated by British [NS=Oct 6]
1777 - English General William Howe occupies Philadelphia
1779 - John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain
1787 - Constitution submitted to states for ratification
1794 - French troops conquer Cr�vecoeur
1821 - Mexican Empire declares its independence
1821 - Revolutionary forces occupy Mexico City as Spanish withdraw
1822 - Jean-Fran�ois Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
1825 - Railroad transportation is born with 1st track (Stockton-Darlington)
1830 - Dutch army leaves Brussels, after 100s killed
1833 - Charles Darwin rides horse to Santa Fe
1834 - Charles Darwin returns to Valparaiso
1852 - George L Aiken's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," premieres in Troy, NY
1854 - Steamship "Arctic" sinks with 300 people on board
1855 - George F Bristow's "Rip Van Winkle," 2nd American opera, opens in NYC
1863 - Jo Shelby's cavalry in action at Moffat's Station, Arkansas
1864 - Battle at Pilot Knob (Ft Davidson), Missouri: 1700 killed/injured
1864 - Centralia Massacre (Missouri): "Bloody Bill" Anderson/Frank/
1864 - Jesse James' gang surprise attack train: 150 killed
1877 - John Mercer Langston named minister of Haiti
1881 - Chicago Cubs beat Troy 10-8 before record small "crowd" of 12
1892 - Book matches are patented by Diamond Match Company
1894 - Aqueduct racetrack opens in NY
1900 - Victory Theater (Republic, Belasco) opens at 207 W 42nd St NYC
1903 - Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
1905 - 1st published blues composition forms sale, WC Handy Memphis Blues
1905 - Boston's Bill Dinneen no-hits Chic White Sox, 2-0
1905 - The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc�.
1908 - The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1909 - 29th US Mens Tennis: W A Larned beats W J Clothier (61 62 57 16 61)
1910 - 1st test flight of a twin-engined airplane (France)
1912 - W C Handy publishes "Memphis Blues" 1st Blues Song, 1912
1914 - Cleveland 2nd baseman Nap Lajoie collects his 3,000th hit
1916 - 1st Native American Day celebrated, honoring American Indians
1916 - Emperor Lidj Jasu of Ethiopia flees
1916 - Iyasu is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zauditu.
1917 - Broadhurst Theater opens at 235 W 44th St NYC
1917 - EHC soccer team forms in Hoensbroek Neth
1919 - British troops withdraw from Archangelsk
1919 - Democratic National Committee voted to allow female members
1919 - Pitcher Bob Shawkey sets then Yank record with 15 strike-outs
1919 - Babe Ruth's 29th HR is 1st of year in Wash (1st in every park in league in one season)
1921 - Yanks beat Indians 21-7 in Polo Grounds
1922 - King Constantine I of Greece abdicates
1923 - Italian troops leave occupied Korfu
1923 - NY Yankee Lou Gehrig hits 1st of his 493 HRs
1924 - Giants clinch their 4th straight pennant, beating Phils 5-1
1928 - US recognizes Nationalist Chinese government
1928 - The Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
1930 - 34th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Bobby Jones
1930 - Cub's Hack Wilson's 2 HRs give him NL record 56 HRs
1930 - White Sox 1st baseman Bud Clancy didn't handle ball at all in a 9 inning game vs St Louis Browns
1931 - Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
1931 - Closest NL batting race ends Chick Hafey (.3488) beats Bill Terry's
1935 - Chicago Cubs win 21st consecutive game & clinch NL pennant
1936 - 1st baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game
1936 - Franco troops conquer Toledo
1936 - Netherlands leave Gold Standard/devaluate guilder
1937 - 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
1937 - Balinese Tiger declared extinct.
1938 - British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth," launches at Clydebank Scotland
1938 - Jewish lawyers forbidden to practice in Germany
1938 - League of Nations declares Japan the aggressor against China
1938 - Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth launched at Glasgow
1939 - Warsaw Poland, surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance
1939 - White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose to Cleve, 5-2 & 7-5
1940 - 55 German aircrafts shot down above England
1940 - Black leaders protest discrimination in US armed forces
1940 - Floyd Giebells, 1st game, 2-0 pennant clinching beating Bob Feller
1940 - Nazi-Germany, Italy & Japan sign 10 year formal alliance (Axis)
1940 - Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935
1941 - 1st WW II liberty ship, freighter Patrick Henry, launched
1942 - Heavy German assault in Stalingrad
1942 - NY Giants beat Wash Redskins 14-7 without making a 1st down
1942 - Reinhard Heydrich, "butcher of Prague," appointed SS-general
1942 - St Louis Cards win NL pennant on last day of season
1943 - Anti-fascism opposition begins in Naples
1943 - Dutch opposition newspaper "The Slogan" publishes KZ-Lower letter
1944 - Helmond & Oss Neth liberated
1946 - King George II of Greece returns from exile
1947 - "Sweethearts" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 288 performances
1948 - "Carib Song" opens at Adelphi Theater NYC for 36 performances
1950 - Dr Ralph Bunche receives Nobel Peace Prize
1950 - Ezzard Charles beats Joe Louis in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1950 - Heavyweight champ Ezzard Charles KOs Joe Louis in NYC
1951 - Persian troops occupies oil refinery at Abadan
1953 - Bert Bechichar, Baltimore Colts, kicks a 56-yard field goal
1953 - KCMO (now KCTV) TV channel 5 in Kansas City, MO (CBS) begins
1953 - KNOE TV channel 8 in Monroe-West Monroe, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - KOLO TV channel 8 in Reno, NV (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - KQTV TV channel 2 in Saint Joseph, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - St Louis Browns play last game in Sportsman's Park, losing 100th game
1953 - Typhoon destroys 1/3 of Nagoya Japan
1953 - WHBQ TV channel 13 in Memphis, TN (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WMAZ TV channel 13 in Macon, GA (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - WTOK TV channel 11 in Meridian, MS (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
1954 - 1st African American Supreme Court page is CV Bush
1954 - School integration begins in Wash DC & Baltimore Md public schools
1954 - Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" premieres
1957 - Giants rent Seals Stadium until Candlestick is built
1959 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Opie Turner Golf Open
1959 - Braves & Dodgers finish in a tie (86-68)
1959 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev concludes his US visit
1960 - Europe's 1st "moving pavement," (travelator), opens at Bank station
1961 - Sandy Koufax sets NL strikeout season record at 269
1961 - Sierre Leone becomes 100th member of UN
1962 - Military uprising under Col Abdullah as-Sallal North Yemen
1962 - US sells Israel, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles
1963 - At 10:59 AM census clock, records US population at 190,000,000
1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald visits Cubans consulate in Mexico
1964 - Despite 3 HRs by Johnny Callison, Phils are 14-8 losers to Braves
1964 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Visalia Ladies' Golf Open
1964 - Phillies 7th straight loses sends them into 2nd place
1964 - Warren Commission released, finds Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
1967 - Phillies Jim Bunning ties NL record of 5, 1-0 losses in a year
1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 - "Hair" opens in London
1968 - Cardinal's super pitcher Bob Gibson's 13th shutout of year
1968 - France refuses UK entry into common market
1970 - Ken Boswell sets 2nd baseman record of 85 games without an error
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1972 - 1st game at Nassau Coliseum, Rangers beat Islanders 6-4 (exhibition)
1973 - Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 in 11 innings, for record 383 of season
1973 - Soyuz 12 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit (2 days)
1973 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1974 - -10/26] Rome: 4th bishop synod
1974 - Austr National Gallery buys W de Kooning's "Woman V" for $850,000
1975 - Government De Uyl recalls Dutch ambassador from Spain
1977 - Phillies clinch 2nd straight NL East Division title
1978 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1978 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1979 - Congress' final approval to create Dept of Education
1979 - Elton John, sick with flu, collapse on Hollywood Universal Ampitheater
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1980 - WHOT (Bkln NY pirate radio station) begins on 1620 AM & 92.5 FM
1980 - Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
1981 - "Day in Hollywood, A Night..," closes at John Golden NY after 588 perf
1982 - Cards clinching NL East title
1982 - Filming begins on "Never Say Never Again"
1982 - Jan Wolkers awarded but refuses Constantine Huygens-prize
1982 - John Palmer becomes news anchor of Today Show
1983 - South Africa worker's union leader Curnick Ndlovu freed after 19 years
1983 - Tim Raines is 1st since Ty Cobb to steal 70 & drive in 70 runs
1985 - 8 killed as roof collapses in Brussel's supermarket
1985 - Hurricane Gloria's 130 MPH wind hits Atlantic coast
1986 - Senate joins House of Reps voting for sweeping tax reforms
1987 - 27th Ryder Cup: Europe beats US, 15-13 at Muirfield Village GC (Ohio)
1987 - Jan Stephens wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic
1987 - NFL players' strike
1987 - Phil Niekro final appearance & is pounded for 5 runs in 3 innings
1988 - Grand jury evidence shows Tawana Brawley fabricated rape story
1988 - Senate votes for major federal tax code changes
1988 - The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded.
1989 - Oakland wins AL West & SF wins NL West title
1989 - Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion cash
1990 - Dee Dee Ramone arrested on marijuana possession
1990 - Deposed emir of Kuwait address UN General Assembly
1990 - Gunman holds 33 people (killing 1) hostage in Berkeley Calif
1990 - Senate Judiciary committee approves Souter's Supreme Court
1990 - Tour de France champion Greg LeMond visits White House
1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 - "Princesses" premieres on CBS TV
1991 - Pres Bush decides to end full-time B-52 bombers alert
1991 - 1st scheduled NHL exhibition game in St Petersburg Fla, is cancelled due to poor ice conditions (NY Islanders vs Boston Bruins)
1992 - ASPCA stops Santeria ceremony in Bronx halts sacrifice of 42 animals
1992 - LA Dodgers for 1st time in history clinch last place
1992 - Military transport plane crashes in Lagos, Nigeria killing 163
1992 - Nancy Scranton wins Los Coyotes LPGA Golf Classic
1992 - Pittsburgh Pirates win their 3rd straight NL East title
1992 - Seattle's Randy Johnson ties AL record for lefties with 18 strike outs
1993 - Actor Daniel Day Lewis pleads guilty to speeding charges
1993 - The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
1996 - Balt Oriole Roberto Alomar spits in face of umpire John Hirschbeck
1996 - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
1996 - The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
1998 - Core States Betsy King Golf Classic
1998 - Google is launched.
2002 - Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.
2003 - Actress Halle Berry announces her separation from second husband, R&B singer Eric Benet
2003 - Smart 1 satellite is launched.
2005 - Atlanta Braves clinch their 14th straight division title thanks to Philadelphia's loss to the New York Mets
2008 - CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
Music history on Sept. 27
1898 - Composer and musician Vincent Youmans was born.
1933 - "Waltz Time" debuted on NBC Radio. It stayed on the network until 1948.
1938 - Artie Shaw recorded "Nightmare."
1938 - "Thanks for the Memory" was heard for the first time on the "The Bob Hope Show."
1942 - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time. Miller volunteered for the U.S. Army and disappeared December 15, 1944 over the English Channel.
1943 - "Pistol Packin' Mama" and "Jingle Bells" were recorded by Bing Crosby, the Vic Schoen Orchestra and the Andrews Sisters.
1962 - "The New York Times" ran the story "Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk Song Stylist" after a concert at Carnegie Hall.
1964 - The Beach Boys appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. They performed "I Get Around."
1972 - Rory Storme (Hurricanes) committed suicide in what appeared to be suicide pact with his mother. The Hurricanes were the group that Ringo Starr left in order to join the Beatles.
1973 - Rolling Stone magazine reported that Carlos Santana had changed his name to Devadip now that he was a disciple of Sri Chinmoy.
1979 - Elton John collapsed onstage while performing "Better Off Dead" at the Universal Amphitheatre. After a ten-minute delay John returned and completed the concert. He was suffering from exhaustion brought on by the flu.
1979 - The LP "Eat To The Beat" was released by Blondie.
1979 - The Police released, "Regatta de Blanc", their second album.
1986 - Cliff Burton (Metallica) was killed when the band tour bus crashed in Sweden. Burton was 24.
1995 - The album "Wazbones" was released by Tigertailz.
1995 - Time Warner severed its ties with its rap label Interscope rather than release the debut album by Tha Dogg Pound.
2002 - Vince Neil pled guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly attacking a record producer in West Hollywood on April 28, 2002.
2004 - Record producer Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of Lana Clarkson at his mansion in 2003.
2004 - It was announced that Betrand Cantat of Noir Desir (Black Desire) would be leaving the next day for France. He had arranged to spend the remainder of his manslaughter sentence in a French prison. Cantat had beaten French actress Marie Trintignant to death in July 2003.
2010 - Tickets to Michael Jackson's "THIS IS IT" went on sale.
Sports history on September 27
1923 - Lou Gehrig (New York Yankees) hit his first of 493 career home runs.
1930 - Hack Wilson (Chicago) hit two home runs to give him 56 for the year.
1930 - At the annual NHL Governor's meeting a new rule was passed concerning offsides. The rule was that "the puck must be propelled into the attacking zone before any player of the attacking side can enter that zone."
1953 - The St. Louis Browns played their final game before moving to Baltimore to become the Orioles.
1964 - Houston played its final game at Colts Stadium. They lost 1-0 to Los Angeles in 12 innings.
1973 - Nolan Ryan (California Angels) struck out 16 batters for the Minnesota Twins. The feat established a modern day single season mark of 383 strikeouts in a season.
1983 - Larry Bird signed a seven-year contract with the Boston Celtics worth $15 million. The contract made him the highest paid Celtic in history.
1996 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) became the second MLB player to record 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same year.
1998 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) set a major league baseball record when he hit his 70th home run of the season. Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs) ended the season with 66 home runs. Both players surpassed Roger Maris' record of 61.
1998 - Greg Vaughn (San Diego Padres) hit his 50th home run of the season. It marked the first time that four players finished the regular season with 50 or more home runs.
1999 - The last game was played at Tiger Stadium. The Detroit Tigers defeated the Kansas City Royals 8-2.
2000 - Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles) signed a 12-year contract that involved a $20.5 million signing bonus. The deal made McNabb the highest paid NFL player in history.
2003 - Javier Lopez (Atlanta Braves) became the first catcher to hit 42 home runs in a season.
2009 - The Detroit Lions defeated the Washington Redskins to end a 19-game losing streak dating back to December, 2007.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 27
George Cruikshank 1792
Thomas Nast 1840 - Political cartoonist that created the Republican elephant and the Democrat donkey
Vincent Youmans 1898
1362 - Guillaum de Grimoard elected as Pope Urban V
1394 - Cardinal Pedro de Luna of Aragon chosen (anti)pope Benedictus XIII
1448 - Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
1521 - Turkish sultan Suleiman I's troops occupy Belgrade
1528 - Spanish fleet sinks in Florida hurricane; about 380 die
1538 - Battle at Preveza: Turkish fleet under Barbarossa beats Spanish
1542 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers California, at San Diego Bay
1621 - Battle at Chocim Dniester: King Sigismund II beats Turks
1652 - English-Dutch sea battle at Kentish Knock
1678 - "Pilgrim's Progress" published
1687 - Venetians take Athens from the Turks
1701 - Divorce legalized in Maryland, USA
1704 - Maryland allows divorce if wife mispleases clergyman/preacher
1708 - Battle at Lesnaya: Russian army captures Swedish convoy
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie becomes king of Scotland
1760 - Russian & Austrian army occupies Berlin
1767 - Gentlemen 17 forbid private slave transport India to Cape of Good Hope
1779 - American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1781 - 9,000 American forces & 7,000 French forces begin siege of Yorktown
1785 - Napoleon Bonaparte (16) graduates from the military academy in Paris (42nd in a class of 51)
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French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
1787 - Congress sends Constitution to state legislatures for their approval
1815 - Joachim Murats fleet sails from Corsica to Naples
1829 - Walker's Appeal, racial antislavery pamphlet, published in Boston
1844 - Oscar I of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1850 - US Navy abolishes flogging as punishment
1858 - Donati's comet becomes 1st to be photographed
1864 - -30) Battle of Fort Harrison VA (Chaffin's Farm New Market Heights)
1867 - Toronto becomes capital of Ontario
1867 - The United States takes control of Midway Island.
1868 - Battle of Alcolea, causes Queen Isabella 2 of Spain to flee to France
1868 - Opelousas Massacre at St Landry Parish Louisiana (200 blacks killed)
1879 - Sydney Australia inaugurates steam motor tram route
1887 - Gele River (Huang Ho) in China floods, kills about 1.5 million
1889 - Carlos I crowned King of Portugal (1889-1908)
1889 - The first General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice.
1892 - 1st night football game played (Mansfield Pa)
1894 - Simon Marks & Tom Spencer open Penny Bazaar in Manchester
1899 - Transvaal mobilizes
1901 - Guerrilla's assault unarmed US soldiers in Balangiga Phil, 38 killed
1904 - Woman arrested for smoking a cigarette in a car on 5th Avenue, NYC
1906 - US troops reoccupy Cuba, stay until 1909
1912 - "Kiche Maru" sinks off Japan, killing 1,000
1912 - SS Kichemaru disappears in storm off Japanese coast, 1,000 die
1914 - German forces move into Antwerp Belgium (WW I)
1915 - Battle of Kut-el-Amara: Brits defeat Turks in Mesopotamia
1919 - Fastest major league game (51 mins), Giants beat Phillies 6-1
1920 - 8 White Sox indicted, threw 1919 World Series (Black Sox scandal)
1920 - Dirk Fock appointed as gov-gen of Neth Indies
1921 - 4th PGA Championship: Walter Hagen at Inwood CC Far Rockaway NY
1922 - Benito Mussolini marches on Rome
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Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini
1923 - Abyssinia (Ethiopia) leaves League of Nations
1923 - Radio Times 1st published
1923 - Yanks slaughter Red Sox 24-4
1924 - 2 US Army planes end around-world flight, Seattle to Seattle, 57 stops
1924 - French government names Gen Serrail gov-gen of Syria
1924 - Gen Plutarco Calles elected president of Mexico
1926 - Russia & Latvia treaty of neutrality signed
1928 - 1st recording session in Nashville (Warmack's Gully Jumpers)
1928 - Juan de la Cierva makes 1st helicopter flight over English Channel
1928 - NY Yanks clinch pennant #6
1928 - Prussia forbids speech from Adolf Hitler
1928 - US acknowledge Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek
1928 - Valentin Katayev's "Kvadratura Kruga," premieres in Moscow
1928 - UK passes the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.
1929 - 1st CF interception return for a touchdown (Joe Hess-U of Alberta)
1930 - Lou Gehrig's errorless streak ends at 885 consecutive games
1931 - Peking (200,000 demonstrators demand declaration of war on Japan)
1932 - 1932 Baseball World Series opens with the Chicago Cubs vs. NY Yankees (6-12)
1933 - Greer Garson wed Edward Snelson
1933 - Sally Eilers weds Harry Joe Brown
1936 - Bachelor's Children debuts on CBS radio (at 9:45 am)
1936 - Brooklyn & Boston play a penalty free NFL game
1937 - FDR dedicates Bonneville Dam on Columbia River (Oregon)
1937 - Martha Raye divorces Bud Westmore
1938 - Clare Boothe's "Boys Goodbye," premieres in NYC
1938 - Dutch Premier Colijn sends radio message "No war coming"
1939 - Estonia accepts Soviet military bases
1939 - Final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard on radio
1939 - Soviet-German treaty agree on 4th partition of Poland (WW II) & gives Lithuania to USSR, last Polish troops surrender
1940 - Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard touchdowns
1940 - Nazi occupiers present "New Dutch Culture" in German
1940 - Bud Brennan, a fan at Memorial Stadium, races out of stands & attempts to tackle Tom Harmon at 3-yard line, Harmon easily evades Brennan
1941 - Phillies lose club record 111th game
1941 - Ted Williams ended the baseball season with .406 batting avg
1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Stalingrad
1942 - NY Americans NHL team folded
1944 - 1st TV Musical comedy (The Boys from Boise)
1944 - Battle of Arnhem, Germans defeat British airborne in Netherlands
1944 - Nazi murders in Marzabotto, Italy (SS-major Reder)
1945 - "Mildred Price" starring Joan Crawford opens at Strand
1945 - Canadian football's Calgary Bronks changes its name to Stampeders
1945 - Robert T Duncan appears as Tonio in "I Pagliacci"
1946 - Greek king George II back in Athens
1948 - WBAP-TV, (NBC affiliate) Fort Worth Texas, begins broadcasting
1949 - "My Friend Irma" is 1st of 12 films starring Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
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Comedian Jerry Lewis
1950 - Indonesia becomes 60th member of UN
1951 - Allie Reynolds' 2nd no-hitter of 1951; Yanks clinch pennant #18
1951 - Franchot Tone wed Barbara Payton
1951 - Norm Van Brocklin of Rams passes for NFL-record 554 yards
1953 - "Bob & Ray Show," TV Variety; last air on NBC
1953 - "Juvenile Jury," TV Childrens, last airs on NBC, moved to CBS
1953 - "Racket Squad," TV Crime Drama, last airs on CBS
1953 - Dutch government proclaims 5% general pay increase on Jan 1, 1954
1953 - KOAT TV channel 7 in Albuquerque, NM (ABC/PBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - 1st World Series color TV broadcast on NBC-TV (Yanks beat Dodgers)
1955 - WITN TV channel 7 in Washington, NC (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - "Johnny Carson Show," TV Variety; last airs on CBS-TV
1956 - RCA Records reports Elvis Presley sold over 10 million records
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Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley
1957 - "Dollar A Second," last airs on NBC-TV
1957 - "Gisele MacKenzie Show," debuts on NBC-TV
1957 - "Honeycomb," by Jimmie Rodgers hits #1
1957 - Dutch Queen Juliana opens Velser Tunnels
1958 - France adopts constitution
1958 - Guinea votes for independence from France
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - USAF selects Thor over Jupiter rocket for mass production as ICBM's
1959 - "Hennesey," debuts on CBS-TV
1959 - Edward Franklin Albee's "zoo story," premieres in Berlin
1959 - Explorer VI reveals an intense radiation belt around Earth
1960 - "Millionaire," last airs on CBS-TV
1960 - "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own," by Connie Francis hits #1
1960 - "Queen For A Day," moves to ABC-TV
1960 - "Sunrise at Campobello" premiered at Palace theater
1960 - Ted Williams hits his final homer #521 (off Jack Fisher)
1961 - "Doctor Kildare," debuts on NBC-TV
1961 - "Hazel," starring Shirley Booth debuts on NBC-TV
1961 - "Purlie Victorious," a farce by Ossie Davis, opens on Broadway
1961 - Syria withdraws from United Arab Republic
1961 - USN Comdr Forrest S Petersen takes X-15 to 30,720 m
1961 - Walt Disney's movie "Grey Friars Bobby" premieres
1962 - "Brighter Day," last airs on CBS-TV daytime
1962 - "I'm Dickens, He's Fenster," debuts on ABC-TV
1962 - "Jan Murray Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1962 - "Tonight Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1962 - "Verdict Is Yours," last airs on CBS-TV
1962 - Alouette (Canada), 1st Canadian satellite, launched
1962 - Paddington tram depot fire destroys 65 trams in Brisbane, Australia.
1963 - "King Leonardo," cartoon last airs on NBC-TV
1963 - "Little Deuce Coupe" by The Beach Boys peaks at #15
1963 - "Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells peaks at #1
1963 - "New Phil Silvers Show," debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - "Nick Teen & Al K Hall" by Rolf Harris peaks at #95
1963 - "Sally, Go 'Round The Roses" by Jaynetts peaks at #2
1963 - "Shari Lewis Show," last airs on NBC-TV
1963 - "Surfer Joe" by Surfaris peaks at #62
1963 - "Tennessee Tuxedo," cartoon debuts on CBS-TV
1963 - Giuseppe Cantarella roller-skates record 25.78 mph (415 k) for 440 yds
1963 - Murray The K, a NY DJ plays "She Loves You" on the radio
1964 - 53rd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Cleveland (3-2)
1964 - Suriname governor A Currie resigns
1965 - Jack McKay in X-15 reaches 90 km
1965 - Lava flows kill at least 350 (Taal Philippines)
1965 - Volcano explodes on Luzon Philippines; 500 killed
1967 - Walter Washington elected 1st mayor of Washington, DC
1968 - "Happy Time" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 286 performances
1968 - "Noel Coward's Sweet Potato" opens at Barrymore NYC for 17 perfs
1968 - Alberto Giolani of Italy roller skates record 23.133 miles in 1 hr
1968 - Atlanta Chiefs beat San Diego Toros 3-0 for NASL championship
1968 - Beatles "Hey Jude," single goes #1 and stays #1 for 9 weeks
1968 - Chuck Hixson (Southern Methodist) completes 37 of record 69 passes
1968 - Janis Joplin announces she's leaving "Big Brother & Holding Co"
1968 - Marisa Danisi of West Germany roller skates record 21.995 miles in 1 hr
1969 - Joe Kapp (Minnesota Vikings) passes for 7 touchdowns vs Balt Colts (52-14)
1969 - Minnesota vs Baltimore, gains 530 yards passing!
1969 - SPD wins West German Parliament elections
1970 - "Words & Music," debuts on NBC-TV
1970 - Anwar Sadat replaces Egyptian President Nassar
1970 - Intrepid (US) beats Gretel II (Aust) in 22nd America's Cup
1971 - Cardinal Josef Mindszenty of Hungary took refuge in US Embassy in
1971 - NY Times reports growing interest of white youth in black gospel music
1971 - Budapest in 1956 to escape treason charges, ends exile & flies to Rome
1971 - UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
1972 - David Bowie sells out his 1st show in NY Carnegie Hall
1972 - Japan & Communist China agree to re-establish diplomatic relations
1972 - Canada defeats the USSR in the eigth and final game of the ice hockey Summit Series.
1973 - Palestinian Terrorists hijack Austrian train
1973 - ITT Building in New York City bombed to protest ITT's involvement in the September 11 1973 coup d'�tat in Chile.
1974 - "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" by Aretha Franklin peaks at #47
1974 - "I'm A Ramblin' Man" by Waylon Jennings peaks at #75
1974 - "Live It Up Part 1" by Isley Brothers peaks at #52
1974 - "Papa Don't Take No Mess Part 1" by James Brown peaks at #31
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Godfather of Soul James Brown
1974 - "Rock Me Gently" by Andy Kim peaks at #1
1974 - "Surfin' USA" by Beach Boys reenters chart & peaks at #36
1974 - 1st Lady Betty Ford undergoes a radical mastectomy
1974 - California Angel Nolan Ryan 3rd no-hitter beats Minn Twin, 4-0
1974 - John Lennon appears as guest dj on WNEW-FM (NYC)
1974 - Mick Ronson joins Mott the Hoople
1975 - 5th NYC Women's Marathon won by Kim Merritt in 2:46:14
1975 - 6th NYC Marathon won by Tom Fleming in 2:19:27
1975 - Bill authorizes admission of women to military academies
1975 - Oakland A's Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Linblad & Rollie Fingers, no-hits California Angels 5-0
1975 - The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people were taken as hostages, takes place in London.
1976 - A&M sues George Harrison who fails to meet deadline for LP completion
1976 - Congress passes Toxic Substances Control Act
1976 - Muhammad Ali beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1978 - Israeli Knesset endorses Camp David accord
1978 - Pieter Botha succeeds Vorster as premier of South Africa
1978 - Syrians & Lebanese engage in heavy fighting in Lebanon
1979 - Larry Holmes TKOs Earnie Shavers in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1980 - "Charlie & Algernon" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 17 perfs
1980 - Carl Sagan's 13 part "Cosmos" premieres on PBS
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Carl Sagan
1980 - Jaromir Wagner is 1st to fly Atlantic standing on wing
1980 - Jerilyn Britz wins LPGA Mary Kay Golf Classic
1981 - Joseph Paul Franklin, avowed racist, sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 2 black joggers in Salt Lake City
1982 - 1st reports appear of death from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules
1982 - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 505
1983 - STS-9 vehicle moves to launch pad
1984 - 1st floodlit ODI outside of Australia (India v Aust, New Delhi)
1984 - Cleve Indians down 0-10 to Minnesota Twins, win 11-10
1985 - "Don't Lose My Number" by Phil Collins peaks at #4
1985 - "Every Step Of The Way" by John Waite peaks at #25
1985 - "Freedom" by Wham! peaks at #3
1985 - "Janet" by Commodores peaks at #87
1985 - NASA launches Intelsat VA
1985 - Race riot in London area of Brixton
1986 - Record 23,000 start in a marathon (Mexico City)
1986 - Tight end Brian Foster of RI catches NCAA record 18 passes for 327 yds
1986 - Cleveland Browns' Gerald McNeil sets the team record for the longest punt return with an 84-yard run (and TD), Browns 24, Detroit 21
1987 - "Star Trek: The Next Generation," debuts on syndicated TV
1987 - Gladys Knight & Smokey Robinson on "$10,000 Pyramid"
1988 - Bronx Museum for Arts opens
1988 - Javed Miandad scores his 19th Test Cricket century (v Aus, Faisalabad)
1988 - LA Dodger Orel Hershiser sets record for consecutive scoreless inns
1990 - Exiled emir of Kuwait visits White House
1990 - Marvin Gaye gets a star on Hollywood's walk of fame
1991 - "Commish," debuts on ABC-TV
1991 - "Good Time" by Ziggy Marley & Melody Makers peaks at #85
1991 - "Love Of A Lifetime" by Firehouse peaks at #5
1991 - "Shiny Happy People" by REM peaks to #10
1991 - NY Yankees set record of 75 games without a complete pitched game
1991 - UN weapons inspectors ends 5-day standoff with Iraq
1992 - "Barry Manilow's Showstoppers" closes at Paramount Theater NYC
1992 - "Dog City," cartoon debuts on Fox-TV
1992 - Oakland A's win AL West title
1992 - Pakistani Airbus A-300 crashes into mountain at Kathmandu, 167 dies
1993 - Dennis Martinez is 7th to win 100 games in AL & NL
1993 - Gas field in Caracas explodes, 53 killed
1993 - Ron Wood releases "Slide On Live"
1994 - "Baseball" TV Miniseries last airs on PBS
1994 - "Cats" 5,000th Broadway performance (joins Chorus Line & Oh! Calcutta!)
1994 - "Ed Wood" premieres
1994 - 909 people died when an Estonian ferry capsized & sank in Baltic sea
1994 - Ferry boat Estonia capsize & sinks in East Sea, 909 killed
1995 - "Batman Forever" released Czech Republic
1995 - Dennis Martinez pitch breaks Kirby Puckett's jaw in Indians 12-4 win
1995 - Mary Tyler Moore returns to series TV in "NY News," on CBS
1995 - Singer Bobby Brown escapes injury in gun battle
1995 - Troy Dixon scores cricket century on 1st-class debut for Qld v W Prov
1995 - Yitzhak Rabin & Yasir Arafat, sign accord to transfer West Bank
1995 - Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of Comoros in a coup.
1996 - 1st ODI played in Kenya between home team & Sri Lanka
1996 - Joyce Giraud, crowned 8th Ms Venus Swimwear
1996 - NY Yankee Jim Leyitz is 2nd catcher to wear a hockey mask
1996 - Nebraska & Penn State are 5th & 6th major colleges to win 700
1996 - Orioles' Roberto Alomar suspended 5 games for spitting at ump
1996 - Troy Davis of Iowa State ran for 378 yards, 3rd highest in college football games (others: Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas & Alabama)
1997 - 32nd Ryder Cup: Europe wins 14�-13� to retain the Cup at Sotogrande Spain
1997 - Emerald Coast Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Newscaster David Brinkley, 74, retires after 54 years in broadcasting
1997 - St Louis Card Mark McGwire hits his 58th HR of 1997 (34 with Oak A's)
1997 - Wendy Ward wins LPGA Fieldcrest Cannon Classic
2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
2008 - SpaceX launches the first ever private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2009 - The military junta leading Guinea, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, sexually assaulted, killed and wounded protesters during a protest rally in a stadium called Stade du 28 Septembre.
Music history on Sept. 28
1928 - Glen Gray's Orchestra recorded "Under a Blanket of Blue." Kenny Sargeant performed the vocals.
1958 - "To Know Him Is To Love Him" by the Teddy Bears was released. The song was written and composed by 18-year old Phil Spector.
1963 - "She Loves You" by the Beatles was played on the radio by Murry The K in New York. It is believed that this was the first time a Beatles song was played in the U.S.
1968 - Janis Joplin's manager announced that she has left Big Brother and the Holding Company.
1972 - David Bowie sold out New York's Carnegie Hall. It was his first sell out in the U.S.
1973 - The Rolling Stones appeared on U.S. television for the first time since 1967.
1975 - Jerry Garcia and Friends and Jefferson Starship gave a free show to 40,000 fans in San Francisco's Lindley Park.
1976 - A&M Records sued George Harrison for failing to deliver his LP "33 1/3" on time.
1979 - Jimmy McCulloch was found dead in London at the age of 26.
1987 - Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson were guests on the television show "$10,000 Pyramid."
1989 - "Tales From Margaritaville" was published by Jimmy Buffet. It was a book of short stories.
1991 - The Garth Brooks album "Ropin' the Wind" became the first country album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.
1995 - Bobby Brown's car was riddled with bullets in Boston's Roxbury section. The gun battle killed his sister's fianc�.
1997 - The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) was held in New York City, NY. The official debut of the DVD format was featured.
2001 - Courtney Love filed a claim against Geffen Records and two musicians from her late husband's band, Nirvana. The suit was aimed at invalidating a 1997 agreement over the group's body of work. Love claimed that she signed the deal while she was distressed.
2004 - In Beverly Hills, CA, a tribute concert to honor Ray Charles raised $15 million for Morehouse College Center for the Arts in Atlanta. The performers included Bill Cosby as the host, Stevie Wonder, Travis Tritt, Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), James Ingram and Patti Austin. They sang Charles' hits, such as "Georgia On My Mind," "What I'd Say" and "Hit the Road Jack." Charles had died of acute liver disease on June 10, 2004.
2004 - Randy Travis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sports history on Sept. 28
1892 - The first nighttime football game in the U.S. took place under electric lights. The game was between the Mansfield State Normal School and the Wyoming Seminary.
1919 - The New York Giants beat Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in a day game that lasted 51 minutes. The time set a National League record.
1941 - Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox) hit .400 for the season. He was the last major league player of the century to achieve this statistic.
1955 - The World Series was televised in color for the first time. The game was between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1968 - The Atlanta Chiefs won the first North American Soccer League Championship.
1978 - Don Sherman, editor of Car & Driver, set a new Class E record in Utah. Driving the Mazda RX7 he reached a speed of 183.904 mph.
1991 - Michael Jordan was a guest on "Saturday Night Live."
1995 - Randy Myers (Chicago Cubs) was charged by a 27-year-old man while standing in the outfield. Myers saw him coming, dropped his glove and knocked the man down with his forearm.
Famous birthdays on Sept. 28
Confucius 551 B.C. - Teacher and philosopher
Georges Clemenceau (France) 1841
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Which plated dinosaur takes its name from the phrase 'Roof Lizard'? | Free Flashcards about GK 5
Question
Answer
Tinian Island, from which Enola Gay took off en route to bomb Hiroshima, is part of which US territory?
Northern Mariana Islands
What is 'The Sky At Night''s theme tune?
At The Castle Gate by Sibelius
Who played the title character in 'Veronica Mars'?
Kristen Bell
What are the start and end points of the Severn Valley Railway?
Kidderminster, Bridgnorth
Which national trail runs between Ivinghoe Beacon and Overton Hill?
The Ridgeway
Former PM Gordon Brown and Kenny Dalglish were both born in which city?
Glasgow
Which London museum was founded by a tea magnate in 1901 in Forest Hill, and was designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Charles Harrison Townsend?
Horniman Museum
On which horse did Lester Piggott first win the Derby, in 1954?
Never Say Die
Which suffragette famously died at the 1913 Derby by running in the path of the horses?
Emily Davison
In McManus's cartoon "Bringing Up Father", what was "father's" name?
Jiggs
In McManus's cartoon "Bringing Up Father", to whom was father married?
Maggie
Who painted "The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888)"?
Alma-Tadema
Who wrote the novel "Angel Pavement"?
JB Priestley
Which pig was the leader in "Animal Farm"?
Napoleon
Who wrote "Anna Of The Five Towns"?
Arnold Bennett
In criminology, what is an "inchoate offence"?
An offence (such as incitement or conspiracy) anticipating or preparatory to a further criminal act
What is the alternative name for a wolverine?
Glutton
Which disease causes the roots of brassicas (eg cabbage) to swell?
Club Root
Which Indian-made car was unveiled in January 2008 as "the least expensive car in the world"?
Tata Nano
Which white frothy liquid is produced on plants by the frog hopper insect?
Cuckoo spit
How did Barnes Wallis assist the 'Dambusters' raid?
Designed the 'bouncing bomb'
Which constellation bears the popular name 'Charioteer'?
Auriga
Which is the biggest 'centaur' in the Solar System?
Chiron
How is hydroxybenzene better known?
Phenol, or carbolic acid
Who died on Loch Ness in 1952, trying to set a water speed record?
John Cobb
What type of stamps first went on sale in the UK in 1966, and have been sold every year since?
Christmas stamps
Which Mars canyon is over 4000km long?
Valles Marineris
The TATA OneCAT is a car that runs on what?
Compressed air
What is the legal term for someone authorised to stand in another's place?
Proxy
What type of hat is traditionally worn by a town crier?
Tricorn
What was the name of the dog sent into space in 1957?
Laika
Which company used the slogan "more experienced than our name suggests"?
Virgin Atlantic
Which spectacular comet was the brightest of the 20th century, best seen and passing perihelion in 1997?
Hale-Bopp
What make of washers were used by Britain's first launderette, that opened in 1949?
Bendix
Which shipyard built the QE2?
John Brown's
Which fine-grained metamorphic rock can be split into thin layers and used for roofing etc?
Slate
What do Americans call a flick knife?
Switchblade
Which disease is also called lockjaw?
Tetanus
Who set the record for the longest time continuously spent in space by an individual in human history by spending 437 days on 'Mir'?
Valeri Polyakov
The spectacled bear is native to which continent?
South America
Which is the last period of the Paleozoic Era?
Permian
A member of CARD (1964-67) campaigned against what?
Racial Discrimination
What is the inverse Tan of 1 in degrees?
45 degrees
What is the log base 10 of 100?
Two
Which common metallic element has the atomic number 12?
Magnesium
Who manufactured the 'Lincoln' aircraft?
Avro
What is a 'wildcat well'?
Exploratory well for oil or gas
In 2014, the Kurdish minority Yazidi group were surrounded by ISIS on which mountain in Iraq?
Sinjar
Religious group the Yazidis generally refuse to wear which colour?
Blue
Dabiq is the online magazine of who?
ISIL/ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant)
Of what are PANAS and SWANE measuring devices?
Well-being/happiness
Almedalen Week is an important political forum in which country?
Sweden
What is the capital of the Faroe Islands?
Torshavn
Located on the Kamchatka peninsula, what is the highest active volcano in Eurasia?
Klyuchevskaya Sopka
What is third most populous city in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg?
Novosibirsk
Who wrote the 1884 novel 'A Rebours'?
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Emile Bernard, Gustave Moreau and Pierre Puvis De Chevannes were all artists associated with which style or movement?
Symbolism
What was 'Art Nouveau' called in Germany?
Jugendstil
Give either of artist James Whistler's middle names.
Abbott or McNeill
Give a year in the life of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.
1760-1849
Which genre of woodblock prints and paintings, with a name translating as 'pictures of the floating world', flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries?
Ukiyo-e
Anton Karas, famous for his 'The Third Man' soundtrack, was an accomplished player of which instrument, perhaps best known for its use as the Harrly Lime theme?
Zither
Who wrote the songs "Baby It's Cold Outside", "If I Were A Bell" and "A Bushel and A Beck"?
Fran Loesser
In which year was the BBC Home Service radio station introduced?
1939
What was Radio 2's original name, when it started broadcasting in 1945?
Light Programme
Incorporated into Radio 3 in 1970, in which year did the BBC Third programme radio station start?
1947
What was renamed Radio 4 in 1967?
BBC Home Service
In which year did Radio Luxembourg launch its weekly 'hit parade', the first time such a concept had been trialled?
1948
In which year was the BBC radio show "Pick Of The Pops" last broadcast?
1972
Who composed the signature tune of "Pick Of The Pops", called "At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal"?
Bryan Fahey
Who sang the famous version of "Singin In The Rain" in the eponymous 1952 film musical?
Gene Kelly
On which radio station did 'Opportunity Knocks' start off life, in 1949?
Radio Luxembourg
Who was the first winner of 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1949, who later went on to spend 10 weeks at No.1 in the UK with 'Cara Mia' in 1954?
David Whitfield
What is the medical name for goosebumps?
Horropilation
The Dorset Iron Age tribe the Durotriges had the largest capital in the whole of the British Isles at the time - what is it called nowadays?
Maiden Castle
Their name deriving from a Celtic word meaning 'hill' which Iron Age tribe dominated Northern England?
Brigantes
The legendary Finn MacCool belonged to which real historical group, whose task was to guard Celtic-era kings, and whose name was later appropriated for an independence movement?
Fenians
The first British hit parade had 12 singles - who sung three of them?
Vera Lynn
Who had a UK number 1 with "Dreamboat"?
Alma Cogan
Elvis Presley's legendary first recordings were made in 1954 in which Memphis studios?
Sun
What was the name of Elvis Presley's stillborn twin brother?
Jesse
What was Jerry Lee Lewis' first hit?
Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
What was Jerry Lee Lewis' (possibly apt, given the mysterious circumstances of the death of one of his wives) nickname?
The Killer
Who said that "rock n' roll is....the martial music of every sideburned delinquent"?
Frank Sinatra
What was Little Richard's last name?
Perriman
In which city was Chuck Berry born?
St Louis
"Say Man" which got to No. 20 in the US, was the only Top 20 hit - in the US or the UK - for which legendary performer?
Bo Diddley
What characteristic is shared by all actinide elements?
Radioactivity
Name any 4 of the 6 elements that are collectively known as non-metals?
C, N, O, Se, S, P
A radian is equal to how many degrees, to the nearest degree?
57
Which elements, chemically very similar, occupy positions 57-71 on the Periodic Table?
Lanthanides
The first two columns of the Periodic Table are occupied by elements that fill which type of electron orbital?
s-type
The third to twelfth columns of the Periodic Table are occupied by elements that fill which type of electron orbital?
f-type
The last six columns of the Periodic Table are occupied by elements that fill which type of electron orbital?
p-type
The rare earth elements of the Periodic Table that fill which type of electron orbital?
d-type
Element 100 (atomic number 100) Fermium belongs to which group of elements?
Actinides
How was Terry Nelhams better known?
Adam Faith
Who had No 1 hits in the UK with "Cumberland Gap" and "Gamblin' Man"?
Lonnie Donegan
Who had a 1958 hit with "Move It"?
Cliff Richard
What was Billy Fury's biggest UK hit, reaching No. 4 in the charts?
Halfway To Paradise
What was the name of Vince Taylor's backing group?
The Playboys
Which 1950s singer was reputedly the inspiration for David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust"?
Vince Taylor
What was Hank Marvin's real name?
Brian Rankin
Jet Harris and Tony Meehan were both members of which band?
The Shadows
Which art group was formed in Dresden in 1905 and included Kirchner, Bleyl, Heckel and Schmidt-Rottluff?
Die Brucke (The Bridge)
Filippo Marinetti's Futurist manifesto was published on the front page of which newspaper in 1909?
Le Figaro
Kasimir Malevich was the originator of which artistic movement?
Suprematism
The artists Arp, Tzara, Janco, Ball, Richter and Picabia all belonged to which movement?
Dadaism
The artists Tzara and Janco were both of which nationality?
Romanian
The artists Arp, Duchamp, Tzara, Dali, Magritte, Breton, Ernst and Crevel are all associated with which movement?
Surrealism
The Dadaist movement was founded in which city?
Zurich
What was the first publication of the Dadist movement?
Cabaret Voltaire
Which Dali painting featured melting watches?
The Persistence Of Memory
Who had US hits with both "Crying In The Chapel" and "It's Too Soon To Know"?
The Orioles
Who had a massive 1956 hit with "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", selling 2 million copies?
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers
Who had a 1959 hit with "Since I Don't Have You", later covered by Guns N' Roses?
The Skyliners
Who were Maurice Williams' backing group?
The Zodiacs
Who had a hit with "Voice In The Wilderness" in the 1950s?
Cliff Richard
What is the surname of the US singer-songwriter known as Dion?
DiMucci
Which singer experienced double tragedy when his wife died in a motorbike accident in 1966, and his two eldest sons in a 1969 fire?
Roy Orbison
Which singer, who committed suicide in 1990, had hits with "Keep Searchin'" and "Stranger In Town"?
Del Shannon
The Yanomani people live on the border of which two countries?
Venezuela and Brazil
Which biological phenomenon occurs when predators in a food web suppress the abundance or alter traits (e.g., behaviour) of their prey, thereby releasing the next level from predation?
Trophic cascade
Manx and sooty are species of which bird?
Shearwater
The Cantabrian Sea is part of which body of water?
Bay of Biscay
What type of animal is the greater weever?
Fish
Who had hits with "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me"?
The Crystals
Which 1960s girl group had hits with "Be My Baby" and "Baby I Do"?
The Ronettes
Which building, located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan was reknowned for a flourishing songwriting industry?
Brill Building
Which song reached No 5 in the USA for Dion And The Belmonts and No 2 in the UK for Marti Wilde?
Teenager In Love
Who had the original hit with "The Locomotion"?
Little Eva
Which geographical feature was named after the mythical father of Theseus?
Aegean Sea (Aegeus)
What is the correct name of the Mendelssohn overture commonly known as "Fingal's Cave"?
The Hebrides
From which larger work is Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumblebee" taken?
Tsar Sultan
Which musician's real name was Ellas Otha Bates?
Bo Diddley
How is Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor better known?
Fur Elise
Which musician wrote the song "Running Bear"?
The Big Bopper
How does Schubert's "Die Forelle" translate?
The Trout
Who had a 1970 Number 1 with "All Kinds Of Everything"?
Dana
Which musical features the song "Sabine Women"?
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
What type of fruit or vegetable is a "Howgate Wonder"?
Apple
What type of fruit or vegetable is a "Pentland Javelin"?
Potato
Who was the daughter of Pasiphae, and the wife of the Greek God Dionysus?
Ariadne
In some Greek myths, Poseidon married which sea-nymph?
Amphitrite
Which musical features the song "People Will Say We're In Love"?
Oklahoma
Which Doors keyboard player released an album based on the Carmina Burana?
Ray Manzarek
Give a year during the War of The Spanish Succession.
1702-13
Which treaty concluded the War of The Spanish Succession?
Utrecht
Madame de Pompadour was a mistress of which French king?
Louis XV
Cardinal Richelieu was the trusted advisor of which French king?
Louis XIII
What was the original name of Paris's Place De La Concorde?
Place Louis XV
Where are the Petit and Grand Trianons?
Versailles
Which area of France was nominally independent from 1737 to 1766, ruled by Stanisław Leszczyński, the former king of Poland ?
Lorraine
Which Admiral commanded the British fleet at the 1759 Battle of Quiberon Bay?
Sir Edward Hawke
What was referred to by Voltaire in 'Candide' as no more than 'a few acres of snow'?
Canada
Which three 'critiques' did Kant publish between 1781 and 1790?
Of Pure Reason; Of Practical Reason; Of Judgement
Where was Immanuel Kant born?
Konigsberg
Who was Bertrand Russell's godfather?
John Stuart Mill
Which British political economist (1772-1823) came up with the theory of comparative advantage?
David Ricardo
Which French New Wave director directed Les Biches (1968), La Femme Infidele (1969), and Le Boucher (1970)?
Claude Chabrol
The notorious 'Downtown Eastside' district, where serial killer Robert William Pickton picked up several of his victims, is in which city?
Vancouver
In which country is Lake Mungo?
Australia (it is, incidentally, dry)
What was the original name of the ship The Golden Hind?
The Pelican
What is the largest town on the island of Elba?
Portoferraio
What type of mineral are stalagmites and stalactites comprised of?
Calcium carbonate
Which two shipping forecast areas border Scotland's East Coast to the west, and Forties to the east?
Cromarty, Forth
Which two shipping forecast areas border Denmark?
Fisher, German Bight
Which shipping forecast area lies due south of South Utsire?
Fisher
Which shipping forecast area lies between Forth and Humber?
Tyne
Which shipping forecast area lies due south of Forties?
Dogger
Bouvet Island, the world's most remote island, is owned by which country?
Norway
Which is the largest of the Aeolian Islands?
Lipari
Which shipping forecast area lies between Shannon and Bailey?
Rockall
Which shipping forecast area lies due north of Ireland?
Malin
Which shipping forecast area contains the Isle of Man?
Irish Sea
Which shipping forecast area lies due south of Ireland, between Shannon and Lundy?
Fastnet
Which shipping forecast area lies north of Malin, and south of both Faeroes and Fair Isle?
Hebrides
The US Vice-President's residence, in the US Naval Observatory Grounds, is on which road or street?
Massachussetts Avenue
St Lucia and Dominica are both part of which group of islands?
Windward Islands
What is the surname of Lucy from Peanuts?
Van Pelt
Which 'Peanuts' character carries a blanket?
Linus
Which cartoonist devised 'The Perishers'?
Dodd
Who was the sheepdog in 'The Perishers'?
Boot
What was Jackson Pollock's nickname?
Jack The Dripper
In which country was the painter Arshile Gorky born?
Armenia
Who painted "The Light Of The World"?
Holman Hunt
In the cartoons, who is Modesty Blaise's trusty sidekick?
Garvin
In 'The Perishers', Boot is whose dog?
Wellington
How many fleches are there on a backgammon board?
24
The infamous swimmer 'Eric the Eel' represented which country?
Equatorial Guinea
Give a year in the life of Seneca.
5BC - 65AD
Pocahontas belonged to which Native Indian tribe?
Powhatan
Which Englishman did Pocahontas marry?
John Rolfe
All Pueblo infants are given what in tribute to legendary mothers?
Ear of corn
The Nuu-chah-nulth, or Nootka, are Native Americans who inhabit which area?
Pacific North-West
Which confederation are also called the Haudenosaunee?
Iroquois
Which term is traditionally used to mean a person of combined European and Native American descent?
Mestizo/mestiza
In which century did Adam Smith publish his "Wealth Of Nations"?
Eighteenth (1776)
In which year was the notorious Salem witch hunt?
1692
Which minister (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was known for his voracious support for the Salem witch trials?
Cotton Mather
What two-word term in law refers to a married woman protected legally by her husband?
Feme Covert
Who wrote "Two Treatises On Government" in 1690?
Locke
DNA evidence has, in modern times, suggested which US President fathered a child with the slave Sally Hemings?
Thomas Jefferson
What was the forename of US President, John Adams' wife?
Abigail
What was the forename of Thomas Jefferson's wife, who died aged just 34?
Martha
Name any two of the five Native American tribes forcibly relocated by the Trail Of Tears.
Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw
Keokuk and Black Hawk were famous leaders of which Native American nation?
Sauk
Which Act adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians?
Dawes Act
Who wrote the 1309 treatise "On World Government"?
Dante Alighieri
Which two Kings signed the 1502 "Treaty Of Perpetual Peace"?
James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England
Which jurist in the Dutch Republic (10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645) helped to lay the foundations for international law, based on natural law?
Hugo Grotius
Which musical features the song "When The Children Are Asleep"?
Carousel
Plant, Page & Bonham were in which band before they became founders of Led Zeppelin?
The Yardbirds
What type of rice is traditionally used to make a risotto?
Arborio
Which musical features the tune "We're In The Money"?
42nd Street
The Reverend HF Lyte wrote what just three weeks before his death from TB?
Abide With Me (hymn)
Give a year in the life of composer Alfred Schoenberg.
1874-1951
Who wrote the oratorio "A Child Of Our Time"?
Michael Tippett
Wes Montgomery achieved fame by playing which instrument?
Guitar
Who had a big hit with "The Gambler", winning a Grammy, and reaching No. 22 in the UK?
Kenny Rogers
Which composer (1885-1935) was a pupil of Schoenberg?
Alban Berg
In the Bible, which Roman soldier pierced Christ's side?
Longinus
On which traditional tune is "Danny Boy" based?
Londonderry Air
Whose 2009 album was "Together Through Life"?
Bob Dylan
A dish served "Du Barry" always contains what?
Cauliflower
Yellow Leg, Amethyst Deceiver and Horn Of Plenty are all types of what?
Mushroom
What is the rarely-used full name of the cello?
Violoncello
Who narrated Jeff Wayne's 1970 album "The War Of The Worlds"?
Richard Burton
Which massively-attended religious festival takes place in India's Madhya Pradesh once every 12 years?
Kumbh Mela
Herb Alpert became famous for playing which instrument?
Trumpet
Who had a hit in 1962 with "Nut Rocker"?
B Bumble And The Stingers
Whose hit, often played at Halloween, was "Monster Mash"?
Bobby Picket And The Crypt Kickers
Who was the BBC concert orchestra's first female conductor?
Ann Dudley
Which two world-famous singers collaborated on "Disco La Passione"?
Chris Rea, Shirley Bassey
Whose first hit, released in 1984, was "Your Love Is King"?
Sade
Who composed the opera "Boris Gudonov"?
Mussorgsky
What was the composer Mussorgsky's first name?
Modest
Who provided words to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony?
Schiller
Of what does Amaretto taste?
Almonds (tho it is made with apricots)
Kirsch uses which fruit in its production?
Cherries
Who said "Claret is for boys, port for men, but brandy for heroes"?
Samuel Johnson
What were pillar boxes' original colour?
Green
Which letter was the first to be sent in the first Transatlantic radio transmission?
S
In which country were love letters sent in pink envelopes allowed a reduced postage rate?
Venezuela
The first Royal Mail delivery ran between which two places?
Bath to London
When was the UK's first telephone directory produced?
1880
Who famously devised the 'Penny Post'?
Rowland Hill
Which analogue television system was formerly used in most of the Americas?
NTSC (National Television System Committee)
What does the computer language COBOL stand for?
Common Business Oriented Language
Which element has the atomic number 50?
Tin
A dodecahedron has how many plane faces?
12
Which Platonic figure has exactly 20 plane faces?
Icosahedron
In which UK town did Robert Thom pioneer water treatment?
Paisley
Which element has the atomic number 31?
Gallium
What name is given to a fox's home?
Earth
What name is given to the place where a mole lives?
Fortress
Which Trevithick locomotive travelled between merthy Tydfil and Abercynnon?
Pen-y-darren
In 1825, Stephenson's locomotive "Locomotion" carried 450 people between which two places?
Stockton and Darlington
In which year were the Rainhill Trials?
1829
George Cayley (1773-1857) is credited with being the first man to develop what?
A glider
How is ploytetrafluorethylene better known?
Teflon
How many runs are scored in a baseball 'Grand Slam'?
Four
Into which body of water does the River Trent flow?
Humber Estuary
Which summer Olympic sport takes place on a piste?
Fencing
Which composer wrote the operas "Der Freischutz", "Oberon" and "Euryanthe"?
Weber
In "Pride & Prejudice", how many sisters did Elizabeth Bennet have?
Four
What name is given to a lady's formal short jacket, without sleeves, worn over a blouse, not reaching the waist, nor meeting in front?
Bolero
What is the capital of the US state Nebraska?
Lincoln
The Pollack belongs to which fish family?
Cod or Gadidae
What is the highest peak in the Cairngorms?
Ben Macdui
From which tennis Grand Slam was John McEnroe expelled for swearing in 1990?
Australian Open
Why was Mohammed Ali stripped of his World Heavyweight Boxing Title in 1967?
Refusing to do military service
Who was the first snooker player to win all of the then-nine ranking tournaments?
Stephen Hendry
For which football team did Jimmy Greaves make his debut in 1957?
Chelsea
In which sport was Vera Caslavska a World and Olympic champion?
Gymnastics
Which female athlete (1918-2004) was nicknamed "The Flying Housewife"?
Fanny Blankers-Koen
Which athlete is, as of 2015, the only British track and field competitor to win medals at three different Olympic Games?
Steve Backley
Which revolt occurred in Kenya between 1952 and 1960?
Mau Mau Uprising/Revolt
Dolomite is used as an ore for which metal?
Magnesium
In which town is Robert the Bruce buried?
Dunfermline
Which are the three kingdoms in Africa?
Lesotho, Swaziland, Morocco
Which of the prophets is said to have written the Biblical book of Lamentations?
Jeremiah
Bedford Giant, Himalaya Giant and Oregon Thornless are all varieties of which fruit?
Blackberry
Mark Knopfler was the lead singer of which band?
Dire Straits
John Fogerty was the lead singer of which band?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
What does ISDN stand for?
Integrated Digital Services Network
What does ISBN stand for?
International Standard Book Number
How many gates are there on the Thames Barrier?
Ten
When was work on the Thames Barrier completed?
1982
Luxor and Karnak stand on the site of which Ancient Egyptian city?
Thebes
Japan's main port city, what is also the country's second-largest city after Tokyo?
Yokohama
The football team Grampus (formerly Grampus Eight) are based in which city?
Nagoya
In which city is the largest department store in the world?
Busan (South Korea)
What was the largest department store in the world from 1924 to 2009?
Macy's (Herald Square, New York)
Give a year in the life of William Blake.
1757-1827
The football team Penarol pay in which country?
Uruguay
What is the total value of the coloured balls in snooker, not including the reds?
27
Where is the "Attila Line"?
Cyprus, dividing north and south
What was both the first, and last, European colony in China?
Macau
On a dartboard, which number lies between 18 and 13?
4
Which is the only London borough to include land on both sides of the Thames?
Richmond
Which English King's only legitimate son drowned when the 'White Ship' sank?
Henry I
Which was the last musical to win a Best Picture Oscar before 'Chicago' won in 2002?
Oliver!
Who was Mary, Queen of Scots' second husband?
Lord Darnley
With reference to playing cards, how are court cards known in the USA?
Face cards
Who did Jimmy Carter succeed as US President?
Gerald Ford
What is the name of the bell used at Lloyd's of London?
Lutine Bell
In which year did Mussolini invade Ethiopia?
1935
Which group of people were subject to an 1829 British Emancipation Act?
Roman Catholics
Who (1898-2001) established the Royal Ballet, the Royal Ballet School, and the Birmingham Royal Ballet?
Ninette De Valois
What are the names of the two towers of the Palace of Westminister?
St Stephen's Tower and the Victoria (or Central) Tower
How many imperial gallons are in a barrel of oil?
35
How many gallons are in a US barrel of oil?
42
What was presented to Louis XIV of France by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1669?
Hope Diamond
Whose first play was 1957's "The Room"?
Harold Pinter
What is the name of the rake in Hogarth's "The Rake's Progress"?
Tom Rakewell
What is 'papering the house' in the theatre?
Filling the theatre with guests on complimentary tickets
What is the first book in Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga"?
A Man Of Property
What is the last book in Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga"?
To Let
Which real-life island is the setting for Conrad's "Almayer's Folly" and "An Outcast Of The Islands"?
Borneo
Which mythological creature did DH Lawrence adopt as a personal symbol?
Phoenix
Which work has the epigraph "only connect"?
Howards End
What nationality was the sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti?
Swiss
Usually created out of wood, her sculptures appear puzzle-like, with multiple intricately cut pieces placed into wall sculptures or independently standing pieces, often monochromatic and 3-D - which US sculptor (1899-1988)?
Louise Nevelson
What nationality was the female sculptor Germaine Richier?
French
Which Austrian (1899-1957) illustrated works by Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe, and himself wrote Die andere Seite (The Other Side), a Kafkaesque novel?
Alfred Kubin
Who wrote 1915's "The Golem"?
Gustav Meyrink
Which Belgian-born poet, writer and painter wrote Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones?
HenrI Michaux
What was the name of the daughter of Whitney Houston who was found unresponsive in a bathtub in 2015?
Bobbi Kristina Brown
Who wrote The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based?
ETA Hoffmann
Which Von Eichendorff work sees the protagonist leaves his father's mill and become a gardener at a Viennese castle where he falls in love with the daughter of the duke?
Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts ( Of the Life of a Good-For-Nothing
Der Blonde Eckbert was a fairytale by which German founder of the Romantic movement (1773-1853)?
Ludwig Tieck
Madame d'Aulnoy was the first person to coin what term for a particular literary genre?
Fairy tale
Who wrote "The Singing Bone"?
The Brothers Grimm
What was the pseudonym of German philosopher Salomo Friedlander?
Mynona
What is the surname of the family owners of Longleat?
Thynne
In which city is Wren's Sheldonian Theatre?
Oxford
On which island is Fingal's Cave located?
Staffa
In which county is Papworth Hospital?
Cambridgeshire
Foolow, a village famed for lead mining activities, is in which county?
Derbyshire
Which Notts town claims to contain "The Original Bramley Apple Tree", with the first Bramley cooking apple seeded there by Mary Ann Brailsford in 1809?
Southwell
In which county is Brodsworth Hall?
South Yorkshire
Which Danish town is the nearest one to Legoland?
Billund
Mannington, Horton and Heaton are all areas of which city?
Bradford
Which famous person lived at Gad's Hill Place, also the location of his death?
Charles Dickens
In which county is Tolpuddle?
Dorset
Andover is in which English county?
Hampshire
Which river is crossed by the famous Ironbridge at Coalbookdale in Shropshire?
Severn
German-born US inventor Emile Berliner is most famous for which invention?
Disc record/disc record phonograph
Who once sung with both 'The Hoboken Four' and 'The Pied Pipers'?
Frank Sinatra
Of what were 78rpm records made, a product secreted by a near-namesake bug in Asia?
Shellac (bug is the lac bug)
Who released 2013's "Where Are We Now?" from album "The Next Day"?
David Bowie
Who released a 2012 album of greatest hits called "Grrr!"?
The Rolling Stones
Romy Madley Smith and Oliver Sim are members of which band?
The xx
Whose 17th studio album was entitled "Wrecking Ball"?
Bruce Springsteen
Who released a debut album called 'Innerspeaker' and a follow-up called "Lonerspeak"?
Tame Impala
How is singer Elizabeth Woolridge Grant better known?
Lana Del Rey
Which two albums won Mercury Prize Awards for PJ Harvey?
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000)and Let England Shake (2011)
Which words appear on Brazil's flag?
Ordem e Progresso
What colour flame is produced when copper is burned?
Blue
What colour flame is produced when sodium is burned?
Yellow
Who (1824-1887) coined the term 'black body radiation' and has two sets of laws - one in circuit theory, and one in spectroscopy - named after him?
Gustav Kirchhoff
What was the first name of the man who devised the eponymous Bunsen burner?
Robert (Bunsen)
Arsenic and lead both produce flames of which colour when burned?
Blue
What name, after a German optician and chemist, is given to the dark absorption lines in the Sun's spectrum?
Fraunhofer lines
Why do absorption lines appear in the Sun's spectrum?
Light emitted from inner part of the Sun as hotter than surroundings; outer part is cooler than middle and thus absorbs them
In the Doppler effect, blueshift tells us that a body is travelling in which direction?
Towards the observer (blue light is of shorter wavelength than red)
Measured in joules per second, which astronomical term is the total amount of energy emitted by a star, galaxy, or other astronomical object per unit time?
Luminosity
How is the surface area of a sphere calculated from its radius?
4pi x radius squared
Which British-American astronomer (May 10, 1900 – December 7, 1979) first worked out the chemical composition of stars in her 1925 PhD paper?
Cecilia Payne
Where is the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the USA?
Yellowstone NP
Which cave contains the world's oldest known cave art?
El Castillo, Spain
What is the capital of Cantabria?
Santander
What term is used for the oldest stone tool industry in prehistory, occurring in Africa 2.6 million years ago up until 1.7 million years ago, by ancient hominins?
Oldowan
Why does cooking food make it easier to digest?
Breaks down proteins
Who coined the phrase "a little learning is a dangerous thing"?
Alexander Pope
The line in Shakespeare "the poor world is only 6000 years old", reflecting contemporary views, appears in which play?
As You Like It
In which range of hills is Cheddar Gorge?
Mendips
What now stands at the site of the former Tyburn gallows in London?
Marble Arch
Which body of water separates New Guinea and Australia?
Torres Strait
Which South African province was named on Christmas Day 1497 by Vasco Da Gama?
Natal
Which long tunnel, that connects Switzerland and Italy, opened in 1905?
Simplon
Which disused military installation in the sea off Suffolk declared independence in 1967?
Sealand
The Humber estuary is formed by which two rivers?
Ouse, Trent
Which London Street, in Mayfair, is known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men?
Savile Row
Which river flows into the Severn Estuary at Newport?
Usk
The Equator passes through which two Asian countries?
Maldives, Indonesia
What is the highest point on the Isle of Wight?
St Boniface Down
What is the capital of South Dakota?
Pierre
What is the capital of Tennessee?
Nashville
What is the capital of Texas?
Austin
What is the capital of Utah?
Salt Lake City
What is the capital of Vermont?
Montpelier
What is the nickname of the US state of Virginia?
Old Dominion State
What is the nickname of the US state of West Virginia?
Mountain State
What is the nickname of the US state of Washington?
Evergreen State
What is the nickname of the US state of Wisconsin?
Badger State
What is the nickname of the US state of Wyoming?
Equality State
What is the term used for rocks splitting in areas of natural weakness?
Cleavage
The Wrekin is a hill in which English county?
Shropshire
Which French headland lies closest to the English mainland?
Cap Gris Nez
What, as of 2015, is the currency of Nicaragua?
Cordoba
What, as of 2015, is the currency of Panama?
Balboa/US Dollar (both)
What is the name of the currency used in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay?
Peso
Which capital city lies on the river Daugava?
Riga
Which city was the birthplace of both Charles de Gaulle and Henri Laconte?
Lille
From 1928-48, which UK museum housed the 'Wright Flyer'?
London's Science Museum
Where is the Wright Flyer today?
National Air & Space Museum, Washington DC
Which London mainline station was once called "St Paul's"?
Blackfriars
'The Road To The Isles' starts at Fort William and ends where?
Mallaig
In which country is the Skeleton Coast?
Namibia
In which two English counties is the Jurassic Coast?
Devon, Dorset
What is the Ikkurina?
Basque Flag
The A686, once voted one of the world's "Top 10 Scenic Roads" connects which two places?
Penrith, Haydon Bridge
What is the capital of Languedoc-Rousillion?
Montpellier
The rivers Steeping, Witham, Welland, Nene and Ouse all flow into which body of water?
The Wash
Which building, completed in 1800, got its name from a contrast with nearby redbrick buildings?
The White House
The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, crosses which river valley?
Tarn (France)
Run by communists from 1945-90, which is Italy's oldest university?
Bologna
Where is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology based?
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Where is the Devonshire Dome, the largest unsupported dome in Europe?
Buxton
How many stars are there on the flag of Alaska?
Eight
What name is given to a pattern of stars in the night sky that may or may not be part of a constellation?
Asterism
Which sea lies between Russia and Alaska, North of the Bering Strait?
Chukchi Sea
Possibly the last place on Earth where mammoths survived, which country owns Wrangel Island?
Russia
Which two islands lie in the middle of the Bering Strait and are just 3.8km apart, although the 'Big' one belongs to Russia, the 'Little' one to the USA?
Diomede Islands
After Texas and California, which is the third largest of the 'lower' 48 United States?
Montana
In which 'sound' did the Exxon Valdez run aground in 1989, causing massive environmental damage from the resulting oil spill?
Prince William Sound
Which inlet runs between the main part of Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage?
Cook Inlet
In which US state is the greatest percentage of its inhabitants based in its most populous city?
New York State
Discovered in 1968, which is the largest oil field in North America?
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
In 1960, where was the epicentre of the largest measured earthquake in world history?
Valdivia, Chile/Chile
In which US state are the Chugach Mountains?
Alaska
What species is Ursus Americanus, the North American continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear?
(American) Black Bear
What name is given to the young of a fox, ferret and/or beaver?
Kit
Which cetacean is the only member of the species monodontidae, bar the narwhal?
Beluga
Which climate classification system was first published by a Russian German climatologist in 1884?
Köppen
Where is Ted Stevens International Airport?
Anchorage
In which century was Iceland's parliament, the Althing, founded?
Tenth (930AD)
Which Berkshire stately home is the main filming location for Downton Abbey?
Highclere Castle
Which National Park in Iceland was the original site of the Icelandic parliament?
Þingvellir (Thingvellir)
Which Shakespeare play contains the line "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so"?
Hamlet
Who created the hypothetical "Library of Babel" in a short story?
Jorge Luis Borges
Which Chinese philosopher (probably 372BC-289BC) is regarded as the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself, and devised the concept of the Four Beginnings (or Four Sprouts)?
Mencius/Meng Tzu
Who wrote the New Testament book 'Epistle To The Galatians'?
St Paul
What is the fifth book of the New Testament?
Acts
Whose fourth album was entitled "...And Justice For All"?
Metallica
In December 2014, which medical procedure was carried out successfully for the first time at Stellenbosch University in South Africa?
Penis Transplant
Which German architect won the 2015 Pritzker Prize, shortly before his death?
Frei Otto
What was the name of the cyclone that devastated Vanuatu in March 2015?
Cyclone Pam
Which Seleucid Empire city and UNESCO World Heritage Site was destroyed by ISIS in March 2015, days after they had bulldozed Nimrud?
Hatra
The battle of Garnett & Golding's Farm was part of which wider conflict?
US Civil War
Which public holiday occurs on April 2nd in Argentina?
Malvinas Day
The Despenser war was a baronial revolt against which monarch?
Edward II
Samoset (c. 1590–1653) was the first Native American to make contact with who?
Pilgrims of Plymouth County
In which year was the first F.A. Cup Final?
1872
Where was the first F.A. Cup Final played?
The Oval, Kennington
What is the name of the US-perpetrated atrocity that saw the mass killing of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968?
My Lai Massacre (in Vietnam, the Son My Massacre)
Which CIA station chief was kidnapped in Beirut in 1984, and died in the custody of Hezbollah in 1985?
William Buckley
What is the general term for a variant of paintball in which the playing field is composed of bunkers, of the same location and number on each side of the field, that provide an equal playing field for each team competing?
Speedball
Who was the main star of Britain's first comedy series, "How Do You View"?
Terry-Thomas
What was the nationality of soprano Joan Sutherland?
Australian
Who wrote the song "Doctor My Eyes" for the Jackson 5?
Jackson Browne
Who wrote and performed the song "Positively 4th Street"?
Bob Dylan
What is the main ingredient of calvados?
Apples
What was the name of the Sun God of the Incas?
Inti
Who wrote the song "David Watts" for The Jam?
Ray Davies
In which year did "Puppet On A String" win Eurovision?
1967
Which Central European, acid-set cheese is white, un-aged and similar to fromage frais; and is made by warming soured milk?
Quark
Greg lake, Robert Fripp and Michael Giles were all founder members of which band?
King Crimson
Richie Blackmore was a member of which two prominent bands?
Deep Purple, Rainbow
"Here Comes The Bride" is taken from which opera?
Lohengrin
Who wrote the short ballet "Dance Of The Hours"?
Ponchielli
Who composed the "Danse Macabre"?
Saint-Saens
"Rose-Marie" and "The Vagabond King" are the best-known pieces by which composer, upon whose work "The Donkey Serenade" was based?
Friml
Which band released the albums "Fireball", "Machine Head" and "Who Do We Think We Are"?
Deep Purple
Who was the Norse Goddess of fertility?
Freyja
What was the Armageddon, or doom, of the Norse Gods called?
Ragnarok
What was the name of Thor's thunder-hammer?
Mjollnir
Who were Zeus' parents in Greek myth?
Cronos, Rhea
The Welsh Felinfoel brewery were the first to introduce what to the UK in 1935?
Canned beer
Bundaberg rum originates from which country?
Australia
Which herb's name comes from the Greek for "joy of the mountain"?
Oregano
A bellini cocktail consists of champagne or Prosecco and what else?
Peach juice
Benny Goodman was most associated with which musical instrument?
Clarinet
Andrew was the younger brother of which of the Apostles?
Simon Peter
What are Northern Irish Fadge cakes made from?
Potatoes
Who was the successor to Archbishop of Westminister Cormac Murphy O'Connor?
Vincent Nichols
Giuseppe Cipriani was the founder of which iconic drinking establishment?
Harry's Bar, Venice
With which musical instrument was Thelonius Monk chiefly associated?
Piano
In which place was St Andrew crucified?
Patras, Greece
What was the first US #1 song by a UK artist?
Telstar by The Tornados
In which activity might you sparge your wort?
Beer brewing
What ingredient, along with chickpeas, garlic and oil, makes hummus?
Tahini
In which year did 10cc have a hit with "I'm Not In Love"?
1975
Which popular Indian drink is made with yoghurt?
Lassi
Which conductor said that he'd never heard Stockhausen, but that he might have stepped in some?
Beecham
Whose 1540 Bible translation was also called "The Great Bible"?
Cranmer
From a passage in Genesis, what nickname was given to the Geneva Bible?
Breeches' Bible
Give a year in the life of church reformer 1505-72.
John Knox
To what did Kraft foods change their name?
Mondelez International
How many symphonies in total did Mozart compose?
41
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness
How is triplumbic tetroxide better known?
Red Lead
Which gas is the main component of air?
Nitrogen
Which two metals comprise brass?
Copper, tin
Which two metals comprise bronze?
Copper, zinc
Which type of glass darkens in light?
Photochromic
Which breed of dog has a name meaning 'dwarf'?
Corgi
A lurcher is a cross between which two breeds?
Greyhound; collie
Which breed of dog famously has a black tongue?
Chow-chow
By what name is potassium nitrate better known?
Saltpeter
By what name is potassium quadroxalate better known?
Salts of Lemon
By what name is silicon carbide better known?
Carborundum
What is the name of the place where a badger lives?
Sett; Earth
Give year in the life of Humphry Davy.
1778-1829
Humphry Davy discovered the anaesthetic properties of what?
Nitrous Oxide
Which fuming yellow or red solution dissolves gold?
Aqua Regia
Joseph-Marie Jacquard developed punched cards, an early programmable devise, for what purpose?
Silk weaving
Which chemical element has the atomic number 60?
Neodymium
Who devised the early submarine 'Nautilus', in 1800?
Fulton
Zachalis Winzler, a Moravian, pioneered which invention?
Gas stove
Russian, Osip Krichevsky, first made which foodstuff in 1802?
Powdered Milk
What colour do acids and alkalis turn litmus paper?
Red and blue respectively
What name is given to angles that add up to 90 degrees?
Complementary
What name is given to angles that add up to 180 degrees?
Supplementary
What is an angle greater than 180 degrees called?
Reflex
Which mineral and chemical element is capable of being weaved into fabric?
Asbestos
Who was Britain's first female cabinet minister?
Margaret Bondfield
Mohamed Nasheed, sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2015 for terrorism, is a former president of which country?
Maldives
Which soldier and later actor (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism?
Audie Murphy
Which actress, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jean Craddock in the musical-drama Crazy Heart (2009), is married to Peter Sarsgaard?
Maggie Gyllenhaal
How much is a US nickel worth?
Five cent
A US nickel coin is actually comprised of 25% nickel and 75% of which metal?
Copper
In which year was the Bradford City AFC fire disaster?
1985
Upon which ship did Napoleon formally surrender to the British?
HMS Bellerophon
How else was the 1794 naval action "Lord Howe's Action" known?
The Glorious First of June
Who released the 2010 album "Loud"?
Rihanna
David LaChapelle is a famous name in which field?
Photography
What type of organism are the bolete family?
Mushrooms
Who wrote the Herries Chronicle series of novels, set in the Lake District?
Hugh Walpole
The term 'Christ' dervies from the Greek for what?
Anointed One
By what name is the language Middle Aramaic, that once comprised the language of most of the Middle East between the 4th and 8th Centuries BC better known?
Syriac
Which church is located on the supposed site of Jesus' burial and resurrection?
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
Which church council was held from October 8 to November 1, AD 451, and marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separate establishment of the church in the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century?
Council of Chalcedon
In Judaism, what name is given to the canon of the Hebrew Bible, roughly coterminous with the Christian 'Old Testament'?
Tanakh
What was first produced by William Morgan in 1588 that had important consequences for a language's survival?
Welsh Bible
What is the proper full name of the 'Mormons'?
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Which church, centred in Nkamba, DRC, has an estimated 5.5 million followers, and is named after a Congolese religious leader (1887-1951) who is held to be Christ reincarnated?
Kimbanguism
What is the proper name of the religious group known as the 'Moonies'?
Unification Church
In which city is the Christian church worldwide with the largest congregation - it holds 26,000 people and often holds several packed services on a Sunday?
Seoul (Yoido Full Gospel Church)
Who painted the 1601 "Supper at Emmaus"?
Caravaggio
In Greek myth, who did Jason marry and have two children, Mermeros and Pheres, with?
Medea
Which neuroscientist's ((born December 12, 1939) 1960s work on 'split-brain' patients provided advances in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another?
Michael Gazzaniga
How are the brain structures hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala collectively known?
Limbic system
Which famous experiment in psychology was carried out in 1970 by Walter Mischel at Stanford University - it was later the title of a 2014 popular science book by him?
The Marshmallow Test
What does SAT stand for in the UK version of the school test?
Standard Assessment Tasks
What does SAT stand for in the US version of the school test?
Scholastic Aptitude Tests
Which TV personality, who first gained celebrity on the Oprah Winfrey Show, is famous for his "Ten Laws of Life"?
Dr Phil McGraw
Give a year in the life of Boethius.
480-524AD
Which body nervous system is responsible for the 'fight or flight' response?
Sympathetic
Aaron T. Beck is widely credited with inventing which healthcare technique?
Cognitive Therapy
Who won a Best Actress Academy Award in 1949 for "The Heiress"?
Olivia De Havilland
Film "Forbidden Planet" was based on which Shakespeare play?
The Tempest
What was the name of the 1957 Akira Kurosawa film that was loosely based on MacBeth?
Throne of Blood
Who played Stephano in Derek Jarman's 1979 version of "The Tempest"?
Christopher Biggins
What was the last film of Heath Ledger, directed by Terry Gilliam?
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Carl Fredrickson is the hero character of which animated film?
Up
Which South Korean writer and director made "Thirst" and "I'm A Cyborg"?
Park Chan-Wook
Which author adapted a screenplay for the film "An Education"?
Nick Hornby
Who was Danny's second-in-command in the film "Grease"?
Kenickie
Which acid-tongued "Grease" character was played by Stockard Channing?
Rizzo
What were the names of the male and female gangs in the film "Grease"?
T-Birds and Pink Ladies
"Are You Sitting Comfortably, Then We'll Begin" was the catchphrase of which show?
Listen With Mother
Which comedian's catchphrase was "before your very eyes"?
Arthur Askey
"Book Em Danno" was a catchphrase used in which TV show?
Hawaii Five-O
For which film did Warner Baxter win a Best Actor Academy Award?
In Old Arizona (1930)
For which For which film did Jeremy Irons win a Best Actor Academy Award?
Reversal of Fortune (1991)
Which is the only film of just 4 letters to win a Best Picture Academy Award?
Gigi
Who did Nicholas Lyndhurst play in "Butterflies"?
Adam Parkinson
In 'Twin Peaks', which character was played by Kyle MacLachlan?
Dale Cooper
Which fictional TV company had the telephone number 0161 7151515?
Streetcars of Coronation Street
In October 2009, which politician appeared in Eastenders?
Boris Johnson
What is the name of the local paper in Coronation Street?
Weatherfield Gazette
In the original 1960s series, what is the prisoner's number?
Number Six
In 'Twin Peaks', who killed Laura Palmer?
Her father (Leland Palmer)
In which underwater city do most SpongeBob episodes occur?
Bikini Bottom
On TV, who or what has at various times been owned by Jeff Miller, Timmy Martin, Cully Wilson and the Holden family?
Lassie
Who directed the 1950 movie "Sunset Boulevard"?
Billy Wilder
Which character does Robert Pattison play in the "Twilight" series of films?
Edward Cullen
Which single word did Confucius say could act as a guide to one's entire life?
Reciprocity
Which famous Rabbi, associated with the development of the Mishnah and Talmud, allegedly lived 120 years (110BCE-10CE) and said ""That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."?
Rabbi Hillel/Hillel the Elder
The immigrant Bonasera features in the opening scene of which famous film?
The Godfather
What perecentage of an individual's genes, on average, are shared by their nephews and nieces?
25% (One quarter)
In which year was the current Welsh Assembly inaugurated?
1999
What is the population of Wales, in 2015, to the nearest million?
3 million
In which capital city is St Fagans National History Museum located?
Cardiff
Which town, thought to have been an inspiration for Llareggub in 'Under Milk Wood', was home to Dylan Thomas from 1949 to his 1953 death?
Laugharne
Taken as the Mid-Wales area (ie not including Snowdonia, the Black Mountains or the Brecon Beacons) what is the highest point in the Cambrian mountains?
Plynlimon
What was the first area in Britain to have been declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?
Gower Peninsula
Georgetown is the capital of which island group?
Caymans
Which 19th century circular towers were built in Britain for coastal defence?
Martello Towers
In which country is the source of the Zambezi?
Zambia
What is the motto of the USA?
In God We Trust
Snaefell is the highest mountain in which autonomous region?
Isle of Man
To which place did the French Foreign Legion move its HQ in 1962?
Aubegne
Where had the French Foreign Legion been based prior to 1962?
Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria
Which is the largest lake wholly within Canada?
Great Bear Lake
In which country is the Mayan site of Tikal?
Guatemala
Which is the only major French river whose source is outside of France?
Rhone
Which city is the 'Capital of the Gaidhealtachd'?
Inverness
Other than the Chiltern Hundreds, which post can be used by resigning MPs?
Stewardship Of The Manor of Northstead
Which US state is nicknamed the 'First State'?
Delaware
The River Oder enters the Baltic Sea in which country?
Poland
Which two cities are linked by the M11?
Cambridge and London
The Grain (or Pepper) Coast is in which African country?
Liberia
Which London street was the traditional home of the magazine 'Time Out'?
Tottenham Court Road
In which town in England is there a famous crescent designed by John Carr?
Buxton
Angel Falls lie on which river?
Churun
What is the highest point on Fiji?
Mount Victoria
Haymarket, regent Street and Shaftesbury Avenue meet where in London?
Piccadilly Circus
When was the St Lawrence Seaway officially opened?
1959
In which country is the major part of the Kalahari Desert?
Botswana
Which city is nicknamed 'The City Of Sails' and has two large natural harbours?
Auckland
What is someone from Halifax called?
Haligonian
Which three colours appear on the flag of Rwanda?
Red, Yellow, Green
What lies at the centre of the flag of Rwanda?
The letter 'R'
Margaret River is a wine-producing area in which country?
Australia
What is the proper name of 'Petticoat Lane' in London?
Middlesex Street
What is the name of the bell in Manchester Town Hall?
Great Abel
Which county cricket team's emblem is a white horse?
Kent
Who was the first English football captain to lift the European Cup?
Bobby Charlton
Which number in bingo is 'The Brighton Line'?
59
Which stadium would have been used had paris been successful in bidding for the 2012 Olympics?
Stade De France
Which county cricket club called their One Day side the 'Phantoms'?
Derbyshire
What does 'AF' mean to a numismatist (coin collector)?
Almost Fine
Llanelli Scarelts rugby union team play at which home ground?
Stradley Park
Which event comes second (after the 100m) in a decathlon?
Long Jump
The Horse of The Year Show moved to which venue in 2002?
Birmingham NEC
Which city is the home of the NBA team the 'Pistons'?
Detroit
What completes the name of the rugby union team: "Newport Gwent.."?
Dragons
For which sport is the Harmsworth Cup awarded?
Powerboat Racing
In the 2005 Rugby league Challenge Cup, which side did St Helens defeat 75-0?
Wigan
Who coached the rugby union Lions in their 1983 tour of New Zealand?
Willie John McBride
Manchester City's FA Cup win in 2011 was their first major trophy since which year?
1976
Who scored the winning goal for Manchester City in the 2011 FA Cup final?
Yaya Toure
Which piece of equipment was originally made with 'enough feathers to fill a top hat'?
A golf ball
Five-time World Speedway champion Ove Fundin is what nationality?
Swedish
Which boxer KO'd Lennox Lewis in 2001 to win the IBF, WBC and IBO heavyweight titles?
Hasim Rahman
Which golfer (1882-1969) won exactly 11 majors in his career?
Walter Hagen
Yabusame is a Japanese form of which sport?
Archery (on horseback)
How many times, since they were restarted in 1896, have the Modern Olympics been cancelled?
Three (1916, 1940, 1944)
What colour of cap does a water polo goalkeeper wear?
Red
In which sport can one see a participant perform a 'crucifix'?
Men's gymnastics
How many points are scored for a 'behind' in Aussie Rules Football?
One
The Trans-Siberian Highway stretches over 11,000 km from Saint Petersburg to which city at the head of the Golden Horn Bay?
Vladivostok
______-Müller tube. Which surname fills the blank to give the name of a piece of apparatus used for the detection of ionizing radiation?
Geiger
In 1240, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich of Novgorod foiled the invading Swedish army’s plan to seize Novgorod’s primary trade route by defeating the Swedes on the Neva River. By what nickname did the prince become better known as a result of this victory?
Alexander Nevsky
Between 1410 and 1415, towards the end of the Western Schism in the Roman Catholic Church, there were three men who each believed themselves to be Pope. They were Gregory XII in Rome, Benedict XIII in Avignon, and John XXIII in which other Italian city?
Florence
This 5-letter word - literally meaning ‘martial hero’ - is now used to describe films, comics, & video games. Which genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists was introduced to Hollywood by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
Wuxia
Which famous touristic, tree-lined street in Barcelona connects Plaça de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument on the waterfront?
Las Ramblas
Focussing on the life of Saul Goodman prior to becoming Walter White’s lawyer, Better Call Saul is a prequel to which American TV series?
Breaking Bad
Which Gate marked the entrance to the original site of the Carlsberg brewery?
Elephant Gate
Separated from the Andaman Islands by the brilliantly named Coco Channel, the Coco Islands - although allegedly leased to China since 1994 - belong to which country?
Burma
What collective name, for the Portuguese navigator who first visited them in the early sixteenth century, is given to the island group consisting of Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues that forms a distinct ecoregion with a unique flora and fauna?
Mascarene Islands
The best-known work of the architect Maya Lin, is a memorial in Washington D.C., dedicated in 1982, that honours people who died during …. what?
Vietnam War
Already considered one of the all time best exponents of his sport. The Frenchman Teddy Riner won an Olympic gold medal in 2012 in which sport?
Judo
The reptilian order Squamata is divided into three suborders, two of which are Lacertilia (lizards) and Serpentes (snakes). Which legless reptiles comprise the third suborder?
Worm lizards (amphisbaenia)
Gottfried Leibniz’s most important contribution to metaphysics is his theory of which indivisible, impenetrable units of substance that he views as the basic constituent element of physical reality?
Monads
The Rolling Stones hits Brown Sugar and Wild Horses are taken from which 1971 album with cover artwork conceived by Andy Warhol?
Sticky Fingers
UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in 1961 in the city of Ndola in which African country?
Zambia
Upon first becoming Prime Minister in 2006, he was the youngest holder of the office since World War II. Who began his second stint as Japanese PM in December 2012?
Shinzo Abe
From what Latin term does the word 'forensics' derive?
Forum
Which three US cities have been the scene of "CSI" series?
Las Vegas, New York, Miami
In the UK what is the FSS?
Forensic Science Service
What is the DEA in the USA?
Drug Enforcement Agency
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
What name is given to the study of behaviour?
Ethology
Which part of the brain controls motivations and basic drives?
Hypothalamus
Which part of the brain, involved with emotional responses, decision-making and memory, is named after the Greek for 'almond'?
Amygdala
On which peninsula is Mycenae?
Peloponnese
Around which date, to the nearest 100 years, did Mycenaean civilisation collapse?
1200BC
The shrine at Delphi, home to the famous Oracle, was a shrine to which God?
Apollo
How many letters are used by the Hebrew alphabet?
22
How many letters are used by the Greek alphabet?
24
Which Athenian statesman (450 – 404 BC) changed sides numerous times during the Peloponnesian War, from Athens, to Sparta, to Persia and then back to Athens again?
Alcibiades
To which philosophical school did Diogenes of Synope belong?
Cynics
Give a year in the life of Aristotle.
384-322BCE
Give a year in the Peloponnesian War.
431-401BCE
Founded 478BCE, what was the name of an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea?
Delian League
Which US conservative political commentator and radio host once had an addiction to hydrocodone and oxycodone?
Rush Limbaugh
Which person said "The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances...and are often more influenced by the things that seem than the things that are."?
Macchiavelli
Who created the fictional town of Lake Wobegon?
Garrison Keiller
Who wrote "Clair De Lune"?
Debussy
From what larger work is the "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" taken?
Nutcracker Suite
In myth, which son of Helios lost control of the Sun chariot?
Phaethon
Which character in myth swam the Hellespont nightly to visit his lover?
Leander
In Greek myth, which sorceress changed Odysseus' men into swine?
Circe
Which Trojan priest argued against accepting the horse, but was overruled, in the stories of Homer?
Laocoon
In myth, of whom was Damocles a courtier?
Dionysus
Who is the 'good priest' in Mozart's "The Magic Flute"?
Sarastro
In 'The Magic Flute', who is the daughter of the Queen Of The Night?
Pamina
'Manon' is an opera by who?
Massenet
What did MG stand for in the name of 'Booker T and the MGs'?
Memphis Group
Whose first TV appearance was in a 1965 episode of 'Gadzooks!', and was a member, in his early days of bands 'The Konrads' and 'The Riot Squad'?
David Bowie
What was the first UK Download Chart number 1?
Westlife's "Flying Without Wings"
What was the family surname of 1980s pop group "Five Star"?
Pearson
Who co-founded Gorillaz with Damon Albarn?
Jamie Hewlett
What is the name of composer John Cage's infamous entirely silent piece?
4'33"
Who composed "The Threepenny opera"?
Kurt Weill
La Traviata is based on which work by Dumas?
Camille
By what name is sodium borate better known?
Borax
By what name is sodium carbonate better known?
Washing soda
What is the chemical name of caustic soda?
Sodium hydroxide
Which is the lightest metal?
Lithium
Which metal is the strongest-per-unit-weight?
Titanium
Charcoal, sulphur and what else form gunpowder?
Potassium nitrate
Which chemical element has the atomic number 10?
Neon
A whippet is a cross between which two dog breeds?
Greyhound and a terrier or spaniel
What is measured in farads?
Electrical Capacitance
How many crystal systems exist?
Seven
What are the first and second most common chemical elements on Earth?
Oxygen and Silcon
Aldebaran is the brightest star in which constellation?
Taurus
Arcturus is the brightest star in which constellation?
Bootes
Betelgeuse is a star in which constellation?
Orion
"Model White" and "Green Globe" are both varieties of which vegetable?
Turnip
What is the collective name given to tigers?
Ambush
What is the collective name given to apes?
Shrewdness
What is the collective name given to monkeys?
Troop
What name is given to a star in heraldry
Mullet
What is the only purely land-based group of crustaceans?
Woodlice
Where did Venetian blinds originate?
Japan
Which is Europe's largest true wading bird?
Curlew
What name is given to a day with equal periods of light and darkness?
Equinox
What was first demonstrated by Joseph Swan in 1878?
Light bulb
'Quercus Robur' is the Latin name of which tree?
Common (English) oak
Who demonstrated the 'incompleteness theorem' in 1931?
Kurt Godel
Which car maker operated a Luton plant from 1905 to 2000?
Vauxhall
What is the single carriageway speed limit for a vehicle weighing more than 7.5 tonnes in the UK?
40mph
Whose yet-unproved theory states that every integer greater than 2 is the sum of 2 primes?
Goldbach's conjecture
Loaghtan sheep are native to which place?
Isle of Man
In the UK, which court hears summary appeals from summary trials held at Magistrates' Courts?
Queen's Bench Court
What are civil court equivalents of the prosecution and defence in a criminal trial?
Plaintiff and Defence
In the UK, what category of drug is LSD?
Category A
What is made from erythroxylum coca?
Cocaine
What does LSD stand for?
Lysergic acid dethylamide
Who are the US DEA?
Drug Enforcement Agent
What name is given to debris from a glacier?
Moraine
Stranraer is at the southern tip of which sea loch?
Loch Ryan
What name, of Afrikaans origin, is given to the grassland of Southern Africa?
Veldt
What name is given to an elongated hill formed by a glacier?
Drumlin
On which sea was the real ancient province of Colchis, the destination in myth, of Jason?
Black Sea
Which discontinued 1960s project was designed to bore a hole into the Earth's crust?
Mohole Project
What is the name given to a thin sheet of ice floating on an ocean?
Floe
In which cardinal direction must you cross the International Dateline in order to gain a day?
East
Which value is a measure of the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface? (it is the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it)
Albedo
In navigation, what name is given to an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle?
Rhumb Line
Beauty spot Aysgarth Falls lies within which British National Park?
Yorkshire Dales
Which part of a map contains the scale and legend?
Cartouche
West Bridgeford and Bulwell are both suburbs of which English city?
Nottingham
In which Cumbrian castle was Henry VIII's wife Catherine Parr born?
Kendal
Sizergh castle in Cumbria is the ancestral home of which family?
Strickland
Which 'water', known for good fishing, lies between Coniston and Windermere?
Esthwaite
What is the capital of Barbados?
Bridgetown
As of 2015, what is the currency of Cuba?
Peso
In which Cheshire village was Lewis Carroll born?
Daresbury
In which English city would you find the Sir John Soames Museum?
London
Of what type of natural feature is the 'Aletsch' Europe's largest example?
Glacier
What is the lowest land point in the Western hemisphere?
Death Valley
Where is the lowest point on land in the world?
Dead Sea
Which of the two poles is colder?
South Pole
Which Indian town holds the world record as the world's wettest?
Mawsynram (formerly Cherrapunji)
To the nearest 5%, what percentage of the Earth's surface is water?
70%
Which is the world's oldest national park?
Yellowstone
In which two US states is Monument Valley?
Utah and Arizona
Which Kenyan gorge is known for its fossil finds, and was the site for the Leakey's digs in the 1930s?
Olduvai Gorge
In which country are the Ajanta Caves?
India
Which cave in Cantabria, Spain is famous for its Upper Palaeolithic art, having first come to public attention in 1880?
Altamira
'Brown Willy' is the highest point where?
Bodmin Moor
In which US state are the Carlsbad Caverns?
New Mexico
The Coromandel Coast is part of which country?
India
In which US state is the 'Craters Of The Moon National Monument'?
Idaho
What is the highest point on Dartmoor?
High Willays
On which island is the volcanic tuff cone, Diamond Head?
Oahu, Hawaii
What three letter word is given to a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover?
Erg
Dunkery Beacon is the highest point of what?
Exmoor
On which island is Fingal's Cave?
Staffa
In which US State is the 'Garden of the Gods' national landmark?
Colorado
Which French singer, born in Cairo in 1930, had his biggest hit when he wrote the classic chanson soundtrack of the 1960 motion picture, "L'Eau Vive"?
Guy Béart
Which French actress and popular chanson singer (born 1927) was famous for her Bohemian lifestyle and had an affair with Miles Davis - she was releasing albums as late as 2013?
Juliette Gréco
Which 19th Century French Romantic poet once walked through Paris with a lobster on a lead, but hung himself in 1855?
Gerard de Nerval
What were the reputed last words of Oscar Wilde?
Either that wallpaper goes or I do
Diane de Poitiers was the lover of which French monarch?
Henri II
Which French dynasty reigned from roughly 486 to 752CE?
Merovingian
The first person to call himself King of France (instead of King of the Franks) who ruled the country from 1180-1223?
Philip II (or Philippe-Auguste)
Which French actress has won two Cesar awards, for her performances in François Truffaut's "Le Dernier Métro" (1980) and Régis Wargnier's "Indochine" (1992)?
Catherine Deneuve
The US magazine 'Curve' is aimed at which readers?
Lesbians
Which French artist painted "Dans Un Café (L'Absinthe)"?
Degas
Which French artist painted "Joueurs Des Cartes"?
Cezanne
Which French artist painted "Coquelicots" and "Femme a L'Ombrelle"?
Monet
What does the French word "coquelicots" mean in English?
Poppies
Which 13-ton bell in the Southern Tower is the only old one to have survived being replaced in Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral?
Emmanuel Bell
Which 19th Century architect and artist remodelled Notre-Dame and added many of its famous gargoyles?
Viollet-De-Duc
Which French King had the Sainte-Chapelle built to house supposed relics of Christ?
Louis IX
Who led a revolt against the French monarchy in 1357, and was assassinated a year later?
Étienne Marcel
What name is given to the targeted killing of Huguenots in France in August 1572?
St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Camille Chaudel was the lover of which prominent artist?
Rodin
For which film did Michael Douglas win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
Wall Street (1988)
For which film did Lionel Barrymore win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
A Free Soul (1932)
For which film did Geoffrey Rush win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
Shine (1997)
Who won a Best Actor Academy Award for the film "Judgement at Nuremberg"?
Max Schell
What is the name of the hero in Pixar's "Ratatouille"?
Remy
Who voiced the critic "Anton Ego" in Ratatouille?
Peter O'Toole
Arthur and Beryl Crabtree were characters in which 1980s TV series?
No Place Like Home
What is the name of the bulldog in Tom and Jerry cartoons?
Spike (sometimes Butch)
Which former Baywatch star also appeared in 2000's "Scary Movie" and briefly dated Simon Cowell?
Carmen Electra
Gian Sammaranco notably played which literary character in a 1980s UK TV series?
Adrian Mole
What was the name of the banjo-playing toad in "Bagpuss"?
Gabriel
Which one of the four main female actresses who starred in "Sex and the City" was born in the UK?
Kim Cattrall
In BBC's first post-war TV broadcast who said "Remember Me?"
Jasmine Bligh
For which two films did Spencer Tracy win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
Captains Courageous (1938) and Boys Town (1939)
For which film did Charles Laughton win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1936)
Whose catchphrase is "How tickled I am"?
Ken Dodd
Which character frequently said, in the Army Game, "I Only Arksed"?
Private Popplewell (Bernard Bresslaw)
Which music-hall comedian used the catchphrase "I Thang Yew"?
Arthur Askey
Which author, born in Manchester in 1917, used the pseudonym Joseph Kell?
Anthony Burgess
Who painted "The Forge Of Vulcan" in 1630?
Velazquez
Which Roman encyclopaedist is best known for his extant medical work, De Medicina, which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia?
Celsus
Which ancient Greek writer wrote "Parallel Lives"?
Plutarch
Which Ancient Roman wrote collections known as "Histories" and "Annals", and was the son-in-law of Agricola, the Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain?
Tacitus
Which novel begins "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again"?
Rebecca
Who wrote the Almagest is a 2nd-century mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths?
Ptolemy
What does 'eg' actually stand for, when denoting an example?
Exemplia gratia
Who was the first English-born writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
Galsworthy (Kipling won it before him but was born in Bombay)
Which poem's first line is "The curlew tolls the knell of the parting day"?
Gray's Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard
Peter Pan's directions to Neverland were "Take the second on the right and carry straight on...." until what?
Morning
How was the literary character Cedric Errol better known?
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Which children's literary character was originally called "aschenputtel"?
Cinderella
What was the name of the 'Last of the Mohicans' in Fenimore Cooper's book?
Uncas
Colm Toibin's book "The Master" is about which writer?
Henry James
Which Shakespeare play includes the line "All The World's A Stage"?
As You Like It
Who wrote the play "The Man Who Had All The Luck"?
Arthur Miller
Autolycus is a character in which of Shakespeare's plays?
The Winter's Tale
Step pyramids of Ancient Mesopotamia, of which a famous example stands at Ur, are known by what general name?
Ziggurats
Which was the first US State to ratify the country's constitution?
Delaware
Which was the second US State to ratify the country's constitution?
Pennsylvania
Which historian's reputation suffered greatly when he mistakenly authenticated 'The Hitler Diaries'?
Hugh Trevor-Roper
'The Hitler Diaries' were originally published in which German magazine, prior to their unmasking as forgeries?
Stern
"The Beggar's Opera" was a satire in part lampooning which prominent Whig politician?
Robert Walpole
Which modern-day country was Josip Tito born in?
Croatia
The last country that Britain formally declared war against was which one, in 1942?
Thailand
Which English monarch was the only one to be succeeded by his sister-in-law?
William III
Which prominent female communist was killed in 1919's 'Spartacus Uprising' in Germany and her body thrown into Berlin's Landwehr Canal?
Rosa Luxemburg
The first atlas in many ways, who produced 1570's "Theatre Of The World"?
Abraham Ortelius
Who took over Italy after the downfall of Mussolini, and was in office from 25 July 1943 to 18 June 1944?
Pietro Badoglio
Which country sent 60,000 troops to assist the Allies in November 1943?
Brazil
In which year did US troops forcibly remove Manuel Noriega from the leadership of Panama?
1989
Who was the last British Prime Minister to die whilst in office?
Lord Palmerston
In which country were 63 people killed in a New Year's Eve nightclub fire in 2008?
Thailand
Which uprising occurred in Russia in late 1825?
Decembrist
Which monarch converted Versailles from a hunting-lodge into a palace?
Louis XIV
Which Italian fashion house uses the head of Medusa as a trademark?
Versace
Which shipping forecast area lies between the Irish Sea to the North, Fastnet to the west, and Plymouth to the South?
Lundy
The ruins of which Cistercian abbey, founded in 1131, lie on the banks of the River Wye between Monmouth and Chepstow?
Tintern Abbey
Falstaff's death is reported in which of Shakespeare's plays?
Henry V
Which composer dedicated his Piano Sonata No 21 to Count Ferdinand von Walstein, who had generously supported him?
Beethoven
Milanese opera house La Scala was built at the command of who, after an earlier building burned down in 1776?
Maria Theresa of Austria
Which US director's films include "The Elephant Man" and "Dune"?
David Lynch
Which Australian-born actor came to fame playing the title role in 1935's "Captain Blood"?
Errol Flynn
"Soubise", named after an 18th-century French aristocrat, is a sauce made from which vegetable?
Onion
Which Canadian city was originally named 'Bytown'?
Ottawa
Which palace did Frederick the Great of Prussia have built at Potsdam between 1745 and 1747?
Sanssouci
The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia from which century until 1917?
17th (1613)
In which Booker Prize winning novel does the hero, Nick Guest, dance with Margaret Thatcher?
The Line of Beauty
Who writes the novels featuring the Chicago-based detective VI Warshawski?
Sara Partesky
What is the last sign of the zodiac, covering the period from approximately 19 February to 20 March?
Pisces
What is the primary metabolite of heroin?
Morphine
In chemistry, what name is given to the measure of the tendency of a substance to vaporize?
Volatility
What Latin phrase was used by Venetians to denote the land they controlled on the Italian mainland?
Terra Firma
Which US state has been represented in the American senate by both John F Kennedy and his brother Edward?
Massachussetts
Give a year during which Joe Louis held the World Heavyweight boxing title.
1937-1949
Who scored the last goal at the old Wembley stadium, in the year 2000?
Dietmar Hamann
In a TV series based on the novels of Elizabeth George, the Eighth Earl of Asherton is better known by what name in the police force?
Det Insp Lynley
Which bravery award was originally made from the metal of guns captured during the Siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War?
Victoria Cross
What word of Dutch origin meaning something used as a lure originally meant a place where wild ducks were enticed and then trapped?
Decoy
In which William Gibson novel of 1984 was the term 'cyberspace' popularised?
Necromancer
Which English town was known as Durnovaria in English times?
Dorchester
Which female crime writer's first novel was "Cover Her Face", published in 1962?
PD James
For which 1945 film did Joan Crawford win her only Best Actress Oscar?
Mildred Pierce
The ancient province of Bithynia is now a part of which modern-day country?
Turkey
At which event was the first ever IMAX screening, in 1967?
Montreal Expo
Which element has the atomic number 30?
Zinc
Which area of the brain, in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere, is linked to speech production?
Broca's Area
What type of creature is an 'Aylesbury'?
Duck
What name is given to an organism's complete set of genes?
Genome
Which two members of the thrush family are winter visitors to the UK?
Fieldfares, Redwings
What is the common name of plant 'viscum album'?
Mistletoe
Which is the only UK bird that turns white in winter?
Ptarmigan
What are the six deer species found wild in the UK?
Red, Roe, Chinese Water, Sika, Fallow, Muntjac
The Lesser Celandine plant is also known by what name, based on the medical condition that it supposedly cures?
Pilewort
Which crow has the scientific name 'corvus frugilegus'?
Rook
The linnet is a member of which bird family?
Finch
The young of which bird are called 'ringtails'?
Hen Harrier
What is Britain's smallest falcon?
Merlin
What is the literal meaning of the name of the dinosaur 'stegosaurus'?
Roof lizard
What is the SE Asian gavial?
A fish-eating crocodile (also gharial)
Cyomancy is the 'art' of telling the future using what?
Shadows
SMART-1 was the first European space probe to achieve what feat?
Orbitting the moon
How long does an individual have to apply for a driving licence after passing their test in the UK?
2 years
In business, what does 'CIF' stand for?
Cost, insurance, freight
What name is given to the study of plant disease?
Phytopathology
What metaphorical name is given to communication barriers that are put up to prevent the spread of price-sensitive information in business?
Chinese Walls
What name is given to the process of combining nuclei to release energy?
Fusion
What name is given to the cup or trumpet of flowers such as the daffodil or narcissus?
Corona
How is 'A' represented in Morse Code?
Dot-dash
Which Morse code letter is the reverse of how 'A' is represented?
N (dash-dot when A is dot-dash)
What type of animal was the now-extinct 'Rodrigues solitaire'?
Flightless pigeon
Who was the first British man to be knighted for scientific achievements?
Sir Isaac Newton
The 'Golden Arrow' train linked which two cities?
London and Paris (or pedantically, London and Dover, with the Calais to Paris stretch being via the 'Fleche D'Or)
What was the famous nickname of Joseph Hobson Jaggers?
The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo
Whose principle can be used to predict the effect of a change in conditions upon a chemical equilibrium?
Le Chatelier's Principle
Whose 'paradox' states that in a static, infinite universe the night sky should be bright?
Olbers' paradox
What was invented by John Harrison in 1735, after 31 years of persistent experimentation?
Marine chronometer
What was the name of John Paul Jones' warship, that was blown in two and subsequently sank at the Battle of Flamborough Head?
Bonhomme Richard
What name is given to a numbering system using Base 8?
Octal
What does the educational acronym EAL stand for?
English (as an) Additional Language
What does the educational acronym SEN stand for?
Special Educational Needs
The original bullet train linked Tokyo with which other city?
Osaka
What was the name of Sir Francis Drake's flagship in the 1587 raid upon Cadiz?
Elizabeth Bonadventure
Who invented the cloud chamber?
Charles Wilson (a Scot)
What is the world's largest monkey species?
Mandrill
Which chemical element takes its name from the Greek for 'lead'?
Molybdenum
A hexadecimal system uses which number as its base?
Sixteen
In Ancient Britain, which tribe from modern East Anglia, had rulers called Addeddomanus, and Dubnovellanus?
Trinovantes
To which Romanian town was the Roman poet Ovid exiled?
Constanta
Which Roman Emperor was responsible for Ovid's exile?
Augustus
Under which Germanic leader, who had acquired Roman citizenship and received a Roman military education, were 3 Roman legions massacred in the Teutoburg Forest in 9AD?
Arminius
Who was the last person in the UK outwith the Royal family to have been awarded a hereditary title?
Denis Thatcher
What does 'MHK' signify after a person's name?
Member of the House of Keys (IoM)
Who was the mother of Constantine the Great?
St Helena
What are the names of Barack Obama's two daughters?
Malia and Sasha
How is Leo Bronstein better known to history?
Trotsky
In what year were Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin and Felix Mendelssohn all born?
1809
How did Mathias Rust create an international incident in 1987?
Landed his light aircraft in Red Square
In which year was The Battle of The Falaise Gap?
1944
Where did the Battle of The Falaise Gap take place?
Normandy, France
Which Chinese Emperor had the Terracotta Army created?
Qin Huangchi
Where in Kent did Julius Caesar's invading force land in 55BCE?
Deal
The Terracotta Army was created in which century?
3rd century BCE
What regnal number was held by Prince Rainier of Monaco, who died in 2005?
III
Who is the Prince of Monaco, as of 2015, having succeeded his father in 2005?
Albert II
What is the family name of the Monegasque Royal Family?
Grimaldi
Which King of Nepal was shot and killed by his son?
Birendra
Who became the Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 2000, when his father Jean abdicated?
Henri
Who was the last King of Portugal?
Manuel II
Which battle of 338BCE was the culmination of the Macedonian campaign in Greece, and led to a decisive victory for Philip II over the Greek city-states?
Battle of Chaeronea
What was Alexander the Great's regnal number?
III
At what age did Alexander the Great die?
32
Who was the first ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt?
Ptolemy I Soter (Saviour)
From what original name is the Afghan city Kandahar's current name taken?
Alexandria
The word 'stoic' derives from 'stoa' - the Ancient Greek for what structure?
Porch
In which Shakespeare play does the line "things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing" come?
Troilus & Cressida
Manichaeism was founded by Mani (216-176CE) who lived in which Empire?
Sassanid
Dying in 606CE, which Third Chinese Patriarch and Zen Buddhist, is best known as the putative author of the famous Chán poem, Xinxin Ming?
Sengcan (or Sen Ts'an)
Which Greek philosopher was born a slave at Hierapolis, but became a Stoic; his teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian?
Epictetus
Whose debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor set a new all-time Dutch chart record on 20 August 2010, spending its 30th week at number one on the country's albums chart, beating the previous record set by 'Thriller' by one week?
Caro Emerald
In most classification systems, which three basic types of fingerprint exist?
Loop, arch, whorl
Fingerprints arise from which part of the skin?
Dermal papillae
Superseded by the more individualising fingerprinting, what name, after its founder, was given to a late 19thC method of classifying criminals by their appearance, specifically the distance between parts of their body?
Bertillionage
Which capital city was sacked by the Babylonians in 612BCE?
Nineveh (Assyrian capital)
Give a year in the Jews' Babylonian Exile.
586-539BCE
What does IAFIS stand for in criminal investigations?
Integrated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System
Which US state attained statehood in 1851, two years after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill?
California
Which region, located in the Western Pacific, contains Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and the Maluku Islands?
Melanesia
Which area of the Pacific, named by Jules Dumont D'Urbville, lies north of Melanesia and encompasses Kiribati and Palau among others?
Micronesia
The Bab-al-Mandab or Mandab strait separates which two countries?
Yemen and Djibouti
Sahul is an alternative name for which continent?
Australia
Which biogeographical region of Southeastern Asia encompasses the part of the Asian continental shelf that was exposed during the last ice age?
Sundaland
Which biogeographical designation stands for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves?
Wallacea
New Ireland and New Britain are both part of which archipelago, belonging to Papua New Guinea?
Bismarck archipelago
Which is the only N-S pass through the mountains of Israel, giving its name to Armageddon?
Megiddo
Which national capital city on the Danube was previously called Pressburg?
Bratislava
Who were the first British football club to win a major European football competition?
Tottenham Hotspur
Which country changed its name from a republic to an empire in 1977 but has reverted to being a republic?
Central African Republic
Who wrote the words to the hymn Abide With Me?
Henry Francis Lyte
Under which pseudonym did Cecil Day-Lewis write detective stories?
Nicholas Blake
Which is the longest muscle in the human body?
Sartorius
What is the surname of William in the Just William stories?
Brown
What was the occupation of William Shakespeare’s father?
Glover
Which English monarch was murdered at Berkeley Castle?
Edward II
Ronald Ross won the 1902 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on which disease?
Malaria
To how many persons is membership of the Order of Merit limited?
24
Which star of music hall was born George Edward Wade in Herne Hill in 1869?
George Robey
Which product had the advertising slogan: “You’ll look a little lovelier each day”?
Camay Soap
| Stegosaurus |
Now named Apatosaurus, which huge dinosaur, known more famously by its previous name, took its name from the phrase 'Thunder Lizard'? | Free Flashcards about GK 5
Question
Answer
Tinian Island, from which Enola Gay took off en route to bomb Hiroshima, is part of which US territory?
Northern Mariana Islands
What is 'The Sky At Night''s theme tune?
At The Castle Gate by Sibelius
Who played the title character in 'Veronica Mars'?
Kristen Bell
What are the start and end points of the Severn Valley Railway?
Kidderminster, Bridgnorth
Which national trail runs between Ivinghoe Beacon and Overton Hill?
The Ridgeway
Former PM Gordon Brown and Kenny Dalglish were both born in which city?
Glasgow
Which London museum was founded by a tea magnate in 1901 in Forest Hill, and was designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Charles Harrison Townsend?
Horniman Museum
On which horse did Lester Piggott first win the Derby, in 1954?
Never Say Die
Which suffragette famously died at the 1913 Derby by running in the path of the horses?
Emily Davison
In McManus's cartoon "Bringing Up Father", what was "father's" name?
Jiggs
In McManus's cartoon "Bringing Up Father", to whom was father married?
Maggie
Who painted "The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888)"?
Alma-Tadema
Who wrote the novel "Angel Pavement"?
JB Priestley
Which pig was the leader in "Animal Farm"?
Napoleon
Who wrote "Anna Of The Five Towns"?
Arnold Bennett
In criminology, what is an "inchoate offence"?
An offence (such as incitement or conspiracy) anticipating or preparatory to a further criminal act
What is the alternative name for a wolverine?
Glutton
Which disease causes the roots of brassicas (eg cabbage) to swell?
Club Root
Which Indian-made car was unveiled in January 2008 as "the least expensive car in the world"?
Tata Nano
Which white frothy liquid is produced on plants by the frog hopper insect?
Cuckoo spit
How did Barnes Wallis assist the 'Dambusters' raid?
Designed the 'bouncing bomb'
Which constellation bears the popular name 'Charioteer'?
Auriga
Which is the biggest 'centaur' in the Solar System?
Chiron
How is hydroxybenzene better known?
Phenol, or carbolic acid
Who died on Loch Ness in 1952, trying to set a water speed record?
John Cobb
What type of stamps first went on sale in the UK in 1966, and have been sold every year since?
Christmas stamps
Which Mars canyon is over 4000km long?
Valles Marineris
The TATA OneCAT is a car that runs on what?
Compressed air
What is the legal term for someone authorised to stand in another's place?
Proxy
What type of hat is traditionally worn by a town crier?
Tricorn
What was the name of the dog sent into space in 1957?
Laika
Which company used the slogan "more experienced than our name suggests"?
Virgin Atlantic
Which spectacular comet was the brightest of the 20th century, best seen and passing perihelion in 1997?
Hale-Bopp
What make of washers were used by Britain's first launderette, that opened in 1949?
Bendix
Which shipyard built the QE2?
John Brown's
Which fine-grained metamorphic rock can be split into thin layers and used for roofing etc?
Slate
What do Americans call a flick knife?
Switchblade
Which disease is also called lockjaw?
Tetanus
Who set the record for the longest time continuously spent in space by an individual in human history by spending 437 days on 'Mir'?
Valeri Polyakov
The spectacled bear is native to which continent?
South America
Which is the last period of the Paleozoic Era?
Permian
A member of CARD (1964-67) campaigned against what?
Racial Discrimination
What is the inverse Tan of 1 in degrees?
45 degrees
What is the log base 10 of 100?
Two
Which common metallic element has the atomic number 12?
Magnesium
Who manufactured the 'Lincoln' aircraft?
Avro
What is a 'wildcat well'?
Exploratory well for oil or gas
In 2014, the Kurdish minority Yazidi group were surrounded by ISIS on which mountain in Iraq?
Sinjar
Religious group the Yazidis generally refuse to wear which colour?
Blue
Dabiq is the online magazine of who?
ISIL/ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant)
Of what are PANAS and SWANE measuring devices?
Well-being/happiness
Almedalen Week is an important political forum in which country?
Sweden
What is the capital of the Faroe Islands?
Torshavn
Located on the Kamchatka peninsula, what is the highest active volcano in Eurasia?
Klyuchevskaya Sopka
What is third most populous city in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg?
Novosibirsk
Who wrote the 1884 novel 'A Rebours'?
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Emile Bernard, Gustave Moreau and Pierre Puvis De Chevannes were all artists associated with which style or movement?
Symbolism
What was 'Art Nouveau' called in Germany?
Jugendstil
Give either of artist James Whistler's middle names.
Abbott or McNeill
Give a year in the life of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.
1760-1849
Which genre of woodblock prints and paintings, with a name translating as 'pictures of the floating world', flourished in Japan from the 17th through 19th centuries?
Ukiyo-e
Anton Karas, famous for his 'The Third Man' soundtrack, was an accomplished player of which instrument, perhaps best known for its use as the Harrly Lime theme?
Zither
Who wrote the songs "Baby It's Cold Outside", "If I Were A Bell" and "A Bushel and A Beck"?
Fran Loesser
In which year was the BBC Home Service radio station introduced?
1939
What was Radio 2's original name, when it started broadcasting in 1945?
Light Programme
Incorporated into Radio 3 in 1970, in which year did the BBC Third programme radio station start?
1947
What was renamed Radio 4 in 1967?
BBC Home Service
In which year did Radio Luxembourg launch its weekly 'hit parade', the first time such a concept had been trialled?
1948
In which year was the BBC radio show "Pick Of The Pops" last broadcast?
1972
Who composed the signature tune of "Pick Of The Pops", called "At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal"?
Bryan Fahey
Who sang the famous version of "Singin In The Rain" in the eponymous 1952 film musical?
Gene Kelly
On which radio station did 'Opportunity Knocks' start off life, in 1949?
Radio Luxembourg
Who was the first winner of 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1949, who later went on to spend 10 weeks at No.1 in the UK with 'Cara Mia' in 1954?
David Whitfield
What is the medical name for goosebumps?
Horropilation
The Dorset Iron Age tribe the Durotriges had the largest capital in the whole of the British Isles at the time - what is it called nowadays?
Maiden Castle
Their name deriving from a Celtic word meaning 'hill' which Iron Age tribe dominated Northern England?
Brigantes
The legendary Finn MacCool belonged to which real historical group, whose task was to guard Celtic-era kings, and whose name was later appropriated for an independence movement?
Fenians
The first British hit parade had 12 singles - who sung three of them?
Vera Lynn
Who had a UK number 1 with "Dreamboat"?
Alma Cogan
Elvis Presley's legendary first recordings were made in 1954 in which Memphis studios?
Sun
What was the name of Elvis Presley's stillborn twin brother?
Jesse
What was Jerry Lee Lewis' first hit?
Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
What was Jerry Lee Lewis' (possibly apt, given the mysterious circumstances of the death of one of his wives) nickname?
The Killer
Who said that "rock n' roll is....the martial music of every sideburned delinquent"?
Frank Sinatra
What was Little Richard's last name?
Perriman
In which city was Chuck Berry born?
St Louis
"Say Man" which got to No. 20 in the US, was the only Top 20 hit - in the US or the UK - for which legendary performer?
Bo Diddley
What characteristic is shared by all actinide elements?
Radioactivity
Name any 4 of the 6 elements that are collectively known as non-metals?
C, N, O, Se, S, P
A radian is equal to how many degrees, to the nearest degree?
57
Which elements, chemically very similar, occupy positions 57-71 on the Periodic Table?
Lanthanides
The first two columns of the Periodic Table are occupied by elements that fill which type of electron orbital?
s-type
The third to twelfth columns of the Periodic Table are occupied by elements that fill which type of electron orbital?
f-type
The last six columns of the Periodic Table are occupied by elements that fill which type of electron orbital?
p-type
The rare earth elements of the Periodic Table that fill which type of electron orbital?
d-type
Element 100 (atomic number 100) Fermium belongs to which group of elements?
Actinides
How was Terry Nelhams better known?
Adam Faith
Who had No 1 hits in the UK with "Cumberland Gap" and "Gamblin' Man"?
Lonnie Donegan
Who had a 1958 hit with "Move It"?
Cliff Richard
What was Billy Fury's biggest UK hit, reaching No. 4 in the charts?
Halfway To Paradise
What was the name of Vince Taylor's backing group?
The Playboys
Which 1950s singer was reputedly the inspiration for David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust"?
Vince Taylor
What was Hank Marvin's real name?
Brian Rankin
Jet Harris and Tony Meehan were both members of which band?
The Shadows
Which art group was formed in Dresden in 1905 and included Kirchner, Bleyl, Heckel and Schmidt-Rottluff?
Die Brucke (The Bridge)
Filippo Marinetti's Futurist manifesto was published on the front page of which newspaper in 1909?
Le Figaro
Kasimir Malevich was the originator of which artistic movement?
Suprematism
The artists Arp, Tzara, Janco, Ball, Richter and Picabia all belonged to which movement?
Dadaism
The artists Tzara and Janco were both of which nationality?
Romanian
The artists Arp, Duchamp, Tzara, Dali, Magritte, Breton, Ernst and Crevel are all associated with which movement?
Surrealism
The Dadaist movement was founded in which city?
Zurich
What was the first publication of the Dadist movement?
Cabaret Voltaire
Which Dali painting featured melting watches?
The Persistence Of Memory
Who had US hits with both "Crying In The Chapel" and "It's Too Soon To Know"?
The Orioles
Who had a massive 1956 hit with "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", selling 2 million copies?
Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers
Who had a 1959 hit with "Since I Don't Have You", later covered by Guns N' Roses?
The Skyliners
Who were Maurice Williams' backing group?
The Zodiacs
Who had a hit with "Voice In The Wilderness" in the 1950s?
Cliff Richard
What is the surname of the US singer-songwriter known as Dion?
DiMucci
Which singer experienced double tragedy when his wife died in a motorbike accident in 1966, and his two eldest sons in a 1969 fire?
Roy Orbison
Which singer, who committed suicide in 1990, had hits with "Keep Searchin'" and "Stranger In Town"?
Del Shannon
The Yanomani people live on the border of which two countries?
Venezuela and Brazil
Which biological phenomenon occurs when predators in a food web suppress the abundance or alter traits (e.g., behaviour) of their prey, thereby releasing the next level from predation?
Trophic cascade
Manx and sooty are species of which bird?
Shearwater
The Cantabrian Sea is part of which body of water?
Bay of Biscay
What type of animal is the greater weever?
Fish
Who had hits with "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me"?
The Crystals
Which 1960s girl group had hits with "Be My Baby" and "Baby I Do"?
The Ronettes
Which building, located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan was reknowned for a flourishing songwriting industry?
Brill Building
Which song reached No 5 in the USA for Dion And The Belmonts and No 2 in the UK for Marti Wilde?
Teenager In Love
Who had the original hit with "The Locomotion"?
Little Eva
Which geographical feature was named after the mythical father of Theseus?
Aegean Sea (Aegeus)
What is the correct name of the Mendelssohn overture commonly known as "Fingal's Cave"?
The Hebrides
From which larger work is Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumblebee" taken?
Tsar Sultan
Which musician's real name was Ellas Otha Bates?
Bo Diddley
How is Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor better known?
Fur Elise
Which musician wrote the song "Running Bear"?
The Big Bopper
How does Schubert's "Die Forelle" translate?
The Trout
Who had a 1970 Number 1 with "All Kinds Of Everything"?
Dana
Which musical features the song "Sabine Women"?
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
What type of fruit or vegetable is a "Howgate Wonder"?
Apple
What type of fruit or vegetable is a "Pentland Javelin"?
Potato
Who was the daughter of Pasiphae, and the wife of the Greek God Dionysus?
Ariadne
In some Greek myths, Poseidon married which sea-nymph?
Amphitrite
Which musical features the song "People Will Say We're In Love"?
Oklahoma
Which Doors keyboard player released an album based on the Carmina Burana?
Ray Manzarek
Give a year during the War of The Spanish Succession.
1702-13
Which treaty concluded the War of The Spanish Succession?
Utrecht
Madame de Pompadour was a mistress of which French king?
Louis XV
Cardinal Richelieu was the trusted advisor of which French king?
Louis XIII
What was the original name of Paris's Place De La Concorde?
Place Louis XV
Where are the Petit and Grand Trianons?
Versailles
Which area of France was nominally independent from 1737 to 1766, ruled by Stanisław Leszczyński, the former king of Poland ?
Lorraine
Which Admiral commanded the British fleet at the 1759 Battle of Quiberon Bay?
Sir Edward Hawke
What was referred to by Voltaire in 'Candide' as no more than 'a few acres of snow'?
Canada
Which three 'critiques' did Kant publish between 1781 and 1790?
Of Pure Reason; Of Practical Reason; Of Judgement
Where was Immanuel Kant born?
Konigsberg
Who was Bertrand Russell's godfather?
John Stuart Mill
Which British political economist (1772-1823) came up with the theory of comparative advantage?
David Ricardo
Which French New Wave director directed Les Biches (1968), La Femme Infidele (1969), and Le Boucher (1970)?
Claude Chabrol
The notorious 'Downtown Eastside' district, where serial killer Robert William Pickton picked up several of his victims, is in which city?
Vancouver
In which country is Lake Mungo?
Australia (it is, incidentally, dry)
What was the original name of the ship The Golden Hind?
The Pelican
What is the largest town on the island of Elba?
Portoferraio
What type of mineral are stalagmites and stalactites comprised of?
Calcium carbonate
Which two shipping forecast areas border Scotland's East Coast to the west, and Forties to the east?
Cromarty, Forth
Which two shipping forecast areas border Denmark?
Fisher, German Bight
Which shipping forecast area lies due south of South Utsire?
Fisher
Which shipping forecast area lies between Forth and Humber?
Tyne
Which shipping forecast area lies due south of Forties?
Dogger
Bouvet Island, the world's most remote island, is owned by which country?
Norway
Which is the largest of the Aeolian Islands?
Lipari
Which shipping forecast area lies between Shannon and Bailey?
Rockall
Which shipping forecast area lies due north of Ireland?
Malin
Which shipping forecast area contains the Isle of Man?
Irish Sea
Which shipping forecast area lies due south of Ireland, between Shannon and Lundy?
Fastnet
Which shipping forecast area lies north of Malin, and south of both Faeroes and Fair Isle?
Hebrides
The US Vice-President's residence, in the US Naval Observatory Grounds, is on which road or street?
Massachussetts Avenue
St Lucia and Dominica are both part of which group of islands?
Windward Islands
What is the surname of Lucy from Peanuts?
Van Pelt
Which 'Peanuts' character carries a blanket?
Linus
Which cartoonist devised 'The Perishers'?
Dodd
Who was the sheepdog in 'The Perishers'?
Boot
What was Jackson Pollock's nickname?
Jack The Dripper
In which country was the painter Arshile Gorky born?
Armenia
Who painted "The Light Of The World"?
Holman Hunt
In the cartoons, who is Modesty Blaise's trusty sidekick?
Garvin
In 'The Perishers', Boot is whose dog?
Wellington
How many fleches are there on a backgammon board?
24
The infamous swimmer 'Eric the Eel' represented which country?
Equatorial Guinea
Give a year in the life of Seneca.
5BC - 65AD
Pocahontas belonged to which Native Indian tribe?
Powhatan
Which Englishman did Pocahontas marry?
John Rolfe
All Pueblo infants are given what in tribute to legendary mothers?
Ear of corn
The Nuu-chah-nulth, or Nootka, are Native Americans who inhabit which area?
Pacific North-West
Which confederation are also called the Haudenosaunee?
Iroquois
Which term is traditionally used to mean a person of combined European and Native American descent?
Mestizo/mestiza
In which century did Adam Smith publish his "Wealth Of Nations"?
Eighteenth (1776)
In which year was the notorious Salem witch hunt?
1692
Which minister (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was known for his voracious support for the Salem witch trials?
Cotton Mather
What two-word term in law refers to a married woman protected legally by her husband?
Feme Covert
Who wrote "Two Treatises On Government" in 1690?
Locke
DNA evidence has, in modern times, suggested which US President fathered a child with the slave Sally Hemings?
Thomas Jefferson
What was the forename of US President, John Adams' wife?
Abigail
What was the forename of Thomas Jefferson's wife, who died aged just 34?
Martha
Name any two of the five Native American tribes forcibly relocated by the Trail Of Tears.
Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw
Keokuk and Black Hawk were famous leaders of which Native American nation?
Sauk
Which Act adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians?
Dawes Act
Who wrote the 1309 treatise "On World Government"?
Dante Alighieri
Which two Kings signed the 1502 "Treaty Of Perpetual Peace"?
James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England
Which jurist in the Dutch Republic (10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645) helped to lay the foundations for international law, based on natural law?
Hugo Grotius
Which musical features the song "When The Children Are Asleep"?
Carousel
Plant, Page & Bonham were in which band before they became founders of Led Zeppelin?
The Yardbirds
What type of rice is traditionally used to make a risotto?
Arborio
Which musical features the tune "We're In The Money"?
42nd Street
The Reverend HF Lyte wrote what just three weeks before his death from TB?
Abide With Me (hymn)
Give a year in the life of composer Alfred Schoenberg.
1874-1951
Who wrote the oratorio "A Child Of Our Time"?
Michael Tippett
Wes Montgomery achieved fame by playing which instrument?
Guitar
Who had a big hit with "The Gambler", winning a Grammy, and reaching No. 22 in the UK?
Kenny Rogers
Which composer (1885-1935) was a pupil of Schoenberg?
Alban Berg
In the Bible, which Roman soldier pierced Christ's side?
Longinus
On which traditional tune is "Danny Boy" based?
Londonderry Air
Whose 2009 album was "Together Through Life"?
Bob Dylan
A dish served "Du Barry" always contains what?
Cauliflower
Yellow Leg, Amethyst Deceiver and Horn Of Plenty are all types of what?
Mushroom
What is the rarely-used full name of the cello?
Violoncello
Who narrated Jeff Wayne's 1970 album "The War Of The Worlds"?
Richard Burton
Which massively-attended religious festival takes place in India's Madhya Pradesh once every 12 years?
Kumbh Mela
Herb Alpert became famous for playing which instrument?
Trumpet
Who had a hit in 1962 with "Nut Rocker"?
B Bumble And The Stingers
Whose hit, often played at Halloween, was "Monster Mash"?
Bobby Picket And The Crypt Kickers
Who was the BBC concert orchestra's first female conductor?
Ann Dudley
Which two world-famous singers collaborated on "Disco La Passione"?
Chris Rea, Shirley Bassey
Whose first hit, released in 1984, was "Your Love Is King"?
Sade
Who composed the opera "Boris Gudonov"?
Mussorgsky
What was the composer Mussorgsky's first name?
Modest
Who provided words to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony?
Schiller
Of what does Amaretto taste?
Almonds (tho it is made with apricots)
Kirsch uses which fruit in its production?
Cherries
Who said "Claret is for boys, port for men, but brandy for heroes"?
Samuel Johnson
What were pillar boxes' original colour?
Green
Which letter was the first to be sent in the first Transatlantic radio transmission?
S
In which country were love letters sent in pink envelopes allowed a reduced postage rate?
Venezuela
The first Royal Mail delivery ran between which two places?
Bath to London
When was the UK's first telephone directory produced?
1880
Who famously devised the 'Penny Post'?
Rowland Hill
Which analogue television system was formerly used in most of the Americas?
NTSC (National Television System Committee)
What does the computer language COBOL stand for?
Common Business Oriented Language
Which element has the atomic number 50?
Tin
A dodecahedron has how many plane faces?
12
Which Platonic figure has exactly 20 plane faces?
Icosahedron
In which UK town did Robert Thom pioneer water treatment?
Paisley
Which element has the atomic number 31?
Gallium
What name is given to a fox's home?
Earth
What name is given to the place where a mole lives?
Fortress
Which Trevithick locomotive travelled between merthy Tydfil and Abercynnon?
Pen-y-darren
In 1825, Stephenson's locomotive "Locomotion" carried 450 people between which two places?
Stockton and Darlington
In which year were the Rainhill Trials?
1829
George Cayley (1773-1857) is credited with being the first man to develop what?
A glider
How is ploytetrafluorethylene better known?
Teflon
How many runs are scored in a baseball 'Grand Slam'?
Four
Into which body of water does the River Trent flow?
Humber Estuary
Which summer Olympic sport takes place on a piste?
Fencing
Which composer wrote the operas "Der Freischutz", "Oberon" and "Euryanthe"?
Weber
In "Pride & Prejudice", how many sisters did Elizabeth Bennet have?
Four
What name is given to a lady's formal short jacket, without sleeves, worn over a blouse, not reaching the waist, nor meeting in front?
Bolero
What is the capital of the US state Nebraska?
Lincoln
The Pollack belongs to which fish family?
Cod or Gadidae
What is the highest peak in the Cairngorms?
Ben Macdui
From which tennis Grand Slam was John McEnroe expelled for swearing in 1990?
Australian Open
Why was Mohammed Ali stripped of his World Heavyweight Boxing Title in 1967?
Refusing to do military service
Who was the first snooker player to win all of the then-nine ranking tournaments?
Stephen Hendry
For which football team did Jimmy Greaves make his debut in 1957?
Chelsea
In which sport was Vera Caslavska a World and Olympic champion?
Gymnastics
Which female athlete (1918-2004) was nicknamed "The Flying Housewife"?
Fanny Blankers-Koen
Which athlete is, as of 2015, the only British track and field competitor to win medals at three different Olympic Games?
Steve Backley
Which revolt occurred in Kenya between 1952 and 1960?
Mau Mau Uprising/Revolt
Dolomite is used as an ore for which metal?
Magnesium
In which town is Robert the Bruce buried?
Dunfermline
Which are the three kingdoms in Africa?
Lesotho, Swaziland, Morocco
Which of the prophets is said to have written the Biblical book of Lamentations?
Jeremiah
Bedford Giant, Himalaya Giant and Oregon Thornless are all varieties of which fruit?
Blackberry
Mark Knopfler was the lead singer of which band?
Dire Straits
John Fogerty was the lead singer of which band?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
What does ISDN stand for?
Integrated Digital Services Network
What does ISBN stand for?
International Standard Book Number
How many gates are there on the Thames Barrier?
Ten
When was work on the Thames Barrier completed?
1982
Luxor and Karnak stand on the site of which Ancient Egyptian city?
Thebes
Japan's main port city, what is also the country's second-largest city after Tokyo?
Yokohama
The football team Grampus (formerly Grampus Eight) are based in which city?
Nagoya
In which city is the largest department store in the world?
Busan (South Korea)
What was the largest department store in the world from 1924 to 2009?
Macy's (Herald Square, New York)
Give a year in the life of William Blake.
1757-1827
The football team Penarol pay in which country?
Uruguay
What is the total value of the coloured balls in snooker, not including the reds?
27
Where is the "Attila Line"?
Cyprus, dividing north and south
What was both the first, and last, European colony in China?
Macau
On a dartboard, which number lies between 18 and 13?
4
Which is the only London borough to include land on both sides of the Thames?
Richmond
Which English King's only legitimate son drowned when the 'White Ship' sank?
Henry I
Which was the last musical to win a Best Picture Oscar before 'Chicago' won in 2002?
Oliver!
Who was Mary, Queen of Scots' second husband?
Lord Darnley
With reference to playing cards, how are court cards known in the USA?
Face cards
Who did Jimmy Carter succeed as US President?
Gerald Ford
What is the name of the bell used at Lloyd's of London?
Lutine Bell
In which year did Mussolini invade Ethiopia?
1935
Which group of people were subject to an 1829 British Emancipation Act?
Roman Catholics
Who (1898-2001) established the Royal Ballet, the Royal Ballet School, and the Birmingham Royal Ballet?
Ninette De Valois
What are the names of the two towers of the Palace of Westminister?
St Stephen's Tower and the Victoria (or Central) Tower
How many imperial gallons are in a barrel of oil?
35
How many gallons are in a US barrel of oil?
42
What was presented to Louis XIV of France by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1669?
Hope Diamond
Whose first play was 1957's "The Room"?
Harold Pinter
What is the name of the rake in Hogarth's "The Rake's Progress"?
Tom Rakewell
What is 'papering the house' in the theatre?
Filling the theatre with guests on complimentary tickets
What is the first book in Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga"?
A Man Of Property
What is the last book in Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga"?
To Let
Which real-life island is the setting for Conrad's "Almayer's Folly" and "An Outcast Of The Islands"?
Borneo
Which mythological creature did DH Lawrence adopt as a personal symbol?
Phoenix
Which work has the epigraph "only connect"?
Howards End
What nationality was the sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti?
Swiss
Usually created out of wood, her sculptures appear puzzle-like, with multiple intricately cut pieces placed into wall sculptures or independently standing pieces, often monochromatic and 3-D - which US sculptor (1899-1988)?
Louise Nevelson
What nationality was the female sculptor Germaine Richier?
French
Which Austrian (1899-1957) illustrated works by Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe, and himself wrote Die andere Seite (The Other Side), a Kafkaesque novel?
Alfred Kubin
Who wrote 1915's "The Golem"?
Gustav Meyrink
Which Belgian-born poet, writer and painter wrote Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones?
HenrI Michaux
What was the name of the daughter of Whitney Houston who was found unresponsive in a bathtub in 2015?
Bobbi Kristina Brown
Who wrote The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based?
ETA Hoffmann
Which Von Eichendorff work sees the protagonist leaves his father's mill and become a gardener at a Viennese castle where he falls in love with the daughter of the duke?
Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts ( Of the Life of a Good-For-Nothing
Der Blonde Eckbert was a fairytale by which German founder of the Romantic movement (1773-1853)?
Ludwig Tieck
Madame d'Aulnoy was the first person to coin what term for a particular literary genre?
Fairy tale
Who wrote "The Singing Bone"?
The Brothers Grimm
What was the pseudonym of German philosopher Salomo Friedlander?
Mynona
What is the surname of the family owners of Longleat?
Thynne
In which city is Wren's Sheldonian Theatre?
Oxford
On which island is Fingal's Cave located?
Staffa
In which county is Papworth Hospital?
Cambridgeshire
Foolow, a village famed for lead mining activities, is in which county?
Derbyshire
Which Notts town claims to contain "The Original Bramley Apple Tree", with the first Bramley cooking apple seeded there by Mary Ann Brailsford in 1809?
Southwell
In which county is Brodsworth Hall?
South Yorkshire
Which Danish town is the nearest one to Legoland?
Billund
Mannington, Horton and Heaton are all areas of which city?
Bradford
Which famous person lived at Gad's Hill Place, also the location of his death?
Charles Dickens
In which county is Tolpuddle?
Dorset
Andover is in which English county?
Hampshire
Which river is crossed by the famous Ironbridge at Coalbookdale in Shropshire?
Severn
German-born US inventor Emile Berliner is most famous for which invention?
Disc record/disc record phonograph
Who once sung with both 'The Hoboken Four' and 'The Pied Pipers'?
Frank Sinatra
Of what were 78rpm records made, a product secreted by a near-namesake bug in Asia?
Shellac (bug is the lac bug)
Who released 2013's "Where Are We Now?" from album "The Next Day"?
David Bowie
Who released a 2012 album of greatest hits called "Grrr!"?
The Rolling Stones
Romy Madley Smith and Oliver Sim are members of which band?
The xx
Whose 17th studio album was entitled "Wrecking Ball"?
Bruce Springsteen
Who released a debut album called 'Innerspeaker' and a follow-up called "Lonerspeak"?
Tame Impala
How is singer Elizabeth Woolridge Grant better known?
Lana Del Rey
Which two albums won Mercury Prize Awards for PJ Harvey?
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000)and Let England Shake (2011)
Which words appear on Brazil's flag?
Ordem e Progresso
What colour flame is produced when copper is burned?
Blue
What colour flame is produced when sodium is burned?
Yellow
Who (1824-1887) coined the term 'black body radiation' and has two sets of laws - one in circuit theory, and one in spectroscopy - named after him?
Gustav Kirchhoff
What was the first name of the man who devised the eponymous Bunsen burner?
Robert (Bunsen)
Arsenic and lead both produce flames of which colour when burned?
Blue
What name, after a German optician and chemist, is given to the dark absorption lines in the Sun's spectrum?
Fraunhofer lines
Why do absorption lines appear in the Sun's spectrum?
Light emitted from inner part of the Sun as hotter than surroundings; outer part is cooler than middle and thus absorbs them
In the Doppler effect, blueshift tells us that a body is travelling in which direction?
Towards the observer (blue light is of shorter wavelength than red)
Measured in joules per second, which astronomical term is the total amount of energy emitted by a star, galaxy, or other astronomical object per unit time?
Luminosity
How is the surface area of a sphere calculated from its radius?
4pi x radius squared
Which British-American astronomer (May 10, 1900 – December 7, 1979) first worked out the chemical composition of stars in her 1925 PhD paper?
Cecilia Payne
Where is the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the USA?
Yellowstone NP
Which cave contains the world's oldest known cave art?
El Castillo, Spain
What is the capital of Cantabria?
Santander
What term is used for the oldest stone tool industry in prehistory, occurring in Africa 2.6 million years ago up until 1.7 million years ago, by ancient hominins?
Oldowan
Why does cooking food make it easier to digest?
Breaks down proteins
Who coined the phrase "a little learning is a dangerous thing"?
Alexander Pope
The line in Shakespeare "the poor world is only 6000 years old", reflecting contemporary views, appears in which play?
As You Like It
In which range of hills is Cheddar Gorge?
Mendips
What now stands at the site of the former Tyburn gallows in London?
Marble Arch
Which body of water separates New Guinea and Australia?
Torres Strait
Which South African province was named on Christmas Day 1497 by Vasco Da Gama?
Natal
Which long tunnel, that connects Switzerland and Italy, opened in 1905?
Simplon
Which disused military installation in the sea off Suffolk declared independence in 1967?
Sealand
The Humber estuary is formed by which two rivers?
Ouse, Trent
Which London Street, in Mayfair, is known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men?
Savile Row
Which river flows into the Severn Estuary at Newport?
Usk
The Equator passes through which two Asian countries?
Maldives, Indonesia
What is the highest point on the Isle of Wight?
St Boniface Down
What is the capital of South Dakota?
Pierre
What is the capital of Tennessee?
Nashville
What is the capital of Texas?
Austin
What is the capital of Utah?
Salt Lake City
What is the capital of Vermont?
Montpelier
What is the nickname of the US state of Virginia?
Old Dominion State
What is the nickname of the US state of West Virginia?
Mountain State
What is the nickname of the US state of Washington?
Evergreen State
What is the nickname of the US state of Wisconsin?
Badger State
What is the nickname of the US state of Wyoming?
Equality State
What is the term used for rocks splitting in areas of natural weakness?
Cleavage
The Wrekin is a hill in which English county?
Shropshire
Which French headland lies closest to the English mainland?
Cap Gris Nez
What, as of 2015, is the currency of Nicaragua?
Cordoba
What, as of 2015, is the currency of Panama?
Balboa/US Dollar (both)
What is the name of the currency used in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay?
Peso
Which capital city lies on the river Daugava?
Riga
Which city was the birthplace of both Charles de Gaulle and Henri Laconte?
Lille
From 1928-48, which UK museum housed the 'Wright Flyer'?
London's Science Museum
Where is the Wright Flyer today?
National Air & Space Museum, Washington DC
Which London mainline station was once called "St Paul's"?
Blackfriars
'The Road To The Isles' starts at Fort William and ends where?
Mallaig
In which country is the Skeleton Coast?
Namibia
In which two English counties is the Jurassic Coast?
Devon, Dorset
What is the Ikkurina?
Basque Flag
The A686, once voted one of the world's "Top 10 Scenic Roads" connects which two places?
Penrith, Haydon Bridge
What is the capital of Languedoc-Rousillion?
Montpellier
The rivers Steeping, Witham, Welland, Nene and Ouse all flow into which body of water?
The Wash
Which building, completed in 1800, got its name from a contrast with nearby redbrick buildings?
The White House
The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, crosses which river valley?
Tarn (France)
Run by communists from 1945-90, which is Italy's oldest university?
Bologna
Where is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology based?
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Where is the Devonshire Dome, the largest unsupported dome in Europe?
Buxton
How many stars are there on the flag of Alaska?
Eight
What name is given to a pattern of stars in the night sky that may or may not be part of a constellation?
Asterism
Which sea lies between Russia and Alaska, North of the Bering Strait?
Chukchi Sea
Possibly the last place on Earth where mammoths survived, which country owns Wrangel Island?
Russia
Which two islands lie in the middle of the Bering Strait and are just 3.8km apart, although the 'Big' one belongs to Russia, the 'Little' one to the USA?
Diomede Islands
After Texas and California, which is the third largest of the 'lower' 48 United States?
Montana
In which 'sound' did the Exxon Valdez run aground in 1989, causing massive environmental damage from the resulting oil spill?
Prince William Sound
Which inlet runs between the main part of Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage?
Cook Inlet
In which US state is the greatest percentage of its inhabitants based in its most populous city?
New York State
Discovered in 1968, which is the largest oil field in North America?
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field
In 1960, where was the epicentre of the largest measured earthquake in world history?
Valdivia, Chile/Chile
In which US state are the Chugach Mountains?
Alaska
What species is Ursus Americanus, the North American continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear?
(American) Black Bear
What name is given to the young of a fox, ferret and/or beaver?
Kit
Which cetacean is the only member of the species monodontidae, bar the narwhal?
Beluga
Which climate classification system was first published by a Russian German climatologist in 1884?
Köppen
Where is Ted Stevens International Airport?
Anchorage
In which century was Iceland's parliament, the Althing, founded?
Tenth (930AD)
Which Berkshire stately home is the main filming location for Downton Abbey?
Highclere Castle
Which National Park in Iceland was the original site of the Icelandic parliament?
Þingvellir (Thingvellir)
Which Shakespeare play contains the line "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so"?
Hamlet
Who created the hypothetical "Library of Babel" in a short story?
Jorge Luis Borges
Which Chinese philosopher (probably 372BC-289BC) is regarded as the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself, and devised the concept of the Four Beginnings (or Four Sprouts)?
Mencius/Meng Tzu
Who wrote the New Testament book 'Epistle To The Galatians'?
St Paul
What is the fifth book of the New Testament?
Acts
Whose fourth album was entitled "...And Justice For All"?
Metallica
In December 2014, which medical procedure was carried out successfully for the first time at Stellenbosch University in South Africa?
Penis Transplant
Which German architect won the 2015 Pritzker Prize, shortly before his death?
Frei Otto
What was the name of the cyclone that devastated Vanuatu in March 2015?
Cyclone Pam
Which Seleucid Empire city and UNESCO World Heritage Site was destroyed by ISIS in March 2015, days after they had bulldozed Nimrud?
Hatra
The battle of Garnett & Golding's Farm was part of which wider conflict?
US Civil War
Which public holiday occurs on April 2nd in Argentina?
Malvinas Day
The Despenser war was a baronial revolt against which monarch?
Edward II
Samoset (c. 1590–1653) was the first Native American to make contact with who?
Pilgrims of Plymouth County
In which year was the first F.A. Cup Final?
1872
Where was the first F.A. Cup Final played?
The Oval, Kennington
What is the name of the US-perpetrated atrocity that saw the mass killing of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968?
My Lai Massacre (in Vietnam, the Son My Massacre)
Which CIA station chief was kidnapped in Beirut in 1984, and died in the custody of Hezbollah in 1985?
William Buckley
What is the general term for a variant of paintball in which the playing field is composed of bunkers, of the same location and number on each side of the field, that provide an equal playing field for each team competing?
Speedball
Who was the main star of Britain's first comedy series, "How Do You View"?
Terry-Thomas
What was the nationality of soprano Joan Sutherland?
Australian
Who wrote the song "Doctor My Eyes" for the Jackson 5?
Jackson Browne
Who wrote and performed the song "Positively 4th Street"?
Bob Dylan
What is the main ingredient of calvados?
Apples
What was the name of the Sun God of the Incas?
Inti
Who wrote the song "David Watts" for The Jam?
Ray Davies
In which year did "Puppet On A String" win Eurovision?
1967
Which Central European, acid-set cheese is white, un-aged and similar to fromage frais; and is made by warming soured milk?
Quark
Greg lake, Robert Fripp and Michael Giles were all founder members of which band?
King Crimson
Richie Blackmore was a member of which two prominent bands?
Deep Purple, Rainbow
"Here Comes The Bride" is taken from which opera?
Lohengrin
Who wrote the short ballet "Dance Of The Hours"?
Ponchielli
Who composed the "Danse Macabre"?
Saint-Saens
"Rose-Marie" and "The Vagabond King" are the best-known pieces by which composer, upon whose work "The Donkey Serenade" was based?
Friml
Which band released the albums "Fireball", "Machine Head" and "Who Do We Think We Are"?
Deep Purple
Who was the Norse Goddess of fertility?
Freyja
What was the Armageddon, or doom, of the Norse Gods called?
Ragnarok
What was the name of Thor's thunder-hammer?
Mjollnir
Who were Zeus' parents in Greek myth?
Cronos, Rhea
The Welsh Felinfoel brewery were the first to introduce what to the UK in 1935?
Canned beer
Bundaberg rum originates from which country?
Australia
Which herb's name comes from the Greek for "joy of the mountain"?
Oregano
A bellini cocktail consists of champagne or Prosecco and what else?
Peach juice
Benny Goodman was most associated with which musical instrument?
Clarinet
Andrew was the younger brother of which of the Apostles?
Simon Peter
What are Northern Irish Fadge cakes made from?
Potatoes
Who was the successor to Archbishop of Westminister Cormac Murphy O'Connor?
Vincent Nichols
Giuseppe Cipriani was the founder of which iconic drinking establishment?
Harry's Bar, Venice
With which musical instrument was Thelonius Monk chiefly associated?
Piano
In which place was St Andrew crucified?
Patras, Greece
What was the first US #1 song by a UK artist?
Telstar by The Tornados
In which activity might you sparge your wort?
Beer brewing
What ingredient, along with chickpeas, garlic and oil, makes hummus?
Tahini
In which year did 10cc have a hit with "I'm Not In Love"?
1975
Which popular Indian drink is made with yoghurt?
Lassi
Which conductor said that he'd never heard Stockhausen, but that he might have stepped in some?
Beecham
Whose 1540 Bible translation was also called "The Great Bible"?
Cranmer
From a passage in Genesis, what nickname was given to the Geneva Bible?
Breeches' Bible
Give a year in the life of church reformer 1505-72.
John Knox
To what did Kraft foods change their name?
Mondelez International
How many symphonies in total did Mozart compose?
41
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness
How is triplumbic tetroxide better known?
Red Lead
Which gas is the main component of air?
Nitrogen
Which two metals comprise brass?
Copper, tin
Which two metals comprise bronze?
Copper, zinc
Which type of glass darkens in light?
Photochromic
Which breed of dog has a name meaning 'dwarf'?
Corgi
A lurcher is a cross between which two breeds?
Greyhound; collie
Which breed of dog famously has a black tongue?
Chow-chow
By what name is potassium nitrate better known?
Saltpeter
By what name is potassium quadroxalate better known?
Salts of Lemon
By what name is silicon carbide better known?
Carborundum
What is the name of the place where a badger lives?
Sett; Earth
Give year in the life of Humphry Davy.
1778-1829
Humphry Davy discovered the anaesthetic properties of what?
Nitrous Oxide
Which fuming yellow or red solution dissolves gold?
Aqua Regia
Joseph-Marie Jacquard developed punched cards, an early programmable devise, for what purpose?
Silk weaving
Which chemical element has the atomic number 60?
Neodymium
Who devised the early submarine 'Nautilus', in 1800?
Fulton
Zachalis Winzler, a Moravian, pioneered which invention?
Gas stove
Russian, Osip Krichevsky, first made which foodstuff in 1802?
Powdered Milk
What colour do acids and alkalis turn litmus paper?
Red and blue respectively
What name is given to angles that add up to 90 degrees?
Complementary
What name is given to angles that add up to 180 degrees?
Supplementary
What is an angle greater than 180 degrees called?
Reflex
Which mineral and chemical element is capable of being weaved into fabric?
Asbestos
Who was Britain's first female cabinet minister?
Margaret Bondfield
Mohamed Nasheed, sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2015 for terrorism, is a former president of which country?
Maldives
Which soldier and later actor (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism?
Audie Murphy
Which actress, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jean Craddock in the musical-drama Crazy Heart (2009), is married to Peter Sarsgaard?
Maggie Gyllenhaal
How much is a US nickel worth?
Five cent
A US nickel coin is actually comprised of 25% nickel and 75% of which metal?
Copper
In which year was the Bradford City AFC fire disaster?
1985
Upon which ship did Napoleon formally surrender to the British?
HMS Bellerophon
How else was the 1794 naval action "Lord Howe's Action" known?
The Glorious First of June
Who released the 2010 album "Loud"?
Rihanna
David LaChapelle is a famous name in which field?
Photography
What type of organism are the bolete family?
Mushrooms
Who wrote the Herries Chronicle series of novels, set in the Lake District?
Hugh Walpole
The term 'Christ' dervies from the Greek for what?
Anointed One
By what name is the language Middle Aramaic, that once comprised the language of most of the Middle East between the 4th and 8th Centuries BC better known?
Syriac
Which church is located on the supposed site of Jesus' burial and resurrection?
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
Which church council was held from October 8 to November 1, AD 451, and marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separate establishment of the church in the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century?
Council of Chalcedon
In Judaism, what name is given to the canon of the Hebrew Bible, roughly coterminous with the Christian 'Old Testament'?
Tanakh
What was first produced by William Morgan in 1588 that had important consequences for a language's survival?
Welsh Bible
What is the proper full name of the 'Mormons'?
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Which church, centred in Nkamba, DRC, has an estimated 5.5 million followers, and is named after a Congolese religious leader (1887-1951) who is held to be Christ reincarnated?
Kimbanguism
What is the proper name of the religious group known as the 'Moonies'?
Unification Church
In which city is the Christian church worldwide with the largest congregation - it holds 26,000 people and often holds several packed services on a Sunday?
Seoul (Yoido Full Gospel Church)
Who painted the 1601 "Supper at Emmaus"?
Caravaggio
In Greek myth, who did Jason marry and have two children, Mermeros and Pheres, with?
Medea
Which neuroscientist's ((born December 12, 1939) 1960s work on 'split-brain' patients provided advances in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another?
Michael Gazzaniga
How are the brain structures hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala collectively known?
Limbic system
Which famous experiment in psychology was carried out in 1970 by Walter Mischel at Stanford University - it was later the title of a 2014 popular science book by him?
The Marshmallow Test
What does SAT stand for in the UK version of the school test?
Standard Assessment Tasks
What does SAT stand for in the US version of the school test?
Scholastic Aptitude Tests
Which TV personality, who first gained celebrity on the Oprah Winfrey Show, is famous for his "Ten Laws of Life"?
Dr Phil McGraw
Give a year in the life of Boethius.
480-524AD
Which body nervous system is responsible for the 'fight or flight' response?
Sympathetic
Aaron T. Beck is widely credited with inventing which healthcare technique?
Cognitive Therapy
Who won a Best Actress Academy Award in 1949 for "The Heiress"?
Olivia De Havilland
Film "Forbidden Planet" was based on which Shakespeare play?
The Tempest
What was the name of the 1957 Akira Kurosawa film that was loosely based on MacBeth?
Throne of Blood
Who played Stephano in Derek Jarman's 1979 version of "The Tempest"?
Christopher Biggins
What was the last film of Heath Ledger, directed by Terry Gilliam?
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
Carl Fredrickson is the hero character of which animated film?
Up
Which South Korean writer and director made "Thirst" and "I'm A Cyborg"?
Park Chan-Wook
Which author adapted a screenplay for the film "An Education"?
Nick Hornby
Who was Danny's second-in-command in the film "Grease"?
Kenickie
Which acid-tongued "Grease" character was played by Stockard Channing?
Rizzo
What were the names of the male and female gangs in the film "Grease"?
T-Birds and Pink Ladies
"Are You Sitting Comfortably, Then We'll Begin" was the catchphrase of which show?
Listen With Mother
Which comedian's catchphrase was "before your very eyes"?
Arthur Askey
"Book Em Danno" was a catchphrase used in which TV show?
Hawaii Five-O
For which film did Warner Baxter win a Best Actor Academy Award?
In Old Arizona (1930)
For which For which film did Jeremy Irons win a Best Actor Academy Award?
Reversal of Fortune (1991)
Which is the only film of just 4 letters to win a Best Picture Academy Award?
Gigi
Who did Nicholas Lyndhurst play in "Butterflies"?
Adam Parkinson
In 'Twin Peaks', which character was played by Kyle MacLachlan?
Dale Cooper
Which fictional TV company had the telephone number 0161 7151515?
Streetcars of Coronation Street
In October 2009, which politician appeared in Eastenders?
Boris Johnson
What is the name of the local paper in Coronation Street?
Weatherfield Gazette
In the original 1960s series, what is the prisoner's number?
Number Six
In 'Twin Peaks', who killed Laura Palmer?
Her father (Leland Palmer)
In which underwater city do most SpongeBob episodes occur?
Bikini Bottom
On TV, who or what has at various times been owned by Jeff Miller, Timmy Martin, Cully Wilson and the Holden family?
Lassie
Who directed the 1950 movie "Sunset Boulevard"?
Billy Wilder
Which character does Robert Pattison play in the "Twilight" series of films?
Edward Cullen
Which single word did Confucius say could act as a guide to one's entire life?
Reciprocity
Which famous Rabbi, associated with the development of the Mishnah and Talmud, allegedly lived 120 years (110BCE-10CE) and said ""That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."?
Rabbi Hillel/Hillel the Elder
The immigrant Bonasera features in the opening scene of which famous film?
The Godfather
What perecentage of an individual's genes, on average, are shared by their nephews and nieces?
25% (One quarter)
In which year was the current Welsh Assembly inaugurated?
1999
What is the population of Wales, in 2015, to the nearest million?
3 million
In which capital city is St Fagans National History Museum located?
Cardiff
Which town, thought to have been an inspiration for Llareggub in 'Under Milk Wood', was home to Dylan Thomas from 1949 to his 1953 death?
Laugharne
Taken as the Mid-Wales area (ie not including Snowdonia, the Black Mountains or the Brecon Beacons) what is the highest point in the Cambrian mountains?
Plynlimon
What was the first area in Britain to have been declared an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?
Gower Peninsula
Georgetown is the capital of which island group?
Caymans
Which 19th century circular towers were built in Britain for coastal defence?
Martello Towers
In which country is the source of the Zambezi?
Zambia
What is the motto of the USA?
In God We Trust
Snaefell is the highest mountain in which autonomous region?
Isle of Man
To which place did the French Foreign Legion move its HQ in 1962?
Aubegne
Where had the French Foreign Legion been based prior to 1962?
Sidi Bel Abbes, Algeria
Which is the largest lake wholly within Canada?
Great Bear Lake
In which country is the Mayan site of Tikal?
Guatemala
Which is the only major French river whose source is outside of France?
Rhone
Which city is the 'Capital of the Gaidhealtachd'?
Inverness
Other than the Chiltern Hundreds, which post can be used by resigning MPs?
Stewardship Of The Manor of Northstead
Which US state is nicknamed the 'First State'?
Delaware
The River Oder enters the Baltic Sea in which country?
Poland
Which two cities are linked by the M11?
Cambridge and London
The Grain (or Pepper) Coast is in which African country?
Liberia
Which London street was the traditional home of the magazine 'Time Out'?
Tottenham Court Road
In which town in England is there a famous crescent designed by John Carr?
Buxton
Angel Falls lie on which river?
Churun
What is the highest point on Fiji?
Mount Victoria
Haymarket, regent Street and Shaftesbury Avenue meet where in London?
Piccadilly Circus
When was the St Lawrence Seaway officially opened?
1959
In which country is the major part of the Kalahari Desert?
Botswana
Which city is nicknamed 'The City Of Sails' and has two large natural harbours?
Auckland
What is someone from Halifax called?
Haligonian
Which three colours appear on the flag of Rwanda?
Red, Yellow, Green
What lies at the centre of the flag of Rwanda?
The letter 'R'
Margaret River is a wine-producing area in which country?
Australia
What is the proper name of 'Petticoat Lane' in London?
Middlesex Street
What is the name of the bell in Manchester Town Hall?
Great Abel
Which county cricket team's emblem is a white horse?
Kent
Who was the first English football captain to lift the European Cup?
Bobby Charlton
Which number in bingo is 'The Brighton Line'?
59
Which stadium would have been used had paris been successful in bidding for the 2012 Olympics?
Stade De France
Which county cricket club called their One Day side the 'Phantoms'?
Derbyshire
What does 'AF' mean to a numismatist (coin collector)?
Almost Fine
Llanelli Scarelts rugby union team play at which home ground?
Stradley Park
Which event comes second (after the 100m) in a decathlon?
Long Jump
The Horse of The Year Show moved to which venue in 2002?
Birmingham NEC
Which city is the home of the NBA team the 'Pistons'?
Detroit
What completes the name of the rugby union team: "Newport Gwent.."?
Dragons
For which sport is the Harmsworth Cup awarded?
Powerboat Racing
In the 2005 Rugby league Challenge Cup, which side did St Helens defeat 75-0?
Wigan
Who coached the rugby union Lions in their 1983 tour of New Zealand?
Willie John McBride
Manchester City's FA Cup win in 2011 was their first major trophy since which year?
1976
Who scored the winning goal for Manchester City in the 2011 FA Cup final?
Yaya Toure
Which piece of equipment was originally made with 'enough feathers to fill a top hat'?
A golf ball
Five-time World Speedway champion Ove Fundin is what nationality?
Swedish
Which boxer KO'd Lennox Lewis in 2001 to win the IBF, WBC and IBO heavyweight titles?
Hasim Rahman
Which golfer (1882-1969) won exactly 11 majors in his career?
Walter Hagen
Yabusame is a Japanese form of which sport?
Archery (on horseback)
How many times, since they were restarted in 1896, have the Modern Olympics been cancelled?
Three (1916, 1940, 1944)
What colour of cap does a water polo goalkeeper wear?
Red
In which sport can one see a participant perform a 'crucifix'?
Men's gymnastics
How many points are scored for a 'behind' in Aussie Rules Football?
One
The Trans-Siberian Highway stretches over 11,000 km from Saint Petersburg to which city at the head of the Golden Horn Bay?
Vladivostok
______-Müller tube. Which surname fills the blank to give the name of a piece of apparatus used for the detection of ionizing radiation?
Geiger
In 1240, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich of Novgorod foiled the invading Swedish army’s plan to seize Novgorod’s primary trade route by defeating the Swedes on the Neva River. By what nickname did the prince become better known as a result of this victory?
Alexander Nevsky
Between 1410 and 1415, towards the end of the Western Schism in the Roman Catholic Church, there were three men who each believed themselves to be Pope. They were Gregory XII in Rome, Benedict XIII in Avignon, and John XXIII in which other Italian city?
Florence
This 5-letter word - literally meaning ‘martial hero’ - is now used to describe films, comics, & video games. Which genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists was introduced to Hollywood by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
Wuxia
Which famous touristic, tree-lined street in Barcelona connects Plaça de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument on the waterfront?
Las Ramblas
Focussing on the life of Saul Goodman prior to becoming Walter White’s lawyer, Better Call Saul is a prequel to which American TV series?
Breaking Bad
Which Gate marked the entrance to the original site of the Carlsberg brewery?
Elephant Gate
Separated from the Andaman Islands by the brilliantly named Coco Channel, the Coco Islands - although allegedly leased to China since 1994 - belong to which country?
Burma
What collective name, for the Portuguese navigator who first visited them in the early sixteenth century, is given to the island group consisting of Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues that forms a distinct ecoregion with a unique flora and fauna?
Mascarene Islands
The best-known work of the architect Maya Lin, is a memorial in Washington D.C., dedicated in 1982, that honours people who died during …. what?
Vietnam War
Already considered one of the all time best exponents of his sport. The Frenchman Teddy Riner won an Olympic gold medal in 2012 in which sport?
Judo
The reptilian order Squamata is divided into three suborders, two of which are Lacertilia (lizards) and Serpentes (snakes). Which legless reptiles comprise the third suborder?
Worm lizards (amphisbaenia)
Gottfried Leibniz’s most important contribution to metaphysics is his theory of which indivisible, impenetrable units of substance that he views as the basic constituent element of physical reality?
Monads
The Rolling Stones hits Brown Sugar and Wild Horses are taken from which 1971 album with cover artwork conceived by Andy Warhol?
Sticky Fingers
UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash in 1961 in the city of Ndola in which African country?
Zambia
Upon first becoming Prime Minister in 2006, he was the youngest holder of the office since World War II. Who began his second stint as Japanese PM in December 2012?
Shinzo Abe
From what Latin term does the word 'forensics' derive?
Forum
Which three US cities have been the scene of "CSI" series?
Las Vegas, New York, Miami
In the UK what is the FSS?
Forensic Science Service
What is the DEA in the USA?
Drug Enforcement Agency
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
What name is given to the study of behaviour?
Ethology
Which part of the brain controls motivations and basic drives?
Hypothalamus
Which part of the brain, involved with emotional responses, decision-making and memory, is named after the Greek for 'almond'?
Amygdala
On which peninsula is Mycenae?
Peloponnese
Around which date, to the nearest 100 years, did Mycenaean civilisation collapse?
1200BC
The shrine at Delphi, home to the famous Oracle, was a shrine to which God?
Apollo
How many letters are used by the Hebrew alphabet?
22
How many letters are used by the Greek alphabet?
24
Which Athenian statesman (450 – 404 BC) changed sides numerous times during the Peloponnesian War, from Athens, to Sparta, to Persia and then back to Athens again?
Alcibiades
To which philosophical school did Diogenes of Synope belong?
Cynics
Give a year in the life of Aristotle.
384-322BCE
Give a year in the Peloponnesian War.
431-401BCE
Founded 478BCE, what was the name of an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173 under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea?
Delian League
Which US conservative political commentator and radio host once had an addiction to hydrocodone and oxycodone?
Rush Limbaugh
Which person said "The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances...and are often more influenced by the things that seem than the things that are."?
Macchiavelli
Who created the fictional town of Lake Wobegon?
Garrison Keiller
Who wrote "Clair De Lune"?
Debussy
From what larger work is the "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" taken?
Nutcracker Suite
In myth, which son of Helios lost control of the Sun chariot?
Phaethon
Which character in myth swam the Hellespont nightly to visit his lover?
Leander
In Greek myth, which sorceress changed Odysseus' men into swine?
Circe
Which Trojan priest argued against accepting the horse, but was overruled, in the stories of Homer?
Laocoon
In myth, of whom was Damocles a courtier?
Dionysus
Who is the 'good priest' in Mozart's "The Magic Flute"?
Sarastro
In 'The Magic Flute', who is the daughter of the Queen Of The Night?
Pamina
'Manon' is an opera by who?
Massenet
What did MG stand for in the name of 'Booker T and the MGs'?
Memphis Group
Whose first TV appearance was in a 1965 episode of 'Gadzooks!', and was a member, in his early days of bands 'The Konrads' and 'The Riot Squad'?
David Bowie
What was the first UK Download Chart number 1?
Westlife's "Flying Without Wings"
What was the family surname of 1980s pop group "Five Star"?
Pearson
Who co-founded Gorillaz with Damon Albarn?
Jamie Hewlett
What is the name of composer John Cage's infamous entirely silent piece?
4'33"
Who composed "The Threepenny opera"?
Kurt Weill
La Traviata is based on which work by Dumas?
Camille
By what name is sodium borate better known?
Borax
By what name is sodium carbonate better known?
Washing soda
What is the chemical name of caustic soda?
Sodium hydroxide
Which is the lightest metal?
Lithium
Which metal is the strongest-per-unit-weight?
Titanium
Charcoal, sulphur and what else form gunpowder?
Potassium nitrate
Which chemical element has the atomic number 10?
Neon
A whippet is a cross between which two dog breeds?
Greyhound and a terrier or spaniel
What is measured in farads?
Electrical Capacitance
How many crystal systems exist?
Seven
What are the first and second most common chemical elements on Earth?
Oxygen and Silcon
Aldebaran is the brightest star in which constellation?
Taurus
Arcturus is the brightest star in which constellation?
Bootes
Betelgeuse is a star in which constellation?
Orion
"Model White" and "Green Globe" are both varieties of which vegetable?
Turnip
What is the collective name given to tigers?
Ambush
What is the collective name given to apes?
Shrewdness
What is the collective name given to monkeys?
Troop
What name is given to a star in heraldry
Mullet
What is the only purely land-based group of crustaceans?
Woodlice
Where did Venetian blinds originate?
Japan
Which is Europe's largest true wading bird?
Curlew
What name is given to a day with equal periods of light and darkness?
Equinox
What was first demonstrated by Joseph Swan in 1878?
Light bulb
'Quercus Robur' is the Latin name of which tree?
Common (English) oak
Who demonstrated the 'incompleteness theorem' in 1931?
Kurt Godel
Which car maker operated a Luton plant from 1905 to 2000?
Vauxhall
What is the single carriageway speed limit for a vehicle weighing more than 7.5 tonnes in the UK?
40mph
Whose yet-unproved theory states that every integer greater than 2 is the sum of 2 primes?
Goldbach's conjecture
Loaghtan sheep are native to which place?
Isle of Man
In the UK, which court hears summary appeals from summary trials held at Magistrates' Courts?
Queen's Bench Court
What are civil court equivalents of the prosecution and defence in a criminal trial?
Plaintiff and Defence
In the UK, what category of drug is LSD?
Category A
What is made from erythroxylum coca?
Cocaine
What does LSD stand for?
Lysergic acid dethylamide
Who are the US DEA?
Drug Enforcement Agent
What name is given to debris from a glacier?
Moraine
Stranraer is at the southern tip of which sea loch?
Loch Ryan
What name, of Afrikaans origin, is given to the grassland of Southern Africa?
Veldt
What name is given to an elongated hill formed by a glacier?
Drumlin
On which sea was the real ancient province of Colchis, the destination in myth, of Jason?
Black Sea
Which discontinued 1960s project was designed to bore a hole into the Earth's crust?
Mohole Project
What is the name given to a thin sheet of ice floating on an ocean?
Floe
In which cardinal direction must you cross the International Dateline in order to gain a day?
East
Which value is a measure of the diffuse reflectivity or reflecting power of a surface? (it is the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to incident radiation upon it)
Albedo
In navigation, what name is given to an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle?
Rhumb Line
Beauty spot Aysgarth Falls lies within which British National Park?
Yorkshire Dales
Which part of a map contains the scale and legend?
Cartouche
West Bridgeford and Bulwell are both suburbs of which English city?
Nottingham
In which Cumbrian castle was Henry VIII's wife Catherine Parr born?
Kendal
Sizergh castle in Cumbria is the ancestral home of which family?
Strickland
Which 'water', known for good fishing, lies between Coniston and Windermere?
Esthwaite
What is the capital of Barbados?
Bridgetown
As of 2015, what is the currency of Cuba?
Peso
In which Cheshire village was Lewis Carroll born?
Daresbury
In which English city would you find the Sir John Soames Museum?
London
Of what type of natural feature is the 'Aletsch' Europe's largest example?
Glacier
What is the lowest land point in the Western hemisphere?
Death Valley
Where is the lowest point on land in the world?
Dead Sea
Which of the two poles is colder?
South Pole
Which Indian town holds the world record as the world's wettest?
Mawsynram (formerly Cherrapunji)
To the nearest 5%, what percentage of the Earth's surface is water?
70%
Which is the world's oldest national park?
Yellowstone
In which two US states is Monument Valley?
Utah and Arizona
Which Kenyan gorge is known for its fossil finds, and was the site for the Leakey's digs in the 1930s?
Olduvai Gorge
In which country are the Ajanta Caves?
India
Which cave in Cantabria, Spain is famous for its Upper Palaeolithic art, having first come to public attention in 1880?
Altamira
'Brown Willy' is the highest point where?
Bodmin Moor
In which US state are the Carlsbad Caverns?
New Mexico
The Coromandel Coast is part of which country?
India
In which US state is the 'Craters Of The Moon National Monument'?
Idaho
What is the highest point on Dartmoor?
High Willays
On which island is the volcanic tuff cone, Diamond Head?
Oahu, Hawaii
What three letter word is given to a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover?
Erg
Dunkery Beacon is the highest point of what?
Exmoor
On which island is Fingal's Cave?
Staffa
In which US State is the 'Garden of the Gods' national landmark?
Colorado
Which French singer, born in Cairo in 1930, had his biggest hit when he wrote the classic chanson soundtrack of the 1960 motion picture, "L'Eau Vive"?
Guy Béart
Which French actress and popular chanson singer (born 1927) was famous for her Bohemian lifestyle and had an affair with Miles Davis - she was releasing albums as late as 2013?
Juliette Gréco
Which 19th Century French Romantic poet once walked through Paris with a lobster on a lead, but hung himself in 1855?
Gerard de Nerval
What were the reputed last words of Oscar Wilde?
Either that wallpaper goes or I do
Diane de Poitiers was the lover of which French monarch?
Henri II
Which French dynasty reigned from roughly 486 to 752CE?
Merovingian
The first person to call himself King of France (instead of King of the Franks) who ruled the country from 1180-1223?
Philip II (or Philippe-Auguste)
Which French actress has won two Cesar awards, for her performances in François Truffaut's "Le Dernier Métro" (1980) and Régis Wargnier's "Indochine" (1992)?
Catherine Deneuve
The US magazine 'Curve' is aimed at which readers?
Lesbians
Which French artist painted "Dans Un Café (L'Absinthe)"?
Degas
Which French artist painted "Joueurs Des Cartes"?
Cezanne
Which French artist painted "Coquelicots" and "Femme a L'Ombrelle"?
Monet
What does the French word "coquelicots" mean in English?
Poppies
Which 13-ton bell in the Southern Tower is the only old one to have survived being replaced in Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral?
Emmanuel Bell
Which 19th Century architect and artist remodelled Notre-Dame and added many of its famous gargoyles?
Viollet-De-Duc
Which French King had the Sainte-Chapelle built to house supposed relics of Christ?
Louis IX
Who led a revolt against the French monarchy in 1357, and was assassinated a year later?
Étienne Marcel
What name is given to the targeted killing of Huguenots in France in August 1572?
St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Camille Chaudel was the lover of which prominent artist?
Rodin
For which film did Michael Douglas win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
Wall Street (1988)
For which film did Lionel Barrymore win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
A Free Soul (1932)
For which film did Geoffrey Rush win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
Shine (1997)
Who won a Best Actor Academy Award for the film "Judgement at Nuremberg"?
Max Schell
What is the name of the hero in Pixar's "Ratatouille"?
Remy
Who voiced the critic "Anton Ego" in Ratatouille?
Peter O'Toole
Arthur and Beryl Crabtree were characters in which 1980s TV series?
No Place Like Home
What is the name of the bulldog in Tom and Jerry cartoons?
Spike (sometimes Butch)
Which former Baywatch star also appeared in 2000's "Scary Movie" and briefly dated Simon Cowell?
Carmen Electra
Gian Sammaranco notably played which literary character in a 1980s UK TV series?
Adrian Mole
What was the name of the banjo-playing toad in "Bagpuss"?
Gabriel
Which one of the four main female actresses who starred in "Sex and the City" was born in the UK?
Kim Cattrall
In BBC's first post-war TV broadcast who said "Remember Me?"
Jasmine Bligh
For which two films did Spencer Tracy win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
Captains Courageous (1938) and Boys Town (1939)
For which film did Charles Laughton win a Best Actor Academy Award (Oscar)?
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1936)
Whose catchphrase is "How tickled I am"?
Ken Dodd
Which character frequently said, in the Army Game, "I Only Arksed"?
Private Popplewell (Bernard Bresslaw)
Which music-hall comedian used the catchphrase "I Thang Yew"?
Arthur Askey
Which author, born in Manchester in 1917, used the pseudonym Joseph Kell?
Anthony Burgess
Who painted "The Forge Of Vulcan" in 1630?
Velazquez
Which Roman encyclopaedist is best known for his extant medical work, De Medicina, which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia?
Celsus
Which ancient Greek writer wrote "Parallel Lives"?
Plutarch
Which Ancient Roman wrote collections known as "Histories" and "Annals", and was the son-in-law of Agricola, the Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain?
Tacitus
Which novel begins "Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again"?
Rebecca
Who wrote the Almagest is a 2nd-century mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths?
Ptolemy
What does 'eg' actually stand for, when denoting an example?
Exemplia gratia
Who was the first English-born writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
Galsworthy (Kipling won it before him but was born in Bombay)
Which poem's first line is "The curlew tolls the knell of the parting day"?
Gray's Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard
Peter Pan's directions to Neverland were "Take the second on the right and carry straight on...." until what?
Morning
How was the literary character Cedric Errol better known?
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Which children's literary character was originally called "aschenputtel"?
Cinderella
What was the name of the 'Last of the Mohicans' in Fenimore Cooper's book?
Uncas
Colm Toibin's book "The Master" is about which writer?
Henry James
Which Shakespeare play includes the line "All The World's A Stage"?
As You Like It
Who wrote the play "The Man Who Had All The Luck"?
Arthur Miller
Autolycus is a character in which of Shakespeare's plays?
The Winter's Tale
Step pyramids of Ancient Mesopotamia, of which a famous example stands at Ur, are known by what general name?
Ziggurats
Which was the first US State to ratify the country's constitution?
Delaware
Which was the second US State to ratify the country's constitution?
Pennsylvania
Which historian's reputation suffered greatly when he mistakenly authenticated 'The Hitler Diaries'?
Hugh Trevor-Roper
'The Hitler Diaries' were originally published in which German magazine, prior to their unmasking as forgeries?
Stern
"The Beggar's Opera" was a satire in part lampooning which prominent Whig politician?
Robert Walpole
Which modern-day country was Josip Tito born in?
Croatia
The last country that Britain formally declared war against was which one, in 1942?
Thailand
Which English monarch was the only one to be succeeded by his sister-in-law?
William III
Which prominent female communist was killed in 1919's 'Spartacus Uprising' in Germany and her body thrown into Berlin's Landwehr Canal?
Rosa Luxemburg
The first atlas in many ways, who produced 1570's "Theatre Of The World"?
Abraham Ortelius
Who took over Italy after the downfall of Mussolini, and was in office from 25 July 1943 to 18 June 1944?
Pietro Badoglio
Which country sent 60,000 troops to assist the Allies in November 1943?
Brazil
In which year did US troops forcibly remove Manuel Noriega from the leadership of Panama?
1989
Who was the last British Prime Minister to die whilst in office?
Lord Palmerston
In which country were 63 people killed in a New Year's Eve nightclub fire in 2008?
Thailand
Which uprising occurred in Russia in late 1825?
Decembrist
Which monarch converted Versailles from a hunting-lodge into a palace?
Louis XIV
Which Italian fashion house uses the head of Medusa as a trademark?
Versace
Which shipping forecast area lies between the Irish Sea to the North, Fastnet to the west, and Plymouth to the South?
Lundy
The ruins of which Cistercian abbey, founded in 1131, lie on the banks of the River Wye between Monmouth and Chepstow?
Tintern Abbey
Falstaff's death is reported in which of Shakespeare's plays?
Henry V
Which composer dedicated his Piano Sonata No 21 to Count Ferdinand von Walstein, who had generously supported him?
Beethoven
Milanese opera house La Scala was built at the command of who, after an earlier building burned down in 1776?
Maria Theresa of Austria
Which US director's films include "The Elephant Man" and "Dune"?
David Lynch
Which Australian-born actor came to fame playing the title role in 1935's "Captain Blood"?
Errol Flynn
"Soubise", named after an 18th-century French aristocrat, is a sauce made from which vegetable?
Onion
Which Canadian city was originally named 'Bytown'?
Ottawa
Which palace did Frederick the Great of Prussia have built at Potsdam between 1745 and 1747?
Sanssouci
The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia from which century until 1917?
17th (1613)
In which Booker Prize winning novel does the hero, Nick Guest, dance with Margaret Thatcher?
The Line of Beauty
Who writes the novels featuring the Chicago-based detective VI Warshawski?
Sara Partesky
What is the last sign of the zodiac, covering the period from approximately 19 February to 20 March?
Pisces
What is the primary metabolite of heroin?
Morphine
In chemistry, what name is given to the measure of the tendency of a substance to vaporize?
Volatility
What Latin phrase was used by Venetians to denote the land they controlled on the Italian mainland?
Terra Firma
Which US state has been represented in the American senate by both John F Kennedy and his brother Edward?
Massachussetts
Give a year during which Joe Louis held the World Heavyweight boxing title.
1937-1949
Who scored the last goal at the old Wembley stadium, in the year 2000?
Dietmar Hamann
In a TV series based on the novels of Elizabeth George, the Eighth Earl of Asherton is better known by what name in the police force?
Det Insp Lynley
Which bravery award was originally made from the metal of guns captured during the Siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War?
Victoria Cross
What word of Dutch origin meaning something used as a lure originally meant a place where wild ducks were enticed and then trapped?
Decoy
In which William Gibson novel of 1984 was the term 'cyberspace' popularised?
Necromancer
Which English town was known as Durnovaria in English times?
Dorchester
Which female crime writer's first novel was "Cover Her Face", published in 1962?
PD James
For which 1945 film did Joan Crawford win her only Best Actress Oscar?
Mildred Pierce
The ancient province of Bithynia is now a part of which modern-day country?
Turkey
At which event was the first ever IMAX screening, in 1967?
Montreal Expo
Which element has the atomic number 30?
Zinc
Which area of the brain, in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere, is linked to speech production?
Broca's Area
What type of creature is an 'Aylesbury'?
Duck
What name is given to an organism's complete set of genes?
Genome
Which two members of the thrush family are winter visitors to the UK?
Fieldfares, Redwings
What is the common name of plant 'viscum album'?
Mistletoe
Which is the only UK bird that turns white in winter?
Ptarmigan
What are the six deer species found wild in the UK?
Red, Roe, Chinese Water, Sika, Fallow, Muntjac
The Lesser Celandine plant is also known by what name, based on the medical condition that it supposedly cures?
Pilewort
Which crow has the scientific name 'corvus frugilegus'?
Rook
The linnet is a member of which bird family?
Finch
The young of which bird are called 'ringtails'?
Hen Harrier
What is Britain's smallest falcon?
Merlin
What is the literal meaning of the name of the dinosaur 'stegosaurus'?
Roof lizard
What is the SE Asian gavial?
A fish-eating crocodile (also gharial)
Cyomancy is the 'art' of telling the future using what?
Shadows
SMART-1 was the first European space probe to achieve what feat?
Orbitting the moon
How long does an individual have to apply for a driving licence after passing their test in the UK?
2 years
In business, what does 'CIF' stand for?
Cost, insurance, freight
What name is given to the study of plant disease?
Phytopathology
What metaphorical name is given to communication barriers that are put up to prevent the spread of price-sensitive information in business?
Chinese Walls
What name is given to the process of combining nuclei to release energy?
Fusion
What name is given to the cup or trumpet of flowers such as the daffodil or narcissus?
Corona
How is 'A' represented in Morse Code?
Dot-dash
Which Morse code letter is the reverse of how 'A' is represented?
N (dash-dot when A is dot-dash)
What type of animal was the now-extinct 'Rodrigues solitaire'?
Flightless pigeon
Who was the first British man to be knighted for scientific achievements?
Sir Isaac Newton
The 'Golden Arrow' train linked which two cities?
London and Paris (or pedantically, London and Dover, with the Calais to Paris stretch being via the 'Fleche D'Or)
What was the famous nickname of Joseph Hobson Jaggers?
The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo
Whose principle can be used to predict the effect of a change in conditions upon a chemical equilibrium?
Le Chatelier's Principle
Whose 'paradox' states that in a static, infinite universe the night sky should be bright?
Olbers' paradox
What was invented by John Harrison in 1735, after 31 years of persistent experimentation?
Marine chronometer
What was the name of John Paul Jones' warship, that was blown in two and subsequently sank at the Battle of Flamborough Head?
Bonhomme Richard
What name is given to a numbering system using Base 8?
Octal
What does the educational acronym EAL stand for?
English (as an) Additional Language
What does the educational acronym SEN stand for?
Special Educational Needs
The original bullet train linked Tokyo with which other city?
Osaka
What was the name of Sir Francis Drake's flagship in the 1587 raid upon Cadiz?
Elizabeth Bonadventure
Who invented the cloud chamber?
Charles Wilson (a Scot)
What is the world's largest monkey species?
Mandrill
Which chemical element takes its name from the Greek for 'lead'?
Molybdenum
A hexadecimal system uses which number as its base?
Sixteen
In Ancient Britain, which tribe from modern East Anglia, had rulers called Addeddomanus, and Dubnovellanus?
Trinovantes
To which Romanian town was the Roman poet Ovid exiled?
Constanta
Which Roman Emperor was responsible for Ovid's exile?
Augustus
Under which Germanic leader, who had acquired Roman citizenship and received a Roman military education, were 3 Roman legions massacred in the Teutoburg Forest in 9AD?
Arminius
Who was the last person in the UK outwith the Royal family to have been awarded a hereditary title?
Denis Thatcher
What does 'MHK' signify after a person's name?
Member of the House of Keys (IoM)
Who was the mother of Constantine the Great?
St Helena
What are the names of Barack Obama's two daughters?
Malia and Sasha
How is Leo Bronstein better known to history?
Trotsky
In what year were Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin and Felix Mendelssohn all born?
1809
How did Mathias Rust create an international incident in 1987?
Landed his light aircraft in Red Square
In which year was The Battle of The Falaise Gap?
1944
Where did the Battle of The Falaise Gap take place?
Normandy, France
Which Chinese Emperor had the Terracotta Army created?
Qin Huangchi
Where in Kent did Julius Caesar's invading force land in 55BCE?
Deal
The Terracotta Army was created in which century?
3rd century BCE
What regnal number was held by Prince Rainier of Monaco, who died in 2005?
III
Who is the Prince of Monaco, as of 2015, having succeeded his father in 2005?
Albert II
What is the family name of the Monegasque Royal Family?
Grimaldi
Which King of Nepal was shot and killed by his son?
Birendra
Who became the Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 2000, when his father Jean abdicated?
Henri
Who was the last King of Portugal?
Manuel II
Which battle of 338BCE was the culmination of the Macedonian campaign in Greece, and led to a decisive victory for Philip II over the Greek city-states?
Battle of Chaeronea
What was Alexander the Great's regnal number?
III
At what age did Alexander the Great die?
32
Who was the first ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt?
Ptolemy I Soter (Saviour)
From what original name is the Afghan city Kandahar's current name taken?
Alexandria
The word 'stoic' derives from 'stoa' - the Ancient Greek for what structure?
Porch
In which Shakespeare play does the line "things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing" come?
Troilus & Cressida
Manichaeism was founded by Mani (216-176CE) who lived in which Empire?
Sassanid
Dying in 606CE, which Third Chinese Patriarch and Zen Buddhist, is best known as the putative author of the famous Chán poem, Xinxin Ming?
Sengcan (or Sen Ts'an)
Which Greek philosopher was born a slave at Hierapolis, but became a Stoic; his teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian?
Epictetus
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Loop, arch, whorl
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Dermal papillae
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Melanesia
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Bismarck archipelago
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Tottenham Hotspur
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In which city was ex Prime Minister Tony Blair born? | Tony Blair | prime minister of United Kingdom | Britannica.com
prime minister of United Kingdom
Written By:
Alternative Title: Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
Tony Blair
Prime minister of United Kingdom
Also known as
David Miliband
Tony Blair, in full Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953, Edinburgh , Scotland ), British Labour Party leader who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom (1997–2007). He was the youngest prime minister since 1812 and the longest-serving Labour prime minister, and his 10-year tenure as prime minister was the second longest continuous period (after Margaret Thatcher ’s) in more than 150 years.
Tony Blair.
© Crown copyright
Early life and start in politics
The son of a barrister, Blair attended Fettes College in Edinburgh (a school often viewed as ‘‘Scotland’s Eton ’’) and St. John’s College of the University of Oxford , where he combined the study of law with interest in religious ideas and popular music. But he displayed little enthusiasm for politics until he met his future wife, Cherie Booth . He graduated from Oxford in 1975 and was called to the bar the following year. While specializing in employment and commercial law, he became increasingly involved in Labour Party politics and in 1983 was elected to the House of Commons to the safe Labour parliamentary seat of Sedgefield, a tight-knit former mining district in northeastern England. His entry into politics coincided with a long political ascendancy of the Conservative Party (from 1979) and Labour’s loss of four consecutive general elections (from 1979 through 1992).
Entering Labour’s shadow cabinet in 1988, Blair became the most outspoken of those party leaders calling for Labour to move to the political centre and deemphasize its traditional advocacy of state control and public ownership of certain sectors of the economy. In 1992 John Smith was elected Labour leader, and he appointed Blair shadow home secretary. When Smith died suddenly in May 1994, Blair seized the opportunity, and in July he was elected party leader with 57 percent support. His election came as something of a surprise because many believed the post would go to Gordon Brown , the shadow chancellor of the Exchequer, who had partnered with Blair in an attempt to move Labour to the political centre; however, Blair’s stock within the party had risen, and Brown had reluctantly agreed to step aside, though not before the two had come to an understanding that Blair would back Brown as his eventual successor. By mid-1995 Blair had revamped the Labour Party’s platform. He abandoned the party’s stated commitment to the nationalization of the economy (by waging a successful battle to have the party modify its constitution’s Clause IV, which committed the party to “the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange”), reduced links with trade unions, and obtained unprecedented commitments to free enterprise, anti-inflationary policies, aggressive crime prevention, and support for Britain’s integration into the European Union . Blair summed up his reforms—often opposed by members of his own party—by describing the party as New Labour. Under his leadership, the Labour Party heavily defeated the Conservatives in nationwide municipal elections held in May 1995 and won a landslide victory over the Conservatives in the general election of May 1997, having waged a campaign that centred on the promise that “things can only get better.”
Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Booth, campaigning in April 1997.
Sean Dempsey/AP
Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent
First term
Blair enjoyed a 179-seat majority in the House of Commons—the biggest parliamentary majority in the history of the Labour Party and the largest majority of any party since 1935. Inspired by sociologist Anthony Giddens , he described his philosophy of government as the “Third Way.” Blair claimed that his policies were designed to enable social democracy to respond to the challenges of the worldwide market economy and to equip citizens to cope with what Giddens called “the major revolutions of our time,” including globalization . Perhaps the most coherent view about Blair’s search for the Third Way was that it was an endeavour to discover a form of progressive politics distinguishing itself from the conservatism of both left and right. Blair frequently looked for advice from businessmen who had come to prominence earlier, under the Conservative prime minister Thatcher. Private firms were given an important role in financing state infrastructure projects, despite widespread criticism that this financing was on terms often disadvantageous to the taxpayer.
British Culture and Politics
Blair gave control of the economic agenda to Gordon Brown , his chancellor of the Exchequer and eventual successor. The Blair government’s first major initiative—and perhaps its boldest—granted the Bank of England the power to determine interest rates without government consultation, a policy that had not appeared in the party’s platform. The government also immediately signed the Maastricht Treaty ’s Social Chapter and turned its attention to brokering a peace agreement between republicans and unionists in Northern Ireland . Blair initiated reforms in the House of Commons, modernizing the format of “Prime Minister’s Question Time,” during which the prime minister answers questions from members of Parliament . During his first year in office, he organized referenda that created devolved assemblies in Scotland and Wales and developed a joint committee to coordinate constitutional and other policies with the opposition Liberal Democrats .
Tony Blair (left) viewing a model of the Millennium Dome, 1998.
Sean Dempsey—PA Photos/Landov
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Blair also gave important powers to unelected advisers, notably media consultant Alistair Campbell. The marketing image they adopted, known as “Cool Britannia,” suggested that Britain was a dynamic and successful country that had reinvented itself after years of decline and internal division. New Labour eagerly sought the approval of the mass-circulation press, particularly conservative tabloids such as The Sun, by embracing celebrity culture as well as respect for traditions, including the monarchy.
In May 1998 Blair led a successful referendum campaign to create a new assembly for London and to establish the city’s first directly elected mayor. That year Blair also helped to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement), which was ratified overwhelmingly in both Ireland and Northern Ireland and which created an elected devolved power-sharing assembly in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1972. Blair also eliminated all but 92 of the hereditary members of the House of Lords as the prelude to more-extensive reforms of that chamber.
The population began to grow skeptical of Blair as a new election approached, as it became clear that his government remained highly centralized and that he had no plans for overdue reforms in the public services. Opinion polls found that there was public concern regarding financial misbehaviour in government, manipulation of the media, the granting of honours to individuals who contributed to Labour Party funds, nepotism, and other actions that put the interests of business before ordinary citizens.
Second term
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Facing a deeply unpopular opposition, however, Blair was easily reelected in May 2001 to a 167-seat majority in the House of Commons—the largest-ever second-term majority in British electoral history, though voter turnout was the lowest since 1918. His second term was dominated by international affairs. In the late 1990s he had won praise by mounting peacekeeping operations in the Serbian province of Kosovo and in Sierra Leone . After the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, Britain played a key role in forming an international coalition that succeeded in driving the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, which had been allowed to become a safe haven for Islamic militants such as Osama bin Laden , the mastermind of the attacks. Blair enjoyed a good relationship with U.S. Pres. George W. Bush and allied the United Kingdom with the United States in a global “war against terrorism .” In early 2003, following passage by the United Nations Security Council of a resolution mandating the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq, Blair and Bush tried without success to persuade other Security Council members that continued weapons inspections would not succeed in uncovering any weapons of mass destruction held by the Iraqi government of Ṣaddām Ḥussein .
Tony Blair, 2005.
© Crown copyright/Andy Paradise
Despite deep divisions within the Labour Party—several ministers resigned and 139 Labour members of Parliament voted in favour of a motion opposing the government’s policy—and strong public opposition to a war with Iraq, Blair, with Bush, led a coalition of military forces in an attack on Iraq in March 2003. Blair’s enthusiastic support for the action damaged his reputation as a global statesman, and he fell out with key European allies. When military inspectors failed to uncover weapons of mass destruction , the Blair government was accused of distorting (“sexing up”) intelligence on which it had based its claim that Iraq was an imminent threat. In October 2004 Blair announced that he would seek a third term as prime minister but would not stand for a fourth term.
(From left) Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso, British Prime …
SSGT Michelle Michaud, USAF/U.S. Department Of Defense
Third term
Opium Wars
Despite lingering public dissatisfaction with Blair’s policy in Iraq, Blair led the Labour Party to its third successive general election victory in May 2005, albeit with a sharply reduced majority. Simmering revolt in the Labour Party over both Iraq and Blair’s rejection of core Labour policies led him to promise that he would resign before the next election. Blair’s popularity, with both the general public and the Labour members of Parliament, generally declined after the election. Many people in Britain felt that the country was in the grip of a serious malaise . Social cohesion seemed to be collapsing in much of urban Britain, as shown by a steep rise in violent crime and open drug dealing. Public officials in the police, civil service, and education sectors seemed to be unable to grapple effectively with the social crisis as they struggled to meet bureaucratic targets. After Islamic extremists exploded bombs in London on July 7, 2005, killing 54 people, Blair began to emphasize the need for a common public culture, and former multicultural policies that encouraged ethnic groups to separate into different communities were repudiated .
Tony Blair addressing the media, as leaders attending the G-8 summit look on, in Gleneagles, Scot., …
Eric Draper/The White House
Blair’s government suffered its first defeat in the House of Commons in November 2005, when 49 Labour members of Parliament joined the opposition in voting against antiterrorist laws that would have extended the length of time suspects could be held without charge. Subsequently, many Labour members of Parliament called for Blair to announce a date for his departure as prime minister well before the next general election; following a series of resignations by junior ministers, Blair declared in September 2006 that he would stand down as prime minister within a year. On May 10, 2007—one week after Labour was defeated by the Scottish National Party in elections to the Scottish Parliament and suffered major defeats in English local elections as well and two days after devolved power was returned from London to a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland—Blair announced that he would officially tender his resignation as prime minister on June 27, 2007. Blair subsequently was succeeded as leader of the Labour Party and as prime minister by his long-serving chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown arriving at the …
AP
Assessment
Blair’s decade in office was marked by uninterrupted economic growth and a more independent Bank of England. Blair also preserved much of Thatcher’s market radicalism while managing to place greater emphasis on social justice . Numerous minority groups found his government more sympathetic to their concerns—notably gays, who by 2004 were allowed to enter into civil partnerships recognized by the law. Many believed, however, that Blair’s role in restoring peace to Northern Ireland would come to be seen as his most enduring political legacy . Blair showed a remarkable ability to convey optimism and energy in the face of adversity caused not least by the failure in Iraq.
Critics of his record argued that, instead of using his parliamentary majority to reform the institutions of state, he pursued incoherent short-term policies that left Britain ill-governed in important areas. The state became more intrusive and even more authoritarian without managing to overcome a range of social ills, particularly rising crime and drug use. The economy grew steadily, but it was burdened by low productivity and growing volumes of personal and state debt. Citizens were heavily taxed, and Britain lost much of its remaining manufacturing base, becoming more dependent on financial services and low-skilled sectors for progress. Blair allowed millions of mainly low-skilled migrant workers to settle in the country, and he was criticized for leaving the economy more exposed to the forces of globalization than that of any other large Western country. The biggest cloud hanging over his reputation was the failure to ensure that British involvement in the invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in policies capable of preventing that country from becoming a source of instability in the Middle East . History could judge his premiership more kindly in the future. However, at the time that he stepped down, Blair was widely viewed as a lucky politician with exceptional talents that enabled him to be a successful vote winner but ultimately lacking the ability to be a noteworthy reformer at home or a stabilizing force in a world facing the resurgence of dangerous divisions.
Tony Blair, 2006.
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A Carrick Bend is a type of what? | Tony Blair - IMDb
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Tony Blair was born on May 6, 1953 in Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland as Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. He has been married to Cherie Blair since March 29, 1980. They have four children. See full bio »
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In which Sheffield Theatre is the World Snooker Championship held each year? | Snooker Stays At Crucible Until 2017 - World Snooker
Snooker Stays At Crucible Until 2017
Sunday 18 Jan 2015 10:13PM
World Championship to stay in UK – Sheffield seals deal to stay as host city using the iconic Crucible Theatre
One of the most iconic events in sport, The World Snooker Championship, is to remain in Sheffield until 2017.
The tournament, the richest and most prestigious in snooker, was first staged at the Crucible in 1977 so 2017 will mark its 40th anniversary in Sheffield.
The event is worth over £5 million to the city based on a combination of direct economic impact and extensive media profile in the UK, Europe and the Far East, with a total audience of 285 million viewers.
Sheffield has fought off competition from a host of major international cities looking to take the blue riband event out of its traditional home.
The new deal, announced by World Snooker Limited and Sheffield City Council, will the see the Crucible Theatre, with its unique and electric atmosphere, remaining as the dramatic centre-stage.
Many of snooker’s great names have lifted the famous trophy at the Crucible, including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and the reigning champion Mark Selby.
The deal also includes a new International Trade partnership which will see the city promoting itself to Investors and future International students at over 17 events on the World Snooker Tour held outside the UK.
Cllr Julie Dore – Leader of Sheffield City Council said: “We are delighted to keep the World Championship in Sheffield. This deal shows that Sheffield has real ambition. We are determined to use this partnership to help World Snooker to grow the game with new audiences and also to open up new global business opportunities for the city.”
Barry Hearn – Chairman of World Snooker said: “Snooker fans and players alike will be thrilled to hear this news as Sheffield and the Crucible are such an integral part of the history of the World Championship. Many thousands of people make snooker’s greatest pilgrimage each year to witness the intense and magical ambience that the Crucible generates.
“It’s marvellous to have the continued support of Sheffield City Council and to take the agreement up to the 40th anniversary and hopefully beyond!”
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"Which American author, born in 1922, wrote the novel ""Slaughterhouse Five"" in 1969?" | Welcome to Sheffield | Visit news
WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP TO STAY IN SHEFFIELD
19 January 2015
One of the most iconic events in sport, The World Snooker Championship, is to remain in Sheffield until 2017.
The tournament, the richest and most prestigious in snooker, was first staged at the Crucible in 1977 so 2017 will mark its 40th anniversary in Sheffield.
The event is worth over £5 million to the city based on a combination of direct economic impact and extensive media profile in the UK, Europe and the Far East, with a total audience of 285 million viewers.
Sheffield has fought off competition from a host of major international cities looking to take the blue riband event out of its traditional home.
The new deal, announced by World Snooker Limited and Sheffield City Council, will the see the Crucible Theatre, with its unique and electric atmosphere, remaining as the dramatic centre-stage.
The deal also includes a new International Trade partnership which will see the city promoting itself to Investors and future International students at over 17 events on the World Snooker Tour held outside of the UK.
Councillor Julie Dore, Leader of Sheffield City Council said: “We are delighted to keep the World Championship in Sheffield. It's very important to Sheffield because for those two weeks it puts the city right in the spotlight not just nationally but internationally. This deal shows that Sheffield has real ambition. We are determined to use this partnership with World Snooker to grow their audiences and open up new global business opportunities for the city.”
Barry Hearn, Chairman of World Snooker said: “Snooker fans and players alike will be thrilled to hear this news as Sheffield and the Crucible are such an integral part of the history of the World Championship. Many thousands of people make snooker’s greatest pilgrimage each year to witness the intense and magical ambience that the Crucible generates.
“Many of snooker’s great names have lifted the famous trophy at the Crucible, including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and the reigning champion Mark Selby.
“It’s marvellous to have the continued support of Sheffield City Council and to take the agreement up to the 40th anniversary and hopefully beyond!”
The 2015 World Championship runs from 18 April to 4 May. Tickets for certain sessions are still available – for details see www.worldsnooker.com/tickets
| i don't know |
"Which famous product was advertised on TV with the words ""Cleans and polishes in one go""?" | UK television adverts 1955-1985
It’s all dirt and dust,
But don’t you get fussed,
The answer is easily found,
Remember:
Cleans a big, big carpet
For less than half a crown!
1001 carpet cleaner (2)
One Thousand and One, One Thousand and One
Gets rid of that workaday frown,
One Thousand and One cleans a big big carpet
For less than half a crown!
Bright action foam (deep cleans!), brings up carpets like new!
One Thousand and One cleans a big big carpet
For less than half a crown!
1001 Dry Foam
One Thousand and One Dry Foam — Does it right!
One Thousand and One Dry Foam — Cleans it bright!
A brighter carpet means a brighter home,
One Thousand and One Dry Foam.
Acdo Washing Powder: 1971
Fragrances that change your world.
Airwick air freshener (2): 1970s
(Scrooge sits by the fire; Father Christmas arrives and puts up Christmas decorations)
The Airwick Winter Collection
Two limited edition festive fragrances —
Snowy cedars and mulled wine —
Guaranteed to bring the spirit of Christmas to any home!
Ajax (1)
(Two cleaners and a lift operator walk on the wall)
Gets floors too clean to walk on!
Ajax (2)
Power to shift deep-down stains!
Ajax (3)
Cleans like a white tornado!
Ariel (1)
With enzymes to digests dirt and stains/tackles the really tough stains that other powders leave behind
Ariel (2)
The dirt says “hot” the label says “not”.
Ariel (3)
Do your whites pass the window test? Ariel.
Bacofoil: 1970s
[Man in apron roller skates alongside an extra-long wallpapering table, lining up oven-ready chickens on Bacofoil]
Man: This is new double-length Bacofoil. I’ve got 30 seconds to show you how much food you can cook and wrap in this lot. I’m using chickens because I like chickens. It doesn’t have to be chickens. This lot will wrap 30 joints of beef, or 13 turkeys, or 65 pounds of cheese, or 104 rounds of sandwiches. [Reaches half-way point] This is where most other foils run out.
Voiceover: New double-length Bacofoil. It’s twice the foil, but not twice the price.
Man: I told you we needed a minute.
Big S
He said “You’re mine for ever”,
but she got the dirty pans until Brillo freed her for love.
She thought marriage was a bed of roses ―
until she saw the mess in the kitchen.
There were pans ― dirty pans.
Yesterday she was a prisoner of dirty pans.
Brillo set her free.
He swept her into his arms, then dropped her into the sink.
It was a lifetime of dirty pans ― then Brillo arrived.
He promised her his worldly goods,
but all she got was pans ― dirty pans
Then one day Brillo broke into her prison.
Calgon
Washing machines live longer with Calgon.
Comfort
Softness is a thing called Comfort!
Daz (1): 1950s
The Daz white knights are coming your way with big cash prizes. We’re hurrying on our way with purses full of prize money. Our first stop could be at your house. We’re off.
If we call, just show us a large Daz packet, answer a simple question correctly, and you win £5. If you have two large or one giant size, you can win £10.
Daz white knights will be travelling far and wide including [towns varied by television area]. The Daz white nights are coming your way.
And here’s another exciting thing to look out for. Our squires are already putting leaflets through almost every door. It gives you an extra chance of winning the same big prizes.
Don’t waste this chance to win big prizes: buy Daz tomorrow because we may call on you. And remember, Daz washes so white you can see the difference!
Daz (2)
Fabulous Fabulon, makes clothes feel like new!
Fairy household soap
Fanny Cradock and Johnny are in the kitchen where Fanny is giving Johnny a hard time for having dirty cuffs and collars. After Fanny has given the items a good scrubbing with a block of Fairy soap, the stains vanish. Johnny adjusts his monocle and admires the result.
Fanny (looking into the camera): Fairy’s a must for collars and cuffs!
Fairy Liquid (1): 1961
Now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face
With mild green Fairy Liquid.
Fairy Liquid (2): 1965
4-year-old girl using Fairy Liquid bottles to play skittles
Mother: Who’s got my Fairy Liquid?
Daughter: It’s for my skittles.
Mother: I couldn’t wash up without my Fairy Liquid.
Daughter: Why not?
Mother: Because it keeps my hands nice and soft.
Daughter: You don’t put it on your hands.
Mother: No, I put it in the water…
[goes on talking as she does the washing up]
Daughter: Here’s your bottle back.
Mother: Thank you. You can have it when it’s finished.
Daughter: Will you get another one then?
Mother: I expect so.
Now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face
With mild green Fairy Liquid.
[With Kerry Jane Ogilvy as the mother]
Fairy Liquid (3)
Mummy, why are your hands so soft?
Fairy Snow (1): 1957
Fairy Snow gives washday white without washday red!
Fairy Snow (2)
Forces grey out, forces white in!
Fairy Snow (3): 1970s
It gets right to the heart of the wash.
Favor polish: 1968
It’s good for the wood ’cos it’s wax (beeswax)!
Flash (1)
All around the house, all around the house, all around the house
Springclean with Flash!
Flash (2): 1960s
Voiceover: Here in his home, Woburn Abbey, is His Grace, the Duke of Bedford.
The Duke: Hello … we all enjoy having visitors and I have up to 40,000 a week! This, and being open every day of the year, gives me a big cleaning problem … so I’m very keen to see how Flash compares with washing powder in this floor-cleaning demonstration.
Voiceover: The Duke is watching two of the Abbey cleaners who have begun the test. One’s using Flash … the other an ordinary washing powder. On the washing powder side progress is slow … and all those suds will have to be rinsed off and wiped dry. But on the Flash side she just squeezes her mop very thoroughly and goes once over. Flash cleans fast with no rinsing, no wiping dry! Flash is well ahead now … and yes, the Flash side’s finished! Clean in half the time!
The Duke: Well that’s certainly shown how Flash saves work and time! After that impressive result I should say that it’s the best cleaner for any home!
Voiceover: For all those big cleaning jobs about the house … Flash cuts cleaning time in half!
Flash cuts cleaning time in half.
Flash (3)
No hard rubbing, or streaks … and finished in half the time!
[Molly Weir]
Cut a dash, cut a dash
Spring clean with Flash!
A winter house gets under your skin,
So get out the Flash — bring the sunshine in!
Voice-over: Fast action Flash has the power you need
To get your cleaning done with the greatest speed,
It’s easy with Flash to bring the sunshine in.
Flash lifts dirt away soon, everything’s bright
You’ve got a sunshine house — what a lovely sight!
Get out the Flash — it’s so fast with Flash
To bring the sunshine in!
Floret fly killer
There’s a name you all remember but now it’s something new —
Use a little Gumption, use a little Gumption!
New Gumption is better than ever! Now Gumption has an easy-flow cap— right down to the last drop. Gumption’s improved formula has extra cleaning power— more powerful, even on the toughest jobs — smoother for a perfect Gumption shine!
Yes, now it’s something new —
Use a little Gumption!
Gumption Kitchen Cream and Gumption Bathroom Cream: 1970s
Voiceover (sounding like FBI) : We were called in to investigate a sparkling clean kitchen.
Mmm – a smooth operator – not a scratch – ammonia power – it was a cinch!
New Gumption Kitchen Cream!
We suspected teamwork so we checked out the bathroom. So clean we had to put on our shades to dim the sparkle! Lemon fresh smell – what a giveaway!
It had to be new Gumption Bathroom Cream – that team’s really cleaning up!
Gumption: early 1970s
Liquid Gumption … the grime buster"
Handy Andy: c.1960
Handy Andy, strong little gentleman
Cleans the whole house faster than —
A whole lot of other cleaners can!
Harpic
Cleans right round the bend!
Jif (now Cif): 1974
Scouring powders can leave tiny scratches on surfaces – like skates on ice! But Jif scouring cream is different. Jif with ammonia has cleaning strength that doesn’t scratch!
Jif is safe on stainless steel …
safe on enamel …
safe on porcelain …
safe on chrome.
For today’s surfaces use Jif! Jif with the power to clean right through to the shine.
Kiwi shoe polish
When your shoes shine, so do you!
Johnson’s polish
Johnson’s are the polishes for furniture and floors,
They’re so easy, they’re so easy,
Johnson’s are the polishes for furniture and floors,
They’re so easy to shine.
Lenor: c.1970s
There’s a softness and a freshness
You’ve never known before
That’s the loving touch of New Lenor!
Lifeguard pine disinfectant: 1970s
That fresh green smell means all is well.
Lifeguard’s on parade!
Liquid Dreft washing-up liquid: 1950s
These are the hands of a Liquid Dreft handmaiden — and they may be ringing at your front door with exciting prizes worth £14! With new Liquid Dreft for dishes on hand you can win a real Wedgwood bone china tea service … 20 pieces plus teapot! Or this stainless steel Prestige pan set with special aluminium-clad bases suitable for any cooker! Or a 42-piece cutlery set in firm Staybrite stainless steel — guaranteed for twenty years!
If the handmaidens call, just show Liquid Dreft, answer the question correctly, and win a prize worth £14!
Have Liquid Dreft on hand … in case the handmaidens call!
Lux flakes
Dainty things never shrink from Lux!
Marigold Chic House Gloves (early 1970s)
Wife enamoured with her kitchen gloves to her distracted husband:
Look George, George LOOK!
Mr Muscle loves the jobs you hate!
Mr Sheen (1): c.1970
Mr Sheen, the polish that cleans … so many surfaces!
Mr Sheen
Mr Sheen cleans oodles of things
changed in the early 1980s to
Mr Sheen cleans umpteen things clean!
Omo (1): 1958
Omo adds brightness to whiteness.
Omo (2)
Omo washes not only clean,
Not only white, but bright,
Omo adds bright, bright brightness!
Omo (3)
With bright new power for a bright new world!
Omo (4)
So bright, even a man notices!
Oxydol
Keeps whites whiter than white,
Colours sparkling white;
That’s what we’re teaching.
There’s nothing like OXYDOL!!!
Persil (1): 1958
Someone’s mum got back to white
And someone’s mum got back to bright
And someone’s mum really knows what’s right,
New Persil washes even whiter,
Even whiter!
It’s wonderful! A soap powder that leaves no scum —
even in our hard water — and it washes even whiter!
New Persil washes even whiter!
(Even whiter)
New Persil washes even whiter!
Persil (2): 1950s
These are the cars (Win five pounds!)
These are the girls (Win five pounds!)
The Persil girls (Win five pounds!)
Looking for Persil (Win five pounds!)
Powder or liquid (Win five pounds!)
Answer a question (Win five pounds!)
Powder alone (Win five pounds!)
Liquid alone (Win five pounds!)
But add them together — (You double your money!)
Powder and liquid (Double your money!)
One powder, one liquid (Win twenty pounds!)
Two powders, one liquid (Win thirty pounds!)
One powder, two liquids (Win thirty pounds!)
She’s won thirty pounds! Powder and liquid (Double your money!)
Buy both Persils (Double your money!)
You can win thirty pounds! (Go and buy Persil powder and liquid now!)
Persil (3): c.1960
Persil washes whiter — and it shows!
Persil (4): 1968/9
Every day shines a little brighter
Persil aut-o-matic washes whiter
Tune: Buddy Holly’s “Every Day”
Persil (5)
Someone’s mum just doesn’t know
What someone’s mum just ought to know
That Persil washes whiter.
Persil, one of the signs of a mother’s care
Persil (7): 1983
It was a day like any other day at the Persil laboratory….
When suddenly!
“I’ve found it! A system! A complete new system!”
I’ve found a system — complete new system!
New System Persil Automatic will wash your cares away!
No other powder deals better with all kinds of stains at all temperatures!
No other powder’s as good on difficult stains like tea, coffee and fruit juice! Because no other powder can do so much at lower temperatures! And New System Persil Automatic is still as kind as ever!
He’s found a system — complete new system
New System Persil Automatic will wash your cares away!
And so say all of us!
And so say all of us!
He’s found a system — complete new system
New System Persil Automatic will wash your cares awa-a-y!
New System Persil Automatic — it’s in the shop toda-a-a-y!
Persil (8): 1985
Don’t worry about a thing
’Cause every little thing gonna be all right (gonna be all right)
Singing don’t worry — about a thing ….
Whatever the temperature, whatever the fabric, whatever the machine —
Persil Automatic gets the whole wash … right!
Don’t worry about a thing
’Cause every little thing gonna be all right
Gonna be all right … gonna be all right….
[Tune: Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”]
Playtex Living gloves: 1976
The everyday beauty treatment for busy hands
Pledge furniture polish (1): late 1960s
Turns your duster into a magnet.
(duster turns into the shape of a magnet)
Pledge furniture polish (2)
Cleans and polishes in one go.
Polly Roll kitchen towels (by Izal): 1959
Wife (to husband): Look at you messing up my kitchen – go on!
Honestly! Men! Why on earth they can’t do a simple bit of cooking without spilling fat all over the place I’ll never know!
David! Oh, he’s gone … cleared off while I clear up … with, of course, Polly Roll!
Over one hundred feet of absorbent paper that’s absolutely wonderful for cleaning up!
Rinso: early 1960s
(Women need sunglasses to look at clothes)
New Sunshine Rinso, with sunshine whiteners,
Puts Rinso Sunshine in your machine!
Do all your washing with Rinso Sunshine.
Sunshine Whiteners, sunshine brighteners, Rinso clean!
[Tune: “You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine”]
Scot-towels
You won’t want to throw them away
Shake ’n’ Vac: 1979
Stale smells up here often come from down there — in your carpet. Smells from your dog — and tobacco too! Well, Shake ’n’ Vac from Glade is here! — it’s all you have to do….
Do the Shake ’n’ Vac
And put the freshness back,
Do the Shake ’n’ Vac
And put the freshness back.
When your carpet smells fresh
Your room does too
Do the Shake ’n’ Vac
And put the freshness back…. (to fade)
Shake ’n’ Vac — the new carpet and room freshener from Glade.
[With Jenny Logan]
Childproof because there’s vinyl in it!
Snappies: 1976
Bags with bags of uses!
Spic: 1960s
A tablet for your washing machine.
Sqezy washing up liquid
It’s easy with Sqezy, the washing-up wizard,
So easy with Sqezy to get dishes clean!
It’s so easy, it’s so easy,
It’s so easy with Sqezy!
Surf
Hold it up to the light
Not a stain and shining bright!
Removes ninety-nine top stains!
Tide washing powder (1): 1955
The cleanest clean under the sun is Tide clean — new Tide clean!
Clean and bright as the sun on the sand — the kind of clean you like best — next to those you love. That’s because new Tide has extra cleaning power! With Tide things always come out fresh as a sea breeze! More than white, more than bright — really clean!
Clean!
The cleanest clean under the sun!
What a wonderful sight when your wash is done,
The cleanest clean under the sun …
Is Tide clean — new Tide clean!
Tide washing powder (2): 1957
Well, what d’you know?
There was no hesitation that time,
She knew what she wanted,
The famous bulls eye packet,
The washing powder that really gets clothes cleanest,
White Tide!
[Hughie Green (White Tide man) and Mrs Bradshaw]
Tide washing powder (3): c.1960
Little girl: Next to me, Mummy likes Tide clean clothes.
Tide washing powder (4): 1960s
Tide gets your clothes clean,
Not just clean, but deep-down clean
[If you could show two packet tops from new White Tide to Alan Freeman when he knocked at your door, you would win cash]
Tide washing powder (5)
Woman: Who first said “It will all come out in the wash”?
Bruce Forsyth: White Tide?
Ten thousand flies killed — fast as this: (clock registers 15 minutes)
It’s Vapona! A fly killer you can trust.
No other fly killer lasts longer than Vapona — from Shell!
Vigor: early 1970s
New Vigor … the dirt dissolver.
Vortex bleach: 1985
Interviewer: Neil, your lab’s been testing bleaches for us — what’s the verdict?
Neil Butler, microbiologist: You mean which killed germs longest in the lavatory?
Interviewer: Yes!
Neil: My tests did find a winner which killed germs longer. Look at these samples — we took them from lavatories after a number of flushes. Here’s the bleach that came second — germs are beginning to breed again! But the winner is still killing germs!
Interviewer: Care to name it for us?
Neil: It’s Vortex!
Interviewer: In these tests Vortex killed germs longer — that’s a scientist’s verdict!
Windolene (1): 1950s
If you love the things that sunshine brings …
love the things you see through your window
Windows are like eyes: to keep them bright and beautiful — Windolene! Only a cream like pink Windolene holds special glass polish to make windows sparkle as you wipe!
See the children playing in the sun – through your window … Windolene
Windolene (2)
Wipe it on Windolene, wipe it off Windolene,
That’s how to get your windows clean,
Wipe it off straight away, wipe it off no delay,
So easy with new Windolene, Windolene!
Wisk detergent: 1968
| Pledge |
Who, from 1977 to 1981, was Vice President of the USA to Jimmy Carter? | UK television adverts 1955-1985
It’s all dirt and dust,
But don’t you get fussed,
The answer is easily found,
Remember:
Cleans a big, big carpet
For less than half a crown!
1001 carpet cleaner (2)
One Thousand and One, One Thousand and One
Gets rid of that workaday frown,
One Thousand and One cleans a big big carpet
For less than half a crown!
Bright action foam (deep cleans!), brings up carpets like new!
One Thousand and One cleans a big big carpet
For less than half a crown!
1001 Dry Foam
One Thousand and One Dry Foam — Does it right!
One Thousand and One Dry Foam — Cleans it bright!
A brighter carpet means a brighter home,
One Thousand and One Dry Foam.
Acdo Washing Powder: 1971
Fragrances that change your world.
Airwick air freshener (2): 1970s
(Scrooge sits by the fire; Father Christmas arrives and puts up Christmas decorations)
The Airwick Winter Collection
Two limited edition festive fragrances —
Snowy cedars and mulled wine —
Guaranteed to bring the spirit of Christmas to any home!
Ajax (1)
(Two cleaners and a lift operator walk on the wall)
Gets floors too clean to walk on!
Ajax (2)
Power to shift deep-down stains!
Ajax (3)
Cleans like a white tornado!
Ariel (1)
With enzymes to digests dirt and stains/tackles the really tough stains that other powders leave behind
Ariel (2)
The dirt says “hot” the label says “not”.
Ariel (3)
Do your whites pass the window test? Ariel.
Bacofoil: 1970s
[Man in apron roller skates alongside an extra-long wallpapering table, lining up oven-ready chickens on Bacofoil]
Man: This is new double-length Bacofoil. I’ve got 30 seconds to show you how much food you can cook and wrap in this lot. I’m using chickens because I like chickens. It doesn’t have to be chickens. This lot will wrap 30 joints of beef, or 13 turkeys, or 65 pounds of cheese, or 104 rounds of sandwiches. [Reaches half-way point] This is where most other foils run out.
Voiceover: New double-length Bacofoil. It’s twice the foil, but not twice the price.
Man: I told you we needed a minute.
Big S
He said “You’re mine for ever”,
but she got the dirty pans until Brillo freed her for love.
She thought marriage was a bed of roses ―
until she saw the mess in the kitchen.
There were pans ― dirty pans.
Yesterday she was a prisoner of dirty pans.
Brillo set her free.
He swept her into his arms, then dropped her into the sink.
It was a lifetime of dirty pans ― then Brillo arrived.
He promised her his worldly goods,
but all she got was pans ― dirty pans
Then one day Brillo broke into her prison.
Calgon
Washing machines live longer with Calgon.
Comfort
Softness is a thing called Comfort!
Daz (1): 1950s
The Daz white knights are coming your way with big cash prizes. We’re hurrying on our way with purses full of prize money. Our first stop could be at your house. We’re off.
If we call, just show us a large Daz packet, answer a simple question correctly, and you win £5. If you have two large or one giant size, you can win £10.
Daz white knights will be travelling far and wide including [towns varied by television area]. The Daz white nights are coming your way.
And here’s another exciting thing to look out for. Our squires are already putting leaflets through almost every door. It gives you an extra chance of winning the same big prizes.
Don’t waste this chance to win big prizes: buy Daz tomorrow because we may call on you. And remember, Daz washes so white you can see the difference!
Daz (2)
Fabulous Fabulon, makes clothes feel like new!
Fairy household soap
Fanny Cradock and Johnny are in the kitchen where Fanny is giving Johnny a hard time for having dirty cuffs and collars. After Fanny has given the items a good scrubbing with a block of Fairy soap, the stains vanish. Johnny adjusts his monocle and admires the result.
Fanny (looking into the camera): Fairy’s a must for collars and cuffs!
Fairy Liquid (1): 1961
Now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face
With mild green Fairy Liquid.
Fairy Liquid (2): 1965
4-year-old girl using Fairy Liquid bottles to play skittles
Mother: Who’s got my Fairy Liquid?
Daughter: It’s for my skittles.
Mother: I couldn’t wash up without my Fairy Liquid.
Daughter: Why not?
Mother: Because it keeps my hands nice and soft.
Daughter: You don’t put it on your hands.
Mother: No, I put it in the water…
[goes on talking as she does the washing up]
Daughter: Here’s your bottle back.
Mother: Thank you. You can have it when it’s finished.
Daughter: Will you get another one then?
Mother: I expect so.
Now hands that do dishes can feel soft as your face
With mild green Fairy Liquid.
[With Kerry Jane Ogilvy as the mother]
Fairy Liquid (3)
Mummy, why are your hands so soft?
Fairy Snow (1): 1957
Fairy Snow gives washday white without washday red!
Fairy Snow (2)
Forces grey out, forces white in!
Fairy Snow (3): 1970s
It gets right to the heart of the wash.
Favor polish: 1968
It’s good for the wood ’cos it’s wax (beeswax)!
Flash (1)
All around the house, all around the house, all around the house
Springclean with Flash!
Flash (2): 1960s
Voiceover: Here in his home, Woburn Abbey, is His Grace, the Duke of Bedford.
The Duke: Hello … we all enjoy having visitors and I have up to 40,000 a week! This, and being open every day of the year, gives me a big cleaning problem … so I’m very keen to see how Flash compares with washing powder in this floor-cleaning demonstration.
Voiceover: The Duke is watching two of the Abbey cleaners who have begun the test. One’s using Flash … the other an ordinary washing powder. On the washing powder side progress is slow … and all those suds will have to be rinsed off and wiped dry. But on the Flash side she just squeezes her mop very thoroughly and goes once over. Flash cleans fast with no rinsing, no wiping dry! Flash is well ahead now … and yes, the Flash side’s finished! Clean in half the time!
The Duke: Well that’s certainly shown how Flash saves work and time! After that impressive result I should say that it’s the best cleaner for any home!
Voiceover: For all those big cleaning jobs about the house … Flash cuts cleaning time in half!
Flash cuts cleaning time in half.
Flash (3)
No hard rubbing, or streaks … and finished in half the time!
[Molly Weir]
Cut a dash, cut a dash
Spring clean with Flash!
A winter house gets under your skin,
So get out the Flash — bring the sunshine in!
Voice-over: Fast action Flash has the power you need
To get your cleaning done with the greatest speed,
It’s easy with Flash to bring the sunshine in.
Flash lifts dirt away soon, everything’s bright
You’ve got a sunshine house — what a lovely sight!
Get out the Flash — it’s so fast with Flash
To bring the sunshine in!
Floret fly killer
There’s a name you all remember but now it’s something new —
Use a little Gumption, use a little Gumption!
New Gumption is better than ever! Now Gumption has an easy-flow cap— right down to the last drop. Gumption’s improved formula has extra cleaning power— more powerful, even on the toughest jobs — smoother for a perfect Gumption shine!
Yes, now it’s something new —
Use a little Gumption!
Gumption Kitchen Cream and Gumption Bathroom Cream: 1970s
Voiceover (sounding like FBI) : We were called in to investigate a sparkling clean kitchen.
Mmm – a smooth operator – not a scratch – ammonia power – it was a cinch!
New Gumption Kitchen Cream!
We suspected teamwork so we checked out the bathroom. So clean we had to put on our shades to dim the sparkle! Lemon fresh smell – what a giveaway!
It had to be new Gumption Bathroom Cream – that team’s really cleaning up!
Gumption: early 1970s
Liquid Gumption … the grime buster"
Handy Andy: c.1960
Handy Andy, strong little gentleman
Cleans the whole house faster than —
A whole lot of other cleaners can!
Harpic
Cleans right round the bend!
Jif (now Cif): 1974
Scouring powders can leave tiny scratches on surfaces – like skates on ice! But Jif scouring cream is different. Jif with ammonia has cleaning strength that doesn’t scratch!
Jif is safe on stainless steel …
safe on enamel …
safe on porcelain …
safe on chrome.
For today’s surfaces use Jif! Jif with the power to clean right through to the shine.
Kiwi shoe polish
When your shoes shine, so do you!
Johnson’s polish
Johnson’s are the polishes for furniture and floors,
They’re so easy, they’re so easy,
Johnson’s are the polishes for furniture and floors,
They’re so easy to shine.
Lenor: c.1970s
There’s a softness and a freshness
You’ve never known before
That’s the loving touch of New Lenor!
Lifeguard pine disinfectant: 1970s
That fresh green smell means all is well.
Lifeguard’s on parade!
Liquid Dreft washing-up liquid: 1950s
These are the hands of a Liquid Dreft handmaiden — and they may be ringing at your front door with exciting prizes worth £14! With new Liquid Dreft for dishes on hand you can win a real Wedgwood bone china tea service … 20 pieces plus teapot! Or this stainless steel Prestige pan set with special aluminium-clad bases suitable for any cooker! Or a 42-piece cutlery set in firm Staybrite stainless steel — guaranteed for twenty years!
If the handmaidens call, just show Liquid Dreft, answer the question correctly, and win a prize worth £14!
Have Liquid Dreft on hand … in case the handmaidens call!
Lux flakes
Dainty things never shrink from Lux!
Marigold Chic House Gloves (early 1970s)
Wife enamoured with her kitchen gloves to her distracted husband:
Look George, George LOOK!
Mr Muscle loves the jobs you hate!
Mr Sheen (1): c.1970
Mr Sheen, the polish that cleans … so many surfaces!
Mr Sheen
Mr Sheen cleans oodles of things
changed in the early 1980s to
Mr Sheen cleans umpteen things clean!
Omo (1): 1958
Omo adds brightness to whiteness.
Omo (2)
Omo washes not only clean,
Not only white, but bright,
Omo adds bright, bright brightness!
Omo (3)
With bright new power for a bright new world!
Omo (4)
So bright, even a man notices!
Oxydol
Keeps whites whiter than white,
Colours sparkling white;
That’s what we’re teaching.
There’s nothing like OXYDOL!!!
Persil (1): 1958
Someone’s mum got back to white
And someone’s mum got back to bright
And someone’s mum really knows what’s right,
New Persil washes even whiter,
Even whiter!
It’s wonderful! A soap powder that leaves no scum —
even in our hard water — and it washes even whiter!
New Persil washes even whiter!
(Even whiter)
New Persil washes even whiter!
Persil (2): 1950s
These are the cars (Win five pounds!)
These are the girls (Win five pounds!)
The Persil girls (Win five pounds!)
Looking for Persil (Win five pounds!)
Powder or liquid (Win five pounds!)
Answer a question (Win five pounds!)
Powder alone (Win five pounds!)
Liquid alone (Win five pounds!)
But add them together — (You double your money!)
Powder and liquid (Double your money!)
One powder, one liquid (Win twenty pounds!)
Two powders, one liquid (Win thirty pounds!)
One powder, two liquids (Win thirty pounds!)
She’s won thirty pounds! Powder and liquid (Double your money!)
Buy both Persils (Double your money!)
You can win thirty pounds! (Go and buy Persil powder and liquid now!)
Persil (3): c.1960
Persil washes whiter — and it shows!
Persil (4): 1968/9
Every day shines a little brighter
Persil aut-o-matic washes whiter
Tune: Buddy Holly’s “Every Day”
Persil (5)
Someone’s mum just doesn’t know
What someone’s mum just ought to know
That Persil washes whiter.
Persil, one of the signs of a mother’s care
Persil (7): 1983
It was a day like any other day at the Persil laboratory….
When suddenly!
“I’ve found it! A system! A complete new system!”
I’ve found a system — complete new system!
New System Persil Automatic will wash your cares away!
No other powder deals better with all kinds of stains at all temperatures!
No other powder’s as good on difficult stains like tea, coffee and fruit juice! Because no other powder can do so much at lower temperatures! And New System Persil Automatic is still as kind as ever!
He’s found a system — complete new system
New System Persil Automatic will wash your cares away!
And so say all of us!
And so say all of us!
He’s found a system — complete new system
New System Persil Automatic will wash your cares awa-a-y!
New System Persil Automatic — it’s in the shop toda-a-a-y!
Persil (8): 1985
Don’t worry about a thing
’Cause every little thing gonna be all right (gonna be all right)
Singing don’t worry — about a thing ….
Whatever the temperature, whatever the fabric, whatever the machine —
Persil Automatic gets the whole wash … right!
Don’t worry about a thing
’Cause every little thing gonna be all right
Gonna be all right … gonna be all right….
[Tune: Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”]
Playtex Living gloves: 1976
The everyday beauty treatment for busy hands
Pledge furniture polish (1): late 1960s
Turns your duster into a magnet.
(duster turns into the shape of a magnet)
Pledge furniture polish (2)
Cleans and polishes in one go.
Polly Roll kitchen towels (by Izal): 1959
Wife (to husband): Look at you messing up my kitchen – go on!
Honestly! Men! Why on earth they can’t do a simple bit of cooking without spilling fat all over the place I’ll never know!
David! Oh, he’s gone … cleared off while I clear up … with, of course, Polly Roll!
Over one hundred feet of absorbent paper that’s absolutely wonderful for cleaning up!
Rinso: early 1960s
(Women need sunglasses to look at clothes)
New Sunshine Rinso, with sunshine whiteners,
Puts Rinso Sunshine in your machine!
Do all your washing with Rinso Sunshine.
Sunshine Whiteners, sunshine brighteners, Rinso clean!
[Tune: “You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine”]
Scot-towels
You won’t want to throw them away
Shake ’n’ Vac: 1979
Stale smells up here often come from down there — in your carpet. Smells from your dog — and tobacco too! Well, Shake ’n’ Vac from Glade is here! — it’s all you have to do….
Do the Shake ’n’ Vac
And put the freshness back,
Do the Shake ’n’ Vac
And put the freshness back.
When your carpet smells fresh
Your room does too
Do the Shake ’n’ Vac
And put the freshness back…. (to fade)
Shake ’n’ Vac — the new carpet and room freshener from Glade.
[With Jenny Logan]
Childproof because there’s vinyl in it!
Snappies: 1976
Bags with bags of uses!
Spic: 1960s
A tablet for your washing machine.
Sqezy washing up liquid
It’s easy with Sqezy, the washing-up wizard,
So easy with Sqezy to get dishes clean!
It’s so easy, it’s so easy,
It’s so easy with Sqezy!
Surf
Hold it up to the light
Not a stain and shining bright!
Removes ninety-nine top stains!
Tide washing powder (1): 1955
The cleanest clean under the sun is Tide clean — new Tide clean!
Clean and bright as the sun on the sand — the kind of clean you like best — next to those you love. That’s because new Tide has extra cleaning power! With Tide things always come out fresh as a sea breeze! More than white, more than bright — really clean!
Clean!
The cleanest clean under the sun!
What a wonderful sight when your wash is done,
The cleanest clean under the sun …
Is Tide clean — new Tide clean!
Tide washing powder (2): 1957
Well, what d’you know?
There was no hesitation that time,
She knew what she wanted,
The famous bulls eye packet,
The washing powder that really gets clothes cleanest,
White Tide!
[Hughie Green (White Tide man) and Mrs Bradshaw]
Tide washing powder (3): c.1960
Little girl: Next to me, Mummy likes Tide clean clothes.
Tide washing powder (4): 1960s
Tide gets your clothes clean,
Not just clean, but deep-down clean
[If you could show two packet tops from new White Tide to Alan Freeman when he knocked at your door, you would win cash]
Tide washing powder (5)
Woman: Who first said “It will all come out in the wash”?
Bruce Forsyth: White Tide?
Ten thousand flies killed — fast as this: (clock registers 15 minutes)
It’s Vapona! A fly killer you can trust.
No other fly killer lasts longer than Vapona — from Shell!
Vigor: early 1970s
New Vigor … the dirt dissolver.
Vortex bleach: 1985
Interviewer: Neil, your lab’s been testing bleaches for us — what’s the verdict?
Neil Butler, microbiologist: You mean which killed germs longest in the lavatory?
Interviewer: Yes!
Neil: My tests did find a winner which killed germs longer. Look at these samples — we took them from lavatories after a number of flushes. Here’s the bleach that came second — germs are beginning to breed again! But the winner is still killing germs!
Interviewer: Care to name it for us?
Neil: It’s Vortex!
Interviewer: In these tests Vortex killed germs longer — that’s a scientist’s verdict!
Windolene (1): 1950s
If you love the things that sunshine brings …
love the things you see through your window
Windows are like eyes: to keep them bright and beautiful — Windolene! Only a cream like pink Windolene holds special glass polish to make windows sparkle as you wipe!
See the children playing in the sun – through your window … Windolene
Windolene (2)
Wipe it on Windolene, wipe it off Windolene,
That’s how to get your windows clean,
Wipe it off straight away, wipe it off no delay,
So easy with new Windolene, Windolene!
Wisk detergent: 1968
| i don't know |
Who, from 1989 to 1993 was Vice President of the USA to George H W Bush? | George H. W. Bush | whitehouse.gov
Air Force One
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush, as the 41st President (1989-1993), brought to the White House a dedication to traditional American values and a determination to direct them toward making the United States "a kinder and gentler nation" in the face of a dramatically changing world.
George Bush brought to the White House a dedication to traditional American values and a determination to direct them toward making the United States "a kinder and gentler nation." In his Inaugural Address he pledged in "a moment rich with promise" to use American strength as "a force for good."
Coming from a family with a tradition of public service, George Herbert Walker Bush felt the responsibility to make his contribution both in time of war and in peace. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1924, he became a student leader at Phillips Academy in Andover. On his 18th birthday he enlisted in the armed forces. The youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings, he flew 58 combat missions during World War II. On one mission over the Pacific as a torpedo bomber pilot he was shot down by Japanese antiaircraft fire and was rescued from the water by a U. S. submarine. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in action.
Bush next turned his energies toward completing his education and raising a family. In January 1945 he married Barbara Pierce. They had six children-- George, Robin (who died as a child), John (known as Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy.
At Yale University he excelled both in sports and in his studies; he was captain of the baseball team and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation Bush embarked on a career in the oil industry of West Texas.
Like his father, Prescott Bush, who was elected a Senator from Connecticut in 1952, George became interested in public service and politics. He served two terms as a Representative to Congress from Texas. Twice he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate. Then he was appointed to a series of high-level positions: Ambassador to the United Nations, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Chief of the U. S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1980 Bush campaigned for the Republican nomination for President. He lost, but was chosen as a running mate by Ronald Reagan. As Vice President, Bush had responsibility in several domestic areas, including Federal deregulation and anti-drug programs, and visited scores of foreign countries. In 1988 Bush won the Republican nomination for President and, with Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate, he defeated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the general election.
Bush faced a dramatically changing world, as the Cold War ended after 40 bitter years, the Communist empire broke up, and the Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union ceased to exist; and reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Bush had supported, resigned. While Bush hailed the march of democracy, he insisted on restraint in U. S. policy toward the group of new nations.
In other areas of foreign policy, President Bush sent American troops into Panama to overthrow the corrupt regime of General Manuel Noriega, who was threatening the security of the canal and the Americans living there. Noriega was brought to the United States for trial as a drug trafficker.
Bush's greatest test came when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, then threatened to move into Saudi Arabia. Vowing to free Kuwait, Bush rallied the United Nations, the U. S. people, and Congress and sent 425,000 American troops. They were joined by 118,000 troops from allied nations. After weeks of air and missile bombardment, the 100-hour land battle dubbed Desert Storm routed Iraq's million-man army.
Despite unprecedented popularity from this military and diplomatic triumph, Bush was unable to withstand discontent at home from a faltering economy, rising violence in inner cities, and continued high deficit spending. In 1992 he lost his bid for reelection to Democrat William Clinton.
The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association.
For more information about President Bush, please visit
| Dan Quayle |
Formed in the 1980s and having the leader Hassan Nasrallah, which radical Shi-ite Muslim organisation in Lebanon has, for years, been involved in guerilla warfare against Israel? | The 41st US President - George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George W. Bush
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George Herbert Walker Bush, the forty-first United States President (1989-1994) had served as Vice President under Ronald Reagan. He was the first sitting Vice President elected to the presidency since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, his father, Prescott Bush, was a banker and later a Senator from Connecticut. His mother, Dorothy Walker, was also from a wealthy family. George "prepped" at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. During World War II, he was one of the youngest men to pilot a Navy bomber. He became a hero when he was shot down over the island of Chichi Jima in the Pacific. He was rescued by a submarine and subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and various other medals of honor. He married Barbara Pierce in 1945, then entered Yale University where, in 1948, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics.
George Bush began his working life as an equipment clerk and worked his way up to president and partner in an offshore drilling firm. He soon amassed his own fortune and had time to consider politics at the gentle urging of his father and mentor. His initial run was ambitious. He ran for Senator from Texas, where he lived with his family in Houston. That was his first political defeat.
In 1968, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served two terms. He gained a reputation as one of the new Republicans from the South who supported and voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968, despite the lack of support from his constituents. In 1970 he again ran for Senator and again lost. Bush, however, had made an impression on President Nixon, who appointed him UN Ambassador form 1971-72. In 1972 the Republican Party named Bush Chairman of their National Committee. He vigorously stood up for Nixon, making speeches in his defense wherever he traveled.
George Bush had hoped that Gerald Ford would nominate him to be his Vice President, but, instead, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller of New York. For his loyal support of Republicans, Bush was awarded the position of United States liaison to Beijing, China, a position that taught him much about the politics of foreign policy. In December of 1975, Ford made him director of Central Intelligence Agency. George Bush's efforts to turn the agency around, restore its morality, and overcome its jaded recent past. When Jimmy Carter became President, Bush resigned. He and his supporters thought that 1980 was his year to run for the presidency.
Bush took an early lead in the Iowa caucuses, but failed to maintain the momentum. It was Ronald Reagan who grabbed the lead and after losing in his home state of Texas, Bush asked his delegates to support Reagan. At the convention the delegates asked Reagan to take Jerry Ford as the Vice Presidential candidate, but this did not happen. Reagan selected George Bush. In the November elections, the Reagan-Bush ticket made a clean sweep.
As Vice President, Bush was the ever-present "right-hand" man, loyally defending the President and his economic plan, despite Bush's veracious attacks on them during the fight for the nomination, when he had referred to Reagan's proposed policies as "voodoo economics." Once Vice President, Bush kept his misgivings to himself. He took on many roles for the President, with whom met weekly for lunch meetings at which the two men gained respect for one another.
George Bush was an active Vice President. He traveled millions of miles to many countries as our ambassador, and headed the crisis management team under the National Security Council. He was very proactive in the campaign to stop the flow of drugs into this country from South America and other places, and he took a prominent role in combating terrorism. Although he never officially took control of the presidency as the Constitution allowed, Bush acted as surrogate President in March of 1982 when Reagan was shot, and again in 1985 when Reagan underwent cancer surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
For his efforts as Vice President, Bush was the uncontested Republican presidential nominee in 1988. One of Bush's weaknesses was, despite all of his public appearances, he never became much of an orator. Where Ronald Reagan was the Great Communicator, Bush disliked public speaking, and he often came across as flat. At the convention, however, he shined. When he was given the nomination, his acceptance speech was one of his finest. He called for "A Thousand Points of Lights," hit the road running, and named Dan Quayle, a Senator from Indiana, as his Vice Presidential candidate. They campaigned vigorously and won the election against Democrats Dukakis and Bentsen.
During the initial months of his presidency, Bush had a command of foreign policy and was cautious on all domestic issues. In 1989-1990, the Soviet Union was at the brink of internal chaos, leaving the rest of the world quite concerned as to what would happen with all of their atomic missiles. Bush seized the opportunity to make a treaty with Russia to reduce even further the nuclear arms and conventional weapons held by each country. Next on his agenda was to dispose of General Noriega, who had taken over the country of Panama and suspended free elections.
All this seemed merely a build up to the test of Bush's leadership abilities that came in August of 1990 when Iraq, led by Sadaam Hussein, attempted to take over Kuwait and it's oil fields. Bush, with his unique ability to rally friends and foes, put together a coalition of Arab and Western Countries to fight this insurgent leader. A massive contingent of armies led by General Norman Schwarzkopf conducted air strikes, and the war ended quickly. During this time Bush had unprecedented approval ratings, as high as ninety percent.
Bush was more adept at dealing with foreign policy than domestic issues. During his presidency from 1988 to 1992; the economy grew at the lowest growth rate since the Great Depression. Also, Bush went back on his promise to the people of "no new taxes," and the Democrats used this against him in a vigorous campaign. When election time came, even his own party was not unified behind him, and Patrick Buchanan staged a fight for the party nomination that took away the conservative support Bush had previously enjoyed. Furthermore, Texan Ross Perot campaigned as a Third Party alternative, draining away votes that would surely have gone to Bush. While lacking the strong mandate that George Bush had enjoyed in the previous election, Bill Clinton, a little known Governor of Arkansas, had the electoral votes to win the presidency.
As George Bush's political star set, his sons burst upon the political scene. George W. Bush of Texas and Jeb Bush of Florida each ran for Governor of his state. George W. enjoyed his first national win. Jeb would have to wait another four years before he could claim the same.
Today, George Bush and his wife, Barbara, have settled in the Houston suburbs and are still are active in many causes. George is planning his Presidential Library and writing his memoirs.
| i don't know |
"Which famous product was advertised on TV with the words ""it won't let you down""?" | Restaurant Review: Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square - The New York Times
The New York Times
Dining & Wine |As Not Seen on TV
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As Not Seen on TV
Restaurant Review: Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square
Guy's American Kitchen & Bar
220 West 44th Street, Times Square Theatre District
646-532-4897
Photo
URBAN SPRAWL Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square. Credit Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times
GUY FIERI, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Have you pulled up one of the 500 seats at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar and ordered a meal? Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?
Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno wheel of the menu, where adjectives and nouns spin in a crazy vortex? When you saw the burger described as “Guy’s Pat LaFrieda custom blend, all-natural Creekstone Farm Black Angus beef patty, LTOP (lettuce, tomato, onion + pickle), SMC (super-melty-cheese) and a slathering of Donkey Sauce on garlic-buttered brioche,” did your mind touch the void for a minute?
Did you notice that the menu was an unreliable predictor of what actually came to the table? Were the “bourbon butter crunch chips” missing from your Almond Joy cocktail, too? Was your deep-fried “boulder” of ice cream the size of a standard scoop?
What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes Guy’s Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big (b) famous or (c) Guy’s, in any meaningful sense?
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Were you struck by how very far from awesome the Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders are? If you hadn’t come up with the recipe yourself, would you ever guess that the shiny tissue of breading that exudes grease onto the plate contains either pretzels or smoked almonds? Did you discern any buttermilk or brine in the white meat, or did you think it tasted like chewy air?
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Why is one of the few things on your menu that can be eaten without fear or regret — a lunch-only sandwich of chopped soy-glazed pork with coleslaw and cucumbers — called a Roasted Pork Bahn Mi, when it resembles that item about as much as you resemble Emily Dickinson?
When you have a second, Mr. Fieri , would you see what happened to the black bean and roasted squash soup we ordered?
Hey, did you try that blue drink, the one that glows like nuclear waste? The watermelon margarita? Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde?
At your five Johnny Garlic’s restaurants in California, if servers arrive with main courses and find that the appetizers haven’t been cleared yet, do they try to find space for the new plates next to the dirty ones? Or does that just happen in Times Square, where people are used to crowding?
If a customer shows up with a reservation at one of your two Tex Wasabi’s outlets, and the rest of the party has already been seated, does the host say, “Why don’t you have a look around and see if you can find them?” and point in the general direction of about 200 seats?
What is going on at this new restaurant of yours, really?
Has anyone ever told you that your high-wattage passion for no-collar American food makes you television’s answer to Calvin Trillin , if Mr. Trillin bleached his hair, drove a Camaro and drank Boozy Creamsicles? When you cruise around the country for your show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” rasping out slangy odes to the unfancy places where Americans like to get down and greasy, do you really mean it?
Or is it all an act? Is that why the kind of cooking you celebrate on television is treated with so little respect at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar?
How, for example, did Rhode Island’s supremely unhealthy and awesomely good fried calamari — dressed with garlic butter and pickled hot peppers — end up in your restaurant as a plate of pale, unsalted squid rings next to a dish of sweet mayonnaise with a distant rumor of spice?
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How did Louisiana’s blackened, Cajun-spiced treatment turn into the ghostly nubs of unblackened, unspiced white meat in your Cajun Chicken Alfredo?
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How did nachos, one of the hardest dishes in the American canon to mess up, turn out so deeply unlovable? Why augment tortilla chips with fried lasagna noodles that taste like nothing except oil? Why not bury those chips under a properly hot and filling layer of melted cheese and jalapeños instead of dribbling them with thin needles of pepperoni and cold gray clots of ground turkey?
By the way, would you let our server know that when we asked for chai, he brought us a cup of hot water?
When you hung that sign by the entrance that says, WELCOME TO FLAVOR TOWN!, were you just messing with our heads?
Does this make it sound as if everything at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar is inedible? I didn’t say that, did I?
Tell me, though, why does your kitchen sabotage even its more appealing main courses with ruinous sides and sauces? Why stifle a pretty good bison meatloaf in a sugary brown glaze with no undertow of acid or spice? Why send a serviceable herb-stuffed rotisserie chicken to the table in the company of your insipid Rice-a-Roni variant?
Why undermine a big fist of slow-roasted pork shank, which might fly in many downtown restaurants if the General Tso’s-style sauce were a notch less sweet, with randomly shaped scraps of carrot that combine a tough, nearly raw crunch with the deadened, overcooked taste of school cafeteria vegetables?
Is this how you roll in Flavor Town?
Somewhere within the yawning, three-level interior of Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar, is there a long refrigerated tunnel that servers have to pass through to make sure that the French fries, already limp and oil-sogged, are also served cold?
What accounts for the vast difference between the Donkey Sauce recipe you’ve published and the Donkey Sauce in your restaurant? Why has the hearty, rustic appeal of roasted-garlic mayonnaise been replaced by something that tastes like Miracle Whip with minced raw garlic?
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And when we hear the words Donkey Sauce, which part of the donkey are we supposed to think about?
Is the entire restaurant a very expensive piece of conceptual art? Is the shapeless, structureless baked alaska that droops and slumps and collapses while you eat it, or don’t eat it, supposed to be a representation in sugar and eggs of the experience of going insane?
Why did the toasted marshmallow taste like fish?
Did you finish that blue drink?
Oh, and we never got our Vegas fries; would you mind telling the kitchen that we don’t need them?
Thanks.
| Sure |
Which popular dance of Cuban origin and introduced by composer and violinist Enrique Jorin has its name derived from the rhythm of the Guiro (scraper) and the shuffling of the dancer's feet? | Good Quotations by Famous People
Good Quotations by Famous People:
Famous quotes, witty quotes, and funny quotations collected by Gabriel Robins over the years.
"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
- H. G. Wells (1866-1946)
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)
"Don't be so humble - you are not that great."
- Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat
"His ignorance is encyclopedic"
"If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
"Political correctness is tyranny with manners."
- Charlton Heston (1924-2008)
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
- Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity; when many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."
- Robert Pirsig (1948-)
"Sex and religion are closer to each other than either might prefer."
- Saint Thomas More (1478-1535)
"I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better."
- A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."
- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
"Give me chastity and continence, but not yet."
- Saint Augustine (354-430)
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you."
- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"We are all atheists about most of the gods humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
- Richard Dawkins (1941-)
"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work."
- Emile Zola (1840-1902)
"This book fills a much-needed gap."
- Moses Hadas (1900-1966) in a review
"The full use of your powers along lines of excellence."
- definition of "happiness" by John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
"I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart."
- e e cummings (1894-1962)
"Give me a museum and I'll fill it."
- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
- Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) to his orchestra
"I'll moider da bum."
- Heavyweight boxer Tony Galento, when asked what he thought of William Shakespeare
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems."
- Rene Descartes (1596-1650), "Discours de la Methode"
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
- Henry Ford (1863-1947)
"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."
- Yoda ('The Empire Strikes Back')
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed."
- George Burns (1896-1996)
"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
"There are no facts, only interpretations."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
"The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense."
- Edsgar Dijkstra (1930-2002)
"C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg."
- Bjarne Stroustrup
"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."
- Paul Erdos (1913-1996)
"Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back."
- Paul Erdos (1913-1996)
"Happiness equals reality minus expectations."
- Tom Magliozzi (1937-2014)
"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."
- Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
"If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near."
- Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
- Plato (427-347 B.C.)
"The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called 'Ego'."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
"Everybody pities the weak; jealousy you have to earn."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947-)
"Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain."
- Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)
"We have art to save ourselves from the truth."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
"I have never killed anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction."
- Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)
"I think 'Hail to the Chief' has a nice ring to it."
- John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) when asked what is his favorite song
"I have nothing to declare except my genius."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) upon arriving at U.S. customs 1882
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."
- H. G. Wells (1866-1946)
"Talent does what it can; genius does what it must."
- Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."
- unknown
"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship."
- Sharon Stone
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain."
- Vivian Greene
"He who has a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
"Many wealthy people are little more than janitors of their possessions."
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters."
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
- Voltaire (1694-1778)
"He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death."
- H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870-1916)
"I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them."
- Ian L. Fleming (1908-1964)
"If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars."
- J. Paul Getty (1892-1976)
"Facts are the enemy of truth."
- Don Quixote - "Man of La Mancha"
"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."
- George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."
- Anais Nin (1903-1977)
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
"I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right."
- Frederick (II) the Great
"Maybe this world is another planet's Hell."
- Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
"Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact."
- George Eliot (1819-1880)
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
- Sherlock Holmes (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)
"Black holes are where God divided by zero."
- Steven Wright
"I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it."
- Groucho Marx (1895-1977)
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
- Walt Disney (1901-1966)
"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."
- Vince Lombardi
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true."
- James Branch Cabell
"A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship."
- John D. Rockefeller (1874-1960)
"All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusion is called a philosopher."
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
"You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it."
- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."
- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."
- Umberto Eco
"Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down."
- Jimmy Durante
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), Inaugural Address, January 20, 1953
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"Basically, I no longer work for anything but the sensation I have while working."
- Albert Giacometti (sculptor)
"There's a limit to how many times you can read how great you are and what an inspiration you are, but I'm not there yet."
- Randy Pausch (1960-2008)
"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."
- Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
"Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street."
- Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)
"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life."
- Frank Zappa
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
- Antoine de Saint Exupery
"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome."
- Isaac Asimov
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."
- Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
"It is much more comfortable to be mad and know it, than to be sane and have one's doubts."
- G. B. Burgin
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
- Auric Goldfinger, in "Goldfinger" by Ian L. Fleming (1908-1964)
"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance"
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens."
- Jimi Hendrix
"A clever man commits no minor blunders."
- Goethe (1749-1832)
"Unable to suppress love, the Church wanted at least to disinfect it, and it created marriage."
- Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."
- Richard Bach
"A witty saying proves nothing."
- Voltaire (1694-1778)
"Sleep is an excellent way of listening to an opera."
- James Stephens (1882-1950)
"The nice thing about being a celebrity is that if you bore people they think it's their fault."
- Henry Kissinger (1923-)
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance."
- Will Durant
"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."
- Xenocrates (396-314 B.C.)
"It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
- Mario Andretti
"I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means."
- Clarence Darrow, Scopes trial, 1925.
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
- Henry Ford (1863-1947)
"I'll sleep when I'm dead."
- Warren Zevon (1947-2003)
"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
"When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
"The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading honors on your head."
- Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)
"Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together."
- Georg Lichtenberg (1742-1799)
"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it"
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
"While we are postponing, life speeds by."
- Seneca (3BC - 65AD)
"Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?"
- Bumper Sticker
"God, please save me from your followers!"
- Bumper Sticker
"Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches."
- the Duchess of Windsor, when asked what is the secret of a long and happy life
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
"Luck is the residue of design."
- Branch Rickey - former owner of the Brooklyn Dodger Baseball Team
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."
- Mel Brooks
"Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so."
- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
"Wit is educated insolence."
- Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
"My advice to you is get married: if you find a good wife you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher."
- Socrates (470-399 B.C.)
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't"
- Erica Jong (1942-)
"Show me a woman who doesn't feel guilty and I'll show you a man."
- Erica Jong (1942-)
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Maya Angelou (1928-)
"Egotist: a person more interested in himself than in me."
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
"A narcissist is someone better looking than you are."
- Gore Vidal
"Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them."
- Samuel Palmer (1805-80)
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows."
- Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)
"Sometimes when reading Goethe I have the paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny."
- Guy Davenport
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth."
- Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
"We all agree that your theory is crazy, but is it crazy enough?"
- Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong."
- Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite."
- Paul Dirac (1902-1984)
"I would have made a good Pope."
- Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)
"In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience."
- W.B. Prescott
"Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin."
- John von Neumann (1903-1957)
"The mistakes are all waiting to be made."
- chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956) on the game's opening position
"It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims."
- Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
"Grove giveth and Gates taketh away."
- Bob Metcalfe (inventor of Ethernet) on the trend of hardware speedups not being able to keep up with software demands
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important."
- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
"A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation."
- H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870-1916)
"There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult."
- C. A. R. Hoare
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"What do you take me for, an idiot?"
- General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), when a journalist asked him if he was happy
"I heard someone tried the monkeys-on-typewriters bit trying for the plays of W. Shakespeare, but all they got was the collected works of Francis Bacon."
- Bill Hirst
"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines."
- Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)
"It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)
"A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."
- John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
"Logic is in the eye of the logician."
- Gloria Steinem
"No one can earn a million dollars honestly."
- William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925)
"Everything has been figured out, except how to live."
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
"Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech."
- Martin Fraquhar Tupper
"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book - I'll waste no time reading it."
- Moses Hadas (1900-1966)
"From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it."
- Groucho Marx (1895-1977)
"It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"When ideas fail, words come in very handy."
- Goethe (1749-1832)
"In the end, everything is a gag."
- Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)
"The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people."
- Lucille S. Harper
"You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
- Yogi Berra
"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known."
- Walt Disney (1901-1966)
"He who hesitates is a damned fool."
- Mae West (1892-1980)
"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater."
- Gail Godwin
"University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."
- Henry Kissinger (1923-)
"The graveyards are full of indispensable men."
- Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)
"You can pretend to be serious; you can't pretend to be witty."
- Sacha Guitry (1885-1957)
"Behind every great fortune there is a crime."
- Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)
"If women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning."
- Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975)
"I am not young enough to know everything."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same."
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."
- General George Patton (1885-1945)
"Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"I don't even butter my bread; I consider that cooking."
- Katherine Cebrian
"I have an existential map; it has 'you are here' written all over it."
- Steven Wright
"Mr. Wagner has beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour."
- Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
"Manuscript: something submitted in haste and returned at leisure."
- Oliver Herford (1863-1935)
"I have read your book and much like it."
- Moses Hadas (1900-1966)
"The covers of this book are too far apart."
- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
"Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them."
- Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)
"Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end."
- Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung."
- Voltaire (1694-1778)
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before."
- Mae West (1892-1980)
"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."
- Elvis Presley (1935-1977)
"No Sane man will dance."
- Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
"Hell is a half-filled auditorium."
- Robert Frost (1874-1963)
"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you."
- Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
"Vote early and vote often."
- Al Capone (1899-1947)
"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"
- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
"Few things are harder to put up with than a good example."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."
- Robert J. Oppenheimer (1904-1967) (citing from the Bhagavad Gita, after witnessing the world's first nuclear explosion)
"Happiness is good health and a bad memory."
- Ingrid Bergman (1917-1982)
"Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate."
- Thomas Jones
"You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone."
- Al Capone (1899-1947)
"The gods too are fond of a joke."
- Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
"Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes."
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
"The difference between pornography and erotica is lighting."
- Gloria Leonard
"It is time I stepped aside for a less experienced and less able man."
- Professor Scott Elledge on his retirement from Cornell
"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work."
- Robert Orben
"The cynics are right nine times out of ten."
- Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)
"There are some experiences in life which should not be demanded twice from any man, and one of them is listening to the Brahms Requiem."
- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."
- Revelation 6:8
| i don't know |
"Which English novelist who lived from 1825 to 1890 is probably best remembered for the novel ""Lorna Doone"" in 1869?" | Exmoor - RD Blackmore
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RD Blackmore
Although Richard Doddridge Blackmore was not born in Devon, he claimed: "In everything, except the accident of my birth I am a Devonian; my ancestry were all Devonians; my sympathies and feelings are all Devonian." His family seems to have stemmed from the parish of Parracombe. From the 17th century or before they owned the farms of East Bodley and Barton and leased land in the neighbouring parish of Martinhoe at Killington and Bumsley. In each generation there had been Richard or John Blackmores or both. John Blackmore, the novelist’s grandfather, was born at Parracombe in 1764. He passed the family estate there to the novelist’s father, also John Blackmore, who later sold East Bodley, West Hill and Bumsley to support his son Frederick, the novelist’s half brother. This caused a rift with Henry, the novelist’s full brother, who from then onwards adopted the surname Turberville. Their relatives, the Doddridges, came from the Devon line of Sir John Doddridge, the famous bachelor judge who lies buried under his effigy in Exeter cathedral.
John senior went to TivertonSchool and ExeterCollege, Oxford, to which John junior followed. John senior became curate of High Bray, where he married Mary Hunt and produced sons John (b1794) and Richard (b1798). About 1780 he bought the advowson of the neighbouring parish of Charles hoping to become rector there, but the vacancy did not arise until 1840. Meanwhile, in 1809 he became rector of Oare, then also Combe Martin in 1833. He held both of these positions until his death in 1842.
Richard Doddridge Blackmore was born in 1825 in the village of Longworth in Oxfordshire, where his father was Curate. His mother, Anne (née Knight), died of typhus a few months after his birth. Along with his older brother Henry (who became an eccentric in later life), he was sent off to care of Anne's sister Mary at Nottage Court, near Porthcawl. After her marriage to the Rev. Richard Gordon, they moved with her to Elsfield Rectory, near Oxford. During this time John Blackmore Jnr. worked as Curate in Bushey, Herts. He then re-married and moved to his native Devon, at King's Nympton from 1832-35. Richard and Henry returned full-time to life with two parents in this very rural village. Richard started formal schooling during this period. He first went to Hugh Squier's School in South Molton for about a year before being transferred about 1833 to Kings School, Bruton, in Somerset. In 1837 he transferred to Blundell's school in Tiverton. By now his parents had moved to Culmstock village, where they settled for a further six years, and there was completed the second family of two half sisters and one half brother for Richard. Many years later, in 1894, Culmstock became the Perlycross in his novel of that name. Perlycross includes detailed descriptions of local places and living conditions at that time. Blackmore used real places, but changed their names: Perlycross is Culmstock; Perlycombe is Hemyock; River Perle is the Culm; Perliton is Uffculme; Pumpington is Wellington.
After that, John Blackmore Jnr. moved yet again, to become Curate at Ashford, near Barnstaple. John Snr. served as Curate at Charles there for many years, lived at the 'Old Rectory' and farmed the Parsonage Farm, adjoining. By the time the living fell vacant he was Rector of Combe Martin and Oare and, unable to undertake further responsibility, he appointed his second son Richard to the living. His elder son, John, was for some unknown reason passed over, and remained Curate of Ashford. John Jnr performed the ceremony at his brother's wedding at Combe Martin church in 1840.
RD Blackmore loved to stay at his uncle's and grandfather's at Charles during his school holidays. According to a local gazetteer, his uncle had "a large and commodious Rectory House, recently rebuilt, and commanding extensive views." At the east end of Charles church is a memorial window erected in 1925 to celebrate the centenary of RD Blackmore's birth. At Charles Bottom, by the bridge, there is a large fallen menhir stone, thought to date from the Bronze Age. On it R.D. Blackmore often sat and there composed some of his early poetry and prose. When he was seventy years old, he wrote the following lines:
"Sometimes of a night, when the spirit of a dream slips away for a waltz with the shadow of a pen over dreary moors and dark waters, I behold an old man with a keen profile under a parson's shovel hat, riding a chestnut horse up the slopes of Exmoor, followed by his little grandson upon a shaggy and stoggy pony. In the hazy fields of lower hills some four or five miles behind them may be seen the ancient Parsonage, where the lawn is a russet sponge of moss and a stream trickles under the dining-room floor, and the pious rook, poised on the pulpit of his nest, reads a hoarse sermon to the chimney pots below."
RD Blackmore was a brilliant scholar and before he left Blundell's in late 1843, aged 18, he had been head boy for over two years. The syllabus was predominantly a classical one, and Blackmore won a scholarship to study classics at Oxford, where he took his degree in 1847. It was while on vacation from his studies in the mid-1840s that he first tried his hand at writing fiction; that effort eventually became the novel The Maid of Sker, which was published in 1872 and contained descriptions areas around Exmoor, Ashford and Porthcawl, all of which he knew well.
After leaving Oxford and spending some time as a private tutor, Blackmore decided on a career in law. He entered the Middle Temple in 1849 and was called to the Bar in 1852. Blackmore was married on 1853 to Lucy Maguire. She was 26, and somewhat delicate; for which reason it is assumed that they never had any children, but the marriage was a happy one Ill-health, however, prevented him from continuing legal work and in 1854, he took the post of classics master at Wellesley House Grammar School, Twickenham. Then Blackmore’s uncle, the Rev. H.H. Knight, Rector of Neath, died and left his nephew a sum of money that enabled him to realise a long-held ambition of possessing a house in the country encompassed by a large garden. The land selected was a 16-acre plot at Teddington. Here he built his new house – completed in 1860 – in which he lived for the rest of his life. In the extensive grounds he created an 11-acre market garden specialising in the cultivation of fruit. His knowledge of horticulture was extensive, but because he lacked the necessary business sense, the garden rarely made a profit and he supplemented his income through writing. A Teddington merchant, is recorded as stating to a visitor: "He is not a social man, and seems wedded to his garden in summer and his book writing in winter. That is all I know about him; except that he keeps the most vicious dogs to protect his fruit, and I would advise you to avoid the risk [of visiting him]."
His first published work was Poems by Melanter (1853), followed by Epullia (1855),The Bugle of the Black Sea (1855), etc.; but he soon found that fiction, not poetry, was his true vocation. Beginning with Clara Vaughan (which contains an episode at Heddon's Mouth) in 1864, then Craddock Nowell (set in the New Forest) in 1866, he produced fifteen novels. Of these much the best known, though not the author's favourite, is Lorna Doone (1869). In 1865 Blackmore and Lucy took a holiday in North Devon, and he used the time to do some careful research forLorna Doone. Of course, he was on his home and school territory, so he had a good start from his own memories, plus the input from family and friends. Several Exmoor inns claimed that the Blackmores stayed there while the research was undertaken: the Royal Oak at Withypool, Rising Sun at Lynmouth and Ship at Porlock, all claiming that at least some of the book was written there. Blackmore returned to Teddington, and probably from spring 1867 until spring 1868 he wrote his one really successful novel.
Many stories of the Doones predated Blackmore’s novel. In several documents it is mentioned that Hoccombe Combe was called ‘The Doone Valley’ by locals well before the novel and that after the novel the name became transferred to Lank Combe. Many of the stories of Doones can be traced back to Ursula Johnson, who was born a Babb in 1738, married Richard Johnson, and died in 1828. She was reputed to be a witch with remarkable powers of memory. Her family served the De Wichehalses of Lee Abbey, who feature in the novel along with a John Babb. Seven years after her death her stories were collected for the vicar of Lynton, the Rev Matthew Mundy. The stories were mainly remembered by Ursula Fry of Pinkworthy and Aggie Norman of Lynton. The former died at the age of 90 in 1856 and the latter at the age of 83 in 1860. Aggie Norman was also reputed to be a witch and, living seasonally in the Valley of Rocks, was undoubtedly the model for the witch Mother Meldrum in the novel. The stories, of the Doones, Tom Faggus the highwayman and the De Wichehalses, were all woven into Blackmore’s writing. The Blackmore family was related to the De Wichehalses by marriage.
Blackmore always refused to discuss the locations in the story and, after the book became famous, he grew impatient with people who tried to pin him down and unravel the fact from the fiction. To one correspondent he wrote in 1891: "I quite forget how the book began to grow, having taken no special heed" and to another, five years later, with more irritation: "Nothing will induce me to go into this genesis of Lorna Doone, of which I have heard enough". Similarly, in 1887, he had written to James Moorhead: "When I wrote Lorna Doone, the greatest effort of my imagination would have been to picture its success. If I had dreamed that it would have been more than a book of the moment, the description of scenery which I know as well as I know my garden would have been kept nearer to their fact. I romanced therein, not to mislead others, but solely for the uses of my story." He always considered his work as impressionistic, giving the atmosphere of the place without adhering to accurate geography. However, he did write the introductions to several illustrated editions of the story, including ones showing pictures of Lank Combe as the 'Doone Valley'.
The initial response to Lorna Doone was not encouraging: there was little interest in it and sales were poor. Blackmore himself, writing to his friend Mrs William Halliday of Glenthorne after the book had become a success, said, "It went the round of publishers who declined with unanimity. I brought home the manuscript more than once in sorrow and discomfiture. At last I was fain to accept an offer of nothing for it". Of the first 500 copies, in three-volume form, only 300 were sold. Sampson Low Jnr, against the judgement of the rest of his firm, resolved to risk publishing it as a single volume. From 1871, the fame of Lorna Doone snowballed and the book has never since been out of print, although Blackmore always insisted that he made very little money from it.
After the success of Lorna Doone, Blackmore tried more novels over the next years, but none came even close in popularity. He was always frustrated by this situation, as he put his very best endeavours into each successive book. He wrote several more in the same genre of rural romance, each with a female name as the title, and each set in a new region of the country. Thus he produced The Maid of Sker (1874, South Wales and North Devon), Alice Lorraine (1875, South Downs and Kent), Erema (1877, California, Sussex and Berkshire), Mary Anerley (1879, North and East Yorkshire coast), Kit and Kitty (1890, Middlesex and the Thames) and his final novel Dariel (1896, Surrey). Inserted in the sequence was Cripps the Carrier (1876, Oxfordshire). He then changed his emphasis, and wrote three novels with a village as a title and as the theme of the plots: Christowell (1882, Dartmoor), Springhaven (1887, Newhaven, Sussex), Perlycross (1894, Culm valley, East Devon). A book of short stories: Tales from a Telling House was published in 1896. These were tales from Exmoor and contained the story Slain by the Doones, under which title the book was published for the American market.
His wife’s health began to deteriorate and she died in 1888. After her death, Blackmore was looked after by her nieces, Eva and Adalgisa Pinto-Leite. Blackmore himself died at Teddington in 1900 after a long and painful illness, and was buried next to his wife. Four years after his death a memorial to him was erected in Exeter Cathedral. The result of work by a committee including his good friend, Thomas Hardy, plus Rudyard Kipling, and James Barrie, it bore an address written by another writer from Devon, Eden Phillpotts. A reduced copy of the memorial was also mounted in Oare Church; above it was a stained glass window depicting David, Jonathan, and Samson - the archetypes of courage, love, and strength, respectively. John Ridd and Lorna Doone are cast at the top of the window, not far from Carver Doone.
Blackmore was one of the most read novelists of his generation. He won literary merit and acclaim for his vivid descriptions of the countryside and sympathy with, nature. He shared with Thomas Hardy a strong sense of regional setting in his works and acted as pioneer of the new romantic movement in fiction that continued with Robert Louis Stevenson and others. Today even Lorna Doone is not well read, although it has been abridged as a children's story and has had many film and television adaptations. It is mainly considered as a 'good yarn' but not necessarily good literature as it is somewhat wordy for modern tastes. This is a great pity as his descriptions of nature were masterly and his use of local dialect and portrayal of ordinary people and their work were pioneering.
Bibliography
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: Annotated references to RD Blackmore and his works, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 31 pp.
Blackmore, David. Blackmores of Parracombe: The family of thirteen at Court Place, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 24 pp.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: The life and character of R.D. Blackmore, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 32 p.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: R.D. Blackmore the novelist, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 32 pp.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: R.D. Blackmore the Victorian Christian, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 24 p.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: Glimpses of R.D. Blackmore's personal life, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 19 p.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: A sermon by the father of R.D. Blackmore, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 16 p.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: Letters by R.D. Blackmore to his sister, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 108 pp. [ISBN 0-9540730-0-2]
Blackmore, David. Parracombe: Henry Blackmore's memoir: The Story of a Unit, Chester, Blackmore Books (2001) 52 p.
Blackmore, David. Lorna's Author: R.D. Blackmore the Devonian, The Author (2004)
Budd, Kenneth George, The Last Victorian: R.D. Blackmore and His Novels (1960)
Dunn, WH, RD Blackmore, a Biography (1955)
Sutton, Max Keith, R.D. Blackmore (1979).
| R. D. Blackmore |
"Which actor played the title role in the 1972 film ""Young Winston"", the story of the early years of the British Prime Minister?" | Project MUSE - An Evolving Past: The Story of Historical Fiction and Nonfiction for Children
The Story of Historical Fiction and Nonfiction for Children
Suzanne Rahn (bio)
Fantasy, the young adult novel, and the picture book—these genres dominate the discussion of children's literature today. They sell well, and authors who specialize in them tend to gain the most prestige. In popularity with those who study children's books, as well as with the children, the historical novel seems to have fallen to somewhere near the bottom of the list.
Yet no one questions the high standards of the genre—the classics, from Kidnapped to the Little House books, the rich array of Newbery and Carnegie Award winners and Honor Books. Despite its current lack of visibility and sales appeal, the English-language historical novel has continued to attract many of the most distinguished children's writers of the last quarter century. 1 And, as an overview of its own history will show, it is a survivor, too. It has outlived groundshaking changes, responding, adapting, and freely crossbreeding with other genres. Its inherent interest and vitality have not staled, and it deserves more scholarly attention than it has received so far. 2
In some respects, its history as a genre within children's literature parallels that of fantasy. Both established themselves in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, and reached a peak of excellence in the golden era between 1865 and 1910. Both enjoyed a second flowering beginning around World War II, and lasting more than twenty years. And one can see why an audience receptive to one genre might like the other. Both transport the reader to worlds other than our own, and through similar techniques of narrative and description. Picture a knight in armor riding a black horse along a mountain road toward a distant castle—and the story you imagine for him may be either historical fiction or fantasy. For both genres sprang from the Romantic Movement, and especially from its fascination with the Middle Ages, which produced both Sintram and Ivanhoe. [End Page 1]
In his "Introductory" to Waverley (1814), Sir Walter Scott began defining the genre he had just invented by explaining his choice of subtitle—" 'Tis Sixty Years Since." Had he called his novel "Waverley, a Tale of Other Days," he says, "must not every novel-reader have anticipated a castle scarce less than that of Udolpho, of which the eastern wing had long been uninhabited"—and all the other trappings of the Gothic romance (3-4)? "Waverley, a Romance from the German" or "Waverley, A Sentimental Tale" would induce similar preconceptions, while "Waverley, A Tale of the Times" would have implied a setting here and now. Scott's subtitle identified his novel as "neither a romance of chivalry nor a tale of modern manners" (4) but as something new—a story set in a particular year in history; the mathematical precision of it reflects the accuracy Scott aimed for in his reconstruction of the past. Trained as a lawyer and a scholar of folklore to appreciate detail and weigh documentary evidence, Scott would not evoke the vague "Other Days" of Gothic romance, or its exaggerated heroes, heroines, and villains. He wanted an authentic past, and was convinced that its people were as human as ourselves—that the same passions "have alike agitated the human heart, whether it throbbed under the steel corselet of the fifteenth century, the brocaded coat of the eighteenth, or the blue frock and white dimity waistcoat of the present day" (5). Under Scott, the historical novel became, as my Handbook to Literature defines it, "A novel which reconstructs a personage, a series of events, a movement, or the spirit of a past age and pays the debt of serious scholarship to the facts of the age being recreated" (Thrall and Hibbard 223) . Scott's success at setting this standard of scholarship was such that he was soon able to reclaim the Middle Ages from Gothic romance in his own Ivanhoe (1819) and The Talisman (1825).
Despite the unusual clarity of these origins, the historical novel is more controversial to define than one might expect. As my handbook goes on to point out,
The extent to which actual historical events of some magnitude must be present, the extent to which actual historical personages must be actors in the story, the time which must have elapsed between the events of the story and its writing are among the questions to which both historical novelists and critics of the form have given varying answers.
(223)
Avrom Fleishman, for example, insists that the historical novel must be set at least two generations before the time of writing, that the plot must include actual historical events, and the characters at least one "real" person (3-4). Such parameters seem as artificial as an Elizabethan prescription for the unities, particularly when one turns to historical fiction [End Page 2] for children. While Johnny Tremain would satisfy Fleishman, what would he say to stories set during World War II—still less than two generations back? Or to Away Goes Sally or Detectives in Togas, neither of which contains historical events or characters? And yet, the historical novel is not simply any story set in the past. We think of Treasure Island as an adventure story, not as a historical novel, even though it takes place in the eighteenth century.
Kidnapped, on the other hand, while it might be called an adventure story, is just as surely a historical novel first and foremost—not because it has a "real" event and a couple of "real" people in it, but because Stevenson uses the story to explore the Scottish culture of a specific period in the past, and how what was happening affected people's lives. In Treasure Island, the eighteenth century is only a convenient frame for a story of pirates; Stevenson has no interest in showing us what it was like to be an eighteenth-century boy. For me, a broad definition like that in my handbook makes the best sense, except that I would add "the culture" to "the spirit" of a past age, for this is an important aim of most historical novelists for the young. They want to bring the culture of some former age to life for a generation with little or no knowledge of it; they are less interested in great historical events and figures than in showing children what it was like to live and grow up then. In practice, such clearly educational intentions make most historical novels for children easy to identify, even when they have crossbred with other genres.
Despite Scott's enormous popularity with the young, it took nearly thirty years before the new genre was adapted specifically for them. It is the same "generation gap" one often sees in the history of children's literature; children who had loved Scott had to grow up and themselves become children's writers first.
Harriet Martineau, a pioneer in other genres as well, seems to have led the way with a series of novels called The Playfellow (1841). 3 While The Peasant and the Prince is more a dramatic retelling of events from the French Revolution than a full-fledged novel, there is no doubt about The Settlers at Home. Set in the seventeenth century, during the English Civil War, it is the story of a family of Dutch Protestant refugees who have settled in the fen country of Lincolnshire. Their neighbors, who suspect them of being Royalists, deliberately unleash a flood onto their land. Marooned and separated from their parents, the children manage to survive on their own.
Martineau's story may have influenced a better-known successor, The Children of the New Forest (1847) by Captain Frederick Marryat. This [End Page 3] too is a Civil War story, in which an orphaned family of four Royalist children is hidden by an old forester in his cottage deep in the New Forest, and taught the woodland skills they need to live off the land. Marryat's earlier The Settlers in Canada (1844) also has a survival theme. Although Marryat had visited Canada himself in 1839, he chose to set his story of an English family's immigration in the previous generation, when conditions were more difficult and dangerous. From the very beginning, evidently, authors like Marryat and Martineau chose a historical setting partly because it offered greater opportunities for adventure, and especially for children to play responsible and interesting adult roles.
Another landmark of the 1840s was Grandfather's Chair by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in three volumes in 1841. Scott's Tales of a Grandfather (1828-30), a history of Scotland, had been the first major work of historical nonfiction for the young. Inspired to give American children some sense of their own heritage, Hawthorne came up with a new way to combine fact and fiction, using the device of a 200-year-old chair to link the scenes and characters of New England's past. Together, Scott and Hawthorne might be called the fathers of creative historical nonfiction for children.
The mother of historical fiction for children, however, must be Charlotte Yonge, who first established it as a distinct genre with high literary and scholarly standards. Although she is best known today for The Daisy Chain (1856) and other domestic novels, she wrote children's histories of England, Germany, France, Greece, Rome, and America, and a good dozen historical novels for children and teens. Not surprisingly, most of these novels are set in the Middle Ages. She had become a Scottian at ten, when she read The Talisman, and remained loyal to him for life, writing in her autobiography, "I may respect, admire, rely on other authors more, but my prime literary affection must ever be for Sir Walter!" And in the dramatic events, chivalric idealism and pictorial scenic effects of The Dove in the Eagle's Nest (1866), Sir Walter's influence is clear.
Yet despite their genuine affinity—for both Scott and Yonge combined the romantic and the scholar—Yonge's stories are not simply scaled-down Scotts, but a radical rethinking of the genre. It would never have occurred to Scott to make Rebecca or Rowena the chief protagonist of Ivanhoe; indeed, the Victorian concept of chivalry so well described by Mark Girouard in The Return to Camelot: Chivalry and the English Gentleman is entirely male-centered. Even Martineau and Marryat had to remove their child characters from a normal social environment to make them central figures. Yonge was the first to reorient history from a child's perspective, so that a little boy living in a world of adults could be the [End Page 4] hero of The Little Duke ( 1854), or a teenage girl take over a robber baron's castle in The Dove in the Eagle's Nest. Moreover, while the Little Duke was an actual tenth-century Duke of Normandy whose boyhood exploits had historical support, Christina, the Dove, was pure fiction—central simply because Yonge made her so. Later authors could take for granted the centrality of imaginary girls and boys in stories of the past.
Yonge's other radical innovation was to cut loose the historical novel from the adventure story, and from the male audience traditionally associated with it. The Dove in the Eagle's Nest, The Chaplet of Pearls (1868), and many of her other historical novels are designed primarily for teenage girl readers; there is as much romantic love and domesticity as adventure in them. Yonge first proved the historical novel's flexibility as a genre, and its appeal to more than one kind of audience.
While these early phases of the genre were closely bound up with Romantic medievalism and its adoption by the Victorians, the attitudes of later nineteenth-century novelists toward the Middle Ages were often skeptical. As Girouard points out, "sympathy for chivalry was by no means universal" in either England or America (ii). Medievalism ran counter to belief in progress; nor was Mark Twain the only writer to condemn medieval religion as superstitious and medieval society as brutal and anti-democratic. Twain used adult fantasy to lash back at medievalism in A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court (1889); The Prince and the Pauper (1882) made much the same arguments in a historical novel for children. 4 Even Twain's storytelling ability and his appealing gimmick—the boy lookalikes who trade lives—are all but submerged by relentless and inaccurate propaganda.
Howard Pyle's attitude toward the Middle Ages was more ambivalent and produced better writing in the genre. Born of Quaker parents, Pyle seems to have been both repelled by and attracted to violence, lawlessness, and hand-to-hand combat. From retelling folktales, he moved to the Robin Hood and King Arthur legends, and to historical novels about robber barons and pirates. In Otto of the Silver Hand (1888), the boy protagonist's hand is amputated in a savage act of revenge. Myles Falworth, the protagonist of Men of Iron (1892), fights his way to a knighthood—with the praiseworthy intention of redeeming his family name. Jack of Jack Ballister's Fortunes (1895) falls in with Blackbeard and becomes—only temporarily, to be sure—a member of his crew. Protagonists like these allow Pyle to have it both ways, while occasionally moralizing to the reader on the barbarism of the past and our own greater degree of civilization. [End Page 5]
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"From behind this fierce knight, with his dark, narrow, cruel face, its deep-set eyes glistening in the light of the torches, crowded six or eight savage, low-browed, brutal men. . . ." Inspired by the engravings of Albrecht Durer, Howard Pyle showed children the dark side of the Middle Ages in his dramatic illustrations for Otto of the Silver Hand (1888).
[End Page 6]
Both John Rowe Townsend and The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature complain about Pyle's pseudo-medieval style ( Townsend 107-9 ; Carpenter and Prichard, "King Arthur and His Knights," 293 ). To be fair, one must remember that all historical novels written in English and set in Elizabethan, medieval, or even ancient Roman times used more or less the same artificially archaic idiom, at least for dialogue. This convention, inherited from Scott, was still unquestioned in the late nineteenth century, and Twain uses it no more convincingly than Pyle.
Besides the attraction-repulsion of medievalism, the other factor strongly influencing the historical novel at this time was the surge in popularity of the adventure story. Most of the late nineteenth-century historical novels for young people have their feet in the adventure story too: Men of Iron, Jack Ballister's Fortunes, Stevenson's Kidnapped (1886) and The Black Arrow (1888)—another ambivalent glance back at the Middle Ages—John Bennett's Master Skylark (1896), and George Alfred Henty's nearly eighty chronicles of battles and campaigns. And there were few barriers between older and younger readers, 5 Arthur Conan Doyle makes it explicit in his epigraph to The Lost World (1912):
I have wrought my simple planIf I give one hour of joyTo the boy who's half a man,Or the man who's half a boy.
Historical novels of this period like Doyle's own Rodney Stone (1896) or The White Company (1890), or R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone (1869), or Stanley Weyman's The House of the Wolf (1890) are notoriously hard to classify by age group, though they were originally published on the adult "list."
Like fantasy, and the adventure novel too, the historical novel has often been accused of "escapism." For some readers and writers, admittedly, the journey to another world is primarily a vacation getaway—a visit to some pleasingly exotic land where daydreams of fighting prowess, sexual desirability, or whatever can come effortlessly true. The junk fiction found in all three genres offers nothing more. And nineteenth-century readers seeking escape could certainly find it in Walter Scott or Charlotte Yonge. But as Mark Girouard has shown, nineteenth-century medievalism also incorporated a serious attempt to infuse the ideals of chivalry into Victorian culture—an attempt that met with some real-life degree of success. Medievalism aimed to correct the present by re-introducing values of the past: not only chivalry, but the color and beauty of the Middle Ages, its individualized craftsmanship (for people like Ruskin and William Morris), and its religious fervor (for people like Pugin). [End Page 7] Even the unabashedly escapist writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries make a point of upholding certain ideals of conduct, such as honor and chivalry, associated with the past.
Some writers of this period, however, use the past in a different way—not so much to correct the present as to educate and guide the future. G. A. Henty, for example, aimed to acquaint British boys with the military history of their country and took some pains to make his research "absolutely trustworthy" (see his preface to The Cornet of Horse, quoted in Carpenter and Prichard 245) . Writing in the 1880s and 1890s, when a steady supply of young men suitably educated and motivated was needed to maintain the British Empire, Henty was pleased when "officers of the Army and Volunteers have assured me that my books have been effectual in bringing young fellows into the Army . . ." (Boys Own Paper, 1902, quoted in Fisher 348) . Yet, as Margery Fisher points out, Henty's imperialism is seldom explicit or unqualified, and "surprisingly slight in comparison with the one dominant element of instruction" in his tales (352). 6 As a veteran war correspondent, he knows too much about war to glorify it, and has less to say about British supremacy than about cultural and religious tolerance and the usefulness of foreign language study. What made his work "imperialist" may have been the cumulative effect of those seventy-odd volumes ranging throughout time and space, from At Aboukir and Acre to The Young Carthaginian. Mastering Henty does give one a heady sense of mastering the world.
Rudyard Kipling's concepts of history and imperialism were far more complex. Like many of his generation, he looked less to the Middle Ages than to Ancient Rome, whose empire seemed to offer the closest parallel to Britain's. But his final great works for children, Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) and its sequel Rewards and Fairies ( 1910), do not limit themselves to any one period of history. They sum up all that he thought England should learn from its own past in two volumes of historical fiction—the most intellectually challenging, perhaps, ever written for the young.
The Puck books crossbreed the historical novel with time travel fantasy in a fashion never successfully imitated. Dan and Una, two children of the present day, make friends with Puck, "the oldest Old Thing in England" (8), who brings men and women from many periods in the English past to meet them and tell their stories. The children are based on Kipling's own John and Elsie, and the piece of Sussex countryside where they lived in real life becomes their bond in common with all those who have lived there or traveled through: a Norman knight, a Roman centurion, a medieval Jew, a Tudor craftsman, a gypsy smuggler, a young girl dying of tuberculosis in the early nineteenth century, a prehistoric tribesman, an [End Page 8] astrologer, St. Wilfrid, even Queen Elizabeth. The wonderful variety of storytellers reveals the depth and richness of English history, the successive cultures and countless interacting forces that created England:
Trackway and Camp and City lost,Salt Marsh where now is corn;Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,And so was England born!
(4)
But Kipling also saw how knowledge of the past might guide the future. As John Coates has shown in "Failure and Success of Civilisation in Puck of Pook's Hill," Kipling contrasts the successful conquest of England by the Normans with its occupation and eventual abandonment by the Romans. Roman civilization, "imposed from above and maintained by force alone," cannot succeed in "reconciling the weak, defeated and alien to its institutions" (24). "The Treasure and the Law," the final story in this volume, shows such a reconciliation taking place under Norman rule, when "the Barons' embryonic 'Parliament' at Runnymede promises equality and justice to the persecuted outsider, the Jew Kadmiel" (24). Perhaps, it suggests, the Roman Empire was not the best model to follow after all.
Kipling's insights are not for England alone. In other stories, especially in Rewards and Fairies, he explores the qualities of good leadership, responsibility, loyalty, fairness, tolerance, and selfless service that enable any society to survive with decency. On the brink of the new century, and looking with some foreboding into the future, Kipling found in the past and its continuity with the present a source of inspiration and of hope.
In the same year Puck was published, another historical time travel fantasy took a very different view of past and future. The Story of the Amulet (1906) by E. Nesbit reflected the Fabian Socialism of its author. Instead of encountering people from the past, Nesbit's children journey into the past themselves; unlike Kipling, she was influenced by the rationale that her friend and fellow Fabian H. G. Wells had invented for The Time Machine (1895), though her children travel by magic amulet instead. As they visit Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Atlantis, their quest, symbolically, becomes a search for the ideal civilization—the ideal city to replace the cruel and ugly London of their own time. The solution, they discover, lies not in the past but in the future, when London itself will be transformed into a beautiful and happy place. E. Nesbit uses the past to comment on the deficiencies of the present—often satirically, as in the famous episode in which the Queen of Babylon visits modern [End Page 9] London, and is not impressed—but also to create a vision for the future. The lovely streets and gardens of Babylon and Atlantis reappear in the future London, which incorporates the best qualities of all ages. 7
Both the Puck stories and The Amulet stretched the boundaries of historical fiction for children in new and daring ways. Time travel made them free of all times, offering a multiplicity of vantage points from which to comprehend the long-evolved complexity of England as the twentieth century began—and from which to envision a future for their country and the world. Both summed up civilization in a way that was soon to become impossible.
The effect of World War I on the historical novel was understandably devastating. No lessons from the past had prepared anyone for this. Young men raised on the ideals of chivalry went to war in a spirit of adventure and found themselves trapped in a world of meaningless mass suffering and death. Those who survived were radically disillusioned; the postwar culture rejected with unusual violence everything associated with the past age-not only anything Victorian, but the Victorians' favorite period as well. Hendrik Willem Van Loon's The Story of Mankind (1921) is typical of its time in the scorn poured on the unwashed, unscientific Middle Ages. 8 Closely linked with the Victorian and medieval periods as it was, the historical novel and its archaic English were suddenly hopelessly passé. Those novels of the old adventure type that appeared in the 1920s, like The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes, seem to belong in another century. In Britain, where children's literature in general had fallen into a moribund condition, historical fiction had petrified. Henty remained the popular paradigm, his books printed and reprinted for decades after the War, as though the world had not changed and Britannia still ruled the waves. Boys' formula fiction also continued to reflect pre-War assumptions of national and racial superiority and the glory of combat, as George Orwell would warn in 1939. 9
What was needed was a fresh approach to the past, and this time American writers—women writers, in particular—took the lead. As John Rowe Townsend has observed, the future of the historical novel now lay not with "robust and red-blooded" swashbucklers like The Dark Frigate but with "the literary successors" of Master Simon's Garden (1916) by Cornelia Meigs, a quiet story of ordinary people's lives (176). The garden, planted in a Puritan village and tended by three generations, symbolizes the victory of beauty, tolerance, and freedom over narrow prejudice and oppression. In turning to the American past for her setting rather than the usual European Middle Ages or Renaissance, and in her interpretation [End Page 10] of that past, Meigs set an influential precedent. America and what it stood for were to take center stage. Ordinary people, not just kings and generals, made history, and history meant more than winning wars; it could mean growing flowers in a bleak new land.
Meigs's Master Simon is adult and male, but by the 1920s little girls were playing lead roles in stories based on American history. The "Little Maid" books of Alice Turner Curtis, for example, showed how girls might well have helped win the Revolutionary War. Ruth of A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia (1919) "keeps her ears open, and overhears some important news that must be carried to a famous general" (dust jacket). 10 Besides two dozen "Little Maids," Curtis turned out a "Frontier Girl" series and a "Yankee Girl" Civil War series too, each the story of a "quick-witted, resourceful American girl at a critical time in the history of our country" (dust jacket).
Even everyday lives of girls and young women unconnected to great events and "famous generals" became absorbing and significant in the hands of the best novelists of this period—in Caroline Dale Snedeker's Downright Dencey (1927), Rachel Field's Hitty (1929) and Calico Bush (1931), Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods (1932) and its successors, Elizabeth Coatsworth's Away Goes Sally (1934), Carol Ryrie Brink's Caddie Woodlawn (1935), and Elizabeth Janet Gray's Beppy Marlowe (1936). The number of such stories by these and many other authors suggests more at work than individual preference or passing fashion. 11 American isolationism after World War I may have encouraged novelists to refocus on their own history, in place of that civilization which had just self-destructed. Another influence was probably the huge influx of immigrants early in the century. Many Americans feared (as they fear now) a kind of cultural dilution, and felt the need to reaffirm and pass on their heritage. The historical novels of the twenties and thirties—the "Little Maids," for example—are often set during the colonial or revolutionary periods, when America was first defining its identity. Feminism also undoubtedly played a part; it is no coincidence that so many of these novelists and their protagonists were female. Born into the first emancipated generation, these children's writers established a claim through fiction to a place in history which textbooks were not to recognize for another forty or fifty years.
The American historical novel continued to flourish through the 1940s, and to extend its range. Although American settings remained, as they still are, the most frequent choice, some novelists reached back across the sea once more, and deeper into the past—perhaps reflecting the revived [End Page 11]
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Sally puts on the six iron pots for tea in Away Goes Sally, one of many historical novels of the 1930s set in the American past. Illustration by Helen Sewell, reprinted with permission of Macmillan Publishing Company, from Away Goes Sally by Elizabeth Coatsworth. Copyright 1934 by Macmillan Publishing Company, renewed 1962 by Elizabeth Coatsworth Beston.
internationalism of the World War II years. If Johnny Tremain (1943), with its idealistic patriotism, is typical of its time, so in its own way is Adam of the Road (1942), set in thirteenth-century England. Other American historical novels with European settings published in the 1940s include Marchette Chute's The Innocent Wayfaring (1943), Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind (1948), and Marguerite De Angeli's The Door [End Page 12] in the Wall (1949). That four out of the last five mentioned were Newbery Award winners—as well as The Matchlock Gun by Walter D. Edmonds (1941)—signals the growing prestige of the genre. In America, the historical novel had officially come of age.
In Britain, its renaissance had still barely begun. "The one lively innovation" of the inter-war years, says Townsend, "was made by Geoffrey Trease when, as a young man, he introduced the radical, 'committed' historical story" (182). Exasperated by the outworn values still pervading historical and adventure fiction, the young Marxist came out with Bows Against the Barons (1934), a "realistic Robin Hood story, in which the seamy side of Merrie England should be displayed, and Robin represented as a kind of premature Wat Tyler" (Trease, Tales 21) . Bows was revolutionary not only in its politics but in its style. In 1923 Naomi Mitchison had allowed her ancient Gauls and Romans to speak modern English in The Conquered—a historical novel for adults—and told the story from the Gauls', not the conquering Romans' point of view. Trease had been impressed by that book in his teens. Now he consciously decided to make Robin Hood speak modern English too. His innovation was "bitterly resisted in some quarters" (Trease, Tales 96) , but like the political stance of Bows and his other novels of the 1930s, helped force the British historical novel into the twentieth century at last.
Although Trease learned to dislike propaganda and aimed for fairness in his later novels, he remained committed to democracy and a new kind of hero. In Tales Out of School (1949), he insisted that "The Cavalier and the Jacobite, the sea-dog and the French aristocrat, might well be turned out to grass for a while. So might the knight in shining armour" (104). Trease's own heroes are middle or lower class, not knights or soldiers but young artists, musicians, playwrights, journalists, and scholars who join the age-old struggle for "democracy and humanism" (94). And their staunch allies are spirited, intelligent, and daring girls with talents and ambitions of their own. Once and for all, Trease liberated the British historical novel from the mind-set of the upper-class fighting man.
Both in America and in Britain the historical novel achieved its greatest flowering in the decades following World War II. In America, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Marchette Chute, Marguerite Henry, Elizabeth Janet Gray, and Maud Hart Lovelace continued to produce fine work, and were joined by such good new writers as Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Annabel and Edgar Johnson, Elizabeth George Speare, Elizabeth Marie Pope, Irene Hunt, Jean Fritz, Sid Fleischman, and Scott O'Dell. Newbery Awards went to Rifles for Watie (1957), The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958), Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960), The Bronze Bow (1961), and I, Juan de Pareja [End Page 13] (1965), plus two historical biographies: Amos Fortune, Free Man (1950) and Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (1955). In Britain, the flowering is even more evident in contrast with the previous barren decades. Geoffrey Trease, most of whose best work was done in the 1950s and early sixties, was joined by Rosemary Sutcliff and Cynthia Harnett, followed by Ronald Welch, Henry Treece, J. G. Fyson, Hester Burton, Stephanie Plowman, K. M. Peyton, and the Australian Nan Chauncy. Carnegie Awards went to The Wool-Pack (1951), Knight Crusader (1954), The Lantern Bearers (1959), and Time of Trial (1963).
But names and awards are only one dimension of the picture. It was during this same period, between, say, 1940 and 1965, that the historical novel also revealed more potential for depth and variety than at any time in its previous history. Historical fiction was now being written for younger as well as older children; it could be serious or light-hearted, farcical or heart-rending. Its protagonists could be centurions or slaves; knights, wool-merchants, or minstrels; girls or boys; white, black, American Indian—even animal. It was exploring cultures that had never been explored before—ancient Sumerian in Fyson's The Three Brothers of Ur (1964), prehistoric Tasmanian in Chauncy's Tangara (1960), ancient Ethiopian in Coatsworth's The Princess and the Lion (1963), California Indian in O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960). And it was being crossbred with nearly every other genre in children's literature: not only with the adventure story, the domestic novel, and the teenage romance, but with the animal story (King of the Wind), with fantasy (Hobberdy Dick, The Sherwood Ring), with the tall tale (By the Great Horn Spoon!) with science fiction (The Twenty-One Balloons), with the detective story (Detectives in Togas), with the picture book (Obadiah the Bold).
Historical nonfiction was also beginning a period of creative development, in which the Landmark Books of the 1950s were especially influential. For this series, instantly popular with both teachers and children, Random House commissioned some of the best-known writers in America, men and women like Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Quentin Reynolds, MacKinlay Kantor, George R. Stewart, Pearl Buck, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Thomas B. Costain, C. S. Forester, and Shirley Jackson. Each volume focused in lively detail on a specific incident or sideline of history, instead of taking a broad overview—the Battle of Gettysburg instead of the whole Civil War. The results were not only more fun to read but better history.
Why was this time so ripe for a union between history and children's books? The nature of British fantasy during this same period suggests [End Page 14] one explanation, for much of its best work seems haunted by the past. Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse (1946) is set in Victorian England; Rumer Godden's The Dolls' House (1947) centers round a Victorian dollhouse. Mary Norton's The Borrowers (1952) is not only set sometime around the turn of the century but concerns a race of beings surviving from an even earlier period—beings so endangered that any change may mean extinction for them. The eighteenth-century Lilliputians of Mistress Masham's Repose (1946) by T. H. White are in much the same precarious situation. L. M. Boston's The Children of Green Knowe (1954) takes place in an ancient house, where a boy of today and his great-grandmother encounter children who lived in it centuries ago. Tom, in Tom's Midnight Garden (1958) by Philippa Pearce, finds a way to travel back in time to a garden of the 1880s. In The Twelve and the Genii (1962) by Pauline Clarke, the toy soldiers of the Bronte children return to life. Even C. S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles are, in part, about the revival of tradition in the modern world—not only Christian tradition, but the traditions of classical mythology and medieval romance. A common element in many of these stories is a modern child finding a private connection with the past; simply by reading, of course, the reader makes an individual connection too. And that past is very often the nineteenth century—the same period which an earlier generation had rejected.
This pattern is less evident in American children's books. But a here and now story by Elizabeth Enright provides a perfect analogue to the British time-fantasies. In Gone-Away Lake (1957), Portia and Julian, a girl and boy of today, discover an old man and woman happily living in the long-deserted summer colony they had known as children. Entering what is, to all intents and purposes, a turn-of-the-century time-warp is presented as an entirely positive experience for the children. They love it there. And no one attempts to drag Uncle Pin and Aunt Minnehaha back into the modern world; indeed, by the end of the book, Portia's family is planning to buy a deserted Victorian mansion nearby, and move in.
Where the past survives within the modern world, it tends to be vulnerable and to need protection. The child protagonist in these stories often becomes the protector—Miss Kate's brother (and later Miss Kate) succoring the Borrowers, Maria hiding the Lilliputians from her greedy guardians, Tolly and Ping defending Green Knowe from the witch in An Enemy at Green Knowe (1964). Even Julian and Portia need to defend the "crazy" old people to their friends. Such stories suggest not only how wonderful it is for children to discover the past, but that they must help preserve what's left of it in a fast-changing and destructive world. [End Page 15]
The connection between this theme and the historical novel seems clear. The historical novel also preserves the past, by bringing it to life through the imagination of a child. The preservation of one's heritage is itself a theme in some historical novels of this period. Geoffrey Trease's young Renaissance scholars in Shadow of the Hawk (1948) rescue a long-lost Greek manuscript; in Escape to King Alfred (1958), Trease spotlights the King's attempt to save his threatened civilization from the invading Danes. The underlying theme of Rosemary Sutcliff's famous Roman-British sequence—The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), The Silver Branch (1957), The Lantern Bearers (1959), and Dawn Wind (1961)—is the preservation of the light of civilization in a growing darkness of barbarism. She herself has drawn the parallel: "We have the same uncertainty the Romans must have had whether the light would show up again at the end of the tunnel" (quoted in Carpenter and Prichard 506) .
Many children's writers of the postwar period placed a special value on the past. They designed stories not primarily to convey information about the past, but to make it attractive and exciting, to suggest what treasures it might hold, and sometimes to underline the need and responsibility to preserve what still remained. The fear of overwhelming destruction in the fantasies, especially, is very strong. In the aftermath of World War II, and with the new possibility of nuclear holocaust, this is not surprising. In Britain, there was the added trauma of the breakup of the Empire; in that sense, a whole world was indeed coming to an end.
On a more personal level, World War II and the ensuing Cold War might help account for the pervasive sense of helplessness, of inability to control one's destiny. To an unprecedented extent, wartime conditions had reduced human beings to numbers, not only in the armed services and in concentration camps, but in civilian life as well. Identity cards, ration cards, the censorship of mail, and in Britain the splitting-up and dislocation of families evacuated from their homes—these were new ways of being organized by an absolute power structure. The anonymity of postwar suburbia may also have contributed to those feelings of alienation and loss of individuality characteristic of the fifties—the decade of the "Lonely Crowd." In America, especially, unaccustomed feelings of powerlessness may have created the widespread conviction that some mysterious force must be controlling people's lives—Communist subversives, advertising agencies, maybe even aliens from space. 12 And the hunger for "togetherness" and "security" led, in turn, to a rigid conformity. One result for children's literature was that most here and now stories of the 1950s strike us today as excessively safe, sheep-like, and bland.
The writers of fantasy and historical fiction were on a different road. [End Page 16] From a world of mass destruction and control, they create escape routes to a myriad other worlds. Their stories, whether grave or funny, are not bland. Their young protagonists may endure real suffering and danger, though pain and fear are always outweighed by other things—humor, friendship, a keen awareness of natural beauty and the pleasures of the senses, faith in the happy ending. By encouraging children to use their imaginations, these writers reaffirmed the power and freedom of the individual mind. At the same time, they offered children the security of roots in the past.
As the times changed, the historical novel remained responsive—in some respects even in advance of large-scale movements. Years before women's liberation, historical novelists like Geoffrey Trease, Gillian Avery, Elizabeth George Speare, and Scott O'Dell were featuring strong, independent heroines in often dangerous adventures. In 1948 the human protagonist of King of the Wind was not only brown-skinned but mute; the protagonists of Hepatica Hawks (1932), Johnny Tremain, The Door in the Wall, The Eagle of the Ninth, and Warrior Scarlet (1958) also struggled with physical handicaps, long before such representation became a public issue. By the mid-sixties, ethnic minorities were not uncommon in historical fiction—much more common than they were in stories with contemporary settings. Island of the Blue Dolphins and I, Juan de Pareja had won Newbery Awards. In Britain, the campaign to tear down class barriers was supported by the historical novels of Geoffrey Trease, Leon Garfield, and K. M. Peyton.
But the most powerful currents of the revolutionary sixties were set in active opposition to the past, and the historical novel was bound to suffer for it. In the 1950s, the genre had been valued for giving young people the security of tradition in a fast-changing world, but in the late sixties tradition was exactly what the young hoped to be liberated from. Teenagers warned each other not to trust anyone over thirty. Cigarette ads began assuring women, "You've come a long way, baby," making it seem (once more) a fate worse than death to be Victorian. History was, at best, not "relevant." At worst, it seemed inextricably associated with authority and the lies told by those in power—in the distortions and omissions of American history textbooks, for example. By the early 1970s, the historical novel had already plummeted to the low point of popularity from which it has still not fully recovered. Even historical novels and biographies which had been praised for featuring minorities in leading roles were under attack for racism—Amos Fortune, Free Man, I, Juan de Pareja, The Slave Dancer. [End Page 17]
It should have been possible, of course, to revise rather than totally reject the past. The only types of historical novels to flourish in the seventies had moved in this direction. Some were stories of ethnic minorities or (in Britain) the lower classes, which consciously attempted to correct what had been distorted or omitted in the classroom. Paula Fox's The Slave Dancer (1973) paints a darker picture of the slave trade than children had been allowed to see, while Mildred D. Taylor exposes them to black history and family life in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976). The Newbery Awards given to both books suggest that historical novels of this type had the support of the children's literature establishment. Scott O'Dell's American Indian heroines received consistent praise; other novelists, such as Joyce Rockwood in To Spoil the Sun (1976), also "reversed" history by showing it from an Indian point of view. British novels like K. M. Peyton's Flambards trilogy (1967 on) and Jill Paton Walsh's Fireweed (1969) questioned the class system, and were critically acclaimed.
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Arnold Lobel's illustrations from Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley emphasize the less glorious aspects of the American Revolution. Text copyright © 1969 by Nathaniel Benchley. Illustrations copyright © 1969 by Arnold Lobel. Reprinted with permission of HarperCollins Children's Books.
The other type of historical novel characteristic of this period made use of "the new realism" to focus on what Trease had called "the seamy side" of some event or period traditionally thought of as romantic, charm-ing, [End Page 18] or inspiring—the American Revolution, for example. Though by no means one-sided or naive, Johnny Tremain had emphasized the ideals of the Revolution and presented the war itself as both just and necessary. Johnny's friend Rab dies heroically at the Battle of Lexington. That battle comes off much less impressively in the Vietnam-era Sam the Minuteman (1969) by Nathaniel Benchley. Young Sam has no idea what he is fighting for, and no enthusiasm for it till his best friend is wounded and he gets mad. My Brother Sam Is Dead (1974) by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier takes an even more cynical look at the Revolution. This Sam is unjustly condemned to death by firing squad—not by the British enemy, but by his own superiors, as a gesture of political expediency. The narrator, his younger brother, wonders as the book ends whether the war had to be fought at all. 13
Another historical novel of this type, Gloria Skurzynski's It Happened in Hamelin (1979), gives children an equally bleak view of medieval village life. Pat Conrad's Prairie Songs (1986) reads like a refutation of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In Prairie Songs, no one enjoys homesteading on the prairie; it drives sensitive, cultured women to despair, madness, and death. Unlike the authors of the forties and fifties, who tried to make the past appeal to children, Skurzynski, Conrad, and the Colliers seem to dislike the cultures they describe. The past, from this perspective, can be neither enjoyable for its own sake nor a source of alternative solutions—only a storehouse of folly that may enable us to perceive more clearly the follies of our own time.
Disillusion and pessimism were not confined to history; this was an age of unhappy families and downbeat endings throughout children's literature. None of the great revolutions of the sixties seemed to have fulfilled their aims, and self-absorption, rather than social activism, had become fashionable in the Me Decade. A best-seller for adults was How to Be Your Own Best Friend (1974). The trendy children's books were "problem novels," typically with first-person narrators. This too may indirectly have contributed to the decline of the historical novel, for the protagonists of problem novels were designed to resemble the average reader. Children were no longer supposed to "relate" to characters very different from themselves.
In the midst of this, however, even as the historical novel ebbed in favor, historical nonfiction was thriving—enjoying exponential growth in quality, creativity, popularity, and prestige. Paradoxically, some of the same trends that had worked against historical fiction were working for nonfiction. The "story biographies" of past decades, for one thing, had been chiefly "inspirational"—which meant inaccurate, over-reverent, and [End Page 19] dull. The quirks and eccentricities of great men like the Founding Fathers, let alone their faults, were conscientiously ironed flat. Now the reaction against traditional authority created a new readiness to see such men with less reverence—as human beings rather than animated monuments.
The leader in this particular revolution was Jean Fritz. Her brief biographies of the Founding Fathers, beginning in 1973 with And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?, were entirely original in their approach. Instead of hiding the eccentricities of her subjects, she emphasized them with deliberate, though deadpan humor. Sam Adams's unwillingness to ride a horse or John Hancock's craving to be liked by everyone not only made them more individual and amusing, but were traits with which children could sympathize. Again, instead of relying on fictional dialogue to provide entertainment, Fritz dug up odd yet authentic details—Sam training his dog Queue to bark at Redcoats, John's passion for gold lace. Fritz insisted that children deserved, and wanted, the same faithfulness to fact expected in biography for adults; she even provided scholarly endnotes for her books. To top it off, her early biographies were written for a fairly young age group—third or fourth graders—an age for which the most blatant fictionalizing had always been deemed necessary. Fritz's approach, once discovered, proved irresistible. She has had numerous imitators, and biography for children may never be the same again.
Another innovator of the early seventies was David Macaulay, who focused—again, with precise, accurate, sometimes amusing detail—on the building of a single imaginary medieval Cathedral (1973), Roman City (1974), or ancient Egyptian Pyramid (1975), sometimes using past cultures to comment on our own. In City, for example, the forethought of Roman city planners, who set population limits for a new community based on what the surrounding countryside could support, is implicitly contrasted with the absence of such planning in our society.
In both Fritz and Macaulay, the prominence of illustration and its careful integration with the text indicated another important direction for nonfiction. By the 1970s, due probably to the cumulative influence of television, illustration had begun to dominate the picture book—which had acquired an audience of visually aware teenagers and adults as well as children. At the same time, for children's novels, illustration had become a financial luxury that publishers did without. This too worked against historical fiction and for nonfiction. Illustration had been especially helpful for the historical novel, making it much easier for children to imagine unfamiliar scenes—as one can appreciate by studying novels published in the forties and fifties, when illustration was routine. In nonfiction, however, illustration was still thought of as a necessity, and by the [End Page 20] seventies much historical nonfiction was enjoying lavish visual presentation—no small advantage in a picture-oriented age.
A final significant development in historical nonfiction was its role in filling in the gaps and correcting the distortions of traditional history textbooks and curricula. Most of the histories and biographies of women and minorities hastily turned out as the Civil Rights and women's liberation movements first took hold were uniform and poor in quality, but first-rate writers also turned their talents to this work. Milton Meltzer gave young people a whole new look at history with his biographies of men and women like Thoreau, Thaddeus Stevens, Lydia Maria Child, and Dorothea Lange; with In Their Own Words (1964-67), a three-volume compilation of the unheard voices of black Americans; with the sagas of Jewish Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans; with accounts of world slavery, American peace movements, Reconstruction, the Depression, and poverty in America. Paul and Dorothy Goble retold Custer's Last Stand from the Indians ' point of view in Red Hawk's Account of Custer's Last Battle (1969); Paul Goble's Death of the Iron Horse (1987) chronicles another, more obscure battle which the Indians also won. Books like these told children stories they had never heard before—or retold old stories in revolutionary ways.
There is a strong sense of energy and determination in the historical nonfiction of the late sixties and seventies, even when the story being told is grim. To give children so much more of the truth than they had ever had was at least a satisfying step forward. 14
As the eighties began, however, the elections of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher signaled a general retreat into conservatism—the deliberate rejection of the revolutionary sixties and the pessimistic seventies for some imagined better time indefinitely farther back. One would expect this to return the historical novel to full favor, but it hasn't happened—perhaps because nostalgia is not history. We can't easily forget what we have just learned; "history" now means black cowboys and Japanese-Americans in concentration camps. And so little history remains in school curricula that children may simply never have the opportunity to discover the fascination of the past. But it would be mistaken to assume that children have stopped enjoying historical novels, or that the genre itself is on its last legs. Just as it responded and adapted to major cultural changes in the sixties and seventies, so too in the last decade the historical novel has adapted in response to change.
A return to "family values" was much trumpeted by the New Conservatives; the one soft spot of those ruthless heroes of the 1980s, J. R. [End Page 21] Ewing and the Godfather, was their loyalty to "the Family." People tended to associate family values with the past, and amateur genealogy—the search for "roots"—was suddenly very popular. One of the most successful symbols of this connection between family and history, particularly in its sentimentalized TV version, was the Little House books. In 1983 The Reader's Digest even sold the books to parents—uncondensed, too—as a set. In general, stories of immigration and the westward movement did well in this decade, and "family" was emphasized in nearly all of them. Save Queen of Sheba (1981) by Louise Moeri, for example, while hewing to the gritty "new realism" of the seventies and a somewhat enlightened attitude toward Indians, is really about old-fashioned family unity; your little sister, no matter how obnoxious, is still your sister.
The only other period to have attained real popularity in the eighties, in both Britain and America, is World War II. Here, the explanations are less obvious. In part, perhaps, it's the appeal of straightforward moral issues that both left and right wingers can support. In part, the generation gap we have seen before; authors who were children in the War now have the perspective from which to share their experience with children. But there is another, darker possibility as well. For a culture that seems increasingly afflicted with child abuse in its broadest sense, World War II may offer the most appropriate models of destruction and survival—children in air raids, in concentration camps, children losing parents, homeless children, children learning intolerance and violence or being traumatized by them. This explanation might help account for the intensity of such recent stories as Myron Levoy's Alan and Naomi (1980) and Christopher Gallaz and Roberto Innocenti's Rose Blanche (1985).
The majority of today's historical novels, however, are not often recognized as such. The general unpopularity of the genre in its more standard forms has in a sense forced it to cross-breed with other, more popular genres to survive. Picture books are popular, and despite the inherent difficulties of presenting any past culture to the very young, a number of historical picture books have recently appeared, some fiction, some nonfiction of a close-to-fiction type. Brinton Turkle's Obadiah books (1962 on) have been followed by Donald Hall's Ox-Cart Man (1979), Aliki's A Medieval Feast (1983), Joe Lasker's Merry Ever After (1976) and A Tournament of Knights (1986), Barbara Cooney's Island Boy (1988), and a good many more. Fantasy is also popular, and quite a few historical novels have been successfully disguised as fantasy. These are the "time slip" novels, in which a contemporary child slips back to some former time, assumes the identity of some person of the past, and remains there for the major part of the book, learning its way around the alien [End Page 22] culture. Most of these lack the depth and richness of the first-rate historical novel, but an occasional writer, like Ruth Park in Playing Beatie Bow (1980) or Jill Paton Walsh in A Chance Child (1978), has tapped the interesting potential in this cross-breeding. Sometimes a time slip novel includes the "roots" appeal as well; in Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic (1988), for example, a contemporary Jewish girl learns to understand her aunt's childhood memories of the Holocaust by "becoming" a girl in the same concentration camp.
Stories of pioneers, of immigrants, of World War II, and of time slips all find an audience. And there are signs that the whole genre might be ready to rebound. Some good novels of the fifties have reappeared in paperback, after long unavailability—Cynthia Harnett's, for one, and Eloise Jarvis McGraw's. There are new mass-market paperbacks as well. The American Girls series is based on the "period" dolls sold by Pleasant Company. Its three protagonists reflect which periods are current favorites: Kirsten (an immigrant from Sweden and a "pioneer girl of strength and spirit"), Samantha (a "bright Victorian beauty"), and Molly (a "lively, lovable schemer and dreamer" of World War II). Since 1984, Scholastic has been publishing the "Sunfire" series of teenage romances, each set in a different segment of American history: Amanda, Susannah, Elizabeth, Danielle, etc. through a good two dozen more. Although these stories of "fascinating young women who lived and loved during America's most turbulent times!" are not high in quality, they hint at the large audience that might welcome more novels like The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958), which has remained popular since it was published. A number of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books have historical settings too, suggesting that historical adventure stories of the old lively type might appeal no less than they did forty (or a hundred) years ago. Historical nonfiction is still flourishing and experimenting. The opportunities both in and out of the classroom for connecting fiction and nonfiction, using the fine nonfiction available today, are more fruitful than they have ever been. If the historical novel is to regain the wide popularity it once had with the young, it might simply look back at its own eventful history—and allow children once more not only to learn from but to enjoy the past.
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"Which snooker player has the nickname ""The Jester from Leicester""?" | Mark Selby, snooker's so-called Jester from Leicester, is having a laugh with his nickname - Telegraph
Snooker
Mark Selby, snooker's so-called Jester from Leicester, is having a laugh with his nickname
Nicknames are mandatory in many sports but snooker world champion Mark Selby lives up to only half of his
Deadly serious: Snooker world champion Mark Selby's nickmame has nothing to do with jesterly wit Photo: AFP
By Matthew Norman
8:41PM BST 08 May 2014
Some years ago, when the Texas Hold Em craze was at its peak, I wrote a poker column and played in several televised tournaments. In one, despite being supernaturally useless, I blundered into the chip lead with two players remaining. I was dealt a pair of jacks, and joyously called my opponent when he went all in. He was bluffing, and turned over an unsuited three and a six. A miraculous flop came two, four and five, making him a straight. I smiled the nauseous false smile of the bad beat victim, went on tilt, and hurriedly blew the remaining chips.
On leaving the table, meaning to race home to raid the medicine chest for the strychnine, I was intercepted by an interviewer. “What nickname do you want on the caption?” she asked. “Anything,” I replied, “other than ‘Matt The Hat’.” Anyone with my first name was automatically nicknamed that. “Oh,” she said, crestfallen, “what’s wrong with that?” No one calls me Matt,” I said, tersely, “and I do not own a hat.” I will not insult you by relating the caption that later appeared.
And so to the new world snooker champion, and the sobriquet that hoists the nickname incongruity bar to new heights. Mark Selby, who on Monday prevented “Rocket Ronnie” O’Sullivan from achieving escape velocity in Sheffield, is “The Jester from Leicester”.
With the second half of this designation, no one could quibble. Selby indisputably comes from the East Midlands town where Richard III’s remains were found in a car park last year. It is the first half that seems equivalent to nicknaming that late monarch “Old Straight Back”.
Since losing his first world final in 2007 to John Higgins (“The Wizard of Wishaw”), Selby has been my favourite player. I cannot entirely fathom why, though it must have something to do with the ferocity of his concentration, the doggedness in fighting to the death, the beguiling modesty, and – perhaps above all – his gravity.
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What it has nothing to do with is any alleged jesterly wit. Admittedly, he will now and again make an aside that causes a crowd to explode with such violent mirth that you fear a mass failure of bodily function control will have play suspended pending the application of mops and Dettol.
Understandably, given the urge to release the tension built over hours of sitting still and silent, a snooker audience is easily amused. If a player who has been horribly snookered mutters “Looks tricky”, the crowd will respond as if the compendium of Algonquin Round Table one-liners has been released into the arena within a cloud of nitrous oxide.
Having a nickname is now mandatory in snooker, as in darts. The supremo of these games is the boxing promoter Barry Hearn, and it is after the big fight game that he has cannily sought to restyle both. Some are simple derivatives (reticent arrowsman Dave Chisnall is “Chizzy”), and others echo an accomplishment, as in Essex cueist Ali Carter’s “The Captain” (he has a pilot’s licence). Some refer to a perceived mental trait (snooker’s Peter Ebdon is “Psycho”), and others, like Jimmy “The Whirlwind” White, to a playing style.
Occasionally, you meet a genuinely clever pun. Darting journeyman Mark Frost is “Frosty the Throwman”, and snooker has “The Outlaw” Joe Swail (one for the Clint Eastwood buff). These are the exceptions, however, and attempts to raise the standard can fall on deaf ears. When the Russian Anastasia Dobromyslova was bridging the gender divide to bring a dash of blonde glamour to men’s darts, I lobbied for her to adopt “Aphrodarty”. She stuck with “From Russia With Love”.
The almost limitless range of nicknames plays a useful part in enlivening these games, without necessarily imbuing them with the aura of gangland brutality lent boxing by Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes. Yet when one acquires a heavy ironic twang, and however exquisite the rhyme, it must be time to consider a change.
I love Selby to bits, and hope he wins more world titles with that Jose Mourinho-esque genius for frustrating and defeating more naturally gifted opponents. Nonetheless, I offer him this alternative, as suggested by a despairing O’Sullivan fan while Selby was shackling the Rocket to his launch pad and boring some observers close to unconsciousness on Monday afternoon with the languid, remorseless brilliance of his safety play. The Siesta from Leicester.
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Which word that entered the English langauge in the late 19th century takes its name from the Swahili for 'long journey'? | Mark Selby | Snooker Speaker | Champions Speakers
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World number one snooker player Mark Selby is a sports speaker from Leicester known as one of the most impressive players in the contemporary industry; embarking on his career at a young age Mark Selby has gone on to win a number of high profile tournaments and make a name for himself as one of the most sought after snooker speakers working on the after dinner speaker circuit.
Taking part in his first professional tour aged just sixteen Mark Selby has won three Master’s tournaments, the UK Championships and, as of 2014, the World Championship. He is one of less than ten players in the world to win all of snooker’s prestigious Triple Crown events and has already achieved more than 300 century breaks in his career. He has faced a number of the world’s most famous snooker speakers and players during his lifetime, including coming in as a runner up behind the four time World Champion John Higgins in 2007.
Though he continues to work as a professional player Mark Selby has also established himself as a specialist sports speaker appearing at corporate and private events as well as playing at charity functions. His nickname of “the Jester from Leicester” alludes to his personality both as a player and as a snooker speaker; effortlessly entertaining and witty Mark Selby is always a hit with snooker enthusiasts.
Outside his work as a snooker player and after dinner speaker Mark Selby is known to enjoy playing darts, competing against and beating former world number one Eric Bristow in 2007; Mark also takes part in competitive eight ball tournaments and won the WEPF World Eight-ball Championship in 2006.
To book Mark Selby as the snooker speaker for your event contact Champions Speakers: the UK’s leading sports speakers’ agency, by telephone on +44 1509 85 29 27 or by completing the online form.
Snooker
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Which word that loosely means a catastrophe takes its name from the Italian for 'flask'? | A Good Name for a Rock Band | All The Tropes Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
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A Good Name for a Rock Band
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Attacking Tucans: "We should form a musical group."
Josh Jepson : "No we shouldn't. That sounds like a horrible idea."
Attacking Tucans: "Lets do it! Band names... We should call ourselves... The Throbbing Masses!"
— Super Mario Sunshine Versus
There are a lot of different categories or varieties of band name, and they often correspond to the era or genre of the band in question. This page has some of these, and examples from real life and fiction. Fictional bands often have utterly dreadful names that are poking fun at certain genres.
That Other Wiki has a non-comprehensive list of bands, in case you ever wondered what they were smoking when they picked a name.
Edit
The most timeless of band names, this style of band naming transcends genre and is enduringly popular. Probably because of The Beatles. You can't usually tell a lot about how a band will sound if its called The Whatever. Sometimes a joke will be made about someone being out of touch with modern music by having them add a "The" to a band name that does not usually take a "The," such as "The Led Zeppelins" or "The Alkaline Trio." (In a case of Truth in Television , Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, Scorpions, Ben Folds Five and others often suffer this. Inverted by The Prodigy , as many people think the band name is Prodigy. [1] ) Band names that follow the "The Plural Nouns" style are something of a Dead Horse Trope and more modern "The" band names tend to be more of a "The Abstract Noun" or "The Adjective" style. Talking Heads were aware of this, and went to great lengths not to be called 'the' Talking Heads, including naming an album, "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads".
It should be pointed out, however, that "The Plural Nouns" would be a really great name for a band. Some guys on The Order of the Stick forum have decided to name their imaginary band that, for the record.
A note about "The" bands: a few certain bands follow this formula but omit the "The;" for example, one can say "The Bangles" or "The Scorpions" (and most folk do), but technically they are named Bangles and Scorpions. Same with (the) Eagles, (the) Pixies, (the) Arcade Fire, and (the) Faces. (The) Pet Shop Boys don't use the article in written materials but have been known to say "the Pet Shop Boys" in speech (and sang, or more accurately covered (!), a song entitled "We're the Pet Shop Boys.")
An inversion: Pink Floyd was known as The Pink Floyd during the Syd Barrett year(s).
"The" Bands Examples
The Gavinners, from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney .
Of course, the band was originally called Garyuu Wave in the Japanese version, Gyakuten Saiban 4 ...
The Weird Sisters, from Harry Potter , said to be one of the most popular wizard bands out there, and booked to play at Hogwarts at the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire . ( The film made them punk rockers.) Nymphadora Tonks is a fan.
The Band With Rocks In, from Soul Music . Also The Whom, The Blots and The Surreptitious Fabric, all names briefly used by a wannabe band (and not coincidentally all puns on the names of real bands).
The Commitments . Chosen deliberately, and explained in the book & film that "all the great sixties bands were 'the somethings'".
And naturally, there are at least two bands called "The Somethings".
The Plural Nouns, of The Order of the Stick forum.
The Worthless Peons, Ted's band on Scrubs .
The Used
The Birthday Party
The Texas Toad Lickers (together for only one album, though: the soundtrack to the film Vampires)
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
The Residents (notable because that wasn't their original name, their initial demo got sent out accidentally unlabeled, so they took their new name when a record company sent the demo back marked as 'to: residents')
Similar story with The Guess Who; they sent a demo tape to a radio station labeled "Guess Who?" in the hopes they would be mistaken for a well-established band. Instead, the station decided their name was Guess Who.
The Art of Noise
The Verve (who were originally called simply 'Verve' but changed the name due to potential copyright infringement)
The Fall
The Monkees
Moog Cookbook (no the), with an album named "The Moog Cookbook"
The Specials (who started life as the Coventry Automatics, then became the Special AKA the Coventry Automatics, then the Special AKA and finally the Specials).
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, later shortened to Oingo Boingo and (briefly) to simply Boingo.
The Wyrd Sisters (the real ones, who predate the first Harry Potter novel by several years).
The Trashmen
The xx (because nouns are for the weak, apparently...)
The Rotted
The Pink Floyd Sound (briefly, before they dropped the first and last words)
The Doobie Brothers (since they were literally "doobie" "brothers", i.e. not flesh and blood brothers but "brothers", i.e. close friends, united... I don't have to explain further)
...and about a hundred thousand more.
The Free, an eurodance band
The Rasmus , Finnish rock band (they added the article to differentiate themselves from a Swedish DJ of the same name)
X And The Ys
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This one is a little rarer than the "The" band. It was most popular in/is most associated with the 1950s, what with Bill Haley & The Comets, but Ted Leo & The Pharmacists prove it is still popular today. However, most modern bands that follow this style don't play it straight in a "Frontman & The Musicians" style, but will just use funny words instead, like Me First & The Gimme Gimmes. The primary exception is Country Music , particularly alternative or self-consciously "old-timey" country, where it retains an air of respectability and old-fashionedness. However, it still occasionally turns up in fiction.
X And The Ys Examples
Sick Dick and the Volkswagens from The Crying of Lot 49 .
Parodying the big band example below in M.A.S.H., Trapper once introduced Hawkeye as "Hawkeye Pierce and His Orchestra."
Jesse and the Rippers from Full House .
Pugilism and the Third Autistic Cuckoo, from The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Razor and the Scummettes from Maniac Mansion
Bertie the Balladeer and his Troubadour Rascals, from Soul Music .
Eddie and the Cruisers. (The name of the movie, and the artist the soundtrack was credited to.)
Eddi and the Fey in Emma Bull's War for the Oaks .
Johnny and the Contusions in Dave Barry's Tricky Business .
Vitaly Chernobyl and the Meltdowns in Neal Stephenson 's Snow Crash
Smeg and the Heads from Red Dwarf .
Robbie Wilson and Sedgley Park, a Robbie Coltrane alter-ego band.
Clark Kent and his Supermen (from The Illuminatus! Trilogy)
In The Dresden Files , the main character Harry jokingly regards the local werewolf gang's name (Billy and the Alphas/Werewolves) as a bad 70's band name.
He later gives Nicodemus and the Denarians a similar name in Turncoat -- Nicky and the Nickelheads.
Little Tommy and the Underhill Gang from Esther Friesner 's suburban fantasy novel Elf Defense .
Bennie and the Jets from the Elton John song of the same name.
Jeremy and the Incidentals from Phineas and Ferb .
Also Phineas and the Ferb-Tones.
One of the band names suggested by Yui during the band-naming session in K-On! is "Hirasawa Yui and Her Happy Friends". Ritsu is less than happy about having the rest of the cast suddenly be nothing but extras.
A rather hard to place example, Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, a fake band who exist only on an album by a real musician.
...became the special man, then we were Ziggy's band
Mr. Show has a skit involving an inspirational band named Indomitable Spirit (whose members pretend to have disabilities ranging from being a disembodied head to being a woman), but a former band member (who is actually missing an arm) reveals their name was originally Flat Top Tony and the Purple Canoes.
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppet Show .
Battlestar Galactica . When Anders says that Cylon Leoben might have been right about Starbuck having a special destiny, Starbuck replies that "Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny" sounds like a bad name for a cover band.
Alvin and The Chipmunks
Barbie and the Rockers; this line inspired a two part TV special (which predates the modern DVD movies by 14 years), where in part two they were inexplicably renamed...
Barbie and the Sensations
In Grease , the band playing at the dance contest was named Johnny Casino And The Gamblers.
Gordon and the Gophers, from the CBBC mascot's spin-off books.
Some combinations of units and squad leaders in Warhammer40000 end up sounding like this. Maugan Ra and the Dark Reapers, for instance.
And while we're at it, HagridAndTheSkoolgurlz .
Firgin D'an and the Modal Nodes, aka the Cantina Band from Star Wars .
Crash and the Boys in Scott Pilgrim .
Fictional band Larry David and the Hipsters from Curb Your Enthusiasm .
"Wexford and the Unbelievers" on Sanctuary 's episode "Firewall"
But a lot of people thought it was a straight example.. ask Darius Rucker how tired he became of folks calling him Hootie .
Echo & The Bunnymen, could be considered non-straight as "Echo" was rumored to be their drummachine.
This was actually refuted by the band.
Butch Walker & the Lets Go Out Tonites
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Elizabeth Harper and the Matinee
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Darla Hood and the Enchanters
Katrina and the Waves.
Tim Rice formed a band with some friends called Wang & The Cheviots. At reunions they still can't decide which one of them is Wang.
Harry and The Potters
X and the Ys is the template for nearly every wizard rock band in existence. E.G., Marietta and the Sneaks, and their hit single "Hermione Granger is a Bitch."
Draco and the Malfoys... It's more like First Name and the Last Names.
Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids; the "and the Spooky Kids" was dropped once they reached fame.
Long John and the Beetles changed theirs too.
They also considered using the name Johnny and the Moondogs.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions, and, later, Elvis Costello & the Imposters
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers (not to be confused with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
Neko Case & Her Boyfriends; A double-entry since Her Boyfriends are collectively known on their own As The Sadies.
Buddy Holly & the Crickets
Honest Bob & The Factory-to-Dealer Incentives
Zombina and the Skeletones
Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand.
Cole Deggs and the Lonesome. No, it's not "Cold Eggs".
Ernie and the Automatics. It should also be added that Ernie of the group owns a small chain of car dealerships...
Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams, a Folk/Punk/Hillbilly group heavily influenced by Pink Floyd and traditional Mummers.
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (although this is more because the Cardinals were his more-or-less permanent backing band while he decided whether or not he wanted to formally start a band...)
Bohren & der Club of Gore
The country pop group Jump 'n The Saddle had a novelty hit with The Curly Shuffle.
Eric and the Informers; Eric Bogle's short-lived rock band, memorialised in his song of the same name.
Morris Minor and the Majors; parody band responsible for Stutter Rap and This is the Chorus.
Not to be confused with Morris and the Minors, who later changed their name to Madness.
Tony Orlando and Dawn; possibly an aversion as the group was initially named just "Dawn", but was eventually rebilled as Orlando grew in prominence.
Disco Dream and the Androids
Four Hits and A Miss, from the big band era, inverts the usual order.
Also during the big band era, it was common for a bandleader to have "..and his Orchestra" as part of the name of the act (e.g.,: "Percy Faith and his Orchestra")
Dear and the Headlights, a particularly punny example.
John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Possibly created Oberst was annoyed that folks assumed that Bright Eyes was his personal project (it wasn't), and said "OK, I'm bored, here's what my band would sound like!"
Pretty Boy Thorson & The Fallen Angels
Olli Schulz & Der Hund Marie(aka Olli Schulz and The Dog Marie)
Larry & His Flask
Prince & the Revolution, later Prince & the New Power Generation
Porcelain and the Tramps
Ian Dury and the Blockheads (his earlier group was also called Kilburn and the High Roads).
Sly & the Family Stone
Big Brother & the Holding Company
Cliff Richard and The Shadows
Mr Hudson & the Library
Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
Adam and the Ants
Buddy Wasisname and The Other Fellers
Diana Ross and The Supremes started off as a The Band until one of them took center stage.
Johnny and the Self Abusers, a somewhat obscure Scottish punk band from the late '70s. They split up and some of them became The Cuban Heels. The others? Well, they went on to form a much less obscure band -- Simple Minds.
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Alison Krauss & The Union Station
Oedipus and the Motherfuckers. Yes, there is actually a band with this name.
An odd semi-example: The Band (see "The" Bands, above) were originally The Hawks. However, after they started following Bob Dylan around as his backing band, everyone first in Dylan's inner circle, and later in his fandom, started calling them "The Band." Because they were his backing band but also did their own thing, a lot of venues listed shows as " Bob Dylan and The Band," which at once is and isn't an example of X and the Ys.
Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra, or any other late night house band.
There's a Slovak band called Yuri and the Gagarins .
Kool & the Gang
Mike and The Mechanics, though officially known as Mike + The Mechanics, and also on occasion as Mike + The Mechanics + Paul Carrack (see Punctuation Band Names). A slightly unusual example, since Mike (Rutherford, also a founding member of Genesis ) is the guitarist.
Al Tuck & No Action. It sounds like a non-straight example, but the band actually is fronted by Al Tuck, who apparently decided to embrace the potential punniness of his given name .
Selena Gomez & the Scene
Spike Jones and his City Slickers. Not, strictly speaking, an X and the Ys, but close enough.
Psycho & The Birds, a Guided By Voices side-project. Of course they're actually just named after Psycho and The Birds .
Fitz And The Tantrums. While their name is pun-based, they do have a frontman named Michael Fitzpatrick.
M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy . Although oddly, the second part stands not for the band, as some sources incorrectly state, but for its frontman Olaf Jeglitza... and the first part does not. Anyway, It's a Long Story .
Hunx and his Punx
The Mamas & The Papas, whose name overlaps with the "The" bands.
Steve Earle & The Dukes - or, as they're currently known now that there are two women in the band, Steve Earle & The Dukes And Duchesses.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse (as well as Neil Young & The Shocking Pinks, Neil Young & The Bluenotes, Neil Young & The Stray Gators... Neil likes this trope.)
Marina & The Diamonds. Marina herself has said that "the Diamonds" are not her backing band, but her fans (it also refers to her full name, Marina Diamandis).
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
"Band": Monosyllabic Names
Mono rules! Monosyllabic name, that is. No definite article, no frills. Acronyms that are usually pronounced as a single syllable also fit the bill.
The small size of the name is often compensated by the huge size of the font.
About the coolness of monosyllabic names here is someone who thinks that, in general, Band names should never be only one syllable .
Anyways, monosyllabic band names have been around since at least the 60's ( Cream , Love ).
Monosyllabic Names Examples
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These come in two flavors, the A.F.I. style where the letters actually stand for something, (AFI was short for Askin' For It until 2002 when it was changed to A Fire Inside) or the Music/WASP style, where the band just claims that it sounded cool (though initially claimed that it stood for We Are Sexual Perverts). Acronym/initial bands that fall under the first flavor are sometimes initializing themselves because the words that the acronym actually stands for are obscene (the hip-hop group "NWA," for example). There are band names like Rage Against The Machine and My Chemical Romance that are often referred to as RATM or MCR by fans, but these don't technically count as part of this genre.
Acronym/Initial Band Names Examples
Does this have anything to do with the Ambiguously Gay Satan from The Powerpuff Girls ?
This could arguably belong to either version of the trope, as they initially said that HIM stood for His Infernal Majesty (mostly as a joke) but have since stopped identifying themselves as such.
Music/WASP (while the original acronym stands for "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants", the interpretation varies wildly, depending on who you ask, from "We Are Sexual Perverts" to "We Are Satan's People". There is also " We Ain't Sure, Pal ", coined by Blackie Lawless himself)
There's also the much more likely story of them wanting a cool name, but, not thinking that "Wasp" was cool enough, punctuating the shit out of it.
In 1970s/early 80s heavy metal, punctuation was second only to the Heavy Metal Umlaut for badass typography.
REM (Rapid Ear Movement -- a play on "Rapid Eye Movement", but may be a backronym as they apparently picked it randomly from a dictionary)
Slayer 's 1994 album Divine Intervention gives them a backronym: Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot.
KISS ' name has been most famously backronymized as "Knights In Satan's Service", though Gene Simmons of KISS usually points out that he's Jewish and that it stands for "that thing you do with your mouth").
It's also a pre-existent acronym standing for "Keep It Simple, Stupid."
Gene isn't necessarily in the clear, since the concept of Satan also exists in Judaism - and, in fact, the name itself is a Hebrew word.
"Satan" is a Hebrew word, but it means "adversary." Anyone can function in the role of "adversary," for a period of time, without in some special sense being the one and only "Satan" of all time. Moreover, being in the service of the adversary is something of an oxymoron, since the adversary, in all the stories in which the word is used, is usually performing some sort of function for someone else. Sometimes the satan is just a plot device, and the satan is in service of the narrative, so to speak, or sometimes in services of one character's conscience, but it is difficult to have someone else in service of the satan. In Judaism, anyway. This has nothing to do with how other religions have appropriated the word, but Simmons is correct in his assessment of Judaism.
ABBA (The initials of the band members' first names: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstag)
This was also the name of a Swedish company that makes processed fish, and they had to get permission from said company to use the name. The company responded by sending the band a case of tinned tuna and a note saying "Good luck".
NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet)
D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival Alive)
SDI
!.T.O.O.H.!. (The Obliteration Of Humanity)
H Y B R I D
INXS (phonetically, "in excess")
Among the many versions of Korn 's name, one has the name stand for "Kiddy Porn".
Interesting example of the "Acronym" type: There used to be a Danish band named "Disneyland After Dark", but they got sued by Disney, and as a result changed their name to D.A.D. - some of their commercials afterward actually played this up, with the story being retold in fairytale format, with the word "Disney" bleeped out.
Their latest album is titled "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK". Gee, whatever might that random string of letters mean...
Conversely, when the band Spam were threatened with legal action by Hormel, they changed their name to Something People Are Missing.
OAR (Of A Revolution), though hardly anyone calls it by the full name.
Actually "...of a Revolution" (which would also put it into the "punctuation" category below), supposedly part of a longer phrase that none of the band members will reveal.
LFO is an interesting case, because there are actually two groups that go by that acronym: the boy band (which stands for Lyte Funky Ones), and the techno group (which stands for Low Frequency Oscillator).
GISM, a Japanese hardcore punk band. Interesting, as GISM stands for about five or six different things. All of them Gratuitous English , including Guerilla Incidiery Sabotage Mutineers.
Also, phonetically, with a soft G, this is a hilarious Stealth Pun . Literally Spit Taked.
SMAP (Sports and Music Assemble People)
NEWS
D.R.U.G.S (Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows)
KMFDM and the closely-related MDFMK. TOW claims that "KMFDM is an initialism for the nonsensical and grammatically incorrect German phrase "Kein Mehrheit F?ie Mitleid", which literally translates as "no majority for the pity" or "no majority for the empathy" but is typically given the loose translation of "no pity for the majority" or "no mercy for the masses.""
Commonly assumed to stand for "Kill Motherfucking Depeche Mode"
Danish industrial metal band Mnemic (pronounced NEE-mik), which stands for Mainly Neurotic Energy Modifying Instant Creation.
ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, which was actually a "The..." band name, being as it was a light orchestra with electrified instruments...)
Metallic Psytrance trio S.U.N. Project falls under the W.A.S.P. type, though they joke that for detractors it can stand for "Stupid Unrespectable Noise".
(The) KLF (Kallisti Liberation Front, Kopyright Liberation Front, etc... -- the band went through several names including 'The JAMs' and 'The Timelords', but this was the one they are probably best known under)
And even their name the JAMS was an example of this, coming from the term Justified Ancients of Mu Mu...
EPMD (Erick and Parrish Making Dollars)
A partial example, of course, is JAM Project .
BWO (Bodies Without Organs)
LMFAO (Laughing My Fucking Ass Off). An electro-hip hop duo.
P.O.D. (Payable On Death)
N.E.R.D. (No-one Ever Really Dies)
I beg to differ.
"Well if not, for you, It's almost over now, almost over now...."
S.K.I.N. (The band still hasn't said what the letters stand for)
T.I.S.M. (This Is Serious Mum)
MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother), a '70s funk band who took the trope still further with a hit single titled "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)".
UB 40 (the "UB" stands for "Unemployment Benefit", while the 40 refers to the number of the DHSS (DSS/DWP) form (later booklet) signed to claim benefit; the cover of their album Signing Off shows a sample form from 1980)
T.S.O.L. (True Sounds Of Liberty)
NOFX (phonetic for "no effects")
An alternative meaning has been offered as 'No Fucking X', referring to the way some punks would draw (or tattoo, ouch) an X on one palm to signify that they were 'straight edge', a practice which reputedly annoyed the hell out of the band.
Nine Inch Nails is seemingly referred to as NIN about as often as its full name, and uses the three letter version (with the second N mirrored) as its logo. Trent Reznor has pretty much stated that he picked it as a name because he liked how the initials looked.
O.M.D -- Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Typically appears with a ligature, e.g. "Manœuvres"
VAST (Visual Audio Sensory Theater)
OPM (Open People's Minds, also phonetic for "opium".)
Beastie Boys (Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence, though no one actually uses it, and technically it would make them Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence Boys .)
MxPx started out as Magnified Plaid, which was abbreviated to M.P. for the band's posters. However, drummer Yuri Ruley's handwriting rendered the periods as x's, so MxPx stuck.
S-K-O, a short-lived country band. It was first Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet, but that proved unwieldy so they became S-K-O. After Overstreet left, it became S-K-B when Craig Bickhardt took over.
MGMT -- They were originally "The Management," but changed it. Perhaps they realized that their neo-psychedelic rock was more than trippy enough without having to handle the contradiction of visualizing the band in suits.
VNV Nation -- Victory Not Vengeance
'NSYNC, whose meaning is identical to the ENOZ example above.
XTC, a 70's and 80's new wave band from England. It doesn't actually stand for anything and is not a reference to ecstasy (well, not the drug anyway, which wasn't even known as that when they formed).
CSS -- Cansei de Ser Sexy, Portuguese for "tired of being sexy "
U.D.O. -- Udo Dirkschneider's solo band after he left Accept . The acronym has no real meaning.
DAF -- Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft, which is German for "German American Friendship".
APB -- All Points Bulletin. (They were a Scottish post-punk band.)
OD TAPO IMI -- Oil Drums That Are Pounded Out Into Musical Instruments. (A Chicago-based steel drum band)
S.O.D. -- Stormtroopers Of Death
M.O.D. -- Method Of Destruction (Billy Milano fronts both, and clearly picked similar initials to his earlier band on purpose)
T.K.O.
KMD, which (depending on the image they wish to project, at the moment) might stand for "positive Kause in a Much-Damaged society," or "Kausing Much Damage"
L.E.O. - It doesn't officially stand for anything, but it's meant as a Shout-Out to ELO .
REO Speedwagon, named for an early pickup truck-type vehicle , made by the REO Motor Car Company.
REO Speedealer, whose name parodied the above band... until REO Speedwagon themselves forced them to drop the "REO" part.
SDFDM -- Shoveling Driveways For Drug Money
M.D.C. - standing variously for Millions Of Dead Cops, Millions of Damn Christians, Multi-Death Corporations, etc
D.A.F. - Deutsch Amerikansiche Freundschaft (which is German for "German American Friendship").
LOFT -- Live Our Fathers' Teaching, allegedly
WULYF - It's pronounced "woo life", but also stands for "World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation".
Run DMC - Darryl Mc Daniels , or if you go by their lyrics, Devastating Mike Control.
Charged GBH, who later shortened their name to just GBH - in both cases it stood for "Grievous Bodily Harm".
VCMG: Also kind of a stealthy "listing member names" example, because they're a duo consisting of Vince Clarke and Martin Gore.
D.I. (Dog Intercourse, supposedly)
GPKISM -(GPK being the lead singer Gothique Prince Ken)
Punctuation Band Names
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This is a really new variety, which only really appeared in the last decade and hasn't really been parodied in fiction. Yet. Bands like this are kind of hard to write about because they make sentences look very awkwardly punctuated, especially to those who have never heard of the band in question, and are even more difficult to pronounce. See also Lucky Charms Title .
Punctuation Band Names Examples
And And! And from The Commitments .
WWE wrestler Jeff Hardy, in his spare time, fronts a band called Peroxwhy?gen.
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Both a band name, and sound advice for any wannabe superhero. Supposedly taken from a walkthrough for one of the Batman games for the ZX Spectrum in a computer mag.
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
moe.
The Go! Team
The exclamation point in this case was probably required because there had already been a band called The Go Team, sans punctuation.
Gravy Train!!!!
Another case where the punctuation marginally reduced confusion with another band, Gravy Train.
Sunn O)))
This one's a bit more complicated: the band were fans of amplifiers made by a company called Sunn. The logo for the company is an image of a circle with waves radiating from it to indicate the "sun" of the name. The band decided to adopt both elements as their name and logo (which the company agreed to). The name of the band is similarly pronounced "Sunn" and the "O)))" of their name is merely a typographical representation of the logo.
It's also a play on the fact that they began as a tribute band to another band named Earth.
Wham!
Not to be confused with Attack Attack!, a completely different band.
Dot Dot Curve :)
Alecia Moore traditionally puts her stage name on albums and such as 'P!nk', not 'Pink'.
Hadouken!
Shirobon! (The Chiptune band, not the character from Bomberman)
(+44)
scarling. (sometimes spelled in lowercase with a full stop, sometimes not)
Sixx: A.M. (also a combination of band members' names)
Captured! By Robots
Hed PE (commonly (həd) p.e.)
Catfight!
:( (often referred to as "ColonOpenBracket")
fun. (Yes, the lowercase "f" is intentional.)
Ke$ha (pronounced keh-sha. Occasionally jokingly pronounced by her as 'key-dollar-sign-ha such as in her video for "Blow".)
Was (Not Was)
Tony! Toni! Toné!
Al B. Sure!
Mike + The Mechanics (official name of Mike and The Mechanics; see X and the Ys above), also known as Mike + The Mechanics + Paul Carrack
You Say Party! We Say Die! (Recently changed their name to You Say Party)
And And! And (The first proposed name for what would eventually be The Commitments)
Oomph!
Not a band, but the singer P!nk is an example.
Also not a band, but the entire genre of Oi!
Queen + Paul Rodgers (though, technically done to maintain that the partnership was a collaboration, not Paul Rodgers becoming a band member of Queen.)
Also, "Queen+" became the default moniker for many of their recent collaborations and remixes (including "Queen + John Farnharm" and "Queen + Vanguard"). Their third Greatest Hits album was even titled "Queen+ Greatest Hits III " because it featured many duets and solo tracks in addition to strictly-Queen songs.
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! (Also a Shout-Out to The Goonies , of course)
Grossout/Blasphemy Names
Edit
What's the most offensive or controversial word you can think of? Well, it would make a great name for a metal band. It's usually quite extreme (often Scandanavian) metal bands that adopt Intentionally Awkward Titles like Corpse Raper or something that involves violence, death or sexual taboos. However, whether or not these names are selected for shock value or convention is up in the air. It's very common for death metal, black metal and grindcore bands to have "offensive" titles, but fans of those genres are used to or even expect those sorts of names, and so if there is any intended shock value, it's usually lost anyways. Bands from fiction often have names like this, especially if they are formed by teenagers, and the ridiculous name is an indication of the poor quality of their music.
Grossout/Blasphemy Names
Winds Of Plague
Suffocation
The Crucifucks: (a.k.a. "Scribbles") When your opening bands consist of mostly high school kids at all ages shows, you need a back-up name for the fliers. After getting signed to Alternative Tentacles, The Crucifucks were the opening act.
Toronto band Holy Fuck
Cannibal Corpse
Dying Fetus
Kinki Kids (Unintentionally in this case, as Kinki refers to the area of Japan both members come from; good luck explaining that after you've said the name out loud though)
Cattle Decapitation
Dayglo Abortions (also sort of a Line-of-Sight Name - they claim that they decided to just take whatever the front page headline on the local newspaper was about that day and put "Dayglo" in front of it).
Judas Priest are probably the Trope Maker here. (Although the initial inspiration for the name was a Bob Dylan song, The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest)
Judas Priest were preceded by the even more blasphemous Black Sabbath .
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel (Yes, really.)
They (or actually he) have gone through such variations as You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Foetus All Nude Revue, before finally just simplifying it to Foetus.
Probably apocryphal: apparently at some point there was a Japanese noisepunk band called the Goddamn Motherfuck Shitass Bitches.
Bodycount , not so big a shocker as a name (for a 90's band), got more notoriety from their song "Cop killer".
Shitty Shitty Band Band, a San Francisco band
Shirley Temple's Pussy (Due to Executive Meddling , they changed it to Stone Temple Pilots)
Circle of Dead Children
Septic Flesh (now known as Speticflesh)
Impaled Nazarene
Hacksaw to the Throat (Misleading, actually a prog death band, not grindcore.)
Semen Across Lips (again, misleading. an experimental Death/Black metal band, with some beautiful moments.)
Disembowelment
The Archbishop's Enema Fetish
Screaming Headless Torsos
The Lubricunts, a little-known band that contained two of the members of the slightly-better known band Overkill. If you only say it out loud, it could be a Double Entendre as well.
Children of Bodom sounds alright, until one discovers that it refers to several teenagers who were killed in a (still unsolved) triple murder many years previous, near Finland's Lake Bodom.
SHITDISCO, a harmless dance-punk band
Revolting Cocks, an Industrial rock band. They're occasionally credited as the less offensive Revco. The name is also a case of Appropriated Appellation : The members got kicked out of a bar for starting a brawl the very day they formed the band, and the bartender had called them "a bunch of revolting cocks".
Johnny Tampon and the Toxic Shocks. Also counts as an X and the Y name.
Vomit Remnants
Starfucker, an electronic band
Dogs Die in Hot Cars, a Britpop band
Puscifer, originally a fictional band played by the members of Tool in a Mr. Show skit, has since become an actual band fronted by Maynard James Keenan
Not too shocking is Arab Strap .
The Butthole Surfers (which is actually fairly tame in comparison to one of their earlier names, The Inalienable Right To Eat Fred Astaire 's Asshole)
Fuck Buttons, who temper their noisy screaming with dreamy atmosphere.
Lubricated Goat, Australian '80s noise rock band
"We should start a band called Ass Ass."
There is a musician who goes by the name Ass
At one point, Steve Severin of Siouxie & The Banshees and the noted comic-book author Grant Morrison reportedly had a musical side-project together. The outfit was called Ass2Ass.
Vaginal Croutons
Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck
Deliberately averted by Kittie, a Canadian heavy metal band who wanted a sweet and innocent title as a contrast.
Shitmat (a not particularly agressive breakcore artist, though since it's breakcore we're talking about)
Dead Kennedys, the 80's thrash punk band. Though leader Jello Biafra once claimed it wasn't meant as an insult.
The Dead Kennedys played a concert on the 20th anniversary of JFK’s death, prompting a reporter to ask Jello if he considered this in bad taste. Jello replied that he thought that the assassination wasn’t in very good taste.
Jello Biafra once suggested that "Six Million Jews" (referring to the Holocaust and the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis) would make a good name for a band. He even suggested that their first album be entitled "Lest We Forget".
Jello has quite a long list of great band names, check out his spoken word album "No More Cocoons" for ideas like "Generic Youth" and "Al Sharpton's Hair".
Jo-Jo and the Hundred Screaming Niggers, a Blues/ Soul band referred to in a 1980s essay by author Harlan Ellison. It's not gory or blasphemous, but it's certainly offensive enough to remain memorable!
Placental Armageddon , self-described as "Hardcore a cappella metal music from Topeka, Kansas".
Butt Trumpet (Long before A Very Potter Sequel , it should be noted)
Bastard, the band we now know as Motorhead
Ogre You Asshole, a Japanese rock band, although they're indirectly named after a Revenge of the Nerds quote.
Bitch Magnet, one of the precursors to Post Rock
Assück
Scrotum Grinder
Cock and Ball Torture
Rapeman, a Steve Albini project who were actually named after a manga character. The name did in fact stir up a lot of controversy.
Star Fucking Hipsters
Necronomichrist (one member of this blackened death metal band remarked that they deliberately chose the most evil-sounding name they could think of)
The Child Molesters
The Pieces Of Shit, who are David Byrne and Will Oldham collaborating on songs for the film This Must Be The Place .
The recently popular Five Finger Death Punch.
Tool , encouraged by a common logo featuring a wrench shaped to suggest a penis and testicles.
The Well Hungarians. No, really.
The Gerogerigegege. It is an onomatopoeia for the sound one allegedly makes when vomiting and shitting at the same time.
Squirrel Nut Zippers combines this with Wacky Word Combos, if you think about it.
Except that they're actually named after a candy.
With Fanny, it happened by accident; they were American, and didn't realize the connotations of that word in the UK, especially given that they were an all-female band. (The story that they were set up for this by a mischievous recommendation from George Harrison is apparently apocryphal). They were apparently more popular in the UK than the States, in any case...
Scissor Sisters
Music/Pearl Jam - A euphemism for semen. There are a few alternate interpretations, most famously a story Eddie Vedder used to tell about his Auntie Pearl who made great jam, but sometime in the late 90s they basically gave up any pretence.
Jackofficers, a short-lived side project of the above-mentioned Butthole Surfers.
Pist-On (sometimes stylized as Pist*On, Pist.On, PistOn, or even the much more subtle Piston). To go with the name, they called their debut Number One .
Band Names With Numbers
Edit
These come in three varieties: The band name that has a number describing a certain quantity; and the band that just sticks a number on the end for no apparent reason. A lot of these bands just stick the numbers on because another band already had their original name and threatened to sue, e.g. Blink 182, who stuck the number on because there was a dance band called Blink. The band names that count their members represent a third type.
A subgenre of this is the band name that is only a set of numbers, like 911 or 311. There were a lot of number bands in the 1990s, but the fad seems to have ended quickly, probably because people realised that words were infinitely more memorable, and the internet allows you to check if someone already has the bandname you want already.
Band Names With Numbers Examples
Three Dog Night, supposedly named after a practice in Austrailia where the indiginous people would sleep in holes with dingos. On cold nights they'd use 2 dingos. On very cold nights they'd use 3.
Three Doors Down
Apparently, they got the name when they saw a sign with some of the letters blown off that said "Doors Down" and stuck a number on the front just because they could.
3 Inches Of Blood
Three Men and a Tenor
3OH!3 (yep, another multi-category one)
Alabama 3 (A British band with about 9 full-time members)
The Dirty Three
The Juliana Hatfield Three
Secret Chiefs 3. There were three members at first, but by now they vary in number, with Trey Spruance being the only real constant .
Timbuk3
Four Year Strong
Unit Four Plus Two
The Monkees episode Find the Monkees! introduced a competing band called "The Four Agents". Oddly enough, there were only three band members.
5ive
The 5.6.7.8's - also a "The" band. Probably most famous for their appearance in Kill Bill.
5 Chinese Brothers. Not a quintet, not Chinese, and not brothers. They named themselves after a storybook.
Five Finger Death Punch
Five for Fighting ( one guy ; the number refers to a penalty in hockey)
Five Iron Frenzy (not a number title, but a golf reference).
Ben Folds Five (three members)
The Click Five
Avenged Sevenfold
L7, named after the square shape that forms when you make an "L" with your left thumb and forefinger and a "7" with your right thumb and forefinger and touch them together. The gag being that, if you have to ask what "L7" stands for, then you're probably a square!
Zero 7
S Club 7, so named because there were originally 7 members. Once Paul Cattermole left, the "7" was dropped. (Oddly enough, in their various TV shows, they tended to add a "The" in front of their name, but it didn't otherwise appear.)
Their Spin-Off successors, the even younger S Club Juniors, went the opposite route and renamed themselves S Club 8 when they'd grown up a bit and the original act split. Two members are now in "The-band" girl group The Saturdays.
Nine Inch Nails , though the nine is always spelled out.
10cc -- the name is thought to refer to the amount of sperm in a human ejaculate, but it actually came to one of the members in a dream.
10 Masked Men
Crush 40 (The makers of many of the Rock Songs in the 3D Sonic games including Open Your Heart and E.G.G.M.A.N )
UB40 -- named after a unemployment benefit form.
Sum 41 lampshaded this in one of their videos, in they pretended that Executive Meddling led to their band changing their name because "numbers are out, and "The" bands are in".
Level 42 -- a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
(+44)--which makes them a "Punctuation Band Name" as well.
The B-52's - named after a hairdo that resembles the nose of an airplane. Renamed The B-52s for proper grammar.
Indirectly. They were named after a hairdo, which in turn was named for its supposed resemblance to the nose of the aircraft.
54-40 (a band from BC, named after US President James Polk's slogan, "Fifty four forty or fight" ).
Starflyer 59
SR-71 (named after a plane)
The '80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster
M83
Project 86 (the number is slang for " rejected ," most often used on drunks being turned away at a bar.
88 Fingers Louie
Current 93 . The name is actually a reference to the works of Aleister Crowley .
The Old 97's (although that is a reference to a folk song)
100 Demons
Blink-182
311 (their name is derived from Omaha police code for indecent exposure [a friend of the band's was arrested for skinny dipping]. It is NOT related to the Ku Klux Klan [K is the eleventh letter of the alphabet, 3K, get it?], as once rumored)
BR-549, a country band named after Junior Samples' silly phone number in Hee Haw .
Could also go in Grossout/Blasphemy, but Australian band Destroyer 666.
The Dancing French Liberals of 1848
Death From Above 1979 - The "1979" was used to distinguish from Death From Above Records.
1990's
Two unrelated English Apollos - Apollo 100 and Apollo 440
808 State
Edit
It may have a meaning or origin to the band, but to the uninitiated it just looks like they threw a few words together. This may leave fans stuck with a lot of explaining to do every time someone asks how a band like Cobra Starship got a name like that, or it may just be a couple of words that sound cool together. A lot of fictional bands have names like this too, again, in order to make fun of them.
Newspaper humor columnist Dave Barry certainly popularized this way of naming a band, with a recurring joke in his column, saying "that would be a good name for a rock band" after any particularly odd string of words.
Wacky Word Combos Examples
NOTE: These early strips look a bit rough. The art gets a lot better.
Oblivion Folder, from Dominic Deegan -- the band put together by musical legend Donovan Deegan, which consisted of his son, the equally talented Greg, an Orc shaman, and a necromantic golem with a penchant for bad humor. Played a very successful benefit concert, but was never heard from again after that. Some assumed the band name to be a reference to a weird planar anomaly or something, but it was actually a bookkeeper friend's term for a perpetually misplaced file (a folder that keeps vanishing into oblivion).
Mocked in the Reduced Shakespeare Company 's "The Bible: The Complete Word of God. Abridged." Where, while talking about the Exodus, this line was quoted. "And the Lord God cursed the wicked serpent to henceforth crawl about on its belly. Presumable, the wicked serpent had legs prior to that; indicating that it was more of a wicked lizard. And the Lord God thought to himself that Wicked Lizard would be a good name for a Heavy Metal Band."
Possible reference to Noise Rock band The Jesus Lizard, which is actually named after a type of lizard.
Mocked a few times in Kingdom of Loathing :
"The mariachis begin to play a sinister song. As the song's tempo increases, a rumbling begins, deep beneath the ground. As the mariachis reach a dire crescendo (Hey, have you heard my new band, Dire Crescendo?) the gate behind the statues slowly grinds open, revealing the way to the Sorceress' courtyard."
"<Familiar name> claws your opponent with his pan-dimensional claws and bites him with his astral teeth for <number> damage. Ladies and gentlemen, coming to the stage right now: ASTRAL TEETH!"
"This is a dewinged stab-bat. Have you heard my new band, the Dewinged Stab-Bats?"
"This is a partially rewinged dewinged stab bat. Have you heard my new band, the Partially Rewinged Dewinged Stab Bats?"
"This is a fully rewinged dewinged stab bat. Have you heard my new band, The Joke That Got Repeated Until It Wasn't Funny Anymore ?"
"It kicks you with a multitude of phalanges. A Multitude of Phalanges was, by the way, my favorite 80's band."
One round in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue involves the contestants having to say words that aren't related, with the opposing team challenging if they see a connection. A Running Gag has Barry Cryer challenging on ridiculous word-combos, insisting it was the name of a band in the sixties.
"Sharabang Sperm? Sixties rock band."
In one episode, Graeme Garden challenged the word combination "Lopsided Beret", claiming it was the name of an old blues singer.
Hard Core Logo .
The webmaster of The Jungle has made observations that certain units/rules in the Warhammer40000 rulebooks sound like they ought to be the name of a band. Explosion of Filth is one notable example.
Not sure if it counts, but Cartoon Network did this once in a set of station ID ads, using "popcorn fairy" from an episode of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy , "Yutz Wagon" from an episode of Johnny Bravo , and "Hideous Rotten Teeth" from an episode of Powerpuff Girls .
Mystik Spiral, Trent's band in Daria . (In one episode, however, they briefly considered changing it to "Helpful Corn". Not to mention the time Trent had some phone messages written on one hand and, on the other, "Change nme of Mystik Spiral to 'Something Something Explosion'.)
Rock Band has created a virtual cottage industry of such names with its random name generator.
Gossamer Axe from the eponymous novel. (Also a Hard Word Soft Word name -- see below.) References the transformation of one character from a sentient elvish harp into an electric guitar.
The Ricky Gervais Show once ran contest to find the most hardcore name for a band. After discussing a few alternatives (Blump, God Dildo, Brain Hammer, etc.) they decided on the name Dethlehem, a metal band who only perform at Christmas
An episode of Mr. Show centered around a metal band named Wicked Sceptre, with the obvious double entendre.
Dirt Spigot, another fictional band to which Drive Shaft was compared on Lost .
In Histeria! , Toast decides to name his band Nasty Head Wound after Daniel Boone suffers one.
Suicide for Hire uses these a lot. Band names the characters and/or author have come up with include "The Pro-Life Murderers", "Moose Philosophy", and "Suicide Jesus and the Abominachos".
Sonic Death Monkey, Barry's band from the film High Fidelity . Although they never actually perform under that name, opting instead for an X & the Y's format: Barry Jive and the Uptown Five.
Don't forget Kathleen Turner Overdrive.
Creepy Clown Head Funeral from Zits got its name from an incident ending with Jeremy getting ticketed for "transporting an unsecured giant clown head during the disruption of a funeral procession".
White Brains On Toast
Last one: The Flailing Hairnets , as seen on this Wikipedia policy page. Go ahead, check it out.
On 4/7/2010 The Daily Show covered reports of recent scandals with the Republican National Conference. After a CNN clip regarding the RNC's "Lesbian Bondage Fiasco", Jon Stewart answered, "If 'Lesbian Bondage Fiasco' isn't the name of an hard-edged indy band by tomorrow, I'll be very disappointed."
The Sarah Jane Adventures : Clyde mentions that Pantheon of Discord would be a good name for a band. The Doctor wholeheartedly agrees.
Referenced in this Xkcd strip.
Yum Yum, Sugary Snacks a werewolf band from the Lonely Werewolf Girl novels.
Sex Factory from Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Mike Nelson's band before he was shot into space)
The Mortal Instruments made it a running gag with Simon's band. The name of the band changed every week, the weirdest example being "Champagne Enima".
Currently they're "Millenium Lint."
Engadget gets into the act with this headline "Blood turbine to power your pacemaker, become legendary band name".
Neutral Milk Hotel
Jeff Mangum claims there's a deep, long story behind it but he doesn't want to tell anyone due to its personal nature. Actually, the Elephant 6 Collective (which Neutral Milk Hotel is part of) is full of these. There's also the Olivia Tremor Control, Marshmallow Coast, Elf Power, the Apples In Stereo, and Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. Actually, it's more normal for an Elephant 6 band to have a weird name like this than for them to have a typical-sounding name. Weird names to go along with their weird music, I suppose.
Ms John Soda
Wolves in the Throne Room
A Japanese band, "King Fucker Chicken"
The World/Inferno Friendship Society (again)
Blind Melon (though this is also a play on the name of blues musician Blind Lemon). They could also be named after the Cheech and Chong sketch, " Blind Melon Chitlin ".
Wacky word titles are very common in alt/indie rock; of the top of my head, there's The Architecture in Helsinki, British Sea Power, We Are Scientists, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Jimmy Eat World, Manic Street Preachers, Cats and Cats and Cats, Enter Shikari (bordering on made-up words -- Shikari is "Hunter" in Sanskrit), Snow Patrol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lightspeed Champion, System of a Down, Coldplay and Radiohead. An extreme example: there's a polish indie-rock band Kombajn Do Zbierania Kur Po Wioskach, which translates as Village Hen Harvester. There is also Poland's Might Cavalry, which is a local band to Greeley, Colorado.
One better: There was a Norwegian punk band called "Morten Jørgensen og Spekkhoggerne som fulgte etter danskebåten uten å røre spyet som rant fra ripa", which translates to "Morten Jørgensen [the lead singer] and the killer whales who followed the Denmark ferry without touching the vomit running from the railing".
System of a Down's name comes from a poem that one of them wrote called "Victims of the Down" (which makes about as much sense).
Lady Antebellum. The members chose "antebellum" after they posed in Civil War era clothing as a joke, and then added the "lady" to make it more obvious that they had a female leader.
Tsunami Bomb
A rather common occurrence on the xkcd IRC channel.
They actually have a bot set to do this every time someone posts a three word phrase.
August Burns Red. The name comes from an incident where their former vocalist's ex-girlfriend (August) killed his dog (Redd) by burning it alive. The next day the newspaper ran an article with the title "August Burns Red".
(A) New Found Glory (the "A" was eventually removed.)
Asleep at the Wheel ("Country/Western Swing" band that's been performing since 1970)
The Apples in Stereo (also counts as a "The.." name)
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (see above).
Tokio Hotel. 'Tokio' (German spelling of Tokyo) comes from their fascination with the city and dreams of performing there one day, and the 'Hotel' part comes from their constant touring and staying in hotels.
Angelspit - the name comes from the title of a Sonic Youth song ("Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit) which they turned into a portmanteau word.
And, before Derek Sherinian left the band, they would exchange instruments for a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" and become Nightmare Cinema, the exact opposite name.
Not to mention, the spinoff band Liquid Tension Experiment.
The Young Veins is one, also a 'The' band name. But then again, one of the members was originally from a band called Panic! At the Disco, so yeah.
Hot Chip
Moosebutter.
Goat Punishment - although they weren't quite a real band, just the pseudonym Weezer used to perform under when they wanted to play at smaller venues without the tickets quickly selling out.
Shudder To Think. One story goes that the name came about because a member had made an off-hand comment along the lines of "I shudder to think we'd just be another pop band".
Dinosaur Jr., although they were originally simply Dinosaur; the "Jr." had to be added due to a lawsuit by a band called The Dinosaurs.
Neon Trees. They named themselves after the lighted trees commonly seen outside In N Out Burger franchises.
The Birthday Massacre (them again)
Believable Picnic
Geggy Tah. The two founding members were named Greg and Tommy, and both had younger sisters who weren't initially able to pronounce their names right (thus "Geggy" and "Tah"). They later found out that they unintentionally picked a name that's Scottish for "Mouth Thanks", which could also be loosely interpreted as "Shut Up, Thanks".
No love for Wall of Voodoo ??
The Electric Prunes
The Bubble Puppy (nonsensical band names were pretty common in 60's psychedelic rock, apparently - see also the already mentioned Electric Prunes and Strawberry Alarm Clock).
Soul Coughing: apparently it came from a poem Mike Doughty had written, where it was used to mean "vomiting". He decided that the poem itself was bad, but he did like that particular turn of phrase.
Jimmy Eat World . It comes from an incident from when Tom Linton was young and his brothers Jim and Ed had a fight - Jim won, but Ed sought revenge with a crayon drawing depicting Jim shoving the earth in his mouth, with the caption "Jimmy eat world".
Loose Fur, a Wilco / Jim O'Rourke side project. They originally wanted to be called Lucifer, but there were already numerous groups using that name, so they went for an obtuse pun on it instead.
Wacky Word/Referential Bands
These sorts of band names are often real words within some context, e.g. science fiction characters, anagrams, or obscure foreign terms. But to most, they just look like weird, made-up words.
Wacky Word/Referential Bands Examples
Homestar Runner had "Sloshy".
Whose logo was their name, lowercase, upside-down, and with a red "o": ʎɥsoןs
Not to mention "Did that dude just say she likes cloth?" "She Likes Cloth... that's a good band name."
And, (how could we forget), the sbemail band names .
Cthia (a Vulcan word for "truth") in Undocumented Features
Geronimo Jackson from Lost may have been named after Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson, who directed the 1951 Disney film Alice in Wonderland . The show frequently references the Alice novels.
In the movie Yes-Man with Jim Carrey , the love interest ( Zooey Deschanel ) is in a band called Munchausen by Proxy, a psychological disorder.
In one of the deleted scenes from Shallow Hal , Walt's band was named "Worst Case Scenario".
Buddhist concepts (harhar) can go a long way:
The Everlasting Buddhadharma
Buddhas And Bhikkunis
Reincarnage Karmication Snuff Tape
Sex Bob-Omb , Scott Pilgrim 's band. His ex is the lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead.
The Soup Dragons, who took their name from the TV show Clangers
Dalek I Love You, a synthpop group from Liverpool
Dälek, a rap group from NJ. The reference is coincidental however (it's pronounced "dialec").
I thought it was pronounced "exterminate, exterminate".
As I Lay Dying, a reference to the book of the same name by William Faulkner, though this may be a common misconception.
Depeche Mode ( Line-of-Sight Name from a French fashion magazine ; means "fleeting fashion" or something to that effect)
Hadouken! is actually named as a reference to the fireball attack from the Street Fighter games, and include an exclamation mark in their name, so they fall into two categories.
Kaiser Chiefs (after South African football/soccer team Kaizer Chiefs)
Fall Out Boy , who get double points because their current name is a The Simpsons reference, but they used to tour as Saved Latin which is a Rushmore reference
And The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace.
Ska bands I Voted For Kodos and Rex Banner, surf band The Isotopes (who sell "Go 'Topes!" merch and have song titles like "Mr. Sparkle" and "Moe's Family Feedbag") There are many, many more bands named for Simpsons references.
My Chemical Romance is a reference to a book about ecstasy (as in MDMA)
Which was in turn a reference to Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459 (The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosecross year 1459), an anonymous alchemical work often attributed to Johann Valentin Andrae.
Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
Jack Kervorkian And The Suicide Machines (later shortened to just The Suicide Machines)
A local pop punk band named Sam Weir . They recently broke up and reformed with much the same lineup as a hardcore band, calling themselves Claire Danes.
Don Knotts Overdrive.
Joy Division (from a book they read about World War Two history-- "joy divisions" were groups of Jewish or Gypsy women that the Nazis kept for... certain purposes)
Both this band and its successor ( New Order ) having names with Nazi origins (chosen for shock value ) has Unfortunate Implications . However the substance of the metaphor--that "a whorehouse in a concentration camp" described Joy Division's position within the music industry--still stings.
Maxïmo Park are named for a park in Cuba
Mogwai are named after the species of Gizmo in the movie Gremlins
Death Cab for Cutie took its name from an Elvis Presley spoof from a Beatles movie.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (who, incidentally, performed the song "Death Cab for Cutie") are named after a cartoon dog named Bonzo. The "Doo-Dah" part refers to their fodness for old music-hall songs, but is also apparently a pun on "Dada", an art movement.
The Foo Fighters are named after fighter pilots who were trying to shoot down WWII UFOs
Biffy Clyro
Infocalypse (named for the term used in Snow Crash to denote the fall of Babel)
The Wu-Tang Clan from the movie Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang.
Linkin Park is named after Santa Monica's Lincoln Park.
MegaDriver plays heavy metal covers of sountracks from Sega MegaDrive videogames. By the way, it's an one-man band .
Toad the Wet Sprocket (a Monty Python reference. The Python context was a fictional band with an intentionally ridiculous Wacky Word Combo name, which makes this practically meta .
They Might Be Giants was named for the play/film in which a man believes that he's Sherlock Holmes. The title refers to the famous scene in Don Quixote when Don Quixote mistakes windmills for giants.
Fine Young Cannibals, named after the movie All the Fine Young Cannibals."
The band Fozzy started as a cover band called Fozzy Osbourne (both references should be obvious if you think about it).
Save Ferris
Dogs Die In Hot Cars' name was taken from a RSPCA poster on animal welfare.
Working For A Nuclear-Free City took their name from the slogan of Manchester City Council in the 1980s.
Felix Da Housecat, named after cartoon character Felix the Cat.
As well as the swing band Felix and the Buzzcats
Megadeth is an Xtremely Kool Letterz version of a term from nuclear warfare theory, a measure of a bomb's power in terms of the number of people it can kill.
They weren't the first to use that reference, or the first to misspell it: in a very early incarnation, Pink Floyd called themselves The Meggadeaths.
Led Zeppelin (said to be revenge against a record exec who said the band's sound would fly like a lead zeppelin)
The Who bass player John Entwistle has also been credited with coming up with this one. There was a split between him and Keith Moon on one side and Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey on the other. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said "Yeah, that will go over like a lead balloon". John takes credit for this one in one of his last interviews.
This is also commonly attributed to Keith Moon.
The lead is spelled "led" because they were convinced that stupid Americans would pronounce it "leed" otherwise.
The Velvet Underground is named after a porn novel, specifically one about BDSM.
Rammstein (from the Ramstein airshow disaster)
Blackened grindcore horrors Anaal Nathrakh are named after a spell in the movie Excalibur.
Vampire Weekend is named after a film made by frontman Ezra Koenig
This is probably very obscure, but I always thought it referred to an episode of Get Smart entitled "Weekend Vampire". I wonder if the film's name had anything to do with it.
The Pietasters got their name from British slang for "fat ass". Definitely an improvement over their original name, The Slugs. (Which had already been taken, believe it or not.)
The Toasters are named for the Jamaican tradition of DJs "chatting" or "toasting" over instrumentals, not the kitchen appliance. One of the earliest lineups included a pair of toasters, the Unity Two, and later lineups usually include at least one member skilled in the tradition.
My Bloody Valentine , named after a Canadian slasher flick , itself inspired by the song "My Funny Valentine".
Dixie Chicks (after the Little Feat song "Dixie Chicken")
Iron Maiden (after the Medieval torture device, one of which Steve Harris had seen in the film The Man in the Iron Mask )
Belle and Sebastian is the title of a French children's novel and two TV series based on it.
Which nearly led to legal action. Headed off by diplomatic negotiations and apologetic disclaimers printed in the liner notes of some B&S releases.
Minus the Bear (after a television show "B. J. and the Bear"; might also qualify as a double entendre name...)
Catherine Wheel (either a spinning firework or a medieval execution device)
Saint Etienne (English band, named after the French football team)
Aston Villa (French band, named after the English football team)
Stone Temple Pilots' original name was Mighty Joe Young, after a movie (because a blues musician took the name already, they had to change it due to copyright issues. Their next choice, Shirley Temple's Pussy, didn't fly for different reasons)
Spock 's Beard (a progressive metal band)
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead is a unique band that claims (on its website) to have named themselves after a Mayan Chant. According to the Other Wiki this is an ongoing joke, however.
The American rock band Rival Schools took its name from the fighting game series produced by Capcom. Not by coincidence, the band's first album take its title ( United By Fate ) from the subtitle of the first game in that series.
Kamelot obviously references King Arthur . Double points for the deliberate misspelling of Camelot.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor takes its name from a film about a Japanese biker gang called the Black Emperors.
The Kentucky Headhunters. Taken from the word "headchopping", a term that blues musician Muddy Waters used when he had replaced another gig. After finding other bands already were called The Headhunters, they added "Kentucky" to the name. The band was first known as "Itchy Brother", which as random as it sounds, was actually a real cartoon character.
The band that Dave Barry plays in (along with several other authors) is called the Rock-Bottom Remainders, a remainder being a book that was printed in excessive quantity, and usually is sold back to bookstores cheaply as 'bargain' or 'clearance' merchandise.
Also a member: Stephen King .
The Decemberists, named after the 1825 Russian revolt, they take this further by having songs referencing historical events and settings.
Franz Ferdinand, about the poor Austrian archduke whose assassination started World War I .
Except they say that it was originally named after a racing horse, Archduke Ferdinand, but they liked the implications the Archduke's death made as per starting the First World War.
Daft Punk , whose name comes from a review of their previous (completely different) band, Darlin', dismissing their music as "a bunch of daft punk."
Los Amigos Invisibles took their name after the grreting late writer Arturo Uslar Pietri used in his TV show Valores Humanos : "Bienvenidos, amigos invisibles" ("welcome, my invisible friends", an allusion to the unseen audience)
Ska Band Desorden Público. Their name is a pun in the prhase "Orden Público", a concept related with social peace and order.
The Notorious Cherry Bombs, a side project by Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill and some members of Crowell's former backing band The Cherry Bombs. "Notorious" was added due to a copyright claim by a member who refused to join the project.
School Of Seven Bells named themselves after a mythical school of South American pickpockets that may or may not have existed in the 1980s, which they heard about while watching a documentary on PBS at 3 in the morning.
Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth take their name from the Tolkien mythos, the name meaning "Mount Doom" in Tolkien's constructed language Sindarin.
Several black metal bands also take their name from the Tolkien mythos, most notably black metal bands Gorgoroth and Burzum.
Burzum's sole member, Varg (meaning "Wolf/ Outlaw") Vikernes , originally went by the name Count Grishnackh, another Tolkien reference - in this case, the name of an orc. Vikernes spent 16 years in prison for murdering his former friend and bandmate Euronymous, who was named for a Greek demon... one whose name, incidentally, had been misspelled by Anton LaVey in The Satanic Bible .
Armcannon, a Buffalo-based video-game-music cover band, takes its name from the iconic weapon of such video game characters as Samus and Mega Man .
Kasabian (Named after Manson Family cultist and getaway driver Linda Kasabian.)
Aiden, named for the character from The Ring .
Little My, (presumably) named after the character from The Moomins .
Pinback are named for the character of the same name in Dark Star . Some of their earlier material sampled dialogue and sounds from the film.
Gogol Bordello
Veruca Salt, named after one of the children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Punk band Kermit's Finger named themselves after the punchline to the old joke "What's green and smells like ham?".
Does It Offend You, Yeah? is a partial quote from The Office
Crystal Castles, derived from something to do with the series She-Ra.
Cabaret Voltaire, whose name is a reference to Dada .
Coil and Current 93 were both named for obscure occult references (the latter to Aleister Crowley ).
Gastr Del Sol, which seems to mean something along the lines of "the sun's stomach" .
Merzbow, named after the Merzbau .
Münchener Freiheit (more usually known as "Freiheit" in the UK); they named themselves after a street in their native Munich (which has since been slightly renamed "Münchner Freiheit").
Mudhoney, after a Russ Meyer film. They'd never actually seen the movie, they just saw the title somewhere and thought it sounded cool.
White Zombie , after a somewhat obscure film starring Bela Lugosi.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin got their name from a skit from The Goon Show .
Bishop Allen are named after Bishop Allen Drive, a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts that two of the band members used to live on together.
In what could be considered a variation on Song/Album/Lyric band names, Whirlwind Heat are named after another band's album artwork: The cover to Sonic Youth 's Goo includes the text "I stole my sister's boyfriend. It was all whirlwind heat, and flash. Within a week we killed my parents and hit the road.".
ChChCh HaHaHa named themselves after the Leitmotif from Friday the 13 th films.
The Airborne Toxic Event take their name from a disaster that occurs in Don DeLillo's novel White Noise , which also serves as the name of one of the sections of the book.
Surf Nazis Must Die, named after a cult movie with same name .
Soft Machine is named after a William S. Burroughs novel. Also qualifies as a Hard Word Soft Word name.
Alexisonfire were named after everyone's favourite lactacting contortionist Alexis Fire.
Nerf Herder are named after a famous line in The Empire Strikes Back , where Princess Leia calls Han Solo a "stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder".
Dynamite Hack is named as a Caddyshack reference - at one point in the movie Carl Spackler offers Ty Webb some marijuana and refers to it as "dynamite hack".
The Dismemberment Plan are named after a throwaway line in Groundhog Day : At one point Ned offhandedly mentions "the dismemberment plan" while trying to sell Phil Connors insurance.
Sleater-Kinney's name sounds like a "listing member names" example, but they're actually named after Sleater-Kinney Road, a road in Washington where their old rehearsal space was.
Ugly Kid Joe's name parodied that of Hair Metal band Pretty Boy Floyd. Pretty Boy Floyd themselves were of course named after the famous bank robber.
Boss Hog is biker slang for "cool motorcycle". No connection to Boss Hogg .
Don Caballero named themselves with an obscure SCTV reference: Don Caballero was a character Joe Flaherty played in an episode-long The Godfather parody.
Tiger Trap are named as a Calvin and Hobbes Shout-Out . It's a common misconception that they're named after the Beat Happening song, but they were formed before that song came out, though their debut album came out after.
Song/Album/Lyric Bands
Similar to the above example, can't think of a name for a band? Just name it after a favorite song or album of yours. It's easy! Heck if you want you can name it after a favorite lyric.
Song/Album/Lyric Bands
Well, "Mayhem" was part of the name of the song in question, but basically yes.
At The Drive-In (Poison lyric, from the song "Talk Dirty to Me")
Veil Of Maya (Cynic song) Not necessarily. The title itself comes from Hindu mythology.
Paint It Black (Rolling Stones song)
Themselves named from a Muddy Waters song.
Freezing Moon ( Mayhem song)
Make Them Suffer ( Cannibal Corpse song)
Forest Of Shadows (Funeral Fog song)
Bullet For My Valentine (Planes Mistaken For Stars song)
Partial with Heaven And Hell which is named after the famous Dio era Black Sabbath song. The band however is in fact just that, Dio era Black Sabbath touring under that name.
Averted with Machine Head, the connection to the Deep Purple album was a coincidence.
Probably not unconnected to the fact that it's the name for part of a guitar. For non-guitarists, they're the things on the headstock (am I going to have to explain that one too?) that let you adjust the tuning of a string.
Aka "Tuners"
Deep Purple itself is named after a big band song from the 1920s.
Likewise with Heaven Shall Burn, no connection to the Marduk album
Partial with Sepultura (Taken from a translated Motorhead lyric)
Seether (Veruca Salt song)
Jet (Paul McCartney song, and they sound very McCartney as well)
Death Cab For Cutie (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song)
Hellogoodbye (Beatles song)
Although they claim they didn't.
Winds Of Plague (Unearth lyric)
Ladytron (Roxy Music song)
Fiddler's Green (traditional Irish song)
Funeral For A Friend (Elton John song)
Pretty Girls Make Graves (The Smiths song)
Stars of Track and Field (Belle and Sebastian lyric)
Radiohead (Talking Heads song)
Who in turn got their name from a Bob Dylan song.
Stiff Little Fingers (Vibrators song)
Scary Kids Scaring Kids (Cap'n Jazz song). It's also a little wacky...
Howlin' Wolf (Muddy Waters song)
Deacon Blue ( Steely Dan song)
Sisters of Mercy (Leonard Cohen song)
Monster Magnet ( Frank Zappa song)
Actually named after Wyndorf's favorite toy when he was a child.
Immaculate Machine (Paul Simon song)
Boris (The Melvins song)
Santa Dog ( The Residents single)
Texas Is the Reason (Misfits lyric)
Blind Guardian wanted something with "guardian" for Fates Warning's Awaken the Guardian
Raised Fist (After the lyrics in a Rage Against The Machine song, "Know Your Enemy").
Temple of the Dog (Mother Love Bone lyric)
Steeleye Span (after a character in the folk song "Horkstow Grange")
Carnal Forge (Carcass song)
Love and Theft (named for a Bob Dylan album)
In a less obvious example, Crass takes their name from lyrics in "Ziggy Stardust."
Madness named themselves after a Prince Buster song.
Video Vamp (Def Leppard song)
Cock E.S.P. (Hanatarash song)
Running Wild (Judas Priest song)
The Drowners (Suede song)
Powderfinger (Neil Young song)
One-person example: Lady Gaga is named after a Queen song... Well, more specifically it's a play on "Radio Ga Ga".
Eric's Trip (named for a Sonic Youth song)
In Fear and Faith (Circa Survive song)
Right Said Fred (Bernard Cribbins song)
Sweethearts of the Rodeo, named for the Byrds album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Lampshaded in the Sweethearts' album Buffalo Zone , whose cover art pastiched that of the Byrds album in question.
Dream Evil ( Dio album).
Nashville Pussy, an Atlanta-based "redneckcore" band. Consisting of two men and two women (one guy's the singer, and the lead guitarist is his wife), the band draws its name from Ted Nugent's Double Live Gonzo Album, wherein Ted dedicates the song "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" to "...all that Nashville pussy."
Angelspit (from the Sonic Youth song "Orange Rolls & Angel's Spit")
Mr. Big, after a song by Free.
Silver Mountain ( Rainbow song "Man on the Silver Mountain")
Highland Glory ( Running Wild song)
Starsailor, after a Tim Buckley album.
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, after a lyric from The Silver Jews' "People".
Celibate Rifles (somewhat oblique Shout-Out to Sex Pistols )
Radio 4, after a Public Image Ltd. song. (And so, indirectly, after the BBC radio station.)
Havalina Rail Co. , who sometimes went by just Havalina. "Havalina" was a song by The Pixies .
How To Destroy Angels , after Coil's debut EP.
The Lightning Seeds, after a Mondegreen of a Prince lyric (Raspberry Beret's "...the lightning sees").
Cocteau Twins, after an early Simple Minds b-side.
Urge Overkill, after a lyric in the Parliament song "Funkentelechy"
Like The Lightning Seeds, Radio Birdman are also named for a Mondegreen : in this case one from The Stooges ' "1970" (the real lyric being "Radio burnin'")
The Futureheads, after The Flaming Lips ' album Hit To Death In The Future Head .
All Time Low, who took their name from the lyrics to a New Found Glory song
Yet another mondegreen-named band name, this time not on purpose: The Mystery Trend meant to name themselves after a lyric from Bob Dylan 's "Like A Rolling Stone", not knowing it was actually "the mystery tramp". The mistake was arguably a better name anyway.
Spoon were named after a song by Can.
Angelzoom, after a song Angel Zoom from the first album of her former band .
Man Will Surrender, after the Pailhead song "Man Should Surrender". They were apparently more certain about it than Pailhead were.
The Billion Dollar Babies, after the Alice Cooper song and album. On the borderline of being named after their own song, since most of the lineup consisted of the original Alice Cooper band minus Alice Cooper himself . There's another band called Billion Dollar Babies, who are presumably also named as an Alice Cooper Shout-Out , but are otherwise unrelated.
Cherry Ghost ( Wilco lyric)
Hatebreed, after The Misfits ' "Hatebreeders". They've done a Cover Version of the song they're named after too.
Blonde Redhead (DNA song)
Blind Guardian -- Guardian of the Blind
Inverted by They Might Be Giants , who wrote a song called "They Might Be Giants", but it went on their third album, Flood, rather than their first album, which was of course called They Might Be Giants . They were named after a film, not their own song.
The Shins almost fit this trope: Flake Music, who were essentially The Shins prior to a name change and some switching instruments around, had a song entitled, er, "The Shins".
Counting Crows aren't named after a song, but the contents of a song -- "The Murder of One", which contains the lyric "as you stood there, counting crows".
Dschinghis Khan entered the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with...Dschinghis Khan.
Love City Groove did the same thing in 1995.
Also inverted with Iron Maiden, which was named after the torture device, and then later came the self-titled song.
Living in a Box
2 Many DJs are named after a song by the two DJs' other band (Soulwax) called Too Many DJs. Note: the band and the DJ act have become increasingly blurred into one thing over the years (sometimes called Radio Soulwax), hence why it's here under "one of their own".
Megadeth - the song "Set The World Afire" was originally called Megadeth, and was written by Dave Mustaine shortly after he left Metallica.
Hellyeah - both their first album and a song on that album are also called "Hellyeah"
The Birthday Massacre . Like Counting Crows, their name comes from the lyrics of one of their songs -- "Happy Birthday", which has the lines "I wore my black and white dress to the birthday massacre"
"Happy Birthday" was actually originally called "The Birthday Massacre"- the name change came from some copyright issues they didn't want to have, so they changed their name to "The Birthday Massacre" and renamed the song.
Icehouse, after the song Icehouse on their album... Icehouse.
Dashboard Confessional is said to be named after the lyrics of a song on their first album.
Mindless Self Indulgence
Dream Evil got their name from the Dio album. Originally named Dragonslayer, they were forced to change their name to something less generic. Dragonslayer ended up becoming their first album title.
Queensryche (see also below) took their name from their earliest song, "Queen Of The Reich".
Slipknot were named after a demo song of theirs.
The Butthole Surfers had an early song called "Butthole Surfers" (it's unknown if this was the same song as "Butthole Surfer", or just a similarly-titled song that never got released). At one of their shows, when they were going by something else, an emcee somehow mistook the song title for the band name, and it stuck.
Fleetwood Mac was the name of an instrumental Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie recorded while still members of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Obviously this was itself named after their rhythm section, making it also an example of the next category.
Bad Religion
The Living End
Short lived British band Easyworld named themselves after a lyric on an early B-side, Better Ways to Self Destruct.
Free Energy
Metal Chuch, whose album Metal Chuch contained the song Metal Church.
Yellow Tricycle (after their song, Yellow Tricycle)
Kill Hannah (who were In A Jar UK, before the lead singer went through a particularly bad breakup and wrote a song about it...)
Right Away, Great Captain! (again)
Hallelujah The Hills
Subverted: Restart 's Signature Song is named "Recomeçar" (which translates to "restart", natch), but the band wasn't named after it. It just happened to be a coincidence.
Schoolyard Heroes
Nine Days-- they did have a song called "Nine Days of Rain" in their first album, although they insist that wasn't where the name came from.
4Lyn started as Headtrip, but they changed their name after the success of their song "Lyn".
Angels Of Light were originally supposed to be called The Pleasure Seekers, but the name was already taken, so they simply used the name of one of their songs, "Angels Of Light".
Talk Talk got their name from a song band leader Mark Hollis wrote before forming the band.
Similarly, Icehouse got THEIR name from a song band leader Iva Davies wrote for Flowers, the band that came before Icehouse.
+/- (often called plus/minus)
Wakey! Wakey!
Meat Puppets
A Perfect Circle, sort of: "Orestes", which Billy Howerdel wrote before the band got together, had a lyric mentioning "your perfect circle".
I'm not sure which came first, but No Doubt, which originally went by Apple Core, had a song called "No Doubt". The song was never officially released.
King Crimson's debut album features the song "In Court Of The Crimson King," though it might be coincidence.
Darling Pet Munkee's first song was "Darling Pet Monkey". The song was named after text from an old mail-order ad for squirrel monkeys, but they went the misspelled band name route to reflect that their lineup featured members of the bands Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling and Axemunkee.
Einar Örn (best known as " the singer from The Sugarcubes who wasn't Bjork ") made a solo album called Ghostigital, which was produced by Curver. The next time the two worked together, they decided to make it clear it was more of a collaborative effort by calling themselves Ghostigital instead.
Wartime (who were essentially a Rollins Band side project)
A Silver Mt. Zion named themselves after a slightly misheard lyric from their song "Movie (Never Made)".
Minor Threat
Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
Travis and Bob
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
As well as the brief offshoot Emerson, Lake and Powell - Keith Emerson and Greg Lake wanted to have a full-on reunion, but Carl Palmer was still with Asia, so they got Cozy Powell on drums instead. Word of God was that it was just coincidence that they still had the initials ELP, but the band did crack jokes about seeing if "Ringo Parr" or "Phil Pollins" would be interested.
Medeski Martin & Wood
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Or, sometimes "Hall & Oates"
Phillips, Craig & Dean. Due to a lack of an Oxford comma in the name, they have been classified in record stores as "Craig and Dean Phillips".
Peter, Bjorn & John (a rare modern example)
Made more confusing by the fact that there's not actually a comma betwween "Peter" and "Bjorn", making the group look like a duo. And the fact that their main hit single, "Young Folks", features female vocals from a group named for three men, coming from the usually-not-credited Victoria Bergsman (herself fitting this trope, being from the group the Concretes).
Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young
Technically, Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen & Simon Tong, although most people refer to them after the title of their first album , The Good, the Bad & the Queen.
Simon and Garfunkel
Peter, Paul, and Mary
The Ramones also doubles as a "The" band, as all their members had "Ramone" as their stage surname.
Likewise The Corrs, except it's their real surname. Many other examples in the same vein.
The same except with first names goes for The Bens, which consisted of Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, and Ben Lee.
Tackey & Tsubasa
The Jackson Five scores a hat-trick for being (The) (Member Names) (Number).
Variation: Bon Jovi is named after only one of its members.
And the Ur Example , Santana.
Winger
Van Halen ; similar to the Bon Jovi example, though named after two members rather than one (the van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex; much later, Eddie's son Wolfgang would also join the band).
Subversion: Pink Floyd was named after two blues musicians, neither of which were ever in the band. Although that didn't stop journalists asking them early on, "So which one's Pink?" .
A more recent use of this is by the Canadian duo Tegan and Sara.
Fleetwood Mac , named after their drummer (Mick Fleetwood) and bass player (John McVie). Sort of an aversion - Fleetwood and Peter Green decided to call the band this to persuade McVie to join, not because he was already a member.
Obfuscated by the band Good Old War. Good for Goodwin, Old for Arnold, and War for Schwartz.
Run DMC (another partial case; of their three members, the name comes from the nickname of one and the initials of another, omitting the late Jam Master Jay).
There was also "Salt-N-Pepa" in the same genre, although like Run-DMC, they were a trio (Salt, Pepa, and their DJ Spinderella)
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, which would've been Yes if they weren't sued by existing members of the band. And they have indeed drawn the law-firm comparison.
And then they reconciled their differences, and the tracks for the second ABWH album ended up on the next Yes album anyway.
Aversion: Judy and Mary (no one named Judy or Mary was in the band)
Aversion: Eddie From Ohio (has one Eddie and three non-Eddies; none are from Ohio.)
James, a (currently) seven-man band who decided to take their name from one of their founders, Jim Glennie. Tim thought it would look bad if the band was named after the lead singer , Gavan was too heavy metal and Paul was too modest to suggest his own name. Only two of them (Jim and Tim) are still in the band, and "which one's James" is the most boring question around.
They played on this with the cover for their 2001 album Pleased To Meet You , which pictured a lifelike but computer-generated man created by compositing all the band members' faces together – ergo a fictional 'James' to fit the name.
Just for good measure, they'd previously been known as (among other things) a name fitting the X And The Ys mould (arguably also a Grossout name); Venereal And The Diseases.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.
Wilson Phillips
Matt & Kim
Almost any duo will invaribly name themselves after their members, from Simon & Garfunkel to Brooks & Dunn. Notable exception: Sugarland, who began as a trio. Also averted with Blue County.
Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet. They became just S-K-O one single into their career, however. After Paul Overstreet left, they became S-K-B for about 30 seconds while Craig Bickhardt took over.
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce, & Hart (two Monkees with two songwriters)
Dutch band Johan (Dutch for John) reverses this. There is no band member named Johan.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sixx: A.M., the (stage) surname of one member and initials of another.
Mel & Kim
Mel & Kim (a duo created largely to share a name with the above as a gag, male comedian Mel Smith and singer Kim Wilde.)
Aversion: the female comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates. Neither member is named either of those things, rather the name is a takeoff on the names of two well-known bands that are legitimate examples of this convention.
Sharon, Lois and Bram (performers of children's music)
Loggins and Messina; technically an aversion since Jim Messina was simply a producer. Moreover, it was meant to just be Kenny Loggins as a solo artist (which would eventually happen for real), but Messina made such a significant contribution, that the first album was called "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In".
Hanson, the band with three brothers whose last name is... you guessed it, Hanson. Often mistakenly referred to as The Hanson Brothers.
There is in fact an entirely different band called The Hanson Brothers: They aren't brothers, let alone ones with the last name Hanson - they're named after characters in Slap Shot .
Subverted by Fujiya & Miyagi, who are not a Japanese duo, but rather four white guys from Brighton. "Fujiya" comes from a brand of record player, while "Miyagi" comes from Mr. Miyagi, the character from The Karate Kid .
The Nields - two sisters, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, with Nerissa's husband David who took her last name along with Dave Chalfant and Dave Hower, leaving them with three Daves and three Nields.
Paul and Storm , although Storm is a nickname.
Tegan and Sara
Ford & Lopatin. They started out as Games, but adopted a "listing band members" name due to potential confusion with the rapper Game.
Jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross
Twiggy Ramirez and Twiggy, the model \ actress who was half of his namesake, once collaborated on a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You" for the soundtrack of the film Dead Man On Campus : The song was naturally credited to Twiggy And Twiggy.
Primus frontman Les Claypool's jam band supergroup featuring Buckethead , Brian "Brain" Mantia, and keyboardist Bernie Worrell technically counts for this, with the name "Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains," an amalgamation featuring all the member's handles. It's often shortened to the much easier to type C2B3, though.
Also roughly related is an article from The Onion : " Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Ümlauts ".
When the PvP guys formed a band, they named it Dj̈ork (the umlaut's over the j)
One story arc in Bloom County had Steve Dallas form a glam-metal band called Deathtöngue with Opus, Hodge-Podge, and Bill the Cat, who performed songs like "Let's Run Over Lionel Richie With a Tank." After a run in with Moral Guardians , they changed their name to "Billy and the Boingers".
Before they were known as Deathtöngue, Opus wanted to call the band The Osmonds.
In an episode of Reaper , a wannabe rocker/Dreadful Musician whose great idea of a stage name is just "Ryan" almost does a literal Deal with the Devil and becomes the even-more-ludicrous-sounding "Ryän".
Motley Crue , of cöurse
Evidently, their first world tour had German fans chanting "Muttley Cruh-eh! Muttley Cruh-e!" (Where the german spell "ö" like the vocal in "girl", and not like an "u").
Moxy Früvous (something of a parody, since the band is pretty far removed from heavy metal)
The Crüxshadows (also not heavy metal)
Amon Düül (Krautrock)
There's also two versions of this band called "Amon Düü I " and "Amon Düül II"
And both Justified : It's a pre-Islamic Turkish moon god. And, well, they're German...
Especially hilarious (at least to Swedes) was when the band Trojan decided they wanted an umlaut, so they started spelling their name "Tröjan". Incidentally, that's also Swedish for "the Sweater" or, more generally, "the Shirt." Also, think of the utter hilariousness when you wear a T-shirt with Tröjan on it ( a T-shirt saying 'The Shirt'). Yeah, that's Badass .
Lothlöryen . Funnily parodied here .
Hüsker Dü is not a metal band, but they got their name by substituting the macrons in "Hūsker Dū?" with umlauts. "Hūsker Dū?" itself is the American name of the Danish board game "Husker du?", with macrons added to make the name more exotic.
Also amusing is the german punk band Die Ärzte ("The doctors"); although the umlaut in the second word is part of its correct orthography in German, they've started to spell it with three dots in order to reference the trope.
Blöod Düster
Lääz Rockit
girugämesh
Bügsküll, who zigzag the crap out of this trope by not only being a low-key experimental pop group, but also because, to quote Sean Byrne , "the umlauts are there to make smiley faces."
Leftöver Crack
Maxïmo Park (though actually an indie band, and the 'ï' is often ignored)
Crashdïet
Def Leppard .
Jackyl ("with a 'Y'").
Lynyrd Skynyrd (Leonard Skinner was a gym teacher at the band members' high school who informed them that they would never amount to anything).
Too many rappers to name.
Led Zeppelin – justified, as they wanted "Lead" to be pronounced as the metal, not the verb.
The Beatles , again (originally The Silver Beetles as an homage to Buddy Holly's band The Chirping Crickets, then shortened and changed to include the word "beat".
uneXpecT. While not really a misspelled word, "Unexpect" could be used like "Whelmed." It's logical, but it makes you sound weird.
t.A.T.u. (Also an example of a punctuation name)
Isn't this also an acronym for something in Russian?
Apparently, "ta tu" is "This [girl loves] that [girl]." (Grammatical explanation for non-Slavs: "Ta" is the feminine Russian form of "this". "Tu" is the accusative [i.e. direct object] form of "ta".)
I believe one member of the group explained that in English, the closest translation was 'Tie This Girl To That Girl.'
Linkin Park ; as noted above, they named themselves after a Lincoln Park.
Deliberate, since Chester Bennington could not register the lincolnpark.com domain, so he had to go for an alternate.
Ezy Meat
Witchfynde
Split Enz (spelled that way specifically as a Shout-Out to their home country of New Zealand. Also, for a few of their earliest singles they went by Split Ends).
Mercyful Fate. It may just be misspelt, though.
Alcatrazz
Phish : Though they've given other origin stories, the most commonly accepted one is that it's just a misspelled variation on a nickname for their drummer, Jon Fishman.
The Bumblebeez. For a while in the US they combined this trope with "band names with numbers" and were billed as Bumblebeez 81 - there was a previously existing American band called The Bumblebees, and apparently the "z" wasn't enough to distinguish the two.
Hard Word Soft Word
Use a word that evokes something hard, strong and deadly, then a word that evokes something soft, fluffy and lovely. Quite common among hard rock bands.
Hard Word Soft Word Examples
If either part of that is soft, you're doing it wrong.
Rose Tattoo
Savage Garden
A variation in Killswitch Engage : a kill switch is an emergency shut-off during situations where normal means are inaccessible. It sounds calming when you think about it.
Iron Maiden, though there is of course the instrument of torture. Might work with Judas Priest .
Morbid Angel.
The Chainsaw Kittens.
Yet another example, this time a fictional one: Pistols N Flowers . Given it's a parody of Guns N' Roses ...
Peppermint Carnage, the band formed by the members of the rock club in Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy , uses the reversed form.
Death in June
We Were Promised Jetpacks
There Will Be Fireworks
And Then There Were None (after the Agatha Christie novel, although they really picked it because the novel was listed between entries for Aerosmith and As I Lay Dying on sparknotes)
Pop Will Eat Itself (after a music magazine article whose headline asked "Will Pop Eat Itself?")
Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop
Danielle Ate the Sandwich (which is actually a solo act)
*-ist Band
More Metal counterpart to "The" Band. Band names ending in -ist or -ic, usually a (singular) term for a real or invented ideology, religion or occupation. Popular in Technical Death Metal genre.
Examples of *-ist Band
For bands and band names that just don't fit anywhere else.
Examples of Others
Edit
Revelstoke sounds like a loud 80's heavy-metal hair band.
Mr.Bungle fronted by Mike Patton , they take their name from an educational film in a Pee-Wee Herman special, yep their name is as clowny as their music.
Frightened Rabbit, in that it contains none of the naming conventions mentioned above. Both words are perfectly acceptable alone and together, the name doesn't have the word "the," no "ist" suffix, it isn't a complete sentence, it isn't one word, it isn't a list of members, it isn't a lyric, album or song title of theirs and both words are rather soft.
In the Glee slash fic Story of Three Boys , when a homophobic pastor talks about "wayward youth" and "vandalism", Finn says that he's going to start a band called Wayward Youth. Their first album will be called 'Vandalism' and have naked dudes go-go dancing on the cover.
In the books and movies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid , Gregory's older brother Rodrick's band combines 3 of the common naming conventions into Löded Diper. Though Greg remarks that Rodrick probably can't spell "Loaded Diaper".
It's a common misconception that Green River are named after the Creedence Clearwater Revival album, or it's title track. In fact they're named after Gary Ridgway, a Serial Killer who was known as "The Green River Killer" because his first five victims were found in the Green River in Washington.
The band name maker and acronym maker on this site come up with some preety good ones: http://www.bandnamemaker.com/ . There's also the My New Band Twitter feed.
Notes
↑ The front cover of their most popular album, Fat of the Land, and the subsequent Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned showed only the word "Prodigy." However, Liam Howlett stated that the band's name has always included the article.
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A Good Name for a Rock Band
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Attacking Tucans: "We should form a musical group."
Josh Jepson : "No we shouldn't. That sounds like a horrible idea."
Attacking Tucans: "Lets do it! Band names... We should call ourselves... The Throbbing Masses!"
— Super Mario Sunshine Versus
There are a lot of different categories or varieties of band name, and they often correspond to the era or genre of the band in question. This page has some of these, and examples from real life and fiction. Fictional bands often have utterly dreadful names that are poking fun at certain genres.
That Other Wiki has a non-comprehensive list of bands, in case you ever wondered what they were smoking when they picked a name.
Edit
The most timeless of band names, this style of band naming transcends genre and is enduringly popular. Probably because of The Beatles. You can't usually tell a lot about how a band will sound if its called The Whatever. Sometimes a joke will be made about someone being out of touch with modern music by having them add a "The" to a band name that does not usually take a "The," such as "The Led Zeppelins" or "The Alkaline Trio." (In a case of Truth in Television , Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, Scorpions, Ben Folds Five and others often suffer this. Inverted by The Prodigy , as many people think the band name is Prodigy. [1] ) Band names that follow the "The Plural Nouns" style are something of a Dead Horse Trope and more modern "The" band names tend to be more of a "The Abstract Noun" or "The Adjective" style. Talking Heads were aware of this, and went to great lengths not to be called 'the' Talking Heads, including naming an album, "The Name of This Band is Talking Heads".
It should be pointed out, however, that "The Plural Nouns" would be a really great name for a band. Some guys on The Order of the Stick forum have decided to name their imaginary band that, for the record.
A note about "The" bands: a few certain bands follow this formula but omit the "The;" for example, one can say "The Bangles" or "The Scorpions" (and most folk do), but technically they are named Bangles and Scorpions. Same with (the) Eagles, (the) Pixies, (the) Arcade Fire, and (the) Faces. (The) Pet Shop Boys don't use the article in written materials but have been known to say "the Pet Shop Boys" in speech (and sang, or more accurately covered (!), a song entitled "We're the Pet Shop Boys.")
An inversion: Pink Floyd was known as The Pink Floyd during the Syd Barrett year(s).
"The" Bands Examples
The Gavinners, from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney .
Of course, the band was originally called Garyuu Wave in the Japanese version, Gyakuten Saiban 4 ...
The Weird Sisters, from Harry Potter , said to be one of the most popular wizard bands out there, and booked to play at Hogwarts at the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire . ( The film made them punk rockers.) Nymphadora Tonks is a fan.
The Band With Rocks In, from Soul Music . Also The Whom, The Blots and The Surreptitious Fabric, all names briefly used by a wannabe band (and not coincidentally all puns on the names of real bands).
The Commitments . Chosen deliberately, and explained in the book & film that "all the great sixties bands were 'the somethings'".
And naturally, there are at least two bands called "The Somethings".
The Plural Nouns, of The Order of the Stick forum.
The Worthless Peons, Ted's band on Scrubs .
The Used
The Birthday Party
The Texas Toad Lickers (together for only one album, though: the soundtrack to the film Vampires)
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
The Residents (notable because that wasn't their original name, their initial demo got sent out accidentally unlabeled, so they took their new name when a record company sent the demo back marked as 'to: residents')
Similar story with The Guess Who; they sent a demo tape to a radio station labeled "Guess Who?" in the hopes they would be mistaken for a well-established band. Instead, the station decided their name was Guess Who.
The Art of Noise
The Verve (who were originally called simply 'Verve' but changed the name due to potential copyright infringement)
The Fall
The Monkees
Moog Cookbook (no the), with an album named "The Moog Cookbook"
The Specials (who started life as the Coventry Automatics, then became the Special AKA the Coventry Automatics, then the Special AKA and finally the Specials).
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, later shortened to Oingo Boingo and (briefly) to simply Boingo.
The Wyrd Sisters (the real ones, who predate the first Harry Potter novel by several years).
The Trashmen
The xx (because nouns are for the weak, apparently...)
The Rotted
The Pink Floyd Sound (briefly, before they dropped the first and last words)
The Doobie Brothers (since they were literally "doobie" "brothers", i.e. not flesh and blood brothers but "brothers", i.e. close friends, united... I don't have to explain further)
...and about a hundred thousand more.
The Free, an eurodance band
The Rasmus , Finnish rock band (they added the article to differentiate themselves from a Swedish DJ of the same name)
X And The Ys
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This one is a little rarer than the "The" band. It was most popular in/is most associated with the 1950s, what with Bill Haley & The Comets, but Ted Leo & The Pharmacists prove it is still popular today. However, most modern bands that follow this style don't play it straight in a "Frontman & The Musicians" style, but will just use funny words instead, like Me First & The Gimme Gimmes. The primary exception is Country Music , particularly alternative or self-consciously "old-timey" country, where it retains an air of respectability and old-fashionedness. However, it still occasionally turns up in fiction.
X And The Ys Examples
Sick Dick and the Volkswagens from The Crying of Lot 49 .
Parodying the big band example below in M.A.S.H., Trapper once introduced Hawkeye as "Hawkeye Pierce and His Orchestra."
Jesse and the Rippers from Full House .
Pugilism and the Third Autistic Cuckoo, from The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Razor and the Scummettes from Maniac Mansion
Bertie the Balladeer and his Troubadour Rascals, from Soul Music .
Eddie and the Cruisers. (The name of the movie, and the artist the soundtrack was credited to.)
Eddi and the Fey in Emma Bull's War for the Oaks .
Johnny and the Contusions in Dave Barry's Tricky Business .
Vitaly Chernobyl and the Meltdowns in Neal Stephenson 's Snow Crash
Smeg and the Heads from Red Dwarf .
Robbie Wilson and Sedgley Park, a Robbie Coltrane alter-ego band.
Clark Kent and his Supermen (from The Illuminatus! Trilogy)
In The Dresden Files , the main character Harry jokingly regards the local werewolf gang's name (Billy and the Alphas/Werewolves) as a bad 70's band name.
He later gives Nicodemus and the Denarians a similar name in Turncoat -- Nicky and the Nickelheads.
Little Tommy and the Underhill Gang from Esther Friesner 's suburban fantasy novel Elf Defense .
Bennie and the Jets from the Elton John song of the same name.
Jeremy and the Incidentals from Phineas and Ferb .
Also Phineas and the Ferb-Tones.
One of the band names suggested by Yui during the band-naming session in K-On! is "Hirasawa Yui and Her Happy Friends". Ritsu is less than happy about having the rest of the cast suddenly be nothing but extras.
A rather hard to place example, Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, a fake band who exist only on an album by a real musician.
...became the special man, then we were Ziggy's band
Mr. Show has a skit involving an inspirational band named Indomitable Spirit (whose members pretend to have disabilities ranging from being a disembodied head to being a woman), but a former band member (who is actually missing an arm) reveals their name was originally Flat Top Tony and the Purple Canoes.
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppet Show .
Battlestar Galactica . When Anders says that Cylon Leoben might have been right about Starbuck having a special destiny, Starbuck replies that "Kara Thrace and Her Special Destiny" sounds like a bad name for a cover band.
Alvin and The Chipmunks
Barbie and the Rockers; this line inspired a two part TV special (which predates the modern DVD movies by 14 years), where in part two they were inexplicably renamed...
Barbie and the Sensations
In Grease , the band playing at the dance contest was named Johnny Casino And The Gamblers.
Gordon and the Gophers, from the CBBC mascot's spin-off books.
Some combinations of units and squad leaders in Warhammer40000 end up sounding like this. Maugan Ra and the Dark Reapers, for instance.
And while we're at it, HagridAndTheSkoolgurlz .
Firgin D'an and the Modal Nodes, aka the Cantina Band from Star Wars .
Crash and the Boys in Scott Pilgrim .
Fictional band Larry David and the Hipsters from Curb Your Enthusiasm .
"Wexford and the Unbelievers" on Sanctuary 's episode "Firewall"
But a lot of people thought it was a straight example.. ask Darius Rucker how tired he became of folks calling him Hootie .
Echo & The Bunnymen, could be considered non-straight as "Echo" was rumored to be their drummachine.
This was actually refuted by the band.
Butch Walker & the Lets Go Out Tonites
Gladys Knight and the Pips
Elizabeth Harper and the Matinee
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Darla Hood and the Enchanters
Katrina and the Waves.
Tim Rice formed a band with some friends called Wang & The Cheviots. At reunions they still can't decide which one of them is Wang.
Harry and The Potters
X and the Ys is the template for nearly every wizard rock band in existence. E.G., Marietta and the Sneaks, and their hit single "Hermione Granger is a Bitch."
Draco and the Malfoys... It's more like First Name and the Last Names.
Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids; the "and the Spooky Kids" was dropped once they reached fame.
Long John and the Beetles changed theirs too.
They also considered using the name Johnny and the Moondogs.
Elvis Costello & the Attractions, and, later, Elvis Costello & the Imposters
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers (not to be confused with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
Neko Case & Her Boyfriends; A double-entry since Her Boyfriends are collectively known on their own As The Sadies.
Buddy Holly & the Crickets
Honest Bob & The Factory-to-Dealer Incentives
Zombina and the Skeletones
Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand.
Cole Deggs and the Lonesome. No, it's not "Cold Eggs".
Ernie and the Automatics. It should also be added that Ernie of the group owns a small chain of car dealerships...
Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams, a Folk/Punk/Hillbilly group heavily influenced by Pink Floyd and traditional Mummers.
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (although this is more because the Cardinals were his more-or-less permanent backing band while he decided whether or not he wanted to formally start a band...)
Bohren & der Club of Gore
The country pop group Jump 'n The Saddle had a novelty hit with The Curly Shuffle.
Eric and the Informers; Eric Bogle's short-lived rock band, memorialised in his song of the same name.
Morris Minor and the Majors; parody band responsible for Stutter Rap and This is the Chorus.
Not to be confused with Morris and the Minors, who later changed their name to Madness.
Tony Orlando and Dawn; possibly an aversion as the group was initially named just "Dawn", but was eventually rebilled as Orlando grew in prominence.
Disco Dream and the Androids
Four Hits and A Miss, from the big band era, inverts the usual order.
Also during the big band era, it was common for a bandleader to have "..and his Orchestra" as part of the name of the act (e.g.,: "Percy Faith and his Orchestra")
Dear and the Headlights, a particularly punny example.
John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Possibly created Oberst was annoyed that folks assumed that Bright Eyes was his personal project (it wasn't), and said "OK, I'm bored, here's what my band would sound like!"
Pretty Boy Thorson & The Fallen Angels
Olli Schulz & Der Hund Marie(aka Olli Schulz and The Dog Marie)
Larry & His Flask
Prince & the Revolution, later Prince & the New Power Generation
Porcelain and the Tramps
Ian Dury and the Blockheads (his earlier group was also called Kilburn and the High Roads).
Sly & the Family Stone
Big Brother & the Holding Company
Cliff Richard and The Shadows
Mr Hudson & the Library
Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers
Adam and the Ants
Buddy Wasisname and The Other Fellers
Diana Ross and The Supremes started off as a The Band until one of them took center stage.
Johnny and the Self Abusers, a somewhat obscure Scottish punk band from the late '70s. They split up and some of them became The Cuban Heels. The others? Well, they went on to form a much less obscure band -- Simple Minds.
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Alison Krauss & The Union Station
Oedipus and the Motherfuckers. Yes, there is actually a band with this name.
An odd semi-example: The Band (see "The" Bands, above) were originally The Hawks. However, after they started following Bob Dylan around as his backing band, everyone first in Dylan's inner circle, and later in his fandom, started calling them "The Band." Because they were his backing band but also did their own thing, a lot of venues listed shows as " Bob Dylan and The Band," which at once is and isn't an example of X and the Ys.
Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra, or any other late night house band.
There's a Slovak band called Yuri and the Gagarins .
Kool & the Gang
Mike and The Mechanics, though officially known as Mike + The Mechanics, and also on occasion as Mike + The Mechanics + Paul Carrack (see Punctuation Band Names). A slightly unusual example, since Mike (Rutherford, also a founding member of Genesis ) is the guitarist.
Al Tuck & No Action. It sounds like a non-straight example, but the band actually is fronted by Al Tuck, who apparently decided to embrace the potential punniness of his given name .
Selena Gomez & the Scene
Spike Jones and his City Slickers. Not, strictly speaking, an X and the Ys, but close enough.
Psycho & The Birds, a Guided By Voices side-project. Of course they're actually just named after Psycho and The Birds .
Fitz And The Tantrums. While their name is pun-based, they do have a frontman named Michael Fitzpatrick.
M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy . Although oddly, the second part stands not for the band, as some sources incorrectly state, but for its frontman Olaf Jeglitza... and the first part does not. Anyway, It's a Long Story .
Hunx and his Punx
The Mamas & The Papas, whose name overlaps with the "The" bands.
Steve Earle & The Dukes - or, as they're currently known now that there are two women in the band, Steve Earle & The Dukes And Duchesses.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse (as well as Neil Young & The Shocking Pinks, Neil Young & The Bluenotes, Neil Young & The Stray Gators... Neil likes this trope.)
Marina & The Diamonds. Marina herself has said that "the Diamonds" are not her backing band, but her fans (it also refers to her full name, Marina Diamandis).
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros
"Band": Monosyllabic Names
Mono rules! Monosyllabic name, that is. No definite article, no frills. Acronyms that are usually pronounced as a single syllable also fit the bill.
The small size of the name is often compensated by the huge size of the font.
About the coolness of monosyllabic names here is someone who thinks that, in general, Band names should never be only one syllable .
Anyways, monosyllabic band names have been around since at least the 60's ( Cream , Love ).
Monosyllabic Names Examples
Edit
These come in two flavors, the A.F.I. style where the letters actually stand for something, (AFI was short for Askin' For It until 2002 when it was changed to A Fire Inside) or the Music/WASP style, where the band just claims that it sounded cool (though initially claimed that it stood for We Are Sexual Perverts). Acronym/initial bands that fall under the first flavor are sometimes initializing themselves because the words that the acronym actually stands for are obscene (the hip-hop group "NWA," for example). There are band names like Rage Against The Machine and My Chemical Romance that are often referred to as RATM or MCR by fans, but these don't technically count as part of this genre.
Acronym/Initial Band Names Examples
Does this have anything to do with the Ambiguously Gay Satan from The Powerpuff Girls ?
This could arguably belong to either version of the trope, as they initially said that HIM stood for His Infernal Majesty (mostly as a joke) but have since stopped identifying themselves as such.
Music/WASP (while the original acronym stands for "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants", the interpretation varies wildly, depending on who you ask, from "We Are Sexual Perverts" to "We Are Satan's People". There is also " We Ain't Sure, Pal ", coined by Blackie Lawless himself)
There's also the much more likely story of them wanting a cool name, but, not thinking that "Wasp" was cool enough, punctuating the shit out of it.
In 1970s/early 80s heavy metal, punctuation was second only to the Heavy Metal Umlaut for badass typography.
REM (Rapid Ear Movement -- a play on "Rapid Eye Movement", but may be a backronym as they apparently picked it randomly from a dictionary)
Slayer 's 1994 album Divine Intervention gives them a backronym: Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot.
KISS ' name has been most famously backronymized as "Knights In Satan's Service", though Gene Simmons of KISS usually points out that he's Jewish and that it stands for "that thing you do with your mouth").
It's also a pre-existent acronym standing for "Keep It Simple, Stupid."
Gene isn't necessarily in the clear, since the concept of Satan also exists in Judaism - and, in fact, the name itself is a Hebrew word.
"Satan" is a Hebrew word, but it means "adversary." Anyone can function in the role of "adversary," for a period of time, without in some special sense being the one and only "Satan" of all time. Moreover, being in the service of the adversary is something of an oxymoron, since the adversary, in all the stories in which the word is used, is usually performing some sort of function for someone else. Sometimes the satan is just a plot device, and the satan is in service of the narrative, so to speak, or sometimes in services of one character's conscience, but it is difficult to have someone else in service of the satan. In Judaism, anyway. This has nothing to do with how other religions have appropriated the word, but Simmons is correct in his assessment of Judaism.
ABBA (The initials of the band members' first names: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstag)
This was also the name of a Swedish company that makes processed fish, and they had to get permission from said company to use the name. The company responded by sending the band a case of tinned tuna and a note saying "Good luck".
NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet)
D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival Alive)
SDI
!.T.O.O.H.!. (The Obliteration Of Humanity)
H Y B R I D
INXS (phonetically, "in excess")
Among the many versions of Korn 's name, one has the name stand for "Kiddy Porn".
Interesting example of the "Acronym" type: There used to be a Danish band named "Disneyland After Dark", but they got sued by Disney, and as a result changed their name to D.A.D. - some of their commercials afterward actually played this up, with the story being retold in fairytale format, with the word "Disney" bleeped out.
Their latest album is titled "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK". Gee, whatever might that random string of letters mean...
Conversely, when the band Spam were threatened with legal action by Hormel, they changed their name to Something People Are Missing.
OAR (Of A Revolution), though hardly anyone calls it by the full name.
Actually "...of a Revolution" (which would also put it into the "punctuation" category below), supposedly part of a longer phrase that none of the band members will reveal.
LFO is an interesting case, because there are actually two groups that go by that acronym: the boy band (which stands for Lyte Funky Ones), and the techno group (which stands for Low Frequency Oscillator).
GISM, a Japanese hardcore punk band. Interesting, as GISM stands for about five or six different things. All of them Gratuitous English , including Guerilla Incidiery Sabotage Mutineers.
Also, phonetically, with a soft G, this is a hilarious Stealth Pun . Literally Spit Taked.
SMAP (Sports and Music Assemble People)
NEWS
D.R.U.G.S (Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows)
KMFDM and the closely-related MDFMK. TOW claims that "KMFDM is an initialism for the nonsensical and grammatically incorrect German phrase "Kein Mehrheit F?ie Mitleid", which literally translates as "no majority for the pity" or "no majority for the empathy" but is typically given the loose translation of "no pity for the majority" or "no mercy for the masses.""
Commonly assumed to stand for "Kill Motherfucking Depeche Mode"
Danish industrial metal band Mnemic (pronounced NEE-mik), which stands for Mainly Neurotic Energy Modifying Instant Creation.
ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, which was actually a "The..." band name, being as it was a light orchestra with electrified instruments...)
Metallic Psytrance trio S.U.N. Project falls under the W.A.S.P. type, though they joke that for detractors it can stand for "Stupid Unrespectable Noise".
(The) KLF (Kallisti Liberation Front, Kopyright Liberation Front, etc... -- the band went through several names including 'The JAMs' and 'The Timelords', but this was the one they are probably best known under)
And even their name the JAMS was an example of this, coming from the term Justified Ancients of Mu Mu...
EPMD (Erick and Parrish Making Dollars)
A partial example, of course, is JAM Project .
BWO (Bodies Without Organs)
LMFAO (Laughing My Fucking Ass Off). An electro-hip hop duo.
P.O.D. (Payable On Death)
N.E.R.D. (No-one Ever Really Dies)
I beg to differ.
"Well if not, for you, It's almost over now, almost over now...."
S.K.I.N. (The band still hasn't said what the letters stand for)
T.I.S.M. (This Is Serious Mum)
MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother), a '70s funk band who took the trope still further with a hit single titled "TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)".
UB 40 (the "UB" stands for "Unemployment Benefit", while the 40 refers to the number of the DHSS (DSS/DWP) form (later booklet) signed to claim benefit; the cover of their album Signing Off shows a sample form from 1980)
T.S.O.L. (True Sounds Of Liberty)
NOFX (phonetic for "no effects")
An alternative meaning has been offered as 'No Fucking X', referring to the way some punks would draw (or tattoo, ouch) an X on one palm to signify that they were 'straight edge', a practice which reputedly annoyed the hell out of the band.
Nine Inch Nails is seemingly referred to as NIN about as often as its full name, and uses the three letter version (with the second N mirrored) as its logo. Trent Reznor has pretty much stated that he picked it as a name because he liked how the initials looked.
O.M.D -- Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Typically appears with a ligature, e.g. "Manœuvres"
VAST (Visual Audio Sensory Theater)
OPM (Open People's Minds, also phonetic for "opium".)
Beastie Boys (Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence, though no one actually uses it, and technically it would make them Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence Boys .)
MxPx started out as Magnified Plaid, which was abbreviated to M.P. for the band's posters. However, drummer Yuri Ruley's handwriting rendered the periods as x's, so MxPx stuck.
S-K-O, a short-lived country band. It was first Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet, but that proved unwieldy so they became S-K-O. After Overstreet left, it became S-K-B when Craig Bickhardt took over.
MGMT -- They were originally "The Management," but changed it. Perhaps they realized that their neo-psychedelic rock was more than trippy enough without having to handle the contradiction of visualizing the band in suits.
VNV Nation -- Victory Not Vengeance
'NSYNC, whose meaning is identical to the ENOZ example above.
XTC, a 70's and 80's new wave band from England. It doesn't actually stand for anything and is not a reference to ecstasy (well, not the drug anyway, which wasn't even known as that when they formed).
CSS -- Cansei de Ser Sexy, Portuguese for "tired of being sexy "
U.D.O. -- Udo Dirkschneider's solo band after he left Accept . The acronym has no real meaning.
DAF -- Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft, which is German for "German American Friendship".
APB -- All Points Bulletin. (They were a Scottish post-punk band.)
OD TAPO IMI -- Oil Drums That Are Pounded Out Into Musical Instruments. (A Chicago-based steel drum band)
S.O.D. -- Stormtroopers Of Death
M.O.D. -- Method Of Destruction (Billy Milano fronts both, and clearly picked similar initials to his earlier band on purpose)
T.K.O.
KMD, which (depending on the image they wish to project, at the moment) might stand for "positive Kause in a Much-Damaged society," or "Kausing Much Damage"
L.E.O. - It doesn't officially stand for anything, but it's meant as a Shout-Out to ELO .
REO Speedwagon, named for an early pickup truck-type vehicle , made by the REO Motor Car Company.
REO Speedealer, whose name parodied the above band... until REO Speedwagon themselves forced them to drop the "REO" part.
SDFDM -- Shoveling Driveways For Drug Money
M.D.C. - standing variously for Millions Of Dead Cops, Millions of Damn Christians, Multi-Death Corporations, etc
D.A.F. - Deutsch Amerikansiche Freundschaft (which is German for "German American Friendship").
LOFT -- Live Our Fathers' Teaching, allegedly
WULYF - It's pronounced "woo life", but also stands for "World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation".
Run DMC - Darryl Mc Daniels , or if you go by their lyrics, Devastating Mike Control.
Charged GBH, who later shortened their name to just GBH - in both cases it stood for "Grievous Bodily Harm".
VCMG: Also kind of a stealthy "listing member names" example, because they're a duo consisting of Vince Clarke and Martin Gore.
D.I. (Dog Intercourse, supposedly)
GPKISM -(GPK being the lead singer Gothique Prince Ken)
Punctuation Band Names
Edit
This is a really new variety, which only really appeared in the last decade and hasn't really been parodied in fiction. Yet. Bands like this are kind of hard to write about because they make sentences look very awkwardly punctuated, especially to those who have never heard of the band in question, and are even more difficult to pronounce. See also Lucky Charms Title .
Punctuation Band Names Examples
And And! And from The Commitments .
WWE wrestler Jeff Hardy, in his spare time, fronts a band called Peroxwhy?gen.
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Both a band name, and sound advice for any wannabe superhero. Supposedly taken from a walkthrough for one of the Batman games for the ZX Spectrum in a computer mag.
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
moe.
The Go! Team
The exclamation point in this case was probably required because there had already been a band called The Go Team, sans punctuation.
Gravy Train!!!!
Another case where the punctuation marginally reduced confusion with another band, Gravy Train.
Sunn O)))
This one's a bit more complicated: the band were fans of amplifiers made by a company called Sunn. The logo for the company is an image of a circle with waves radiating from it to indicate the "sun" of the name. The band decided to adopt both elements as their name and logo (which the company agreed to). The name of the band is similarly pronounced "Sunn" and the "O)))" of their name is merely a typographical representation of the logo.
It's also a play on the fact that they began as a tribute band to another band named Earth.
Wham!
Not to be confused with Attack Attack!, a completely different band.
Dot Dot Curve :)
Alecia Moore traditionally puts her stage name on albums and such as 'P!nk', not 'Pink'.
Hadouken!
Shirobon! (The Chiptune band, not the character from Bomberman)
(+44)
scarling. (sometimes spelled in lowercase with a full stop, sometimes not)
Sixx: A.M. (also a combination of band members' names)
Captured! By Robots
Hed PE (commonly (həd) p.e.)
Catfight!
:( (often referred to as "ColonOpenBracket")
fun. (Yes, the lowercase "f" is intentional.)
Ke$ha (pronounced keh-sha. Occasionally jokingly pronounced by her as 'key-dollar-sign-ha such as in her video for "Blow".)
Was (Not Was)
Tony! Toni! Toné!
Al B. Sure!
Mike + The Mechanics (official name of Mike and The Mechanics; see X and the Ys above), also known as Mike + The Mechanics + Paul Carrack
You Say Party! We Say Die! (Recently changed their name to You Say Party)
And And! And (The first proposed name for what would eventually be The Commitments)
Oomph!
Not a band, but the singer P!nk is an example.
Also not a band, but the entire genre of Oi!
Queen + Paul Rodgers (though, technically done to maintain that the partnership was a collaboration, not Paul Rodgers becoming a band member of Queen.)
Also, "Queen+" became the default moniker for many of their recent collaborations and remixes (including "Queen + John Farnharm" and "Queen + Vanguard"). Their third Greatest Hits album was even titled "Queen+ Greatest Hits III " because it featured many duets and solo tracks in addition to strictly-Queen songs.
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! (Also a Shout-Out to The Goonies , of course)
Grossout/Blasphemy Names
Edit
What's the most offensive or controversial word you can think of? Well, it would make a great name for a metal band. It's usually quite extreme (often Scandanavian) metal bands that adopt Intentionally Awkward Titles like Corpse Raper or something that involves violence, death or sexual taboos. However, whether or not these names are selected for shock value or convention is up in the air. It's very common for death metal, black metal and grindcore bands to have "offensive" titles, but fans of those genres are used to or even expect those sorts of names, and so if there is any intended shock value, it's usually lost anyways. Bands from fiction often have names like this, especially if they are formed by teenagers, and the ridiculous name is an indication of the poor quality of their music.
Grossout/Blasphemy Names
Winds Of Plague
Suffocation
The Crucifucks: (a.k.a. "Scribbles") When your opening bands consist of mostly high school kids at all ages shows, you need a back-up name for the fliers. After getting signed to Alternative Tentacles, The Crucifucks were the opening act.
Toronto band Holy Fuck
Cannibal Corpse
Dying Fetus
Kinki Kids (Unintentionally in this case, as Kinki refers to the area of Japan both members come from; good luck explaining that after you've said the name out loud though)
Cattle Decapitation
Dayglo Abortions (also sort of a Line-of-Sight Name - they claim that they decided to just take whatever the front page headline on the local newspaper was about that day and put "Dayglo" in front of it).
Judas Priest are probably the Trope Maker here. (Although the initial inspiration for the name was a Bob Dylan song, The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest)
Judas Priest were preceded by the even more blasphemous Black Sabbath .
Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel (Yes, really.)
They (or actually he) have gone through such variations as You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Foetus All Nude Revue, before finally just simplifying it to Foetus.
Probably apocryphal: apparently at some point there was a Japanese noisepunk band called the Goddamn Motherfuck Shitass Bitches.
Bodycount , not so big a shocker as a name (for a 90's band), got more notoriety from their song "Cop killer".
Shitty Shitty Band Band, a San Francisco band
Shirley Temple's Pussy (Due to Executive Meddling , they changed it to Stone Temple Pilots)
Circle of Dead Children
Septic Flesh (now known as Speticflesh)
Impaled Nazarene
Hacksaw to the Throat (Misleading, actually a prog death band, not grindcore.)
Semen Across Lips (again, misleading. an experimental Death/Black metal band, with some beautiful moments.)
Disembowelment
The Archbishop's Enema Fetish
Screaming Headless Torsos
The Lubricunts, a little-known band that contained two of the members of the slightly-better known band Overkill. If you only say it out loud, it could be a Double Entendre as well.
Children of Bodom sounds alright, until one discovers that it refers to several teenagers who were killed in a (still unsolved) triple murder many years previous, near Finland's Lake Bodom.
SHITDISCO, a harmless dance-punk band
Revolting Cocks, an Industrial rock band. They're occasionally credited as the less offensive Revco. The name is also a case of Appropriated Appellation : The members got kicked out of a bar for starting a brawl the very day they formed the band, and the bartender had called them "a bunch of revolting cocks".
Johnny Tampon and the Toxic Shocks. Also counts as an X and the Y name.
Vomit Remnants
Starfucker, an electronic band
Dogs Die in Hot Cars, a Britpop band
Puscifer, originally a fictional band played by the members of Tool in a Mr. Show skit, has since become an actual band fronted by Maynard James Keenan
Not too shocking is Arab Strap .
The Butthole Surfers (which is actually fairly tame in comparison to one of their earlier names, The Inalienable Right To Eat Fred Astaire 's Asshole)
Fuck Buttons, who temper their noisy screaming with dreamy atmosphere.
Lubricated Goat, Australian '80s noise rock band
"We should start a band called Ass Ass."
There is a musician who goes by the name Ass
At one point, Steve Severin of Siouxie & The Banshees and the noted comic-book author Grant Morrison reportedly had a musical side-project together. The outfit was called Ass2Ass.
Vaginal Croutons
Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck
Deliberately averted by Kittie, a Canadian heavy metal band who wanted a sweet and innocent title as a contrast.
Shitmat (a not particularly agressive breakcore artist, though since it's breakcore we're talking about)
Dead Kennedys, the 80's thrash punk band. Though leader Jello Biafra once claimed it wasn't meant as an insult.
The Dead Kennedys played a concert on the 20th anniversary of JFK’s death, prompting a reporter to ask Jello if he considered this in bad taste. Jello replied that he thought that the assassination wasn’t in very good taste.
Jello Biafra once suggested that "Six Million Jews" (referring to the Holocaust and the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis) would make a good name for a band. He even suggested that their first album be entitled "Lest We Forget".
Jello has quite a long list of great band names, check out his spoken word album "No More Cocoons" for ideas like "Generic Youth" and "Al Sharpton's Hair".
Jo-Jo and the Hundred Screaming Niggers, a Blues/ Soul band referred to in a 1980s essay by author Harlan Ellison. It's not gory or blasphemous, but it's certainly offensive enough to remain memorable!
Placental Armageddon , self-described as "Hardcore a cappella metal music from Topeka, Kansas".
Butt Trumpet (Long before A Very Potter Sequel , it should be noted)
Bastard, the band we now know as Motorhead
Ogre You Asshole, a Japanese rock band, although they're indirectly named after a Revenge of the Nerds quote.
Bitch Magnet, one of the precursors to Post Rock
Assück
Scrotum Grinder
Cock and Ball Torture
Rapeman, a Steve Albini project who were actually named after a manga character. The name did in fact stir up a lot of controversy.
Star Fucking Hipsters
Necronomichrist (one member of this blackened death metal band remarked that they deliberately chose the most evil-sounding name they could think of)
The Child Molesters
The Pieces Of Shit, who are David Byrne and Will Oldham collaborating on songs for the film This Must Be The Place .
The recently popular Five Finger Death Punch.
Tool , encouraged by a common logo featuring a wrench shaped to suggest a penis and testicles.
The Well Hungarians. No, really.
The Gerogerigegege. It is an onomatopoeia for the sound one allegedly makes when vomiting and shitting at the same time.
Squirrel Nut Zippers combines this with Wacky Word Combos, if you think about it.
Except that they're actually named after a candy.
With Fanny, it happened by accident; they were American, and didn't realize the connotations of that word in the UK, especially given that they were an all-female band. (The story that they were set up for this by a mischievous recommendation from George Harrison is apparently apocryphal). They were apparently more popular in the UK than the States, in any case...
Scissor Sisters
Music/Pearl Jam - A euphemism for semen. There are a few alternate interpretations, most famously a story Eddie Vedder used to tell about his Auntie Pearl who made great jam, but sometime in the late 90s they basically gave up any pretence.
Jackofficers, a short-lived side project of the above-mentioned Butthole Surfers.
Pist-On (sometimes stylized as Pist*On, Pist.On, PistOn, or even the much more subtle Piston). To go with the name, they called their debut Number One .
Band Names With Numbers
Edit
These come in three varieties: The band name that has a number describing a certain quantity; and the band that just sticks a number on the end for no apparent reason. A lot of these bands just stick the numbers on because another band already had their original name and threatened to sue, e.g. Blink 182, who stuck the number on because there was a dance band called Blink. The band names that count their members represent a third type.
A subgenre of this is the band name that is only a set of numbers, like 911 or 311. There were a lot of number bands in the 1990s, but the fad seems to have ended quickly, probably because people realised that words were infinitely more memorable, and the internet allows you to check if someone already has the bandname you want already.
Band Names With Numbers Examples
Three Dog Night, supposedly named after a practice in Austrailia where the indiginous people would sleep in holes with dingos. On cold nights they'd use 2 dingos. On very cold nights they'd use 3.
Three Doors Down
Apparently, they got the name when they saw a sign with some of the letters blown off that said "Doors Down" and stuck a number on the front just because they could.
3 Inches Of Blood
Three Men and a Tenor
3OH!3 (yep, another multi-category one)
Alabama 3 (A British band with about 9 full-time members)
The Dirty Three
The Juliana Hatfield Three
Secret Chiefs 3. There were three members at first, but by now they vary in number, with Trey Spruance being the only real constant .
Timbuk3
Four Year Strong
Unit Four Plus Two
The Monkees episode Find the Monkees! introduced a competing band called "The Four Agents". Oddly enough, there were only three band members.
5ive
The 5.6.7.8's - also a "The" band. Probably most famous for their appearance in Kill Bill.
5 Chinese Brothers. Not a quintet, not Chinese, and not brothers. They named themselves after a storybook.
Five Finger Death Punch
Five for Fighting ( one guy ; the number refers to a penalty in hockey)
Five Iron Frenzy (not a number title, but a golf reference).
Ben Folds Five (three members)
The Click Five
Avenged Sevenfold
L7, named after the square shape that forms when you make an "L" with your left thumb and forefinger and a "7" with your right thumb and forefinger and touch them together. The gag being that, if you have to ask what "L7" stands for, then you're probably a square!
Zero 7
S Club 7, so named because there were originally 7 members. Once Paul Cattermole left, the "7" was dropped. (Oddly enough, in their various TV shows, they tended to add a "The" in front of their name, but it didn't otherwise appear.)
Their Spin-Off successors, the even younger S Club Juniors, went the opposite route and renamed themselves S Club 8 when they'd grown up a bit and the original act split. Two members are now in "The-band" girl group The Saturdays.
Nine Inch Nails , though the nine is always spelled out.
10cc -- the name is thought to refer to the amount of sperm in a human ejaculate, but it actually came to one of the members in a dream.
10 Masked Men
Crush 40 (The makers of many of the Rock Songs in the 3D Sonic games including Open Your Heart and E.G.G.M.A.N )
UB40 -- named after a unemployment benefit form.
Sum 41 lampshaded this in one of their videos, in they pretended that Executive Meddling led to their band changing their name because "numbers are out, and "The" bands are in".
Level 42 -- a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
(+44)--which makes them a "Punctuation Band Name" as well.
The B-52's - named after a hairdo that resembles the nose of an airplane. Renamed The B-52s for proper grammar.
Indirectly. They were named after a hairdo, which in turn was named for its supposed resemblance to the nose of the aircraft.
54-40 (a band from BC, named after US President James Polk's slogan, "Fifty four forty or fight" ).
Starflyer 59
SR-71 (named after a plane)
The '80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster
M83
Project 86 (the number is slang for " rejected ," most often used on drunks being turned away at a bar.
88 Fingers Louie
Current 93 . The name is actually a reference to the works of Aleister Crowley .
The Old 97's (although that is a reference to a folk song)
100 Demons
Blink-182
311 (their name is derived from Omaha police code for indecent exposure [a friend of the band's was arrested for skinny dipping]. It is NOT related to the Ku Klux Klan [K is the eleventh letter of the alphabet, 3K, get it?], as once rumored)
BR-549, a country band named after Junior Samples' silly phone number in Hee Haw .
Could also go in Grossout/Blasphemy, but Australian band Destroyer 666.
The Dancing French Liberals of 1848
Death From Above 1979 - The "1979" was used to distinguish from Death From Above Records.
1990's
Two unrelated English Apollos - Apollo 100 and Apollo 440
808 State
Edit
It may have a meaning or origin to the band, but to the uninitiated it just looks like they threw a few words together. This may leave fans stuck with a lot of explaining to do every time someone asks how a band like Cobra Starship got a name like that, or it may just be a couple of words that sound cool together. A lot of fictional bands have names like this too, again, in order to make fun of them.
Newspaper humor columnist Dave Barry certainly popularized this way of naming a band, with a recurring joke in his column, saying "that would be a good name for a rock band" after any particularly odd string of words.
Wacky Word Combos Examples
NOTE: These early strips look a bit rough. The art gets a lot better.
Oblivion Folder, from Dominic Deegan -- the band put together by musical legend Donovan Deegan, which consisted of his son, the equally talented Greg, an Orc shaman, and a necromantic golem with a penchant for bad humor. Played a very successful benefit concert, but was never heard from again after that. Some assumed the band name to be a reference to a weird planar anomaly or something, but it was actually a bookkeeper friend's term for a perpetually misplaced file (a folder that keeps vanishing into oblivion).
Mocked in the Reduced Shakespeare Company 's "The Bible: The Complete Word of God. Abridged." Where, while talking about the Exodus, this line was quoted. "And the Lord God cursed the wicked serpent to henceforth crawl about on its belly. Presumable, the wicked serpent had legs prior to that; indicating that it was more of a wicked lizard. And the Lord God thought to himself that Wicked Lizard would be a good name for a Heavy Metal Band."
Possible reference to Noise Rock band The Jesus Lizard, which is actually named after a type of lizard.
Mocked a few times in Kingdom of Loathing :
"The mariachis begin to play a sinister song. As the song's tempo increases, a rumbling begins, deep beneath the ground. As the mariachis reach a dire crescendo (Hey, have you heard my new band, Dire Crescendo?) the gate behind the statues slowly grinds open, revealing the way to the Sorceress' courtyard."
"<Familiar name> claws your opponent with his pan-dimensional claws and bites him with his astral teeth for <number> damage. Ladies and gentlemen, coming to the stage right now: ASTRAL TEETH!"
"This is a dewinged stab-bat. Have you heard my new band, the Dewinged Stab-Bats?"
"This is a partially rewinged dewinged stab bat. Have you heard my new band, the Partially Rewinged Dewinged Stab Bats?"
"This is a fully rewinged dewinged stab bat. Have you heard my new band, The Joke That Got Repeated Until It Wasn't Funny Anymore ?"
"It kicks you with a multitude of phalanges. A Multitude of Phalanges was, by the way, my favorite 80's band."
One round in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue involves the contestants having to say words that aren't related, with the opposing team challenging if they see a connection. A Running Gag has Barry Cryer challenging on ridiculous word-combos, insisting it was the name of a band in the sixties.
"Sharabang Sperm? Sixties rock band."
In one episode, Graeme Garden challenged the word combination "Lopsided Beret", claiming it was the name of an old blues singer.
Hard Core Logo .
The webmaster of The Jungle has made observations that certain units/rules in the Warhammer40000 rulebooks sound like they ought to be the name of a band. Explosion of Filth is one notable example.
Not sure if it counts, but Cartoon Network did this once in a set of station ID ads, using "popcorn fairy" from an episode of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy , "Yutz Wagon" from an episode of Johnny Bravo , and "Hideous Rotten Teeth" from an episode of Powerpuff Girls .
Mystik Spiral, Trent's band in Daria . (In one episode, however, they briefly considered changing it to "Helpful Corn". Not to mention the time Trent had some phone messages written on one hand and, on the other, "Change nme of Mystik Spiral to 'Something Something Explosion'.)
Rock Band has created a virtual cottage industry of such names with its random name generator.
Gossamer Axe from the eponymous novel. (Also a Hard Word Soft Word name -- see below.) References the transformation of one character from a sentient elvish harp into an electric guitar.
The Ricky Gervais Show once ran contest to find the most hardcore name for a band. After discussing a few alternatives (Blump, God Dildo, Brain Hammer, etc.) they decided on the name Dethlehem, a metal band who only perform at Christmas
An episode of Mr. Show centered around a metal band named Wicked Sceptre, with the obvious double entendre.
Dirt Spigot, another fictional band to which Drive Shaft was compared on Lost .
In Histeria! , Toast decides to name his band Nasty Head Wound after Daniel Boone suffers one.
Suicide for Hire uses these a lot. Band names the characters and/or author have come up with include "The Pro-Life Murderers", "Moose Philosophy", and "Suicide Jesus and the Abominachos".
Sonic Death Monkey, Barry's band from the film High Fidelity . Although they never actually perform under that name, opting instead for an X & the Y's format: Barry Jive and the Uptown Five.
Don't forget Kathleen Turner Overdrive.
Creepy Clown Head Funeral from Zits got its name from an incident ending with Jeremy getting ticketed for "transporting an unsecured giant clown head during the disruption of a funeral procession".
White Brains On Toast
Last one: The Flailing Hairnets , as seen on this Wikipedia policy page. Go ahead, check it out.
On 4/7/2010 The Daily Show covered reports of recent scandals with the Republican National Conference. After a CNN clip regarding the RNC's "Lesbian Bondage Fiasco", Jon Stewart answered, "If 'Lesbian Bondage Fiasco' isn't the name of an hard-edged indy band by tomorrow, I'll be very disappointed."
The Sarah Jane Adventures : Clyde mentions that Pantheon of Discord would be a good name for a band. The Doctor wholeheartedly agrees.
Referenced in this Xkcd strip.
Yum Yum, Sugary Snacks a werewolf band from the Lonely Werewolf Girl novels.
Sex Factory from Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Mike Nelson's band before he was shot into space)
The Mortal Instruments made it a running gag with Simon's band. The name of the band changed every week, the weirdest example being "Champagne Enima".
Currently they're "Millenium Lint."
Engadget gets into the act with this headline "Blood turbine to power your pacemaker, become legendary band name".
Neutral Milk Hotel
Jeff Mangum claims there's a deep, long story behind it but he doesn't want to tell anyone due to its personal nature. Actually, the Elephant 6 Collective (which Neutral Milk Hotel is part of) is full of these. There's also the Olivia Tremor Control, Marshmallow Coast, Elf Power, the Apples In Stereo, and Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. Actually, it's more normal for an Elephant 6 band to have a weird name like this than for them to have a typical-sounding name. Weird names to go along with their weird music, I suppose.
Ms John Soda
Wolves in the Throne Room
A Japanese band, "King Fucker Chicken"
The World/Inferno Friendship Society (again)
Blind Melon (though this is also a play on the name of blues musician Blind Lemon). They could also be named after the Cheech and Chong sketch, " Blind Melon Chitlin ".
Wacky word titles are very common in alt/indie rock; of the top of my head, there's The Architecture in Helsinki, British Sea Power, We Are Scientists, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Jimmy Eat World, Manic Street Preachers, Cats and Cats and Cats, Enter Shikari (bordering on made-up words -- Shikari is "Hunter" in Sanskrit), Snow Patrol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lightspeed Champion, System of a Down, Coldplay and Radiohead. An extreme example: there's a polish indie-rock band Kombajn Do Zbierania Kur Po Wioskach, which translates as Village Hen Harvester. There is also Poland's Might Cavalry, which is a local band to Greeley, Colorado.
One better: There was a Norwegian punk band called "Morten Jørgensen og Spekkhoggerne som fulgte etter danskebåten uten å røre spyet som rant fra ripa", which translates to "Morten Jørgensen [the lead singer] and the killer whales who followed the Denmark ferry without touching the vomit running from the railing".
System of a Down's name comes from a poem that one of them wrote called "Victims of the Down" (which makes about as much sense).
Lady Antebellum. The members chose "antebellum" after they posed in Civil War era clothing as a joke, and then added the "lady" to make it more obvious that they had a female leader.
Tsunami Bomb
A rather common occurrence on the xkcd IRC channel.
They actually have a bot set to do this every time someone posts a three word phrase.
August Burns Red. The name comes from an incident where their former vocalist's ex-girlfriend (August) killed his dog (Redd) by burning it alive. The next day the newspaper ran an article with the title "August Burns Red".
(A) New Found Glory (the "A" was eventually removed.)
Asleep at the Wheel ("Country/Western Swing" band that's been performing since 1970)
The Apples in Stereo (also counts as a "The.." name)
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (see above).
Tokio Hotel. 'Tokio' (German spelling of Tokyo) comes from their fascination with the city and dreams of performing there one day, and the 'Hotel' part comes from their constant touring and staying in hotels.
Angelspit - the name comes from the title of a Sonic Youth song ("Orange Rolls, Angel's Spit) which they turned into a portmanteau word.
And, before Derek Sherinian left the band, they would exchange instruments for a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" and become Nightmare Cinema, the exact opposite name.
Not to mention, the spinoff band Liquid Tension Experiment.
The Young Veins is one, also a 'The' band name. But then again, one of the members was originally from a band called Panic! At the Disco, so yeah.
Hot Chip
Moosebutter.
Goat Punishment - although they weren't quite a real band, just the pseudonym Weezer used to perform under when they wanted to play at smaller venues without the tickets quickly selling out.
Shudder To Think. One story goes that the name came about because a member had made an off-hand comment along the lines of "I shudder to think we'd just be another pop band".
Dinosaur Jr., although they were originally simply Dinosaur; the "Jr." had to be added due to a lawsuit by a band called The Dinosaurs.
Neon Trees. They named themselves after the lighted trees commonly seen outside In N Out Burger franchises.
The Birthday Massacre (them again)
Believable Picnic
Geggy Tah. The two founding members were named Greg and Tommy, and both had younger sisters who weren't initially able to pronounce their names right (thus "Geggy" and "Tah"). They later found out that they unintentionally picked a name that's Scottish for "Mouth Thanks", which could also be loosely interpreted as "Shut Up, Thanks".
No love for Wall of Voodoo ??
The Electric Prunes
The Bubble Puppy (nonsensical band names were pretty common in 60's psychedelic rock, apparently - see also the already mentioned Electric Prunes and Strawberry Alarm Clock).
Soul Coughing: apparently it came from a poem Mike Doughty had written, where it was used to mean "vomiting". He decided that the poem itself was bad, but he did like that particular turn of phrase.
Jimmy Eat World . It comes from an incident from when Tom Linton was young and his brothers Jim and Ed had a fight - Jim won, but Ed sought revenge with a crayon drawing depicting Jim shoving the earth in his mouth, with the caption "Jimmy eat world".
Loose Fur, a Wilco / Jim O'Rourke side project. They originally wanted to be called Lucifer, but there were already numerous groups using that name, so they went for an obtuse pun on it instead.
Wacky Word/Referential Bands
These sorts of band names are often real words within some context, e.g. science fiction characters, anagrams, or obscure foreign terms. But to most, they just look like weird, made-up words.
Wacky Word/Referential Bands Examples
Homestar Runner had "Sloshy".
Whose logo was their name, lowercase, upside-down, and with a red "o": ʎɥsoןs
Not to mention "Did that dude just say she likes cloth?" "She Likes Cloth... that's a good band name."
And, (how could we forget), the sbemail band names .
Cthia (a Vulcan word for "truth") in Undocumented Features
Geronimo Jackson from Lost may have been named after Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson, who directed the 1951 Disney film Alice in Wonderland . The show frequently references the Alice novels.
In the movie Yes-Man with Jim Carrey , the love interest ( Zooey Deschanel ) is in a band called Munchausen by Proxy, a psychological disorder.
In one of the deleted scenes from Shallow Hal , Walt's band was named "Worst Case Scenario".
Buddhist concepts (harhar) can go a long way:
The Everlasting Buddhadharma
Buddhas And Bhikkunis
Reincarnage Karmication Snuff Tape
Sex Bob-Omb , Scott Pilgrim 's band. His ex is the lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead.
The Soup Dragons, who took their name from the TV show Clangers
Dalek I Love You, a synthpop group from Liverpool
Dälek, a rap group from NJ. The reference is coincidental however (it's pronounced "dialec").
I thought it was pronounced "exterminate, exterminate".
As I Lay Dying, a reference to the book of the same name by William Faulkner, though this may be a common misconception.
Depeche Mode ( Line-of-Sight Name from a French fashion magazine ; means "fleeting fashion" or something to that effect)
Hadouken! is actually named as a reference to the fireball attack from the Street Fighter games, and include an exclamation mark in their name, so they fall into two categories.
Kaiser Chiefs (after South African football/soccer team Kaizer Chiefs)
Fall Out Boy , who get double points because their current name is a The Simpsons reference, but they used to tour as Saved Latin which is a Rushmore reference
And The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace.
Ska bands I Voted For Kodos and Rex Banner, surf band The Isotopes (who sell "Go 'Topes!" merch and have song titles like "Mr. Sparkle" and "Moe's Family Feedbag") There are many, many more bands named for Simpsons references.
My Chemical Romance is a reference to a book about ecstasy (as in MDMA)
Which was in turn a reference to Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459 (The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosecross year 1459), an anonymous alchemical work often attributed to Johann Valentin Andrae.
Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
Jack Kervorkian And The Suicide Machines (later shortened to just The Suicide Machines)
A local pop punk band named Sam Weir . They recently broke up and reformed with much the same lineup as a hardcore band, calling themselves Claire Danes.
Don Knotts Overdrive.
Joy Division (from a book they read about World War Two history-- "joy divisions" were groups of Jewish or Gypsy women that the Nazis kept for... certain purposes)
Both this band and its successor ( New Order ) having names with Nazi origins (chosen for shock value ) has Unfortunate Implications . However the substance of the metaphor--that "a whorehouse in a concentration camp" described Joy Division's position within the music industry--still stings.
Maxïmo Park are named for a park in Cuba
Mogwai are named after the species of Gizmo in the movie Gremlins
Death Cab for Cutie took its name from an Elvis Presley spoof from a Beatles movie.
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (who, incidentally, performed the song "Death Cab for Cutie") are named after a cartoon dog named Bonzo. The "Doo-Dah" part refers to their fodness for old music-hall songs, but is also apparently a pun on "Dada", an art movement.
The Foo Fighters are named after fighter pilots who were trying to shoot down WWII UFOs
Biffy Clyro
Infocalypse (named for the term used in Snow Crash to denote the fall of Babel)
The Wu-Tang Clan from the movie Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang.
Linkin Park is named after Santa Monica's Lincoln Park.
MegaDriver plays heavy metal covers of sountracks from Sega MegaDrive videogames. By the way, it's an one-man band .
Toad the Wet Sprocket (a Monty Python reference. The Python context was a fictional band with an intentionally ridiculous Wacky Word Combo name, which makes this practically meta .
They Might Be Giants was named for the play/film in which a man believes that he's Sherlock Holmes. The title refers to the famous scene in Don Quixote when Don Quixote mistakes windmills for giants.
Fine Young Cannibals, named after the movie All the Fine Young Cannibals."
The band Fozzy started as a cover band called Fozzy Osbourne (both references should be obvious if you think about it).
Save Ferris
Dogs Die In Hot Cars' name was taken from a RSPCA poster on animal welfare.
Working For A Nuclear-Free City took their name from the slogan of Manchester City Council in the 1980s.
Felix Da Housecat, named after cartoon character Felix the Cat.
As well as the swing band Felix and the Buzzcats
Megadeth is an Xtremely Kool Letterz version of a term from nuclear warfare theory, a measure of a bomb's power in terms of the number of people it can kill.
They weren't the first to use that reference, or the first to misspell it: in a very early incarnation, Pink Floyd called themselves The Meggadeaths.
Led Zeppelin (said to be revenge against a record exec who said the band's sound would fly like a lead zeppelin)
The Who bass player John Entwistle has also been credited with coming up with this one. There was a split between him and Keith Moon on one side and Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey on the other. They joked about the two of them starting a band with Jimmy, and one of them said "Yeah, that will go over like a lead balloon". John takes credit for this one in one of his last interviews.
This is also commonly attributed to Keith Moon.
The lead is spelled "led" because they were convinced that stupid Americans would pronounce it "leed" otherwise.
The Velvet Underground is named after a porn novel, specifically one about BDSM.
Rammstein (from the Ramstein airshow disaster)
Blackened grindcore horrors Anaal Nathrakh are named after a spell in the movie Excalibur.
Vampire Weekend is named after a film made by frontman Ezra Koenig
This is probably very obscure, but I always thought it referred to an episode of Get Smart entitled "Weekend Vampire". I wonder if the film's name had anything to do with it.
The Pietasters got their name from British slang for "fat ass". Definitely an improvement over their original name, The Slugs. (Which had already been taken, believe it or not.)
The Toasters are named for the Jamaican tradition of DJs "chatting" or "toasting" over instrumentals, not the kitchen appliance. One of the earliest lineups included a pair of toasters, the Unity Two, and later lineups usually include at least one member skilled in the tradition.
My Bloody Valentine , named after a Canadian slasher flick , itself inspired by the song "My Funny Valentine".
Dixie Chicks (after the Little Feat song "Dixie Chicken")
Iron Maiden (after the Medieval torture device, one of which Steve Harris had seen in the film The Man in the Iron Mask )
Belle and Sebastian is the title of a French children's novel and two TV series based on it.
Which nearly led to legal action. Headed off by diplomatic negotiations and apologetic disclaimers printed in the liner notes of some B&S releases.
Minus the Bear (after a television show "B. J. and the Bear"; might also qualify as a double entendre name...)
Catherine Wheel (either a spinning firework or a medieval execution device)
Saint Etienne (English band, named after the French football team)
Aston Villa (French band, named after the English football team)
Stone Temple Pilots' original name was Mighty Joe Young, after a movie (because a blues musician took the name already, they had to change it due to copyright issues. Their next choice, Shirley Temple's Pussy, didn't fly for different reasons)
Spock 's Beard (a progressive metal band)
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead is a unique band that claims (on its website) to have named themselves after a Mayan Chant. According to the Other Wiki this is an ongoing joke, however.
The American rock band Rival Schools took its name from the fighting game series produced by Capcom. Not by coincidence, the band's first album take its title ( United By Fate ) from the subtitle of the first game in that series.
Kamelot obviously references King Arthur . Double points for the deliberate misspelling of Camelot.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor takes its name from a film about a Japanese biker gang called the Black Emperors.
The Kentucky Headhunters. Taken from the word "headchopping", a term that blues musician Muddy Waters used when he had replaced another gig. After finding other bands already were called The Headhunters, they added "Kentucky" to the name. The band was first known as "Itchy Brother", which as random as it sounds, was actually a real cartoon character.
The band that Dave Barry plays in (along with several other authors) is called the Rock-Bottom Remainders, a remainder being a book that was printed in excessive quantity, and usually is sold back to bookstores cheaply as 'bargain' or 'clearance' merchandise.
Also a member: Stephen King .
The Decemberists, named after the 1825 Russian revolt, they take this further by having songs referencing historical events and settings.
Franz Ferdinand, about the poor Austrian archduke whose assassination started World War I .
Except they say that it was originally named after a racing horse, Archduke Ferdinand, but they liked the implications the Archduke's death made as per starting the First World War.
Daft Punk , whose name comes from a review of their previous (completely different) band, Darlin', dismissing their music as "a bunch of daft punk."
Los Amigos Invisibles took their name after the grreting late writer Arturo Uslar Pietri used in his TV show Valores Humanos : "Bienvenidos, amigos invisibles" ("welcome, my invisible friends", an allusion to the unseen audience)
Ska Band Desorden Público. Their name is a pun in the prhase "Orden Público", a concept related with social peace and order.
The Notorious Cherry Bombs, a side project by Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill and some members of Crowell's former backing band The Cherry Bombs. "Notorious" was added due to a copyright claim by a member who refused to join the project.
School Of Seven Bells named themselves after a mythical school of South American pickpockets that may or may not have existed in the 1980s, which they heard about while watching a documentary on PBS at 3 in the morning.
Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth take their name from the Tolkien mythos, the name meaning "Mount Doom" in Tolkien's constructed language Sindarin.
Several black metal bands also take their name from the Tolkien mythos, most notably black metal bands Gorgoroth and Burzum.
Burzum's sole member, Varg (meaning "Wolf/ Outlaw") Vikernes , originally went by the name Count Grishnackh, another Tolkien reference - in this case, the name of an orc. Vikernes spent 16 years in prison for murdering his former friend and bandmate Euronymous, who was named for a Greek demon... one whose name, incidentally, had been misspelled by Anton LaVey in The Satanic Bible .
Armcannon, a Buffalo-based video-game-music cover band, takes its name from the iconic weapon of such video game characters as Samus and Mega Man .
Kasabian (Named after Manson Family cultist and getaway driver Linda Kasabian.)
Aiden, named for the character from The Ring .
Little My, (presumably) named after the character from The Moomins .
Pinback are named for the character of the same name in Dark Star . Some of their earlier material sampled dialogue and sounds from the film.
Gogol Bordello
Veruca Salt, named after one of the children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Punk band Kermit's Finger named themselves after the punchline to the old joke "What's green and smells like ham?".
Does It Offend You, Yeah? is a partial quote from The Office
Crystal Castles, derived from something to do with the series She-Ra.
Cabaret Voltaire, whose name is a reference to Dada .
Coil and Current 93 were both named for obscure occult references (the latter to Aleister Crowley ).
Gastr Del Sol, which seems to mean something along the lines of "the sun's stomach" .
Merzbow, named after the Merzbau .
Münchener Freiheit (more usually known as "Freiheit" in the UK); they named themselves after a street in their native Munich (which has since been slightly renamed "Münchner Freiheit").
Mudhoney, after a Russ Meyer film. They'd never actually seen the movie, they just saw the title somewhere and thought it sounded cool.
White Zombie , after a somewhat obscure film starring Bela Lugosi.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin got their name from a skit from The Goon Show .
Bishop Allen are named after Bishop Allen Drive, a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts that two of the band members used to live on together.
In what could be considered a variation on Song/Album/Lyric band names, Whirlwind Heat are named after another band's album artwork: The cover to Sonic Youth 's Goo includes the text "I stole my sister's boyfriend. It was all whirlwind heat, and flash. Within a week we killed my parents and hit the road.".
ChChCh HaHaHa named themselves after the Leitmotif from Friday the 13 th films.
The Airborne Toxic Event take their name from a disaster that occurs in Don DeLillo's novel White Noise , which also serves as the name of one of the sections of the book.
Surf Nazis Must Die, named after a cult movie with same name .
Soft Machine is named after a William S. Burroughs novel. Also qualifies as a Hard Word Soft Word name.
Alexisonfire were named after everyone's favourite lactacting contortionist Alexis Fire.
Nerf Herder are named after a famous line in The Empire Strikes Back , where Princess Leia calls Han Solo a "stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder".
Dynamite Hack is named as a Caddyshack reference - at one point in the movie Carl Spackler offers Ty Webb some marijuana and refers to it as "dynamite hack".
The Dismemberment Plan are named after a throwaway line in Groundhog Day : At one point Ned offhandedly mentions "the dismemberment plan" while trying to sell Phil Connors insurance.
Sleater-Kinney's name sounds like a "listing member names" example, but they're actually named after Sleater-Kinney Road, a road in Washington where their old rehearsal space was.
Ugly Kid Joe's name parodied that of Hair Metal band Pretty Boy Floyd. Pretty Boy Floyd themselves were of course named after the famous bank robber.
Boss Hog is biker slang for "cool motorcycle". No connection to Boss Hogg .
Don Caballero named themselves with an obscure SCTV reference: Don Caballero was a character Joe Flaherty played in an episode-long The Godfather parody.
Tiger Trap are named as a Calvin and Hobbes Shout-Out . It's a common misconception that they're named after the Beat Happening song, but they were formed before that song came out, though their debut album came out after.
Song/Album/Lyric Bands
Similar to the above example, can't think of a name for a band? Just name it after a favorite song or album of yours. It's easy! Heck if you want you can name it after a favorite lyric.
Song/Album/Lyric Bands
Well, "Mayhem" was part of the name of the song in question, but basically yes.
At The Drive-In (Poison lyric, from the song "Talk Dirty to Me")
Veil Of Maya (Cynic song) Not necessarily. The title itself comes from Hindu mythology.
Paint It Black (Rolling Stones song)
Themselves named from a Muddy Waters song.
Freezing Moon ( Mayhem song)
Make Them Suffer ( Cannibal Corpse song)
Forest Of Shadows (Funeral Fog song)
Bullet For My Valentine (Planes Mistaken For Stars song)
Partial with Heaven And Hell which is named after the famous Dio era Black Sabbath song. The band however is in fact just that, Dio era Black Sabbath touring under that name.
Averted with Machine Head, the connection to the Deep Purple album was a coincidence.
Probably not unconnected to the fact that it's the name for part of a guitar. For non-guitarists, they're the things on the headstock (am I going to have to explain that one too?) that let you adjust the tuning of a string.
Aka "Tuners"
Deep Purple itself is named after a big band song from the 1920s.
Likewise with Heaven Shall Burn, no connection to the Marduk album
Partial with Sepultura (Taken from a translated Motorhead lyric)
Seether (Veruca Salt song)
Jet (Paul McCartney song, and they sound very McCartney as well)
Death Cab For Cutie (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song)
Hellogoodbye (Beatles song)
Although they claim they didn't.
Winds Of Plague (Unearth lyric)
Ladytron (Roxy Music song)
Fiddler's Green (traditional Irish song)
Funeral For A Friend (Elton John song)
Pretty Girls Make Graves (The Smiths song)
Stars of Track and Field (Belle and Sebastian lyric)
Radiohead (Talking Heads song)
Who in turn got their name from a Bob Dylan song.
Stiff Little Fingers (Vibrators song)
Scary Kids Scaring Kids (Cap'n Jazz song). It's also a little wacky...
Howlin' Wolf (Muddy Waters song)
Deacon Blue ( Steely Dan song)
Sisters of Mercy (Leonard Cohen song)
Monster Magnet ( Frank Zappa song)
Actually named after Wyndorf's favorite toy when he was a child.
Immaculate Machine (Paul Simon song)
Boris (The Melvins song)
Santa Dog ( The Residents single)
Texas Is the Reason (Misfits lyric)
Blind Guardian wanted something with "guardian" for Fates Warning's Awaken the Guardian
Raised Fist (After the lyrics in a Rage Against The Machine song, "Know Your Enemy").
Temple of the Dog (Mother Love Bone lyric)
Steeleye Span (after a character in the folk song "Horkstow Grange")
Carnal Forge (Carcass song)
Love and Theft (named for a Bob Dylan album)
In a less obvious example, Crass takes their name from lyrics in "Ziggy Stardust."
Madness named themselves after a Prince Buster song.
Video Vamp (Def Leppard song)
Cock E.S.P. (Hanatarash song)
Running Wild (Judas Priest song)
The Drowners (Suede song)
Powderfinger (Neil Young song)
One-person example: Lady Gaga is named after a Queen song... Well, more specifically it's a play on "Radio Ga Ga".
Eric's Trip (named for a Sonic Youth song)
In Fear and Faith (Circa Survive song)
Right Said Fred (Bernard Cribbins song)
Sweethearts of the Rodeo, named for the Byrds album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Lampshaded in the Sweethearts' album Buffalo Zone , whose cover art pastiched that of the Byrds album in question.
Dream Evil ( Dio album).
Nashville Pussy, an Atlanta-based "redneckcore" band. Consisting of two men and two women (one guy's the singer, and the lead guitarist is his wife), the band draws its name from Ted Nugent's Double Live Gonzo Album, wherein Ted dedicates the song "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" to "...all that Nashville pussy."
Angelspit (from the Sonic Youth song "Orange Rolls & Angel's Spit")
Mr. Big, after a song by Free.
Silver Mountain ( Rainbow song "Man on the Silver Mountain")
Highland Glory ( Running Wild song)
Starsailor, after a Tim Buckley album.
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, after a lyric from The Silver Jews' "People".
Celibate Rifles (somewhat oblique Shout-Out to Sex Pistols )
Radio 4, after a Public Image Ltd. song. (And so, indirectly, after the BBC radio station.)
Havalina Rail Co. , who sometimes went by just Havalina. "Havalina" was a song by The Pixies .
How To Destroy Angels , after Coil's debut EP.
The Lightning Seeds, after a Mondegreen of a Prince lyric (Raspberry Beret's "...the lightning sees").
Cocteau Twins, after an early Simple Minds b-side.
Urge Overkill, after a lyric in the Parliament song "Funkentelechy"
Like The Lightning Seeds, Radio Birdman are also named for a Mondegreen : in this case one from The Stooges ' "1970" (the real lyric being "Radio burnin'")
The Futureheads, after The Flaming Lips ' album Hit To Death In The Future Head .
All Time Low, who took their name from the lyrics to a New Found Glory song
Yet another mondegreen-named band name, this time not on purpose: The Mystery Trend meant to name themselves after a lyric from Bob Dylan 's "Like A Rolling Stone", not knowing it was actually "the mystery tramp". The mistake was arguably a better name anyway.
Spoon were named after a song by Can.
Angelzoom, after a song Angel Zoom from the first album of her former band .
Man Will Surrender, after the Pailhead song "Man Should Surrender". They were apparently more certain about it than Pailhead were.
The Billion Dollar Babies, after the Alice Cooper song and album. On the borderline of being named after their own song, since most of the lineup consisted of the original Alice Cooper band minus Alice Cooper himself . There's another band called Billion Dollar Babies, who are presumably also named as an Alice Cooper Shout-Out , but are otherwise unrelated.
Cherry Ghost ( Wilco lyric)
Hatebreed, after The Misfits ' "Hatebreeders". They've done a Cover Version of the song they're named after too.
Blonde Redhead (DNA song)
Blind Guardian -- Guardian of the Blind
Inverted by They Might Be Giants , who wrote a song called "They Might Be Giants", but it went on their third album, Flood, rather than their first album, which was of course called They Might Be Giants . They were named after a film, not their own song.
The Shins almost fit this trope: Flake Music, who were essentially The Shins prior to a name change and some switching instruments around, had a song entitled, er, "The Shins".
Counting Crows aren't named after a song, but the contents of a song -- "The Murder of One", which contains the lyric "as you stood there, counting crows".
Dschinghis Khan entered the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest with...Dschinghis Khan.
Love City Groove did the same thing in 1995.
Also inverted with Iron Maiden, which was named after the torture device, and then later came the self-titled song.
Living in a Box
2 Many DJs are named after a song by the two DJs' other band (Soulwax) called Too Many DJs. Note: the band and the DJ act have become increasingly blurred into one thing over the years (sometimes called Radio Soulwax), hence why it's here under "one of their own".
Megadeth - the song "Set The World Afire" was originally called Megadeth, and was written by Dave Mustaine shortly after he left Metallica.
Hellyeah - both their first album and a song on that album are also called "Hellyeah"
The Birthday Massacre . Like Counting Crows, their name comes from the lyrics of one of their songs -- "Happy Birthday", which has the lines "I wore my black and white dress to the birthday massacre"
"Happy Birthday" was actually originally called "The Birthday Massacre"- the name change came from some copyright issues they didn't want to have, so they changed their name to "The Birthday Massacre" and renamed the song.
Icehouse, after the song Icehouse on their album... Icehouse.
Dashboard Confessional is said to be named after the lyrics of a song on their first album.
Mindless Self Indulgence
Dream Evil got their name from the Dio album. Originally named Dragonslayer, they were forced to change their name to something less generic. Dragonslayer ended up becoming their first album title.
Queensryche (see also below) took their name from their earliest song, "Queen Of The Reich".
Slipknot were named after a demo song of theirs.
The Butthole Surfers had an early song called "Butthole Surfers" (it's unknown if this was the same song as "Butthole Surfer", or just a similarly-titled song that never got released). At one of their shows, when they were going by something else, an emcee somehow mistook the song title for the band name, and it stuck.
Fleetwood Mac was the name of an instrumental Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie recorded while still members of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Obviously this was itself named after their rhythm section, making it also an example of the next category.
Bad Religion
The Living End
Short lived British band Easyworld named themselves after a lyric on an early B-side, Better Ways to Self Destruct.
Free Energy
Metal Chuch, whose album Metal Chuch contained the song Metal Church.
Yellow Tricycle (after their song, Yellow Tricycle)
Kill Hannah (who were In A Jar UK, before the lead singer went through a particularly bad breakup and wrote a song about it...)
Right Away, Great Captain! (again)
Hallelujah The Hills
Subverted: Restart 's Signature Song is named "Recomeçar" (which translates to "restart", natch), but the band wasn't named after it. It just happened to be a coincidence.
Schoolyard Heroes
Nine Days-- they did have a song called "Nine Days of Rain" in their first album, although they insist that wasn't where the name came from.
4Lyn started as Headtrip, but they changed their name after the success of their song "Lyn".
Angels Of Light were originally supposed to be called The Pleasure Seekers, but the name was already taken, so they simply used the name of one of their songs, "Angels Of Light".
Talk Talk got their name from a song band leader Mark Hollis wrote before forming the band.
Similarly, Icehouse got THEIR name from a song band leader Iva Davies wrote for Flowers, the band that came before Icehouse.
+/- (often called plus/minus)
Wakey! Wakey!
Meat Puppets
A Perfect Circle, sort of: "Orestes", which Billy Howerdel wrote before the band got together, had a lyric mentioning "your perfect circle".
I'm not sure which came first, but No Doubt, which originally went by Apple Core, had a song called "No Doubt". The song was never officially released.
King Crimson's debut album features the song "In Court Of The Crimson King," though it might be coincidence.
Darling Pet Munkee's first song was "Darling Pet Monkey". The song was named after text from an old mail-order ad for squirrel monkeys, but they went the misspelled band name route to reflect that their lineup featured members of the bands Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling and Axemunkee.
Einar Örn (best known as " the singer from The Sugarcubes who wasn't Bjork ") made a solo album called Ghostigital, which was produced by Curver. The next time the two worked together, they decided to make it clear it was more of a collaborative effort by calling themselves Ghostigital instead.
Wartime (who were essentially a Rollins Band side project)
A Silver Mt. Zion named themselves after a slightly misheard lyric from their song "Movie (Never Made)".
Minor Threat
Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds
Travis and Bob
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
As well as the brief offshoot Emerson, Lake and Powell - Keith Emerson and Greg Lake wanted to have a full-on reunion, but Carl Palmer was still with Asia, so they got Cozy Powell on drums instead. Word of God was that it was just coincidence that they still had the initials ELP, but the band did crack jokes about seeing if "Ringo Parr" or "Phil Pollins" would be interested.
Medeski Martin & Wood
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Or, sometimes "Hall & Oates"
Phillips, Craig & Dean. Due to a lack of an Oxford comma in the name, they have been classified in record stores as "Craig and Dean Phillips".
Peter, Bjorn & John (a rare modern example)
Made more confusing by the fact that there's not actually a comma betwween "Peter" and "Bjorn", making the group look like a duo. And the fact that their main hit single, "Young Folks", features female vocals from a group named for three men, coming from the usually-not-credited Victoria Bergsman (herself fitting this trope, being from the group the Concretes).
Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometimes Young
Technically, Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Tony Allen & Simon Tong, although most people refer to them after the title of their first album , The Good, the Bad & the Queen.
Simon and Garfunkel
Peter, Paul, and Mary
The Ramones also doubles as a "The" band, as all their members had "Ramone" as their stage surname.
Likewise The Corrs, except it's their real surname. Many other examples in the same vein.
The same except with first names goes for The Bens, which consisted of Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, and Ben Lee.
Tackey & Tsubasa
The Jackson Five scores a hat-trick for being (The) (Member Names) (Number).
Variation: Bon Jovi is named after only one of its members.
And the Ur Example , Santana.
Winger
Van Halen ; similar to the Bon Jovi example, though named after two members rather than one (the van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex; much later, Eddie's son Wolfgang would also join the band).
Subversion: Pink Floyd was named after two blues musicians, neither of which were ever in the band. Although that didn't stop journalists asking them early on, "So which one's Pink?" .
A more recent use of this is by the Canadian duo Tegan and Sara.
Fleetwood Mac , named after their drummer (Mick Fleetwood) and bass player (John McVie). Sort of an aversion - Fleetwood and Peter Green decided to call the band this to persuade McVie to join, not because he was already a member.
Obfuscated by the band Good Old War. Good for Goodwin, Old for Arnold, and War for Schwartz.
Run DMC (another partial case; of their three members, the name comes from the nickname of one and the initials of another, omitting the late Jam Master Jay).
There was also "Salt-N-Pepa" in the same genre, although like Run-DMC, they were a trio (Salt, Pepa, and their DJ Spinderella)
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, which would've been Yes if they weren't sued by existing members of the band. And they have indeed drawn the law-firm comparison.
And then they reconciled their differences, and the tracks for the second ABWH album ended up on the next Yes album anyway.
Aversion: Judy and Mary (no one named Judy or Mary was in the band)
Aversion: Eddie From Ohio (has one Eddie and three non-Eddies; none are from Ohio.)
James, a (currently) seven-man band who decided to take their name from one of their founders, Jim Glennie. Tim thought it would look bad if the band was named after the lead singer , Gavan was too heavy metal and Paul was too modest to suggest his own name. Only two of them (Jim and Tim) are still in the band, and "which one's James" is the most boring question around.
They played on this with the cover for their 2001 album Pleased To Meet You , which pictured a lifelike but computer-generated man created by compositing all the band members' faces together – ergo a fictional 'James' to fit the name.
Just for good measure, they'd previously been known as (among other things) a name fitting the X And The Ys mould (arguably also a Grossout name); Venereal And The Diseases.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.
Wilson Phillips
Matt & Kim
Almost any duo will invaribly name themselves after their members, from Simon & Garfunkel to Brooks & Dunn. Notable exception: Sugarland, who began as a trio. Also averted with Blue County.
Schuyler, Knobloch and Overstreet. They became just S-K-O one single into their career, however. After Paul Overstreet left, they became S-K-B for about 30 seconds while Craig Bickhardt took over.
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce, & Hart (two Monkees with two songwriters)
Dutch band Johan (Dutch for John) reverses this. There is no band member named Johan.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Sixx: A.M., the (stage) surname of one member and initials of another.
Mel & Kim
Mel & Kim (a duo created largely to share a name with the above as a gag, male comedian Mel Smith and singer Kim Wilde.)
Aversion: the female comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates. Neither member is named either of those things, rather the name is a takeoff on the names of two well-known bands that are legitimate examples of this convention.
Sharon, Lois and Bram (performers of children's music)
Loggins and Messina; technically an aversion since Jim Messina was simply a producer. Moreover, it was meant to just be Kenny Loggins as a solo artist (which would eventually happen for real), but Messina made such a significant contribution, that the first album was called "Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In".
Hanson, the band with three brothers whose last name is... you guessed it, Hanson. Often mistakenly referred to as The Hanson Brothers.
There is in fact an entirely different band called The Hanson Brothers: They aren't brothers, let alone ones with the last name Hanson - they're named after characters in Slap Shot .
Subverted by Fujiya & Miyagi, who are not a Japanese duo, but rather four white guys from Brighton. "Fujiya" comes from a brand of record player, while "Miyagi" comes from Mr. Miyagi, the character from The Karate Kid .
The Nields - two sisters, Nerissa and Katryna Nields, with Nerissa's husband David who took her last name along with Dave Chalfant and Dave Hower, leaving them with three Daves and three Nields.
Paul and Storm , although Storm is a nickname.
Tegan and Sara
Ford & Lopatin. They started out as Games, but adopted a "listing band members" name due to potential confusion with the rapper Game.
Jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross
Twiggy Ramirez and Twiggy, the model \ actress who was half of his namesake, once collaborated on a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You" for the soundtrack of the film Dead Man On Campus : The song was naturally credited to Twiggy And Twiggy.
Primus frontman Les Claypool's jam band supergroup featuring Buckethead , Brian "Brain" Mantia, and keyboardist Bernie Worrell technically counts for this, with the name "Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains," an amalgamation featuring all the member's handles. It's often shortened to the much easier to type C2B3, though.
Also roughly related is an article from The Onion : " Ünited Stätes Toughens Image With Ümlauts ".
When the PvP guys formed a band, they named it Dj̈ork (the umlaut's over the j)
One story arc in Bloom County had Steve Dallas form a glam-metal band called Deathtöngue with Opus, Hodge-Podge, and Bill the Cat, who performed songs like "Let's Run Over Lionel Richie With a Tank." After a run in with Moral Guardians , they changed their name to "Billy and the Boingers".
Before they were known as Deathtöngue, Opus wanted to call the band The Osmonds.
In an episode of Reaper , a wannabe rocker/Dreadful Musician whose great idea of a stage name is just "Ryan" almost does a literal Deal with the Devil and becomes the even-more-ludicrous-sounding "Ryän".
Motley Crue , of cöurse
Evidently, their first world tour had German fans chanting "Muttley Cruh-eh! Muttley Cruh-e!" (Where the german spell "ö" like the vocal in "girl", and not like an "u").
Moxy Früvous (something of a parody, since the band is pretty far removed from heavy metal)
The Crüxshadows (also not heavy metal)
Amon Düül (Krautrock)
There's also two versions of this band called "Amon Düü I " and "Amon Düül II"
And both Justified : It's a pre-Islamic Turkish moon god. And, well, they're German...
Especially hilarious (at least to Swedes) was when the band Trojan decided they wanted an umlaut, so they started spelling their name "Tröjan". Incidentally, that's also Swedish for "the Sweater" or, more generally, "the Shirt." Also, think of the utter hilariousness when you wear a T-shirt with Tröjan on it ( a T-shirt saying 'The Shirt'). Yeah, that's Badass .
Lothlöryen . Funnily parodied here .
Hüsker Dü is not a metal band, but they got their name by substituting the macrons in "Hūsker Dū?" with umlauts. "Hūsker Dū?" itself is the American name of the Danish board game "Husker du?", with macrons added to make the name more exotic.
Also amusing is the german punk band Die Ärzte ("The doctors"); although the umlaut in the second word is part of its correct orthography in German, they've started to spell it with three dots in order to reference the trope.
Blöod Düster
Lääz Rockit
girugämesh
Bügsküll, who zigzag the crap out of this trope by not only being a low-key experimental pop group, but also because, to quote Sean Byrne , "the umlauts are there to make smiley faces."
Leftöver Crack
Maxïmo Park (though actually an indie band, and the 'ï' is often ignored)
Crashdïet
Def Leppard .
Jackyl ("with a 'Y'").
Lynyrd Skynyrd (Leonard Skinner was a gym teacher at the band members' high school who informed them that they would never amount to anything).
Too many rappers to name.
Led Zeppelin – justified, as they wanted "Lead" to be pronounced as the metal, not the verb.
The Beatles , again (originally The Silver Beetles as an homage to Buddy Holly's band The Chirping Crickets, then shortened and changed to include the word "beat".
uneXpecT. While not really a misspelled word, "Unexpect" could be used like "Whelmed." It's logical, but it makes you sound weird.
t.A.T.u. (Also an example of a punctuation name)
Isn't this also an acronym for something in Russian?
Apparently, "ta tu" is "This [girl loves] that [girl]." (Grammatical explanation for non-Slavs: "Ta" is the feminine Russian form of "this". "Tu" is the accusative [i.e. direct object] form of "ta".)
I believe one member of the group explained that in English, the closest translation was 'Tie This Girl To That Girl.'
Linkin Park ; as noted above, they named themselves after a Lincoln Park.
Deliberate, since Chester Bennington could not register the lincolnpark.com domain, so he had to go for an alternate.
Ezy Meat
Witchfynde
Split Enz (spelled that way specifically as a Shout-Out to their home country of New Zealand. Also, for a few of their earliest singles they went by Split Ends).
Mercyful Fate. It may just be misspelt, though.
Alcatrazz
Phish : Though they've given other origin stories, the most commonly accepted one is that it's just a misspelled variation on a nickname for their drummer, Jon Fishman.
The Bumblebeez. For a while in the US they combined this trope with "band names with numbers" and were billed as Bumblebeez 81 - there was a previously existing American band called The Bumblebees, and apparently the "z" wasn't enough to distinguish the two.
Hard Word Soft Word
Use a word that evokes something hard, strong and deadly, then a word that evokes something soft, fluffy and lovely. Quite common among hard rock bands.
Hard Word Soft Word Examples
If either part of that is soft, you're doing it wrong.
Rose Tattoo
Savage Garden
A variation in Killswitch Engage : a kill switch is an emergency shut-off during situations where normal means are inaccessible. It sounds calming when you think about it.
Iron Maiden, though there is of course the instrument of torture. Might work with Judas Priest .
Morbid Angel.
The Chainsaw Kittens.
Yet another example, this time a fictional one: Pistols N Flowers . Given it's a parody of Guns N' Roses ...
Peppermint Carnage, the band formed by the members of the rock club in Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy , uses the reversed form.
Death in June
We Were Promised Jetpacks
There Will Be Fireworks
And Then There Were None (after the Agatha Christie novel, although they really picked it because the novel was listed between entries for Aerosmith and As I Lay Dying on sparknotes)
Pop Will Eat Itself (after a music magazine article whose headline asked "Will Pop Eat Itself?")
Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop
Danielle Ate the Sandwich (which is actually a solo act)
*-ist Band
More Metal counterpart to "The" Band. Band names ending in -ist or -ic, usually a (singular) term for a real or invented ideology, religion or occupation. Popular in Technical Death Metal genre.
Examples of *-ist Band
For bands and band names that just don't fit anywhere else.
Examples of Others
Edit
Revelstoke sounds like a loud 80's heavy-metal hair band.
Mr.Bungle fronted by Mike Patton , they take their name from an educational film in a Pee-Wee Herman special, yep their name is as clowny as their music.
Frightened Rabbit, in that it contains none of the naming conventions mentioned above. Both words are perfectly acceptable alone and together, the name doesn't have the word "the," no "ist" suffix, it isn't a complete sentence, it isn't one word, it isn't a list of members, it isn't a lyric, album or song title of theirs and both words are rather soft.
In the Glee slash fic Story of Three Boys , when a homophobic pastor talks about "wayward youth" and "vandalism", Finn says that he's going to start a band called Wayward Youth. Their first album will be called 'Vandalism' and have naked dudes go-go dancing on the cover.
In the books and movies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid , Gregory's older brother Rodrick's band combines 3 of the common naming conventions into Löded Diper. Though Greg remarks that Rodrick probably can't spell "Loaded Diaper".
It's a common misconception that Green River are named after the Creedence Clearwater Revival album, or it's title track. In fact they're named after Gary Ridgway, a Serial Killer who was known as "The Green River Killer" because his first five victims were found in the Green River in Washington.
The band name maker and acronym maker on this site come up with some preety good ones: http://www.bandnamemaker.com/ . There's also the My New Band Twitter feed.
Notes
↑ The front cover of their most popular album, Fat of the Land, and the subsequent Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned showed only the word "Prodigy." However, Liam Howlett stated that the band's name has always included the article.
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Which famous battle that took place in Pennsylvania betwen 1st and 3rd of July 1863 produced the greatest number of casualties of the American Civil War? | Battle of Gettysburg - American Civil War - HISTORY.com
Battle of Gettysburg
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Introduction
The Battle of Gettysburg, fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863, is considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania in late June 1863. On July 1, the advancing Confederates clashed with the Union’s Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George G. Meade, at the crossroads town of Gettysburg. The next day saw even heavier fighting, as the Confederates attacked the Federals on both left and right. On July 3, Lee ordered an attack by fewer than 15,000 troops on the enemy’s center at Cemetery Ridge. The assault, known as “Pickett’s Charge,” managed to pierce the Union lines but eventually failed, at the cost of thousands of rebel casualties, and Lee was forced to withdraw his battered army toward Virginia on July 4.
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Battle of Gettysburg: Lee’s Invasion of the North
In May 1863, Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia had scored a smashing victory over the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville. Brimming with confidence, Lee decided to go on the offensive and invade the North for a second time (the first invasion had ended at Antietam the previous fall). In addition to bringing the conflict out of Virginia and diverting northern troops from Vicksburg, where the Confederates were under siege, Lee hoped to gain recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France and strengthen the cause of northern “Copperheads” who favored peace.
Did You Know?
In November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous speech at the dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, eloquently transforming the Union cause into a struggle for liberty and equality--in only 272 words.
On the Union side, President Abraham Lincoln had lost confidence in the Army of the Potomac’s commander, Joseph Hooker , who seemed reluctant to confront Lee’s army after the defeat at Chancellorsville. On June 28, Lincoln named Major General George Gordon Meade to succeed Hooker. Meade immediately ordered the pursuit of Lee’s army of 75,000, which by then had crossed the Potomac River into Maryland and marched on into southern Pennsylvania .
Battle of Gettysburg Begins: July 1
Upon learning that the Army of the Potomac was on its way, Lee planned to assemble his army in the prosperous crossroads town of Gettysburg, 35 miles southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. One of the Confederate divisions in A.P. Hill’s command approached the town in search of supplies early on July 1, only to find that two Union cavalry brigades had arrived the previous day. As the bulk of both armies headed toward Gettysburg, Confederate forces (led by Hill and Richard Ewell ) were able to drive the outnumbered Federal defenders back through town to Cemetery Hill, located a half mile to the south.
Seeking to press his advantage before more Union troops could arrive, Lee gave discretionary orders to attack Cemetery Hill to Ewell, who had taken command of the Army of Northern Virginia’s Second Corps after Lee’s most trusted general, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, was mortally wounded at Chancellorsville. Ewell declined to order the attack, considering the Federal position too strong; his reticence would earn him many unfavorable comparisons to the great Stonewall. By dusk, a Union corps under Winfield Scott Hancock had arrived and extended the defensive line along Cemetery Ridge to the hill known as Little Round Top; three more Union corps arrived overnight to strengthen its defenses.
Battle of Gettysburg, Day 2: July 2
As the next day dawned, the Union Army had established strong positions from Culp’s Hill to Cemetery Ridge. Lee assessed his enemy’s positions and determined–against the advice of his defensively minded second-in-command, James Longstreet–to attack the Federals where they stood. He ordered Longstreet to lead an attack on the Union left, while Ewell’s corps would strike the right, near Culp’s Hill. Though his orders were to attack as early in the day as possible, Longstreet didn’t get his men into position until 4 pm, when they opened fire on the Union corps commanded by Daniel Sickles .
Over the next several hours, bloody fighting raged along Sickles’ line, which stretched from the nest of boulders known as Devil’s Den into a peach orchard, as well as in a nearby wheat field and on the slopes of Little Round Top. Thanks to fierce fighting by one Minnesota regiment, the Federals were able to hold Little Round Top, but lost the orchard, field and Devil’s Den; Sickles himself was seriously wounded. Ewell’s men had advanced on the Union forces at Culp’s Hill and East Cemetery Hill in coordination with Longstreet’s 4 pm attack, but Union forces had stalled their attack by dusk. Both armies suffered extremely heavy losses on July 2, with 9,000 or more casualties on each side. The combined casualty total from two days of fighting came to nearly 35,000, the largest two-day toll of the war.
Battle of Gettysburg, Day 3: July 3
Early on the morning of July 3, Union forces of the Twelfth Army Corps pushed back a Confederate threat against Culp’s Hill after a seven-hour firefight and regained their strong position. Believing his men had been on the brink of victory the day before, Lee decided to send three divisions (preceded by an artillery barrage) against the Union center on Cemetery Ridge. Fewer than 15,000 troops, led by a division under George Pickett , would be tasked with marching some three-quarters of a mile across open fields to attack dug-in Union infantry positions.
Despite Longstreet’s protests, Lee was determined, and the attack–later known as “Pickett’s Charge”–went forward around 3 pm, after an artillery bombardment by some 150 Confederate guns. Union infantry opened fire on the advancing rebels from behind stone walls, while regiments from Vermont , New York and Ohio hit both of the enemy’s flanks. Caught from all sides, barely half of the Confederates survived, and Pickett’s division lost two-thirds of its men. As the survivors stumbled back to their opening position, Lee and Longstreet scrambled to shore up their defensive line after the failed assault.
Battle of Gettysburg: Aftermath and Impact
His hopes of a victorious invasion of the North dashed, Lee waited for a Union counterattack on July 4, but it never came. That night, in heavy rain, the Confederate general withdrew his decimated army toward Virginia. Though the cautious Meade would be criticized for not pursuing the enemy after Gettysburg, the battle was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy. Union casualties in the battle numbered 23,000, while the Confederates had lost some 28,000 men–more than a third of Lee’s army. The North rejoiced while the South mourned, its hopes for foreign recognition of the Confederacy erased.
Demoralized by the defeat at Gettysburg, Lee offered his resignation to President Jefferson Davis , but was refused. Though the great Confederate general would go on to win other victories, the Battle of Gettysburg (combined with Ulysses S. Grant’s victory at Vicksburg, also on July 4) irrevocably turned the tide of the Civil War in the Union’s favor.
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Which famous battle that took place in Scotland on 23rd and 24th June 1314 was seen as one of the most spectacular of the Scottish wars of Independence? | Summary List of Famous Union Civil War Generals during the American Civil War
There were many important Union generals during the American Civil War . Some, like Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Mclellan and Joshua Chamberlain are household names. Others are less well known but are still important, as the northern generals were the commanders that led the troops and helped decide the ultimate outcome of most civil war battles . Here is a list of important union generals, along with links to more information and articles about each one.
List of Union Generals
Ulysses S. Grant
General Ulysses S. Grant led the Union Army during the later years of the civil war, and later became the President of The United States. Learn more about Ulysses S. Grant
George Mcclellan
General George Mcclellan led the Army of the Potomac during the early years of the civil war and also ran for President against Abraham Lincoln. Learn more about George Mcclellan
Robert Anderson
Starting as a Major and ending as a Brigadier General, Robert Anderson is best known for surrendering Fort Sumter, the first engagement of the Civil War. Learn more about Robert Anderson
Nathaniel Banks
General Nathaniel Banks was a hapless leader of the Union Army, suffering one defeat after another. Learn more about Nathaniel Banks
General William Tecumseh Sherman
General William Tecumseh Sherman fought in many battles and his best known for taking Atlanta followed by his brutal by effective “march to the sea.” Learn more about William Tecumseh Sherman
George Custer
General George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer who served in the civil war and Indian wars, meeting his famous demise at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Read more about George Custer
Winfield Scott Hancock
General Winfield Scott Hancock was a US Army officer for his entire career and eventually a nominee for the office of President of the US in 1880. Read more about Winfield Scott Hancock
Abner Doubleday
Though there is a myth saying that Abner Doubleday was the inventor of baseball, he never said that he did. Read more about Abner Doubleday
Ambrose Burnside
General Ambrose Burnside Ambrose, besides being a soldier, was an industrialist, railroad executive and an inventor. Read more about Ambrose Burnside
Arthur Macarthur
General Arthur Macarthur was one of five men to ever be promoted to the rank of a five star general of the army. Read more about Arthur Macarthur
Benjamin Butler
General Benjamin Butler was not only a soldier but also a lawyer and eventually a politician for the state of Massachusetts. Read more about Benjamin Butler
Daniel Sickles
General Daniel Sickles was a Union general during the Civil War as well as a controversial politician. Read more about Daniel Sickles
George Meade
General George Gordon Meade was a civil engineer and an army officer before serving as a Union general during the Civil War. He was successful in defeating General Lee but was criticized for not pursuing the Confederate Army when in his grasp. He became a commissioner of Fairmont Park in Philadelphia until his death. He died from a combination of pneumonia and old wounds and now rests at the Laurel Hill Cemetery. Read more about George Meade
George Thomas
General George Thomas served as an army officer throughout his career and a Union general at the time of the American Civil War. Read more about George Thomas
Irvin Mcdowell
General Irvin Mcdowell was an army officer who is better known for the defeat at First Battle of Bull Run. McDowell had at his disposal the army of Northeastern Virginia which unfortunately was inexperienced and not ready. He launched his attack due to pressure from Washington and though the strategy was imaginative, his troops were not ready to carry it out. McDowell died in 1885 and was buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery. Read more about Irvin Mcdowell
John Buford
General John Buford was an officer of the Union Cavalry during the Civil War and one of his most important roles took place at Gettysburg. Read more about John Buford
John Pope
General John Pope was a general for the Union during the Civil War and a career army officer. He is mostly known for the defeat at Second Battle of Bull Run in the east, after which he was sent to Minnesota. Read more about John Pope
John Reynolds
General John Reynolds was an army officer and a general during the Civil War. He was a very respected senior commander and is known for committing the Army of the Potomac to Gettysburg. Reynolds was killed early in that same battle. He was buried in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1863. Read more about John Reynolds
Joseph Hooker
General Joseph Hooker was a major general for the Union during the Civil War and a career army officer. Read more about Joseph Hooker
Joshua Chamberlain
General Joshua Chamberlain was a college professor and eventually a brigadier general and brevet major general for the Union army leading, among others, the 20th Maine Brigade. Read more about Joshua Chamberlain
Philip Sheridan
General Philip Sheridan was a Union general and an army officer throughout his career. He is known for his association with Ulysses S. Grant and for his fast assent to major general. Read more about Philip Sheridan
Oliver Howard
General Oliver Howard was a Union general in the Civil War and a career army officer. He suffered defeats at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville but at Western Theater his reputation was restored. Read more about Oliver Howard
William Starke Rosecrans
General William Starke Rosecrans was not only a general for the Union during the Civil War, but also a coal and oil company executive, an inventor, a politician and a diplomat.. Read more about William Starke Rosecrans
For a list of southern civil war generals, please see our confederate generals page. For a list of all important generals from the civil war, please see our civil war generals page.
Articles Featuring Union Generals From History Net Magazines
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Which book of the Old Testament contains the story of the plagues of Egypt? | The Ten Plagues - Bible Story Summary
The Ten Plagues - Bible Story Summary
The Ten Plagues - Bible Story Summary
God Sent Ten Plagues to Defeat Pharaoh
The Plagues of Egypt. Print Collector / Contributor / Getty Images
By Jack Zavada
The Hebrew people had suffered as slaves in Egypt for over 400 years when God sent them a deliverer named Moses .
But Pharaoh , Egypt's arrogant king, wasn't about to let this valuable source of free labor go. After all, Pharaoh believed he was a god, and who could oppose a god? That was when the God of Israel sent Ten Plagues upon the Egyptian people to show there was no one like the Lord in all the earth.
References to the Ten Plagues in the Bible
Exodus 5:3, 7:14-12:30; 1 Samuel 4:8; Amos 4:10.
The Ten Plagues - Story Summary
Before each plague, Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people go into the desert to worship the Lord. After each plague, Pharaoh's response was the same: he hardened his heart, stubbornly refusing to obey God .
Water Turned to Blood
In the first plague, Aaron , brother of Moses, struck the Nile River with his staff and the water turned to blood. The fish died, the water stunk, and people could not drink it. Even water in jars and pots turned to blood.
By their secret arts, the magicians of Pharaoh managed to duplicate this act.
Frogs
The second plague brought millions of frogs out of the river, canals, and ponds until they covered the land. Again, the king's sorcerers used black magic to produce frogs.
Gnats
In the third plague, Aaron struck the dust and it became gnats, infesting men and beasts. The magicians could not duplicate that miracle and said, "This is the finger of God." (Exodus 8:19, ESV ).
Flies
The fourth plague brought swarms of flies, but the insects covered only Egypt and not the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived. Pharaoh tried to set conditions on how far the people could go into the desert to make sacrifices to God.
Livestock
In the fifth plague, all the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks in Egypt died, but the curse did not touch the animals of the Hebrews. Pharaoh still would not back down.
Boils
For the sixth plague, God told Moses to throw handfuls of soot into the air. The fine dust became boils on all the Egyptians, so painful the magicians could not stand before Moses.
Hail
In the seventh plague, God explained to Pharaoh, through Moses, the reason for the plagues:
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Exodus 9:16, NIV )
Very heavy hail fell upon Egypt in the seventh plague, killing people, animals and plants. Although Pharaoh admitted he had sinned and that God was in the right, he changed his mind again as soon as the storm stopped and would not let the people go.
Locusts
With the eighth plague came locusts such as the world had never seen before. They smothered Egypt, eating plants and trees so not a green thing remained. When Pharaoh called in Moses, the king admitted to sinning "once."
Darkness
The ninth plague brought pitch darkness over Egypt for three days, so heavy that people could not see one another. Remarkably, the Hebrews had light in their land. Once again Pharaoh tried to dictate conditions on Israel's departure by ordering that their flocks be left behind.
Death of Firstborn
Finally, God warned of a tenth plague, so devastating that Pharaoh would release the enslaved Jews. First God warned all the people of Israel to sacrifice lambs to him, paint the blood on their doorposts, and eat the roasted meat before morning. God's avenging angel would see the blood sign and pass over those houses. This started the Jewish tradition of Passover .
The Jews asked the Egyptian people for gold, silver, jewelry, and clothes, and they gladly gave it to see them go. God had a plan to use those materials later. During the night, the tenth plague descended, the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian house. Even Pharaoh's firstborn son died.
The outcry from the Egyptians was so great that Pharaoh commanded Israel to go immediately, taking everything with them.
What happened next is described in the crossing of the Red Sea .
Lessons From the Ten Plagues
Egypt's false gods were powerless before Jehovah, the almighty God of Israel. Today, as then, anything people put more importance on than the Lord is idolatry , a serious sin.
God used Pharaoh to show the world his omnipotent authority. No matter what happens, the Lord is in control . God directs history to accomplish his supreme plan .
Whether it is performing awesome miracles or through quiet, individual intervention, God always helps those who love and obey him.
Bible Story Summary Index
Jack Zavada, a career writer and contributor for About.com, is host to a Christian website for singles. Never married, Jack feels that the hard-won lessons he has learned may help other Christian singles make sense of their lives. His articles and ebooks offer great hope and encouragement. To contact him or for more information, visit Jack's Bio Page .
| The Exodus |
What name links the nickname of a teacher in TV's Grange Hill and the name of Roy Rogers' dog? | Old Testament Books | CARM Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
The Old Testament has 39 books total, which consist of . . .
Pentateuch - 5 books
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Historical Books - 12 books
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings,
First Chronicles, Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
Poetic books - 5 books
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
Prophetic books - 17 books
Major Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
Minor Prophets - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
A list of books with brief descriptions of contents.
Pentateuch - 5 books
Genesis - Creation, the Fall, the Flood, spread of the nations, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Enslavement in Egypt.
Exodus - Enslavement, Moses, 10 plagues, Passover, Leave Egypt, Red Sea Crossing, Mt. Sinai and the 10 Commandments
Leviticus - Instructions on sacrificial system and the priesthood. Instructions on moral purity.
Numbers - Still at Mt. Sinai, people make false idol, punishment, 40-years wandering begins.
Deuteronomy - Moses' discourses on God's Acts for Israel the Decalogue, the ceremonial, civil, and social Laws, and covenant ratification.
Historical Books - 12 books total
Joshua - First half of Joshua describes the 7-year conquest of the Land of Promise. The last half deals with partitioning the lands to the people.
Judges - Time of Judges. This was a bad time period. The Israelites did not drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan and began to take part in their idolatry. 7 cycles of foreign oppression, repentance, and deliverance. In the end, the people failed to learn their lesson.
Ruth - Kinsman redeemer in Boaz, redeeming Ruth, a Moabitess. Speaks of righteousness, love, and faithfulness to the Lord.
The next 6 books trace the time from Samuel to the Captivity
First Samuel - Samuel carries Israel from judges to King Saul
Second Samuel - David as King, adultery, and murder.
First Kings - Solomon, Israel is powerful. Solomon dies, then division of tribes: 10 to the north and 2 to the south.
Second Kings - The Divided Kingdom. All 19 kings of Israel were bad, therefore, captivity in Assyria (722 B.C.). In Judah, 8 of 20 rulers were good but went into exile, too.
First Chronicles - A recounting of the history of Israel to the time of Solomon.
Second Chronicles - continued recounting of the life of Solomon, building of temple, to the captivity. History of Judah only.
The Next 3 books deal with Israel's Restoration.
Ezra - Cyrus let most of the Jews return to their land of Israel. Zerubbabel led the people (539 B.C.). Ezra returned later with more Jews (458 B.C.) Built the temple.
Nehemiah - Building the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah got permission from the king of Persia to rebuild the walls (444 B.C.). Revival in the land.
Esther - Took place during chapters 6 and 7 of Ezra. Mordecai. Plot to kill the Jewish people.
Poetical - 5 books
Job - a righteous man tested by God. Deals with God's sovereignty.
Psalms - Consists of 5 divisions. Worship in song. Large variety of subjects.
Proverbs - Practical wisdom in everyday affairs.
Ecclesiastes - All is vanity. The wisdom of man is futility.
Song of Solomon - A song (between Solomon and his Shulammite bride) displaying the love between a man and a woman.
Prophetical - 17 books
Major Prophets - 5 books
Isaiah - Looks at the sin of Judah and proclaims God's judgment. Hezekiah. Coming restoration and blessing.
Jeremiah - Called by God to proclaim the news of judgment to Judah, which came. God establishes a New Covenant.
Lamentations - 5 lament poems. Description of defeat and fall of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel - He ministered to the Jews in Captivity in Babylon. Description of the end of times.
Daniel - Many visions of the future for the Gentiles and the Jews.
Minor Prophets - 12 books
Hosea - Story of Hosea and his unfaithful wife, Gomer. Represents God's love and faithfulness and Israel's spiritual adultery. Israel will be judged and restored.
Joel - Proclaims a terrifying future using the imagery of locusts. Judgment will come, but blessing will follow.
Amos - He warned Israel of its coming judgment. Israel rejects God's warning.
Obadiah - A proclamation against Edom, a neighboring nation of Israel that gloated over Jerusalem's judgments. Prophecy of its utter destruction.
Jonah - Jonah proclaims a coming judgment upon Nineveh's people, but they repented and judgment was spared.
Micah - Description of the complete moral decay in all levels of Israel. God will judge but will forgive and restore.
Nahum - Nineveh has gone into apostasy (approx. 125 years after Jonah) and will be destroyed.
Habakkuk - Near the end of the kingdom of Judah, Habakkuk asks God why He is not dealing with Judah's sins. God says He will use the Babylonians. Habakkuk asks how God can use a nation that is even worse than Judah.
Zephaniah - The theme is developed of the Day of the Lord and His judgment with a coming blessing. Judah will not repent except for a remnant, which will be restored.
Haggai - The people failed to put God first by building their houses before they finished God's temple. Therefore, they had no prosperity.
Zechariah - Zechariah encourages the Jews to complete the temple. Many messianic prophecies.
Malachi - God's people are lax in their duty to God. Growing distant from God. Moral compromise. Proclamation of coming judgment.
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Who were the first team to beat Manchester United in a Premiership league match in the present season? | History of the English Premier League - SuperSport - Football
History of the English Premier League
William McGregor statue © Action Images
What is now known as the English Premier League has its roots in an earlier league, called the Football League, which was originally founded in 1888.
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales.
Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football. It was the top level football league in England from its foundation until 1992.
Since 1995 it has had 72 clubs evenly divided into three divisions, which are currently known as The Championship, League One and League Two. Promotion and relegation between these divisions is a central feature of the League and is further extended to allow the top Championship clubs to exchange places with the lowest placed clubs in the Premier League.
A director of Aston Villa, William McGregor, was the first to set out to bring some order to a chaotic world where clubs arranged their own fixtures. On March 2, 1888, he wrote to the committee of his own club, Aston Villa, as well as to those of Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion, suggesting the creation of a league competition that would provide a number of guaranteed fixtures for its member clubs each season.
The first meeting was held at Anderson's Hotel in London on March 23, 1888, on the eve of the FA Cup Final. The Football League was formally created and named in Manchester at a further meeting on April 17 at the Royal Hotel.
In 1992, the First Division clubs resigned from the Football League to take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal and on May 27, 1992, the Premier League as we know it today was formed.
This meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three.
There was no change in competition format; the same number of teams competed in the top flight, and promotion and relegation between the Premier League and the new First Division remained on the same terms as between the old First and Second Divisions.
The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon.
A total of 43 clubs have played in the Premier League from its inception in 1992 until the end of the 2009/10 season. Two other clubs (Luton Town and Notts County) were signatories to the original agreement that created the Premier League, but were relegated prior to the inaugural Premier League season and have not subsequently returned to the top flight.
Seven clubs have been members of the Premier League for every season since its inception. This group is composed of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur.
Due to insistence by Fifa that domestic leagues reduce the number of games clubs played, the number of clubs was reduced to 20 in 1995 when four teams were relegated from the league and only two teams promoted.
On June 8, 2006, Fifa requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007/08 season. The Premier League responded by announcing their intention to resist such a reduction. Ultimately, the 2007/08 season kicked off again with 20 teams.
The league changed its name from the FA Premier League to simply the Premier League in 2007.
FOREIGN PLAYERS
At the inception of the Premier League in 1992/93, just 11 players named in the starting line-ups for the first round of matches were 'foreign' (players hailing from outside of the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland).
By 2000/01, the number of foreign players participating in the Premier League was 36 per cent. In the 2004/05 season the figure had increased to 45 per cent. On December 26, 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up, and on February 14, 2005, Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match.
No English manager has won the Premier League; the five managers to have won the title comprise two Scots (Alex Ferguson (Manchester United, 11 wins) and Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn Rovers, one win), a Frenchman (Arsène Wenger, Arsenal, three wins), an Italian (Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea, one win), and a Portuguese (José Mourinho, Chelsea, two wins).
TRANSFER FEES
The record transfer fee for a Premier League has been broken several times over the lifetime of the competition.
Prior to the start of the first Premier League season, Alan Shearer became the first British player to command a transfer fee of more than £3 million. The record rose steadily in the Premier League's first few seasons, until Alan Shearer made a world record breaking £15 million move to Newcastle United in 1996.
This stood as a British record for four years until it was eclipsed by the £18 million Leeds paid West Ham for Rio Ferdinand. Manchester United subsequently broke the record three times by signing Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastián Verón and Rio Ferdinand.
Chelsea broke the record in May 2006, when they signed Andriy Shevchenko, from AC Milan. The exact figure of the transfer fee was not disclosed, but was reported as being around £30 million. This was eclipsed by Manchester City's transfer of Robinho from Real Madrid on September 1, 2008 for £32.5 million. The Robinho transfer remains the largest ever paid by a Premier League club.
The record transfer in the sport's history had a Premier League club on the selling end, with Manchester United accepting an £80 million bid from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.
RECORDS
David James holds the record for the most Premier League appearances, overtaking the previous record held by Gary Speed of 535 appearances in February 2009.
The first ever Premier League goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United.
SPONSORS
The Premier League has been sponsored since 1993. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The table below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:
YEARS
Barclays Premier League
TELEVISION
Television has played a major role in the history of the Premier League. The money from television rights has been vital in helping to create excellence both on and off the field. The League's decision to assign broadcasting rights to BSkyB in 1992 was at the time a radical decision, but one that has paid off.
At the time pay television was an almost untested proposition in the UK market, as was charging fans to watch live televised football. However, a combination of Sky's strategy, the quality of Premier League football and the public's appetite for the game has seen the value of the Premier League's TV rights soar.
The Premier League sells its television rights on a collective basis. This is in contrast to some European Leagues, including Serie A and La Liga, in which each club sells its rights individually, leading to a much higher share of the total income going to the top few clubs.
The money is divided into three parts: half is divided equally between the clubs; one quarter is awarded on a merit basis based on final league position, the top club getting twenty times as much as the bottom club, and equal steps all the way down the table; the final quarter is paid out as facilities fees for games that are shown on television, with the top clubs generally receiving the largest shares of this. The income from overseas rights is divided equally between the twenty clubs.
Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2006 when Setanta Sports was awarded rights to show two out of the six packages of matches available. This occurred following an insistence by the European Commission that exclusive rights should not be sold to one television company.
Sky and Setanta paid a total of £1.7 billion, a two-thirds increase which took many commentators by surprise as it had been widely assumed that the value of the rights had levelled off following many years of rapid growth.
On 22 June 2009, due to the troubles encountered by Setanta Sports after it failed to meet a final deadline over a £30 million payment to the Premier League, ESPN was awarded the two packages of UK rights containing a total of 46 matches that were available for the 2009/10 season as well as a package of 23 matches per season from 2010/11 to 2012/13.
MATCH BALLS
For the inaugural season of the Premier League, clubs were obliged to supply their own match balls, which were usually provided by the clubs' kit manufacturers. In 1993, the Premier League came to an agreement with Mitre for them to supply the league's teams with their match balls. Mitre supplied balls to the Premier League for seven years, starting with the Mitre Pro Max (1993–1995) and then the Mitre Ultimax (1995–2000).
The 2000/01 season saw Nike take over as match ball supplier, introducing the Nike Geo Merlin ball, which had been used in the UEFA Champions League. The Geo Merlin was used for four seasons before being replaced by the Nike Total 90 Aerow, which ran for another two seasons.
The 2004/05 season also saw the introduction of a yellow "Hi-Vis" ball for use in the winter months. Next came the Nike Total 90 Aerow II, which featured an asymmetrical design to help players judge the flight and spin of the ball.
For the 2008/09 season, the official ball of the Premier League was the Nike Total 90 Omni, which featured yet another pattern in dark red and yellow and a modified panel design, and was replaced by the Nike T90 Ascente for the 2009/10 season, with blue, yellow and orange trim, and for 2010/11 by the T90 TRACER, and will be electric blue, black and white trim.
TOP SCORERS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE (PREMIER LEAGUE ONLY)
PLAYER
MORE GOALS
Manchester United became the first team to have scored 1 000 goals in the league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored in a 4–1 defeat of Middlesbrough in the 2005/06 season. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are the only other teams to have reached the 1 000-goal mark.
The highest-scoring match to date in the Premier League occurred on September 29, 2007, when Portsmouth beat Reading 7–4. Five goals is the record individual scoring total for a player in a single Premier League game, and as of November 2009, only three players had achieved this feat, Andy Cole first, followed by Alan Shearer and then Jermain Defoe. Only Ryan Giggs of Manchester United has scored in all 18 Premier League seasons.
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Which book of the Old Testament contains the story of Joseph and his coat of many colours? | Premier League Football Betting | Live In-Play Odds | Coral
The home of Premier League betting
The Premier League is the richest and most watched football division in the world and Coral is the perfect place to bet on every single match for the enthralling 2016/17 season. We offer markets on everything from outright winners, top four finishes and relegation to exciting in-play betting. Make sure you look out for enhanced offers and matchday specials we run too, alongside up-to-date coverage on news.coral.co.uk. Whether you choose to bet on the result, correct score or goalscorers, Coral have a market for it with odds too tempting to miss! Leicester City reinvigorated the entire top-flight with their historic title win last season, as slip-ups from Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City allowed outsiders such as Tottenham and the Foxes to shine. This 2016/17 campaign is well underway, with Chelsea the title favourites under Antonio Conte, though Man City, Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Arsenal are also hot on their heels. Jose Mourinho, meanwhile, is trying to keep Manchester United in the hunt for a Champions League place, while Leicester continue to struggle.
The most exciting league in the world
With surprise winners and shocking slumps, the Premier League had its most exciting season to date last term, but this campaign looks to be even better and closer with such a swift coaching turnover! Leicester are surely incapable of repeating any further heroics this time out, though Spurs remain in the hunt. Chelsea are now the team to catch at the summit after a dominant spell. West Ham United seem to be struggling under Slaven Bilic after their Olympic Stadium switch. Can Ronald Koeman turn things around at Everton? Who will win the battle to stay up? How will ambitious promoted clubs such as Burnley, Hull City and Middlesbrough fare? New signings have already delivered, with Mourinho's Man Utd splashing big to bring Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford as well as adding the goals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Man City are integrating new faces Claudio Bravo, Nolito, Leroy Sane and John Stones but some are stuttering. Keep up to date with all the latest news and tips . All this and more makes the Premier League the most compelling of sporting dramas. Coral are committed to giving our customers the best betting experience available which means the best odds, offers and the widest range of markets can be found here at sports.coral.co.uk . If you are looking to make this season even more interesting then you have come to the right place. Stick with us!
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West Ham v Man City
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"Who is the principal actor who plays a character Albert Naracott in the 2011 film ""War Horse""?" | Dolphy | Jude Bautista Gallery
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Stars literally shone on stage, the background appeared like the night sky with bright twinkling specs. The image rivaled any night sky in the remotest regions of the world. An audible gasp was collectively heard from the audience even before Monica Cuenco sang a note. The largest LED screen in Asia has awed everyone from other RWM shows like KING & I and PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT. Due to insistent public demand BITUING WALANG NINGNING (BWN) at Resort’s World Manila will have another run from October 8, 2015 through to January of 2016.
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
By the time curtains rose for BITUING… they managed to make the biggest become even wider and bigger. Even the peripheral areas of the stage on the sides and top are covered in LED panels. From the audience seats you’re almost enveloped by a twinkling and convincing night sky with deep dark purples transitioning from black with varied specks of white and yellow. It’s a wonderful visual metaphor for a star rising in the music and entertainment business as Monica Cuenco sings Filipino classics composed by Willy Cruz.
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
LED Video Producer Carlos Manere by now is a veteran of RWM hits KING & I and PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT. A graduate of the Multimedia Arts program from the College of St Benilde, Manere incorporated different skills from visual effects, 3D animation, 3D modeling, compositing and video editing. He has also done LED work for Star Cruises STONE OF ATLANTIS, NOLI ME TANGERE: THE OPERA and many more.
Antoinette Tauz (Lavinia Arguelles) & Epy Quizon (Auntie). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Resort’s World Manila site: http://www.rwmanila.com/web/bituing-walang-ningning/#
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Apart from setting the mood and establishing locations, which are all important functions for the screen, it adds another purpose that I did not see before in previous productions. This time the LED screen is actually used to push the story forward. This was when newspaper headlines were splashed on screen, especially on the fringes. Sometimes videos of backstage conversations are included. From the literal stars on the night sky we should move on to the stars in the cast:
Peripheral LED panels are used to add information that pushes story forward. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
MONICA CUENCO
Monica Cuenco has captured the innocence and humble roots of her role Dorina Pineda. In some ways Monica’s anonymity enhances her believability. We all know Sharon Cuneta as the daughter of the Pasay Mayor Pablo Cuneta and her showbiz lineage with mother Elaine Gamboa. For anyone taking on such an iconic role that has had a long memory and mass appeal is a tall order. But Cuenco has done quite well and has even proven her superior vocal abilities. Nothing is left to chance, Philpop Grand Prize winner Yumi Lacsamana has been tapped as voice coach for Monica.
(left photo) Monica Cuenco with Epy Quizon and (right photo) Monica with 2015 Philpop Winner Yumi Lacsamana who trained her vocally. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Official Monica Cuenco fb fan page https://www.facebook.com/Monica-Cuenco-161006650605905/timeline/
Menchu Lauchengco Yulo plays Eeeeeedith the big haired, overbearing, loud, annoying, gossip columnist. Menchu admitted that yes ‘I annoy even myself’. Menchu is also RWM’s Creative director and is a long time acting coach. She said, “Monica is more confident she’s more grounded. She’s more secure with herself so it will be a better Dorina overall.”
from left: Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles) & Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris Villonco is in the role of antagonist Lavinia Arguelles. In real life she’s supportive of her co-star, “Monica is such a hard worker; she strives to work even harder every single time. She improves every single time. Come on she’s only twenty! So I think her star is on the rise. She gets better as the show progresses as well.”
Epy Quizon played Apolinario Mabini in HENERAL LUNA, the official Phil entry to the Oscars. Photo from official HENERAL LUNA fb https://www.facebook.com/Heneral.Luna
EPY QUIZON
Epy has just come from the critically acclaimed film and now the surprise box office hit HENERAL LUNA. Epi played the intellectual Apolinario Mabini known as the ‘Sublime Paralytic’. His casting in the gay role Auntie for BWN has a lot of fans and critics excited. He alternates this role with the great comedian and singer Jon Santos. While Epi has had more film and TV roles, not a lot of people are aware that he also has impressive theater and musical experience. Epi actually played Ompong a role based on his father Dolphy’s original character in the prewar era. KATY was written and directed by Nestor U. Torre who is also a columnist for Phil Daily Inquirer.
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical was held at the CCP and MERALCO Theater in 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Michael Stuart Williams is in the role of sleazy record producer Larry in BWN. Williams is also co Creative Director for RWM. He said, “Epi is doing the role of Auntie at some performances – the role was originally played by Jon Santos. He is a very good actor, very hard working. He is a pleasure to work with.”
from left: Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar), Menchu Lauchengco Yulo (Edith) and Michael Stuart Williams (Larry). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
CRIS VILLONCO
Everybody who has seen her on stage and onscreen can’t help but love Cris Villonco. Her numerous theater roles has led her to found RED TURNIP with pals Topper Fabregas and Bart Guingona. On screen she was cast in her family’s semi-biography HARI NG TONDO. The Cinemalaya film was directed by Carlitos Siguion Reyna and was loosely based on their patriarch’s return to his old district of Tondo.
Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar) & Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris’ as Lavinia for BWN gives her a meatier role made famous by Cherie Gil. She relishes playing the scheming, woman everyone loves to hate, “I love it people always think I’m a goody two shoes. I’m the nice person. I’m really not. My brain goes on and on, I have a lot of thoughts in my head I can’t really say. You have to have a certain kind of persona in public. I’m a meanie so it’s nice to let it out once in a while. Once in a while lang.”
Antoinette Tauz (Lavinia Arguelles) & Ronnie Liang (Garrie Diaz). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Resort’s World Manila site: http://www.rwmanila.com/web/bituing-walang-ningning/#
Antoinette Tauz alternates Lavinia with Cris, she goes on, “It’s nice because I was basically in the same batch as Antoinette when I was starting out in show business. We know what its like, we know the competition. I’m pretty sure she’s gonna do well.”
from left: Antoinette Tauz (Lavinia Arguelles) & Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Official Monica Cuenco fb fan page https://www.facebook.com/Monica-Cuenco-161006650605905/timeline/
Menchu describes Antoinette, “Tonette is very different her attack is different. She plays her a little bit more desperate, which works because there’s this idea that there’s someone better than her. It’s a natural reaction. Its very different, I have yet to see a full run (with changes). We’ve done scenes so I haven’t seen the totality. But that’s what comes across and wow that works. Then you really see the reason of being so nasty. She’s losing it.”
Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
MARK BAUTISTA
One of Mark Bautista’s most prominent stage roles is portraying Ferdinand Marcos in the West End production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s HERE LIES LOVE . Even before that he was already one of the admired young vocalists of the country. Mark’s role here is very easy for him to portray being a singer songwriter himself. Nico Escobar is the top hit maker with the biggest star, Lavinia in love with him. Nico meets Dorina and discovers a hidden gem. Bautista shows that he has honed his acting skills to accompany his renowned vocals. He is in need of it as he shares the scenes with Villonco who can easily dominate the stage with her performance.
from left: Ronnie Liang (Garrie Diaz) and Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Ensemble from left: Ana Victoria Andres, Karina Almario, Jalynna Magadia and David Shawn Delgado, Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar) & Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Jon Santos (Auntie) & Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Markki Stroemm, Vince De Jesus, Menchu Lauchengco Yulo, May Bayot & Sweet Plantado. Photo was taken during TRIPLE THREATS series of Vincent De Jesus’ DEMENTED, DELIGHTFUL, DERANGED DEJESUS last September 24, 2015 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tourists can still understand Filipino dialogue through English subtitles on LED screens on left and right side of stage. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Ultimate Productions Media Affairs Cherry Bong Edralin and Dennis Villaluz. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Ronnie Liang (Garrie Diaz) and Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Cynthia Guico, Cris Villonco, Vincent De Jesus, Lionel Guico & Giannina Ocampo. Photo was taken during TRIPLE THREATS series of Vincent De Jesus’ DEMENTED, DELIGHTFUL, DERANGED DEJESUS last September 24, 2015 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles) & John Nite (German Moreno). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Jon Santos (Auntie) kicks up a storm. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Jay Roa (Zosimo Blanco); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Bernardo Commandeers HARING LEAR
from left: Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear) & Garry Lim (Gloster). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Haring Lear (Bernardo Bernardo): Wala na bang nakakakilala dito kay Lear? Aba hindi na ba, hindi na ba ito si Haring Lear? Ito ang kanyang mga mata, ang pagsalita ko, ganito ba, ganito ba kung lumakad siya? Malabnaw na ang kanyang pagwari. O mahina na ang kanyang pag iisip? Tulog ba siya o gising? Ang mabigat na katanungan ay kung sino siya! Gusto ko malaman sino makapagsasabi kung sino ako?
from left: Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear) shoves McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rather unexpectedly, especially in the beginning where Lear divides up his kingdom to his heirs, Bernardo has a booming voice befitting a king. He laughs heartily of man contented, in power relinquishing his authority to his children. Bernardo takes control of a role that also fits his stature, now at 70. His acting is not any less powerful than it was, perhaps even more so now than ever before.
CURTAIN CALL from left: McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia), Jason Barcial (Duke ng Burgonia), Buddy Caramat (Goneril), Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Abner Delina Jr (Cordelia/Lakayo), Renante Bustamante (Duke ng Albanya), Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), George de Jesus III (Regan), and Lambert de Jesus (Kent). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
The physicality of it all though makes one cringe. While there are no spectacular dance moves, there is the ‘wet’ scene where a tempest nearly drowns everyone in its path. AND it really does get wet on stage most especially for Haring Lear. Being in focus delivering lines, in the throes of madness and despair while water is endlessly splashing on your face is no mean feat. He more than delivers, his performance takes you to a dark place you wish you’d never have to visit.
Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
This is the acting we know from Bernardo Bernardo who was part of Ishmael Bernal’s City After Dark. Although the majority of Filipinos have come to know him as Steve Carpio in HOME ALONG DA RILES with Comedy King the late Dolphy. Recently Bernardo was also in the Cinemalaya film RONDA starring Ai Ai Delas Alas.
Bernardo is a true performer. He had an allergic reaction to the wrong make up applied on opening night to the point of being hospitalized. In spite of this he was able to get back on stage the next night.
from right: PETA Playwright & Poet Anj Heruela, Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Kakki Teodoro , Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo) & fan. Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
This particular play adapted by National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera had lead Teroy Guzman in PETA’s previous run last 2012. Even then it was well received by critics. So Bernardo being able to put his own stamp on it is even more remarkable.
Garry Lim (Gloster); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Another veteran actor is Garry Lim as Gloster, the ever-faithful nobleman of Haring Lear. Garry Lim was also part of the previous cast as Regan. Lim is the most tortured in a tragic cast of characters. Lim is able to give this role a sense of patience and fortitude in the face of the most difficult circumstances. Filipino words and lines roll off his tongue eloquently. Lim has also had a great number of Cinemalaya films- APARISYON, REQUIEME and AMOK roles on TV and commercial projects as well: MY LITTLE BOSSINGS, SI AGIMAT SI ENTENG KABISOTE AT SI AKO.
Buddy Caramat (Goneril); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
The sisters and heirs to Lear are the ones that give the color of blood in this grey end of the world scenario. Buddy Camarat is Goneril the eldest strung out in heroin. She is the most whimsical of the cast having a singsong delivery to her lines. Buddy inhabits this female role quite easily, just like her onstage sister George De Jesus III who plays Regan. Both of them have come back to reprise their previous roles. While Buddy’s attack is more sensual and avaricious, George has that female touch of violence. These two ‘evil’ sisters aren’t antagonistic per se; they only hatch their treachery in order to extend control and power. In that sense we meet people like Goneril and Regan every day.
from left: Buddy Caramat (Goneril), George De Jesus III (Regan) and Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
George De Jesus III (Regan); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Abner Delina Jr who has also repeated his role from 2012 plays the youngest sister Cordelia. Here she is more a victim among the viciousness of her sisters. The more interesting side role for Abner is Lakayo, the court jester. For this version of HARING LEAR there is this puppet that has a demented look. Abner switches from using his own face, which has in turn a mask behind his head. There’s a real schizoid quality in Lakayo alone switching from the puppet to his ‘real’ face.
Abner Delina Jr. as jester Lakayo; Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Nico Dans (Edgardo) & Garry Lim (Gloster). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Edgardo played by the hefty Nico Dans must have been very challenging to play as his character goes through insanity and back again. His is certainly the most physical. In one scene he literally falls off stage simulating a fall off a hill. Audiences could hear a solid thud from his wide body’s landing.
Roi Calilong is the servant Oswaldo but his non-speaking role as Death is even more interesting. In this post apocalyptic world, Death is only wearing speedos underneath a black cape and gyrates like Channing Tatum in MAGIC MIKE.
Roi Calilong (Death); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo) shoots heroin into Buddy Caramat (Goneril’s) arm. Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rhenwyn Gabalonzo as Edmundo is the most scheming and treacherous character here. Jess Evardone a veteran of independent films has even more multiple roles here as Tagapaglingkod, Matandang lalaki, Duktor ni Cordelia and Eraldo. Evardone is able to inhabit each role with sincerity and believability as he has done countless times before.
Jess Evardone (Matandang Lalaki/Duktor); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Every single actor and cast member has done a fantastic job, a true ensemble piece: Lambert De Jesus (Kent), Roi Calilong (Oswaldo), Renante Bustamante (Duke Ng Albanya), Jason Barcial (Duke Ng Burgonia), Jeff Hernandez (Duke Ng Cornualles) and McDonnel Bolaños (Hari Ng Francia). Inevitably we come back to the leader, Bernardo Bernardo, commandeering the powerful but heartrending figure of Lear as his own.
CURTAIN CALL from left: Garry Lim (Gloster), Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo), McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia), Jason Barcial (Duke ng Burgonia), Buddy Caramat (Goneril), Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Abner Delina Jr (Cordelia/Lakayo), Renante Bustamante (Duke ng albanya), Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), George de Jesus III (Regan), Lambert de Jesus (Kent) and Jess Evardone (Matandang Lalaki/Duktor). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
from right: Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Abner Delina Jr. (Cordelia) & Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Renante Bustamante (Duke ng Albanya) & George De Jesus III (Regan) in wheelchair while Nico Dans (Death) looks over her. Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), George De Jesus III (Regan), Garry Lim (Gloster). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Abner Delina Jr. (Cordelia); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Garry Lim (Gloster) & Nico Dans (Edgardo). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia) & Abner Delina Jr. (Cordelia). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Lambert de Jesus (Kent) & Nico Dans (Edgardo); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Garry Lim (Gloster); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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top Buddy Caramat (Goneril) & bottom Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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The Railway Man and the Philippine Experience
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) & Nicole Kidman (Pattie), their love motivates him to deal with post war trauma experienced in WWII. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Written by
Jude Bautista
“My husband isn’t coping. War leaves a mark. He’s a wonderful man. I want him back,” said Pattie (Nicole Kidman). She was describing the mental state of Eric (Colin Firth) after he tried to stab a debt collector in his home. It was a whirlwind romance for Pattie and Eric. She fell for his passion for trains, which they both shared. After the wedding, it didn’t take long for her to realize something was terribly wrong.
Jeremy Irvine (Young Eric Lomax) was a radio operator in the British forces. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The story is based on an autobiography of the same title written by Eric Lomax as part of the British Regiment in Singapore. When the Japanese captured the Commonwealth territory in 1942, Lomax and other engineers were brought north. They were forced to help plan the very ambitious Siam-Burma railway the Japanese had intended to construct connecting Southeast Asia to China.
from left: RWM Sponsorship Officer Maribelle Aure, RWM Dir Sponsorships & Partnerships Anna Chua, RWM Mgr Sponsorships & Partnerships Brian Villanueva and RWM F&B Mgr Arman Dela Paz. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
Starting September 24, 2014 the historical epic THE RAILWAY MAN is exclusively shown in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall. Lead stars include Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman Stellan Skarsgaard, Jeremy Irvine and Hiroyuki Sanada.
Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Slave labor was used to build the Siam Burma Railroad. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The reason the scale of the Siam-Burma railroad had never been done before was the incredible logistical challenges. “An army of slaves” was necessary to complete the monumental task, cutting through mountains and difficult terrains through jungle and swamp. The Japanese had to be brutal and cruel beyond belief to complete the task. This was the reality faced by a young Eric Lomax and his comrades.
Nicole Kidman (Pattie). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The film jumps from the early 1980’s when Pattie and Eric met and fell in love to his memories of the war. Eric Lomax was also made consultant to the film but passed away before it was completed. The film is a touching example of how forgiveness and reconciliation is possible in spite of the terrible atrocities of war. Nicole Kidman as Pattie is the one person who inspired Eric in dealing with his demons.
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) & Nicole Kidman (Pattie), their love motivates him to deal with post war trauma experienced in WWII. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
from left: Stellan Skarsgaard (Finlay) & Colin Firth (Eric Lomax). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Stellan Skarsgaard is the older Finlay who enlightens Pattie of Eric’s condition. They were in the same unit together and he personally witnessed the ingenuity and courage that Eric displayed during those horrific times. Young Eric Lomax is played by Jeremy Irvine who became known for playing Albert Naracott in WAR HORSE directed by Steven Spielberg. He can also be seen in thriller THE REACH with Michael Douglas. In 2015 Irvine is in THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT a civil war piece with Noah Wiley and Haley Joel Osment.
Jeremy Irvine (Young Finlay). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) relives his incarceration. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY / SUNDALONG KANIN
Throughout RAILWAY MAN, Finlay was talking about an unspeakable torture that Eric had gone through alone apart from the unit. This became a central element that kept on repeating itself. Naturally as the film progresses there was a deliberate plan to keep this secret until the denouement or even the climax to heighten the suspense.
Eric Quizon played the young Markova.
Here in the Philippines as viewers there were a number of tortures or even atrocities that were going through our mind. Our history is similar in a sense where, our country was also invaded and ruled over by the Japanese forces during World War II.
Dolphy was both lead actor and producer in MARKOVA COMFORT GAY.
DOLPHY made of chocolate prepared by Marriot Chocolatier Chef Christopher Balane. RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
One of the landmark films about atrocities committed during that era was MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY (2000). It starred the most known and critically acclaimed Filipino actor comedian: Dolphy. His real life sons Epi and Eric Quizon played younger versions of his character. It was also similarly based on a real person; Walter Dempster Jr. aka Walterina Markova. Senator Loren Legarda played herself as a reporter interviewing Markova. The film is about a group of homosexual performers being used as ‘comfort gays’. Where Japanese soldiers would line up to rape them, which lasted for several years. It was a landmark film in a sense that it dealt with the issue of comfort women, which really happened at the time, and the fact it was gay men who were also being raped. Most recently the theme of comfort women was again dealt with in the Cinemalaya film SUNDALONG KANIN (2014).
Eric Quizon played the young Markova.
Unspeakable Atrocity
SO in our minds we were gearing up for the possibility that it was THIS unspeakable atrocity that Eric Lomax endured, in the case of RAILWAY MAN. Especially since he specifically could not talk about the torture with his wife. Needless to say, it was another kind of torture that viewers would have to discover through the course of the film.
Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The theme of a homosexual abuse/rape however neatly fit every piece of the puzzle. You wouldn’t expect Eric Lomax to openly discuss it given his extremely conservative Scottish upbringing. There was also a special relationship that developed between Eric and Kempetai agent Takashi Nagase played by Japanese star Hiroyuki Sanada. SO that would have added another dimension TO that relationship. Sometimes what is NOT explicitly said in a book or film becomes more interesting food for thought.
from left: Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) & Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase) THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
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HOLA! Editor in Chief Jose Mari Ugarte. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase) and Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
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Colin Firth (Eric Lomax). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
PBA Courtside Reporter Rizza Diaz and long time boy friend Rex Bacud. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
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RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
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DOLPHY made of chocolate prepared by Marriot Chocolatier Chef Christopher Balane. RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) on Bridge in Burma. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Morgan Say & Janeena Chan. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Isay Alvarez -Katy (center), Tirso Cruz III- Tatay (right), and Aicelle Santos -Young Katy (left). They were given a standing ovation during curtain call. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Tatay (Tirso Cruz III): Aasa ka sa mga sinsilyong pinupukol ng mga manonood? E ikaw nga’y pinagkait ng Diyos ng na tatanging kagandahan! Pagkatapos kung kumilos ka masahol ka pa sa mga lalakeng kalaro mo sa labas? Sa araw araw na ginawa ka ng Diyos gumugulpi ka ng kalaro? Pagkatapos aasa kang kikita ka ng pera sa palakpak ng tao? Batang Katy (Yedda Lambujon): Di naman na dadaan sa ganda yan e. Ang panggulat ko ay ang aking (screams) boooseees!
Yedda Lambujon (Batang Katy) lifted up by fans and finds her calling. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Calling Katy precocious as an 8 year old is an understatement. If she were born these days she’d be diagnosed as a hyperactive kid. Instead she became known as the kid with a powerful voice and moxy, lots of moxy. Even at a very young age, Katy Dela Cruz knew she was destined to perform. KATY the Musical is the portrayal of her colorful, tragic and lyrical life. The era is from the heyday of bodabil, jazz, swing and bebop. The passion for music is what shines through in KATY that entices us to look and never forget. It runs from January 17-27, 2013 at the CCP.
from right: Isay Alvarez (Katy), Aicelle Santos (Young Katy), Gian Magdangal (Peping) and Dulce (Olivia). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Isay Alvarez (KATY) gives a stirring vocal performance. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Everyone who has seen it has universally praised Isay Alvarez in the lead role. Even those who caught the original version of the production have given Isay the thumbs up. Cinemalaya Competition Head Laurice Guillen said, “The cast did really great especially Isay. I know Mitch (Valdes) is really a great performer. Pero yung work ni Isay rito may pain, feel na feel ko siya. Mitch is known as full of humor and lightness.”
Isay Alvarez (Katy) had strenuous dance sequences apart from the vocals. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Aicelle Santos (Young Katy) and Gian Magdangal (Peping) fall in love. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Mitch Valdes was in the title role in the original 1987 production of KATY. Director Nestor U. Torre is back to for this version as well. The music by Ryan Cayabyab and Librettist Jose Javier Reyes brings out the best in the cast today as it did then. There’s the vocals of Gian Magdangal. Epy Quizon exhibited dancing skills playing the role of his real life father Dolphy. Aicelle Santos was dazzling as the young Katy on the cusp of stardom.
Dulce as Olivia (center) is comforted by performers seated from right: Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San), Isay Alvarez (Katy) and Sheenly Gener (Ensemble) standing from left: Astarte Abraham (Ensemble), Aaron Ching (Ensemble), Epy Quizon (Dolphy), Sheng Belmonte (Ensemble), Andy Bais (Gay Principal), CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter) and Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Among recent productions KATY has a strong parallelism with STAGESHOW written by Mario O’Hara who passed away last year. KATY however, predates STAGESHOW by 2 decades or so. Both musicals honor the forgotten stars of the Philippine theater.
Gimbey Dela Cruz (Ensemble) tries to placate Poppert Bernadas (Japanese General). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY composer Ryan Cayabyab with wife Emmy (left) and Sheng Belmonte (Sexy Mananayaw). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY’s advantage is Ryan Cayabyab’s music. STAGESHOW has the playful humor of Mario O’Hara. Although Joey Reyes dialogue also delivers laughs, O’Hara’s comedic wit is still funnier. It was O’Hara’s intention to make tragedy funny where, humor is just alternated from the heavy dramatic scenes in KATY. STAGESHOW will once again have a run on August in CCP.
Isay Alvarez (KATY) and Lou Veloso (Direktor). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Dulce is the diva Olivia and Aicelle Santos as the Young Katy. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cayabyab’s music necessitated powerful vocals which Isay Alvarez (Senior KATY) and Aicelle Santos (Teen Katy) very capably delivered. The most poignant vocal performance and music was the duet of Aicelle and Dulce who was in the role of Olivia the Diva. The song is MINSAN ANG MINAHAL AY AKO, which expresses the pain of losing the adulation of an audience by a fading star.
from left: Andy Bais (Gay Principal), China Cojuangco (Ensemble), Aaron Ching (Ensemble), Epy Quizon (Dolphy) and Neomi Gonzales (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tirso Cruz III (Tatay ni Katy) has always been there for daughter Isay Alvarez (Katy). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Apart from the title role of Katy Dela Cruz the musical is a very intriguing look at some characters who are based on real life people. Most audiences today remember Mary Walter (CJ Mangahis) in a lot of grandmother roles, with her shock of white hair and raspy voice. She’s had countless film roles from horror to dramas and was a lifetime achievement awardee from both the FAMAS and the Urian. KATY reveals a young sexy starlet version of Mary. For most of us it’s hard to imagine Mary Walter in floozy roles and a sexy Hawaiian dancer in grass skirt.
from left: Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay), Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San) and CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY turns back the clock to when they were all young. While, Gloria Romero turns into Heart Evangelista to seduce Geoff Eigenman in Forever by GMA 7, KATY takes audience through one person’s life. Making them the time traveller.
Not a lot of people may be aware that Mary Walter, Mitch Valdes and KATY lyricist Joey Reyes were connected even before the musical. Considered as one of the best Filipino films of all time the Cinema One film fest recently screened the digitally restored version of ORO PLATA MATA by Peque Gallaga.
Lou Veloso is the pushy Director. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
It was released in 1976 and even then Mary Walter already had her shock of white hair as the aging yaya of a nubile, barely out of her adolescence Cherie Gil. Incidentally, 1987 KATY lead star Mitch Valdes also figured prominently in ORO as the liberated doctor who came back from America. Before the screening, it was revealed by direk Peque that it was screenwriter Jose Javier Reyes who coined the name of the film.
Sheenly Gener (Ensmble) tries to placate Poppert Bernadas (Japanese General). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
The three friends of KATY apart from Mary were rounded out by Tricia Amper Jimenez as Hannah San and Celine Fabie as Patsy Patochay. Their performances were key as they had a lot of scenes with both male and female leads. Their number with Gian Magdangal was also memorable with the trio of Mary, Patsy and Hanna tries to seduce the dashing Peping with a sexy but playful song and dance.
Gian Magdangal (Peping) is a ladies man with from left: Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San), Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay) and CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Dulce (Olivia) and JV Castillo (American Officer). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Strong credit must be given to musical director Mel Villena and the Asosasyon Ng Pilipinong Musikero (AMP). They executed the music composed by Cayabyab not just with perfection but more of the enthusiasm and emotion that the story required.
KATY Producer Robert Seña acknowledged Fanny Serrano who designed the costumes as well as the hair and make up for the whole show. Katy Dela Cruz’ passion and love for music is evident not just in the performance but also in the artistry and generosity of everyone involved in the restaging of KATY the Musical.
Isay Alvarez (Katy) with Nomherlito Cipriano (Jungle boy). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
SPONSORS include: Boardwalk, SM Supermalls, PLDT, Spotlight Artists Centre, Manila Bulletin, Business World, HerWord.com, Lyric Piano, McDonalds, Phil Charity Sweepstakes, Columbia’s Quality Sweets, AnakTV, Fanny Serrano, Century Pacific Group, ROTARY INTL District 3780, ARTWORK, Dance Theater Arts, TICKETWORLD, SINGRAY’S Advertising, FJ Sionson Florist, Lyfcenter, Ha Yuan Tsinoy Comfort food, PHIL STAR, DZRH, 96.3 EASY ROCK, MONSTER RADIO RX 93.1, DZMM, MYX, 702 DZAS, Carl E. Balita REVIEW CENTER, Cinema One, Lifestyle Network, MYLESWAYS BEAUTY SALON, CAMPSUKI COSTUMES, MJ Sudayan Photography, Celeste Legaspi and Girlie Rodis of ACTORS SUTDIO EAST PROD. , Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc.
Tirso Cruz III (Tatay ni Katy) is also a barber cutting Andy Bais’ (Principal) hair while talking to Sheenly Gener (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
from right: Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong), Isay Alvarez (Katy), Mona Lisa and Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Katy (Isay Alvarez) goes back to the theater shocked by the news that she and the older cast had been replaced by the director (Lou Veloso). They look for their cast mate Dolphy (Epy Quizon) to find out his reaction. Direktor replies “Nandun na naman si Dolphy tinutulungan ang mga mananayaw na may pakpak magbihis.” ( Dolphy’s in there helping the dancers with wings change) The sexy Sheng Belmonte comes out scantily clad with feathers barely covering her private parts. Dolphy follows immediately behind her ogling the most beautiful parts of the ‘costume.’
Isay Alvarez (KATY) gives a stirring vocal performance. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Epy Quizon receives any comparison to his late father with a lot of humility and reluctance. Dolphy after all is considered as the greatest Filipino Comedian. No other actor in KATY the Musical, however, can claim to look like the role they play more than Epy Quizon. KATY runs from January 17-27, 2013 at the CCP. Watching Epy’s facial expressions and mannerisms on stage is almost like seeing Dolphy himself. He’s had a lot of practice as he has done a lot of TV and film projects where he shared scenes and even played the younger version of his famous father. “Pidol’s Wonderland” from TV5 allowed Dolphy to work not just with Eric and Epy but also Vandolph.
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY was directed by Gil Portes and written by Doy Del Mundo. Dolphy was in the title role of Walterina Markova who was a ‘comfort gay’ during World War II. Two of his sons Eric and Epy played Markova in different ages. Portes related in news reports that the three of them made cinematic history because of a rare feat that had never been done before. The trio was given both Best Actor and Best Actress awards at the Brussels International Film Festival in 2001. The award was in recognition of their performance both as actors and actresses. Locally, FAMAS and the Urian singled out Epy’s performance by giving him the Best Supporting actor award.
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
MARKOVA was the last film where Dolphy had a gay role. As a comedian it was one of his oft-repeated characters. In KATY we see him more as a Ladies Man, which Dolphy was in real life and makes one realize how good an actor he was by being so convincing as a homosexual. Epy knew his dad differently than the leering character he played on KATY, “People knew my father was a gentleman. Nilagyan natin ng flavor na medyo may pagka sexy. Kinuha yung pagka naughty nung dad ko. He was always a gentleman.”
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Isay Alvarez (Katy) had strenuous dance sequences apart from the vocals. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Epy’s work in KATY is definitely worthy of award considerations. It was with great difficulty that he looked at the many dance sequences for the musical. Apart from the very sexy dance sequence with Sheng Belmonte, Epy, Aaron Ching, the whole ensemble also had a very elaborate tap dance sequence with lead star Isay Alvarez. It was very huge shoes to fill since Dolphy was known for his tap dancing with Bayani Casmimiro who was the ‘Fred Astaire of the Philippines.’
from right: Isay Alvarez (Katy), Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong) and Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw), Nomherlito Cipriano (Jungle boy) and China Cojuangco (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Everyone who saw Epy thought he did a fantastic job. Cinemalaya Competition Head Laurice Guillen said, “Epy looks like Dolphy the most when he was young those days. Epy has got the grace as a dancer of Dolphy. Of course no one wants to be compared to Dolphy. If you see the old films you can see what a great dancer he was. But Epy was able to deliver.”
Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong) dances with Isay Alvarez (Katy). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
When Epy was born however, he did not look like Dolphy. Epy said in an interview, “Honestly it’s probably the bone structure and the physique. But when I was born my dad said Di ko kamukha yan na salisihan yata ako ha? (laughs) I was born blonde, very fair skin. Blonde talaga na curly yung hair. Nung lumaki ako yung pinaka kamukha ng katawan, facial structure, boses.”
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY is the perfect material to showcase Epy’s talents on stage as an actor and total performer. There are numerous funny and comedic scenes. Where else can you see singing and dancing pregnant balut vendors on skates? Kudos to Sheenly Gener, Neomi Gonzales, Gimbey Dela Cruz, China Cojuangco and teen KATY Aicelle Santos for that wild scene alone.
Gian Magdangal (seated center) surrounded by ladies from left: Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay), CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter) and Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
One realm where Epy has over Dolphy is the number of international films that he has made. 2009 Epy was in a critically acclaimed Taiwanese film called PINOY SUNDAY by Wi Ding Ho co starring Bayani Agbayani and Alessandra De Rossi. He recently finished a U.S. production: THE THEIF THE KID AND THE KILLER by Nathan Adolfson with Lance Raymundo, Felix Roco and Joy Viado. HELLO FOREVER is a film by Australian director Peter Kirk featuring transgender actor Isis King and Jennifer Blair-Bianco is about ‘four courageous women who are faced with the harsh realities of single motherhood, poverty, prejudice, and corruption.’ Cast mate Jenny Blair-Bianco is also cast in another play in Repertory called BOEING BOEING currently running until Feb 17, 2013.
Epy Quizon (Dolphy) and Neomi Gonzales (Ensemble). Neomi Gonzales (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Epy has definitely made his mark with his own talent and skill. He never takes his profession for granted and is grateful for every role, “With God’s help tuloy tuloy. Let’s just keep on praying di mawala trabaho. You know this business, one day they like what you do, next day they move on. Just like Katy (he sings) Minsan Lang Minahal Ay Ako’.” Every theater actor and artist for that matter can relate to this show.
SPONSORS include: Boardwalk, SM Supermalls, PLDT, Spotlight Artists Centre, Manila Bulletin, Business World, HerWord.com, Lyric Piano, McDonalds, Phil Charity Sweepstakes, Columbia’s Quality Sweets, AnakTV, Fanny Serrano, Century Pacific Group, ROTARY INTL District 3780, ARTWORK, Dance Theater Arts, TICKETWORLD, SINGRAY’S Advertising, FJ Sionson Florist, Lyfcenter, Ha Yuan Tsinoy Comfort food, PHIL STAR, DZRH, 96.3 EASY ROCK, MONSTER RADIO RX 93.1, DZMM, MYX, 702 DZAS, Carl E. Balita REVIEW CENTER, Cinema One, Lifestyle Network, MYLESWAYS BEAUTY SALON, CAMPSUKI COSTUMES, MJ Sudayan Photography, Celeste Legaspi and Girlie Rodis of ACTORS SUTDIO EAST PROD. , Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc.
foreground from right: Isay Alvarez (Katy), Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong), and Carlon Matobato (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tres Dahlias from left: Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester), Angelina Kanapi (Chabeng) and Mae Paner (Magdea). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Mario O’Hara was a creative force whose career spanned different fields as radio talent, to TV, film and theater. As writer he has been involved in some of the greatest Filipino films ever made “Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang”, “Insiang” both directed by Lino Brocka and “Condemned” by Jose Javier Reyes. Mario directed Nora Aunor in “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos” and most recently in TV5’s “Sa Ngalan Ng Ina.”
Tanghalang Pilipino will show O’Hara’s last written script for theater “STAGESHOW.” The prestigious production honoring the stars of yesteryears will open the 4th National Theater festival running from November 7-18, 2012. O’Hara passed away last June 26 at the age of 66.
Lou Veloso plays a corrupt ‘Meyor’ beside him is Rayna Reyes (Caridad). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
The 4th National Theater festival also features prodcutions from around the Phil. such as Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation Inc. from the province of Bulacan, Bohol Antequera and Maribojoc Cultural Collectives in cooperation with Teatro Bol-Anon from the province of Bohol, cultural activist Carlos Celdran, Dulaang UP of the University of the Philippines, Gantimpala Theater Foundation, Integrated Performing Arts Guild of Mindanano State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Mindanao State University Kabpapagariya Ensemble from General Santos City, Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), Sipat Lawin Ensemble, Tanghalang Ateneo of Ateneo de Manila University, Tanghalang Pilipino, The Xavier Stage of Cagayan de Oro and Trumpets Inc. There will also be special performances by Kanlaon Theater Guild of Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, SPIT (Silly People’s Improv Theater) and ventriloquists Ony Carcamo and Wanlu.
Malak So Shdifat (Top 8 Finalist of Artista Academy) was in the audience. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tanghalang Pilipino Artistic Director Nanding Josef shared the circumstances of how he got the script, “About 3 years ago, Mario gave me the script of STAGESHOW. I was surprised. Binigay niya sakin, sabi ko Ano to? He said ‘Basahin mo lang baka sakaling magawa’. But at that time we already had the line up for the CCP.”
Senakulo scene from left: Jarden De Guzman (Kristo/Pio) and Rayna Reyes (Magdalena/Caridad). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
This year was the perfect timing for in terms of theme. “I had it read by Chris Millado the director of STAGESHOW now and also our actor’s company. And Chris loved his comedy and found the play really touching. Pero hindi pa namin pwedeng isali. It was only last year that we decided to include it in our theater season na ang theme ay truth and consequence. Sabi ni Mario ‘bagay na bagay dahil naka base sa tunay na buhay itong mga characters’ na mapapanood niyo.”
Tres Dahlias from left: Angelina Kanapi (Chabeng), Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester) and Mae Paner (Magdea). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
A lot of the story is relatable even to performers of today, “So bigay na bigay sa ating craft pero di nakapaghanda sa future. Apektado ang love life ang pamilya etc. Mario captured that in this script. He said, ‘Gusto ko itong ma isulat bago ako mamatay.’ I never thought that he was sick at that time.”
from right: Rody Vera (Bentot), Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester) and Gilbert Onida (Pugo). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
He also enumerated the artists Mario and TP intended to honor with STAGESHOW, “Ito ay alay natin sa mga katulad ni Tito Dolphy, Pilita Corales, Tita Gloria Sevilla, Bayani Casimiro, Elizabeth Ramsey, Sylvia La Torre, Eddie San Jose, Lupito, Patsy, Pugo, Bentot, Tugak, Pugak, Apeng Daldal, Aruray, Eddie Mesa, Reycard Duet, Casmot, Balot at marami pang iba.”
National Artist for film Eddie Romero with wife Carol Gonzalez. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Josef also could not help but express a little bit of his envy and frustration over the popularity of another musical also in the same venue, “Dito po sana may dumating pang iba. Hirap na hirap po kaming magbenta kahit na ang ticket namin ay ka piranggot kung ikukumpara sa ticket ng Phantom of the Opera. Maganda naman po talaga yung palabas. Pero masasabi niyo pagkatapos ng show tignan ko lang kung di sabihin na ang gagaling ng artistang Pilipino.”
from left: TP Honoree Gloria Sevilla (Queen of Visayan Movies), TP Director Nanding Josef and Suzette Ranillo. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Profiles provided by Tanghalang Pilipino:
Gloria Sevilla
In the mid 60’s versatile actress and singer Gloria Sevilla aka Queen of Visayan movies became a lead star in Clover Theater’s ‘Musical Extravaganza.’ It was produced by Don Jose Zara who was the original Master Showman. Other stars included Bobby Gonzales, Tommy Angeles, Coca Apajar, Yolanda Guevarra, Ric Manrique and Fred Panopio. Sevilla was also tapped to perform at the Manila Grand Opera House.
from left: Pilita Corales and German Moreno attend a Stageshow performance, Tony Casimiro and Mae Paner. Photo from Mae Paner’s facebook page.
German Moreno born October 14, 1940
His parents are Jose Moreno and Aurora Molina. Graduating from the Balagtas Elementary School in Bulacan Moreno enrolled at various schools in Manila whie working to earn his keep. At 14, he was a janitor and errand boy to impresario Don Jose Zarah at the Clover Theater. There as telonero (crustain raiser), he experienced first hand the workings of the stage. He later became an assistant stage manager.
He later went on to pursue and acting career as a comedian of the bodabil stage and postwar movies. In the 1970’s he became the host of ‘GMA Supershow’ and the rest is history. He produced and hosted That’s Entertainment and currently Walang Tulugan Master Showman. Through the process he discovered many of the now popular stars in television and movie industry.
Crazy siblings Jonathan Tadioan (Jimboy) and Pamela Hundana (Dulce). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Pilita Corales born in Manila August 22, 1939
Pilita appeared in stageshows at the Manila Grand Opera House and sang profesionally in the Philippines and abroad. She has performed withinternationally known artists as the front act in the concerts of Sammy Davis Jr, in Las Vegas. She also fronted for the Beatles in at the Rizal Memorial stadium in 1966 and as a gues in live shows of Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews.
from left: Rayna Reyes (Caridad), Kiki Baento (Nikki), Hazel Maranan and Agnes Sarreal (Koro). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Elizabeth Ramsey (50 years in showbiz)
Born in San Carlos City, Negros Oriental. At age 16 she started singing with a band travelling from town to town in feistas throughout the island of Negros. She sang wit a 26 piece band, earning P3 or P4 a night.
Moving to Manila in 1958 she was in apopular TV show Student Center, after which she was offered a slot the Manila Grand Opera House. After a short stint she moved to Don Jose Zarah’s Clover Theater. Ramsey spent a glorious 7 years at the Clover as Queen of Rock and Roll.
She performed free of charge to the National Press Club and for the US veterans Office later for US Soldiers in American bases here in the Philippines and wounded American Veterans. She performed in Vegas and acts like Sammy Davis Jr. and Harry Belafonte. She also performed for Filipino communities while abroad.
Tap Dance Choreographer Tony Casimiro plays his dad Bayani. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Bayani Casimiro born in San Pablo Laguna July 16, 1918 a comedian of the Sarswela and the Komedya
At age 7 he entered show business as a clown and a comedian earning 50 centavos for his act. He loved to dance particularly tapdancing and won in na competition in Teatro Zorilla. In 1936 he visited Hawaii as part of the performing troupe headed by Sarswela queen Atang Dela Rama. He later became a part of Lou Salvador’s Stageshows. As a tap dancer he became known as the “Fred Astaire of the Philippines.”
Dolphy received his Lifetime Achievement trophy at the MMFF awards night December 28, 2009 SMX Convention center. Photo by Jude Thaddeus L. Bautista CLICK on PHoto for my story on ‘WE Love You DOLPHY’
DOLPHY born in Tondo Manila, July 25, 1928
Dolphy started as a young bodabil dancer and singer at the Orient theater during the Japanese occupation. In bodabil he parlayed his natural talent for for comedy into one of the most successful acts in Phil showbusiness. He was known as ‘Golay’, the dancing partner of Bayani Casimiro.
He started performing on stage during the Japanese occupation. He was turning 17 when he got a job as adancer for a month at the Avenue Theater and subsequently on Lyric Theater. He also appeared at the Prient Theater. During air raids, they would interrupt the show and run for the air raid shelter in the orchestra section together with the audience. If no bomb exploded the show resumed.
Rody Vera as Bobby Gonzales and Bentot in STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rody also wrote the play “Ibalong” which will be the production of Tanghalang Pilipino for Feb 8-24, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
STAGESHOW is Mario O’Hara’s last script for theater before he passed away. It is his tribute to idols on stage, the stars from his childhood and legendary Pinoy performers. Thank you Mario! STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Mario O’Hara April 20, 1946-June 26, 2012
Mario was born in Zamboanga City on April 20, 1946, His mother was Basilia Herrero who has Spanish lineage and hails from Ozamis Oriental. His father Jaime O’Hara was the son of Irish American Thomasite. Jaime himself was a member of the U.P. Dramatic Club.
The O’Hara’s moved to a middle class community in Pasay City; behind their house was a slum area and Mario claimed that some of his works were inspired by the real life incidents that happened in this area.
from left: Lou Veloso plays a priest at the Christening of Nonie Buencamino (Tirso) and Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino’s (Ester) son Lupito. STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP.
At age 17 he auditioned for a radio show sponsored by Procter and Gamble. He then decided to stop attending his classes as a Chemical Engineering student in Adamson University to concentrate on radio. He was able to get a job with the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) and DZRH.
Later on he joined PETA as a stage actor and worked with Lino Brocka as a writer.He wrote Brocka’s Tinimbang Ka Ngunit kulang about life in a small town. He also wrote a teleplay which became the basis for Brocka’s Insiang which is about a woman raped by her stepfather. He claimed it was inspired by a real story, which happened in the slums behind their backyard. Soon, Mario became known as a writer for his sense of realism and social messages.
Nonie Buencamino (Tirso) charms Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester). STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP.
Poor Men Who Are Great
From Left: Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and brother Keiji (Tomio Aoki) are the lead characters in ‘I was Born But’ considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza. Photo from http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/2694
Written by
Jude Bautista
“There are poor men who are great.” Kennosuke (Tatsuo Saito) a struggling father tries to justify himself to his young son Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) in vain. At first glance the line is an oxymoron. How can a poor man be great? How do you explain that to a child not more than 10 years old?
Tropical Depression: from right: Papa Dom (rhythm guitar) and Andrew Barrios (bass). Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
Film has the power to show the world from the point of view of a child. That is what director Yasujiro Ozu in his 1932, silent film “I Was Born But…” achieved. It was part of the Silent film festival in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza who screened them for free from August 24-27, 2012. Tropical Depression successfully provided the soundtrack and brought out the emotions and mood for the film.
Ozu also directed “Tokyo Story” in 1953, it is considered by critics and film historians around the world as among the greatest films of all time. National Artist for Film Eddie Romero was among those who attended the screening last August 25.
from left: Japan Foundation Dir. Shuji Takatori, National Artist for film Eddie Romero and Goethe Institut Philipinen Director Richard Kuenzel. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
There’s a universality in the ability of good films to move emotions and provoke thought even if it is in a foreign language or was made nearly a century before.
Ryoichi and his brother Keiji (Tomio Aoki) aren’t really poor. They go to a good school, their mother cooks them lovely Japanese meals. Their house is small but is more than adequate for the family. Their father is quite attentive to them making sure they go to school and have what they need.
Tropical Depression’s Papa Dom they provided the moving music for ‘I Was Born But’. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Taro, Kamekichi the bully and the ‘gang’ in ‘I was Born But’ considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza. Photo from http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/2694
A bully in school harasses the two boys. Ryoichi manages to convince a delivery boy to be his resbak (enforcer) and scares the bully away. The bully’s gang of kids also becomes scared of Ryoichi and he takes the bully’s place as leader. He learns to boss them around and enjoys it. One day he learns that one of his underlings (at least in his mind) named Taro was having a film screening at home. Ryoichi as the new gang leader wrangles an invite for himself and his little brother.
From right: Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and brother Keiji (Tomio Aoki) are the lead characters in ‘I was Born But’ considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza.
Before the evening screening, the kids try to one up each other by bragging about their fathers. “My dad has better car than yours…My father is tougher and stronger than yours” contest. By virtue of being the ‘leader’ Ryoichi naturally wins the argument.
When the screening comes along Ryoichi and his little brother enter the living room of Taro’s house, which is far bigger and impressive than their own. They see their dad Kennosuke is also there to watch the film. It was more of a home movie where the ‘performers’ were Kennosuke and other employees of Iwasaki (Takeshi Sakamoto) who just happens to be Taro’s dad.
Kennosuke makes a fool himself to make his co-workers laugh. ‘I was Born But’ is considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza.
In the home movie the brothers see their dad making a fool of himself and making co workers laugh. Ryoichi is disgusted with the film and walks out with little brother in tow. When they get home Ryoichi tells off his dad. He believed that his own father must be ‘superior’ to Taro’s father who is his underling. He asks his father: “Why do you have to follow Taro’s dad? Why aren’t you the director? Why don’t YOU pay his salary? You tell us to study hard but you are nothing!” That was when Kennosuke tried to explain things to his son: “There are poor men who are great.”
Kennosuke makes a fool himself to make his co-workers laugh. ‘I was Born But’ is considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza.
Tropical Depression and Japan Foundation Seated from left: Tomoko Takatori, Papa Dom and Japan Foundation Dir Shuji Takatori. Standing from left: Art Strong (keyboard), Japan Foundation Asst Dir Yukie Mitomi, Andrew Barrios (Bass), Jun Nogoy (drums), Lito Crisostimo (lead guitar) and Japan Foundation Proj. Coordinator Rolando Samson. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
Earlier interpretations of the film is that the child’s point of view reveals the hypocrisy of grown ups of having a double standard, which are not any less valid. But from the Philippine perspective in light of recent events, I’d like to take a different interpretation.
I’d like to believe the father is correct. There ARE poor men who are great. ‘Poor’ in this sense is not just financial but men who sacrifice and humble themselves that in truth are truly great. The loss of DILG Sec Jesse Robredo is only the most dramatic and recent example for this year who died in a plane crash this August. Last March it was the passing of PDI Publisher Isagani Yambot and in June filmmaker, screenwriter and actor Mario O’Hara and comedic icon Dolphy in July. Yambot and O’Hara are both personal heroes of mine. Now Robredo is also one of my heroes with the stories of sacrifice and humility that have surfaced after his untimely death in a plane crash.
DILG Sec Jess Robredo (center) did his devotion to Naga’s Lady of Peñafrancia lovingly called INA or mother with his bare feet. Photo from http://www.facebook.com/TeamRobredo
For Ryoichi, because of his young mind and conflict with the bullies, might is right. If you cannot make other people submit to your will then you’re nothing. He couldn’t even accept his father was an employee most especially of Taro’s father. And if you’re top dog you have to show your power, your wealth and let them know who’s boss. That’s what frustrated Ryoichi and ate him up inside.
Taro and the gang laugh at Kennosuke’s antics
Jesse Robredo, Isagani Yambot, Mario O’Hara and even Dolphy were the reverse of the might is right ideal. All four men have recently passed away this year. And all four men have reached positions of power, if not reached the pinnacle in their own fields. Yet instead of imposing their own will, they made sure to serve and help others with the power and influence they gained.
From left: Richard Merk, Skarlet, Kathy Solis of ABS CBN,Emmie Velarde, Isagani Yambot of PDI & Boots Anson Roa. Photo taken at Merck’s August 22, 2007 by Jude Bautista
Phil Daily Inquirer (PDI ) Publisher Isagani Yambot throughout his life supported countless causes from the urban poor, to feminist rights; human rights victims and so on. But what I personally witnessed was his strong devotion to Phil independent cinema. He religiously attended Cinemalaya, Cinemanila and other film fests that feature Filipino talent. He even made sure to invite screenings of the films of Brillante Mendoza, Aureus Solito and others in the PDI office. Yambot even encouraged the Entertainment section to put up the PDI Indie tribute the only award of its kind. In international fests I literally had to pull him in group shots with VIPs, he was reluctant to do so not wanting the limelight for himself.
From right: CCP President Raul Suñico, PDI Publisher Isagani Yambot, Guest Ballet Master from Russia Ai Gul Gaisina, Ballet Phil Chairman Margie Moran and Cinemalaya President Nestor Jardin. Photo taken last January 2011 by Jude Bautista
Mario O’Hara is a modern Renaissance man, starting out as a radio talent and excelling as writer, actor and later on as director. For those familiar with his works he is already a National Artist. His screenplay for ‘Insiang’ a film by Lino Brocka is considered to be among the best Filipino films ever made. He has worked with two National Artists Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. In person, he was also extremely humble preferring casual conversation to press interviews and wanting to emphasize his co actors.
Mario O’Hara in Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Tatlong Maria”. He has had a storied career as writer, director and actor. Photo was taken during the opening night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, February 18, 2010. Photo by Jude Bautista
He also had a genuine love for Phil History and culture as evidenced by his Cinemalaya film “Ang Paglilitis Ni Andres Bonifacio” and innumerable performances as an actor in Tanghalang Pilipino. Andres Bonifacio is one of the revolutionary heroes of the Phil known as ‘The Great Plebian’, having come from the masses. Bonifacio is one of the original Filipinos considered to be among the ‘poor men who are great.’
The late Comedy King Dolphy with Zsa Zsa Padilla. Zsa zsa recently had a successful operation removing a tumor from her kidney. Photo was taken during the Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah premiere last December 2006 at the MMFF. Photo by Jude Bautista
Dolphy although not financially poor, was generous and kind to those in need and was also a picture of humility. He has reached the pinnacle of Philippine TV and film as comedy King with countless top rating shows and blockbusters. Yet he never forgot his humble beginnings. The filmmaker’s choice of having a screening and Kennosuke ‘humiliating’ himself by amusing others through a home movie was a source of embarrassment for Ryoichi. Now we love Dolphy for making millions of Filipinos happy with his innumerable comedic performances.
DILG Sec Robredo was a man of integrity. In spite of being the youngest Naga Mayor and gaining a high position in government as cabinet Secretary, he purposefully did not enrich himself. He believed and instigated programs to help and empower the marginalized. The question in everyone’s minds is ‘How can God allow the loss of such a good man especially when his country needs him?’
Tropical Depression provided the moving music for ‘I Was Born But’. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
The answer is we Filipinos have become like Ryoichi. Our minds have been blinded only by what we see. Wealth, power and fame have become virtues in this material world. When the Lord took Yambot we did not listen. When the Lord took O’Hara suddenly still we did not listen or truly give honor to his deeds. We were saddened by Dolphy’s passing but still did not heed the example in his life. Now that he has taken Robredo, we reflect, we rethink our own values not just for government but for all of us. Now we have to listen to Robredo’s words and make sure to continue his programs. Yes Ryoichi, there are poor men who are great.
DILG Sec Jess Robredo (left- black shirt) did his devotion to Naga’s Lady of Peñafrancia lovingly called INA or mother with his bare feet. Photo from http://www.facebook.com/TeamRobredo
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Who were the first team to beat Manchester City in a Premeirship league match in the present season? | Dolphy | Jude Bautista Gallery
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Stars literally shone on stage, the background appeared like the night sky with bright twinkling specs. The image rivaled any night sky in the remotest regions of the world. An audible gasp was collectively heard from the audience even before Monica Cuenco sang a note. The largest LED screen in Asia has awed everyone from other RWM shows like KING & I and PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT. Due to insistent public demand BITUING WALANG NINGNING (BWN) at Resort’s World Manila will have another run from October 8, 2015 through to January of 2016.
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
By the time curtains rose for BITUING… they managed to make the biggest become even wider and bigger. Even the peripheral areas of the stage on the sides and top are covered in LED panels. From the audience seats you’re almost enveloped by a twinkling and convincing night sky with deep dark purples transitioning from black with varied specks of white and yellow. It’s a wonderful visual metaphor for a star rising in the music and entertainment business as Monica Cuenco sings Filipino classics composed by Willy Cruz.
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
LED Video Producer Carlos Manere by now is a veteran of RWM hits KING & I and PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT. A graduate of the Multimedia Arts program from the College of St Benilde, Manere incorporated different skills from visual effects, 3D animation, 3D modeling, compositing and video editing. He has also done LED work for Star Cruises STONE OF ATLANTIS, NOLI ME TANGERE: THE OPERA and many more.
Antoinette Tauz (Lavinia Arguelles) & Epy Quizon (Auntie). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Resort’s World Manila site: http://www.rwmanila.com/web/bituing-walang-ningning/#
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Apart from setting the mood and establishing locations, which are all important functions for the screen, it adds another purpose that I did not see before in previous productions. This time the LED screen is actually used to push the story forward. This was when newspaper headlines were splashed on screen, especially on the fringes. Sometimes videos of backstage conversations are included. From the literal stars on the night sky we should move on to the stars in the cast:
Peripheral LED panels are used to add information that pushes story forward. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
MONICA CUENCO
Monica Cuenco has captured the innocence and humble roots of her role Dorina Pineda. In some ways Monica’s anonymity enhances her believability. We all know Sharon Cuneta as the daughter of the Pasay Mayor Pablo Cuneta and her showbiz lineage with mother Elaine Gamboa. For anyone taking on such an iconic role that has had a long memory and mass appeal is a tall order. But Cuenco has done quite well and has even proven her superior vocal abilities. Nothing is left to chance, Philpop Grand Prize winner Yumi Lacsamana has been tapped as voice coach for Monica.
(left photo) Monica Cuenco with Epy Quizon and (right photo) Monica with 2015 Philpop Winner Yumi Lacsamana who trained her vocally. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Official Monica Cuenco fb fan page https://www.facebook.com/Monica-Cuenco-161006650605905/timeline/
Menchu Lauchengco Yulo plays Eeeeeedith the big haired, overbearing, loud, annoying, gossip columnist. Menchu admitted that yes ‘I annoy even myself’. Menchu is also RWM’s Creative director and is a long time acting coach. She said, “Monica is more confident she’s more grounded. She’s more secure with herself so it will be a better Dorina overall.”
from left: Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles) & Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris Villonco is in the role of antagonist Lavinia Arguelles. In real life she’s supportive of her co-star, “Monica is such a hard worker; she strives to work even harder every single time. She improves every single time. Come on she’s only twenty! So I think her star is on the rise. She gets better as the show progresses as well.”
Epy Quizon played Apolinario Mabini in HENERAL LUNA, the official Phil entry to the Oscars. Photo from official HENERAL LUNA fb https://www.facebook.com/Heneral.Luna
EPY QUIZON
Epy has just come from the critically acclaimed film and now the surprise box office hit HENERAL LUNA. Epi played the intellectual Apolinario Mabini known as the ‘Sublime Paralytic’. His casting in the gay role Auntie for BWN has a lot of fans and critics excited. He alternates this role with the great comedian and singer Jon Santos. While Epi has had more film and TV roles, not a lot of people are aware that he also has impressive theater and musical experience. Epi actually played Ompong a role based on his father Dolphy’s original character in the prewar era. KATY was written and directed by Nestor U. Torre who is also a columnist for Phil Daily Inquirer.
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical was held at the CCP and MERALCO Theater in 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Michael Stuart Williams is in the role of sleazy record producer Larry in BWN. Williams is also co Creative Director for RWM. He said, “Epi is doing the role of Auntie at some performances – the role was originally played by Jon Santos. He is a very good actor, very hard working. He is a pleasure to work with.”
from left: Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar), Menchu Lauchengco Yulo (Edith) and Michael Stuart Williams (Larry). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
CRIS VILLONCO
Everybody who has seen her on stage and onscreen can’t help but love Cris Villonco. Her numerous theater roles has led her to found RED TURNIP with pals Topper Fabregas and Bart Guingona. On screen she was cast in her family’s semi-biography HARI NG TONDO. The Cinemalaya film was directed by Carlitos Siguion Reyna and was loosely based on their patriarch’s return to his old district of Tondo.
Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar) & Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris’ as Lavinia for BWN gives her a meatier role made famous by Cherie Gil. She relishes playing the scheming, woman everyone loves to hate, “I love it people always think I’m a goody two shoes. I’m the nice person. I’m really not. My brain goes on and on, I have a lot of thoughts in my head I can’t really say. You have to have a certain kind of persona in public. I’m a meanie so it’s nice to let it out once in a while. Once in a while lang.”
Antoinette Tauz (Lavinia Arguelles) & Ronnie Liang (Garrie Diaz). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Resort’s World Manila site: http://www.rwmanila.com/web/bituing-walang-ningning/#
Antoinette Tauz alternates Lavinia with Cris, she goes on, “It’s nice because I was basically in the same batch as Antoinette when I was starting out in show business. We know what its like, we know the competition. I’m pretty sure she’s gonna do well.”
from left: Antoinette Tauz (Lavinia Arguelles) & Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo from Official Monica Cuenco fb fan page https://www.facebook.com/Monica-Cuenco-161006650605905/timeline/
Menchu describes Antoinette, “Tonette is very different her attack is different. She plays her a little bit more desperate, which works because there’s this idea that there’s someone better than her. It’s a natural reaction. Its very different, I have yet to see a full run (with changes). We’ve done scenes so I haven’t seen the totality. But that’s what comes across and wow that works. Then you really see the reason of being so nasty. She’s losing it.”
Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
MARK BAUTISTA
One of Mark Bautista’s most prominent stage roles is portraying Ferdinand Marcos in the West End production of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s HERE LIES LOVE . Even before that he was already one of the admired young vocalists of the country. Mark’s role here is very easy for him to portray being a singer songwriter himself. Nico Escobar is the top hit maker with the biggest star, Lavinia in love with him. Nico meets Dorina and discovers a hidden gem. Bautista shows that he has honed his acting skills to accompany his renowned vocals. He is in need of it as he shares the scenes with Villonco who can easily dominate the stage with her performance.
from left: Ronnie Liang (Garrie Diaz) and Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Ensemble from left: Ana Victoria Andres, Karina Almario, Jalynna Magadia and David Shawn Delgado, Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar) & Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Jon Santos (Auntie) & Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Markki Stroemm, Vince De Jesus, Menchu Lauchengco Yulo, May Bayot & Sweet Plantado. Photo was taken during TRIPLE THREATS series of Vincent De Jesus’ DEMENTED, DELIGHTFUL, DERANGED DEJESUS last September 24, 2015 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tourists can still understand Filipino dialogue through English subtitles on LED screens on left and right side of stage. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Ultimate Productions Media Affairs Cherry Bong Edralin and Dennis Villaluz. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Ronnie Liang (Garrie Diaz) and Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Cynthia Guico, Cris Villonco, Vincent De Jesus, Lionel Guico & Giannina Ocampo. Photo was taken during TRIPLE THREATS series of Vincent De Jesus’ DEMENTED, DELIGHTFUL, DERANGED DEJESUS last September 24, 2015 at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cris Villonco (Lavinia Arguelles) & John Nite (German Moreno). BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Jon Santos (Auntie) kicks up a storm. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Mark Bautista (Nico Escobar); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
The largest LED screen in Asia has gotten even bigger with additional peripheral panels. BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Monica Cuenco (Dorina Pineda); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
Jay Roa (Zosimo Blanco); BITUING WALANG NINGNING is running at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila from October 8, 2015 to January 2016. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Bernardo Commandeers HARING LEAR
from left: Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear) & Garry Lim (Gloster). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Haring Lear (Bernardo Bernardo): Wala na bang nakakakilala dito kay Lear? Aba hindi na ba, hindi na ba ito si Haring Lear? Ito ang kanyang mga mata, ang pagsalita ko, ganito ba, ganito ba kung lumakad siya? Malabnaw na ang kanyang pagwari. O mahina na ang kanyang pag iisip? Tulog ba siya o gising? Ang mabigat na katanungan ay kung sino siya! Gusto ko malaman sino makapagsasabi kung sino ako?
from left: Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear) shoves McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rather unexpectedly, especially in the beginning where Lear divides up his kingdom to his heirs, Bernardo has a booming voice befitting a king. He laughs heartily of man contented, in power relinquishing his authority to his children. Bernardo takes control of a role that also fits his stature, now at 70. His acting is not any less powerful than it was, perhaps even more so now than ever before.
CURTAIN CALL from left: McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia), Jason Barcial (Duke ng Burgonia), Buddy Caramat (Goneril), Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Abner Delina Jr (Cordelia/Lakayo), Renante Bustamante (Duke ng Albanya), Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), George de Jesus III (Regan), and Lambert de Jesus (Kent). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
The physicality of it all though makes one cringe. While there are no spectacular dance moves, there is the ‘wet’ scene where a tempest nearly drowns everyone in its path. AND it really does get wet on stage most especially for Haring Lear. Being in focus delivering lines, in the throes of madness and despair while water is endlessly splashing on your face is no mean feat. He more than delivers, his performance takes you to a dark place you wish you’d never have to visit.
Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
This is the acting we know from Bernardo Bernardo who was part of Ishmael Bernal’s City After Dark. Although the majority of Filipinos have come to know him as Steve Carpio in HOME ALONG DA RILES with Comedy King the late Dolphy. Recently Bernardo was also in the Cinemalaya film RONDA starring Ai Ai Delas Alas.
Bernardo is a true performer. He had an allergic reaction to the wrong make up applied on opening night to the point of being hospitalized. In spite of this he was able to get back on stage the next night.
from right: PETA Playwright & Poet Anj Heruela, Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Kakki Teodoro , Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo) & fan. Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
This particular play adapted by National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera had lead Teroy Guzman in PETA’s previous run last 2012. Even then it was well received by critics. So Bernardo being able to put his own stamp on it is even more remarkable.
Garry Lim (Gloster); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Another veteran actor is Garry Lim as Gloster, the ever-faithful nobleman of Haring Lear. Garry Lim was also part of the previous cast as Regan. Lim is the most tortured in a tragic cast of characters. Lim is able to give this role a sense of patience and fortitude in the face of the most difficult circumstances. Filipino words and lines roll off his tongue eloquently. Lim has also had a great number of Cinemalaya films- APARISYON, REQUIEME and AMOK roles on TV and commercial projects as well: MY LITTLE BOSSINGS, SI AGIMAT SI ENTENG KABISOTE AT SI AKO.
Buddy Caramat (Goneril); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
The sisters and heirs to Lear are the ones that give the color of blood in this grey end of the world scenario. Buddy Camarat is Goneril the eldest strung out in heroin. She is the most whimsical of the cast having a singsong delivery to her lines. Buddy inhabits this female role quite easily, just like her onstage sister George De Jesus III who plays Regan. Both of them have come back to reprise their previous roles. While Buddy’s attack is more sensual and avaricious, George has that female touch of violence. These two ‘evil’ sisters aren’t antagonistic per se; they only hatch their treachery in order to extend control and power. In that sense we meet people like Goneril and Regan every day.
from left: Buddy Caramat (Goneril), George De Jesus III (Regan) and Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
George De Jesus III (Regan); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Abner Delina Jr who has also repeated his role from 2012 plays the youngest sister Cordelia. Here she is more a victim among the viciousness of her sisters. The more interesting side role for Abner is Lakayo, the court jester. For this version of HARING LEAR there is this puppet that has a demented look. Abner switches from using his own face, which has in turn a mask behind his head. There’s a real schizoid quality in Lakayo alone switching from the puppet to his ‘real’ face.
Abner Delina Jr. as jester Lakayo; Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Nico Dans (Edgardo) & Garry Lim (Gloster). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Edgardo played by the hefty Nico Dans must have been very challenging to play as his character goes through insanity and back again. His is certainly the most physical. In one scene he literally falls off stage simulating a fall off a hill. Audiences could hear a solid thud from his wide body’s landing.
Roi Calilong is the servant Oswaldo but his non-speaking role as Death is even more interesting. In this post apocalyptic world, Death is only wearing speedos underneath a black cape and gyrates like Channing Tatum in MAGIC MIKE.
Roi Calilong (Death); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo) shoots heroin into Buddy Caramat (Goneril’s) arm. Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rhenwyn Gabalonzo as Edmundo is the most scheming and treacherous character here. Jess Evardone a veteran of independent films has even more multiple roles here as Tagapaglingkod, Matandang lalaki, Duktor ni Cordelia and Eraldo. Evardone is able to inhabit each role with sincerity and believability as he has done countless times before.
Jess Evardone (Matandang Lalaki/Duktor); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Every single actor and cast member has done a fantastic job, a true ensemble piece: Lambert De Jesus (Kent), Roi Calilong (Oswaldo), Renante Bustamante (Duke Ng Albanya), Jason Barcial (Duke Ng Burgonia), Jeff Hernandez (Duke Ng Cornualles) and McDonnel Bolaños (Hari Ng Francia). Inevitably we come back to the leader, Bernardo Bernardo, commandeering the powerful but heartrending figure of Lear as his own.
CURTAIN CALL from left: Garry Lim (Gloster), Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo), McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia), Jason Barcial (Duke ng Burgonia), Buddy Caramat (Goneril), Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Abner Delina Jr (Cordelia/Lakayo), Renante Bustamante (Duke ng albanya), Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), George de Jesus III (Regan), Lambert de Jesus (Kent) and Jess Evardone (Matandang Lalaki/Duktor). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
from right: Bernardo Bernardo (Haring Lear), Abner Delina Jr. (Cordelia) & Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Renante Bustamante (Duke ng Albanya) & George De Jesus III (Regan) in wheelchair while Nico Dans (Death) looks over her. Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Jeff Hernandez (Duke ng Cornualles), George De Jesus III (Regan), Garry Lim (Gloster). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Abner Delina Jr. (Cordelia); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Garry Lim (Gloster) & Nico Dans (Edgardo). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: McDonnel Bolanos (Hari ng Francia) & Abner Delina Jr. (Cordelia). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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from left: Lambert de Jesus (Kent) & Nico Dans (Edgardo); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
Garry Lim (Gloster); Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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top Buddy Caramat (Goneril) & bottom Rhenwyn Gabalonzo (Edmundo). Studio Connection’s HARING LEAR can be seen at the CSB SDA Theater from February 27 to March 8, 2015. HARING LEAR is also part of the FRINGE MANILA Multi arts festival. Photo by Jude Bautista
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The Railway Man and the Philippine Experience
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) & Nicole Kidman (Pattie), their love motivates him to deal with post war trauma experienced in WWII. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Written by
Jude Bautista
“My husband isn’t coping. War leaves a mark. He’s a wonderful man. I want him back,” said Pattie (Nicole Kidman). She was describing the mental state of Eric (Colin Firth) after he tried to stab a debt collector in his home. It was a whirlwind romance for Pattie and Eric. She fell for his passion for trains, which they both shared. After the wedding, it didn’t take long for her to realize something was terribly wrong.
Jeremy Irvine (Young Eric Lomax) was a radio operator in the British forces. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The story is based on an autobiography of the same title written by Eric Lomax as part of the British Regiment in Singapore. When the Japanese captured the Commonwealth territory in 1942, Lomax and other engineers were brought north. They were forced to help plan the very ambitious Siam-Burma railway the Japanese had intended to construct connecting Southeast Asia to China.
from left: RWM Sponsorship Officer Maribelle Aure, RWM Dir Sponsorships & Partnerships Anna Chua, RWM Mgr Sponsorships & Partnerships Brian Villanueva and RWM F&B Mgr Arman Dela Paz. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
Starting September 24, 2014 the historical epic THE RAILWAY MAN is exclusively shown in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall. Lead stars include Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman Stellan Skarsgaard, Jeremy Irvine and Hiroyuki Sanada.
Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Slave labor was used to build the Siam Burma Railroad. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The reason the scale of the Siam-Burma railroad had never been done before was the incredible logistical challenges. “An army of slaves” was necessary to complete the monumental task, cutting through mountains and difficult terrains through jungle and swamp. The Japanese had to be brutal and cruel beyond belief to complete the task. This was the reality faced by a young Eric Lomax and his comrades.
Nicole Kidman (Pattie). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The film jumps from the early 1980’s when Pattie and Eric met and fell in love to his memories of the war. Eric Lomax was also made consultant to the film but passed away before it was completed. The film is a touching example of how forgiveness and reconciliation is possible in spite of the terrible atrocities of war. Nicole Kidman as Pattie is the one person who inspired Eric in dealing with his demons.
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) & Nicole Kidman (Pattie), their love motivates him to deal with post war trauma experienced in WWII. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
from left: Stellan Skarsgaard (Finlay) & Colin Firth (Eric Lomax). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Stellan Skarsgaard is the older Finlay who enlightens Pattie of Eric’s condition. They were in the same unit together and he personally witnessed the ingenuity and courage that Eric displayed during those horrific times. Young Eric Lomax is played by Jeremy Irvine who became known for playing Albert Naracott in WAR HORSE directed by Steven Spielberg. He can also be seen in thriller THE REACH with Michael Douglas. In 2015 Irvine is in THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT a civil war piece with Noah Wiley and Haley Joel Osment.
Jeremy Irvine (Young Finlay). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) relives his incarceration. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY / SUNDALONG KANIN
Throughout RAILWAY MAN, Finlay was talking about an unspeakable torture that Eric had gone through alone apart from the unit. This became a central element that kept on repeating itself. Naturally as the film progresses there was a deliberate plan to keep this secret until the denouement or even the climax to heighten the suspense.
Eric Quizon played the young Markova.
Here in the Philippines as viewers there were a number of tortures or even atrocities that were going through our mind. Our history is similar in a sense where, our country was also invaded and ruled over by the Japanese forces during World War II.
Dolphy was both lead actor and producer in MARKOVA COMFORT GAY.
DOLPHY made of chocolate prepared by Marriot Chocolatier Chef Christopher Balane. RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
One of the landmark films about atrocities committed during that era was MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY (2000). It starred the most known and critically acclaimed Filipino actor comedian: Dolphy. His real life sons Epi and Eric Quizon played younger versions of his character. It was also similarly based on a real person; Walter Dempster Jr. aka Walterina Markova. Senator Loren Legarda played herself as a reporter interviewing Markova. The film is about a group of homosexual performers being used as ‘comfort gays’. Where Japanese soldiers would line up to rape them, which lasted for several years. It was a landmark film in a sense that it dealt with the issue of comfort women, which really happened at the time, and the fact it was gay men who were also being raped. Most recently the theme of comfort women was again dealt with in the Cinemalaya film SUNDALONG KANIN (2014).
Eric Quizon played the young Markova.
Unspeakable Atrocity
SO in our minds we were gearing up for the possibility that it was THIS unspeakable atrocity that Eric Lomax endured, in the case of RAILWAY MAN. Especially since he specifically could not talk about the torture with his wife. Needless to say, it was another kind of torture that viewers would have to discover through the course of the film.
Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
The theme of a homosexual abuse/rape however neatly fit every piece of the puzzle. You wouldn’t expect Eric Lomax to openly discuss it given his extremely conservative Scottish upbringing. There was also a special relationship that developed between Eric and Kempetai agent Takashi Nagase played by Japanese star Hiroyuki Sanada. SO that would have added another dimension TO that relationship. Sometimes what is NOT explicitly said in a book or film becomes more interesting food for thought.
from left: Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) & Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase) THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
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HOLA! Editor in Chief Jose Mari Ugarte. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Hiroyuki Sanada (Takeshi Nagase) and Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
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Colin Firth (Eric Lomax). THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
PBA Courtside Reporter Rizza Diaz and long time boy friend Rex Bacud. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
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RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
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DOLPHY made of chocolate prepared by Marriot Chocolatier Chef Christopher Balane. RWM Chocolate fest will run from September 15-30, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
Colin Firth (Eric Lomax) on Bridge in Burma. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014.
Morgan Say & Janeena Chan. THE RAILWAY MAN can be seen in Megaworld Lifestyle Malls such as Resort’s World Manila, Eastwood Malls, and Lucky Chinatown Mall starting September 24, 2014. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Isay Alvarez -Katy (center), Tirso Cruz III- Tatay (right), and Aicelle Santos -Young Katy (left). They were given a standing ovation during curtain call. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
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Tatay (Tirso Cruz III): Aasa ka sa mga sinsilyong pinupukol ng mga manonood? E ikaw nga’y pinagkait ng Diyos ng na tatanging kagandahan! Pagkatapos kung kumilos ka masahol ka pa sa mga lalakeng kalaro mo sa labas? Sa araw araw na ginawa ka ng Diyos gumugulpi ka ng kalaro? Pagkatapos aasa kang kikita ka ng pera sa palakpak ng tao? Batang Katy (Yedda Lambujon): Di naman na dadaan sa ganda yan e. Ang panggulat ko ay ang aking (screams) boooseees!
Yedda Lambujon (Batang Katy) lifted up by fans and finds her calling. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Calling Katy precocious as an 8 year old is an understatement. If she were born these days she’d be diagnosed as a hyperactive kid. Instead she became known as the kid with a powerful voice and moxy, lots of moxy. Even at a very young age, Katy Dela Cruz knew she was destined to perform. KATY the Musical is the portrayal of her colorful, tragic and lyrical life. The era is from the heyday of bodabil, jazz, swing and bebop. The passion for music is what shines through in KATY that entices us to look and never forget. It runs from January 17-27, 2013 at the CCP.
from right: Isay Alvarez (Katy), Aicelle Santos (Young Katy), Gian Magdangal (Peping) and Dulce (Olivia). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Isay Alvarez (KATY) gives a stirring vocal performance. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Everyone who has seen it has universally praised Isay Alvarez in the lead role. Even those who caught the original version of the production have given Isay the thumbs up. Cinemalaya Competition Head Laurice Guillen said, “The cast did really great especially Isay. I know Mitch (Valdes) is really a great performer. Pero yung work ni Isay rito may pain, feel na feel ko siya. Mitch is known as full of humor and lightness.”
Isay Alvarez (Katy) had strenuous dance sequences apart from the vocals. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Aicelle Santos (Young Katy) and Gian Magdangal (Peping) fall in love. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Mitch Valdes was in the title role in the original 1987 production of KATY. Director Nestor U. Torre is back to for this version as well. The music by Ryan Cayabyab and Librettist Jose Javier Reyes brings out the best in the cast today as it did then. There’s the vocals of Gian Magdangal. Epy Quizon exhibited dancing skills playing the role of his real life father Dolphy. Aicelle Santos was dazzling as the young Katy on the cusp of stardom.
Dulce as Olivia (center) is comforted by performers seated from right: Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San), Isay Alvarez (Katy) and Sheenly Gener (Ensemble) standing from left: Astarte Abraham (Ensemble), Aaron Ching (Ensemble), Epy Quizon (Dolphy), Sheng Belmonte (Ensemble), Andy Bais (Gay Principal), CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter) and Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Among recent productions KATY has a strong parallelism with STAGESHOW written by Mario O’Hara who passed away last year. KATY however, predates STAGESHOW by 2 decades or so. Both musicals honor the forgotten stars of the Philippine theater.
Gimbey Dela Cruz (Ensemble) tries to placate Poppert Bernadas (Japanese General). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY composer Ryan Cayabyab with wife Emmy (left) and Sheng Belmonte (Sexy Mananayaw). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY’s advantage is Ryan Cayabyab’s music. STAGESHOW has the playful humor of Mario O’Hara. Although Joey Reyes dialogue also delivers laughs, O’Hara’s comedic wit is still funnier. It was O’Hara’s intention to make tragedy funny where, humor is just alternated from the heavy dramatic scenes in KATY. STAGESHOW will once again have a run on August in CCP.
Isay Alvarez (KATY) and Lou Veloso (Direktor). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Dulce is the diva Olivia and Aicelle Santos as the Young Katy. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Cayabyab’s music necessitated powerful vocals which Isay Alvarez (Senior KATY) and Aicelle Santos (Teen Katy) very capably delivered. The most poignant vocal performance and music was the duet of Aicelle and Dulce who was in the role of Olivia the Diva. The song is MINSAN ANG MINAHAL AY AKO, which expresses the pain of losing the adulation of an audience by a fading star.
from left: Andy Bais (Gay Principal), China Cojuangco (Ensemble), Aaron Ching (Ensemble), Epy Quizon (Dolphy) and Neomi Gonzales (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tirso Cruz III (Tatay ni Katy) has always been there for daughter Isay Alvarez (Katy). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Apart from the title role of Katy Dela Cruz the musical is a very intriguing look at some characters who are based on real life people. Most audiences today remember Mary Walter (CJ Mangahis) in a lot of grandmother roles, with her shock of white hair and raspy voice. She’s had countless film roles from horror to dramas and was a lifetime achievement awardee from both the FAMAS and the Urian. KATY reveals a young sexy starlet version of Mary. For most of us it’s hard to imagine Mary Walter in floozy roles and a sexy Hawaiian dancer in grass skirt.
from left: Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay), Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San) and CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY turns back the clock to when they were all young. While, Gloria Romero turns into Heart Evangelista to seduce Geoff Eigenman in Forever by GMA 7, KATY takes audience through one person’s life. Making them the time traveller.
Not a lot of people may be aware that Mary Walter, Mitch Valdes and KATY lyricist Joey Reyes were connected even before the musical. Considered as one of the best Filipino films of all time the Cinema One film fest recently screened the digitally restored version of ORO PLATA MATA by Peque Gallaga.
Lou Veloso is the pushy Director. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
It was released in 1976 and even then Mary Walter already had her shock of white hair as the aging yaya of a nubile, barely out of her adolescence Cherie Gil. Incidentally, 1987 KATY lead star Mitch Valdes also figured prominently in ORO as the liberated doctor who came back from America. Before the screening, it was revealed by direk Peque that it was screenwriter Jose Javier Reyes who coined the name of the film.
Sheenly Gener (Ensmble) tries to placate Poppert Bernadas (Japanese General). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
The three friends of KATY apart from Mary were rounded out by Tricia Amper Jimenez as Hannah San and Celine Fabie as Patsy Patochay. Their performances were key as they had a lot of scenes with both male and female leads. Their number with Gian Magdangal was also memorable with the trio of Mary, Patsy and Hanna tries to seduce the dashing Peping with a sexy but playful song and dance.
Gian Magdangal (Peping) is a ladies man with from left: Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San), Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay) and CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Dulce (Olivia) and JV Castillo (American Officer). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Strong credit must be given to musical director Mel Villena and the Asosasyon Ng Pilipinong Musikero (AMP). They executed the music composed by Cayabyab not just with perfection but more of the enthusiasm and emotion that the story required.
KATY Producer Robert Seña acknowledged Fanny Serrano who designed the costumes as well as the hair and make up for the whole show. Katy Dela Cruz’ passion and love for music is evident not just in the performance but also in the artistry and generosity of everyone involved in the restaging of KATY the Musical.
Isay Alvarez (Katy) with Nomherlito Cipriano (Jungle boy). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
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Tirso Cruz III (Tatay ni Katy) is also a barber cutting Andy Bais’ (Principal) hair while talking to Sheenly Gener (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
from right: Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong), Isay Alvarez (Katy), Mona Lisa and Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Katy (Isay Alvarez) goes back to the theater shocked by the news that she and the older cast had been replaced by the director (Lou Veloso). They look for their cast mate Dolphy (Epy Quizon) to find out his reaction. Direktor replies “Nandun na naman si Dolphy tinutulungan ang mga mananayaw na may pakpak magbihis.” ( Dolphy’s in there helping the dancers with wings change) The sexy Sheng Belmonte comes out scantily clad with feathers barely covering her private parts. Dolphy follows immediately behind her ogling the most beautiful parts of the ‘costume.’
Isay Alvarez (KATY) gives a stirring vocal performance. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Epy Quizon receives any comparison to his late father with a lot of humility and reluctance. Dolphy after all is considered as the greatest Filipino Comedian. No other actor in KATY the Musical, however, can claim to look like the role they play more than Epy Quizon. KATY runs from January 17-27, 2013 at the CCP. Watching Epy’s facial expressions and mannerisms on stage is almost like seeing Dolphy himself. He’s had a lot of practice as he has done a lot of TV and film projects where he shared scenes and even played the younger version of his famous father. “Pidol’s Wonderland” from TV5 allowed Dolphy to work not just with Eric and Epy but also Vandolph.
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
MARKOVA: COMFORT GAY was directed by Gil Portes and written by Doy Del Mundo. Dolphy was in the title role of Walterina Markova who was a ‘comfort gay’ during World War II. Two of his sons Eric and Epy played Markova in different ages. Portes related in news reports that the three of them made cinematic history because of a rare feat that had never been done before. The trio was given both Best Actor and Best Actress awards at the Brussels International Film Festival in 2001. The award was in recognition of their performance both as actors and actresses. Locally, FAMAS and the Urian singled out Epy’s performance by giving him the Best Supporting actor award.
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
MARKOVA was the last film where Dolphy had a gay role. As a comedian it was one of his oft-repeated characters. In KATY we see him more as a Ladies Man, which Dolphy was in real life and makes one realize how good an actor he was by being so convincing as a homosexual. Epy knew his dad differently than the leering character he played on KATY, “People knew my father was a gentleman. Nilagyan natin ng flavor na medyo may pagka sexy. Kinuha yung pagka naughty nung dad ko. He was always a gentleman.”
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Isay Alvarez (Katy) had strenuous dance sequences apart from the vocals. KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Epy’s work in KATY is definitely worthy of award considerations. It was with great difficulty that he looked at the many dance sequences for the musical. Apart from the very sexy dance sequence with Sheng Belmonte, Epy, Aaron Ching, the whole ensemble also had a very elaborate tap dance sequence with lead star Isay Alvarez. It was very huge shoes to fill since Dolphy was known for his tap dancing with Bayani Casmimiro who was the ‘Fred Astaire of the Philippines.’
from right: Isay Alvarez (Katy), Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong) and Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw), Nomherlito Cipriano (Jungle boy) and China Cojuangco (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Everyone who saw Epy thought he did a fantastic job. Cinemalaya Competition Head Laurice Guillen said, “Epy looks like Dolphy the most when he was young those days. Epy has got the grace as a dancer of Dolphy. Of course no one wants to be compared to Dolphy. If you see the old films you can see what a great dancer he was. But Epy was able to deliver.”
Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong) dances with Isay Alvarez (Katy). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
When Epy was born however, he did not look like Dolphy. Epy said in an interview, “Honestly it’s probably the bone structure and the physique. But when I was born my dad said Di ko kamukha yan na salisihan yata ako ha? (laughs) I was born blonde, very fair skin. Blonde talaga na curly yung hair. Nung lumaki ako yung pinaka kamukha ng katawan, facial structure, boses.”
Sexy Sheng Belmonte (Mananayaw) with Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
KATY is the perfect material to showcase Epy’s talents on stage as an actor and total performer. There are numerous funny and comedic scenes. Where else can you see singing and dancing pregnant balut vendors on skates? Kudos to Sheenly Gener, Neomi Gonzales, Gimbey Dela Cruz, China Cojuangco and teen KATY Aicelle Santos for that wild scene alone.
Gian Magdangal (seated center) surrounded by ladies from left: Celine Fabie (Patsy Patchochay), CJ Mangahis (Mary Walter) and Tricia Amper Jimenez (Hanna San). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
One realm where Epy has over Dolphy is the number of international films that he has made. 2009 Epy was in a critically acclaimed Taiwanese film called PINOY SUNDAY by Wi Ding Ho co starring Bayani Agbayani and Alessandra De Rossi. He recently finished a U.S. production: THE THEIF THE KID AND THE KILLER by Nathan Adolfson with Lance Raymundo, Felix Roco and Joy Viado. HELLO FOREVER is a film by Australian director Peter Kirk featuring transgender actor Isis King and Jennifer Blair-Bianco is about ‘four courageous women who are faced with the harsh realities of single motherhood, poverty, prejudice, and corruption.’ Cast mate Jenny Blair-Bianco is also cast in another play in Repertory called BOEING BOEING currently running until Feb 17, 2013.
Epy Quizon (Dolphy) and Neomi Gonzales (Ensemble). Neomi Gonzales (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Epy has definitely made his mark with his own talent and skill. He never takes his profession for granted and is grateful for every role, “With God’s help tuloy tuloy. Let’s just keep on praying di mawala trabaho. You know this business, one day they like what you do, next day they move on. Just like Katy (he sings) Minsan Lang Minahal Ay Ako’.” Every theater actor and artist for that matter can relate to this show.
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foreground from right: Isay Alvarez (Katy), Epy Quizon (Dolphy / Ompong), and Carlon Matobato (Ensemble). KATY the musical runs at the CCP from January 17-27, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tres Dahlias from left: Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester), Angelina Kanapi (Chabeng) and Mae Paner (Magdea). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Written and photographed
By Jude Bautista
Mario O’Hara was a creative force whose career spanned different fields as radio talent, to TV, film and theater. As writer he has been involved in some of the greatest Filipino films ever made “Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang”, “Insiang” both directed by Lino Brocka and “Condemned” by Jose Javier Reyes. Mario directed Nora Aunor in “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos” and most recently in TV5’s “Sa Ngalan Ng Ina.”
Tanghalang Pilipino will show O’Hara’s last written script for theater “STAGESHOW.” The prestigious production honoring the stars of yesteryears will open the 4th National Theater festival running from November 7-18, 2012. O’Hara passed away last June 26 at the age of 66.
Lou Veloso plays a corrupt ‘Meyor’ beside him is Rayna Reyes (Caridad). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
The 4th National Theater festival also features prodcutions from around the Phil. such as Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation Inc. from the province of Bulacan, Bohol Antequera and Maribojoc Cultural Collectives in cooperation with Teatro Bol-Anon from the province of Bohol, cultural activist Carlos Celdran, Dulaang UP of the University of the Philippines, Gantimpala Theater Foundation, Integrated Performing Arts Guild of Mindanano State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, Mindanao State University Kabpapagariya Ensemble from General Santos City, Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), Sipat Lawin Ensemble, Tanghalang Ateneo of Ateneo de Manila University, Tanghalang Pilipino, The Xavier Stage of Cagayan de Oro and Trumpets Inc. There will also be special performances by Kanlaon Theater Guild of Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, SPIT (Silly People’s Improv Theater) and ventriloquists Ony Carcamo and Wanlu.
Malak So Shdifat (Top 8 Finalist of Artista Academy) was in the audience. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Tanghalang Pilipino Artistic Director Nanding Josef shared the circumstances of how he got the script, “About 3 years ago, Mario gave me the script of STAGESHOW. I was surprised. Binigay niya sakin, sabi ko Ano to? He said ‘Basahin mo lang baka sakaling magawa’. But at that time we already had the line up for the CCP.”
Senakulo scene from left: Jarden De Guzman (Kristo/Pio) and Rayna Reyes (Magdalena/Caridad). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
This year was the perfect timing for in terms of theme. “I had it read by Chris Millado the director of STAGESHOW now and also our actor’s company. And Chris loved his comedy and found the play really touching. Pero hindi pa namin pwedeng isali. It was only last year that we decided to include it in our theater season na ang theme ay truth and consequence. Sabi ni Mario ‘bagay na bagay dahil naka base sa tunay na buhay itong mga characters’ na mapapanood niyo.”
Tres Dahlias from left: Angelina Kanapi (Chabeng), Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester) and Mae Paner (Magdea). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
A lot of the story is relatable even to performers of today, “So bigay na bigay sa ating craft pero di nakapaghanda sa future. Apektado ang love life ang pamilya etc. Mario captured that in this script. He said, ‘Gusto ko itong ma isulat bago ako mamatay.’ I never thought that he was sick at that time.”
from right: Rody Vera (Bentot), Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester) and Gilbert Onida (Pugo). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
He also enumerated the artists Mario and TP intended to honor with STAGESHOW, “Ito ay alay natin sa mga katulad ni Tito Dolphy, Pilita Corales, Tita Gloria Sevilla, Bayani Casimiro, Elizabeth Ramsey, Sylvia La Torre, Eddie San Jose, Lupito, Patsy, Pugo, Bentot, Tugak, Pugak, Apeng Daldal, Aruray, Eddie Mesa, Reycard Duet, Casmot, Balot at marami pang iba.”
National Artist for film Eddie Romero with wife Carol Gonzalez. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Josef also could not help but express a little bit of his envy and frustration over the popularity of another musical also in the same venue, “Dito po sana may dumating pang iba. Hirap na hirap po kaming magbenta kahit na ang ticket namin ay ka piranggot kung ikukumpara sa ticket ng Phantom of the Opera. Maganda naman po talaga yung palabas. Pero masasabi niyo pagkatapos ng show tignan ko lang kung di sabihin na ang gagaling ng artistang Pilipino.”
from left: TP Honoree Gloria Sevilla (Queen of Visayan Movies), TP Director Nanding Josef and Suzette Ranillo. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Profiles provided by Tanghalang Pilipino:
Gloria Sevilla
In the mid 60’s versatile actress and singer Gloria Sevilla aka Queen of Visayan movies became a lead star in Clover Theater’s ‘Musical Extravaganza.’ It was produced by Don Jose Zara who was the original Master Showman. Other stars included Bobby Gonzales, Tommy Angeles, Coca Apajar, Yolanda Guevarra, Ric Manrique and Fred Panopio. Sevilla was also tapped to perform at the Manila Grand Opera House.
from left: Pilita Corales and German Moreno attend a Stageshow performance, Tony Casimiro and Mae Paner. Photo from Mae Paner’s facebook page.
German Moreno born October 14, 1940
His parents are Jose Moreno and Aurora Molina. Graduating from the Balagtas Elementary School in Bulacan Moreno enrolled at various schools in Manila whie working to earn his keep. At 14, he was a janitor and errand boy to impresario Don Jose Zarah at the Clover Theater. There as telonero (crustain raiser), he experienced first hand the workings of the stage. He later became an assistant stage manager.
He later went on to pursue and acting career as a comedian of the bodabil stage and postwar movies. In the 1970’s he became the host of ‘GMA Supershow’ and the rest is history. He produced and hosted That’s Entertainment and currently Walang Tulugan Master Showman. Through the process he discovered many of the now popular stars in television and movie industry.
Crazy siblings Jonathan Tadioan (Jimboy) and Pamela Hundana (Dulce). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Pilita Corales born in Manila August 22, 1939
Pilita appeared in stageshows at the Manila Grand Opera House and sang profesionally in the Philippines and abroad. She has performed withinternationally known artists as the front act in the concerts of Sammy Davis Jr, in Las Vegas. She also fronted for the Beatles in at the Rizal Memorial stadium in 1966 and as a gues in live shows of Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews.
from left: Rayna Reyes (Caridad), Kiki Baento (Nikki), Hazel Maranan and Agnes Sarreal (Koro). STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Elizabeth Ramsey (50 years in showbiz)
Born in San Carlos City, Negros Oriental. At age 16 she started singing with a band travelling from town to town in feistas throughout the island of Negros. She sang wit a 26 piece band, earning P3 or P4 a night.
Moving to Manila in 1958 she was in apopular TV show Student Center, after which she was offered a slot the Manila Grand Opera House. After a short stint she moved to Don Jose Zarah’s Clover Theater. Ramsey spent a glorious 7 years at the Clover as Queen of Rock and Roll.
She performed free of charge to the National Press Club and for the US veterans Office later for US Soldiers in American bases here in the Philippines and wounded American Veterans. She performed in Vegas and acts like Sammy Davis Jr. and Harry Belafonte. She also performed for Filipino communities while abroad.
Tap Dance Choreographer Tony Casimiro plays his dad Bayani. STAGESHOW by Mario O’Hara will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Bayani Casimiro born in San Pablo Laguna July 16, 1918 a comedian of the Sarswela and the Komedya
At age 7 he entered show business as a clown and a comedian earning 50 centavos for his act. He loved to dance particularly tapdancing and won in na competition in Teatro Zorilla. In 1936 he visited Hawaii as part of the performing troupe headed by Sarswela queen Atang Dela Rama. He later became a part of Lou Salvador’s Stageshows. As a tap dancer he became known as the “Fred Astaire of the Philippines.”
Dolphy received his Lifetime Achievement trophy at the MMFF awards night December 28, 2009 SMX Convention center. Photo by Jude Thaddeus L. Bautista CLICK on PHoto for my story on ‘WE Love You DOLPHY’
DOLPHY born in Tondo Manila, July 25, 1928
Dolphy started as a young bodabil dancer and singer at the Orient theater during the Japanese occupation. In bodabil he parlayed his natural talent for for comedy into one of the most successful acts in Phil showbusiness. He was known as ‘Golay’, the dancing partner of Bayani Casimiro.
He started performing on stage during the Japanese occupation. He was turning 17 when he got a job as adancer for a month at the Avenue Theater and subsequently on Lyric Theater. He also appeared at the Prient Theater. During air raids, they would interrupt the show and run for the air raid shelter in the orchestra section together with the audience. If no bomb exploded the show resumed.
Rody Vera as Bobby Gonzales and Bentot in STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Rody also wrote the play “Ibalong” which will be the production of Tanghalang Pilipino for Feb 8-24, 2013. Photo by Jude Bautista
STAGESHOW is Mario O’Hara’s last script for theater before he passed away. It is his tribute to idols on stage, the stars from his childhood and legendary Pinoy performers. Thank you Mario! STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP. Photo by Jude Bautista
Mario O’Hara April 20, 1946-June 26, 2012
Mario was born in Zamboanga City on April 20, 1946, His mother was Basilia Herrero who has Spanish lineage and hails from Ozamis Oriental. His father Jaime O’Hara was the son of Irish American Thomasite. Jaime himself was a member of the U.P. Dramatic Club.
The O’Hara’s moved to a middle class community in Pasay City; behind their house was a slum area and Mario claimed that some of his works were inspired by the real life incidents that happened in this area.
from left: Lou Veloso plays a priest at the Christening of Nonie Buencamino (Tirso) and Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino’s (Ester) son Lupito. STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP.
At age 17 he auditioned for a radio show sponsored by Procter and Gamble. He then decided to stop attending his classes as a Chemical Engineering student in Adamson University to concentrate on radio. He was able to get a job with the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) and DZRH.
Later on he joined PETA as a stage actor and worked with Lino Brocka as a writer.He wrote Brocka’s Tinimbang Ka Ngunit kulang about life in a small town. He also wrote a teleplay which became the basis for Brocka’s Insiang which is about a woman raped by her stepfather. He claimed it was inspired by a real story, which happened in the slums behind their backyard. Soon, Mario became known as a writer for his sense of realism and social messages.
Nonie Buencamino (Tirso) charms Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino (Ester). STAGESHOW will open the 4th Natl. Theater Festival on Nov. 7-8, 2012 at the CCP.
Poor Men Who Are Great
From Left: Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and brother Keiji (Tomio Aoki) are the lead characters in ‘I was Born But’ considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza. Photo from http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/2694
Written by
Jude Bautista
“There are poor men who are great.” Kennosuke (Tatsuo Saito) a struggling father tries to justify himself to his young son Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) in vain. At first glance the line is an oxymoron. How can a poor man be great? How do you explain that to a child not more than 10 years old?
Tropical Depression: from right: Papa Dom (rhythm guitar) and Andrew Barrios (bass). Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
Film has the power to show the world from the point of view of a child. That is what director Yasujiro Ozu in his 1932, silent film “I Was Born But…” achieved. It was part of the Silent film festival in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza who screened them for free from August 24-27, 2012. Tropical Depression successfully provided the soundtrack and brought out the emotions and mood for the film.
Ozu also directed “Tokyo Story” in 1953, it is considered by critics and film historians around the world as among the greatest films of all time. National Artist for Film Eddie Romero was among those who attended the screening last August 25.
from left: Japan Foundation Dir. Shuji Takatori, National Artist for film Eddie Romero and Goethe Institut Philipinen Director Richard Kuenzel. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
There’s a universality in the ability of good films to move emotions and provoke thought even if it is in a foreign language or was made nearly a century before.
Ryoichi and his brother Keiji (Tomio Aoki) aren’t really poor. They go to a good school, their mother cooks them lovely Japanese meals. Their house is small but is more than adequate for the family. Their father is quite attentive to them making sure they go to school and have what they need.
Tropical Depression’s Papa Dom they provided the moving music for ‘I Was Born But’. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
from left: Taro, Kamekichi the bully and the ‘gang’ in ‘I was Born But’ considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza. Photo from http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/2694
A bully in school harasses the two boys. Ryoichi manages to convince a delivery boy to be his resbak (enforcer) and scares the bully away. The bully’s gang of kids also becomes scared of Ryoichi and he takes the bully’s place as leader. He learns to boss them around and enjoys it. One day he learns that one of his underlings (at least in his mind) named Taro was having a film screening at home. Ryoichi as the new gang leader wrangles an invite for himself and his little brother.
From right: Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) and brother Keiji (Tomio Aoki) are the lead characters in ‘I was Born But’ considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza.
Before the evening screening, the kids try to one up each other by bragging about their fathers. “My dad has better car than yours…My father is tougher and stronger than yours” contest. By virtue of being the ‘leader’ Ryoichi naturally wins the argument.
When the screening comes along Ryoichi and his little brother enter the living room of Taro’s house, which is far bigger and impressive than their own. They see their dad Kennosuke is also there to watch the film. It was more of a home movie where the ‘performers’ were Kennosuke and other employees of Iwasaki (Takeshi Sakamoto) who just happens to be Taro’s dad.
Kennosuke makes a fool himself to make his co-workers laugh. ‘I was Born But’ is considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza.
In the home movie the brothers see their dad making a fool of himself and making co workers laugh. Ryoichi is disgusted with the film and walks out with little brother in tow. When they get home Ryoichi tells off his dad. He believed that his own father must be ‘superior’ to Taro’s father who is his underling. He asks his father: “Why do you have to follow Taro’s dad? Why aren’t you the director? Why don’t YOU pay his salary? You tell us to study hard but you are nothing!” That was when Kennosuke tried to explain things to his son: “There are poor men who are great.”
Kennosuke makes a fool himself to make his co-workers laugh. ‘I was Born But’ is considered as Yasujiro Ozu’s first true masterpiece. It was part of the 6th Silent film fest in Shang Cineplex, Shang Rila Plaza.
Tropical Depression and Japan Foundation Seated from left: Tomoko Takatori, Papa Dom and Japan Foundation Dir Shuji Takatori. Standing from left: Art Strong (keyboard), Japan Foundation Asst Dir Yukie Mitomi, Andrew Barrios (Bass), Jun Nogoy (drums), Lito Crisostimo (lead guitar) and Japan Foundation Proj. Coordinator Rolando Samson. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
Earlier interpretations of the film is that the child’s point of view reveals the hypocrisy of grown ups of having a double standard, which are not any less valid. But from the Philippine perspective in light of recent events, I’d like to take a different interpretation.
I’d like to believe the father is correct. There ARE poor men who are great. ‘Poor’ in this sense is not just financial but men who sacrifice and humble themselves that in truth are truly great. The loss of DILG Sec Jesse Robredo is only the most dramatic and recent example for this year who died in a plane crash this August. Last March it was the passing of PDI Publisher Isagani Yambot and in June filmmaker, screenwriter and actor Mario O’Hara and comedic icon Dolphy in July. Yambot and O’Hara are both personal heroes of mine. Now Robredo is also one of my heroes with the stories of sacrifice and humility that have surfaced after his untimely death in a plane crash.
DILG Sec Jess Robredo (center) did his devotion to Naga’s Lady of Peñafrancia lovingly called INA or mother with his bare feet. Photo from http://www.facebook.com/TeamRobredo
For Ryoichi, because of his young mind and conflict with the bullies, might is right. If you cannot make other people submit to your will then you’re nothing. He couldn’t even accept his father was an employee most especially of Taro’s father. And if you’re top dog you have to show your power, your wealth and let them know who’s boss. That’s what frustrated Ryoichi and ate him up inside.
Taro and the gang laugh at Kennosuke’s antics
Jesse Robredo, Isagani Yambot, Mario O’Hara and even Dolphy were the reverse of the might is right ideal. All four men have recently passed away this year. And all four men have reached positions of power, if not reached the pinnacle in their own fields. Yet instead of imposing their own will, they made sure to serve and help others with the power and influence they gained.
From left: Richard Merk, Skarlet, Kathy Solis of ABS CBN,Emmie Velarde, Isagani Yambot of PDI & Boots Anson Roa. Photo taken at Merck’s August 22, 2007 by Jude Bautista
Phil Daily Inquirer (PDI ) Publisher Isagani Yambot throughout his life supported countless causes from the urban poor, to feminist rights; human rights victims and so on. But what I personally witnessed was his strong devotion to Phil independent cinema. He religiously attended Cinemalaya, Cinemanila and other film fests that feature Filipino talent. He even made sure to invite screenings of the films of Brillante Mendoza, Aureus Solito and others in the PDI office. Yambot even encouraged the Entertainment section to put up the PDI Indie tribute the only award of its kind. In international fests I literally had to pull him in group shots with VIPs, he was reluctant to do so not wanting the limelight for himself.
From right: CCP President Raul Suñico, PDI Publisher Isagani Yambot, Guest Ballet Master from Russia Ai Gul Gaisina, Ballet Phil Chairman Margie Moran and Cinemalaya President Nestor Jardin. Photo taken last January 2011 by Jude Bautista
Mario O’Hara is a modern Renaissance man, starting out as a radio talent and excelling as writer, actor and later on as director. For those familiar with his works he is already a National Artist. His screenplay for ‘Insiang’ a film by Lino Brocka is considered to be among the best Filipino films ever made. He has worked with two National Artists Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal. In person, he was also extremely humble preferring casual conversation to press interviews and wanting to emphasize his co actors.
Mario O’Hara in Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Tatlong Maria”. He has had a storied career as writer, director and actor. Photo was taken during the opening night at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, February 18, 2010. Photo by Jude Bautista
He also had a genuine love for Phil History and culture as evidenced by his Cinemalaya film “Ang Paglilitis Ni Andres Bonifacio” and innumerable performances as an actor in Tanghalang Pilipino. Andres Bonifacio is one of the revolutionary heroes of the Phil known as ‘The Great Plebian’, having come from the masses. Bonifacio is one of the original Filipinos considered to be among the ‘poor men who are great.’
The late Comedy King Dolphy with Zsa Zsa Padilla. Zsa zsa recently had a successful operation removing a tumor from her kidney. Photo was taken during the Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah premiere last December 2006 at the MMFF. Photo by Jude Bautista
Dolphy although not financially poor, was generous and kind to those in need and was also a picture of humility. He has reached the pinnacle of Philippine TV and film as comedy King with countless top rating shows and blockbusters. Yet he never forgot his humble beginnings. The filmmaker’s choice of having a screening and Kennosuke ‘humiliating’ himself by amusing others through a home movie was a source of embarrassment for Ryoichi. Now we love Dolphy for making millions of Filipinos happy with his innumerable comedic performances.
DILG Sec Robredo was a man of integrity. In spite of being the youngest Naga Mayor and gaining a high position in government as cabinet Secretary, he purposefully did not enrich himself. He believed and instigated programs to help and empower the marginalized. The question in everyone’s minds is ‘How can God allow the loss of such a good man especially when his country needs him?’
Tropical Depression provided the moving music for ‘I Was Born But’. Photo was taken during the 6th Silent film fest at Shang Cineplex, Shangri-La Plaza last August 25, 2012. Photo by Jude Bautista
The answer is we Filipinos have become like Ryoichi. Our minds have been blinded only by what we see. Wealth, power and fame have become virtues in this material world. When the Lord took Yambot we did not listen. When the Lord took O’Hara suddenly still we did not listen or truly give honor to his deeds. We were saddened by Dolphy’s passing but still did not heed the example in his life. Now that he has taken Robredo, we reflect, we rethink our own values not just for government but for all of us. Now we have to listen to Robredo’s words and make sure to continue his programs. Yes Ryoichi, there are poor men who are great.
DILG Sec Jess Robredo (left- black shirt) did his devotion to Naga’s Lady of Peñafrancia lovingly called INA or mother with his bare feet. Photo from http://www.facebook.com/TeamRobredo
| i don't know |
Who, since 2003, has been the Governor of the Bank of England? | Ex-Bank of England governor Mervyn King: Monetary union has 'sowed the seeds of divisions in Europe' - Business Insider
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle
Former Bank of England Governor Lord Mervyn King believes Germany should consider leaving the European Union as the current set up "will lead to not only an economic but a political crisis."
In the second extract from his new book published by The Telegraph , Lord King writes: "Put bluntly, monetary union has created a conflict between a centralised elite on the one hand, and the forces of democracy at the national level on the other."
The solution, Lord King argues, is a breakup of the union altogether.
As Governor of the Bank of England between 2003 and 2013, Lord King has first hand experience dealing with this monetary union as one of the "centralised elite."
But the game keeper has turned poacher, so to speak, and Lord King is now highly critical of the European Union and believes that ultimately it is unworkable.
By adopting a single currency, Lord King argues that differences between economies in Europe have been exacerbated because the normal monetary mechanisms used to make countries more competitive aren't available.
This has created a situation where powerhouse Germany is supporting the underperforming southern European countries.
This creates resentment among German voters, which leads to hash austerity measures for countries like Greece. That, in turn, creates resentment among Greeks.
What's more, the debts imposed on the likes of Greece through bailouts are almost impossible to pay back and cripple the country's already struggling economy further.
The austerity measures make it incredibly difficult to get back into a trade deficit and Greece therefore has to borrow money to pay back debts, creating a vicious cycle of debt.
Lord King writes:
It was more than a little depressing to see the countries of the euro area haggling over how much to lend to Greece so that it would be able to pay them back some of the earlier loans. Such a circular flow of payments made little difference to the health, or lack of it, of the Greek economy.
This disconnect between finance ministers discussing deficits in Brussels and angry unemployed people on the streets of places like Spain has led to rising support for "extreme" parties such as the radical left-wing Syriza party in Greece or the National Front in France .
In this way, the EU is fomenting not just economic problems but political ones too.
Lord King writes:
In pursuit of peace, the elites in Europe, the United States and international organisations such as the IMF, have, by pushing bailouts and a move to a transfer union as the solution to crises, simply sowed the seeds of divisions in Europe and created support for what were previously seen as extreme political parties and candidates.
It will lead to not only an economic but a political crisis.
Lord King has been out of the Bank of England for three years. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Lord King says that "the only way forward for Greece is to default on (or be forgiven) a substantial proportion of its debt burden and to devalue its currency." This is what former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis argued during his negotiations with creditors and even the International Monetary Foundation (IMF) has admitted there should at least be some debt forgiveness.
But, Lord King admits, debt forgiveness for underperforming southern nations in Europe is unlikely due to the politics within member states. Germans would never accept simply writing off debts to Greeks.
To get out of this vicious cycle, Lord King proposes a radical solution — Germany should consider leaving the EU to bring about its demise.
Lord King writes:
The underlying differences among countries and the political costs of accepting defeat have become too great.
Germany faces a terrible choice. Should it support the weaker brethren in the euro area at great and unending cost to its taxpayers, or should it call a halt to the project of monetary union across the whole of Europe? The attempt to find a middle course is not working.
One day, German voters may rebel against the losses imposed on them by the need to support their weaker brethren, and undoubtedly the easiest way to divide the euro area would be for Germany itself to exit.
It's a radical suggestion and one that Lord King admits is probably not the most likely. He says: "But the more likely cause of a break- up of the euro area is that voters in the south will tire of the grinding and relentless burden of mass unemployment and the emigration of talented young people."
Lord King's anti-European argument comes at a pivotal time for Britain's future in Europe, with a referendum on membership of the EU set for June 23 . It remains to be seen whether Lord King will do much to sway opinion.
| Mervyn King |
Who, since 2010, has been Secretary of State for Foreighn and Commonwealth Affairs? | Mervyn King: new financial crisis is 'certain' without reform of banks | Business | The Guardian
Mervyn King
Mervyn King: new financial crisis is 'certain' without reform of banks
The former Bank of England governor says in his new book that imbalances in the global economy makes a crash inevitable
Mervyn King: ‘Failure to tackle the disequilibrium in the world economy makes it likely that a crisis will come sooner rather than later.’ Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA
Press Association
Sunday 28 February 2016 00.43 EST
Last modified on Sunday 28 February 2016 00.45 EST
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Another financial crisis is “certain” and will come sooner rather than later, the former Bank of England governor has warned.
G20 concludes Brexit would 'shock' world economy, George Osborne says
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Mervyn King , who headed the bank between 2003 and 2013, believes the world economy will soon face another crash as regulators have failed to reform banking.
He has also claimed that the 2008 crisis was the fault of the financial system, not individual greedy bankers, in his new book, The End Of Alchemy: Money, Banking And The Future Of The Global Economy, serialised in The Telegraph .
“Without reform of the financial system, another crisis is certain, and the failure ... to tackle the disequilibrium in the world economy makes it likely that it will come sooner rather than later,” Lord King wrote.
He added that global central banks were caught in a “prisoner’s dilemma” - unable to raise interest rates for fear of stifling the economic recovery, the newspaper reported.
A remark from a Chinese colleague who said the west had not got the hang of money and banking was the inspiration for his book.
Lord King, 67, said without understanding what caused the crash, politicians and bankers would be unable to prevent another, and lays the blame at the door of a broken financial system.
He said: “The crisis was a failure of a system, and the ideas that underpinned it, not of individual policymakers or bankers, incompetent and greedy though some of them undoubtedly were.”
Spending imbalances both within and between countries led to the crisis in 2008 and he believes a current disequilibrium will lead to the next.
To solve the problem, Lord King suggests raising productivity and boldly reforming the banking system.
He said: “Only a fundamental rethink of how we, as a society, organise our system of money and banking will prevent a repetition of the crisis that we experienced in 2008.”
Lord King was in charge of the Bank of England when the credit crunch struck in 2007, leading to the collapse of Northern Rock and numerous other British lenders, including RBS, and has been criticised for failing to see the global financial crisis coming .
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Created by P G Wodehouse, what is the christian name of the character Jeeves? | Jeeves | P. G. Wodehouse Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
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Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse , being the "personal gentleman's gentleman" ( valet ) of Bertie Wooster (Bertram Wilberforce Wooster). Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous character. The name "Jeeves" comes from Percy Jeeves , a Warwickshire cricketer killed in the First World War. [1]
Both the name "Jeeves" and the character of Jeeves have come to be thought of as the quintessential name and nature of a valet , butler , or chauffeur , inspiring many similar characters (as well as the name of the Internet search engine Ask Jeeves ). A "Jeeves" is now a generic term in references such as the Oxford English Dictionary . [2]
Jeeves is a valet , not a butler —that is, he serves a man and not a household. However, Bertie Wooster has lent out Jeeves as a butler on several occasions, and notes: "If the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them." [3]
Contents
Edit
The premise of the Jeeves stories is that the brilliant valet is firmly in control of his rich and foppish young employer's life. When Bertie gets into an unwanted social obligation , legal trouble, or engagement to marry, Jeeves invariably comes up with a subtle plan to save him, often without Bertie's knowledge.
Jeeves is known for his convoluted yet precise speech and for quoting from Shakespeare and famous romantic poets . In his free time, he likes to relax with "improving" books such as the complete works of Spinoza , or to read " Dostoyevsky and the great Russians". [4] He "glides" or "shimmers" in and out of rooms and may appear or disappear suddenly and without warning. His potable concoctions, both of the alcoholic and the morning-after variety, are legendary.
Jeeves frequently displays mastery over a vast range of subjects, from philosophy (his favourite philosopher is Spinoza ; he finds Nietzsche "fundamentally unsound" [5] ) through an encyclopaedic knowledge of poetry, science, history, psychology, geography, politics, and literature. He is also a "bit of a whizz" in all matters pertaining to gambling, car maintenance, etiquette, and women. However, his most impressive feats are a flawless knowledge of the British aristocracy and making antidotes (especially for hangovers). His mental prowess is attributed to eating fish, according to Bertie, and the latter often offers the dish to Jeeves.
Jeeves has a distinct—and often negative—opinion of items about which Bertie is enthusiastic, such as a garish vase, an uncomplimentary painting of Wooster created by one of the many women with whom he is briefly infatuated, a moustache, monogrammed handkerchiefs, a straw boater, an alpine hat, a scarlet cummerbund, spats in the Eton colours, white dinner jacket, or purple socks. Wooster's decision to take up playing the banjolele in Thank You, Jeeves almost led to a permanent rift between the two.
Jeeves is a member of the Junior Ganymede Club , a London club for butlers and valets, in whose club book all members must record the exploits of their employers to forewarn other butlers and valets. The section labeled "WOOSTER, BERTRAM" is the largest in the book. In Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit it contained "eleven pages", [6] and by Much Obliged, Jeeves it has grown to eighteen pages. [7] However, at the end of Much Obliged, Jeeves, Jeeves informs Wooster that he has destroyed the eighteen pages, anticipating that he will never leave the latter's employment.
Only once in the Wodehouse canon does Jeeves appear without Wooster: Ring for Jeeves , in which he is on loan to the 9th Earl of Rowcester while Wooster attends a school where the idle rich learn self-sufficiency in case of social upheaval. The novel was adapted from Wodehouse's play Come On, Jeeves, which he felt needed a more conventional ending; but he was unwilling to marry Wooster off.
Jeeves's first job was as a page boy at a girls' school, after which he had at least eleven other employers. Before entering the employ of Bertie Wooster, he was with Lord Worplesdon , resigning after nearly a year because of Worplesdon's eccentric choice of evening dress; Mr Digby Thistleton (later Lord Bridgnorth), who sold hair tonic; Mr Montague Todd, a financier who was in the second year of a prison term when Jeeves mentioned him to Bertie; Lord Brancaster, who gave port -soaked seedcake to his pet parrot; and Lord Frederick Ranelagh, swindled in Monte Carlo by recurring antagonist Soapy Sid. His tenure with Bertie had occasional lapses, during which he was employed elsewhere: he worked for Lord Rowcester for the length of Ring for Jeeves; Marmaduke "Chuffy" Chuffnell for a week in Thank You, Jeeves , after giving notice because of Bertie's unwillingness to give up the banjolele ; J. Washburn Stoker for a short period; Gussie Fink-Nottle , who masqueraded as Bertie in The Mating Season ; and Sir Watkyn Bassett as a trick to get Bertie released from prison in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves .
Richard Usborne , a leading scholar of the life and works of Wodehouse, describes Jeeves as a "godlike prime mover" and "master brain who has found to have engineered the apparent coincidence or coincidences". [8]
Jeeves's first name of Reginald was not revealed until the penultimate novel in the series, Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971), when Bertie hears a "Hullo, Reggie" greeting Jeeves. The readers may have been surprised to learn Jeeves's first name, but Bertie was stunned by the revelation "that he had a first name" in the first place. [9]
Inspiration and effect
Edit
In his 1953 semi-autobiographical book written with Guy Bolton , Bring on the Girls !, Wodehouse suggests that Jeeves was based on an actual butler called Eugene Robinson that Wodehouse employed for research purposes. He recounts a story where Robinson extricated Wodehouse from a real-life predicament. Wodehouse also recounts that he named his Jeeves after Percy Jeeves (1888–1916), a then-popular English cricketer for Warwickshire . Percy Jeeves was killed at the Battle of the Somme during the attack on High Wood in July 1916, two months before the first appearance of the eponymous butler who would make his name a household word.
Jeeves's propensity for wisdom and knowledge is so well known that it inspired the original name of the Internet search website Ask.com (called "AskJeeves" from 1996 to 2006). In the twenty-first century, a " Jeeves " is a generic term (in the fashion of "a Jonah ") for any useful and reliable person, found in dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary [10] or the Encarta World English Dictionary . [11] The term has even infiltrated World of Warcraft , where an engineering character may construct a "Jeeves" robot to repair equipment. [12]
Family
Edit
Jeeves has three aunts who, he informs Wooster, are very placid in nature, in contrast to Wooster's aunts. One of Jeeves's aunts is resident in the vicinity of Maiden Eggesford and owns a cat, which features in Aunts Aren't Gentlemen . Her address is mentioned to be "Balmoral Castle, Mafeking Road". In Right Ho, Jeeves he refers to his Aunt Annie: "in times of domestic disagreement it was necessary only to invite my Aunt Annie for a visit to heal all breaches between the other members of the household. In the mutual animosity excited by Aunt Annie, those who had become estranged were reconciled almost immediately." The third aunt had varicose veins in her legs that were hideous to view, though improved to such a great extent by a patent medicine that she allowed them to be photographed for an advertisement for the product.
Jeeves also has an uncle, Charlie Silversmith, who is butler at Deverill Hall in Hampshire . Jeeves frequently writes letters to his uncle and Wooster holds Charlie in high regard. On occasion, Jeeves has been known to take the place of his uncle when circumstances necessitate his absence. Template:Citation needed
By virtue of Uncle Charlie, Jeeves has a cousin, Queenie. Queenie is engaged to a police constable named Dobbs. She is also briefly engaged, in complicated circumstances, to Catsmeat Pirbright. Template:Citation needed
In The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy , we learn he also has a niece named Mabel, who falls in love with Charles Edward "Biffy" Biffen during an ocean voyage. An old friend of Bertie's, Biffy is so absent-minded that he subsequently forgets everything but her first name and that he successfully proposed to her. Feeling she has been toyed with, Mabel breaks off the engagement, only to resume it when Jeeves intervenes and sends Bertie, Biffin, and Roderick Glossop (to whose daughter, Honoria, Biffy became betrothed after the disappearance of Mabel) to see a historical sideshow at a fair in which Mabel is appearing. Template:Citation needed
Stories
By chronological order on the first item of each sub-section:
Films
Edit
There have been a few theatrical films based upon or inspired by Wodehouse's novels:-
Thank You, Jeeves! (1935)— Arthur Treacher as Jeeves, and David Niven as Bertie, meet a girl and help her brother stop two spies trying to get his secret plans. The film has almost nothing to do with the book of that title. Although Treacher looks the part, the script calls on him to play the character as unhelpful and rather unpleasant, with none of the trademark brilliance of the literary Jeeves.
Step Lively, Jeeves! (1936)— Arthur Treacher as Jeeves is conned by two swindlers who claim he has a fortune waiting for him in America, where Jeeves meets some gangsters. Bertie does not appear, Jeeves is portrayed as a naive bumbler, and the film has nothing to do with any Wodehouse story.
By Jeeves (2001)—A recorded performance of the musical, released as a video (with UK Martin Jarvis as Jeeves, and U.S. John Scherer as Bertie). It was also aired on TV.
Plays
Edit
Come On, Jeeves (opened 1954, still played from time to time Template:As of under its name or as Ring for Jeeves)—A 1952 play by Guy Bolton and Wodehouse (adapted into the 1953 novel Ring for Jeeves ), opened 1954 in Worthing , England (cast unknown), published in 1956.
Television
Jeeves and Wooster (22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, 23 episodes of 55 minutes)—A hit ITV series starring double-act Fry and Laurie (with Stephen Fry as Jeeves, and Hugh Laurie as Bertie).
Musicals
Edit
Jeeves (22 April 1975 to 24 May 1975, 38 performances)—An unsuccessful musical loosely based on Wodehouse, opened in London (with Michael Aldridge as Jeeves, and David Hemmings as Bertie). Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics & Book by Alan Ayckbourn and based on the Wodehouse book: "Code of The Woosters."
By Jeeves (1 May 1996 to 12 February 1997; 28 October 2001 to 30 December 2001, 73 performances)—A more successful complete rewrite of the earlier version, opened in London (with Malcolm Sinclair as Jeeves, and Steven Pacey as Bertie), and premiered in the U.S. in November 1996 (with Richard Kline as Jeeves, and John Scherer as Bertie). It was produced again in 2001 on Broadway (with Martin Jarvis as Jeeves, and Scherer as Bertie), with one recorded performance released as a video film and aired on TV.
Radio
The Code of the Woosters (2006)—A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of The Code of the Woosters (with Andrew Sachs as Jeeves, and Marcus Brigstocke as Bertie).
Comics
Edit
In Alan Moore 's comic The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier , Jeeves appears in the segment "What Ho, Gods of the Abyss?" in which he contacts the League through a cousin in the British Museum to help combat the arrival of a Mi-go to Brinkley Court and Bertie's Aunt Dahlia 's possession by Cthulhu . The Lovecraftian menaces are driven off by a League consisting of Mina Murray , Allan Quatermain , Carnacki , and Orlando .
Biography
A fictional biography of Jeeves, entitled Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman by Northcote Parkinson , fills in a great deal of background information about him.
Also, both Jeeves and Bertie Wooster make cameo appearances in Spider Robinson 's Lady Slings the Booze.
References
| Reginald |
"Which hotel group, founded in 1919, became famous between March 25th and March 31st 1969 when, at it's Amsterdam branch, John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their first ""bed-in for peace"" protest in room 902. This hotel has now become a popular tourist destination." | Jeeves (Character)
Jeeves (Character)
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Overview
Fun Stuff
Quotes:
[Jeeves enters, disguised by a trench coat, fedora, and huge fake moustache]
Reginald Jeeves : All right, Scotland Yard. I'm looking for one Bertram Wilberforce Wooster.
Bertie Wooster : Uh, that's me.
Reginald Jeeves : Then I'm arresting you, Bertram Wilberforce Wooster, in connection with the use of an illegal golf club. Will you come quietly?
Bertie Wooster : [under his breath] Brilliant! That is brilliant!
Reginald Jeeves : Now, none of that, if you please, sir! This way.
[...]
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Created by Arthur Conan Doyle, what is the christian name of the famous character, professor Moriarty? | Sherlock Holmes | fictional character | Britannica.com
fictional character
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes, fictional character created by the Scottish writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . The prototype for the modern mastermind detective , Holmes first appeared in Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. As the world’s first and only “consulting detective,” he pursued criminals throughout Victorian and Edwardian London , the south of England , and continental Europe. Although the fictional detective had been anticipated by Edgar Allan Poe ’s C. Auguste Dupin and Émile Gaboriau ’s Monsieur Lecoq, Holmes made a singular impact upon the popular imagination and has been the most enduring character of detective fiction. (See also Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science .)
Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes in one of several movies in which he played the detective created …
The Granger Collection, New York
Conan Doyle modeled Holmes’s methods and mannerisms on those of Dr. Joseph Bell, who had been his professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. In particular, Holmes’s uncanny ability to gather evidence based upon his honed skills of observation and deductive reasoning paralleled Bell’s method of diagnosing a patient’s disease. Holmes offered some insight into his method, claiming that “When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” His detecting abilities become clear, though no less amazing, when explained by his companion, Dr. John H. Watson , who recounts the criminal cases they jointly pursue. Although Holmes rebuffs praise, declaring his abilities to be “elementary,” the oft-quoted phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson,” never actually appears in Conan Doyle’s writings.
Sherlock Holmes (right) explaining to Dr. Watson what he has deduced from a pipe left behind by a …
Photos.com/Jupiterimages
Watson’s narrations describe Holmes as a very complex and moody character who, although of strict habit, is considerably untidy. His London abode at 221B, Baker Street, is tended by his housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson. Holmes appears to undergo bouts of mania and depression, the latter of which are accompanied by pipe smoking, violin playing, and cocaine use. Throughout the four novels and 56 short stories featuring Holmes, a number of characters recur, including the bumbling Scotland Yard inspector Lestrade ; the group of “street Arabs” known as the Baker Street Irregulars, who are routinely employed by Holmes as informers; his even wiser but less ambitious brother, Mycroft; and, most notably, his formidable opponent, Professor James Moriarty , whom Holmes considers the “Napoleon of crime.”
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Humpty Dumpty
Claiming that Holmes distracted him “from better things,” Conan Doyle famously in 1893 ( The Final Problem) attempted to kill him off; during a violent struggle on Switzerland’s Reichenbach Falls , both Holmes and his nemesis , Professor Moriarty, are plunged over the edge of the precipice . Popular outcry against the demise of Holmes was great; men wore black mourning bands, the British royal family was distraught , and more than 20,000 readers cancelled their subscriptions to the popular Strand Magazine, in which Holmes regularly appeared. By popular demand, Conan Doyle resurrected his detective in the story The Adventure of the Empty House (1903).
Holmes remained a popular figure into the 21st century. Among the most popular stories in which he is featured are The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892), The Adventure of the Speckled Band (1892), The Adventure of the Six Napoleons (1904), and the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902). Holmes’s character has been translated to other media as well, and he is widely known on both stage and screen. The earliest actor to have essayed the role is William Gillette (a founding member of the New York Holmes society still known as the Baker Street Irregulars), who gave several popular theatrical portrayals at the turn of the 20th century. Those who have appeared as Holmes on-screen include Basil Rathbone , Peter Cushing , Jeremy Brett , Robert Downey, Jr. , and Benedict Cumberbatch . Ironically, two of the emblems of Holmes, his meerschaum pipe and deerstalker hat, are not original to Conan Doyle’s writings. Gillette introduced the curved meerschaum pipe (it is thought to have been easier on the actor’s jaw during a long performance), and Sidney Paget the deerstalker (or “fore-and-aft”) cap—it was de rigueur for country living—in more than one illustration for The Strand of Holmes at work on his investigations in the country.
Promotional poster for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), starring …
© 1939 Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation; photograph from a private collection
Britannica Stories
Big Radio Burst from Tiny Galaxy
In addition to myriad translations of the Holmes adventures throughout the world, a genre of parodies and pastiches has developed based upon the Sherlock Holmes character. An entire collection of more scholarly “higher criticism” of Conan Doyle’s writings was initiated by Ronald Knox ’s “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes” (1912). More recent higher criticism is epitomized by the work appearing in The Baker Street Journal (begun 1946), a quarterly publication of the Baker Street Irregulars. Holmes devotees, known as Sherlockians or Holmesians, frequently gather in societies around the world to pay tribute to the master detective with a cultist fervour. The most established of these societies are the Baker Street Irregulars, founded in 1934, and the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, founded in 1951. The latter traces its origins to the Sherlock Holmes Society that was formed in London in 1934 and counted among its members the scholar and writer Dorothy L. Sayers ; it had ceased its activities by the 1940s.
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Which hotel group which opened its first hotel - a 60 room facility on US Route 66 at Flagstaff, Arizona in 1954 - takes its name from the Spanish term meaning 'branch'? | Sherlockian FAQ - The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
Sherlockian FAQ
Here is the answers of the most frequently questions asked by newcomers in Sherlockiana :
Contents
Who's Who
Who is Sherlock Holmes?
Dictionary definition : Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle appearing in 60 stories published between 1887 and 1927. He is an amateur consulting detective. The first story is a novel entitled A Study in Scarlet (1887) and the last one is a short story entitled The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place (1927). The action take place mostly in London, England, during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Sherlockian definition : Sherlock Holmes is a real British amateur consulting detective born in 1854, dead or not (see FAQ on this topic Is Sherlock Holmes dead? ). He lived at 221b Baker Street in London, with his friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson . Arthur Conan Doyle was the literary agent of Watson.
Dictionary definition : John H. Watson is a fictional character created by Arthur Conan Doyle .
Sherlockian definition : John H. Watson was a British M.D. born in the early 1850's. He was living at 221b Baker Street with Sherlock Holmes and was his assistant, his biographer and his only friend. He is the author of the stories about the detective's investigations (while Arthur Conan Doyle was his literary agent).
More about John Watson...
Who is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
Dictionary definition : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish writer, physician, sportsman, poet, politician, justicer and spiritualist. He wrote more than 200 fictions of which 60 are stories of Sherlock Holmes. But he also wrote a lot of essays, poems, plays, articles, letters to the press...
Sherlockian definition : Arthur Conan Doyle is the literary agent of Dr Watson. He helped him to publish the Sherlock Holmes stories.
See his Complete Works...
Who was the arch-ennemy of Sherlock Holmes?
We could answer: the Crime! But in the era of Sherlock Holmes, we could find a man at the top of pyramid of crime in England : the professor James Moriarty .
According to Sherlock Holmes , "he is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them."
He is "the greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every devilry, the controlling brain of the underworld - a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations."
More about James Moriarty...
Who is Mycroft Holmes?
Mycroft Holmes is the elder brother of Sherlock Holmes . He is 7 years older. He only appears 2 times in the Canon : in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter and in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans . He is however also mentioned in The Adventure of the Final Problem and in The Adventure of the Empty House ). Holmes said about him: "He was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an arm-chair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. [..] Again and again I have taken a problem to him and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one. 41 And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points which must be gone into before a case could be laid before a judge or jury."
More about Mycroft Holmes...
Who is Irene Adler?
Irene Adler was an American singer and adventuress born in 1858 (deceased around 1890). For Sherlock Holmes she was the woman. She obly appears in one story : A Scandal in Bohemia where she succeed to avoid the trap set by Sherlock Holmes so the detective had a considerable admiration for her. In the detective eyes : "she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex." But "It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler." At the end of the affair, Holmes ask as only reward... the photo of Irene Adler.
Mrs Hudson is the landlady of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson at 221b Baker Street .
Who is Lestrade?
The inspector Lestrade is part of the British Scotland Yard police in London. Among all the policemen who worked with Sherlock Holmes , he is the most mentionned in the Canon , but not the most efficient. Holmes said about him : "He is quick and energetic, but conventional - shockingly so." and "he is absolutely devoid of reason, he is as tenacious as a bull-dog when he once understands what he has to do, and indeed it is just this tenacity which has brought him to the top at Scotland Yard."
List of Scotland Yard's inspectors...
Who is Sidney Paget?
Sidney Paget was a British illustrator (1860-1908) who had drawn most of the illustrations of Sherlock Holmes ' stories published in The Strand Magazine between 1891 and 1904. An anecdote is amazing about him: the first choice of The Strand Magazine editor was Walter Paget , the brother of Sidney. An error in the mailing address and the letter went to Sidney Paget and he accepted. The Strand Magazine didn't regret this error. He also illustrated other non-sherlockian stories of Conan Doyle. Others artists illustrated the Canon like: Walter Paget (only one story after the death of his brother), Frederic Dorr Steele , Frank Wiles , George Hutchinson , W. H. Hyde , H. K. Elcock , and many more.
Holmes and Watson Life
How Holmes and Watson met?
Young Stamford, a common friend of Holmes and Watson, introduced Watson to Sherlock Holmes. He appears in the first story: A Study in Scarlet .
Watson, returning from Afghanistan where he was injured, was looking for a cheaper lodging than his hotel room on the Strand. He met Stamford at the Criterion Bar (in London) and explained his problem. Stamford told him that he know someone on the same situation, a man named Sherlock Holmes. They both went to the St. Bartholomew's hospital to meet this Sherlock Holmes...
Where Holmes and Watson live?
Holmes and Watson lived together at 221b Baker Street , West End, London.
Watson, who married, had to quit Baker Street several times (see Canon:Chronologies ). But Holmes lived here from 1881 (installation of the two men) until 1903 (date when he retired in Sussex). Many debates has been raised about this address : the location of the 221, the meaning of the "b", the layout of the appartment, the windows, Mrs Hudson, etc.
Today, there is a Sherlock Holmes museum at the 221 Baker Street, where they recreated the sitting-room and chambers... Museum website
Is Sherlock Holmes dead?
For some sherlockians, Sherlock Holmes is still alive.
The 3 main theories are :
During his retiring in Sussex, Sherlock Holmes worked on Bee Culture. He would have followed a royal jelly regime which would have increased his life expectancy until now.
During his trip to Tibet, Sherlock Holmes would have drink an elixir of youth given by the Dalaï-Lama.
His obituary has never been published in The Times.
What is the Great Hiatus?
The Great Hiatus is the period from may 1891 to april 1894 (according to William Stuart Baring-Gould chronology) when everyone, even Watson, thought Holmes dead.
In The Adventure of the Final Problem , Sherlock Holmes fought to death with Professor Moriarty at the top of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. They both fell in the falls. Holmes and Moriarty was dead. But Holmes will come back several years later in The Adventure of the Empty House .
Did Sherlock Holmes receive the French Legion of Honour?
Yes. In The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez , Watson tells us that "the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin - an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks from the French President and the Order of the Legion of Honour."
The French president at this time (1894) was Jean-Pierre Casimir-Perier. Researches has been made by the french sherlockians of the Sherlock Holmes Society of France in 1993 in the archives of the "Musée de la Légion d'honneur". In the section "Foreign dignitaries", they found a "S. Holmes" dated 1909. THey still have to find why the dates are not matching.
Did Sherlock Holmes write books?
Yes. Here is the list:
Books he wrote :
and more...
Did Sherlock Holmes play music?
Sherlock Holmes played violon. He had purchased a Stradivarius which was worth at least five hundred guineas, at a jew broker's in Tottenham Court Road for fifty-five shillings. ( CARD )
Watson said "My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit." ( REDH )
What is the V.R.?
Watson told that when Sherlock Holmes was in one of his queer humours would sit in an arm-chair, with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V.R. (Victoria Regina) done in bullet-pocks. ( MUSG )
Did Sherlock Holmes meet Jack the Ripper?
Jack the Ripper (serial killer who terrorized the East End of London in 1888) and Sherlock Holmes are the two most famous characters of the Victorian era. If Holmes participated to the enquiry of the murders, Watson never recounted it in the Canon . As the killer has never been arrested, all hypothesis are allowed... Some even think that the two men are in fact only one!
Several literary and cinema writers have already wrote some meeting between the two men:
Movie in 1979, Murder by Decree , by Bob Clark
Novel in 1984, The Return of Moriarty, by John Gardner
Novel in 1995, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, by Michael Dibdin
What is the difference between induction and deduction?
Definition of Deduction : A process of reasoning or concluding from the general to the particular or specific.
Definition of Induction : A process of reasoning in which individual facts are used to arrive at a general statement or conclusion.
Thus, Sherlock Holmes is using induction.
Sherlock Holmes and animals?
A giant rat of Sumatra : A giant rat mentioned in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire .
A remarkable worm : A worm said to be unknown to science mentioned in The Problem of Thor Bridge .
Why 27th july 1880 is an important date?
Watson was attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. Then he was removed from his brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom he served at the fatal battle of Maiwand on 2th july 1880. There, he was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. He should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, his orderly, who threw him across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing him safely to the British lines.
Without Murray, Watson would be dead and there would never have Sherlock Holmes stories, so the 27th july should be celebrated by any sherlockians.
Did Sherlock Holmes have French origins?
Yes, Sherlock Holmes was the grand-son of the sister of the French painter Vernet. ( GREE )
How many times Watson has been married?
The exact number is not sure. Sherlockian experts have to work on debatables chronologies which have different conclusions. At least, two marriages are sure.
In The Sign of Four (1888), Watson met Mary Morstan (the Sherlock Holmes ' client) and they married at the end of the story. Mary died between 1891 and 1893. Then, in The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (1903), Holmes said that Watson had left Baker Street to live with his wife.
Any other allusion to Watson's wife are controversial issues because we don't know if it concerns Mary or other woman.
What means "b" in the address "221b Baker Street"?
The signification of "b" is not sure.
Some think it has the same meaning than in France, the "b" is a new building inserted between 221 and 222.
And some think it means the appartment (appartment "a" and appartment "b") or the floor. But in these cases it is erroneous to write "221b" in the front door on the building.
What means the "H." of "John H. Watson"?
We don't know. Nothing is said about it in the Canon .
The British writer Dorothy Sawyers (1893-1957) proposed an interesting hypothesis. She thought it could be "Hamish", which is the scottish equivalent of "James". In The Man with the Twisted Lip , Mrs. Watson called his husband : James.
The cliches
Illustration by Sidney Paget (1891)
No. The calabash pipe was only introduced in England after the Boer war, meaning after The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes .
This curved pipe became the symbol of the detective silhouette after the William Gillette performance in his 1899 play and 1916 movie . While acting he couldnt speak with a straight pipe so he was using a curved pipe.
Did Sherlock Holmes wear a McFarlane and a deerstalker?
Illustration by Sidney Paget (1892)
Here are the descriptions of the Sherlock Holmes' outfits when he is travelling in countryside:
his ear-flapped travelling-cap ( SILV )
his long grey travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap ( BOSC )
his tweed suit and cloth cap ( HOUN )
There is no more precise description.
The illustrator Sidney Paget (1860-1908), when he illustrated these 3 stories, made the choice to understand it as a deerstalker and a MacFarlane with a hood.
Anyway, these were travel and countryside clothings. As Watson said: "In his tweed suit and cloth cap he looked like any other tourist upon the moor...". Sherlock Holmes would never wear these clothes in London, and even less at the Opera like in we could see in some movies.
The Granada series with Jeremy Brett is probably the most faithfull adaptation of the canonical description (cloth cap). See photo below:
Was Sherlock Holmes misogynistic?
No. Holmes never said he hate women. He said that sentiments or emotions could trouble his perfect reasoning. In The Sign of Four , Holmes told to Watson "I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment."
In many cases, Holmes showed consideration and gentleness to the female clients.
Did Sherlock Holmes ever say "Elementary, my dear Watson"?
Sherlock Holmes often said his reasonning is "Elementary" and he often told to Watson "My Dear Watson". But never both in the same phrase.
Oh, this is elementary, my dear Watson was first used by William Gillette in his 1899's play and can be heard in the 1916 movie Sherlock Holmes .
Was Sherlock Holmes really infallible?
No. Sherlock Holmes has already been beaten or outwitted :
In The Adventure of the Yellow Face , Holmes is completely wrong in his conclusions.
In The Five Orange Pips , Holmes did not succeed to save his client... He was murdered.
The Sherlockians
Who are the sherlockians?
The Sherlockians are people fond of Sherlock Holmes and his universe. They are playing The Game called the Sherlockiana . They like to think that Sherlock Holmes was a real person and do some serious studies like he was an historic personnality.
More about Sherlockiana...
What is the Sherlockiana?
The literary activities of the sherlockians is called the Sherlockiana. The study is limited to the Sherlock Holmes saga in the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including all the characters appearing the stories (their lives, their activities, the places where they live, etc). The sherlockiana is practised by writing articles, studies or conferences (serious or humorous) on the most diverse topics around Sherlock Holmes and his universe.
More about Christopher Morley...
What is the BSI and the SHSL?
B.S.I. are the initials of The Baker Street Irregulars which is the first American sherlockian society created in 1934. In the Canon , the Baker Street irregulars are the young boys of the London streets who occasionally helped Sherlock Holmes in his investigations.
S.H.S.L. stands for the Sherlock Holmes Society of London which is the first British sherlockian society created in 1934 as well but a few months later than the BSI.
More about the Baker Street Irregulars...
What is a scion society?
A Scion Society is a sherlockian society who take the BSI as model for their functionning and declares themselves an affiliate of the BSI, even if the BSI doesn't recognizes them officially.
The Stories
What is the "Canon"?
The Canon is the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories (4 novels and 56 short stories) written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle between 1887 and 1927.
The stories written by other authors are not canonical and can't be used for Sherlockian studies. Even those written by Adrian Conan Doyle , the son of Arthur Conan Doyle. All these stories are called pastiches.
Which are the best Sherlock Holmes stories?
Everyone has his own opinion. But if you want others opinion, here is two top lists from trustworthy people:
According to Conan Doyle himself
What is an "Untold Story"?
An " untold story " is a case mentioned by Watson in the Canon but never told nor published.
For example, in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire , Sherlock Holmes told to Watson : "'Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,' said Holmes, in a reminiscent voice. 'It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.'" The story of the Giant Rat of Sumatra is an "untold story".
List of untold stories...
What is "The Strand Magazine"?
The Strand Magazine is a famous British monthly magazine where many Sherlock Holmes stories have been published for the first time between 1891 and 1927.
The Adaptations
Which was the first sherlockian Cinema movie?
The first sherlockian cinema movie is an American short of 30 seconds entitled: " Sherlock Holmes Baffled ". Produced by "The American Mutoscope and Biograph" and directed by Arthur Marvin . The actor who played Sherlock Holmes is unknown. The movie was released on 26 april 1900. It tells the story of a burglar who appears and disappears like magic in the Sherlock Holmes' living-room.
More about Sherlock Holmes cinema movies...
Which was the first sherlockian TV movie?
The first sherlockian TV movie is an American movie entitled: " The Three Garridebs " aired in 1937 on NBC Television New York. Directed by Robert Palmer . Holmes is played by Louis Hector et Watson by William Podmore .
List of Sherlock Holmes TV movies...
Which was the first sherlockian Play?
The first sherlockian play was a British parody of 1893 entitled " Under the Clock " by Seymour Hicks and Charles Brookfield. Holmes was played by Charles Brookfield .
List of Sherlock Holmes plays...
Which was the first sherlockian Radio adaptation?
The first sherlockian radio show is dated 1930. The show from American WEAF-NBC aired 30 minutes of " The Adventure of the Speckled Band " with William Gillette as Holmes and Leigh Lowell as Watson.
List of Sherlock Holmes radio shows...
How many times Sherlock Holmes appeared on screen?
Sherlock Holmes is the character who has been the most brought to the screen, as early as the cinema invention. More than 260 movies have been found. It's more than Dracula, Frankenstein, Napoléon or Jesus Christ. However, all the movies are not faithfull adaptations of the stories. Most are pastiches or parodies.
Which where the main Sherlock Holmes' performers?
The most famous performers are:
Cinema
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Which fruit is the principal ingredient of the traditional pudding 'Brown Betty'? | Apple Betty Recipe - Allrecipes.com
WILLIAMSRUS
12/16/2005
Easy and soooo good. I always get rave reviews when I make this dish. Don't slice the apples too thin though or they end up too mushy.
IREALLYHATECOOKING
9/6/2002
super delicious. This tastes mighty fine. And so easy to make too. (ps substitute some brown sugar for the white and it will taste even better.) Still the best recipie around!
SASHA
5/7/2007
I have fixed this recipe a couple of times and everyone loves it. The only thing different I used 1/4 C.less sugar and used 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar.Also added 15 min. baking time.
babs
9/22/2006
EXCELLENT!!! i used a Cuisinart to slice those apples simply, uniform, and thin... it also whips up the crumbly topping nicely. I used 1/2 C brown sugar and 1/4 white. I added 1/2 t vanilla to...
mebyrne
9/16/2002
This recipe was a last minute find and what a find! I made it for my church choir's annual "Welcome Back From Summer Break" picnic and it received many, many compliments. To those of you who a...
Sah Bear
5/6/2007
OMG brilliant. I followed some of the other review recommendation and did half brown half white sugar and it was absolutley fantastic. My fiance and i just couldn't help ourselves and ate it all...
Pam Witzig
11/26/2006
I wanted to try a recipe for an antique "brown betty" baking dish I got for a gift. This is quite good. I made it twice. Both times using half brown sugar. The second time I added 1/8 tsp. clove...
BAYLENE421
7/19/2002
AMAZING! I peeled the apples first, doubled the recipe to make two, and used half white and half brown sugar. My husband could not get enough, it was great and really easy.
FAILE819
2/10/2006
I'm not giving this recipe a terrible rating because I'm sure I must've done something wrong to get the results I did. Okay flavor, really BAD presentation. I tried to about double everything ...
| Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment |
In the film Avatar, what is the name of the paradise-like planet on which most of the action takes place? | Rustic Fruit Desserts: Cobblers, Grunts, Buckles, and Bettys
By Vanessa Greaves
Fresh fruit cobblers and all their variations match fruit pies fork to fork in terms of flavor. Easier to prepare and faster to bake than pies, crisps and cobblers are the perfect showcase for seasonal fruits. After that, it’s hard to find consensus on how to make one because there are many branches on the cobbler family tree, some more familiar than others. Top fruit with biscuits or sink it in batter? Sprinkle with sweet crumbs or what? As it turns out, everyone’s right. Despite their differences, they’re all cobblers in the end. Here’s how to recognize a few of the more whimsically named. You know, just in case you meet one for dessert.
And how cool will you look when you can tell one from the other?
Fresh Cherry Cobbler | Photo by Doughgirl8
Cobblers
Most bakers agree a cobbler is a rustic fruit dessert with roots in colonial America. Simple to make, these easy desserts are covered with a pastry lattice, or sticky biscuit dough dropped by spoonfuls over fruit, which looks like the cobblestones of an old street.
Best Apple Crumble
Grunt
Sweetened fruit is stewed under batter or dumplings, typically on the stovetop in a cast iron skillet. The odd name might refer to the guttural sound the fruit makes as steam escapes through the thick topping. Commonly found in New England and Canada’s Maritime provinces, grunts and slumps (see below) are thought to be the closest early British colonials could come to recreating their traditional steamed puddings.
Cape Breton Blueberry Grunt | Photo by Deb C
Slump
Plum Slump via Boulder Locavore
Similar to a grunt, but often called a slump in some regions because of how the batter or dumplings collapse while cooking.
Buckle
This dessert is all about batter topped with fruit. As it bakes, the batter rises around the fruit to form a cake with an uneven, or buckled, surface. Buckles are often topped with streusel-like crumbs or nuts.
Blueberry Boy Bait | Photo by pomplemousse
Similar to a buckle. This vintage recipe was named by a 15-year-old contestant in a 1950s bake-off. And that’s just adorable.
Brown Betty or Apple Brown Betty
Honey Rhubarb Brown Betty via Kitchen Treaty
One of the first documented apple desserts in the United States, this colonial hit remains a nostalgic favorite, especially in autumn apple season. Theories abound as to the origin of its name, but none are conclusive. A typical Brown Betty is made with apples layered between a mixture of sweetened bread crumbs, butter, and brown sugar, which is then baked until the fruit is tender and the crumb topping becomes crispy.
Rhubarb Betty
Sonker
This cleverly named cobbler variation is a native of North Carolina, specifically Surry and Wilkes counties. While the dish includes fruit and batter or biscuits, this highly regional dish is interpreted differently from family to family. All agree, however, that it must be served with a thick, sweet, milky dip. No one, though, knows exactly how it got its name.
Blackberry Sonker via Lottie + Doof
Pandowdy
Baked with a batter topping that is broken and tucked down into the fruit while it cooks. The name is thought to come from its unadorned, or dowdy, presentation.
Apple Pandowdy via Revolutionary Pie
More Recipes for Cobblers & Their Relatives
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Who was the original presenter of TV's Question Time? | BBC News - Question Time - About the programme
About the programme
David Dimbleby has hosted the programme since the mid 1990s
In the years since it was first broadcast on 25 September 1979, Question Time has become something of a national institution, offering British voters a unique opportunity to quiz top decision-makers on the events of the day.
David Dimbleby is the current host of the programme, building on the authority and approachability of his predecessors, Sir Robin Day and Peter Sissons.
Each year, some 30,000 members of the public apply to join the debate by being in the studio audience.
The panels are drawn from significant figures in politics as well as industry, the media and entertainment.
But at the heart of Question Time is the audience - both in the studio and at home.
Programme recording
All the questions are chosen from those suggested by the TV studio audience who each suggest a question when they arrive for the recording.
A handful are chosen and those selected get to ask the question to camera on the programme. The politicians are not told what questions to expect, but they know to be well prepared on the main political stories of the day and of the week.
The programme is recorded in front of a live audience from around 2030 each Thursday.
The reasons for not broadcasting live at 2235 are to limit inconvenience to spectators and guests - enabling them to appear on the programme at locations across the country and still return to their homes at a reasonable hour - and therefore maximise the number of leading politicians and political commentators willing to take part.
The recording is done in a single take, precisely as if it were broadcast live. Some exchanges occasionally have to be edited out for legal or taste/decency reasons.
Any text messages sent in when the programme goes out at 2235 are live responses to the guests' remarks as they are broadcast. The subsequent text exchanges on Ceefax and red button are also live. Guests are not warned in advance about questions to be asked.
The programme is also available for everyone on the internet in the UK. You can watch each programme by clicking on the Previous Episodes link on the top left-hand side of the page.
For the television audience, live subtitles are available. For analogue TV, these can be found on Ceefax page 888.
Subtitles are also available on all digital TV platforms. Use your remote control to make them appear: press the Subtitles button if there is one, or go to the set-up menu and select 'Subtitles' (usually found under 'Languages').
JOIN THE QUESTION TIME DEBATE
Text your comments to 83981
Read comments on Ceefax and red button page 155
Text debate
You can take part in the debate during the programme by sending us a text message. The number is 83981.
A selection of viewers' comments appear during the programme on Ceefax and red button page 155, which allows you to continue watching the programme while messages appear across the foot of your TV screen.
Also you can find out who is on the panel as well as the topic of the question under debate.
Each week, the programme receives up to 5,000 viewer comments.
A team of journalists at TV Centre sorts and selects messages as they arrive and publishes as many of them as possible.
Because of the time delay between sending a text message and it arriving on the BBC's computers, the programme is usually under way for a few minutes before the first text comments appear on screen.
Please note, the BBC reserves the right to edit your messages.
Twitter debate
Recently, another live debate has developed around the programme on Twitter, the micro-blogging site.
Twitterers exchange messages live during the programme by inserting the hashtag #bbcqt in their messages.
Unlike the texting platform, the Twitter debate is neither run nor moderated by the BBC.
You can also follow messages from the programme on its Twitter account: @bbcquestiontime.
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After the Conquest who was the fist Welshman to occupy the English throne? | BBC Question time first ever intro & question blooper 70s - YouTube
BBC Question time first ever intro & question blooper 70s
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Uploaded on Sep 25, 2009
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What chain of restaurants was founded in Guiseley, Yorkshire, in the 1920s? | A higher plaice | The Caterer
A higher plaice
Thursday, February 15th 1996, 0:00
Thursday, February 15th 1996, 0:00
The rise and rise of Russell Scott, Harry Ramsden’s chief executive, is charted by Andrew Moody
High achiever seems to be Russell Scott’s middle name. Seven years ago he scooped a Caterer & Hotelkeeper Acorn Award for his work in developing Whitbread restaurants in Germany.
Now, at 35, he is chief executive UK of fish-and-chip restaurant operator Harry Ramsden’s, one of the youngest in the country to hold such a position. And although he was only appointed to this post in August, he already has big plans for the traditional 68-year-old Yorkshire company.
He wants to embark on an expansion of Harry Ramsden’s 16-restaurant chain. It already sports outlets in cities as far apart as Dublin, Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia. The recent link with Compass will doubtless see this expansion build up a considerable head of steam in the coming years. A minimum international target of 15 outlets within five years has been set.
Within the UK, his main aim is to be in the south of England, which apart from an operation at Heathrow Airport and a fledgling outlet in Bournemouth, is still uncharted territory for Ramsden’s.
The plan is to open 10 restaurants around the M25 motorway in the next three years at a cost of £20m. Target locations include Croydon, Bromley, Brighton, Reading and Oxford.
The Ramsden’s concept is not just that of fish and chips; it is built around northern high-tea fare of the inter-war years, typified also by other Yorkshire operators such as Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms.
It was founded in 1928 in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, by the eponymous Harry Ramsden, uncle of Sooty entertainer Harry Corbett. The Guiseley restaurant is now the only one wholly owned by Harry Ramsden’s as the company went public in 1989. The other 15 outlets are joint-venture franchises, with the parent group retaining 20-49% control.
Before the expansion south, the group is to open a restaurant in Belfast this month and more international units in Singapore and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, later this year. Under the deal with Compass, a rush of Harry Ramsden’s are also likely to sprout up in UK airports in the near future.
Ramsden’s places great faith in replicating its Guiseley offer wherever it goes in the world, with fish and potatoes always shipped in by its usual suppliers. This backfired at its Hong Kong opening, however, when the first consignment of fish went off and was left for the cats to eat on the harbourside.
Scott left school at 17 with an A level in computer science and began a career as an engineering apprentice.
After being made redundant, he became a trainee manager for the then burgeoning McDonald’s hamburger chain in 1980, where he rose to be a senior operations supervisor.
He then joined Whitbread, where in the late 1980s he was responsible for the roll-out of restaurants across Europe and the absorption of the recently acquired German chain Churrasco.
He moved on to be operations director of Whitbread Berni Inns and leapt to Ramsden’s in 1992. He joined as group operations director and he is now chief executive UK.
“My friends raised their eyebrows at the move but they don’t now,” he says.
Scott is overseeing a number of developments this year, including a fish-and-chip museum at Guiseley just in time for the coach-loads of visitors this summer.
It will chart the history of what is an adopted British delicacy – the dish originated as east European peasant food.
Some suggest that Ramsden’s might be knocked off its perch by Leeds-based Bryan’s, run by millionairess Jan Fletcher, which is set to open in York this year.
“Despite their expansion plans, they are still very local and unknown outside this area, so we don’t see them as direct competition,” Scott says.
His preoccupation will, instead, be restaurant expansion, not easy in a market where competition for suitable sites is now intense, with 11,000 restaurants set to open this year. “Meeting land prices is the main difficulty at the moment,” Scott says.
And he adds: “We have so far built big 200-seat restaurants, but there is obviously room for 100-150 seaters as well,” he says.
More Archive news
| Harry Ramsden's |
By what name in literature is Delores Hayes better known? | Harry Ramsden's Set for Expansion Under New Owner /PR Newswire UK/
See more news releases in Food & Beverages | Restaurants | Leisure & Tourism | Acquisitions, Mergers and Takeovers
Harry Ramsden's Set for Expansion Under New Owner
LONDON, January 20 /PRNewswire/ -- As fish and chips celebrate their 150th birthday, the world's most famous fish and chip shop chain, Harry Ramsden's, has today been acquired by a leading UK food and restaurant entrepreneur in a deal that's set to create jobs, provide a springboard for expansion and revitalise this iconic brand.
The deal comes less than a year after the new owner, Ranjit Boparan of Boparan Ventures Limited, rescued the flagging Fishworks restaurant chain, bucking the recent trend of restaurant failures by turning the business into a thriving success under CEO Marija Simovic and her team. And, this new acquisition comes with ambitious plans to take Britain's longest established restaurant chain to a whole new level of success.
"Harry Ramsden's is a great British institution and we want to put it back on the map by focusing on the fundamental basics of superb service, exceptional value and, most importantly, the very best tasting fish and chips you can buy", said Mr. Boparan. "And, we're planning to open a further 100 locations within the next 5 years and expect to create around 600 new jobs, taking care to ensure that customers are guaranteed the same consistent quality at every single store".
Founded in 1928, there are currently 36 restaurants and takeaways within the Harry Ramsden business including the largest fish and chip shop in the world in Guiseley, Leeds.
At 43, Ranjit Boparan is one of the UK's most successful self-made young entrepreneurs, owning a number of businesses in the food sector, responsible for over 6,000 employees worldwide and combined annual sales approaching GBP1 billion.
Notes: - As well as Fishworks and now Harry Ramsden's, Ranjit Boparan owns a number of successful businesses in the food sector including international poultry processor 2 Sisters Food Group - The new CEO of Harry Ramsden's is Marija Simovic, who will also continue to oversee Fishworks. Marija is a 20-year veteran of the food industry, mainly in various Board Director roles at YUM, the world's largest restaurant company - Harry Ramsden started selling fish and chips from a wooden hut in Guiseley, West Yorkshire in 1928 and his secret recipe is still used today - The UK has an estimated 10,500 fish and chip shops in a market worth around GBP1.2bn. On any Friday, they account for one in five takeaways. One in six UK adults enjoys fish and chips at least once a week, making it the nation's favourite takeaway - Fish and chips are the healthy choice, with typically a third fewer calories than other popular takeaways. A fish supper has approximately three times less fat than chicken tikka masala with rice and an average serving contains more than double the fibre found in a typical serving of brown rice or a bowl of porridge.
For further media enquiries, please contact: +44(0)845-612-5733
SOURCE Harry Ramsden's
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What style of jazz was pioneered by 'Dizzie' Gillespie and Thelonius Monk? | Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Kai Winding - The Giants Of Jazz at Discogs
Allen's Alley (Be Bop Tune)
8:23
| Bebop |
In the Roman army, what name was given to an overhead screen of overlapping shields, used by troops in close formation? | Thelonious Monk: In His Own Style | | My Piano Riffs
Thelonious Monk: In His Own Style
October 29, 2009 admin Jazz For You 0
Thelonious Monk Quartet’s 1963 album on Columbia Records.
Playing and Performance Style
Thelonious Monk is always mentioned with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie as a founder of modern jazz, but Monk’s style is not at all like the other musicians of his time. Unusual approaches to harmony, melody, and rhythm give Monk a particular asymmetry that continues to be a heavy influence on the music scene.
Many of Monk’s harmonic ideas were influenced by Art Tatum, whose chords were strengthened by the use of varied voicings, added notes, passing chords and substitutions. While Parker and Gillespie liked to hear these types of chord sequences as background for their solos, Monk seems to have taken Tatum’s approach to another level. By using uncommon substitutions and displacing the harmonic rhythm, Monk’s chords have a sense of deliberate conflict. Some people speculate that a reason for his sour harmonies are a result of early attempts at playing stride when his hands were still too small to hit a clean octave.
Monk’s artistic vision was very strong. He knew exactly what he wanted to play and how he wanted to play it. His playing was so unique and so self-contained that many jazz musicians and listeners didn’t know what to make of it. Many bebop players of Monk’s time were playing fast, smooth rhythms, trying to fit in the maximum number of notes. Monk, in contrast, embraced space and simplicity in his playing and was able to outline his pieces with a minimal amount of notes. His playing sounded rough and angular in comparison to someone like his friend Bud Powell. It took nearly a generation for Monk’s more obscure pieces to become a regular part of jazz repertoire.
Monk was indeed eccentric, both in his playing and social habits. He made no distinction between seriousness and humor in his musical statements, and critics easily dismissed him. During interviews he seemed aloof and would often go for days without speaking to a soul. He was criticized for dressing unusually, wearing strange hats, eyeglasses and topcoats (even when indoors).
During gigs, Monk often got up and danced while the rest of the band was playing. “…he would rise from the piano to perform his Monkish dance. It is always the same. His feet stir in a soft shuffle, spinning him slowly in small circles. His head rolls back until hat brim meets collar, while with both hands he twists his goatee into a sharp black scabbard. His eyes are hooded with an abstract sleepiness, his lips are pursed in a meditative O,†describes Barry Farrell in his 1964 Time Magazine article.
Some suggest that Monk’s dancing was almost as great as his writing or playing. When asked about it, Monk replied, “I get tired of sitting at the piano. I can dig the rhythm better.†The media had a tendency to report on his bizarre habits more frequently than his musical endeavors.
Each of Monk’s compositions have a personality that can be difficult for a perfomer to bring out, despite their seemingly simple qualities. He was an absolute master of the AABA form. Some of his contributions include : ‘Ask Me Now’, ‘Little Rootie Tootie’, ‘Evidence’, ‘Rhythm-A-Ning’, and ‘Well You Needn’t’.
Monk didn’t give much instruction or direction to his band, and musicians sometimes had a hard time following. So complicated are some of Monk’s space-filled, harmonically advanced compositions that very few musicians are able to truly represent them. Orrin Keepnews, from an interview on NPR explains, “…the problem that musicians had, right along with me, is that this was incredibly difficult music and Monk was a man who I believe sincerely did not understand that it was difficult music.â€
COMPOSITION ANALYSIS
‘ROUND MIDNIGHT (1947)
Monk composed this well-known jazz ballad when he was in his teens. The version I have included is based on his 1947 Blue Note recording, as transcribed by Lionel Grigson. He notes the following alterations from the recording:
“1) The overlapping alto sax and trumpet phrases of the recorded intro have been replaced by a single top line, above the piano part as played. Bars 7 and 8 of the intro a double bass break.
2) The theme, taken by piano, is given as played, but th harmony parts played by trumpet and sax have been omitted. As played by Monk, the theme soon turn into a paraphrase/improvisation. An ‘average’ version of the melody has been added as a top line above the piano part for comparison.
3) The recording finishes, oddly, with an 8-bar piano solo after the theme. Empty staves and chord symbols have been added to make up a full chorus.
4) This version is rounded off with the coda used in various non-Monk recordings of ‘Round Midnight, e.g. those by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. (This coda may be by Gillespie rather than Monk).â€
Original Key: Eb minor
Form: AABA 32 bars (8+8+8+8) plus intro
Tonality: Primarily minor, with a parallel major tonic chord at the end of A2 and B.
Movement: A mixture of arpeggiation, leaps, and chromatic movement in both direction
Harmonic Analysis
Intro: Gm-Fm-Ebm descending progression.
There is a segment of the intro melody that bares a striking resemblance to Dizzy Gillespie’s solo in ‘I Can’t Get Started.’ (Ken Burns Jazz Series, track 4, 2:38). It’s possible that the melody was a common riff of the period, or perhaps it was borrowed from an even older song. Also interesting to note are the overall similariteies in the melodic contour and pacing of these two compositions. See index.
The initial harmonic progression is i – vi – ii7 – V7. The next two measures are unique; the progression leads to a brief key change to Ab (subdominant). This modulation provides some nice descending guide-tones. The progression is Bm7- E7 – Bbm7 – Eb7. The Bm7 and the E7 are upper embellishments of the V7 – I7 (V7 of IV).
The B-section sounds more confusing than it is. It’s based on a vi7(b5) – II7 – V7 progression. There is a tritone sub for the II7 so that the bass line can descend chromatically. This repeats twice then continues down.
On the ending of A2, Monk has condensed the harmonic rhythm, most likely so that he has room to resolve to Eb in measure 16. This play on compression and expansion is a common trait in his compositional style. It’s also evident in the melody of ‘Straight, No Chaser,’ and the rhythm in ‘Blue Monk.’
The resolution at the end of the B-section is an Eb major chord, or a “Picardy third†even though the previous theme has been minor. This is a common technique used in songwriting that dates back as far as the Renaissance. We see the Eb major again in measure 21, beats 3 & 4. In addition to making the end of the B-section sound more significant, it blurs the relationship between major and minor.
In measure 24, beats 3 & 4, the chords could be perceived as part of Eb major or Eb melodic minor, another example of Monk blurring major and minor.
Melodic Analysis
The melody in the first bar outlines a Bb-suspended chord.
Measure 3 outlines an Ebm7 with an added 6. The melodic contour of these two bars is the same, which is characteristic of Monk.
Measure 7, beats 1 & 2 make use of unstable tritones against the root note. In measure 8, things stabilize: the root and melody note are the same, emphasizing the resolution.
This whole pattern occurs again at the beginning of the B-section. The melody dances around the diminished 5th interval in measures 17 and 19. Both approach the root by [m7-3-R], but the second one descends to the root instead of going up. Monk likes to recycle melodic material.
The last 2 bars of A2 are different than than A1. Measures 15 &16 seem like inserted bonus material, delaying the measures we were expecting. The B-section then uses the missing end scraps from A2 as the beginning of the bridge, except that the first two beats have shifted rhythm.
The 32nd notes blooming in the accompaniment are most likely a result of Monk’s style and skill. His playing experience developed into a compositional tool.
Rhythmic Analysis
The rhythm in this piece is more song-like than the majority of Monk’s music. It utilizes repeated rhythmic fragments which gives the listener something predictable to grab onto. The rhythm seems to alternate between two contrasting feels: dreamy (due to the rolling triplets) and precise (because of the sixteenth notes on beat 2).
Another recurring pattern used is the long, lilting 32nd note runs to punctuate the phrase endings.
Monk plays incomplete triplets in measure 13, which makes it sound like the piano part is tripping over itself. The horn line, which doesn’t have a strong sense of downbeat itself, is further affected by the accompaniment. All this creates a floating, slightly disorienting feel, yet still maintains a consistent song structure. And then, as consistent with the pattern, the long descending runs slam into a heavy downbeat. (ex. measure 8).
WELL YOU NEEDN’T (1944)
Original Key: F major
| i don't know |
What was the name of the spacecraft in the 1979 film Alien directed by Ridley Scott? | Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd
91
Sir Ridley Scott's epic atmospheric horror chiller space adventure set aboard the Nostromo that features a cast of memorable characters including a badass captain, a pair of wise cracking mechanics, a unique doctor of science, an unlikely heroine, and an alien creature thingy that likes to pop out at the craziest times. Deep sleep. Dallas's beard. Distress call. You would think spaceships would have bigger computer screens? The way John Hurt holds a cigarette. Parker's headband. Brett's Hawaiian shirt. Lambert's messy hair. Ash's facial expressions. Can you run in a spacesuit? Brett and Parker are my motherfuckers. Harry Dean Stanton's cigarette lighter. Ripley's sneakers. A pussycat who meows that I actually like. Fuck! The special effects are light years ahead…
31
I can't stay away. Every few months, I find myself called back to the Nostromo to try and figure out what it is about Alien that makes it so perfectly immersive and enjoyable. I haven't come close to being able to definitively state it yet, since Scott and crew do so many marvelous things here, but for this rewatch I focused on a few things that make Alien stand up so high among not only the rest of its sequels, but of a majority of sci-fi, past and present.
Who's on First?
Probably the most fascinating thing about this watch was realizing that Ellen Ripley does not become the primary protagonist until after the hour mark - more than halfway…
46
One of the most original, suspenseful & terrifying films you're ever going to come across, Ridley Scott's breakthrough feature is a masterful blend of imagination, art direction, set design, special effects, unsettling score, perfect cast, terrific performances & quality narration and is an extraordinary achievement in the genre of both horror & science-fiction which today is universally hailed as one of the greatest motion pictures of all time.
Alien follows a seven members crew en-route to Earth on board a huge commercial ship when their journey is interrupted by what appears to be a distress signal from a desolate planet. The crew lands to investigate but discovers a deadly life form which breeds within a human host. And so begins the horror... the…
38
It's incredible to me how well this film has held up purely on aesthetic alone. The production value and set design are beyond any form of words I could ever come up with. For something that came out nearly 40 years ago, it still holds more pleasing visuals than the average popcorn flick.
As for the film itself, I'll be quite honest, I expected it like it a lot less than I actually did. I always heard around town (town in this case being the internet) that this movie was incredibly slow and nothing really happens in it and in others that it was the greatest thing since the discovery of sex.
I expected to fall under the former category…
24
Alien is everything.
Throughout my years as a film-fan, mainly unconsciously, I've searched for another Alien. A film that combines story, character, pacing, effects, cinematography, soundtrack, and direction of a mountainous order into something tangible and real. Films have come close, don't get me wrong, but nothing has touched the cinematic perfection of Ridley Scott's horrific masterwork. Even though Alien has already been made and revered for so long, I still kinda hope, within the realms of my cinephile mindset, that a film will eventually be made that will match Alien.
Yeah....
That won't happen.
Alien, from the first chilling frames, grabs your throat and doesn't let go. Jerry Goldsmith's twisty score and the slowly forming credits immediately set the…
Ash, that transmission... Mother's deciphered part of it. It doesn't look like an S.O.S.
-Ripley
When you get right down to it, Alien is a "B Movie" made with "Triple A Movie" sensibilities. The story in one broad stroke is a crew of people on a ship getting killed off one at a time by a creature. A story doesn't get more "B Movie" then that. I think the problem ended up being that every single person involved with the film wasn't interested in making a "B Movie".
I'm tempted to describe so many things about this movie with the word "genius", and I still feel that way after watching it yet again for the umpteenth time. Everything that expands…
Review by Richard ★★½
I feel like I spent a lot of this film watching people pressing buttons and muttering things to eachother, and whilst I appreciate some level of immersion in realism and detail, the amount of screentime given over to these inconsequential technical moments and shots of the stationary exteriors of spaceship left me a little cold, particularly in the opening half hour. In moments of more moderation, there is a solid, creepy atmosphere achieved, but over the course of the whole film it's more of a dragging characteristic. Also, the overly naturalised dialogue style, in which characters stutter and speak over eachother at points, comes across to me as amateur rather than realistic.
Of course the groundbreaking nature of this film…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
89
On this whatever-th viewing los problemas que tenía con Alien se mantienen. Si bien dije que una vez que muere Dallas la película no alcanza ese punto de gloria, y eso realmente pasa, la peli se mantiene entretenida después. Yo creo que cae definitivamente una vez que mueren Parker y Lambert. Después de eso cualquier tipo de tensión se pierde y cada vez que aparece el bicho le tengo menos miedo. Y además tarda demasiado en wrappear la película, entre que Ripley explota la nave y después el wacho aparece en su navecita. It's all too much.
Eso sí, Alien es probablemente la película más hermosa e.v.e.r. Se podría hacer un album con capturas y parecería de un fotógrafo. Me vuela la cabeza lo moderna que es esta película, por lo menos visualmente. Por qué esta peli se ve tan bien y otras posteriores no pueden holdear up today?
Review by Lyn Jensen ★★★
"Forget the damn cat, Lady!"
Near the end of Alien Sigourney Weaver (as Warrant Officer Ripley) is trying to escape a super-gruesome alien creature that's brought super-gruesome death to her comrades--but she won't leave without rescuing the spaceship's cat, too. The suspense had people yelling "Forget the damn cat, Lady!" at the screen.
Weaver's performance as Ripley is Hollywood legend. She was hastily cast in what was intended as a male role when no man in Hollywood was found to be available for the production schedule. Having her character speak lines intended for a male action hero adds dimension otherwise absent from the script.
Review by Davin Brownell ★★★★★
As good as it gets. Seeing this film on the big screen for the first time was a revelation, every aspect of the film is executed perfectly, from character development to dialogue, from performance to pacing, from practical effects to lighting, from score to cinematography.
It struck me on my second viewing just how funny this movie really is- something that perhaps is sometimes forgotten by those (rightfully) reveling over any other part of this classic.
A must watch.
| Nostromo |
Which part of the human brain coordinates muscles and movement and is also responsible for balance and posture? | Alien | Alien Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
[Source]
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt , Sigourney Weaver , Veronica Cartwright , Harry Dean Stanton , John Hurt , Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto . The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. Dan O'Bannon wrote the screenplay from a story by him and Ronald Shusett , drawing influence from previous works of science fiction and horror. The film was produced through Brandywine Productions and distributed by 20th Century Fox, with producers David Giler and Walter Hill making significant revisions and additions to the script. The titular Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger , while concept artists Ron Cobb and Chris Foss designed the human aspects of the film.
Alien garnered both critical acclaim and box office success, receiving an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright, and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other award nominations. It has remained highly praised in subsequent decades, being inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2002 for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2008 it was ranked as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre by the American Film Institute, and as the thirty-third greatest movie of all time by Empire magazine.
The success of Alien spawned a media franchise of novels, comic books, video games, and toys, as well as three sequel and two prequel films. It also launched Weaver's acting career by providing her with her first lead role, and the story of her character Ripley's encounters with the Alien creatures became the thematic thread that ran through the sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997). The subsequent prequels Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) abandoned this theme in favor of a crossover with the Predator franchise.
Contents
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The commercial towing spaceship Nostromo is on a return trip from Thedus to Earth, hauling a refinery and twenty million tons of mineral ore, and carrying its seven-member crew in stasis. Upon receiving a transmission of unknown origin from a nearby planetoid, the ship's computer awakens the crew. Acting on standing orders from their corporate employers, the crew detaches the Nostromo from the refinery and lands on the planetoid, resulting in some damage to the ship. Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert set out to investigate the signal's source while Warrant Officer Ripley, Science Officer Ash, and Engineers Brett and Parker stay behind to monitor their progress and make repairs.
Dallas, Kane, and Lambert discover that the signal is coming from a derelict alien spacecraft. Inside it they find the remains of a large alien creature whose ribs appear to have been exploded outward from the inside. Meanwhile, the Nostromo's computer partially deciphers the signal transmission, which Ripley determines to be some type of warning. Kane discovers a vast chamber containing numerous eggs, one of which releases a creature that attaches itself to his face. Dallas and Lambert carry the unconscious Kane back to the Nostromo, where Ash allows them inside against Ripley's orders to follow the ship's quarantine protocol. They unsuccessfully attempt to remove the creature from Kane's face, discovering that its blood is an extremely corrosive acid. Eventually the creature detaches on its own and is found dead. With the ship repaired, the crew resume their trip back to Earth.
Kane awakens seemingly unharmed, but during a meal before re-entering stasis he begins to choke and convulse until an alien creature bursts from his chest, killing him and escaping into the ship. Lacking conventional weapons, the crew attempt to locate and capture the creature by fashioning motion trackers, electric prods, and flamethrowers. Brett follows the crew's cat into a large room where the now-fully-grown Alien attacks him and disappears with his body into the ship's air shafts. Dallas enters the shafts intending to force the Alien into an airlock where it can be expelled into space, but it ambushes him. Lambert implores the remaining crew members to escape in the ship's shuttle, but Ripley, now in command, explains that the shuttle will not support four people.
Accessing the ship's computer, Ripley discovers that Ash has been ordered to return the Alien to the Nostromo's corporate employers even at the expense of the crew's lives. Ash attacks her, but Parker intervenes and decapitates him with a blow from a fire extinguisher, revealing Ash to be an android. Before Parker incinerates him, Ash predicts that the other crew members will not survive. The remaining three crew members plan to arm the Nostromo's self-destruct mechanism and escape in the shuttle, but Parker and Lambert are killed by the Alien while gathering the necessary supplies. Ripley initiates the self-destruct sequence and heads for the shuttle with the cat, but finds the Alien blocking her way. She unsuccessfully attempts to abort the self-destruct, then returns to find the Alien gone and narrowly escapes in the shuttle as the Nostromo explodes.
As she prepares to enter stasis, Ripley discovers that the Alien is aboard the shuttle. She puts on a space suit and opens the hatch, causing explosive decompression which forces the Alien to the open doorway. She shoots it with a grappling gun which propels it out, but the gun is yanked from her hands and catches in the closing door, tethering the Alien to the shuttle. It attempts to crawl into one of the engines, but Ripley activates them and blasts the Alien into space. She then puts herself and the cat into stasis for the return trip to Earth.
Cast
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Casting calls and auditions for Alien were held in both New York and London. With only seven human characters in the story, Scott sought to hire strong actors so he could focus most of his energy on the film's visual style. He employed casting director Mary Selway, who had worked with him on The Duellists, to head the casting in the United Kingdom, while Mary Goldberg handled casting in the United States. In developing the story O'Bannon had focused on writing the Alien first, putting off developing the characters for a later draft. He and Shusett had therefore written all of the roles as generic males with a note in the script explicitly stating "The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men or women." This left Scott, Selway, and Goldberg free to interpret the characters as they liked and to cast accordingly. They wanted the Nostromo's crew to resemble working astronauts in a realistic environment, a concept summed up as "truckers in space". According to Scott, this concept was inspired partly by Star Wars, which deviated from the pristine future often depicted in science fiction films of the time.
The cast of Alien. Left to Right: Stanton, Holm, Hurt, Cartwright, Skerritt, Weaver (holding Jones), and Kotto.
The principal cast members of Alien were:
Bolaji Badejo as The Alien , the titular antagonist of the film. A Nigerian design student, Badejo was discovered in a bar by a member of the casting team, who put him in touch with Ridley Scott. Scott believed that Badejo, at 7'2" and with a slender frame, could portray the Alien and look as if his arms and legs were too long to be real, creating the illusion that there could not possibly be a human being inside the costume. Stuntmen Eddie Powell and Roy Scammell also portrayed the Alien in some scenes.
Veronica Cartwright as Lambert , the Nostromo's navigator. Cartwright had previous experience in horror and science fiction films, having acted in The Birds (1963) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). She originally read for the role of Ripley, and was not informed that she had instead been cast as Lambert until she arrived in London for wardrobe. She disliked that the character seemed to be the weakest emotionally, but nevertheless accepted the role: "They convinced me that I was the audience's fears; I was a reflection of what the audience is feeling." Cartwright won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Ian Holm as Ash , the ship's Science Officer who is revealed to be an android under orders to bring the Alien back to the Nostromo's corporate employers. Holm, a character actor who in 1979 had already been in twenty films, was the most experienced actor cast for Alien.
John Hurt as Kane , the Executive Officer who becomes the host for the Alien. Hurt was Scott's first choice for the role but was contracted on a film in South Africa during Alien's filming dates, so Jon Finch was cast as Kane instead. However, Finch became ill during the first day of shooting and was diagnosed with severe diabetes, which had also exacerbated a case of bronchitis. By this point, Hurt was in London, his South African project having fallen through, and he quickly replaced Finch. His performance earned him a nomination for a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Yaphet Kotto as Parker , the Chief Engineer. Kotto was chosen partly to add diversity to the cast and give the Nostromo crew an international flavor.
Tom Skerritt as Dallas , the Captain of the Nostromo. Skerritt had been approached early in the film's development but declined as it did not yet have a director and had a very low budget. Later, when Scott was attached as director and the budget had been doubled, Skerritt accepted the role of Dallas.
Harry Dean Stanton as Brett , the Engineering Technician. Stanton's first words to Scott during his audition were "I don't like sci fi or monster movies." Scott was amused and convinced Stanton to take the role after reassuring him that Alien would actually be a thriller more akin to Ten Little Indians.
Sigourney Weaver as Ripley , the Warrant Officer onboard the Nostromo and chief protagonist of the film. The decision to make the lead character a woman was made by Giler and Hill, who felt that this would help Alien stand out in the otherwise male-dominated genre of science fiction. Weaver, who had Broadway experience but was relatively unknown in film, impressed Scott, Giler, and Hill with her audition. She was the last actor to be cast for the film, and performed most of her screen tests in-studio as the sets were being built. The role of Ripley was Weaver's first leading role in a motion picture, and earned her nominations for a Saturn Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Role.
To assist the actors in preparing for their roles, Ridley Scott wrote several pages of backstory for each character explaining their histories. He filmed many of their rehearsals in order to capture spontaneity and improvisation, and tensions between some of the cast members, particularly towards the less-experienced Weaver, translated convincingly on film as tension between their respective characters.
Film critic Roger Ebert notes that the actors in Alien were older than was typical in thriller films at the time, which helped make the characters more convincing:
[N]one of them were particularly young. Tom Skerritt, the captain, was 46, Hurt was 39 but looked older, Holm was 48, Harry Dean Stanton was 53, Yaphet Kotto was 42, and only Veronica Cartwright at 29 and Weaver at 30 were in the age range of the usual thriller cast. Many recent action pictures have improbably young actors cast as key roles or sidekicks, but by skewing older, Alien achieves a certain texture without even making a point of it: These are not adventurers but workers, hired by a company to return 20 million tons of ore to Earth.
David McIntee, author of Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films, notes that part of the film's effectiveness in frightening viewers "comes from the fact that the audience can all identify with the characters...Everyone aboard the Nostromo is a normal, everyday, working Joe just like the rest of us. They just happen to live and work in the future."
Set design and filming
Edit
Alien was filmed over fourteen weeks from July 5 to October 21, 1978. Principal photography took place at Shepperton Studios in London, while model and miniature filming was done at Bray Studios in Water Oakley. Production time was short due to the film's low budget and pressure from 20th Century Fox to finish on schedule. A crew of over 200 workmen and technicians constructed the three principal sets: The surface of the alien planetoid and the interiors of the Nostromo and derelict spacecraft. Art Director Les Dilley created 1/24th scale miniatures of the planetoid's surface and derelict spacecraft based on Giger's designs, then made moulds and casts and scaled them up as diagrams for the wood and fiberglass forms of the sets. Tons of sand, plaster, fiberglass, rock, and gravel were shipped into the studio to sculpt a desert landscape for the planetoid's surface, which the actors would walk across wearing space suit costumes. The suits themselves were thick, bulky, and lined with nylon, had no cooling systems and, initially, no venting for their exhaled carbon dioxide to escape. Combined with a heat wave, these conditions nearly caused the actors to pass out and nurses had to be kept on-hand with oxygen tanks to help keep them going. For scenes showing the exterior of the Nostromo a 58-foot (18 m) landing leg was constructed to give a sense of the ship's size. Ridley Scott still did not think that it looked large enough, so he had his two sons and the son of one of the cameramen stand in for the regular actors, wearing smaller space suits to make the set pieces seem larger. The same technique was used for the scene in which the crew members encounter the dead alien creature in the derelict spacecraft. The children nearly collapsed due to the heat of the suits, and eventually oxygen systems were added to assist the actors in breathing.
The sets of the Nostromo's three decks were each created almost entirely in one piece, with each deck occupying a separate stage and the various rooms connected via corridors. To move around the sets the actors had to navigate through the hallways of the ship, adding to the film's sense of claustrophobia and realism. The sets used large transistors and low-resolution computer screens to give the ship a "used", industrial look and make it appear as though it was constructed of "retrofitted old technology". Ron Cobb created industrial-style symbols and color-coded signs for various areas and aspects of the ship. The company that owns the Nostromo is not named in the film, and is referred to by the characters as "the company". However, the name and logo of "Weylan-Yutani" appears on several set pieces and props such as computer monitors and beer cans. Cobb created the name to imply a business alliance between Britain and Japan, deriving "Weylan" from the British Leyland Motor Corporation and "Yutani" from the name of his Japanese neighbor. The 1986 sequel Aliens named the company as "Weyland-Yutani", and it has remained a central aspect of the film franchise.
Art Director Roger Christian used scrap metal and parts to create set pieces and props to save money, a technique he employed while working on Star Wars. Some of the Nostromo's corridors were created from portions of scrapped bomber aircraft, and a mirror was used to create the illusion of longer corridors in the below-deck area. Special effects supervisors Brian Johnson and Nick Allder made many of the set pieces and props function, including moving chairs, computer monitors, motion trackers, and flamethrowers. Four identical cats were used to portray Jones, the Nostromo crew's pet. During filming Sigourney Weaver discovered that she was allergic to the combination of cat hair and the glycerin placed on the actors' skin to make them appear sweaty. By removing the glycerin she was able to continue working with the cats.
H. R. Giger designed and worked on all of the alien aspects of the film, which he designed to appear organic and biomechanical in contrast to the industrial look of the Nostromo and its human elements. For the interior of the derelict spacecraft and egg chamber he used dried bones together with plaster to sculpt much of the scenery and elements. Veronica Cartwright described Giger's sets as "so erotic...it's big vaginas and penises...the whole thing is like you're going inside of some sort of womb or whatever...it's sort of visceral". The set with the deceased alien creature, which the production team nicknamed the "space jockey", proved problematic as 20th Century Fox did not want to spend the money for such an expensive set that would only be used for one scene. Ridley Scott described the set as the cockpit or driving deck of the mysterious ship, and the production team was able to convince the studio that the scene was important to impress the audience and make them aware that this was not a B movie. To save money only one wall of the set was created, and the "space jockey" sat atop a disc that could be rotated to facilitate shots from different angles in relation to the actors. Giger airbrushed the entire set and the "space jockey" by hand.
The origin of the jockey creature was not explored in the film, but Scott later theorized that it might have been the ship's pilot, and that the ship might have been a weapons carrier capable of dropping Alien eggs onto a planet so that the Aliens could use the local lifeforms as hosts. In early versions of the script the eggs were to be located in a separate pyramid structure which would be found later by the Nostromo crew and would contain statues and hieroglyphs depicting the Alien reproductive cycle, offering a contrast of the human, Alien, and space jockey cultures. Cobb, Foss, and Giger each created concept artwork for these sequences, but they were eventually discarded due to budgetary concerns and the need to trim the length of the film. Instead the egg chamber was set inside the derelict ship and was filmed on the same set as the space jockey scene; the entire disc piece supporting the jockey and its chair were removed and the set was redressed to create the egg chamber. Light effects in the egg chamber were created by lasers borrowed from English rock band The Who. The band was testing the lasers for use in their stage show in the sound stage next door.
Alien originally was to conclude with the destruction of the Nostromo while Ripley escapes in the shuttle Narcissus. However, Ridley Scott conceived of a "fourth act" to the film in which the Alien appears on the shuttle and Ripley is forced to confront it. He pitched the idea to 20th Century Fox and negotiated an increase in the budget to film the scene over several extra days. Scott had wanted the Alien to bite off Ripley's head and then make the final log entry in her voice, but the producers vetoed this idea as they believed that the Alien had to die at the end of the film.
Special effects and creature design
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The spaceships and planets for the film were shot using models and miniatures. These included models of the Nostromo, its attached mineral refinery, the escape shuttle Narcissus, the alien planetoid, and the exterior and interior of the derelict spacecraft. Visual Effects Supervisor Brian Johnson, supervising modelmaker Martin Bower, and their team worked at Bray Studios, roughly 30 miles (48 km) from Shepperton Studios where principal filming was taking place. The designs of the Nostromo and its attachments were based on combinations of Ridley Scott's storyboards and Ron Cobb's conceptual drawings. The basic outlines of the models were made of wood and plastic, and most of the fine details were added from model kits of battleships, tanks, and World War II bombers. Three models of the Nostromo were made: a 12-inch (30 cm) version for medium and long shots, a 4-foot (1.2 m) version for rear shots, and a 12-foot (3.7 m), 7-short-ton (6.4 t) rig for the undocking and planetoid surface sequences. Scott insisted on numerous changes to the models even as filming was taking place, leading to conflicts with the modeling and filming teams. The Nostromo was originally yellow, and the team filmed shots of the models for six weeks before Johnson left to work on The Empire Strikes Back. Scott then ordered it changed to gray, and the team had to begin shooting again from scratch. He ordered more and more pieces added to the model until the final large version with the refinery required a metal framework so that it could be lifted by a forklift. He also took a hammer and chisel to sections of the refinery, knocking off many of its spires which Bower had spent weeks creating. Scott also had disagreements with lighting technician Denny Ayling over how to light the models.
A separate model, approximately 40 feet (12 m) long, was created for the Nostromo's underside from which the Narcissus would detach and from which Kane's body would be launched during the funeral scene. Bower carved Kane's burial shroud out of wood and it was launched through the hatch using a small catapult and filmed at high speed, then slowed down in editing. Only one shot was filmed using blue screen compositing: that of the shuttle racing past the Nostromo. The other shots were simply filmed against black backdrops, with stars added via double exposure. Though motion control photography technology was available at the time, the film's budget would not allow for it. The team therefore used a camera with wide-angle lenses mounted on a drive mechanism to make slow passes over and around the models filming at 2½ per second, giving them the appearance of motion. Scott added smoke and wind effects to enhance the illusion. For the scene in which the Nostromo detaches from the refinery, a 30-foot (9.1 m) docking arm was created using pieces from model railway kits. The Nostromo was pushed away from the refinery by the forklift, which was covered in black velvet, causing the arm to extend out from the refinery. This created the illusion that the arm was pushing the ship forward. Shots from outside the ship in which the characters are seen through windows moving around inside were filmed using larger models which contained projection screens showing pre-recorded footage.
A separate model was created for the exterior of the derelict alien spacecraft. Matte paintings were used to fill in areas of the ship's interior as well as exterior shots of the planetoid's surface. The surface as seen from space during the landing sequence was created by painting a globe white, then mixing chemicals and dyes onto transparencies and projecting them onto it. The planetoid was not named in the film, but some drafts of the script gave it the name Acheron after the river which in Greek mythology is described as the "stream of woe", a branch of the river Styx, and which forms the border of Hell in Dante's Inferno. The 1986 sequel Aliens named the planetoid as "LV-426", and both names have been used for it in subsequent expanded universe media such as comic books and video games. In Alien the planetoid is said to be located somewhere in the Zeta2 Reticuli system.
Egg and facehugger
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The scene of Kane inspecting the egg was shot during post-production. A fiberglass egg was used so that actor John Hurt could shine his light on it and see movement inside, which was provided by Ridley Scott fluttering his hands inside the egg while wearing rubber gloves. The top of the egg opened via hydraulics, and the innards were made of a cow's stomach and tripe. Initial test shots of the eggs were filmed using hen's eggs, and this footage was used in early teaser trailers. For this reason a hen's egg was used as the primary image for the film's advertising poster, and became a lasting image for the series as a whole rather than the Alien egg that actually appears in the film.
The "facehugger" and its proboscis, which was made of a sheep's intestine, were shot out of the egg using high-pressure air hoses. The shot was acted out and filmed in reverse, then reversed and slowed down in editing to prolong the effect and show more detail. The facehugger itself was the first creature that Giger designed for the film, going through several versions in different sizes before deciding on a small creature with humanlike fingers and a long tail. Dan O'Bannon drew his own version based on Giger's design, with help from Ron Cobb, which became the final version. Cobb came up with the idea that the creature could have a powerful acid for blood, a characteristic that would carry over to the adult Alien and would make it impossible for the crew to kill it by conventional means such as guns or explosives, since the acid would burn through the ship's hull. For the scene in which the dead facehugger is examined, Scott used pieces of fish and shellfish to create its viscera.
Chestburster
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The design of the "chestburster" was inspired by Francis Bacon's 1944 painting Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. Giger's original design resembled a plucked chicken, which was redesigned and refined into the final version seen onscreen. For the filming of the chestburster scene the cast members knew that the creature would be bursting out of Hurt, and had seen the chestburster puppet, but they had not been told that fake blood would also be bursting out in every direction from high-pressure pumps and squibs. The scene was shot in one take using an artificial torso filled with blood and viscera, with Hurt's head and arms coming up from underneath the table. The chestburster was shoved up through the torso by a puppeteer who held it on a stick. When the creature burst through the chest a stream of blood shot directly at Veronica Cartwright, shocking her enough that she fell over and went into hysterics. According to Tom Skerritt: "What you saw on camera was the real response. She had no idea what the hell happened. All of a sudden this thing just came up."[35] The creature then runs off-camera, an effect accomplished by cutting a slit in the table for the puppeteer's stick to go through and passing an air hose through the puppet's tail to make it whip about.
The real-life surprise of the actors gave the scene an intense sense of realism and made it one of the film's most memorable moments. During preview screenings the crew noticed that some viewers would move towards the back of the theater so as not to be too close to the screen during the sequence. In subsequent years the chestburster scene has often been voted as one of the most memorable moments in film. In 2007 the British film magazine Empire named it as the greatest 18-rated moment in film as part of its "18th birthday" issue, ranking it above the decapitation scene in The Omen (1976) and the transformation sequence in An American Werewolf in London (1981).
The Alien
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Giger made several conceptual paintings of the adult Alien before crafting the final version. He sculpted the creature's body using plasticine, incorporating pieces such as vertebrae from snakes and cooling tubes from a Rolls-Royce. The creature's head was manufactured separately by Carlo Rambaldi, who had worked on the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Rambaldi followed Giger's designs closely, making some modifications in order to incorporate the moving parts which would animate the jaw and inner mouth. A system of hinges and cables was used to operate the creature's rigid tongue, which protruded from the main mouth and had a second mouth at the tip of it with its own set of movable teeth. The final head had about nine hundred moving parts and points of articulation. Part of a human skull was used as the "face", and was hidden under the smooth, translucent cover of the head. Rambaldi's original Alien jaw is now on display in the Smithsonian Institution, while in April 2007 the original Alien suit was sold at auction. Copious amounts of K-Y Jelly were used to simulate saliva and to give the Alien an overall slimy appearance. The creature's vocalizations were provided by Percy Edwards, a voice artist famous for providing bird sounds for British television throughout the 1960s and 1970s as well as the whale sounds for Orca: Killer Whale (1977).
For most of the film's scenes the Alien was portrayed by Bolaji Badejo, a Nigerian design student. A latex costume was specifically made to fit Badejo's 7-foot-2-inch (218 cm) slender frame, made by taking a full-body plaster cast of him. Scott later commented that "It's a man in a suit, but then it would be, wouldn't it? It takes on elements of the host – in this case, a man." Badejo attended t'ai chi and mime classes in order to create convincing movements for the Alien. For some scenes, such as when the Alien lowers itself from the ceiling to kill Brett, the creature was portrayed by stuntmen Eddie Powell and Roy Scammell; in that scene a costumed Powell was suspended on wires and then lowered in an unfurling motion.
"I've never liked horror films before, because in the end it's always been a man in a rubber suit. Well, there's one way to deal with that. The most important thing in a film of this type is not what you see, but the effect of what you think you saw."
–Ridley Scott
Scott chose not to show the Alien in full through most of the film, showing only pieces of it while keeping most of its body in shadow in order to heighten the sense of terror and suspense. The audience could thus project their own fears into imagining what the rest of the creature might look like: "Every movement is going to be very slow, very graceful, and the Alien will alter shape so you never really know exactly what he looks like." The Alien has been referred to as "one of the most iconic movie monsters in film history" in the decades since the film's release, being noted for its biomechanical appearance and sexual overtones. Roger Ebert has remarked that "Alien uses a tricky device to keep the alien fresh throughout the movie: It evolves the nature and appearance of the creature, so we never know quite what it looks like or what it can do...The first time we get a good look at the alien, as it bursts from the chest of poor Kane (John Hurt). It is unmistakably phallic in shape, and the critic Tim Dirks mentions its 'open, dripping vaginal mouth.'"
Ash
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For the scene in which Ash is revealed to be an android and has his head knocked off, a puppet was created of the character's torso and upper body which was operated from underneath by a small puppeteer. During a preview screening of the film this scene caused a female usher to faint. In the following scene Ash's head is placed on a table and re-activated; for portions of this scene an animatronic head was made using a face cast of actor Ian Holm. However the latex of the head shrank while drying and the result was not entirely convincing. For the bulk of the scene Holm knelt under the table with his head coming up through a hole and milk, caviar, pasta, and glass marbles were used to show the android's inner workings and fluids.
Music
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The musical score for Alien was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, conducted by Lionel Newman, and performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Ridley Scott had originally wanted the film to be scored by Isao Tomita, but 20th Century Fox wanted a more familiar composer and Goldsmith was recommended by then-President of Fox Alan Ladd, Jr. Goldsmith wanted to create a sense of romanticism and lyrical mystery in the film's opening scenes, which would build throughout the film to suspense and fear. Scott did not like Goldsmith's original main title piece, however, so Goldsmith rewrote it as "the obvious thing: weird and strange, and which everybody loved." Another source of tension was editor Terry Rawlings' choice to use pieces of Goldsmith's music from previous films, including a piece from Freud: The Secret Passion, and to use an excerpt from Howard Hanson's Symphony No.2 ("Romantic") for the end credits.
Scott and Rawlings had also become attached to several of the musical cues they had used for the temporary score while editing the film, and re-edited some of Goldsmith's cues and re-scored several sequences to match these cues and even left the temporary score in place in some parts of the finished film. Goldsmith later remarked that "you can see that I was sort of like going at opposite ends of the pole with the filmmakers of the picture." Nevertheless, Scott praised Goldsmith's score as "full of dark beauty" and "seriously threatening, but beautiful." It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, and a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. The score has been released as a soundtrack album in several versions with different tracks and sequences.
Editing
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Editing and post-production work on Alien took roughly twenty weeks to complete. Terry Rawlings served as Editor, having previously worked with Scott on editing sound for The Duellists. Scott and Rawlings edited much of the film to have a slow pace to build suspense for the more tense and frightening moments. According to Rawlings: "I think the way we did get it right was by keeping it slow, funny enough, which is completely different from what they do today. And I think the slowness of it made the moments that you wanted people to be sort of scared...then we could go as fast as we liked because you've sucked people into a corner and then attacked them, so to speak. And I think that's how it worked." The first cut of the film was over three hours long; further editing trimmed the final version to just under two hours.
One scene that was cut from the film occurred during Ripley's final escape from the Nostromo: she encounters Dallas and Brett who have been partially cocooned by the Alien. O'Bannon had intended the scene to indicate that Brett was becoming an Alien egg while Dallas was held nearby to be implanted by the resulting facehugger. Production Designer Michael Seymour later suggested that Dallas had "become sort of food for the alien creature", while Ivor Powell suggested that "Dallas is found in the ship as an egg, still alive." Scott remarked that "they're morphing, metamorphosing, they are changing into...being consumed, I guess, by whatever the Alien's organism is...into an egg." The scene was cut partly because it did not look realistic enough and partly because it slowed the pace of the escape sequence. Tom Skerritt remarked that "The picture had to have that pace. Her trying to get the hell out of there, we're all rooting for her to get out of there, and for her to slow up and have a conversation with Dallas was not appropriate." The footage was included amongst other deleted scenes as a special feature on the Laserdisc release of Alien, and a shortened version of it was re-inserted into the 2003 "Director's Cut" which was re-released in theaters and on DVD.
Release and reception
"It was the most incredible preview I've ever been in. I mean, people were screaming and running out of the theater."
–Editor Terry Rawlings describing the film's screening in Dallas.
An initial screening of Alien for 20th Century Fox representatives in St. Louis suffered from poor sound in the theater. A subsequent screening in a newer theater in Dallas went significantly better, eliciting genuine fright from the audience. Two theatrical trailers were shown to the public. The first consisted of rapidly changing still images set to some of Jerry Goldsmith's electronic music from Logan's Run. The second used test footage of a hen's egg set to part of Goldsmith's Alien score. The film was previewed in various American cities in the spring of 1979 and was promoted by the tagline "In space no one can hear you scream."
Alien opened in theaters on May 25, 1979. It was rated "R" in the United States, "X" in the United Kingdom, and "M" in Australia. The film had no official premier in the United States, yet moviegoers lined up for blocks to see it at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood where a number of models, sets, and props were displayed outside to promote it during its first run. Religious zealots set fire to the model of the space jockey, believing it to be the work of the devil. Alien did have a formal premiere in the United Kingdom at the Odeon Leicester Square on September 6, 1979, but it did not open widely in Britain until January 13, 1980.
Critical reaction to the film was initially mixed. Some critics who were not usually favorable towards science fiction, such as Barry Norman of the BBC's Film series, were positive about the film's merits. Others, however, were not: Reviews by Variety, Sight and Sound, Vincent Canby and Leonard Maltin were mixed or negative. A review by Time Out said the film was an "empty bag of tricks whose production values and expensive trickery cannot disguise imaginative poverty". H. R. Giger later commented that Alien was a third-rate film, and said that he was secretly glad that he didn't "get a fair mention in the screen credits."
The film was a commercial success, making $78,900,000 in the United States and £7,886,000 in the United Kingdom during its first run. It ultimately grossed $80,931,801 in the United States and $24,000,000 internationally, bringing its total worldwide gross to $104,931,801.
Accolades
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Alien won the 1979 Academy Award for Visual Effects and was also nominated for Best Art Direction (for Michael Seymour, Leslie Dilley, Roger Christian, and Ian Whittaker). It won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Ridley Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Veronica Cartwright, and was also nominated in the categories of Best Actress for Sigourney Weaver, Best Make-up for Pat Hay, Best Special Effects for Brian Johnson and Nick Allder, and Best Writing for Dan O'Bannon. It was also nominated for British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for Best Costume Design for John Mollo, Best Editing for Terry Rawlings, Best Supporting Actor for John Hurt, and Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Role for Sigourney Weaver. It also won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and was nominated for a British Society of Cinematographers award for Best Cinematography for Derek Vanlint, as well as a Silver Seashell award for Best Cinematography and Special Effects at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Jerry Goldsmith's score received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, the Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, and a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.
Merchandising
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Around and shortly after Alien's release in theaters, a number of merchandise items and media were released and sold to coincide with the film. These included a novelization by Alan Dean Foster, in both adult and "junior" versions, which was adapted from the film's shooting script. Heavy Metal magazine published a comic strip adaptation of the film entitled Alien: The Illustrated Story, as well as a 1980 Alien calendar. Two behind-the-scenes books were released in 1979 to accompany the film: The Book of Alien contained many production photographs and details on the making of the film, while Giger's Alien contained much of H. R. Giger's concept artwork for the movie. A soundtrack album was released as an LP featuring selections of Goldsmith's score, and a single of the main theme was released in 1980. A twelve-inch tall model kit of the Alien was released by the Model Products Corporation in the United States and by Airfix in the United Kingdom. Kenner also produced a larger-scale Alien action figure, as well as a board game in which players raced to be first to reach the shuttle pod while Aliens roamed the Nostromo's corridors and air shafts. Official Halloween costumes of the Alien were released for October 1979. Several computer games based on the film were released, but not until several years after its theatrical run.
Sequels
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The success of Alien led 20th Century Fox to finance three direct sequels over the next eighteen years, each by different writers and directors. Sigourney Weaver remained the only recurring actor through all four films, and the story of her character Ripley's encounters with the Aliens became the thematic thread running through the series. James Cameron's Aliens (1986) focused more on action and involved Ripley returning to the planetoid accompanied by marines to confront hordes of Aliens. David Fincher's Alien 3 (1992) had nihilistic tones and found her on a prison planet battling another Alien, ultimately sacrificing herself to prevent her employers from acquiring the creatures. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Alien Resurrection (1997) saw Ripley resurrected through cloning to battle more Aliens even further in the future.
The success of the film series resulted in the creation of a media franchise with numerous novels, comic books, video games, toys, and other media and merchandise appearing over the years. A number of these began appearing under the Alien vs. Predator crossover imprint, which brought the Alien creatures together with the titular Predators of the Predator franchise. The film series eventually followed suit, with Paul W. S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Colin and Greg Strause's Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) abandoning the Ripley character in favor of prequel stories set in the 2000s.
Despite not appearing in either prequel, Sigourney Weaver has expressed interest in reuniting with Ridley Scott to revive her character for another Alien film. In the 2003 commentary track for the Alien DVD included in the Alien Quadrilogy set, she and Scott both speculated on the possibility, with Weaver stating: "There is an appetite for a fifth one, which is something I never expected...it's really hard to come up with a fifth story that's new and fresh...but I have wanted to go back into space...I think outer space adventure is a good thing for us right now, 'cause Earth is so grim...so we've been talking about it, but very generally." Scott remarked that, if the series were to continue, the most logical course would be to explore the origins of the space jockey and the Aliens. Weaver supported this idea, stating that "I think it would be great to go back, because I'm asked that question so many times: 'Where did the Alien come from?' People really want to know in a very visceral way." David Giler stated that he, Walter Hill, and Gordon Carroll, the producers of the first five films in the series, would not be willing to produce another unless it was about the Aliens' homeworld and Weaver was on board (although Hill did return to produce Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem). Weaver, in turn, indicated that she would only return to the franchise if either Scott or James Cameron were directing. Cameron had been working on a story for a fifth Alien film which would explore the origins of the creatures, but ceased work on it when he learned that Fox was pursuing Alien vs. Predator, which he felt would "kill the validity of the franchise". Weaver has continued to express interest in another installment, stating in 2008 that "I would definitely do another if I had a director like Ridley Scott and we had a good idea. Ridley is enthusiastic about it."
In July 2009 20th Century Fox announced that Jon Spaihts had been hired to write a prequel to Alien, with Scott attached to direct. The script was subsequently re-worked by Scott and Damon Lindelof. Titled Prometheus, it went into production in May 2011, scheduled for theatrical release in June 2012. Scott released a statement: "While Alien was indeed the jumping-off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative."
Home video releases
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Alien has been released in many home video formats and packages over the years. The first of these was a seventeen-minute Super-8 version for home projectionists. It was also released on both VHS and Betamax for rental, which grossed it an additional $40,300,000 in the United States alone. Several VHS releases were subsequently sold both singly and as boxed sets. Laserdisc and Videodisc versions followed, including deleted scenes and director commentary as bonus features. A VHS box set containing Alien and the sequels Aliens and Alien 3 was released in facehugger-shaped boxes, including some of the deleted scenes from the Laserdisc editions. When Alien Resurrection premiered in theaters, another set of the first three films was released including a Making of Alien Resurrection tape. A few months later the set was re-released with the full version of Alien Resurrection taking the place of the making-of video. Alien was released on DVD in 1999, both singly and packaged with Aliens and Alien 3 as The Alien Legacy. This set was also released in a VHS version and included a commentary track by Ridley Scott. The first three films of the series have also been packaged as the Alien Triple Pack.
2003 Director's Cut
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"The traditional definition of the term "Director's Cut" suggests the restoration of a director's original vision, free of any creative limitations. It suggests that the filmmaker has finally overcome the interference of heavy-handed studio executives, and that the film has been restored to its original, untampered form. Such is not the case with Alien: The Director's Cut. It's a completely different beast."
–Ridley Scott
In 2003 20th Century Fox was preparing the Alien Quadrilogy DVD box set, which would include Alien and its three sequels. In addition, the set would also include alternate versions of all four films in the form of "special editions" and "director's cuts". Fox approached Ridley Scott to digitally restore and remaster Alien, and to restore several scenes which had been cut during the editing process for inclusion in an expanded version of the film. Upon viewing the expanded version, Scott felt that it was too long and chose to recut it into a more streamlined alternate version:
Upon viewing the proposed expanded version of the film, I felt that the cut was simply too long and the pacing completely thrown off. After all, I cut those scenes out for a reason back in 1979. However, in the interest of giving the fans a new experience with Alien, I figured there had to be an appropriate middle ground. I chose to go in and recut that proposed long version into a more streamlined and polished alternate version of the film. For marketing purposes, this version is being called "The Director's Cut."
The "Director's Cut" restored roughly four minutes of deleted footage while cutting about five minutes of other material, leaving it about a minute shorter than the theatrical cut. Many of the changes were minor, such as altered sound effects, while the restored footage included the scene in which Ripley discovers the cocooned Dallas and Brett during her escape of the Nostromo. Fox decided to release the Director's Cut in theaters, and it premiered on October 31, 2003. The Alien Quadrilogy box set was released December 2, 2003, with both versions of the film included along with a new commentary track featuring many of the film's actors, writers, and production staff, as well as other special features and a documentary entitled The Beast Within: The Making of Alien. Each film was also released separately as a DVD with both versions of the film included. Scott noted that he was very pleased with the original theatrical cut of Alien, saying that "For all intents and purposes, I felt that the original cut of Alien was perfect. I still feel that way", and that the original 1979 theatrical version "remains my version of choice". He has since stated that he considers both versions "director's cuts", as he feels that the 1979 version was the best he could possibly have made it at the time.
The Alien Quadrilogy set earned Alien a number of new awards and nominations. It won DVDX Exclusive Awards for Best Audio Commentary and Best Overall DVD, Classic Movie, and was also nominated for Best Behind-the-Scenes Program and Best Menu Design. It also won a Sierra Award for Best DVD, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best DVD Collection and Golden Satellite Awards for Best DVD Extras and Best Overall DVD. In 2010 both the theatrical version and Director's Cut of Alien were released on Blu-ray Disc as part of the Alien Anthology set.
Impact and analysis
"The 1979 Alien is a much more cerebral movie than its sequels, with the characters (and the audience) genuinely engaged in curiosity about this weirdest of lifeforms...Unfortunately, the films it influenced studied its thrills but not its thinking."
–Film critic Roger Ebert on Alien's cinematic impact.
Imitations
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Alien had both an immediate and long-term impact on the science fiction and horror genres. Shortly after its debut, Dan O'Bannon was sued by another writer named Jack Hammer for allegedly plagiarising a script entitled Black Space. However, O'Bannon was able to prove that he had written his Alien script first. In the wake of Alien's success a number of other filmmakers imitated or adapted some of its elements, sometimes by copying its title. One of the first was The Alien Dead (1979), which was titled at the last minute to cash in on Alien's popularity. Contamination (1980) was initially going to be titled Alien 2 until 20th Century Fox's lawyers contacted writer/director Luigi Cozzi and made him change it, and it built on press coverage of Alien's chestburster scene by having many similar creatures, which originated from large, slimy eggs, bursting from characters' chests. An unauthorized Italian sequel to Alien, titled Alien 2, was released in 1980 and included alien creatures which incubate inside human hosts. Other science fiction films of the time that exploited elements of Alien included Inseminoid (1981) and Xtro (1982).
Antecedents
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In the decades since its original release critics have analyzed and acknowledged Alien's roots in earlier works of fiction. It has been noted as sharing thematic similarities with earlier science fiction films such as The Thing from Another World (1951) and It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), as well as a kinship with other 1970s horror films such as Jaws (1975) and Halloween (1978). Literary connections have also been suggested, including thematic comparisons to And Then There Were None (1939). Many critics have also suggested that the film derives in part from A. E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950), particularly the stories The Black Destroyer, in which a cat-like alien infiltrates the ship and hunts the crew, and Discord in Scarlet, in which an alien implants parasitic eggs inside crew members which then hatch and eat their way out. O'Bannon, however, denies that this was a source of his inspiration for Alien's story. Van Vogt actually initiated a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox over the similarities, but Fox settled out of court. Writer David McIntee has also noted similarities to the Doctor Who episode "The Ark in Space" (1975), in which an insectoid queen alien lays larvae inside humans which later eat their way out, a life cycle inspired by that of the ichneumons wasp. He has also noted similarities between the first half of the film, particularly in early versions of the script, to H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, "not in storyline, but in dread-building mystery", and calls the finished film "the best Lovecraftian movie ever made, without being a Lovecraft adaptation", due to its similarities in tone and atmosphere to Lovecraft's works.
Lasting critical praise
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Alien has continued to receive critical praise over the years, particularly for its realism and unique environment. It has a 96% approval rating at the online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 82 reviews, while Metacritic gives the Director's Cut an 83% approval rating based on 22 reviews. Critical interest in the film was re-ignited in part by the theatrical release of the "Director's Cut" in 2003. In his "Great Movies" column that year, critic Roger Ebert ranked it among "the most influential of modern action pictures", praising its pacing, atmosphere, and settings:
One of the great strengths of Alien is its pacing. It takes its time. It waits. It allows silences (the majestic opening shots are underscored by Jerry Goldsmith with scarcely audible, far-off metallic chatterings). It suggests the enormity of the crew's discovery by building up to it with small steps: The interception of a signal (is it a warning or an SOS?). The descent to the extraterrestrial surface. The bitching by Brett and Parker, who are concerned only about collecting their shares. The masterstroke of the surface murk through which the crew members move, their helmet lights hardly penetrating the soup. The shadowy outline of the alien ship. The sight of the alien pilot, frozen in his command chair. The enormity of the discovery inside the ship ("It's full of ... leathery eggs ...").
McIntee praises Alien as "possibly the definitive combination of horror thriller with [science fiction] trappings." He notes, however, that it is a horror film first and a science fiction film second, since science fiction normally explores issues of how humanity will develop under other circumstances. Alien, on the other hand, focuses on the plight of people being attacked by a monster: "It's set on a spaceship in the future, but it's about people trying not to get eaten by a drooling monstrous animal. Worse, it's about them trying not to get raped by said drooling monstrous animal." Along with Halloween and Friday the 13th (1980), he describes it as a prototype for the slasher film genre: "The reason it's such a good movie, and wowed both the critics, who normally frown on the genre, and the casual cinema-goer, is that it is a distillation of everything that scares us in the movies." He also describes how the film appeals to a variety of audiences: "Fans of Hitchcockian thrillers like it because it's moody and dark. Gorehounds like it for the chest-burster. [Science fiction] fans love the hard [science fiction] trappings and hardware. Men love the battle-for-survival element, and women love not being cast as the helpless victim."
"Almost every horror film since Alien has ripped it off in some way, but most of the imitations have focused on details — a slimy killing-machine monster that is both vaginal and penile; the dripping, cavernous interiors of the Nostromo; those immensely influential H. R. Giger "biomechanical" designs — and missed what you might call the overall Zeitgeist of the film."
–Salon.com critic Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com critic Andrew O'Hehir notes that Alien "has a profoundly existentialist undertow that makes it feel like a film noir" and praises it over its "increasingly baroque" sequels as "a film about human loneliness amid the emptiness and amorality of creation. It's a cynical '70s-leftist vision of the future in which none of the problems plaguing 20th century Earth—class divisions, capitalist exploitation, the subjugation of humanity to technology—have been improved in the slightest by mankind's forays into outer space."
In 2002, Alien was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the National Film Preservation Board of the United States, and was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for historical preservation alongside other films of 1979 including All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, The Black Stallion, and Manhattan. In 2008 the American Film Institute ranked Alien as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre as part of AFI's 10 Top 10, a CBS television special ranking the ten greatest movies in ten classic American film genres. The ranks were based on a poll of over 1,500 film artists, critics, and historians, with Alien ranking just above Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and just below Ridley Scott's other science fiction film Blade Runner (1982). The same year, Empire magazine ranked it thirty-third on its list of the five hundred greatest movies of all time, based on a poll of 10,200 readers, critics, and members of the film industry.
Sexual imagery
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Critics have also analyzed Alien's sexual overtones. Adrian Mackinder compares the facehugger's attack on Kane to a male rape and the chestburster scene to a form of violent birth, noting that the Alien's phallic head and method of killing the crew members add to the sexual imagery. Dan O'Bannon has argued that the scene is a metaphor for the male fear of penetration, and that the "oral invasion" of Kane by the facehugger functions as "payback" for the many horror films in which sexually vulnerable women are attacked by male monsters. McIntee claims that "Alien is a rape movie as much as Straw Dogs (1971) or I Spit on Your Grave (1978), or The Accused (1988). On one level it's about an intriguing alien threat. On one level it's about parasitism and disease. And on the level that was most important to the writers and director, it's about sex, and reproduction by non-consensual means. And it's about this happening to a man." He notes how the film plays on men's fear and misunderstanding of pregnancy and childbirth, while also giving women a glimpse into these fears. Film analyst Lina Badley has written that the Alien's design, with strong Freudian sexual undertones, multiple phallic symbols, and overall feminine figure, provides an androgynous image conforming to archetypal mappings and imageries in horror films that often redraw gender lines. O'Bannon himself later described the sexual imagery in Alien as overt and intentional: "One thing that people are all disturbed about is sex... I said 'That's how I'm going to attack the audience; I'm going to attack them sexually. And I'm not going to go after the women in the audience, I'm going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs. Homosexual oral rape, birth. The thing lays its eggs down your throat, the whole number.'"
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26 year old adrian Lewis has claimed a second successive world title in which sport? | Adrian Lewis thumps Andy Hamilton to retain PDC world darts title | Sport | The Guardian
Adrian Lewis thumps Andy Hamilton to retain PDC world darts title
• The 26-year-old beat fellow Stoke thrower 7-3
• Champion has his eye on eight more titles
Adrian Lewis kisses the PDC world trophy after a comfortable win against Andy Hamilton. Photograph: Matthew Impey/PA
Press Association
Monday 2 January 2012 19.00 EST
First published on Monday 2 January 2012 19.00 EST
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Adrian Lewis retained his PDC World Darts title with a 7-3 victory in the final at Alexandra Palace. The 26-year-old saw Andy Hamilton,his fellow thrower from Stoke, to land the £200,000 first prize and trophy.
"It's not quite sunk in yet," said Lewis. "I take everything on the chin and have a busy year ahead. This is [title] number two and I'll have a lot more. The fightback against James Wade last night won me the tournament. I believed in myself." Asked how many times he could win the world title, he said: "At least 10."
"But Andy hit a lot of good shots – I want to see him in the Premier League because he deserves a place."
Hamilton, who received £100,000 as runner-up, said: "It's been a great week for me. I wanted to win the final so badly but I'm happy to be here. Keep watching me. Next year I'll be back again and hopefully I'll be winning it then."
Lewis saw three darts bounce out in the first three legs of the match but hit back from the disappointment to take the first set with a 122 checkout in the fifth leg. The defending champion hit the first 180 of the match in the second leg of the second set, enabling him to take it against the darts – but Hamilton won the set 3-1 to level the contest.
Hamilton started the third set with a maximum before Lewis almost hit a nine-dart finish. Unfortunately he missed double 12 – but hit it two darts later.
Lewis gradually established control and a 12-dart leg gave him a 3-2 lead. Hamilton then struggled in the closing stages of the sixth set, with Lewis nailing double 15 to go 4-2 clear. Hamilton took the opening leg of the seventh set. His confidence was boosted further when he took the second leg against the darts and he held the advantage to win the set despite a 180 from Lewis.
Lewis, though, was dominant in the eighth, hitting double 11 to win the fourth leg and restore his two-set advantage at 5-3. Lewis set himself up for another nine-dart finish with successive 180s at the start of the third leg in the ninth set but missed the opportunity, although he was able to break after Hamilton had missed double 16.
Although Hamilton broke back with double eight, Lewis produced a 118 checkout to snatch the set and move to within one of the title. Hamilton took the first two legs of the 10th set but Lewis won the third and took the next against the darts to move to the brink of victory. Both players started the fifth leg with 180s and after each had missed doubles, Lewis nailed double top to wrap up the title. PA
| Doctor of Arts |
Originating in China, what invention, spreading to the west, made the Byzantine horse archers a potent battlefield force? | Brilliant Adrian Lewis denies Phil Taylor in thrilling Auckland Darts Masters quarterfinal | Stuff.co.nz
Brilliant Adrian Lewis denies Phil Taylor in thrilling Auckland Darts Masters quarterfinal
Last updated 09:03, June 19 2016
Adrian Lewis remains on course to win a second successive title at the Auckland Darts Masters after claiming a thrilling 10-9 win over Phil Taylor in a a quarterfinal humdinger on Saturday night.
James Wade, Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld joined the reigning champion in the semifinals, which along with the final will be played on Sunday night.
Lewis had edged out Taylor in a classic semifinal on his way to the inaugural title in New Zealand last August, and claimed victory in another game of the highest quality as they met at the last eight stage this time around.
The opening to the contest set the tone as Taylor kicked off with 177 and 180 and Lewis also added a maximum in an 11-darter to lead, only to see the 16-time world champion level with the aid of another 180 and a 122 bull finish.
READ MORE:
* Lewis wins Auckland final
Taylor also hit a 10-darter in the fourth leg, but Lewis won the next three - including a 103 finish to break - as he took a 5-2 advantage.
Taylor cut the gap to 7-6 with a 102 checkout, but crucially missed one dart to level, at double 16, as Lewis fired in a superb 124 bull finish and then landed tops to move 9-6 up and to the brink of victory.
Taylor, though, produced legs of 13, 13 and 12 darts, the latter featuring his ninth 180 and a 130 checkout, as he forced a decider, but Lewis held the advantage of throw and landed double top at the fourth time of asking to finally seal a memorable win.
"It was a great game and it's fantastic to win," said Lewis, who had partnered Taylor to victory for England in the World Cup of Darts a fortnight ago.
"It was a brilliant match - Phil seemed to be hitting 180s every time I looked up and it was treble after treble for him. He was firing on all cylinders and it's great to see that because I look up to him and in my eyes he's still the best in the world.
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"But in that last leg I had the throw and started well. It got a little bit nervy so I'm happy to get over the line. I had a few slack darts and let him back in when I got that lead, so I'll want to tighten up on that."
Lewis will now meet Wade in the semifinals on Sunday night at the Trusts Arena, after the left-hander produced an outstanding performance to defeat world No 1 Michael van Gerwen 10-6 in a game where both players averaged over 107.
Van Gerwen hit 180s in each of the opening two legs, only to see Wade win both as he landed a maximum and a 130 bullseye finish, with the Dutchman then taking out 110 to get off the mark only to see the left-hander finish 84 and 78 as he moved 4-1 up.
Van Gerwen raised his game with two ten-darters in the next three legs, and a 128 checkout for a 12-darter cut the gap to 5-4 - but Wade crucially twice denied the world number one a chance to level by hitting a pair of 11-darters to move 7-5 up.
"I'm really happy to beat the world No 1, but I believe I put him in a position where he had no answer," said Wade. "I didn't let him do what he can do.
"I hit a few finishes at the right times and the 140s and 180s - that's always in the locker but I don't show it often enough."
World champion Gary Anderson turned on the style with a 104 average as he overcame fellow Scot Peter Wright 10-6 to continue his bid to win a second successive World Series of Darts event after last month's Dubai Darts Masters triumph.
Van Barneveld, the 2015 runner-up, continued his impressive run in Auckland as he followed up Friday's win over New Zealand No 1 Cody Harris with a 101 average as he overcame Dave Chisnall 10-5 to set up a semifinal with Anderson.
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Charlie is the logo of which roadside restaurant chain? | Turnaround experts engineer a roadside rescue for Little Chef | Business | The Guardian
Turnaround experts engineer a roadside rescue for Little Chef
· Company thought to have paid about £10m
· 600 jobs go but deal saves most of the restaurants
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This article is 10 years old
Little Chef, the breakfast fry-up specialist, has secured a rescue deal that will save most of the struggling roadside restaurant chain's 231 sites.
Its rescuer is RCapital, a small private equity group which specialises in turning around the fortunes of businesses in crisis. The group has paid an undisclosed sum, thought to be about £10m, to take about 195 Little Chefs out of the hands of its administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was formally appointed yesterday.
The business was put into administration by catering entrepreneur Lawrence Wosskow, who made his name founding and developing Out of Town, a shopping mall coffee shop and restaurant business. He had acquired the business from private equity group Permira two years ago for £52m but fell ill last year.
Together with his business partner, Simon Heath, he engineered a controversial sale and leaseback deal on 65 freehold sites in February last year which raised £60m to pay off acquisition debt and meet working capital and other investment demands. However, the deal saddled Little Chef with huge rent commitments, rising each year, which it struggled to meet.
Yesterday's rescue sale, which will save 3,400 jobs, came after weeks of tough negotiations with Little Chef's landlords. Discussions resulted in rental arrangements being revised. Ian Green, a joint administrator from PwC, said the deal "would not have been possible" without assistance from landlords Travelodge, the budget hotel chain, and Arazim, an Israeli investment firm.
Mr Heath, who will continue as chief executive, said: "This business has been through incredibly tough times in recent years, but one thing we do know is that Little Chef is a much-loved brand.
"I have no doubt that we now have a huge task ahead, but this is a British icon which has, despite its chequered past, maintained a level of brand integrity. Albeit out of date, the roots of its offer remain relevant and it clearly has a future in today's marketplace."
Mr Heath has been running the business, once part of the Forte hospitality empire, since Mr Wosskow suffered a heart attack last summer. Mr Wosskow had made it clear for some time that he wanted to pull out of the business and Little Chef had been trying to find a new investor to replace him.
Trading under Mr Wosskow's ownership failed to improve despite big price cuts and the chain was hard hit by competition from revamped service stations. In addition to well-known fast food chains such as Burger King and KFC, Little Chef - once the most famous name on the motorway - has had to compete with the likes of Marks & Spencer's Simply Food and Wild Bean Cafe offering healthier take-away food.
Three years ago, Little Chef's previous management attempted to refresh the brand by offering healthier menu options. Their efforts backfired, however, when proposals to slim down the cheery figure of "Fat Charlie", the group's logo mascot, met with public outrage. More than 15,000 customers signed a petition against the move. Other ill-fated attempts to revitalise the brand included a publicity drive suggesting Little Chef as an ideal venue for couples to share a romantic meal.
Mr Wosskow last year asked KPMG to look at refinancing the struggling business, but no backers were found. Selling the business through administration became the only option.
Little Chef enjoyed decades of growth reflecting the increasing congestion on Britain's roads. After the first site was opened in Reading in 1958 - the year of the first motorway - increasing numbers of trucks and family cars have pulled in at the roadside restaurants, best known for their £6.99 Olympic breakfasts.
Latterly, however, the business has struggled. In 2002 the catering group Compass, then owners of Little Chef, put 400 of the restaurants up for sale, in a package with Travelodge, but Permira acquired only 370 of the restaurants. Compass closed the rest and sold sites to property developers. A similar sell-off programme was pursued by Permira, reducing the number of restaurants to 300 by the end of 2004, when they were officially put up for sale.
Timeline: Slimmer Charlie
Fat Charlie's empire will now be reduced to about 195 restaurants, with 600 staff losing their jobs.
1958 An 11-seat Little Chef is opened by caravan maker Sam Alper in Reading. It is modelled on an American roadside diner.
1980s The chain thrives and opens a series of Little Chef Lodges, later renamed Travelodge.
Mid-1990s Fast food chains McDonalds, KFC and Burger King begin appearing on roadside sites.
1997 Then owner Granada converts its Happy Eater sites into Little Chefs.
2002 Private equity group Permira acquires Travelodge and Little Chef for £712m.
2004 Attempts to modernise and slim down the Fat Charlie logo are met with outrage by a band of Little Chef's most loyal customers. The plans are ditched.
2005 130 struggling sites are closed before the business is sold to Lawrence Wosskow's People's Restaurant Group for £52m.
2006 Mr Wosskow strikes a sale and leaseback deal with property investment group Arazim which raises £60m through the sale of 65 freeholds. The cash is used to pay back acquisition loans and invest in the business. But the resulting rental agreement is onerous.
2006 KPMG are appointed to consider refinancing options for the Little Chef which is struggling to attract customers despite cutting prices.
2007 People's Restaurant Group is placed into the hands of administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers and, on the same day, the brand and 196 sites are bought in a rescue deal by private equity group RCapital.
| Little Chef |
Who was known as the 'King of Swing'? | History | Little Chef
Contact
Our History
Little Chef has been serving good food at Britain’s roadsides for over 50 years. The first Little Chef opened in Reading in 1958, the same year Britain got its very first motorway. From 11 seats, we’ve grown to become one of the UK’s favourite roadside restaurants with 78 Little Chef restaurants from Scotland down to Cornwall.
Read on to find out more about our history, our recent restaurant makeovers and of course our all-important food!
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For how many matches was Liverpool's Luis Suarez banned after a trubunal concluded that he racially abused Manchester United's Patrice Evra? | UKC Forums - Suarez
Days unlike this you wonder why some players don't realise that being a professional footballer involves being professional in aptitude as well as ability.
The way my weekend's going though, I don't expect Utd to take any points away today...
Pursued by a bear - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: Not learned a lot from his recent experiences, it seems; shame that he's not used his free time to grow up a bit.
T.
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: So Evra and De Gea both grabbed him.....
He's lost 8 games of football for a decision he still believes was wrong - what do you expect??
AndrewHuddart - on 11 Feb 2012
A lot of boos for Evra whenever he's on the ball too- not football's best day.
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to hindu: As long as Rooney scores......he's in my fantasy team!!! )
As we say, let the game be known for the football, not the side show!!
Yanis Nayu - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach:
Apparently, Dalglish has already commented that he didn't see the incident, Suarez didn't see Evra, and shaking hands is not something that happens in Uruguay anyhow. It's a cultural thing... Again.
AndrewHuddart - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach:
You can say the same about th clubs thou. What I find most objectionable is Liverpool's response to this - supporting their player is one thing but ignoring it and saying, in effect: "he's served an unjust punishment and can pick up where he left off" isn't supporting their player, it's just condoning the player's behaviour and attitudes.
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to hindu: I'm not sure where I stand on this one as I really don't know what what the actual mind-set of Suarez is/was in relation to his use of certain words/phrases ect
As for Liverpool, surely Dalgliesh ain't that stupid - he must have taken some legal advice??
In reply to bluebealach: https://t.co/bWznmUa0
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to hindu: Back to the football - interesting last couple of minutes, someone will get a red in the second half!!!
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Papillon: Your bringing third parties into this equation.
I don't really think that Suarez/Dalgliesh had a hand in that publication!
AndrewHuddart - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach:
Handbags in the tunnel too by the look of things.
Some pretty good football being played, Utd should have had a goal through Scholes and Liverpool have been looking good down their right too - insert cliche here about it being wide open!
AndrewHuddart - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to hindu: Goal Rooney!
bobbybin - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: Yes 1 - 0
AndrewHuddart - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bobbybin: and 2-0!!!
bobbybin - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: Just saying on 5live that Scholes is running the game, not bad for an old semi retired bloke
AndrewHuddart - on 11 Feb 2012
Horrible mistake from Ferdinand...2-1
andy - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to hindu: Didn't watch it all but it sounded like utd found it very easy today - which they should as they're a class above liverpool.
Not sure what Evra got manhandled by the ref for at the end - was he trying to goad Suarez?
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: How many people on here (and elsewhere) who have been saying that Suarez was childish for not shaking Evra's hand MISSED the fact that Ferdinand refused to shake the hand of Suarez??
I did but if we question Suarez, should we now question Ferdinand and is there a bigger picture here??
Glyno - on 11 Feb 2012
more to the point - who cares?
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Glyno: Errrr, if alleged 'racism' is involved, apparently quite a few on this site..;)
Glyno - on 11 Feb 2012
racism - that's been dealt with hasn't it? we're on about a bloke refusing to shake another bloke's hand.
Get a grip.
does that mean Ferdinand refusing to shake Suarez's <spits> hand make him a racist?
Denni on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach:
What annoyed me is that before the game, 5 live kept harping on about everyone talking about it all the time and why can't they just let it be then proceeded to talk about it every 5 minutes during the commentary.
Ferguson interviewed afterwards:
"Sir Alex Ferguson pulled no punches in criticising the behaviour of Luis Suarez at the handshake protocol before the start of Manchester United�s 2-1 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford.
Suarez blanked Evra, who had offered his hand to the Uruguayan. The incident added an unnecessary extra dynamic to a match always fringed with tension.
Afterwards Ferguson, asked about Suarez�s ignoring of his French captain, said: �I couldn�t believe it. We had a talk about it this morning and Patrice said he was ready to shake hands. He felt he had done nothing wrong.
�He [Suarez] is a disgrace to Liverpool Football Club. That player should not be allowed to play for Liverpool again. The history that club�s got and he does that. In a situation like today it could have caused a riot. It was terrible. The referee didn�t know what to do with it. It was a terrible start to the game.�
Ferguson said he had not witnessed Evra�s effusive, crowd-inciting celebrations at the end of the game when he was steered away from Suarez by referee Phil Dowd.
Informed about Evra�s behaviour by a Sky TV interviewer, Ferguson said: �He shouldn�t have done that.�
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish refused to answer questions about Suarez�s behaviour before the game, preferring instead to praise both sets of fans"
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
> (In reply to bluebealach)
>
> racism - that's been dealt with hasn't it? we're on about a bloke refusing to shake another bloke's hand.
........<thinks> of yes, the Suarez ban which brought all this on had nothing to to do with a perceived racist comment did it??
Oh well maybe not, sorry I'm just getting a grip!!
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Glyno: Probably not, just maybe as fecking childish as Suarez, but who will dare call Ferdinand as it is his brother that is the complainant in the John Terry incident??
> (In reply to Enty) How many people on here (and elsewhere) who have been saying that Suarez was childish for not shaking Evra's hand MISSED the fact that Ferdinand refused to shake the hand of Suarez??
>
> I did but if we question Suarez, should we now question Ferdinand and is there a bigger picture here??
Refused straight after (second in line from Evra) Suarez had turned his hand away from Evra. That might have had some bearing.
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Stuart (aka brt): Quite possibly and it has now emerged that Welbeck also withdrew his hand from the hand of Suarez.
If this sort of behaviour is going to detract from the game, how long will the 'team handshake' survive??
Just seems a mess....
Banned User 77 - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach: The fanzine was a disgrace.. KKK hood on the front.. obviously a witty joke..
haworthjim on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach: i havnt seen owt of todays game. Did suerre refuse to shake evras hand before the rest refused to shake his??
haworthjim on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK: Unfortunatly LFC are now percieved as a racist. (the image of white players warming up in white t shirts whith red images of suarez on them did nothing to help)
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK:
> (In reply to bluebealach) The fanzine was a disgrace.. KKK hood on the front.. obviously a witty joke..
Agreed but was it Suarez, Dalglish or any member of LFC who produced that article or publication?? No, it was a small number of redshite fans that produce the fanzine not the club..........
I'm sorry to say that as much as we think racism is abhorrent, racism in society is alive and kicking and will take generations to eradicate. You don't change the mindset of people with a few governmental policies and campaigns.
I think we all need to realise that!!
> Just seems a mess....
neither team comes out of this with any credit.
Unlike the terry/Ferdinand case, this one had been settled, so both sides should have accepted it and moved on. The players should have shaken hands, and the managers should have taken pre-emptive action to defuse the tension. Neither did, and both are now trying to ratchet it up. Again
Eric9Points - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty:
You would have that Kenny would have had a word with Suarez before the game telling him that he'd better behave whiter than white, if you'll excuse the pun.
If Suarez had just swallowed a little humble pie then Utd would have been put on the back foot. As it was they were given a golden opportunity to make him look like a nob again and took full advantage of it.
andy - on 11 Feb 2012
> neither team comes out of this with any credit.
>
I'm afraid I lay the blame firmly at Liverpool's door for this one. He should have grown up, taken the punishment and behaved like a professional sportsman today when Evra offered his hand.
Dalglish shouldn't defend him, should make an example of him.
Fergie's comments above are spot on. Liverpool should be ashamed of their player and they would get a lot of credit if they dropped/sacked/sold him.
To the guy who said racism still abounds - I agree but attitudes will only stay the same if it is seen as acceptable. Like it or not, footballers are seen as examples by many in society and should behave accordingly. Racially abusing someone on the pitch and then claiming it was taken out of context is pathetic. Perhaps he was unlucky to be singled out but singled out he was and so should show some magnanimity on his return.
A dark day for LFC.
I agree with you that LFC have been disgraceful over this, the denial by the club that Suarez had done anything wrong inevitably being copied by the fans, and still going on
This is so bizarre you'd almost think it's a spoof
http://www.thisisanfield.com/
But Ferguson has been doing his utmost to provoke them with his usual mind games. Pre-match taunts over the lack of an appeal, followed by his OTT comments afterwards. He should have been attempting to defuse the situation, not score points.
winhill - on 11 Feb 2012
Surely no-one blamed Wayne Bridge when he refused to shake Terry's hand?
Suarez no doubt sees himself as the wronged party, so it's just a question of degree.
In reply to winhill:
Ain't life fair - piss poor human = multimillionaire. Worthy human beings (nurses, teachers,etc) = not worth a pay rise.
If footballers all disappeared tomorrow the world wouldn't change much, if all nurses and teachers disappeared tomorrow things would change quite quickly.
In reply to Fickalli:
> Racially abusing someone on the pitch and then claiming it was taken out of context is pathetic.
> Perhaps he was unlucky to be singled out but singled out he was and so should show some
> magnanimity on his return.
But the point is that it is entirely compatible with the established facts that: (1) Suarez did not racially abuse Evra; (2) Evra's complaint was ill-founded (either because Evra misinterpreted a language in which he is not fluent, or through deliberate exaggeration to get an opponent into trouble and to bolster his complaint, or a mixture of the two); (3) the FA came to the wrong conclusion and issued an unjust ban.
If Suarez considers himself to be the aggrieved party, and considers that Evra told a lot of untruths to the FA, then his stance and refusal to shake Evra's hand is understandable.
Run_Ross_Run - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Papillon:
> That's not an accurate account of events. Suarez admitted to using the word 'black' in an exchange.
What I said was that it had not been established that Suarez "racially abused" him. Yes he did use a Spanish word that means "black", but that in itself does not establish his remarks as "racially abusive"; Suarez maintained that it was not intended as racially offensive and that in his culture/language what he said would not be interpreted as racially abusive.
For the part of the conversation that Suarez accepted he had said, it was accepted by the Evra side that that part was not racially abusive.
However, Evra also asserted that there were other parts of the conversation that were racially abusive. Suarez disputes and rejects that claim. The FA seem to have accepted Evra's claim on this *disputed* section of the conversation (hence the ban) -- the part of the conversation that Suarez accepted he had said was not the reason for the ban, since all sides accept that that was (relatively) innocuous.
> That's not an accurate account of events.
Here is the crucial disputed section of the conversation (translated from Spanish):
Evra's version:
PE: Why did you kick me?
LS: Because you are black
PE: Say it to me again, I'm going to punch you.
LS: I don't speak to blacks.
PE: OK, now I think I'm going to punch you.
LS: OK, blackie, blackie, blackie
Suarez's version:
PE: Why did you kick me?
LS: It was just a normal foul <shrug shoulders>
PE: OK, you kicked me, I'm going to kick you.
LS: (Paraphrase): "I told him to shut up and made a brief gesture with my left hand like a "quacking" motion as if to say he was talking too much and should be quiet".
Neither player could give corroboration of these radically different versions, hence it ended up Evra's word against Suarez's.
ajsteele - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
Suarez admitted using the word negro while arguing with Evra which therefore couldnt be taken as friendly like he claimed by the FA panel. When it comes down to it if he actually had any brains he would have apologised for causing offence even if he didnt mean it and it wouldnt have been a problem I would imagine. However from the start he lied, tried to blame Evra and came up with ridiculous excuses like he cant be racist because his granda is black. To me Suarez is actually now coming across as properly racist instead of just someone who made a stupid remark in the heat of the moment and I think that shows how badly Liverpool have handled the whole thing as a club.
Graeme Alderson on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to The New NickB: And Anton is Rio's cousin
haworthjim on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Word!! ( seriously how gives a f@k)
In reply to ajsteele:
> ... if he actually had any brains he would have apologised for causing offence even if he didnt mean it ...
If it was simply a matter of the part of the conversation where he accepted that he'd used the phrase "Por que, negro?" (once) then he might well have been willing to apologise for that. However, he was being accused of the vastly worse section of conversation outlined above. In that circumstance an apology could have been taken as an admission of guilt to the much worse conversation.
> However from the start he lied, ...
Really? What lies did he tell? As I recall, he admitted to the "Por que, negro?" usage readily and early on.
> Suarez is actually now coming across as properly racist ...
In what way? His issue with Evra is that he considers that Evra told a pack of lies to the FA (see the above two conversations).
Graeme Alderson on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Where is that transcript from?
If what PE is saying is correct then LS is a nasty piece of work, using racism to goad PE. And LS should be sacked by LFC.
If what LS is saying is the correct version then I can fully see why he feels aggrieved. And PE should be banned for a long time and should be sacked by MUFC.
I wasn't a witness so I don't know who is telling the truth. I guess we will never know the truth unless either one of them own's up.
Whether LS should have shaken hands is a moot point but PE grabbing LS's arm only drew attention to the incident.
andy - on 11 Feb 2012
> (In reply to Coel Hellier)
>
>To me Suarez is actually now coming across as properly racist instead of just someone who made a stupid remark in the heat of the moment...
Does he? Ignoring absolutely everything else, why d'you think that? Is Rio Ferdinand a racist because he didn't shake Suarez's hand? I assumed he didn't because he thinks he's a tw*t. Could it just possibly be the case that Suarez thinks Evra's a tw*t too?
> I wasn't a witness so I don't know who is telling the truth. I guess we will never know the truth unless either one of them own's up.
I don't know which one is true either. But a couple of remarks:
If Suarez was guilty of the conversation that Evra claimed, then why would he have admitted early on to the one usage "Por que, negro?" in a different part of the conversation? Surely (by then realising he was in trouble) he'd deny the whole thing. He seems to have been penalised by the FA for this admission, since if he accepted the one relatively innocuous usage, then he must be guilty of the whole of Evra's claim.
Second, the conversation above happened in a crowded 6-yard area at a corner, with at least one other Spanish speaker around (Man U goalkeeper Gea). If Evra was on the receiving end of such a conversation, might be not have immediately turned to others and asked them whether they'd heard it? He didn't do that.
Lastly, when it comes to accusing someone of fairly serious offences, it is usual to give the benefit of the doubt to the accused. In this situation there was no corroboration of either version of the conversation, and thus it came down to which the FA thought the more credible witness. Surely in that situation justice demands "not proven", in that it might be true, but we can't be sure enough. Certainly in a law court, not the FA tribunal, it would have been "not guilty" for that reason.
Glyno - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
I think hes starting to come across as properly racist because quite simply in a arguement he admitted saying "why blackie" (por que negro) and yet still thinks he has been hard done by and now refuses to acknowledge the man he offended originally.
And no he didnt admit to por que negro early on that only came out at the trial up until then he had said he called him "negrito" an apparantly friendly term in latin America. As I recall the reason the FA didnt accept Suarez version of events becuase his story changed multiple times and often to suit new evidence.
In reply to Graeme Alderson:
And a couple more points: Suarez's version has Suarez shrugging his shoulders, Evra's does not, and a shoulder shrug would not be in keeping with what Suarez is accused of saying. According to the FA report: "At this point on the video footage Mr Su�rez's face is obscured but he does appear to shrug his shoulders".
Secondly. The "Por que, negro?" statement from Suarez occurs a bit after this. Now, recall that Evra, when on the pitch, interpreted this word as meaning "ni*ger" and that he later reported to his team and the referee that he'd been "repeatedly called a ni*ger". Later, he accepted that it meant only "black".
Now, the reaction to this "Por que, negro?" statement was (again quoting from the FA report about the video evidence) "there is a facial reaction by Mr Evra, akin to a look of surprise". Now, why would Evra be "surprised" at hearing this word from Suarez if shortly before he'd heard it 6 times?
This all suggests to me that it is entirely compatible with the evidence that: (1) Suarez did only use the word once in the "Por que, negro?" question; (2) Evra interpreted this as "ni*ger" and was surprised and upset. (3) He invented the earlier part of conversation to bolster the claim; out of annoyance with Suarez; and to get an opponent into trouble.
That might not be the case, but surely there is sufficient doubt here, and thus Suarez may be the more-wronged party.
Glyno - on 11 Feb 2012
In the space of little over 12 months, Suarez has served bans for Biting an opponent, making an obscene gesture to Fulham fans, and for racially abusing Patrice Evra.
I suspect by the end of next season at the most, he'll no longer be playing in the English Premier League.
ajsteele - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to andy:
I think Rio and Welbeck not shaking Suarez hand had more to do with him refusing to shake Evras hand than a racial undertone on their part.
If it was down to just thinking someones a tw*t nobody would ever shake hands with Suarez and lots of other players.
winhill - on 11 Feb 2012
> (In reply to Coel Hellier) Where is that transcript from?
>
> If what PE is saying is correct then LS is a nasty piece of work, using racism to goad PE. And LS should be sacked by LFC.
>
> If what LS is saying is the correct version then I can fully see why he feels aggrieved. And PE should be banned for a long time and should be sacked by MUFC.
>
> I wasn't a witness so I don't know who is telling the truth. I guess we will never know the truth unless either one of them own's up.
Or they're both a pair of lying prima donnas.
If Evra was so upset he could have done a Zidane, instead of wailing like a pussy.
FIFA fined (and banned) both Zidane and Materazzi after that incident, Materazzi reportedly saying similar to that which Evra said in this incident, so the equivalent punishments in this case may have been a 3 match ban for Suarez and a 2 match ban for Evra.
bluebealach - on 11 Feb 2012
>
> Anton Ferdinand hasn't made a complaint against Terry.
Didn't need to did he, a member of the public, who can obviously lip read did it for him.
Having said that, he didn't seem exactly happy during his discussion with JT on the pitch. Would he have made a complaint if the MOTP hadn't stepped in first?
In reply to ajsteele:
> I think hes starting to come across as properly racist because quite simply in a arguement he
> admitted saying "why blackie" (por que negro) and yet still thinks he has been hard done by and
> now refuses to acknowledge the man he offended originally.
If he is not guilty of the above conversation as claimed by Evra than he is indeed hard done by. The "why blackie?" on its own does not merit an 8-match ban, as indeed the Evra side accepted. It was the disputed conversation that resulted in the long ban.
> And no he didnt admit to por que negro early on that only came out at the trial up until then
> he had said he called him "negrito" an apparantly friendly term in latin America.
Those two are much the same word, and can be used interchangeably. Suarez maintains that it was not intended offensively, and the statement about exactly what the wording was also comes from Suarez (there is no video of it). Anyhow, that was not the central part of the conversation as regards the ban.
> As I recall the reason the FA didnt accept Suarez version of events becuase his story changed
> multiple times and often to suit new evidence.
OK, now give specifics to support that. I've quoted quite a few specific bits of evidence from the FA report.
andy - on 11 Feb 2012
> (In reply to andy)
>
> I think Rio and Welbeck not shaking Suarez hand had more to do with him refusing to shake Evras hand than a racial undertone on their part.
>
> If it was down to just thinking someones a tw*t nobody would ever shake hands with Suarez and lots of other players.
That was my point - nobody's suggesting Ferdinand had any racial motives for not shaking his hand - he did it because he thinks Suarez is a tosser for racially abusing his team-mate and then refusing to shake said team-mate's hand.
Now just for a moment imagine that Suarez believes he has been genuinely falsely accused by Evra, who has made up a whole load of lies to have him vilified and banned (which according to the panel he didn't, but if in Suarez's head that's what happened): D'you think he might just possibly think Evra is a bit of a tosser (regardless of race)?
I don't speak Spanish so have no idea how reliable this is, but make of it what you will:
By: Professor in Hispanic Studies at Brown University, Aldo Mazzucchelli
I read the whole FA report. I am a Uruguayan born in Montevideo, currently a university Literature and Language professor in the US. It is clear to me that the Spanish language reported by Evra is inconsistent with Luis Su�rez�s way of speaking Spanish. I am surprised nobody (and especially, the Liverpool lawyers) raised this point. The key is that Evra makes Su�rez to appear using forms of Spanish Su�rez just wouldn�t use. Su�rez cannot speak as Evra reported him speaking. And that strongly suggests that Evra made the whole thing up.
This is, I believe, key for the case and, if acknowledged, it would destroy Evra�s credibility. The fact that the FA has not noted that Su�rez would never say �porque tu eres negro� (that is just not a way of speaking in the Rio de la Plata area), much less �porque tu es negro� or �tues negro� (as Comolli apparently stated), which are grammatically incorrect or just do not exist in Spanish. You don�t use the verb �ser� (to be) in the Rio de la Plata area that way. Luis Suarez would have said �porque SOS negro�. There is no possible variation or alternative to this whatsoever in our use of Spanish. And we of course don�t say �por que tu es negro� (as supposedly Comolli reported) because this is no Spanish syntax. In that sentence �es� is being wrongly conjugated in the third person of singular while it should have been conjugated in the second, �sos� (and never, I repeat, �eres�). Hence, I don�t know what Comolli heard from Suarez after the match, but I am positive he got it wrong�unless we believe that Suarez cannot even speak Spanish�
What follows to these is that Evra�s report on what Suarez said is unreliable, just because Evra depicts Su�rez speaking in a form of Spanish Su�rez just does not use.- Su�rez cannot have said �porque tu eres negro�. He would have said�if at all he said anything� �porque sos negro�. And the problem is that this is not what Evra declared. Once again: Evra reports Su�rez to have told him �porque tu eres negro� which just sound implausible. People from Montevideo or Buenos Aires just do NOT USE that verb �ser� (to be) that way. In such a case we would say �porque sos negro�. How come Evra reports Su�rez speaking as he does not speak, and the FA accepts his word? Looks like Evra is making this up.
Read the rest at:
In reply to Coel Hellier:
Im on my phone so I couldnt really be bothered typing the whole thing out but from paragraph 245 to paragraph 269 the report deals with changes to Suarez story to suit evidence at the trial. Then from paragraph 282, I think, to 319 i think they deal with inconsistencies in Suarez evidence over time.
You are obviously not going to accept my view of it though and Im not going to come round to your point of view either as its a very entrenched argument because of the football rivalries so this will be the last I post on it as to be honest im knackered and going to bed.
lowersharpnose - on 11 Feb 2012
Dalglish clearly does not have the ability to deal with this.
Glyno - on 11 Feb 2012
> ah yes, bound to be an unbiased view on a LFC forum.
>
> jesus wept.
So you think the proff wrote it specifically for the Lfc forum? If not why does the fact that it was repeated there undermine it?
Run_Ross_Run - on 11 Feb 2012
Don't think much of the away kit for Liverpool. horrid.
andy - on 11 Feb 2012
In reply to Glyno: Of course it's not unbiased - the opinion is that of a Uraguayan (and maybe even an LFC fan) who probably feels, as Gus Poyet does, that his nation has been maligned by the FA effectively marking them all as racists because the words Suarez admitted to using are words that are in common use and are not racially offensive.
Personally I have no doubt that whatever term Suarez used was not meant to be remotely affectionate, and I suspect he had a pretty good idea that using "negro" or "negrito" would wind Evra up (and who knows - maybe get him to do something that would get him sent off), but for people to now claim he's some sort of closet white supremacist is bonkers.
I also think his behaviour today was infantile and unnecessary - a bit like that of Evra at the end of the game. From all the interviews I saw I think Rooney was the only one with any sense.
andy - on 11 Feb 2012
> A man sees what he wants to see and disregards the rest
Its actually 'hears' or is that being pedantic......)
andy farnell - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to JimR: As I said earlier, Evra is the guilty party, Suarez the victim. It would appear to be a Suarez/LFC witch-hunt in the media.
Andy
In reply to andy farnell:
I wouldn't want to shake the hand of a man who accused me of being a racist either and I don't see anything wrong with Suarez making a stand, it worked for Fergie for 7 years. <the BBC 'I'm not talking to you anymore' row>
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to blanchie14c:
> (In reply to andy farnell)
> I wouldn't want to shake the hand of a man who accused me of being a racist either and I don't see anything wrong with Suarez making a stand, it worked for Fergie for 7 years. <the BBC 'I'm not talking to you anymore' row>
I pretty much agree - the pre-match hand-shaking protocol is such a load of bollocks. It's almost pathetic to hear the will they/won't they being discussed before the match. F*cking save it for the match!
ajsteele - on 12 Feb 2012
Ah the famous scouse paranoia!
Edradour - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to blanchie14c:
> (In reply to andy farnell)
> I wouldn't want to shake the hand of a man who accused me of being a racist either and I don't see anything wrong with Suarez making a stand,
Except Suarez is a professional footballer who is governed by the FA. The hand shaking is part of an FA campaign so regardless of whether he likes Evra or not he should have done it.
No one is asking them to be friends, he was expected to behave like a grown up, as anyone else would be expected to at work.
As has been said before, he was found guilty of an offence, he served the punishment, now he should move on. If he was disgruntled / disagreed with the punishment then he should have appealed it at the time, or LFC should have done.
victorclimber - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: not just him its Dalgleish et al to blame...to much money involved to sack him..
andy farnell - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele: Who benefits from the lack of the handshake? If the handshake had happened then it would appear that Evra had forgiven Suarez for what he claims was said to him. The fact is that Evra didn't go to shake Suarez's hand (watch the vids carefully, Suarez had his hand out, Evra makes no move towards him) but made it look like he was the innocent party just puts Evra in a good light and makes Suarez out to be the guilty party.
A handshake involves both party's moving, in this case only one went for the move, Suarez. There was only a very brief window of opportunity for it to happen, and when Evra missed it he then made out it was Suarez's fault by grabbing him after he had moved on.
Andy F
In reply to Fickalli:
Hmmm .. I'm no Liverpool supporter (in fact I'm a long time Killie supporter) however I do detest witch hunts based on fleeting glimpses. The camera evidence I've seen suggest that Evra dropped his hand and pulled back his shoulder slightly as Suarez passed with his outstretched hand at the same level. Then immediately reacted with extreme outrage, it looked to me like a premeditated act rather than a spontaneous outflow of emotion.
I certainly hope that there is a full and impartial inquiry set up into this incident, because if Evra had acted with intent to "get" Suarez (partic if acting in concert with the young MU goalie) then that is really a whole load more serious than the other scenario of Suarez immaturely refusing to shake Evra's hand. I rather suspect theres a load more to this than we are aware of.
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
> [...]
>
> Except Suarez is a professional footballer who is governed by the FA. The hand shaking is part of an FA campaign
Campaign it may be but it isn't a rule saying he HAS to do it. There are other deeper polictics about guilty or not too, LFC could have appealed but I understand they didn't on the grounds that if the appeal failed Suarez could have been banned for longer than the original punishment.
If this week teaches us anything then it teaches us that both sides of the argument can be correct - Fabio stands by his principles and resigns as he isn't allowed to manage the national side without FA restrictions. The FA also may have acted correctly by not allowing a racist <alleged> to captain the national side.
Fergies comments after the game mean nothing, he thinks football fans forget what has gone before and this is why a lot of folk don't hold much respect for him. Without doubt Sir Alex is one of the greatest managers of our time but a good honest humnan being he is not. Its only news because fergis says it is.
In reply to Enty:
I'm firmly in the who gives a shoot camp (about the handshake).
I've watched the numerous videos, the event seems have been caught from a multitude of angles. Depending on the angle:
1) From one angle you can say Suarez ignored/refused to shake Evra's hand
2) From a different angle you could equally claim that Evra sunk his hand downwards and didn't move it towards Suarez. Watch all of the videos Suarez hand stays roughly in the same rigid position for all of his hand shakes. Evra definitely drops his hand as Suarez comes in on an angle.
Conclusion: Both of them are dubious characters...but, to blame it 100% on Suarez is unfair. At the end of the day the initial event was one mans word against another. There are no witnesses, no lip reading members of the public, no complaint to the referee from other players, no police investigation, no punch up on the pitch back in October etc etc.
Who's telling fibs and who's telling the truth will never been known. Suarez in a dodgy character but then again so is Mr he called me a racist without evidence before Evra.
The sad thing is we could end up with a situation in were Suarez is labelled a Racist for life, when there is NO EVIDENCE and John Terry were there is evidence being found not guilty in a court of law and walking away without a punishment.
To me any claims of Racism should be dealt with by the police through the criminal legislation and not by a sporting authority such as the FA.
You are innocent until proven guilty....Suarez is not a racist there is no evidence. John Terry at this moment in time is also innocent until proven otherwise.
> :D :D :D
er, and your point is what exactly?
The article is unambiguous. Manchester police confiscated copies of a fanzine being sold by Manchester United fans.
Personally, I think it's a fairly harmless joke. I don't need to go over the top like Demento and demand that these people be thrown out of the game.
But had this been Liverpool fans then no doubt the high-horse/right-on brigade would be on the case in no time.
Having said that I think Suarez should be booted out of professional football for kicking the ball away. After all he could have injured an innocent ballboy.
ajsteele - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Alan M:
I notice you seem to be another with the mistaken belief that Evra has previous of making these sort of claims. If you actually bother to look into that you will find a member of man uniteds coaching staff was the one who made the claim against the Chelsea groundsman not Evra. Also there was another incident involving Evra when on international duty but that complaint was made by a fan so basically this whole thing about Evra making false racism accusations before is a myth.
Anyway Evra has done things to annoy people like leading the French teams protests at the world cup or kissing the united badge infront of the kop last year but he doesnt have previous for making racism accusations as Dalglish would like everyone to believe.
In reply to Enty:
All this Suarez stuff is ridiculous. He feels rightfully upset that he is being flamed nationwide based on a 3 man trial with PR concerns and no evidence. No-one really knows who is the guilty party. He should be charged by the police and tried in a criminal court. If found guilty he would be roundly condemned, leave the country and the club could make peace with the media. If innocent he would be free to get on and concentrate on playing football for us again, and the whole thing should go away. The current situation is a farce brought on by the FA's pitiful justice system and I cant see how it can end except badly.
PS I guess the reason the police didn't charge him was that they didn't feel there was sufficient evidence? I don't know.
PPS If I was accused by someone of being racist and it reached the national press, permanently damaging my reputation, and if I knew I was innocent (not making any judgements on Suarez here of course - I don't know) then there is no way I would shake the guy's hand. I think it should be no surprise to anyone.
steelbru - on 12 Feb 2012
Suaraz has now apologised, sure he was under great pressure from LFC to do so
ajsteele - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Si dH:
The reason the police haven't got involved is because no complaint was made to the police it was reported to the FA who have authority over such things on a football pitch. The Terry case was reported to the police by a member of the public which is why the police and CPS are involved with that one.
The FA's justice system is agreed by all clubs and players under the FA's jurisdiction so its not really an arguement here. Also there was evidence which is why the Liverpool lawyer accepted the case was not simply one mans word against another.
At the end of the day Suarez knows he said it at least once, Suarez whole point seems to be he disagrees with Evra over the amount of times he called him negro but he does admit to calling him negro once in the exchange. If you called someone something which they found offensive and you didn't mean it would you not immediately apologise for the offence caused? Suarez on the other hand has refused to even accept that during an argument calling someone negro or "blackie" (as the accepted Rioplatenese translation seems to be) even once could be offensive or insulting.
Chris H - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to steelbru: Perhaps that pressure should have been applied before the game to make him shake hands although apparently he assured KD that he was going to do this. I would be fuming if I was KD or any of the LFC management as LS has made them and the club look like a bunch of incompetents.
In reply to Si dH:
> then there is no way I would shake the guy's hand. I think it should be no surprise to anyone.
I think it would be a surprise to your boss if, having agreed with them beforehand that you would do something, you then chose not to do it; and you'd expect your boss to be annoyed with you.
However, I'm pleased to see that some common sense has been applied and an apology issued. Time to put toys back in their respective prams and move on.
T.
bluebealach - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Pursued by a bear: .....so will Ferdinand follow suit and apologise for not shaking the hand of Suarez?
Or is it one rule for Suarez and one rule for everyone else??
Pursued by a bear - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach: I think it's action and reaction; one follows the other, and without the first there wouldn't be the second. So if you can't take it back, don't do it to others.
And so no apology is needed from Ferdinand. The chicken never apologises when it comes home to roost, as it were.
T.
In reply to Pursued by a bear:
> (In reply to Si dH)
> [...]
>
> I think it would be a surprise to your boss if, having agreed with them beforehand that you would do something, you then chose not to do it; and you'd expect your boss to be annoyed with you.
>
> However, I'm pleased to see that some common sense has been applied and an apology issued. Time to put toys back in their respective prams and move on.
>
> T.
It seems to have come out now that he had told the club beforehand he would shake hands; in which case, I agree with you on that point, he should have.
bluebealach - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Pursued by a bear: I can sort of follow the logic although with something of this momentum, I think that i's are dotted and t's crossed.
Therefore although Suarez doesn't apologise directly to Evra for his actions, Ferdinand DOES need to issue some sort of statement for his action.... twitter is his preferred communications medium - he seems to have views on everybody else on there!!
In reply to bluebealach: He already has.
bluebealach - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Submit to Gravity:
> (In reply to bluebealach) He already has.
When? Didn't see it so apologies... <link?>
Yanis Nayu - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach: He explained on Tw*tter that he saw Suarez refusing to shake Evra's hand, so then withdrew his.
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
> I think he'll send you one personally.
Funny how Suarez is headline news and Ferdinand's gets stuck with the classifieds!!
Then again, I'm wondering when Ferguson is going to apologise for acting like a spoilt brat in not talking to the BBC for the last God knows how many years....what was it over?? houses, glass and people ect??!!
Pursued by a bear - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply anyone still interested: It seems to be the afternoon after the afternoon before, with all parties having had the opportunity to see themselves on television.
I didn't think Dalgleish would add anything to yesterday's ill-tempered TV interview, and it's to his credit that he's issued a statement.
T.
Apparently Suarez is not in the country at the moment.
I wonder what his reaction will be when he finds out he has apologised?
wilkie14c - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to bluebealach:
IIRC is was all over a BBC documentry <or news report> about his son Jason who is a football player agent and the beeb were chasing up allegations that fergie senior was pressuring players to sign with his son. His other son, Darren was sacked as the PNE manager and surprise surprise the Man U players who were on loan to Preson were instantly recalled to UTD.
Oh, Darren Fergerson is also a wife beater. Nice family
Banned User 77 - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to blanchie14c: Eh.. he used the word negrito.. how is Evra the guilty party.. for making a allegation?
There's either no proof either way.. or Liverpool players and officials lied, Suarez admitted using the word Negrito and was banned.. or Evra made everything up..
The FA were quite clear that the balance of probability was in Evra's favour.
The abuse to Evra has been disgusting. At best Liverpool fans should just have said.. one mans word against another. But the abuse is awful.
If this was a girl alleging a rape what would be the response if she was villified like Evra was.
Good response by Liverpool today though. In the US they have got bad press which may affect the Red Sox so I think the owners stepped in..
wilkie14c - on 12 Feb 2012
Banned User 77 - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to blanchie14c: Wouldn't you expect players to be recalled...
You give young players to someone you can trust to mentor them. If that changes you bring them back under your wing..
Common sense by one of the greatest managers of all time..
Or does Blanchie know better?
Or Fergie has just been lucky... without money he'd be nothing.. he's just bullied his way to the top...
The fact is most managers throughout the league, even his rivals, fully respect and admire him. Very few who know him well, even those who have fallen out with him, Stam etc, have held long term grudges.
wilkie14c - on 12 Feb 2012
I've already acknowledged in this thread that Fergie is one of the best managers of our time. I still think he's a c**t though. Still, opinions are like arseholes - we've all got one
bluebealach - on 12 Feb 2012
> There's either no proof either way.. or Liverpool players and officials lied, Suarez admitted using
> the word Negrito and was banned.. or Evra made everything up..
We need to be clear that the words Suarez admitted to were *not* what he was banned for. Even the Evra side accepts that. That was a later part of the conversation, where neither version (Suarez's or Evra's) amounts to racially abusive/insulting wording. The point at issue was an earlier part of the conversation, where Evra's version is much worse (see above), a version which Suarez totally denies.
It is the FA's interpretation of this earlier conversation that resulted in the ban. The later words (the ones Suarez accepted he said) are relevant only with regard to the light they shed on the earlier conversation.
> The FA were quite clear that the balance of probability was in Evra's favour.
Do you think that "balance of probability" is an appropriate threshold of certainty for giving an 8-match ban for racial abuse?
If, for example, this had been a cricket dismissal, and a a TV umpire was assessing the evidence for caught-behind, the verdict would have been "not out", because any reasonable doubt goes to the batsman,
On what is quite a serious charge and consequence, taking one person's word against another's, without any corroborating evidence, seems to me wrong.
In reply to ajsteele:
> At the end of the day Suarez knows he said it at least once, Suarez whole point seems to be
> he disagrees with Evra over the amount of times he called him negro but he does admit to calling
> him negro once in the exchange.
No, that is a misreading, the issue is *not* the number of times he said it, it is the context of the rest of the sentences. If the earlier sentences are as claimed by Evra, then it is clearly repeated racial taunting, and cannot be interpreted innocently.
That is very different from the (later) phrase which Suarez accepted he said, and which can be interpreted innocently, and which is only very mildly offensive at the worst.
> Suarez on the other hand has refused to even accept that during an argument calling someone
> negro or "blackie" (as the accepted Rioplatenese translation seems to be) even once could be offensive or insulting.
Has he refused to accept that someone could be insulted by it? Or has he merely stated that it was not intended as insulting, and generally would not be considered so in his culture?
In reply to Glyno:
> ah yes, bound to be an unbiased view on a LFC forum. jesus wept.
Is that the best you can do as a rebuttal? A Professor of Hispanic studies at a notable US university, and a native of Uruguay who should know about Uruguayan Spanish, makes serious criticism of the analysis of Spanish in the FA report, and the best reply you can make is that? If so it's pathetic.
Note that a Professor of Hispanic studies would want to preserve his professional reputation as to the Spanish language, so he wouldn't write anything that could be easily refuted, since his professional reputation would be badly sullied.
Postmanpat on 12 Feb 2012
> http://www.thisisanfield.com/2012/02/video-evra-refuses-suarez-handshake/
The video in that link is also interesting. It shows quite clearly that as Suarez is approaching, Evra moves his hand *away* from the handshake location; then when Suarez then moves past, Suarez makes a grab for Suarez's arm.
That seems to me to indicate that Evra was at least as guilty for the non-handshake, and was very likely trying to make an issue of it, trying to get Suarez into trouble (if he had merely not wanted to shake, then he would not have made the grab).
In which case, that Evra-clearly-trying-to-get-Suarez-into-trouble sheds new light on the original incident and on the "more reliable witness" and "balance of probabilities" conclusions of the FA.
> [...]
>
> Is that the best you can do as a rebuttal? A Professor of Hispanic studies at a notable US university, and a native of Uruguay who should know about Uruguayan Spanish, makes serious criticism of the analysis of Spanish in the FA report, and the best reply you can make is that? If so it's pathetic.
>
> Note that a Professor of Hispanic studies would want to preserve his professional reputation as to the Spanish language, so he wouldn't write anything that could be easily
refuted, since his professional reputation would be badly
Expert evidence was given to the disciplinary hearing by Professor Peter Wade Dr James Scorer. Anything you have to say about the professional integrity of this Uruguayan Professor also applies to these two.
In reply to The New NickB:
> Expert evidence was given to the disciplinary hearing by Professor Peter Wade Dr James Scorer.
> Anything you have to say about the professional integrity of this Uruguayan Professor also applies to these two.
However, the main point of the article by the Uruguayan Professor is the difference between Spanish in the native dialect of a Uruguayan and other forms of Spanish. As I understand it -- and here I'm open to correction -- neither of the two FA's experts are native Spanish speakers and neither has particular familiarity with Uruguayan Spanish.
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
>
> The video in that link is also interesting. It shows quite clearly that as Suarez is approaching, Evra moves his hand *away* from the handshake location; then when Suarez then moves past, Suarez makes a grab for Suarez's arm.
>
> That seems to me to indicate that Evra was at least as guilty for the non-handshake, and was very likely trying to make an issue of it, trying to get Suarez into trouble (if he had merely not wanted to shake, then he would not have made the grab).
>
> In which case, that Evra-clearly-trying-to-get-Suarez-into-trouble sheds new light on the original incident and on the "more reliable witness" and "balance of probabilities" conclusions of the FA.
all of course complete nonsense according to Suarez in his 'apology' today:
"I have not only let him [Dalglish] down but also the club and what it stands for and I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I regret what happened.
"I should have shaken Patrice Evra's hand before the game and I want to apologise for my actions".
wilkie14c - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Glyno:
I'd like to think it was 6 or one and half a dozen of the other. Fair play to Suarez for making the statement, maybe he's a rare breed of footballer that has very quickly learned the way our media works and he just wants to get on with things without this shit following him around.
We accept that a ref has a second to make a decsion and often they get it wrong, lets hope both Suarez and Evra read the situation wrong and in the second they had to read each other they got it wrong.
The game is bad enough as it is and its getting worse season by season, its the red cards this year, what'll it be next year?? I'm hearing now that Tevez could be back playing for city next week, todays headlines, tomorrows chip paper eh!
Oh, point of note to this threads non LFC or MU fans - Have none of you learned by now not to bother a disagreement with red, they are NEVER wrong, you should know that ;-)
<in fact, are any fans ever wrong when defending aspects of their club?>
wilkie14c - on 12 Feb 2012
All this shaking hands bollox is stupid, it means nothing why do teams have this play act before the whistle
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to blanchie14c:
>
> Oh, point of note to this threads non LFC or MU fans - Have none of you learned by now not to bother a disagreement with red, they are NEVER wrong, you should know that ;-)
> <in fact, are any fans ever wrong when defending aspects of their club?>
agreed
In reply to blanchie14c:
> (In reply to blanchie14c)
> All this shaking hands bollox is stupid, it means nothing why do teams have this play act before the whistle
agreed
> (In reply to The New NickB)
>
> All this sounds about as likely as a Professore of English at Montevideo University being an expert in Scouse.
Grow up!
Graeme Alderson on 12 Feb 2012
In reply to Anonymous: I see no reason why a Prof of English living in Uruguay can't be a good cook
In reply to Glyno:
> all of course complete nonsense according to Suarez in his 'apology' today:
No it's not nonsense, whatever role Suarez played in the incident (and I'm no saying he's blameless on this) Evra quite clearly withdrew his hand from the handshaking location as Suarez approached. His hand was much more "withdrawn" when Suarez passed than it was when the others approached.
You seem to me to be far too biased to say anything intelligent or sensible on this (are you a ManU fan?), but even someone like you might be able to see what is clear in the stills and video.
In reply to The New NickB:
> I have, it is very clear that Suarez deliberately avoids shaking his hand.
Maybe he did, but it's also very clear that Evra was deliberately making it hard for him, by withdrawing his hand to a position much closer to Evra's body. Evra's hand position is not the position of a man trying or offering to shake hands, and the hand motion as Suarez approaches is a withdrawal.
So, Evra is just as guilty for the "handshake" incident as Suarez. If only one of them has apologised that doesn't mean only one of them is guilty. All of this -- in my mind -- reflects on the original incident. The idea that Evra was entirely innocent and the only wronged party is getting less plausible,
peterd - on 12 Feb 2012
> You either didn't see the same clip as I did or you are looking at this issue through red-tinted spectacles.
Oh come on, Coel doesn't like football, he just likes trying to prove he's right.
In reply to Coel Hellier:
> Here's the video and stills. Look at the two stills with Evra and Suarez in the picture.
Also look at the video, the relevant bit is at 15 secs in, when the added circle first appears. Pause it there. Does Evra have his arm outstretched? Is it less or more outstretched than Suarez's when they're first "in range"?
Yes, Saurez moves has outstretched hand by, on to de Gea, but if Evra had had his hand in the usual location of someone offering to shake hands, there would have been contact, or very close to it!
In reply to Anonymous:
> Oh come on, Coel doesn't like football, he just likes trying to prove he's right.
You're right, I'm not a great football fan. These days I only watch an occasional Champions League match, since they're the only ones free-to-air and I don't have Sky or anything (I watch far more F1 and rugby).
So I'm not really coming to it from a football or a club angle, I just think that quite likely Suarez has been very hard done by here, and I don't like witch-hunts.
And I'm not really saying that Suarez is blameless in all this, but it doesn't seem to me nearly as one-sided as much of the comment suggests.
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
> [...]
>
> Actually demento was quite right in blanking the BBc after they made insubstantiated claims against Fergie Jr.
For 7 years Ian??
I agree with the rest of your comments but that got me wondering who is actually running the game these days.
The media seem to have a pretty big hand in everything and they will be selling shed-loads of print on the back of these shenanigans between Evra/Suarez and Terry/Ferdinands.
As is their want, its always just before a major comp that the press conspire to expose something that disrupts the National side. OK, I accept we are not good enough to win anything any time soon, but we have no chance with a metaphoric hand tied by the boys of the media.
Glyno - on 12 Feb 2012
Banned User 77 - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: The refused handshake was debunked on MOTD.. it was clearly Suarez who did that... straws Coel Straws..
Banned User 77 - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK: Sorry Andy.. yeah I was wrong.. assumed it was Liverpool fanzine.. awful by them. Hope the club take action.
TBF to Fergie he has retained a dignified silence throughout this and only went at Suarez after this latest slight.
I think United have handled the issue well, but Credit to Liverpool and Dalglish now. Dalglish is very similar to Ferguson, all out defence of his players but I think he went too far. Fergie will occassionally say his players were wrong, like he did about Evra's taunting of Suarez.. which was wrong, understandable, but he shouldn't have done it.. but Evra's a little shite.. we all know that.. proper Dennis wise.. we love him but if he played for anyone else you'd hate him... but you don't get to become one of the best left backs in world football at 5-6 without being an aggressive in your face player..
johncoxmysteriously - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty:
Given that Suarez maintains that Evra was telling a pack of lies to the panel, it's not surprising he doesn't want to shake the guy's hand. There's been an awful lot of silly fuss about this.
I can totally understand why Liverpool are so pissed off; the coverage of this has just been ridiculous. And how Evra escaped being charged himself given the language he accepted himself that he used is absolutely beyond me. How exactly is 'your sister's c*nt', and 'I'm going to punch you now' not 'using threatening and abusive language', pray?
jcm
> (In reply to Enty)
>
> Given that Suarez maintains that Evra was telling a pack of lies to the panel, it's not surprising he doesn't want to shake the guy's hand. There's been an awful lot of silly fuss about this.
>
> I can totally understand why Liverpool are so pissed off; the coverage of this has just been ridiculous. And how Evra escaped being charged himself given the language he accepted himself that he used is absolutely beyond me. How exactly is 'your sister's c*nt', and 'I'm going to punch you now' not 'using threatening and abusive language', pray?
>
> jcm
I really don't know why social constructions are as they are but I can guess which would make my Grigri fail.
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
Well Suarez doesn't have a sister so I assume it wouldn't mean anything to him and also I think it explains in the report that the phrase actually has a meaning more like "f**kin hell" in Spanish.
Yeah Evra might have gotten in trouble about those if there had been a case made against Evra, it's the same reason the argument between him and Kuyt brought up in the hearing didn't get Kuyt in trouble.
In reply to IainRUK:
> The refused handshake was debunked on MOTD.. it was clearly Suarez who did that... straws Coel Straws..
I notice that you avoid any comment on the video and stills evidence linked to above. Are you really trying to maintain that Evra's hand position is that of someone reaching out and offering to shake hands?
You are right that Suraez had a part in it, but the evidence is that so did Evra. Evra withdrew his hand, and had it low and close to his body, not stretched outwards. Suarez's hand was stretched outwards (into the empty space where one would have expected Evra's hand to have been). It is correct that at that point Suarez continues on to de Gea, perhaps a reaction to the non-offer from Evra.
Glyno - on 13 Feb 2012
Smiley or no smiley that is just the attitude that likely prejudiced the FA's judgement.
Glyno - on 13 Feb 2012
"of course Evra is in the right, and of course his testimony counts for more than Suraez's in the tribunal, since he's black"
could the above not be construed as racist?
Postmanpat on 13 Feb 2012
> (In reply to Postmanpat)
>
> "of course Evra is in the right, and of course his testimony counts for more than Suraez's in the tribunal, since he's black"
>
> could the above not be construed as racist?
It could be but that would be distortion. It is an accusation that the tribunal is racist.
Glyno - on 13 Feb 2012
> could the above not be construed as racist?
Definitely not.
I started this thread after briefly watching the video on Football Focus on Saturday afternoon. I've since watched the video again and again and I'm convinced that snivveling little shit Evra did play his part in setting the handshake incident up. Early on he's having a snidey look as Suarez approaches - i reckon to get his timing right.
I still agree that Suarez doesn't have the brains he was born with. He could've ended all this months ago with a little thought.
Look - I've had my mind changed (slightly)
And yes, it's pointless arguing with blinkered Man U fans - utterly pointless ;-)
E
> http://newsframes.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/media-on-racism-churnalism/
Thanks, I hadn't seen that. Some relevant snippets.
I was asked above about the FA's language experts and whether they agreed with the Hispanic Professor's assessment. Well, according to the FA report, the version as claimed by Evra: "The experts considered it worth noting that the phrase "porque tu eres negro" struck both of them as slightly unusual" (para 182). Whereas regarding Suarez's version: "The question "Por qu�, negro?" as transcribed in Mr Suarez's interview sounded right linguistically and culturally" (para 191).
Also, regarding Suarez's version: "in Rioplatense Spanish the use of "negro" as described here by Mr Suarez would not be offensive. Indeed, it is possible that the term was intended as an attempt at conciliation and/or to establish rapport ..." (para 190).
It is also worth emphasizing that the word "nego" -- contrary to just about all media comment -- is ***NOT*** the issue here. It was the surrounding context of the sentences!
From the FA's report: "The FA relied, in particular, on the experts' conclusion that if Mr Suarez used the words "negro" and "negros" *as* *described* *by* Mr Evra, this would be understood as offensive and offensive in racial terms in Uruguay and Spanish-speaking America more generally."
"Mr Suarez, on the other hand, relied on the experts' conclusion that if he used the word "negro" as described by him, this would not be interpreted as either offensive or offensive in racial terms in Uruguay and Spanish-speaking America more generally."
So it really does come down to the two different versions of the goal-mouth conversation, which are given up-thread -- and for which neither player has corroborration.
The main reason the FA gives for doubting Suarez and accepting Evra's version is:
"[Suarez] also said that his use of the word "negro" to address Mr Evra was conciliatory and friendly. We rejected that evidence. To describe his own behaviour in that way was unsustainable and simply incredible given that the players were engaged in an acrimonious argument. That this was put forward by Mr Suarez was surprising and seriously undermined the reliability of his evidence on other matters ..."
However, *if* Suarez's version of the goalmouth conversation is correct then they were *not* engaged in an "acrimonious argument"! At least, Evra might have been, but nothing Suarez said (if his version is correct) is all that acrimonious (certainly not by the standards of football matches), and all of it is entirely in line with Suarez trying to defuse any argument.
For example, Suarez's response "it was just a normal foul <shrug shoulders>" and then asking to just get on with the game is in line with that. Thus, the FA's judgement seems to be circular, in that they seem to have taken Evra's account as truth in ruling that there was an "acrimonious argument" -- and then go on to criticise Suarez's account for being inconsistent with that. That is circular; Suarez's account is entirely consistent within the context of Suarez's account.
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
You have left out the fact that they didn't accept Suarez said it in a "conciliatory" way because he didn't claim this until after the language experts pointed out that it could be used in this way but good try.
Also on the "Tu eres" thing, that was what Suarez told Damian Commolli and Kenny Dalglish straight after the match and was noted down by the fourth official so wether it is strange for him to say it doesn't really matter as it is Suarez who told them he said it in that way. Unless of course Commolli got it wrong but that was deemed to be unikely as he claims he took great care in finding out exactly what was said from Suarez as he knew it was extremely important to the club.
In reply to ajsteele:
> You have left out the fact that they didn't accept Suarez said it in a "conciliatory" way because
> he didn't claim this until after the language experts pointed out that it could be used in this way but good try.
Can you give me the paragraph number for that?
> Also on the "Tu eres" thing, that was what Suarez told Damian Commolli and Kenny Dalglish
> straight after the match and was noted down by the fourth official ...
There do appear to be some inconsistencies in how those later remarks were reported, and it may well be that Suarez altered his testimony on those somewhat. However, those later remarks are still not really the central part of the case, it was the earlier (disputed) conversation that resulted in the lengthy ban.
And anyhow, there are equally large inconsistencies in Evra's match-day testimony. He said, on the pitch to the referee "he called me black", pointing at Suarez, in a context that suggested this had happened once. He also said a similar thing to his team mates. Then, by the end of the match this had escalated, saying to Ferguson "Boss, he called me a f***ing ni**er", and then in a TV interview claiming he'd been called a "ni**er" "at least 10 times".
The report makes a big deal out of supposed inconsistencies in Suraez's immediate post-match testimony, but glosses over equally large inconsistencies in Evra's account of what he had been called.
haworthjim on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Hey Coel just think of all the climbing you could have done this weekend instead of defending a racist wuckfit!!
If only he kicked a bag of air for a different team eh??
Ps what he ever done on grit??
Peace
> Hey Coel just think of all the climbing you could have done this weekend instead of defending a racist wuckfit!!
Nope, I'm defending fair treatment.
> If only he kicked a bag of air for a different team eh??
Nope, I'm not a Liverpool fan.
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
Its around paragraph 269 somewhere as far as I can remember, its part of the whole section dealing with Suarez's inconsistencies. If I remember it correctly Suarez first claimed he said it in a friendly way the one would to a friend, however when the experts pointed out that it would make more sense for it to be conciliatory than friendly he changed his description to suit the expert evidence.
There were inconsistencies with Evra's story as well although saying to the ref he called me black doesn't indicate it only happened once and the tv interview it was accepted by both parties that it is a figure of speech in french and doesn't indicate the exact number. 7 times, I think, was pretty much stuck to rigidly from his actual statements of what happened.
wilkie14c - on 13 Feb 2012
Are we still allowed to chant 'who's the bastard in the black?' though?
haworthjim on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Wow! All the effort and you dont even suppport the team- hats off to your dedication!
Not
> Its around paragraph 269 somewhere as far as I can remember, its part of the whole section dealing
> with Suarez's inconsistencies. If I remember it correctly Suarez first claimed he said it in a
> friendly way the one would to a friend, however when the experts pointed out that it would make
> more sense for it to be conciliatory than friendly he changed his description to suit
> the expert evidence.
OK, here's the para:
"Whilst Mr Suarez had, in his interview with the FA, said that he had used the word "negro" towards Mr Evra in a "friendly and affectionate" way, the first time that he used the words "conciliation" and "conciliatory" was in his witness statement. This was signed after Mr Suarez had received the experts' report which referred to the possibility that Mr Suarez's use of the term was intended as an attempt at conciliation. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mr Suarez used the words conciliation and conciliatory to describe his use of the word "negro" because the experts had used those terms to describe the circumstances in which the word would not generally be offensive in Uruguay."
Don't you think it is somewhat harsh on Suarez making an "inconsistency" out of the difference between "friendly and affectionate" and "conciliatory"? Come on! Let us recall that Suarez does not speek English at all well, and would have been speaking through an interpreter.
In this situtation, not speaking the language well, it would be entirely understandable if either he or the interpreter latched on to words being used by others. Anyway, to even begin to call this an "inconsitency" one would need to examine the exact Spanish words used by Suarez and the exact words used by the interpreter.
> There were inconsistencies with Evra's story as well although saying to the ref he called me
> black doesn't indicate it only happened once ...
There is inconsistency in Evra's claim: he reported it differently at different times, as saying to the ref: "he called me a black" and "he called me black *again*". The FA says about this (275): "it is a minor inconsistency which arose only in the course of his oral evidence about whether he used the word "again" when speaking to the referee, and it is not of any material significance to the issues we have to decide."
That seems very different to how Saurez's inconsistencies are regarded -- and seems just as significant as the above friendly/conciliatory one. Especially since the whole issue here revolves around how many times Suarez used the word, and the surrounding sentences!
> and the tv interview it was accepted by both parties that it is a figure of speech in french and ....
Doesn't it? Any corroboration of this claim by Evra's? Anyone here a native French speaker? I asked a native French speaker how he would interrpet "at least 10 times" and he said he'd interpret it literally, though would allow for some inacccuracy in the counting.
> 7 times, I think, was pretty much stuck to rigidly from his actual statements of what happened.
Yep, seven times is the Evra line. However, it was accepted that Ferguson's complaint to the referee after the match was "five times", and presumably Ferguson got that from Evra. But five times is not what the eventual Evra claim was. Now, ok, this could be simple miscounting -- though at the least there is inconsistencies in Evra's match-day complaints.
How did the FA treat this?
(278) "Nonetheless, Mr Haughan does remember Sir Alex saying five times. This is the sort of detail that Mr Haughan might remember given the unusual circumstances in which he overheard the complaint and the fact that Mr Haughan reported what he had heard to the Liverpool management. In our judgment, this lent some weight to the credibility of Mr Evra's evidence that Mr Suarez used the word five times in the goalmouth."
Now, the final FA judgement was (in agreement with Evra's eventual number): "Mr Suarez used the words "negro" or "negros" seven times."
So, note what is happening here, the fact that Ferguson's number was *wrong* (5 not 7) is quoted as "lend[ing] some weight to the credibility of Mr Evra's evidence"!
In other words, inconsistencies from the Evra side are being dismissed as irrelevant or as actually *lending* *weight* to their side! Whereas inconsistencies on the Suarez side are being treated as damning, and are being interpreted as him deliberately changing his testimony.
Glyno - on 13 Feb 2012
enough, enough, I give up!
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
haha very good...going back a few years there...then again most Liverpool fans still live in the past
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
Then if you notice what is wrong in your argument it might be handy! The inconsistencies in "Evras" statement you have listed come from what a Liverpool employee, Mr Haughan, claims to have heard Alex Ferguson saying.
The French figure of speech part is also in the report somewhere but I can't remember what paragraph exactly and it was accepted by both sides, and the native French speaker you have asked seemingly has told you he would take take it literally as 10 times but not really literally as he would allow for a numerical innacurracy.
The "again" I'll give you.
wilkie14c - on 13 Feb 2012
> (In reply to blanchie14c)
>
> haha very good...going back a few years there...then again most Liverpool fans still live in the past
footy fans never forget mate ;-)
<I'm a Derby fan!>
> The inconsistencies in "Evras" statement you have listed come from what a Liverpool employee,
> Mr Haughan, claims to have heard Alex Ferguson saying.
OK, and most of the inconsistencies attributed to Suarez are really between a Liverpool employee's account of what Suarez said post-match, and Suarez's account of what he said post-match.
> and the native French speaker you have asked seemingly has told you he would take take it
> literally as 10 times but not really literally as he would allow for a numerical innacurracy.
But the point was he didn't say it was a "figure of speech". In English also we'd allow for miscounting, in the sense that if someone said "at least 10 times" we wouldn't make a fuss if it later turned out to be 8 or 9.
Anyway, the point is that the FA seem to have excused any inconsistencies from the Evra side, but been highly critical of inconsistencies from the Suarez side.
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
What I have found astonishing through this entire thread is your absolute conviction that you know better than the 3 members of the tribunal. They were only there to hear all the evidence and make the decision based on the balance of probabilities. Where as you have read a report and know better.
As far as I can tell the only people who actually know what was said that day are Evra and Suarez, yet you seem content to defend Suarez through thick and thin. Has it crossed your mind that he may have said what Evra said that he said and then lied about it to try and get out of trouble?
Postmanpat on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to jayme:
> (In reply to Coel Hellier)
> What I have found astonishing through this entire thread is your absolute conviction that you know better than the 3 members of the tribunal.
How do you think the media would have reacted if the three middle aged white men had concluded that it was all a bit complicated and therefore they could take no sanctions against Suarez? And how would that have left their "kick racism out of football" campaign?
jayme - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Postmanpat: I would have thought that had they produced a 115 page document explaning why they reached the decision to side with Suarez's version of events rather than Evra's version of events we would have accepted it was the truth. We are talking here about one person from a ethnic minority talking about another person of an ethnic minority. Are we deciding racing cases on who is blacker than the other, or as stated on the balance of probablities?
Even if it's not the truth*, it's the result, and Suarez needs to accept that and move on.
*for the prevention of misunderstanding I believe Suarez to be guilty.
Postmanpat on 13 Feb 2012
> (In reply to Postmanpat) I would have thought that had they produced a 115 page document explaning why they reached the decision
And no doubt the Guildford 4 were guilty as sin and the Hutton report wasn't a whitewash.
jayme - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Postmanpat:
I am now placing you on the same pedastal as Coel. You both know better than the people who were actually there taking the evidence and will blindly stick to your idea of what happened eben in the face of reasoned argument. You have no doubt at all about what actually happened y
jayme - on 13 Feb 2012
What was their motivation to find for one party or the other in the biased why that you are implying?
Postmanpat on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to jayme:
> (In reply to Postmanpat)
> What was their motivation to find for one party or the other in the biased why that you are implying?
I've explained above. They don't want to be branded as racists and they don't want to undermine their campaign.
They don't have to have sat down and conspired to protect themselves and their campaign but their judgement could be clouded by their fears.
I don't have much of a view on the subject and nor do I much care. What seems odd is that LFC went so far in sticking up for him if they thought that actually he was guilty. Maybe they took the Ferguson approach of defending their players come what may too far, or maybe they genuinely believed he was being stitched up and mistreated.
Either way I agree that once they had decided not to appeal they should have,whilst defending the player's integrity, agreed to put an end to whole thing.
Fredt on 13 Feb 2012
This thread is lasting longer the actual incident.
Can't you all just shake hands and move on?
jayme - on 13 Feb 2012
>
>
> I've explained above. They don't want to be branded as racists and they don't want to undermine their campaign.
How would deciding that Suarez's version of events is true get them branded as racists. As I previously said it was one member of an ethnic minority accusing a member of a different ethnic minority.
In reply to jayme:
> What I have found astonishing through this entire thread is your absolute conviction that you know
> better than the 3 members of the tribunal. They were only there to hear all the evidence and
> make the decision based on the balance of probabilities.
And a central part of that I'm saying is that "balance of probabilities" is the wrong standard to find him guilty of the words Evra accused him of and give him an 8-match ban.
> As far as I can tell the only people who actually know what was said that day are Evra and Suarez, ...
So you're admitting that the 3 members of the tribunal don't?
> ... yet you seem content to defend Suarez through thick and thin.
What I'm doing is pointing out that the case against him is not that strong and comes down to one person's word against another -- and I for one do not consider that to be sufficient to find him guilty of this. I'm also saying that much of the media comment, in failing to accept that, is highly biased.
> Has it crossed your mind that he may have said what Evra said that he said and then lied about
> it to try and get out of trouble?
Why sure it has, and it might be true. But has that been established with sufficient confidence to heap all the opprobrium on Suarez that he is getting. (And has it crossed *your* mind that Evra might be the one lying here?)
If Suarez was judged guilty on "balance of probabilities" that means that, say, it could have been a 60:40 decision. In which case even the 3-man panel would estimate a 40% chance of him being innocent. Are you happy with the *process* here? Would you like this sort of process applied to you if someone made an accusation against you?
Can I ask how you know personally the motivation of the panel. Alternatively you could preface your statement with "I am guessing wildly based on the fact that I think there is a big liberal conspiracy about racism, that ....."
jayme - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
I have no idea of what was said by who on the day. The only thing that i know as fact from all of this is that one of them lied. I am not here defending either Evra or Suarez, I am defending the process and the integrity of the panel which came to a decission.
As to "balance of probabilities" that is the standard of proof required in an employment tribunal. You or I could be sacked from our jobs for something that was found guilty on the balance of probabilities. I have no problem with this as the standard for decisions made by the FA.
As I asked earlier what is the motivation for the FA panel to find for either player and not just be an honest judgment?
> [...]
>
> How would deciding that Suarez's version of events is true get them branded as racists. As I previously said it was one member of an ethnic minority accusing a member of a different ethnic minority.
We're all members of ethnic minorities ! The point is that Suarez was the one being accused of racism.
Gazlynn - on 13 Feb 2012
> (In reply to Coel Hellier)
>
> As I asked earlier what is the motivation for the FA panel to find for either player and not just be an honest judgment?
The FA wants to show to Blatter that they will not tolerate any racism of any kind no?
(damn i swore to myself not to get involved in this)
cheers
In reply to The New NickB:
> (In reply to Postmanpat)
>
> Can I ask how you know personally the motivation of the panel. Alternatively you could preface your statement with "I am guessing wildly based on the fact that I think there is a big liberal conspiracy about racism, that ....."
So you think they would be happy to be branded as racists and to undermine their campaign?
And what is this conspiracy theory you refer to? Are you woolsack in disguise?
ajsteele - on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
I'm going to bite again even though I really don't want to.
> What I'm doing is pointing out that the case against him is not that strong and comes down to one person's word against another
Right at the start of the report they point out that both sides accepted that it isn't a case of one mans word against another. Liverpool I assume actually got a qualified lawyer to represent him so I would presume he wouldn't accept this if it was in any way untrue.
> If Suarez was judged guilty on "balance of probabilities" that means that, say, it could have been a 60:40 decision. In which case even the 3-man panel would estimate a 40% chance of him being innocent. Are you happy with the *process* here? Would you like this sort of process applied to you if someone made an accusation against you?
Unfortunately thats the rules of the FA for you. You see certain decisions during games like sending someone off based on dangerous intent when jumping with elbows out or jumping into tackles would not be able to be red cards anymore as it would be impossible to prove beyond doubt what is in a players head as they go into those challenges. As with most sports governing bodies they only have to prove things against a balance of probability unlike the much higher against reasonable doubt that is necessary in law courts. It is something LFC and Suarez agree to when they agree to be a football club or player in the English league so to argue against that now is pointless.
> Right at the start of the report they point out that both sides accepted that it isn't a case of one
> mans word against another.
Which paragraph is this?
> Liverpool I assume actually got a qualified lawyer to represent him so I would presume he wouldn't
> accept this if it was in any way untrue.
One conclusion that seems fairly inevitable is that Liverpool's lawyers screwed up badly here. The judgement went against them on almost everything, and they don't seem to have seen that coming, which suggests they didn't do a good job.
> You see certain decisions during games like sending someone off based on dangerous intent when
> jumping with elbows out or jumping into tackles would not be able to be red cards anymore
Obviously, during a game, the officials need to make 50:50 decisions, it couldn't be otherwise. But in a tribunal disciplinary situation they don't.
> ... so to argue against that [balance of proabilities] now is pointless.
Ok, but then remember in all the media comment that, even in the eyes of the 3-man panel, there may be a 40% chance that Evra lied, that Suarez is innocent, and that that might explain his attitude.
Postmanpat on 13 Feb 2012
> Is it? According to http://www.emplaw.co.uk/lawguide?startpage=data/097021.htm
>
> "In unfair dismissal cases the onus of proof is on the employer to show the reason, or, if more than one the principal reason, for dismissing the employee (Employment Rights Act 1996 s.98(1)). If the employer fails to prove the reason is one of the four reasons set out in the statute (concerned with conduct, capability, redundancy or breaking the law) or "some other substantial reason" the dismissal is deemed to be unfair."
Nothing you have said here changes the standard of proof.
"The burden of proof then shifts to the employer to demonstrate if he can, on the balance of probabilities, that there was an adequate "non-discrimination" explanation for what took place. If he fails to demonstrate this then the tribunal is required to assume that he is "guilty"."
>
> You're imagining things!
No. You are stating that the panel made their decision based on their judgement relating to external perceptions of their treatment of racism, not on the facts presented. Yes or no.
In reply to jayme:
A notable feature of an employment tribunal is that they have to decide one way or the other, either the employee is dismissed without compensation or he gets compensation. Similarly in civil matters where one party is suing another.
It's different in a disciplinary tribunal of FA v Suarez, where one could easily rule that the case was not proven owing to insufficient evidence. There is simply no reason why they need to go on balance of probability there.
Postmanpat on 13 Feb 2012
> [...]
>
> Quite probably, you seemed pretty certain earlier. Either way, you are guessing without anything to back it up.
>
Aren't they muppets from the FA? Case proven.
> I don't need a tin foil hat, I appear to be backing the establishment. Strange feeling.
You feel strange because you're not wearing your hat and the beams are getting to you. I get you a large to be safe.
Graeme Alderson on 13 Feb 2012
In reply to Postmanpat: Just to add a bit more fuel - apparently the handshake protocol was changed http://www.thisisanfield.com/2012/02/why-was-handshake-protocol-changed-at-old-trafford/
Glyno - on 13 Feb 2012
Earlier this season at Anfield, United (who were obviously the away team) walked past the stationary Liverpool players for the handshake.
Here's a photo of the away team (Everton), walking past the stationary home players at Arsenal
Similar protocol as on Saturday.
Another conspiracy theory down the pan.
Next.
In reply to Enty:
In reply to various people, the reason Liverpool didn't appeal the panel's verdict is that there is no appeal, at least not against liability (they could have appealed the length of the ban given the findings made, but it's understandable they wouldn't want to do that.
I think this thread and the misconceptions various people have about what happened in the tribunal is cogently making the point Liverpool made in their original comments: it's unfortunate that we have a tribunal which hears allegations which amount to criminal offences without applying a criminal standard of proof. I know the clubs sign up to it, but in this case it hasn't worked fairly.
As to the FA's/tribunal's predilections/agenda/what have you, I think the decision not to charge Evra, and the decision to double the normal ban for racially abusing an opponent, are fairly suggestive.
I believe the language experts at the tribunal did consider whether what Evra claimed was said could possibly be said by a Uruguayan, and they said that while it was unusual it might just about have been.
jcm
> (In reply to Enty)
>
it's unfortunate that we have a tribunal which hears allegations which amount to criminal offences without applying a criminal standard of proof.
I disagree - I think it's more logical to argue that if the outcome of being found guilty would be the same as in a criminal trial then the criminal law burden of proof should apply. Applying your logic I think you'd find your job a whole lot harder!
johncoxmysteriously - on 14 Feb 2012
In reply to Submit to Gravity:
I'm not really following you - you mean that if the clubs were to sign up to something allowing the FA to imprison their players then a criminal standard of proof would be logical, but not otherwise?
My point is that much of the outcome is the same - all the public sees is Suarez 'found guilty', and (ooooh taking an example at random), say, John Terry found guilty, and it doesn't distinguish between the processes involved. This is unfortunate. H
Had Suarez been prosecuted, he would have been found not guilty on the evidence, and we'd have been talking about him "clearing his name". It's not good that reputation depends so much on procedure like that.
jcm
> you mean that if the clubs were to sign up to something allowing the FA to imprison their players
> then a criminal standard of proof would be logical, but not otherwise?
In addition, for a criminal case, not only is the level of proof required much higher, but the level of offense required is higher for conviction. Using language which refers to someone's ethnicity is not in itself sufficient.
For example, a recent case had someone calling a police officer a "pig" while being arrested. They were found not guilty (of the same Public Order offence which Terry is charged with) on the grounds that a Police Officer should be grown up enough not to be "distressed" by being called a "pig", and thus no offence was committed. By the standards of language normally used on football pitches (2 or 3 f-words per sentence being usual, along with c-words etc), one can doubt whether being called a "black c***" is really out of line with normal conversation on Premiership football pitches, and thus doubt whether anyone would be genuinely "distressed". It's notable that had he merely called him a "c***" or a "motherf***ing c***" or similar no-one would have batted an eyelid.
Another point is that, while Terry could theoretically be imprisoned for this offence, by sentencing norms that is highly unlikely. Far more likely is a fine up to �2500, which compares with the �40,000 fine Suarez got.
Of course one can doubt whether in the current climate "norms" will prevail.
Banned User 77 - on 14 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: For someone of undoubted intelligence that is an absolutely idioticly ignorant out of touch post...
As someone who has spent many hours playing on pitches any reference to race on a football pitch is wholely unacceptable. It has been for at least a decade. Late 80's early 90's it was still common enough. It is now unheard of. Even in some of the hard welsh leagues when we had a carribean player racially abused the opposition would step in and put their own player in place...
As someone who plays I would use anything.. girlfriends were fair game.. I'd make comments to them.. ask them out.. make them laugh. all I wanted was their number 9 to want to kill me more than score.. we'd do anything to wind players up but the race was a line we didn't cross..
No calling someone a c*nt is fine.. but millions of people haven't been segregated or abused for being c*nts.. its just an incredible over sight on your part here Coel...
Liverpool fans are wrapping themselves in knots rather than just accepting the one thing we all know.. Suarez is a tw*t.. Evra is a tw*t.. Suarez went too far.. got a big ban, harsh, but in the current climate that was understandable...
Terry should also just own up.. he's not racist, he's just an idiot. He'd be better putting his hands up, saying yeah I screwed up, stepped over the mark, like Stuart Pearce did with Ince and the matter is finished..
Glyno - on 14 Feb 2012
rumours abound that the scumbag has handed in a transfer request
Glyno - on 14 Feb 2012
Yanis Nayu - on 14 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: You really don't get it, do you?
Yanis Nayu - on 14 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously: I'm not suggesting for a minute that clubs should want a criminal burden of proof and their players imprisoned, I'm saying that the burden of proof should reflect the potential severity of the punishment, and I don't accept that getting a higher fine from the FA represents a more harsh punishment than a lower fine from a court; getting a criminal record is a severe punishment in itself.
I guess that many of the people you sue are potentially guilty of criminal offences, as well as having a civil law liability. Why are you then happy to sue them, possibly for considerable sums of money, using the civil law burden of proof?
In reply to IainRUK:
> that is an absolutely idioticly ignorant out of touch post...
> As someone who has spent many hours playing on pitches any reference to race on a football pitch is wholely unacceptable.
You seem to have missed that my last post was all about *the* *criminal* *law* (as in what Terry is facing), and not about what is customary in football.
In reply to Submit to Gravity:
> You really don't get it, do you?
What don't I get?
Banned User 77 - on 14 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: " one can doubt whether being called a "black c***" is really out of line with normal conversation on Premiership football pitches, and thus doubt whether anyone would be genuinely "distressed". It's notable that had he merely called him a "c***" or a "motherf***ing c***" or similar no-one would have batted an eyelid. "
This is just so far off the mark its untrue.. how many competitive games have you played? Even how many grounds have you been too? You just don't hear racism in football in the UK.. its somehow reared its ugly head this year but thankfully even Liverpool fans have shipped there own to make sure these matters get stamped out.. in the long term it may well help having it brought to the fore again..
We've now had 4 incidents.
Read abouT Evra's early career.. 10,000's making monkey chants in Italian stadiums.. he does have an issue with racism... he's also got little guy chip but racism is something he detests.. and was affected by in his early career..
In reply to IainRUK:
> This is just so far off the mark its untrue.. how many competitive games have you played?
None. However, once again, my above posts were about how things would be seen by *the* *criminal* *law* and by the standards of *the* *criminal* *law* you are going to find it pretty hard to argue that it is perfectly ok to call someone a "c***" or a "motherf***ker" but not ok to call someone "black" because by the standards of *the* *criminal* *law* -- rather than the somewhat bizarre world of football -- it is hard to argue that the last of those is worse.
Banned User 77 - on 14 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Not it is not.. to insult someone on an opinion that they are a c*nt is nothing.. its water of a ducks back on a pitch.. to use race and something which has been used to repress generations and has been a huge factor in football is out of order... its a different level..
Its the same with its OK to commit a foul, yet go to prison for a head butt.. the law is perfectly happy to keep out of most football situations.. its a grey area most of us would rather the law never stepped into..
Enty - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK:
You're right Iain,
I also played through the 80's in East Lancashire where there were lots of Asian teams in the Accrington and Blackburn Combination leagues.
The language would make a paratrooper blush but using race to get at another player was a line that was very very rerely crossed (if ever) even back in the backwards days of John Barnes' bananas.
E
Sir Chasm - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK: "You just don't hear racism in football in the UK.. its somehow reared its ugly head this year".
So do you hear racism in football or not?
Enty - on 15 Feb 2012
Can you really not work out what he meant?
E
Sir Chasm - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: Is it that although attempts are made to stamp it out, quite a lot of footballers and football supporters are racist at heart and you don't have to scratch at the surface very hard to see it?
johncoxmysteriously - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Submit to Gravity:
>I guess that many of the people you sue are potentially guilty of criminal offences, as well as having a civil law liability. Why are you then happy to sue them, possibly for considerable sums of money, using the civil law burden of proof?
No, they're not, actually. On the rare occasions where you allege something, eg fraud, which is also criminal there are specific rules involved; for example the normal rules on disclosure are relaxed.
jcm
In reply to IainRUK:
I must say I think your posts make it very clear that racial name-calling is not racism at all; it's simply a taboo, a societal construct, or whatever you want to call it. Racism is something entirely different; it's the belief that one race is superior to another or deserves special privileges, and can clearly be seen in the fact that you get black players but propotionately no black managers, which occurs because those who decide these things believe, that black guys are not as good at running things as white guys and/or that white guys will not take orders from black guys whereas vice versa is OK.
jcm
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
Going on a bit of a tangent here but I think if you look at when the managers of today were playing there wasn't as high a % of black players and therefore its not really reasonable to look and say there are 50% black players now so there should be 50% black managers now too.
There are also other factors involved like are there many black ex-players who have completed the coaching badges needed to manage? As far as I am aware this hasn't been documented anywhere so it is a case of guessing really.
It's not as if black managers have been completely overlooked either, John Barnes and Paul Ince have both been given pretty high profile jobs in Celtic and Blackburn.
> (In reply to Submit to Gravity)
>
> >I guess that many of the people you sue are potentially guilty of criminal offences, as well as having a civil law liability. Why are you then happy to sue them, possibly for considerable sums of money, using the civil law burden of proof?
>
> No, they're not, actually. On the rare occasions where you allege something, eg fraud, which is also criminal there are specific rules involved; for example the normal rules on disclosure are relaxed.
>
> jcm
You're ducking the issue. There are many occasions where one incident creates both a breach of criminal law and a liability under civil law. Car accidents and health and safety issues are two that spring to mind. It is quite possible that the criminal and civil action run concurrently for the same incident - each considered against different burdens of proof. If the civil law burden of proof is good enough for someone to sue an employer for negligence following an accident, why isn't it good enough for an FA Tribunal, with none of the consequences of criminal action, such as imprisonment and/or a criminal record?
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously: I don't think a lot of it is acctual racism.. I don't think Terry is a racist.. I just think they've gone too far in trying to get reactions.. so I support the bans.
I also agree the larger issue is lack of black coaches, have you heard of the Rooney rule? In US football (throwing type) they HAVE to interview a black coach for every coaching position now. Its also a problem there.
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele: Compared to the numbers in the game...
Barnes (Celtic), Ince (Blackburn, MK Dons), Houghton (Birmingham, Newcastle), Alexander (lincoln), Powell (Charlton), Palmer (Stockport), Bright (Chester)
I can't think of many more off hand.. Its less than 1% anyway..
MHutch - on 15 Feb 2012
It wasn't so much the handball as his disgusting reaction on the touchline when Ghana missed the penalty.
ajsteele - on 15 Feb 2012
To be fair though most people probably would have made the handball to save their country from certain elimination from the world cup and most would have been delighted when the gamble paid off too.
Enty - on 15 Feb 2012
Is that the one with 2 offside shouts seconds before Suarez he saves it?
E
In reply to Enty:
I can see a marginal one perhaps when the kick is taken, but after that there are two players on the line, including Suarez.
I must admit I raised an eyebrow when Liverpool signed him. Signing foreign a*seholes should be the exclusive province of my lot and Chelsea.
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Enty: I've no issues about the handball.. the celebration wasn't great but he did what he had to do..
He is though a contraversial character, always has been. I know people always say Ferguson does a blanket defence of his players but I think this is something a step further. Tbf the Liverool heirarchy eventually realised it was too much and stepped in.
The argument that negrito is fine is obsurb.. we never heard Forlan using the term... nor any other of the tens of South American players.. he knew what he was saying, so did Evra..
MHutch - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK:
Only he, and possibly Evra, knew what he was saying. The rest of us must believe what we want to believe.
I've got no issues with the FA ruling...it may not be correct or fair, but, to paraphrase you, they did what they had to do.
He may or may not be guilty of racism, but, as in the rest of football, fairness is rather disposable when bigger things such as world cup semi-finals or the reputation of men in suits are at stake.
winhill - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK:
> (In reply to Coel Hellier) Not it is not.. to insult someone on an opinion that they are a c*nt is nothing.. its water of a ducks back on a pitch.. to use race and something which has been used to repress generations and has been a huge factor in football is out of order... its a different level..
But the question is how much of a different level is it? Generally it is regarded twice as bad by the FA:
GENERAL BEHAVIOUR
3 (1) A Participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.
(2) In the event of any breach of Rule E 3(1) including a reference to any one or more of a person�s ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, sexual orientation or disability (an �aggravating factor�), a Regulatory Commission shall consider the imposition of an increased sanction, taking into account the following entry points:
For a first offence, a sanction that is double that which the Regulatory Commission would have applied had the aggravating factor not been present.
That's why it's not clear if Evra should have received the same or half the penalty that Suarez got.
> (2) In the event of any breach of Rule E 3(1) including a reference to
> any one or more of a person�s ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality,
> faith, gender, sexual orientation or disability (an �aggravating
> factor�), a Regulatory Commission shall consider the imposition of an
> increased sanction, ...
Some points resulting from that. The words that Suarez admitted to using do not contribute a violation of those rules, since a reference to colour/race is only an "aggravating factor" and needs to also be abusive/insulting.
So those such as IainRUK who are saying that that alone is unacceptable are out of line with the rules. Also, the liberal use of c-words and f-words and other insults is also clearly against 3(1), so that rule seems to be widely ignored.
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: I know I really shouldn't talk about experiences.. but refs come in the changing room and give a speach.. they say 'look its a working mans game, you swear at work, I don't mind you swearing on the pitch, just not at me'..
I've heard it 100 times..
Suarez used the word negrito... OK that was admitted... the argument is whether Evra should have been banned too.. to be honest if he had been I wouldn't be sat here, head in sand arguing against a ban... he said to Webb 'you only booking me because I am black' for that alone he should have been banned...
It is just incredible Liverpool fans are so blind of the fact that Suarez was out of line... its so simple its excruciating watching you all twist and squirm..
Suarez screwed up.. the FA have been on at UEFA and FIFA for years about racist abuse of our players abroad.. they used this to set an example.. for christs sake United lost a player for 8 months for the same offence a City player got a small fine for.. the FA do this.. the lack of FA consistency is nothing knew.. Suarez clearly violated those rules.. in a heated discussion in a fiercely nasty derby he used the term negro/negrito.. its hardly the time for friendly comments...
They change their stance on things a lot.. look at the threat of strikes by Red Nev for the banning of a player before a trial, yet Terry was allowed to captain with a court case hanging over him...
> (In reply to IainRUK)
>
> That's why it's not clear if Evra should have received the same or half the penalty that Suarez got.
The FA have set examples that swearing is allowed. Players heard swearing by TV cameras are not banned.. players who swear at TV camera's are sometimes banned.. I can't think of any occassion when a player was banned for merely swearing.. the use of the term South American by Evra could have led to a ban.. but I do think calling someone a french tw*t is different to calling someone a black tw*t...
Saying that I was called an effing pommie on a pitch in NZ and told the ref I was sick of the racism in kiwi football.. as usual I was just winding them up.. but the ref booked the player.. oh they loved me..
johncoxmysteriously - on 15 Feb 2012
C'mon, Iain, you've not read the judgment, have you?
>Suarez used the word negrito... OK that was admitted..
Neither admitted nor found. The word was 'negro', and the tribunal, its expert advisers and Man U all agreed that it wouldn't have been offensive the way Suarez said he used it.
>he said to Webb 'you only booking me because I am black' for that alone he should have been banned...
That's what Kuyt said he said. Evra denied it. The tribunal found he hadn't said that. The referee (who wasn't Webb, I don't think - wasn't it Marriner) didn't hear anything).
jcm
> [...]
>
> You're ducking the issue. There are many occasions where one incident creates both a breach of criminal law and a liability under civil law. Car accidents and health and safety issues are two that spring to mind. It is quite possible that the criminal and civil action run concurrently for the same incident - each considered against different burdens of proof. If the civil law burden of proof is good enough for someone to sue an employer for negligence following an accident, why isn't it good enough for an FA Tribunal, with none of the consequences of criminal action, such as imprisonment and/or a criminal record?
It's an interesting question actually which deserves more consideration than it gets in forums.
Some reflections though:-
1. Where there is an actual prosecution pending, in my experience the criminal case will always be heard first. Usually the claimant wants this since if there's a conviction his job's done for him.
2. In this case the main damage is reputational, and my point was that it's exactly as if there were a criminal conviction even though there isn't.
3. The other cases aren't exactly the same because here all that matters is the facts. In driving cases one can be negligent without necessarily being guilty of any offence, and similarly one can be in breach of the contract of employment without being guilty of H&S offences. It's not only a different standard of proof being applied, but a different level of negligence that needs to be proved.
4. A better analogy would be unlawful eviction cases, where basically it's only a question of the facts. Because of the way those cases tend to go, in my experience the criminal hearing comes first. But if a client came straight to me, you're right that I'd run the civil case without worrying about any criminal angle, though I expect I'd advise the client to see if the local authority wanted to prosecute. I suppose at least the civil case is in front of a court instead of Denis Smith, bless him, and there isn't the high-profile, reputational issue.
jcm
In reply to IainRUK:
i'm finding your posts excruciating to read. You are arguing a point then saying the organisation that is making the point is inconsistent. The whole affair is based on inconsistencies that a law court wouldn't entertain. Surely Suarez has a case for slander!
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously: Ahh OK.. yeah it wasn't webb.. no it was argued it was offensive.. hence why Evra complained...
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to peetay: Yes.. that's normal. The FA don't have the same burden of proof.. if you appeal a criminal conviction they don't automatically increase the tarriff.. the FA do..
I'm genuinely amazed for the support of Suarez here.. had this been a more liked black player I doubt we would see such animosity..
As it was Liverpool FC wanted Evra charged for making the accusation...
John the FA decided he did not use it in a friendly manner..
The FA rejected Suarez's assertion that he had used the word 'negro' - Spanish for black and commonly used both with and without racist overtones in South America - in a friendly manner as 'incredible' and doubled what would ordinarily have been a four-match ban because he used the word seven times.
> (In reply to IainRUK
>
> Neither admitted nor found. The word was 'negro', and the tribunal, its expert advisers and Man U all agreed that it wouldn't have been offensive the way Suarez said he used it.
>
I think you have not read the judgement The FA rejected Suarez's assertion that he had used the word 'negro' - Spanish for black and commonly used both with and without racist overtones in South America - in a friendly manner as 'incredible' and doubled what would ordinarily have been a four-match ban because he used the word seven times.
They rejected Suarez's that there was no abuse or insult intended... hence it was offensive..
Also, by Evra's statement, which the FA found the more credible, Suarez said he kicked Evra for being black, and Suarez didn't talk to blacks...
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously: Sorry I see what you said.. but the FA investigated, and due to inconsistencies in the statements from Suarez and Liverpool players, Suarez, on the balance of probabilities, was banned..
Tbh though Liverpool caused this. Had they not found Suarez guilty, Liverpool wanted Evra banned, I think the FA had no action then, for a pile of white suits to a ban a black player for alleging racist abuse would have been a whole shit storm..
In reply to IainRUK:
> It is just incredible Liverpool fans are so blind of the fact that Suarez was out of line...
He was (if his account is correct) slightly out of line, but not to the extent of a ban. And I'm not a Liverpool fan.
> he said to Webb 'you only booking me because I am black' for that alone he should have been banned...
Not so, the FA found that he didn't say that.
In reply to IainRUK:
> Had they not found Suarez guilty, Liverpool wanted Evra banned, I think the FA had no action then,
> for a pile of white suits to a ban a black player for alleging racist abuse would have been a whole shit storm..
And they could have easily banned neither. Rejecting the complaint against Suarez as not corroborated would not have meant they'd have had to convict Evra of lying.
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Liverpool, at the time, we pressing for Evra to be banned..
Suarez would have got away with it if he'd just got his story together or said he said nothing..
TBh though I'm impressed with Evra using a second language to insult a player.. I doubt there is one English player other than Owen Hargreaves he could converse in 2 languages like that...
It is a strange case, more complex than the Terry case where there is clear evidence, but I do feel Suarez's and Liverpool's conflicting accounts left the FA with no decision..
> The FA rejected Suarez's assertion that he had used the word 'negro' - Spanish for black and
> commonly used both with and without racist overtones in South America - in a friendly manner as
> 'incredible' and doubled what would ordinarily have been a four-match ban because he used the word seven times.
Your focus on the mere word "negro" shows that you don't really understand the ruling, since it was the (alleged) context of its use in the sentences claimed that amounted to the abuse. The one usage that Suarez accepted was *not* what the ban was about.
And as for the "incredible" claim, that in my mind that is one of the poorest aspects of the FA's ruling, since it is circular. Suarez's claim about the whole conversation was that he was trying to be conciliatory and get on with the game, whereas Evra was trying to be confrontational (that last was accepted by all).
The FA seem to have accepted Evra's claim that both were being confrontational (without corroboration of that) and then argued that because Saurez was being confrontational his claim that he was being "friendly" was "incredible". Well yes, if you accept the premise. But there is no **objective** evidence that Suarez was being confrontational at all in the whole episode!
Kuyt, for example, was the nearest player (admittedly not an unbiased one), and he saw it as Evra trying to provoke Suarez, and went to tell Evra to leave Suarez alone. Giggs told Evra to calm down and not get himself sent off. The referee booked Evra, so clearly thought that Evra was acting aggressively. Everyone accepts that Evra was provoking confrontation. But where is the corroboration that Suarez was confrontational back, rather than trying to defuse things and get on with the game? Without that corroboration the FA's ruling on this is entirely circular and ill-founded.
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Yes I thought Evra had said that.. I wouldn't have been surprised.. I've said many times the blokes a little shite.. class player, I really like him as a United player.. but if he wore any other shirt you'd hate him...
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: eh? Suarez pinched Evra skin.. Suarez admitted to that.. supposedly to defuse the situation... that is the oldest trick in the book to wind a player up.. the other one is twist arm pit hair.. slight intense pain.. gets a player to snap.. stepping on toes.. punches to the ribs.. pinches.. knees in the back on the legs... we all use these tricks but we don't do them to defuse..
So yes he was confrontational..
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: Also the language here is an issue.. there were 3 languages going on.. dutch between Suarez and Kuyt, English Evra to Giggs and Spainish Evra to Suarez.. I don't think the ref had a clue what was going on at that moment... now they are full time in a truly international game maybe some language training is needed..
In reply to IainRUK:
> ... eh? Suarez pinched Evra skin.. Suarez admitted to that..
He "pinched" it in such a way that Evra didn't even notice, so more a tap on the arm really. Evra says he didn't notice it, and the FA report is quite clear that Evra wasn't aware of this "pinch" (indeed they make a point of this non-awareness in ruling that Evra's later wording was not a response to it).
So, if that's the extent of the corroboration that Suarez was being "confrontational" then I'm not impressed.
Banned User 77 - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier: All that means is he got it wrong.. Suarez's past would have been a factor here too..
> Some reflections though:-
>
> 1. Where there is an actual prosecution pending, in my experience the criminal case will always be heard first. Usually the claimant wants this since if there's a conviction his job's done for him.
>
> 2. In this case the main damage is reputational, and my point was that it's exactly as if there were a criminal conviction even though there isn't.
>
> 3. The other cases aren't exactly the same because here all that matters is the facts. In driving cases one can be negligent without necessarily being guilty of any offence, and similarly one can be in breach of the contract of employment without being guilty of H&S offences. It's not only a different standard of proof being applied, but a different level of negligence that needs to be proved.
>
> 4. A better analogy would be unlawful eviction cases, where basically it's only a question of the facts. Because of the way those cases tend to go, in my experience the criminal hearing comes first. But if a client came straight to me, you're right that I'd run the civil case without worrying about any criminal angle, though I expect I'd advise the client to see if the local authority wanted to prosecute. I suppose at least the civil case is in front of a court instead of Denis Smith, bless him, and there isn't the high-profile, reputational issue.
>
> jcm
1. That's true - in fact many potential claimants are aggrieved if criminal proceedings are not taken, wrongly believing it prejudices their chance of taking civil action. I was surprised to find out that the two actions could run concurrently.
2. Interesting point. I suspect that many people will make their own mind up anyway having had access to the evidence, whatever the outcome of either form of trial - rightly or wrongly I certainly did with Steven Gerrard.
3. My point was that one incident can lead to both forms of trial at the same time - the facts are the same whatever form of trial.
4. I'm not so sure about the profile of the person being relevant.
I'm tired; can't think much beyond the above.
winhill - on 15 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK:
> (In reply to winhill)
> .. but I do think calling someone a french tw*t is different to calling someone a black tw*t...
This is the cultural overlay, surely?
The FA, when drawing up policy have to try to avoid those overlays and have equated the two.
This would be the same as saying that calling someone a gayer on the pitch would be very different to calling them black, which it is in the UK but again, from a policy point of view, the two are equated.
If Evra's complaint was that Suarez called him queer would we see an 8 match ban and people suggesting Suarez should be sent home?
johncoxmysteriously - on 16 Feb 2012
>If Evra's complaint was that Suarez called him queer would we see an 8 match ban and people suggesting Suarez should be sent home?
Interesting thought experiment, actually. I think there'd be more righteous indignation than you might think.
I agree with Iain that the outcome of the FA case was inevitable given the discrepancies between what Suarez was saying he said and what was written down at the time (albeit in a very emotional time when no-one was interested in this, by non-Spanish speakers, etc.). My impression is that the main mischief came from the unnecessarily confrontational tone of the report and the decision to double the normal racial abuse ban on the grounds that Suarez had been using his abuse to wind up Evra (presumably just normally calling someone a black c*nt on the grounds that you're annoyed and that's just the sort of thing you do when you're angry is fine). Had they instead charged Evra and banned him for two games for his language, said that while they noted Suarez's denial they had to go on the balance of probabilities and in the circumstances they were going to find the case proven and impose say a three-game ban, reduced from four because of the uncertainty and provocation, then I think they'd have done much better justice and defused the situation. Instead they got on their high horse as judges tend to.
I've noticed, by the way, that the more judges are aware that their findings of fact are not necessarily correct, the more they tend to go overboard in basing themselves on them. Human nature, but not helpful.
jcm
In reply to ajsteele:
Ah you sir have clearly not read the 115 page report. The FA's criticism of Suarez's claim came not from him changing his story as you have stated but due to his commentary on what happened around the box not being as accurate as Evra's. Now please bear in mind Evra was first shown video evidence before he was asked for his account of timings and what was going on. Suarez on the other hand was not shown the video at the hearing so had to remember the sequence of events. No surprise that Evra's account was more consistent with events eg arm pinching etc...
The FA also stated that it was not about past character despite using said claims against Suarez and ignoring the FA's own and even the French FA's testimony that Evra was an unreliable witness.
I could go on, it was essentially one man's word against another in a real court of law it would have been laughed out.
However, it would have been better for all involved if he had shook Evra's hand last weekend.
I would also suggest that his place in English football will only end if Suarez himself wants to leave.
In a little over a year Rooney has received a 2 game band for unprovoked use of fowl language to a camera, he's been at it again with the older ladies of the night, Giggs has been shagging everything and Purple nose himself has only recently started speaking to the BBC again for their temerity in exposing his son!!!! Factor in that he was key in bringing in the current owners and their debt may prove crucial in later years.....
So Ferguson shouting down that Liverpool should sell him is addressing Ferguson's agenda to weaken his arch rivals. I don't remember much being made of the following:
Schmiechal vs Wright racial abuse claim
The not shaking of Viera's hand amidst racial abuse overtones
Roy Keane Vs Alf Inge Haaland career ending revenge tackle
Cantona - (smoking gun evidence) karate kick
Giggs - His brother's wife
In reply to Sweetjesus:
You have clearly not read the report and probably choose to believe the paranoid sh*te posted on the likes of thisisanfield. For a start the criticism came from his story changing as I have pointed out the paragraphs go have a read and you will see that for yourself. On the video evidence both players had access to this and Evra didn't give his story first while watching the video he gave it first just talking and then while pointing out when it occured on the video. Neither player was shown the video at the hearing...you clearly haven't read it have you?
The FA panel at no point make any reference to using previous claims against Suarez so yet again you have been listening to the paranoid part of the Liverpool support too much.
You could go spouting bs and you have even on that one line. In paragraph 210 or thereabouts it clearly states both parties accept that this is not simply a case of one mans word against another.
Now on to the more lunatic part of your post, it has nothing to do with Rooney or Giggs sex life or Fergusons refusal to talk to the BBC so why you bring these up baffles me. Also on "exposing his son" I think you meant to write showing a program with numerous unsubstantiated and defamatory claims about his son which were never proven. Also him helping in bringing in the Glazers has nothing to do with the situation being discussed.
Liverpool are no longer Man Uniteds rivals for anything and haven't been for almost 20 years apart from 1 season a few years back so if he wanted to weaken his rivals he would have aimed at Man City or Tottenham.
Schmiechal v Wright - I dont have a clue whether this happened or not but there was a big fuss made of it at the time.
Not shaking Vieras hand - more to do with the fight moments before the handshakes and nothing to do with racism unless by racist undertones you mean one man was white and one was black?
Roy Keane - was banned for the tackle but it didn't end Hallands career it was problems with the other knee that done that.
Cantona - was banned and fined by MU before the FA trial.
Giggs - said it already what has this got to do with football?
Rooney - same as above?
Ferdinand - show me anywhere where this was even alleged that doesn't start on an LFC forum.
And out of all of those the only one's that not a lot was made of is the Viera handshake and the Ferdinand one which I would assume was because the fight overshadowed the Viera incident and the Ferdinand one has just been made up by you.
If you really want I could go into things Liverpools players past and present might have done but I don't think it would really lend anything to the debate on whether or not Suarez racially abused Patrice Evra.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele:
Just to be clear it is paragraph 215 that says both parties agree it is not a case of one mans word against another.
Also I thought I would check this out aswell seeing as I couldn't remember fully but Peter Schmeichal had criminal proceedings started against him but they were dropped due to there being no evidence, if it had been reported just to the FA then he probably would have got the same punishment Suarez got and also Keane definitly didn't end Hallands career as that tackle didnt even injure Halland who played the rest of the game and the next game before getting injured, he then recovered and tried to get back but never played a full game again and blamed it on Keanes tackle.
> Just to be clear it is paragraph 215 that says both parties agree it is not a case of
> one mans word against another.
What it actually says is:
"It was accepted by both Mr Greaney and Mr McCormick in closing submissions that this is not simply a case of one person's word against another. Mr McCormick nevertheless submitted that the case turns very substantially on the evidence of the two main protagonists, that we should think very carefully before reaching a conclusion based solely on the word of the main protagonist for the FA, and that we should look at the other evidence, and see whether there is other evidence that corroborates Mr Evra's story. We agree that at the heart of this case is a dispute between Mr Evra and Mr Suarez as to what was said. Before reaching our decision, we assessed the credibility of those two individuals and examined all the other evidence with great care to see whether it supported or undermined Mr Evra's or Mr Suarez's account. We asked ourselves which account was more probable. ..."
That seems to me to say, ok it's not "just" one person's word against another's, but it is about 97% one person's word against another's.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
Of course it could seem to say that to you if you have tried to base a whole argument around it being one persons word against another.
It seems to me to say it is not a case of one mans word against another and other evidence has to be used alongside the testimonies of each party to determine which is the more likely account of events.
Sweetjesus - on 17 Feb 2012
Bitey Bitey!
Pity Suarez didn't have criminal proceedings maybe?
The points about Manchester's players and the adverse publicity attended them was to illustrate the ridiculousness of you point about Suarez's run ins over the last 12 months.
This is a very emotive topic please look objectively and you will see there is argument for and against both players stories. I would also argue that any court that finds 99.5% of it's accused guilty doesn't quite ring right. What's the point of appealing faced with those odds?
Paragraph 215 states that it is simply not one persons word against anothers but that the case effectively hinges on the words of the two main protagonists. So to a degree you are correct, yet also by the same statement they say that it also falls back to the words of the two men.
The rest of the case is built around who they believe is the most credible.
With regard to inconsistencies in Mr Evra's stories I would submit the following: In paragraphs 103, 114, 125 there is reference to singular use of being called a "black", However, this is changed to "nigger(s)" (much more inflammatory) in paragraphs 130, 131, 153 and 277 all still singular references. In paragraph 135 we have mention for the first time by Mr Ferguson of an alleged 5 times which by the time Mr Evra has spoken to Canal + has changed to 10 times in paragraph 281. By the final supposition this figure has been made into 7 times (more by the FA than Mr Evra) in which the word negro or spanish for black is used for the first time by the prosecution from a chronological if not paragraphical point of view. All of which point to differing stories.
If you wish for me to continue I could if you like but don't think for one second that I haven't read (both sides) of the report and not merely what I wanted to take away from it.
By way of an olive branch to you I would suggest that Mr Evra clearly felt agrieved yet even he states he does not feel Suarez is racist. I would suggest that the whole FA proceedings not just on this case but across the board are unjust, biased and instituionally self serving. Many of the valid counter arguments were swept aside and ignored none of which is Mr Evra's fault of course, although Mr Suarez clearly feels it is. The real ire of the whole affair is the real sense of closed court injustice. Mr Suarez will be forever branded a racist by many in this country without the benefit of a trial in front of a real jury.
> other evidence has to be used alongside the testimonies of each party to determine which is the
> more likely account of events.
Yes, but the fact is on the central part of the dispute (the conversation in the goal mouth) there is very little corroborating evidence -- indeed what little there is appears to corroborate Suarez's account more. Relevant points (specifically on the goal-mouth conversation):
*Video evidence of a Suarez shoulder shrug, which fits Suarez's account but not Evra's.
* Kuyt's testimony that he saw it as Evra trying to provoke Suarez, leading him to telling Evra to leave Suarez alone.
* The lack of any other players in a crowded six-yard box hearing the words Evra claimed he was repeatedly taunted with.
* No sign of Evra turning to or appealing to any other players to witness the words (despite a Spanish speaker on his own team being yards away).
* Then there is the fact (in the FA's words) video of the later exchange showed Evra looking "surprised" at hearing a word that (if his account was true) he'd already been repeatedly taunted with. Is that plausible? (Angry, yes, surprised, no.) Evra reacted to this later exchange by pointing at Suarez and drawing the referee's and other player's attention to him -- he had not done this on the (claimed) much worse conversation in the goal mouth.
* Then there is the fact that Evra's initial complaint was about being "called black" (singular), which would fit with the one occasion in the later exchange. It was only later that he made claims about "repeatedly" and changed his initial wording to "... called black *again*".
And yet despite all this, the FA accepted Evra's account of the goal-mouth conversation in its entirety, despite there being not one piece of corroborating evidence for it. That to me is amazing. Note further that any claimed inconsistencies in Suarez's testimony (for which translation issues are one explanation) relate entirely to the later conversation, not to the goal-mouth conversation.
On the balance of probability, I'd say that, Evra was indeed called "black" in the later exchange, and reacted to it (thinking at the time it meant "ni**er"), and Suarez may have altered his claim as to exactly what words he used there. However, the evidence is -- on balance -- against Evra's account of the goal-mouth conversation, and this was likely either made up or exaggerated to bolster the complaint. It is fairly ridiculous that the FA ruled entirely against Saurez on that.
Sweetjesus - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele: Lastly:
Much of the evidence from the linguistics experts also points to what Mr Evra said mr Suarez said not sounding right. I won't even mention the "concillatory" "your sisters vagina..." oops Or that he wasn't wound up etc... Also a raft of Evra's team mates saying Patrice says he's been racially abused is just evidence of him telling his team mates that he's he's been abused not evidence of abuse. There really isn't a great deal of other Evidence to be honest.
peetay - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele:
Typically biased Man Utd supporter response there. Taking the high ground of morality when your team is in the sewer. The Suarez affair is about morality isn't it? Ferguson was calling for somebody to be sacked because of this on the grounds of morality when players of his have acted far worse with indisputable evidence against them. He should have kept his mouth shut but that's impossible for Fergie isn't it?
Funnily enough it was Rooney who came up with the most sense in this whole facade in his post match interview when he said, "It's between the two individuals and not for us to get involved in". The lads growing up.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to Sweetjesus:
Ok maybe you also have read the report and I did bite a bit but you clearly talked bollox in your last post which is why I simply had to bite.
Evra did say he wasn't racist and I think most people know that he isn't racist and just said something stupid in the heat of the argument. I know earlier in the thread I said the refusing to shake hands made him appear more racist than before but that was wrong it just makes it more obvious that he is a tw@t than before but not necessarily racist.
Your paragraph references also overlap as 130 and 153 are basically the same thing just from a different persons view and 277 doesn't even mention "black" or "niggers" it is Alex Ferguson saying he doesnt believe he gave an exact number of times to the referee that the word was said. As I have said previously para 135 is by a Liverpool employee saying what he thought he might have overheard Ferguson saying but para 277 disputes this. Yet again the para 281 about the Canal+ interview it is just a figure of speech and not an accurate retelling of the situation.
Also if you are going to use media statements to argue that Evra's story changed then other things could be included against Suarez's story like in interviews when he stated at various time "i didnt call him anything", "I called him something his teammates call him", "blah blah blah negrito" and then obviously onto his statement of "negro" being the word used.
I do agree that any court that finds 99.5% of its accused guilty doesn't seem right, but thats not really the point as you can't accept some decisions by them and discount others because of this. For example Liverpool didn't complain when the same panel banned Ferdinand so it isn't a case of they don't believe in the system being used it is just a case of it not suiting them in this case but all clubs and players have to abide by it.
Actually the point about Suarez's actions on the pitch over the past 12 months should be taken into account much more than Rooney or Giggs actions off it and therefore I don't think its unreasonable to point out that Suarez was banned for biting an opponent recently but do think it is completely pointless to say but Rooney shags grannies.
Also in light of the whole handshake thing where Suarez told Dalglish he would shake hands and then didn't thereby bringing more hassle to the club you might want to wonder if he might have lied about anything else.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to peetay:
I did say Ferguson shouldn't have opened his mouth about Suarez not playing again didn't I? It was an over the top comment but not unlike Kennys comments after the game either.
It is about morality to a point but I think we all know morality in football just doesn't exist, it's a sport where if you kill someone you can still get a club to play for when you get out of jail. Football has a twisted sense of morality where it only really seems to take affect if the situation happens on the pitch, off it every club will absolve their players. The only time I can think of when this hasn't been the case was Chelsea with Adrian Mutu but then again it stopped him being able to play so it did affect the on pitch I suppose.
In reply to ajsteele:
> Also in light of the whole handshake thing where Suarez told Dalglish he would shake hands and then
> didn't thereby bringing more hassle to the club you might want to wonder if he might have lied about anything else.
There you describe Suarez's assurance to Dalglish as a "lie", meaning that you think that when he made it he had no intention of doing so.
Quite possibly he did have the intention of shaking Evra's hand, but then reacted to Evra's withdrawn non-offering of a hand by moving onwards. So, as seems to be typical, you are putting the worst spin on Suarez's actions. How about some criticism of Evra for his withdrawn hand?
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to Sweetjesus:
You are getting mixed up there it was never concilliatory when he said "your sisters vagina" which again would have meant very little to Suarez seeing as he doesnt have a sister and the phrase is actually more akin to "fu*kin hell"
The language experts evidence did say it didn't sound right with the phrase "tu eres" iirc but this is what Suarez told Commolli he said so whether or not it sounded right to the experts is inconsequential.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
I have watched the video numerous times and just don't see the withdrawn hand like the thisisanfield bunch do, sorry.
The apology which they insist wasn't prompted by their sponsors would suggest that even Suarez accepts he made no attempt to shake hands though so I think that says enough.
In reply to ajsteele:
> The language experts evidence did say it didn't sound right with the phrase "tu eres" iirc but
> this is what Suarez told Commolli he said so whether or not it sounded right to the experts is inconsequential.
You mean, this is what Commolli said that Suarez had told him, not necessarily what Suarez did tell him.
There is an interesting segment on the report on how this very point can be mistranslated. This shows an *independent* interpreter getting wrong on the fly exactly the thing for which Suarez was later ruled to be "inconsistent"! (JK here is the FA questioner, HP the interpreter)
JK: And can you tell me, in Spanish, exactly what you said to Patrice?
LS: Por que negro?
HP: Why, Black? Why because your (sic) black.
JK: "Por que, negro?" no other words?
LS: No.
HP: Solamente? Por que negro?
LS: Por que negro.
HP: Just "But why, Black?" But I think the meaning is, "Why, because you're black?"(inaudible) in English, it doesn't make sense.
So here is cast iron evidence of a Spanish-speaking FA interpreter mistranslating this exact phrase! And yet the FA *still* concluded that it was Suarez being inconsistent! If this interpreter mistook Suarez's words, then so could Comolli!
In reply to ajsteele:
> I have watched the video numerous times and just don't see the withdrawn hand like the thisisanfield bunch do, sorry.
Well that's ridiculous, it is blatant, Evra's hand is not in the hard-stretched-out position of someone offering to shake hands.
> The apology which they insist wasn't prompted by their sponsors would suggest that even Suarez
> accepts he made no attempt to shake hands though so I think that says enough.
Agreed, and quite likely the fact that Suarez made no attempt to shake hands resulted from reacting to the fact that Evra was making no attempt to shake hands! Evra's hand position was clearly making any natural handshake hard.
johncoxmysteriously - on 17 Feb 2012
>it didn't sound right with the phrase "tu eres" iirc but this is what Suarez told Commolli he said so whether or not it sounded right to the experts is inconsequential.
C'mon, 'inconsequential' isn't right; evidence to balance against other evidence, sure.
Nor, by the way, is it right that you only find suggestions Ferdinand does the odd line on LFC forums. You'd be pushed to find football forums where this isn't taken as read, including I'd have thought MUFC ones.
And as to the apology being evidence of anything - c'mon again. PR, man, PR.
Evra doesn't look very thrilled to be shaking hands, you'd surely agree with that. I don't think anyone could deny that his hand isn't in quite the same position.
jcm
In reply to Coel Hellier:
I think you have read into that incorrectly, it is clearly not the interpreter mistranslating it is the interpretter translating something literally and then giving his opinion on the full meaning in english as the literal doesnt cover the full meaning. The inaudible part doesnt help matters.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:
You are right inconsequential was probably a poor choice of word.
I have never heard those rumours about Ferdinand but I dont really visit any football related forums, the only one I have ever looked at is actually thisisanfield.com but it was only a quick visit.
I agree Evra doesnt look too happy about it but I still dont see the movement away from the handshake that has only ever been seen by LFC fans and Coel.
In reply to ajsteele:
> it is clearly not the interpreter mistranslating it is the interpretter translating something
> literally and then giving his opinion on the full meaning in english as the literal doesnt cover the full meaning.
Really? He gives one meaning ("Just "But why, Black?" ...") -- which is the meaning that Suarez claimed that he always intended. Then he suggests another meaning ("But I think the meaning is, "Why, because you're black?"). Note the uncertainty there.
If the translator could have reached the latter meaning from Suarez's words it is likely that Commolli could have done so also. The translator was clearly confused and unsure. So Commolli could have been also, and he might then well have recorded the wrong thing.
As Commolli himself told the FA: ""Por que" can mean both "Because" and "Why" in Spanish. I thought that LS had said "Por que" meaning "Because" and therefore assumed that he would have used the words "you are" to say "Because you are black?". Instead LS said "Por que" to mean "why" as in "Por que negro?"."
So, it is entirely possible that Suarez was being consistent and that Commolli misinterpreted him. The fact that the independent FA translator did exactly that with the very same words is very suggestive! And note that this is the main supposed "inconsistency" in Suarez's testimony that the FA then used to doubt Suarez's other testimony and accept Evra's version!
In reply to ajsteele:
> but I still dont see the movement away from the handshake that has only ever been seen by LFC fans and Coel.
Well let's set aside the "movement away", instead focus simply on the location of Evra's hand as Saurez approaches. It is very clearly not in an offering-handshake position. As I said upthread, it is much closer to a gunslinger-going-for-the-draw position, very near his hip.
In reply to the thread:
> ... focus simply on the location of Evra's hand as Saurez approaches.
The most telling video is the second one from the 18-sec compilation here (and angle is best on the second one). http://www.thisisanfield.com/2012/02/video-evra-refuses-suarez-handshake/
Stop the video at 12 secs and 13 secs and 14 secs. At each point Evra's hand is outstretched as a player approaches. Then stop it at 15 secs, when Suarez approaches, and compare. Evra's hand is quite clearly much more withdrawn. Suarez is the one with the more outstretched hand when they are first "in range". (This is when the added red oval first appears.) Sorry, but I seriously doubt the objectivity of anyone who won't admit at least that!
Yes, Suarez then does just move his outstretched arm on to de Gea, making no further arm motion towards Evra, but if Evra's hand had been outstretched there would have been contact. It is ridiculous to assert that Evra is blameless over this.
ajsteele - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
No you are right, I had never seen that cut up version before, his arm does drop but it is on its way back up as Suarez approaches and it is also pretty clear that Suarez is looking past Evra (unlike every other player) the whole time so he wouldn't have known if Evras hand was down or not.
To be honest Coel you claim you aren't a Liverpool fan but its pretty clear that you are so I'm not going to convince you of my view and you aren't going to convince me of yours seeing as the whole thing is very subjective and entrenched. This is demonstrated perfectly by your belief that the FA interpreter mistranslates what Suarez said and my belief that he simply did translate it in both its literal translation and then the full meaning.
In reply to ajsteele:
> This is demonstrated perfectly by your belief that the FA interpreter mistranslates what Suarez
> said and my belief that he simply did translate it in both its literal translation and then the full meaning.
Your version only makes sense if that Spanish phrase cannot have the full meaning of "Why, Blackie?". And surely it can, the FA accepted that.
Surely the translator's uncertainty results from a genuine ambiguity between the *meanings* "Why, Blackie?" and "Because you are Black". The former does only make sense as a response (Saurez claimed it was a response to "Don't touch me ..."). Perhaps both the FA translator and Commillo were not aware it was a response, and so interpreted it as standalone, thus going for the latter.
Schmeichel and Wright.. they are good mates now.. they were claims..
Not shaking of Vieira's hand.. the rivalry was infamous.. nothing to do with race...
Rooney - auld slapper at everton.. young fit one at Man U..
Ferdinant - white lines - hair follicle test negative
Giggs - brothers wife.. yeah guilty..
Cantona - Eric was Eric..
Come on shallw e put down the Gerrard breaking the guys nose.. what does this really have to do with Suarez?
Fergie was taking the mick, he was also getting the US owners to step in.. its a bigger story in the US than it is in the UK in many ways because here its being reported more on the lines of Liverpool's support of suarez..
Banned User 77 - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele: I don't think Evra does have his hand out as clearly as he did for the others, but it was more out than Suarez..
Banned User 77 - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to johncoxmysteriously: John. The FA released a very clear statement that there was no evidence that Ferdinand had drugs in his system after thorough testing. The common view was that he had a dose of something from ragging.. and thought it may have shown up and thought there would be no ban for missing - not an outlandish view point..
I agree Evra's hand is lower than when he shaked the rest.. but its still there.. he obviously didn't want to but was willing to..
Banned User 77 - on 17 Feb 2012
In reply to ajsteele: TBH I think Fergie had his Suarez rant to get the matter ended.. he never rants uncontrollably.. there is always a reason why he rants.. he switches it on..
I think he did it here, escalate what is going on, play the 'embarrassing the club' card, get Liverpool FC to react. And it worked. The simple fact is this has hurt Evra. Since the claims his form has been off, he's hurt by what went on and I think Fergie wanted it finished and tbf he'd kept a much more dignified silence than Kenny.. so the attacks on Fergie are out of line.. he also did criticise Evra for celebrating like that..
I think that again was calculated to highlight the two clubs differing stances on this.
peetay - on 18 Feb 2012
In reply to IainRUK:
Your explanations for your club's behaviour is embarrassing mate. Ferdinand didn't know what he was doing blah blah blah. I have friends who've competed at Olympic levels in sport and they do not miss drug tests. Try to keep in mind that some of the harshest bans ever handed out to players by the FA are to Man Utd players. Ferdinand's being one of the biggest. Cantana's also and Keane got a hefty 5 week ban and a huge fine for his stupid comments in his book.
so the attacks on Fergie are out of line?
No they're not. He's totally manipulated a situation taking a supposedly moral position on racism to score points (with the media) against Liverpool FC. Specifically trying to alienate a player from his club and his livelihood. Despicable.
In reply to peetay:
You say United players have had some of the longest bans and use Ferdinand as an example. Ferdinand got an eight month ban for missing a test, I am not defending him, that is stricter than most sports, in athletics twelve months for missing three tests seems typical and many athletes have missed a test, but if that is the standard the FA set, so be it.
OK so what about 240 players who missed tests between 2007 and 2010, no punishment at all it seems. What about players that failed tests, Kolo Toure, Gary O'Connor and several others served shorter bans than Ferdinand.
I am not really sure what relevance this has to the Suarez case, but you seem keen to bring up unrelated United disciplinary issues.
Banned User 77 - on 18 Feb 2012
In reply to peetay: Ahh dedums.. I can criticise United players.. You can't criticise Liverpool..
The uproar at Fergies comments yet your captain breaks a guys nose.. 'he's innocent'.. you're a disgrace to Liverpool FC..
Dedums poor Suarez not earning money.. he'll be back on the streets..
I don't think I ever defended Cantona.. he was lucky to play again. Ferdinant knew what he did, he just took a silly gamble. Keane.. it was sily but players go on a pitch to injur people all the time.. that's football..
peetay - on 18 Feb 2012
In reply to The New NickB:
What are you saying? You don't seem to have said anything. 240 other players should have been banned for the same amount of time as Ferdinand? - Yes, i agree.
What else are you saying? United's previous disciplinary record isn't relevant when their manager is calling for a player to be sacked on a very dodgy disciplinary issue? No, i don't agree.
Ferguson was wrong in this.
> (In reply to The New NickB)
>
> What are you saying? You don't seem to have said anything. 240 other players should have been banned for the same amount of time as Ferdinand? - Yes, i agree.
>
> What else are you saying? United's previous disciplinary record isn't relevant when their manager is calling for a player to be sacked on a very dodgy disciplinary issue? No, i don't agree.
>
I thought it was worth looking at given you think it is so important. You do realize that 240 includes a number of Liverpool players.
peetay - on 18 Feb 2012
Are you a child? I can't really respond to such a stream of consciousness that my 2.5 year old child could have constructed better.
peetay - on 18 Feb 2012
In reply to The New NickB:
Yep, ban them too.
Banned User 77 - on 18 Feb 2012
In reply to peetay: I knew using the disgrace term would get a reaction..
Brilliant.
Banned User 77 - on 18 Feb 2012
In reply to peetay: Yes Ferguson was wrong. But he got what he wanted. Suarez pulled in line and Dalglish to toe the line. Your club had let this rumble on..
Your indignation at one comment by Fergie is laughable. Fergie has been quiet throughout we've had the T-shirts, the ban Evra comments, the racist abuse from fans, the Suarez is innocent campaign.. he was found guilty by the FA.. end of story..
Evra was playing shit. fergie wanted the matter finished. Now the matter is finished. Great kidology yet again..
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Liverpool Banter Archive February 12 2012
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12 Feb 2012 23:34:14
Congratulations Zambia - Drogba must have been watching John Terry's penalty kicks
cozinoz
12 Feb 2012 23:33:00
If Liverpool want to get rid of Suarez in a hurry perhaps they can sell him to a Russian club. I think that is a great shame that we are going to lose an immense talent. He is sometimes the architect of his problems but there are plenty of people who get in on the act with their own agendas. The biting incident apart he is no different to a lot of players whose actions are somehow accepted. What we also forget is that he a very different person off the field. We cannot say this for all the idols with their penchant for Dutch treats, grandmothers, and sister-in-law. We expect players to set an example on the field but all too often glorify their (mis)behaviour off it. I think that Suarez will go at the end of the season and I wish him all the luck in a country where his talent is accepted far away from blinkered England.Dutchmal
12 Feb 2012 23:28:08
i think suarez was forced to apologise to manchester united over the handshake , as the night before he said , everything is not as it seems . If you look at the correct angle you will see suarez hand is there for shaking and evra's hand is is by his waist , absolute joke
Should of gone to specsavers!!
While I thought this first, Suarez does move on very quickly to De Gea.
Suarez put out his hand to De Gea........ but De Gea fumbled it
cozinoz
12 Feb 2012 23:22:35
edd i dont think we will get champions league football so what type of player do you think we will go for , i hope not more of the same , as downing {Ed001's Note - we will go for players who improve the team, striker and right winger still being the priority.}
Last thing we need is more players like downing, who is by far our most disappointing signing this season
the rev
12 Feb 2012 23:09:41
Jonson, I apologise for calling you an idiot, earlier mate. It was childish and immature. I have let you, fellow reds, The Eds, Kenny, FSG, my Mum and family down, for posting such profanities. I would like to draw a line under this whole dispute. And defuse the situation, so I can start posting about football again.
Blair Mayne's press secretary YNWA JFT96
12 Feb 2012 23:02:05
nah cant agree with suarez being sold. the whole club has made mistakes over the year. and thats also with the news just making stories up and throwing it around. i expect suarez to be here in the end. our club just needs to cope with everything at them moment and take it in and look at it what it is at the moment. worse has happened then not shaking a mans hand.
12 Feb 2012 22:54:25
Suarez....have to say very disappointed. He was given second chance and blew it in my view...no matter how good he is he is deffo gone come summer... Madrid and Barca lining up 30 mill bids
If Kenny is shrewd he would swap for alonso...
I think we need the skillfull and chance creating players on the wings we need poachers upfront to play off Carroll..players like Fowler Inzagi Defoe..where we get them from I dont know but I dont trust Kenny with the money any more after Downing and Hendo...fair enough every manager make a few mistakes in the transfer market but 2 worth 40 million in the same window not good...LFC need to do damage control now..
Putting Fowler in the same group of players as Defoe nulifies your whole arguement.
KennyD JFT96
Players like Fowler Defoe i.e good 6 yard box players not comparing their ability only some of their traits... we all know about god's ability but he was also a poacher that is what we need...the question is are there any out there?
Fowler was more than a poacher. Watch his first 100 goals for the club. Scored from everywhere with both feet and his head. Particulalrly liked the one against the spuds where he dropped off at the corner and bangs it in!
Iggypop
12 Feb 2012 22:46:40
Liverpool has a very promising fixture schedule for the remainder of the season.....enough to claim the Carling Cup and do very well in the FA (if not win)....also, top four is very realistic! All the talk of Suarez leaving is soon to be forgotten if he starts bagging goals and we get the magical 4th spot. Fans are quick to forget..too quick most of the time.
I see bright things coming Red fans...mark my words...maybe I should take a punt?
Errrrrr...maybe should give your head a shake and keep your money in your pocket...CL is no way possible: 3 teams to overcome and your premise is based on us suddenly, mysteriously and without any apparent reason, winning consistently and frequently. What has happened that will make the second half of the season any different than the first half?
Love the team but, let's face facts: poor decision making with the money spent in the summer. Can only hope we get another wad of cash this summer and we can some better decisions for next year.
CL in no way possible how stupid is that lad, 4 points i will repeat 4 points is all it is from 4th spot and you say in no way possible, I think its you who needs to shake his head lad.
4 points and we play Chelsea Newcastle and Arsenal still. Not to mention they each play one another. 4th is still possible, but it could go anywhere
What has happened is that we now have a pretty much fully fit squad for the first time and they are just beginning to play together. Get a grip!
Iggypop
Stop focusing on the fact that we are only 4 points behind...that's not nearly as important as the fact that there are THREE teams we have to overcome for that spot.
It's like the opportunities we are presented with whenever Chelsea and Aresnal lose...yes, they are fantastic opportunities for us to gain ground but, they are only meaningful if we do our part and win...ain't been doing that so well lately if you haven't noticed.
Why will our second half suddenly see us winning all of our games (and taking advantage of the opportunities that will inevitably come up) when there has not been a catalyst for change??
You can't just discard the facts from the first half...rarely do teams have performances that are significantly different than what they did in the first half unless there is a compelling reason...last time I checked, we have the same squad and did not add a marquee striker and/or winger...the peformance on Saturday was no different than what we've seen for most of this season.
If you want to believe or hope that we will get that 4th spot...fine...just saying the odds don't favour it. Don't like that reality anymore than anyone else but, we just aren't good enough.
As the kids say these days, just keepin' it real yo! :(
Just to put this in perspective, assuming 4th spot requires the very same 68 points that Arsenal got last year. From where we are today (39 points), LFC will need 29 points. To get these 29 points, LFC has to post a SPARKLING 74% win percentage...what is their win percentage for the 25 games to date??...40%...sure it could happen but, things don't just happen...there has to be a reason for your win percentage to double...so, unless that donkey Carroll is going to step it up big time, I maintain LFC winding up in 4th spot is not a realistic outcome...don't be deluded by the fact that we are only 4 points off that final spot...unless something changes, we may as well be a million points away. The pace we are on over 25 games will net us 58 - 59 points at the end of the season. Not good enough.
12 Feb 2012 22:05:02
hey eds, read that you think isla may be the person to replace glen johnson. wud just like to know whether u think he is better at defending then johnson is as well as being as good if not better going forward? thanks {Ed001's Note - he is better defensively in my opinion, also better on the ball and going forward. I think he is being tracked for the wing though myself and to provide cover at right back.}
That would work, then play Kelly regularly and also Flannagan if Kelly develops as a centre half.
De Jong seems the likely other to potentially replace Kuyt.
Ed01 what's your opinion on Downing, could be a cut your losses player in the summer? He'd probably do well for Sunderland or someone similar.
Papa G {Ed001's Note - I think he would be better with someone on the other wing spreading out the defences and giving him some space to attack. Right now defenders can get tight and stop him before he gets going, I would give him another year myself.}
12 Feb 2012 22:12:33
Every time I watch us play I hope Spearing gets a red card at the end of the match so I can enjoy watching the following game.
Thats funny cos i hope for the same bout jordan henderson but that will never happen cos he cant tackle.
ACHILLES.
Why don't you just watch your own team instead of Liverpool then?
cozinoz
Support your team you fickle idiots.
BthekingB
You people are deluded if you think hendeson is a good player watch the next match.
ACHILLES.
I do support the team, but only reason speariing gets to play is because he is from liverpool and dagleish thinks it is cool because it makes local kids feeling they may one day make the team. It is in reality way cooler to win games and play real soccer players out there instead of a poorly skillled boy that isn't big enough to be an enforcer.id rather see conner coady at this point
The original poster cant be a liverpool fan. Even i dont rate spearing, but that was way off mark. How can u want ur own player to get sent off?
Indian Buzzer
12 Feb 2012 21:59:48
When I saw suarezs apology today I was so glad. Finally it would be the end to this whole circus and it would finally make the mancs and the media pipe down for a minute.
How wrong I was.
It seems nobody wants to listen to the apology (that theyve been asking for for months) and just seem to hate him even more. People wonder why nobody put a line under this. They claim were in the wrong for not ending it but they are the ones who continually bring it up and try to attack suarez.
Speaking of which I just looked on twitter at the abuse suarez has been taking (I think it was mentioned on an earlier post) and its absolutely disgraceful. Convicted murderers dont get that much public abuse.
Well thats my views, just wanted to get them out there.
WillLFC
Whilst i know where you are coming from surely you know if you dont give an apology in due course and stretch it out for far longer than it should have been it wont be accepted,
What is wrong with you?
Suarez was wrong in the first place - according to a QC and an independent panel. LFC management were wrong in the aftermath of this. Suarez was then so staggeringly wrong by refusing a handshake that the whole turgid affair has been given even more legs.
I despair at LFC fans one-eyed vision on this matter.
King Tubby
A QC? Did it go to court?
King Tubby, theres nothing 'wrong' with me. I think the whole handling of this situation was badly thought through by the management and suarez was utterly stupid and niave for not shaking evras hand. All I was getting at was the fact that the media are the ones continually badgering LFC and suarez instead of the club and the FA sorting it out in a civil manner.
12 Feb 2012 21:54:26
Ahoy - huge amount of restraint shown over the past day and thankfully the whole thing is now fully completed and put to bed
Lets be brutally up front and honest about the whole situation, and the biggest fact is WE ARE ALL GUESSING because we weren't on the pitch at Anfield.
So here is my view.
Luis Suarez - bites people, cheats in a World Cup quarter final - obviously not a nice chap
Patrice Evra - 3 x accusing people from ground staff to fellow players of racism plus heads renegade group French players in World Cup revolt - obviousoy not a nice chap.
Sir Alex Ferguson - rubbish footballer and sold his son for £1 million pounds - didn't speak to the BBC for 15 years and now the licence takers let him preach his biased tripe un-edited because he lets them roll the camera. - obviously not a nice chap
FINALLY - and with a heavy heart I say my opinion which is mine and mine only.
Mr Kenneth D - an awesome footballer and fantastic manager with great records which define a lifetime of acheivements - however the Suarez fiasco has shown a man trapped in the past with little understanding of the modern way and how the media and game has moved on and has shown that maybe we need a new figure head.
Still a nice Chap though.
BOILED ONIONS
If you think being a media darling wins football matches ? You are mistaken .
Qwerty
Everything is spot on up until u get to mr daglish but part from that ur bang on mate.
ACHILLES.
No but reputation and image is as important as winning matches. Especially now that media rights and merchandising sales is increasingly where revenue comes from.
That's why clubs invest enormous energy in community level activities, have things like UNICEF on their shirts, and it's why it is important to have a manager who is good with the media.
anyone else think were playing worse football since gerrard came back
Its actually since we lost Lucas.
King Tubby
Totally agree!
PJRED
Our tactics do not play to his strengths. We are playing defensive, counter-attacking, Chelsea-style football (Steve Clarke).
Stevie shouldve played just behind Carroll other day.Instead hes picking up ball off Reina
12 Feb 2012 20:48:49
Every dark cloud has a silver lining. Look at Carroll. This time last year he was a bad boy heading to Liverpool. Next to Suarez he looks like Mother Theresa with a pony tail. Too bad he forgot how to play footie. Ditto Downing.
So what's the silver lining?
LazyRed
The silver lining is that we are in the league cup final,still in the fa cup and only three points off a champions league place,im pretty sure most people would have taken that when hodgson was in charge,while a few of kennys signings havnt lived up to expectations yet,please give them time,carroll is showing signs of improvement and was a bit unlucky not to start against the mancs,and just remember what many thought about lucas,myself included,but he proved me wrong,give all the new boys a full season and your full support,i cant be easy going onto a pitch to perform when people are giving you stick before you have even started,support your team or stay silent,rob bushby
12 Feb 2012 20:47:55
Handshakes should be made after a match if the players want to shake hands that is. Handshake before the game is a stupid formality for the cameras.End of!
Well one more things fergie doesn't think very much of the mancs if he thinks that by not shaking hands will start a riot.
ChinUp
If boxers can touch gloves footballers can shake hands!
So why did Fergie refuse to shake Wenger's hand - is it because he was justified and held the moral high ground (click agree) or because he is the most hypocritical and unsportsmanlike figure in the Premier League (click disagree)
Ref to boxers touching gloves,doesn't the ref say "if you want to touch gloves" that's giving them an option not telling them to do it so surely footballers should have the option,either that or just scrap til after the match.
paul d
12 Feb 2012 20:44:43
Anyone heard Alan Green on tonight's 606? The man is a legend, he provided the balance completely lacking in the British media. He talked so much sense about the hysterical reaction to the handshake and called for Ferguson to apologise for his comments about Suarez. Brilliant.
His up there with the greats in my eyes with that performance, only positive of the weekend.
12 Feb 2012 20:44:40
Everybody bummed out about the Suarez thing. I feel I am the one who is most aggrieved with Liverpool over past year. I got two Torres jerseys, a Merieles and two Suarez jerseys and soon won't be able to wear any of them. Should of stuck with Gerrards (got a few of them too) or perhaps resurrect my Alonso from 2006?
Can you buy a downing jersey quick ha ha
Mate, that is nothing. I have a Benayoun, 3 Owens, 2 Torres, 1 Meireles and 2 "presents" from friends who are Chelsea fans - 1 that was given in 2005 with Gerrard 10 on the back and 1 in 2010 with Torres 9 on the back.
BthekingB
I must be 'old school' then, I have Dalglish on the back of mine. I wear it with great pride, he is and always be my 'hero', and the man/player/manager and fantastic human being that epitomises LFC.
Suppose, I am just a romantic at heart, LOL!.
Shankly's Red. Army.
Still think my Dietmar Hamman top is the best!
You can give them all to charities who work with footballers in the third world- I am sure those guys would appreciate them
12 Feb 2012 20:36:48
I dont believe Luis is even slightly sorry but knows he has to say it publicly for the good of the club. Time to move on. But he's not sorry, I am sure.
cozinoz
Who cares whether he's sorry? He is an employee of LFC, represents them to the entire world, and must act in LFC's interests.
He should have offered an apology months ago.
Total amateurism all around.
He is sorry for the handshake, not what happened months ago. Evra, on the other hand, should apologise for his part on Saturday......but, as we know by his celebration, he has the humility and integrity of Stalin
12 Feb 2012 20:36:19
Feel for Dalglish, he has been put under so much pressure by the Media hounds... his response was emotional but he didn't need to apologise bless him... I like the guy, he's 100% genuine and loves the club and wants the best for the club and fans! When Dalglish was told during the interview that Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand, that was the first he knew about it - bearing in mind that Suarez said he would shake his hand to the manager/club before the game!
I think that shocked Dalglish and he clearly went in a spin...
I would have gone ballistic with Suarez if I was the manager... I don't care how good a footballer you are, if he never intended to shake hands, be honest and say I cannot do it!! Then just put him on the bench as a sub and get on with the whole thing... but to say I'll do it and then not, knowing the eyes of the world are watching... poor, poor, poor...
I understand why Suarez would struggle to shake his hand, so he should have just said to the manager, listen boss, I can't do it and then fair enough.
He should have apologize to everyone including Liverpool FC and I'm glad he has!
Hmmm. I'm gonna hate myself for typing this, but in the interest of honesty & all that. Do you actually beleive in the 2 hours between the non handshake & Kenny's interview that no one had told him that Suarez didn't shake hands, considering how big a deal it was? Personally? I find that very hard to beleive.
The Irish Rover
See your point, maybe I'm naive on Dalglish claiming he did not know at the end for the game, but, my point still stands. According to Ian Ayre, Suarez stated that he would shake hands with Evra and he should have stuck by that... this was way to high profile globally and will damage the club reputation simply because of the way the media play things out...
If he did not think he could go through with it then simply say, I'm not prepared to do it... he can then take part as a sub which means he would not have to shake hands and the whole thing is diffused!
Maybe now all we'd be talking about is Evra's inflammatory celebrations in front of Suarez at the end of the game!
The interview with dalglish in question was in the old trafford tunnel straight after the game with him still in his tracksuit and football boots.
irish rover = specsavers
12 Feb 2012 20:31:46
I thought yesterday was a low day for my beloved club,losing to Utd without even a whimper just no fight (well at least during the football part).
Now Luis has been forced into making an apology for not shaking the hand of a "man"(I use the term lightly and would really like to say what I think of the disgusting thing) who he feels has wronged him and caused him so much distress.Why would anybody want to shake the hand of anyone they despise.
Then Kenny starts apologising about his own behaviour,again I assume as ordered from above,I am so pissed off Whiskey Nose spouts off everybody jumps to his tune and starts to grovel what aload of b****cks.
At least Rafa had the balls to stand up to the old fool,how can Utd try to take the moral high ground with the long history of misbehaviour from their players,obviously assaulting fans,missing drug tests,adultery with your brothers wife and being permanently pissed amongst many other indiscretions are more acceptable in Manchester then refusing to shake a hand.
Get a life since when did we want to be best mates with those clowns from Old Trafford.
Derek
I don't think his apology was to Evra for not shaking his hand, but to Dalglish for not keeping his word. He made a fool of the king and his apology was to Liverpool fans to acknowledge him not wanting to disrespect Kenny.
12 Feb 2012 20:29:45
Eds . i just want clarify some rules. Please do help me. What will happen if a player gets a direct red card in english premier league. ? . And i am getting to something , remember that 1-6 battering of Manchester United by Manchester City on 23rd October 2011, there was a straight red card to Evans in that match. So i want to know if the red card was appealed or not and if the ban was lifted or not because the following weekend he was in the starting line up against Everton which was played on 29th October 2011. So i just want to know if that is allowed because if not then to field an illegible player should punished . Please do reply . Thank You .
AJI {Ed002's Note - Clutching at straws - he would have missed a Carling Cup tie is my guess. I am not even going to look it up.}
So are there different rules for a direct red card ? I mean he did miss a carling cup tie . But if you use your hands its a 1 match ban with straight red card and if use your legs its 3 match ban . I am confused. Please help me without being sarcastic .
AJI {Ed002's Note - The length of ban depends on the offence.}
I bet u did look it up ed
A professional foul is a straight red but only a one game ban. A Professional foul is when a player is the last man and denies a clear goal scoring opportunity. Evans against City..
You get a 3 game ban if you are sent off for violent contact or a dangerous tackle. It is a four game ban if it is your second red for that offense during one season. Hence Kompany getting four games for his red against United and thats why he missed both CC legs. It was his second red of the season.
You must be desperate if you are looking at things like that. Thats just pathetic!
12 Feb 2012 20:25:30
Eds,
If we look at the game Ignoring the handshake incident, our defense was not up to its standards. sadly, our CB didn't received good support by either Enrique or Johnson
Johnson was caught napping by rooney on both the ocassions . He'll go in summer, won't he?
Apart from Reina , Agger, Skrtel and our 2nd half subs. everyone else were not prepared to face man utd at old trafford and including Stevie G to be honest.
I'm really glad we got a goal back and that too by Luis.
Now, about things apart from football, what really pissed me off is that Luis said one thing to kenny before the match and did something else during the match. I believe he did this to my beloved club. Because when he assured to my manager that he'll shake hands, he assured my club that he'll put his personal grudge no matter how bad, behind him and move on with the game. but went back on his words :(
I'm the same Indian Red who sung laurels of Luis's commitment and love to the club and I feel really ashamed of what he did.
I really don't care whether that hand was Evra's or any tom dick and harry's . If he had no intention of shaking hands, he should've told sternly and I would've still respected that.
Now that he has apologized, how should I or Liverpool believe it?
If he is really sorry and has respect for us then he should get up and get on with the game when he is brought down and should not look towards ref for any sympathy. coz to be 'real' he won't get any from any referee :(
Also, I think if FSG wants good deal on him in summer they should atleast pretend in media that they are happy with him else other clubs will negotiate real hard knowing our owners doesn't want him in the club.
Personally, I hope he put his personal grudge behind and play for his country, for his club, score goals and win titles for us and 'earn' respect in football.
Indian Red.
Worst iv seen Enrique all year
To be fair to Enrique he had to deal with Valencia who has been ManU's best player lately with little or no support frm Downing
Redpath
Had to deal with Valencia and Rafael.
12 Feb 2012 20:15:12
Our players are not consistent. One match they perform OK and the next below average. It is time to introduce some of our academy talents into first team. Young players passionate for a win and moving the ball. I can not think of any player that performs consistently on the pitch. We were all waiting for Gerard to come back and save the club. Personally I think we are worse of now than before. Everybody give poor performances. I am not sure whether this relies on the players or on the management and coaching staff. The fact is our performances are rubbish. The teams above us are loosing points and we should get advantage of that. Instead we have silly draws at home with small teams and defeats from teams like Man U. Out of pride they should put all the effort in to beat Man U. Our ball passing was terrible. Our attack not existence.
Said this since early season and got abuse for being honest.It just takes others longer to see or admit.Didnt like saying,but its true
12 Feb 2012 20:07:06
There is supposed to be a fine line between genius and madness. Whether there is or whether its just a good cliche I don't know but we have probably seen our Luis step either side of that line of late.
He is an iconic player for a number of reasons, not least because he is a superb footballer, brilliantly unpredictable, genius like at times. We love players like that, our best teams have always had someone capable of doing something that no one else could do. That's why such players are held by us in such high esteem and when they play with a passion and desire to do their best for the team, the shirt, the badge and for us they become legends. Luis has assumed that role almost from the day he arrived and as a result has become a favourite of supporters young and old. There is though another side to him that leaves us somewhat baffled or even concerned at times.
We know of his history before joining us and until recently he has largely avoided confrontation with match officals and the authorities and people who control the game both on and off the pitch. He has a reputation for diving which makes him very unpopular with many and his' latin styled' arm waving towards referees accompanied with inaudible mutterings are clear evidence of the emotion he puts into every game as he plays with his heart on his sleeve. That though leaves him vulnerable to events as he pushes every boundary in a desire to win. The last 3-4 months and in particular the last 24-48 hours provide ample evidence of that. Even last Monday when he came on against Spurs he immediately changed the game and then risked even being sent off (on another day) with a bizarre kick on Scott Parker for no apparent reason. Yesterday's events bordered at times on getting out of control too and when he booted the ball in the direction of the bench/crowd on the stroke of half time his personal frustrations and what had gone on before quite probably contributed to the reported bust-up in the tunnel and all that followed. His self restraint at the final whistle though is to be applauded.
Personally I have backed him to the hilt and still do and I have many 'conversations' with people, reasonable people and even other Reds over the last month following his ban and the publishing of the report. People who feel he was in the wrong and let the club down. I've read the 115 page report but its easy in my view to see how the Commission reached the decision that they did but that doesnt mean I agree with it. I am both pleased and dissapointed by his apology today and feel that the events of the last 24 hours should have been avoided. Pleased because it probably had to be said but dissapointed for the club and in particular Kenny for the position it has put him in. I am though now wondering how does Luis Suarez feel right now?
Embarrassed? Angry? Isolated? Wondering if playing football in this country is worth it?... and if he does will he be able to put it all behind him or will he take it onto the pitch with him?
It is though time to draw a line and move on but there is now another part of me that is left wondering how long until the next time his emotions get the better of him and when they do will the powers that be, be ready and waiting for him? He seems to be that sort of player, one who sails (and plays) close to the wind, kicks and heads every ball with his emotions and will probably always run with his feet either side of the line. Try to curb it and we risk him loosing that spark that makes him great and different and unique. Fail to curb it in some way and we might risk loosing him perhaps for good.
Good post do you remember when fergy wouldn't shake wengers hand ,should banned for life him
I think he we be gone end of the season
Only read the first lines of your post and got bored. would like to know do you believe andy carroll is a genius??
darsco
2 games against the mancs = trouble for Suarez? Wonder why? those lovely mancs wouldn't do anything dastardly would they?
kidmillions
Great post. Post of the week.
kopfiend 1978 ynwa
High level sports performance is about concentration, a state of relaxation, and mental strength. It's the mental part that separates champions from contenders.
Suarez is gifted, but I suspect he lacks the mental apparatus to turn talent into accomplishments. He reminds me of Gascoigne.
Its nonsense to suggest that a player might lose his 'spark' if he is disciplined. Sick of hearing it regarding rooney mourinho etc. Bulls**ts . the real greats carry themselves with dignity.
Said a while back needs a sports psychiatrist
12 Feb 2012 20:05:35
why cant leo's and capricorns be together? Because they make lepricorns!! sorry guys i know its a poor attempt at humour but i thought id attempt to cheer some of you up , page is needless to say rather negative today .
scouse simon
What do you get when Evra and Ferdinand collide together?
A big heap of manc s**te on the old trafford pitch.
What's Round and growls?
A vicious Circle.
Woodi lietoyeh
Whats green and brown got 8 legs and if it falls out of tree it will kill you?
a snooker table,lol,jimmybosun
What's brown and runs round your garden
The fence
What do u call a hindu with pink hair
gandi floss =p
12 Feb 2012 20:01:27
Wats going on ed(s)? how come ur page aint updating? {Ed019's Note - There is nothing much to update}
12 Feb 2012 19:57:30
Couldnt agree more mate, but to be fair ... the FA Cup tie against the mancs the other week, their fans for half the game sung about Heysel and Hillsborough, and as i was sat in the Kop i didnt hear a single Munich chants (i have to be honest i am suprised at that, pleasantly suprised, but unfortunatly at EVERY football club there are them few prats who do sing them songs) and again yesterday all you could hear for parts of the game was their fans singing about Heysel and Hillsborough, and i for one think its disgusting, personally i think it is JUST AS BAD as what Suarez supposedly said to Evra, yet it NEVER gets mentioned by the media! Its disgusting!!
Also i think all these people having a pop at the owners over all this is just laughable, what are the owners really going to do? As far as they, kenny, ayre and the other players where aware, Suarez was going to shake hands, and thats all they wanted, but he didnt, so i dont think people can blame the owners and moan about them over all of this, they have been very good owners so far in my opinion, the Glazers havnt came out moaning about it, and no one has moaned about that, so i think bringing them into it is just causing more trouble where its not needed.
Also with reference to the Booing of Evra at Anfield, our fans got slated by the media for doing that, yet the United fans booed Suarez all game and nothing has been said, it just seems one rule for them, another rule for everyone else! I personally dont think there is anything wrong in booing people, its all part of the show, panto like, you boo old players in SOME cases, you boo players who dive to gain an advantage etc etc, its all part of the show with football, for gods sake we even booed the cat against Spurs!!
12 Feb 2012 19:57:14
Just a little perspective on the performance yesterday , we competed in the first half and lost focus after the break ,conceded two quick daft goals ,lost the plot for a while and came back into it later .these things happen and yesterday was a poor day at the office , a few players hid and didn't want to know and they know who they are ,kenny knows who they are as well and it will all have been noted ,too much knee jerk reaction going on .He will sort it it does not happen overnight ,i think of all the amazing memories this club has given me over forty years supporting and i can't believe some of the doubters .On the suarez situation he has appologised lets put it to bed ,hypocrite ferguson saw his chance to stick the boot in and true to form made a tw#t of himself ,remember the word is supporter not celebrator so get behind all the players and staff ,its a storm and we have seen worse,solidarity brothers and sisters it will come . Simmo 71
12 Feb 2012 19:52:32
Can't believe what scumbags their truly are in the world. Out of morbid curiosity I joined twitter (bare with me), some of the vile filth I have seen posted has actually offended me, does no one sensor it? I only went on to see if Suarez had posted anything of interest and the verbal personal insults people have sent him is shocking to say the least, he has messed up pretty bad and is clearly hot headed but no one deserves the s**te he has to endure, if the eds on here have to receive stuff like that from posters then u r seriously better men than me and have my utmost respect for even bothering to continue. I really do despair and the scum and hatred in society these days, red till I die, players managers will come and go, Liverpool FC will b outlive us all!!
Chiz
I look at Twitter last night!
Im not easily offended but it was Truely Shocking! Some people actually kiss their Mum with that mouth too!!
Don't understand why football players have Twitter accounts to be honest.
Do your talking on the pitch.
12 Feb 2012 19:51:08
The Suarez saga will get hyped up for sure but at the end of the day I think it's just the talking point at the moment and it will pass. Suarez isn't a bad guy, just passionate about the game and maybe a little misguided. Kenny realises that the team is much better with him and has backed him to the hilt, albeit a little misguided too. Both are very much committed to the club and football in general though which is more than you can say for some others at Anfield. The world of football is fickle and unfortunately tied up with the media. When the Terry, Giggs, Redknapp, Rooney, Superinjunction, drunk driving, wife beating, england manager, corrupt FIFA scandal hits the headlines it'll fade into the background. I don't think we need to be talking about him or Kenny needing to or wanting to leave the club. I say get behind em!
12 Feb 2012 19:46:48
at the moment were in a mess on the field and off it . kenny needs to crack the whip certain players performances are not acceptable . still think commolli should of had control over transfers last summer . full english left us with egg on our faces
12 Feb 2012 19:46:04
Left it 24 hours to wait and see the reaction of yesterday's game the Luis non hand shake is there for everyone to see .But it has hid the real problem is apart from belamy and Enrique kennys buys have been bad !! Nearly 80mill on carol , downing , Henderson ! That's the reason why kenny will go! Sad but true ! Waiting to be slated !! Oh just in case anyone does I adore this mighty club ! But kenny has not bought well
Torres Meireles and Babbel out for around 70 million None of the above have performed so far.Only wasted 10 million then to be fair
All managers are judged by performances on the pitch and their success in the transfer market. Should we fail to make the Champions League, it will be due to the poor buys that KK made last summer,which, I'm afraid to say, apart from Enrique and Bellamy, are plain for all to see.
Couldnt agree more mate wasted money on supposed british talent that is so poor reminds me of when souness took over. Lots of money wasted. All the antics have overshadowed how poor our performance was.I have also heard from the states that our owners are very unhappy with kenny and commolli in pirticular and if we dont get CL football they could be gone.
DCG
For the guy who says we spent only a net of 10 mil
we sold our existing players because they were not good enough or happy to play for us
now when u buy players u try to buy someone who improves ur squad and takes them to the next level not keeping them where they were or perhaps even worse
12 Feb 2012 19:14:22
hey liverpool fans lets get behind ure team to finish behind norwich. Arsenal fan here. You guys spent over 100 in 1 year and are so crap. Andy cant buy a goal carrol. Jordon worst player in prem henderson. And stuart downing omg. Least charlie was a good signing. Use can have denilson vela and bentner dnt need to worry bout u guys. Azda14
Haha wow. I bet it took all the power you had in your one brain cell to come up with that. You'll be pleased to know it almost qualifies as banter- keep trying- practice makes perfect!
DP
Thought you'd be on your own sight discussing Who Man City are buying off you next!!lol
Feeder Club!!!!!!
Lyndon.
I assume the 14 stands for your age little kid ! Arsenal finish above us you've no chance now henry has gone back KID !
See yer at Anfield.
kidmillions
I'd be more worried about your empty seats and losing your returning "hero" again, who couldn't wait to jump ship previously to Barca, wonder why that was........oh thats right to WIN something! - TMac
I don't mind Banter/Stick from Manu fans. But from Manchester City's Southern academy!! I'm not having it!LOL
Jesus, when you you grow up you will regret not going to school. I presume that is your workplace and IQ you signed off with and you can't even spell that right.
One man team gooners
k-h
U joker, if u didn't have RVP u would quite simply be f**ed, we'll all see that next season, what have u won recently? F**k off back on your own page u tit.
Oi Azda14! ...you're needed in aisle 12, there's been a spillage.
dd
I really can't believe the amount of crap so called "liverpool supporters" put on here.
We have got a good squad and are are four players away of having a great squad.
Lets not forget that we got rid off about 15 plus players last summer and will more than likely be getting rid of another 10 this summer.
It's gonna take another 2 years to build a team that will challenge for the title.
So stop slagging on the players...remember "if you cant support us when we are losing then dont support us when we are winning"
It will come.
PJRED
Gooner how sad are you relying on has been to get you outve s it.Cant fill your ground.Without RVP yould be 8th.clown
12 Feb 2012 19:11:46
Hey guys! Lots of negativity around. Just read a joke. Thought it might bring a little smile to all my fellow proud yet sporting Reds :)
Santa Claus: I'm sick of this. Every year I have to wear this red outfit, do all work myself, and end up with nothing, looking like an idiot!
Man: Now you know how Steven Gerrard feels like :D
sama491
Unfortunately its so true
It is true actually. Gerrard wud have a couple of epl titles to his name had he moved to chelsea.
Indian Buzzer
12 Feb 2012 19:11:04
"Evra got him suspended on false claims".. This is the tripe coming out of your once great clubs fans. The F.A banned him because he was an unreliabe witness and his story of events had conflicting statements. So blind loyalty kicks in and you say it was Evra that lied... So kick forward a few months, your own manager says "Suarez will shake the whole teams hands".. We all know what happened after that. So if he's willing to lie to his manager and clubs why is incapable of lying to the F.A.
I'd expect a better handling of the situation from the board at Harchester United!
Mumbles
Do you honestly hand on heart believe evra is an Honest and Reputable person who would not stoop to underhand antics.
It's you my friend who has the blinkers on.
kidmillions
Boy you sure do mumble on you muppet. Nothing to say about fergies comments or evra jumping up and down like a spoilt brat on christmas morning eh lad NO thought not your just another gobs**te gloating as if you know it all.
Did you read the report or the papers.
k-h
12 Feb 2012 18:51:20
Hi, eds
If i remember right, weren't Villa in for Joe Cole before he went to Lille, do you know if there's still any interest, especially with the underwhelming N'Zogbia? I think Cole should be given a second chance, he's done well for Lille but I think that's unlikely. Cheers, RedAl {Ed002's Note - Villa had an interest in Cole and I guess they may have an interest in the summer when he moves on.}
12 Feb 2012 18:50:02
Since it is day of apoligies I want to apologies to ed002 for imaginening her as hot angelina look alike blonde.just thought it should be out there.
Peace.
Red indian
I always thought of her as Megan Fox in a Chelsea FC kit. I am a Liverpool FC supporter and obviously don't like her wearing that shirt so ummm.... oh well, never mind. :)
Furqan.
I'm not really bothered what she looks like as long as it's not like the telephonist in Joseph Wambaugh's 'The Choirboys'. She writes a great deal of common sense. She also finds my big feet very attractive (unfortunately it's not true what they say).
Dutchmal
12 Feb 2012 18:49:32
my season ticket at anfield finished after this season .its just not the same anymore.why iam i paying to subsidize carrolls downings hendersons massive wages among others.these guys dont know the passion needed.hardest job they do is check bank balance.I too dissapointed with kenny,bad buys bad tactics.on about arsenal having empty seats if we dont make europe this year we will not attract any decent player,then its only one way down .one very down in dumps sefton red
Tranmere Rovers are looking for supporters, I personally know Mr Johnston if you would like me to have a word.
kidmillions
I would take your season ticket off you, I'll always support them no matter who we got playing for us
G BOX
You just made The person at the Top of the waiting lists Day!! Sure he'll thank you for it..... Sure Mr Henry won't sleep tonight worrying about that??
Can I take then please matl
See ya soft lad, dont worry there's 30,000 fans ready to take your seat so no big loss
Aint giving up mine-hope in heart and all that.but can see his point
Macca any insight into all this Suarez carry on?
Thanks
What do need to know that isnt there already.
k-h
12 Feb 2012 18:39:15
after yesterdays disaster king kenny gotta go so to suarez.made us all look fools.we got tactics wrong to negative ,our pre season buys are disaster only bellamy showing any heart.i honestly thought we would be challanging for title,lucky to even make europe now ,we need quality tacticial manager in now.if we played 3 up top sat we would have won instead hand advantage to them firstly suarezs petty gesture to get them fired up then kennys line up going for nil nil. a very dissapointed red signing off.
We will win at least one Cup possibly 2; 4th place still up for grabs, Citeh will win the Premier the mancs will be potless " So don't be so Glum"
kidmillions
Clearly you are a glass is half full kinda guy who doesn't let his rose coloured glasses get in the way of probability and reality huh??
When you return to earth, you may want to consider...
Yes, we COULD win two cups but, the FA Cup is a long way from being a slam dunk for LFC as your post implies--there will be plenty of input from 15 other good and eager teams before you award us the cup. Also, be wary of taking Cariff too lightly...do so and it will be to our peril. Have you not seen our performances against the so called lesser clubs?? With our non-existent strike force...trust me...it will be closer than you think and even if we win, Cardiff will put up a gallant effort (something we are not capable off consistently).
As for 4th place...dream on. It's not just the 4 points we are short...it's the fact we have 3 teams ahead of us. Add to that, a sustained run will require us to dramatically improve our win percentage from the first half of the season...with no new players, too many lazy, overpaid, unenthusiastic players and too many distractins, where is your catalyst for such a change?
Even if we do miraculously go on an extended run of wins, it still means we need three other teams to completely collapse. Perhaps Chelsea could do so but, is it likely Arsenal and Newcastle (who have improved since the transfer window--they have a catalyst) will?
Sorry to splash cold water on your optimism but, a dose of reality is needed. What you saw in the first half of the season is pretty much what you'll get the rest of the way...unless you can show me the catalyst that will change things.
Yes sure newcastle improved alot against spurs didn't they 5 - 0 wasn't it
12 Feb 2012 19:03:22
we know have two cup games next . dont play a prem game till 3 march arsenal at home . if teams below us pick up points as they are we could be nearer to twelth than fourth . we have to go with luis and bellers as our front two carroll with luis no signs of working . everton are coming on like a train would want to avoid them in the cup . they look in a better shape than us at the moment i fear we could implode.
12 Feb 2012 19:02:46
It might not be a popular opinion on here today but I'm glad Suarez has apologised for not shaking Evra's hand. Yesterday was about drawing a line under the whole incident and concentrating on football. By refusing the handshake Suarez incited the media and fans and possibly gave their team a shot in the arm to go and win the game. When your manager asks you to do something and you say you'll do it then pull a stunt like that you should apologise, no matter how talented a footballer you are. Suarez's apology is not an admission of guilt but an admission that he let the team down yesterday.
Red Ollie
12 Feb 2012 18:58:16
Ummmmmm...back to football for a second...I said it after we failed to address our deficiencies during the transfer window and this last week confirmed it: we are a 7th place club...so, get used to it because a CL spot is pure fantasy.
Shame really...this year was such a great opportunity to get back on track given the marked decline of Chelsea and Aresnal. If anything Newcastle's new strike force makes them a serious threat for 4th (nothwithstanding yesterday's result)...and what do we have?....that useless donkey Carroll?? Pathetic and just not good enough.
Management's decision to sign him first off and then their failure to bring in a real striker when he was truly exposed sealed our 7th place spot.
We are absolutely abysmal...no passion, no heart, no creativity. Week in and week out so many lesser clubs are able to put in a heroic effort...win, lose or draw...that is the absolute mininmum we should expect and yet, we log in so many lacklustre performances. I could live with knowing we don't have the talent to consistently compete with the bigger clubs but, not putting in a solid effort EVERY game is inexcusable.
For those of you who believe we should just blindly support the club no matter what or else you are not a true fan...your blind, unquestioning loyalty is exactly what leads to complacency and middling performances. Being a supporter means backing your team but, it also, means you owe it to them to be realistic and to call it as it is and to voice your displeasure when they do not live up to their obligations or mangement makes poor decisions.
We have had plenty of both over the past few years sadly.
Do have something against the Blind -)
Just cos you can't see doesn't mean you've got no feelings.
kidmillions
We all have feelings and the club know that and thats why they do not care about what we want , its an investment the owners thought they could keep carroll for a couple of seasons and then sell him at a profit they want us to be like arsenal all think about this they know we have blind faith and they rely on this, the fans who go the games do not matter the main money comes from different things at the moment but that will not continue if we carry on with the rubbish we have.red mick tag
12 Feb 2012 18:35:46
Just to get away from the whole Suarez saga, has anyone seen an ex Aston Villa winger we apparently bought in the summer for a fee in the region of 20 million?
Apparently he's played in 25 premiership games this season, he's scored no goals and has had no assists. Apparently he's rarely seen in the oppositions half but is often seen either running backwards or giving the ball away. Apparently he doesn't like to be substituted and shows his frustration with expletives.
The wizards sleeve...
12 Feb 2012 18:29:32
Sad to say but suarez will be gone in the summer! He's bein pushed out and unsettled at liverpool football club by the media and by that f@cking T£at from down the east lancs and i cant blame him.
And ed(s) why did you not put my post on the wall yesterday bit to outspoken for ye?
ACHILLES. {Ed002's Note - A lot of posts are not making it through now. Anything abuse, racist, plus a bunch more.}
12 Feb 2012 18:29:17
Our owners pushed this apology through. IMHO I am disgusted at them for having no backbone. The club back Suarez all the way, do why now apologise for not shaking hands, total BS.
Weak owners that are puppets are not needed at this club and not wanted by me. I back Suarez unconditionally as I really do believe he never intended to racially abuse Evra and therefore how can he be guilty. Why should he apologise, I would not.
FSG, we are Liverpool Football Club and we do not cow down to the media, Man UTD and PFA BS. You today have alienated a lot of supporters, especially for making the King look like a fool.
Suarez made Dalglish look a fool he should have told him before the game that he wasnt going to shake his hand.
What does 'cow down' mean?
You Absolute fool! Do you have an IQ of 11. The only person who has made KK look silly is Suarez!! An Ostrich buries his head in the sand for a reason you don't need to!!
12 Feb 2012 18:15:42
This whole Suarez ****storm has been handled dreadfully by LFC. Through shear incompetence and pig-headedness they have let Manchester United grab and retain the moral high ground. They have even managed to ensure Evra is seen as principled and victimised. And given that odious buffoon Rio an excuse to be outraged and morally superior.
How could LFC possibly let this incident get this far. At the end of the media reporting it is LFC who look damaged, sorrowful and ridden with incompetence and bitterness. I'm still exasperated at this whole affair.
The damage has been done. And it will stick for years. Utd and their fans will now be able to use this to bash the club in the future.
A whole sorry, pathetic affair which I am still convinced must be a bad dream.
And before all you blinkered dimwits race to slate me and defend the club. Grow up. I'm an LFC fan who is not happy at my club's management and who have succeeded in trashing our reputation.
Ok, open the floodgates for a pile of bile coming my way.
King Tubby.
Go and support Everton or West Brom
Go and support West Brom!
What a deeply Thought provoking intellectual extremely well thought out response!! Who said Brother and Sister should never have Children together!!!
That's exactly the kind of response I was expecting.
You really are embarrassing. Now put some trousers on and go and read a good book instead.
I agree..
Craig
Let's hope the apologies allow this incident to fade away. Luis ahd agreed to shake Evra's and and this must have been the subject of a good deal of discussion within the club and he let the club down by going back on that agreement. LFC handled the issues ineptly from the outset and need to examine the club's stance on important social issues and review their PR machinery.
LFC expected him to shake hands,
but he did'nt. You can't hold the management responsible for that. {Ed002's Note - You can hold the management responsible for making the dumb ass decision to include him in the squad.}
I really hate the way people respond with this "go support Everton or West Brom" bull$h1t, as if their opinion is in someway superior and everyone else who doesn't agree with it is not worth of the club, being able to come up with your own views and being able to debate them with other intelligent football fans is one of the things that make the same great, imagine how boring this site would be if everyone had exactly the same opinions!
Gman82
So long as they have the same opinions as me; I don't care ;)
kidmillions
Go support West Brom, there can't be a bigger insult on the planet. I think I'm going to go buy Evra a West Brom season ticket, just so he really know's how much he's hated.
Good response Gman82. The 'go and support Everton...' brigade are as damaging to the clubs reputation as the management and PR crew at Anfield. Journalists read this site too and gather evidence from clubs' fans as to how the incidents are perceived at supporter level.
It doesn't help that some fans seem to have a blindly loyal and unquestioning sense of righteousness that is, quite frankly wrong.
Support for the football club is good, but it is also your responsibility to raise questions when things are not so rosy. Like when Little and Large were in charge. Or Hodgson was manager.
Let's have less of the playground immaturity and more decency please. I thought that was The Liverpool Way that's been so keenly trumpeted on here.
King Tubby
King Tubby, you are spot on.
The blinkered, blind "we can do no wrong" or "go support Tranmere" types are contributing to the damage being done to our club.
Totally agree ive been blasted by Kb Cozinoz Mikey" i dont criticise im a bigger fan"nonsense for ages.we all have vested interest in LFCs fortunes.They can only improve if club knows punters arent happy.Ala we werent happy with H and g,or Hodgson.We all have right to view.Its arrogance like kid millions comment above,that gets us all at each others throats.Respect fellow Reds views! and ild agree with ed 2 above-dumb to have included Suarez at weekend
12 Feb 2012 18:15:25
Now they are all complaining that suarez did not apologise to Evra specifically, can we pin the great train robbery on Suarez as well.
The apology was to the club, mgr,and fans of LFC and the footy world in general in England. Suarez will never ever apologise
to Evra and should not either.
12 Feb 2012 18:15:10
Nice to see so many apologies today.
When will Downing come out and apologise for being rubbish yesterday and Johnson for impersonating a defender?!
Both need to do a LOT better.............if they're able?!
As for Spearing, he's just not good enough either I'm afraid and kuyt needs to go also.
The events of yesterday have overshadowed a very average performance by the team which needs to improve a LOT for us to get 4th and push on again in the Summer
5uarezTimes
Leave jay out of this he had a ok game and your saying he's not good enough because he mis-placed 1 pass.Harsh
King luis
He did it a lot in the tottenham game aswell
GuvTOB
You have the nerve to critise jay spearing but yet nothing said about jordan henderson? Jay put the challenges in yesterday ye he made a cock up for uniteds second goal. But name me one good thing jordan henderson did yesterday?
ACHILLES.
Jay is a true little warrior,but I also think he just falls below the level we require.I feel when he's turned ,he's out of the game,and a lot of his forward passes are rushed.I don't think that it's fair to crucify the lad, because he will always give 110% for the team.
Jiminy Cricket
Jay's a local lad who's a great squad player and ultra reliable but regular place in the team? No; not for me.
kidmillions
Why can't some of you people see that spearing is rubbish
I'll make it simple: Spearing, Downing and Henderson are not good enough for LFC.
They are decent EPL-level players but it takes a certain mentality to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world and in matches like yesterday.
Hendersen does f all-trots about like show pony.Downing merely hides
12 Feb 2012 18:12:25
This all goes to show how far behind the game our club is. We are still dwelling in the late 80's early 90's when it comes to footballing matters off the field.
In the last 20 years old whiskeynose has managed to manipulate the British press to the point where he has them doing his dirty work. They hang on his every word and can't wait to do his bidding. He has done this not by being popular and nice, but by winning trophies and never taking his eye of the ball. His disgusting reign has been built on the premise that his team are all he cares about and nothing will get in the way both on or off the pitch. If his players get in trouble he will, publicly, back them to the hilt. He will accept fines, whatever it takes.
This has got that horrible man to the point he is today. He has no fear of the authorities and has in turn made them fear him. This is what happens when you are the most successful manager in the last 25 years.
We need to stop being nice. We need to stop blaming other people for our lack of success. We need to start playing the game we stopped playing years ago when we were last league winners. This should start with the CC.
Our players need to start giving 100% every game. We need to start winning, consistently. We need to fight, bully, scrap for every point, goal from the first whistle til the 10th min of whiskeynose time.
We need to be feared, no quarter asked or given. Show the passion this club is famous for. We need to be winners again. Once we start winning, slur alexs empire will crumble and the press and media will fall back in line.
It won't take much to get level with the scum once we get our act together and once we're there we can begin to crush them.
We're too nice. Time to show some heart and start beating old whiskeynose at his own game and that has to start with us beating teams on the pitch.
It's the only way.
LJ
Fact that seems to get lost with all on here,when we vget two good vresults were brilliant.SAD REALITY IS WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH! IF WE WERE WE'D BE MORE CONSISTANT BY GETTING RESULTS WHEN PLAYING POORLY.Like all good sides
12 Feb 2012 18:09:23
That's it, draw a line now, it's over, win as many games as possible and worry about players in & out in summer. We all know what happened and who the real guilty party is, leave it that.
Next game , need a win, and the one after that an so on....
Let some other club get involved in the shenanigans that's called the world of media.
Red first and last
12 Feb 2012 18:06:42
Thank god that's over! There's lots of instances over the seasons of players refusing to shake hands, there's a little red headed fellah named scholes in manutd team who wouldn't shake hands with Patrick Viera, was that racism? No he just didn't like him. Apologies all round don't agree with it, where's are apology for their bad behaviour? but let's move on we've got some important games coming up.
kidmillions
YNWA Suarez. That is all.
YoungRed
12 Feb 2012 17:45:02
I'm glad Luis has apologized as he did no one any favours by snubbing Evra's handshake yesterday. I think it is clear that Suarez GENUINELY feels aggrieved over the whole incident and does feel there has been a major miscarriage of justice. If he was guilty of the original offence I do not think he would hold the sort of grudge he clearly still holds. However, regardless of how hard done by he feels he should have put the interests of the club first yesterday and shaken Evra's hand.
I hope now Ferguson will be big enough to apologize for his over reaction in the post match interview. Can he really believe that snubbing a handshake is a worse offence that Keane trying to end Haaland's career? He must know that he was over reacting and thereby also risking inciting trouble.
I also think that the media need to stop trying to claim yesterday's snub was about racism. It was about one player feeling another player had lied about him and in so doing damaged his reputation and got him a hefty punishment. The original incident was about racism, yesterday was not.
I hope that Luis will stay at the club however I realise that he must be getting sick of the way he is being treated by the British media. I also feel that the owners must be worrying about the brand image and would be tempted to sell if a good offer comes in in summer. If Luis does leave the Premiership I think we can expect to hear the full story as I am sure there is a lot we are not being told.
Hopefully the incident can now dies down as apologies have been issued and accepted. There can no benefit from further involvement by the FA, PFA or LMA.
Bob
My God!! A major miscarriage of justice?? You numpty. Do you think maybe being imprisoned for years for a crime you didn't commit or say hillsborough. They you go and use it in a sentence about suarez you Fool!!
The problem is that LS feels he did nothing wrong, but he admitted to saying the words he was accused of. He thinks that he did nothing wrong and this is why he thinks that he is the victim.
It will be interesting how the Ajax fans react to Evra on Thursday....Surez was loved and supported by the fans, more than a lot of you so called fans on here......Bobbinred
12 Feb 2012 17:42:32
What a load of nonsense saying we are bowing to Man Utd with our apology.
Obviously the management had discussed what was going to happen regarding the handshake, Suarez for whatever reason decided he couldnt shake evera's hand and went against the decision of the club. The club have now come out and apologised and rightly so.
Suarez put the club in a very difficult situation and Man U Ferguson and Evera milked every second.
The Club, Manager, and player have now apologised and everybody especially the media and supporters should draw a line and leave it in the past.
Harsh lessons have been learned and both parties have to have to live with their guilt. Only two people really know what went on and they have to deal with it and move on for the best of both clubs.
It will be interesting to see whether the media leave the whole saga and move on as Liverpool FC have now made an official apology. Suarez will be on final warning and time will tell whether he stays or goes but one thing is for certain, if he steps out of line again he will, for the sake of the club be moved on. Lets hope he concentrates on his football and as Cantona did for UTD after his problems, become one of the clubs legends,
Evered
12 Feb 2012 17:33:27
does anyone think player power has reared its ugly head again at lfc . luis downing johnson only play right back . bolton performance etc i hope not surely .
alan waddle
12 Feb 2012 17:29:27
what happened to pass and move . did it go when sammy lee went. very concerned last 4 away games 3 point from 12. should of took nzogbia than downer . full english transfer failed . pass and move the two things carroll cant do .
With Downing it's surely NO player power!!
Apparently Chelsea also want an apology for us selling them Torres
Liverpool must demand one off newcastle then too.
For both post thanks guys for make laugh :)
R-R
12 Feb 2012 17:26:39
Today has proved that we have the weakest CEO (MD) in living memory. Even Purlsow would have handled these incidents better than Ayre. Some may say that it has stopped the everything, but we look like total idiots. How can you suddenly backdown and completely change what we said we believe in? Where was he at the start of this? Eds do you think the club will get new people in the club? John barnes would have handled it better than some of the people inside the club. Everything he has said has had more sense than the club have all the way through. If we sell Suarez i'd understand but it would anger me so much. The owners seem spinless and care what the media think of us. After the statements today, they have left Kenny and Suarez out to dry, while Ayre and the owners have been hiding this whole time.
It was handled wrong from day one. We've drawn a line now and apologised. Which we should have as soon as Suarez was found guilty. We're all good at remembering previous success but lets try and forget this awful situation
Liverpool Managing Director Ian Ayre is not a CEO. We don't have a CEO in the club that what we missing a Pure English man who have better knowledge about football and football management. Ian is a marketing related man, very weak in football management and very weak to move in F.A Owner is not in UK don't have a smart CEO all that suffer us so much.
z.r
Rafa would be nice, He loves the club and deserve some position within the club
AJ
You Muppet a CEO is a chief executive in America and nearly always are From marketing Back Grounds. Think the missing link who posted that means a Director of football!! You idiot........
Hey! Alan Sugar?? Get a grip with ya CEO crap. We have chief executives CEO's are in American business and is the same role in England! Most chief executives are from the back ground that Ayre is! Oh! and he's been a Liverpool fan alot longer than you and me remember! Wind your neck in and I'll have fries with mine. Just a reminder for when you get to work tonight
Eds can you please explain what a chief executive is and what they do...... and after you have do you think Rafa would be a good one!!lol. My 5 yr old might know the answer!!
Above post; very funny! Best laugh today.
kidmillions
It just beggars belief that If they are all adults on here. That they Think a CEO lol. In English Chief Executive have any input in football related matters. Oh! and that Rafa would make a good one!! Looool. Ya I could imagine him dealing with the new shirt deal and raising money for a new stadium. Because he was SO good with spending The Clubs Mone Before!!!
Give up with the get Suarez out nonsense!
Lets stop banging on about it and move on.
I knew the handshake thing would blow up but some of you are making more of it than whiskey nose himself.
Get your head up Luis and we'll move on together.
Bring on the next game and lets go out to get 3 points.
Best post on here today.
Excellent post mate there are more important things in the world than that of a handshake between two men who clearly do not like each other let's move on and let's look forward to the Brighton game where suarez will probley score a hatrick and we will all love him again
Mickleburg.
12 Feb 2012 17:11:03
i just cant believe this is a liverpool supporters page ......calling for suarez to be sold ....im dumb struck ...the boy been done up like a kipper and if you cant see that ...you know nothing about football ...im stunned by you all ...honestly ...screw evra and whiskey nose for crying out loud mun ....you've all been duped again
I agree with everything you said, mate.
Canadian Fan
One word...Deluded.
You level headed deep thinking mature youngman!!!! That's irony very much doubt you know the meaning of it with That IQ of a cucumber'of yours
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
is it a slang word for pressing your clothes?....2 words and the second one is off ...r u a manc fan?
12 Feb 2012 17:05:49
This is the difference between champions and the rest. Had Man U been on the other side, they would have never apologized and would have stood behind their man. We on the other hand have caved in due to media pressure. The fact is that Suarez does not believe that he did anything racist and Evra got him suspended on false claims. Suarez had every right to snub Evra, someone who has tried to defame him (and other before Suarez). Suarez is a champion and so is KK, however the club refused to back them because of potential commercial impact. Until we change this mentality, we will never be anywhere near the top of EPL.
I don't think man utd would cock this up so badly...sorry
The apology is the best thing the club has done for about 4 months, only deluded morons like yourself think otherwise.
GDS
United would have apologised first time not mishandled it so badly.
You call Evra a liar but LS lied to his own manager about the handshake.
Firstly I never called Evra a liar. I just said that Suarez believes that Evra accused him falsly.
@GDS. If you believe that Suarez is a racist and racially abused Evra then apology is the best thing but then you should not support a club which is supporting a racist player. Use your brain before calling names.
12 Feb 2012 17:03:16
i cant believe liverpool have issued an apology to scum utd ...im sorry but theres nothing to apologise for ...thb i am fuming ....fergie gets his way again .....as long as this continues lfc will never win any league title again ....suarez will be gone in the summer now and lfc will be back to square one ....nice one kenny ....what a laughing stock we've become
It's not about fergie at all. It's about lfc getting this wrong. Lfc fan
12 Feb 2012 17:03:09
Manu statement, we thank LFC for their apology and we all want to move forward.So where in this statement does it say we ACCEPT the apology.
Also waiting for Ferdinand and Welbecks apology for NOT shaking Suarez's hand and Evra's for trying to cause trouble in the tunnel at half time AND doing his best to incite a riot after the game,and lastly Fergie himself for ALL his comments relating to Suarez and LFC in his interview after the game
Alan50
Welbeck did shake Suarez's hand. I don't know why people are saying he did not. He was the last United player in line and he clearly did shake his hand.
Canadian Fan
Hear Hear alan50. I am dissapointed with how this has turned out and its given extra hatred between our clubs and those of you who says i wont your seriously deluded !
Banters all well and good its great leading upto a game and at in the pub. But Hating someone because they support another team. Not for me!!
12 Feb 2012 17:02:47
well done luis and kenny for making your appoliages.and putting the club before all the inncodents.it takes a bigger man to do what you,ve both done.as for evra,ferdinand and fergie well they wont be made to appolagies for there reactions because they and there club never do no wrong.walk on with your heads held high
Always the victim, never your fault...
12 Feb 2012 16:53:15
So there you go, 3 apologies from the club concerning the farce at the swamp yesterday. I am amazed at just how many fans want to leave Suarez to hang on this site and want the guy to be sold.
The guy has done punishment for the "crime" (which again I will repeat he was found PROBABLY guilty of the offence - Read the report people). In hindsight maybe the club should have apologised from the off, or maybe they should have requested a crimminal investigation from the off becuase I doubt the CPS will have taken this case to court based on hearsay and one mans word against another. However, that's my opinion. Back to those fans wanting rid of Luis or for that matter rid of Kenny, are you mad??
If this was the case for every club, then the scum would be down to about 8 players, city would have to lose Mario, chelski, well there's a few there as well. Things like this go on every day in life, people have different beliefs, religions, politics etc but one thing supporting my club has taught me is to back them while they wear that red shirt and perform for us. I commented yesterday that if well sell Luis because of this then I forecast the beginning of the end. Could you imagine any player wanting to sign for us knowing that if they slip up or are accused of something they didn't believe to be wrong that the club won't back them, would you?....no don't think so......TMac
No matter what way you want sugar coat it, Tmac mate Luis was wrong. He has admitted in being wrong and apologised, what more do you want? Sometimes it is hard to defend the indefensible. He has let us all down big-style, i'm f*cking angry with him.
Blair Mayne YNWA JFT96
Blair next time your at anfield call suarez to one side and tell him how f*cking angry you are pal, Calm down lad its a day late but its finished with now and apology made.
Fair enough Blair mate you have your opinions (mostly enjoyable to read I might add) but I do believe you have the right to defend yourself and your family and if LS feels evra offended Luis familiy then I for one back his right to do so.....TMac
I think you've got it very wrong to say Suarez has let everyone down. Why has it taken apologies for you to take such a robust stance,if yot felt so strongly about a none handshake you'd of thought that you would've been banging on aboot soon as it happened,but no,wait till it looks like he's done before sticking the boot in. You like putting ynwa after your name but you pick and choose very carefully who it applies to. Read the posts Blair and you'll see everyone ain't let down by Suarez so why say the opposite. From what i've read quite a lot are let down by what the club has said and bowing down to Utd.
Jonson
TMac
I understand your points mate and really enjoy, what you write. We stood by him in the past few months, then goes and makes nobheads out of all of us? Like I said mate, just angry atm. I'll take a couple of valium and calm down mate.
Jonson
The reason I didn't say nothing yesterday is because Kenny said all week that there will be a handshake, then nothing? I wanted to know who was telling lies, Luis or Kenny . And today we got our answer. Luis has said that he is sorry for letting the manager and club down for not shaking Evras hand (just like he said he would). But still some people are blaming Evra, Slur Alex, The media etc for yesterdays incident. When the real culprit was our own Luis. If he had done what he promised he would do, we wouldn't have to make 3 apologys today.
Take your f*cking rose tinted glasses off mate. Luis was wrong yesterday and let everyone at the club down. He told our club and manager blatant f*cking lies and done what Luis Suarez wanted to do f*ck the club and manager.
You and others need to get your f*cking loyalties and priorities, in shape. By backing Luis even after he had admitted he was wrong and LIED to us all. You are siding with Luis against Kenny, The owners, us sensible fans and common sense.
Think about it and get back to me, you tunnel visioned idiot, thanks.
Blair Mayne YNWA JFT96
12 Feb 2012 16:47:14
You lot are still defending Suarez even though he, the club and Dalglish have all come out an apologised for it? Fickle.
G.A.G.U.S
Stop being a fool by generalising Liverpool fans over individual comments. Everyone's got their own opinion, right or wrong.
It's done with.
Stu.
I think you'll find that the apology has come about from the disgraceful way the media have made such a big issue out of this from day one.
The apology is an attempt to try a draw a line under the matter as it is very clear the media and ManUtd have the same agenda.
I won't say what it is as it is quite clear.
That's Mr. Fickle to you.
Listen G.A.G.U.S Its utd fans like you who wind liverpool fans up and dont allow this to go away ! The apology has been made so get back to your hole and let it be ok PRAT !
12 Feb 2012 16:41:57
There's alot of people on here thatb think saurez will be sold or want to leave but I think the club will work with him and this will all blow over.
Players over the years have done alot worse and the football clubs generaly tent to stick by them , exspecially when they are a good as Saurez is. When we signed Saurez the club new he had a firery side to him , like alot of the best players have, he's still young and has much to learn. I'm sure all the LFC fans will back him all the way and be singing his name when he runs out at Anfiels next.
Bilverstone YNWA
12 Feb 2012 16:35:25
Read Mark Lawrenson's article about handshakes from the Mirror ( tinyurl.com/89pf56o ). That's about the top and bottom of it. RED LENIN
Rooneys response. Wayne Rooney also played down the handshake snub, insisting: "I haven't seen it. A few of the lads were talking about it but we've got to just focus on the game. It's between the two of them, it's nothing to do with us. We had to just focus 100% on the game and make sure we got three points."
Rooney was looking straight down the line as Surez came along he must have seen it, perhaps he was just protecting a team mate
Well rooney is a liar when they played chelsea he said he did not see the penaty assitant he looked at it an appeled
Rooneys part of the england set up with Gerrard and Johnson. If we didn't have any england players? rooney's a bluenose, manc badge kisser looking after his own interest.
kidmillions
You can Bully Rooney but his point is right who care about a handshake the match is there focus on it win will give you 3 point. and why handshake big issue, when after a minute u will kick the man and also u try to acting and do everything that your opposition player get sent off. handshake end of the match is more impotent is start of the match.
R-R
Surely Rooney desreves a little credit for *not* talking about the incident? Even if he did see it!
His manager would have done well to follow his example rather than adding yet more fuel to the fire with his hypocritical outburst.
Matt S - YNWA
His manager doesn't have to meet up with liverpool players in the england squad. Enough said.
kidmillions
12 Feb 2012 16:34:14
Just wondering if any of the EDS or anyone else can help me, im looking to get tickets for the Brighton game on Sunday to take my little lad to his first game what are the chances of me being able to get them if I go the ticket office tomorrow my uncle is coming with us and he's a member your help would be appreciated thanks.
Mat lfc
Sad to say it but. Very Fair Statement just come out from Manchester utd!
It's good of United to accept our apologies.
I went onto their website to see if I could read Evra's apology for attempting to incite a reaction from a clearly upset player at the end of the game. I was also hoping to see an apology from the Knight of the Realm for telling another club what do do with one of their players when it has got nothing to do with him. Maybe it will be on later, he's probably busy telling the press sportswriters what to write in their columns tomorrow or sorting out the referee for their next league game. I'll check again later.
redmersey
They have shown class the whole way through this since suarez 1st made the comment to evra, Unlike us, shambles.
They have shown class all the way through this lol here's a mancs statement defo lads
12 Feb 2012 16:27:52
Wow just wow. Well done mr ayre for bending before the spam and that h***ing piece of she*p that is old whiskey nose. All these statements for the sake of PR, I feel so sick. So now we have offiicialy joined the group of clubs who are bullied by that red nose taggart. You will never walk alone? Never felt so hollow since I started supporting the club. Don't think for a minute the media or those spam fans or that whiskey nose or fans across england will move on, oh no. Suarez for his last few months in england now would still recieve the same abuse.
VM YNWA {Ed002's Note - The apologies will be nothing to do with Sir Alex Ferguson.}
We need to start worrying about L.F.C not man u not what paper or tv channel its about L.F.C and us the supporters if we do the right things then it doesnt matter about anyone else. We can only control what we do
Is your life that empty that it makes you say the thing in above post. Rivalry "brilliant" but some of that is far above that. Grow up go find some friends who support another team and have a bit of friendly banter!! But sadly I bet any money that every aspect of you life revolves around such hating someone something.
12 Feb 2012 16:27:34
I think K.K needs to go,his interviews have been terrible and have done. He's just added fuel to the fire with every interview.Well done Suarez no favours with his attitude,is it any wonder that Suarez thought he could get away with what he wanted with his paranoid interviews. He also must.ve been the only Liverpool supporter who didn't see we needed to bring a body or two in during the window.
Amazing that he's a fan of players like Turan when he's upstairs,but hasn't got the nuts to sign him when he's manager. Instead he bought Stewart Downing,the worse 20mil signing in history. Kenny do the right thing and step down,your out of touch with the modern game. Get Hiddink in as coach.
Idiot. If we start appointing managers on the quality of the interviews they give why not try and get Jeremy Paxman? People seem to forget what we were like when Hodgson left last season. Kenny has done a good job since he took over. His interview yessterday was misjudged and he has been man enough to apologize for it. I think on the whole his support of Suarex over the past four months has been excellent.
Bob
12 Feb 2012 16:27:12
I am not happy with anything that has happened but what I want to say is the Media really has escalated everything. Suarez was wrong not to shake Evra's hand after saying he will before the game. And we have to accept a considerable damage has been done to the Club's image because of these events. But Suarez leaving is the solution for clearing the good name than have to say that is ridiculous. Unless Suarez himself asks for a transfer.
12 Feb 2012 16:22:04
Ed 002; You keep repeating Suarez won't be at the Club next season, that's just your unqualified opinion.
Please stop repeating it, the normal response is usually see earlier posts but now you keep repeating but now you keep repeating it! Suarez is a fighter and will stay!
Suarez is fighter and will stay. Once a player falls in love with our great club they don't want to leave.
No more repeats please it's doin me head.
kidmillions {Ed002's Note - If people ask the same question over and over again they will get the same answer. Try not to bleat at me. I have put a considerable amount of effort in to the posts over the past 24 hours having to read extremes of vile filth and racist posts from Liverpool fans.}
Alonso, mascherano, Torres, Owen, Fowler etc all fell in love with out great club and left, Suarez is a gonner and good riddance to him, hes a disgrace.
Bleat!! Nice reply.
kidmillions
Ed 002 appreciate your time and effort in replying to the various posts. I do however take your view that suarez will leave at the end of the season with a pinch of salt, as I do with all your 'opinions'. This is in my 'opinion' based on the fact that having read some of your replies and ideas of who the club will sign in recent transfer windows. Have come to the conclusion that you are no more in the know than anyone else who posts on this site. {Ed002's Note - It is a pity you don't have the balls to sign your posts and instead choose to remain an anonymous retromingent vegetable. But hey, who cares. No doubt it was also you with all of the earlier racist comments I had to cut. How is it typing with sticky hands.}
It may only be opinion ed, but i think you will be proved right.
davethebtcher
Ed002 looks like your the one with 'no balls' then or haven't they dropped yet? Didn't want to post my reply because it'll show you out to be the child you are! Sad individual!! No name {Ed002's Note - Sorry? Why do you feel it necessary to abuse the editors? We put a lot of effort in for nothing to keep this site running and this is the thanks we get - anonymous abusive posts from trolls such as you. You truly, truly disgust me.}
12 Feb 2012 16:20:08
Kenny and suarez both forced to make apolagies, yet again we are the laughing stock of the football world, im just glad Kenny's apolagy wasnt filmed and he wasnt wearing his suarez t-shirt this time, Get Suarez out of our club, NOW.
Suarez is going nowhere. He's even more important now that we know that his presence has Taggert spitting feathers. RED LENIN
Played right into the FA and Fergie's hand, Surez admitting he was wrong not to shake hands admits guilt. Fergie will be pressurizing the FA to bring a charge of bringing the game into dispute against Surez ending in a ban for the cup final, just what they both want....Bobbinred
Why would Ferguson care if you win the cup final? United don't care about how Liverpool do anymore, they are in a different league.
GDS
GDS if united didn't care about liverpool no more then why all this fuss you FOOL !
And GDS why are youse always posting on our site?Contradiction in terms me thinks
You all still think the racism thing is to do with united v Liverpool, if he was racist to someone from say, fulham, would the guy from fulham be a liar?
I came on here as it is a banter site and reading some of the deluded comments makes me laugh a lot. Can't wait to go to work tomorrow with Liverpool fans and see what conspiracy theory they have next.
GDS
12 Feb 2012 16:19:03
The most important apology is yet to come, which disappoints me. In recent months he's embarrassed Liverpool football club and Liverpool supporters. His actions have brought a proud establishment into disrepute. In the summer he told Liverpool that he could cross a ball, and for this blatant lie he must now suffer the consequences. Stewart Downing you are a fraud!
Matthew...
It's about time you posted somthing funny Matthew mate , very good. lol
Blair Mayne YNWA JFT96
Brilliant post, he doesn't even look championship standard in an lfc shirt
More like pub team standard. Stewart useless downing.
Indian Buzzer
12 Feb 2012 16:14:00
Bet some of you people want Roy Hodgson to have been in charge. With him there wouldn't be this kind of situation. Bet you guys want Konchesky and Poulsen over suarez too. Maybe stay in relegation zone too..you never know.
Tekneek.
Your a weirdo
Yeah get roy back hope he brings polsoun with him really miss his pres-since in midfield
12 Feb 2012 16:13:42
I have spoken at length with the Manager since the game at Old Trafford and I realise I got things wrong.
I've not only let him down, but also the Club and what it stands for and I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I regret what happened.
I should have shaken Patrice Evra's hand before the game and I want to apologise for my actions.
I would like to put this whole issue behind me and concentrate on playing football.
This is from Luis Suarez's Twitter...
KingMiz
And do you think it's what Suarez is saying? Or what he is being told to say? I think the latter. RED LENIN
It doesn't matter who drafted it. If something this had been said months ago the club's reputation would not have been damaged.
Now the damage is such that several people will probably leave at the end of the season.
I'm now waiting on Downing's apology for his performance yesterday
12 Feb 2012 16:06:10
Have you guys watched the movie "Snatch"? Suarez plays the role of Mickey the gypsy boxer. "Mickey, for the love of god do NOT knock him out!". 1 second later he knocks the guy out. I am sure Kenny co. feel like they have no control over the player, which is probably why Kenny was so frustrated in his post match interview.
No matter what anyone on here says, English football is always a media circus, and Luis has changed the focus from LFC's revival to his own drama. It never ends with this guy:
World cup handball
Biting a player in Dutch league
Obscenities at Fulham fans
Racism drama
How about losing his mind every time a call doesn't go his way? Kicking the ball out of play in anger? Sulking like a baby every time he is subbed? Running into locker room after every game we lose or tie?
The bottom line for me is that we all love watching him play and we all had high hopes of building a team around him, but he is simply a maniac. He is clearly intelligent, as you can see in interviews. There are simply people out there that have a firecracker ready to go off all the time. Most are in jail. Suarez is a footballer.
ps. I love all the drama, just doubt that the owners do.
You must lead a sheltered life. Ooooh!
Handball! Biting! Obscenities! Racism!
Obviously never been the Grafton then.
kidmillions
Should watch the clip from Boys From The Black Stuff where they are in the Green Man pub and 'Shakey' shake-hands comes in.
Lmao @ kid millions. Never been the Grafton. Priceless. Nick.
12 Feb 2012 16:03:02
i think KK's days may be numbered, i don't think Fenway wanted him particularly but had to bow to fan pressure, they are a modern organisation who's work with the red sox was based upon modern ideas breaking the status quo. the 'suarez' issue has only emphasised that dalglish is not the man to do that. the apology is a start but the interview with sky was an embarassment, i actually feel sorry for him he looked like a confused old man out of his depth, ferguson would never be caught out like that. whether you like him or loath him he has been the master of evolution and has transformed united with the times into a modern superpower, liverpool and unfortunately KK look stuck in the past. in the short term i think it would be a good start to see suarez disciplined internally, no player should be able to bring a club of liverpool's stature into disrepute. in the long term liverpool need a clean break from the past, they need to break the mould and establish themselves as a european superpower again. a new liverpool with new ideas is the best way to honour the legacy of shankley and paisley and the players that made lfc great (like dalglish himself)
Worst post of the Day! Spelt Shankly Wrong! Any one is allowed to make a spelling mistake but Shankly? sorry Red Card suspended indefinitely! :(
kidmillions
Nice try manc, unfortunately gave yourself away spelt Shankly wrong.
Grow up. You are not a "manc" just because you speak out when the club is clearly being harmed by actions it is taking.
In fact, it is the blinkered "we can do now wrong" posters like you that are more likely opposition fans.
12 Feb 2012 16:01:24
why cant leo's and capricorns be together? Because they make lepricorns!!! sorry guys i know its a poor attempt at humour but i thought id attempt to cheer some of you up , page is needless to say rather negative today .
scouse simon
12 Feb 2012 15:59:54
im am going to tell you why we are going to cl. its simple, arsenal and chelsea and newcastle have a tougher fixture list, they all face eachother and points will be dropped.
i do not see why suarez will be sold, he has apolegized for his actions, but IF we sell him i would take no less than 55 million, because if torres is worth 50 then suarez must be more expensive.
Don't compare an in form Torres to an in form Suarez. Leagues apart. Torres was and still will be worth that amount if he gets back to that form he had under Liverpool, he was the best striker around. Suarez would be worth £35mil tops on his best form, and thats before all the baggage. £55mil, your having a laugh.
OsgoodIsKing
How would you know what an in form Torres looks like?
JRG
Osgoodisking I think you are having a laugh if you if you think Torres will get near anything like he was at liverpool or will ever be worth 50m. Suarez is worth twice as much as Torres right now
Mickey Drot,John bumstead give Osgood respect chaps he knew all about quality before Romans millions noooooooooooooooot
12 Feb 2012 15:51:35
Suarez, Kenny, Ian Ayre have all come out and made public statements and apologies
I am 100% certain that Fergie, Evra, Ferdinand and United will make no official statement for their part in this saga
Cantona and Fergie did not even apologise for the Kung Fu kick incident, cantona just went on about seagulls trawlers and sardines !!
Leam Red
100%? There has been one, maybe you were only 99.9%?
GDS
12 Feb 2012 15:51:28
Will Alex Ferguson be forced to apologise over the comments he made on live TV? Or are the FA, The Press and all other governing bodies still too scared of him? {Ed002's Note - If Liverpool make a complaint I am sure that the FA will act. Do you think the club will want to see this dragged out further - or do you think that they may jsut wish to drop the matter?}
12 Feb 2012 15:50:34
I am sad to be a Liverpool fan today. Instead of backing our player we stab him in the back. If I was Suarez I wouldn't have shook Evra's hand. Suarez is a top player and almost half of the fans I talk to wanting him sold.
I may also add that Rio and Welback did not shake Suares hand. And nothing said about that. As for Evra's Behaviour- what can we say, He was a total disgrace. First tackle of the game he tried to take Suarez out of the game and hit Rio. Then his behaviour at half time and full time has made the situation worse.
To be honest its typical Manchester United and whisky nose. Are people forgetting that there was no incidents on the FA cup game at Anfield but at Old Trafford it kicked of.
I may also add that Ferguson has no right to comment on the state of Liverpool or Suarez. He backed Cantona for kicking a fan and didn't sell him. Which is much worse than Suarez not shaking hands. Did he sell Roy Keane for ending a players career? No? What about Rooney using bad language at the camera and what about the whole Beckham and boot incident. Ferguson have a look at your self before commenting on an other club.
The club did not stab the player, in the back. Did you not read the apologies? If anything Luis stabbed us in the back. He told the manager and club he would shake Evras hand, then he dosn't? He's made a complete fool out his teammates, his club, us fans and manager.
We stick by him and this is how he repays us? I feel let down by him, not the club.
Blair Mayne YNWA JFT96
Its a shame for Liverpool that there are still a minority of "supporters" who continue their attempts to drag this whole saga out.
TK-Red
Well said Blair, couldn't agree more.
JRG
The club is bigger than any individual. Your support should be for Liverpool, not Suarez. He has let the club down and damaged our image. He lied to the manager about his intention to shake evras hand (which makes me wonder what else he has lied about), placing his own ego above the interests of the club. Yet the Suarez fan boys continue to show him loyalty in preference to LFC.
'I feel let down by him, not the club'
here here.
12 Feb 2012 15:47:38
Hello Ed002,
thanks for making everything easy to follow and understand. Thanks for inside news and rumours. I think, as you said, there will be some talks between the manager, the owners, the players and others involved with this great club. The future is still unkown. If Mr Dalglish was to win FA and Curling Cups, maybe...maybe get the 4th spot in the league, then his and the club's future may be bright. If Mr Dalglish fails to get any trophy and CL spot, then he won't probably continue to work as a manager next year. Apart from than, everyone, including people at the club, sees that LFC is way behind City, United in the EPL. Again. And is probably frustrating for them too. I'm positive that everything seems to be going in the right direction after a few poor seasons and I'm not sure that the difference between Liverpool and Manchester clubs is only the matter of money. There is something more to it, and I don't know if everybody at the club support KK. I hope they do. There is still a lot to play for this season. {Ed002's Note - I don't see the owners are going to look to replace Dalglish for failing to qualify for the Champions League, but there will undoubtedly have to be discussions about the direction the club are going, the issues that have surrounded the club over recent months and the on field performances - which from a team perspective have been encouraging but not, say, great. I would expect that after two years in charge they would have been thinking about the team having been settled and improvements being made here and there on a year-on-year basis. However, it looks like there is probably still more work to do than that on field and the off field issues need to be laid to rest completely. I think the summer will be a telling time for the club.}
12 Feb 2012 15:47:24
I expect Patrice Evra to leave Manchester United in the summer. With his antics at the end of the game, trying to incite voilence, he has dragged united down the gutter. It is too late for Evra now. Ferguson might resign too. Ohh wait...they are saints.
Tekneek
Yer, that - and because he's a sh1t defender, we have to thank him for getting us into the 5th round of the FA cup.
12 Feb 2012 15:46:37
Ed's is it possible to see if the computers been used by the People still sticking up for Suarez Now even against the club. Are made By The Early Learning Centre!! It's unbelievable!!!
Great use of English there.
Did you say Early Learning Centre?
Adam
Your use of english is very good too Adam
k-h
12 Feb 2012 15:30:05
Suarez has apologised which shows how much he wants to stay at the club. I think if lfc were to sell him in the summer, this whole racism issue would be brought back to forefront again, it being the reason he has been sold.
Does it mean that the club are gona get rid of KK cos he has stuck up for Suarez?? People make mistakes and should be given the chance to prove how much they want to make up for it.
The clubs reputation has been damaged but it is salvageable, and I'd suarez shows yet focuses on his football, then there is no reason why he shouldn't stay!
I think they will get rid of KK because he hasn't produced. The aim was 4th. He can still salvage this, but if not, they have several reasons now to move him along. Knowing how FSG operate, they would not offend the fans but instead promote Kenny to some ambassador role or such.
Prob best soloution all around,poster above
12 Feb 2012 15:18:54
do the ED's think united should repremand their players publicly for singing the song during the interview with rooney after yesterdays game?
do you think the fa will take any action re this incitement?
do you consider fergies "he shouldn't have done that" will count as a repremand to evra for his obvious attempt to get a reaction from suarez .
i feel if the boot was on the other foot LFC would be in the dock again will united face any charges or public vilification..... i dont think so.
bigg {Ed002's Note - IF there is any reprimand I doubt it will be public. I am not sure "incitement" is the best term but unless there is a complaint made to the FA I doubt they will seek to take any specific action - perhaps a letter warning both clubs about the actions of their employees will be sent. Ferguson clearly said things he should not have yesterday - perhaps everyone has learned a lesson and can move on.}
Should liverpool FC sell Luis Suarez in this summer?
YES - agree
NO - disagree
I believe getting rid of Stewart Downing should be a higher priority. He makes the signing of Harry Kewell look like a good bit of business.
No we should not sell him. Suarez should have shaken hands, for the media circus and for the good of the club. He made a mistake but its no big deal.
I think Downing will be gone for 10m if were lucky.
10 million? 10 pence actually.
12 Feb 2012 15:27:10
Even with the apology i think that it might be too late to save suarez from being sold. He has made kenny look a complete fool by his actions and dragged the clubs name into the gutter. Now is the time to cut our losses and sell on at a decent profit. Invest in a forward and right midfielder and hope that we can start talking about football again.
Brian
12 Feb 2012 15:07:22
All the talk of Suarez leaving is a joke. Are decisions about players made for PR reasons instead of footballing reasons these days. So what he didnt shake someones hand, people are dying all over the world and people losing their jobs everyday and people are having a field day cos of a handshake, get a grip! Clubs dont sell their best players because something they did makes bad PR. Ferguson has a cheek, did he get rid of Cantona kicking a fan? Much worse than what Suarez did. Did he get rid of Roy Keane for ending a players career? Have Chelsea tried to get rid of John Terry. In my opinion it would be a huge mistake to get rid of Suarez, without him over the last year we would be mid table. {Ed002's Note - It is nothing to do with shaking hands and seeking comparisons in others who have erred will not detract from the damage being done to the club by including Suarez in the squad yesterday, and then starting him. I fear that any last hopes he had for staying a Liverpool player may well, rightly or wrongly, slipped away now. To have the Managing Director have to come out and make a statement as he has today shows, or should show, the fans how serious a situation this is.}
I think it is a shame that the managing director didn't get involved right at the start and manage the situation a lot better.
No way should Suarez leave or be made to leave.
He has paid his dues for the 'his word against mine' 3 panel FA hearing decision.
So what if he didn't shake hands with Evra.
It's been said before that Evra clearly changed the position of his hand as it came to Suarez turn. In a split secod Suarez could read that the handshake wasn't going to happen. Not once did Suarez withdraw his hand. It stayed out at the same extended reach and moved onto the next player.
Anyway, what I'm saying is I would be very disappointed if Suarez left. Almost as if Slur Alex has got his way. I mean how dare Liverpool have such a good player in their team again especially after he thought it was safe when Torres dropped form and then moved clubs.
When Suarez announced himself to Purple nose by creating the hat-trick for Kuyt, you could sense the panic it had created.
If, and I mean IF Suarez is forced out and or KK resigns, then it will be very very wrong.
He has apologised and that should be the line drawn under the matter.
Any further questions from the press/tv reporters about the situation should be answered with "no comment" or next question.
It won't take too long for the situation to die down.
I agree with you 300% mate
Lets remind ourselves Terry did something else to one of his team mates regarding the wife/girlfriend and his mate didn't shake his hand.
I said weeks ago that Kenny would have been best keeping Suarez out of the limelight by dropping in from the squad for the Utd game. That way the situation would have been defused and we might have even come away with a point or even three. It's no coincidence that we lost two goals within 4 minutes of the ructions at half time. Utd were fired up we looked distracted. Kenny has to accept some of the responsibility for a poor decision.
I'm backing Suarez all the way. Liverpool FC need to grow a pair. This Rat called Patrice Evra should have been banned from the game years ago. I for one think LFC have bottled on the entire affair. If Suarez goes, then LFC will show the entire world that they are weak. I am totally against any form of Racism, but I think Evra is a trouble causer. LFC need to take a stance instead of bottling all the time. Who runs LFC anyway? Sky or Utd.
Put yourself in the owners' shoes. What do they have to gain by selling Suarez? First of all, probably 40 million. Second, they are making a statement that no player is bigger than the club. He has caused more trouble than not. I love the guy's ability but he has missed more games than he has scored goals.
What do they have to lose? A good footballer. Fortunately, he is replaceable, hopefully with a player who is just as good, and who has respect on the playing field.
Businessman run LFC. Ones who want the club to compete for titles and be respected around the world in order to bring in more revenue. If you'd like LFC to be relegated to the Championship or lower and have no fans outside of a 10 mile radius of Anfield, then feel free to think this is the way forward.
12 Feb 2012 15:04:26
Ed002 do you think the club's patience with Suarez is running out and do you think he'll still be a Liverpool player next season? Think Evra is just as bad if not worse,well I don't think I know he is,what he did was pre meditated by clearly moving his game down and his antics at the end.
Don't what he was going to achieve at half time by seeking,or trying to seek Suarez out to ask him why he didn't shake hands. Or his antics at full time which were disgraceful in my opinion. Whisky nose says Suarez could've started a riot,think he needs to look at his number 3 for someone who couldn't done that.
Jonson {Ed002's Note - I don't expect Suarez will be a Liverpool player next season and I rather think there will still be a few issues with fans at certain away games for him to face. The club and the image of the club is what needs to be protected now and the owners are yet again looking to limit the damage. They will certainly be looking for some good PR and closure on these recent issues.}
I know you mightn't want to comment on it because its speculation,but do you think the manager's job is safe for next season,niceone.
Jonson
Arsenal fans!! Looking at all this going on at Liverpool at the min. If your management think about it. It's a Great way to stop Man city pinching all your players. They at least have to go Abroad!!
Complying with Ferguson's demands is most definately not good PR for the club. Sticking two fingers up to him is.
12 Feb 2012 15:04:04
As both Luis and the club have now issued statements on the matter and in Luis case an apology, let's hope this can now be put to bed. Luis has served his time and now apologised and as I see it will now learn a lesson from this. I cannot see what more he/the club can do. Obviously the media will still keep this story running for a few more days before they move on to the next issue. However, it will be interesting to see how the spam react. If they refuse to accept the apology or the statement from the club then will the FA/Graham "I need to be in the news" Taylor and the press in general condemn them for it? or will they as usual back down to whiskey nose and agree on his views and allow it to rumble on? should be an interesting week......TMac
It's not backing down to anyone Moron! Image is everything in business. It sends sponsors running to the hills. Why do you think Terrys losing sponsors. Only need a small % of people to believe what they read to affect your turnover potential. Oh especially when your in the middle of FINDING SOMEONE TO SPONSOR A NEW STADIUM for 150m over ten years. Come on use a little bit of common sense.
12 Feb 2012 15:02:38
Who says that a modern day footballer has to shake the hand of an opponent who he dislikes?
Football is supposed to be about passion aggression honour teamwork and playing for your team mates, not going around shaking hands with the opposition before kick off. We should go back to the days when both teams run out of the tunnel and go straight into there respective positions, with the captains of each teams shaking hands at the toss of the coin only.
I believe by doing this it takes away any potential flash points, most players nowadays shake hands and have banter with there fellow friends and opposition in the tunnel before they take to the field all in full view of the TV cameras, so why is it necessary on the pitch?
Just to appease Sky and the FA the shaking of hands is seen as the way of bringing unity to our beloved game and putting the FA in a morally higher ground on the world stage. I have always felt strongly against the shaking of hands ceremony, they never did this when I played in the old Division 1 league.
The FA has become a joke over the last 20yrs and is gradually becoming a laughing stock amongst Europe and the rest of the world. The FA stands back and cares to do nothing when players surround the referee swearing directly in front of him and easily lip read by kids of our generation who in turn copy this all over the British isles on a Saturday and Sundays. The brandishing of imaginary cards, the rolling around on the pitch by players once tackled, the aftermatch goading and relentless bias questioning by the media, the constant blaming of referees performance by managers and players, all accepted by the FA and swept under the carpet and nothing done, and yet mention the word Racist then the FA decides to take the higher ground?
Our once beloved game is fast becoming a joke without leadership it's time for a change, before it's too late.
The wizards sleeve...
The game died 20 years ago my friend, with the introduction of the Sky Sports Run Premier League and their long time assistant SAF. The media witch hunt has been growing legs for years. Incidents at other clubs pass by unreported all the time or are dealt with in house, but if someone farts at Anfield, the press are like wolves.
Odd that you believe the game died 20 years ago. I wonder, had Liverpool won a league title in that time, would your opinion be different?
TK-Red
Carroll
-Shane.
Who'd pay 8m for Kuyt and Doni would most probably leave on free and I don't think any of ins u've quoted would be brought in. And I hope, Suarez would be staying. YNWA
Saurez has been hung out to dry by the club ynwa you do if it potentially hurts sponsorship deals ian ayre had no reason to come out and make louis look like a naughty boy stood in front of the class taking his punishment saurez should have apologised and the rest been dealt with behind closed doors not pandering to the press and fergie what next yes we,l sell him because slur alex said so maybe he will have some ideas on who we sell him too and how much and any other input on how our club should be run from him dissapointed red
12 Feb 2012 15:14:22
am starting to feel ashamed to be a liverpool supporter, we have a long tradition of backing our players and managers yet most of you are not backing suarez, tell me did whisky nose not back cantona after his major incident,yes he did and you should be backing suarez. So what if he didnt shake hands nor did rio and is anyone going on about him NO. stop listening to talks**te and sky and the scum paper and back your team. the most important thing to come from yesterday was how poorly we played, that should be the focus of your attention.
AND WELL DONE SUAREZ FOR NOT REACING TO MR EVRA CELEBRATING IN YOUR FACE AT END OF THE GAME CUS I FOR ONE WOULD HAVE DECKED HIM.
Well said that man above. If Fenway don't like it, then bugger off back to yankee land. In my opinion they are just brown nosing so it doesn't cost them too much loss as a global brand. LFC is a Football Club first and foremost. If they want to remain, they should back their employees.
Talking about The Same people who stopped us from Going into administration less than 2 years ago. Short F";/&:g memory or what. You lack of respect and short sightedness is astounding!!! Are you 8 yrs old?!!
12 Feb 2012 15:11:49
Still 7th, kenny still the man for the job or has anyone woke up yet? Probly be the usual reply, work in progress, go support someone else blah blah blah
Things would come good, I believe. Rome was not built in a day. Its tragic where we are sitting now, but I believe it'd get better for us, in the coming weeks. YNWA
12 Feb 2012 15:11:17
Nice to see we finally got the PR thing right. If only we had done this months ago after the whole thing blew up...
Oh well- onward to the next game and let the media find some other controversy to stir up.
12 Feb 2012 15:11:00
I can not believe people are saying suarez has been set up and evra did not want to shake hands.
He has released a statement saying sorry.
I Went and watched the youtube videos and although Evra does lower his hand Suarez makes no attempt to shake it or acknowledge him.
I Have man utd fans as close friends and over the years wind me up with the things they come out saying.
But reading the posts on here alot of fans are even more blinkered than they are.
It's about time we stopped blaming other teams and looked at our own behavior.
Suarez was out of order yesterday, no handshake, crying when Ferdinand clearly tackled him, kicked the ball at the utd bench.
I know people will say "evra did this and evra shouldn't have done that" but i do not care he does not represent us, he can act like a pr**k all day for utd.
I think the management really needs to sort him out because i want him to stay, he has got the passion, he just needs to learn to control his anger and emotion.
Also wouldn't it just be amazing if 3 months ago when Carroll, Henderson, ETC were struggling we could have showed them the same type of support we are showing Suarez now...
G BOX
Suarez (and the club) will now say what they are told to say. You are about to see corporate image & brand protection swing into action big time. Reality plays no part.
12 Feb 2012 15:00:56
I think it is now safe to say that Suarez will be gone at the end of the season.
Ash
Possibly. Think much depends on his behavior on and off the pitch over the next few months as well as the overall team performance. If he can keep his nose clean, he might be alright. Anything else happens, even so much as a parking ticket, and I'd agree...
I agree Ash mate, he could be off.
Blair Mayne YNWA JFT96
Like the eds say tho, "the summer is a long way off yet!"
huddz red
Yeah, sadly I just can't see how he can stay Blair.
Ash
12 Feb 2012 15:00:20
hello fellow kopites
The handshake incident aside we didn't have a good game & even in the last 10 min. when we just got a goal back I fail to understand why we didnt attack the utd goal.
That said I still am optimistic that we could very will finish 4th if we dont repeat such performances.just hope the supporters lay back the players a bit , calling for their heads after losses/draws and making them demi-gods after wins.
No matter where we finish , atleast I would still be supporting liverpool next season and be hoping for a better performance than the last one.
12 Feb 2012 14:56:19
After suarez apologise they both should meet up & shake hands and draw aline under it. bigon be bigon
agree if you think they should
disagree if you think they shouldn't
alec
12 Feb 2012 14:55:53
Finally a proper statement from Suarez and Liverpool. I don't care that Suarez hates Evra, but I do care that when Kenny needed to be repaid for sticking by him, Suarez only thought about himself. Kenny was then made to look a fool when trying to firefight the issue with Sky Sports yesterday. Suarez had the chance to finish the issue and continue his career at Liverpool....now I doubt that will happen.
-Shane.
12 Feb 2012 14:55:16
Can we stop talkin bou the lack of a stupid handshake and go back to meltin the eds about summer transfer targets? Messi,ronaldo and hazard been spotted at melwood all 3 signed a pre contract.my source grooms kk,s jack russell called fergie! {Ed002's Note - Much better. Thanks.}
12 Feb 2012 14:54:49
I am gutted suarez has came out and said sorry alls am saying he must have been pushed into it ian ayre is a rat coming out an not backing suarez to the hilt sack him now don't need weak people like him running the club suarez is a liverpool player and should never walk alone there was no concrete evidence that he called evra anythink yet was banned for 8 games if someone accused me of being racist an tainted my name I wouldn't wana shake his hand ever again shows me suarez isnt lying when he rufused to shake his hand liverpool have lost my respect from the owners down if that was a man u player ferguson would not wilt to media pressure I stick with suarez always will not like ian ayre the rat {Ed002's Note - You need to get an "Ian Ayre Out" banner at the next game - it'll be the first I recall. We then find some sort of concerted anti-Ayre campaign on Twitter and Facebook can really add the pressure.}
I seriously can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or just deluded? PR battles have nothing to do with the truth as the truth is irrelevant. This was precisely the right thing to say and do. Now the media has no story to talk about.
Ed I hope your not mocking my post am serious ian ayre is a joke
F"@k/:g unbelievable Ed! I've seen less Blinkers at Aintree!!!
The guy said sorry. End of story. Lets stop stir thinks up.
12 Feb 2012 14:37:23
Bit embarrassing for all those who Blindly stuck up for Suarez! Looks like the club were told by him he was going to shake hands. By Ian Ayres statement they don't sound very happy with him at all! Bet a few may start to have a go at the club now for having a go at him??? The Suarez fans Not The Liverpool Fans of course.
It is a turbulent issue . Supporting the Club is the most important thing , everyone seems to be on the same page now - so we can move forward & pick up a couple of Trophies this season .
Qwerty
Liverpool are a disgrace and spineless and so are so called supporters like you! Some things trancend football, like principles and morality! Suarez took his stance as a wronged man and did exactly what I would have done personally! He will now leave in the summer and I for one don't blame him! Apologies for some so called Liverpool fans and some of the people who run are club for clearly letting you WALK ALONE! Good luck in Spain Luis lad.
Waro
Yesterday shows that suarez plays for himself and not the club
Suarez had to put his own grievance against evra away and could not do it
He's not fit for the shirt, seek retribution on your own time
12 Feb 2012 14:37:16
Well Luis has apologised for yesterday, clearly the club have had a word. The club have also issued a statement on this so effectively this should now be put to bed - unless of course, SKY, Talk s**te, the press and of course Whiskey Nose don't want it to! Lets wait and see.......TMac
12 Feb 2012 14:36:20
Now that Liverpool and Saurez have apologised for the hand shake incident will all the fans who backed him on this forum back him for apologising?
Suarez may have apologized but i bet he was told to apologies by kenny. the mancs such as evra and fergie should apologies for acting like morons and talking crap about us. suarez still hates evra and i don't blame him. when is man utd next champions league game?. oh wait i forgot, they are in the europa league lol . YNWA liverpool
Hang on a minute, Liverpool aren't in Europe at all!
He has obviously been made to apologise as part of a face-saving exercise. He doesn't even speak English well enough to have made that statement himself.
Its good that we are not in europa league because we hate it.
12 Feb 2012 14:30:11
To all those saying that Suarez was wrong to not shake Evra's hand, I ask, would you shake the hand of a guy who falsly accused you of racism and made you do time? {Ed002's Note - Clearly Suarez thinks he was wrong as he has now apologised. So we can now end that discussion.}
No way Ed. It was clearly a statement from a grassy knoll by Lee Harvey Oswald!!!
Lyndon {Ed002's Note - There I was on a grassy knoll in Dallas innocently cleaning my rifle ...}
12 Feb 2012 14:29:08
It really is very disappointing the lack of support that our club gets from our own fans.
Our fans would rather believe the trash that the media and Man Utd spread on a daily basis.
You then get the ones complaining the way our image is being tarnished by what Luis did....
According to the FA and media and Man Utd he is guilty.
According to OUR CLUB he is not and they will offer him their full support. They have issued very strong statements to everyone and stand by Luis. Kenny still defends Luis at post match interview and then Luis also tweets that all is not what it seems and we still get all this weak supporters on here slagging the team really.
Liverpool FC and their players are by no means weak. We are strong and we built our reputation by being strong and standing by what we believe in. WE ARE NOT AFRAID AND NEVER BACK DOWN. We have a manager with a back bone and a team with great spirit and promise.
Our manager has class and does not entertain the media or rely on the media to cause an effect.
We may not be setting the league a light now but we will soon. We have a brand new team and we creating so many chances already. All the other top teams have had their teams playing together for about 3-4 years together. We have ours for only this season.
I will only believe what our team issues in form of statements. We have a strong foundation and nothing including the media and any other team in the world is going to break that.
Let our management and owners worry about our image and let our players worry about the job they do on the field and let OUR SUPPORTERS do what we do best and that's SUPPORT.
Stephen South African Red.
Since you only believe club statements, since the publishing of the apologies do you now believe that Saurez and king kenny were out of order?
12 Feb 2012 14:49:59
Luis Suarez
I have spoken at length with the Manager since the game at Old Trafford and I realise I got things wrong.
I've not only let him down, but also the Club and what it stands for and I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I regret what happened.
I should have shaken Patrice Evra's hand before the game and I want to apologise for my actions.
I would like to put this whole issue behind me and concentrate on playing football.
Chris1977 YNWA
12 Feb 2012 14:49:09
looking forward to Evra apology later for celebrating like that and trying to incite hatred but bet i will be waiting a long time
12 Feb 2012 14:48:34
Loyalty is always a good thing. But come on we surely can't stick up for him! Oh ya It's a Conspiracy between Liverpool Board and FA now "probably" he's let us down sadly.
12 Feb 2012 14:48:31
What was it you were all saying about Evra refusing to shake Suarez' hand, by moving his hand out of the way?
Have a look at what Suarez has said, and then remove your tongue from his ar*e.
"It's never your fault;
12 Feb 2012 14:39:01
Liverpool Managing Director Ian Ayre has today released the following statement.
I had to blow my own trumpet but I should be in HR, or at least ED002's assistant.
"We are extremely disappointed Luis Suarez did not shake hands with Patrice Evra before yesterday's game. The player had told us beforehand that he would, but then chose not to do so.
"He was wrong to mislead us and wrong not to offer his hand to Patrice Evra. He has not only let himself down, but also Kenny Dalglish, his teammates and the Club. It has been made absolutely clear to Luis Suarez that his behaviour was not acceptable.
"Luis Suarez has now apologised for his actions which was the right thing to do. However, all of us have a duty to behave in a responsible manner and we hope that he now understands what is expected of anyone representing Liverpool Football Club."
The Booter
12 Feb 2012 14:27:11
(From the LFC website) Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has today issued the following apology:
"I have spoken with the Manager since the game at Old Trafford and I realise I got things wrong.
"I've not only let him down, but also the Club and what it stands for and I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I regret what happened.
"I should have shaken Patrice Evra's hand before the game and I want to apologise for my actions.
"I would like to put this whole issue behind me and concentrate on playing football."
Bit late now!
Does that mean you lot will remove the blinkers now ?
Much Love
Just waiting on Rio's statement for not shaking hands & Evra's for his Ht & Ft antics! Don't be holding your breath tho.
The Irish Rover
BIT LATE NOW ! Hang on tit its never to late to apologise have you not heard of that lad ! Dont start that crap here lad when your club have done plenty things wrong you person !
12 Feb 2012 14:26:12
Suarez just released a statement saying he should have shook Evras hand and that he was sorry and regretted it. So clearly it was him who didnt want to shake hands and not Evra.
Obviously the club told him to apologise to defuse the situation, even though we know evra was the one moving his hand away, the club have obviously said apologise or we will be forced to consider your position.RedTurk
Redturk. Surely your Brain had long enough in the time it took for the Signal to get from Brain to fingers to let you realise how in denial you are and Stop you typing it!!
12 Feb 2012 14:25:05
Suarez has just issued an apology. W.T.F. Stick to your guns for h***s sake, forced apology from the top no doubt! Liverpool pissed me off when they didn't appeal and Know were cow-towing to the media and sir corn beef nose! For the sencond time this season I am DISGUSTED with Liverpool.
Waro {Ed002's Note - If Liverpool are "cow-towing" you can expect a charge of cruelty to animals to follow.}
Your welcome to go and support him at his next club. Your obviously a Suarez not a Liverpool fan!! As Mr T would say "crazy Fool"
Ha ha ed. you know what i ment though. And as a chelsea fan i don't think you are in a position to crack jokes. Because that's what Celsea are at the minute.
Waro
Oh! Ed2 I feel so let down. A Chelsea fan. That's where all the sticking up for Terry and saying it's nothing like Suarez incident. I'm wounded!!! It's like finding out you hero's a Manu fan!!
Lyndon
12 Feb 2012 14:12:12
hey guys
im not going to be boring like most fans here and talk about the handshake rubbish
my concern is...........how does stuart downing have the audacity to look annoyed and look to the floor after being substituted..when he didnt do anything with the ball, no crosses, no attempts to beat the full backs!!
seriously i cant stand that
and another thing...if liverpool dont invest heavily on attacking players then this team cant go much further than where we are now
Maybe he was feeling regretful and ashamed of his performance? Don't accuse him of being that kind of player just because he had a bad game.
Yea i take your point in that....i think its more frustrating to see cos i really think hes a very good player..he is quick can cross a great ball..i just think he needs to atleast try to do that more
12 Feb 2012 14:18:00
Suarez releases statement claiming he was wrong and that HE should have shook Evra's hand and that he is sorry to the fans and club
Ian B {Ed002's Note - So perhaps we can move on from this and discuss something else.}
12 Feb 2012 14:14:36
utd and fergie have been scared of luis from day one so they want to drive him out and ruin our team at any cost! they set that up yesterday big time evera is a rat of a player a snake! refs dont help suarez he gets fouled all the time look at what the utd players have done down the years cantona, giggs and rooney they have brought shame on there club on a far higher level we should be backing suarez or fergie will win and drive a great player out of our club! roger {Ed002's Note - So why would Suarez admit responsibility in his statement today.}
He has prob been forced to do it to let it blow over! roger
Ed2, Suarez did not admit anything. Club did it for him, if you know what I mean.
LFC1954
12 Feb 2012 14:13:11
Right guys got some very interesting info to share. I work at ESPN in the studio in Chiswick and Kelly Cates (Dalglish's daughter) is one of our presenters. I've got a fairly good rapport with her so thought I'd ask her what was actually going on, as I was very upset with what happened yesterday. Suarez DID try and shake Evra's hand, Evra refuted at first and then made a big deal out of it to the camera. Suarez, according to Kelly, will not be sold. He doesn't want to leave either. Just thought I'd pass this on, very concrete she said she had spoken to Kenny this morning. A statement from the club will be released today to apologise over the whole affair. Many thanks,
Dylan {Ed002's Note - Seems she lied to you as Suarez has issued a statement saying he was wrong not to shake Evra's hand and apologising.}
No, she didn't lie to me. She said he's saying that to finally put it to bed, given how badly this has already developed. Suarez explained what happened, the management team as a whole decided it would be better to simply apologise. Everyone at Liverpool firmly believes what Suarez is saying in that Evra pulled his hand away ever so slightly just before to put him off, and then went off on one into the camera to make a scene. The apology is simply the Liverpool PR team finally getting something right. PS I sent that message before the release of the statement, if you don't believe me. Dylan.
Kelly would not be stupid enough to talk about provate conversations with her father.
What an untimely Lie!!!lol. Well and truly shafted!!!
Stop making up lies Dylan. Suarez apology has made a fool of you
Sorry ed just because he apologies doesnt mean it was entirely suarez fault, obviously lfc have told suarez to apologise to defuse the situation, ed maybe you need to watch the videos back and see evra putting his arm down.RedTurk
Ed 002 if even you can't see that this is a forced apology just to keep the peace then you're a bigger fool than I imagined. {Ed002's Note - That is exactly the attitude that will see both Suarez and Dalglish gone in the summer - the fan who won't let it drop, the fan who is going to bleat on about it being a "forced apology". I am absolutely certain the media and fans of the other clubs will love you as you strive to inflict more and more damage on Liverpool. I am obviously a much bigger fool than you imagined - I got the whole thing wrong from weeks ago; sure. What an idiot I was to say that Dalglish would be stupid to play Suarez in this fixture and it would all end in tears.}
Why all these apologies ed? {Ed002's Note - {Ed002's Note - Much of it will be to do with the board being forced yet again in to a major damage limitation activity.}
Dylan
I agree with everything you say
Just as with the decision not to appeal the 8 match ban, the Club just want to put an end to the saga. The official apology was the only logical solution to end the media hype. The club do not wish to drag this out any further in the media by making a big deal about Evra's actions
I don't mind the PR statements as long as the club do continue to back Suarez behind the closed doors
Leam Red
Thanks Leam. It's really not a lie, I promise that is what she said. How else can I prove it? She was wearing a red coat and boots. I really don't get kicks out of making up intricate stories, so believe what you like. Off to do Bundesliga now, please don't just knock off what I say for the sake of it. Dylan
12 Feb 2012 14:07:44
how can ferguson say get rid of suarez!!!!!!!!! did that f*** get rid of cantona when he nearly chopped that guys head off with his kung fu kick, which was 2 seats away from a child and his mother , secondly i cant beleive dalglish n his team selection yesterday, bloody awful. game is way too big for henderson . bellamy n adam should have started as they can keep possession , he could have rested bellamy in the next game . alot of his decisions in the lge are very questionable . downing should have been hawled off after 45min he was a disgrace .this waiting an hour or till we go behind is rubbish . we need to get our noses in front cos we aint been good at chassing games this season
5 gold stars
Someone should tell Ferguson that the Transfer Window has ended!
DM
Someone needs to tell ferguson to mind his own business, since when did he have the right to dictate to us who to buy or sell! he is a control freak, just because he controls a few refs, along with sky sports news, he needs to keep his mouth shut.RedTurk
mix them up and we're in this state!
Just about sums it all up.
Yes you right
But if Kenny was smarter
& If luis was smarter
Then suarez would not have started yesterday and this mess would have been avoided.
Footballers are very often thick he's a prime example.
12 Feb 2012 14:03:14
forget all the handshake stuff....have we all forgot that we lost and we diddnt look any good? we are only a few points ahead of norwich a team that has just come up...lets think about our great club and worry about our team we aint that good anymore...you can go on and on about the carling cup final still in the fa cup etc but in the league we are poor very poor
paisleys slippers
12 Feb 2012 13:59:16
Look lads why dont we all just forget what happend, its done now an theres nothing any of us can say or do to change that, regardless of our individual views on the matter. I for one am more looking forward to the rest of this month, I mean come on, weve got a great chance of progressing in the F.A cup next week, and weve actually got a final to look forward to for the first time in a few years with a real chance of some silverware, were still only a few points behind 4th place and i genuinely believe that we have a possibillity of come june looking back and sayin what a great season. good times are just around the corner reds. Lets concentrate on them and not the nonsense in the media.
scouse simon
I agree with what you're saying but do you really think the media will let us all get on with it?
All they continually do is make mountains out of mole hills.
Tommy Tank {Ed002's Note - I certainly hope so. Tomorrow will see discussion of his apology and the acid test will likely come with the next away game Suarez starts.}
@ tommy tank, you would like to hope they would, but yer we all know its a slim possibilty, for the MD of the football club to come out and publicly criticise a player shows how much the club are worried but i genuinely believe that we should let it be handled by the powers that be and that as fans we do have things to look forward to and should concentrate on that.
scouse simon
12 Feb 2012 13:57:25
Afternoon Eds fellow reds . just a thought ,with all this hate towards our club by the press and media ,i think that ian arye should push forward with selling the tv rights to a private company like barca and real .then the likes of sky and s**tty newspapers who love alex ferguason can focking stay away and when they need us tough s**t . cheers psv any thoughts {Ed002's Note - He is not able to do that. A contract is already in place for TV rights to be negotiated and contracted centrally.}
Ya let's take Sky on???? With their 3 billion turnover and 24hr sports news channel to put only their side of a story through! Ya that soul be advisable NOT
Nesn is bigger than sky .oh and its own by john henry and co.
12 Feb 2012 13:52:47
US PRESS GET INVOLVED - The Luis Suarez controversy has attracted criticism in the United States where the press have called for Liverpool's American owners to intervene.
Suarez has again found himself in the spotlight after ignoring United captain Evra's outstretched hand prior to kick-off at Saturday's encounter at Old Trafford. The match was Suarez's first start since completing his eight-match ban for racially abusing French international Evra in the reverse fixture at Anfield in October.
After the game incensed United manager Sir Alex Ferguson branded the striker a "disgrace to Liverpool Football Club" adding that he should never play for them again. In the United States, the New York Times believes Liverpool's Boston-based owners, Fenway Sports Group, need to act in order to 'repair the club's global image'.
Leading with the headline "Another Ugly Incident Mars Liverpool's Good Name", the Times wrote: "If the Fenway Sports Group is to be the responsible team owner in soccer that it has proved to be in baseball, it needs to get hold of Liverpool, its club in England's Premier League, and repair its global image fast.
"On Saturday, Liverpool lost at Manchester United, 2-1, allowing United to temporarily move into first place in the Premier League. There is no disgrace in such a loss; United, the defending English champion, is vying to keep that title this season, and it very rarely loses at home.
"But there was disgrace, witnessed by television viewers around the world, in the refusal of Liverpool's Luis Suarez to shake the hand of United's Patrice Evra before kick-off." The article concluded by saying: "It is time for John Henry and Tom Werner, leaders of the Fenway Group that controls Liverpool, to state clearly the direction the team will take on this issue."
The Associated Press said the incident had overshadowed United's triumph. AP wrote: "Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday."
Describing the incident, Uruguayan newspaper El Pais wrote: "Suarez was among the final players in the team. And the awaited moment arrived and created tension for several seconds. Without hesitation, Suarez avoided the hand of Evra and did not greet him.
"And as the Uruguayan striker went to greet the following player, the Frenchman, angered, grabbed his arm. But Suarez freed himself and continued to the remaining players. After the handshakes, both Suarez and Evra received the support of their team-mates."
It added: "After the final whistle, Evra celebrated the win next to Suarez, rousing the fans. The Uruguayan did not respond to the provocation and continued walking towards the tunnel. The referee and other Liverpool players intervened in this latest episode, separating the players, to keep things from escalating."
I would expect our US owners to fully back up Suarez and the management; condemn the disgraceful behavior of 2 MU players, and demand public apology from Fergie for interfering into LFC's club policy by manipulating TV and press media. {Ed002's Note - Suarez has issued a statement saying he was wrong not to shake Evra's hand and has apologised.}
12 Feb 2012 13:45:32
Would like to say having watched the TV footage AGAIN AND AGAIN, if it meant so much to Evra that Suarez did NOT shake his hand,then why the F--K was he LAUGHING with Phil Dowd seconds later.
Tend to agree that the whole thing WAS a set up
Alan50
Those that say i feel ashamed to be a liverpool supporter should go support man U and carrying beliveing what the media says instaed of looking at the wider picture. man Utd showed there true colours and im sick of it. fergies ship is sinking and he wants to take liverpool with him.
He was probably laughing at Suarez acting like a little baby.
12 Feb 2012 13:42:18
im a united fan an just want to say yesterday was absolutle nonsense on suarezs part if he just shook hands it was done over forgotten about but his tru coulors showed an he refused i have no doubt he will be serverly punished again but that is useless cause he will play again an what kind of example is it settin, like united, liverpool have a rich history which i belive was tarnished as a rival supporter i should be giving some banter but cant cause all i can see now is one of the worlds most respected teams being brought down to a very low point and any sort of banter will result in both players being brought into all decusions which is wrong both clubs are bigger than these players kenny dalgleish needs to pull his finger out cause before you know it this will be all out of hand im deeply sorry for the disrespect caused to your club by one player an hope you can sort it out really and truly best of luck
young irish
Evra refused Suarez's hand and not the other way around, fool. What transpired between the two players was captured on video.
Evra has shot himself in the foot this time around. He has played his hand with this attempt at setting Suarez up and he will pay.
BooDaBooze
Why should he shake his hand in my personal opinion he had every right to refuse to shake his hand the way hes tarnished his reputation and evra is no angel he went in like an person when he took rio out he had every intention of breaking his legs yet again the media blows it out of proportion yet again no1 said boo about tht tackle im really annoyed there was a bust up in the tunnel with more than one player yet its suarez fault how? he refused to shake his hand so what wayne bridge done it with terry not tht much hype about tht get over it and focus on your players and well do the same
jayblair89
I must say 'young irish' that you have just written a longer sentence than Suarez received!
Dutchmal
If i dont like someone and feel strongly wrong done by that person i would not shake their hand. it would be hypocritical to. sick to death of slur alex telling us what to do at our club
Phill Dowd had a good game...
KNEE JERK
The look on Dowd's face when handshake-gate happened was priceless
12 Feb 2012 13:35:26
Just heard that Kenny Dalgleish will be forced to issue a public apology and announce that Suarez will be moved on in the summer. If Kenny refuses he will be sacked with little known American Thom Robb taking over until the end of the season.
This is John Henry's reaction to the attention being given to LFC and the whole situation in the states. the population of Boston is 53% black and Henry is getting bad publicity.
Don't shoot the messenger!
53% black? are you high? have you seen The Departed?
irrespective anyway, it couls be 0% or 100% that should have no affect over Henrys reaction
If you are going to quote figures at least quote provable ones. US 2010 census - the racial composition of Boston was as follows:
White: 53.9% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 47.0%)
Black or African American: 22.4%
Native American: 0.2%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.0%
Some other race: 1.6%
Two or more races: 2.4%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 17.5%
Consider yourself shot
I really hope not. Because (a) it shows that the 'free' press has got way too much power, (b) that the football club which I love and support either isn't strong enough to stand up to them, or believe the bile that is written by them, and (c) I personally think Suarez is the victim in most of this, not the villain, and (d) I love watching him play for Liverpool. I hope we keep hold of him, all this will blow over soon. Nick
You lot are thick, you are being trolled, try reading a paper that isn't the Star, Thom Robb is the leader of the Ku Klux Klan!
12 Feb 2012 13:30:15
I'm genuinely ashamed to be a Liverpool fan right now.
Not because of Suarez or Kenny, but because of half the crack I've read on here. To see the same people who, but a few months ago supported through out, turn on the player as well as the manager try supported is a ******* disgrace.
The FA found Suarez guilty, too something he openly admitted was a jibe not a racial slur. Kenny has backed the player. What would you have done? Would you have shaken the hand or still held some bitterness? Would you of backed the player you manage or fed him to the wolves?
Ferguson chose the captain. First handshake? This doesn't matter though does it?
Those that have turned your backs continue to do so.
Darren
Here i total agree with yea mate, too many "fans" willing to just on the back on own players and manager, we are LIVERPOOL and too suarez and kenny you'll will NEVER walk alone,
JD BRooks
12 Feb 2012 13:18:39
i dont see what the big deal is with the hand shake thing tv and ferguson have blown it right up 1st thing ferguson said he should never play again for liverpool while keane and scholes didnt shake vieras hand b4 a match nothing really said oh and cantona kicks someone in the crowed they all played for utd again. 2nd john terry and wayne bridge dont shake hands live on tv nothing really said. 3rd terry and ferdinand dont need to shake b4 game but liverpool and utd made to lol...... is this all going one way its a joke ya maybe he should of shaken hands but thats his chioce in my opinion leave the guy alone for god sake he and liverpool took the 8 match ban even tho they feel it was taken the wrong way. in my opinion in his country its fine here its not so he took it on the chin thats it. if evra had slept with his wife and he didnt shake hands that would be ok i think ever one is jumping on the rasim card.
12 Feb 2012 13:15:53
liverpool football club has and always will conduct itself honestly and respectifully toward others there is a lot going on here at the moment that the club is against, lies the truth being twisted big time im not going to name the culprits but its obvious i back my club and suarez 150 percent the truth will out i wouldnt shake the hand of a twisted dishonest sad little man either good on you suarez at least you have balls and principles.
gee man
12 Feb 2012 13:15:29
Who where all those people wearing green and gold scarves at old trafford? Norwich City fans who got lost in the snow on the way to Swansea? :)
12 Feb 2012 13:14:30
ed 2 have u seen the videos of the handshake looks like evra drops his hand? what u thunk suarez meant when he said things is not all as it seems? tanx {Ed002's Note - I have no interest in the handshaking at all. It is not and never was the point. The issue was always going to be controversy if Suarez was included in the squad � the circumstances are totally irrelevant. It is the club and the name of the club that is suffering, but everyone is getting so wrapped up in the player no one seems to care much about the problems that the club are facing.}
12 Feb 2012 13:00:44
One part of all this I can't understand is. If the evidence against Suazez at the hearing Was so compelling Why have the Police asked for the transcripts of the hearing and Charged him. I know Ed2 will have an opinion on this. Because if the evidence is their they can charge even with out a complaint from a victim. Not a conspiracy theory just wondering. We must have a Lawyer or Police officer on the site somewhere to answer this
Cheers
Lyndon {Ed002's Note - There has been no complaint to the police and they are happy to let the FA handle on field affairs as far as is possible.}
Ed2 as much as I respect you opinion. That's a Crock of. If you commit a criminal offence "and last time I looked racism is" your work couldn't deal with the offence and the police say that's ok we won't bother. Your a clever enough man to know that. I'd the Evidence was there a Crime is a crime. The police would of jumped on it! But as you know Probability is not going to the CPS to take a case to court. {Ed002's Note - It is nothing to do with the matter of work. The police, as I say, are happy to let the FA handle such matters. It is not a "crock" or anything else. Your supposition about the CPS etc. is simply wrong.}
12 Feb 2012 12:58:09
I think handshakes should be made at the end of sports contests. Rugby, cricket, boxing etc a mutual respect is shown win, lose or draw. You never hear coaches or players being critical of referees or umpires in these sports either nor opposition fans abusing each other.
Football needs leadership from the very top of the sport to ensure respect is the norm. We make the excuse that is a problem with society but I don't agree as the other sports don't have football's problems.
Use technology to reduce referee errors thus improving respect for officials and then get all clubs to pay 5% of their income towards a coordinated programme that educated, players, managers and spectators in the standards that are expected of everyone in the game.
At work I have to train myself in online diversity and equality standards and if I breach those standards I will be disciplined or even dismissed. Football should make everyone involved pass similar courses and not allow participation unless those courses are passed.
I manage an U7 team and at the end of each game we tell our 6 year olds to shake hands and give three cheers for the opposition, regardless of the game itself. If we promote such standards for children why should adults set a different example when they play?
I don't think either club or player have come out of this with any credit and indeed comments such as Suarez should never play for Liverpool again are most unwise. What if Liverpool had suggested after Cantona had served his ban that Man Utd should never play him again? I don't think the person trying to take the moral high ground would have appreciated Liverpool telling him how to run his club.
I think both clubs should now refuse all interviews on the subject and move on for the good of the game.
ALB.
12 Feb 2012 12:57:09
This whole Suarez and Evra affair stinks of what, for me, is and has been the problem with our game since the Premier League began. Sky and Man Utd (in particular Ferguson) have too much influence in the game. Together they have bred over analysis and created a 'win at all cost' mentality which will eventually turn people away and as a result, within time, the game will implode.
I am beginning myself to get very tired and annoyed with the state of the game and those that control it. We seem to have lost what was once an honest, tough and hard fought contact sport and have now got what can only be called 'cheatball'.
FT
12 Feb 2012 12:53:06
Can somebody please tell me what luis did yesterday that was actually wrong, i am reading fellow reds comments and they are even saying he did something wrong what because he refused to shake a lying mans hand when did that become wrong?
What about ferdinand refusing to shake his hand aint that the same its became a joke.
Fergie has came out and said what luis did could of caused a riot that was nothing what evra did was a hell of a lot worse going to the liverpool fans and celebrating right infront of luis trying to get a reaction, what it shows to me is how much of a bigger man luis is by not taking him on, we should be congratulating him not giving him abuse
please feel free to comment .
Davy
Totally agree Davy, were is the rule that states you have to like someone/shake their hand. The whole issue about rasicim is it's against the law of this country.......last time I heard having the right of freedom to speach and choose your actions that don't en-danger other people is still in existance and if Luis does not like evra then where does it say in the fa rule book or this country's laws he has to shake his hand? TMac
Hi Davy,
This issue as i see it is not about what has happened before, i do believe that the 8 match ban awarded to Suarez was unfair and i do believe that Evra has lied, the problem that i have with yesterdays events is that the club & Dalglish personally have taken alot of flak in the media for their support of Suarez in the past and he had the opportunity to ease some of that by shaking Evra's hand. His refusal to do that has only served to reignite the whole issue in the press and now the club is suffering as i direct result. He needs to stop acting so selfishly and remember that is actions can have a massive effect on the club.
Nye
Really, " What did Luis do that was actually wrong?" Cmon mate, Im a liverpool fan, but he admitted using a term which whilst culturally acceptable in his nation is totally unacceptable in ours. Evra didn't lie, stop being so blind. Suarez might be a racist, he might not be, only he knows, but his behaviour is totally inappropriate.
Yesterdays display was embarrassing and immature, the man doesn't have the sense of moss on a rock. He is either wilfully trying to antagonise the situation or lacks the brains to act in a way to resolve it, either way the boy is out of order and needs to be sold.
Stop sticking your heads in the sand and think what would happen in your place of work if you behaved like he did.
In short the mans a disgrace, talented footballer certainly, but as a man, seriously flawed,
Andy
The issue is that of the club, not Suarez. He had a chance to put it all to bed, but by not shaking Evra 's hand he has tarnished oue beloved club and left the owners with little choice. Mark my words: Kenny and Luis will be done by summer
Davy, what I think Luis did yesterday that was wrong was a failure to see the bigger picture. He acted inappropriately to the detriment of himself, his club and the wider community in general.
Whilst I totally agree with the sentiment of your post; just because Evra is more than likely a liar and not worthy of a pre game handshake and just because Beetroothead is somehow allowed to make the comments he makes, and just because it DOES REALLY appear to be a very well orchestrated for Sky TV pre game ceremony, and just because somehow it is OK for Evra to carry on the way he did at the end of the match, and no matter that Luis didn't react in any manner to Evra's carry on.......None of that matters. Why?
Because the media will continue to tell us all that Luis is a very, very naughty boy and we shall all beleive it to be gospel. LFC should have known that and should never have allowed Luis to start this game. LFC have now brought unneccessary scrutiny onto themselves.
Luis should have grabbed Evras hand and squeezed the living crap out of it, putting an end to this whole thing, but he did not.
It may seem completely unfair but Luis' failure to bend over and allow himself to be royally rogered is what he did wrong.
RedOz
Andy your doing pretty similar as to what Suarez did you disagree with what Suarez did so your making your point by sending your post so in short you refuse to except Louis Suarez's disagreement with Patrick Evra and the only way he could show his distane was not to shake this persons hand because of Evra Louis has got to carry around with him the name racist with him all his life were ever he goes the name will be brought up all because he used a word which in his own country is exceptable but not here and as for Liverpool FC our club has prided its self on signing ethnic footballers starting with Howard Gale so Kenny is right in protecting our clubs name and its players because if he does not stand up for our club then our club is finished and we all may as well pack up football watching, playing, and running one last thing when Paul Davis of Arsenal broke Glen Cockerels jaw in an extreme act of violence was this a racist attack was it at the time reported as a racist attack No but one word is racist I do believe priorities have been lost you can break a mans jaw but if you call a person a name your a racist.Andy I like many many more Liverpool supporters love our club and to hear a so called reds fan make comments like yours makes me sick to my stomach I would rather people like you go and support another football club and leave Liverpool FC to the real supporters .
Andy your doing pretty similar as to what Suarez did you disagree with what Suarez did so your making your point by sending your post so in short you refuse to except Louis Suarez's disagreement with Patrick Evra and the only way he could show his distane was not to shake this persons hand because of Evra Louis has got to carry around with him the name racist with him all his life were ever he goes the name will be brought up all because he used a word which in his own country is exceptable but not here and as for Liverpool FC our club has prided its self on signing ethnic footballers starting with Howard Gale so Kenny is right in protecting our clubs name and its players because if he does not stand up for our club then our club is finished and we all may as well pack up football watching, playing, and running one last thing when Paul Davis of Arsenal broke Glen Cockerels jaw in an extreme act of violence was this a racist attack was it at the time reported as a racist attack No but one word is racist I do believe priorities have been lost you can break a mans jaw but if you call a person a name your a racist.Andy I like many many more Liverpool supporters love our club and to hear a so called reds fan make comments like yours makes me sick to my stomach I would rather people like you go and support another football club and leave Liverpool FC to the real supporters .
12 Feb 2012 12:51:31
To be honest, I really do think it is Evra who has refused Suarez' hand. Evra lowers his hand as if to say "you make the effort" and Suarez simply doesn't go out of his way to shake his hand. I have changed my mind about it today.
https://p.twimg.com/AlYzEMbCIAE6vQc.jpg
12 Feb 2012 11:42:57
Maybe Suarez shouldn't have played yesterday, just maybe tho. My point is that I noticed that ed002 had stated early on in his ban that he had doubts if Suarez should play, then why oh why not let him play in the Man City game & the game after thus missing his 30 min cameo against Spurs & the Utd game. Surely the Liverpool board/management must have evaluated this & concluded that he was always going to play some part against Utd or effectively make him serve a 9 match ban.
Saying that, Suarez cannot be held responsible for other peoples reactions. These footballers are all adults ( I use the term loosely). Although Suarez was stupid not to shake Evra's hand, that is all he done! He is not responsible for not shaking Rio's hand, the confrontation at Ht or Evra's over reaction/ goading at full time. Every player has to take responsibility for their own actions. If I stick my head in the fire doesn't mean someone else has to.
Ps Ed002 what is a Glifnard? Spill the beans, it seems your fav word at the moment.
The Irish Rover
{Ed002's Note - Leo is the personification of a glifnard.}
12 Feb 2012 13:08:13
kenny should of made luis captain for the day . with evra also being captain it would of shown that liverpool had an idea that dirty tricks were behind hand shake . dont the captains shake hands twice before kick off.
alan waddle
12 Feb 2012 11:28:05
edd 2 i have posted a few things to you but you have never posted before, i have never insulted you but disagreed with you strongly on a few points,now my inpression about your surez stance is he should go because he would not shake a hand of a man who got him banned and labled him a racist? a handshake?this is not a racial story, never has been, this is a poison relationship between two of the biggest clubs in the world,i can speek for real scousers and say its tribal liverpool manchester, always has been always will be,say for instance this happend to jermain defoe it would have not gone this far,not my main point is to you, by your reaction that surez staying here is unlikely ,then john terry should be off from chelsea?i very much doubt you will say that, why is that? may be because he is english?homophobia media driven press the same press that thought it was a good idea not for jt or chelsea to shake hands with qpr a few weeks ago, swept under the carpet,now i would like to know your stance on my post, if you print it i mean.
frankyscouse {Ed002's Note - I have no idea what sort of idiot you are, but I have not said anything of the sort about Suarez, or handshakes or racism. I have no idea why you raise John Terry and then mention homophobia and him being English - you obviously don't know that I am not English. I have little or no stance on your post - what little I could decipher was palpable nonsense.}
Why insult the poster ed.
k-h {Ed002's Note - I find it wholly unacceptable when someone comes along and puts words in to my mouth. I have never mentioned any of that and then to second guess something else and start asking me questions "because he is english". The post was the work of a complete jerk.}
Lol ed plenty of fire in your belly i was only trying to rise you,i think you should go into politics and let the fools at the top have a bit of your lets call it your good side.
k-h
So Ed does this mean you wont shake franky scouses hand then ?
Homophobia media driven press?
12 Feb 2012 12:42:56
OK I'm not sure what the arguement is, if the agreement before the game from both clubs was that the handshake takes place, and everyone tries to move on, then Suarez is solely to blaim, whatever you think about the right or wrong of what happened with the ban etc.
He has shown disrespect to Kenny and the club, when we have frankly gone above an beyond for him. Kenny clearly didn't know in the interview after, so Suarez has done this all himself.
If this was any other club than Man U, and Fergie then I think we (all lfc fans) would be in agreement, naturally our backs are up because its the Mancs, but as KK keeps saying the club is more important than anyone player. AND it is.
He needs to be sold before the legacy of a great man become sullened. £30 million to Real Madrid, Defoe in for 8 million, and the rest to spend on another striker and right sided midfielder.
A LFC fan.
Are you blind or what!
kidmillions
Does any body believe that lfc would do any thing that slur alex suggests i.e . sell luis cos kenny certainly wont
A LFC fan ? that has to be questioned so we would get 30 million from madrid for a player now castigated as a racist and bring in defoe a black player to apease sir corn beef nose down the east lancs and all the black people from around the world you WALLY
That's what Frankie goes to Hollywood said
But did holly relax or did paul
12 Feb 2012 12:39:06
Why do you believe Luis will be sold after the club have backed him throughout the whole period, it needs to be over and done with now nd move on
Tell KK and Suarez that, to move on.
12 Feb 2012 12:24:59
Hi Eds
Did you get the impression that neither man wanted to shake hands yesterday.If that was the case then whats the problem or was it just the delayed reaction from Evra that caused the issue. The reaction of Ferguson after the match was more of a disgrace.He obviously has a very short memory,It has got nothing at all to do with him.Im certain if we were commenting on his players he would certainly not like it .
Lets move on we have a cup final to look forward to.A fifth round fa cup and we are still in the running for a champs league spot.
As for the Summer we will see what transpires.
REDFORLIFE {Ed001's Note - I just don't really care, it is a handshake, if they shake great, if not it's just irrelevant. Just a pointless and meaningless debate about nothing to me.}
Ed001 if you think it is irrelevant then do you disagree with Ed002 when they say Suarez will be sold. {Ed001's Note - no, I think it is very likely he will be.}
I agree with the ed, i couldn't care less...unfortunately the media don't agree and have fully rounded against suarez and the club as if not shaking his hand was a crime. Understandably the lfc fans are taking offence to this and that is why there are so many posts on the subject.
Should'nt ferguson be done for bringing the game in to disrepute with his remarks about another club and its players ? I am sure if other managers had said them uncalled for remarks they would be on a charge also just like to say that the referee yesterday was outstanding in every way {Ed002's Note - I suspect he could face a reprimand for it, and I am sure he certainly would if Liverpool made a complaint. However, I think it may be playing in to his hands to drag this matter out any further.}
12 Feb 2012 12:24:15
I for one think dalglish should be sacked. i said at the beginning if he dosent do well his stature at the club will be overlooked & be branded a failure. I have mixed views on the handshake Evra put his hand further down so suarez might of thought if your not going to bother why should i. then Evra pulled him back so it would make him look the good guy! Evra tried his best to hurt suarez with one of the first takles but took Rio out & could of possibly ended his career if he landed any worse! Cheering like he won the prem or champs league was totally out of order suarez walked away half time Evra went gunning for suarez no need for that add it up & Evra is a tool. Dalglish has gave us some good wins & a final but with the money he has spent & the people he sold dosent make sense! We need a new manager who dosent take crap lightly. What u think eds
alec
12 Feb 2012 12:18:41
Ed you say Isla will replace Johnson but what would that mean for Kelly? The lad is extremely talented and we can't expect him to sit on the bench next season feeding off scraps like he did this one. Do you think Isla would be played in a more attacking role to accommodate Kelly? {Ed001's Note - Isla is wanted to cover both roles on the right, so possibly.}
12 Feb 2012 12:11:11
Watch the match again. Watch how the players interact with each other throughout. One thing that is very obvious is Evra is not particulalrly popular with most of his own teammates. To further highlight this, Suarez was having a laugh and joke with most of the United team during the game helping them up and them helping him up. I reckon if anyone is moved on in the summer over this affair it will be Evra and possibly Ferdinand. RED LENIN
Lol. also man utd's ball boys didnt look very energetic - i think they're made to stitch footballs in factories in the week, and also the seats at old trafford aren't as red as the ones at anfield, and the grass isnt as green, and suarez's boots are a lot better than evra's.
I saw Suarez hugging Valencia.
Square tomato
12 Feb 2012 12:03:43
Suarez will remain at Liverpool in the summer but he won't survive if another scandal hits.
Suarez actions before the game were immature, nothing more. Evra and Ferdinand meanwhile are still culpable. Ferguson has wound up the whole thing with his comments. Dalglish has a responsibility to defend his players.
Much of this is being driven by the media. Part of that narrative is that Suarez is guilty of racial abuse which he clearly feels he isn't.
Time is a great healer. LFC won't play Man Utd for at least 6 months. By midweek the press will have the Champions league and England job to talk about.
Everyone can still move on.
Through the Storm
He's engineering a way out - he knows he's your best player and would like to play with players of a similar ilk
Suarez did nothing wrong today. He clearly held out his hand to shake. Evra and Ferdinand stitched him up.
But the damage has been done. Suarez is now cast as the villain of the EPL.
LFC now need to think about what is best for the club given that we live in a world of media spin and media-created perceptions. We cannot continue being cast as the villain of the EPL - rightly or wrongly. That is not an option.
I think there will be big changes in the summer.
12 Feb 2012 12:00:07
thank you for watching the Old trafford circus with Luis Suarez walking the tightrope Evra the clown , Rio Ferdinand performing acrobats (that was my favourite part) and Phil Dowd the lion Tamer
12 Feb 2012 11:42:24
And they say love is blind.....
Before I start I'd like to say that I'm a Liverpool fan of 36 years and have seen many controversies come and go.
On first viewing my intitial reaction to the 'handshake' was 'Oh dear, Suarez refused to shake hands with Evra'. Nothing I have seen and nothing I have heard has changed that. Dalglish himself said this week 'We have spoken to him. I know he will shake the hand of Patrice Evra and the other Manchester United players before the game.' If he has deliberately gone against Kenny's wishes then maybe his situation has become, as ED002 is suggesting untenable?
Those of you suggesting that it is the media against Liverpool really need to wake up. The vast majority of neutrals and indeed one of our very own, Alan Hansen have condemned Suarez' actions.
On the flip side and as I stated earlier, I've lost count of the amount of controversies over the years that have meant that a player 'should' never play for the club again'. Cantona's kung-fu kick, Rio's failed drug test and even Schmeichel's racist abuse of Ian Wright (no hidden agenda here I swear!).
Players and Managers come and go, but the integrity of the club and, increasingly it's fans, is being questioned and I honestly believe the club should condemn the actions of Suarez. As a player I'm one of his biggest fans and he's still young enough to learn from his mistakes, but he has previous and needs to be told in private (and in this case, in public) that behaviour like this will not be tolerated at this football club.
The Booter
12 Feb 2012 16:34:06
Try watching this video of Suarez / Evra handshake before you blame anyone....evra clearly pulls his hand away despite Luis offering his.....
t.co/T3xrsVBT
12 Feb 2012 11:33:16
A man chose not to shake another man's hand. SO WHAT!
News reporters are saying surely it's time to draw a line under it, yet they are making it there top story.
We hate united and they hate us.
Marc {Ed001's Note - speak for yourself, I am not so childish as to hate over a game.}
Means more to us ed, so yes we hate them. {Ed001's Note - then you need to grow up.}
The media say get over it one minute and then twist the words again and now they are saying that they all agree with the outrageous comments that saf am which were totally out of order and unnecessary
It's not over a game, I hated them when they got relegated to the old 2nd Division.
Those were the days :) scousers hate mancs and mancs hate scousers and if your not a scouser or a manc no matter who you support you won't understand.
kidmillions {Ed001's Note - I understand it, but I am not childish enough to hate someone because of where they are from or who they support.}
Well said Ed
If the press think a line should be drawn under it they would stop commenting on it and stop asking questions about it. The fact that they continue to do both shows that they are going to milk this for as long as they can. RED LENIN
Pull your head out of the sand. LFC are in a mess and showing a clear lack of class. Appears that leadership is a problem with owners and Ian Ayre unable or scared to front up Kenny.
As a fan I have always been proud on how are club is seen by other clubs home and abroad and importantly how the fans are seen. We are losing all respect.
Having great owners is not just about spending millions on players its about strong leaders. Remember Peter Robinson after Hillsborough.
I would hope today that Kenny and Suarez issue an apology. If nothing is sorted I will guarantee neither will be here in the summer.
The time to get over it was when suarez SHOULD have shook hands with evra can anyone believe kenny didnt have a word with Suarez and agree that a handshake should happen (because if kenny thought it was going to turn out the way it did he may not have played him) suarez has brought more trouble to the door of Kenny which he could do without.But for kenny to say he wasnt aware the handshake had not took place is unbelievable .This club I love greatly and men I have spent most of my life worshipping has been dragged through the mud by one mans childish action in not shaking hands so please lets not blame the media or Manchester United the buck stops at Anfield and it is time for the club to step up to the plate and show some class by either issuing an appology or suspending suarez .Once we were hated because we won everything and I loved it now we are branded as Racist ,churlish,liars
Why should anyone at Liverpool Football Club apologise, whats the reasons?? Sky Sports had god knows how many cameras round that ground yesterday and STILL know one can see that Evra pulled his hand away!! Look what Evra done at the world cup and everyone thinks he's an angel.
12 Feb 2012 11:31:35
I'm sorry but am i the only one that seen Evra pull his hand away? watch the videos, Suarez clearly dosen't move his hand, after shaking the linesmans hand it stays out to meet Evra's' he then pulls away. Evra knew what he was doing, he was at Old Trafford, if it hada been at Anfield it would never have happened.
As I see it, Suarez has been suckered and is now in an untenable position.
His ban has left him a pariah and this latest event, which I belive was engineered by Evra, has effectively crucified him.
The only thing that could possible allow him to come back from this, is if Dowd writes a "special" report stating that Evra withdrew his hand (Looking at the video, I suspect Dowd saw it happen) and the FA charge Evra with bringing the game into disrepute, stating the reasons, and vindicates Suarez by saying he acted with dignity and without malice through the whole incident.
Yes, your the only one
I thought exactley the same thing, why put your hand down by your side if you know your going to shake numerous hands. suarez didn't move his hand. evra played it up to the camera on purpose and as for fergie saying he is a disgrace, does he not rememer one of his own players scissor kicking the public
huddz red
Yes mate , i saw it he kind of lowered it for a second
The footage is on YouTbue. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but if you play it slow it does appear that Evra dropped his hand whereas Suarez kept his out then pulled away after, and that Ferdinand knew it was going to happen. In slow-motion it does look like a put-up job, but we fell for it if it was so that's that. RED LENIN
Sunday mirror page seven , picture one shows above comment to be 100% correct .
evra keeps his hand at waist level. suarez not yet give his version.
Ha ha ha! in slo-mo? if you slow anything down it looks different. if you slow a baloon filled with water being popped it looks like the water is defying gravity - and he didnt put his hand by his side, he lowered it to each player and gave them each a proper handshake - he did the same for Suarez who ignored it.
stop clutching at straws you sound absolutely pathetic
I agree with the original poster, at no point did Luis withdraw his hand in any way whatsoever. He passed Evra then Evra raised his hand, too late. I think Evra has stitched us all up. Let's wait for LFC statement, and Suarez one too. However i fear the LFC one will political and Suarez will have the true version of events. I never want to see Evra on a footy pitch again, the man is coward
Some of the press are now remarking on what Evra appeared to have possibly done. But that aside, maybe Suarez just doesn't like him. It would be pure hypocrisy to shake the hand of someone you haven't got the time of day for.
12 Feb 2012 11:31:25
got to say john barnes was fantastic on sky sports news this morning totally spoke very eloquently and the truth he should be given a ambassadors role at the club he has made the most sense out of any 1 iv seen interviewed
giblet
Does anyone have link for this, or maybe quotes?
The Booter
He was talking on five live today also, very impressed with what he says. Top man
12 Feb 2012 16:36:33
John Barnes: We are not the custodians of moral value in the world
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4_Im6kq7uY
12 Feb 2012 11:30:35
Louis Suarez tweeted after the game "Things are not what they seem" Watch the handshake footage and note the clear image of the referee's outstretched arm in the background at the point Suarez is line with evra;compare the position of evra's arm/hand to the referee. evra's body language as usual was confrontational.
It's perfectly obvious he evra is not offering his hand also note the expression on evra's face he had no intention of shaking Suarez's hand.It's only when Suarez shakes De gea's hand, evra then decides to move his hand forward and is openly confrontational therefore deflecting the blame to Suarez: Suarez in the moment probably thought fine not that keen to shake your hand any way. I personally think the whole episode has been premeditated from day one. Think we've fell for a dirty manc trick boys.
kidmillions
Chip and shoulder(s) springs to mind
We've fell for nothing mate we can all see what haapened by a sly thing
The game were the incident first happened at Anfield Evra refused to shake Suarez's hand nothing was said of this was it because he was black ?
12 Feb 2012 11:25:25
i'm not going to come on here and slag off induviduals as it's a team game,there's 1 thing that really sticks out from the last 2 games is our poor passing,the amount of times we give the ball away is shocking,back when kk was playing training consisted of 5 a side games,maybe it's time to reintroduce this as it would improve our passing and maybe speed up our build up play aswell,just a thought.
paul d
Think you'll find they already do. Also some players are a great in training and s**t on the pitch. It will take Kenny a while to truly get to know his players.
kidmillions
I think it's spearing who looks out of depth when it comes to passing... Thats why Gerard was having a go at him
12 Feb 2012 11:22:38
I must be the only black lfc supporter who sees nothing wrong with what happened yesterday. Evra clearly engineered the situation by trying to force suarez to reach for him by retracting his hand at the last minute. If i was in suarez position i probably would have walked on too, Suarez at no point retracts his hand. I do not think his position is untenable but i see i am in the majority of one on that. Having to suffer from indirect and often direct racism all my life i may be immune to the petty squabbles with two overpaid and childish footballers. The world would not suddenly stop being racist had they shook hands yesterday and as usual the media and certain idiots are jumping on the bandwagon to sell papers or promote websites. We all have opinions and i will listen to any viewpoint on this matter but for me i'm done, this is just bulls**t media trying to stir and im sick of it.
Slimboy
Mate I totally agree, im black and dont blame suarez for one second. evra never offered his hand.
Well said that man. Totally agree
Cmon then
Well said m8. Take my hat of to you
Redcam
Post of the day for me
cozinoz
Honest and forthright Post, well said and well done.
kidmillions
Why are we the only ones to have seen this, could we have been watching a different channel than everyone else.
FatheadRed
12 Feb 2012 11:13:34
On a lighter note when ls kicks the ball out at ht. Check out Phil dowds reaction when Rooney runs over and talks to him. Rooneys breath must stink!
Ha Ha! Made me laugh!
kidmillions
12 Feb 2012 11:11:54
My opinion of the game: In the end, I think it could have gone either way, united were lucky with their second goal with a mistake from Jay Spearing. You have to say united deserved to win and Liverpool got the team and tactics wrong. We let United played a lot of that tippy-tappy football, while we got behind the ball. This was a good tactic,
since that manc tippy-tappy crap is largely ineffective, we were
never undone by it once in our final third, we just had to play a patient game and break. But we ourselves were useless in possession, gave it away too easily or lacked a final pass in the final third of the pitch. Are problems this season have been scoring and are:
(1) Formation 4-5-1, with Suarez up front along is ineffective because he is too isolated. He needs someone to play-off. This formation is better with Carroll because he can hold it up and lay it off. 4-5-1 With Suarez and Gerrard in the hole behind, Bellamy left or right, would give a pacey, one touch quick passing attack. But I don't think we've seen this one yet? 5-4-1 with Bellamy upfront could give us a pacey attack, akin to when Torres played, running onto ball from Gerrard and Adam, but we've not seen this one either. Downing has to play when Carroll plays, Downing has to improve, he can play better than he does at the moment, (dunno what's happening there). I have also wondered about downing up-front 4-4-1-1 playing off Carroll and switching to both right and left wings? It looks to me that Kuyt has been played too much in midfield to ever be effective up top in 4-5-1.
(2) Formation 4-4-2. This is completely ineffective so far with Suares and Carroll, While Carroll is getting his game toether, the roles of both strikers in this formation is still a work in process. If we need to win games, we need to avoid this pairing. 4-4-2 with Carroll and Bellamy was working, but Bellamy cannot play many games. 4-4-2 with Suarez and Bellamy up front (the two bad asses) would be Suarez and Maxi left might be better.
Sometimes I think our problem scoring is we have too many attacking options! We have missed, Gerrard being out for so long, Lucas being injured has meant that Gerrard has had to focus on defensive duties (because Hendo and Adam can't do that yet) and also the Suarez ban, means we have not got this or these combinations sorted out yet.
Finally, we need to tell Fergie to P1ssoff and keep Suarez at the club for as long as possible.
RedAce.
Agree with that, we should play Suarez off Carroll, but not in a 4-4-2. Our defence has been perfect this season and we have been able to stoke city it at times whilst still being able to go up the other end. The only issue with that is when Downing and Kuyt play on the wings, we have no one who can actually run at a fast pace with the ball. Everytime them come across a defender, they turn back. That was what made Glen Johnson destroy them on that side, his ability to get past a player.
As for this whole handshake thing, it's not even about Suarez and Evra now, all the comments are more like LFC v MUFC. The handshake should never of happened and arguably neither player wanted to shake hands and they both seemed reluctant. Evra only reacted because he saw the opportunity to keep situation going, because it isn't affecting him. (He also needs something to divert the attention away from him as he has shown countless times what a shocking LB he is now)
You say you were never undone by United...what about the 2 goals, Scholes' header, Wellbeck when put thru' by Giggs, Rooney getting into the box and toe poking it wide, also Rooney smashing it into the top corner but the ref stopped play for no reason other than a great challenge (by Evans I think it was)...i could go on
3 or 4 nil would have been a fairer reflection if you ask me
Gav
Both goals Gav, came from a defensive error and a corner, not from the tappy passing game. All united's threat came on the break. The tippy tappy served to run down the clock and stop Liverpool from playing football. In the last two recent games, Liverpool's attitude was - you can have the ball there lads in deep midfield, go play with yourselves (as usual), whenever you engage the defense we get the ball back and break.
12 Feb 2012 11:08:38
Morning all, have never bet before so a bit of a beginner. i was wondering how i could check online the odds of suarez leaving liverpool in the summer or if anybody knows? just assuming as an ED is saying he will probably be sold..
Cheers
Chris1977 YNWA
Just go in to the bookies and ask them mate its the best way iv never made a bet online so im not right up on it but i know if you go in the store they,l help you why dont you try a treble on kuyt maxi and saurez leaving that will boost your odds a bit personally i hope saurez does,nt leave id be gutted to see him go but it has gone a bit far but im sure if enough hard work is put in he can be redeemed i just hope this is the case he is too good a player to be loosing but who would blame him if he wanted to leave he,s going to be under intense scrutiny for the rest of his time in england
giblet
Maybe John Henry can get apiece of that action. With the winnings he could find a couple of decent replacements.
Go online to betfred "evra to leave Man Utd before Suarez leaves Liverpool". I have made my fortune betting and would recommend that if they offer between 4/1 and 6/1 bite their hand off have £5.000 on to win between £20,000 and £30,000
kidmillions
12 Feb 2012 11:05:48
After looking at the hand shake incident a few times it appears to me Suarez actually had his hand out and just skipped by Evra because Evra pulled back his hand when Suarez came up to him! Dubred
Spot on was even briefly mentioned on match of the day.
kidmillions
At long last someone was watching the same match as me, i totally agree. Evra knew what he was doing cause he was at OT. If it was at Anfield it would never had happened.
I thought that from one angle it looks like evra dropped his hand but from above it doesnt look so much that way it looks as if evra wasn,t sure then decided to do it but saurez felt like he,d been snubbed hence the reaction all in all it only means iv got too much time on my hands to be studying this sort of thing lol
Exactly - can't see why EVERYONE can't see this.
The disagree can only be from non-LFC supporters.
Fergie should be told to wind his neck in too.
Did anyone else notice how badly he was slurring words and how purple his nose now is.
Pre-match whiskey or 3 methinks :-)
12 Feb 2012 11:04:52
Eds.. I feel that Suarez would need to make a big public apology for his actions to stay at the club or at least explain his reasons for actions!
If he were to leave soldado is the only man to replace him- he's small and dynamic and in my opinion a better finisher, but do you feel this will effect our chances getting players of different race due to the way the club handles it!
Liverpool need to win trophys now to respond to evras playground antics at the final whistle!
Paul Belfast kopite
Suarez at Ajax and Uraguay has a prolific scoring record. I don't think he's fully adjusted yet and soon he we be scoring for fun.
12 Feb 2012 10:59:14
Well done to Evra, Ferdinand and Fergie for pulling of such a masterful stunt.
Evra lowers his hand and looks away from Suarez giving the impression he does not want to shake hands then in milliseconds reacts in a pre-meditated fashion by grabbing suarez's arm and looks into the camera
Ferdinand is already backing away as Suarez is approaching, he knew what Evra was going to do
It was made public that Suarez would have no issue with shaking evra's hand but evra manipulated the situation
Straight after Suarez expressed his disbelief to reina as to say "did you see that, can you believe it"
Evra runs past the pair pointing at Suarez and then rubbing his hands in delight and grinning to himself as if to say I got you mate and done you up like a kipper
Kenny like Suarez was caught totally off guard by the whole situation while Fergie and co lapped it up
If anyone wants to comment on this please have the decency to actually watch what really happens in those few seconds and not get caught up in the media hype that follows
Leam Red
The real disgrace to LFC was Stewart Downing
Are you serious?
CT13
Everything you say i agree with, disgusting football club and disgusting play actors, congratulations to evra and co. your time will come. RedTurk
100% agree
Absolutely spot on, Suarez tweeted "things are not what they seem". A body language expert would have a field day with evra.
kidmillions
Of course he's serious CT 13 and i agree with Leam Red all the way. These footballers of today do the acting game spot on and evra knew being at old toilet would take the heat off him and it was a planned set up.
I think people need to remember that evra played a big part yesterday.
That man is Fecking poison simple as that.
So what if a man refuses to shake your hand , you don't have to act like a little kid and make sure everyone knows about it.
LAVERS
So what if Evra played his part, we can not control him, but we can control Suarez,. Its simple really, the whole thing has been a PR nightmare from the moment it started.
What should have happened is an apology for a misunderstanding by LFC immediatley after the whole thing started. Everyone would have moved on and not much more would have been said. No 8 game ban, no missed hand shake, no kenny dalglish making us look worse in his interviews.
They seriously need to sort their PR team out!
I don't think you understand, no one at Liverpool likes the media. Why would you? Of course he will defend his players, he is responsible for them, Dalglish will speak what is on his mind and if a reporter asking him a question he doesn't like he will tell them to f*** off. The only thing he cares about is LFC and that is what you should care about too.
Or possibly Suarez should have lied from day one and said he never said anything. No case to answer no eveidence no ban.
Suarez would know he was lying but if he knew then what he knows now? Do you think he would of been better lying?
I think probably. He would definitely not be in all this s**t. Would get more respect! as we are a Nation of Liars see politicians and journalists we don't mind liars. Suarez on the other hand is from a different culture and told the Truth!!
kidmillions
How can you say so what if evra played his part, Thats a major contribution in all this lad. Open your eyes and see evra clearly doesn't have wings on his shoulders !
and the award for the best actor goes to >>>drum roll>>> Mr Patrice Evra
12 Feb 2012 10:49:33
If suarez were to say 'thats it, ive had enough of this country im off!', who realistically could we buy or who realistically would want to join? Would one time potential players now see this as a imploding club rooted with racial ideals? Who would want to join? Instead of a class a player would it now be a class b or c player that liverpool would only be able to attract?
Sooooo many teams would want him.
12 Feb 2012 10:44:14
Nice to see Jamie Redknapp on Sky stick up for us shame the same couldn't be said for Alan Hansen on Match of the Day. If the report said Luis Suarez was not a racist then why do reporters keep referring to him as one.
KernowRed
Redknapp acted like a t*t as he always does. He's a terrible pundit!
Jamie Redknapp talks through his arse and hasn't a clue. We all know the reason he got that job.
Alan Hansen was spot on.
Look at yourselves, sort the problem and it will go away.
Stop thinking the world is against you.
Leadership is the key and it has been piss poor over this while incident.
Shame people don't sign their posts.
KernowRed
12 Feb 2012 10:41:12
As a fan i use to cringe at Rafa's press conferences but Kenny's are embarrasing. The fact LFC TV have also run highlights of his numerous press conferences is appalling.
Hopefully Kenny has now seen the incident and will come out and make an apology.
Apology for what continually sticking up for the club, Do me a favour lad do one.
An apology for releasing a statement that Suarez will shake hands which turned out to be untrue. Either Suarez has made a mug of him or he has done so himself...
No I think he should appologise for lying about not seeing the handshake incident or for not paying attention seriously 70,000 peple saw it kenny did not all for sticking up for the boys but if kenny had substituted suarez straight after handshake he would have shown real class
12 Feb 2012 10:37:58
The media have made this look so bad, the only bad thing on liverpools part was taking Suarez to the game, it just took the concentration away from the fixture.After that the handshake shouldn't have happend like it didn't at QPR it's like the media wanted there to be drama and controversy. To be honest I wouldn't shake someone's hand who I believed falsely accused me of something! Oh well we didn't deserve anything yesterday but not all bad still in the race for fourth.my opinion. YNWA
Square tomato
12 Feb 2012 10:37:39
The FA Respect code of conduct
�Show respect to others involved in the game including match officials, opposition players, coaches, managers, officials and spectators
�Adhere to the laws and spirit of the game
�Promote Fair Play and high standards of behaviour
�Always respect the match official's decision
�Never enter the field of play without the referee's permission
�Never engage in public criticism of the match officials
�Never engage in, or tolerate, offensive, insulting or abusive language or behaviour
I'll bet you can highlight many instances were whiskey nose and his team have blatently ignored all the above and got away with it!! - don't believe any s**te that comes from that swamp people! -TMac
I'm an United fan and that made me smile.
12 Feb 2012 10:31:16
Suarez will not leave he did nothing wrong why spread lies eds? {Ed002's Note - What "lies" have I spread? Why don't you have the balls to sign your posts. Why do we even bother to put up with anonymous cretinous glifnards like you.}
Whoa...whats a gilfnard?
cozinoz
In denial about suarez leaving perhaps, i hope the situation can be resolved somehow as suarez is an amazing talent (and i also think he is innocent to an extent!) but i think the situation has gone too far now unfortunately! will be a shame to see him go but i reckon its gonna happen
scousedel
He did nothing wrong!!!
This is why people believe you are out of step with everybody else on this issue. Open your eyes, take away your Liverpool bias and you will see what has really happened.
Chip and shoulders spring to mind.
Got to agree wit you i think he,l go as much as i dont want him too i think its gone too far now and there,s a chance he could end up been the downfall of kenny as well i hope there is a way back as id hate to see saurez leave but im not sure how it could be done hopefullly we.l win 2 cups and finish fourth that would go a long way and a lot of good pr work although a lot is been made of this when wayne bridge didn't shake terry,s hand there wasn't alll this furore it would have been best if luis had just shook it i understand his reasons why but just for the sake it wouldn,t have hurt
jez
Agree with ^ post
Shanio1
Ed002 i have to say how dissapointed i am to read your posts on this site today.
How could you go on about suarez having to be sold .Why should he be sold because he didn`t want to shake the hand of the man who called him something that he is not?And kenny did not want to feed the sky media because he knows there at fault for this with the help of man utd run media .You and the other eds where the first ones to say everything should be kept in house.Did you see suarez celebrate after the fa cup win?That is the player you want at liverpool fc ,man utd where the disrespectful club there yesterday not us fighting in tunnel ,trying to rise liverpool players by jumping in front of them,making kk cut outs ,booing when suarez got the ball .He couldn`t even celebrate when he scored ?I for one will follow my team regardless of whatever or whoever runs them down because i know whos wrong and whos right .If any other team had carried on like man utd did yesterday they would be pulled for it ,It is them that should be hanging there head in shame not us .And to finish off i will sign my post for you.
Eam {Ed002's Note - I have not gone "on about Suarez having to be sold". Clearly you have not read the posts properly. And, as I explained, the situation the club finds itself in now is nothing to do with the actual events of yesterday but that events have led to the name of the club being dragged, rightly or wrongly, through the gutter again. That is the issue the owners are facing this morning and that is the situation they now need to recover from.}
12 Feb 2012 10:25:02
When Chelsea were playing QPR the fa made it clear it would be no hand shakes because of the conflict between Terry and Ferdinand. Why didn't the FA do the same yesterday? They new is a conflict between Luis and Evra. Why didn't they stop it? To be fare if I was Luis I wouldn't shake Evra's hand after what happened.It was like he admitted that it was his fault. I do not think for one minute Luis is racist. Fergie and Man U are trying to destroy on of our best players.So Us LFC supporters should stay behind Luis and the team like Kenny does. {Ed002's Note - QPR requested the handshake be cancelled and Chelsea agreed - so the FA cancelled it. There was no such request from either club yesterday. It is nothing whatsoever to do with the FA.}
FA save Terry as he can play for England. but Suarez can't :) I saw few time end of the match Both manager don't shake hand. and few match that player didn't shake hand. but so far nothing been say about. what a big deal if one player not shake hand to other? if I personally don't like a person then I don't shake his hand.
Rock. {Ed002's Note - You really seem to be struggling to understand that the FA cancelled the process at the QPR game because they were asked to do so. No such request was made yesterday - it is nothing to do with John Terry and nothing to do with the FA.}
Fair answer edd but im interested in your opinion of whether terry should also quit playing in this country because he too is equally in the wrong with his racist remarks and he was caught on camera so he's not innocent {Ed002's Note - The charge against Terry is not about the actual words but the intent. To say is is guilty without having the evidence of defence is not democratic.}
Well said Ed002, it may not be a case of Suarez should be forced to quit playing in this country...more a case of Kenny, the Club, Suarez and his agent sorting out this mess that has dragged on way too long and deciding what is the best way forward for both club and player
Will be interesting to hear the sounds coming out of Anfield in the coming days/weeks...will they defend him yet again or at least show a little dignity this time
Gav
If he IS found guilty would his position at Chelsea become untenable or will it just be his England captaincy that comes under question.
Slimboy
12 Feb 2012 10:22:03
If we win the League cup, I hope we just go all out attack for the rest of the season!
There are still plenty of points to play got and we still have Arsenal and Chelsea to play.
And as was seen yesterday, the teams around us will still drop points!
K.Bennett
12 Feb 2012 10:21:38
Ed,
Don't you find it typically British (ie hypocritical) that a few months ago Blatter was villified and his resignation demanded in the media for suggesting that a simple handshake would make the racism ticket go away, yet here we are a day later after the OT game watching and listening to the vitriol because a player refused to shake another person's hand, based on the fact that he still believes himself to be innocent.
Here's the rub, and I'm afraid I'm going to upset a few (lots) of our support here, but Dalglish has to take the blame for this incident - why?
It's clear that Luis has 'taken one for the team' or the club, in not pursuing the appeal once the details came out. It's been abundantly clear since the decision that Dalglish has backed his player to the hilt ,by some of the comments he has come out with in the media. All very admirable and whatever your view of whether the decision was right or wrong, it doesn't really matter. Clearly KK has been fuming about the decision and lack of support to his player.
What did matter was how KK managed the situation. He must have know how Luis felt, must have known he wasn't going to shake hands with Evra and therefore has to take the repsonsibilities for what has happened.
He could and should have put him on the bench or left him out completely, thus diffusing any issue, whilst it was still this fresh in the mind and the circumstances, playing at OT etc. I just can't believe he left himself so wide open to the obvious situation as it was going to unfold.
Evra's behaviour at half time in the tunnel (according to SSN) and at the end is inexcusable, but guess what, pound to a pinch of, he gets away with that, whilst Luis and KK will be hauled over the coals for days and weeks to come.
If the owners were ever looking for a reason to move KK ( and I'm not suggesting they were) he's given them the golden egg. Luis's position in the PL is now untenable long term, so I can't see him staying beyond the summer and Liverpool's reputation as a caring sharing club is being dragged through the mud by hypocritcal media and football 'experts'.
All in all a pretty dark weekend for LFC
But still....YNWA
Well England is angry to Blatter . and his comment make F.A more angry. but I think F.A always been double standard. the apple Rooney's band get one match reduce. but when Balotelli want apple the warning is there that you can get an extra match band. I find it funny to accept. before a guy apple for the warning is there u may get an extra match band.
Rock.
I have to agree. Not that Suarez shouldn't have played, but that Dalglish should have known whether Suarez was going to shake Evras hand or not, and if he wasnt, to not start him. If Suarez misled Dalglish, then he should be out on his ear. Then again if Dalglish knew Suarez was going to snub Evra, and backed him to do so, then he should come out and say that.
neekcub
You never mentioned the result? we lost 2-1
Handshakes my arse! Grow a set a Balls!
If 2 players don't want to shake hands so What! Afraid there's a lot of people getting carried away by the media hype.
kidmillions
What a load of over reaction from you so called fans, as far as im concerned luis suarez done nothing wrong it was that big baby evra that needs sorting out. And you fans might aswell support slur alex, suarez is a great player and some people in this country just dont wsna see lfc with great players.RedTurk
I don't know what post kidmillions and RedTurk are responding to, but their replies suggest that they think that the post(s) before them
a) Do not consider Suarez to be a good player
b) Think Suarez should have shaken Evras hand.
I see no evidence for this.
neekcub
Rock I dont see what this debate has to do with apples? or any fruit for that matter
sorry, couldnt resist ; )
12 Feb 2012 10:20:53
Lack of leadership at this club is reaching new levels of worry. On the field and off it this season, I have been very very disappointed.
What you need to be a good GENERAL is the ability to see ahead and judge the EFFECTS of your actions before they happen - better than anyone else.
This latest drama (Evra/Luis) need never have happened with sound leadership.
Many of our players would be achieving their real potential with sound leadership.
There would be clear signs of solid development in our play with sound leadership.
YOU KNOW WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS.
This club I have supported for 50 years and always will.
Club need a English man who is a top class footballer or organizer in management. Man u have Gil in F.A so they are easy to deal with everything. Liverpool miss it so much.
Micky Quinn on Talks**e this morning making himself look stupid.
He always does.
The man is a clown.
He is saying really stupid things, but he is been wound up by posh boy Chelsea supporter Mark Saggers, absolutely no lover of Liverpool FC.
12 Feb 2012 10:02:37
Absolutely shocking and disgraceful behaviour and should never be allowed to play for the club again.
Following the Chelsea game, Howard Webb has refused to make any comment only to say that he has had some great years at Man united and has always felt to be an integral member of the team, but if thats how Fergie now feels then maybe its time for him to move on.
He still believes his decision not to give United 4 penalties in one game was correct, but unfortunately is now feeling Fergies backlash
Tel 1949
------------------g.higuain------------------
jones-kelly-coates-adam-henderson-bellamy-carroll
Gerrard hasn't been great after injury except his wonderful performance against Newcastle and also I'd never want us to leave Shelvey in the reserves or sell him. he can be an asset and we've got tremendous youth prospects coming through. Kelly ahead of Johnson, any day for me. YNWA
12 Feb 2012 09:59:55
EDs what your view on yesterday ? {Ed002's Note - The events themselves are completely irrelevant as far as I am concerned. The controversy occurred because of the stupidity of playing Suarez in this match. Liverpool�s one-time good name is again, rightly or wrongly, being dragged through the gutter. Suarez� position remains pretty much untenable as far as I can see. Perhaps he is not the only one.}
I think Man utd have much better plan for the situation. and we miss it. you can put Suarez after 30 minute. as you know Suarez is unhappy with Evra and he may not shake hand with him.
Rock.
U see kenny still as manager next season ed? Or will he be leaving too? I have always supported suarez n will continue to do so, but its best for both parties if h moves on.
Indian Buzzer {Ed002's Note - He is making matters very difficult for the board and the owners. You can draw your own conclusions.}
12 Feb 2012 09:56:04
With respect to Lee's post earlier, I think what you are trying to get at there Lee is re-establishing the Liverpool way. I would fully endore your sentimet but where I differ - and no doubt I am going to get savaged for this - is in how we go about acheiving this. I made my determination about Suaraz the moment he was found guilty of racial abuse. I arguned long and hard with my fellow reds who said that this was only a storm in a tea cup, it would blow over etc. I believed then and I still believe that anybody found guilty of such an offence who offers no contrition what-so-ever is not only moraly wrong; but is staining the good name of LFC by extension. The way the club have handled this is nothing short of disasterous. One player has been aloowed to cause more damage to our club than a dozen United victories. I dont give a s**t who the player is, how good he is or how important he is to the team. He should be sold in the summer full stop - and in any case he has now made his position totally untenable, there is absolutely no going back for him; there is no hope of his image being rehabilitated. Every image of him in a Liverpool short endorses the idea that we are tollerant of racism. The 'Only racists walk alone' banner at anfied in the cup game is seen on television sets all over the world and after a while, you throw enough s**t around and it starts to stick. This is increasingly how we will be perceived. I now think the situation has become so bad that Dalglish should be quietly paid off in the summer. I will get slaughtered for saying that but I dont care becasue again, no one individual is bigger than the club, even a legend like the king. If we take the rose tinted glasses off, its clear that his judgement has been severly tested and he has been found wanting big time. I have sympathy for him because this situation was thrust at him and he has had to manage it and carry the entire reputation of the club on his shoulders while his superious remain bizzarely silent. So to sum up, I am saying the correct; and perhaps only way forward for Liverpool as a club to restablish its credibility is cut away the cancer and distance itself from Suraez and Kenny.
Totally disagree. I think the point is that if someone believes they are innocent and therefore wrongly found guilty of being racist, then they would have the hump and not shake the hand of the alleged 'victim'. What Liverpool perhaps should have done is not played suarez yesterday.
I think there is something bigger taking place in the background and this is being used as a smokescreen. An example is when the lfc fan was caught abusing that young crystal palace player, it was front page news for a week. However, when a Man Utd supporter was arrested for racial abuse to black players recently, there was only a tiny little column referring to it.
So before you start preaching, you need to start looking at the world in colour, not black and white!
Romeo Red
Im black, neither a liverpool or united fan and agree with romeo red.
I dont believe suarez is a racist, there's been no proof he was racist just one word against another....
The FA and media are so far up the backsides of United it was inevitable that they would both be backing united on this.
I have white friends who have been falsely accused of racisim in the past and have lost there jobs because of it, and are now struggling to find another job due to whats happened.
I dont blame him for not shaking evras hand, if he solitary believes he is innocent why shake hands with the person who has just wrecked your reputation.
Finally, during the handshake evra had his hand listed for EVERYBODY but as soon as suarez arrives its significantly lower.
12 Feb 2012 09:49:42
I have just seen the photo stills of the suarez, evra handshake that didnt happen in the sunday mirror. To me it looks like evra never wanted to shake because his hand is pulled low and to the left, which would make it impossible. He never even looked at suarez yet he had the balls to grab the arm, and twist it completely around by pointing and bitching to the waiting cameras. On evra celebrating in front of suarez, well what can you say, Stupid, idiotic, disgraceful. We all know he should get a fine or even a ban, giving the one game ban suarez got. But i can see the FA doing absolutely nothing against him and Man utd.
I nearly didn't watch my beloved liverpool because i just knew there would be controversey and a very poisnous attmosphere.
Last point pre game handshakes are absolutely pointless, there is no need. Players will always try to win and in some cases batter the opponents. But you shake hands after the game, we should go back to the days of leaving it all on the pitch.
Twitter is the worse idea for footballers ever, what should be left on the pitch, comes out in the public domain, and becomes an inflammatory situation.
Take rooney on last monday wrote about suarez should of been sent off for the accidental kick on dawson. Yes it was a yellow he was trying to score, rooney would of done the samething, the ball was dropping from height. You aren't going to see dawson if you are both looking up at the dropping ball.
Id love to know what you all think.
Cheers Si
It does look as if suarezs hand is there and evra doesn't make his hand available. But when evra does raise it Suarez blanks him. He's a great player but comes with too much baggage and he is just a liability. He should leave and take downing with him
Parker not Dawson
12 Feb 2012 09:36:57
fregy say Liverpool should sale Suarez, and then he add Suarez should never play for Liverpool again. Why ? just he don't shake hand ? ask F. A to band him for 15 match then he will not play this year. if Hand Shake too important then why Hand Shake been drop from few match? Evra make a good trap at the match celebration on Suarez. But Suarez did well keep his calm .
R-R
12 Feb 2012 09:33:17
Utd fan here,not here to wind you lot up but surely its not difficult to understand that if suarez,even if he didnt want to,should have shaken evras hand,all hes done now is let this drag on and on when a simple handshake would have finished it,even kenny said before the game he wanted to see a handshake to put an end to it and suarez went against it,the lad only has himself to blame for the carry on,surely you lot can see this
phil
If it was Ronney would you feel the same?
Phil, your wasting your time, they will never see it.
Give it up mate return to the united page and leave them with their Suarez love in.
Sorry Phil, watch the footage again, Evra lowered his hand when Suarez came to him, Suarez hand stayed the same level till the end. The big thing for me was that Evra looked to the bench and tv as if this was staged. Did AF sell Karate Kid Cantona or Rio Pill Popper Ferdinand or say they were a disgrace to their club and they shuldnt play them again? double standards!
theJazz
When rooney was rumoured to be wanting out of your club a year or so back utd fans were slagging him, waving banners calling him names and as soon as he declares love for your lot and he's infact staying he's the best thing since sliced bread and the hero once again !
Dont come on here having a pop and telling liverpool fans whats ' right and wrong ' when you lot have acted in pathetic ways many times in the past over your players you bunch of hypocrites ! One more thing as well united fan you lot might choose to conveniently forget any wrong doings of players or fans from your club but us liverpool fans and fans in general NEVER forget your past.
What if you had been falsely branded a racist at work phil? you would have your name publicly trashed all over the local media, fired from your job and more than likely lose your home and everything youve worked for...
if you saw the so called victim and your old boss in the street and they said 'hey no hard feelings' would you shake there hands?
thought not
12 Feb 2012 09:15:17
I make no excuse for being fiercely loyal to Liverpool FC, Kenny Dalglish and our Players.
The media made an instant judgement on events prior to the kick-off yesterday and normally (actually every time) they will not retract statements, opinions or alter their initial their reporting of events.
If people have taken a long hard look at all the pre-match replays they will see that Luis Suarez's open hand is extended towards both officials and players as he moves along the line. The only deviation was when he reached down to shake the hand of the Man Utd mascot, his hand immediately returning to the level position, ready for anyone wishing to do so to shake.Patrice Evra's hand, by this time had dropped well below the level he had been holding it to shake the hands of other Liverpool team members. In effect, Evra was withdrawing his hand from the line taken by Suarez and once the players had missed the chance to connect he reacted by reaching up to grab Suarez's arm in a mock display of indignation, at the same time looking straight into the Sky camera and mouthing something. A deliberate and pre-meditated ploy to create tension at the start of the match and instigated by Evra - he knew exactly what he was doing. Ferdinand later stated that he saw what had happened and decided not to shake Suarez's hand - please do us a favour - he surely doesn't think that quickly!
Manchester United Players allegedly cause disruption in the tunnel both at half-time and full-time and need to be restrained by Police and Stewards.
Sir Alex Ferguson comes on International TV after the game and deliberately slanders Luis Suarez to the whole world and undermines our own Manager and Owners by making disgraceful comments. I have never heard of any other manager in the history of the game making such inflammatory comments about another team's player.
Does anyone expect any Manchester United players or management to receive any kind of sanction for their disgraceful behaviour or comments?
Neither do I.
Midsred
Top post i like you having watched it numerous times agree totally.Suarez's hand does not deviate but Evra drops his hand. i thought i was the only one that thought that. Evra is a disgrace as he immediately gestured to the cameras and has deliberately added fuel to a fire and his celebration at the end "could of caused a riot".i wont even comment on what fergie said only to say shut the h**k up and concentrate on your club.
bigg
12 Feb 2012 09:14:56
Surez is a disgrace he should leave our club with immediate effect an Kenny should not defend him for not shaking hands he brought a lot of shame to our club
' OUR ' club haha dont make me laugh manc your not clever enough to work that one on us liverpool fans ok sucker !
Ops sorry
Best moment of the match today.
Suarez tackle on Ferdinand and Evra
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkQ9TzgCHBI
12 Feb 2012 09:04:27
ok forget about weather they were experienced in the prem or internationals, forget price tags and potential lets just be honest about are summer deals.
DONI...has not and wont play this year and will be gone next summer.
COATES..looked nervous in games i have seen him in but maybe he might grow into a cb over next couple of years not the answer now.
ENRIQUE..has looked a good buy but im hopeing its not just for this season.
HENDERSON..sorry but looks completely out of his depth and shelvey i think is better option.
ADAM....i still like him he has a great pass on him but its either spot on or miles wide needs to be consistent
DOWNING..shows me nothing in games and most of the time like henderson might as well not be there
add to that carragher,kuyt and carroll none are performing this year and stevie g still trying to find top form and the biggest loss of all lucas to injury
adam morgan,jon jo shelvey conner coady ,martin kelly and raheem sterling all need to start getting in the squad
................................REINA............................
12 Feb 2012 08:49:45
The way the media have portrayed Suarez and Liverpool is quite embarrasing to there profession. Nobody knows who refused to shake each others hand and all it was evra and united playing to sky and the cameras, nobody will know other than them two and anyway there is no written rule to shake each others hand.
I think that sky really need to hang there heads in shame and the papers. I am sure if we are dancing around wembley with a cup that they will bring this up again as the media have it in for our football club.
Its because we are getting under peoples skin that they have a go at us. So lets just have a siege mentality and look after our great football club as i know king kenny will.
Mighty reds
Nice conspiracy theory, what a joke your are just like your clubs support of Suarez. It is indefensable, but keep on living in your fantasy world, we are used to it as every summer you lot dream of challeneging for the title! How are you getting under peoples skin, you are no threat in the league to anyone, and as for europe, only on your holidays.
Fans like you make Liverpool proud!
Great shout Mighty reds ignore the muppet and remember this you can always tell a manc but not much !
12 Feb 2012 08:42:08
Spearing, Kuuyt, Downing, Carroll and G.Johnson are repeatedly proving, game after game, that they are NOT good enough !!
SPEARING........if hard work alone was enough to win things he'd be a Barca target. But he lacks quality, can't pass the football and, as I've always said, is just "Danny Murphy Lite".
KUUYT.....Shocking level of footballing "quality".
Works hard but, admit it, how often do you just know that the attack will break down when he gets the ball?
DOWNING.........??
CARROLL.........His price-tag and style of football are doing nothing but hinder us at the moment.
GLEN JOHNSON.........Paid too much on the basis of a good season at Pompey and he's continued to under-perform ever since. If he was to be fined a week's wages for every defensive mistake to have cost us points he'd be out of pocket!
These are players Kenny is placing his faith in every week.
Every supporter knows, deep down, it's not working. The League is the acid-test, not the Carling Cup (easy run versus Exeter, Brighton and excellent v Chelsea and Citeh) or the FA Cup (outplayed first-half v Oldham and raised it v Man.u.)
Kenny's blind faith in certain players and his tactical naivety at times are costing us dearly. January was an opportunity to right some wrongs but wasn't taken.
I'm sick of forking out my hard-earned cash to watch us struggle to threaten the opposition keeper.......seriously, we are absolutely impotent up front. When Craig Bellamy (all due respect) is your most potent attacker then you are in trouble!
Yesterday we should have started with Bellamy and Suarez.....Suarez is NOT a lone striker!
Spearing should never have played. I've been banging on for ages on here about our need for a top-class defensive-midfielder as a priority. Jay Spearing is NOT Didi Hamann (FFS he's not even Lucas Leiva!)
Kenny Dalglish's hero-status is being eroded by a combination of a poisonous Manc-centric media egged on by the Taggart PR circus, his own mis-guided faith in sh!t players and the sulky, lazy attitude of too many of his playing staff.
Whisky-nose, Ratboy Neville, Gordon Knob-Jockey Taylor, Sly Sports and The Mirror are all feigning outrage but loving every second of our current plight. In fact, they're milking it for all it's worth.....forget global economic strife, natural disasters and un-justified warfare. Luis Suarez not shaking Evra's hand, predictable as it was, is being reported as the biggest outrage in sporting history.
Kenny's time is probably running out......just think about the impact on sponsorship and global-image from an American owner's viewpoint!......not to mention the dire home-form and wasted millions. Why didn't we spend a dime in January?...Simple, they didn't offer him any!
Goodbye Kenny.........and, believe me, as someone who's watched every minute of your time at Anfield, I hope you walk away with dignity, a couple more medals and a Champions League spot and b****cks to the lot of them.
ANFIELDPETE
12 Feb 2012 06:55:14
Poor on two fronts from kenny, tactically and morally. Also poor from suarez, bigger picture needed on this occasion. I know how he feels. I wouldn't shake the hand of someone i disliked, and i reckon he really dislikes him. They have made our club look foolish, when were getting enough carp as it is.
Muzmacol YNWA
12 Feb 2012 06:35:16
Shocking, disgraceful, pathetic, spoiling the good name of Liverpool, sell him. (talking about Glen Johnsons failure to pick up Rooney for the opening goal)
Hugh Pugh.
12 Feb 2012 04:56:40
Why We play Gerrard so Withdrawn, Let him play in hole behind striker as Attacking Mid or RM
Spearing/ Adam/ Henderson 2 ofthese 3 can play Holding and Deep Playmaker role.
In most cases Bellamy shud start on left..Just play first 55-60 M , get replaced by Maxi / Downing..
if we have Gerrard as RM, get Suarez to play behind carrol / Kuyt..
If Gerrard in AM, get Suarez uptop with maybe Maxi/ Kuyt/Downing on RM ... ?
Surely we cant have our most creative player in our own half for 80 mins of games..
12 Feb 2012 03:45:45
Lots of interesting chatter - Yes we loss today and much will be made of the handshake - but whatever happened in the tunnel totally deflated the Liverpool players and they did not get going at the start of the 2nd half.
Interesting point.
It was two of our less experienced players (Henderson and Spearing) who made the mistakes that led to their goals, also.
The whole Suarez-Evra thing is becoming a massive distraction. We need to regroup quickly or our season will be over.
Just a bit of fun here.
Just wanted to ask you guys where you think we would be if:
a) we still had Roy in charge [also, who you think he would have signed - be realistic]
b) had Lucas Leiva in the squad the whole season
c) Never sold Torres and never bought Carroll
d) Was in Europe
e) Got knocked out of both the FA Cup and League Cup in the first rounds
Also, who would you have back from all the legends - make sure you have seen them play too. For example, you can't say Kenny Dalglish if you haven't seen him play growing up.
Thanks lads
BTheKingB
We would be where west brom are now
As well as Lucas has been for us he is not a match winner, Our roblem is lack of goals!
Torres would still be moping around winging, Carroll would have scored against us from 30 yards
We would have been struggling in the European competitions this term.
I would have Barnes and Robbie Fowler back
Shut up about torres he didnt want to play for us and im glad hes gone and suffering
What is the point in this question?
If we never sold Torres and never bought Carroll we would have 6 less goals than we do now
cozinoz
12 Feb 2012 01:55:20
So much to say from today's game, sorry if boring readers! I've seen posts backing Enriques performance...I'm sorry he was awful! But he got slaughtered last time out by valencia and so after a week out and given Kellys form..it would have been astute to have played Johnson at left back? As for Downing... I love Kenny but 20mill...really or Juan Mata at 15... Sorry but you don't need hindsight to work that out. That said I do believe downing is Kennys only bad signing. Carroll will become the best number 9 around, Henderson will be brilliant in a year or two and I believe Charlie has a lot to offer and was the one player who showed real commitment when he came on today! Stevie has been amazing for our club but was being asked to perform a role that he can't do today... It goes against his natural instincts, which he should listen to...love him as I do he's no defensive midfielder and he's too good to do that job anyway.
12 Feb 2012 01:30:51
Firstly Id like to say what a fantastic site this is. Posted a few times but have yet to congratulate the eds on what a great job they do, I'm sure all LFC fans are agreed on that. Ok today's performance...first time in my life I've been really pissed off with Kenny (I love the bloke!) but 1. You have to play your form players... Carroll, Bellamy. 2 in a big game don't play the boys who have been struggling...Downing. 3 attack a teams weakness-midfield scholes & carrick, slow as a tractor so put them on the back foot; Evans (not good enough) Ferdinand (struggling to get back to what he was). Great going forward though... So hit them 2 up front, play Adam and try and control the midfield! But know leave all form players on the bench, sit back and let them do what their good at?! Am I on my own here? Eds would like to hear your thoughts? Cheers. Greaty
12 Feb 2012 01:21:51
This needs to be said now. As a Liverpool fan I am not racist, I don't believe my club is racist, I don't believe Suarez is racist and I don't believe Kenny is racist. However I am disgusted with the way football has developed an in built hatred in the current game. Songs being sung disrespecting the dead is the lowest of the low. Be it about Heysel, Hillsborough, Munich or any other team, we as fans need to stop it now or risk losing the beautiful game forever. As Liverpool fans we should take the moral high ground and stop it first. The best songs you hear sung on the Kop our about our own players and our own team, not what we sing about the Opposition. Let's be the first club that gets back to having a drink and a laugh the the opposition before and after a match and by doing that become the best supporters in the world once again. I don't give a damn what goes on at other grounds, let's just get it right at Anfield and get it right when we go to away games. It may be too late to change everyone's way of supporting their team, but let's not lower ourselves to their standards. We are LFC, we are the GREATEST FOOTBALL TEAM IN THE WORLD!! Let's start acting like it again. YNWA
Please post in rumours, I believe this needs to be said.
Lee
I agree completly. I believe in Suarez, I believe in Kenny, but more than this I believe in LFC and its fans. Together we can show the world what it is to be a true support not just of your team but of the game. We have to, before we lose it to those who have no regard for the game that I fell in love with.
The next game is the most important one .
Get over it & look forward .
Qwerty
So u dont want the club to be in the champions league? Bit rich of us to laugh at arsenal n chelsea when we r sitting in 7th place after spending over 100 million, isnt it?
Indian Buzzer
Been having to do that a lot this season. How about the players pull finger out, Kenny takes the brakes off, decides on a std team/formation and tactics and we start having a go at teams. All this 'pass and move' talk and creating so many chances blah blah blah. We are not good to watch. Fact.
More negative tripe from Indian Buzzer - where were your posts when we beat the manc teams? Only whinge when we're losing.
cozinoz
I don't even understand what IndianBuzzer is saying !
Qwerty
12 Feb 2012 00:50:42
Man United v.s Liverpool Review
Reina - Could do nothing about either goal. Made an intinctive stop from a Scholes header and held a Wellbeck shot - didn't have much more to do than that truth be told.
Johnson - His first foray into Uniteds half almost resulted in a goal but he was fairly limited after that in terms of his attacking. Defended stoutly.
Agger - Had a solid game, make a couple of vital interventions at times and didn't really do much wrong.
Skrtel - Similar to Agger, had a solid game, made some important interceptions/tackles and was also protective of Suarez.
Enrique - Had a difficult task today and his options going forward were very limited however defended very well against a menacing Valencia, big improvement on the last few games (defensively at least).
Spearing - Looked out of his depth, failed to boss the midfield or make his mark on the game and was clearly at fault for the second goal. Not sure if, long term, he is good enough for us. Works hard but offers little else.
Gerrard - Played deep for almost the entire game, tried to control midfield but was let down by his midfield partners. Very subdued game from him.
Henderson - Failed to seize control of the game and make an impact in midfield. For large parts of the game he was simply anonymous. His flicked header from the corner took the ball away from Gerrard's head and gave Rooney the most comfortable of finishes.
Downing - Diabolically bad. Did absolutely nothing through-out the game. If anyone can remember a cross or shot or significant impact he made on the game (besides being yellow carded) please let me know. Is getting worse and worse and, sadly, his heart just isn't in it. Even his work rate was an embarrassment today.
Kuyt - Worked tirelessly but again lacked the real quality we required. His inability to control the ball or play a one touch pass can be a killer sometimes.
Suarez - Showed glimpses of his quality today with some quick, quality 1 touch passes but ultimately was starved of possession for much of the game. Got a goal 10 minutes from time then headed over near the end (although he was offside). Might have dropped a clanger by not shaking Evra's hand as the press will make the most of it.
Bellamy - Ran around a lot an looked more threatening than Downing with the limited time he had. However, was playing far too deep when we adopted a 4-4-2 so his impact proved minimal.
Carroll - Did nothing special to be fair. Held the ball up a couple of times, tried to make play flow but was starved of service and support all the time he was on the pitch.
Adam - Got stuck in immediately and played in a useful free kick that lead to the goal. Didn't really have enough time to impact the game.
Dalglish - I thought playing Suarez as a lone striker was a mistake. We lacked ambition and idea's going forward and seemed to suffer badly for it when we were chasing the game. Apart from the goal, an early Glen Johnson chance and a late Suarez header over the bar I can think of no other clear cut opportunity we created. Our midfield was not strong enough to hold it's own (Henderson, Spearing) and ultimately the pair were responsible for the goals we conceded. Dalglish was far from happy during the post match interview and I suspect privately he will be seething at Suarez. Think our tactics were too conservative when at 0-0 and not ambitious enough when we were 2-1 down.
Summary - A weak performance and, as painful as it is to admit, United deservedly won the game. I'm sure the newspapers will talk of nothing but Suarez's handshake refusal so expect our club to be tarnished until the end of the season at the earliest. We're 4 points off 4th place at the minute and really need to put a run of results together. Have not been consistent at all this season, now would be a good time to address that problem. Downing gets a special mention here for being the most disappointing, lazy, uninterested player I have seen for a very long time - unbelievably in the biggest fixture in the calendar. If this continues we should sell him at the end of the season.
SMc
What happened to the pass and move. No one was making themselves available or giving any options or off the ball runs.. a very poor team performance esp by spearing (not good enough), downing (even worse) and Kuyt (too slow and no vision)... At this rate forget champions league, forget even 5th place. We'll do well to come 6th. Why why why did we not strengthen up front in Jan, just need a bit of pace....?
Cant help but noticed tat our tempo is super low。we passed and moved up too slowly and was pressed hard by the opponent easily. Not too sure is it a supposed tactics or juz plainly too many players are unfit or worse, uninterested.
San
12 Feb 2012 00:31:11
Just thought i'd pipe up now i've let the result settle in and all the comotion that went along with today's match.
Firstly i'd like to start by saying Suarez maybe should of shaken Evra's hand but then you can understand why he didn't do it so let's leave that at that. What Evra did at the end is worse and that should really be given the publicity Suarez will no doubt suffer with the media.
Secondly, we didn't play very well today at all. Something was missing and at times it was hard to see us waste possession which we're normally so good at. But although we played bad, the commitment is there and we are doing better than before. We just need to start finishing the chances we usually create. But it was also great to see luis on the scoresheet!
Now we've got two big cup games coming up to look forward to, so lets cheer on the lads for these! We as fans will not let our great club's reputation be disgraced. WE ARE LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB!
and as for those calling for kenny's head, doesn't it just show the emotion he feels for the club and his players with his interviews? i'd rather have someone who loves the club than roy hodgson!
Dale B
Roy continues to be the fall guy. We had him for what, 6 months? If all a manager has to do is be better than Roy, than expectations are pretty limited.
"What Evra did at the end is worse"!! You really are deluded! Suarez is an unsportsmanlike muppet. You lot and your mid-table club are a laughing stock.
12 Feb 2012 00:30:45
All is not lost. Newcastle and chelsea both lost. We are still in for 4th. Downing really need to do wat he supposed to do i.e. put in a gd cross for carroll to score!
YNWA
12 Feb 2012 00:27:32
Do not worry about the handshake incident, most people (not us) will be fooled by the media that it was all Suarez fault, but if they actually took time to watch the footage properly they will see Luis shake hands with the ref and 'linesmen', keep his hand up for Evra, who clearly lowers his, then shakes hands with all Utd players except Mr 'Squeaky Clean probably next England captain' who also refused. All this means is that 'they' obviously are better at PR.
12 Feb 2012 00:26:45
Come on boys, after a week in which we should have been thoroughly unsettled we came out with a performance of total football the likes of which you would love to see at Anfield, we are better than you the moment but thats no shame, when it comes to exciting , one touch football we are the top boys at the moment, or am I wrong? no shame in admitting you're not the best when its true. Spur67
Hello Spurwhatever your sign on is.
I know you've just came on for a reaction but I'll try and give a reasonably balanced view
On the whole, Yes you are playing good football but I wouldn't crow too loudly, you seem to imply that we saw that type of football at Anfield on Monday, and lets be honest we really didn't. You came and defended for 80 mins ( i'll give you guys 10min of attack). Now your defence was good but lets not beat around the bush, your attacking threat was practically nil.
You also have some very good players but some who are not as good as you think they are. Modric is good... indeed I'd say class but Bale. I believe there are two Bale's. One that when he turns up is nigh on unplayable, but (and I would say the more common )bale runs alot but offers little threat. Is it worth having a player who is at his best only 40% of the time.. maybe yes, maybe no (I'll admit I'd have him playing more than not as even during a bad game he can preoccupy the other teams players thus creating space for the others). Please don't mistake this as bitterness from me, as I don't believe any player in general has a better ratio of good to bad games of about 60:40% (even the very best).
Do you deserve to be where your are in the league? On the whole I'd say yes, do we deserve to be where we are? Kind of ( you can say this next bit is bias but...), our defensive record says no... we should be higher, our pocession and shots on target says no... we should be higher. Our finshing.. yes we're where we should be. Can we polish this up... yes, and incrediably so.
One final thing I'd say is... how long has the spurs project been in place? This isn't a dig but a general point... you've had a good couple of years investment from your owner (and fair play to you) we have just this season began the road from the most disacterous period of ownership for any 'big club'. Look at how long it took you guys to get to this place, look at how long it took Man City to get to where they are with even heavier investment. Did you really, or any logical football fan, believe that liverpool would be challenging for the title this year? I certainly didn't. I still hope we can get fourth (results today in gerneral went our way despite our loss). I think your too far ahead to be caught for third, but if we do (get 4th) thats not a bad achievement for a club who just over 16 months ago was invovled in a bitter struggle and threatened with possible adminstration.
So short answer.. yeah your playing good football right now, but its taken you years to get ahead and with the right ownership now for LFc (hopefully) I don't believe you'll be there too long.
Long answer .. as above!!
Question for you... Harry... is he gonna take the managers job or not? Personally I think he's on a hiding to nothing there. If he takes it, unless Engurland win at Brazil (or at least get to the final(i think even the press will admit euro too close to have a major impact)) he'll be lambasted about it and he'll just be another failed England manager, wheras if he refuses he'll be the man who let england down, and refused to answer his country's call. Just wanted your take on it? (i support N.ireland as I grew up there so it doesn't really matter to me at all). Also Just wanted to ask if he does take it who would you want as your next manager?
I know you where probabbly just trolling, but there, my 2 cents worth (actually more like my £2.57 worth). Wondering will you answer... i.e. do you wanna talk football or talk sh....?
Cheers
JJ
(PS if there any really weird spelling please forgive me as my computer keeps doing silly thing (cusor jumping all over the message( oh and I'm not the best speller anyways))
We will finish 6th as we are the 6th best team in the league.
Good answer jj, although the point about investment is a bit wide of the mark. Our biggest signing of the last 2 years has been VDV at 8m which is chickenfeed. As for Liverpools aspirations this season am afraid some of your fellow supporters have made a rod for your back. The way they were going on you'd think that now KD was back you werent only going to win the treble but the Eurovision song contest and the Nobel peace prize as well!
12 Feb 2012 00:26:44
Did no one see evra pull his hand away first and the way he acted at the end
12 Feb 2012 00:21:36
A question for the Eds...why is it that the QPR/Chelsea pre-match handshake did not happen yet the liverpool/utd handshake went ahead?
Very odd and very suspicious.
I have to say I cannot see how Suarez can be allowed to continue at this club especially if reports are true that he has gone against direct orders to shake Evras hand.
He has been a problem since he arrived and was a problem at Ajax too...he is the sort of person that cannot be controlled nor influenced and this makes me nervous.
He is a brilliant footballer, world class, but he is a walking PR disaster and similar to Ballotelli in that he requires extra special attention to keep him in check.
If Kenny doesnt achieve 4th this season and the performances of his signings dont improve i.e Downing, Henderson and Carroll, then he will be under severe pressure especially with managers like Benitez and Mourinho on the market.
People say Kenny needs time but what is gonna change so drastically next season with him in charge?
He has not demonstrated he can spend wisely, he has not demonstrated he can get the best out of his players, he has not demonstrated he is tactically adept on a consistent basis, he has not demonstrated he is able to deal with high pressure situations as shown in his recent press conferences and interviews and he has not demonstrated that he can handle or control his big time players i.e suarez.
Mourinho is the only man that could handle the media, handle the players and handle things on the pitch and handle them properly.
Despite what anybodys personal grievances are with the man he is by far the best manager on the planet ...the only manager to win league titles in what will probably be 4 countries, incredible.
Kenny cannot handle the pressure. He has shown this in all his previous managerial roles, he buckles when the going gets tough. He is cracking, you can see it in his recent interviews, he's slowly losing his grip on things.
Mourinho is the only way forward...with him in charge it will gurantee top 4 every single year.
Leo
{Ed002's Note - Leo a request was made to the FA by QPR that the handshake be cancelled and Chelsea said they had no objection. It is not odd or suspicious. No such request was made by either club yesterday. What seems surprising to me is that when I said earlier in the week that Suarez should not play as there would undoubtedly be repercussions, you said it was "the most stupid post you have ever read on this site". Still a glifnard and still an embarrassment.}
Ed why do you always have to be so argumentative? You always start throwing insults at me and then when I retaliate you dont like it and ban me from the site.
Im not going to get into endless squabbles with you anymore...okay i was wrong, im an "embarassment", all hail ed002.
In hindsight maybe suarez shouldnt have played but there was no chance of him ever not starting, i think that was more my initial point.
Listen you know what you get from me, I shoot from the mouth and sometimes what comes out is incredibly stupid and knee jerk or wonderfully insightful, theres no need to keep throwing insults.
I have stopped and apologised to you the other night so draw a line under things and move forward or just ask me not to post anymore and I'll retire from the site peacefully.
Leo
With our lack of firepower we cannot afford to drop our top striker at the most difficult ground in england. Kenny was never going to not play him and for you to think was my exact words. Stop trying to twist everything I say.
I believe Suarez should have played {Ed002's Note - I rather doubt that I would be so argumentative Leo if you were not so abusive to me earlier in the week. The past two weeks have seen one nonsense post after another from you on subjects you have little or no grasp of. You make rash generalisations but it seems the great thinker is also capable of jumping to conclusions without seeing any evidence. You then make accusations that I have written the most �stupid post ever� about Suarez. You are indeed a glifnard and an embarrassment - you would be astonished about the number of posts from your fellow fans that need to be deleted anytime any of your posts appear. I told you to take all of your drivel to the conspiracy pages where people may want to hear your ideas about the Princess of Wales, about Kennedy and about the FA colluding with John Terry � but the Liverpool �transfer� and �banter� pages are not the places to vent your �the world is against me, the end is nigh� garbage.}
And I dont know why people are disagreeing with my post.
Suarez was wrong, Kenny Dalglish is having a hard time and Mourinho is a world class manager who could turn things around...what is there to disagree with?
People need to start thinking with their head and not their heart.
Leo
Wow i've really hit a nerve with you havent I? I apologised and you would think that would be the end of it but you have got some deep seated issues with me dont you?
Darling it is okay. I am used to riling people up the wrong way...I am dramatic by nature and love nothing more that to affect the psyche of my fellow human beings.
I have gotten to you so bad and you hate me with an utter passion. Listen I have a degree, 4 A-levels, 12 GCSE's and spend many hours enriching my mind and acquiring knowledge so you can call me all the names under the sun but you and i both know that I am not an person nor a gliftard (sp) nor an embarassment.
I have challenged your thought processess and I believe deep down somewhwere in your subconscious you do actually make sense of a lot of what I say but just cannot bring yourself to open your narrow little mind enough to absorb and digest what I have to say.
If you truly believed I was full of s**t you wouldnt give me the time of day, its text book psychology babe.
It is sad that you are allowing yourself to be so endlessly consumed by me and need to resort to juvenile name calling to express yourself, its quite pathetic.
I am sorry I make you feel so inferior, I have that effect on people. I am bold and challenge and question absolutely everything, thats what makes me the success I am today. I can admit when I am wrong and I am allowed to change my mind, I am human and I am allowed to be flexible. I am not an alien and do make mistakes.
I have come across people like you many times in my life. You spend your whole life surrounded by people that are of less intelligence than you are and who are impressed by you. You start to believe you are more clever than anyone else until one day you meet your match who relentlessly belittles you and mocks you and it makes you furious inside.
I have proved you wrong on so many occassions and you do not like it. You never seem to post my comments when I disprove your modes of thought e.g "a legal team is a solicitor" ...funny how you never posted my comments blowing that ridiculus statement out the water.
You are a little child and need to learn how to manage your temperament. Calling me names might impress the idiots on this site but it only makes you look like a silly petulant little girl.
I always find it intriguing that actually, apart from my post last night, most of what I say is agreed upon by the masses on this site.
I am not a conspiracy theorist at all. I only deal with facts and ask questions when things do not make sense. The world is not against me and I am not a victim. Im sure you can tell by now that i am an arrogant, confident, self assured young man and do not need conspiracy theories to make me feel better about myself.
I am fearless and want to make change in the world. I have the ability to provoke feelings in other people whether its rage, hate or frustration and that is a novel skill I will use to my advantage one day and make a positive change on the planet.
Good luck in all your future endeavors child. If I could pass on some advice to you it would be this: try not to be so aggressive all the time. You will get more reaction and respect out of people if you take a deep breath, gather your thoughts and then say what you have to say in timely, adult fashion.
Leo xxx {Ed001's Note - if only you were half as smart as you think you are, then you wouldn't have bored me to tears with your nonsense drivel. I am embarrassed for you lad, nothing worse than someone who believes they are intelligent but clearly are of no more than average intelligence. They just end up making themselves look ridiculous.}
I disagree Leo: Suarez was not wrong, Kenny Dalglish is doing fine and Mourinho is a media wh*re who needs multi-millions to make a successful team.
cozinoz
Ed001 this aint got nothin to do with you...its for Ed002. She constantly abuses me and insults me on this site and its not on.
Leo {Ed001's Note - it has everything to do with me, go elsewhere. You have only got what you deserved for being a nasty and abusive little knob. If you treat people better at the start, you wouldn't get insulted back.}
Ed001 shut up. If you look through the posts and go right back to the beginning you will see that Ed002 has always instigated abuse. I am not the first person to complain about abuse from Ed002 so why dont you pull your finger out and do something about it.
Yes I am a mouthy piece of s**t but only due to Ed002's constant name calling and abuse.
With all the recent publicity regarding internet abuse if I was to make a formal complaint you guys would be shut down.
It is a serious matter and if you look at all my posts you will see a pattern of me asking ed002 not to be so abusive.
When I lose my rag and give a bit of it back you wanna ban me and tell me I am nasty little knob?
I will be making a formal complaint.
Leo {Ed002's (in collusion with The FA) Note - Oh Leo you really don't know when to stop do you - you can't just say "shut up" to Ed001 without hurting his or her feelings. Now you are threaten having the site "shut down", oh dear. You had promised you would never post again earlier in the week - and regardless of the protection I have offered you from your fellow fans ridiculing everything you have said, you still keep coming back for more. Please leave us all alone and take up my offer of posting your poppycock on the conspiracy pages. As an aside, am I the only friend you have?}
12 Feb 2012 00:20:17
Not written on this blog for ages but have a series of thoughts I wanted to share with the editors and bloggers.
Putting aside all of the Suarez and Evra banter when I look at the league table and see that Norwich are 4 points behind us this is a significant point.�
Realistically its unlikely that Norwich will keep this up. But the table doesn't lie, despite spending £100 million on transfers and having two players in our side in Suarez and Gerrard who would rank in the top 50 players in the world.
It's hugely frustrating to see the team in this position. Sorry guys but despite some good cup runs the league is the bread and butter. How can we be happy with ours points total and league position currently.�
A lot of fans will argue that we are 4 points from 4th but unless we improve massively and start winning at home we will not finish 4th and could finish this season 30+points behind the top place team. �
I was looking at some stats and Liverpool have never finished top four with the volume of home draws we have achieved so far. Therefore we are looking at a miracle and breaking history to achieve this objective.
I sat down and watched the game with two neutrals (CFC fan and Gooner) and they both said that our team lacks pace and intensity in midfield and we look too predictable and slow. Unfortunately I agree with them. The other key point is that Gerrard is a good player but seems to have lost that yard of pace and spark.
Maybe time for some of us fans to realise that Gerrard may need to remodel his game and will not be the marauding attacking midfielder from 18 months ago he will need to become a more deep lying midfielder.
On a deeper level if we are some 30-35 points of first spot, I think that unless we put together a good league run like last season Kenny could be vulnerable.�
Americans are ruthless and want to be winners and I believe Kenny may have to win the FA cup to ensure he is 100% safe.�
I think this summer is going to be a very interesting one with possibly the biggest number of changes in managers across the top 6. I could see up-to 3 of the top six managers moving on this year.
Shepherds Bush Red
Our league form is indefensible. To be 4 points ahead of a team that just got promoted is shocking.
If things don't improve then changes are surely inevitable at the end of the season.
12 Feb 2012 00:08:00
we defo got stiched. Main headline suarez refuses to shake hands with evra. Am i missing something, weres the headline can someone tell me please. Oh i get it Murdoch empire diverting attention as usual. People should see who the real criminals are instead of smokesceens.
12 Feb 2012 00:04:46
Gerting tired of all this luiz stuff now. The whole build up was about them shakin hand and it was said in the media that they would shake and move on weather it was made up by the media or not I don't know but in the best interest of the club I beli e that he should of shook his hand and draw a line under it but that's football now we will fighting off all the flack all out for that supposed hand shake sir Alex clearly has the medias hand and does and says what he likes and gets what ever he want he really does make me so mad how he can say what ever he likes and come out smelling of roses at the end he in a small way fuelled this with his pre match comments did any one see rio refuse to shake his hand ?? Please can we move on now and look forward to the FA cup and carling cup final get back to what Liverpool do best ..... Do our talking on the pitch YNWA
Loz9064
The problem is we are not doing our talking on the pitch at all. Did you see the performance?
If things do not improve soon, a lot of people will need to be shipped out.
11 Feb 2012 23:55:30
Now I really hope no one calls me a fake LFC fan but you need to hear me out. I think at the end of this season Kenny has to resign! I love him and all the great stuff he's done for us but he is ruining his image for standing up for Suarez. Now I agree with Kenny for everything he's done including the Suarez t-shirts but we are fight a losing battle and it's ruining kenny's reputation. Just a little thought what do you think? And my god how brutal was downing today I can't even defend him anymore!
I would fight for justice over a million years rather than a year of success!
peter
It's becoming increasingly obvious Suarez is more of a distraction than an asset.
It may be best for all parties to part ways in May.
11 Feb 2012 23:45:50
Reading all the posts tonight about Suarez I have to say in my opinion Kenny should have kept him on the bench for the full game .Also the players must have been consulted before the game about the handshake and I can only assume Kenny thought there would have been a handshake by not doing so suarez only prolonged a saga that LFC would have liked seen put to bed and caused the name of Liverpool football club to be dragged into the headlines again for non footballing reasons, I know I will get a lot of stick for saying this but in the cold light of day please consider we have given the Mancs the moral high ground and done nothing for the name of LFC ,and as we have all said before no man is bigger than the club so Suarez has now got to start repaying the blind faith put in him or move on
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"Which novel is centred on certain ""goings-on"" at Wragley Hall, a country estate in the Midlands?" | Whichbook Blog
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2017
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The Body Snatcher
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 10 October 2016
Meet Brazil's answer to Tom Ripley: unnamed narrator who is just as amoral as Highsmith's famous anti-hero but only has one tenth of Ripley's brains. He does, however, have charm, a girl friend who works in a morgue and the luck of the devil. So sit back and enjoy sex, drugs and cadaver kidnapping, whilst hating yourself for smiling.
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Beside Myself
Posted by Frances Bell on 03 October 2016
To fully appreciate this novel the reader is asked to accept that a innocent prank can result in misery and madness and that responsible adults may not appreciate the significance of the joke. Told in the first person by 'Smudge' an identical twin, she describes how the prank results in her descent from delinquency to insanity. Strong characterisation, fast paced, brilliant on family dynamics, extremely disturbing but totally compulsive reading.
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Look at Me
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 26 September 2016
The repercussions of a father's indiscreet bohemian lifestyle are profound when the love child from his hippy past is contacted and invited to stay. Thus follows a five act tragedy of sibling rivalry, self-deception and simmering tension between the half-sisters, as both clamour for attention. This study of shifting family dynamics will challenge your sympathies for the characters as it unfolds - whose side will you be on?
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Sea Lovers
Posted by David Kenvyn on 19 September 2016
A wonderful, beautifully written series of short stories about what it is like to be a woman. Two stories refer to mythical creatures - a mermaid and a centaur - but all of them are about how we survive our lives, about the subterfuges that we have to take in order to preserve our privacy, our dignity and our self-respect. And especially about how women have to do these things in what is a patriarchal society. Not easy, but very worthwhile.
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If I Fall, If I Die
Posted by Ruth Ng on 12 September 2016
Muddled as to whether it’s trying to be a coming of age story, a boy’s adventure tale or a psychological investigation of anxiety and agoraphobia this, nonetheless, is so beautifully written that you forgive the jumbled themes and simply love the characters. Delicious descriptions and an unsettling mother/son relationship saw me race to the end with a satisfied sigh.
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Under the Udala Trees
Posted by Richard Ashman on 05 September 2016
A deft balance between love and war, this is a compellingly stylistic depiction of a politically brutal suppression of same-sex relationships, interspersed with allegory, folklore and intransigent religiosity. The dizzying tale powerfully interweaves the internal turmoil and competing societal forces that means choosing between heart and tradition. Determined and daring in the face of hatred and persecution. Gripping storytelling.
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Spill Simmer Falter Wither
Posted by Karen Pugh on 29 August 2016
Take a journey around Ireland with 'unnamed man' and One-Eye, his rescued hunting dog. This isn't an adventure of a lifetime - more a matter of survival. While the book is easy to read, I found the subject matter of loneliness, sadness and death difficult and upsetting. Don't read this book if you're not 'in a good place'. Whilst haunting and bleak, the book did contain elements of hope and kindness and love to another living being.
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The Mirror
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 22 August 2016
A Venetian nun and an eccentric composer: what can they possibly have in common? Quite a lot, as these two novellas show: a life of order and beauty, a quest for meaning. But their destiny will startle and move you in very different ways. I can say no more without spoiling your enjoyment!
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Ruby
Posted by Wendy Smith on 15 August 2016
Ephram Jennings has loved Ruby Bell since they were children, but Ruby is now a woman broken by years of abuse. This is a beautifully written novel about the redemptive power of compassion and love. Although I was intrigued by the supernatural elements of the story, scenes of sexual violence against women and children made for a read which pushed me to the limits of my endurance.
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Lunatics, Lovers and Poets
Posted by Wendy Smith on 08 August 2016
A well written short story can be more satisfying to the reader than an overblown novel and there are several in this commemorative anthology that hit the spot. Infused with international flavours, there's no need to swot up on Shakespeare or Cervantes to enjoy this literary mezze.
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Physical
Posted by Ruth Ng on 01 August 2016
Written without punctuation, or adhering to traditional structure, these poems vary from humorous observations to moving descriptions. Mostly about masculinity and what it means to be a man, there are moments of social observation and, as the title indicates, the poems are very physical in nature with strong, powerful imagery. Although the style is initially challenging the language is easy to read, and the experience of doing so is rewarding.
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The Portable Veblen
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 25 July 2016
Dreamy, nature-loving, anti-consumerist meets ambitious, status-conscious materialist working for Big Pharma - and it’s not long before serious prenuptial doubts emerge. Throw in dysfunctional upbringing on both sides and a disastrous meet-the-in-laws visit with the future hypochondriac mother-in-law from hell – and the relationship looks doomed. If you are into screwball comedy and like squirrels, you will enjoy this.
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The Blue Between Sky and Water
Posted by Gail Holmes on 18 July 2016
This is a story of the Palestinian struggle told through several generations of a family. It was easy to empathise with the characters in Gaza, especially Nazmiyeh, a strong woman with a wicked tongue, but I struggled with the character of Nur, an abused Palestinian girl raised in the USA and whose story felt, to me, a little contrived. Nevertheless, I learned a lot from this moving and poetic novel.
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The House of Shattered Wings
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 11 July 2016
A Paris in the fallout of war between rival magicians' Houses, angels regularly falling out of heaven, a dragon realm under the Seine, addiction to angel essence clearly replacing narcotics and their associated gangland crime. There are so many elements here to grapple with as the author invites you to join her in welding together this gripping fantasy, crime, thriller mash up. An epic read.
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A Book of Death and Fish
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 04 July 2016
An amazing book following the self-told story of a young man growing up in the Hebrides in the 1960s through to his death in the new millennium. Don’t be put off by the dialect, you’ll soon get your ear in and be reading it fluently. Don’t worry about the free-flowing style – it quickly seems natural. Don’t be put off by the fish, they are only part of the story. Remember it is a novel!
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Nothing But Grass
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 27 June 2016
The intricate story revolves around Ranby Manor and the events that took place there 200 years ago. The past and present converge throughout; tantalising the reader with parts of a puzzle. The complexity of the plot requires concentration as each character tells their own story. I embraced the role of amateur sleuth; attempting to draw correlations between an illustrated copy of Tennyson's poetry and an unnamed skeleton.
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Endgame
Posted by David Kenvyn on 20 June 2016
Romeo and Juliet meets the Godfather. These young lovers are not young. They should know better. When the whole town is lusting after possible buried treasure in an old church, trouble looms. The man, an author, cannot resist playing God. He even argues with God about who's fault that is. So a cycle of killing and revenge leads to tragedy. Very Shakespearean
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He Wants
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 13 June 2016
Lewis is 70, his life still bounded by the same town and the same people: but what is it that he actually wants? Just when I thought I knew, this very unsettling novel proved me wrong (again). And just when I thought I knew what he had done - or would do - wrong again! Engrossingly like life - and real people.
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The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 06 June 2016
Need a bunch of friends? Just step aboard the Wayfarer! Whether you enjoy big ideas, strong emotions or a beautifully imagined world, you'll soon be loath to return to Earth.
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The Beginning of the End
Posted by Richard Ashman on 30 May 2016
Lurking underneath the shock of explicit excesses and persistent pessimism is a unique novel that is brave in subject matter and assured in style. The spare and functional prose suits the loneliness and isolation of the main character and yet the unflinching description is balanced by a sense of dark comedy making this a thought-provoking book although not a cosy read.
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The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Peron
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 23 May 2016
Peronism and management theory are the two poles of this wry satire. When an executive gets accidentally involved in a workers' strike, his American training stands him in surprisingly good stead. By turns funny, disturbing and surreal, the story takes him on a journey of self-discovery. Will he emerge a new man?
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Frog
Posted by Wendy Smith on 16 May 2016
An epistolary narrative drives this meandering story about the affect of China's one child policy on a rural community. Though acts of brutality take place, they are tempered by episodes of black comedy. A challenging reading experience which surprised and shocked in unexpected ways.
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Whispers Through a Megaphone
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 09 May 2016
Ralph and Miriam meet by chance during a period of personal transition in both their lives. They are two perfect strangers looking for answers to questions neither of them know how to ask. These lost souls are brought together by fate, and as the reader you join them on their journey of discovery. Expect the ride to be bumpy, revealing and thoroughly entertaining all the way.
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Foreign Gods, Inc
Posted by David Kenvyn on 02 May 2016
This is a story of a clash of cultures, corruption and crushed dreams. For once, however, the central character is an African, who has been away from his home for a very long time. He has been living in New York for years - and he has not become rich. So he decides to steal a statue of the god Ngene from its shrine in his home village, to achieve his dream in his adopted country. Expect consequences - lots of them. Achebe would love this book.
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How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 25 April 2016
Recently divorced and teaching at Aarhus University, the unnamed narrator, a lapsed Muslim, is much more interested in his Hindoo friend Ravi's ability to improve their social lives, than he is in the comings and goings of their deeply religious Muslim landlord. When he begins to take notice, be prepared for some fundamental surprises in this witty, perceptive, really quite amazing novel.
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The Man I Became
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 18 April 2016
I usually avoid stories with talking animals but this one is something that is both special and unique. The narrator (a gorilla by birth) tells a tale that is moving and heart-warming in spite of the bleak vision of the world he inhabits. A short book, simply written, to read in one sitting but it packs some punch. Will leave you buzzing with questions about human motivation and what lengths we will go to for entertainment.
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At Hawthorn Time
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 11 April 2016
Written in a quasi-mystical pastoral style, the story is told from four viewpoints, as the characters’ relationships and their personal histories are revealed via their internal monologues. However, the real spirit of the novel is the rural landscape and the disconnection of modern man with nature, folklore and the old country ways - a moving elegy to a fast disappearing way of life.
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The Dog
Posted by Laura Bell on 04 April 2016
This is a brutal portrait of China and base human nature. I felt like I could see and hear the characters spit their lines at each other. The writing felt real and dirty - and visual like a movie. Sometimes I took my eyes from the page to wince because the images hit so hard - but I couldn't wait to be engrossed in the next short story.
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Gorsky
Posted by Frances Bell on 28 March 2016
A rags to riches story set in London. Niki, a Serbian refugee book shop assistant, is employed by Gorsky, a Russian oligarch, to buy Gorsky's personal library. Atmospheric descriptions of the Chelsea and Knightsbridge districts and of the lavish lifestyle of the London super rich combine to deliver an entertaining novel with shades of 'The Great Gatsby'.
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One Night, Markovitch
Posted by Richard Ashman on 21 March 2016
Switching between unrequited love and loathing; hope and despair, this is an exuberant portrayal of the comedy of human experience, encapsulating both life’s small domestic detail as well as the broader sweep of Jewish history. This is moving, funny, thought-provoking story-telling that reminds us that the miraculous is only a step away from the mundane.
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The Good Son
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 14 March 2016
Mickey, the narrator, is 11 years old, intelligent, gentle and living in the Ardoyne at the height of The Troubles. And if that weren't enough, his is mocked and tormented because, in his own words, ‘ everyone says I’m gay’. A terrifyingly realistic view of a dreadful time (in terms of both history and growing up) that is nevertheless often very funny. Highly recommended.
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Birth of a Bridge
Posted by Dot Cameron on 07 March 2016
An unusual novel where the main character is a bridge rather than any of the people who flock to work on building it. The visionary Mayor of Coca, an imaginary town in California, wants to transform it into a city to rival Dubai, but it needs a new and spectacular bridge. The progress of the building work interspersed with vignettes of the workers and the author's unusual prose style make this novel an intriguing, sometimes comic read.
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The Meursault Investigation
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 29 February 2016
Camus’s novel, The Outsider, portrayed the murder of ‘the Arab’ from the perspective of the killer, Meursault. Now, in this short novel, the reader learns who the unnamed Arab actually was through the voice of his troubled brother, Harun. Harun is an old man recounting the story of his brother’s death to an unnamed journalist in an Algerian bar. This sad story is an emotive one and I listened to Harun’s version of events with a heavy heart.
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Kimjongilia
Posted by David Kenvyn on 22 February 2016
This is a world of deceit, lies, idealism, commitment, self-serving, death, murder, invasion, resistance and sex - China and Korea from the Japanese invasion of the 1930s onwards. With Kim-il-Sung as one of the central characters, this is not sweetness and light. But you will want some people to survive. And it leaves you with a question: how did Chin Ho turn into the nice old man who has written the story down? Unless it's not Chin Ho ...
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The Mark and the Void
Posted by Anne Jones on 15 February 2016
A funny, at times absurdly funny, look at events in a small bank's Dublin arm on the cusp of the financial crash. Banking, funny? Yes, as seen through Claude a naive philosopher and employee, exploited by a shady writer There's a void at the heart of the tale because his relationships are as unreal as the bank's cash. You have to ask who's fooling who? Who's fooling you? Be counter-intuitive! Turn the very last page, and you may find out.
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The House in Smyrna
Posted by Ruth Ng on 08 February 2016
Short narrative strands twist and turn together with unnamed characters that force you to skip back and reread to try and understand what’s going on. Yet amongst the confusion, the writing is emotionally powerful and beautiful, as it moves gracefully from moments of sexual intimacy and violence to vivid travelogues. Difficult, but well worth the effort.
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Villa America
Posted by Wendy Smith on 01 February 2016
Villa America: Riviera home of wealthy Americans, Gerald and Sara Murphy, whose lavish parties are attended by Picasso, Hemingway, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. But despite the 'life lived as art' ethos, I felt like the only guest without a drink, wondering how soon things would turn ugly. And though I did not warm to any of the characters, I was moved by this fascinating story about people whose lives were a mystery to me.
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Chewing Gum
Posted by Anne Jones on 25 January 2016
A satirical narrator relates the tale of a mythic hero who attracts academic interest and a down-to-earth heroine who goes her own way. Libya comes to life across the centuries through the story of a Tripoli park. Families live their lives, often scandalous, whatever changes occur and everyone chews gum. This is not a book about recent Libyan regimes - or is it? I'm just beginning to understand it. Definitely worth a second read.
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The Looking-Glass Sisters
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 18 January 2016
What a read - events in the story are shocking, even repulsive yet the words it uses to describe them are so beautiful. Sympathy rebounds from one sister to the other. Who is the victim and who the aggressor? I changed my mind frequently. Claustrophobia and isolation in lives and landscape create a dreamlike quality which lurches into nightmare. I can't say I exactly enjoyed it but it pulled me back in each time I took a break. Powerful stuff.
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Tiger Milk
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 11 January 2016
Through Nini’s narration we experience her coming of age with best friend Jameelah. As these teenage rebels teeter on the brink of adulthood, the innocence of youth is shattered by the realities of urban life in Germany. A tried and tested plot formulae, I found the familiarity of the storyline both comforting and gripping.
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The Incarnations
Posted by Ruth Ng on 04 January 2016
Good for a wild ride through ancient and modern China, this reads a little like a short story collection although there is an overriding story arc concerning who is sending Wang mysterious letters and why. I wouldn't call it an enjoyable read, since it’s really very grim and unsettling. Yet the unpredictable nature of the narrative is intriguing, and it is certainly a powerful story.
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A Man Called Ove
Posted by Dot Cameron on 28 December 2015
A real feel-good read! Ove is 59, solitary and a bit of a curmudgeon, everything has to be just so and he is very intolerant of life in general. When his beloved wife dies and he loses his job, he decides he has nothing left to live for. However, his new neighbours have other ideas .... Lovely characters and a completely unexpected delight.
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The Visionist
Posted by Sandra Turner on 21 December 2015
A haunting, gripping story set in a farming community in Massachusetts, 1842. The story is told by three of the characters who are inexorably drawn together. A beautifully written narrative that explores the blurred boundaries of good and evil in a closed Shaker community and the men and women of the 'world' outside.
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What Ends
Posted by Anne Jones on 14 December 2015
We witness the demise of hope, a community and a family, as neighbours then siblings leave Trevor to care for declining parents and a failing business on a remote island. Told from the family's points of view the strains imposed on them in bleak conditions couldn't fail to move me. I rooted for Trevor, but I knew he had to move on to learn to live. An elegiac tribute to islanders who have struggled to maintain their way of life.
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Song for an Approaching Storm
Posted by Richard Ashman on 07 December 2015
A love triangle that vibrantly portrays the transition from poetic daydreamer to brutal despot. This sweat-stained novel vividly encapsulates the Cambodian political intrigue resulting in a legacy of trauma in an evocative atmosphere that makes your blood run cold. The three distinct voices tell a strikingly human tale that is both mysterious and frightening.
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Black Country
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 30 November 2015
A homage to the Black Country, this personal collection of poetry has grown organically from its West Midlands roots. An assortment of memories provide an intimate insight into various different characters, whilst the use of colloquial dialect lends an honesty and authenticity to each poem. Everyday lives are recounted with grit and realism and I was captivated by the personal voice resonating throughout.
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Fishnet
Posted by David Kenvyn on 23 November 2015
This is a disturbing book, mainly because the subject - prostitution - leaves people very uncomfortable, especially men. It is also a revelatory book, written with understanding, compassion and sense. Fiona, through searching for her sister, is led into the world of sex workers, and comes to understand the workings of the industry. It feels right. It challenges perceptions. It makes you think. And the story is gripping.
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Reader for Hire
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 16 November 2015
This novella is part of Peirene Press's ‘Chance Encounter’ series and was also a cinematic success. It describes the saucy adventures of a young French woman who decides to hire herself out as a reader to people in their own homes. But what do her clients really want – and how far will she go? Apart from the eroticism, there is also is plenty to delight the serious bibliophile, even one unfamiliar with French literature.
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Snow in May
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 09 November 2015
Discover the heart of Russia in these moving and wry short stories. Here are lives of quiet desperation with flashes of humour and humanity, such as are lived everywhere. But this is a cold, cold place where, in living memory, people were once interned for their beliefs...
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Life Drawing
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 02 November 2015
There's no doubt that the affair is coming. It as good as announces itself with full headlights and blaring horn. The only question is, what sort of karma it might deliver. And here’s the moral dilemma: is the artistic inspiration awoken by new (and illicit) love worth the inevitable tragic consequences? The writing here has the power to make the reader live every decision and keep asking the question: would I do?
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The Fishermen
Posted by Franes Bell on 26 October 2015
Why did the lives of the 'perfect' Nigerian family disintegrate into violence and misery? Was it witchcraft, mental illness or parental absence? The poetic style of the writing which initially seems old-fashioned and traditional, exaggerates the extraordinary and horrific events. Told in the words of Ben, one of five brothers who is nine years old at the start of the story, this is a totally absorbing debut novel. Definitely one to watch.
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Ostrich
Posted by Dot Cameron on 19 October 2015
If you want a book which makes you laugh and cry at the same time, this is it. Alex is 12 and has a brain tumour. He tells his story in typical teenage style as he struggles to understand what is happening to him. With the aid of a friend he tries to solve the mystery of his parents' odd behaviour. Are they getting divorced? And why does his beloved hamster seem thinner? Bursting with humour but you will need tissues at the end.
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What to do with Lobsters in a Place like Klippiesfontein
Posted by David Kenvyn on 12 October 2015
Klippiesfontein is the kind of place where you do not find lobsters for sale – but that doesn’t deter Marius, with surreal results. This story revels in modern South African life, gently poking fun at the insanity of racists, while allowing them humanity. A rainbow shines.
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My Biggest Lie
Posted by Paul Doyle on 05 October 2015
Let yourself by whisked along by a novel that is at times a heady, intoxicating blur and at others, funny, honest and charming. It follows Liam as he escapes to Buenos Aires, far away from the mess he's made of both his relationship and his job with a London publisher (not a good idea to be held responsible for the death of your most celebrated author). But in spite of all his mistakes it's hard not to end up rooting for Liam.
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The Way Inn
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 28 September 2015
This book morphs engrossingly from a slyly humourous look at the world of interchangeable business conferences and trade fairs into a nightmare scenario, where literally nothing is as it seems - or is it?
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Dept of Speculation
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 21 September 2015
Written in a blog diary style, these are bittersweet dispatches from life on the frontline of a failing marriage. All the agonies and joys of motherhood are here too, condensed into unforgettable moments that any woman who has ever been ‘on the edge’ will empathise with, even if you have never had to walk a baby to sleep for hours.
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Don't Try This at Home
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 14 September 2015
This amazing collection defies definition but the overwhelming feeling on finishing is one of awe. The stories are subversive, beautifully weird, melancholy and suffused with a strange and joyful magic. The characters - both human and otherwise - are brave survivors and hugely memorable. Dip in - then take time to allow each individual story to sink into your consciousness before you return for your next fix. And return you will - it's addictive.
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Daimones
Posted by Karen Pugh on 07 September 2015
I'm a science fiction 'virgin' and really wasn't looking forward to reading this book. But boy, am I glad I did. Original plot and easy to read, I romped through in days. I found it a frightening experience, not frightening in the sense of BOO!, but one which leaves you quietly unsettled. I don't think I'll look forward to going to bed next time it's a windy night - you never know what you'll wake up to or with whom!
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The Axeman's Jazz
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 31 August 2015
Yes there's a good cop and a bad cop, you suspect that the young Lewis Armstrong finding his jazz voice will feel like tokenism, you always know the modest heroine will nail the big baddy, that New Orleans will suffer one of its catastrophic inundations, and that the Axeman will have some moral justification. But it never feels like formula; every element has an authentic, historical, dynamic pulse in the perfect storm of a jazz thriller.
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Weathering
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 24 August 2015
Flowing, frozen, vaporised, water shapes the lives of a woman, her daughter and her mother in an isolated house in the country. What could have been a ghost story is instead the tender, moving and life-affirming tale of their struggles towards self-realisation. It worked on me like a spell and left me unwilling to surface.
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The Limits of the World
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 17 August 2015
This is a truly scary book, but it is one that offers a glimmer of hope because people are prepared to defy a totalitarian state for the pleasure of reading. You may think that you know what is going to happen because of the references to '1984' but you will be surprised. This is an adventure story with a bite, a tale of political morality that cuts deep into your soul. Andrew Raymond Drennan is definitely an author to follow.
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Children of the Jacaranda Tree
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 10 August 2015
I was deeply moved by the portrayal of two generations of Iranian citizens at the mercy of a tyrannical political regime. A story of humanity and suffering at a time of unrest, the author paints a bleak picture of the punishment metered out to anyone daring to voice an opinion. The story is intimate; following first the parents and then their grownup children as history repeats itself with the bittersweet aftershocks felt for years to come.
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The Restoration of Otto Laird
Posted by Richard Ashman on 03 August 2015
An endearing, thought-provoking and life-affirming tale with quirky yet likeable characters. A real feeling of the passing of time makes this a poignant retrospective shot through with the symbiosis of memory and place. This is a very human story where regrets and reconciliation result in feelings of hope.
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The Texture of Shadows
Posted by David Kenvyn on 27 July 2015
Mandla Langa gives a no-holds-barred insight into the horrors of the war waged by the apartheid state on its own people, and of the psychological consequences to both sides. Langa does not seek to present one side as angels and the others as devils because he is far too honest for that. This is what gives the book its resonance, and makes it a must-read for anyone who does not see violence as anything other than the last resort.
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White Hunger
Posted by Wendy Smith on 20 July 2015
Winter, 1867 in Northern Finland. Starvation forces a woman to leave her dying husband and go in search of food with her two young children. Along the way, she encounters the best and worst of humanity. Relentlessly bleak, this short tale of self-sacrifice and hope packs an almighty punch and demands of its reader a strong constitution.
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Meatspace
Posted by Cath Allwood on 13 July 2015
Two stories for the price of one. Loveable and longing-to-be-hip young writer Kitab and his dashing daredevil brother Aziz discover their doppelgangers in cyberspace. But what's going to happen when they all get together in meatspace? If you, like me, have no idea what this means, you need to read this! It's hilariously funny and very rude - and finally, sad and surprisingly sweet.
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An Untamed State
Posted by Janet Scott on 06 July 2015
The kidnapping of a wealthy young woman in Haiti by a brutal gang makes a very disturbing read. Mireille has a golden life, a happy marriage and a beautiful young son and she thinks she has everything ... until this. The quality of the writing is superb and the pace moves along at a terrific speed. Once read this won't be easily forgotten.
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The Exit
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 29 June 2015
Rose, a feisty 82 year old struggling with dementia, is convinced that something sinister is going on in room 7 of her care home. Catherine is the self-obsessed young care aide that Rose must convince to take action, before they are both in danger of a fate not only worse than death, but horrifyingly deadly. This chilling but compulsive mix of psychological suspense, horror and black humour leads to a shocking climax that will leave you stunned.
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The Street Sweeper
Posted by Julie Hird on 22 June 2015
This is epic and bold storytelling featuring the relationship and life struggles of an African American janitor and a Jewish academic. The lives of closely researched and interlinked characters from the holocaust to the American Civil Rights movement emerge in a passionate powerful and memorable testimony that recollects cruelty, heroism, kindness and love. This mixture of sometimes harrowing fact and hopeful fiction lives long in the memory.
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The Life of a Banana
Posted by Cath Allwood on 15 June 2015
Young orphaned Xing and her older brother Lai Ker suffer from bereavement, racism and bullying. Then there's their stern old Grandma to contend with and her traditional Chinese ideas on bringing up kids. I found myself rooting for brave, lovable Xing and desperately hoping things would work out for her. A quirky, easy read which tackles some big issues with humour and compassion.
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Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals
Posted by Richard Ashman on 08 June 2015
Rhetorically audacious and aching with imagination, these poignant, rough, raw and often offensive poems are outrageous and designed to shock. Nothing is off limits as we view the world through a disquieting metaphor. Written with a traumatised, searing voice, this whirlwind collection of poetry will both disturb and amuse.
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Everything I Never Told You
Posted by Anne Jones on 01 June 2015
Were you expected to live a vicarious life? This is Lydia's fate, she must be a popular all-American girl destined for medical school to satisfy her parents. Her disappearance triggers a retelling of their mixed Chinese American family story. The longings and feelings her parents brother and sister kept to themselves over years, burst out at last. A sad, haunting story it's also a mystery that kept me guessing to the end.
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The Rabbit Back Literature Society
Posted by Paul Cowan on 25 May 2015
Teacher Ella is chosen as the tenth member of the elite Rabbit Back Literature Society but swiftly discovers nothing is as it seems. The founder of the society disappears in an indoor snowstorm, words rearrange themselves in books and no-one wants to talk about the boy rumoured to be the original tenth member. This intriguing book is a very grown up fantasy about writing and reality.
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The Absent Therapist
Posted by Paul Doyle on 18 May 2015
Reading this was akin to playing a game of pacman but without the pursuing critters. At first there is an ever changing narrative of sharp right angled jerks as one story - some as short as one line - veers off to another that is completely different. Like the game you become accustomed to these movements, but to the end they keep the reader on their toes.
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Sedition
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 11 May 2015
Like a darker, Gothic version of Jane Austen's social commentaries on women's marriage prospects, this bawdy excursion into the sexual politics of bourgeois matchmaking in Georgian London subverts our expectations. Echoing the social upheavals of the French Revolution, taboo themes of transgressive sex, seduction, violence, incest and rape provide plenty of material for book clubs to explore.
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The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
Posted by Wendy Smith on 04 May 2015
What a surprising little book this is and quite hard to pigeonhole. I could not condone the actions of a postman who steams open the letters he intercepts. But my unease was swept away by the beautiful haiku and tanka that form part of the story - simply sublime.
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The Poisoning Angel
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 27 April 2015
Helene Jegado was no ordinary child and her evil doings continue as she passes into adulthood. She has an unsavoury taste for death and uses her skills as a cook to poison her unsuspecting victims. One by one they fall in this macabre tale of murder most vile. It's unusual to have no compassion for a female protagonist but this was certainly the case here. Helene's story left behind a bitter aftertaste yet was strangely addictive too.
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Beastings
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 20 April 2015
This brutal novel packs a hard punch punctuated by occasional flashes of black humour. It's a story of primal urges and the base human instinct for survival. The main characters - all without names - ought to be 2-dimensional and distant but instead they are deep, rounded and unforgettable. The Cumbrian fells heave with life and radiate with beauty yet churn with foreboding and danger. And the ending ... suffice to say, I didn't see that coming.
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The Man With the Compound Eyes
Posted by Richard Ashman on 13 April 2015
Full of mysticism and imagery, this is a novel anchored in ecological concerns. Its richly poetic style brings nature to life in various guises and the characters' voices vividly portray their culture and identity. The raw and complex beauty of this book will capture your imagination whilst also delivering a message of loneliness and loss.
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Fun Parts
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 06 April 2015
Truly black tragicomedy can be found in these stories, which are not so much of born losers as of those fated not even to compete. A book as American as Apple Pie - a pie that's been flattened by Death on a Motorised Vehicle.
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Into a Raging Blaze
Posted by Cath Allwood on 30 March 2015
Carina should never have accepted the USB from the mysterious Jean. Its contents open a can of very nasty worms and the idealistic young civil servant is soon running for her life. When agents from MI6 and the CIA turn up, she also discovers it’s not a good idea to have a boyfriend called Jamal ... An authentic, convincing read and more than a bit scary.
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Flight
Posted by Paul Doyle on 16 March 2015
As the title would suggest this book is about people and places in transit. Largely set in Ireland in 2004 four lives are brought together, each of them at a point of change in their lives - at one of life's junctions. The stories of two families and the women within them creates the canvass for the bigger picture of change in society. It is a quietly effective story, elegantly told, always nudging the reader to read on.
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I'm OK, I'm Pig
Posted by Anne Jones on 09 March 2015
I recommend these poems if you are up for a tough demanding eye opening read. Persevere and be rewarded with a view of a world I for one had no conception of. If I thought of South Korean women at all I imagined them as emancipated as their Western sisters, but learnt that women's poetry needed to break free, and this collection shows how it can be done. Try it and have your eyes opened too. Notes and appendix were essential to my understanding.
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One More Thing
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 02 March 2015
Recommended not only for the many fans of the author and stand-up comedian, but also for those who enjoy earlier Woody Allen films. Plus those who want stories to make them laugh and make them think - but who sometimes only have time to read one page or less.
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Lolito
Posted by Richard Ashman on 23 February 2015
A light-hearted yet credible depiction of a controversial theme successfully captures feelings of loneliness and despair together with empathy and compassion. In this contradictory world of banalities and perceived slights, infidelities assume comic and magnified proportions as the characters behave with ageless (im)maturity all described with stylistic aplomb.
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Animals
Posted by Rush Ng on 16 February 2015
Vulgar, intense, fast and funny this is a hedonistic tale of friendship, drink, drugs and sex. I struggled with the hold that Tyler has over Laura, but found it to be an interesting look at love, growing up at thirty, and what happens when girls behave badly.
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One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 09 February 2015
Comprising three short stories and one hundred examples of flash fiction, this collection of cautionary tales and dystopian allegories describe an absurdist version of apocalypse now, then and future, where the everyday world is seen through a warped lens darkly. To be recommended for the adventurous reader who likes prose poetry with attitude.
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The Last Word
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 02 February 2015
A mischievous satire which pokes fun at the luvvies and pretensions of the literary world. If you need to like the characters you may find this a challenging read. Clearly you are meant to find their amorality repulsive as well as funny, their predatory sexuality hypocritical compared to their liberal credentials. So, if you are feeling cynical about big name authors and the aura of publishing, this may be for you.
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Nowhere People
Posted by Cath Allwood on 26 January 2015
If you think a novel about the plight of Brazil’s indigenous people sounds a bit dry and remote, this book will prove you wrong! Race, dispossession, identity and loss are brought to vivid life through the tragic, ambivalent love affair between a rich white Brazilian boy and a poor Guarani Indian girl. However, Paulo’s no spoilt brat and Maina’s no helpless victim. No easy answers to the big questions here, but lots of food for thought.
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Naw Much of a Talker
Posted by Karen Pugh on 19 January 2015
A novel set in Switzerland and written in the broad Scottish dialect isn't an easy combination to accept. But accept it I did and surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Not always easy, I had to re-read some passages, but worth it. The narrator is Goalie who I liked very much. He's a trusting fella, far too trusting and for this reason his friends take full advantage. The moral of the story shows that having a good heart doesn't necessarily reap rewards.
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Ancillary Justice
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 12 January 2015
In this intergalactic quest Breq is determined to avenge her nemesis. Half-human, half-ancillary, Breq is a multidimensional character who introduces the reader to various different adversaries and allies along the way. This leap into a fantastical world may at first seem farfetched, but the nub of the story is one of conflict and unrest between different rival factions, making it an instantly recognisable and contemporary plot.
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Love and Fallout
Posted by Richard Ashman on 15 December 2014
An evocative insight into life on Greenham Common and its aftermath portrayed in a sensitive and compelling novel. There’s a real sense of authenticity as the formative experiences of youth shape family and relationships. Great character observations; sometimes excruciating, often heartbreakingly sad, frequently funny.
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Good Kings, Bad Kings
Posted by Anne Jones on 08 December 2014
This book has it all; pain, laughter, love, grief, friendship, betrayal, humour, tragedy. But it's the characters who bring it to life, a collection of people many of whom I'd like to meet. All connected in some way with the questionable American care system for disabled children, patients and staff tell a sometimes brutal story in their unique voices. And the story is, 'We're just like you, good and bad. Ignore the disabilities please!'
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How Should a Person Be?
Posted by Wendy Smith on 01 December 2014
This novel breaks the mould. Don’t expect much in the way of plot – instead there are episodes driven by dialogue culled from real life conversations. At the centre is a friendship between two young women who want to become artists. The whole is raw, shocking, sexually very graphic and compelling. You have been warned!
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Moss Witch and Other Stories
Posted by Sandra Turner on 24 November 2014
A ground-breaking collection of short stories evolving through conversations with scientists. Each one is a fusion of narrative and science. I found them a stimulating mix of natural history, geology, physics, medicine and astronomy with contemporary fiction, myth and folklore. The scientists complement each story with a scientific analysis including their reactions to the author's creative interpretations. Will appeal to the curious reader.
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The Summer We Got Free
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 17 November 2014
Since the death of her twin Geo, Ava – once a vibrant child and brilliant artist – lives a colourless existence. She and her family subsist in a greyness of perpetual grief; ostracised and persecuted by their local church. Then, 17 years later, a stranger arrives. This story feels like reading a painting - shaded with mystery, loss, racial prejudice, and gay love - experiencing with Ava and her family a rediscovery of the vivid colours of life.
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Deaf at Spiral Park
Posted by Alison Hedley on 10 November 2014
A original, surreal and philosophical debut novel exploring what it is that makes us human. A bear leaves his forest home and takes a series of jobs in an unnamed city. We meet a diverse and bizarre cast of characters who get drawn into his complex world including a recruitment consultant who suffers from recurring death! Some very disturbing scenes but also some very funny ones in particular those involving the absurdities of office life!
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Girl with all the Gifts
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 03 November 2014
Post-apocalyptic England is a disturbing place overrun with infected monsters, the grimly named Hungries. As the last remaining humans tread their dangerous course home, there is one central complication to their group dynamic: Melanie. I fell in love with this little hybrid girl who is part monster yet with a very human heart. Thrilling, disturbing and heartbreaking in equal measure, it kept me thinking long after the final page was turned.
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SOUND
Posted by Cath Allwood on 27 October 2014
This book is a real one-off. I couldn't get into it for a long time and then it gradually started to make sense. Think stream-of-consciousness written as a music score or a play with narrative mixed in. Highly original in style, challenging and different from anything I've ever read before. It's certainly weird; whether it's also wonderful is for you to decide.
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We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 20 October 2014
This tale of family dynamics begins with comic undertones which are jolted by a shift in perception a quarter of the way in. The silence, self-delusion and guilt of family life find echoes in dysfunctional relationships between humans and animals. Inspired by real-life experiments in the 1930s, this book explores issues of ethics, nature/nurture and animal rights - lots for reading groups to discuss, but could be distressing for some readers.
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If I Close My Eyes Now
Posted by Richard Ashman on 13 October 2014
Filtered through childhood eyes, this story of incest, exploitation and corruption in high places is told in deceptively simple prose. The back story of Brazil as it lurches into the developing world permeates the whole book and provides a haunting back-drop to unlikely friendships in a time of innocence and hope.
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Mr Loverman
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 06 October 2014
A funny and touching love story of two men whose lifelong secret affair is shared with the reader. Barrington 'Barry' Walker and his partner Morris are two lovable characters who seized my attention from the very first page. Beneath Barry's swagger lies a serious undercurrent of racial and sexual prejudice which shapes his character and makes his battles ever more poignant and heartfelt.
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Prayers for the Stolen
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 29 September 2014
It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be young and poor and growing up in a Mexico which regards young women as commodities to be traded. However, this book took me right there whether I wanted or imagined it or not. I was gripped from start to finish.
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The Machine
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 22 September 2014
Is it possible to reprogramme a brain that has been damaged by dementia or post traumatic stress disorder? This modern Gothic tale is a chilling warning of might go wrong when we attempt to 'play God' with the mind. The claustrophobic and ominous background of a society breaking down through the effects of global warming helps to make this an emotionally charged reading experience. The shock ending will make you want to read this novel twice.
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Rustication
Posted by Catherine Stansfield on 15 September 2014
Although graphic and explicit at times this is nevertheless a compelling Victorian gothic style novel. A gloomy winter countryside is the atmospheric setting for a story of increasing intrigue and suspicions with lurid letters and gruesome acts culminating in a particularly nasty murder.
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One Three One: A Time-shifting Gnostic Hooligan Road Novel
Posted by David Kenvyn on 08 September 2014
If Dr Who was a football fan, this is exactly the kind of journey that would happen to him. It's a bit like a dope fiend stealing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak or bungee jumping through time portals from one completely insane world to another. Or like travelling through Sardinia with Lawrence of Arabia, instead of the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Ken Russell, we need you to make this book into a film.
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Norwegian by Night
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 01 September 2014
Sheldon Horowitz is a grumpy 82 year old ex-marine, haunted by his past, who moves from New York to Oslo to live with his granddaughter. When he rescues a young Balkan boy from a murder scene, they go on the run from the killer. Take a Scandi-noir chase novel, add in crisp deadpan humour, nostalgia, grief, dementia and a touch of Huckleberry Finn. Out comes a compelling, multilayered, rich and haunting thriller about age, regret and survival.
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Butterflies in November
Posted by Rush Ng on 25 August 2014
A woman, dumped by her husband whose mistress is pregnant, takes a road trip around Iceland with the four year old deaf son of her friend. The protagonist is engaging and the relationship she builds with the child is endearing. This is an unusual road trip story, funny and sweet and charmingly odd!
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Navada
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 18 August 2014
This straight-talking portrayal of Maria's life as a transsexual is set against the backdrop of drugs and stereotypes in New York city. We meet her during a period of transition; playing witness to her inner struggles to accept her new identity as a woman. My eyes were opened to the endless turmoil faced by transsexual men and women and their daily fight to gain acceptance from others in order to find peace with who they truly are.
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Sworn Virgin
Posted by Richard Ashman on 11 August 2014
This fascinating insight into Albanian culture is a gripping, metamorphic tale. The themes of culture, gender, identity and family are explored with real understanding and piercing authenticity in this tender and arrestingly original novel.
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In Bloom
Posted by Frances Bell on 04 August 2014
Fifteen year old Francis is diagnosed with leukaemia. How is it possible to find humour in this situation? Amazingly, this book does. Some readers may find the treatment details disturbing but it’s emotionally honest and very good on family relationships - and Francis will make you laugh. Aimed at young adults, but not exclusively. All ages will get something from it. A very sad but also a very funny and optimistic read.
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Eat My Heart Out
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 28 July 2014
In this darkly comic, post-feminist satire on women behaving badly, Pilger uses deliberately offensive and cringe-worthy scenes to show how so-called 'empowered', yet self-harming female media icons make it difficult for girls to find positive role models, leaving them caught between the housewife and the whore. Ignore the misleading cover illustration, this is not a tale of SM eroticism, but a hard hitting antidote to saccharine chick lit.
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Seoul Survivors
Posted by Anne Jones on 21 July 2014
Seoul may be one of the few places on earth to escape an asteroid speeding towards us, but life there is far from safe. Genetic engineering on an horrific scale, drugs, deceit, perverted sex, this frenetic account is not for the squeamish. Most characters are deeply unpleasant, and deserve all they get, but I did feel for those innocents who though they may escape Lucifer's Hammer, are snared unwittingly in a deadly trap.
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Bombora
Posted by Richard Ashman on 14 July 2014
Angst-filled tangle of gay love, loss, reunion, reconciliation and forgiveness, but also a tale of loyalty and relationships within families. Written with dry humour and passages of lyrical prose, the first person narrative is shared between the three main characters keeping the reader focussed on the consequence of actions and decisions which is often complex and intense.
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Shop Front
Posted by David Kenvyn on 07 July 2014
A stunning first novel by a very talented author. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand masculinity, Scotland and the way out of the traps that men sometimes let themselves fall into because they have to prove that they are 'real men' - whatever that means. Samuel Best's writing is perceptive, enthralling and stylish. I cannot wait for his next novel.
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Claire of the Sea Light
Posted by Wendy Smith on 30 June 2014
The focus of these lyrical, inter-linked stories shifts from a missing girl to individual members of a community who become drawn into the search for her. A contemporary Haitian setting along with each character’s back story, where rich and poor alike experience personal tragedy, make this an unflinching portrayal of a town bowed by loss but united with hope.
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She Rises
Posted by Frances Bell on 23 June 2014
An 18th century seafaring adventure with a great deal of nautical detail and 'on board' brutality. On land, there's romance, intrigue and tragedy and eventually the two strands collide to form one personality. Brilliantly descriptive of the port of Harwich. An atmospheric and intriguing debut.
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Back to Back
Posted by Karen Pugh on 16 June 2014
Certain words sprang to mind when I finished this story - vulgar, sad, angry and disturbed. It makes no difference where a child is born or under what circumstances - all children need a mother's love. Ella, Thomas and the twins didn't. They had Kathe, a mother who was selfish, political and unloving. Yes, life was difficult in East Germany but made more so with Kathe's coldness to her children which led to a tragic ending.
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It's The Stars Will Be Our Lamps
Posted by Paul Doyle on 09 June 2014
With the all seeing, omnipresent Puca as our guide, this story - a modern retelling of an ancient Irish tale - weaves a mystical and vivid path, meeting along the way a miscellany of characters. There's danger fused with dark humour, sentences dripping colour and manages to be both wicked and fun at the same time.
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Time on my Hands
Posted by Anne Jones on 02 June 2014
I took time to get into this story of young boys emulating the Italian Red Brigades. At first I couldn't believe that eleven year old's could think and act so politically, so strategically, but the horror grew and engulfed my disbelief. We know that children can be cruel but the calculation behind the dark cruelty of these incipient serial killers was especially chilling. A tough haunting read.
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The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 26 May 2014
Obsession, bullying and self-harm are daily ingredients in the rise of a young chef in a London restaurant. Add a touch of black magic (and I don't mean pepper...) and you have a grotesque tale of ambition and twisted sensuality. Guaranteed to leave a strong after-taste!
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Revenge
Posted by David Kenvyn on 19 May 2014
A series of lyrical and beautiful interlinked stories that are simply a joy to read. The skill with which the stories are interwoven, so that preceding stories become fiction in the later stories creates a beauty that is truly enthralling. The tranquillity of the writing adds to the disturbing nature of the stories. This is a book not to be missed.
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The Distance
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 12 May 2014
An authentic thriller of multiple layers which reveal unexpected connections in a very satisfying way. But what makes this debut novel leap from the genre shelves is the central lead Karla, or is it Charlotte? Karla is a superb creation - written so convincingly that you can't get her out of your head and will gladly follow her anywhere. The whole is a terrifying, tension-fuelled race against time that will grip you by the throat.
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The Dig
Posted by Sue Bone on 05 May 2014
A hauntingly beautiful but brutally honest and shocking account of rural Wales. It captures the inner tensions of rural hardship, isolation and the survival of those that live solely off the land. A memorable read, but certainly no amusing countryside idyll.
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At the Time of Partition
Posted by Frances Bell on 28 April 2014
One woman's experience of the partition of India in 1947, told in verse. The traumatic experience is made even more tragic by the loss of the widow's brain damaged son somewhere on the trek from their home in India to the newly established Pakistan. Beautifully and movingly written by an award winning poet. Definitely one to read again and again.
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The Honey Guide
Posted by Anne Jones on 21 April 2014
A dead prostitute. A detective with baggage, enemies and a charming sidekick. A twisting plot, breathless conclusion. We've been here before surely? Well no, because this is Nairobi, memories of the US Embassy bomb still fresh, in the grip of a violent election, tribal and racial rivalries erupting. Add child trafficking and female genital mutilation and things are different. Not your usual whodunit, but one I needed to get to the bottom of.
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The Dead Lake
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 14 April 2014
A really curious mixture of the magic and mischief of Russian fairytale with the stark every day reality of a family living and working in a tiny, isolated community, chosen as the location for nuclear testing. Yerzhan's story - his musical gift, his love for his beautiful cousin and the irreversible act of bravado which delivers dark and twisted consequences - will haunt you long after you finish this short but perfectly executed tale.
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Malarky
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 07 April 2014
Don’t be fooled by the comic eccentricities of Irish rural life depicted in the narrator’s inner monologues. Referring to herself as 'Our Woman' and her dull clod of a husband as 'Himself', this middle-aged Irish farmer's wife has her resilience worn away by grief and disappointment, tripping the narrative over into much darker and surreal territory. A modern day Molly Bloom, 'Our Woman' is a character whose voice you won’t easily forget.
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Dot
Posted by Karen Pugh on 31 March 2014
One family, three women of different ages with different personalities doesn't lead to a very conducive home life for daughter, Dot - but she muddles through. A sad but strangely enchanting story with each chapter moving through life and time. The chapters help us to understand why the family, their lovers and friends behave, react and adapt to the circumstances they face. Really nice read with a heart-stopping conclusion.
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The Round House
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 24 March 2014
You will carry Joe around with you for a long time. His world changes suddenly when his mother is raped on their reservation. Although overwhelming at times, the story is lifted by warm humour, brilliant characters and strong friendships. I learnt a lot about the plight of contemporary Native Americans.
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Young Blood
Posted by David Kenvyn on 17 March 2014
Sifiso Mzobe is South Africa's answer to Irvine Welsh or Alan Bissett. He takes the lives of young men in Umlozi, one of Durban's roughest townships and, in beautiful, sympathetic prose, he makes us understand what it is that drives young men like Sipho, Vusi and Musa into a life of crime. And he makes us understand the dreadful consequences if they are not able to break free and take their lives into their own hands.
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Paradises
Posted by Wendy Smith on 10 March 2014
What struck me most about this story set in present day Buenos Aires was the passivity of its young female narrator whose life appears to be a series of interactions with characters from the fringes of society. Yet this is not a depressing read; I was drawn to a woman who, though lacking any moral compass, could make me smile with her wryly humorous observations.
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The Lemon Grove
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 03 March 2014
This one packs one punch after another - intense, bruising and teetering on the edge. It's impossible to remain impartial - but whom can you trust? Expect oscillating sympathies, a tortured twist of emotion and expectation - and lots of sex. What's more, I didn't see that final fatal blow coming at all.
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The Quiddity of Will Self
Posted by Paul Doyle on 24 February 2014
A whirligig of a novel, one that refuses to sit down. There is invention, fun and exuberance in abundance. What sets out as an apparent mystery centred on the enigmatic Will Self Club and the death of Sylvie, soon heads off on its bizarre journey. If nothing else you have to admire the verve of this book. And not just for fans of Will Self.
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Almost English
Posted by Anne Jones on 17 February 2014
If you were embarrassed by your family as a teenager then spare a thought for Marina driven to a disastrous experiment by her rather pathetic mother and a host of elderly Hungarian relatives. Funny and touching on one level, but at another this is an exploration of secrecy and the damage it can do to a family. Each member has her secrets - what might their unraveling bring? I was left wanting to know.
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Chasing the King of Hearts
Posted by Ian Baillie on 10 February 2014
Written in a series of brief, headed chapters, this is a novel of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, and its aftermath. Izolda is Jewish but doesn't look it, and expends a lot of effort trying to conceal her identity. Her husband is caught by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz, and Izolda sets out to find and release him, but eventually also ends up in the camp. The author manages to convey the horrors of that time, but in a superbly understated way.
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Quesadillas
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 03 February 2014
An entertaining satire on political corruption in 1980’s Mexico, where rampant inflation has stricken even middle-class families with extreme poverty. Narrated from the offbeat perspective of the adolescent Orestes, one of seven siblings fighting for his share of the meagre food rations, this picaresque coming-of-age story goes from the absurdist to the totally surreal, engaging the reader without sentimentality. Be prepared for strong language.
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Isabel's Skin
Posted by Sue Bone on 27 January 2014
A quiet London book-valuer visits rural Somerset, and makes a nightmarish discovery that immediately alters his life. This is a quirky, psychological, gothic novel that has enough suspense to make your skin crawl, although unusually short for this descriptive style of genre.
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The Son
Posted by Wendy Smith on 20 January 2014
A three-strand narrative drives this epic novel about a Texan family dynasty, cutting to and fro across five generations. Initially I found the different viewpoints jarred, interrupting an otherwise fascinating story, but I soon became absorbed. Graphically recounted scenes of rape, murder and torture make a strong constitution essential to read this story.
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The Ghost Bride
Posted by Celia Jenkins on 13 January 2014
I really enjoyed this book and its enthralling mix of history, culture, and the supernatural. Set in 1890's Malaya (modern day Malaysia) the vividly described places and characters drew me in to the story and I felt as if I was journeying with the main character, Li Lan, as she tries to navigate life not just in the real world, but also in the spirit world. The resulting adventure was both thrilling and ingenious.
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A Tale for the Time Being
Posted by David Kenvyn on 06 January 2014
A Zen novel about quantum mechanics, travelling across time, experience, geographical locations, and a whole range of ethical questions which will make you pause for thought more than once. If only so that you can be sure that you understand what is going on. But if you stick with this story, you will learn something about the world in which you live, and the possibilities that may arise from the decisions that you take on a daily basis.
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The Testament of Mary
Posted by Anne Jones on 30 December 2013
Here is a challenge to the generally accepted view of Mary the mother of Jesus. Some will find it shocking, others refreshing. Though not what her minders want to hear, Mary tells her own story and that of her son in a short powerful narrative, intense and compelling. I was deeply moved, even more so as the mother of a son. I was also prompted to think about truth - is my truth your fiction?
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We Need New Names
Posted by Ian Baillie on 23 December 2013
Initially I didn't think I was going to like this book, with its strangely-named characters: Bastard, Godknows, Bornfree .... The first half is set in Zimbabwe (unnamed), but when the narrator, Darling, moves to America to live with her aunt, the writing seems to gain a fresh intensity. In Detroit, Darling struggles with her feelings for her native land as she adapts to life in the USA. This latter part of the book is very moving indeed.
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The Luminaries
Posted by Frances Bell on 16 December 2013
Set in New Zealand during the 1866 Gold Rush, this is an intricately plotted and intensely atmospheric novel with a huge cast, who each tell their own stories. A perfect format with a writing style which accurately reflects the period. Built round an astrological calendar, expect a murder mystery, an adventure story and a romance to keep you intrigued to the end when all is revealed. Winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize.
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The Man Who Rained
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 09 December 2013
Poetic, heart-breaking and life-affirming, this timeless fairy tale asks what makes us who we are. Is love possible when a storm lives within you? What does your life mean when you betray your roots? And can you ever put down roots if you always yearn for new skies?
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The Death of Bees
Posted by Richard Ashman on 02 December 2013
Despite being a heartbreaking story of abuse and neglect you will smile at the dark humour and the wicked, razor sharp observations and find yourself emotionally involved as this compelling story unfolds. There is no sentimentality in the writing as the characters' voices grab and immerse you in the horrors of their lives. A gritty, sad tale of abandonment that somehow still leaves you filled with laughter and hope.
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All Woman and Springtime
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 25 November 2013
Two North Korean orphaned girls become close friends as they mature, but this is no ordinary coming-of-age plot. By the end of the novel, the title has become a sad irony, as the girls are exploited, betrayed, and trafficked into prostitution. Though this story is very painful to read, with its harrowing and graphic details of sexual degradation, it commands the reader's empathy in bearing witness to the vile international sex trade.
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The Crane Wife
Posted by Paul Doyle on 18 November 2013
At the centre of this tale is an enigmatic, uplifting love story. Following a dramatic, magical experience George's life is transformed by mysterious Kumiko. Dreamlike, often beautifully told, sprinkled with tenderness and humour, The Crane Wife is a heartwarming story.
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The Tragedy of Arthur
Posted by Dot Cameron on 11 November 2013
A clever novel about a 'lost' play supposedly by Shakespeare. Arthur Phillips, a convicted forger, gives the 'original' of the play to Arthur, his son, to publish. In a lengthy 'biographical' introduction to the play, which appears as part of the book, we are drawn into the puzzle of whether or not the play is genuine! It's so easy to forget that this is actually fiction and the author is playing games with the reader! Ingenious and unusual.
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Love Sex Travel Musik
Posted by David Kenvyn on 04 November 2013
Rodge Glass is one of the modern masters of the short story. He calls this collection 'stories for the Easyjet generation'. But they are much more than that. They are meditations on the kind of lives that we lead, the mistakes that we make, and the love that we are able to offer to each other. This is a life-affirming book, even when Glass is contemplating the disasters we may have to confront. Read this. Choose life.
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Under Your Skin
Posted by Sue Bone on 28 October 2013
A psychological thriller with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing to the very end. A real holiday page turner which demands your time and attention, just like a gripping Friday TV drama. Crack open a bottle of wine, open a bag of nuts and enjoy!
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Secrecy
Posted by Frances Bell on 21 October 2013
This novel is an interesting mixture of love, violence, intrigue and most importantly the search for perfection in art. The setting is post Renaissance Florence in 1691 and the reader will learn much about a period before the Enlightenment. Written with elegance, the atmosphere of danger and persecution is brilliantly conveyed. A real departure from the author's usual style and subject matter.
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In Praise of Hatred
Posted by Richard Ashman on 14 October 2013
A traumatic read that delivers a message of tolerance as our female narrator grows from timid student to hardened militant in a time of political turbulence and fanaticism in Syria. The main characters are gloriously vivacious and the narrative powerfully depicts the corrosive effects of sectarian prejudice. We experience religious fervour as it is pitted against erotic awakening and understand how hate can feel as passionate a force as love.
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The Shining Girls
Posted by Karen Pugh on 07 October 2013
Harper's overwhelming thirst for murder in this unconventional time-travelling crime novel is frightening and prolific. Look out for Kirby, the young girl whose appetite for life and stubbornness to find out the truth is commendable if a little reckless. Not the easiest book to read due to frequent time and character shifts so some concentration is required. However - a well-thought out plot and the finale is certainly worth the wait.
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How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 30 September 2013
On the surface, this is the archetypal rags to riches, boy meets girl story, but it is also a vividly honest morality tale and social satire. Written in the second person and historical present, the author draws 'you', the reader, into the unfolding drama, with its pretence of being a motivational 'get-rich' guide. It has the effect of being totally involving, cleverly undermining any preconceptions about the 'otherness' of a foreign culture.
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Y
Posted by Ruth Ng on 23 September 2013
This is a story about family, and who did what, and why. Through it we meet many flawed characters but most important is Shannon, a young girl abandoned at birth, who understandably needs, desperately, to know more about herself and her history. Set on Vancouver Island the book is funny, unsettling, emotional and written in such a wonderfully warm, engaging way that I felt bereft as I reached the end knowing I was saying goodbye to Shannon.|
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Horses of God
Posted by Ian Baillie on 16 September 2013
From beyond the grave the narrator, Yachine, recounts his impoverished but innocent childhood in a Casablanca shanty town, a life of squalor and football. Then Sheikh Abu Zoubeir enters his life and the innocence is lost forever as Yachine is slowly transformed into a suicide bomber. This is often a harrowing read, especially towards the book's climax but, in terms of understanding the mindset of a suicide bomber, I doubt there has been better.
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The Art of Fielding
Posted by Ingvild Sandvik on 09 September 2013
Finished this book wishing for more - an absolutely mesmerising and seductive account of baseball, friendship, love, success and failure at a small university in mid-western USA. The characters of Henry, Schwartzy, 'Buddha', Pella and president Affenlight weedle themselves into your heart - guaranteed. And how fascinating is baseball! My book of the year, if not the decade.
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The Taliban Cricket Club
Posted by Karen Pugh on 02 September 2013
In the UK we moan about austerity and the breaching of our human rights. But we have no reason to complain compared to life in Afghanistan during the 1990s where freedom of speech, incorrect clothing or improper relationships could result in death. This novel shows the cruelty of the human race in all its entirety. However, there is a chink of light in the form of a lone female, Rukhsana and her love of cricket and her desire to be free.
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Flirting at the Funeral
Posted by Richard Ashman on 26 August 2013
A serious yet entertaining book where the past reverberates against the present, with themes of personal and political loyalty and grudging compromises. This is a powerful, raging novel with a distinctive style and unusual use of dialogue where the characters answer questions that weren’t asked and ignore the ones that were. Full of tragi-comic interaction that inspires an intense reaction from the reader.
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Sightlines
Posted by David Kenvyn on 19 August 2013
An astonishing, beautifully written account of the effect that nature has on our lives, both through the world in which we live, and the world that lives within us. This book is lyrical, insightful, offering explanations of our world and the way we live that are thought-provoking in their intensity. Everyone should read it.
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Seating Arrrangements
Posted by Paul Doyle on 12 August 2013
Gather a crowd of family and old friends together in the days leading up to a wedding and you get this - a story of misunderstandings, mistakes, regrets, not quite forgotten rivalry and awkward situations. Infused with humour and a cast of flawed characters it makes for an engaging wry comedy about people and lifestyle.
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HHhH
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 05 August 2013
Just as you try to classify it, Laurent Binet ducks and sends you off on a tangential line of thought you couldn't have dreamed up. Historical, action novel? No, too deconstructed for that. The psychology of the architect of the Holocaust? No, it's about his killers. Identifying with the soul of Prague? Well, if we could ever learn the lessons of history ... Don't try, just let yourself be captivated.
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The Last Girlfriend on Earth
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 29 July 2013
Suppose all the men on earth thought like American College boys? Then these weird and wonderful love stories might just come true and the world might be well lost for love: at least until commitment appears on the horizon. Simon Rich was a new author to me and thank goodness he's written lots more as he's seriously addictive.
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Kimberley's Capital Punishment
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 22 July 2013
This surreal, dark comedy starts in a London park in the middle of the story, ends four different ways, and never once pulls its punches. It's free-wheeling, out of control, grim, gross, wry, and very British.
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Days of the Bagnold Summer
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 15 July 2013
This graphic novel tells the story of 15-year old Daniel and his single mum Sue and follows their day-to-day existence during one long summer school holiday spent at home. The sharply observed dialogue and hugely expressive drawings made me smile with recognition as well as cringing at the awkward things both adults and teenagers say and do. A poignant, perceptive read.
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Toploader
Posted by David Kenvyn on 08 July 2013
This is an object lesson. Never lose a washing machine in a war-zone. Who knows what the assorted collection of criminals, spies, maniacs and journalists who inhabit this fictional country will think has happened. But they certainly won't guess the truth. And then you have to consider the exploding donkeys. A laugh aloud satire on a crazy world.
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When the Night
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 01 July 2013
Suspenseful love story dovetails around two intersecting moments, fifteen years apart. Forget lovey-dovey romance, the power struggle between taciturn mountain guide Manfred and Marina, a mother failing to cope, is as hard-edged as its icy Dolomite setting. Told from both viewpoints, the tussle of alternating voices can be unsettling, but guaranteed to hit the spot if you prefer your passion highly charged and deeply psychological.
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Bird Brain
Posted by Richard Ashman on 24 June 2013
This is a frivolous, tongue-in-cheek story full of astute satire, wry social observation and some very good jokes. Centred on the traditional shooting fraternity, the reader is left to make up their own mind about the correct balance between shooting for fun and animal rights. You will thoroughly enjoy the characterisation of the animals which is excellent and somehow spookily realistic.
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The Lifeboat
Posted by Sue Bone on 17 June 2013
A moral dilemma: how far would you go to ensure your survival on a leaking overcrowded lifeboat? It’s 1914 and a young newlywed stands trial after surviving the explosion of an ocean liner and three weeks lost at sea. Not a summer cruise read for those who suffer sea sickness.
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The Children's Hospital
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 June 2013
A 'state of the art' children's hospital and its occupants survive unscathed after the world is destroyed by a massive flood. The novel is narrated through the eyes of a young medical student with a tragic background and involves a huge cast of characters, heavenly angels, miracles and a vast amount of medical information. An incredible and frankly overwhelming read from a very gifted author. Well worth the time and effort.
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Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 03 June 2013
It’s an ill wind, as they say, that blows no good, but this time an ice storm does even more: mending a broken marriage, healing neighbourly rifts and generally acting as a ploy by Cupid – even for fish! This whimsical tale is a cheerful tonic for those cold wintry days, when Spring still seems a long way off.
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Stonemouth
Posted by Ian Baillie on 27 May 2013
Five years earlier Stewart Gilmour had ingloriously fled Stonemouth, only just escaping the vengeance of the town's most violent family. Now he's back - with grudged permission and a time limit - for the funeral of the same family's patriarch. Interesting scenario. There are moments of high tension; there is violence, but also lots of humour as you would expect from Iain Banks. I had doubts early on, but in the end really enjoyed this book.
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Honour
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 20 May 2013
The story traces the Kurdish-Turkish Topraks family across three generations and from the Euphrates to the Thames, twisting and lurching and dancing around tragedy all the time. It's like watching a moth circling a flame - painful, casting long shadows, but impossible to look away.
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My Elvis Blackout
Posted by Paul Doyle on 13 May 2013
Like a blast of air these stories or brief episodes of an alternate, parallel Elvis Presley are sure to freshen up your reading. Laced with humour, blackly comic and fun they are often strange, twisted and riotous and make for a very different, exuberant read.
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How the Trouble Started
Posted by Dot Cameron on 06 May 2013
Eight-year-old Donald rides his bike into a toddler who subsequently dies – resulting in life-changing consequences. Now 16, Donald is needy and consumed with guilt over what happened when he was a child. His decision to befriend an eight-year old, equally vulnerable, boy is hugely worrying. His story delivers an unnerving, thought-provoking read – directly from inside the mind of a lonely teenager.
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After Such Kindness
Posted by Frances Bell on 29 April 2013
Much has already been written about the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, his inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, but this in no way detracts from the merits of this novel which covers the same ground. Readers today will find the relationship extremely disturbing. You may not like the characters but you will certainly believe in them and the rarified Oxford atmosphere in which they live. A compulsive read.
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Jammy Dodger
Posted by Anne Jones on 22 April 2013
We're in 1980's Belfast the but the only terrorist in this story has literary revenge in mind. A really funny tale about growing up after University, outwitting the hands that feed you (aka Arts Council minions), the city's 'arts' scene, a poetical scam and a giant rabbit. Poetry lovers may be shocked but if you're a biscuit connoisseur this book is for you. A warning though, you may never want to drink milk again.
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The Plaza
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 15 April 2013
Gang warfare in the town of Juarez. The violence is relentless, the pace frenetic and the condemnation of the authorities searing. I found the short chapters, the choppy writing style and the constantly changing viewpoint unsettling and disturbing. This is a brutal, powerful and thought-provoking novel.
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Stranded
Posted by Gail Holmes on 08 April 2013
Recently divorced Esther, mother of Daisy sets off alone on a backpacking trip to Malaysia. Her short lived joy turns to horror when she becomes stranded on a desert island. This easy and entertaining travel thriller builds slowly via two narrators and delivered a couple of twists and turns I wasn’t expecting.
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The Democrat
Posted by David Kenvyn on 01 April 2013
This tale of Thomas Muir is unbelievable, except for the fact that it's based on complete truth. Muir was transported to Australia in 1793 for urging that everyone should have the vote. To tell any more would spoil the experience - but expect adventure, excitement and a rollicking good ride. All you have to do is remember that this novel is the real story of Scotland's Nelson Mandela.
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Seldom Seen
Posted by Wendy Smith on 25 March 2013
In this assured debut, we see 1980’s rural Suffolk through the eyes of an angst-ridden teenager. Family feuds and long-buried secrets play out against the backdrop of a changing landscape. A convincing portrayal of life in a small village and a welcome departure from all the twee novels that uphold the rural idyll.
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Hope: A Tragedy
Posted by Janet Scott on 18 March 2013
In this allegorical take on Jewish neurosis and survivor guilt, Auslander treads a fine line between iconoclasm and tasteless irreverence, but his ironic humour saves the satire from offensiveness. The novel’s style and characterisation has all the surreal flavour of a Woody Allen stand up routine and if you appreciate black comedy and Jewish humour, you’ll love this – just don’t hope for a happy ending!
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Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 11 March 2013
This complex retelling of an old Slavic myth is witty, thought provoking and ultimately optimistic. I do wonder if only women will appreciate Baba Yaga, but hope that men will at least try a novel which is quite unlike any other I have ever read.
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Girls Can't Make Gun Noises
Posted by Karen Pugh on 04 March 2013
Four words easily describe this novel: laugh-out-loud-funny. Set in the South Wales Valleys in the 1970s, it’s a real tonic for the stresses of every-day life in today's world. Written in the authentic voice of young Gwyn, and crammed with topical references and popular culture, it delivers a real nostalgia trip back to the decade of the Bionic Man and Hawaii Five-O, through the eyes of a six-year-old. Pure indulgence.
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If You’re Reading This I’m Already Dead
Posted by David Kenvyn on 25 February 2013
A wonderful, totally bonkers John Buchan pastiche - but with women. And remember that if anyone ever asks you to set out with your best friends to make yourself King of Albania, refuse. Just don't agree, unless they offer you a circus troupe, Mata Hari, a hero from a John Buchan novel and a camel. Even then, run like hell, especially if they leave out the camel.
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Swimming Home
Posted by Frances Bell on 18 February 2013
A very short novel spanning a one week villa holiday of a British group in France. The setting is idyllic and the author's language sparkles like the sun on the sea. However, for this group, happiness is an unlikely outcome. A novel to be relished for the language and the style. Very highly recommended and has been shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker prize
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Blackbirds
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 11 February 2013
I can't tell you too much about Blackbirds without spoiling its many, dark, surprises. But I will say that it's so fast and funny, that if, like me, you read this novel too quickly you're going to get very confused as the author does like flashbacks and uses them to great effect. So pace yourself and enjoy the ride.
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The Dinner
Posted by Anne Jones on 04 February 2013
Brothers and their wives meet for dinner. What could be nicer? But none of these four are sympathetic characters, and as the story unfolded the less I liked them, especially the narrator. In conspiring to 'help' his son he reveals his own twisted view of life. A veneer of very polite society over something much darker. I kept reading because I kept thinking, would I do that?
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The Method
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 28 January 2013
Thirty-four-year old scientist, Mia Holl, faces charges of anti-Method activities in this futurist 'Big Brother' style thriller. Mia is a strong and resilient character; I both admired and felt great empathy for her as she valiantly defends her deceased brother's honour with punishable consequences.
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Pao
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 21 January 2013
What a warm and funny book with such wonderfully evocative descriptions of the island peopled with such engaging characters. I learnt a lot about the history and politics of Jamaica but there was never a dull moment as I watched Pao grow up, take over the family 'business', and develop into a complex yet moral man.
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The Finno-Ugrian Vampire
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 14 January 2013
If you've ever felt like the outsider, even within your own family, Jerne's tale will resonate like struck crystal. Gawkily unpredictable and meandering, wry and clever and vivid, this is not the vampire story you're expecting.
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Madame Mephisto
Posted by David Kenvyn on 07 January 2013
A family split between Poland and London, between Catholicism and amorality. Just simmer gently. Now throw marijuana, cooking and incest into the mix. Bring to the boil. Add IVF treatment, the resulting baby and a cataclysmic event. Then see who has to take responsibility ... and read this book.
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Gold
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 31 December 2012
'Gold' explores huge themes including love, ambition, duty and loss against a background of Olympic cycling. The novel really worked for me as I both believed in and cared about Zoe, Sophie, Jack, Kate and Tom and their dilemmas. Interestingly opinion on Amazon is really polarised. I do urge you to read it and make up your own mind.
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Babylon Steel
Posted by Frances Bell on 24 December 2012
This is a fun fantasy novel. The heroine Babylon has a past; as a God and an Avatar on a different planet from which she had to flee. Now she runs a brothel on Scalentine where a mixture of races and species live in harmony. But Babylon's past is now catching up with her and she must return to settle old scores. The writing is lively and the descriptions of the creations brilliantly imaginative. Worth trying for something totally different.
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Blood Rites of the Bourgeoisie
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 17 December 2012
If you are a connoisseur of spam emails and internet adverts, like to read ‘belle de jour’ type sexploits, have a broad vocabulary and an interest in modern art and artists, then this is the book for you. It is all delivered with wicked humour and a happy disregard for all the usual conventions of the novel. Prepare to be shocked, titillated, amused or confused depending on your tastes and your previous encounters with ‘abstract literature’.
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Becoming Nancy
Posted by Karen Pugh on 10 December 2012
Am I gay? Am I not? Can I be? All David's questions are answered in this funny yet gritty novel. The Summer of Love has well and truly passed and David is having to come to terms with his sexuality in hard-nosed, homophobic and racist 70s' Britain. I didn't think I could read a novel that dealt with being gay in such an open, funny and at times realistic way. My favourite character? Aunty Val - she is me and I am her. Fabulous book.
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The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals
Posted by Wendy Smith on 03 December 2012
A sunny day, a sumptuous picnic and a pretty girl in a yellow dress spell disaster for a young undertaker when he makes a proposal of marriage he instantly regrets. The 1920's rural Welsh setting and a cast of engaging characters combine to suggest a confection of quaintness and charm. And although the plot is driven by the discovery of a dark secret, it is handled with great sensitivity and lightness of touch. A memorable read.
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The Mill for Grinding Old People Young
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 26 November 2012
An insight into the lives revolving around Belfast’s shipping ports in the 1830s is provided courtesy of feisty young narrator Gilbert Rice. The uncertainties of the industrial age are mirrored in Gilbert’s tumultuous love affair with Polish barmaid Maria. The foreboding in the air as Belfast struggles with tensions old and new is palpable, and I was drawn, effortlessly, into a bygone age of insurgency.
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The Other Child
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 19 November 2012
Two brutal murders in a Yorkshire seaside resort seem to be connected, but the police investigation stalls until a terrible family secret that has haunted two generations is uncovered. This bestselling German author has created a convincing local atmosphere as the background to a psychological thriller with all the red herrings and blind alleys you would expect in a classic English detective story. A compulsive read!
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This is Life
Posted by Richard Ashman on 12 November 2012
Based in Paris, love at first sight is the norm in this scatty, madcap comic novel. Full of irony and dark humour, the author pokes fun at performance art and the French political scene, leaving you none the wiser about whether life imitates art or the other way round. You find yourself willingly suspending disbelief in this skillfully wrought furiously paced farce.
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Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs
Posted by David Kenvyn on 05 November 2012
Sheer genius. Mikey Wilson will stay with you. A tale of male bonding, talent, rivalry, loyalty, jealousy, hopes, disappointments, coping and not coping, set to the background of the mighty Man Utd team of 1992 - Beckham, Scholes and, of course, Ryan Giggs. Even if you hate football, you will not want to miss reading this book. That is, if you have any interest in the male psyche. Rodge Glass, he shoots, he scores. A triumph.
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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Posted by Sue Bone on 29 October 2012
Follow in the poignant footsteps of Harold, a humble ordinary elderly man, who on impulse sets out on an extraordinary walking pilgrimage from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. As you trek through his metaphorical journey of missed opportunities, mistakes, and regrets; you reflect on your own life choices and the impact you may have had on other people.
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Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 22 October 2012
June loves her sister who is growing up too fast and her uncle who is dying of AIDS. How can she come to terms with her loneliness? And can any love be the wrong kind? This sensitive and compassionate story took me right back to my teenage years.
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The She-Devil in the Mirror
Posted by Gail Holmes on 15 October 2012
A woman is murdered in front of her children – who knows why or by whom? I loved the originality, pace, suspense and black humour of this shocking tale and learned a lot about life in post civil-war San Salvador through the non-stop gossip of ‘best friend’ Laura.
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1222
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 08 October 2012
Yet another excellent Nordic crime novel: 1222 triumphantly updates 'the locked train' mystery for the terrorist age. Expect a read full of old-fashioned suspense of the best kind and a ballsy heroine in the shape of retired police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen.
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Apocalypse for Beginners
Posted by Paul Doyle on 01 October 2012
Journeys of friendship and self discovery drizzled with a hint of sweetness and quirkiness all make for a pleasant read. The blend of characters, moving between the Canadian, US and Japanese settings is perfect to lighten the mood when you've some time to yourself.
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Deloume Road
Posted by Alison Hedley on 24 September 2012
A lyrical debut novel set in a remote, sleepy Vancouver Island community, you will find yourself drawn into the world of a diverse cast of characters who have many hidden secrets and emotions and whose lives are intertwined with that of Gerald Deloume, the town's long dead founder. This all leads to a somewhat horrifying climax. An undemanding but gripping read - at times I felt I was there and could feel the heat and smell the smells!
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February
Posted by Anne Jones on 17 September 2012
February snow and ice drift through this exploration of loss as widow Helen recalls life with her husband and family, lives in the present and tries to look forward. Rooted in a real-life tragedy, and written in episodic style, each chapter is almost a short story in itself. Memory and imagination build to the moment of her husband's violent death, as grief and endurance are both lyrically and plainly described. Will hope win out?
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The End
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 10 September 2012
Six tangled lives from an Italian immigrant community in 1950's Ohio weave back and forth over time until drawn together by the events of a single day. I had to push myself to connect with certain characters - think creepy jeweller, elderly abortionist - and skewed time periods. But if you relish an intense and challenging read with spiritual overtones, this vivid, poetic epic could leave you moved and amazed. Not your average beach read!
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Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Posted by Natalie Plimmer on 03 September 2012
Budo is an imaginary friend, who provides company and support to the one person who can see and hear him - 8 year old Max who has Asperger’s. When Max is kidnapped it is up to Budo to save him, but how? And can Budo discover why he exists along the way? Told with such engaging charm and poignancy, the reader turns each page with feelings of worry for the welfare of Max and dread about the outcome. An original and thought-provoking read.
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Pomegranate Sky
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 27 August 2012
I loved this book. It gives you real insight into the world of educated middle class Iranians in the early 21st century. We are so used to the Iranians we meet in the UK that we do not realise how hard it is to live under their political regime at home. A joy to read.
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Rendezvous by Esther Verhoef
Posted by Cath Allwood on 20 August 2012
Rich Dutch businessman, Eric, pursues his 'Grand Design' dream of renovating a run-down country estate in Bordeaux; poor dutiful hausfrau Simone looks after their kids and cooks huge lunches for the gang of workmen. When she exchanges glances with young Michel, a working class Adonis on the team, her dull, safe world experiences a French revolution - can this be love? Now read on: bags of atmosphere and some good recipes...
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Voice of America by E C Osondu
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 13 August 2012
The author's Nigerian roots are clearly portrayed through the myriad of characters featured in this short story collection. Set in Nigeria and America, tales of men and women, boys and girls are played out in a hard-hitting manner with a common factor present in each story: disillusionment. I warmed to each unique character as they battle for a better life; a far cry from the American dream.
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How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 16 July 2012
Let the SF wash over you and you will enjoy the moving, sad and funny story of a man searching for his father, lost in time. If however you enjoy mind-bending SF, you will love reflecting on concepts of time, memory and identity. And, if that's not enough, it's a page-turner as well!
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The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice by Chris Ewan
Posted by Natalie Plimmer on 09 July 2012
This 4th title in The Good Thief’s Guide series is the 1st that I’ve read; it works well as a stand-alone novel and has made me want to read the others. Crime novelist and career thief, Charlie Howard’s life is disrupted by a mysterious woman who draws him into a frantic, eventful, caper involving bombs, assassins, and casinos. This is quick, witty, funny, bursting with suspense and surprises, and has a wonderful sense of place.
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Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga
Posted by Janet Gilchrist on 02 July 2012
Full of social observation, this is a moral tale containing both tragedy and comedy. It takes some time for the characters to establish themselves, but stick with them and they will keep you guessing to the last pages about how their dilemma is resolved.
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The Children’s Book by A S Byatt
Posted by Ron Travis on 25 June 2012
Children's author, Olive Wellwood, creates a golden Edwardian story book world for her children at Todefright where the adults discuss socialism, free love and emancipation. But life is not as it seems. Olive's personality crushes her children and the parents' unconventional sexual lives rupture the family's security. The children become casualties of parental selfishness and the horrors of war. A rich book for serious-minded readers to relish.
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Burning Bright by Ron Rash
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 18 June 2012
Full of shocking surprises, this hard-hitting collection of short stories gives a candid portrayal of the hardships experienced by its cast of characters. The limits of human endurance are tested, with the characters acting oftentimes irrationally and immorally in moments of extreme provocation. Indeed, when I began to feel sympathy for their iniquitous behaviour, it left me questioning the accuracy of my own moral judgement.
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Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi
Posted by Richard Ashman on 11 June 2012
Written as a testimonial, Pereira represents a personification of political conscience. I was captivated by his reluctant political awakening in late 1930’s Portugal and by his reckless final act of rebellion. This is a concise, intense, original novel; a surprisingly thrilling page-turner given the weight of its subject matter. An enthralling and somehow menacing read.
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7 Ways to Kill a Cat by Matias Nespolo
Posted by Paul Doyle on 04 June 2012
Like a dog with a meaty bone, this book grabs you and doesn't let go from start to finish. Harsh and often tragic life in the Buenos Aires barrio is depicted through Gringo. On the cusp of adulthood, facing choices but drawn inevitably to the gangs, drugs and prostitution that corrupt the streets where Gringo lives, he doesn't stand a chance.
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The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington
Posted by David Kenvyn on 28 May 2012
Just the book for a dark, scary night. Witches, necromancers, ghosts, skeletons, graveyards, a depraved Inquisitor, monsters and skeletons. What more could you ask? Oh yes, a sort of love story, and a tale of the astonishing commitment of friends. And did I mention the stark naked vampires?
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The Roost by Neil Butler
Posted by Anne Jones on 21 May 2012
Drink drugs and sex seem to rule the lives of a group of Shetland secondary school students. They think they are worldly but relationships are so tricky, and the isolation and magic of the islands complicate everything. Sharp perceptive and scary, these linked stories of angst should carry a worry warning for readers with a teen or preteen in the family, but read them anyway for a reminder of what it's like to be that young.
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Unspoken by Gerard Stembridge
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 14 May 2012
Real life historical figures mingle with fictitious characters to illustrate the impact of the coming of television on Irish culture and society. Part intimate family saga, part social documentary, this is an unsentimental but affectionate chronicle of life in the Irish Republic during the Sixties, before the Celtic Tiger roared. Moving without being searing.
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The Appointment by Herta Muller
Posted by Sue Bone on 07 May 2012
The innocuous title refers to a summons by Romania’s secret police; the charge prostitution. Delivered in a stream of consciousness during a tram ride to ‘the appointment’, the narrator is a seamstress caught sewing marriage proposals into suits destined for Italy, to escape an oppressive regime. Full of claustrophic anxiety, it is an exploration of the human soul in a state of helplessness. The ending felt ambiguous, or am I being irrational?
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Solace by Belinda McKeon
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 30 April 2012
Moving story of one Irish family's ordinary loves, extraordinary tragedy, and almost complete inability to talk to each other about anything important. Thank goodness for the ray of hope at the end of this beautifully written novel.
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Long Lies the Shadow by Gerda Pearce
Posted by Frances Bell on 23 April 2012
A first novel set in post apartheid South Africa with continuous flashbacks to the brutal apartheid era. This is a very complex and atmospheric tale of family secrets, relationships, friends, love, loss and tragedy. The characters are alive and appealing and the reader becomes totally engrossed in their fate. It is not a happy reading experience but definitely a memorable one.
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Turn of the Mind by Alice LaPlante
Posted by Ruth Ng on 16 April 2012
Like Jennifer's own mind, the writing is fragmented, told in the first person and broken up with diary entries and flashbacks. Once you get used to the style it's effective at depicting the demise of an intelligent woman, suffering from dementia, suspected of murdering her best friend. Although a little too slow to be a thriller it is certainly fascinating to see the crime unravelling through Jennifer's brief lucid moments and memories.
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English Slacker by Chris Morten
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 09 April 2012
18-year-old Chambers, looking forward to one last summer of freedom with his mates, struggles to cope with the apparent suicide of his friend Colin. Don't expect straight answers as this likeable anti-hero appears to be losing his grip on reality, possibly due to the frequent influence of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco. So, yeah, chill, go with the flow and take yourself back to just bumming around, being a teenager.
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Posted by David Kenvyn on 02 April 2012
Everyone knows that the circus is magic, but Le Cirque des Reves is more magic than most. It is the setting for a duel, for a love affair and for a game that pulls thousands into its orbit, and puts lives at risk. It is a story of the unwisdom of the wise, and the ability of the ordinary to rescue the extraordinary, and a story of the fragility of magic when two wizards enter a competition just to prove a point.
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Pure by Andrew Miller
Posted by Cath Allwood on 26 March 2012
It's a dirty job - but somebody's got to do it. It's 1785 and Jean-Baptiste is raring to go: his first big project is to clear out the oldest cemetery in Paris. Overflowing burial pits are creating a health hazard and a palpable stink around Les Halles. The young engineer's project is a nifty metaphor for the much more momentous clear-out that'll soon shake France to its core. Not for the squeamish, it's grisly, gripping - et magnifique!
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Spurious by Lars Iyer
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 19 March 2012
A tale of philosophy and damp! This book is totally bizarre and quite surreal but oddly thought-provoking and strangely I even found it quite touching. You will either love it or hate it.
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Jude in London by Julian Gough
Posted by Anne Jones on 12 March 2012
Suspend your disbelief and hold tight for a surreal dash through 21st century London in the company of Jude, the Irish orphan, and his Salmon of Knowledge. He's on a quest, but it's often his last worry as anything weird can, and does, happen. I laughed at grotesque set-piece parodies, from hedge funds to the Turner prize, and had to stop myself rushing ahead in order to find and enjoy all the jokes. Well, I think I found them all ...
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Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon
Posted by Jane Wheeler on 31 December 2011
For a fledging writer this is great. The plot line is imaginative and full of twists, just the thing to keep you turning the pages. I am not usually a fan of horror, but this was a winner, I am going to read more of this author. Don't read this if you are expecting the current popular horror romance story, buit you will be ok if you don't like too much gore and enjoy suspense and dramatically unfolding plots with a nod to the crime genre.
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Ever Fallen in Love by Zoe Strachan
Posted by David Kenvyn on 24 December 2011
Have you noticed how friendships formed at university can endure and then wreck the rest of your life? This is a tale told in flashback of such a friendship, a story of unfulfilled potential, possible unrequited love and a dreadful tragedy reverberating through the lives of the survivors. It's also written with great understanding and compassion. You will not be able to put this book down until you have finished it.
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Poppadom Preach by Almas Khan
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 17 December 2011
Dilly's story was both hilarious and sad. I felt so frustrated for her as she kept on trying to escape the stifling confines of her family. This novel was so real to me I kept forgetting it was fiction!
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The Most Intimate Place by Rosemary Furber
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 December 2011
This demanding novel, about a young reporter hoping to uncover a Church of England sex scandal, has a bit of everything. It's funny, sexy, violent and sad. Patrick is a very appealing hero and the other characters are larger than life. The best bits are the really witty conversations. Interesting Biblical studies add weight and are a good contrast to the overall anti organised religion theme. A unusual and enjoyable read with a tragic end.
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The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
Posted by Paul Doyle on 03 December 2011
Defying classification this complex, imaginative and clever book will at turns leave you dazzled and confused. A nod to gothic fantasy and noir the main protagonist, an unlikely detective sets out to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of a city's alarm clocks and more bizarrely the 12th November! Skipping between dreams and reality, a novel to savour for its invention.
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City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
Posted by Ian Baillie on 26 November 2011
If James Joyce had written a futuristic thriller it would probably have been a lot like this. Bohane, Ireland, in mid 21st century is a vision of Hell, with rival factions preparing to fight turf wars to wrest control of the city from long-time godfather, Logan Hartnett. Packed with highly original characters and rich in language, this is a violent yet often funny rollercoaster of a read. It's is a book that stretches the boundaries of fiction.
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The Cry of the Go-Away Bird by Andrea Eames
Posted by Gail Holmes on 19 November 2011
As Mugabe’s reign turns sour, life in Zimbabwe changes for everyone, not least for Elise who has enjoyed an idyllic childhood on a white owned farm. I loved this memoir-like novel, its humour, tension and horror. I couldn't put it down.
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The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 12 November 2011
Keith was in the vanguard of the sexual revolution of 1970. Or, looking back years later, was he? Men Behaving Badly meets QI on Eng Lit in this witty and moving novel.
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Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
Posted by Cath Allwood on 05 November 2011
Nazi Germany isn't the safest place for a jazz band, especially when the line up includes half-African Heiro, Paul - blond, blue-eyed but Jewish - plus Sid and Chip, two black Americans. Tune in to Sid's rambling tale and be rewarded with an unusual read as he tells the story of the Hot-Time Swingers. What becomes of them as the 'housepainter's Boots' march into Berlin and Paris makes an edgy, funny read.
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Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch
Posted by Catherine Stansfield on 29 October 2011
We are initially thrown into the murky world of the squalor of Dickensian London complete with outsize characters and even a scruffy young boy, Jaffy, as the star of the story. But before long though we embark on an exciting adventure on the high seas hunting whales and capturing a 'dragon' to be shipped to London. Abruptly though the pace changes as things don't go to plan and in the darkening mood we fear for the life of our hero.
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Whichbook user recommendations
Posted by Rachel Van Riel on 17 October 2011
We have just made two novels recommended by Whichbook users live on whichbook.net – proof that we do welcome (and act upon) your suggestions. Marvellous Hairy by Mark A Raynor was recommended by cover illustrator, Max Tundra and H10N1 was suggested by the author, Marsha Cornelius. You can find both these titles by clicking on the Authors tab on the Whichbook homepage and finding each author by surname. If you have a suggestion yourself – please get in touch via the Contact page on the website. Just to remind you - we can only consider novels and poetry for Whichbook.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Posted by Cath Allwood on 22 October 2011
Fasten your seatbelts! This is cool, funny and tragic and you need to keep your wits about you. The rollercoaster lives of Egan's characters whiz forward and back in time and place, taking in African safaris and Neapolitan culture, genocidal generals and the whole US sex, drugs and rock-and-roll scene. Ambitious and surprising.
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Finch by Jeff Vandermeer
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 15 October 2011
Immerse yourself in this Noirest of steampunk if you dare . In a city occupied by a fungal race, many are forced to collaborate. Finch is a reluctant detective who uncovers much more than who killed whom. His world is claustrophobic, dark and oppressive and you need a strong stomach to read on. But the page-turning plot, the vividness of the setting and the beauty of the elliptical writing make it compelling.
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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Posted by Karen Pugh on 08 October 2011
Here’s an interesting concept: Rose has a unique ability – she can taste human emotions by eating cooked food. At first the story seemed a little lacklustre – bit like the cake without the lemon. But everything went up a gear with Rose’s father’s revelation – any negativity on my part was brushed aside and I was hooked. Although if anyone can work out what happened to her brother, please let me know ….
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The Convent by Panos Karnezis
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 01 October 2011
Just what sort of a miracle is the baby found outside a remote Spanish convent? One that allows for a gentle but inexorable examination of belief, passion, ambition, bigotry, kindness and diplomacy and other, all too human, traits. The Convent is a remarkable novel but not, perhaps, for those that would prefer doctrine to remain accepted rather than examined. Would make a great reading group title.
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C by Tom McCarthy
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 24 September 2011
This was a most intriguing and frustrating book. I was fascinated by the way the development of communication paralleled Serge's strange life story but felt at times that he was as much a cypher as any of the signals and codes the book describes. Inspite of this, I enjoyed the book for the brilliance of its descriptions and its chilling even eerie view of life.
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Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 17 September 2011
Musicians flock to the Welsh idyll that is Rock Farm, laying down tracks at the farm’s studio. Halo Llewellyn heads a cast of colourful characters, and with a heroine called Halo, this novel was never going to be conventional. I was seduced by the rock and roll lifestyle of the Llewellyn’s, falling headfirst into Halo’s story and travelling alongside her on her journey from childhood to maturity.
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Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 September 2011
This a gruesome tale of a family massacre set against a background of sustained and condoned abuse of female children. Freelance social worker Simran Singh is an engaging heroine, although being middle aged and unmarried, she is an outsider in Indian society - which adds an extra dimension to the story. An exceptionally atmospheric and tantalising novel and deserving winner of the 2010 Costa First Novel Award.
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The Madman of Freedom Square by Hassan Blasim
Posted by Catherine Stansfield on 03 September 2011
Fantastical and macabre tales set in Iraq or following exiles as they attempt to build a new life. Inevitable violence and sexual references assault the reader, but nevertheless, there is a weird kind of humour that enables these disturbing stories to be read and even enjoyed.
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Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Posted by Paul Doyle on 27 August 2011
Arctic Norway comes eerily to life in this broodingly atmospheric ghost story. Subtle in its execution it draws the reader deeper and deeper into the story until you can feel the intense pressure of the endless dark days and nights. You'll hear every breath, every creak and feel every shadow and before long you'll be there on your own with your senses playing havoc with your mind.
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Pub Walks in Underhill Country by Nat Segnit
Posted by Ruth Ng on 20 August 2011
Although written as if a guide to 15 local walks this is actually an unusual and amusing novel. Graham Underhill is an avid rambler and its his rather pompous voice that accompanies the reader on each foray into the countryside. Blind to the infidelities of his young, beautiful Bengali wife, Graham's personal life increasingly pervades his pedantic narrative and you can't help but join each walk just to hear the next installment of his life.
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Help us to publicise Whichbook
Posted by Rachel Van Riel on 21 July 2011
Well, we got the whole site up and running, no major glitches, borrow and buy following through, covers looking fab – and we completely forgot about all you supportive souls who want to link to us. We had some Flash banners with the old blue and yellow site design still lingering on the Opening the Book site where nobody would think to find them and that was all. No-one could accuse us of being too marketing-led! Fortunately some of you out there are more savvy – especially in Scotland, I have to say, the Scots picked up on this quicker than anyone else.
Concepts, wording and designs have been batted back and forth and we can now offer a range of banners – choose your preferred size and text or ring the changes. We’ve also done some simple downloadable posters for anyone with physical as well as digital promotional opportunities – yes, libraries in Scotland asked for this too. The blue text on white background makes them really light on ink consumption so you can print at A4 or A3.
If anyone else out there spots any other really obvious omissions, please do get in touch! Next time we launch something I’ll phone a few friends in Scotland first ...
You can find these resources on our new Downloads page
Tagged: News
The Only Glow of the Day by Martin Malone
Posted by Ian Baillie on 13 August 2011
Dublin 1863, and pregnant 18 year-old, Rosanna Doyle, prepares to follow her boyfriend to his army camp in the Curragh. The reader instinctively fears the worst for her and, sure enough, the worst is what she finds. This bleak, but sublimely written book, packs a great deal of incident into its short length, not least a brutal murder. However, its the indomitable spirit of Rosanna that is the essence of the book and will have the reader rooting for her from start to finish.
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Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto by Maile Chapman
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 06 August 2011
American nurse Sunny Taylor works at Suvanto convalescence hospital. Here, she takes care of the ‘up patients’ – a group of wealthy women who seek respite at Suvanto during the cruel Finnish winter months. At first, this appears to be a harmless story of pampered ladies who are allowed to indulge in their ailments under the protection of Sunny and her charge nurses. However, without really noticing, this very subtly becomes a rather unnerving tale, which, at the end, left me questioning things I had previously taken for granted.
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Down to the Dirt by Joel Thomas Hynes
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 30 July 2011
Hugely funny to begin with as Keith and his friends relate one escapade after another but as events become more serious so the story becomes much darker. This is a searing account of a teenager fighting fate and his own nature.
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About the Author by John Colapinto
Posted by David Kenvyn on 23 July 2011
Cal Cunningham is a great comic creation - a nasty, conniving little creep, but somehow you are on his side. It seems that every attempt that he makes to get himself out of trouble only mires him further in an unspeakable mess. And it could not happen to a more deserving person - except, that is, most of the other sleazeball characters in the book, of whom there are many. Enjoy, and be glad that you are not Cal Cunningham.
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Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
Posted by Sue Bone on 16 July 2011
Mr Chartwell takes the form of an anthropomorphic black dog. But this is no cute shaggy dog story. The black dog in question is the metaphor used by Winston Churchill when referring to his depression. This unique and absurdly witty novel takes on a serious subject, and the level at which you read it from will depend on the extent you empathise with this condition.
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A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates
Posted by Katie Evans on 09 July 2011
Young and under-appreciated summer nanny, Katya Spivak, is flattered by the advances of elderly gentleman Marcus Kidder. But is the relationship that grows between them a tragic fairy-tale of soul mates born at the wrong time or a sinister manipulation of loneliness, beauty and wealth? With rapidly rising stakes I wanted to believe in the best of human nature, but feared the worst.
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A Different Sky by Meira Chand
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 02 July 2011
A book of contrasts as cultures collide against a backdrop of Singapore during WW2. Theres no shying away from the graphic reality of the horrors and violence of war and political unrest, and its an unsettling read at times. But with strong characters and sparks of hope for the future, it grips the reader like a vice.
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The Clay Dreaming by Ed Hillyer
Posted by Richard Ashman on 25 June 2011
Drawing its inspiration from the almost forgotten Australian Aborigine cricket team that toured England in 1868, it is the tale of Brippoki’s quest and his curious friendship with Sarah that is at the heart of this book. Highly atmospheric in the description of Victorian London’s backstreets and the hallucinogenic episodes of aboriginal ‘Dreaming’, this is a complex, vibrant tale that blends historical intrigue, religious fanaticism, travel and sport into a multi-layered, unconventional book. Not an easy read with every page full to bursting with historical detail and full drawn characters and yet every single word earns its place as you are immersed in hapless Brippoki’s desperate sadness.
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And My See-through Heart by Veronique Ovalde
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 18 June 2011
This novel takes the reader on a surreal journey through the life of a man who has been suddenly and inexplicably bereaved. The author plays with magical realism and red herrings as doped up passive protagonist, Lancelot, tries to discover what happened to his exotic wife Irina. Frozen inside, just like his surroundings, his third person account is bizarre, jealous and violently emotional, skewing the reader off course with a surprising solution to the mystery. As with an onion there is always one more layer to be peeled away before the stinging truth is finally revealed.
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London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp
Posted by Frances Bell on 11 June 2011
A very unusual novel describing and linking the lives of three gay men, spanning the years from the 1890s to the 1990s and set in the same geographical areas in the City of London. The narrative follows the changes in the law and attitude toward homosexuality during this period and how these affect the lives of the characters who are vivid and realistic. The story also benefits by the inclusion of actual historical figures and incidents. The brilliance of the writing is the key feature of this debut - a very worthwhile and thought provoking read.
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The Art of Being Dead by Stephen Clayton
Posted by David Kenvyn on 04 June 2011
Kieran is not someone that you would wish to meet on a dark night anywhere, let alone having him barge into your flat demanding sanctuary. But this is what happens to Jonathan.
This is a deeply disturbing tale about a quiet young man who gets out of his depth (or does he?) and how events spiral out of control (or do they?) Is Jonathan really that boring and stupid? Or is he manipulating Kieran and his other friends out of some deep, existential angst?
A book to make you brood about the dark recesses of the human soul.
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Gabriel's Angel by Mark A Radcliffe
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 28 May 2011
What if Purgatory has been replaced by group therapy sessions? And a return to Earth is on offer for the comatose as well as Heaven or Hell? For Gabriel this reality means a mix of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes - complete with contract killer - and Love Actually - including the aging rock singer. Very, very funny and extremely touching, this is my book of the year so far by miles and, as it's December, everyone will be getting it for Christmas.
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The Mayor's Tongue by Nathaniel Rich
Posted by Karen Pugh on 21 May 2011
This playful but clever short novel reminds me somewhat of bubble and squeak - parallel plots, dialogue, imagery and characters all cooked together to make a tasty meal. Although technically an easy read, concentration is a must to get your head around the characters (think Dickens at his most descriptive) and how they fit together. The two stories, whilst totally different, both involve the ultimate quest - the search for love. The ending is a treat and completely unexpected for all concerned.
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Wanting by Richard Flanagan
Posted by Anne Jones on 14 May 2011
I was puzzled by this book at first. How could Charles Dickens' failing marriage be connected to the subjugation of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Van Diemens Land? His link with ex-Governor Sir John Franklin's widow is tenuous, though it leads to momentous events for him. But as I read on, the connection became clear: it is the danger and destruction brought about by passion, both private and public. While Dickens indulges his passion in pursuit of a young actress, Victorian Empire builders indulge theirs in attempting to create a White Christian society in the Pacific. The Franklins' suppressed passion for a young native girl brings about their disgrace and her downfall, and the passions of the hapless Aborigines are annihilated. While this novel has a sombre theme, I found it compelling, with flashes of beauty and high spirits lifting the mood.
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The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 07 May 2011
The human instinct to survive is played out to the upmost in this bleak, yet poignant tale. Mary, alongside her beau Travis, leads a small group of survivors as they defend themselves against the hordes of unconsecrated villagers who strive to infect them. I was captivated by this love story which manages to be both warm and creepy at the same time!
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Piper by Helen McCabe
Posted by Frances Bell on 28 April 2011
This book is psychological horror at its very best with a chilling gothic twist. The atmosphere of menace is powerful throughout and the contrast between poverty stricken rural Romania and affluent urban USA is brilliantly conveyed. But evil is not particular as to where it strikes and is unstoppable throughout time. Be afraid, be very afraid!
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Faithful Place by Tana French
Posted by Cath Allwood on 21 April 2011
Tough Dublin cop Frank Mackey finds himself reluctantly back in the bosom of the family he escaped twenty years ago. As he investigates the murder of a long-dead girl, other skeletons emerge from his own cupboard ... Domestic violence, sibling rivalry, great craic surrounding a pretty good murder mystery - a rich brew, black and bitter as a pint of Guinness.
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The Old Romantic by Louise Dean
Posted by Sue Bone on 14 April 2011
This dark comic novel pokes a stick at three generations in conflict. The observations are both humorous and poignant. I can guarantee it will make you examine your own family relationships and personal values in life.
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Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
Posted by Paul Doyle on 07 April 2011
At times a harrowing experience but ultimately uplifting for Jama's story is one of survival, family and determination. Leaving his Somali home following the death of his mother, Jama begins his quest to find his father. Having to contend with the Italian occupation of Abyssinia in the 1930s and the dangers that come from being a young boy alone in the world, Jama's journey is a perilous one. An eye opener to the African experience of the Italian occupation and to life as a refugee.
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The Swimmer by Roma Tearne
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 28 March 2011
A hauntingly atmospheric love story that offers so much more. The topical themes of asylum seekers and terrorism fears make bleak reading at times, but it is so beautifully written that you can’t help but be drawn in. The sadness is justified but there are enough unexpected twists to leave you with of hope for the future - and I'm left feeling so glad to have experienced this book.
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Nimrod's Shadow by Chris Paling
Posted by Laura Bell on 24 March 2011
This is not a simple whodunit. Amongst the characters, there is less searching for the murderer and more questing for personal fulfilment. The quirky sense of humour surprised me and encouraged me to read on and find a deeper meaning in the story.
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The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu
Posted by Cath Allwood on 17 March 2011
Imagine waking up to find you can no longer speak your own language. Thats the situation Li Jing finds himself in at the start of this culture-clash tale. Hectic, steamy Shanghai is beautifully evoked as Li Jing and American visitor, Rosalyn, are drawn to each other by their shared inability to express themselves in Chinese. An array of well-drawn, sympathetic Chinese and ex-pat characters and an intriguing set up make this a very readable, atmospheric treat.
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Hereditation by James Smythe
Posted by Anne OLeary on 10 March 2011
Must the sins of the fathers be passed down each generation - or can the two Sloane brothers escape the cycle of infidelity and fatherless children revealed in their family records? This is a family cursed from when its ancestors landed in the New World, with wicked skeletons and black sheep worthy of a Greek tragedy. A darkly surreal tale in the Cohen Brothers tradition.
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The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
Posted by Sue Bone on 03 March 2011
Central here is the farcical, dark humour of a self-deluded, struggling novelist running a small literary magazine, whilst his personal life disintegrates around him under mounting debt. This is an epistolary novel told in a series of random letters (penned by the novelist) to various correspondents. The tone is self-deprecating and satirical, and seems likely to achieve a small cult following amongst the disaffected.
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The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 27 February 2011
If you like the themes and talk of the new India spelled out for you in a gentle, funny, accessible way, and if you want the goondas to meet their just desserts, then this is for you. Vish Puri, founder and managing director of Most Private Investigators Ltd makes his debut in what will surely be the first of many cases.
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Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
Posted by Celia Jenkins on 20 February 2011
Written in Mathilda’s teenage voice, this is her very candid account of trying to come to terms with her sister’s death and its aftermath. While on her ‘island of grief’ she searches for the truth as well as negotiating life, which ultimately leads to her finding herself. Her matter-of-fact, and sometimes bittingly humorous, observations and actions come across as simplified, but at the same time enlightening. Makes for an interesting and bold read.
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The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 13 February 2011
Six alcohol-fuelled twenty-somethings plus one holiday equals a cracking weekend read. Down and dirty, perfectly pitched dialogue completes this addictive story of female friendship.
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Feed by Mira Grant
Posted by Anne Jones on 06 February 2011
Imagine a dystopian world where whole areas are abandoned to the undead, and the living have the zombie virus sleeping inside them. Add a close knit, crazy team of blogging journalists who love to take risks, covering a Presidential election complete with the dirtiest of tricks. With plenty of zombie action to keep Zombiephiles happy, this is also a fast paced thriller with a technological slant, written in several voices, sometimes chilling, sometimes lyrical. So if you havent given in to the lure of the undead yet, take the plunge now!
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Falling Through Clouds by Anna Chilvers
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 29 January 2011
A compelling update of a medieval romance, which kept me reading not just for the suspense but also for the moving love story. If youve no idea of the novels basis (the story of Sir Gawain and the green knight), it wont interfere at all with your enjoyment, but should increase its unpredictability.
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Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Mendez
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 22 January 2011
Through four beautifully written, loosely connected stories of the Spanish Civil War, I experienced the full impact of the futility, sadness, stupidity and wastefulness of conflict. These powerful and passionate tales show us life from the losers point of view but also make us feel the indifference to life that brutalises the victors. A very moving read.
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Butterfly Soup by Jan Marsh
Posted by Sheila Harden on 15 January 2011
A classic murder mystery, where the heroine, in this case a gay counsellor, investigates to prove her client innocent. In spite of discouragement from friends, family and fellow professionals Gabrielle wins the day against the baddies at some risk to herself. Exotic surroundings are provided by the New Zealand countryside and some interesting Maori touches add local interest. Short enough to be enjoyed at one sitting.
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Valeria's Last Stand by Marc Fitten
Posted by Paul Cowan on 08 January 2011
Spinster Valeria, 68, approves of nothing and nobody until she falls for the village potter but she has a feisty rival in Ibolya, 58, the inn-keeper who flaunts her breasts to increase beer sales! This love triangle is the talk of the village until the arrival of an ambitious chimney sweep further complicates matters. Light, highly entertaining and proof that you are never too old for love.
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Sixteen Shades of Crazy by Rachel Trezise
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 25 December 2010
Ellie is one of three ‘wives’ of Welsh wannabe superband, The Boobs. The arrival of English drug dealer, Johnny, in Aberalaw changes her life for ever. This book made me laugh, made me gasp, made me want to cut my throat – but it gripped me to the last page.
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Bumping by Tony Bianchi
Posted by Ron Travis on 01 January 2011
What is it that links an old Californian ladybird miner, a lock-picking teenager, a commuter who bumps into an old school adversary, a mum obsessed by Relocation, Relocation and number 17 Coble Court, Newcastle? In this book three separate, distinctively told stories interweave to reveal unexpected and catastrophic connections between seemingly unrelated people. The books soaked in Tyneside atmosphere and will appeal to sharp-eyed readers adept at spotting clues and joining the dots.
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Serena by Ron Rash
Posted by Ruth Ng on 18 December 2010
Surprisingly addictive, this bleak and bloody tale teases with the playful humour of the loggers alongside cruel and calculating plots for murder and revenge. Rich descriptions of the terrain and wildlife blend happily with the intriguing, often ruthless characters that kept me hooked throughout.
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Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
Posted by Katie Evans on 11 December 2010
In the overbearing heat of an Australian summer, Laura Wishart has gone missing from the small mining town of Corrigan. Charlie knows that she is dead. Trying to find out why brings Charlie face to face with his neighbours capacity for violence, prejudice and abuse. Its the summer that, in a turmoil of desperate questioning, puerile humour and life-sustaining friendship, Charlie becomes a man.
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Wetlands by Charlotte Roche
Posted by Frances Bell on 04 December 2010
18 year old Helen is in hospital as a result of an injury inflicted by herself during a delicate shaving operation. While in hospital, she relates her theories on female hygiene (or lack of), sex and every intimate bodily function and the fluids that accompany them. Readers beware. This book is extremely explicit and some of the descriptions cross into a territory not usually explored in literature. But if you’re up for it, you’ll find that Helen an unusual heroine who comes across as brave, funny, likeable but ultimately perhaps a little sad. A disgustingly enjoyable book!
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Jia - a Novel of North Korea by Hyejin Kim
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 27 November 2010
Intelligence, decency, even good looks and talent count for very little in modern North Korea unless you are accepted as part of the ruling elite. An understated look at life for the vast majority both in their home country and as refugees in China. Highly recommended unless you cant do without a happy ending.
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The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
Posted by Ruth Ng on 20 November 2010
This sleek and steady Scandinavian novel slowly builds the tension as it unveils a future that seems terrifyingly believable – a world where older men and women are dispensable and human organs are harvested for more deserving people. The fact that there are no real villains makes this all the more frightening, for everyone involved is simply doing their job. There are occasional moments of lightness, but this is mostly a disturbing and hauntingly moving story that I could not put down.
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American Rust by Philipp Meyer
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 13 November 2010
This could have been just another novel on the decay of industrial America. But although the tale of Isaac and Billy is bleak and shocking I was riveted by their story and read the last half of the book in one sitting - I just had to know what happened to them! There are wonderful descriptions of both the industrial decay and the natural world around it. Highly recommended.
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One Day by David Nicholls
Posted by Anne OLeary on 16 October 2010
This is a book just begging for a film treatment and after a few pages you may find yourself mentally casting the main characters. It covers two decades of a will they/wont they, bittersweet relationship - a feel-good romcom, with the emphasis on comedy, like a British version of When Harry Met Sally. If you enjoyed that film (and who didn't?) you will love this, but be prepared for tears as well as laughter.
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City of Ghosts by Bali Rai
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 09 October 2010
A story about love, loss and the desire to belong at any cost. Three men face very different destinies. This book blends magic realism, the horror of war, the chequered history of colonialism and the scents and sounds of the city of Amritsar into an ambitious narrative. The reader needs to suspend their disbelief and revel in the rich descriptive passages which evoke India and the tragedy of an alienated nation through the ghosts of the past.
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The Maid by Yasutaka Tsutsui
Posted by Katie Evans on 02 October 2010
Nanase can read people's minds: a secret she will go to any lengths to protect. Privy to the thoughts of the families Nanase works for as a maid, unremarkable domestic scenes are merely a thin veil over a turmoil of lust, shame, jealously and hatred. Short but hard hitting, each chapter takes us deeper into the darkness of the human psyche. It's a disturbing journey.
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Freshers by Joanna Davies
Posted by Ruth Ng on 26 September 2010
A youthful, raucous rite of passage story about three Welsh first year students in 1990's Aberystwyth. Delving into the darker sides of student life we get everything from simple drunken debauchery through to adultery, abortion and suicide. Moments of humour lift the tone, but this is not for the fainthearted, or for any parent who has recently waved their child off to university!
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The House of Rajani by Alon Hilu
Posted by Janet Gilchrist on 19 September 2010
Who will you believe when you are presented with these two diaries written in parallel - the Jewish man who cheats on his wife or the Arab boy who says that he can see into the future? This historical tale of love and betrayal symbolises the 20th century conflict, fought over land, between Jews and Arabs. A read full of rich and lush description.
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The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 12 September 2010
Poets, lunatics, an inventor and a girl on the cusp of womanhood make their way blindly (or searchingly) through the maze of life. I relished the poetic language and rich imagery, really felt for the characters and reached the end wondering what it all amounted to: what are the boundaries between creativity and madness, love and self, health and sickness? If you love 19th century poetry, you will also enjoy this insight into the private lives of John Clare and Alfred Tennyson.
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The Rat Killer by Alexander Terekhov
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 05 September 2010
A surreal, funny and thought-provoking view of modern, small town Russia through the eyes of a young man who may be ratcatcher, or a PhD student or an assassin - or none of these. Just enjoy the flow and make your own mind up if you can!
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The Infinities by John Banville
Posted by Sheila Harden on 28 August 2010
The immortals, in the form of Hermes and Zeus, amuse themselves playing with the feelings of the members and friends of the Godley family, gathered to wait for the expected death of the patriarch, Adam. Communication is not this family's strong point. There is an uneasy drifting quality to all of their lives, though for different reasons. This book reads like a summer's day – warm, lilting, hazy, insubstantial. There are a few dark clouds on the horizon, but they don't present a serious threat.
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Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson
Posted by Ron Travis on 21 August 2010
What if abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry had succeeded? Imagine Afro American astronauts landing on Mars and a utopian Black nation, Nova Africa, thriving in the Deep South! This book uses a blend of nineteenth century letters, ex-slave narratives and science fiction to turn US history upside down. It's a book that that will keep you glued to the page and greedy for more.
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Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart
Posted by Frances Bell on 14 August 2010
A very unusual story set in the enclosed world of the Tower of London. Eccentric, but believable characters all of whom are suffering from varying degrees of loneliness, including the Queen's equerry. Add to this mix an assortment of exotic and neurotic animals and the fun really begins. The sub-plots of the clergyman who writes erotic fiction and the search for love in the London Underground lost property office are amusing and touching. An optimistic, enjoyable and very funny read.
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Jerusalem by Patrick Neate
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 07 August 2010
At once blisteringly funny and extremely disturbing, the action richochets between 1900 (Boer war concentration camp, Gloucestershire morris dancing) and 2008 (New Labours African initiative in the fictional dictatorship of Zambawi and Londons high priest of urban cool), examining what it means to be English through the eyes of both English and Africans. Very highly recommended.
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Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 30 July 2010
These disjointed stories of drug and alcohol addicts might seem hard-going to begin with. But you get to see the human face behind the statistics and, as the characters find their voice, the tales coalesce and won't let you go. Behind all the misery and hopelessness, a picture emerges: the spiral which links the opium grower, the soldier in the killing fields of Afghanistan and the addict. It all builds to a stunning canvas and makes for uncomfortable but unforgettable reading.
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The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson
Posted by Wendy Smith on 24 July 2010
I was completely captivated by this gentle and thoughtful novel about a young man and an elephant. Themes of sexuality, humanity and confinement along with a wonderfully evoked 18th century setting make this more than just another animal story or indeed, another love story. A remarkable and rewarding reading experience.
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Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst
Posted by Gail Holmes on 17 July 2010
This quirky little tale of a widow's love for her husband, stray dogs, table football and classical music set in a village full of interesting characters is an absolute joy to read. Poignant and hugely entertaining, its sombre themes of loss and ageing are handled in a hugely agreeable way.
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Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 July 2010
It is difficult to do justice to this novel in a few lines. The story begins in Sri Lanka - beautiful, but torn apart by racial and civil strife and then moves to London where the Sri Lankans struggle to assimilate into an alien culture. A book with everything - great story, beautiful descriptions; the words glow like jewels on every page. The interesting and diverse characters are totally believable. All in all, a wonderful reading experience - but, be warned, have your box of tissues ready.
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A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven by Karl O Knausgaard
Posted by David Kenvyn on 03 July 2010
Odd, but enthralling description of the history and decline of angels as seen through the eyes of Antinous Bellori, who meets an angel as a boy. And then you get the cherubim guarding Eden from the evicted Adam and Eve, Cain murdering Abel, a drunken Noah after the flood, Abraham and the meeting at the oak trees of Mamre, Lot fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah and then leaping a few hundred years at least to Ezekiel and his dry bones. You don't have to know the Old Testament to enjoy this book, but you will know a lot about the Old Testament after reading it.
And none of this gives the story away. Although why it ends up in Norway is anyone's guess.
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Homesick by Eshkol Nevo
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 12 June 2010
At first you might think that this group of characters share a neighbourhood and nothing else, but as the author brings us inside their experiences, you can't help but see the connections instead of the differences. This is no happy ever after fairytale, but a story where relationships gain strength because the people in them choose to work at finding ways to be happy together. It's a warm and sunny read, which builds a richly textured big picture from the details of everyday life.
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The Truth Commissioner by David Park
Posted by Katie Evans on 26 June 2010
Episodes from the lives of four very different men weave together to reveal what happened to disappeared Belfast teenager, Connor Walshe. These are men guilty of corruption and brutality, but I was quickly drawn into tender sympathy with all four. Their deeply personal vulnerabilities, strengths and desires will determine whether Connor's family will finally hear the truth.
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The Dirty South by Alex Wheatle
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 19 June 2010
You might guess a novel of Brixton, drugs and crime would be a recital of gang violence and race politics. Yes, the life-on-the-street background is there, but from the start you are inside Dennis's head. It's his awareness of loving relationships that others are deprived of, his romantic longing for true love, and his agonising over taking revenge for his friend Noel's death, that make him much more than a two-dimensional badman.
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Little Hut of Leaping Fishes by Chiew-Siah Tei
Posted by Ruth Ng on 05 June 2010
I quickly got used to the unusual, staccato style of prose in this book as I became totally immersed in the life of Mingzhi. Bound from birth by filial responsibilities, he silently shies away from his Opium-growing grandfather, hoping that his education will allow him a way out, a new opportunity to search for truth and justice. This coming of age family saga brings to life late 19th century China, where the new and frightening Western influences clash violently with centuries of tradition, ritual and expectation.
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Blank Gaze by Jose Luis Peixoto
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 08 May 2010
The harsh lives of the inhabitants of an impoverished Portuguese village are played out in this dark tale. Multiple narrative voices lend a poetic, if sometimes claustrophobic, commonality to their experiences. Not always an easy read, but stick with it and you will be rewarded by a beautiful if unusual story of fate, love and death throughout the generations.
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Joseph's Box by Suhayl Saadi
Posted by David Kenvyn on 29 May 2010
Two bereaved people find a box floating in the River Clyde by the Erskine Bridge. It is opened when Alex plays his lute. And then the adventure begins, taking in Scotland, Sicily, the Himalayas and Lincolnshire. Think Homer's Odyssey, Joyce's Ulysses or Alice in Wonderland, the Box of Delights or the Mahabharata. Or rather forget the comparisons, and wallow in the beauty of the language, and the breathtaking virtuosity of the story. Oh, and Joseph who made the box is the father of a famous carpenter - which gives nothing away.
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Ghosts and Lightning by Trevor Byrne
Posted by Cath Allwood on 22 May 2010
Plot? What plot? Denny and his dodgy friends bum aimlessly round the seedier parts of Dublin in this episodic, shaggy-dog story. Boozy, druggy and spectacularly profane, it's also a funny, touching and sometimes poetic account of how Denny tries to cope with the sudden death of his much-loved 'ma'.
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 15 May 2010
Wow! It begins as a gently humorous commentary on class and society with loads of interesting philosophical ruminations - almost becomes a chick lit for the over 50s and then ...! Just keep reading until the Japanese tenant appears - after that you won't be able to put it down. And what an ending.
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Bone China by Roma Tearne
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 01 May 2010
A lyrical and haunting tale of three generations fragmented by civil strife and the shock of migration. The genteel Grace De Silva faces upheaval as Ceylon is torn apart by independence and her children are compelled to seek a new life in austere England. Lost loves, secret sorrows and the search for cultural identity make up the sights and sounds of this novel. It is a feast for the senses playing on the reader's emotions like a beautiful concerto.
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This Breathing World by Jose Luis de Juan
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 22 April 2010
As you are whisked between ancient Rome and 1950's Harvard be prepared to have all your ideas about history, literature and (especially) time severely challenged by this blackly comic yet murderous novel.
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Chez Moi by Agnes Desarthe
Posted by Ruth Ng on 15 April 2010
A sensory feast spills from the pages of this tale of a woman on the run who opens up a restaurant in her home in Paris. She hoards away the secrets and lies of her former life as she stumbles through the early stages of her new one, with a little help from some local misfits. Although there is the sense, at first, that this could be simply fluffy chick-lit, instead it becomes a quite serious and engrossing story of a life of nonconformity and self discovery.
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Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
Posted by David Kenvyn on 08 April 2010
You will never have read anything quite like this, and not to read it means that you will miss out. The writing is superb, poetic, epic, enthralling. The story is a terrifying, breathtaking, adventure and love story, set in a Los Angeles plagued by murderous gangs of werewolves. And you will never guess the ending.
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A Kind of Vanishing by Lesley Thomson
Posted by Tony Ward on 01 April 2010
I didn't like Alice, an unpleasant child, and I couldn't tell where she'd gone. I did like Eleanor, but she disappeared as well. And then one of them came back. The how and the where dance around with the who and the why to leave you dizzy and confused, certain that you know but then ultimately wrong. I was held in thrall by the developing story, never quite believing what I read until all the questions were answered and the truth was revealed.
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The End of the Alphabet by C S Richardson
Posted by Cath Allwood on 25 March 2010
What would you do if you were given only weeks to live? Ambrose and Zapporas answer is to revisit cities which have meant a lot to them during nearly thirty years of happy marriage. A series of vignettes, some funny, some poignant, build into a touching, satisfying portrait of two loveable people. I loved this elegant little gem.
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Enemy of the Good by Michael Arditti
Posted by Anne OLeary on 11 March 2010
The book's title (a quote from Voltaire) reflects the message that, like the road to hell, following a path of religious extremism leads to the corruption of good intentions. This is a compassionate page-turner of a story, covering the full spectrum of the conflicts that confront our modern multi-cultural, multi-faith society. It will force you to confront your own beliefs and prejudices, while keeping your interest in the fate of the characters to the very end.
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Sold by Patricia McCormick
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 04 March 2010
Heart rending but poignantly lyrical account of a young Nepalese hill girl sold into sexual slavery. The small comforts of 13 year old Lakshmi's spartan home life are replaced by a living nightmare as she is exposed to the soul destroying environment of Happiness House and the unspeakable cruelties of Mumtaz. This is a difficult, emotional journey told in simple, staccato chapters that leave the reader sick at heart and longing for hope in the midst of human misery. It gives victims of sexual exploitation a powerful voice that speaks long after the book has been closed.
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The Prophet Murders by Mehnet Murat Somer
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 28 February 2010
Is someone murdering transvestites in Istanbul? And does anyone care? Darkly funny, exciting and different, the book was so good I could even cope with the computer speak - yes the heroine is a techie as well as a transvestite and businessman.
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Beyond the Great Indoors by Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Posted by Rachel Van Riel on 21 February 2010
Two middle-aged guys living together and you realise they both have big problems - anxietes about venturing out of the house, even answering the phone. An optimistic tale of how awkward and damaged human beings can help each other - with some great comic moments.
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9987 by Nik Jones
Posted by Frances Bell on 14 February 2010
This first novel by Nik Jones is violent, vicious, nasty and utterly bleak. However, despite all this, the absolute brilliance of the writing makes it an enjoyable, exciting and even amusing read! The picture of the unnamed, unloved hero going quietly mad among his DVDs will linger long in the mind. Will you ever risk entering a DVD rental shop again?
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Black Orchids by Gillian Slovo
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 07 February 2010
This is a family saga that travels from Ceylon in the 1940s to England in the 1950s and beyond. That racism was rife goes without saying, but this doesn't swamp the story, in fact it's the inner family wrangling that takes up much of the book. There are no huge surprises, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's quite simply a rattling good read, best enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon with a nice cup of tea.
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A Vengeful Longing by R N Morris
Posted by Cath Allwood on 30 January 2010
Three gruesome murders in the stifling summer heat of 1860's St Petersburg: Porfiry Petrovich is convinced there’s a connection but just what this is keeps him and us guessing right up to the last chapter when all is revealed. You certainly don't have to have read Crime and Punishment to enjoy this intelligent and atmospheric crime novel; if you have, there's an added pleasure in seeing Dostoyevsky's engaging, brilliant and very human detective exercise his forensic and psychological skills again.
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The Bird Room by Chris Killen
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 24 January 2010
From its voyeuristic cover to its snappy, sexy, humorous style Killen's debut novel is a spiky modernist take on the effects of technology on relationships. Characters agonise about art, love, the pain of rejection, identity and sex. Love is as fragile as a pane of glass that shatters at the first impact. The reader gets caught in the game as flashback techniques play with perception. How the book is viewed depends on what the reader sees through the looking glass but it is a compulsive, surprising journey rather like watching a film of awkward relationships through a camera lens.
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The Disappeared by Kim Echlin
Posted by Ruth Ng on 17 January 2010
Densely poetic, this daring novel traces a story of love and desire from Montreal to Phnom Penh. The brutalities and horror of war and genocide are balanced by a young girl's intense desire for, and love affair with, a Cambodian refugee and musician. After losing him once when he returns, alone, to Cambodia she makes the journey herself ten years later, only to suffer a greater loss there than she could possibly have imagined. A beautiful, haunting book.
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Mystery Man by Colin Bateman
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 10 January 2010
This book is hilarious, I loved it. Take a hypochondriac book dealer with OCD and combine him with Miss Marple and what do you get? The manic owner of a mystery bookshop in Belfast, next door to a missing private detective, who finds that cases keep walking in on him. So does his new girlfriend, with adventures he is too timid to enjoy. And if you are a vintage film freak, watch out for the last line.
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All Shall be Well; and All Shall be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall be Well by Tod Wodicka
Posted by Celia Jenkins on 19 December 2009
A strange mix of the offbeat and the commonplace, this has an unusual flavour. Burt is into medieval re-enactment but his life falls apart when his wife becomes terminally ill. I found Burt a very frustrating and pathetic character, but also one who you can sympathise with. Unexpectedly moving.
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Once Upon a Time in England by Helen Walsh
Posted by Justine Hyland on 12 December 2009
Set in 1970's Warrington, this is a beautifully written, intense, absorbing story. As well as bringing to the fore many social issues of the time, it also delves into the complexities of family dynamics. The characters' journeys are wholly believable and I rode alongside them, even though the trip comes to a gut-wrenching finale.
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Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
Posted by Laura Bell on 05 December 2009
Once I had tuned in to the unhinged narrative style with increasingly hysterical repetitions, I was swept into this story with no full stops on the page or boundaries to subjects under discussion in the narrator's head. Both satirical and thought provoking, this is a graphic and alcohol fuelled insight into the lives of those who pass through a less than salubrious Congolese bar.
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Submarine by Joe Dunthorne
Posted by Dot Cameron on 28 November 2009
A first novel written by a Welsh poet and not at all what I expected - not many books make me laugh out loud but this one did! It's the story of Oliver, a teenager, full of angst, self obsession and curiosity and part of a dysfunctional family. Oliver is a cross between Adrian Mole, Christopher (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime) and Holden Caulfield. A definite edge there along with the humour.
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Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Posted by Alison Hedley on 21 November 2009
Set in a Swedish sink estate, this vampire novel is both chilling and gruesome but is also a true page-turner, guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. The violence is frequent, terrifying and graphic (certainly not a read for the faint-hearted. However, alongside all that is a very tender, burgeoning relationship between Oskar and Eli. The large cast of supporting characters, some of whom will make your skin crawl, will make you look at any new neighbours in a different light as this novel makes its way to a very explosive climax. One to read with the lights on!
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Lost Bodies by Francois Gantheret
Posted by Frances Bell on 14 November 2009
A tragic story of love and betrayal set in an unnamed repressive North African country with beautiful descriptions of the desert setting. Well told intrigue and devious plots combine to create a slow burning fuse of revelation; the characters are both strong and resourceful as they battle against relentless prison brutality. A very short novel but one in which every word matters.
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The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 07 November 2009
At the heart of this tale is a bizarre but beautifully written romance with a twist. Against a backdrop of dystopian worlds, Billie and Spike search, time after time, for a life and love together. Packed around that romance is a science fiction novel, full of eco-warnings, philosophising, and a touch of satire. As the revelations slowly unfolded, this novel enticed and drew me through its satisfyingly complex and unexpected story.
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Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong
Posted by Cath Allwood on 30 October 2009
Meet the Morse and Lewis of Shanghai in an unusual whodunit. Clever, arty, neurotic Inspector Chen and his practical, down-to-earth sidekick Yu make engaging heroes. I'm not usually a big fan of crime novels but this is a cracker, full of fascinating insights into Shanghai life. I got a real sense of the characters' lives: where they live, what they wear and, especially, what they eat - both droolingly delicious and gruesomely disgusting. A sumptuous Chinese banquet of a novel.
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Lottery by Patricia Wood
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 24 October 2009
This is my feelgood read of the year. A delightful tale of Perry - who is not retarded, just slow, as he tells everyone - and his lottery win. The story never ducks the hard bits, but Perry still comes out smiling.
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Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey
Posted by Paul Doyle on 02 January 2010
Following a coup in an unnamed country this book tells the story through six characters all caught up in the unrest. As the story unravels the relationships between the six become more fraught and tense as the prospect of power combined with ever more impulsive greed and vengeance takes hold. It is a story simply but effectively told with its own unique rhythm, drawing the reader into the mind of each of the characters with an almost hypnotic quality.
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Wounded by Percival Everett
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 26 December 2009
This book offers much more than it seems on first impression - as a tale about a hate crime in a small town encompasses personal and family conflict, as well as a budding romance. The murder of a gay man sets off a chain of events forcing horse-trainer John Hunt and others to confront their feelings about homosexuality. This is a violent novel in many ways but also a love story showing the growth of John and Morgan’s relationship, and there are a few flashes of American-style quirky humour - look out for the mule! It's a gripping read that doesn't pull any punches.
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The Electric Church by Jeff Somers
Posted by Anya Agnew on 03 October 2009
This fast-paced easy-read book will appeal to sci-fi fans and more. Living in a grim, realistic future, ruthless assassin Avery Cates boasts that he has killed 26 times in his 27 years and is fast adding to his tally. A mesmerising plot absorbs and entices you to empathise with Cates, the homicidal 'good guy'. With language and settings that are truly nitty-gritty, you are left in no doubt that Cates is a man with definite beliefs.
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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 27 September 2009
This book takes you into quite another world. A world of close family, of a strange and knowing breed of dog, of jealousy, love and murder. I have never read anything quite like it and I really didn't want to finish it - even though I was desperate to find out what happens. Beautifully written and totally unforgettable.
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Guantanamo: A Novel by Dorothea Dieckmann
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 20 September 2009
Harder hitting than a documentary, this story of a detainee will disturb and challenge you. But the writing is so intense that you won't be able to put it down.
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The Extra Large Medium by Helen Slavin
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 13 September 2009
Annie can see dead people, all wearing chocolate brown. What's worse, they are very assertively communicative and can ruin Annie's life in ways no one would ever imagine. Very dark, very funny and told from several perspectives this is a book to read at one concentrated go - and then to think about for a long time afterwards.
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Buenas Noches Buenos Aires by Gilbert Adair
Posted by Karen Pugh on 06 September 2009
A whimsical take on the gay scene of Paris in the early 1980s. Laugh out loud funny in parts, intensely poignant in others – and very sexually graphic. The story takes a dramatic turn in narrative to touch on Aids and its fatal consequences. Gideon's final decision left me speechless - I wonder how it will leave you?
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A Choreographer's Cartography by Raman Mundair
Posted by David Kenvyn on 01 August 2009
Roam from Shetland to India via a sexual encounter in Blackpool. Discover the joys of bhangra and the shoormal. Find out about Queen Victoria and her Sikh bodyguard. Or why the waltz is subversive. Go on a poetic joyride, a dance of compassionate anger and sensual sensitivity. Or simply sit back, let the language flow over you and enjoy.
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Salvage by Jane F Kotapish
Posted by Dot Cameron on 25 July 2009
I really didn't think this book would be my kind of read but I found it enthralling. The narrator leaves a successful life in New York to live in small town Virginia and, as the book unfolds, we discover what has caused her abrupt departure. A diary of relationships - we learn of her childhood and life with her mother as well as eavesdropping on conversations with her dead sister – both disquieting and eccentric. In the end, a thoroughly worthwhile read which has that rare quality of combining humour with pathos.
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The Days of Judy B by Rose Heiney
Posted by Janet Scott on 18 July 2009
Judy Bishop leads parallel lives: the successful fun loving celebrity socialite and the overweight depressive, frustrated in love, life and career. We follow her conflict alternately through her weekly lifestyle column and through glimpses of the truth which lie behind it.
This is a very funny book with an underlying pathos which gives the novel an unexpected depth and poignancy.
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Lost Bodies by Francois Gantheret
Posted by Frances Bell on 11 July 2009
A tragic story of love and betrayal set in an unnamed repressive North African country with beautiful descriptions of the desert setting. Well told intrigue and devious plots combine to create a slow burning fuse of revelation; the characters are both strong and resourceful as they battle against relentless prison brutality. A very short novel but one in which every word matters.
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Broken by Daniel Clay
Posted by Jane Mathieson on 04 July 2009
This is a very realistic novel set on a small estate in the South of England. It deals with how people impinge on each other's lives, with often unimaginable consequences, sometimes driving each other to desperate acts. Yet at the same time it is full of humour and quirkiness. The action is described through the eyes of Skunk, a 12-year-old who doesn't always recognise reality in its true horror. If you're a fan of TV soaps which often portray extremes of behaviour, with occasional moments of bleak humour, then you should enjoy this.
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Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti
Posted by Anne O'Leary on 27 June 2009
Treat yourself to this quirky romantic comedy, guaranteed to lift your spirits with its feel-good factor. It's the familiar women from Venus, men from Mars plot, but told from both points of view, with a down to earth honesty and a refreshing absence of chick-lit smaltz.
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Monster Love by Carol Topolski
Posted by Gail Holmes on 20 June 2009
I found this tabloid-like sequence of testimonies from people affected by the abuse and murder of a child a harrowing read. You really do get inside the head of monsters. A brave novel about the ultimate taboo.
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A Deal with the Devil by Martin Suter
Posted by Paul Doyle on 13 June 2009
Not as straightforward as it first may appear. This story is a fast-paced mystery set in Switzerland where the characters come in and out of the action often to leave clues to the reader as to the mysterious goings-on. It may leave you guessing or confused but definitely intrigued.
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Lost Paradise by Cees Nooteboom
Posted by Paul Cowan on 06 June 2009
At first this seems to be a book of two unconnected halves. What possible link is there between two Brazilian girls travelling in Australia in search of Aboriginal culture and a journalist seeking to lose weight in an Alpine spa? Answer: angels. The result is a delightful mix of travel, art, literature, life and Milton’s Paradise Lost all in 151 pages – and every one of them charming, light and serious all at the same time.
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The Claude Glass by Tom Bullough
Posted by Dot Cameron on 30 May 2009
Two small boys are growing up with their hippy farmer parents in rural Wales and meet Andrew, son of a neighbouring farmer whose life is very different from theirs. He lives in rags, sleeps with the dogs and survives on scraps from the table. Half fairytale, half poem, this evocative novel deals with the relationship between the three boys and delivers a haunting portrait of the extremes of rural life.
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The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 23 May 2009
A wonderful mix of Victorian gothic and fantasy crime. Very fast, very funny and quite unbelievable (I think) and much better than its cover.
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The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens
Posted by Karen Pugh on 16 May 2009
Possibly the most powerful book I've read for many years – but it's neither pleasant nor comfortable. The historical detail is spot on and the language is appropriately coarse - both combine to immerse the reader in the world of young Fergus. His is a life of unthinkable harshness. We feel his sadness and love for all those he has lost, both man and animal, keenly.
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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Posted by Anne O'Leary on 09 May 2009
With glowing reviews from Stephen King and Harlen Coben, this assured psychological thriller is up with the best of its kind. Steeped in small-town suffocating atmosphere, with dysfunctional families on every corner, the plot includes vivid descriptions of teenage sex, bullying, drug and alcohol abuse and self-harm. This disturbing, heady mixture is the background to the hunt for a murderer with a macabre killer's signature.
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The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Posted by Wendy Smith on 02 May 2009
This story centres on the relationship between a porn star who receives horrific burns in a car accident and a sculptress who claims that they were lovers in a previous life. Gothic horror/boys' own adventure/ medieval romance - unlike any book I've ever read, it simply defies categorisation, and if you can make it beyond the gore of the early chapters you are in for an absolute treat.
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A Fraction Of The Whole by Steve Toltz
Posted by Frances Bell on 23 April 2009
This is a huge novel in terms of both size and breadth of content - it includes fire, prison escapes, fraud, murder, gunrunning and brothel keeping. It's not a traditional family saga but this biographical story is related by father and son in both real time and in reminiscence. A book not to be taken too seriously. It's very funny. I absolutely loved it. However, be warned, the author never uses one word if he can use ten!
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My Best Friend Has Issues by Laura Marney
Posted by David Kenvyn on 16 April 2009
How to describe it? Bridget Jones's fat girl angst meets a Moll Flanders romp through the fleshpots of Barcelona. There's lots of flesh and most of the characters are completely potty. And throw in a pinch of Becky Sharp to get a feel for the scheming amorality of it all. The only blameless character is Juegita, the dog, and even she managed to get up the duff somehow.
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The Resurrectionist by James Bradley
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 09 April 2009
This is a very gruesome book - definitely not for the fainthearted. But if you can get past the gore it's a fascinating if bleak tale - and it definitely doesn't go where you expect it to.
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After River by Donna Milner
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 02 April 2009
A sensitive but fast-moving plot of what happens when a happy-as-the-Waltons Canadian farming family is invaded by the Sixties - Vietnam, drugs and sexual freedom. Then, in the present, a reflective healing process for the wounds that the uncertainties and openness of that decade inflicted.
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The Red Book by Meaghan Delahunt
Posted by David Kenvyn on 26 March 2009
Be prepared to be angry and deeply moved. This is a book about a monstrous, avoidable, criminal catastrophe. But it is also about three people from disparate backgrounds - Scotland, India and Australia - struggling to confront their demons and redeem their lives. In other words, a song in praise of the human spirit and its unending capacity to rise above terrible circumstances.
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Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 19 March 2009
Snapshots of life of four generations of the same family, seen through 6 year-old eyes. Concentration is needed as the book starts in 2004 and works back to 1945 via 1962 and 1982, so I found myself continually flicking back to check what was what- but it's well worth any effort. Particularly recommended for reading groups interested in the nature versus nurture debate; NOT recommended for those who prefer to take a rosy view of children.
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Tale of a Certain Orient by Milton Hatoum
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 12 March 2009
What a strange but moving story. As I slowly found out more and more about Emilie and her life, I became lost in a harsh but eerie world in the heart of the Amazon and in Emilie's struggle with life, with love and with her nearest and dearest. But don't be put off - I laughed often with this wonderful, warring and loving family.
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The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 05 March 2009
The safe world of Pippa Lee, married to a charismatic New York publisher 30 years her senior, begins to unravel when they move to Marigold Village Retirement Community. Banish all thoughts of cocoa and slippers from then on - a kaleidoscopic journey through sex, drugs, teenage rebellion and the rest will definitely appeal to the wild child!
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Kill Your Friends by John Niven
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 28 February 2009
Steven Stelfox - a totally evil immoral scheming villain with no redemptive features. So why did I find myself willing him on to success? This is a superbly funny expose of the music industry - can it really be this bad? - which I thoroughly enjoyed even when I was gasping at the sheer audacity of this man's idea of career progression.
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Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Posted by Frances Bell on 22 February 2009
An old-fashioned circus novel with plenty of action and excitement but few if any laughs and a love interest which is fraught with danger. The circus is something you either love or hate and your reaction to this novel will be influenced by these feelings – if you're squeamish about the treatment of performing animals, this might not be for you. Good descriptions of desperate men living through the economic turmoil of the American depression. A brutal era, powerfully drawn.
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A Deal with the Devil by Martin Suter
Posted by Paul Doyle on 08 February 2009
Not as straight forward as it first may appear. This story is a fast-paced mystery set in Switzerland where the characters come in and out of the action often to leave clues to the reader as to the mysterious goings-on. It will either leave you guessing or confused but, for sure, you will be intrigued.
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Just Like Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 01 February 2009
You can't help but love Doria as she delivers her take on life on a Paris housing estate. Her future could seem rather bleak - her father has cleared off back to Morocco, she's going nowhere at school and her best friends are a druggy and a psychologist - but Doria doesn't let this get her down. Her voice is upbeat and funny but never cruel - and she sees through hypocrisy with a wisdom beyond her 15 years. Try this and she could just become your new best friend.
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Angelglass by David Barnett
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 24 January 2009
Shifting and vivid, the story moves from present day to XVI century Prague and from gripping eco-thriller to lush historical novel. In both periods, an amnesiac tries to work out who he is and whom he can trust. You'll feel bereft each time you leave a time frame only to get engrossed as soon as you enter the next. An element of fantasy in the plot should not put off readers who do not usually read this type of book.
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Londonstani by Gautam Malkani
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 17 January 2009
Testosterone laden angst amongst Brit-Asian youth in West London. Definitely one for hip young things - and for everyone else into flash cars, gangsta rap and bling, persist with the rudeboy slang and dive in.
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Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiongo
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 10 January 2009
A true political satire, set in an imaginary African country but with parallels to so many others in many parts of the world. It's funny, witty, very human and yet monumental in scale. Be prepared for the long haul but be ready to enjoy it - I certainly did.
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Voices by Arnaldur Indridason
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 03 January 2009
Just give in and drown yourself in the dark side of life on the dark island of Iceland at the darkest time of year. This book just grabs you, chews you up, and spits you out at the end. You may be older and wiser for the experience - or maybe not?
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The Minutes of the Lazarus Club by Tony Pollard
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 27 December 2008
If you are a fan of 'what if' historical novels then you will love The Lazarus Club where Brunel and other inventor/scientists like him meet philosophers, business men and Byron's grandson, in order to see just how far knowledge can be extended. A great Gothic thriller with lots of murders and, for me, a truly surprise ending.
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Fresh by Mark McNay
Posted by David Kenvyn on 20 December 2008
A breathtaking first novel written in Scots - a tour de force. Humour, pathos, drama and a chicken factory. And Ae wisnae expectin het tae end the way it did.
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By The Time You Read This by Lola Jaye
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 13 December 2008
From the age of 12 Lois depends on her late father's bequest: a 'manual' intended by him to see her through life to 30. This might have been a very sentimental novel but bold, often wrong-headed Lois makes sure it isn't. Okay so you'll be able to spot where she (and Dad) are making mistakes but that's part of the fun. Sit back and enjoy - secure in the knowledge that you've spotted Mr Right long before she has.
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The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers
Posted by Dot Cameron on 06 December 2008
A hard-hitting and gritty follow up to The Electric Church - the violence is full on and the body count is huge! Pure entertainment though and cult reading for fans of hard-edged sci fi.
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The Pirates Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Posted by Anne O'Leary on 29 November 2008
All the passion, heat and colour of a swashbuckling saga await you within the pages of this novel. Set in the tropical paradise of Jamaica, this is romantic escapism with a satisfying filling of history and evocative atmosphere.
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Angelglass by David Bartlett
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 08 November 2008
Shifting and vivid, the story moves from present day to XVI century Prague and from gripping eco-thriller to lush historical novel. In both periods, an amnesiac tries to work out who he is and whom he can trust. You'll feel bereft each time you leave a time frame only to get engrossed as soon as you enter the next. An element of fantasy in the plot should not put off readers who do not like the genre.
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The Journal of Dora Damage by Belinda Starling
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 01 November 2008
Rude awakening for wife of Victorian bookbinder crippled by arthritis, who turns to binding the specialist pornography of reactionary scientists to keep family and home together. Plenty of authentic London grime and squalor for anyone into period detail, not to mention the esoteric tastes of the aristocracy, but be prepared to be uplifted by a thoroughly modern heroine.
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Like Heaven by Niala Maharaj
Posted by Karen Pugh on 25 October 2008
Ved Saran is a self-made businessman living in Trinidad. His honesty proves a disappointment to his greedy, manipulative, tight-knit family. Local dialect peppers the conversations but the narrative is such an easy read you won't find this a problem. Characters who inspire empathy and an evocative setting make for a pleasant and enjoyable reading experience. You'll be heading for the travel agents to book a Caribbean holiday.
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The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
Posted by Karen Pugh on 18 October 2008
This story resembles the life cycle of a moth – there are many layers, often exposing a darker side before transforming itself into something of beauty. The two sisters in the novel are vastly different - one is quiet, hermit-like, unassuming and very naive; the other is gregarious, outspoken but extremely selfish. The story explores their interaction and flits between the past and the present. A must-read book full of heartache, suspense, love – and you'll learn something of the study moths and butterflies.
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The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by W G Dahlquist
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 11 October 2008
This is a gothic fantasy thriller packaged in a big, big book. So set some time aside for it because I guarantee you won't be able put it down. A sort of 'Fingersmith' meets 'Frankenstein' with touches of black humour that are entirely 21st century.
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Day by A L Kennedy
Posted by David Kenvyn on 04 October 2008
Alfred Day - a young man caught up in conflict. A sort of cross between the Good Soldier Svejk and Oedipus, with a dash of Dad's Army. And that's not to mention the rest of his crew, who have escaped from - who knows? But they are all completely bonkers. And then there's Joyce, with whom he has a not so brief encounter.
There is nothing quite like this book, so if you're up for a reading adventure, give it a go.
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The Keep by Jennifer Egan
Posted by Jenny Brookes on 28 September 2008
I expected a darker, grown-up version of a fairytale from this book set in a gloomy castle in the forest, but actually got much more than that. The atmosphere drew me in, particularly towards the very tense end to part 2 and the two parallel stories in Europe and America kept me intrigued as I tried to work out their connection.
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The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
Posted by Jane Wheeler on 21 September 2008
Set in a post-apocalyptic England which is struggling to survive, there is no power, no food and the government has crumbled. Sister is searching for a better life and seeks out a community of women living self-sufficiently in the hills. This is her story.
This world is closer to our current reality than I care to think, and it had me spellbound. The story is fast paced and not your usual science fiction fare. Thought provoking, disturbing and enjoyably addictive.
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2017
Blackass
Posted by Paul Cowan on 16 January 2017
Furo Wariboko wakes on the morning of his job interview to find his black body has turned white. As a white man in a black world some doors now open for him as he invents a new identity for himself and turns his back on his family. This book explores race and identity with a light touch and will make you both laugh and think.
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Dragonfish
Posted by Wendy Smith on 09 January 2017
This novel has all the key elements of a thriller but a backstory about displaced Vietnamese refugees gives it an extra dimension. I really warmed to all of the characters, even the heavies, because they are so compassionately portrayed. Readers hoping for a neat resolution may find themselves disappointed; I thought it the fitting end to a story about a woman who remains elusive to all, including the reader.
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Bitter Sixteen
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 02 January 2017
This first volume of a trilogy introduces Stanly, an introspective loner and pop culture geek, who acquires superhero powers on his sixteenth birthday. So far, so typical for this genre, except for a most unusual wisecracking sidekick, who just happens to be a talking dog. Spotting the cultural references within the engaging interplay and snappy dialogue ensures this is will appeal to a wider age range than the target young adult audience.
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The Good Liar
Posted by David Kenvyn on 26 December 2016
This will take you by surprise. Not necessarily every twist and turn. But enough of them to keep you on your toes. Here is a morality tale for our times - the villain is villainous and definitely needs to be caught. It starts off like 'The Sting' but then turns a lot darker, as you are slowly led into the betrayal of the Schroder family to the Gestapo. I couldn't put this book down - hoping that the villain would meet his deserved fate.
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The Book of Memory
Posted by Paul Doyle on 19 December 2016
While on death row in a Zimbabwean prison, Memory begins to recount her story, at the centre of which lies her parents and Lloyd, and what may or may not have happened to Memory as a child. It is a story of unfolding revelations set against the backdrop of change in society. Befitting her name, Memory is a memorable character in a story beautifully told that you may want to read all over again once you've reached the final sentence.
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A Cup of Rage
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 12 December 2016
A torrent of anger, hatred and contempt flows through 47 pages without a stop. I can't say it made me understand sado-masochism but it certainly brought it to life in the most forceful way. Don't expect soft porn: this is a masterful study of sexual perversion.
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The Lauras
Posted by Karen Pugh on 05 December 2016
Alex is agender and travels around America with 'Ma', a woman with her own agenda. Ma is out for revenge and retribution. She's a woman with a past and Alex witnesses and experiences things no child should see. Nevertheless Alex becomes strong and independent which comes through as the story progresses. This is a book where you never really know what's going to happen next - be it good or bad - and that's what makes it such a great read.
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The Well of Trapped Words
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 28 November 2016
Talking snakes and otherworldly grandmothers who require spoon-feeding are the stuff of folktales, and unpredictable honorary aunts and local dignitaries driven to extremes by bureaucracy and modernity are hallmarks of a traditional society not coping well with change. Kaygusuz's short stories open windows into Turkish life, brought together by her amazing dreamlike realism.
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The Good Life Elsewhere
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 21 November 2016
A dark humour runs through this tale of an impoverished Moldavian community seeking the utopia of Italy. Comedic elements creep in which made me smile despite the serious undercurrent of the story. A cast of characters attempt increasingly farcical ways of reaching Italy: the land of promise and opportunity. As soon as one attempt is thwarted, another hare-brained scheme is hatched.
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An Unnecessary Woman
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 14 November 2016
A childless divorcee for over 50 years, living in 21st century Beirut, Aaliya assumes most of her world will find her 'unnecessary'. As she faces old age - her biggest challenge yet - will her dry wit, intelligence and love for literature, art and her indomitable city prove enough to make her feel that she isn't completely useless? A fascinating read.
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Welcome to Braggsville
Posted by Richard Ashman on 07 November 2016
Unceasing wordplay deftly probes the thorny issues of identity and American racial conflict with perfectly pitched dark satire and morbid comedy. The shockingly bizarre story may be disturbing but the hypersensitive send-up of academia will also amuse. This misbegotten tale, full of irony and stray cultural references, is awesome in its unpredictable linguistic acrobatics.
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The Dog Who Dared to Dream
Posted by Natalie McChrystal on 17 October 2016
This South Korean bestseller is a beautiful and poignant fable about a dog named Scraggly; an endearing character whose dreams of family and independence captivated me. Foreboding and loss are adeptly entwined with a gentle humour particularly surrounding Sister-in-Law, the illustrations are simple but effective and this short tale is touching and memorable. If you don't like animal protagonists this may not be for you but I found it enchanting.
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The Body Snatcher
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 10 October 2016
Meet Brazil's answer to Tom Ripley: unnamed narrator who is just as amoral as Highsmith's famous anti-hero but only has one tenth of Ripley's brains. He does, however, have charm, a girl friend who works in a morgue and the luck of the devil. So sit back and enjoy sex, drugs and cadaver kidnapping, whilst hating yourself for smiling.
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Beside Myself
Posted by Frances Bell on 03 October 2016
To fully appreciate this novel the reader is asked to accept that a innocent prank can result in misery and madness and that responsible adults may not appreciate the significance of the joke. Told in the first person by 'Smudge' an identical twin, she describes how the prank results in her descent from delinquency to insanity. Strong characterisation, fast paced, brilliant on family dynamics, extremely disturbing but totally compulsive reading.
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Look at Me
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 26 September 2016
The repercussions of a father's indiscreet bohemian lifestyle are profound when the love child from his hippy past is contacted and invited to stay. Thus follows a five act tragedy of sibling rivalry, self-deception and simmering tension between the half-sisters, as both clamour for attention. This study of shifting family dynamics will challenge your sympathies for the characters as it unfolds - whose side will you be on?
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Sea Lovers
Posted by David Kenvyn on 19 September 2016
A wonderful, beautifully written series of short stories about what it is like to be a woman. Two stories refer to mythical creatures - a mermaid and a centaur - but all of them are about how we survive our lives, about the subterfuges that we have to take in order to preserve our privacy, our dignity and our self-respect. And especially about how women have to do these things in what is a patriarchal society. Not easy, but very worthwhile.
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If I Fall, If I Die
Posted by Ruth Ng on 12 September 2016
Muddled as to whether it’s trying to be a coming of age story, a boy’s adventure tale or a psychological investigation of anxiety and agoraphobia this, nonetheless, is so beautifully written that you forgive the jumbled themes and simply love the characters. Delicious descriptions and an unsettling mother/son relationship saw me race to the end with a satisfied sigh.
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Under the Udala Trees
Posted by Richard Ashman on 05 September 2016
A deft balance between love and war, this is a compellingly stylistic depiction of a politically brutal suppression of same-sex relationships, interspersed with allegory, folklore and intransigent religiosity. The dizzying tale powerfully interweaves the internal turmoil and competing societal forces that means choosing between heart and tradition. Determined and daring in the face of hatred and persecution. Gripping storytelling.
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Spill Simmer Falter Wither
Posted by Karen Pugh on 29 August 2016
Take a journey around Ireland with 'unnamed man' and One-Eye, his rescued hunting dog. This isn't an adventure of a lifetime - more a matter of survival. While the book is easy to read, I found the subject matter of loneliness, sadness and death difficult and upsetting. Don't read this book if you're not 'in a good place'. Whilst haunting and bleak, the book did contain elements of hope and kindness and love to another living being.
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The Mirror
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 22 August 2016
A Venetian nun and an eccentric composer: what can they possibly have in common? Quite a lot, as these two novellas show: a life of order and beauty, a quest for meaning. But their destiny will startle and move you in very different ways. I can say no more without spoiling your enjoyment!
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Ruby
Posted by Wendy Smith on 15 August 2016
Ephram Jennings has loved Ruby Bell since they were children, but Ruby is now a woman broken by years of abuse. This is a beautifully written novel about the redemptive power of compassion and love. Although I was intrigued by the supernatural elements of the story, scenes of sexual violence against women and children made for a read which pushed me to the limits of my endurance.
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Lunatics, Lovers and Poets
Posted by Wendy Smith on 08 August 2016
A well written short story can be more satisfying to the reader than an overblown novel and there are several in this commemorative anthology that hit the spot. Infused with international flavours, there's no need to swot up on Shakespeare or Cervantes to enjoy this literary mezze.
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Physical
Posted by Ruth Ng on 01 August 2016
Written without punctuation, or adhering to traditional structure, these poems vary from humorous observations to moving descriptions. Mostly about masculinity and what it means to be a man, there are moments of social observation and, as the title indicates, the poems are very physical in nature with strong, powerful imagery. Although the style is initially challenging the language is easy to read, and the experience of doing so is rewarding.
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The Portable Veblen
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 25 July 2016
Dreamy, nature-loving, anti-consumerist meets ambitious, status-conscious materialist working for Big Pharma - and it’s not long before serious prenuptial doubts emerge. Throw in dysfunctional upbringing on both sides and a disastrous meet-the-in-laws visit with the future hypochondriac mother-in-law from hell – and the relationship looks doomed. If you are into screwball comedy and like squirrels, you will enjoy this.
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The Blue Between Sky and Water
Posted by Gail Holmes on 18 July 2016
This is a story of the Palestinian struggle told through several generations of a family. It was easy to empathise with the characters in Gaza, especially Nazmiyeh, a strong woman with a wicked tongue, but I struggled with the character of Nur, an abused Palestinian girl raised in the USA and whose story felt, to me, a little contrived. Nevertheless, I learned a lot from this moving and poetic novel.
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The House of Shattered Wings
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 11 July 2016
A Paris in the fallout of war between rival magicians' Houses, angels regularly falling out of heaven, a dragon realm under the Seine, addiction to angel essence clearly replacing narcotics and their associated gangland crime. There are so many elements here to grapple with as the author invites you to join her in welding together this gripping fantasy, crime, thriller mash up. An epic read.
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A Book of Death and Fish
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 04 July 2016
An amazing book following the self-told story of a young man growing up in the Hebrides in the 1960s through to his death in the new millennium. Don’t be put off by the dialect, you’ll soon get your ear in and be reading it fluently. Don’t worry about the free-flowing style – it quickly seems natural. Don’t be put off by the fish, they are only part of the story. Remember it is a novel!
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Nothing But Grass
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 27 June 2016
The intricate story revolves around Ranby Manor and the events that took place there 200 years ago. The past and present converge throughout; tantalising the reader with parts of a puzzle. The complexity of the plot requires concentration as each character tells their own story. I embraced the role of amateur sleuth; attempting to draw correlations between an illustrated copy of Tennyson's poetry and an unnamed skeleton.
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Endgame
Posted by David Kenvyn on 20 June 2016
Romeo and Juliet meets the Godfather. These young lovers are not young. They should know better. When the whole town is lusting after possible buried treasure in an old church, trouble looms. The man, an author, cannot resist playing God. He even argues with God about who's fault that is. So a cycle of killing and revenge leads to tragedy. Very Shakespearean
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He Wants
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 13 June 2016
Lewis is 70, his life still bounded by the same town and the same people: but what is it that he actually wants? Just when I thought I knew, this very unsettling novel proved me wrong (again). And just when I thought I knew what he had done - or would do - wrong again! Engrossingly like life - and real people.
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The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 06 June 2016
Need a bunch of friends? Just step aboard the Wayfarer! Whether you enjoy big ideas, strong emotions or a beautifully imagined world, you'll soon be loath to return to Earth.
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The Beginning of the End
Posted by Richard Ashman on 30 May 2016
Lurking underneath the shock of explicit excesses and persistent pessimism is a unique novel that is brave in subject matter and assured in style. The spare and functional prose suits the loneliness and isolation of the main character and yet the unflinching description is balanced by a sense of dark comedy making this a thought-provoking book although not a cosy read.
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The Adventure of the Busts of Eva Peron
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 23 May 2016
Peronism and management theory are the two poles of this wry satire. When an executive gets accidentally involved in a workers' strike, his American training stands him in surprisingly good stead. By turns funny, disturbing and surreal, the story takes him on a journey of self-discovery. Will he emerge a new man?
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Frog
Posted by Wendy Smith on 16 May 2016
An epistolary narrative drives this meandering story about the affect of China's one child policy on a rural community. Though acts of brutality take place, they are tempered by episodes of black comedy. A challenging reading experience which surprised and shocked in unexpected ways.
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Whispers Through a Megaphone
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 09 May 2016
Ralph and Miriam meet by chance during a period of personal transition in both their lives. They are two perfect strangers looking for answers to questions neither of them know how to ask. These lost souls are brought together by fate, and as the reader you join them on their journey of discovery. Expect the ride to be bumpy, revealing and thoroughly entertaining all the way.
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Foreign Gods, Inc
Posted by David Kenvyn on 02 May 2016
This is a story of a clash of cultures, corruption and crushed dreams. For once, however, the central character is an African, who has been away from his home for a very long time. He has been living in New York for years - and he has not become rich. So he decides to steal a statue of the god Ngene from its shrine in his home village, to achieve his dream in his adopted country. Expect consequences - lots of them. Achebe would love this book.
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How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 25 April 2016
Recently divorced and teaching at Aarhus University, the unnamed narrator, a lapsed Muslim, is much more interested in his Hindoo friend Ravi's ability to improve their social lives, than he is in the comings and goings of their deeply religious Muslim landlord. When he begins to take notice, be prepared for some fundamental surprises in this witty, perceptive, really quite amazing novel.
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The Man I Became
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 18 April 2016
I usually avoid stories with talking animals but this one is something that is both special and unique. The narrator (a gorilla by birth) tells a tale that is moving and heart-warming in spite of the bleak vision of the world he inhabits. A short book, simply written, to read in one sitting but it packs some punch. Will leave you buzzing with questions about human motivation and what lengths we will go to for entertainment.
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At Hawthorn Time
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 11 April 2016
Written in a quasi-mystical pastoral style, the story is told from four viewpoints, as the characters’ relationships and their personal histories are revealed via their internal monologues. However, the real spirit of the novel is the rural landscape and the disconnection of modern man with nature, folklore and the old country ways - a moving elegy to a fast disappearing way of life.
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The Dog
Posted by Laura Bell on 04 April 2016
This is a brutal portrait of China and base human nature. I felt like I could see and hear the characters spit their lines at each other. The writing felt real and dirty - and visual like a movie. Sometimes I took my eyes from the page to wince because the images hit so hard - but I couldn't wait to be engrossed in the next short story.
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Gorsky
Posted by Frances Bell on 28 March 2016
A rags to riches story set in London. Niki, a Serbian refugee book shop assistant, is employed by Gorsky, a Russian oligarch, to buy Gorsky's personal library. Atmospheric descriptions of the Chelsea and Knightsbridge districts and of the lavish lifestyle of the London super rich combine to deliver an entertaining novel with shades of 'The Great Gatsby'.
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One Night, Markovitch
Posted by Richard Ashman on 21 March 2016
Switching between unrequited love and loathing; hope and despair, this is an exuberant portrayal of the comedy of human experience, encapsulating both life’s small domestic detail as well as the broader sweep of Jewish history. This is moving, funny, thought-provoking story-telling that reminds us that the miraculous is only a step away from the mundane.
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The Good Son
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 14 March 2016
Mickey, the narrator, is 11 years old, intelligent, gentle and living in the Ardoyne at the height of The Troubles. And if that weren't enough, his is mocked and tormented because, in his own words, ‘ everyone says I’m gay’. A terrifyingly realistic view of a dreadful time (in terms of both history and growing up) that is nevertheless often very funny. Highly recommended.
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Birth of a Bridge
Posted by Dot Cameron on 07 March 2016
An unusual novel where the main character is a bridge rather than any of the people who flock to work on building it. The visionary Mayor of Coca, an imaginary town in California, wants to transform it into a city to rival Dubai, but it needs a new and spectacular bridge. The progress of the building work interspersed with vignettes of the workers and the author's unusual prose style make this novel an intriguing, sometimes comic read.
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The Meursault Investigation
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 29 February 2016
Camus’s novel, The Outsider, portrayed the murder of ‘the Arab’ from the perspective of the killer, Meursault. Now, in this short novel, the reader learns who the unnamed Arab actually was through the voice of his troubled brother, Harun. Harun is an old man recounting the story of his brother’s death to an unnamed journalist in an Algerian bar. This sad story is an emotive one and I listened to Harun’s version of events with a heavy heart.
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Kimjongilia
Posted by David Kenvyn on 22 February 2016
This is a world of deceit, lies, idealism, commitment, self-serving, death, murder, invasion, resistance and sex - China and Korea from the Japanese invasion of the 1930s onwards. With Kim-il-Sung as one of the central characters, this is not sweetness and light. But you will want some people to survive. And it leaves you with a question: how did Chin Ho turn into the nice old man who has written the story down? Unless it's not Chin Ho ...
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The Mark and the Void
Posted by Anne Jones on 15 February 2016
A funny, at times absurdly funny, look at events in a small bank's Dublin arm on the cusp of the financial crash. Banking, funny? Yes, as seen through Claude a naive philosopher and employee, exploited by a shady writer There's a void at the heart of the tale because his relationships are as unreal as the bank's cash. You have to ask who's fooling who? Who's fooling you? Be counter-intuitive! Turn the very last page, and you may find out.
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The House in Smyrna
Posted by Ruth Ng on 08 February 2016
Short narrative strands twist and turn together with unnamed characters that force you to skip back and reread to try and understand what’s going on. Yet amongst the confusion, the writing is emotionally powerful and beautiful, as it moves gracefully from moments of sexual intimacy and violence to vivid travelogues. Difficult, but well worth the effort.
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Villa America
Posted by Wendy Smith on 01 February 2016
Villa America: Riviera home of wealthy Americans, Gerald and Sara Murphy, whose lavish parties are attended by Picasso, Hemingway, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. But despite the 'life lived as art' ethos, I felt like the only guest without a drink, wondering how soon things would turn ugly. And though I did not warm to any of the characters, I was moved by this fascinating story about people whose lives were a mystery to me.
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Chewing Gum
Posted by Anne Jones on 25 January 2016
A satirical narrator relates the tale of a mythic hero who attracts academic interest and a down-to-earth heroine who goes her own way. Libya comes to life across the centuries through the story of a Tripoli park. Families live their lives, often scandalous, whatever changes occur and everyone chews gum. This is not a book about recent Libyan regimes - or is it? I'm just beginning to understand it. Definitely worth a second read.
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The Looking-Glass Sisters
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 18 January 2016
What a read - events in the story are shocking, even repulsive yet the words it uses to describe them are so beautiful. Sympathy rebounds from one sister to the other. Who is the victim and who the aggressor? I changed my mind frequently. Claustrophobia and isolation in lives and landscape create a dreamlike quality which lurches into nightmare. I can't say I exactly enjoyed it but it pulled me back in each time I took a break. Powerful stuff.
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Tiger Milk
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 11 January 2016
Through Nini’s narration we experience her coming of age with best friend Jameelah. As these teenage rebels teeter on the brink of adulthood, the innocence of youth is shattered by the realities of urban life in Germany. A tried and tested plot formulae, I found the familiarity of the storyline both comforting and gripping.
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The Incarnations
Posted by Ruth Ng on 04 January 2016
Good for a wild ride through ancient and modern China, this reads a little like a short story collection although there is an overriding story arc concerning who is sending Wang mysterious letters and why. I wouldn't call it an enjoyable read, since it’s really very grim and unsettling. Yet the unpredictable nature of the narrative is intriguing, and it is certainly a powerful story.
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A Man Called Ove
Posted by Dot Cameron on 28 December 2015
A real feel-good read! Ove is 59, solitary and a bit of a curmudgeon, everything has to be just so and he is very intolerant of life in general. When his beloved wife dies and he loses his job, he decides he has nothing left to live for. However, his new neighbours have other ideas .... Lovely characters and a completely unexpected delight.
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The Visionist
Posted by Sandra Turner on 21 December 2015
A haunting, gripping story set in a farming community in Massachusetts, 1842. The story is told by three of the characters who are inexorably drawn together. A beautifully written narrative that explores the blurred boundaries of good and evil in a closed Shaker community and the men and women of the 'world' outside.
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What Ends
Posted by Anne Jones on 14 December 2015
We witness the demise of hope, a community and a family, as neighbours then siblings leave Trevor to care for declining parents and a failing business on a remote island. Told from the family's points of view the strains imposed on them in bleak conditions couldn't fail to move me. I rooted for Trevor, but I knew he had to move on to learn to live. An elegiac tribute to islanders who have struggled to maintain their way of life.
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Song for an Approaching Storm
Posted by Richard Ashman on 07 December 2015
A love triangle that vibrantly portrays the transition from poetic daydreamer to brutal despot. This sweat-stained novel vividly encapsulates the Cambodian political intrigue resulting in a legacy of trauma in an evocative atmosphere that makes your blood run cold. The three distinct voices tell a strikingly human tale that is both mysterious and frightening.
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Black Country
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 30 November 2015
A homage to the Black Country, this personal collection of poetry has grown organically from its West Midlands roots. An assortment of memories provide an intimate insight into various different characters, whilst the use of colloquial dialect lends an honesty and authenticity to each poem. Everyday lives are recounted with grit and realism and I was captivated by the personal voice resonating throughout.
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Fishnet
Posted by David Kenvyn on 23 November 2015
This is a disturbing book, mainly because the subject - prostitution - leaves people very uncomfortable, especially men. It is also a revelatory book, written with understanding, compassion and sense. Fiona, through searching for her sister, is led into the world of sex workers, and comes to understand the workings of the industry. It feels right. It challenges perceptions. It makes you think. And the story is gripping.
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Reader for Hire
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 16 November 2015
This novella is part of Peirene Press's ‘Chance Encounter’ series and was also a cinematic success. It describes the saucy adventures of a young French woman who decides to hire herself out as a reader to people in their own homes. But what do her clients really want – and how far will she go? Apart from the eroticism, there is also is plenty to delight the serious bibliophile, even one unfamiliar with French literature.
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Snow in May
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 09 November 2015
Discover the heart of Russia in these moving and wry short stories. Here are lives of quiet desperation with flashes of humour and humanity, such as are lived everywhere. But this is a cold, cold place where, in living memory, people were once interned for their beliefs...
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Life Drawing
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 02 November 2015
There's no doubt that the affair is coming. It as good as announces itself with full headlights and blaring horn. The only question is, what sort of karma it might deliver. And here’s the moral dilemma: is the artistic inspiration awoken by new (and illicit) love worth the inevitable tragic consequences? The writing here has the power to make the reader live every decision and keep asking the question: would I do?
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The Fishermen
Posted by Franes Bell on 26 October 2015
Why did the lives of the 'perfect' Nigerian family disintegrate into violence and misery? Was it witchcraft, mental illness or parental absence? The poetic style of the writing which initially seems old-fashioned and traditional, exaggerates the extraordinary and horrific events. Told in the words of Ben, one of five brothers who is nine years old at the start of the story, this is a totally absorbing debut novel. Definitely one to watch.
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Ostrich
Posted by Dot Cameron on 19 October 2015
If you want a book which makes you laugh and cry at the same time, this is it. Alex is 12 and has a brain tumour. He tells his story in typical teenage style as he struggles to understand what is happening to him. With the aid of a friend he tries to solve the mystery of his parents' odd behaviour. Are they getting divorced? And why does his beloved hamster seem thinner? Bursting with humour but you will need tissues at the end.
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What to do with Lobsters in a Place like Klippiesfontein
Posted by David Kenvyn on 12 October 2015
Klippiesfontein is the kind of place where you do not find lobsters for sale – but that doesn’t deter Marius, with surreal results. This story revels in modern South African life, gently poking fun at the insanity of racists, while allowing them humanity. A rainbow shines.
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My Biggest Lie
Posted by Paul Doyle on 05 October 2015
Let yourself by whisked along by a novel that is at times a heady, intoxicating blur and at others, funny, honest and charming. It follows Liam as he escapes to Buenos Aires, far away from the mess he's made of both his relationship and his job with a London publisher (not a good idea to be held responsible for the death of your most celebrated author). But in spite of all his mistakes it's hard not to end up rooting for Liam.
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The Way Inn
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 28 September 2015
This book morphs engrossingly from a slyly humourous look at the world of interchangeable business conferences and trade fairs into a nightmare scenario, where literally nothing is as it seems - or is it?
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Dept of Speculation
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 21 September 2015
Written in a blog diary style, these are bittersweet dispatches from life on the frontline of a failing marriage. All the agonies and joys of motherhood are here too, condensed into unforgettable moments that any woman who has ever been ‘on the edge’ will empathise with, even if you have never had to walk a baby to sleep for hours.
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Don't Try This at Home
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 14 September 2015
This amazing collection defies definition but the overwhelming feeling on finishing is one of awe. The stories are subversive, beautifully weird, melancholy and suffused with a strange and joyful magic. The characters - both human and otherwise - are brave survivors and hugely memorable. Dip in - then take time to allow each individual story to sink into your consciousness before you return for your next fix. And return you will - it's addictive.
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Daimones
Posted by Karen Pugh on 07 September 2015
I'm a science fiction 'virgin' and really wasn't looking forward to reading this book. But boy, am I glad I did. Original plot and easy to read, I romped through in days. I found it a frightening experience, not frightening in the sense of BOO!, but one which leaves you quietly unsettled. I don't think I'll look forward to going to bed next time it's a windy night - you never know what you'll wake up to or with whom!
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The Axeman's Jazz
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 31 August 2015
Yes there's a good cop and a bad cop, you suspect that the young Lewis Armstrong finding his jazz voice will feel like tokenism, you always know the modest heroine will nail the big baddy, that New Orleans will suffer one of its catastrophic inundations, and that the Axeman will have some moral justification. But it never feels like formula; every element has an authentic, historical, dynamic pulse in the perfect storm of a jazz thriller.
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Weathering
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 24 August 2015
Flowing, frozen, vaporised, water shapes the lives of a woman, her daughter and her mother in an isolated house in the country. What could have been a ghost story is instead the tender, moving and life-affirming tale of their struggles towards self-realisation. It worked on me like a spell and left me unwilling to surface.
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The Limits of the World
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 17 August 2015
This is a truly scary book, but it is one that offers a glimmer of hope because people are prepared to defy a totalitarian state for the pleasure of reading. You may think that you know what is going to happen because of the references to '1984' but you will be surprised. This is an adventure story with a bite, a tale of political morality that cuts deep into your soul. Andrew Raymond Drennan is definitely an author to follow.
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Children of the Jacaranda Tree
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 10 August 2015
I was deeply moved by the portrayal of two generations of Iranian citizens at the mercy of a tyrannical political regime. A story of humanity and suffering at a time of unrest, the author paints a bleak picture of the punishment metered out to anyone daring to voice an opinion. The story is intimate; following first the parents and then their grownup children as history repeats itself with the bittersweet aftershocks felt for years to come.
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The Restoration of Otto Laird
Posted by Richard Ashman on 03 August 2015
An endearing, thought-provoking and life-affirming tale with quirky yet likeable characters. A real feeling of the passing of time makes this a poignant retrospective shot through with the symbiosis of memory and place. This is a very human story where regrets and reconciliation result in feelings of hope.
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The Texture of Shadows
Posted by David Kenvyn on 27 July 2015
Mandla Langa gives a no-holds-barred insight into the horrors of the war waged by the apartheid state on its own people, and of the psychological consequences to both sides. Langa does not seek to present one side as angels and the others as devils because he is far too honest for that. This is what gives the book its resonance, and makes it a must-read for anyone who does not see violence as anything other than the last resort.
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White Hunger
Posted by Wendy Smith on 20 July 2015
Winter, 1867 in Northern Finland. Starvation forces a woman to leave her dying husband and go in search of food with her two young children. Along the way, she encounters the best and worst of humanity. Relentlessly bleak, this short tale of self-sacrifice and hope packs an almighty punch and demands of its reader a strong constitution.
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Meatspace
Posted by Cath Allwood on 13 July 2015
Two stories for the price of one. Loveable and longing-to-be-hip young writer Kitab and his dashing daredevil brother Aziz discover their doppelgangers in cyberspace. But what's going to happen when they all get together in meatspace? If you, like me, have no idea what this means, you need to read this! It's hilariously funny and very rude - and finally, sad and surprisingly sweet.
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An Untamed State
Posted by Janet Scott on 06 July 2015
The kidnapping of a wealthy young woman in Haiti by a brutal gang makes a very disturbing read. Mireille has a golden life, a happy marriage and a beautiful young son and she thinks she has everything ... until this. The quality of the writing is superb and the pace moves along at a terrific speed. Once read this won't be easily forgotten.
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The Exit
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 29 June 2015
Rose, a feisty 82 year old struggling with dementia, is convinced that something sinister is going on in room 7 of her care home. Catherine is the self-obsessed young care aide that Rose must convince to take action, before they are both in danger of a fate not only worse than death, but horrifyingly deadly. This chilling but compulsive mix of psychological suspense, horror and black humour leads to a shocking climax that will leave you stunned.
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The Street Sweeper
Posted by Julie Hird on 22 June 2015
This is epic and bold storytelling featuring the relationship and life struggles of an African American janitor and a Jewish academic. The lives of closely researched and interlinked characters from the holocaust to the American Civil Rights movement emerge in a passionate powerful and memorable testimony that recollects cruelty, heroism, kindness and love. This mixture of sometimes harrowing fact and hopeful fiction lives long in the memory.
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The Life of a Banana
Posted by Cath Allwood on 15 June 2015
Young orphaned Xing and her older brother Lai Ker suffer from bereavement, racism and bullying. Then there's their stern old Grandma to contend with and her traditional Chinese ideas on bringing up kids. I found myself rooting for brave, lovable Xing and desperately hoping things would work out for her. A quirky, easy read which tackles some big issues with humour and compassion.
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Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals
Posted by Richard Ashman on 08 June 2015
Rhetorically audacious and aching with imagination, these poignant, rough, raw and often offensive poems are outrageous and designed to shock. Nothing is off limits as we view the world through a disquieting metaphor. Written with a traumatised, searing voice, this whirlwind collection of poetry will both disturb and amuse.
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Everything I Never Told You
Posted by Anne Jones on 01 June 2015
Were you expected to live a vicarious life? This is Lydia's fate, she must be a popular all-American girl destined for medical school to satisfy her parents. Her disappearance triggers a retelling of their mixed Chinese American family story. The longings and feelings her parents brother and sister kept to themselves over years, burst out at last. A sad, haunting story it's also a mystery that kept me guessing to the end.
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The Rabbit Back Literature Society
Posted by Paul Cowan on 25 May 2015
Teacher Ella is chosen as the tenth member of the elite Rabbit Back Literature Society but swiftly discovers nothing is as it seems. The founder of the society disappears in an indoor snowstorm, words rearrange themselves in books and no-one wants to talk about the boy rumoured to be the original tenth member. This intriguing book is a very grown up fantasy about writing and reality.
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The Absent Therapist
Posted by Paul Doyle on 18 May 2015
Reading this was akin to playing a game of pacman but without the pursuing critters. At first there is an ever changing narrative of sharp right angled jerks as one story - some as short as one line - veers off to another that is completely different. Like the game you become accustomed to these movements, but to the end they keep the reader on their toes.
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Sedition
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 11 May 2015
Like a darker, Gothic version of Jane Austen's social commentaries on women's marriage prospects, this bawdy excursion into the sexual politics of bourgeois matchmaking in Georgian London subverts our expectations. Echoing the social upheavals of the French Revolution, taboo themes of transgressive sex, seduction, violence, incest and rape provide plenty of material for book clubs to explore.
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The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
Posted by Wendy Smith on 04 May 2015
What a surprising little book this is and quite hard to pigeonhole. I could not condone the actions of a postman who steams open the letters he intercepts. But my unease was swept away by the beautiful haiku and tanka that form part of the story - simply sublime.
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The Poisoning Angel
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 27 April 2015
Helene Jegado was no ordinary child and her evil doings continue as she passes into adulthood. She has an unsavoury taste for death and uses her skills as a cook to poison her unsuspecting victims. One by one they fall in this macabre tale of murder most vile. It's unusual to have no compassion for a female protagonist but this was certainly the case here. Helene's story left behind a bitter aftertaste yet was strangely addictive too.
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Beastings
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 20 April 2015
This brutal novel packs a hard punch punctuated by occasional flashes of black humour. It's a story of primal urges and the base human instinct for survival. The main characters - all without names - ought to be 2-dimensional and distant but instead they are deep, rounded and unforgettable. The Cumbrian fells heave with life and radiate with beauty yet churn with foreboding and danger. And the ending ... suffice to say, I didn't see that coming.
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The Man With the Compound Eyes
Posted by Richard Ashman on 13 April 2015
Full of mysticism and imagery, this is a novel anchored in ecological concerns. Its richly poetic style brings nature to life in various guises and the characters' voices vividly portray their culture and identity. The raw and complex beauty of this book will capture your imagination whilst also delivering a message of loneliness and loss.
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Fun Parts
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 06 April 2015
Truly black tragicomedy can be found in these stories, which are not so much of born losers as of those fated not even to compete. A book as American as Apple Pie - a pie that's been flattened by Death on a Motorised Vehicle.
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Into a Raging Blaze
Posted by Cath Allwood on 30 March 2015
Carina should never have accepted the USB from the mysterious Jean. Its contents open a can of very nasty worms and the idealistic young civil servant is soon running for her life. When agents from MI6 and the CIA turn up, she also discovers it’s not a good idea to have a boyfriend called Jamal ... An authentic, convincing read and more than a bit scary.
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Flight
Posted by Paul Doyle on 16 March 2015
As the title would suggest this book is about people and places in transit. Largely set in Ireland in 2004 four lives are brought together, each of them at a point of change in their lives - at one of life's junctions. The stories of two families and the women within them creates the canvass for the bigger picture of change in society. It is a quietly effective story, elegantly told, always nudging the reader to read on.
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I'm OK, I'm Pig
Posted by Anne Jones on 09 March 2015
I recommend these poems if you are up for a tough demanding eye opening read. Persevere and be rewarded with a view of a world I for one had no conception of. If I thought of South Korean women at all I imagined them as emancipated as their Western sisters, but learnt that women's poetry needed to break free, and this collection shows how it can be done. Try it and have your eyes opened too. Notes and appendix were essential to my understanding.
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One More Thing
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 02 March 2015
Recommended not only for the many fans of the author and stand-up comedian, but also for those who enjoy earlier Woody Allen films. Plus those who want stories to make them laugh and make them think - but who sometimes only have time to read one page or less.
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Lolito
Posted by Richard Ashman on 23 February 2015
A light-hearted yet credible depiction of a controversial theme successfully captures feelings of loneliness and despair together with empathy and compassion. In this contradictory world of banalities and perceived slights, infidelities assume comic and magnified proportions as the characters behave with ageless (im)maturity all described with stylistic aplomb.
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Animals
Posted by Rush Ng on 16 February 2015
Vulgar, intense, fast and funny this is a hedonistic tale of friendship, drink, drugs and sex. I struggled with the hold that Tyler has over Laura, but found it to be an interesting look at love, growing up at thirty, and what happens when girls behave badly.
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One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 09 February 2015
Comprising three short stories and one hundred examples of flash fiction, this collection of cautionary tales and dystopian allegories describe an absurdist version of apocalypse now, then and future, where the everyday world is seen through a warped lens darkly. To be recommended for the adventurous reader who likes prose poetry with attitude.
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The Last Word
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 02 February 2015
A mischievous satire which pokes fun at the luvvies and pretensions of the literary world. If you need to like the characters you may find this a challenging read. Clearly you are meant to find their amorality repulsive as well as funny, their predatory sexuality hypocritical compared to their liberal credentials. So, if you are feeling cynical about big name authors and the aura of publishing, this may be for you.
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Nowhere People
Posted by Cath Allwood on 26 January 2015
If you think a novel about the plight of Brazil’s indigenous people sounds a bit dry and remote, this book will prove you wrong! Race, dispossession, identity and loss are brought to vivid life through the tragic, ambivalent love affair between a rich white Brazilian boy and a poor Guarani Indian girl. However, Paulo’s no spoilt brat and Maina’s no helpless victim. No easy answers to the big questions here, but lots of food for thought.
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Naw Much of a Talker
Posted by Karen Pugh on 19 January 2015
A novel set in Switzerland and written in the broad Scottish dialect isn't an easy combination to accept. But accept it I did and surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Not always easy, I had to re-read some passages, but worth it. The narrator is Goalie who I liked very much. He's a trusting fella, far too trusting and for this reason his friends take full advantage. The moral of the story shows that having a good heart doesn't necessarily reap rewards.
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Ancillary Justice
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 12 January 2015
In this intergalactic quest Breq is determined to avenge her nemesis. Half-human, half-ancillary, Breq is a multidimensional character who introduces the reader to various different adversaries and allies along the way. This leap into a fantastical world may at first seem farfetched, but the nub of the story is one of conflict and unrest between different rival factions, making it an instantly recognisable and contemporary plot.
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Love and Fallout
Posted by Richard Ashman on 15 December 2014
An evocative insight into life on Greenham Common and its aftermath portrayed in a sensitive and compelling novel. There’s a real sense of authenticity as the formative experiences of youth shape family and relationships. Great character observations; sometimes excruciating, often heartbreakingly sad, frequently funny.
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Good Kings, Bad Kings
Posted by Anne Jones on 08 December 2014
This book has it all; pain, laughter, love, grief, friendship, betrayal, humour, tragedy. But it's the characters who bring it to life, a collection of people many of whom I'd like to meet. All connected in some way with the questionable American care system for disabled children, patients and staff tell a sometimes brutal story in their unique voices. And the story is, 'We're just like you, good and bad. Ignore the disabilities please!'
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How Should a Person Be?
Posted by Wendy Smith on 01 December 2014
This novel breaks the mould. Don’t expect much in the way of plot – instead there are episodes driven by dialogue culled from real life conversations. At the centre is a friendship between two young women who want to become artists. The whole is raw, shocking, sexually very graphic and compelling. You have been warned!
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Moss Witch and Other Stories
Posted by Sandra Turner on 24 November 2014
A ground-breaking collection of short stories evolving through conversations with scientists. Each one is a fusion of narrative and science. I found them a stimulating mix of natural history, geology, physics, medicine and astronomy with contemporary fiction, myth and folklore. The scientists complement each story with a scientific analysis including their reactions to the author's creative interpretations. Will appeal to the curious reader.
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The Summer We Got Free
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 17 November 2014
Since the death of her twin Geo, Ava – once a vibrant child and brilliant artist – lives a colourless existence. She and her family subsist in a greyness of perpetual grief; ostracised and persecuted by their local church. Then, 17 years later, a stranger arrives. This story feels like reading a painting - shaded with mystery, loss, racial prejudice, and gay love - experiencing with Ava and her family a rediscovery of the vivid colours of life.
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Deaf at Spiral Park
Posted by Alison Hedley on 10 November 2014
A original, surreal and philosophical debut novel exploring what it is that makes us human. A bear leaves his forest home and takes a series of jobs in an unnamed city. We meet a diverse and bizarre cast of characters who get drawn into his complex world including a recruitment consultant who suffers from recurring death! Some very disturbing scenes but also some very funny ones in particular those involving the absurdities of office life!
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Girl with all the Gifts
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 03 November 2014
Post-apocalyptic England is a disturbing place overrun with infected monsters, the grimly named Hungries. As the last remaining humans tread their dangerous course home, there is one central complication to their group dynamic: Melanie. I fell in love with this little hybrid girl who is part monster yet with a very human heart. Thrilling, disturbing and heartbreaking in equal measure, it kept me thinking long after the final page was turned.
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SOUND
Posted by Cath Allwood on 27 October 2014
This book is a real one-off. I couldn't get into it for a long time and then it gradually started to make sense. Think stream-of-consciousness written as a music score or a play with narrative mixed in. Highly original in style, challenging and different from anything I've ever read before. It's certainly weird; whether it's also wonderful is for you to decide.
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We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 20 October 2014
This tale of family dynamics begins with comic undertones which are jolted by a shift in perception a quarter of the way in. The silence, self-delusion and guilt of family life find echoes in dysfunctional relationships between humans and animals. Inspired by real-life experiments in the 1930s, this book explores issues of ethics, nature/nurture and animal rights - lots for reading groups to discuss, but could be distressing for some readers.
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If I Close My Eyes Now
Posted by Richard Ashman on 13 October 2014
Filtered through childhood eyes, this story of incest, exploitation and corruption in high places is told in deceptively simple prose. The back story of Brazil as it lurches into the developing world permeates the whole book and provides a haunting back-drop to unlikely friendships in a time of innocence and hope.
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Mr Loverman
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 06 October 2014
A funny and touching love story of two men whose lifelong secret affair is shared with the reader. Barrington 'Barry' Walker and his partner Morris are two lovable characters who seized my attention from the very first page. Beneath Barry's swagger lies a serious undercurrent of racial and sexual prejudice which shapes his character and makes his battles ever more poignant and heartfelt.
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Prayers for the Stolen
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 29 September 2014
It’s hard to imagine what it must be like to be young and poor and growing up in a Mexico which regards young women as commodities to be traded. However, this book took me right there whether I wanted or imagined it or not. I was gripped from start to finish.
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The Machine
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 22 September 2014
Is it possible to reprogramme a brain that has been damaged by dementia or post traumatic stress disorder? This modern Gothic tale is a chilling warning of might go wrong when we attempt to 'play God' with the mind. The claustrophobic and ominous background of a society breaking down through the effects of global warming helps to make this an emotionally charged reading experience. The shock ending will make you want to read this novel twice.
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Rustication
Posted by Catherine Stansfield on 15 September 2014
Although graphic and explicit at times this is nevertheless a compelling Victorian gothic style novel. A gloomy winter countryside is the atmospheric setting for a story of increasing intrigue and suspicions with lurid letters and gruesome acts culminating in a particularly nasty murder.
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One Three One: A Time-shifting Gnostic Hooligan Road Novel
Posted by David Kenvyn on 08 September 2014
If Dr Who was a football fan, this is exactly the kind of journey that would happen to him. It's a bit like a dope fiend stealing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak or bungee jumping through time portals from one completely insane world to another. Or like travelling through Sardinia with Lawrence of Arabia, instead of the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Ken Russell, we need you to make this book into a film.
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Norwegian by Night
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 01 September 2014
Sheldon Horowitz is a grumpy 82 year old ex-marine, haunted by his past, who moves from New York to Oslo to live with his granddaughter. When he rescues a young Balkan boy from a murder scene, they go on the run from the killer. Take a Scandi-noir chase novel, add in crisp deadpan humour, nostalgia, grief, dementia and a touch of Huckleberry Finn. Out comes a compelling, multilayered, rich and haunting thriller about age, regret and survival.
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Butterflies in November
Posted by Rush Ng on 25 August 2014
A woman, dumped by her husband whose mistress is pregnant, takes a road trip around Iceland with the four year old deaf son of her friend. The protagonist is engaging and the relationship she builds with the child is endearing. This is an unusual road trip story, funny and sweet and charmingly odd!
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Navada
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 18 August 2014
This straight-talking portrayal of Maria's life as a transsexual is set against the backdrop of drugs and stereotypes in New York city. We meet her during a period of transition; playing witness to her inner struggles to accept her new identity as a woman. My eyes were opened to the endless turmoil faced by transsexual men and women and their daily fight to gain acceptance from others in order to find peace with who they truly are.
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Sworn Virgin
Posted by Richard Ashman on 11 August 2014
This fascinating insight into Albanian culture is a gripping, metamorphic tale. The themes of culture, gender, identity and family are explored with real understanding and piercing authenticity in this tender and arrestingly original novel.
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In Bloom
Posted by Frances Bell on 04 August 2014
Fifteen year old Francis is diagnosed with leukaemia. How is it possible to find humour in this situation? Amazingly, this book does. Some readers may find the treatment details disturbing but it’s emotionally honest and very good on family relationships - and Francis will make you laugh. Aimed at young adults, but not exclusively. All ages will get something from it. A very sad but also a very funny and optimistic read.
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Eat My Heart Out
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 28 July 2014
In this darkly comic, post-feminist satire on women behaving badly, Pilger uses deliberately offensive and cringe-worthy scenes to show how so-called 'empowered', yet self-harming female media icons make it difficult for girls to find positive role models, leaving them caught between the housewife and the whore. Ignore the misleading cover illustration, this is not a tale of SM eroticism, but a hard hitting antidote to saccharine chick lit.
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Seoul Survivors
Posted by Anne Jones on 21 July 2014
Seoul may be one of the few places on earth to escape an asteroid speeding towards us, but life there is far from safe. Genetic engineering on an horrific scale, drugs, deceit, perverted sex, this frenetic account is not for the squeamish. Most characters are deeply unpleasant, and deserve all they get, but I did feel for those innocents who though they may escape Lucifer's Hammer, are snared unwittingly in a deadly trap.
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Bombora
Posted by Richard Ashman on 14 July 2014
Angst-filled tangle of gay love, loss, reunion, reconciliation and forgiveness, but also a tale of loyalty and relationships within families. Written with dry humour and passages of lyrical prose, the first person narrative is shared between the three main characters keeping the reader focussed on the consequence of actions and decisions which is often complex and intense.
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Shop Front
Posted by David Kenvyn on 07 July 2014
A stunning first novel by a very talented author. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand masculinity, Scotland and the way out of the traps that men sometimes let themselves fall into because they have to prove that they are 'real men' - whatever that means. Samuel Best's writing is perceptive, enthralling and stylish. I cannot wait for his next novel.
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Claire of the Sea Light
Posted by Wendy Smith on 30 June 2014
The focus of these lyrical, inter-linked stories shifts from a missing girl to individual members of a community who become drawn into the search for her. A contemporary Haitian setting along with each character’s back story, where rich and poor alike experience personal tragedy, make this an unflinching portrayal of a town bowed by loss but united with hope.
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She Rises
Posted by Frances Bell on 23 June 2014
An 18th century seafaring adventure with a great deal of nautical detail and 'on board' brutality. On land, there's romance, intrigue and tragedy and eventually the two strands collide to form one personality. Brilliantly descriptive of the port of Harwich. An atmospheric and intriguing debut.
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Back to Back
Posted by Karen Pugh on 16 June 2014
Certain words sprang to mind when I finished this story - vulgar, sad, angry and disturbed. It makes no difference where a child is born or under what circumstances - all children need a mother's love. Ella, Thomas and the twins didn't. They had Kathe, a mother who was selfish, political and unloving. Yes, life was difficult in East Germany but made more so with Kathe's coldness to her children which led to a tragic ending.
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It's The Stars Will Be Our Lamps
Posted by Paul Doyle on 09 June 2014
With the all seeing, omnipresent Puca as our guide, this story - a modern retelling of an ancient Irish tale - weaves a mystical and vivid path, meeting along the way a miscellany of characters. There's danger fused with dark humour, sentences dripping colour and manages to be both wicked and fun at the same time.
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Time on my Hands
Posted by Anne Jones on 02 June 2014
I took time to get into this story of young boys emulating the Italian Red Brigades. At first I couldn't believe that eleven year old's could think and act so politically, so strategically, but the horror grew and engulfed my disbelief. We know that children can be cruel but the calculation behind the dark cruelty of these incipient serial killers was especially chilling. A tough haunting read.
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The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 26 May 2014
Obsession, bullying and self-harm are daily ingredients in the rise of a young chef in a London restaurant. Add a touch of black magic (and I don't mean pepper...) and you have a grotesque tale of ambition and twisted sensuality. Guaranteed to leave a strong after-taste!
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Revenge
Posted by David Kenvyn on 19 May 2014
A series of lyrical and beautiful interlinked stories that are simply a joy to read. The skill with which the stories are interwoven, so that preceding stories become fiction in the later stories creates a beauty that is truly enthralling. The tranquillity of the writing adds to the disturbing nature of the stories. This is a book not to be missed.
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The Distance
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 12 May 2014
An authentic thriller of multiple layers which reveal unexpected connections in a very satisfying way. But what makes this debut novel leap from the genre shelves is the central lead Karla, or is it Charlotte? Karla is a superb creation - written so convincingly that you can't get her out of your head and will gladly follow her anywhere. The whole is a terrifying, tension-fuelled race against time that will grip you by the throat.
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The Dig
Posted by Sue Bone on 05 May 2014
A hauntingly beautiful but brutally honest and shocking account of rural Wales. It captures the inner tensions of rural hardship, isolation and the survival of those that live solely off the land. A memorable read, but certainly no amusing countryside idyll.
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At the Time of Partition
Posted by Frances Bell on 28 April 2014
One woman's experience of the partition of India in 1947, told in verse. The traumatic experience is made even more tragic by the loss of the widow's brain damaged son somewhere on the trek from their home in India to the newly established Pakistan. Beautifully and movingly written by an award winning poet. Definitely one to read again and again.
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The Honey Guide
Posted by Anne Jones on 21 April 2014
A dead prostitute. A detective with baggage, enemies and a charming sidekick. A twisting plot, breathless conclusion. We've been here before surely? Well no, because this is Nairobi, memories of the US Embassy bomb still fresh, in the grip of a violent election, tribal and racial rivalries erupting. Add child trafficking and female genital mutilation and things are different. Not your usual whodunit, but one I needed to get to the bottom of.
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The Dead Lake
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 14 April 2014
A really curious mixture of the magic and mischief of Russian fairytale with the stark every day reality of a family living and working in a tiny, isolated community, chosen as the location for nuclear testing. Yerzhan's story - his musical gift, his love for his beautiful cousin and the irreversible act of bravado which delivers dark and twisted consequences - will haunt you long after you finish this short but perfectly executed tale.
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Malarky
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 07 April 2014
Don’t be fooled by the comic eccentricities of Irish rural life depicted in the narrator’s inner monologues. Referring to herself as 'Our Woman' and her dull clod of a husband as 'Himself', this middle-aged Irish farmer's wife has her resilience worn away by grief and disappointment, tripping the narrative over into much darker and surreal territory. A modern day Molly Bloom, 'Our Woman' is a character whose voice you won’t easily forget.
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Dot
Posted by Karen Pugh on 31 March 2014
One family, three women of different ages with different personalities doesn't lead to a very conducive home life for daughter, Dot - but she muddles through. A sad but strangely enchanting story with each chapter moving through life and time. The chapters help us to understand why the family, their lovers and friends behave, react and adapt to the circumstances they face. Really nice read with a heart-stopping conclusion.
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The Round House
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 24 March 2014
You will carry Joe around with you for a long time. His world changes suddenly when his mother is raped on their reservation. Although overwhelming at times, the story is lifted by warm humour, brilliant characters and strong friendships. I learnt a lot about the plight of contemporary Native Americans.
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Young Blood
Posted by David Kenvyn on 17 March 2014
Sifiso Mzobe is South Africa's answer to Irvine Welsh or Alan Bissett. He takes the lives of young men in Umlozi, one of Durban's roughest townships and, in beautiful, sympathetic prose, he makes us understand what it is that drives young men like Sipho, Vusi and Musa into a life of crime. And he makes us understand the dreadful consequences if they are not able to break free and take their lives into their own hands.
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Paradises
Posted by Wendy Smith on 10 March 2014
What struck me most about this story set in present day Buenos Aires was the passivity of its young female narrator whose life appears to be a series of interactions with characters from the fringes of society. Yet this is not a depressing read; I was drawn to a woman who, though lacking any moral compass, could make me smile with her wryly humorous observations.
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The Lemon Grove
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 03 March 2014
This one packs one punch after another - intense, bruising and teetering on the edge. It's impossible to remain impartial - but whom can you trust? Expect oscillating sympathies, a tortured twist of emotion and expectation - and lots of sex. What's more, I didn't see that final fatal blow coming at all.
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The Quiddity of Will Self
Posted by Paul Doyle on 24 February 2014
A whirligig of a novel, one that refuses to sit down. There is invention, fun and exuberance in abundance. What sets out as an apparent mystery centred on the enigmatic Will Self Club and the death of Sylvie, soon heads off on its bizarre journey. If nothing else you have to admire the verve of this book. And not just for fans of Will Self.
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Almost English
Posted by Anne Jones on 17 February 2014
If you were embarrassed by your family as a teenager then spare a thought for Marina driven to a disastrous experiment by her rather pathetic mother and a host of elderly Hungarian relatives. Funny and touching on one level, but at another this is an exploration of secrecy and the damage it can do to a family. Each member has her secrets - what might their unraveling bring? I was left wanting to know.
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Chasing the King of Hearts
Posted by Ian Baillie on 10 February 2014
Written in a series of brief, headed chapters, this is a novel of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, and its aftermath. Izolda is Jewish but doesn't look it, and expends a lot of effort trying to conceal her identity. Her husband is caught by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz, and Izolda sets out to find and release him, but eventually also ends up in the camp. The author manages to convey the horrors of that time, but in a superbly understated way.
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Quesadillas
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 03 February 2014
An entertaining satire on political corruption in 1980’s Mexico, where rampant inflation has stricken even middle-class families with extreme poverty. Narrated from the offbeat perspective of the adolescent Orestes, one of seven siblings fighting for his share of the meagre food rations, this picaresque coming-of-age story goes from the absurdist to the totally surreal, engaging the reader without sentimentality. Be prepared for strong language.
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Isabel's Skin
Posted by Sue Bone on 27 January 2014
A quiet London book-valuer visits rural Somerset, and makes a nightmarish discovery that immediately alters his life. This is a quirky, psychological, gothic novel that has enough suspense to make your skin crawl, although unusually short for this descriptive style of genre.
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The Son
Posted by Wendy Smith on 20 January 2014
A three-strand narrative drives this epic novel about a Texan family dynasty, cutting to and fro across five generations. Initially I found the different viewpoints jarred, interrupting an otherwise fascinating story, but I soon became absorbed. Graphically recounted scenes of rape, murder and torture make a strong constitution essential to read this story.
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The Ghost Bride
Posted by Celia Jenkins on 13 January 2014
I really enjoyed this book and its enthralling mix of history, culture, and the supernatural. Set in 1890's Malaya (modern day Malaysia) the vividly described places and characters drew me in to the story and I felt as if I was journeying with the main character, Li Lan, as she tries to navigate life not just in the real world, but also in the spirit world. The resulting adventure was both thrilling and ingenious.
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A Tale for the Time Being
Posted by David Kenvyn on 06 January 2014
A Zen novel about quantum mechanics, travelling across time, experience, geographical locations, and a whole range of ethical questions which will make you pause for thought more than once. If only so that you can be sure that you understand what is going on. But if you stick with this story, you will learn something about the world in which you live, and the possibilities that may arise from the decisions that you take on a daily basis.
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The Testament of Mary
Posted by Anne Jones on 30 December 2013
Here is a challenge to the generally accepted view of Mary the mother of Jesus. Some will find it shocking, others refreshing. Though not what her minders want to hear, Mary tells her own story and that of her son in a short powerful narrative, intense and compelling. I was deeply moved, even more so as the mother of a son. I was also prompted to think about truth - is my truth your fiction?
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We Need New Names
Posted by Ian Baillie on 23 December 2013
Initially I didn't think I was going to like this book, with its strangely-named characters: Bastard, Godknows, Bornfree .... The first half is set in Zimbabwe (unnamed), but when the narrator, Darling, moves to America to live with her aunt, the writing seems to gain a fresh intensity. In Detroit, Darling struggles with her feelings for her native land as she adapts to life in the USA. This latter part of the book is very moving indeed.
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The Luminaries
Posted by Frances Bell on 16 December 2013
Set in New Zealand during the 1866 Gold Rush, this is an intricately plotted and intensely atmospheric novel with a huge cast, who each tell their own stories. A perfect format with a writing style which accurately reflects the period. Built round an astrological calendar, expect a murder mystery, an adventure story and a romance to keep you intrigued to the end when all is revealed. Winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize.
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The Man Who Rained
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 09 December 2013
Poetic, heart-breaking and life-affirming, this timeless fairy tale asks what makes us who we are. Is love possible when a storm lives within you? What does your life mean when you betray your roots? And can you ever put down roots if you always yearn for new skies?
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The Death of Bees
Posted by Richard Ashman on 02 December 2013
Despite being a heartbreaking story of abuse and neglect you will smile at the dark humour and the wicked, razor sharp observations and find yourself emotionally involved as this compelling story unfolds. There is no sentimentality in the writing as the characters' voices grab and immerse you in the horrors of their lives. A gritty, sad tale of abandonment that somehow still leaves you filled with laughter and hope.
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All Woman and Springtime
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 25 November 2013
Two North Korean orphaned girls become close friends as they mature, but this is no ordinary coming-of-age plot. By the end of the novel, the title has become a sad irony, as the girls are exploited, betrayed, and trafficked into prostitution. Though this story is very painful to read, with its harrowing and graphic details of sexual degradation, it commands the reader's empathy in bearing witness to the vile international sex trade.
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The Crane Wife
Posted by Paul Doyle on 18 November 2013
At the centre of this tale is an enigmatic, uplifting love story. Following a dramatic, magical experience George's life is transformed by mysterious Kumiko. Dreamlike, often beautifully told, sprinkled with tenderness and humour, The Crane Wife is a heartwarming story.
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The Tragedy of Arthur
Posted by Dot Cameron on 11 November 2013
A clever novel about a 'lost' play supposedly by Shakespeare. Arthur Phillips, a convicted forger, gives the 'original' of the play to Arthur, his son, to publish. In a lengthy 'biographical' introduction to the play, which appears as part of the book, we are drawn into the puzzle of whether or not the play is genuine! It's so easy to forget that this is actually fiction and the author is playing games with the reader! Ingenious and unusual.
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Love Sex Travel Musik
Posted by David Kenvyn on 04 November 2013
Rodge Glass is one of the modern masters of the short story. He calls this collection 'stories for the Easyjet generation'. But they are much more than that. They are meditations on the kind of lives that we lead, the mistakes that we make, and the love that we are able to offer to each other. This is a life-affirming book, even when Glass is contemplating the disasters we may have to confront. Read this. Choose life.
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Under Your Skin
Posted by Sue Bone on 28 October 2013
A psychological thriller with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing to the very end. A real holiday page turner which demands your time and attention, just like a gripping Friday TV drama. Crack open a bottle of wine, open a bag of nuts and enjoy!
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Secrecy
Posted by Frances Bell on 21 October 2013
This novel is an interesting mixture of love, violence, intrigue and most importantly the search for perfection in art. The setting is post Renaissance Florence in 1691 and the reader will learn much about a period before the Enlightenment. Written with elegance, the atmosphere of danger and persecution is brilliantly conveyed. A real departure from the author's usual style and subject matter.
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In Praise of Hatred
Posted by Richard Ashman on 14 October 2013
A traumatic read that delivers a message of tolerance as our female narrator grows from timid student to hardened militant in a time of political turbulence and fanaticism in Syria. The main characters are gloriously vivacious and the narrative powerfully depicts the corrosive effects of sectarian prejudice. We experience religious fervour as it is pitted against erotic awakening and understand how hate can feel as passionate a force as love.
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The Shining Girls
Posted by Karen Pugh on 07 October 2013
Harper's overwhelming thirst for murder in this unconventional time-travelling crime novel is frightening and prolific. Look out for Kirby, the young girl whose appetite for life and stubbornness to find out the truth is commendable if a little reckless. Not the easiest book to read due to frequent time and character shifts so some concentration is required. However - a well-thought out plot and the finale is certainly worth the wait.
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How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 30 September 2013
On the surface, this is the archetypal rags to riches, boy meets girl story, but it is also a vividly honest morality tale and social satire. Written in the second person and historical present, the author draws 'you', the reader, into the unfolding drama, with its pretence of being a motivational 'get-rich' guide. It has the effect of being totally involving, cleverly undermining any preconceptions about the 'otherness' of a foreign culture.
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Y
Posted by Ruth Ng on 23 September 2013
This is a story about family, and who did what, and why. Through it we meet many flawed characters but most important is Shannon, a young girl abandoned at birth, who understandably needs, desperately, to know more about herself and her history. Set on Vancouver Island the book is funny, unsettling, emotional and written in such a wonderfully warm, engaging way that I felt bereft as I reached the end knowing I was saying goodbye to Shannon.|
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Horses of God
Posted by Ian Baillie on 16 September 2013
From beyond the grave the narrator, Yachine, recounts his impoverished but innocent childhood in a Casablanca shanty town, a life of squalor and football. Then Sheikh Abu Zoubeir enters his life and the innocence is lost forever as Yachine is slowly transformed into a suicide bomber. This is often a harrowing read, especially towards the book's climax but, in terms of understanding the mindset of a suicide bomber, I doubt there has been better.
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The Art of Fielding
Posted by Ingvild Sandvik on 09 September 2013
Finished this book wishing for more - an absolutely mesmerising and seductive account of baseball, friendship, love, success and failure at a small university in mid-western USA. The characters of Henry, Schwartzy, 'Buddha', Pella and president Affenlight weedle themselves into your heart - guaranteed. And how fascinating is baseball! My book of the year, if not the decade.
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The Taliban Cricket Club
Posted by Karen Pugh on 02 September 2013
In the UK we moan about austerity and the breaching of our human rights. But we have no reason to complain compared to life in Afghanistan during the 1990s where freedom of speech, incorrect clothing or improper relationships could result in death. This novel shows the cruelty of the human race in all its entirety. However, there is a chink of light in the form of a lone female, Rukhsana and her love of cricket and her desire to be free.
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Flirting at the Funeral
Posted by Richard Ashman on 26 August 2013
A serious yet entertaining book where the past reverberates against the present, with themes of personal and political loyalty and grudging compromises. This is a powerful, raging novel with a distinctive style and unusual use of dialogue where the characters answer questions that weren’t asked and ignore the ones that were. Full of tragi-comic interaction that inspires an intense reaction from the reader.
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Sightlines
Posted by David Kenvyn on 19 August 2013
An astonishing, beautifully written account of the effect that nature has on our lives, both through the world in which we live, and the world that lives within us. This book is lyrical, insightful, offering explanations of our world and the way we live that are thought-provoking in their intensity. Everyone should read it.
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Seating Arrrangements
Posted by Paul Doyle on 12 August 2013
Gather a crowd of family and old friends together in the days leading up to a wedding and you get this - a story of misunderstandings, mistakes, regrets, not quite forgotten rivalry and awkward situations. Infused with humour and a cast of flawed characters it makes for an engaging wry comedy about people and lifestyle.
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HHhH
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 05 August 2013
Just as you try to classify it, Laurent Binet ducks and sends you off on a tangential line of thought you couldn't have dreamed up. Historical, action novel? No, too deconstructed for that. The psychology of the architect of the Holocaust? No, it's about his killers. Identifying with the soul of Prague? Well, if we could ever learn the lessons of history ... Don't try, just let yourself be captivated.
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The Last Girlfriend on Earth
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 29 July 2013
Suppose all the men on earth thought like American College boys? Then these weird and wonderful love stories might just come true and the world might be well lost for love: at least until commitment appears on the horizon. Simon Rich was a new author to me and thank goodness he's written lots more as he's seriously addictive.
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Kimberley's Capital Punishment
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 22 July 2013
This surreal, dark comedy starts in a London park in the middle of the story, ends four different ways, and never once pulls its punches. It's free-wheeling, out of control, grim, gross, wry, and very British.
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Days of the Bagnold Summer
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 15 July 2013
This graphic novel tells the story of 15-year old Daniel and his single mum Sue and follows their day-to-day existence during one long summer school holiday spent at home. The sharply observed dialogue and hugely expressive drawings made me smile with recognition as well as cringing at the awkward things both adults and teenagers say and do. A poignant, perceptive read.
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Toploader
Posted by David Kenvyn on 08 July 2013
This is an object lesson. Never lose a washing machine in a war-zone. Who knows what the assorted collection of criminals, spies, maniacs and journalists who inhabit this fictional country will think has happened. But they certainly won't guess the truth. And then you have to consider the exploding donkeys. A laugh aloud satire on a crazy world.
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When the Night
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 01 July 2013
Suspenseful love story dovetails around two intersecting moments, fifteen years apart. Forget lovey-dovey romance, the power struggle between taciturn mountain guide Manfred and Marina, a mother failing to cope, is as hard-edged as its icy Dolomite setting. Told from both viewpoints, the tussle of alternating voices can be unsettling, but guaranteed to hit the spot if you prefer your passion highly charged and deeply psychological.
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Bird Brain
Posted by Richard Ashman on 24 June 2013
This is a frivolous, tongue-in-cheek story full of astute satire, wry social observation and some very good jokes. Centred on the traditional shooting fraternity, the reader is left to make up their own mind about the correct balance between shooting for fun and animal rights. You will thoroughly enjoy the characterisation of the animals which is excellent and somehow spookily realistic.
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The Lifeboat
Posted by Sue Bone on 17 June 2013
A moral dilemma: how far would you go to ensure your survival on a leaking overcrowded lifeboat? It’s 1914 and a young newlywed stands trial after surviving the explosion of an ocean liner and three weeks lost at sea. Not a summer cruise read for those who suffer sea sickness.
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The Children's Hospital
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 June 2013
A 'state of the art' children's hospital and its occupants survive unscathed after the world is destroyed by a massive flood. The novel is narrated through the eyes of a young medical student with a tragic background and involves a huge cast of characters, heavenly angels, miracles and a vast amount of medical information. An incredible and frankly overwhelming read from a very gifted author. Well worth the time and effort.
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Fish Change Direction in Cold Weather
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 03 June 2013
It’s an ill wind, as they say, that blows no good, but this time an ice storm does even more: mending a broken marriage, healing neighbourly rifts and generally acting as a ploy by Cupid – even for fish! This whimsical tale is a cheerful tonic for those cold wintry days, when Spring still seems a long way off.
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Stonemouth
Posted by Ian Baillie on 27 May 2013
Five years earlier Stewart Gilmour had ingloriously fled Stonemouth, only just escaping the vengeance of the town's most violent family. Now he's back - with grudged permission and a time limit - for the funeral of the same family's patriarch. Interesting scenario. There are moments of high tension; there is violence, but also lots of humour as you would expect from Iain Banks. I had doubts early on, but in the end really enjoyed this book.
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Honour
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 20 May 2013
The story traces the Kurdish-Turkish Topraks family across three generations and from the Euphrates to the Thames, twisting and lurching and dancing around tragedy all the time. It's like watching a moth circling a flame - painful, casting long shadows, but impossible to look away.
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My Elvis Blackout
Posted by Paul Doyle on 13 May 2013
Like a blast of air these stories or brief episodes of an alternate, parallel Elvis Presley are sure to freshen up your reading. Laced with humour, blackly comic and fun they are often strange, twisted and riotous and make for a very different, exuberant read.
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How the Trouble Started
Posted by Dot Cameron on 06 May 2013
Eight-year-old Donald rides his bike into a toddler who subsequently dies – resulting in life-changing consequences. Now 16, Donald is needy and consumed with guilt over what happened when he was a child. His decision to befriend an eight-year old, equally vulnerable, boy is hugely worrying. His story delivers an unnerving, thought-provoking read – directly from inside the mind of a lonely teenager.
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After Such Kindness
Posted by Frances Bell on 29 April 2013
Much has already been written about the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, his inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, but this in no way detracts from the merits of this novel which covers the same ground. Readers today will find the relationship extremely disturbing. You may not like the characters but you will certainly believe in them and the rarified Oxford atmosphere in which they live. A compulsive read.
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Jammy Dodger
Posted by Anne Jones on 22 April 2013
We're in 1980's Belfast the but the only terrorist in this story has literary revenge in mind. A really funny tale about growing up after University, outwitting the hands that feed you (aka Arts Council minions), the city's 'arts' scene, a poetical scam and a giant rabbit. Poetry lovers may be shocked but if you're a biscuit connoisseur this book is for you. A warning though, you may never want to drink milk again.
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The Plaza
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 15 April 2013
Gang warfare in the town of Juarez. The violence is relentless, the pace frenetic and the condemnation of the authorities searing. I found the short chapters, the choppy writing style and the constantly changing viewpoint unsettling and disturbing. This is a brutal, powerful and thought-provoking novel.
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Stranded
Posted by Gail Holmes on 08 April 2013
Recently divorced Esther, mother of Daisy sets off alone on a backpacking trip to Malaysia. Her short lived joy turns to horror when she becomes stranded on a desert island. This easy and entertaining travel thriller builds slowly via two narrators and delivered a couple of twists and turns I wasn’t expecting.
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The Democrat
Posted by David Kenvyn on 01 April 2013
This tale of Thomas Muir is unbelievable, except for the fact that it's based on complete truth. Muir was transported to Australia in 1793 for urging that everyone should have the vote. To tell any more would spoil the experience - but expect adventure, excitement and a rollicking good ride. All you have to do is remember that this novel is the real story of Scotland's Nelson Mandela.
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Seldom Seen
Posted by Wendy Smith on 25 March 2013
In this assured debut, we see 1980’s rural Suffolk through the eyes of an angst-ridden teenager. Family feuds and long-buried secrets play out against the backdrop of a changing landscape. A convincing portrayal of life in a small village and a welcome departure from all the twee novels that uphold the rural idyll.
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Hope: A Tragedy
Posted by Janet Scott on 18 March 2013
In this allegorical take on Jewish neurosis and survivor guilt, Auslander treads a fine line between iconoclasm and tasteless irreverence, but his ironic humour saves the satire from offensiveness. The novel’s style and characterisation has all the surreal flavour of a Woody Allen stand up routine and if you appreciate black comedy and Jewish humour, you’ll love this – just don’t hope for a happy ending!
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Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 11 March 2013
This complex retelling of an old Slavic myth is witty, thought provoking and ultimately optimistic. I do wonder if only women will appreciate Baba Yaga, but hope that men will at least try a novel which is quite unlike any other I have ever read.
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Girls Can't Make Gun Noises
Posted by Karen Pugh on 04 March 2013
Four words easily describe this novel: laugh-out-loud-funny. Set in the South Wales Valleys in the 1970s, it’s a real tonic for the stresses of every-day life in today's world. Written in the authentic voice of young Gwyn, and crammed with topical references and popular culture, it delivers a real nostalgia trip back to the decade of the Bionic Man and Hawaii Five-O, through the eyes of a six-year-old. Pure indulgence.
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If You’re Reading This I’m Already Dead
Posted by David Kenvyn on 25 February 2013
A wonderful, totally bonkers John Buchan pastiche - but with women. And remember that if anyone ever asks you to set out with your best friends to make yourself King of Albania, refuse. Just don't agree, unless they offer you a circus troupe, Mata Hari, a hero from a John Buchan novel and a camel. Even then, run like hell, especially if they leave out the camel.
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Swimming Home
Posted by Frances Bell on 18 February 2013
A very short novel spanning a one week villa holiday of a British group in France. The setting is idyllic and the author's language sparkles like the sun on the sea. However, for this group, happiness is an unlikely outcome. A novel to be relished for the language and the style. Very highly recommended and has been shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker prize
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Blackbirds
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 11 February 2013
I can't tell you too much about Blackbirds without spoiling its many, dark, surprises. But I will say that it's so fast and funny, that if, like me, you read this novel too quickly you're going to get very confused as the author does like flashbacks and uses them to great effect. So pace yourself and enjoy the ride.
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The Dinner
Posted by Anne Jones on 04 February 2013
Brothers and their wives meet for dinner. What could be nicer? But none of these four are sympathetic characters, and as the story unfolded the less I liked them, especially the narrator. In conspiring to 'help' his son he reveals his own twisted view of life. A veneer of very polite society over something much darker. I kept reading because I kept thinking, would I do that?
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The Method
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 28 January 2013
Thirty-four-year old scientist, Mia Holl, faces charges of anti-Method activities in this futurist 'Big Brother' style thriller. Mia is a strong and resilient character; I both admired and felt great empathy for her as she valiantly defends her deceased brother's honour with punishable consequences.
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Pao
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 21 January 2013
What a warm and funny book with such wonderfully evocative descriptions of the island peopled with such engaging characters. I learnt a lot about the history and politics of Jamaica but there was never a dull moment as I watched Pao grow up, take over the family 'business', and develop into a complex yet moral man.
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The Finno-Ugrian Vampire
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 14 January 2013
If you've ever felt like the outsider, even within your own family, Jerne's tale will resonate like struck crystal. Gawkily unpredictable and meandering, wry and clever and vivid, this is not the vampire story you're expecting.
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Madame Mephisto
Posted by David Kenvyn on 07 January 2013
A family split between Poland and London, between Catholicism and amorality. Just simmer gently. Now throw marijuana, cooking and incest into the mix. Bring to the boil. Add IVF treatment, the resulting baby and a cataclysmic event. Then see who has to take responsibility ... and read this book.
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Gold
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 31 December 2012
'Gold' explores huge themes including love, ambition, duty and loss against a background of Olympic cycling. The novel really worked for me as I both believed in and cared about Zoe, Sophie, Jack, Kate and Tom and their dilemmas. Interestingly opinion on Amazon is really polarised. I do urge you to read it and make up your own mind.
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Babylon Steel
Posted by Frances Bell on 24 December 2012
This is a fun fantasy novel. The heroine Babylon has a past; as a God and an Avatar on a different planet from which she had to flee. Now she runs a brothel on Scalentine where a mixture of races and species live in harmony. But Babylon's past is now catching up with her and she must return to settle old scores. The writing is lively and the descriptions of the creations brilliantly imaginative. Worth trying for something totally different.
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Blood Rites of the Bourgeoisie
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 17 December 2012
If you are a connoisseur of spam emails and internet adverts, like to read ‘belle de jour’ type sexploits, have a broad vocabulary and an interest in modern art and artists, then this is the book for you. It is all delivered with wicked humour and a happy disregard for all the usual conventions of the novel. Prepare to be shocked, titillated, amused or confused depending on your tastes and your previous encounters with ‘abstract literature’.
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Becoming Nancy
Posted by Karen Pugh on 10 December 2012
Am I gay? Am I not? Can I be? All David's questions are answered in this funny yet gritty novel. The Summer of Love has well and truly passed and David is having to come to terms with his sexuality in hard-nosed, homophobic and racist 70s' Britain. I didn't think I could read a novel that dealt with being gay in such an open, funny and at times realistic way. My favourite character? Aunty Val - she is me and I am her. Fabulous book.
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The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals
Posted by Wendy Smith on 03 December 2012
A sunny day, a sumptuous picnic and a pretty girl in a yellow dress spell disaster for a young undertaker when he makes a proposal of marriage he instantly regrets. The 1920's rural Welsh setting and a cast of engaging characters combine to suggest a confection of quaintness and charm. And although the plot is driven by the discovery of a dark secret, it is handled with great sensitivity and lightness of touch. A memorable read.
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The Mill for Grinding Old People Young
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 26 November 2012
An insight into the lives revolving around Belfast’s shipping ports in the 1830s is provided courtesy of feisty young narrator Gilbert Rice. The uncertainties of the industrial age are mirrored in Gilbert’s tumultuous love affair with Polish barmaid Maria. The foreboding in the air as Belfast struggles with tensions old and new is palpable, and I was drawn, effortlessly, into a bygone age of insurgency.
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The Other Child
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 19 November 2012
Two brutal murders in a Yorkshire seaside resort seem to be connected, but the police investigation stalls until a terrible family secret that has haunted two generations is uncovered. This bestselling German author has created a convincing local atmosphere as the background to a psychological thriller with all the red herrings and blind alleys you would expect in a classic English detective story. A compulsive read!
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This is Life
Posted by Richard Ashman on 12 November 2012
Based in Paris, love at first sight is the norm in this scatty, madcap comic novel. Full of irony and dark humour, the author pokes fun at performance art and the French political scene, leaving you none the wiser about whether life imitates art or the other way round. You find yourself willingly suspending disbelief in this skillfully wrought furiously paced farce.
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Bring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs
Posted by David Kenvyn on 05 November 2012
Sheer genius. Mikey Wilson will stay with you. A tale of male bonding, talent, rivalry, loyalty, jealousy, hopes, disappointments, coping and not coping, set to the background of the mighty Man Utd team of 1992 - Beckham, Scholes and, of course, Ryan Giggs. Even if you hate football, you will not want to miss reading this book. That is, if you have any interest in the male psyche. Rodge Glass, he shoots, he scores. A triumph.
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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Posted by Sue Bone on 29 October 2012
Follow in the poignant footsteps of Harold, a humble ordinary elderly man, who on impulse sets out on an extraordinary walking pilgrimage from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. As you trek through his metaphorical journey of missed opportunities, mistakes, and regrets; you reflect on your own life choices and the impact you may have had on other people.
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Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 22 October 2012
June loves her sister who is growing up too fast and her uncle who is dying of AIDS. How can she come to terms with her loneliness? And can any love be the wrong kind? This sensitive and compassionate story took me right back to my teenage years.
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The She-Devil in the Mirror
Posted by Gail Holmes on 15 October 2012
A woman is murdered in front of her children – who knows why or by whom? I loved the originality, pace, suspense and black humour of this shocking tale and learned a lot about life in post civil-war San Salvador through the non-stop gossip of ‘best friend’ Laura.
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1222
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 08 October 2012
Yet another excellent Nordic crime novel: 1222 triumphantly updates 'the locked train' mystery for the terrorist age. Expect a read full of old-fashioned suspense of the best kind and a ballsy heroine in the shape of retired police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen.
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Apocalypse for Beginners
Posted by Paul Doyle on 01 October 2012
Journeys of friendship and self discovery drizzled with a hint of sweetness and quirkiness all make for a pleasant read. The blend of characters, moving between the Canadian, US and Japanese settings is perfect to lighten the mood when you've some time to yourself.
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Deloume Road
Posted by Alison Hedley on 24 September 2012
A lyrical debut novel set in a remote, sleepy Vancouver Island community, you will find yourself drawn into the world of a diverse cast of characters who have many hidden secrets and emotions and whose lives are intertwined with that of Gerald Deloume, the town's long dead founder. This all leads to a somewhat horrifying climax. An undemanding but gripping read - at times I felt I was there and could feel the heat and smell the smells!
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February
Posted by Anne Jones on 17 September 2012
February snow and ice drift through this exploration of loss as widow Helen recalls life with her husband and family, lives in the present and tries to look forward. Rooted in a real-life tragedy, and written in episodic style, each chapter is almost a short story in itself. Memory and imagination build to the moment of her husband's violent death, as grief and endurance are both lyrically and plainly described. Will hope win out?
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The End
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 10 September 2012
Six tangled lives from an Italian immigrant community in 1950's Ohio weave back and forth over time until drawn together by the events of a single day. I had to push myself to connect with certain characters - think creepy jeweller, elderly abortionist - and skewed time periods. But if you relish an intense and challenging read with spiritual overtones, this vivid, poetic epic could leave you moved and amazed. Not your average beach read!
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Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Posted by Natalie Plimmer on 03 September 2012
Budo is an imaginary friend, who provides company and support to the one person who can see and hear him - 8 year old Max who has Asperger’s. When Max is kidnapped it is up to Budo to save him, but how? And can Budo discover why he exists along the way? Told with such engaging charm and poignancy, the reader turns each page with feelings of worry for the welfare of Max and dread about the outcome. An original and thought-provoking read.
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Pomegranate Sky
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 27 August 2012
I loved this book. It gives you real insight into the world of educated middle class Iranians in the early 21st century. We are so used to the Iranians we meet in the UK that we do not realise how hard it is to live under their political regime at home. A joy to read.
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Rendezvous by Esther Verhoef
Posted by Cath Allwood on 20 August 2012
Rich Dutch businessman, Eric, pursues his 'Grand Design' dream of renovating a run-down country estate in Bordeaux; poor dutiful hausfrau Simone looks after their kids and cooks huge lunches for the gang of workmen. When she exchanges glances with young Michel, a working class Adonis on the team, her dull, safe world experiences a French revolution - can this be love? Now read on: bags of atmosphere and some good recipes...
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Voice of America by E C Osondu
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 13 August 2012
The author's Nigerian roots are clearly portrayed through the myriad of characters featured in this short story collection. Set in Nigeria and America, tales of men and women, boys and girls are played out in a hard-hitting manner with a common factor present in each story: disillusionment. I warmed to each unique character as they battle for a better life; a far cry from the American dream.
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How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Posted by Nicole Cornell on 16 July 2012
Let the SF wash over you and you will enjoy the moving, sad and funny story of a man searching for his father, lost in time. If however you enjoy mind-bending SF, you will love reflecting on concepts of time, memory and identity. And, if that's not enough, it's a page-turner as well!
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The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice by Chris Ewan
Posted by Natalie Plimmer on 09 July 2012
This 4th title in The Good Thief’s Guide series is the 1st that I’ve read; it works well as a stand-alone novel and has made me want to read the others. Crime novelist and career thief, Charlie Howard’s life is disrupted by a mysterious woman who draws him into a frantic, eventful, caper involving bombs, assassins, and casinos. This is quick, witty, funny, bursting with suspense and surprises, and has a wonderful sense of place.
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Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga
Posted by Janet Gilchrist on 02 July 2012
Full of social observation, this is a moral tale containing both tragedy and comedy. It takes some time for the characters to establish themselves, but stick with them and they will keep you guessing to the last pages about how their dilemma is resolved.
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The Children’s Book by A S Byatt
Posted by Ron Travis on 25 June 2012
Children's author, Olive Wellwood, creates a golden Edwardian story book world for her children at Todefright where the adults discuss socialism, free love and emancipation. But life is not as it seems. Olive's personality crushes her children and the parents' unconventional sexual lives rupture the family's security. The children become casualties of parental selfishness and the horrors of war. A rich book for serious-minded readers to relish.
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Burning Bright by Ron Rash
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 18 June 2012
Full of shocking surprises, this hard-hitting collection of short stories gives a candid portrayal of the hardships experienced by its cast of characters. The limits of human endurance are tested, with the characters acting oftentimes irrationally and immorally in moments of extreme provocation. Indeed, when I began to feel sympathy for their iniquitous behaviour, it left me questioning the accuracy of my own moral judgement.
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Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi
Posted by Richard Ashman on 11 June 2012
Written as a testimonial, Pereira represents a personification of political conscience. I was captivated by his reluctant political awakening in late 1930’s Portugal and by his reckless final act of rebellion. This is a concise, intense, original novel; a surprisingly thrilling page-turner given the weight of its subject matter. An enthralling and somehow menacing read.
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7 Ways to Kill a Cat by Matias Nespolo
Posted by Paul Doyle on 04 June 2012
Like a dog with a meaty bone, this book grabs you and doesn't let go from start to finish. Harsh and often tragic life in the Buenos Aires barrio is depicted through Gringo. On the cusp of adulthood, facing choices but drawn inevitably to the gangs, drugs and prostitution that corrupt the streets where Gringo lives, he doesn't stand a chance.
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The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington
Posted by David Kenvyn on 28 May 2012
Just the book for a dark, scary night. Witches, necromancers, ghosts, skeletons, graveyards, a depraved Inquisitor, monsters and skeletons. What more could you ask? Oh yes, a sort of love story, and a tale of the astonishing commitment of friends. And did I mention the stark naked vampires?
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The Roost by Neil Butler
Posted by Anne Jones on 21 May 2012
Drink drugs and sex seem to rule the lives of a group of Shetland secondary school students. They think they are worldly but relationships are so tricky, and the isolation and magic of the islands complicate everything. Sharp perceptive and scary, these linked stories of angst should carry a worry warning for readers with a teen or preteen in the family, but read them anyway for a reminder of what it's like to be that young.
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Unspoken by Gerard Stembridge
Posted by Anne Horton-Smith on 14 May 2012
Real life historical figures mingle with fictitious characters to illustrate the impact of the coming of television on Irish culture and society. Part intimate family saga, part social documentary, this is an unsentimental but affectionate chronicle of life in the Irish Republic during the Sixties, before the Celtic Tiger roared. Moving without being searing.
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The Appointment by Herta Muller
Posted by Sue Bone on 07 May 2012
The innocuous title refers to a summons by Romania’s secret police; the charge prostitution. Delivered in a stream of consciousness during a tram ride to ‘the appointment’, the narrator is a seamstress caught sewing marriage proposals into suits destined for Italy, to escape an oppressive regime. Full of claustrophic anxiety, it is an exploration of the human soul in a state of helplessness. The ending felt ambiguous, or am I being irrational?
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Solace by Belinda McKeon
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 30 April 2012
Moving story of one Irish family's ordinary loves, extraordinary tragedy, and almost complete inability to talk to each other about anything important. Thank goodness for the ray of hope at the end of this beautifully written novel.
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Long Lies the Shadow by Gerda Pearce
Posted by Frances Bell on 23 April 2012
A first novel set in post apartheid South Africa with continuous flashbacks to the brutal apartheid era. This is a very complex and atmospheric tale of family secrets, relationships, friends, love, loss and tragedy. The characters are alive and appealing and the reader becomes totally engrossed in their fate. It is not a happy reading experience but definitely a memorable one.
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Turn of the Mind by Alice LaPlante
Posted by Ruth Ng on 16 April 2012
Like Jennifer's own mind, the writing is fragmented, told in the first person and broken up with diary entries and flashbacks. Once you get used to the style it's effective at depicting the demise of an intelligent woman, suffering from dementia, suspected of murdering her best friend. Although a little too slow to be a thriller it is certainly fascinating to see the crime unravelling through Jennifer's brief lucid moments and memories.
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English Slacker by Chris Morten
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 09 April 2012
18-year-old Chambers, looking forward to one last summer of freedom with his mates, struggles to cope with the apparent suicide of his friend Colin. Don't expect straight answers as this likeable anti-hero appears to be losing his grip on reality, possibly due to the frequent influence of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco. So, yeah, chill, go with the flow and take yourself back to just bumming around, being a teenager.
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Posted by David Kenvyn on 02 April 2012
Everyone knows that the circus is magic, but Le Cirque des Reves is more magic than most. It is the setting for a duel, for a love affair and for a game that pulls thousands into its orbit, and puts lives at risk. It is a story of the unwisdom of the wise, and the ability of the ordinary to rescue the extraordinary, and a story of the fragility of magic when two wizards enter a competition just to prove a point.
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Pure by Andrew Miller
Posted by Cath Allwood on 26 March 2012
It's a dirty job - but somebody's got to do it. It's 1785 and Jean-Baptiste is raring to go: his first big project is to clear out the oldest cemetery in Paris. Overflowing burial pits are creating a health hazard and a palpable stink around Les Halles. The young engineer's project is a nifty metaphor for the much more momentous clear-out that'll soon shake France to its core. Not for the squeamish, it's grisly, gripping - et magnifique!
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Spurious by Lars Iyer
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 19 March 2012
A tale of philosophy and damp! This book is totally bizarre and quite surreal but oddly thought-provoking and strangely I even found it quite touching. You will either love it or hate it.
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Jude in London by Julian Gough
Posted by Anne Jones on 12 March 2012
Suspend your disbelief and hold tight for a surreal dash through 21st century London in the company of Jude, the Irish orphan, and his Salmon of Knowledge. He's on a quest, but it's often his last worry as anything weird can, and does, happen. I laughed at grotesque set-piece parodies, from hedge funds to the Turner prize, and had to stop myself rushing ahead in order to find and enjoy all the jokes. Well, I think I found them all ...
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Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon
Posted by Jane Wheeler on 31 December 2011
For a fledging writer this is great. The plot line is imaginative and full of twists, just the thing to keep you turning the pages. I am not usually a fan of horror, but this was a winner, I am going to read more of this author. Don't read this if you are expecting the current popular horror romance story, buit you will be ok if you don't like too much gore and enjoy suspense and dramatically unfolding plots with a nod to the crime genre.
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Ever Fallen in Love by Zoe Strachan
Posted by David Kenvyn on 24 December 2011
Have you noticed how friendships formed at university can endure and then wreck the rest of your life? This is a tale told in flashback of such a friendship, a story of unfulfilled potential, possible unrequited love and a dreadful tragedy reverberating through the lives of the survivors. It's also written with great understanding and compassion. You will not be able to put this book down until you have finished it.
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Poppadom Preach by Almas Khan
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 17 December 2011
Dilly's story was both hilarious and sad. I felt so frustrated for her as she kept on trying to escape the stifling confines of her family. This novel was so real to me I kept forgetting it was fiction!
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The Most Intimate Place by Rosemary Furber
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 December 2011
This demanding novel, about a young reporter hoping to uncover a Church of England sex scandal, has a bit of everything. It's funny, sexy, violent and sad. Patrick is a very appealing hero and the other characters are larger than life. The best bits are the really witty conversations. Interesting Biblical studies add weight and are a good contrast to the overall anti organised religion theme. A unusual and enjoyable read with a tragic end.
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The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
Posted by Paul Doyle on 03 December 2011
Defying classification this complex, imaginative and clever book will at turns leave you dazzled and confused. A nod to gothic fantasy and noir the main protagonist, an unlikely detective sets out to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of a city's alarm clocks and more bizarrely the 12th November! Skipping between dreams and reality, a novel to savour for its invention.
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City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
Posted by Ian Baillie on 26 November 2011
If James Joyce had written a futuristic thriller it would probably have been a lot like this. Bohane, Ireland, in mid 21st century is a vision of Hell, with rival factions preparing to fight turf wars to wrest control of the city from long-time godfather, Logan Hartnett. Packed with highly original characters and rich in language, this is a violent yet often funny rollercoaster of a read. It's is a book that stretches the boundaries of fiction.
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The Cry of the Go-Away Bird by Andrea Eames
Posted by Gail Holmes on 19 November 2011
As Mugabe’s reign turns sour, life in Zimbabwe changes for everyone, not least for Elise who has enjoyed an idyllic childhood on a white owned farm. I loved this memoir-like novel, its humour, tension and horror. I couldn't put it down.
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The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 12 November 2011
Keith was in the vanguard of the sexual revolution of 1970. Or, looking back years later, was he? Men Behaving Badly meets QI on Eng Lit in this witty and moving novel.
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Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
Posted by Cath Allwood on 05 November 2011
Nazi Germany isn't the safest place for a jazz band, especially when the line up includes half-African Heiro, Paul - blond, blue-eyed but Jewish - plus Sid and Chip, two black Americans. Tune in to Sid's rambling tale and be rewarded with an unusual read as he tells the story of the Hot-Time Swingers. What becomes of them as the 'housepainter's Boots' march into Berlin and Paris makes an edgy, funny read.
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Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch
Posted by Catherine Stansfield on 29 October 2011
We are initially thrown into the murky world of the squalor of Dickensian London complete with outsize characters and even a scruffy young boy, Jaffy, as the star of the story. But before long though we embark on an exciting adventure on the high seas hunting whales and capturing a 'dragon' to be shipped to London. Abruptly though the pace changes as things don't go to plan and in the darkening mood we fear for the life of our hero.
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Whichbook user recommendations
Posted by Rachel Van Riel on 17 October 2011
We have just made two novels recommended by Whichbook users live on whichbook.net – proof that we do welcome (and act upon) your suggestions. Marvellous Hairy by Mark A Raynor was recommended by cover illustrator, Max Tundra and H10N1 was suggested by the author, Marsha Cornelius. You can find both these titles by clicking on the Authors tab on the Whichbook homepage and finding each author by surname. If you have a suggestion yourself – please get in touch via the Contact page on the website. Just to remind you - we can only consider novels and poetry for Whichbook.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Posted by Cath Allwood on 22 October 2011
Fasten your seatbelts! This is cool, funny and tragic and you need to keep your wits about you. The rollercoaster lives of Egan's characters whiz forward and back in time and place, taking in African safaris and Neapolitan culture, genocidal generals and the whole US sex, drugs and rock-and-roll scene. Ambitious and surprising.
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Finch by Jeff Vandermeer
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 15 October 2011
Immerse yourself in this Noirest of steampunk if you dare . In a city occupied by a fungal race, many are forced to collaborate. Finch is a reluctant detective who uncovers much more than who killed whom. His world is claustrophobic, dark and oppressive and you need a strong stomach to read on. But the page-turning plot, the vividness of the setting and the beauty of the elliptical writing make it compelling.
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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Posted by Karen Pugh on 08 October 2011
Here’s an interesting concept: Rose has a unique ability – she can taste human emotions by eating cooked food. At first the story seemed a little lacklustre – bit like the cake without the lemon. But everything went up a gear with Rose’s father’s revelation – any negativity on my part was brushed aside and I was hooked. Although if anyone can work out what happened to her brother, please let me know ….
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The Convent by Panos Karnezis
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 01 October 2011
Just what sort of a miracle is the baby found outside a remote Spanish convent? One that allows for a gentle but inexorable examination of belief, passion, ambition, bigotry, kindness and diplomacy and other, all too human, traits. The Convent is a remarkable novel but not, perhaps, for those that would prefer doctrine to remain accepted rather than examined. Would make a great reading group title.
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C by Tom McCarthy
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 24 September 2011
This was a most intriguing and frustrating book. I was fascinated by the way the development of communication paralleled Serge's strange life story but felt at times that he was as much a cypher as any of the signals and codes the book describes. Inspite of this, I enjoyed the book for the brilliance of its descriptions and its chilling even eerie view of life.
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Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 17 September 2011
Musicians flock to the Welsh idyll that is Rock Farm, laying down tracks at the farm’s studio. Halo Llewellyn heads a cast of colourful characters, and with a heroine called Halo, this novel was never going to be conventional. I was seduced by the rock and roll lifestyle of the Llewellyn’s, falling headfirst into Halo’s story and travelling alongside her on her journey from childhood to maturity.
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Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 September 2011
This a gruesome tale of a family massacre set against a background of sustained and condoned abuse of female children. Freelance social worker Simran Singh is an engaging heroine, although being middle aged and unmarried, she is an outsider in Indian society - which adds an extra dimension to the story. An exceptionally atmospheric and tantalising novel and deserving winner of the 2010 Costa First Novel Award.
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The Madman of Freedom Square by Hassan Blasim
Posted by Catherine Stansfield on 03 September 2011
Fantastical and macabre tales set in Iraq or following exiles as they attempt to build a new life. Inevitable violence and sexual references assault the reader, but nevertheless, there is a weird kind of humour that enables these disturbing stories to be read and even enjoyed.
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Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Posted by Paul Doyle on 27 August 2011
Arctic Norway comes eerily to life in this broodingly atmospheric ghost story. Subtle in its execution it draws the reader deeper and deeper into the story until you can feel the intense pressure of the endless dark days and nights. You'll hear every breath, every creak and feel every shadow and before long you'll be there on your own with your senses playing havoc with your mind.
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Pub Walks in Underhill Country by Nat Segnit
Posted by Ruth Ng on 20 August 2011
Although written as if a guide to 15 local walks this is actually an unusual and amusing novel. Graham Underhill is an avid rambler and its his rather pompous voice that accompanies the reader on each foray into the countryside. Blind to the infidelities of his young, beautiful Bengali wife, Graham's personal life increasingly pervades his pedantic narrative and you can't help but join each walk just to hear the next installment of his life.
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Help us to publicise Whichbook
Posted by Rachel Van Riel on 21 July 2011
Well, we got the whole site up and running, no major glitches, borrow and buy following through, covers looking fab – and we completely forgot about all you supportive souls who want to link to us. We had some Flash banners with the old blue and yellow site design still lingering on the Opening the Book site where nobody would think to find them and that was all. No-one could accuse us of being too marketing-led! Fortunately some of you out there are more savvy – especially in Scotland, I have to say, the Scots picked up on this quicker than anyone else.
Concepts, wording and designs have been batted back and forth and we can now offer a range of banners – choose your preferred size and text or ring the changes. We’ve also done some simple downloadable posters for anyone with physical as well as digital promotional opportunities – yes, libraries in Scotland asked for this too. The blue text on white background makes them really light on ink consumption so you can print at A4 or A3.
If anyone else out there spots any other really obvious omissions, please do get in touch! Next time we launch something I’ll phone a few friends in Scotland first ...
You can find these resources on our new Downloads page
Tagged: News
The Only Glow of the Day by Martin Malone
Posted by Ian Baillie on 13 August 2011
Dublin 1863, and pregnant 18 year-old, Rosanna Doyle, prepares to follow her boyfriend to his army camp in the Curragh. The reader instinctively fears the worst for her and, sure enough, the worst is what she finds. This bleak, but sublimely written book, packs a great deal of incident into its short length, not least a brutal murder. However, its the indomitable spirit of Rosanna that is the essence of the book and will have the reader rooting for her from start to finish.
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Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto by Maile Chapman
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 06 August 2011
American nurse Sunny Taylor works at Suvanto convalescence hospital. Here, she takes care of the ‘up patients’ – a group of wealthy women who seek respite at Suvanto during the cruel Finnish winter months. At first, this appears to be a harmless story of pampered ladies who are allowed to indulge in their ailments under the protection of Sunny and her charge nurses. However, without really noticing, this very subtly becomes a rather unnerving tale, which, at the end, left me questioning things I had previously taken for granted.
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Down to the Dirt by Joel Thomas Hynes
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 30 July 2011
Hugely funny to begin with as Keith and his friends relate one escapade after another but as events become more serious so the story becomes much darker. This is a searing account of a teenager fighting fate and his own nature.
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About the Author by John Colapinto
Posted by David Kenvyn on 23 July 2011
Cal Cunningham is a great comic creation - a nasty, conniving little creep, but somehow you are on his side. It seems that every attempt that he makes to get himself out of trouble only mires him further in an unspeakable mess. And it could not happen to a more deserving person - except, that is, most of the other sleazeball characters in the book, of whom there are many. Enjoy, and be glad that you are not Cal Cunningham.
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Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
Posted by Sue Bone on 16 July 2011
Mr Chartwell takes the form of an anthropomorphic black dog. But this is no cute shaggy dog story. The black dog in question is the metaphor used by Winston Churchill when referring to his depression. This unique and absurdly witty novel takes on a serious subject, and the level at which you read it from will depend on the extent you empathise with this condition.
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A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates
Posted by Katie Evans on 09 July 2011
Young and under-appreciated summer nanny, Katya Spivak, is flattered by the advances of elderly gentleman Marcus Kidder. But is the relationship that grows between them a tragic fairy-tale of soul mates born at the wrong time or a sinister manipulation of loneliness, beauty and wealth? With rapidly rising stakes I wanted to believe in the best of human nature, but feared the worst.
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A Different Sky by Meira Chand
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 02 July 2011
A book of contrasts as cultures collide against a backdrop of Singapore during WW2. Theres no shying away from the graphic reality of the horrors and violence of war and political unrest, and its an unsettling read at times. But with strong characters and sparks of hope for the future, it grips the reader like a vice.
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The Clay Dreaming by Ed Hillyer
Posted by Richard Ashman on 25 June 2011
Drawing its inspiration from the almost forgotten Australian Aborigine cricket team that toured England in 1868, it is the tale of Brippoki’s quest and his curious friendship with Sarah that is at the heart of this book. Highly atmospheric in the description of Victorian London’s backstreets and the hallucinogenic episodes of aboriginal ‘Dreaming’, this is a complex, vibrant tale that blends historical intrigue, religious fanaticism, travel and sport into a multi-layered, unconventional book. Not an easy read with every page full to bursting with historical detail and full drawn characters and yet every single word earns its place as you are immersed in hapless Brippoki’s desperate sadness.
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And My See-through Heart by Veronique Ovalde
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 18 June 2011
This novel takes the reader on a surreal journey through the life of a man who has been suddenly and inexplicably bereaved. The author plays with magical realism and red herrings as doped up passive protagonist, Lancelot, tries to discover what happened to his exotic wife Irina. Frozen inside, just like his surroundings, his third person account is bizarre, jealous and violently emotional, skewing the reader off course with a surprising solution to the mystery. As with an onion there is always one more layer to be peeled away before the stinging truth is finally revealed.
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London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp
Posted by Frances Bell on 11 June 2011
A very unusual novel describing and linking the lives of three gay men, spanning the years from the 1890s to the 1990s and set in the same geographical areas in the City of London. The narrative follows the changes in the law and attitude toward homosexuality during this period and how these affect the lives of the characters who are vivid and realistic. The story also benefits by the inclusion of actual historical figures and incidents. The brilliance of the writing is the key feature of this debut - a very worthwhile and thought provoking read.
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The Art of Being Dead by Stephen Clayton
Posted by David Kenvyn on 04 June 2011
Kieran is not someone that you would wish to meet on a dark night anywhere, let alone having him barge into your flat demanding sanctuary. But this is what happens to Jonathan.
This is a deeply disturbing tale about a quiet young man who gets out of his depth (or does he?) and how events spiral out of control (or do they?) Is Jonathan really that boring and stupid? Or is he manipulating Kieran and his other friends out of some deep, existential angst?
A book to make you brood about the dark recesses of the human soul.
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Gabriel's Angel by Mark A Radcliffe
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 28 May 2011
What if Purgatory has been replaced by group therapy sessions? And a return to Earth is on offer for the comatose as well as Heaven or Hell? For Gabriel this reality means a mix of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes - complete with contract killer - and Love Actually - including the aging rock singer. Very, very funny and extremely touching, this is my book of the year so far by miles and, as it's December, everyone will be getting it for Christmas.
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The Mayor's Tongue by Nathaniel Rich
Posted by Karen Pugh on 21 May 2011
This playful but clever short novel reminds me somewhat of bubble and squeak - parallel plots, dialogue, imagery and characters all cooked together to make a tasty meal. Although technically an easy read, concentration is a must to get your head around the characters (think Dickens at his most descriptive) and how they fit together. The two stories, whilst totally different, both involve the ultimate quest - the search for love. The ending is a treat and completely unexpected for all concerned.
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Wanting by Richard Flanagan
Posted by Anne Jones on 14 May 2011
I was puzzled by this book at first. How could Charles Dickens' failing marriage be connected to the subjugation of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Van Diemens Land? His link with ex-Governor Sir John Franklin's widow is tenuous, though it leads to momentous events for him. But as I read on, the connection became clear: it is the danger and destruction brought about by passion, both private and public. While Dickens indulges his passion in pursuit of a young actress, Victorian Empire builders indulge theirs in attempting to create a White Christian society in the Pacific. The Franklins' suppressed passion for a young native girl brings about their disgrace and her downfall, and the passions of the hapless Aborigines are annihilated. While this novel has a sombre theme, I found it compelling, with flashes of beauty and high spirits lifting the mood.
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The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Posted by Michelle Jenkins on 07 May 2011
The human instinct to survive is played out to the upmost in this bleak, yet poignant tale. Mary, alongside her beau Travis, leads a small group of survivors as they defend themselves against the hordes of unconsecrated villagers who strive to infect them. I was captivated by this love story which manages to be both warm and creepy at the same time!
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Piper by Helen McCabe
Posted by Frances Bell on 28 April 2011
This book is psychological horror at its very best with a chilling gothic twist. The atmosphere of menace is powerful throughout and the contrast between poverty stricken rural Romania and affluent urban USA is brilliantly conveyed. But evil is not particular as to where it strikes and is unstoppable throughout time. Be afraid, be very afraid!
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Faithful Place by Tana French
Posted by Cath Allwood on 21 April 2011
Tough Dublin cop Frank Mackey finds himself reluctantly back in the bosom of the family he escaped twenty years ago. As he investigates the murder of a long-dead girl, other skeletons emerge from his own cupboard ... Domestic violence, sibling rivalry, great craic surrounding a pretty good murder mystery - a rich brew, black and bitter as a pint of Guinness.
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The Old Romantic by Louise Dean
Posted by Sue Bone on 14 April 2011
This dark comic novel pokes a stick at three generations in conflict. The observations are both humorous and poignant. I can guarantee it will make you examine your own family relationships and personal values in life.
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Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
Posted by Paul Doyle on 07 April 2011
At times a harrowing experience but ultimately uplifting for Jama's story is one of survival, family and determination. Leaving his Somali home following the death of his mother, Jama begins his quest to find his father. Having to contend with the Italian occupation of Abyssinia in the 1930s and the dangers that come from being a young boy alone in the world, Jama's journey is a perilous one. An eye opener to the African experience of the Italian occupation and to life as a refugee.
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The Swimmer by Roma Tearne
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 28 March 2011
A hauntingly atmospheric love story that offers so much more. The topical themes of asylum seekers and terrorism fears make bleak reading at times, but it is so beautifully written that you can’t help but be drawn in. The sadness is justified but there are enough unexpected twists to leave you with of hope for the future - and I'm left feeling so glad to have experienced this book.
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Nimrod's Shadow by Chris Paling
Posted by Laura Bell on 24 March 2011
This is not a simple whodunit. Amongst the characters, there is less searching for the murderer and more questing for personal fulfilment. The quirky sense of humour surprised me and encouraged me to read on and find a deeper meaning in the story.
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The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu
Posted by Cath Allwood on 17 March 2011
Imagine waking up to find you can no longer speak your own language. Thats the situation Li Jing finds himself in at the start of this culture-clash tale. Hectic, steamy Shanghai is beautifully evoked as Li Jing and American visitor, Rosalyn, are drawn to each other by their shared inability to express themselves in Chinese. An array of well-drawn, sympathetic Chinese and ex-pat characters and an intriguing set up make this a very readable, atmospheric treat.
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Hereditation by James Smythe
Posted by Anne OLeary on 10 March 2011
Must the sins of the fathers be passed down each generation - or can the two Sloane brothers escape the cycle of infidelity and fatherless children revealed in their family records? This is a family cursed from when its ancestors landed in the New World, with wicked skeletons and black sheep worthy of a Greek tragedy. A darkly surreal tale in the Cohen Brothers tradition.
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The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
Posted by Sue Bone on 03 March 2011
Central here is the farcical, dark humour of a self-deluded, struggling novelist running a small literary magazine, whilst his personal life disintegrates around him under mounting debt. This is an epistolary novel told in a series of random letters (penned by the novelist) to various correspondents. The tone is self-deprecating and satirical, and seems likely to achieve a small cult following amongst the disaffected.
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The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 27 February 2011
If you like the themes and talk of the new India spelled out for you in a gentle, funny, accessible way, and if you want the goondas to meet their just desserts, then this is for you. Vish Puri, founder and managing director of Most Private Investigators Ltd makes his debut in what will surely be the first of many cases.
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Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
Posted by Celia Jenkins on 20 February 2011
Written in Mathilda’s teenage voice, this is her very candid account of trying to come to terms with her sister’s death and its aftermath. While on her ‘island of grief’ she searches for the truth as well as negotiating life, which ultimately leads to her finding herself. Her matter-of-fact, and sometimes bittingly humorous, observations and actions come across as simplified, but at the same time enlightening. Makes for an interesting and bold read.
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The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 13 February 2011
Six alcohol-fuelled twenty-somethings plus one holiday equals a cracking weekend read. Down and dirty, perfectly pitched dialogue completes this addictive story of female friendship.
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Feed by Mira Grant
Posted by Anne Jones on 06 February 2011
Imagine a dystopian world where whole areas are abandoned to the undead, and the living have the zombie virus sleeping inside them. Add a close knit, crazy team of blogging journalists who love to take risks, covering a Presidential election complete with the dirtiest of tricks. With plenty of zombie action to keep Zombiephiles happy, this is also a fast paced thriller with a technological slant, written in several voices, sometimes chilling, sometimes lyrical. So if you havent given in to the lure of the undead yet, take the plunge now!
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Falling Through Clouds by Anna Chilvers
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 29 January 2011
A compelling update of a medieval romance, which kept me reading not just for the suspense but also for the moving love story. If youve no idea of the novels basis (the story of Sir Gawain and the green knight), it wont interfere at all with your enjoyment, but should increase its unpredictability.
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Blind Sunflowers by Alberto Mendez
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 22 January 2011
Through four beautifully written, loosely connected stories of the Spanish Civil War, I experienced the full impact of the futility, sadness, stupidity and wastefulness of conflict. These powerful and passionate tales show us life from the losers point of view but also make us feel the indifference to life that brutalises the victors. A very moving read.
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Butterfly Soup by Jan Marsh
Posted by Sheila Harden on 15 January 2011
A classic murder mystery, where the heroine, in this case a gay counsellor, investigates to prove her client innocent. In spite of discouragement from friends, family and fellow professionals Gabrielle wins the day against the baddies at some risk to herself. Exotic surroundings are provided by the New Zealand countryside and some interesting Maori touches add local interest. Short enough to be enjoyed at one sitting.
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Valeria's Last Stand by Marc Fitten
Posted by Paul Cowan on 08 January 2011
Spinster Valeria, 68, approves of nothing and nobody until she falls for the village potter but she has a feisty rival in Ibolya, 58, the inn-keeper who flaunts her breasts to increase beer sales! This love triangle is the talk of the village until the arrival of an ambitious chimney sweep further complicates matters. Light, highly entertaining and proof that you are never too old for love.
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Sixteen Shades of Crazy by Rachel Trezise
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 25 December 2010
Ellie is one of three ‘wives’ of Welsh wannabe superband, The Boobs. The arrival of English drug dealer, Johnny, in Aberalaw changes her life for ever. This book made me laugh, made me gasp, made me want to cut my throat – but it gripped me to the last page.
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Bumping by Tony Bianchi
Posted by Ron Travis on 01 January 2011
What is it that links an old Californian ladybird miner, a lock-picking teenager, a commuter who bumps into an old school adversary, a mum obsessed by Relocation, Relocation and number 17 Coble Court, Newcastle? In this book three separate, distinctively told stories interweave to reveal unexpected and catastrophic connections between seemingly unrelated people. The books soaked in Tyneside atmosphere and will appeal to sharp-eyed readers adept at spotting clues and joining the dots.
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Serena by Ron Rash
Posted by Ruth Ng on 18 December 2010
Surprisingly addictive, this bleak and bloody tale teases with the playful humour of the loggers alongside cruel and calculating plots for murder and revenge. Rich descriptions of the terrain and wildlife blend happily with the intriguing, often ruthless characters that kept me hooked throughout.
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Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
Posted by Katie Evans on 11 December 2010
In the overbearing heat of an Australian summer, Laura Wishart has gone missing from the small mining town of Corrigan. Charlie knows that she is dead. Trying to find out why brings Charlie face to face with his neighbours capacity for violence, prejudice and abuse. Its the summer that, in a turmoil of desperate questioning, puerile humour and life-sustaining friendship, Charlie becomes a man.
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Wetlands by Charlotte Roche
Posted by Frances Bell on 04 December 2010
18 year old Helen is in hospital as a result of an injury inflicted by herself during a delicate shaving operation. While in hospital, she relates her theories on female hygiene (or lack of), sex and every intimate bodily function and the fluids that accompany them. Readers beware. This book is extremely explicit and some of the descriptions cross into a territory not usually explored in literature. But if you’re up for it, you’ll find that Helen an unusual heroine who comes across as brave, funny, likeable but ultimately perhaps a little sad. A disgustingly enjoyable book!
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Jia - a Novel of North Korea by Hyejin Kim
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 27 November 2010
Intelligence, decency, even good looks and talent count for very little in modern North Korea unless you are accepted as part of the ruling elite. An understated look at life for the vast majority both in their home country and as refugees in China. Highly recommended unless you cant do without a happy ending.
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The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
Posted by Ruth Ng on 20 November 2010
This sleek and steady Scandinavian novel slowly builds the tension as it unveils a future that seems terrifyingly believable – a world where older men and women are dispensable and human organs are harvested for more deserving people. The fact that there are no real villains makes this all the more frightening, for everyone involved is simply doing their job. There are occasional moments of lightness, but this is mostly a disturbing and hauntingly moving story that I could not put down.
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American Rust by Philipp Meyer
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 13 November 2010
This could have been just another novel on the decay of industrial America. But although the tale of Isaac and Billy is bleak and shocking I was riveted by their story and read the last half of the book in one sitting - I just had to know what happened to them! There are wonderful descriptions of both the industrial decay and the natural world around it. Highly recommended.
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One Day by David Nicholls
Posted by Anne OLeary on 16 October 2010
This is a book just begging for a film treatment and after a few pages you may find yourself mentally casting the main characters. It covers two decades of a will they/wont they, bittersweet relationship - a feel-good romcom, with the emphasis on comedy, like a British version of When Harry Met Sally. If you enjoyed that film (and who didn't?) you will love this, but be prepared for tears as well as laughter.
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City of Ghosts by Bali Rai
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 09 October 2010
A story about love, loss and the desire to belong at any cost. Three men face very different destinies. This book blends magic realism, the horror of war, the chequered history of colonialism and the scents and sounds of the city of Amritsar into an ambitious narrative. The reader needs to suspend their disbelief and revel in the rich descriptive passages which evoke India and the tragedy of an alienated nation through the ghosts of the past.
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The Maid by Yasutaka Tsutsui
Posted by Katie Evans on 02 October 2010
Nanase can read people's minds: a secret she will go to any lengths to protect. Privy to the thoughts of the families Nanase works for as a maid, unremarkable domestic scenes are merely a thin veil over a turmoil of lust, shame, jealously and hatred. Short but hard hitting, each chapter takes us deeper into the darkness of the human psyche. It's a disturbing journey.
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Freshers by Joanna Davies
Posted by Ruth Ng on 26 September 2010
A youthful, raucous rite of passage story about three Welsh first year students in 1990's Aberystwyth. Delving into the darker sides of student life we get everything from simple drunken debauchery through to adultery, abortion and suicide. Moments of humour lift the tone, but this is not for the fainthearted, or for any parent who has recently waved their child off to university!
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The House of Rajani by Alon Hilu
Posted by Janet Gilchrist on 19 September 2010
Who will you believe when you are presented with these two diaries written in parallel - the Jewish man who cheats on his wife or the Arab boy who says that he can see into the future? This historical tale of love and betrayal symbolises the 20th century conflict, fought over land, between Jews and Arabs. A read full of rich and lush description.
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The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 12 September 2010
Poets, lunatics, an inventor and a girl on the cusp of womanhood make their way blindly (or searchingly) through the maze of life. I relished the poetic language and rich imagery, really felt for the characters and reached the end wondering what it all amounted to: what are the boundaries between creativity and madness, love and self, health and sickness? If you love 19th century poetry, you will also enjoy this insight into the private lives of John Clare and Alfred Tennyson.
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The Rat Killer by Alexander Terekhov
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 05 September 2010
A surreal, funny and thought-provoking view of modern, small town Russia through the eyes of a young man who may be ratcatcher, or a PhD student or an assassin - or none of these. Just enjoy the flow and make your own mind up if you can!
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The Infinities by John Banville
Posted by Sheila Harden on 28 August 2010
The immortals, in the form of Hermes and Zeus, amuse themselves playing with the feelings of the members and friends of the Godley family, gathered to wait for the expected death of the patriarch, Adam. Communication is not this family's strong point. There is an uneasy drifting quality to all of their lives, though for different reasons. This book reads like a summer's day – warm, lilting, hazy, insubstantial. There are a few dark clouds on the horizon, but they don't present a serious threat.
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Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson
Posted by Ron Travis on 21 August 2010
What if abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry had succeeded? Imagine Afro American astronauts landing on Mars and a utopian Black nation, Nova Africa, thriving in the Deep South! This book uses a blend of nineteenth century letters, ex-slave narratives and science fiction to turn US history upside down. It's a book that that will keep you glued to the page and greedy for more.
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Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo by Julia Stuart
Posted by Frances Bell on 14 August 2010
A very unusual story set in the enclosed world of the Tower of London. Eccentric, but believable characters all of whom are suffering from varying degrees of loneliness, including the Queen's equerry. Add to this mix an assortment of exotic and neurotic animals and the fun really begins. The sub-plots of the clergyman who writes erotic fiction and the search for love in the London Underground lost property office are amusing and touching. An optimistic, enjoyable and very funny read.
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Jerusalem by Patrick Neate
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 07 August 2010
At once blisteringly funny and extremely disturbing, the action richochets between 1900 (Boer war concentration camp, Gloucestershire morris dancing) and 2008 (New Labours African initiative in the fictional dictatorship of Zambawi and Londons high priest of urban cool), examining what it means to be English through the eyes of both English and Africans. Very highly recommended.
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Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 30 July 2010
These disjointed stories of drug and alcohol addicts might seem hard-going to begin with. But you get to see the human face behind the statistics and, as the characters find their voice, the tales coalesce and won't let you go. Behind all the misery and hopelessness, a picture emerges: the spiral which links the opium grower, the soldier in the killing fields of Afghanistan and the addict. It all builds to a stunning canvas and makes for uncomfortable but unforgettable reading.
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The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson
Posted by Wendy Smith on 24 July 2010
I was completely captivated by this gentle and thoughtful novel about a young man and an elephant. Themes of sexuality, humanity and confinement along with a wonderfully evoked 18th century setting make this more than just another animal story or indeed, another love story. A remarkable and rewarding reading experience.
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Madame Verona Comes Down the Hill by Dimitri Verhulst
Posted by Gail Holmes on 17 July 2010
This quirky little tale of a widow's love for her husband, stray dogs, table football and classical music set in a village full of interesting characters is an absolute joy to read. Poignant and hugely entertaining, its sombre themes of loss and ageing are handled in a hugely agreeable way.
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Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne
Posted by Frances Bell on 10 July 2010
It is difficult to do justice to this novel in a few lines. The story begins in Sri Lanka - beautiful, but torn apart by racial and civil strife and then moves to London where the Sri Lankans struggle to assimilate into an alien culture. A book with everything - great story, beautiful descriptions; the words glow like jewels on every page. The interesting and diverse characters are totally believable. All in all, a wonderful reading experience - but, be warned, have your box of tissues ready.
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A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven by Karl O Knausgaard
Posted by David Kenvyn on 03 July 2010
Odd, but enthralling description of the history and decline of angels as seen through the eyes of Antinous Bellori, who meets an angel as a boy. And then you get the cherubim guarding Eden from the evicted Adam and Eve, Cain murdering Abel, a drunken Noah after the flood, Abraham and the meeting at the oak trees of Mamre, Lot fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah and then leaping a few hundred years at least to Ezekiel and his dry bones. You don't have to know the Old Testament to enjoy this book, but you will know a lot about the Old Testament after reading it.
And none of this gives the story away. Although why it ends up in Norway is anyone's guess.
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Homesick by Eshkol Nevo
Posted by Alice Tyrell on 12 June 2010
At first you might think that this group of characters share a neighbourhood and nothing else, but as the author brings us inside their experiences, you can't help but see the connections instead of the differences. This is no happy ever after fairytale, but a story where relationships gain strength because the people in them choose to work at finding ways to be happy together. It's a warm and sunny read, which builds a richly textured big picture from the details of everyday life.
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The Truth Commissioner by David Park
Posted by Katie Evans on 26 June 2010
Episodes from the lives of four very different men weave together to reveal what happened to disappeared Belfast teenager, Connor Walshe. These are men guilty of corruption and brutality, but I was quickly drawn into tender sympathy with all four. Their deeply personal vulnerabilities, strengths and desires will determine whether Connor's family will finally hear the truth.
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The Dirty South by Alex Wheatle
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 19 June 2010
You might guess a novel of Brixton, drugs and crime would be a recital of gang violence and race politics. Yes, the life-on-the-street background is there, but from the start you are inside Dennis's head. It's his awareness of loving relationships that others are deprived of, his romantic longing for true love, and his agonising over taking revenge for his friend Noel's death, that make him much more than a two-dimensional badman.
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Little Hut of Leaping Fishes by Chiew-Siah Tei
Posted by Ruth Ng on 05 June 2010
I quickly got used to the unusual, staccato style of prose in this book as I became totally immersed in the life of Mingzhi. Bound from birth by filial responsibilities, he silently shies away from his Opium-growing grandfather, hoping that his education will allow him a way out, a new opportunity to search for truth and justice. This coming of age family saga brings to life late 19th century China, where the new and frightening Western influences clash violently with centuries of tradition, ritual and expectation.
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Blank Gaze by Jose Luis Peixoto
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 08 May 2010
The harsh lives of the inhabitants of an impoverished Portuguese village are played out in this dark tale. Multiple narrative voices lend a poetic, if sometimes claustrophobic, commonality to their experiences. Not always an easy read, but stick with it and you will be rewarded by a beautiful if unusual story of fate, love and death throughout the generations.
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Joseph's Box by Suhayl Saadi
Posted by David Kenvyn on 29 May 2010
Two bereaved people find a box floating in the River Clyde by the Erskine Bridge. It is opened when Alex plays his lute. And then the adventure begins, taking in Scotland, Sicily, the Himalayas and Lincolnshire. Think Homer's Odyssey, Joyce's Ulysses or Alice in Wonderland, the Box of Delights or the Mahabharata. Or rather forget the comparisons, and wallow in the beauty of the language, and the breathtaking virtuosity of the story. Oh, and Joseph who made the box is the father of a famous carpenter - which gives nothing away.
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Ghosts and Lightning by Trevor Byrne
Posted by Cath Allwood on 22 May 2010
Plot? What plot? Denny and his dodgy friends bum aimlessly round the seedier parts of Dublin in this episodic, shaggy-dog story. Boozy, druggy and spectacularly profane, it's also a funny, touching and sometimes poetic account of how Denny tries to cope with the sudden death of his much-loved 'ma'.
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The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 15 May 2010
Wow! It begins as a gently humorous commentary on class and society with loads of interesting philosophical ruminations - almost becomes a chick lit for the over 50s and then ...! Just keep reading until the Japanese tenant appears - after that you won't be able to put it down. And what an ending.
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Bone China by Roma Tearne
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 01 May 2010
A lyrical and haunting tale of three generations fragmented by civil strife and the shock of migration. The genteel Grace De Silva faces upheaval as Ceylon is torn apart by independence and her children are compelled to seek a new life in austere England. Lost loves, secret sorrows and the search for cultural identity make up the sights and sounds of this novel. It is a feast for the senses playing on the reader's emotions like a beautiful concerto.
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This Breathing World by Jose Luis de Juan
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 22 April 2010
As you are whisked between ancient Rome and 1950's Harvard be prepared to have all your ideas about history, literature and (especially) time severely challenged by this blackly comic yet murderous novel.
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Chez Moi by Agnes Desarthe
Posted by Ruth Ng on 15 April 2010
A sensory feast spills from the pages of this tale of a woman on the run who opens up a restaurant in her home in Paris. She hoards away the secrets and lies of her former life as she stumbles through the early stages of her new one, with a little help from some local misfits. Although there is the sense, at first, that this could be simply fluffy chick-lit, instead it becomes a quite serious and engrossing story of a life of nonconformity and self discovery.
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Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
Posted by David Kenvyn on 08 April 2010
You will never have read anything quite like this, and not to read it means that you will miss out. The writing is superb, poetic, epic, enthralling. The story is a terrifying, breathtaking, adventure and love story, set in a Los Angeles plagued by murderous gangs of werewolves. And you will never guess the ending.
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A Kind of Vanishing by Lesley Thomson
Posted by Tony Ward on 01 April 2010
I didn't like Alice, an unpleasant child, and I couldn't tell where she'd gone. I did like Eleanor, but she disappeared as well. And then one of them came back. The how and the where dance around with the who and the why to leave you dizzy and confused, certain that you know but then ultimately wrong. I was held in thrall by the developing story, never quite believing what I read until all the questions were answered and the truth was revealed.
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The End of the Alphabet by C S Richardson
Posted by Cath Allwood on 25 March 2010
What would you do if you were given only weeks to live? Ambrose and Zapporas answer is to revisit cities which have meant a lot to them during nearly thirty years of happy marriage. A series of vignettes, some funny, some poignant, build into a touching, satisfying portrait of two loveable people. I loved this elegant little gem.
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Enemy of the Good by Michael Arditti
Posted by Anne OLeary on 11 March 2010
The book's title (a quote from Voltaire) reflects the message that, like the road to hell, following a path of religious extremism leads to the corruption of good intentions. This is a compassionate page-turner of a story, covering the full spectrum of the conflicts that confront our modern multi-cultural, multi-faith society. It will force you to confront your own beliefs and prejudices, while keeping your interest in the fate of the characters to the very end.
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Sold by Patricia McCormick
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 04 March 2010
Heart rending but poignantly lyrical account of a young Nepalese hill girl sold into sexual slavery. The small comforts of 13 year old Lakshmi's spartan home life are replaced by a living nightmare as she is exposed to the soul destroying environment of Happiness House and the unspeakable cruelties of Mumtaz. This is a difficult, emotional journey told in simple, staccato chapters that leave the reader sick at heart and longing for hope in the midst of human misery. It gives victims of sexual exploitation a powerful voice that speaks long after the book has been closed.
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The Prophet Murders by Mehnet Murat Somer
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 28 February 2010
Is someone murdering transvestites in Istanbul? And does anyone care? Darkly funny, exciting and different, the book was so good I could even cope with the computer speak - yes the heroine is a techie as well as a transvestite and businessman.
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Beyond the Great Indoors by Ingvar Ambjørnsen
Posted by Rachel Van Riel on 21 February 2010
Two middle-aged guys living together and you realise they both have big problems - anxietes about venturing out of the house, even answering the phone. An optimistic tale of how awkward and damaged human beings can help each other - with some great comic moments.
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9987 by Nik Jones
Posted by Frances Bell on 14 February 2010
This first novel by Nik Jones is violent, vicious, nasty and utterly bleak. However, despite all this, the absolute brilliance of the writing makes it an enjoyable, exciting and even amusing read! The picture of the unnamed, unloved hero going quietly mad among his DVDs will linger long in the mind. Will you ever risk entering a DVD rental shop again?
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Black Orchids by Gillian Slovo
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 07 February 2010
This is a family saga that travels from Ceylon in the 1940s to England in the 1950s and beyond. That racism was rife goes without saying, but this doesn't swamp the story, in fact it's the inner family wrangling that takes up much of the book. There are no huge surprises, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's quite simply a rattling good read, best enjoyed on a Sunday afternoon with a nice cup of tea.
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A Vengeful Longing by R N Morris
Posted by Cath Allwood on 30 January 2010
Three gruesome murders in the stifling summer heat of 1860's St Petersburg: Porfiry Petrovich is convinced there’s a connection but just what this is keeps him and us guessing right up to the last chapter when all is revealed. You certainly don't have to have read Crime and Punishment to enjoy this intelligent and atmospheric crime novel; if you have, there's an added pleasure in seeing Dostoyevsky's engaging, brilliant and very human detective exercise his forensic and psychological skills again.
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The Bird Room by Chris Killen
Posted by Tanja Jennings on 24 January 2010
From its voyeuristic cover to its snappy, sexy, humorous style Killen's debut novel is a spiky modernist take on the effects of technology on relationships. Characters agonise about art, love, the pain of rejection, identity and sex. Love is as fragile as a pane of glass that shatters at the first impact. The reader gets caught in the game as flashback techniques play with perception. How the book is viewed depends on what the reader sees through the looking glass but it is a compulsive, surprising journey rather like watching a film of awkward relationships through a camera lens.
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The Disappeared by Kim Echlin
Posted by Ruth Ng on 17 January 2010
Densely poetic, this daring novel traces a story of love and desire from Montreal to Phnom Penh. The brutalities and horror of war and genocide are balanced by a young girl's intense desire for, and love affair with, a Cambodian refugee and musician. After losing him once when he returns, alone, to Cambodia she makes the journey herself ten years later, only to suffer a greater loss there than she could possibly have imagined. A beautiful, haunting book.
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Mystery Man by Colin Bateman
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 10 January 2010
This book is hilarious, I loved it. Take a hypochondriac book dealer with OCD and combine him with Miss Marple and what do you get? The manic owner of a mystery bookshop in Belfast, next door to a missing private detective, who finds that cases keep walking in on him. So does his new girlfriend, with adventures he is too timid to enjoy. And if you are a vintage film freak, watch out for the last line.
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All Shall be Well; and All Shall be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall be Well by Tod Wodicka
Posted by Celia Jenkins on 19 December 2009
A strange mix of the offbeat and the commonplace, this has an unusual flavour. Burt is into medieval re-enactment but his life falls apart when his wife becomes terminally ill. I found Burt a very frustrating and pathetic character, but also one who you can sympathise with. Unexpectedly moving.
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Once Upon a Time in England by Helen Walsh
Posted by Justine Hyland on 12 December 2009
Set in 1970's Warrington, this is a beautifully written, intense, absorbing story. As well as bringing to the fore many social issues of the time, it also delves into the complexities of family dynamics. The characters' journeys are wholly believable and I rode alongside them, even though the trip comes to a gut-wrenching finale.
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Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
Posted by Laura Bell on 05 December 2009
Once I had tuned in to the unhinged narrative style with increasingly hysterical repetitions, I was swept into this story with no full stops on the page or boundaries to subjects under discussion in the narrator's head. Both satirical and thought provoking, this is a graphic and alcohol fuelled insight into the lives of those who pass through a less than salubrious Congolese bar.
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Submarine by Joe Dunthorne
Posted by Dot Cameron on 28 November 2009
A first novel written by a Welsh poet and not at all what I expected - not many books make me laugh out loud but this one did! It's the story of Oliver, a teenager, full of angst, self obsession and curiosity and part of a dysfunctional family. Oliver is a cross between Adrian Mole, Christopher (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime) and Holden Caulfield. A definite edge there along with the humour.
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Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Posted by Alison Hedley on 21 November 2009
Set in a Swedish sink estate, this vampire novel is both chilling and gruesome but is also a true page-turner, guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. The violence is frequent, terrifying and graphic (certainly not a read for the faint-hearted. However, alongside all that is a very tender, burgeoning relationship between Oskar and Eli. The large cast of supporting characters, some of whom will make your skin crawl, will make you look at any new neighbours in a different light as this novel makes its way to a very explosive climax. One to read with the lights on!
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Lost Bodies by Francois Gantheret
Posted by Frances Bell on 14 November 2009
A tragic story of love and betrayal set in an unnamed repressive North African country with beautiful descriptions of the desert setting. Well told intrigue and devious plots combine to create a slow burning fuse of revelation; the characters are both strong and resourceful as they battle against relentless prison brutality. A very short novel but one in which every word matters.
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The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
Posted by Geraldine Glover on 07 November 2009
At the heart of this tale is a bizarre but beautifully written romance with a twist. Against a backdrop of dystopian worlds, Billie and Spike search, time after time, for a life and love together. Packed around that romance is a science fiction novel, full of eco-warnings, philosophising, and a touch of satire. As the revelations slowly unfolded, this novel enticed and drew me through its satisfyingly complex and unexpected story.
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Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong
Posted by Cath Allwood on 30 October 2009
Meet the Morse and Lewis of Shanghai in an unusual whodunit. Clever, arty, neurotic Inspector Chen and his practical, down-to-earth sidekick Yu make engaging heroes. I'm not usually a big fan of crime novels but this is a cracker, full of fascinating insights into Shanghai life. I got a real sense of the characters' lives: where they live, what they wear and, especially, what they eat - both droolingly delicious and gruesomely disgusting. A sumptuous Chinese banquet of a novel.
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Lottery by Patricia Wood
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 24 October 2009
This is my feelgood read of the year. A delightful tale of Perry - who is not retarded, just slow, as he tells everyone - and his lottery win. The story never ducks the hard bits, but Perry still comes out smiling.
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Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey
Posted by Paul Doyle on 02 January 2010
Following a coup in an unnamed country this book tells the story through six characters all caught up in the unrest. As the story unravels the relationships between the six become more fraught and tense as the prospect of power combined with ever more impulsive greed and vengeance takes hold. It is a story simply but effectively told with its own unique rhythm, drawing the reader into the mind of each of the characters with an almost hypnotic quality.
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Wounded by Percival Everett
Posted by Suzanne Rhodes on 26 December 2009
This book offers much more than it seems on first impression - as a tale about a hate crime in a small town encompasses personal and family conflict, as well as a budding romance. The murder of a gay man sets off a chain of events forcing horse-trainer John Hunt and others to confront their feelings about homosexuality. This is a violent novel in many ways but also a love story showing the growth of John and Morgan’s relationship, and there are a few flashes of American-style quirky humour - look out for the mule! It's a gripping read that doesn't pull any punches.
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The Electric Church by Jeff Somers
Posted by Anya Agnew on 03 October 2009
This fast-paced easy-read book will appeal to sci-fi fans and more. Living in a grim, realistic future, ruthless assassin Avery Cates boasts that he has killed 26 times in his 27 years and is fast adding to his tally. A mesmerising plot absorbs and entices you to empathise with Cates, the homicidal 'good guy'. With language and settings that are truly nitty-gritty, you are left in no doubt that Cates is a man with definite beliefs.
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The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 27 September 2009
This book takes you into quite another world. A world of close family, of a strange and knowing breed of dog, of jealousy, love and murder. I have never read anything quite like it and I really didn't want to finish it - even though I was desperate to find out what happens. Beautifully written and totally unforgettable.
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Guantanamo: A Novel by Dorothea Dieckmann
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 20 September 2009
Harder hitting than a documentary, this story of a detainee will disturb and challenge you. But the writing is so intense that you won't be able to put it down.
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The Extra Large Medium by Helen Slavin
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 13 September 2009
Annie can see dead people, all wearing chocolate brown. What's worse, they are very assertively communicative and can ruin Annie's life in ways no one would ever imagine. Very dark, very funny and told from several perspectives this is a book to read at one concentrated go - and then to think about for a long time afterwards.
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Buenas Noches Buenos Aires by Gilbert Adair
Posted by Karen Pugh on 06 September 2009
A whimsical take on the gay scene of Paris in the early 1980s. Laugh out loud funny in parts, intensely poignant in others – and very sexually graphic. The story takes a dramatic turn in narrative to touch on Aids and its fatal consequences. Gideon's final decision left me speechless - I wonder how it will leave you?
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A Choreographer's Cartography by Raman Mundair
Posted by David Kenvyn on 01 August 2009
Roam from Shetland to India via a sexual encounter in Blackpool. Discover the joys of bhangra and the shoormal. Find out about Queen Victoria and her Sikh bodyguard. Or why the waltz is subversive. Go on a poetic joyride, a dance of compassionate anger and sensual sensitivity. Or simply sit back, let the language flow over you and enjoy.
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Salvage by Jane F Kotapish
Posted by Dot Cameron on 25 July 2009
I really didn't think this book would be my kind of read but I found it enthralling. The narrator leaves a successful life in New York to live in small town Virginia and, as the book unfolds, we discover what has caused her abrupt departure. A diary of relationships - we learn of her childhood and life with her mother as well as eavesdropping on conversations with her dead sister – both disquieting and eccentric. In the end, a thoroughly worthwhile read which has that rare quality of combining humour with pathos.
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The Days of Judy B by Rose Heiney
Posted by Janet Scott on 18 July 2009
Judy Bishop leads parallel lives: the successful fun loving celebrity socialite and the overweight depressive, frustrated in love, life and career. We follow her conflict alternately through her weekly lifestyle column and through glimpses of the truth which lie behind it.
This is a very funny book with an underlying pathos which gives the novel an unexpected depth and poignancy.
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Lost Bodies by Francois Gantheret
Posted by Frances Bell on 11 July 2009
A tragic story of love and betrayal set in an unnamed repressive North African country with beautiful descriptions of the desert setting. Well told intrigue and devious plots combine to create a slow burning fuse of revelation; the characters are both strong and resourceful as they battle against relentless prison brutality. A very short novel but one in which every word matters.
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Broken by Daniel Clay
Posted by Jane Mathieson on 04 July 2009
This is a very realistic novel set on a small estate in the South of England. It deals with how people impinge on each other's lives, with often unimaginable consequences, sometimes driving each other to desperate acts. Yet at the same time it is full of humour and quirkiness. The action is described through the eyes of Skunk, a 12-year-old who doesn't always recognise reality in its true horror. If you're a fan of TV soaps which often portray extremes of behaviour, with occasional moments of bleak humour, then you should enjoy this.
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Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti
Posted by Anne O'Leary on 27 June 2009
Treat yourself to this quirky romantic comedy, guaranteed to lift your spirits with its feel-good factor. It's the familiar women from Venus, men from Mars plot, but told from both points of view, with a down to earth honesty and a refreshing absence of chick-lit smaltz.
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Monster Love by Carol Topolski
Posted by Gail Holmes on 20 June 2009
I found this tabloid-like sequence of testimonies from people affected by the abuse and murder of a child a harrowing read. You really do get inside the head of monsters. A brave novel about the ultimate taboo.
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A Deal with the Devil by Martin Suter
Posted by Paul Doyle on 13 June 2009
Not as straightforward as it first may appear. This story is a fast-paced mystery set in Switzerland where the characters come in and out of the action often to leave clues to the reader as to the mysterious goings-on. It may leave you guessing or confused but definitely intrigued.
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Lost Paradise by Cees Nooteboom
Posted by Paul Cowan on 06 June 2009
At first this seems to be a book of two unconnected halves. What possible link is there between two Brazilian girls travelling in Australia in search of Aboriginal culture and a journalist seeking to lose weight in an Alpine spa? Answer: angels. The result is a delightful mix of travel, art, literature, life and Milton’s Paradise Lost all in 151 pages – and every one of them charming, light and serious all at the same time.
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The Claude Glass by Tom Bullough
Posted by Dot Cameron on 30 May 2009
Two small boys are growing up with their hippy farmer parents in rural Wales and meet Andrew, son of a neighbouring farmer whose life is very different from theirs. He lives in rags, sleeps with the dogs and survives on scraps from the table. Half fairytale, half poem, this evocative novel deals with the relationship between the three boys and delivers a haunting portrait of the extremes of rural life.
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The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 23 May 2009
A wonderful mix of Victorian gothic and fantasy crime. Very fast, very funny and quite unbelievable (I think) and much better than its cover.
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The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens
Posted by Karen Pugh on 16 May 2009
Possibly the most powerful book I've read for many years – but it's neither pleasant nor comfortable. The historical detail is spot on and the language is appropriately coarse - both combine to immerse the reader in the world of young Fergus. His is a life of unthinkable harshness. We feel his sadness and love for all those he has lost, both man and animal, keenly.
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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Posted by Anne O'Leary on 09 May 2009
With glowing reviews from Stephen King and Harlen Coben, this assured psychological thriller is up with the best of its kind. Steeped in small-town suffocating atmosphere, with dysfunctional families on every corner, the plot includes vivid descriptions of teenage sex, bullying, drug and alcohol abuse and self-harm. This disturbing, heady mixture is the background to the hunt for a murderer with a macabre killer's signature.
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The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Posted by Wendy Smith on 02 May 2009
This story centres on the relationship between a porn star who receives horrific burns in a car accident and a sculptress who claims that they were lovers in a previous life. Gothic horror/boys' own adventure/ medieval romance - unlike any book I've ever read, it simply defies categorisation, and if you can make it beyond the gore of the early chapters you are in for an absolute treat.
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A Fraction Of The Whole by Steve Toltz
Posted by Frances Bell on 23 April 2009
This is a huge novel in terms of both size and breadth of content - it includes fire, prison escapes, fraud, murder, gunrunning and brothel keeping. It's not a traditional family saga but this biographical story is related by father and son in both real time and in reminiscence. A book not to be taken too seriously. It's very funny. I absolutely loved it. However, be warned, the author never uses one word if he can use ten!
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My Best Friend Has Issues by Laura Marney
Posted by David Kenvyn on 16 April 2009
How to describe it? Bridget Jones's fat girl angst meets a Moll Flanders romp through the fleshpots of Barcelona. There's lots of flesh and most of the characters are completely potty. And throw in a pinch of Becky Sharp to get a feel for the scheming amorality of it all. The only blameless character is Juegita, the dog, and even she managed to get up the duff somehow.
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The Resurrectionist by James Bradley
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 09 April 2009
This is a very gruesome book - definitely not for the fainthearted. But if you can get past the gore it's a fascinating if bleak tale - and it definitely doesn't go where you expect it to.
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After River by Donna Milner
Posted by Andrew Fitch on 02 April 2009
A sensitive but fast-moving plot of what happens when a happy-as-the-Waltons Canadian farming family is invaded by the Sixties - Vietnam, drugs and sexual freedom. Then, in the present, a reflective healing process for the wounds that the uncertainties and openness of that decade inflicted.
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The Red Book by Meaghan Delahunt
Posted by David Kenvyn on 26 March 2009
Be prepared to be angry and deeply moved. This is a book about a monstrous, avoidable, criminal catastrophe. But it is also about three people from disparate backgrounds - Scotland, India and Australia - struggling to confront their demons and redeem their lives. In other words, a song in praise of the human spirit and its unending capacity to rise above terrible circumstances.
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Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 19 March 2009
Snapshots of life of four generations of the same family, seen through 6 year-old eyes. Concentration is needed as the book starts in 2004 and works back to 1945 via 1962 and 1982, so I found myself continually flicking back to check what was what- but it's well worth any effort. Particularly recommended for reading groups interested in the nature versus nurture debate; NOT recommended for those who prefer to take a rosy view of children.
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Tale of a Certain Orient by Milton Hatoum
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 12 March 2009
What a strange but moving story. As I slowly found out more and more about Emilie and her life, I became lost in a harsh but eerie world in the heart of the Amazon and in Emilie's struggle with life, with love and with her nearest and dearest. But don't be put off - I laughed often with this wonderful, warring and loving family.
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The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 05 March 2009
The safe world of Pippa Lee, married to a charismatic New York publisher 30 years her senior, begins to unravel when they move to Marigold Village Retirement Community. Banish all thoughts of cocoa and slippers from then on - a kaleidoscopic journey through sex, drugs, teenage rebellion and the rest will definitely appeal to the wild child!
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Kill Your Friends by John Niven
Posted by Dorothy Mason on 28 February 2009
Steven Stelfox - a totally evil immoral scheming villain with no redemptive features. So why did I find myself willing him on to success? This is a superbly funny expose of the music industry - can it really be this bad? - which I thoroughly enjoyed even when I was gasping at the sheer audacity of this man's idea of career progression.
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Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Posted by Frances Bell on 22 February 2009
An old-fashioned circus novel with plenty of action and excitement but few if any laughs and a love interest which is fraught with danger. The circus is something you either love or hate and your reaction to this novel will be influenced by these feelings – if you're squeamish about the treatment of performing animals, this might not be for you. Good descriptions of desperate men living through the economic turmoil of the American depression. A brutal era, powerfully drawn.
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A Deal with the Devil by Martin Suter
Posted by Paul Doyle on 08 February 2009
Not as straight forward as it first may appear. This story is a fast-paced mystery set in Switzerland where the characters come in and out of the action often to leave clues to the reader as to the mysterious goings-on. It will either leave you guessing or confused but, for sure, you will be intrigued.
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Just Like Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
Posted by Fiona Edwards on 01 February 2009
You can't help but love Doria as she delivers her take on life on a Paris housing estate. Her future could seem rather bleak - her father has cleared off back to Morocco, she's going nowhere at school and her best friends are a druggy and a psychologist - but Doria doesn't let this get her down. Her voice is upbeat and funny but never cruel - and she sees through hypocrisy with a wisdom beyond her 15 years. Try this and she could just become your new best friend.
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Angelglass by David Barnett
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 24 January 2009
Shifting and vivid, the story moves from present day to XVI century Prague and from gripping eco-thriller to lush historical novel. In both periods, an amnesiac tries to work out who he is and whom he can trust. You'll feel bereft each time you leave a time frame only to get engrossed as soon as you enter the next. An element of fantasy in the plot should not put off readers who do not usually read this type of book.
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Londonstani by Gautam Malkani
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 17 January 2009
Testosterone laden angst amongst Brit-Asian youth in West London. Definitely one for hip young things - and for everyone else into flash cars, gangsta rap and bling, persist with the rudeboy slang and dive in.
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Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiongo
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 10 January 2009
A true political satire, set in an imaginary African country but with parallels to so many others in many parts of the world. It's funny, witty, very human and yet monumental in scale. Be prepared for the long haul but be ready to enjoy it - I certainly did.
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Voices by Arnaldur Indridason
Posted by Linda Corrigan on 03 January 2009
Just give in and drown yourself in the dark side of life on the dark island of Iceland at the darkest time of year. This book just grabs you, chews you up, and spits you out at the end. You may be older and wiser for the experience - or maybe not?
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The Minutes of the Lazarus Club by Tony Pollard
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 27 December 2008
If you are a fan of 'what if' historical novels then you will love The Lazarus Club where Brunel and other inventor/scientists like him meet philosophers, business men and Byron's grandson, in order to see just how far knowledge can be extended. A great Gothic thriller with lots of murders and, for me, a truly surprise ending.
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Fresh by Mark McNay
Posted by David Kenvyn on 20 December 2008
A breathtaking first novel written in Scots - a tour de force. Humour, pathos, drama and a chicken factory. And Ae wisnae expectin het tae end the way it did.
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By The Time You Read This by Lola Jaye
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 13 December 2008
From the age of 12 Lois depends on her late father's bequest: a 'manual' intended by him to see her through life to 30. This might have been a very sentimental novel but bold, often wrong-headed Lois makes sure it isn't. Okay so you'll be able to spot where she (and Dad) are making mistakes but that's part of the fun. Sit back and enjoy - secure in the knowledge that you've spotted Mr Right long before she has.
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The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers
Posted by Dot Cameron on 06 December 2008
A hard-hitting and gritty follow up to The Electric Church - the violence is full on and the body count is huge! Pure entertainment though and cult reading for fans of hard-edged sci fi.
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The Pirates Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Posted by Anne O'Leary on 29 November 2008
All the passion, heat and colour of a swashbuckling saga await you within the pages of this novel. Set in the tropical paradise of Jamaica, this is romantic escapism with a satisfying filling of history and evocative atmosphere.
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Angelglass by David Bartlett
Posted by Nicole De Weirdt on 08 November 2008
Shifting and vivid, the story moves from present day to XVI century Prague and from gripping eco-thriller to lush historical novel. In both periods, an amnesiac tries to work out who he is and whom he can trust. You'll feel bereft each time you leave a time frame only to get engrossed as soon as you enter the next. An element of fantasy in the plot should not put off readers who do not like the genre.
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The Journal of Dora Damage by Belinda Starling
Posted by Tessa Cozens on 01 November 2008
Rude awakening for wife of Victorian bookbinder crippled by arthritis, who turns to binding the specialist pornography of reactionary scientists to keep family and home together. Plenty of authentic London grime and squalor for anyone into period detail, not to mention the esoteric tastes of the aristocracy, but be prepared to be uplifted by a thoroughly modern heroine.
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Like Heaven by Niala Maharaj
Posted by Karen Pugh on 25 October 2008
Ved Saran is a self-made businessman living in Trinidad. His honesty proves a disappointment to his greedy, manipulative, tight-knit family. Local dialect peppers the conversations but the narrative is such an easy read you won't find this a problem. Characters who inspire empathy and an evocative setting make for a pleasant and enjoyable reading experience. You'll be heading for the travel agents to book a Caribbean holiday.
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The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
Posted by Karen Pugh on 18 October 2008
This story resembles the life cycle of a moth – there are many layers, often exposing a darker side before transforming itself into something of beauty. The two sisters in the novel are vastly different - one is quiet, hermit-like, unassuming and very naive; the other is gregarious, outspoken but extremely selfish. The story explores their interaction and flits between the past and the present. A must-read book full of heartache, suspense, love – and you'll learn something of the study moths and butterflies.
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The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by W G Dahlquist
Posted by Rosemary Bullimore on 11 October 2008
This is a gothic fantasy thriller packaged in a big, big book. So set some time aside for it because I guarantee you won't be able put it down. A sort of 'Fingersmith' meets 'Frankenstein' with touches of black humour that are entirely 21st century.
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Day by A L Kennedy
Posted by David Kenvyn on 04 October 2008
Alfred Day - a young man caught up in conflict. A sort of cross between the Good Soldier Svejk and Oedipus, with a dash of Dad's Army. And that's not to mention the rest of his crew, who have escaped from - who knows? But they are all completely bonkers. And then there's Joyce, with whom he has a not so brief encounter.
There is nothing quite like this book, so if you're up for a reading adventure, give it a go.
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The Keep by Jennifer Egan
Posted by Jenny Brookes on 28 September 2008
I expected a darker, grown-up version of a fairytale from this book set in a gloomy castle in the forest, but actually got much more than that. The atmosphere drew me in, particularly towards the very tense end to part 2 and the two parallel stories in Europe and America kept me intrigued as I tried to work out their connection.
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The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
Posted by Jane Wheeler on 21 September 2008
Set in a post-apocalyptic England which is struggling to survive, there is no power, no food and the government has crumbled. Sister is searching for a better life and seeks out a community of women living self-sufficiently in the hills. This is her story.
This world is closer to our current reality than I care to think, and it had me spellbound. The story is fast paced and not your usual science fiction fare. Thought provoking, disturbing and enjoyably addictive.
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| i don't know |
Pat Murphy was the first presenter of which flagship BBC 1 current affairs programme, usually seen on Mondays since 1957? | PANORAMA TELEVISION SERIES DOCUMENTARY TV REPORTING SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME INVESTIGATING INJUSTICE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Panorama is a long-running current affairs documentary series on BBC television, launched on 11 November 1953 and focusing on investigative journalism. Daily Mail reporter Pat Murphy was the original presenter, only lasting one episode after accidentally broadcasting a technical mishap. Max Robertson then took over for a year. Originally the programme was more of a magazine format and included arts features. Richard Dimbleby took over in 1955 and presented it during the 1950s and 1960s. His son, David Dimbleby, went on to present the programme in later years. The programme is currently presented by Jeremy Vine.
Panorama set an example for the German magazine show of the same name, which is produced by NDR, and broadcast on Das Erste. Panorama started there in 1961 and is one of the leading political magazine shows.
Notable episodes
A Radio Times front cover promoting the programme in 1957.
The programme was responsible for the famous Spaghetti trees hoax, broadcast on April Fool's Day, 1957.
In 1987, the programme "Scientology: The Road to Total Freedom?" for the first time exposed on broadcast television the secret upper-level doctrines of the Church of Scientology. Copies of the portion of the programme featuring an animated retelling of the Xenu mythology widely circulated on the Internet from the mid-1990s onward.
On 14 May 2007, an episode titled Scientology and Me was broadcast. The journalist John Sweeney presented the edition, showing how the Church reacted to his journalistic investigations, including its reaction when he put to members that some people describe the organization as a "cult". At one point during an interview, the presenter lost his temper with a member of the Church of Scientology. Members of the BBC Trust, the Corporation's independent governors, expressed concern about this heavily criticised edition of Panorama.
Arguably the most famous Panorama programme of all was the 1995 interview of Diana, Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir, which occurred after her separation in which she openly talked about the rumors surrounding her personal life.
One of the most controversial broadcasts of recent time was the "Who bombed Omagh?" programme, which named those suspected of involvement in the Omagh bombing. It is believed that the Real IRA attack on the BBC Television Centre was a revenge attack for the broadcast.
In 1955, an edition featured Christopher Mayhew taking mescaline under medical supervision. The resulting programme was never broadcast though the footage and transcripts were later released.
Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets
On 19 September 2006 Panorama showed a documentary called "Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets", which alleged payments in English football contrary to the rules of the Football Association, involving:
That Bolton Wanderers F.C. manager Sam Allardyce, and his agent son Craig were implicated for taking "bungs" (a backhander or kickback) from agents for signing certain players. Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately claiming that they had paid Allardyce through his son. Allardyce denies ever taking, or asking for, a bung. The programme was aired on the same night that Bolton beat Walsall 3-1 in the Carling Cup, so Allardyce missed the original showing.
Portsmouth F.C. manager Harry Redknapp is secretly filmed discussing the possibility of buying the Blackburn Rovers F.C. captain Andy Todd with agent Peter Harrison, which is against Football Association rules.
Then Portsmouth F.C. first-team coach Kevin Bond, who was first team coach of Newcastle United F.C. at the time of airing, is secretly recorded admitting he would consider discussing receiving payments from a proposed new agency involving agent Peter Harrison. Consequently, Bond was relieved of his duties at Newcastle.
Chelsea F.C. director of youth football Frank Arnesen is secretly filmed making an illegal approach or "tapping up" Middlesbrough F.C.'s England youth star 15-year-old Nathan Porritt. Arnesen offers a fee of �150,000 spread over three years as an incentive to move. Both of these allegations are against FA rules.
Agent Peter Harrison told the undercover reporter that, to secure transfer deals with Bolton, he bribed Sam Allardyce by offering to pay his son Craig. Harrison is a FIFA-listed agent who is based in the north-east of England.
That three different Bolton transfer signings involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce, some when he was contractually banned from doing any Bolton deals. Panorama alleged Bolton's transfer signings of defender Tal Ben Haim, midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata and goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce. Allardyce's son quit the agency business in summer 2006, and has admitted in newspaper interviews that his working as an agent might have cost his father the chance of becoming England manager.
The Football Association has asked for any evidence as it tries to rid such action from football.
Panorama and Seroxat
Since 2002, Panorama has made four programmes about the anti-depressant Seroxat: "The Secrets of Seroxat" (2002);[4] "Seroxat: Emails from the Edge" (2003); "Taken on Trust" (2004) and "Secrets of the Drug Trials" (2007).
"The Secrets of Seroxat" elicited a record response from the public as 65,000 people called the BBC helpline and 1,300 people emailed Panorama directly.
The leading mental health charity Mind collaborated with Panorama in a survey of those who emailed the programme. Anonymised findings from the 239 responses were sent to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The second Panorama programme on Seroxat, "Emails from the Edge", included a report of the survey to which the 239 people responded. It showed widespread experiences of suicidal feelings and other severe reactions, very bad withdrawal symptoms and lack of warnings from doctors. Following the broadcast users/survivors and Mind protested outside the offices of the MHRA.
On January 29, 2007, the fourth documentary in the series about the drug Seroxat was broadcast. It focused on three GlaxoSmithKline paediatric clinical trials on depressed children and adolescents. Data from the trials show that Seroxat could not be proven to work for teenagers. Not only that, one clinical trial indicated that they were six times more likely to become suicidal after taking it. In the programme, Panorama revealed the secret trail of internal emails which show how GlaxoSmithKline manipulated the results of the trials for its own commercial gain. Access to the documents has been gained as GlaxoSmithKline fights a fraud trial in the US.
Some of these previously secret Glaxo documents, featured in the programme were leaked into the internet following the programme's broadcast.
Sex Crimes and the Vatican
On October 1, 2006 Panorama did an episode on Crimen Sollicitationis, a secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.
Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with "any obscene external act ... with youths of either sex." It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church.
Panorama found seven priests with child abuse allegations made against them living in and around the Vatican City. One of the priests, Father Joseph Henn, has been indicted on 13 molestation charges brought by a grand jury in the United States. Henn is fighting extradition orders from inside the headquarters of his religious order in the Vatican. The Vatican has not compelled him to return to America to face the charges against him. After filming, Father Henn lost his fight against extradition but fled the Vatican and is believed to be hiding in Italy while there is an international warrant for his arrest.
Sex Crimes and the Vatican was filmed by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by a Catholic priest in the diocese of Ferns in County Wexford in Ireland when he was 14 years old. Father Se�n Fortune was charged with 66 counts of sexual, indecent assault and another serious sexual offence relating to eight boys but he committed suicide on the eve of his trial. Colm started an investigation with the BBC in March 2002 which led to the resignation of Dr Brendan Comiskey, the bishop leading the Ferns Diocese. Colm then pushed for a government inquiry which led to the Ferns Report.
In some countries this means that the Crimen Sollicitationis is the only policy followed. The Vatican has refused repeated requests from Panorama to respond to any of the cases shown in the film.
Scheduling
The scheduling of Panorama has, since the 1980s, often been a subject of media debate and controversy, due to the duties of the BBC to provide both on the one hand entertaining programming that appeals to a mass audience, and on the other serious journalism that might have a narrower audience. In February 1985, with the programme being watched by an average audience of just 3.5 million viewers, Controller of BBC One Michael Grade moved the show from traditional its prime time 8.10pm slot on Monday evenings back to 9.30pm, following the Nine O'Clock News. Despite many protests about this move in the media, Panorama remained in this slot until 1997, although two of Grade's successors, Alan Yentob and Michael Jackson, were known to be unhappy about running 70 continuous minutes of news from 9pm. In May 1997 the Acting Controller of BBC One, Mark Thompson, did move Panorama back half an hour to 10pm, to make way for the sitcom Birds of a Feather, which opened the BBC to criticism that it was sidelining serious content in favour of lighter programming.
In 2000, the programme was moved again, with the 10pm timeslot no longer available due to the moving of the BBC News from 9pm to the later slot. Panorama was moved to Sunday nights, following the news, usually shown at around 10.15pm � labelled by some critics as a "graveyard slot". The number of editions made per year was also cut back, which attracted press criticism for the BBC in general and its Director-General Greg Dyke in particular, as Dyke was the driving force behind the schedule changes. The incoming Controller of BBC One, Lorraine Heggessey, defended the move, claiming that the programme's audience would have "dwindled" had it remained on Monday nights.
January 2007 Heggessey's successor, Peter Fincham, moved Panorama back from Sunday nights to a prime time Monday evening slot at 8.30pm, although it was now shorter than it had previously been, running to just half an hour. This decision was at least partly in response to a demand from the Board of Governors of the BBC for the channel to show more current affairs programming in prime time.
Panorama: Shaken Babies, BBC One, Monday, 10 March 2008
Doubts about shaken baby syndrome
Most medical experts are firmly convinced about Shaken Baby Syndrome.
But is the science related to it conclusive enough to convict beyond reasonable doubt when there is little other evidence pointing to guilt?
The theory says brain damage and bleeds over the surface of the brain and in the back of the eyes must have been caused by violent shaking.
Child-minder Keran Henderson's legal team have just filed an application for leave to appeal against her conviction for manslaughter.
Mrs Henderson was looking after baby Maeve Sheppard in March 2005 when something went horribly wrong.
She has since been convicted of violently shaking the 11-month-old toddler to death.
That day she rang 999 and said: "I've got a baby - I can't get breaths into her. She's just taking little breaths but not much, she's like semi-unconscious at the moment...
"I think that the use of science in this way is very questionable"
"Oh God, this is horrible. Come on Maeve, darling, please.. She's absolutely comatose."
Two days later Maeve was dead and Keran is serving a three-year sentence for child killing. But her friends and family say she could never have done it.
She denies ever harming the child.
The case has brought heartbreak to two families. The Sheppards have lost a much-loved child.
Mark Sheppard told the BBC's Panorama: "In 18 months time she goes home to a loving husband and two loving children - I will never have Maeve back."
Iain Henderson, of Iver, Buckinghamshire, who resigned from the police after his wife was charged, is now bringing up his two sons while their mother is in prison.
Most prosecution experts at the Henderson trial gave evidence to the effect that she must have done it.
Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary told the jury: "There are features in this case that would suggest that there has been a great degree of force."
Dr John Elston, an eye specialist, said: "I think it was most likely caused by shaking."
Professor Terence Stephenson, who did not take part in the trial, is a paediatrician at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
He said: "What you're talking about is a group of findings which are bleeding over the surface of the brain, sometimes with bleeding at the back of the eye, sometimes with evidence of damage to the brain or brain swelling.
"Sometimes those features are also accompanied by other injuries outside the head, fractures to the ribs or cigarette burns or scalds, whatever, but principally it's those three features."
Professor Stephenson explained how he believes anyone can end up doing it: "In the flick of an instant they lose their temper. They've violently shaken and throw that infant, and then it's over and they bitterly regret what they did.
"It wasn't predetermined malicious foul play, they just lost their temper. I don't think the fact that someone is a flawless character means it can't have happened."
Maeve Sheppard's neck was violently snapped back and forth
But what if the majority of experts are wrong?
A minority of sceptical scientists fear that Shaken Baby Syndrome is wrong, mistaking symptoms found in innocent death with deliberate killing.
Neuro-pathologist Dr Waney Squier told Panorama: "I think that the use of science in this way is very questionable and since then there has been no scientific evidence to support the view that shaking can cause the findings that are characteristically described in Shaken Baby Syndrome."
Fresh research in the US questions some of the science behind Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Biomechanics in the US at the Wayne State University in Detroit use crash-test dummies and real corpses - including dead infants - to help make people survive car crashes. They believe that impact is far more dangerous than shaking. They will publish their work later this year.
Biomechanic Dr Chris Van Ee said: "Shaken baby syndrome as described as an adult shaking a child holding him by the torso with the head flopping resulting in bleeding of the brain and retinal haemorrhage is fundamentally flawed from a biomechanics perspective. It's not valid. There's nothing to support it."
Two tragedies
Dr Patrick Lantz, a pathologist in North Carolina, looked at the eyes of 1500 corpses which came through his morgue for more than two years from 2004 on, and says he found bleeds in the back of the eye in one in every six or seven cases.
This finding, if correct, suggests that bleeds in the eye are much more common than previously thought.
If Dr Lantz's research stands up to scrutiny, then bleeds in the eye - one whole pillar of the shaken baby syndrome triad - comes under question. Dr Lantz is due to publish his findings soon.
Scientists who back the syndrome say that inflicted eye bleed injuries are more severe than found in the general population.
If the science is wrong - and it's still a big "if" - Keran Henderson will have been falsely accused. Nothing, however, will bring back baby Maeve.
By John Sweeney - BBC Panorama
SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a form of child abuse that is thought to occur when an abuser violently shakes an infant or small child, creating a whiplash-type motion that causes acceleration-deceleration injuries. The injury is estimated to affect between 1,200 and 1,600 children every year in the USA. A remarkable feature of SBS is the typical lack of external evidence of trauma. The combination of shaking with striking of the infant against a hard object is sometimes termed the shaken impact syndrome.
The concept of SBS was initially described in the early 1970s, based on a theory and a wide variety of circumstances by Dr. John Caffey, a radiologist, as well as Dr. Norman Guthkelch, a neurosurgeon.
SBS, a major cause of mortality in infants, is often fatal and can produce lifelong disability from neurological damage. Up to 50% of deaths related to child abuse are reportedly due to shaken baby syndrome. About 25% to 30% of infant victims with SBS die from their injuries.[citation needed] Nonfatal consequences of SBS include varying degrees of visual impairment (e.g., blindness), motor impairment (e.g. cerebral palsy) and cognitive impairments.
Signs and symptoms
The signs associated with inflicted SBS include retinal hemorrhages, petechiae (small, pinpoint hemorrhages) on the body or face, multiple fractures of the long bones, and subdural hematomas. These signs have evolved through the years as the accepted and recognized signs of child abuse and the shaken baby syndrome. Additional effects of SBS are diffuse axonal injury, oxygen deprivation and swelling of the brain, which can raise intracranial pressure and damage delicate brain tissue.
Most victims of SBS are under one year old. Victims of SBS may display irritability, failure to thrive, alterations in eating patterns, lethargy, vomiting, seizures, bulging or tense fontanels, increased size of the head, altered respirations, and dilated pupils. Medical professionals strongly suspect shaking as the cause of injuries when a baby or small child presents with retinal hemorrhage, fractures, soft tissue injuries or subdural hematoma, that cannot be explained by accidental trauma or other medical conditions. No alternative condition mimics all of the symptoms of SBS exactly, but those that must be ruled out include hydrocephalus, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), seizure disorders, and infectious or congenital diseases like meningitis and metabolic disorders.
Fractures of the vertebrae and ribs may also be associated with SBS. Although several bone disorders may also cause increased vulnerability to fractures, they can be distinguished from inflicted trauma by other characteristic alterations of the bones, by gene tests, and by the absence of corroborative evidence of abuse. The principal disorders known to cause increased susceptibility to fracture without other obvious evidence of bone abnormality are the various moderate-severity forms of osteogenesis imperfecta. Although bone disease of prematurity, rickets due to vitamin D deficiency, Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), copper deficiency and Menkes disease can increase fracture susceptibility, the bone disease is accompanied by additional evidence allowing it to be easily distinguished from abuse in nearly all cases. In addition to Barlow's disease or scurvy, a number of medical conditions, including malformations, premature infants, can mimic SBS, even before birth.
Examination by an experienced ophthalmologist is often critical in diagnosing shaken baby syndrome, as particular forms of ocular bleeding are quite characteristic of this condition.
Some medical experts assert that "no case studies have ever been undertaken to probe even a partial list of possible confounding variables/phenomena, such as the presence of intracranial cysts or fluid collections, hydrocephalus, congenital and inherited diseases, infection, coagulation disorders and venous thrombosis, recent immunizations," medications, birth-related brain injuries, "or recent or remote head trauma. Until and unless these and probably many more factors are evaluated, it is inappropriate to select one mechanism only and ignore the rest of the potential causes."
In 2005, a review of several ophthalmology studies and their findings concerning "inflicted childhood neurotrauma" (SBS) was published in the UK, in the quarterly ophthalmology publication Focus. One of the studies "found a correlation between intra-ocular bleeding, anterior optic nerve haemorrhage and subdural haematomas. Post mortem findings of vitreous traction at the apex of retinal folds and the edge of dome shaped haemorrhages and retinoschisis gives some supporting evidence that vitreous forces may cause this shearing damage. There is no adequate model to test this experimentally, so this remains hypothesis, not established fact."
The main scientific finding of two additional studies from the Focus article "was that in cases of retinal haemorrhages with thin film subdurals and in the absence of other injuries that the pathological finding is more commonly that of hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy rather than diffuse axonal injury. Regardless of the recent debate the observational evidence to date remains that children with non accidental injury may have no visible retinal haemorrhages, whilst non accidental injury and birth are the only circumstances in which multiple retinal haemorrhages in differing layers of the retina have been accurately documented."
The following references documented cases of retinal hemorrhages from accidental head trauma a videotaped minor fall, osteogenesis imperfecta indicating that shaking is not the only possible cause of injury. According to one author, "the presence of retinal hemorrhages is neither necessary nor sufficient for the diagnosis of child abuse." A postvaccinial ocular syndrome was reported as early as 1948, recent papers have been published concerning the occlusion of central retinal vein after hepatitis B vaccination, "The compounding effects of anoxia or hypoxia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, mild coagulopathy, obstruction of retinal venous flow, or possible age-related anatomic variations in the retinal vasculature are not well understood."
Anatomy and pathophysiology
People under the age of three years are especially susceptible to brain damage from shaking. This is due to several anatomical factors. Their heads are bigger and weigh more with respect to their bodies than adults' heads, and their neck muscles are weak and cannot prevent violent motions. Infants' brains are not myelinated; myelin sheaths form in childhood and are complete in adolescence. The brain water content is reduced as neurons gain myelin during development, so babies have a greater percentage of brain water than adults do. Because of this higher water content, children's brains are softer and are much more susceptible to acceleration-deceleration injuries and diffuse axonal injury.
Rotation injury is especially damaging and likely to occur in shaking trauma. The type of injuries caused by shaking injury are usually not caused by falls and impacts from normal play, which are mostly linear forces.
Rotation injury is also referred to as diffuse axonal injury (DAI). A report in 2001, reviewed the brains of 37 infants aged 9 months or less, all of whom died from inflicted head injuries, and 14 control infants who died of other causes. Axonal damage was identified using immunohistochemistry for β-amyloid precursor protein. The observation that the predominant histological abnormality in cases of inflicted head injury in the very young is diffuse hypoxic brain damage, not DAI, can be explained in one of two ways: either the unmyelinated axon of the immature cerebral hemispheres is relatively resistant to traumatic damage, or in shaking-type injuries the brain is not exposed to the forces necessary to produce DAI. Apparently a critical point was missed or overlooked in a paper published in 1968 concerning the results of bioengineering study in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation. This experiment showed, qualitatively, that rotation alone could indeed produce intracranial injury, though it was not shown quantitatively that human beings could generate the required rotational acceleration by manual shaking. This critical omission was not addressed until 19 years later, when it was shown quantitatively that impact was required to generate adequate force. Guthkelch, Caffey, and others either were not aware of, or disregarded, this critical missing piece of information. In the intervening years, and even up to the present, numerous references are made to infants sustaining inflicted brain injury by manual shaking. Yet no laboratory proof of this possibility has ever been put forth. In fact, the available experimental evidence began as far back as 1943, addressed directly in 1987 and reproduced in 2003, seems to indicate the contrary.
"The assessment of the mechanical causation of injury requires training and experience in Injury Biomechanics, a distinct discipline not taught in medical school. Lack of education and experience in Injury Biomechanics, amongst other factors, has led in practice to the proliferation and propagation of inaccurate and sometimes erroneous information on SBS injury mechanisms in the literature." A recent biomechanical experiment in 2005, demonstrated that "forceful shaking can severely injure or kill an infant, this is because the cervical spine would be severely injured and not because subdural hematomas would be caused by high head rotational accelerations. Furthermore, shaking cervical spine injury can occur at much lower levels of head velocity and acceleration than those reported for the SBS. These findings are consistent with the physical laws of injury biomechanics as well as our collective understanding of the fragile infant cervical spine from (1) clinical obstetric experience, (2) automotive medicine and crash safety experience, and (3) common parental experience. We have determined that an infant head subjected to the levels of rotational velocity and acceleration called for in the SBS literature, would experience forces on the infant neck far exceeding the limits for structural failure of the cervical spine. Furthermore, shaking cervical spine injury can occur at much lower levels of head velocity and acceleration than those reported for the SBS.
In 2004, a Scottish database collected data for five years on cases of suspected non-accidental head injury diagnosed after a multiagency assessment and included cases with uncoerced confessions of perpetrators and criminal convictions. Several patterns appeared allowing the categorization of the cases into four predominant types: Hyperacute encephalopathy (6% of all cases); Acute encephalopathy (53% of cases (SBS)); Subacute non-encephalopathic presentation (19% of cases); Chronic extracerebral presentation (22% of cases). Infants can be traumatically injured in many ways, and many instances are unwitnessed. Thus the generic term non-accidental head injury or inflicted traumatic brain injury is occasionally used in preference to shaken baby syndrome, which implies a specific mechanism of injury. An earlier detailed neuropathological study was publish in the UK in 2001, which included immunocytochemistry for microscopic damage.
Prognosis
SBS kills about one third of its victims and permanently and severely disables another third. Problems resulting from SBS include learning disabilities, seizure disorders, speech disability, hydrocephalus, behavioral problems, cerebral palsy, and visual disorders
Prevention
Prevention is similar to the prevention of child abuse in general. New parents, babysitters, and other caregivers should be warned about the dangers of shaking infants. Crying is a common trigger for creating irritation and frustration in the caregiver. Some experts have advised that caregivers need strategies to cope with their own frustrations; for example, they should be reminded that they are not always responsible when babies cry.
SBS as a medicolegal concept
The legal import of shaken baby syndrome varies according to circumstances, often involving child welfare and criminal investigations. Such investigations determine whether children are judged safe to remain in their parents / caregivers' care, and whether an individual may be charged with assault, child endangerment, or homicide.
Since the inception of "whiplash shaking" evolving into SBS, the concept has been the subject of criticism by some scientists and jurists for years.
In April 2006, a Daubert hearing (a mini-trial within a trial, conducted before the judge only, not the jury, over the validity and admissibility of expert opinion testimony) was conducted concerning the admissibility of proposed medical and scientific evidence in a Kentucky Circuit Court case.[52] A Grand Jury had indicted the defendant of first-degree criminal abuse by violently shaking a child. The Defendant alleges that the child's medical records indicate that the only significant injury for the victim was a subdural hematoma and retinal hemorrhaging and there was no significant bruising, fractures, or evidence of impact. The Commonwealth's case was based upon the theory of shaken baby syndrome.
The Court after hearing expert testimony and reviewing the evidence, issued the following conclusion and opinion: "The Court can further conclude that based on the medical signs and symptoms, the clinical medical and scientific research communities are in disagreement as to whether it is possible to determine if a given head injury is due to an accident or abuse. Therefore, the Court finds that because the Daubert test has not been met, neither party can call a witness to give an expert opinion as to whether a child's head injury is due to a shaken baby syndrome when only the child exhibits a subdural hematoma and bilateral ocular bleeding. Either party can call a witness to give an expert opinion as to the cause of the injury being due to shaken baby syndrome, if and only, the child exhibits a subdural hematoma and bilateral ocular bleeding, and any other indicia of abuse present such as long-bone injuries, a fractured skull, bruising, or other indications that abuse has occurred."
The trial court's ruling is not considered binding legal precedent. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has appealed the ruling to the state's intermediate appellate court..
In the Summer of 2006 a review of the Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Shaken Impact Syndrome was published in the Military Law Review. This legal review contains an extensive examination of the divergent views of the scientific literature, in addition to examining the divergent views of the legal parameters involving a trial.
In July of 2005, the Court of Appeals in the United Kingdom reversed or reduced three convictions of SBS, finding that the classic triad of retinal hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, and acute encephalopathy are not 100% diagnostic of SBS and that clinical history is also important. In their ruling, they upheld the clinical concept of SBS but dismissed two cases and reduced the sentence on a third based on their individual merits. In their words: "Whilst a strong pointer to NAHI [non-accidental head injury] on its own we do not think it possible to find that it must automatically and necessarily lead to a diagnosis of NAHI. All the circumstances, including the clinical picture, must be taken into account." The term "non-accidental trauma'" was suggested instead of "SBS" in the March 27, 2004 edition of the British Medical Journal.
Alternative hypotheses
An additional, alternative explanation for some incidents contemplated as shaken baby syndrome has been proposed. This explanation suggests that a vitamin C deficiency may sometimes play a role in the pathogenesis of shaken baby syndrome, citing that the current SBS pathology determination may be seriously flawed or incomplete This contested hypothesis is based upon a speculated marginal, near scorbutic condition or lack of essential nutrient(s) repletion and a potential elevated histamine level.
The proponents of such hypotheses often question the adequacy of nutrient tissue levels, especially vitamin C, for those children currently or recently ill, bacterial infections, those with higher individual requirements, those suffering from environmental challenges (e.g. allergies), and perhaps transient vaccination related stresses. However, no cases of scurvy mimicking SBS or crib death have been reported, and scurvy typically occurs later in infancy, rarely causes death or intracranial bleeding, and is accompanied by other changes of the bones and skin and invariably an unusually deficient dietary history.
A number of medical personnel recommend that all SBS pathology determinations should include vitamin C repletion history and histamine/vitamin C levels. Additional medical recommendations for the use of vitamins and nutrients as a preventive measure, particularly vitamin C, should be used especially for children with known, projected or suspected stresses/conditions (vaccines) that may deplete certain nutrients.
Although a Barlow�s disease variant (infantile scurvy) may be the most common disease, other diagnoses such as fragile bone disease, hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (vitamin K deficiency) and glutaric aciduria type 1 must also be considered. Gestational problems affecting both mother and fetus, the birthing process, prematurity and nutritional deficits can accelerate skeletal and hemorrhagic pathologies that can also mimic SBS, even before birth. These views are not widely known, utilized or explored in conventional medicine. Nevertheless, favorable court rulings and evidentiary commentary on flawed SBS determinations have been demonstrated by biomechanical studies over the years.
In addition, it has been suggested that severe adverse reactions to vaccinations may be an alternative cause of SBS.
| Panorama |
Which British liner was torpedoed and sunk near the Old Head of Kinsale in May 1915? | PANORAMA TELEVISION SERIES DOCUMENTARY TV REPORTING SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME INVESTIGATING INJUSTICE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Panorama is a long-running current affairs documentary series on BBC television, launched on 11 November 1953 and focusing on investigative journalism. Daily Mail reporter Pat Murphy was the original presenter, only lasting one episode after accidentally broadcasting a technical mishap. Max Robertson then took over for a year. Originally the programme was more of a magazine format and included arts features. Richard Dimbleby took over in 1955 and presented it during the 1950s and 1960s. His son, David Dimbleby, went on to present the programme in later years. The programme is currently presented by Jeremy Vine.
Panorama set an example for the German magazine show of the same name, which is produced by NDR, and broadcast on Das Erste. Panorama started there in 1961 and is one of the leading political magazine shows.
Notable episodes
A Radio Times front cover promoting the programme in 1957.
The programme was responsible for the famous Spaghetti trees hoax, broadcast on April Fool's Day, 1957.
In 1987, the programme "Scientology: The Road to Total Freedom?" for the first time exposed on broadcast television the secret upper-level doctrines of the Church of Scientology. Copies of the portion of the programme featuring an animated retelling of the Xenu mythology widely circulated on the Internet from the mid-1990s onward.
On 14 May 2007, an episode titled Scientology and Me was broadcast. The journalist John Sweeney presented the edition, showing how the Church reacted to his journalistic investigations, including its reaction when he put to members that some people describe the organization as a "cult". At one point during an interview, the presenter lost his temper with a member of the Church of Scientology. Members of the BBC Trust, the Corporation's independent governors, expressed concern about this heavily criticised edition of Panorama.
Arguably the most famous Panorama programme of all was the 1995 interview of Diana, Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir, which occurred after her separation in which she openly talked about the rumors surrounding her personal life.
One of the most controversial broadcasts of recent time was the "Who bombed Omagh?" programme, which named those suspected of involvement in the Omagh bombing. It is believed that the Real IRA attack on the BBC Television Centre was a revenge attack for the broadcast.
In 1955, an edition featured Christopher Mayhew taking mescaline under medical supervision. The resulting programme was never broadcast though the footage and transcripts were later released.
Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets
On 19 September 2006 Panorama showed a documentary called "Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets", which alleged payments in English football contrary to the rules of the Football Association, involving:
That Bolton Wanderers F.C. manager Sam Allardyce, and his agent son Craig were implicated for taking "bungs" (a backhander or kickback) from agents for signing certain players. Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately claiming that they had paid Allardyce through his son. Allardyce denies ever taking, or asking for, a bung. The programme was aired on the same night that Bolton beat Walsall 3-1 in the Carling Cup, so Allardyce missed the original showing.
Portsmouth F.C. manager Harry Redknapp is secretly filmed discussing the possibility of buying the Blackburn Rovers F.C. captain Andy Todd with agent Peter Harrison, which is against Football Association rules.
Then Portsmouth F.C. first-team coach Kevin Bond, who was first team coach of Newcastle United F.C. at the time of airing, is secretly recorded admitting he would consider discussing receiving payments from a proposed new agency involving agent Peter Harrison. Consequently, Bond was relieved of his duties at Newcastle.
Chelsea F.C. director of youth football Frank Arnesen is secretly filmed making an illegal approach or "tapping up" Middlesbrough F.C.'s England youth star 15-year-old Nathan Porritt. Arnesen offers a fee of �150,000 spread over three years as an incentive to move. Both of these allegations are against FA rules.
Agent Peter Harrison told the undercover reporter that, to secure transfer deals with Bolton, he bribed Sam Allardyce by offering to pay his son Craig. Harrison is a FIFA-listed agent who is based in the north-east of England.
That three different Bolton transfer signings involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce, some when he was contractually banned from doing any Bolton deals. Panorama alleged Bolton's transfer signings of defender Tal Ben Haim, midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata and goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi involved secret payments from agents to Craig Allardyce. Allardyce's son quit the agency business in summer 2006, and has admitted in newspaper interviews that his working as an agent might have cost his father the chance of becoming England manager.
The Football Association has asked for any evidence as it tries to rid such action from football.
Panorama and Seroxat
Since 2002, Panorama has made four programmes about the anti-depressant Seroxat: "The Secrets of Seroxat" (2002);[4] "Seroxat: Emails from the Edge" (2003); "Taken on Trust" (2004) and "Secrets of the Drug Trials" (2007).
"The Secrets of Seroxat" elicited a record response from the public as 65,000 people called the BBC helpline and 1,300 people emailed Panorama directly.
The leading mental health charity Mind collaborated with Panorama in a survey of those who emailed the programme. Anonymised findings from the 239 responses were sent to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The second Panorama programme on Seroxat, "Emails from the Edge", included a report of the survey to which the 239 people responded. It showed widespread experiences of suicidal feelings and other severe reactions, very bad withdrawal symptoms and lack of warnings from doctors. Following the broadcast users/survivors and Mind protested outside the offices of the MHRA.
On January 29, 2007, the fourth documentary in the series about the drug Seroxat was broadcast. It focused on three GlaxoSmithKline paediatric clinical trials on depressed children and adolescents. Data from the trials show that Seroxat could not be proven to work for teenagers. Not only that, one clinical trial indicated that they were six times more likely to become suicidal after taking it. In the programme, Panorama revealed the secret trail of internal emails which show how GlaxoSmithKline manipulated the results of the trials for its own commercial gain. Access to the documents has been gained as GlaxoSmithKline fights a fraud trial in the US.
Some of these previously secret Glaxo documents, featured in the programme were leaked into the internet following the programme's broadcast.
Sex Crimes and the Vatican
On October 1, 2006 Panorama did an episode on Crimen Sollicitationis, a secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.
Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with "any obscene external act ... with youths of either sex." It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church.
Panorama found seven priests with child abuse allegations made against them living in and around the Vatican City. One of the priests, Father Joseph Henn, has been indicted on 13 molestation charges brought by a grand jury in the United States. Henn is fighting extradition orders from inside the headquarters of his religious order in the Vatican. The Vatican has not compelled him to return to America to face the charges against him. After filming, Father Henn lost his fight against extradition but fled the Vatican and is believed to be hiding in Italy while there is an international warrant for his arrest.
Sex Crimes and the Vatican was filmed by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by a Catholic priest in the diocese of Ferns in County Wexford in Ireland when he was 14 years old. Father Se�n Fortune was charged with 66 counts of sexual, indecent assault and another serious sexual offence relating to eight boys but he committed suicide on the eve of his trial. Colm started an investigation with the BBC in March 2002 which led to the resignation of Dr Brendan Comiskey, the bishop leading the Ferns Diocese. Colm then pushed for a government inquiry which led to the Ferns Report.
In some countries this means that the Crimen Sollicitationis is the only policy followed. The Vatican has refused repeated requests from Panorama to respond to any of the cases shown in the film.
Scheduling
The scheduling of Panorama has, since the 1980s, often been a subject of media debate and controversy, due to the duties of the BBC to provide both on the one hand entertaining programming that appeals to a mass audience, and on the other serious journalism that might have a narrower audience. In February 1985, with the programme being watched by an average audience of just 3.5 million viewers, Controller of BBC One Michael Grade moved the show from traditional its prime time 8.10pm slot on Monday evenings back to 9.30pm, following the Nine O'Clock News. Despite many protests about this move in the media, Panorama remained in this slot until 1997, although two of Grade's successors, Alan Yentob and Michael Jackson, were known to be unhappy about running 70 continuous minutes of news from 9pm. In May 1997 the Acting Controller of BBC One, Mark Thompson, did move Panorama back half an hour to 10pm, to make way for the sitcom Birds of a Feather, which opened the BBC to criticism that it was sidelining serious content in favour of lighter programming.
In 2000, the programme was moved again, with the 10pm timeslot no longer available due to the moving of the BBC News from 9pm to the later slot. Panorama was moved to Sunday nights, following the news, usually shown at around 10.15pm � labelled by some critics as a "graveyard slot". The number of editions made per year was also cut back, which attracted press criticism for the BBC in general and its Director-General Greg Dyke in particular, as Dyke was the driving force behind the schedule changes. The incoming Controller of BBC One, Lorraine Heggessey, defended the move, claiming that the programme's audience would have "dwindled" had it remained on Monday nights.
January 2007 Heggessey's successor, Peter Fincham, moved Panorama back from Sunday nights to a prime time Monday evening slot at 8.30pm, although it was now shorter than it had previously been, running to just half an hour. This decision was at least partly in response to a demand from the Board of Governors of the BBC for the channel to show more current affairs programming in prime time.
Panorama: Shaken Babies, BBC One, Monday, 10 March 2008
Doubts about shaken baby syndrome
Most medical experts are firmly convinced about Shaken Baby Syndrome.
But is the science related to it conclusive enough to convict beyond reasonable doubt when there is little other evidence pointing to guilt?
The theory says brain damage and bleeds over the surface of the brain and in the back of the eyes must have been caused by violent shaking.
Child-minder Keran Henderson's legal team have just filed an application for leave to appeal against her conviction for manslaughter.
Mrs Henderson was looking after baby Maeve Sheppard in March 2005 when something went horribly wrong.
She has since been convicted of violently shaking the 11-month-old toddler to death.
That day she rang 999 and said: "I've got a baby - I can't get breaths into her. She's just taking little breaths but not much, she's like semi-unconscious at the moment...
"I think that the use of science in this way is very questionable"
"Oh God, this is horrible. Come on Maeve, darling, please.. She's absolutely comatose."
Two days later Maeve was dead and Keran is serving a three-year sentence for child killing. But her friends and family say she could never have done it.
She denies ever harming the child.
The case has brought heartbreak to two families. The Sheppards have lost a much-loved child.
Mark Sheppard told the BBC's Panorama: "In 18 months time she goes home to a loving husband and two loving children - I will never have Maeve back."
Iain Henderson, of Iver, Buckinghamshire, who resigned from the police after his wife was charged, is now bringing up his two sons while their mother is in prison.
Most prosecution experts at the Henderson trial gave evidence to the effect that she must have done it.
Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary told the jury: "There are features in this case that would suggest that there has been a great degree of force."
Dr John Elston, an eye specialist, said: "I think it was most likely caused by shaking."
Professor Terence Stephenson, who did not take part in the trial, is a paediatrician at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
He said: "What you're talking about is a group of findings which are bleeding over the surface of the brain, sometimes with bleeding at the back of the eye, sometimes with evidence of damage to the brain or brain swelling.
"Sometimes those features are also accompanied by other injuries outside the head, fractures to the ribs or cigarette burns or scalds, whatever, but principally it's those three features."
Professor Stephenson explained how he believes anyone can end up doing it: "In the flick of an instant they lose their temper. They've violently shaken and throw that infant, and then it's over and they bitterly regret what they did.
"It wasn't predetermined malicious foul play, they just lost their temper. I don't think the fact that someone is a flawless character means it can't have happened."
Maeve Sheppard's neck was violently snapped back and forth
But what if the majority of experts are wrong?
A minority of sceptical scientists fear that Shaken Baby Syndrome is wrong, mistaking symptoms found in innocent death with deliberate killing.
Neuro-pathologist Dr Waney Squier told Panorama: "I think that the use of science in this way is very questionable and since then there has been no scientific evidence to support the view that shaking can cause the findings that are characteristically described in Shaken Baby Syndrome."
Fresh research in the US questions some of the science behind Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Biomechanics in the US at the Wayne State University in Detroit use crash-test dummies and real corpses - including dead infants - to help make people survive car crashes. They believe that impact is far more dangerous than shaking. They will publish their work later this year.
Biomechanic Dr Chris Van Ee said: "Shaken baby syndrome as described as an adult shaking a child holding him by the torso with the head flopping resulting in bleeding of the brain and retinal haemorrhage is fundamentally flawed from a biomechanics perspective. It's not valid. There's nothing to support it."
Two tragedies
Dr Patrick Lantz, a pathologist in North Carolina, looked at the eyes of 1500 corpses which came through his morgue for more than two years from 2004 on, and says he found bleeds in the back of the eye in one in every six or seven cases.
This finding, if correct, suggests that bleeds in the eye are much more common than previously thought.
If Dr Lantz's research stands up to scrutiny, then bleeds in the eye - one whole pillar of the shaken baby syndrome triad - comes under question. Dr Lantz is due to publish his findings soon.
Scientists who back the syndrome say that inflicted eye bleed injuries are more severe than found in the general population.
If the science is wrong - and it's still a big "if" - Keran Henderson will have been falsely accused. Nothing, however, will bring back baby Maeve.
By John Sweeney - BBC Panorama
SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a form of child abuse that is thought to occur when an abuser violently shakes an infant or small child, creating a whiplash-type motion that causes acceleration-deceleration injuries. The injury is estimated to affect between 1,200 and 1,600 children every year in the USA. A remarkable feature of SBS is the typical lack of external evidence of trauma. The combination of shaking with striking of the infant against a hard object is sometimes termed the shaken impact syndrome.
The concept of SBS was initially described in the early 1970s, based on a theory and a wide variety of circumstances by Dr. John Caffey, a radiologist, as well as Dr. Norman Guthkelch, a neurosurgeon.
SBS, a major cause of mortality in infants, is often fatal and can produce lifelong disability from neurological damage. Up to 50% of deaths related to child abuse are reportedly due to shaken baby syndrome. About 25% to 30% of infant victims with SBS die from their injuries.[citation needed] Nonfatal consequences of SBS include varying degrees of visual impairment (e.g., blindness), motor impairment (e.g. cerebral palsy) and cognitive impairments.
Signs and symptoms
The signs associated with inflicted SBS include retinal hemorrhages, petechiae (small, pinpoint hemorrhages) on the body or face, multiple fractures of the long bones, and subdural hematomas. These signs have evolved through the years as the accepted and recognized signs of child abuse and the shaken baby syndrome. Additional effects of SBS are diffuse axonal injury, oxygen deprivation and swelling of the brain, which can raise intracranial pressure and damage delicate brain tissue.
Most victims of SBS are under one year old. Victims of SBS may display irritability, failure to thrive, alterations in eating patterns, lethargy, vomiting, seizures, bulging or tense fontanels, increased size of the head, altered respirations, and dilated pupils. Medical professionals strongly suspect shaking as the cause of injuries when a baby or small child presents with retinal hemorrhage, fractures, soft tissue injuries or subdural hematoma, that cannot be explained by accidental trauma or other medical conditions. No alternative condition mimics all of the symptoms of SBS exactly, but those that must be ruled out include hydrocephalus, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), seizure disorders, and infectious or congenital diseases like meningitis and metabolic disorders.
Fractures of the vertebrae and ribs may also be associated with SBS. Although several bone disorders may also cause increased vulnerability to fractures, they can be distinguished from inflicted trauma by other characteristic alterations of the bones, by gene tests, and by the absence of corroborative evidence of abuse. The principal disorders known to cause increased susceptibility to fracture without other obvious evidence of bone abnormality are the various moderate-severity forms of osteogenesis imperfecta. Although bone disease of prematurity, rickets due to vitamin D deficiency, Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), copper deficiency and Menkes disease can increase fracture susceptibility, the bone disease is accompanied by additional evidence allowing it to be easily distinguished from abuse in nearly all cases. In addition to Barlow's disease or scurvy, a number of medical conditions, including malformations, premature infants, can mimic SBS, even before birth.
Examination by an experienced ophthalmologist is often critical in diagnosing shaken baby syndrome, as particular forms of ocular bleeding are quite characteristic of this condition.
Some medical experts assert that "no case studies have ever been undertaken to probe even a partial list of possible confounding variables/phenomena, such as the presence of intracranial cysts or fluid collections, hydrocephalus, congenital and inherited diseases, infection, coagulation disorders and venous thrombosis, recent immunizations," medications, birth-related brain injuries, "or recent or remote head trauma. Until and unless these and probably many more factors are evaluated, it is inappropriate to select one mechanism only and ignore the rest of the potential causes."
In 2005, a review of several ophthalmology studies and their findings concerning "inflicted childhood neurotrauma" (SBS) was published in the UK, in the quarterly ophthalmology publication Focus. One of the studies "found a correlation between intra-ocular bleeding, anterior optic nerve haemorrhage and subdural haematomas. Post mortem findings of vitreous traction at the apex of retinal folds and the edge of dome shaped haemorrhages and retinoschisis gives some supporting evidence that vitreous forces may cause this shearing damage. There is no adequate model to test this experimentally, so this remains hypothesis, not established fact."
The main scientific finding of two additional studies from the Focus article "was that in cases of retinal haemorrhages with thin film subdurals and in the absence of other injuries that the pathological finding is more commonly that of hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy rather than diffuse axonal injury. Regardless of the recent debate the observational evidence to date remains that children with non accidental injury may have no visible retinal haemorrhages, whilst non accidental injury and birth are the only circumstances in which multiple retinal haemorrhages in differing layers of the retina have been accurately documented."
The following references documented cases of retinal hemorrhages from accidental head trauma a videotaped minor fall, osteogenesis imperfecta indicating that shaking is not the only possible cause of injury. According to one author, "the presence of retinal hemorrhages is neither necessary nor sufficient for the diagnosis of child abuse." A postvaccinial ocular syndrome was reported as early as 1948, recent papers have been published concerning the occlusion of central retinal vein after hepatitis B vaccination, "The compounding effects of anoxia or hypoxia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, mild coagulopathy, obstruction of retinal venous flow, or possible age-related anatomic variations in the retinal vasculature are not well understood."
Anatomy and pathophysiology
People under the age of three years are especially susceptible to brain damage from shaking. This is due to several anatomical factors. Their heads are bigger and weigh more with respect to their bodies than adults' heads, and their neck muscles are weak and cannot prevent violent motions. Infants' brains are not myelinated; myelin sheaths form in childhood and are complete in adolescence. The brain water content is reduced as neurons gain myelin during development, so babies have a greater percentage of brain water than adults do. Because of this higher water content, children's brains are softer and are much more susceptible to acceleration-deceleration injuries and diffuse axonal injury.
Rotation injury is especially damaging and likely to occur in shaking trauma. The type of injuries caused by shaking injury are usually not caused by falls and impacts from normal play, which are mostly linear forces.
Rotation injury is also referred to as diffuse axonal injury (DAI). A report in 2001, reviewed the brains of 37 infants aged 9 months or less, all of whom died from inflicted head injuries, and 14 control infants who died of other causes. Axonal damage was identified using immunohistochemistry for β-amyloid precursor protein. The observation that the predominant histological abnormality in cases of inflicted head injury in the very young is diffuse hypoxic brain damage, not DAI, can be explained in one of two ways: either the unmyelinated axon of the immature cerebral hemispheres is relatively resistant to traumatic damage, or in shaking-type injuries the brain is not exposed to the forces necessary to produce DAI. Apparently a critical point was missed or overlooked in a paper published in 1968 concerning the results of bioengineering study in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation. This experiment showed, qualitatively, that rotation alone could indeed produce intracranial injury, though it was not shown quantitatively that human beings could generate the required rotational acceleration by manual shaking. This critical omission was not addressed until 19 years later, when it was shown quantitatively that impact was required to generate adequate force. Guthkelch, Caffey, and others either were not aware of, or disregarded, this critical missing piece of information. In the intervening years, and even up to the present, numerous references are made to infants sustaining inflicted brain injury by manual shaking. Yet no laboratory proof of this possibility has ever been put forth. In fact, the available experimental evidence began as far back as 1943, addressed directly in 1987 and reproduced in 2003, seems to indicate the contrary.
"The assessment of the mechanical causation of injury requires training and experience in Injury Biomechanics, a distinct discipline not taught in medical school. Lack of education and experience in Injury Biomechanics, amongst other factors, has led in practice to the proliferation and propagation of inaccurate and sometimes erroneous information on SBS injury mechanisms in the literature." A recent biomechanical experiment in 2005, demonstrated that "forceful shaking can severely injure or kill an infant, this is because the cervical spine would be severely injured and not because subdural hematomas would be caused by high head rotational accelerations. Furthermore, shaking cervical spine injury can occur at much lower levels of head velocity and acceleration than those reported for the SBS. These findings are consistent with the physical laws of injury biomechanics as well as our collective understanding of the fragile infant cervical spine from (1) clinical obstetric experience, (2) automotive medicine and crash safety experience, and (3) common parental experience. We have determined that an infant head subjected to the levels of rotational velocity and acceleration called for in the SBS literature, would experience forces on the infant neck far exceeding the limits for structural failure of the cervical spine. Furthermore, shaking cervical spine injury can occur at much lower levels of head velocity and acceleration than those reported for the SBS.
In 2004, a Scottish database collected data for five years on cases of suspected non-accidental head injury diagnosed after a multiagency assessment and included cases with uncoerced confessions of perpetrators and criminal convictions. Several patterns appeared allowing the categorization of the cases into four predominant types: Hyperacute encephalopathy (6% of all cases); Acute encephalopathy (53% of cases (SBS)); Subacute non-encephalopathic presentation (19% of cases); Chronic extracerebral presentation (22% of cases). Infants can be traumatically injured in many ways, and many instances are unwitnessed. Thus the generic term non-accidental head injury or inflicted traumatic brain injury is occasionally used in preference to shaken baby syndrome, which implies a specific mechanism of injury. An earlier detailed neuropathological study was publish in the UK in 2001, which included immunocytochemistry for microscopic damage.
Prognosis
SBS kills about one third of its victims and permanently and severely disables another third. Problems resulting from SBS include learning disabilities, seizure disorders, speech disability, hydrocephalus, behavioral problems, cerebral palsy, and visual disorders
Prevention
Prevention is similar to the prevention of child abuse in general. New parents, babysitters, and other caregivers should be warned about the dangers of shaking infants. Crying is a common trigger for creating irritation and frustration in the caregiver. Some experts have advised that caregivers need strategies to cope with their own frustrations; for example, they should be reminded that they are not always responsible when babies cry.
SBS as a medicolegal concept
The legal import of shaken baby syndrome varies according to circumstances, often involving child welfare and criminal investigations. Such investigations determine whether children are judged safe to remain in their parents / caregivers' care, and whether an individual may be charged with assault, child endangerment, or homicide.
Since the inception of "whiplash shaking" evolving into SBS, the concept has been the subject of criticism by some scientists and jurists for years.
In April 2006, a Daubert hearing (a mini-trial within a trial, conducted before the judge only, not the jury, over the validity and admissibility of expert opinion testimony) was conducted concerning the admissibility of proposed medical and scientific evidence in a Kentucky Circuit Court case.[52] A Grand Jury had indicted the defendant of first-degree criminal abuse by violently shaking a child. The Defendant alleges that the child's medical records indicate that the only significant injury for the victim was a subdural hematoma and retinal hemorrhaging and there was no significant bruising, fractures, or evidence of impact. The Commonwealth's case was based upon the theory of shaken baby syndrome.
The Court after hearing expert testimony and reviewing the evidence, issued the following conclusion and opinion: "The Court can further conclude that based on the medical signs and symptoms, the clinical medical and scientific research communities are in disagreement as to whether it is possible to determine if a given head injury is due to an accident or abuse. Therefore, the Court finds that because the Daubert test has not been met, neither party can call a witness to give an expert opinion as to whether a child's head injury is due to a shaken baby syndrome when only the child exhibits a subdural hematoma and bilateral ocular bleeding. Either party can call a witness to give an expert opinion as to the cause of the injury being due to shaken baby syndrome, if and only, the child exhibits a subdural hematoma and bilateral ocular bleeding, and any other indicia of abuse present such as long-bone injuries, a fractured skull, bruising, or other indications that abuse has occurred."
The trial court's ruling is not considered binding legal precedent. The Commonwealth of Kentucky has appealed the ruling to the state's intermediate appellate court..
In the Summer of 2006 a review of the Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Shaken Impact Syndrome was published in the Military Law Review. This legal review contains an extensive examination of the divergent views of the scientific literature, in addition to examining the divergent views of the legal parameters involving a trial.
In July of 2005, the Court of Appeals in the United Kingdom reversed or reduced three convictions of SBS, finding that the classic triad of retinal hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, and acute encephalopathy are not 100% diagnostic of SBS and that clinical history is also important. In their ruling, they upheld the clinical concept of SBS but dismissed two cases and reduced the sentence on a third based on their individual merits. In their words: "Whilst a strong pointer to NAHI [non-accidental head injury] on its own we do not think it possible to find that it must automatically and necessarily lead to a diagnosis of NAHI. All the circumstances, including the clinical picture, must be taken into account." The term "non-accidental trauma'" was suggested instead of "SBS" in the March 27, 2004 edition of the British Medical Journal.
Alternative hypotheses
An additional, alternative explanation for some incidents contemplated as shaken baby syndrome has been proposed. This explanation suggests that a vitamin C deficiency may sometimes play a role in the pathogenesis of shaken baby syndrome, citing that the current SBS pathology determination may be seriously flawed or incomplete This contested hypothesis is based upon a speculated marginal, near scorbutic condition or lack of essential nutrient(s) repletion and a potential elevated histamine level.
The proponents of such hypotheses often question the adequacy of nutrient tissue levels, especially vitamin C, for those children currently or recently ill, bacterial infections, those with higher individual requirements, those suffering from environmental challenges (e.g. allergies), and perhaps transient vaccination related stresses. However, no cases of scurvy mimicking SBS or crib death have been reported, and scurvy typically occurs later in infancy, rarely causes death or intracranial bleeding, and is accompanied by other changes of the bones and skin and invariably an unusually deficient dietary history.
A number of medical personnel recommend that all SBS pathology determinations should include vitamin C repletion history and histamine/vitamin C levels. Additional medical recommendations for the use of vitamins and nutrients as a preventive measure, particularly vitamin C, should be used especially for children with known, projected or suspected stresses/conditions (vaccines) that may deplete certain nutrients.
Although a Barlow�s disease variant (infantile scurvy) may be the most common disease, other diagnoses such as fragile bone disease, hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (vitamin K deficiency) and glutaric aciduria type 1 must also be considered. Gestational problems affecting both mother and fetus, the birthing process, prematurity and nutritional deficits can accelerate skeletal and hemorrhagic pathologies that can also mimic SBS, even before birth. These views are not widely known, utilized or explored in conventional medicine. Nevertheless, favorable court rulings and evidentiary commentary on flawed SBS determinations have been demonstrated by biomechanical studies over the years.
In addition, it has been suggested that severe adverse reactions to vaccinations may be an alternative cause of SBS.
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The ice cream known as Kulfi originated in which country? | Mango Kulfi - Traditional Indian Recipe | 196 flavors
Posted in Asia , Dairy , Dessert , Gluten-free , India , Vegetarian
It is the summer on 196 flavors, and who says summer says ice cream! I am taking you to India for THE most popular frozen dessert of this wonderful country: kulfi.
Kulfi is not only popular in India but also in Pakistan , Bangladesh , Nepal , Burma (Myanmar) and even in the Middle East.
It comes in several flavors like cream (malai), rose, mango, cardamom (elaichi), saffron (kesar or zafran) or pistachio.
Unlike ice cream as we know it in the West, the cream is not whipped in kulfi. This results in a more dense and compact ice cream.
Simmering the milk, sweetened condensed milk and / or evaporated milk to half their volume, helps to increase the fat, protein and lactose content in the final result.
Since kulfi contains more fat and less water, the ice cream does not crystallize and it also melts much more slowly than a traditional ice cream.
The origin of kulfi dates back to the Mughal Empire that ruled India from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. This ice cream was then prepared in the royal kitchens with ice that came from the mountains of the Himalayas.
One of the stories says that the original preparation of kulfi by the wife of Emperor Jahangir, Noorjahan is slightly different. She used to create and serve the frozen dessert by mixing sweetened milk with the pulp of many fruits to which was added imported crushed ice from the frozen Himalayan lakes. This method was only available among Indian aristocrats until refrigeration was introduced in the region.
Kulfi was often chilled and served in terracotta molds called kulhar. Another version of kulfi uses bread crumbs and milk powder (mawa). The version I chose which is more common uses cornstarch as a thickening agent but this ingredient is not required.
Kulfi is often prepared in individual portions on sticks like traditional ice cream. If you don’t have kulfi molds and sticks, you can also prepare kulfi in a baking dish and cut it into individual square portions after thawing kulfi for at least ten to fifteen minutes (remember that kulfi is slow to melt). You can also adopt my technique by using muffin pans or similar, ideally in silicone, which will help with unmolding.
Whatever the flavor, kulfi is often garnished with pistachios and cardamom or saffron.
I had the chance to travel to India for business for the first time a couple months ago. During this 4 day stay in Mumbai, I discovered a wonderful country that had been #1 on my list of countries to visit for years. Indian cuisine is very rich and varied and happens to be my favorite by far. It is therefore sad when you think that I have only published one Indian recipe since the beginning of our adventure: shrimp biryani !
My clients and partners took me to places that only locals know, for example the best place to eat samosas and chole samosa (samosas served with a side of chickpea gravy). Restaurant Guru Kripa in Sion a neighborhood of Mumbai, is an institution that some would call a samosa factory that supplies many restaurants in Mumbai. A very good time spent with Rajit and captured on our Instagram account . The opportunity to remind you to follow us on Instagram if you do not already, which will allow you to follow our culinary journeys around the world!
My other partner and friend Pritesh meanwhile made me discover the “Beverly Hills” of Mumbai. This is in Bandra that we tasted dosas (South Indian pancakes) prepared fresh by street vendors. Probably one of the best street food I’ve ever eaten.
We ended the evening with a falooda kulfi . Falooda kulfi will probably be familiar to our Iranian readers. Indeed, falooda is a common ice cream made with vermicelli (rice or corn starch) and flavored with rose water, which initially originated in the Persian Empire. In Iran, it is known as faloodeh . I have known this ice cream since I moved to Los Angeles, which has the second Persian community in the world after Tehran, hence the nickname of my adopted city, Tehrangeles.
I have regularly made mango kulfi for the past ten years. Everyone loves this ice cream at home. But beware, I recommend you not to look at the calorie count of this rich frozen dessert… at the same time, what would you do on 196 flavors if you paid attention to calories? #dietstartstomorrow
Recipe of Mango Kulfi
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons pistachio, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon cardamom seeds, crushed
2 cups unsweetened mango puree
Crushed pistachio for garnishing
A few safran threads for garnishing
Preparation
Bring milk to a boil in a pan, then reduce heat to simmer.
Add the saffron threads.
Let it simmer until it is reduced to almost 1/2 the volume, stirring regularly.
Add the condensed milk.
Dissolve cornstarch in a little water and add it to the pan.
Add the coarsely chopped pistachios and the crushed cardamom seeds.
Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool.
Add the mango puree and mix well.
Pour the mixture in kulfi molds, a baking dish or a muffin pan and freeze for at least 4-6 hours or until set.
Remove the mango kulfi from the molds by dipping the molds in warm water for a few seconds or by removing from the freezer 15-20 minutes before serving.
Garnish with chopped pistachio and saffron threads.
Serve immediately.
| India |
Which of H G Wells's novels ends with the hero settled down with 'The Fat Woman at the Potwell Inn'? | Explore the History of Ice Cream | The History Kitchen | PBS Food
Tori Avey | July 10, 2012
On her website ToriAvey.com , Tori Avey explores the story behind the food – why we eat what we eat, how the recipes of different cultures have evolved, and how yesterday’s recipes can inspire us in the kitchen today. Learn more about Tori and The History Kitchen .
If you grew up in America, odds are you know this little foodie rhyme:
“You scream! I scream! We all scream for ice cream!”
For most Americans, the phrase “ice cream” conjures up memories of summer, like slurping melted cones, banana splits, hot fudge sundaes, root beer floats, and buying a scoop from the drug store when it only cost a dime. Ice cream is the ultimate old fashioned treat. This dessert has a very worldly history that stretches all around the globe. In India, there’s kulfi. In Italy, gelato. In Japan, mochi. It seems every country has its own spin on the delicious frozen confection we Americans call ice cream. This sweet stuff gets around! So where exactly did it come from?
There are several myths about the origin of ice cream. Some say Marco Polo brought it back from his travels to the Far East. Others say that Catherine de Medici introduced it to France when she relocated to marry King Henry II. Neither tale is likely to be true, though both are romantic. In fact, ice cream has a much more ancient history. Its earliest form holds very little resemblance to the ice cream we eat today. Biblical passages refer to King Solomon enjoying cooling iced drinks during harvest season. Alexander the Great of ancient Greece loved to indulge in icy drinks flavored with honey or wine. During Nero’s reign of Rome from 54 – 68 BC, ice was harvested from nearby mountains and held in “ice houses”—deep pits covered with straw. This practice of keeping ice in lieu of refrigeration would be common for centuries to come.
The earliest forms of ice cream bear little resemblance to the creamy sweet stuff inside your freezer.
The emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) are believed to have been the first to eat “a frozen milk-like confection.” This version was made with cow, goat or buffalo milk that was heated with flour. Camphor, an aromatic substance harvested from evergreen trees, was added to enhance the texture and flavor. The mixture was then placed into metal tubes and lowered into an ice pool until frozen. This process is similar to the way Indians made kulfi prior to refrigeration.
In medieval times, Arabs drank an icy refreshment called sherbet, or sharabt in Arabic. These chilled drinks were often flavored with cherry, pomegranate, or quince. Over time, the drinks became popular with the European aristocracy. Italians are said to have mastered this drink-making technique, with the French following suit shortly after.
The 17th century saw ice drinks being made into frozen desserts. With the addition of sugar, sorbetto was created—or, as we more commonly know it, sorbet. Antonio Latini (1642–1692), a man working for a Spanish Viceroy in Naples, is credited with being the first person to write down a recipe for sorbetto. He is also responsible for creating a milk-based sorbet, which most culinary historians consider the first “official” ice cream.
Fruit Sorbet
In 1686, a Sicilian named Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli opened Paris’ first café, Il Procope. The establishment became a meeting place for many famous intellectuals, including Benjamin Franklin, Victor Hugo and Napoleon. The café introduced gelato, the Italian version of sorbet, to the French public. It was served in small porcelain bowls resembling egg cups. Procopio became known as the “Father of Italian Gelato.”
Around the same time, the French began experimenting with a frozen dessert called fromage. French confectioner Nicolas Audiger, in his book “La maison reglée,” describes several fromage recipes made from ices flavored with fruit. One early recipe includes cream, sugar and orange flower water. Audiger also suggests stirring ices during the freezing process to introduce air and create a fluffier texture. Despite the dessert’s name, fromage was not made from cheese. It’s not completely clear why they called it fromage. The word may refer to the cheese molds that were used to freeze the ice cream, or it may simply be a lax French term for any compressed or molded edible substance. Whatever the reason, during the 18th century frozen fromage became quite popular throughout France.
An antique ice cream maker
It is impossible to say how exactly ice cream reached America, but it likely arrived with European settlers in the early 1700’s. By this time, several books on confectionery had been produced and included recipes for ices and ice cream. Housewives would serve these treats to guests in the shape of vegetables, fruits and animals, thanks to special ice cream molds. In 1790, the first ice cream parlor opened in New York. During the summer of the same year, our first president, George Washington, is said to have spent $200 to satisfy his craving for the refreshing treat. Inventory records of his Mt. Vernon home also indicate that he owned several ice cream pots made from tin and pewter. Thomas Jefferson is said to have kept several ice houses, able to hold up to 62 wagonloads of ice, along with copious amounts of ice cream. Even the Lincolns had a taste for the cold stuff. Before and during his presidency, Abraham Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd frequently hosted “strawberry parties” for friends in both Springfield, Illinois and Washington to celebrate berry season. Fresh ripe strawberries were served with cake and… you guessed it… ice cream.
Though its history spans worldwide and over centuries, ice cream has made itself quite comfortable in America, becoming one of the most popular desserts in the country. A staggering 9% of American cow’s milk production is dedicated to ice cream. Apple pie might be the most traditionally American dessert, but what is served as its most popular sidekick? Vanilla ice cream, of course! This creamy iced treat has firmly planted itself in the hearts of foodies across America.
Recipes
What’s your favorite way to eat ice cream? Here are five delectable frozen recipes that will have you screaming for more!
Recipe Girl – Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Research Sources
Herbst, Ron and Sharon Tyler (2009). The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion. Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., Hauppauge, NY.
Powell, Marilyn (2005). Ice Cream: The Delicious History. The Overlook Press, New York, NY.
Weiss, Laura B. (2011). Ice Cream: A Global History. Reaktion Books Ltd, London, UK.
Quinzio, Jeri (2009). Of Sugar and Snow – A History of Ice Cream Making. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
McCreary, Donna D (2008). Lincoln’s Table: A President’s Culinary Journey from Cabin to Cosmopolitan. Lincoln Presentations, Charlestown, Indiana.
You can uncover more fascinating food history on Tori’s website: The History Kitchen .
Meet the Author
Tori Avey is a food writer, recipe developer, and the creator of ToriAvey.com . She explores the story behind the food – why we eat what we eat, how the foods of different cultures have evolved, and how yesterday’s food can inspire us in the kitchen today. Tori’s food writing and photography have appeared on the websites of CNN, Bon Appetit, Zabar’s, Williams-Sonoma, Yahoo Shine, LA Weekly and The Huffington Post. Follow Tori on Facebook: Tori Avey , Twitter: @toriavey , or Google +.
More Ice Cream
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Which is the only radioactive element which occurs naturally as a gas? | Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials NORM - World Nuclear Association
Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)
(Updated December 2016)
Radioactive materials which occur naturally and where human activities increase the exposure of people to ionising radiation are known by the acronym 'NORM'.
NORM results from activities such as burning coal, making and using fertilisers, oil and gas production.
Uranium mining exposes those involved to NORM in the uranium orebody.
Radon in homes is one occurrence of NORM which may give rise to concern and action to control it, by ventilation.
All minerals and raw materials contain radionuclides of natural origin. The most important for the purposes of radiation protection are the radionuclides in the U-238 and Th-232 decay series. For most human activities involving minerals and raw materials, the levels of exposure to these radionuclides are not significantly greater than normal background levels and are not of concern for radiation protection. However, certain work activities can give rise to significantly enhanced exposures that may need to be controlled by regulation. Material giving rise to these enhanced exposures has become known as naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM).
NORM is the acronym for Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material, which potentially includes all radioactive elements found in the environment. However, the term is used more specifically for all naturally occurring radioactive materials where human activities have increased the potential for exposure compared with the unaltered situation. Concentrations of actual radionuclides may or may not have been increased; if they have, the term Technologically-Enhanced (TENORM) may be used.
Long-lived radioactive elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon are examples of NORM. These elements have always been present in the Earth's crust and atmosphere, and are concentrated in some places, such as uranium orebodies which may be mined. The term NORM exists also to distinguish ‘natural radioactive material’ from anthropogenic sources of radioactive material, such as those produced by nuclear power and used in nuclear medicine, where incidentally the radioactive properties of a material maybe what make it useful. However from the perspective of radiation doses to people, such a distinction is completely arbitrary.
Exposure to naturally occurring radiation is responsible for the majority of an average person’s yearly radiation dose (see also Nuclear Radiation and Health Effects paper) and is therefore not usually considered of any special health or safety significance. However certain industries handle significant quantities of NORM, which usually ends up in their waste streams, or in the case of uranium mining, the tailings dam. Over time, as potential NORM hazards have been identified, these industries have increasingly become subject to monitoring and regulation. However, there is as yet little consistency in NORM regulations among industries and countries. This means that material which is considered radioactive waste in one context may not be considered so in another. Also, that which may constitute low-level waste in the nuclear industry might go entirely unregulated in another industry (see section below on recycling and NORM).
The acronym TENORM, or technologically enhanced NORM, is often used to refer to those materials where the amount of radioactivity has actually been increased or concentrated as a result of industrial processes. This paper addresses some of these industrial sources, and for simplicity the term NORM will be used throughout.
Excluding uranium mining and all associated fuel cycle activities, industries known to have NORM issues include:
The coal industry (mining and combustion)
The oil and gas industry (production)
Metal mining and smelting
Building industry
Recycling
Another NORM issue relates to radon exposure in homes, particularly those built on granitic ground. Occupational health issues include the exposure of flight crew to higher levels of cosmic radiation, the exposure of tour guides to radon in caves, exposure of miners to radon underground, and exposure of workers in the oil & gas and mineral sands industries to elevated radiation levels in the materials they handle.
NORM sources
The list of isotopes that contribute to natural radiation can be divided into those materials which come from the ground (terrestrial sources – the vast majority) and those which are produced as a result of the interaction of atmospheric gases with cosmic rays (cosmogenic).
NORM levels are typically expressed in one of two ways: Becquerels per kilogram (or gram) indicates level of radioactivity generally or due to a particular isotope, while parts per million (ppm) indicates the concentration of a specific radioisotope in the material.
Terrestrial NORM
Terrestrial NORM consists of radioactive material that comes out of the Earth’s crust and mantle, and where human activity results in increased radiological exposure. The materials may be original (such as uranium and thorium) or decay products thereof, forming part of characteristic decay chain series, or potassium-40. The two most important chains providing nuclides of significance in NORM are the thorium series and the uranium series:
Another major source of terrestrial NORM is potassium 40 (K-40). The long half-life of K-40 (1.25 billion years) means that it still exists in measurable quantities today. It beta decays, mostly to calcium-40, and forms 0.012% of natural potassium which is otherwise made up of stable K-39 and K-41. Potassium is the seventh most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and K-40 averages 850 Bq/kg there. It is found in many foodstuffs (bananas for example), and indeed fills an important dietary requirement, ending up in our bones. (Humans have about 65 Bq/kg of K-40 and along with those foods are therefore correspondingly radioactive to a small degree. A 70 kg person has 4400 Bq of K-40 – and 3000 Bq of carbon-14.)
Cosmogenic NORM
Cosmogenic NORM is formed as a result of interactions between certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere and cosmic rays, and is only relevant to this paper due to flying being a common mode of transport. Since most cosmic radiation is deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field or absorbed by the atmosphere, very little reaches the Earth’s surface and cosmogenic radionuclides contribute more to dose at low altitudes than cosmic rays as such. At higher altitudes, the dose due to both increases, meaning that mountain dwellers and frequent flyers are exposed to higher doses than others. For most people, cosmogenic NORM barely contributes to dose – perhaps a few tens of microsieverts per year. By contrast, terrestrial NORM – especially radon – contributes to the majority of natural dose, usually over 1000 microsieverts (1 mSv) per year. Some of the main comsogenic nuclides are shown in Table 1, carbon-14 being important for dating early human activities.
Table 1: Radiological characteristics of cosmogenic NORM
Nuclide
Electron capture
53.22 d
NORM and cosmic radiation account for over 85% of an ‘average individual’s’ radiation exposure. Most of the balance is from exposure related to medical procedures. (Exposure from the nuclear fuel cycle - including fallout from the Chernobyl accident - accounts for less than 0.1%.)
Industries producing NORM
Coal Energy – combustion and ash
Over the years there have been many occasions when it was asserted that coal-fired power stations emitted more radioactivity into the environment (from NORM) than was released anywhere in the nuclear fuel cycle. While having some basis in fact, the claim is generally not correct now where deployment of emission reduction technology – scrubbers, filters and flue gas desulphurization – acts to capture solids from this material. More volatile Po-210 and Pb-210 still escape. In China, coal-fired power plants are a major source of radioactivity released to the environment and thus contribute significantly to enhanced NORM there. (Wu et al in NORM VII)
Most coal contains uranium and thorium, as well as their decay products and K-40. The total levels of individual radionuclides typically are not great and are generally about the same as in other rocks near the coal, which varies according to region and geology. Enhanced radionuclide concentration in coal tends to be associated with the presence of other heavy metals and high sulfur content. Table 2 presents some characteristic values,* though coal in some areas can contain notably higher levels than shown. For comparison, the average radioactivity of the Earth’s crust is about 1400 Bq/kg, more than half of it from K-40.
* The first four columns represent four of the 14 nuclides in the uranium decay series, the next two represent two of 10 in the thorium series. (For total activity in any coal, assume these are in serial equilibrium, hence multiply U-238 by 14 and Th-232 by 10, then add K-40.)
Table 2: NORM radionuclide activity in coal (Bq/kg)
Country
source: IAEA Tech Report 419, p 24, IAEA NORM VII, p8 for China.
The amounts of radionuclides involved are noteworthy. US, Australian, Indian and UK coals contain up to about 4 ppm uranium, those in Germany up to 13 ppm, and those from Brazil and China range up to 20 ppm uranium. Thorium concentrations are often about three times those of uranium.
During combustion the radionuclides are retained and concentrated in the flyash and bottom ash, with a greater concentration to be found in the flyash. The concentration of uranium and thorium in bottom and flyash can be up to ten times greater than for the burnt coal, while other radionuclides such as Pb-210 and K-40 can concentrate to an even greater degree in the flyash. Some 99% of flyash is typically retained in a modern power station (90% in some older ones). While much flyash is buried in an ash dam, a lot is used in building construction. Table 3 gives some published figures for the radioactivity of ash. There are obvious implications for the use of flyash in concrete.
At a coal-fired power plant in China the amount of polonium-210 aerosol emitted from a coal plant stack was measured and found to be 257 MBq/GW/yr. (Liu et al in NORM VII)
Table 3: NORM radionuclide activity in Coal Ash and slag (Bq/kg)
Total: 3200
Source: IAEA 2003 Tech Report 419, p 30; CSIRO for Australia
In 2012-13, Australia exported 336 million tonnes of coal. With an average of 0.9 ppm uranium and 2.6 ppm thorium, at least 300 tonnes of uranium and 870 tonnes of thorium could conceivably be added to published export figures.
In the USA, 858 million tonnes of coal was used in 2013 for electricity production. With an average content of 1.3 ppm uranium and 3.2 ppm thorium, US coal-fired electricity generation in that year gave rise to 1100 tonnes of uranium and 2700 tonnes of thorium in coal ash. In Victoria, Australia, some 65 million tonnes of brown coal is burned annually for electricity production. This contains about 1.6 ppm uranium and 3.0-3.5 ppm thorium, hence about 100 tonnes of uranium and 200 tonnes of thorium is buried in landfill each year in the Latrobe Valley.
It is evident that even at 1 part per million (ppm) U in coal, there is more energy in the contained uranium (if it were to be used in a fast neutron reactor) than in the coal itself. If coal had 25 ppm uranium and that uranium was used simply in a conventional reactor, it would yield half as much thermal energy as the coal.
With increased uranium prices the uranium in ash becomes significant economically. In the 1960s and 1970s, some 1100 tU was recovered from coal ash in the USA. The feasibility depends on grade and the composition of the ash – high acid consumption makes recovery uneconomic.
In 2007, China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) commissioned Sparton Resources <http://www.spartonres.ca> of Canada with the Beijing No.5 Testing Institute to undertake advanced trials on leaching uranium from coal ash in central Yunnan. In early 2007, Sparton signed an agreement with the Xiaolongtang Guodian Power Company of Yunnan for a program to test and possibly commercialize the extraction of uranium from waste coal ash. Some 250 km southwest of Kunming, the Xiaolongtang, Dalongtang and the Kaiyuan power stations, all located within 20 km of each other burn coal from a centrally located open pit lignite mine with high ash content (20-30%) and very high uranium content. The coal uranium content varies from about 20 to 315 ppm and averages about 65 ppm. The ash averages about 210 ppm U (0.021%U) - above the cut-off level for some uranium mines. The power station ash heap contains over 1000 tU, with annual arisings of 190 tU. (Recovery of this by acid leaching is about 70%.)
A joint venture company, Yunnan Sparton New Environ-Tech Consulting Co (SNET) was set up to operate "the secondary uranium recovery programs in Yunnan", notably at Lincang, but no commercial recovery of uranium has been reported. Sparton also had an agreement to extract uranium from coal ash following germanium recovery in the Bangmai and Mengwang basins in Yunnan. This ash ranges from 150 to over 4000 ppm U (0.40% U), averaging 250 ppm U (0.025%). Sparton had an 85% interest in the Huajun germanium and coal mine, but does not mention uranium here. Sparton’s website at the end of 2014 has no mention of these projects.
In South Africa, HolGoun's Uranium and Power Project was investigating uranium recovery from the Springbok Flats coal field, estimated to contain 84,000 tU at grades of 0.06 to 0.10% U. The project is investigating the feasibility of mining the low-grade coal, using it to fire a conventional electricity generation plant, and extracting the uranium from the residual ash.
In Australia the NSW Aboriginal Lands Council has applied for a uranium exploration licence over four large coal ash dams adjacent to power stations.
Coal mining
Coal mining itself also gives rise to a potential NORM issue. Coal can be mined in either open pits or underground mines, and produces a significant amount of waste rock, and drainage water that can present with elevated levels of radioactivity. Underground coal mines are subject to increased radon levels, while elevated levels of radium and K-40 can be found in mining waste rocks and soil. Sediments discharged in waste water into the environment have been measured with activities as high as 55,000 Bq/kg of Ra-226 and 15,000 Bq/kg of Ra-228. (IAEA 2003, Tech Report 419)
A survey of 44 Chinese coal mines (40 of which were underground operations) indicated that radon concentrations in 15% of them were above 1000 Bq/m3. (NORM VII proceedings, IAEA 2015)
Oil and gas production
Analysis of oil and gas from many different wells has shown that the long-lived uranium and thorium isotopes are not mobilized from the rock formations that contain them. However Ra-226, Ra-224, Ra-228 and Pb-210 are mobilized, and appear mainly in the water co-produced during oil and gas extraction. These isotopes and their radioactive progeny can then precipitate out of solution, along with sulphate and carbonate deposits as scale or sludge in pipes and related equipment. Radon-222 is the immediate decay product of Radium-226 and preferentially follows gas lines. It decays (through several rapid steps) to Pb-210 which can therefore build up as a thin film in gas extraction equipment.
The level of reported radioactivity varies significantly, depending on the radioactivity of the reservoir rock and the salinity of the water co-produced from the well. The higher the salinity the more NORM is likely to be mobilized. Since salinity often increase with the age of a well, old wells tend to exhibit higher NORM levels than younger ones. Table 4 gives the characteristics of NORM produced during oil and gas extraction and some indicative measurements of concentrations.
Table 4: NORM in oil and gas production
Radionuclide
Source: IAEA 2003, Safety Report Series 34.
If the scale has an activity of 30,000 Bq/kg it is 'contaminated', according to Victorian regulations. This means that for Ra-226 scale (decay series of nine progeny) the level of Ra-226 itself is 3300 Bq/kg. For Pb-210 scale (decay series of three) the level is 10,000 Bq/kg. These figures refer to the scale, not the overall mass of pipes or other material (cf Recycling section below). A 2010 analytical report shows Pb-210 scale at 18.6 MBq/kg from a pipeline in Canada.
For seawater injection systems a further NORM issue has more recently come to light: that of bio-film deposits fixing significant amounts of the seawater’s uranium.
Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) for gas production releases significant NORM in some geological environments, both in drill cuttings and water. In the US Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia (a black shale) typically activity is about 370 Bq/kg including high levels of radium-226, giving up to 625 Bq/L in brine and up to 66 Bq/L in other water returned to the surface. USGS figures for brine are reported as 377 Bq/L Ra-226 and 46 Bq/L for Ra-228. Other reports related wastewater here to drinking water standard (0.185 Bq/L) and said it was 300 times US NRC limits for industrial wastewater discharge.
NORM in the oil and gas industry poses a problem to workers particularly during maintenance, waste transport and processing, and decommissioning. In particular Pb-210 deposits and films, as a beta emitter, is only a concern when pipe internals become exposed. External exposure due to NORM in the oil and gas industry are generally low enough not to require protective measures to ensure that workers stay beneath their annual dose limits (such as set out by the IAEA basic safety standards). Internal exposures can be minimized by hygiene practices.
Metals and smelting
The mining and processing of metal ores, other than uranium, may also generate large quantities of NORM wastes. These wastes include ore tailings and smelter slag, some of which contain elevated concentrations of uranium, thorium, radium and their decay products that were originally part of the process feed ore. As with coal, the level of NORM encountered varies by region and geological formation. Typically the radioactivity in the wastes may reach in the order of thousands of bequerels per kilogram, e.g. 3500 Bq/kg U-238 and 8800 Bq/kg Pb-210 in South African copper tailings. Only special use metals and the rare earth metals go beyond this. These are discussed below.
Radon exposure is often an issue in metal mines, and a survey of 25 underground mines in China showed six having radon concentrations of over the control limit of 1000 Bq/m3. In all the metal mines the annual average effective dose from radon and radon progeny was 7.75 mSv.
Mineral sands
Mineral sands contain zircon, ilmenite, and rutile, with xenotime and monazite. These minerals are mined in many countries and production amounts to millions of tonnes per year of zirconium and titanium (from rutile and ilmenite), though thorium, tin and the rare earth elements are associated. The NORM aspect is due to monazite – a rare earth phosphate containing a variety of rare earth minerals (particularly cerium and lanthanum) and 5-12% (typically about 7%) thorium, and xenotime – yttrium phosphate with traces of uranium and thorium.
The minerals in the sands are subject to gravity concentration, and some concentrates are significantly radioactive, up to 4000 Bq/kg. Most of this NORM ends up in the waste streams from mineral processing (often including monazite) and so, apart from zircon, the final product is itself devoid of NORM. However, sometimes niobium and tantalum are recovered from the waste stream, and residues may be used as either landfill or in construction sites where there is a possibility of public exposure.
Table 5: Radioactivity in mineral sands and products
See also Appendix: Mineral Sands
Over 95% of the market for zirconium requires it in the form of zircon (zirconium silicate). This mineral occurs naturally and is mined, requiring little processing. It is used chiefly in foundries, refractories manufacture and the ceramics industry. Zircons typically have activities of up to 10,000 Bg/kg of U-238 and Th-232. No attempt is usually made to remove radionuclides from the zircon as this is not economical. Because zircon is used directly in the manufacture of refractory materials and glazes, the products will contain similar amounts of radioactivity. Higher concentrations may be found in zirconia (zirconium oxide), which is produced by high temperature fusion of zircon to separate the silica. Zirconium metal manufacture involves a chlorination process to convert the oxide to zirconium chloride, which is then reduced to the metal.
During mining and milling of zircon, care must be taken to keep dust levels down. Then when zircon is fused in refractories or ceramics manufacture, silica dust and fumes must be collected. This may contain the more volatile radionuclides, Pb-210 and Po-210, and the collection of these gases means that pipeworks and filters become contaminated. The main radiological issue is occupational exposure to these radionuclides in airborne dusts in the processing plant. Waste produced during zirconia/zirconium production can be high in Ra-226, which presents a gamma hazard, and waste must be stored in metal containers in special repositories. Powders from filters used during zirconia manufacture have been assayed as high as 200,000Bq/kg of Pb-210 and 600,000 Bq/kg Po-210.
Tin production
Tin is sometimes a by-product of mineral sand production. Slag from smelting tin often contain high levels of niobium and tantalum and so may form the feedstock for their extraction. It also typically contains enhanced level of radionuclides.
Tantulum and Niobium
Tantalum usually occurs with the chemically-similar niobium, often in tantalite and columbite, coltan (columbite + tanatalite), or polychlore (niobium). Tantalum ores, often derived from pegmatites, comprise a wide variety of more than a hundred minerals, some of which contain uranium and/or thorium. Hence the mined ore and concentrate contain both these and their decay products in their crystal lattice. Concentration of the tantalum minerals is generally by gravity methods (as with mineral sands), so the lattice-bound radioisotope impurities if present will report with the concentrate.
While this has little radiological significance in the processing plant, tantalum concentrates shipped to customers sometimes exceed the Transport Code threshold of 10 kBq/kg, requiring declaration and some special documentation, labeling and handling procedures. Some reaches 75 kBq/kg.
Niobium slags can reach radioactivity levels in excess of 100 kBq/kg. Average activity concentrations associated with columbite-tantalite (coltan) small-scale artisanal mining and processing activities undertaken by hand in Rwanda are 600 Bq/kg for the ore and of the order of 1000–2000 Bq/kg for processed material. (NORM VII)
The largest producers of tantalum are Australia and Africa, most niobium comes from Brazil.
Rare Earth Elements
Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are chemically rather similar to uranium and thorium they are often found in conjunction with these radionuclides.
Rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen contiguous lanthanoids plus the lighter scandium and yttrium. Scandium and yttrium are considered REE since they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanoids and exhibit similar chemical properties. Most REEs are not rare. However, because of their geochemical properties, REE minerals are typically dispersed and not often found in concentrated and economically exploitable forms. REEs are often found together, and are difficult to separate. Many contain thorium, and some are associated with uranium. Monazite includes cerium as well as thorium, and associated light REEs, xenotime incorporates yttrium and heavy REEs.
The production of REEs has been accompanied by the production of large volumes of thorium hydroxide and residues containing radioactive lead and radium. In China, 30,000 tonnes of NORM residues are in temporary storage. Monazites form in phosphatic pegmatites and so REE extraction is sometimes in conjunction with phosphate mining.
In the Lincang coal deposit southwest of Kunming in China the lignite is enriched in uranium (100 to 4960 Bq/kg, average 1200), but not thorium or potassium. The coal is burned in blast furnaces and its fly ash removed from the bag filters is a source of rare earth concentrates, at 2.32% compared with 0.053% in the original coal. Radionuclides (apart from Pb & Po) are mostly in the bottom ash but also the flyash. About 1% of flyash and a lot of the volatile radionuclides are released to the atmosphere. In 2010, the activity in the coal was about 58 GBq for each radionuclide in uranium decay series, and that as volatiles released to the atmosphere from the plant was 15.5 GBq for U-238 (26% of original in coal), 11.7 GBq for Ra-226 (21%), 41.4 GBq for Pb-210 (71%) and 50.7 GBq for Po-210 (89%), plus a very small amount in the flyash. The release of radionuclides in the off-gas was much greater than the amount contained in the fly ash. (Wu et al in NORM VII)
See also paper: Uranium from Rare Earth Deposits
Uranium production
Though not normally considered as NORM, wastes from the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle through to fuel fabrication may be treated as NORM, opening up more options for disposal. Such material includes uranium oxides. Radon exposure is also an issue in uranium mines.
Phosphates and fertilizer production
Phosphate rock used for fertiliser is a major NORM due to both uranium and thorium. Phosphate is a common chemical constituent of fertilizer. It is principally mined from apatite and phosphate rocks (phosphorite) in which the concentration of phosphate has been enhanced by sedimentary, igneous, weathering and biological processes. Uranium can also be concentrated in these processes so that a high phosphate content generally coincide with high uranium content (50 -300ppm). Thorium is more likely to be present in igneous phosphorite. The radioactivity of these ores (due to uranium, thorium and radium) can be as high as 10,000 Bq/kg. Significant phosphate mining operations take place in many countries, with large outputs from the USA, Morocco and China, the world total being 156 Mt in 2007.
Table 6: Concentration of NORM radionuclides in phosphate rocks
Country
28-90
source: IAEA Tech Report 419, p90
Phosphoric acid is an intermediate step in almost all phosphate applications. Production requires first the beneficiation of the ore, followed by acid leaching and separation. In general the beneficiation stage does not result in a reduction of NORM in the ore.
Treatment with sulfuric acid leads to the production of gypsum (phosphogypsum) which retains about 80% of Ra-226 and 30% of Th-232 and 14% of U-238. This means that uranium and thorium are enhanced to about 150% of the value of the beneficiated ore, making it a significant NORM. This gypsum can either be sold or disposed of. In the USA, the use of phosphogypsum with a radioactivity greater than 370 Bq/kg is banned by the Environmental Protection Authority. Gypsum can either be disposed of in piles or discharged to rivers and the sea. Some leaching from the material is possible. Gypsum wastes can have radioactivity levels up to 1700 Bq/kg. Scales from the sulfuric acid process are formed in the pipes and filtration systems of plants and need to be cleaned or replaced periodically. While much smaller in volume than gypsum, these wastes can be much more radioactive – even over 1MBq/kg.
Processing phosphate sometimes gives rise to measurable doses of radiation to people. Phosphate rocks containing up to 120 ppm U have been used as a source of uranium as byproduct – some 17,000 tU in the USA, and are likely to be so again.
See also the paper Uranium from Phosphate Deposits.
Table 7: Concentration of radionuclides in fertilisers (Bq/kg)
Products
<15
source: IAEA Tech Report 419, p100
European fertiliser manufacturing gave rise to discharges of phophogypsum containing significant quantities of Ra-226, Pb-210 and Po-210 into the North Sea and North Atlantic. This has been overtaken as a source of radioactivity by offshore oil and gas production in Norwegian and UK waters releasing some 10 TBq/yr of Ra-226, Ra-228 & Pb-210. This means that together they contribute 90% of the alpha-active discharges in those waters (two orders of magnitude more than the nuclear industry, and with this NORM having higher radiotoxicity).
Building Materials
Building materials can contain elevated levels of radionuclides including particularly Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40, these three being collectively the basis of the activity concentration index (ACI) approach adopted throughout Europe. K-40 is most significant in published Australian data, ranging up to 4000 Bq/kg in natural stone and 1600 Bq/kg in clay bricks and concrete. Bricks can also contain up to 2200 Bq/kg of Ra-226 (Cooper 2005).
Activity concentration guidelines for the use of NORM residues in building construction have been developed using the ACI approach and material has been classified into three categories, depending on whether the dose is below 0.5 mSv/yr (unrestricted use), between 0.5 and 1 mSv/yr (use restricted to roads, bridges, dams or, with dilution, low occupancy buildings) or above 1 mSv/yr (prohibited use). These levels correspond to equivalent activity concentration under 350 Bq/kg (and under 200 Bq/kg Ra-226), 350 to 1350 Bq/kg (200-1000 Bq/kg Ra-226) and over 1350 Bq/kg (1000 for Ra-226) respectively.
Granite, widely used as a cladding on city buildings and also architecturally in homes, contains an average of 3 ppm (40 Bq/kg) uranium and 17 ppm (70 Bq/kg) thorium. Radiation measurements on granite surfaces can show levels similar to those from low-grade uranium mine tailings. Table 8 shows some recorded activity concentrations for building materials. However some extreme values in excess of these have also been recorded.
Table 8: Activity concentrations of NORM in building materials (Bq/kg)
Material
-
source: IAEA 2003 Tech Report 419, p 104
The EU encourages the use of NORM residues in building materials, subject to dose rate from gamma exposure being below 1 mSv/yr from them. Coal ash and smelting slag are an important constituent of building materials in China.
Recycling and NORM
In 2015 the IAEA (NORM VII) says that there is still a lack of harmonization of national approaches to the management of NORM residues. However, acceptance of the need to minimize NORM waste by recycling NORM residues or using them as by-products (with dilution if necessary) continues to grow. Some national authorities are now actively promoting this approach instead of discouraging or prohibiting it as in the past. This includes use in building materials, subject to 1 mSv/yr reference level for exposure.
Earlier IAEA recommendations for the classification of exempt waste (i.e. beneath low-level, and therefore not requiring any special facilities for disposal) are between 10 Bq/g and 1 MBq/g for 'moderate amounts' – depending on the radionuclide in question and the chances of public exposure ( Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards , IAEA July 2014), however in practice categorization of waste is strongly determined by where the waste comes from.
For example, scrap steel from gas plants may be recycled if it has less than 500,000 Bq/kg (0.5 MBq/kg) radioactivity (the exemption level). This level however is one thousand times higher than the clearance level for recycled material (both steel and concrete) from the nuclear industry! Anything above 500 Bq/kg may not be cleared from regulatory control for recycling. Current IAEA Basic Safety Standards (BSS) clearance levels specify 1 Bq/g for natural radionuclides in the U-238 series in secular equilibrium with progeny, and the same for those in the Th-232 series. IAEA BSS clearance levels for bulk amounts being recycled are: Fe-55 1 MBq/kg, Co-60m 1 MBq/kg, Ni-63 100 kBq/kg, C-14 1 kBq/kg, Cs-137 0.1 kBq/kg, Ra-226 1 kBq/kg.
Decommissioning experts are increasingly concerned about double standards developing in Europe which allow 30 times the dose rate from non-nuclear recycled materials than from those out of the nuclear industry. In respect to actual dose limits, 0.3 to 1.0 mSv/yr individual dose constraint is applied to oil and gas recyclables, and 0.01 mSv/yr for release of materials with the same kind of radiation from the nuclear industry.
The concern arises because of the very large amounts of NORM needing recycling or disposal from many sources. The largest NORM waste stream is coal ash, with 280 million tonnes arising globally each year, and carrying U-238 and all its non-gaseous decay products, as well as Th-232 and its progeny. This is usually just buried. However, the double standard means that the same radionuclide, at the same concentration, can either be sent to deep disposal or released for use in building materials, depending on where it comes from. The 0.3 mSv/yr dose limit is still only one tenth of most natural background levels, and two orders of magnitude lower than those experienced naturally by many people, who suffer no apparent ill effects.
The main radionuclide in scrap from the oil and gas industry is radium-226, with a half-life of 1600 years as it decays to radon. Those in nuclear industry scrap are cobalt-60 and caesium-137, with much shorter half-lives. Application of a 0.3 mSv/yr dose limit results in a clearance level for Ra-226 of 500 Bq/kg for oil/gas scrap, compared with 10 Bq/kg for nuclear material.
In 2011, 16 decommissioned steam generators from Bruce Power in Canada were to be shipped to Sweden for recycling. Although the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approved Bruce Power’s plans in 2011 and confirmed steam generator processing is an excellent example of responsible and safe nuclear waste management practices, this caused public controversy at the time, and following the Fukushima nuclear accident plans for this shipment were shelved. These steam generators were each 12m long and 2.5m diameter, with mass 100 t, and contained some 4g of radionuclides with about 340 GBq of activity. Exposure was 0.08 mSv/hr at one metre. They were classified as low-level waste (LLW). Studsvik in Sweden would recycle much of the metal and return about 10% of the overall volume as LLW for disposal in Ontario. The balance would be under 100 Bq/kg, which appeared to be the clearance level.
Remediation of legacy sites
Typically a soil cleanup level of 0.5 to 1 Bq/g is a goal, though for residential land in UK 0.1 Bq/g is the level required. Material above the target level is sent to landfill, and anything over 100 Bq/g needs to be buried. Heavy metals may be of more concern than radionuclides in such situations. Following the Fukushima accident large areas were contaminated mainly with caesium fallout. In 2016 the government announced that material with less than 8 Bq/g caesium would no longer be subject to restriction regarding disposal.
Radon
Radium-226 is one of the decay products of uranium-238, which is widespread in most rocks and soils. When this radium decays it produces radon-222, an inert gas with a half-life of almost 4 days. (Radium-224 is a decay product of thorium, and it decays to radon-220, also known as thoron, with a 54-second half-life.) Because radon is so short-lived, and alpha-decays to a number of daughter products which are solid and very short-lived, there is a high probability of its decay when breathed in, or when radon daughter products in dust are breathed in. Alpha particles in the lung are hazardous.
Typically exposure to radon and its progeny accounts for half of an individual’s radiation dose, making it the single largest contributor. This radon comes from the ground, with exposure affected by factors such as local geography, building construction, and lifestyle. Radon levels in the air range from about 4 to 20 Bq/m3. Indoor radon levels have attracted a lot of interest since the 1970s and in USA they average about 55 Bq/m 3, with an EPA action level of 150 Bq/m3. Levels in Scandinavian homes are about double the US average, and those in Australian homes average one fifth of those in USA. Levels up to 100,000 Bq/m3 have been measured in US homes. In caves open to the public, levels of up to 25,000 Bq/m3 have been measured. A Japanese study on 3000 residents living in an area with 60 Bq/m3 radon near Misasa hot springs showed no health difference. The ICRP recommends keeping workplace radon levels below 300 Bq/m3, equivalent to about 10 mSv/yr.
Figure 1 shows a map of some of the background radiation levels measured across parts of Europe. Much of this is due to the radon.
Figure 1: Natural background radiation in parts of Europe (source: Gonzalez 2011)
Radon also occurs in natural gas at up to 37,000 Bq/m3, but by the time it gets to consumers the radon has largely decayed. However, the solid decay products then contaminate gas processing plants, and this manifestation of NORM is an occupational health issue, as discussed above.
Exposure to radon is a problem in certain mining activities, notably uranium mining, and good ventilation must be assured so as to keep occupational exposure down, and levels must be monitored.
Sources:
Australian Nuclear Forum Inc., Information Paper No. 1, August 2002,Trace Elements in Australian Coals,
Argonne National Laboratory, Web page on the Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) program on the website for Environmental Science Division (www.evs.anl.gov), last accessed July 2011
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency's (Arpansa's) Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council web page on Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material, last accessed July 2011.
Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Nuclear Data Centre website http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/ , accessed July 2011.
Cooper, M. B. 2005 Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in Australian Industries - Review of Current Inventories and Future Generation, ERS-006, A Report prepared for the Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) website (www.csiro.au), Trace elements in Australian export thermal coals. Figures for average concentrations of uranium and thorium in Australian coal are in Fact Sheets on Uranium in Australian export thermal coals and Thorium in Australian export thermal coals .
Dale, L.; 2006, Trace Elements in Coal, Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) Report No. 2 [Back]
Eisenbud, M.; and Gesell, T. F. 1997, Environmental Radioactivity from Natural, Industrial & Military Sources, Fourth Edition: From Natural, Industrial and Military Sources, Academic Press (ISBN: 9780122351549)
European Commission (Directorate-General Environment, Radiation Protection) 2003, Radiation protection 132: MARINA II, Update of the MARINA Project on the radiological exposure of the European Community from radioactivity in North European marine waters
European Commission (Directorate-General for Energy and Transport), 2003 Radiation Protection 135: Effluent and dose control from European Union NORM industries: Assessment of current situation and proposal for a harmonised Community approach, Volume 1: Main Report.
European Union Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2014:013:0001:0073:EN:PDF
Gabbard, A. 1993, Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger?, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review, Vol. 26, Nos. 3&4
Gooding, T.D.; Smith, K. R.; Sear, L.K. 2006, A radiological study of pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from UK coal-fired power stations, joint paper by the Health Protection Agency and the United Kingdom Quality Ash Association (UKQAA) presented at the UKQAA's Ash Technology Conference 2006 (AshTech 2006) held in Birmingham, UK on 15-17 May 2006
Gonzalez, A, J., 2011, Radiation Protection, presentation given at the World Nuclear University Event – ‘Key Issues in the World Nuclear Industry Today’, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
International Atomic Energy Agency, 2014, Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources: International Basic Safety Standards , STI/PUB/1578 (July 2014)
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International Atomic Energy Agency, 2003,Extent of Environmental Contamination by Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) and Technological Options for Mitigation, Technical Reports Series No. 419, STI/DOC/010/419 (ISBN: 9201125038)
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Sparton Resources web page on uranium secondary recovery on the Sparton Resources website (www.spartonres.ca)
Swaine, D. J. Trace Elements in Coal, Butterworth-Heinemann, July 1990 (ISBN: 9780408033091)
United Kingdom Quality Ash Association (UKQAA) website www.ukqaa.org.uk. See also UKQAA Technical Datasheet 8.5, Radiation and Fly Ash
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U.S. Geological Survey, Fact Sheet FS-163-97, 1997 Radioactive Elements in Coal and Fly Ash: Abundance, Forms, and Environmental Significance.
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| Radon |
What was dropped from the British Driving Test in 1975? | The Geology of Radon:What is Radon?
(91 kb)
Elements that are naturally radioactive include uranium, thorium, carbon, and potassium, as well as radon and radium. Uranium is the first element in a long series of decay that produces radium and radon. Uranium is referred to as the parent element, and radium and radon are called daughters. Radium and radon also form daughter elements as they decay.
The decay of each radioactive element occurs at a very specific rate. How fast an element decays is measured in terms of the element "half-life", or the amount of time for one half of a given amount of the element to decay. Uranium has a half-life of 4.4 billion years, so a 4.4-billion-year-old rock has only half of the uranium with which it started. The half-life of radon is only 3.8 days. If a jar was filled with radon, in 3.8 days only half of the radon would be left. But the newly made daughter products of radon would also be in the jar, including polonium, bismuth, and lead. Polunium is also radioactive - it is this element, which is produced by radon in the air and in people's lungs, that can hurt lung tissue and cause lung cancer.
(74 kb) Radon levels in outdoor air, indoor air, soil air, and ground water can be very different.
Radioactivity is commonly measured in picocuries (pCi). This unit of measure is named for the French physicist Marie Curie, who was a pioneer in the research on radioactive elements and their decay. One pCi is equal to the decay of about two radioactive atoms per minute.
Because the level of radioactivity is directly related to the number and type of radioactive atoms present, radon and all other radioactive atoms are measured in picocuries. For instance, a house having 4 picocuries of radon per liter of air (4 pCi/L) has about 8 or 9 atoms of radon decaying every minute in every liter of air inside the house. A 1,000-square-foot house with 4 pCi/L of radon has nearly 2 million radon atoms decaying in it every minute.
Radon levels in outdoor air, indoor air, soil air, and ground water can be very different. Outdoor air ranges from less than 0.1 pCi/L to about 30 pCi/L, but it probably averages about 0.2 pCi/L. Radon in indoor air ranges from less that 1 pCi/l to about 3,000 pCi/L, but it probably averages between 1 and 2 pCi/L. Radon in soil air (the air that occupies the pores in soil) ranges from 20 or 30 pCi/L to more than 100,000 pCi/L; most soils in the United States contain between 200 and 2,000 pCi of radon per liter of soil air. The amount of radon dissolved in ground water ranges from about 100 to nearly 3 million pCi/L.
Why do radon levels vary so much between indoor air, outdoor air, soil air, and ground water? Why do some houses have high levels of indoor radon while nearby houses do not? The reasons lie primarily in the geology of radon - the factors that govern the occurrence of uranium, the formation of radon, and the movement of radon, soil gas, and ground water.
URL: http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/radon/georadon/2.html
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Mark Twain
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens: Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens ( November 30 , 1835 – April 21 , 1910 ), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer.
See also:
Quotes[ edit ]
I haven't a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices whatsoever.
"Answers to Correspondents", The Californian , 17 June 1865. Anthologized in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867).
I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county.
" The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County "; first published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" in the New York Saturday Press , 18 November 1865; revised by the author and reprinted the following month in The Californian ; first anthologized in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), ed. John Paul.
I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog.
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (1865).
He was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth. He could not even lie.
"Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington", The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), ed. John Paul
Cited by: William E. Phipps, Mark Twain's Religion , Mercer University Press, 2003, p. 18
Richard Locke, Critical Children: The Use of Childhood in Ten Great Novels , Columbia University Press, p. 12
I have seen Chinamen abused and maltreated in all the mean, cowardly ways possible to the invention of a degraded nature, but I never saw a policeman interfere in the matter and I never saw a Chinaman righted in a court of justice for wrongs thus done him.
"The Treaty With China", article in The New York Tribune, 1868-08-04. Quoted in Mark Twain's Letters, volume ii, p. 239 .
Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.
"The Facts Concerning the Recent Resignation", described by the author as written about 1867, first published in Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875).
Tomorrow night I appear for the first time before a Boston audience — 4000 critics.
Letter to Pamela Clemens Moffet, 9 November 1869, in Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain's Letters: Arranged with Comment (1917), Vol. 1, p. 168
He is now fast rising from affluence to poverty.
"Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's Farm" (1869), anthologized in Mark Twain's Sketches (1872).
Barring that natural expression of villainy which we all have, the man looked honest enough.
"A Mysterious Visit", Buffalo Express , 19 March 1870. Anthologized in Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875).
Formerly, if you killed a man, it was possible that you were insane—but now, if you, having friends and money, kill a man, it is evidence that you are a lunatic.
"A New Crime", first published as "The New Crime" in the Buffalo Express , 16 April 1870. Anthologized in Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875).
Is not this insanity plea becoming rather common? Is it not so common that the reader confidently expects to see it offered in every criminal case that comes before the courts? [...] Really, what we want now, is not laws against crime, but a law against insanity.
"A New Crime" (1870)
It [the press] has scoffed at religion till it has made scoffing popular. It has defended official criminals, on party pretexts, until it has created a United States Senate whose members are incapable of determining what crime against law and the dignity of their own body is—they are so morally blind—and it has made light of dishonesty till we have as a result a Congress which contracts to work for a certain sum and then deliberately steals additional wages out of the public pocket and is pained and surprised that anybody should worry about a little thing like that.
"License of the Press", an address before the Monday Evening Club, Hartford (1873).
Benjamin Franklin did a great many notable things for his country, and made her young name to be honored in many lands as the mother of such a son. It is not the idea of this memoir to ignore that or cover it up. No; the simple idea of it is to snub those pretentious maxims of his, which he worked up with a great show of originality out of truisms that had become wearisome platitudes as early as the dispersion from Babel.
"The Late Benjamin Franklin", The Galaxy , Vol. 10, No. 1, July 1870 [1] . Anthologized in Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875).
This poor little one-horse town.
"The Undertaker's Chat", first published as "A Reminiscence of the Back Settlements" in The Galaxy , Vol. 10, No. 5, November 1870 [2] . Anthologized in Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875).
A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother.
Letter to Annie Moffett Webster (September 1, 1876).
The funniest things are the forbidden.
"Notebook 18 (February–September 1879)" in Mark Twain's Notebooks & Journals, Vol. 2 (1975), ed. Frederick Anderson, ISBN 0520025423 , p. 304.
We haven't all had the good fortune to be ladies; we haven't all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works down to the babies, we stand on common ground.
Answering a toast, "To the Babies," at a banquet in honor of General U.S. Grant (November 14, 1879).
The Writings of Mark Twain, Vol. 20 (1899), ed. Charles Dudley Warner, p. 397
Among the three or four million cradles now rocking in the land are some which this nation would preserve for ages as sacred things, if we could know which ones they are.
"To the Babies" (November 14, 1879).
Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Draft manuscript (c.1881), quoted by Albert Bigelow Paine in Mark Twain: A Biography (1912), p. 724 .
Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any.
"Advice to Youth", speech to The Saturday Morning Club, Boston, 15 April 1882. Mark Twain Speaking (1976), ed. Paul Fatout, p. 169
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter — it's the difference between a lightning bug and the lightning.
When the doctrine of allegiance to party can utterly up-end a man's moral constitution and make a temporary fool of him besides, what excuse are you going to offer for preaching it, teaching it, extending it, perpetuating it? Shall you say, the best good of the country demands allegiance to party? Shall you also say it demands that a man kick his truth and his conscience into the gutter, and become a mouthing lunatic, besides?
"Consistency", paper read at the Hartford Monday Evening Club on 5 December 1887. The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, p. 582
(First published in the 1923 edition of Mark Twain's Speeches, ed. Albert Bigelow Paine, pp. 120-130, where it is incorrectly dated "following the Blaine-Cleveland campaign, 1884." (See Mark Twain's Notebooks & Journals (1979), ed. Frederick Anderson, Vol. 3, p. 41, footnote 92 ) Many reprints repeat Paine's dating.)
Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will.
"Consistency" (5 December 1887). This quote is engraved on Twain's bust in the National Hall of Fame.
He [George Washington Cable] has taught me to abhor and detest the Sabbath day and hunt up new and troublesome ways to dishonor it.
Letter to William Dean Howells, 27 February 1885, in Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain's letters: Arranged with Comment (1917), Vol. 2, p. 450
An experienced, industrious, ambitious, and often quite picturesque liar.
" The Private History of a Campaign That Failed ", The Century , Vol. 31, No. 2, December 1885 [3] . Anthologized in The American Claimant, and Other Stories and Sketches (1898).
It does look as if Massachusetts were in a fair way to embarrass me with kindnesses this year. In the first place, a Massachusetts judge has just decided in open court that a Boston publisher may sell, not only his own property in a free and unfettered way, but also may as freely sell property which does not belong to him but to me; property which he has not bought and which I have not sold. Under this ruling I am now advertising that judge's homestead for sale, and, if I make as good a sum out of it as I expect, I shall go on and sell out the rest of his property.
Letter of acceptance of membership to Concord Free Trade Club (March 28, 1885): Mark Twain, his life and work: a biographical sketch (1892), William Montgomery Clemens, Clemens Pub. Co.
As I slowly grow wise I briskly grow cautious.
"English as She Is Taught", The Century , Vol. 33, No. 6, April 1887 [4] . A slightly abridged version was reprinted as Introduction to Caroline B. Le Row, English as She Is Taught: Genuine Answers to Some Examination Questions Asked in Our Public Schools (1901)
A circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle.
Quoting a schoolchild in "English as She Is Taught".
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then Success is sure.
Mark Twain's Notebook, 1887
Letter to Cordelia Welsh Foote (Cincinnati), 2 December 1887. Letter reprinted in Benjamin De Casseres's When Huck Finn Went Highbrow (1934).
The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.
Letter to George Bainton, 15 October 1888, solicited for and printed in George Bainton, The Art of Authorship: Literary Reminiscences, Methods of Work, and Advice to Young Beginners (1890), pp. 87–88 .
Twain repeated the lightning bug/lightning comparison in several contexts, and credited Josh Billings for the idea:
Josh Billings defined the difference between humor and wit as that between the lightning bug and the lightning.
Speech at the 145th annual dinner of St. Andrew's Society, New York, 30 November 1901, Mark Twain Speaking (1976), ed. Paul Fatout, p. 424
Billings' original wording was characteristically affected:
Don't mistake vivacity for wit, thare iz about az mutch difference az thare iz between lightning and a lightning bug.
Josh Billings' Old Farmer's Allminax, "January 1871" . Also in Everybody's Friend, or; Josh Billing's Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor (1874), p. 304 .
Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it.
The American Claimant, foreword (1892).
I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
American Claimant (1892).
If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
Notebook entry, January or February 1894, Mark Twain's Notebook, ed. Albert Bigelow Paine (1935), p. 240
James Ross Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness; the report of my death was an exaggeration.
White subsequently reported this in "Mark Twain Amused," New York Journal, 2 June 1897. White also recounts the incident in "Mark Twain as a Newspaper Reporter," The Outlook, Vol. 96, 24 December 1910
Variant: I said - 'Say the report is greatly exaggerated'.
"Chapters from My Autobiography", The North American Review, 21 September 1906, p. 160. Mark Twain
Misquote: The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Note: This paraphrase or misquote may be more popular than the original.
A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.
More Tramps Abroad (1897).
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd druther not.
"What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us?" , in How to Tell a Story and Other Essays (1897).
Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place.
"What Paul Bourget Thinks of Us?" (1897).
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
Commonly quoted as: "First get your facts, then you can distort them at your leisure."
Rudyard Kipling, An Interview with Mark Twain, p. 180, From sea to sea: letters of travel, 1899, Doubleday & McClure Company. eBooks@Adelaide
I was sorry to have my name mentioned as one of the great authors, because they have a sad habit of dying off. Chaucer is dead, Spencer is dead, so is Milton, so is Shakespeare, and I’m not feeling so well myself.
Speech to the Savage Club, 9 June 1899, in Mark Twain's Speeches (1910), ed. William Dean Howells, pp. 277–278 . (Possibly fabricated from a paraphrase in Aaron Watson, The Savage Club: a Medley of History, Anecdote, and Reminiscence (1907), pp. 126–129 ).
He had only one vanity; he thought he could give advice better than any other person.
" The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg ", ch. I, in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays (1900).
There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practised in the tricks and delusions of oratory.
"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg", ch. III, in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays (1900).
I wanted to damage every man in the place, and every woman--and not in their bodies or in their estate, but in their vanity--the place where feeble and foolish people are most vulnerable. So I disguised myself and came back and studied you. You were easy game. You had an old and lofty reputation for honesty, and naturally you were proud of it — it was your treasure of treasures, the very apple of your eye. As soon as I found out that you carefully and vigilantly kept yourselves and your children out of temptation, I knew how to proceed. Why, you simple creatures, the weakest of all weak things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire.
"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg", ch. III, in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays (1900).
It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people [the Filipinos] free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.
New York Herald, October 15, 1900, quoted in A Pen Warmed Up In Hell:Mark Twain in Protest, edited by Frederick Anderson, Harper & Row, 1979.
Definition of a classic — something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
Quoting or paraphrasing a Professor Winchester in "Disappearance of Literature" , speech at the Nineteenth Century Club, New York, 20 November 1900, in Mark Twain's Speeches (1910), ed. William Dean Howells, p. 194
The silent colossal National Lie that is the support and confederate of all the tyrannies and shams and inequalities and unfairnesses that afflict the peoples — that is the one to throw bricks and sermons at.
"My First Lie, and How I Got Out of It" , in The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays (1900).
Your race, in its poverty, has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, Money, Persuasion, Supplication, Persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug,—push it a little—crowd it a little—weaken it a little, century by century: but only Laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand.
"The Chronicle of Young Satan" (ca. 1897–1900, unfinished), published posthumously in Mark Twain's Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (1969), ed. William Merriam Gibson ( pp. 165–166 in the 2005 paperback printing,
ISBN 0520246950
).
Whose property is my body? Probably mine. I so regard it. If I experiment with it, who must be answerable? I, not the State. If I choose injudiciously, does the State die? Oh no.
“Osteopathy” (1901), in Mark Twain's Speeches, p. 253 .
...[H]eaven for climate, Hell for society.
Speech to the Acorn Society (1901)
also given as: "Heaven for climate, Hell for companionship." (unsourced)
Honesty is the best policy — when there is money in it.
Speech to Eastman College (1901).
Now what I contend is that my body is my own, at least I have always so regarded it. If I do harm through my experimenting with it, it is I who suffer, not the state.
Address to the New York General Assembly (1901).
The Blessings-of-Civilization Trust, wisely and cautiously administered, is a Daisy. There is more money in it, more territory, more sovereignty, and other kinds of emolument, than there is in any other game that is played. But Christendom has been playing it badly of late years, and must certainly suffer by it, in my opinion. She has been so eager to get every stake that appeared on the green cloth, that the People who Sit in Darkness have noticed it -- they have noticed it, and have begun to show alarm. They have become suspicious of the Blessings of Civilization.
Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.
To the Young People's Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn (February 16, 1901).
To create man was a fine and original idea; but to add the sheep was a tautology.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (30 May 1902); also in Mark Twain : A Life, p. 611.
Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that "plagiarism" farce! As if there was much of anything in any human utterance, oral or written, except plagiarism! The kernel, the soul — let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances — is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. When a great orator makes a great speech you are listening to ten centuries and ten thousand men — but we call it his speech, and really some exceedingly small portion of it is his. But not enough to signify. It is merely a Waterloo. It is Wellington's battle, in some degree, and we call it his; but there are others that contributed. It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing—and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did. These object lessons should teach us that ninety-nine parts of all things that proceed from the intellect are plagiarisms, pure and simple; and the lesson ought to make us modest. But nothing can do that.
Letter to Helen Keller , after she had been accused of plagiarism for one of her early stories (17 March 1903), published in Mark Twain's Letters, Vol. 1 (1917) edited by Albert Bigelow Paine, p. 731.
Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is, I dunno. If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that the skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.
Was the World Made for Man? (1903): also p. 106, What is man?: and other philosophical writings, Volume 19 of Works, 1993, Mark Twain, Paul Baender, University of California Press.
To put it in rude, plain, unpalatable words — true patriotism, real patriotism: loyalty not to a Family and a Fiction, but a loyalty to the Nation itself!
..."Remember this, take this to heart, live by it, die for it if necessary: that our patriotism is medieval, outworn, obsolete; that the modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation ALL the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it." [Czar Nicholas II]
(1905)
Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays, 1891-1910 (1992) ed. Louis J. Budd
He is a stranger to me, but he is a most remarkable man — and I am the other one. Between us, we cover all knowledge; he knows all that can be known, and I know the rest.
Statement (1906) in Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto
The only reason why God created man is because he was disappointed with the monkey.
Autobiographical Dictation (1906).
A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt.
Essay on William Dean Howells (1906).
Customs do not concern themselves with right or wrong or reason. But they have to be obeyed; one reasons all around them until he is tired, but he must not transgress them, it is sternly forbidden.
The Gorky Incident (1906).
Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment.
The Gorky Incident (1906).
"In God We Trust." Now then, after that legend had remained there forty years or so, unchallenged and doing no harm to anybody, the President suddenly "threw a fit" the other day, as the popular expression goes, and ordered that remark to be removed from our coinage.
Mr. Carnegie granted that the matter was not of consequence, that a coin had just exactly the same value without the legend as with it, and he said he had no fault to find with Mr. Roosevelt's action but only with his expressed reasons for the act. The President had ordered the suppression of that motto because a coin carried the name of God into improper places, and this was a profanation of the Holy Name. Carnegie said the name of God is used to being carried into improper places everywhere and all the time, and that he thought the President's reasoning rather weak and poor.
I thought the same, and said, "But that is just like the President. If you will notice, he is very much in the habit of furnishing a poor reason for his acts while there is an excellent reason staring him in the face, which he overlooks. There was a good reason for removing that motto; there was, indeed, an unassailably good reason — in the fact that the motto stated a lie. If this nation has ever trusted in God, that time has gone by; for nearly half a century almost its entire trust has been in the Republican party and the dollar–mainly the dollar. I recognize that I am only making an assertion and furnishing no proof; I am sorry, but this is a habit of mine; sorry also that I am not alone in it; everybody seems to have this disease.
Take an instance: the removal of the motto fetched out a clamor from the pulpit; little groups and small conventions of clergymen gathered themselves together all over the country, and one of these little groups, consisting of twenty-two ministers, put up a prodigious assertion unbacked by any quoted statistics and passed it unanimously in the form of a resolution: the assertion, to wit, that this is a Christian country. Why, Carnegie, so is hell. Those clergymen know that, inasmuch as "Strait is the way and narrow is the gate, and few — few — are they that enter in thereat" has had the natural effect of making hell the only really prominent Christian community in any of the worlds; but we don't brag of this and certainly it is not proper to brag and boast that America is a Christian country when we all know that certainly five-sixths of our population could not enter in at the narrow gate.
Statements (c. December 1907), in Mark Twain In Eruption : Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men And Events (1940) edited by Bernard Augustine De Voto
I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.
Speech (23 September 1907).
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
Letter to an Unidentified Person (1908).
When even the brightest mind in our world has been trained up from childhood in a superstition of any kind, it will never be possible for that mind, in its maturity, to examine sincerely, dispassionately, and conscientiously any evidence or any circumstance which shall seem to cast a doubt upon the validity of that superstition. I doubt if I could do it myself.
Is Shakespeare Dead? (1909), §11,
as reprinted in Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain (1995), ed. Stuart Miller, ISBN 1566198798
Adam's temperament was the first command the Deity ever issued to a human being on this planet. And it was the only command Adam would never be able to disobey. It said, "Be weak, be water, be characterless, be cheaply persuadable." The later command, to let the fruit alone, was certain to be disobeyed. Not by Adam himself, but by his temperament — which he did not create and had no authority over.
"The Turning Point of my Life", §3, Harper's Bazar, February 1910,
as reprinted in Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain (1995), ed. Stuart Miller, ISBN 1566198798
The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.
marginal note in Moncure D. Conway's Sacred Anthology
quoted by Albert Bigelow Paine in Mark Twain: A Biography (1912).
You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his 'pinions is.
Europe and Elsewhere. Corn Pone Opinions (1925).
We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking. And out of it we get an aggregation which we consider a boon. Its name is public opinion. It is held in reverence. Some think it the voice of God.
Corn-Pone Opinions (1925).
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
More Maxims of Mark (1927) edited by Merle Johnson
Always acknowledge a fault frankly. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you opportunity to commit more.
More Maxims of Mark (1927) edited by Merle Johnson
Humor must not professedly teach, and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever. By forever, I mean thirty years.
Mark Twain in eruption: hitherto unpublished pages about men and events, 1940, Mark Twain, Bernard Augustine De Voto, Harper & brothers. This appears to be the origin of the variant:
If you would have your work last forever, and by forever I mean fifty years, it must neither overtly preach nor overtly teach, but it must covertly preach and covertly teach.
Attributed to Twain by J. Michael Straczynski in The complete book of scriptwriting, 2002, Writer's Digest Books.
A critic never made or killed a book or a play. The people themselves are the final judges. It is their opinion that counts. After all, the final test is truth. But the trouble is that most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession and therefore are most economical in its use.
Said to portrait painter Samuel Johnson Woolf, cited in Here am I (1941), Samuel Johnson Woolf; this has often been abbreviated: Most writers regard truth as their most valuable possession, and therefore are most economical in its use.
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.
Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto
It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.
Mark Twain in Eruption: Hitherto Unpublished Pages About Men and Events (1940) edited by Bernard DeVoto
Jesus died to save men — a small thing for an immortal to do, & didn't save many, anyway; but if he had been damned for the race that would have been act of a size proper to a god, & would have saved the whole race. However, why should anybody want to save the human race, or damn it either? Does God want its society? Does Satan?
Notebook #42.
A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.
Mark Twain and I by Opie Read
I do not take any credit to my better-balanced head because I never went crazy on Presbyterianism. We go too slow for that. You never see us ranting and shouting and tearing up the ground, You never heard of a Presbyterian going crazy on religion. Notice us, and you will see how we do. We get up of a Sunday morning and put on the best harness we have got and trip cheerfully down town; we subside into solemnity and enter the church; we stand up and duck our heads and bear down on a hymn book propped on the pew in front when the minister prays; we stand up again while our hired choir are singing, and look in the hymn book and check off the verses to see that they don't shirk any of the stanzas; we sit silent and grave while the minister is preaching, and count the waterfalls and bonnets furtively, and catch flies; we grab our hats and bonnets when the benediction is begun; when it is finished, we shove, so to speak. No frenzy, no fanaticism --no skirmishing; everything perfectly serene. You never see any of us Presbyterians getting in a sweat about religion and trying to massacre the neighbors. Let us all be content with the tried and safe old regular religions, and take no chances on wildcat.
"The New Wildcat Religion".
Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered — either by themselves or by others. But for the Civil War, Lincoln and Grant and Sherman and Sheridan would not have been discovered, nor have risen into notice. … I have touched upon this matter in a small book which I wrote a generation ago and which I have not published as yet — Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven. When Stormfield arrived in heaven he … was told that … a shoemaker … was the most prodigious military genius the planet had ever produced.
The Autobiography of Mark Twain (1959 edition, edited by Charles Neider).
Adam, at Eve's grave: Wheresoever she was, THERE was Eden.
Eve's Diary.
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
Extracts From Adam's Diary (1906)
An injurious lie is an uncommendable thing; and so, also, and in the same degree, is an injurious truth—a fact that is recognized by the law of libel .
On the Decay of the Art of Lying
The highest perfection of politeness is only a beautiful edifice, built, from the base to the dome, of ungraceful and gilded forms of charitable and unselfish lying.
On the Decay of the Art of Lying , published in The Stolen White Elephant: Etc, Pages 220-221 (1882)
Compliments make me vain: & when I am vain, I am insolent & overbearing. It is a pity, too, because I love compliments. I love them even when they are not so. My child, I can live on a good compliment two weeks with nothing else to eat.
I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up.
Ch. 7.
They spell it "Vinci" and pronounce it "Vinchy". Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.
Ch. 19.
I used to worship the mighty genius of Michael Angelo — that man who was great in poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture — great in every thing he undertook. But I do not want Michael Angelo for breakfast — for luncheon — for dinner — for tea — for supper — for between meals. I like a change, occasionally.
Ch. 27.
Enough, enough, enough! Say no more! Lump the whole thing! say that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!
Ch. 27.
Guides cannot master the subtleties of the American joke.
Ch. 27.
I wish Europe would let Russia annihilate Turkey a little--not much, but enough to make it difficult to find the place again without a divining-rod or a diving-bell.
Ch. 42.
Ch. 54
The people of those foreign countries are very, very ignorant. They looked curiously at the costumes we had brought from the wilds of America. They observed that we talked loudly at table sometimes. They noticed that we looked out for expenses and got what we conveniently could out of a franc, and wondered where in the mischief we came from. In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Ch. 61.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR.
Notice
You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.
Ch. 1.
Jim was most ruined for a servant, because he got stuck up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches.
Ch. 2.
We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness. It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big, still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn't ever feel like talking loud, and it warn't often that we laughed, only a little kind of a low chuckle. We had mighty good weather as a general thing, and nothing ever happened to us at all, that night, nor the next, nor the next.
Ch. 12.
Pilgrim's Progress, about a man that left his family, it didn't say why. I read considerable in it now and then. The statements was interesting, but tough.
Ch. 17.
There warn't anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for there warn't any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because it's cool. If you notice, most folks don't go to church only when they've got to; but a hog is different.
Ch. 18.
We said there warn't no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.
Ch. 18.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)[ edit ]
Why, it was like reading about France and the French, before the ever memorable and blessed Revolution, which swept a thousand years of such villany away in one swift tidal-wave of blood -- one: a settlement of that hoary debt in the proportion of half a drop of blood for each hogshead of it that had been pressed by slow tortures out of that people in the weary stretch of ten centuries of wrong and shame and misery the like of which was not to be mated but in hell. There were two "Reigns of Terror," if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the "horrors" of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror -- that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.
Ch. 13
The citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal, he is a traitor. That he may be the only one who thinks he sees this decay, does not excuse him: it is his duty to agitate anyway, and it is the duty of others to vote him down if they do not see the matter as he does.
Ch. 13.
My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.
Ch. 13.
The pilgrims were human beings. Otherwise they would have acted differently. They had come a long and difficult journey, and now when the journey was nearly finished, and they learned that the main thing they had come for had ceased to exist, they didn't do as horses or cats or angle-worms would probably have done — turn back and get at something profitable — no, anxious as they had before been to see the miraculous fountain, they were as much as forty times as anxious now to see the place where it had used to be. There is no accounting for human beings.
Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.
Ch. 22.
Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
Ch. 22.
It is a mystery that is hidden from me by reason that the emergency requiring the fathoming of it hath not in my life-days occurred, and so, not having no need to know this thing, I abide barren of the knowledge.
Following the Equator (1897)[ edit ]
These wisdoms are for the luring of youth toward high moral altitudes. The author did not gather them from practice, but from observation. To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
The Pudd'nhead Maxims, preface
When in doubt, tell the truth.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. II
Prosperity is the best protector of principle.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. II ; as cited in Mark Twain at your Fingertips : A Book of Quotations, ed. Caroline Thomas Hornsberger, Courier Corp. (2009), p. 385
It is more trouble to make a maxim than it is to do right.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. III
Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. V
Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. VII
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. VIII
There are those who scoff at the schoolboy, calling him frivolous and shallow: Yet it was the schoolboy who said "Faith is believing what you know ain't so."
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XII
Truth is stranger than fiction — to some people, but I am measurably familiar with it.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XV
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XV
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XX
Man will do many things to get himself loved; he will do all things to get himself envied.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XXI
"Classic." A book which people praise and don't read.
Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XXV
Nearly all black and brown skins are beautiful, but a beautiful white skin is rare.
Ch. XLI
It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites.
Online at gutenberg.org
This last summer, when I was on my way back to Vienna from the Appetite-Cure in the mountains, I fell over a cliff in the twilight, and broke some arms and legs and one thing or another, and by good luck was found by some peasants who had lost an ass, and they carried me to the nearest habitation, which was one of those large, low, thatch-roofed farm-houses, with apartments in the garret for the family, and a cunning little porch under the deep gable decorated with boxes of bright colored flowers and cats; on the ground floor a large and light sitting-room, separated from the milch-cattle apartment by a partition; and in the front yard rose stately and fine the wealth and pride of the house, the manure-pile. That sentence is Germanic , and shows that I am acquiring that sort of mastery of the art and spirit of the language which enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing cars.
Book I, Ch. 1
No one doubts—certainly not I— that the mind exercises a powerful influence over the body. From the beginning of time, the sorcerer, the interpreter of dreams, the fortune-teller, the charlatan, the quack, the wild medicine-man, the educated physician, the mesmerist, and the hypnotist have made use of the client's imagination to help them in their work. They have all recognized the potency and availability of that force. Physicians cure many patients with a bread pill; they know that where the disease is only a fancy, the patient's confidence in the doctor will make the bread pill effective.
Book I, Ch. 4
When I was a boy a farmer's wife who lived five miles from our village had great fame as a faith-doctor—that was what she called herself. Sufferers came to her from all around, and she laid her hand upon them and said, "Have faith—it is all that is necessary," and they went away well of their ailments. She was not a religious woman, and pretended to no occult powers. She said that the patient's faith in her did the work. Several times I saw her make immediate cures of severe toothaches. My mother was the patient. In Austria there is a peasant who drives a great trade in this sort of industry, and has both the high and the low for patients. He gets into prison every now and then for practising without a diploma, but his business is as brisk as ever when he gets out, for his work is unquestionably successful and keeps his reputation high. In Bavaria there is a man who performed so many great cures that he had to retire from his profession of stage-carpentering in order to meet the demand of his constantly increasing body of customers. He goes on from year to year doing his miracles, and has become very rich. He pretends to no religious helps, no supernatural aids, but thinks there is something in his make-up which inspires the confidence of his patients, and that it is this confidence which does the work, and not some mysterious power issuing from himself.
Ch. 4
Within the last quarter of a century, in America, several sects of curers have appeared under various names and have done notable things in the way of healing ailments without the use of medicines. There are the Mind Cure, the Faith Cure, the Prayer Cure, the Mental Science Cure, and the Christian-Science Cure; and apparently they all do their miracles with the same old, powerful instrument—the patient's imagination. Differing names, but no difference in the process. But they do not give that instrument the credit; each sect claims that its way differs from the ways of the others.
They all achieve some cures, there is no question about it; and the Faith Cure and the Prayer Cure probably do no harm when they do no good, since they do not forbid the patient to help out the cure with medicines if he wants to; but the others bar medicines, and claim ability to cure every conceivable human ailment through the application of their mental forces alone. There would seem to be an element of danger here. It has the look of claiming too much, I think. Public confidence would probably be increased if less were claimed.
Book I, Ch. 4
When I, a thoughtful and unblessed Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unblessed Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic — for that is a part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his. All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
Dilletantenaufdringlichkeiten.
Stadtverordnetenversammlungen.
These things are not words, they are alphabetical processions. And they are not rare; one can open a German newspaper any time and see them marching majestically across the page,—and if he has any imagination he can see the banners and hear the music, too. They impart a martial thrill to the meekest subject. I take a great interest in these curiosities. "Whenever I come across a good one, I stuff it and put it in my museum. In this way I have made quite a valuable collection. When I get duplicates, I exchange with other collectors, and thus increase the variety of my stock. Here are some specimens which I lately bought at an auction sale of the effects of a bankrupt bric-a-brac hunter:
Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen.
Wiederherstellungsbestrebungen.
Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen.
Of course when one of these grand mountain ranges goes stretching across the printed page, it adorns and ennobles that literary landscape,—but at the same time it is a great distress to the new student, for it blocks up his way; he cannot crawl under it, or climb over it or tunnel through it. So he resorts to the dictionary for help; but there is no help there. The dictionary must draw the line somewhere,—so it leaves this sort of words out. And it is right, because these long things are hardly legitimate words, but are rather combinations of words, and the inventor of them ought to have been killed.
Bible Teaching and Religious Practice .
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. the Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church, after eight hundred years, gathered up its halters, thumb-screws, and firebrands, and set about its holy work in earnest. She worked hard at it night and day during nine centuries and imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. Who discovered that there was no such thing as a witch—the priest, the parson? No, these never discover anything. … There are no witches. The witch text remains; only the practice has changed. Hell fire is gone, but the text remains. Infant damnation is gone, but the text remains. More than two hundred death penalties are gone from the law books, but the texts that authorized them remain.
France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
God's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.
France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.
Familiarity breeds contempt — and children.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.
Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.
Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all — the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.
Memorandum written on his deathbed
Surely the test of a novel's characters is that you feel a strong interest in them and their affairs—the good to be successful, the bad to suffer failure. Well, in John Ward, you feel no divided interest, no discriminating interest—you want them all to land in hell together, and right away.
About Margaret Deland's book John Ward, Preacher.
Fame is a vapor; popularity an accident; the only earthly certainty is oblivion.
None but the dead have free speech.
p. 393.
What is the difference between a taxidermist & a tax-collector? The taxidermist only takes your skin.
p. 379.
Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, & over these ideals they dispute & cannot unite — but they all worship money.
p. 343.
You can't depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus.
p. 344.
It is a pity we can't escape from life when we are young.
p. 120
...when the human race is not grotesque it is because it is asleep and losing its opportunity.
p. 127
There has never been a Protestant boy nor a Protestant girl whose mind the Bible has not soiled.
p. 135
There isn't anything so grotesque or so incredible that the average human being can't believe it.
p. 136
No accident ever comes late; it always arrives precisely on time.
p. 239
...now...that I am a wise person. As for me, I wish there were some more of us in the world, for I find it lonesome.
p. 281
Carlyle said "a lie cannot live." It shows that he did not know how to tell them. If I had taken out a life policy on this one the premiums would have bankrupted me ages ago.
p. 304
Brooklyn praise is half slander.
p. 370
...my sister...was an interested and zealous invalid during sixty-five years, tried all the new diseases as fast as they came out, and always enjoyed the newest one more than any that went before; my brother had accumulated forty-two brands of Christianity before he was called away.
p. 393
Whenever the human race assembles to a number exceeding four, it cannot stand free speech.
p. 442
I am always reading immoral books on the sly, and then selfishly trying to prevent other people from having the same wicked good time.
p. 475
Disputed[ edit ]
I take my only exercise acting as pallbearer at the funerals of my friends who exercised regularly.
Source Undetermined in Everyone's Mark Twain (1972) compiled by Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, p. 161
I don't give a damn for a man who can only spell a word one way.
Unsourced in POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything (2006) by Sam Horn.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Unsourced in The Philosophy of Mark Twain: The Wit and Wisdom of a Literary Genius (2014) by David Graham
The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.
This appears on the opening placard of the film The Equalizer , attributing it to Twain, but there is no evidence that Twain wrote it. A precursor is found in Taylor Hartman's self-help book The Character Code (first published 1991), where it is not attributed to Twain: "The three most significant days in your life are: 1. The day you were born. 2. The day you find out why you were born. 3. The day you discover how to contribute the gift you were born to give" ( Google Books link )
The lack of money is the root of all evil.
This appears in Twain's posthumous The Refuge of the Derelicts (1905), but it had already been published by other writers.
The earliest citation found in Google Books is a 1872 article by Richard Bowker : "Our Crime Against Crimes" , in The Herald of Health, vol. 19 no. 2, New York: Wood & Holbrook, February 1872. The saying is placed within quotation marks, perhaps indicating that it was already well-known.
A precursor is found in an article from 1859 : It is very well to repeat, parrot-like, the old axiom that “the love of gold is the root of all evil;” but it is very certain that in truth—the lack of gold is the great incentive to crime.
If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.
No known source in Twain's works.
Misattributed[ edit ]
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.
Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain, A Biography (1912)
All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. But it's the best book we've had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.
Ernest Hemingway in The Green Hills of Africa Chapter 1.
From his earliest childhood young Clemens had been of an adventurous disposition. Before he was thirteen he had been extracted three times from the Mississippi and six times from Bear Creek in a substantially drowned condition, but his mother, with the high confidence in his future that never deserted her, merely remarked: "People who are born to be hanged are safe in the water."
Samuel E. Moffett, "Mark Twain: a biographical sketch", in Autobiography of Mark Twain Vol. 3 (2015), p. 656
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In which film was Marilyn Monroe's skirt seen billowing in the air over a subway vent? | Insightful Quotes
Insightful Quotes
"It is more blessed to give than to receive." - Jesus
"Seven out of ten judgments can be collected on." - Cynthia Schmidt, www.CollectBackRent.com
"We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do." - Ethel Barrett
"When you need advice- do you seek someone who has proven success or do you get advice from people who have never achieved what you desire?" - Robert G. Allen
"If you can have your rents come in as steady as your bills come in, you know you're doing something right." - John Nuzzolese
"Victory is always within reach, fear is what you need to overcome and when you do, only then will your ambitions be succeeded" - Alexander Jeffrey
"You are not what has happened to you. You are what you choose to become." - Chuck Norris
"Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear." - William Shakespeare
"Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give." - William Arthur Ward
"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." - Helen Keller
"Decide what you want.Decide what you are prepared to give up to get it. Set your mind on it. Get on with the work." - H.L. HUNT
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother�s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" - Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:3)
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." - Warren Buffett
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambition. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." - Mark Twain
"When life gives you lemons....throw them at people...and aim for the head!" - Dan Riley
"Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognition of the fact that you choose to live�that productive work is the process by which man�s consciousness controls his existence, a constant process of acquiring knowledge and shaping matter to fit one�s purpose, of translating an idea into physical form, of remaking the earth in the image of one�s values�that all work is creative work if done by a thinking mind..." - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work." - Colin Powell
"Who's costly bad experience would you rather learn from yours or mine?" - John Nuzzolese
"So don�t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today�s trouble is enough for today." - Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:34)
"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Confucius
"Knowledge is power. The more knowledge, expertise, and connections you have, the easier it is for you to make a profit at the game of your choice." - Stuart Wilde
"Money will never make you happy if you are an unhappy person." - Robert Kiyosaki
"A little knowledge can be dangerous. Rental prospects who have gone through bankruptcy scare me because they have become educated on how to beat their creditors. They may be the nicest people in the world, but I prefer tenants who are afraid of damaging their excellent credit." - [email protected]
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser" - Leo Durocher
"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be." - Anon.
"PLEASE don't ever think that you can't get out of the rut you may be in or think you can't take your life to a whole new level.. Anything is possible when you have a path, a plan and a desire to take action.." - Dean Graziosi
"Most people struggle financially because they take advice from sales people, not rich people." - Robert Kiyosaki
"If no changes were necessary for you to achieve financial independence, you'd already be there." -John Cummuta
"Progress always involves risk. You can't steal 2nd base and keep your foot on 1st." - Fred Wilcox
"Always desire to learn something useful." - Sophocles
"I've NEVER been late with a rent payment - but my boyfriend has forgotten to mail it a few times... " - Tenant
"It is better to have NO tenant than it is to have a bad tenant." - John Nuzzolese
"Believe you can and you're halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt
"Tough times don't last. Tough people do." - Gregory Peck
"The more clarity you have, the more powerful your goals are." - Robert G. Allen
If you deliberately set out to be less than you are capable, you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life. - Abraham H. Maslow
"If the tenant doesn't want to let you see his credit report, Cut. Him. Loose!" - John Nuzzolese, TheLPA.com
"I don't really care if they like me or not." - Heidi Klum
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." - Mark Twain
"Act The Way You Want To Be And Soon You'll Be The Way You Act" - Les Brown
"You can never solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created the problem in the first place." - Albert Einstein
"No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto." - W. Clement Stone
"The future you see is the future you get." - Robert G. Allen
"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you�re doing, you�ll stop at the first giant hurdle." - George Lucas
"Why does a woman work 10 years to change a man's habits and then complain he's not the man she married?" - Barbara Sreisand
"We make our own choices and we're each responsible for them. Blame and credit belong to the individual. You haven't the right to claim either from someone else. -Nora Roberts
"You can cut down a tree with a hammer, but it takes about 30 days. If you trade the hammer for an ax, you can cut it down in about 30 minutes. The difference between 30 days and 30 minutes is skills." - Jim Rohn
"We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it." - Earl Nightingale
"You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world." - Charlie Chaplin
"Success is often achieved by those who don�t know that failure is inevitable." � Coco Chanel
"Your life~the way it looks today is a result of your choices...What will you choose today for your tomorrows?" - Robert G. Allen
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs
"The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way." - Robert Kiyosaki
"Poverty is when large efforts produce small results. Wealth is when small efforts produce large results." - David George
"They say the squeaky wheel gets the oil. In the management business, the squeaky wheel gets his walking papers." - John @ theLPA
"The strength of character and emotional intelligence to face your failures and learn from them are at the core of success." - Robert Kiyosaki
"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
"Many of the best successes are directly related to failures. Don't be afraid to fail because every failure is a lesson, a stepping stone on your way to success." - John Nuzzolese
"You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!" - Rocky Balboa
"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile". - Mother Teresa
"Try not to be angry when people fail to meet your expectations of them. Just remember it is their shortcoming , not yours." � John Nuzzolese
"If you acquire everything & destroy yourself in the process, you are truly a pauper. You are your wealth." - Robert Allen
"We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within." - Earl Nightingale
"Just one small tenant problem avoided can be priceless!" - John Nuzzolese, www.theLPA.com
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." - T. E. Lawrence
"Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future." - Denis Waitley
"One of the primary reasons why people struggle financially is because they cannot control their emotion of fear." - Robert Kiyosaki
"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude." - Zig Ziglar
"I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That's the thing. You can't just visualize and go eat a sandwich." - Jim Carrey
"There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self." - William James
"The fundamental level of success is doing the hard things first - If you go for the feared thing first, then the rest of the day is easy." - Robert G. Allen
"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in properous circumstances would have lain dormant." - Horace
"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." - Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker
"We all have the same amount of time in our day. How we spend our time is what ultimately defines us." - John Nuzzolese
"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." - Wayne Dyer
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." - Henry Ford
"Congratulations on your job at the bank! Yes. You work for the bank. After taxes, your largest expense is your mortgage and credit-card debt." - Robert Kiyosaki
"You affect your subconscious mind by verbal repetition." - W. Clement Stone
"Knock the "t" off the 'can't'" - George Reeves (Superman Actor 1914-1959)
"DON'T RENT!! if you're not willing to screen tenants carefully. It's just not worth it." - John Nuzzolese
"Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown." Ross Perot
"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn�t matter to me� Going to bed at night saying we�ve done something wonderful� that�s what matters to me." - Steve Jobs
"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Believe so strongly in your future that you won't allow timidity to stand in your way." - John Nuzzolese
"I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." - Mother Teresa
"Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."- Albert Einstein
"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln
"Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can." -- Willis R. Whitney.
"There is no failure- only feedback. It is impossible for me to lose. I know I can and will do it." - John Nuzzolese
"DON'T EVER GIVE UP!
If you can�t fly - then run
If you can�t run - then walk
If you can�t walk - then crawl
But whatever you do�
You MUST keep moving forward" - Martin Luther King Jr.
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The barrier to success is not something which exists in the real world; it is composed purely and simply of doubts about ability." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all." - Leo Rosten
" Q: What could possibly be worse than a bad tenant?
A: 2 bad tenants!" - John Nuzzolese
"Be fearful when people are greedy, be greedy when people are fearful". -Warren Buffet
"If the window of opportunity does not open by itself, YOU must open it." - John Nuzzolese
"God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board." - Mark Twain
If you want to survive as a landlord, "You can not run your business from your heart. You have to run it from the head." - Nick Koon, Hard Nose Landlording
"The only thing worse than having a rental house not rented is having it not rented to a good tenant." - John Nuzzolese
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"Fulfill your destiny and do what must be done." - John Nuzzolese
"It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate." - Donald Trump
"Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy." - Tony Robbins
"It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them." - Mark Twain
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." - Stephen Covey
"The world does not wait for me to get around to taking my opportunities. Opportunities are snatched, made & sometimes missed." - John Nuzzolese
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"He who wants it most and is willing to do what it takes, will get it." - John Nuzzolese
"Money is attracted to great ideas." - Robert G. Allen
"Words transform. Speak only with a good purpose. Say only things that serve you and others. Choose your words wisely." - Robert G. Allen
"Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." - Bill Gates
"Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession." - George Washington
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." - Abraham Lincoln
"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." - Christopher Reeve
"Action is the foundational key to all success." - Tony Robbins
"Without knowledge and a workable plan, you are gambling, with little or no chance of success." - Robert G. Allen
"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away." - Ronald Reagan
"There's only one direction you can coast." - Brian Tracy
"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill
"You know it's possible, so why not really do it?" - John Nuzzolese
"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" - Abraham Lincoln
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"To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless." - G. K. Chesterton
"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin
"The decisions that you make each day can actually catapult you to that next level of achievement." - Robert G. Allen
"Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, 'what is the most valuable use of my time right now?'" - Brian Tracy
"Screening tenants- My motto: 'Guilty until proven innocent.'" - John@TheLPA
"Why get an education? How do you convince anyone you are worth anything if you don't invest in yourself?" - Dr. Danielle Babb
"Fear melts when you take action towards a goal you really want." - Robert G. Allen
"Rich people plan for three generations, poor people plan for Saturday night." - Andrew Tobias
"Risk Is Our Business." - Captain James T. Kirk
"Action is the antidote to dispair." - Joan Baez
"Always do things right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. - Mark Twain
"Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make." - Donald Trump
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" - Mary Anne Radmacher
"You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." - Sam Levenson
"In two days from now, tomorrow will be yesterday. So, value every day and make it count." - John Nuzzolese
If you view all the things that happen to you, both good and bad, as opportunities, then you operate out of a higher level of consciousness. - Les Brown
"Careers like rockets, don't always take off on schedule. The key is to keep working on the engines." - Gary Sinise
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man." � Mark Twain
"The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can�t do." - Denis Waitley
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein
"Anyone can achieve their fullest potential. Who we are might be predetermined; but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never allow our fears or the expectations of others set the frontiers of our destiny. Your destiny can't be changed, but it can be challenged. 'Every man is born as many men, and dies as a single one.'" - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow." - Bill Gates
"If you're going to be thinking anyway, why not think big?" - Donald Trump
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." - Albert Schweitzer
"It shall be done." - Bill Peck (Main character from the "Go Getter")
"Routine brings results. A disorganized genius is no match for the average person with a daily routine." - Robert Allen
"95% of tenant problems can be eliminated in the screening process." - John Nuzzolese, TheLPA.com
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"Attack this New Year! I mean really ATTACK this whole next year and SUCCEED! After all, it�s going to attack you anyway, so why not GO FOR IT? It CAN be done!" � John Nuzzolese
"You are the masterpiece of your own life; you are the Michelangelo of your experience. The David that you are sculpting is you. And you do it with your thoughts." - Dr. Joe Vitale
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." - Buddha
"Don�t forget to pack your courage for your journey to greatness." - Dave Weinbaum
"To fly as fast as thought, to be anywhere there is, you must first begin by knowing that you have already arrived." - Richard Bach
"If people throw rocks at you, collect them and build something..." - Jim Garrett
"When someone tells me the is only one way to do things, it always lights a fire under my butt. My instant reaction is, I�m gonna prove you wrong." - Picabo Street
"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort." � Dave Weinbaum
"If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." - Donald Trump
"The best antidote to fear is knowledge." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." - Jim Rohn
"I found that when you start thinking and saying what you really want then your mind automatically shifts and pulls you in that direction. And sometimes it can be that simple, just a little twist in vocabulary that illustrates your attitude and philosophy." - Jim Rohn
"The quality of your life is directly determined by how you choose to spend your valueabe time, and with whom you choose to invest it." - John Nuzzolese
"With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose." - Wayne Dyer
"Get busy living or get busy dying." - Red, The Shawshank Redemption
"If you don't change, reality in the end forces that change upon you." - Stuart Wilde
"You think you know someone? You don't really know them until they've rented from you." - [email protected]
"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." - Les Brown
"When you�re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you�ll fight for the winners circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor." - Patrick Riley
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti
"When chill winds blow fierce, a friend acts like a torch, guiding you to safety, giving you warmth, comforting you till the storm is over." - Stuart and Linda Macfarlane
"One of my biggest fears is having a tenant with more landlord - tenant knowledge and expertise than I have." - John Nuzzolese
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"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. - Wayne Dyer
"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things." - Albert Einstein
"When a man is an island, he shouldn't burn bridges." - John Nuzzolese
"If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed." - Edmund Burke: Statesman, political theorist and philosopher
"People with goals succeed because they know where they are going... It's as simple as that." - Earl Nightingale
"Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." - Les Brown
"Stay on the financial offensive. Not on the defensive." - John Nuzzolese
"No matter how tumltous the sea of life might get, a canoe rowed with paddles of passion and purpose can never drown." Fasakin Tolulope
"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." � Edward Stanley: Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
"Perhaps the single most important element in mastering the techniques and tactics of racing is experience. But once you have the fundamentals, acquiring the experience is a matter of time." - Greg LeMond
"A mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimension." - Unknown
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither." - Thomas Jefferson
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." - Christopher Reeve
"Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine. - Elvis Presley
"Many receive advice, only the wise profit by it." - John's Chinese fortune cookie
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." � Lou Holtz: Former football coach, author, motivational speaker
"The LPA loves tenants... as long as they are good." - Jack Klein, LPA member
"Tenants are like wild animals. They can be very dangerous if they sense your fear." - John Nuzzolese
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"I will persist until I succeed.
I was not delivered into this world into defeat, nor does failure course through my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep.
The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.
I will persist until I succeed."
- From the ancient scroll marked lll in the book, The Greatest Salesman In the World
"The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them. - Les Brown
"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot." Personal Achievement Coach, Michael Altshuler
"Money is not worth dying for. I know, because years ago, while nearly a million dollars in debt, suicide was an option. Rather than run, rich dad suggested I write down all the mistakes I made and then seek help. If I made accounting mistakes, I talked to an accountant. If there was a legal mistake, I talked to an attorney. That was my way out. That is how I got smarter." -Robert Kiyosaki
"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself." � Robert Collier
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson
"The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives." - Anthony Robbins
"I learned that the easiest and cheapest eviction is the one when the tenants never get possession of your property!" - John Nuzzolese
"Here's something pompous - you take your day and artistically create it, so every moment has an artistic flavor." - William Shatner
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"You'll have time to rest when you're dead." - Robert De Niro
"Hey Dad, what�s the secret to success?"
"This is no 'secret', but is certainly an important 'key' to success. When you put the best into yourself, you�ll be able to get the best out of yourself. This concerns everything from food & diet, to education and choices of who your friends are." � John Nuzzolese
"I know the landlord business can be a tough job, but easy jobs don't pay well." - Lou C., LPA Member
"Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control." - Richard Kline
"Many an optimist has become rich by buying out a pessimist." Robert G. Allen
"As an investor, watch for opportunity. It may not be far away. As a landlord, be as vigilant as ever and always screen carefully!" - John Nuzzolese
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to he man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it... You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"He who has overcome his fears will truly be free." - Aristotle
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"If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self." - Napoleon Hill
"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped." - Anthony Robbins
"Nobody starts at the top except a hole digger, however at some point he has to get to the bottom." - Steve Mugweru, AL
"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." - Donald Kendall
"Tenants show their true colors in pressure situations." - John Nuzzolese
"Expensive quality work doesn't cost more - it pays." - Louis C.
"Other people's opinion of you does not have to become your reality." - Les Brown
"Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity." - Elvis Presley
"Count your blessings, not your pennies!" - John Nuzzolese
"A ball player has to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family has ever made the big leagues." - Joe Dimaggio
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." - Submitted by Susan C.
"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous" -Goethe
"Each person is the universe from a particular perspective." - Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido.
"The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come." - Lee Iacocca
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain
"How much did your last tenant problem cost you?"
- John Nuzzolese, The Landlord Protection Agency
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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle
"That consciousness is everything and that all things begin with a thought. That we are responsible for our own fate, we reap what we sow, we get what we give, we pull in what we put out. I know these things for sure." - Madonna
"The man who scrimps, spends the most." - Rob Salamida
"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer." � Ralph Waldo Emerson
"When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it." � Jim Rohn: Motivational speaker, philosopher, author
"Don�t confuse activity with accomplishment." - Submitted by Dale Kelsey
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." - John F. Kennedy
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"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln
"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." - Thomas Jefferson
"You miss a 100 percent of the shots you don�t take." - Wayne Gretzky
"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win." - Zig Ziglar
"Become the change you want to see - those are words I live by." - Oprah Winfrey
"Succeeding is not luck - it is a decision." - J. Garrett
"Failure to recognize my opportunities is the greatest mistake I made. " - J. Garrett
"Life is a high rise building without an elevator. Welfare is on the ground floor, success is on the fifth floor and integrity is on the tenth floor." - J. Garrett
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
- Albert Einstein
"The best way to avoid tenant problems is to avoid problem tenants."
- John @ The Landlord Protection Agency, Inc.
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"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."
- Francis Bacon
"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." - George Herman "Babe" Ruth
"Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." - General George Patten
"I will prepare and some day my chance will come." - Abraham Lincoln
"It is never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot
"I believe you make your day. You make your life. So much of it is all perception, and this is the form that I built for myself. I have to accept it and work within those compounds, and it's up to me." - Brad Pitt
"Everyone is ready to win, few are prepared." - Jim Garrett, Roanoke Rapids, NC
"Everybody talks about wanting to change things and help and fix, but ultimately all you can do is fix yourself. And that's a lot. Because if you can fix yourself, it has a ripple effect." - Rob Reiner
"Never bite the hand that feeds you, because it will be the same hand that chokes you to death!!!!" - DONLUCIANO REGGALLO
"Confidence in yourself will get you anything, lack there of will get you nowhere." - Sarah Thurman
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"All the bad things in life are like alarm clocks, you just gotta shut 'em off and get back up" - Andrew Strobridge
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."- Dale Carnegie
"Purpose, Passion and Desire cannot be achieved or acquired by deceit."- By Dan Auito
"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford
"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." - Socrates
"From the time I was a kid, I always knew something was going to happen to me. Didn't know exactly what." - Elvis Presley
"It�s always fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney
"In the landlord business, the cheap way is often the more expensive way in the long run."
- [email protected]
Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948, Indian Political, Spiritual Leader) - Submitted By Pamela
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"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." - Dale Carnegie - Submitted By Pamela
"Freedom and Property Rights are inseparable. You can't have one without the other." - George Washington
"You can't keep milking a cow without feeding it." - Frank Presti
"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up." --- Paul Valery, French Poet
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson
"You should live everyday like it's your birthday." - Paris Hilton
"Life is full of risks anyway, why not take them? " - Lindsay Lohan
"Fight the fear, don't fear the fight!" - BaZ
"Ignorance is not an extension of time" - R. G. Wells
"Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay." - Simone de Beauvoir
"A mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to it's original dimension." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
"With great power must also come great responsibility." - The Amazing Spider-man
"Life is not fair. If you are expecting life to be fair to you, you are in for a future of disappointment. You must make your future and your life so that you are happy with it." - John Nuzzolese, TheLPA.com
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"There are three kinds of people in this world: The wills, the won'ts and the cants. The first accomplish everything; the second oppose everything; the third fail in everything." - Eclectic Magazine
"There is no failure. Only feedback." - Robert G. Allen
"Luck: Labor Under Correct Knowledge." - Unknown - Submitted By John N.
"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." - Socrates
"You can take my factories, burn up my buildings, but give me my people and I'll build the business right back again." - Henry Ford
"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." - Earl Nightingale
"Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it." - George Halas, former ballplayer, coach, and founder of the Chicago Bears
"If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner." - Zig Ziglar
"If you blame others for your failures, do you also credit them for your successes?"
"If you're too busy to help someone, you're too busy." - Submitted By Deana Nuzzolese
"You must lose everything in order to gain anything." - Brad Pitt
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"Bulls make money. Bears make money. Hogs get slaughtered." - Lou C., BVR
"If thy friends be of better quality than thyself, thou mayest be sure of two things; first, they will be more careful to keep thy counsel, because they have more to lose than thou hast; the second, they will esteem thee for thyself, and not for that which thou dost possess." - Sir Walter Raleigh
"You have to accept whatever comes and the important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best you have to give." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has." - Henry Ward Beecher
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing � that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar
"I�ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened." - Mark Twain
"People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine." - Brian Tracy
"Men take only their needs into consideration- - never their abilities." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"It isn't the common man at all who is important: it's the uncommon man." - Lady Nancy Astor
"Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it, and spend it rather than invest it." - Jim Rohn
"Fear of rejection is a sign of neediness - specifically, the need to be liked." - Jim Camp
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Ann Landers
"I think of doing a series as very hard work. But then I've talked to coal miners, and that's really hard work." - William Shatner
"I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live." - Socrates
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aesop
"For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will." - Henri Frederic Amiel
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
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"Fail to prepare; Prepare to fail." - Anonomous
"I still feel like I gotta prove something. There are a lot of people hoping I fail. But I like that. I need to be hated." - Howard Stern
"The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out." - Chinese Proverb
"Necessity is the mother of invention." - Anonymous
"Go for the moon. If you don't get it, you'll still be heading for a star. Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of the creative effort. " - Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure." - Napoleon Hill
"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."- Thomas Paine
"Learning is a treasure which accompanies its owner everywhere." - Anonymous
"Twenty-three is old. It's almost 25, which is like almost mid-20s."
- Jessica Simpson
"Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last." - Marcus Aurelius
"Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought." - Henri Bergson
"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke." - Will Rogers
"You can't think and hit at the same time." - Yogi Berra
"The game isn't over till it's over." - Yogi Berra
"Ultimately, at the end of the day, you couldn't say you were better than the other person because you knew you had a secret. You knew you had cheated." Cal Ripkin Jr.
"Character is much easier kept than recovered." - Thomas Paine
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"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." - William Jennings Bryan
"Man is what he believes." - Anton Chekhov
"The only thing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can�t achieve it." - Unknown
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." -Winston Churchill
"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." - Michael Jordan
"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." - Thomas Edison
"You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain." - Leo Durocher
"To be honest, when I was writing these stories a million years ago, I never thought about movies at all one way or another. It would have seemed almost miraculous for these things to be movies someday. To me, they were just comic books that I hoped would sell so I could keep my job." - Stan Lee, Creator of Spiderman
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"Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
Ben Franklin
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." - Helen Keller
"Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."
John F. Kennedy
"The impossible is often the untried."
Jim Goodwin
"Character is destiny."
Heraclitus
"Before success comes in any man's life, he's sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That's exactly what the majority of men do." - Napoleon Hill
"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us."
Stephen Covey
"Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning." - Denis Waitley
"Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. "
Leonard Nimoy
"As life is action and passion, it is required of man that he should share the passion and action of his time, at peril of being judged not to have lived."
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
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"You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth." - Henrik Isben
"Character is much easier kept than recovered." - Thomas Paine
"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."
"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."
"You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down."
"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred."
"You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence."
"You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."
- Alleged quotes from Abraham Lincoln published in 1942 by William J. H. Boetcker
"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao-Tzu
"Dogs are my favorite people." - Richard Dean Anderson
"You are not paid to work hard. In fact, you are not paid for effort at all. You are paid for results. It's not what you do; it's what you get done." - Larry Winget
"If you aren't going all the way, why go at all?" - Joe Namath
"It may be those who do most, dream most."
Stephen Leacock
"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything."
Bishop W.C. Magee
"I was built for the long run, not for the short dash, I guess." - William Shatner
"There are too many people that depend on me. I'm too obligated. I'm in too far to get out."- Elvis Presley
"Before I get in the ring, I'd have already won or lost it out on the road. The real part is won or lost somewhere far away from witnesses-behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali
"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." - Dale Carnegie
"To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different."
Marchant
"If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost." - Zig Ziglar
"How much did your last tenant problem cost you?"
- John Nuzzolese, The Landlord Protection Agency
| i don't know |
Which element is present in all acids? | Campbell Biology: Chapter 4 Test Preparation Flashcards | Easy Notecards
The complexity and variety of organic molecules is due to
A) the chemical versatility of carbon atoms.
B) the variety of rare elements in organic molecules.
C) the fact that they can be synthesized only in living organisms.
D) their interaction with water.
E) their tremendously large sizes.
Answer: A
3
The experimental approach taken in current biological investigations presumes that
A) simple organic compounds can be synthesized in the laboratory from inorganic precursors, but complex organic compounds like carbohydrates and proteins can only be synthesized by living organisms.
B) a life force ultimately controls the activities of living organisms and this life force cannot be studied by physical or chemical methods.
C) although a life force, or vitalism, exists in living organisms, this life force cannot be studied by physical or chemical methods.
D) living organisms are composed of the same elements present in nonliving things, plus a few special trace elements found only in living organisms or their products.
E) living organisms can be understood in terms of the same physical and chemical laws that can be used to explain all natural phenomena.
Answer: E
Differences among organisms are caused by
A) large differences in elemental composition from organism to organism.
B) differences in the types and relative amounts of organic molecules synthesized by each organism.
C) differences in the elements that bond with carbon in each organism.
D) differences in the sizes of the organic molecules in each organism.
E) differences in inorganic compounds present in each organism.
Answer: B
5
Which of the following people was the first to synthesize an organic compound, urea, from inorganic starting materials?
A) Stanley Miller
Stanley Miller's 1953 experiments proved that
A) life arose on Earth from simple inorganic molecules.
B) organic molecules can be synthesized abiotically under conditions that may have existed on early Earth.
C) life arose on Earth from simple organic molecules, with energy from lightning and volcanoes.
D) the conditions on early Earth were conducive to the origin of life.
E) the conditions on early Earth were conducive to the abiotic synthesis of organic molecules.
Answer: B
7
Hermann Kolbe's synthesis of an organic compound, acetic acid, from inorganic substances that had been prepared directly from pure elements was a significant milestone for what reason?
A) It solved an industrial shortage of acetic acid.
B) It proved that organic compounds could be synthesized from inorganic compounds.
C) It disproved the concept of vitalism.
D) It showed that life originated from simple inorganic chemicals.
E) It proved that organic compounds could be synthesized from inorganic compounds and disproved the concept of vitalism.
Answer: E
Stanley Miller's 1953 experiments assumed that early Earth's atmosphere contained
A) hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, hydrogen gas, and water vapor.
B) ammonia, methane, hydrogen gas, and water vapor.
C) ammonia, methane, oxygen gas, and water vapor.
D) amino acids, methane, hydrogen cyanide, and water vapor.
E) methane, formaldehyde, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.
Answer: B
9
When Stanley Miller applied heat and electrical sparks to a mixture of simple inorganic compounds such as methane, hydrogen gas, ammonia, and water vapor, what compounds were produced?
A) mostly amino acids
B) only simple organic compounds such as formaldehyde and cyanide
C) mostly hydrocarbons
D) only simple inorganic compounds
E) both simple organic compounds and more complex organic compounds such as amino acids and hydrocarbons
Answer: E
D) covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds
E) ionic bonds, covalent bonds, and hydrogen bonds
Answer: C
Which of the following statements best describes the carbon atoms present in a seed-eating bird?
A) They were incorporated into organic molecules by plants.
B) They were processed into sugars through photosynthesis.
C) They are ultimately derived from carbon dioxide.
D) They were incorporated into organic molecules by plants, and they are ultimately derived from carbon dioxide.
E) They were incorporated into organic molecules by plants, they were processed into sugars through photosynthesis, and they are ultimately derived from carbon dioxide.
Answer: E
Which of the following statements best describes the carbon atoms present in a seed-eating bird?
A) Inorganic carbon atoms in the seeds were incorporated into organic molecules by the bird.
B) The carbon atoms ultimately came from the soil.
C) The carbon atoms are ultimately derived from coal.
D) The carbon atoms ultimately came from carbon dioxide incorporated into sugars through photosynthesis.
E) The carbon atoms ultimately came from simple organic compounds that formed abiotically from inorganic carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms.
Answer: D
Which of the following statements correctly describes cis-trans isomers?
A) They have variations in arrangement around a double bond.
B) They have an asymmetric carbon that makes them mirror images.
C) They have the same chemical properties.
D) They have different molecular formulas.
E) Their atoms and bonds are arranged in different sequences.
Answer: A
17
Research indicates that ibuprofen, a drug used to relieve inflammation and pain, is a mixture of two enantiomers; that is, molecules that
A) have identical chemical formulas but differ in the branching of their carbon skeletons.
B) are mirror images of one another.
C) exist in either linear chain or ring forms.
D) differ in the location of their double bonds.
E) differ in the arrangement of atoms around their double bonds.
Answer: B
18
What determines whether a carbon atom's covalent bonds to other atoms are in a tetrahedral configuration or a planar configuration?
A) the presence or absence of bonds with oxygen atoms
B) the presence or absence of double bonds between the carbon atom and other atoms
C) the polarity of the covalent bonds between carbon and other atoms
D) the presence or absence of bonds with nitrogen atoms
E) the solvent that the organic molecule is dissolved in
Answer: B
19
Compared to a hydrocarbon chain where all the carbon atoms are linked by single bonds, a hydrocarbon chain with the same number of carbon atoms, but with one or more double bonds, will
A) be more flexible in structure.
B) be more constrained in structure.
C) be more polar.
D) have more hydrogen atoms.
E) have fewer structurally distinct isomers.
Answer: B
20
Organic molecules with only hydrogens and five carbon atoms can have different structures in all of the following ways except
A) by branching of the carbon skeleton.
B) by varying the number of double bonds between carbon atoms.
C) by varying the position of double bonds between carbon atoms.
D) by forming a ring.
E) by forming enantiomers.
Answer: E
21
A compound contains hydroxyl groups as its predominant functional group. Which of the following statements is true concerning this compound?
A) It lacks an asymmetric carbon, and it is probably a fat or lipid.
B) It should dissolve in water.
C) It should dissolve in a nonpolar solvent.
D) It won't form hydrogen bonds with water.
E) It is hydrophobic.
E) enantiomers of each other.
Answer: B
28
Testosterone and estradiol are male and female sex hormones, respectively, in many vertebrates. In what way(s) do these molecules differ from each other?
A) Testosterone and estradiol are structural isomers but have the same molecular formula.
B) Testosterone and estradiol are cis-trans isomers but have the same molecular formula.
C) Testosterone and estradiol have different functional groups attached to the same carbon skeleton.
D) Testosterone and estradiol have distinctly different chemical structures, with one including four fused rings of carbon atoms, while the other has three rings.
E) Testosterone and estradiol are enantiomers of the same organic molecule.
Answer: C
Answer: E
34
Three or four of the following illustrations depict different structural isomers of the organic compound with molecular formula C₆H₁₄. For clarity, only the carbon skeletons are shown; hydrogen atoms that would be attached to the carbons have been omitted. Which one, if any, is NOT a structural isomer of this compound?
[SEE IMAGE FOR CHOICES]
Answer: C
35
Which of the pairs of molecular structures shown below depict enantiomers (enantiomeric forms) of the same molecule?
[SEE IMAGE FOR CHOICES]
Answer: D
36
Which of the pairs of molecular structures shown below do NOT depict enantiomers (enantiomeric forms) of the same molecule?
[SEE IMAGE FOR CHOICES]
| Hydrogen |
In the Lake District, which pass joins Windemere to Ullswater? | The Chemical Basis for Life
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The Chemical Basis for Life
Carbon is the most important element to living things because it can form many different kinds of bonds and form essential compounds.
Learning Objective
Explain the properties of carbon that allow it to serve as a building block for biomolecules
Key Points
All living things contain carbon in some form.
Carbon is the primary component of macromolecules , including proteins , lipids , nucleic acids, and carbohydrates .
Carbon's molecular structure allows it to bond in many different ways and with many different elements .
The carbon cycle shows how carbon moves through the living and non-living parts of the environment.
Terms
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Full Text
Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe and is the building block of life on earth. On earth, carbon circulates through the land, ocean, and atmosphere, creating what is known as the Carbon Cycle. This global carbon cycle can be divided further into two separate cycles: the geological carbon cycles takes place over millions of years, whereas the biological or physical carbon cycle takes place from days to thousands of years. In a nonliving environment, carbon can exist as carbon dioxide (CO2), carbonate rocks, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and dead organic matter. Plants and algae convert carbon dioxide to organic matter through the process of photosynthesis , the energy of light.
All living things contain carbon in some form, and carbon is the primary component of macromolecules, including proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. Carbon exists in many forms in this leaf, including in the cellulose to form the leaf's structure and in chlorophyll, the pigment which makes the leaf green.
Carbon is Important to Life
In its metabolism of food and respiration , an animal consumes glucose (C6H12O6), which combines with oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and energy, which is given off as heat. The animal has no need for the carbon dioxide and releases it into the atmosphere. A plant, on the other hand, uses the opposite reaction of an animal through photosynthesis. It intakes carbon dioxide, water, and energy from sunlight to make its own glucose and oxygen gas. The glucose is used for chemical energy , which the plant metabolizes in a similar way to an animal. The plant then emits the remaining oxygen into the environment.
Cells are made of many complex molecules called macromolecules, which include proteins, nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), carbohydrates, and lipids. The macromolecules are a subset of organic molecules (any carbon-containing liquid, solid, or gas) that are especially important for life. The fundamental component for all of these macromolecules is carbon. The carbon atom has unique properties that allow it to form covalent bonds to as many as four different atoms, making this versatile element ideal to serve as the basic structural component, or "backbone," of the macromolecules.
Structure of Carbon
Individual carbon atoms have an incomplete outermost electron shell . With an atomic number of 6 (six electrons and six protons), the first two electrons fill the inner shell, leaving four in the second shell. Therefore, carbon atoms can form up to four covalent bonds with other atoms to satisfy the octet rule . The methane molecule provides an example: it has the chemical formula CH4. Each of its four hydrogen atoms forms a single covalent bond with the carbon atom by sharing a pair of electrons. This results in a filled outermost shell.
| i don't know |
Which engineer first used the term Horsepower? | Explanation-and-history-of-horsepower
General Reference
Explanation-and-history-of-horsepower
The term 'horse power' is largely credited to James Watt, in the late 1700s. Watt was a Scottish engineer who invented a number of improvements to steam engines, which he then (in partnership) began to manufacture and sell (the first units going into service in 1776).
Most of Watt's potential clients were using horses, so he soon found that in order to market his engines, he needed to express the power of his engines in terms of how many horses a given engine would replace. For this purpose, he first calculated the average power of a horse, which he termed 'horsepower'. He then specified for each of his engines how much 'horsepower' it had (i.e. of how many horses it had the equivalent power of). Due to the success of his steam engine business, the term 'horsepower' came to be recognized. His competitors and other machine manufacturers copied his approach, also expressing the power of their engines in 'horsepower', which resulted in it becoming a standard measure of power.
To calculate the force of a horse, Watt first observed that a common use of horses was to walk in a circle, pushing a beam attached to a mill wheel (see following illustration). He then noted that the circle that the horse would walk was typically about 12 feet in radius, so the distance around the circle (circumference) would be about 75 feet (2.4 × 2π × 12). He also measured that a horse would go around the circle an average of 144 times per hour and he judged that as the horse walked it pulled with a force of about 180 pounds. Multiplying this out and then rounding off, he ended up with a figure of 33,000 foot-pounds per minute.
Although Watt was the first to widely publicize a measure of horse power, he was not the first to come up with the idea. In 1702 (almost a century earlier), Thomas Savery wrote in The Miner's Friend about the idea of expressing the power of engines in terms of horse equivalents. However, it was Watt who first took the idea and introduced it into widespread use.
Other people have measured the power of horses and ended up with somewhat different figures; John Smeaton estimated it at 22,916 foot-pounds/minute and John Desaguliers produced a figure of 27,500 foot-pounds/minute. However, the figure produced by Watt was accepted as the standard definition of horsepower.
Alternative Histories
Some historians have disputed the details of how Watt calculated the power of a horse. For example, some say that he actually calculated the power of a pit pony (a type of pony commonly used in UK mining) and then added 50% to determine the power of a horse. Consequently, the exact method which Watt used to calculate the value of a 'horse power' is open to dispute, but the remaining historical details are well documented and accepted.
Horse Equivalents
The actual power which a horse can exert depends largely on the duration over which the horse must work. Watt's calculation was based on a 4-hour working shift, where the horse would then rest before working again. If a horse works for very short periods, it can exert higher levels of force. For example, a horse can exert the equivalent of up to 15 horsepower, if the effort is just a few seconds. Alternatively, if a horse has long working shifts, the amount of force it exerts over this longer period will be less.
On the other hand, a machine works continuously, producing the same level of power at all times. So, a 1-horsepower machine working 24 hours a day will do 3 times as much work as a horse working two 4-hour shifts. Consequently, taking into account the working hours of a horse per day, a machine which is in continuous use would be equal to about three times as many horses as its specified horsepower would indicate. For example, in this case a machine of 2 horsepower would in fact replace about 6 horses (each of which work an average of 8 hours per day).
Note also that the term horsepower is an approximate calculation for a working horse. Depending on various factors (race, health, size, condition, age, application), the actual power and working capability of the individual horse could be higher or lower than 1 horsepower.
| James Watt |
In which film did Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr have a passionate clinch on a beach? | Explaining the Fundamental Measures of Engine Performance in Plain English
By Joe Pettit
This is the first installment of a new series in Sport Truck devoted to bringing new enthusiasts up to speed on technical issues that tend to get distorted in the translation from engineers to our enthusiast readership. The present installment is a good case in point. We all use horsepower and torque, and for the most part we believe we know what these terms mean. But how accurate is that belief? What is the difference between a foot-pound and a pound-foot? And what does a foot-pound have to do with horsepower? We'll examine and explain this and other technical concepts in this series in easy to understand terms.
In addition, we'll include real world, useful applications of this information. For example, as we explain in our current offering, there are specific areas of an engine you can alter to increase the power and force output of an internal combustion engine. Once you're aware of those, then you can make educated changes to your engine combination that will actually give you the desired result. We hope you find the information entertaining, informative, and useful.
to understand horsepower and torque, we need first to understand a few concepts used in developing the units of horsepower and torque. These are the concepts of mass, force, work, power, and, yes, torque.
Mass: Mass is essentially the measure of how much matter is in an object. To find the mass of an object, you can divide its weight by the force of gravity or multiply its mass by the force of gravity to get its weight. Now that we've introduced the concept of force in order to explain mass, it's time to explore the concept of force.
Force: Just as we used force to help define mass, we'll use mass to help define force. We already discussed the relationship of weight to mass as the application of the force of gravity to a mass. There are two points of interest about the force of gravity that will help us understand both mass and force. First, the force of gravity pulls you toward the center of the Earth, and second, that force is proportional to your mass. The more matter you contain, the greater the force of Earth's gravity on you. In other words, the more massive you are, the more you weigh, at least when you're near a monstrously larger mass such as a planet or a moon.
Weight is a measure of the force of gravity. Another way of looking at it is that force causes acceleration. When you put an object on a scale, it applies a force to the springs in the scale compressing them. The amount of compression is an indication of the force exerted on the mass.
These observations are so obvious that their importance were overlooked for millennia until Isaac Newton formulated these relationships into his Second Law of gravity, from where the concepts of horsepower and torque come from, as well as much of the mechanics that govern the performance of your machine. Newton's Second Law states that the acceleration (A) of an object is directly proportional to the force (F) applied, and inversely proportional to the object's mass (M). In other words, the more force applied to an object, the greater the rate of acceleration. Also, the more massive an object the lower the rate of acceleration. Newton's Second Law is best known as an equation: F = MA, or force equals mass times acceleration.
Work: The definition of work is the application of a force over a distance. In order to make the concept of work a measurable and useful term, the distance only counts if it is in the direction of the force you apply. For example, lifting a 10-pound weight and putting it on a rack is an example of work. The force is the weight (10 pounds) and the distance is the height of the rack from the floor. If you lift the weight, carry it across the room, and put it on a rack, technically you haven't done any more work because the force of gravity is vertical and the transit across the room was horizontal.
The foot-pound, or ft-lb (distance times force), is the unit of work (it's also the unit of energy because work and energy are very similar) in the English gravitational system of measurement that we use. It is the work done by a force of 1 pound applied through a distance of 1 foot. So if you lift a 1-pound weight 1 foot, you've done 1 foot-pound worth of work. If you lift 2 pounds 2 feet, you've done 4 ft-lb of work.
The term foot-pound also designates units of torque. As a convenience, engineers typically reverse the order of the torque unit to pound-foot in order to distinguish it from the work unit. The order, foot-pounds or pounds-foot, doesn't matter because the terms are multiplied (2x1=1x2) and therefore equivalent.
Torque: Torque is a force that causes objects to rotate, spin, or turn. Any time you tighten a nut with a wrench you generate torque. As we just discussed above, the unit of torque is pound-feet. Just as with units of work, torque units contain quantities of distance and force. You can calculate torque by multiplying the force by the distance to fulcrum. Using the example of a wrench, if it is 1-foot long and you put 100 pounds of force on it, you are generating 100 lb-ft of torque. A 2-foot wrench requires only 50 pounds of force at the end to generate 100 lb-ft of torque.
Power: Power measures how fast work is done. Generating 100 lb-ft of torque using a 2-foot-long wrench is relatively easy, but could you keep that force applied spinning the wrench at 4,000 rpm? That's what your truck's engine does. So power has a work unit (force times distance) divided by a time unit. For example, 1 hp is 33,000 foot-pound of work each minute.
Horsepower: What is it?
Horsepower is a term invented by the engineer James Watt. In his capacity as an engineer in England, he needed a way to calculate the power available from horses for work. His measurements determined that, on average, one horse exerted a 180-pound force on a 12-foot lever attached to a capstan that it walked around. The distance around the circle (circumference) was a little more than 75 feet, and the horse made 2.4 revolutions per minute for a speed of about 181 feet per minute. Multiplying the 180-pound force exerted by the horse by the distance traveled in one minute gave him 32,580 ft-lb per minute, which he then rounded up to 33,000 foot-pounds of work in one minute to be his measure of 1 hp.
To help you get your head around this, think of it this way: According to Jimmy Watt, one horse can do 33,000 foot-pounds of work every minute. That means a horse generating 1 hp can raise 330 pounds 100 feet in one minute, 33 pounds 1,000 feet in one minute, or 1,000 pounds 33 feet in one minute. It doesn't matter what combination of feet and pounds; as long as the product equals 33,000 foot-pounds in one minute you have 1 hp. You can even express horsepower in ft-lb/second by dividing each term by the 60 seconds in the minute. When you do that you find that 1 hp equals 550 ft-lb/second. It's in this form that horsepower is most conveniently calculated from engine torque.
Here is the equation that calculates engine torque:
HP=RPM x Torque/5252
Horsepower: How To Get It
As described in the equation above, engines generate horsepower by the pressure in the combustion chamber acting on the piston top to force it down the bore in order to make the crankshaft spin. This generates a torque force that allows work to be done at a rate dependent on the engine's speed and the magnitude of the torque.
Looking deeper into the formula for horsepower, we find there are four variables that contribute to the power generation in an internal combustion engine. They are:
· Mean effective pressure acting on the piston top. · The stroke length of the crankshaft. · The square area of the piston top. · The number of power strokes per minute.
The following equation explains and shows the relationship of how these variables influence horsepower output of a four-stroke internal combustion engine:
HP= MEP x CID x RPM/33,000 x 12 x 2
Here's a quick explanation of the relationship of the values of this formula. MEP is the theoretical mean effective pressure acting on the piston top through its stroke. Notice that cylinder pressure is divided by the work of 1 hp (33,000 ft-lb). These are the force units. Cubic inch displacement (CID) reflects piston top area and the crankshaft's stroke length, which is divided by 12 to convert the value to feet. And finally, the number of power strokes per minute for a four-stroke engine is the term RPM/2 because the cylinder fires every other revolution.
This equation predicts theoretical horsepower, not brake horsepower. It does not account for the frictional power losses of the engine. When you measure on an engine dyno, you measure the net power output of the engine after all losses. The reason it's good to know the math and physical reasoning behind power generation is that it shows you exactly where to make changes to improve the performance of your engine. If you work with the equation, you'll see that to increase power output you have to increase one of these variables. In other words, you have to increase the mean effective pressure in the cylinders, the stroke, the bore size, or the engine speed.
The most common approach is to increase cylinder pressure in order to increases torque output. To do this you need to add more air and fuel to the combustion chamber and ignite it. That's why tuned intake manifolds, superchargers, turbochargers, and nitrous systems work and part of the reason free-flowing intakes and exhausts work as well. Another popular way to obtain more horsepower is to build a bigger engine. The same cylinder pressure acting on a larger piston surface or through a longer stroke will make more power. And finally, you can choose components that will allow your engine to spin very quickly, producing more power strokes per minute in order to increase power. This approach requires tuning the intake and exhaust flow capability to be tuned so the cylinders have enough fuel and air to generate adequate torque at high engine speeds and tends to reduce torque and power at lower engine speeds.
Going From Torque To Horsepower
Torque is a force that we measure through the distance of a lever arm. But four-stroke internal combustion engines have to spin to make torque and, more importantly, they have to spin in order to do any work, moving your rig down the road for example. The equation that describes the relationship of force at the flywheel, engine speed, and work expressed as horsepower follows:
Torque= (5252 x HP)/RPM
What is of interest is the conversion factor 5252. We reach that number when we divide Watt's 33,000 ft-lb/minute of work by the distance that the end of a 1-foot lever arm travels in one revolution of the engine, which happens to be 6.2831 feet. When we divide 33,000 ft-lb/minute of work by the distance of our lever arm for measuring a force (torque), we're beginning to convert force into power. To define power you need a time unit. The time unit is supplied when we factor in the engine speed in revolutions per minute (rpm). This is how the equations that describe horsepower and torque convert the constant force at the end of a 1-foot lever arm (lb-ft of torque) into a measure of how fast work is done (horsepower).
They were generated in a PC Dyno using stock heads and camshaft. 355 4.030 x 3.480 393ftlbs@3000rpm 303hp@4800rpm 377 4.155 x 3.480 413ftlbs@3000rpm 305hp@4800rpm 383 4.030 x 3.750 425ftlbs@2000rpm 301hp@4200rpm 406 4.155 x 3.750 452ftlbs@2000rpm 301hp@4000rpm Higher performance cam and heads. 355 358ftlbs@4500 361hp@6000 (340@5000) 377 375ftlbs@4500 364hp@5500 383 376ftlbs@3500 361hp@5000 406 391ftlbs@4000 363hp@5500 What is really clear from looking at these number is more cubic inches make more power Here is the biggest small block I build 434 408ftlbs@4000 360hp@5000 You will see a bigger bore makes more horsepower and a longer stroke makes more torque. The differences are small but can be increased with further up grades. Going from a 355 to 383 added 28cid 32ftlbs & 0hp on a stock motor and 18ftlbs & 0hp on a big cam/head combo The 377 added 22cid 20ftlbs & 2hp and 17ftlbs & 3hp In the real world we make a little more power than these numbers because the camshafts and heads are better than those in the computer simulation dyno. But you will see the increasing the bore size increased horsepower where as stroke increased torque. The reason 377s are used in sprint cars are a maximum cid rule, and higher RPM motors make more horsepower, and these cars operate at higher RPMs. Using a 383 would not be taking advantage of the stronger torque because the engine would be revving too fast, and as a result not making enough torque or horsepower. To exaggerate the bore/stroker torque/horsepower relationship look at this motor 330cid 4.185 x 3.00 372ftlbs@3500 307@5000 stock 497ftlbs@6000 640@8500 everything thrown at it 377 with everything 540ftlbs@5500 630@8000 From this illustration you can see that short stroke motor likes RPM and the extra RPM makes more HP not Torque.
| i don't know |
Which isolated British island is half way between Easter Island and Tahiti? | Tahiti to Easter Island
Tahiti to Easter Island
October 2003
OK, right off the bat we confess: this wasn't a cruise aboard Raven. But it was a cruise, albeit aboard a small, expedition-type cruise ship called Clipper Odyssey, and we did go to some pretty exotic places and had a great time. We hope this report will bring a little warmth to these dark winter days.
We had never taken an organized trip before, much less on a cruise ship, perish the thought. But this cruise, titled a little pretentiously "Beyond Rapa Nui II" and organized by a Seattle company named Zegrahm (click for their website), seemed like the place and time to give it a shot. Besides, it would take us to some South Pacific islands that are tough to reach in a sailboat, including Easter and Pitcairn.
This log update is going to be mostly a photo gallery, as the Zegrahm website has an excellent log ( click here ) of the full cruise. We'll just add a little of our own perspective.
Don't forget: Click on any photo to see it full size.
Clipper Odyssey and Zegrahm
After flying to Tahiti, we boarded the ship at the commercial dock in Papeete, to the music of a Tahitian dance troupe. This was a bit of warm nostalgia for us, since we spent a month there last year during Heiva (see the Tahiti and Moorea log). We rode on le truck, changed some money, and visited the wonderful market for a flower crown and a pareo for Signe. We felt like old hands when the tour took us on a round-the-island trip to familiar places.
Clipper Odyssey seemed huge compared to Raven, but next to the real cruise ship across the dock, it looked like a dinghy. Our cabin was on the top deck -- a disadvantage because of the extra motion at sea, it turned out later -- and had a tiny little terrace with just enough room for a couple of chairs. There were only 80 of us passengers and a crew of cheery and competent Filipinos who outnumbered us.
In addition, the ship carried several Zegrahm's organizers, leaders, and lecturers. We had a fish guy (easier to say than ichthyologist), a bird guy (there were some varsity birders, all sporting their "life lists" among the passengers), an oceans and reefs guy, an archeologist, and a literature guy who told tales and recited poems about the storied South Pacific. All the days were action-packed and, if there was a free hour, we would have a lecture on some pertinent subject.
Following is a very short version of a cruise that we thoroughly enjoyed.
Tahiti and Moorea
Even though this was a revisit for us, there's no getting around the beauty of the bays of Moorea. This is when Jan figured out how to shoot panoramic shots with our new digital camera, so brace yourself for a panoramic overload!
Austral Islands
We visited Tubuai, Raivavae, and Rapa in this group of islands, part of France Polynesia. They're several hundred miles south of Tahiti, more subtropical in climate, and far less used to tourists. They get a few yachts every year but never any cruise ships, so our arrival was
the event of the year on
each island. We received big receptions everywhere, with music, dancers, buffets of native delicacies, and flowered crowns or leis.
Rapa was the most rugged and remote island, and the whole island turned out to greet and entertain us. School was canceled for the day and locals and guests enjoyed a performance by the local dancers with the school teacher as an emcee. His only English was a loud, "Clap now!"
Rapa was the site of our most spectacular hike, up to one of the hilltop forts that date from the prehistoric wars on the island.
Mangareva
Mangareva is at the extreme southeast end of the Tuamotu chain -- you remember we visited Makemo and Fakarava in the Tuamotus last year -- but still
has those wonderful pearl farms. Signe spread the word and everyone indulged a little. We even discovered a Catholic-run school t
hat teaches teenagers from all over Polynesia to carve beautiful mother-of-pearl necklaces, bracelets, etc.
The island also had an immense cathedral, far beyond the needs of the island, built in the 19th century on the orders of a megalomaniac priest from France.
Pitcairn
This is the remote island where the Bounty mutineers hid from the British Navy for thirty years, and where 41 of their descendents still live. It seems that half the population is named "Christian" and claims Fletcher Christian as an ancestor.
We were lucky enough to be taken ashore in the islanders' longboats on two successive days. The sea was rough, so boarding the longboats was no picnic, but the crew handled it with no mishaps. Pitcairn sees a dozen cruise ships a year, but the passengers never get to land, both because
of the rough seas, and the number of people on those big ships would overwhelm the island. The entire population also came out to the ship for dinner and lunch. Tom Christian, the island patriarch, and his wife sat with us for dinner and a lesson in living on a totally isolated island.
Henderson and Ducie
These are two uninhabited islands, part of the Pitcairn group, that are well known to biologists for their unique bird life. Most birders would kill to visit these islands and put the Henderson island crake or reed warbler on their life lists. Landing in the Zodiacs over the reef and onto the beaches was no mean
feat, but again our crew was magnificent in safely landing all 80 of us to explore ashore.
Easter Island
Yes, Easter was the highlight of our cruise and we even stayed an extra four days for an intensive tour. We are always most interested in the people of the islands, so the history and archeology of Easter we top on our list. The guide Zegrahm provided was Claudio Cristino, the Chilean archeologist who has spent 27 years excavating on Easter (it's a province of Chile). By the way, the Polynesian name for Easter is Rapa Nui.
It's not until you reach the volcano/quarry where the moai statues were carved that you realize there are hundreds and hundreds of these immense carvings, most never having reached their intended altars. There are quite a few half-finished figures still attached to the living rock.
One of the photos shows Claudio Cristino in front of his magnum opus, the restoration of the immense altar and statue at Tongariki. It's hard
to convey with a photo the overwhelming impression this site makes on you. We marveled at the skill of Polynesians, first in navigating to this remote island, then in building the statues. Many of the altars still contain human bones, as Claudio shows in the photo.
All in all, a tremendously successful trip. We hope to do a few more of these Zegrahm voyages to exotic destinations.
Love . . . Signe & Jan
| Pitcairn Islands |
In Italian cooking, what kind of food is spiced to make Pancetta? | National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com
Easter Island
If They Could Only Talk
“The statues walked,” Easter Islanders say. Archaeologists are still trying to figure out how—and whether their story is a cautionary tale of environmental disaster or a celebration of human ingenuity.
By Hannah Bloch
Video Animation by Hans Weise, Spencer Millsap, Fernando G. Baptista, and Fanna Gebreyesus
On a winter night last June, José Antonio Tuki, a 30-year-old artist on Easter Island, did one of the things he loves best: He left his one-room home on the southwest coast and hiked north across the island to Anakena beach. Legend has it the earliest Polynesian settlers hauled their canoes ashore at Anakena a thousand years ago or so, after navigating more than a thousand miles of open Pacific. Under the same moon and stars Tuki sat on the sand and gazed directly before him at the colossal human statues—the moai. Carved centuries ago from volcanic tuff, they’re believed to embody the deified spirits of ancestors.
Sleepless roosters crowed; stray dogs barked. A frigid wind gusted in from Antarctica, making Tuki shiver. He’s a Rapanui, an indigenous Polynesian resident of Rapa Nui, as the locals call Easter Island; his own ancestors probably helped carve some of the hundreds of statues that stud the island’s grassy hills and jagged coasts. At Anakena seven potbellied moai stand at attention on a 52-foot-long stone platform—backs to the Pacific, arms at their sides, heads capped with tall pukao of red scoria, another volcanic rock. They watch over this remote island from a remote age, but when Tuki stares at their faces, he feels a surge of connection. “It’s something strange and energetic,” he says. “This is something produced from my culture. It’s Rapanui.” He shakes his head. “How did they do it?”
Easter Island covers just 63 square miles. It lies 2,150 miles west of South America and 1,300 miles east of Pitcairn, its nearest inhabited neighbor. After it was settled, it remained isolated for centuries. All the energy and resources that went into the moai—which range in height from four to 33 feet and in weight to more than 80 tons—came from the island itself. Yet when Dutch explorers landed on Easter Sunday in 1722, they met a Stone Age culture. The moai were carved with stone tools, mostly in a single quarry, then transported without draft animals or wheels to massive stone platforms, or ahu, up to 11 miles away. Tuki’s question—how did they do it?—has vexed legions of visitors in the past half century.
But lately the moai have been drawn into a larger debate, one that opposes two distinct visions of Easter Island’s past—and of humanity in general. The first, eloquently expounded by Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond, presents the island as a cautionary parable: the most extreme case of a society wantonly destroying itself by wrecking its environment. Can the whole planet, Diamond asks, avoid the same fate? In the other view, the ancient Rapanui are uplifting emblems of human resilience and ingenuity—one example being their ability to walk giant statues upright across miles of uneven terrain.
When the Polynesian settlers arrived at Rapa Nui, they had been at sea for weeks in open canoes. There were probably only a few dozen of them. Nowadays 12 flights arrive every week from Chile, Peru, and Tahiti, and in 2011 those planes delivered 50,000 tourists, ten times the island’s population. Just three decades ago, cars, electricity, and phone service were scarce; now Hanga Roa, the only town, buzzes with Internet cafés, bars, and dance clubs, and cars and pickup trucks clog the streets on Saturday nights. Wealthy tourists drop a thousand dollars a night at the poshest of scores of hotels. A Birkenstock shop caters to footsore ramblers. “The island is not an island anymore,” says Kara Pate, 40, a Rapanui sculptor. She’s married to a German she met here 23 years ago.
Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888, but until 1953 it allowed a Scottish company to manage the island as a giant sheep ranch. The sheep ranged freely, while the Rapanui were penned into Hanga Roa. In 1964 they revolted, later obtaining Chilean citizenship and the right to elect their own mayor.
Ambivalence toward el conti (the continent) runs high. Easter Islanders depend on Chile for fuel and daily air shipments of food. They speak Spanish and go to the mainland for higher education. Meanwhile, Chilean migrants, lured in part by the island’s income tax exemption, gladly take jobs that Rapanui spurn. “A Rapanui will say, What, you think I’m going to wash dishes?” says Beno Atán, a 27-year-old tour guide and a native himself. Though many Rapanui have married mainlanders, some worry their culture is being diluted. The population is now around 5,000, nearly double what it was 20 years ago, and fewer than half the people are Rapanui.
Just about every job on Easter Island depends on tourism. “Without it,” says Mahina Lucero Teao, head of the tourism chamber, “everyone would be starving on the island.” The mayor, Luz Zasso Paoa, says, “Our patrimony is the base of our economy. You’re not here for us, but for that patrimony.” That is, for the moai.
Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer whose Pacific expeditions helped ignite the world’s curiosity about Easter Island, thought the statues had been created by pre-Inca from Peru, not by Polynesians. Erich von Däniken, the best-selling Swiss author of Chariots of the Gods, was sure the moai were built by stranded extraterrestrials. Modern science—linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence—has proved the moai builders were Polynesian but not how they moved their creations. Researchers have tended to assume the ancestors dragged the statues somehow, using a lot of ropes and wood. “The experts can say whatever they want,” says Suri Tuki, 25, José Tuki’s half brother. “But we know the truth. The statues walked.” In the Rapanui oral tradition, the moai were animated by mana, a spiritual force transmitted by powerful ancestors.
There are no reports of moai building after Europeans arrived in the 18th century. By then Easter Island had only a few scrawny trees. In the 1970s and 1980s, though, biogeographer John Flenley of New Zealand’s Massey University found evidence—pollen preserved in lake sediments—that the island had been covered in lush forests, including millions of giant palm trees, for thousands of years. Only after the Polynesians arrived around A.D. 800 had those forests given way to grasslands.
Jared Diamond drew heavily on Flenley’s work for his assertion in Collapse, his influential 2005 book, that ancient Easter Islanders committed unintentional ecocide. They had the bad luck, Diamond argues, to have settled an extremely fragile island—dry, cool, and remote, which means it’s poorly fertilized by windblown dust or volcanic ash. (Its own volcanoes are quiescent.) When the islanders cleared the forests for firewood and farming, the forests didn’t grow back. As wood became scarce and the islanders could no longer build seagoing canoes for fishing, they ate the birds. Soil erosion decreased their crop yields. Before Europeans showed up, the Rapanui had descended into civil war and cannibalism. The collapse of their isolated civilization, Diamond writes, is “the clearest example of a society that destroyed itself by overexploiting its own resources” and “a worst-case scenario for what may lie ahead of us in our own future.”
The moai, he thinks, accelerated the self-destruction. Diamond interprets them as power displays by rival chieftains who, trapped on a remote little island, lacked other ways of strutting their stuff. They competed by building ever bigger statues. Diamond thinks they laid the moai on wooden sledges, hauled over log rails—a technique successfully tested by UCLA archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg, director of the Easter Island Statue Project—but that required both a lot of wood and a lot of people. To feed the people, even more land had to be cleared. When the wood was gone and civil war began, the islanders began toppling the moai. By the 19th century none were standing. Easter Island’s landscape acquired the aura of tragedy that, in the eyes of Diamond and many others, it retains today.
Rearrange and reinterpret the scattered shards of fact, though, and you get a more optimistic vision of the Rapa Nui past—that of archaeologists Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii and Carl Lipo of California State University Long Beach, who have studied the island for the past decade. It’s a vision peopled by peaceful, ingenious moai builders and careful stewards of the land. Hunt and Lipo agree that Easter Island lost its lush forests and that it was an “ecological catastrophe”—but the islanders themselves weren’t to blame. And the moai certainly weren’t. There is indeed much to learn from Easter Island, Hunt says, “but the story is different.”
His and Lipo’s controversial new version, based on their research and others’, begins with their own excavation at Anakena beach. It has convinced them that the Polynesians didn’t arrive until A.D. 1200, about four centuries later than is commonly understood, which would leave them only five centuries to denude the landscape. Slashing and burning wouldn’t have been enough, Hunt and Lipo think. Anyway, another tree killer was present. When archaeologists dig up nuts from the extinct Easter Island palm, the nuts are often marred by tiny grooves, made by the sharp teeth of Polynesian rats.
The rats arrived in the same canoes as the first settlers. Abundant bones in the Anakena dig suggest the islanders dined on them, but otherwise the rodents had no predators. In just a few years, Hunt and Lipo calculate, they would have overrun the island. Feasting on palm nuts, they would have prevented the reseeding of the slow-growing trees and thereby doomed Rapa Nui’s forest, even if humans hadn’t been slashing and burning. No doubt the rats ate birds’ eggs too.
Of course, the settlers bear responsibility for bringing the rats; Hunt and Lipo suspect they did so intentionally. (They also brought chickens.) But like invasive species today, the Polynesian rats did more harm to the ecosystem than to the humans who transported them. Hunt and Lipo see no evidence that Rapanui civilization collapsed when the palm forest did; based on their own archaeological survey of the island, they think its population grew rapidly after settlement to around 3,000 and then remained more or less stable until the arrival of Europeans.
Cleared fields were more valuable to the Rapanui than palm forests were. But they were wind-lashed, infertile fields watered by erratic rains. Easter Island was a tough place to make a living. It required heroic efforts. In farming, as in moai moving, the islanders shifted monumental amounts of rock—but into their fields, not out. They built thousands of circular stone windbreaks, called manavai, and gardened inside them. They mulched whole fields with broken volcanic rocks to keep the soil moist and fertilized it with nutrients that the volcanoes were no longer spreading. In short, Hunt, Lipo, and others contend, the prehistoric Rapanui were pioneers of sustainable farming, not inadvertent perpetrators of ecocide. “Rather than a case of abject failure, Rapa Nui is an unlikely story of success,” Hunt and Lipo argue in their recent book.
It’s called The Statues That Walked, and the Rapanui enjoy better spin in it than they do in Collapse. Hunt and Lipo don’t trust oral history accounts of violent conflict among the Rapanui; sharp obsidian flakes that other archaeologists see as weapons, they see as farm tools. The moai helped keep the peace, they argue, not only by signaling the power of their builders but also by limiting population growth: People raised statues rather than children. What’s more, moving the moai required few people and no wood, because they were walked upright. On that issue, Hunt and Lipo say, evidence supports the folklore.
Sergio Rapu, 63, a Rapanui archaeologist and former Easter Island governor who did graduate work with Hunt, took his American colleagues to the ancient quarry on Rano Raraku, the island’s southeastern volcano. Looking at the many moai abandoned there in various stages of completion, Rapu explained how they were engineered to walk: Fat bellies tilted them forward, and a D-shaped base allowed handlers to roll and rock them side to side. Last year, in experiments funded by National Geographic’s Expeditions Council, Hunt and Lipo showed that as few as 18 people could, with three strong ropes and a bit of practice, easily maneuver a 10-foot, 5-ton moai replica a few hundred yards. In real life, walking miles with much larger moai would have been a tense business. Dozens of fallen statues line the roads leading away from the quarry. But many more made it to their platforms intact.
No one knows for sure when the last statue was carved. The moai cannot be dated directly. Many were still standing when the Dutch arrived in 1722, and Rapanui civilization was peaceful and thriving then, Hunt and Lipo argue. But the explorers introduced deadly diseases to which islanders had no immunity, along with artifacts that replaced the moai as status symbols. Snatching Europeans’ hats—Hunt and Lipo cite many reports of this—became more appealing than hoisting a multiton red pukao onto a moai. In the 19th century slave traders decimated the population, which shriveled to 111 people by 1877.
As Hunt and Lipo tell it, Easter Island’s story is a parable of genocide and culturecide, not ecocide. Their friend Sergio Rapu buys some but not all of it. “Don’t tell me those obsidian tools were just for agriculture,” he says, laughing. “I’d love to hear that my people never ate each other. But I’m afraid they did.”
Today islanders confront a fresh challenge: exploiting their cultural legacy without wrecking it. A growing population and thousands of tourists are straining a limited water supply. The island lacks a sewer system and a place to put the swelling volume of trash; between 2009 and mid-2011 it shipped 230 tons to the mainland. “So what do we do?” asks Zasso Paoa, the mayor. “Limit migration? Limit tourism? That’s where we are now.” The island recently started asking tourists to take their trash home with them in their suitcases.
Tourists are forbidden to touch moai, but horses happily rub against them, wearing away the porous tuff. Though cars are now the preferred mode of transport, more than 6,000 horses and cattle—“more than people,” grumbles tour guide Atán—still run free, trampling ground once trodden by Scottish-owned sheep and relieving themselves on once sacred platforms. But the islanders’ own desire to develop their ancestral lands may be a greater threat to their densely packed heritage: more than 20,000 archaeological features in all, including walled gardens and stone chicken houses as well as moai and ahu. More than 40 percent of the island is a protected national park, which limits available land. “People have to learn that archaeology isn’t their enemy,” says Rapu.
Decades ago he himself helped get the moai at Anakena back upright. In the process he and his colleagues also discovered how the moai builders had breathed soul into their colossal statues after the long trek from the quarry: As a finishing touch, they placed eyes of white coral and pupils of obsidian or red scoria into the empty sockets.
A grove of coconut palms, imported from Tahiti, overlooks Anakena beach today, reassuring sunbathers and Chilean newlyweds that they really are in Polynesia, even if the wind is shrieking and the grassy rolling hills behind them look like the Scottish Highlands. The moai are eyeless now and not confiding—to the tourists, José Tuki, or anyone else—how they got there or which story of Easter Island is true. Tuki, for one, can handle the ambiguity. “I want to know the truth,” he says. “But maybe the island doesn’t tell all its answers. And maybe knowing everything would take its power away.”
Hannah Bloch was a Pakistan correspondent for Time before joining the Geographic as an editor. Randy Olson has shot 27 features, including ones on war-torn Sudan and Congo’s Mbuti Pygmies .
Society Grant Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo’s moai experiment was funded by your Society membership.
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| i don't know |
Which Oasis album became a million seller within days of its release in 1997? | OASIS ROCK BAND UNITED KINGDOM
Oasis are an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1991. Led by lead guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher and his younger brother, lead vocalist and songwriter Liam Gallagher, they are one of the most successful and prominent English groups to emerge during the 1990s Britpop movement. According to their official website, they have sold approximately 40 million albums worldwide . They have also achieved eight UK number one singles. The Gallagher brothers are the only remaining original band members. The present line-up is completed by rhythm/lead guitarist Gem Archer, bass guitarist Andy Bell and drummer Zak Starkey, the son of Beatles' Ringo Starr.
Oasis - left to right Gem, Liam, Andy and Noel
Musically and lyrically, Oasis cite British Invasion bands such as The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks as their major influences. They also cite The Stone Roses, The Sex Pistols, The La's, Led Zeppelin and T.Rex as other key influences.
With the success of their critically acclaimed debut album, Definitely Maybe, and its equally successful follow-up, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, coupled with a rivalry with their contemporary Blur, Oasis attained fame in the mid-1990s, and became one of the leaders of the Britpop movement. The Gallagher brothers featured regularly in tabloid newspaper stories, and cultivated a reputation as both bad boys and a band of the people.
At the height of their fame, their 1997 third album, Be Here Now, reached #1 in the UK charts, #2 in the U.S. and also became the fastest-selling album in chart history, with almost half a million copies sold on the first day alone. The album, however, was poorly received by the critics and later disowned by Noel and resulted in an immediate fall in popularity. However, despite the loss of founding members and sustaining support from their loyal fan base, Oasis have managed to outlast many of their Britpop contemporaries, over a decade after they appeared on the scene.
(1991�1993) Early years and breakthrough
Oasis evolved from an earlier band called The Rain, who took their name from a 1966 Beatles B-side. It was comprised of Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll (drums) and Chris Hutton (vocals). When McGuigan invited school friend Liam Gallagher to join the group, Gallagher accepted, and quickly pushed for the band's name to be changed to Oasis. Although there have been many theories on where Liam got the name from, he got it from an Inspiral Carpets tour poster which was in his and Noel's bedroom. One of the venues on it was the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.
Oasis first played live in August of 1991 at the Boardwalk club in Manchester. Noel Gallagher, who had heard of Liam's involvement when he phoned his mother whilst on tour in Germany as a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets, came to watch his younger brother play. A few months later he was invited to join the band. Although he had been critical of them, he agreed, with the provision that he would become the band's sole songwriter and leader, and that they would commit to an earnest pursuit of commercial success. Oasis under Noel Gallagher crafted their musical approach to rely on simplicity: with Arthurs and McGuigan restricted to playing barre chords and root bass notes, respectively, McCarroll playing basic rhythms, and the band's amplifiers turned up until the sound distorted, Oasis created a sound "so devoid of finesse and complexity that it came out sounding pretty much unstoppable."
After over a year of live shows, rehearsals and even taking the time out to record a proper demo (known as the Live Demonstration tape), the band's big break came May 31st when they were spotted by Creation Records co-owner Alan McGee. Oasis were invited to play a gig at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut club in Glasgow, Scotland, by a band called Sister Lovers, who shared their rehearsal rooms. Oasis, along with a group of friends, found the money to hire a van and make the six-hour journey to Glasgow.
Oasis original line-up, 1991-1995: Tony McCarroll,
Paul Arthurs, Liam Gallagher, Paul McGuigan and Noel Gallagher
When they arrived, they were refused entry to the club as they were not on that night's set list, which reportedly caused the band to bully their way in (although both the band and Alan McGee have given contradicting statements about how they actually managed to get into the club on that night). They were given the opening slot and impressed McGee, who was there to see 18 Wheeler, one of his own bands, that night. McGee was so impressed by what he saw he signed the band to Creation four days later.
(1994�1998) Britpop era and height of fame
Following a limited white label release of the demo of their song "Columbia", their first single, "Supersonic", was released in April 1994, reaching #31 in the charts. Their third single, "Live Forever," was their first to enter the Top 10 of the UK charts. After troubled recording and mixing sessions, their debut album, Definitely Maybe, was finally finished and was released in September 1994, entering the charts at #1, and at the time becoming the fastest selling debut album ever in the UK.
The band also garnered attention due to Noel Gallagher's penchant for taking the odd riff or lyrics from other artists. The track "Cigarettes & Alcohol" had a main riff which Noel Gallagher admitted he'd taken directly from T. Rex's 1972 release "Get it On". "Supersonic" had a guitar solo reminscent of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and "Shakermaker" was reportedly the subject of legal action by the New Seekers due to the similarity to their song "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".
The best part of a year of constant live performances and recordings, along with a typically hedonistic lifestyle commonplace in young rock bands, were starting to tire the band out and a breaking point was finally hit during a gig in Los Angeles in September 1994 where Liam was under the influence of crystal meth, leading to a shambolic performance during which he made offensive remarks about American audiences and assaulted Noel with a tambourine. This upset Noel to such an extent that he temporarily quit the band immediately after and flew to San Francisco. He recovered enough to finally rejoin the band in a Texas recording studio in October 1994 to record new songs, most notably "Talk Tonight" which directly related to his recent experiences. Two of these songs were released as B-sides on Oasis' Christmas single EP "Whatever" which peaked at #3 in the UK charts and foreshadowed the band's move toward a mellower sound on the following album.
Oasis had their first UK #1 in April 1995 with "Some Might Say", the first single from their second album. At the same time, drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band, replaced by Londoner Alan White, formerly of Starclub and younger brother of renowned studio percussionist Steve White, whom Paul Weller himself recommended to Noel. White made his debut for the band at a Top of the Pops performance of "Some Might Say".
During this period, the English press seized upon a supposed rivalry between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur. Noel Gallagher played along, telling The Observer that he hoped Damon Albarn and Alex James of Blur would "catch AIDS and die". He subsequently apologised for this in a formal letter to Melody Maker magazine.
Oasis line-up, 1995-1999: Noel, 'Bonehead', Liam, 'Guigsy' and White
On Monday August 14, 1995, Blur and Oasis released new singles on the same day, setting up "The Battle of Britpop" that dominated the week's music news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll with It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week. Oasis' management came up with several excuses, claiming "Country House" sold more because it was more competitively priced (�1.99 vs �3.99) and because there were two different versions of "Country House" with different B-Sides forcing serious fans to buy two copies. An alternative explanation given at the time by Creation was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll With It" single case, which did not record all sales.
Oasis had begun recording material for their second album in May of that year in Rockfield Studios near Monmouth. Although a softer sound led to mixed reviews, Oasis' second album, with their first new member, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became a huge seller and is currently the third largest selling album of all-time in the UK. The album also went on to sell over 19 million copies worldwide and spawned two further hit singles, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger", which reached numbers 2 and 1 respectively. The album's opening track, "Hello", with its sing-along chant, was a common feature of Oasis' live performances. It also contained their hit "Champagne Supernova" � featuring guitar playing and backing vocals by Paul Weller � that received widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #20 on the US charts. Despite not being released in the UK, it received significant airplay and remains one of the band's most popular songs.
In September 1995, bassist Paul McGuigan briefly left the band, citing nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of The Ya-Yas, who featured on some of the tour dates as well as in the "Wonderwall" video before leaving abruptly whilst on tour in the USA. McLeod later contacted Noel Gallagher claiming he felt he had made the wrong decision. Gallagher curtly replied "I think you have too. Good luck signing on". In order to complete the tour, McGuigan was successfully convinced to return to the band.
In February 1996, Oasis became only the third band after The Beatles and The Jam to perform two songs on the same edition of British music television programme Top of the Pops: "Don't Look Back In Anger" and a cover of Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize". On April 27 and 28 the group played their first headline outdoor concerts at Maine Road Football Ground, Manchester. Highlights from the second night featured on the video There And Then, released later the same year. As their career reached its zenith, Oasis performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth on August 10 and 11, 1996. The band sold out both shows within minutes; 250,000 people over two nights (13.5 million people applied for tickets),[15] at the time a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert held in the UK. It is believed 1/4 people in the UK applied for tickets
The next month proved to be difficult for the group. On August 23 Oasis were due to play the prestigious MTV Unplugged at the Royal Festival Hall but Liam pulled out, citing a sore throat. He watched the performance from a balcony with cold beer and cigarettes, allegedly heckling Noel's singing between songs. The group left for a tour of American arenas early the next month but within days Noel flew home without the band, who followed on another flight. It received massive media attention and the group promptly issued a statement assuring fans that Oasis were not splitting up. Oasis' success at the 1996 Brit Awards was overshadowed by Noel's statement that "Has-beens shouldn't be presenting awards to gonna-bes." after being presented an award by INXS singer Michael Hutchence.
Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 at historic Abbey Road Studios recording their third album. Be Here Now was released in August 1997, the band choosing to launch it on a Thursday rather than the traditional Monday. Preceded by the UK #1 single "D'You Know What I Mean?", the album was perhaps their most anticipated effort, and as such became the subject of considerable media attention. Anticipation culminated with the screening of the documentary "Right Here, Right Now" on BBC1 on the eve of the album's release. The attendant press attention and hype helped the album become the fastest-selling album in UK history (a record which still stands), selling 423,000 units on its day of release, and reached number 2 in the US album chart.
Be Here Now ultimately outsold Definitely Maybe worldwide but could not match the sales of (What's the Story) Morning Glory. Although early media reviews were positive, once the hype had died down, the album was criticised for being bloated and derivative with most of the critics focused on the extensive length of several songs, the heavier sound, and overproduction. Noel defined the album as "the sound of a buncha guys... on coke... in the studio... not giving a fuck."
The Britpop movement was over and the band failed to meet expectations with Be Here Now. After the conclusion of the disastrous Be Here Now tour, amidst huge media criticism the group decided to stay clear of each other and kept a low profile throughout 1998. Noel Gallagher also was criticised for firing most of his stacks of songs into B-sides. Some of these finally found a more high-profile home on The Masterplan, a compilation album of 14 B-sides, released in November. "There was a two- or three-year period where everything I wrote was just fantastic.", related Noel in a recent interview. "And, of course, if all the B-sides for the singles off Morning Glory would�ve been what became the Be Here Now album, I think we would�ve gone on to be possibly one of the biggest bands of all time. Not that we�re not anyway. But I think we would�ve been as big as U2, because I had an idea in my head for Be Here Now � it was to be the most bombastic, fucking hugest-sounding record of all time. And I didn�t worry too much about the words or the arrangements. But the really interesting stuff from around that period is the B-sides. There�s a lot more inspired music on the B-sides than there is on Be Here Now itself, I think ."
(1999�2003) Transitional stage
In early 1999 the band began work on their fourth album. First details were announced in February with Mark "Spike" Stent revealed to be taking a co-producing role. The majority of the album had been written by a now "clean" Noel Gallagher, who had quit taking cocaine in the summer of 1998. This was to have a major influence on the lyrical content of the album. Recording sessions began in the south of France in April, with everything believed to be have been going to plan. Behind the scenes, however, things were not going well and the shock departure of founding member Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs was announced in August. This departure was reported at the time as amicable, with Noel stating that Arthurs wanted to spend more time with his family. Arthurs' statement clarified his leaving as "to concentrate on other things". However, Noel has since offered a contradicting version: that a series of violations of Noel's "no drink or drugs" policy (imposed by Noel so that Liam could sing properly) for the album's sessions resulted in a confrontation between the two. Oasis fans were given a further shock days later, as the departure of bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan was announced. McGuigan said later that the departure of his close friend triggered his own.
The now three-piece Oasis chose to continue recording the album, with Noel Gallagher re-recording most of Arthurs' guitar and McGuigan's bass parts. The hunt was also on for replacements for the two guitarists with such names as Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr, John Squire, David Potts, Gary "Mani" Mounfield and Steve Cradock all rumoured to be contenders to fill the positions. The first new member to be announced was new lead/rhythm guitarist Colin "Gem" Archer formerly of Heavy Stereo, who later claimed to have been approached by Noel Gallagher only a couple of days after Arthurs' departure was publicly announced. One of Archer's first roles was on November 5, 1999, where he took part in filming of the promo video for Oasis' new single, "Go Let It Out", which was the first single to be taken from their new album. David Potts, who was rehearsing at the time with the band, backed off because he thought he would be sacked soon and didn't want to play the bass. The band then drafted Andy Bell, former guitarist/songwriter of Ride and Hurricane who was announced as their new bassist, a week later. Bell had never played bass before and he was obliged to learn to play it, along with a handful of Oasis' back catalogue of songs, in preparation for a scheduled tour of America in December 1999.
With the death of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, named after Noel, which released all of Oasis' records in the UK and Ireland.
Oasis' fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released in February 2000 to good first-week sales. However, the album was met with lukewarm reviews and seen as a small but noticeable departure from their traditional sound, with more experimental, psychedelic influences. To coincide with the general atmosphere of change surrounding the band, the cover of the album � an animated photo of New York � featured a new "Oasis" logo designed by Gem Archer and was also the first Oasis release to include a song written by Liam Gallagher, entitled "Little James". As of now, Standing is among the band's lowest-selling albums worldwide, although it did spawn another UK #1 with "Go Let It Out" and contained "Fuckin' in the Bushes", which is often used as an opener for Oasis gigs.
Oasis circa 1999-2004. Left to right: Gem, Alan, Liam, Noel and Andy
The spring of 2000 saw the new line-up embark on a world tour, although the album had received largely substandard reviews. The tour proved to be initially successful, but again eventful. In May, they were forced to cancel a gig in Barcelona a few hours before the scheduled start because of tendonitis in one of Alan White's hands. As a result, the band spent the whole evening drinking instead, and a drunken fight broke out between the Gallagher brothers after, according to Noel, some derogatory comments from Liam, who questioned the legitimacy of Noel's young daughter, Anais. Feeling he could no longer be around Liam, Noel flew to his holiday home in Ibiza and a press release was issued on his behalf, announcing that he had quit overseas touring, and would therefore not be present at the rest of that year's European shows. Despite the absence of Noel, the rest of the band decided to continue with the remainder of the tour, with Gem Archer moving across to the other side of the stage to perform Noel's lead guitar parts and ex-Paul Weller and Mother Earth guitarist Matt Deighton being drafted in to take over rhythm guitar duties.
After two months of ongoing rumours about the band's long-term future after every such sibling brawl, Noel returned for the Irish and British legs of the tour, which included two major shows at Wembley Stadium. A live album of the first show, called Familiar to Millions, was released in late 2000 to positive reviews. The second Wembley show, which was being broadcast live in over a dozen countries across the world, including the UK's Sky One, was a chaotic affair. Liam was very clearly drunk, making several rambling statements, which included a derogatory announcement of his separation with his wife, Patsy Kensit and also at brother Noel. He also had trouble singing in tune and at times changed the words to certain lines and at other times did not bother to sing at all.
Along with Liam, Noel and Alan both ended their marriages during this period. Liam started a relationship with former All Saints member Nicole Appleton, who soon became pregnant with their son Gene. Noel started dating publicist Sara MacDonald and their relationship continues to this day, even though the pair broke up for a short time in 2002.
Throughout 2001, Oasis split time between sessions for their fifth studio album and live shows around the world. In January, the band played three festival dates in South America before returning to England for studio work. In May, the band travelled to North America for the month-long 'Tour of Brotherly Love' with The Black Crowes and Spacehog. Alan White missed the tour with a thumb injury, and was replaced by older brother Steve. Noel and Gem joined The Black Crowes on stage at the end of most shows, performing classic rock covers. The tour was followed by a June gig in Paris supporting Neil Young and July appearances at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan and a festival show in Bangkok, Thailand. In October, following two months of recording, Oasis performed six shows to sold-out venues in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Dubbed 'Ten Years of Noise and Confusion,' the shows celebrated the band's first ten years as a live act.
Heathen Chemistry, their first album with new members Andy Bell and Gem Archer, was released in July 2002. The record retained an experimental flavour from the previous one, but also borrowed heavily from English rock music of the 1960s and 1970s with a Lennonesque influence by Liam, who was rapidly growing as a capable songwriter, creating the gentle acoustic ballad and subsequent top 3 single, "Songbird". Heathen Chemistry was also a much more balanced recording process for the band, with all of the members, apart from White, penning songs. This new working method, along with less fighting and drug and alcohol abuse in the studio, ultimately gave the record a more relaxed feel compared to past efforts. Johnny Marr provided additional guitar as well as backup vocals on a couple of songs, and while critics gave Heathen Chemistry lukewarm reviews, it was commercially successful. Around this time, Liam also provided vocals for the title track of the 2003 album Scorpio Rising by the duo Death in Vegas.
After the album's release, the band embarked on a world tour that was successful but once again flavoured with incidents. In late summer 2002, whilst the band was on tour in the US, Noel, Bell and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident in Indianapolis, IN. While none of the band members sustained any major injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. Liam also suddenly bolted offstage for no apparent reason during a show in Fukuoka, Japan , leaving Noel to take over vocal duties. It was the second Fukuoka show in three years that Liam failed to complete.
In December 2002, the latter half of the German leg of the band's European tour had to be postponed after Liam Gallagher, Alan White and three other members of the band's entourage were involved in a violent brawl at a Munich nightclub. At the time, Oasis' management alleged that they were subject to "an unprovoked attack by a group of youths". However, German police investigations found that the Oasis party had caused the incident by antagonising other customers of the club, before one of them drunkenly fell onto a table of five local businessmen. All of the Oasis party were arrested and were only released after the band's management reportedly paid out around �170,000 in bail money. Police later said that Liam, White and members of the band's entourage had been drinking "very heavily". Tests also showed Liam had been taking cocaine as well. Two years later Liam was fined around �35,000, with part of the money going to the injured police officer.
The band ended the year by embarking on a short UK arena tour. 2003 began with the release of "Songbird", the fourth single taken from Heathen Chemistry. It was the first Oasis single that hadn't been written by Noel Gallagher, and reached number 3 in the official UK charts in February. The band then ended the Heathen Chemistry tour in March by performing two shows in Dublin, before returning to Germany to play four rescheduled dates.
(2004�present) Resurgence in popularity
Oasis were to begin recording a sixth album in early 2004 with producers Death in Vegas at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall. It was originally slated for a September 2004 release to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the release of Definitely Maybe. However, longtime drummer Alan White, who at this time had played on nearly all of the band's material, left the band. At the time, his brother Steve White stated on his own website that "the spirit of being in a band was kicked out of him" and he wanted to be with his current girlfriend. In subsequent interviews, Noel seemed to agree, saying that he has nothing against Alan, but the latter's personal life was impeding on his professional commitments with Oasis.
Recording sessions continued with drummer Terence Kirkbride, brought in temporarily, who only performed on one track, "Mucky Fingers". Zak Starkey, drummer of The Who and the son of Beatles' Ringo Starr, was later asked by the band to join them in the sessions. He also played on the subsequent world tour as well as all of the band's music videos. However, as he is still unconfirmed as a bandmember, he was not featured on the album's sleeve and did not appear in promotional activities such as interviews and photo-shoots. For the first time in the band's career, Oasis appeared as an official four-piece. Starkey was invited to join Oasis full-time after the end of the band's tour in April 2006.
In June 2004, Oasis, with Starkey, headlined the Glastonbury Festival for the second time in their career and performed a greatest hits set, which included two new songs � Gem Archer's "A Bell Will Ring" and Liam's "The Meaning of Soul". The performance received mixed reviews as the brothers were reprising their roles as brawling siblings. Liam, having problems with his singing, walked offstage at the end of the concert, and Starkey was still getting to grips with the songs, which he had only played publicly for the first time a couple of days previously at Poole Lighthouse. After much turbulence, the band's sixth album was finally recorded in Los Angeles-based Capitol Studios from October to December the same year. Producer Dave Sardy took over the lead producing role from Noel, who decided to step back from these duties after a decade of producing leadership over the band.
In September 2004, the band released Definitely Maybe: The DVD commemorating the 10th anniversary of their debut album's release. The DVD contains an enhanced audio version of the album, four hours of live footage, and interviews with band members and the production team.
On May 30, 2005, after three years and as many scrapped recording sessions, the band released their sixth studio album, Don't Believe the Truth, fullfulling their contract with Sony BMG. It followed the path of Heathen Chemistry as being a collaborative project again, rather than a Noel-written album. It was also the band's first album in a decade not to feature the drumming of Alan White, with Zak Starkey taking his place. The record was generally hailed as the band's best effort since (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by fans and critics alike, spawning two UK #1 singles: "Lyla" and "The Importance of Being Idle" (the band's 7th and 8th #1 UK singles, respectively), whilst "Let There Be Love" entered at #2. Oasis picked up two awards at the Q Awards: one a special People's Choice Award and the second for Don't Believe the Truth as Best Album. Following in the footsteps of the previous five studio albums, Don't Believe the Truth also entered the UK album charts at #1.
In May 2005, the band embarked on a massive world tour � one of the biggest in their career. Beginning on May 10 at the London Astoria, and finishing on March 31, 2006 in front of a sold out gig in Mexico City , Oasis played more live shows than at any time since the Definitely Maybe tour of 1994�1995, visiting 26 countries, headlining 110 shows and playing to 1.7 million people. The tour passed without any major incidents and was the band's most successful in more than a decade. The tour included sold out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden and LA's Hollywood Bowl, two venues important to the Gallagher brothers because their idol, John Lennon, proclaimed them to be the two places a band must play if they visit the States.
Also in 2005, Oasis contributed to the original soundtrack of the film Goal! with a new song called "Who Put the Weight of the World on My Shoulders", written and sung by Noel Gallagher. The CD also contains a new version of "Cast No Shadow" completely re-recorded and produced by UNKLE which features Noel on vocals, as well as a remix by Dave Sardy of "Morning Glory".
In 2006, Oasis released a "Best-of" double album entitled Stop the Clocks, which featured what the band consider to be their "definitive" songs. Though the band didn't want to release a 'Best of', their contract with Sony Music had just expired, forcing a release against the band's wishes. In November 2006 the band released "Lord Don't Slow Me Down", a rockumentary film looking back at the 2005�2006 world tour. That same month, Noel and Gem began a short tour to promote Stop the Clocks. They played around a dozen shows in various countries around the world.
On February 14, 2007, Oasis received the Brit Award for outstanding contribution to music. Although the award was at first to be handed to them by actor Johnny Depp , a friend of Noel, he had to pull out because of his filming schedule. It was later confirmed that the award would be presented by The Beatles' Ringo Starr. However, it was finally awarded to the group (along with Zak Starkey) by host Russell Brand. Upon accepting the award, Liam said, "Seeing as we don't get nominated for this shit anymore I suppose this will have to do," with Noel adding, "We'd like to thank everyone who has bought our records. It's been a fucking pleasure." The band then played a set consisting of "Cigarettes & Alcohol", "The Meaning of Soul", "Morning Glory", "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Rock 'N' Roll Star".
Oasis ' next album has been hinted at by Noel. In the November 2006 issue of Hot Press he claimed "There'll probably be an EP out in mid to late 2007, and a new studio album in 2008, which we can't postpone 'cause we haven't started it yet. We do have some rather excellent songs written though, so I think it'll be a good one". In a January 2007, interview with NME he said that he would like to move in an "orchestral" direction with the band's seventh album: "We haven't done that since Be Here Now. I'd like to get, like, a 100-piece orchestra and choirs and all that stuff....I'd like to make an absolutely fucking colossal album. You know? Like literally two orchestras, stuff like that." Recording sessions for new material will not commence until mid-2007 at the earliest, due to the absence of Starkey, who is touring with The Who until June 2007. Noel said that the band are writing songs and that they met with their producer Dave Sardy at the Brit Awards. There are some songs that the band have been working on since the latest sessions such as "Stop the Clocks", "Lord Don't Slow Me Down", "I Want to Live in a Dream in My Record Machine" and "The Boy with the Blues". Noel also said around the end of latest tour in April 2006 that the band had around 10 recorded songs from the sessions and that they can also be used in future recordings.
Noel and Gem will take their acoustic show to Moscow, Russia, for a scheduled gig on March 23.
Fashion of Oasis
Liam and Noel Gallagher are both large fans of sporting clothing of the early 80's wearing the 'hooligan' style. This is a working class style. This fashion included retro tracksuits, and a huge bias of adidas trainers such as Adidas Gazelles, Adidas Samba and Adidas Stockholm. Oasis have made this style hugely popular. This 'hooligan' look is also known as 'Casual' or 'Terrace Casual'. They now tend to dress in a mod style with obvious fashion influences from Paul Weller with their 60's style Italian pinstripe suits and thin scarves. Their arrogance and love of their home city of Manchester has also led to such comments as 'no-one has come out of Manchester with a sh*t haircut.'
Their current style includes:
| Be Here Now |
The films The Spy with the Green Hat and The Spy with my Face were big-screen spin-offs from which popular TV series of the 1960s? | Oasis - Complete Record and CD Collectors Guide
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Single releases are one area which any new collector can pick up some great 'soon-to-be' rarities. Most single, and album releases, today have a variety of differing picture sleeves, formats or exclusive mixes, which are intended to create a desire to complete a full set. The price of limited versions is always likely to rise because there will only be thousands, maybe hundreds of them in existence. And of course a single will not have as long a print run as an album would. But the trick in this area is knowing what to get ! !
Oasis are a great singles band with some of the best B-Sides ever, check out The Masterplan collection. They have released limited vinyls for all of their singles and the earliest now command a much higher price than the few pounds that they would have cost upon release.
To give you an idea of the limited nature of Oasis' UK singles we have listed some below.
�'Stop Crying Your Heart Out'...2002 UK Limited 7" single ..
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Promos are another great area of music collecting that is easy to get started with. A promotional item can be a simple CD with no more than music. But often they will have exclusive picture sleeves, alternate remixes or even free gifts to make sure that the intended party (usually radio DJs, journalists and TV promoters) remember the song. Getting a radio station or journalistto promote a new song is a talent that many record companies have yet to master. Alternate promos exist for every new release; ie. there could be exclusive remix 12" vinyls for club DJs, or more eye-catching versions for record company employees and journalists. Due to this exclusivity the price of a promo can change rapidly.
Oasis promotional items are extremely collectable indeed. Here are just a few of the great Oasis promos that we have in stock, see the customised catalogues for more...
�'D'You Know What I Mean'...UK promo jukebox 7" ...
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Serious collectors are always looking for 'One-Offs'. These can be anything from competition prizes, mispressed releases, hidden collaborations or secret tracks. Once you begin to collect an artist seriously then this is the area of collecting that can bring the greatest satisfaction, and frustration ! Perhaps the best way to find these 'One-Offs' is to be a complete fan. This can mean joining fan-clubs, attending concerts and entering alot of competitions. The most sought after one-offs tend to have been available but initially only to a lucky few. Then they often pass into the hands of collectors who will be looking to sell them on to all the collectors who missed out. And of course as Oasis are one of the worlds biggest stars they have a multitude of one-off collectables.
�'Wibbling Rivalry'...1995 UK CD featuring Noel & Liam arguing...
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The first line up of Oasis actually omitted to include Noel, who at the time was a roadie for another band, the Inspiral Carpets . With Liam Gallagheron vocals, guitarist Paul �Bonehead� Arthurs, bassist Paul �Guiggsy� McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll they had gigged around Manchester in 1991 and 1992. Later in 1992 Noel joined the band, and by early 1993 they were a full time concern.
In May 1993 the band travelled to Glasgow to see 18-Wheeler play at the city�s King Tut�s Wah Wah venue. Oasis blagged themselves on to the bill and subsequently impressed one audience member so much that he offered them a record deal on the spot ! That man was Creation Records boss Alan McGhee, who later beat off major label interest to sign the band in October of that year. Promotional 12�s of an early demo, Columbia , which had been gaining radio play, became instant collectables when it was rumoured only 50 copies existed. This number later rose to over 500 but the reputation of Oasis as a collector�s band was set.
More reputations were set in 1994 when they were thrown off a ferry crossing to Holland for brawling with crew and police. Attention, and headline, grabbing interviews on TV and in the press ensured that when their debut single Supersonic was released the band was heading for certain success. In April, Liam and Noel gave a now classic interview for the UK music magazine NME. The interview, in which they bicker and challenge each to many fights, was later released as a single called Wibbling Rivalry on a British independent label, Fierce Panda in 1995. The second single, Shakermaker , was released in June and it scored a Top 20 position (#11). Also in that month Noel played an acoustic set at a 'Creation Records 10th Anniversary' show in London. Live shows in Europe and America lead up to the release of the next single Live Forever and the debut album Definitely Maybe in August. The album was an immediate UK #1. In October they played gigs in the US and Japan, while Cigarettes And Alcohol was the next single. 1994 ended with handfuls of �Best Of�� the year awards and the single Whatever narrowly missed out on being a Christmas #1.
Early in 1995 the American sales of Definitely Maybe had passed the quarter of a million mark, and so the band took off on a huge US tour. Back home Some Might Say was Oasis� first UK #1 single when it was released in April. Drummer Tony McCarroll left the band after one scrap too many with Liam, his replacement was Alan White. During the summer work was completed on the next album, the band toured Europe and also played the Glastonbury Festival. A (now still running) rift between Oasis and Blur began in earnest as the bands released brand new singles on the same day. This �Britpop battle� was won by Blur as ' Country House' beat Oasis� Roll With It to the top. But the 'war' was Oasis� because their new album (What�s The Story) Morning Glory , released in October, was the best of the year, possibly the decade. Also in October the Help charity album was released. It featured a re-recorded version of Fade Away plus Noel hanging out with Paul's Weller and McCartney as part of the 'Smoking Mojo Filters'. The reputation of the band is furthered by sold out shows at London�s Earl�s Court and,as Wonderwall became yet another UK Top Ten single. Amusingly a cabaret style cover version of the song by Mike Flowers Pops matches the #2 position, just missing a Christmas top slot.
1996 belonged to Oasis. They spent 134 weeks on the chart in that year due in part to another #1 single, Don�t Look Back In Anger . But mostly this peculiar record was due to every previous single being re-issued and charting, then re-charting throughout the year. The bands standing as one of the finest live acts in the UK was cemented with some huge shows in 1996. April saw them play to 40,000 fans at the Maine Road football ground, home of Manchester City. This was more than just a homecoming gig because the band are life long fans of the team. Later in the year nearly half a million fans saw them play in Loch Lomond in Scotland, and then at the legendary Knebworth shows. MTV binned a Liam-less Unplugged concert, held in the Royal Albert Hall. Setting Sun , a track that Noel recorded with The Chemical Brothers , was a UK #1 for the dance act in October. The year ended with more headlines as Noel walked out on a US tour and Liam was in trouble with the police over an array of offences.
A short break as the next album was finalised began 1997. They returned in July with new single D�You Know What I Mean , which was their third UK #1. Enormous anticipation greeted the next album, which was called Be Here Now ; it duly topped the album charts. In the US it missed out on the top by only a handful of sales. Continuing their trend of large sold-out concerts October saw them play Earl�s Court again. Stand By Me was released as a single in that month also.
1998 and 1999 were relatively quiet, well as quiet as any year in the life of Oasis could be ! All Around The World was released as the last single from Be Here Now in January 1998 . A huge world tour covered every corner of the globe from the UK to the US, the Far East to Down Under. The Masterplan album was released in October 1998; it was a collection of fan-chosen B-side tracks from all of the singles. By the end of 1999 the old-Oasis era had passed by.The departure of Bonehead and Guiggsy in late �99 meant that the two brothers were the only original members remaining. Plus the death of Creation Records in December left the band to form their own label called Big Brother, on which all their future UK albums and singles are now released.
2000 saw the band return with a revitalised line up, which now included Gem Archer (ex- Heavy Stereo , Oasis label mates of old) and Andy Bell (ex- Ride and Hurricane #1 , more old Creation bands). A new album, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants , was released in February. A single entitled Go Let It Out , the bands fifth UK #1 single, preceded it. Live action across the world bedded in the new band members, and a storming show recorded at the Wembley Stadium during the summer was later released as the Familiar To Millions live album. There were two more singles from Standing�; Who Feels Love? and Sunday Morning Call are both UK Top 10 hits.
In 2001 the band rightly celebrated ten years of excess and success with a low key set of concerts across the UK. They then rested and readied for a resurgent 2002.
So the story so far had been up.. up.. and then down a bit, but by 2002 Oasis had cleared the competition and returned as Britain�s premier rock act. The single Hindu Times scored yet another UK #1 hit in May, and the album Heathen Chemistry topped the album charts too.
Don�t expect the terrible two-some and their band to disappear quietly. The next stage of whatever plan they have must surely include sticking around for longer than The Beatles did ! !
| i don't know |
"Who is said to have been reading a book entitled ""Sex and Psychic Energy"" at the time of his death in 1977?" | Urantia News - Verifying History and Science in The Urantia Book
Star Power
Star Power is intended to provide visitors with an appreciation of the famous people who have become associated with The Urantia Book over the years. There is no suggestion by the inclusion of this information that The Urantia Book is any more credible on an objective level because of these associations. Nor is it suggested that all the people listed are or were "believers" in The Urantia Book. If people have had at some point or currently do have some degree of appreciation for The Urantia Book, then they qualify for being on this list.
Objective credibility is, of course, an impersonal, hard facts issue. Objective credibility is what the reports are all about. Star Power is included simply because we are people. Personal credibility matters to whatever degree we make it matter. Notwithstanding that Star Power is not substantive, is highly subjective and is, well, personal, it is nonetheless an issue that we humans tend to appreciate for whatever personal reasons we have for doing so. If you know of anyone that you think should be added to Star Power, please get in touch. Email Halbert regarding entries for this list.
Pato Banton (born 1961)
"The Urantia Book has played a major role in my life by providing the answers to the many religious questions I had, but could not find an answer to in any other religious books:-) What I have learned from years of searching is this: "When you truly love the Creator of this Universe, you develop a strong urge to Serve. The greatest way for a human being to serve God, is through Loving Service to the Family of Humanity. There is no other way to achieve Peace On Earth."
Pato Banton's official websites:
http://www.patobanton.com/
Pato has performed at numerous Urantia related events over the years, including international conferences held in 1999 in Vancouver, Canada and in 2008 in Los Angeles, California. He makes The Urantia Book available at his concerts along with UBtheNEWS pamphlets.
"Pato Banton (born Patrick Murray) is a reggae singer and toaster from Birmingham, England. He began recording in 1982, appearing on "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" (from Special Beat Service) with Ranking Roger of The Beat. He was one of the guest artists that appeared on the UB40 album Baggariddim in 1985. His solo debut was 1987's Never Give In, which included a collaboration with Paul Shaffer. After an EP in 1988, Banton released a more pop-oriented LP, Visions of the World, followed by 1990's Wize Up! (No Compromise), which included a college radio hit in Spirits in the Material World (The Police cover)[used in the soundtrack for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and featuring Sting] and another collaboration, "Wize Up!", this time with David Hinds of Steel Pulse.
"Banton then worked on a live album and with Mad Professor, and then released 1992's Universal Love. After a 1994 British #1 hit in Baby Come Back (originally by Eddy Grant performing with The Equals), with Robin and Ali Campbell of UB40, a best-of album was released. 1996's Stay Positive was followed by Life Is a Miracle in 2000. Life Is a Miracle received a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album in 2001. Recently, Banton has been playing with Mystic Roots, a reggae band formed in Chico, California."
Jerry Garcia (1942-1995)
In A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (2002), author Dennis McNally asserts, when talking about Jerry Garcia, that The Urantia Book was “one of his favorite esoteric works.”
Paul Krassner Interview by Sunny Sunndowner July 9, 2009:
SS: And we might go so far as to say that, in addition to being a healing ceremony, it was a “spiritual experience.” One interesting aside, though, came in an interview with Jerry later on, where he was asked what he thought about this one faction of “Deadheads” who considered him to be “God,” and he responded that he would tolerate it until they came for him with the “nails and a cross.” (Laughter) But you had an interesting bit of Jerry Garcia trivia about his “spirituality” involving “The Urantia Book”…
PK: Oh yeah- Garcia read the entire Urantia Book…
SS: And that’s like over 4 inches thick!
PK: Yeah, and it’s in small print. Back in the sixties, there was a legend that if you read the entire Urantia Bible, which is sort of “science-fiction” in its own way - a mix of science fiction and spirituality… but if you read the entire book, then ‘three elderly women would come visit you.” But Jerry told me that he never got that visit… and he was very disappointed. (Laughter)
SS: Do you think he considered it a waste of time, then? (Laughter)
PK: No, he had a “twinkle in his eye” about it- and he knew that it was the “journey” of reading it, rather than the “goal” of meeting “three elderly women.”
From Paul Krassner's book Impolite Interviews:
"There is a powerful continuity spanning three decades of Grateful Dead events, from a benefit for the Black Panthers where everybody got frisked to a concert where the entire audience was younger than the number of years the band had been together. Jerry Garcia remains as an icon representing the sense of community that has always accompanied the music of the Dead. Their concerts have served as healing ceremonies, as extended family reunions, as celebrations of a shared value system, as Martian conventions. That ’s the spirit of Garcia’s legacy, and it will continue to transcend generations.
"Even though President Clinton occasionally wears one of Jerry Garcia's designer neckties, Garcia himself never wore a tie. But he did have a drawer filled entirely with black T-shirts along with a copy of the Urantia Bible. He once told me of a legend that anyone who read that book from cover to cover--which he had done--would receive a mysterious visit from three elderly women, although they never arrived at his door. He accepted his disappointment with grace."
From Wikipedia:
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he vehemently disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.
One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.
Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
From: Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross, p. 307.
"Jimi reveled in the chance to talk about religion and mysticism in a setting he called a "cosmic candy store." "It was a spiritual cleansing for Jimi," Chuck Wein observed. . . . Wein gave Jimi several books, including The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Secret Places of the Lion: Alien Influences on Earth's Destiny. Jimi also had with him The Book of Urantia, an alternative Bible for UFO believers that mixed tales of Jesus with stories of alien visitations. Jimi carried this book with him everywhere-along with his Bob Dylan songbook-and told friends he had learned much from its pages."
The quote above lends some credibility to the material below, which at this time has not been otherwise corroborated through any commercial publication.
Jane, Seattle, WA: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2983
"In the mid 70's, after Jim had died, his Pan Am flight bag was found in the lost baggage department. Inside was a battered copy of "The Urantia Book". I believe this was a significant source of inspiration for Jimi and his beliefs about spirituality and the afterlife. The lyrics to Voodoo Chile say: "I'll meet you in the next world, and don't be late". Anyone else in that era would have said the next life, or next plane. But the concept of a "next world", that is, an ascension sphere prior to heaven, is a concept specific to The Urantia Book. This is just a little clue as to what Jimi thought and where he found inspiration. We'll all get to see him in the next world and I can't wait. (Jimi says he's a voodoo child, he's certainly not calling himself a pot of chile.)"
The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia page about Hendrix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_hendrix
"Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Hendrix is considered one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock music history. After initial success in England, he achieved worldwide fame following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival.
"Jimi Hendrix helped pioneer the technique of guitar feedback with overdriven amplifiers, incorporating into his music what was previously an undesirable sound. He built upon the innovations and influences of blues stylists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, and T-Bone Walker, and derived style from rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, and Cornell Dupree, as well as from traditional jazz. Part of Hendrix's flamboyant stage persona may have been inspired by rock pioneer Little Richard, with whom he toured as part of Richard's back-up band, "The Upsetters".
"Hendrix is also widely thought to be influenced by Pete Townshend of The Who, who performed in London when Hendrix started his career there in 1966. Carlos Santana has also suggested that Hendrix's music may have been influenced by his Native American heritage.
"Hendrix strove to combine what he called "earth", a blues, jazz, or funk-driven rhythm accompaniment, with "space", the high-pitched psychedelic sounds created by his guitar improvisations. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas; he was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects during recording.
"Hendrix was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Preservation Board's National Recording Registry. Rolling Stone named Hendrix number 1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003."
Kerry Livgren (Born September 18, 1949)
From: How Do You Know He's Real?:Celebrity Reflections on True Life Experiences with God
By Amy Hammond Hagberg
Kerry Livgren:
"My desire to find religious truth during this period was actually heightened by our success. The only thing I could really cling to was the tremendous emotional experience that resulted from creating music. In a real sense, music became my god. And knowing that my lyrics were having a profound effect on the lives of many people, I felt compelled to accelerate my search to find the truth. Many of our fans thought I was some kind of a prophet. I felt like a sham and hungered for more than ever to discover the true God. . . .
"In 1977, I discovered a book that convinced me I had reached the end of my quest. It was called the Urantia Book, a 2,097-page cultic volume that appeared to have all the answers I was looking for. Urantia is an ancient name for the planet Earth, and the Urantia Book believes that no one religion has all of the truth. The basic theme of this book is the proclamation that all men are indwelt by divinity and are involved in a very gradual process of achieving complete God-consciousness. I became convinced that the book could not have been written by men or human inspiration.
"Two years later, Kansas had become one of the most successful and respected rock bands in the country. I enjoyed a real sense of artistic fulfillment; my marriage was going well; I had achieved financial prosperity; and I thought I had discovered the real meaning of life as an Urantian."
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_%28band%29
"The 1979 album Monolith featured lyrics influenced by The Urantia Book and Native American themes."
"Kansas is an American progressive rock band who became a popular arena rock group in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind." Kansas has remained a classic rock radio staple and a popular touring act in North America and Europe."
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaco_pastorius
"John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (December 1, 1951 - September 21, 1987) was a Finnish-American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged for his virtuosity of the fretless bass, as well as his command of varied musical styles.
His playing style was noteworthy for containing "dazzling solos in the higher register" and "fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded attention," often featuring his instrument in lead rather than rhythm section. His unique innovations also included the use of harmonics and the "singing" quality of his melodies. In 2006, Pastorius was voted "The Greatest Bass Player Who Has Ever Lived" by reader submissions in Bass Guitar Magazine.
Apart from his career in the influential jazz fusion band Weather Report, he had two Grammy Award nominations for his self-titled debut album.He was inducted into Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988, one of only four bassists to be so honored beside Charles Mingus, Milt Hinton, and Ray Brown and the only electric bassist to garner the distinction."
Bass Player, online edition September 2007
Jaco's Finest Hour: A Song Is Born
"Among Jaco's bass anthems, when it comes to the triple-threat combination of composition, bass line, and solo, none stands quite as tall as "Havona." Pastorius originally wrote the tune in late 1973, while under the spiritual influence of The Urantia Book. A chapter in the book describes "Havona" as the master galaxy (which contains Earth)-and as a perfect universe consisting of a billion spheres of unimagined beauty. A raw version featuring Herbie Hancock, Lenny White, and Don Alias was recorded for Jaco's 1976 landmark solo debut, but it was not included.
"The preeminent "Havona" version came a year later, for Weather Report's 1977 epic, Heavy Weather. Strikingly fresh and uninhibited, the track dances and soars on an ear-grabbing bass line, partnered with a sizzling drum groove. Meanwhile, angular changes provide fodder for the consensus baddest bass guitar solo ever put to tape. As drummer Alex Acu�a told Joe Zawinul biographer Brian Glasser, "I think my favorite [track on Heavy Weather] is 'Havona.' That, for me, is how I always want to play, that kind of a conversation. When I hear that tune, I still get the chills. Everything was improvised in that moment-it's almost no overdubs." Perhaps Peter Erskine, who succeeded Acu�a in Weather Report, sums it up best. "As the final track on Heavy Weather, it's one of those tunes on one of those albums that, when you've finished listening to it, you want to listen to the entire recording from the beginning all over again. It is a perfect track and is one of my all-time favorite Jaco performances. Oddly, it was one of the few tunes that the band did not rehearse or try to play live when I was in the group, but I'm grateful for its existence. 'Havona' is definitive Jaco: incredible rhythm, new and fresh harmony, virtuosity-flawless execution and intonation, including his Stravinsky quote!-and a sense that the song is coming from the past and the future at the same time."
Elvis Presley (1935-1937)
From: David W. Cloud, "1950s Rock -- Creating a Revolution", distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, copyright 2001
( http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/1950srock.htm ; viewed 19 July 2005)
Relevant passage:
Elvis did not believe the Bible in any traditional sense... Elvis constructed "a personalised religion out of what he'd read of Hinduism, Judaism, numerology, theosophy, mind control, positive thinking and Christianity" (Hungry for Heaven, p. 143). The night he died, he was reading the book Sex and Psychic Energy (Goldman, Elvis: The Last 24 Hours, p. 140). Elvis loved material by guru Paramahansa Yogananda, the Hindu founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship... In considering a marriage to Ginger Alden (which never came to pass) prior to his death, Elvis wanted the ceremony to be held in a pyramid-shaped arena "in order to focus the spiritual energies upon him and Ginger" (Goldman, Elvis: The Last 24 Hours, p. 125). Elvis traveled with a portable bookcase containing over 200 volumes of his favorite books. The books most commonly associated with him were books promoting pagan religion, such as The Prophet by Kahilil Gibran; Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda; The Mystical Christ by Manley Palmer; The Life and Teachings of the Master of the Far East by Baird Spalding; The Inner Life by Leadbetter; The First and Last Freedom by Krishnamurti; The Urantia Book; The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception; the Book of Numbers by Cheiro; and Esoteric Healing by Alice Bailey. Elvis was a great fan of occultist Madame Blavatsky. He was so taken with Blavatsky's book The Voice of Silence, which contains the supposed translation of ancient occultic Tibetan incantations, that he "sometimes read from it onstage and was inspired by it to name his own gospel group, Voice" (Goldman, Elvis, p. 436). Another of Elvis's favorite books was The Impersonal Life, which supposedly contains words recorded directly from God by Joseph Benner. Biographer Albert Goldman says Elvis gave away hundreds of copies of this book over the last 13 years of his life.
http://www.elvis.com/
"Elvis Aaron Presleya (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
. . .
"Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into four music halls of fame."
On Tuesday November 15, 2011, Carlos Santana posted the following to his facebook page:
"Greetings, children of light & love! (A Flow of Consciousness by Carlos 11/15/11)
Greetings, children of light & love!
I find myself reading The Urantia Book,
Specifically: paper 134 section 6 -
LAW, LIBERTY, AND SOVEREIGNTY
And truly it resonates with my spirit
to attain tangible lasting world peace…"
To read paper 134 section 6of The Urantia Book, click here .
Santana played and recorded music occasionally with the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia, guitarist for the Grateful Dead, is also listed here on Star Power (above). As well, visual artist Robert Venosa, who did album cover art for Santana, is also listed on Star Power.
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican-American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer. He is regarded as one of the important composeres of the 20th century, referred by to one critic (Hewett 2007) as "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music." He is famous for his ground-breaking work in electronic music and "controlled chance" in serial composition.
From his article In Every Sense This Composer Was On A Different Wavelength, Matthew Guerrieri writes ( http://www.slate.com/id/2180463/ ):
"Stockhausen borrowed from The Urantia Book in his last completed major work, the seven-opera cycle Licht, which occupied him from 1977 until 2002 (and remains only five-sevenths performed). The book was one of a long line of spiritual systems-Catholicism, Sufism, the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo-that Stockhausen embraced. But they were adjuncts to his true creed: Stockhausen was first and foremost a priest of sound, a clearinghouse for the coming and going of vibrations."
From www.legacyrecordings.com/Stevie-Ray-Vaughan.aspx :
“With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the '80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. Vaughan bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other artist had since the late '60s. For the next seven years, Stevie Ray was the leading light in American blues, consistently selling out concerts while his albums regularly went gold. His tragic death in 1990 only emphasized his influence in blues and American rock & roll.”
From Wikipedia:
“In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan [of the Fabulous Thunderbirds], born 1951.”
| Elvis Presley |
What was the name of the cruise liner that capsized off the coast of Tuscany in January 2012? | Urantia News - Verifying History and Science in The Urantia Book
Star Power
Star Power is intended to provide visitors with an appreciation of the famous people who have become associated with The Urantia Book over the years. There is no suggestion by the inclusion of this information that The Urantia Book is any more credible on an objective level because of these associations. Nor is it suggested that all the people listed are or were "believers" in The Urantia Book. If people have had at some point or currently do have some degree of appreciation for The Urantia Book, then they qualify for being on this list.
Objective credibility is, of course, an impersonal, hard facts issue. Objective credibility is what the reports are all about. Star Power is included simply because we are people. Personal credibility matters to whatever degree we make it matter. Notwithstanding that Star Power is not substantive, is highly subjective and is, well, personal, it is nonetheless an issue that we humans tend to appreciate for whatever personal reasons we have for doing so. If you know of anyone that you think should be added to Star Power, please get in touch. Email Halbert regarding entries for this list.
Pato Banton (born 1961)
"The Urantia Book has played a major role in my life by providing the answers to the many religious questions I had, but could not find an answer to in any other religious books:-) What I have learned from years of searching is this: "When you truly love the Creator of this Universe, you develop a strong urge to Serve. The greatest way for a human being to serve God, is through Loving Service to the Family of Humanity. There is no other way to achieve Peace On Earth."
Pato Banton's official websites:
http://www.patobanton.com/
Pato has performed at numerous Urantia related events over the years, including international conferences held in 1999 in Vancouver, Canada and in 2008 in Los Angeles, California. He makes The Urantia Book available at his concerts along with UBtheNEWS pamphlets.
"Pato Banton (born Patrick Murray) is a reggae singer and toaster from Birmingham, England. He began recording in 1982, appearing on "Pato and Roger a Go Talk" (from Special Beat Service) with Ranking Roger of The Beat. He was one of the guest artists that appeared on the UB40 album Baggariddim in 1985. His solo debut was 1987's Never Give In, which included a collaboration with Paul Shaffer. After an EP in 1988, Banton released a more pop-oriented LP, Visions of the World, followed by 1990's Wize Up! (No Compromise), which included a college radio hit in Spirits in the Material World (The Police cover)[used in the soundtrack for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and featuring Sting] and another collaboration, "Wize Up!", this time with David Hinds of Steel Pulse.
"Banton then worked on a live album and with Mad Professor, and then released 1992's Universal Love. After a 1994 British #1 hit in Baby Come Back (originally by Eddy Grant performing with The Equals), with Robin and Ali Campbell of UB40, a best-of album was released. 1996's Stay Positive was followed by Life Is a Miracle in 2000. Life Is a Miracle received a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album in 2001. Recently, Banton has been playing with Mystic Roots, a reggae band formed in Chico, California."
Jerry Garcia (1942-1995)
In A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (2002), author Dennis McNally asserts, when talking about Jerry Garcia, that The Urantia Book was “one of his favorite esoteric works.”
Paul Krassner Interview by Sunny Sunndowner July 9, 2009:
SS: And we might go so far as to say that, in addition to being a healing ceremony, it was a “spiritual experience.” One interesting aside, though, came in an interview with Jerry later on, where he was asked what he thought about this one faction of “Deadheads” who considered him to be “God,” and he responded that he would tolerate it until they came for him with the “nails and a cross.” (Laughter) But you had an interesting bit of Jerry Garcia trivia about his “spirituality” involving “The Urantia Book”…
PK: Oh yeah- Garcia read the entire Urantia Book…
SS: And that’s like over 4 inches thick!
PK: Yeah, and it’s in small print. Back in the sixties, there was a legend that if you read the entire Urantia Bible, which is sort of “science-fiction” in its own way - a mix of science fiction and spirituality… but if you read the entire book, then ‘three elderly women would come visit you.” But Jerry told me that he never got that visit… and he was very disappointed. (Laughter)
SS: Do you think he considered it a waste of time, then? (Laughter)
PK: No, he had a “twinkle in his eye” about it- and he knew that it was the “journey” of reading it, rather than the “goal” of meeting “three elderly women.”
From Paul Krassner's book Impolite Interviews:
"There is a powerful continuity spanning three decades of Grateful Dead events, from a benefit for the Black Panthers where everybody got frisked to a concert where the entire audience was younger than the number of years the band had been together. Jerry Garcia remains as an icon representing the sense of community that has always accompanied the music of the Dead. Their concerts have served as healing ceremonies, as extended family reunions, as celebrations of a shared value system, as Martian conventions. That ’s the spirit of Garcia’s legacy, and it will continue to transcend generations.
"Even though President Clinton occasionally wears one of Jerry Garcia's designer neckties, Garcia himself never wore a tie. But he did have a drawer filled entirely with black T-shirts along with a copy of the Urantia Bible. He once told me of a legend that anyone who read that book from cover to cover--which he had done--would receive a mysterious visit from three elderly women, although they never arrived at his door. He accepted his disappointment with grace."
From Wikipedia:
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he vehemently disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.
One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.
Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
From: Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross, p. 307.
"Jimi reveled in the chance to talk about religion and mysticism in a setting he called a "cosmic candy store." "It was a spiritual cleansing for Jimi," Chuck Wein observed. . . . Wein gave Jimi several books, including The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Secret Places of the Lion: Alien Influences on Earth's Destiny. Jimi also had with him The Book of Urantia, an alternative Bible for UFO believers that mixed tales of Jesus with stories of alien visitations. Jimi carried this book with him everywhere-along with his Bob Dylan songbook-and told friends he had learned much from its pages."
The quote above lends some credibility to the material below, which at this time has not been otherwise corroborated through any commercial publication.
Jane, Seattle, WA: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2983
"In the mid 70's, after Jim had died, his Pan Am flight bag was found in the lost baggage department. Inside was a battered copy of "The Urantia Book". I believe this was a significant source of inspiration for Jimi and his beliefs about spirituality and the afterlife. The lyrics to Voodoo Chile say: "I'll meet you in the next world, and don't be late". Anyone else in that era would have said the next life, or next plane. But the concept of a "next world", that is, an ascension sphere prior to heaven, is a concept specific to The Urantia Book. This is just a little clue as to what Jimi thought and where he found inspiration. We'll all get to see him in the next world and I can't wait. (Jimi says he's a voodoo child, he's certainly not calling himself a pot of chile.)"
The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia page about Hendrix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_hendrix
"Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Hendrix is considered one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock music history. After initial success in England, he achieved worldwide fame following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival.
"Jimi Hendrix helped pioneer the technique of guitar feedback with overdriven amplifiers, incorporating into his music what was previously an undesirable sound. He built upon the innovations and influences of blues stylists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, and T-Bone Walker, and derived style from rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, and Cornell Dupree, as well as from traditional jazz. Part of Hendrix's flamboyant stage persona may have been inspired by rock pioneer Little Richard, with whom he toured as part of Richard's back-up band, "The Upsetters".
"Hendrix is also widely thought to be influenced by Pete Townshend of The Who, who performed in London when Hendrix started his career there in 1966. Carlos Santana has also suggested that Hendrix's music may have been influenced by his Native American heritage.
"Hendrix strove to combine what he called "earth", a blues, jazz, or funk-driven rhythm accompaniment, with "space", the high-pitched psychedelic sounds created by his guitar improvisations. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas; he was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects during recording.
"Hendrix was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Preservation Board's National Recording Registry. Rolling Stone named Hendrix number 1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003."
Kerry Livgren (Born September 18, 1949)
From: How Do You Know He's Real?:Celebrity Reflections on True Life Experiences with God
By Amy Hammond Hagberg
Kerry Livgren:
"My desire to find religious truth during this period was actually heightened by our success. The only thing I could really cling to was the tremendous emotional experience that resulted from creating music. In a real sense, music became my god. And knowing that my lyrics were having a profound effect on the lives of many people, I felt compelled to accelerate my search to find the truth. Many of our fans thought I was some kind of a prophet. I felt like a sham and hungered for more than ever to discover the true God. . . .
"In 1977, I discovered a book that convinced me I had reached the end of my quest. It was called the Urantia Book, a 2,097-page cultic volume that appeared to have all the answers I was looking for. Urantia is an ancient name for the planet Earth, and the Urantia Book believes that no one religion has all of the truth. The basic theme of this book is the proclamation that all men are indwelt by divinity and are involved in a very gradual process of achieving complete God-consciousness. I became convinced that the book could not have been written by men or human inspiration.
"Two years later, Kansas had become one of the most successful and respected rock bands in the country. I enjoyed a real sense of artistic fulfillment; my marriage was going well; I had achieved financial prosperity; and I thought I had discovered the real meaning of life as an Urantian."
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_%28band%29
"The 1979 album Monolith featured lyrics influenced by The Urantia Book and Native American themes."
"Kansas is an American progressive rock band who became a popular arena rock group in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind." Kansas has remained a classic rock radio staple and a popular touring act in North America and Europe."
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaco_pastorius
"John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (December 1, 1951 - September 21, 1987) was a Finnish-American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged for his virtuosity of the fretless bass, as well as his command of varied musical styles.
His playing style was noteworthy for containing "dazzling solos in the higher register" and "fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded attention," often featuring his instrument in lead rather than rhythm section. His unique innovations also included the use of harmonics and the "singing" quality of his melodies. In 2006, Pastorius was voted "The Greatest Bass Player Who Has Ever Lived" by reader submissions in Bass Guitar Magazine.
Apart from his career in the influential jazz fusion band Weather Report, he had two Grammy Award nominations for his self-titled debut album.He was inducted into Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1988, one of only four bassists to be so honored beside Charles Mingus, Milt Hinton, and Ray Brown and the only electric bassist to garner the distinction."
Bass Player, online edition September 2007
Jaco's Finest Hour: A Song Is Born
"Among Jaco's bass anthems, when it comes to the triple-threat combination of composition, bass line, and solo, none stands quite as tall as "Havona." Pastorius originally wrote the tune in late 1973, while under the spiritual influence of The Urantia Book. A chapter in the book describes "Havona" as the master galaxy (which contains Earth)-and as a perfect universe consisting of a billion spheres of unimagined beauty. A raw version featuring Herbie Hancock, Lenny White, and Don Alias was recorded for Jaco's 1976 landmark solo debut, but it was not included.
"The preeminent "Havona" version came a year later, for Weather Report's 1977 epic, Heavy Weather. Strikingly fresh and uninhibited, the track dances and soars on an ear-grabbing bass line, partnered with a sizzling drum groove. Meanwhile, angular changes provide fodder for the consensus baddest bass guitar solo ever put to tape. As drummer Alex Acu�a told Joe Zawinul biographer Brian Glasser, "I think my favorite [track on Heavy Weather] is 'Havona.' That, for me, is how I always want to play, that kind of a conversation. When I hear that tune, I still get the chills. Everything was improvised in that moment-it's almost no overdubs." Perhaps Peter Erskine, who succeeded Acu�a in Weather Report, sums it up best. "As the final track on Heavy Weather, it's one of those tunes on one of those albums that, when you've finished listening to it, you want to listen to the entire recording from the beginning all over again. It is a perfect track and is one of my all-time favorite Jaco performances. Oddly, it was one of the few tunes that the band did not rehearse or try to play live when I was in the group, but I'm grateful for its existence. 'Havona' is definitive Jaco: incredible rhythm, new and fresh harmony, virtuosity-flawless execution and intonation, including his Stravinsky quote!-and a sense that the song is coming from the past and the future at the same time."
Elvis Presley (1935-1937)
From: David W. Cloud, "1950s Rock -- Creating a Revolution", distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, copyright 2001
( http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/1950srock.htm ; viewed 19 July 2005)
Relevant passage:
Elvis did not believe the Bible in any traditional sense... Elvis constructed "a personalised religion out of what he'd read of Hinduism, Judaism, numerology, theosophy, mind control, positive thinking and Christianity" (Hungry for Heaven, p. 143). The night he died, he was reading the book Sex and Psychic Energy (Goldman, Elvis: The Last 24 Hours, p. 140). Elvis loved material by guru Paramahansa Yogananda, the Hindu founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship... In considering a marriage to Ginger Alden (which never came to pass) prior to his death, Elvis wanted the ceremony to be held in a pyramid-shaped arena "in order to focus the spiritual energies upon him and Ginger" (Goldman, Elvis: The Last 24 Hours, p. 125). Elvis traveled with a portable bookcase containing over 200 volumes of his favorite books. The books most commonly associated with him were books promoting pagan religion, such as The Prophet by Kahilil Gibran; Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda; The Mystical Christ by Manley Palmer; The Life and Teachings of the Master of the Far East by Baird Spalding; The Inner Life by Leadbetter; The First and Last Freedom by Krishnamurti; The Urantia Book; The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception; the Book of Numbers by Cheiro; and Esoteric Healing by Alice Bailey. Elvis was a great fan of occultist Madame Blavatsky. He was so taken with Blavatsky's book The Voice of Silence, which contains the supposed translation of ancient occultic Tibetan incantations, that he "sometimes read from it onstage and was inspired by it to name his own gospel group, Voice" (Goldman, Elvis, p. 436). Another of Elvis's favorite books was The Impersonal Life, which supposedly contains words recorded directly from God by Joseph Benner. Biographer Albert Goldman says Elvis gave away hundreds of copies of this book over the last 13 years of his life.
http://www.elvis.com/
"Elvis Aaron Presleya (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
. . .
"Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He had a versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, including country, pop ballads, gospel, and blues. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into four music halls of fame."
On Tuesday November 15, 2011, Carlos Santana posted the following to his facebook page:
"Greetings, children of light & love! (A Flow of Consciousness by Carlos 11/15/11)
Greetings, children of light & love!
I find myself reading The Urantia Book,
Specifically: paper 134 section 6 -
LAW, LIBERTY, AND SOVEREIGNTY
And truly it resonates with my spirit
to attain tangible lasting world peace…"
To read paper 134 section 6of The Urantia Book, click here .
Santana played and recorded music occasionally with the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia, guitarist for the Grateful Dead, is also listed here on Star Power (above). As well, visual artist Robert Venosa, who did album cover art for Santana, is also listed on Star Power.
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican-American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer. He is regarded as one of the important composeres of the 20th century, referred by to one critic (Hewett 2007) as "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music." He is famous for his ground-breaking work in electronic music and "controlled chance" in serial composition.
From his article In Every Sense This Composer Was On A Different Wavelength, Matthew Guerrieri writes ( http://www.slate.com/id/2180463/ ):
"Stockhausen borrowed from The Urantia Book in his last completed major work, the seven-opera cycle Licht, which occupied him from 1977 until 2002 (and remains only five-sevenths performed). The book was one of a long line of spiritual systems-Catholicism, Sufism, the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo-that Stockhausen embraced. But they were adjuncts to his true creed: Stockhausen was first and foremost a priest of sound, a clearinghouse for the coming and going of vibrations."
From www.legacyrecordings.com/Stevie-Ray-Vaughan.aspx :
“With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the '80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. Vaughan bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other artist had since the late '60s. For the next seven years, Stevie Ray was the leading light in American blues, consistently selling out concerts while his albums regularly went gold. His tragic death in 1990 only emphasized his influence in blues and American rock & roll.”
From Wikipedia:
“In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan [of the Fabulous Thunderbirds], born 1951.”
| i don't know |
In which ballet is Clara taken to the Kingdom of Sweets after she helps to defeat the evil Mouse King? | Mouse King | Article about Mouse King by The Free Dictionary
Mouse King | Article about Mouse King by The Free Dictionary
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Mouse+King
Also found in: Wikipedia .
The Nutcracker
One of the best-loved and most widely known ballets of our time, The Nutcracker, tells the story of a young girl's enchanted Christmas Eve. German writer, illustrator, and composer E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) wrote the original story on which the ballet is based. Russian composer Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) set the tale to music in the early 1890s. Some ballet companies present The Nut-cracker every year at Christmas time. In addition, Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite," a shorter, orchestral work that summarizes the music presented at length in the ballet, appears on many Christmas concert programs.
The Tales and the Making of the Ballet
Hoffmann would have been delighted to discover that his stories lived on to inspire the works of great composers. Hoffmann himself found tremendous inspiration in the works of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), so much so that he changed his own middle name to Amadeus. Years after Hoffmann's death, his life as a teller of tales fueled the musical imagination of French composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoff-mann spins a fantasy around the writer and a number of his works.
One of Hoffmann's stories, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1819), intrigued French writer Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870). Dumas published a translated and freely adapted version of this story in French. Dumas's "The Story of a Nutcracker" (1844) charmed the director of Russia's Imperial Ballet, who decided to commission a work based on the story. He hired the French choreographer Marius Petipa and his Russian colleague Lev Ivanov to choreograph the dancing. Petipa and Ivanov outlined the stage action needed to tell the story. Then they handed over a specific set of instructions to the composer who had been commissioned to write the music for the ballet. Luckily for future ballet lovers they selected Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who at that time was already considered a rising star among Russia's composers. Hoffmann's complicated and somewhat frightening tale can hardly be recognized in today's productions of The Nutcracker. Petipa and Ivanov presented The Nutcracker as a delightful children's fantasy. The ballet companies that have performed The Nutcracker since then have adjusted the story here and there as well.
The Story as Told in the Ballet
Basically, the tale unfolds as follows. The first act takes place at a Christmas Eve party in Nuremberg, Germany. Many guests and their children arrive at the home of the Stahlbaum family. While the adults decorate the Christmas tree, the children play with toys. The mysterious Drosselmeyer arrives bringing gifts for his godchildren, Clara and Fritz Stahlbaum. Clara immediately falls in love with one of the toys, a wooden nutcracker. When the careless Fritz takes possession of the toy he breaks it, upsetting Clara greatly. The guests depart and the children are sent to bed.
Shortly thereafter, Clara comes back to the drawing room to visit her nutcracker. Clara finds herself reduced to the same size as the nutcracker and her brother's toy soldiers. Dozens of mice come out of their holes and, led by their king, they attack the soldiers. The nutcracker rallies the toy soldiers against the mice. As the mouse king and the nutcracker fight one another, Clara throws her shoe at the mouse king, giving the nutcracker the chance to defeat him. The soldiers win, and the nutcracker turns into a prince. Out of gratitude for her help, the nutcracker prince takes Clara on a journey to the Kingdom of Sweets. They pass through a flurry of dancing snowflakes as they enter the magic kingdom.
In act two the citizens of the Kingdom of Sweets entertain Clara and the nutcracker prince. Exotic foodstuffs, such as Arabian coffee and Spanish hot chocolate, dance for them. Even flowers come to life and begin to waltz. Finally, the queen of this enchanted kingdom, the Sugarplum Fairy, dances with the nutcracker prince (see also Sugarplums). Most versions of the ballet end with Clara returning to her own world, while in others she remains in the Kingdom of the Sweets.
Tchaikovsky's Score
Although Tchaikovsky accepted the job of producing the musical score for The Nutcracker, the task proved somewhat troublesome for him. He began working on the score in the winter of 1891. His personality and life circumstances may have contributed to the difficulty he experienced in composing the lighthearted music for the ballet. Extremely sensitive by nature, he often fell into periods of deep gloom. Several months before he began work on The Nutcracker, his close friend and patron, Mrs. Nadezhda von Meck, abruptly severed both their financial and personal relationships for no apparent reason. This abandonment plunged Tchaikovsky into depression and deeply shook his faith in human relationships. This recent event may explain why the composer found himself uninspired by the task of setting the sweet, simple fairy tale to music. Moreover, the rigid framework given him by the choreographers, which specified the character and exact length of many musical passages, restricted the degree of creativity he could bring to the work.
Nevertheless, Tchaikovsky labored away at the project until two great life events interrupted his progress. In March he left Russia for the United States, where he had been engaged to conduct the concert that was to open New York City's new music hall, known today as Carnegie Hall. His journey to the United States took him through Paris, France. There he learned that his sister Alexandra had died. In a letter to his brother Modest, the composer confessed, "Today even more than yesterday I feel the absolute impossibility of portraying the 'sugar-plum fairy'in music."
After a successful sojourn in the United States his return trip to Russia again took him through France. There he bought a newly invented musical instrument called a celesta to take back with him to Russia. Tchaikovsky would introduce Russian audiences to its haunting xylophone-like tones in "The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy," one of the most famous passages from The Nutcracker. When Tchaikovsky arrived in Russia in June he once again took up his work on the score. In spite of all his efforts, he confided in a letter to a friend that he thought The Nutcracker music far inferior to the music he had composed for the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Tchaikovsky's estimation of the value of The Nutcracker music gradually increased. He decided to write an orchestral suite based on the ballet music. This time it took him only twelve days to complete the work. "The Nutcracker Suite" premiered in March of 1892, before the ballet had ever been performed. The audience loved the evocative melodies and requested several encores. Even today, "The Nutcracker Suite" stands as one of Tchaikovsky's best-loved works.
First Performances
The first performance of The Nutcracker ballet took place on December 17, 1892, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The audience and critics reacted without enthusiasm. Some writers point out that audiences of Tchaikovsky's time were not used to the idea of ballets being performed to high-quality symphonic music. In fact, Tchaikovsky's three great ballet scores - Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker - raised the standard for ballet music, and opened the door for other important composers to enter the field. Early audiences of TheNutcracker may also have disliked the fact that children occupy center stage for most of the first act, and that the serious dancing does not really begin until the second act. Luckily for Tchaikovsky, however, Tsar Alexander III of Russia liked the ballet. With the Tsar's nod of approval, The Nutcracker became a standard work in the world of Russian ballet. Outside of Russia, however, the ballet remained unknown for many years.
At the height of his career, less than a year after the premiere of The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky was dead. In the fall of 1893 a Russian nobleman, who had discovered that his nephew had an affair with the composer, threatened to expose Tchaikovsky as a homosexual. Alarmed by this development, a number of Tchaikovsky's associates and former college classmates met to decide the composer's fate. This so-called "court of honor" ruled that Tchaikovsky should commit suicide in order to protect his, and, by extension, their reputations. Tchaikovsky had long feared the scandal and complete social shunning that would engulf him and his family if the public discovered his sexual orientation. When the great composer was found dead two days later, his associates circulated the story that he had died from cholera contracted from drinking a glass of unboiled water at a restaurant during an epidemic of the disease.
International Fame
The first performance of The Nutcracker in the West took place in London in 1934. In 1944 the San Francisco Ballet became the first American company to present the ballet. In 1954 the New York City Ballet added the work to their repertoire. Since that time The Nut-cracker has become a December favorite for many dance companies. The work naturally attached itself to the Christmas season, since all the action in the story takes place on Christmas Eve. The story's magical elements offer ballet companies the opportunity to entertain their audiences not only with wonderful music and dancing, but also with fabulous costumes and fantastic special effects. The razzledazzle appeals to children as well as adults. In fact, many parents bring children to see The Nutcracker as a special holiday treat. Due to its popularity with audiences, the ballet has become a relied-upon money-maker for many ballet companies. Box-office receipts from its performances must often finance a good portion of a company's season.
Further Reading
Brinson, Peter, and Clement Crisp. The International Book of Ballet. New York: Stein and Day, 1971. Brown, David, Gerald Abraham, David Lloyd-Jones, and Edward Garden. "Tchaikovsky." In The New Grove Russian Masters. Volume 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986. Buxton, David, and Sue Lyon, eds. Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Volume 3 of The GreatComposers, Their Lives and Times. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1987. Del Re, Gerard, and Patricia Del Re. The Christmas Almanack. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979. Lehane, Brendan. The Book of Christmas. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1986. Reynolds, Nancy, and Susan Reimer-Torn. Dance Classics. Chicago: A Cappella Books, 1991. Terry, Walter. Ballet Guide. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1976. Watson, Marjorie R. The Fairy Tales of Hoffmann. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1960. Weinstock, Herbert. Tchaikovsky. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959.
| The Nutcracker |
Who painted the canvas known as Bubbles, later used in adverts for Pears Soap? | Take a time out and party like a princess | The Royal Gazette:Bermuda Lifestyle
Take a time out and party like a princess
By Nadia Arandjelovic
All laced up: Jaeshri Romeo gets ready to take part in the In Motion holiday spectacular, The Nutcracker, last year. (Photo taken by Amanda Temple)
Related Stories
Scholarship success for In Motion�s Lola
Before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season gets underway, one local dance school is encouraging families with young children to slow down and enjoy some quality time and tea.
In Motion School of Dance will be hosting its first ever Nutcracker Tea Party, taking place this Sunday from 3pm until 5pm.
The school�s founder Lizz Pimentel is encouraging young people of all ages to come out in their prince and princess attire to enjoy hot drinks and refreshments, arts and crafts, as well as a sneak peak of excerpts from The Nutcracker performance, kicking off next month.
Ms Pimentel said: �We wanted to give kids something fun around this time of year, so are hosting a tea party for girls and boys and hope they come dressed up in their princess and prince outfits.
�The whole afternoon is organised, so parents don�t have to worry if there will be enough for their kids to do.
�There will be a silent auction, with adult and kid related items, like dance classes and a huge variety of other things. We will also be performing little excerpts from the Nutcracker performance from the show, having arts and crafts activities and giving the kids an opportunity to learn a dance with the cast.
�We will also have a few of our principles in costume walking around, so the children can get autographs from characters like Clara, Sugar Plum Fairy and the Snow Queen and see them in their special handmade tutus which are beaded and visually beautiful.�
The Nutcracker is a ballet based on the 19th-century tale by E.T.A. Hoffman. It tells the tale of a girl�s beloved nutcracker, who comes to life one Christmas to defeat the evil Mouse King, before whisking the heroine away for a magical adventure in the Kingdom of the Sweets.
Ms Pimentel said the local dance school expected the holiday production to be a �one off event�, back in 2009. However, each year she gets inundated with requests from students, parents and the wider community to stage the show again.
The feedback from the performance has been so great, Ms Pimentel decided to stage three shows this year, instead of the usual two.
She said: �It�s a really nice family event to bring people together for the family season and a heartwarmer, feel good type of production. I think it�s especially great around this time of year while everyone is stuck doing all the Christmas shopping and caught up in the busyness of the season.
�It allows our dancers to have other opportunities to perform outside of the one huge performance we do with the school in the summer months,� she explained.
The dance school director said she plans to stage The Nutcracker as long as there is interest in the community.
She also hopes the tea part could become a part of the tradition going forward.
�There�s not a lot of events for kids that make them feel like they�re special where they might meet people that they know or see some new faces, so something like this makes them feel special because they are coming for afternoon tea.
�I think just knowing its their party and at a nice place, the Gazebo Room in the Hamilton Princess, not just a school hall somewhere, makes it very formal and gives them something exciting to look forward to.�
She said they have tried to keep ticket prices reasonable so the event will appeal to a wide cross section of people in the community. However, there is only a limited amount of tickets available; Ms Pimentel encourages people to buy tickets in advance to avoid disappointment.
Tickets to the Nutcracker Tea Party will be $40 for those who order in advance from www.ptix.bm ; or $50 at the door.
Money raised through the tea party will go towards dance scholarships and also help fund The Nutcracker production itself.
Anyone looking to see The Nutcracker ballet on December 13 and 14, can buy general tickets for $35 or patron tickets for $60, at www.ptix.bm .
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Which popular TV series of the 1960s and 1970s developed from an earlier programme called Police Surgeon? | The Golden Age Of Blacks In Television: The Late 1960s
The Golden Age Of Blacks In Television:
The Late 1960s
"Golden Age" is a term to label that period in the history of a nation, movement, artistic medium or the like during which its greatest achievements were realized. It is not an absolute term since it does not intend to describe the best possible epoch. That being the case, there can be no doubt that for African Americans in television, the last half of the 1960s was a Golden Age.
Speaking in July 1964, Frank Stanton, president of CBS, called upon broadcasters to launch a "mighty and continuing editorial crusade" in support of civil rights. In an address to the National Broadcast Editorial Conference of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Stanton called for commitment and advocacy. President Lyndon B. Johnson having recently signed the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1964, Stanton spoke now of the "pivotal point in our history" and of the need for television to utilize its "editorial strength boldly, imaginatively and with insight and wisdom."
This was a significant speech for it revealed the sensitivity and involvement many TV executives felt toward the civil rights movement, and toward the fact that the government and the nation supported racial reform. Stanton suggested this when he directed broadcasters to "use their 5,000 voices heard on 156 million radio sets and 61 million television sets, in a mighty continuing editorial crusade to make this new law work."
In part, the changing complexion of TV in the late 1960s was a reflection within the industry of the changes wrought by the great social and legal movement that was the push for civil rights. Until this date there had been few sponsored network shows headed by black actors. Serious entertainers such as Billy Daniels in 1952 and Nat King Cole in 1956-1957 had failed to gain or maintain popularity. The only successful programs, Beulah and Amos ‘n’ Andy, may have amused enough people to keep them viable for several seasons, but they resurrected minstrel-show stereotypes thought by many to have been abandoned following World War II.
1960s Series Featuring Blacks as Stars, Co-Stars, or Continuing Characters
Sing-Along with Mitch (1961-1966)
The Lawrence Welk Show (1964-1971)
Rawhide (1965)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1973)
The Silent Force (1970-1971)
Now, in the second half of the 1960s, there were more than two dozen programs featuring black actors as leading characters, or in prominent, regular supporting roles. As in most of commercial TV, many of the series achieved limited success and were quickly canceled. Several programs, however, were ratings favorites and lasted for years. It is important, too, that relative to their counterparts in earlier decades, the shows in this period were practically free of racial stereotyping. The above list indicates the scope of network programming featuring African-American stars in this Golden Age.
As it affected the history of blacks in American television, the most crucial series in the latter half of the 1960s was I Spy. The program premiered in 1965 and co-starred Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. It was clearly intended to capitalize on the popular interest in espionage dramas created by Sean Connery's success in several James Bond feature films, and by The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a successful TV series of the previous season. I Spy related the exploits of two secret agents operating around the world to protect U.S. national interests.
But unlike other spy shows on network TV—Honey West, The Avengers, Secret Agent, as well as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.—this program mixed its international intrigue with a slight touch of American wit. This was because of the presence of Bill Cosby.
I Spy was the first network dramatic series to star a minority actor. Not since the demise of Harlem Detective in 1954 had television attempted to feature a black detective hero. And Harlem Detective, of course, was a local show in New York City, not a network production. When I Spy premiered, NBC officials seemed pleased that only three stations—in Savannah and Albany, Georgia, and Daytona Beach, Florida—refused to carry the show. It was seen, however, on 180 other stations covering 96 percent of the country.
The casting of Bill Cosby was a bold decision by producer Sheldon Leonard. While Culp came to the series as a veteran television actor who had starred in a Western program of moderate success, Trackdown, Cosby was a story-telling comedian whose greatest exposure on TV had been on Johnny Carson's Tonight program. Cosby was not only an unknown dramatic quantity, his role could have been played by a white man. Casting Cosby as Alexander Scott, the tennis trainer and traveling companion of Culp's character, fellow agent Kelly Robinson, broke the color line as had no series in TV history.
Cosby proved uniquely qualified for the part. His talent for subtle comedy was matched by a dramatic skill which allowed him to range with apparent ease between emotions of patriotism and self-doubt, romance and intrigue. Cosby was successful in the series. During the three seasons I Spy was on the air, he won three Emmy awards as the most outstanding actor in a continuing dramatic role. And he was popular with audiences. According to a TVQ performer-study by the Home Testing Institute in 1966, Cosby was one of the most popular stars in video—ranking first with children twelve to seventeen years of age, third with those eighteen to thirty-four years of age, and tying for eighth with the total audience.
Ironically, the program's ratings did not match Cosby's triumphs. Credit must go to NBC for maintaining the series for three years when its highest seasonal rating was twenty-ninth place, a position attained in its second year. During the other two seasons, it failed to finish among the top thirty-five.
As well as being the first network drama with an African-American star, I Spy was a landmark program for blacks in other respects. Alexander Scott was placed solidly beyond the borders of the United States, swept up in the dynamics of world affairs. Often filmed in foreign locations, the weekly drama unfolded in places like Hong Kong, Kyoto, and Mexico City—and in countries like Morocco, Greece, and Italy. In one program shot in Greece, the picture of Bill Cosby walking amid the ruins of the Parthenon, symbol of the Western democracy first nurtured in ancient Athens, was a powerful testimony to the nature of the entire series. For black and white viewers, it was an educational experience to see an African-American hero operating constructively abroad in the service of the United States.
Cosby's character was always equal to his encounters with foreign agents, heads of state, beautiful women, and would-be-murderers. He was unlike Shaft, Superfly, and other exaggerated "superspade" characters developed in the so-called "blaxploitation" films of the early 1970s. Alexander Scott was a real, mature human character—able to feel and express emotions historically forbidden to black characters in mainstream entertainment media. In an early episode, Cosby actually kissed a Japanese woman, a revolutionary act that was well beyond the historic perimeters established for blacks in television.
More intimate still was Cosby's part in the episode, "Laya," aired September 25, 1967. Here Alexander Scott fell in love with an enemy agent portrayed by Janet MacLachlan. While mainstream film, radio, and TV traditionally ruled out physical expressions of interracial romance, embracing, kissing and other demonstrations of affection were also proscribed between black men and women. Thus, when Scott romanced Laya, touching, caressing, and kissing her, another barrier to black social and artistic expression was shattered.
I Spy was also an important program for other black actors. Many African-American performers played dramatic roles in the series. Among them were Eartha Kitt, Barbara McNair, Greg Morris, and Nancy Wilson. These guest stars often appeared in nontraditional parts. Diana Sands, for example, portrayed an Israeli agronomist. Ivan Dixon and Cicely Tyson played African royalty caught up in the propaganda war between East and West. And Leslie Uggams was an active part of a Communist conspiracy in Italy.
Directions in TV programming tend to relate to the values popular in American political life. To a great degree the slow but inexorable folding of blacks into television in the early 1960s was a reflection of President Kennedy's activist and reformist mentality. And as Kennedy found support in public opinion, out of their need to placate government and please audiences, network and production executives began to respond with relevant programming.
During the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson the cause of civil rights gained further governmental support. Succeeding the assassinated East Coast liberal Kennedy, Johnson was the first American president from a Confederate state (Texas) since Andrew Johnson a century earlier. Yet, LBJ was even more supportive of civil rights than his predecessor.
Johnson envisioned a "Great Society," a reordering of social values to ensure minority rights and economic opportunity through the massive intervention of the federal government. New bureaus were created, and new programs were enacted in Johnson's "War on Poverty." New measures to protect black voting rights in the South were passed by a Congress that the president seemed to control. As an heir to the legacy of American Progressivism, Johnson was forging his Great Society with the same fervor and vision with which Franklin D. Roosevelt had shaped the New Deal.
This was a time of intense reevaluation of racial attitudes. From the outpouring of white support for civil rights legislation to the self-realization experienced by many African Americans, the late 1960s was a time of "black is beautiful." There were academic expressions of the new era, from black studies curricula and the rewriting of history to include strategic African-American personalities, to the training and employment of great numbers of black instructors.
Culturally, the reevaluation was noticeable in such matters as the new sense of brother- and sisterhood among blacks, increased participation by blacks in intercollegiate and professional sports, the creation of a "black handshake," and the disuse of the terms "Negro" and "colored" and the substitution of "black" and "Afro-American" and, eventually, “African American.” It was in this atmosphere that the Golden Age was achieved by blacks in television.
Not all productions featuring African Americans were successful in TV. Unlike I Spy, for instance, The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show was a disaster. As innovative as was Bill Cosby's dramatic series, Davis’ series was the first musical variety program hosted by a black entertainer since The Nat King Cole Show was canceled a decade earlier. Certainly, headliners such as Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte had hosted specials since then, but in January 1966, Davis fronted his own program on the NBC network. And although it lasted only four months before being dropped, it established a model for programming later filled with varying degrees of success by Flip Wilson, Redd Foxx, Pearl Bailey, George Kirby, Bill Cosby, Leslie Uggams, Ben Vereen, The Jackson Five, and Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.
In critical terms, Davis' program was a failure. From the beginning Davis was hampered by contractual problems emanating from a previous arrangement with ABC. The rival network allowed him to host the premier show, but then compelled him to miss the next four telecasts. The show also lacked a national sponsor and was scheduled on Friday nights opposite such hit series as Gomer Pyle, USMC (the second most popular show of the season); Hogan's Heroes (ranked number nine that year); and The Addams Family.
Although the program later improved its presentation, reviews of its premier telecast on January 7 were less than complimentary. Variety panned the program for its "shoddy production values—ranging from dull, cheap sets to sloppy editing and dubbing—or unimaginative scripting, feeble scoring and a weak song catalogue." And Cleveland Amory in TV Guide later criticized the program for its undistinguished production values, adding that "though there were many things wrong with this show, there are many more things right with it—and it is getting better every week."'
In its short run The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show opened the door for many black entertainers to gain national exposure. Some, like Diana Ross and the Supremes, Nancy Wilson, Leslie Uggams, and Diahann Carroll, were already well known because of TV and phonograph records. Others, such as the Nicholas Brothers and the Will Mastin Trio, were vintage performers seldom seen on television. And Davis introduced new talents—Lola Falana, Johnny Brown, George Kirby—whose careers would later flourish.
Ultimately, The Sammy Davis, Jr. Show failed because of the inadequate ratings it received. In the ratings and share-ofaudience figures—the guideposts by which television achievement is measured—Davis' program was unimpressive. While the show did attract millions of viewers, it did not appeal to sufficient millions to remain viable.
This is not to suggest, however, that such measurements were accurate indicators. Various minorities and social groups often criticized A. C. Nielsen, Arbitron, Pulse, and the other market research companies which supplied the ratings. Among other charges, it was frequently suggested that these companies did not measure African-American viewers adequately, since an insufficient number of minority households was included in the measurement. While companies were quick to defend their figures and methods, by the end of the 1960s they did take steps to insure a broader representation by blacks and other racial minorities.
Whatever the shortcomings of the industry ratings figures, they remained the criteria by which popularity and continuance were decided. And in the case of several programs with black stars, they revealed an unprecedented popular approval. Never in video history had three shows with black central characters enjoyed success simultaneously. But by the end of the decade the ratings showed this to be the case with Julia, The Bill Cosby Show, and The Flip Wilson Show.
There is an aspect to most black performance in popular culture which is unique. Because there is comparatively little minority representation in radio, film, and television, and because each performance by an African American is regarded as a chance to make a statement about black social realities, each appearance takes on added weight. Since few African Americans have as yet enjoyed the recurring exposure granted to the stars of hit TV series, when the black actor does achieve such success he or she is vulnerable to special criticism.
If a role seems too accepting of white social dominance, the star as well as the character he or she portrays may be attacked as too acquiescent. If the role is one of a middle-class suburban black, it may be assailed as too bourgeois and unsympathetic to inner-city "brothers" and "sisters." If the role involves no racial politics, it may be censured as not "black" enough. And if it is critical of social injustice, it may be assailed as hostile, radical, or heavy-handed.
In effect, whenever a black entertainer appeared in the late 1960s, he or she was expected to represent all African Americans, embodying the panorama of black life from ghetto to suburb. Because of its patent failure to do this, no successful black series was more controversial than Julia.
As played by Diahann Carroll, Julia Baker was the most assimilated black character ever to appear in the U.S. mass media. Beyond the stereotyped mammies and maids of early TV, Julia was everything that Beulah, Sapphire Stevens, Madame Queen, and Oriole were not. She was middle-class and beautiful. She spoke English perfectly. She was a liberated woman, a self-supporting professional nurse living in a racially integrated apartment building. As a war widow, moreover, she was responsibly raising a wholesome "little man" son in a homey environment.
Julia made no pretense of dealing with contemporary social issues. Indeed, it studiously avoided them. A weekly visit with the Bakers involved the same simple problems encountered for decades on such shows as I Love Lucy, Family Affair, and The Donna Reed Show. Although Julia eventually coiffed her hair in an Afro and had black boyfriends played by Paul Winfield and Fred Williamson, the series refused to be topical. If there were racial references, they were one-line gags such as the question by her employer, a white doctor: "Have you always been a Negro, or are you just trying to be fashionable?" More typical of the series was the following telephone dialogue between Julia and her seven-year-old son, Corey, played by Marc Copage:
Corey: It's me, Mom.
Julia: And just who are you, sir?
Corey: Your son.
Corey: He's the only son you've got, aren't I?
Julia: Can you prove you're Corey Baker?
Corey: Just a minute, I'll go check in the mirror. [musical interlude] It's me all right.
Julia: Are you sure this is the very same Corey Baker who's going to get on a plane tonight with his mother and fly all the way to Kansas for a vacation?
Corey: Yeh, and I just wanted to know if Earl J. Wagedorn can come with us.
Julia: Oh, Corey.
Julia could not have emerged at a less fortuitous time. With racial frustrations at a peak and with urban police often in a veritable state of war with inner-city rioters, the comfortable image of black success on Julia was in stark juxtaposition to the images seen on local and national newscasts. There was no H. Rap Brown, or SNCC, or Poor People's March in the world of nurse Baker. Instead, in the words of Carroll, Julia Baker was a "white Negro," the overly good, overly integrated fantasy projection of white writers acting, they felt, in a manner sensitive to decades of TV prejudice. Carroll best summarized this situation when in 1968 she told an interviewer:
With black people right now, we are all terribly bigger than life and more wonderful than life and smarter and better—because we are still proving. For a hundred years we have been prevented from seeing ourselves and we're all overconcerned and overreacting. The needs of the white writer go to the superhuman being. At the moment we're presenting the white Negro. And he has very little Negroness.'
From the time it premiered in the Fall of 1968 until it was canceled in mid-1971, Julia was the focal point of criticism. Blacks ascribed a range of negatives to the series. Because the central character was female and husbandless, some felt it continued the matriarchal stereotype—the emasculating anti-male pattern of traditional prejudice. Others felt it was unrepresentative of social reality and, therefore, subversive to the aims and methods of the civil rights movement. To others the program was a sellout intended, now that Richard M. Nixon was President of the United States, to assuage white consciences and make the curtailment of social programs and the repression of riotous ghetto dwellers palatable to white society.
Many whites also felt uncomfortable with Julia. Because it was produced by whites, the series seemed patronizing to blacks—a saccharine projection of the "good life" to be achieved by those blacks who did not riot, who acted properly, and worked within the system. Producer-creator Hal Kanter might protest that "this is not a civil rights show. What we're driving at is escapist entertainment, not a sociological document." But the fact remained that given the added social implications present in all black performance, Julia could not be just another situation comedy.
Despite all these conflicting pressures, Julia was well received by viewers. It was the first black-starred series since Amos n' Andy seventeen years earlier to score well in the Nielsen ratings. It was the seventh most popular show in its premier season. In its second season it was ranked twenty-eighth. During its best year, Julia weekly reached an average of more than 14 million homes.
Sharing much of the same formula as Julia was The Bill Cosby Show, which ran for two years, 1969-1971. It, too, featured a unmarried black character as its lead, as Cosby portrayed Chet Kincaid, a high school track coach and a bachelor. Similar to Julia Baker, Kincaid was middle-class, professional, and educated. Like Julia, moreover, The Bill Cosby Show placed its central character in an integrated environment.
Nonetheless, Cosby’s series was obviously different. From the opening credits which featured Quincy Jones' earthy rhythms as background to Cosby's own soulful groans and jive lyrics, viewers were assured that although the show projected life in racial harmony, this program was extracted from the black experience, and possessed an esoteric quality African Americans alone could understand.
On the surface Chet Kincaid handled the problems faced by other heroes of situation comedy: helping a friend to quit smoking, trying to settle an argument between an aunt and uncle, helping an intoxicated magician rearrange his life, dealing with personal jealousy over a coy girlfriend, trying to recruit a promising athlete to join the track team. Kincaid shook hands in a traditional way, never spoke in slang terms, and seemed equally at ease with wealthy whites and poor blacks.
But there was a black ambiance to The Bill Cosby Show that was missing in Julia. Rather than a "white Negro," Kincaid was black and self-confident. He might be pictured with a Ray Charles record album, or with a photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the wall of his apartment. He courted attractive black women and worked with underprivileged children. White characters on the program were frequently stereotyped, as were his teaching colleagues—the sloppy and absent-minded Mr. Cutter and the intractable Mrs. Drucker, a shrewish woman hostile to male assertiveness.
From the jazz musical score which occurred throughout the show, to the Afro coiffure and casual dress which typified Kincaid's appearance, the series was a statement about black life, an endorsement of the middle-class, educated black man who has not deserted the inner-city but moves gracefully between both worlds. Through his character, Cosby served to defang the contemporary familiar image of riotous blacks. He also suggested to minority viewers still in poverty that they were not forgotten by those who had obtained an education and credentials to operate in the wider, primarily white society.
The Bill Cosby Show was not a "black" show in the sense of attempting to project the harsh realities of African-American life. During its first season, while Cosby did much to bring minority workers into the craft and labor unions servicing the program, only one episode was written by a black writer. Further, because it was necessary to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, the program could not hope to show a discomfiting image to its viewers. So, with a cast integrated with blacks, whites, Asians, and Latinos, Cosby told an interviewer that the series sought to tell "an American story." According to Cosby, who was also executive producer of the series: "I'm aware that the show will have a negative meaning for people who are really militant about any story with a black person in it—black viewers included. But you can still pick a guy's pocket while he's laughing, and that's what I hope to do."
Despite the pattern of success established by I Spy, Julia, and The Bill Cosby Show, not all series featuring black stars were widely accepted. Barefoot in the Park was a black situation comedy which lasted only thirteen weeks in the fall of 1969. It starred Scoey Mitchlll and Tracy Reed as a young middle-class couple living in a New York City apartment and struggling through the first years of marriage. The series had adequate supporting characters played by Thelma Carpenter and Nipsey Russell, and it was based on Neil Simon's hit Broadway play and motion picture. Nevertheless, Barefoot in the Park was a TV failure. Even before it premiered, trade papers reported dissension on the set between actors, directors, and producers. Further, the comedy in the series was uninspired, and the image of an attractive young couple kissing and joking their way through married life was already an overused format.
Equally ill-fated was The Leslie Uggams Show, a musical variety program that failed in the fall of 1969. The show featured Uggams as a singer, dancer, and host to guest stars. She also appeared weekly in a running skit called "Sugar Hill," in which she and Lincoln Kilpatrick played a middle-class black couple putting up with each other—as well as with her mother, brother, and sister. Intended by CBS as a replacement for the controversial and canceled Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the variety show lasted only three months. Its demise was due in part to Uggams' limited experience. As a singer on Sing-Along with Mitch for several years she was a creditable performer, but she was neither a compelling comedy actress nor a variety show host. Further, resentment generated by the cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour practically guaranteed failure for whatever program replaced it.
As well as those programs featuring African-American stars as central characters, by the late 1960s there were several important series with blacks in co-starring or supporting roles. Clearly responding to the political, social, and economic dynamics of the time, the networks and production companies in unprecedented fashion brought black talents into highly visible roles in television. These roles covered a broad range of characterizations, some familiar, some inventive.
One of the major developments of the period was a return to the African locale as a setting for continuing series. Not since the days of Ramar of the Jungle and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle—both children's shows from the early 1950s—had a program set its white champions in the jungles and savannahs of Africa. Daktari concerned the activities of a white veterinarian working in East Africa to protect indigenous animal life. During the three-year history of the series, Hari Rhodes played a zoologist and assistant to the central character. Cowboy in Africa dealt with a white American rodeo star hired to bring modern ranching techniques to a large ranch in Kenya. The only black recurring character in this program was a ten-year-old native boy portrayed by Gerald Edwards.
These programs shared a familiar theme: the superiority of technological Western civilization over the backwardness of African society. Since the imperialistic nations took up the "white man's burden" in the nineteenth century, the image of civilized white people encountering black "heathens" who were "half-devil and half-child" was familiar in literature—and later in film and radio. In TV in the late 1960s, it reached its greatest realization in Tarzan.
Tarzan was an anachronism. In the midst of the African-American movement toward fuller civil rights, here was a picture of a Caucasian hero single-handedly bringing peace and justice to the "dark continent." At a time when former African colonies were independent and influential nations, the picture of actor Ron Ely in a loin cloth walking as the white champion among dark-skinned natives was racially disparaging and patronizing. Certainly, the program gave employment to talented but rarely utilized black actors, including William Marshall, Roy Glenn, Woody Strode, Brock Peters, Raymond St. Jacques, and Yaphet Kotto. But there was something unsettling about distinguished African-American actors speaking in broken English or wearing Hollywood conceptions of native African clothing.
Nowhere was this misuse of talent more visible than in "The Convert," a Tarzan episode that aired January 12, 1968. The story concerned three Roman Catholic nuns, played by Diana Ross and the Supremes (Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong), who attempted to persuade a stubborn village leader, portrayed by James Earl Jones, to allow construction of a hospital to serve his jungle tribesmen. The plot allowed the popular rock-and-roll group to sing two songs—"The Lord Helps Those Who Help Themselves" and "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore." Predictably, the story ended on a happy note. In the final scenes Jones announced that he had changed his mind and would allow the hospital to be built. Then, Ross and the Supremes joyfully began to teach him and his tribesmen to sing "Michael." Knowing that another African problem had been solved, Tarzan walked off into the jungle with a smile of satisfaction.
Ironically, even in its fictional entertainment network TV could present a more accurate image of Africa. "The Third Choice," an episode of The Name of the Game telecast March 7, 1968, exemplified this. The program depicted Ossie Davis, Janet MacLachlan, and Roscoe Lee Browne as deeply involved in African revolutionary politics, caught between the West and the East in an emerging new nation. From the opening scenes filmed in Lagos, Nigeria, this program was at odds with the simplicity of Tarzan. Viewers saw a modern Africa epitomized in a large coastal city with high-rise buildings, factories pouring out smoke, large ships in the harbor, modern bridges, railroads, and automobiles. The political dimension of the story also projected a more authentic interpretation of African society than that seen in the struggle between the Supremes and James Earl Jones. Stories like this—and others seen intermittently on adventure series such as Mission: Impossible and It Takes a Thief—suggest that U.S. television was capable of escaping outmoded stereotypes when dealing with third world nations and peoples.
There may have been examples of network and producer insensitivity, but the fact remains that in this Golden Age blacks were used frequently—often in roles unfamiliar to African-American actors. In the wake of Bill Cosby's success in a dramatic series, several blacks appeared in police and private-detective series. Where in the past they might have been portrayed as victims or perpetrators of crime, blacks were now part of the law enforcement process. Whether it was Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, the reformed Watts rioter, now an undercover police officer on The Mod Squad, or Gail Fisher as Peggy Fair, the secretary and helper on the private detective series, Mannix, audiences rarely had seen blacks in so flattering a light.
And African-American heroes worked for all types of legal agencies. On Mission: Impossible, Greg Morris portrayed Barney Collier, an electronics expert and member of the team of CIA-like agents who roamed the world thwarting evil developments in foreign governments. In N.Y.P.D., Robert Hooks was a police detective operating in New York City. In Hawk the location was also New York City, but here Wayne Grice played Detective Carter, the partner on the night beat of a police lieutenant of Iroquois ancestry, John Hawk (Burt Reynolds).
Hari Rhodes abandoned his lab gown and zoologist's role on Daktari, and appeared now as a big-city district attorney on The Protectors, one of three programs composing NBC's The Bold Ones series. Related to this format also was Don Mitchell's characterization of Mark Sanger, the assistant and bodyguard to Raymond Burr's police consultant heroics on Ironside.
By the late 1960s, it was apparent that to be representative and appealing to a wide audience, TV series required black characters. This was most obvious in programs which spotlighted groups of Americans confronting various types of conflict and misunderstandings. Ivan Dixon played Sgt. Kinchloe, one of the soldiers held humorously in Stalag 13 on Hogan's Heroes. The New People—a short-lived series about a group of young American men and women stranded on a deserted island and forced to establish a new social order based on their 1960s values —featured David Moses as one of those struggling to make reality out of theory.
The evening soap opera Peyton Place was integrated during the 1968-1969 season, when Percy Rodrigues and Ruby Dee, as Dr. and Mrs. Harry Miles, and Glynn Turman as their son joined the cast. And the ill-fated Matt Lincoln program, starring Vince Edwards as a psychiatrist, featured two blacks, Felton Perry and Chelsea Brown, as his assistants.
Blacks also entered genres traditionally closed to them. Angelo Rutherford's role as the young black friend, Willie, on Gentle Ben took blacks into family-oriented adventure programming. In the science fiction series Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols was the only recurring female and black member of the cast. Her role as the attractive Lt. Uhura, the communications officer of the starship Enterprise, was a sexual as well as racial breakthrough. Similarly, a black character was included in the science fantasy series, Land of the Giants. Struggling to survive in a world where everything except the crew of an American spaceship was twelve times larger than on earth, Don Marshall played the copilot of the aircraft which had crash-landed on a foreign planet in the year 1983.
During the flowering of the Western in the late 1950s and early 1960s, blacks seldom appeared on the scores of series on television. In less than a decade, however, matters began to change. During the fall of 1965, Raymond St. Jacques appeared as Simon Blake, a drover on the faltering Rawhide series. St. Jacques appeared for only four months before the seven-year-old program was canceled. Between 1967 and 1970, however, Frank Silvera portrayed Don Sebastian Montoya, a distinguished Mexican nobleman and father-in-law of John Cannon, the central character on High Chaparral. In 1969, moreover, Roosevelt Grier, the former football star for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams, became a regular on the last season of Daniel Boone. Cast as Gabe Cooper, Grier portrayed a runaway slave who lived with the Tuscarora Indians and was accepted by them as Chief Canawahchaquaoo.
Considerably more significant, however, was the co-starring role of Otis Young on The Outcasts. During the 1968-1969 season, Young played Jemal David who, with a white partner, Earl Corey, played by Don Murray, was a bounty hunter in the post-Civil War wild West. Of all TV series featuring African-American actors, The Outcasts was the most intense and explosive. David was no socially adapted Chet Kincaid or patriotic Barney Collier. Bitter about the slavery experience and hostile to racism and the brutalization of blacks, he was sensitive and combative.
While the series was set in the frontier days of the nineteenth century, its attitudes were clearly reflective of racial sensibilities in the late 1960s. David's distrust of whites occasionally included even his partner Corey. In an episode entitled "Gideon," aired February 24, 1969, those feelings exploded after Corey met and reminisced with an old ex-slave, Gideon (played by Roscoe Lee Browne), who was once owned by Corey's father. The shuffling and servility shown by Gideon was offensive to David. And Corey's apparent pleasure in meeting the old man triggered a hostile scene between the partners.
David: Listen, Corey, I don't need you to stand up for me. I can fight my own fights.
Corey: What's the matter with you today? You're touchier than a lizard with sunburn. First you start pickin' on old Gideon, then you start callin' me "Massa Earl," like some endman in a riverboat show.
David: It wasn't meant to be funny. I just ain't interested in hearin' about him or any of your other used -to-be darkies.
Corey: And I'm not responsible for what a man calls me.
David: Oh, is that a fact? He just dreamed it up all by himself one day, decided that "Massa Earl" sounded better than "Mr. Corey" or "Earl" or any other way a man talks to a man.
In many respects The Outcasts was revolutionary. It challenged the traditional formula of the TV Western, treating innovative themes such as the place of black cavalry units—the so-called "Buffalo Soldiers—in the history of the West; the brotherhood between two oppressed racial minorities, blacks and Indians; racial prejudice on the frontier; and life on a chain gang controlled by brutal and bigoted guards.
Furthermore, never had TV projected a tough black champion in the Old West. But as such, David was forced to face such soul-searching issues as being falsely accused of having killed a white woman; coping with a hooded night rider intent on pillaging the countryside in revenge for the Confederate loss in the Civil War; and temporarily becoming the sheriff of a racially prejudiced town.
The series also broadened the expression of black manhood on television. In one episode, David risked his life to save a white child from death. In another, he fell in love with a black woman, only to discover she was involved in a robbery scheme masterminded by a white man. In still another episode, he was compelled to deal with an old black servant who became angry when David ate at the table with whites and "acted like a white man." The old man later explained that his own son had been murdered for acting like a white man.
One of the most revolutionary scenes in the entire series occurred in "Gideon." It showed a black man unwrapping a long hunting knife and calmly plunging it into the chest of a white bounty hunter. Several years later a black writer, James Oliver Killens, recalled the impact of this incident upon one black viewer:
One of the best shows I used to like was The Outcasts, and it wasn't too long before they cast it out and off the air. It had a feeling of truth to it somehow or other. I especially liked that time when Roscoe Lee Browne was on that show and killed that White man. That was beautiful.
While film historians have spent much energy pointing out the emergence of the strong, macho black character so crucial to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s, Otis Young as Jemal David was clearly the first modern black hero to lash out at white society when he felt it to be oppressive or unjust. Long before the aggressive feature films like Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song (1971) and Shaft (1971), David as a central character in The Outcasts projected an image that was self-sufficient, virile, and threatening.
Personally, Otis Young seems to have harbored as much distrust of white society as his character. TV Guide in 1969 reported that his refusal to cooperate with his producers—in one case, refusing to say the line, "Ain't nothin' like darkies for prayin' "—led to considerable tension on the set of The Outcasts. Young defended his editing of the script, noting that "the line is an insult to Negroes." In language reminiscent of Paul Robeson's defiance, Young continued:
If this line went through, the next thing they'd have up there is Stepin Fetchit. If I compromised myself on this script, it would be a little easier next time, and in three or four years I'd wake up one morning and be a wealthy Negro who forgot who he was.... The thing that affected my decision about this line was my responsibility to Negroes in this country. White people think there's nothing like darkies for dancing, there's nothing like darkies for singing, and there's nothing like darkies for praying. Well, that's a lie. The segment of Negroes that is praying instead of doing is dying off. We have a new Negro that hasn't even been to church. One of the things that has hung the Negro up is that he's been too busy praying in the white man's church. This has kept him under the hand of the white Establishment. Any Negro today who is praying instead of doing is a damn fool."'
The Outcasts failed for several reasons, among them its poor scheduling opposite feature films on NBC and Mayberry, R.F.D. on CBS. Westerns, too, were no longer popular with TV viewers by the late 1960s. The program also failed because of the hostile quality of its black characterization. Although the product of white script writers, Jemal David was one of the most threatening black characters since director D. W. Griffith in 1915 introduced a black would-be rapist lusting after a white girl in the motion picture, Birth of a Nation. The image of a strong and assertive black male, which film historian Don Bogle has termed "the brutal black buck," had been absent from the mainstream of American popular culture until the appearance of the brooding, quick-tempered bounty hunter created by Otis Young. The Outcasts and Jemal David anticipated by three years the violent and intensely angry black males in feature films in the following decade.
The rage apparent in the words and actions of Otis Young’s character suggests a militancy traditionally proscribed from network television. The pattern of excluding black anger had been established early in TV history with the banning of Paul Robeson from the medium. While the participatory perimeters of video had expanded since the days of Nat King Cole, the ideological boundaries remained intact. TV could adopt moderate performers like Diahann Carroll, Bill Cosby, and Sammy Davis, Jr. But there was still little place for those entertainers or characters, real or fictional, who brought strongly political perspectives to their performances.
This is not to disparage those African-American talents who found success in television. It is to suggest, however, that American mass culture continued to operate as a conservative, assimilative force, seeking to maintain social stability while gradually merging people of differing backgrounds into the cultural mainstream.
The process had worked effectively with the waves of immigrants who had come to the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While they maintained vestiges of their ethnic cultures—dress, food, dance, music, secondary language skills, and observance of holidays—they eventually were Americanized and became socially indistinguishable from other citizens.
American blacks, the offspring of reluctant immigrants who in earlier centuries were brought forcefully to the New World to be slaves, faced a different set of circumstances in the process of assimilation. Hampered by an institutional racism that stripped them of their African culture while disallowing their absorption into the mainstream of American social life, blacks had been kept historically rootless.
To ensure their servility after the laws of slavery were abolished in the mid-nineteenth century, blacks were isolated, culturally circumscribed, and made objects of derision within the dominant white culture. In this way, American popular culture ensured second-class political status for the offspring of exslaves.
The significance of the civil rights movement which flowered in the mid-1960s was that for legal, economic, political, and moral reasons, the dominant culture began to reevaluate its proscription against full participation by blacks. As never before in history, African Americans now had a chance to enter the social mainstream, to find educational and professional opportunity, and to achieve personal and familial satisfaction working within the system.
Given this situation, it is obvious that an immoderate series such as The Outcasts could not survive on television. It is amazing that ABC even telecast the series. Beyond the limits of popular acceptability, its anger was out of harmony with the cultural process.
Much more congruent with American cultural dynamics was the successful ABC series, Room 222. Better than any other program focusing on blacks in the Golden Age, Room 222 mirrored the ambiance of social change that was a part of the late 1960s, while operating within the boundaries of cultural possibility. In this regard, Room 222, and not The Outcasts, stands as the "best possible" black-starred show to emerge in the late 1960s.
Room 222 was a schoolroom dramatic series set in urban Walt Whitman High School. It featured Lloyd Haynes as a compassionate teacher whose lessons in black history were often interrupted by the real-life problems of a racially-integrated student body. Stories dealt with issues affecting contemporary American teenagers: drug addiction, cheating on exams, sexual attitudes, recalcitrant and nonconformist students, insensitive teachers, limitations on student rights, as well as social issues such as women's liberation, consumerism, and the environmental crisis. Frequently, the program dealt specifically with racial themes: President Lincoln's racial views, tutoring a ghetto youngster, the varieties of prejudice, and the like.
The program, however, did not have to approach racial problems directly to deliver its egalitarian point. The fact that Haynes, the main actor, was black, and that the prominently-displayed school counselor played by Denise Nicholas was also African American, made Room 222 a series with a reformist message. The sympathetic characters portrayed by Haynes and Nicholas delivered a positive statement about black middle-class success. In charge of young lives, here were responsible adults making all the right moves. The basic integrity and law-abiding nature of the African-American students in class also communicated a hopeful lesson about those struggling to leave the urban ghetto and enter the flow of American life.
There was no rage here. The professionals in Room 222 had achieved. They were laboring now so that black youngsters could follow them to the American Dream. The black heroes were allowed vestiges of African-American culture—Afros, colorful clothing, and a sensitivity toward younger "brothers" and "sisters" seeking equal opportunity. But the same central characters were well adjusted to the suit-and-tie regimentation of their careers and identities within the mainstream. Not simply principals in a TV series, these were role models of what "the good life"—a world of rational thought, attractive people, and financial sufficiency—offered for those who would abandon bitterness and work to overcome within the system.
Despite the cancellation of The Outcasts and the success of Room 222 and Julia, and the others, anger was an integral part of black reality in the late 1960s. If the intensity of that anger were to be encountered authentically on television, it would not appear on entertainment shows. It would have to be seen in nonfiction TV, in that realm of news, documentary, and public service programming which—despite boundaries established early in the case of Paul Robeson—still had helped make the civil rights issue a problem of national scope.
| The Avengers |
The Marlowe Theatre, recently refurbished, can be found in which English town or city? | Top 10 Secret Agent Series From The Sixties - Listverse
Top 10 Secret Agent Series From The Sixties
Randall
September 28, 2008
This list contains a competition – further details at the bottom of the list. Everybody knows Ian Fleming’s master spy, James Bond. The suave and handsome secret agent with a license to kill, Bond became the new face of cinematic spies after the release of Dr. No, the very first Bond film, in 1962. Before Bond, spies were often portrayed as paunchy, unattractive, cowardly, even elderly—much of which may have been more accurate, in reality—but the Cold War-ridden 1960s was more interested in fantasy and escape than cinema verite. And so, instead of the seedy and miserable nobody of Joseph Conrad’s “Secret Agent,” spies became good-looking ladies’ men with charm and toughness to spare.
Ian Fleming probably didn’t realize what a seed he was planting when he created James Bond. Almost immediately after his big screen debut, Bond had a whole generation of imitators following him on TV and film. There were suddenly spies everywhere—some surreal and campy, others sophisticated and witty, some hip and groovy. There was even a wedding of the spy with the western. By 1970, the anti-establishment sentiments of the hippies had fully taken hold in pop culture, and the spy craze was suddenly no more. Only James Bond was left, last as he was first, to carry on.
PLEASE NOTE: This list excludes Bond—this is, of course, about the OTHER spy series of the day. Bond, naturally, is the biggest and best known. The point is, he wasn’t alone.
10
Mission: Impossible
One of the iconic bits of Sixties spy shtick was the weekly-repeated, unforgettable speech of the unseen, unknown voice on the tape recorder: Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you decide to accept it… as though Phelps ever would have refused. The dirty secret of spies, of course, is that they aren’t allowed to refuse. If you refuse, John Drake (of “Danger Man,” etc.) could tell us, they kill you—or worse, they send you somewhere. And their “somewheres” are never pleasant; Villages and gulags of all sorts, and it doesn’t matter whose side you’re on—in the end they’re all the same place.
To punctuate this truth, there was that ominous caveat spoken near the end of each of Mission: Impossible’s mission tapes: if you or any of your IM Force are caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions. In other words, you’re on your own, pal, and nice knowin’ ya. And to further emphasize the idea that there would be no witnesses, no paper trail, no trace of a chain of command should Phelps and his team fail: this tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Perhaps Phelps could count on vanishing just as quickly if he decided sometime to say, “no, I’m not takin’ this one.”
But of course he never did—Peter Graves was far too reliable, and, yes, wooden, for such dramatic disobedience. So every week he and the faces of his ever-changing group of IMF spies and professionals would take on another corrupt dictator or spirit another willing defector out of the hands of the commies.
Cast changes were part and parcel of Mission: Impossible, and the faces changed more than the improbable and occasionally formulaic plots. The original “team leader,” Dan Briggs, (played by Steven Hill) left after the first season and was replaced by the aforementioned Graves. Then, later, master of disguise Rollin Hand and resident hottie Cinnamon Carter (played by Martin Landau and his wife of the time, Barbara Bain) left, to be replaced by Leonard Nimoy, in his first post-Spock role as “The Great Paris”, and Linda Day George, among a slew of others. Stolid strongman Peter Lupus remained throughout the show’s run, as did Greg Morris. But none of these characters, nor the actors who played them, made the cut of the successful films based on the series (starring the annoying and detestable master scientologist himself, Tom Cruise) though there was a brief TV revival in the Eighties.
Interesting tidbit: Mission: Impossible was the “sister show” of the original Star Trek – the two series were filmed back to back and side by side at the same Desilu Studios by the same production team, though their creative teams were totally different. Star Trek, on its slim budget, would often “borrow” props from Mission: Impossible, paint them weird and garish colors, and pass them off as alien sculpture and whatnot for visual ambience.
9
Matt Helm
Introduced in a series of novels by Donald Hamilton, the Matt Helm character was originally a somewhat out-of-shape, aging spy, gnarled and grizzled, somewhat in keeping with the spies of old. When, however, Matt finally reached the silver screen, he had morphed into a parody James Bond, a slick lounge lizard with a bevy of spy babes around him, part comic Bond and partly a reflection of the persona of the man who played him in four films, Dean Martin.
Martin’s Matt Helm was one of the chief inspirations for Mike Myers’ Austin Powers… amongst other similarities, the “secret identity” of each character was the same: fashion photographer.
8
Get Smart
The idiot as spy, as it were, Don Adams’ Maxwell Smart was the creation of the keen and deadpan wit of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, late of the writing staff of That Was the Week that Was and future host (ten times over) of Saturday Night Live, and eternal straight man to John Belushi’s rotating Samurai character. Maxwell Smart labored for the ever-suffering Chief against the sinister machinations of KAOS, usually facing peril at the hands of Bernie Kopel (later to be granted a floating medical degree on The Love Boat) and his Silly Eastern European Accent. Max had at his disposal, of course, all the tools of the trade for fighting the pesky adversaries out for world domination: shoe-phone, cones of silence (their use, naturally, meant that you couldn’t hear what the other guy was saying, but what the hell), robots (Hymie, played by slick Dick Gautier, perennial game show celeb), and best of all, a beautiful female partner—one of the best of her league—the nameless but gorgeous Agent 99, played cutely and smartly by the cute and smart Barbara Feldon, object of this writer’s affections when he was but a tadpole.
Yes, spies could be funny. Why not? The trappings of Sixties Spydom were so ludicrous as it was—not just in fiction, but in fact. Why not Maxwell Smart and his “sorry about that Chief,” or, “missed it by that much,” when our own CIA was trying to snuff Castro with poisoned mustache wax, or the British MI6 was being sold down the river by turncoat double agents named Kim? Now that’s funny.
7
Wild Wild West
Unless you’re just too young to know this—or don’t ever bother to watch TV Land—or you spent the bulk of your life living under a large block of sandstone—you know that the western was the most successful and most popular genre of TV series in the 50s and 60s, with its only serious contender being the cop drama. Well police shows are still with us, but the western is long gone, and not just from our TV screens but largely from our movie theaters as well. Oh, every so often there’s talk of a resurgence of the western in films, and there’s been quite a few good ones in the last twenty years. But it’s never really come back, and certainly not to television. Perhaps we’re too sophisticated and jaded and gritty urban, these days, for hicks on horses.
But once upon a time the western was the big thing. And there were some great ones in the 60s – Bonanza being the best, arguably, along with Gunsmoke and The Big Valley, Bat Masterson, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rifleman… well, you get the idea. But the 60s were also the decade for Pure TV Escapism and Swinging Fun, the decade of Star Trek, Batman, Hullabaloo… of Lost in Space, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea… and it was also the decade of the subject of this list… the decade of Swingin’ Spies. So what would be more natural than combining the western with the spy? Thus, the heroes of Wild Wild West—agents of the United States Secret Service waging war on the 19th century frontier against such villains as the diminutive mad genius, Miguelito Loveless.
Occasionally surreal (what else could it be?) with its bizarre villains and their bizarre schemes, the show’s strength was its buddy relationship between handsome tough guy Robert Conrad’s Jim West and Ross Martin’s urbane master of disguise Artemus Gordon. Remade as an unmemorable film in the 90s, starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline.
6
Derek Flint
Our Man Flint, In Like Flint
Derek Flint, suave genius as spy, was the first parody secret agent in film. James Coburn played him fairly straight (unlike Dean Martin’s campy Matt Helm or Don Adams’ bumbling Maxwell Smart) but still, Flint was thoroughly over the top: the ultra-cool spy who was a master of everything—martial arts, science, electronics, food, languages… and of course a master with the ladies. Flint even had a bevy of multi-national babes who lived with him (so it seemed) and catered to his every needs. Sexist? You bet. Absurd? Oh yeah. But what fun, and who could take any of it seriously? Flint’s superhuman expertise was such that he could identify the boulliabase from a specific French restaurant by taste alone, dance a perfect Swan Lake with a Russian agent, go into rigid, impossible yoga trances at will, and any number of other impossible things.
5
Man / Girl From UNCLE
Ian Fleming helped create this series—one of the first spy shows on American television—and lent to the hero the name of one of his characters: Napoleon Solo, one of the mobsters in Fleming’s Goldfinger who dies at the hands of the eponymous character. Originally called simply Solo, the series incorporated a Russian partner, Illya Kuryakin (played by David McCallum) into the mix, to work alongside the lead character (Solo was played by the semi-redoubtable Robert Vaughn—I always thought of him as less an imposing figure than other secret agents). McCallum became a huge hit with teenage fans.
UNCLE, of course, stood for United Network Command for Law Enforcement; acronyms were part and parcel of sixties spy-dom, which can be traced back to the line in Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest”: “FBI, CIA, OSI… we’re all part of the same alphabet soup” and as Bond had had supervillainous SPECTRE to look after, UNCLE had THRUSH — Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity. Naturally all this silliness got out of hand after a while. There was Derek Flint’s ZOWIE, Get Smart’s CONTROL (and villainous KAOS) and after a while one wonders why, instead of Al Qaeda, we didn’t get something more inventive for our first world-wide terrorist organization. MAD ARAB anyone?
At any rate, the show became popular enough to spawn a spin-off in The Girl From UNCLE, which was the ever-engaging Stefanie Powers playing another Ian Fleming-created character, April Dancer. Her partner in the series was Mark Slate, though she shared Solo’s boss, Mr. Waverly (the tarantula-swelling and Gregory-Peck-framing Leo G. Carroll, who delivered the aforementioned famous alphabet soup line in North by Northwest). Sadly not as successful as the parent series, Stefanie Powers was at least nicer to look at, in this writer’s humble opinion. And she swung with the best of the sixties swinging babes, let’s face it.
4
I Spy
Another successful Sixties TV show later resurrected as a bad movie, I Spy, I always felt, had a certain edge to it. Oh, not a gritty, reality sort of edge… this was still the Sixties, when reality on television was not wanted, thank you. But there was something. Part of it had to do with Bill Cosby’s role as spy-in-training Alexander Scott—one of the first times in American television that a black man played in a starring role. He and fellow star Robert Culp (playing tennis pro-turned-tennis-bum Kelly Robinson, a fake ne’er-do-well who was actually a secret agent) had a buddy relationship which captured the affection of viewers, with their rapid-fire, hip banter and suave, smooth personalities. Also, the series was innovative in the way it went location-hunting, filming several episodes in Europe (Greece, Spain, etc.) and the far east. It never descended into camp territory, and like the British Danger Man, emphasized the somewhat harder-edged, tough side of the spy business.
3
Harry Palmer
The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain
Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer (played on the screen by Michael Caine in his first starring role) was meant to be a counterpoint to the ultra-sophisticated, upper-class James Bond. Palmer was working class, wore glasses, and lived in seedy surroundings. His sole “upper” quirks were that he was a gourmet cook and preferred to listen to classical music.
Palmer’s insubordinate, vaguely criminal side was played up in the series—in fact, the story was that he had been an army sergeant arrested for some unexplained bit of illegality committed while he was stationed in Germany. Offered the chance to remain in the stockade or work for British Intelligence, Palmer wisely chose the latter—but he never found the compromise to be a comfortable one. Hating stiff-lipped bureaucracy and ever in fear that his stuffy, harsh boss (Colonel Ross) would send him back to prison—or worse—Palmer went through each mission with the omnipresent sense of having to look over his shoulder at all times.
The Ipcress File is surely one of the best spy movies ever made (it has only one clunker of a moment: the line “that was the most delicious meal.”) and is particularly fun for not only Sydney Furie’s odd-camera-angle-direction and for John Barry’s influential and later highly-sampled soundtrack (bits of it, or riffs very similar to it, turn up in various trip-hop compositions from Portishead to Mono) but also for the remarkable insight into the tough and by no means glamorous day-to-day life of an agent for the government. Palmer is as close to a real human being as any secret agent gets—expressing his hope that, with a slight pay rise, he can buy that “new infrared grill,” or having to cope with the impending threat from an American agent (whose partner Palmer has accidentally killed) that he plans to “tail” Palmer until he’s satisfied that Palmer’s “clean, and if you’re not clean… I’m gonna kill you.” Not to mention the cold indifference of his superiors, who remark that, if the Americans do find anything suspicious about Palmer, they’ll take care of him, and save the Brits a lot of trouble.
Not the happy life of women, fast cars, fun gadgets and martinis shaken-not-stirred that James Bond leads… for sure.
2
Danger Man/Secret Agent/The Prisoner
Lots of people have heard of the iconic and cult-fave series The Prisoner, but fewer people today know that Patrick McGoohan played the character (well, sort of) before, in a successful (and longer-lived) series called Danger Man. Of course, Americans knew the series by a different name: Secret Agent, and we knew very well its eponymous signature song by Johnny Rivers—a monster hit in 1966. (In the UK the signature tune was instrumental music very similar to that of the later series, The Prisoner).
Danger Man had a long if bumpy run, going on the air in the UK originally in 1960 (thus predating the first James Bond film, Dr. No, by two years) and hanging on until 1968. McGoohan was cool and dispassionate agent John Drake, another “true-to-life” type almost as different from James Bond as Harry Palmer was, although Drake was clearly not working class. Drake was, however, a character increasingly displeased with his superiors’ sometimes unethical and cold-blooded tactics, and as the series wore on he was clearly becoming more insubordinate and more unhappy, as nearly every mission he was sent upon involved some kind of moral ambiguity or nasty compromise of principles that he was forced to endure.
This, interestingly, set things up for McGoohan’s next series, the allegorical and Kafka-esque The Prisoner. McGoohan played “number six,” a British secret agent who had resigned because of some unknown disagreement with his superiors. As the opening credits and signature tune rolled and played for each episode, we were treated to a quick pastiche of what happened to the character: he resigns, angrily… he drives off, while, in a cavernous hall full of filing cabinets, his ID card is transported mechanically to a file, marked “RESIGNED.” He returns home and begins to pack… followed by a sinister character in funeral attire. Too late, he realizes his apartment is filling with gas. He faints… and then awakens in a room similar to his own… but not the same. Looking out a window, he sees he’s no longer in London… but in some bizarre spa-like Village. Then follows the now-famous bit of dialogue everyone knows:
Where am I?”
“You are Number Six.”
“I am not a number — I am a free man!”
Each episode then involves a new plot by a different Number Two to try to break the will of Number Six. And each episode he wins… sort of. He escapes only twice: in an episode where he ends up spirited back to the village by a treacherous pilot, and in the final, surreal episode where… well… we’re not sure what really happens. Except that it appears “number six” has really been Number One all along. All in all, the entire series was an allegory for the struggle of modern man to maintain his freedom and independence in a world increasingly massified and totalitarian. Number Six is the ultimate individual who never gives in.
But is he John Drake, McGoohan’s previous incarnation from Danger Man? Well legally, no… McGoohan didn’t own the rights to the earlier character he’d played. But surely, in every other sense, he was. Drake was the same kind of obstinate rebel, and he’d seen too many decent people suffer unfair consequences due to his own actions—because he was forced to follow orders. As Danger Man wore on he became more and more bitter—and there’s little doubt that the man who resigns, at the start of each episode of The Prisoner, is the same John Drake who had to do terrible things in the name of his government. Whatever the finale of The Prisoner meant—it was definitely John Drake’s ultimate triumph. He drove off, alone—and free.
1
The Avengers
Saving the best for last, we have The Avengers, the longest-lived of the Sixties spy series (1961 – 1969, with a revival series in the mid 70s). In its heyday, from 1965 – 1969, it was one of the most influential and most popular shows on British and American television, and its imagery become iconic overnight: umbrellas with tape recorders built into them, and bowler hats lined with steel; natty fashions straight of Swinging London—tight leather bodysuits and other figure-hugging outfits; champagne and liquor running freely (there hadn’t been as much imbibing by a couple since The Thin Man series); sports cars, Bentleys, and antique automobiles; cybernauts, electric men, invisible men, diabolical geniuses and deadly nannies… sometimes surreal and science-fictional, and always teeming with clever banter and double entendres.
The constant was John Steed (the ever-graceful and ever-gentlemanly Patrick Macnee): originally a shady character who worked somewhat in the background, he first appeared in the life of Dr. David Keel, a surgeon whose wife had been murdered by a drug ring. Steed appeared to work for some unnamed, unknown official agency, though this was by no means made clear until later in the series. He and Keel spent their time tracking down crooks and other evil-doers to bring about their downfall… hence “the avengers,” bringing vengeance to those who otherwise would not be punished for their crimes.
After Keel, John Steed was paired with Cathy Gale, a judo expert and another in the long line of “talented amateurs” that Steed worked with. It was now clear that Steed was a secret agent of some kind, and he was becoming less of the shady anti-hero and more of the trim sophisticate. But the true innovation was Gale. Played by the desirable Honor Blackman—who would leave the series to play “Pussy Galore” in Goldfinger—Cathy Gale was a kind of woman not seen before on television—tough, smart, strong-willed… a Sixties Sarah Connor. She was Steed’s match in the wit-and-banter department, and the sexual tension between them fueled the show’s popularity. Gale’s exit from the series came just as it was sold to American television… and Steed was on his own again.
And then came… Mrs. Peel.
We know Nick and Nora (the Thin Man and wife), Mulder and Scully, David and Maddie (Moonlighting)… but for many, there are none better than Steed and Mrs. Peel. In a way she was Cathy Gale with the edges smoothed a bit, but she was more. Honor Blackman had a rough desirability; but Diana Rigg had a more intellectual sexuality. She played Emma Peel (the name chosen because the producers had penned a note saying that Cathy Gale’s replacement had to have “M. Appeal”—“man appeal”) as a devastatingly intelligent, quick-witted expert-of-all-trades who also just happened to know martial arts and was a deadly shot. Indeed, Mrs. Peel killed more people than Steed had ever done (in fact, he offed very few in the series run) and where his photograph was marked by Russian agents with a notation that said “Very Dangerous,” hers simply read on the back, “Most Dangerous of All – AVOID.”
The series went downhill somewhat after Rigg left, and Steed’s younger partner Tara King came on. After all, following up on that kind of chemistry was frankly impossible. The shows were highlighted with inventive and amazing plots, smart dialogue, fun and interesting characters, wild and weird villains, and set in an imaginary Britain where it was always summer and always sunny, and was ever Swinging Carnaby Street. But what made it the most enjoyable were Steed and Mrs. Peel—like being able to hang with the smartest, quickest and most fun couple imaginable—AND get to watch them best the villainous criminal, megalomaniac or foreign agent of the week. From maniacal geniuses out for revenge, to repugnant blackmailers who mark their targets with cards that read “You Have Just Been Murdered,” to homicidal androids and escaped lunatics, killer “robot houses” and madmen powered by “broadcast energy,” Steed and Mrs. Peel handled them all with nonchalant panache and confident detachment.
Mrs. Peel… we’re needed.
Bonus
The Saint
Simon Templar (hero of a series of books by Leslie Charteris) or “the Saint” was an ambiguous rake of a character, brought to life by such distinguished actors as George Sanders, Ian Ogilvy, and Vincent Price (along with a latter day Saint portrayed by Val Kilmer). His best-remembered incarnation, however, was played by a pre-James Bond Roger Moore. (And in fact it’s Moore’s stint as the Saint that helped land him the role of Bond when Sean Connery walked away from it).
The Saint was never actually established as a spy or secret agent per se; rather he is something of a criminal (but of the Robin Hood variety… occasionally anyway) and sometimes an amateur detective… but often he worked as a sort of free-lance agent of various police/government agencies, qualifying him as a member of the exclusive club of swingin’ sixties spies. After all, the Saint (particularly when played by Moore) had the whole image down pat. Suave, sophisticated, rakish, intelligent… a hit with the chicks and able to hold his own against the villains. His skills and talents were beyond the average man, and even his anti-hero status is in keeping with the overall idea of the best sixties spies—a sort of cheeky, smart rebel who does what has to be done.
Bonus 2
Competition
If this list reaches 300 comments, one commenter will be selected at random to win the super-cool Wild Planet Agent Action Briefcase (pictured above) valued at $19.99 – to help them get started in a career in spying! The winner must be a registered user . As usual, comments must be related to the list and not designed just to increase the count or your chances of winning. Every comment is counted – so you can comment more than once. You have to be in to win! Amazon describes the prize thus:
The removable motion alarm stops thieves and intruders
Case shoots darts (4 included) to “stun” enemy spies
Removable flashlight spots hidden spies
Special spy scope lets you spy from far away
Case has a secret compartment and gear storage for more spy gear
Contributor: Randall
| i don't know |
Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger is said to have been the last book read by whose assassin around the time of his murder? | The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (9780316769488)
A Brilliantly Unique Look at a Universal Problem
A Customer on Jul 21, 2000
In J.D. Salinger's brilliant coming-of-age novel, Holden Caulfield, a seventeen year old prep school adolescent relates his lonely, life-changing twenty-four hour stay in New York City as he experiences the phoniness of the adult world while attempting to deal with the death of his younger brother, an overwhelming compulsion to lie and troubling sexual experiences. Salinger, whose characters are among the best and most developed in all of literature has captured the eternal angst of growing into adulthood in the person of Holden Caulfield. Anyone who has reached the age of sixteen will be able to identify with this unique and yet universal character, for Holden contains bits and pieces of all of us. It is for this very reason that The Catcher in the Rye has become one of the most beloved and enduring works in world literature. As always, Salinger's writing is so brilliant, his characters so real, that he need not employ artifice of any kind. This is a study of the complex problems haunting all adolescents as they mature into adulthood and Salinger wisely chooses to keep his narrative and prose straightforward and simple. This is not to say that The Catcher in the Rye is a straightforward and simple book. It is anything but. In it we are privy to Salinger's genius and originality in portraying universal problems in a unique manner. The Catcher in the Rye is a book that can be loved and understood on many different levels of comprehension and each reader who experiences it will come away with a fresh view of the world in which they live. A work of true genius, images of a catcher in the rye are abundantly apparent throughout this book. While analyzing the city raging about him, Holden's attention is captured by a child walking in the street "singing and humming." Realizing that the child is singing the familiar refrain, "If a body meet a body, comin' through the rye," Holden, himself, says that he feels "not so depressed." The title's words, however, are more than just a pretty ditty that Holden happens to like. In the stroke of pure genius that is Salinger, himself, he wisely sums up the book's theme in its title. When Holden, whose past has been traumatic, to say the least, is questioned by his younger sister, Phoebe, regarding what he would like to do when he gets older, Holden replies, "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean--except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going. I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be." In this short bit of dialogue Salinger brilliantly exposes Holden's deepest desire and expounds the book's theme. Holden wishes to preserve something of childhood innocence that gets hopelessly lost as we grow into the crazy and phony world of adulthood. The theme of lost innocence is deftly explored by Salinger throughout the book. Holden is appalled when he encounters profanity scrawled on the walls of Phoebe's school, a school that he envisions protecting and shielding children from the evils of society. When Holden gives his red hunting cap to Phoebe to wear, he gives it to her as a shield, an emblem of the eternal love and protectiveness he feels for her. Near the beginning of the book, Holden remembers a girl he once knew, Jane Gallagher, with whom he played checkers. Jane, he remembers, "wouldn't move any of her kings," and action Holden realizes to be a metaphor of her naivete. When Holden hears that his sexually experienced prep school roommate had a date with Jane, he immediately starts a fight with him, symbolically protecting Jane's innocence. More sophisticated readers might question the reasons behind Holden's plight. While Holden's feelings are universal, this character does seem to be a rather extreme example. The catalyst for Holden's desires is no doubt the death of his younger brother, Allie, a bright and loving boy who died of leukemia at the age of thirteen. Holden still feels the sting of Allie's death acutely, as well as his own, albeit undeserved, guilt, in being able to do nothing to prevent Allie's suffering. The only reminder Holden has of Allie's shining but all-too-short life, is Allie's baseball mitt which is covered with poems Allie read while standing in the outfield. In a particularly poignant moment, Holden tells us that this is the glove he would want to use to catch children when they fall from the cliff of innocence. In an interesting, but trademark, Salinger twist, Holden distorts the Robert Burns poem that provides the book's title. Originally, it read, "If a body meet a body, comin' through the rye." Holden distorts the word "meet" into "catch." This is certainly not the first time Holden is guilty of distortion; indeed he is a master at it. This distortion, however, shows us how much Allie's death has affected Holden and also how much he fears his own fall from innocence, the theme that threads its way throughout the whole of the book. By this amazing book's end, we must reach the conclusion that there are times when we all need a "catcher in the rye." We are, indeed, blessed if we have one.
A gripping classic that will always be relevant
By on Mar 24, 2006
Time has not damaged this tome; it remains a sometimes harrowing, sometimes absorbing, sometimes frustrating, sometimes moving look into a mind in a state of disarray. Others have written more "shocking" books or have been more overtly anti-social, but with The Catcher In The Rye, J.D. Salinger captures the bitterly confused mind of a youth who hates the whole world not because the world is worth hating, but because he's frustrated at his own inability to get along in that world, with such crisp reality that it shocks far more than any fantastical American Psycho. Reading over the negative reviews on Amazon, I can't help but wonder how and why so many people are so unable to get it. The Catcher In The Rye is among the, if not the, most tangibly realistic looks into the mind of a disaffected, disillusioned youth suffering from depression (and a touch of the bipolar). The way Holden Caulfield's mind works is incredibly true to form - the contradictions, the hypocrisy, the confusion, the brief moments of sheer clarity followed by stretches of irrational thought. He thinks he's better than the world, and he thinks he's the lousiest person in the world at the same time. He wants everyone to go away and leave him alone, and he can't bear anyone, not even some schmuck he really dislikes (with good reason), to leave him. He's nothing but hypocrisy and contradictions and confusion. Salinger captures this in an amazing way. People criticize the book because Caulfield is totally unlikable, a guy who rails against phonies when he himself is something of a phony ... but that's part of the point. Holden throws off all the signals someone in his situation actually throws off in real life, and just like real life, they're almost always ignored. Clearly this was a very, very autobiographical work for Salinger. There are several moments when Caulfield, narrating in the first person, mentions offhandedly that he began to cry, he didn't know why, he felt like dying, and suddenly it went away and he felt invigorated with energy. It rings remarkably true. Who wrote this stuff with such honesty in 1951? Who tackled these issues, and in such a manner, in the 1950s? The reason this has impact, though, is not simply because of the subject matter, not because of what Holden Caulfield is going through, and not because of the context of its time, but because Salinger never plays it for melodrama. He doesn't talk it up with purple prose or romanticize Caulfield's mentality or beat you over the head with ham-handed messages and platitudes. He neither makes Holden's mentality seem "cool" nor does he preach against Holden's attitude; he just says, "This is what it is." By presenting it in such a matter-of-fact manner, all in the first person, as if the narrator is simply telling you a story while having a few drinks, the whole thing is rooted in a very tangible, and therefore very disturbing, reality. You and I KNOW Holden Caulfield. We've known that guy. And in The Catcher In The Rye, you get to peer inside his mind. Even with dated references and slang and phrasings, I don't know that J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye will ever cease to be relevant and important.
An American Classic
By James Tyler on Jul 05, 2001
It is difficult to remember what it was like to read this book for the first time. It is also difficult to imagine a book where each new reading provides so much more illumination into the main character and his personality. I can remember finding Catcher to be funny the first time I read it. I now alternately find Holden to be walking a fine line between witty sarcasm and dangerous cynicism. He is funny, there is no way around that, but his belittling nature also causes him to dismiss much from his life that may not be perfect, but should be included. There is nothing that he, in the end, does not dismiss as being phony, whether it is the nuns with whom he shares a cup of coffee, the teacher at the end who most likely was just trying to help, the Egyptian wing of the museum, Pheobe's school...everything. As soon as one little detail slips in which is not completely on track with what he is thinking whatever it is he is contemplating becomes useless, phony, not worth dealing with. His humor is sharp and witty and I often laugh out loud while reading, but it is also an easy way for him to detach himself from a world which he no longer feels he belongs in, or wants to belong in. I can remember finding the ending ambiguous the first time I read it. I now see it as the only way it could end, with Holden finding happiness watching his sister Pheobe going forever in circles, and being able to pretend that that is never going to change. She is the one thing in his life which he still deems worthy of existence, and placing her on a merry-go-round is his best attempt to keep her there. Things change and grow and move on, but Holden refuses to accept this and is yearning to stop things forever where they are, to go back to when D.B. was a writer full of dreams and Allie was still alive. He mentions once how he used to take field trips to the museum, but how it was never the same and that takes something away from it. Even if the exhibit was the same, YOU would be different, simply by having traveled a bit farther in life, and this is what Holden is incapable of dealing with. The ending is Holden trying to keep the one thing in his life he still truly loves exactly the way she is. I can remember finding Holden's journey to be a bit all over the place. I now can see that there is not a single detail which Salinger does not use to illuminate Holden. On Holden's last night at school everything is covered with snow. He stands there holding a snowball looking for something to throw it at, but he can not bring himself to throw his snowball and disturb a fire hydrant or a park bench. Everything is peaceful under the snow and Holden can not bring himself to alter this just as he can not handle a world that keeps changing. Or there is Holden's history class, which he is failing. The only topic he is remotely interested in is the Egyptians and their process of mummification. The only thing he cares about is how to preserve things just as they are. I can remember enjoying this book the first time I read it. But I had no idea that with each subsequent reading I would find more and more to enjoy, and more and more evidence of Salinger's genius.
A timeless, honest, controversial, superbly written tale
By B Michini on Jun 01, 2000
Have you ever gotten fed up with the world? Have you ever just had enough of everybody's stupid, phony attitudes and this tainted game that we call life? You feel like you're all alone, there's no one that will listen to you, and the ones that do turn out to be perverts and phonies. Are they all crazy, or is it me? This is the attitude that Holden Caulfield, a disgruntled 16 year-old, takes toward life. He's just flunked out of another school, his younger brother Allie is dead, he's a virgin, and to top it all off, everyone around him is a phony. Holden is alone in this superficial, corrupt world he lives in. What amazes me most about A Catcher in the Rye is it's incredibly controversial beginnings when it was first published. The book took place and was published in the 1940's, and society was based on being right and proper. Things like hollow conversation just for the sake of conversing defined what Holden held as "phony". Holden hated phonies with a passion, and throughout the book made brutal, dead-on observations about the world which were stated in crude dialect. This caused much uprising in society, and was stereotyped as "evil" and "insignificant" by the common "phony" book reviewer of the time. Even serial killers were found with the book on them. Mark Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon, was found with the book in his pocket after the crime. As you can imagine this didn't help the situation at all. In the real world, evil was personified as Holden Caulfield. People reacted to the book just as people reacted to Holden in the novel. Holden was considered a rebellious, ungrateful, disrespectful teenager that, although rare, is a worldwide epidemic. But if you see past the narrow-minded view that people tend to look through, the book is a testament that this rebellious teenager is a person. The book shows that Holden, although a sarcastic, nasty, unlikable guy, is a person inside who is just trying to save the virtue of innocence. Holden sees the world as perverted and narrow, and has a nervous breakdown when he sees innocent children about to fall of the cliff. This cliff is a thought of Holden's of which he states when asked what he wants to be when he grows up. Holden says that he wants to be a catcher in the rye. He envisions children playing on a field of rye, and next to this field there's a cliff. Holden would catch the children if they didn't look where they were going and accidentally ran off the cliff. There is incredible symbolism in this statement. The children represent childhood innocence and purity. The cliff, or what lies below it, represents the tainted, impure "game" of life, in which so many people have fallen. These people, the phonies, are what Holden despises most. Holden demonstrates his desire to save innocence when he finds that someone's written "f*** you" on a schoolhouse wall. "I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them- all cockeyed, naturally- what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days." Holden rubbed the mark off, and felt extreme hatred toward the person who wrote it. Holden hated everything. Everything he held sacred turned out to be a disappointment. A girl in which he thought was innocent and pure turned out to be "given the time" by a suave roommate of his. Another girl whom he dated was such a phony it almost made him vomit. He gets roughed up when a disgruntled pimp comes around to collect more than Holden owed for a prostitute whom he didn't even have sex with. An old teacher that finally understood where Holden was coming from turns out to be a pervert when he's found patting Holden's head in the middle of the night. Nothing sacred and nothing pure, and the worse part was that Holden was, self-admittedly, too "yellow-belly" to do anything about these things. A boy lost in a sick world, helpless to its evil, and yet Holden's the crazy one? Holden speaks the brutal truth, and admires others who do. For example, Holden said that he really admired this kid, James, that Holden knew, who said that another kid, Phil, was a conceited jerk. Phil was much bigger, and he and six other jerks went into scrawny James' room and beat him up, wanting him to take back his comments. James never took it back, but instead, decided to jump out a window to his death. A key factor that made this book enjoyable was the style in which its monologue was written. This book is definitely not an English teacher's dream when it comes to grammar, sentence structure, etc. But the dialect, risqué even by today's standards, conveys a feeling of reality that is not obtainable by any other literary device I know of. Holden's sarcasm, humorous attitude, and flat out bluntness had me laughing page after page. This line, chosen at random, demonstrates Holden's attitude and dialect, "You should've seen the way they said hello. You'd have thought they hadn't seen each other in twenty years. You'd have thought they'd taken baths in the same bathtub or something when they were little kids. Old buddyroos. It was nauseating. The funny part was, they probably met each other just once, at some phony party. Finally, when they were all done slobbering around, old Sally introduced me." So why is A Catcher in the Rye a great book? I think what makes a great book great is its ability to communicate with the reader. Every teenager I know can easily relate to Holden Caulfield's situation. The book is a comfort if you're a teen feeling the same things as Holden, criticizing the world and its occupants. Holden Caulfield is a hero that wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He taught me that your criticisms of the world are not invalid, and that there is nothing that you can say that is so bad that you have to repress it. Holden made me feel a little less alone. He made me feel like there were others in this predicament that we call adolescence.
A masterpiece
By Alex Leclair on Apr 08, 2000
I read Catcher in the Rye while on break from school. I'd heard many allusions to the book, and many people said they liked it, yet I didn't really know what it was about. It is fascinating, a true inspiration. Holden is so complex that you can't stop thinking about him when you're not reading. Salinger's amazing insights into human nature and his clever style of cynicism is unique to much of literature and better than all contemporary literature. As Holden starts to spiral down, you can't help but feel incredibly sad thinking about his situation. A boy, on the brink of breakdown, speaking of things that make so much sense. It makes you wonder if he's the one going crazy or if it's the way society is that is truly crazy. I will always love this book and I plan on going over it again to underline all the lines that I adored. For the people giving bad reviews, and as I've analyzed their comments, I must say that you missed the boat. I'm sure that you are the people that Holden is making his social critiques on. No symbolism, a boring character that is whining? Come again? Salinger's phrasing of his words is simplistic, but his message is not. Read it again, try and be more perceptive, and think harder about what is really being said. There is enlightenment waiting for you.
Universal Tale
By Jman on May 05, 2000
I've read The Catcher in the Rye many times--when I was 11, 13, 15, and 17 years old. Seriously. I loved it from the first time I read it, but it didn't hit home until I was a junior and senior in high school. I AM HOLDEN CAULFIELD. Well, not literally and exactly. But almost. Holden is an extraordinary character. His absolute terror of leaving the wonderful, innocent, carefree world of youth is something everyone can relate to. I'm about to graduate from high school, and even though I'm excited to be a free, independent adult, I can't help but be terrified of the corruption and hard reality that lays ahead, which I have been blind to, as a young person. I mean--who wouldn't miss being a kid?--living at home for free, not having to do anything or be responsible for yourself or anyone. Holden embodies this. To me, that's what I related to most from the book. Most kids I know don't like the book cuz they're forced to read it for class, which is understandable. I wish they could see the beauty, and heartbreaking universality of Holden's story, though. It is something J.D. Salinger had the talent to grasp, and share it with the rest of the world. And it's so freakin' inspirational I have to go on Amazon.com and tell some people!
A Classic, One of My Favorites
By on Apr 03, 2001
Holden Caulfield, a teenager growing up in New York during the 1950s, has been expelled from yet another school. (This time, it's Pencey Prep.) His teachers had found him to be incompetent and an underachiever. After coming to the conclusion the so-called "friends" he had made were phonies, Holden decides he has no reason to stay. He packs his bags and leaves, deciding to "take a vacation" in New York before returning to his parents' inevitable wrath. Told as a monologue, The Catcher in the Rye not only describes Holden's thoughts and activities throughout these few days, but it also goes back to his past. He describes some of his true friends, how his parents and childhood were,and gives reasons for his actions. (Like deciding not to have sex with a prostitute.) These few days can probably be best described as a developing nervous breakdown, a result of his unexplained depression, impulsive spending and generally odd, erratic behavior. However, life continues on around Holden as it always has, with the majority of people ignoring the changes that occur in him- until it begins to get them seriously ticked off. Progressively through the novel we are challenged to think about society's attitude to the human condition - does society have an 'ostrich in the sand' mentality, a deliberate ignorance of the emptiness that can characterize human existence? And if so, when Caulfield begins to probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation, before finally declaring that the world is full of 'phonies' with each one out for their own phony gain, is Holden actually the one who is going insane, or is it society which has lost it's mind for failing to see the hopelessness of its own existence? This is a timeless classic, not to be missed.
Timeless anthem to the lonely
By Shelley Gammon on Mar 14, 2004
Even though this is a literary classic that almost everyone in America reads before graduating from High School, somehow I missed out on this one and was never required to read it for any class I took, even through college. I've heard numerous references to it through the years. Before killing John Lennon, Mark Chapman, who read and re-read the book many times - to the point of believing it was his own biography, asked Lennon to autograph his copy before gunning down the musician. John Hinckley, attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan, was another devotee of the short novel, as was Robert Bardo, killer of Rebecca Schaeffer (star of "My Sister Sam" on TV). There may be countless other criminals and stalkers who have identified with the book's main character, Holden Caulfield. In Mel Gibson's movie, "Conspiracy Theory," his character has an obsession with the book and must buy a copy every time he sees one. I finally had to pick up a copy and find out what all the fuss was about. Was the book about stalking and murder? Not exactly - but rather the motivating factor behind such heinous crimes of obsession. Caulfield, in his late teens, is a misfit in a world that doesn't tolerate misfits very well. His younger brother, who he dearly admired for being so likeable and genuine, has died of cancer. His older brother, D.B., lives in Hollywood, writing stories for the big screen, which is a loathsome thought for Caulfield. Caulfield is an introspective youth who hates being around fake people (who doesn't?), but doesn't try to get to know people well enough to find out whether they are really phony or not. He stumbles through life with his arms crossed in defiance, believing he's one of the few genuine people in the world. Growing up in an affluent home, being shuttled from one prep school to another, Caulfield finds himself ensconced with phonies and it makes him sick to his stomach. His refusal to acclimate results in him being kicked out of one school after another. The novel opens with his narrative of how he has been kicked out of Pencey, his latest prep school, and how he doesn't want to face his parents until they've gotten the news and calmed down a bit. He heads up to New York, getting a room in a fleabag hotel, then running from bar to bar, trying to find something that won't bore him. He's obsessed with avoiding boredom at all costs. He's constantly finding himself in situations where he fantasizes about killing people, but never defends himself because, he explains, he's "yellow." His inability to focus and attempt to express himself makes him frustrated and angry, finding contempt and hate for just about anyone for any reason, even those he loves. The story takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride of 2 and a half days as Holden Caulfield searches for meaning in his life, but finds only emptiness. The only thing he can seem to hold onto is the fantasy of building a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, where he never has to be around phonies again... he'd rather be alone, than lonely in the midst of crowds of phony-baloneys. After reading the book, it's easy to understand how such misfits as Hinckley, Bardo and Chapman used this book as their personal anthem and almost as a proxy, felt the need to act out in ways that Holden Caulfield was unable or unwilling to do. To the sane reader, Caulfield's character is a study in sadness and loneliness, not a character worth admiring - albeit his search for the truth in life is a noble cause. The book doesn't condone or condemn Caulfield, but rather states Caulfield's thoughts as they come to him. The sane reader can't help but want to reassure Caulfield that this is part of growing up and everything is going to be ok, and wonder where such people were in the lives of the famous stalkers who never had anyone reach out to them and slap them with some reality. As someone with ADHD, I found the book a fairly easy read. Parents should know that the book is wrought with foul language and sexually suggestive narratives. As a minor, Caulfield smokes, drinks and attempts to procure the services of a prostitute, among other things... so this is not light reading nor should this be the reading material of a young person not mature enough to separate fact from fiction. Salinger's writing style is interesting - detailed, yet quickly paced, and a good piece of literature as reference for the aspiring writer.
A thoroughly enjoyable book
By John Kong on Jan 08, 2002
The catcher in the rye is a rather short yet excellent book. I thoroughly enjoyed the book while reading it. The story basically tells of a rebellious high school student named Holden Caulfield. He gets kicked out of school because of his horrible grades, but he hangs around New York instead of going home so that his mother can get the letter first and calm down before he gets home. He does a few crazy things while staying in New York, but he gets bored and finally decides to go home. The story itself is just talking about a high schoolers time in New York City, but the excellent part about the book is the way it is told. Holden Caulfield is not your typical rebellious teenage high schooler; he is much more than that. The crazy things that he does are so weird that even rebellious teenagers nowadays don't even do them. The funny thing is that whatever crazy thing he does, it sounds normal to the reader. He tells it in a way that makes you agree with what he did. Everybody around him he considers a phony and then he describes why they are stupid. People don't understand him even though he actually is a very bright person, he just doesn't show it. Many things he says are actually worth considering in our world today. The book is very funny and I finished it in just a couple of sittings, but if you are looking for an action packed book, this isn't one for you. Humor is a big key in this book and if you get the humor, you'll enjoy the book. This book is for people who think nobody understands them and that they are all alone in this world, because actually, as Holden learned, there are many people in this world that will actually listen to you if you give them the chance.
This book IS different
By on Jun 30, 2001
I have been reading many of the reviews on this page, some critical, some positive, and I have condensed the opinions to the following. Those who don't like the book seem to think that the book is disconnected, swears too frequently, or has no plot. Now, I realize that some negative reviewers have differing opinions, and I respect them, because the book is different from most literature, classic or otherwise. Most literature describes an event, using the characters to interact with their surroundings. There is a defined plot, there is a defined theme, the people do normal things, and everybody who reads it gets pretty much the same thing from it. For an example, I'll quickly examine a well-known piece of literature, "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens. I am not going to go into great detail, I am not an expert on this work, but when I say "A Christmas Carol" you see ghosts, kids with canes, and London. If asked "what is it about" you might say, "the redemption of Scrooge" okay great. Everyone agrees, discussion ended. "The Catcher in the Rye" is not like that. People with literal minds hate books like this, because everyone who reads it, takes something different from it. These people say, "nothing happens, the symbolism was great, but there was no plot". To them I say, "Who cares?". I want to meet the person who declared that every book needs clearly defined plot, theme and grammar, to be good. Writing is about more than following the proper steps. A monkey can be taught to follow steps, a third grade student can learn to fill in blanks. Writing is about communicating. Some critics look at a work of Dickens and say, "Now, there's a good book, that's how writing is to be done. All the concepts are well thought out, the grammar is letter-perfect, and the word choice is outstanding!" And that is great for them, I'm excited that they feel this way, now we know that there is yet another job that a computer can be taught to do, critique literature based on grammar, punctuation and spelling. These rules are rules we give our elementary students so they can be understood when they write. If you want to buy a book, so you can examine grammar and word usage, don't buy this one. Salinger didn't sit down to write a book for his college English professor. If you want to look at his work from that standpoint, then it would be an awful book. Fortunately for the human race, writing is not about that at all. Writing is not only about being understood, writing is about feeling, writing is about telling another human being, what an experience is like. This is what Salinger has done. He has captured the teenage experience, the anger, the frustration, the disappointment, the feeling of hopelessness, the paranoia, and the feeling of looking out at society and realizing that it's not a nice place to be. Salinger did not write about the idea teenager, if he did, Holden would've sounded like a member of the Brady Bunch "The world is a happy place". Often, people like to rationalize what happened in this book, by saying, "Holden is sick, he is unusual, nobody else goes through this" this is not the case. True, Holden did move to California, apparently to seek some type of counseling, but he is far from unusual, he is truthful to himself, he is telling about the world the way it is, not the way he wants it to be. In the book, Salinger is communicating to two types of people. On one hand he is telling the people whose lives have been like Holden's that someone understands them. Someone else has been though what you've been through, it's a normal thing. And he is telling the Brady Bunch people "WAKE UP! Take off your rosy colored glasses, the world is NOT one big happy place, at least not for everyone. Yes, somewhere in the distance, there is war and hunger, but there is something more, and it's right next to you. There are people who can't find the most basic human need, the need to be loved and accepted." Holden feels lost and alone, he feels like nobody cares about him, he feels rejected by his family, and he feels hopeless because he everyone and everything he knows either lets him down, or lies to him. This is real life, this is what it's like to have everything not go your way. If you are looking for fairy tale or soap opera, this is the wrong book. You also shouldn't read this book if you are going to use a holier-than-thou attitude and judge everything that is wrong. To read this book, you need to be realistic, and empathetic. This book is about the bad side of life, it can sometimes be hard to follow, and you may reach the end and wonder what happens next. Read it a few times in that case, you may learn that this kind of writing is not about what happens next, it's about what already happened, and most importantly; why?
Yeah, yeah, but...
By Seer on Aug 22, 2006
I know this book is "it", and there is a lot of blather from ecstatic readers about universal coming of age and a rueful sadness at loss of innocence. Okay, fine. It's in there. I laughed a couple or three times, and I even recall a good belly laugh. Good. And obviously there is Salinger's gift for spoken language and keen insightfulness regarding social peccadilloes and irritating manners. Most folks can identify with Holden's exasperation and frustration toward those who adapt to and adopt those "socializing" manners and peccadilloes as they transition to adulthood. Holden seeks to resist that polluting influence, which is admirable, right? Only, there's a problem. In spite of his recognition of the problem(s) in others, he is part of the problem himself. He candidly admits that he has a variety of personality quirks and negative behavioral characteristics. But he also has irksome and annoying behaviors that he doesn't recognize, and so his conduct contributes to the same noisome and spoilsome social corruption that he laments in others. This book has a tremendous fan base. It is beloved as a cultural and literary artifact. It is also praised for its dialog and characterization, and rightly so. The story is skillfully presented, no doubt. Superlatives are tossed about (notice the terms "genius", "master", and "brilliant" in the gushing spotlight review dated July 21,2000) when this novel is discussed. I understand why this is so, but I find myself tending to agree in sentiment with the tone of the one-star review below by Michael Atkins. This book is over-hyped. While Caulfield's character may ring true in both voice and observation, the result is a confection that is light in substance. Holden is a study in sweet angst, yes. So? The theme of the book isn't related to the word picture captured in the title, contrary to the regurgitated observations made below. The theme is that humans are broken, and while they may be able to see what is wrong, they aren't much capable to do anything about it. Even if they can act to resolve a problem here or there, they are instigating and engendering their own set of problems elsewhere. The musician Sting authored the popular song "Every Breath You Take" while a member of the band the Police. He has voiced his consternation at the way the public responded to his song, which was #1 on the music charts for some time. Sting points out that the song is not about sweet, devoted love at all, but is rather about an obsessed and ugly jealousy that is controlling and disturbed. The public was happily and haplessly ignorant of this, naively not picking up the clues in the song or the video, even though the high-key, low-fill lighting used in the video gives a classic noire, deep-shadow depiction of a character with a dark side. Sting has often confessed his exasperation with the public's inability to recognize the song for what it is, and he finds the song's great popularity as a wedding song shocking and shallow. The same is true of The Catcher in the Rye. As the other spotlight review by Jack from Des Moines illustrates, readers typically tend to identify with Holden Caulfield. Jack's statement is sterling: I AM HOLDEN CAULFIELD. "The number of readers who have been able to identify with Holden and make him their hero is truly staggering," claims the SparkNotes.com website. The ironic fact is that Holden Caulfield is one of the most pathetic and self-deluded characters in English-language fiction. He is, in his own wrecked way, as much a phony as any of the other characters upon whom he appends that label. Holden is everything he despises, despite his limited recognition of his own failings. For any reader to make the choice to happily identify with Holden Caulfield is to embrace in oneself the personification of foolishness. It is nothing less than gleefully claiming to be a phony. Look again at that SparkNotes quote above, then go figure. My two-star rating is probably more a function of my reaction to the story's popularity, a la Sting, than my reaction to the humor and craft of the story itself. I would probably give the story three or four stars (3
I don't get it. I really don't. I tried but this drove me crazy, It's bad, It's really bad. You just don't know.
By on Mar 25, 2016
I'm sure I'll catch hell for this review. I'm pretty sure Amazon would not publish my review of Catcher in the Rye, as I wrote on Goodreads because I'm as insulting as Holden Caulfield is vulgar and stoooopid. The thing that probably made J. D. Salinger rich off this book is it was banned. It was banned for language, I'm sure, but it could have easily been for the public health, to prevent people from falling into a coma from boredom. I'm probably not getting the enlightened 1945 Bohemian Greenwich Village renaissance into the massively messed up mind of rich teenage dropouts in their stream of consciousness drivel. No, I'm not getting it. I'm really not. And I know about these things. It drives me crazy. I'm a little sore about this book, I really am. What a waste of my time! I could have been infinitely more culturally enlightened by watching Sanford and Sons sitcom reruns, I'm sure of it. If you're itching to read a classic book about youngsters who don't act too bright, try The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Huckleberry is infinitely brighter than Holden and infinitely more entertaining. If your school or college requires you to read Catcher in the Rye, drop out, change schools, and/or ask for your tuition back. And when you're leaving, insult the teacher. They insulted you. Believe me.
| John Lennon |
Which was the only track from Michael Jackson's Thriller album to top the UK singles charts? | Underground Knowledge - A discussion group - The Catcher in the Rye enigma: Introducing...the Catcher criminals (showing 1-9 of 9)
“I shoot people in this hat.” – J.D. Salinger , The Catcher in the Rye
The mother of all Catcher incidents is probably Mark David Chapman’s assassination of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. As widely reported, and as mentioned in chapters 21 and 23 of The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy , the killer stood over the ex-Beatle’s corpse after shooting him and patiently read a copy of Salinger’s classic while waiting for police to arrive and arrest him.
Not long before the murder, Chapman had wanted to change his name to the novel’s narrator and anti-hero Holden Caulfield – so enamored was he with this fictitious character; inside the very copy of the book Chapman had purchased on the day of the murder, police found he’d written, “To Holden Caulfield, From Holden Caulfield, This is my statement”; and during the court case that followed, Chapman read a passage from the novel when addressing the judge and jury during his sentencing.
In the FBI’s Vault the following is mentioned under the file Attempted Assassination of President Ronald Reagan : “On March 31, 1981, John W. Hinckley, Jr., shot President Ronald Reagan and several others in a failed assassination attempt. The FBI conducted an extensive investigation, named REAGAT.”
Just like Mark David Chapman, Hinckley did not attempt to flee the crime site and seemed content to be arrested. After the assassination attempt, which besides wounding President Reagan also left White House Press Secretary James Brady permanently disabled, detectives found a copy of The Catcher in the Rye on a coffee table in Hinckley’s hotel room.
Before the attempt on Reagan’s life, Hinckley had relentlessly stalked actress Jodie Foster for a number of years. He reportedly became obsessed with the Hollywood star after first seeing her in Martin Scorsese ’s 1976 film Taxi Driver. Even to this day, more than three decades later, Foster has hardly ever spoken of the incident and has been known to walk out of interviews when Hinckley’s name, or the Reagan assassination attempt, is mentioned.
The shooter, whose full name was John Warnock Hinckley Jr., tried to assassinate Reagan because he said he thought that would impress Jodie Foster. It was later revealed that during his stay in the Washington D.C. psychiatric hospital St. Elizabeths, Hinckley had exchanged letters with serial killer Ted Bundy and sought the address of mass murderer Charles Manson.
Another Catcher fan was Robert John Bardo, yet another three-name assassin, who murdered American actress and model Rebecca Schaeffer on July 18, 1989. Like Mark David Chapman, Bardo was carrying a copy of Salinger’s book on him at the scene of the crime.
The one-time stalker of Madonna and child actress Samantha Smith, Bardo stalked Schaeffer before finding her alone at her home in Los Angeles. He shot the star of My Sister Sam TV series in the chest then threw his red paperback copy of the book onto the roof of a nearby building as he fled.
As for JFK’s killer Lee Harvey Oswald, The Catcher in the Rye was found in a raid on his Dallas, Texas apartment after the assassination. His other books included George Orwell ’s Animal Farm and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf . Although unconfirmed, it has been claimed by a few sources that Oswald was very keen on Salinger’s novel, which apparently was his favorite.
Criminals not officially acknowledged but rumored in conspiracy circles to have been directly influenced by Catcher include RFK’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan, Lee Harvey Oswald’s killer Jack Ruby, Martin Luther King Jr. ’s murderer James Earl Ray, cult leader and killer Charles Manson , the Washington Sniper John Allen Muhammad, Jonestown founder Jim Jones, the Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo, the unidentified Zodiac Killer, the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, serial killer Ted Bundy and the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Even if none of these killers (listed directly above) were inspired by Salinger’s novel, the list of murderers and other criminals whose possession of, or obsession with, the book that has been proven is surprisingly lengthy and throws up a thousand unanswered questions.
Isn’t it also possible, probable or even highly likely other criminals have been inspired by The Catcher in the Rye? How many assassins disposed of their copies after committing murders or other crimes – as Robert John Bardo tried to do? Maybe others were as obsessed with the book as Mark David Chapman was, but subsequent investigations failed to uncover those details?
After all, not every criminal keeps a diary or records of their personal library of reading material.
As one book reviewer wrote on Amazon.com in a review of Salinger’s classic: “There may be countless other criminals and stalkers who have identified with the book's main character, Holden Caulfield.”
"Now alone with Seventeen, Naylor stared intently at the young blonde operative. She was as motionless as a statue, staring right through him. She’d been like this for the past couple of minutes, but she didn’t know that. Her eyes had glazed over and she was in some kind of trance. She held a copy of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye." – The Ninth Orphan
Aug 21, 2014 09:48PM
James wrote: "recall The 39 Steps was mentioned in The Catcher and have watched that film, but didn't realize it was Salinger's favorite movie. I have a feeling The Catcher is totally original though and not derived from anything else...Could be wrong tho...Feel free to enlighten further. ..."
I am not saying that the Catcher is not original. To me it is the medium that carries the spores of a lot of books, movies, historical references and allusions. But the point of the The 39 Steps was about a man, that along with the facts that he learns, has embedded in his memory, a plan to build an airplane engine. They are trying to take him and thus the plans back to Germany so that they can build it. Before they are able to accomplish this the protagonist is able to confront the hypnotized Know-it-all and ask him "what are the 39-Steps?" MR Know-it-all rattles off the list of steps to build the engine and asks if it is ok now, can he stop thinking about it...or something like this. You really need to watch it and tell me what is going on.
Jan 11, 2017 05:16PM
“A substitute teacher out on Long Island was dropped from his job for fighting with a student. A few weeks later, he returned to the classroom, shot the student, unsuccessfully, held the class hostage and then shot himself. Successfully. This fact caught my eye: last sentence, Times; A neighbor described him as a nice boy – always reading Catcher in the Rye. The nitwit, Chapman, who shot John Lennon said he did it because he wanted to draw the attention of the world to The Catcher in the Rye and the reading of the book would be his defense. And young Hinckley, the whiz kid who shot Reagan and his press secretary, said if you want my defense all you have to do is read Catcher in the Rye.” –Monologue delivered by Will Smith in the film Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
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In the Christian Calendar what name is given to the Sunday which follows Whit Sunday? | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Christian Calendar
THE CHURCHES OF THE EAST
Generalities
All civilized peoples and even those which seem to be only just emerging from utter barbarism keep some kind of record of the flight of time and are prone to recognize certain days, recurring at regular intervals, as days of special rejoicing or mourning, or occasions for the propitiation of the powers of the unseen world. In ancient Egypt and Babylonia , in China and Hindostan , and again on the American Continent , among the Aztecs or the ancient Peruvians , definite traces have been found of a more or less elaborate calculation of seasons serving as a basis for religious observances. In 1897, a remarkable discovery was made at Coligny in the department of Ain, France , when certain inscribed stone slabs were brought to light in which all are agreed in recognizing an ancient Celtic calendar, probably pre-Christian, though the precise interpretation of the details still remains a matter of lively controversy. Again, both Greece and Rome possessed highly developed calendars, and the Fasti of Ovid, for example, preserve a detailed description in verse of the chief celebrations of the Roman year.
What more nearly concerns us here is the Jewish calendar , outlined in Leviticus 23. The computation of time among the Jews was based primarily upon the lunar month. The year consisted normally of twelve such months, alternately of 29 and 30 days each; such a year, however, contains only 354 days, which by no means agrees with the number of days in the mean solar year. Moreover, the exact length of the mean lunar month is not exactly 29 1/2 days as the above arrangement would suggest. To compensate for the irregularity two corrections were introduced. First, a day was added to the month Hesvan (Heshwan) or subtracted from the month Kislev (Kislew), as need arose, in order to keep the months in agreement with the moon; secondly, eight years out of every nineteen were made "embolismic", i.e. an intercalary month seems to have been introduced when necessary , at this point, in order to prevent the 14th day of Nisan from arriving too early. On that day ( Leviticus 23:5, 10 ) the firstfruits of corn in the ear had to be brought to the priests and the paschal lamb sacrificed. This made it necessary to delay the Pasch (14 Nisan) until the corn was in ear and the lambs were ready, and the rule was accordingly established that 14 Nisan must fall when the sun had passed the equinox and was in the constellation of Aries (en krio tou heliou kathestotos--Josephus, Ant., I, i, 3). Down to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, it would seem that in the insertion of this intercalary month the Jews followed no fixed rule based on astronomical principles, but that the Sanhedrin decided each time whether the year should be embolismic or not, being influenced in their decision not by astronomical considerations alone, but also, in some measure, by the forwardness or backwardness of the season. It was the difficulty created by such a system and by the impossibility of accommodating it to the Julian chronology , adopted throughout the greater part of the Roman Empire, which led to those troubles about the determination of Easter (the Paschal controversy ) that played so important a part in the history of the early Church. Besides the Pasch and the week of the unleavened bread (or azymes ), of which the Pasch formed the first day, the Jewish calendar, of course, included many other feasts. That of Pentecost, or, "of the weeks", 50 days after the Pasch , is of importance because it also found a place in the Christian Dispensation . The other great celebrations of the Jewish year occurred in autumn, in the month Tishri. The Day of Atonement fell on 10 Tishri and the Feast of Tabernacles extended from the 14th to the 21st, with a sort of octave day on the 22nd, but these had no direct bearing on the calendar of the Christian Church . The same may be said of the minor Jewish festivals, e.g. the Encoenia mentioned in the Gospel of St. John, which were, for the most part, of later institution.
It might almost be laid down as a general law that in the ancient world holy days were also holidays. In the Jewish system, besides the weekly sabbath , rest from work was enjoined on seven other days of the year, to wit: the first and last day of the Azymes , the feast of Pentecost, the Neomenia of the Seventh month, the day of Propitiation, the first day of Tabernacles, and 22 Tishri which immediately followed. It is not wonderful that this principle was recognized later in the Christian Church , for it had pagan example also in its favour. "The Greeks and barbarians", says Strabo (X, 39), "have this in common that they accompany their sacred rites by a festal remission of labour". So without seeking to derive the Jewish sabbath from any Babylonian institution, for which there is certainly no warrant, we may note that the new moon and the 7th, 15th, and 22nd seem to have been regarded among the Babylonians as times for propitiating the gods and unlucky; the result being that on these days no new work was begun and affairs of importance were suspended. In the Christian system the day of rest has been transferred from the Sabbath to the Sunday. Constantine made provision that his Christian soldiers should be free to attend service on the Sunday ( Eusebius , Vita Const., IV, 19, 20), and he also forbade the courts of justice to sit on that day (Sozomen, I, 8). Theodosius II in 425 decreed that games in the circus and theatrical representations should also be prohibited on the day of rest, and these and similar edicts were frequently repeated.
In the Roman chronological system of the Augustan age the week as a division of time was practically unknown, though the twelve calendar months existed as we have them now. In the course of the first and second century after Christ, the hebdomadal or seven-day period became universally familiar, though not immediately through Jewish or Christian influence. The arrangement seems to have been astrological in origin and to have come to Rome from Egypt . The seven planets, as then conceived of--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, thus arranged in the order of their periodic times (Saturn taking the longest and the Moon the shortest time to complete the round of the heavens by their proper motion)--were supposed to preside over each hour successively, and the day was designated by that planet which presided over its first hour. Beginning on the first day with the planets in order, the first hour would be Saturn's, the second Jupiter's, the seventh the Moon's, the eighth Saturn's again, and so on. Continuing thus, the twenty-fifth hour, i.e. the first hour of the second day, and consequently the second day itself, would belong to the Sun; and the forty-ninth hour, and consequently the third day, to the Moon. Following always the same plan the seventy-third hour and the fourth day would fall to Mars, the fifth day to Mercury, the sixth to Jupiter, the seventh to Venus, and the eighth again to Saturn. Hence, apparently, were derived the Latin names for the days of the week, which are still retained (except Samedi and Dimanche) in modern French and other Romance tongues. These names from an early date were often used by the Christians themselves, and we find them already in Justin Martyr . The special honour which the faithful paid to the Sunday (dies solis), coupled perhaps with the celebration of Christmas on the day designated the natalis invicti [solis], may have helped, later on, to produce the impression that the Christians had much in common with the worshippers of Mithras .
Foundations of the Christian calendar
The Easter cycle
The starting-point of the Christian system of feasts was of course the commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ on Easter day . The fact that for a long time Jews must have formed the vast majority of the members of the infant Church, rendered it impossible for them to forget that each returning Passover celebrated by their countrymen brought with it the anniversary of their Redeemer's Passion and of His glorious Resurrection from the dead. Moreover, as they had all their lives been accustomed to observe a weekly day of rest and prayer , it must have been almost inevitable that they should wish so to modify this holiday that it might serve as a weekly commemoration of the source of all their new hopes. Probably at first they did not wholly withdraw from the Synagogue , and the Sunday must have seemed rather a prolongation of, than a substitution for, the old familiar Sabbath . But it was not long before the observance of the first day of the week became distinctive of Christian worship . St. Paul ( Colossians 2:16 ) evidently considered that the converts from paganism were not bound to the observance of the Jewish festivals or of the Sabbath proper. On the other hand, the name "the Lord's day" (dies dominica, he kuriake) meets us in the Apocalypse 1:10, and was no doubt familiar at a much earlier date (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:2 ). From the beginning the Sunday seems to have been frankly recognized among Christians for what it was, viz. the weekly commemoration of Christ's Resurrection . (Cf. The Epistle of Barnabas, 15.) It was presumably marked by the celebration of the liturgy, for St. Luke writes in the Acts: "And on the first day of the week , when we were assembled to break bread" ( Acts 20:7 ); and we may infer from somewhat later ordinances that it was always regarded as joyful in character, a day when fasting was out of place, and when the faithful were instructed to pray standing, not kneeling. "Die dominico", says Tertullian , "jejunium nefas dicimus vel de geniculis adorare" (De orat. 14). In fact this upright position in prayer was, according to Pseudo (?) Irenæus, typical of the Resurrection (Irenæus, Frag., 7). But for a fuller account of this first element of the Christian calendar the reader must be referred to the article SUNDAY .
That the early Christians kept with especial honour the anniversary of the Resurrection itself is more a matter of inference than of positive knowledge . No writer before Justin Martyr seems to mention such a celebration, but the fact that in the latter half of the second century the controversy about the time of keeping Easter almost rent the Church in twain may be taken as an indication of the importance attached to the feast. Moreover the paschal fast of preparation, though its primitive duration was probably not forty days (Cf. Funk, Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen, I, 242 sq.), was constantly referred to by the Early Church as a matter of ancient and even Apostolic institution. In any case, all our earliest liturgical monuments both of East and West, for example the "Apostolical Constitutions" and the "Apostolic Canons", which are a still earlier document according to Funk and Harnack, are agreed in giving to Easter the place of honour among the feasts of the year. It is as the Roman Martyrologium describes it, festum festorum and solemnitas solemnitatum. With it have naturally always been associated the commemoration of the events of Christ's Passion , the Last Supper on the Thursday, the Crucifixion on the Friday, and on the eve itself that great vigil or night watch when the paschal candle and the fonts were blessed and the catechumens , after long weeks of preparation, were at last admitted to the Sacrament of Baptism . Data are lacking concerning these separate elements in the great paschal celebration as it was observed in the earliest times. It may, however, be noted that in Tertullian the word pascha clearly designates not the Sunday alone but rather a period, and in particular, the day of the Parasceve , or as we now call it, Good Friday ; while in Origen a definite distinction is drawn between two kindred terms: pascha anastasimon (the Resurrection Pasch on Easter Sunday ), and pascha staurosimon (the Crucifixion Pasch , i.e. Good Friday ); but both were equally memorable as celebrations.
Closely dependent upon Easter and gradually developing in number as time went on were other observances also belonging to the cycle of what we now call the movable feasts. Whitsunday (see PENTECOST ), the anniversary of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, was probably regarded as next in importance to Easter itself, and as Easter was determined by the Jewish Pasch , there can be little doubt , seeing that Whitsunday stood in the same close relation to the Jewish feast of Pentecost, that the Jewish converts observed both a Christian Pasch and a Christian Pentecost from the very beginning. Ascension day , though determined in position by the fact that it was forty days after Easter ( Acts 1:3 ) and ten before Whitsuntide , was not superimposed on any Jewish feast. We do not, consequently, find it attested by any writer earlier than Eusebius (De sol. pasch ., Migne , P.G. xxiv, 679). Lent , which all admit to have been known as a forty days' fast in the early years of the fourth century (cf. the various Festal Letters of St. Athanasius ), had of course a fixed terminus ad quem in Easter itself, but its terminus a quo seems to have varied considerably in different parts of the world. In some places the understanding seemed to be that Lent was a season of forty days in which there was much fasting but not necessarily a daily fast --the Sundays in any case, and in the East Saturdays also, were always exempt. Elsewhere it was held that Lent must necessarily include forty actual fasting-days. Again there were places where the fasting in Holy Week was regarded as something independent, which had to be superadded to the forty days of Lent . The times therefore, of commencing the Lenten fast varied considerably, just as there was considerable diversity in the severity with which the fast was kept. (For these details see LENT .) All that we need notice here is that this penitential season, which at a considerably later period was thrown back to the Sunday known as Septuagesima (strictly the Sunday within the period of seventy days before Easter ), began earlier or later according to the day on which Easter Sunday fell, while the later additions at the other end--such as Trinity Sunday , Corpus Christi , and in still more recent times, the Feast of the Sacred Heart--all equally formed part of the same festal cycle.
There can be little doubt that the early Christians felt as we do the inconvenience of this movable element in the otherwise stable framework of the Julian calendar. But we have to remember that the movable element was established there by right of prior occupation. Since the Jewish Christians , as explained above, had never known any other computation of time than that based on the lunar month, the only way which could have occurred to them of fixing the anniversary of Our Saviour's Resurrection was by referring it to the Jewish Pasch . But while accepting this situation, they also showed a certain independence. It seems to have been decided that the occurrence of the Resurrection feast on the first day of the week , the day which followed the Sabbath was an essential feature. Hence, instead of determining that the second day after the Jewish Pasch (17 Nisan) should always he counted as the anniversary of the Resurrection , independently of the day of the week upon which it might fall, the Apostles appear to have settled, though in this we have very little positive evidence, that that Sunday was to be kept as the Christian Pasch which fell within the Azymes , or days of the unleavened bread, whether it occurred at the beginning, middle, or end of the term. This arrangement had the drawback that it made the Christian feast dependent upon the computation of the Jewish calendar . When the destruction of Jerusalem practically deprived the Jews of the dispersion of any norm or standard of uniformity, they probably fell into erroneous or divergent reckonings, and this in turn entailed a difference of opinion among the Christians . If it had been possible to ascertain in terms of the Julian chronology the day of the month on which Christ actually suffered, it would probably have been simplest for Christians all over the Roman world to celebrate their Easter , as later on they celebrated Christmas or St. Peter's day, upon a fixed anniversary. Yet this, be it noticed, would have interfered with the established position of "the Lord's day" as the weekly memorial of the great Sunday par excellence, for Easter , as a fixed feast, would of course have fallen upon all the days of the week in turn. However, though Tertullian declares without misgiving that Christ suffered upon 25 March, a tradition perpetuated in numberless calendars throughout the Middle Ages , this date was certainly wrong. Moreover it was probably quite impossible at that period, owing to the arbitrary manner in which the Jewish embolismic years had been intercalated, to calculate back to the true date. For the various phases of the disputes which first broke out in the second century and were renewed long afterwards in the British Isles we must refer the reader to the article EASTER CONTROVERSY . It will suffice here to say that a decision seems to have been arrived at in the Council of Nicæa , which, though it is strangely absent from the canons of the council as now preserved to us (Turner, Monumenta Nicæna, 152), is believed to have determined that Easter was to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon which follows the spring equinox. According to this rule, which has ever since been accepted, the earliest day upon which Easter can now fall is 22 March, and the latest 25 April.
The Nativity of Christ
A second element which fundamentally influences the Christian calendar and which, though less primitive than the Easter celebrations, is also of early date , may be described as the Nativity Cycle. Of the origin and history of the feast of Christmas , dealt with in a separate article, little need now be said. We may take it as certain that the feast of Christ's Nativity was kept in Rome on 25 December before the year 354. It was introduced by St. John Chrysostom into Constantinople and definitively adopted in 395. On the other hand, the Epiphany feast on 6 January, which also in the beginning seems to have commemorated the birth of Jesus Christ , is referred to as of partial observance in that character by Clement of Alexandria ( Stromata I.21 ), though a recently discovered discourse of Hippolytus for this day (eis ta hagia theophaneia) is entirely devoted to the theme of Christ's baptism . This last, in fact, is and has long been the primary aspect of the feast in the Oriental churches. But the feast of the Nativity is of importance in the calendar not only for itself, as one of the greatest celebrations of the year, but also for the other days which depend upon it. These are mostly of later date in point of origin, but are ecclesiastically of high rank. Thus on this supposition, however questionable as a fact of history, that the exact date of Christ's nativity was 25 December, we have first the Circumcision on 1 January, the eighth day, a festival greatly utilized in the attempt to divert the newly converted peoples from the superstitious and often idolatrous pagan practices which immemorial custom associated with the beginning of the year. The Mass for this day in the Missals is often headed Ad prohibendum ab idolis, and its contents correspond with that designation. At the same time other service books preserve conspicuous traces of a time when this day was treated as a festival of the Blessed Virgin. On the other hand, the eighth day before Christmas (18 December) is kept as the feast of the Expectation of Our Lady , which was only added to the Roman calendar as lately as the seventeenth century, but represents an old Spanish feast of the Blessed Virgin . It was not, however, known in ancient times by its present designation of Expectatio partus.
Again, forty days after Christmas , following, as in the case of the Circumcision, the data of the Jewish law, we have the Presentation in the Temple . This, under its Greek name of Hypapante (hupapante, "the meeting"), was originally treated as a feast of Our Saviour rather than of His Blessed Mother . It is older than any other Marian feast--being mentioned c. 380 in the Pilgrimage of "Sylvia", i.e. the Spanish lady Etheria--though in Jerusalem at that date it was kept forty days after the feast which is known to us as the Epiphany (6 Jan.), but which, as we have seen, then commemorated the Birth as well as the Baptism of Christ. For some reason, of which no adequate explanation seems to be forthcoming, the solemn benediction of candles and the procession were attached at an early period to this feast. It was long known in England as Candlemas Day and in France as la Chandeleur. The Annunciation, or, as it was some times anciently called, the Conception of Our Lord, seems to be heard of in the East in the sixth century and to have been transported thence to Western Europe not long afterwards. Its connection with the Nativity is obvious, and it is even possible, as Duchesne and others have suggested, that the Incarnation of Our Saviour was assigned to the 25th of March because this day, as early as Tertullian , was believed to be the date of His Passion . If this were true , the 25th of December would have been determined by the 25th of March and not vice versa. But certainly the Annunciation as a feast is heard of considerably later than the Nativity. Still later in the year another early feast, already familiar in the time of St. Augustine (Serm., 307-308), meets us in the Nativity of St. John the Baptist . On 25 March, the Fathers calculated, St. Elizabeth had already been six months with child; its birth accordingly would have taken place exactly three months later. Neither does the 24th of June (instead of 25th) assigned to the Nativity of the Baptist present any difficulty, for in the Roman way of counting both 25 March and 24 June are equally octavo kalendas, the eighth day before the kalends of the next month. Yet another feast, the Conception of the Baptist , found in the Greek Church and in certain Carlovingian calendars on 24 September, hardly needs mention. It is chiefly interesting to us as paving the way for the feast of the Conception of Our Lady and hence for that also of her Immaculate Conception .
Saints' days
Another, and that the most substantial, element in the formation of the calendar is the record of the birthdays of the saints . It must be remembered that this word birthday (genethlios, natalis) had come to mean little more than commemoration. Already, before the Christian Era , various royal personages who were deified after death commonly had their "birthdays" kept as festivals; but it is very doubtful whether these really represented the day upon which they were born into this world (see Rohde, Psyche, 3d ed., I, 235). Hence we are not so surprised at a later period to meet in Christian liturgical books such phrases as natalis calicis as a designation for the feast of Maunday Thursday, or natalis episcopi, which seems to mean the day of a bishop's consecration . Anyhow, there can be no doubt that the same word was used, and that from a very early period, to describe the day upon which a martyr suffered death. It is commonly explained as meaning the birthday which introduced him into a new and glorious life in heaven , but we cannot, perhaps, be quite certain that those who first used the term of a Christian martyr had this interpretation consciously present to their minds . We are fortunate, however, in possessing in the contemporary account written from Smyrna of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp (about A.D. 145) a clear statement that the Jews and pagans fully anticipated that the Christians would try to recover the martyr's body as a precious treasure to which they might pay cultus, and would institute a birth-feast (genethlios), his honour . Here, then, we have the most conclusive evidence that the Christians already in the first half of the second century were accustomed to celebrate the feasts of the martyrs . Probably for a long time these celebrations remained almost entirely local. They were confined to the place where the martyr suffered or where a considerable portion of his remains were preserved over which the Holy Sacrifice would be offered. But in the course of time the practice of moving such relics freely from place to place enlarged the circle of the martyr's clients. All the churches that possessed these relics felt entitled to keep his "birthday" with some degree of solemnity, and thus we soon find martyrs from Africa , for example, obtaining recognition in Rome and eventually being honoured by all the Church . This seems to be, in brief, the history of the inclusion of saints' days in the calendar. At first the number of such days was very small, depending generally upon some special local tie, and rigorously limited to those who had shed their blood for Christ. But before very long the names of confessors also began to find a place in the lists, for confessors and bishops were already written in the diptychs and in those days the line between praying to a departed servant of God and praying for him was by no means so clearly defined as it is with us now. This was the process which was already being inaugurated in the fourth century and which has continued ever since.
Our earliest calendars
As feasts and Saints' days multiplied, it became desirable that some sort of record should be kept of them. We may divide the documents of this kind, roughly speaking, into two categories: Calendars and Martyrologia, both officially recognized by the Church . A calendar in its ecclesiastical sense is simply a list of the feasts kept in any particular church, diocese, or country, arranged in order under their proper dates. A martyrologium was originally, as its name implies, a record of martyrs , but it soon assumed a more general character, extending to all classes of saints and embracing all parts of the world. The entries which are included in a martyrologium are independent of the fact of actual liturgical cultus in any particular place. They follow the same orderly arrangement by months and days which we observe in a calendar, but under each day not one but many names of saints are given, while certain topographical and biographical details are often added. It will, however, be readily understood that it is not always easy to draw a hard and fast line between calendars and martyrologia. They naturally shade into one another. Thus the ancient Irish poem commonly known as the "Calendar of Aengus" is more properly a martyrologium, for a number of names of saints are assigned to each day quite independently of any idea of liturgical cultus. On the other hand, we sometimes find true calendars in the blank spaces of which the names of saints or deceased persons have been inserted whom there was no intention of commemorating in the liturgy. They have thus been partly converted into martyrologies or necrologies. Of early lists of feasts, the most famous and the most important is the information which it preserves, the so called "Philocalian Calendar", hardly deserves to be called by this name. It is, in fact, no more than the commonplace book of a certain Furius Dionysius Philocalus, who seems to have been a Christian interested in all kinds of chronological information and to have compiled this book in A.D. 354. There is indeed a calendar in his volume, but this is a table of purely secular and pagan celebrations containing no Christian references of any kind. The value of Philocalus' manuscript to modern scholars lies in two lists headed Depositio Martyrum and Depositio Episcoporum, together with other casual notices. We thus learn that a considerable number of martyrs , including among them Sts. Peter and Paul and several Popes, were honoured in Rome on their own proper days in the middle of the fourth century, while three African martyrs , Sts. Cyprian , Perpetua, and Felicitas, also found a place on the list. The only other fixed feasts which are mentioned are the Nativity of Christ and the feast of St. Peter's Chair (22 Feb.).
Not far removed from the Philocalian document in the witness which it bears to the still present influence of paganism is the "Calendar of Polemius Sylvius" of 448. This presents a medley not unlike a modern almanac. The days are indicated when the Senate sat and when the games were celebrated in the Circus, as also the times of those pagan festivals like the Lupercalia, the Terminalia, etc., which had become in a sense national holidays throughout the empire. But side by side with these we have the mention of certain Christian feasts -- Christmas Day , the Epiphany, 22 February (strangely characterized as depositio Petri et Pauli), and four or five other saints' days. Very curious, also, is it to notice in such company the natales of Virgil and of Cicero. Next to this comes a document of the North African Church which is commonly described as the "Calendar of Carthage", and which belongs to the closing years of the sixth century. It presents a considerable array of martyrs , mostly African, but including also some of the more famous of those of Rome , e.g. St. Sixtus , St. Lawrence , St. Clement, St. Agnes, etc., with Sts. Gervasius and Protasius from Milan , St. Agatha from Sicily , St. Vincent from Spain , and St. Felix from Nola in Campania. We also find days assigned to some of the Apostles and to St. John the Baptist , but as yet no feast of Our Lady . Earlier in point of time (c. 410), is a compilation preserved to us in Syriac, of Oriental and Arian origin. It was first published by the English Orientalist , William Wright, and has since been edited by Duchesne and De Rossi in their edition of the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" (Acta Sanctorum, Nov., vol. II). The Syriac document is chiefly important as witnessing to one of the main sources, direct or indirect, of that famous martyrologium, but it also shows how even in the East a calendar was being formed in the fourth century which took notice of the martyrs of Nicomedia , Antioch , and Alexandria, with even a few Western entries like Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas (7 March), and probably Xystus . Sts. Peter and Paul are commemorated on 28 December, which may be a mere error , Sts. John and James on 27 December, St. Stephen on 26 December, which is still his proper day. The month of December is partly lacking, or we should probably have found the Nativity on 25 December. The Epiphany is mentioned on 6 January.
Closely connected in certain of its aspects with this memorial of the Eastern Church is the so-called "Martyrologium Hieronymianum "already mentioned. This work, which in spite of its name owes nothing directly to St. Jerome , was probably first compiled in Southern Gaul (Duchesne says Auxerre, Bruno Krusch, Autun) between the years 592 and 600, i.e. at the same period that St. Augustine was preaching the Gospel to our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. As a martyrologium it is the type of a class. It contains long lists of obscure names for each day mingled with topographical data, but as contrasted with the later martyrologia of Bede , Ado, Usuard, etc., out of which our modern "Martyrologium Romanum" has developed, the "Hieronymian" includes few biographical details regarding the subject of its notices. The fuller discussion of this document, however, belongs to the article MARTYROLOGY . It is sufficient here to notice that in its primitive form the "Hieronymian" includes no proper feast of Our Lady ; even the Purification, on 2 February, is only indirectly alluded to.
Feasts of Our Lady
And here it may be convenient to observe that the principal festivals of the Blessed Virgin , the Assumption, Annunciation, and Nativity, were undoubtedly first celebrated in the East. There seems very good reason to believe, from certain apocryphal Syriac narratives of the "Falling asleep of Mary the Mother of the Lord", that some celebration of her Assumption into Heaven was already observed in Syria in the fifth century on a day corresponding to our 15 August (cf. Wright, in Journal of Sacred Literature, N.S., VII, 157). The Annunciation again is said to be commemorated in an authentic sermon of Proclus of Constantinople, who died in 446, while the agreement of the Armenian and Æthiopic Christians in keeping similar festivals seems to throw back the period of their first introduction to a time earlier than that at which these schismatical churches broke away from unity. In the West, however, we have no definite details as to the earliest occurrence of these Marian feasts. We only know that they were kept at Rome with solemnity in the time of Pope Sergius I (687-701). In Spain , if we may safely follow Dom G. Morin in assigning the "Lectionary of Silos" to about 650, there is definite mention of a feast of Our Lady in Advent , which may be earlier than those just referred to; and in Gaul the statutes of Bishop Sonnatius of Reims (614-631) apparently prescribe the observance of the Annunciation, Assumption, and Nativity, though the Purification strange to say, is not mentioned.
Although the mention is a departure from the natural chronological order, a word may also be said here about the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In the East we find it known to John of Euboea towards the close of the eighth century. It was then kept, as it still is in the Greek Church , on 9 December, but it is described by him as being only of partial observance. Nevertheless, about the year 1000, we find it included in the calendar of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, and it seems by that time to have become universally recognized in the East. The West, however, did not long lag behind. A curious trace may be found in the Irish "Calendar of Aengus" (c. 804), where the Conception of Our Lady is assigned to 3 May (see The Month, May, 1904, pp. 449-465). This probably had no liturgical significance, but Mr. Edmund Bishop has shown that in some Anglo-Saxon monasteries a real feast of the Conception was already kept upon 8 December before the year 1050 (Downside Review, 1886, pp. 107-119). At Naples , under Byzantine influence, the feast had long been known, and it appears in the famous Neapolitan marble calendar of the ninth century under the form Conceptio S. Annæ, being assigned, as among the Greeks, to 9 December. The general recognition of the feast in the West seems, however, to have been largely due to the influence of a certain tractate, "De Conceptione B. Mariæ", long attributed to St. Anselm , but really written by Eadmer, his disciple. At first only the Conception of Our Lady was spoken of, the question of the Immaculate Conception was raised somewhat later. For the feast of the Presentation of Our Lady (21 November), an early Eastern origin has also been claimed dating back to the Year 700 (see Vailhé, in ("Echos d'Orient", V, 193-201, etc.), but this cannot be accepted without fuller verification. For the other Marian festivals, e.g. the Visitation, the Rosary , etc., the reader must be referred to these separate articles. All are comparatively modern additions to the calendar.
The apostles and other New Testament saints
From the mention of Sts. Peter and Paul conjointly on 29 June in the "Depositio Martyrum" of the "Philocalian Calendar", it is probable that the two Apostles both suffered on that day. In the time of St. Leo (Sermon 84) the feast seems to have been celebrated in Rome with an octave, while the Syriac martyrologium in the East and Polemius Silvius in Gaul equally manifest a tendency to do honour to the Principes Apostolorum, though in the former the commemoration is attached to 28 December, and in the latter to 22 February. This latter day was, generally, given to the celebration of the Cathedra Petri, also belonging to very early times, while a feast in honour of St. Paul's conversion was kept 25 January. Of the other Apostles, Sts. John and James appear together in the Syriac martyrologium on 27 December, and St. John still retains that day in the West. With regard to St. Andrew we probably have a reliable tradition as to the day on which he suffered, for apart from an explicit reference in the relatively early "Acta" (cf. Analecta Bollandiana, XIII, 373-378), his feast has been kept on 30 November, both in the East and in the West, from an early period. The other Apostles nearly all appear in some form in the "Hieronymian Martyrologium", and their festivals gradually came to be celebrated liturgically before the eighth or ninth century.
The fixing of the precise days was probably much influenced by a certain "Breviarius" which was widely circulated in somewhat varying forms, and which professed to give a brief account of the circumstances of the death of each of the Twelve. As an indication that some of these feasts must have been adopted at a more remote date than is attested in existing calendars, it may be noted that Bede has a homily upon the feast of St. Matthew, which the arrangement of the collection shows to have been kept by him in the latter part of September, as we keep it at present. St. John the Baptist , as already noted, had also more than one festival in early times. Besides the Nativity on 24 June, two of St. Augustine's sermons (nos. cccvii, cccviii) are consecrated to the celebration of his martyrdom (Passio or Decollatio). Similar honours were paid to St. Stephen, the first martyr , more particularly in the East. St. Gregory of Nyssa , in his funeral oration over St. Basil , delivered at Cæsarea in Cappadocia in 379, attests this, and lets us know that the feast was kept then as it is now, the day after Christmas . On the other hand, St. Joseph's name does not occur in the calendar until comparatively late. Curiously enough the earliest definite assignment which the writer has been able to find of a special day consecrated to his memory occurs in the "Calendar of Aengus" (c. 804) under its existing date, 19 March. There we read of "Joseph, name that is noble, Jesus' pleasant fosterer". But despite an invocation of St. Joseph in the old Irish hymn "Sen De", ascribed to St. Colman Ua Cluasaigh (c. 622), we cannot regard this entry as indicative of any proper cultus. It seems probable, from the nature of some of the apocryphal literature of the early centuries, that honour was of old paid to St. Joseph in Syria , Egypt , and the East generally, but reliable data as to his feast are at present wanting.
Growth of the calendar
During the Merovingian and Carlovingian period the number of festivals which won practical recognition gradually increased. Perhaps the safest indications of this development are to be gathered from the early service-books --sacramentaries, antiphonaries , and lectionaries--but these are often difficult to date. Somewhat more compendious and definite are one or two other lists of feasts which have accidentally been preserved to us, and which it will be interesting to quote. A certain Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours (461-491), sets down the Principal feasts celebrated in his day with a vigil as the following:
"Natalis Domini; Epiphania; Natalis S. Ioannis (June 24th); Natalis S. Petri episcopatus (February 22d); Sext. Cal. Apr. Resurrectio Domini nostri I. Chr.; Pascha ; Dies Ascensionis ; Passio S. Ioannis; Natalis SS. apostolorum Petri et Pauli; Natalis S. Martini; Natalis S. Symphoriani (July 22d); Natalis S. Litorii (September 13th); Natalis S. Martini (November 11th); Natalis S. Bricii (November 13th); Natalis S. Hilarii (January 13th)." (Mon. Germ. SS. Meroving., I, 445.)
Similarly Bishop Sonnatius of Reims (614-631) makes the following list of festivals which were to be kept as holidays absque omni opere forensi:
Nativitas Domini, Circumcisio, Epiphania , Annuntiatio beatæ Marie, Resurrectio Domini cum die sequenti, Ascensio Domini , dies Pentecostes, Nativitas beati Ioannis Baptistæ, Nativitas apostolorum Petri et Pauli, Assumptio beatæ Mariæ, eiusdem Nativitas, Nativitas Andreæ apostoli, et omnes dies dominicales.
In the course of the eighth and ninth centuries various German synods drew up lists of the ecclesiastical holidays which were to be celebrated with rest from work. In an early constitution, ascribed to St. Boniface , we find nineteen such days in each year besides the ordinary Sundays , three free days after the feast itself being appointed both at Christmas and Easter . A council at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) in 809 fixed twenty-one holidays. This included a week at Easter and such feasts as St. Martin and St. Andrew. At Basle in 827 the list was further extended, and it now comprised all the feasts of the Apostles . In England the days honoured in this way seem not to have been quite so numerous, at any rate not at first; but before the end of the tenth century many additions were made, while the ordinances of the synods were enforced by the royal authority. The list comprised the four chief festivals of Our Lady and the commemoration of St. Gregory the Great . The observance of St. Dunstan's feast was imposed a little later during the reign of Cnut.
As regards existing documents, perhaps the oldest ecclesiastical calendar, in the proper sense of the word, which still survives, is the one which was in the possession of the Englishman St. Willibrord , Apostle of the Frisians, who has left in it an autograph note of the date of his consecration as bishop (A.D. 695). The calendar was probably written in England between 702 and 706. As it has never been printed it may be interesting to give here the entries made in the original hand, omitting the interpolations made by others at a slightly later date. The manuscript which contains it is the well-known "Codex Epternacensis", now Latin manuscript 10837, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris .
JANUARY
28 The Innocents
31 St. Silvester, Bishop
This list very well illustrates the arbitrary choice of saints to be commemorated, which is observable in most early calendars. The mention of the Nativity of our Lady on 9 September instead of 8 September is interesting in view of the Eastern practice, attested by the Naples marble calendar, of celebrating the Conception of Our Lady on 9 December. The appearance of St. Januarius (19 September) is also noteworthy. The link between England and Southern Italy in the matter of the commemoration of saints has often been noticed without ever being quite adequately explained. (See Morin, Liber Comicus, Appendix, etc.) The occurrence of the Invention of the Cross on 7 May, as in the Greek Church , is also remarkable. It is further curious to note the partial erasure of the Assumption feast on 16 August (sic), and its appearance upon 18 January. The later Anglo-Saxon calendars, of which a fair number have been printed by Hampson and Piper, offer fewer points of interest than the above; but a word should be said of one or two which are especially noteworthy. The metrical Latin calendar printed among the works of Bede is shown not to be his by the reference to the second Wilfrid of York, who died after his time, but it offers some useful points of comparison with Bede's genuine martyrologium, which, thanks to the patient labour of Dom Quentin, has at last been recovered for us (see Les Martyrologes Historiques, Paris, 1908, pp. 17-119). Not less interesting is the ancient English martyrology edited for the Early English Text Society by G. Herzfeld. This document, though not a calendar, and though including later interpolations, probably reflects the arrangement of a calendar which may be even older than the time of Bede . It is especially noteworthy for brief references to certain Capuan and South Italian saints , which it professes to derive from the "old Mass Books", probably missals of that Gelasian type for which the Gregorian Sacramentary was afterwards substituted.
Another early calendar which must possess an interest for all English-speaking students is the "Anglo-Saxon Menologium", a short but rather ornate poem of the tenth century, describing the principal feasts of each month and probably intended for popular use (see Imelmann, Das altenglische Menologium, p. 40). The writer's main purpose is indicated by his concluding words:
Nû ge findan magon
| Trinity Sunday |
Lord Randolph Churchill suggested that Gladstone's nickname of GOM (Grand Old Man) should be changed to MOG - meaning what? | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Christian Calendar
THE CHURCHES OF THE EAST
Generalities
All civilized peoples and even those which seem to be only just emerging from utter barbarism keep some kind of record of the flight of time and are prone to recognize certain days, recurring at regular intervals, as days of special rejoicing or mourning, or occasions for the propitiation of the powers of the unseen world. In ancient Egypt and Babylonia , in China and Hindostan , and again on the American Continent , among the Aztecs or the ancient Peruvians , definite traces have been found of a more or less elaborate calculation of seasons serving as a basis for religious observances. In 1897, a remarkable discovery was made at Coligny in the department of Ain, France , when certain inscribed stone slabs were brought to light in which all are agreed in recognizing an ancient Celtic calendar, probably pre-Christian, though the precise interpretation of the details still remains a matter of lively controversy. Again, both Greece and Rome possessed highly developed calendars, and the Fasti of Ovid, for example, preserve a detailed description in verse of the chief celebrations of the Roman year.
What more nearly concerns us here is the Jewish calendar , outlined in Leviticus 23. The computation of time among the Jews was based primarily upon the lunar month. The year consisted normally of twelve such months, alternately of 29 and 30 days each; such a year, however, contains only 354 days, which by no means agrees with the number of days in the mean solar year. Moreover, the exact length of the mean lunar month is not exactly 29 1/2 days as the above arrangement would suggest. To compensate for the irregularity two corrections were introduced. First, a day was added to the month Hesvan (Heshwan) or subtracted from the month Kislev (Kislew), as need arose, in order to keep the months in agreement with the moon; secondly, eight years out of every nineteen were made "embolismic", i.e. an intercalary month seems to have been introduced when necessary , at this point, in order to prevent the 14th day of Nisan from arriving too early. On that day ( Leviticus 23:5, 10 ) the firstfruits of corn in the ear had to be brought to the priests and the paschal lamb sacrificed. This made it necessary to delay the Pasch (14 Nisan) until the corn was in ear and the lambs were ready, and the rule was accordingly established that 14 Nisan must fall when the sun had passed the equinox and was in the constellation of Aries (en krio tou heliou kathestotos--Josephus, Ant., I, i, 3). Down to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, it would seem that in the insertion of this intercalary month the Jews followed no fixed rule based on astronomical principles, but that the Sanhedrin decided each time whether the year should be embolismic or not, being influenced in their decision not by astronomical considerations alone, but also, in some measure, by the forwardness or backwardness of the season. It was the difficulty created by such a system and by the impossibility of accommodating it to the Julian chronology , adopted throughout the greater part of the Roman Empire, which led to those troubles about the determination of Easter (the Paschal controversy ) that played so important a part in the history of the early Church. Besides the Pasch and the week of the unleavened bread (or azymes ), of which the Pasch formed the first day, the Jewish calendar, of course, included many other feasts. That of Pentecost, or, "of the weeks", 50 days after the Pasch , is of importance because it also found a place in the Christian Dispensation . The other great celebrations of the Jewish year occurred in autumn, in the month Tishri. The Day of Atonement fell on 10 Tishri and the Feast of Tabernacles extended from the 14th to the 21st, with a sort of octave day on the 22nd, but these had no direct bearing on the calendar of the Christian Church . The same may be said of the minor Jewish festivals, e.g. the Encoenia mentioned in the Gospel of St. John, which were, for the most part, of later institution.
It might almost be laid down as a general law that in the ancient world holy days were also holidays. In the Jewish system, besides the weekly sabbath , rest from work was enjoined on seven other days of the year, to wit: the first and last day of the Azymes , the feast of Pentecost, the Neomenia of the Seventh month, the day of Propitiation, the first day of Tabernacles, and 22 Tishri which immediately followed. It is not wonderful that this principle was recognized later in the Christian Church , for it had pagan example also in its favour. "The Greeks and barbarians", says Strabo (X, 39), "have this in common that they accompany their sacred rites by a festal remission of labour". So without seeking to derive the Jewish sabbath from any Babylonian institution, for which there is certainly no warrant, we may note that the new moon and the 7th, 15th, and 22nd seem to have been regarded among the Babylonians as times for propitiating the gods and unlucky; the result being that on these days no new work was begun and affairs of importance were suspended. In the Christian system the day of rest has been transferred from the Sabbath to the Sunday. Constantine made provision that his Christian soldiers should be free to attend service on the Sunday ( Eusebius , Vita Const., IV, 19, 20), and he also forbade the courts of justice to sit on that day (Sozomen, I, 8). Theodosius II in 425 decreed that games in the circus and theatrical representations should also be prohibited on the day of rest, and these and similar edicts were frequently repeated.
In the Roman chronological system of the Augustan age the week as a division of time was practically unknown, though the twelve calendar months existed as we have them now. In the course of the first and second century after Christ, the hebdomadal or seven-day period became universally familiar, though not immediately through Jewish or Christian influence. The arrangement seems to have been astrological in origin and to have come to Rome from Egypt . The seven planets, as then conceived of--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon, thus arranged in the order of their periodic times (Saturn taking the longest and the Moon the shortest time to complete the round of the heavens by their proper motion)--were supposed to preside over each hour successively, and the day was designated by that planet which presided over its first hour. Beginning on the first day with the planets in order, the first hour would be Saturn's, the second Jupiter's, the seventh the Moon's, the eighth Saturn's again, and so on. Continuing thus, the twenty-fifth hour, i.e. the first hour of the second day, and consequently the second day itself, would belong to the Sun; and the forty-ninth hour, and consequently the third day, to the Moon. Following always the same plan the seventy-third hour and the fourth day would fall to Mars, the fifth day to Mercury, the sixth to Jupiter, the seventh to Venus, and the eighth again to Saturn. Hence, apparently, were derived the Latin names for the days of the week, which are still retained (except Samedi and Dimanche) in modern French and other Romance tongues. These names from an early date were often used by the Christians themselves, and we find them already in Justin Martyr . The special honour which the faithful paid to the Sunday (dies solis), coupled perhaps with the celebration of Christmas on the day designated the natalis invicti [solis], may have helped, later on, to produce the impression that the Christians had much in common with the worshippers of Mithras .
Foundations of the Christian calendar
The Easter cycle
The starting-point of the Christian system of feasts was of course the commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ on Easter day . The fact that for a long time Jews must have formed the vast majority of the members of the infant Church, rendered it impossible for them to forget that each returning Passover celebrated by their countrymen brought with it the anniversary of their Redeemer's Passion and of His glorious Resurrection from the dead. Moreover, as they had all their lives been accustomed to observe a weekly day of rest and prayer , it must have been almost inevitable that they should wish so to modify this holiday that it might serve as a weekly commemoration of the source of all their new hopes. Probably at first they did not wholly withdraw from the Synagogue , and the Sunday must have seemed rather a prolongation of, than a substitution for, the old familiar Sabbath . But it was not long before the observance of the first day of the week became distinctive of Christian worship . St. Paul ( Colossians 2:16 ) evidently considered that the converts from paganism were not bound to the observance of the Jewish festivals or of the Sabbath proper. On the other hand, the name "the Lord's day" (dies dominica, he kuriake) meets us in the Apocalypse 1:10, and was no doubt familiar at a much earlier date (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:2 ). From the beginning the Sunday seems to have been frankly recognized among Christians for what it was, viz. the weekly commemoration of Christ's Resurrection . (Cf. The Epistle of Barnabas, 15.) It was presumably marked by the celebration of the liturgy, for St. Luke writes in the Acts: "And on the first day of the week , when we were assembled to break bread" ( Acts 20:7 ); and we may infer from somewhat later ordinances that it was always regarded as joyful in character, a day when fasting was out of place, and when the faithful were instructed to pray standing, not kneeling. "Die dominico", says Tertullian , "jejunium nefas dicimus vel de geniculis adorare" (De orat. 14). In fact this upright position in prayer was, according to Pseudo (?) Irenæus, typical of the Resurrection (Irenæus, Frag., 7). But for a fuller account of this first element of the Christian calendar the reader must be referred to the article SUNDAY .
That the early Christians kept with especial honour the anniversary of the Resurrection itself is more a matter of inference than of positive knowledge . No writer before Justin Martyr seems to mention such a celebration, but the fact that in the latter half of the second century the controversy about the time of keeping Easter almost rent the Church in twain may be taken as an indication of the importance attached to the feast. Moreover the paschal fast of preparation, though its primitive duration was probably not forty days (Cf. Funk, Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen, I, 242 sq.), was constantly referred to by the Early Church as a matter of ancient and even Apostolic institution. In any case, all our earliest liturgical monuments both of East and West, for example the "Apostolical Constitutions" and the "Apostolic Canons", which are a still earlier document according to Funk and Harnack, are agreed in giving to Easter the place of honour among the feasts of the year. It is as the Roman Martyrologium describes it, festum festorum and solemnitas solemnitatum. With it have naturally always been associated the commemoration of the events of Christ's Passion , the Last Supper on the Thursday, the Crucifixion on the Friday, and on the eve itself that great vigil or night watch when the paschal candle and the fonts were blessed and the catechumens , after long weeks of preparation, were at last admitted to the Sacrament of Baptism . Data are lacking concerning these separate elements in the great paschal celebration as it was observed in the earliest times. It may, however, be noted that in Tertullian the word pascha clearly designates not the Sunday alone but rather a period, and in particular, the day of the Parasceve , or as we now call it, Good Friday ; while in Origen a definite distinction is drawn between two kindred terms: pascha anastasimon (the Resurrection Pasch on Easter Sunday ), and pascha staurosimon (the Crucifixion Pasch , i.e. Good Friday ); but both were equally memorable as celebrations.
Closely dependent upon Easter and gradually developing in number as time went on were other observances also belonging to the cycle of what we now call the movable feasts. Whitsunday (see PENTECOST ), the anniversary of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, was probably regarded as next in importance to Easter itself, and as Easter was determined by the Jewish Pasch , there can be little doubt , seeing that Whitsunday stood in the same close relation to the Jewish feast of Pentecost, that the Jewish converts observed both a Christian Pasch and a Christian Pentecost from the very beginning. Ascension day , though determined in position by the fact that it was forty days after Easter ( Acts 1:3 ) and ten before Whitsuntide , was not superimposed on any Jewish feast. We do not, consequently, find it attested by any writer earlier than Eusebius (De sol. pasch ., Migne , P.G. xxiv, 679). Lent , which all admit to have been known as a forty days' fast in the early years of the fourth century (cf. the various Festal Letters of St. Athanasius ), had of course a fixed terminus ad quem in Easter itself, but its terminus a quo seems to have varied considerably in different parts of the world. In some places the understanding seemed to be that Lent was a season of forty days in which there was much fasting but not necessarily a daily fast --the Sundays in any case, and in the East Saturdays also, were always exempt. Elsewhere it was held that Lent must necessarily include forty actual fasting-days. Again there were places where the fasting in Holy Week was regarded as something independent, which had to be superadded to the forty days of Lent . The times therefore, of commencing the Lenten fast varied considerably, just as there was considerable diversity in the severity with which the fast was kept. (For these details see LENT .) All that we need notice here is that this penitential season, which at a considerably later period was thrown back to the Sunday known as Septuagesima (strictly the Sunday within the period of seventy days before Easter ), began earlier or later according to the day on which Easter Sunday fell, while the later additions at the other end--such as Trinity Sunday , Corpus Christi , and in still more recent times, the Feast of the Sacred Heart--all equally formed part of the same festal cycle.
There can be little doubt that the early Christians felt as we do the inconvenience of this movable element in the otherwise stable framework of the Julian calendar. But we have to remember that the movable element was established there by right of prior occupation. Since the Jewish Christians , as explained above, had never known any other computation of time than that based on the lunar month, the only way which could have occurred to them of fixing the anniversary of Our Saviour's Resurrection was by referring it to the Jewish Pasch . But while accepting this situation, they also showed a certain independence. It seems to have been decided that the occurrence of the Resurrection feast on the first day of the week , the day which followed the Sabbath was an essential feature. Hence, instead of determining that the second day after the Jewish Pasch (17 Nisan) should always he counted as the anniversary of the Resurrection , independently of the day of the week upon which it might fall, the Apostles appear to have settled, though in this we have very little positive evidence, that that Sunday was to be kept as the Christian Pasch which fell within the Azymes , or days of the unleavened bread, whether it occurred at the beginning, middle, or end of the term. This arrangement had the drawback that it made the Christian feast dependent upon the computation of the Jewish calendar . When the destruction of Jerusalem practically deprived the Jews of the dispersion of any norm or standard of uniformity, they probably fell into erroneous or divergent reckonings, and this in turn entailed a difference of opinion among the Christians . If it had been possible to ascertain in terms of the Julian chronology the day of the month on which Christ actually suffered, it would probably have been simplest for Christians all over the Roman world to celebrate their Easter , as later on they celebrated Christmas or St. Peter's day, upon a fixed anniversary. Yet this, be it noticed, would have interfered with the established position of "the Lord's day" as the weekly memorial of the great Sunday par excellence, for Easter , as a fixed feast, would of course have fallen upon all the days of the week in turn. However, though Tertullian declares without misgiving that Christ suffered upon 25 March, a tradition perpetuated in numberless calendars throughout the Middle Ages , this date was certainly wrong. Moreover it was probably quite impossible at that period, owing to the arbitrary manner in which the Jewish embolismic years had been intercalated, to calculate back to the true date. For the various phases of the disputes which first broke out in the second century and were renewed long afterwards in the British Isles we must refer the reader to the article EASTER CONTROVERSY . It will suffice here to say that a decision seems to have been arrived at in the Council of Nicæa , which, though it is strangely absent from the canons of the council as now preserved to us (Turner, Monumenta Nicæna, 152), is believed to have determined that Easter was to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon which follows the spring equinox. According to this rule, which has ever since been accepted, the earliest day upon which Easter can now fall is 22 March, and the latest 25 April.
The Nativity of Christ
A second element which fundamentally influences the Christian calendar and which, though less primitive than the Easter celebrations, is also of early date , may be described as the Nativity Cycle. Of the origin and history of the feast of Christmas , dealt with in a separate article, little need now be said. We may take it as certain that the feast of Christ's Nativity was kept in Rome on 25 December before the year 354. It was introduced by St. John Chrysostom into Constantinople and definitively adopted in 395. On the other hand, the Epiphany feast on 6 January, which also in the beginning seems to have commemorated the birth of Jesus Christ , is referred to as of partial observance in that character by Clement of Alexandria ( Stromata I.21 ), though a recently discovered discourse of Hippolytus for this day (eis ta hagia theophaneia) is entirely devoted to the theme of Christ's baptism . This last, in fact, is and has long been the primary aspect of the feast in the Oriental churches. But the feast of the Nativity is of importance in the calendar not only for itself, as one of the greatest celebrations of the year, but also for the other days which depend upon it. These are mostly of later date in point of origin, but are ecclesiastically of high rank. Thus on this supposition, however questionable as a fact of history, that the exact date of Christ's nativity was 25 December, we have first the Circumcision on 1 January, the eighth day, a festival greatly utilized in the attempt to divert the newly converted peoples from the superstitious and often idolatrous pagan practices which immemorial custom associated with the beginning of the year. The Mass for this day in the Missals is often headed Ad prohibendum ab idolis, and its contents correspond with that designation. At the same time other service books preserve conspicuous traces of a time when this day was treated as a festival of the Blessed Virgin. On the other hand, the eighth day before Christmas (18 December) is kept as the feast of the Expectation of Our Lady , which was only added to the Roman calendar as lately as the seventeenth century, but represents an old Spanish feast of the Blessed Virgin . It was not, however, known in ancient times by its present designation of Expectatio partus.
Again, forty days after Christmas , following, as in the case of the Circumcision, the data of the Jewish law, we have the Presentation in the Temple . This, under its Greek name of Hypapante (hupapante, "the meeting"), was originally treated as a feast of Our Saviour rather than of His Blessed Mother . It is older than any other Marian feast--being mentioned c. 380 in the Pilgrimage of "Sylvia", i.e. the Spanish lady Etheria--though in Jerusalem at that date it was kept forty days after the feast which is known to us as the Epiphany (6 Jan.), but which, as we have seen, then commemorated the Birth as well as the Baptism of Christ. For some reason, of which no adequate explanation seems to be forthcoming, the solemn benediction of candles and the procession were attached at an early period to this feast. It was long known in England as Candlemas Day and in France as la Chandeleur. The Annunciation, or, as it was some times anciently called, the Conception of Our Lord, seems to be heard of in the East in the sixth century and to have been transported thence to Western Europe not long afterwards. Its connection with the Nativity is obvious, and it is even possible, as Duchesne and others have suggested, that the Incarnation of Our Saviour was assigned to the 25th of March because this day, as early as Tertullian , was believed to be the date of His Passion . If this were true , the 25th of December would have been determined by the 25th of March and not vice versa. But certainly the Annunciation as a feast is heard of considerably later than the Nativity. Still later in the year another early feast, already familiar in the time of St. Augustine (Serm., 307-308), meets us in the Nativity of St. John the Baptist . On 25 March, the Fathers calculated, St. Elizabeth had already been six months with child; its birth accordingly would have taken place exactly three months later. Neither does the 24th of June (instead of 25th) assigned to the Nativity of the Baptist present any difficulty, for in the Roman way of counting both 25 March and 24 June are equally octavo kalendas, the eighth day before the kalends of the next month. Yet another feast, the Conception of the Baptist , found in the Greek Church and in certain Carlovingian calendars on 24 September, hardly needs mention. It is chiefly interesting to us as paving the way for the feast of the Conception of Our Lady and hence for that also of her Immaculate Conception .
Saints' days
Another, and that the most substantial, element in the formation of the calendar is the record of the birthdays of the saints . It must be remembered that this word birthday (genethlios, natalis) had come to mean little more than commemoration. Already, before the Christian Era , various royal personages who were deified after death commonly had their "birthdays" kept as festivals; but it is very doubtful whether these really represented the day upon which they were born into this world (see Rohde, Psyche, 3d ed., I, 235). Hence we are not so surprised at a later period to meet in Christian liturgical books such phrases as natalis calicis as a designation for the feast of Maunday Thursday, or natalis episcopi, which seems to mean the day of a bishop's consecration . Anyhow, there can be no doubt that the same word was used, and that from a very early period, to describe the day upon which a martyr suffered death. It is commonly explained as meaning the birthday which introduced him into a new and glorious life in heaven , but we cannot, perhaps, be quite certain that those who first used the term of a Christian martyr had this interpretation consciously present to their minds . We are fortunate, however, in possessing in the contemporary account written from Smyrna of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp (about A.D. 145) a clear statement that the Jews and pagans fully anticipated that the Christians would try to recover the martyr's body as a precious treasure to which they might pay cultus, and would institute a birth-feast (genethlios), his honour . Here, then, we have the most conclusive evidence that the Christians already in the first half of the second century were accustomed to celebrate the feasts of the martyrs . Probably for a long time these celebrations remained almost entirely local. They were confined to the place where the martyr suffered or where a considerable portion of his remains were preserved over which the Holy Sacrifice would be offered. But in the course of time the practice of moving such relics freely from place to place enlarged the circle of the martyr's clients. All the churches that possessed these relics felt entitled to keep his "birthday" with some degree of solemnity, and thus we soon find martyrs from Africa , for example, obtaining recognition in Rome and eventually being honoured by all the Church . This seems to be, in brief, the history of the inclusion of saints' days in the calendar. At first the number of such days was very small, depending generally upon some special local tie, and rigorously limited to those who had shed their blood for Christ. But before very long the names of confessors also began to find a place in the lists, for confessors and bishops were already written in the diptychs and in those days the line between praying to a departed servant of God and praying for him was by no means so clearly defined as it is with us now. This was the process which was already being inaugurated in the fourth century and which has continued ever since.
Our earliest calendars
As feasts and Saints' days multiplied, it became desirable that some sort of record should be kept of them. We may divide the documents of this kind, roughly speaking, into two categories: Calendars and Martyrologia, both officially recognized by the Church . A calendar in its ecclesiastical sense is simply a list of the feasts kept in any particular church, diocese, or country, arranged in order under their proper dates. A martyrologium was originally, as its name implies, a record of martyrs , but it soon assumed a more general character, extending to all classes of saints and embracing all parts of the world. The entries which are included in a martyrologium are independent of the fact of actual liturgical cultus in any particular place. They follow the same orderly arrangement by months and days which we observe in a calendar, but under each day not one but many names of saints are given, while certain topographical and biographical details are often added. It will, however, be readily understood that it is not always easy to draw a hard and fast line between calendars and martyrologia. They naturally shade into one another. Thus the ancient Irish poem commonly known as the "Calendar of Aengus" is more properly a martyrologium, for a number of names of saints are assigned to each day quite independently of any idea of liturgical cultus. On the other hand, we sometimes find true calendars in the blank spaces of which the names of saints or deceased persons have been inserted whom there was no intention of commemorating in the liturgy. They have thus been partly converted into martyrologies or necrologies. Of early lists of feasts, the most famous and the most important is the information which it preserves, the so called "Philocalian Calendar", hardly deserves to be called by this name. It is, in fact, no more than the commonplace book of a certain Furius Dionysius Philocalus, who seems to have been a Christian interested in all kinds of chronological information and to have compiled this book in A.D. 354. There is indeed a calendar in his volume, but this is a table of purely secular and pagan celebrations containing no Christian references of any kind. The value of Philocalus' manuscript to modern scholars lies in two lists headed Depositio Martyrum and Depositio Episcoporum, together with other casual notices. We thus learn that a considerable number of martyrs , including among them Sts. Peter and Paul and several Popes, were honoured in Rome on their own proper days in the middle of the fourth century, while three African martyrs , Sts. Cyprian , Perpetua, and Felicitas, also found a place on the list. The only other fixed feasts which are mentioned are the Nativity of Christ and the feast of St. Peter's Chair (22 Feb.).
Not far removed from the Philocalian document in the witness which it bears to the still present influence of paganism is the "Calendar of Polemius Sylvius" of 448. This presents a medley not unlike a modern almanac. The days are indicated when the Senate sat and when the games were celebrated in the Circus, as also the times of those pagan festivals like the Lupercalia, the Terminalia, etc., which had become in a sense national holidays throughout the empire. But side by side with these we have the mention of certain Christian feasts -- Christmas Day , the Epiphany, 22 February (strangely characterized as depositio Petri et Pauli), and four or five other saints' days. Very curious, also, is it to notice in such company the natales of Virgil and of Cicero. Next to this comes a document of the North African Church which is commonly described as the "Calendar of Carthage", and which belongs to the closing years of the sixth century. It presents a considerable array of martyrs , mostly African, but including also some of the more famous of those of Rome , e.g. St. Sixtus , St. Lawrence , St. Clement, St. Agnes, etc., with Sts. Gervasius and Protasius from Milan , St. Agatha from Sicily , St. Vincent from Spain , and St. Felix from Nola in Campania. We also find days assigned to some of the Apostles and to St. John the Baptist , but as yet no feast of Our Lady . Earlier in point of time (c. 410), is a compilation preserved to us in Syriac, of Oriental and Arian origin. It was first published by the English Orientalist , William Wright, and has since been edited by Duchesne and De Rossi in their edition of the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" (Acta Sanctorum, Nov., vol. II). The Syriac document is chiefly important as witnessing to one of the main sources, direct or indirect, of that famous martyrologium, but it also shows how even in the East a calendar was being formed in the fourth century which took notice of the martyrs of Nicomedia , Antioch , and Alexandria, with even a few Western entries like Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas (7 March), and probably Xystus . Sts. Peter and Paul are commemorated on 28 December, which may be a mere error , Sts. John and James on 27 December, St. Stephen on 26 December, which is still his proper day. The month of December is partly lacking, or we should probably have found the Nativity on 25 December. The Epiphany is mentioned on 6 January.
Closely connected in certain of its aspects with this memorial of the Eastern Church is the so-called "Martyrologium Hieronymianum "already mentioned. This work, which in spite of its name owes nothing directly to St. Jerome , was probably first compiled in Southern Gaul (Duchesne says Auxerre, Bruno Krusch, Autun) between the years 592 and 600, i.e. at the same period that St. Augustine was preaching the Gospel to our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. As a martyrologium it is the type of a class. It contains long lists of obscure names for each day mingled with topographical data, but as contrasted with the later martyrologia of Bede , Ado, Usuard, etc., out of which our modern "Martyrologium Romanum" has developed, the "Hieronymian" includes few biographical details regarding the subject of its notices. The fuller discussion of this document, however, belongs to the article MARTYROLOGY . It is sufficient here to notice that in its primitive form the "Hieronymian" includes no proper feast of Our Lady ; even the Purification, on 2 February, is only indirectly alluded to.
Feasts of Our Lady
And here it may be convenient to observe that the principal festivals of the Blessed Virgin , the Assumption, Annunciation, and Nativity, were undoubtedly first celebrated in the East. There seems very good reason to believe, from certain apocryphal Syriac narratives of the "Falling asleep of Mary the Mother of the Lord", that some celebration of her Assumption into Heaven was already observed in Syria in the fifth century on a day corresponding to our 15 August (cf. Wright, in Journal of Sacred Literature, N.S., VII, 157). The Annunciation again is said to be commemorated in an authentic sermon of Proclus of Constantinople, who died in 446, while the agreement of the Armenian and Æthiopic Christians in keeping similar festivals seems to throw back the period of their first introduction to a time earlier than that at which these schismatical churches broke away from unity. In the West, however, we have no definite details as to the earliest occurrence of these Marian feasts. We only know that they were kept at Rome with solemnity in the time of Pope Sergius I (687-701). In Spain , if we may safely follow Dom G. Morin in assigning the "Lectionary of Silos" to about 650, there is definite mention of a feast of Our Lady in Advent , which may be earlier than those just referred to; and in Gaul the statutes of Bishop Sonnatius of Reims (614-631) apparently prescribe the observance of the Annunciation, Assumption, and Nativity, though the Purification strange to say, is not mentioned.
Although the mention is a departure from the natural chronological order, a word may also be said here about the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In the East we find it known to John of Euboea towards the close of the eighth century. It was then kept, as it still is in the Greek Church , on 9 December, but it is described by him as being only of partial observance. Nevertheless, about the year 1000, we find it included in the calendar of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, and it seems by that time to have become universally recognized in the East. The West, however, did not long lag behind. A curious trace may be found in the Irish "Calendar of Aengus" (c. 804), where the Conception of Our Lady is assigned to 3 May (see The Month, May, 1904, pp. 449-465). This probably had no liturgical significance, but Mr. Edmund Bishop has shown that in some Anglo-Saxon monasteries a real feast of the Conception was already kept upon 8 December before the year 1050 (Downside Review, 1886, pp. 107-119). At Naples , under Byzantine influence, the feast had long been known, and it appears in the famous Neapolitan marble calendar of the ninth century under the form Conceptio S. Annæ, being assigned, as among the Greeks, to 9 December. The general recognition of the feast in the West seems, however, to have been largely due to the influence of a certain tractate, "De Conceptione B. Mariæ", long attributed to St. Anselm , but really written by Eadmer, his disciple. At first only the Conception of Our Lady was spoken of, the question of the Immaculate Conception was raised somewhat later. For the feast of the Presentation of Our Lady (21 November), an early Eastern origin has also been claimed dating back to the Year 700 (see Vailhé, in ("Echos d'Orient", V, 193-201, etc.), but this cannot be accepted without fuller verification. For the other Marian festivals, e.g. the Visitation, the Rosary , etc., the reader must be referred to these separate articles. All are comparatively modern additions to the calendar.
The apostles and other New Testament saints
From the mention of Sts. Peter and Paul conjointly on 29 June in the "Depositio Martyrum" of the "Philocalian Calendar", it is probable that the two Apostles both suffered on that day. In the time of St. Leo (Sermon 84) the feast seems to have been celebrated in Rome with an octave, while the Syriac martyrologium in the East and Polemius Silvius in Gaul equally manifest a tendency to do honour to the Principes Apostolorum, though in the former the commemoration is attached to 28 December, and in the latter to 22 February. This latter day was, generally, given to the celebration of the Cathedra Petri, also belonging to very early times, while a feast in honour of St. Paul's conversion was kept 25 January. Of the other Apostles, Sts. John and James appear together in the Syriac martyrologium on 27 December, and St. John still retains that day in the West. With regard to St. Andrew we probably have a reliable tradition as to the day on which he suffered, for apart from an explicit reference in the relatively early "Acta" (cf. Analecta Bollandiana, XIII, 373-378), his feast has been kept on 30 November, both in the East and in the West, from an early period. The other Apostles nearly all appear in some form in the "Hieronymian Martyrologium", and their festivals gradually came to be celebrated liturgically before the eighth or ninth century.
The fixing of the precise days was probably much influenced by a certain "Breviarius" which was widely circulated in somewhat varying forms, and which professed to give a brief account of the circumstances of the death of each of the Twelve. As an indication that some of these feasts must have been adopted at a more remote date than is attested in existing calendars, it may be noted that Bede has a homily upon the feast of St. Matthew, which the arrangement of the collection shows to have been kept by him in the latter part of September, as we keep it at present. St. John the Baptist , as already noted, had also more than one festival in early times. Besides the Nativity on 24 June, two of St. Augustine's sermons (nos. cccvii, cccviii) are consecrated to the celebration of his martyrdom (Passio or Decollatio). Similar honours were paid to St. Stephen, the first martyr , more particularly in the East. St. Gregory of Nyssa , in his funeral oration over St. Basil , delivered at Cæsarea in Cappadocia in 379, attests this, and lets us know that the feast was kept then as it is now, the day after Christmas . On the other hand, St. Joseph's name does not occur in the calendar until comparatively late. Curiously enough the earliest definite assignment which the writer has been able to find of a special day consecrated to his memory occurs in the "Calendar of Aengus" (c. 804) under its existing date, 19 March. There we read of "Joseph, name that is noble, Jesus' pleasant fosterer". But despite an invocation of St. Joseph in the old Irish hymn "Sen De", ascribed to St. Colman Ua Cluasaigh (c. 622), we cannot regard this entry as indicative of any proper cultus. It seems probable, from the nature of some of the apocryphal literature of the early centuries, that honour was of old paid to St. Joseph in Syria , Egypt , and the East generally, but reliable data as to his feast are at present wanting.
Growth of the calendar
During the Merovingian and Carlovingian period the number of festivals which won practical recognition gradually increased. Perhaps the safest indications of this development are to be gathered from the early service-books --sacramentaries, antiphonaries , and lectionaries--but these are often difficult to date. Somewhat more compendious and definite are one or two other lists of feasts which have accidentally been preserved to us, and which it will be interesting to quote. A certain Perpetuus, Bishop of Tours (461-491), sets down the Principal feasts celebrated in his day with a vigil as the following:
"Natalis Domini; Epiphania; Natalis S. Ioannis (June 24th); Natalis S. Petri episcopatus (February 22d); Sext. Cal. Apr. Resurrectio Domini nostri I. Chr.; Pascha ; Dies Ascensionis ; Passio S. Ioannis; Natalis SS. apostolorum Petri et Pauli; Natalis S. Martini; Natalis S. Symphoriani (July 22d); Natalis S. Litorii (September 13th); Natalis S. Martini (November 11th); Natalis S. Bricii (November 13th); Natalis S. Hilarii (January 13th)." (Mon. Germ. SS. Meroving., I, 445.)
Similarly Bishop Sonnatius of Reims (614-631) makes the following list of festivals which were to be kept as holidays absque omni opere forensi:
Nativitas Domini, Circumcisio, Epiphania , Annuntiatio beatæ Marie, Resurrectio Domini cum die sequenti, Ascensio Domini , dies Pentecostes, Nativitas beati Ioannis Baptistæ, Nativitas apostolorum Petri et Pauli, Assumptio beatæ Mariæ, eiusdem Nativitas, Nativitas Andreæ apostoli, et omnes dies dominicales.
In the course of the eighth and ninth centuries various German synods drew up lists of the ecclesiastical holidays which were to be celebrated with rest from work. In an early constitution, ascribed to St. Boniface , we find nineteen such days in each year besides the ordinary Sundays , three free days after the feast itself being appointed both at Christmas and Easter . A council at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) in 809 fixed twenty-one holidays. This included a week at Easter and such feasts as St. Martin and St. Andrew. At Basle in 827 the list was further extended, and it now comprised all the feasts of the Apostles . In England the days honoured in this way seem not to have been quite so numerous, at any rate not at first; but before the end of the tenth century many additions were made, while the ordinances of the synods were enforced by the royal authority. The list comprised the four chief festivals of Our Lady and the commemoration of St. Gregory the Great . The observance of St. Dunstan's feast was imposed a little later during the reign of Cnut.
As regards existing documents, perhaps the oldest ecclesiastical calendar, in the proper sense of the word, which still survives, is the one which was in the possession of the Englishman St. Willibrord , Apostle of the Frisians, who has left in it an autograph note of the date of his consecration as bishop (A.D. 695). The calendar was probably written in England between 702 and 706. As it has never been printed it may be interesting to give here the entries made in the original hand, omitting the interpolations made by others at a slightly later date. The manuscript which contains it is the well-known "Codex Epternacensis", now Latin manuscript 10837, in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris .
JANUARY
28 The Innocents
31 St. Silvester, Bishop
This list very well illustrates the arbitrary choice of saints to be commemorated, which is observable in most early calendars. The mention of the Nativity of our Lady on 9 September instead of 8 September is interesting in view of the Eastern practice, attested by the Naples marble calendar, of celebrating the Conception of Our Lady on 9 December. The appearance of St. Januarius (19 September) is also noteworthy. The link between England and Southern Italy in the matter of the commemoration of saints has often been noticed without ever being quite adequately explained. (See Morin, Liber Comicus, Appendix, etc.) The occurrence of the Invention of the Cross on 7 May, as in the Greek Church , is also remarkable. It is further curious to note the partial erasure of the Assumption feast on 16 August (sic), and its appearance upon 18 January. The later Anglo-Saxon calendars, of which a fair number have been printed by Hampson and Piper, offer fewer points of interest than the above; but a word should be said of one or two which are especially noteworthy. The metrical Latin calendar printed among the works of Bede is shown not to be his by the reference to the second Wilfrid of York, who died after his time, but it offers some useful points of comparison with Bede's genuine martyrologium, which, thanks to the patient labour of Dom Quentin, has at last been recovered for us (see Les Martyrologes Historiques, Paris, 1908, pp. 17-119). Not less interesting is the ancient English martyrology edited for the Early English Text Society by G. Herzfeld. This document, though not a calendar, and though including later interpolations, probably reflects the arrangement of a calendar which may be even older than the time of Bede . It is especially noteworthy for brief references to certain Capuan and South Italian saints , which it professes to derive from the "old Mass Books", probably missals of that Gelasian type for which the Gregorian Sacramentary was afterwards substituted.
Another early calendar which must possess an interest for all English-speaking students is the "Anglo-Saxon Menologium", a short but rather ornate poem of the tenth century, describing the principal feasts of each month and probably intended for popular use (see Imelmann, Das altenglische Menologium, p. 40). The writer's main purpose is indicated by his concluding words:
Nû ge findan magon
| i don't know |
Which ballet caused a riot when first staged in Paris in 1913? | The Rite of Spring Riot, 1913 by Igor Stravinsky
By Aaron Green
Updated April 17, 2016.
In May 1913, Igor Stravinsky debuted his ballet The Rite of Spring. Though it is one of Stravinsky's most famous works, his creation was first met with harsh criticism, negative reviews, and... a riot. Watch this YouTube performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring Ballet .
The Creation of The Rite of Spring
A few years prior to 1910, Stravinsky began flirting with the idea and music of The Rite of Spring ballet to premiere with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company. Whether or not the music came before the story/setting or visa versa (there are conflicting statements by Stravinsky himself), we do know that by 1910, Stravinsky met with Russian expert Nicholas Roerich to discuss ancient pagan rituals. Together, they came up with the working title "The Great Sacrifice." After taking a year hiatus to finish his ballet Petrushka, Stravinsky resumed work on The Rite of Spring with Roerich, and by July 1911, the pair had completed a working draft of the ballet's structure within a few days, changing its title to Vesna sviashchennaia (Russian) or Holy Spring.
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However, the work's French translation Le Sacre du printemps (English: The Rite of Spring) is what stuck. According to Stravinsky's journals, he returned to his home in Ukraine and wrote two movements before deciding to move to Clarens, Switzerland a month later, where he completed the ballet's first part and drafted the second. Stravinsky stopped work on the ballet by Spring of 1912, and enjoyed a nice break, even taking a trip to Bayreuth, Germany with Sergei Diaghilev to attend a performance of Richard Wagner 's opera, Parsifal. Stravinsky returned to Clarens, Switzerland during the Fall season to finish The Rite of Spring - as signed on his orchestral score, he completed it on March 8, 19
The Cause and Events of the The Rite of Spring Riot
Stravinsky debuted the The Rite of Spring Ballet at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on May 29, 1913, to an audience accustomed to the grace, elegance, and the traditional music of "conventional" ballets, i.e. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake . Opposition to Stravinsky's work literally happened within the first few minutes of the piece as members of the audience booed loudly in response to the inharmonic notes accompanying the unrecognizable bassoon's opening solo. What's more, the work's unconventional music, sharp and unnatural choreography (dancers danced with bent arms and legs and would land on the floor so hard their internal organs would shake), and Russian pagan setting, failed to win over the majority of the audience. It should hardly come as a surprise given the ballet's thematic content. The ballet's title and subtitle alone, hints that something darker lurks behind the velvet theatre curtains: The Rite of Spring: Picture of Pagan Russia in Two Parts. The story centers around ancient Russian tribes and their celebration of Spring. They then offer a sacrifice to their gods, choosing a young girl whom is forced to dance to death.
As the ballet progressed, so did the audience's discomfort. Those in favor of Stravinksy's work argued with those in opposition. The arguments eventually turned to brawls and police had to be notified. They arrived at intermission and successfully calmed the angry crowd (yes, the show wasn't even half way over before people were throwing punches). As the second half commenced, police were unable to keep the audience under control and rioting resumed. Stravinsky was so taken aback by the audience's reaction, he fled the scene before the show was over.
The Rite of Spring in the 21st Century
Just like Beethoven's 9th Symphony changed the future of symphony composition, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring changed the future of ballet. Up to that point, ballet was beautiful, elegant, and charming. As I mentioned before, audiences were accustomed to seeing and hearing works like Swan Lake , The Nutcracker , and Sleeping Beauty . Stravinsky's Rite of Spring introduced new concepts in music, dance, and story. Today, it is considered to be a milestone in the history of ballet. It has become a regular work in many ballet companies ' repertoires. The music has been used extensively in film, television, and radio, for example Disney's Fantasia. It has also inspired composers like John Williams (Star Wars) and Jerry Goldsmith (Outland).
| The Rite of Spring |
What name for a short haircut came from its popularity among the rowing teams of Harvard and Yale in the 50s? | Controversial ballet Le Sacre du printemps performed in Paris - May 29, 1913 - HISTORY.com
Controversial ballet Le Sacre du printemps performed in Paris
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Controversial ballet Le Sacre du printemps performed in Paris
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On the night of Thursday, May 29, 1913, the pioneering Russian ballet corps Ballet Russes performs Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), choreographed by the famous dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, at the Theatre de Champs-Elysees in Paris.
In founding the Ballet Russes in 1909, the flamboyant impresario Serge Diaghilev was searching for his own version of the Gesamtkunstwerk (or total art form), a concept introduced by the enormously influential German composer Richard Wagner in his book Oper und Drama (1850-51). Early in the second decade of a new century, Diaghilev saw ballet, and indeed all art, as a means of deliverance from the confines of morality and convention that had ruled Western society in the 19th century. This kind of avant-garde sensibility was widespread in Europe by 1913—particularly in Germany, the birthplace of the era’s most prominent philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, whose writings articulated both the sense of chaos and destruction and the call for a violent rebirth of modern society that Stravinsky, Diaghilev and Nijinsky strove to portray in Le Sacre.
When the curtain went up in the newly constructed—and architecturally controversial—Theatre de Champs-Elysees on May 29, 1913, it seemed all of Paris society was there. There was great anticipation surrounding Diaghilev’s newest production; advance publicity for the ballet had called it real and true art, art that disregarded the traditional boundaries of space and time. Almost as soon as the curtain rose, the audience began to react strongly to the performance, starting with whistles and proceeding to hisses and howls as the dancers appeared. Originally titled The Victim, Stravinsky’s ballet portrayed a pagan celebration in which a virgin sacrifices herself to the god of spring. The music was dissonant and strange, while the choreography by Nijinsky marked a radical departure from classical ballet, with the dancers’ toes turned in and their limbs thrust at sharp angles instead of smooth, rounded curves.
As Carl Van Vechten, drama critic for the New York Sun later wrote, the unruly audience became as much a part of the performance as the dancers and musicians: Some forty of the protestants were forced out of the theater but that did not quell the disturbance. The lights in the auditorium were fully turned on but the noise continued and I remember Mlle. Piltz [the dancer portraying the sacrificial maiden] executing her strange dance of religious hysteria on a stage dimmed by the blazing light in the auditorium, seemingly to the accompaniment of the disjointed ravings of a mob of angry men and women. The subsequent coverage in the press of the ballet—which is now considered one of the great musical achievements of the 20th century—was resoundingly negative; the music was dismissed as mere noise and the dance as an ugly parody of traditional ballet.
In light of the horrifically destructive conflict that exploded in Europe barely one year later, the violent reaction to Le Sacre de Printemps came to seem like a logical and inescapable response to such an expression of nihilism and chaos. Against a background of growing nationalist fervor across the continent, French audiences were understandably anxious—about their own country’s declining influence in the face of Germany’s growing strength, about the seeming failure of traditional notions of morality and order and about what was to come. A year later, during the July Crisis, the French critic Maurice Dupont praised the sanity of the French reaction, calling Le Sacre a Dionysian orgy dreamed of by Nietzsche and called forth by his prophetic wish to be the beacon of a world hurtling towards death—a wish that would soon be fulfilled on the battlefields of World War I.
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Which famous trademark can be seen on one of the bottles featured in Manet's canvas The Bar at the Folies-Bergere? | Bottle Identification: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Bottle Identification: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Dear Mr. Meyer,
I am writing you in your capacity of president of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. I have a scholarly question. The caveat is that it’s about a bottle in a painting–but it’s a great work of art, so worth looking at. This is Manet’s well-known 1882 painting “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.” (As you likely know, the Folies-Bergère is a French bar, a famous one at the turn of the century, which may matter to an assessment.) I will include a link to it as it is hung London’s Courtauld Gallery, which allows one to look very closely by zooming in, here: Virtual Tour Courtauld Gallery
My question is this: Do you have an opinion as to the likely contents of the bottle on the farthest left side of the canvas–the one which Manet has signed on its label? Does it look more like a bottle for a wine, an aperitif, a brandy, a cognac, or something else? Any thoughts you have would be appreciated, and you are most welcome to pass the question on to colleagues. Given the painting’s prominence, there may be existing literature on the bottles in this image–I have found none other than that to do with the Bass Ale bottles, and the champagne bottles.
Too, if you have any insights–or references to literature on–its cork, or capsule, or method of sealing (like all the others, this bottle appears unopened)–that would be of great interest. And as I say, if you have any references that deal with how a bottle containing such an alcohol in the late 19th century would be sealed that you can pass on, such a guide would be welcome.
Thank you for your time, and your indulgence. And again, do please feel free to pass this email on.
I set aside entirely the question of the label, but….Thank you again for your time.
Best, Jessica Burstein
Associate Professor, Department of English
Adjunct Associate Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
A101 Padelford Hall
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington 98195-4330
Interesting question. Quickly, and without enlarging the bottle or studying the painting, I guessed ‘ Absinthe ‘ which I understand may not be correct. To help with identification, I isolated and enlarged the subject bottle below.
In a follow-up e-mail, Jessica added “You can add that Bill Lindsey from the SHA/BLM Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website has just proposed red vermouth based on a 1906 USA bottle, and if I could find that the same bottle shape and alcohol was around in Paris in the 1880s, that would be good.”
Can any of you help here?
[From Marianne Dow] Discussions of this painting generally refer to the red bottles as being GRENADINE (red because it’s made from pomegranites) I cannot find a brand referenced. See Manet’s Last Painting
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (French: Un bar aux Folies Bergère), painted and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882, was the last major work by French painter Édouard Manet. It depicts a scene in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris. It originally belonged to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, who was Manet’s neighbor, and hung over his piano.
The painting
The painting exemplifies Manet’s commitment to Realism in its detailed representation of a contemporary scene. Many features have puzzled critics but almost all of them have been shown to have a rationale, and the painting has been the subject of numerous popular and scholarly articles.
The central figure stands before a mirror, although critics—accusing Manet of ignorance of perspective and alleging various impossibilities in the painting—have debated this point since the earliest reviews were published. In 2000, however, a photograph taken from a suitable point of view of a staged reconstruction was shown to reproduce the scene as painted by Manet. According to this reconstruction, “the conversation that many have assumed was transpiring between the barmaid and gentleman is revealed to be an optical trick—the man stands outside the painter’s field of vision, to the left, and looks away from the barmaid, rather than standing right in front of her.” As it appears, the observer should be standing to the right and closer to the bar than the man whose reflection appears at the right edge of the picture. This is an unusual departure from the central point of view usually assumed when viewing pictures drawn according to perspective.
Asserting the presence of the mirror has been crucial for many modern interpreters. It provides a meaningful parallel with Las Meninas, a masterpiece by an artist Manet admired, Diego Velázquez. There has been a considerable development of this topic since Michel Foucault broached it in his book The Order of Things (1966).
The art historian Jeffrey Meyers describes the intentional play on perspective and the apparent violation of the operations of mirrors: “Behind her, and extending for the entire length of the four-and-a-quarter-foot painting, is the gold frame of an enormous mirror. The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty has called a mirror ‘the instrument of a universal magic that changes things into spectacles, spectacles into things, me into others, and others into me.’ We, the viewers, stand opposite the barmaid on the other side of the counter and, looking at the reflection in the mirror, see exactly what she sees… A critic has noted that Manet’s ‘preliminary study shows her placed off to the right, whereas in the finished canvas she is very much the centre of attention.’ Though Manet shifted her from the right to the center, he kept her reflection on the right. Seen in the mirror, she seems engaged with a customer; in full face, she’s self-protectively withdrawn and remote.”
The painting is rich in details which provide clues to social class and milieu. The woman at the bar is a real person, known as Suzon, who worked at the Folies-Bergère in the early 1880s. For his painting, Manet posed her in his studio. By including a dish of oranges in the foreground, Manet identifies the barmaid as a prostitute, according to art historian Larry L. Ligo, who says that Manet habitually associated oranges with prostitution in his paintings. T.J. Clark says that the barmaid is “intended to represent one of the prostitutes for which the Folies-Bergère was well-known”, who is represented “as both a salesperson and a commodity—something to be purchased along with a drink.”
Other notable details include the pair of green feet in the upper left-hand corner, which belong to a trapeze artist who is performing above the restaurant’s patrons. The beer bottles depicted are easily identified by the red triangle on the label as Bass Pale Ale, and the conspicuous presence of this English brand instead of German beer has been interpreted as documentation of anti-German sentiment in France in the decade after the Franco-Prussian War. [Wikipedia]
| Bass Brewery |
What phrase is derived from the promotion by the Prime-Minister, Lord Salisbury, of his nephew A.J.Balfour to the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland? | Bottle Identification: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Bottle Identification: A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
Dear Mr. Meyer,
I am writing you in your capacity of president of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. I have a scholarly question. The caveat is that it’s about a bottle in a painting–but it’s a great work of art, so worth looking at. This is Manet’s well-known 1882 painting “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.” (As you likely know, the Folies-Bergère is a French bar, a famous one at the turn of the century, which may matter to an assessment.) I will include a link to it as it is hung London’s Courtauld Gallery, which allows one to look very closely by zooming in, here: Virtual Tour Courtauld Gallery
My question is this: Do you have an opinion as to the likely contents of the bottle on the farthest left side of the canvas–the one which Manet has signed on its label? Does it look more like a bottle for a wine, an aperitif, a brandy, a cognac, or something else? Any thoughts you have would be appreciated, and you are most welcome to pass the question on to colleagues. Given the painting’s prominence, there may be existing literature on the bottles in this image–I have found none other than that to do with the Bass Ale bottles, and the champagne bottles.
Too, if you have any insights–or references to literature on–its cork, or capsule, or method of sealing (like all the others, this bottle appears unopened)–that would be of great interest. And as I say, if you have any references that deal with how a bottle containing such an alcohol in the late 19th century would be sealed that you can pass on, such a guide would be welcome.
Thank you for your time, and your indulgence. And again, do please feel free to pass this email on.
I set aside entirely the question of the label, but….Thank you again for your time.
Best, Jessica Burstein
Associate Professor, Department of English
Adjunct Associate Professor, Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
A101 Padelford Hall
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington 98195-4330
Interesting question. Quickly, and without enlarging the bottle or studying the painting, I guessed ‘ Absinthe ‘ which I understand may not be correct. To help with identification, I isolated and enlarged the subject bottle below.
In a follow-up e-mail, Jessica added “You can add that Bill Lindsey from the SHA/BLM Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website has just proposed red vermouth based on a 1906 USA bottle, and if I could find that the same bottle shape and alcohol was around in Paris in the 1880s, that would be good.”
Can any of you help here?
[From Marianne Dow] Discussions of this painting generally refer to the red bottles as being GRENADINE (red because it’s made from pomegranites) I cannot find a brand referenced. See Manet’s Last Painting
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (French: Un bar aux Folies Bergère), painted and exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1882, was the last major work by French painter Édouard Manet. It depicts a scene in the Folies Bergère nightclub in Paris. It originally belonged to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, who was Manet’s neighbor, and hung over his piano.
The painting
The painting exemplifies Manet’s commitment to Realism in its detailed representation of a contemporary scene. Many features have puzzled critics but almost all of them have been shown to have a rationale, and the painting has been the subject of numerous popular and scholarly articles.
The central figure stands before a mirror, although critics—accusing Manet of ignorance of perspective and alleging various impossibilities in the painting—have debated this point since the earliest reviews were published. In 2000, however, a photograph taken from a suitable point of view of a staged reconstruction was shown to reproduce the scene as painted by Manet. According to this reconstruction, “the conversation that many have assumed was transpiring between the barmaid and gentleman is revealed to be an optical trick—the man stands outside the painter’s field of vision, to the left, and looks away from the barmaid, rather than standing right in front of her.” As it appears, the observer should be standing to the right and closer to the bar than the man whose reflection appears at the right edge of the picture. This is an unusual departure from the central point of view usually assumed when viewing pictures drawn according to perspective.
Asserting the presence of the mirror has been crucial for many modern interpreters. It provides a meaningful parallel with Las Meninas, a masterpiece by an artist Manet admired, Diego Velázquez. There has been a considerable development of this topic since Michel Foucault broached it in his book The Order of Things (1966).
The art historian Jeffrey Meyers describes the intentional play on perspective and the apparent violation of the operations of mirrors: “Behind her, and extending for the entire length of the four-and-a-quarter-foot painting, is the gold frame of an enormous mirror. The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty has called a mirror ‘the instrument of a universal magic that changes things into spectacles, spectacles into things, me into others, and others into me.’ We, the viewers, stand opposite the barmaid on the other side of the counter and, looking at the reflection in the mirror, see exactly what she sees… A critic has noted that Manet’s ‘preliminary study shows her placed off to the right, whereas in the finished canvas she is very much the centre of attention.’ Though Manet shifted her from the right to the center, he kept her reflection on the right. Seen in the mirror, she seems engaged with a customer; in full face, she’s self-protectively withdrawn and remote.”
The painting is rich in details which provide clues to social class and milieu. The woman at the bar is a real person, known as Suzon, who worked at the Folies-Bergère in the early 1880s. For his painting, Manet posed her in his studio. By including a dish of oranges in the foreground, Manet identifies the barmaid as a prostitute, according to art historian Larry L. Ligo, who says that Manet habitually associated oranges with prostitution in his paintings. T.J. Clark says that the barmaid is “intended to represent one of the prostitutes for which the Folies-Bergère was well-known”, who is represented “as both a salesperson and a commodity—something to be purchased along with a drink.”
Other notable details include the pair of green feet in the upper left-hand corner, which belong to a trapeze artist who is performing above the restaurant’s patrons. The beer bottles depicted are easily identified by the red triangle on the label as Bass Pale Ale, and the conspicuous presence of this English brand instead of German beer has been interpreted as documentation of anti-German sentiment in France in the decade after the Franco-Prussian War. [Wikipedia]
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