question
stringlengths 18
1.2k
| facts
stringlengths 44
500k
| answer
stringlengths 1
147
|
|---|---|---|
Who is the lead writer for 'Doctor Who', succeeding Russell T. Davies? | Which Doctor Who showrunner did it better? · Crosstalk · The A.V. Club
Share Tweet
Caroline Siede: On November 23, 2013, Doctor Who turns 50 years old. It’s a remarkable milestone, made even more remarkable by the fact that the show is at its peak of popularity. What started as an odd little black-and-white sci-fi drama in 1963 has become one of the most successful franchises in the history of television, and the 50th-anniversary special, “The Day Of The Doctor,” is being simulcast in more than 75 countries. Yet the series hasn’t gained this international fan base without also dividing it: Two showrunners have helmed the series since its 2005 reboot, and Doctor Who devotees remains embroiled in “Russell T. Davies versus Steven Moffat” debates. To me there is no contest: Russell T. Davies’ character-focused and surprisingly dark take on the show is the superior version.
The lynchpin of Davies’ show is, of course, the Doctor. Davies wrote both the battle-hardened Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and the playful but dangerous 10th Doctor (David Tennant). In Davies’ reboot, the Doctor is the only survivor of the Time War, a battle so violent he killed his own people to stop it. The guilt of genocide hangs heavily over the character, and in both regenerations there’s a sense that his exuberant persona hides deep sadness. It’s nuanced character work helped by two stellar actors who portray the Doctor’s deep sadness while also finding his optimism. The contradiction works like gangbusters because it grounds a family-friendly show in something more serious.
Davies’ Doctor is a deeply flawed person who sometimes loses his empathy in the process of trying to save the universe. To balance the Doctor’s alien perspective, Davies gave the show strong female characters—not in the stereotypical sense of ass-kicking ladies, but in the sense of rich, well-developed women with unique personalities, flaws, and dreams. Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) serve as the Doctor’s humanity, chastising him when he goes too far. They’re foils to the Doctor, yet Davies also imbued them with agency and backstories that make them compelling characters on their own: Over the course of her two seasons on the show, Piper’s Rose grows from an adrift shopgirl to a defender of the universe. It’s an impressive arc for a female character billed as a “companion” to the main star.
Davies’ attention to character extends to supporting players as well. Doctor Who’s episodic structure gives the show little continuity from one adventure to another, yet the showrunner and his writing staff created memorable characters in remarkably short periods of time. The drivers of “Gridlock” and the space explorers in “The Impossible Planet”/“The Satan Pit” and “The Waters Of Mars” feel like personalities that exist beyond the edges of their stories. Their character traits don’t provide necessary exposition or move the plot along, but they do round out the world of Who and make the universe seem as beautiful and diverse as the Doctor claims it to be.
What did you think of Davies as a showrunner, Alasdair? Is it fair to say he brought a newfound character focus to the series? As a fan of classic Who, what was it like to watch the show rebooted for a modern era?
Alasdair Wilkins: Like all Doctor Who fans, I owe Russell T. Davies an enormous debt of gratitude. It’s easy to forget how ridiculous a proposition Davies’ reboot once seemed, and just how much his efforts have restored the entire franchise’s reputation in the public imagination. (And when we say Davies, we really mean him in collaboration with Julie Gardner, Mal Young, and the rest of the creative team.) Davies made all the right decisions in reviving the show, even though many seemed counterintuitive: casting Billie Piper, then a pop star with minimal acting experience, as Rose, and actually building the show around her; casting Christopher Eccleston, one of Britain’s acting heavyweights, as the face of the show; taking a deliberate pace in reintroducing the classic show’s most iconic elements, instead of inundating new and casual viewers with jargon like “Time Lord,” “Gallifrey,” “Skaro,” and “Davros.”
I became a Doctor Who fan in 2002, so I was part of the last group of fans to view the new series through the prism of the classic series and not vice versa. Because I got into the show as a teenager, I didn’t approach Doctor Who as an exercise in nostalgia; rather, as I sampled the different Doctors and their eras through the DVD releases, I fell in love with the infinite potential and madcap adventurism of the show’s premise. The joy of Doctor Who is that it can be anything. The show regenerates just like its time-traveling protagonist—there are at least a dozen distinct TV shows to be found within those first 26 seasons.
Davies’ Doctor Who was the first I saw unfolding in real-time, but I still have significant issues with its approach. Criticizing this era is tricky, because it was such an inarguable success both commercially and critically. I’m not arguing that Davies’ vision was flawed because it was popular. However, I think the instincts Davies brought to the show as executive producer made him a poor fit as the show’s main writer. If Doctor Who’s defining trait, to quote Craig Ferguson, is “the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism,” then Davies rendered that on a grand scale. But as a writer, that tended to translate to dumb comedy and cringeworthy goofiness: the constant fat and fart jokes in “Aliens Of London”/“World War Three,” the 100,000-year-old reality shows in “Bad Wolf,” the inexplicable kung fu monks in “Tooth And Claw,” and whatever it is that actually happens in “Love & Monsters.”
The best Doctor Who episode Davies ever wrote was “Midnight,” a destruction of so many of the “warm and fuzzy” ideas his episodes espoused. That story—along with Torchwood: Children Of Earth, his other superlative effort in the Doctor Who universe—isdefined by a nastiness and a despair toward humans’ capacity for inhumanity, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Davies’ writing is so much sharper and more focused in those stories than it ever is elsewhere.“Midnight” is also notable because it’s the smallest-scale of Davies’ Doctor Who episodes. The adventure takes place in a confined space, and there’s no suggestion that the story’s unseen monster poses a threat to anyone beyond a handful of tourists. Davies’ episodes, particularly his season finales, are defined by threats of a global scale, and his scripts lack the discipline necessary to make such vast stories hold together. “The Parting Of The Ways” attempts to set up a focused moral dilemma for the Doctor as entire continents melt in the view-screen behind him. In “Last Of The Time Lords,” meanwhile, Davies undoes the harm caused by the story’s central time paradox but still leaves the president of the United States—an obvious George W. Bush pastiche—obliterated by mysterious aliens.
As I suggested previously, Doctor Who should be seen as a creative sandbox, one in which each Doctor and each creative team reshapes the show’s malleable premise. I subscribe to the notion that the show’s universe is so huge and so flexible that the incumbent production team should be judged not on whether it is making the “best” show but rather how its stories play within and push against the boundaries of that vast, wondrous mythos. I tend to judge that more in terms of each individual adventure—an artifact of classic Who’s structure, in which the season’s stand-alone stories were each serialized over a few episodes. Not judging the show on terms of a season’s overarching narrative is perhaps why I look upon Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who more fondly than others these days.
At its best, Moffat’s writing is what I call “plot pyrotechnics.” His stories are insanely complicated contraptions in which cause and effect intermingle. More than any showrunner before him, Moffat has explored time travel as something beyond a narrative convenience: The Doctor’s dalliances through time can rewrite people’s lives and the fates of entire universes, and that responsibility can be both blessing and curse. And while that might seem like a potentially limiting vision—yes, I’m all too aware of Moffat’s reputation as something of a one-trick pony—three consecutive episodes represent the vastly different ways Moffat has explored that idea.
Moffat’s first stab at a season finale, the fifth season’s “The Big Bang,” shows the Doctor breaking all the rules of time in a collapsed universe in order to restore the cosmos before winding back through his own timeline—which allows Moffat to rather audaciously re-contextualize a scene from an earlier fifth-season episode, “Flesh And Stone.” The subsequent Christmas special, “A Christmas Carol,” looks at the Doctor’s temporal tampering in more character-based terms, as the Doctor either ruins or saves the life of Michael Gambon’s miserable bastard Kazran Sardick. The season premiere that follows, “The Impossible Astronaut,” kicks off the sixth season’s big mystery, as a future version of the Doctor is apparently killed before his companions’ eyes, raising major questions about fate that the show takes an entire season to answer. A later scene in “The Impossible Astronaut” also adds some texture to the temporally inverted relationship between the Doctor and companion River Song (Alex Kingston), as the latter mournfully observes how painful it is to look upon a Doctor who knows her less and less every time she meets him. Moffat definitely doesn’t place the same emphasis on character as his predecessor, but he has his moments, and those moments are often intriguingly rooted in the show’s core sci-fi elements.
While Davies envisioned Doctor Who as the story of the Doctor and the companion, Moffat’s showis simply the story of the Doctor. This becomes especially evident in the “Silence” arc of season six, as companions River, Amy, and Rory get caught up in a temporally tangled, cosmos-spanning conspiracy to kill the Doctor. The emotional trauma this arc causes to the Doctor’s companions should be substantial, but that isn’t an area given any exploration—the companions are just there to serve the plot. I’ll leave it Caroline to take those critiques further—but I will say that, viewed purely as the Doctor’s story, season six improves. He comes to terms with his impending demise, and the season finale, “The Wedding Of River Song,” finds the Doctor doing what he always does—escaping the inescapable trap—even if it means fooling the entire universe.
This era of Doctor Who has also allowed for more experimentation within individual stories, and a lot of that is because of the remarkable talent Moffat brought to the show. Neil Gaiman, Neil Cross, and Richard Curtis are three of Britain’s most in-demand writers, and their (strongest) contributions—“The Doctor’s Wife,” “Hide,” and “Vincent And The Doctor,” respectively—allow their creative voices to shine through, taking the 11th Doctor to places he could never reach in Moffat-penned episodes. The current era also features the two funniest episodes in new Who, as the team of Matt Smith, co-star James Corden, and writer Gareth Roberts gave us “The Lodger” and “Closing Time.” The former in particular feels like an episode that wouldn’t work for Davies’ Doctor Who—even if it did begin its life as a comic featuring the 10th Doctor.
Caroline, you’ve found Moffat’s tenure deeply frustrating, but would you be willing to grant that its episodes work as stand-alone adventures, even if the last two seasons fail as coherent narratives?
CS: Alasdair, you mentioned earlier that Davies’ strengths lay in executive-producing rather than episodic writing, and I wonder if the inverse is true for Moffat. Perhaps he’s better suited to writing one-off adventures than he’s suited to overseeing an entire series. I agree wholeheartedly that “A Christmas Carol” is an excellent adventure, and “The Big Bang” easily ranks in my top-five favorite episodes of Who.(I gasped out loud at the call back to “Flesh And Stone.”) While any given episode that aired during Moffat’s tenure is guaranteed to look and feel exciting, there is a depressing lack of plot, character, and thematic continuity to his program as a whole. Moffat seems to approach the show with the question “What’s the coolest thing I can do?” but is largely uninterested in exploring the consequences of his plot pyrotechnics. Moffat’s refusal to present even the most basic examples of cause and effect make it difficult to emotionally invest in his work.
I’ve breezed over some of Davies’ messier plot mechanics, but I think Moffat invites a more intense level of criticism on that front because he puts a focus on his season-long mysteries. I wouldn’t complain as much if the rather unsatisfying conclusion to “The Wedding Of River Song” answered a question that was raised at the top of the episode. But Moffat makes the mystery of the Doctor’s death a crucial plot point in his season-six premiere and teases it out for 13 episodes—inviting the viewer to figure out how the Doctor will eventually survive his astronaut assassination. While the nonlinear structure of season six hides some of the plot messiness, it’s nonsensical at best and leaves behind gaping plot holes about the Silence’s convoluted plans (which inexplicably involve a space suit). Again, I wouldn’t mind the silly mechanics of all of this as much if Moffat weren’t so insistent on making this mystery a prominent, multi-episode arc.
Moffat also has frustratingly little interest in character continuity. The Doctor has always taken a stand against violence whenever possible, but in “Day Of The Moon”he turns every member of the human race into a weapon, eager to murder the Silence on sight. While using the Silence’s own brainwashing powers against them is a clever idea, I don’t buy that a Doctor who constantly celebrates the innate goodness of humanity would be so willing to turn the human race into unwitting murderers. Genocide is a topic Doctor Who tackles with care and consideration (even elsewhere in Moffat’s tenure), and to see it used so casually here is frustrating. Especially because it’s a choice that has no ramifications on the Doctor’s psyche. In fact, it’s never referenced again.
These character inconsistencies are even more magnified in Amy Pond, the 11th Doctor’s main companion. In season six she discovers she has unknowingly been kept hostage for months, delivers a baby she did not know she was pregnant with, and then has that baby stolen from her twice. On top of that, she discovers her baby grows up to be the middle-aged woman she has been running around with for the past year. It would be a traumatizing experience for anyone, and an event that would cause strain in the Amy-Doctor relationship. Yet the emotional reality of that ordeal is almost entirely ignored. Amy half-heartedly asks the Doctor to find her baby, but she seems mostly unconcerned when he doesn’t, and the show quickly moves on to “more important things” like jokes about Hitler being pushed into a cupboard. Only a few episodes later in the excellent “The God Complex,” she blindly trusts the Doctor once again because the plot requires her to do so. I find it hard to believe that the fiercely protective Amy—who constantly demonstrates she would rather die than live without husband Rory—would accept the loss of her baby so easily or forgive the Doctor so readily.
This is also part of a larger trend of Moffat’s treatment of female characters. In general, almost all of Moffat’s ladies are “mysteries” for the Doctor to solve—Amy has a mysterious crack in her wall followed by a mysterious pregnancy, River is a timeline conundrum, and Clara (Jenna Louise-Coleman) is referred to as “the impossible girl.” While these women serve as dynamic companions to the Doctor, the show has a bad habit of turning them into plot points. Moffat seems generally uninterested in the families, friends, or careers of his supporting female characters, making them frustratingly underdeveloped. Amy’s long-lost parents and their eventual return in “The Big Bang” are major concerns of season five that are immediately dropped so Amy can run away on more adventures. These female characters exist only insomuch as they relate to the Doctor, and anything outside of their time-traveling adventures is irrelevant. Whatever Moffat’s intention, he is continuing the frustrating pop-culture trend of writing women who revolve around men. Add to this the fact that most of the women he writes are sassy, aggressive, and flirty—all of which are fascinating traits for a female character but feel rather reductive when repeated ad nauseam.
While you’re right, Alasdair, that I’ve found Moffat’s tenure frustrating, I feel it’s important to stress that Moffat has written some of my all-time favorite episodes, and part of the reason I can critique his episodes in such detail is because I’m a fan who has watched them many times. I have a deep affection for Rory, Amy, River, and the 11th Doctor. While Moffat doesn’t always have Davies’ eye for character development, his wonderfully talented actors (Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan, Alex Kingston, and Matt Smith) provide much-needed emotional legwork through their performances. I am continually delighted by Amy and Rory’s progressive marriage, and the friendship between Amy and the 11th Doctor is built up quite subtly for two and a half seasons. River Song could be my favorite character in all of Doctor Who, and giving a younger Doctor a badass love interest over 40 is revolutionary in its own way).
Doctor Who’sscope is bigger than just about anything else on TV. Through the prism of a 1,000-year-old alien, both showrunners have explored the human condition, love, loss, and friendship in ways that don’t feel trite or clichéd. And I certainly can’t wait to watch David Tennant and Matt Smith team up in “Day Of The Doctor” (if only to hear Tennant shout “allons-y” one more time). While I do have problems with some of his creative choices, I choose to remain optimistic that working with Peter Capaldi’s soon-to-debut 12th Doctor will allow Moffat to recapture some of the magic of his earlier efforts.
Can we come to some sort of agreement here, Alasdair? Is there, in fact, common ground between Davies loyalists and Moffat fanatics?
AW: I think there’s an opportunity for agreement and common ground here, Caroline, and it all comes from an understanding of just what Davies and Moffat are trying to do with Doctor Who. Steven Moffat does indeed write toward the coolest and most surprising plot twists, while Russell T. Davies writes toward the emotional climaxes. Because the premise of Doctor Who is so vast, they both end up cutting some narrative corners in pursuit of those moments. I can see why some might argue that Davies’ approach is richer or more fulfilling, but it’s still worth remembering how much of the apparent plot of his stories is just a means to that emotional end. That isn’t necessarily a criticism. I never cared about the 10th Doctor and Rose’s relationship, yet the end of “Doomsday” still gets to me, because it’s a beautifully emotional moment supported by a story that is solidly constructed and consistently entertaining—if occasionally a bit workmanlike in its plotting.
There’s never going to be a perfect version of Doctor Who. Every showrunner is going to have to choose which particular aspects of the show to focus on, and that’s probably going to be to the detriment of something else. It seems only appropriate to sum up why Doctor Who can be so frustrating yet so exhilarating with what the 11th Doctor once observed about Vincent Van Gogh:
The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant.
That sounds about right.
| Steven Moffat |
Which castle dominates the landscape of Castletown on the Isle of Man? | Doctor Who Spinoff Class Reveals Its Main Cast
Doctor Who Spinoff Class Reveals Its Main Cast
Share
Comment
The “new” Doctor Who kicked off in 2005 with the Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston. The series revival was lead by head writer/showrunner Russell T. Davies for the first four seasons, with frequent Who writer Stephen Moffat picking up the reins in 2010. Currently on its Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi), the show has been a success on both sides of the Pond.
The popularity of the characters also allowed for spin-off series, which included immortal time traveler Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) leading the more adult-oriented Torchwood. Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), who first appeared with the Third Doctor in the original series and later reconnected with the Tenth, earned her own stories in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Now the BBC is hoping to grab more of the young adult market with Class .
Last year, the BBC announced the series would be written by award-winning YA author Patrick Ness, and would be set in Coal Hill school, where companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) was a teacher. Now the BBC has revealed the main cast of the new show, with students played by Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah. Katherine Kelly, perhaps known best to American audiences for her role as Lady Mae on PBS series Mr. Selfridge (in which Austin also appears as Gordon), is being billed as a teacher and “powerful new presence” at the school. Filming has just begun on the new series, and you can meet the cast in the “360” video below.
Moffat, who is also executive-producing Class, says “There’s nothing more exciting than meeting stars that nobody’s heard of yet.” The fresh new cast of the series will play characters dealing with all the typical teenage dramas, plus the usual Whoverse twist of the “end of existence.” The official description of the new show reveals the consequences of Doctor Who‘s repeated presence at Coal Hill, which was the setting of the very first episode of the original series:
“Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who Universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. All the time-travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.
Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming.”
While Doctor Who has been typically aimed at a family audience, the BBC is hoping to appeal to the teen crowd with characters and topics tailored specifically for them. Moffat has called the show “dark and sexy,” and is hoping it will be the “British Buffy.” While there might be some teenager drama that won’t appeal to older Who fans, it sounds like there will still be a big focus on the monsters, mysteries, and painful dilemmas the main series is known for.
The addition of Kelly, who owns any scene she’s in on TV, is also a big win for the show. Ness, who adapted his own best-selling novel for the Liam Neeson-starring fantasy film A Monster Calls , has hopefully put together some complex stories worth watching for any Who fan. We’ll find out when the eight 45-minute episodes air later this year on BBC3, and hopefully not too much later on BBC America.
Stay tuned to Screen Rant for additional news on Class casting and air dates, as it becomes available.
| i don't know |
What number completes the title of the last book in Arthur C. Clarke's 'Space Odyssey' series: '...... The Final Odyssey'? | 3001: The Final Odyssey: Amazon.co.uk: Arthur C. Clarke: 9780586066249: Books
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
FREE Delivery on orders over £10. Details
2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke Paperback £8.99
Only 9 left in stock (more on the way).
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
FREE Delivery on orders over £10. Details
2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke Paperback £8.99
Only 9 left in stock (more on the way).
Sent from and sold by Amazon.
FREE Delivery on orders over £10. Details
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Amazon Review
Then it came close enough for visual inspection.
"Goliath here", Chandler radioed Earthwards, his voice tinged with pride as well as solemnity. "We're bringing aboard a 1000-year-old astronaut. And I can guess who it is. "
Thus after drifting to an icy death in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the body of astronaut Frank Poole is recovered in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Preserved at near absolute zero, it is a simple task for medical science a millennium hence to restore Poole to life--though strangely for a novel which pits religion against science, the metaphysical implications of technological resurrection are unexamined --and the first half is devoted to Poole's integration into the society of the future. If anything he adjusts with far too little grief or culture shock: apart from mourning his dog, and learning how the new technology works, he faces no major difficulties. Still, the world of the future is drawn with broad, imaginative strokes and apart from a persistent continuity error which makes Poole 6 years old in 2001, this is fascinating stuff. The plot kicks into gear with the revelation that the famous black monoliths may ultimately not have humanity's interests at heart, leading to a perfunctorily presented struggle for survival. Clarke himself notes that the ending is functionally identical to that of Independence Day, though novel and film were created simultaneously. Not the hoped-for late classic, 3001: the Final Odyssey does provide the satisfaction of closure to Clarke's epic Odyssey Quartet.--Gary S. Dalkin
Review
"3001: The Final Odyssey has an eerie and compelling plausibility."
--Business Week
"A fascinating picture of our future: cities atop needlelike towers that extend into space, the colonization of Venus, the pacification of humanity, and the abolition of religion."
--Newsweek
"Science-fiction master Arthur C. Clarke has taken generations of readers to the far and lonely reaches of the universe."
--USA Today
From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
| 4th millennium |
Who directed the 1961 film 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'? | Arthur C. Clarke -- Available Books
Arthur C. Clarke -- Available Books
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published October 1999
Price: $14.01 - Savings of: $6.00 (30%) - Ships in 24 hours
A deluxe hardcover edition of the science fiction classic...now with a new introduction by Arthur C. Clarke!
Arthur Clarke / Unknown Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $21.40 - Ships in 24 hours
Two astronauts find their journey into space and their very lives jeopardized by the jealousy of an extraordinary computer named Hal, a mysterious monolith, and an encounter with a mysterious alien intelligence. Book available.
Piers Bizony, Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published May 1995
Price: $15.96 - Savings of: $3.99 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Arthur Charles Clarke(Introduction), Stanley Kubrick / Paperback / Published August 1993
Price: $10.36 - Savings of: $2.59 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
When an enigmatic monolith is found buried on the moon, scientists are amazed to discover that it's at least 3 million years old. Even more amazing, after it's unearthed the artifact releases a powerful signal aimed at Saturn. What sort of alarm has been triggered? To find out, a manned spacecraft, the Discovery, is sent to investigate. Its crew is highly trained--the best--and they are assisted by a self-aware computer, the ultra-capable HAL 9000. But HAL's programming has been patterned after the human mind a little too well. He is capable of guilt, neurosis, even murder, and he controls eve...
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published March 1997
Price: $9.60 - Savings of: $2.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
"A daring romp through the solar system and a worthy successor to 2001." *Carl Sagan Nine years after the disastrous Discovery mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition sets out to rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft *to search the memory banks of the mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong . . . and what became of Commander Dave Bowman. Without warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter. Meanwhile...
Arthur Charles Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published February 1984
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
2001: A Space Odyssey shocked, amazed, and delighted millions in the late 1960s. An instant book and movie classic, its fame has grown over the years. Yet along with the almost universal acclaim, a host of questions has grown more insistent through the years, for example: who or what transformed Dave Bowman into the Star-Child? What alien purpose lay behind the monoliths on the Moon and out in space? What could drive HAL to kill the crew? Now all those questions and many more have been answered, in this stunning sequel to the international bestseller. Cosmic in sweep, eloquent in its depiction...
Arthur Clarke / Library Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $14.55 Special Order
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published March 1997
Price: $9.60 - Savings of: $2.40 (20%) - Ships in 2-3 days
Heywood Floyd, survivor of two encounters with the mysterious monoliths, must once again confront Dave Bowman, a newly independent HAL, and the limitless power of an alien race that has decided Mankind is to play a role in the evolution of the galaxy.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published January 1991
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
In 2061, Heywood Floyd must once again confront Dave Bowman, a newly independent HAL, and the limitless power of an unseen alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a role in the evolution of the galaxy--whether it wants to or not. Continuing the spellbinding excitement begun in 2001: A Space Odyssey. HC: Del Rey.
Arthur Clarke / Library Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $14.55 Special Order
Heywood Floyd, survivor of two encounters with the mysterious monoliths, must once again confront Dave Bowman, a newly independent HAL, and the limitless power of an alien race that has decided Mankind is to play a role in the evolution of the galaxy.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published March 1998
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
One thousand years after the Jupiter mission to explore the mysterious Monolith had been destroyed, after Dave Bowman was transformed into the Star Child, Frank Poole drifted in space, frozen and forgotten, leaving the supercomputer HAL inoperable. But now Poole has returned to life, awakening in a world far different from the one he left behind--and just as the Monolith may be stirring once again.
Arthur Clarke / Unknown Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $14.55 Special Order
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published June 1997
Price: $25.95 Back Ordered
Science Fiction Large Print Edition This novel is a must read for those who have followed the saga so far. Publishers Weekly * A New York Times Bestseller * A Literary Guild Alternate Selection * A Doubleday Book Club Alternate Selection * A Science Fiction Book Club Main Selection At the dawn of the fourth millennium, the frozen body of astronaut Frank Poole, adrift in its spacesuit after having been killed by the computer HAL in 2001, is restored to life and readied to resume the voyage that HAL had abruptly terminated a thousand years before. As we hurtle through the new millennium in real ...
John Glover(Reader), Arthur Charles Clarke / Audio Cassette / Published March 1997
Price: $20.40 - Savings of: $3.60 (15%) - Ships in 2-3 days
The conclusion of the classic series that began with 2001: A Space Odyssey explains what really happened to Dave Bowman, who reentered the Discovery to incapacitate the psychotic computer Hal, and speculates about the future relationship between human and machine.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published March 1997
Price: $25.00 Special Order
The conclusion of the classic series that began with 2001: A Space Odyssey explains what really happened to Dave Bowman, who reentered the Discovery to incapacitate the psychotic computer Hal, and speculates about the future relationship between human and machine. 300,000 first printing.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Audio Cassette / Published December 1991
Price: $18.66 - Savings of: $3.29 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
Arthur C. Clarke / Audio Cassette / Expected June 2000
Price: $16.95 Not Yet Published
After the success of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke became perhaps the best known living Sci-Fi writer in the world. Using his inherent sense of humor and personal flair for adventure, Clarke combines the worlds of science and literature. The three award-winning stories in this volume take the listener into the realms of space adventure, science fantasy, and interstellar irony. Also contains The Star and The 9 Billion Names of God.
Arthur C. Clarke / Audio Cassette / Expected September 1999
Price: $15.95 Not Yet Published
James Randi, Arthur Charles Clarke (Introduction) / Paperback / Published April 1997
Price: $11.96 - Savings of: $2.99 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
James Randi, professional magician and skeptic, has put together an encyclopedia with something for everyone. Yes, no matter who you are, unless you're a thoroughgoing atheist, Randi is bound to offend your beliefs at one point or another. As Arthur C. Clarke says in his introduction, the book "should be issued with a mental health warning, as many readers--if they are brave enough to face unwelcome facts--will find some of their cherished beliefs totally demolished." Randi is dryly sarcastic about hundreds of topics, including Catholic relics, speaking in tongues, Jehovah's Witnesses, yoga, t...
Arthur Charles Clarke, et al / Paperback / Published July 1998
Price: $19.95 - Ships in 24 hours
This book collects the hitherto unpublished correspondence between science fiction legend Sir Arthur C. Clarke and fantasy master Lord Dunsany. Their correspondence, which lasted 12 years (1944-1956), reveals much about the world views of both authors.
Arthur C. Carter, Arthur Charles Clarke / Calendar / Expected August 2000
Price: $8.96 - Savings of: $0.99 (10%) Not Yet Published
Paul Preuss, et al / Paperback / Published January 2000
Price: $11.20 - Savings of: $2.80 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
The second volume of the spectacular science-fiction thriller evolving from the works of Arthur C. Clarke, grandmaster of science fiction and author of 2001: a space odyssey.. Her code name is Sparta. Her beauty veils a mysterious past and abilities of superhuman dimension-the product of advanced biotech engineering. When a team of scientists is trapped in the gaseous inferno of Venus, Sparta must risk her life to save them, unaware that her actions will help recover a mysterious artifact: irrefutable evidence of life on another planet. . As the secrets of the artifact are revealed, Sparta unc...
John Fairley, et al / Paperback / Published November 1998
Price: $10.95 Back Ordered
In this exciting account of the supernatural and paranormal, Arthur C. Clarke tells you stories of bizarre and seemingly unbelievable things from all over the world. Clarke looks into age-old questions like:
A. M. Clarke(Editor) / Paperback / Published March 1999
Price: $12.95
Arthur Charles Clarke, Gregory Benford / Mass Market Paperback / Published February 1998
Price: $5.99 + 1.85 surcharge Special Order
I appreciate the comments, which indeed mirror the thoughts I had after Arthur and I agreed that I would try to write a sequel. You see, he, too, wanted to see revisited the assumptions of half a century ago. As the last comment says, there was the lurking danger that a sequel made more realistic and in line with modern science would dispel the sense of wonder. I'm sorry that for some it did.
A. Mason Clarke / Library Binding / Published date unknown
Price: $69.00 Special Order
Arthur C. Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published June 1987
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Giant silver ships appear above every major city in the world. The Overlords have arrived. They eliminate ignorance, disease, poverty, and fear. After fifty years they also start eliminating humans.
Arthur Clarke / Unknown Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $13.40 Back Ordered
Giant silver ships appear above every major city in the world. The Overlords have arrived. They eliminate ignorance, disease, poverty, and fear. After fifty years they also start eliminating humans.
Arthur C. Clarke / Library Binding / Published June 1988
Price: $21.95 Back Ordered
Giant silver ships appear above every major city in the world. The Overlords have arrived. They eliminate ignorance, disease, poverty, and fear. After fifty years they also start eliminating humans.
Gentry Lee(Contributor), Arthur Charles Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published July 1989
Price: $5.09 - Savings of: $0.90 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
The creator 2001: A Space Odyssey teams up with renowned space scientist Gentry Lee to give readers a thrilling space adventure set on the edge of tomorrow.
Ann M. Clarke, A. D. B. Clarke / Paperback / Expected January 2000
Price: $17.95
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published October 1998
Price: $8.00 - Savings of: $2.00 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published October 1998
Price: $5.53 - Savings of: $0.97 (15%) - Ships in 2-3 days
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published October 1998
Price: $8.00 - Savings of: $2.00 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
There are many ways to recapture the sheer fun that science fiction was back when it wasn't even a bit respectable and the idea that Arthur C. Clarke would one day be Sir Arthur was more or less inconceivable. One of the best ways is to go back to a classic short story collection like this, with its bitterly ironic title story of archaeology and its misunderstandings--the classic "Breaking Strain" in which two spacemen struggle over supplies that will do for one--and "The Sentinel," the story that acted as the seed for the late Stanley Kubrick's collaboration with Clarke, 2001.
H. G. Wells, Arthur Charles Clarke (Editor) / Paperback / Published date unknown
Price: $3.16 - Savings of: $0.79 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of re...
Walter Sullivan(Introduction), Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published September 1995
Price: $12.00 - Savings of: $4.00 (25%) Back Ordered
This book recounts many of this century's most phenomenal scientific breakthroughs, told in an accessible format by some of the world's best scientific minds and authors, including Richard Restak, Stephen S. Hall, Carole Douglas, Dava Sobel, and Arthur C. Clarke. Over 325 color photos, computer images, diagrams and art.
Arthur Charles Clarke, Gentry Lee (Contributor) / Hardcover / Published October 1992
Price: $20.00
Picking up where Rama II (1989) left off, this latest effort from Clarke and Lee is as disappointing as their others. Nicole, Richard and Michael--the three cosmonauts trapped on the Rama II ship as it headed out of our solar system--muddle along together as the ship accelerates toward Sirius. After a 12-year trip, during which Nicole bears five children, the family arrives at the Node, a giant space station where they undergo extensive tests before being sent back to Earth in a refurbished Rama vessel with accommodations for 2000 human specimens. The Rama colony is established with remarkably...
Arthur Charles Clarke, Gentry Lee (Contributor) / Paperback / Published October 1992
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
After twelve years trapped aboard a labyrinthine Raman vessel, three human cosmonauts learn their true destination and face a rendezvous with a Raman base. Reprint.
Arthur C. Clarke, Ian MacAuley (Editor) / Hardcover / Published August 1999
Price: $24.50 - Savings of: $10.50 (30%) - Ships in 24 hours
"Nobody has done more in the way of enlightened prediction than Arthur C. Clarke," wrote Isaac Asimov, no slouch in that department himself. And indeed, this collection of Clarke's essays contains an astonishing amount of prophecy, in everything from space exploration to computer technology. Clarke, probably best known as the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, is one of the most prolific science authors of the 20th century, even though his science fiction works got all the glory. His expertise in tracking scientific innovation and his predilection for far-flung adventure are well represented her...
David G. Stork(Editor), Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published January 1997
Price: $29.96 - Savings of: $9.99 (25%) - Ships in 24 hours
If you loved "2001: A Space Odyssey," you'll be delighted by this book that asks "How realistic was HAL?" Contributions by various scientists include essays on supercomputer design with regard to speech synthesis, common sense reasoning, emotions, lip reading and even playing chess. As the authors explore what is science fantasy and what is technological fact, they also look at how HAL influenced technological development in the past 30 years. The final chapter, called "When HAL Kills, Who's to Blame?" deals with the ethical aspects of building intelligent machine...
David G. Stork(Editor), Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published April 1998
Price: $17.56 - Savings of: $4.39 (20%) - Ships in 2-3 days
foreword by Arthur C. Clarke "Every one of these essays is a polished gem." -- Sci-Fi Universe I became operational . . . in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12, 1997. Inspired by HAL's self-proclaimed birth date, HAL's Legacy reflects upon science fiction's most famous computer and explores the relationship between science fantasy and technological fact. The informative, nontechnical chapters written especially for this book describe many of the areas of computer science critical to the design of intelligent machines, discuss whether scientists in the 1960s were accurate about the prospects for a...
A.G. Clarke / Hardcover / Published date unknown
Price: $107.00 - Ships in 24 hours
Developed from a short course taught at Leeds University, this book covers methods of monitoring emissions of air pollutants from stationary sources. It surveys the techniques and points out their advantages and disadvantages.
Stephen Baxter, Arthur Charles Clarke (Reader) / Audio Cassette / Published February 2000
Price: $28.76 - Savings of: $7.19 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Stephen Baxter, Arthur Charles Clarke (Reader) / Audio Cassette / Expected February 2000
Price: $73.25 Back Ordered
A. A. Clarke / Paperback / Published March 1999
Price: $5.31 - Savings of: $0.94 (15%) - Ships in 2-3 days
Arthur Charles Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published August 1992
Price: $5.09 - Savings of: $0.90 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
"Clarke Is Mighty Convincing As A Scientific Prophet!"-- Orville Prescott, The New York Times
A. Bruce Clarke, Ralph L. Disney / Hardcover / Published January 1985
Price: $92.95 Special Order
A comprehensive textbook for undergraduate courses in introductory probability. Offers a case study approach, with examples from engineering and the social and life sciences. Updated second edition includes advanced material on stochastic processes. Suitable for junior and senior level courses in industrial engineering, mathematics, business, biology, and social science departments.
A. Mason Clarke / Library Binding / Published date unknown
Price: $69.00 Special Order
Arthur Clarke / Unknown Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $14.55 Special Order
Decades have passed since Commander Norton and his crew met with the enormous alien ship dubbed Rama and declared it an intelligent robot with no interest in the creatures of our solar system. But now another ship has been sighted near Earth, and this time, humanity will discover startling--perhaps deadly--differences.
Arthur Charles Clarke, Gentry Lee (Contributor) / Paperback / Published December 1990
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Decades have passed since Commander Norton and his crew met with the enormous alien ship dubbed Rama and declared it an intelligent robot with no interest in the creatures of our solar system. But now another ship has been sighted near Earth, and this time, humanity will discover startling--perhaps deadly--differences.
Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee (Contributor) / Paperback / Published February 1995
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
A massive alien starship carries its human passengers to the end of their generations-long odyssey and toward an epic confrontation with the mysterious Ramans. Reprint. NYT.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published October 1998
Price: $8.50 - Savings of: $1.50 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
From the grandmaster of science fiction, a dozen memorable tales filled with wonder and imagination.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published February 1994
Price: $26.96 - Savings of: $8.99 (25%)
An all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears. The astronauts given the task of exploring the hollow cylindrical ship are able to decipher some, but definitely not all, of the extraterrestrial vehicle's puzzles. From the ubiquitous trilateral symmetry of its structures to its cylindrical sea and ma...
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published December 1990
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
An all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears. The astronauts given the task of exploring the hollow cylindrical ship are able to decipher some, but definitely not all, of the extraterrestrial vehicle's puzzles. From the ubiquitous trilateral symmetry of its structures to its cylindrical sea and ma...
Clarke Arthur C. / Unknown Binding / Published October 1999
Price: $14.55 Back Ordered
Duncan Steel, Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published May 1995
Price: $24.95 - Ships in 2-3 days
"Could a giant asteroid or comet crash into the Earth and destroy life as we know it? Many astronomers who formerly discredited the risks are now convinced there is a grave danger. In Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets, astronomer Duncan Steel explores the scientists' fascinating and often chilling findings.
Duncan Steel, Arthur Charles Clarke (Foreword) / Paperback / Published October 1997
Price: $14.41 - Savings of: $2.54 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
"Could a giant asteroid or comet crash into Earth and destroy life as we know it? Many astronomers who once discredited the risks are now convinced. You will be too after reading Duncan Steel's critically acclaimed examination of the evidence of Earth's encounters with killer comets and asteroids.
A. Clarke / Paperback / Published November 1998
Price: $137.50 Special Order
Arthur Charles Clarke / Mass Market Paperback / Published January 1991
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Finally in paperback! His first novel since 2010! Clarke is at his brilliant best in this tale of life on a paradisiacal world, of the clash of two cultures and of mankind's first contact with truly alien intelligence. HC: Del Rey.
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Expected January 2000
Price: $19.95 Special Order
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published October 1998
Price: $8.50 - Savings of: $1.50 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
Arthur Clarke / Hardcover / Published June 1940
Price: $20.95 Special Order
John W. Campbell, et al / Paperback / Published August 1999
Price: $15.96 - Savings of: $3.99 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
A. C. Clarke, O. S. Card / Audio Cassette / Published November 1999
Price: $4.24 - Savings of: $0.75 (15%) - Ships in 2-3 days
Arthur C. Clarke / Hardcover / Published September 1999
Price: $21.95 Back Ordered
George Gaylord Simpson, et al / Paperback / Published May 1997
Price: $7.96 - Savings of: $1.99 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Published November 1994
Price: $5.59 - Savings of: $1.40 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Expected March 2000
Price: $25.95
Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published February 2000
Price: $17.47 - Savings of: $7.48 (30%) - Ships in 24 hours
Stephen Baxter(Reader), et al / Audio Cassette / Published February 2000
Price: $21.21 - Savings of: $3.74 (15%) - Ships in 24 hours
Marshall T. Savage, Arthur Charles Clarke (Introduction) / Paperback / Published August 1994
Price: $13.56 - Savings of: $3.39 (20%) - Ships in 24 hours
Drawing on a visionary synthesis of cutting-edge science, technological know-how, and informed speculation, the founder of the Millennial Foundation--the aim of which is to promote humankind's exploration of space--offers a bold yet practical blueprint for space exploration and colonization over the next 1,000 years. Photos.
Michael P. Kube-McDowell, Arthur Charles Clarke / Hardcover / Published January 2000
Price: $17.47 - Savings of: $7.48 (30%) - Ships in 24 hours
The early 21st century ushers in a revolution in unified field theory, and free-thinking physicist Jeffrey Horton and his team are pushing the cutting edge. Sequestered on a maximum-security research campus, the scientists are testing "Baby," a device they hope will create "a laser for gravity," a tractor beam. But during an early run, every gun in the area (and even a secret stash of fireworks) simultaneously explodes. Follow-up tests soon prove their device was responsible--that it can in fact neutralize every conventional gun, bomb, and explosive--and that's when Baby becomes the "Trigger."...
H. G. Wells(Editor), Arthur Charles Clarke (Editor) / Paperback / Published date unknown
Price: $3.36 - Savings of: $0.59 (15%) - Ships in 2-3 days
Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of re...
A. P. Clarke / Paperback / Published June 1999
Price: $8.95 + 0.85 surcharge Special Order
A. B. Clarke, Anne M. Perry (Editor) / Paperback / Published December 1988
Price: $15.95 - Ships in 2-3 days
A. B. Clarke, Anne Perry / Hardcover / Published February 1989
Price: $19.95 Special Order
As an editor, my major contribution to this book was research and making notes to complement the original journal written by A.B. Clarke. I located other '49er Gold Rush journals in San Francisco and at the Huntington Library, as well as at the Barker Library in Austin, TX. I would recommend a recent book by Patricia Etter. (For those who are curious, I am NOT the same Anne Perry who writes mysteries.)
Ray Bradbury, et al / Audio Cassette / Published September 1994
Price: $13.56 - Savings of: $2.39 (15%) Back Ordered
These finely tuned radio dramas provide compelling excursions into the realm of mystery and fantasy. 2 cassettes.
A.R. Clarke / Paperback / Published June 1985
Price: $25.00 Special Order
Arthur Charles Clarke / Paperback / Expected May 2000
Price: $11.90 - Savings of: $2.10 (15%) Not Yet Published
the third volume in a series of science-fiction thrillers evolving from the works of arthur c. clarke, grandmaster of science fiction and author of 2001: a space odyssey.
A. Mason Clarke / Library Binding / Published January 1999
Price: $69.00 - Ships in 24 hours
Anne Lerr, et al / Hardcover / Published October 1999
Price: $26.21 - Savings of: $8.74 (25%) - Ships in 24 hours
Examines the strategic issues executives need to know to take their business forward in the digital age.
| i don't know |
In Buckinghamshire which word completes the town High ......, and the village West .....? | A guide to High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. High Wycombe tourist information, local contacts, attractions and reviews
Latest reviews
Malvern House
"I stayed at Malvern House recently. It has beautifully decorated rooms with good amenities. Had everything I could ask for, tea/coffee making facilities with biscuits, complimentary water bottle. Bathrooms had ..." More
General Havelock
"We were invited to Sunday dinner by a friend & were impressed straight away by the friendly staff, we intended ordering a starter but the young lady who took our ..." More
Greenhills Garden Apartment
"Be careful.These people took money out of our bank account without consultation based on their arbitrary assessment of the accommodation when we left. If you do decide to stay here, ..." More
Latest reviews | Events in High Wycombe | 10 Places to Stay
High Wycombe stretches along the Wye Valley from West Wycombe in the West to Loudwater and Wooburn in the East. It is one of the county's largest towns and is world-renowned for its furniture industry which started in the 17th century. The Museum, at Castle Hill, shows many examples of craftmanship of the 17th and 18th centuries. West Wycombe House is a Palladian mansion 3 miles west of the town and was the magnificent home of the Dashwood family. Sir Francis Dashwood was one of the leaders of the 'Hell Fire Club' otherwise known as the Medmenham Monks.
Accountant
| Wycombe |
Who won the Men's 5000 metres at the 2011 World Athletics Championships? | Homes for Sale in Buckinghamshire - Buy Property in Buckinghamshire - PrimeLocation
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ... 173 Next
Prime Location Buckinghamshire Area Guide
Until a few years ago, Buckinghamshire was one of the UK’s best kept secrets. It's not a big county, and you could easily pass through it on one of the motorways without really noticing its charms. The south flows from the Thames up the rolling slopes of the Chiltern Hills. Steeper terrain then leads to the Vale of Aylesbury, a spacious flat expanse that's home to the winding path of the River Great Ouse. There are four districts: Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe. Tacked onto the northern corner of the county is the Borough of Milton Keynes - Hertfordshire's fifth and ceremonial district.
Buckinghamshire has the longest life expectancy in the UK, along with some of the highest education results and, apart from the centre of London, the highest GDP per capita of anywhere in the country. It's a popular home for London commuters. Buckinghamshire was the proud home of Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton whose work was inspired by the area. Not to mention being brought to fame by the TV series Vicar of Dibley and Midsomer Murders. It's the dozens of smaller towns and big villages that offer that elusive quality of life that ‘Bucks’ has become so famous for. Well-connected, attractively positioned and with all the amenities you need, there are a wealth of quaint-sounding places to explore. Amersham is a lovely balance of old and new; it's close to the M25 but doesn't feel like it. Bourne End was the home of Enid Blyton and clearly the inspiration for much of her work. Marlow is one of the prettiest towns that exist along the banks of the River Thames. Gerrards Cross is a lovely area and highly desirable. Great Missenden, home of Roald Dahl, is a familiar and friendly town with a variety of housing to suit all.
Demographics
Buckinghamshire has a population of just under 500,000, not including the ceremonial district of Milton Keynes.
It's an ethnically diverse place. High Wycombe is the most diverse town in the country.
Education
Schools in Buckinghamshire have a very good reputation responsible for some of the best results in the country. Wycombe Abbey School, Aylesbury Grammar School and The Royal Grammar consistently come top of nationwide charts. There are nine independents and 34 state secondary schools; the Milton Keynes district has another eight state schools.
The county also has several places of higher education: the University of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire New University and University College Milton Keynes.
Transport
Buckinghamshire is well connected being served by four motorways: the M40, M1, M4 and M25.
Several important A roads also criss-cross the area. Buckinghamshire is served by four main railway lines service, the West Coast, Great Central, Chiltern and Great Western Main Lines. London Heathrow is the nearest airport.
Amenities and shopping
Buckinghamshire is famous for its beautiful open countryside. The Chiltern Hills are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but less obvious attractions such as the Stowe Landscaped Gardens, the Ridgeway Path, various National Trust properties and the River Thames shouldn't be overlooked. Buckinghamshire's mix of busy town centres and picturesque high streets means there are plenty of shopping facilities across the county. Aylsebury has both: a small but modern shopping centre and more specialist stores. The Eden Centre in High Wycombe is popular for familiar high street names.
Buckinghamshire has an international sporting presence with the Formula One Silverstone Circuit located on the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire border. Dorney Lake (aka 'Eton Dorney') was selected as the rowing venue for the 2012 London Olympics. The county is also home to the world famous Pinewood Studios.
Whilst every effort has been taken to ensure the above information is up to date, some inaccuracies may occur. If you notice any inaccuracies please contact [email protected]
All information was correct at time of publication and is provided in good faith.
Narrow your search by property type
| i don't know |
Which Salford born physicist and brewer, who has an SI unit named after him, lived from 1818 to 1889? | James Prescott Joule (Physicist) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News
James Prescott Joule
Male
Born Dec 24, 1818
James Prescott Joule FRS was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the theory of conservation of energy, which led to the development of the first law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named after him.… Read More
related links
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of James Prescott Joule.
CHILDHOOD
1818 Birth Born on December 24, 1818.
TWENTIES
1840 21 Years Old As an adult, Joule managed the brewery. Science was merely a serious hobby. Sometime around 1840, he started to investigate the feasibility of replacing the brewery's steam engines with the newly invented electric motor. … Read More
His first scientific papers on the subject were contributed to William Sturgeon's Annals of Electricity. Read Less
1841 22 Years Old Motivated in part by a businessman's desire to quantify the economics of the choice, and in part by his scientific inquisitiveness, he set out to determine which prime mover was more efficient. He discovered Joule's first law in 1841, that the heat which is evolved by the proper action of any voltaic current is proportional to the square of the intensity of that current, multiplied by the resistance to conduction which it experiences. … Read More
He went on to realize that burning a pound of coal in a steam engine was more economical than a costly pound of zinc consumed in an electric battery. Joule captured the output of the alternative methods in terms of a common standard, the ability to raise one pound, a height of one foot, the foot-pound. Read Less
Show Less
In June 1845, Joule read his paper On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat to the British Association meeting in Cambridge. … Read More
In this work, he reported his best-known experiment, involving the use of a falling weight, in which gravity does the mechanical work, to spin a paddle-wheel in an insulated barrel of water which increased the temperature. He now estimated a mechanical equivalent of 819 ft·lbf/Btu (4.41 J/cal). Read Less
He wrote a letter to the Philosophical Magazine, published in September 1845 describing his experiment. … Read More
In 1850, Joule published a refined measurement of 772.692 ft·lbf/Btu (4.159 J/cal), closer to twentieth century estimates.<br /><br /> Much of the initial resistance to Joule's work stemmed from its dependence upon extremely precise measurements. He claimed to be able to measure temperatures to within of a degree Fahrenheit (3 mK). Such precision was certainly uncommon in contemporary experimental physics but his doubters may have neglected his experience in the art of brewing and his access to its practical technologies. He was also ably supported by scientific instrument-maker John Benjamin Dancer. Joule's experiments complemented the theoretical work of Rudolf Clausius, who is considered by some to be the coinventor of the energy concept.<br /><br /> Joule was proposing a kinetic theory of heat (he believed it to be a form of rotational, rather than translational, kinetic energy), and this required a conceptual leap: if heat was a form of molecular motion, why didn't the motion of the molecules gradually die out? Joule's ideas required one to believe that the collisions of molecules were perfectly elastic. We should also remember that the very existence of atoms and molecules was not widely accepted for another 50 years. Read Less
1847 28 Years Old Also in 1847, another of Joule's presentations at the British Association in Oxford was attended by George Gabriel Stokes, Michael Faraday, and the precocious and maverick William Thomson, later to become Lord Kelvin, who had just been appointed professor of natural philosophy at the University of Glasgow. … Read More
Stokes was "inclined to be a Joulite" and Faraday was "much struck with it" though he harboured doubts. Thomson was intrigued but sceptical.<br /><br /> Unanticipated, Thomson and Joule met later that year in Chamonix. Joule married Amelia Grimes on 18 August and the couple went on honeymoon. Marital enthusiasm notwithstanding, Joule and Thomson arranged to attempt an experiment a few days later to measure the temperature difference between the top and bottom of the Cascade de Sallanches waterfall, though this subsequently proved impractical. Read Less
1848 29 Years Old Though Thomson felt that Joule's results demanded theoretical explanation, he retreated into a spirited defence of the Carnot-Clapeyron school. In his 1848 account of absolute temperature, Thomson wrote that "the conversion of heat (or caloric) into mechanical effect is probably impossible, certainly undiscovered" â but a footnote signalled his first doubts about the caloric theory, referring to Joule's "very remarkable discoveries". … Read More
Surprisingly, Thomson did not send Joule a copy of his paper but when Joule eventually read it he wrote to Thomson on 6 October, claiming that his studies had demonstrated conversion of heat into work but that he was planning further experiments. Thomson replied on the 27th, revealing that he was planning his own experiments and hoping for a reconciliation of their two views. Though Thomson conducted no new experiments, over the next two years he became increasingly dissatisfied with Carnot's theory and convinced of Joule's. Read Less
THIRTIES
1851 32 Years Old In his 1851 paper, Thomson was willing to go no further than a compromise and declared "the whole theory of the motive power of heat is founded on... two... propositions, due respectively to Joule, and to Carnot and Clausius". … Read More
As soon as Joule read the paper he wrote to Thomson with his comments and questions. Thus began a fruitful, though largely epistolary, collaboration between the two men, Joule conducting experiments, Thomson analysing the results and suggesting further experiments. Read Less
1852 33 Years Old The collaboration lasted from 1852 to 1856, its discoveries including the Joule-Thomson effect, and the published results did much to bring about general acceptance of Joule's work and the kinetic theory. … Read More
Kinetics is the science of motion. Joule was a pupil of Dalton and it is no surprise that he had learned a firm belief in the atomic theory, even though there were many scientists of his time who were still skeptical. He had also been one of the few people receptive to the neglected work of John Herapath on the kinetic theory of gases. He was further profoundly influenced by Peter Ewart's 1813 paper On the measure of moving force.<br /><br /> Joule perceived the relationship between his discoveries and the kinetic theory of heat. His laboratory notebooks reveal that he believed heat to be a form of rotational, rather than translational motion.<br /><br /> Joule could not resist finding antecedents of his views in Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, John Locke, Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) and Sir Humphry Davy. Though such views are justified, Joule went on to estimate a value for the mechanical equivalent of heat of 1034 foot-pound from Rumford's publications. Some modern writers have criticised this approach on the grounds that Rumford's experiments in no way represented systematic quantitative measurements. In one of his personal notes, Joule contends that Mayer's measurement was no more accurate than Rumford's, perhaps in the hope that Mayer had not anticipated his own work. Read Less
FIFTIES
1869 50 Years Old Joule has been attributed with explaining the Green Flash phenomenon in a letter to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1869: actually, he just noted (with a sketch) the last glimpse as bluish green.
1878 59 Years Old Joule died at home in Sale and is buried in Brooklands cemetery there. The gravestone is inscribed with the number "772.55", his climacteric 1878 measurement of the mechanical equivalent of heat, in which he found that this amount of foot-pounds of work must be expended at sea level to raise the temperature of one pound of water from 60 to 61 F. There is also a quotation from the Gospel of John, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (9:4). … Read More
The Wetherspoon's public house in Sale, the town of his death, is named after him "The J. P. Joule". The family brewery still lives on but now located in Market Drayton (see joulesbrewery.co.uk for more information on origins). Read Less
LATE ADULTHOOD
| James Prescott Joule |
The Sir Tom Finney Sports centre, opened last month, is on which university campus? | James Prescott Joule (Author of Scientific Papers)
edit data
James Prescott Joule FRS (/dʒuːl/; (24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). This led to the Law of conservation of energy, and this led to the development of the First law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named for James Joule. He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of temperature. Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is now called Joule's first law.
A bust of him, by John Cassidy, can be found in Worthington Park, Sale. Fur James Prescott Joule FRS (/dʒuːl/; (24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). This led to the Law of conservation of energy, and this led to the development of the First law of thermodynamics. The SI derived unit of energy, the joule, is named for James Joule. He worked with Lord Kelvin to develop the absolute scale of temperature. Joule also made observations of magnetostriction, and he found the relationship between the current through a resistor and the heat dissipated, which is now called Joule's first law.
A bust of him, by John Cassidy, can be found in Worthington Park, Sale. Further details of this work can be found at http://www.johncassidy.org.uk/joule.html .
Fellow of the Royal Society, (1850);
Royal Medal, (1852) ‘For his paper on the mechanical equivalent of heat, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1850’;
Copley Medal, (1870) ‘For his experimental researches on the dynamical theory of heat’;
President of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, (1860);
President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, (1872, 1887);
Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, (1857);
Honorary degrees:
DCL, University of Oxford, (1860);
LL.D., University of Edinburgh, (1871).
He received a civil list pension of £200 per annum in 1878 for services to science;
Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, (1880) ‘for having established, after most laborious research, the true relation between heat, electricity and mechanical work, thus affording to the engineer a sure guide in the application of science to industrial pursuits’.
There is a memorial to Joule in the north choir aisle of Westminster Abbey, though he is not buried there, contrary to what some biographies state.
A statue by Alfred Gilbert, stands in Manchester Town Hall, opposite that of Dalton. ...more
| i don't know |
What is the one word title of the 2010 drama series, co- written by Steven Moffat, which starred Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, supported by Martin Freeman? | Sherlock (TV Series 2010– ) - IMDb
IMDb
There was an error trying to load your rating for this title.
Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later.
X Beta I'm Watching This!
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
Error
on Amazon Video
ON DISC
A modern update finds the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in 21st century London.
Creators:
Jim Moriarty hatches a mad scheme to turn the whole city against Sherlock.
9.7
Sherlock must confiscate something of importance from a mysterious woman named Irene Adler.
9.6
Sherlock faces one of the most chilling enemies of his long career: the powerful and seemingly unassailable Culverton Smith - a man with a very dark secret indeed.
9.5
a list of 33 titles
created 14 Sep 2013
a list of 27 titles
created 06 Feb 2014
a list of 43 titles
created 28 May 2014
a list of 40 titles
created 29 Jun 2014
a list of 34 titles
created 2 months ago
Search for " Sherlock " on Amazon.com
Connect with IMDb
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.
Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 78 wins & 125 nominations. See more awards »
Videos
Game of Thrones (TV Series 2011)
Adventure | Drama | Fantasy
Nine noble families fight for control over the mythical lands of Westeros. Meanwhile, a forgotten race hell-bent on destruction returns after being dormant for thousands of years.
Stars: Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington
A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine in order to secure his family's future.
Stars: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn
House of Cards (TV Series 2013)
Drama
A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Michel Gill, Robin Wright
Matt Murdock, with his other senses superhumanly enhanced, fights crime as a blind lawyer by day, and vigilante by night.
Stars: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll
The Walking Dead (TV Series 2010)
Drama | Horror | Thriller
Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by the walking dead. Fighting the dead, fearing the living.
Stars: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride
A woman who moves into an apartment across the hall from two brilliant but socially awkward physicists shows them how little they know about life outside of the laboratory.
Stars: Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco
Stranger Things (TV Series 2016)
Drama | Fantasy | Horror
When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.
Stars: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard
True Detective (TV Series 2014)
Crime | Drama | Mystery
An anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams
Follows the personal and professional lives of six 20 to 30-something-year-old friends living in Manhattan.
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow
Dexter Morgan is a Forensics Expert, a loyal brother, boyfriend, and friend. That's what he seems to be, but that's not what he really is. Dexter Morgan is a Serial Killer that hunts the bad.
Stars: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas
Mr. Robot (TV Series 2015)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
Follows Elliot, a young programmer working as a cyber-security engineer by day, and a vigilante hacker by night.
Stars: Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday
Various chronicles of deception, intrigue and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. Yet all of these tales mysteriously lead back one way or another to Fargo, ND.
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Allison Tolman
Edit
Storyline
In this modernized version of the Conan Doyle characters, using his detective plots, Sherlock Holmes lives in early 21st century London and acts more cocky towards Scotland Yard's detective inspector Lestrade because he's actually less confident. Doctor Watson is now a fairly young veteran of the Afghan war, less adoring and more active. Written by KGF Vissers
A new sleuth for the 21st Century See more »
Genres:
24 October 2010 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Did You Know?
Trivia
Amanda Abbington , who plays Mary Morstan, John Watson's fiancé/wife in the series, was the real-life longtime partner of Martin Freeman . See more »
Goofs
Throughout the works of Conan Doyle, and the writers who have translated his works for other media, Sherlock Holmes is shown as using "deductive logic."
Deductive logic reasons from the general to the particular. The bare-bones deductive argument is the syllogism "All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is a mortal." It's amazing how often people screw this up and argue something like, "All men are mortal; Socrates is mortal; therefore, Socrates is a man," which doesn't logically follow. That would be like saying, "All men are mortal; my kid's hamster is mortal; therefore, my kid's hamster is a man."
Inductive logic reasons from particular instances to general theories and is the method used to confirm scientific theories. If you observe enough apples falling from trees, you will conclude that apples always fall down, instead of up or sideways. You might then form a more general hypothesis that includes other falling bodies, like pears. Thus is the progress of science.
In the annals of literature, no character is as renowned for his powers of "deduction" as the intrepid Sherlock Holmes, but the way Holmes operates is not generally by using deductive logic at all. He really uses abductive logic. First, he carefully observes the situation, then he generalizes from his prior experience, using analogy and probability. See more »
Quotes
See more »
Crazy Credits
Certain letters in the closing titles are highlighted red. These letters spell out a word that somehow relates to the episode. See more »
Connections
| Sherlock |
Which castle overlooks the village of Castleton in Derbyshire? | Steven Moffat Archives - Page 2 of 2 - CrimeTimePreview
CrimeTimePreview
Sherlock Complete Series 1 & 2 Blu-ray
Episodes ★★★★★
Extras ★★★★★
Even on a second and third viewing, these episodes of 21st-century Holmes still fizz with wit and invention.
Seeing them again rams home how good the cast and the adaptations are. Benedict Cumberbatch as the ‘high-functioning sociopath’ is a superb bit of casting, while Martin Freeman’s wonderful comic asides and reactions sum up perfectly the audience’s response to the consulting detective’s outrageous behaviour and capabilities.
Meanwhile, Andrew Scott is creepily off-beat as Moriarty, and it’s good to see Rupert Graves (DI Greg Lestrade) playing something other than his usual cads. As for Una Stubbs, she’s charming as Mrs Hudson.
So how did Holmes fake his death?
Co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (who’s also on-screen as Sherlock’s adversary-brother Mycroft) could so easily have got this modern reboot wrong – and it will be interesting to see how Elementary, CBS’s copycat idea in the States, fares in comparison. Instead, they have made the transition seem obvious and inspired at the same time.
My favourite episodes are the two series openers written by Moffat, ‘A Study in Pink’, which set up the whole edgy relationship between Holmes and Watson so cleverly, and ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ , with Lara Pulver as Irene Adler. But all six 90-minute stories are hugely enjoyable, and included in this boxset.
And, of course, it offers the chance to forensically scrutinise series two’s cliffhanger to try to work out how Sherlock faked his own death. Did Molly provide the corpse that plunged off the roof? We never get a good look at the body whose pulse is checked by Watson, so is it Holmes? Did Holmes leap and land on the lorry? Moffat says the clues are there, but they’re not conclusive – as far as I can see, anyway.
Sherlock – series 3
The extras included here are first class, including the original pilot episode of ‘A Study in Pink’, which was redone, prompting rumours at the time that the show was a turkey (how wrong were they?). There are also films called ‘Sherlock Uncovered’ and ‘Unlocking Sherlock – The Making of’.
That will have to keep us occupied until series 3 is shown, which is unlikely to be before 2013.
Tinker Taylor Solider Spy
Extras ★★★
Benedict Cumberbatch also appears in the stellar British cast for another modern reboot, this time updating John Le Carré’s spy thriller, which was originally filmed by the Beeb with Alec Guinness in 1979.
Gary Oldman, who recently missed out on the Best Actor Bafta to Jean Dujardin, is superb as George Smiley, the ex-MI6 agent recalled from retirement because his bosses are in a mess – namely, that they have a highly placed Soviet mole among them.
Mark Strong, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy are also among the rather sad bunch trying to believe in what they are doing for Queen and country, and playing some nasty games as they go. My slight preference is for the original two series, which obviously had more time to explore and depict Smiley’s sadness and disillusion.
The extras include an interview with Le Carré and deleted scenes.
• Also out is the new Blu-ray boxset of series one of The Fades, BBC3’s gory horror about teenager Paul, who is haunted by apocalyptic dreams and the spirits of the dead. Includes some good extras, such as deleted scenes, out-takes and behind-the-scenes footage.
Boxsets and DVD supplied by BBCShop.com
Like this:
Like Loading...
Meeting his match? Sherlock and Irene Adler. Pics: BBC
Rating ★★★★★
BBC1 from Sunday, 1 January, 8.10pm
Story: Compromising photographs and blackmail threaten the British establishment, while Sherlock begins a duel of wits with an antagonist who will always be THE Woman.
On the evidence of this first case, one can only deduce that if there is a crime drama in 2012 that fizzes with more wit and panache than Sherlock it’s going to be one stonking show.
Series two of the Holmes modern reboot was originally due for autumn 2011 but the lengthy filming schedule pushed it back to the first day of the New Year (going out in the US in May), and it is definitely worth the wait.
Lara Pulver as The Woman
Dominating Sherlock’s thoughts – Lara Pulver as The Woman
‘A Scandal in Belgravia’ again cleverly updates the great sleuth, toys with his legend and is brilliantly entertaining. It is sharp, mysterious and sexy. The latter ingredient arrives in the shape of a thoroughly modern Irene Adler – intellectual rival for Sherlock, erotic foil and dominatrix. Phew…
She is played by Lara Pulver, recently seen in True Blood and Spooks, who makes the acquaintance of Holmes in the most eyebrow-raising scene the great man has ever been in. For once, he doesn’t know where to look or what to say.
Her trysting with Holmes via text messages, codes, Twitter (pseudonym: The Whip Hand) and in person exposes a new side of the detective. Is he in love? Is he vulnerable to her? As Watson points out, his partner is composing sad music to scratch out on his violin when he is parted from The Woman, as she must be known.
S&M and Holmes’s intellectual fetishes
But this being Holmes, snogging and candle-lit dinners are not the norm. It’s a lot more high octane and dangerous than that. And it was a clever stroke, so to speak, to have an S&M specialist crossing paths with Sherlock, a man with intellectual fetishes of his own.
Odd couple, played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman
Once Sherlock has dealt (inconclusively) with Moriarty to resolve the poolside cliffhanger from series one, the opening episode’s McGuffin is introduced in the form of compromising photos that could bring down the government/monarchy. Rogue CIA agents and terrorists join in the fun, but it is Sherlock getting into some intellectual heavy-breathing with Irene that sweeps events along.
Is Irene, who has the photos, a damsel in distress, or is she playing a double game? You almost don’t care, so electric and fun are the scenes between Holmes, Watson and Irene.
Holmes’s cruel treatment of Molly
Robert Downey Jr’s action-Holmes is deservedly doing great box office right now, but Benedict Cumberbatch’s version is better – more arrogant, colder and intimidating.
‘Any ideas?’ Lestrade asks, confronted by a puzzling murder.
Sherlock replies, ‘Eight, so far.’
And as Martin Freeman’s Watson says to Irene, ‘He will outlive god trying to have the last word.’ Though we do see flickers of emotion for once, not just regarding Irene but also when Holmes regrets his cruel treatment of smitten Molly Hooper, who works in the laboratory.
There is so much to enjoy here – Holmes summoned to Buckingham Palace wearing only a blanket, his headbutting a CIA agent, the charged bickering with Mycroft – that huge praise must go to co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (how does Moffat manage to fit in making/writing Doctor Who with making/writing Sherlock?).
The episode also re-uses the text graphics that we saw in the first series’ opener, to economically denote what clues Holmes picks up by looking at someone (‘no gun’, ‘office worker’, ‘three dogs’), mobile messages and blog updates.
‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ and ‘The Reichenbach Fall’
Moffat and Gatiss have chosen the three major Holmes adventures for this second series, with ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ and ‘The Reichenbach Fall’ to come (the titles are all slight adjustments on the originals).
Moffat , a Sherlock Holmes fan since childhood, explains, ‘Last time nobody knew about us and there was some scepticism about “modernising” Sherlock Holmes. And now look at Benedict and Martin, they are so famous in those roles! So far the series has sold in over 180 countries worldwide, so it’s a very big change.
‘Well this year, knowing we were a huge hit, I suppose we felt let’s do the three big things, The Woman, the Hound and the Fall. Instead of making people wait years and years, we thought – to hell with deferred pleasure, let’s just do it now, more, sooner, faster!’
Deferred pleasure? Not with Irene Adler around.
Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman John Watson, Mark Gatiss Mycroft, Rupert Graves Inspector Lestrade, Una Stubbs Mrs Hudson, Andrew Scott Moriarty, Louise Brealey Molly Hooper, Lara Pulver Irene Adler.
Like this:
Like Loading...
19/01/2011 by robinjarossi 8 Comments
Here’s a look at the top crime series on UK television in 2010. It was the year case files closed on The Bill, which had really lost its way, and Heartbeat, which had never been very exciting in the first place, and when some savvy new detectives made their debuts. But best of all was the retelling of the heartrending story of the victims of the Ipswich murders…
(Pics: BBC, ITV, BSkyB)
1 Five Daughters , BBC
An unusual choice, maybe, but this was the most affecting and unforgettable crime drama of last year. It was a dramatisation about the five women murdered in Ipswich in 2006. It was not about the killer, Steve Wright, or a heroic detective. These were simply young women who had the misfortune to cross the path of a murderer, ordinary people and their families who did not deserve their fate. Made with the assistance of many of the victims’ families, the police and the local drug rehabilitation centre (Iceni, which is now threatened with closure), the women’s stories were emotional and at times frustrating. In so much crime fiction, the victims – usually in a ditch in the opening scene – are just plot points. Here they were loving, caring people whose addictions made them vulnerable. When portrayed this sensitively, the truth is far more poignant and thought-provoking than fiction. Written by Stephen Butchard, starring Sarah Lancashire and Juliet Aubrey.
2 Sherlock , BBC
Updating Sherlock Holmes could have been the turkey of the year – and there were production missteps, with an un-aired pilot – but the end result was inspired, witty and a terrific series of three mysteries. Benedict Cumberbatch was haughty and charismatic as the amateur sleuth, while Martin Freeman was moving but usually exasperated with his new companion. Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Stephen Thompson wrote it, Paul McGuigan directed a couple, and David Arnold and Michael Price provided the superb music. The BBC seemed unsure of its potential and scheduled it in the viewing dead zone of July. Will there more stories this year in a better viewing slot following all the acclaim and awards? Elementary.
3 Zen , BBC
Following the success of the beautifully filmed Kenneth Branagh Wallander series, the BBC turned to the same production team to make this radiant three-part series about Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen. The suits, the shades, the cigarettes, the retro music and Alfa Romeos – these three stories certainly had all the gloss. But the mysteries, and Rufus Sewell as Zen, gave the dramas their substance. The intricate plots in which the detective tiptoed through the political and everyday corruption of Italian life were enjoyable and fresh.
4 Justified , Five USA
For sheer coolness Elmore Leonard’s deputy marshal Raylan Givens was hard to beat. Timothy Olyphant brought something of lawless Deadwood with him as the charming but no-nonsense, shoot-first lawman. Inspired by Leonard’s short story Fire in the Hole, the series was a weekly hour of sassy fun – with Givens’ complicated love life featuring sharp performances from Natalie Zea and Joelle Carter – and series two should be with us in the UK in the second quarter of 2011 (why do we always have to wait so long?).
5 Thorne , Sky1
Author Mark Billingham’s popular detective was stylishly adapted for the small screen by actor David Morrissey (as executive producer and star in the title role) and Sky Television. Sleepyhead was the opener and it was a pretty chilling story, about a sadist who induces a state of living paralysis in his victim, but who has killed while perfecting his technique. Aidan Gillen, a terrific Eddie Marsan and a charming Natascha McElhone gave great support. Following its version of The Take the previous year, this suggested that Sky is slowly maturing into a formidable producer of crime dramas.
6 Law & Order: UK , ITV
The stories are pinched from the US original, but the UK franchise still made their retelling tight and subtle. And the cast have been very good, with Bradley Walsh and Jamie Bamber as the detectives and Ben Daniels and Freema Agyeman as the legal crusaders – all different but blending together to spark some sensitive stories to life. It’s been recommissioned, and rightly so.
7 Garrow’s Law , BBC
Intelligent and compelling glimpse into the dark legal age of the 18th century, when justice was summary, cruel and largely inflicted on those who were poor. It’s all drawn from the real historic Old Bailey proceedings that are available online, with Andrew Buchan starring as the legal pioneer William Garrow, who basically influenced the way courts worked by instigating cross-examinations and other practices. The stories involved the legal murder of slaves, homosexuality and the cruel treatment of sailors at Greenwich Hospital.
8 Spooks , BBC
A series that still delivers the thrills after eight years. The latest series divided fans owing the contorted character somersault of main heartthrob Lucas North, played by Richard Armitage. It was like discovering that James Bond was actually working for SMERSH. This was hard to swallow, and how the series replaces Armitage will be interesting to see. But as an assured mix of suspense and emotional tension, Spooks still had everyone on the edge of their armchairs.
Share this:
Like this:
Like Loading...
28/08/2010 by robinjarossi 1 Comment
Holmes re-boot (© BBC)
Sherlock, the most assured and enjoyable new UK crime series of the year, has been re-commissioned for autumn 2011, the Beeb has confirmed.
The inspired update of the Baker Street sleuth, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, was pacy, had great music and humour, and, most importantly, won 7.5 million viewers on its launch in July.
Perhaps more surprisingly, Luther is also returning with two two-hour specials. The drama starring The Wire‘s Idris Elba promised a lot, with a good cast and intriguing premise (about a genius detective), but eventually fizzled out with stories that were as convincing as spray-on hair. Still, it clearly did well enough for a recall.
Talking of the Sherlock recommission, which is coming back in three new 90-minute episodes, co-creators, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, say, “We’ve been overwhelmed by the warmth of response to our new Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and can’t wait to take them on three new adventures next year. There’ll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies – whether on two, or four legs. And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?”
The BBC also announced Undisclosed (working title), written by Ronan Bennett (Public Enemies, The Hamburg Cell). It is described as “a taut and compelling mystery thriller revolving around Harry Venn, a small-time solicitor. Forced to delve into his murky past when asked to find a missing alibi witness, Venn soon finds himself caught up in a bigger and more complex conspiracy.”
Meanwhile, ITV has announced three crime dramas for 2011. There’s an Anthony Horowitz story – Injustice. It stars Jame Purefoy as William Travers, a criminal barrister recovering from traumatic events that have blasted his belief in the legal system. It follows Horowitz’s success with Collision on the channel.
Scott and Bailey will star Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp in the title roles of two homicide detectives from Greater Manchester Police’s prestigious Major Incident Team. The series is scripted by Sally Wainwright, whose drama Unforgiven won the RTS Award for Best Drama earlier this year.
Finally, The Jury is a series about ordinary people finding themselves at the centre of a major controversial criminal re-trial. It’s written by Bafta-winner and Oscar nominee Peter Morgan.
Share this:
Like this:
Like Loading...
Join our Friends email list
* indicates required
CRIME AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Welcome to CrimeTimePreview‘s series of interviews with authors about their TV and reading habits.
• PETER ROBINSON is the author of the Inspector Banks novels – the fourth series of which has just started on ITV (see the post below). A multi-award-winning novelist, he was born in Yorkshire and now divides his time between Toronto and Richmond, North Yorkshire. We brought him in for questioning, and here he makes a full and frank confession of his criminal viewing and reading habits…
• ADRIAN McKINTY is one of the most acclaimed new crime writers from across the Irish Sea, routinely mentioned alongside Ken Bruen, Declan Hughes and John Connolly. His series of edgy thrillers about Catholic detective Sean Duffy and the character’s exploits while working in the none-too-comfortable surroundings of the RUC during the Troubles, and later MI5, are developing a big following and have been hugely praised by reviewers. These include The Cold Cold Ground, In the Morning I’ll Be Gone and Gun Street Girl. Here, he reveals his favourite TV shows, characters and authors…
• WE’VE dragged one of Britain’s major crime practitioners in for questioning. Multi-award-winning IAN RANKIN is
the creator of Edinburgh detective inspector John Rebus, the tenacious but chippy hero of bestsellers such as Black and Blue, Fleshmarket Close and Resurrection Men. The character was turned into a series by STV with first John Hannah and then Ken Stott portraying him. ITV filmed Rankin’s standalone novel Doors Open in 2012. After retiring Rebus in Exit Music, he introduced his readers to Malcolm Fox in The Complaints, before bringing Rebus back in 2012’s Standing in Another Man’s Grave.
• Manchester-based crime writer CATH STAINCLIFFE is interrogated below for evidence of her TV viewing
and reading activities. She writes the novels based on the Scott & Bailey series, which stars Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones and is soon to return to ITV – with her latest book about the female detectives being Bleed Like Me. Cath is also the author of the Sal Kilkenny private eye stories and creator and scriptwriter of Blue Murder, which was on ITV and starred Caroline Quentin.
• Hauled in for questioning is British crime writer and Guardian reviewer LAURA WILSON , who is currently working on her 10th novel. Laura, whose books include the DI Stratton series among other mysteries set in the recent past, talks about her TV and reading habits, from Cagney & Lacey to Agatha Christie…
• ZOE SHARP wrote her first novel when she was 15. It was not until 2001, however, after she had tried her hand at jobs ranging
from van driver to newspaper ad sales to motoring correspondent, that she finally publisher her breakout Charlie Fox novel Killer Instinct. Fox, the self-defence instructor with a shady military background, has proved hugely popular with readers through nine novels and has been optioned by Twentieth Century Fox TV. We brought Zoë in for questioning to see who she would like to see playing Charlie on screen, and what TV shows tick the right boxes for her…
• CrimeTimePreview apprehended SIMON KERNICK , one of Britain’s most exciting thriller writers to grill him about his viewing proclivities. He arrived on the crime scene with his acclaimed novel The Business of Dying, a terrific story about a corrupt cop who moonlights as a hitman. His authentic thrillers are basedon research with members of Special Branch, the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Organised Crime Agency. He has just finished writing his latest book, which will be called Siege.
• SOPHIE HANNAH, whose novel The Point of Rescue was recently turned into the drama Case Sensitive by ITV1, is the author of internationally bestselling psychological thrillers – Little Face, Hurting Distance, The Other Half Lives and A Room Swept White. CrimeTimePreview recently brought her in to be questioned about her addiction to Class A plotting on television…
• Scottish author TONY BLACK , creator of Gus Dury in stories such as Gutted and Long Time Dead.
• Belfast crime writer SAM MILLAR , author of books such as The Redemption and the award-winning memoir On the Brinks.
• Crime novelist PAULINE ROWSON , author of the Marine series of mysteries, is pulled into CrimeTimePreview headquarters for questioning.
• Texan crime novelist BILL CRIDER , author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery novels, talks about his favourite television and authors.
• Award-winning British novelist ANN CLEEVES is a serial crime writer, with her collections including amateur sleuths George & Molly, Inspector Ramsay, the soon-to-be-televised Vera Stanhope and the recent Shetland Island Quartet (now a BBC1 series with Douglas Henshall). CrimeTimePreview pulls her in for questioning about her TV habits…
• We brought thriller writer MATT HILTON into headquarters for questioning about his TV and reading activities.
• ALINE TEMPLETON is the author of the series of novels about DI Marjory Fleming, set in Scotland. Her stand-alone mysteries include Past Praying For, The Trumpet Shall Sound and Shades of Death. She lives in Edinburgh. She was brought into CrimeTimePreview HQ for questioning about her TV viewing habits…
• Award-winning crime author STEPHEN BOOTH has written 11 mysteries involving the detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry with a distinctive, sometimes menacing Peak District setting. He was a newspaper and magazine journalist for 25 years before publishing the first Cooper/Fry novel, Black Dog, in 2000. CrimeTimePreview quizzed him about his criminal viewing activities…
Share this:
| i don't know |
In Hertz, what is the frequency of mains electricity supply in the UK? | Accuracy and stability of the 50 Hz mains frequency
Accuracy and stability of the 50 Hz mains frequency
The mains power supply in most countries is AC (alternating current) at 50 (e.g. Europe) or 60 (e.g. America) Hz. Many electric and electronic clocks use this not just for power, but also as the reference frequency for keeping track of the time. This 50 or 60 Hz is not perfectly stable, due to the continuously changing load of the power grid and the generator's reaction to load changes. However, it is said that on the longer term (e.g., a day or a week) the average frequency is kept very close to 50 or 60 Hz, precisely because of clocks using them. I have done some measurements on the 50 Hz mains frequency at my home in Enschede (the Netherlands), the results of which are presented below.
Phase and frequency deviation
In the following graph, the red line, indicates the observed phase error (which is the error a mains-synchronized clock would incur), over a period of 69 days from August 13 till October 21, 2005. The green and cyan lines indicate the frequency over that same period.
There clearly is a daily fluctuation in the phase of usually about 5 seconds, but larger variations do occur, ranging over a total of about 60 seconds during the measurement period. I read somewhere that the power companies ensure that the number of cycles in one entire day is always correct, but that obviously is not the case here.
The frequency has so far rarely deviated more than 0.2 % from 50 Hz, i.e. it was almost always between 49.9 and 50.1 Hz.
Stability
The stability of a periodic signal can be characterized by its so-called Allan deviation (which is the square root of the Allan variance). This deviation is linked to a given averaging time, which is to be interpreted as the measurement duration; roughly speaking, if the Allan deviation at averaging duration 10 seconds is 10-4, this means that if you measure the frequency during 10 seconds and once more during the next 10 seconds, these measurements will differ on average by 0.01 %. Note that this does not make any statement about how accurate the frequency is: both measurements may differ significantly from the nominal value. For a more detailed explanation and definition, see this usenet posting or the entry in this glossary .
The above graph shows the Allan deviation and the so-called modified Allan deviation as found in my measurements. The relatively large deviation at very small time scales may well be due to measurement inaccuracies, noise on the mains lines, etc. However, it is clear from the graph that at small time scales, on the order of a second, the frequency is much more stable than at the order of e.g. a quarter of an hour; presumably, this is due to the mechanical inertia of the generators: they simply can't change their rotation speed quickly. For very long time scales, on the order of a day or more, the stability clearly increases again, which presumably is due to the power companies' locking the average frequency to some more stable source.
Measurement setup
The setup for these measurements was very simple: a simple transformer to transform the 230 volts down to about 15 volts, and a resistive voltage divider which feeds this low-voltage 50 Hz sine wave into the DCD-line of an RS232-port on my PC running Linux. I modified the COM port driver in the linux kernel to produce a time stamp in the data stream every time the DCD becomes active; some user-space software removes glitches, checks for gaps in the data, and calculates the phase and frequency deviations plotted above.
The clock of the Linux-PC was synchronized using the Network Time Protocol (NTP) via the internet to (in the end) GPS' atomic clocks. The round-trip-time to the NTP server via my ADSL link was about 14 ms, so this should make the PC clock run accurate enough not to miss any mains cycles (and probably much better than that).
Unfortunately, for unknown reason the NTP synchronisation of my machine went awry on August 27th, with ntpd applying three jumps to the PC clock of several deci-seconds each, as well as letting the clock run several hunderd ppm too fast or slow (according to the system log). The data from this period has been left out of the calculation of the Allan deviation.
On September 3rd, I couldn't avoid rebooting my PC twice, which caused interruptions in the measurements of a few minutes each. Unfortunately, during such an interruption of several hundred seconds, the mains can easily lose or gain a few cycles compared to the real 50 Hz. For the total phase deviation (first graph) this does not cause a visible error, since the vertical scale has a range of 2000 cycles. However, the calculation of the Allan deviation (second graph) is disturbed, so I modified its calculation to treat the measurements before and after the interruptions as independent.
Furthermore, on September 27th NTP synchronization failed (cause unknown), which I didn't notice until October 8th, by which time my PC's clock had gained about 0.86 seconds; this has retroactively been compensated for by assuming this error had built up linearly over that period (probably a quadratic would be more accurate, but the error is insignificant on this scale).
The power company's view
Since my measurements did not conclusively answer the main question, namely whether or not the long-term average frequency is regulated to precisely 50 Hz, I submitted a question to my power company's ( Essent ) customer service. Almost two weeks later, I got a nice reply giving some facts and referring me to the website of UCTE (Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity) , the organization of electric transmission system operators in continental Europe and some neighbouring countries, and in particular to their operational handbook at http://www.ucte.org/ohb/cur_status.asp . Section P.1.D of this handbook tells us that the long term average frequency is indeed regulated to precisely 50 Hz, so mains-driven clocks will never deviate too far. The rules seem to be as follows:
On short term (seconds to hours), several mechanisms are employed that continuously try to keep the frequency as close as possible to 50.0000 Hz, but that do not consider the phase (i.e., clock error).
As long as the deviation between the true time and the time indicated by a mains-driven clock is less than 20 seconds, observed at 8 o'clock in the morning, no further measures are taken.
When that deviation exceeds 20 seconds, a correction is scheduled: during the next day (from midnight to midnight) frequency regulators in the entire zone will be set to 10 mHz higher or lower than the normal 50.0000 Hz. Ideally, this results in a correction of 17.28 seconds.
The above should normally keep the deviation within about 30 seconds. Only if the deviation exceeds 60 seconds are larger corrections than 10 mHz allowed.
Can we see these day-long 10 mHz corrections in the graph? It seems that the period between days 41 and 43 is indeed such a correction: in the previous days, the phase had slowly drifted upwards, and then during two days the phase shifts downwards over 34 seconds: surprisingly nicely 17 seconds per day. Why the correction was apparently applied during two consecutive days, is unclear to me: if after one day of correction the phase was still too far off, then that correction should have been performed a few days earlier. Similar big corrections seem to have happened on days 17-19 and 53-55.
Links
At http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/mains/ results from a similar experiment in the USA are presented (which of course I didn't discover until after setting up my own...).
The current mains frequency in the UK can be seen at http://www.dynamicdemand.co.uk/grid.htm , and there's a graph of the last 60 minutes at http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/Electricity/Data/Realtime/Frequency/Freq60.htm .
Note though that neither the USA nor the UK participate in the UCTE.
| fifty |
Which composer (1913 to 1976) wrote the music used in the 1936 GPO film 'Night Mail'? | World Electricity Standards
World Electricity Standards
Link to original web page: http://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity.htm
There is no standard mains voltage throughout the world and also the frequency, i.e. the number of times the current changes direction per second, is not everywhere the same. Moreover, plug shapes, plug holes, plug sizes and sockets are also different in many countries. Those seemingly unimportant differences, however, have some unpleasant consequences.
Most appliances bought overseas simply cannot be connected to the wall outlets at home. There are only two ways to solve this problem: you just cut off the original plug and replace it with the one that is standard in your country, or you buy an unhandy and ugly adapter.
While it is easy to buy a plug adapter or a new "local" plug for your "foreign" appliances, in many cases this only solves half the problem, because it doesn't help with the possible voltage disparity. A 110-volt electrical appliance designed for use in North America or Japan will provide a nice fireworks display - complete with sparks and smoke - if plugged into a European socket.
It goes without saying that the lack of a single voltage, frequency and globally standardized plugs entail many extra costs for manufacturers and increase the burden on the environment.
Pure waste and unnecessary pollution!
Trick to know the local voltage and frequency
Voltage and frequency
Europe and most other countries in the world use a voltage which is twice that of the US. It is between 220 and 240 volts, whereas in Japan and in most of the Americas the voltage is between 100 and 127 volts.
The system of three-phase alternating current electrical generation and distribution was invented by a nineteenth century creative genius named Nicola Tesla. He made many careful calculations and measurements and found out that 60 Hz (Hertz, cycles per second) was the best frequency for alternating current (AC) power generating. He preferred 240 volts, which put him at odds with Thomas Edison, whose direct current (DC) systems were 110 volts. Perhaps Edison had a useful point in the safety factor of the lower voltage, but DC couldn't provide the power to a distance that AC could.
When the German company AEG built the first European generating facility, its engineers decided to fix the frequency at 50 Hz, because the number 60 didn't fit the metric standard unit sequence (1,2,5). At that time, AEG had a virtual monopoly and their standard spread to the rest of the continent. In Britain, differing frequencies proliferated, and only after World War II the 50-cycle standard was established. A big mistake, however.
Not only is 50 Hz 20% less effective in generation, it is 10-15% less efficient in transmission, it requires up to 30% larger windings and magnetic core materials in transformer construction. Electric motors are much less efficient at the lower frequency, and must also be made more robust to handle the electrical losses and the extra heat generated. Today, only a handful of countries (Antigua, Guyana, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea and the Leeward Islands) follow Tesla’s advice and use the 60 Hz frequency together with a voltage of 220-240 V.
Originally Europe was 110 V too, just like Japan and the US today. It has been deemed necessary to increase voltage to get more power with less losses and voltage drop from the same copper wire diameter. At the time the US also wanted to change but because of the cost involved to replace all electric appliances, they decided not to. At the time (50s-60s) the average US household already had a fridge, a washing-machine, etc., but not in Europe.
The end result is that now, the US seems not to have evolved from the 50s and 60s, and still copes with problems as light bulbs that burn out rather quickly when they are close to the transformer (too high a voltage), or just the other way round: not enough voltage at the end of the line (105 to 127 volt spread !).
Note that currently all new American buildings get in fact 230 volts split in two 115 between neutral and hot wire. Major appliances, such as ovens, are now connected to 230 volts. Americans who have European equipment, can connect it to these outlets.
There are 214 countries listed below.
175 of the countries mentioned use 220-240 volts (50 or 60 Hz).
The 39 other countries use 100-127 volts.
COUNTRY
220 V
50 Hz
* In Brazil there is no standard voltage; most states use 110-127 V electricity (Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Pará, Amazonas,…). In many hotels, however, 220 V can be found. 220-240 V is used mainly in the northeast: in the capital Brasilia (Distrito Federal) and, among others, in the states of Ceará, Pernambuco and Santa Catarina.
** Although the mains voltage in Japan is the same everywhere, the frequency differs from region to region. Eastern Japan uses predominantly 50 Hz (Tokyo, Kawasaki, Sapporo, Yokohoma, Sendai), whereas Western Japan prefers 60 Hz (Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Hiroshima).
Plugs and sockets
When electricity was first introduced into the domestic environment it was primarily for lighting. However, as it became a viable alternative to other means of heating and also the development of labour saving appliances, a means of connection to the supply other than via a light socket was required. In the 1920s, the two-prong plug made its appearance.
At that time, some electricity companies operated a split tariff system where the cost of electricity for lighting was lower than that for other purposes, which led to low wattage appliances (e.g. vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, etc.) being connected to the light fitting. The picture below shows a 1909 electric toaster with a lightbulb socket plug.
As the need for safer installations grew, three-pin outlets were developed. The third pin on the outlet was an earth pin, which was effectively connected to earth, this being at the same potential as the neutral supply line. The idea behind it was that in the event of a short circuit to earth, a fuse would blow, thus disconnecting the supply.
The reason why we are now stuck with no less than 13 different styles of plugs and wall outlets, is because many countries preferred to develop a plug of their own, instead of adopting the US standard. Moreover, the plugs and sockets are only very rarely compatible, which makes it often necessary to replace the plug when you buy appliances abroad.
Below is a brief outline of the plugs and sockets used around the world in domestic environment.
TYPE A
(used in, among others, North and Central America and Japan)
This class II ungrounded plug with two flat parallel prongs is pretty much standard in most of North and Central America. At first glance, the Japanese plug and socket seem to be identical to this standard. However, the Japanese plug has two identical flat prongs, whereas the US plug has one prong which is slightly larger. Therefore it is no problem to use Japanese plugs in the US, but the opposite does not work often. Furthermore, Japanese standard wire sizes and the resulting current ratings are different than those used on the American continent.
Type A and B plugs have two flat prongs with a hole near the tip. These holes aren't there without a reason. If you were to take apart a type A or B socket and look at the contact wipers that the prongs slide into, you would find that in some cases they have have bumps on them. These bumps fit into the holes so that the outlet can grip the plug’s prongs more firmly. This prevents the plug from slipping out of the socket due to the weight of the plug and cord. It also improves the contact between the plug and the outlet. Some sockets, however, don't have those bumps but just two spring-action blades that grip the sides of the plug pin, in which case the holes aren't necessary.
There are also some special outlets which allow you to lock the cord into the socket, by putting rods through the holes. This way, for example vending machines cannot be unplugged. Moreover, electrical devices can be "factory-sealed" by the manufacturer using a plastic tie or a small padlock through one or both of the plug prong holes. For example, a manufacturer might apply a plastic band through the hole and attach it to a tag that says: "You must do X or Y before plugging in this device". The user cannot plug in the device without removing the tag, so the user is sure to see the tag.
TYPE B
(used in, among others, North and Central America and Japan)
This is a class I plug with two flat parallel prongs and a grounding pin (American standard NEMA 5-15/Canadian standard CS22.2, n°42). It is rated at 15 amps and although this plug is also standard in Japan, it is less frequently used than in North America. Consequently, most appliances sold in Japan use a class II ungrounded plug. As is the case with the type A standard, the Japanese type B plugs and sockets are slightly different from their American counterparts.
An ungrounded version of the North American NEMA 5-15 plug is commonly used in Central America and parts of South America. It is therefore common for equipment users to simply cut off the grounding pin that the plug can be mated with a two-pole ungrounded socket.
TYPE C
(used in all countries of Europe except the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta)
This two-wire plug is ungrounded and has two round prongs. It is popularly known as the Europlug which is described in CEE 7/16. This is probably the single most widely used international plug. It will mate with any socket that accepts 4.0-4.8 mm round contacts on 19 mm centres. It is commonly used in all countries of Europe except the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is also used in various parts of the developing world. This plug is generally limited for use in class II applications that require 2.5 amps or less. It is, of course, unpolarised.
TYPE D
(used almost exclusively in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Namibia)
India has standardised on a plug which was originally defined in British Standard 546 (the standard in Great Britain before 1962). Although type D is now almost exclusively used in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Namibia, it can still occasionally be found in specialist applications such as hotels and theatres in the UK. This plug has three large round pins in a triangular pattern. It is rated at 5 amps. Type M, which has larger pins and is rated at 15 amps, is used alongside type D for larger appliances in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Namibia. Some sockets can take both type M and type D plugs.
TYPE E
(primarily used in France, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Tunisia and Morocco)
France, Belgium and some other countries have standardised on a socket which is different from the CEE 7/4 socket (type F) that is standard in Germany and other continental European countries. The reason for incompatibility is that grounding in the E socket is accomplished with a round male pin permanently mounted in the socket. The plug itself is similar to C except that it is round and has the addition of a female contact to accept the grounding pin in the socket. In order to bridge the differences between sockets E and F, the CEE 7/7 plug was developed: it has grounding clips on both sides to mate with the type F socket and a female contact to accept the grounding pin of the type E socket. The original type E plug, which does not have grounding clips, is no longer used, although very rarely it can still be found on some older appliances. Note that the CEE 7/7 plug is polarised when used with a type E outlet. The plug is rated at 16 amps. Above that, equipment must either be wired permanently to the mains or connected via another higher power connector such as the IEC 309 system.
TYPE F
(used in, among others, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Portugal, Spain and Eastern Europe)
Plug F, known as CEE 7/4 and commonly called "Schuko plug", is similar to C except that it is round and has the addition of two grounding clips on the side of the plug. It has two 4.8 mm round contacts on 19 mm centres. Because the CEE 7/4 plug can be inserted in either direction into the receptacle, the Schuko connection system is unpolarised (i.e. line and neutral are connected at random). It is used in applications up to 16 amps. Above that, equipment must either be wired permanently to the mains or connected via another higher power connector such as the IEC 309 system. In order to bridge the differences between sockets E and F, the CEE 7/7 plug was developed. This plug, which is shown above, has grounding clips on both sides to mate with the type F socket and a female contact to accept the grounding pin of the type E socket. The original type F plug, which does not have this female contact, is still available at the DIY shops but only in a rewireable version.
The Soviet Republics use a standard plug and socket defined in Russian Standard Gost 7396 which is similar to the Schuko standard. Contacts are also on 19 mm centres, but the diameter of this contact is 4.0 mm compared to 4.8 mm which is standard in Continental Europe. It is possible to mate Russian plugs with Schuko outlets, but Russian sockets will not allow to connect type E and F plugs as the outlets have smaller hole diameters than the pins of those two plugs mentioned. Many official standards in Eastern Europe are virtually identical to the Schuko standard. Furthermore, one of the protocols governing the reunification of Germany provided that the DIN and VDE standards would prevail without exception. The former East Germany was required to confirm to the Schuko standard. It appears that most if not all of the Eastern European countries generally use the Schuko standard internally but, until recently, they exported appliances to the Soviet Union with the Soviet standard plug installed. Because the volumes of appliance exports to the Soviet Union were large, the Soviet plug has found its way into use in Eastern Europe as well.
TYPE G
(mainly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta, Malaysia and Singapore)
This plug has three prongs (two flat and one rectangular) that form a triangle. British Standard BS 1363 requires use of a three-wire grounded and fused plug for all connections to the power mains (including class II, two-wire appliances). British power outlets incorporate shutters on line and neutral contacts to prevent someone from pushing a foreign object into the socket.
The British domestic electrical system uses a ring main in the building which is rated for 30 amps (5 amps for lighting rings). Moreover, there is also a fusing in the plug; a cartridge fuse, usually of 3 amps for small appliances like radios etc. and 13 amps for heavy duty appliances such as heaters. Almost everywhere else in the world a spur main system is used. In this system each wall socket, or group of sockets, has a fuse at the main switchboard whereas the plug has none. So if you take some foreign appliance to the UK, you can use an adaptor, but technically it must incorporate the correct value fuse. Most would have a 13 amps one, too big for the computer for example. BS 1363 was published in 1962 and since that time it has gradually replaced the earlier standard plugs and sockets (type D) (BS 546).
TYPE H
(used exclusively in Israel)
This plug, defined in SI 32, is unique to Israel. It has two flat prongs like the type B plug, but they form a V-shape rather than being parallel like B plugs. Type H plugs have got a grounding pin as well and are rated at 16 amps. Type H sockets are so shaped as to accommodate type C plugs as well. The slots for the non-grounded prongs have widenings in the middle specifically to allow type C prongs to fit in.
TYPE I
(mainly used in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Argentina)
This plug has also a grounding pin and two flat prongs forming a V-shape. There is an ungrounded version of this plug as well, with only two flat V-shaped prongs. Although the above plug looks very similar to the one used in Israel (type H), both plugs are not compatible. Australia’s standard plug/socket system is described in SAA document AS 3112 and is used in applications up to 10 amps. A plug/socket configuration with rating at 15 amps (ground pin is wider: 8 mm instead of 6.35 mm) is also available. A standard 10 amp plug will fit into a 15 amp outlet, but a 15 amp plug only fits this special 15 amp socket. Although there are slight differences, the Australian plug mates with the socket used in the People's Republic of China (mainland China).
TYPE J
(used almost exclusively in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Brazil)
Switzerland has its own standard which is described in SEC 1011. This plug is similar to C, except that it has the addition of a grounding pin. This connector system is rated for use in applications up to 10 amps. Above 10 amps, equipment must be either wired permanently to the electrical supply system with appropriate branch circuit protection or connected to the mains with an appropriate high power industrial connector. Type J is also the official grounded standard in Brazil, as described in NBR 14136.
TYPE K
(used almost exclusively in Denmark and Greenland)
The Danish standard is described in Afsnit 107-2-D1. The plug is similar to F except that it has a grounding pin instead of grounding clips. The Danish socket will also accept either the CEE 7/4 or CEE 7/7 plugs: however, there is no grounding connection with these plugs because a male ground pin is required on the plug. The correct plug must be used in Denmark for safety reasons. A variation of this plug intended for use only on surge protected computer circuits has been introduced. The current rating on both plugs is 10 amps.
TYPE L
(used almost exclusively in Italy and randomly found throughout North Africa)
The Italian grounded plug/socket standard, CEI 23-16/VII, includes two styles rated at 10 and 16 amps. They differ in terms of contact diameter and spacing, and are therefore incompatible with each other. The plugs are similar to C except that they are earthed by means of a centre grounding pin. Because they can be inserted in either direction at random, they are unpolarised.
TYPE M
(used almost exclusively in South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho)
This plug resembles the Indian type D plug, but its pins are much larger. Type M is rated at 15 amps. Although type D is standard in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Namibia, type M is also used for larger appliances. Some sockets over there can take both type M and type D plugs.
| i don't know |
The book 'A Walk In The Woods' describes Bill Bryson's attempt to hike which trail in the eastern USA? | A Walk in the Woods review
17 September 2015 • 12:07pm
Robert Redford turns Bill Bryson's elegant travelogue into a sloppy, dim-witted sitcom
It’s hard to understand how someone could read Bill Bryson’s 1998 memoir A Walk in the Woods and think the material screamed “hit movie”. Bryson’s writing doesn’t scream anything: it sets about its work in a hush, tickling, charming, prodding and cajoling so gently that in half an hour you can laugh out loud 10 times and learn 20 new things, even though the prose itself barely seems to have lifted a finger.
Still, here we are. After 10 years in development, the film version of Bryson’s elegantly meandering travelogue about his middle-aged attempt on the Appalachian Trail – a 2,000-mile trek through the eastern United States – has been shepherded into cinemas. The prime mover was Robert Redford, who originally envisioned it as a reunion for himself and Paul Newman; Butch and Sundance ambling northwards while the sun set at their side.
After Newman’s death in 2008, the script lay fallow for a spell, but in 2013, the casting of Nick Nolte as Stephen Katz, Bryson’s curmudgeonly travelling partner, and the arrival of director Ken Kwapis (He’s Just Not That Into You, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) re-energised the project.
I say re-energised. Kwapis’s film is so un-Brysonishly leaden-footed that Redford and Nolte might as well have walked the trail in diving boots. When we first see Redford’s Bryson, he’s giving a television interview about his work in which he can’t get a word in edgeways: then he arrives home, spots his grandson playing video games, and rolls his eyes theatrically at the sheer gosh-darn wackiness of the modern world.
The sequence is supposed to paint Bryson as endearingly out of step, but actually just makes him look like a nitwit – an impression that’s reinforced minutes later as he ham-fistedly pitches his old tent from his backpacking days in his back garden, while his conspicuously younger wife Catherine (Emma Thompson) looks on with smiling indulgence.
Redford’s Bryson doesn’t look capable of writing a shopping list, let alone a bestselling series of non-fiction books. But Thompson is so good in this brief appearance – flinty and funny, though the script gives her almost nothing to work with – that you wish the film would send Redford off into the forest and stay behind with her in the kitchen.
Robert Redford, Emma Thompson and Nick Nolte in 'A Walk in the Woods' Credit: Frank Masi, SMPSP
But she’s soon shuffled back into the wings, and is probably better off out of it. Instead the support act is Nolte, whose character, a (pseudonymous) on-off friend of Bryson’s, joins him on the trip when he hears through a mutual acquaintance that the writer is looking for a travelling partner.
In the book, Bryson memorably describes Katz as looking like “Orson Welles after a very bad night”, but in the film he looks more like Welles after a very bad car crash. Like Mickey Rourke, Nolte has gnarled with age, though in the right role he can still be dynamite. (He was perfect as the alcoholic father of two UFC fighters in Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior.) Here, though, he just looks absurd, and the film’s insistence that this 74-year-old could have a respectable crack at this enormous physical undertaking with next to no training (the real-life Bryson and Katz were in their 40s) feels insulting – though in the case of Redford, strikingly trim at 79, it feels like less of a reach.
The walk itself is like a bad sitcom, with lots of grumbling and falling through things – tents, bunk beds, you get the idea – and yet more eye-rolling, normally at the expense of irritating passers-by (one played by Kristen Schaal, who’s almost as poorly deployed here as Thompson – and let’s not even get on to Mary Steenburgen, as a motel proprietress with an eye for married writers). Katz comes across as a sex pest, while Bryson is unbearably priggish. In one scene he describes books as “television for smart people” in a way that made me want to force-feed him his cagoule.
Hacky lines like that – notably absent from the book – are symptomatic of a sloppiness that seems to have seeped into every aspect of the production. In one scene, Bryson and Katz gaze past the camera at a majestic view, and the film cuts to not the view itself, but a helicopter shot of a forest, as if the two men were suddenly flying above it on a magic carpet. A late grasp at profundity, on an obviously studio-bound, papier-mâché ledge, meanwhile, just looks too phoney to connect.
It’s not that Bryson’s book is somehow unfilmable: two great, recent adaptations of walking memoirs, Wild , starring Reese Witherspoon, and Tracks, with Mia Wasikowska, put paid to that theory. It’s just that Kwapis didn’t film it. A Walk in the Woods shows you two men going from A to B, but their journey is nowhere to be seen.
A Walk in the Woods trailer Play! 02:23
Star Rating 2 Telegraph Star Rating
List
Competition
28 Apr 2016
News
27 Apr 2016
| Appalachian Trail |
In the 2003 film 'Sylvia', Blythe Danner played 'Aurelia Plath', the mother of the title character. Who is her daughter who played 'Sylvia' in the film? | Project MUSE - “To Conquer Myself”: The New Strenuosity and the Emergence of “Thru-hiking” on the Appalachian Trail in the 1970s
The New Strenuosity and the Emergence of “Thru-hiking” on the Appalachian Trail in the 1970s
Adam Berg †
Abstract
In the early 1970s hundreds of hikers began to traverse all 2,000-plus miles of the Appalachian Trail in a single effort. Spanning from Maine to Georgia, today over 14,000 have trekked across the entirety of the famed “wilderness footpath.” A particular mentality, characterized by perceptions of asocial self-discovery gained though physical activity and “wilderness” recreation led to the initial 1970s “thru-hiker” surge. This sense of autonomous self-discovery, however, was connected to a certain social and cultural context. Indeed, it could be argued that thru-hikers embraced a certain brand of individualism that should be read as a manifestation of a privileged social position as much as the achievement of personal authenticity.
K
Wilderness
[End Page 1]
Americans have had faith in the civic value of physical recreation since at least the beginning of the twentieth century. This creed has a familiar resonance. Strenuous activity builds character. Physical recreation teaches cooperation, hard work, and honesty. Competitive sport, in particular, reveals how to contribute to one’s community and at the same time achieve one’s utmost potential. 1 While similarities persisted, this was not precisely what ultra-long-distance hiker Warren Doyle had in mind when he undertook what he called a “character-confirmation experiment” in the summer of 1973. Doyle did not wish to find his role within an advancing civilization nor did he aim to measure his merit against dominant cultural standards. He saw physical activity as the means to an honorable end, but pure and autonomous self-discovery achieved outside society’s ideals was what motivated him. “I wanted to know,” Doyle explained, “just who I thought I was.” Thus, Doyle trudged across all 2,000-plus miles of the eastern United States’ Appalachian Trail. For over fifteen hours a day, covering more than thirty miles daily, for sixty-six-and-a-half days, he hiked at a record-setting pace. Yet Doyle “did not conquer” the famed “wilderness footpath.” As he put it, “I utilized the AT to conquer myself.” 2
In the north, the Appalachian Trail, or “AT,” as hikers call it, comes to an end atop Mount Katahdin of Maine. To the south, the trail’s opposing terminus reaches onto the summit of Springer Mountain in Georgia. Permitted only to those traveling by foot, hikers encounter tough switchbacks and steep scrambles. Running along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the route reaches some of the highest elevations of the Smokey Mountains. In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, hikers climb above the tree line. Yet most of the AT is surrounded by woods. Indeed, the trail is nicknamed “the green tunnel.” Trail blazers deliberately avoided developed areas whenever possible. The AT’s northernmost section, running through Maine’s “hundred-mile wilderness,” is probably the most remote area of the eastern United States. Nonetheless, much of the trail is never more than a day or two away from a warm hotel bed. Millions live within driving distance of the AT. At one juncture, on a clear day, New York City is viewable in the distance. 3
The idea expressed by Doyle, that traversing the AT might bring forth personal insights about one’s self, was not a novel concept. Most famously, in Concord, Massachusetts, more than 120 years earlier, Henry David Thoreau preached that “I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least—and it is commonly more than that—sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely freed from all worldly engagement.” 4 Thoreau sought to get in touch with his truest and fullest “spirits.” Like Doyle and other AT “thru-hikers” of future generations, Thoreau believed walking through an untamed world for an extended period of time would bring internal clarity.
This obvious connection between trekkers such as Doyle and wilderness advocates such as Thoreau gives rise to a proactive question that underlies the present inquiry. How “authentic” was Doyle’s existential sojourn? Was Doyle’s sense of authenticity really his own, or was it something taught to him. Was it something, perhaps, to which he conformed? Was Doyle really learning about himself outside the confines of society’s values? Or, was his conquest scripted—a path narrated to him by his culture and its history?
The specific moment in history that Doyle inhabited seems to have wielded an influence over him. In the first thirty-three years of the AT’s existence, between 1937 and 1969, only fifty-nine people hiked the trail in its entirety. Then, during the beginning [End Page 2] of the 1970s, the number of AT thru-hikers surged. The Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC), the organization charged with maintaining the AT, reports that hundreds began to complete the ultra-long traverse on an annual basis. In total, the seventies saw at least 764 hikers walk every step of the AT. 5 It has been estimated that during that decade ten times that many started an AT “thru-hike” but failed to complete it. 6 AT thru-hikes take around four to six months to achieve. And most successful thru-hikers complete their journey in one prolonged march. It is almost always a solitary and arduous venture. No single explanation could possibly explain why everyone who has attempted the task chose to do so. Still, the burst of backpackers attempting a 2,000-mile hike begs the question. What was it about the 1970s in particular that led to the thru-hiker surge? Why was this moment in American history witness to such quests?
This essay argues that 1970s AT thru-hikers were motivated by desires for personal authenticity, meant to be developed apart from society’s tenets and restraints. However, the desire for self-discovery that drove these wilderness adventures was far from self-discovered. What is more, the ideas behind the spread of thru-hiking were shaped by more than just antecedents and forbears, such as Thoreau. Thru-hikers of the 1970s were embedded in what social commentator Tom Wolfe called the “Me Generation” and personified what sport historian Benjamin Rader has identified as the “new strenuosity.” 7 Thru-hikers placed physical demands upon themselves with the hope that doing so would enable them to spurn society’s principles and discover their own. Yet this intended break from society was paradoxically the product of a culturally shaped and socially situated mentality. A distinct white, middle and upper-class ethos that employed entrenched ideas about nature, emergent notions about physical fitness, the persistent logic of post-World War II consumer culture, and most important of all, fashionable beliefs about what being a genuine individual actually meant underpinned the rapid growth in the popularity of thru-hiking. It turns out that instead of overcoming the enculturation of society, 1970s thru-hikers exemplified a particular and privileged location within it.
The Origins of the Appalachian Trail
A prolonged departure from the norms of everyday life has been a common trope across cultures and certainly within American literature. 8 The idea that physical toughness and perseverance are virtues to be prized, especially within men, has also been common knowledge for Americans for centuries. 9 Furthermore, as a refuge from civilization built within, and by, a technology-obsessed society, the AT itself speaks to the durability and dynamism of the idea of wilderness in American minds. Most Americans have had few qualms with wilderness’s constant proximity to civilized life. 10
These factors should not be forgotten for they were, even if tacitly, implicated in the ideas permeating middle and upper-class America during the period of the AT’s genesis. In the 1920s, hiking enthusiasts built the AT in the midst of the second wave of industrialization. Along with the urban vices of the Roaring Twenties, overcrowded tenements, congested traffic, smoke-filled skies and lungs, waste-filled streets, polluted water, and rumbling factory noise all appeared to be the price of progress. 11 In response, many social planners throughout the United States argued that the promotion of outdoor athletics represented the best way to check the negative side-effects wrought by modern prosperity. 12 [End Page 3]
In its original incarnations, however, backcountry hiking stood as a distinctly upper-class solution to modern dilemmas. After the Civil War, businessmen, ministers, and scholars began to travel to upscale hotels and resorts to tramp through the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Not long after, long distance treks became popular at New England’s elite colleges. Closer to the cities pedestrianism emerged as a favored pastime as well, often leading recreational walkers into nearby hills for refreshment. Nonetheless, working-class pedestrians usually had financial incentives in mind when they walked. Moreover, progressive social planners, who intended to provide working-class city dwellers relief, promoted what sport historian Mark Dyreson has termed “nature by design.” Refreshment would be provided at newly furnished urban parks and playgrounds, not a preserved and unadulterated “natural” world. Thus, in contrast to pedestrianism and the playground movement, the roots of backpacking were dug much more deeply in the ethos of upper-class Anglo- American leisure and amateurism. 13
At the same time changing middle and upper-class models of masculinity undergirded the emergence of wilderness recreation. With the rise of industry, skilled labor had begun to dissolve. Meanwhile, around the turn of the century, women and immigrants gained greater access to America’s political sphere. The apparent loss of independence and power led a number of intellectuals to become obsessed with the notion that boys and men had become “over-civilized,” “soft,” and “effeminate.” As gender historian Gail Bederman argues, scholars and politicians re-conceptualized masculinity by urging white males to seek out vigorous physical challenges. These strenuous trials were deemed suitable only for the “stronger” sex and essential for cultivating the qualities necessary for leadership. 14 In an era of gender upheaval, mostly white male social reformers reified white male dominance. Notably, in America’s wealthier quarters, these anxieties were dealt with in ways that foreshowed the path 1970s thru-hikers would travel. In light of the impersonal corporate structure overtaking the country, many upper-class citizens sought out exotic experiences in distant lands, either in their own nation or beyond its borders. Advocates of these unique encounters insisted that they would foster a sense of personal fulfillment and self-sufficiency that could no longer be found nearer to home. 15
Within this milieu, the idea of creating a 2,000-mile long recreational hiking trail became a legitimate possibility. In 1921, a forester with ardent Socialist commitments named Benton MacKaye proposed blazing an “Appalachian Trail.” The New Englander presented his idea with the support of a cohort of progressive, communitarian-minded “regional planners.” 16 According to these activists, the AT would not only provide healthy retreats from urban life but would reshape American society toward more cooperative ends. The original AT blueprint included shelters, camps, and full-blown communities devised to be, as MacKaye put it, a permanent “sanctuary and a refuge from the scramble of [the] ever-day world [of] commercial life.” 17
Nevertheless, the “sanctuary” was not to be. By 1937 a “footpath for hikers in the Appalachian Mountains” extended “from Maine to Georgia.” But it was only a footpath and not the communitarian nexus the MacKaye had envisioned. 18 Affluent lawyers, scholars, editors, architects, and scientists, connected to Northeastern hiking clubs, enthusiastically appropriated MacKaye’s plan and built the trail. They created a site for short-term recreation. Yet, it was a hiatus from, rather than an overt challenge to, industrial capitalism. As a sight [End Page 4] merely for leisure and refreshment, MacKaye’s deeper intentions had been placed aside. 19
MacKaye and those that reframed his vision had one thing in common, however. Their ideas had been built upon what frontier historian Fredrick Jackson Turner and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt championed as an essential linkage between the challenges of wilderness survival and the moral development of America’s citizenry. For MacKaye, Roosevelt, and Turner, along with self-realization, broader social advancement represented a key component to successful wilderness ventures. “Free lands . . . served to reinforce the democratic influences” of the once-new nation, Turner had claimed, for “the very fact of wilderness appealed to man’s struggle for a higher type of society.” 20 Although they may have disagreed on what an ideal society looked like, all three of these bold thinkers agreed that civic virtue depended on encounters with more natural environs.
In the eyes of early AT thru-hikers, personal development through contact with undisturbed nature would be comparatively vital. Yet many of the 1970s trekkers would have recoiled at the notion that backpacking was a “social technology” designed to improve and Americanize the citizenry at large. 21 The shift in focus from civic to personal virtue does not represent a total rejection of the inheritance of American ideas about the power of outdoor recreation, but it was a partial departure. Compared to the dogmas of MacKaye, Turner, or Roosevelt, early AT thru-hikers developed a more self-centered philosophy.
The Me Decade, the New Strenuosity, and Wilderness
Significantly, thru-hikers were not the only ones to choose this path. In the 1970s the civic potential of sports, outdoor recreation, and other mechanisms of social capital were called into question. 22 The previous decade had been tumultuous. Civil rights protests, anti-war demonstrations, and calls for women’s liberation represented various and overlapping incarnations of the 1960s counterculture. These “movements” challenged government policies and social hierarchies but nevertheless seemed to wane without offering practical new directions to take. Amidst oil embargos and an economic downturn in the 1970s, doubts concerning the future of American “civilization” fermented. As 1970s historian Bruce Schulman claims, many Americans concluded that their expectations for a profoundly revived United States, which arose after World War II, had fallen short. In turn, notions of social solidarity and conceptions of a national community diminished. 23
A distrust and loss of faith in larger social causes led many Americans to do as many thru-hikers counseled, to turn inward. As Robert Pirsig’s narrator in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), one of the eras most celebrated self-help travel logs, advised, “[t]he place to improve the world [was] one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” 24 Christening the 1970s the “Me Decade,” social commentator and popular writer Tom Wolfe described the effect of this ideological transformation. Americans were “breaking off from society,” Wolfe wrote, with the intent of “changing one’s personality—remaking, remodeling, elevating, and polishing one’s very self.” 25 In his social critique of the era, The Culture of Narcissism, critic and historian Christopher Lasch likewise posited that an emphasis on the present and a loss of historical continuity had led Americans to carry “the logic of individualism to the extreme.” 26 As yet another contemporary scholar, Peter Clecak, put it, “the seventies were an apolitical, devitalized decade of intense, morally debilitating, preoccupation with the self.” 27 [End Page 5]
The movement from an emphasis on social progress to autonomous self-development was, of course, not all-encompassing. For African Americans, the Civil Rights struggle continued. In opposition to impeding desegregation, working-class whites from the Carolinas to Massachusetts ardently protested cross-town busing. Hundreds of thousands marched and protested on behalf of the emergent Gay Liberation Movement. Meanwhile, the second wave of feminism reached its zenith. In the heart of the Me Decade, Americans involved in these movements continued to engage with broader social causes, contradicting the perhaps over-simplistic portraits painted by Wolfe and others. 28 Notwithstanding, especially within economically comfortable sectors of society, Wolfe described “[o]rdinary people” disregarding “family, neighborhood, and community, and created worlds of their own.” 29
On the AT, the dynamics of the “Me Generation” manifested into what Benjamin Rader has called the “new strenuosity.” Unlike Rooseveltian recreation devised for the sake of the nation’s future, young upwardly mobile Americans, or “yuppies” as they were labeled, flocked to individualistic physically-based recreational practices where they could find intrinsic fulfillment. Through choosing to confront physical tests, yuppies saw themselves as superseding social constraints and achieving individual sufficiency and improvements that they failed to attain in the workplace. As Rader contends, novel aerobics classes, individualized fitness regimes, the sudden popularity of long-distance-running, and the proliferation of health clubs all oriented people’s attention “to the self, upon the individual rather than upon society or community.” 30
The 1970s marathon fad mirrored this development. As marathon historian Pamela Cooper argues, in the 1970s upwardly mobile and mostly white middle-class Americans reframed distance-running. It had long been seen by the mainstream as a “strange” pastime associated with fringe ethnic groups. In the 1970s, it became a middle-class mechanism for self-fulfillment, not to mention a serious money-making enterprise. 31 The best-selling author of The Complete Book of Running (1977), Jim Fixx, testified on behalf of the new strenuosity. “Having lost faith in much of society, government, business, marriage, the church and so on, we seemed to have turned to ourselves, putting what faith we can muster in our own minds and bodies,” Fixx announced. 32 Like Wolfe’s prototype of Me Decade individuals, runners spurned conventions and searched for independence. Like Rader’s model of the new strenuosity, they achieved such self-sufficiency and meaning through laborious physical activity.
A solo 2,000-plus mile trek where all that is seemingly needed is physical ability, determination, and a few implements that one can carry on one’s back aligned with this spirit of arduous middle and upper-class individualism. As one 1970s thru-hiker described it, traveling the AT from end-to-end entailed significant physical and psychological challenges:
Rain, mud, wet feet, blisters, wind-swept ridges, swollen tendons, pack straps digging into my shoulder; out of food, money, water; diarrhea, getting lost, taking wrong trail; discouraging people, dogs, fever, mental fatigue; always hungry, always thirsty, Trail always going over the toughest part, rattlesnakes, copperheads, rocks of Pennsylvania, bad water of New York, New Jersey, bad Trail markings of southwestern Virginia, floods of Vermont, White Mountain day hikers and their remarks; gnats on top of mountains, blackflies halfway down and mosquitoes at the bottom, shelters taken down because of vandalism, raccoons and porcupines trying to get into the pack. . . . The trail was certainly not a picnic. 33 [End Page 6]
But a picnic was not what yuppies wanted. Rather, a combination of physical stress, mental exhaustion, and hard-earned self-sufficiency represented precisely the type recreation for which many middle and upper-class Americans pined.
Combined with the intense physical demands of long-distance hiking, the AT had an additional appeal. The idea of “wilderness” has been historically situated as, in the words of wilderness historian Roderick Nash, the “antipode of civilization.” Like many social constructions, it is defined by its opposite. And after “the political crusades of the 1960s had apparently given way,” Nash claims, “wilderness seemed to many a necessary ingredient.” 34 Although wilderness had once been something to be feared, conquered, and tamed, by the Me Decade, as environmental scholar William Cronon further explains, wilderness had come to epitomize “a place of freedom in which we can recover the true selves . . . lost to the corrupting influences of our artificial lives.” 35 In the 1970s, for those looking to separate themselves from the manipulations of civilized life, immersion in the “wild” was an ideal solution. 36
AT enthusiasts Ann Sutton and Myron Sutton spoke to these sentimentalities. As they wrote in their 1967 promotional, The Appalachian Trail: Wilderness on the Doorstep (1966), “[t]he Appalachian Trail is one of the last strongholds of peace in a congested and largely urban world.” The Suttons explained that “for many, the idea of hiking, indeed the principle on which the Appalachian Trail was founded, is to get away from the cares of civilization.” On the AT, they proclaimed, “the hiker in effect flees from protocol” and is thus “emancipated.” Indeed, “[w]hatever regimentation the hiker has suffered, at work or at home, his aversions to it vanish or are subdued in the wilderness” 37 A number of social and cultural forces had coalesced. For upwardly mobile Americans of the early 1970s, dissatisfied with “work or home” and dispassionate toward social issues, the desire for a new form of individualism arose. This new model of independence was to be forged apart from society’s normal day-to-day operations and, for many, through autonomous corporeal accomplishments. The inherent physical challenges of the AT and transcendental conceptions of “wilderness” made the “wilderness path” a superlative remedy. The AT could provide what work, home, and society failed to supply.
Consuming the “Boom”
The effect of this type of thinking was far reaching. As the New York Times reported in 1971, an overall “backpacking boom revolutionized American outdoor life.” 38 However, as environmental historian James Turner claims, this “revolution” was predicated on a consumer culture. By the 1970s the very idea of wilderness became entwined with consumerism. Going “back-to-nature” still entailed personal revitalization as it had before World War II, but to stem the damage wrought by overuse, by the late 1960s recreation advocates also pragmatically promoted what they called “minimalist” camping. Open fires, hunting, axes, and log cabins gave way to a cluster of new gadgets and technologies that allowed backpackers to “leave no trace” within wilderness preserves. With the time and money to purchase portable stoves, lightweight sleeping bags, nylon tents, and other high-tech devices, hikers could now pass through the wild without causing significant ecological harm, even if they held little knowledge of ecology. Thus technical innovations and a flourishing marketplace made wilderness adventures possible for inexperienced but well-off adventurers. 39 [End Page 7]
While numbers released by backpacking manufacturers offer insight into the extent of the “boom,” they also indicate the importance of consumer culture and capitalism to wilderness experiences. Camp Trail, the largest backpacking equipment manufacturer in the United States at the time, reported a 500 percent increase in sales between 1966 and 1971. Retailers such as Kelty, Colorado Outdoor, and Trailwise saw sales double between 1969 and 1971. In that brief time span, more than sixty million Americans reported taking a stab at camping. As one Recreation Equipment Inc. general manager noted, his store experienced an increase in sales from 1970 to 1971 greater than its total sales in 1967. 40 As New York City Marathon promoter Fred Lebow notoriously realized around the same time, affluent Americans would pay for vigorous physical challenges. The result was an entire industry devoted to creating and selling innovative running shoes, shorts, and other essentials. The same pattern is found in backpacking. 41
On top of innovative equipment, transportation and the spread of information played roles in the backpacking boom. New highways and air travel made wilderness areas hundreds and thousands of miles away reachable. Magazines and guide books allowed backpackers to plan trips from the comfort of their homes. 42 In parallel to Jim Fixx’s Complete Book of Running, for instance, Collin Fletcher’s 1970 “how-to” backpack text The Compete Walker sold over half a million copies. 43
Then, in the middle of these changes, a text meant to guide AT thru-hikers became available for the first time. Fifty-five-year-old former ACT secretary and volunteer Edward Garvey became one of five successful continuous thru-hikers in 1970. 44 In Appalachian Hiker: The Adventure of a Lifetime, published a year later, Garvey provided a day-by-day account of his trek. However, first he used the opening 160 pages of his text to discuss proper clothing, footwear, and food for the long journey. He gave a detailed description of how he picked equipment. As a smart consumer, he even discussed potential options he chose to go without. Followers of the “new strenuosity” looking for prolonged authentic experiences in the wilderness now had a detailed outline for how to proceed. 45
After only five people including Garvey thru-hiked the AT continuously in 1970, in 1971 a record twenty-three people reported finishing the whole traverse. All but one hiked continuously, and the lone anomaly made the journey in two 1,000-mile sections (in 1969 and 1971, respectively). 46 In 1972, as an early ATC tally shows, at least thirty-five people covered the entire trail. 47 Dubbed by one long-distance-trekker “the year of the thru-hiker,” 1973 stands as the tipping-point. 48 That year, at least ninety-three people successful traversed the whole AT. 49 As one 1973 thru-hiker recalled, “with so many young determined hikers just zipping along, the first few days on the trail seemed like a cross country track meet.” 50 At the ATC’s headquarters in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, there is a single box with information on thru-hikers labeled “1948-1972.” From 1973 to the present each annual class of thru-hikers garners its own box or ever larger boxes. By 2014, the ATC has recognized 14,000 individuals as “2,000-milers.” [End Page 8]
Click for larger view
| i don't know |
The US state of Nevada has borders with Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah and which other state? | Nevada Map, Map of Nevada (NV)
Disclaimer
Close
Disclaimer : All efforts have been made to make this image accurate. However Compare Infobase Limited, its directors and employees do not own any responsibility for the correctness or authenticity of the same.
About Nevada Map
: This detailed map of Nevada shows the bordering states of California , Utah, Arizona, Oregon, and Idaho. Apart from state and international boundaries, it also depicts state highways, interstate highways, and US Federal highways. The Nevada map shows airports, railway network, national parks, lakes, and rivers. Carson City, the state capital, and other important cities such as Las Vegas, Henderson, and Boulder City are depicted on the map. It highlights popular tourist attractions such as Hoover Dam, Mob Museum, Neon Museum, and Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.
About Nevada
Nevada lies in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States. Nevada is the 7th most extensive and the 35th most populous of the 50 US states. It is officially nicknamed the 'Silver State' due to the importance of mining to its history and economy. The state has 16 counties and one independent city. Carson City is the state capital.
History of Nevada
Nevada was a part of the Spanish Empire. After the Mexican War of Independence in 1821, it became a territory of Mexico. It was ceded to the United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. It was at first part of the Utah territory.
The 1859, Comstock Lode discovery ushered in the era of mining in Nevada. It became a separate territory in 1861. It joined the union as the 36th state on October 31, 1864. As it achieved statehood during the civil war, it is also known as the 'Battle Born State'. Nevada legalized gambling in 1931 and state's economy notably benefited.
Geography
A large part of Nevada lies in the Great Basin which is a mild desert. The state has mostly arid topography, though there are many north-south mountain ranges with endorheic valleys in between. Spring Mountain Range is the largest mountain range. Some of the peaks more than 4,000 meters in elevation feature lush forests above desert plains.
The Humboldt River Walker Lake, Pyramid Lake, and Lake Tahoe are major water bodies in the state. Nevada is the mountainous state in the contiguous US. It is also the driest state in the US with average annual rainfall of just 7 inches.
Most Viewed Nevada Maps
Nevada Latitude and Longitude Map
Travel Destinations in Nevada
The state is renowned for its diverse topography and vibrant entertainment scene. Famous for luxury casinos and iconic hotels, Las Vegas is billed as the 'Entertainment Capital of the World'. Non-stop entertaining shows and plenty of hedonistic delights make this city a Disneyland of sorts for adults. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Hoover Dam are popular places to visit near Las Vegas.
The Valley of Fire State Park is Nevada's oldest park and offers endless recreational opportunities.
National Automobile Museum in Reno, Mt. Rose Ski Resort, Lake Mead Recreational Area, and ghost towns like Aurora and Pioche are other popular stops on the tourist trail.
Transportation in Nevada
By Air - McCarran International Airport (LAS) near downtown Las Vegas is the primary gateway to the state.
By Train - Amtrak's California Zephyr stops at three stations in the state: Reno, Elko, and Winnemucca.
By Road - US 6, US 50, US 93, and US 95 are the U.S. Routes serving the state. Interstate 15 passes through the city of Las Vegas.
Education in Nevada
Clark County School District in Nevada is the fifth largest school district by enrollment in the US. University of Nevada in Reno is the oldest University and the only Tier 1 school in Nevada. University of Nevada in Las Vegas and Nevada State College are two other four-year institutions.
Facts about Nevada
| Idaho (disambiguation) |
Who led the Portuguese expedition which was the first to reach India by sea in 1498? | Nevada Geography from NETSTATE
The Land
The Nevada landscape is represented by sandy deserts, rugged, snow covered mountains, forested mountain slopes, and grassy valleys. Located almost entirely within the Great Basin (desert area the reaches into six states), Nevada can be divided into three main land regions; the Columbia Plateau, the Sierra Nevada, and the Basin and Range Region.
In the northeastern corner of Nevada, the land is supported by lava bedrock. Rivers and streams have cut deeply into the bedrock, leaving deep canyons with steep ridges. Near the Idaho border the land turns to open prairie. This is part of the Columbia Plateau.
The Sierra Nevada is the rugged mountain range that cuts across a portion of Nevada south of Carson City. Lake Tahoe, a beautiful glacial lake, on the California/Nevada border lies in one of the valleys of the Sierra Nevada.
The rest of the state is part of the Basin and Range Region. This region is divided by more than 150 mountain ranges running from north to south. The Basin and Range Region is bordered on the west by the Sierra Nevada. In the center of the state are the Toiyabe and Toquima mountain ranges. In the east are the Snake and Toana mountain ranges. Scattered between all of the ranges are buttes (single lone hills) and mesas (flat-topped mountains) as well as flat valleys with lakes or alkalie flats.
Hot springs and geysers are remnants of the dying volcanoes that once populated Nevada.
Climate (All temperatures Fahrenheit)
Highest Temperature
The highest temperature recorded in Nevada is 125°, Fahrenheit. This record high has been recorded on June 29, 1994 at Laughlin.
Lowest Temperature
The lowest temperature in Nevada, -50°, was recorded on January 8th, 1937 at San Jacinto.
Average Temperature
Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 104.5 degrees to a low of 19.5 degrees.
Climate
Average yearly precipitation for Nevada, from 1971 to 2000, is shown on this chart from Oregon State University.
Sources:
The World Almanac of the U.S.A. by Allan Carpenter and Carl Provorse, Copyright © 1998
Christopher H. Exline and James W. Hulse, "Nevada," World Book Online Americas Edition, http://www.worldbookonline.com/wbol/wbPage/na/ar/co/387820, August 15, 2001.
The United States Geological Survey Website
| i don't know |
'Banyana Banyana' which translates as 'Girls Girls' is the nickname of which nation's women's football team? | Football in South Africa
Football in South Africa
Tweet on Twitter
Football – or soccer, as many of us call it – is the most widely played sport in South Africa, with its traditional support base in the black community. For many South Africans, the country’s proudest sporting moment came when we won the African Nations Cup on home turf in 1996.
Soccer is intensely followed, and the quality of the local game keeps improving – as demonstrated by the increasing number of South African players-in-exile among the glamorous European clubs.
Local teams, organised in a national league plus a plethora of knock-out cups, are followed with passion by paint-daubed, costumed, whistling and cheering fans. Mercifully, the country has been spared the spectre of football hooliganism.
There’s probably no quicker way to “break the ice” with the South African on the street than to demonstrate some knowledge of local soccer. To help you improve your conversational skills, here’s a crash course on the country’s most important teams and competitions.
First Division
BAFANA BAFANA
One of the first gifts that democracy brought South Africa was its first truly representative national soccer team.
In 1992, two years before the country’s first democratic election, the united South African team came into being, playing Cameroon in its first match in Durban on 9 July. It was a triumphant occasion for the side that came to be known as Bafana Bafana – “The Boys” – as they edged the West African powerhouse by a goal to nil.
However, the win concealed the negative effect that apartheid-enforced isolation had had on local soccer. This lack of international experience showed as South Africa lost four matches in a row – to Cameroon, Zambia, Nigeria and Zambia – in failing to qualify for the 1994 African Nations Cup.
When South Africa hosted the 1996 African Nations Cup, however, South Africa proved they belonged in the finals by defeating Tunisia 2-0 in the final. It was during the team’s run to the title that its nickname, “Bafana Bafana”, became known around the world.
Read more: Bafana Bafana – a quick history
BANYANA BANYANA
South Africa’s senior women’s team, Banyana Banyana – “The Girls” – have traditionally been the strongest team in southern Africa and one of the best in Africa.
For many years, Nigeria were their stumbling block, but that barrier was finally broken down in 2012 in the semi-finals of the Caf African Women’s Championship. Like Nigeria, though, Equatorial Guinea has twice beaten Banyana in the final of African Women’s Championship.
The team finished runner-up to Nigeria in 1995 and 2000, and runner-up to Equatorial Guinea in 2008 and 2012. There were also second place finishes at the All Africa Games in 2003 and 2007. One of their biggest achievements was qualifying for the Olympic Games in 2012 in London. In a very tough pool, up against three teams ranked in the top 10 in the world, Banyana went down 1-4 to Sweden, lost 0-3 to Canada, but then held World Cup champions Japan to a goalless draw.
GLAMOUR CLUBS
Kaizer Chiefs
South Africa’s favourite soccer club never seems to play an away match. “The Amakhozi” often draw more supporters at away games than their opposition.
Founded in 1970 by Kaizer Motaung – who made his name in the United States when the American league was drawing such superstars as Pele, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer – Kaizer Chiefs are one of South Africa’s most successful teams.
Thrice the winners of South Africa’s Premier Soccer League since its launch in 1997, the Soweto, Johannesburg-based team secured their first African title in 2002 when they won the Cup Winners Cup – renamed after Nelson Mandela – by defeating Inter Luanda of Angola in the final.
Orlando Pirates
Formed in 1937, Orlando Pirates has a support base extending across the country’s borders.
Four-time winners of SA’s Premier Soccer League since its launch in 1997, “The Buccaneers” are the only South African team so far to have won Africa’s premier club competition, the Champions League, a feat they achieved in 1995.
Like Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates – who are also based in Soweto, Johannesburg – are seldom disadvantaged when they play away from home, with fanatical supporters spread throughout South Africa.
The fierce traditional rivalry between Pirates and Chiefs makes for one of the biggest derby matches in the world. In November 2007, on the day preceding the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ draw in Durban, the Chiefs-Pirates derby was broadcast throughout Africa and 43 European countries, a first for South African football.
Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United
While Chiefs and Pirates have long battled for the title of South Africa’s most popular club, other outfits have emerged to challenge for the position, among them two Tshwane/Pretoria-based clubs: Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United.
Backed by billionaire mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, Mamelodi Sundowns have the finances to ensure a squad with depth and quality. The club is often compared to England’s Chelsea, which rose to prominence partly through the backing of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
“The Brazilians” have been the most successful team since the formation of the Premier Soccer League in 1997, winning the title on five occasions, most recently in 2007.
Since then, however, they have had to surrender the title to another “youngster” among South African football clubs. SuperSport United was formed in 1994, when pay-television company M-Net bought Pretoria City and renamed the club after its popular sports channel.
They lifted the PSL title in three successive years, from 2008 to 2010.
PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE
South Africa’s top soccer league, featuring the country’s best 16 clubs, came into being in 1997.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has helped raise the standard of club football in South Africa, providing the sport with better media coverage and much-improved revenue through strong sponsorship deals. It has also provided a platform for local players to make their mark and catch the eye of overseas clubs.
Sponsorship boom
In June 2007, the PSL pulled off an astounding coup when it signed a R1.6-billion broadcast deal with SuperSport International.
In August 2007, corporate heavyweights South African Breweries (SAB) and Absa Bank announced a joint sponsorship of more than R500-million over the next five years for South African football. SAB is behind Bafana Bafana, while Absa sponsors the PSL’s Premier Division.
In February 2008, Nedbank announced that it would be putting up R20-million in prize money for the Nedbank Cup knockout competition as part of a five-year, R400- million sponsorship of the local game.
And in August 2008, cellular giant MTN committed the same amount – R400- million over five years – to the local game, while taking over the title sponsorship of the Top 8 knockout tournament.
These deals combined have made South Africa’s Premier Soccer League the seventh biggest earner of sponsorship revenue among football leagues worldwide.
Premier Soccer League champions:
A number of knockout competitions are played alongside the league fixtures in South African soccer.
Nedbank Cup
A knockout competition modelled on England’s famous FA Cup, giving lower league teams the chance to do battle with premier league clubs, has been in existence since 1978, under various names: the Mainstay Cup (1978-1987), Bobsave Superbowl (1988-2002), Absa Cup (2003-07) and, from 2008, the Nedbank Cup.
With a total prize purse of R19.3-million, including R6-million for the winners, R2.5-million for the runners-up and R1-million for the losing semi-finalists, the Nedbank Cup is the most lucrative domestic soccer competition in Africa.
Nedbank Cup champions:
| South Africa |
Tom O'Connor is the father-in-law of which, now retired, Olympic champion athlete? | World Cup 2010 Fan Guide | South Africa | Cape Town
World Cup 2010 Fan Guide
Publishing CreditsPublisher
The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa
SAFA House, 76 Nasrec Road,Nasrec Ext 3, 2190Gauteng, South AfricaPrivate Bag X 2010, Mondeor 2110Johannesburg, South Africa
Responsible for content:
The 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa
FIFAWith thanks to:www.southafrica.infoSA TourismThe GCIS
Layout and design:
Carol Cole Advertising & Designwww .carolcole.co.zaemail: [email protected]
Images:
| i don't know |
Who won the Men's 100 metres at the 2011 World Athletics Championships? | Usain Bolt disqualified from men's 100 metres final at World Athletics Championships in Daegu as fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake wins gold - Telegraph
Athletics
Usain Bolt disqualified from men's 100 metres final at World Athletics Championships in Daegu as fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake wins gold
The man is human after all. Amid gasps of shock at the World Championships in Daegu, Usain Bolt was sensationally disqualified from the 100 metres final when he became the latest athlete to fall foul of the one-strike-and-you’re-out false start rule.
By Simon Hart , in Daegu
1:20PM BST 28 Aug 2011
Follow
The triple Olympic champion, and an unbackable favourite to retain his world title, burst from his blocks in lane five but within just a couple of strides was tearing off his Jamaican vest in fury, roaring his frustration as he realised the enormity of his error.
Like Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu a day earlier, his false start was not even close. His mistake was visible to the naked eye from all parts of the stadium, prompting exclamations of disbelief among shocked spectators.
Bolt was barely able to contain his anger as stormed off the track and attempted to leave the stadium before he was stopped by a local official. With his head turned towards a wall, he could not even bring himself to watch the final, which was won in his absence by his Jamaican training partner, Yohan Blake, in 9.93sec.
American Walter Dix was third in 10.08sec with Kim Collins, the 1993 world champion from St Kitts and Nevis, turning back the clock to claim a bronze medal at the age of 35.
It was an unforgiveable lapse from the world’s greatest athlete, who had appeared his usual relaxed self in the build-up to the race as he horsed around in front the TV cameras, pointing to his rivals while shaking his head, then pointing to himself and nodding.
Related Articles
Pistorius qualifies for semis
28 Aug 2011
But the one chink in his armoury has always been his indifferent start, and perhaps the need to get out quickly was weighing heavily on him after a season in which he has strolled to find top gear.
He also false-started in the semi-finals of the last World Championships in Berlin two years ago, but that was when the first infringement was punishable only by a warning. He went on to take gold in the final, setting a barely imaginable world record of 9.58sec.
But this time there was no second chance for the Jamaican, who has made no secret of his desire to be considered a legend of his sport. To achieve that he needs to keep winning titles, he admits.
Being reduced to a spectator in the biggest race of the year was certainly not in the plan.
Blake, meanwhile, said the win felt like a dream, and thanked training partner Bolt.
"I can't find words to explain it," said. "My training partner has been there for me.
"I feel like I want to cry. I've been praying for this moment. It feels like a dream."
Asked if he was worried by the quick start made by Collins, he added: "I stayed cool. I knew I was going to catch him and I did."
Collins suggested the false-start rule is not right in its current form, which sees an athlete disqualified for any early move.
"I don't think it is," he said. "These things happen and you've got to give people a chance."
| Yohan Blake |
Which French mathematician and physicist, who has an SI unit named after him, lived from 1623 to 1662? | 100 Metres men Final IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 - YouTube
100 Metres men Final IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011
Want to watch this again later?
Sign in to add this video to a playlist.
Need to report the video?
Sign in to report inappropriate content.
Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.
Uploaded on Aug 28, 2011
1 Yohan Blake 9.92
| i don't know |
In which Nottinghamshire town, the largest in the county, is the Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre? | Mansfield District Leisure Trust
Mansfield District Leisure Trust
Mansfield District Leisure Trust
Mansfield District Councils leisure facilities are managed by Mansfield District Leisure Trust. Our mission is to provide active and healthy lifestyles for all in a safe, warm, clean, friendly, fun environment at an affordable cost.
| Mansfield |
What type of creature is 'Great A 'Tuin' which swims through space supporting four huge elephants, which themselves support 'Discworld' in the Terry Pratchett novels? | Mansfield pool to be named after Adlington, it is confirmed
Mansfield pool to be named after Adlington, it is confirmed
Thursday, 20 August 2009
April 30 - THE pool where double Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington (pictured) learned to swim will be re-named in her honour after its £5 million transformation, it has been confirmed today by officials in Mansfiield.
District Councillors in the Nottinghamshire town voted overwhelmingly in favour of renaming Mansfield Woodhouse's Sherwood Baths as the Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre when it reopens in January.
The idea was first proposed after Adlington claimed Olympic gold medals in the 400 and 800 metres freestyle in Beijing last year.
Mansfield Mayor Tony Egginton said: "Rebecca's Olympic achievements placed Mansfield firmly on the sporting world map and the District received, and continues to receive, significant media coverage as a consequence of her association with the area.
"Since this time, she has been a fantastic ambassador for the District."
The pool is being totally refurbished and when work is complete it will boast six lanes instead of the current four and will have state-of-the-art changing facilities, an enlarged fitness suite and a ground source heat pump to reduce its carbon footprint.
Adlington said: "It's such a great honour for the pool to be named after me.
"As somewhere I learned to swim when I was growing up, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that this would happen. I'm delighted that my home town is celebrating my swimming in this way."
Adlington learned to swim at the facility as a six-year-old with the Council's swimming lessons programme.
She later joined Sherwood Colliery Swimming Club before being talent-spotted and joining the Nova Mansfield Development Squad.
Christine Smith, a Mansfield Councillor, said: "I think Rebecca has demonstrated to young people that hard work and commitment over a long period of time can bring achievement."
Timeline
| i don't know |
'Killer Queen' is a villainess in which musical? | Queen (Music) - TV Tropes
2009 - Live in Ukraine note The second of two live albums made with Paul Rodgers
2012 - Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest '86
2014 - Queen: Live at the Rainbow '74
Non-album singles:
1974 - "Seven Seas of Rhye" note Otherwise available on their 1974 album Queen II with "See What a Fool I've Been" as the B-side.
1980 - "Play the Game" note Otherwise available on their 1980 album The Game with "A Human Body" as the B-side.
1981 - "Under Pressure" note Otherwise available on their 1982 album Hot Space. Also a collaboration with David Bowie with "Soul Brother" as the B-side.
1984 - "Radio Ga Ga" note Otherwise available on their 1984 album The Works with "I Go Crazy" as the B-side.
1984 - "Thank God It's Christmas" with "Man on the Prowl" as the first B-side note Otherwise available on their album The Works and "Keep Passing the Open Windows" as the second B-side note Otherwise available on The Works
1985 - "One Vision" note Otherwise available on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic with "Blurred Vision" as the B-side.
1986 - "A Kind of Magic" note Otherwise available on their album A Kind of Magic with "A Dozen Red Roses for My Darling" as the first B-side and "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" as the second B-side note Otherwise available on A Kind of Magic
1986 - "Who Wants to Live Forever" note Available on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic with "Killer Queen" as the first B-side note Otherwise available on their 1974 album Killer Queen and "Forever" as the second B-side.
1989 - "Breakthru" note Otherwise available on their album The Miracle with "Stealin'" as the B-side.
1989 - "The Invisible Man" note Otherwise available on The Miracle with "Hijack My Heart" as the B-side.
1991 - "I'm Going Slightly Mad" note Otherwise available on their 1991 album Innuendo with "Lost Opportunity" as the first B-side and "The Hitman" as the second B-side. note Otherwise available on their album Innuendo
1997 - "No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)" with "Tie Your Mother Down" as a double A-side note Otherwise available on their 1976 album A Day at the Races and "We Will Rock You" and "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" as a double B-side. note Remixes otherwise not available elsewhere
This band contains examples of:
A Cappella : "We Will Rock You". The song is generally set in a cappella form, using only stomping and clapping as a rhythmic beat, except at the very end, which has a guitar solo. Alternately, there is the lesser-known "fast" version, played in their live shows from the late 1970's to the early 1980's. Here's a BBC semi-live recording of said version
.
Achievements in Ignorance : Roger Taylor's a more instinctive musician, so he doesn't know and doesn't care about the names of some of the chords or harmonic functions, etc. When he composed "Radio Ga Ga", he used some chords that he was completely unfamiliar with, not knowing what they were actually called. He wrote that song on piano, knowing that it would encourage him to 'feel' his way and be more creative than if he played guitar. Freddie occasionally did the opposite; he mostly wrote on piano, but composed some songs on guitar. He felt it was a good process precisely because his limited guitar skills allowed him to write without over-thinking it.
All Drummers Are Animals : Roger Taylor probably cultivated the hardest rocking image in the group.
Ambiguously Brown : Freddie. His real name was Farrokh Bulsara, he was born in Zanzibar, East Africa to Parsi parents, and he went to boarding school in Bombay, India . According to Wikipedia , he was named one of the 60 most influential Asian heroes of the last 60 years.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking : The titular character from "The March of the Black Queen" is known to 'boil' (people), 'bake' (people) and to 'never dot her "i"s'.
Badass Boast :
In "Princes of the Universe", "Gimme the Prize", "We Are the Champions" (no time for losers), and "Seven Seas of Rhye". The lyrics also contain bits of A God Am I . Given that the first two are from Highlander this should not be surprising. "Khashoggi's Ship" also counts for the six of us who've heard it. Just partying with a famous arms dealer, gun-wielding giants be damned.
The words "No Synthesizers", which appeared on every Queen album cover prior to 1980's "The Game", are a Badass Boast . And if you don't believe that, go listen to all of A Night at the Opera again.
Badass Moustache : Freddie Mercury. As one November ad says, it turned Freddie from merely a queen to Queen!
Berserk Button :
Brian and Roger's commentary for Queen Rock Montreal reveals that, at this point, Freddie was emphatically not pleased about making a concert film, didn't really get on with the director and thought the cameramen were getting in the way. Since the plan was to take footage from both nights' shows, he tried to make a mess of that by wearing trousers on one night and shorts on the second.
Freddie also got really annoyed at one concert when fans showed up with banners that read "DISCO SUCKS" after the release of Hot Space. "It's only a bloody record, for Christ's sake, people get so excited."
Roger, on the other hand, musically disliked the idea of steering Queen too far away from their rock roots into funk or techno-pop as they had by The '80s , though he still acquiesced in the end.
Big "WHY?!" : "Under Pressure" features Freddie Mercury screaming the word "Why".
Bookends :
"Tie Your Mother Down", the first song from A Day at the Races opens with a "White Man" foreshadowing that segues into an endless staircase-esque sound that goes right into the actual song and doesn't appear again until the very end of the album, serving as the coda for "Teo Torriate".
"White Queen" from Queen II begins and ends the same way. This was most definitely intentionally done to mirror the song's thematic progression, with "As It Began" being the subtitle of the song.
Their last album, Made in Heaven, begins and ends with "It's a Beautiful Day." On another level, as "Beautiful Day (Reprise)" heads for the close, samples from "Seven Seas of Rhye," the final song on their first album, are mixed in to the track.
The band's line-up: It started with May and Taylor playing together in Smile, and now they are the only ones left performing.
Boring but Practical : Brian May's method for supplying the harp parts on "Love of My Life". Since he couldn't actually play the instrument, he recorded each note separately and edited them together to get the chord sequences he wanted.
Break Up Song : "Save Me", "Need Your Loving Tonight", "It's a Hard Life", and probably some others.
Brilliant, but Lazy : Freddie went through this phase for some albums and his solo effort Mr Bad Guy. Some of his songs would be originated by asking the producer or engineer to generate a drum beat and then he'd just ad-lib and go out expecting the others to finish off the work for him. During most of his career he averted this by being a very professional workaholic, both in the '70s and in the last years of his life.
British Rockstar : Oh, you better believe it.
Broken Aesop : "Radio Ga Ga" is all about how music video is ruining music and we should all just listen to the radio instead. The accompanying music video features lavish sets and costumes, footage from the film Metropolis and a montage of clips of music videos from earlier Queen songs.
Continuity Nod :
"Love of My Life" has "when I get older I will be there at your side to remind you how I still love you, I still love you". Sixteen years later, "These Are the Days of Our Lives" (by a different songwriter) has an older (and dying) Freddie singing, "when I look, and I find, I still love you... I still love you." The video makes it all even more tearful, as it was Freddie's last.
"Seaside Rendezvous" from A Night at the Opera has "I love you madly", while "Was It All Worth It" from The Miracle has "We love you madly".
"Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" (both released on one single) reference each other; "Bicycle Race" features "Fat-bottomed girls will be riding today" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" has "Get on your bikes and ride!"
One of the album tracks from Jazz ("Let Me Entertain You") includes the lyric "We'll breakfast at Tiffany's / We'll sing to you in Japanese" as a reference to the song "Teo Toriatte" from A Day at the Races (which had a chorus sung in phonetic Japanese).
The symmetrical group image featured in the cover of Queen II (and on the profile pic) was frequently used in videos, including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and an updated one in "One Vision".
"A Winter's Tale", one of the few songs from Made in Heaven recorded during the post-Innuendo sessions, has a subtle but charming one: "It's a kind of magic in the air".
"It's a Beautiful Day" has a relatively big one that might have not even been intentional in that Freddie continuously chants "No One's Gonna Stop Me Now" throughout parts of the song, either a generic boast of his, or a fairly glaring reference to one of his songs that was (when "It's A Beautiful Day"'s vocals and piano were recorded) very recently released note "It's a Beautiful Day" was partially recorded in 1980, a mere year or so after the Jazz album was released .
"No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)", being the reflective song that it is, also has several, namely the lines "Another tricky situation", "Forever paying every due" and "Now the party must be over", referencing "It's a Hard Life", "We Are the Champions", and "Party" / "Khashoggi's Ship", respectively.
The clip to "Radio Ga Ga" features brief excerpts of several of their clips to earlier songs.
"Soul Brother", an early '80s B-side, references "You're My Best Friend", "We Are the Champions", "We Will Rock You", "Flash", "Keep Yourself Alive", "Somebody to Love", itself and "Under Pressure" in its second verse.
Cover Version :
They never actually recorded any cover songs on their albums (except "God Save the Queen" at the end of Night at the Opera, guitar orchestrated by May, but they performed plenty of cover songs during live shows. Examples include "Big Spender" at their early concerts, " Jailhouse Rock " on all their shows from 1973 until 1982 including the version on Queen Rock Montreal, and a medley of "Hello Mary Lou", " You're So Square ", " Tutti Frutti " and "Gimme Some Lovin'" on the Magic Tour of 1986.
"Doin' All Right" is a song that was originally done by May's previous band Smile, so past member Tim Staffell also demanded royalties.
Freddie's biggest solo hit, "The Great Pretender", is a cover of a song by The Platters.
Dangerously Short Skirt : Freddie and Roger both wore one in the video for " I Want to Break Free".
A Day in the Limelight :
1977-1982 concerts featured drummer Roger Taylor singing lead on one song, "I'm in Love with My Car", on which Freddie stuck to piano and backing vocals. Most of their albums had one song with Brian singing lead and one song with Roger singing lead. Brian also occasionally played piano, such as on "Save Me" and "Teo Torriatte", while John Deacon played some guitar on "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Misfire". Less frequently but still, Roger would play guitar, bass and provide vocals in addition to drums.
Roger singing lead vocals was particularly notable in that his performances of "I'm in Love with My Car" were the only instances where another band member sang lead vocals live before 1992. Freddie sang in Roger's place for "Modern Times Rock and Roll" and Brian's for "'39", as well as "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" (though it is debated if the latter was actually played live, as no bootleg recordings exist to verify it).
Roger had a sort of I Am the Band moment with "Fight from the Inside", which was entirely recorded by himself on vocals, guitar, bass and drums. Some other of his compositions at that time were almost entirely recorded by him too (e.g. "Drowse" and "Sheer Heart Attack") , with minimal contributions by the other members (generally some guitar noises by Brian).
Deadpan Snarker : Freddie.
Deliberate Monochrome : The "I'm Going Slightly Mad" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives" videos to cover up Freddie's ailing health.
Determinator : In their commentaries for the music videos from The Miracle on the Greatest Video Hits II DVD, Roger Taylor and Brian May often comment on how Freddie Mercury put as much energy as he could into making the best possible videos in spite of how fragile his health had become by 1989.
The story of how the vocals to "The Show Must Go On" (itself an example of the trope) were recorded is similarly famous:
When Brian May presented the final demo to Mercury, he had doubts that Mercury would be physically capable of singing the song's highly demanding vocal line, due to the extent of his illness at the time. To May's surprise, when the time came to record the vocals, Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll fucking do it, darling!", then proceeded to nail the vocal line in one take without problems.
By the time Freddie recorded vocals for "Mother Love", his last studio recording before his death, he could no longer stand up on his own (and wasn't able to finish the recording).
Dirty Old Man : The title character in "Great King Rat" is described as one in the lyrics.
Epic Rocking :
Found mostly in their '70s material, particularly on their first two albums. Songs close to or exceeding six minutes in length include "Bohemian Rhapsody", "The Prophet's Song", "Liar", "March of the Black Queen", "Father to Son", "It's Late", "Innuendo", and that 22-minute ambiance at the end of "Made in Heaven" .
Brian's first solo effort (1984's Star Fleet Project EP) was three songs of epic rocking, featuring contributions from Eddie Van Halen and an extended tribute to Eric Clapton .
Every Episode Ending : Played with. A few (but not all) of the songs from A Night at the Opera have similar endings: The song will pretend to end , but then a heavily panned coda appears out of nowhere. At first, it sounds like it builds up to something, but nothing's really done with it.
Fading into the Next Song : Used on several albums. For example:
The guitar at the end of "The Prophet's Song" fades into the introduction for "Love of My Life" on A Night at the Opera.
Also, "Death on Two Legs" / "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" / "I'm in Love with My Car".
Done twice consecutively on Sheer Heart Attack: "Tenement Funster", "Flick of the Wrist" and "Lily of the Valley" merge into one another seamlessly.
"Procession", "Father to Son", and "White Queen (As It Began)" merge seamlessly into one another. "Ogre Battle" merges into "Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", which then merges into "Nevermore". "The March of the Black Queen" merges into "Funny How Love Is". These were all on the same album, Queen II.
First Girl Wins : When the band began, Freddie was dating a beautiful blonde English woman named Mary Austin. They moved in together for a while before breaking up in 1976. After that, Freddie dated many men and women, eventually being domestic partners with an Irish man, Jim Hutton. When Freddie died, Mary received half of his fortune (the other half was split between his sister and his parents), including his mansion, his piano, and publishing royalties.
Foreshadowing : The Miracle has the title song along with "Breakthru", both of which mention "All God's People" and "Headlong" in their lyrics, respectively note These are the titles of songs from the album that directly followed The Miracle, Innuendo. In the case of "Headlong", the lyrics in context are "rushing headlong", a phrase it shares with the "Headlong" song . The degree to which these were intentional is hard to say.
Gadgeteer Genius : Brian May holds a PhD in Astrophysics. He designed and built his guitar, the Red Special, with his father in 1964. The guitar's neck is mostly a piece of wood salvaged from an old fireplace mantle-piece, and the tremolo bar is a motorcycle handbrake combined with a knitting needle. The guitar's body was made out of an old mahogany table that was going to be replaced anyway. John Deacon also tinkered with electronics in his youth and later graduated with a First in electrical engineering. He joined in part because the others were impressed by his skill with equipment. He designed and built a guitar amplifier that Brian deemed good enough to use while recording. In fact, Brian May is about as close as you can get to being the Doctor in the flesh.
Gag Boobs : Freddie, (in)famously in "I Want to Break Free".
Genre Roulette : A typical Queen album from The '70s might contain elements of heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, music-hall numbers, Dixieland jazz, folk, blues-rock, Beatlesque pop-rock, glam-rock and ballads. Later albums would include funk, dance music, synth-pop, punk-rock, rockabilly, reggae and/or new wave influences. Freddie suggested that this was why it took so long (close to fifteen years after Queen began) for Roger and himself to put out the first Queen solo albums; the band was four solo projects that came together to create the Queen sound. While all band-members shared an eclectic approach to song-writing and a tendency for experiments, generally speaking:
Mercury was responsible for many of their ballads ("Love of My Life", "My Melancholy Blues"), pop songs and stylistic experiments ("Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love" etc.)
If you're head-banging to an incredibly guitar-heavy Hard Rock tune it's probably been written by May ("Prophet's Song", "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You"). May was responsible for his fair share of Tear Jerker ballads, too ("Save Me"; "All Dead, All Dead", "Who Wants to Live Forever") and acoustic folk — '30's jazz — or skiffle-influenced songs ("'39"; "Good Company"; "Dreamers' Ball"), often featuring ukulele-banjo.
If the song is more old school rock-ish and its lyrics deal with things like rebellion, passion, living a life outside the rules etc., it was probably penned by Taylor ("Tenement Funster", "I'm in Love with My Car", "Sheer Heart Attack", "Fight from the Inside"). Somewhere in the early to mid '80s, Roger began composing pop songs with a heavier focus on synths ("Radio Ga Ga", "Breakthru").
The other band members have observed that Deacon was less influenced by bands like Led Zeppelin or The Who than the rest of them and had preferred Soul and American Funk music in his youth. As a result a lot of his songs have a kind of Motown pop style ("You're My Best Friend", "Misfire") or a funky, bass-driven sound ("Another One Bites the Dust", "I Want to Break Free"). He also wrote several ballads, including "Spread Your Wings", "You and I" and "Friends Will Be Friends" (the last one in collaboration with Freddie, with whom he also co-wrote "The Miracle").
Glam Rock : One of the longest lasting bands from this genre, bridging the gap between the artsy ( David Bowie and Roxy Music ) and heavy (Sweet, Slade) sides of the genre.
God Save Us from the Queen! : The title character in "March of the Black Queen" is clearly not a nice lady.
Go Out with a Smile :
"These Are the Days of Our Lives" was written and released shortly before Freddie Mercury's death. At the end of the music video (filmed in black and white to de-emphasise his frailty) Freddie looks directly at the camera and whispers 'I still love you', his last ever words on camera. The fans all knew he was saying goodbye, and we cried.
At the very end of "Made in Heaven", after an eerie twenty-minute instrumental track — which some theorize is a soundscape representing the band's twenty years together — the absolute last thing you hear is Freddie Mercury camply quipping "Fab!" in approval.
There's no denying that "The Show Must Go On" is this.
"Was It All Worth It", from The Miracle, was written with this in mind.
Come on, "Teo Torriatte" (Japanese), "Las Palabras de Amor" (Spanish), "Seaside Rendezvous" (French).
Rather lampshaded in "Let Me Entertain You":
Just take a look at the menu
We'll give you rock à la carte
We'll breakfast at Tiffany's, we'll sing to you in Japanese
We're only here to entertain you
Gratuitous Panning : Most notable in "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Killer Queen", but it happened all the time. Part of their unique production style, along with all the overdubbing. The middle choral section of "The Prophet's Song" uses this trope to make it easier to follow.
Greatest Hits Album :
The two main ones — Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits II — were released in 1981 and 1991, respectively, and collected the hit singles of the preceding decade. A third album, Greatest Hits III, is probably more aptly described as "Greatest Leftovers", consisting mainly of live Queen+ recordings and some remixes, although it does contain some good songs which were left out on I and II and needed to be included.
The US received the 1981 Greatest Hits (with a different track list), as well as both a modified version of Greatest Hits (red cover) and the US-only Classic Queen (with a blue cover similar to Greatest Hits II) in 1992. Classic was issued largely to capitalize on "Queen fever" brought on by Wayne's World (see above).
Grief Song : One of the songs from Queen Rocks, "No-One But You", was written by the remaining members of Queen not only in mourning of Freddie, but as a general lament for public figures who suffered tragic deaths, spurred by the sudden passing of Princess Diana.
Heavy Meta : Roger Taylor wrote quite a few songs about rock music. His very first composition for the group was "Modern Times Rock and Roll", after all.
Heavy Mithril : Queen's first two albums are loaded
with this. Most of them were penned by Freddie.
He's Got Legs : As the "I Want To Break Free" video showed, Roger Taylor could sure rock a miniskirt...
Hidden Depths : Brian May earned his PhD in astrophysics in 2007.
High-Class Call Girl : "Killer Queen" is about one of these.
Freddie: It's about a high-class call girl. I'm trying to say that classy people can be whores, too.
Homage : The video for "Radio Ga Ga" is a love letter to Metropolis .
I Call It "Vera" : Brian May's guitar, the Red Special, which he built from scraps as a teenager. Also of note was the amp often used with the Red Special, the "Deacy Amp", built by Electrical Engineer turned Bassist, John Deacon.
Iconic Item :
Freddie's bottomless microphone stand; during a gig very early in the band's career, his mic stand snapped in half in the middle of a song, but he carried on with the intact bit and decided it would be more interesting to keep it like that.
Brian May's Red Special guitar.
Important Haircut : Freddie, Roger and John all had long hair in the 1970's, but then appeared with shorter hair around the time of News of the World, which represented new directions in the group's style. Freddie's famous mustache, which he grew around the time of The Game and the Flash Gordon soundtrack, also accompanied changes to Queen's sound. Only Brian May has kept the same haircut (huge, dark, and curly) for the past 40 years; one of his conditions for Queen's inclusion in LEGO Rock Band was that they portray his hair accurately.
Inspiration Nod :
The band recorded Queen II in August 1973, shortly after Pink Floyd 's The Dark Side of the Moon was at the peak of its popularity. Both albums have a heartbeat fade-in on the opening track.
Life is Real is Freddie's tribute to John Lennon, and includes the line "Lennon is a genius, living in every pore".
Intercourse with You : Hey, guess what "Get Down, Make Love" is about.
"Somebody to Love" is in the style of Aretha Franklin , of whom Freddie Mercury was a fan.
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is in the style of Elvis Presley .
"Innuendo" is in the style of Led Zeppelin , particularly paying homage to the eastern sty-lings of "Kashmir". Roger Taylor described it as Zeppelin meets Oscar Wilde; a "very English" track.
"Life is Real" from the often-overlooked Hot Space is in the minimalist style of John Lennon.
"Another One Bites the Dust" was a disco song in the style of Chic ; depending on who you ask, it was either an homage or something that Deacon basically just lifted from them and made minor edits to.
Ironic Echo :
"Good Company", with the line "take care of those you call your own and keep good company".
"Sleeping on the Sidewalk" also has this: "I may get hungry but I sure don't wanna go home [...] I don't get hungry and I sure don't wanna go home [...] I may get hungry and I sure do wanna go home".
Ironic Nursery Tune :
"Seven Seas of Rhye" is a surreal, apocalyptic A God Am I rant by Freddie Mercury including such lyrics as "I'll defy the laws of nature and come out alive / and then I'll get you." It ends by fading into a sample of the old music-hall tune "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside".
"Great King Rat", a surreal song describing the less than savoury life of the title character, has a chorus based on "Old King Cole": "Great King Rat was a dirty old man and a dirty old man was he."
I Thought It Meant : Here's a big one. The "no synthesizers" disclaimers that appeared on Queen's albums (until they started using synthesizers) weren't a sign of their hatred for synthesizers; the disclaimer was usually put at the end of the credits for each album. As one of Queen's former managers said, "We would spend four days multi-layering a guitar solo and then some imbecile from the record company would come in and say, 'I like that synth!'"
Freddie adored cats. "Delilah" is titled after his favourite cat.
"All Dead, All Dead" was written after the death of one of Brian May's cats.
Long-Runner Lineup :
Taken to its Logical Extreme : A Long Runner band (20 years) with only one line-up: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor note However, in the early, early days, they went through several bassists before they found John .
From 1984, Spike Edney was known as the unofficial fifth member of the band, playing keyboards and guitar on tours. He has also stayed around for their live collaborations into the 2010's.
Since Mercury's death and Deacon's retirement, "Queen +" has had the line-up of May and Taylor + various musicians and vocalists.
Long Song, Short Scene : Their version of "New York, New York", which can be heard in Highlander , never got a full version recording (they only recorded it partially, to match the scene it plays over: Kurgan's drive through New York). It's never been released, except as a snippet in the movie itself.
Lost in Translation : The "I Want To Break Free" video was effectively lost in geographic translation. Virtually no one outside England knew what the hell they were looking at, as they would have been unfamiliar with Coronation Street.
Lucky Charms Title : "Body Language ↑⬱". The arrows, which appear on the sleeves for both the song's single and the Hot Stuff album, as well as in the video for the song, were never explained by any member of Queen.
Lyrical Cold Open :
Many of their songs have this. Some loudly announce themselves with an opening chorus ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Bicycle Race", "It's a Hard Life", "I Want It All") while others open with a quiet fade in of Freddie's vocals ("We Are the Champions", "Save Me", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"). "Somebody to Love" does a bit of both ("Can... Any-bo-dyyyy...").
In the remix of "Under Pressure" featured in Greatest Hits III, you have Mercury sing / speaking "You say New York is dangerous, even though they say it's not this way" then Bowie going "Even the blind man can see it's not so...", before there's a sudden percussion, and the scream, "RAGE!!!!!!", where a very up-tempo version of the song begins.
Lyrical Dissonance : Quite a few songs.
"Don't Try Suicide", which is about suicide note while it's nice that Queen are, in fact, not in favour of suicide, the text really sucks as an anti-suicide message, being flippant and dismissive rather than empathetic and supportive but sounds like a reject from West Side Story .
"'39" is a happy, upbeat skiffle song, with lyrics about a space voyage for one year, but due to the time dilation effect, one hundred years have passed, and everyone the protagonist loves is now dead.
"Tie Your Mother Down": Frustrated lyrics advocating extreme measures to avoid family interference with a date, sung in big massed choruses to an incredibly upbeat guitar riff.
Then there's "Who Needs You" which is about breaking up with someone who is a 'spoilt thing", with a catchy, upbeat tune.
"Put Out the Fire", a cheery pop-rock tune... And the lyrics are told from the perspective of a man who used his gun against everyone he had a problem with, including his unfaithful lover and his neighbor she was having an affair with, and an allusion to the murder of John Lennon.
"Under Pressure" is an incredibly upbeat and cheery song with lyrics such as "It's the terror of knowing what this world is about / Watching some good friends scream 'let me out'".
"One Vision" is an upbeat, inspirational song mostly about Martin Luther King, Jr . It was covered by Laibach , who rendered it as a German-language faux-Nazi song . Critics at the time had sometimes equated Queen with fascism, due to the hold Freddie had over the audience coming as one and the critics' dismissal of the kind of arena rock Queen did so well.
On the opposite end of the spectrum (Angry song with light lyrics), "Dead on Time" is a driving, pulse-pounding, heavy piece... About how rushing around all the time isn't that great and you should take it easy.
Mind Screw :
Applies to a lot of their work, with "Bohemian Rhapsody" being the defining example. However, since the very moment people could analyse it, many have claimed to "get" it, even if Freddie himself has said that the song has no real personal meaning.
"'39" does make sense, but seems not to. It helps to know the back story. Seriously. Best song about theoretical Einsteinian space travel induced time dilation masquerading as a sea shanty EVER
.
1: "Is This the World We Created?", "Love Of My Life", "You Take My Breath Away"
2: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Killer Queen", "You're My Best Friend"
3: "I Want to Break Free", "Radio Gaga", "Save Me"
4: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Hammer To Fall"
5: "Now I'm Here", "Ogre Battle", "Fat Bottomed Girls"
6: "Dead On Time", "The Hitman", "Gimmie The Prize"
7: "Son And Daughter", "Modern Times Rock N Roll", "Stone Cold Crazy"
Mondegreen :
"Mama, just killed a man" from "Bohemian Rhapsody" is sometimes heard as "Mama just killed a man" (as in the mother killed someone and not the protagonist). "Bismil'lah" ( Arabic for "by the grace of God") is often misheard as "Miss Miller" or even "Max Miller". "The algebra is the devil put aside for me", or some variation thereof, is another common one.
"He used to be a man with a stick in his hand" from "Headlong" may be misheard as "He used to be a man with his dick in his hand".
Mood Whiplash : The first three tracks of A Night at the Opera. "Death On Two Legs" is a harsh, acerbic 'fuck you' of a song, that abruptly shifts into a tinkly piano solo and Freddie's twee lyrics of "Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon", which itself shifts into the slow, hard, rock ballad "I'm In Love With My Car". Without a single pause.
Mundane Made Awesome :
Queen and only Queen could write a song about something mundane as riding a bike and make it ridiculously epic.
"Delilah" is an ode to one of Freddie's cats, who "make[s] [Freddie] slightly mad" when she "pee[s] all over [his] Chippendale Suite".
The Musical : We Will Rock You , which is surprisingly good for a jukebox musical. It helps to have Queen music.
Nice Guy : Pretty much all of them, as revealed in interviews and anecdotes surrounding the band.
Non-Appearing Title : "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Brighton Rock", "Tenement Funster", "The Prophet's Song", "The Millionaire Waltz".
No Ending :
"Sheer Heart Attack" from News Of The World kind of just...stops. Not to the effect of the band just abruptly stopping, but...imagine if you were listening to the song and someone came over and turned off the device that was playing it immediately after the chorus.
To an extent, "Tenement Funster". The song builds up to something akin to a Grand Finale near the end, but when it actually happens, the song technically just segues into "Flick Of The Wrist". Even on most versions of Queen's First EP (which also has the song), the song fades out during the transition without a proper ending. Of course, many people argue that the song's ending can be heard beneath said transition, but it's still jarring nonetheless.
Non-Indicative Name : Jazz. The songs on the album draw from a variety of musical styles, like most Queen albums, but there's nothing on it even remotely resembling jazz.
Precision F-Strike :
"Don't Try Suicide" has "nobody gives a damn" in the chorus. See also Determinator above.
"Son and Daughter" features the line "The world expects a man to buckle down and shovel shit". The word was never uttered in live versions; they truncated the sentence at "shovel" or said "it" instead.
Product Placement : An accidental one. "Killer Queen" opens with the line "she keeps Moët & Chandon in her pretty cabinet", which was a mere comment on how classy the fictional girl was. The winery benefited when the song became a big hit, and as a reward, they sent the band and producer vats of champagne as well as passes for Wimbledon and Grand Prix.
Protest Song :
"I Want It All" was interpreted both as an anti-apartheid song and as an LBGT anthem, though neither of those meanings were intended by the band. The anti-apartheid interpretation is rather ironic in that Queen was one of the few major groups not to abide
with the UN cultural boycott on apartheid South Africa, and they ended up fined and blacklisted. Queen members later argued that they weren't a political group and that the crowd was integrated, missing the point on the policy of de-investment.
"I Want To Break Free" was also adopted as an LGBT anthem. In contrast, audiences in South Africa and South America appreciated it as an anthem against oppression.
"Hammer to Fall" describes the futility of war in the face of our ultimate mortality. It was interpreted by some as a Cold War protest song, though Brian May has vocally denied this.
"Radio Ga Ga" can be seen as a direct rebuttal to "Video Killed the Radio Star", calling for radio to stay viable in the face of MTV (which, in 1982, was nothing more than a visual radio station). The updated version used in the play We Will Rock You directly attacks the mass-produced, digital pop that appeared in the 2000's.
The Quiet One : John Deacon, almost literally; he was the only member who didn't sing, and said very little in group interviews, generally only speaking when a question was directed specifically to him. Since the band went their separate ways in 1991, John mostly retired from the music industry, only going back into the studio to record the "No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)" single. He was later presumably okay with Queen + Paul Rodgersnote once May and Taylor managed to convince him that they weren't replacing Mercury, something of a Berserk Button for him, but declined to take part.
Reality Is Unrealistic :
Double-subversion regarding their whole 'no synths' thing: When they were recording their first single, Brian added some guitar effects via multi-tracking, varispeed, pedals and an amplifier John built. Some people in the record company and the press thought they'd used a Moog synthesiser instead, and the whole 'no synths' claim was born. As it's entered cultural osmosis (especially amongst Queen fans), a lot of people have gone to the other extreme: they think every single effect on Queen records was made by Brian's guitar. Of course, sometimes that was the case (e.g., the 'shivers down my spine' bit on "Bohemian Rhapsody", done with harmonics and EQ), but sometimes the effect was something else (e.g., prepared piano on "Nevermore"), and sometimes it was indeed a synth (e.g., near the break of "Coming Soon"). "Another One Bites the Dust" takes it up to eleven, as it's got many sound effects throughout, some of which are indeed the Red Special (with pedals and EQ and stuff), some of which are synths (reversed) and some of which are neither (reversed piano, e-drums).
From Hot Space onwards, the band started to programme drum machines, which sometimes would complement Roger's playing (e.g., "Dancer") and sometimes would replace him completely (e.g., "Body Language"). That creates a lot of confusion, even today, as sometimes Roger did play the part on an actual drum set but because of his precision and because of the mix (not as 'in your face' as in the 70's), people believe it's a machine.
People not familiar with Queen tend to think they had a female backing vocalist on some songs such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Somebody to Love", when actually it was just them singing falsetto (usually Roger Taylor, sometimes Freddie Mercury and very occasionally Brian May). Doubly subverted on "Let Me Live", where they did hire female backing vocalists.
Retcon : Everybody knows Brian made his guitar with his father and he calls it the Red Special, right? The story wasn't always told like that: in the early days, not a single mention of May Sr's contribution was made—perhaps the band's publicists thought it was more impressive to just credit Brian for it; it was more "rock and roll" that way—and the nickname "Red Special" only showed up much, much later in the story. It might have been originated by either the press or the fandom, although now Brian uses it as well.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge : "Another One Bites the Dust" is about a man who goes on a killing spree shooting the people who had screwed him over.
Rule of Cool : During the video for "Princes of the Universe", Connor MacLeod from Highlander challenges Freddie Mercury to a sword fight. The duel ends in a DRAW. Think about that for a second... and Freddie's fighting with his microphone stand.
Sanity Slippage Song :
"I'm Going Slightly Mad".
Also, the traditional song "Oh, I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside" which plays at the end of "Seven Seas of Rhye".
Self-Backing Vocalist : Their trademark was to massively overdub their vocals to create a choral effect. Depending on the song, they could have only Freddie ("Love of My Life"), only Brian ("Leaving Home Ain't Easy"), only Roger ("Tenement Funster"), Freddie + Brian ("All Dead, All Dead"), Freddie + Roger ("Rock It"), or all three of them, as in the majority of their work. Sometimes they even sang each part (alto, tenor, baritone) together in order to make the resulting bounced sound really big.
Self-Deprecation : They all played other instruments besides their main one, but were usually more than modest about it. Freddie often half-joked on stage that he could only play three chords on guitar; Brian called his own piano skills "sub-par"; Roger (in the '80s) said his voice was getting worse with every passing day; John was often shy about his own abilities on other instruments or when it came to song-writing (lyrics in particular, Freddie too) and said he never sang on any albums because he felt he couldn't compete vocally with the other three. Freddie famously replied to a question about how he functioned as an artist with "I'm not an artist, I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear".
'70s Hair : Brian May has kept his for more than forty years.
Shirtless Scene :
Freddie had a few in concerts.
Roger too in the encores at early gigs, like the Rainbow in November 1974 and the Hammersmith Odeon in December 1975.
To the Marx Brothers , the albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races taking their names from two of their films.
The music video for "Calling All Girls" was based upon the George Lucas movie THX 1138 .
The music video for "Radio Ga Ga" was based upon and featured actual footage from the Fritz Lang classic Metropolis , which Freddie supplied a song for in a modern overdub. The "The Works" tour's stage setup was also based on the same film, with a cityscape in the background and large gears. The lyrics to the song also specifically mention Orson Welles ' infamous The War of the Worlds broadcast.
"Bring Back That Leroy Brown" (from Sheer Heart Attack) is a homage to Jim Croce, who had died the previous year.
"Let Me Entertain You" specifically mentions Elektra and EMI, Queen's then-record labels in America and Europe, respectively.
The "I Want To Break Free" video is a parody of Coronation Street , with Brian and John's outfits in particular inspired by the "Pepperpots" of Monty Python's Flying Circus . Freddie himself pays Homage to ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev - even shaving his iconic mustache to play him! Then both Coronation Street and EastEnders repaid the favor separately by their characters dressing as Queen and singing the song themselves.
The lyrics of "Innuendo" (which were started by Freddie, but were mostly Roger's work) are intended as a shout-out to " Kashmir ".
"Life Is Real (Song For Lennon )".
The song "Dragon Attack" from 1980 mentions their chief engineer (later promoted to producer) Mack.
Around the mid-80s, John Deacon lost his license for a year because of a DUI. Roger Taylor referenced that in his song "Don't Lose Your Head".
Another Deacon-related one: he once went AWOL during some recording sessions, leaving just a note on his bass saying "gone to Bali", which shocked and upset the rest of the band. The line "we went to Bali" was incorporated into "Was It All Worth It", which Freddie thought at the time would be his swan song (he didn't think he'd live long enough for another album).
Siamese Twin Songs : "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".
Sixth Ranger : Spike Edney was the band's touring keyboardist in the 1980's (when Freddie decided he wanted to spend more time moving about and interacting with the audience) and also provided additional guitars and backing vocals. He was sometimes referred to as the band's fifth member, and has since played with Brian and Roger in the solo projects as well as with Queen+Paul Rodgers.
Solo Side Project : Every main member of Queen bar John Deacon released solo albums while an active member of the band. Freddie Mercury, for instance, released two solo albums while still part of Queen, namely Mr. Bad Guy and Barcelona in collaboration with opera singer Montserrat Caballé.
Song Style Shift : "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a famous example of this, but this is found in several of their earlier more progressive songs. For example, "The Prophet's Song" is a hard rock song with an extended a capella section in the middle, where Freddie goes crazy with the studio overdubs.
Sophisticated as Hell : Despite Freddie's elegant, dandyish persona, he loved to drop f-bombs, both on and off-stage.
Soprano and Gravel : Done occasionally, especially with their more operatic songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Seven Seas Of Rhye", with Freddie alternating between a harsh, growling tenor and a clean, piercing falsetto. Within the band itself, in contrast to Freddie and Brian, Roger frequently deployed a much harsher, snarlier voice, closer to really angry Roger Waters ("Fight From The Inside" is clear proof of this, or "Fun It"—it's really easy to tell Freddie and Roger apart there).
Spiritual Successor :
Freddie Mercury wrote "It's A Hard Life" as a direct sequel to "Play The Game". "Somebody To Love" is a sweeping rock opera to follow "Bohemian Rhapsody".
The album Hot Space was meant to be a spiritual successor to the massive success of the Funk-influenced "Another One Bites The Dust", although its success was limited.
The opening lines of "It's A Hard Life" share a significant snippet of melody with "Vesti la Giubba"
from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci .
More notably, the entirety of A Day At The Races can be thought of as a "sequel" to A Night At The Opera. They're both named after Marx Brothers films, the album art is almost exactly the same with a black background rather than white, and many of the songs parallel each other. "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Somebody to Love" ornote arguably "Teo Torriate", "'39" and "Long Away", "The Prophet's Song" and "White Man", "You're My Best Friend" and "You and I", and very specifically, both albums open with Epic Riff -driven Hard Rock tunes ("Death on Two Legs [Dedicated to...]" and "Tie Your Mother Down").
Additionally, "In The Lap Of The Gods", "My Fairy King", "Liar", and "March Of The Black Queen" could all be seen as predecessors to "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Though they're written by and partially sung by different members, "Fun It" and "Another One Bites The Dust" have similarities. The drum intros especially sound similar.
Although it may not seem like it at first, Queen II and Jazz actually have quite a bit in common. They both have album artwork that is primarily in black and white; they're both very heavy, Up to Eleven albums compared to the band's other work; and a lot of techniques used on Queen II were reused on Jazz (namely, the sitar-like sound created by sticking piano wire under the guitar frets and a multi-tracked guitar that emulates the sound of a string section). Finally, you can draw a number of parallels between the songs on both albums; "Mustapha" almost sounds like Freddie trying to recreate "The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke" with a more effective "punch" to the listener.
Stage Names : Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara.
Step Up to the Microphone : While most people simply think of Freddie as the lead singer, most Queen albums have songs where Brian and Roger take the vocal lead as well. Only John, who hated his voice, never did.
Stop and Go :
"Ogre Battle" uses it rather subtly to add some weight to the "He gives a great big cry..." verse. The break is even longer in live performances of the song, with Freddie often stopping to ask the audience "[what they] think of the show so far", a reference to Morecambe and Wise .
They did a similar thing in live versions of "Son and Daughter", with the a capella "I want you" followed by a pause and Freddie asking the audience what comes next.
A Storm Is Coming : "The Prophet's Song", based on the Biblical story of Noah.
Take That :
"Scandal" is a take that against the celebrity-obsessed media, who were giving both Freddie (over his health problems, resulting in a picture of him looking haggard and emaciated on the front page of The Sun) and Brian (over his divorce and subsequent marriage to actress Anita Dobson ) a hard time in the late eighties.
"We Are the Champions" was described by Freddie as being a "take that" directed to the music press, which almost always gave the band horrendous reviews (ex: Rolling Stone describing Queen as "the first fascist rock band" etc) yet they continued to be one of the world's most popular and best selling bands. When the rest of the band heard Freddie do the first run-through of the song, they "fell out laughing", knowing exactly whom he was slagging.
And then there's "Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to...)", a SCATHING attack on their former manager Norman Sheffield. On the Live Killers version, Freddie ramped it up a bit more by saying it was dedicated to "a motherfucker of a gentleman". "Flick of the Wrist", from the preceding album is written along the same lines, and reputedly directed at the same motherfucker . It's a full-blown Reason You Suck Song .
"Fight from the Inside" and "Sheer Heart Attack" (both written by Roger) are Take Thats at the then-emerging punk scene.
Word Salad Lyrics :
Freddie once openly admitted that "Bohemian Rhapsody"'s lyrics have no real meaning to them.
"Another One Bites the Dust". Originally, John Deacon wanted to write a song about cowboys, but he ended up rewriting the words enough that they didn't really mean anything in the end.
"Killer Queen": "Dynamite with a laser beam". It doesn't even make any sense in context! But it is guaranteed to blow your mind .
"Let Me Entertain You" has a dandy; "I'll Cruella de Vil you..."
Wrestling Doesn't Pay : It actually took them longer than one would think to start making money from music. Even when their albums really began to sell well, they were being paid £60 a week (not bad in 1973) but, at the same time, were stuck in a pretty bad management contract, which resulted in them owing their ex-manager Norman Sheffield (the "motherfucker of a gentleman" targeted by the song "Death on Two Legs") something like £200,000.
You Are the New Trend : Freddie's look throughout the '80s became the stereotypical look for gays, especially the slicked / coiffed hair, moustache, and hairy chest.
| We Will Rock You |
Which policeman is the main character in the Blake Edwards directed 1964 film 'A Shot In The Dark'? | Queen (Music) - TV Tropes
2009 - Live in Ukraine note The second of two live albums made with Paul Rodgers
2012 - Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest '86
2014 - Queen: Live at the Rainbow '74
Non-album singles:
1974 - "Seven Seas of Rhye" note Otherwise available on their 1974 album Queen II with "See What a Fool I've Been" as the B-side.
1980 - "Play the Game" note Otherwise available on their 1980 album The Game with "A Human Body" as the B-side.
1981 - "Under Pressure" note Otherwise available on their 1982 album Hot Space. Also a collaboration with David Bowie with "Soul Brother" as the B-side.
1984 - "Radio Ga Ga" note Otherwise available on their 1984 album The Works with "I Go Crazy" as the B-side.
1984 - "Thank God It's Christmas" with "Man on the Prowl" as the first B-side note Otherwise available on their album The Works and "Keep Passing the Open Windows" as the second B-side note Otherwise available on The Works
1985 - "One Vision" note Otherwise available on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic with "Blurred Vision" as the B-side.
1986 - "A Kind of Magic" note Otherwise available on their album A Kind of Magic with "A Dozen Red Roses for My Darling" as the first B-side and "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" as the second B-side note Otherwise available on A Kind of Magic
1986 - "Who Wants to Live Forever" note Available on their 1986 album A Kind of Magic with "Killer Queen" as the first B-side note Otherwise available on their 1974 album Killer Queen and "Forever" as the second B-side.
1989 - "Breakthru" note Otherwise available on their album The Miracle with "Stealin'" as the B-side.
1989 - "The Invisible Man" note Otherwise available on The Miracle with "Hijack My Heart" as the B-side.
1991 - "I'm Going Slightly Mad" note Otherwise available on their 1991 album Innuendo with "Lost Opportunity" as the first B-side and "The Hitman" as the second B-side. note Otherwise available on their album Innuendo
1997 - "No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)" with "Tie Your Mother Down" as a double A-side note Otherwise available on their 1976 album A Day at the Races and "We Will Rock You" and "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" as a double B-side. note Remixes otherwise not available elsewhere
This band contains examples of:
A Cappella : "We Will Rock You". The song is generally set in a cappella form, using only stomping and clapping as a rhythmic beat, except at the very end, which has a guitar solo. Alternately, there is the lesser-known "fast" version, played in their live shows from the late 1970's to the early 1980's. Here's a BBC semi-live recording of said version
.
Achievements in Ignorance : Roger Taylor's a more instinctive musician, so he doesn't know and doesn't care about the names of some of the chords or harmonic functions, etc. When he composed "Radio Ga Ga", he used some chords that he was completely unfamiliar with, not knowing what they were actually called. He wrote that song on piano, knowing that it would encourage him to 'feel' his way and be more creative than if he played guitar. Freddie occasionally did the opposite; he mostly wrote on piano, but composed some songs on guitar. He felt it was a good process precisely because his limited guitar skills allowed him to write without over-thinking it.
All Drummers Are Animals : Roger Taylor probably cultivated the hardest rocking image in the group.
Ambiguously Brown : Freddie. His real name was Farrokh Bulsara, he was born in Zanzibar, East Africa to Parsi parents, and he went to boarding school in Bombay, India . According to Wikipedia , he was named one of the 60 most influential Asian heroes of the last 60 years.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking : The titular character from "The March of the Black Queen" is known to 'boil' (people), 'bake' (people) and to 'never dot her "i"s'.
Badass Boast :
In "Princes of the Universe", "Gimme the Prize", "We Are the Champions" (no time for losers), and "Seven Seas of Rhye". The lyrics also contain bits of A God Am I . Given that the first two are from Highlander this should not be surprising. "Khashoggi's Ship" also counts for the six of us who've heard it. Just partying with a famous arms dealer, gun-wielding giants be damned.
The words "No Synthesizers", which appeared on every Queen album cover prior to 1980's "The Game", are a Badass Boast . And if you don't believe that, go listen to all of A Night at the Opera again.
Badass Moustache : Freddie Mercury. As one November ad says, it turned Freddie from merely a queen to Queen!
Berserk Button :
Brian and Roger's commentary for Queen Rock Montreal reveals that, at this point, Freddie was emphatically not pleased about making a concert film, didn't really get on with the director and thought the cameramen were getting in the way. Since the plan was to take footage from both nights' shows, he tried to make a mess of that by wearing trousers on one night and shorts on the second.
Freddie also got really annoyed at one concert when fans showed up with banners that read "DISCO SUCKS" after the release of Hot Space. "It's only a bloody record, for Christ's sake, people get so excited."
Roger, on the other hand, musically disliked the idea of steering Queen too far away from their rock roots into funk or techno-pop as they had by The '80s , though he still acquiesced in the end.
Big "WHY?!" : "Under Pressure" features Freddie Mercury screaming the word "Why".
Bookends :
"Tie Your Mother Down", the first song from A Day at the Races opens with a "White Man" foreshadowing that segues into an endless staircase-esque sound that goes right into the actual song and doesn't appear again until the very end of the album, serving as the coda for "Teo Torriate".
"White Queen" from Queen II begins and ends the same way. This was most definitely intentionally done to mirror the song's thematic progression, with "As It Began" being the subtitle of the song.
Their last album, Made in Heaven, begins and ends with "It's a Beautiful Day." On another level, as "Beautiful Day (Reprise)" heads for the close, samples from "Seven Seas of Rhye," the final song on their first album, are mixed in to the track.
The band's line-up: It started with May and Taylor playing together in Smile, and now they are the only ones left performing.
Boring but Practical : Brian May's method for supplying the harp parts on "Love of My Life". Since he couldn't actually play the instrument, he recorded each note separately and edited them together to get the chord sequences he wanted.
Break Up Song : "Save Me", "Need Your Loving Tonight", "It's a Hard Life", and probably some others.
Brilliant, but Lazy : Freddie went through this phase for some albums and his solo effort Mr Bad Guy. Some of his songs would be originated by asking the producer or engineer to generate a drum beat and then he'd just ad-lib and go out expecting the others to finish off the work for him. During most of his career he averted this by being a very professional workaholic, both in the '70s and in the last years of his life.
British Rockstar : Oh, you better believe it.
Broken Aesop : "Radio Ga Ga" is all about how music video is ruining music and we should all just listen to the radio instead. The accompanying music video features lavish sets and costumes, footage from the film Metropolis and a montage of clips of music videos from earlier Queen songs.
Continuity Nod :
"Love of My Life" has "when I get older I will be there at your side to remind you how I still love you, I still love you". Sixteen years later, "These Are the Days of Our Lives" (by a different songwriter) has an older (and dying) Freddie singing, "when I look, and I find, I still love you... I still love you." The video makes it all even more tearful, as it was Freddie's last.
"Seaside Rendezvous" from A Night at the Opera has "I love you madly", while "Was It All Worth It" from The Miracle has "We love you madly".
"Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" (both released on one single) reference each other; "Bicycle Race" features "Fat-bottomed girls will be riding today" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" has "Get on your bikes and ride!"
One of the album tracks from Jazz ("Let Me Entertain You") includes the lyric "We'll breakfast at Tiffany's / We'll sing to you in Japanese" as a reference to the song "Teo Toriatte" from A Day at the Races (which had a chorus sung in phonetic Japanese).
The symmetrical group image featured in the cover of Queen II (and on the profile pic) was frequently used in videos, including "Bohemian Rhapsody" and an updated one in "One Vision".
"A Winter's Tale", one of the few songs from Made in Heaven recorded during the post-Innuendo sessions, has a subtle but charming one: "It's a kind of magic in the air".
"It's a Beautiful Day" has a relatively big one that might have not even been intentional in that Freddie continuously chants "No One's Gonna Stop Me Now" throughout parts of the song, either a generic boast of his, or a fairly glaring reference to one of his songs that was (when "It's A Beautiful Day"'s vocals and piano were recorded) very recently released note "It's a Beautiful Day" was partially recorded in 1980, a mere year or so after the Jazz album was released .
"No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)", being the reflective song that it is, also has several, namely the lines "Another tricky situation", "Forever paying every due" and "Now the party must be over", referencing "It's a Hard Life", "We Are the Champions", and "Party" / "Khashoggi's Ship", respectively.
The clip to "Radio Ga Ga" features brief excerpts of several of their clips to earlier songs.
"Soul Brother", an early '80s B-side, references "You're My Best Friend", "We Are the Champions", "We Will Rock You", "Flash", "Keep Yourself Alive", "Somebody to Love", itself and "Under Pressure" in its second verse.
Cover Version :
They never actually recorded any cover songs on their albums (except "God Save the Queen" at the end of Night at the Opera, guitar orchestrated by May, but they performed plenty of cover songs during live shows. Examples include "Big Spender" at their early concerts, " Jailhouse Rock " on all their shows from 1973 until 1982 including the version on Queen Rock Montreal, and a medley of "Hello Mary Lou", " You're So Square ", " Tutti Frutti " and "Gimme Some Lovin'" on the Magic Tour of 1986.
"Doin' All Right" is a song that was originally done by May's previous band Smile, so past member Tim Staffell also demanded royalties.
Freddie's biggest solo hit, "The Great Pretender", is a cover of a song by The Platters.
Dangerously Short Skirt : Freddie and Roger both wore one in the video for " I Want to Break Free".
A Day in the Limelight :
1977-1982 concerts featured drummer Roger Taylor singing lead on one song, "I'm in Love with My Car", on which Freddie stuck to piano and backing vocals. Most of their albums had one song with Brian singing lead and one song with Roger singing lead. Brian also occasionally played piano, such as on "Save Me" and "Teo Torriatte", while John Deacon played some guitar on "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Misfire". Less frequently but still, Roger would play guitar, bass and provide vocals in addition to drums.
Roger singing lead vocals was particularly notable in that his performances of "I'm in Love with My Car" were the only instances where another band member sang lead vocals live before 1992. Freddie sang in Roger's place for "Modern Times Rock and Roll" and Brian's for "'39", as well as "Sleeping on the Sidewalk" (though it is debated if the latter was actually played live, as no bootleg recordings exist to verify it).
Roger had a sort of I Am the Band moment with "Fight from the Inside", which was entirely recorded by himself on vocals, guitar, bass and drums. Some other of his compositions at that time were almost entirely recorded by him too (e.g. "Drowse" and "Sheer Heart Attack") , with minimal contributions by the other members (generally some guitar noises by Brian).
Deadpan Snarker : Freddie.
Deliberate Monochrome : The "I'm Going Slightly Mad" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives" videos to cover up Freddie's ailing health.
Determinator : In their commentaries for the music videos from The Miracle on the Greatest Video Hits II DVD, Roger Taylor and Brian May often comment on how Freddie Mercury put as much energy as he could into making the best possible videos in spite of how fragile his health had become by 1989.
The story of how the vocals to "The Show Must Go On" (itself an example of the trope) were recorded is similarly famous:
When Brian May presented the final demo to Mercury, he had doubts that Mercury would be physically capable of singing the song's highly demanding vocal line, due to the extent of his illness at the time. To May's surprise, when the time came to record the vocals, Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said "I'll fucking do it, darling!", then proceeded to nail the vocal line in one take without problems.
By the time Freddie recorded vocals for "Mother Love", his last studio recording before his death, he could no longer stand up on his own (and wasn't able to finish the recording).
Dirty Old Man : The title character in "Great King Rat" is described as one in the lyrics.
Epic Rocking :
Found mostly in their '70s material, particularly on their first two albums. Songs close to or exceeding six minutes in length include "Bohemian Rhapsody", "The Prophet's Song", "Liar", "March of the Black Queen", "Father to Son", "It's Late", "Innuendo", and that 22-minute ambiance at the end of "Made in Heaven" .
Brian's first solo effort (1984's Star Fleet Project EP) was three songs of epic rocking, featuring contributions from Eddie Van Halen and an extended tribute to Eric Clapton .
Every Episode Ending : Played with. A few (but not all) of the songs from A Night at the Opera have similar endings: The song will pretend to end , but then a heavily panned coda appears out of nowhere. At first, it sounds like it builds up to something, but nothing's really done with it.
Fading into the Next Song : Used on several albums. For example:
The guitar at the end of "The Prophet's Song" fades into the introduction for "Love of My Life" on A Night at the Opera.
Also, "Death on Two Legs" / "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" / "I'm in Love with My Car".
Done twice consecutively on Sheer Heart Attack: "Tenement Funster", "Flick of the Wrist" and "Lily of the Valley" merge into one another seamlessly.
"Procession", "Father to Son", and "White Queen (As It Began)" merge seamlessly into one another. "Ogre Battle" merges into "Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke", which then merges into "Nevermore". "The March of the Black Queen" merges into "Funny How Love Is". These were all on the same album, Queen II.
First Girl Wins : When the band began, Freddie was dating a beautiful blonde English woman named Mary Austin. They moved in together for a while before breaking up in 1976. After that, Freddie dated many men and women, eventually being domestic partners with an Irish man, Jim Hutton. When Freddie died, Mary received half of his fortune (the other half was split between his sister and his parents), including his mansion, his piano, and publishing royalties.
Foreshadowing : The Miracle has the title song along with "Breakthru", both of which mention "All God's People" and "Headlong" in their lyrics, respectively note These are the titles of songs from the album that directly followed The Miracle, Innuendo. In the case of "Headlong", the lyrics in context are "rushing headlong", a phrase it shares with the "Headlong" song . The degree to which these were intentional is hard to say.
Gadgeteer Genius : Brian May holds a PhD in Astrophysics. He designed and built his guitar, the Red Special, with his father in 1964. The guitar's neck is mostly a piece of wood salvaged from an old fireplace mantle-piece, and the tremolo bar is a motorcycle handbrake combined with a knitting needle. The guitar's body was made out of an old mahogany table that was going to be replaced anyway. John Deacon also tinkered with electronics in his youth and later graduated with a First in electrical engineering. He joined in part because the others were impressed by his skill with equipment. He designed and built a guitar amplifier that Brian deemed good enough to use while recording. In fact, Brian May is about as close as you can get to being the Doctor in the flesh.
Gag Boobs : Freddie, (in)famously in "I Want to Break Free".
Genre Roulette : A typical Queen album from The '70s might contain elements of heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, music-hall numbers, Dixieland jazz, folk, blues-rock, Beatlesque pop-rock, glam-rock and ballads. Later albums would include funk, dance music, synth-pop, punk-rock, rockabilly, reggae and/or new wave influences. Freddie suggested that this was why it took so long (close to fifteen years after Queen began) for Roger and himself to put out the first Queen solo albums; the band was four solo projects that came together to create the Queen sound. While all band-members shared an eclectic approach to song-writing and a tendency for experiments, generally speaking:
Mercury was responsible for many of their ballads ("Love of My Life", "My Melancholy Blues"), pop songs and stylistic experiments ("Killer Queen", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love" etc.)
If you're head-banging to an incredibly guitar-heavy Hard Rock tune it's probably been written by May ("Prophet's Song", "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You"). May was responsible for his fair share of Tear Jerker ballads, too ("Save Me"; "All Dead, All Dead", "Who Wants to Live Forever") and acoustic folk — '30's jazz — or skiffle-influenced songs ("'39"; "Good Company"; "Dreamers' Ball"), often featuring ukulele-banjo.
If the song is more old school rock-ish and its lyrics deal with things like rebellion, passion, living a life outside the rules etc., it was probably penned by Taylor ("Tenement Funster", "I'm in Love with My Car", "Sheer Heart Attack", "Fight from the Inside"). Somewhere in the early to mid '80s, Roger began composing pop songs with a heavier focus on synths ("Radio Ga Ga", "Breakthru").
The other band members have observed that Deacon was less influenced by bands like Led Zeppelin or The Who than the rest of them and had preferred Soul and American Funk music in his youth. As a result a lot of his songs have a kind of Motown pop style ("You're My Best Friend", "Misfire") or a funky, bass-driven sound ("Another One Bites the Dust", "I Want to Break Free"). He also wrote several ballads, including "Spread Your Wings", "You and I" and "Friends Will Be Friends" (the last one in collaboration with Freddie, with whom he also co-wrote "The Miracle").
Glam Rock : One of the longest lasting bands from this genre, bridging the gap between the artsy ( David Bowie and Roxy Music ) and heavy (Sweet, Slade) sides of the genre.
God Save Us from the Queen! : The title character in "March of the Black Queen" is clearly not a nice lady.
Go Out with a Smile :
"These Are the Days of Our Lives" was written and released shortly before Freddie Mercury's death. At the end of the music video (filmed in black and white to de-emphasise his frailty) Freddie looks directly at the camera and whispers 'I still love you', his last ever words on camera. The fans all knew he was saying goodbye, and we cried.
At the very end of "Made in Heaven", after an eerie twenty-minute instrumental track — which some theorize is a soundscape representing the band's twenty years together — the absolute last thing you hear is Freddie Mercury camply quipping "Fab!" in approval.
There's no denying that "The Show Must Go On" is this.
"Was It All Worth It", from The Miracle, was written with this in mind.
Come on, "Teo Torriatte" (Japanese), "Las Palabras de Amor" (Spanish), "Seaside Rendezvous" (French).
Rather lampshaded in "Let Me Entertain You":
Just take a look at the menu
We'll give you rock à la carte
We'll breakfast at Tiffany's, we'll sing to you in Japanese
We're only here to entertain you
Gratuitous Panning : Most notable in "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Killer Queen", but it happened all the time. Part of their unique production style, along with all the overdubbing. The middle choral section of "The Prophet's Song" uses this trope to make it easier to follow.
Greatest Hits Album :
The two main ones — Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits II — were released in 1981 and 1991, respectively, and collected the hit singles of the preceding decade. A third album, Greatest Hits III, is probably more aptly described as "Greatest Leftovers", consisting mainly of live Queen+ recordings and some remixes, although it does contain some good songs which were left out on I and II and needed to be included.
The US received the 1981 Greatest Hits (with a different track list), as well as both a modified version of Greatest Hits (red cover) and the US-only Classic Queen (with a blue cover similar to Greatest Hits II) in 1992. Classic was issued largely to capitalize on "Queen fever" brought on by Wayne's World (see above).
Grief Song : One of the songs from Queen Rocks, "No-One But You", was written by the remaining members of Queen not only in mourning of Freddie, but as a general lament for public figures who suffered tragic deaths, spurred by the sudden passing of Princess Diana.
Heavy Meta : Roger Taylor wrote quite a few songs about rock music. His very first composition for the group was "Modern Times Rock and Roll", after all.
Heavy Mithril : Queen's first two albums are loaded
with this. Most of them were penned by Freddie.
He's Got Legs : As the "I Want To Break Free" video showed, Roger Taylor could sure rock a miniskirt...
Hidden Depths : Brian May earned his PhD in astrophysics in 2007.
High-Class Call Girl : "Killer Queen" is about one of these.
Freddie: It's about a high-class call girl. I'm trying to say that classy people can be whores, too.
Homage : The video for "Radio Ga Ga" is a love letter to Metropolis .
I Call It "Vera" : Brian May's guitar, the Red Special, which he built from scraps as a teenager. Also of note was the amp often used with the Red Special, the "Deacy Amp", built by Electrical Engineer turned Bassist, John Deacon.
Iconic Item :
Freddie's bottomless microphone stand; during a gig very early in the band's career, his mic stand snapped in half in the middle of a song, but he carried on with the intact bit and decided it would be more interesting to keep it like that.
Brian May's Red Special guitar.
Important Haircut : Freddie, Roger and John all had long hair in the 1970's, but then appeared with shorter hair around the time of News of the World, which represented new directions in the group's style. Freddie's famous mustache, which he grew around the time of The Game and the Flash Gordon soundtrack, also accompanied changes to Queen's sound. Only Brian May has kept the same haircut (huge, dark, and curly) for the past 40 years; one of his conditions for Queen's inclusion in LEGO Rock Band was that they portray his hair accurately.
Inspiration Nod :
The band recorded Queen II in August 1973, shortly after Pink Floyd 's The Dark Side of the Moon was at the peak of its popularity. Both albums have a heartbeat fade-in on the opening track.
Life is Real is Freddie's tribute to John Lennon, and includes the line "Lennon is a genius, living in every pore".
Intercourse with You : Hey, guess what "Get Down, Make Love" is about.
"Somebody to Love" is in the style of Aretha Franklin , of whom Freddie Mercury was a fan.
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is in the style of Elvis Presley .
"Innuendo" is in the style of Led Zeppelin , particularly paying homage to the eastern sty-lings of "Kashmir". Roger Taylor described it as Zeppelin meets Oscar Wilde; a "very English" track.
"Life is Real" from the often-overlooked Hot Space is in the minimalist style of John Lennon.
"Another One Bites the Dust" was a disco song in the style of Chic ; depending on who you ask, it was either an homage or something that Deacon basically just lifted from them and made minor edits to.
Ironic Echo :
"Good Company", with the line "take care of those you call your own and keep good company".
"Sleeping on the Sidewalk" also has this: "I may get hungry but I sure don't wanna go home [...] I don't get hungry and I sure don't wanna go home [...] I may get hungry and I sure do wanna go home".
Ironic Nursery Tune :
"Seven Seas of Rhye" is a surreal, apocalyptic A God Am I rant by Freddie Mercury including such lyrics as "I'll defy the laws of nature and come out alive / and then I'll get you." It ends by fading into a sample of the old music-hall tune "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside".
"Great King Rat", a surreal song describing the less than savoury life of the title character, has a chorus based on "Old King Cole": "Great King Rat was a dirty old man and a dirty old man was he."
I Thought It Meant : Here's a big one. The "no synthesizers" disclaimers that appeared on Queen's albums (until they started using synthesizers) weren't a sign of their hatred for synthesizers; the disclaimer was usually put at the end of the credits for each album. As one of Queen's former managers said, "We would spend four days multi-layering a guitar solo and then some imbecile from the record company would come in and say, 'I like that synth!'"
Freddie adored cats. "Delilah" is titled after his favourite cat.
"All Dead, All Dead" was written after the death of one of Brian May's cats.
Long-Runner Lineup :
Taken to its Logical Extreme : A Long Runner band (20 years) with only one line-up: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor note However, in the early, early days, they went through several bassists before they found John .
From 1984, Spike Edney was known as the unofficial fifth member of the band, playing keyboards and guitar on tours. He has also stayed around for their live collaborations into the 2010's.
Since Mercury's death and Deacon's retirement, "Queen +" has had the line-up of May and Taylor + various musicians and vocalists.
Long Song, Short Scene : Their version of "New York, New York", which can be heard in Highlander , never got a full version recording (they only recorded it partially, to match the scene it plays over: Kurgan's drive through New York). It's never been released, except as a snippet in the movie itself.
Lost in Translation : The "I Want To Break Free" video was effectively lost in geographic translation. Virtually no one outside England knew what the hell they were looking at, as they would have been unfamiliar with Coronation Street.
Lucky Charms Title : "Body Language ↑⬱". The arrows, which appear on the sleeves for both the song's single and the Hot Stuff album, as well as in the video for the song, were never explained by any member of Queen.
Lyrical Cold Open :
Many of their songs have this. Some loudly announce themselves with an opening chorus ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "Bicycle Race", "It's a Hard Life", "I Want It All") while others open with a quiet fade in of Freddie's vocals ("We Are the Champions", "Save Me", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"). "Somebody to Love" does a bit of both ("Can... Any-bo-dyyyy...").
In the remix of "Under Pressure" featured in Greatest Hits III, you have Mercury sing / speaking "You say New York is dangerous, even though they say it's not this way" then Bowie going "Even the blind man can see it's not so...", before there's a sudden percussion, and the scream, "RAGE!!!!!!", where a very up-tempo version of the song begins.
Lyrical Dissonance : Quite a few songs.
"Don't Try Suicide", which is about suicide note while it's nice that Queen are, in fact, not in favour of suicide, the text really sucks as an anti-suicide message, being flippant and dismissive rather than empathetic and supportive but sounds like a reject from West Side Story .
"'39" is a happy, upbeat skiffle song, with lyrics about a space voyage for one year, but due to the time dilation effect, one hundred years have passed, and everyone the protagonist loves is now dead.
"Tie Your Mother Down": Frustrated lyrics advocating extreme measures to avoid family interference with a date, sung in big massed choruses to an incredibly upbeat guitar riff.
Then there's "Who Needs You" which is about breaking up with someone who is a 'spoilt thing", with a catchy, upbeat tune.
"Put Out the Fire", a cheery pop-rock tune... And the lyrics are told from the perspective of a man who used his gun against everyone he had a problem with, including his unfaithful lover and his neighbor she was having an affair with, and an allusion to the murder of John Lennon.
"Under Pressure" is an incredibly upbeat and cheery song with lyrics such as "It's the terror of knowing what this world is about / Watching some good friends scream 'let me out'".
"One Vision" is an upbeat, inspirational song mostly about Martin Luther King, Jr . It was covered by Laibach , who rendered it as a German-language faux-Nazi song . Critics at the time had sometimes equated Queen with fascism, due to the hold Freddie had over the audience coming as one and the critics' dismissal of the kind of arena rock Queen did so well.
On the opposite end of the spectrum (Angry song with light lyrics), "Dead on Time" is a driving, pulse-pounding, heavy piece... About how rushing around all the time isn't that great and you should take it easy.
Mind Screw :
Applies to a lot of their work, with "Bohemian Rhapsody" being the defining example. However, since the very moment people could analyse it, many have claimed to "get" it, even if Freddie himself has said that the song has no real personal meaning.
"'39" does make sense, but seems not to. It helps to know the back story. Seriously. Best song about theoretical Einsteinian space travel induced time dilation masquerading as a sea shanty EVER
.
1: "Is This the World We Created?", "Love Of My Life", "You Take My Breath Away"
2: "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Killer Queen", "You're My Best Friend"
3: "I Want to Break Free", "Radio Gaga", "Save Me"
4: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Hammer To Fall"
5: "Now I'm Here", "Ogre Battle", "Fat Bottomed Girls"
6: "Dead On Time", "The Hitman", "Gimmie The Prize"
7: "Son And Daughter", "Modern Times Rock N Roll", "Stone Cold Crazy"
Mondegreen :
"Mama, just killed a man" from "Bohemian Rhapsody" is sometimes heard as "Mama just killed a man" (as in the mother killed someone and not the protagonist). "Bismil'lah" ( Arabic for "by the grace of God") is often misheard as "Miss Miller" or even "Max Miller". "The algebra is the devil put aside for me", or some variation thereof, is another common one.
"He used to be a man with a stick in his hand" from "Headlong" may be misheard as "He used to be a man with his dick in his hand".
Mood Whiplash : The first three tracks of A Night at the Opera. "Death On Two Legs" is a harsh, acerbic 'fuck you' of a song, that abruptly shifts into a tinkly piano solo and Freddie's twee lyrics of "Lazing On a Sunday Afternoon", which itself shifts into the slow, hard, rock ballad "I'm In Love With My Car". Without a single pause.
Mundane Made Awesome :
Queen and only Queen could write a song about something mundane as riding a bike and make it ridiculously epic.
"Delilah" is an ode to one of Freddie's cats, who "make[s] [Freddie] slightly mad" when she "pee[s] all over [his] Chippendale Suite".
The Musical : We Will Rock You , which is surprisingly good for a jukebox musical. It helps to have Queen music.
Nice Guy : Pretty much all of them, as revealed in interviews and anecdotes surrounding the band.
Non-Appearing Title : "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Brighton Rock", "Tenement Funster", "The Prophet's Song", "The Millionaire Waltz".
No Ending :
"Sheer Heart Attack" from News Of The World kind of just...stops. Not to the effect of the band just abruptly stopping, but...imagine if you were listening to the song and someone came over and turned off the device that was playing it immediately after the chorus.
To an extent, "Tenement Funster". The song builds up to something akin to a Grand Finale near the end, but when it actually happens, the song technically just segues into "Flick Of The Wrist". Even on most versions of Queen's First EP (which also has the song), the song fades out during the transition without a proper ending. Of course, many people argue that the song's ending can be heard beneath said transition, but it's still jarring nonetheless.
Non-Indicative Name : Jazz. The songs on the album draw from a variety of musical styles, like most Queen albums, but there's nothing on it even remotely resembling jazz.
Precision F-Strike :
"Don't Try Suicide" has "nobody gives a damn" in the chorus. See also Determinator above.
"Son and Daughter" features the line "The world expects a man to buckle down and shovel shit". The word was never uttered in live versions; they truncated the sentence at "shovel" or said "it" instead.
Product Placement : An accidental one. "Killer Queen" opens with the line "she keeps Moët & Chandon in her pretty cabinet", which was a mere comment on how classy the fictional girl was. The winery benefited when the song became a big hit, and as a reward, they sent the band and producer vats of champagne as well as passes for Wimbledon and Grand Prix.
Protest Song :
"I Want It All" was interpreted both as an anti-apartheid song and as an LBGT anthem, though neither of those meanings were intended by the band. The anti-apartheid interpretation is rather ironic in that Queen was one of the few major groups not to abide
with the UN cultural boycott on apartheid South Africa, and they ended up fined and blacklisted. Queen members later argued that they weren't a political group and that the crowd was integrated, missing the point on the policy of de-investment.
"I Want To Break Free" was also adopted as an LGBT anthem. In contrast, audiences in South Africa and South America appreciated it as an anthem against oppression.
"Hammer to Fall" describes the futility of war in the face of our ultimate mortality. It was interpreted by some as a Cold War protest song, though Brian May has vocally denied this.
"Radio Ga Ga" can be seen as a direct rebuttal to "Video Killed the Radio Star", calling for radio to stay viable in the face of MTV (which, in 1982, was nothing more than a visual radio station). The updated version used in the play We Will Rock You directly attacks the mass-produced, digital pop that appeared in the 2000's.
The Quiet One : John Deacon, almost literally; he was the only member who didn't sing, and said very little in group interviews, generally only speaking when a question was directed specifically to him. Since the band went their separate ways in 1991, John mostly retired from the music industry, only going back into the studio to record the "No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)" single. He was later presumably okay with Queen + Paul Rodgersnote once May and Taylor managed to convince him that they weren't replacing Mercury, something of a Berserk Button for him, but declined to take part.
Reality Is Unrealistic :
Double-subversion regarding their whole 'no synths' thing: When they were recording their first single, Brian added some guitar effects via multi-tracking, varispeed, pedals and an amplifier John built. Some people in the record company and the press thought they'd used a Moog synthesiser instead, and the whole 'no synths' claim was born. As it's entered cultural osmosis (especially amongst Queen fans), a lot of people have gone to the other extreme: they think every single effect on Queen records was made by Brian's guitar. Of course, sometimes that was the case (e.g., the 'shivers down my spine' bit on "Bohemian Rhapsody", done with harmonics and EQ), but sometimes the effect was something else (e.g., prepared piano on "Nevermore"), and sometimes it was indeed a synth (e.g., near the break of "Coming Soon"). "Another One Bites the Dust" takes it up to eleven, as it's got many sound effects throughout, some of which are indeed the Red Special (with pedals and EQ and stuff), some of which are synths (reversed) and some of which are neither (reversed piano, e-drums).
From Hot Space onwards, the band started to programme drum machines, which sometimes would complement Roger's playing (e.g., "Dancer") and sometimes would replace him completely (e.g., "Body Language"). That creates a lot of confusion, even today, as sometimes Roger did play the part on an actual drum set but because of his precision and because of the mix (not as 'in your face' as in the 70's), people believe it's a machine.
People not familiar with Queen tend to think they had a female backing vocalist on some songs such as "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Somebody to Love", when actually it was just them singing falsetto (usually Roger Taylor, sometimes Freddie Mercury and very occasionally Brian May). Doubly subverted on "Let Me Live", where they did hire female backing vocalists.
Retcon : Everybody knows Brian made his guitar with his father and he calls it the Red Special, right? The story wasn't always told like that: in the early days, not a single mention of May Sr's contribution was made—perhaps the band's publicists thought it was more impressive to just credit Brian for it; it was more "rock and roll" that way—and the nickname "Red Special" only showed up much, much later in the story. It might have been originated by either the press or the fandom, although now Brian uses it as well.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge : "Another One Bites the Dust" is about a man who goes on a killing spree shooting the people who had screwed him over.
Rule of Cool : During the video for "Princes of the Universe", Connor MacLeod from Highlander challenges Freddie Mercury to a sword fight. The duel ends in a DRAW. Think about that for a second... and Freddie's fighting with his microphone stand.
Sanity Slippage Song :
"I'm Going Slightly Mad".
Also, the traditional song "Oh, I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside" which plays at the end of "Seven Seas of Rhye".
Self-Backing Vocalist : Their trademark was to massively overdub their vocals to create a choral effect. Depending on the song, they could have only Freddie ("Love of My Life"), only Brian ("Leaving Home Ain't Easy"), only Roger ("Tenement Funster"), Freddie + Brian ("All Dead, All Dead"), Freddie + Roger ("Rock It"), or all three of them, as in the majority of their work. Sometimes they even sang each part (alto, tenor, baritone) together in order to make the resulting bounced sound really big.
Self-Deprecation : They all played other instruments besides their main one, but were usually more than modest about it. Freddie often half-joked on stage that he could only play three chords on guitar; Brian called his own piano skills "sub-par"; Roger (in the '80s) said his voice was getting worse with every passing day; John was often shy about his own abilities on other instruments or when it came to song-writing (lyrics in particular, Freddie too) and said he never sang on any albums because he felt he couldn't compete vocally with the other three. Freddie famously replied to a question about how he functioned as an artist with "I'm not an artist, I'm just a musical prostitute, my dear".
'70s Hair : Brian May has kept his for more than forty years.
Shirtless Scene :
Freddie had a few in concerts.
Roger too in the encores at early gigs, like the Rainbow in November 1974 and the Hammersmith Odeon in December 1975.
To the Marx Brothers , the albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races taking their names from two of their films.
The music video for "Calling All Girls" was based upon the George Lucas movie THX 1138 .
The music video for "Radio Ga Ga" was based upon and featured actual footage from the Fritz Lang classic Metropolis , which Freddie supplied a song for in a modern overdub. The "The Works" tour's stage setup was also based on the same film, with a cityscape in the background and large gears. The lyrics to the song also specifically mention Orson Welles ' infamous The War of the Worlds broadcast.
"Bring Back That Leroy Brown" (from Sheer Heart Attack) is a homage to Jim Croce, who had died the previous year.
"Let Me Entertain You" specifically mentions Elektra and EMI, Queen's then-record labels in America and Europe, respectively.
The "I Want To Break Free" video is a parody of Coronation Street , with Brian and John's outfits in particular inspired by the "Pepperpots" of Monty Python's Flying Circus . Freddie himself pays Homage to ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev - even shaving his iconic mustache to play him! Then both Coronation Street and EastEnders repaid the favor separately by their characters dressing as Queen and singing the song themselves.
The lyrics of "Innuendo" (which were started by Freddie, but were mostly Roger's work) are intended as a shout-out to " Kashmir ".
"Life Is Real (Song For Lennon )".
The song "Dragon Attack" from 1980 mentions their chief engineer (later promoted to producer) Mack.
Around the mid-80s, John Deacon lost his license for a year because of a DUI. Roger Taylor referenced that in his song "Don't Lose Your Head".
Another Deacon-related one: he once went AWOL during some recording sessions, leaving just a note on his bass saying "gone to Bali", which shocked and upset the rest of the band. The line "we went to Bali" was incorporated into "Was It All Worth It", which Freddie thought at the time would be his swan song (he didn't think he'd live long enough for another album).
Siamese Twin Songs : "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".
Sixth Ranger : Spike Edney was the band's touring keyboardist in the 1980's (when Freddie decided he wanted to spend more time moving about and interacting with the audience) and also provided additional guitars and backing vocals. He was sometimes referred to as the band's fifth member, and has since played with Brian and Roger in the solo projects as well as with Queen+Paul Rodgers.
Solo Side Project : Every main member of Queen bar John Deacon released solo albums while an active member of the band. Freddie Mercury, for instance, released two solo albums while still part of Queen, namely Mr. Bad Guy and Barcelona in collaboration with opera singer Montserrat Caballé.
Song Style Shift : "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a famous example of this, but this is found in several of their earlier more progressive songs. For example, "The Prophet's Song" is a hard rock song with an extended a capella section in the middle, where Freddie goes crazy with the studio overdubs.
Sophisticated as Hell : Despite Freddie's elegant, dandyish persona, he loved to drop f-bombs, both on and off-stage.
Soprano and Gravel : Done occasionally, especially with their more operatic songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Seven Seas Of Rhye", with Freddie alternating between a harsh, growling tenor and a clean, piercing falsetto. Within the band itself, in contrast to Freddie and Brian, Roger frequently deployed a much harsher, snarlier voice, closer to really angry Roger Waters ("Fight From The Inside" is clear proof of this, or "Fun It"—it's really easy to tell Freddie and Roger apart there).
Spiritual Successor :
Freddie Mercury wrote "It's A Hard Life" as a direct sequel to "Play The Game". "Somebody To Love" is a sweeping rock opera to follow "Bohemian Rhapsody".
The album Hot Space was meant to be a spiritual successor to the massive success of the Funk-influenced "Another One Bites The Dust", although its success was limited.
The opening lines of "It's A Hard Life" share a significant snippet of melody with "Vesti la Giubba"
from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci .
More notably, the entirety of A Day At The Races can be thought of as a "sequel" to A Night At The Opera. They're both named after Marx Brothers films, the album art is almost exactly the same with a black background rather than white, and many of the songs parallel each other. "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Somebody to Love" ornote arguably "Teo Torriate", "'39" and "Long Away", "The Prophet's Song" and "White Man", "You're My Best Friend" and "You and I", and very specifically, both albums open with Epic Riff -driven Hard Rock tunes ("Death on Two Legs [Dedicated to...]" and "Tie Your Mother Down").
Additionally, "In The Lap Of The Gods", "My Fairy King", "Liar", and "March Of The Black Queen" could all be seen as predecessors to "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Though they're written by and partially sung by different members, "Fun It" and "Another One Bites The Dust" have similarities. The drum intros especially sound similar.
Although it may not seem like it at first, Queen II and Jazz actually have quite a bit in common. They both have album artwork that is primarily in black and white; they're both very heavy, Up to Eleven albums compared to the band's other work; and a lot of techniques used on Queen II were reused on Jazz (namely, the sitar-like sound created by sticking piano wire under the guitar frets and a multi-tracked guitar that emulates the sound of a string section). Finally, you can draw a number of parallels between the songs on both albums; "Mustapha" almost sounds like Freddie trying to recreate "The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke" with a more effective "punch" to the listener.
Stage Names : Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara.
Step Up to the Microphone : While most people simply think of Freddie as the lead singer, most Queen albums have songs where Brian and Roger take the vocal lead as well. Only John, who hated his voice, never did.
Stop and Go :
"Ogre Battle" uses it rather subtly to add some weight to the "He gives a great big cry..." verse. The break is even longer in live performances of the song, with Freddie often stopping to ask the audience "[what they] think of the show so far", a reference to Morecambe and Wise .
They did a similar thing in live versions of "Son and Daughter", with the a capella "I want you" followed by a pause and Freddie asking the audience what comes next.
A Storm Is Coming : "The Prophet's Song", based on the Biblical story of Noah.
Take That :
"Scandal" is a take that against the celebrity-obsessed media, who were giving both Freddie (over his health problems, resulting in a picture of him looking haggard and emaciated on the front page of The Sun) and Brian (over his divorce and subsequent marriage to actress Anita Dobson ) a hard time in the late eighties.
"We Are the Champions" was described by Freddie as being a "take that" directed to the music press, which almost always gave the band horrendous reviews (ex: Rolling Stone describing Queen as "the first fascist rock band" etc) yet they continued to be one of the world's most popular and best selling bands. When the rest of the band heard Freddie do the first run-through of the song, they "fell out laughing", knowing exactly whom he was slagging.
And then there's "Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to...)", a SCATHING attack on their former manager Norman Sheffield. On the Live Killers version, Freddie ramped it up a bit more by saying it was dedicated to "a motherfucker of a gentleman". "Flick of the Wrist", from the preceding album is written along the same lines, and reputedly directed at the same motherfucker . It's a full-blown Reason You Suck Song .
"Fight from the Inside" and "Sheer Heart Attack" (both written by Roger) are Take Thats at the then-emerging punk scene.
Word Salad Lyrics :
Freddie once openly admitted that "Bohemian Rhapsody"'s lyrics have no real meaning to them.
"Another One Bites the Dust". Originally, John Deacon wanted to write a song about cowboys, but he ended up rewriting the words enough that they didn't really mean anything in the end.
"Killer Queen": "Dynamite with a laser beam". It doesn't even make any sense in context! But it is guaranteed to blow your mind .
"Let Me Entertain You" has a dandy; "I'll Cruella de Vil you..."
Wrestling Doesn't Pay : It actually took them longer than one would think to start making money from music. Even when their albums really began to sell well, they were being paid £60 a week (not bad in 1973) but, at the same time, were stuck in a pretty bad management contract, which resulted in them owing their ex-manager Norman Sheffield (the "motherfucker of a gentleman" targeted by the song "Death on Two Legs") something like £200,000.
You Are the New Trend : Freddie's look throughout the '80s became the stereotypical look for gays, especially the slicked / coiffed hair, moustache, and hairy chest.
| i don't know |
The group of Buckinghamshire villages known as 'The Chalfonts' comprises Little Chalfont, Chalfont St. Peters and Chafont St... What? | Little Chalfont
Little Chalfont
History of
Little Chalfont
Little Chalfont is situated in the county of Buckinghamshire, on the edge of the Chiltern Hills and about 30 miles from central London.
The Metropolitan Railway reached Little Chalfont in 1889. However, the village didn't really develop until the 1920's when land was released for housing to become part of Sir John Betjeman's "Metroland".
The present population is around 6000. The station is served by London Underground Metropolitan line and by Chiltern Railways resulting in excellent transport to and from London; Marylebone station can be reached in little over 30 minutes.
The village has a post office and a building society as well as a pharmacy, a Tesco Express and about 30 other shops. There are three dental practices, a doctors surgery and an optician. There are many places to eat including Chinese, Indian and Italian restaurants. The ‘Sugar Loaf’ public house and the White Lion Inn both serve food.
There are two Primary Schools plus Dr. Challoner’s (Girls) High School.
There are three churches; Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic.
The Village Hall is centrally positioned next to the library.
A major employer is GE Healthcare with three sites in the Village including its world headquarters.
The head office of ‘The Entertainer’, a large toy retailer, is situated in the village.
Little Chalfont became a separate Parish in 2007 following a poll of local people who overwhelmingly voted in favour. The new Parish comprises the old Little Chalfont ward of Amersham Town Council plus what was previously the northern part of Chalfont St. Giles.
2nd Saturday of each month
9.00 - 1.00 p.m.
Village Hall and car park
Farmers’ Market
Thames Valley Farmers’ Market Co-operative
Good quality produce
Download leaflet for full details including response form
Threat to Green Belt
The District Council is preparing a Local Plan which will set out policies used to determine planning matters in the period to 2036.
The process includes a review of the green belt and parts of Little Chalfont were identified as areas which might be removed from the green belt to allow for additional housing. The preferred options paper has now been published which shows one large area of the village has been included. The full details can be read on a leaflet which has been distributed to all homes in Little Chalfont.
To download a copy, click here
To learn more and support the ‘Save Little Chalfont’ campaign click here
For Facebook page, Click here
Invitation to join the
Click here for more details
Little Chalfont
Community Action Plan
The present action plan has been very successful in bringing about a range of village improvement projects, which you, the community, told us were important.
The plan now needs to be refreshed and, as it is YOUR plan, we need you to tell us what should be included.
For a leaflet explaining the need to Refresh the Community Action Plan plus the questions to answer click here
For a Microsoft Word document that can be used to respond to the questions click here
For a copy of the present Community Action Plan click here
| Giles |
In 1965 who became the first Australian group to top the UK singles charts? | Beaconsfield Life Magazine September 2013 by FishMedia - issuu
issuu
p01-BUCKS-COVERS-SEPT_Life Mags 19/09/2013 15:55 Page 2
bEACONSFIELd LIFE
WWW.THELIFEMAGAZINES.COM THE QUALITY LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2013
PLUS…
the jet set OXFORD AIRPORT OFFERS INTELLIGENT, BESPOKE PRIVATE JET SOLUTIONS FOR THE DISCERNING EXECUTIVE TRAVELLER
LOCAL LIFE | BEAUTY | FASHION | TRAVEL | DINING | PROPERTY
WHERE SOLD
PPA gs g sA PPA
PP :
Plan your event with
Seasons
Our services We are an independent company of seasoned professionals with a wealth of knowledge and experience from within the industry
Events
Contact us‌ 01494 727807
Seasons Catering Co. Ltd 4 Market Square, Old Amersham Buckinghamshire HP7 0DQ
www.seasons-group.com
PPA gs g sA PPA
PP :
P
% t er 10 oun rd sc o di first on Are you organising a business lunch? We can help. We already have an established Business Lunch Service in your area. By offering a set format for our delivery service, each lunch can follow a certain menu structure, but the actual content is decided by our chef. This allows us to create seasonal dishes and offer a wide variety.
Three sandwich lunch packages Cold fork buffet lunch Hot & cold drinks
Other services We also cater for a range of alternative events, for example: breakfast meetings, boardroom dinners, seminars and product launches. What’s more, we can provide crockery, cutlery, glasses, furniture or any other equipment, just ask. We will even do all the washing up so you don't need to!
Delicious food inspired by the seasons tel: 01494 727807 • email: [email protected] www.seasons-business-catering.co.uk
d
p06-BUCKS-LETTER__ 19/09/2013 11:34 Page 1
PUBLISHED BY THE FISH MEDIA GROUP LTD, THE RIDInGS, WOODFIELD LAnE, ESSEnDOn, HERTFORDSHIRE AL9 6JJ
0844 800 8439 WWW.THELIFEMAGAZINES.COM EDITOR FAYE MANNING EDITOR’S ASSISTANT KATIE MILLER SUB EDITOR ALEX LUX FASHION EDITOR NICHOLAS PETER BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER 07950 761 579 DESIGN & PRODUCTION JASON DANIEL ACCOUNT MANAGER KATHY MANNING, KEN FLEET SALES JAMES MARSHALL, ALISON GRIFFIN DIRECTORS PATRICK SMITH, RORY SMITH © All Rights reserved: All Fish Media Group Ltd magazines are copyright and cannot be reproduced in any form either in part or whole withozut written permission from the publishers. Whilst Fish Media Group Ltd takes every reasonable precaution, no responsibility can be accepted for any property, services or products offered in any of our publications and any loss arising. Whilst every care is taken with all materials submitted to all of our magazines the publisher cannot accept the loss or damage to such material. The Fish Media Group Ltd reserves the right to reject or accept any advertisement, article or material prior to publication. Opinions expressed are strictly those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of Fish Media Group Ltd. We accept no liability for any misprints or mistakes and no responsibility can be accepted for the content of these pages.
# ' ! & !" " ""
What’s On…
10
Local Life, Arts & Business Big Names In Chorleywood Blaze Of Glory In Henley Herts Arts Make Me Top Of Google Herts 10k Your Local Life Magazine More Than An Artist
12
Education Life Last Night Of The Proms
27
Features Oxford Airport Fellows Auctioneers When Britain Went Pop Bake Off For A Good Cause London Film Festival Frieze London The Design Guide
44
Fashion & Beauty Curve: Your Style Guide Healthy Balance Special Care Look Good, Feel Great A Healthy You Beauty Tips
58
House & Garden Make An Entrance Your Project Planner Colour Specialists Light Up Your Home Swim All Year Round Column From Hazlemere More Than A Kitchen
64
Food & Drink The Ultimate Dinner Party Laurie Gear’s Recipe The Restaurant Festival
78
*
Readers save 15%
BBC Good Food Show London, Kensington Olympia, 15–17 November Capital cuisine comes to life when boutique brands, top celebrity chefs, artisan producers and top restaurants come together. The Pop-Up Restaurant & Street Food Experience you can enjoy the latest cuisine from the London food scene, try and buy unique wines in The Wine Cellar and discover the finest food and drink producers within The Producers’ Village. Plus new for this year, advance tickets include a FREE seat in the Supertheatre†, where the biggest names in food and drink will entertain you with their culinary skills.
New!
Readers save 15%* Quote PRESS15 bbcgoodfoodshow.com 0844 581 1353
tickets Advance REE F include a azing m a e th seat in re
Superth
eat
Follow us on:
*15% off valid on Adult and Over 65s Standard advance tickets (excluding VIP). Offer ends 17/11/13. All admin and transaction fees included. † Standard theatre seat included with all advance tickets, subject to availability. Gold seats available for £2 extra. Not all celebrities appear on all days, check the website for details. Information correct at time of print. BBC and BBC Good Food are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. The BBC Good Food Shows are organised and presented by River Street Events Ltd.
Supertheatre sponsor
p10-BUCKS-WHATSON__ 18/09/2013 17:30 Page 1
what’s
o n
what’s on ASHRIDGE AUTUMN TRAIL
Join us for a seasonal Family Trail around the beautiful Ashridge Estate. Answer questions along the way and earn your reward! 10am-4pm, £1, just turn up Ashridge Estate Visitor Centre, Moneybury Hill, Ringshall, Berkhamsted Hertfordshire HP4 1LT. Sunday 1 Sep 2013 to Thursday 31 Oct 2013 www.nationaltrust.org.uk GENTLE STROLL
Brian and Siân Barton continue their ever-popular informal strolls at Ashridge. These provide a chance to discover the wildlife in different parts of the Estate and to look for animal tracks, deer sightings, birds and other items of interest. The strolls may take up to 2 hours. No need to book just turn up with sensible walking shoes and warm waterproof clothing just in case! 10:30am, £2.50, just turn up B4506 End of Monument Drive Hertfordshire HP4 1LT Tomorrow, Tue 15 Oct SPECIALIST COLLECTORS FAIR AUTUMN EXTRAVAGANZA BERKHAMSTED SPORTS CENTRE
Specialist collectors fair, Advertising, Bottles, Postcards, Enamel signs, Doulton Stoneware, Salt glazed stoneware, Black glass, Pot lids etc. etc. We have been Est. over 30 years! We cater for collectors young and old, no matter what your budget. We have a WEBSITE. NSCFANDCO.COM, and we have a link YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2 rTqXmm4sU&feature=related so if you want to see what we are all about (It's a light hearted look at collecting) Stall holders are allowed in at 8 am, Early Entry 08:45, £5, Public 10 am £2, FREE ENTRY NOON 10
SEPTEMBER2013
ONWARDS, We tend to start packing aways around 2 pm. Enquiries to: [email protected] Early entry 08:45 £5 public entry 10 am £2 free entry noon onwards for stalls email : [email protected] sports space berkhamsted , douglas gardens berkhamsted hp4 3qq just off the a41 Hertfordshire HP4 3QQ. Sunday 20 Oct 2013
The open day is free of charge. Refreshments will be available. Doors open at 10.00 until 11.30am We can take up to 30 children so places are limited, so please do get in touch soon. Lindfield Pre-School, Chiltern Youth Club, Chiltern Avenue, Amersham, Bucks, HP6 5AH Buckinghamshire HP6 5AH Wednesday 23 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 01494 725 630
WOOBURN FESTIVAL ::: COME AND SING DAY-MOZART’S REQUIEM WITH WOOBURN SINGERS
RECITAL - AMERSHAM CONCERT CLUB PRESENTS THE AQUINAS PIANO TRIO
Wooburn Singers extend an invitation to all choral singers to join them for a workshop, with their new Music Director Tom Hammond-Davies. The day will end with an informal performance of Mozart’s Requiem for friends and family. £18.00 :: Enrolment is at 9.45am and the start at 10.30am. To apply to join, download application form at www.wooburnsingers.org.uk Dr Challoner’s School, Amersham Buckinghamshire HP6 5HA Saturday 5 Oct 2013 www.wooburnsingers.org.uk LINDFIELD TODDLER GROUP OPEN MORNING 23RD OCTOBER 2013
Come and try out our friendly toddler group! We’re a friendly and fun toddler group who run every Wednesday morning during term time from 10 to 11.30am. Children from 18 months to 3 years old are welcome to play with a wide range of toddler toys, make friends, learn new skills and prepare for pre-school. The toddler group is lots of fun for children and their parents/carers; we have a variety of craft activities, toys, snacks and singing time. Some weeks we have outings, picnics or cookery. We look forward to meeting you and your little ones!
Programme: Haydn: Piano Trio No 25 in G major Mendelssohn Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op49 Beethoven: Piano Trio No 7 in B flat major, 'Archduke' Ruth Rogers (violin), Katherine Jenkins (cello) and Martin Cousin (piano) are all well established soloists who have an outstanding array of awards between them and have played in many prestigious venues. Event starts at 8.00pm. Doors open 7.15pm Part of a 5 concert series - season tickets from £48 Single concert tickets £15 Under 18s free Box Office 01494 765420 Tickets available on the door Dr Challoners High School, Cokes Lane, Little Chalfont Buckinghamshire HP7 9QB Saturday 19 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: Information and Box Office 01494 765420 PERFORM - DRAMA WORKSHOPS
Drama, dance and singing workshops for 4-8 year olds to help develop confidence, co-ordination, communication and concentration skills and guaranteed to be the best fun your child will have all week. This September to December, Perform children will go on an amazing adventure to discover The Fairy Tale Forest, where they'll meet Jack, Rapunzel, Beauty & The Beast and help
rescue the Enchanted Story Book from The Wicked Queen and save everyone's Happily Ever Afters. And best of all, the children won't notice how much they are improving their social skills along the way. All interested children are entitled to a Free Trial Session. Fridays 4pm - 5pm and Saturdays 2.30pm - 4pm St Michael’s Church Hall Grenfell Road, Beaconsfield Buckinghamshire HP9 2BN Sunday 27 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 0845 400 4000 BEACONSFIELD & DISTRICT MODEL RAILWAY CLUB 2013EXHIBITION
Model Railway Exhibition with around 20 working model railway layouts in all gauges plus many trade stands selling a whole range of modelling tools, accessories, scenic materials, both new and secondhand rolling stock. There are also demonstrations of all aspects of model railway scenic construction. At the exhibition, there is something to interest people of all ages - children can drive a model train. Raffle with many prizes, the first prize being a brand new Hornby train set. Excellent hot & cold lunches. Snacks and refreshments available all day 10.30am to 5.00pm Adults £4 Children £2 (Advanced tickets not available - admission on the day at the door) Beaconsfield High School for Girls, Wattleton Road, Beaconsfield Buckinghamshire HP9 1RR Saturday 5 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 01753882519 (Between 9.00am & Mid-day) COOL BEANS DANCE NIGHT - SATURDAY 12TH OCTOBER 2013
Come and dance the night away to music from 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's with the Cool Beans dance band! (www.thecoolbeans.co.uk) Licensed bar with attractively priced drinks. Bring your own nibbles. Raffle with great prizes. All funds raised to towards parish repairs and maintenance. PRE-BOOK tickets at www.stjosephs.org and send
p10-BUCKS-WHATSON__ 18/09/2013 17:30 Page 2
your cheque plus a SAE to Events at St Joseph's, Priory Way, Chalfont St Peter Gerrards Cross, SL9 8RY. Cheques payable to St Joseph's Events. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Saturday 12th October 2013 8.00pm - 11.30pm Tickets £10 each - pre-booking essential as numbers will be restricted St Joseph’s Parish Hall, St Josephs Church, Austenwood Common, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire SL9 8RY Saturday 12 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 01753 886581 THE BIG DRAW
• Take part in our family-friendly art and craft activities for The Big Draw • Draw your favourite building at the Museum and enter our competition • Draw yourself on our gigantic height chart – inspired by the historic children’s graffiti in the farmyard • Get drawing and painting tips from local artists Open: 10am - 5pm Admission Adult £9.00* Child (4-16 years) £5.50* Under 4s Free Concessions £8.00* Family (2 adults + 3 children) £30.00* Family (2 adults + 2 children) £26.00* Family (1 adult + 2 children) £18.00* Friends of the Museum Free *Prices include a voluntary 10% gift aid donation Chiltern Open Air Museum, Newland Park, Gorelands Lane, Chalfont St Giles Buckinghamshire HP8 4AB Saturday 26 Oct 2013 and Sunday 27 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 01494871117 CHALFONT OLD SHIRE LANE WALK
Join the Friends of the Colne Valley Park on a 5 mile walk over gently undulating farmland, with a few stiles, taking approximately two hours. Meet at the Dumb Bell pub, Shire Lane, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, SL9 0QY. 11am, free. Meet at the Dumb Bell Pub Buckinghamshire SL9 0QY Sunday 20 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 01895833375 MAMMA MIA “THE SING-A-LONG” MOVIE
Mamma Mia “The Sing-a-Long” Movie, Saturday 12th October 2013: Matinee @ 4.00pm & Evening @ 7.30pm. All Saints’ Church, Croxley Green in association with Saxon Film Productions & Friends of Watersmeet Film Society will be presenting the film Mamma Mia the sing-a-long edition. Get your 70’s clothes on as there will be fancy dress prizes, brush up on your ABBA songs and get ready to dance and sing the night (or afternoon!) away. Box Office: 01923 720856 / 07761 705927 email: offi[email protected] Matinee @ 4.00pm & Evening @ 7.30pm Tickets £10 Adults / £5 (14 & under) All Saints’ Church Hall, The Green, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth Hertfordshire WD3 3HJ Saturday 12 Oct 2013 Contact telephone: 01923 720856 CLAYTON’S MARLOW PRESENTS... NORMAN JAY MBE
Following a summer of DJing at parties & festivals around the globe concluded by his annual appearance at Notting Hill Carnival with his legendary Good Times Soundsystem, Norman Jay MBE will return to Clayton’s Marlow to play a very intimate DJ set for another party that simply cannot be missed. Earlier this year Norman Jay treated a capacity crowd at Clayton's Marlow to a seamless mix of house, rare groove, hip-hop, disco and other gems from his bottomless record box, playing way beyond his scheduled set time and keeping everyone dancing til long after closing time. DJs on the night will be: NORMAN JAY MBE/ AARON KIDD/ JAMES MAC/ TONY SMITH/ ANTOSH SAMEK From 8pm until 2am Admission strictly with ticket. Tickets available from the bar. Clayton’s Marlow, 16 Oxford Road, Marlow Buckinghamshire SL7 2NL Saturday 5 Oct 2013
The largest selection of Canali outside London ExclusivE MadE to MEasurE sErvicE
The Tanyard, Tring Road, Wendover, Bucks, HP22 6ND t: 01296 625488 e: [email protected]
p12-BUCKS-CHORLEYWOODBOOKS__ 18/09/2013 11:12 Page 1
local events
CALLING ALL FOODIES H
ave we got a treat for you! This month a line-up of some of Britain’s best cooks are coming to Chorleywood. It all begins with the Happy Foodie Festival on Saturday Sept 28 and ends with Saturday Kitchen’s James Martin’s visit on October 15. Sandwiched in between is a visit from curry king Ivor Peters who will be demonstrating his very different take on Indian cuisine on October 8 - it’s a date not to be missed. Taking place at The Royal Masonic School in Rickmansworth, the Happy Foodie Festival has something for everyone. For fans of the Great British Bake Off there is the Scottish runner up James Morton who will be sharing his bread making tips. For devotees of Master Chef there is 2012 winner Shelina Permaloo who will be creating dishes from her Mauritian homeland and then there’s Dragon’s Den winner Levi Roots who has a spicy Caribbean menu for us to enjoy. There is also a fascinating panel of big names who will be sharing their culinary wisdom from columnist and cookery writer Lindsey Bareham, two star Michelin chef Michael Caines and Soho restauranteur Alexis Gauthier . Then there’s a cupcake queen, a cocktail shaker and a vegan expert….the list goes on. Tickets for the whole day are £25 but that entitles you to 50 per cent off the price of any book by an author appearing at the festival. Ivor Peters, otherwise known as the Urban Rajah, has been putting on his own Great Indian Food Festivals, (pop up restaurants) touring the UK and sharing his sensory dining experiences. He describes his food as ‘authentic, home-cooked food, unlike anything the Indian high street restaurants have to offer’. Forty-two year-old Ivor is the son of Pakistani immigrants (and yes, this is his real name!). He grew up eating ‘a mix of fish finger sandwiches and chapatis smeared with butter’ and when he left home he realised he ‘couldn’t cook for toffee’. He explains: ‘Both my parents are fantastic cooks but I’d taken their food for granted. I decided to pick my dad’s brains over his recipes and this began a culinary journey.’ Ivor has juggled a career in the media with his passion for cooking and travelling, this has also led to him wanting to give something back to the street children in India.’ I run 12
SEPTEMBER2013
supper clubs , which I call Cash n Curry, I go to people’s houses, set up a marquee and introduce them to fresh regional dishes that they’ll probably have never tasted before. At the end of the evening they pay what they feel the meal was worth and I donate the money to projects in Chennai (formerly Madras) that our dear to our hearts. It’s my piece of social enterprise and a little money goes an awfully long way, we can help give funding to train nurses and give young people basic education that might not have been feasible for many who live in abject poverty.’ Ivor is colourful character as well as a glorious cook. He has a trademark curly waxed moustache, a symbol that now features on his books . ‘Some people might describe me as a dandy and it’s a name that probably fits, I’ve never been frightened to express myself- life is too short to be mediocre.’ It won’t be long before Ivor becomes a household name and he is certainly changing the way people feel about Indian food. ‘There’s always going to be a 10pints and curry
culture for some but others have greater expectations. The British palate has got a lot more sophisticated and now street food, quickly cooked, often grilled is taking the place of heavy curries. I want people to understand more about how to spice food and not to be afraid to try them.’ Ivor will be bringing along food for us to sample and sharing his curry memoirs at the Chorleywood Community Arts Centre at 7.30. Hot on his heels is celebrity chef James Martin who will also be demonstrating recipes from his new book, Fast Cooking at the Royal Masonic School . Martin who has been on our TV screen for more than 15 year will be showing us how we can make really exciting meals from start to finish in 20 minutes and will include after work suppers and simple but stunning dishes for entertaining . As well as presenting BBC’s Saturday Kitchen , Martin owns two restaurants, has written two books on Desserts and Slow Cooking and makes frequent appearances demonstrating live at the BBC Good Food Show. One of Martin’s recipes from his new book is five minute banoffee cheesecake- we predict food in a flash will be very popular so reserve your ticket now! Tickets for all events are available from Chorleywood Bookshop 01923283566. For more information about Ivor Peters up - coming events and pop up restaurants go to his website: http://www.urbanrajah.com/ur/events
Ad_Master__ 19/06/2013 12:41 Page 1
p12-BUCKS-RRBLAZE__ 18/09/2013 12:13 Page 1
local events
BLAZE
OF GLORY THE RIVER & ROWING MUSEUM IS SET ABLAZE WITH HISTORY WITH A NEW 200-YEAR SHOWCASE OF THE ROWING BLAZER
G
eorge Eddy visits Blaze of Glory - a new exhibition, running until May 2014, revealing the history of the rowing blazer at Henley on Thames’ River & Rowing Museum as part of its exciting summer programme. The rowing blazer – it does not spring to mind as the most interesting of topics. However, once you scratch the surface of the history of these colourful jackets, their everyday impracticalities fade away and their intrinsic symbolic legacies come to the fore. The River & Rowing Museum in Henley on Thames has revealed a forgotten story of the rowing blazer, and how it has transformed from being a glorified windcheater to a psychedelic and prestigious item of clothing, celebrating the prowess of sportsmen and their clubs, not just from Henley, but worldwide. The exhibition traces the origins of the word ‘blazer’. There are many different theories explored, but the most popular is a report in 1952 by The Times, describing the vivid scarlet-red flannel coats of the Lady Margaret Boat Club as setting the Thames ‘ablaze’. The Museum has a rare and original example of one of these fiery blazers on display, illustrating its importance as the genesis of this term, which subsequently entered Victorian popular culture in the heydays of British summers on the river. There are also rare and
14
SEPTEMBER2013
unique images of blazers, as the height of summer fashion from the mid 1800s, tracing the development of these garments and provide a window into Thames life nearly 200 years ago. The exhibition also houses
one of only 10 blazers, loaned by 1992 gold medallist Jonny Searle, that was made from curtains at Hampton School to celebrate their record-breaking eight in The exhibition looks at how the rowing blazer evolved from the livery of royal watermen and the uniforms belonging to crews of ceremonial barges, to become the celebrated garments of competitive sportsman. It tells the story of the first Oxford and Cambridge boat race in 1829, and how the
coveted Oxbridge ‘Blue’ is the manifestation of the blazers both teams wore when they competed against each other. This exhibition is part of an exciting and extensive summer activity and events programme for both children and adults alike. ‘Blaze of Glory’ runs until May 2014 on The Rowing Wall
at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley on Thames, RG9 1BF. For more information go to: www.rrm.co.uk To find out more visit rrm.com and follow @River_Rowing on twitter for latest news and updates. The Museum, terrace café and shop are open every day from 10am - 5.30pm.
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 15:18 Page 1
p16-BUCKS-SPENCER__ 19/09/2013 09:25 Page 1
local arts
Stanley Spencer IN COOKHAM pencer’s name is synonymous with picturesque Thames-side Cookham, the village he immortalised, termed by him his ‘earthly paradise’. For him it was the scene of heavenly visitations. This exhibition celebrates his response to Cookham, whether in figure paintings, drawings or landscapes. One could be tempted to take a real or notional walk through Cookham, guided by the locations of the works. Starting at Lindworth (where Patricia Preece danced to Spencer’s gramophone), one could note the artist’s birthplace Fernlea (the setting for Neighbours, elected by the public to the recent Art Everywhere, national poster campaign), then stroll past Sarah Tubb and her heavenly visitors on the High Street, to find Christ and his disciples in a malt house. On the Thames by Cookham Bridge, Christ preaches to the crowds at Cookham Regatta. ‘Cocky’, the yellow-crested cockatoo, can still be envisaged on his riverside perch. As Spencer wrote, ‘Cookham is such a positive place that it makes the production of imaginative efforts an absolute need.’ The exhibition includes the gallery’s latest acquisition, a study for the picture The Beatitudes of Love: Consciousness. Spencer made this controversial pencil drawing in 1937, the year of his divorce from Hilda and failed marriage to Patricia. At a time when his life had gone disastrously awry, he was embarking on The Beatitudes of Love series, representing couples, or husbands and wives. As Patricia later commented, ‘He once said: “I can realize in pictures what I have not realized in life.”‘ Spencer explained, ‘Husband & wife: Consciousness. Without any particular reason for it they are suddenly aware of each other… and the couple start licking each other’s tongues when a moment before they could never have believed it possible. But it means & expresses something... I call it consciousness because it is like waking up & realizing all one has been missing while asleep & making up for lost time.’
S
16
SEPTEMBER2013
Opening times 7 November 2013 - 30 March 2014 Thursday-Sunday 11.00am – 4.30 pm Stanley Spencer Gallery High Street, Cookham, Berks SL6 9SJ Information line and group bookings: 01628 471885 www.stanleyspencer.org.uk
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 15:19 Page 1
Vintage Jewellery & Accessories Monday 7th October A selection of items from this auction.
Vintage & Modern Wrist Watches Monday 14th October An 18k gold Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. Estimate £4,000 – £6,000 A stainless steel Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. Estimate £1,500 – £2,000
An auction of Silver & Plated Ware
An 18k rose gold Omega Planet Ocean chronograph. Estimate £5,000 – £7,000
Monday 16th September at 10am A selection of items from the Silver & Plated Ware auction.
Visit www.fellows.co.uk/life for a complimentary catalogue Fellows Auctioneers | 19 Augusta Street | Birmingham B18 6JA | 0121 212 2131 /RQGRQ2IĂ€FH 9DOXDWLRQV%\$SSRLQWPHQW2QO\ _QG)ORRU_4XHHQ6WUHHW_/RQGRQ:-3$_
p18-BUCKS-TWOPLUSTWO__ 19/09/2013 12:16 Page 1
local busines s
CAN MY WEBSITE BE ‘NUMBER 1’ ON PLEASE? s web site designers, this is the question we get asked the most. Everyone wants their web site to be number one on Google and with very good reason. Whether you are selling a service, or selling a product, being number one on Google means YOU will get the lion’s share of all the new business enquiries. You don’t need me to tell you what that‘s worth. If on the other hand your web site doesn’t appear on the first few pages, never mind that treasured number one slot, chances are your web site is in desperate need of a make-over.
A
HOW MUCH DOES IT ALL COST?
The search engines that determine how many new customers you get, look at how relevant your site is to the search term that’s been typed in. So if the search term used is, say, “kitchen shop Beaconsfield” the search engines will look to see who has a web page most relevant to that search. Google ranks web sites in order of importance and it has very clear guidelines as to what IT thinks makes a web site, or more specifically a web page, “important”. 18
SEPTEMBER2013
It’s vital to understand that even if you are the market leader in your field, the only way a search engine can judge you is by what you actually put on your web site. Is Search Engine Optimisation expensive? Well, that depends on how savvy your competitors are. Search Engine Optimisation (or S.E.O.) is now the weapon of choice for any company looking to attract more customers and increase its profits. If, for example, you are the only “Kitchen shop in Beaconsfield” and your competition have not carried out much S.E.O. then getting you to the top of the rankings would not be too difficult. If however your competitors are also in Beaconsfield and have got their own web designers on the case then you will have to work just that little bit harder. The good news is just a few hundred pounds spent on S.E.O. will get the ball rolling and get your web site moving up the rankings. THE SEVEN SECRETS OF A SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE
Building a web site has often been described as ‘building a shop in the desert’. How will your customers ever find it? The phrase “If you build it they will come”
simply does not apply here. Your web site has to be ‘optimised’ so that it will stand out to the search engines. As the High Street struggles for customers, owners of highly effective and optimised web sites are stealing more and more customers as the battle of ‘clicks versus bricks’ hots up. So, with all that in mind, there are the seven things you absolutely MUST do to get your web site noticed and attract more customers. To find out more download your free copy of the “Seven things to make your website more effective” report from our website. Simply go to www.twoplustwomarketing.co.uk/freereport and click to download. If you have a web site already you own one of the most powerful marketing tools ever invented. If it’s not sweating as hard as you do each day, well, it’s time you gave it a serious make-over. For more information give us a call on 01494 730000 and let us show you how you can make the most of your web site. Or if you are looking for a brand new website why not drop in for a chat? Two Plus Two Multimedia Ltd, 7 Baring Road, Beaconsfield HP9 2NB www.twoplustwomarketing.co.uk
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 15:23 Page 1
g
__ P p_S
local events
HERTS 10K the race is on unners and walkers are signing up in their hundreds for the HERTS 10K on 13 October 2013 at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden. Following on from last year’s sell-out event organisers have seen a huge surge in demand for places.
R
The HERTS 10K route takes people through the beautiful countryside around Rothamsted Research and includes a mix of cross country and roads. The event is open to runners of all abilities and walkers, and for many it will be the first time they take part in an organised run. The start and finish area at Rothamsted provides ample space for spectators to cheer on the runners as they cross the line. On the day there will be bouncy castles and refreshments and massages available for the runners. The HERTS 10K is the single biggest fundraising event for the St Albans based hospice and everyone who takes part is encouraged to raised sponsorship for the charity.
20
SEPTEMBER2013
Gillian Barnett Fundraising Director for Grove House said, “Over the past 7 years runners have raised over £700,000 for the hospice and this money is provides a vital part of the £6.5 million funding we need to raise each year. Whether you are a first time runner or are looking to improve on your personal best running time we are encouraging everyone to raise or donate as much as they feel able.” She went on to add, “The atmosphere on race day is fantastic and it is great to see so many people from the local community coming out to support the HERTS 10K. From the runners in fancy dress and the walkers at the back to the elite runners it is clear to see how much everyone enjoys taking part in the event. “ You can register online today at www.herts10k.com. Registration costs £17 and includes a t shirt and medal.
rs
SA
LE
ALL STOCK MUST GO! Cleaning and restoration service for all types of rugs and kilims. 01494 764059 - [email protected] – www.chalfontinteriors.com 2 NIGHTINGALES CORNER LITTLE CHALFONT AMERSHAM HP7 9PY
p22-BUCKS-OURLIFE_. 19/09/2013 12:18 Page 1
LOcAL LIFE
GET MORE OUT OF
YOUR LIFE MAGAZINE! W
hen you read the “Life Series” group of magazines across Berkhamsted, Amersham, Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, Marlow and the beautiful surrounding areas about the fascinating stories concerning local people, local businesses, good causes and the countryside, towns and villages that you are part of, don’t you sometimes think that there are other topics that would look good in print? are you perhaps a keen amateur photographer producing shots taken in the immediate area that would complement and enhance the articles in the magazine? WELL – NOW’S YOUR CHANCE TO SEE YOUR NAME, OR THAT OF YOUR ORGANISATION IN PRINT!
We have highlighted many of the exciting things going on in our area, and would very much like to encourage more of you to bring your message to a wider audience. So, whether you are a new business in Berkhamsted, a fund-raiser in Marlow, a charity organiser in Beaconsfield, a 22
SEPTEMBER2013
life-style coach in Chorleywood or a successful community group in amersham, we would love to hear from you! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WRITE AN ARTICLE (SOMETHING BETWEEN 1000-1250 WORDS), WITH PHOTOS, AND E-MAIL IT TO: PATRICK@ FISHMEDIAGROUP.CO.UK OR CALL 07932 608 797.
You’ll get the idea of the sort of
thing we are looking for by browsing through this edition of the magazine. Don’t worry too much about perfect grammar or spelling – we will check it before it goes to print! So how about it? Why not get those creative juices going, sit down and start thinking of ways in which you could publicise the part of your Local Life that is most important to you? if you want to talk about what you have in mind, or would like some advice
as to how to get the best from the topic you want aired, then please include a contact number so that we can help you. Remember, “Life Series” set of magazines publishes articles about stories of general local interest, so please don’t send us the account of great-aunt Maud’s birthday or your precious off-spring’s coming of age! We would also be delighted to receive photographs relating to the area, illustrating aspects of local life, commerce or nature. again, please send your files to the above e-mail address – sorry but we are unable to accept printed media for inclusion in the magazine. WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!
In all cases, material should be original and the work of the author/sender. fish Media Group reserves the right to edit and/or amend any material and accepts no responsibility for errors or inaccuracies, however caused. origination and copyright will be acknowledged where appropriate. Usual terms and conditions apply, and are available upon request.
KBS-Master__ 18/09/2013 13:34 Page 1
KBS kitchenbedroomstudios
Beaconsfield’s foremost kitchen and bedroom studios since 1982
English-inspired cabinetry meets German precision manufacturing
Affordable luxury, quality & style‌
01494 677727 Call us now for a no obligation consultation
www.kbstudios.co.uk 43-45 Mayflower Way, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 1UG
scan here for lots more on our website
p24-BUCKS-VITREUS__ 19/09/2013 10:30 Page 1
local arts
ARTSIN HERTS STUART GRIEVE & VITREUS ART HERTS OPEN STUDIOS 2013
ow in its 23rd year, Herts Open Studios is the biggest artistic event in Hertfordshire with nearly 200 artists taking part. A guiding principle of Open Studios is that all exhibitions are free, with the aim of bringing art to the public and vice versa! A further feature of Open Studios is that demonstrations, discussions about methods and inspiration and even ‘have-a-go’ sessions are encouraged. Which other kinds of art shows provide this access to the artistic process? And the diversity of art on show (and being created during the event!) means every art lover will uncover something to interest them. Ceramics to watercolours or oils, textiles to sculpture (metal, wood, clay and more), glass to printmaking, photography, mixed media, abstract - from challenging to relaxing – Herts Open Studios is all about variety and quality. Stuart Grieve with Jenny Timms and Mike Caddy of Vitreus Art are evangelists for Herts Open Studios. Being able to explain the techniques involved in an artform and illustrate the creative process fuels Stuart’s, Mike’s and Jenny’s desire to share their artistic passions! Visitors to the group’s exhibition in Potten End will be able to see a selection of the striking digital images Stuart creates. New this year is Stuart’s ‘print on demand’ service – taking less than 10 minutes to print any of the images on show this year. As well as showing their contemporary
N
24
SEPTEMBER2013
and small. And that’s another reason to head out and visit some studios – most artists have work you can buy, at direct prices! stained glass, Jenny and Mike will also be demonstrating some of the skills required to make wall or window or even garden art. The pair have photos of many of their larger commissions to show too, and are accepting orders at Open Studios for new pieces large
Stable Cottage, 2 The Bunch, Main Street, Adstock ,Buckinghamshire MK18 2JN Mike 07778 837471 Jenny 07879 256115 [email protected] www.vitreus-art.co.uk
P:
A g g Ar A
:d A
ORDER NOW FOR CHRISTMAS DELIVERY
8,000 SQ.FT OF LUXURY LIVING AND INTERIOR DESIGN
LUXURY, BESPOKE UPHOLSTERY AND FINE FURNITURE INCLUDING: DURESTA, DAVID GUNDRY, COLLINS & HAYES, PORADA, PETER GUILD, EICHHOLTZ, CATTELAN ITALIA AND MANY MORE. PLUS FABRIC AND WALLPAPER DESIGNERS INCLUDING: ROMO, OSBORNE & LITTLE, DESIGNERS GUILD, SAHCO, HARLEQUIN, ZINC AND MANY MORE.
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 EN8
EDUCA EDUCATION UCA ATION LIFE T H E
Q U A L I T Y
E D U C AT I O N
S U P P L E M E N T
S E P T E M B E R
2 0 1 3
Welcome... W elco elc l me... The independent school system in the UK is one of the finest in the world, and you are fortunate to have some of the best schools in the country right on your doorstep. In today’s economic climate, making the right choice for your child’s education is of paramount importance. Sometimes every parent needs a helping hand in deciding what is best for their children. Our Education Life series is an invaluable resource for any parent considering private education. Many schools will be holding further open days during 2013.
Encourage your children to come with you and get their feedback after each visit. Take a notebook with you and write down the positive or negative things your child discovers from each school. This will be a useful tool when you are comparing notes! It also provides an insight into the way a child sees a prospective future school This month sees the third of our three part Education Life series which will next appear in the February 2014 issues.. If you would like your prestigious school to appear in our stunning guides, please contact [email protected]
THE FINEST SCHOOLS IN yOur arEa
P: KS _
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 ENP
educat i o n
Why Art A Level is good for your child’s career prospects BY CHRIS OTLEY HEAD OF ART, MERCHANT TAYLORS’ SCHOOL oday’s students face intense competition for places at the top institutions. University education is also expensive; and 46 applicants for each graduate job advertised. Given this situation, the perennial parental question - ‘why should my child study Art & Design at A-level?’ - seems unlikely to disappear any time soon.
T
The Russell Group of top UK universities was no doubt well-intentioned in publishing its list of ‘facilitating’ subjects in 2011. It defined these as those most frequently required by Admissions departments and therefore most likely to offer a range of routes into Higher Education. However, given media and government concerns about falling standards, pupils and parents worried all-too-often that subjects not on the list were second class ‘soft options’, rather than simply more specialist, vocational, or practical (Economics, for instance, did not make the list). The popular perception of Art & Design as merely a relaxing and enjoyable alternative to academic study endured, and with it, the related assumption that to study the Creative Arts at university level is to take an enormous gamble with one’s career chances. The reality of the situation, however, is that a rapidly diversifying range of undergraduate courses are out there, which lead to very viable creative careers. Architecture and Product Design are obvious popular examples, but many of our former pupils can now also be found working in advertising, branding, fashion, vehicle design, graphics, publishing and illustration. Prospective Art & Design undergraduates should not be naïve though: just as with any other subject, there are good and bad courses, and the fact remains that graduate employment rates are indeed somewhat lower than in other subject areas. Choosing the right university is critical. It comes as a surprise to many to learn that the best creative courses attract Oxbridge levels of competition – the one-year pre-degree Foundation Course at Kingston attracts well over 1000 applicants for approximately 90 places each year. A further complication is that many of the most-respected specialist courses are not necessarily found at the most famous institutions. Want to study Vehicle Design? Coventry and Northumbria both remain clear world-leaders. Interested in animation? Bournemouth University is a major specialist. Good research coupled with up to date advice from schools is vital. There is also a growing trend of graduates from other disciplines joining 28
SEPTEMBER2013
creative industries, having first developed their creative skills while still at school. Recently, we took a group of pupils to visit renowned post-production/ special FX company ‘The Mill’, who were keen to highlight the creative skills shortage they face in the UK. While they of course recruit from specialist graphics degrees, their dream job applicant might have studied Art, Maths and Physics at A-level, before undertaking a ‘good degree from a good university’, maintaining their practical art skills alongside – we were led around the agency by a history graduate, and a chemist. The unfortunate tendency of some schools to pigeonhole pupils into either the Arts or Sciences at an early age is out-of-kilter with the increasingly fluid and collaborative approach of the workplace, particularly in this rapidly developing sector. Art & Design has the potential to positively affect the quality and circumstances of peoples’ lives, from a vocational viewpoint or indeed from the perspective of recreation. An understanding of the human impulse to express and create, and the satisfying of this urge ought to be seen as fundamental to the development of children. At their best, schools should view Art & Design as an important and integral means through which they can educate. Art is concerned with visual communication and the making of imagery in response to human experiences, and so it can be a major tool through which we learn to measure the world around us, by making judgements concerning issues and relationships, no matter how straightforward, abstract or esoteric they might be. In my own department, I am delighted that there are usually as many pupils who see Art as their ‘first-choice’ A-level as there are those who see it as their third or fourth; some of our strongest artists have gone on to read Medicine, Law or Engineering. Pupils should be encouraged to find common ground in Art & Design with all their other subjects; in learning how to research context, develop an idea, make their own judgements, resolve problems, work collaboratively, and develop their own personal interpretations and outcomes around a theme or idea. A-level Art offers pupils the chance to develop and prove their visual literacy. Coupled with a strong package of other subjects, this ability to decipher and exploit images can really make them stand out from the competition in the multi-media workspaces of an increasingly visual world.
P: KS _
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 ENO
educat i o n
Lockers Park Where success develops naturally ockers Park is a school of ambition and excellence that has been educating boys to the highest standard for over 130 years. Our emphasis is not just on academic excellence, but also pastoral care and extra-curricular activities as we feel this nurtures the development of boys to produce their best.
L
Academically, we prepare boys for the best of British public and independent schools, often with scholarships. We do not feed to any particular school, but work with the boys and their parents to find the best suited school to further his academic education. We are proud of our deservedly high reputation for being a school where the welfare and happiness of the boys are at the heart of all we do. Our belief is that success develops naturally in boys who are happy, motivated and given every encouragement and opportunity to push themselves, knowing they will always be supported. We encourage individuality and, as a small school, cherish the uniqueness of each boy. Lockers Park offers a first class education, holds traditional values dear but infuses this with modern practice. We are proud of the school and all it stands for, summed up best by the school motto – good results, good manners and good fun. Visit www.lockerspark.herts.sch.uk or call 01442 251712 for more information.
LOCKERS PARK Bene agere ac Laetari: good results, good manners, good fun
Day & Boarding Preparatory School for boys aged 5 - 13 years
OPEN MORNING
“Lockers Park provides a very happy learning environment through an excellent wide-ranging curriculum and programme of activities”.
Saturday 12th October 2013 at 11.00am
Independent Schools Inspectorate - November 2011
www.lockerspark.herts.sch.uk Telephone us on: Hemel Hempstead 01442 251712 Bursaries are available to boys Years 3 to 6 30
SEPTEMBER2013
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 EN6
e d u c ation
An inspirin iring g edu ed uca cati tion for girls at at Abbot’s Ab bot’s Hill bbot’s Hill is a thriving and dynamic independent day school for girls aged 3-16 and boys aged 3-5 situated in seventy sev enty acres of stunning parkland on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead.
A
The school has an excellent record of academic success. The recent Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report ( January 2012) noted that “small classes, in which pupils feel well-known and supported, enable them to fulfil their potential.” The school is also renowned for the high quality of its pastoral care. Abbot Abbot’s Hill is a happy and united community which values and celebrates the contributions and achievements achiev ements of each individual. Girls are encouraged to discover and develop their own unique talents so that everyone has the opportunity to shine. The ISI report stated that “the quality of pupils’ personal development development is outstanding.”
Abbot’s Hill offers a richly diverse diverse range of extra-curricular activities. This year year pupils staged a highly successful production of ‘Oliver’ which included girls from Year 3 to Year 11, created a news broadcast for BBC School Report, participated in a ‘Big Art Week’ and became U16 District Netball Champions. The school offers before and after school care and school buses from a number of locations. The T he ne next xt whole school Open Open D Day ay will take place on Saturday Saturday 5th Working Morning Ther heree will be a W orking or king Open Open M orning October 2013, 2pm-4pm. There Prep for the P rep School on Wednesday Wednesday 9th October. October. Visit www www.abbotshill.her .abbotshill.herts.sch.uk or call 01442 240333 for more information.
Independent Independent Day School School Girls 3-16 3-16 Boys Boys 3-5 3-5 Girls
Courage, Courage, Courtesy, Courtesy, Compassion Compassion
“Th ality o upils’ p ersonal “Thee qu quality off p pupils’ personal d evelopment is o utstanding” ISI rreport eport Ja nuary 2012 development outstanding” January
O Open pen D Day ay - S Saturday aturday 5 O October ctober 2 2013 013 2.00pm 2.00pm - 4.00pm 4.00pm (last tours begin at 3.30pm) no appointment necessary
W Working orking O Open pen M Morning orning - W Wednesday ednesday 9 O October ctober 2 2013 013 See our Nursery and Prep School in action. Please telephone to book your place Abbot’s Hill is a happy, dynamic and thriving community with an excellent record of academic success and an outstanding reputation for pastoral care.
- We aim high - We love learning
- We value friendship - We grasp opportunities
• Breakfast and after-school care • School buses run from a number of areas • Nursery offering flexible sessions 8am-6pm • Childcare vouchers accepted. Bu nkers L ane, H emel H empstead, H ertfordshire H P3 8 RP Bunkers Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP3 8RP E [email protected] E:: [email protected]
T 14 42 2 40 3 33 T:: 0 01442 240 333 a bbotshill.herts.sch.uk abbotshill.herts.sch.uk
Inspiring I nspiring and ch challenging allenging boys boys
OPEN MORNING Prep and Senior School (4–18) Saturday 5th October, 9.30am–12.30pm
ertfordshire AL3 4A King H Harry arr y Lane St Albans H Hertfordshire 4AW W T rep) 01727 862616 T:: (Senior) 01727 855185 (P (Prep) E: admissions@stc olumbascollege.org stcolumbascollege.org www.stc www .stcolumbascollege.org www.stcolumbascollege.org SEPTEMBER2013
31
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 EN
educat i o n
The Va Value of Ta Takin kingg Risks WORDS DR MARY SHORT, HEADMISTRESS, ST. HELEN’S SCHOOL chools have a responsibility to ensure that pupils enter the adult world equipped not only with the very best academic results but also with the skills and attributes that will be equally as important to them in the workplace and that will provide them with the structure which will support them through the trials and triumphs of adult life. Amongst these is the willingness to take risks and to mov move beyond beyond their comfort zones. It is this ability to view new challenges as exciting and an opportunity to find out what we can do that enables us to achieve so much more than simply gaining good exam results.
S
The process of becoming an outstanding student does not happen by magic; it happens through hard work, meeting deadlines, listening carefully and preparing thoroughly oughly.. By doing these things, all pupils can reach reach their full potential academically. academically. Howev ever er,, they er can achieve so much more than this if they wish to and are are encouraged to do so by creative and intellectually ambitious teachers, and this can see children becoming the individuals who at the moment neither they nor their parents and friends can even imagine. by creating an environment in Schools can encourage pupils to do this by which students can throw themselves into school life, not just focusing on the activities that take place in the classroom. We should encourage them to take up a sport they do not yyet et know know, go to a lunchtime club to try a new activity and to meet new people, join a team, contribute to group work by becoming the leader or the spokeswoman, vvolunteer olunteer to help with school activities and support others in whatever whatever they are trying to achieve achieve. At St. Helen’s, students have access to a rich and varied extra-curricular programme which enables all girls to pursue their individual talents and interests and to discover new ones, whether they be musical, dramatic, artistic or sporting. Girls are encouraged to work hard but also to play hard, 32
SEPTEMBER2013
whether that is through the Duke of Edinburgh’s A Awar ward, the Combined Cadet Force (operated jointly with Merchant Taylors’ School), debating competitions, running a club or taking on a position of responsibility such as Prefect in the Sixth Form. It is these activities that develop the skills that are needed alongside academic results to achieve success in the modern wor , to ask questions, to be creative and to work in a team alongside other people as well as to lead and inspire others. In the Sixth Form, the development of these skills and the numerous activities that the girls get involved with are recognised through our enrichment programme, culminating in the St. Helen’s Portfolio, which documents all that Sixth Form students achieve through involvement in extra-curricular activities, contribution to the school and wider community, community, and participation in enrichment activities that are offered through the curriculum, such as attendance at lectures, language qualifications, Open University courses and the Extended Extended Project Qualification. Much of what will set these students apart when they leave school is the way in which they have responded to the risks that they hav , which will prepare them for the challenges of the adult world. By definition, risks can be hard to take but, if we we do not take risks, such as answer answ ering questions that we we find difficult, learning a new language or taking on a new activity, activity, we we never find out what we we can do and what we we are capable of. At St. Helen’s, staff encourage pupils to think outside the box, to ask awkward and difficult questions and to sometimes say, say, ‘I don’t know...but I think I know where to find the answer answer’. None of us knows what we can do if we do not try and it is important that schools provide a safe and supportiv tivee environment in which pupils can begin to take these risks.
P: KS _
Please contact the Admissions Secretary to book a place.
Tuesday Tuesday 1st October 6.30pm 6.30pm
Sixth Form Open Evening Please cont contact act the Admissions Secret Secretary ary to book a place.
contact Please cont act the Admissions Secretary Secret ary to book a place. St. Helen’s is adjacent to Northwood station (Metropolitan Line), 20 minutes from Amersham, and coaches available Amersham, Beaconsfield, Gerrards and Hemel St. Helen Helen’s ’s isare adjacent to from Northwood station (Metropolitan Line) Line),,Cross 20 minutes fromHempstead. Amersham, and coaches are aavailable vailable from Amersham, Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and Hemel Hempstead.
An independent day school for girls aged 3 to 18
An independent day school for girls aged 3 to 18
St. Helen’s School Eastbury Road Northwood Middlesex HA6 3AS Tel: 01923 843230 [email protected]
www.sthn.co.uk www www.sthn.co.uk .sthn.co.uk
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 ENg
educat i o n
cullum The Independent Curricu – instillin instillingg qua qualiti lities for for life life
‘N
ow, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and BEN EVANS EVANS girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted HEADMASTER HEADMASTER in life. Plant nothing AT A T EDGE GR GROVE OVE else, and root out ever everything else.’ So said Mr Gradgrind, the headmaster in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times. Thankfully Thankfully,, education has come a long way since the nineteenth century and now offers a better mix of subject knowledge and other skills. But many heads of independent schools, including me, feel that the current national curriculum does not provide sufficient breadth and new initiatives introduced by the government are favour of fact based learning rather than eroding skill based learning in favour encouraging what I see as a healthy mix of both. The response to this by a growing number of Independent Schools is the development and adoption of the Independent Curriculum. The National Curriculum is a list of subjects and standards set by the government and used by primary and secondary schools to ensure that children across the country learn the same things. State schools are legally bound to follow the National Curriculum and it is true that many independent schools also use it as the foundation for their teaching and learning. Introduced in 1988, it has ensured much needed continuity and progression in schools where before there was var varying qualities of practice. Indeed, GCSE and A-level syllabuses are based on the assumption that the pupils have followed a common course up to the age of 14 and schools would be foolish to ignore this. However er,, the National Curriculum is at the mercy of different governments and changes in policy, policy, which can be damaging to longer term stability in education. Most recently there has been a government push under Michael Gove towards fact-based learning – not a problem in itself, but this is at the expense of other facets of learning. An example of this is the introduction of the English Baccalaureate which many consider has too narrow an academic focus. 34
SEPTEMBER2013
As a consequence, independent schools have have recently felt the need for a curriculum which works alongside the National Curriculum by providing innovativ ativee programmes of study incorporating academic excellence excellence with creativity and innovation. Thus, the aptly named Independent Curriculum, which was devised by Andrew Hammond, a prep school headmaster himself, is now being adopted by an ever ever increasing number of leading preparatory schools who want an ex exciting citing and forward-thinking curriculum for their pupils. The Independent Curriculum is a creativ eativee curriculum which allows allows pupils to discover er,, apply and talk about their learning. It is a total curriculum incorporating the traditionally examined subjects as well as music, art, drama and design and technology which allows teachers to inspire, challenge and enthuse their pupils whilst at the same time instilling important qualities for life. Qualities such as resilience, self-motiv self-motivation, ation, discernment, tolerance and global awareness. No-one can argue that these qualities are not important but how how often are they given given the prominence they deserve in our children en’’s learning? In spite of numerous changes of government and educational policies, independent schools continue to thriv ivee in their independence and to offer academic excellence excellence and curricula based on the common sense principle that pupils need a healthy mix of subject knowledge and skills such as discovery and communication to become independent learners and thinkers. My My priority is to produce intellectually curious pupils who can scrutinise information, problem solve solve and confidently debate and discuss their findings with others. A common sense approach that will prepare them for a successful and rewarding life. Edge E dge G Grove Grrove has fully implemented the Independent Independent Curriculum Curriculum thr throughout oughout the school. To To find out more, more, visit us at our next next Open Open Morning Morning on Satur Saturday day 5th October 2013 at 10am – 12pm. www.edgegrove.com www.edgegr www .edgegro .edgegr ove.com
P: KS _
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 ENB
Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls
play & performance Open Day 5 October 2013 Juniors 10am-12.30pm, Seniors 2pm-5pm Scholarships and Financial Assistance available from 11+ Independent Day School for Girls aged 4-18 Aldenham Road, Elstree, Herts, WD6 3BT e: [email protected] t: 020 8266 2300 www.habsgirls.org.uk Registered Charity No. 313996
Edge Grove is a leading independent day/boarding preparatory school for boys and girls aged 3 -13, set in 28 acres of beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.
Open Morning Saturday 5th October 10am - 12pm No pre-booking necessary
At Edge Grove life is never dull and in their busy day our pupils share a wealth of opportunity. Ben Evans, Headmaster
Edge Grove, Aldenham Village, Hertfordshire WD25 8NL 01923 855724 [email protected] www.edgegrove.com
KI
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O6NNp 7 EN8T
An outstanding Independent Prep School for boys and girls aged 3-13 years
OPEN MORNING Saturday 28th September 9.30am – 12.30pm
Happiness,Confidence,Success
‘‘
P: KS _
The pupils’ overall achievement is excellent, well supported by a broad and very well Independent Schools Inspectorate planned curriculum.
Contact: 01442 256143
www.westbrookhay.co.uk London Road, Hemel Hempstead HP1 2RF
P: KS _
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O NNp 7 EN88
e d u c ation
A wonderful start he start of school is a big step in a child’s life and also in that of its parents. There is much debate about when is the right age to start being taught, but here at Westbrook Hay we feel that it is obvious; it is when the child is ready. Children can come to us in the term in which they turn 3, some will come from nurseries, others straight from home, while some will choose to remain at the local nursery and join us in Reception, when full time school begins.
T
In our purpose-built Lower School, children benefit from a secure setting, with its own playgrounds, and advantageous teacher: pupil ratios. The aim is to provide a gentle start to life here, building on children’s existing skills. After two years or so in our Nursery, children move to Reception and this is the stage at which we see most children make the break through to literacy and numeracy. One of the aspects that most appeals here is that the curriculum that
underpins all the learning in the Nursery is delivered through children playing while they are learning. The subtlety involved requires skilled planning and delivery, but does mean that children largely remain blissfully unaware that they are being taught at this early stage. The setting has to be exciting for children, sustaining their interest and one that offers sufficient variety to make every day an enjoyable challenge. Give a child the opportunity to discover that the 10 coloured blocks they have can be sorted into a variety of groups and then built into a three-dimensional shape and the seeds of mathematical knowledge are sown in a practical manner, which has to be better than sitting there barking out the rote order of numbers in a robotic fashion that demonstrates little of value. The modern child expects to be engaged by what they are doing and here at Westbrook Hay we believe that we provide children with the best start to their learning journey. Why not book a visit to see for yourself what we have to offer.
SEPTEMBER2013 37
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O NNp 7 EN8P
educat i o n
A busy and exciting year of celebration for Aldenham School WORDS MR JAMES FOWLER HEADMASTER, ALDENHAM SCHOOL
I
t has been another year of celebrations for staff and students at Aldenham School which kicked off with the opening of a new Sixth Form Centre and major extension to the existing Music School in September. This magnificent new building provides state of the art equipment and facilities for both recreation and study, with students benefitting from new Music Technology and Psychology classrooms and the whole school and wider community enjoying meetings in the oak beamed Apthorp Room as well as concerts in the Recital Room. Celebrations were also the order of the day following an all-school
s at r speak te s a m d m Hea .15a m & 11 10.15a r 12.00 noon u Last to
Aldenham School
inspection in November, having gained the top ISI grade - excellent - in every single category. This followed an integrated inspection of both the Senior and the Prep School by the Independent Schools Inspectorate which commended both areas of the School for enabling pupils to reach their full potential in all aspects of their lives. The year was rounded off by a celebration of over 30 years of girls at Aldenham when ‘old girls’ returned to the school for a reunion. The first girls joined the Sixth Form in 1980 and the school is now fully coeducational, with girls and boys alike enjoying the benefits of this vibrant, friendly and highly successful learning environment.
Open Morning 5 October 2013
10.00am-12.30pm
Entry for Boys & Girls at 11+, 13+, 16+
Aldenham Preparatory School
Entry for Boys & Girls at 3+, 4+, 7+
An excellent all round education
Aldenham School, Elstree, Herts WD6 3AJ 38
SEPTEMBER2013
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O NNp 7 EN8U
e d u c ation
Why choose an independent sixth form college? WORDS JAMES WARDROBE ver recent years independent VI Form colleges have established themselves as very reliable and successful providers of preuniversity education. Most of the best colleges are members of the Council for Independent Education (CIFE). CIFE, founded in 1972, is a national association whose colleges are spread widely over the country, each one offering individual features but all subject to high standards of accreditation.
O
Details of each college can be found at www.cife.org.uk These colleges offer: a major advantage of independent VI Form colleges over a school’s sixth form lies in the wider range of choice of subjects and much greater flexibility of subject combinations. Most colleges allow you to pick virtually any combination of subjects and there are commonly over forty different AS and A level subjects to choose from. Different types and lengths of A level course are also available. If you want to join a college for the second year of A level, not only will you find many colleges which can provide the right A2 courses, but most will allow you to combine A2 courses with a new AS level or even a subject in which you cover both the AS and A2 during the year. So, apart from the variety of subjects, you will find standard two-year courses, final-year (ie second year) courses, one-year courses (covering AS and A2 modules) and retake courses (both one term and one-year). GCSE courses are also offered at all colleges. Intensive Easter Revision courses at both A level and GCSE are available at many colleges.
Teaching The best colleges, including all CIFE colleges, have experienced and enthusiastic teachers who are A level subject specialists. They are familiar with all the requirements of the various examination boards and are often examiners for the syllabuses they teach. They often have the advantage of being able to specialise in their subject at a particular level for a particular exam syllabus throughout their whole teaching timetable, unburdened by any lower school teaching requirements. Independent VI Form colleges offer small group teaching, usually with a maximum of 8 students per class. The informal, relaxed nature of the smallgroup environment enables the teacher to establish quickly and maintain a very productive and beneficial working relationship with you, with close supervision of your work and plenty of individual attention, encouragement and advice. Entrance Academic and pastoral support is a high priority for these colleges. Their academic advisors keep up-to-date on the latest requirements of the university admissions departments and will make sure that you receive plenty of support in completing your UCAS form as effectively as possible. Some colleges run very sophisticated and targeted programmes of support for students applying for the most challenging university courses, e.g. Medicine. For more information, go to www.cife.org.uk or telephone 020 8767 8666.
SEPTEMBER2013 39
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O NNp 7 EN8O
educat i o n
T CAN I DO PREP O PREP WHAT CAN WHAT I DO TO T PREPARE ARE ARE MYMY CHILD CHILD FOR FOR SCHOOL SCHOOL? SCHOOL ? ? W WORDS ORDS B BY Y WORDS W HELEN ORDSD DALKIN BY B ALKIN Y HELEN DALKIN DALKIN MRS D DALKIN ALKINMRS IS A ASSISTANT D DALKIN SSIS ALKIN TANT IS HEAD HEAD, A ASSISTANT SSIS,TBEE BEECHWOOD ANTCHW HEAD, HEAD OOD , BEECHWOOD BEE P PARK ARK CHWSCHOOL OOD PARK PARK AND SCHOOL HEAD OF AND IT ITS SHEAD JUNIOR OF DEP DEPARTMENT IT ITS S JUNIOR ARTMENT DEP DEPARTMENT ARTMENT
Th be
“How can I prepar “He ow my can child I prfor epar school?” e my child A question for school?” I amAregularly question I am r‘egularly ‘ ’ constantly us is lacking reminds in the us isyouth lacking in the. Iytouth of today t the media’ media’ constantly reminds of today. today asked by parents asked . As the by H par ead ents of.aAs Prthe e-prHep ead , par ofents a Pre-pr are expecting ep, parents are expecting is all too easy toiscompensate all too easy the to compensate ‘guilt’ whichthe we‘guilt feel for ’ which spending we feel for spending my response to my be fir response mly centr toed beon firmly academic centred pron epar academic epar with our childr timeen, with byour allochildr wing them en, byto allo continue wing them to continue ation andprar e ationinsufficient and are timeinsufficient surprised whensurpr I advise isedthem when ‘play I advise withthem your child ‘play’.with your child’. watching the TVwatching or enjoy the a computer TV or enjo game y a computer rather than game enter rather ing into than entering into the exhausting battle the exhausting of stickingbattle to rules of sticking and boundar to rules ies;and yetboundar these ies; yet these 1 ll a 1.. ‘All ‘Playing with our ‘Playing children en’ with ’ has our almost childrbecome ’ has almost outmoded become in our outmoded busy in prour ovide busy childrenprwith ovide secur childr ity.en ity . with secur outst , and it is frequently 21st centur , andoutsour it is frequently ced to either outsour schools ced tooreither schools or 21st century lives lives repor epor s coreour family’ e the of r allowing wing en our children children to clubs. Yet it isto from clubs our . parentsom thatour wepar learents n about that our we lear family’ n about Ass par A parents sents corewe we have hav As parents e the responsibility responsibility we have responsibility allowing ourofchildr children allowing electraccess onic media electr onicpreventing pr eventing misuse preventing . We We need misuse values and uponvalues parents andthat upon a child parents bases that itsabehaviours child bases. Pits laying behaviours with . P access layingto with electronic to electronic whilst media whilst its misuse. preventing its misuse. to: . We need to: ‘ he our children models our childr suchen behaviours models such as tur behaviours n-taking, social as turn-taking, interaction, social inter Reduce R educe action, exposur exposur xposuree time e time ‘Resu it dev it dev elop Set limits S the n a child’s self-esteem a child and ’s self-esteem also its emotional and also and its social emotional responses and social . responses Reevie R . w access andvie avw availability ailability. ailability access and . av Beec Children learn ho Childr w their en lear behaviour n how their impacts behaviour upon others impacts . Playing upon with others. Playing Ensur nsure with e that our inter interaction action with electronic electronic media pr pro ovides a good vides a good o our children ultimately our childr shapes en ultimately the adultshapes whichthe they adult become which . they become.role model to our children. children. Most many Children are groChildr wing up en in arean grage owing wher upein electr an age onic wher media e electr is displacing onic media Iisf w displacing e restrict theIftime we restr childr icten thehav time e access childrto enelectr haveonic access media, to electr then onic media, then Beec ents parenting; it is easy to finditan is‘app easy’ which to findteaches an ‘app’awhich child number teaches a child number timeto will be with created playen. with ourin childr parenting; time will be created play ourto childr Time which en.par Time in which parents ‘ he n , fastand mosound ving, show ather than and childr en can share(pr simple games (promoting number skills, turn sequencing in a lively lively ely,, fast moving,’ light show’, rather than and childr en can shar e simple games omoting number skills, tur learn ninglosing), to to have to battletowith havinanimate e to battle with pieces inanimate of jigsawpieces ; the bor ofedom jigsawof; the a boredom taking, of adeveloping developing the emotions eloping ofthe winning emotions and of losing), winning learand learning to tediously long car tediously journeylong is much car jour easier neywith is much the in-car easier D with VD the rather in-car DrVD ideraather bike or kick ride a ball, a bike (co-or or kick dination) a ball, (co-or participating dination) inpar roleticipating play in role play 2. The s ersation and ersation and than monotonous than games monotonous of ‘I spy’.games of ‘I spy’. scenarios – suchscenar as shops ios –orsuch hospitals as shops (devoreloping (developing hospitals conv conversation (dev extra action/reaction). listening skills, pr listening oblem-solving skills, prand oblem-solving emotional inter and emotional interaction/reaction). en which need befor e en need before Children sleep in Childr technology technology-r en sleep -rich in technology bedrooms and ich our bedrhomes ooms ,and carsour andhomes The , cars list and goes on.The Thislist is goes the pron. epar This ation is the which prepar childr ation childr In the pockets are filled pockets with smar are filled tphones with , computers smartphones , TVs , computers etc. As adults , TVswetc e . As they adults enter wethe pr they imarenter y classr theoom. primary classroom. and 7 the technology around w ouruschildr and allo en to w our children to have to embracehav the e to technology embrace ar ound us and allo with difficult because of the growing child world, notbut Iwncr e must easingly not childr Incren easingly are finding childr playtimes en are finding moreplaytimes do likewise, as this do likewise is part of , as the this groiswing partchild ’s world, but we’smust more difficult because After , or believ how to , or how to negate the unique negate position the unique which ev ever position ery parwhich ent hasevin shaping y parenttheir has in shaping theytheir have not lear they nt hav howe to not crlear eatent ‘make how to believ create e play’, play’ ‘make an e one ‘app’ to child’s development. child’s development. interact with others inter. act They with havothers e grown . They used hav toeflicking grown used from to flicking from one ‘app’ to facili another; at school we need them to their lev another ; at school wmaintain e need them tolevel maintain el of application. their level of application. Parents in the UK Parwor ents k longer in the UK hours worthan k longer theyhours have ever ev than er done they .hav The And. sadly, sadly The , because childr,en because are spending children mor are spending time with mor electr e time onic with electronic G ea age of parentingage now ofcommences parenting nofar w commences later than it did far later 20 y years ears thanago it did , and 20 years media agoand , andless time media playing and less with time adults playing , theywith are adults less used , they to ar reading e less used to reading comp mothers are having mothers theirar ‘first e having born’their at an‘first olderbor age too. As parents our. Asthe paremotional ents our signals the emotional of otherssignals , thus rof esulting othersin , thus childr resulting en having in childr a en having a There lives liv es hav have e moved on from those of ourom parthose ents, but of our thepar needs entsof , but a child the needs greater of a child tendency grto eater offer tendency an inappr toopr offer iate anresponse inappropr . iate response. Scho have remained the havesame; remained they hav have theesame; not changed. they havChildren still require en still require St Alb authoritativ itative e par author ents, who applyents discipline , who apply with consistency, consistency discipline with , alongside consistency It ,isalongside through play It that is thrchildr ough en play lear that n. G childr ive iv e your en lear child n. G the best ourstar child t the best start Edles being warm, loving, beingreceptiv eceptive warm, elocar ving, e-givers e-giv receptiv ers. Thus resulting .in Thus childr resulting en intochildr theiren formal education to their forbmal y ensur education ing thatbyyour our ensur child has had our the child has had the Flexib having greater self-esteem having greater andself-esteem self-discipline and, something self-discipline which , something which opportunity to play oppor with tunity you.to play with y you. child 40
SEPTEMBER2013
DDNN8g TB PT8UNN86 O NNp 7 EN86
e d u c ation
Do you want your child to have stability at school, or,, be well-cared for secure and happy in wonderful surroundings? Do you want your child to have the best education and an excellent preparation for secondary school? Do you want your child to be offered lots of fun extracurricular activities in one safe plac e?
Then Beech Beechwood wood Park Park School is the best choice for you you and your your child. 1 1.. ‘‘All All aspects of of pr pro provision provision for the E Ear Early arly Y Years ears F Foundation oundation S Stage tage are are outstanding’ accor ding to the IIndependent ndependent Schools IInspectorate’s nspectorate’s according rreport eport in JJanuar anuary anuar y 2013: January ‘The quality of of the the pupils pupils’ achievement is eex xcellent’ ‘Results in national national tests testsat atage age11 11hav have been eex xcellent in rrelation elation to aver the national av erage age’ Beechwood Park Montessori Nursery at Little Chever Cheverells where ‘‘the the pro pr ovision is outstanding’ welcomes children rising three yyears ears Most pupils are accepted at their first choice of secondary school, many with scholarships; bursaries are available for children joining Beechwood Park in Year 7 ‘The use of specialist teachers […] enhances the quality of the the learning eexperience xperience’ 2. The school day offers extended car care, e, super supervised vised homew homewor homework ork and icular activities, depending on the child ’s age: extra-curr extra-curricular child’s In the main school - optional 8:15am arr iv ival al time for the y youngest oungest and 7:30am breakfast club for yyear ear 3 upwards – especially popular with working parents After school groups, homework groups and clubs ‘the school offers an eex xcellent rrange ange of eextr xtra-curricular xtr a-curricular activities’ and has ‘excellent facilities’; ‘pupils achieve high standar standards ds [in] gr graded aded music and drama dr ama eexaminations, xaminations, [win] places in N National ational Youth Choirs of Great Britain, county level cr cross-countr oss-countryy, poetr oss-countr poetryy, maths and art competitions’ There is ‘an eex xcellent choice of food’ School buses are routed through a widespread catchment area (e.g. St Albans , Redbourn, F lamstead, Harpenden, M arkyate, Eaton Bray ay,, Edlesborough, Whipsnade, Kensworth) Flexible boarding of 2/3/4 2/3/4nights nightsisisaapopular popularoption optionfor forolder older children and ‘the quality of ofboar boarding boarding is eeex xcellent’ while ‘boar boarders ders
take eextensiv xtensive adv advantage antage of the wide range range of opportunities available to them in the e venings’ caring ing envir environment onment in which your child will 3. The school is a car flour flourish: ish: Pupils demonstrate ‘exemplar emplaryy behaviour and care care for each other’ There are ‘extr xtremely emely str strong ong arr arrangements angements for pastor pastoral al car caree’ ‘Pupils have an extr extr xtremely emely high standard standard of personal development by the time the theyy leave the school.’ By Anne Punter unter.. (Dr Punter is the vice-chairman of the Boar oard d of Go Gov vernors of Beechw eechwood ood Park School with special rresponsibility esponsibility for eechwood ood Park School). Education; her daughter attended Beechw All italicised statements are taken from the January 2013 Independent Schools Inspectorate report for the school. The full report is available available on the school’s website: www www.beechw .beechwoodpar .beechw oodpark.her oodpar k.herts.sch.uk
Please come come and see for for yourself! yourself! The T he next next O Open pen Morning Morning is on Friday, F Friday riday,, October, riday October, 18th 2013 (9.30 am to 12.00 noon). T The he H Headmaster, Headmaster eadmaster,, Patrick eadmaster Patrick A Atkinson, tkinson, prospective is always happy to meet prospectiv pr ospective parents parents at other times. Please P lease view view the website www.beechwoodpar www www.beechwoodpark.herts.sch.uk .beechwoodpark.her .beechwoodpar k.herts.sch.uk , Registrar telephone the R egistrar egistr ar on 01582 840333 or email: [email protected] admissions@beechwoodpar k.herts.sch.uk for more more information. [email protected] Beechwood Par Par ark k School, M Mar arkyate, ar kyate, H Her ertfor tfordshir dshiree AL3 8AW dshir 8AW. Prepar eparator atoryy day and weekly boarding ator boarding school for girls and boys boys aged 4 to 13 years with a Montessori Montessori N Nurser urseryy close b urser byy at Little Chever erells. ells. www.beechwoodpark.herts.sch.uk www.beechw www .beechwoodpar .beechw oodpark.herts.sch.uk SEPTEMBER2013 41
p27-BUCKS-EDUCATION__ 18/09/2013 15:46 Page 16
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 15:57 Page 1
Breathtakingly beautiful kitchens & bathrooms
325 Amersham Road, Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire, HP15 7PX Phone: 01494 718585 Email: [email protected] Web: www.jgkab.co.uk
p44-BUCKS-OXFORDAIRPORT__ 19/09/2013 11:26 Page 1
feature
AIR TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS FOR THE THAMES VALLEY
xford Airport, based at Kidlington just six miles north of the city, is an often forgotten transportation resource that provides local businesses with an alternative solution to travel requirements both around the UK and into the heart of Europe. Private aviation use, more commonly referred to as Business Aviation, has nearly doubled at Oxford over the last five years, indeed the airport has been the fastest growing for business aviation in the whole country over that period. Business Aviation can entail the private use of aircraft from 5 seat piston-engined twins flying at 170mph, to trans-global range, 15+ seat business jets which can whisk you across the Atlantic at over 550mph. Oxford has always had such services from simple air taxi operations which can provide several different twin propeller aircraft with very short notice, to ‘red-carpet’ executive jet operators catering for the higher end of the market. The key to the benefits of using such services are the tremendous time savings attainable and huge increases in flexibility and productivity. Many business people enjoying these services undertake day return trips, eliminating the need for expensive overnight stopovers and accomplish far more in a day than could ever be achievable by train, driving or indeed flying commercially from any of the main airport hubs. As a case in hand, it would take 5 people just 45 minutes from Oxford to Liverpool in a Piper Seneca (with no check in requirements by the way) and cost less per passenger than the first class rail fare for which you would enjoy a 3 hours 25 minute journey with 1 or more train changes en-route. Likewise Oxford to Newcastle by air would be just 1 hour 20 minutes versus 5 hours 25 minutes on the train at comparable costs per passenger. In an age where video conferencing is endeavouring to eliminate the need for so much travel, the facts are that real deals are closed, face
O
44
SEPTEMBER2013
to face, across a board table where the negotiating parties can see the whites of the eyes of the people they are doing business with. Private aircraft charter facilitates those last minute, impossible schedules to secure those deals. Companies locally also enjoy regular shuttle services connecting for example Oxfordshire offices with plants or headquarters overseas. A number of companies have had flights with typically 10 or more passengers go every week between continental operations returning home at the end of the day, ensuring a full day’s work yet reuniting staff with families by the early evening, generally impossible via any other mode of transport. Shared aircraft ownership is also a rapidly evolving in Europe and the UK. Here one takes a fractional share, typically a quarter or an eighth of the equity in an aircraft which entitles you to a set number of flying hours a year. Typically operators have several aircraft in a fleet such that when more than one shareholder wishes to travel at a time, they have access to another aircraft within that fleet. Netjets, one of the pioneers of such schemes, now have over 200 business jets in Europe, effectively making them one of the continent’s largest airlines, albeit with a schedule dictated by you the shareholder, rather than they as the operator. An important point to make about the benefits of living adjacent to an airport is that your client’s can fly directly to visit you too. Many companies in the automotive industry from all over Europe fly executives and engineers into Oxford for quick access to the likes of
p44-BUCKS-OXFORDAIRPORT__ 19/09/2013 11:26 Page 2
feature
BMW Mini at Cowley, Aston Martin at Gaydon and most of the UK’s F1 motor racing businesses. Private individuals can and do get into aircraft ownership themselves at Oxford, learning to fly from as little as £5,500 and with access to second-hand aircraft costing not much more than a typical family car. Several Oxford resident aircraft are used by their owner’s for their own business transportation needs, avoiding all the traffic below on the UK’s ever increasingly congested motorways. It’s a particularly smug feeling one gets when you’re flying above a log jam on the road below at a steady 120mph or so as the crow flies to your desired destination, one of thousands of airfields in Europe. For point to point travel, nothing beats the helicopter and at Oxford one can charter a machine that can take you almost anywhere in the country at speeds up to 170mph including central London in just 20 minutes. Aside from flying for business or for recreational purposes, Oxford also plays host to several other companies providing aerospace design and engineering services, pleasure and sightseeing flights, freight
services, aerial photography, digital surveying and environmental research. Today, Oxford Airport has started to introduce regular scheduled services, an evolution that will progressively turn the airport into the regional airport of choice for the Thames Valley area with all the benefits of easy access, fast check-in and security screening such that the passenger experience is wildly different to the major hubs. Proximity to an active and thriving commercial airport is often cited as a primary consideration for business relocations and clearly entices inward investment into a region. With Oxford Airport being the only regional airport within a 50 mile radius, living right next door is considered to be a shrewd move for the longer term with the opportunities and growth in business air travel being seen already today. For further insight into what benefits the airport might offer you or your business, visit their website at www.londonoxfordairport.com or call on 01865 290710 SEPTEMBER2013 45
g
pp S gpp L Pp
feature
easur ure TH 7TH
OCT
2013 Vintage V intage clothing clo and accessor accessories ies seem to be getting mor more orre e and more morre e popularr by by the day day. y. F Fr From rom little vintage shops to stadium-siz stadium-sized zed ed kilo vintage vin ntage fairs,, the proliferation prroliferation oliferation olifer of suppliers means that finding a per perfect fect vintage piece can be a daunting task. ours, days or even weeks of rummaging through piles of old, musty y,, m moth-bitten garments or endlessly searching ebay and clicking through hundreds of Etsy startups mean that vintage shopping is, well, hard work. And yet, finding a beautiful vintage dress with a story to tell is one of the most rewarding shopping experiences.
H
Did she wear it on a first date? How long did it take her to save for it? Did she fall in love with it like I did? All rather romantic ideas, admittedly y. Just as a beautiful vintage dress has a story to tell, so too does vintage jeweller/y22 2 0, 12 05 guably more so. Very few things are more sentimental to woman than a beautiful piece of jewellery, often given as a gift by someone special or as a token of love. Yet, e quality examples of genuine vintage jewellery can be surprisingly difficult to find both on the high street and online. So obvious that it is easy to miss, auction houses offer the perfect solution to the difficulty one may encounter in the hunt for the perfect vintage piece of jewellery. With hundreds of items that have been beautifully photographed and verified by specialists, it would be virtually impossible to not find something to fall in love with in one of Fellows Vinta intage Jewellery & Accessories auctions. Taking place six times per year, this auction offers gorgeous pieces from the 18th century onwards. The best part - you don t even have to leave the comfort of your living 46
SEPTEMBER2013
room as all of Fellows auctions are available to view and bid online. You also don t have to worry about bidding on an item and then opening the parcel to find something unexpected. All of the items have detailed condition repor%t44 2 2 &)2 % $ . 2 5 eport says you are bidding on a slightly worn Victorian ring, then that will be exactly what you receive. Shakudo, cameos, French jet, agate, lockets, paste, as well as an impressive selection of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian are just some of the styles of jewellery on offer. You ll also find designer jewellery and accessories from more modern designers such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. Novelties and hair accessories also feature, as well as vintage furs, shoes and bags. So the next time you feel like updating your wardrobe with a vintage twist, forget a fight-to-the-death for the best picks at a packed vintage fair or and rummage through a sporadically-stocked vintage shop, visit www w.fello .fellows.co.uk and browse the huge catalogue from the comfort of your own home. An auction of Vinta intage Jewellery & Accessories, Monday 7th October at 10am. Fellows Auctioneers, 2nd floorr,, 3 Queen Streett, London W1J 5P PA A 020 7127 4198 www w.fello ows.co.uk
Ad_Master__ 21/08/2013 13:02 Page 1
KS
RIT: O: UUgg C pC _p
ggpC
feature DAVID HOCKNEY MAN IN A MUSEUM
FIRST-EVER EXHIBITION OF BRITISH POP ART IN LONDON
When Britain Went Pop! BRITISH POP ART: THE EARLY YEARS CHRISTIE’S MAYFAIR, 103 NEW BOND STREET - 9TH OCTOBER – 24TH NOVEMBER, 2013 n October 2013 Christie’s, in association with Waddington Custot Galleries, will stage When Britain Went Pop!, an exhibition exploring the early revolutionary years of the British Pop Art movement, which will launch Christie’s new gallery space in Mayfair.
I
This is the first comprehensive exhibition of British Pop Art to be held in London. When Britain Went Pop! aims to show how Pop Art began in Britain and how British artists like Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake, David Hockney, Allen Jones and Patrick Caulfield irrevocably shifted the boundaries between popular culture and fine art, leaving a legacy both in Britain and abroad. “Pop Art is: popular (designed for a mass audience), transient (shortterm solution), expendable (easily-forgotten), low-cost, mass-produced, young (aimed at youth), witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, Big Business”
celebrated by collectors and museums alike, but many of whose artists have been overlooked in recent years. A key feature of the exhibition is a collaboration with the artists of the British Pop Art movement and their families, and private collectors who are lending works of British Pop Art from their personal collections. These include Richard Hamilton’s Swingeing London, Peter Blake’s Everly Wall, Gerald Laing’s Lincoln Convertible, Colin Self’s Leopardskin Nuclear Bomber No. 1, Allen Jones’ First Step (illustrated on page one, centre). Other artists exhibited in the show will include Clive Barker, Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Patrick Caulfield, Antony Donaldson, Jann Haworth, David Hockney, R.B. Kitaj, Gerald Laing, Nicholas Monro, Eduardo Paolozzi, Peter Phillips, Richard Smith and Joe Tilson. Many of these works have not been exhibited publicly since the 1960s.
RICHARD HAMILTON
British Pop Art was last explored in depth in the UK in 1991 as part of the Royal Academy’s survey exhibition of International Pop Art. This exhibition seeks to bring a fresh engagement with an influential movement long 48
SEPTEMBER2013
The exhibition spans British Pop Art from the 1940s collages of Eduardo Paolozzi to its full maturity in the late 1960s, building on the pioneering work of the ‘Independent Group’ of artists, who began to explore popular culture from the early 1950s.
KS
RIT: O: UUgg C pC _p
ggpC
feature ALLEN JONES FIRST STEP 1966
GERARD LAING NUMBER SEVENTY-ONE 1965
A highlight of this exhibition is works from the ground-breaking 1961 ‘Young Contemporaries’ exhibition where British Pop Art first appeared in force, including one of the first works David Hockney ever sold (which still has its £12 price tag on the back), and works by Patrick Caulfield, Allen Jones and Derek Boshier. The exhibition firmly established the Pop movement on the UK art scene. When Britain Went Pop represents both early work from the 1940s and 50s by Paolozzi and Hamilton, as well as early 1960s R B KITAJ NIETZCHES MOUSTACHE works by Peter Blake, R.B. Kitaj and Hockney, created during and just after their respective periods of study at the Royal College of Art, including Hockney’s study for We Two Boys Together Clinging. When Britain Went Pop! looks at an era not only of ground-breaking artists but also of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Swinging 60s. A multimedia and diverse movement, British Pop Art was vividly documented in Bryan Robertson, John Russell and Lord Snowdon’s seminal book from 1965, Private View: The Lively World of British Art, and the catalogue will also illustrate a selection of Lord Snowdon’s original photographs from the book, as well as the film ‘Pop goes the Easel’ and other contextual material to bring this period to life. Many of these works have come from international collectors, demonstrating the global appeal of the movement. Some of the privately owned works will be for sale. A catalogue will accompany the exhibition, with an essay by the pre-eminent authority on British Pop art, Marco Livingstone, and interviews with artists and key figures of the time.
About Christie’s Christie’s, the world’s leading art business, had global auction and private sales in the first half of 2013 that totaled £2.4 billion/ $3.68 billion, the highest total for the period in company history. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie’s has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War and Contemporary, Impressionist and Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Christie’s has a global presence with 53 offices in 32 countries and 12 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai. Visit Christie’s at www.christies.com About Waddington Custot Galleries Waddington Custot Galleries is based in London and deals in modern and contemporary works of art: painting, sculpture and works on paper. The gallery represents a number of contemporary artists from Great Britain, Europe, and North America including Peter Blake, Ian Davenport, Peter Halley, Axel Hütte, Robert Indiana, Mimmo Paladino, William Turnbull, Bill Woodrow, and the Estates of Josef Albers, Milton Avery, Patrick Caulfield, Jean Dubuffet, Barry Flanagan and Patrick Heron. For further information about Waddington Custot Galleries please contact Roxana Afshar at [email protected] SEPTEMBER2013 49
gC _ U
FpCFp C P CF g
A K
feature
Raise some dough and help beat breast cancer FRIDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2013 The Great Pink Bake Off is a new fundraising initiative from Breakthrough Breast Cancer. This year the leading charity is recruiting an army of bakers to fire up their ovens, hit the kitchen and give breast cancer a good beating in the first ever Great Pink Bake Off. n Friday 18th October simply gather your friends, family and colleagues to bring their baked goodies and ask everyone who attends to make a donation. If 18th October doesn’t work for you then you can hold a Bake Off anytime, anywhere, during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a piece of cake!
O
Then work out where and when to hold your Bake Off and invite everyone you know. On the Bake Off website you can download and print out your own invitations, make your own posters to help advertise your Bake Off and also create and hand out flyers to your friends. You can even print out your own Bake Off bunting to help decorate your event! Once you’ve baked your delicious delights, you can upload and share pictures with our Great Pink Bake Off community. In doing so, you will be entered into one of our fabulous competitions one for best bakes and one for disasters ... so don’t throw away those scorched scones! Stay tuned to find out what the prize is. Please note you will need to log in to upload your pictures or recipes. 50
SEPTEMBER2013
Jane Asher, Great Pink Bake Off ambassador, says: “Everybody knows someone affected by breast cancer – so I’m urging everyone to join the Great Pink Bake Off on Friday 18th October and get baking to help support this fantastic organisation. “Simply ask your friends and family to bring their homemade treats, make a donation and decide whose bake is best. As well as having lots of fun, it’ll be satisfying to know that all the money you raise will go towards Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s vital work. Do join me: sign up today and help us save lives. So please do join us in the Great Pink Bake Off. We’re convinced that, with your help, we can achieve our vision of a world freed from breast cancer. Visit pinkbakeoff.org or call 08080 100 200.” We want everyone who takes part in the Great Pink Bake Off to have their cake and eat it but please remember to do so in moderation. Breakthrough Breast Cancer recommend that you eat a healthy, balanced diet, rich in fruit, vegetables and whole grains to maintain a healthy weight.
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 16:07 Page 1
Origin leisure
the original indoor outdoor pool company
&
feature
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 20 13 2013 9TH – 20TH OCTOBER 2013 CAPT TAIN PHILLIPS EUROPEAN PREMIERE OPENS THE 5 57TH 7TH BFI LONDON LONDON FILM FES FESTIVAL TIV VAL WEDNESDAY WEDNESD AY 9TH OCT OCTOBER OBER 20 2013 13
The 57th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, is delighted to announce that this year’s Opening Night will take place on Wednesday ednesda 9 October at the Odeon Leicester Square, with the European Premiere of Sony Pictures’ Captain Phillips Phillips. It is directed by acclaimed Academy Award® nominee Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy) and stars two- time Academy Acad demy Awar Award® winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia), both of whom are expected to attend the Festivval.
UK PREMIERE OF PHILOMENA WEDNESDAY WEDNESD AY 16TH OCT OCTOBER OBER 20 2013 13
CAPT TAIN PHILLIPS
Captain Phillips Phillips is director Paul Greengrass’s multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It is – through Greengrass’s distinctivvee lens le – simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller and a complex portrait of the myriad effects of globalization. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabamaa’’s commanding officer err,, Captain Richard Phillips (two time Academy Awar Award® winner Tom Hanks), and his Somali counterpart, Muse (Barkhad Abdi). Set on an incontrovertible 52
SEPTEMBER2013
collision course off the coast of Somalia, both men will find d themselvves es paying the human toll for economic forces outside of their control. The film is directed by Academy Awar Award® nominee Paul Greengrass, from a screenplay by Billy Ray based upon the book, A Captain n’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, by Richard Phillips with Stephan Taltyy. The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca. Sony Pictures release the film in UK cinemas on 18th Octoberr, 2013.
The Festival’s American can E Expr xpress Gala will take place on Wednesday 16 October at the Odeon Leicester Square with the UK Premiere of Stephen Frears’ Philomena, the moving, funny and at times shocking true story of one woman man n’’s search for her lost son. Academy A Awar w ward® winner Judi Dench plays the title role, with BAFT TA A winner Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith. The screenplay is written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, based on the book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee” by Martin Sixsmith. Pathé release the film in UK cinemas on 1st November 2013. Stephen Frears, Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are all expected to attend the American Express Gala.
L p
feature
PHILOMENA
Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman”. When her baby was only a toddler, toddler, he was taken away by the nuns for adoption in America. Philomena spent the next fifty years searching for him but with no success. Then she met Martin Sixsmith, a world-w world-wear eary political journalist who happened to be intrigued by her story. Together they set off to America on a journey that would not only rev eveal eal the extraordinary story of Philomena’s son, but also create create an unexpectedly close bond betw between een Philomena and Martin. Philomena was developed developed by BBC Films, produced by Gabrielle Tana, Stev tevee Coogan and Tracey Seaward and Executiv Executiv xecutivee Produced by Baby Cow’s Henry Normal, BBC Films’ Christine Langan, Pathé’s Cameron McCracken and Francois Ivernel, and Magnolia Mae Films’ Carolyn Marks Blackwood. DISNEY’S SA SAVING MR. BANKS BANKS EUROPEAN PREMIERE CLOSES LONDON CL OSES THE 57TH 57TH BFI L ONDON FILM FESTIVAL FES TIVAL TIV AL SUNDAY SUNDAY 20TH OCT OCTOBER OBER 20 2013 13
The 57th BFI London Film Festiv estival al will close on Sunday 20th October SAVING MR. BANKS at the Odeon Leicester Square with the European Premiere of Disney’ isney’ss Saving Mr. Mr. Banks anks,, the extraordinary untold story of how how one of the most beloved tales of all time, Mary Poppins, was brought to the big screen. Saving Mr. Mr. Banks is directed by John Lee Hancock ( The Blind Side) and stars two-time Academy Awar Award®-winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility ensibility,, The Remains of the Day ay,, Howards End) as the London-based author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Trav avers ers, and fellow fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia) as Walt Disney isney.. They lead a stellar international supporting cast including Colin Farrell (In Bruges), Paul Giamatti (Sideways) and Ruth Wilson (Luther). The film boasts a number of other British filmmaking talents including producer Alison Owen, Owen, p.g.a. ( Jane Eyr Eyre, Elizabeth) and co-writer Kelly Kelly Marcel (who is writing the screenplay for the forthcoming Fifty Shades of Grey) with production
companies Ruby Films and BBC Films. John Lee Hancock, Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks are all expected to attend the Closing Night Gala. Clare Stewart, BFI Head of Exhibition Exhibition and Festiv estival al Director says: “There is only one word that gives full expression to the inventiv entiveness eness and creativity of the film that will be our Closing Night Gala for the 57th BFI London Film Festiv estival al – Saving Mr. Mr. Banks is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Positively overflo erflowing wing with its ebullient love of storytelling and the filmmaking process, SAVING SAVING MR. BANKS is also a magical ode to the brilliance and volatility of the two vver ery different creativ eativee forces behind the making of Mary Poppins, with Emma Thompson superb as the protectiv otectivee author P.L. Trav avers ers and Tom Hanks in charming form as Walt Disney isney..” Saving Mr. Mr. Banks is a poignant, sharply funny and moving story of personal journey and discovery, which rev eveals eals how P.L. Trav avers ers’ emotional connection to her characters and exhaustive apprehension to Walt Disney’s creativ eativee vision nearly dismantled the entire twenty-y -year ear endeavour endeavour to transform a work of personal significance into one of the most endearing classic films in cinematic history. The film is directed by John Lee Hancock, produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer teuer,, and written by Kelly Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Walt Disney Studios releases the film in UK cinemas winter 2013. THE BFI L LONDON ONDON FILM FES FESTIVAL FESTIV TIVAL TIV AL BFI London Film Festiv estival al is an iconic international film festival that supports London’’s position as the world’s leading creativ London eativee city city.. It presents the best new British and international films to an expanding London and UKwide audience. It provides career-enabling opportunities for British and international filmmakers through its industry and awards programmes. facebook.com/lff www.bfi.or www.bfi.or .bfi.org.uk/lff g.uk/lff
@bfi #lff SEPTEMBER2013 53
MENDES WOOD
PROJETO HELIO OITICICA & NEVILLE D’ALMEIDA
Frieze London: New Design for 2013 17TH – 20TH OCTOBER 2013 - PREVIEW 16TH OCTOBER 2013 - REGENT’S PARK, LONDON
Frieze has announced the details of their eleventh contemporary art fair in London n entering its second decade, Frieze London will introduce a new look in 2013 with more sizable public areas and a new layout of galleries, and will be sponsored by Deutsche Bank for the tenth consecutive year.
O
Working with architects Carmody Groarke, Frieze London has been redesigned to provide the best conditions for showing and viewing art. The new format will ensure that the fair has a more spacious feel and will create the best possible visitor experience at Frieze London 2013. Frieze London is one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs and brings an international audience to the dynamic contemporary art world of the UK capital every October. Once again, coinciding with the London fair, Frieze presents Frieze Masters, a new fair with a contemporary perspective on historical art. Together the crossover between the two fairs will make London the focus for a broad spectrum of international visitors. Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, codirectors of Frieze, commented: ‘Last year was an incredibly ambitious and successful year for Frieze, opening both Frieze New York and Frieze Masters in London. These insights will be brought to Frieze Art Fair in London this year and we will introduce some of the biggest changes to the fair since its founding. In its eleventh edition we are excited to raise the bar with this fair.’
Participating Galleries Frieze London is a carefully selected presentation of the most forwardthinking contemporary galleries from around the globe. Despite an increased demand from galleries, in 2013 Frieze London will include over 150 exhibitors. Additions to last year’s participants include: Blum 54
SEPTEMBER2013
& Poe (Los Angeles); Galerie Max Hetzler (Berlin), Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg); Maccarone (New York); Overduin and Kite (Los Angeles); and Rodeo (Istanbul). Debuted at Frieze London in 2012, Focus is a section for galleries up to ten years of age presenting projects specifically conceived for Frieze with works not seen previously in an art fair context. Highlights in 2013 include the immersive installations of Daniel Steemann Mangrané at Mendes Wood (São Paulo); a nonfunctional telecommunications satelitte by artist and explorer Trevor Paglen at Altman Siegal (San Francisco); and a show and tell by gallery artists Sean Edwards, Jack Strange and Jesse Wine offering visitors the opportunity to talk with them about their work at Limoncello (London). Frame is a section dedicated to young galleries and is selected on the basis of a proposed solo presentation. The Frame galleries’ selection is advised by curators Rodrigo Moura and Tim Saltarelli. Frame offers an opportunity to discover artists who may not previously have benefitted from an international platform to show their work. Presentations of note in the Frame section include: Ryan Siegan Smith at Johan Berggren Gallery (Malmö); Prem Sahib at Southard Reid (London); Ilya Karilampi at Sandy Brown (Berlin); Ian Change at Formalist Sidewalk Poetry Club (Miami) and Eduardo Basualdo at PSM (Berlin). Public opening dates and hours: Thursday 17th October: 12-7pm Friday 18th October: 12-7pm Saturday 19th October: 12-7pm Sunday 20th October 12-6pm Preview Wednesday 16th October www.friezelondon.com
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 15:09 Page 1
2 L
London Design Guide 2014/2015 Edition
edited by Max Fraser
London’s only comprehensive design guide returns with new content and contributors in this totally updated and rewritten third edition. or fans of contemporary and vintage design and those looking to access it, London Design Guide gives a fresh insight into the city’s design retailers, galleries, museums and bookshops.
F
More than 150 new and established hotspots are compiled and reviewed, providing a tantalising viewpoint of the design capital of the world. Each entry is categorised by neighbourhood and accompanied by detailed maps to help navigate the best that the city has to offer. In each of the ten neighbourhood chapters, we’ve honed in on streets that demonstrate a healthy mix of independent shops and services and asked selected business owners to comment on their evolution and attributes, with contributors including Stephen Webster, Ally Capellino, Sam & Sam Clarke and Michael Anastassiades. Furthermore, restaurant, bar and café recommendations are featured for each area, selected as much for their design credentials as for the quality of food and service. Every edition of London Design Guide includes themed essays from 56
SEPTEMBER2013
a variety of design experts and commentators. In this edition, we’ve examined the state of retail during a period when shops are undoubtedly struggling with a weak economy, tapered footfall, highrents and the great might of internet shopping. We ask retailers and analysts, including Sheridan Coakley (scp), Simon Alderson (twentytwentyone), Lina Kanafani (Mint) and Magnus Englund (Skandium), what’s the future trajectory of bricks-and-mortar shops? The 208-page London Design Guide is a snapshot of the design scene today, a celebration of creativity and a practical tool for Londoners and tourists alike. There’s no better incentive for exploring the wealth of design in the capital. About the editor... Max Fraser is a design commentator and author whose work broadens the conversation around contemporary design. Fraser is the founder of Spotlight Press, an independent imprint that publishes London Design Guide and other titles. He also works as the Deputy Director of the annual London Design Festival. The 208 page guide is launched on 12th September 2013, at a retail price of £12.
Ad_Master__ 18/09/2013 16:09 Page 1
p58-BUCKS-CURVE__ 18/09/2013 12:09 Page 1
&
fashion b eauty
Curve fashion as individual as you
t the foot of the Chiltern Hills lies the picturesque village of Wendover, which is home to the charming ladies designer clothes boutique CURVE. Situated within a beautiful grade two listed building, Curve provides a relaxed and friendly approach to shopping regardless of whether you are searching for a stylish outfit for a special occasion, a complete wardrobe for the season, or an individual piece to compliment an existing purchase. The Curve team will ensure the experience is a wonderful pleasure. Curve strives to offer a point of difference not only with the personal service they provide, but with the additional services available to clients. The staff are only too happy to open for evening appointments to fit in with your busy schedule. Alternatively if you prefer to garner your friends’ opinions, then you could host an exclusive evening shopping party with complimentary champagne to get the party fizzing! Curve organise regular events in store, this winter by popular demand see’s the return of the Scarf Styling Event. Learn trend led ways to wear your scarf from a representative of luxury scarf brand Feather & Stone. New for this season is a Denim Day that see’s Curve host a day for clients where they can meet a representative from leading denim brand Citizens of Humanity, who will discuss looks for the season, provide insights into future trends and show clients which jeans are most flattering for their body shape. Both events promise to be fun, informative and we hear some lovely goodies will be up for grabs too! To find out more about what’s happening at Curve see their blog page on their website www.curvewendover.co.uk and subscribe to their mailing list. At the request of customers Curve have steadily developed the footwear offering to now include, Ash, we are loving the pewter metallic high tops, Sam Edelman, a superb offering of wearable ankle boots, Jemima Vine python print slipper shoes, recently spotted on Pippa Middleton are divine and The Jacksons navy metallic ankle boots are just fabulous. Denim enthusiasts will be delighted by the selection of jean styles available at Curve. Trend led and slightly more traditional styles are available in skinny, boyfriend, straight leg and bootcut, with varying waist rises, from leading Los Angeles denim designers, 7 For All Mankind, Citizens of Humanity, Articles of Society and James Jeans. New looks for the season include navy leatherette skinnys, velveteen skinnys in rich berry colours, charcoal skinnys and sumptuous ecru cords. Finding the right style of jeans is all about the individual, hence the importance of offering a denim fitting service. Curve even provides complimentary alterations so that your jeans will be the perfect length too! Whether you are searching for the ultimate pair of jeans, a relaxed holiday wardrobe, a few key pieces to update your existing wardrobe, or that elusive special dress for an exciting occasion, do pay a visit to Curve in Wendover where the reception and selection will definitely make you glad to have found such a unique gem. This delightful boutique really does bring a touch of originality and exclusivity to Home County dressing. For more information about Curve call the team on 01296 620623 or view the website www.curvewendover.co.uk
A
p59-BUCKS-AD-VARIOUS__ 19/09/2013 15:18 Page 1
ArAbellA rose HAIR EXTENSIONS
|
BLOW DRY BAR
Arabella Rose is a boutique salon specialising in quality human hair extensions and blow drys HAIR EXTENSIONS
BLOW DRY BAR
At Arabella Rose we only use the finest quality Russian, European, and Indian hair. Our attachment technique is free of any glues, heat, chemicals, sewing or braids - resulting in no damage to your own natural hair. The method combines strands of natural hair with the extension hair and is than sealed and locked into place. Arabella Rose is a certified Easilocks salon.
Blow dry bar is a concept created around a simple idea: No cuts. No color. Just amazing blow drys for £25 (Dry blow drys for £15) No matter what kind of hair you have, thick, long, curly or straight it's always one flat fee. And your wash is included! Simply come in pick a style from our latest fashion forward menu and we will recreate the look for you in 30 mins.
Call for a free consultation
01494 728648 www.arabellarose.co.uk | [email protected] OPEN TUESDAY – SATURDAY 10AM – 7PM
7 sycAmore plAce, hill Avenue, AmershAm hp6 5bg
www.suziehall.co.uk
6 _ UYKS g p Tg _ p p NY
--2 6
62 --26 6 -- 3 P-2
&
fashion b eauty
QA &
In tthis In his m month’s mo onth’s nth’s arti article a rtiiccle le Hea H Healthy ea althy lthy Ba B Balance alanc a lance ce Integrated In Int teegr gra ate ted dM Medi Medicine ediicine cine p practi practitioners ractiti itiion oneers rs ssha share ha are re their the th eir ir a advice dv d dvi vice vi ce on on y your ou urr h heal health ea alth th iissu issues. ssues. es.
This issue, Dr. K Kate ate Barnes,, S Stev tev teven ven Fullagar and Anne Marie Rumbol Rumbol contribute Myy 7 year M year old d daughter is v ver very erryy anxious about being left at her new school. S She he cr cries ries ies at the school gate gate,, and often complains of a tummy ache. ache. She She settled in w well ell at her last school.. She She won’t won won on’t tell me what is worrying worrrying ying her so how ho ow w can ca I help her?
I suffer regularly regularly fr from om headaches,, which I get along with a sor sore e neck.. M My y GP says they ar are e ‘‘cervicogenic’ cervicogenic’’ and to take painkillers when needed, which does help help.. I w would ould pr prefer efer not to take the pills if possible possible,, is ther there e anything else that might help?
It’s interesting that this is a ‘new’ problem. I wonder whether something in her life has changed, whether at home or school. Sometimes a child is reticent to talk to their Mum about their real fears. It is worth talking to her teacher to see if she has picked up clues. A visit to the GP may be worthwhile to provide reassurance that there is not a physical cause for the tummy ache.
Cervicogenic headaches are onesided chronic headaches that are a result of a neck problem, either from the joints or the muscles causing the pain. This is a common type of headache that often responds ponds w well ell to being treated by manual therapy. Osteopaths will assess the neck joints and muscles and identify any structural issues that are underlying this problem. The root cause may be because of problems with your your spine further down or eveen yyour our jaw! Treatment often includes a combination of massage, mobilization and manipulation if appropriate.
Very often there is anxiety going on in the family that the child is picking up on –could this be the case especially as she is guarded about opening up? Could y you ou be inadv vertently transferring anxiety of yours?
Another treatment option that may be useful to you is medical acupuncture, which uses very fine needles placed to target the muscle spasm that often causes this type of headaches. Both osteopathy and medical acupuncture can work as a stand-alone treatment or in combination.
I hav have ve e rrecently ecently found out that I am pr pregnant, egnant, and nd I hav have ve e hear heard d that y yoga oga can be beneficial dur during ing pr pregnancy. egnancy cy y. I hav haven’t ven en n’t done y yoga oga befor before, e, so what’ what’s t’’ss the best way for me to star start? t? Firstly - Congratulations! Since you will be a beginner it is best to wait until the second trimester of pregnancyy. Before this time, the energy in yyour our body is really focused ocused on yo our devveloping baby, so it is best not to place further demands on yyour our body that it isn n’’t used to. Classes are really enjoyable and tailor made to the needs of pregnant women by teachers who understand the demands on the body; enabling yyou ou to strengthen your bodyy,, move with ease and to learn relaxation techniques. You will learn techniques to support you during pregnancy g y, includingg positions p you may find useful during labourr,, and also o sevver eral breathing techniques.
The opportunity for her to talk to a trusted professional used to dealing with children may be helpful. In a non-threatening environment it may be possible to clarify the source of the worry, to gently challenge some possible mis-interpretations, and to provide support and advice for you and her.
To find an osteopath or medical acupuncturist go to www w.osteopathy w .osteopathyy.org.uk or www w.medical.medicalacupuncture.co.uk
Classes also offer the support of a group environment, and will enable yyou ou to havvee time aside each week where yyou o can focus on ou you and your baby without the distractions of everyday life. Do make sure that at your o teacher is registered with an organisation such Yoga Alliance (www w.y .yyoga alliance.co.uk).
Drr. K Kate ate Barnes is a GP of 20 years eexperience xperience with a special interrest est in mind-body medicine.
Steven F Fullagar u ullagar is on the committee of the Osteopath thic S Spor ports C Car arre Association (OSCA UK) and is thee Dirrector ector of H Healthy ealthy Balance.
Anne M Marie arie Rumbol is a fully qualified Vinyasa yoga teacher rregister egisterred with Yoga Alliance Worldwide and Yoga Alliance UK.
The The information in this column is intended as a guide only and not tr treatment eatment itself. If If you you are are worried worr w orried about a health problem problem lem please see y your our health care care practitioner for detailed advice advice.. For any further information or questions please contact; Healthy Balance, 51 High Street, G Gr reat Missenden, Bucks HP16 0AL 60
SEPTEMBER2013
www w.healthy-balance.co.uk Telephone: 01494 867272
BU
ppB S gSB_ppB B pp C PpB
F Easy access Fast onward referral Holistic, No long waiting lists,
Private GP | Allergy Management | Osteopathy | Physiotherapy Dermatology | Nutrition | Hypnotherapy | CBT | Counseling Chiropody & Podiatry | Acupuncture | Yoga and much much more...
51 High Street Great Missenden HP16 0AL 01494 867272
S State-of-the-art tate-of-the-art faciliti facilities es | Private car park | E Extensive xtensive opening hours | H Health ealth insurance wel welcome come
p62-BUCKS-EDENCARE__ 18/09/2013 17:16 Page 1
&
fashion b eauty
If you think a care home is inevitable… think again ith an increasingly ageing population, you’d be forgiven for thinking that spending your twilight years in a residential care home is inevitable. Stick a pin in a map of South Bucks/Chilterns and the chances are you’ll find one of the 50 plus residential care homes in the area. It’s the one thing that we’re not short of. But what happens if you’ve reached that stage in life where you need care, but the only home you want to live in is your own? What happens of you enjoy your independence and home comforts, but need a little help around the house, or with the shopping? And what happens if you have a child or young adult with a disability and need a break now and again? Well, the good news is that you now have a choice.
W
A MORE CARING APPROACH...
Eden Care at Home opened an office in Gerrards Cross three years ago, where they offer quality care at home for you, or your loved one, whether a child, young adult or an elderly person. Eden care’s management team have more than 50 years in the care sector and was established by Dr Jim Morrisroe. Jim knows from personal experience that the decisions a family must take concerning the care of a family member are never easy. “Being the parent of a son with profound and multiple learning and physical disabilities I understand how difficult it can be to find the right type of support to suit the whole family and the difference in family life that the right career carer can bring. Our client-centred philosophy ensures close support and advice for the whole family, from an initial consultation, to the creation of a joint care assessment and the development of a care plan.”
62
By Dr Jim Morrisroe together with the clients and the clients’ families they create a unique, tailored care-package focusing on each client’s individual needs and aspirations. THEIR SERVICES
Eden Care also offer services for children and young adults, as well as the elderly. They offer extra support, providing a much needed break for the full time carer, thereby achieving enhanced quality of life for the whole family. DIGNITY AND INDEPENDENCE
Providing quality care with respect for individual dignity is only part of what Eden Care are able to offer. Of equal importance is the role our carers in assisting with the development of skills to enhance an individual’s independence. LIVE-IN CARE OR RESPITE BREAKS
UNIQUE CARE PLAN
At Eden Care they believe that getting old should not automatically mean moving into a care home. Most elderly people – whether single or a couple – prefer to retain their independence, home comforts, social network and dignity by remaining in their own homes. However, there are times when we all need a little extra help. Eden care offer a range of support from personal care, to help within the home and can also assist with attending appointments, running errands or offering companionship. Whether you are looking for 24 hour support or a respite break from a hour up to 24 hours a day Eden care can be there for you.
Eden Care is committed to making a difference, helping their clients achieve optimum levels of independence, health and well-being. As an independent and local provider of care they understand the importance of choice. And
For more information please call 01753 885 556 or visit www.edencareathome.co.uk
SEPTEMBER2013
p51-BUCKS-AD-VARIOUS__ 18/09/2013 17:17 Page 1
A more caring approach to care at home. Have you ever wondered if there’s an alternative to residential or respite care for a loved one? With EdenCare there is. We offer quality care at home for you, or your loved one, whether a child, young adult or an elderly person. We are a local and independent provider of care and understand the importance of choice. If you would like further details of our individually tailored care-at-home packages please contact us for a no obligation chat or visit our website.
Tel. 01753 885556 www.EdenCareatHome.co.uk
N _N PEE N g_EETB
E
&
house garden
Make an entrance! How to create a welcoming hallway The hallway is the first room guests see in a house. Make yours warm and welcoming with our inspirational design tips and advice… ntrance ways tend to be dark and narrow but painting them white isn’t necessarily the best option. “Hallways, especially busy family ones, can take a lot of wear of tear and white be very unforgiving, as well as cold, so a better option, is to choose a light, bright colour in a warm tone. Choose a colour that is a shade or two lighter than the main room the hallway leads to, and it will help create continuity between the two spaces. As this room is primarily a walk-through, you can afford to make a strong design statement and be bold with colour and pattern. Patterned wallpaper with a slight shine will help reflect the light, while vertical stripes can create the illusion of height. If you’re concerned about knocks and scratches, a practical option is to have painted wood panelling on the bottom of the wall, with statement wallpaper above.
E
Feature flooring Flooring in a hallway needs to be durable but choose wisely and you can create impact while being practical too. If you have a particularly long and narrow hallway, a chequerboard effect on the floor will create the impression of width - the wider the tiles, the wider it will look. Hallway runners are a great way to inject colour, while colourful striped carpet will instantly enliven a stairway. If you have bare wooden stairs, consider painting each step a different shade of the same colour or have fun with stencils to create patterns or words. Let the light in Hallways can often be dark, so getting the lighting right is essential. If you 64
SEPTEMBER2013
have a high ceiling, a large pendant light will act as a beautiful centrepiece and be the first thing that people see when they enter your home. If the ceiling is low, pendant lights will have the effect of making the room feel smaller, so wall lights are the better option. Mirrors are a good way to reflect natural light and give the illusion of more space. A large mirror placed at the end of a hallway instantly provides depth, making a hallway feel larger. Storage solutions Hallways can easily become cluttered so finding a space for coats, keys and shoes is a must. A wooden bench with storage If you have room, offers storage as well as a useful seating area. The more floor space you can see, the larger your hallway will seem and there are lots of great wall-hung cupboards available. Make a feature Hallways may be small but that doesn’t mean you can’t create a stunning focal point. A narrow console table with a pair of lamps and mirror above makes a pretty focal point - while a vase of fresh flowers or a scented cinnamon candle will create an inviting aroma. A group of family portraits is another great way to add interest and personalise the space. Generally, it’s best to hang fewer, larger pictures as opposed to several smaller ones, as it can make the space seem more confined and cluttered. With a little imagination and the right colours, storage and lighting, you can create an inviting entrance you’ll love coming home to and will want to show off.
p26_BUCKS_AD_GRANITETRANS_Layout 1 19/03/2012 21:01 Page 1
WE HAVE THE
PERFECT BLEND TRANSFORM OF WORKTOP STYLES TO
YOUR KITCHEN
kto p s r o w e k B e sp o i t o n to p th a t f y w i th a d e n o n F i tt e d i s o r d e m o l i ti o n no mes o u r s to l o c 0 6 O v e r s e fr o m choo l e ssi o n a f o r p n O u r o w fi t t e r s e xpert e y l d n e i Fr fr e e h o m d n a e c advi a ti o n c o n sult o fi t n e w s l a n a We c h e n d o o r s ki tc
Book a free home consultation with our product consultants and we’ll show you how easy it is to transform your kitchen worktops.
Call now 0845 017 9883
Visit our west London showroom at 14 Park Parade, Gunnersbury Avenue Ealing W3 9BD
Visit our Watford showroom at 834 St Albans Road Watford WD25 9FL
Tues – By appointment only Wed – Fri 10am-5pm Sat – 10am-4pm
Mon – Fri 9am-5pm Sat 10am-4pm
www.granitetransformations.co.uk/watford
Granite Transformations manufacture and install Granite, Stone, Quartz and Glass worktops
p66-BUCKS-PLANIT__ 19/09/2013 11:07 Page 1
&
house garden
DEVELOPING YOUR HOME? WHY YOU SHOULD ENGAGE A PROJECT MANAGER? fter seeing all the photographs of luxury homes and programmes on TV of Grand Design Houses, you wish you could convert your ideas into your perfect home, but how do you start the process? By engaging a Project Manager at the outset of the project, you will have the benefit of a professional who becomes your eyes and ears throughout all the stages of your project. They will be there to structure the initial parameters such as budget, timescales and quality levels you expect. Plan-It Associates Limited offer their experience and local knowledge as Project Managers to ensure your project is a success. They provide a service bespoke to you that incorporates associate architects, structural engineers and quantity surveyors, as well as recommending, quality interior fit out companies. A professional Project Manager ideally should be included throughout the whole
A
66
SEPTEMBER2013
process, starting with a feasibility study, then the design followed by the actual build, and finally taking control of any warranty issues. Read the following true story and decide for yourselves how you could benefit by engaging a professional Project Manager. A TRUE STORY
A professional business couple with full-time commitment to their thriving business decided to carry out a large extension to their home. They had seen a neighbour having a similar extension built and also knew of another local builder, so without having a full design they asked for quotations. The difference in price was 100% more from the cheapest to the dearest. The more expensive builder seemed to complete the build for their neighbour in a very timely manner, but even to their untrained eyes it did not appear to be very good quality. So they employed an Architect to fully design the extension before getting any further building
quotes. The Architect was young and technically able. However, he was unable to convert their clear dream ideas into working drawings without a lot of input. After obtaining planning permission, the Architect recommended a builder. The estimate from the Architects' recommended builder was accepted, on the basis that the builder could "project manage" the build. After several months of disruption, not only in their living space but also being constantly interrupted at work with questions from the builder, the relationship with the builder became strained. This resulted in the builder walking away from the job after being paid 90% of his estimated build cost, and leaving 25% of the project unfinished. The couple called in sub-contract trades to complete the extension, but were confronted by several issues of sub-standard work. To rectify this would add even more cost and time to the project. It transpired that the only work carried out for the Architect by his recommended builder was the
construction of a brick shell for a building which did not include any other trades. They are not untypical in fully understanding the process of a build project, nor the technical and detailed jargon used in the industry. Our thanks to Max and Clarinda for sharing their story with us. We can all be wise after the event, but what would you do differently in their circumstances to avoid the problems they encountered in getting their dream extension built on time, within budget and to the best quality standards? After you have visited Plan-It Associates' website, you will understand how employing a professional build Project Manager can avoid all the above problems without costing any more and release you to carry on with your life in a stress free manner. For a free no obligation consultation contact Plan-It Associates on 01895 347 357 or visit their website on www.plan-it-associates.co.uk
p67-BUCKS-AD-VARIOUS__ 18/09/2013 17:19 Page 1
TENDERCARE Garden Design Centre & Plant Nursery
Beautiful gardens ...crafted by professionals Let us help you to improve your view this Autumn!
Consultation ~ Planning ~ Design Giving the right advice on the choice of plants for screening, for obtaining planning permission or revitalising garden borders is 'second nature' to our experts. We might make it seem easy - but isn't that reassuring? Our introductory visit to your garden focuses on your needs and includes an hour's consultation. For ÂŁ145.00 one of our award winning horticultural experts will meet you in your garden and make recommendations on using mature plants to increase your privacy, optimise your enjoyment of the garden, as well as enhancing your home.
1
ST FOLDING SLIDING DOORS
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
%ULWLVKPDGHDQG%ULWLVK GHVLJQHG 4XDOLW\IROGLQJVOLGLQJDQG VOLGLQJGRRUV $OXPLQLXPFRQVWUXFWLRQ 2YHUGLIIHUHQWFRORXUV 8QVXUSDVVHGVHFXULW\IHDWXUHV
Offer to 30th November 2013
Telephone:
[email protected]
www.tendercare.co.uk
ZZZVWIROGLQJVOLGLQJGRRUVFRXN FRQFHUWLQDIROGLQJGRRUVVOLGLQJGRRUV 8QLW6LOLFRQ%XVLQHVV&HQWUH :DGVZRUWK5RDG 3HULYDOH*UHHQIRUG 0LGGOHVH[8%-=
p68-BUCKS-FARROW&BALL__ 18/09/2013 11:35 Page 1
&
house garden
ainting is one the quickest and easiest ways to transform a room. When it comes to choosing colour, there are no strict rules but there are many factors to take into consideration. Architecture, the purpose, shape and direction of a room and above all light, should be taken into account as they will contribute to the changing appearance of colours. Before making your final colour choice, we recommend that you test selected paint colours in the room to be decorated. All 132 colours are available in 100ml sample pots of Estate Emulsion. Paint onto a piece of paper or card and place it in the room to be decorated looking at how the colour changes at different times of the day. This is particularly useful when you are decorating a room which you will only use at certain times of day. For instance, if you are decorating a dining room which is mostly used in the evening, check the colours in evening light to ensure you get your desired look. When decorating, choosing colour is a very personal choice. Farrow & Ball are renowned for their signature chalky matt finish, Estate Emulsion and our neutrals are always popular. For a restful look it is best to use a single neutral colour. Contrasts and strong colours create a distraction and take away from a feeling of calm. If you use a single colour then you can afford to use slightly stronger tones such as Savage Ground, Stony Ground or Joa's White, all of which are very classic. Greys are increasingly popular and feature heavily in the nine new colours added to the Farrow & Ball palette – try painting walls and woodwork in Purbeck Stone for a contemporary look, or for a contrast pair with Wevet or Mole’s Breath. Neutral wallpapers combined with matching paint colour are very popular and can create a really striking statement. Combine Silvergate BP 852 with Pavilion Gray and Pointing for a fresh, clean look. For a more dramatic look
68
p68-BUCKS-FARROW&BALL__ 18/09/2013 11:35 Page 2
&
house garden
combine rich Stiffkey Blue walls, with Brassica woodwork. It can also be used as an accent with Pavilion Gray, Manor House Gray and Blackened. This regal, deep colour is particularly effective when used on a screen or room divider. Contrast with Dimpse or with Skylight in traditional settings, and for those following the new dark on dark trend it is the perfect foil for Off- Black. For a sophisticated, bold look try pairing Elephant’s Breath with London Clay and Pelt. This combination is perfect for a smaller room as the darker shades will create a feeling of warmth. For a really original and vibrant look try using wallpaper on the ceiling. This is a really refreshing and daring way to add interest and is sure to make you smile! Perfect for a child’s bedroom; try using Brockhampton Star BP 506 on the ceiling and combine Pointing and Ringwold Ground on the walls. Using the technique of layering, creates added interest to a room. Use Matchstick on the walls, String on the woodwork and a
stronger colour such as Cat’s or Mouse's Back on furniture, fireplaces or in the backs of bookcases. The run up to Christmas evokes childhood memories more than any other time of year so you might want to take a somewhat vintage approach to decorating. Pair Nancy’s Blushes walls with Smoked Trout woodwork and Down Pipe floors. If you feel inspired but slightly daunted by colour, up-cycle furniture to experiment with Farrow & Ball’s 132 colours. By painting accessories in a matching hue, it will really tie the room together and create a layered look. For example, Yellowcake and St Giles Blue will add instant pops of colour to any room, without being too overpowering. Available from: Farrow & Ball 01202 850141 | www.farrow-ball.com SEPTEMBE R2013 69
L
&
house garden
Light up p yyo our home B Lighting Lighting can make a huge e difference differrence ence to a rroom, oom,, affecting ho how ow ww we e use a space and whether it feels cosy. Here’s how els rroomy oomy or cosy y.. H ere e’ss ho ow w to get it rright… ight…
efore installing or updating lights, think about how you use each he dayy.. A lounge may double-up as an office, the room during the children might need to do their homework on the dining table in the evvening ening or yyou ou might use the guest bedroom as a hobby space at night. Multi-functional rooms need to offer ambient as well as task lighting, while open plan living areas may evven en use pools of light as ‘zones’ in the absence of walls. A flexible scheme where the focus and light levels can be adjusted throughout the day is key - dimmers are ideal as they create mood and allow the room to work from day to night.
Kitchen K itchen lighting While a central pendant will provide general lighting, a kitchen requires good task lighting in work areas, especially where you’ll be cooking. Task lighting should be positioned to the side or behind where you’re working – not in front. Many modern kitchen cabinets and cooker hoods come with built-in lights but adding them to existing ones is relativvely easy and needn’t be expensive. Mini fluorescent lights can be picked up at most DIY stores (an eight-watt bulb in warm white should work well) and look great when fitted underneath wall units. If you you have a central pendant over e a dining table, choose one with a flexible cord, which can be pulled down for task lighting when required. To avoid re-wiring, consider fitting a track system with directional lights to highlight the work surface and the sink. While they might take more work to install, ceiling downlights can be placed where needed and because they recessed won’t get covered in grease and dirt. B Bathroom athroom lighting In a bathroom, task lighting is important where you you need to se see ee clearlyy,, but think about adding feature lighting to create atmosphere. Consider adding recessed LED 1w Lucca spotlights into alcoves or back-lighting an opaque bath panel. Light behind the bath with waterproof LED 1w Lucca Exter Exterior uplights or use an LED Contour strip under a basin so that it appears to float or use it to backlight ht shelvves es. Just take care that any fittings used are completely encased and never be tempted to use a convventional entional light fitting that’s not intended for bathroom use. With a little imagination, imagi the right lighting really can transform evver ery room in the house. Living L iving rroom oom lighting Background or ambient lighting plays the part of daylight and is most 70
SEPTEMBER2013
often provided by a central pendant light – but if used alone, can create a very flat effect. Think about layering the light. One ceiling light will cast shadows, whereas having lamps dotted around will highlight all areas and make the room more welcoming.” How to make a hallway warm. The lounge is where we’re most likely to use accent lighting - to show off an artwork, ornaments, or evven en a plant. Think carefully when positioning lights - don’t place downlighters at either end of a sofa if you may change milarlyy, wall lights are best positioned either side of the room layout. Similarly a fixed feature, like a fireplace. A standing lamp can look good behind the sofa or next to an armchair. For reading, the light should be placed to one side, behind and above the chair and take a 60 watt bulb at least – remembering that a 60-year-old requires 15 times more light for reading than a teenager. Watching a TV in total darkness can cause eye strain, so place a light behind or beside the television, avoiding anything too bright which could cause glare on the screen. To make a room appear larger, light all four corners with spotlights or table lamps, in addition to a main pendant light. Wall washers, which flood light on to the wall and ceiling, will make the room seem taller. To make a room feel longer place lights at one end, to attract the he eyyee along it.” Hallway Hallway Halls are often dark and lighting can be used to make a warm and welcoming entrance, as well well as ensuring safety on the stairs. Create drama by ov over-scaling a decorativve pendant and dimming this for mood, used in conjunction with Polespring LED downlights. Try lighting the stairs themselvves using recessed spotlights and ensure the main overhead light is at the top of the stairs rather than the bottom to reduce the risk of accidents. Bedroom Bedroom lighting Most people like bedrooms to be bright in the morning and atmospheric in the evening. Use a High CRI Contour Strip to uplight above a wardrobe for a fresh bright effect that can be dimmed in the evening or use a run of Polespring LEDs to light the front of wardrobes or highlight the headboard. Don’t forget to have downlights on a separate control so you o can turn them off from bed. Bedside table or wall lights are ideal for reading – choose shades that are white on the inside and a warm colour outside, and fit with a clear bulb to provide a warm glow.
g S
U pU _PP g p_PP 9D8P
10%
discoun new cliet for nts Until 30 th Novemb er
Based in West London, we create elegant and timeless schemes to suit our client’s individual requirements. We provide services ranging from a room re-vamp to a complete redesign and have experience of both residential and commercial projects.
01895 778895 [email protected] • www.khiinteriordesign.co.uk
Are you sleeping comfortably? comfor tably? approved handmade bed, Choose a Royally approved provide a deep and memorable night’s night’s designed to provide day. sleep and a positive, energetic start to the day. Visit ourr Showroom: Showroom: Visit o Monday to Thursday 9.00am to 5.00pm Saturday 9.00am to 4.00pm Friday and Saturday
Longwick Road | Princes Risbor ough | Bucks HP27 9RS Risborough T: 01844 348200 | www .hypnosbeds.com T: www.hypnosbeds.com Alternativelyy, visit your Alternatively, y local Hypnos Retailer: Aylesbury Lucas Furniture 01296 486255 Aylesbury Gerrards Cross Cross Crystal Carpets & Furnishings 01753 889230 Gerrards High Wycombe Hull Loosley & Pearce 01494 445353 Thame Greens Furnishings 01844 212560
Handmade in n
10 Y Year ear Guarantee
p72-BUCKS-ORIGIN__ 18/09/2013 17:37 Page 1
&
FROM BRITAIN'S LEADING INDOOR POOL COMPANY THE ULTIMATE OUTDOOR POOL!
O
rigin has been designing and building indoor pool houses for over thirty years now, but the company is the first to admit that, when the weather is as beautiful as this, there is nowhere better to be than in an Origin outdoor pool. A sunny day, surrounded by friends, children, and the remains of a spectacular barbecue, and life begins to look perfect. Ease into the cool water and just relax. This is what you've worked for. What you deserve… And it need not just remain the ultimate dream. Outdoor pools are timeless in appearance, add considerably to the perceived value of your home and are less expensive than you probably imagine. But it's not all about good looks. The fair face of an Origin pool hides some state-of-the-art technology that makes it easy to run and to keep clean. There are even pool covers that work silently at the touch of a button, to keep out leaves when that season of mists and mellow fruitfulness arrives! AND OF COURSE, ORIGIN'S TRADEMARK INDOOR POOL HOUSE… But summers don't last forever, so take a look at the pictures in this article and see how your garden, and your lives, could be improved by adding a pool house! This is Origin's stock in trade, and they have been building these cutting edge designs for over thirty years. Origin’s team is recognised for its constancy – many of Origin’s designers, service people and construction craftsmen have been with the company for over twenty years, and the sales and client contact have always been handled at director level. Origin's has developed a range of indoor pool houses to meet every requirement, but these styles are always adapted to suit your home, and your taste, perfectly. These changes are often as simple as fitting in with the colour and texture of the home, or as complex as adding changing rooms, games rooms, or a unique pool shape. Origin’s unique service offers you a wealth of choice. The company offers a totally bespoke service too - the design team has matured into this role as design and build has gradually became a natural progression of the company’s skills. The results not only looks stunning, but blend in perfectly with their surroundings too. Origin has become the benchmark for swimming pool construction, making it easy for you and your family to enjoy the fun and healthy exercise of a swim … every day of the year. ORIGIN CREATES YOUR POOL FROM BEGINNING TO END. Initial sketches. Architectural drawings. Unique ideas in collaboration with you. The building process. The engineering. The technology. All this is done by Origin, a company that has been at the forefront of this complex business for over thirty years. 72
SEPTEMBER2013
Look at the pictures, meet the people, and decide. They do exactly what it says on the tin! CONTACT ORIGIN For full details of all Origin's pools and pool houses the very best way to start things off is to get in touch with Fiona on 01895 823366, email is [email protected] Fiona will send you brochures, fill you in with all the details, and even arrange for you to meet one of Origin's directors on site to get the whole process going. Or visit the constantly changing and updating website. www.originleisure.com
p73-BUCKS-AD-VARIOUS__ 18/09/2013 17:36 Page 1
FREE UNDERLAY + CLEANING KIT With every floor purchased *Not in conjunction with any other offer.
p74-BUCKS-HAZLEMERE__ 18/09/2013 11:12 Page 1
&
house garden
IS TRIPLE GLAZING BETTER THAN DOUBLE GLAZING? better question is really “Which is the better product for you and your property?, as genuinely “A” rated energy saving replacement window products are more than sufficient for the vast majority of UK properties, whether they are double or triple glazed. Not all replacement windows are “A” rated by any means, as to achieve a genuine energy rating that is high enough to comply with the current Building Regulations requirements for greater thermal efficiency, the frame of the window (whether it is made of aluminium, crittall, hardwood or UPVC) needs to be independently tested in conjunction with the sealed unit and gaskets. The current Building Regulations in England and Wales require both home owners and double glazing manufacturers and installers to supply and fit replacement windows with a minimum energy rating of “C” or a maximum combined U-Value of 1.6 W/M2K (a measure of thermal efficiency, where the lower the figure the greater the energy efficiency of a product). As “A” rated double glazed replacement windows and “A” rated triple glazed replacement are both “A” rated, there is not really a massive difference between the levels of thermal performance. It is really a question of which product will give you the best return on
A
74
SEPTEMBER2013
your investment, plus whether double or triple glazing is best suited to your particular property and requirements. Nowadays, although they do cost more, triple glazed UPVC windows, residential doors and French doors are not a great deal more expensive than double glazed products. Properly installed “A” rated UPVC double or triple glazing offers unrivalled value for money when household energy savings and consequent financial savings are taken into account (i.e. painting and decorating). However, as triple glazing has an extra pane of glass, each sealed unit is thicker and heavier duty. So not only does the extra glass cost at least 50% more, each window and/or door costs more to transport as is much heavier.. Top quality UPVC triple glazing, with a U-value of 1.0 W/m²k, can potentially be around 40% more thermally efficient that standard “A” rated double glazing and 60% more thermally efficient than standard "C" rated double glazing. This is a decent potential beneficial energy saving for home prepared to invest the extra in triple glazing at the outset, bearing in mind that between 2003-2009 alone gas prices (i.e. heating bills) rose by an average of 14% each year, since when they have risen almost exponentially Even though most UK property owners will find replacement “A” rated double glazing perfectly adequate for this modern energy
p74-BUCKS-HAZLEMERE__ 18/09/2013 11:13 Page 2
&
house garden
“Nowadays, although they do cost more, triple glazed UPVC windows, residential doors and French doors are not a great deal more expensive than double glazed products” saving age, some may still think that triple glazing is worth the added investment for five reasons: 1) Triple glazing can deliver approximately 40% more thermal efficiency than "A" rated UPVC double glazing so energy savings should be far higher. 2) Triple glazed windows and doors will further reduce draughts and cold spots in a room that currently has less thermally efficient windows and doors. 3) Triple glazed windows and doors can also further reduce the impact of exterior noise. They do reduce noise, and if the middle pane of glass is a different type of glass to two external panes, this also helps toward acoustic insulation. 4) Triple glazed windows and doors could save each UK home owner over £10,000 during the next 20 years, which is not inconsiderable when the rising costs of fuel are taken into consideration. 5) A 3rd pane of glass, by definition, makes a triple glazed sealed unit much harder to break than a double glazed sealed unit – especially when the middle pane is made of toughened glass. What’s more, many UPVC triple glazed windows are internally beaded and the glass unit can only be removed
from the frame by a person who is inside the premises. It is important that triple glazed windows have a toughened middle pane even if the two outside panes are float glass, as this helps prevent thermal breakage of the middle pane. Thermal breakage of the middle pane can occur when there is a considerable difference in the indoor and outdoor temperature of a property. Because the thermally efficient triple glazed sealed unit keeps more heat in, the internal pane will remain at roughly room temperature. Similarly, because less heat is escaping, the external pane will remain cold when it is cold outdoors. Therefore the middle pane of glass is subject to very contrasting temperatures i.e. warmth from the internal pane/cavity and cold from the external pane/cavity, and thermal breakage could occur if standard annealed glass was used. By using toughened glass, the possibility of thermal breakage is all but eliminated. To find out more about aluminium and UPVC double or triple glazing, contact the independent experts at Hazlemere Windows on 01494 854266 who have nearly 30 years’ experience designing, manufacturing, supplying and installing replacement window and door products. Alternatively visit www.hazlemerewindows.co.uk SEPTEMBER2013 75
p76-BUCKS-KABP__ 19/09/2013 09:07 Page 1
&
house garden
ulian Graham Kitchens and Bathrooms, the Home of style and quality, Customer service and satisfaction. These are the principles that Julian and his team work to and strive to better. With many years experience in the home renovation and refurbishment business Julian started designing and fitting kitchens and bathrooms over 10 years ago and with a desire to expand the business to reach more customers a new showroom was needed, and in January 2013 Julian Graham & Sons became Julian Graham Kitchens and Bathrooms and opened on the Amersham Road at the Hazlemere Crossroads. Displaying and offering stylish and quality products to complement any home in the area. “We are not the cheapest but we pride ourselves on our service and product quality, we do not charge for visiting the customer’s house and completing a survey we don’t charge for designing and producing plans for the customer to come and see what their dream would look like” With the help of his family and a committed team of employees the showroom is undergoing a transformation to showcase the latest designs and styles of kitchens and bathrooms available. The aim is to create lifestyle settings. This means customers can get a real feel for how it would look in their own home. “I want that one – all of it” is a phrase often heard by customers viewing the displays. The showroom team is enthusiastic, knowledgeable and professional and will happily spend as much time as necessary with a
J
76
SEPTEMBER2013
& To celebrate their first successful few months trading they are holding an open day on Thursday 10th October 2pm to 8pm. “We would love to welcome potential customers and developers into the showroom to meet myself and my team, see our product range and meet our suppliers,” said Julian. “We shall also have our live kitchen in action with a local chef cooking a selection of delights for all to try.” So if you are thinking of replacing or upgrading your kitchen or bathroom, or even just want to see what is available at the moment; go along to the open day and be inspired!
customer until they are completely happy with the design for their new kitchen or bathroom. Customer Service is the priority. A new kitchen or bathroom is a big financial commitment so Julian wants all customers to be completely satisfied with the service and products. “we want them to be proud of their new Kitchen or Bathroom and show it off to their friends and family. There is nothing more satisfying than welcoming somebody into the showroom who has been recommended by a previous customer.”
Everything is designed around the customer’s requirements and with a broad range of high quality British and European products you can be confident that you will find the look, style and quality you are looking to turn your dreams into a reality and achieve that perfect kitchen or bathroom. Julian also works with property developers on new builds and conversions both locally and further afield, designing unique styles of kitchens and bathrooms. Fitting is done by one of the teams of fitters working regularly for Julian. He is proud of the professionalism shown by them while working in customer’s homes. They all know how to be unobtrusive and always clear and clean up at the end of each day while work is in progress. 325 Amersham Road, Hazlemere, BuckS HP15 7PX Phone: 01494 718585 • Email: [email protected] Web: www.jgkab.co.uk
K
55p_S _S p 55pO p55g
U5p
Conservatory? Refurbish your old and tired conservatory...
Thinking of developing your home
Move up to all year round use of your conservatory with a quick and easy installation of a new high performance roof and glass. REPLA ACEMENT CONSERV VA ATORY ROOFS
PERFORMANCE ROOF GLASS
Made to measure aluminium structure in any colourr, almost any shape and almost any size. Guaranteed to look great and perform even betterr..
94% UV protection. 0.9 U-value. CELSIUS Elite ultimate performance glazing.
REPLA ACEMENT WINDOWS AND DOORS Made to Measure: Aluminium, timber and upvc windows and doors to replace your brok ken, drafty and leaky ones that have seen better days.
Call or Click for a brochure and free quotation 0800 731 5772 extendaroom.co.uk
We pro?ect manage your home build dream into reality
DREAM IT
Initial consultation free new builds renovations extensions granny annexes home office solutions
Call on 01j 95 347 357 [email protected]
www.plan-it-associates.co.uk
p74-BUCKS-HOLIDAYFRAMES__ 19/09/2013 15:24 Page 1
&
BRING YOUR HOLIDAY HOME
H
olidays may be short but the memories can last for decades. Keep them alive at home with reminders of those far-away places in displays and decor touches. Gabrielle Fagan explores high street travelogue style. Let's be honest, a holiday isn't just about relaxing and getting away from it all, it also has status value. Exotic destinations - the farther flung or more unusual the better - give us instant holiday cred and most of us will have boasted about a break. But now our homes can do the talking because travelogue style is hot, whether it's walls and accessories displaying maps, or small touches which give the impression you're always on the move. So introduce a little wanderlust into your home - or satisfy the armchair traveller within - with a trunk full of travel treats for rooms. ● Wonder wall: Be bold and paper a wall with a Vintage Wall map mural, from £99 from bespoke textile and wallpaper printers Digetex (0161 873 8891/www.digetex.com). ● Armchair adventure: Lounge on a Maps cushion, showing a map of the world. £28 from John Lewis (www.johnlewis.com). ● Tray chic: Offer tea and sympathy to those who haven't had a break and serve it on a Photo Tray, on which you can mount nine photographs (holiday or otherwise!). £35 from Cox & Cox (0844 858 0734/www.coxandcox.co.uk). ● All packed up: Have trunk will travel! But even if you don't go anywhere, a hand-made vintage-inspired traveller's trunk is still decorative. From £35-£45 from John Lewis (www.johnlewis.com). ● Picture perfect: A photographic print, featuring your own photographs and personalised with your own title and captions, could be a brilliant way to display a collection of holiday memories. Personalised Polaroid Album Print from £80, by The Drifting Bear, from Not On The High Street (0845 259 1359/www.notonthehighstreet.com). Or list all your favourite places with a Classic Personalised Destination print, from £38, by Betsy Benn, also from Not On The High Street. ● Memory board: Pop tickets and trip 'to do' lists on to a Home Comforts pin board, decorated with a variety of destination stamps. £35 from John Lewis, available from August 31 (www.johnlewis.com). ● Postcard pretty: Text and tweeting may be the fashionable way of communicating that 'wish you were here' message nowadays, but postcards still have traditional charm. Paper a feature wall in Postcard wallpaper, featuring either a collage of the back of old postcards with messages, stamps and addresses; or one depicting vintage style destination photos. Postcard wallpapers available to order from around £54 a square metre from Purldeco (0203 110 0643/www.purldeco.com). ● Name drop trend: Mimic a transatlantic vibe without leaving home. A red New York cushion, £20 from Kenneth Cole's New York Home collection at House of Fraser (available August 31). Add pieces from his New York To China collection, featuring landmarks: Mug, £6, bowl, £6 (0870 160 7270/www.houseoffraser.co.uk). 78
SEPTEMBER2013
PERSONALISED POLAROID ALBUM PRINT, FROM £80, BY THE DRIFTING BEAR
Mark the time difference with a Typographic New York clock spelling out the city's name. £45 from Hunky Dory Home (0191 645 4004/www.hunkydoryhome.co.uk). ● Far-flung furniture: Make a statement with a Map Chest of Drawers, by Bryonie Porter. £850 from Not On The High Street (0845 259 1359/www.notonthehighstreet.com). ● Steaming style: A retro-look cushion emblazoned with the message See The Country - Travel By Rail, and a steam train, could turn back the clock to more leisurely journeys. £30 from John Lewis (available from August 31). ● Landmark looks: Who needs a passport when you can have an iconic landmark in your room? An Eiffel Tower-shaped lamp base, and black shade, £95 from Graham & Green (0845 130 6622/www.grahamandgreen.co.uk). ● Small world: Capture locations and landmarks of a city on a bespoke globe from specialists Globee, which offers a wide variety of cities in the UK and throughout the world. An Edinburgh Globee, from £14.95 (0800 987 5907/www.globee.co.uk). ● Dreamy destination: Get capital style with the Green 'London Map' bedding set. From £20 by Yukari Sweeney at Debenhams (08445 616 161/www.debenhams.com). ● Refresh the style: Classic Penguin Book Stainless Steel Flask depicting the cover of the Jack Kerouac novel On The Road. £16.99 from The Gifted Penguin (01642 763 000/ www.giftedpenguin.co.uk) ■
p79-BUCKS-AD-VARIOUS__ 18/09/2013 17:22 Page 1
beautiful
cameo bathrooms Individually Designed and Professionally Installed
complete design and installation service or supply only • designed and professionally Installed • friendly personal service • no bathroom too small • also offering kitchens and tiles
Tel. 01753 655255
5 High Street, Iver, Buckinghamshire SL0 9ND (10 minutes from junction 1, M40 - easy parking)
www.cameobathrooms.co.uk
p80-BUCKS-RECIPE__ 19/09/2013 10:58 Page 1
&
food drInk
Roasted Pumpkin Soup, Nutmeg Cream AUTUMN IS THE SEASON FOR SQUASHES AND PUMPKINS IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES AND THESE ARE NOW VERY PLENTIFUL. BE BRAVE AND EXPERIMENT - MOST ONLY NEED HALVING, REMOVING THE SEEDS AND LOOSE FIBRES SEASONING ADDED AND A SPLASH OF OIL READY TO ROAST TO PROVIDE AN ALTERNATIVE VEGETABLE THAT IS COLOURFUL AND NUTRITIOUS AS WELL AS DELICIOUS. AT THE RESTAURANT WE TRANSFORM THE SPECTACULAR IRON BARK PUMPKIN INTO THIS VELVETY SOUP FINISHED WITH A SPICED NUTMEG CREAM.
Ingredients
Chef ’s tip
(Serves 4)
Soup 1. Split the pumpkin in half – scrap out the loose fibre and seeds from the middle 2. Cut into large chunks leaving the skin on. Rub with oil, salt and pepper, garlic and thyme place on a tray 3. Roast in a hot oven 200 degrees C/400 degrees F/ Gas Mark 6 for 40 -45 minutes depending on size. Test with a small knife to see if the pumpkin is nicely roasted and soft. 4. Scoop out the hot flesh from the skin into a food processor and then whizz with the warm stock and the orange juice until smooth. Add the cream and the butter to finish. 5. Pass through a sieve into a saucepan and then warm gently – season to taste 6. Your delicious soup is then ready to serve – pour into warmed bowls
At the restaurant we place the soup in a cream whipper to give it aeration and a very light texture but this soup taste just as good served as it is. Whip the double cream and add a little freshly grated nutmeg. Pipe or spoon a little on top of the warm soup and finish with grated nutmeg, sage leaf or coriander leaves
Soup 1 medium pumpkin 1 clove of garlic chopped A few sprigs of thyme Salt and pepper 1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock – warmed 70 mil double cream 200 ml orange juice 25 g butter Spiced Nutmeg Cream 100 ml double cream or crème fraiche Freshly grated nutmeg Sage leaves or coriander cress to garnish
The Artichoke is open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday.
80
The Artichoke Restaurant, 9 Market Square, Old Amersham Tel: 01494 726611. www.artichokerestaurant.co.uk
CS
ppC P UPCgppC UCpp B
pC
Chenies Manor House
The Gardens are still full flowers as we have a
Dahlia Festival The house is steeped in history and supposed to be haunted by Henry VIII. There are special Halloween afternoons on 30th & 31st October 2-5pm Spooky tours for the children. Home made teas available. There are special Halloween afternoons on 30th & 31st October 2-5pm Spooky tours for the children.
Love to entertain, but don’t want to cook? My Chef is the easy, stress free way to entertain in your own home. Simply choose from four levels of Chef or Cook, to suit your style and your budget, and let My Chef help you impress your dinner party guests.
Directions from M25 – Ext 18 – Follow A404 between Little Chalfont & Chorleywood
Also open every Wed & Thurs 2-5pm until the end of October www.cheniesmanorhouse.co.uk Chenies • Buckinghamshire • WD3 6ER
01494 762 888
AQUA SHARD AT THE SHARD
The passport to london’s thriving restaurant scene
London Restaurant Festival 3RD – 21ST OCTOBER, 2013 This October, Gizzi Erskine, Jonathan Ross, Jason Atherton, Angela Hartnett and Theo Randall are all working with London Restaurant Festival London Restaurant Festival in partnership with American Express, now in its fifth year, comprises two elements: Festival Menus and Events, which take place in restaurants over a two-week period in October: this is the capital’s annual citywide celebration of eating out. New for 2013, London Restaurant Festival is proud to announce that chef, food writer and journalist Gizzi Erskine and television presenter Jonathan Ross will be on board; Gizzi joins as the new Chairperson, and Jonathan will be hosting a special film event in partnership with BAFTA 195 Piccadilly. Some 350 restaurants will take part in the capital’s biggest restaurant GIZZI ERSKINE
82
SEPTEMBER2013
JONATHAN ROSS
festival, where great value Festival Menus are created by chefs to give food-lovers the chance to try new restaurants. The Festival Menu programme is run in partnership with Europe’s fastest growing online restaurant booking website, Bookatable.com, and Voss is the official water of London Restaurant Festival. London Restaurant Festival pioneered, and is now synonymous with, the concept of restaurant-hopping. To the sell-out Tapas Tours, in partnership with Estrella Damm, that have operated since 2011, LRF has added Cicchetti Trails in partnership with Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Japanese Journeys, that take place over the weekends of
JASON ATHERTON
food drink
PLUM & SPILT MILK, ST PANCRAS
the festival. This allows festival-goers to experience not just the best Spanish food in the capital, but also the most exciting Italian and Japanese places too. For each of the tours, a passport will be used to redeem a dish and a drink in each of six participating venues. Some of the restaurants involved include: Amesta, Copita, Fernandez & Wells; Polpo, Massimo, Theo Randall at the InterContinental; Inamo, Tonkotsu and Shoryu. A favourite since 2009, the LRF Gourmet Odyssey – London’s most original gastronomic road trip in partnership with Champagne Laurent-Perrier – returns with three tours where guests have a course in different restaurants, including a first for the muchtalked-about Shard restaurants: Aqua Shard and Hutong. Here guests can at once enjoy spectacular food and unrivalled views of the city. The Masters Gourmet Odyssey includes Benares, Wild Honey and Gauthier Soho. On the Discovery Gourmet Odyssey guests will eat at Social Eating House, Gymkhana and Picture. In partnership with LivingSocial, Graze lets food-lovers enjoy all the best restaurants in one area. The Graze passport is valid for the whole festival period. Taking place separately in the West End, In the City and Up North, the passport gives a complimentary drink when you visit each of the 10 or 12 participating restaurants for a small plate (from the Graze Menu). Some of the restaurants involved: Providores, Arbutus, Dishoom, Cotidie and Rotary. This year Eat Film returns with a twist. In partnership with BAFTA 195 Piccadilly, LRF has invited Jonathan Ross to curate a three-course dinner inspired by the 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film, Spirited Away, in the stunning cinema and restaurant at BAFTA headquarters,
195 Piccadilly. The ticket price includes a cocktail reception, the screening and a three-course dinner with wine. New to LRF 2013 is Sunday Best, an exclusive event for American Express Cardmembers, where guests will have the opportunity to dine at some of the most celebrated restaurants in town, in the company of the chefs. Sunday Best will see renowned chefs including Jason Atherton, Theo Randall, Angela Hartnett, Mark Sergeant and Marianne Lumb all cook one-off Sunday lunches, followed by a meet and greet with guests. Chairperson Gizzi Erskine says “I am absolutely delighted to be the new chairperson of London Restaurant Festival. This is a festival that continues to thrill Londoners with its gastronomic delights, creating unforgettable events. Like many other food lovers, I am most excited about sampling the very best food London has to offer and discovering some wonderful new restaurants”. LRF Founder Simon Davis comments “LRF is about getting out and discovering as many restaurants as you can in a fun way and for all budgets. There’s an insatiable appetite in London for eating out and sharing that experience and LRF feeds it.” Tickets for the festival are available to the general public from TicketMaster www.ticketmaster.co.uk, LivingSocial www. livingsocial.com or Live Bookings www.bookatable.com/uk American Express Card members can purchase tickets for 2013 via www.ticketmaster.co.uk/americanexpress. For more information regarding the festival visit www.londonrestaurantfestival.com. SEPTEMBER2013 83
p84-BUCKS-GREYCOAT__ 19/09/2013 15:22 Page 1
&
food drink
Your key to dinner party success
iring a private chef or cook has never been easier. My Chef is the latest service from Greycoat Lumleys – a trusted name in household recruitment for over 15 years. My Chef is a home cooking service for people who love to entertain, but who don’t want to cook. If you have ever wanted to host a dinner party with family, friends or work colleagues and clients, but simply don’t have the time or don’t want the hassle, then My Chef is the ideal service for you. The inspiration for the new My Chef service came from a real gap in the market to provide an innovative, easy way of dining at home. For some time now, the popularity of dining at home and the view of staying in as ‘the new going out’ has been increasing, equalled by a growing discernment among the food loving public. This demand is fuelled by a continuous bombardment of beautiful images of exquisite food in magazines and on cookery programmes, in addition to a booming desire for high end dining. My Chef fills this gap because it offers stress free dining at home for those who love well prepared, beautifully presented food. It also offers the experience of high end dining, without the interminable wait for a high end restaurant table booking. All clients have to do is choose a chef or cook from one of four levels, which are priced according to expertise - Michelin or Rosette experienced chef, personal chef, family cook or cookery school graduate. All the My Chef chefs and cooks have been interviewed face to face and been subject to a minimum of two verbal reference checks. They have prior experience working in private households and bespoke environments and are used to working to the highest standards. My Chef has a wide database of thoroughly checked chefs and cooks at all levels. The service encompasses all the needs of the client, from menu planning to shopping, cooking, serving and clearing up, all through one booking. The My Chef service aims to make a high
H
84
SEPTEMBER2013
end dining experience accessible within a client’s own home and within a budget to suit them, with all the personal contact and attention to detail associated with having a personal chef or cook. So if you are looking for something more exclusive and bespoke than the food offered by run of the mill catering companies, then hiring a My Chef chef or cook could be the answer. MICHELIN AND ROSETTE EXPERIENCED CHEFS
For anyone with a love of food, who demands elegance, sophistication and a perfectly executed menu, booking a Michelin or Rosette experienced chef cannot fail to impress. PERSONAL CHEFS
Personal Chefs are dedicated to their craft and offer a professional experience for clients who want a special occasion to be made truly memorable with perfectly executed dishes, beautifully presented. FAMILY COOKS
My Chef offers a huge variety of family cooks, with equally varied experience. My Chef ’s family cooks are happy to cater for dinner parties, holidays and shoots, whether they are formal or informal events. COOKERY SCHOOL GRADUATES
Our cookery school graduates have recently undertaken a cookery course at a reputable school; they will possess good, basic cookery skills and are often flexible and happy to muck in with other household responsibilities. Visit the website www.mychefonline.co.uk or call us on 020 7976 6000 for more details on how the service works. We will be delighted to help you find your ideal My Chef.
kitchenart bespoke furniture
Design and Install Beautiful Kitchens Over 27 years at our Farnham Common Showroom 5-6 THE CENTRE
BEACONSFIELD ROAD
THE RIDINGS E S S E N D O N ,
H E R T F O R D S H I R E
d
rs r s
s s
tatons are delighted to offer a detached and extended cottage style property built at the turn of the century and standing alone in a plot of approximately three quarters of an acre which includes garage/stable block and paddock.
S
A four bedroom, two bathroom, three reception room property which comes with gas central heating, double glazing, a modern fully fitted kitchen and an impressive reception hall and is approached via a long driveway leading to a large gravelled space providing plenty of off-street parking. The Ridings is approximately ¼ of a mile along Woodfield Lane entering from Kentish Lane, which runs from Essendon to Brookmans Park and is one the area’s most sought after locations. Brookmans Park itself is widely regarded as one of the most desirable places to live in Hertfordshire with its village atmosphere and unique homes. Direct rail links into London Kings Cross and Moorgate stations are available from both Brookmans Park and Potters Bar. Educational facilities in the area include Stormont, Lochinver, Dame Alice Owen, Haileybury and Queenswood. Price £1,175,000
For more information about this superb property contact Statons Brookmans Park office 01707 661144 Or email [email protected]
10:05:43
PPA g g Ar PPA A PP :
P
Few finer things‌
To walk the halls, the rooms. To touch. To feel the detail. Detail that is all yours. A home created by you. Your imagination. Your dreams. Built to your every want, hand in hand with Octagon Bespoke. There really are few finer things.
To find out more about how Octagon can help to build the home of your dreams, please contact John Pope on 020 8481 7500 or email [email protected]
www.octagonbespoke.com
SYC JUNE_© Fish Media 13/06/2013 08:53 Page 1
SYC JUNE_© Fish Media 13/06/2013 08:53 Page 2
SYC__ 10/09/2013 16:40 Page 1
SANDBANKS YACHT CO. A NEW WAY OF LIFE FOR SANDBANKS! SANDBANKS YACHT CO ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT OUR CAFÉ, GYM, THERAPY ROOMS AND MEMBERS LOUNGE WILL BE OPENING IN JANUARY 2014. READY TO LAUNCH IN THE NEW YEAR, WE ARE OFFERING YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO RESERVE MEMBERSHIP AT OUR EXCITING NEW CLUB AND BOATYARD. READ ON TO GET A FLAVOUR OF WHAT’S ON OFFER AT 180° HEALTH AND FITNESS. At 180 Degrees our philosophy is to deliver unique, unparalleled training and coaching day in day out to our clients, so that they achieve a total mind and body transformation. Whether your goals are to lose weight, build muscle, look and feel younger, perform better or just get back on track, our expert trainers, therapists and coaches are here to support, guide and motivate you all the way.
SOFIA RUFUS: HEAD OF THERAPIES.
MEET YOUR TEAM
JAMES RUFUS: BIOSIGNATURE MODULATION, NUTRITION AND PERFORMANCE COACH.
Effective, dedicated, and knowledgeable: Even with 17 years of experience, I still have a passion to continue learning, to get you the most efficient results possible. Once you know how, getting results is simple. Energy and hormonal systems can be manipulated by selecting the correct exercises and intensity. Combining this with encouragement and advice on nutrition and lifestyle management we always achieve great results. Are you ready? [email protected]
ALEX CHISNALL: SPORTS THERAPY PRACTIONER
I manage the therapeutic side of the business. My training has taken me to understand that achieving complete happiness and fulfilment relies on not just the body but also the mind. We will have offerings from skin care & anti-ageing specialists, hypnotherapy & holistic treatments, my team will be dedicated to making you look & feel great. We look forward to meeting you in the New Year! [email protected] I am excited to be bringing my team of Sports Massage and Sports Injury therapists from Alex Chisnalls’ Bournemouth Body Clinic to Sandbanks Yacht Co. If you are suffering from a work -related ache or pain, suffer from muscular tension or have a sports injury we can help you. My team of male and female Sports erapists are all highly qualified and experienced. We have treated customers from world championship swimmers and world cup winning rugby players to people from all walks of life and all ages. You don't have to be an athlete to benefit from Sports erapy. We will be offering Deep Tissue Sports Massage, Sports Injury Treatment, Acupuncture and Kinesiology taping services 6 days a week from Sandbanks Yacht Co. [email protected]
www.sandbanksyachtcompany.com ■
SYC__ 10/09/2013 16:40 Page 2
L I V I N G - B O AT I N G - D I N I N G - H E A LT H - F I T N E S S
" ! !") &" & (!& " "'$ -0 !&$ "'&"$ * " ! ! "/$ .
| i don't know |
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall made an appearance on the 60th anniversary of which programme earlier this year? | Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 3 January 2017.
Camilla
The Duchess of Cornwall at Hillsborough Castle in April 2014
Born
HRH Princess Alexandra
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, GCVO , CSM , PC (Camilla Rosemary; née Shand, previously Parker Bowles; born 17 July 1947), is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales , who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II . Instead of using the title of Princess of Wales , she uses the title Duchess of Cornwall , which is her husband’s secondary designation. In Scotland, she is known as the Duchess of Rothesay . In the event of Charles acceding to the throne, Camilla would be entitled to use the style of a queen consort ; however, an official statement issued by Clarence House on the day of her marriage to Charles announced that she will be known as the Princess Consort .
Camilla was born into a gentry family as the eldest child of Major Bruce Shand and his wife, the Honourable Rosalind Cubitt , the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe . She was raised in East Sussex and South Kensington , and was educated in England, Switzerland and France. Subsequently, she worked for different firms based in central London , most notably the decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler . In 1973, Camilla married British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles , with whom she has two children. They divorced in 1995.
For many years, Camilla was in a relationship with the Prince of Wales before and after their former marriages. The relationship became highly publicised in the media and attracted worldwide scrutiny. [fn 2] In 2005, it culminated in a civil marriage at Windsor Guildhall , which was followed by a televised Anglican blessing by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Rowan Williams , at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle .
As the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla assists the Prince of Wales on his official duties. She is also the patron, president and a member of numerous charities and organisations. Since 1994, she has taken action on osteoporosis , which has earned her honours and awards. She has also raised awareness in areas including rape and sexual abuse, literacy and poverty, for which she has latterly been praised. [1] [2]
Contents
13 External links
Childhood and young adulthood
Camilla was born Camilla Rosemary Shand at King’s College Hospital , London, on 17 July 1947 at 7:00 am (BST). [3] [fn 3] She grew up in the Laines, a country house located in Plumpton, East Sussex , [4] and a three-storey house in South Kensington , her family’s second home. [5] Her parents were British Army officer turned businessman Major Bruce Shand (1917–2006) and his wife, the Hon. Rosalind ( née Cubitt; 1921–1994), an adoption worker. [6] She has one younger sister, Annabel Elliot , and had a younger brother, Mark Shand (1951–2014). [7] Her maternal great-grandmother, Alice Keppel , was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910. [8] On 1 November 1947, Camilla was baptised at Firle Church, Sussex . Her godparents were Hon. Henry Cubitt (her maternal uncle, later the 4th Baron Ashcombe ), Major Neil Speke, Mrs Heathcoat-Amory , Mrs Lombard Hobson and Miss Vivien Mosley . [9] [10] [11] Camilla’s mother worked for an adoption agency, while her father had different business interests after retiring from the army. He was most notably a partner in Block, Grey and Block, a firm of wine merchants in South Audley Street, Mayfair , later joining Ellis, Son and Vidler of Hastings and London. [12] [13] During her childhood years, Camilla became an avid reader due to the influence of her father, who read to her frequently. [14] She grew up with dogs and cats, [15] and, at a young age, learnt how to ride a pony by joining Pony Club camps. [5] According to her, childhood “was perfect in every way.” [4] Biographer Gyles Brandreth describes her background and childhood:
Camilla is often described as having had an “Enid Blyton sort of Childhood.” In fact, it was much grander than that. Camilla, as a little girl, may have had some personality traits of George , the tomboy girl among the Famous Five , but Enid Blyton ’s children were essentially middle-class children and The Shands, without question, belonged to the upper class. The Shands had position and they had help—help in the house, help in the garden, help with children. They were gentry . They opened their garden for the local Conservative Party Association summer fête. Enough said. [15]
At the age of five, Camilla was sent to Dumbrells, a co-educational school in Ditchling village. [15] Dumbrells was remembered by a former pupil as “so harsh that a child who could cope with Dumbrells could cope with anything.” [15] By all reports, Camilla flourished while going there and was seen as a “healthy and happy, jolly little girl.” [16] At Dumbrells, she shone at playing ice hockey in the winter and stoolball in the summer during school games. [17] She left Dumbrells aged ten to attend Queen’s Gate School in Queen’s Gate , South Kensington. Her classmates at Queen’s Gate knew her as “Milla”; her fellow pupils included the singer Twinkle , who described her as a girl of “inner strength” exuding “magnetism and confidence”. [18] One of the teachers at the school was the writer Penelope Fitzgerald , who taught French and remembered Camilla as “bright and lively”. Camilla left Queen’s Gate with one O-level in 1964; her parents did not make her stay long enough for A-levels. [19] At the age of sixteen, she travelled abroad to attend the Mon Fertile finishing school in Tolochenaz , Switzerland . [20] After completing her course in Switzerland, she made her own decision and travelled to France to learn French and French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris for six months. [21] [22]
On 25 March 1965, Camilla was a debutante in London, [23] one of 311 that year. After moving from home, Camilla shared a small flat in Kensington with her friend Jane Wyndham, niece of decorator Nancy Lancaster . She later moved into a larger flat in Belgravia , which she shared with her landlady Lady Moyra Campbell, the daughter of the Duke of Abercorn , and later with Virginia Carrington, daughter of the politician Lord Carrington . [24] Virginia was married to Camilla’s uncle Henry Cubitt from 1973 until 1979. [25] In 2005, she became a special aide to Camilla and Prince Charles. [26] Camilla worked as a secretary for a variety of firms in the West End and was later employed as a receptionist by the decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in Mayfair. [27] In her spare time, she became a passionate horse-rider and frequently attended equestrian activities. [28] She also had a passion for painting , which eventually led her to enrol for private tutoring with an artist, though most of her work “ended up in the bin.” [29] Other interests were fishing, horticulture and gardening. [30] [31]
First marriage
In the late 1960s, Camilla met Andrew Parker Bowles —then a Guards officer and lieutenant in the Blues and Royals — [32] through his younger brother, Simon Parker Bowles, who worked for her father’s wine firm in Mayfair. [33] The couple dated on and off for some years but broke up again in 1970, when Parker Bowles began dating Princess Anne ; however, they later reconciled and announced their engagement in The Times in 1973, [34] [35] marrying on 4 July that year in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel , Wellington Barracks in London. [36] Camilla was 26 years old and Parker Bowles 33. Her wedding dress was designed by British fashion house Bellville Sassoon , [36] and the bridesmaids included Parker Bowles’ goddaughter Lady Emma Herbert . [37] It was considered the “society wedding of the year” [38] with eight hundred guests in attendance. [36] Royal guests present at the ceremony and reception included Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon . [38]
Bolehyde Manor in Allington, Wiltshire
The couple made their home in Wiltshire , purchasing Bolehyde Manor in Allington [39] and later Middlewick House in Corsham . [40] They had two children: Tom , born in 1974, who is a godson of Prince Charles, [41] and Laura , born in 1978. [42] Both children were raised in their father’s Roman Catholic faith. Tom, like his father, is in remainder to the Earldom of Macclesfield . [32] During their marriage, Parker Bowles, as an officer in the British army, travelled extensively and was posted to several countries, while Camilla stayed in the UK with their children. [43]
In January 1995, after 21 years of marriage, Camilla and her husband decided to divorce. The previous year her mother, Rosalind, had died from osteoporosis , and her father later described this as a “difficult time for her”. A joint statement was released by their lawyers on 11 January 1995, stating their divorce was amicable and claiming it was due to different interests, which eventually led to separate lives. [44] The divorce was finalised in March 1995. [45]
Relationship with the Prince of Wales
Camilla and Prince Charles reportedly met in mid-1971. [46] Though they both belonged to the same social circle and occasionally attended the same events, they had not formally met. Gyles Brandreth states that the couple did not meet at a polo match, as it is believed. [47] [48] Instead, they were formally introduced to each other at an event by a mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz. [28] [49] They became close friends and eventually began dating, which was well known within their social circle. [50] When they became a couple, they regularly met at polo matches at Smith’s Lawn in Windsor Great Park , where Charles often played polo. [28] [46] They also became part of a set at Annabel’s in Berkeley Square . [46] As the relationship grew more serious, Charles met Camilla’s family in Plumpton and he introduced her to some members of his family. [51] The relationship was put on hold after Charles travelled overseas to join the Royal Navy in early 1973; however, it ended abruptly afterwards. [34] [52]
There have been different statements on why the couple’s relationship ended in 1973. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2008 book, Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that Charles had met Camilla too early, and that he had not asked her to wait for him when he went overseas for military duties. [53] Sarah Bradford wrote in her 2007 book, Diana, that a member of the close circle of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten claimed Mountbatten arranged for Charles to be taken overseas to end the relationship with Camilla to make way for an engagement between his granddaughter, Amanda Knatchbull , and Charles. [54] Some sources also suggest the Queen Mother did not approve of the marriage because she wanted Charles to marry one of the Spencer family granddaughters of her close friend, Lady Fermoy . [55] Other sources also suggest Camilla did not want to marry Charles but instead wanted to marry Andrew Parker Bowles since she had an on and off relationship with Parker Bowles that began in the 1960s [56] or that Charles had decided he would not marry until he was thirty years old. [57]
Overall, the majority of royal biographers have agreed that even if Charles and Camilla wanted to marry or did try for approval to get married, it would have been declined, because according to Charles’s cousin and godmother Patricia Mountbatten , palace courtiers at that time found Camilla unsuitable as a wife for the future king. In 2005, she stated, “With hindsight, you can say that Charles should have married Camilla when he first had the chance. They were ideally suited, we know that now. But it wasn’t possible.”[…] [58] “it wouldn’t have been possible, not then.”[…] [59] When Charles heard of the engagement of Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, he wrote to Lord Mountbatten: “I suppose the feeling of emptiness will pass eventually.” [60] Nevertheless, they remained friends. [61] [62] In August 1979, Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA . Charles was grief-stricken and relied heavily on Camilla for solace. During this period, rumours began circulating among family, friends and neighbours that they had rekindled their intimate relationship. [63] A source close to Camilla confirmed that by 1980 they had indeed rekindled as lovers. [43] However, other sources assert it occurred earlier. [64] Reportedly, Parker Bowles gave consent to the relationship during their marriage, [65] while he also saw other women. [66] In 1981, Charles married Diana Spencer. [67]
The affair became public knowledge in the press a decade later, with the publication of Diana: Her True Story in 1992, [68] followed by the Camillagate scandal in 1993, [69] wherein an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles was secretly recorded and the transcripts were published in the tabloids . [70] The book and tape instantly damaged Charles’s reputation. [71] Meanwhile, the press vilified Camilla. [72] [73] In 1994, Charles finally spoke about his relationship with Camilla in a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby . He told Dimbleby in the interview, “Mrs. Parker Bowles is a great friend of mine…a friend for a very long time. She will continue to be a friend for a long time.” [74] The same year he admitted in his biography written by Dimbleby that the relationship between him and Camilla rekindled after his marriage had “irretrievably broken down” in 1986. [75] Following this, the Parker Bowleses announced their own divorce the following year, having been living apart for some time, [74] and a year later, Andrew Parker Bowles married his partner Rosemary Pitman (who later died in 2010). [76] [77]
Image rehabilitation
Following the two couples’ divorces, Charles stated his relationship with Camilla was, and is, “non-negotiable.” [78] [79] Charles was aware that the relationship was receiving a lot of negative publicity, and appointed Mark Bolland —whom he had employed in 1995 to refurbish his own image—to enhance Camilla’s public profile. [80] Camilla occasionally became Charles’s unofficial companion at events. In 1999, the couple made their first public appearance together at the Ritz Hotel in London, where they attended a birthday party; about two hundred cameramen and reporters from around the world were there to witness them together. [81] In 2000, she accompanied Charles to Scotland for a number of official engagements, and in 2001, she became president of the National Osteoporosis Society , which first introduced her to the public. [82] She later met the Queen, for the first time since the relationship was made public, at the 60th birthday party of the former King of Greece, Constantine II . This meeting was seen as an apparent seal of approval by the Queen on Charles and Camilla’s relationship. [83] [84]
After a series of appearances at public and private venues, the Queen invited Camilla to her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002. She sat in the royal box behind the Queen for one of the concerts at Buckingham Palace. [85] [86] Though she maintained her residence, Ray Mill House—which she purchased in 1995 at Lacock , Wiltshire, [87] Camilla then moved into Clarence House —which became Charles’s household and official residence in 2003. [88] In 2004, Camilla accompanied Charles on almost all of his official events, including a high-profile visit together to the annual highland games in Scotland. [89] Throughout, the press speculated on when they would announce their engagement. [90] On 10 February 2005, Clarence House announced their engagement which received a huge amount of coverage in the media worldwide. [91] Polls conducted in the United Kingdom showed overall support for the marriage. [92]
Second marriage
On 10 February 2005, Clarence House announced that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged; as an engagement ring , Charles gave Camilla a diamond ring that was believed to have been given to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, when she gave birth to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. [93] The ring comprises a square-cut diamond with three diamond baguettes on each side; [94] [95] As he is the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England , the prospect of Charles marrying a divorcée was seen as controversial, but with the consent of the Queen, [96] the government, [97] and the Church of England, [98] the couple were able to wed. The Queen, Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams , offered their congratulations in statements to the media. [99]
The marriage was to have been on 8 April 2005, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle , with a subsequent religious blessing at St George’s Chapel . To conduct a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to obtain a licence for civil marriages, which it did not have. A condition of such a licence is that the licensed venue must be available for a period of one year to anyone wishing to be married there. As the royal family did not wish to make Windsor Castle available to the public for civil marriages, even just for one year, the location was changed to the town hall at Windsor Guildhall . [100] On 4 April, it was announced that the marriage would be delayed by one day to allow the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II . [101] [102]
Charles’s parents did not attend the marriage ceremony [103] and neither did Camilla’s father; instead, Camilla’s son and Prince William acted as witnesses to the union. [104] The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did, however, attend the service of blessing . Afterwards, a reception was held by the Queen for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle. [105] Camilla’s dresses for the two ceremonies were designed by Anna Valentine . Performances at the wedding included the St George’s Chapel Choir , Philharmonia Orchestra and Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott . [106] As a wedding gift, The Marinsky Theatre Trust in St. Petersburg brought a Russian mezzo-soprano singer, Ekaterina Semenchuk, to the UK to perform a special song for the couple. [107] Following the wedding, the couple travelled to the Prince’s country home in Scotland, Birkhall , [108] and carried out their first public duties as a couple during their honeymoon. [109]
Duchess of Cornwall
After becoming Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla automatically acquired rank as the second highest woman in the United Kingdom Order of Precedence (after the Queen), and as typically fifth or sixth in the orders of precedence of her other realms, following the Queen, the relevant viceroy , the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales. It was revealed that the Queen altered the royal order of precedence for private occasions, placing Camilla fourth, after the Queen, the Princess Royal , and Princess Alexandra . [110] [111] Within two years of the marriage, the Queen extended Camilla visible tokens of membership in the royal family; she lent the Duchess a tiara previously belonging to the Queen Mother, [112] and granted her the badge of the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II . [113]
The Duchess in 2009
After their wedding, Clarence House became the official residence of both the Duchess and the Prince of Wales. The couple also stay at Birkhall for holiday events, and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire for family gatherings. In 2008, they took up residence at Llwynywermod in Carmarthenshire , Wales. They stay at Llwynywermod when on their weekly visit to Wales every year in the summer and for other occasions. [114] To spend time alone with her children and grandchildren, the Duchess still maintains her home, Raymill House in Lacock, Wiltshire , in which she resided from 1995 to 2003. [115] The Duchess of Cornwall has three ladies-in-waiting , including long time friend Amanda MacManus, who is her chief lady-in-waiting and also her assistant private secretary. [116] [117] [118] Since 2005, she has supported and often wears outfits by designers Anna Valentine , Philip Treacy and Bruce Oldfield (who were all responsible for her ensembles for her wedding to the Prince of Wales). [119] [120] [121]
Though no details were publicly released, it was confirmed in March 2007 that Camilla had undergone a hysterectomy . [122] In November 2010, the Duchess and her husband were indirectly involved in the 2010 British student protests when their car was attacked by protesters. [123] [124] Clarence House later released a statement on the incident: “A car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall was attacked by protesters but the couple were unharmed.” [125] On 9 April 2012, the seventh wedding anniversary of the Duchess and the Prince of Wales, the Queen appointed the Duchess to the Royal Victorian Order . [126] On 9 June 2016, the Queen appointed the Duchess as a member to Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council . [127] She is the first British princess by marriage to be appointed in such position. [128]
Foreign and domestic trips
Prince Charles and Camilla are greeted by Federal Emergency Management Agency officials as they arrive to tour the damage created by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans , November 2005
The Duchess made her inaugural overseas tour, to the United States , in November 2005. [129] During their tour in the United States, they met with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at the White house. [130] Afterward they visited New Orleans to see the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and met with some of the residents whose lives were changed drastically by the hurricane. [131] In March 2006, the couple undertook a visit to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India. [132] In November 2007, the Duchess toured with the Prince of Wales on a four-day visit to Turkey. [133] In 2008, she joined the Prince of Wales to tour the Caribbean , Japan , Brunei and Indonesia . [134] In 2009, they embarked on a tour of Chile , Brazil , Ecuador , [135] Italy and Germany. Their visit to the Holy See in Italy included a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI . [136] They later visited Canada. In early 2010, they undertook a visit to Hungary , the Czech Republic and Poland . [137] In October 2010, she accompanied the Prince of Wales to Delhi , India for the opening of the 2010 Commonwealth Games . [138]
Official opening of the Fourth Assembly at the Senedd in Cardiff , Wales. From left to right: Carwyn Jones , the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Queen and Rosemary Butler , 7 June 2011
In March 2011, the Duchess went with the Prince of Wales to undertake visits in Portugal , Spain , and Morocco . [139] The tour began in Lisbon , Portugal. The President of Portugal, President Aníbal Cavaco Silva met them. In Spain, the couple were received in Madrid by the Prince and Princess of Asturias . They later met King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain. The tour finished in Rabat , Morocco, where they met the King of Morocco. [140] In August 2011, the Duchess accompanied the Prince of Wales to Tottenham to visit the aftermath of the London riots . [141] [142] The couple later went to see Tottenham residents in February 2012, meeting with local shop owners six months after the riots to see how they were doing. [143] The Duchess attended the 10th anniversary memorial service of the 11 September 2001 attacks along with the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister, David Cameron , on 11 September 2011 in London. [144] In November 2011, the Duchess travelled with the Prince of Wales to tour Commonwealth and Arab States of the Persian Gulf . They toured in South Africa and Tanzania and met with President Jacob Zuma and President Jakaya Kikwete . [145]
The Duchess of Cornwall being driven away from St Paul’s Cathedral during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations , 5 June 2012
In March 2012, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales went to visit Norway , Sweden and Denmark to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. [146] In May 2012, the royal couple undertook a four-day trip to Canada as part of the jubilee celebrations. [147] In November 2012, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales visited Australia , New Zealand and Papua New Guinea for a two-week jubilee tour. [148] During the Australian tour, they attended the 2012 Melbourne Cup , where the Duchess presented the Melbourne cup to the winner of the race. [149] In 2013, they went on a tour to Jordan and met with King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania . They also made a visit to Syria and visited refugee camps of the Syrian civil war . [150] That same year, they attended the Enthronement of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, as well as the preceding celebrations in honour of Queen Beatrix . [151] In June 2014, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales attended the 70th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in Normandy , France, [152] and embarked on a nine-day tour to Mexico and Colombia in November of that year. [153] In May 2015, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales visited Northern Ireland and undertook their first joint trip to the Republic of Ireland . [154]
The Duchess of Cornwall’s first solo engagement was a visit to Southampton General Hospital ; [155] she attended the Trooping the Colour for the first time in June 2005, making her appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards. She conducted the naming ceremony for HMS Astute on 8 June 2007, and, on 10 December, she did the same for the new Cunard cruise ship , MS Queen Victoria ; [156] it was stated that the Queen was surprised by Cunard’s invitation. [157] In June 2011, the Duchess alone represented the British royal family at the 125th Wimbledon Tennis Championships in Wimbledon . [158] The Duchess attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in May 2013 [159] and the same month she travelled to Paris on her first solo trip outside the UK. [22]
Patronages
The Duchess of Cornwall visiting Dundurn Castle in 2009 of which she is patron
The Duchess is the Patron of St Catherine’s School, Bramley , [160] Animal Care Trust, [161] The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists , [162] Unicorn Theatre for Children, British Equestrian Federation , Cornwall Community Foundation, Dundurn Castle , Wiltshire Bobby van Trust, Youth Action Wiltshire, New Queen’s Hall Orchestra , St John’s Smith Square , London Chamber Orchestra , Elmhurst School for Dance, Trinity Hospice , Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, Girl’s Brigade in Scotland, St John’s Hospital, Fan Museum , Georgian Theatre Royal , The Cornish Air Ambulance Service, Arthritis Research UK , The Girls’ Friendly Society , Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre , Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases , Plumpton College Charitable Foundation, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain , President of Elephant Family (Joint with the Prince of Wales), [163] Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres and JDRF , as well as president or patron of other charities. [161]
She is the honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy Medical Service . In this role she visited the training-ship HMS Excellent in January 2012, to award medals to naval medical teams returning from service in Afghanistan . [164] The Duchess is also an honorary member of other patronages and in February 2012, she was elected a bencher of The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn . [165] In February 2013, she was appointed Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen , a role which is ceremonial and will involve conferring graduates with their degrees [166] and took up the office in June 2013. She is the first female chancellor of the University of Aberdeen and only member of the royal family to hold the post since it was created in 1860. [167] In 2015, her presidency of WOW (Women of the World Festival) —an annual festival that celebrates the achievements of women and girls as well as looking at the obstacles they face across the world—was announced. [168]
Areas of interest
Osteoporosis
NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni welcomes the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to NIH for a discussion on osteoporosis with Surgeon General Richard Carmona and other health officials, November 2005
In 1994, she became a member of the National Osteoporosis Society after her mother died painfully from the disease that year. Her maternal grandmother also died from the disease in 1986. She became patron of the charity in 1997 and was appointed president in 2001 in a highly publicised event, accompanied by the Prince of Wales. [169] In 2002, she launched a mini book titled A Skeleton Guide to a Healthy you, Vitamins and Minerals which aims to help women protect themselves from the disease. [170] [171] The following month, she attended the Roundtable of International Women Leaders to Examine Barriers to Reimbursement for Diagnosis and Treatment of Osteoporosis conference along with 13 eminent women from around the world. The event was organised by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and hosted by Queen Rania of Jordan and during it, she made her first public speech. The international conference which took place in Lisbon, Portugal , brought together worldwide public figures to focus on osteoporosis treatment and called for government assistance around the world. [172] In 2004, she attended another conference in Dublin , organised by the Irish Osteoporosis Society and the following year visited the National Institutes of Health in Maryland , U.S. to give a presentation on osteoporosis to high-profile health figures. [173]
In 2006, the Duchess launched the Big Bone walk campaign, leading 90 children and osteoporosis sufferers for a 10-mile walk and climb around Loch Muick at the Balmoral Estate in Scotland to raise money for the charity. [174] The campaign raised £200,000 and continues almost every year as one of the fundraisers for the charity. [175] In 2011, she appeared in the BBC Radio drama The Archers , playing herself, [176] to raise the profile of the disease, and in 2013 teamed up with the television series Strictly Come Dancing to raise funds for the National Osteoporosis Society. [177] By 2006 she had spoken at more than 60 functions on the disease in the UK and around the world and had also opened bone scanning units and osteoporosis centres to help sufferers of the disease. [169] Almost every year, the Duchess attends and partakes in World Osteoporosis Day , by attending events around the UK on 20 October. [178] She continues to attend conferences around the world and meets with health experts to further discuss the disease. [179] [180]
For her work on raising awareness of osteoporosis around the world, the Duchess was honoured with an Ethel LeFrak award in 2005 from an American charity [181] and received a Kohn Award in 2007 from the Royal Society . [182] [183] In July 2007, the Duchess opened the Duchess of Cornwall Centre for Osteoporosis at the Royal Cornwall Hospital , Truro. [184] [185] The same year, King’s College London awarded her an honorary fellowship for raising the profile of osteoporosis. [186] The National Osteoporosis Society created The Duchess of Cornwall Award in 2009, which is awarded to other advocates of Osteoporosis. [187]
Victims of rape and sexual abuse
After visiting nine rape crisis centres in 2009 and hearing accounts from survivors, the Duchess began raising awareness and advocating ways to help victims of rape and sexual abuse to overcome and move past their trauma. According to The Times , “The stories Her Royal Highness heard on her first visit and the stories she heard subsequently have left her with a strong desire to raise awareness about rape and sexual abuse and to try to help those affected.” [188] She often speaks to victims at a rape crisis centre in Croydon and visits other centres to meet staff and victims, around the UK and during overseas tours. [189] [190] In 2010, alongside Mayor of London , Boris Johnson , she opened a centre in Ealing , West London for rape victims. The centre later expanded to other areas including Hillingdon , Fulham , Hounslow , and Hammersmith . [191]
Antrim Area Hospital , where the Duchess opened The Rowan centre in Northern Ireland
In 2013, she held a meeting at Clarence House which brought together rape victims and rape support groups. Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Theresa May were guests at the occasion. At the occasion, she introduced a plan to help the victims. About 750 wash-bags, packed with luxury toiletries, were distributed to victims at the centres. Her staff at Clarence House created the wash-bags. The Duchess thought of the gesture after she visited a centre in Derbyshire and asked victims what they would like to help them feel at ease after the trauma and forensic examinations. According to Clarence House, the event was the first meeting of high-profile figures to focus exclusively on rape and sexual abuse subjects. [190] [192] The same year, the Duchess travelled to Northern Ireland and opened The Rowan, a sexual assault and referral centre at Antrim Area Hospital [193] which was the first centre to provide help and comfort to rape and sexual abuse victims in Northern Ireland. [194] In March 2016, during her and the Prince of Wales tour to the Western Balkans , the Duchess visited UNICEF programmes in Montenegro and while there, she discussed child sexual abuse and was shown an exclusive preview of a new app designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. [195]
Other areas
The Duchess of Cornwall with Peter McLaughlin , headmaster of The Doon School which she visited in November 2013 on her India tour [196]
Being an avid reader, the Duchess is an advocate for literacy . She is the patron of the National Literacy Trust and other literacy charities. She often visits schools, libraries and children organisations to read to young children. Additionally, she partakes in literacy celebrations, including International Literacy Day and World Book Day . [197] In 2011, she attended the Hay Festival to support children literacy and while there, she donated books to the Oxfam bookshop . [198] The same year, she donated money to support the Evening Standard ‘s literacy campaign. [199] The Duchess has also launched and continues to launch campaigns and programmes to promote literacy. [200] [201] On spreading literacy the Duchess stated during a speech at an event for the National Literacy Trust in 2013, “I firmly believe in the importance of igniting a passion for reading in the next generation. I was lucky enough to have a father who was a fervent bibliophile and a brilliant storyteller too. In a world where the written word competes with so many other calls on our attention, we need more Literacy Heroes to keep inspiring young people to find the pleasure and power of reading for themselves.” [202]
The Duchess is a supporter of animal welfare and patron of many animal welfare charities including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and president of Brooke Hospital for Animals . [203] She often visits other animal shelters to show her support and to see how the animals are cared for. In 2011, she adopted a rescue puppy, a Jack Russel Terrier from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, [204] and in 2012 adopted another from the shelter. [205] Also in 2012, she opened two veterinary facilities at the University of Bristol ‘s School of Veterinary Sciences at Langford, Somerset , which will provide treatment to sick animals. [206] In 2015, The Duchess teamed up with department store Fortnum & Mason to sell a limited edition of 250 jars of honey, which were produced by bees that reside in her private garden in Wiltshire. The Duchess honey jars sold for £20 a jar and were hugely successful, selling out in two weeks at the store. [207] Sales of the Duchess of Cornwall honey were all donated to support the Medical Detection Dogs charity, of which she is patron. [208]
The Duchess visits Ballyhackamore Credit Union at East Belfast in May 2015
The Duchess supports organisations that battle around the world on poverty and homelessness . She is the patron of Emmaus UK , and in 2013 during her solo trip to Paris, she went to see the efforts and works done by the charity in the city. Every year around Christmas, she visits Emmaus communities across the UK. [22] To also help battle these issues, the Duchess is a staunch supporter of credit unions , [209] which she states is a “real force for change in the financial landscape, serve the people, not profit” and “provide a friendly financial community where members mutually benefit from advice, as well as savings accounts and loans.” [210] She also supports healthy-eating , anti- FGM , [211] arts and heritage related organisations and programmes. [161]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
17 July 1947 – 4 July 1973: Miss Camilla Rosemary Shand
4 July 1973 – 3 March 1995: Mrs Andrew Parker Bowles
3 March 1995 – 9 April 2005: Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles
9 April 2005 – present : Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall [212]
in Scotland: 9 April 2005 – present: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay [212] [213]
in Chester : The Countess of Chester [213]
Because the title Princess of Wales became strongly associated with the previous holder of that title, Diana, Camilla has adopted the feminine form of her husband’s highest-ranking subsidiary title, Duke of Cornwall , although legally she is Princess of Wales. Although she will legally become queen consort if Prince Charles becomes king, [214] [215] Clarence House stated on the occasion of their wedding in 2005 that it is intended that Camilla will adopt the unprecedented style of Princess Consort instead. [216] The title is similar to the style of Prince Albert . This is not the same usage as her father-in-law, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , who does not hold the title of Prince Consort although he was created a Prince of the United Kingdom by his wife, Queen Elizabeth II.
Honours
Camilla’s Scottish line descends from King Robert III of Scotland through his daughter, Princess Mary Stewart of Scotland , who was the mother of Sir William Edmonstone of Duntreath, an ancestor of her maternal great-great-grandfather, Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet . [232] In addition, her paternal ancestors, a minor aristocratic ( gentry ) family emigrated to England from Scotland. [233] Camilla on her paternal side is descended from James Shand, 1st Laird of Craigellie, whose father, also named James Shand, held the office of Provost of Banff. [229] Other noble ancestors on her paternal side include George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal , William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton , and George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull . [229]
Camilla’s French lineage derives partly through her maternal great-great-grandmother, Sophia Mary MacNab of Hamilton, Ontario , daughter of Sir Allan MacNab , who was the Prime Minister of the Province of Canada before Confederation. [234] Sophia was the wife of William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle and their son was The Hon. George Keppel (maternal great-grandfather of Camilla). Through Sophia, Camilla is descended from 17th century French colonists Zacharie Cloutier and Jean Guyon , who founded some of the principal families of Quebec City . [8] [229]
Camilla is also descended from several American Loyalists through Sophia such as Ephraim Jones , born in Massachusetts in 1750, fought with the British during the American Revolution , was captured at the Battle of Saratoga , and later settled in Upper Canada . His daughter Sophia married John Stuart Jr., born 1777 in New York , the son of Rev. John Stuart , who was born in Pennsylvania in 1740 and was chaplain for the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York . [235]
Camilla is a direct descendant of William the Conqueror , the first Norman King of England. [236] Through Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle , Camilla and Prince Charles are ninth cousins once removed . [237] [238]
Ancestors of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
| The Archers |
The smallest province in South Africa is Gauteng. Which city is its capital? | Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall | Wiki & Bio | Everipedia
You can edit something on the page right now! Register today, it's fast and free.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
The Duchess of Cornwall at Hillsborough Castle in April 2014
Born
National Thesaurus for Author Names ID
290796822
National Thesaurus for Author Names ID
290796822
National Thesaurus for Author Names ID
290796822
Tom Parker Bowles
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall GCVO CSM PC (Camilla Rosemary; née Shand, previously Parker Bowles; born 17 July 1947), is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales , who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II . Instead of using the title Princess of Wales , she is styled through her husband's secondary designation as Duchess of Cornwall because of the strong association of the primary title with his first wife, Diana . In Scotland, she is known as the Duchess of Rothesay . In the event of Charles's accession to the throne, Camilla will legally be Queen consort but according to an official statement issued by Clarence House on the day they married, she will be known as Princess Consort .
Camilla was born into a gentry family as the eldest child of Major Bruce Shand and his wife, the Honourable Rosalind Cubitt , the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe . She was raised in East Sussex and South Kensington , and was educated in England, Switzerland and France. Subsequently, she worked for different firms based in central London , most notably the decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler . In 1973, Camilla married British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles , with whom she has two children. They divorced in 1995.
For many years, Camilla and the Prince of Wales had a controversial relationship, which was highly publicised in the media and attracted worldwide scrutiny. In 2005, it culminated in a civil marriage at Windsor Guildhall , which was followed by a televised Anglican blessing by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Rowan Williams , at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle .
As the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla assists the Prince of Wales on his official duties. She is also the patron, president and a member of numerous charities and organisations. Since 1994, she has taken action on osteoporosis , which has earned her honours and awards. She has also raised awareness in areas including rape and sexual abuse, literacy and poverty, for which she has latterly been praised. [2] [3]
Childhood and young adulthood
Camilla was born Camilla Rosemary Shand at King's College Hospital , London, on 17 July 1947 at 7:00 am (BST). She grew up in the Laines, a country house located in Plumpton, East Sussex , and a three-storey house in South Kensington , her family's second home. Her parents were British Army officer turned businessman Major Bruce Shand (1917–2006) and his wife, the Hon. Rosalind ( née Cubitt; 1921–1994), an adoption worker. [4] She has one younger sister, Annabel Elliot , and had a younger brother, Mark Shand (1951–2014). [5] Her maternal great-grandmother, Alice Keppel , was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910. [6] On 1 November 1947, Camilla was baptised at Firle Church, Sussex . Her godparents were Hon. Henry Cubitt (her maternal uncle, later the 4th Baron Ashcombe ), Major Neil Speke, Heathcoat Amory , Lombard Hobson and Vivien Mosley . [7] Camilla's mother worked for an adoption agency, while her father had different business interests after retiring from the army. He was most notably a partner in Block, Grey and Block, a firm of wine merchants in South Audley Street, Mayfair , later joining Ellis, Son and Vidler of Hastings and London. [8] [9] During her childhood years, Camilla became an avid reader due to the influence of her father, who read to her frequently. [10] She grew up with dogs and cats, and, at a young age, learnt how to ride a pony by joining Pony Club camps. According to her, childhood "was perfect in every way." Biographer Gyles Brandreth describes her background and childhood:
Camilla is often described as having had an "Enid Blyton sort of Childhood." In fact, it was much grander than that. Camilla, as a little girl, may have had some personality traits of George , the tomboy girl among the Famous Five , but Enid Blyton ’s children were essentially middle-class children and The Shands, without question, belonged to the upper class. The Shands had position and they had help—help in the house, help in the garden, help with children. They were gentry . They opened their garden for the local Conservative Party Association summer fête. Enough said.
At the age of five, Camilla was sent to Dumbrells, a co-educational school in Ditchling village. Dumbrells was remembered by a former pupil as "so harsh that a child who could cope with Dumbrells could cope with anything." By all reports, Camilla flourished while going there and was seen as a "healthy and happy, jolly little girl." At Dumbrells, she shone at playing ice hockey in the winter and stoolball in the summer during school games. She left Dumbrells aged ten to attend Queen's Gate School in Queen's Gate , South Kensington. Her classmates while attending Queen's Gate knew her as "Milla"; her fellow pupils included the singer Twinkle , who described her as the girl who had "inner strength," exuding "magnetism and confidence". One of the teachers at the school was writer Penelope Fitzgerald , who then taught French; she remembered Camilla as "bright and lively". Camilla left Queen's Gate with one O-level in 1964; her parents did not make her stay long enough for A-levels. At the age of sixteen, she travelled abroad to attend the Mon Fertile finishing school in Tolochenaz , Switzerland . After completing her course in Switzerland, she made her own decision and travelled to France to learn French and French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris for six months. [11]
On 25 March 1965, Camilla was a debutante in London. According to Peter Townend , an editor of Tatler magazine, she was among 311 debutantes in 1965. Columnist Betty Kenward , who wrote in her column, Jennifer's Diary, published her coming-out party in the Queen magazine. 150 guests attended the event, and was described by Kenward as "successful". After moving from home, Camilla shared a small flat in Kensington with her friend Jane Wyndham, niece of decorator Nancy Lancaster . She later moved into a larger flat in Belgravia on Cundy Street around Victoria Coach Station , sharing with her landlady Lady Moyra Campbell, the daughter of the Duke of Abercorn , and later with Virginia Carrington, daughter of the politician Lord Carrington . Virginia was married to Camilla's uncle Henry Cubitt from 1973 until 1979. [2] In 2005, she became a special aide to Camilla and Prince Charles. [2] Camilla worked as a secretary for a variety of firms in the West End and was later employed as a receptionist by the decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in Mayfair. [2] In her spare time, she became a passionate horse-rider and frequently attended equestrian activities. She also had a passion for painting , which eventually led her to enrol for private tutoring from an artist to enhance her art skills, however most of her works, she states, ended up in the bin. [2] Other interests were fishing, horticulture and gardening. [2] [2]
First marriage
In the late 1960s, Camilla met Andrew Parker Bowles —then a Guards officer and lieutenant in the Blues and Royals — through his younger brother, Simon Parker Bowles; Simon, at the time, worked for her father's wine firm in South Audley Street, Mayfair. [2] The couple dated on and off for some years, though broke up again in 1970, and Parker Bowles began dating Princess Anne ; however, they later reconciled and announced their engagement in The Times in 1973, [3] marrying on 4 July that year in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel , Wellington Barracks in London. Camilla was twenty-six years old, while Parker Bowles was thirty-four. Her wedding dress was designed by British fashion house Bellville Sassoon , and the bridesmaids included Parker Bowles' goddaughter Lady Emma Herbert . [3] It was considered the "society wedding of the year" with eight hundred guests in attendance. Royal guests present at the ceremony and reception included Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon .
The couple made their home in Wiltshire , purchasing Bolehyde Manor in Allington [3] and later Middlewick House in Corsham . [3] They had two children: Tom , born in 1974, who is a godson of Prince Charles, [3] and Laura , born in 1978. [3] Both children were raised in their father's Roman Catholic faith. Tom, like his father, is in remainder to the Earldom of Macclesfield . During their marriage, Parker Bowles, as an officer in the British army, travelled extensively and was posted to several countries, while Camilla stayed in the UK with their children.
In January 1995, after twenty–one years of marriage, Camilla and her husband decided to divorce. The previous year her mother, Rosalind, had died from osteoporosis , and her father later described this as a "difficult time for her". A joint statement was released by their lawyers on 11 January 1995, stating their divorce was amicable and claiming it was due to different interests, which eventually led to separate lives. [3] The divorce was finalised in March 1995. [17]
Relationship with the Prince of Wales
Camilla and Prince Charles reportedly met in mid-1971. Though they both belonged to the same social circle and occasionally attended the same events, they had not formally met. Gyles Brandreth states that the couple did not meet at a polo match, as it is believed. Instead, they were formally introduced to each other at an event by a mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz. They became close friends and eventually began dating, which was well known within their social circle. When they became a couple, they regularly met at polo matches at Smith's Lawn in Windsor Great Park , where Charles often played polo. They also became part of a set at Annabel's in Berkeley Square . As the relationship grew more serious, Charles met Camilla’s family in Plumpton and he introduced her to some members of his family. The relationship was put on hold after Charles travelled overseas to join the Royal Navy in early 1973; however, it ended abruptly afterwards.
There have been different statements on why the couple's relationship ended in 1973. Robert Lacey wrote in his 2008 book, Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that Charles had met Camilla too early, and that he had not asked her to wait for him when he went overseas for military duties. Sarah Bradford wrote in her 2007 book, Diana, that a member of the close circle of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten claimed Mountbatten arranged for Charles to be taken overseas to end the relationship with Camilla to make way for an engagement between his granddaughter, Amanda Knatchbull , and Charles. [18] Some sources also suggest the Queen Mother did not approve of the marriage because she wanted Charles to marry one of the Spencer family granddaughters of her close friend, Lady Fermoy . [19] Other sources also suggest Camilla did not want to marry Charles but instead wanted to marry Andrew Parker Bowles since she had an on and off relationship with Parker Bowles that began in the 1960s or that Charles had decided he would not marry until he was thirty years old.
Overall, the majority of royal biographers have agreed that even if Charles and Camilla wanted to marry or did try for approval to get married, it would have been declined, because according to Charles's cousin and godmother Patricia Mountbatten , palace courtiers at that time found Camilla unsuitable as a wife for the future king. In 2005, she stated, "With hindsight, you can say that Charles should have married Camilla when he first had the chance. They were ideally suited, we know that now. But it wasn't possible."[…] "it wouldn't have been possible, not then."[…] When Charles heard of the engagement of Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, he wrote to Lord Mountbatten: "I suppose the feeling of emptiness will pass eventually." [20] Nevertheless, they remained friends. In August 1979, Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA . Charles was grief-stricken and relied heavily on Camilla for solace. During this period, rumours began circulating among family, friends and neighbours that they had rekindled their intimate relationship. A source close to Camilla confirmed that by 1980 they had indeed rekindled as lovers. However, other sources assert it occurred earlier. Reportedly, Parker Bowles gave consent to the relationship during their marriage, while he also saw other women. In 1981, Charles married Diana Spencer.
The affair became public knowledge in the press a decade later, with the publication of Diana: Her True Story in 1992, followed by the Camillagate scandal in 1993, wherein an intimate telephone conversation between Camilla and Charles was secretly recorded and the transcripts were published in the tabloids . The book and tape instantly damaged Charles's reputation. Meanwhile, the press vilified Camilla. In 1994, Charles finally spoke about his relationship with Camilla in a televised interview with Jonathan Dimbleby . He told Dimbleby in the interview, "Mrs. Parker Bowles is a great friend of mine...a friend for a very long time. She will continue to be a friend for a long time." The same year he admitted in his biography written by Dimbleby that the relationship between him and Camilla rekindled after his marriage had "irretrievably broken down" in 1986. Following this, the Parker Bowleses announced their own divorce the following year, having been living apart for some time, and a year later, Andrew Parker Bowles married his partner Rosemary Pitman (who later died in 2010). [21]
Image rehabilitation
Following the two couples' divorces, Charles stated his relationship with Camilla was, and is, "non-negotiable." [22] [23] Charles was aware that the relationship was receiving a lot of negative publicity, and appointed Mark Bolland —whom he had employed in 1995 to refurbish his own image—to enhance Camilla's public profile. [25] Camilla occasionally became Charles's unofficial companion at events. In 1999, the couple made their first public appearance together at the Ritz Hotel in London, where they attended a birthday party; about two hundred cameramen and reporters from around the world were there to witness them together. [26] In 2000, she accompanied Charles to Scotland for a number of official engagements, and in 2001, she became president of the National Osteoporosis Society , which first introduced her to the public. [27] She later met the Queen, for the first time since the relationship was made public, at the 60th birthday party of King Constantine II of Greece . This meeting was seen as an apparent seal of approval by the Queen on Charles and Camilla's relationship. [28]
After a series of appearances at public and private venues, the Queen invited Camilla to her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002. She sat in the royal box behind the Queen for one of the concerts at Buckingham Palace. [4] [4] Though she maintained her residence, Ray Mill House—which she purchased in 1995 at Lacock , Wiltshire, [4] Camilla then moved into Clarence House —which became Charles's household and official residence in 2003. [4] In 2004, Camilla accompanied Charles on almost all of his official events, including a high profile visit together to the annual highland games in Scotland. [4] Throughout, the press speculated on when they would announce their engagement. [4] On 10 February 2005, Clarence House announced their engagement which received a huge amount of coverage in the media worldwide. [4] Polls conducted in the United Kingdom showed overall support for the marriage. [4]
Second marriage
On 10 February 2005, Clarence House announced that Camilla and the Prince of Wales were engaged; as an engagement ring , Charles gave Camilla a diamond ring that was believed to have been given to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , when she gave birth to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. [4] The ring comprises a square-cut diamond with three diamond baguettes on each side; [4] [33] As he is the future Supreme Governor of the Church of England , the prospect of Charles marrying a divorcée was seen as controversial, but with the consent of the Queen, [34] the government, [35] and the Church of England, [36] the couple were able to wed. The Queen, Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams , offered their congratulations in statements to the media. [37]
The marriage was to have been on 8 April 2005, and was to take place in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle , with a subsequent religious blessing at St George's Chapel . To conduct a civil marriage at Windsor Castle would oblige the venue to obtain a licence for civil marriages, which it did not have. A condition of such a licence is that the licensed venue must be available for a period of one year to anyone wishing to be married there. As the royal family did not wish to make Windsor Castle available to the public for civil marriages, even just for one year, the location was changed to the town hall at Windsor Guildhall . [38] On 4 April, it was announced that the marriage would be delayed by one day to allow the Prince of Wales and some of the invited dignitaries to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II . [39] [40]
Charles's parents did not attend the marriage ceremony (possibly because the Queen felt unable to attend the remarriage of a divorcee, due to her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England); [41] neither did Camilla's father; instead, Camilla's son and Prince William acted as witnesses to the union. [42] The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh did, however, attend the service of blessing . Afterwards, a reception was held by the Queen for the newlyweds at Windsor Castle. [43] Camilla's dresses for the two ceremonies were designed by Anna Valentine . Performances at the wedding included the St George's Chapel Choir , Philharmonia Orchestra and Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott . As a wedding gift, The Marinsky Theatre Trust in St. Petersburg brought a Russian mezzo-soprano singer, Ekaterina Semenchuk, to the UK to perform a special song for the couple. Following the wedding, the couple travelled to the Prince's country home in Scotland, Birkhall , [44] and carried out their first public duties as a couple during their honeymoon. [45]
Duchess of Cornwall
After becoming Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla automatically acquired rank as the second highest female in the United Kingdom Order of Precedence (after the Queen), and as typically fifth or sixth in the orders of precedence of her other realms, following the Queen, the relevant viceroy , the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince of Wales. It was revealed that the Queen altered the royal order of precedence for private occasions, placing Camilla fourth, after the Queen, the Princess Royal , and Princess Alexandra . [46] [47] Within two years of the marriage, the Queen extended Camilla visible tokens of membership in the royal family; she lent the Duchess a tiara previously belonging to the Queen Mother, [48] and granted her the badge of the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II .
After their wedding, Clarence House became the official residence of both the Duchess and the Prince of Wales. The couple also stay at Birkhall for holiday events, and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire for family gatherings. In 2008, they took up residence at Llwynywermod in Carmarthenshire , Wales. They stay at Llwynywermod when on their weekly visit to Wales every year in the summer and for other occasions. [49] To spend time alone with her children and grandchildren, the Duchess still maintains her home, Raymill House in Lacock, Wiltshire , in which she resided from 1995 to 2003. [50] The Duchess of Cornwall has three ladies-in-waiting , including long time friend Amanda MacManus, who is her chief lady-in-waiting and also her assistant private secretary. [51] [52] [53] Since 2005, she has supported and often wears outfits by designers Anna Valentine , Philip Treacy and Bruce Oldfield (whom were all responsible for her ensembles for her wedding to the Prince of Wales). [54] [55] [56]
Though no details were publicly released, it was confirmed in March 2007 that Camilla had undergone a hysterectomy . [57] In November 2010, the Duchess and her husband were indirectly involved in the 2010 British student protests when their car was attacked by protesters. [59] [60] Clarence House later released a statement on the incident: "A car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall was attacked by protesters but the couple were unharmed." [61] On 9 April 2012, the seventh wedding anniversary of the Duchess and the Prince of Wales, the Queen appointed the Duchess to the Royal Victorian Order . [62] On 9 June 2016, the Queen appointed the Duchess as a member to Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council . [63] She is the first British princess by marriage to be appointed in such position. [64]
Foreign and domestic trips
The Duchess made her inaugural overseas tour, to the United States , in November 2005. [65] During their tour in the United States, they met with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at the White house. [66] Afterward they visited New Orleans to see the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and met with some of the residents whose lives were changed drastically by the hurricane. [67] In March 2006, the couple undertook a visit to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India. [68] In November 2007, the Duchess toured with the Prince of Wales on a four-day visit to Turkey. [69] In 2008, she joined the Prince of Wales to tour the Caribbean , Japan , Brunei and Indonesia . [70] In 2009, they embarked on a tour of Chile , Brazil , Ecuador , [7] Italy and Germany. Their visit to the Holy See in Italy included a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI . [7] They later visited Canada. In early 2010, they undertook a visit to Hungary , the Czech Republic and Poland . [7] In October 2010, she accompanied the Prince of Wales to Delhi , India for the opening of the 2010 Commonwealth Games . [7]
In March 2011, the Duchess went with the Prince of Wales to undertake visits in Portugal , Spain , and Morocco . [7] The tour began in Lisbon , Portugal. The President of Portugal, President Aníbal Cavaco Silva met them. In Spain, the couple were received in Madrid by the Prince and Princess of Asturias . They later met King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain. The tour finished in Rabat , Morocco, where they met the King of Morocco. [7] In August 2011, the Duchess accompanied the Prince of Wales to Tottenham to visit the aftermath of the London riots . [7] [7] The couple later went to see Tottenham residents in February 2012, meeting with local shop owners six months after the riots to see how they were doing. [7] The Duchess attended the 10th anniversary memorial service of the 11 September 2001 attacks along with the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister, David Cameron , on 11 September 2011 in London. [7] In November 2011, the Duchess travelled with the Prince of Wales to tour Commonwealth and Arab States of the Persian Gulf . They toured in South Africa and Tanzania and met with President Jacob Zuma and President Jakaya Kikwete . [8]
In March 2012, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales went to visit Norway , Sweden and Denmark to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. [8] In May 2012, the royal couple undertook a four-day trip to Canada as part of the jubilee celebrations. [8] In November 2012, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales visited Australia , New Zealand and Papua New Guinea for a two-week jubilee tour. [8] During the Australian tour, they attended the 2012 Melbourne Cup , where the Duchess presented the Melbourne cup to the winner of the race. [8] In 2013, they went on a tour to Jordan and met with King Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania . They also made a visit to Syria and visited refugee camps of the Syrian civil war . [8] That same year, they attended the Enthronement of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, as well as the preceding celebrations in honour of Queen Beatrix . [8] In June 2014, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales attended the 70th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in Normandy , France, [8] and embarked on a nine-day tour to Mexico and Colombia in November of that year. [8] In May 2015, the Duchess and the Prince of Wales visited Northern Ireland and undertook their first joint trip to the Republic of Ireland . [8]
The Duchess of Cornwall's first solo engagement was a visit to Southampton General Hospital ; [9] she attended the Trooping the Colour for the first time in June 2005, making her appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace afterwards. She conducted the naming ceremony for HMS Astute on 8 June 2007, and, on 10 December, she did the same for the new Cunard cruise ship , MS Queen Victoria ; [9] it was stated that the Queen was surprised by Cunard's invitation. [9] In June 2011, the Duchess alone represented the British royal family at the 125th Wimbledon Tennis Championships in Wimbledon . [9] The Duchess attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in May 2013 [9] and the same month she travelled to Paris on her first solo trip outside the UK. [11]
Patronages
The Duchess is the Patron of St Catherine's School, Bramley , [9] Animal Care Trust, [98] The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists , [9] Unicorn Theatre for Children, British Equestrian Federation , Cornwall Community Foundation, Dundurn Castle , Wiltshire Bobby van Trust, Youth Action Wiltshire, New Queen's Hall Orchestra , St John's Smith Square , London Chamber Orchestra , Elmhurst School for Dance, Trinity Hospice , Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, Girl's Brigade in Scotland, St John's Hospital, Fan Museum , Georgian Theatre Royal , The Cornish Air Ambulance Service, Arthritis Research UK , The Girls' Friendly Society , Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre , Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases , Plumpton College Charitable Foundation, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain , President of Elephant Family (Joint with the Prince of Wales), [9] Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres and JDRF , as well as president or patron of other charities. [98]
She is the honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy Medical Service . In this role she visited the training-ship HMS Excellent in January 2012, to award medals to naval medical teams returning from service in Afghanistan . [9] The Duchess is also an honorary member of other patronages and in February 2012, she was elected a bencher of The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn . [10] In February 2013, she was appointed Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen , a role which is ceremonial and will involve conferring graduates with their degrees [10] and took up the office in June 2013. She is the first female chancellor of the University of Aberdeen and only member of the royal family to hold the post since it was created in 1860. [10] In 2015, her presidency of WOW (Women of the World Festival) —an annual festival that celebrates the achievements of women and girls as well as looking at the obstacles they face across the world—was announced. [10]
Areas of interest
Osteoporosis
In 1994, she became a member of the National Osteoporosis Society after her mother died painfully from the disease that year. Her maternal grandmother also died from the disease in 1986. She became patron of the charity in 1997 and was appointed president in 2001 in a highly publicised event, accompanied by the Prince of Wales. [107] In 2002, she launched a mini book titled A Skeleton Guide to a Healthy you, Vitamins and Minerals which aims to help women protect themselves from the disease. [10] [10] The following month, she attended the Roundtable of International Women Leaders to Examine Barriers to Reimbursement for Diagnosis and Treatment of Osteoporosis conference along with 13 eminent women from around the world. The event was organised by the International Osteoporosis Foundation and hosted by Queen Rania of Jordan and during it, she made her first public speech. The international conference which took place in Lisbon, Portugal , brought together worldwide public figures to focus on osteoporosis treatment and called for government assistance around the world. [10] In 2004, she attended another conference in Dublin , organised by the Irish Osteoporosis Society and the following year visited the National Institutes of Health in Maryland , U.S. to give a presentation on osteoporosis to high profile health figures. [10]
In 2006, the Duchess launched the Big Bone walk campaign, leading 90 children and osteoporosis sufferers for a 10-mile walk and climb around Loch Muick at the Balmoral Estate in Scotland to raise money for the charity. [10] The campaign raised £200,000 and continues almost every year as one of the fundraisers for the charity. [113] In 2011, she appeared in the BBC Radio drama The Archers , playing herself, [114] to raise the profile of the disease, and in 2013 teamed up with the television series Strictly Come Dancing to raise funds for the National Osteoporosis Society. [115] By 2006 she had spoken at more than 60 functions on the disease in the UK and around the world and had also opened bone scanning units and osteoporosis centres to help sufferers of the disease. [107] Almost every year, the Duchess attends and partakes in World Osteoporosis Day , by attending events around the UK on 20 October. [117] She continues to attend conferences around the world and meets with health experts to further discuss the disease. [118] [120]
For her work on raising awareness of osteoporosis around the world, the Duchess was honoured with an Ethel LeFrak award in 2005 from an American charity [121] and received a Kohn Award in 2007 from the Royal Society . [122] [123] In July 2007, the Duchess opened the Duchess of Cornwall Centre for Osteoporosis at the Royal Cornwall Hospital , Truro. [124] [125] The same year, King's College London awarded her an honorary fellowship for raising the profile of osteoporosis. [126] The National Osteoporosis Society created The Duchess of Cornwall Award in 2009, which is awarded to other advocates of Osteoporosis. [127]
Victims of rape and sexual abuse
After visiting nine rape crisis centres in 2009 and hearing accounts from survivors, the Duchess began raising awareness and advocating ways to help victims of rape and sexual abuse to overcome and move past their trauma. According to The Times , "The stories Her Royal Highness heard on her first visit and the stories she heard subsequently have left her with a strong desire to raise awareness about rape and sexual abuse and to try to help those affected." [128] She often speaks to victims at a rape crisis centre in Croydon and visits other centres to meet staff and victims, around the UK and during overseas tours. [129] [130] In 2010, alongside Mayor of London , Boris Johnson , she opened a centre in Ealing , West London for rape victims. The centre later expanded to other areas including Hillingdon , Fulham , Hounslow , and Hammersmith . [131]
In 2013, she held a meeting at Clarence House which brought together rape victims and rape support groups. Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Theresa May were guests at the occasion. At the occasion, she introduced a plan to help the victims. About 750 wash-bags, packed with luxury toiletries, were distributed to victims at the centres. Her staff at Clarence House created the wash-bags. The Duchess thought of the gesture after she visited a centre in Derbyshire and asked victims what they would like to help them feel at ease after the trauma and forensic examinations. According to Clarence House, the event was the first meeting of high profile figures to focus exclusively on rape and sexual abuse subjects. [130] [132] The same year, the Duchess travelled to Northern Ireland and opened The Rowan, a sexual assault and referral centre at Antrim Area Hospital [133] which was the first centre to provide help and comfort to rape and sexual abuse victims in Northern Ireland. [135] In March 2016, during her and the Prince of Wales tour to the Western Balkans , the Duchess visited UNICEF programmes in Montenegro and while there, she discussed child sexual abuse and was shown an exclusive preview of a new app designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. [136]
Other areas
Being an avid reader, the Duchess is an advocate for literacy . She is the patron of the National Literacy Trust and other literacy charities. She often visits schools, libraries and children organisations to read to young children. Additionally, she partakes in literacy celebrations, including International Literacy Day and World Book Day . [139] In 2011, she attended the Hay Festival to support children literacy and while there, she donated books to the Oxfam bookshop . [140] The same year, she donated money to support the Evening Standard 's literacy campaign. [141] The Duchess has also launched and continues to launch campaigns and programmes to promote literacy. [142] [143] On spreading literacy the Duchess stated during a speech at an event for the National Literacy Trust in 2013, "I firmly believe in the importance of igniting a passion for reading in the next generation. I was lucky enough to have a father who was a fervent bibliophile and a brilliant storyteller too. In a world where the written word competes with so many other calls on our attention, we need more Literacy Heroes to keep inspiring young people to find the pleasure and power of reading for themselves." [144]
The Duchess is a supporter of animal welfare and patron of many animal welfare charities including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and president of Brooke Hospital for Animals . [146] She often visits other animal shelters to show her support and to see how the animals are cared for. In 2011, she adopted a rescue puppy, a Jack Russel Terrier from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, [147] and in 2012 adopted another from the shelter. [148] Also in 2012, she opened two veterinary facilities at the University of Bristol 's School of Veterinary Sciences at Langford, Somerset , which will provide treatment to sick animals. [149] In 2015, The Duchess teamed up with department store Fortnum & Mason to sell a limited edition of 250 jars of honey, which were produced by bees that reside in her private garden in Wiltshire. The Duchess honey jars sold for £20 a jar and were hugely successful, selling out in two weeks at the store. [150] Sales of the Duchess of Cornwall honey were all donated to support the Medical Detection Dogs charity, of which she is patron. [151]
The Duchess supports organisations that battle around the world on poverty and homelessness . She is the patron of Emmaus UK , and in 2013 during her solo trip to Paris, she went to see the efforts and works done by the charity in the city. Every year around Christmas, she visits Emmaus communities across the UK. [11] To also help battle these issues, the Duchess is a staunch supporter of credit unions , [152] which she states is a "real force for change in the financial landscape, serve the people, not profit" and "provide a friendly financial community where members mutually benefit from advice, as well as savings accounts and loans." [153] She also supports healthy-eating , anti- FGM , [154] arts and heritage related organisations and programmes. [98]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
17 July 1947 – 4 July 1973: Miss Camilla Rosemary Shand
4 July 1973 – 3 March 1995: Mrs Andrew Parker Bowles
3 March 1995 – 9 April 2005: Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles
9 April 2005 – present : Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall [156]
in Scotland: 9 April 2005 – present: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay [156] [157]
in Chester : The Countess of Chester [157]
Because the title Princess of Wales became strongly associated with the previous holder of that title, Diana, Camilla has adopted the feminine form of her husband's highest-ranking subsidiary title, Duke of Cornwall , although legally she is Princess of Wales. Although she will legally become queen consort if Prince Charles becomes king, [158] [159] Clarence House stated on the occasion of their wedding in 2005 that it is intended that Camilla will adopt the unprecedented style of Princess Consort instead. [160] The title is similar to the style of Prince Albert . This is not the same usage as her father-in-law, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , who does not hold the title of Prince Consort although he was created a Prince of the United Kingdom by his wife, Queen Elizabeth II.
Honours
Camilla's Scottish line descends from King Robert III of Scotland through his daughter, Princess Mary Stewart of Scotland , who was the mother of Sir William Edmonstone of Duntreath, an ancestor of her maternal great-great-grandfather, Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet . In addition, her paternal ancestors emigrated to England from Scotland. Camilla on her paternal side is descended from James Shand, 1st Laird of Craigellie, whose father, also named James Shand, held the office of Provost of Banff. [174] Other noble ancestors on her paternal side include George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal , William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton , and George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull . [174]
Camilla's French lineage derives partly through her maternal great-great-grandmother, Sophia Mary MacNab of Hamilton, Ontario , daughter of Sir Allan MacNab , who was the Prime Minister of the Province of Canada before Confederation. Sophia was the wife of William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle and their son was The Hon. George Keppel , ( the great-grandfather of Camilla). Through Sophia, Camilla is descended from 17th century French colonists Zacharie Cloutier and Jean Guyon , who founded some of the principal families of Quebec City . [6] [174]
Camilla is also descended from several American Loyalists through Sophia such as Ephraim Jones , born in Massachusetts in 1750, fought with the British during the American Revolution , was captured at the Battle of Saratoga , and later settled in Upper Canada . His daughter Sophia married John Stuart Jr., born 1777 in New York , the son of Rev. John Stuart , who was born in Pennsylvania in 1740 and was chaplain for the 2nd Battalion of the King's Royal Regiment of New York . [175]
Camilla is a direct descendent of William the Conqueror , the first Norman King of England. [176] Through Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle , Camilla and Prince Charles are ninth cousins once removed . [177] [178]
Ancestors of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
| i don't know |
Which office has been held by Stuart Blanch, Donald Coggan and Michael Ramsey? | michael ramsey : definition of michael ramsey and synonyms of michael ramsey (English)
9 External links
Career
Michael Ramsey was born in Cambridge in 1904. His father was a Congregationalist and mathematician and his mother was a socialist and suffragette . He was educated at Repton School (where the headmaster was another future Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Francis Fisher ) and Magdalene College , Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society and where his support for the Liberal Party won him praise from Herbert Asquith . His elder brother, Frank P. Ramsey (1903–1930), was a mathematician and philosopher (of, incidentally, atheist convictions) and something of a prodigy, who when only 19 translated into English Wittgenstein 's Tractatus.
During his time in Cambridge the young Michael came under the influence of the Anglo-Catholic dean of Corpus Christi College , Edwyn Clement Hoskyns . On the advice of Eric Milner-White he trained at Cuddesdon , where he became friends with Austin Farrer and was introduced to Orthodox Christian ideas by Derwas Chitty . He was ordained in 1928 and became a curate in Liverpool , where he was influenced by Charles Raven .
After this he became a lecturer to ordination candidates at The Bishop's Hostel in Lincoln . During this time he published a book, The Gospel and the Catholic Church (1936). He then ministered at Boston Stump and at St Bene't's Church , Cambridge, before being offered a canonry at Durham Cathedral and the Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at Durham University . After this, in 1950, he became the Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, [1] but after only a short time, in 1952, he was appointed Bishop of Durham . In 1956 he became Archbishop of York and, in 1961, Archbishop of Canterbury . During his time as archbishop he travelled widely and saw the creation of the General Synod . Retirement ages for clergy were also introduced.
Theology and churchmanship
As an Anglo-Catholic with a nonconformist background, Ramsey had a broad religious outlook. He had a particular regard for the Eastern Orthodox concept of "glory", and his favourite book he had written was his 1949 work The Transfiguration. During the J.A.T. Robinson Honest to God controversy, he published a short response entitled Image Old and New, in which he engaged seriously with Robinson's ideas. Conscious always of the atheism which his short-lived brother Frank had espoused, he maintained a lifelong respect for honest unbelief, and considered that such unbelief would not automatically be a barrier to salvation. He also made a barefoot visit to the grave of Mahatma Gandhi . However, he declined to become involved in some inter-faith activities. He disliked the theology of Paul Tillich and although he disagreed with a lot of Karl Barth 's thinking, his relations with him were warm.
Following observations of a religious mission at Cambridge, he had an early dislike of evangelists and mass rallies, which he feared relied too much on emotion. This led him to be critical of Billy Graham , although the two later became friends and Ramsey even took to the stage at a Graham rally in Rio de Janeiro . One of his later books, The Charismatic Christ (1973), engaged with the charismatic movement . Ramsey believed there was no decisive theological argument against women priests, although he was not entirely comfortable with this development. The first women priests in the Anglican Communion were ordained during his time as Archbishop of Canterbury and in retirement he received communion from a woman priest in the United States.[ citation needed ]
Ecumenical activities
Ramsey was active in the ecumenical movement, and while Archbishop of Canterbury in 1966 he met Pope Paul VI in Rome, where the Pope presented him with the episcopal (bishop's) ring he had worn as Archbishop of Milan . [2] These warm relations with Rome caused him to be dogged by protests by Protestants, particularly Ian Paisley . Ramsey also enjoyed friendship with the orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople , Athenagoras , and Alexius , Patriarch of Moscow . His willingness to talk to officially-sanctioned churches in the Eastern Bloc led to criticisms from Richard Wurmbrand . He also supported efforts to unite the Church of England with the Methodist Church , and was depressed when the plans fell through.
Politics
Ramsey disliked the power of the government over the church. His support for liberalising the laws against homosexuality brought him enemies in the House of Lords . Ramsey also created controversy over his call for military action against the Ian Smith regime in Rhodesia , and in his opposition to the Vietnam War .
He opposed curbs on immigration to the UK of Kenyan Asians, which he saw as a betrayal by Britain of a promise. He was also against apartheid , and he left an account of a very frosty encounter with John Vorster . He was also a critic of Augusto Pinochet . Ramsey also opposed the granting of aid money by the World Council of Churches to guerrilla groups.
Retirement and legacy
After retiring as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1974 he was created a life peer , as Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, of Canterbury in Kent, enabling him to remain in the House of Lords where he had previously sat as one of the Lords Spiritual . He went to live first at Cuddesdon, where he did not settle particularly well, then for a number of years in Durham, where he was regularly seen in the cathedral and talking to students. But the hills were rather steep for him and he and Lady Ramsey accepted the offer of a flat at Bishopthorpe in York by his successor John Habgood. They stayed there just over a year, moving finally to St John's Home, attached to the All Saints' sisters in Cowley, Oxford, where he died in April 1988.
During his retirement, he also spent several terms at Nashotah House , an Anglo-Catholic seminary of the Episcopal Church in Wisconsin where he was much beloved by students. A first-floor flat was designated "Lambeth West" for his personal use. A stained-glass window in the Chapel bears his image and the same inscription as is on his grave marker. The window also includes a miniature image of the Bishop and his beloved Joan (placed in the chapel by the class of 1976 who were among his first students at Nashotah).
Michael Ramsey's funeral was held in Canterbury Cathedral. He was cremated and his ashes buried in the cloisters, not far from the grave of William Temple . On the memorial stone are inscribed words from St Irenaeus : "The Glory of God is the living man; And the life of man is the vision of God."
Michael Ramsey's name has been given to Ramsey House, a residence of St Chad's College , University of Durham . He was a Fellow and Governor of the college (resident for a period) and he regularly worshipped and presided at the college's daily Eucharist. A building is also named after him at Canterbury Christ Church University . A house at Tenison's School is named in his honour. He also gave his name to the former Archbishop Michael Ramsey Technology College (from September 2007 St Michael and All Angels Church of England Academy) in Farmers' Road, Camberwell , South East London. [3]
Michael Ramsey had no children.
Items found in River Wear
In October 2009 it was reported by Maev Kennedy that two divers had found a number of gold and silver items in the River Wear in Durham City which were subsequently discovered to have come from Ramsey's personal collection, including items presented to him from dignitaries around the world while he was Archbishop of Canterbury. It is unclear how they came to be in the river. The divers were licensed by the dean and chapter of the cathedral as the owners of the land around the stretch of the river where the items were found. The current legal ownership of the items is yet to be determined. Even before the discovery of the items, the cathedral were planning an exhibition relating to Ramsey's life in 2010 and a new stained glass window dedicated to him [4] by artist Tom Denny
The two amateur divers, brothers Gary and Trevor Bankhead, found a total of 32 religious artefacts in the River Wear in Durham City during a full underwater survey of the area around Prebends Bridge . The underwater survey commenced in April 2007 and took two and half years to complete. The finds were individually handed over to the resident archaeologist from Durham Cathedral to formally record as and when they were found.
References
| Archbishop of York |
Of which football club was Sammy McIlroy Caretaker Manager, then Manager from 2005 until this year? | Charles Thomas Longley : Wikis (The Full Wiki)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Thomas Longley
Charles Thomas Longley (28 July 1794 – 27 October 1868 [1] ), was a priest in the Church of England . He served as Bishop of Ripon , Bishop of Durham , Archbishop of York , and later as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1862 until his death.
Contents
4 References
Life
He was born at Rochester , the fifth son of the late John Longley, Recorder of Rochester, [2] and educated at Westminster School and the University of Oxford . He was ordained in 1818, and was appointed vicar of Cowley, Oxford , in 1823. In 1827, he received the rectory of West Tytherley, Hampshire , and two years later he was elected headmaster of Harrow School . He held this office until 1836, when he was consecrated bishop of the new see of Ripon . In 1856 he became Bishop of Durham , and in 1860 he became Archbishop of York .
In 1862, he succeeded John Bird Sumner as Archbishop of Canterbury. Soon afterwards the questions connected with the deposition of Bishop John William Colenso were referred to Longley, but, while regarding Colenso's opinions as heretical and his deposition as justifiable, he refused to pronounce upon the legal difficulties of the case.
The chief event of his primacy was the meeting at Lambeth , in 1867, of the first Pan-Anglican conference of British, colonial and foreign bishops . His published works included numerous sermons and addresses. He died at Addington Park , near Croydon .
Family
As Headmaster of Harrow School, he married 15 December 1831 Caroline Sophia Parnell, whose brother Hon and Rev George Damer Parnell MA was the curate of Ash 1859-1861. Miss Parnell was the daughter of Sir Henry Brooke Parnell 4th Baronet , cr. (1841) first Baron Congleton by his wife Lady Caroline Elizabeth Dawson, the eldest daughter of John, first Earl of Portalington. [3] They had several children, three sons and three daughters [4] , of whom
1. Sir Henry Longley, KCB (28 November 1833 - 25 December 1899), served as Chief Charity Commissioner for the British government [5] . He married 17 September 1861 Diana Eliza Davenport (fl. 1905), daughter of John Davenport of Foxley, Herefordshire. [6] 1.1. John Augustine Longley, served as assistant private secretary to the Lord Privy Seal and married 26 May 1898 Lady Louisa Katherine Scott, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Eldon . There was no issue listed for the marriage, nor a birthdate for John Augustine Longley.
Two younger sons died apparently unmarried.
4. Mary Henrietta Longley married 9 December 1858 the Hon. Rev. George Winfield Bourke (d. 9 October 1903), Honorary Chaplain to the Monarch, and son of Robert Bourke, 5th Earl of Mayo . Their only child Walter Longley Bourke (b. 28 November 1859; d. 1939) became the 8th Earl of Mayo ); from 1891 to 1903, he was a Trustee of the Bridgewater Estates. He had married in 1887, and had issue, four sons and two daughters, by 1905. [7]
A photograph of Charles Thomas Longley by Charles Dodgson ( Lewis Carroll ).
. The second son Ulick Henry Bourke (1890-1962) became 9th Earl of Mayo, and third son Hon Bryan Longley Bourke (1897-?) was father of the 10th Earl of Mayo (1929-2006), father of the present Earl.
5. Caroline Georgina Longley (d. 30 October 1867) married 6 November 1862 [8] (as his 1st wife) Major Edward Levett (18 December 1832 - 28 December 1899), 10th Royal Hussars , of Wychnor Park and Packington Hall , Staffordshire , third son of John Levett and his wife Sophia Kennedy, granddaughter of Archibald Kennedy, 11th Earl of Cassilis . They had issue 2 daughters, both of whom married and had issue [9]
6. Rosamond Esther Harriett Longley (d. 1936) married 1870 Hon. Cecil Thomas Parker (1845-1931), 2nd son of the 6th Earl of Macclesfield by his 2nd wife Lady Mary Frances Grosvenor, a sister of the 1st Duke of Westminster , and had issue 4 sons and 2 daus. Their elder daughter Caroline Beatrix Parker, later Viscountess Bridgeman DBE (1875-1861) married 1895 William Clive Bridgeman, who became The Rt. Hon. 1st Viscount Bridgeman , of Leigh, Shropshire in 1929, PC (1864- 1935), only child of Rev. Hon. John Orlando Bridgeman, Rector of Weston-under-Lizard (himself 3rd and youngest son of George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl of Bradford ) by his wife Marianne Caroline Clive, daughter of Ven. William Clive, and left issue, including the present Viscount. [10] . The fourth and youngest son Wilfred Parker (1883-1966) became the Rt.Rev. Hon. Bishop of Pretoria , South Africa. A granddaughter (by the 3rd son Geoffrey) Isolda Rosamond Parker(1918-?) married 1940 David Bertram Pollock, 2nd Viscount Hanworth (1916-1996) and is mother of the present peer. [11]
Notes
| i don't know |
Which play began life as the radio play 'Three Blind Mice' broadcast in 1947? | The Mousetrap | Agatha Christie Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Share
The cover of the original programme. Note that it doesn't actually include the play's title.
The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie . The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show (of any type) of the modern era. The play is also known for its twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre.
Contents
[ show ]
History
The play began life as a short radio play broadcast on 30 May 1947 called Three Blind Mice in honour of Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. The play had its origins in the real-life case of the death of a boy, Dennis O'Neill, who died while in the foster care of a Shropshire farmer and his wife in 1945.
The play is based on a short story, itself based on the radio play, but Christie asked that the story not be published as long as it ran as a play in the West End of London. The short story has still not been published within the United Kingdom but it has appeared in the United States in the 1950 collection Three Blind Mice and Other Stories .
When she wrote the play, Christie gave the rights to her grandson Mathew Pritchard as a birthday present. Outside of the West End, only one version of the play can be performed annually and under the contract terms of the play, no film adaptation can be produced until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.
The play had to be renamed at the insistence of Emile Littler who had produced a play called Three Blind Mice in the West End before the Second World War. The suggestion to call it The Mousetrap came from Christie's son-in-law, Anthony Hicks. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet, "The Mousetrap" is Hamlet's answer to Claudius's inquiry about the name of the play whose prologue and first scene the court has just observed (III, ii). The play is actually The Murder of Gonzago, but Hamlet answers metaphorically, since "the play's the thing" in which he intends to "catch the conscience of the king."
The play's longevity has ensured its popularity with tourists from around the world, and in 1997, with producer Stephen Waley-Cohen, it helped spawn a theatrical education charity, Mousetrap Theatre Projects, which helps young people experience London's theatre.
Tom Stoppard's play The Real Inspector Hound parodies many elements of The Mousetrap, including the surprise ending.
Theatrical performances
Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sims starred in the original production
As a stage play, The Mousetrap had its world premiere at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham on 6 October 1952. It was originally directed by Peter Cotes, elder brother of John and Roy Boulting, the film directors. Its pre-West End tour then took it to the New Theatre Oxford, the Manchester Opera House, the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, the Grand Theatre Leeds and the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham before it began its run in London on 25 November 1952 at the New Ambassadors Theatre . It ran at this theatre until Saturday, 23 March 1974 when it immediately transferred to the St Martin's Theatre, next door, where it reopened on Monday, 25 March thus keeping its "initial run" status. As of 13 October 2014 it has clocked up a record-breaking 25,000 performances, with the play still running at St Martin's Theatre . The director of the play for many years has been David Turner. Christie herself did not expect The Mousetrap to run for such a long time. In her autobiography, she reports a conversation that she had with Peter Saunders: "Fourteen months I am going to give it", says Saunders. To which Christie replies, "It won't run that long. Eight months perhaps. Yes, I think eight months." When it broke the record for the longest run of a play in the West End in September 1957, Christie received a mildly grudging telegram from fellow playwright Noël Coward: "Much as it pains me I really must congratulate you ..." In 2011 (by which time The Mousetrap had been running for almost 59 years) this long-lost document was found by a Cotswold furniture maker who was renovating a bureau purchased by a client from the Christie estate.
The original company
The original West End cast included Richard Attenborough as Detective Sergeant Trotter and his wife Sheila Sim as Mollie Ralston. They took a 10% profit-participation in the production, which was paid for out of their combined weekly salary ("It proved to be the wisest business decision I've ever made... but foolishly I sold some of my share to open a short-lived Mayfair restaurant called 'The Little Elephant' and later still, disposed of the remainder in order to keep Gandhi afloat.")
Since the retirement of Mysie Monte and David Raven, who each made history by remaining in the cast for more than 11 years, in their roles as Mrs Boyle and Major Metcalf, the cast has been changed annually. The change usually occurs around late November around the anniversary of the play's opening, and was the initiative of Sir Peter Saunders, the original producer. There is a tradition of the retiring leading lady and the new leading lady cutting a "Mousetrap cake" together.
The play has also made theatrical history by having an original "cast member" survive all the cast changes since its opening night. The late Deryck Guyler can still be heard, via a recording, reading the radio news bulletin in the play to this present day. The set has been changed in 1965 and 1999, but one prop survives from the original opening – the clock which sits on the mantelpiece of the fire in the main hall. Notable milestones in the play's history include:
22 April 1955 – 1,000th performance
13 September 1957 – Longest-ever run of a "straight" play in the West End
12 April 1958 – Longest-ever run of a show in the West End with 2239 performances (the previous holder was Chu Chin Chow)
9 December 1964 – 5,000th performance
17 December 1976 – 10,000th performance
16 December 2000 – 20,000th performance
25 November 2002 – 50th anniversary; a special performance was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
18 November 2012 – 25,000th performance
In May 2001 (during the London production's 49th year, and to mark the 25th anniversary of Christie's death) the cast gave a semi-staged Sunday performance at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea as a guest contribution to the Agatha Christie Theatre Festival 2001, a twelve-week history-making cycle of all of Agatha Christie's plays presented by Roy Marsden's New Palace Theatre Company.
A staging at the Toronto Truck Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, that opened on 19 August 1
Back Row: Harry Lloyd, Iain Glen, Hugh Bonneville Middle: Nicholas Farrell, Miranda Hart, Patrick Stewart Front: Tansin Grieg, Julie Walters. Cast of the 60th birthday performance of The Mousetrap
977 became Canada's longest running show, before finally closing on 18 January 2004 after a run of twenty-six years and over 9,000 performances.
On 18th November 2012, both the 25,000th performance and the 60th year of the production were marked by a special, charity performance that featured Hugh Bonneville, Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters and Miranda Hart. The money raised by the performance went towards Mousetrap Theatre Projects.
Characters
| The Mousetrap |
In which county is Holkham Hall? | Mousetrap - Visit Oxnard
Mousetrap
Open Meeting Closed »
Take one country hotel run by a newly-married couple, add several guests and one mysterious intruder seeking shelter, a snowstorm that cuts them off from the outside world, throw in a couple of dead bodies….and the scene is set for the perfect murder mystery, written by the world’s most famous mystery writer, Agatha Christie.
The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has by far the longest initial run of any play in history. The play began life as a short radio play broadcast on 30 May 1947 called Three Blind Mice. Directed by John Eslick, the cast includes many local veterans of Ventura County’s stages as well as some new faces. German actor Alexander Schottky plays Sergeant Trotter (the role originally played by Richard Attenborough in London’s premiere production). Alexander’s iinternational resume includes stage, screen and television, starring as Dr. Thomas Pfund for 9 seasons in the multiple award-winning German network comedy Nikola. Also starring are Brittany Danyel Fletcher, Petey Vandehei, Jennifer J. Brown, Eric McGowan, Hanna Mitchell, Andy Brasted, and Ken Jones. One of them is a murderer. But whom? And why? Each guest has his or her secrets they would rather not reveal. To identify the murderer, the policeman probes the backgrounds of everyone, thus rattling a few skeletons.
Produced by Vivien Latham, "The Mousetrap" is guaranteed to delight fans of murder mysteries and Anglophiles alike.
Performance tickets are $18.00 for adults and $15.00 for students, seniors, and military. The Elite Theatre is located in the Channel Island’s Fisherman’s Wharf at 2731 S. Victoria Ave., Oxnard CA 93035. For more info please visit http://www.elitetheatre.org/ or call 805.483.5118.
For interviews or to receive press tickets, please contact producer Vivien Latham at [email protected].
| i don't know |
Which children's character lives in 'Bikini Bottom'? | SpongeBob SquarePants: Live From Bikini Bottom Funny Game
Game Art
Game Description
Live from Bikini Bottom it's SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles, Eugene H. Krabs Sandy Cheeks! In our fun online mini game SpongeBob SquarePants: Live From Bikini Bottom, you get an all access pass to the lives of some of your favorite SpongeBob SquarePants characters. In this addicting game, the characters have ventured to the surface and landed on a small deserted island with nobody but each other and you. Click on the characters and watch what happens! Can you complete the checklist of fun things to do? Drop coconuts on unsuspecting victims, start earthquakes that shake the entire screen, launch characters into the sun, and many other fun activities! The more you explore, the more awesome hidden secrets you find! Check out SpongeBob SquarePants: Live From Bikini Bottom and many other free online funny games at Nick.com.
How to Play:
| SpongeBob SquarePants |
Which children's character lives in 'Pontypandy'? | Spongebob Coloring Pages | Coloring Kids
Home » Cartoon » Spongebob Coloring Pages
Spongebob Coloring Pages
Sponsored Link
Kids love Spongebob Coloring Pages and so do we! That is exactly why we got some cool SpongeBob pages for you to download and print for the kids at home. It's ganna be exciting to fill color to the world of SpongeBob, a bit something different than what it is right now.
Spongebob Coloring Pages World
SpongeBob SquarePants
This sea sponge is the main character of the show. He lives in a pine apple under the sea. He works at Krusty Krab, one of the most popular restaurants of Bikini Bottom. I am not really sure about his skills as a frycook though. He has a pet snail at home named Gary. You will explore more about him through our SpongeBob Coloring Pages .
Squidward Tentacles
This is a squid that stays close by SpongeBob. Never in harmony with neighbour Squidward frowns at him at every given opportunity. And as fate would have it both these not so comfortable characters end up working for the same boss at the best restaurant in Bikini Bottom.
I am looking at preparing some printable pages for Squidward that your kids can use to have some coloring fun.
Patrick Star
This idiotic starfish is a good friend of SpongeBob and stays close to SpongeBob and Squidward. You might bump into it while searching for coloring pages here.
How to Use the SpongeBob Coloring Pages
The coloring pages found in this section need to be downloaded to your own system before you can print them to use. Select a coloring page that you like, then right click on that image and click on save as button. Then save the coloring page to your desktop.
That's it; you have successfully downloaded the printable SpongeBob Coloring Pages. Now check on your desktop for the downloaded file. This will be a image file. Open the SpongeBob Coloring Pages file and print it in your home printer.
Related Post
| i don't know |
In which county is Knebworth House? | Knebworth House :: Historic Houses Association
www.knebworthhouse.com
Set in 250 acres of rolling Hertfordshire countryside, Knebworth House is one of England's most colourful stately homes. It is remarkable for having been in the same family - the Lyttons - for more than 500 years and for its romantic exterior complete with turrets, domes and gargoyles, which conceals a red brick house dating from Tudor times.
Knebworth achieved fame in Victorian times as the home of the novelist, playwright and politician Edward Bulwer Lytton. Other notable family members included Constance Lytton, the Suffragette and her father, Robert Lytton, the Viceroy of India who proclaimed Queen Victoria Empress of India at the Great Delhi Durbar of 1877. Visited by Queen Elizabeth I, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill and many more.
This property offers free access to HHA Friends and Members during normal opening hours - please check opening times.
On selected event days, HHA members have free access to Knebworth House, but will still need to purchase Park/Event admission on arrival. Please note that Knebworth special events, theatricals, concerts and courses are excluded from the scheme.
New Treasure Hunt Apps
Make the most of your visit to Knebworth and enjoy the new FREE Treasure Hunt apps. The two apps are free to download. There are simple and cryptic clues to choose from on each trail:
In the Knebworth House and Gardens app, you can learn about the gryphons and the gothic architecture of the House, and explore the historical features of the Gardens. Then try the Dinosaur Trail app to find out fascinating facts about the dinosaurs.
See the Visiting Page of the Knebworth House website to download: http://www.knebworthhouse.com/visiting
Location
Off A1(M)/J7 (Stevenage South A602).
Visitor Opening Times
2017: Daily: 1–17 Apr, 27 May–4 Jun, 1 Jul–3 Sep. Weekends & BHs: 25-26 Mar, 22 Apr–21 May, 10–25 Jun, 9–24 Sept. House & British Raj Exhibition: 12 noon–5 pm (last entry 4pm). Park, Playground & Gardens: 11am–5pm (last entry 4.15pm). NB: No free entry to the Park or Gardens on special event days. Please check website for current opening days and times.
Please note that these opening times are correct to the best of the HHA’s knowledge, as advised by the property. Opening times may change and a property may very occasionally need to close at short notice. We therefore recommend you check with the property before your visit, by phone or on the property’s website, especially if your journey is likely to be a long one.
Family Friendly Facilities
Adventure playground and dinosaur trail - see property website for details.
Children under 3 years of age are admitted free of charge.
Film Locations
Knebworth House prides itself on being especially film friendly, having worked with film and television crews for over 40 years. The unique gothic features of Knebworth House are a favourite with film makers and the private Estate; which includes an extensive deer park, formal gardens and woodland offer a number of locations for productions. Knebworth is ideally situated just 29 miles from London with direct access to the A1M at Stevenage and close to production facilities at Pinewood, Leavesden and Elstree studios.
Knebworth’s diverse filming history includes major movies such as The Kings Speech, Nanny McPhee, Possession, Eyes Wide Shut and Batman the Movie. TV productions include dramas such as Miss Marple, Poirot, Midsomer Murders, Foyles War, Lovejoy and Jonathan Creek. Knebworth is a popular location for general interest productions such as The Hour, East Enders, Great British Railway Journeys, Food Glorious Food and Antiques Roadshow. See our website for a list of locations that the Estate has to offer.
Contact Mia Herbert, House Operations Manager, on 01438 810934 or [email protected] for more information.
Educational Facilities
Knebworth House has an extensive educational programme. School children are invited to step through the Time Portal and trek back to the Tudor and Victorian Lyttons, visit the dinosaur trail, hear about the ghosts and enjoy the Lutyens gardens, adventure playground, licensed tea room and gift shop. Free resources and pre-visit for teachers.
Gained a second ‘Sandford Award’ for excellence in Heritage Education
Groups and special visits
During our Season opening hours (March to September), pre-booked groups benefit from our discounted rates and can enjoy a house tour which can highlight specific themes from the House’s history or a gardens tour.
Tailor Made Facilities
| Hertfordshire |
Of which football club has John Coleman been Manager since 1999 when they were a non-league club? | Knebworth House: Where Winston Churchill got friend-zoned – Plane Emoji
November 11, 2015
Knebworth House: Where Winston Churchill got friend-zoned
I’ve lived in Hertfordshire for most of my life, and it is a damn fine county. Just outside of London and a perfect mixture of town and country. I mean it’s got to be good, Posh and Becks used to live here? Despite my love for my home county, I had never actually visited the biggest attraction nearby – Knebworth House.
You may have heard of Knebworth House as the venue of various concerts and festivals (the Rolling Stones, Queen, Status Quo, Oasis), but weirdly the most famous one was probably Robbie Williams’ concert in 2003. Aside from music, the house and its grounds have also welcomed film crews for movies such as The Kings Speech, Nanny McPhee and St Trinians.
The grounds of Knebworth House
Beautiful plants and wildlife
A ticket to the grounds and the house costs £12.50 for an adult. We started off by walking around the grounds and checking out the maze (many Harry Potter references were made) and the weird carvings that were around every corner. Some were very cool, especially this tribute to the 4 muses stretching from the trunk of a tree.
The Four Muses
We then found ourselves in the dinosaur trail. I have no idea why this exists, but it aims to educate those passing through about evolution and palaeontology, using a serious of large cartoon-ish dinosaur models. While not to Natural History Museum standards, it’s still quite impressive and does offer facts and other fun stuff (some of which is not guaranteed to be paleontologically accurate).
Casual dinosaur
After a spot of afternoon tea in the onsite café, we decided to go and have a look around the focal point of the grounds – the house.
Classic cream tea
You can only have a look around the house as part of a guided tour, which leaves every half an hour. This annoyed us slightly at the time, but in hindsight it made sense – the Lytton family still live in part of the house and I’m sure they don’t want random strangers rifling through their drawers and lying in their beds. The tour also allowed us to learn a hell of a lot about the Lytton family’s history, from their Tudor beginnings to today.
Entrance
As the house has passed hands so many times through the family tree, each owner has tried to add their own spin on things. The house started as four wings, which were demolished leaving just one. Today, the house encompasses a range of styles from Tudor to Victorian, Italian to Gothic, showing the constant rebirth of the property while still valuing its roots and former owners.
Knebworth House
However, the most interesting figure in the house’s history seems to be the eccentric Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who is also known for his work as an author. Edward was married to Rosina; a tumultuous relationship which caused such scandal that it landed Rosina in a lunatic asylum for a short spell. Edward was obsessed with Pompeii (writing a bestselling book about it) and was a fan of the occult. He owned accoutrements such as crystal balls and even had an in house medium living with him for some time!
Our guide told us about the family’s connections with the following:
Henry VII – the first Lord Lytton was given appointment to the Royal Court after helping Henry VII come to the throne.
Elizabeth I – the Queen had been a guest of Knebworth House for 4 days and now has a room dedicated to her, which has been stayed in by Oasis and Colin Firth.
Charles Dickens and Lord Byron – friends of Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Edward was said to have influenced the ending of Great Expectations.
Bovril – the name of this weird beefy paste is apparently a combination of ‘bovine’ and ‘vril’, a substance named in one of Edward’s novels which is supposed to give you special powers.
Winston Churchill – he had apparently been in pursuit of a famous beauty called Pamela, who had then friend-zoned him and married Victor Lytton. Churchill was majorly thirsty though and continued to write letters to Pamela, visit her and send her terrible paintings.
The tour lasted for an hour and I certainly felt that I was leaving with a great overall view of the history of both the house and the family.
We were directed on to a small exhibition about the family’s involvement with the British Raj, as many of the former lords had been Viceroys of India. This contained lots of information and artefacts relating to colonial India but the best thing we saw was this photograph of Victor Bulwer-Lytton hanging with his homies #squadgoals. Although British rule in India was far from hilarious, I love the fact that the three Indian guys are throwing Victor such serious shade.
British Raj exhibition
“God we hate Victor”
It’s probably safe to say that tourists from say… America…won’t be rushing over to Knebworth House over Buckingham Palace but, if you’re in the area and want a nice day out, it’s a great place to come alone, with friends or with the family. The property has hosted people from the Virgin Queen to Noel Gallagher and has played a role in important events in English history. Who knows? Without Knebworth House, Great Expectations may have been EVEN MORE depressing.
Thanks for reading,
| i don't know |
Complete the name of the Church of England diocese; 'Bath and .....'? | Diocese of Bath and Wells
Diocese of Bath and Wells
Read more
Bishop Peter shares the new diocesan vision
In response to God’s immense love for us, we seek to be God’s people, living and telling the story of Jesus.
Engaging and encouraging our children and young people
Soul Survivor camp
Campaigning on global and local issues
Canon Jenny Humphreys attends the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Caring for the vulnerable in our communities
Supporting local people with dementia - the 'Forget-me-Not' cafe at the Angel, Langport.
Working to secure better financial futures for our communities
Personal banking returns to Peasedown with Credit Union Somerset Savings and Loans offering an alternative to high-interest payday loans.
| Wells |
Which instrument is played by classical musician Lang Lang? | Diocese of Bath and Wells - Wikishire
Diocese of Bath and Wells
From Wikishire
Diocese of Bath and Wells
Church of England
Bath and Wells
The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a Church of England diocese within the Province of Canterbury . The diocese covers Somerset , excluding the areas in the north of the county which form part of the Diocese of Bristol .
The bishop of the diocese is the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and his seat Wells Cathedral ("the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew" in the city of Wells .
Contents
History
Foundation
Before 909, Somerset lay within the Diocese of Sherborne, but in that year Athelm (later Archbishop of Canterbury ) was appointed the first bishop of the Diocese of Wells, making the secular church there into the diocesan cathedral. The secular canons at Wells vied with the monks of the monasteries at Glastonbury and Bath for supremacy in the diocese and it was with difficulty that the cathedral retained its status, so much so that the canons were reduced to begging in order to obtain their bread. It was to this impoverished cathedral church that the Bishop Gisa was appointed in 1060. Under him, grants of land were obtained successively from the kings Edward the Confessor, Harold and William the Conqueror and buildings were constructed for the secular community.
Gisa's successor, John de Villula (1088-1122), moved the see to become the Diocese of Bath in 1090, using the Abbey Church of Ss Peter and Paul as his cathedral and in so doing he regressed the position of the cathedral at Wells. Robert of Lewes, appointed bishop in 1136, enhanced the position of Wells. As well as rebuilding the cathedral he instituted the arrangement by which although Bath retained precedence, the seat was located in both churches and the bishop was elected by both chapters. However the diocesan title remained the same.
Bishop Reginald fitz Jocelin (1174-91) brought Saint Hugh of Lincoln to England and his successor, Savaric FitzGeldewin (1192-1205) forcibly annexed Glastonbury Abbey to the diocese in 1197. He moved his seat there and the see was renamed the Diocese of Glastonbury. The monks of Glastonbury, however, rejected Savaric's authority and the title Diocese of Bath and Glastonbury was therefore used for all practical purposes until his successor, Jocelin of Wells, a native of Wells itself, renounced the claim to Glastonbury in 1219. Thereupon he adopted the style Diocese of Bath. Although he did not use the name of Wells in his title, his contribution to the city was greater than any other bishop of the diocese: under his authority the cathedral was restored and enlarged, adding the west front, making this the visual signature of the building. Further, he increased the thirty-five canons to fifty and founded a grammar school for the city.
After Jocelin's death in 1242, the monks at Bath unilaterally elected one of their number, Roger, as successor, in disregard for the chapter of Wells. His appointment received confirmation from King Henry III, so the chapter at Wells appealed the decision to Rome, with the result that the Pope declared, on 3 January 1245, that whilst Roger should remain, he would be bishop of a see thenceforth styled the Diocese of Bath and Wells, the name by which the diocese has been known ever since.
Mediæval diocese of Bath and Wells
William of Bitton bishop from 1267-74 was renowned for his piety, and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage in Wells. The completion of the buildings was achieved under Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-63). Thomas Beckington (1443-65) was another noted liberal benefactor of the city.
Oliver King (1495-1503) rebuilt Bath Abbey in the late Perpendicular style. The work was begun in 1499 and completed in 1530 under Bishop John Clerk. The abbey was the last complete monastic edifice to be completed before the impending Reformation. He was succeeded by Adrian de Castello (1504-18) who was an absentee bishop, under whom the see was administered by Polydore Vergil the noted historian. Adrian's successor Cardinal Wolsey (1518-23) was also an absentee bishop, held the see concurrently with that of York.
From the Reformation
The abbey at Bath was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1538 during the Reformation. Thereafter the Church of England bishop, though retaining the old style, had his seat at Wells alone. William Barlow, was appointed in 1548. He fled in 1553 on the accession of Queen Mary I, and his successor was the Roman Catholic Gilbert Bourne (1554-59). Bourne was deprived and imprisoned in the Tower of London by Queen Elizabeth I, and died there in 1569.
Today the diocesan offices, the bishops' offices and residences and the cathedral are all located in Wells, but the title "Bath and Wells" remains unchanged. [1]
Diocesan structure
The Diocese is split into three archdeaconries: Bath, Taunton and Wells. These in turn are split into 18 deaneries:
Axbridge
| i don't know |
Which country is identified by the name 'Lietuva' on its stamps? | International Postage Meter Stamp Catalog/Lithuania - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
International Postage Meter Stamp Catalog/Lithuania
From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Lithuania[ edit ]
Lithuania was an independent country until the German and Soviet Union occupations which began in 1941. No meter stamps distinctly identified to the German occupation are known. From 1941 until Lithuania regained its independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, meter stamps of the Soviet Union (USSR) were used.
All stamps are inscribed “LIETUVA” or “LIETUVOS” or are without country inscription but have a Lithuanian town mark or other identifying feature.
The stamps are grouped according to political period:
A - Period of independence, 1933 to early in World War Two
B - Period of Soviet Union occupation, 1940 – 1991
C - Period of independence, 1991 to present
GROUP A: Period of independence, 1933 to World War Two[ edit ]
Sub-group AA: Horizontal rectangle with rounded corners[ edit ]
AA1. Francotyp “B” (MV), 1933.
[$75]
“CENT.” At bottom of frank.
Distance between centers of date and value figures 74-76 mm.
Date figures with stops after D and M.
One machine only.
As Type AA1 but slightly wider, 77-79 mm between centers of date and value figures.
Date figures without stops.
As Type AA2 but with “CT” at bottom.
With or without 4-digit S# high between TM and frank.
TM: SC
000
◆000
a. Entire stamp include TM and slogan is enclosed in a greater outer border with simulated perforations.
[$100]
Narrow spacing between TM and frank.
“CENT” at bottom of frank.
One machine only.
Sub-group AB: Upright rectangle with simulated-perforation border[ edit ]
AB1. Neopost (LV-6), 1934.
With “CENT” below value figures.
Meter number with “N” prefix.
TM: SC
5, 15, 30, 50, 60 CENT, 1 litas
NOTE: Examples with “CT” below value figures are essays.
GROUP B: Period of Soviet Union occupation, 1940 – 1991[ edit ]
B1. Francotyp “B” (MV).
[$100]
As USSR Type C1 with hammer & sickle logos at sides of value figures.
The USSR stamp has a small “K” under the hammer & sickles. The Lithuania stamp does not.
TM: SC
V/F:
000
NOTE: Type B1 is the only Soviet era meter stamp design that was used only in Lithuania. Many other meter stamps were used here during the Soviet occupation, but they are identical to stamps used in the rest of the USSR and can be identified only by a Lithuanian town name.
GROUP C: Issues since independence in 1991[ edit ]
Normally printed in black but purple and brown are known.
Sub-group CA: Provisional issues without country identification[ edit ]
CA1. Perm (MV).
| Lithuania |
Which country is identified by the name 'Hrvatska' on its stamps? | Lithuania travel guide - Wikitravel
Understand[ edit ]
Honour Guard dressed in 11th century armour in front of President's Palace in Vilnius
Lithuania has been an active member of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 29 March in that same year.
Lithuania is the only Baltic country with more than eight hundred years of statehood tradition and its name was first mentioned one thousand years ago, in 1009. Wedged at the dividing line of Western and Eastern civilizations, Lithuania battled dramatically for its independence and survival. Once in the Middle Ages (15th century), Lithuania was the largest state in the entire continent of Europe, where crafts and overseas trade prospered.
In 1579, Vilnius University, an important scientific and education centre of the European scale, was opened. In the 16th century, Lithuania adopted its First, Second and Third Statutes. The Statutes were not only the backbone of the legislative system, they also had a major impact on the legislation of other European states of the time. Despite losing its independence, Lithuania managed to retain its Third Statute in force for as many as 250 years, which was instrumental in the preservation of national and civic self-awareness. The Constitution of Poland-Lithuania together with the French Constitution, both adopted in 1791, were the first constitutions in Europe (The Polish-Lithuanian constitution was adopted a few months earlier than the French).
Terrain[ edit ]
Lowland, many scattered small lakes, fertile soil. The fertile central plains are separated by hilly uplands that are ancient glacial deposits. 30% is covered in forest. The highest point is Aukštojas Hill at only 294m (967 ft), about 24km southeast of Vilnius and lying just off the main highway to Minsk and within sight of the Belarus borders.
History[ edit ]
Medininkai Castle: the upper construction of the walls was wooden and it was badly damaged by a major fire in the late 15th century.
Lithuania, first formed in the middle of the 13th century, was a huge feudal country stretching from the Baltic to the Black sea in the middle ages and in 1569 entered into a union with Poland to form a commonwealth.
Lithuania was part of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth until the Polish Partitions in the 18th century when it became part of the Russian Empire.
Independence[ edit ]
Modern Lithuania gained its independence from Russia in 1918 following World War I and the dissolution of the Czarist monarchy. However, in 1940 Lithuania was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare its independence, but this proclamation was not generally recognized until September 1991, following the abortive coup in Moscow. The Soviet Union recognized Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. A constitution was adopted on 25 October 1992. The last Russian troops withdrew in 1993. Lithuania subsequently has restructured its economy for integration into Western European institutions.
National Holidays[ edit ]
There are State Holidays which all are days off by law, and there are red letter days which usually are regular weekdays honored or celebrated in different ways.
State Holidays[ edit ]
New Year's Day (1 Jan) — typically starts in the evening of previous day (the last day of a year) like a private party; then, closer to a midnight, people go to the street or square to "meet the New Year" in a crowd. Depending on whether the winter is cold or mild, celebration is either enthusiastic or rather formal. The rest of day is spent like a regular weekend.
Independence Day (16 Feb) - independence from Russian Empire in 1918 following World War I. Officially celebrated with all the ceremonies.
Restitution of Independence (11 Mar) - restoration of independence from the Soviet Union. Focus on national consciousness and both national and universal values emphasis. Usually various political and cultural debate are organized at various levels and broadcast live across the country. Some official ceremonies take place as well.
Easter (Sunday and Monday in March or April) — Catholic religious holiday.
International Labor Day (1 May) — political holiday, mostly spent like a regular weekend. Some minor political rallies usually are expected but they not always take place.
Mother's Day (1st Sunday of May) — main holiday when various events for families are organized and attended.
Father's Day (1st Sunday of June) — another holiday when various events for families are organized and attended.
Saint John's Day (Joninės) (24 Jun) - the most favorite national holiday, celebrated by all and everywhere. Despite its Christian name, celebrated mostly according to Pagan traditions (Midsummer's Day), thus often is called by its ancient name Rasos (Dew Time).
Statehood Day (6 Jul) - commemorates the coronation in 1253 of Mindaugas as the first and only King of Lithuania (later rulers of Lithuania were called Grand Dukes). Officially celebrated with all the ceremonies. Additionally, various events with the historical trend are organized and enthusiastically attended: reenactments, jousting, live archaeology events, various concerts. If weather is good there may be traffic jams on all highways closer to the coast.
Assumption Day (15 Aug) — superposed and virtually merged with the Pagan holiday called Žolinė (Flower Time). It is harvest time when medical herbs, flowers, vegetables and cereals used to be processed through the special rituals during Pagan times, and later they used to be sanctified in churches by Catholic priests. Various Christian and Pagan events are organized in tradicional locations.
All Saints' Day (1 Nov) — time to remember loved ones. Although it is a Christian holiday, traditionally it is perceived as an Eve of All Souls' Day and superposed with customs of ancestor veneration, often in Pagan manner. May be traffic jams everywhere near any cemetery.
Christmas Eve (24 Dec) — considered main holiday of a year. Celebrated at home, families and close friends exchange gifts; Pagan-style observances. Almost everything (business and offices) is closed.
Christmas (25, 26 Dec) — smooth continuation of the Christmas Eve. Almost everything (business and offices) is still closed. Religious people attend churches.
Red Letter Days[ edit ]
Day of Freedom Defenders (13 Jan) — commemoration of January Events in 1991.
Shrovetide (46 days before Easter, usually in February) - celebrated the closest weekend before the actual Shrovetide Tuesday, then the Tuesday is commemorated by eating pancakes.
(Saint) Valentine's Day (14 Feb) — a popular commercial holiday of romance and love. Most restaurants are crowded; advance reservations usually are required.
Saint Casimir's Day (4 Mar) — anniversary of the death of Saint Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania. Time for the biggest fairs all over country and especially in Vilnius. Central streets of city are closed for all kinds of transport, everything alloted for vendors.
Mourning and Hope Day (14 Jun) - for remembrance of whose who were exiled to Siberia by Soviet authorities. Remarks the anniversary of the first June deportation in 1941. Some official events and ceremonies usually take place.
Black Ribbon Day (23 Aug) - commemoration of the victims of totalitarian regimes. Political events and debates often are organized in a manner that attract public interest.
Balts Unity Day (22 Sep) - commemorates 22 Sep 1236 when the Samogitians and the Semigallians defeated the Knights Of Sword. Various events are organized, especially in Semigallia and eastern Samogitia. Most of events take place near and on the hill forts which are common places alloted for such kind of events all over the country.
Regions[ edit ]
Regional differences of Lithuanian culture reflect the complicated historical development of the country. Since the thirteenth century five ethnographic areas, or regions, have historically formed in the current territory of Lithuania:
Lithuania Minor
Sea-coast region.
These ethnographic regions even today differ by dialects, ways of life and behaviour styles, while until the turn of the last century there were pronounced differences in dress and homestead styles as well as village planning.
Lithuania is justly proud of its unfailing treasures of folklore: colourful clothing, meandering songs, an abundance of tales and stories, sonorous dialects and voluble language. This ethnographic heritage is nourished by ethnographic and folklore companies and barn theatres. Recent years have witnessed the revival of ethnographic crafts and culinary traditions. Folk craft fairs and live craft days are organized during many events and festivals.
Cities[ edit ]
Passenger train interior, there also are older type and compartment-type cars in the same train. Note another train outside: a double-decker EMU EJ575 which run exclusively Vilnius-Kaunas-Vilnius route; any other suburban routes are served by regular low-floor DMUs. The regular passenger trains (depicted interior) have steep stairs, disabled persons will need assistance, details on LitRail website .
Much of Lithuania's natural beauty is well preserved. The eastern part of the country Aukštaitija, is famous for lakes, hills and forests.
Vilnius — the capital of Lithuania. Cultural, educational, financial and political centre of the country. Known for its spectacular Old Town and its unique architecture.
Alytus — largest city of Dzūkija region, its centre and unofficial capital
Kaunas — second-largest city, former citadel of Russian Empire, temporary capital of Lithuania during the interwar period, point of intersection of all main roads
Klaipėda — third-largest city and a seaport, stopover point for cruise ships, famous for various summer events
Palanga — resort on a coast of the Baltic sea, the most popular spot for Lithuanians or tourists to visit in summer. City's population in summer grows from 10,000 to 600,000 in July and August
Panevėžys — largest city of Aukšatitija region, its centre and unofficial capital
Šiauliai — fourth-largest city situated between two main regions of the country
Telšiai — centre and unofficial capital of Žemaitija (Samogitia) region
Trakai — small town 28km away from capital. A former capital of the country with a residence of medieval rulers. Centre of the Historical National Park and resort area
Other destinations[ edit ]
Curonian Spit — unique peninsula in the Baltic sea with sand dunes, seaboard forest, white sanded beaches and old ethnographic villages. A UNESCO World Heritage Site
Hill of Crosses — site of religious significance, north of Šiauliai city
Jonava — city named after John, which makes St. John's Day, the biggest national holiday, really special. Quirky town with vintage industrial buildings and structures, and a modern factory away from the city itself
Kernavė — former (first known) Lithuanian capital on the bank of Neris river; now a well-preserved archaeological site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Kėdainiai — city in the centre of the country, has rather large old-town close to Nevėžis river. Famous for annual Cucumber Festival
Molėtai Lakeland — abundance of homesteads and mini-resorts scattered among more than 200 lakes of various size. Paradise for vacationists
National Parks — each region has its own national park which protects and represents most valuable environment. Free and open all year round
Purnuškės — small village 26km north of Vilnius where according to measures of Institut géographique national is the geographical centre of Europe
Žemaičių Kalvarija — famous pilgrimage site in Samogitia region
Non-Schengen sector at Vilnius airport
Lithuania is a member of the Schengen Agreement .
There are no border controls between countries that have signed and implemented this treaty - the European Union (except Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Likewise, a visa granted for any Schengen member is valid in all other countries that have signed and implemented the treaty. But be careful: not all EU members have signed the Schengen treaty, and not all Schengen members are part of the European Union. This means that there may be spot customs checks but no immigration checks (travelling within Schengen but to/from a non-EU country) or you may have to clear immigration but not customs (travelling within the EU but to/from a non-Schengen country).
Please see the article Travel in the Schengen Zone for more information about how the scheme works and what entry requirements are.
By plane[ edit ]
Most airlines arrive at the main Vilnius International Airport and some at the smaller, seaside Palanga Airport , while budget carriers such as Ryanair land in Kaunas International Airport . Kaunas airport also has a direct link with Riga by AirBaltic.
For destinations in Northern Lithuania, Riga Airport is an attractive option.
There are train connections to Vilnius from Minsk , Moscow and Kaliningrad .
There are weekend trains from Kaunas to Białystok that are also connected with trains to Vilnius and Warsaw .
Via Baltica passing Kaunas' suburbs
By car[ edit ]
Major " Via Baltica " road links Kaunas to Warsaw and Riga / Tallinn . The Baltic road, which links Vilnius to Tallinn, was just reconstructed. It is a very easy and pleasant route. Overall, the major roads between the cities are of decent quality. Be extremely cautious when getting off the main roads in rural areas, as some of them may contain pot holes and general blemishes which could damage a regular car if you go too fast. While driving between cities there are usually cafes and gas stations with bathrooms and snacks.
By train[ edit ]
Litrail has services to major cities in Lithuania as well as to some small towns and villages which are difficult to reach by other public transport (eg popular holiday/weekend destinations in Dzūkija and Aukštaitija National Parks, Neris Regional Park and, Kretinga town, a final stop for those who are travelling to Palanga seaside resort by train). Fares are low compared to Western Europe: Vilnius-Kaunas costs about €5.20, with Vilnius-Klaipėda at approximately €15.
Marijampolė railway station (built in 1924)
Many of the long distance trains have compartments which can accommodate six seated passengers or four sleeping passengers. The headrest can be lifted up to form a very comfortable bunk bed, which can be used while people are seated below. The seats themselves form the other pair of beds. As some journeys are quite long (about 5h in the case of Vilnius - Klaipėda ), it is common to see people sleeping on the upper bunks during daytime journeys as well.
Generally the railway network is not considered as an alternative to the road network as it does not exactly duplicates the roads. As a result some places are more convenient to reach by train, some other places by bus, even if the railway and the highway are not far apart. Examples of the destinations which are more convenient to reach by train: Ignalina, a main point where the trip to Aukštaitija National Park begins; Kaunas' eastern part around the dam where several recreation areas and tourist objects are situated (one have to get off at Palemonas suburb). This makes the question "which one is better, train or bus?" rather hard to answer because it depends on the specifics.
Narrow Gauge Railway in Anykščiai offers short trips to a near-by lake. In summer it runs on regular schedule, rest of the time tours must be booked in advance.
By thumb[ edit ]
Hitchhiking in Lithuania is generally good. Get to the outskirts of the city, but before cars speed up to the highway speeds. The middle letter on the older licence plates (with Lithuanian flag) of the three letter code usually corresponds with the city of registration (V for Vilnius, K for Kaunas, L for Klaipeda, etc.). Newer licence plates (with EU flag) are not bound to city of registration in any way.
By bus[ edit ]
Bus stop road signs for the three types of buses that provide passenger transport services between cities.
In Lithuania it is easy to move by buses and in practice, all the bigger even a little places can be reached with buses. The buses usually run more slowly than where a Western has got used due to if it is not a question of Ekspresas, the bus stops at every stop exactly. To be more precise, there are two types of bus lines (see below) and three types of the bus stops: "red" stops for "Ekspresas" buses (very few, the journey with "Ekspresas" is quick), "yellow" stops for the regular intercity buses, and the "blank" stops for suburban buses (very frequent, the journey is slow). The color is a color of a road sign for the bus stop. For example 40km the trip by suburban bus can last thus an hour. Some buses are old cars that have mainly been brought from the Nordic countries, some are new ones, it is not predictable which one you will get. Practically, when you travel the time is most important factor and the best decision is to take the closest bus which runs in the right direction.
There is usually its own bus company on every town (district centre) and more than one company in the largest towns. Just to name few, TOKS (long distance routes) and mini bus company Transrevis which will drive turns between Kaunas and Vilnius , are based in Vilnius ; KauTra (Kaunas Transport) additionally specializes in bicycle transfer service, though luggage compartments vary in size and not all types of bicycles always can fit in. Company offers the option to transport the bike to the agreed stop by the next bus with capacious compartment, informing you about the delivery by the short message to your cell phone. However, during the high season in summer popularity of this service is enormous, one should have that in mind if planning the trip by bicycle. Šiauliai company Busturas , in addition to the regular routes, offers the tours to and from Riga ( Latvia ) via Rundale which otherwise is inconvenient to visit from Lithuania. Klaipėda Bus Fleet (Klaipėdos autobusų parkas) is based in Klaipėda and serves mostly the routes in Western part of the country as well as some international routes. There are also several smaller intercity and suburban bus companies in all the cities mentioned above.
For students with Lithuanian student ID, bus companies grant 50% discount around the year with the exception of July and August. For students with ISIC (international student card), bus companies grant 50% discount.
The bulk of Lithuania's bus routes and turns have been listed in an address from which you also can reserve the tickets for certain routes. However, pay attention to the fact that the payment system supports only some of the Lithuanian banks for the present and the credit card at the moment does not suit.
The list above is only for the intercity buses, which generally is sufficient. There are two types of bus lines in Lithuania: intercity (tarpmiestiniai) buses and suburban (priemiestiniai) buses. This is reflected in the structure of the bigger bus stations, for example Vilnius bus station has two sections, a suburban "blue" one (blue color dominates in the timetables, destination plates on buses are written in blue) and a intercity "red" one (red colour dominates in the timetables, destination plates on buses are written in either blue or red). Thus, for example, "Trakai" direction has two platforms, a "red" one where intercity buses leave directly towards Trakai , and a "blue" one where suburban buses leave to Trakai but run different routes, zig-zagging from village to village and finally arrive to Trakai. Similarly, at the Trakai bus station there are two platforms for "Vilnius" direction: blue one and red one. It is important to know that the "red" (intercity) bus always is faster. At the same time, intercity bus does not stop everywhere, for example the bus stop near the Hill of Crosses is for suburban buses only, if you wait there you can see many buses passing by but they won't stop there, you have to wait for a "blue" (suburban) bus. Schedules for suburban buses usually are put up separately from the schedules for intercity buses.
For buses and trolley-buses on routes within towns and cities it is usual to buy the ticket from the driver. Recently the electronic ticketing has been introduced in major cities, but still the ticket can be obtained from the driver, though the types of tickets vary from town to town, for example in Vilnius you have to validate (stamp using one of the punches for paper tickets) the ticket obtained from the driver (thus you can buy several tickets and use them later), in other cities you get a one-ride ticket which already is valid for this particular ride. Inspectors periodically check tickets and will issue a fine if you cannot produce a correctly punched ticket or your electronic ticket is not valid. The bus is exited by the middle door and it is important to head for the door before the bus has stopped - it can be impossible to leave once people have started boarding; and if the driver sees that the bus stop outside is empty and nobody waits to leave the bus, the bus can skip the stop.
In addition to common buses run by municipality, many towns have private minibuses which usually operate express routes.
By taxi[ edit ]
Taxis run on a meter and can be booked by the phone numbers shown on the door of the taxi. Taxis are relatively cheap compared to western Europe. Some companies may not be as honest as others, common sense will keep you safe in this regard. It is common to ask about the approximate price to your destination in advance before boarding the taxi. If the answer does not satisfy you, you are not obliged to board this vehicle. Therefore, Lithuanians prefer to call the taxi by phone in order to know the price and the time of journey, and at the same time to be sure that the driver who will take them is aware of destination and the agreed price. However not all operators speak fluent English, nor drivers. On the other hand, people typically know more than one or two languages and know how to explain the relevant information without being fluent, this applies to drivers and passengers as only a minority of travellers from abroad are native English speakers.
Taxi can also be booked online. Be aware that some inaccuracies may occur as the infrastructure construction and renovation works are carried out in all largest cities, the works affect the traffic. Depending on your destination there may be a necessity to choose a longer way, compared to that which was calculated. If you suspect some dishonesty you must know all circumstances for sure before starting the dispute with company or driver, otherwise it is common that you will be simply ignored as unreliable customer.
Each company has different prices, but roughly expect to pay around 30-75 cents/km. All taxis have also a fixed boarding fee in addition, so one should have that in mind before reaching any final conclusions.
Taxi prices are highly dependent on fuel price which is constantly increasing recently, therefore all the figures above should be interpreted as approximate.
By bicycle[ edit ]
Bicycle path along the "Old Road" to Trakai.
Cycling in Lithuania is quite popular, however it depends on the exact location as in major cities pavements usually will have a bicycle pathways with numerous signs, although getting around by bicycle in rural areas might become a bit of a challenge. Two international EuroVelo cycling routes across the country, EuroVelo No 10 and EuroVelo No 11 , the former one equipped with quality signs and is of excellent quality, the latter one requires to have a map.
EuroVelo-10 leads along the coast from Curonian Spit in the south to Latvian border in the north. Keep in mind that only on several occasion you are able to see the sea from the bikepath: usually you have to do a short detour to the beach itself in order to see the water. The beach is sandy, the sand is very fine and often powdery that makes riding the bicycle rather difficult or impossible. There are no roads or paths on the beach, the coast itself is a natural value and under the State protection, there are various restrictions on the development of infrastructure. Therefore the beach all along the sea retains its natural, sometimes genuinely pristine characteristics and appearance. The bikepath is constructed slightly away from the sea, softly winds across the dunes and forests allowing to see the most interesting corners of the area.
EuroVelo-11 crosses eastern part of the country from south to north, with the capital city Vilnius in the middle. Southern end is at Lazdijai border crossing point (N54°9'25.88" E23°28'21.84"); after entering the country you soon have to make a sharp turn to the south (before the lake, N54°10'5.67" E23°28'39.13") and ride along the border down the unpaved border track. This one was a part of Soviet Union external border zone infrastructure, now not in use for its intended purposes. There is a possibility to make a shortcut using a recently recreated ancient connection between Berżniki (PL) and Kapčiamiestis (LT) villages, border crossing point at N54°2'46.49" E23°31'31.32" (road No 2505) in the middle of a large Dzukian forest . You soon cross the same border track and proceed to ride to Kapčiamiestis.
Northern end of EuroVelo-11 bikepath crosses Latvian border at N55°40'30.59" E26°34'59.98" just before Grivočka hamlet on Latvian side. Before the border the path is meaningfully winding across the pleasant environment among the lakes and hills and leads you through the town of Visaginas and village of Tilžė, both of unusual history, towards Latvian city Daugavpils .
Keep in mind, that although it is possible to get from Vilnius to, say, Riga , taking a road A2 which leads directly from Vilnius towards Riga, there hardly can be worse and more senseless decision as the road is designed specifically for cars across the flat and boring environment, away from any object that can distract the driver. It is equally true about all the other main roads.
When staying in the country it is more common and reasonable to get to the certain region or area and explore it in more detail, rather than cycling across from one end to another. In the latter case, the most of time would be spent on roads that are friendly for cars and not very healthy for cyclists; distances between the outdoor recreation areas are rather long and not too scenic, whilst recreation areas, in contrast, are quite diverse and often puzzling. This adds attractiveness to recreation areas, but requires more time and flexibility, also some basic knowledge about the place itself.
State Department of Tourism has issued a booklet for domestic needs with a description of 16 most attractive cycling routes all along the country. A downloadable English version of a booklet introduce you to them and also supply with the maps of all of them.
Essential tip: don't leave your bicycle outside without locking it in, unless you are riding outside the settlements. Within any city or a smallest village always lock your bicycle, even if you are going to the store for cigarettes, even if you know for sure that your bike will constantly be in a field of view.
More detailed information and help can be provided by the international bicycle project BaltiCCycle . It also can give you ideas about the other and more sophisticated routes in different regions of the country or within the cities that are not described in the booklet or elsewhere. Lithuanian version of this website, Veloland.Lt , can be investigated using online translator – what you need to find there is the detailed maps of the routes (you have to select the region first from a drop-down menu “Maršrutai”). Many of the routes are remote but, surprisingly, often accessible quite easily and are no less attractive than more popular ones. For example, this downloadable map describes a 35km/5h route in a very attractive area of Dzūkija forest: the starting/ending point is in Marcinkonys village which can be reached from Vilnius by train, the bikes can be brought with you or hired in advance at Marcinkonys itself.
Blizzard on the A1 road between Vilnius and Kaunas
Road Kaunas-Prienai in October
Lithuanian traffic moves on the right and, as with most of the world, all distances are posted in km.
Headlights are mandatory and must be kept on at all times when driving.
Wearing the seat-belt is mandatory for both driver and passengers.
A vehicle is required by law to stop at a zebra crossing, if there is a pedestrian who obviously is going to cross the street but still didn't step from a sidewalk.
The alcohol limit is up to 0.4‰ for the drivers who have at least 2 years of driving experience of category B vehicle; 0.0‰ for others.
The road network in Lithuania is fairly good, especially the motorways. The quality of road surface on minor roads can vary. The improvement work hampers traffic in many places. The Via Baltica road goes through Lithuania from south ( Poland ) to north ( Latvia ). Another important roads are the A1 (Vilnius-Klaipėda) and the A2 (Vilnius-Panevėžys).
The A2 (European route code E272) road has motorway status with 130km/h speed limit during summer and 110km/h during winter, the road length is 136km. There are 6 spots along the road where the speed is reduced from 130 to 110 km/h: the U-turns with separate deceleration lanes are constructed there. These are needed for sparse local inhabitants and emergency services, while regular traffic is not supposed to use them.
The A1 (European route code E85) is the longest (311km) highway in the country, completed in 1987. Its western section between Klaipėda and Kaunas has motorway status with 130km/h speed limit during summer and 110km/h during winter, and its eastern section between Kaunas and Vilnius has expressway status with 120km/h speed limit during summer and 110km/h during winter. It is planned that this section too will be given the status of the motorway in c. 2018, when the installation of connecting roads and overpasses and the reconstruction of individual stretches of this section will be fully completed. There are two relevant U-turns left on this road: one at the western edge of Vilnius, another one at the western edge of Kaunas.
Most of the other highways and regional roads have 1+1 lanes and a 90km/h speed limit outside settlement limits. Within settlement the speed limit usually is 50km/h.
Moving domestic animals and roe animals may cause dangerous situations on the rural roads. The motorways are almost entirely fenced up to protect from wild animals, secondary roads have the signs warning about possibilities of such collisions. Drivers who are not used to that must be very alert as collisions with elks, although rare, may be lethal. Potentially the most dangerous time, when even the fence can succumb, is in May and October, between 18:00 and 01:00.
Deceleration lane before the U-turn on the A2 motorway near Raguva village.
Fixed speed cameras are frequent along country roads and motorways, usually near crossroads or pedestrian crossings, and in cities. These are usually announced by a sign. Many of them appear to be designed to be turned around from time to time, watching the opposite direction.
Roundabouts are a feature of the Lithuanian road network, particularly in the cities. Recently many small (or "midi-") roundabouts were installed at the crossroads of regional roads. Visitors from countries where this type of junction is uncommon or not used at all, may find the Wikipedia article on roundabouts useful.
In the cities: unlike many European countries, but similar to North American practice, turning right at a red traffic light is allowed where indicated by a "green arrow" (square white sign next to the red light, containing a green arrow indicating the permitted direction), after a full stop and provided that it does not endanger pedestrians and other traffic. Be aware that the absence of such a sign means that turning right on red is not allowed, and the police will stop any driver seen breaking this rule. It is scheduled to remove all "green arrows" until 2020, while gradually installing the smart traffic lights.
Many bigger city junctions have a separate green light for traffic turning left, but no red light. The green light for the other directions shows arrows going straight and to the right, but you need to look closely to make them out.
Traffic rules equally apply to both pedestrians and drivers, therefore the pedestrian violator has no advantage over the vehicle driver. This especially is relevant in cities: if you walk on a carriageway part of the street, you have to be alert and leave this part of the street if the car is approaching, otherwise it's your fault if accident happens.
Driving: on two- or three- lane roads, it is polite to move out of the right-hand lane (if safe to do so) when you intend to travel straight ahead; this keeps the right-hand lane clear for right-turning traffic. When moving back to the right hand lane watch out for fast-moving vehicles approaching from behind.
On 1+1 lane highways without barrier be careful of the overtaking cars: the driver behind you may suddenly find the oncoming car is coming too close and decided to get back to your lane - you have to predict that. You are supposed to keep the speed and move a bit to the right so that the car behind could see what's in front of him clearly, and he will overtake you when it's feasible. When driver overtakes you, he wants to get back to the lane as fast as possible, and this may seem as if he is tailgating you. Keep calm, it's not hostility.
Talk[ edit ]
The official language of Lithuania is Lithuanian , making up one of only two languages (along with Latvian ) on the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family. Despite the kinship of Lithuanian to many other European languages, the archaic nature of its grammar makes it hard for foreigners unfamiliar with the language to form even basic sentences.
English is generally well spoken and preferred foreign language by the younger generations. The older generations might have just the very basic spoken English skills and it be especially difficult for them to understand strong English accents (written English might help). Most people of the older generation know Russian (this is not necessary the case amongst the youth, who might know only very basic Russian), especially in Klaipėda, Vilnius and eastern districts of the country. Polish is somewhat understood in certain areas of Vilnius as well as south-east and southern districts of the country. German is spoken or understood better than elsewhere in Klaipėda, Neringa, Palanga and Šventoji. Keep in mind that all this is just a generalization and should be not applied blindly. For example, if you're in Vilnius and the young person you try to talk to in English language can't understand you and shakes his head, it does not mean that information provided above is inaccurate. You can't know all specifics: this young person may be a student who arrived from the northern district of the country where the French traditionally is taught as a foreign language at schools. He may not know English or can't understand your pronunciation. There may be elderly person just next to you who may be fluent in English only because he or she worked in UK for several years. This applies country wide: communication skills in foreign languages depend on person and vary greatly. Differences and specifics by regions and cities are provided above, it means that chances to communicate in one or another language are greater in a corresponding region or city. Whether you will be understood depends on concrete person and your pronunciation. Those travellers who learn a few basic phrases of the local language are always amply awarded with good will and appreciation for their efforts, however sometimes it may be tricky: if your accent makes those local phrases unrecognizable you probably will be awarded with blank face and shy smile.
In case you managed to master some spoken Lithuanian, it may be extremely beneficial if you have any long-term or deeper interests. Just be prepared, that you will be learning the so called Standard Lithuanian, understood by all. However if local people respond in local dialect you may understand nothing, especially outside the largest cities. You have then to say: I'm from city, I have only learned the "city Lithuanian" - and the wide smile on local person's face will testify that you are on a right way.
In case you're quite indifferent to national identities, simply remember that you are in Lithuania, not in a Russian colony and no longer in the Soviet Union: Lithuanians won't appreciate your efforts to stress your indifference.
Foreigners interested in reading English news can access the Lithuania Tribune (which is a part of Delfi, the most successful online news portal in the Baltic states) and VilNews (photos & short stories related to everything Lithuanian).
See[ edit ][ add listing ]
Frozen lake in Trakai
The most southern of the Baltic countries, Lithuania's historic heritage sets it quite apart from the other two. Visiting this small but colourful country today, few travellers might guess that this was once the largest nation in Europe . A few monuments remind of those golden ages, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stretched out far into modern day Russia , Poland and Moldova , but even fewer are still inside the Lithuanian borders. The archeologic site of Kernavė , long ago a medieval capital, is now a World Heritage Site and has historic hillfort mounds as well as a museum. The Trakai Island Castle in Trakai is sometimes called "Little Mariënburg". It's located on an island and was one of the main strongholds in the prime days of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although it was severely damaged in 17th century wars with Muscovy, the castle was beautifully restored in the 20th century and is now a popular tourist sight. Kaunas Castle in Kaunas is even older, but only a fourth of the original building remains.
The country's lovely capital, Vilnius , is a small but pleasant place with a UNESCO listed historic centre. It's the perfect place to admire a range of architectural styles, as it boasts a mixture of gothic, renaissance, baroque and neoclassical buildings. Stroll through the narrow streets and cosy courtyards and kick back for a coffee in one of the many cafés on Pilies Street. Then, walk down Gediminas Avenue, the town's main street lined with governmental buildings and theatres, towards the old neighbourhood of Žvėrynas. With some 65 churches, the famous Gediminas Tower, the Cathedral Square, the Royal Palace, the Presidential Palace and many other monuments and museums, you won't run out of things to see in Vilnius any time soon.
For a day at the sea, the popular seaside resort of Palanga is the place to be. Although it gets crowded in summer, it has some great beaches and beautiful sand dunes. Sand dunes overgrown with pine forest is also what you'll find at the almost 100km long Curonian Spit , which separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. It's a World Heritage Site shared between Lithuania and Russia and is best explored from the large port city Klaipėda , though there is a possibility to stay on the Spit itself in one of the four fishermen villages. Not far from Klaipėda is the village of Juodkrantė, which is famous for its Hill of Witches, decorated with sculptures from the country's legends and tales. Farthermost on Lithuanian half is the fishermen's town of Nida , it is praised for its shores, ancient ethnographic cemetery and high sand dunes in vicinity. Klaipėda is also a good hub to other sea side resorts on the Baltic Coast, less known but equally cosy, such like Karklė. Nice bicycle path stretches north and south from Klaipėda, as well as along all Curonian Spit.
A few kilometres from the northern city Šiauliai you'll find the remarkable Hill of Crosses, which is an extraordinary and popular pilgrimage site. Over a 100.000 crosses - small, huge, simple and exuberant - have been placed here by faithful from far and wide. On the other side of the country, in the very south, you'll find the popular and classy spa resort town of Druskininkai , surrounded by largest pine forest in the country.
Forested valley of Minija river in Salantai Regional Park , Western part of Lithuania
Like it's Baltic neighbours, Lithuania has a lot to offer for nature lovers. Dense forests, hills, beautiful blue lakes and rivers are the main base. The forested Aukštaitija National Park is perhaps the most popular of the country's national parks for its balanced diversity of natural and cultural values. Its forests are home to elk, deer and wild boar. Some of the pines you'll see here are up to 200 years old and the park is a safe haven for many plants and birds that are endangered in the rest of the country. The 126 lakes and countless streams in between them make the park a great place for water sports activities and the villages in the park have some interesting wooden churches. South west from the national park lies a one of the largest forests, famous Labanoras Forest, which is a part of Labanoras Regional Park - and there is more rare plants, more rare birds, including Black Stork, Capercailye, Crane and few species of eagles, more rare animals like Lynx and Wolf, 285 lakes (70 of them swimmable), mysterious swamps and numerous rivers and streams suitable for canoeing. No surprise that its popularity among holidaymakers exceed even popularity of its neighbour Aukštaitija National Park. Another favourite regional park, especially among the birders, is the Nemunas Delta . The vast wetlands around the place where Neman River reaches the Baltic Sea are a popular eco-tourism destination and an important bird habitat.
"Monkey" bridge over Minija river in Dituva village, south of Klaipėda
Natural scenery[ edit ]
Lithuanians describe their land with the help of poetry. Poetry and songs are filled with romantic images of gently rolling hills, vast valleys and meandering rivers, somber forests rich of animals, meadows full of butterflies and the birds singing in the sky. This embodies what the Lithuanian is looking for and is happy when he finds it. This is what the Lithuanian is willing to promote and defend. And when Lithuanians abroad begin to feel homesickness – this is homesickness for all such scenery and everything else related to it. This is, according to many Lithuanians, the highest value of the country. Consequently, if you are after all this, you can experience more than you had expected, however this can be quite a challenging experience. You have to be well prepared and probably to rent a car. You can see, hear and touch everything that is described in Lithuanian poetry and songs, but how you will perceive it depends on you and circumstances, which often are unpredictable. And this is a part of modern Lithuanian myths and urban legends as well: unpredictable circumstances. One of the first things that travelers from the West notice is the lack of infrastructure and facilities in the recreation areas. And there is no reason to expect any improvements or changes in this respect in the future: Lithuanians tend to make the difference between the "urban habitat" and the "visits to the nature", the latter is supposed to be a rough experience, a visit to the natural, not necessarily pristine or well maintained, but naturally strong and lively environment without the attributes of urban life, it should contrast with the daily routine of the city resident. Visiting the nature is supposed to be a way of gaining vital energy. Therefore you must to "pave your path" through the woods as if you were a pathfinder – each time again and again – so that ultimately you are affected by elements of nature even against your will or laziness. Locals would tell you that if you don’t want to make any effort you don’t deserve to step outside the city. But if some effort is not a big trouble to you, all those gently rolling hills, vast valleys and meandering rivers, somber forests, meadows full of butterflies and the birds singing in the sky are almost every time guaranteed.
Widely spread inland dunes, mostly forested, cover about 2.61% of the territory of Lithuania. The most typical areas of the aeolian relief stretch in South Lithuania. This picture features the inland dune covered by cup lichen in Dainava forest, a part of Dzūkija National Park.
National Parks: there are five National Parks in Lithuania.
Aukštaitija National Park (Aukštaitijos nacionalinis parkas) in the eastern region of Aukštaitija , both administration office and the Tourism Information Centre are located in Palūšė village (Lūšių St 16, Palūšė, Ignalina district; phone +370 386 47478, e-mail [email protected]).
Dzūkija National Park And Čepkeliai Nature Reserve (Dzūkijos nacionalinis parkas ir Čepkelių rezervatas) in the southern region of Dzūkija , its administration office is located in Merkinė town (Vilniaus St 3, Merkinė, Varėna district, e-mail [email protected]), the park has two Visitor Centres: Merkinė Visitor Centre (Vilniaus St 2, Merkinė, Varėna district; e-mail [email protected]) and Marcinkonys Visitor Centre And Čepkeliai Visitor Centre (Šilagėlių St 11, Marcinkonys, Varėna district; mobile phone +370 672 46388, fax +370 310 44471, e-mail [email protected]). Čepkeliai State Strict Nature Reserve is a large bog, listed among Wetlands of International Importance, it is a part of a European Union network of protected territories and also a NATURA 2000 territory. It can be visited only accompanied by Reservation staff (in some cases only written permit is needed), without permission from the Reservation headquarters it is forbidden to visit Čepkeliai Bog.
Samogitian National Park (Žemaitijos nacionalinis parkas) in the region of Samogitia ; administration office and the Visitor Centre are located in Plateliai village (Didžioji St 19, Plateliai, Plungė district; phone +370 448 49231, e-mail [email protected]).
National park Of Curonian Spit (Kuršių Nerijos nacionalinis parkas) covers a narrow peninsula of the farthest western edge of the country’s Lithuania Minor region, administration office is located in Nida (Naglių St 8; e-mail [email protected]), and the three Tourism Information Centres are located in Smiltynė (only in summer; Smiltynės St 11; e-mail [email protected] ), Juodkrantė (L. Rėzos St 8; e-mail [email protected]) and Nida (Taikos St 4; e-mail [email protected]).
Trakai Historical National Park (Trakų istorinis nacionalinis parkas) is surrounding a former capital of Grand Duchy of Lithuania – a small town of Trakai near Vilnius . Administration office (Karaimų St 5, e-mail [email protected]) and the Tourism Information Centre (Vytauto St 69; e-mail [email protected] ) are located in Trakai.
The south-west region of Suvalkija is represented by Vištytis Regional Park near Vištytis Lake. There were attempts to convert this Regional Park into Suvalkian National Park; however the local residents opposed to. Information and travel ideas about all Suvalkian region, which is divided between Lithuania and Poland , can be found at the Tourism Information Centre of the Šešupė Euroregion in Šakiai town (V. Kudirkos St 61/1; phone/fax +370 345 1262, e-mail [email protected]). Šešupė Euroregion is named after the one of most prominent rivers in the country, Šešupė, which marks the border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast . Information Centre web site offers description of several different routes, some are translated to English: Walking in Šakiai, By bicycle around Šešupė Euroregion, Car route-1 (Wooden churches in Šakiai region), Car route-2 (Keeping traces of authors from Šakiai region), Car route-3 (Around Šešupė Euroregion), Hiking around Šešupė land, By canoe along the bends of Šešupė in Šakiai region, By canoe on the bends of the river Šešupė.
Nature objects[ edit ]
European Bison, Petriškės village, Krekenava elderate, LT-38305 Panevėžys district (Forest between Kaunas and Panevėžys, specifically east of Krekenava and west of Ramygala, reachable from both), ☎ Call in advance +370 455 93339, mobile: +370 686 16434, +370 620 59809 ( [email protected] ), [1] . Closed Mondays; Tu-F 09:00-16:00, Sa-Su 10:00-18:00; lunch break 13:00-14:00. edit Prices: adult – ~€1.50, kid, schoolkid – ~€0.75, tour guide services – ~€3. Reintroduction of European bison started in Lithuania in 1969; currently 17 European bisons live in paddock, and a free-ranging herd in 30-40km radius around the paddock. The paddock and the forest is a part of Krekenava Regional Park (established in 1992) which has 5 Nature Reserves, 1 Historical Reserve (Upytė village), 3 cognitive paths, 4 bicycle trails, motor routes to the all objects of interest, Nevėžis river canoe route, and Culinary Heritage program (call in advance +370 454 54040, +370 455 93648, E-mail: [email protected]). For the downloadable map click the line Priedai: Krekenavos regioninio parko schema.
Papilė Jurassic Exposure (Papilės atodanga) - 2km Venta river section of Jurassic conglomerates with abundant remains of small fossils. Papilė town, Mažeikiai district ( Samogitia region). Object of the Venta Regional Park , declared as geological monument since 1964, listed among the most valuable geological localities of Lithuania since 1997.
Cow's Cave (Karvės ola) - a well-type almost round funnel-formed sinkhole, the most notable one out of 9,000 sinkholes that have been identified in the area of Biržai district, Northern Lithuania. At the top its diameter reaches up to 10m, the depth is about 19m, of which 7m is under the water. In the bottom of the sinkhole at the depth of 9.5m there is an underground cavity opened instead of melted gypsum; this cavity splits up into several caves that were explored by speleologists and cave divers from Kaunas in 1973 and 1978. There are five caves: the Wet Cave (Šlapioji ola), the Narrow Burrow (Siauroji landa), the Bat Burrow (Šikšnosparnių landa - several bats have been found here), the Toad's Cave (Rupūžės ola) with a small underground lake of about 1.5m depth and the Lustrous Cave (Blizganti ola). The water level in the bottom of underground cavity is variable, the water temperature reaches 4.5°C. In 2007 the joint expedition of Lithuanian caving club "Aenigma" and caving club "Sokolniki-RUDN" from Moscow explored the Cow's Cave in detail and discovered a new hall, 15m in width. It was noted that cave diving in sinkholes is extremely complex and requires a high level of professionalism, this also means that average cave diver with good skills can't get a permit to explore this sinkhole. Cow's Cave is an object of the Biržai Regional Park , it has been declared as geological monument since 1964.
Devil's Pit (Velnio duobė) - a pit of unknown origin. Its diameter is 60-65m at the bottom, 200m at the top with a depth of 30-40m. The total area is 0.04 ha at the bottom and 4.5 ha at the top. It's located about 4km north of Aukštadvaris town, Trakai district in the Aukštadvaris Regional Park , 54°36′41.96″N, 24°30′55.45″E. The bottom of the pit is walkable, however it is rather soft as that what looks like a bottom is a top of 9.5m height peat layer which is still in early stage of formation. A light fog, supposedly slightly toxic, tends to form early in the morning and in the evening. It is not recommended to stay for a long time at the bottom as you may start to feel yourself a little weird, though there is no official statistics or researches about the consequences of such an effect. Research conducted by Physics PhD's reveal that "This is especially active place where intersects the structures of strong and diverse geological biofields". Around and inside the pit there is a number of virtually healthy trees with the growth anomalies. The pit is ready for visits; there is an observation deck at the edge and a path leading around and inside it. Devil’s Pit has been declared as geological monument since 1964.
Stelmuzhe Oak (Stelmužės ąžuolas) – a Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) which grows in Stelmužė village near the church (Imbradas elderate, north of Zarasai near Latvian border at the north-east corner of the country). The oldest plant in Lithuania, at least 1,500 years old, it measures 3.5m in diameter, 958 cm in girth at waist level and 23m in height. Declared a natural monument since 1960 and included in the list of protected objects in Lithuania. The skeleton of Napoleon's army soldier and gun were found in one of its inner hollows. The oak grows in the park (10 ha) of the former Stelmužė Manor which is known since 17th century when estate owner was a German baron Folkerzamb. Distance from Vilnius 160km.
Oak of Thunder God (Perkūno ąžuolas) – a Pedunculate oak which grows in a park of Ogiński Manor Estate, Parkas St 1, Plungė . Legend tells that priestess Galinda stoked a sacred fire near this oak. One day her lover went forth to war against Crusaders, and never returned back. The chief priest, seeing Galinda’s tears and heartache, began to teach her that only a sacred fire can quench her earthly pain. Once, when Galinda was weeping under the oak, a thunder struck the tree. Oak shook, some soil has poured into its trunk – and soon the flower of incredible beauty has sprouted out of the trunk of the oak. Since then people started to call it on behalf of Thunder God. Trunk girth 530 cm, height 21m, has 2 trunks, several hollows. Declared as natural monument. Distance from Vilnius 286km, distance from Klaipėda 59km.
Major parks and gardens[ edit ]
Vilnius University Botanical Garden at Kairėnai Estate.
Lentvaris Park designed by Édouard André.
Manor stud in Žagarė Park.
Vilnius University Botanical Garden (VUBG) (Vilniaus Universiteto botanikos sodas), Kairėnų St 43, LT-10239 Vilnius-40, ☎ Information +370 5 219-3139 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 5 231-7933). Summer - daily 10:00-20:00, winter - Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00, last admission 1h before closing. Prices (cash only) 1 May to 31 Oct for adult ~€2.50, concession ~€1.20, family (2 adults + children) ~€6. 1 Nov to 30 Apr for adult ~€1.50, concession ~€0.60, family (2 adults + children) ~€3. Vilnius University Botanical Garden was founded in 1781. Today the Garden resides in two areas, Vingis Park and Kairėnai Estate, it is not only the largest in Lithuania (with combined total area of 199 ha) but also have the most numerous collections of plants. Guide-led tours in English, additional services (horse riding, horse-drawn carriage ride, rent of gazebos and picnic tables) must be booked in advance by phone +370 5 219-3139.
Landscape parks designed by Édouard André - there are 4 parks in Lithuania: Palanga Park in the seaside resort of Palanga , Užutrakis Park (Užutrakis, Trakai district), Lentvaris Park ( Lentvaris, Trakai district), Trakų Vokė Park (Trakų Vokė, Paneriai elderate, Vilnius municipality).
Palanga Botanical Park (Palangos botanikos parkas), Vytauto St 15, LT-5720 Palanga (Palanga, south of the centre), ☎ +370 460 49270, +370 460 49271 ( [email protected] ). The best preserved, best kept and most popular park in Lithuania, total area 101.3 ha.
Trakų Vokė Manor Estate (Trakų Vokės dvaras), Trakų Vokė, Paneriai elderate, Vilnius municipality (Outside Vilnius on the way to Trakai, between Vilnius and Lentvaris, north of A4 highway, near Vokė river). The park, total area 23 ha, is surrounding the Neo-Renaissance manor of Count Tyszkiewicz family. The park was completed c. 1900. During WWII the manor was occupied by colonists from Holland. Later it was used for various purposes, the park declined. Currently the park is partially renewed, the feasibility study is prepared by European Institute of Cultural Routes, the park is being under the early stage of complete restoration.
Žagarė Manor Park, Šiaulių St 28, LT-5467 Žagarė, Joniškis district (When you go from Joniškis to Žagarė, you enter the Park first (the road divides it into 2 parts) and as soon as you leave it behind you suddenly find yourself in the centre of the town). edit The park is rather neglected now, it was second-magnificent park in Lithuania, after Palanga Park. Founded by Naryškinas noble family who were descendents of Tatars, developed from 1898 spring to 1900 autumn to design of dendrologist George Friedrich Ferdinand Kuphaldt (1853-1938), covers area of 70ha. Belongs to Žagarė Regional Park . 56°21'44"N, 23°16'9"E
Japanese believe: if someone intrudes into nature and attempts to change it, so this should be perfectly done, just raised to the heights of art. So. This is the biggest (16 ha) Japanese garden in Europe. It was started to develop by Japanese Garden Master Hajime Watanabe in Oct 2007 and (almost) finished in 2009. Though it actually can’t be finished as it continues to live and grow and develop in its own natural way….. for only the death can confirm that something is finished. Japanese Garden Samogitia Mažučiai village, Darbėnai elderate, Kretinga district (Lithuania seaside: from Palanga head east up to Kretinga, then turn north (road No 218) up to Darbėnai, then turn left (west) towards Laukžemė right after the church in Darbėnai, you'll see signs to the garden then), ☎ +370 616 18530 ( [email protected] ). Daily 09:00-21:00. Admission fee: children ~€1.50, adults ~€4.50, family (2 adults and children) ~€10. (56.0300039,21.208963)
Major manors[ edit ]
Arvydai Manor (Arvydų dvaras), Pakalnės St 26, Bezdonys, Vilnius district, ☎ +370 614 41947 ( [email protected] ). The manor is known since 1415 when King Jagiello paid a visit during the hunt. The present appearance it gained when Samuel Goldstein, a German merchant of the 2nd Vilnius Guild, has bought the manor around 1900; the style of architecture since then is Neoclassicism. The next and last known landlord was polish duke Koscialkowsky, who was best known for his favorite activity shooting cows from the castles belvedere tower. During soviet times the manor was turned into a dorm with a cinema hall. In 2002 the manor was sold to a businessman from Vilnius, fully restored and now offers a variety of entertainment (hot-air balloon flights, hunting, fishing, bicycling, horse riding, golf, paintball, photosessions, spa procedures), accommodation for up to 18 people in 8 double rooms, services of wedding planner, premises for the banquets, weddings, conferences and various business events.
Norviliškės Castle (Norviliškių pilis), Norviliškės, Šalčininkai district (86km south-east of Vilnius, road A15 up to Šalčininkai, then turn east, road No 104 up to Dieveniškės, turn left (road No 3904) up to Ureliai, then to the right (road No 3915) and drive some 5km up to the castle which stands several metres away from external EU border), ☎ +370 682 41155 ( [email protected] ). M-F 08:30-17:00. According to romantic story, the castle was built in the beginning of 16th century by a wealthy Prussian merchant and warrior who fell in love with the local beauty, Countess Darata Zienovičiūtė… and her brave warrior from Marienburg decided to stay in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The castle was built in a Renaissance style, same look it has today. During the centuries the castle served a variety of purposes, including barracks and a monastery. There are known many stories about the hidden treasures (silver and gold, specifically mentioned in written source of 1933), secret tunnel from the castle to Halshany (a town in modern Belarus), however only a tunnel from the castle to the belfry was found. Fully restored in 2005 it now offers active relaxation services, business conference facilities and cultural tourism services, accomodation, dining facilities, rental of the premises, event organization, horse-riding, hunting, extreme off-road adventures with four-wheel drives and motor-cycles, hot-air balloon rides, paragliding and helicopter rides as well as orienteering. The castle is situated in the territory of Dieveniškės Regional Park .
Ogiński Manor (Žemaičių dailės muziejus – Museum of Samogitia Fine Arts), Parkas St 1, LT-90117 Plungė (North of Plungė centre, north of Babrungas river, west of the train station; there are 3 entrances to the manor park: from the west (Parko St 1), from the north near the railway (Stoties St), and from the east (Dariaus Ir Girėno St)), ☎ +370 448 57643 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 448 52492). 1 May–31 Oct W-Su 10:00-17:00; 1 Nov–30 Apr Tu-Sa 10:00-17:00. Price: adult ~€2, kids ~€1, guide (foreign language) for group of 25: ~€15 (temporary price during renovation only). The manor was first time mentioned in 1568, reconstructed in 1879 by Count Ogiński, since then the manor house has a Neo-Renaissance style and is surrounded by 58.3 ha park. Since 1994 the manor premises are used for Museum of Samogitia Fine Arts.
Pakruojis Manor
Pakruojis Manor (Pakruojo dvaras), Pakruojis Manor, Karčiama St, LT-83166, Pakruojis (Northern Lithuania, between Panevėžys and Šiauliai, north-east corner of Pakruojis town, west of the road No 151 (Linkuva direction)), ☎ +370 686 86376, Rest and Tourism Centre office +370 681 88151 ( [email protected] ), [2] . Tavern - Tu-Th, Su 12:00-20:00, F-Sa 12:00-22:00; Windmill - F-Sa 12:00-19:00, Su 12:00-18:00. First mentioned in 1531, its heydays began since 1780 when Baron Wilhelm von der Ropp from Livonia married local Countess Aleksandra Miunsterytė. Baron was the initiator who financed the new extensive construction of Pakruojis Manor, which was completed in the third decade of the 19th century and remains up to date, it has Late Neoclassical style. Fully restored in 2009 it now offers guided tours in the main palace and territory (price ~€3 per person), introductory and educational program “Visiting Miller – Cognition of the Bread Path” (4h 30min, price up to €20 per person for groups from 20 individuals), 5 different size and interior halls for business events and weddings, catering in tavern “Traktierius”, horse-riding; for rent: bicycle, scooter, boat, kite; accommodation in hotel “Stadala” (hotel reservation [email protected], bed and breakfast price: single ~€40, triple ~€80, extra bed ~€25). (55.986079,23.879326)
Raudonė Castle.
Raudonė Castle (Raudonės pilis), Pilies St, Raudonė, Jurbarkas district (South of Raudonė town, on a hill by the highway A141, surrounded with the park). Castle construction works started in late 16th century. In the first half of the 19th century Prince Zubov family transformed the castle according to the design of architect Cesare Anichini, the building now has a style of Neo-Gothic architecture. During tourism season visitors are allowed to climb up the tower. The Castle is a highlight of Panemunė Regional Park .
Šešuolėliai-1 Manor (Šešuolėlių I dvaras), Šešuolėlai I village, Zibalai elderate, LT-19032 Širvintos district, ☎ +370 672 92377 ( [email protected] ). Offers: eight luxuriously-decorated sleeping apartments, a Jacuzzi bath, luxurious living and dining rooms, sauna, soiree room, a ballroom with capacity for 400 people. The surroundings are well-suited for occasional and cultural events.
Žeimiai Manor (Žeimių dvaras), Draugystė St 28, Žeimiai, LT-55066 Jonava district, ( [email protected] ). Visiting time: weekdays 12:00-18:00, weekends 10:00-19:00. Offers: Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities which allow artists to stay and work elsewhere. .
20th century military heritage[ edit ]
WWI[ edit ]
Lithuania was a part of Russian Empire and bordered Germany. Various small fortifications are sparsely scattered across the country, but most of them are concentrated in two places: around Kaunas and in Zarasai (Novo-Alexandrovsk at the time) - Ignalina area.
Tenth Fort in Romainiai, Kaunas municipality: shelf with ammunition niches.
Russian fortifications
Kaunas Fortress , originally built in 19th century. Since 1912 an expansion and reconstruction has begun, its completion was scheduled for 1917. In 1915 only one fort, the Ninth, was completed, while the Tenth was partially built and 3 others were left in the early stages of construction. In 1915 Germany began an offensive against Russia and reached Kaunas Fortress in July 1915. The fortress and Kaunas city were taken by Germans in August 18, 1915.
Tenth Fort (Romainių fortas). Directions: west of Kaunas, west of A5 highway, north of a junction of Šilainiai and Romainiai streets, Romainiai elderate, 54°55′39″N, 23°49′50″E . Partially flooded up, cave diving skills and equipment is needed to get into the underground premises.
German fortifications
Kaunas - Germans planned to use Kaunas Fortress for the defense from Russian counter attack. Further expansion and reconstruction has begun, line of defense (Vaišvydava-Palemonas-Narėpai-Domeikava) protecting the city from the North-East was started to construct. The works lasted from 1916 to 1917.
One of casemates in Narėpai: iron observation cupola.
Inside the observation cupola in Narėpai: armoured hasps on the lookout hole.
Kleboniškis Casemates Directions: Kaunas municipality, Kleboniškis forest north of motorway A1 Vilnius-Klaipėda, reachable by paved path from pedestrian overpass near "Tėvynė" restaurant-motel , west of a main viaduct, the path leads to Naujasėdis settlement. South of Naujasėdis, 300m away from the site with the sculptures of wooden gnomes. 54°56'38"N, 23°57'59"E .
Narėpai Casemates Directions: Kaunas municipality, between the road A6 Kaunas - Jonava and Neris river where the river makes a loop, north of Narėpai village. The path (north of a ditch wind) leads north to the forest. 54°57'9"N, 24°0'1"E .
Tverečius - 1915 autumn marks an extensive battles in the eastern Lithuania in Zarasai-Ignalina region. Some of constructions built during that time still can be found near small town of Tverečius, Ignalina district, near Belarus border. Details on accommodation in vicinity: this part of the country, Eastern Lakeland, is heavily forested and sparsely populated, therefore a hotel/hostel-type accommodation is unavailable; only a mini resort-type places which range from very simple to very sophisticated. There are 3 modest options rather close to the objects of interest: Trys ežerai (Three Lakes) – 5 cottages, 20 beds total, Ligita Kindurienė Homestead – 2 cottages, 21 bed total, mob. phone +370 652 70651, Ramūnas Bubnys Homestead – 2 cottages, 12 beds total, mob. phone +370 686 49009.
Military hideout Directions: in Tverečius, several metres behind the bus stop near cemetery.
Artillery firing positions Directions: from Tverečius head south some 7km Adutiškis direction down the road No 4402 up to Katinautiškės village by Svyla stream.
Military village of concrete camp huts Directions: the road No 4402 from Katinautiškės turns south-west along the Svyla stream, go some 2.8km up to Guntauninkai village. A bit further east some hideouts can be found.
Pillboxes Directions: Further south-west 1.78km away from Guntauninkai you find a village of Radžiūnai where 3 pillboxes can be seen in the fields near the road: the first one before the village (55°14'42.27", 26°34'44.69"), then you walk across the village, pass the bus stop and cross Svyla stream, and almost immediately see another one by the left hand side (55°14'27.62", 26°34'29.81"), then 130m further (55°14'23.63", 26°34'27.37") you see a third one.
WWII[ edit ]
Vilnius Entrenched Camp – a complex of Vilnius defensive fortifications, constructed between 1923 and 1928 by Second Polish Republic. Fortifications were aimed to defend the city from increasing military power of Soviet Union, in case of conflict. However, irony of fate, only Wehrmacht used it fighting Armia Krajowa which was attacking by the end of World War II. The main tourist attraction is several objects situated in the outdoor recreation area of Sapieginė Forest, Antakalnis district, and belong to Pavilniai Regional Park . They are sparsely scattered from Šilo (5 ammunition depots) and Žolyno (batteries) streets up to Rokantiškės (2 batteries and 2 observation points) near Pūčkoriai outcrop which can be seen from Belmontas Entertainment And Recreation Centre .
Nazi German Fortifications in Memel-Klaipėda – there are 9 remains of military constructions and 20 military hideouts in Klaipėda area total. One battery north of Klaipėda on the beach near Giruliai, called Black Fortress (Juodoji tvirtovė), is a popular and well known spot among holidaymakers. There are other three in different locations which are rather easy to find.
Memel Nord
Batterie Försterei aka Black Fortress (Girulių baterija), Giruliai, Klaipėda municipality (Giruliai beach), ☎ +370 630 20263 ( [email protected] ). 12:00-20:00, to contact beforehand is required. Anti-aircraft battery, modified Fla2 type. Premises are used for various events, exhibitions, entertainment and sightseeing excursions. edit
Batterie Mellneraggen (Melnragės baterija), Melnragė, Klaipėda municipality (Melnragė beach). edit Anti-aircraft Fla2 battery.
Memel Süd (on Curonian Spit)
Baterrie Bachmann (Kopgalio baterija), Smiltynė, Klaipėda municipality (Curonian Spit, Smiltynė, dunes near men’s beach). edit Anti-aircraft Fla2 battery.
Batterie Schweisbrücken (Alksnynės baterija), Smiltynė-Nida Highway, Neringa municipality (Curonian Spit, 6.07km from the 1st ferry terminal at Smiltynė, then turn left to the road closed for vehicles and go 480m). edit Anti-aircraft Fla2 battery. In order to visit underground premises call in advance, phone +370 611 22111.
Molotov Line (Molotovo gynybinė linija). The line of Soviet hardened field defences of World War II, its section of 328km stretches between the Lithuanian seaside near Palanga up to Polish border and marks the former border between Germany and Lithuanian SSR in 1941. Construction of the pillboxes started in 1941 April, some 100 out of 1641 objects were more or less completed until June 22, 1941 when Wehrmacht unexpectedly invaded Soviet Union, violating the non-aggression pact of 1939.
Oflag 53 (subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp), Pagėgiai (German: Pogegen) district, Lithuania Minor (From the centre of Pagėgiai turn west (from Vilnius St to Jankus St which soon turns into the road No 4230) and go 1km 83m Anužiai direction, then turn to the right (road sign “Oflager-53”) to the forest, the site is 410m away from the road), ☎ +370 656 18551 ( [email protected] ). edit Established 15 Apr 1941, closed Jun 1944. A memorial complex for prisoners of war who died in Pagėgiai concentration camp erected in 1977, rebuilt in May 2005. For more information contact Pagėgiai Region Tourism Information Centre , Šereikos St 3-3, LT-99254 Vilkyškiai, Pagėgiai district.
Building of Macikai Lockup.
Macikai Village Concentration Camp - Lockup (former German WW II POW camp Stalag 1C / Soviet prison for internal enemies GULAG department No 3), Macikai village, LT-99156, Šilutė district (1.15km down the road No 4235 which branches off from the main road No 141 east of Šilutė, Lithuania Minor region), ☎ +370 441 62207 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 441 62207). Tuesday-Saturday 11:00-15:00. Once it was a manor. Then, in 1924, its territory was used for the barracks of Lithuanian Army. 1939 Germans established the WWII POW camp. 1944-1948 Soviets continued to use the camp for the German POW. 1948-1955 it was renamed to "GULAG department No 3" and served as a prison for "internal enemies". 1995 the Museum of Macikai Concentration Camp was established.
Plokštinė SS-4-type Intermediate-range Missile Silo Complex , Didžioji St 8, Plateliai village, Plungė district. ☎ +370 677 86574. In Samogitian National Park .
Urban Exploration . 31 Aug 1993 the last Soviet soldier left the territory of Lithuania. Vast areas that have been used for military purposes, has been abandoned. Thereafter Lithuanian military took over some objects and territories, redesigned and reconstructed them to meet NATO standards, and this represents about 40% of the territories and objects previously used by Soviet military. Some 60% of enemy's military bases were left to decay. Today, all of them yet to be explored, but the ruthless effects of time and Mother Nature are already clearly visible. The sites suitable for Urban Exploration consist of 2 main groups of the former Soviet military objects and territories: 1 - KGB object in Linksmakalnis and its affiliate, and 2 - properties of Soviet 58th Missile Division (HQ in Karmėlava) and 29th Missile Division (HQ in Tauragė, later in Šiauliai) of 5th Missile Army. Some of the former firing grounds were converted into the biosphere grounds and recreation zones suitable for the eco-tourism.
KGB Radio Intelligence Center
Linksmakalnis Officers Clubhouse built 1944-1950 by German prisoners of war who were then executed at the spot. Building design is a replica of the manor stable. Soviet symbols on the facades were an obligatory.
Linksmakalnis aka Lustberg. It was a former manor estate turned into the KGB radio intelligence center which was served by the secret military unit 71272. One non-combat subunit was responsible for the infrastructure, three combat subunits were responsible for political and economical intelligence in West Germany and Scandinavia. Preconditions for the existence of such a center were created by Europeans themselves: in order to save the state budget it was decided for confidential communications not to use the separate wireline channels (very expensive), but to use the ordinary commercial channels instead, encoding messages with a special chip. However, the chip did not become an obstacle. In 16 Jun 1993 the secret unit was moved to the new unknown location and changed its subordination and number. Directions: 20km south of Kaunas , the road No 130, before Išlaužas turn east across the pool. As you cross the bridge and enter the town, go down the main street (Liepų St) till the end. The town soon ends up, and as soon as it disappears behind you, you start to see something ahead: a "brain center", address Liepų St 25, 54°45'32.38"N, 23°56'25.84"E. Platform for satellite antenna can be seen on the roof, this building was a technical centre. Two other buildings (No 27 and No 29) served for other purposes. The territory is still fenced up. It remained abandoned for almost 10 years until 2000. Since then, the two latter buildings are occupied by public institution “Sugrįžimas” (“Comeback”) and remains so to date. Urban exploration is allowed by agreement at the spot, the technical building is still left as is.
“Neman” – it had to be a new satellite communications center near Piliuona town. The large building of the technical center, staff office with an underground hideout, boiler, power generator, garage and some other structures has been almost fully completed. Apartment building for the staff was started to construct. In 1989 it was decided that the place has become unreliable for such an object. Dismantling works started, however only engineering infrastructure has been dismantled and transferred to the new unknown location of the same center. Directions: east of Linksmakalnis near Nemunas river, between the towns of Pakuonis (south) and Piliuona (north), east of the road No 1901 and south of Redimistis stream. The platforms for satellite antennas on the roof of the main building are visible from the road, also can be seen on Google Maps and Street View. 54°45'4.1", 24°6'24.64"
SS-4-type intermediate-range nuclear missile launch facilities – there were 4 pairs of missile bases in Lithuania (8 total, not counting the Dvina type silo complex in Plokštinė which was converted into museum).
Abandoned Soviet nuclear missile storage hangar at the Surface Launch Base near Šateikiai, Western Lithuania.
Šateikiai (79 Regiment, 29th Missile Division of the 5th Missile Army) – two surface launch facilities with 4 launch pads and accessory infrastructure each, constructed in 1962. Directions: west of Samogitia National Park, Plungė district, north of the road Šiauliai - Palanga , Šateikiai village (intersection of the roads No 169 and No 3216).
Šateikiai North – forest north of Šateikiai, entrance from the road No 169: 56°0'37.53"N, 21°40'3.41"E, turn north (displayed on Google Maps Street View).
Šateikiai South - forest west of Šateikiai, same crossroad on the road No 169, turn south.
Tauragė (637 Regiment, 58th Missile Division of the 5th Missile Army) - two surface launch facilities with 4 launch pads and accessory infrastructure each, constructed in 1960. Directions: Lithuania Minor region, both bases located south of Tauragė city.
Tauragė North – south of Tauragė city, reachable from Tauragė (by the road No 4505) or from the south (near Viešvilė from the road No 141 Jurbarkas- Klaipėda ), 55°9'23.24"N, 22°20'44.59"E.
Tauragė South – west of Viešvilė, same crossroad from the road No 141, turn south-west and go till the end, two sites surrounded by dense forest - 55°5'12.45"N, 22°21'18.39"E and 55°4'51.62"N, 22°19'24.2"E.
Karmėlava (42 Regiment, 58th Missile Division of the 5th Missile Army) - two surface launch facilities with 4 launch pads and 6 underground hangars for missiles, construction completed in 1976. Missiles SS-4 later were replaced with SS-20. Directions: north-east of Kaunas , north east of Karmėlava town, east of the road to Jonava .
Karmėlava South – east of Kaunas air port (former Soviet air-force base which served as a cover for the missile base). Reachable from the road A6 north of Karmėlava, turn to the right before Turžėnai bus stop (54°58'44.09"N, 24°5'36.12"E) and round the forest and the air-port territory to the very end by the fence, then turn left, cross the cover base (54°57'39.4"N, 24°6'20.41"E), then "S" shape bend, remains of tripple checkpoint, enter the base, 54°57'15.2"N, 24°5'26.45"E.
Karmėlava North – same road A6 further towards Jonava , turn to the right to Gulbiniškiai (a road sign "turn right" at 55°2'38.51"N, 24°13'57.09"E, no directions), pass through Gulbiniškiai village, cross the railway (unused); then see two roads branching to the right - turn to the second one and go till the end at 55°0'43.69"N, 24°14'18.6"E.
Ukmergė (324 Regiment, 58th Missile Division of the 5th Missile Army) - two surface launch facilities with 4 launch pads and accessory infrastructure each, constructed in 1959. Directions: north-west of Vilnius near Ukmergė, both bases are located south-west of Ukmergė.
Ukmergė North – reachable from the road No 231 south of Ukmergė, via Vaitkūnai suburb turn west towards Kopūstėliai village, pass it through, go straight to the end near Šventoji river, 55°11'1.03"N, 24°42'12.53"E.
Ukmergė South – direct access from the northern base is impossible, located south-east of Vepriai (road No 4809) and north-west of Bagaslaviškis (road No 4303). From the road No 4809 at Kelmai hamlet turn north, pass the farmstead, go on up to the end, turn left, then turn right, 55°7'51.93"N, 24°38'30.5"E.
Seimas Barricades - Remains of the barricades built around the Parliament building to protect the newly-democratic Lithuanian parliament from Soviet troops in 1991. Gediminas Ave 53, LT-01109 Vilnius.
Pagan heritage: sites and artifacts[ edit ]
Puntukas, a most prominent and the 2nd largest boulder in the country. Named after warrior Puntukas who was killed and then burned on the stone.
Cursed Maiden (Užkeikta merga) in Akmuo village, Varėna district.
Thunder God Temple (Perkūno šventykla). The biggest known Lithuanian pagan temple constructed supposedly by Duke Gerimundas in 1265. Archaeological investigations in 1986 have revealed the exact location of the temple and confirmed the legends and texts of chronicles which say that Vilnius Cathedral was built at the site of the pagan shrine. Remains of the temple can be seen in the cellars of Vilnius Cathedral. Tours only accompanied by a guide. edit
Birutė Hill (Birutės kalnas), Palanga Botanical Park, LT-5720 Palanga (Some 200m away south-west from Amber Museum, at the southern end of Love Alley (Meilės alėja)). edit 55°54′20″N, 21°03′10″E . The relict dune at the seaside of Palanga , linked with a story of priestess Birutė, who married to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kestutis and gave birth to Vytautas, the most famous Lithuanian Grand Duke. In 1989 the archaeologists found the evidences of a pagan sanctuary, observatory and elements of wooden fortifications which had existed on the top of Birutė hill in 14th-15th century. Best known place of worship in Samogitia, although every settlement had its own one.
Samogitian Sanctuary (Žemaičių Alkas), Šventoji, Palanga municipality (North of Šventoji, east of beach, west of the path to Būtingė). edit 56°02′28″N, 21°04′28″E . Reconstruction of pagan paleoastronomic observatory found at Birutė Hill. Constructed in June 1998.
Karmazinai Mound ((Karmazinų piliakalnis)), Karmazinai, Dūkštos elderate, Vilnius district (Some 0.8km northwest of the Karmazinai village, 40m from the right bank of the Dūkšta river, close to its confluence with Neris). edit 54°49′09″N, 24°55′52″E. Early type hill-fort (600-800 AD), used as a place of worship (lith. alkas). Numerous legends tell the stories about the temple standing on its top in the past, stone idol, hidden gold, drowned bell and giant oaks of size that made people wonder. Oaks, although rather sparse, still grow in the area fulfilling the hearts of Lithuanians with warm feelings and chills…. and probably making foreign guests to wander why. If you stand on the top of the hill, and coincidentally hear the sound of bells in the Dūkštos church 4km away, you can feel that the hill echoes under your feet as if it was hollow. One of the endless highlights of Neris Regional Park .
Mythological stones. Are probably most tangible witnesses of the pagan past that survived until modern times. It is known about the 600 mythological stones in the country. Their origins, shapes, purposes and associated legends vary. Lithuanian soils are unevenly podzolized, mostly fertile and cultivated, while sandy soils cover about one-fourth of the country’s territory – you are supposed to make sure that Lithuania has no rocks, and even stones are rather rare birds. Majority of them partially or entirely rest beneath the ground, some protrude outward. And some are quite sizeable. These are well known and held in respect just as a cool natural phenomena, but among them there are stones which are something more than just that. Even in 19th until the middle of 20th century during Christian religious holidays many people used to gather by the mythological stones in large numbers, sacrificing various items and money, praying for health and happiness. Even today you can wing the sacred Bradeliškės Stone in Airėnai, Vilnius district, and you will always find the coins left on it. All regional maps have an icon “mythological” or “prominent stone” in the legend’s section “objects of interest”; the more detailed is the map, the more of mythological stones are marked on it. During short one or few days trips Lithuanians like to visit country's famous and mysterious places, and stones here go without saying. Such trips are done by combining various modes of transport, also on foot. Some even famous stones are quite remote or just are hard to locate, so attempts alone to find them are quite an adventure.
There are different types of mythological stones; all of them have their given names. There are several large stones in different locations, called Mokas, the name’s meaning is a cross between a soothsayer and a scholar. It is supposed that the sorcerers and priests used to gain certain knowledge from them. Stones named Mokas possess some ancient wisdom, so what Lithuanians do is just visit them, or, like they say, “see them”. You don’t need to do anything, Mokas will do what must be done, that is, your biofield will be (or will be not) affected in certain way, and whether you gain something entirely depends on your inner self. Apart those large stones there are many slightly smaller ones with attributed healing powers, it is supposed that healing effects can occur when there is a necessity.
There are stones with pits. During 14-17 centuries the pagan shrines had in their sites the stones of cylindrical shape with engraved flat-bottomed bowls which gathered sacred water. It is supposed that the stones were also used to stoke a sacred fire. Later were prevailing the midsize flat surface stones with the pointed-bowls, it is believed they had to safeguard the grain, livestock and happiness of home. They now are sparsely scattered everywhere across the country, some can be found in the churchyards.
A separate group is foot-printed stones. The truth is that they are lacking of scientifical data. Their origins are usually associated with minor goddesses and gods, such like woodland fairies - the Laumės (nom., plur., feminine) and devils - the Velniai (nom., plur., masculine). Other Baltic deities and elementals also may be involved, depends on particular stone and location. The Laumės Akmuo (Woodland Fairy Stone), for example, has several indentations of supposedly not artificial origin: the smaller ones remind the footprints of the fairy and the baby, the largest one, although sometimes is called a “cow’s footprint”, is shaped rather like a devil’s footprint. Here it is worth mentioning that Baltic devils were rather common creatures living in the woods and swamps throughout the country, you should not be mistaken by other definitions. One of the stories tell that the intendation was left by cow who managed to imprint it, another tale tells rather standard story about the devil who carried a stone and lost it. People were witnessing the woodland fairies washing clothes near the stone in the river, not only at night but even in day time. Once a local hireling girl saw a soldier who suddenly disappeared as soon as she crossed herself. Near the Laumės Akmuo on the other side of the river there is a Christian site of Lourdes, installed supposedly on the pagan sanctuary. The stone is located approximately 300m to the west of Kartena hill-fort with archaeological site of the ancient settlement which dates back to 600-1100 AD. Coordinates 55°54′38″N, 21°28′15″E, easily accessible by the A11 highway.
Finally, there are cursed and turned to stone humans. Some of them probably are the echo of romanticized love stories, some others – who knows now - may be the outcome of the actual curse… At first the curse causes a sudden death, the next moment an actual sorcery comes into force: the inner self of a man is trapped into something solid that crystallizes and acquires the appearance of something that visually reminds a hard piece of the earth's crust. Lifeless body is buried in the cemetery or outside it, while the fate of trapped soul remains uncertain. Sometimes it haunts, sometimes it moves, and sometimes everything calms down. edit
Tverai Sacred Site. Tverai elderate, Rietavas district. Although Tverai village, an ancient capital of Samogitia, can be a very interesting place to visit in itself, Lithuanians link this name to a place which, although still in Tverai elderate, is 3km 400m east from Tverai central square and situated in Ruškis Landscape Reserve, which is a strange hilly forest with a lake Ruškis in the middle. South-west corner of this forest, framed with a medium-size 25m height hill-fort, is probably one of the most mysterious places in Samogitia. The hill-fort is separated from the forest with a deep ravine of a narrow stream that springs slightly further, its murmur you can hear all the time. Winding deceptive paths leads you between the hills from one stone artifact to another, until you finally start to understand the stories that local people tell about the spells of this place that makes people to get lost. Directions: head east Varniai direction, road No 3203, as soon as you leave the village you already see the forest in a distance by left side of the road, and a serpentine stream that flows across the fields by the right side of the road. When you reach the stream turn left, the road takes to the entrance to the forest where you find a parking lot and a sign that informs that this is a Ruškio valstybinis kraštovaizdžio draustinis. As you enter the forest, there are other info shields with the scheme of the object locations and some other information. edit
Rokiškis town square and the church
Vilnius University central entrance
Concerning religion, Lithuanian rulers were very flexible. Some tended to Catholicism, others to Orthodox, and some were changing religions like clothes depending on trend. Finally, on 19 April 1389, Pope Urban VI recognized the status of Lithuania as a Roman Catholic state. A direct consequence of this was that German Orders lost any legal reasons to continue their crusades to Lithuania. Some say that Lithuania was forced to accept Christianity, some others can say that Christian Europe was forced to recognize Lithuania, but if the measure of progress is human life, then it was beneficial for all.
Vilnius University ((Vilniaus universitetas)), Universiteto St 3, LT-01513 Vilnius, ☎ +370 5 268-7001 ( [email protected] ), [3] . edit Established as the Jesuit Academy of Vilnius by King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stephen Báthory in April 1, 1579, complex of University buildings is one of the highlights of Vilnius Old Town. The model of Vilnius University, as a symbol of European civilization in a broad sense, was chosen to represent Lithuania in Mini-Europe Park in Brussels , Belgium .
Churches - Virtually every town and small settlement has its own church, let alone the largest cities. There are about 800 Catholic churches all over the country. Other Christian denominations are less represented: Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church has about 35 churches, Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church has 6 churches, all of them are in different towns. Russian Orthodox Church in Lithuania has about 60 churches all over the country (among them 13 in Vilnius , 4 in Kaunas , 3 in Klaipėda ). Old Believers (mostly Pomorian Old Orthodox Church of Lithuania ) since 17th century traditionally have sought refuge in Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They used to settle mostly in the NE region (with the main centre in Degučiai village , Zarasai district ) and in the central part (around Jonava town) of the country. There are about 50 Old Believer churches in Lithuania total.
Liškiava monastery in southern Lithuania.
Monasteries - There are about 75 monasteries in various locations of the country, some 40 of them are operating up to date. In sense of the architectural expression there are two significant monastery complexes: Pažaislis Monastery in Pažaislis suburb east of Kaunas , and Tytuvėnai Monastery in Tytuvėnai town, Kelmė district, Samogitia region. Both are examples of Italian Baroque architecture, and Pažaislis complex is the most magnificent one. It also is famous for its annual international Pažaislis Music Festival , it lasts for three summer months and offers about 30 different concerts. Between Kaunas and Tytuvėnai, almost in the middle, few km north of Kėdainiai there is a complex of Dotnuva Monastery and Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, both constructed in the end of 18th century in the style of Late Baroque. The monastery have played rather significant role during 1831 and 1863 uprisings against the Russian Empire: Bernardine monks themselves organized the insurgent squads, led them, and supported other insurgents. Some of the priests were imprisoned or exiled to Siberia after the collapse of the uprising in 1864, the monastery was closed same year by tsarist government.
Pilgrimage sites - See below Do: Pilgrimages.
Do[ edit ][ add listing ]
The basic data on most common Lithuanian tourism routes (19 total) can be found on presentation which was created with the help of the project funded from EU structural funds. It can provide some ideas of where to go and also gives idea about EU funds absorption in Lithuania for the needs of all travellers. Also see below for more ideas on what to do in different places of Lithuania.
Song and Dance Celebration (Dainų šventė) — The biggest traditional music festival, first time organized in 1924. Held every four years in summer since 1990. It usually lasts about a week.
Kaziukas Fair 2010
Kaziukas Fair (Kaziuko mugė) — the largest annual folk arts and crafts fair held in the streets of Vilnius ’ centre and Old Town on the Friday-Sunday nearest to March 4. It is a Saint Casimir's Day, the anniversary of the death of Saint Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania and Poland. The fair also features music and dance, attracts tens of thousands of visitors and craftsmen from all over the country as well as from neighbouring countries. To the lesser extent it is celebrated also in Kaunas and Klaipėda. Information, among the other sources, is provided on the official website which usually is created in the beginning of every year. The Internet address typically consists of two lithuanian words kaziuko muge (meaning Little Casimir's Fair) with some extension which can vary from year to year. Note: it works only a month before and after the event.
Shrove Tuesday (Užgavėnės) — traditional Lithuanian annual festival that takes place during the seventh week before Easter. It takes place in all cities, towns and all countryside.
The biggest event traditionally is organized near Kaunas at Rumšiškės Open Air Museum L. Lekavičiaus St 2, LT-56337 Rumšiškės, Kaišiadorys district, ☎ Information office +370 346 47392, Events +370 346 47245 ( [email protected] ).
Sartai Horse Racing (Sartų lenktynės) Hipodromas St, Didžiadvaris village, Dusetos elderate, LT-32300 Zarasai district. — This is annual fest which takes place in Aukštaitija National park, by Sartai lake near the small town of Dusetos since 19th century. Traditionally it is held on the first Saturday of February, it offers an exciting day to see the trotter horse race on the ice of the lake Sartai (when ice is too thin the race is held in hippodrome near the lake). The event has become one of the most spectacular winter events in Lithuania. Besides the race itself, the traditional fair always takes place as well. You are able to try traditional Lithuanian food and hot beverages to keep you warm. The guests of the fair are entertained by local music and dance groups. For visitors and participants: detailed information how to arrive, relevant weather conditions, as well as all other important information is provided at the official website of Sartai Horse Racing.
Hanseatic Days in Kaunas 2009
Kaunas Hanseatic Days (Hanza Kaunas) — annual festival that takes place in Kaunas . First celebrated in 2005, became very popular and one of the biggest events in Kaunas . Recently the festival is superposed with Kaunas City Day and celebrated in the middle of May.
Days of Live Archaeology, Kerniaus St 4a, LT-19172 Kernavė, Širvintos district (Kernavė, about 40 km North-West of Vilnius. Drive down the A2 highway up to Bukiškis (in fact still outskirts of Vilnius), then turn west on the underpass to the road No 171. Buses go regularly from the Vilnius bus station to Kernavė), ☎ Information +370 382 47385 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 382 47391). Festival lasts 3 days. edit This is annual International Festival of Experimental Archaeology which is dedicated to commemorate the King Mindaugas’ coronation day – Day of the Statehood. It takes place in Kernavė Archaeological Site which was included into UNESCO world heritage list in 2004. Usually it is held three days including weekend nearest to July 6. During the event visitors may become acquainted with re-created crafts and lifestyle of prehistoric period and the Early Middle Ages. Visitors have a chance to chop off piece of flint, to throw and to burn out a clay pot, to mint a coin, to shoot from a bow, visitors have a possibility to enjoy an impressive natural and historical environment, to listen to archaic music, to taste some ancient Lithuanian dishes. One of the main non-profit public organizations which helps to organize and participate in this events is "Pajauta" , their website is alternative reliable source of information in addition to the official website of Kernavė State Cultural Reserve . Besides that, the tourists can get all needful information at the Vilnius Tourist Information Centre .
Blues Nights (Bliuzo naktys) — traditional annual Blues and Rock festival that take place near Varniai town in Samogitia ( Žemaitija ) by the lake of Lūkstas. This is one of the best known and most popular such kind of events held in Lithuania. Details on location: Varniai is a central town of Varniai Regional Park (for the map click “Žemėlapiai”), which is one of two most interesting and attractive areas in Samogitia. The site of the festival is situated 2 km west of Varniai town on the northern shore of Lūkstas lake, the place is allotted for wild camping, scouting, outdoor recreation and various kinds of local festivals. Varniai Regional Park is situated almost in the very centre of Samogitia (Žemaitija) region, south of Telšiai and north of Šilalė, in Telšiai district. From the south it is accessible from the Kaunas-Klaipėda motorway A1, from the north you can arrive using Šiauliai - Palanga highway A11, enter Telšiai and head south some 32 km down the road No 160. By train: you have to get to Telšiai first, then get a bus to Varniai. By bus from major cities: there may be buses that go via Varniai, though it may be more convenient to get to Telšiai first and then get a local transport to Varniai from there. The date of event is the weekend on the first half of July. The ticket price for all days is around €15.
Galapagai ☎ information +370 645 30688 ( [email protected] ). First weekend of August. One of the biggest international music and entertainment open air festivals in Lithuania, known for its high-quality music and a wide choice of entertainment; has four scenes at a time. Used to take place in various locations but recently bases in Lake Zarasas Island, Zarasai resort area, NE corner of the country. Distance from Vilnius 147 km, from Šiauliai 220 km, from Daugavpils ( Latvia ) 28 km. Accommodation in local camp site (tents can be rented at the spot), for other options contact Zarasai Tourism Information Centre , address Sėlių Sq 22, LT-32110 Zarasai, e-mail [email protected] . Ticket ~€30 for 2 days/1 person. Family tickets available. Price varies a little depending on the purchase method. (55.735266,26.226299)
Visagino Country — annual Country music festival that takes place in Visaginas town NE of the country. Country music is a least favorite style of music in Lithuania, however this particular festival gained the enormous popularity, regardless the quality of music itself. Visagino Country evolved from the first Lithuanian country-music festival, named “Once Upon a Time on Easter” in 1990, which unfortunately was almost ruined by politicians. Since then, things have changed for the better, for the much much better…. and the beer runs free every year in the middle of August in a small town of Visaginas, situated north of Aukštaitija National Park in a beautiful corner of the country, surrounded with forests and lakes. Contacts: Draugystės St 12, LT-31222 Visaginas. Phone/fax +370 386 32411, e-mail [email protected] . Ticket for 1 adult costs around €10.
Mėnuo Juodaragis (Black Horned Moon or MJR for short) — this is an annual Lithuanian music festival for various post-folk, neo-folk, neo-pagan, alternative, experimental music and contemporary Baltic culture. Festival mostly is focusing on the heritage of pagan tradition, post-folk trends and avant-garde of contemporary music. Every year the festival is organized in picturesque locations of nature and stretches through three days and nights and has several scenes at a time. In the beginning, since 1997, it took place in different locations, recently Black Horned Moon bases in the forested Lake Zarasas Island in Zarasai resort area, NE corner of the country. Since 2010, every 4 years the festival temporarily change its location and format, thus 13th and 17th editions were unique and had a limited number of tickets. The 13th edition in 2010 took place by two beautiful Škilietai (Skeletons) lakes near the Devil’s Pit (Velnio duobė), and the 17th edition in 2014 took place in the middle of the country, in Skinderiškis Dendrological Park west of Kėdainiai . The date of event is the long weekend on the second half of August. Single-day ticket costs about €7-25, ticket for 3 days for 1 adult person costs about €35, the Family ticket covers all festival days for 2 adults and their child/children up to 12 years of age and costs about €65.
Apuolė-2009
Apuolė Festival (Apuolė 854) — traditional annual festival of ancient Baltic Warfare and Crafts that take place on and around Apuolė Hill-Fort at the remote North-West corner of the country in Apuolė vicinity, Aleksandrija elderate, Skuodas district (12 km south-east of Skuodas: head some 6 km east (road No 170), then turn to the right (road No 4603) Barstyčiai direction and drive 4.72 km, as soon as you leave Apuolė village you’ll see a big stone by the left hand side, turn left (400m), then leave the vehicle and walk to the right, cross Brukis rivulet and walk to the left). Apuolė is the oldest Lithuanian settlement mentioned in written sources; viking attack in 854 AD is commemorated by the annual medieval reenactment since 2004. Apuolė was an important wooden fortress of the Curonians, its hill-fort is situated on the confluence of Luoba and its tributary Brukis rivulet. There was a large settlement situated east of the fortress. The conflicts between the Curonians and Vikings were described in Vita Ansgari written by Saint Rimbert, archbishop of Bremen-Hamburg. According to Rimbert, King Olof of Sweden organized a large expedition into Curonian lands in 854, the sieg of Apuolė lasted for eight days, then both sides reached an agreement. The site of the hill-fort is situated in Apuolė Landscape Reserve which covers the area of 318 ha. During the festival the guests and participants can wild camp right at the southern foot of the hill near Bukis rivulet. The traditional fair always takes place as well; the guests can buy the food and drinks at the spot. Accommodation options available in vicinity several km away from Apuolė: motel-café Gintagnė in Aleksandrija, 8.5 km away; mini resort Mažosios Laumikės in Laumės, 16.4 km away; Gandrinė in Skuodas north-west suburb (Statybininkų St 20, Skuodas, phone +370 616 03376), 12.8 km away. Catering in Skuodas: "Skuodiškių Užeiga" at Vilniaus St 21, "Vespera" (catering and takeaway) at P. Cvirkos St 4. Public transport from Klaipėda : direct bus to Apuolė (F-Mo) departs 13:50, arrives 16:28; some 8 direct buses to Skuodas every day (journey takes 40 min less than to Apuolė). Buses from Skuodas to Apuolė: 06:40, 08:10 (M, F, Sa, Su), 15:05. Taxi by phone +370 682 16063. Official website of the festival is updated approximately 1 month before the event, alternative source is a site of Skuodas Region Culture and Tourism Office , information about the event appears at the “Renginiai” section (in Lithuanian), use online translator if necessary.
Hunting and fishing — Commercial hunting and fishing is allowed, popular, well organized and under control, and virtually does not make damage to nature. Poaching is strictly illegal, though still happens, even to the extent of organized crime. However it has a very negative attitude among entire society, intolerance to such kind of crimes is constantly increasing.
Horse riding is fairly popular among Lithuanians and some foreigners, Germans in particular. The "Yellow Pages" website lists about 50 stud-farms and other companies involved in this service. One of the best known and situated in attractive recreation area near Šiauliai is Kurtuvėnai Horse Riding Centre Parko St 2, Kurtuvėnai, LT-80223 Šiauliai district (Kurtuvėnai is a village near Šiauliai: from Šiauliai centre drive South-West down the A12 highway (Kelmė direction) about 15 km, then turn right after Bubiai village (road No 215) and drive about 5 km, then turn left to Kurtuvėnai), ☎ +370 640 33444 ( [email protected] ). Price for 2 h sightseeing horseback riding tour ~€30, many other services (short rides in a ring, private riding lessons, guided tours), posibility to rent equipment, premises etc for affordable prices, roughly ~€5-150.
Water tourism in warm season is one of the most popular forms of leisure activities among lithuanians. Depending on place, chosen water route and preferences you can choose specifically canoeing, kayaking, boating or rafting.
Canoeing in Minija river near Raguviškiai, Kretinga district.
Lithuanian terms:
baidarių nuoma (rent of canoes),
baidarės nuomai (canoes for rent),
vandens turizmas (water tourism).
Places to go canoeing
Usually every rental company offers the certain routes in certain rivers. You can choose the desirable region or a concrete river or lake and arrange your stay in some larger town there, the boats will be delivered to the agreed point and taken back after your journey. Alternatively, if you plan to stay in the certain city and have no concrete idea about the rivers, there always is some suitable water route not so far away from any city, just ask the company for suggestions. If you want to plan the trip yourself and need something to start with, one of the practical ways is to select your river or lake route using series of the 9 water-proof/tear-proof maps issued specifically for canoeists: you will know for sure that you have a map, you’ll be sure that all of those nine places are the most popular places for such kind of activities, and you’ll know where exactly you have to start and where you are supposed to finish.
The list of the names of the nine maps with short water route explanations (these are full routes which can be shortened according to your own preference):
1 — Dubysa (scale 1:40,000) – a prominent Samogitian river that flows in the middle of the country. The route from Mosteikiai village (N55°36'8.91" E23°4'57.67") east of Kelmė town up to Dubysa confluence with Nemunas near Seredžius town.
2 — Ignalinos ežerynas (scale 1:30,000) – an Ignalina Lakeland, the routes are divided to sections between relevant points across the numerous lakes in Aukštaitija National Park. Usual starting/ending point is a lake shore at Palūšė village (N55°19'38.45" E26°5'54.68").
3 — Jūra (scale 1:40,000) – Jūra, a river that flows across Samogitia into Nemunas River, already in Lithuania Minor region. The route from Kvėdarna (N55°33'1.73" E21°58'0.93") village up to the river mouth east of Rambynas Regional Park.
4 — Lakajai ir Lakaja (scale 1:30,000) – two lakes Baltieji (White) Lakajai and Juodieji (Black) Lakajai, and the river Lakaja are the main landmarks in Molėtai Lakeland. The route across the lakes and rivers from the beach in Molėtai town (N55°13'56.46" E25°25'42.28") up to the train stop “Žeimena” (N55°5'0.66" E25°55'46.4"). It also is convenient to finish 4.25 km earlier, soon after the confluence of Lakaja and Žeimena at Liūlinė village by the bridge (N55°6'4.08" E25°56'53.45") - the place is easily reachable by vehicles so it's possible to arrange your pick-up from here.
5 — Merkys (scale 1:30,000) – a Dzukian river that begins not far away from Vilnius and flows into Nemunas, south of the country by the town of Merkinė, a centre of Dzūkija National Park. The route from Valkininkai (N54°21'30.66" E24°50'42.16") up to the river mouth in Merkinė.
6 — Minija (scale 1:50,000) – a picturesque river that flows across the western Samogitia. The route from Stalgėnai (N55°49'56.59" E21°52'56.92") up to the river mouth in Nemunas Delta area.
7 — Šventoji (scale 1:50,000) – a prominent river in the middle of Aukštaitija region, the route from Žalioji village (N55°37'21.84" E25°25'40.13") NE of Anykščiai town up to Šventoji confluence with Neris, east of Jonava town.
8 — Ūla ir Merkys (scale 1:30,000) – Ūla, the famous river in Dzūkija National Park that flows into Merkys River north of Madrasavas village (N54°9'50.18" E24°20'1.26"). The route from Dubičiai (N54°1'45.11" E24°41'43.62") village up to Merkinė, a centre of Dzūkija National Park. The section from Dubičiai up to Pauosupė village (N54°5'35.58" E24°34'42.41") is free (takes about 9h), starting from Pauosupė up to confluence with Merkys a permit from National Park office is required, visiting is allowed since 1 May to 1 Oct, reservation at least 2 weeks prior to trip is recommended. “Ūla Region Canoe Rentals Association” (address Šilagėlių St 11, Marcinkonys village, Varėna district; phone +370 619 51451) is authorized to issue the permits, so only a local canoe rental company can do that. The whole route down Ūla River up to Merkys takes 3-4 days, down Merkys River up to the end takes about 2 days.
9 — Žeimena (scale 1:30,000) – a larger river that flows from Aukštaitija National Park down south into Neris. The route from Palūšė (N55°19'38.45" E26°5'54.68"), a centre of Aukštaitija National Park, up to the river mouth near the train stop ”Santaka” (N54°54'1.84" E25°38'36.29").
Additionally, you can look into a downloadable booklet of 23 water routes with maps and descriptions in English language, it gives a broader range of options to choose from.
Adventure Activities
Abandoned tunnels, Being led astray in the forest, Ghost tour, Tour in the swamp Various locations in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and vicinities, ☎ Mobile +370 652 16600 ( [email protected] ). Several options of guided adventure activities, can be booked in 4 cities. If EN page is empty use same page in LT version and online translator. Certain degree of physical fit and special dressing may be required. Some of the places may be found and visited on your own, however activities without a guide in some cases can cause serious injuries because of the lack of knowledge of the place specifics.
Dog Sledding - most suitable areas are in the eastern Lithuania, although there are several places in Samogitia too. The lithuanian portal of extreme sports Xteam lists some 4 companies all over the country offering this service. These companies are mostly so called "homesteads" which run countryside tourism business and offer various kinds of entertainment. There is no need to highlight any, they all good in their own way. Same applies to locations, practically the choice depends on personal preferences, financial and time factors and also on mood. One of the clubs seriously involved into this sports is Top Dogz (Rogių Šunys) L. and I. Daujotai, Vičiūnai village, Kernavė elderate, LT-19170 Širvintos district, ☎ Mobile +370 650 99985, +370 650 34844 ( [email protected] ). Among other companies which offer dog sledding all year round, is one especially attractive due to its superb location, south-east of Kernavė in a most mysterious part of Neris Regional Park, called Devil's Corner (Velniakampis) - Adventure Academy (Nuotykių akademija) . Contact phone +370 699 86767, address Žalgiris village, Vievis elderate, Elektrėnai municipality.
Hot air ballooning (Oreivių klubas “Antis” - Ballooning club “Duck”), Every city and countryside (Exact conditions depend on weather at the moment of the event), ☎ Mobile +370 699 34154 ( [email protected] ). Orders: choose menu option “e-parduotuvė”, conditions should be agreed in advance via e-mail. For other options in the cities of Vilnius , Kaunas , Alytus see the corresponding city article. Regular flight €75-100 per person, special or VIP flight €300-450 per person.
Military Entertainments (Kariauk), LT Staff HQ: Ratnyčios St 58, Vilnius (Šnipiškės district), ☎ Mobile +370 655 11157, no SMS ( [email protected] ). M-Su 12:00-23:45. Has a 40 ha firing ground in the guarded territory of an actual former Soviet firing ground, address Vismaliukų St 18, Vismaliukai village, Vilnius municipality; two interactive fire ranges in Vilnius (details on Vilnius article); Klaipėda region Staff HQ, phone +370 653 87889, e-mail [email protected]
Recreational shooting - some related legal info: 1) all firearms of categories A, B and C that are or occur in the Republic of Lithuania must be registered at the Weaponry Fund , 2) all category D weapons are purchased without a permit; 3) airsoft “guns” are not considered weapons and may be purchased by persons under 18 years of age.
Archery HQ: Savanorių Ave 180, LT-03154 Vilnius (Top floor of the 4 storey industrial building in Žemieji Paneriai district), ☎ Mobile +370 698 40861 ( [email protected] ). Tu, Th 16:00-17:00, Sa 12:00-16:00; any time by prior arrangement. Info and registration by phone +370 614 31288. Has an indoor range in Vilnius, a summer archery range in the souther suburb of Trakai and another one within Trakai Castle. Entertainment can be also arranged in any other location, price ~€300 plus transportation expenses. Offer some extra entertainments: arcuballista target shooting (~€300 for up to 4h), axe throwing (~€120), slingshot shooting to clay pots (~€150 - 5 pots to smash for each person) for unlimited number of participants; seminar on Medieval warfare (~€120), photo session with personal cameras (~€150). Target shooting (indoor or outdoor range): individuals and small groups can join the tournaments, €15,00/3h to 4h for 1 person; 3D target shooting while walking in the chosen environment (or along the prearranged forest archery course) from €300/1.5h-3h for unlimited number of participants (shootings are being performed according to IFAA rules). Preordered organized entertainments ~€300 per 3h. (54.64848,25.21623)
Combat weapons:
Indoor Range Žemaitė St 6, LT-03117, Vilnius (New Town district near Rimi Hypermarket, 3rd floor of the Physical Culture and Sports Department), ☎ Reservation +370 616 26712 ( [email protected] ). Advance reservation required. Also has premises suitable for celebrations and conferences. For 1 person: rent of one shooting-place €10/h, instructor €5/h, rent of a gun €3/h, single shot €0.7 (handgun)….€1 (rifle). (55°6′20.97″N,23°26′20.36″E)
Outdoor Range Malūno St 25, Padubysis village, Seredžius elderate, LT-74423 Jurbarkas district (W of Kaunas / N of Seredžius, 5 km to Nemunas river; 25 min by car from Kaunas, or 1 h 30 min by car from either Vilnius or Klaipėda), ☎ Reservation +370 676 36114 ( [email protected] ). Advance reservation required. The largest (9 ha) outdoor shooting range conveniently set away from inhabitants. Shooting range rental for person: short sector €9/1h, 100-200m sector €7/1h; weapon rental without rounds €5-7. (55°6′20.97″N,23°26′20.36″E)
Hunting weapons Administration: J. Biliūnas St 4-8, LT-29114, Anykščiai. Shooting range: Džiugai village, Anykščiai district (Central Aukštaitija), ☎ Shooting range +370 699 14451 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 381 50702). M-F 09:00-18:00. Advance registration required. Offer shooting various moving and stationary targets. For the gunmen who do not have own weapons and ammunition: instructor for 1 person up to 1h - €10, rifle rent up to 1h - €12, clay pigeon (2 rounds 1 cup) - €1, shooting the moving/stationary target (1 round) - €1, area for rifle shooting - €10/30 min... €15/1 h, safety equipment for up to 1 h - €1-2. (55.383673,)
Riding the armoured car, there are two tankodromes that offer this entertainment: one near Jurbarkas, another closer to Vilnius. edit
Tankodrome (near Jurbarkas) Žirniškiai village, Jurbarkas district (Private testing ground west of Kaunas and Jurbarkas, 3.10 km N of the 141 highway), ☎ Mobile +370 678 81155. 10:00-18:00. British Army armoured car FV432. Some additional entertainments. Riding the armoured car with driver, no less than 5 persons €11, driving the armoured car €60.
Tankodrome (close to Vilnius) 23th km on A1 Hwy, Trakai district (Testing ground right behind the Royal Old Kybyn Inn (Karališka Senoji Kibininė)), ☎ Mobile +370 699 19931, no SMS ( [email protected] ). By prior arrangement; in summer every Sa 11:00-18:00. British Army armoured car FV432 MK2. Riding the armoured car with driver, no less than 5 persons (15 min) €10, driving the armoured car €60 in advance, or €71 at the spot. (54.701707N,25.005004E)
Pilgrimages[ edit ]
Pilgrimage places define the geographical area within which the place is known and from which pilgrims are drawn. The location of nature objects, such as mounds, forests, trees, stones and water embodied the network of sacred places in the pre-Christian Lithuania. The ancient Balts had their own center of pilgrimage Rickoyto (Romuva), its geographical locality is still unknown. It is, that the trinity of Baltic gods – Perkūnas (Thunder God), Patrimpas (Fertility God) and Pikuolis (Underworld God) – were venerated under the old and high-powered oak at that place. The 16th-17th centuries are the formative period of the network of Christian pilgrimage places in Lithuania. Trakai , Šiluva, Gate Of Dawn (Aušros Vartai), Samogitian Calvary ( Žemaičių Kalvarija ), Vilnius Calvary were the main pilgrimage centers as well as Vilnius Cathedral (veneration of Saint Casimir). The new pilgrimage places refreshed the network in the 18th–19th centuries, the Hill of Crosses, an ancient hill-fort of Jurgaičiai , became one of them when after uprising of 1831 and 1863 the crosses had been built in the memory of dead. The places of apparitions of Virgin Mary complement the network of pilgrimage places in the 20th century exclusively. The obstruction for pilgrimage to the sacred places either places of apparitions was evident in the soviet era; several places (Vilnius Calvary, The Hill of Crosses, Janoniai Spring in Anykščiai district ) were destroyed physically. The 23 main catholic pilgrimage places can be grouped at the present time. Most of them are bound with the cult of Virgin Mary (12 – the worship places of images of Holy Mary, 3 – places of apparitions, 1 – the place of coronet image and apparition). The second groups – Calvaries (5 places, the Samogitian Calvary has the miraculous image too), the places of saints and cult of holy persons (4 places, the Cathedral of Vilnius has the coronet image of Holy Mary too), the worship places of Cross (2 places) and holy spring (Mažučiai Spring 2 km away from Alksnėnai village, Vilkaviškis district).
The main and most popular places of pilgrimage today are included into the tourist routes.
Motor vehicle transport is one of the forms of travel mode to the most pilgrimage places in Lithuania (individual cars, shuttle or charter buses). Pilgrimage is travelling on foot too, this is popular among youth. Directions of traveling on foot can be divided into 3 large areas:
Sarcophagus of Saint Casimir at Vilnius Cathedral.
1 – in Samogitia: Samogitian Calvary ( Žemaičių Kalvarija ), Beržoras;
2 – in Central Lithuania: Šiluva, the Hill of Crosses (Kryžių kalnas), Krekenava (28.60 km south-west of Panevėžys), Pažaislis ( Kaunas suburb);
3 – in Dzūkija: Gate of Dawn (Aušros Vartai) in Vilnius , Trakai , Pivašiūnai (23 km north-east of Alytus).
Pilgrimage by foot from the Hill of Croses to Šiluva is organized by Šiauliai Diocese annually in the beginning of September.
Pilgrimage by foot from the Gate of Dawn to Trakai is organized by Vilnius Archdiocese Youth Centre annually in the beginning of September.
Sport[ edit ]
Lithuanians are proudest of one thing: Basketball. To them it is not just a sport, but a symbol of freedom. Lithuanians had been oppressed by the Russians for a long time, kept fighting against them and were the first to declare their independence from the Soviet Union. Basketball finalized this process when the newly independent country of Lithuania participated in the World Olympics in Barcelona: they barely managed to raise enough money to send the team to the tournament, but they returned as heroes because they came back with a bronze medal after besting the Russian team for it. This victory was even more meaningful because, in previous Olympic games, Lithuanian athletes had been forced to play for the Soviet Union, winning a gold medal for the Soviets in the 1988 Olympics. Lithuania also has the highest number of NBA players per capita of any country, and is consistently one of the top-ranked countries according to The International Basketball Association (FIBA).
Lithuania is as basketball-mad as the British are with football or New Zealand with rugby. Lithuania is one of the most successful teams in international competition, winning medals in three out of four Olympic tournaments, (bronze), and finishing fourth in 2008. Major domestic clubs are BC Žalgiris from Kaunas and BC Lietuvos Rytas from Vilnius . Basketball is so popular in Lithuania that you are sure to find a basketball court in almost every park and playground.
Be careful if some people challenge you to a basketball game. Common Lithuanians are very good in basketball, and you might just embarrass yourself.
Arvydas Sabonis is a legendary basketball player that earned a spot in Basketballs Hall of Fame.
Artūras Karnišovas is all time leading scorer for Lithuanian national team.
Swimming is also a sport that is gaining a lot of attention, especially after Rūta Meilutytė won olympic gold medal in women's breaststroke.
Žydrūnas Savickas is another person that Lithuanians are proud of. He is considered as the strongest man in the world.
Knowing Lithuanian sports will definitely help you win their hearts.
Major sports venues[ edit ]
Siemens Arena Ozo St 14, LT-08200 Vilnius (Vilnius, north of centre, Baltupiai district), ☎ +370 5 247-7576 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 5 247-7578).
Pramogų Arena (Former Ice Arena), Ąžuolyno St 9, LT-07171 Vilnius (Vilnius, north-west of centre, Viršuliškės district), ☎ +370 5 242-4444 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 5 242-4400). Weekdays - 14:00-20:00, weekends 12:00-20:00.
Basketball in Žalgiris Arena
Žalgiris Arena Karaliaus Mindaugo Ave 50, Kaunas (Kaunas, south of the Old Town, near Akropolis mall, on the island of Neman river), ☎ Ticket Office in Arena +370 37 354-403 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 37 406-967).
Švyturys Arena (Švyturio arena), Dubysos St 10, Klaipėda (Klaipėda, west of 2nd ferry to Smiltyne terminal, east of a roundabout at Taikos pr./Baltijos pr.), ☎ ticket office +370 46 241-500, mob. +370 640 23858 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 46 241-517). Tuesday-Friday 12:00-19:00.
"Šiaulių Arena" in Šiauliai, in winter.
Šiauliai Arena (Šiaulių arena), J. Jablonskis St 16, Siauliai (Šiauliai, south-west of the centre, beyond the railway, head on down the main street (Tilžės gatvė) up to the major crossing, turn to the right, the park can be seen in a distance.), ☎ Information about tickets +370 41 540-151, Mobile phone +370 682 48822 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 41 540-755). M-F 8:00-19:00.
Cido Arena Parko St 12, LT-37310 Panevėžys (Panevėžys, west of centre, from the main crossing Klaipėdos St/Nemuno St head north.), ☎ +370 45 440-252 ( [email protected] ).
Utena Arena (Utenos daugiafunkcinis sporto centras), K. Donelaitis St 38, LT-28141 Utena (Utena, north of bus station, at the edge of the park), ☎ Info about tickets and services +370 389 70012, info specifically about swimming pool and gym +370 389 65143 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 389 52709). In 1958 the first children's Sport School in Utena was opened, it was a beginning of the sports complex gradual development which ended up by constructing this multifunctional arena (opened on 30 Apr 2009).
Alytus Arena (Alytaus sporto ir rekreacijos centras), Naujoji St 52, LT-62381 Alytus (Alytus, north-west of the centre, by the main street), ☎ +370 315 37622 ( centras@asrc , fax: +370 315 37622).
Snow Arena Nemuno kelias 2, Mizarai village, LT-67308 Druskininkai municipality (Druskininkai, Nort-West from the centre, on the other bank of Neman river; walk North-East to the bridge, cross the river, then turn left.), ☎ ticket office +370 313 69699, Mob. +370 615 35415 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 313 69599). For adult 18+: 2h M-F - €12, 2h on weekend - €20; one full day M-F - €16, one day during weekend or holiday - €22.
Major football stadiums[ edit ]
Žalgiris Rinktinės St 3/11, Vilnius (Vilnius, right bank of Neris river, north of Gediminas Castle).
LFF stadionas (Former 'FC Vėtra' Stadium), Liepkalnio St13/2, Vilnius (Vilnius, south of the Old Town, south of Gates of Dawn, about 300 m behind the railway).
S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium (S. Dariaus ir S. Girėno sporto centras), Perkūno al 5, LT-44221 Kaunas (Kaunas, north of bus station, north-east of the Old Town; the stadium is next to the legendary basketball arena Kaunas Sports Hall (Kauno sporto halė)), ( [email protected] ). (54.5350,23.5613)
ARVI Football Arena Kauno St 125, Marijampolė (Marijampolė, north-east of centre, at the outskirts near the main highway A5. Driving from north go to the town directly, don't turn on a bypass. Driving from south, bypass the town (highway A5) and enter the town from north.). (54°34′28.37″N,23°21′55.41″E)
Motorsport[ edit ]
Nemuno Žiedas (Motor racing circuit Nemunas Ring near Kačerginė), Racing circuit: Gaižėnėliai village, LT- 53455 Kaunas district. HQ: Vytauto pr. 23, Kaunas, ☎ +370 37 211-969, Mobile +370 682 51172 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 37 211-969). (N54.92475,E23.70147)
Golf courses[ edit ]
Europos centro golfo klubas Girija village, LT-15010 Vilnius district (North of Vilnius, Molėtai Highway 26 km), ☎ +370 616 26366 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 616 34649).
The V Golf Club P.O. BOX 2590, LT-03005 Vilnius, Lithuania (North-West of Vilnius, Highway A2,19th kilometre, Hotel 'Le Meridien Vilnius'), ☎ +370 5 273-9700 ( [email protected] ).
The Capitals Golf Club (Sostinių golfo klubas), Pipiriškės village, Pastrėvis elderate, LT-21331 Elektrėnai municipality (Between Vilnius and Kaunas, specifically in the middle between Elektrėnai and Trakai), ☎ +370 619 99999 ( [email protected] ).
"Elnias" (Red Deer) (Golf Club 'Elnias'), Didžiosios Lapės village, LT-54400 Kaunas district (North of Kaunas city, Kaunas district, on the right bank of Neris river), ☎ +370 37 470-237, Mobile +370 686 30777 ( [email protected] ).
Wolf Golf Club (Vilkės golfo klubas), Kamorūnai village, Leipalingis, Druskininkai district. Club HQ: Vaistariškių St 7, LT-44104 Kaunas (Location of Golf course: southern Lithuania, 19 km away from Druskininkai, few km North-East of Leipalingis town, by Vilkė (Wolf) stream), ☎ Reception +370 611 45333, HQ +370 698 30658 ( [email protected] ). General information via e-mail [email protected] . First Scottish-style 18-hole golf course, a length of more than 6 km.
National Golf Resort Stančiai village, Kretingalė elderate, LT-96336 Klaipėda district (North of Klaipėda, between Klaipėda and Kretinga, specifically 3 km north Kretinga direction from the crossroad of the roads A13 and No 168), ☎ +370 46 420-000, Mobile +370 655 22222 ( [email protected] ).
Buy[ edit ][ add listing ]
Lithuania has the euro (€) as its sole currency along with 24 other countries that use this common European money. These 24 countries are: Austria , Belgium , Cyprus , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania, Luxembourg , Malta , the Netherlands , Portugal , Slovakia , Slovenia and Spain (official euro members which are all European Union member states) as well as Andorra , Kosovo , Monaco , Montenegro , San Marino and the Vatican which use it without having a say in eurozone affairs and without being European Union members. Together, these countries have a population of more than 330 million.
One euro is divided into 100 cents. While each official euro member (as well as Monaco, San Marino and Vatican) issues its own coins with a unique obverse, the reverse, as well as all bank notes, look the same throughout the eurozone. Every coin is legal tender in any of the eurozone countries.
Lithuania adopted the euro on 1 January 2015, replacing the litas.
Shopping[ edit ]
Lithuania has a lot of shopping malls for so few inhabitants but there isn't a big difference between Lithuania's shopping malls and those in other parts of Europe.
Vilnius recently became a shopper's paradise when plenty of massive shopping centres were opened all over the city. Akropolis (a chain of shopping malls in Lithuania) is one of them and definitely worth visiting if you are a shopping malls maniac, as it houses an ice skating rink, bowling lanes and a cinema.
Shopping centre Helios City in Savanorių Avenue offers to have dinner, to take a cup of coffee and to go shopping under the one roof. On the first and the second floors of the Helios City restaurants, cafes, small shops, beauty salon, dry cleaning and other service companies are located. The centre of the city or the Old Town and the new leisure and service centre are separated by less than 1.5km. It is convenient to access the Helios City from any place of the city – either by public or proper transport.
Gariūnai is the Baltic's largest open air market, located on the western edge of Vilnius . Thousands of merchants can be found there on a good weekend, from not only Lithuania, but also from as far away as Ukraine. Clothes, shoes, and even music can be bought there. Counterfeit goods still can be found, and it was a serious issue several years ago. But since it's illegal the demand has decreased significantly, and as a consequence profits decreased as well, therefore merchants are not really interested in such trade even without an effort of authorities. Overall, a low price is guaranteed, quality is not.
Kaunas is also a city of shopping centres, and the centre of the city, Laisvės avenue is a pedestrian thoroughfare. The main shopping centres in Kaunas are: Akropolis, Mega , Molas , Savas , HyperMaxima, and Urmas shopping area . There is even that symbol of "mall culture", which is new to Lithuania, Akropolis. Actually, Mega has the biggest aquarium in whole Europe that could be find in a mall. It has more than 800 fishes from every ocean and various seas. It is more than worth seeing.
Klaipeda is a major shopping centre for people from Latvia and Kaliningrad. The main shopping centres are: Akropolis, Arena, Studlendas and BIG . Many people coming to the city on cruise ships shop in Klaipeda , due to the good value and price combination.
The cost of living in Lithuania is cheaper than Western European Countries, some of the other Baltic Countries have similar prices, with some being even cheaper.
Eat[ edit ][ add listing ]
Lithuanian dinners usually include meat, potato, vegetables and sometimes a curd sauce of some sort. Case in point: the cepelinai, or zeppelins, which are meat filled potato-starch based zeppelin-shaped masses traditionally slathered in a sauce of sour cream, butter, and pork cracklings. Pork is traditionally eaten, beef much less so. Needless to say, vegans will have a hard time eating out, although some large restaurant chains will have vegetarian dishes on the menu.
Some fast food in Lithuania, such as Kibinai, (from the Karaim people) small turnovers usually filled with spiced lamb, and Cheburekai (a Russian snack), large folds of dough with a scant filling of meat, cheese, or even apples, can be found around the city.
Many restaurants have menus in English (usually in the Lithuanian menu) and to a lesser extent, Russian. Though use caution as sometimes menus in other languages may have inflated prices, although this is a rarity, and won't be found in Vilnius , or the better known chains such as Čili Pica (Chili Pizza).
If you are traveling to Lithuanian shore from the eastern part of Lithuania and you are passing through Karmelava you must try Cepelinai. The Restaurant is called Briedžių Medžioklė (address Vilniaus street 54, Karmėlava) and they have the biggest size Cepelinai in the whole country. Usually, 3 or 4 homemade Cepelinai call fill up a big person. To eat 2 Cepelinai at Briedžių Medžioklė is a huge achievement. Usually Lithuanians make the stop at Karmėlava because in their eyes a trip to shore is extremely long and across the country, even though it lasts only a little bit over 2 hours.
Drink[ edit ][ add listing ]
Lithuania is a beer drinking country, with the most famous brands being Švyturys, Kalnapilis, Utenos, Horn and Gubernija. A visit to a kiosk will show that there may be more than 50 different brands of beer in this small country. Alcohol percentages are displayed on the label, and usually range from 4 to 9.5 percent. Compared to other European countries, beer is usually affordable, in shops approx. 0.50 to 1 € per half litre, in bars approx. 0.75 to 2 € per half litre (beer is sold by the half or full litre, a full litre being found rarely). The beer tastes excellent, putting global brands to shame and it can be said that Lithuanian lager is of at least equal quality to Czech, Slovak, German, and Polish lager. A request for a Lithuanian beer always generates goodwill, even in a Chinese or other foreign-themed restaurant.
When you visit a bar or restaurant without intending to eat, try one of the bar snacks, which are very popular among Lithuanians. The most popular of these snacks consists of a bowl of pieces of garlic bread covered in cheese.
In addition to beer, rather cheap but high quality vodka (or "degtinė" in Lithuanian) is consumed, but not to the extent usually associated with this part of the world. Also, every region has its own home-made speciality of which "Samane" is most famous/notorious and is best avoided. The larger supermarkets have an incredible variety of vodka from all the main vodka-producing countries.
Lithuanian mead, or midus is a beverage produced exclusively under government control. It is commonly made from all sorts of Lithuanian flora, from leaves and berries to some tree bark. Alcohol percentages range from 10% to 75% (considered medicinal).
For tourists, quality sparkling wines, such as Alita or Mindaugas, and local liqueurs are popular choices to bring back home.
Keep in mind the law that came into effect from Jan 2009 that prohibits selling alcohol in shops between 10PM and 8AM (bars, cafes, restaurants etc. are exempt from this).
In shops and cafés different tea and coffee qualities are widely available. The selection in coffee ranges from northern European brands to French ones. In coffee houses, you should expect to pay up to 1.50 € for your coffee. Some cafés offer also a variety of special coffees with more or less special prices. Many cafes (kavinės) still make "lazy" coffee, which is simply coffee grounds and boiling water, unfiltered, with grounds at the bottom of the cup, often surprising the drinker - ask before you buy! Tea is usually sold at 50% of the price of coffee. Some of the wonderful drinks such as the Marganito are great for fun filled party drinks and rated one of the top kinds of wine in the country, perfect for weddings.
Unlike restaurants, or pubs aimed at tourists, bars (Baras) may be frequented by heavy drinkers and can therefore be somewhat rowdy. Nevertheless a visit may still be very rewarding, especially if you accept an invitation to participate in karaoke.
A law banning smoking in cafés, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, discotheques and other public establishments was passed in May 2006, and came into effect on 1 Jan 2007. However, many nightclubs have internal smoking rooms, which have a degree of ventilation.
Tap water is suitable for drinking in many parts of Lithuania. In other areas, local people prefer to purchase bottled water or to run tap water through water filters. If you need to buy bottled water, a 5 litre bottle is not much more expensive than a one litre bottle. Where in doubt about the tap water, seek local advice.
Mineral water is also offered in restaurants, cafés and shops, although it's a bit more expensive than tap water. Some popular brands are Rasa, Tichė and Vytautas.
Sleep[ edit ][ add listing ]
There are two main clearly distinguished types of accommodation in Lithuania: “urban style” accommodation and “countryside style” accommodation. Roughly the former type is called Viešbutis (Hotel), and the latter is called Sodyba (Homestead). Which one belongs to the actual hotel or hostel, or B&B, or some other standard international category depends on how the owners' marketing policy is aimed at foreign visitors. Domestically it is considered that the actual difference is only in those two types of accommodation and price. For example, the range of “urban” type of accommodation may be called by locals a luxury hotel, budget hotel, a cosy hotel, and a motel – those all versus the “homestead”, which can range from a cosy little farmhouse style hotel to mini-resort. This may be very useful to know if you want to move around without pre-booking accommodation or just in unusual circumstances: you’ll be able to understand locals if they say that “there are no hotels, only one farmstead (homestead) nearby”, and you won’t try to insist that “there must be a B&B, I know that for sure”.
Hotels, motels, hostels, apartments[ edit ]
There are several international hotel chains in the major Lithuanian cities, and a variety of local hotels. Many hotels and motels are members of Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association , some hostels are members of Lithuanian Hostels Association . Hotels, hostels and motels are ranked by stars (1 to 5 stars). The price of accommodation depends very much on the place. For instance, in Joniškis (Northern Lithuania), you can get a good hotel room for about €30 whereas an equivalent room might be as much as €60-90 in Vilnius .
Some hotels in Neringa and Palanga may be similarly or more expensive as in Vilnius because of highly acclaimed location. In this case the price may seem high and hotel itself overrated, but it all is determined by location. It especially applies to Neringa which is a more expensive place in all respects.
Most hotels do have web home pages, but some do not. Nevertheless, the Internet helps considerably in planning.
You will find the hotels of every town in their own articles. However, remember that this is a service maintained by the volunteers and you should not wait for current prices let alone that there would be all the possibilities listed.
Most large cities such as Vilnius or Kaunas have an abundance of hotel options from €15 and up. When travelling to a popular vacation spot in the summer and around the New Year (like Palanga or Druskininkai ) make sure to book a room in advance because demand may outnumber supply. Additionally, some of the cafes on the main highways between cities also have rooms to rent.
Hostels, usually called Svečių namai (Guest Houses), provide simple, budget accommodation. They may be good places to meet other travellers and wrong places if you expect to deal with locals.
If you want to rent the apartment, the prices will be usually from €200 a month. In the biggest towns there are companies which rent apartments "to the long-time tourist or worker". In these you complete on good conditions the apartment furnished and cleaned by the cleaner from €300.
If you are looking for an apartment for a shorter period (from a few days onwards), do a Web search for "trumpalaikė butų nuoma". This will give you some portals or sites of companies, though not all of them are available in English – some are, however, available in other languages such as German, Polish or Russian. Also you can use option of online translation, it often is sufficient.
Countryside tourism homesteads[ edit ]
Cottages of "Miego Klinika" ("Sleep Clinic") homestead in Kurtuvėnai Regional Park, Kelmė district
Homestead (Sodyba, nom., sing. or sodybos, nom., plur.) is a common name of the separate tourism industry branch. One of the key features is that homesteads typically are not related to agriculture, but usually are associated with short-term and long-term recreation places. They are a type of accommodation in the countryside. Homesteads which are members of Lithuanian Countryside Tourism Association are ranked by storks (1 to 5 storks). The official website of the Association Countryside.lt offers the shining catalogue for accommodation alternatives and you find nearly all the countryside targets and a reservation system from there.
There are 10 official types of activity; each homestead is focused on one or several of them. Here is a list of all ten types of activity you can choose from their website: Quiet recreation, Culture recreation, Active recreation, Holidays for Families, Culinary Heritage, Environment-friendly Homestead, Wellness Homestead, Family Celebrations, Business events, Agrotourism.
Currently the association has over 400 homesteads, most of which provide Quiet recreation services (around 200 homesteads). The Family Celebrations are in second place, and the third is the Holidays for Families with children. Culinary heritage homesteads are scattered throughout the regions and offer services related to the traditions of the concrete region.
The popularity of Celebrations service can answer the question where the Lithuanian urban youth go to celebrate: the further from city the better. You have a whole house with all equipment and a territory with ponds and saunas on your own... and everything is surrounded with a large forest. This is a striking difference compared to the Westerners who come to the Baltic cities to get drunk. It may give you an idea why locals sometimes express a very negative attitude to the foreign visitors and insist that they are inappropriately behaving in the inappropriate place. You should know and accept that the forest is an appropriate place in such situations. Homestead that is focusing on Celebrations provides a far more adequate service than some luxury hotel or a restaurant in a city can offer.
The styles of homestead range from very simple “sleeping with the grandmother" to large mini-resorts. Three homesteads listed below are not only deserving attention, but also distinctly represent three different styles. They all are conveniently situated near the main roads, but at the same time conveniently secluded. The first one is almost in the middle of the country, Samogitia region; the second one is in the centre of the country not far from Kaunas and Via Baltica, Aukštaitija region; and the third one is closer to the capital and situated on the edge of Aukštaitija and Dzūkija regions.
Karpynė (Carp Estate), Gabšiai village, Raseiniai district (0.5km north of the A1 motorway Vilnius-Kaunas: 173km from Vilnius or 137km from Klaipėda), ☎ +370 428 70123, mobile +370 650 77437 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 428 70124). checkin: 14:00; checkout: 12:00. Coordinates N55°20'22" E23°05'52". This place is not only devoted to fishing, so beloved by Lithuanians, but also has the setting that Lithuanians find to be attractive for recreation. Guesthouse eastern side: double room €40/1 person, €47/2 persons w breakfast; guesthouse western side €52/1 person, €58/2 persons; additional person in the room €20 (w breakfast) ; tripple with a sitting room (for a family of 4 persons) €90; Lux €73/1 person, €87/2 persons. Timber huts: €47/2 persons, €66/3 persons, €85/4 persons, additional person in the hut €20 (breakfast included). (N55°20'22'',E23°05'52'')
Medžiotojų sostinė (Hunter’s Capital), Malūno St 6, Kunioniai village LT-58020, Kėdainiai district (SW of Kėdainiai: 22.5km west from Via Baltica viaduct south of Kėdainiai at 55.219884, 24.032946, or 13km north from the A1 motorway viaduct at 55.139439, 23.723322), ☎ +370 608 15251 ( [email protected] ). Coordinates 55°11'54.08"N, 23°50'9.16"E. Total number of sleeping places for business events 30-40, for family celebrations and parties ~50. Capacity without accommodation up to 120. 1ha recreation area territory. Clay pigeon shooting, archery, individual training, tournaments, competitions. The place is styled like a "sanctuary" of hunters and set in a corresponding environment: southernmost end of a tiny village several metres to Šušvė River Landscape Reserve; cozy, picturesque and nearly untouched nature. This is a homestead for all kinds of fests and business conferences. 1 bed €9-25, whole homestead €145-1,400. (55.19836,23.83588)
Elniakampis (Deer’s Corner), No 3 Elniakampis village, Sudervė elderate, Vilnius district (Territory of Neris Regional Park, from Vilnius: road to Kernavė No 171, turn south at 54.81108, 24.986659; or from Kernavė: drive towards Vilnius and turn south 1.6km after Dūkštos; then drive 2.63km down the forest path up to 54.790918, 24.971595 and turn West), ☎ Mobile +370 686 12112 ( [email protected] ). Coordinates 54°47'25.98", 24°58'5.32". Tennis courts, basketball, football, volleyball sites, table tennis, billiard. Total capacity up to 120 guests, and up to 90 guests for lodging. Features the kind of setting that Lithuanians like most: a cosy oasis in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dense impassable forest, suitable for berry/mushroom hunting, and only 12 min by car from the nearest regional road. No road signs, no signboards or plates suggesting the presence of a delightful stay. The only signs near the main road are pointing to the HQ of the Forest Enterprise at the corner. Prices depend on season, number of people and services. (54.790551,24.968146)
Camping[ edit ]
Road signs: different types of accommodation.
There are two kinds of camping in Lithuania: wild camping at the appointed place where you have a right to park your car and set up the tent - and “civilized” camping at the camp site suitable for camper vans.
Most of the latter camp sites are the members of Lithuanian Camp Site Association (Lietuvos kempingų asociacija) , they have at least the basic facilities of shower/toilet blocks, and often offer a range of useful additional facilities. Camp sites are ranked by stars (1 to 4 stars). Most of camp sites are in recreation areas and very few are near the main roads. There are about 25 camp sites that are members of the association, and several that are not. Lithuanians consider this kind of business not profitable. If there is a need for a camp site it is very common to look for the homestead instead: many homesteads allow to stay with the camper vans or just to set the tent in their territory, some have the parking sites specifically for campers, separately from the car parking lots. All facilities are available, living comforts vary in accordance with the rank (storks) of the homestead. Therefore it is impossible to come across the camp site incidentally just driving down the main road (e.g. Via Baltica) if you don’t know its location beforehand or don’t look specifically. In this case one should also pay attention to the road signs of homesteads.
Camp sites by the main roads:
By Via Baltica near Kaunas – Kaunas Camp Inn Raudondvaris Highway 161A, Kaunas (From south: as soon as you cross Nemunas river turn to the left (west) away from Kaunas and towards Raudonvaris; from north – turn to the right (west) towars the lake near the road before you reach the bridge. The beach visible from the distance belong to the camp site), ☎ Mobile +370 602 33444 ( [email protected] ). Open since 1 May to 30 Sep. Location is a popular recreation area of Kaunas' citizens in summer time. Adult - €5, camper – €12, car - €3, motorbike - €1.5, night in a cottage - €20, tent - €3.5. (54.91583,23.83333)
Campsite for wild camping in Valkininkai forest: view from the cognitive path along the outcrop of Merkys river to the site equipped with typical forest arbours, benches and places to have a bonfire. Coordinates of the forest arbour 54°21'0.89"N, 24°50'3.99"E .
By the A1 motorway north of Kaunas – Kaunas City Jonavos St 51A, Kaunas (Eastern bank of Neris river, south of the A1 motorway. Driving from the east turn before the bridge, and driving from the west turn after the bridge – the white road sign in lithuanian shows a direction to the 3 districts of Kaunas, no camp site sign there), ☎ Mobile +370 618 09407 ( [email protected] ). Also camping cabins for rent. Open since 1 May to 30 Sep. Adult - €4.3, camper – €9.3. (54.93424,23.91778)
Within Vilnius city – Vilnius City Parodų St 11, LT-04215 Vilnius (West of centre, in the valley of a northern bank of Neris river, north from viaduct, the bridge, and Exhibition Centre which is behind the pine grove and not visible from the main streets (Oslo and Laisvės)), ☎ Mobile +370 629 72223 ( [email protected] ). Also offer cabins for rent. Open since 1 May to 10 Sep. Although it is within the city, location is very convenient to arrive, to set a base for the further exploration, and to leave. Territory is within the exhibition complex, in the valley, and is surrounded with pine grove, the built up areas are not visible but very close and easy to reach. Adult - €4.5, camper – €12. (N 54.6803,E 25.2260)
SW of Šiauliai near the A12 highway – Dvarkiemis (Mansion Yard – the complex is retro styled like a countryside manor), Meškiai St 37, Meškiai village, Bubiai elderate, Šiauliai district (Seven km away from Šiauliai city, mini resort visible from the highway, follow the road signs), ☎ +370 41 552575, mob. +370 685 34431 ( [email protected] ). Recreation and entertainment complex that have all needful facilities and offer a wide range of entertainment, rather typical for such complexes all over the country . (N 55.864918,E 23.171713)
The other kind of camp sites, plenty of which are marked on the regional maps with an icon resembling a tent (specified on bilingual legend: stovyklavietė, en. transl. campsite, in contrast to the camp sites suitable for camper vans: kempingas, en. transl. camping), are just a small plots of meadow in the depth of the forests and by the rivers. Some of those icons indicate the presence of homesteads that specialize in countryside tourism industry and offer a certain zone where the canoeists and bicyclists can stay in their tents overnight for the small fee. Typically such sites are surrounded with impassable thickets; scarce wild meadows are either swampy or full of formicaries and unsuitable for rest, the private land is the only salvation. The sites that are in public recreation zones usually are free of charge and have no facilities except some rugged wooden furniture (benches and tables) typical for Lithuania.
In Kaunas , apart the biggest technical university in the country, KTU, there are a Lithuanian University Of Health Science (Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitetas), Sports University (Sporto universitetas), the Academy of Music and Theatre (Muzikos ir teatro akademija), Aleksandras Stulginskis University (former Agriculture University), and multidisciplinary University of Vytautas Magnus .
Klaipėda and Šiauliai also has its own universities. In the country several lower educational institutions which go with the name kolegija (engl a college) also are found.
The course supply hangs very much from the university and there also are somewhere programmes for English. However, pay attention to the fact that Lithuania's official language is Lithuanian and in the law it has been prescribed that the Lithuanian student has a right to study in Lithuanian in Lithuania. Especially all the courses of the candidate level will be thus in Lithuanian and in the Master of Arts programmes in English the bulk of the courses is in English. Depending on the rules of the university the courses must have a certain number of foreign students before it must be in English (it touches courses in English) and if this limit is not exceeded, the lecturer may lecture, if desired, in Lithuanian. Because the employment of universities has been lowered last year about 20% and the addition which is paid for the courses in English in some universities to the lecturers was removed, many lecturers choose the easiest road preferably for them to themselves. Then the foreign students can take the course by writing either essays or based on personal meetings.
The grading system in Lithuania is generally 1-10 in which 5-10 correspond to the accepted performances. The local students usually have to keep their average very high and still a higher one in order to get the scholarship in order to guarantee free studies. There is no financial aid for studies.
Work[ edit ]
There are now many work options in Lithuania. Any EU national can work and live freely in Lithuania. For non-EU citizens residence permits must be obtained, and employers must prove a lack of competent workers in Lithuania for such employment, which can be difficult.
In Lithuania you need the residence permit and a registered address for the working for non-EU citizens. The immigration authorities will usually be fairly fluent in English, otherwise either Russian or Lithuanian is useful. One seldom manages working life without control of the language.
In Lithuania the worker pays 21% of an income tax 6% for health and unemployment insurance which is about 3%. The taxes take about 20% of the salary, irrespective of income. Minimum wage is about 300 Euros and average wage is approaching 850 Euros.
Stay safe[ edit ]
In general you should take basic safety measures:
Take care when visiting potentially dangerous neighbourhoods at night. After dark it is safer to walk along main roads, than to take a short cut through a park or apartment complex, as these areas often have very poor lighting. Take a taxi if you are nervous. A thing to watch out for is bicycle theft, and it is advisable not to leave valuable things in your car.
As with eastern Europe in general, openly gay behaviour such as holding hands or kissing may result in a violent confrontation from an onlooker. Suspicion of homosexuality may also cause problems; two male visitors to a straight nightclub should sit a respectable distance apart, even if they are heterosexual. Overall, if you are a man that prefers other men over females you should not be open about it. Usually, the ones that are proud about it get harassed. On the other hand, lesbians are not typically attacked.
Members of ethnic minorities, (particularly those of African descent), may experience some form of racism. This is not tolerated by the authorities and racist attacks are rare. However non-whites may at least have to get used to being stared at by locals, especially in rural areas. More often than not this can be out of pure curiosity rather than malice. The issue of race relations, the history of slavery and civil rights are relatively unknown. That said, the presence of several Afro-American basketball players in the Lithuanian league does help and means that racism is perhaps not as big a problem as in other eastern European countries. The best way to overcome any minor issues is to maintain a dignified air and understanding that for many Lithuanians living in a homogeneous society, they may not have had any previous contact with a person of color. Therefore, if you are a dark skinned, do not be surprised that they whisper to each other. You might hear them saying something similar to "nigger". They do not say it because they mean to disrespect you. They do not understand why it is a wrong thing to do, since they hear this word in movies and music in a language which is foreign to them.
Driving in Lithuania is considered dangerous according to European standards. Lithuania's rapidly expanding economy has lead to an increase in traffic density, thus accident rates are high. As a pedestrian, take great care when crossing the roads, as pedestrian crossings may be ignored by cheeky drivers. When driving be careful of aggressive, quickly going and irresponsible drivers. It's better to pass them even if they are flouting rules. Keep in mind that traffic police could be corrupt. Mind the forest roads, collisions with wildlife animals can easily occur.
Natural danger[ edit ]
If bitten by a dog or a wild animal, seek medical attention immediately; emergency phone number: 112.
In some parts of the country, particularly in pastures, forest outskirts and meadows with a high grass, there is a low risk of contracting tick-borne encephalitis. Vaccination is advised at least 2 weeks before you plan out-door activities in a wild nature. Risky areas (mostly agricultural areas of pastures with some woodland) are annually updated on the map of the prevalence of encephalitis-infected ticks . The risk of Lyme disease is similarly low, vaccination is not available. Prevention: avoid high grass areas and wear long trousers and appropriate shoes.
The main wild animals that transmit rabies are raccoon dog and red fox. All occurrences of this horrible disease are FATAL, but a prior course of vaccination and proper emergency prophylactic treatment may buy you 12 hours before proper its onset. Plan your activities in the forest accordingly. Oral vaccination of wildlife is regularly carried out since 2006 up to date. According to State Food and Veterinary Service the number of infected animals has significantly decreased; all infected animals occur in the eastern districts of the country, supposedly from Belarus. State Food and Veterinary Service regularly informs that if rabies vaccine bait is found, leave it alone and do not touch it.
There is a one species of poisonous snake, the European adder, which has a distinct dark zig-zag on its pale back. Poisonous insects are bees, wasps and bumblebees. The only poisonous plant is Sosnowsky's Hogweed, an invasive plant which appeared in Lithuania in c. 1950. Since 1990 it has quickly spread all over the country and in 2001 it was included in the list of malicious animals and plants. The plant is 3–5 m in height, the leaves are 50–60 cm long and its all parts are extremely toxic; skin contact causes severe chemical burns (up to 3rd degree) and skin necrosis.
Stay healthy[ edit ]
Official logo of Lithuanian pharmacies resembles the Rod of Asclepius shaped like the letter "V", green graphics on a white background. The "V" stands for "Vaistinė", lithuanian for Pharmacy.
No inoculations are needed to enter or leave Lithuania. In the winter only influenza can cause you a considerable inconvenience. Official list of health institutions with the contact information is presented on a web site of Ministry of Health. Service of laboratory tests is provided by National Public Health Surveillance Laboratory .
Ayurveda and holistic centres[ edit ]
“Arkanas”, self-help and group therapy centre (Arkanas – saviugdos ir grupinės terapijos centras), Sąjungos Sq 6, Kaunas (W bank of Neris river, Vilijampolė district), ☎ +370 655 43665. Offers: massages, qigong, tai chi, oriental dance workouts, meditation, aura diagnostics, aromatherapy; hall rental: size 78m², up to 30 people, fully equipped. Prices: full body massage €35/1h, up to €50, ayurvedic massage €10/1.5h up to €55, pilates, qigong ~€10/1 session, ~€60/12 sessions. Hall rental ~€100 per day.
Ayurveda Academy (Ajurvedos akademija), Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Elektrėnai, ☎ +370 600 57457 ( [email protected] ). Consultations, diagnostics, massages, shop
Ayurveda SPA Centre “Shanti” (Ajurvedos SPA centras Šanti). Has 2 centres: in Vilnius and Kaunas:
“Shanti” Vilnius Subačiaus St 17, Vilnius, ☎ +370 5 262 0205, mobile +370 606 75557 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 5 262 0205). M-Su 10:00-21:00. Massages: face €17; Shanti Kerala ~€160; Indian ritual ~€175 (2h 45min).
“Shanti” Kaunas Laisvės al 3, Kaunas, ☎ +370 616 88777 ( [email protected] ). M-Su 10:00-21:00. Massages: face €14; Shanti Kerala ~€150 (2h 45min).
ChiGong ☎ +370 656 88599 ( [email protected] ). For beginners M, F 18:00-19:00, classes for master cycles 1, 2, 3, 4 M, F since 19:00. Offers qigong classes
“Holimed” (Holistinės medicinos institutas), Algirdo St 9, LT-03219 Vilnius, ☎ +370 523 39979, mobile +370 659 39979 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 523 39979). M-F 09:00-19:00. Offers: homeopathy specialist services, microwave bio-resonance testing, intestinal cleansing, hirudotherapy, different types of massage, manual therapy specialist services, psychotherapist, mamologist-oncological services, ultrasonography, a plastic surgeon's consultation. Prices €15-120.
Holistic Therapy Cabinet (Holistinės terapijos kabinetas), Kalvarijų St 6B, Vilnius (penthouse (3rd floor) of a renovated building away from the street: entrance through the gateway in front of Juozapavičiaus St; near the Green Bridge), ☎ +370 698 05831 ( [email protected] ). By prior arrangement. Offers holistic treatment and yoga therapy (indications: bronchial asthma, allergies, increased or reduced blood pressure, headaches, digestive disorders and some other psychosomatic ailments, depression), qigong and yoga classes. 90min session: therapy, yoga, qigong classes, €35 per person. (54.69339,25.28041)
Holistic Therapy Centre (Holistinės terapijos centras), Pamėnkalnio St 5-22, Vilnius (A. Maruškos Clinic), ☎ +370 685 77096 ( [email protected] ). M-W 14:00-20:00, Th, Sa 09:00-14:00. Group sessions at Verkių St 29, Šeimos Square 8, Vilnius. Offers holistic treatment procedures, consultations, diagnostics (musculoskeletal system, internal organs and metabolism), manual therapy for infants up to a 1 yo with dystonia or cranial asymmetry, body psychotherapy, muscle testing for adults, classic massage, qigong.
Yoga[ edit ]
Countrywide Yoga School (Respublikinė jogos mokykla). Booking in advance. List of contacts (phone numbers) by cities , for detailed contacts click the city (or a country) at the top and then a “El. paštas” link to send a message.
"Prema" (Prema jogos centras), (Chain of yoga centres in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys), ☎ +370 650 79499 ( [email protected] ). Mo, W 18:15, Sa 10:00.
In Vilnius:
Shambu School of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga (Šambu aštanga vinjasa jogos mokykla), Žirmūnų St 68, LT-09124 Vilnius (3rd floor to the right), ☎ +370 655 00628 (12:00-17:30). Weekdays. Contact form Consultation ~€30; 1 private class “Ashtanga I” €37, “Breathing therapy” €43/1 session, “Ashtanga II” ~€45 Eur, yoga therapy ~€60.
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre (Šivananda jogos vendetos centras), M. K. Čiurlionis St 66, LT-03100 Vilnius, ☎ +370 648 72864 ( [email protected] ). Booking in advance. ~€52/6 regular classes, quick class on weekend ~€22/2 classes.
In Kaunas:
Yoga Academy (Jogos akademija), Savanorių Ave 192, Kaunas (Business centre “Nordic”, entrance from the yard, 4th floor), ☎ +370 685 18997. Mo-Fr, hours vary. E-mail form at the bottom .
Yoga Studio “Buddha On Bike” Laisvės al 26, LT-44238 Kaunas, ☎ +370 662 17944 ( [email protected] ). Downloadable schedule (PDF) of the classes . In the group: 1 time ~€10, season ticket for 1 month up to ~€50. Private: 1 class ~€20/1.5h, 10 classes ~€150.
Yoga Studio “Urban Yoga” (Miesto joga), Veiverių St 150, Aleksotas district, Kaunas, ☎ +370 37 328-241 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 37 328-239). Mo-Sa, hours vary. 1 month season ticket ~€20 (1 time per week), ~€60 (4 times per week).
Kaunas’ Yoga House (Kauno jogos namai), Leliūnų St 10, LT- 50177, Kaunas (Žaliakalnis district near Savanoriai Ave), ☎ +370 686 54671, +370 687 19976 ( [email protected] ). Mo-Th 08:00-21:00, Fr 08:00-20:00, lunch break 13:00-14:00. Shedule of classes . Private classes ~€30-60.
In Klaipėda:
Joga Klaipėda Naujojo Sodo St 1, LT-92118, Klaipėda (Premises of “Amberton” Hotel, 11th floor), ☎ Booking +370 615 16862. Mo 19:00–20:15, Th 19:00–20:15. 1 time €15, next time €10, 4 times in the group €30.
Yoga "Guru" Studio Žvejų St 12, Klaipėda LT-91248 (Klaipėda's centre), ☎ +370 687 26108 ( [email protected] ). 08:30-19:00. 1 time ~€4, 8 times ~€25.
"Pažinimas" Baltijos Ave 14-102, Klaipėda, ☎ +370 683 74280, +370 605 07034 ( [email protected] ). Mo 19:00–20:30, W 19:00-20:30. Message form for additional info . 1 time ~€7, 6 weeks season ticket ~€20.
Reiki[ edit ]
In Vilnius:
Akarma Reiki Mykalojaus Katkaus St 1 (get to the main Tuskulėnai St, turn W slightly north of a bus stop and walk almost up to the school; Žirmūnai district), ☎ +370 688 56671 ( [email protected] ). Tu 18:00–20:00. In addition: diagnostics, meditation, yoga classes, massages, shop. ~€30. (54.70095,25.29599)
In Kaunas:
Culture and Health Centre (Kultūros ir sveikatos centras), ☎ +370 688 91498 ( [email protected] , fax: -, skype Akmeology). Workdays 11:00–20:00, by agreement.
Physical Well-Being Centre (Fizinės gerovės centras), Utenos St 12/Kalniečių St 54, Kaunas (on a corner of 2 streets), ☎ +370 688 56671 ( [email protected] ), [4] . Tu 18:00–20:00. In addition: psychologist, cosmetologist, therapeutic exercises, massage. 1 time ~€30.
Respect[ edit ]
Prechristian Baltic Sun and the Moon cross at the top of wooden monument. Christian and pagan traditions are very intertwined in Lithuanian culture
All Saint's Day, one of the most significant annual events: time to remember loved ones. Don't be annoyed if bars seem rather deserted this day, remember that you are the guest in this country.
Lithuanians are a Baltic nation; however, it's common for tourists to think that they are somehow connected with Russians.
Lithuanians form their own distinct ethnic group and speak their own language (Lithuanian), which is one of the most archaic Indo-European languages, belonging to the Baltic (not the Slavic) branch of Indo-European languages.
It is a notoriously difficult language to master, but learning how to greet locals in their own language can go a long way. They will appreciate your efforts in Lithuanian.
Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union from the end of World War II until 1991. You should also try to remember that the Lithuanian capital is Vilnius , not Riga, which is the capital of neighbouring Latvia , a common mistake for travelers and an annoyance to locals.
Because of war time occupations by Tsarist Russia in the 19th century, the Soviet Union in the 20th century and the territorial disputes with Poland in the early 20th century, conversations revolving around disputes with neighboring countries are not a good idea for those not from the region. Be careful when mentioning Lithuania in the context of the former USSR. Any praising of Soviet practices is very unlikely to be understood or appreciated by the Lithuanians. Talking about World War II or the Holocaust is not something to talk about either. This is because this is a very touchy subject to many Lithuanians.
Lithuanians may appear at times nationalistic; however, it is with good reason that they are a proud nation as they have fought to maintain their cultural identity through dark times, and this has kept them a unique and in general a warm and charming race. Although most Lithuanians officially are Catholics, native (pagan) Lithuanian religion is still alive in traditions, ethnoculture, festivals, music etc.
Lithuanians may appear sad, depressive (suicide rates in Lithuania are among the highest in the world), a little bit rude and suspicious, so talking about your good health, wealth, and happiness could be sometimes taken negatively. Smile at a Lithuanian in the street and most likely they will not respond in kindness. Smiling in Lithuania is traditionally reserved for friends; smile at a stranger and they will either think you're making fun of them and there's something wrong with their clothes or hairdo, or that you must be an idiot. Furthermore, an automatic Western smile is widely regarded as insincere.
Women are traditionally treated with utmost respect. Female travellers should not act surprised or indignant when their Lithuanian male friends pay their bills at restaurants, open every door in front of them, offer their hand to help them climb down that little step or help them carry anything heavier than a handbag - this is not sexual harassment or being condescending to the weaker sex. Male travellers should understand that this is exactly the sort of behavior that most Lithuanian girls and women will expect from them, too.
Contact[ edit ]
In Lithuania, internal area codes consist of a zero mostly followed by 2 digits for the town, followed by 6 digits for the local subscriber number. Smaller towns have a zero and then 3 digits and the 5 digit local subscriber number. Vilnius has 7 digit numbers and just 5 as the city code. The national number's total length is always 8 digits if one excludes the initial zero (as one must, of course, when dialling from abroad).
To call abroad from Lithuania, the international access code is 00
International and roaming calls are expensive. To reduce your bill you can:
buy "phone cards" for international calls;
talk over the Internet.
Land line phones[ edit ]
There is monopoly operator for land line phones - TEO (now it belongs to "TeliaSonera AB"), a subsidiary of Sweden (Telia) and Finland (Sonera). Land line phones are easy to find in all country. Public phone booths are used with cards, which you can find in kiosks, "TEO" or newspaper stands, however this service is left mostly in hospitals, dorms and some other institutions, as well as at the relevant points in the largest cities, for example in Vilnius bus and train stations. So far existing rules does not allow to refuse this service, but TEO, which is responsible for maintenance, will do that in the nearest future at the first opportunity. There is no data of how much and whether at all it is useful for people who come from abroad.
Mobile phones[ edit ]
Numbers begin 06nnn, where the three digits "n" indicate the original network provider. There are three mobile phone operators in Lithuania: Omnitel , BITĖ Lietuva and TELE 2 . About 97% of the country's surface is covered by the standard European GSM 900/1800 MHz network, the remaining 3% are non-walkable forests.
Internet[ edit ]
If you're bringing a laptop, Wireless LAN Hot-Spots are available in distinct places (mostly "TEO Wi-Fi" ), sometimes free, otherwise not very cheap. Best chances of finding one are at airports, railway stations, in cafés, shopping malls, universities, various places. You can ask in your hotel, but be prepared to pay. For those who need to connect at an Internet cafes, major cities do have internet cafes. You can get free wireless Internet in Kaunas main pedestrian street - Laisvės Alėja. Internet speed in Lithuania is actually better than American internet speed. Download speed reaches 26.2 Mb/s, while upload speed is 16.8 Mb/s. Keep in mind that the internet service that provide such speeds are not free.
With your mobile phone you can use: CSD, HSCSD, GPRS or EDGE, but the cost may be unattractive. UMTS is only available in some bigger cities. If your phone is not SIM-locked, you may consider purchasing a pre-paid SIM card designed for data access.
If you want to communicate with your friends or locals using internet, you'll need two programs Skype or ICQ. The most popular chatting program is Skype, all of which can be used in English as well. As well in Lithuania social websites are quite popular. Facebook is the most popular; such websites like LiveJournal, Draugas.lt are rather unevenly popular, Myspace exists, but is not widely used, Twitter somehow does not fit.
Official Lithuanian Postal Service logo: black graphics on a yellow background.
Postal Service[ edit ]
Lietuvos paštas (Lithuanian Postal Service), ☎ +370 700 55400 ( [email protected] , fax: +370 5 216-3204). (working hours M-F 09:00-19:00, Sa 09:00-14:00, may slightly vary from town to town). provides:
worldwide postal services - priority and non-priority letter-post items (the former are marked with the label “Prioritaire / Pirmenybinė”), ordinary or insured parcels, prepaid packages of three standard sizes; courier mail service providing delivery both domestically and internationally; possibility to use the self-service parcel terminals LP EXPRESS 24 (operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week);
Siuntų paieška
financial services - money orders at any post office or “PayPost” outlet, Western Union money transfers; you can pay utility, telecommunication bills, insurance and other contributions, or receive consumer credits (money is transferred at once after concluding the agreement); offers financial services of several alternative companies; non-citizens of the European Union member countries can claim a value added tax (VAT) refund on purchases obtained in Lithuania (refunds in cash only);
subsciption to periodicals - orders of different Lithuanian and foreign press periodicals with the delivery to your home or office, also doable online ;
philately - sell different philatelic products: postage stamps, first day sheets, thematic folders of stamps, books; each year puts about 25 postage stamps into circulation;
the largest post offices also sell international bus tickets.
In 2006, the enterprise was reorganized to the Public Limited Company Lietuvos paštas. Shortly thereafter, it changed the management, marketing, and started gradually expand and improve the service.
DHL Lietuva A subsidiary of German Deutsche Post DHL. Offers normal postal services (letters, parcels, packages), domestic and international express services, express and online shipping, customs support, wide range of freight transportation options. Has 2 bases in Lithuania:
In Vilnius - S. Dariaus ir S. Girėno St 81 (not far from the air port), ☎ +370 5 236-0700 (fax: +370 5 216-7740, to e-mail use the form on their website). M-F 08:00-19:00.
In Kaunas - Taikos Ave 141 (near used car market in the northern industrial district), ☎ +370 37 399-311. M-F 08:30-17:30.
The bases are not in the city centre, thus use Customer Service Points at the offices of their partners: Astrida in Vilnius (J. Tumo-Vaižganto St 5), also Baltic Clipper in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Alytus, Marijampolė, Mažeikiai.
Note: If goods from Germany are dispatched as DHL Paket International by Deutsche Post they will be delivered to the addressee in Lithuania by Lithuanian Post.
DPD Lietuva Liepkalnio St 180, LT-02121 Vilnius (At the southern outskirts of Vilnius), ☎ +370 5 210-6750, for customers +370 5 210-6777 (toll free: online orders 8 700 55700, [email protected] , fax: +370 5 210-6740). Workdays 08:00-18:00. A subsidiary of French La Poste Group. Offers domestic and international parcel shipping "from door to door", classic and express service. Has a number of Service Points in Lithuania: several in Vilnius and Kaunas, also in Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys, and 1 in Marijampolė. Service points are conveniently located within the malls, supermarkets, hotels. Their main partner is Optika Vizija , but also works with other companies, all details are comprehensibly listed on their website's Lithuanian language page "Siuntų taškai" (Service Points).
| i don't know |
When James Garfield was US President, who was his Vice-President? | James A. Garfield - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com
James A. Garfield
A+E Networks
Introduction
James Garfield (1831-81) was sworn in as the 20th U.S. president in March 1881 and died in September of that same year from an assassin’s bullet, making his tenure in office the second-shortest in U.S. presidential history, after William Henry Harrison (1773-1841). Born in an Ohio log cabin, Garfield was a self-made man who became a school president in his mid-20s. During the U.S. Civil War (1861-65), he fought for the Union and rose to the rank of major general. Garfield, a Republican, went on to represent his home state in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1863 to 1881. In 1880, a divided Republican Party chose Garfield as its dark horse presidential nominee. After winning the general election, his brief time in office was marked by political wrangling. In July 1881, Garfield was shot by a disgruntled constituent and died less than three months later.
Google
Early Years
James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831, in a log cabin in Orange, Ohio , near Cleveland. His father, Abram Garfield, died less than two years later, so his mother, Eliza Ballou Garfield, raised young James and her older children while also managing the family’s small farm.
Did You Know?
The only person to serve less time in the White House than James Garfield was William Henry Harrison, America's ninth president. Several weeks after his March 4, 1841, inauguration, Harrison caught a cold that turned into pneumonia. He died on April 4, after just a month in office.
As an avid reader of adventure novels, Garfield aspired to become a sailor. Instead, as a teen, he settled for a position towing barges up the Ohio Canal to help support his impoverished family. From 1851 to 1853, Garfield attended Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (now Hiram College) in Hiram, Ohio. He then spent two years at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts , and proved himself to be a strong student and skilled public speaker. After graduating from Williams in 1856, Garfield returned to the Eclectic Institute and taught Greek and Latin, as well as other subjects. A year later, in 1957, he was named president of the school.
In addition to his duties at the Eclectic Institute, Garfield became an ordained Christian minister and studied law independently (he would be admitted to the Ohio Bar Association in 1860). In 1858, he married Lucretia Rudolph (1832-1918), who worked as a teacher and had been a classmate of his at the Eclectic Institute. The couple would have seven children.
In 1859, Garfield, a member of the Republican Party (which was founded in the 1850s by antislavery leaders) was elected to the Ohio Senate. With the threat of an American civil war looming, he used his position as state senator to advocate for forcing seceding Southern states to rejoin the Union.
The U.S. Civil War
When the U.S. Civil War (1861-65) broke out, Garfield joined the Union army and served as a lieutenant colonel with the 42nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Despite a lack of military experience, he proved to be an effective leader. In November 1861, his brigade drove Confederate forces out of eastern Kentucky at Paintsville and Prestonsburg.
He also saw action at the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862), the Siege of Corinth (late April-May 1862) and the Battle of Chickamauga (September 1863). In 1862, while still serving in the army, Garfield was elected to represent his home state in the U.S. House of Representatives. Initially reluctant to resign his post, Garfield was eventually convinced to do so by President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), and left the military in late 1863, having achieved the rank of major general.
Congressional Career
Garfield began serving in the House in December 1863, and would remain in Congress until 1881. During this time, he served on a number of important congressional committees. However, his career was not without its challenges. In a political period marked by scandal and corruption, Garfield’s ethics were called into question when he was accused (but never found guilty) of accepting bribes in the Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872.
A moderate Republican, Garfield had to appease both wings of his own party: the Stalwarts, who were the conservative, old-guard Republicans, and the Half-Breeds, who were moving toward progressivism. This was especially difficult maneuvering when Garfield served on the congressional committee charged with settling the disputed Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-93)-Samuel Tilden (1814-86) presidential election of 1876. Despite his challenges in the House, Garfield was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1880. He never took his seat, however, because of the events that transpired at the Republican convention in 1880.
Presidential Election of 1880
The 1880 presidential convention found Garfield campaigning for his longtime friend and fellow Republican John Sherman (1823-1900). Because of the party’s split between the Stalwarts and the Half-Breeds, it took 36 ballots to choose a nominee. The delegates, in a surprise move, chose Garfield as the party’s dark horse presidential nominee. To satisfy the Half-Breed faction, delegates chose New York Customs House collector Chester A. Arthur (1829-86) as the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
In the presidential election later that year, Garfield defeated his Democratic opponent, General Winfield Scott Hancock (1824-86), by fewer than 10,000 popular votes.
Presidency and Assassination
Following his inauguration on March 4, 1881, Garfield spent most of his time on the job assembling his cabinet and making other appointments. Without a clear referendum in the election, and due to the split in the Republican Party, Garfield had to appease both Stalwarts and Half-Breeds in his appointments. The Half-Breeds were more instrumental in earning Garfield’s nomination, and he appointed their leader, Senator James G. Blaine (1830-93) of Maine , as his secretary of state. Garfield also named other Half-Breeds to important posts. As members of the Stalwarts faction received less significant posts, their leader, Senator Roscoe Conkling (1829-88) of New York, tried to block Garfield’s nominations. Conkling later resigned in protest.
After nearly four months of political wrangling and maneuvering, Garfield sought to finally move forward with his agenda for civil service reform and other initiatives. However, a disgruntled attorney who was refused a political appointment changed all that. On July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau (1841-82) fired two shots at Garfield while the president was en route to a Williams College reunion. As Garfield fell to the ground, Guiteau exclaimed, “I am a Stalwart and Arthur is president now!” (Guiteau was later convicted of Garfield’s murder and executed by hanging in 1882.)
Garfield lay in the White House mortally wounded and near death for almost three months. Doctors were unable to locate the bullet in his back. Even inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) tried–unsuccessfully–to find the bullet with a metal detector he designed. On September 19, 1881, Garfield, age 49, died from an infection and internal hemorrhage. He was buried in Cleveland.
Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today.
Tags
| Chester A. Arthur |
Which instrument is played by classical musician Yo-Yo Ma? | Exoticdogs.com:James A. Garfield's Pet Info
Vice President: Chester A. Arthur
Garfield, his wife "Crete" and several of their seven children.
Garfield tells his young daughter a story, while listening to his older daughter play the piano.
President: James A. Garfield
Wife: Lucretia Rudolph (1832-1918), on November 11, 1858
Kids: Eliza A. Garfield (1860-63); Harry A. Garfield (1863-1942); James R. Garfield (1865-1950); Mary Garfield (1867-1947); Irvin M. Garfield (1870-1951); Abram Garfield (1872-1958); Edward Garfield (1874-76)
Pets: Kit the horse; Veto the dog; fish
Bio: James Abram Garfield, (1831-1881), was the 20th President Of The United States. Born in a log cabin near Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 19, 1831, he was the youngest of five children. His father died in 1833, leaving the family in poverty. At the age of 17, he began a 10 year education. He graduated from Williams College with honors in 1856.
In 1859 he was elected as a Republican to the Ohio Senate, where he denounced slavery and secession, advocating force, if needed, to preserve the Union. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1858 he married Lucretia Rudolph, a former classmate. He fought in the Civil War Garfield as a lieutenant colonel, then as a major general. His heroic efforts led to an election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1862.
Garfield served in the House from 1863 to 1880, serving as chairman of the committee on appropriations for several of those years. He was also the House leader in establishing the U.S. Department of Education.
In January 1880 he was elected to the presidency. Unfortunately, his term was cut short when he was fatally shot on July 2, 1881 in a Washington railroad station by Charles J. Guiteau. Guiteau was a mentally unbalanced man who had unsuccessfully sought a federal appointment. The President died at Elberon, N.J., on September 19. 1881. After an attack of angina in Cleveland, Hayes died on Jan. 17, 1893, at his estate, Spiegel Grove, in Fremont.
| i don't know |
Complete the name of the Church of England diocese 'Sodor and .....'? | Sodor and Man Diocese: History and Description | CCEd
of England Database
Sodor and Man Diocese: History and Description
Treatment and coverage of the diocese of Sodor and Man in the CCED
The territory of the diocese
The origins of the diocese of Sodor and Man are obscure, and the diocese has a very different history from that of the others covered by the Clergy of the Church of England Database. It is, in effect, the diocesan incarnation of the large and hilly island lying to the west of the English Lakes, the Isle of Man. As the dedications of its churches suggest, the arrival of christianity on the island can be traced to Irish missions, but continuity was decisively disrupted by the Norse invasions in the eighth century. The island formed part of an extensive Norse colony known as the Southern Isles (Suthr-eyar), and it is from this that the name ‘Sodor’ derives. At some point this name became attached to the island of Peel on which the Manx cathedral stood, and from the seventeenth century the modern form of the diocesan name came into general use, apparently through the mistaken addition of ‘and Man’ by a careless scribe.
While under Norse rule the island was variously subject to Dublin and Norway, and at other times was independent. Although a ‘tribal’ bishop exercised jurisdiction over the whole of Sodor before this date, the first diocesan bishop recorded was Roolwer in the time of Edward the Confessor, who seems to have been a suffragan of York. In 1152, however, the see was made a suffragan of the Norwegian see of Nidaros (Trondheim), and after this date there were often conflicts between rival bishops consecrated at York and Trondheim respectively. From 1334 the Scottish portions of the diocese were detached when the Scottish kings who had assumed possession of the Isle in the thirteenth century formally ceded it to England. Authority (in practice complete internal sovereignty) over the island was customarily granted out by the monarch, and in 1406 the lordship passed to Sir John Stanley and his heirs. Thus the island became the possession of the earls of Derby, the Stanleys retaining possession until 1736 when, on the extension of the direct male line, the lordship passed to the dukes of Atholl, representing the heiress. It remained with them until 1827.
The impact of the Reformation was necessarily modified by the curious circumstances of the see. Writing in the 1890s, A. W. Moore was struck by what he regarded as the slow impact of Reformation principles, which he in part attributed to the fact that an English liturgy was not necessarily any more accessible than a Latin one to the Manx-speaking population. The dissolution of the monastery at Rushen was none the less a landmark in the diocese ’s history. Constitutionally, too, the impact of the Reformation was modified by local circumstance. Not all the statutes which established the Reformation on the mainland applied to Sodor: for example first fruits and tenths were not payable there. In 1542 a statute formally transferred the diocese from the jurisdiction of the metropolitan see of Canterbury to that of York, although the relation to York had already been established in a papal bull of 1458. The constitution of the reformed church of Man was laid down in statutes, the Book of Spiritual Laws, written down in 1610 but of earlier provenance, and subsequently modified in 1677, which contained the provisions of the severe code of ecclesiastical discipline made famous under the rule of Bishop Thomas Wilson in the eighteenth century.
The bishop was Baron of the Isle, with his own court, and with the archdeacon and vicar general sat on the Council of the Isle save for a period between 1777 and 1790 when they were temporarily excluded. The bishop also presided in person or by deputy in three church courts: the consistory court, the chapter court that had cognizance of all moral offences, and the summary court where proofs of wills were taken. The bishop also had his own prison, in the dungeon of Peel Castle, to which offenders against both secular and spiritual laws could be, and at times frequently were, consigned. Appointment to the see, as stated in a royal commission of 1633, took the form of a presentation of a candidate to the crown by the earl of Derby, the crown then instructing the archbishop of York to consecrate. Between 1644 and 1660, there was no bishop , and during this period the Church was superintended by the secular authority. The archdeacon, nominated by the Lord of the Isle, also held courts, and there were two vicars-general. The bishop was entitled to appoint to all livings lapsed for 6 months (although in 1541 the deemsters had ruled that the Lord of the Isle should control such appointments). Most remarkably, the annual Convocation of the clergy of the diocese continued to meet when the mainland convocations were suspended, and its records are a particularly valuable source for the history of the diocese .
The peculiarities of the constitution helped to foster continual and often apparently trivial disputes between the secular and ecclesiastical authorities (for example, concerning spiritual jurisdiction over the garrison) that markedly coloured the ecclesiastical history of the diocese , culminating in the imprisonment of Bishop Thomas Wilson and the vicars-general in 1722. They were accompanied by another running sore, the tithe issue, which climaxed under the episcopate of George Murray in the early nineteenth century.
Another key issue was the issue of the Manx language. Bishop John Phillips translated the prayer book into Manx in 1610, although this version was never highly regarded and a new translation was produced in 1765. Phillips’ translation was none the less evidence of an attention to the needs of the diocese not always characteristic of bishops of Sodor, many of whom held other livings on the mainland and rarely if ever visited the island. The lack of interest may in part have reflected the lack of material reward appointment to the diocese brought: Bishop John Meryck, appointed in 1576, reckoned his income rarely exceeded £100; in 1635 the value of the see was estimated at £140; at the end of the century Wilson had an income of less than £300, but within thirty years had raised it above £400. In 1835 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners valued it at £2,555 net, derived entirely from tithes and property (the national average episcopal income was by then £5,936 net). The poor condition of the episcopate was symbolised by the condition of the cathedral at St Germans, described as ‘in ruins’ in 1662; Mark Hildesley was installed in the semi-restored building in 1755, but from then its history until the end of our period was one of decay. Non-residence was an inevitable consequence; in 1697 the island legislature felt obliged to pass an act requiring both parochial and higher clergy to reside on the island and, if absent for more than four months, to forfeit at the first offence half, and at the second a full-year’s income.
The clergy on the island were in general impoverished. Isaac Barrow as bishop managed to obtain the former abbey revenues from the lords of the isle on a 10,000-year lease for use in augmenting clerical incomes and supporting schooling, this being known as the ‘Impropriate Fund’. In 1735, with the failure of Derby line and the lordship being transferred to the dukes of Athol, the fund monies became a matter of dispute, and the church was forced to seek to exploit a collateral security of land now in the hands of the earls of Derby. Until in 1759 the earls agreed to pay an annual sum in compensation of £219; in 1809, Bishop Crigan demanding a revision, Lord Derby bought the revenues for a one-off payment of £16,000. The income from the investments made was thereafter employed to supplement the income of non- beneficed clergy. Barrow also obtained a royal bounty of £100 per annum to be applied to the same purposes. Barrow had grand schemes for education on the island, but which were not realised in his lifetime, in particular that for an ‘academic school’ on the island; in 1706 Wilson was able to found a grammar school in Douglas and establish the ‘academic’ school in Castletown. Wilson was a worthy successor to Barrow, and his long episcopate, followed by that of Mark Hildesley, who sponsored the creation of a Manx Bible, came subsequently to be seen as something of a golden age for the Manx Church, particularly by high churchmen who idolised Wilson (John Keble was his biographer). The latter part of the century was marked by the rise of methodism on the island, although relations with the Church of England remained comparatively harmonious for a longer period than on the mainland.
At the end of the period of the Database the future of the see, already clouded by the tensions provoked by the tithe issue, was about to be called into question by the Ecclesiastical Commission, which in 1836 recommended the incorporation of the island in the see of Carlisle. A vigorous campaign on the island led to this decision being rescinded, however, and shortly after an act of 1839 settled the tithe issue. With the foundation of King William’s College in 1833, and a spurt of church-building, the mid-nineteenth century proved a more prosperous period for the island diocese than could have been anticipated.
The parishes and structure of the diocese
Sodor and Man was the smallest diocese of the Church of England in our period. There were just seventeen parishes, although a casual observer thumbing through the ecclesiastical records might derive the impression that there were more, as nomenclature often varied considerably and confusingly: thus the parish of Santon was sometimes known as St Anne, when in fact the name derived from a dedication to ???. The bishop held the patronage of four of these livings: the vicarages of Braddon, German, Jurby and Patrick; there was of course no dean and chapter to provide further ecclesiastical patronage. Before 1827, most of the other livings were in the gift of the Stanleys and then the duke of Atholl: the vicarages of Arbory, Bride, Lezayre, Lonan, Malew, Marown, Maughold, Michael, Onchan, Rushen, and Santon, and the two rectories on the island, Andreas, in effect annexed to the solitary archdeaconry , that of the archdeacon of Man, and Ballaugh. After 1827 these all passed to the crown. The only exceptions to episcopal and crown patronage were provided by two of the chapels which had been established to serve Douglas (St Barnabas, in the hands of trustees) and Castletown (St Mary’s in the gift of the governor). Andreas was easily the most lucrative living, being worth some £955 p.a. net in 1831-2 and the only living to top £300 save Bride (£370). Several were worth less than £100 p.a. at that date: Santan, Arbory, Braddon (the most populous parish, embracing Douglas), German, Jurby, Lezayre, Malew, Marown, Michael and Rushen. The average net income of the benefices in 1831-2 was £157 (national average £287) only St David’s making a lower return; in consequence the average stipend paid to a curate was only £70, again the lowest of any diocese save for St David’s.
The bishop lived at Bishops Court on the western side of the island.
Peculiar jurisdictions within the diocese
There were no peculiar jurisdictions within the diocese of Sodor and Man.
Extra-diocesan peculiars of the Bishop of Sodor and Man
The bishop had no extra-diocesan peculiars.
Treatment and coverage of the diocese of Sodor and Man in the CCED
The diocese of Sodor and Man contains only one archdeaconry . With no peculiars, it therefore does not present a complex structure requiring careful subdivision. A single CCED region has therefore been created, ‘Isle of Man’, coterminous with the archdeaconry . ‘Isle of Man’ is also the ‘ County ’ unit.
| The Man |
Footballers Phil Jones and Clarke Carlisle are former pupils of Balshaw's High School. In which Lancashire town is the school? | House of Bishops
House of Bishops
House of Bishops
Introduction
The House of Bishops is one of the three Houses of the General Synod . All members of the House of Bishops are members of the General Synod. The House of Bishops also meets separately from the Synod to discuss issues of episcopal ministry, mission and national issues affecting the Church of England.
There are two types of bishop in the Church of England:
Diocesan bishops are the chief pastors of their diocese . An Archbishop is a diocesan bishop who has pastoral responsibility not only over his diocese, but also over a collection of dioceses called a province.
Other bishops - primarily suffragan bishops but also some assistant bishops - are appointed to work with a diocesan bishop in the exercise of their pastoral responsibility for the diocese. Four suffragan bishops are Provincial Episcopal Visitors (also known as 'flying bishops') with a special responsibility to support parishes that have petitioned under the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993 .
At its meeting of 7 February 2013 the House decided that eight senior women clergy, elected regionally, will participate in all meetings of the House until such time as there are six female members of the House. The necessary changes to the House's Standing Orders were made at its meeting in May 2013. Click here to see the final regional election results.
All serving bishops in the Church of England comprise a body known as the College of Bishops.
The House of Bishops consists of the following members of the College of Bishops:
all 42 diocesan bishops of the Church of England (which includes the offshore dioceses of Sodor & Man and Gibraltar in Europe);
the Bishop of Dover (who performs many of the Archbishop of Canterbury's diocesan functions);
the Bishop to the Forces; and
seven suffragan bishops elected from among the total number of suffragan bishops, (four from the Province of Canterbury, and three from the Province of York).
8 regional representatives elected by and from senior women clergy.
The four Provincial Episcopal Visitors can also attend and speak at meetings of the House, though are not members and do not have voting rights (unless they are elected to the House as a suffragan bishop).
Meetings of the House
In addition to meeting as part of the General Synod the House of Bishops meets normally twice a year in May and December. A Summary of Decisions from these meetings is normally published on this website at the time that papers are circulated for the following session of General Synod. Additional meetings of the House may be called on an ad hoc basis.
The House issues guidance from time to time on a range of topics. A selection of this guidance can be found on the right-hand side of this page.
Under Article 7 of the Constitution of the General Synod, the House has a special role in relation to matters involving doctrine, liturgy or the Sacraments. It has the right to amend legislation which relates to doctrine, liturgy or the Sacraments as it sees fit, before such legislation is put before the Synod for final approval.
Other meetings
The College of Bishops has an annual residential meeting in September. Every three years, the bishops of the Church in Wales, the Church of Ireland and the Episcopal Church of Scotland are invited. A one-day meeting in held in January.
A further 24 hour residential meeting of diocesan bishops together with the archbishops is held shortly after Easter. There are also eight regional groups of bishops, which include all diocesans and suffragans within the region. These meet independently of the House two/three times a year, and are convened by a bishop within the region.
The House of Bishops' Standing Committee
The House has a Standing Committee of eight members which meets at least three times a year under the Chairmanship of the Archbishop of York. The Standing Committee's role is to set the agendas for meetings of the House of Bishops, represent the House in discussions with other denominations and deal with certain matters on behalf of the House.
The Standing Committee comprises eight members who are determined as follows (current appointments are marked in bold):
| i don't know |
Which word completes the full title of the book, 'The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy ....... '? | The Life and Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Sterne, Laurence
The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman..
Sterne, Laurence
London: J. & R. Dodsley, 1760. First edition, 9 volumes, small 8vo, 1 copper engraved plate after Hogarth; 2 pages printed in black in volume 1, pp. 169-70 in volume 3 are marbled, L2r in volume 6 is blank, all as issued; volume V lacks the blank leaf A1 (as in the Rothschild copy); half-title pages in vols. 4, 5, 6, and 9, as called for by Rothschild; volume 7 is in the first state with errata on verso of the title page, with Chapter XXIII misnumbered XXIV, and the word "Gentleman" on the title page in upper and lower case; the dedication in volume 9 is in setting 'b' (as in the Rothschild copy - and apparently no priority); signed by Sterne, as usual in volumes 5 and 7 (but not 9); later full speckled calf by Bedford, gilt-decorated spine in 6 compartments, morocco labels and lettering pieces in 2; all volumes rebacked with old spines laid down (some will loss). Leather boookplates in each volume of John Pierpont Morgan. Rothschild 1970.
THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN
STERNE, LAURENCE
1760. STERNE, Laurence. THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN. London, R. and J. Dodsley, 1760-61 (Volumes I-IV). London: T. Becket and P.A. Dehondt, 1762-67 (Volumes V-IX). Nine octavo volumes. Volumes IV-IX first editions; I and II are second editions; Volumes V, VII and IX bear STERNE'S AUTOGRAPH on the first text page. Volume I has a frontispiece after William Hogarth; III has the marbled plate as required. Half-titles in volume 4,6,9. Volume 7 errata on verso of the title page with Chapters correctly numbered. Bound in early full calf, nicely rebacked with period numbering. Internally clean. Engraved circular armorial bookplate on volume one.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman [WITH] the Sermons of Mr. Yorick [In 3 Volumes]
Sterne, Laurence
Dublin: Thomas Armitage. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1779. Hardcover. All 3 volumes remain very attractive for their age showing only light wear at extremities. Internally, there is a moderate amount of spotting and other foxing. Otherwise texts are clean, complete, and tightly bound. ; Title pages and corresponding frontis pages from Armitage's 1779 "The Works of Laurence Sterne AM in Eight Volumes" though the text is not believed to be from this edition. OCLC and the English Short Title Catalog both list 3 volume editions of Tristram Shandy published in 1779 also by Armitage which this is believed to be. Bound in 3 volumes with 3 small "books" per volume. Volume 1 consists of the first 3 parts of Tristrim Shandy with consistent page numbering throughout. Book 1 ends on page 93. Book 2 ends on page 189; and the volume and book 3 conclude on page 286. Volume 2 is similar with book 4 concluding on page 112. Book 5 concludes on page 192; and book 6 and the volume conclude on page 237. Volume 3 includes the final three parts of Tristram Shandy with book 7 ending on page 73, book 8 ending on page 141 and book 9 concluding on page 204. Also bound with volume 3 is an unknown edition of (though presumed part of Armitage's 1779 Works of Sterne) "The Sermons of Mr. Yorick" which includes a preface and 14 sermons in 2 "books"Probably bound in the late 1800s, all 3 volumes are bound to match in full maroon leather with raised bands and gilt spine title and decoration. Leather turn-ins exposed and gilted with heavy marbled paper pastedowns and ffeps. Bound by Frank Lawrence Embree printed in gilt on the bottom front turn in near hinge. A thorough search yielded no records of Mr. Embree as a binder, but a Frank Lawrence Embree who lived in Brooklyn, NY at the turn of the 19th century may be the man. A collection of wax cylinder recordings of his voice may be found at the UC Santa Barbara library online by visiting: http: //preview. Tinyurl.com/jdcat8a; 24mo 5" - 6" tall .
Condition: Very Good with no dust jacket
$400.00
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman [with:] A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. [Two Volumes].
Sterne, Laurence.
London: Macmillan and Co Library of English Classics Edition, 1900. Two volumes. Octavo, bound by Birdsall for Charles Scribner’s Sons in 3/4 brown levant & tan linen, gilt-decorated spines, top edges gilt, marbled endpapers, title pages in red and black, viii, 368 pp + 378 pp. In addition to the two classics mentioned on the title pages, the set also includes: A Political Romance, A Fragment in the Manner of Rabelais, and Memoirs of the Life and Family of the Late Rev. Mr. Laurence Sterne. The set is in Fine condition.
A Treatise on a Malignant Epidemic, commonly called Spotted Fever; interspersed with remarks on the nature of fever in general, &c., and an appendix, in which is republished a number of essays written by different authors on this epidemic, with the addition of original notes: containing also a few original and selected cases, with clinical remarks.
North, Elisha
New York: T & J Swords, 1811. Very good in modern red cloth binding with gilt title to spine. Octavo, 250pp with advertisement for T & J Swords in rear. Deckled edges. Light foxing throughout, small hole through last thirty pages. Elisha North (1771-1843) was among the earliest physicians to practice vaccination in the US, and also founded the first eye infirmary in the US.
THE LIFE & OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY GENTLEMAN...
STERNE, Laurence
New York: Limited Editions Club, 1935. hardcover. About Fine in a Fine slipcase. T. M. Cleland. Two octavo (5-3/4" x 8-1/4") volumes bound in half blue linen and blue marbled paper sides. Introduction by Christopher Morley. Illustrated with line drawings by T. M. Cleland who also designed the book. Of a total of 1500 copies SIGNED by the artist on the colophon page, this copy is not numbered (in place of the number is written in ink "Office Copy") and bears the Club's blindstamp stating it is one of 15 presentation copies. The slipcase was specially made for the publisher and is very similar to the original but slightly larger and without the printed label on the spine.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman - A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
Sterne, Laurence:
In two volumes. Library of English Classics. viii, 368 pp + 1 pp ads; 378 pp + 2 pp ads. A little foxing on eps of both volumes. Edges untrimmed. Hinges cracked in volume I only. Previous owner's inscription on ffep of volume I only. Bound in matching red cloth boards with gilt lettering and decoration on spines. Blindstamp decorative panel at top and bottom of front boards. Top of spines of both volumes rubbed away. Bottom of spines rubbed. Spines somewhat faded. Corners rubbed. Top edges of boards darkened. Overall condition VG-.
| Gentleman (Psy song) |
According to the proverb ‘Wednesday’s child is full of what’? | Life Opinions Tristram Shandy Gentleman, Signed - AbeBooks
Life Opinions Tristram Shandy Gentleman, Signed
You Searched For:
Results (1 - 30) of 35
1
Laurence Sterne ; illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright
Published by Brentano's, New York, New York (1960)
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Brentano's, New York, New York, 1960. Decorative Cloth. Book Condition: Good. Limited edition. Number 722 of 100 copies printed of the American edition, signed by the illustrator on the limitation page. Octavo, 9 3/4" tall, color frontispiece plus 15 color plates and 582 pages, gilt tiles, top fore-edge and decorations, brown cloth. A good, clean, neat, sturdy hard cover edition overall with moderate shelf wear and rubbing, the fore-corner tips through to boards, back strip cloth darkened and starting to fray at top and bottomedges, and two small stains to the cover sloth, front hinge cracked but solid, and binding tight, paper lightly yellowed, without dust jacket A great reading copy of this once splindid edition. Bookseller Inventory # 33656
ISBN 10: 1906838135 ISBN 13: 9781906838133
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Self Made Hero, 2010. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. 2010. Unpaginated. No dust jacket. Signed by the author. Blue pictorial boards with cloth spine and white lettering, contains pictorial plates. Authors signature to the title page. Pages remain bright with very light thumb prints included within. Binding is firm with light staining to boards and the spine. book. Bookseller Inventory # 1474970262CLK
Sterne, Laurence, Illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright
Published by New York: Brentano's, New York
ISBN 10: 0198185243 ISBN 13: 9780198185246
Used Hardcover First Edition Signed
Quantity Available: 1
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: New York: Brentano's, New York. Half-Leather. Book Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. Rowland Wheelwright (illustrator). Limited/Numbered. Half-Leather. Very Good/No Jacket. Limited/Numbered. Signed by Illustrator. Number 5 of 1000 of the American issue. Two inch crack from top of front cover hinge, binding rubbed along spine and cover board edges, endpapers have edge browning, interior clean and unmarked with tight binding. Signed by Illustrator(s). Bookseller Inventory # 7682
Published by George G. Harrap & Company c.1926, London (1926)
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: George G. Harrap & Company c.1926, London, 1926. Hardcover. Book Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright (illustrator). Limited Edition; First Printing. Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall; 582 pages; Very light soiling and wear to covers. Copy #994. ; Signed by Illustrator. Bookseller Inventory # 8255
Sterne, Laurence; Illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright
Published by Brentano's ca 1920, New York, NY (1920)
Used Hardcover Signed
Used Hardcover First Edition Signed
Quantity Available: 1
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Brentano. Hardcover. Book Condition: Good. No Jacket. Rowland Wheelwright (illustrator). 1st Edition. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Sterne, Laurence. The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy gentleman. With illustrations by Rowland Wheelwright. Brentano's Publishers. Edition limited to one thousand copies for England and one thousand copies for the United States, of which this is No. 545 of the American issue signed by the illustrator. New York. No dated. 582 pages. Small 8vo. Hardcover little rubbed. No jacket. Some stain in his pages. Good condition. Signed by Illustrator(s). Bookseller Inventory # 001290
Published by Brentano's nd, New York
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Brentano's nd, New York. Book Condition: Very Good. SIGNED Hardcover. 582 pages. SIGNED BY ILLUSTRATOR on rear of front fly leaf. #558 of 100 American-issued copies signed. Color plate illustrations by Rowland Wheelwright. Gilt top edge. Brown cloth covers with gold lettering and decoration. Light rubbing to extremities. None. Bookseller Inventory # 508883
Published by George G. Harrap no date, London / Calcutta
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: George G. Harrap no date, London / Calcutta. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. #860 of 1000. SIGNED on edition statement page by the artist. Chip and gutter tearsto upper spine. Attractive large-paper edition, hardcover Rowland Wheelwright artwork. very good, no dj, gold-stamped brown cloth, wear to upper spine 582 pgs. Signed by Illustrator(s). Bookseller Inventory # 000424
Published by UL. Selfmadehero (2010)
Used Hardcover First Edition Signed
Quantity Available: 1
STERNE, Laurence. WHEELWRIGHT, Rowland (illus.)
Published by Brentano's, New York (1926)
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Brentano's, New York, 1926. 582 pp. With illustrations in color by Rowland Wheelwright. 8vo, publisher's gilt tan cloth, t.e.g. No. 920 of 1000 copies for the United States, signed by Rowland Wheelwright. Bookplate; very minor use to cloth; tight and sound. Bookseller Inventory # 55336
Published by George G. Harrap & Co. London, 1926 Ltd. Ed. (1926)
Used Hardcover First Edition Signed
Quantity Available: 1
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: George G. Harrap & Co. London, 1926 Ltd. Ed., 1926. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. 9.75 X 6.75" in briown cloth with leather spine label. Deckle edges. This is an edition of 1000 copies signed by the illustrator, Rowland Wheelwright. This particular copy (also signed) is a reviewer's copy and is blind stamped as such on the title page. Scuffed, esp the spine. corners seem slightly bent in. Endpapers darkened from articles slipped in. Light foxing of title page and contents page: about VERY GOOD MINUS to VERY GOOD condition. 582pp. Signed by Illustrator(s). Bookseller Inventory # 001732
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: SELFMADEHERO, 2010. Hardcover. Book Condition: Fine. No Jacket. Almost new condition 2010 edition Hardback with pictorial cover(no DJ). Signed by author on inside title page. Publisher, cover, title and author as shown. 160 clean pages of comic art illustrations with English text, no inscriptions. Approx dims: 270mm h x 220mm w x 20mm d. Signed by Author. Bookseller Inventory # ABE-4217419744
Published by George Harrap (1926)
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: George Harrap, 1926. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Limited Edition. Geo Harrap 1926 (Limited Edition) ; Large 8vo size, illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright, number 368 /1000 copies (England) , Signed by Wheelwright, 582 pages, gilt top edge, a few pages uncut, good to very good in decorated brown cloth. ; 582 pages. Bookseller Inventory # 26089
Published by Limited Editions Club, New York (1935)
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Limited Editions Club, New York, 1935. Hardcover. Book Condition: vg. Limited edition. Octavo. XI, 401, [18], 420-790pp. 1/4 cloth over decorative blue paper covered boards, with title-labels laid on spines. Uncut and partly unopened copies. Beautiful edition of this masterpiece of English literature, profusely illustrated with numerous in-text and full-page colored illustrations by T.M. Cleland. Limited edition of 1500 copies, this being No.1431 signed by the illustrator. Minor rubbing on corners. Slight staining on spine of second volume. Bindings in overall very good, interior in near fine to fine condition. Bookseller Inventory # 23619
ISBN 10: 1906838135 ISBN 13: 9781906838133
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: SelfMadeHero, 2010. Hardcover. Book Condition: Near Fine. Rowson, Martin (illustrator). 2nd Edition. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Quarto; half cloth over pictorial boards; blue spine with block lettered title in white; pages not numbered but of some 200pp in length; inscribed "Martin Rowson May '10" in black felt tip to titlepage; an attractive signed copy of this celebrated graphic novel interpretation of Sterne's Tristram Shandy. Signed by Author(s). Bookseller Inventory # 000039
Published by The Limited Editions Club, New York (1935)
Used Hardcovers First Edition Signed
Quantity Available: 1
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: The Limited Editions Club, New York, 1935. Hardcovers. Book Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good Slipcase. T.M. Cleland (illustrator). First LeC Edition. SIGNED BY THE ARTIST and published in a LIMITED EDITION of #1500 copies of which this is #412 in a very good, paper-covered slipcase with a clean, while but slightly toned title label and a archival glue repair to a lengthwise split at the top corner of the slipcase. Both volumes appear to be unread and are clean and unmarked. Size: Octavos. Bookseller Inventory # 1355168
Published by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, London, United Kingdom (1926)
Used Hardcover Signed
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, London, United Kingdom, 1926. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. Wheelwright, Rowland (illustrator). Limited Edition. British edition. Limited edition of 1000 copies for England and 1000 copies for the United States, of which this is number 333 of the English issue. Signed by the illustrator in ink. No jacket as issued. Illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright. Brown boards are very good with a few marks, little pushing/rubbing to head/tail of spine, a little patchy fading, the odd small bump to edges and a few minor scratches. The binding is tight and pages are generally clean. Rough cut page edges and bottoms. Top of pages gilt. End-papers tanned. Odd mark to a few pages. Occasional spot of foxing. Occasional small crease to a few pages. No other faults. All illustrations present and in good order. Non UK shipping will be higher than that quoted due to weight of book. All books described honestly and accurately. Paypal accepted. Signed by Illustrator(s). Bookseller Inventory # 002433
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: (Printed A. Colish for) The Limited Editions Club, New York: 1935., 1935. Hardcover. Book Condition: Very Good. Two Volumes. Illustrated with line drawings washed in yellow by T. M. Cleland; set in monotype Caslon on Worthy special laid paper. 8vo. 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches. Volumes bound by George McKibbin & Son in half blue linen, sides and insert page of marbled paper made by Mr. Cleland. Original paper spine labels, slightly foxed and soiled. Original slip case house both volumes. Inked ownership of Jefford F. Oller, the original subscriber, on front fly leaves. Includes a Xerox copy of the Monthly Letter. Number 420 of an edition limited to only 1500 copies, signed by the artist and designer, T.M. Cleland. Fine copy. The books published by the Limited Editions Club are justly treasured for the quality of the texts, the beauty and artistry of the illustrations, the creativity of design, and the overall excellence of the paper, presswork, and binding. Each book would make a wonderful gift for any occasion. W35. Signed by Illustrator(s). Bookseller Inventory # 070LEC4
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Limited Editions Club, New York, 1935. hardcover. Book Condition: About Fine in a Fine slipcase. T. M. Cleland (illustrator). Two octavo (5-3/4" x 8-1/4") volumes bound in half blue linen and blue marbled paper sides. Introduction by Christopher Morley. Illustrated with line drawings by T. M. Cleland who also designed the book. Of a total of 1500 copies SIGNED by the artist on the colophon page, this copy is not numbered (in place of the number is written in ink "Office Copy") and bears the Club's blindstamp stating it is one of 15 presentation copies. The slipcase was specially made for the publisher and is very similar to the original but slightly larger and without the printed label on the spine. Bookseller Inventory # 016799
Destination, Rates & Speeds
Item Description: Arion Press, San Francisco, 1988. Full Leather in Slipcase. Book Condition: Very Good. First Edition 1/400. Stout 8vo. 624 + 46 + np, profusely illustrated in color and b&w. This twenty-sixth publication of Andrew Hoyem's esteemed Arion Press is a beautifully constructed and executed hand-letterpress reprinting of Lawrence Sterne's classic of English literature, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" that has been newly-illustrated by the noted Conceptual artist John Baldessari. Remaining faithful to the delightful typographic eccentricities and variant spellings of Sterne's own self-published editions from the 1760s, the main text of the novel has been set in Caslon Old Style - the typeface utilized by Sterne for the original printings - and bound in a single, substantial three-quarter green goatskin over lovely hand-marbled boards volume. This is accompanied by literary scholar Melvyn New's informative forty-six page essay "Lawrence Sterne and Tristram Shandy" separately bound in boards. The crowning achievement of this ambitious undertaking however is the third volume which contains John Baldessari's wry visual commentary of photo-collaged and altered found photographs and film stills in the form of a lengthy accordion-fold leporello that is anchored between green gilt-stamped boards. The three volumes are housed in a gilt-stamped green paper over board slipcase along with the additional Arion Press pre-publication prospectus laid in. A handsome example of the standard edition of this exquisite, uncommon item (entry number three in Elizabeth Phillips and Tony Zwicker's 1993 "The American Livre de Peintre" exhibition and catalogue from The Grolier Club) limited to four hundred unnumbered copies BOLDLY SIGNED "John Baldessari" in pencil on the colophon of illustrated volume, as issued, showing some typical mild age-toning of the spines along with mild surface abrasions as well as tiny dings to the upper foredge tips of the primary text volume. The slipcase is a bit worn and handled with some insect damage - primarily to the rear panel - that does not affect the gilt lettering. It has been priced accordingly. PLEASE NOTE: Additional shipping costs are required for this item beyond our standard rates due to its weight and value - we will inform you of the applicable amount at time of purchase. Signed by the Artist. Livre D'Artiste. Bookseller Inventory # 025034
| i don't know |
Who presents the ITV quiz show ‘Take on the Twisters’? | ITV Take on the Twisters
Interview with Julia Bradbury:
Talking about playing host to Take on the Twisters, Julia says: “It's fantastically entertaining, completely different and challenging in a whole new way.”
Describing the format of the quiz, Julia explains: “Essentially four players are racing each other to take on six giant twisters, which are giant egg timers. It’s a general knowledge marathon that needs not only great general knowledge, they also need a cool head so that they can answer questions against the clock as the twisters run out of time.”
Julia continues: “Players will also need to use their wits to work out one another’s strengths and weaknesses, because they are also given the opportunity to twist questions they don’t like on to another player. Get the twist wrong and they can lose control of the game.”
Would Julia fancy her chances if she were to swap places with the contestants?
“I’d be absolutely rubbish!' laughs Julia, 'I have reasonable general knowledge but in those circumstances and under that sort of pressure I think I’d crumble. I'm much happier controlling things as the host. That’s the kind of pressure I thrive under.”
Though if she did give it a go, Julia says that her strongest subject would be travel.
“Having spent so much time travelling the world, and most recently the UK with Countryfile, I feel like I have a greater than average insight on British locations.”
| Julia Bradbury |
‘La donna è mobile’ comes from which Verdi opera? | Julia Bradbury quits Countryfile to make outdoors show for ITV | News | TV News | What's on TV
Julia Bradbury quits Countryfile to make outdoors show for ITV
TAGS: countryfile julia bradbury
Julia Bradbury is set to leave the BBC for an ITV show, after hosting Countryfile for five years.
The 43-year-old will swap channels as she prepares to front a five-part series about Britain’s landscape for the rival channel, reported The Guardian.
“I go camping on screen and wake up at 6am and people see me peeping out of a sleeping bag wearing a beanie, so it’s not about looking glamorous and young,” she said.
She told Hello! magazine: “[It was] something I couldn’t afford to turn down at this stage in my life and career. I’ve been heavily [involved] in the development of this one, so it’s very close to my heart.”
A BBC spokeswoman said: “After five years, Julia has decided to leave Countryfile,” adding that they may still work together on further projects.
The corporation said it would look for a replacement ‘in due course’, to present alongside Matt Baker, John Craven and Ellie Harrison.
As well as her Countryfile role, Julia has also presented Wainwright’s Walks, Watchdog and several walking shows for the BBC, as well as ITV quiz show Take On The Twisters.
| i don't know |
In which city will the 2014 Tour de France begin? | Tour de France: Yorkshire to host start of 2014 race - BBC Sport
BBC Sport
Tour de France: Yorkshire to host start of 2014 race
14 Dec 2012
Media playback is not supported on this device
Yorkshire to host start of Tour De France
Leeds will host the start of the 2014 Tour de France.
The Tour heads through Yorkshire on 5 and 6 July, before moving south for a third stage, finishing in London.
The race last visited the UK in 2007, when London hosted a prologue ahead of a road stage from the capital to Canterbury, attracting two-million spectators.
How did Yorkshire win Tour bid?
Not long ago the idea Yorkshire could host the Tour de France may have seemed fanciful in the extreme.
The region faced serious international competition from the likes of Barcelona, Berlin, Venice and Scotland.
So how did Yorkshire persuade the French to bring the Tour to the north of England?
Much of the credit must go to the tourism body Welcome To Yorkshire. Among the many tactics they employed to sway the tour's organisers in favour of Yorkshire was a stunning promotional film highlighting the dramatic Yorkshire landscape.
Yorkshire beat off the challenge of bids from Florence and Edinburgh to host the prestigious event.
However, Edinburgh remains in the running to host the Grand Depart at a future date.
It will be the fourth time the Tour has visited Britain after previous visits in 1974 and 1994.
Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, hosted the 2010 Grand Depart, while the 2012 race started in Liege in Belgium and next year's 100th race will begin in Corsica.
Full details of the route will be announced at a news conference in Leeds and Paris on 17 January.
Leeds will host a festival of cycling and the arts to coincide with the arrival of the Tour.
British Cycling president Brian Cookson said: "Like every other cycling fan, I am thrilled the world's biggest bike race is coming back to this country.
"The huge numbers who turned out to support the 2007 Grand Depart and the London 2012 road races show the passion we have for cycling.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Boycott confused by Tour in Yorkshire
"I'm sure Yorkshire will give the 2014 Tour de France a welcome which will stand out in the race's rich history."
Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, the agency behind the county's bid, said: "Today is a proud day for everyone involved in the bid and the county as a whole.
"We are honoured that the race organisers have selected Yorkshire to be the host location of the 2014 Grand Depart.
"It will mean that, less than two years after hosting the Olympics, the British public can look forward to another of the world's biggest sporting events coming to the country.
"I am in no doubt they will come to Yorkshire in their millions, lining the length and breadth of the route to cheer on the champions of world cycling and our home grown British heroes."
Media playback is not supported on this device
Yorkshire 'delighted' to host Le Tour
Race director Christian Prudhomme added: "Since the resounding success of the Grand Depart in London in 2007, we were very keen to return to the United Kingdom.
"Bradley Wiggins's historic victory last July and the enormous crowds that followed the cycling events in the streets of London during the Olympic Games encouraged us to go back earlier than we had initially planned."
| Leeds |
RMS Atlantic which ran aground off Nova Scotia in April 1873 with the loss of over 500 lives was the second ship built for which shipping line? | When does Tour de France 2014 start? Race preview, where to watch it and everything you need to know as Chris Froome defends title | The Independent
Cycling
When does Tour de France 2014 start? Race preview, where to watch it and everything you need to know as Chris Froome defends title
A look ahead to the 2014 Tour de France, which starts in the United Kingdom for only the second time
Wednesday 2 July 2014 15:17 BST
Click to follow
Chris Froome wins historic 100th Tour de France AP
When does it begin?
For only the second time in its 111-year history, the Tour de France will kick off on British soil when Leeds plays host to the Grand Départ on Saturday, 5 July. Unusually, this year’s race begins with a road stage rather than a prologue, giving an opportunity for Mark Cavendish or his great German rival Marcel Kittel to slip into the leader’s yellow jersey. And were Cavendish to require any extra motivation, his mother used to live in Harrogate - within spitting distance of the first stage finish.
Where can I watch it in the UK?
For a glimpse of the riders before the race even begins, head to Victoria Gardens in Leeds town centre, where the teams will be signing in on the morning of the Grand Départ.
Of the three British-based stages, the second from York to Sheffield should provide the most scenic delights. The 201 kilometres cross the Pennines and take in some of this country’s most iconic hills. The climb of Holme Moss in particular is expected to attract thousands of people- but the stage will be decided atop the brutally steep Jenkin Road, where you will be able to see the likes of Slovak powerhouse Peter Sagan in full flow.
The best vantage point for Stage 3 is obvious- the finish is on The Mall in London, as it was the first and last time the Tour visited Britain back in 2007. The long drag up to Buckingham Palace was also the site of the finish to the 2012 Olympic Road Race, when the Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov spoiled Mark Cavendish’s party with a hugely unpopular victory.
What are the key stages?
The favourites for the yellow jersey will have been having recurring nightmares about Stage 5. That’s because it features cobbles- many of the same sections used in the Spring Classic Paris-Roubaix, otherwise known as the ‘Hell of the North,’ which can end a contender’s race in an instant.
Stage 10 is the first major mountain test- and it ends at La Planche des Belles Filles, the site of Chris Froome’s maiden Tour win in 2012. On its way from Mulhouse, the stage passes over the Petit Ballon- the very first mountain ever used in the Tour de France.
If the yellow jersey contenders have not been separated by the Alps and Pyrenees, then Stage 20’s 54 kilometre time-trial to Bergerac will be crucial.
Where can defending champion Chris Froome win it and lose it?
A rider of Froome’s build will have to watch out for those cobbles - in 2010, they ended the Luxembourger Frank Schleck’s race via a broken collarbone. The defending champion will relish the ‘Queen Stage’ that takes in the legendary climb of the Tourmalet before a summit finish atop Hautacam, the scene of many memorable Tour battles over the years. And with Alberto Contador in ominous form, Froome will be grateful for the length of the Stage 20 time-trial which suits his abilities better than the Spaniard’s.
Who are the main contenders?
Froome is the undoubted favourite, despite a patchy season thus far. But Contador is not far behind- he was superior to the Briton at the Dauphiné-Libéré warm-up race in June.
Alberto Contador (in the yellow) is tipped to pose the biggest threat to Froome(in green)
Behind those two sit a group of riders surrounded by uncertainty. Alejandro Valverde will head the powerful Movistar team’s challenge and will expect a podium place. However he has never won the Tour and Froome may be thankful that his teammate, the diminutive Colombian climber Nairo Quintana is not riding after winning the Giro d’Italia in May. Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha who finished third last year will ride for stage wins rather than overall glory this time around, after an injury-disrupted season.
Who could surprise the front-runners?
Perhaps this may be the year the French finally produce at their own race. The 2013 race was a Gallic annus horribilis saved only by Christophe Riblon’s memorable win on Alpe d’Huez, but in 2014 home prospects look brighter. Pierre Rolland performed strongly at the Giro d’Italia to finish 4- the highest Grand Tour placing by a French rider in 3 years- whilst the youthful Romain Bardet turned in a series of strong performances at the Dauphiné.
French cyclist Pierre Rolland
For an American surprise of the nice rather than Lance Armstrong-flavoured kind, look to Garmin-Sharp’s Andrew Talansky. The man nicknamed ‘Pitbull’ by his team manager Jonathan Vaughters finished 10 last year, and returns in 2014 with a team fully committed to riding for him in the mountains.
If it's a British outside bet you're after, look no further than Orica-GreenEdge’s Simon Yates. The first-year pro was a late inclusion in the Australian squad- but the steep hills of Stage 2 into Sheffield should suit his talents well.
| i don't know |
Which island is nicknamed ‘The Lighthouse of the Mediterranean’? | Lighthouse of The Mediterranean, a photo from Messina, Sicily | TrekEarth
Only registered TrekEarth members may write critiques.
Photographer's Note
ENGLISH: This is Stromboli, one of the 7 Aeolian Islands off the north-west of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Stromboli is also one of the Italy's 3 active volcanoes (the others of course being Etna (Sicily) and Vesuvius (Naples). Stromboli (pronounced "Str�mbuli" in Sicilian and Στρογγύλη Strongulē in Greek) has been active for 2,000 years. A spectacular eruption is able to be seen virtually every 30 minutes.
The island has a population of between 400 and 850. The volcano has erupted many times, and is constantly active with major eruptions, often visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea. The last major eruption was on April 13, 2009. Stromboli stands 926 m (3,034 ft) above sea level,but actually rises over 2,000 m (6,500 ft) above the sea floor. There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the Sciara del Fuoco ("Stream of fire"), a big horseshoe-shaped depression generated in the last 13,000 years by several collapses on the north western side of the cone.
Stromboli is remarkable because of the length of time for which it has been in almost continuous eruption. And there it is also known by the nickname "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean".
ITALIANO: Questo � Stromboli, una delle 7 isole Eolie, a nord-ovest della Sicilia, nel mar Tirreno. Stromboli � anche uno dei 3 in Italia vulcani attivi (gli altri, ovviamente sono Etna (Sicilia) e Vesuvio (Napoli). Stromboli (pronunciato "Str�mbuli" in Siciliano e Στρογγύλη Strongulē in Greco) � stato attivo per 2.000 anni. Un' eruzione spettacolare � in grado di essere visto praticamente ogni 30 minuti.
L'isola ha una popolazione compresa tra 400 e 850. Il vulcano ha eruttato molte volte, ed � costantemente attivo con grandi eruzioni, spesso visibile da molti punti dell'isola e dal mare che la circonda. L'ultima eruzione importante � stato il 13 aprile 2009. Stromboli si trova 926 m (3.034 ft) sopra il livello del mare, ma sorge in realt� pi� di 2.000 m (6.500 ft) al di sopra del fondo del mare. Ci sono tre crateri attivi a picco. Una caratteristica significativa geologica del vulcano � la Sciara del Fuoco ( "Stream of fire"), un ferro di cavallo a forma di grande depressione generata negli ultimi 13000 anni da diverse crolla sul lato nord occidentale del cono.
Stromboli � notevole a causa della lunghezza del tempo per il quale � stato in eruzione quasi continua. E vi � anche noto con il soprannome di "Faro del Mediterraneo".
1/20
| Stromboli |
Which Pink Floyd album cover shows a prism reflecting a beam of light? | Stromboli Volcano, Eolian Islands, Italy - facts & information / VolcanoDiscovery:
View all recent quakes
Stromboli, a small island north of Sicily, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and famous for its normally small, but regular explosions throwing out glowing lava from several vents inside its summit crater. This activity has been going on for at least 2000 years, as long as there is written memory of the activity, which Stromboli lended its name to, the so-called strombolian activity.
Background:
The N-most island of the Eolian Islands is famous for its spectacular incandescent nighttime explosions, that have long attracted visitors from all over the world and brought the volcano the nickname the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean." Stromboli has even given its name to this kind of typical small explosions.
As long as there are historical records, Stromboli has been constantly active, which makes it almost unique among the volcanoes in the world. Most of its activity consists of brief and small bursts of glowing lava fragments to heights of 100-200 m above the craters. Occasionally, much stronger explosions or periods of more continuous activity can occur. The most violent eruptions during the past 100 years, in 1919, 1930 and on 5 April 2003, were large enough to take lives and or destroy property even at considerable range from the craters, for example inside the inhabited areas.
Apart from explosive activity, effusive eruptions with outflow of lava occur at irregular intervals ranging from a few years to decades. The most recent one began on 28 December 2002 and ended in July 2003.
Stromboli offers visitors a unique possibility to watch its eruptions. From the rim of an older crater one can stand only 150-250 m almost directly above the active craters,- a perfect viewing terrace. It should be mentioned that this is regarded as surprisingly safe as well: even though there is a small risk of being involved in a sudden, larger explosion (which happen infrequently a few times per year), and then being hit, injured or killed by an ejected bomb from the crater, the risk in terms of numbers is probably much smaller than many other risks in everyday situations. The number of accidents on Stromboli, when compared to the number of visitors at the crater over the years, is extremely small.
For hose who know and learn to love it, Stromboli is a magical place,- even not only for its volcano, but also for its unique charm, its beautiful beaches, the lush vegetation and its characteristic and unspoiled architecture.
| i don't know |
Who scored a record 156 for Australia in a Twenty20 International against England this summer? | Aaron Finch blasts world record 156 in T20 opener against England
Aaron Finch blasts world record 156 in T20 opener against England
Liam Fitzgibbon
Australia lose women's Ashes
SOUTHAMPTON: Aaron Finch blasted the highest ever individual score in a Twenty20 international to power Australia to a drought-breaking 39-run win over England in Southampton on Thursday.
Opener Finch smashed a remarkable 156 off 63 balls as Australia earned their first win in any international cricket format in more than 200 days and landed an overdue blow against England after a 3-0 Ashes series loss.
Former Pakistani refugee Fawad Ahmed (0-43) made his highly-anticipated debut for Australia but it was well and truly overshadowed by Finch's remarkable display of power hitting.
Related Content
Australia lose women's Ashes to England
The 26-year-old Victorian had a packed Rose Bowl in awe with an innings that featured a staggering 14 sixes and 11 fours.
He easily surpassed the previous international record of 123 set by New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and became the first Australian to score a T20 international century.
Advertisement
His innings was the third highest T20 ever, including domestic cricket, behind only knocks from Chris Gayle (175no) and McCullum (158no) in the Indian Premier League.
Finch's display propelled Australia to 6-248, the second highest team score in T20 internationals, behind Sri Lanka's 6-260 against Kenya in Johannesburg in 2007.
SHARE
Aaron Finch's innings featured an extraordinary 14 sixes.
Photo: Getty Images
Opening alongside David Warner (1) with Shane Watson brought in at No.4, Finch also stylishly brought up his his 50, 100 and 150 with sixes.
Finch's ton off 47 balls was the second-quickest in international T20s behind South African Richard Levi (45) and he looked poised to break that record before a brief lull in his scoring.
Aaron Finch's world record Twenty20 innings
He was eventually bowled by Jade Dernbach before earning a standing ovation from the pro-England crowd.
Finch received handy support from Watson (37 off 16) and first-drop Shaun Marsh (28 off 21) but it was essentially a one-man show.
SHARE
Aaron Finch hits a six watched by England's Jos Buttler.
Photo: Reuters
Leg-spinner Ahmed had little impact with the ball from four overs but it was hard to read too much into his debut on a batsman's pitch and with England throwing caution to the wind chasing a mammoth total.
Mitchell Johnson (2-41) and Josh Hazlewood (2-43) took early wickets to set England back even further in their chase but in truth the match was virtually won before the second innings started.
England captain Stuart Broad won the toss and may well lose sleep over his decision to send Australia to bat first on a firm Rose Bowl pitch.
Dernbach took 3-34 as most of England's youthful bowling line-up copped heavy punishment.
Of the victorious Ashes squad, only Broad and Root featured for England.
Now a fresh-faced squad faces a huge challenge to rebound in the second T20 in Durham on Saturday, which precedes a five-match one-day series.
Aside from Finch's knock, there were some other entertaining moments for the capacity crowd.
Root had a ball wedged in the front of his helmet after a short ball from Hazlewood while Ravi Bopara (45 off 28) earned a reprieve after the bails bizarrely took several seconds to fall after David Warner had brushed the wickets with a run-out attempt.
Australia had not won a match in any format since beating the West Indies in a one-day match at the MCG on February 10.
AARON FINCH'S REMARKABLE TWENTY20 INNINGS
Score: 156
Highest individual scores in international T20 matches
156 Aaron Finch (Australia) v England, Southampton, 2013
123 Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) v Bangladesh, Pallekele, 2012
117no Richard Levi (South Africa) v New Zealand, Hamilton, 2012
117 Chris Gayle (West Indies) v South Africa, Johannesburg, 2007
116no Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) v South Africa, Christchurch, 2010
Highest individual scores in T20 matches (international and domestic)
175no Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore) v Pune Warriors, Bangalore, 2013
158no Brendan McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders) v Royal Challengers Bangalore, Bangalore, 2008
156 Aaron Finch (Australia) v England, Southampton, 2013
Fastest 100s in international T20 matches
45 balls, Richard Levi (South Africa) v New Zealand, Hamilton, 2012
47 Aaron Finch (Australia) v England, Southampton, 2013
50 Chris Gayle (West Indies) v South Africa, Johannesburg, 2007
50 Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) v Australia, Christchurch, 2010
Highest scores by Australians in international T20 matches
156 Aaron Finch v England, Southampton, 2013
98no Ricky Ponting v New Zealand, Auckland, 2005
96 Damien Martyn v South Africa, Brisbane, 2006
Most sixes by an individual in international T20 matches
14 Aaron Finch (Australia) v England, Southampton, 2013
13 Richard Levi (South Africa) v New Zealand, Hamilton, 2012
10 Chris Gayle (West Indies) v South Africa, Johannesburg, 2007
AAP
| Aaron Finch |
The title of which radio programme of the 1960s and 1970s always ended with the song ‘My name is Angus Prune and I always listen to ....................................’? | England vs. Australia: Video Highlights, Scorecard, Recap and More from 1st T20 | Bleacher Report
England vs. Australia: Video Highlights, Scorecard, Recap and More from 1st T20
By Mark Patterson , UK Staff Writer
Aug 29, 2013
Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories
Paul Severn/Getty Images
0
Comments
Australia won their first match of the series against England in resounding fashion, thanks to a record-breaking innings from Aaron Finch.
Finch smashed 156 from 63 balls, smashing 14 maximums—both new T20 international highs—as Australia posted 248-6 from their 20 overs.
In response, England made a bright start, but wickets tumbled early and there was no hope for them of clawing their way back into the game.
Here's the story of the match and the scorecard.
Australia innings
Stuart Broad was left to rue his decision to bowl first, as an Aaron Finch-led Australia ripped England to shreds.
Each bowler in turn was given the treatment as Finch swatted the ball away time and again to the ropes.
The 50 came up in 26 balls, the 100 in 21 and his 150 in just 13. As a display of hitting, it was peerless in the international arena (for more on that knock, click here ).
Meanwhile, his teammates played happily around him—Shaun Marsh added 28 in 21 balls, Shane Watson managed a fine 37 from 16, which on another day might have been a talking point.
Jade Dernbach pegged it back, as remarkable as it might sound for a score of 248-6, but his dismissal of Finch was one of three as he married control and guile to emerge with figures of 4-0-34-3.
Who will win the next T20 in the series?
England
73.5%
Total votes: 151
The bowling was not especially poor, nor the outfield especially small—it was simply a masterclass of vicious, relentless hitting on a benign pitch.
But the score had never been successfully chased in T20 cricket before , and the match looked over before England had begun their reply.
England innings
When Mitchell Johnson's first over cost 20 runs, the excitement just crept back into the game that England would perhaps be capable of doing something special.
But for the hosts to have any chance of victory, they would have needed a near-perfect innings, and instead they suffered a mini-collapse, losing three wickets in four balls.
Johnson removed Michael Lumb for an 11-ball 22, before Josh Hazlewood accounted for Alex Hales (caught by the wicketkeeper) and Luke Wright via a faint edge.
Joe Root emerged, wearing a bouncer that sneaked through the grill of his helmet early on, shook it off and carried on in partnership with Ravi Bopara (45) and Jos Buttler (27).
He might have deserved to reach his century, and in the process become the first England player to reach the landmark, but ran out of balls with 90 from 49 deliveries to his name. By then England had mustered 209-6.
A score above 200 would win almost any T20 fixture—but this was no ordinary encounter, and it condemned England to a 39-run defeat.
Here is the scorecard, courtesy of the BBC :
Australia Innings 248 for 6 (20.0 overs)
| i don't know |
Mary, Baroness Soames is the only current female member of the Order of the Garter. Who was her father? | Order of the Garter | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Order of the Garter
Most Noble Order of the Garter
Arms of the Order of the Garter
Awarded by Monarch of England and successor states
Type
Honi soit qui mal y pense
Awarded for
Eldest sons of Barons [1]
Next (lower)
Riband of the Order of the Garter
Representation of the garter on a Knight's mantle
Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster (d.1361) (later Duke of Lancaster), the second recipient of the Order, shown wearing his garter robes in an illustration from the 1430 Bruges Garter Book made by William Bruges (1375–1450), first Garter King of Arms
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry and the most prestigious honour in England and of the United Kingdom, and is dedicated to the image and arms of St. George as England's patron saint. It is awarded at the Sovereign's pleasure as her personal gift, on recipients from the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms . Membership of the order is limited to the Sovereign , the Prince of Wales, and no more than twenty-four members, or Companions. The order also includes supernumerary knights and ladies (e.g., members of the British Royal Family and foreign monarchs).
The order's emblem, depicted on insignia, is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense ( Middle French : "shame upon him who thinks evil upon it") in gold lettering. Members of the order wear such a garter on ceremonial occasions.
New appointments to the Order of the Garter are always announced on St George's Day , 23 April, as Saint George is the patron saint of England. [2]
Contents
Edit
King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter around the time of his claim to the French throne . [3] The foundation year is usually presumed to be 1348, however, the Complete Peerage, under "The Founders of the Order of the Garter", states the order was first instituted on 23 April 1344, listing each founding member as knighted in 1344, including Sir Sanchet D'Abrichecourt who died on 20 October 1345. [4] Other dates from 1344 to 1351 have also been proposed. The King's wardrobe account shows Garter habits first issued in the autumn of 1348; its original statutes required that each member already be a knight (what would now be referred to as a knight bachelor ) and some of the initial members were only knighted that year. [5]
The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most prestigious order of chivalry in the United Kingdom.
List of Founder Knights
They are all depicted in individual portraits in the Bruges Garter Book made in about 1431.
Legendary origins
Edit
Statutes of the Order of the Garter
Various legends account for the origin of the Order. The most popular legend involves the "Countess of Salisbury" (either Edward's future daughter-in-law Joan of Kent or her former mother-in-law, Catherine Montacute, Countess of Salisbury ). While she was dancing at a court ball at Calais, her garter is said to have slipped from her leg. When the surrounding courtiers sniggered, the king picked it up and returned it to her, exclaiming, "Honi soit qui mal y pense," ("Shamed be the person who thinks evil of it."), the phrase that has become the motto of the Order. [3] According to another legend, King Richard I was inspired in the 12th century by St George the Martyr while fighting in the Crusades to tie garters around the legs of his knights, who subsequently won the battle. King Edward supposedly recalled the event in the 14th century when he founded the Order. [5] Another explanation is that the motto refers to Edward's claim to the French throne, and the Order of the Garter was created to help pursue this claim. The use of the garter as an emblem may have derived from straps used to fasten armour. [3]
Medieval scholars have pointed to a connection between the Order of the Garter and the Middle English poem, " Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ". In "Gawain", a girdle, very similar in its erotic undertones to the garter, plays a prominent role. A rough version of the Order's motto also appears in the text. It translates from Old French as "Accursed be a cowardly and covetous heart." [7] While the author of that poem remains disputed, there seems to be a connection between two of the top candidates and the Order of the Garter. Scholar J.P. Oakden has suggested that it is someone related to John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster , and, more importantly, a member of the Order. Another competing theory is that the work was written for Enguerrand de Coucy , seventh Sire de Coucy . Sire de Coucy was married to King Edward III's daughter, Isabella, and was given admittance to the Order of the Garter on their wedding day." [8]
Ladies Companion of the Garter
Edit
Soon after the founding of the Order, women were appointed "Ladies of the Garter," but were not made companions. King Henry VII discontinued the practice in 1488; his mother, Margaret Beaufort , was the last Lady of the Garter before Queen Alexandra . Except for female sovereigns, the next Lady of the Garter named was Queen Alexandra , by her husband King Edward VII . King George V also made his consort, Queen Mary, a Lady of the Garter and King George VI subsequently did the same for his wife, Queen Elizabeth. Throughout the 20th century, women continued to be associated with the Order, but except for foreign female monarchs, they were not made companions. [9] In 1987, however, it became possible to install "Ladies Companion of the Garter" under a statute of Queen Elizabeth II . [10]
Order
Emperor Taishō in the robes of the Order of the Garter, as a consequence of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance .
Knights Companion in the procession to St George's Chapel for the Garter Service
Members
Edit
Membership in the Order is strictly limited and includes the monarch, the Prince of Wales, not more than 24 companion members, and various supernumerary members. The monarch alone can grant membership. [11] He or she is known as the Sovereign of the Garter, and the Prince of Wales is known as a Knight Companion of the Garter. [12]
Male members of the Order are titled "Knights Companion," and female members are called "Ladies Companion." Formerly, the Sovereign filled vacancies upon the nomination of the members. Each member would nominate nine candidates, of whom three had to have the rank of Earl or higher, three the rank of Baron or higher, and three the rank of Knight or higher. The Sovereign would choose as many nominees as were necessary to fill any vacancies in the Order. He or she was not obliged to choose those who received the most nominations. Candidates were last nominated in 1860, and appointments have since been made by the Sovereign acting alone, with no prior nominations. The statutes prescribing the former procedure were not amended, however, until 1953. [13] :198
From the 18th century, the Sovereign made his or her choices on the advice of Government. However, King George VI believed that the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle had become too linked with political patronage. In 1946, with the agreement of the Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the Leader of the Opposition Winston Churchill , membership to these two orders became a personal gift of the Sovereign once again. Thus, the Sovereign personally selects Knights and Ladies Companion of the Garter, and need not act on or solicit the advice of His or Her Government. [14]
In addition, the Order includes supernumerary members, who do not count towards the limit of 24 companions. Several supernumerary members, known as "Royal Knights and Ladies of the Garter", belong to the royal family. These titles were introduced in 1786 by King George III so that his many sons would not count towards the limit on the number of companions. He created the statute of supernumerary members in 1805 so that any descendant of King George II could be installed as such a member. In 1831, this statute was extended again to include all descendants of King George I. [5]
With the installation of Emperor Alexander I of Russia in 1813, supernumerary membership was extended to foreign monarchs, who are known as "Stranger Knights and Ladies of the Garter". [15] Each such installation originally required the enactment of a statute; however, a 1954 statute authorises the regular admission of Stranger Knights or Ladies without further special enactments. [15] In lesser orders of chivalry, such foreign members would be regarded as having received honorary knighthoods .
Traditionally, reigning European monarchs are admitted to the Order as Strangers. Constantine II of Greece , neither in his short reign nor since he was deposed in 1973, has succeeded his father Paul of Greece as a member of the Order. Similarly, Albert II of Belgium , although acceding to the throne in 1993, is the only Belgian monarch to date not to have been admitted to the Order. For a time, both Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands and her successor, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands were concurrently members of the Order as Stranger Ladies of the Garter.
The first non-Christian ruler to be admitted to the Order was Abdülmecid I , Sultan of the Ottoman Empire , in 1856 as a Stranger Knight.
The first, and to date only, member of the Order from South America was Emperor Pedro II of Brazil , created a Stranger Knight in 1871. He was a member of the House of Braganza , the ruling house of Portugal and Brazil.
The first member of the Order admitted from Asia was Naser al-Din Shah Qajar , monarch of Persia, created a Stranger Knight in 1873. His immediate successor was also admitted to the Order in 1903, to be followed by the Meiji Emperor of Japan in 1906.
Akihito is the only non-European monarch and likely the only non-Christian who is now a member of the Order. He is the fourth (consecutive) Emperor of Japan to be a Stranger Knight.
The first, and to date only, member of the Order from Africa was Haile Selassie , Emperor of Ethiopia, created a Stranger Knight in 1954.
The first knight from Australasia or Oceania was Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey , an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia, created a Knight Companion in 1969. Subsequently, two more Australians, Sir Paul Hasluck and Sir Ninian Stephen , were appointed. Three New Zealanders have been appointed: Charles Elworthy, Baron Elworthy , Sir Keith Holyoake , and Sir Edmund Hillary .
There have been no appointments from North America.
The Sovereign may "degrade" members who have committed very serious crimes, such as treason or fleeing the battlefield, or those who have taken up arms against the Sovereign.
During the First World War, two Royal Knights and six Stranger Knights, all monarchs or princes of enemy nations and including Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, were struck off the roll of the Order or had their appointments annulled in 1915. [15]
The banner of Emperor Hirohito of Japan was removed from St. George's chapel when Japan entered World War II in 1941, but that banner and the Japanese monarch's knighthood were restored by Elizabeth II in 1971, at which time he made a state visit to the United Kingdom. The Emperor was particularly pleased by the restoration of his banner as a Knight of the Garter. [16] In contrast, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy remained a Stranger Knight after Italy entered World War II against the United Kingdom and her Allies, until his death in exile in 1947.
From the late 15th century, there was a formal ceremony of degradation, in which Garter King of Arms, accompanied by the rest of the heralds, proceeded to St George's Chapel. While the Garter King of Arms read out aloud the Instrument of Degradation, a herald climbed up a ladder and removed the former knight's banner, crest, helm, and sword, throwing them down into the quire. Then the rest of the heralds kicked them down the length of the chapel, out of the doors, and into the castle ditch. The last such formal degradation was that of The Duke of Ormonde in 1716. [17]
Edit
Officers of the Order of the Garter (left to right): Secretary (barely visible), Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, Garter Principal King of Arms, Register, Prelate, Chancellor.
The Order has six officers: the Prelate, the Chancellor, the Register, the Garter Principal King of Arms , the Usher, and the Secretary. [18] The offices of Prelate, Register, and Usher were created on the order's establishment; those of Garter Principal King of Arms and Chancellor, in the 15th century; and that of Secretary, in the 20th century. [19]
The office of Prelate is held by the Bishop of Winchester , traditionally one of the senior bishops of the Church of England. [13] :105 The office of Chancellor is now held by one of the companions of the order. For most of its existence, the Bishop of Salisbury has held the office, although laymen held it from 1553 to 1671. In 1837, after boundary changes made Windsor Castle fall in the diocese of Oxford, the Chancellorship was transferred to the Bishop of Oxford . A century later, the Bishop of Salisbury challenged this transfer, on the grounds that the Chancellorship had been attached to his office regardless of the diocese in which the chapel of the order lay; and that, in any event, St George's Chapel , as a Royal Peculiar , was not under diocesan jurisdiction. The office of Chancellor was removed from the Bishop of Oxford (the outgoing bishop, Thomas Banks Strong , had been outspoken in the abdication crisis of Edward VIII ), and so it was withheld from his successor, Kenneth Kirk , and has since been held by one of the Knights Companion. [13] :109–112 Since 1937, the following members have held the post of Chancellor:
The Duke of Abercorn (since 2012)
The office of Register has been held by the Dean of Windsor since 1558. [13] :116 The Garter Principal King of Arms is ex officio the senior officer of the College of Arms (the heraldic authority of England), and is usually appointed from among the other officers of arms at the College. [13] :122 As the title suggests, Garter Principal King of Arms has specific duties as the Order's officer of arms, attending to the companions' crests and banners of arms, which are exhibited in the chapel. The Secretary, who acts as deputy to Garter in the ceremonial aspects of the Order, has since 1952 also been selected from the other officers of the College of Arms. [13] :143 The office of Usher is held by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod , who is also the Serjeant-at-Arms of the United Kingdom House of Lords [13] :132 (although his functions are more often performed there by his deputy, the Yeoman Usher).
Military Knights of Windsor
Main article: Military Knights of Windsor
Military Knights of Windsor in the procession to the Garter Service.
At the founding of the Order of the Garter, 26 "poor knights" were appointed and attached to the Order and its chapel. This number was not always maintained, and by the 17th century, there were only thirteen such knights. King Charles II increased the number to 18 (in large part because of funds allocated from Sir Francis Crane's will) after his coronation in 1660. After the knights objected to being termed "poor", King William IV redesignated them in the 19th century as the Military Knights of Windsor . [20]
The poor knights were impoverished military veterans, required to pray daily for the Knights Companion. In return, they received a salary and lodging in Windsor Castle. The knights are no longer necessarily poor, but are still military pensioners. They participate in the Order's processions, escorting the members, and in the chapel services. However, they are not considered knights or members of the Order. [20]
The poor knights originally wore red mantles , each of which bore St George's Cross, but did not depict the Garter. Queen Elizabeth I replaced the mantles in the 16th and 17th centuries with blue and purple gowns, but the red mantles returned in the 17th century under King Charles I . When the knights were renamed, the mantles were abandoned. The military knights now wear the old military uniform of an "army officer on the unattached list": black trousers with red stripe, a red double-breasted swallow-tailed coat , gold epaulets and brushes, a cocked hat with a plume , and a sword on a white sash. [21]
Habit and insignia
Mantle and hat of the Order
Members
The garter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
For the Order's ceremonial occasions, such as the annual Garter Day, the members wear elaborate vestments and accoutrements (accessories), which include:
The mantle is a vestment or robe worn by members since the 15th century. Once made of wool, by the 16th century it was made of velvet . The mantle was originally purple, but varied during the 17th and 18th centuries between celestial blue, pale blue, royal blue, dark blue, violet, and ultramarine . Mantles are now dark blue and lined with white taffeta . The mantles of the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and Royal Knights and Ladies end in trains. The heraldic shield of St. George's Cross encircled by the Garter is sewn onto the left shoulder of the mantle, but the Sovereign's mantle instead has the star of the Order. Attached to the mantle over the right shoulder are a dark red velvet hood and surcoat , which have lost all function over time and appear to the modern observer simply as a splash of colour. [21]
The hat is a Tudor bonnet of black velvet with a plume of white ostrich and black heron feathers. [21]
The insignia of a knight of the Order of the Garter
The collar is an accessory worn around the neck, over the mantle and secured with white ribbons tied in bows on the shoulders. Like the mantle, it was introduced in the 15th and 16th centuries. Made of pure gold, it weighs 30 troy ounces (0.933 kg). The collar is composed of gold knots alternating with enamelled medallions showing a rose encircled by the Garter. During King Henry VII 's reign, each garter surrounded two roses—one red and one white—but he changed the design such that each garter encircled the Tudor rose. [21]
The George (Great George), which is worn suspended from the collar, is a colourfully enamelled (sometimes jewelled) three-dimensional figure of St. George the Martyr on horseback slaying a dragon. [21]
The Garter is worn on ceremonial occasions around the left calf [22] by knights and around the left arm by ladies, and is depicted on several insignia. The Garter is a buckled dark-blue (originally light-blue) velvet strap, and bears the motto in gold letters. The garters of Stranger Knights and Ladies were once set with several jewels. [21] Two styles have been used: one is a working garter where the end slips through the buckle and then is tucked in a specific way and the other style is a 'pre-made' one that has the buckled and tucked end pre-fashioned and is fastened with a clip attachment.
Up until the middle part of the 20th century, it was customary to wear Tudor style under-dress, consisting of white silk embroidered doublet, breeches, full hose, white doeskin pumps with satin bows and a sword belt with sword, under the robes. Nowadays, morning dress or a lounge suit is worn. [23]
Other occasions
The Garter "Star" above, and "George" below
On other occasions when decorations are worn, the members wear simpler insignia:
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge wearing Garter Riband and Star
The collar is worn on designated collar days over military uniform or morning dress by members attending formal events. The collar is fastened to the shoulders with silk ribbons. Since the collar signifies the Order of the Garter, members can then wear the riband of any other order to which they belong. [21]
The star, which is worn pinned to the left breast, was introduced in the 17th century by King Charles I and is a colourfully enamelled depiction of the heraldic shield of St. George's Cross, encircled by the Garter, which is itself encircled by an eight-point silver badge. Each point is depicted as a cluster of rays, with the four points of the cardinal directions longer than the intermediate ones. The stars of Stranger Knights and Ladies were once set with several jewels. Since the Order of the Garter is the senior order of the United Kingdom, a member will wear its star above the others (up to three) that he or she holds. [21]
The riband is a four inch (10.16 cm)-wide sash worn over the left shoulder, or pinned beneath it, to the right hip, and was introduced in the 17th century by King Charles I . The riband's colour has varied over the years: it was originally light blue, but was a dark shade under the Hanoverian monarchs. In 1950, the colour was fixed as "kingfisher blue". A member will wear only one riband, even if he or she belongs to several orders. [21]
The badge is worn suspended from a small gold link from the riband at the right hip, and is sometimes known as " the Lesser George ". Like the Great George, the badge shows St. George the Martyr on horseback slaying a dragon, but it is flatter and gold. In the 15th century, the badge was worn attached to a ribbon around the neck. This was not convenient when riding a horse, so the custom of wearing it with a riband under the right arm developed. [21]
On the death of a member, the Lesser George and breast star are returned personally to the Sovereign by the former member's nearest male relative, and the other insignia to the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood , save the riband, mantle and hat. [21]
Officers
Edit
For ceremonial occasions of the Order, the officers wear the following garments and accessories:
The mantles for the prelate and chancellor are dark blue like those of the members (as a member, the chancellor wears a member's mantle), but the mantles for the other officers are dark red. All mantles are embroidered with a heraldic shield of St George's Cross. For Garter ceremonies, Garter Principal King of Arms wears this red mantle rather than the tabard of the royal arms worn for other State ceremonial occasions. [21]
Officers wear badges of office suspended from a chain worn around the neck. The badge for the prelate shows the Lesser George encircled by the Garter, which is surmounted by a bishop's mitre . The badge for the chancellor is a rose encircled by the Garter. The badge for the register is two crossed quills over a book encircled by the Garter surmounted by a crown. The badge for Garter Principal King of Arms is the royal arms impaled with St George's Cross encircled by the Garter and surmounted by a crown. The badge for the usher is a knot (like those on the collars of the companions of the order) encircled by the Garter and surmounted by a crown. The badge for the secretary shows two crossed quills in front of a rose and encircled by the Garter surmounted by a crown. [21]
The chancellor carries a purse, which is embroidered with the royal arms impaled by the Cross of St. George. The purse contains the seal of the Order. Garter Principal King of Arms carries his baton of office. The usher carries his staff of office, the Black Rod . [21]
Stall plates
Garter stall plate of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex , 3rd Count of Eu (1468-1540), KG, nominated as a Knight of the Garter in 1499
Garter stall plates are small enamelled and engraved brass stall plates located in St George's Chapel as memorials to Knights of the Garter. They are inscribed with the knight's name, and generally with his titles, offices, and motto. In most cases his heraldic achievement is depicted.
Precedence and privileges
The arms of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough , are encircled by both the Garter and the collar.
Coat of Arms of Henry III of France as King of France and lifelong King of Poland with chain of Order of the Garter
Members are assigned positions in the order of precedence , coming before all others of knightly rank, and above baronets. The wives, sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Companion are also assigned precedence. Relatives of Ladies Companion are not, however, assigned any special positions. (Generally, individuals can derive precedence from their fathers or husbands, but not from their mothers or wives.) The Chancellor is also assigned precedence, but except for the period between 1553 and 1671 when the office was held by a layman who was not necessarily a member of the Order, this precedence has been purely theoretical. As a member of the Order, the Chancellor has a higher precedence than that attached to the office, and when the office was filled by a diocesan bishop of the Church of England, the holder again had a higher precedence by virtue of that office than any that the chancellorship could bestow. [24]
Knights Companion prefix "Sir" [25] and Ladies Companion prefix "Lady" to their forenames. [26] Wives of Knights Companion may prefix "Lady" to their surnames, but no corresponding privilege exists for husbands of Ladies Companion. [27] Such forms are not used by royals, peers, peeresses, or Anglican clergymen, who instead use only the post-nominal letters. [25]
Knights and Ladies Companion use the post-nominal letters "KG" and "LG" respectively. [14] When an individual is entitled to use multiple post-nominal letters, those of the Order of the Garter appear before all others, except "Bt" or "Btss" (Baronet or Baronetess), "VC" ( Victoria Cross ) and "GC" ( George Cross ). [28]
The members may encircle their arms with the Garter, and, if they wish, with a depiction of the collar as well. [29] However, the Garter is normally used alone; the more elaborate version is seldom seen. Stranger Knights and Ladies do not embellish the arms they use in their countries with English decorations.
Knights and Ladies Companion are also entitled to receive heraldic supporters , a privilege granted to few other private individuals. While some families claim supporters by ancient use, and others have been granted them as a special reward, only members of the Royal Family, peers, Knights and Ladies Companion of the Garter, Knights and Ladies of the Thistle, and Knights and Dames Grand Cross of the junior orders of chivalry are automatically entitled to them. [29]
Investure ceremony of new Knights of the Garter
Main article: St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
The Order of the Garter once held services at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle , but they became rare in the 18th century. The annual Garter Services, discontinued in 1805, were revived by King George VI in 1948 and have become an annual event. Each June, on the Monday of Royal Ascot week (also known as Garter Day), the members of the Order, wearing their habits and garter insignia, meet in the state apartments in the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle. When any new Knights of the Garter are due for installation, an investiture ceremony is held at a Chapter of the Order in the Throne Room of Windsor Castle on the morning of Garter Day. [30] This ceremony is attended by all Knights Companions of the order, wearing the ceremonial habits and garter insignia, and also by their wives. The wording of the oath sworn by the new knights at this ceremony and of the Admonitions addressed to them in turn by the prelate and chancellor of the order when the several items of insignia are placed upon them are extremely similar to the traditions of the past. [31] [32]
At the investiture ceremony the Admonitions are read in turn by the prelate and chancellor of the order and several insignia are offered on a cushion to the Sovereign by Garter King of Arms, Black Rod, and the secretary of the order, in turn, so that the Sovereign may perform the ceremony of investiture. Two senior knights of the order assist the Sovereign in these ceremonies by placing the garter around the left leg of the new knight and by assisting the Sovereign in the fastening of the riband and Lesser George about the body of the new knight, and in the adjustment of the mantle and the collar. [33] After the investiture ceremony at Windsor is concluded, a state luncheon is held in the Banqueting Room. This is attended by the royal family, by all the Companions of the Order and their ladies, and by the Officers of the Order. After the banquet all the knights and ladies of the order, together with the prelate, chancellor and other officers of the order, in their mantles and ceremonial robes, led by the Military Knights of Windsor, move in procession, watched by a great crowd of spectators, through the castle, down the hill, which is lined with troops, to Saint George’s Chapel for a worship service, before which the formal installation of the new knights takes place. [34] After the service, the members return to the Upper Ward by carriage or car.
Armorial of the Order of the Garter
| Winston Churchill |
Where are the headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution? | Margaret Thatcher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running!
Margaret Thatcher
Thatcher redirects here. For other meanings see Thatcher (disambiguation) .
The Rt Hon. Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS
Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt.
Signature
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG , OM , PC , FRS (born 13 October 1925 ) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.
Thatcher was the longest-serving British Prime Minister since William Gladstone , and had the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early nineteenth century. She is also the only woman to have served as Prime Minister, one of only two women to have led a major political party in the UK, and one of only two to have held any of the four great offices of state (the second being Margaret Beckett ). Undoubtedly one of the most significant British politicians in recent political history, she is also one of the most divisive, being loved and loathed on different sides of the political spectrum.
Contents
12 External links
[ edit ] Early life and education
Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire , England . Her father was Alfred Roberts , who owned a grocer's shop in the town, was active in local politics (serving as an Alderman ), and was a Methodist lay preacher . Roberts came from a Liberal family but stood—as was then customary in local government—as an Independent. He lost his post as Alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950. Her mother was Beatrice Roberts née Stephenson, and she had one sister, Muriel (1921-2004). Thatcher was brought up a devout Methodist and has remained a Christian throughout her life. [1]
Thatcher performed well academically, attending Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and subsequently going up to Somerville College , Oxford in 1944 to study Chemistry . She became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1946, the third woman to hold the post. She graduated with a second-class degree and worked as a research chemist for British Xylonite and then J. Lyons and Co. , where she helped develop methods for preserving ice cream . She was a member of the team that developed the first soft frozen ice cream. She was also a member of the Association of Scientific Workers .
[ edit ] Political career between 1950 and 1970
At the 1950 and 1951 elections, Margaret Roberts fought the safe Labour seat of Dartford , and was at the time the youngest ever female Conservative candidate for office. While active in the Conservative Party in Kent , she met Denis Thatcher , whom she married in 1951. Denis was a wealthy businessman and he funded his wife's studies for the Bar . She qualified as a barrister in 1953, the same year that her twin children Carol and Mark were born. As a lawyer she specialised in tax law.
Thatcher then began to look for a safe Conservative seat and was narrowly rejected as candidate for Orpington in 1954. She had several other rejections before being selected for Finchley in April 1958. She won the seat easily in the 1959 election and took her seat in the House of Commons . Unusually, her maiden speech was in support of her Private Member's Bill ( Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 ) to force local councils to hold meetings in public, which was successful. In 1961 she went against her party's line by voting for the restoration of birching .
She was given early promotion to the front bench as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance in September 1961, retaining the post until the Conservatives lost power in the 1964 election . When Sir Alec Douglas-Home stepped down Thatcher voted for Edward Heath in the leadership election over Reginald Maudling , and was rewarded with the job of Conservative spokesman on Housing and Land. Shrewdly she adopted the policy of selling Council Houses to their tenants that had been developed by her colleague James Allason : it would prove popular in succeeding elections [1] . She moved to the Shadow Treasury team after 1966.
Thatcher was one of few Conservative MPs to support Leo Abse 's Bill to decriminalise male homosexuality , and she voted in favour of David Steel 's Bill to legalise abortion . However, she was opposed to the abolition of capital punishment and voted against making divorce more easily attainable. She made her mark as a conference speaker in 1966, with a strong attack on the high-tax policies of the Labour Government as being steps "not only towards Socialism , but towards Communism ". She won promotion to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Fuel Spokesman in 1967, and was then promoted to shadow Transport and, finally, Education before the 1970 election .
[ edit ] In Heath's Cabinet
When the Conservative party under Edward Heath won the 1970 general election, Thatcher became Secretary of State for Education and Science . In her first months in office, forced to administer a cut in the Education budget, she was responsible for the abolition of universal free milk for school-children aged seven to eleven (Labour had already abolished it for secondary schools). This led to one of the more unflattering names for her, "Mrs. Thatcher, Milk Snatcher". Cabinet papers show that she spoke against the move in Cabinet, but was forced, due to the concept of collective responsibility, to implement the will of her fellow ministers. [2] This provoked a storm of public protest. She also successfully resisted library book charges.
Her term was marked by support for several proposals for more local education authorities to close grammar schools and adopt comprehensive secondary education , even though this was widely perceived as a left-wing policy. Thatcher also saved the Open University from being abolished. The Chancellor Anthony Barber actually wanted to abolish it as a budget-cutting measure, for he viewed it as a gimmick by Harold Wilson . Thatcher believed it was a relatively inexpensive way of extending higher education and insisted that the University should experiment with admitting school-leavers as well as adults. In her memoirs, Thatcher wrote that she was not part of Heath's inner circle, and had little or no influence on the key government decisions outside her department.
After the Conservative defeat in February 1974 , she was moved again, to Shadow Environment Secretary. In this position she promised to abolish the rating system that paid for local government services, which proved a popular policy within the Conservative Party.
[ edit ] As Leader of the Opposition
Margaret Thatcher as Leader of the Opposition in 1975
Thatcher agreed with Sir Keith Joseph and the CPS that the Heath Government had lost control of monetary policy -- and had lost direction -- following its 1972 U-turn . After her party lost the second election of 1974 , Joseph decided to challenge Heath's leadership but later withdrew. Thatcher then decided that she would enter the race on behalf of the Josephite/CPS faction. Unexpectedly she outpolled Heath on the first ballot, forcing him to resign the leadership. On the second ballot, she defeated Heath's preferred successor William Whitelaw , by 146 votes to 79, and became Conservative Party leader on 11 February 1975 . She appointed Whitelaw as her deputy. Heath remained bitter towards Thatcher to the end of his life for what he perceived as her disloyalty in standing against him.
On 19 January 1976 , she made a speech in Kensington Town Hall in which she made a scathing attack on the Soviet Union . The most famous part of her speech ran:
"The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. They put guns before butter , while we put just about everything before guns."
In response, the Soviet Defence Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (" Red Star ") gave her the nickname " Iron Lady ", which was soon publicised by Radio Moscow . She took delight in the name and it soon became associated with her image as an unwavering and steadfast character.
Thatcher appointed many Heath supporters to the Shadow Cabinet and throughout her administrations sought to have a cabinet that reflected the broad range of opinions in the Conservative Party. This was particularly true in the 1976-9 period as Thatcher had won the leadership as an outsider and had little power base of her own within the party. Thatcher had to act cautiously to convert the Conservative Party to her monetarist beliefs. She reversed Heath's support for devolved government for Scotland . In an interview for Granada Television 's World in Action programme in January 1978, she said "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture", arousing particular controversy at the time. [3] She received 10,000 letters thanking her for raising the subject and the Conservatives gained a lead against Labour in the opinion polls, from both parties at 43% before the speech to 48% for Conservative and 39% for Labour immediately after. [2]
During the 1979 General Election , most opinion polls showed that voters preferred James Callaghan as Prime Minister even as the Conservative Party maintained a lead in the polls. The Labour Government ran into difficulties with the industrial disputes, strikes, high unemployment, and collapsing public services during the winter of 1978-9, dubbed the ' Winter of Discontent '. The Conservatives used campaign posters with slogans such as "Labour Isn't Working" (see [4] ) to attack the government's record over unemployment and its over-regulation of the labour market.
James Callaghan 's Labour government fell after a successful Motion of no confidence in spring 1979 and in the general election of 1979 the Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons and Margaret Thatcher became the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister. On arriving at 10 Downing Street , she famously said, in a paraphrase of St. Francis of Assisi :
"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope."
[ edit ] As Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher and Kenneth Kaunda
Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister on 4 May 1979 , with a mandate to reverse the UK's economic decline and to reduce the role of the state in the economy. Thatcher was incensed by one contemporary view within the Civil Service , that its job was to manage the UK's decline from the days of Empire , and she wanted the country to assert a higher level of influence and leadership in international affairs . She was a philosophic soulmate of Ronald Reagan , elected in 1980 in the United States , and to a lesser extent Brian Mulroney , who was elected in 1984 in Canada . It seemed for a time that conservatism might be the dominant political philosophy in the major English-speaking nations for the era.
In May 1980, one day before she was due to meet the Irish Taoiseach , Charles Haughey , to discuss Northern Ireland , she announced in the House of Commons that "the future of the constitutional affairs of Northern Ireland is a matter for the people of Northern Ireland, this government, this parliament, and no-one else."
In 1981, a number of Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army prisoners in Northern Ireland 's Maze prison (known in Ireland as 'Long Kesh', its previous name) went on hunger strike to regain the status of political prisoners , which had been revoked five years earlier under the preceding Labour government. Bobby Sands , the first of the strikers, was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone a few weeks before he died.
Thatcher refused at first to countenance a return to political status for republican prisoners, famously declaring "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political." However, after nine more men had starved themselves to death and the strike had ended, and in the face of growing anger on both sides of the border and widespread civil unrest, some rights relating to political status were restored to paramilitary prisoners.
Thatcher also continued the policy of " Ulsterisation " of the previous Labour government and its Secretary of State for Northern Ireland , Roy Mason , believing that the Unionists of Northern Ireland should be at the forefront in combating Irish republicanism . This meant relieving the burden on the mainstream British army and elevating the role of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Ulster Constabulary .
As a monetarist, Thatcher started out in her economic policy by increasing interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply and thus lower inflation. She had a preference for indirect taxation over taxes on income, and value added tax (VAT) was raised sharply to 15%, with a resultant actual short-term rise in inflation. These moves hit businesses -- especially the manufacturing sector -- and unemployment quickly passed two million, doubling the one million unemployed under the previous Labour government.
Political commentators harked back to the Heath Government's "U-turn" and speculated that Mrs Thatcher would follow suit, but she repudiated this approach at the 1980 Conservative Party conference, telling the party: "To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catch-phrase—the U-turn—I have only one thing to say: you turn if you want to; the Lady's not for turning." [3] That she meant what she said was confirmed in the 1981 budget, when, despite concerns expressed in an open letter from 364 leading economists, taxes were increased in the middle of a recession. In January 1982, the inflation rate dropped to single digits and interest rates were then allowed to fall. Unemployment continued to rise, reaching an official figure of 3.6 million — although the criteria for defining who was unemployed were amended allowing some to estimate that unemployment in fact hit 5 million. However, Norman Tebbit has suggested that, due to the high number of people claiming unemployment benefit whilst working, unemployment never reached three million.
By 1983, manufacturing output had dropped 30% from 1978.
Main article: Falklands War
In the Argentina of the 1980s an unstable military junta held power and was keen on reversing its widespread unpopularity caused by the country's poor economic performance. On 2 April 1982 , it invaded the Falkland Islands , known to the Argentinians as Islas Malvinas , the only invasion of a British territory since World War II . Argentina has claimed the islands since an 1830s dispute on their settlement. Within days, Thatcher sent a naval task force to recapture the Islands. Despite the huge logistical difficulties, the task force was successful, resulting in a wave of patriotic enthusiasm and support for her, at a time when her popularity had been at an all-time low for a serving Prime Minister.[ citation needed ]
[ edit ] 1983 General Election
This 'Falklands Factor', along with signs of economic recovery in early 1983, greatly aided the government's cause. The Labour party had split, and there was a new challenge to the political centre, the SDP-Liberal Alliance , formed by an electoral pact between the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party . However, this grouping of uncertain cohesion failed to make its intended breakthrough, despite briefly holding an opinion poll lead. In the June 1983 general election , the Conservatives won 42.4% of the vote, the Labour party 27.6% and the Alliance 25.4% of the vote. Although the Conservatives' share of the vote had fallen slightly (1.5%) since 1979, Labour's vote had fallen by far more (9.3%) and the large lead over the second-place party was translated by Britain's system of first past the post into a Conservative landslide . Under Margaret Thatcher, the Conservatives had won with a majority of 144 over the other parties.
[ edit ] 1983–1987
Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions but, unlike the Heath government, adopted a strategy of incremental change rather than a single Act. Several unions launched strikes in defence of their rights to represent workers, [ citation needed ] but all the actions eventually collapsed without successfully effecting any real change to the policy. Gradually, Thatcher's reforms reduced the power and influence of workers' unions, the successive pieces of legislation restricting the permitted mandates of union representation ever further. The changes were chiefly focused upon preventing the recurrence of the large-scale industrial actions of the past, but were also intended to assure that the consequences for the participants would be severe if any future action was taken. The reforms were also aimed,Thatcher claimed, to democratise the unions, and return power to the members. The most significant measures were to make secondary industrial action illegal, to make it illegal for a union leadership to call strike action without first winning a ballot of the union membership, and to make the closed shop illegal. Further laws banned workplace ballots and imposed postal ballots.
The strikes carried out in 1984-85 by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in opposition to proposals to close a large number of mines, proved decisive. Thatcher had made preparations to counter a strike by the NUM long in advance by building up coal stocks, ensuring that cuts in the electricity supply, like those experienced during the industrial disputes of 1972, would not be required to protect the supply. Police tactics during the strikes greatly concerned civil libertarians , but the images of crowds of militant miners attempting to prevent other miners from working proved a shock even to some supporters of the strikes. Mounting desperation and poverty of the striking families - who went without any income at all whilst committed to the strike - led to divisions being formed between the miners. A group of workers, resigned to the impending failure of the actions and worn down by months of protests, began to defy the Union's rulings, starting splinter groups and advising workers that return to work was the only option remaining: the battle had already been lost.
The Miners' Strike lasted a full year before the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The Conservative government proceeded to close all but 15 of the country's pits, with the remaining 15 being sold off and privatised in 1994. Private companies have since then acquired licences to open new pits and open-cast sites, with the majority of the original mines being destroyed and the land redeveloped. The defeat of the miners' strike led to a long period of demoralization in the whole of the trade union movement.
Following the arrest of the Coventry Four for breaching the UN arms embargo against apartheid South Africa in March 1984, and their repatriation to South Africa on bail, Thatcher invited apartheid South Africa 's president, P.W. Botha , and foreign minister, Pik Botha , to Chequers in June 1984 in an effort to stave off growing international pressure for the imposition of economic sanctions against South Africa, where Britain had invested heavily. She reportedly urged President Botha to end apartheid; to release Nelson Mandela ; to halt the harassment of black dissidents; to stop the bombing of African National Congress (ANC) bases in front-line states; and to comply with UN Security Council resolutions and withdraw from Namibia . [4] However Botha ignored these demands.
In an interview with Hugo Young for The Guardian in July 1986, Thatcher expressed her belief that economic sanctions against South Africa would be immoral because they would make thousands of black workers unemployed. [5] Because Pik Botha refused to allow the Coventry Four to return to England for their trial in the autumn of 1984, the £200,000 bail money had to be surrendered to the High Court. [6]
On the early morning of October 12 , 1984 , the day before her 59th birthday, Thatcher escaped injury in the Brighton hotel bombing when the hotel she was staying in for the Conservative Party Conference was bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Five people died in the attack, including Roberta Wakeham, wife of the government's Chief Whip John Wakeham , and the Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry . A prominent member of the Cabinet, Norman Tebbit , was injured, along with his wife Margaret, who was left paralysed. Thatcher herself would have been injured if not for the fact that she was delayed from using the bathroom (which suffered more damage than the room she was in at the time the IRA bomb detonated). [5] Thatcher insisted that the conference open on time the next day and made her speech as planned in defiance of the bombers, a gesture which won widespread approval across the political spectrum.
On November 15 , 1985 , Thatcher signed the Hillsborough Anglo-Irish Agreement with Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald , the first time a British government gave the Republic of Ireland a say (albeit advisory) in the governance of Northern Ireland. The agreement was greeted with fury by Northern Irish unionists. The Ulster Unionists and Democratic Unionists made an electoral pact and on January 23 , 1986 , staged an ad-hoc referendum by resigning their seats and contesting the subsequent by-elections, losing only one, to the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). However, unlike the Sunningdale Agreement of 1974, they found they could not bring the agreement down by a general strike. This was another effect of the changed balance of power in industrial relations .
Thatcher's political and economic philosophy emphasised free markets and entrepreneurialism . Since gaining power, she had experimented in selling off a small nationalised company, the National Freight Company, to its workers, with a surprisingly positive response. After the 1983 election, the Government became bolder and, starting with British Telecom , sold off most of the large utilities which had been in public ownership since the late 1940s. Many in the public took advantage of share offers, although many sold their shares immediately for a quick profit. The policy of privatisation , while anathema to many on the left, has become synonymous with Thatcherism . Wider share-ownership and council house sales became known as " popular capitalism " to its supporters.
In the Cold War , Mrs Thatcher supported Ronald Reagan 's policies of deterrence against the Soviets. This contrasted with the policy of détente which the West had pursued during the 1970s, and caused friction with allies who still adhered to the idea of détente. US forces were permitted by Mrs. Thatcher to station nuclear cruise missiles at British bases, arousing mass protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament . However, she later was the first Western leader to respond warmly to the rise of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , declaring that she liked him and describing him as "a man we can do business with" after a meeting in 1984, three months before he came to power. This was a start of a move by the West back to a new détente with the USSR under Gorbachev's leadership which coincided with the final erosion of Soviet power prior to the turbulence of 1991 and the collapse of the Union. Thatcher outlasted the Cold War, which ended in 1989, and voices who share her views on it credit her with a part in the West's victory, by both the deterrence and détente postures.
Also in 1985, as a deliberate snub, the University of Oxford voted to refuse her an honorary degree in protest against her cuts in funding for education. [6] This award had always previously been given to Prime Ministers that had been educated at Oxford.
She supported the US bombing raid on Libya from bases in the UK in 1986 in defiance of other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies. Her liking for defence ties with the United States was demonstrated in the Westland affair when she acted with colleagues to allow the helicopter manufacturer Westland , a vital defence contractor, to refuse to link with the Italian firm Agusta in order for it to link with the management's preferred option, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of the United States. Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine , who had pushed the Agusta deal, resigned in protest at her style of leadership, and remained an influential critic and potential leadership challenger. He would, eventually, prove instrumental in Thatcher's fall in 1990.
In 1986, her government controversially abolished the Greater London Council (GLC), then led by radical left-winger Ken Livingstone , and six Metropolitan County Councils (MCCs). The government claimed this was an efficiency measure. However, Thatcher's opponents held that the move was politically motivated, as all of the abolished councils were controlled by Labour, had become powerful centres of opposition to her government, and were in favour of higher public spending by local government. Several of them had however rendered themselves vulnerable by committing hard-pressed public funds to causes widely seen as political and even extreme.
Thatcher had two noted foreign policy successes in her second term.
In 1984, she visited China and signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with Deng Xiaoping on 19 December , which committed the People's Republic of China to award Hong Kong the status of a "Special Administrative Region". Under the terms of the so-called One Country, Two Systems agreement, China was obliged to leave Hong Kong's economic status unchanged after the handover on July 1 , 1997 for a period of fifty years – until 2047.
At the Dublin European Council in November 1979, Mrs Thatcher argued that the United Kingdom paid far more to the European Economic Community than it received in spending. She famously declared at the summit: "We are not asking the Community or anyone else for money. We are simply asking to have our own money back". Her arguments were successful and at the June 1984 Fontainbleau Summit, the EEC agreed on an annual rebate for the United Kingdom, amounting to 66% of the difference between Britain's EU contributions and receipts. This still remains in effect, although Tony Blair later agreed to significantly reduce the size of the rebate. It periodically causes political controversy among the members of the European Union .[ citation needed ]
[ edit ] 1987–1990
By winning the 1987 general election , on the economic boom and against a Labour opposition advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament, with a 102 majority, she became the longest continuously serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since Lord Liverpool (1812 to 1827), and the first to win three successive elections since Lord Palmerston in 1865 . Most United Kingdom newspapers supported her—with the exception of The Daily Mirror , The Guardian and The Independent —and were rewarded with regular press briefings by her press secretary, Bernard Ingham . She was known as "Maggie" in the tabloids , which inspired the well-known protest slogan " Maggie Out !", chanted throughout that period by some of her opponents. Her unpopularity on the left is evident from the lyrics of several contemporary popular songs: "Stand Down Margaret" ( The Beat ), "Tramp The Dirt Down" ( Elvis Costello ), "Dear Margaret" ( The Kinks ), "Margaret On The Guillotine" ( Morrissey ), some songs from Pink Floyd's ¨The Final Cut¨, and "Mother Knows Best" ( Richard Thompson ).
Though an early backer of decriminalization of male homosexuality (see above), Thatcher, at the 1987 Conservative party conference, issued the statement that "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay". Backbench Conservative MPs and Peers had already begun a backlash against the 'promotion' of homosexuality and, in December 1987, the controversial ' Section 28 ' was added as an amendment to what became the Local Government Act 1988 . This legislation has since been abolished by Tony Blair's Labour administration.
Welfare reforms in her third term created an adult Employment Training system that included full-time work done for the dole plus a £10 top-up, on the workfare model from the US .
In the late 1980s, Thatcher, a former chemist, became concerned with environmental issues, which she had previously dismissed: "When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands", she said in relation to the Falklands conflict.
In 1988, she made a major speech accepting the problems of global warming , ozone depletion and acid rain . In 1990, she opened the Hadley Centre for climate prediction and research. [7] . In her book Statecraft (2002), she described her later regret in supporting the concept of human-induced global warming, outlining the negative effects she perceived it had upon the policy-making process. "Whatever international action we agree upon to deal with environmental problems, we must enable our economies to grow and develop, because without growth you cannot generate the wealth required to pay for the protection of the environment" (452).
At Bruges, Belgium , in 1988, Thatcher made a speech in which she outlined her opposition to proposals from the European Community for a federal structure and increasing centralisation of decision-making. Although she had supported British membership, Thatcher believed that the role of the EC should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that new EC regulations would reverse the changes she was making in the UK. "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels". She was specifically against Economic and Monetary Union , through which a single currency would replace national currencies, and for which the EC was making preparations. The speech caused an outcry from other European leaders, and exposed for the first time the deep split that was emerging over European policy inside her Conservative Party.
Thatcher's popularity once again declined, in 1989, as the economy suffered from high interest rates imposed to stop an unsustainable boom . She blamed her Chancellor, Nigel Lawson , who had been following an economic policy which was a preparation for monetary union; in an interview for the Financial Times, in November 1987, Thatcher claimed not to have been told of this and did not approve. [8]
At a meeting before the Madrid European Community summit in June 1989, Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe forced Thatcher to agree the circumstances under which she would join the Exchange Rate Mechanism , a preparation for monetary union. At the meeting, they both claimed they would resign if their demands were not agreed to by Thatcher. [7] Thatcher took revenge on both by demoting Howe and by listening more to her adviser Sir Alan Walters on economic matters. Lawson resigned that October, feeling that Thatcher had undermined him.
That November, Thatcher was challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party by Sir Anthony Meyer . As Meyer was a virtually unknown backbench MP, he was viewed as a stalking horse candidate for more prominent members of the party. Thatcher easily defeated Meyer's challenge, but there were sixty ballot papers either cast for Meyer or abstaining, a surprisingly large number for a sitting Prime Minister. Her supporters in the Party, however, viewed the results as a success, claiming that after ten years as Prime Minister and with approximately 370 Conservative MPs voting, the opposition was surprisingly small. [9]
Thatcher's new system to replace local government taxes, outlined in the Conservative manifesto for the 1987 election, was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales in 1990. The rates were replaced by the Community Charge (more widely known as the " poll tax "), which applied the same amount to every individual resident, with discounts for low earners. This was to be the most universally unpopular policy of her premiership.
Additional problems emerged when many of the tax rates set by local councils proved to be much higher than earlier predictions. Opponents of the Community Charge banded together to resist bailiffs and disrupt court hearings of Community Charge debtors . The Labour MP, Terry Fields , was jailed for 60 days for refusing on principle to pay his Community Charge. As Mrs Thatcher continued to refuse to compromise on the tax, up to 18 million people refused to pay,[ citation needed ] enforcement measures became increasingly draconian, and unrest mounted and culminated in a number of riots . The most serious of these happened in London on March 31 , 1990 , during a protest at Trafalgar Square , London , which more than 200,000 protesters attended. The huge unpopularity of the tax was a major factor in Thatcher's downfall.
One of Thatcher's final acts in office was to put pressure on US President George H. W. Bush to deploy troops to the Middle East to drive Saddam Hussein 's army out of Kuwait . Bush was somewhat apprehensive about the plan, but Thatcher famously told him that this was "no time to go wobbly!"
On the Friday before the Conservative Party conference in October 1990, Thatcher ordered her new Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major to reduce interest rates by 1%. Major persuaded her that the only way to maintain monetary stability was to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism at the same time, despite not meeting the 'Madrid conditions'. The Conservative Party conference that year saw a large degree of unity; few who attended could have imagined that Mrs Thatcher had only a matter of weeks left in office.
[ edit ] Fall from power
See also: Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1990
Mrs Thatcher's political "assassination" was, according to witnesses such as Alan Clark, one of the most dramatic episodes in British political history. The idea of a long-serving prime minister - undefeated at the polls - being ousted by an internal party ballot, might at first sight seem like an improbable one. However, by 1990, opposition to Thatcher's policies on local government taxation, her Government's perceived mishandling of the economy (in particular, high interest rates of 15%, which were eroding her support base among homeowners and businesspeople), and the divisions opening in the Conservative Party over European integration made her and her party seem increasingly politically vulnerable.
On 1 November 1990 , Sir Geoffrey Howe , one of Thatcher's oldest and staunchest supporters, resigned from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in protest at Thatcher's European policy. In his resignation speech in the House of Commons two weeks later, he suggested that the time had come for "others to consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties" with which he stated that he had wrestled for perhaps too long. Her former cabinet colleague Michael Heseltine subsequently challenged her for the leadership of the party, and attracted sufficient support in the first round of voting to prolong the contest to a second ballot. Though she initially stated that she intended to contest the second ballot, Thatcher decided, after consulting with her Cabinet colleagues, to withdraw from the contest. On 22 November , at just after 9.30 a.m., she announced to the Cabinet that she would not be a candidate in the second ballot. Shortly afterwards, her staff made public what was, in effect, her resignation statement:
Having consulted widely among my colleagues, I have concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a General Election would be better served if I stood down to enable Cabinet colleagues to enter the ballot for the leadership. I should like to thank all those in Cabinet and outside who have given me such dedicated support.
Neil Kinnock , Leader of the Opposition, proposed a motion of no confidence in the government; and Margaret Thatcher seized the opportunity this presented on the day of her resignation to deliver one of her most memorable performances:
"... a single currency is about the politics of Europe, it is about a federal Europe by the back door. So I shall consider the proposal of the Honourable Member for Bolsover ( Mr. Skinner ). Now where were we? I am enjoying this."
She supported John Major as her successor and he duly won the leadership contest. After her resignation a MORI poll found that 52% agreed that "On balance she had been good for the country", with 48% agreeing that she had been "bad". [8] In 1991, she was given a long and unprecedented standing ovation at the party's annual conference, although she politely rejected calls from delegates for her to make a speech. She did, however, occasionally speak in the House of Commons after she was Prime Minister. She retired from the House at the 1992 election .
[ edit ] Post-political career
Margaret Thatcher visits the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet during his house arrest in London, in 1998
In 1992, Margaret Thatcher was raised to the House of Lords by the conferment of a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, upon her. She did not take a hereditary title, as she had recommended for Harold Macmillan , later Earl of Stockton, on his ninetieth birthday in 1984. She has explained that she thought she hadn't sufficient means to 'support' an hereditary title [ citation needed ]. By virtue of the life barony, she entered the House of Lords . She made a series of speeches in the Lords criticising the Maastricht Treaty , describing it as "a treaty too far" and in June 1993 told the Lords: "I could never have signed this treaty". [10] She also advocated a referendum on the treaty, citing A. V. Dicey , since all three main parties were in favour of it and that therefore the people should have their say. [11]
In August 1992, she called for NATO to stop the Serbian assault on Gorazde and Sarajevo in order to end ethnic cleansing and to preserve the Bosnian state. She claimed what was happening in Bosnia was "reminiscent of the worst excesses of the Nazis ". [9] In December of that same year she warned that there could be a "holocaust" in Bosnia and, after the first massacre at Srebrenica in April 1993, Thatcher thought it was a "killing field the like of which I thought we would never see in Europe again". She reportedly said to Douglas Hurd, the Foreign Secretary: "Douglas, Douglas, you would make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger". [10]
She had already been honoured by the Queen in 1990, shortly after her resignation as Prime Minister, when she was appointed to the Order of Merit , one of the UK's highest distinctions. In addition, her husband, Denis Thatcher, had been given a baronetcy in 1991 (ensuring that their son Mark would inherit a title). This was the first creation of a baronetcy since 1965. In 1995, Thatcher was raised to the Order of the Garter , the United Kingdom's highest order of Chivalry .
In July 1992, she was hired by tobacco giant Philip Morris Companies , now the Altria Group , as a "geopolitical consultant" for US$250,000 per year and an annual contribution of US$250,000 to her Foundation.
From 1993 to 2000, she served as Chancellor of the College of William and Mary , Virginia, USA, which was established by Royal Charter in 1693. She was also Chancellor of the University of Buckingham , the UK's only private university. She retired from the post in 1998.
She wrote her memoirs in two volumes, The Path to Power and The Downing Street Years. In 1993 The Downing Street Years were televised by the BBC, where she described the Cabinet rebellion that brought about her resignation as "treachery with a smile on its face".
Although she remained supportive in public, in private she made her displeasure with many of John Major's policies plain, and her views were conveyed to the press and widely reported. She was critical of the rise in public spending under Major, tax increases and his more favourable attitude to European integration . After Tony Blair 's election as Labour Party leader in 1994, Thatcher gave an interview in May 1995 in which she praised Blair as "probably the most formidable Labour leader since Hugh Gaitskell . I see a lot of socialism behind their front bench, but not in Mr Blair. I think he genuinely has moved". [12]
In the Conservative leadership election in the aftermath of the Conservatives' landslide defeat at the hands of New Labour , Thatcher voiced her support for William Hague after Kenneth Clarke entered into an alliance with John Redwood . Thatcher reportedly then toured the tea room of the House of Commons, urging Conservative MPs to vote for Hague.
In 1998, Thatcher made a highly publicised visit to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet , while he was under house arrest in Surrey, during which she expressed her support for and friendship with him (see [13] ). Pinochet had been a key ally in the Falklands War . Thatcher and Pinochet are both members of the Rotary International . During the same year, she made a £2,000,000 donation to Cambridge University for the endowment of a Margaret Thatcher Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies. She also donated the archive of her personal papers to Churchill College, Cambridge where the collection continues to be expanded.
Margaret Thatcher actively supported the Conservative general election campaign in 2001 . In the Conservative leadership election shortly after, Lady Thatcher came out in support of Iain Duncan Smith because she believed he would "make infinitely the better leader" than Kenneth Clarke due to Clarke's "old-fashioned views of the role of the state and his unbounded enthusiasm for European integration". [14]
In 2002, she published Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World detailing her thoughts on international relations since her resignation in 1990. The chapters on the European Union were particularly controversial; she called for a fundamental renegotiation of Britain's membership to preserve the UK's sovereignty and, if that failed, for Britain to leave and join NAFTA . These chapters were serialised in The Times on Monday, 18 March and caused a political furore for the rest of the week until Friday, 22 March when it was announced she had been advised by her doctors to make no more public speeches on health grounds, having suffered several small strokes. [15]
She remains active in various groups, including the Conservative Way Forward group, the Bruges Group and the European Foundation . She was widowed on 26 June 2003 .
On June 11 , 2004 , Thatcher attended the funeral, and delivered a tribute via videotape to former United States President Ronald Reagan at his state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Thatcher attends the official Washington, D.C. memorial service marking the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, pictured with Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne Cheney .
In December 2004, it was reported that Thatcher had told a private meeting of Conservative MPs that she was against the British Government's plan to introduce identity cards . She is said to have remarked that ID cards were a "Germanic concept and completely alien to this country". [16]
On 13 October 2005 , Thatcher marked her 80th birthday with a party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park where the guests included Her Majesty the Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh . There, Geoffrey Howe, now Lord Howe of Aberavon, commented on her political career: "Her real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible."
In September, 2006, Thatcher attended the official Washington, D.C. memorial service marking the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. She attended as a guest of the U.S. Vice President, Dick Cheney , and met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit. It marked her first visit to the United States since the funeral for former U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger in April 2006. [17]
On 12 November 2006 , she appeared at the Remembrance Day parade at the Cenotaph in London, leaning heavily on the arm of former Prime Minister, John Major . One week later, she released a an effusive statement of condolence on the death of her friend and economic mentor, Milton Friedman , the man often described as the inspiration behind Thatcherism .
[ edit ] Legacy
Many British citizens remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard that Margaret Thatcher had resigned and what their reaction was. Due to the ideological political climate of the time, Margaret Thatcher brought out both positive and negative reactions from different sides of the political spectrum.
She has been credited for her macroeconomic reforms with rescuing the British economy from the stagnation of the 1970s and admired for her committed radicalism on economic issues. The left wing accuse her of dismantling the Welfare State and of destroying much of the UK's manufacturing base, consigning many manufacturing to long-term unemployment. However, supporters of privatisation and of the free market cite the recovery of the economy during the mid-1980s and the present day success of the British economy, with its relatively low unemployment.
The UK was seen by some as the " sick man of Europe " in the 1970s. However, the UK emerged as one of the most successful economies in modern Europe. While the unemployment rate did eventually come down, it came after initial job losses and radical labour market reforms. These included laws that weakened trade unions and the deregulation of financial markets, which certainly played a part in returning London to a leadership position as a European financial centre, and her push for increased competition in telecommunications and other public utilities.
Perceptions of Margaret Thatcher are mixed in the view of the British public. A clear illustration of the divisions of opinion over Thatcher's leadership can be found in recent television polls: Thatcher appears at number 16 in the 2002 List of " 100 Greatest Britons ", which was the highest placing for a living person. She also appears at number 3 in the 2003 List of " 100 Worst Britons ", which was confined to those living, narrowly missing out on the top spot, which went to Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair . In the end, however, few could argue that there was any woman who played a more important role on the world stage in the 20th century. In perhaps the sincerest form of flattery, Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, himself a thrice-elected Prime Minister, has implicitly and explicitly acknowledged her importance by continuing many of her economic policies. Thatcher herself indirectly acknowledged Blair during a Conservative leadership contest when she said "[The Conservative Party]...don't need someone that can beat Mr. Blair, they need someone LIKE Mr. Blair".
In much of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the urban and former mining areas of northern England, she is still reviled. Many people remember the hardships of the miners' strike, which destroyed many mining communities, and the decline of traditional heavy industry, despite the subsequent boom in service industries.
Negative opinions of Thatcher in the mining and industrial communities were reflected in the 1987 election, which she won by a landslide through winning large numbers of seats in southern England and the rural farming areas of northern England while winning few seats in the remaining areas of the country. Through the Common Agricultural Policy , British agriculture was (and remains) heavily subsidised while other failing parts of the economy did not receive similar tax revenue support. This geographical imbalance in Thatcher's support led to wide-spread feelings of alienation in Scotland, Wales and the English regions, and contributed directly to the growth of devolution movements in those areas.
Perceptions abroad broadly follow the same political divisions. On the left, Margaret Thatcher is generally regarded as somebody who used force to quash social movements, who imposed social reforms that disregarded the interests of the working class and instead favoured the wealthier elements of the middle class and business. Satirists have often caricatured her. For instance, French singer Renaud wrote a song, Miss Maggie, which lauded women as refraining from many of the silly behaviours of males – and every time making an exception for "Mrs Thatcher". She may be remembered most of all for her remark "There is no such thing as society" [18] to the reporter Douglas Keay, for 'Womans Own' magazine, 23 September 1987 . This remark has frequently been quoted out of its full context and the surrounding remarks were as follows:
"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first." [19]
On the economic and political right and centre right , Thatcher is often remembered with some fondness as one who dared to confront powerful unions and removed harmful constraints on the economy. On the left she is still reviled as the politician who cut funding of the public services to support the rich.
In 1996, the Scott Inquiry into the Arms-to-Iraq affair investigated the Thatcher government's record in dealing with Saddam Hussein. It revealed how £1bn of Whitehall money was used in soft loan guarantees for British exporters to Iraq. The judge found that during Baghdad's protracted invasion of Iran in the 1980s , officials destroyed documents relating to the export of Chieftain tank parts to Jordan which ended up in Iraq. Ministers clandestinely relaxed official guidelines to help private companies sell machine tools which were used in munitions factories. The British company Racal exported sophisticated Jaguar V radios to the former Iraqi dictator's army on credit. Members of the Conservative cabinet refused to stop lending guaranteed funds to Saddam even after he executed a British journalist, Farzad Bazoft , Thatcher’s cabinet minuting that they did not want to damage British industry.
Many on both the right and left agree that Thatcher had a transformative effect on the British political spectrum and that her tenure had the effect of moving the major political parties rightward. Will Hutton, author of the bestselling "The State We're In", argues that the change to conservatism could have been achieved with more consensus and less hardship by a leader less enamaoured of US hegemonic power.
New Labour and Blairism have incorporated much of the economic, social and political tenets of "Thatcherism" in the same manner as, in a previous era, the Conservative Party from the 1950s until the days of Edward Heath accepted many of the basic assumptions of the welfare state instituted by Labour governments. The curtailing and large scale dismantling of elements of the welfare state under Thatcher have largely remained. As well, Thatcher's programme of privatising state-owned enterprises has not been reversed. Indeed, successive Tory and Labour governments have further curtailed the involvement of the state in the economy and have further dismantled public ownership.
For good or ill, Thatcher's impact on the trade union movement in Britain has been lasting with the breaking of the miners' strike of 1984-1985 seen as a watershed moment, or even a breaking point, for a union movement which has been unable to regain the degree of power it exercised up to the 1970s. Unionisation rates in Britain declined under Thatcher and have not recovered, and the legislative instruments introduced to curtail the impact of strikes have not been reversed. Instead, the Labour Party has worked to loosen its ties to the trade union movement. While industrial action does still occur, there is no longer the kind of mass economic disruption seen in the 1970s, and the closed shop remains illegal.
Thatcher's legacy has continued strongly to influence the Conservative Party itself. Successive leaders, starting with John Major , and continuing in opposition with William Hague , Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard , have struggled with real or perceived factions in the Parliamentary and national party to determine what parts of her heritage should be retained or jettisoned. One cannot yet determine what the role of Thatcherism will be under the leadership of David Cameron .
In a list compiled by the centre-left publication New Statesman in 2006, she was voted fifth in the list of "Heroes of our time". [11] She was also named a Hero of Freedom by the Libertarian magazine Reason. [12]
[ edit ] Titles and honours
The arms of Margaret Thatcher. The admiral represents the Falklands War , the image of Sir Isaac Newton her background as a chemist and her birth town Grantham .
[ edit ] Titles from birth
| i don't know |
Which Roman Emperor died in Eboracum in 211 AD? | About: Eboracum
About: Eboracum
An Entity of Type : Site108651247 , from Named Graph : http://dbpedia.org , within Data Space : dbpedia.org
Eboracum (/iːˈbɒrəkəm/ or /ˌiːbɔːˈrɑːkəm/) was a fort and city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Roman Empire and ultimately evolved into the present-day city York, occupying the same site in North Yorkshire, England.Two Roman emperors died in Eboracum: Septimius Severus in 211 AD, and Constantius Chlorus in 306 AD.
Property
abstract
Eboracum (/iːˈbɒrəkəm/ or /ˌiːbɔːˈrɑːkəm/) was a fort and city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Roman Empire and ultimately evolved into the present-day city York, occupying the same site in North Yorkshire, England. Two Roman emperors died in Eboracum: Septimius Severus in 211 AD, and Constantius Chlorus in 306 AD.
(en)
Eboracum, später zur Colonia Eboracensium erhoben, war eine römische Stadt in der Provinz Britannien, an der Stelle des heutigen York. In der Stadt residierten mehrmals römische Kaiser, die die Stadt als Ausgangspunkt für diverse Feldzüge benutzten.
(de)
Eboracum est une ancienne cité fortifiée romaine d'Angleterre. Elle était située à l'emplacement actuel de la ville d'York, dans le Yorkshire du Nord. Le nom de la ville de New York se traduit parfois Novum Eboracum en latin en raison de ces racines historiques.
(fr)
Eburacum o Eboracum era l'antico nome romano dell'odierna città di York fondata nel 71 da Quinto Petilio Ceriale, governatore al tempo dell'Imperatore romano Vespasiano. Il nome di "Eboracum" si crede derivi dal celtico Eborakon che probabilmente significava "posto dell'albero della Taxus baccata". La parola era simile al celtico eburos (efwr in Gallese, iobhar in Irlandese, iorc in Scozzese, e evor in Bretone), e questa parola è alla base del toponimo in molte parti dei paesi europei di lingua celtica: Eburobrittium (Évora) in Hispania Lusitania, Ebura in Hispania Baetica, e nei nomi tribali come i Celtiberi Eburanci, o gli Eburoni ed Eburovici della Gallia, poi latinizzato rimpiazzando -acon con -acum.
(it)
Eboraco (em latim: Eboracum) foi uma das mais antigas cidades da Inglaterra, criada na época romana. Foi, por um certo período, a capital da província Britânia Inferior na época em que Septímio Severo havia lutado pela sucessão do Império Romano, em 190. Sua localização corresponde atualmente à cidade de Iorque.
(pt)
Eboracum, später zur Colonia Eboracensium erhoben, war eine römische Stadt in der Provinz Britannien, an der Stelle des heutigen York. In der Stadt residierten mehrmals römische Kaiser, die die Stadt als Ausgangspunkt für diverse Feldzüge benutzten.
(de)
Eburacum o Eboracum era l'antico nome romano dell'odierna città di York fondata nel 71 da Quinto Petilio Ceriale, governatore al tempo dell'Imperatore romano Vespasiano. Il nome di "Eboracum" si crede derivi dal celtico Eborakon che probabilmente significava "posto dell'albero della Taxus baccata". La parola era simile al celtico eburos (efwr in Gallese, iobhar in Irlandese, iorc in Scozzese, e evor in Bretone), e questa parola è alla base del toponimo in molte parti dei paesi europei di lingua celtica: Eburobrittium (Évora) in Hispania Lusitania, Ebura in Hispania Baetica, e nei nomi tribali come i Celtiberi Eburanci, o gli Eburoni ed Eburovici della Gallia, poi latinizzato rimpiazzando -acon con -acum.
(it)
Eboraco (em latim: Eboracum) foi uma das mais antigas cidades da Inglaterra, criada na época romana. Foi, por um certo período, a capital da província Britânia Inferior na época em que Septímio Severo havia lutado pela sucessão do Império Romano, em 190. Sua localização corresponde atualmente à cidade de Iorque.
(pt)
Eboracum (/iːˈbɒrəkəm/ or /ˌiːbɔːˈrɑːkəm/) was a fort and city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Roman Empire and ultimately evolved into the present-day city York, occupying the same site in North Yorkshire, England.Two Roman emperors died in Eboracum: Septimius Severus in 211 AD, and Constantius Chlorus in 306 AD.
(en)
Eboracum est une ancienne cité fortifiée romaine d'Angleterre. Elle était située à l'emplacement actuel de la ville d'York, dans le Yorkshire du Nord.Le nom de la ville de New York se traduit parfois Novum Eboracum en latin en raison de ces racines historiques.
(fr)
| Septimius Severus |
Which African country is divided into nine provinces including Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng? | Marble statue of the emperor Septimius Severus - Google Arts & Culture
Marble statue of the emperor Septimius Severus
193/200
British Museum
It is good to see the statue of Septimius Severus , the first African emperor of the Romans , on display. He is seen by many as a very important figure in the historical timeline of black people in Britain. He died and was buried at York . It is the only image of Septimius Severus I've seen to date that shows him with the features and looks of a North African. Seeing this statue in this gallery makes me feel that at last the African presence in ancient Britain is being acknowledged.' Fowokan George Kelly, of Jamaican origin
Septimius Severus was the first Roman Emperor born in Africa. He ruled between AD 193 and 211. Although his family was of Phoenician rather than black African descent, ancient literary sources refer to the dark colour of his skin and relate that he kept his African accent into old age. He was an accomplished general who, having defeated his internal enemies in a series of civil wars, went on to victories at the furthest frontiers of the Empire, from Mesopotamia to Britain, where he died, at York (Eboracum) in AD 211.
He is shown with his characteristic forked beard and tight curled hair, and is wearing military dress. The statue is not carved fully in the round, but is flat and unfinished at the back, suggesting that it was part of an architectural design. It probably stood in a niche which decorated a public building or monument such as a bath building or a fountain-screen. Much of the statue's detail would have been added in paint.
Severus' two sons Caracalla and Geta were instructed by their father on his death-bed to 'pay the troops, get on with each other and ignore everyone else'. Within a year, however, Caracalla had murdered his brother and reigned alone, with all vestiges of Geta's image and name removed from buildings, official inscriptions and dedications; a process known as 'Damnatio Memoriae'.
Read more
Title: Marble statue of the emperor Septimius Severus
Date Created: 193/200
| i don't know |
The Straits Times Index is the main index on the stock market in which Asian country? | Singapore stocks tumble 1% on opening, Asia markets extend losses as China woes spread, Companies & Markets News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
The Straits Times
Singapore stocks tumble 1% on opening, Asia markets extend losses as China woes spread
Pedestrians walking past the SGX Centre in Singapore. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Published
Jul 9, 2015, 8:34 am SGT
Updated
http://str.sg/uKt
Copy
TOKYO (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - Asian equities suffered more losses on Thursday as concerns over China's market turmoil spread, while the safe-haven yen shot to a seven-week high as global risk appetite ebbed.
China's benchmark Shanghai stock index opened down 2.13 per cent, also extending falls from a day earlier, despite more government moves to avert a market collapse.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 74.74 points to 3,432.45 while the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, fell 1.05 per cent, or 19.76 points, to 1,864.69.
Hong Kong shares fell 0.34 per cent as the rout in mainland China spreads through regional markets.
The Straits Times Index fell 33.39 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 3,251.60 five minutes after trading opened. It was recovered a bit to be down 0.83 per cent at 3,257.84 at around 9:45am.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.2 per cent, hovering near a 17-month low struck the previous day.
Japan's Nikkei lost 2.59 per cent as the yen shot up, Australian shares was down 0.3 per cent and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.9 per cent.
The focus in Asia again turned towards how Chinese stocks would fare later in the session, with a series of increasingly aggressive attempts by authorities so far having failed to stem the massive exodus from a once booming market.
The country's stock markets have plunged nearly 30 per cent over the last three weeks.
"Fundamentally, China is coming back to a point of attraction -the monstrous P/E ratios have come back to more realistic levels. However, the bursting bubble means value is unlikely to factor into thinking in the interim. The repercussions haven't completely played out yet," Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne, wrote.
China is unveiling market support measures on an almost nightly basis as it seeks to arrest a selloff that has erased more than US$3 trillion of value in the past few weeks and quashed demand for risk assets globally. Its securities regulator took the drastic step late on Wednedsay of ordering shareholders with stakes of more than 5 per cent from selling shares for the next six months in a bid to halt a plunge in stock prices. Chinese inflation data is due Thursday, with sellers locked out of 72 per cent of the market amid trading suspensions.
US shares slid sharply overnight on growing fears that nose-diving Chinese shares could destabilise the world's second- largest economy and have global implications. The Federal Reserve registered concern over China as early as last month, with meeting minutes, released Wednesday, signaling potential risks to the U.S. from there and Greece.
The doom-and-gloom mood - already heightened earlier in the month by prospects of Greece leaving the euro - benefited the yen, often sought in times of economic uncertainty.
The US dollar stood little changed at 120.815 yen, within reach of a seven-week low of 120.41 touched overnight when it suffered a bruising 1.5 per cent fall.
The greenback was weighed down further as US Treasury yields continued falling on flight-to-safety bids and new signs that the Federal Reserve may be hesitant about raising interest rates, as shown by their policy meeting minutes.
The dollar's tumble against the yen helped the euro, which climbed to US$1.1075, pulling further away from a one-month trough of US$1.0916 plumbed on Tuesday.
Commodities, far from immune to the slide in global equities, remained subdued. U.S. crude nudged up 0.4 per cent to US$51.86 early on Thursday but has shed nearly nine per cent so far this week.
Topics:
| Singapore |
Which word is missing from the title of the sequel to ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ by John Updike –‘The ......... of Eastwick’ his final novel written thirty years after the original? | Fighting paralysis in a market meltdown, Business News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
The Straits Times
Fighting paralysis in a market meltdown
Teh Hooi Ling
http://str.sg/ZCun
Copy
Having an anchor on where asset prices should be gives us the conviction to fight in face of fear
Back during the dark days of the Asian financial crisis, the sell-down of the Straits Times Index (STI) and other regional bourses was relentless. Investors watched in horror as the value of their portfolios got smaller and smaller with each passing day.
When the STI hit 800 points on Sept 4, 1998 - from 1,700 just six months earlier - a panic-stricken remisier went up to his head of equities research, and said: "Oh no! We have only eight days to go before we hit zero!"
The logic was that, if the STI continued to fall by 100 points a day, there would be only eight days left for the market.
It sounds funny now when the story is recounted. But at that time, that was a very real fear of investors and market participants alike. The numbers on the screens represented one's wealth. Every point of decline in the index would translate into a loss in the value of one's portfolio.
The thing is, when we are too absorbed in the violent market actions of the day, we lose sight of reality. If we were to step back and view the market with a cool head, we would realise that there was no way the stock market would hit zero. Why?
Construction workers in the Central Business District. The stock market represents real businesses with real assets. Even if a company is not profitable, it still owns assets like buildings and machinery which have a value. ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
One, the stock market represents real businesses with real assets. It represents the real economy. The stock you own gives you a stake in a company that makes money by selling a service or a product. Even if it is not profitable, it still owns assets like buildings and machinery which have a value and a price in the real marketplace. If one can buy the shares of a listed company that owns a drinks bottling plant at half the price of building one, nobody would build a new plant. Those with money would just buy up the existing plants via the stock market.
This will drive up the stock prices of drinks factories. When the stock prices rise to such a level that it may be cheaper to build a new plant, a new set of entrepreneurs will come in to build new plants. This will mark the end of the "up" cycle in the stock prices of drinks factories.
Given that the companies in the STI own a substantial amount of assets in Singapore and derive a significant sum of their income from Singapore which itself is a very open economy, it may be instructive to peg the movements of the STI to the GDP to get a sense of where the stock index should be.
Similarly, stock market prices cannot go so high as to defy market realities. Say, you can install fibre-optic cables for just $1 but you can sell the completed network to investors in the stock market for a whopping $10. On that basis, you could guarantee that many people would want to do that.
This would result in overbuilding and prices for the use of fibre-optic cables would plunge. And when listed companies that own these networks cannot make money, their stock prices would fall. This was exactly what happened in 2001 and 2002.
Two, the productive capacity of the economy (or the company) comes from the skills and size of the workforce and the country's (or the company's) accumulated intellectual and physical capital.
"If gross domestic product (GDP) were to fall by 5 per cent, it would not be because our ability to produce goods and services had fallen by 5 per cent, but because aggregate demand for those goods and services had fallen. When the demand returns, the economy will be able to ramp up production quite quickly," Mr Ben Inker, asset management firm GMO's director of asset allocation, wrote in a paper entitled Valuing Equities In Economic Crisis.
The Great Depression caused the United States' GDP to fall by 25 per cent from 1929 to 1933. But that fall, as extraordinary as it was, was a fall in demand relative to potential GDP. It was not a fall in the economy's productive capacity. The economy eventually got back to its previous growth trend as if the depression had never happened.
Equities are long-duration assets - that is, they are valued based on the assumption that they will generate perpetual streams of income. So even if the economy is going to be horrible for the next five years and dividends are going to be cut by 50 per cent, the present value of the stock theoretically should be reduced by 5 per cent. A 10-year slump would wipe out only 10 per cent of the stock's value.
"To us, the true value of the stock market changes very slowly and smoothly. It is the myopia of investors that causes market prices to vary so wildly," he wrote.
Of course, demand for a company's product or service may never come back after a slump if it can no longer produce things that the market wants, or at a price that the customers are willing to pay. Still, it would own assets like buildings and factories that another competitor may find value in.
There is one drastic scenario where demand would fall significantly and large swathes of industries would be affected - that would be a near complete destruction of the earth with more than half of the world's population being wiped out.
Barring the above scenario, the economic activities of the human race are unlikely to cease.
Where is the bottom for STI?
The markets all over the world have been in turmoil since the start of 2016. It's partly a continuation of the episode we had in August last year, plus renewed fears of a global slowdown in demand and the helplessness of central banks and governments to do anything about it.
As investors are gripped by fear and horror watching the daily meltdown in the local market, it is timely to be reminded of the two points above: that companies own real assets and that the productive capacity of the economy (the company) comes from the skills and size of the workforce and the country's (company's) accumulated intellectual and physical capital.
Given that the companies in the STI own a substantial amount of assets in Singapore and derive a significant sum of their income from Singapore which itself is a very open economy, it may be instructive to peg the movements of the STI to the GDP to get a sense of where the stock index should be.
Let us examine this relationship by setting the STI at 100 points when the market was at its lowest during the Asian financial crisis in the second quarter of 1998. That was crisis-level valuation. We also set the Singapore GDP at 100 points from then onwards. We then track how the two have moved since.
The GDP seems to act as the floor for stock prices. From 2000 to 2003, three major negative events - the burst of the dot.com bubble, the terrorists attacks in the US, followed by the Sars outbreak - halved the value of STI stocks from its peak in end 1999 to a level just 17 per cent above the Asian financial crisis. From 1998 until 2003, GDP grew by about 11 per cent, and the stock prices did not go below the support provided by the GDP.
During the global financial crisis, prices did go slightly below the GDP support, but the rebound came soon after.
Given the level of Singapore's GDP today, the crisis valuation for the STI based on this simple relationship is 2,510 points. If the GDP were to fall by 5 per cent, the crisis- level valuation for the STI is 2,355 points. Admittedly, we are not facing a systemic crisis like that of the Asian financial crisis or the global financial crisis - at least for now.
Having an anchor on where asset prices should be gives us the conviction to fight against our paralysis in the face of fear.
•The writer is a partner in Aggregate Asset Management, manager of a no-management-fee Asia value fund, and author of Show Me The Money - Fighting Paralysis In A Market Meltdown.
| i don't know |
Who is the drummer with the Rolling Stones? | Band | The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
First gig: 12 July 1962 Venue: Marquee Club, London Lineup: Mick Jagger Keith Richards Brian Jones Ian Stewart Dick Taylor Tony Chapman
Band
When the nascent Rolling Stones began playing gigs around London in 1962, the notion that a rock & roll band would last five years, let alone fifty, was an absurdity. After all, what could possibly be more ephemeral than rock & roll, the latest teenage fad? Besides, other factors made it unlikely that such a momentous occasion would ever come to pass. “I didn’t expect to last until fifty myself, let alone with the Stones,” Keith Richards says with a laugh. “It’s incredible, really. In that sense we’re still living on borrowed time.”
“You have to put yourself back into that time,” Mick Jagger says about those early days when he and Keith and guitarist Brian Jones roomed together and were hustling gigs wherever they could find one. “Popular music wasn’t talked about on any kind of intellectual level. There was no such term as ‘popular culture.’ None of those things existed.”
“But suddenly popular music became bigger than it had ever been before. It became an important, perhaps the most important, art form of the period, after not at all being regarded as an art form before.”
Mick Jagger
Times and attitudes quickly changed, in short, and now five decades later, the Rolling Stones are celebrating an anniversary that artists in any field would be overjoyed to attain. Indeed, the Stones will be marking the fiftieth anniversary of their first gig at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962 with a celebratory appearance at that storied venue, five decades later to the day. At that first show, the group was billed as the Rollin’ Stones and, of what would become the band’s original lineup, only Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and keyboardist Ian Stewart performed. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts would formally join in January of 1963, and Stewart officially left the band in May, though he continued on as the Stones’ road manager and occasionally played with them both on stage and in the studio until his death in 1985.
To commemorate the Stones’ 50th anniversary, noted filmmaker Brett Morgen directed a no-holds-barred documentary about the band, Crossfire Hurricane, and the Stones released GRRR!, a greatest hits collection that includes two brand new songs and a stunning album cover designed by Walton Ford. The Stones then went back on the road for the 50 & Counting Tour, visiting London, New York and other cities across North America and Canada in celebration of five decades, culminating with a legendary performance at the UK’s Glastonbury Festival plus two major outdoor shows in London’s Hyde Park, chronicled in the concert film Sweet Summer Sun – Hyde Park Live. The Stones then launched another sell out tour, 14 ON FIRE, that brought them to Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In 2015 the band stunned audiences in the USA for the umpteenth time with their Zip Code tour and a re-mastered Sticky Fingers album.
In early 2016, the Stones launched their América Latina Olé tour, which consisted of thirteen electrifying dates in Central and South America. As a dramatic capstone to that trip, the Stones performed in Cuba for the first time, electrifying an audience of 1.2 million fans in Havana. In another historic live performance, the Stones will participate this October in Desert Trip, a three-day superstar festival in Indio, California that will also feature Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, the Who, Neil Young and Roger Waters. In addition, Exhibitionism, a groundbreaking, career-spanning exhibition devoted to the Stones’ legendary history, opened earlier this year at the Saatchi Gallery in London to rave reviews. It will travel to New York this November for a run at Industria.
To mark the Stones’ 50th anniversary a few years back, a book was produced, The Rolling Stones: 50, chronicling the group’s legendary journey through rare and previously unseen photographs, including images from every aspect of the Stones’ history – reportage photos, shots from recording sessions, concert highlights and outtakes from studio shoots. It was a highly appropriate focus of the anniversary since such visual images constituted an essential element of how the Stones defined themselves in those pre-Internet, pre-MTV days when photos of a band on an album cover or in newspapers and magazines determined how they would be viewed for years to come.
“It was a very new development that famous photographers would take pictures of rock bands, and it was really fantastic,” Mick Jagger recalls. “Those images were very much used and very widely seen, and they were essential to conveying who the Rolling Stones were to the public. Suddenly we were in all these magazines and one thing led to another. We became part of the whole Sixties phenomenon, breaking through the boundaries of pop music into fashion, films, television and everything else.”
“There was an amazing energy going on with people our age then,” Keith Richards adds. “It’s transformed the way the Seventies would have been or the Eighties or the Nineties or now.”
Of course, the Rolling Stones themselves are among the most important reasons for the dramatic breakthroughs and transformations that have taken place over the last five decades. Indeed, it’s essentially impossible to overestimate the importance of the Rolling Stones in rock & roll history. The group distilled so much of the music that had come before it and has exerted a decisive influence on so much that has come after. Only a handful of musicians in any genre achieve that stature, and the Stones stand proudly among them. They exist in a pantheon of the most rarefied kind.
Needless to say, having lived life in the whirlwind of the Stones’ history, the band itself doesn’t see it in exactly those terms. “It’s been surprisingly organic,” Keith Richards says.
“I mean, there was no sort of master plan. We were flying by the seat of our pants. That is what amazes me, that the whole thing was improvised. We’ve been an amazingly resilient bunch of lads, that’s all I say. We’ve been part of everything that’s happened, and we’re an important part, I suppose. If you say I’m great, thank you very much, but I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?”
Keith Richards
“I can understand a bit about the kind of influence the Rolling Stones have had, because we were in the same position,” Mick Jagger says. “We modeled ourselves on lots of people who came before us, and I learned to sing from various blues artists and from Chuck Berry and others. When we’d play with someone like Little Richard, I would be incredibly impressed, and I’d go on stage and try to be as good as I could be because I knew that Little Richard was watching me.”
The effort clearly paid off. Every album the Stones released through the early Seventies – from The Rolling Stones in 1964 to Exile on Main Street in 1972 — is essential not simply to an understanding of the music of that era, but to an understanding of the era itself. In their intense interest in blues and R&B, the Stones connected a young audience in the U.S. to music that was unknown to the vast majority of white Americans. Though the Stones were not overtly political in their early years, their obsession with African American music – from Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf to Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye and Don Covay – struck a chord that resonated with the goals of the civil rights movement. If the Stones had never made an album after 1965 they would still be legendary.
Soon, of course, the Stones became synonymous with the rebellious attitude of that era. Songs like ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’, ‘Street Fighting Man’, ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ and ‘Gimme Shelter’ captured the violence, frustration and chaos of that time. For the Stones, the Sixties were not a time of peace and love; in many ways, the band found psychedelia and wide-eyed utopianism confusing and silly. The Stones always were – and continue to be – tough-minded pragmatists. Against the endless promises of Sixties idealism the Stones understood that ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. You simply want to Let It Be? It’s more likely, given the harsh world we live in, that you might have to Let It Bleed.
For those reasons, as the Sixties drained into the Seventies, the Stones went on a creative run that rivals any in popular music. Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile On Main St (1972) routinely turn up on lists of the greatest albums of all time, and deservedly so. All done with American producer Jimmy Miller – “an incredible rhythm man,” in Richards’ terse description – those records shake like the culture itself was shaking. As the Stones were working on Let It Bleed, Brian Jones died, and the band replaced him with Mick Taylor, a profoundly gifted guitarist whose lyricism and melodic flair counterbalanced Richards’ insistent, irreducible rhythmic drive, adding an element to the band’s sound that hadn’t been there before, and opening fertile new musical directions.
After that, the Stones were an indomitable force on the music scene, and they have continued to be to this day. The albums Goats Head Soup (1973), It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (1974) and Black and Blue (1976), found the Stones creating such hits as “Angie” and “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll” and exploring their way through a period of transition, with guitarist Ron Wood coming on board in 1975 to replace Mick Taylor, contributing another key element to the band’s evolving sound. Then in 1978 the album, Some Girls, rose to the challenge of punk (“When the Whip Comes Down”) – whose energy and attitude the Stones had defined a decade earlier – but also swung with the sinuous grooves of disco (“Miss You”). The album is one of the very best of that decade. Tattoo You (1981) added the classics “Start Me Up” and “Waiting on a Friend” to the Stones’ repertoire, and took its prominent place among the Stones’ most compelling – and most popular – later albums. Possibly the most underrated album of the Stones’ career, Dirty Work (1986) finds the band at its rawest and most rhythmically charged, a reflection of the tumult within the band when it was recorded. True Stones fans have long worn their appreciation of Dirty Work as a hip badge of honor.
With the release of Steel Wheels in 1989, the Stones went back on the road again for the first time in seven years and inaugurated the latest phase of the band’s illustrious career. They’ve made strong, credible new studio albums during this period – Voodoo Lounge (1994), Bridges to Babylon (1997), A Bigger Bang (2006) – along with the excellent live album Stripped (1995) and the fun, immensely satisfying hits collection, Forty Licks (2002).
More significantly, though, the Stones have set a standard for live performance during this time. That is an achievement completely in accord with the band’s history, something that has defined the group from the very start. Mick Jagger remembers that “As soon as we got in front of audiences, they went crazy. It started in clubs, and then it just continued to grow.”
“Something was happening in the late winter of 1962 and afterwards,” Keith Richards says, “because suddenly hundreds and then thousands of people were queuing up to see us. And it doesn’t take a nail driven through your head to realize that something’s going on and that you’re part of it. It was an amazing experience and it happened so fast, starting in London and then moving out from there. It was like hanging onto a tornado.”
When the Stones began to be introduced on their 1969 tour as “The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World,’ they were staking that claim on the basis of their live performances. It was almost fashionable for bands to withdraw from the road at that time – Bob Dylan and the Beatles had both done so. But the Stones set out to prove that writing brilliant songs and making powerful records did not mean that you were too lofty to get up in front of your fans and rock them until their bones rattled. The Stones’ live shows – epitomized, of course, by Jagger’s galvanizing erotic choreography – had earned the band its reputation, and that flame was being rekindled.
It was lit again twenty years later, and it’s burning still. Since 1989 the Stones have repeatedly toured to ecstatic response. Bassist Darryl Jones, who had formerly played with Miles Davis, began performing with the Stones in 1994, replacing Bill Wyman, and the Stones turned what could have been a setback into a rejuvenating rush of new energy. The Stones’ live success during this period is not a matter of dollars or box-office breakthroughs, though the band has enjoyed plenty of both. It’s about demonstrating a vital, ongoing commitment to the idea that performing is what keeps a band truly alive.
And that’s the critical misunderstanding of the question, “Is this the last time?” that has been coming up every time the Stones have toured for more than forty years now. It’s true that over the decades the Stones have been in the news for many reasons that have little to do with music – arrests, provocative statements, divorces, feuds, affairs, stints in rehab, all the usual detritus of a raucous lifetime in the public eye. And there’s no doubt that Mick Jagger is as recognizable a celebrity as the world has ever seen and attracts all the attention, positive and negative, that such a status inevitably entails.
But, for all that, the Stones are best understood as musicians, and their own acceptance of that fact is what has enabled them to carry on so well for so long. For all the tabloid headlines, Mick Jagger is ultimately an extraordinary lead singer and one of the most riveting performers – in any art form – ever to set foot on a stage. Keith Richards is the propulsive engine that drives the Stones and makes their music instantly recognizable. Their complementary styles, incomparable collaborative genius as songwriters and even their all-too-public battles have made them the very definition of the rock & roll singer/guitarist partnership, battling brothers who have often been imitated and never surpassed.
Ron Wood, meanwhile, is a guitarist who has formed a rhythmic union with Richards, but who also colors and textures the band’s songs with deft, melodic touches. And Charlie Watts, needless to say, is one of rock’s greatest, most supple drummers. He is both the rock that anchors the band, and the subtle force that swings it. At once elegant in their simplicity and soaring in their impact, none of his gestures are wasted, all are necessary. He and Darryl Jones enliven the often-monolithic notion of the rock & roll rhythm section with an irresistible, unpretentious, jazz-derived sophistication.
“It’s incredible to think about working with the same band for fifty years,” Mick Jagger says. “Of course, members have come and gone over the years, but it is still the Rolling Stones. Inevitably it makes you think about the mortality of it. But here we are making plans and attempting to get things organized for the future!”
“It’s still too early for me to talk about the Stones’ legacy,” Keith Richards says. “We haven’t finished yet. There’s one thing that we haven’t yet achieved, and that’s to really find out how long you can do this. It’s still such a joy to play with this band that you can’t really let go of it. So we’ve got to find out, you know?”
Musicians live and create in the moment, and that’s why fans still yearn to go see and hear the Stones. Certainly there’s a catalogue of songs that very few artists could rival. Surely there’s the desire on the part of fans, both young and old, to encounter a band that has played a pristine role in shaping our very idea of what rock & roll is. But seeing the Rolling Stones live is to see a working band playing as hard as they can, and there’s no last time for that. It’s not only rock n roll, it’s essential rock n roll. And the story continues…
Lineup
| Charlie Watts |
Who won four consecutive Commonwealth Singles Gold medals in Bowls for England from 1962 to 1978 – the event was not held in 1966? | Charlie Watts | The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
Born 2 June 1941 Kingsbury, UK
Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts is considered by just about everyone to be the coolest man in rock, but he would be just as happy to be considered one of the coolest men in jazz.
Bringing the sensibilities of a jazz drummer to rock music has always been at the heart of what has made Charlie Watts one of the most respected musicians in the world.
Charles Robert Watts was born on Monday 2 June 1941 at University College Hospital in London and then went to live in Kingsbury, an area of Wembley, but with his father away in the Royal Air Force on wartime duties and his mother working he would often spend time with his grandmother who lived near Kings Cross Station in central London, It was when he was around ten years old that Charlie discovered jazz, and Miles Davis and John Coltrane in particular. It was soon after this that he began to explore the idea of becoming a drummer when he converted an old banjo, with a skin covering, into a snare drum. Charlie had no formal lessons and credits being able to watch great jazz drummers in London’s jazz clubs as being the people that taught him how to play drums, properly.
Leaving school in 1957 Charlie went to Harrow School of Art and in 1960 he got a job as a graphic artist with an advertising agency in London. A year later he combined his love of art and jazz by writing a book about Charlie Parker that he called, Ode to a High-Flying Bird, that was eventually published in 1965.
In the evening, while working in the advertising agency, Charlie played drums with a variety of groups including Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, a band that Mick Jagger sang with a couple of times. As the fledgling Rolling Stones were coming together to practice they tried to persuade Charlie to become their drummer, but he sensibly stayed with his paying gigs with more established bands. Eventually in early January 1963 Charlie relented, the Stones were finally earning some money and he played his first gig with the band on 12 January at the Ealing Blues Club with the six piece band that included pianist Ian Stewart, bass player Bill Wyman and guitarist Brian Jones.
Away from the Rolling Stones Charlie has found the time to continue to play jazz – he considers jazz to be his principal recreation – with a number of different groups, including a 32-piece band – the Charlie Watts Orchestra as well as working with Ian Stewart in the band Rocket 88 during the 1980s. In the 1990s the Charlie Watts Quintet released several albums, including a tribute to Charlie Parker. Come 2004 and the quintet and expanded to become, Charlie Watts and the Tentet that both recorded and played live.
Throughout the band’s recording career and live performances Charlie has been rock solid and despite resigning after every tour since 1969 Charlie continues to be the heartbeat of the Rolling Stones, and not just when he’s perched on the drum stool. Everyone respect him for his quiet and polite approach to the business of being a member of one of the most successful bands in history. As a jazzman he understands the power of collaboration, never seeking the limelight he swings and always provides the Rolling Stones with the rock solid foundation.
Follow Charlie
| i don't know |
Who was the father of Zeus in Greek myth? | Zeus
Zeus
See More Zeus Pictures >
Zeus was the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods. He overthrew his father, Cronus , and then drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades , in order to decide who would succeed their father on the throne. Zeus won the draw and became the supreme ruler of the gods, as well as lord of the sky and rain. His weapon was a thunderbolt which he hurled at those who displeased or defied him, especially liars and oathbreakers. He was married to Hera but often tested her patience, as he was infamous for his many affairs.
Zeus , the presiding deity of the universe, ruler of the skies and the earth, was regarded by the Greeks as the god of all natural phenomena on the sky; the personification of the laws of nature; the ruler of the state; and finally, the father of gods and men.
Using his shield, the Aegis , Zeus could create all natural phenomena related to the air and the sky, such as storms, tempests, and intense darkness. At his command, mighty thunders would flash and lightnings would roll, wreaking havoc; or the skies would open to rejuvenate the earth with life-giving water.
As the personification of the operations of nature, he represented the grand laws of unchanging and harmonious order, by which both the natural and the spiritual world were governed. He was the god of regulated time as marked by the changing seasons and the regular succession of day and night, in contrast to what his father Cronus represented before him; absolute time, i.e. eternity.
As the ruler of the state, he was the source of kingly power, the upholder of all institutions connected to the state, and the friend and patron of princes, whom he guarded and assisted with his advice and counsel. He was also the protector of the people, and watched over the welfare of the whole community.
As the father of the gods, Zeus ascertained that each deity perform their individual duty, punished their misdeeds, settled their disputes, and acted towards them on all occasions as their all-knowing counsellor and mighty friend.
As the father of men, he took a paternal interest in the actions and well-being of mortals . He watched over them with tender solicitude, rewarding truth, charity, and fairness, while severely punishing perjury and cruelty. Even the poorest and most forlorn wanderer could find a powerful advocate in Zeus , for he, as a wise and merciful paternal figure, demanded that the wealthy inhabitants of the earth be attentive to the needs of their less fortunate fellow citizens.
Zeus Is also called Jupiter, Dias.
| Cronus |
Which Home Secretary resigned in 1972 as a result of the Poulson Affair? | Zeus (Jupiter) - Greek God - King of the Gods and men. | Greek Mythology Pantheon
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by GenzoMan
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by GenzoMan
Zeus, the father of gods and men, is symbolizing the ancient Greeks' omnipotence and absolute power. He had the governance of the entire universe. Zeus could control everything, after all the other gods who held some area of responsibility, were just his assistants. Although he had all these responsibilities, there always remained time to seduce some goddess or some beautiful princess and thus cause the jealousy of his legal wife, Hera.
Zeus was the last son of Cronus and Rhea. The modest Rea, indignant by her cruel and cold-hearted husband who trembled for his throne and for this reason he devoured his children immediately after birth, managed with the help of Uranus and Gaia, to fool him.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by ArcosArt
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by ArcosArt
For this reason, she traveled to Crete, where with the help of the King Melisseas and his daughters, Melissa and Adrasteia, Zeus was born in a cave of Mount Dicti, called “Dikteon antrum”. Then she entrusted the infant to the Nymphs of the mountain and returned to the palace of Cronus. She gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. The naive Cronus believed her and devoured the stone.
There are several cute myths about the raising the newborn god Zeus. Nymphs placed him in a golden cradle, which hung among the foliage of a huge oak, so that it hovered between the land and the sky and Cronus could not detect him. But the divine infant’s crying was very strong and loud. The young girls, in order to avoid an unexpected visit by Cronus due to all this noise, they called their friends, Kouretes. These were demonic forest elves with strange appearance. Whenever Zeus was crying, they began to dance a wild war dance, the pyrrhic, starting singing war cries and beating their spears and javelins on the ground. Therefore, the noise from Kouretes was overlaying the baby’s crying and Cronus could not hear it.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture also by GenzoMan
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture also by GenzoMan
The beloved Nymph of Zeus, the Amalthea, milked a goat and fed it to the divine infant, who with great voracity devoured it. The goat, which was called the Aiga was a descendant of Helios. She was huge and terrible in form. The Titans could not bear to see her, so Gaia closed her in a cave of Mount Ida. Nevertheless, Zeus was not afraid at all of this creature, which helped his upbringing. Therefore, when he grew a little and began to walk, he played with the huge goat, which he even called Amalthea, giving her the name of his beloved Nymph. Many times Zeus did not wait for the Nymphs to feed him. He sat under the goat, milking her by himself and drinking the milk.
Someday Zeus, inadvertent because he could not control his divine power, broke a horn of Amalthea. He was very pity and to comfort the blessed animal, he gave the horn to Nymph Amalthea after he first endowed it with magical properties. The one possessing the horn could just make a wish and immediately appear in front of him all the goods of the world. Since then, it became known as "cornucopia" or "horn of plenty". When the goat grew old and died, Zeus was very sad. From her skin, he made the powerful Aegis, which was his most important weapon in the Clash of the Titans.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God in his Golden Throne - Art Picture
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God in his Golden Throne - Art Picture
Another myth describes that the divine child was raised with honey. The wild bees of the mountain, gathered the best honey from their queens especially for Zeus. Nymphs gave it to the little Zeus, who was delighted by its sweet taste.
According to another legend, the god was brought up with ambrosia and nectar, which is the food and drink of the immortals. White sacred doves were carrying the ambrosia and were feeding the baby themselves, just like they did with their young. An eagle, with shiny wings and sharp claws, flew every evening at incredible speed through the skies, and reached the fountain, from which it drew, the nectar and moved it the mountain of Crete.
When Zeus grew and gained power, he showed his gratitude to all the creatures who had helped his upbringing. Therefore, he did the Amalthea and the eagle constellations and assigned to the cute doves the pleasant duty to announce the seasons.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by el grimlock
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by el grimlock
From the other fairies of the forest that protected Zeus, the most famous are Idis and Metis. Idis actually had given the little god his first game, a crystal ball, which when was thrown into the air was leaving bright colorful lines just like the stars of Uranus.
Surrounded by so much love and affection, Zeus became a beautiful teenager, with strong and harmonious body and excellent appearance. Nymphs then realized that it was time to reveal everything to him. So he learned about his cruel father and all the adventures that he and his mother had experienced to reach in this age.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God vs Titan Cronus - Art Picture by Juan San
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God vs Titan Cronus - Art Picture by Juan San
With valuable tips, wishes and magic herbs of the Nymphs and especially Metis, he arrived in front of Cronus. Zeus revealed his identity and asked for his throne. Cronus declined, but Zeus after a lengthy struggle managed to immobilize him. Then he gave him an herb and immediately Cronus threw up the rest of his children, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon and Hades. Zeus went through too many adventures in order to become the absolute overlord.
We need only to recall the terrible Clash of the Titans, which lasted ten years. The Clash of the Titans was the war between the Olympians and the brothers of Cronus, who did not acknowledge in any way a younger god as their superior. Eventually, following the advice of Gaia, Zeus freed the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires that the Titans had imprisoned in Tartarus. They in turn, to show their gratitude, gave the three brothers, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon fierce weapons. They gave Zeus thunder and lightning, Hades the kynee, a magic helmet that made anyone who wore it invisible, and Poseidon the trident. Therefore, the Olympians after a long war finally managed to crush the Titans. Right after, Zeus and his brothers had to face the terrible Giants. However, with Athena fighting like a man, Hercules and Dionysus as supporters, they managed to win again.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God vs Typhon monster - Art Picture by vkucukemre
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God vs Typhon monster - Art Picture by vkucukemre
Last and most painful conflict was that with the Typhon (Hurricane), who managed to injure Zeus. Nevertheless, with the cunning of Hermes and Pan there was again a happy conclusion for the Olympians and especially for Zeus.
After all these adventures ended, the kingdom was split between the three brothers. Zeus took the kingdom of Uranus, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld. But the problems of Zeus did not stop. It took several times to confront the other gods in order to convince them about his superiority. Quite often, he faced the intense displeasure of Neptune who constantly challenged his authority and did not carry out his orders obediently. He had to threaten him several times in order for Poseidon to become obedient.
Sometimes even the other gods organized conspiracy against the king of the gods in his own palace. In this conspiracy, Hera, Poseidon, Athena and Apollo took part. Moreover, they would certainly manage to harm him, if Thetis did not bring Briareus from the depths of the ocean as a supporter of Zeus.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by Ilker Yuksel
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by Ilker Yuksel
Zeus, in order to take revenge on Hera, tied her hands and feet with invisible chains and hung her from the sky. In addition, he sent Poseidon and Apollo to work as slaves in the service of the mortal king Laomedon of Troy. As for Athena, since she was his favorite daughter, he did not punish her and then she was faithful and obedient.
Some legends tell that when he took power, he created the world again from the beginning. He took Chthonia, an old deity strongly connected with the earth, as his wife. Zeus gave her a veil, in which the whole world was designed over it, lands and seas, mountains and plains, rivers and lakes.
As for the human race, when it became very sinful and ceased to make sacrifices to the gods, he destroyed it with a terrible cataclysm of which only Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha survived. Of these two, by the will of Zeus, young people were born from the stones they were throwing over their backs. But, in this new human race, wickedness once again began to reign. For this reason, Zeus caused two major wars, the expedition of the Seven Generals against Thebes and the Trojan War. Another reason was that the world's population had increased rapidly and the war was a means to reduce it again.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by dariojart
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by dariojart
In the first case, Zeus punished the seven generals because they were disrespectful and arrogant. One general said that he would conquer Thebes regardless of the will of Almighty God, the other had Typhon in his emblem, the biggest enemy of Zeus, and someone else questioned the power of his lightning. All of them had a horrible end. Later, their sons, who were devout and regularly sacrificed to the gods, Zeus helped them to conquer the Theban castle.
In the case of the Trojan War, Zeus took care firstly and foremost that Helen would be born, so her grabbing from Paris would mark the start of the war. During the war, he had put his plan in motion.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by donquijote10
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by donquijote10
He kept Achilles enough time outside the battlefield as he had promised to his mother Thetis. Furthermore, he gave the final victory to the Greeks as he had decided, regardless of other Olympians who fought on the side of one or the other faction.
Many gods and even more mortals experienced the wrath of Zeus when they did something against his will or something that disturbed the order of the universe and natural laws. That is why he thunder stroked Faethonos, who dared to drive the chariot of Helios (Sun) close to earth and endangered her burning.
He did the same with Asclepius who had progressed so much in the medical art, so that he managed to raise the dead with his herbs. Apollo, enraged by the death of his son, seeking revenge, wanted to kill Cyclopes with his golden arrows. Zeus was so angered that he was ready to throw his son to Tartarus. However, after Leto’s solicitation, he mitigated the penalty of Apollo and sent him for a year in the service of King Admitos.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by davidap
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by davidap
Additionally, Zeus killed Jason with a thunderbolt when he found out that he had fallen in love with the goddess Demeter. She responded in Jason’s love and they lived happily together in the fields. Zeus did not want the goddesses to mate with mortals. All erotic cravings that were not in line with the laws of nature were caused by Aphrodite and then she mocked the immortals.
The almighty Zeus, who was one of her most frequent victims, to punish her, inspired Aphrodite with great passion and love for the mortal Anchises. Therefore, the goddess of beauty acquired the mortal hero Aineias by him. Sometimes, Zeus visited mortals to test their faith. The King of Gods once went to Kea, which was inhabited by Telchines. These were savage and cruel people, who did not accept Zeus as the chief god and did not welcome him with respect. Dexithea, the only daughter of the king, fell to his knees and offered to serve as a faithful servant. Zeus then destroyed all the inhabitants except the venerable daughter.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by Varges
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by Varges
Another time, the Father of Gods and men went to Arcadia. There the king Lycaon and his sons, in order test his power and omniscience, massacred an infant, roasted it, and gave it to him to eat. Zeus was enraged by this outrageous act and transformed the king and his sons into wolves. Salmoneas, king of Elis, had become so arrogant that almost went mad and claimed that he resembled Zeus. The almighty god was very irritated and threw a thunder in the palace of the king, which caused a huge fire that burned the whole city.
Zeus is rightly named as father of gods and men. Indeed, many Olympians and minor deities, as well as a multitude of different famous heroes were his children.
Metis is considered as his first wife, the Nymph that gave him the magic herb to beat Cronus. However, unfortunately there was a prophecy saying that the Metis’ son would become stronger than his father would. Therefore, Zeus decided to swallow his wife.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by titanslicer
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by titanslicer
Thereby, he removed the risk of dethronement and acquired all the wisdom of the world. After nine months had passed, it was his fate to make himself a peculiar cesarean. A terrible headache was tormenting Zeus and his head began to grow. Therefore, Hephaestus, despite his initial objections dealt a severe blow with the hammer in the divine head from where the goddess Athena sprang fully armed.
In addition, Zeus, during the early years of his domination, paired with two female Titans. Firstly, he mated with Themis, the personification of justice. From her, Zeus acquired the three Hours (Ores), Eunomia, Trial and Peace, and the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos. The Fates not only defined the fate of people but also the fate of gods. From the titan Mnemosyne, the personification of memory, after nine nights of continuous mating, Zeus acquired the nine Muses, Calliope, Clio, Polyhymnia, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Erato, Melpomene, Thalia and Urania.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by TaekwondoNJ
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by TaekwondoNJ
The nine Muses protected music, poetry and the arts in general. From the Oceanis Eurynome, Zeus acquired the three Graces, Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. He once wanted to mate with the sea goddess Thetis. Nevertheless, Themis warned him that a child from Thetis would obtain a weapon more powerful than lightning. After hearing this, the Greek god choked his erotic passion and arranged to marry the beautiful Nereid with the mortal Pileas. After pairing with these earlier goddesses, Hera was recognized as the only lawful wife of Zeus, who was his sister.
A Greek myth says that Hera did not succumb initially in his love, so Zeus resorted to a trick. A very cold winter day, he appeared outside the window of the revered goddess being transformed into a cuckoo. She pitied the frozen bird and put it in her body to warm up. Then the king of the gods took his normal form and after having promised her that he will make her his lawful wife, they mated together. The dominant pair of Olympus had three children, the eternal teenager Evie, who gave as wife to Hercules when he became immortal, the warlike Ares and the divine blacksmith Hephaestus.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by Aracubus
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by Aracubus
Of course, they lived a turbulent marital life and the passionate jealousy of Hera could not endure the constant amorous adventures of her husband. Several times, Hera even attempted to leave the marital home. The almighty Zeus was always finding a way to bring her back. He always asserted that the extramarital adventures meant nothing to him and that she was the only woman that he craved for.
The Greek god Hermes was also son of Zeus. The great god once saw Atlantis Maia, who lived on Mount Kyllini of Arcadia. He fell in love on first sight and mated with her during a dark night, when Hera was asleep and no one else, immortal or mortal, could see them. From this pairing came Hermes, who shook the world, just after seeing the sunlight.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by JoshSummana
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by JoshSummana
Leto, daughter Titans, also did not escape Zeus’ hugs. However, this infidelity became known to Hera. Nevertheless, as she could not hurt the almighty husband, she chased with all her forces his mistress. However, even after long wanderings Leto found a place to give birth, Hera held captive Ilithyia, the goddess of successful births. Only with a precious gift did the other goddesses manage to appease Hera. Thus were born two young Olympian gods, Artemis and Apollo.
Once, Zeus also liked Asteria, Leto’s sister. However, she resisted in every possible way and so he transformed her into a quail and later on a small island called Ortygia, which was doomed to sail continuously at sea. Only when Ortygia accepted her sister, Leto, to give birth, then became a stable island named Delos. Other Greek myths recount that ultimately the king of gods and men conquered Asteria, who gave birth to Ekati (Hecate). Another time, Zeus fell in love with Demeter, his other sister. She repelled him for a very long time. Eventually the almighty god also satisfied his passion, which resulted in the birth of Persephone. Furthermore, Zeus was joined by Selini (Moon), which gave birth to two daughters, Herse and Pandias, as well as the Nymph Thyvris that begat the goat-footed Pan, god of fertility.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by laclillac
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by laclillac
The myth about the birth of Dionysus is one of the most famous. Zeus fell in love with the princess of Thebes, Semele. The mortal girl was unable to resist the divine beauty and joined him. Hera, wanting to avenge the princess, presented in the form of her nurse and persuaded her to ask Zeus for a favor. The favor was that the Father of Gods would present himself in front of her in all his glory and power. Therefore, Semele was trying to persuade Zeus to do this favor, while he on the other hand was trying to convince her for the opposite and change her mind.
In the end, the almighty god accepted her request and appeared in front of her on a gold chariot, holding thunders on his hands, accompanied by lightning and thunderclap. Semele, as it would happen to any mortal, could not stand his greatness and burnt. Zeus took the infant who was in the young girl's womb and sewed it in his thigh. Having passed nine months, Dionysus was born, the god of the vine and wine. The great god, since he could not keep the baby on the mountain Olympus, confided it in Ino, Semele's sister, and her husband Athamas. However, the jealous Hera destroyed both spouses sending them temporary madness. Then Zeus entrusted the infant to the Nymphs of Boeotia, where he was raised.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture also by titanslicer
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture also by titanslicer
Nevertheless, Io was the mortal who was especially afflicted by Hera. She was the daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. Io's beauty was exceptional and Zeus, unsurprisingly, fell in love with her. From that time and beyond, her suffering began. The Queen of the Gods had prepared a plan to destroy her and Zeus managed to save her transforming her into a white cow. Then the jealous wife sent a loathsome and annoying insect, estrus (horsefly), which constantly embroidered Io. Being delirious and in order to avoid the bites, she started running. Io crossed the sea, which got her name, Ionian Sea, and after many adventures arrived in Egypt.
There, Zeus took pity on her for her many sufferings and gave her back her human form. Then Io begat Epaphos, who ruled those places, irrigated the Nile and was the ancestor of all those who founded the great kingdoms in Asia, Africa and Argolid. Hera instructed the Curetes to wipe out Epaphos. Zeus, in his fury, blasted them with thunders, although they had helped him so much when he was an infant. As for Io, she took her place in the celestial concave as constellation. Well known is the first love of the god with Danae, the princess of Argos. Her father, Acrisius, had imprisoned her in a cell in the palace because he had taken an oracle that the son of Danae would kill his grandfather. Then Zeus appeared, who had fallen in love with the princess and transformed into golden rain, penetrated the roof and entered the cell. From their mating, the hero Perseus was born.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by vetrova
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by vetrova
Danae kept that fact hidden for a long time. However, at some point her father heard the baby crying and found out everything. Then he asked who the baby's father was. When Danae told him the name of Zeus, he did not believe it and as punishment, he locked her with the baby in a wooden box and threw it into the sea. After some time, they arrived near Serifos Island. Dichtis, a fisherman, saw the box and heard voices, collected it and opened it. Danae and Perseus recounted their adventure to him and Dichtis took them to his home, where they lived for several years.
Zeus often wished for women who were already married with mortals. He fell in love with Leda, wife of Tyndareus. To approach her, the Greek god took the form of a pure white swan. From their mating, Leda gave birth to the gorgeous Helen, who was the cause that the Trojan War broke out, as well as the twin Castor and Pollux. Of the twins, one came from the seed of Zeus and was immortal while the other came from Tyndareus' sperm and was mortal. This is why when Castor died, Pollux asked for and it was accepted by his father to switch to life with his beloved brother.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by twynsunz
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by twynsunz
The great god was the father of one of the most famous heroes of antiquity, Heracles (Hercules). Zeus fell in love with Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon and for one more time he used a fraudulent way. The Greek god took the form of Amphitryon and entered the queen’s room where he mated with her. Nine months later, the demigod Heracles was born. Zeus also mated with various nymphs and mortals and gave birth to the first ancestors of many people and founders of many cities. In Crete, where he spent the first years of his life, a Greek myth narrates that he paired with a local heroine, named Crete who gave her name to the island and had a son, Kora, the founder of a people who lived in very ancient times in the Aegean.
Much more famous is the myth, which tells the love of Zeus for Europe. Europe was the daughter of the king of Syria. One day that she was playing with her friends in the meadows and was picking flowers, the flirty God saw her and immediately fell in love with her. In order to approach the girl, Zeus transformed into a tamed bull.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God Abduction of Europe - Art Picture by zaratra
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God Abduction of Europe - Art Picture by zaratra
Europe began to caress the strong animal and climbed on his back. Immediately, Zeus-bull started running at lightning speed; Europe was crying but could not jump off the bull because she would surely be killed. The disguised god crossed the sea and arrived in Crete. There in the cave that he was born, Dikteon antrum, Zeus mated with the young princess. The fruits of this mating were Minos and Rhadamanthus. After a while, Europe married a king of the island, Asterios, who adopted Zeus’ children.
Another time, Zeus disguised again and managed to seduce the nymph Callisto. She was a companion of Artemis and had sworn eternal maiden life. When the Olympian goddess realized what happened, she expelled Callisto from her company. Zeus, feeling pity for her, transformed her into a bear, but Artemis killed her with her arrows. The almighty God, as he used with his loved ones, transformed her into a constellation, Ursa Major (Bear). The child’s name that was conceived was Arcas. He was brought up by Maia and was the ancestor of the inhabitants of Arcadia.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by le0arts
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by le0arts
At Argos, a Greek myth narrates that the first mortal lover of Zeus was Niobe, who begat Argus, founder of Argos. Furthermore, Thebe was born from Iodama, leader of Thebes. Asopos was born from Eurynome, from whom the Boeotians descended. Locros was born from Maira, who gave his name to Locris, and Orchomenus was born from Isonoi, who was the ancestor of Orchomenos.
Selene (Moon) gave Zeus a son called Nemeas and Taygeti gave him Lacedaemon. From both of them respectively originated the Nemean and the Spartans. Moreover, Aeacus was born from Aegina and Sithnida gave birth to Magaros.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by God of War
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God - Art Picture by God of War
The grab of a new man, Ganymedes, is also attributed to Zeus. The father of Gods and men was fascinated by the look and posture of the amazing mortal, transformed himself into an eagle, grabbed him and carried him to Mount Olympus. There he used Ganymedes as a sommelier, a property that until then belonged to Hebe, and generally as a companion to their feasts. Zeus, as we said, was the chief god. He had the entire universe under his supervision. Zeus also protected nature, but also various aspects of personal, social and political life.
He was the leader of the gods and the strongest one of all. An attribute of his omnipotence is the passage of the Iliad, where he challenges all the other Olympians to draw him from the sky down to earth using a golden rope. The almighty God assures them that they will not make it.
Nevertheless, if Zeus just pulled the rope towards the sky, then he would not only have taken the rest of the gods with him, but also the whole lands and seas and it would seem like a ball hanging from the sky. For these reasons he was considered the protector of individual power, be it king or noble, or the municipality (people). Similarly, Zeus protected the father of each house, who was the head of the family.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God Statue - So-called “Zeus of Otricoli”. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from the 4th century.
Zeus (Jupiter) Greek God Statue - So-called “Zeus of Otricoli”. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from the 4th century.
In addition, he was also sending the winds, rains, clouds, snow, hail, as well as the lightning, thunder and lightning, the gifts of the Cyclops.
Zeus was often worshiped on mountaintops, where the people built shrines and altars because they believed that this is closer to god.
Zeus was revealing his will through dreams but also through oracles. There were two famous oracles, which were dedicated to him. One was the oracle of Dodona in Epirus and the other of Zeus Ammon in Libya.
The most important symbol of Zeus was the thunderbolt, the most valuable weapon he had. Additionally, the scepter, which ended in eagle, was the symbol of his authority.
Moreover, the aegis was the skin of Amalthea, which made him invincible. The sacred tree of Zeus was the oak. Very often, it is depicted with two jars on the side, which symbolized the good and bad things that Zeus was sending to humans.
Please leave a comment if you liked this article 🙂
All pictures are also uploaded in Albums on the Greek Mythology Pantheon page on Facebook, visit us at :
You may also like:
| i don't know |
On which motorway is Hartshead Moor services? | Hartshead Moor Services M62 - Motorway Services Information
Hartshead Moor Services M62
Other ratings from visitors to the site
Truckers
Type: Separate facilities for each carriageway, but linked by a pedestrian footbridge
Operator: Welcome Break
Eat-In Food: Coffee Primo, Eat In, Burger King, KFC
Takeaway Food / General: Retail Shop
Other Non-Food Shops: W H Smiths
Picnic Area: yes
Children's Playground: Yes
Cash Machines in main building: Yes (transaction charge applies)
Parking Charges: Parking is free to all customers for the first 2 hours, thereafter charges apply. Cars £8.00, including a £2 meal voucher. HGV, Caravans & Coaches £21.00, including a £7 meal voucher..
Other Facilities/Information: Gamezone, BT Openzone
| M62 |
Which composer was born at Lowestoft in November 1913? | Hartshead Moor services location and directions - Motorway Services Online, Map:Hartshead Moor | service stations
Hartshead Moor services location and directions
Hartshead Moor
M62 between J25 and J26
Address:
Hartshead Moor M62 Service Area
Clifton
Main Page | Photo Gallery | Location, Map and Directions
Map
Loading map...
{"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"openlayers","geoservice":"geonames","maxzoom":false,"width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":53.715128,"lon":-1.744847,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"wmsoverlay":false,"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":12,"controls":["layerswitcher","mouseposition","autopanzoom","scaleline","navigation"],"layers":["new OpenLayers.Layer.OSM.Mapnik(\"OSM Mapnik\")","new OpenLayers.Layer.OSM.CycleMap(\"OSM Cycle Map\")","new OpenLayers.Layer.VirtualEarth( \"Bing Satellite\", {type: VEMapStyle.Aerial, \"sphericalMercator\":true} )"],"resizable":false,"overlays":[],"searchmarkers":"","kml":[],"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cp\u003Ewestbound services\n\u003C/p\u003E","title":"westbound services\n","link":"","lat":53.715128,"lon":-1.744847,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""},{"text":"\u003Cp\u003Eeastbound services\n\u003C/p\u003E","title":"eastbound services\n","link":"","lat":53.711147,"lon":-1.745684,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}
The services are signed from both sides of the motorway between J25 and J26.
Get directions to Hartshead Moor westbound:
From:
Get directions to Hartshead Moor eastbound:
From:
Read the terms of use
Information provided and media shared subject to conditions . Site powered by the jolly good MediaWiki
You may copy information from the site, provided you abide by the conditions set out in the disclaimer at http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Disclaimer
Most pages on this site can be edited by anyone - simply login below or register
Log me on automatically each visit
| i don't know |
What nationality is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who won both the 100 metres and 200 metres at the 2013 IAAF World Athletics Championships? | Bolt and Fraser-Pryce are crowned 2013 World Athletes of the Year| News | iaaf.org
Home of World Athletics
International Athletics Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and IAF & IAAF President Lamine Diack with 2013 World Athletes of the Year Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the IAF World Athletics Gala (IAAF) © Copyright
16 NOV 2013 Press Release Monaco
Bolt and Fraser-Pryce are crowned 2013 World Athletes of the Year
- READ ON for English and French language versions of this story
- La traduction française suit le texte anglais
Jamaica's Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were named the male and female World Athletes of the Year for 2013.
Bolt, who won the award for the fifth time, and Fraser-Pryce, a first-time winner, received their trophies at this evening’s IAAF World Athletics Gala held at the Salle des Etoiles of the Sporting Club d’Eté.
The awards were hosted by International Athletics Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and IAF & IAAF President Lamine Diack, who presented the trophies to the nale and female winners.
Both athletes will also receive a prize of US$100,000.
Usain Bolt, 27, previously the World Athlete of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, successfully regained his 100m title and won the 200m at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, winning the latter final in a world-leading time of 19.66.
He concluded his World Championships by anchoring a Jamaican quartet to the gold medals in the 4x100m relay. Bolt won 10 out of his 11 100m races (including heats), and was unbeaten in his five races over 200m.
“This season will be the one to go for the (200m) world record,” announced Bolt.
“I want to get ready to attack the world record,” he added, hinting that a time faster than 19 seconds was the target.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 26, regained her 100m title at the 2013 IAAF World Championships, winning in 10.71 which remained the fastest time of the year. Having run the fastest time of the year in the 200m, 22.13 at the Jamaican Championships in June, she went on to win the gold medal over the longer distance in Moscow.
Like her compatriot Bolt, she also anchored the Jamaican 4x100m team to victory in 41.29, a national record and the second-fastest time in history.
“I'm shocked and excited. It's something that has been a dream of mine,” said a delighted Fraser-Pryce, who becomes the second Jamaican woman to win after Merlene Ottey in 1990.
“Not all the time do things happen that we want to happen, but this did,” she added.
Other awards
IAAF DISTINGUISHED CAREER AWARD
Dwight Phillips (USA) & Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)
Phillips won the 2004 Olympic long jump gold medal and four IAAF World Championships gold medals in his specialist event before retiring from international competition in August 2013
Isinbayeva won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, has won at three IAAF World Championships and four IAAF World Indoor Championships. She was the World Athlete of the Year in 2004, 2005 and 2008, and has set 15 world records outdoors and 13 world records indoors.
Earlier in the day in Monaco, Isinbayeva had also received the 'Gazzetta dello Sport Candido Cannavo' award.
IAAF RISING STAR AWARD
Mary Cain (USA)
Cain, 17, has set numerous US junior and high school middle-distance records and age-bests since the start of the year and became the youngest athlete ever to represent the USA at the IAAF World Championships after qualifying for the 1500m, making the final in Moscow.
She ran 800m in 1:59.51 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene to become the first US youth, junior or high school female runner to run faster than two minutes for the distance. She also improved the US junior 1500m record by almost five seconds when she ran 4:04.62 this summer.
IAAF COACHING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Alberto Salazar (USA)
Salazar was an outstanding distance runner in the 1980s, winning the New York City Marathon on three consecutive occasions from 1980-1982. He also won the 1982 Boston Marathon and finished second at the 1982 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
As a coach based in Oregon, Salazar has guided the career of Britain's double world and Olympic champion Mo Farah as well as a host of top US international runners including Galen Rupp and IAAF Rising Star of the Year Mary Cain.
IAAF WORLD JOURNALIST AWARD
Gianni Merlo (ITA)
Merlo is a journalist with the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport and since 2005 has been the president of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), the global body representing sports journalists.
MALE MASTERS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Charles Allie (USA)
Competing in the M65 division, Allie broke outdoor world records in the 200m and 400m this year, running 24.65 and 56.09 respectively, and set an indoor world best of 25.41 in the 200m.
FEMALE MASTERS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Christa Bortignon (CAN)
Bortignon, competing in the W75 category, won eight gold medals at the 2013 World Masters Athletics Championships. She holds six W75 world records.
IAAF HALL OF FAME – 2013 INDUCTEES
A dozen athletics legends, the 'class of 2013', were inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame with the ceremony taking place on Saturday afternoon (16) in the Fairmont Hotel.
Harrison Dillard
IAAF
Bolt et Fraser-Pryce couronnés Athlètes de l'Année 2013
Usain Bolt (JAM) et Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) ont été désignés aujourd'hui Athlètes masculin et féminin de l'Année 2013.
Bolt, qui remporte ce titre pour la cinquième fois, et Fraser-Pryce, pour qui c'est une première, ont reçu leurs trophées lors du Gala de l'athlétisme mondial de l'IAAF, qui s'est tenu ce soir dans la Salle des Étoiles du Sporting Club d'Été.
La cérémonie était placée sous les auspices du Président de la Fondation internationale de l'athlétisme, SAS le Prince Albert II de Monaco, et du Président de l'IAF et de l'IAAF, Lamine Diack, qui ont remis leurs trophées aux deux vainqueurs.
Les deux sportifs recevront en outre chacun un chèque de 100 000 dollars US.
Usain Bolt, 27 ans, déjà récipiendaire du titre d'Athlète de l'Année en 2008, 2009, 2011 et 2012, a, cette saison, conservé son titre mondial du 100m et remporté le 200m des Championnats du monde de l'IAAF de Moscou; il a au demeurant remporté la finale du 200m en 19"66, le meilleur temps de l'année.
Il a terminé ces Mondiaux en beauté en courant le quatrième relais pour la Jamaïque en finale du 4x100m pour aller décrocher une nouvelle victoire. Au cours de la saison 2013, Bolt a gagné dix des onze 100m auxquels il a pris part (tours de qualification compris), et a gagné chacun des 200m sur lesquels il s'est aligné.
"Cette saison prochaine, je veux m'attaquer au record du monde du 200m, et compte me préparer dans cette optique," a déclaré Bolt, laissant entendre qu'il visait un chrono sous les 19 secondes.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 26 ans, a repris son titre sur 100m lors des Championnats du monde de l'IAAF 2013, en 10"71, resté le temps le plus rapide de l'année. Ayant déjà couru le 200m le plus rapide de 2013, en 22"13, lors des Championnats nationaux jamaïcains en juin, elle a été sacrée championne du monde sur cette distance à Moscou.
Tout comme son compatriote Bolt, elle a également couru le quatrième relais pour l'équipe jamaïcaine du 4x100m, assurant la victoire de son pays avec un record national qui est aussi le second chrono le plus rapide de l'histoire.
"Je suis à la fois surprise, exaltée et ravie. C'est un honneur dont je rêvais depuis bien longtemps, a déclaré Fraser-Pryce, deuxième femme de son pays à gagner ce titre, après Merlene Ottey, Athlète de l'Année en 1990.
"Les choses auxquelles on aspire n'arrivent pas toujours, mais cette fois, cela a été le cas!" a ajouté Fraser-Pryce.
Les autres trophées remis ont été les suivants:
Prix de l'IAAF reconnaissant l'Ensemble d'une carrière
Dwight Phillips (USA) et Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)
Phillips a remporté le titre olympique du saut en longueur en 2004, ainsi que quatre titres mondiaux de l'IAAF dans cette même discipline, avant de prendre sa retraite des sautoirs internationaux en août 2013.
Isinbayeva, spécialiste du saut à la perche féminin, a remporté l'or aux Jeux olympiques de 2004 et 2008, ainsi que trois titres de championne du monde de l'IAAF et quatre titres mondiaux en salle de l'IAAF. Elle a en outre été élue Athlète de l'Année en 2004, 2005 et 2008, et a établi 15 records du monde en extérieur et 13 en salle.
Plus tôt dans la journée, toujours à Monaco, Isinbayeva avait reçu le prix Candido-Cannavo, remis par La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Prix de l'Étoile montante de l'année de l'IAAF
Mary Cain (USA)
Cain, 17 ans, a battu de nombreux records nationaux américains scolaires (collèges et lycées) ainsi que de sa catégorie d'âge cette année; elle est également devenue l'athlète la plus jeune à avoir jamais représenté les États-Unis dans le cadre de Championnats du monde de l'IAAF, après s'être qualifiée sur 1500m, distance dans laquelle elle a atteint la finale à Moscou.
Elle a couru le 800m en 1'59"51 lors de la compétition de la Diamond League de l'IAAF d'Eugene, devenant ainsi la première coureuse féminine junior, cadette ou lycéenne à descendre sous les deux minutes, et a amélioré le record junior des États-Unis du 1500m de près de cinq secondes avec son chrono de 4'04"62 réussi cet été.
Prix de l'Entraîneur de l'année de l'IAAF
Alberto Salazar (USA)
Salazar était un coureur de fond de tout premier plan dans les années 80, remportant le Marathon de New York trois fois de suite, en 1980, 1981 et 1982. Il a également remporté le Marathon de Boston en 1982 et terminé second des Championnats du monde de cross de l'IAAF en cette même année.
Reconverti entraîneur, basé dans l'Oregon, Salazar a guidé la carrière du Britannique Mo Farah, double champion olympique et mondial, ainsi que de toute une série de coureurs américains de très haut niveau, dont Galen Rupp et Mary Cain, l'Étoile montante de l'IAAF 2013.
Prix du Journaliste de l'année de l'IAAF
Gianni Merlo (ITA)
Merlo est journaliste pour le compte du quotidien italien, La Gazzetta dello Sport. Il est également président de l'Association internationale de la presse sportive (AIPS), l'entité qui représente les journalistes sportifs au plan mondial, depuis 2005.
Prix du Vétéran masculin de l'année de l'IAAF
Charles Allie (USA)
Allie, qui concourt dans la catégorie M65, a établi cette année des records du monde en extérieur sur 200m et 400m, avec des temps respectifs de 24"65 et 56"09, et établi une meilleure performance mondiale en salle de 25"41 sur 200m.
Prix du Vétéran féminin de l'année de l'IAAF
Christa Bortignon (CAN)
Bortignon, dans la catégorie W75, a gagné huit médailles d'or aux Championnats du monde d'athlétisme des Masters 2013. Elle détient en outre six records du monde W75.
Temple de la renommée de l'IAAF - les intronisations de 2013
Douze figures de légende de l'athlétisme - la "Classe 2013" - ont été intronisées dans le Temple de la renommée de l'IAAF. La cérémonie protocolaire a eu lieu samedi après-midi (16) à l'Hôtel Fairmont.
Ces nouveaux intronisés sont:
International Athletics Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and IAF & IAAF President Lamine Diack with 2013 World Athletes of the Year Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the IAF World Athletics Gala (IAAF) © Copyright
Dwight Phillips, Alberto Salazar, Mary Cain with their awards at the 2013 World Athletics Gala (IAAF) © Copyright
Yelena Isinbayeva receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 IAF World Athletics Gala (IAAF) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt at the World Athletics Gala 2013 (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
The 2013 Hall of Fame inductees with the World Athletes of the Year (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Yelena Isinbayeva receives the 'Gazzetta dello Sport Candido Cannavo' award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce talks to the press after winning the 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Usain Bolt talks to the press after winning the 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with her 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Usain Bolt with his 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt, the 2013 IAAF World Athletes of the Year (Giancarlo Colombo) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt, the 2013 IAAF World Athletes of the Year (Giancarlo Colombo) © Copyright
The 2013 inductees into the IAAF Hall of Fame (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
The 2013 World Athletics Gala (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
The award winners at the 2013 World Athletics Gala (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt, the 2013 IAAF World Athletes of the Year (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce arrives at the 2013 World Athletics Gala (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Usain Bolt arrives at the 2013 World Athletics Gala (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce receives the 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
The 2013 World Athletics Gala (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Usain Bolt receives the 2013 World Athlete of the Year award from IAAF President Lamine Diack (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Dwight Phillips receives the IAAF distinguished career award (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Prince Albert of Monaco, Usain Bolt and Lamine Diack at the 2013 World Athletics Gala (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
Dwight Phillips, Alberto Salazar, Mary Cain with their awards at the 2013 World Athletics Gala (IAAF) © Copyright
Yelena Isinbayeva receives the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 IAF World Athletics Gala (IAAF) © Copyright
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt at the World Athletics Gala 2013 (Philippe Fitte) © Copyright
All pages related to this article
| Jamaican Patois |
Which is the second and most famous of the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper? | Bolt and Fraser Pryce win 2013 World Athlete awards
Bolt and Fraser-Pryce win 2013 World Athlete awards
Sport
Sunday 17 November 2013 - 12:40am
Prince Albert II of Monaco (L) poses with Usain Bolt (R) and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica after they received their World Athlete of the Year awards during the IAAF World Athletics Gala in Monte Carlo November 16, 2013.
MONACO - Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were crowned male and female World Athletes of the Year for 2013 by the sport's governing IAAF at a ceremony in Monaco on Saturday.
Bolt won gold in the 100 metres, 200 and 4x100 relay at the Moscow worlds in August to take his all-time tally to eight golds and two silvers at the championships, making him the most successful athlete in their history.
The 27-year-old, who also has six Olympic gold medals and holds the 100 and 200 metres world records, won the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) award for the third season in a row and the fifth time in six years.
"This season will be the one to go for the (200m) world record," said Bolt, hinting that a time below 19 seconds was the target. His current world record is 19.19 seconds.
Compatriot Fraser-Pryce claimed gold medals in the same three events in Moscow, having previously won two golds and two silvers, and is also the Olympic sprint champion.
The 26-year-old Fraser-Pryce collected her first female World Athlete of the Year award, and it was also the first time since Britain's successes in 1993 that two athletes from the same country have won the awards in the same year.
"I'm shocked and excited. It's something that has been a dream of mine," said Fraser-Pryce, who becomes the second Jamaican woman to win the award after Merlene Ottey in 1990.
Bolt and Fraser-Pryce also receive a prize of $100,000.
| i don't know |
For which 2001 film did Julian Fellowes win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay? | 2001 Academy Awards® Winners and History
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Actor:
DENZEL WASHINGTON in "Training Day," Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind," Sean Penn in "I Am Sam," Will Smith in "Ali," Tom Wilkinson in "In the Bedroom"
Actress:
HALLE BERRY in "Monster's Ball," Judi Dench in "Iris," Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge!," Sissy Spacek in "In the Bedroom," Renee Zellwegger in "Bridget Jones's Diary"
Supporting Actor:
JIM BROADBENT in "Iris," Ethan Hawke in "Training Day," Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast," Ian McKellen in " The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ," Jon Voight in "Ali"
Supporting Actress:
JENNIFER CONNELLY in "A Beautiful Mind," Helen Mirren in "Gosford Park," Maggie Smith in "Gosford Park," Marisa Tomei in "In the Bedroom," Kate Winslet in "Iris"
Director:
RON HOWARD for "A Beautiful Mind," Ridley Scott for "Black Hawk Down," Robert Altman for "Gosford Park," Peter Jackson for " The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ," David Lynch for "Mulholland Drive"
This year's ceremony, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg (for her fourth time), was notable as being the longest ever - at 4 hours, 23 minutes. It also marked the first year that the Best Animated Feature Film category was offered.
This was a year of eclectic Best Picture-nominated films:
a sword-and-sorcery Hobbit/elves fantasy adventure, the first in a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
a period murder mystery set in a British estate, Gosford Park
an audacious musical romance set in a decadent, late 19th century Parisian nightclub/dance-hall/theatre, Moulin Rouge
a drama about an afflicted, Nobel Prize-winning mathematical genius, the ultimate winner A Beautiful Mind
another intimate drama about the torment of a New England (Maine) family over a son's sudden murder, In the Bedroom
This was the tenth consecutive year that Miramax had a Best Picture nominee (this year, it was In the Bedroom) - a record for any studio.
For the newly-created category - Best Animated Feature Film, according to the Academy's rules, an 'animated film' had to be at least 70 minutes in length, have a significant amount of major animated characters, and be at least 75% animated. The three nominees this year were
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Monsters, Inc.
PDI/Dreamworks' Shrek (the winner), with its lovable green ogre (Mike Myers) and smart-alec donkey (Eddie Murphy).
[Note: This was the first-ever Oscar for an animated feature film.]
Three of the five Best Picture-nominated films had specifically fanciful elements:
the dazzling musical fantasy of Moulin Rouge
the epic fantasy tale The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
the delusionary fantasies of the main character's mind in A Beautiful Mind
The Best Picture winner was A Beautiful Mind (with eight nominations and four major wins): Best Director (Ron Howard), Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman). First time nominee and former child actor/director Ron Howard's case study drama and romance was loosely adapted from Sylvia Nasar's prize-winning biography about a courageous Princeton Univ. math genius experiencing a harrowing struggle with mental illness (schizophrenia). To date, it was the last biopic film to win Best Picture. The story's time frame spanned a period of five decades beginning with 1947. [Howard had made fifteen feature films in his career. Six years earlier, his Best Picture nominee Apollo 13 (1995) was honored by nine nominations - without a corresponding Best Director nomination.] Although its two lead actors (Crowe and Connelly) received Golden Globe awards, only Connelly went home with the Oscar.
With this Best Picture win, DreamWorks became the second studio to win three Best Pictures in a row:
American Beauty (1999)
Annie Hall (1977) .
The film with the most nominations (13) this year, director Peter Jackson's fantasy epic about wizards and scorcerers, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , also had four wins (in technical categories basically): Makeup, Cinematography, Visual Effects, and Original Score. The first installment in the film trilogy, based on the best-selling novels of J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the most financially-successful of the year, and the first Best Picture nomination for its studio - New Line (a division of AOL Time Warner). This was also the first nomination for 40 year old New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson.
[The Lord of the Rings became the ninth film ever to receive 13 Oscar nominations or more. Two other films in Academy Awards history have had 14 nominations, and six other films have had 13 nominations. [Three of these nine films did not win Best Picture: Mary Poppins (1964), Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) , and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) .]
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (13 nominations and 4 wins)
No other sci-fi fantasy adventure of this kind, with loads of special effects, has been nominated for Best Picture since Star Wars (1977) (and Lucas' film lost the top award).
Australian director Baz Luhrmann's gaudy, fantasy musical-romance Moulin Rouge (with eight nominations and two wins for Luhrmann's collaborator and wife Catherine Martin in two similar categories: Costume Design and Art Direction) was set in late 19th century Paris and featured a soundtrack with 20th century pop tunes. Nicole Kidman's Best Actress nomination was one of its eight nominations, but Luhrmann was denied a Best Director nomination.
[It was the first live-action musical to be given a Best Picture nomination since All That Jazz (1979). The last musical to win Best Picture was Oliver! (1968). The animated musical Beauty and the Beast (1991) was nominated for Best Picture ten years earlier.]
Veteran, 77 year old, five-time maverick nominee/director Robert Altman's upstairs/downstairs murder mystery Gosford Park (with seven nominations and only one win) was set in 1930s Britain (Altman's first in this satirized Masterpiece Theatre-Merchant Ivory genre) at a country estate. It displayed his signature naturalistic, sprawling style (with 23 lead characters and as many plot strands all extraordinarily knitted together) and an all-star and talented British cast. Its only win was for Best Original Screenplay (Julian Fellowes). [It was Altman's first Best Picture AND Best Director nomination since Nashville (1975) . This was Altman's fifth unsuccessful Best Director nomination - he was also nominated as Best Director for M*A*S*H (1970), The Player (1992), and Short Cuts (1993).]
First-time writer/producer/director Todd Field's low-budget, emotionally-powerful and honest, laconic-paced family drama In the Bedroom (with five nominations - three for its actors - and no wins) lost in all categories. Usually, bleak dramas of this sort were only nominated in the various acting categories in recent years (i.e., Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Requiem for a Dream (2000)), and not for Best Picture.
Among the other major film nominees were the following:
Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (with four nominations and two wins, for Film Editing and Sound; it lost for Cinematography and Director)
Pearl Harbor (with four nominations and one win, for Sound Editing)
director Jean Pierre Jeunet's delightful and amusing French-imported fairy-tale love story Amelie (with five nominations and no wins), that starred the adorably-cute, pixie-ish Audrey Tautou (whose sadness morphs her into cascading water). It lost its favored Best Foreign Film nomination to Bosnia's entry, No Man's Land
Pixar's and Disney's animated Monsters, Inc. (with four nominations and one win, for Randy Newman's Original Song "If I Didn't Have You") - this marked Newman's 16th nomination and first Oscar!
director Richard Eyre's biographical portrait of novelist Iris Murdoch in Iris (with three nominations and one win, for Best Supporting Actor)
Three of the directors of the five nominated Best Picture films were included in the list of Best Director nominees. Two of the five directors who had Best Picture nominations were conspicuously denied Best Director nominations:
Baz Luhrmann for the dizzying and hyper-real spectacle Moulin Rouge
Todd Field for In the Bedroom
In their places were directing nominations for two three-time nominees who had never won a Best Director Oscar: 56 year old eccentric director David Lynch for the twisty, surreal, neo-noir, nightmarish love story Mulholland Drive (with one nomination and no wins), and 64 year old Ridley Scott for Black Hawk Down (with four nominations and two wins), an intense and brutal war film and graphic recreation of America's 1993 involvement and botched mission in the E. African city of Mogadishu, Somalia.
[Moulin Rouge's chances of winning Best Picture were proven to be slight, based upon Academy Awards history. The only three times a film won Best Picture without its director being nominated are the following:
(1) un-nominated director William Wellman's Wings (1927/28) won Best Picture, while the Best Director award went to Frank Borzage for Seventh Heaven (1927/28)
(2) Edmund Goulding's Grand Hotel (1931/32) was named Best Picture, while Frank Borzage won Best Director again for Bad Girl (1931/32)
(3) Driving Miss Daisy (1989), when Oliver Stone won Best Director for Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
Ridley Scott and David Lynch also faced unlikely odds to win Best Director. Director Frank Lloyd has been the only person to win the Best Director Oscar for a film not nominated for Best Picture - The Divine Lady (1928/29).]
Three of the four Oscar winners in the four major acting categories were first-time nominees. And this was an historic year - the top acting honors went to two African-Americans, the first time ever in Academy history.
The Best Actor winner was Denzel Washington (with his fifth nomination and second win) as a corrupt, rakish, 13-year veteran cop of a narcotics squad, a hateful but charismatic Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris in director Antoine Fuqua's police drama/thriller Training Day (with two nominations and one win).
[With his nomination, Washington became the most-nominated black actor. He also became the first black actor to win two Academy Awards, and the first African-American since Sidney Poitier (a Best Actor winner for Lilies of the Field (1963)) to win a Best Actor statue. Note: Some argue that Poitier's Bahamas heritage makes Denzel Washington the first true African-American actor to win Best Actor. (Washington received his earlier Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Glory (1989), another supporting nomination for his role as Steven Biko in Cry Freedom (1987), and two Best Actor nominations for Malcolm X (1992) and The Hurricane (1999).)]
In the Best Actor category, it was the first time that two African-American actors were nominated for Best Actor in the same year. The other African-American nominee was Will Smith (with his first nomination), as legendary boxer and former heavy-weight champ Muhammad Ali (from 1964-1974) in director Michael Mann's sports bio-drama Ali.
The other three Best Actor nominees were:
New Zealand-born Russell Crowe (with his third nomination and third Best Actor nomination in a row), for his role in A Beautiful Mind as delusional mathematical genius John Forbes Nash, Jr. - who won the 1994 Nobel prize for his work in game theory and was afflicted with paranoid schizophrenia. (Crowe was last year's Best Actor winner for playing a Roman general-turned-slave in Gladiator (2000), and he was previously nominated for The Insider (1999).)
[The last actor to receive three consecutive nominations was William Hurt, in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) (an Oscar win), Children of a Lesser God (1986), and Broadcast News (1987).]
Maverick actor Sean Penn (with his third nomination) as Sam Dawson in director Jessie Nelson's I Am Sam (a combination of Rain Man (1988) and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)), as a developmentally-disabled father who works in a coffee shop and seeks the custody of his 7 year-old daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning).
British-born Tom Wilkinson (with his first nomination) as grief-stricken New England doctor and justice-seeking vigilante father Matt Fowler in In the Bedroom
There were two veteran Oscar nominees and three first-timers in the Best Actress category. In a monumental, career-altering victory, 35 year old Halle Berry (with her first nomination) became the first black actress to win a Best Actress Academy Award in AMPAS' 74 year history! She portrayed African-American Leticia Musgrove, an executed killer's (Sean Combs) grief-stricken widow in a town poisoned with Southern racism in director Marc Forster's racially-charged romance Monster's Ball (with two nominations and one win). (The last Best Actress nomination for a black actress was Angela Bassett for What's Love Got to Do With It? (1993).)
The other Best Actress nominees were:
Sissy Spacek (with her sixth nomination and one past Oscar win) as the traumatized, withdrawn, chain-smoking, middle-aged, silently-angry and grieving mother Ruth Fowler in In the Bedroom. (She won an Oscar 21 years earlier for playing Kentucky singer Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), and was last nominated for Crimes of the Heart (1986).)
67 year old Briton Judi Dench (with her fourth nomination in five years, and one past win) as feisty English philosophical and libertine-spirited novelist Iris Murdoch who eventually suffered from Alzheimer's in later life in Iris. (Dench's previous nominations were Best Actress for Mrs. Brown (1997), a win for Best Supporting Actress for Shakespeare in Love (1998), and a nomination for Supporting Actress for Chocolat (2000).) [This was the second time that two actresses were nominated for playing the same character in the same film - Kate Winslet was also nominated for her role of Iris in Iris. The first time this occurred was when Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart were both nominated for playing the same character (Rose) in the same film -- Titanic (1997).]
34 year old Australian-raised Nicole Kidman (with her first nomination and in her first musical role), as an ill-fated, dying-from-consumption, sexy nightclub singer and doomed lover/courtesan named Satine in the bold, hyperactive and re-inventive Moulin Rouge (she was the film's only acting nominee). [If Kidman had won in this category, she would have been the first actress in almost 30 years to win an Oscar for a musical (Liza Minnelli won for Cabaret (1972) ].
32 year old deglamourized American Texan Renee Zellweger (with her first nomination) as a thirty-something, lovelorn, weight-challenged Londoner in a publishing house haplessly seeking romance in director Sharon Maguire's British comedy Bridget Jones's Diary, a witty adaptation of Helen Fielding's popular novel
Note: The acting nominations of the trio of Smith, Washington and Berry marked the third time that three African-American actors have been nominated for acting roles. (This also happened in 1972 and in 1985). However, it must be noted that this was only the second time that three African-American performers have been nominated in the top acting categories. (In 1972 in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories, Diana Ross was nominated for Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson for Sounder (1972). None of them won.)
The Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories each had a first-time nominee as the winner. Surprise winner 52 year-old British actor Jim Broadbent (with his first nomination) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Iris Murdoch's doting, clumsy, affectionate and devoted husband John Bayley in Iris. (Broadbent also starred in un-nominated roles in both Moulin Rouge and Bridget Jones's Diary.)
The other nominees in the Best Supporting Actor category included two other British performers:
the favored 62 year old Sir Ian McKellen (with his second nomination after a nod three years earlier for his great performance in Gods and Monsters (1998)) as kindly wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
58 year old Sir Ben Kingsley (with his third nomination and one past win) as menacing, bullying, volatile mobster/hitman Don "Malky" Logan in director Jonathan Glazer's UK crime thriller Sexy Beast. (Kingsley was a previous Best Actor Oscar winner for Gandhi (1982).)
30 year old Ethan Hawke (with his first nomination) as Jake Hoyt, an eager, idealistic rookie narcotics detective in the Los Angeles Police Department serving under Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) in Training Day
63 year old Jon Voight (with his fourth nomination and one past win) for his caricatured, heavily-made-up portrayal of ABC sports broadcaster Howard Cosell in Ali - with only 13 minutes of screen time. (This was Voight's first nomination for a supporting role. He won his sole Oscar for Coming Home (1978), and his last nomination was as Best Actor for Runaway Train (1985).)
In the Best Supporting Actress category, the category's only first-time nominee was also the winner. The Oscar was presented to 31 year-old Golden Globe winner Jennifer Connelly (with her first nomination after two decades and 23 films in her career) as Nash's beautiful former student and loyal, stalwart, devoted, and long-suffering wife Alicia in A Beautiful Mind. Two other Best Supporting Actress nominees were co-stars in Altman's comedy of class manners ensemble film, Gosford Park. (As a footnote to this pair of nominations for an Altman film, it also happened for his film Nashville (1975) , when Ronee Blakley and Lily Tomlin were honored with competing nominations.)
The four other Best Supporting Actress nominees were:
56 year old Helen Mirren (with her second nomination) as the cooly efficient, but tragic, melancholy and impenetrable 'downstairs' housekeeper Mrs. Wilson in Gosford Park
67 year old, two-time Oscar winner Maggie Smith (with her sixth nomination and her fourth for Best Supporting Actress) as flighty, pampered, snooty, sarcastic and tippling matronly guest Lady Constance - the spoiled aristocratic Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park. (Maggie Smith previously won Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978).)
37 year old Marisa Tomei (with her second nomination and one past win) as attractive, separated, and troubled mom Natalie Strout involved with her boyfriend/lover Frank Fowler (Nick Stahl), a ten years younger high school graduate (and summer lobster fisherman) in In the Bedroom. (Nine years earlier, Tomei won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar - in an upset - for her role as Brooklynite Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny (1992).)
26 year old Kate Winslet (with her third nomination) as Iris Murdoch in her resolute, free-spirited and bolder youth in Iris. (Winslet was previously nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Sense and Sensibility (1995), and Best Actress for Titanic (1997).)
This year's Honorary Award was presented to Sidney Poitier, "in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being." He was the first male actor of color who won the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963) - his sole Oscar win. He was also nominated as Best Actor for The Defiant Ones (1958) , although he had appeared in lots of great films including The Blackboard Jungle (1955), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), To Sir With Love (1967), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), and In the Heat of the Night (1967) .
Another Honorary Award was given to Robert Redford, "Actor, Director, Producer. Creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere." In his career, he had been nominated four times (with one win): once as Best Actor for The Sting (1973), twice as Best Director for Best Picture-winning Ordinary People (1980) (with his sole Oscar win) and Quiz Show (1994), and also Best Picture for the latter film. He had also appeared in many memorable roles in films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) , The Candidate (1972), All the President's Men (1977), Out of Africa (1985), Indecent Proposal (1993), and served as director for A River Runs Through It (1992) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000).
Oscar Snubs and Omissions:
Black Hawk Down (with four nominations and two wins) and Mulholland Drive were favored for Best Picture nominations, but didn't receive them. Other films without major film nominations included Darabont's failing The Majestic and Steven Spielberg's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (with 29 year old Jude Law). The director of Best Picture-nominee Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann, was surprisingly left out of the Best Director race, as was actor and leading man Ewan McGregor as ambitious but poor British poet/writer Christian in the romantic musical opposite love interest Nicole Kidman as Moulin Rouge courtesan Satine. One of the most successful films of the year, Chris Columbus' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , had only three nominations (Art Direction, Costume Design, and Score) and no wins.
Billy Bob Thornton was not deservedly nominated for his appearances in three films: as Hank, an emotionally-tortured Georgia Death Row prison guard in the melodramatic Monster's Ball, as a costume-changing, hypochondriac bank robber (one of the "Sleepover Bandits") Terry Collins in Barry Levinson's Bandits, and as humble, unassuming (but scheming) barber Ed Crane in the Coen brothers' beautifully filmed black and white noir The Man Who Wasn't There.
Golden Globe winner Gene Hackman was also overlooked for his role as the partly sinister, shifty, high-living patriarch Royal Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson's comedy-drama The Royal Tenenbaums (with only one nomination) . Tovah Feldshuh was overlooked as Scarsdale Jewish matron Judy Stein with a lesbian daughter in Kissing Jessica Stein. And Steve Buscemi should have received a supporting nod for his role as nerdy, misfit, socially-inept record collector Seymour, as should have Illeana Douglas as the high school art instructor named Roberta, in Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World, but the film did get a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. And if 80 year old Carl Reiner had been nominated for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, it would have been his first nomination.
Three Best Actress nominations were clearly left on the cutting room floor:
Tilda Swinton for her role as blackmailed, maternally-protective, burdened and determined Margaret Hall, in David Siegel's dramatic The Deep End
Australian Naomi Watts for her dual roles as wholesome, idealized small-town girl Betty Elms in Hollywood whose identity was 'robbed' (and her alter ego as failed aspiring actress Diane), in David Lynch's mesmerizing, disorienting and dizzying, puzzling fantasy Mulholland Drive
Audrey Tautou as the title character - a 23 year-old Parisian waitress in the delightful comedy Amelie
Three-time nominee Michelle Pfeiffer was ignored for her role as lawyer Rita Harrison who assumed Sean Penn's case in I Am Sam. [Pfeiffer has two Best Actress nominations, for The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) and Love Field (1992), and one Best Supporting Actress nomination for Dangerous Liaisons (1988).] And Thora Birch in Ghost World and Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde were likewise neglected in their comedic roles. Ghost World received only one nomination - for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Both Richard Linklater's innovatively-animated experimental film Waking Life, and Hironobu Sakaguchi's sci-fi Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the first feature-length motion picture to use CGI for its characters, were un-nominated in the newly-created category Best Animated Feature Film. (And there were only three nominees: Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Monsters, Inc., and the winner Shrek ).
Also, writer/director Christopher Nolan's clever, highly inventive, Mobius strip told-in-reverse noir Memento (2000) was mostly forgotten (as was Guy Pearce as the tattooed, short-term amnesiac Leonard Shelby) - it had only two unrewarded nominations for Film Editing and Original Screenplay. Also omitted was Life as a House (and 20 year old Hayden Christensen's supporting role as the troubled and hateful estranged son Sam), director Lasse Hallstrom's The Shipping News with Kevin Spacey as Quoyle in Newfoundland, Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (and Cameron Diaz' role as Julie Gianni, Tom Cruise's jealous ex-lover when he falls for Penelope Cruz), the Australian film Lantana (and Anthony LaPaglia's performance as police detective Leon Zat, and Kerry Armstrong's role as his emotionally-starved wife), and director/writer John Cameron Mitchell's gleefully-unusual, trans-gendered rock opera Hedwig and the Angry Inch (with no nominations).
Oscar-nominated Nicole Kidman's other film - director Alejandro Amenabar's creepy and classic ghost story titled The Others, was devoid of nominations. [Academy rules prohibited actors/actresses from receiving more than one nomination per category, so Kidman's superior work in The Others was edged out by the more recent Moulin Rouge.]
| Gosford Park |
Who created the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete? | Downton Abbey - Seasons 1-4
Downton Abbey - Seasons 1-4
SMALL
In 2001, master filmmaker Robert Altman directed "Gosford Park," one of his most popular movies. The screenplay was written by Julian Fellowes, who would go on to win a well-deserved Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Fellowes had a knack for blending the drama of "Upstairs, Downstairs" and Merchant Ivory movies with a modern, ADHD-required sensibility.
In 2010 he put his talents to good use and created "Downton Abbey" for Masterpiece and Carnival Films. The show bowed in the UK and became quite a sensation in America a few months later, garnering devoted fans as well as numerous accolades, including major primetime Emmy nominations and wins.
For those unfamiliar with "Downton," what is wrong with you? Take this Blu-ray box set as a terrific opportunity to join civilization and become engaged in one of the most absorbing, fascinating, brilliantly-acted TV shows ever produced! And lovers of camp rejoice because nothing beats Dame Maggie Smith's line deliveries: "What is a week-end?"
From the opening shot of Morse code being sent signaling the sinking of the Titanic (and a key figure's death) in April of 1912 (plunging our cast into panic since it means there is now no male heir to take over the estate), the show grabs hold of the viewer and never lets go. Highlights include the scenes where Lady Mary (the astoundingly good Michelle Dockery) must deal with a dead man in her bed (hottie Theo James), the delightfully wicked banter between the Dowager Countess (Smith) and her cousin Isobel (Penelope Wilton), the engaging romance between Lady Mary and Matthew (Dan Stevens) and the bittersweet courtship of loyal servants Anna (Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) and his eventual arrest for murder.
Lovers of camp rejoice because nothing beats Dame Maggie Smith's line deliveries: "What is a week-end?"
In addition, one has to mention the deliciously evil (but lovable), gay first footman Thomas (sexy Rob James-Collier), who will do just about anything to get ahead.
These "Limited Edition" Blu-ray discs contain every episode to date and a host of supplemental material that increases in volume with each season. They include some fascinating featurettes, as well as a significant "Behind the Drama" doc that runs 48 minutes.
The 1.78:1 high def 1080p widescreen transfer looks exquisite, and 2.0 English DTS-HD Master audio is clean and crisp -- the WW1 trenches moments sound particularly terrifying.
Watching "Downton" with its clever dialogue, signature tracking shots and quick-concise scenes that never seem to last more than a minute in length is an addictive experience. You'll want to begin binge-watching now since season five begins in late January.
"Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)" Seasons 1-4 Box Set
Blu-ray
| i don't know |
What was the name of the high-speed shuttle train that ran during the Olympics and Paralympics from St Pancras to Ebbsfleet via Stratford? | The Javelin Shuttle - It's Free! : Marleyman's Train Simulator Download Store, Free Routes, Scenarios, Trains, Reskins, Tutorials and more for Railworks
The Javelin Shuttle
It's Free!
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in South-East England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise (IKF), replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise. It serves the commuter routes to south-east London, most of Kent, and parts of East Sussex.
British Rail Class (Hitachi) 395 with 'Javelin' branding;
The Olympic Javelin or Javelin was a high-speed train shuttle service operated by Southeastern over High Speed 1 during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The service ran for the duration of both games, between St Pancras International station and Ebbsfleet International station, via Stratford International station, which is close to the Olympic Park. During the Summer Olympics a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service. Two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour.
Announced as part of the successful London 2012 Olympic bid, it was an integral part of a plan to improve public transport in London in readiness for the Olympics.The British Olympic Association applied to register Javelin as a UK trademark on 19 July 2005 and this was granted on 2 June 2006. The service was operated by Southeastern on High Speed 1 using the fleet of Class 395 trains, and because of this the class is sometimes referred to as the Javelin.
At St Pancras there is interchange with the Underground and with trains to/from the Midlands, Scotland, and the North of England. For track capacity reasons, Eurostar trains, which have never called at Stratford, did not to do so during the games. It was expected that over 80% of Olympic spectators will travel to and from the venues by rail. Services to the Olympic Park were planned to offer a total capacity of 240,000 travellers per hour, some 25,000 of were expected to use the Javelin service.
This reskin of the RSC Hitachi SEC is based on The Javelin shuttle, several are named after famous British Olympians. The text on this train reading Steve Backley Double Silver Olympic Medalist. Steve is a retired British athlete who was formerly the world record holder for javelin throwing.
Units have been named in honour of 'fast Britons'. The first person to have a train named in their honour was Dame Kelly Holmes. Other Britons with named Class 395s include olympic medallists Jamie Staff, Steve Backley, Steve Redgrave, Rebecca Adlington, Chris Hoy, Ben Ainslie, Daley Thompson, Duncan Goodhew, Katherine Grainger, Sebastian Coe and Tanni Grey-Thompson.
| Javelin |
Which reporter claimed on the BBC ‘Today’ programme in 2003 that the government had ‘sexed up’ a dossier about Iraq? | London Paralympics Travel | London Paralympics 2012 | LondonTown.com
London Paralympics Travel
Getting to the Games: London Underground
"The last thing any spectator wants is a sprint finish to get to the venue in time," says transport minister Norman Baker. Too true: London is a huge city, and with Paralympic events being held not only in the Olympic Park at Stratford but all over the capital, you will have to think very carefully about your travel arrangements getting to and from the Games. The good news is that millions have been spent on improving London's transport infrastructure in time for the Games � and this should be felt not just during the Games, but as a lasting legacy for all Londoners and visitors to this great city. For a better look at just where the venues are located, check out our map of the London Paralympics .
The best way to plan your journey to and from the Games
Enlarge Close
A key online tool has been devised to help all spectators planning their travel arrangements during the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. The Spectator Journey Planner is tailored specifically for the Games and will provide: estimated journey times to and from London 2012 venues from anywhere in Great Britain by rail, coach, bus, river or tube; estimated walking and cycling times between venues; timetable information for forward planning; links to travel booking sites to enable early ticket purchase; recommended routes to make your journey as easy as possible. To plan your journey click here .
Free public transport for everyone with a Paralympic ticket
Enlarge Close
All spectators with valid tickets for any Games events in London will receive a complimentary Games Travelcard to use on public transport in London on the day of their event. This means you'll be able to travel on any means of public transport within zones 1-9 in London, plus National Rail services between London and venues near London, such as Eton Dorney.
The Tube will get you to every event in London
Enlarge Close
All the Paralympic events within the Olympic Park can be easily reached via the Central and Jubilee Lines to Stratford Station . River Zone venues in and around Greenwich � including the North Greenwich Arena and the ExCeL Centre - can be accessed via the Jubilee Line. From Bank Tube station in central London, spectators can take the DLR train to both the River Zone and the Olympic Park.
While the athletes train, you can simply take the train
Enlarge Close
The Dockland Light Railway will play an integral role in transporting spectators around the east London venues during London 2012. The Olympic Park will be served by Stratford DLR, while venues throughout the River Zone in Greenwich, Woolwich and north of the Thames will be best accessible by the DLR. Overground rail services will also serve the Olympic Park via Stratford Regional Station . National Rail train services will also serve venues outside London, such as Eton Dorney, Brands Hatch and Weymouth and Portland.
The Javelin and International Rail Links
Central London to the Olympic Park
Enlarge Close
A new high-speed rail service will deliver passengers from Kings Cross St Pancras to Stratford International in just seven minutes. Eight Javelin� trains an hour will run between St Pancras International in central London and Ebbsfleet in Kent, calling at Stratford International, which is located just a few hundred metres walk from the Olympic Park. Up to an estimated 25,000 travellers will use the Javelin� per hour. Passengers from mainland Europe arriving on the Eurostar service can change at either Ebbsfleet or St Pancras to reach Stratford International. A Javelin� test run from St Pancras to Stratford International took place in July 2009 � three years to the day ahead of the Games � with a journey time of six minutes and 45 seconds.
Leave your cars behind and take a shuttle service to the Games
Enlarge Close
Spectators are advised not to drive to any venues: roads will be busy and there are no parking facilities at, or near, any of the Olympic and Paralympic venues. If you're coming to the Games from outside London and you wish to drive, then there will be a number of Park-and-Ride services where you can leave your vehicle and then take a short shuttle bus service to the venues. There are Park-and-Ride services for the Olympic Park, ExCeL, Weymouth and Portland, Eton Dorney and Greenwich Park. Tickets include a space for your car or minibus and onward bus or coach transfer to your venue. Prices start from �12 but spaces are limited and must be booked in advance.
Day return coach services from all over the UK
Running from towns and cities across England and Wales, day return direct coach services are available to the Olympic Park, Weymouth and Portland, and ExCeL. These services avoid central London and so are ideal if you don't know the capital or if you're travelling with younger children.
Avoid the roads and take a boat to your events
Enlarge Close
The River Zone in London 2012 is accessible by riverboat services, which are a fast, efficient and fun way to travel around the capital. Greenwich Park, North Greenwich Arena and the Royal Artillery Barracks are all accessible by river, while more distant venues such as Eton Dorney (reachable via Windsor) can also be reached by boat. Regular London commuters that live and work beside the Thames use river transport on a regular basis � not only do you avoid traffic, it's a great way to see some of the best sights London has to offer. There will be two types of official river transport during the Games: the 2012 Games River Bus Express, which provides a fast commuter-style service, and the 2012 Games River Tours, which get you to your destination at a leisurely pace and throw in some tourist commentary for good measure. If you have a Games Travelcard there will be a one-third discount for all river services.
Some final pointers to make sure you get to your event on time
Allow as much time as possible for your journeys as London's transport system will be much busier than usual
Remember to allow for queuing times and walking between large venues in the Olympic Park and River Zone
Cars are a no-no: don't even think about bringing your vehicle � unless you hold a valid Blue Badge or recognised national disability permit
Cycling can be the perfect way to get to, from and around the OlympicPark: there are some delightful cycle paths along some unknown canals and stretches of water in east London, while there will be ample cycling parking for both adults' and children's bicycles at all the venues. With so much to do and see all over the Park and London in itself, you can combine your Paralympic sporting event with some sightseeing to make a proper London 2012 day out
Children aged 10 and under travel for free within London � and there are concessions for 11- to 15-year-olds, 16- to 18-year-olds, OAPs and students aged 18+
For more information on travelling around London in general please visit www.tfl.gov.uk and for Paralympic-specific travel information visit www.london2012.com/travel . Alternatively, plan your journey with the spectator journey planner here .
Stunning cable car crossing the Thames
One of Mayor Boris Johnson's big initial plans for London 2012 was this proposed cable car link across the Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks. Similar to the service that operates between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island in New York, the Thames Gateway Cable Car - now officially named the Emirates Air-Line after a 10-year sponsorship deal with the Dubai-based aircraft carrier - will connect Olympic venues the North Greenwich Arena and the ExCeL Exhibition Centre . At 1km in length and running 60m above the Thames, the cable car will provide a "much-needed river crossing" and a "bird's eye view" of the capital, according to Boris. Once finished, crossings are planned every 30 seconds for up to 2,500 passengers per hour in each direction, and views will be fairly spectacular. Bikes will be able to be transported with passengers, who will also be able to tap in using their Oyster Cards. Work started in July 2011 on the �60m gondola-style project - the first urban cable car in the UK and the most expensive of its kind in the world - and it is set for completion in time for the Games. After early concerns, Transport for London had back-pedalled a little, saying that the cable car was never a part of TfL's Olympic transport strategy. Completing the project in time for London 2012 was simply an "aspiration", they said, and trying to get the project up and running for the Games would be "challenging". But it looks like the game has been won - and it is hoped that the cable car will have a similar impact on the city's skyline as the London Eye.
| i don't know |
On which motorway is Hilton Park services? | Hilton Park Services M6 - Motorway Services Information
Hilton Park Services M6
Other ratings from visitors to the site
Truckers
Type: Separate facilities for each carriageway, but linked by a pedestrian footbridge
Operator: Moto
Takeaway Food / General: M&S Simply food
Other Non-Food Shops: Ladbrokes,cotton traders, phonebitz
Picnic Area: yes
Children's Playground: Yes
Cash Machines in main building: Yes (transaction charge applies)
Parking Charges: The first 2 hours free. Site is now managed by CP-Plus. This is a camera operating system which takes a photo of your vehicle on the way in to the services and then again on the way out. if you haven't paid for parking and have stayed for longer than 2 hours, you will be sent a fine through the post. HGV fine = £250 Car fine - £80 HGV: Parking with Food £20 Parking Without Food £18
Other Facilities/Information: Costa Coffee open from 7am - 7pm (9pm on Friday and Sunday) Burger King open 10am - 10pm (9am - 11pm Friday & Sunday) EDC 24 hours WHSmith North 24 hours M&S 7am - 10pm (11pm Fridays)
| M6 |
The Bovespa index is the main index on the stock market in which South American country? | Hilton Park services location and directions - Motorway Services Online, Map:Hilton Park | service stations
Hilton Park services location and directions
Hilton Park
M6 between J10a and J11
Address:
Hilton Park Motorway Services Area
M6
Main Page | History | Location, Map and Directions
Map
Loading map...
{"minzoom":false,"mappingservice":"openlayers","geoservice":"geonames","maxzoom":false,"width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":52.641953,"lon":-2.056299,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"wmsoverlay":false,"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":12,"controls":["layerswitcher","mouseposition","autopanzoom","scaleline","navigation"],"layers":["new OpenLayers.Layer.OSM.Mapnik(\"OSM Mapnik\")","new OpenLayers.Layer.OSM.CycleMap(\"OSM Cycle Map\")","new OpenLayers.Layer.VirtualEarth( \"Bing Satellite\", {type: VEMapStyle.Aerial, \"sphericalMercator\":true} )"],"resizable":false,"overlays":[],"searchmarkers":"","kml":[],"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cp\u003Enorthbound services\n\u003C/p\u003E","title":"northbound services\n","link":"","lat":52.641953,"lon":-2.056299,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""},{"text":"\u003Cp\u003Esouthbound services\n\u003C/p\u003E","title":"southbound services\n","link":"","lat":52.644577,"lon":-2.056332,"alt":0,"address":"","icon":"","group":"","inlineLabel":"","visitedicon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}
The services are signed from both sides of the motorway between J10a and J11.
Get directions to Hilton Park northbound:
From:
Get directions to Hilton Park southbound:
From:
Read the terms of use
Information provided and media shared subject to conditions . Site powered by the jolly good MediaWiki
You may copy information from the site, provided you abide by the conditions set out in the disclaimer at http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Disclaimer
Most pages on this site can be edited by anyone - simply login below or register
Log me on automatically each visit
| i don't know |
www.gosh.nhs.uk is the website for which hospital? | Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
Great Ormond Street
Cells from pregnant women could prevent fractures by nearly 80% for millions with fragile bones
19 December 2016
Injecting cells from pregnant women could have a life-changing effect on the millions who are living with osteoporosis and brittle bone disease according to researchers at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, the research partner of Great Ormond Street Hospital and The UCL Institute for Women’s Health. These cells could also be useful for strengthening the fragile bones of astronauts during their stay for long periods in space.
| Great Ormond Street Hospital |
The cover of which album by Paul McCartney and Wings features celebrities including Clement Freud, Michael Parkinson and John Conteh? | Overview - Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust - NHS Choices
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
020 7405 9200 Great Ormond Street , London, Greater London, WC1N 3JH
This trust has not been rated yet.
Overview
Leave review
Overview
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust is the country's leading centre for treating sick children and has the widest range of specialists under one roof.
As a specialist, tertiary care hospital, you will need to be referred by your current doctor. This may be your local paediatrician or occasionally, your GP may be able to refer you. For more information, please visit www.gosh.nhs.uk/gettingreferred
Together with the UCL Institute of Child Health we are one of the world's leading research centres for children.
For more information, please visit our website at www.gosh.nhs.uk
| i don't know |
Which prop forward has most rugby union caps for England? | BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Laws & Equipment | Position guide: Prop
Laws & Equipment
By Jason Leonard
Former England and Lions prop
A prop's main role is to scrummage, support in the line-out, tackle and hit the rucks and mauls.
No matter how fast and powerful the game becomes, a prop will always be a prop.
The difference nowadays is that props also have to be able to catch, time a pass to put team-mates into space and run.
Many top props are now very powerful runners and you may even see the odd sidestep.
The tight-head prop is very much the fulcrum. He anchors the whole scrum and is destructive in a negative sense.
He will be trying to put the opposition loose-head under pressure.
England's Phil Vickery is my idea of a perfect modern prop
The primary role of the loose-head, on the other hand, is to look after the hooker so he can get a clean strike at the ball, but these days loose-heads have to be destructive too.
The tight-head plays on the right of the front-row and mainly uses the right-hand side of his body, whereas the loose-head's left side dominates.
Because of this it is fairly rare to find someone who can excel at both.
To be a good prop, you've really got to enjoy the position - it's not everyone's cup of tea, putting your head where it hurts.
It's possibly the only true position on the field where you actually have a one-on-one with your opposite number and I relished that aspect of it.
You need to love that confrontational challenge to get the most out of it.
England's Phil Vickery is my idea of a perfect modern prop.
He's a fantastic scrummager, great in the line-out because he is quite tall, he has good hands, contributes all around the park and regularly tops the tackle count.
Bookmark with:
| Jason Leonard |
Which station on the Northern Line of the London Underground is the name of a game on the radio panel show ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’? | Gethin Jenkins becomes most-capped prop in rugby union history | Wales - ITV News
31 August 2015 at 9:29am
Gethin Jenkins becomes most-capped prop in rugby union history
Jenkins is now the most-capped prop in rugby union history.
Credit: PA
Wales prop Gethin Jenkins is set to be named in Wales' World Cup squad today after becoming the most-capped prop forward in rugby union history.
Jenkins' appearance in Saturday's penultimate warm-up match against Ireland broke the record held by 2003 England World Cup winner Jason Leonard.
Day to day, you have to manage your body and stay on top form. I just want to put a good performance in every time I put the jersey on.
It shows how old I am (featuring in a fourth World Cup). You don't get any prizes for playing, though. A couple of the boys asked if I played in 2003, when they probably weren't even watching. All the hard work we've put in builds towards this showpiece occasion every four years.
– Gethin Jenkins, Wales Prop
England's Chris Robshaw is tackled by Wales' and Gethin Jenkins during the RBS 6 Nations match at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
Credit: PA
It's obviously a nice achievement (cap record), but I want to keep building. You never value the jersey fully until you lose it. I want to keep going as long as I can.
When Warren named the 31 for the World Cup four years ago, we had a lot of younger players coming through.
Now, we are still quite young, but we're a lot more experienced as a group. The guys have got a lot of international rugby under their belts over the last four years.
– Gethin Jenkins, Wales Prop
Wales' Jamie Roberts during the World Cup Warm Up Match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.
Credit: PA
Wales' 16-10 victory at the Aviva Stadium was their second in a row against the reigning RBS 6 Nations champions.
It's now just four weeks before they tackle World Cup hosts England at Twickenham.
Obviously, we've got a long way to go, but we were really pleased with the performance.
A lot of us were quite rusty and blowing quite hard, including myself. But the manner of the win was great from the boys.
We wanted to build some momentum and put right the defeat of two weeks ago (35-21 against Ireland). We've got Italy next weekend, and then we are into the crunch games. Even though the result wasn't everything, to get over the line was a big boost that gives us some confidence.
It takes one or two games for us to get into things, and we've been together for a while now.
– Gethin Jenkins, Wales Prop
Warren Gatland is due to name his 31 man squad for the Rugby World Cup.
Credit: PA
Wales' win against Ireland took them above England and into fifth place in rugby union's official world rankings.
Warren Gatland will name his final team selection for the Rugby World Cup at midday.
The squad will be cut down from the extended training team to 31 men. Wales face Uruguay in their first match at the Millennium Stadium on the 20th of September.
Last updated Sat 17 Oct 2015
| i don't know |
Appointed in 1907 who was the first female member of the Order of Merit? | Order of Merit
Order of Merit
This article is about the Commonwealth realms order. For similarly named orders, see Order of Merit (disambiguation) .
Order of Merit
Insignia of the Order of Merit presented to Dorothy Hodgkin , displayed in the Royal Society in London
Awarded by the
All living citizens of the Commonwealth realms
Awarded for
Dependent on state
Ribbon of the Order of Merit
The Order of Merit ( French : Ordre du Mérite) [n 1] is a dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces , science , art , literature , or for the promotion of culture . Established in 1902 by King Edward VII , admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms , and is limited to 24 living recipients at one time from these countries plus a limited number of honorary members. [1] [2] While all members receive the ability to use the post-nominal letters OM and a medallion for life, [3] the Order of Merit's precedence amongst other honours differs between Commonwealth realms.
Contents
8 References
History
The first mention of a possible Order of Merit was made following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, in correspondence between First Lord of the Admiralty The Lord Barham and William Pitt , though nothing eventuated from the idea. [4] Later, it was thought by Queen Victoria , her courtiers, and politicians alike, [5] that a new order, based on the Prussian order Pour le Mérite , would make up for the insufficient recognition offered by the established honours system to achievement outside of public service, in realms such as art, music, literature, industry, and science. [4] Victoria's husband, Albert, Prince Consort , took an interest in the matter; it was recorded in his diary that he met on 16 January 1844 with Robert Peel to discuss the "idea of institution of a civil Order of Merit" and three days later he conferred with the Queen on the subject. [6] The concept did not wither and, on 5 January 1888, British prime minister the Marquess of Salisbury submitted to the Queen a draft constitution for an Order of Merit in Science and Art, consisting of one grade split into two branches of knighthood: the Order of Scientific Merit for Knights of Merit in Science, with the post-nominal letters KMS and the Order of Artistic Merit for Knights of Merit in Art, with the post-nominal letters KMA. However, Sir Frederic Leighton , President of the Royal Academy , advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process. [7]
King Edward VII , founder of the Order of Merit
It was Victoria's son, Edward VII , who eventually founded the Order of Merit on 26 June 1902 the date for which his coronation had been originally planned [8] as a means to acknowledge "exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards the advancement of Art, Literature and Science"; [9] all modern aspects of the order were established under his direction, including the division for military figures. [3] From the outset, prime ministers attempted to propose candidates or lobbied to influence the monarch's decision on appointments, but the Royal Household adamantly guarded information about potential names. [3] After 1931, when the Statute of Westminster came into being and the Dominions of the British Empire became independent states, equal in status to the UK, [10] [11] the Order of Merit remained an honour open to all the King's realms; thus, as with the monarch who conferred it, the order ceased to be purely British. [1] [12]
From its inception, the order has been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, in 1907. Several individuals have refused admission into the Order of Merit, such as Rudyard Kipling , A. E. Housman , and George Bernard Shaw . To date, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , remains the youngest person ever inducted into the Order of Merit, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, when he was 47 years of age. [3]
Eligibility and appointment
All citizens of the Commonwealth realms are eligible for appointment to the Order of Merit. There may be, however, only 24 living individuals in the order at any given time, not including honorary appointees, and new members are personally selected by the reigning monarch of the 16 realms, presently Queen Elizabeth II, with the assistance of her private secretaries; [3] the order has thus been described as "quite possibly, the most prestigious honour one can receive on planet Earth." [13] Within the limited membership is a designated military division, with its own unique insignia; though it has not been abolished, it is currently unpopulated, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma having been the last person so honoured. [3] Honorary members form another group, to which there is no numerical limit, though such appointments are rare; individuals from countries in the Commonwealth of Nations that are not headed by Elizabeth II are therefore considered foreigners, and thus are granted only honorary admissions, such as Nelson Mandela ( South Africa ) and Mother Teresa ( India ). [1]
Upon admission into the Order of Merit, members are entitled to use the post-nominal letters OM, and are entrusted with the badge of the order, consisting of a golden crown from which is suspended a red enamelled cross, itself centred by a disk of blue enamel, surrounded by a gold laurel wreath , and bearing in gold lettering the words FOR MERIT; [14] the insignia for the military grouping is distinguished by a pair of crossed swords behind the central disk. The ribbon of the Order of Merit is divided into two stripes of red and blue; men wear their badges on a neck ribbon, while women carry theirs on a ribbon bow pinned to the left shoulder, and aides-de-camp may wear the insignia on their aiguillettes . [14] Since 1991, it has been required that the insignia be returned upon the recipient's death. [15]
Current members
| Florence Nightingale |
Where are the headquarters of the Automobile Association? | Florence Nightingale | English nurse | Britannica.com
Florence Nightingale
Alternative Title: Lady of the Lamp
Florence Nightingale
William Bligh
Florence Nightingale, byname Lady with the Lamp (born May 12, 1820, Florence [Italy]—died August 13, 1910, London, England), foundational philosopher of modern nursing , statistician, and social reformer. Nightingale was put in charge of nursing British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War . She spent many hours in the wards, and her night rounds giving personal care to the wounded established her image as the “Lady with the Lamp.” Her efforts to formalize nursing education led her to establish the first scientifically based nursing school—the Nightingale School of Nursing, at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London (opened 1860). She also was instrumental in setting up training for midwives and nurses in workhouse infirmaries. She was the first woman awarded the Order of Merit (1907). International Nurses Day , observed annually on May 12, commemorates her birth and celebrates the important role of nurses in health care.
Florence Nightingale at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari (Üsküdar), writing letters for …
© Photos.com/Thinkstock
Family ties and spiritual awakening
Florence Nightingale was the second of two daughters born, during an extended European honeymoon, to William Edward and Frances Nightingale. (William Edward’s original surname was Shore; he changed his name to Nightingale after inheriting his great-uncle’s estate in 1815.) Florence was named after the city of her birth. After returning to England in 1821, the Nightingales had a comfortable lifestyle, dividing their time between two homes, Lea Hurst in Derbyshire , located in central England, and Embley Park in warmer Hampshire , located in south-central England. Embley Park, a large and comfortable estate, became the primary family residence, with the Nightingales taking trips to Lea Hurst in the summer and to London during the social season.
Florence Nightingale, c. 1870.
Perry Pictures/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZ62-5877)
Florence was a precocious child intellectually. Her father took particular interest in her education, guiding her through history , philosophy , and literature . She excelled in mathematics and languages and was able to read and write French , German , Italian , Greek , and Latin at an early age. Never satisfied with the traditional female skills of home management, she preferred to read the great philosophers and to engage in serious political and social discourse with her father.
As part of a liberal Unitarian family, Florence found great comfort in her religious beliefs. At the age of 16, she experienced one of several “calls from God.” She viewed her particular calling as reducing human suffering. Nursing seemed the suitable route to serve both God and humankind. However, despite having cared for sick relatives and tenants on the family estates, her attempts to seek nurse’s training were thwarted by her family as an inappropriate activity for a woman of her stature.
Nursing in peace and war
Britannica Stories
Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales
Despite family reservations, Nightingale was eventually able to enroll at the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth in Germany for two weeks of training in July 1850 and again for three months in July 1851. There she learned basic nursing skills, the importance of patient observation, and the value of good hospital organization. In 1853 Nightingale sought to break free from her family environment . Through social connections, she became the superintendent of the Institution for Sick Gentlewomen (governesses) in Distressed Circumstances, in London, where she successfully displayed her skills as an administrator by improving nursing care, working conditions, and efficiency of the hospital. After one year she began to realize that her services would be more valuable in an institution that would allow her to train nurses. She considered becoming the superintendent of nurses at King’s College Hospital in London. However, politics, not nursing expertise, was to shape her next move.
Florence Nightingale, c. 1850.
British Culture and Politics
In October 1853 the Turkish Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia, following a series of disputes over holy places in Jerusalem and Russian demands to exercise protection over the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman sultan. The British and the French, allies of Turkey, sought to curb Russian expansion. The majority of the Crimean War was fought on the Crimean Peninsula in Russia . However, the British troop base and hospitals for the care of the sick and wounded soldiers were primarily established in Scutari ( Üsküdar ), across the Bosporus from Constantinople ( Istanbul ). The status of the care of the wounded was reported to the London Times by the first modern war correspondent, British journalist William Howard Russell. The newspaper reports stated that soldiers were treated by an incompetent and ineffective medical establishment and that the most basic supplies were not available for care. The British public raised an outcry over the treatment of the soldiers and demanded that the situation be drastically improved.
Florence Nightingale, the “Lady with the Lamp,” at the Barrack Hospital at Scutari …
Cassell & Company/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-pga-00466)
Britannica Lists & Quizzes
Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies
Sidney Herbert, secretary of state at war for the British government, wrote to Nightingale requesting that she lead a group of nurses to Scutari. At the same time, Nightingale wrote to her friend Liz Herbert, Sidney’s wife, asking that she be allowed to lead a private expedition. Their letters crossed in the mail, but in the end their mutual requests were granted. Nightingale led an officially sanctioned party of 38 women, departing October 21, 1854, and arriving in Scutari at the Barrack Hospital on November 5. Not welcomed by the medical officers, Nightingale found conditions filthy, supplies inadequate, staff uncooperative, and overcrowding severe. Few nurses had access to the cholera wards, and Nightingale, who wanted to gain the confidence of army surgeons by waiting for official military orders for assistance, kept her party from the wards. Five days after Nightingale’s arrival in Scutari, injured soldiers from the Battle of Balaklava and the Battle of Inkerman arrived and overwhelmed the facility. Nightingale said it was the “Kingdom of Hell.”
In order to care for the soldiers properly, it was necessary that adequate supplies be obtained. Nightingale bought equipment with funds provided by the London Times and enlisted soldiers’ wives to assist with the laundry. The wards were cleaned and basic care was provided by the nurses. Most important, Nightingale established standards of care, requiring such basic necessities as bathing, clean clothing and dressings, and adequate food. Attention was given to psychological needs through assistance in writing letters to relatives and through providing educational and recreational activities. Nightingale herself wandered the wards at night, providing support to the patients; this earned her the title of “Lady with the Lamp.” She gained the respect of the soldiers and medical establishment alike. Her accomplishments in providing care and reportedly reducing the mortality rate to about 2 percent brought her fame in England through the press and the soldiers’ letters. (Investigations by historians in the 20th century revealed that the mortality rate at Barrack Hospital under Nightingale’s care was actually much higher than had been reported—the British government had concealed the actual mortality rate.)
Florence Nightingale in a hospital ward at Scutari (Üsküdar) during the Crimean War.
Day & Son./Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZC4-10261)
Connect with Britannica
Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest
In May 1855 Nightingale began the first of several excursions to Crimea; however, shortly after arriving, she fell ill with “Crimean fever”—most likely brucellosis , which she probably contracted from drinking contaminated milk. Nightingale experienced a slow recovery, as no active treatment was available. The lingering effects of the disease were to last for 25 years, frequently confining her to bed because of severe chronic pain.
On March 30, 1856, the Treaty of Paris ended the Crimean War. Nightingale remained in Scutari until the hospitals were ready to close, returning to her home in Derbyshire on August 7, 1856, as a reluctant heroine.
Homecoming and legacy
Although primarily remembered for her accomplishments during the Crimean War, Nightingale’s greatest achievements centred on attempts to create social reform in health care and nursing. On her return to England, Nightingale was suffering the effects of both brucellosis and exhaustion. In September 1856 she met with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to discuss the need for reform of the British military establishment. Nightingale kept meticulous records regarding the running of the Barrack Hospital, causes of illness and death, the efficiency of the nursing and medical staffs, and difficulties in purveyance. A Royal Commission was established, which based its findings on the statistical data and analysis provided by Nightingale. The result was marked reform in the military medical and purveyance systems.
In 1855, as a token of gratitude and respect for Nightingale, the Nightingale Fund was established. Through private donations, £45,000 was raised by 1859 and put at Nightingale’s disposal. She used a substantial part of these monies to institute the Nightingale School of Nursing at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, which opened in 1860. The school formalized secular nursing education, making nursing a viable and respectable option for women who desired employment outside of the home. The model was taken worldwide by matrons (women supervisors of public health institutions). Nightingale’s statistical models—such as the Coxcomb chart, which she developed to assess mortality—and her basic concepts regarding nursing remain applicable today. For these reasons she is considered the foundational philosopher of modern nursing.
Coxcomb chart
Open Door policy
Nightingale improved the health of households through her most famous publication, Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, which provided direction on how to manage the sick. This volume has been in continuous publication worldwide since 1859. Additional reforms were financed through the Nightingale Fund, and a school for the education of midwives was established at King’s College Hospital in 1862. Believing that the most important location for the care of the sick was in the home, she established training for district nursing, which was aimed at improving the health of the poor and vulnerable . A second Royal Commission examined the health of India, resulting in major environmental reform, again based on Nightingale’s statistical data.
Florence Nightingale was honoured in her lifetime by receiving the title of Lady of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and by becoming the first woman to receive the Order of Merit . On her death in 1910, at Nightingale’s prior request, her family declined the offer of a state funeral and burial in Westminster Abbey . Instead, she was honoured with a memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral , London. Her burial is in the family plot in St. Margaret’s Church, East Wellow, Hampshire.
| i don't know |
Carrauntoohil, the highest peak in the Republic of Ireland is in which mountain range? | Carrauntoohil & MacGillycuddy's Reeks - A Walking Guide (by Jim Ryan) - The Ireland Walking Guide
The Ireland Walking Guide
Carrauntoohill & MacGillycuddy's Reeks - A Walking Guide
Title: Carrauntoohil & MacGillycuddy's Reeks - A Walking Guide
Author: Jim Ryan
ISBN: 9781905172337
First published: 2006
Summary: Walking guidebook detailing twenty quality routes (plus options) of various grades throughout Ireland's highest mountain range - MacGillycuddy's Reeks in County Kerry.
On the back cover: The MacGillycuddy's Reeks are Ireland's highest mountains with Carrauntoohil tallest at 1,039m. Occupying about 100 square km, they stretch from the picturesque Gap of Dunloe in the east to Glencar in the west. Attracting over 25,000 walkers annually, they are a wonderful natural amenity. However, a proper guide is essential before venturing on to the Reeks. This guide to twenty walking routes on the Reeks contains full-colour maps specially commissioned from Ordnance Survey Ireland, clear photographs and precise map references. It also encompasses the history, geology, natural history, placenames and people of the area. It is the most comprehensive guide available.
Content & credits: 128 pages. Words [by Jim Ryan]. Colour photographs [uncredited]. Digitally-produced, colour route detail maps [by others (Ordnance Survey Ireland)] - no location map included.
Route location map (walk start points):
CARRAUNTOOHIL & MACGILLYC...S REEKS - A WALKING GUIDE
Other walking guidebooks for this area:
The area covered by this book is also dealt with by the following list of recommended titles.
| Macgillycuddy's Reeks |
Who made his film debut playing Kasper Gutman in the 1941 film ‘Casablanca’? | Man's body found on Carrauntoohil in MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Co Kerry - Irish Mirror Online
Man's body found on Carrauntoohil in MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Co Kerry
Gardai believe the man to be Irish and in his 50s
Share
The MacGillycuddy's Reeks is a mountain range in Co Kerry. Stretching slightly over 19 km, they include the highest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil, at 1,038 metres. (Photo: Tourism Ireland)
Share
Get daily updates directly to your inbox
+ Subscribe
Thank you for subscribing!
Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email
The body of a man has been recovered from Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest mountain, in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in Co Kerry .
There have been a number of serious falls on the descent from Carrauntoohil in recent weeks, the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team have said, urging caution on the busy mountain.
The man, who is believed to be in his 50s, and Irish, appears to have been walking on his own on Saturday.
His fall on the northern face of Carrauntoohil was witnessed from lower down the slope at around 2 pm and his body recovered at 9 pm on Saturday from an area described as inaccessible and challenging for the recovery team.
Gardai in Killorglin were conducting checks on car parks and guesthouses on Saturday night in an effort to confirm the man's identity.
They now believe they are following a definite line of enquiry after establishing that someone did not return to his accommodation locally.
Gardai believe the man to be Irish and in his 50s.
Climbers lower down the slope were alerted after hearing stones and rocks fall around 2 pm near the Heavenly Gates area and seeing someone fall.
Valentia Coastguard co-ordinated the search and recovery operation by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team ( KMRT) and the Shannon based Sikorsky search and rescue helicopter.
Too steep for a landing, the helicopter ferried equipment and rescuers.
The man's body was brought down at 9 pm and a post mortem is to be carried out at Kerry University Hospital.
There have been three serious falls on descent routes on Carrauntoohil in recent weeks, a KMRT spokesman Alan Wallace said urging caution.
While they could be navigated safely, "any of the descent routes on Carrauntoohil are very steep and can present significant hazards and challenges for even the most experienced hillwalkers and climbers, " Mr Wallace said.
"All three falls have been very serious and this latest is very tragic," Mr Wallace said.
The mountains were now very busy, he added.In general, walkers were always urged to inform others of their intended route and expected time of return and the advice of the KMRT was not to walk alone.
The proximity of the range to the Atlantic also means that weather conditions in this area can deteriorate rapidly at any time of the year.
Read More
Most Read
Most Recent
| i don't know |
Will Champion is the drummer with which band? | Will Champion: Just Right For Coldplay – Drum!
February 21, 2012
BY DAVID WEISS, PHOTOS BY NEIL ZLOZOWER
For all the thousands of drummers pushing ahead in a tireless quest for rhythm fame, there will always be one or two like Will Champion who just kind of wind up with it. That’s not to say that, as the drummer for the artistically gifted songwriters known as Coldplay, Champion hasn’t worked hard for his career, but with only five years experience holding a pair of sticks, he’s landed comfortably on the fastest of fast tracks.
Although he’s been playing piano and guitar for 18 of his 24 years on the planet, Champion never really thought about pounding out a beat until his sophomore year at the University of London. That’s when three friends of his, guitarist Jon Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and guitarist Chris Martin, who had gone and started Coldplay without him, knocked on his door and demanded his drumming services – no experience necessary. “Coldplay and drumming arrived simultaneously for me,” Champion explains in that kind of quiet Brit accent that just charms the pants off everybody. “Chris, Johnny, and Guy did three tracks on a four-track EP, and they needed drums.
“They came to my house, because I lived with a guy with a drum kit. He was a good drummer, but he didn’t turn up – he was at the pub or something – so I just said I’d give it a go. They recorded it, and it kind of went from there. I played on one song on that EP, and in the beginning of the next year they said, ’Do you want to be in the band?’ I said, ’Absolutely.’ I was desperate to be in a band. I would have played kazoo.”
Good thing Champion answered the door the day of that surprise recording session, because that was opportunity knockin’. Founded on a platform committed solely to genuine, meticulously crafted songs while rejecting profit motives and notoriety, Coldplay quickly became (what else?) a high-profile moneymaker in the world of pop. But don’t blame the guys in the group for busting it wide open: take it out on the five million people who bought copies of their 2000 debut album, Parachutes, or the Academy, which awarded them a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. A dark and dreamy collection that astonished jaded listeners with its unfiltered honesty, Parachutes gave many music lovers new hope that there were still great pop songs left to be written for the 21st Century.
If that sounds like a lot of pressure to put on a band for their follow-up, you’d be right. Coldplay came off of their intense promotion in 2001 for Parachutes proclaiming themselves officially out of ideas. But apparently, happily, fortunately, they were wrong: The band dug deep, and came out of the studio with their gorgeously crafted second album, the recently released A Rush of Blood to the Head. Matching raw emotional strength with quiet subtlety and aching beauty, Rush maintains Coldplay’s reputation for songwriting mastery, boosted by a rise in their technical skill and confidence.
Champion’s lifelong status as an extremely gifted musician set the stage for his relatively short, but surprisingly successful, stint as a drummer. He was born into a musical family in the English port town of Southhampton, where he quickly found a way around the most distasteful parts of his early music education. “I started doing lessons on various instruments, but I didn’t enjoy doing them because I couldn’t read the music,” he recalls. “Instead, I would play songs from memory. I watched my teacher’s hands on the piano, memorized it, and ended up doing it myself.”
Although reading music wasn’t Champion’s forte, playing it proved to be quite another matter. “I think music first clicked as a creative pursuit when my mom taught me how to play three chords on guitar,” he says. “At the time I had the ability to listen to a song and work out how to play it instantly. I think the guitar is a really easy thing to do that on. That’s when I realized most songs revolve around three chords anyway.”
Champion clearly had talent early on. What he didn’t have was someone outside of Mom and Pop to share it with. “I was never really in bands; my friends were always playing football instead,” says Champion. “I used to play music by myself, really. I’d never been in a band before I joined Coldplay.”
Going from Southhampton to the cultural explosion of London as a college freshman, Champion wasn’t so much a starving artist as an artist starving for some actual interaction. With so much ability and so few chances to display it, joining Coldplay must have felt great. So what if he barely knew a crash from a ride? His lengthy musical training and total sensitivity to a song’s melodic elements made him the perfect drummer to back Martin and Buckland’s subtly stirring compositions, with their guitar-driven influences that ranged from Radiohead, Jeff Buckley and Oasis to Neil Young and Bob Dylan. Besides, things started to happen so fast for the band, there was no time to notice that one member was just beginning to learn his instrument.
“When I did my first rehearsal with the band in January, 1998, I had a card in my wallet from a promoter who I’d met a few nights before,” Champion remembers. “I had gotten the card for the guys, because he said he’d help us. I phoned, said ’Can I have a gig?’ and he said yeah. We had a gig on February 17, so it was right in. We had six songs, and we had to learn to play them in six weeks. When we played our first gig, we invited all of our friends, and it was quite a small little place. Only a hundred people could fit, and there ended up being a long line outside. It was very exciting to be the drummer in that band, doing original music instead of other people’s music – actually writing parts instead of copying them.”
While things started to move fast for Coldplay, Champion modestly denies that his own drumming abilities took off at the same pace. “I wouldn’t say that. I still would maintain I’m not a great drummer. I was definitely improving then, and I still am. But all of that piano did help, because it gave me coordination for my hands and feet, and a different perspective from other drummers. There’s hundreds of other drummers who are technically brilliant, but my favorite drummers are people who played in great bands and complemented a great singer. Dave Grohl, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham are perfect examples: They’re people who are original with their own style, but perfect for the band they played in.
“When we first started writing songs, Chris would come in with an idea for a song – a vocal melody, a verse part – and then we would just kind of work on it for a structure, finding the main feel of the song. I’ve never done anything complicated even up until now, except providing the actual rhythm, or building on the rhythm of the acoustic guitar or whatever it was that was leading the song.
“I’m very glad that I played other instruments before the drums. Definitely. It allowed me to have a different perspective on drumming in music. It’s one thing to be a technically brilliant drummer, but knowing the difference between the major and minor key is very important too, and I was lucky to learn all that before I was playing drums. That has more to do with the feel of a song, knowing what’s right for the song, instead of knowing how to play powerfully for a second or two.”
It wasn’t long before the radio and record company geeks started hearing the buzz and throwing their own weight behind Coldplay, paving the way for a record contract that led directly to the critical and popular success of Parachutes. “We were lucky enough to have people at Radio One, the main radio station, get behind us,” Champion notes. “There a lot of people who stuck their necks out for the band. We always got people that gave us amazing amounts of respect. Without those people, we wouldn’t be here.
“With Parachutes, we worked incredibly hard, and we believed that it was the greatest record that we could ever make. But you have to approach every record like that – you’ve got to believe what you’re doing is the best, otherwise there’s no point in doing it. I just think it was a certain time in the music industry when there was a lot of preproduced, packaged stuff. Parachutes was very honest. There were no frills to it. It was quite raw. It was very kind of rich-sounding, but still very basic, and I think people appreciate honesty at the end of the day. It didn’t pretend to be anything it wasn’t.”
Blessed (cursed?) with 18 months of non-stop touring to support Parachutes, Champion took the opportunity to grow as a drummer. “I became more confident, as much as anything else, and I started to hit the drums harder as well,” he says. “I also went and had a few lessons with a teacher to help me with timing, because I had gotten to the point where I didn’t think I could learn any more without learning the basics. My natural ability got me as far as possible without help.”
Champion and his bandmates saw A Rush of Blood to the Head as a chance to move forward. “We just wanted to make certain that we recognized ourselves in a progression,” he says of the CD’s writing and recording strategy. “There are so many bands that say, ’The first album did well. Let’s do another one exactly the same.’ That’s not interesting. We wanted to progress in every way possible, and it just seemed to happen with hard work.”
Playing on a predictably basic Yamaha drumkit – one 24″ kick, 12″ rack, 18″ floor – with one ride, two crashes and hat, Champion seems to have a magic touch on Rush for providing exactly what’s needed, every time. He moves songs like “In My Place” forward with plenty of power but not a single stroke wasted, then gives “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” a spare, menacing pulse of straight snare hits in the verse, shined up with a flowing ride cymbal in the chorus. In “The Scientist,” Champion is perfectly content to let simple layers of piano, vocal, and guitar do their thing for a full 2:17 before joining in with a kick/snare pattern as patient and unassuming as any beat that ever was. Not until the shimmering imagery of “Clocks” does he make his rhythms part of the centerpiece, punctuating the phrases with an unvarying odd-time pattern that allows everything else to fall perfectly into place.
“I knew that I had to play stuff in keeping with the different types of songs that we were writing,” Champion says. “But the first album wasn’t really rhythmically that strong. It was just added dynamics, which I consider to be the most important thing in drumming – getting the flow of the song across. I wanted Rush to be a bit more driven and driving, and rely on the drums with a bit more feeling. Or maybe ’driving’ is not the word, but more solid. The first album is maybe a little pitty-patty, but I still think it’s good. However, you move around, you change things you like and change what kind of songs you listen to. Everything changes.”
Recorded in multiple locations across Jolly Olde England, including the famed Air Studios, Champion knew how he wanted his drums not to come across. “Sometimes I listen to drum sounds on records and I think they sound terrible,” he says. “I really don’t like close miking. It sucks all the life out of the drums. We had microphones everywhere around the room: in the corners, in the corridor, in echo chambers, putting them through distressors. We were trying to make interesting sounds, like recording onto a Dictaphone and then recording back into a computer. Overall, the goal was to make them sound live, big, and fat.”
While all four members would occasionally play together live in the studio, the more common scenario saw Champion and bassist Guy Berryman laying down the rhythm parts while playing to a click and scratch guitar track laid down by Chris Martin. “Guy and I worked very hard to make sure everything we did was solid and stable,” states Champion. “The majority of the drum patterns are based on the natural flow of the songs. They provide the backbone and feel, which is something I’m pleased with. What that means is that Chris and Jon don’t have to compromise any melodies. Whereas on the first album they may have had to create rhythm from a guitar or lead riff, this time the rhythm was sorted out, so they had more space to concentrate solely on melody.”
With each individual band member now able to focus more intently on their own instrument, the end result was an even stronger group effort that left no stone unturned. “The songs were always kind of evolving,” Champion says. “To an outside observer the process would be very mundane. There were very miniscule details, but to us they were hugely important, like where to put the open hi-hat, or whether to put in a third bass drum beat. Anal-retentive details, but they were crucial.”
Coldplay agonizes over the little things, but that’s probably the exact reason why this low-key foursome was able to squeeze through the huge blocks of rock that otherwise fill the airwaves. Recruiting the perfect person to be their drummer – a man who’d never tuned a tom in his life but is an expert at creating a good song – may have been the smartest move of all. “Everyone in the world who plays drums is probably better than me,” Will Champion shrugs. “I’m not technically amazing by any means, and I don’t think you have to be. It’s important to be with the right people, playing the right thing, because you don’t have to play incredibly quickly, and you don’t have to have 15 toms. It’s about being right for the music.”
CHAMPION’S KIT
Drums: Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute
1. 24″ x 16″ Bass Drum
2. 14″ x 5 1/2″ Manu Katche Signature Snare Drum
3. 12″ x 10″ Tom
4. 16″ x 16″ Floor Tom
Cymbals: Zildjian
A. 14″ A Custom Hi-Hats
B. 18″ A Custom Crash
C. 22″ K Custom Ride
D. 19″ A Custom Crash
Will Champion also uses Zildjian sticks, Aquarian and Remo heads, Pearl Powershift bass pedal, Yamaha hardware, and a Roc ’N Soc throne.
| Coldplay |
In which sport did Precious McKenzie win three consecutive Commonwealth Gold medals for England from 1966 to 1974, then when representing New Zealand won a fourth in 1978? | Will Champion | Drummer | OnlineDrummer.com
Will Champion
Add to cart $3.99 USD (Instant Download)
Additional resources available
Learn the drum beat titled, Clocks - Coldplay.
QUICKLINKS
Terms of Service
ABOUT US
We're committed to motivate and educate you in the art of drumming. Stay inspired with drum sheet music, lessons, drum beats, exercises and more!
FOLLOW US
| i don't know |
Which composer was born in Bradford in 1862? | Frederick Delius, composer, born in Bradford
Frederick Delius (1862-1934)
Frederick Albert Theodore Delius CH was an English composer born in Bradford on January 29th 1862. Although born in England, Frederick Delius felt little attraction for the country of his birth and spent most of his life abroad, mainly in the United States and in France.
Delius's parents were immigrants from Bielefeld in Germany who had come to Bradford to set themselves up in the woollen business. Frederick Delius ('Fritz' to his family, 'Fred' to his friends) was the fourth of their fourteen children.
Although Frederick showed early musical promise, his father was very much set against a musical career and wanted Delius to work in the family business. Julius Delius eventually sent Frederick (apparently at Frederick's request) to be the manager of a grapefruit plantation at Solano Grove in Florida. After spending some time in Florida, Delius taught music in Virginia and eventually moved to New York.
After his stay in New York, his father finally agreed to allow him a musical education, and consented to send him to Leipzig to study at the conservatory. He was befriended there by Edvard Grieg, who encouraged him and became a lifelong friend. In 1907 he met Thomas Beecham, who was to be the greatest champion of Delius's music in the English-speaking world and who described Delius as "the last great apostle of romantic beauty in music".
Some of his best-known works include: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, Brigg Fair ('An English Rhapsody'), In A Summer Garden, North Country Sketches, Florida Suite, Sea Drift, and The Walk to the Paradise Garden.
| Frederick Delius |
In which country was Mo Farah born in 1983? | Frederick Delius - Biography
Biography
Lived & worked in Florida, Germany, Norway & France
Died in France 1934
Buried in England 1935
Fritz Theodor Albert Delius was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on 29 January 1862 to parents who had come to England from Bielefeld, Germany. Julius, his father, was a prosperous businessman in one of Yorkshire's great Victorian industries, wool. The home was a musically cultured one, and, as a boy, Fritz learned to play both violin and piano proficiently before he reached his teens. After attending Bradford Grammar School (1874-8), he spent two years studying at the International College near London, and then some apprentice years in his father's business.
These were characterised by a growing frustration with business life, and in March 1884, Fritz persuaded his father to let him try his hand at cultivating oranges in Florida, USA. His plantation, Solano Grove, was some hours upstream from Jacksonville on the banks of the St. John's River. Once there, he quickly secured a piano and found a local source for theory lessons, a Jacksonville organist named Thomas Ward, an important early influence. He also absorbed the sounds of the singing of negro workers, which were to be documented in his Florida Suite of 1886-7. Delius stayed there for a year and a half, before moving on to Danville, Virginia, with sufficient confidence to teach music in his own right.
Julius Delius now gave in to his son's request for a full musical education and Fritz enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatorium where he studied from 1886-8. On leaving Leipzig, set on the course of his life's work, he went to Paris, where he was to remain based for almost a decade. He soon moved on from composing songs and small-scale instrumental and orchestral pieces to produce the operas Irmelin (1890-2), The Magic Fountain (1894-5) and Koanga (1895-7). There were also larger orchestral works, some with solo voices, Paa Viderne (1888), Sakuntala (1889) and Maud (1891), while 1889 saw the completion of the symphonic poem Life's Dance (first version) and the nocturne Paris. The eclecticism in these works is evident, his inspiration deriving from the literature of England, Norway, Denmark, Germany and France, medieval romance, North American Indians and Negros, the Florida landscape and the Scandinavian mountainscape.
During his Paris period, Delius had little opportunity to have his larger scores played, and it was not until 1897 that the chance came to hear how his music really sounded, when he attended performances in Oslo of the play Folkeraadet, for which he had composed incidental music. Immediately afterwards, he travelled to Germany for the first orchestral performance in that country of a work of his, Over the hills and far away. It was conducted by Hans Haym who, with Julius Buths, was to be instrumental in popularising Delius's music in Germany in the first decade of the new century. An all-Delius concert in London in 1899, however, met with mixed success. In the meantime, he had become friends with a German painter, Helene Jelka Rosen, whom he met in Paris in 1896. The next year he moved in to share her house at Grez-sur-Loing, near Fontainebleau, and this was his home for the rest of his life. He and Jelka married in September 1903, by which time he had anglicised his name to Frederick.
Now came Delius's high musical summer, which was to last from 1901, when he completed his operatic masterpiece, A Village Romeo and Juliet, to almost the end of the first World War. Appalachia dates from 1902, Sea Drift from 1903/4, and the large-scale A Mass of Life was composed during 1904/5. Then came Songs of Sunset(1906/7), Brigg Fair (1907), In a Summer Garden (1908, revised 1912) and the first of the two Dance Rhapsodies (1908). Much of 1909/10 was devoted to his last opera, Fennimore and Gerda. An Arabesque and The Song of the High Hills date from 1911, and from 1911/12 came the popular On hearing the first cuckoo in springand Summer night on the river. These two pieces, together with The Walk to the Paradise Garden (an intermezzo extracted from A Village Romeo and Juliet) have earned their composer a quite unmerited reputation as a maker principally of pastoral miniatures. In 1907, Appalachia was heard at a London concert by, among others, the English conductor Thomas Beecham : he quickly assumed the mantle of Delius's greatest protagonist, and retained it until his death in 1961.
Soon after the completion of North Country Sketches (1913/4), the war years brought turmoil into the Deliuses' life, and for a time they had to leave Grez-sur-Loing. Despite all difficulties, however, Delius continued to compose a surprising amount of music: the Requiem, second Dance Rhapsody, Eventyr, and the concertos for violin and for violin, cello and orchestra all date from the war years, as do his string quartet, cello sonata and the final version of his long set-aside violin sonata no.1. Delius's last essay in concerto form, for the cello, dates from 1921, while his final purely orchestral work, A Poem of Life and Love (1918/9) apparently did not satisfy him sufficiently for it to be published. With the help of his friend, the composer Percy Grainger , the last touches were put in 1923 to the incidental music for Flecker's play Hassan: its phenomenally successful run in London helped to buttress the Deliuses' ailing finances, which had been adversely affected by the war.
Little could help the composer's failing health, however. Delius was going blind and losing the use of his limbs, although his mental faculties were to remain unimpaired until his death. But he could no longer compose. In 1928, a young musician from Yorkshire, Eric Fenby , came to live in Grez with the Deliuses, and the composer completed by dictation during his last years a number of works which represent a later flowering. Songs of Farewell for double chorus and orchestra and the Idyll (salvaged from the one-act opera Margot-la-Rougeof 1902) were the largest in scale; others composed or completed with Fenby's help were A Song of Summer, Fantastic Dance, songs including Cynara and A Late Lark, the Irmelin Prelude, Caprice and Elegy for cello and small orchestra, Deux Aquarelles for strings, the 'Intermezzo' from Fennimore and Gerda and the Violin Sonata No.3.
With all his outstanding works completed, Frederick Delius died at Grez-sur-Loing on June 10 1934, his wife outliving him by just one year. They are buried at Limpsfield, Surrey, England.
Note See the Bibliography section of this site for more detailed biographical material about the composer; the Discography section for recordings; the Collected Works section for a complete list of published works.
Biography copyright © Delius Trust
| i don't know |
‘The Last of England’ is an 1855 oil painting by which artist? | The Last of England 1855 - Ford Madox Brown - oil painting reproduction
The Last of England 1855
-
Brown, Ford Madox (English 1821-1893) Pre-Raphaelite Painter.
Title:
100% Handmade Oil Painting on Canvas.
Shipping:
Finish and send in 2 to 3 weeks
100% Hand Painted Fine Oil Painting Reproduction
No printing or digital imaging techniques are used. "
Ford Madox Brown's The Last of England 1855
" will be hand painted by our professional and experienced artist on real artist's canvas in the traditional way the real artist would paint.
My Client has already received her Painting.
Thanks for the excellent work!
Chalvington, United Kingdrom
I can confirm, that I did receive my order today. The pictures are very nice and I thank You for nice cooperation once more.
Have a nice weekend.
Prague 3 , Czech Republic
Thank you so much for checking. It came yesterday and it looks great! I am so excited about it. Thanks for all of our help!
WARMINSTER, PA 18974 USA
24 inch width x 26 inch height (61 x 66cm)
$214
30 inch width x 33 inch height (76 x 84cm)
$324
36 inch width x 39 inch height (91 x 99cm)
$391
40 inch width x 44 inch height (102 x 112cm)
$451
48 inch width x 52 inch height (122 x 132cm)
$547
20 inch width x 24 inch height (51 x 61cm)
$166
20 inch width x 30 inch height (51 x 76cm)
$200
24 inch width x 30 inch height (61 x 76cm)
$232
24 inch width x 36 inch height (61 x 91cm)
$254
30 inch width x 40 inch height (76 x 102cm)
$358
30 inch width x 48 inch height (76 x 122cm)
$395
36 inch width x 48 inch height (91 x 122cm)
$420
40 inch width x 60 inch height (102 x 152cm)
$543
48 inch width x 60 inch height (122 x 152cm)
$598
48 inch width x 72 inch height (122 x 183cm)
$662
--- OR ---
Want a Custom Size , It's no problem.
Any Size is possible: custom size or original size or aspect ratio size all are conceivable.
Any Photo is welcome: If you have another image of this painting that you would like our artist to work from, please send it to us.
Changement is no problem: Sometimes, customers want to make a small adjustment on masterpiece to creat a new painting by using their own idea. It is also OK with us, just email us with your design, we can transfer it on canvas.
Please let's know - Email .
| Ford Madox Brown |
Who plays Violet, The Dowager Countess of Grantham in ‘Downton Abbey’? | Brown, Ford Madox's oil paintings gallery and museum 01
Wycliffe Reading his Translation of the New Testament to his Protector- John of Gaunt
1847-48
Brown, Ford Madox English Pre-Raphaelite Painter, 1821-1893 English painter and designer. The son of a retired ship's purser who had settled at Calais, Brown received an academic training under Albert Gregorius (1774-1853) at Bruges, under Pieter van Hanselaere (1786-1862) at Ghent and under Baron Gustaf Wappers at the Academie in Antwerp (1837-9). He moved to Paris in 1840, married the following year and studied independently of the ateliers,
| i don't know |
Which entertainment venue in North London, later the site of early TV transmissions, was destroyed by fire in June 1873 a few days after it opened? | London's Alexandra Palace's the main theatre stage is left to decay | Daily Mail Online
comments
These pictures show how the crumbling Victorian theatre at Alexandra Palace has been left to decay for the past eight decades.
The striking photographs taken at the historic site in north London reveal the charmingly-dilapidated walls of the main theatre, where the world's first broadcast was transmitted in 1936.
The theatre, damaged during a fire just 16 days after the venue opened in 1873, has been hidden away for the past 70 years, but boasts an incredible ornate ceiling that has remained relatively intact.
The images also show the BBC radio and television mast, which has stood proudly at the site since the first transmission and remains a relic to the bygone era of broadcasting.
These pictures show how the crumbling Victorian theatre at Alexandra Palace has been left to decay for the past eight decades
The striking photographs taken at the historic site in north London reveal the charmingly-dilapidated walls of the main theatre, where the world's first broadcast was transmitted in 1936
The photographs were taken by Bradley Garrett, 40, from California, who wanted to capture the rustic nature of the building after learning about its vast history
The theatre, which is no longer used, has been hidden away for the past 70 years, but boasts an incredible ornate ceiling has remained relatively intact
He said the theatre at the site in north London was 'amazing', but was even more impressive due to its historical significance.
The nostalgic photographs were taken by Bradley Garrett, 40, from California, who wanted to capture the rustic nature of the building after learning about its vast history.
'Going into places like this allows you to see what few other people have, which is even more amazing when a place has historical significance like Ally Pally does,' he said.
RELATED ARTICLES
Share this article
Share
'The building opened in 1873 and burned to the ground soon after. It was listed in 1996, but it's also on the Buildings at Risk register, so we figured there must be parts of the building that were closed off to the public.
'We ended up finding more than we bargained for when the disused Victorian theatre led to the roof and we could actually climb up to the BBC radio and television mast that has been there since 1936.'
The images also show the BBC radio and television mast, which stand proudly at the site as a relic to the bygone era of broadcasting
The striking view is one of the most famed in the capital. The listed building now hosts scores of concerts, gigs and other events
First opened as 'The People's Palace' in 1873, Alexandra Palace was destroyed by a fire in the dome only 16 days later.
A new Palace opened less than two years later on May 1st 1875. The BBC leased the eastern part of the building in 1935 and Alexandra Palace remained the main transmitting centre for the BBC until 1956. The Victorian theatre closed in 1948.
'Most of these images are of the old Victorian theatre, which was damaged in a fire. The money could never be found to repair the damage so it was locked up,' said Bradley.
The site was opened in 1936 and became the BBC's first high definition TV station. The mast is pictured left, while D G Birkinshaw is pictured operating the Marconi-EMI instantaneous TV camera transmitting the view from Alexandra Palace, right
BBC newsreader Michael Aspel at his desk at Alexandra Palace, where he read the lunchtime news. The photo was taken in May 1968
Mark Beard is pictured playing the viola in the Marconi-EMI television studios at Alexandra Palace in 1936, the year of the first broadcast
'Some of the back rooms of the theatre contained old equipment and inscriptions - we even found a mouldering dartboard still hanging on the wall.
'From a back room, we were able to climb up onto the balcony and then up a gantry into the ceiling. We were astounded to find that pieces of that historic ceiling had been collected in cardboard boxes. It was much thinner than you might expect.'
Mr Garrett explained the thrill he gets from photographing unexplored old buildings and areas.
These boxes show the crumbling walls of the main theatre, which was damaged in a fire in 1873, which destroyed much of the site
An old dart board is pictured on the wall in one of the rooms at Alexandra Palace. The building has been listed due to its historical significance
'This kind of exploration has always been, for me, a kind of adrenaline-fuelled archaeology, a way of getting close to history, or indeed infrastructure or construction, without guides or interpretation,' he said.
'I hope that the photos relay some of that feeling, of being alone and drowning in the story of a place, and encourages other people to go explore place around them.
'Most people are stunned into silence. I love those moments, when everyone is just standing there silent, looking around and you can feel your blood pumping as you grapple with awe. Everyday life doesn't offer much of that.'
FROM A CATASTROPHIC START TO ONE OF LONDON'S MOST PRIZED LOCATIONS
Alexandra Palace opened on Queen Victoria's 54th birthday on May 24, 1973, with a grand celebration that included concerts, recitals and fireworks.
However, a mere 16 days later tragedy struck, when a fire broke out in the Palace, leaving it demolished.
Less than two years after the destruction of the original building, a new Palace opened. Covering seven acres, it was centred on the Great Hall, home to the mighty Willis Organ which was driven by two steam engines and vast bellows.
After certain financial difficulties, an Act of Parliament in 1900 created the Alexandra Palace and Park Trust. The Act required the Trustees to maintain the Palace and Park and make them 'available for the free use and recreation of the public forever'.
In 1935, the BBC leased the eastern part of the building from which the first public television transmissions were made in 1936. Alexandra Palace was the main transmitting centre for the BBC until 1956, when it was used exclusively for news broadcasts.
Just six months after the transfer of trusteeship to Haringey Council, on 10th July 1980, the Palace caught fire for the second time. An area comprising the Great Hall, Banqueting Suite, and former roller rink together with the theatre dressing rooms was completely destroyed. Only Palm Court and the area occupied by the BBC escaped damage.
Development and restoration work began soon after and the Palace was re-opened on 17th March 1988. It continues as a Charitable Trust administered by the London Borough of Haringey.
Alexandra Palace has built a reputation as one of London's premier venues. With its beautiful setting with panoramic views of London, stunning architectural features and well proportioned halls, the Palace is now a very popular choice for both corporate and private events.
The additional leisure facilities which include the Ice Rink, Bar & Kitchen, Boating Lake, Animal Enclosure and Conservation Area provide year round entertainment for everyone.
| Alexandra Palace |
Which island, since the mid 1960s, is the southernmost point of Iceland? | Alexandra Palace including former Alexandra Palace Station to North - 1268256| Historic England
Alexandra Palace including former Alexandra Palace Station to North
List Entry Summary
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Name: Alexandra Palace including former Alexandra Palace Station to North
List entry Number: 1268256
Location
Alexandra Palace including former Alexandra Palace Station to North, Muswell Hill, London Borough of Haringey N22
The building may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Greater London Authority
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: II
Date of most recent amendment: 30-Jan-2012
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: LBS
UID: 462017
Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.
List entry Description
Summary of Building
Former International Exhibition Hall and 'People's Palace'. Rebuilt 1873-5 by John Johnson and Alfred Meeson following fire damage to the first building of 1868-73 by the same architects. Built by Kelk and Lucas. Restored 1980-88, following second fire in 1980, by the Alexandra Palace Development team led by Dr Peter Smith. Various C20 alterations before the second fire.
The former Alexandra Palace Station building of 1873 stands immediately to N of the Palace. No platforms or other associated structures survive.
Reasons for Designation
Alexandra Palace and the former Alexandra Palace Railway Station are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Historic interest: a rare survival of a large-scale Victorian exhibition and entertainment complex, and for the surviving BBC studios where the world's first high-definition television programme was transmitted in 1936; also the complete set of Victorian stage machinery in the theatre; * Architectural interest: for the surviving Victorian fabric and internal spaces, as described above * The former railway station has special interest as a well-detailed building in the Italianate style, and for close historical associations with Alexandra Palace; it has strong visual group value with Alexandra Palace
History
The spectacular success of the Great Exhibition of 1851 inspired similar events worldwide. The idea of a 'People's Palace' in north London was propagated by the architect Owen Jones (1809-76) who had designed much of the interior décor of Paxton's Crystal Palace. Although his plans for a vast iron and glass building never materialised (mainly on grounds of cost), in 1863, after five or six years' planning, a former dairy farm on high ground between Muswell Hill, Wood Green and Hornsey began to be developed by the Alexandra Park Co Ltd as a north London rival to the Crystal Palace. The building from the Great International Exhibition of 1862 was then being dismantled in South Kensington, and this was acquired by the company, although financial difficulties delayed its re-erection. Work did not actually begin until 1868 when parts of that structure, designed by Captain Fowke, were reused in the new building designed by Alfred Meeson and John Johnson. Only in 1873 did the Alexandra Palace open as 'The Peoples' Palace', a recreation centre and visitor attraction for north Londoners. This was serviced by a new railway line from Highgate Station which terminated at a station alongside the north terrace. Two weeks later the palace was virtually destroyed by fire. A replacement building opened two years later, also designed by Meeson and Johnson. Covering seven acres it was centred on the Great Hall with its immense steam-powered Willis Organ, while four corner towers each supported 16,000 gallon water tanks supplied by steam pumps from the New River Company's reservoirs.
Palace and park faced successive financial difficulties, closure and changes in ownership. The theatre/music hall had been unsuccessful from the outset, partly due to poor sight lines and acoustics. No provision was made for moving scenery on or off stage. A mechanised timber stage was designed and installed by the Grieve family of stage carpenters and scenic artists and was ingeniously adapted to compensate for the idiosyncrasies of the theatre design. The theatre however only began to return a profit once film shows were introduced in the early 1900s, which also attracted more people to the palace complex as a whole. The Palace closed during the Great War and was used for the internment of German prisoners of war. The theatre was refurbished under the management of W Macqueen-Pope and reopened in 1922, but it ceased to be used as a cinema the following year when it was leased to Archie Pitt - Gracie Fields' first husband - who used the stage for rehearsals.
The BBC's involvement with Alexandra Palace dates from June 1935 when it leased the eastern part of the building - 31,840 sq ft within the south-east wing and a further 24,525 sq ft comprising the theatre and associated rooms - following advice from the government-backed Television Advisory Committee that it was the most suitable site for the development of high-definition television, including the testing of two rival systems. To facilitate broadcasting, the cupola on the south-east tower was removed and a 225 ft lattice mast was erected, which gave an aerial height of 460 ft above sea level. Below, the tower was converted to offices and the colonnade arches were bricked up. On the ground floor two former coffee rooms became transmitter halls for the two companies, while the tea room between them housed the shared transmitter. The first floor was converted to two studios separated by control rooms and rooms for film scanning, with dressing and make-up rooms across a corridor. Test transmissions took place in August 1936.
On 2 November 1936 the BBC introduced the first, regular, high-definition, 405-line television service in the world. Before that there had been episodic low-definition broadcasting in Britain and elsewhere, for instance in the USA and Germany. Later advances also took place there: tele-recording, colour broadcasting, the launch of the Open University, and video tape demonstrations.
Studio A was equipped with the relatively well-developed Marconi-EMI television system employing four Emitron cameras, Studio B with the more experimental and varied equipment installed by Baird Television Ltd. In January 1937 the decision was taken to adopt the Marconi-EMI system as the London Television Standard for the future of television. The Baird equipment was removed and by September Marconi-EMI equipment was in Studio B too. At the same time a Central Control Room was constructed in the former Baird Control Room to enable all programme sources - from the two studios, outside broadcasts, and film channels - to be controlled separately. Almost immediately technical and production standards improved, and over the next two years the annual number of hours of television broadcast grew fourfold to over 900 hours in 1938. With this came an expansion in set ownership, which on the outbreak of war stood at 20,000 sets.
The BBC Television Service shut down two days before war was declared in September 1939, closing with a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Transmitters were adapted to radio counter-measures against German bombers, using settings derived from Enigma intercepts to jam or 'bend' German navigational radio beams known as the 'Knickebein', and later the X- and Y-Gerät Systems, thereby giving important protection to London and the Home Counties from Luftwaffe attacks, notably during the Blitz. This was one of a number of installations for this purpose.
Broadcasting resumed on the day of the Victory parade on 7 June 1946, and although take up was slow due to post-war conditions, there were technical advances such as the recording of outside events which, for instance, allowed film of the 1953 coronation to be rushed by plane to America. After the BBC acquired the former Gainsborough film studios in Lime Grove, Shepherd's Bush, Alexandra Palace closed as a production centre, apparently for good, in 1954. However, it reopened months later as the home of BBC TV News, which it remained until 1969, colour television being launched in 1967. Then, until 1981, Alexandra Palace was from where the Open University was broadcast.
In 1980 a second major fire seriously damaged the Palace (only Palm Court and the area occupied by the BBC escaped damage). After restoration of the central hall and west end the Palace reopened in 1988.
The former Alexandra Palace railway station was the terminus of a short branch line from Highgate station and stands immediately adjacent to the north-west of the Palace. It was built by the Muswell Hill Railway and opened in 1873 along with the Palace. In 1911 the line was taken over by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), becoming part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923. In 1935 London Underground planned to take over the line from LNER together with the LNER's routes from Finsbury Park to Edgware and High Barnet, modernise it for use with electric trains and amalgamate it with the Northern Line. Works were completed from Highgate to High Barnet and Mill Hill East and that section was incorporated into the Northern Line, but further works on the Highgate and Alexandra Palace section were postponed and the line continued under the operation of the LNER. Wartime economies meant that services were reduced to rush hours only, so that after the war the dwindling passenger numbers and a shortage of funds lead to the cancellation of the unfinished works. Passenger services to Alexandra Palace station and the other stations on the line ceased on 3 July 1954.
Alexandra Park is included in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Details
MATERIALS: cast-iron and steel columns with walls of white Huntingdon and yellow stock brick embellished with patterned red brickwork in the Italianate style. Classical mouldings and ornaments such as cornices, volutes, keystones, lions' heads etc. made of Portland cement.
PLAN: the Palace covers about seven and a half acres. Symmetrical plan about a great central hall which corresponds with the central transept of the original building and runs between the N and S frontispieces that survived from that building. Flanking the great hall were an Italian garden to the W and an exhibition hall to the E, beyond them were 2 conservatories. The entire south front was occupied by refreshment rooms including a large banqueting hall; the corresponding spaces on the N front held a concert room and a large theatre. Most of the internal walls defining this plan survive, but the roofs have been replaced, and open areas roofed over. The concert hall and refreshment rooms have gone. The theatre auditorium to the NE and the BBC studios to the S, adapted from former refreshment rooms in 1935, survive.
EXTERIOR: N elevation: Least fire-damaged area. Central frontispiece with pedimented gable and large, recessed rose window (now blocked) above entrance porch which connected to the approach from the former railway station. E and W elevations: entrance fronts and vestibules behind largely rebuilt 1980-88 following original form and reusing structural ironwork in part. Palm Court entrance, now main public entrance, to W has pedimented gable and arcaded ground floor. S elevation: Central pedimented and gabled frontispiece with large recessed rose window (reinstated after fire) above entrance porch. Patterned brickwork in gable. Arch flanked by tall 3-light windows separated by half columns with segmental pediment above. 2-storey, 15-bay colonnade either side, divided into 3 sections and terminating in square towers. The upper colonnade is arched with stone columns, the lower has flat arches resting on brick piers. The tower at the SE corner was adapted in 1935 to house offices and studios for the BBC with metal canted bays and the addition of a tall steel latticed girder mast on top.
INTERIOR: survival of the original interior is patchy. The principal areas of interest lie in the eastern part of the building: the theatre auditorium in the NE and the television studios in the BBC wing in the SE corner. The theatre auditorium has fittings of interest dating from 1875. These include a balcony to the rear, a large raked stage, a proscenium with niches and, below the stage, a complete set of Victorian stage machinery designed by Messrs Grieve and Son. The machinery comprises a series of wooden bridges, traps, pulleys and levers to enable large scene transformations in pantomime and melodrama, and the projection of props and actors onto the stage. It is the most pristine example in the country and therefore of particular special interest. Neoclassical decoration on either side of the auditorium dates from the 1920s when W Macqueen-Pope was manager. The former BBC studios 'A' and 'B' have historic rather than architectural interest. A significant feature in studio 'A' is the glazed control room or 'gallery'. Some original doors to the studios with brass porthole windows survive. To W of the studios the original staircase survives with ramped wooden handrail, turned balusters and chamfered newel posts. Some original cast-iron columns with capitals survive on the ground floor in this part of the building. Some areas of the Palace have been demolished and are therefore of no interest; these are the unroofed spaces at the SW and NW corners, and the area occupied by the skating rink. The Great Hall has been renewed sympathetically following its almost total destruction in the 1980 fire. The columns and glazed roof were not reinstated; instead a new pitched roof slung below tubular lattice girders was constructed, with a ceiling of tensioned acoustic fabric imitating a barrel vault. It is the overall spatial quality of this interior and that of the west hall which are of interest. The original Willis organ, restored in the 1980s, stands to the N of the Great Hall. The Palm Court to the W, originally a conservatory, escaped serious fire damage, has cast-iron columns and piers with foliated capitals. Roof has been reglazed.
FORMER RAILWAY STATION: now a community centre. The style is Italianate to complement that of the Palace. Small, single-storey building with gabled cross wing and pitched slate roof, built in white bricks with red brick banding and dressings. Round-headed keyed windows linked by string courses; segmental headed entrance. Rusticated angle piers. Cross wing has roundel in gable and moulded brick parapet. Moulded brick chimney stacks. The interior has no features of interest.
Selected Sources
Cherry, B, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: London 4, North, (1998 revised 2001), 580-583
Gay, K, Palace on the Hill, (1992)
Mackintosh, I, Sell, M, Curtains or New Life for Old Theatres, (1982)
Smith, P, 'Hornsey Historical Bulletin No.24' in Alexandra Palace And Park, ()
Other
Thorne R, Alexandra Palace, November 1989,
National Grid Reference: TQ2959890039
© Crown Copyright and database right 2017. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.
© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2017. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
Use of this data is subject to Terms and Conditions .
The above map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. For a copy of the full scale map, please see the attached PDF - 1268256 .pdf
The PDF will be generated from our live systems and may take a few minutes to download depending on how busy our servers are. We apologise for this delay.
This copy shows the entry on 20-Jan-2017 at 10:47:21.
End of official listing
| i don't know |
The most popular name for girls in 2011 and 2012 according to the ONS was Amelia, but which was the second most popular in both years having topped the list in the three previous years? | Top 100 baby names of 2012: the full lists for girls and boys | Life and style | theguardian.com
Blog home
Top 100 baby names of 2012: the full lists for girls and boys
Harry and Amelia were the most popular baby names in 2012. Find the top names for baby boys and girls born in England and Wales last year
The ten most popular names for baby girls and boys, 2008-2012. Click for larger image
Amelia and Harry remained top of the baby names across England and Wales in 2012 - the second year in a row that the names have topped the list of the 100 most popular baby names.
7,168 children were named Harry in 2012, while there were 7,061 baby girls named Amelia, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Oliver (6,669)and Olivia (4,585) remained the second most popular for newborns.
Amelia had been the fifth most popular baby girl's name in 2010 and Harry the third most popular among newborn boys but in 2011 the names knocked Olive and Oliver off the top to become the most common names for baby boys and girls.
The third, fourth and fifth placed girl's names in 2012 were Jessica, Emily and Lily. Jessica and Emily both climbed one place whilst Lily fell from third most popular in 2011, to fifth in last year.
The top three boy's names have now been unchanged for three consecutive years, though the order was altered in 2011.
Click on the image to explore the interactive
Jack, Charlie and Jacob were the third, fourth and fifth most common names in 2012. Jacob replaced Alfie in the top five, gaining two places since 2011 whilst Alfie dropped to seventh.
Mia (seventh) and Isla (eighth) were new additions to the top ten girl's names in 2012, while Riley (eighth) was the only one of the top ten boy's names not present in 2011.
There were six new entries in the top 100 most popular girls' names in 2012; Mollie (84), Ivy (88), Darcey (89), Tilly (92), Sara (99) and Violet (100).
There were seven new entries in the top 100 most popular boys' names in 2012; Hugo (88), Sonny (90), Seth (91), Elliott (95), Theodore (97), Rory (99) and Ellis (100). Hugo has jumped 51 places since 2011 and was the 88th most popular name last year for newborn males.
But which names within the top 100 in 2012 had the biggest increase or decrease in ranking?
Bobby showed the largest rise, gaining 19 places to reach number 57. Aiden (down 19 to number 80), Finlay (down 17 to number 83), Jamie (down 15 to 64) and Rhys (down 14 to number 84) showed the largest falls within the top 100.
Isobel (down 18 to number 98), Megan (down 12 to number 41), Amy (down 11 to number 62) and Caitlin (down 11 to number 97) were the names with the largest falls in popularity within the top 100. Elsie, rose 17 places between 2011 and 2012 to 70, and was the highest climber within the top 100 baby names for girls.
The top 100 names for each gender in 2012 are shown below. Click on the link below to download the spreadsheets from the ONS. We'd love to read your thoughts on this release in the comments field below.
| Olivia Lufkin |
‘To me, to you’ is a catchphrase of Barry and Paul Elliott. Under what name do they perform? | Unique Names You Don't Hear Anymore | MommyNoire
Some of those names are common in the UK.
Tracyerin Hallenbeck
that your problem, like randy not a white man trash name also.if they are white trash names, why have the oldest two graduated with their masters and why is Journey-Lynn in the coast guards and her sister Luxana works in South Korea in the music industry, making more in a day for what you make in a year. So white trash or not, my girls love their names and are now making a name for themselves and as for Kira she heading to the music industry as her middle sister did, but she only going on 9 so we worry about soon enough
Old Fashioned
Most Barbaras and Brendas today who are at ages 12-19 are mostly Hispanics!
Evil Unicorn
LOL, yellowstone parkes, hahahaha!
Sheree
I’d go to the courthouse immediately and legally change her name to Gracie!!! If I had to go balls to the wall with my wife. It’s not to late to save that child a whole lot of pain, heartache and horrible teasing in school with a name like Ethel. What a horrible thing to do to a child. Little is still young enough to get use to the name change, OMG, help that poor child!!!! There is something wrong with your wife to think Gracie is an old lady’s name but Ethel isn’t!! Ethel shouts old lady name!!!!!!
kat
I used to hate my name,Kathryn, coz there was always another Katherine and people would just shorten our names to Kat or Kath. But I liked it as I grew older:) thank you, Mom for giving me my name-short,simple and unique! I named my daughter Tatyana–a variation for Tatiana, coz I thought it would be easier for people to spell it with a Y, and say it with only 2 syllables..but no, they would still say it as Ta-tee-ana and spell it with an i. Ah, well..
kat22
I used to hate my name -Kathryn- when I was younger, because I always had to spell it out and correct people on how to say it right (2 syllbales,not 3). People were used to Catherine/Katherine and in highschool there were 3 of us in the classroom sharing the name so there was fat Kat, curly Kat & popular Kat:( Now I have a daughter, Tatyana, and good thing she’s the only one in school with that name. People tend to misspell her name, though, because I guess Tatiana is more common..but it’s all good, everybody likes her name:)
Kristan Pasch
My 7 year old’s name is Willow…I didn’t think it was an ‘old name’? Honestly surprised.
Great websites from the internet…
Well written! Let me suggest you this interesting websites …
vivian chapman
My name is vivian my sisters is Lydia and my brother is Howard . We are all in our 50s.
vivian chapman
Lol my name is vivian fern I’m 54 I always thought my mother must have hated me.but now I like vivian.
Diane Peterson
I have a Caroline. A friend has a two-year-old named Lois.
wendy95
Recently I was extremely low on cash and debts were eating me from all sides! That was UNTIL I decided to make money on the internet! I went to surveymoneymaker dot net, and started filling in surveys for cash, and surely I’ve been far more able to pay my bills! I’m so glad, I did this! – 57u1
tuscolablue
I had an aunt who’s name was Blanche Pearl
Bonnie Hess Rulli
My grandmother’s name was Blanche Lucille!
Kristin Yargeau
My daughter’s name is Madeline (born 12/31/1994) and there are multiple Madelines in her school. I always get compliments for her name. I love it!
Cambridgeshire wedding photographer
an example of our prospects a brief even while in the past preferred the next web page
maejmom
Dorkus should have made the list!
Rayne Marie
I have 3 girls! Stormy Rayne (23) she loves her name! was never made fun of. California Marie aka Cali (18) Also loves her name and never made fun of. both of them were vert popular in school. and Last My Merical surprise baby she’s 4 now. her name is Heaven Bells our last name is Bells! Adults are a lot more “Cruel” when it comes to names. than kids are. what-a-shame! It’s a LOT better than names like ” Shaniqua ” “Shakira” Or even Bertha Sue, Joey for a girl or Bobby for a girl. my absolutr worse name I have ever heard “Janikqua Beatrice Pusten” yikes!
EmmaHill0
I must give my thanks to SARAH MOORE, who posted here last week comment about system she uses to earn online… I’ve got my FIRST check total of $550, pretty cool.. I am so exicted, this is the first time I actually earned something. I am going to work even harder new and I can’t wait for next week payment. You can try it for yourself. exit35.com
thatdamnliberal
Yes! Isabella and Sophia are in top 10 right now.
thatdamnliberal
I would too if I wasn’t tortured at school for two years by a bully named Lauren!
thatdamnliberal
Willow is a very popular name right now. Hattie is cute, the rest are kind of awful.
Screen name
My step auntie is named Eunice Virginia. We call her Ginger.
lisa
How about the name Vintage?
memee
At my son’ s elementary school we have tons of kids with classic names. Here are some from this year: Thelma, Sylvia, Mathilda, Vivian, Pearl, Isabella, Ruby, Cornelia, Caroline, Sophie, Ella, Collette, Elybell, Annabell, Goldie, Lydia, Lilly, Lucy, Rachael, Mabel, Gretta, Birdie, and Eleanor. Some of the boy names: George, Ralph, Arthur, Sam, Roscoe, Linus, Jack, Harrison, Wyatt, Paul, Copernicus, Howard, Henry, Wilson, Charles, Hugh, Walt, Simon, Theo, and Lucien. These kids all live in the same neighborhood so there must be some competition going on…I love all of the old names, some parts of history are worth holding on to.
Pamela Kotsios Owens
Middle name Justine
I think that’s a gorgeous name.
And everyone being mean on how people name they kids is messed up. Screw you guys.
klm
Grandmother was Kitty Irene, (her mom was Lura Belle – Not Laura), Edith Velma, and a great aunt Leana Vesta and Ela Gleam (Not sure how to spell)
Joe Mahma
Are you friggin serious….these idiots think I’m going to flip thru 14 pages to get the list??? The one they could’ve put on ONE page?? Mental note: this site is dead to me
Tazandra
I have a unique name. I was named after an Australian goddess, one of the Jungawa Sisters. The spelling was fiddled with so that it would be easier to pronounce and spell. But I LOVE my name and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Those who put down the parents and/ or the children who have names that are different, unique or “odd” are the same people that give those with “different names” a complex in life. They are the same people who discriminate with job openings, customer support phone calls, etc..
Stop hating on things you find “different” than your expectations. Live. Enjoy life.
chesnie
I have a unique name Chesnie Von. My sister is Crystal. We were born in the 70’s. I personally never heard another Chesnie but people tell me they know other Chesnies. I doubt it. Maybe spelled chesney or chesnee..I got made fun of Chestnut and Cheslie and Chester…my daughter is Peyton im seeing alot of Peytons lately…
Angler
Gahhhhhh curse your terrible clickbait. Post them on a single page-this format is needlessly withholding
Nelda
I can’t believe that many parents don’t use common sense or an appropriate process as they choose names their children will have to live with, at least til they are old enough to legally change it. I’m not saying you can’t be creative or decide on a name that might be unusual. There’s nothing wrong with that!
I named my now 21 yr old, Kira. At the time it wasn’t a common name, but it seemed to be an easy name to say and explain if need be. The week after I named her Star Wars Next Generation had a crew member with the same name. We have some problem with people using a long I sound instead of a short one. part of me wishes I had spelled it K-e-a-r-a instead. My 8 yr old is named Kayliana. Some folks try to put an extra n in it changing the end pronunciation to a-n-n-a instead of a-n-a. Both of my kids love their names though!
Kara
What about Gertrude & Beatrice? Those are names parents don’t name their daughters anymore.
coytle
Some names should be left in the past. My great great grandmother was called Hulda which would have been fine had her last stoda. Hulda Stoda. Her Daughter was virginia which I dont hear often and my grandmother is kathleen which seems less common than Katherine. My name and my mothers name arent strange or anything but I never hear them much anymore. Hers Angela I hear more often than mine Robin.
Elwynsattic
Why can’t you just post a list on one page instead of making a person click through 15 pages. Poor editing.
Random Generic
Ugh. I thought it might be a legitimate article. Obviously an opinion piece penned by a millennial.
Random Generic
No. The author is obviously that young, dear.
Heidi
I have to respectfully disagree with this comment. I hardly believe that North West or Blue Ivy will be held back in life because of their names. Even though they will not be considered to be the ‘average’ white celebrity names. I don’t believe that white celebrities children’s will have an advantage over black celebrities children. That’s comical to me. Why does every discussion always have to have someone bring up the issue of skin tone? I’ve never heard of a white person bringing up the issue in random discussions. Because most do not seem to consider the shade of skin to be relevant. It’s ironic that the people that feel it is an issue of concern are the only people that talk about it so often or find a way to involve it into any type of discussion. And people wonder why it is still alive? Skin color has nothing to do with someone’s success it failure anymore. For anyone that thinks it does, it is just a lame excuse. I never hear of anyone that has encountered difficulty in education or life, based solely on skin color. But I have heard of many that constantly use it as an excuse. Hopefully this will change someday. We The People need to allow it to first.
Now, back to the discussion of common girl names…
Heidi
Agreed. I have always loved and appreciated my name ‘Heidi’. I appreciate that whenever I hear it spoken, I can always be assured that it is myself that is being spoken about. I’m a twin and had to share many things growing up, except for my name. I’m thankful for it because of its uniqueness. The only names that I have disliked in life, were because of the personalities and characters I associated with them. Otherwise, I find it difficult to dislike a name just because of the way it rolls off a tongue. I encourage people to give unique names to their children because of my appreciation for my own. 🙂
Heidi
My 4year daughter was named after older loved ones, Lillian Joyce. Lillian was a woman that I took care of in a nursing home who had become like a Grandmother to me when I was 18. She passed away and I vowed that I would name a daughter after her, if I ever had one. I did when I was 30. Joyce is my Mom’s first name. I don’t hear of Joyce anymore in this new generation, but ‘Lilly’ seems to me like it has become more common since my daughters birth. I now know of twi other ones besides my daughter. If I have another girl, her name would be Vivian. We would call her ‘Viv’. Sophia, Isabelle, and Olivia are in the top yen most common girl names of the country right now. I know of at least 7 little girls in my neighborhood currently with those three names. And I know of 4 little ‘Gracie’s’ in our group of friends, neighbors and family. The older names are making a strong come back. When I was in kindergarten back in the early 80’s, I had 6 ‘Sarahs’ in my class. That is a name that was so common during my childhood, and I haven’t heard anyone name their children that since my generation. Thank God. As pretty as it is, it definitely needed a break for a while. 🙂 I think Sophia is the new ‘Sarah’ of this generation. It needs a break also.
ajs916
I veel the complete opposite! My name, Anita, used to bug me up until my mid twenties. The last 15 years or so I learned to embrace having a unique name. Plus, it’s nice not to look up every time someone says a common name “Jennifer” then realize oh, they didn’t mean me. When someone says Anita, it’s 99% of the time ME they mean. Also, Jean is my middle name 🙂 It’s a great name! 🙂
$lide$hows$uck
Was a slideshow REALLY necessary for a list of 10 names? I refuse to give you the extra 9 page views.
Scribejot
You call these vintage? How about Effie, Maida, or Gertrude? You never hear those names anymore.
Tamarind Lemur
By ‘elderly’ I mean born around 1910 – 1935.
Tamarind Lemur
I had elderly clients (I was a CNA) who had those names. My adopted grandmother’s & female cousin’s name is Opal.
Eunice is pretty terrible, in my opinion.
And there were so. Many. Betties!!!
And Roses.
I like it too. Also Iolanthe, from which Yolanda is derived.
Tamarind Lemur
I went to high school w/ a girl named Mildred – she was probably born in ~1978-9. Named after her grandmother, of course. I always think “mildew”.
Cat
Pilate or Judas would be more unusual.
Cat
And there was an insurance salesman whose last name was Dock. His parents named him Hickory Dickory.
Jean Rice
I have great-aunts named Anita and Joyce, and an aunt named Janet, and yeah, they are from a different time, and the names are associated with certain attitudes of that time.
My own name, Jean, has been a great source of discomfort to me. Every other Jean I’ve known has been a member of my grandparents’ generation (The Greatest Generation). People see the name and think “old.” It was a top-20 name in the 1920s and 1930s, and stayed in the top 100 until the 1963. But by the time I was born it had dropped out of the top 200, and 1994 it had dropped nearly out of the top 1,000, at #988. By 2012 it had completely dropped off the top 1,000 list.
I would have much rather been a Jennifer, Lisa or Amy, one of the ubiquitous names of my own generation, than be hung with a moniker from another era.
jenc79
Yep, I’m a Jennifer too, born in 1979. There was a period at a place where I worked that there were three Jennifers and two Suzannes.. and it wasn’t that big a place. A lot of last names were used. 🙂
vcubain
I hate that too. They think people click through every page to the end to so they read the advertisement on each page. I don’t. I look at the first one, then jump to page 7 and miss the rest. So it’s defeating the purpose of the article. Seems it’s about the advertisement with hem rather than the article,
vcubain
My mother’s name is Genevieve. My granddaughter’s name is Genevieve.
Dan Roth
“unique” means there is only one.
These names may be rare, but they are NOT unique.
hippiegurl62252
My Mom had the first and middle names ALBURN MILDRED!! Her sisters were FERN and CLARISSA, and their mother’s name was ADA ANN!
you’re a joke
A name per page? This is complete BULLSHIT mommynoire. You’re taking advantage of readers for your precious advertising dollars. You should be ashamed of this pathetic “article” milking page views. You know what gets page views? REAL CONTENT. This is pathetic.
Fay
My name is Fay. I don’t see anyone my age with that name, never have. It’s usually older ladies, not with my spelling, or as a middle name. My full name: Fay Lyn Thibodeaux means Fairy Princess of the Bold or Audacious People. Kinda awesome if you ask me. 😀
CraigInSF
A friend of mine named her girl Indica
CraigInSF
My grandmother was named Gladys.
My grandfather and brother named Berne (pernounced as Burn)
and I had an aunt named Meurial.
♏ ®
With the exception of Cybele, every name on this list belongs to a woman I know–and they’re all someone’s grandma.
PKB
My 22 year old is named Neva after her paternal grandmother and greatgrandmother. It is not a shorten version of Geneva just plain Neva like the river in Russia. It was hard at first to call her that however as time goes on it is perfect for her..
Whitfield McRory Palmer
Norma, Beatrice, Eunice, Gladys, Ada, Flora, Polly, Caroline, Gertrude, Elsa. These are all long gone relatives of mine and I always thought they were great names!
msd250
too bad Twanda and Rashika did not make the list
Esther
I love Esther. A beautiful queen who saved her people.
bigtoe1111
jay, katie, randy, and worth.
ed
In my ‘hood the names are unpronouncable.
Billy
Any of these are far better and more tasteful than modern trendy names such as Kaylee, Haylee/Hailey/Haleigh, Zoe, Chloe, Kylie, Keely, Savannah, Dakota, Madison, Morgan etc. I still can’t believe people actually name their kids such garbage names as these.
nitegracee
My mother named my sis and me, so that our initials spelled our first name. I’m Pamela Ann “M”, she is Kimberly Irene “M”. Pam & Kim!
Dan Berks
Are you kidding me? Does a list of 14 names to present really require 14 separate pages? How desperate for page views are you, anyway? This kind of shameless click inflation really doesn’t reflect well on your site. Here’s an idea: why not put a single letter on each page, really get those numbers jumping?
LTC
OMG, I’m “number 16” and my older sister is “number 17” Lisa & Tracy, are we old?!
LOL
dont give your child a f’d up name. it ruins their entire life !!
tuscolablue
My mom went by Lucille (her middle name) because she thought Emma sounded old fashioned…..LOL
samadeus
Oh my good internet god, I don’t think this page has enough ads on it! MORE ADS! MOOOOOOORE!
Sidney
I’ve read through a large portion of these comments, & that whole thing about Americans being “dumbed down” because of names they felt were old or uncommon is kind of ridiculous to say seeing as how each person commenting is from a different generation, so what could be “old or uncommon” to them could be common or normal to someone else. People need not take others opinions or comments so personal. Aside from all that nonsense, my name is Sidney, spelled the masculine way although I’m female & I’ve never had any misconceptions or troubles with my name. I didn’t like it growing up, but it was unique as I did not go to school with many Sidney’s/Sydney’s at all so I’ve grown to love & appreciate my name! I do agree everyone is named what they are for a reason so whether you like it or not, it should be embraced! On another note, my fiancé & I are expecting our first child, a girl, which we’ve given the name Mia. My fiancé picked it which I feel makes it all the more special & it’s also very simple, so I see it resulting with no misconceptions or troubles. I also recently researched the name & found it meant beloved or loved one, & I thought that just added to its character. 🙂
mmmm
I have a friend named Ruby. And her sisters are Opel and Crystal. I love it.
mmmm
Willow is very popular. Especially after “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
Johnny Chapman
Didn’t Eddie Money name his son “Owen”?
lsmith
I’ve known a Justin Case and a Sara Lee–and the poor baby whose mom named it “Carrion” (as in roadkill!)
Wilkins Micawber
There’s going to be a surplus of geriatric Chloes in fifty or so years.
memememenicole
they like to troll and go around bashing people…..I found it hilarious that they called the posters/commenters,” Dumbed down”….hahahaha! They obviously don’t look in their own backyard often lolzz oh well….ignore them and carry on, dearie!
memememenicole
I’m curious where is says, “uncommon”….I didn’t see it… Unique is there……….remember now…this is a DISCUSSION…we are allowed to talk about names and….stuff.. :-/ try not to let your panties get in a bunch 🙂
memememenicole
Dumbed down, eh? And you are here….because???? um…. and by the way, this is a DISCUSSION BOARD…people DISCUSS things RELATED to the TOPIC…which happens to BE NAMES. good grief…… And we’re the ones that are “Dumbed down”???? Yeeeeah….mkay, sure…… (FYI a lot of these names are very old…take your own advice and do the research! cheers) OY!
memememenicole
or Edna… lolz or Alberta….Oh yeah and what Bob said below…Gertrude! Mildred and Ursula ha
Eydie Sanders
my friend’s daughter just had her first baby a month or so ago. she and her husband named their new daughter hattie grace. at first, i was horrified by the name hattie. but it’s grown on me and i find myself really liking it now. and she won’t have the same name as four other girls in her class someday.
Mattjh
How about D**k (short for Richard) Any parent who names their child D**k is a d**k and doesnt love them.
Mattjh
How about Mildrid (sounds like milldew)
hsmom
Ummm, maybe Roseanne died off in the 1990’s because NO ONE wanted to name their beautiful baby girl after the slob/pig/tacky POS Roseanne Barr….just sayin’
janet
I have a Madeleine!
Deuce_Fairbanks
I’ve heard many of these names recently. When is the last time you heard of anyone under 70 named “Myrtle”?
bob bray
mr leer of the leer jet company named his kid chandra, i know a taxi driver named rick shaw
bob bray
my grandmother Gertrude Magilla. nothing is worse than that lol
GR Law
interns don’t know there was a 1700’s
DaddyD
How about my adorable daughter Cecilia , affectionately know as Cece !!
tinking
Err, their list already went up to 14, and included Anita already.. list fail.
Krista
I love the name Vivian. I always think of Vivian Leigh (the actress who played Scarlett O’Hara) and she was stunningly beautiful
Krista
Sorry but Scotlyn sounds like Scotland
Krista
I named my 8 year old son Landen. Love the name but should have spelled it Landon. He is going into the third grade and every year I have to correct the teacher on the spelling of his name (even though it’s on all the paperwork we have to fill out). People just assume a name should be spelled a certain way and go with that.
RexRowland
And then there are the lame contemporary names. If you have named your child Madison or Cody, I don’t like you.
mrd1118
my daughter’s name is Roselynn Marie(not rose lynn). We thought it was a beautiful name and sort of ‘old-fashioned’
Joy Rose
For something that’s classy but a little different, how about Sarai? The popular name Sarah is the second (and more well-known) name given to a woman originally called Sarai, as her husband Abraham was previously known as Abram.
Joy Rose
Hey, I did it. My girl is Tricia Ruth.
Aldo Renato Allen
How about Ruth?! That is the perfect name! It’s strong (“RUTH!!!”) and soft (“ruth”). Say it enough and it’s actually soothing. That’s one name to bring back for a new generation of girls!!!
MCDELL
ONLY IMA NO URA
LAM
What about Angela? I think this is such a pretty, classic name but I never see it on these vintage name lists.
Anon
THE ADS ON THIS PAGE ARE HORRENDOUS!!! I didn’t finish reading and won’t bother coming back…
Debbereye
Of course I like your names because I picked the same ones for my daughters, only two different daughters. My youngest is Lauren Ariel and my middle daughter is Erin Ashley, oldest Meghan Emily. Also had an Irish last name. I like to hear how they roll of the tongue.
Debbereye
Named my youngest Lauren. She was a surprise late in life. Older grown daughters are Meghan and Erin.
Debbereye
Yeah, ever since the Bertha Butt Boogie that name is the kiss of death.
Karl
Not for nuthin’ but “in the 120 years that” the US Census has been taken, Cybele never broke the top 100. Can’t say as I trust your math since the first census was taken in 1790 and every 10 years thereafter. You do the math!
jimwg
Try “Gay”. Once a delightful pop name, now girls wouldn’t be caught dead having it, and not because it’s “old fashioned” either.
Gina Pocan
What about Debra, Deborah, Kathleen, Regina, Regan, Margaret, Sheila, or Mary; you can’t get anymore Vintage then that.
Don Carpenter
Seriousy? A slideshow? Just post the list. Enough click farming.
Enzo
The only thing worse than Ethel, is Bertha.
Missy250
Anita was the first one and I know of five people that name their kid Lisa just in the past year.
amanda
I know people with 8 of the names on the list….they aren’t that uncommon, or certainly not ones we simply don’t hear anymore
Bianca
I like my name, even do that is more common now, also I like my kids names too because they mean something to me.
Alice is too old ladylike of a name:/
Katie
Willow is a vintage name, but it is gaining popularity. My first born’s name is Willow Kate. Her name fits in that she is very willowy..
Some other vintage double names:
Mary Kate
I just named my daughter madelynn Sofie Gail
K.C.
Our older daughter’s name is Deborah. Every time we meet someone with that name they all say the same thing: “NO ONE names their child that any more!”
guest
I also find Sharon to be a sexy name.
Guest
I find Brenda to be a sexy name.
Nancy
why do I read these stupid lists? They never actually deliver what they promise. I know people with nearly every one of these names. I named my daughter Jane (now 20), and I truly is a rare name now. No ready-made personalized school supplies for her.
any vintage double names??
My name is Michael, I was named after my father, but I’m a girl. While most girls would hate that name, I LOVED it, and still do. I really enjoyed the attention it brought me and the surprised looks on people’s faces when i told them my name. So i guess being a little attention harlet really helped XD
I always found it interesting how a name could make me so, well happy.
I had my first son, whos now 12 and as my husband wanted, i named him Brandon Montgomery Steele the 3rd
And because of that, he got No Say in our second borns name. We’re a mixed couple (black & Caucasian) and his semi-racists family was just Sure i was going to it something “ghetto”. Rather it is or isn’t, we now have a beautiful little boy named Royal (7), whos name fits him a little too well.
I’m now pregnant with our very first girl, and still looking for a vintage name, but this time my husbands helping and he want a double name, any name suggestions?
Janice
No it’s not you. And I can’t stand how annoying it is that whoever ‘designed’ this segment decided that we should go through 15 pages for 30 sentences of information. I can’t stand this trend!!! I never go past the first couple and then get bored waiting for all the KAJILLION ads to load.
I have a Sister-in-law Eunice,,and her mother is Esther.
Go Figure
k
i’m sorry, is it me? there are WAY too many ads on this site. its really annoying. all i want to see is a LIST of names.
MYNAMEISBRENDA
My name is “BRENDA” and I love my name. Sorry you don’t like it, and it’s a shame that you “hate” your own mother for naming you “Sharon” – she obviously loved it, and I would think that most would treasure what their parents loved and chose for them. I love my parents and treasure my name, being it is one that they chose for me and it was special to them. I don’t know many Brenda’s and personally like that there aren’t many of us around. Maybe your children will “hate” their names and “hate” you for naming them that???????????? How would you feel about that? I say, wear your name “proudly.” I, personally, would never BASH anybody’s name.
Helena
Wow, you’re kind of a tool.
Blue
Estie is way worse. Do you hate your child?
Blue
Are you high? Every single litte girl born these days is named Madeleine, Emma or Lily.
Geoffrey Catledge
My wife, former now, named our first child, a son, without my input. Our second child, a daughter, was a compromise name. She picked the first, while I picked the middle. She goes by middle. The third and final child was named before the sex was known using paternal great grandfather’s first name and maternal grandfathers surname.
Son Jonathon Wayne
Daughter Lacey Kelly
Promontorium
But then they wouldn’t get as much money in click revenue, and ultimately that’s all they care about.
India Em Artist Author
who the H. wants to click through 26 some web pages to see these names? lol come ON, just post them all on one page……….
Cynthia Wright Rosario
Named my daughter Nora Kay. Nora after the leading female character on Pete’s Dragon. And Kay was my late aunt’s middle name. I used her name in honor of her after she died of pancreatic cancer at 42.
2GreyCats
You mean *unusual* names you don’t hear anymore. “Unique is not the same as unusual, or different. “Unique” means one of a kind –if more than one person has that name. then it isn’t unique!
Christina
My Dorothy is now 16 years old. She was named after her great-grandmother. We call her Dori.
Justin A. Young
Retro=Gertrude or Alberta. None of these names seem that old to me.
Veritas
The names referred to are not that common among girls nowadays. A girl by definition is a female under the age of 18. MOST of the names listed you’ll find in abundance with women born before 1964.
Veritas
Lot of Greeks with the name Christos
Veritas
It’s true that many of those names you don’t see with girls or women under the age of 50. However, if you go to an Eastern Orthodox Church you’ll see a lot of women with the name Ann or Anna as a patron saint.
Samantha
Names that are less common: Agnes, Bertha, Bettina, Constance, Cora, Delilah, Daphne, Georgia, Gertrude, Gladys, Helen, Lois, Mary Ann, Marian, Mildred, Nancy, Nanette, Opal, Olive, Olivia, Penny, Rosemary, Samantha, Sherry, Theresa, Trina, Virginia,
Bea Didio
Beatrice and Louise I rarely hear either these days.
sharon
My name is Sharon and it is one of my favorite names. I love to share so it fits me so well. I never knew any Sharons growing up, it was fun to meet one every now and then. My mom was name Caston and she always hated it; now I love the name Cassie, it reminds me of her. I once wrote a short children’s story about trying on other names. Maybe you should do that, and see what name you really want to be called. It is your right. Just say, I like to be called, ____________.
WendyP
Ugh! Please reconsider.
picked
Actually the people who dismiss you as having too starnge a name are probably not worth knowing.
picked
I had an aunt Gertrude.
I quit clicking. Why don’t they just make a GD list?
chelsay
why does Bertha make me giggle? hee hee hee
chelsay
love
Andy1
My mother’s name was Marleta. I have never heard it other than on her. Anyone else ever heard it?
Belva Delaney Gurr
Names are my pet peeve, having a different name in a class where everyone else is a Judy/Julie, Ann/Anna, Mary/Marie/Maria, Beth /Betty or Shirley/Shelly made me feel an outsider even tho I grew up with them. My mother’s mom was Gladys Belva, my mom was Verma Gladys – her dad’s mom was Ellen Hasseltine and Momma was supposed to be Hassie but she was glad she got Gladys!!! G’daddy’s brother married a Gladys and they had a Gladys, glad it ran out before it go to me!!! My dad’s mom was Marie Louise so I got Belva Louise!! Daddy wanted sons but had 3 girls, Jean Marcelline was after my dad and g’father Marcellous Harvey (on the men’s side we have 5 generation of M H Parkers) Alice Jo was after g’gr’mothers Lila Alice and Claire Josephine. When I became a mom, I put a lot of thought into my 2 sons’ names, my husband’s initials were REB and we wanted to keep them the same – 1st was Randall Edward, born sleeping, then Ryan Edan and Robert Eric. When I was 16 I said I would never name my child Eric, then I told Ryan he as getting a baby brother he said he wanted to name him after his friend – you got it!!! Now I have a g’son Zachary Eric!!
Kristen
I have a 5 yr old daughter named Madelyn (Madeline) and it seems to be very popular in Ohio…not sure why that name was on the “lost” list! I also have a daughter named Addison (7) and a 4 yr old little boy named Jack
praveen kumar
Nice article and here provide some more names Baby Girl Names Starting with J
Joyce
I knew that I would find my name on this list. The only women I see with my name are 70 and older.
June
I hate sites that you can’t just READ right away. What is the point of getting us here and making us click everything?
Christine
Ethel is worse than Gracie LMAO…. Poor Ethel SMDH…. I’d change my name when I got older.
Chris(ty)
I grew up Christy. There were tons of us. Christy, Christi, Christie, Kristy, Khristy, Kristi, Kristie and those are only the more common spellings. I shortened my name to Chris because less girls go by Chris but now I had all the Christopher’s in my class to contend with! My children, Kieran, Anastasia and Matthew-Jeffrey love their names. Kieran is the only one in our town. Anastasia is one of two in our town. It’s hard though because they are both in color guard and BOTH go by Annie so they call mine “A” and their last names start w/the same two letters. Matthew-Jeffrey is the one and only!
Bobby Kenis
I am a middle school teacher (students born around 2000). “Madeleine” is one of the MOST COMMON names among my students. Maybe it’s regional?
Carolann
I was born in 1982 and I am Carolann. Most of my life everyone has called me Carol besides two ex boyfriends and my father called me Carolann. All throughout school never had another classmate that was Carol or Carolann (and I went to School in Florida and then in Maryland). When people meet me the first time the usual comments are “Oh I have an Aunt Carol” or “Oh like the little blonde girl from that movie Poltergeist?”
When I was younger I didn’t care for it, mainly because I felt “unusual” having no other peers with that name. Now that I am almost 31 I love my name. =)
Briana
Im naming my daughter Navi Rose, or Navi Rain. I think the name “Navi” is so pretty. & NOT common.
☆Niki *·.▪✧.º·+*♪ º☆
‘Estie’ is a nice way to make a not so cute name better
nevermore
what a tedious way to present information. Interest lost due to bad web design.
daddybcat
Do they count extra page hits for the 15 times you have to click through this to read them all? Why can’t they just put it all on one page? It’s not like it’s multiple paragraphs for each name.
Brian Odom
You forgot about the Heathers. The nursing homes will be overrun with them. And think that’s bad? Think of the music! Gone will be all the Glenn Miller big band stuff and the nursing home will be rocking with 80s music. Then it will go to the crapper 20 years later when hip hop, pop, and rap replace that. You’ll be hearing Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Eminem in the nursing homes…
Brian Odom
Blah blah blah… You always vowed you were going to change, and you never have. So stop your whining. You don’t give one plausible explanation at why you hate it. Sharon was a popular name in the 60s. My name is Brian and it was a very popular name in the 70s. My wife is Sharon and her best friend is Brenda. My brother is Jason (as it screams 70s).
And you go ahead and do the same thing by naming your kids dated names for their era as well. You got a nice feminine name and you gave your kids names from their era. At least your mother had the decency to spell the name correctly and didn’t give you a mumbo-jumbo name that you must continue to spell. I have a cousin Ashlye (born in the 80s) that must do this.
Rosemary Foxx
How about Melody. Not to many of those around.
Beryl
I totally agree with Haddi. Whoever wrote this never grew up in the 50’s. My mother’s (Mary Margaret) friends were Gladys, Blanche, Violet (We kids use to refer to her as Violent), Opal, Eunice, and Betty.
OttoDog
A gentleman I know in Dallas with the last name “Dick” named his poor daughter the first name on this list.
stoshie
It is interesting how names come and go in popularity. A few years ago you couldn’t turn around in any school at any level without bumping into a “Kristen” or a “Kirsten” or some variation on those names.
brebay
Madeline, or at least Madalyn, has been crazy popular for years. The rest are pretty awful. I have a friend who has a baby girl in 1896, named her Roseanne. Everyone thought it was beautiful and unique…until 1989…
effinayright
My favorite nonce name for a female is Exkresha.
catherine
Except for Madeline and Willow, I can totally understand why these name are no longer popular.
Cash1969
Truth is, I still hear a lot of those names being used today. But they are Chinese immigrants. Never noticed it before, but pretty much ALL of the Chinese American women where I work have traditional American first names. Often, they are somewhat similar to their original Chinese name but not always.
Nick
what about the name Waverly?
Meredith
Gitana is Spanish for gypsy
Meredith
Nothing wrong with being named Gay … or being gay! Got kind of a one-track mind thing going on there, huh, Alan?
Natalie R
I’m a Natalie Renae who has Victoria Rose and Julie Anne. Nothing too unusual, although I didn’t go to school with any other Natalie’s until college. Victoria is named in honor of her great-grandmothers and Julie’s middle name comes from a grandmother. Her first was the only one her dad and I could agree on.
Conni
Jennifer was the most popular Girls name in the 70’s and Michael e most popular Boys. Michael has topped the Charts for about 34 decades. My son is a Michael too, I love this name! Not Mike I never called him that.
My name is Constance {Conni} and I only knew one in all the years growing up and I love that! It’s a common but not common name :}
Isadora: My daughters name and it dosen’t even rank in the top 1,000. Even though the VERY similar Isabella is in the top 5.
LuckyOne
Let’s hear it from Henrietta, Alice, Irene, Gladys, Harriet, Barbara, Deborah, Bertha, Karen, Jeanette, Yvonne, Monica, Doris, Martha, Susan, Gail, Suzanne, Mary and Delores
Saphi
Vintage names you don’t hear anymore? They are all names that you hear, maybe not so popular as to have 4-5 others with the same name in every grade. I know people with all these names of varied ages.
Me
These names went away because they suck. What about pretty vintage names such as Valerie, Katerina, Camille, and Cecilia.
Pelican
I wonder where “Apple” ranks…
Edith Springer
dumb article
Judy
I was born in 1942 and always had 2 or 3 Judith Ann’s or Judy in my classroom and there were other Judy’s in other grades and classrooms.
Paula
My daughters married last name is Lovett and ,she asked her father (my Husband) what he thought a good first name would be for her daughter who was due in a month—he said…Ugotta……..
JDL
Our daughter Esther Rose (or Estie for short) is a cutie !!! Esther was my wife’s grandmother…and little Estie is named for her….
Lori
He did indeed name his only daughter IMA. There was no 2nd daughter though, just someone started a joke about Ura…
Ethel Chadwick
Hey now…my folks named me Ethel – I was born in 1954. It’s an old name but hey, at least I’m unique!!! And I’m very young at heart!!!!
frogeeman33
should have named her enama
SuZQ
That’s a terrible thing to say, Laurie. Nothing wrong with Floretta–and maybe she loves that she is named after someone in a creative way.
Bernard
I know people with nearly all names listed. I would guess Cybele was shoved aside for an alternative spelling like Sibyl. Hattie is really a nickname for Harriet. I bet Leona lost altitude with the little people because of Helmsley.
darlingrats
i wonder where my first name which is Darlene and my middle name being Kay ranks.. i know Darlene isnt a common name. and no joke..1 time we lived on Marlene drive.
darlingrats
Willow is Will and Jada Smith’s daughter’s name.the son’s name is Jaden, so they named each 1 of their kids after them, the son after mom, the daughter after dad.
Jonathan Reid
I hear these names all the time!
Sue
I like the name Lydia. It’s my granddaughter’s name.
Allen Pape
Talk about humorous. There was Governor Hogg of Texas that named his daughters, Ima Hogg and Ura Hogg.
Sue
My Tiffany was born in 76. It was years before we met another Tiffany but there’s been a many a time that I’ve regretted naming her that. My other daughter is Margaret ( my Mother’s name) and she absolutely hate it so she goes by her middle name.
Rhonda
Sharon is a nice name. My favorite cousin was named Sharon and I had another cousin named Brenda. Both were wonderful, loving, and caring women. We lost Brenda to cancer and Sharon to a blood clot in her lung. The whole family misses these awesome ladies.
Kristy
Eleanor
Lu
This is crazy! I know people with every one of those names, and I know 11 women named Joyce, a couple of dozen women named Ann (or Anne) easily, several Anitas – this list seems totally off base!
SG F
They couldn’t just put all this info on page?
Melanie Berlas
Interesting. I would have thought at least a few of the following names would have been in the list: Viola, Violet, Sabrina, Esther, Eleanor, Francesca, Gwendolyn, Phyllis, Francis, Basil, Penelope, Conrad, Byron, Michaela, Darlene, Vivienne, Jameson, Jezebel, Frederick, Cary (for boys), Alvin, Lloyd, Arthur, Leslie (for boys), Matilda, Grace, or Jeremiah.
Anona-Miss
LOL–I wondered how long it would take for this conversation to totally abandon children’s names and get to slavery and racism. Warming up when they started saying certain names are ghetto.
Anona-Miss
Sounds like Claude Russell Bridges who changed his name to Leon Russell. By the way (people with ‘uneek’ spellings and everyone else-have you seen the name of this board? LOL at first I thought it was ‘discus’ like the thing you throw…
Margarte’s daughter
National would have been great for a boy–and if he didn’t see the humor, it’d naturally be shortened to Nate anyway *grin*
Margaret’s daughter
Yes, Brenda (cute name), I understand exactly what you mean by hard and soft names. Melanie, Carrie, Emily, Jamie sound like soft names. Nancy, Brittany, Chris–sound hard, but I couldn’t say why. What’s funny are the names, you know their parent’s were hippies if you are talking to Skye, Sunshine, Rainbow or River. Oh, and ‘Blue and Harmony! I’ve met at least one of each.
Margaret’s daughter
My mom always said the thought long and hard about what to name us because being teased about your name is no fun for a kid. So, growing up as one of the five (yes 5) ‘Kathy’s on our block alone, sent me to social security on my 18th birthday. I did a simple swap of my first and middle names and it was GREAT! I had two very close friends in high school with the same name as me, being the ‘skinny Kathy’ sucked. Now to the important part–any girl with the name Gladys, Erma, Berha, Edna, Fannie,,,is going to get it! The only problem is that they sound old, the names themselves are fine but children have little imagination when your name has also been the same word for your ‘backside’ or Lucy’s best friend. Be careful new mothers!
Sharon
Lera is my aunt – DOB 1943. Elyria is my grandmother 1920 DOB, she was Hortense’s (Horty) and Lillian and Dottie’s sister. Elfie Meredith of Lawrenceville Va was in her 90’s in 1986 – maybe an 1890 DOB. Mabel was the free slave that was slightly younger that share her childhood and always remained faithful to Mrs. Meredith up until she died in ’87. Awesome names. Riley was never to be used as a girls’ name. It got hijacked.
Firestar
We named our daughter Madeline Sophia <3
Kendra
My soon to be daughters name is Texas Rose <3
OldFart
Could be worse. Like Eunice. Or Esther (Ester)
Willie Shotwell
I have a daughter named Ruby. It was a family name on both sides, and I love it.
ms20
Cant the names just be listed on one page? instead of having to keeping page after page after page??
Kashen, last name Kerry
whatever4andnomore
Funny to see my mother’s name (RoseAnn) on this list. You never know what will be popular names. 22yrs ago my oldest daughter’s name, Savannah was never heard of especially in a non southern state. My 11year old was named Heidi and you just dont hear that name among girls her age today. As for boys, I have yet to hear of another Garrison and well, I don’t think Ryan will ever stop being popular. You gotta go with what you like and aviod the trends.
1TimothyABear2
‘Pancake’ as a girls name isn’t used quite as often as it used to be.
Clyde Barrow
I like the name Loretta Kyle.
Jethro
Th8is website really sucks. There is so much crap trying to load at one time it takes my fast connection forever to load.
M Collins
Exactly! Those are some old names and enjoyable to say today, thanks.
M Collins
DITTO!!!
UtahSoccerMom
We named our daughter “Isabella” nearly 19 years ago, thinking we’d chosen a vintage and rarely used name. Little did we know a movie character would rocket it to number 1. lol! Oh, well, we were still ahead of the trend. 🙂
Mrs. W
Where does Ola come in?
Or Ada?
Anesha Johnson
Marie is my middle name taken from my mom….well you cleared that nice….May God Bless Your Beautiful Family
LD
As a matter of fact, no, my old GF is not my wife. I suggested Lorraine as a name for my daughter because I like the name, not because I am still crazy about an ex. FWIW, my ex hates the name Lorraine.
When my wife and I were discussing names, I suggested Lorraine and expected that it would get shot down in flames. She liked it and informed me that it is her sister’s middle name. I then told her where the name came from and she still did not have a problem with it, but said any other name from an ex was not under consideration.
My daughter likes the name it because it’s French and her mother likes the fact that it is a family name. I like the fact that my daughter has a simple, classic name that you don’t see very often and I get to tell a clean, fun story in mixed company.
BTW, I have to ask, what is your middle name? I might have more kids and I can use a new story.
rmwayne
What’s wrong with names like Sharon or Brenda? I’ve seen a lot worse. And I sure like those names a lot better than all those girls names nowadays that sound like they oughta be somebody’s last name.
Carol
How about Carol, it’s an old name…it also happens to be mine 😐 LOL
OK
How about Gertrude, Esther, or Mildred??
aar
Agreed.
Would one say, “The dog wagged it is tail?” Then don’t say, “The dog wagged it’s tail.”
Lori
Couldn’t read the article, was too distracted by the improper use of the contraction, it’s.
Next time, remember it’s is a contraction for it is, it is never used as a possessive.
Booboobear
I don’t mind some of these. I actually think Hattie is really cute, plus better and less great-grandmother sounding like some of the more popular old names today: Ava, Sophia, etc). The ones I really hate are the last name/unisex names every second girl has (and shares with every 4th/5th boy): Taylor (yuck), Madison, Jordan, Mackenzie, etc. Almost as bad are the Mc Names (Mckayla, McKenna, McKenzie, McCauley, etc)I think girls should have pretty, feminine, normal names, not stripper, not last names, not boy names, not made up names (Kinzley? WTH? Ainsley? Awful. )
booboobear
You should gave called yourself Andi and let it go. Andrea Celeste is actually a pretty name, to me.
IsabellSophie
Seriously??? How are you going to say Americans are “dumbed down” and tell someone else to do real research, then say Isabelle and Sophia are not as common. Aren’t both those names in the top 10 used last year??? WOW. You are a piece of work, aren’t you??
scrooge
The neatest girl’s name I ever heard was “Aurora” (Goddess of the rainbow) and belonged to a very classy, dignified older woman.
Silversam
I had a cousin “Minnie” who died at the age of 99 a few years a go. Her best friend from childhood “Elsie” was still alive.
jerrilynn
Old fashioned names not mentioned are Gladys, Hortence, Mabelle or Mable, Harriett, Hazel, Clyde, Ivy, Louise, Myrtle, Leoma, Gertrude, Daisy, Violet, Leila, Tucker, Ginger, Fannie, Gardinia, Pearl, most of which are my relatives! Of course, the Brits have all kinds of names we don’t think about, i.e. Percivel, Clive, Basil, etc.
WadeCollins
Laurie=mentally ill mean bit*h
James Brown
Yes, but pronounced “Hey Seuss”
GailMarie123
I’m a college instructor, and the worst name I’ve ever encountered is “Latrina.” Obviously named by someone who’d never been in the military!
Snufy
I heard of a boy named Sue…
San
How about Jesus?????
Wendy
My name is Wendy and I never hear it anymore, unless you are around 40 like me. My grandmother was a Blanche–never hear that one anymore!
John Mayo
If you dislike your name, then you should change it. You don’t own anyone an explanation either. I’m thinking of changing my last name, and I suppose my first as well. It’s your life.
John Mayo
I especially like the name Lauren.
John Mayo
Some of these names were pretty cool. I especially like Janet. For some of the names that are falling out of favor, there is a very good reason for this. Roseanne – what father would agree to name his daughter this? NO Father. Hattie – is a name for great grandmothers. Dorothy – clearly conjures up the Wizard of Oz. Leona – this name was already on the way out, and then TOTALLY ruined by Leona Helmsley. Joyce is a name for grandmothers. Georgia is a state in the south. It is also a former Soviet Republic and is fraught with problems. Why would anyone name their daughter Georgia. Also, the name reminds me of older women.
Of course some of the most “up to date” girl’s names are absolutely terrible: Abcd (or Abcde) pronounced Absidy or A bay ca day. Horrible. Madison is a city in Wisconsin. Taylor is the job title of someone who makes clothing. McKenzie is an Irish surname. Naming your children after “famous people” or their daughters is pathetic. Destiny is not a name (unless YOU’RE an stripper). Also terrible, Jaden or Jayden for boys. Weird and not cool sounding. Not a cool name at all.
Also, please use any (space) more (two words, not one) in the title of this article. Anymore is incorrectly used here.
Melanie Stayer
You know why no one has these names anymore? Because they’re fucking horrible!!!
Whenever I used to go out and have some random dude want to talk to me I’d tell him my name was Beatrice…. that’s about as unattractive as it gets. Or Agnes, Martha, Gertrude, Edna, Esther…
Erin Rooney
Oh, how I can identify with Gertrude! The Irish tradition is to name the firstborn daughter after the paternal Irish grandmother; if that tradition would have been upheld, my name would be Gertrude right now. Erin was bad enough!
Erin
Hi, my name is Erin, I am female 1/2 Irish. I had been on the boys classroom lists throughout 12 years of public school, told by teachers that my parents spelled my name wrong i.e. Aaron, that is was a boy’s name, had it pronounced Irwin and when corrected was told that I was pronouncing it incorrectly! I was made fun of all during my school years for my name that my Irish-American father thought was beautiful. I completely understand parents wanting to perpetuate their heritage and ethnicity but think back when you were in school and your classmates would take anyone’s name and make a derrogatory rhyme from it and how humiliating that was!!! I even had a bank customer tell me that my name was spelled wrong on my teller name sign and would pronounce it wrong on purpose because he thought it was funny even after having been corrected.
I have two grown sons whose names are Mark and Matthew and no one ever mistakes them for having unusual names.
TheEvilMonkey
Bertha
thesparky1
But on the other hand, never write off giving your daughter a good old name of Boadicea
thesparky1
Do NOT name your kids from the list of frequently abducted list of names. Kaylee is the first one. How many “law for Kaylee”, “benefit for Kaylee”, or “The Kaylee foundation” do we need?
Andrea Spencer
Please tell us that is a joke?
Andrea Spencer
How would any of you like to be named Andrea.. not ANdrea but pronouced AUndrea. I had to grow up correcting or dealing with no one every saying my name correctly. I despise my name. Where my dad came up with it I do not know. Andrea Celeste and why my mom let him do it other than he was that much older than she was.. At least it’s the only bad thing he ever did. I was my daddy’s girl! haha
Alan
Actually, being the male I am, I truly love the name Brenda. To me, it conveys sweetness, but I also think of it as being a sexy name for adult females. One name you’ll likely never find parents ever naming their daughter in the future is the name “Gay”…all thanks to the sodomites who preferred to be called referred to as something without a pejorative meaning. However, as time goes on, these invented names become synonymous with the one’s the were intended to replace and then become a pejorative in their own right. Another female name you’re unlikely to ever see again is Lesbia.
Mary
I was about to peruse the list until I realized that I had to load 26 individual pages for 15-20 words for one name and I gave up. I’m not loading 200 ads, with 26 auto play videos to look at a handful of names.
Latlu
I love “vinitage” names and I wanted to name one of my daughters after my mother, but “Pamela” felt outdated and un-pretty (although my mother is beautiful). I don’t like the nickname “Pam” (cooking spray) or “Pammy” (ugg) either. We named our girls Juliette Rose and Rosalie Lenore. My maternal grandmother was know for her love of Roses, so both names honor her in that way. 🙂
Apostrophe
Lost ITS momentum…it’s =it is
Louise
I’m a Louise, 22 years old. Please, for the love of god, do not nickname your child Lulu. Louise is a distinctive, dignified name. Lulu is fluffy and nonsensical.
Bill Tomey
my name is HEINZ,i was named fo 57 varieties
Lisa
my names lisa, im 13? this came out on my 13th birthday hahaah:p
Weston
I found it fun to go to a nearby old cemetery when I was in college (very peaceful there) and look at some of the old names on the headstones. My favorite: Parthina. Don’t think that one was too common, even in 1850.
What about GERTRUDE???
===
The young Michelles that I know of today (around 12-24 years old), are mostly Asians and Asian Americans. Michelle was the Brittany of its day, it was the hottest name in the 1950’s-70’s. But I always think that the name Brittany is hotter than Michelle, they were born around the 1980’s and 1990’s.
I have known people with some of those names in my life time.
PSAGuy
Named my daughter Georgia in 09 when she was born. L♥ve the name!
Andrfea
my daughter and I are both Andrea and she has a daughter Evelyn
Christy
My daughter has a long and unusual first name= Andielizabeth.. Now Elizabeth has been in our family for over 300 years.
Christy
My middle name is on here. A family name passed down=Louise… My great grand mother had the same middle name
Christy
My daughter’s name is Andielizabeth.. It’s a long first name but I thought it was pretty together. Elizabeth in our family go back over 300 years.
So, you think, Melanie, would be considered a *cute* name? Interesting.
jim
My grandmother and her sisters were all born between 1900 and 1907. Their names were, Elsie, Emma, Bertha, and Helen.
Really? One page per name?
madmilt
How about names that are totally unheard today, such as Mabel and Melba? And do you know of anyone in the world named Lucretia?
LD
As a guy, I had to grow up with a girls first name and I can tell you it was not easy. Now I am in my mid fifties and sometimes it still can be a problem. I have done well, but my name did keep some doors closed.
When it was time to name my daughter, I suggested Rebekah Lorraine to my wife. Rebekah is from the Bible and Lorraine is the middle name of an old girlfriend of mine. My wife gave her approval, so we ran with it. My daughter tells me that it has been a blessing for her that her name has not been something really weird and yet not very common.
Folks, when you name your child, please, give them a decent, classic name without a really strange spelling. Also, make sure the given name will not cause gender problems with the companies and people they work with. Today, young people have it hard enough. Why make it worse?
Flipper
I have a younger sister named Pamela Noel and she also named her first daughter Ciera Jalene, I thought that was rather unique.
Allan Richardson
If you were Greek you would have a “patriotic” name, because Helen MEANS Greek in Greek (Hellene).
Allan Richardson
To be fair, Scout was the nickname of the main character in “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. And Harper is one of those last names uses as a first name. Lee Harper would have been just as “normal”.
Allan Richardson
Penelope is still popular among Greek Americans. It honors the faithful wife of Odysseus who waited 20 years for her husband to come home.
Allan Richardson
Dacia was the Roman name of the province we now call Romania.
Allan Richardson
There was one president with a first name beginning with A, and one with a first name ending in Z (Abe Lincoln and Zachary Taylor). The most common presidential first name is James (including Jimmy), and the second is John.
Would you settle for Hillary? Or (a long shot) Elizabeth? If we elect Warren in 2016 and the Queen of England is still alive, it might be the first time the two countries had heads of state with the same first names since 1783 (George and George)!
Allan Richardson
A comedian (I believe Hispanic) made an interesting comment about Leonard Bernstein’s classic musical West Side Story. He said the balcony scene was not believable, because in a Puerto Rican neighborhood at that time, if you yelled up at an apartment building, “Maria!”, there is no way that only ONE girl would respond!
Maria, or French Marie, is not uncommon as a man’s MIDDLE name. It means that he was probably born on one of the feast days associated with Mary.
Allan Richardson
Leo Rosten in “The Joys of Yiddish” tells about Jewish boys who took a “goy” name to fit in in business, and says that so many Isaacs changed to Irving, an Anglo-Saxon name, that in time gentiles began thinking that Irving was a Jewish name! Isaac Baline wrote songs under the name Irving Berlin, and ended up writing the most popular secular Christmas song ever: White Christmas. Nathan Birnbaum became George Burns, etc. But today Jewish celebrities such as Tovah Feldshuh and Mayim Bialik are successful under their original names.
Allan Richardson
And Oprah was intended to be Orpah, the daughter-in-law of Naomi who did NOT come back to Bethlehem as Ruth did, but her mother spelled it wrong and it stuck. I know an elderly white woman named Orpah in Florida!
Allan Richardson
Parents of all races occasionally give their children “phony” names from another language, or from the Bible. Two fictional characters come to mind, Gomer Pyle and Hagar the Horrible, both male characters. The authors who created those names may not have been aware that Gomer and Hagar are FEMININE names in the Bible. Or they knew and were just having fun with them.
Allan Richardson
I just followed a link to get here and it never occurred to me that the web site was specifically for black mothers. I was thinking “noir” as in the detective movie genre! For the record, I am a white father of a 28 year old son who has not found the right girl yet to give us a grandchild. If she turns out to be a black lady, we would be just as happy as if he chooses a wife of any other “race”, since (except for albinos) we are all different shades of brown, and all from Africa ultimately.
Allan Richardson
Does anyone realize that the social accomplishments that made the “white race” dominant are the RESULT of mixing, genetically, socially, linguistically, and politically, about a hundred or more people who once thought of themselves as different “races” from Persia to Ireland? In other words, the white “race” CAME from mixing. Farmers and ranchers, as well as biologists, know that hybrid plants and animals are hardier and survive better than single breeds. So some more mixing will make ALL of us stronger.
And just to be clear, all “races” came from Africa; some just left there sooner than others.
Allan Richardson
The reason for black people owning slaves is that in some states, slaves who were set free had to leave the state in a certain time period or they could be re-enslaved; slaves whose grandparents became free in colonial times were not subject (at least legally) to re-enslavement, so they often “bought” their relatives to ensure that those relatives could not be picked up by strangers and sold “down the river”.
The vast majority of slaves were in the south, owned by whites, and kept on plantations. A few were owned by other blacks or by Indians, and a few were kept in the north. The northern states being more industrial, and their farms being mostly small family farms, the abolitionist message had less resistance there. But the south’s plantation economy depended on slave labor. If the rich whites COULD have enslaved poor whites or Indians they would have. Blacks were originally imported for convenience, and a good way to make sure they did not run away was to prejudice the POOR white population against them. The fact that there were very few free blacks made the slave bounty hunter’s job much easier.
Allan Richardson
Was that a rhetorical question? Just in case it was not, there was an actor in the 1940’s named Spencer Tracy. At least your uncle didn’t call you Dick after the comic strip policeman.
Sorry to hear about the lady who named her daughter after a disease (must have figured she got both at the same time). I would imagine that an Italian restaurant named after its owner would not be too popular if his name was Sal Monella.
Allan Richardson
The wife of Elijah Baley, the principal character in Asimov’s novel series starting with “The Caves of Steel”, was called Jessie, but it was not an abbreviation of Jessica as you might think, but of … JEZEBEL. In a flashback to when they met, their first conversation was about the irony of an Elijah and a Jezebel getting together!
Allan Richardson
Rejoice in your name, Sharon! It comes from the Hebrew name of a flower, and is also a last name, with the accent on the second syllable, of an Israeli Prime Minister (and his first name Ariel is more commonly a girl’s name in America, much like British Robin and American Robin)!
Allan Richardson
I believe Madelaine (in various spellings) is derived from Magdalene, the woman whose testimony started the Christian church (and was NOT, as far as we know, a prostitute or adulterous wife before meeting Jesus).
Allan Richardson
I don’t care, I still love the Dorothy I married and the Dorothy who raised her!
Allan Richardson
You don’t think a certain obnoxious celebrity has ruined the name Roseanne, do you?
Actually, I admire her for her spunk. It’s not easy growing up Jewish in Utah and being called a Gentile and constantly checked to see if you have horns on your head (an actual Mormon myth about Jews).
Allan Richardson
I remember the classic basketball song Sweet Georgia Brown, used as a trademark by the Harlem Globetrotters, and subsequently as warmup music (whistled) before every college came. Also, Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft sung it on stage in Polish at the beginning of their 1970’s remake of the Jack Benny 1940’s film To Be or Not to Be (performing just before the German blitzkrieg invasion, in Warsaw, to a fictional Polish audience).
Allan Richardson
Anita may have been spoiled by the homophobic actions of Anita Bryant in Florida.
JudyKay
I was named after a character in a book that my mother was reading when she was pregnant with me. I’ve never been unhappy with Judith Kay (gone by Judy all my life except for elementary teachers) and much happier than what my oldest sister wanted to name me, Sybil Caroline. My sisters names, Mabel Maxine and Mildred Nadine. In my 70’s and I still like my name best!
Calico
I just wanted to read the list. It would take me maybe 10 seconds, but instead, it takes that long to reload each page just to read the next name. Were you trying to be annoying with this?
jackie
My birth name is Jacqueline Elvira Kathleen Moreno. Jacqueline – after Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis
Elvira – paternal grandmother’s name
Kathleen – maternal grandmother’s name
Moreno – of course my dad’s family surname
Sobolowski – is my mother’s family surname
Alvarez is now my married surname.
pianokeyz
These aren’t very pretty names. How about real feminine vintage British names like Nicola, Lillian, Estella, Lydia, Genevieve, Isobel, Rosalie, Chloe, Amelia, Eugenie
pianokeyz
We are fighting a losing battle. Even the “official” company communications where I work have “it’s” used as a possessive. So many people get it wrong these days that it’s going to become accepted. Might as well give up and save your energy for things like:
“step foot” instead of set foot
“point and time” instead of point in time
“flush it out” instead of flesh it out
“tow the line” instead of toe the line
and spoken:
Feel free to add your own bête noire.
pianokeyz
Thank Superman, too.
therealguyfaux
Identifiable as Jewish, since the name means “rabbi” in French– and of course, Yitzhak Rabin. They’ve turned it into a variant of “Rayburn/Raybourne” with that pronunciation (“Raybun”), but the spelling is the giveaway.
therealguyfaux
“Blayze,” spelled “Blaise,” is a French name, not a particularly common one but hardly unknown (Blaise Pascal, the philosopher = “Better to believe in a God who doesn’t exist, than not to believe in One who does.”) That spelling with “y-z” is one I’ve only seen in Britain.
therealguyfaux
Except that, in many parts of Africa well-Christianized or Islamified, the children get conventional names of saints, or names from the Koran. Plenty of Josephs and Marys in Africa along with Muhammads and Aishas.
therealguyfaux
Although a name that means “Gypsy” in Spanish does carry with it certain connotations too, it must be said.
therealguyfaux
Don’t forget the Amie’s and Aimee’s either (French for “friend”[feminine] and “beloved” [fem.], respectively). They had a head start on the re-spelling, though. I’m remembering President Carter’s daughter with that name being about that age then.
therealguyfaux
How stupid can I be– how could I forget about all the Brittanys in the retirement villages in the 2050’s? My bad. (And the Brittanys and Tiffanys will still be using that expression then, and their young granddaughters named Lorenzia and Amelia and Juniata will say, “What does that mean, Granny?”)
Janette
‘… transitioned to it’s shorter form …’
It is ‘its’. It’s is the contraction for ‘it is’. Call me a grammar nazi, I deserve it.
Amy
We had a lot of Jennifers too
Amy
I was born n 1972 and apparently that was the year of the “Amy” because there were 10 of us in the same class. We had to get creative with spellings and such just to differentiate between us. The poor teachers! Can you imagine having that many students with the same name? I was named after my great-grandmother, so it was a family thing n my case… not sure about all of the others. But there were definitely times when it would have been nice to have a different name.
Well, an abbreviation of my first name is on here, ‘Hattie’ & my mum was thinking of naming me Georgia, this list one those two names doesn’t work in my case. Nevermind. 🙂
Dwinmo w
My name is Della after my mom. My husbands last name is Ware. When he proposed he asked me if I wanted to become a state. I thought it was cool. After a few years I started getting really annoyed with the jokes
until I remembered I did this to myself & I love my husband. He has sooooo much fun with it.
Chefpaulo
I know far more women named Ann, Dorothy and Janet that I do Gertrude, Fannie, Alma, Genevieve and (God forbid) Hortense. How do these evade the list?
Esther
True. My family were Chinese immigrants too, and they all seem to use conventional names that rank in the Top 10 like Michael and Jennifer. I’m an Esther, which is less common, but still nothing out of the ordinary. I had classmates that were Pandoras, Prestons, Chambers, Eltons, Goldens, Lakes. I’m not sure how they got their unusual names but it was really easy to remember.
Esther
Actually, Joyce is still in the Top 50. I know a baby girl who was born last year named Joyce.
Susan Critelli
I happen to agree with you about some of the -ahem- unique names that black parents are sticking their children with these days, but there are just as many white parents naming their children ridiculous things. Also, there is a 2011 rebuttal of that study that you may want to read – those numbers may have been crunched in a way that reached the conclusion they wanted to reach rather than reflect reality. http://arward.net/2011/06/mit-job-discrimination-study-is-a-fraud/
Lance Turner
Ethel? And your wife thought Gracie was an old lady name. You have to be looking for that to be a joke.
helen willis
I was named after a popular song, and my first name is now on the old-lady name list. Most people like my name and often tell me it’s beautiful. Names keep getting recycled, but choosing a weird or made-up name can embarrass a kid until he/she’s no longer a kid. One thing that kept us from hating our name so much was the use of terms of endearment. Mother shortened sugar to shug, which is common in FL. Honey was hon, and we played name games. May became May Day. People need to avoid being so serious about everything, but give your kid a fighting chance by avoiding cutsey names. When you get older, you can change your name.
James Brown
I used to work with three Chucks and two Bob Whites (we used to call them Junior and Senior) in a department of about sixty people
James Brown
I have a friend whose last name is Christ (rhymes with “fist”) …. She has a warped sense of humor and once told me they thought about giving their son a “Spanish” name 😮
Geneva
My name is Geneva, which is a very old name. I love it now, at 38 years old, but HATED it growing up. I was named after my great grandmother. I was so proud when I learned that Blues legend, Muddy Water’s wife was named Geneva. She is the only other person I have ever known to have it. I do have very old people tell me they knew someone with that name as a child. lol Hope they made it to adulthood. lol
Ivy
Our younger daughter is Ivy. She was supposed to be Iris but when I saw her I said to my husband ‘she looks more like an Ivy’ and since he was afraid of me with my raging hormones he said ‘sure’
. She loves her name.
My daughter’s name is April and her husband calls her Ape. Hate him…
Dawn
More Janes in England, i think.
[email protected]
My Mother’s name == Muriel / nickname Mickey / Beautiful Person = Beautiful Lady
Lynette
I had an aunt named Flossie Morene ! How bout that Sharon ? Your name doesn’t seem that bad now does it?
[email protected]
I never liked my name either…Dorothy…It’s just plan aweful…And just the other day while reading the latest births…Someone actually named their baby girl “Dorothy”…I feel so bad for the little one…Every one , once they get a certain age should be allowd to keep or change their name…I definately would have done so…
kitt
only two names on the list i would even consider, hattie and willow. my sisters name leona she was given my grandmothers middle name and my grandmothers middle name was her mothers name so it is a family name.
firecrkr7480
how about Betty? it used to be really popular in my grandmas day and age. I love my gma and am proud to be named after her, but took alot of crap over the name
RainmanRedSox’67
Cleopatra and Pocohontas
stellabystarlite
OK, there is no reason why there needs to be 15 pages to list 14 names. Fourteen names can be listed on a single page. Just so you can include graphics of baby blocks with letters on them? I know what a letter ‘A’ looks like. You can put them all on the same page. Anita, Louise, etc. Why the clunky layout? Ridiculous.
Anthony DuLac
Yeah, there’s a reason most of these fell off the “popular names” list. They’re fairly bland or weird-sounding or (worse) ugly names. I do like Willow and Madelaine, though.
Marta Von Runge
This was a horribly designed page. It took forever to get from one name to the other. I hate this type of crap!!!
DonDong
How can you miss with that…?! One of the most enigmatic beauties with that “peekaboo bang”. You’ve got a worthy last name too. Not as nice as mine, but… ;p
DonDong
Wonder if she looks like Hattie McDaniel…? Yeah, everyone’s gonna copy “Tori”.
DonDong
That’s EXACTLY who I thought of. But, at least she was one of the more memorable “actresses”. And not just because of her name ;p
DonDong
That’s a doosey. “Saint Shanequa”. ;p
DonDong
Yeah, that’s a good point. I really hate that. The socialists are really big on eradicating gender specific names & nouns. If my wife gave birth to another daughter, I’d name her “Actress”. Her full name would be
Miss Actress Poetess Aviatrix Dong. No mistaking her for one of the boys. Actually my daughter’s name is Daphne. Looong story but she likes it. She’s 15.
NOT Plain Jane
I actually thought I would find my name on here, given it is rather “old-fashioned” – Jane. When I was growing up, I was unhappy with it, but mostly because of all the Tarzan jokes and the Dick and Jane jokes (obviously, I was born in the early 60’s so those jokes were still somewhat relevant 🙂 ), as well as “Plain Jane,” “Jane Doe,” etc. Now I really like it. Classic, simple yet elegant. Mom did a good job after all. 🙂
olblue
What about Ida, Minnie, Sadie, Florence?
ditchdigger
I was born in ’44, a Mike, in 2001, I worked on an industrial job with 5 Mikes in the same trade. 700 men on the job, had a lot of fun with it.
ditchdigger
Procrastination?
ditchdigger
Many draftstock, saddle stock were named the same names, they were revered, because it was your livelyhood, families servival, there were no social safety nets.
ditchdigger
This dates us, my list only scratches the surface and I missed yours, growing up with folks borne into the 1870s, to 1890s, English, Germans, Irish, spanish, native Americans.
ditchdiger
That’s a compromise I could by into.
ditchdigger
Penolepe, Gertrued, Helen, May, Ella, Grace, Josephine, Betty/Elisabeth, Dotty, Dorthy, Opel, Betty Joe, Bonney, Bunny, Caroline, Mable, Ginger, Ruth, Martha, Lucile, Patty, Audry, Burnice, Just a few in our family, only back to the 1880s.
corn29
Moron, Would you like to browse the Detroit phone book and see how many Porshas there are… and it’s not because of Shakespeare.
sk8sonh2o
dafuq did I wait for this pos
James Wiske
Jesus, I like internet lists as much as anyone, but I’m not going to click 14 times to read 14 small blurbs.
Michael Todd
Morgana, Peaches, Brunhilda
therealguyfaux
Sadly, there was a porn star with that name. There may be many men of a certain age who will know that name in that context, but be discreet enough not to mention it, you’d hope.
therealguyfaux
Mercedes was a girl’s name before the car– in fact, the car was named for the daughter of the manufacturer, Mercedes Benz. Although she was German, it’s a Spanish name, which means “Mercies,” and it is meant to honor “Our Lady Of Mercy.” Portia, spelled that way, is a character in Shakespeare.
therealguyfaux
Poor Obama’s Mom, Professor Stanley-Ann Dunham. (She went by “Ann” professionally, when she published in academic journals.) How many people do you figure called HER “Stan’?
therealguyfaux
“Leroy” and “Vernella,” though. Yes, there WERE a few white people with these names, but they tended in the main, in my experience, to be “black” names. The joke back then was that someone named Farnsworth Cleesthorpe Robinson III is probably not black, and Leroy Robinson is probably not white. (Mary- Margaret Browne not black/Vernella Browne not white).
therealguyfaux
“Eve” and “Maeve,” right?
therealguyfaux
Tyrone is a county in Ireland and was, until perhaps mid-20th C,. considered an Irish name, see Tyrone Power, e.g.
therealguyfaux
Let me guess: people called you “Scout,” right?
Anosmia
I’m a Jennifer and you are so right! I definitely associate it with kids born in the ’70s and ’80s. I was born in 1974 and there were more Jennifers than I could even count in my high school and college. Oddly enough, at my job there are only two of us.
Anosmia
I think it wonderful that you were given a name that melded your grandmothers’ names together. It makes it very meaningful!
efells
How about these – Irene, Veronica, Margaret
Names of flowers in general – Rose, Iris, Violet, Daisy,
Steven Newman
I would say perhaps one reason these names are not in favor as much is that girls are taking boys names [how about Shannon for one]..and also are using last names as first names. PS- I won’t mention Pres. Obama’s mother’s name. And i joke that my grand parents must not have been able to afford middle names as both my mother and father do not have middle names, My sister has Mae as a middle name. I don’t love my name other. Must be a Jewish thing even 2nd gen in US made so-so choice. Say all 3 of my names and it rhymes with my sister’s 3 names!
Steven Newman
..and to what Initials spell and to what possible nicknames would be likely.
Diogenes67
Should not be an issue what the sex of a person applying for a job is anyway. I think there are laws about that.
toinette jones
my name is Toinette..I hated it as a child but love it today….it’s so pretty being pronounced in other languages…..
kellarNstink
i wanted to name our daughter “Gracie” but my wife said no way, that it was an “old lady” name. Now our little “Ethel” is almost 5 years old..
Juke
Sharon was an extremely popular name in the early 1960s: Sharon Stone, Sharon Gless, Sharon Case, Sharon Tate, Sharon Osborne, and about 10 girls in my very small school. Cheryl was also very popular at the time.
Vincent
Regarding the name Carole over the years… http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/102842.html
Dean Wedgwood
you dont hear Leigh, gracie, kristen, marion, ruth, mary, bessie, anastacia, victoria, vivian or martha.
corn29
Don’t forget when they name their kids after cars too — Porsha, Lexus, Mercedes, etc.
LearnYourGrammar
This list would be much better with proper proofreading. “It’s” is not the same as “Its”. Please pay attention.
daves
It’s best to name your kid anything but Sheniqua, Latisha, Anferny, and the like. Resumes with names like that hit my shredder before I get to the last name.
am
I did not name any of my children two of them a boy and girl and named after their fathers and the other a boy was named after one the us ambassadors at the time. But my rule was the name could not be more than 6 letters and it had to be easy to say. I hate these combined names that people are coming up with. I ran into a young man name QuinTez really! I’m guessing his parents names are Quintin and Shantez. LOL!
JUSTANAME
My name caused me much grief in elementary school. My name is April, and kids called me apple, ape, maple, it happened all the time. Then they just had to know if I was born in April, and I was. Good grief! But that is not why my parents named me that. My dad just always liked the name. and said if he ever had a daughter, he would name her April.
Irenda jones
my parents named me Irenda, a name which is not usual. I have been called Linda, Irene, Kendra,Renda, and was sent my certificate announcing that I was a” Hoosier Scholar” ,but they put Brenda! I hated my name as a teen, but as an adult I like it. it always bugs me that people compliment my name and never name their daughter after me???!!
Iliana Stevenson
My name is iliana and I hated it when I was in school even though people thought it was beautiful reason being is that many people would just botch it and I just got tired of it so I started telling everyone to call me lily for short but today I love my name and even though they can’t get rite its my g’vt name and my mom picked it for me
Seriously?
You used the wrong “its” every single time. Just thought you ought to know. It was kind of magical actually.
Hildegard Wagner
I named my first daughter Hypatia– a very old Greek name. I named her after Hypatia of Alexandria, the unmarried scientist/mathematician/astronomer who was murdered by a mob of early Christians egged on by Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria (who was later made a saint by the oh-so-holy-and-right Church. There are a few people out there with the name Hypatia, but not many! I wanted her to carry the name of a strong, single, highly educated woman of science, and thought it a double bonus for her to have a name that would lead her to always have an understanding of what extreme religiosity can wreak.
Upon hearing her name, people either immediately know who she is named after, or they ask if that is a type of flower.
Thus far, my eldest doesn’t resent her name, although if we lived in a small town, she might. Her middle name is Gertrude, after one of her great grandmothers on one side and after one of her great great grandaunts on the other.
My second daughter had a much more ‘normal’ name– Elsie– after my husband’s grandmother. For her middle name, though, I insisted on Theano, who was a mathematician, physician, and early child psychologist, of the Pythagorean school.
dobby
I know a lot of people with these names. Including Pamela. They’re not really vintage.
callmeBob
Willow? What about Meadow…?
Kay
This article is annoying having to reload a new page for each name. It should have all been on ONE page that you can scroll down on.
Erin
Actually, you hear all of those names all the time.
Cassandra o’troy
i’m not going to read your article. would you like to know why? because instead of giving me a list of names to read, you are giving me ten pages to load. this is not necessary, and it is extremely annoying. this is electronic media, not paper. there is no need for one article to have all those pages, especially a list. i could scroll down whatever it is you have on all those pages much easier, and if you hadn’t decided on this stupid format, i would be doing that right now instead of writing this comment.
Faust
How about we all worry what we name out kids and not what others have named theirs. So much anger and ignorance based on a choice that has nothing to do with you. If you don’t like someone’s name then don’t name your child that, pretty simple.
Candela Col.
the fact that you consider the south to be racist, is enough. I live in the south, I am from Nyc and nothing racist has occurred. and I’ve been to the country where I am the only minority.
Candela Col.
tell me of an unisex name in Spanish? I give you one Ariel. at the same time, why even mention Spanish names here? is irrelevant.
Candela Col.
finally some sense was said to mariposa
Candela Col.
I was replying to David.why are you attacking me when David was the first one to go off topic? yes black names aren’t the problem, is the behavior (not that all blacks are like this). i just can’t stand people feeling bad for those who refuse to help themselves. go on and give them your check.
January24
I have heard names such as Blue, Snow these are the strangest names I have heard. I am certain you Sharon Shurley, being a social worker have heard worse.
jp fern
please let those names die
Fuzzworth
Possessive “its” does not have an apostrophe. When you write “it’s” you are writing “it is” you are not writing “belonging to it.”
Finally
The point is that it’s true & it doesn’t help you get a job. So why would your parents set you up for having difficulty getting a job?
Finally
Yeah, these unique names aren’t quite so unique when everyone is doing it. Most have to spell their surnames & now have to spell their first names. A big waste of time, but then again, that’s the way the country is heading, slow everyone down because I’m special.
marci
I find it very interesting that Joyce is listed in this article! My 13 year old is named Joyce…after her grandmother.
My other children have unique names as well. They are all either family names or names that are have very special significance to us. One of our children’s names doesn’t even show up on most lists!
Even though they are unique names, they actually make sense…not like so many names today that just sound like total gibberish and have no true meanings.
What a load of poo.
Laura
My name is Laura, It’s very common name and I hate it. If you hear a name Laura you don’t really think anything. If you hear something unique – you either like it or dislike it but it’s special. And I want to be special. My mom wanted to name me Lauriana (I have no idea how to write it) It would be special enough for me, but instead of that- just Laura. Boring.
Kelli
I’m Kelli, born in the 70’s. Not “vintage”, but not terribly common these days. My mom thought she was doing me a favor by spelling it with an i instead of a y. After 30+ years, I’ve finally stopped correcting people and allow the misspelling of y. My middle name Nicole seems a lot more used, especially as a middle name.
When I saw someone name their son “Jonythyn” in the 90’s, I knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Just a guy
Doing genealogy, I kept running up against women’s names that I had never heard of, such as “Content”. With a little research I found that two of them are still in use (top 1000) today, “Charity” and “Patience”. The others?
Consider
Pleasant (“what a pleasant name you have”)
Most of these names were used in the 1600s and 1700s.
JoanieT
My name is Joan, I’m 31. Joan is an old uncommon name. Every Joan I’ve met (which hasn’t been many) we’re in their 80’s. I hated my name when I was little. But now I love it. I’m always the only Joan around 🙂
Erika
My name is Erika, spelled with a “K”. I like my name and i am glad that my mother cared enough about me to give me a name at all.
Lori
Sharon Knopic
I’m a “Sharon” as well – Sharon Linda to be exact – my sister passed away a year before I was born – “Linda”. I was always pleased I had a somewhat different name but not “odd”. Of course, my uncle called me Sherry from day one. . . and then the family called me Sher. So I was only called Sharon in school.
But as far as names go? So what? After what all our parents went thru to raise us, they could have called us whatever they wanted to, and it would have been appropriate!
—
It says “Joyce” in the Janet item. Also, how about a “View as one page” option?
Lee Warthen
..
Ghislaine boles
My name is Ghislaine (pronounced Jillane) and I have had my ups and downs with this name..I was born in London and my mother found it in a French newspaper..I really love it and have had humorous times with it being mispronounced..Gasoline was my favourite..I have been called Giselle, Jocelyn, Christine..the list goes on..but I really love my name and proud of it… 🙂
Phillip
I think that is a cute name for a girl. Honestly.
caitengl
I have an aunt (who is in her 50’s) names Ann Leona. That’s 2 of the names on the list! 😀
yeah – “vintage” or just OVER – lol – why live in the past? Find some new beautiful names – if you want to honor your grandparents, fine, but think about what your child has to go through in the FUTURE.
therealguyfaux
So I’m watching The Talk one afternoon, and Julie Chen is telling how she has a sister whose “English” official government name (as opposed to a traditional Chinese name used in the family) is “Gladys,” and how her mother didn’t realize it wasn’t a particularly common name for American girls at that time. Sara Gilbert then offers that she would have killed for an “unusual” name like Gladys– “Do you know what it’s like, having about every third girl in your class in school having the same name? ‘Sara/h!’ ‘Which one?’ Sarah Palin, for heaven’s sake– every girl in the sixties and seventies was named Sarah! I’d have been the only ‘Gladys’– and I would have preferred that!” My experience was that in the seventies, every little girl was “Jennifer.” Imagine a nursing home around 2060, with all the Tiffanys that will be there. It runs in cycles.
Mis Anthropy
A child’s name can say how trendy, cool and creative you are, but why should it?
disqus_icbV9gWg72
I cant believe u hated ur mom for calling you “Sharon”. I have always liked that name and agree that Brenda is much worse!
Sharon Shurley
My name is Sharon too. I never liked it very much, but it did go nicely with my last name which was Shurley. In fact, after getting divorced, I took it back. My Mom allowed my brother to name me, and he named me Sharon after a girl he was dating at the time. I was almost named “Linda,” but they broke up. LOL! The name I have always wished I had been named is Debbie. All in all, I guess most of us wish we had been named something other than what we were.
yep, Debbie
Debbie. Can you say ‘1950’s ??
Joel Manna
ITS ITS ITS – Vintage spelling.
sydney
ahh these are a lot of old white lady names. Leona & Willow are kinda cool. AND I think no one should ever name their child “Hattie” or “Carol(e)”
Rich Yan
How about “Blanche”? Is anyone using that one anymore?
Jada
I am 32 years old, and biracial. I love my name first name, Jada. Now and days though people are always asking me how to spell my name. I have 3 children and I named them Alexis, Samantha, and Nathan, nothing out of the box crazy.
gradyphilpott
What is unique about any of these names?
DuBois
“Willow” deserves a comeback.
themanbeyond
Laurie Sheridan, shame on you! lol Floretta is actually a pretty name. It can be seen as a variation of “Florette” which means ‘little flower’.
Katie Mitchell
We named our daughter Maile. It’s a Hawaiian name (my husband is half Hawaiian), so no, we didn’t make up the spelling, but it’s mispronounced all the time, and we get asked often, “Oh, like Miley Cyrus?” ::face-palm:: I’m sure Maile will run into some frustrations, but I don’t regret giving her the name we did. It suits her, and though unique, it has family history behind it. Besides, by the time she’s in grade school, the kids her age won’t even know who Miley Cyrus is. 😉
inca
Gia, Giana,and many other girl’s names starting with Gia or Gi are Italian.Gitana sounds Italian.Very pretty name. smile…
Deelia
Ruthie Hawkins, you should not be creating any content that has to do with writing. So many errors on so many pages, and there was only a sentence on each page! Ugh and a slideshow to boot.
Mildrid (or Millie), Jessie, Beth, Martha, Beatrice, Agnes, Tony (or Toni)
schmendric
How about “Viola” meaning either the flower of that name or the musical instrument slightly larger than a violin.
annoyed user
Slideshows are such terrible UX experience, especially when you’re clicking not to see a photo, but a few words. A single page view should always be an option.
Just Saying HI
Duke Earl
I was actually mildly interested enough to click the link to this story. I cannot stand these advertising gimmiks that make you click page after page of advertising to get to the point. I do not. nor ever will know the 10 worst names, except I know yours and will never click a link again.
Lydia H
I like your name – it sound Italian.
missianne
My almost 13 year old is named Tillee; she’s only ever met one person with that name, and the woman was in her early 80’s in 2003.
Kelly Kiel
Jen,
Most countries DO require their students to learn English. And sometimes a 3rd language. And they don’t complain about it, it is just a fact of life, like Math and reading. Rather than feel disgusted, get busy learning. No one is forcing you, but if you want to stay competitive, you need to stand out from your competition
theresa
i gave most of my kids biblical names Sara Daniel Aaron Samuel except one Shane,they all like there names except shane went through a faze and wanted to change his name to Seth lol
Emm
This is stupid. All of these names are still in the top 100, so they’re still more popular than many other names for girls.
Mariel
My name is Mariel. I have actually met one other in my long lifetime. the other one went by the nickname “Mel”. I hated my name for not being easily understood, but now I sign it as a person who can be identified by one name alone.
Maddalena Janelli
I’m sorry to inform you that Italian has no silent vowels, so both male Andrea and female Andrea are pronounced exactly the same. We have to meet the person in order to guess the appropriate gender.
Brenda
Thanks, Laurie.
My name is Brenda and I have never been hated it but haven’t really like it either. I think there are “hard” names and “soft” names. LIsa, Melissa, Kim, Alisa, Sarah, …I think of those as soft names. I’m not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me.
Beatrice, Beulah, Harriet, Eunice, Ramona, Merriam, Guinevere, Claudia, Grace, Bernadette, Eleanor, June, Deborah.
Dorothy
Dorothy Louise, Michael James, Sean Patrick and Russell William. Guess how old we are?
Jack N. Beanstalk
My last name is Parkes. I was thinking of naming my children Yosemite and Yellowstone Parkes. You know someone would though.
Joe
Today girls are names after substances such as amber or crystal or after cities such as Chelsea. How stupid.
Centurion
why have beautiful names when you can pretend you are more important than everyone else in the world and Name your daughter BLUE IVY, SCOUT, BALUBULA, , APPLE, CyNAMMON POPTART, Ringabell. cause those names sound really cool
SCB
I am a genealogist, and I question your information about “Willow” as a common name. For trees maybe, but in many hours of microfilm I have yet to see even one “Willow.”
blueturtles
They do it so they get more linking for SEO, and for more ad views.
cloud_buster
I don’t think “unique” means what the author thinks it means.
mickeymat
I did not read the article due to page turning requirement.
Mlle.Winter
Said the woman named Laurie. zZzZ
What a horrible way you were raised.
KevinP
Madeline and Madelyn are both in the top 100 girls names as of May of 2012 according to this source: http://baby-names.familyeducation.com/popular-names/girls/
Jean-Louise
I’m named Jean-Louise! (After TKAMB) and I love my name!
Just Me
I knew a girl named Gay back in the 1970s, and I always wondered why her parents named her that. We were born in 1958 in the deep south where there were lots of Pamelas and Sharons, so I guess we’re behind times.
Jen
The point is you say people in other countries CAN speak more than one language and that’s great…. My point is they are not FORCED to do so…do u get it? I would have to ADAPT if I moved outside of the United States..true?? Te natives of that country aren’t adapting to me!! So I do not find it necessary to adapt to someone who doesn’t speak English, they should adapt to live here! Get it???
Marc Flores
i hate these articles where you have to “turn the page” or click “next”…I lost momentum at page 7 (Willow). Learning the remaining girls’ names didnt seem worth it to me to continue clicking ‘next’…give me a single paged article you can scroll down to the end any time.
JT
“Its” not “it’s”
Panda Rosa
My own name “Ann”, has a twist, When I was in school, back in the ’60s, seems every other girl had Ann or Anne as a middle name; wonder if that’s still the case. “Ann” is good as a middle name, it does seem to go with a lot of first names.
Freedom1967
my first name is Sonja ….. I am constantly called Son-Ya or So-nia
It is pronounced exactly as spelled pronounced with the JA as god forbid JA
And my daughter’s name is Brandy….. everyone want to spell it ending in I or EE
and my youngest Granddaughter is Scotlyn… everyone wants to call her ScotLAND
I don’t consider these anything difficult so how come even simple names cause issues….
whynotv2
Madeline must be making a come back. One very dear friend’s little girl is Madeline (she’s 3) and 2 of my co-workers have daughters named Madeline (1 and 4 years old). I’m surpised another “vintage” name isn’t on here…Mildred (Millie).
NashvilleDad
We weren’t trying to be unique with “Eloise” in 1998, but it seems we were.
Amanda Reckenwithe
Personally, I like lovely names like: Secretia, Tarnisha, Rosiola, Klamidia. Herpeez, Vulva, Anoxia, Pretendra, Carnauba, Hydrangea, Darvon, Seealice….Oh, yes, kids with those names, WILL get hired… AT BURGER KING….
rocklesson86
My parents are from Ghana. They wanted use to be able to get jobs so they gave use American names and Ghanaian middle and day names..
rocklesson86
My parents are from Ghana. Although are middle names and day names are traditional Ghanaian, are first names are traditional American names except one of my sisters. My name is Joanne. I was named after my grandma who was named Joanna. I have brother named Steven. One sister named Agatha. One more sister named Akpene.
greasycat
I’m Ruth. Have spent my entire life hearing people say: “Oh, Ruth was my great-grandmother’s name.” Thanks for the old lady name Mom & Dad. My grandmother however did have a truly antique sounding name. She was Mamie. Like Mamie Eisenhower. Always makes me think of old lace when I hear that name.
chuk a spear
except you spelled it wrong
chuk a spear
you are naming her after a famous 50s stripper
chuk a spear
having a unique name can be a plus
chuk a spear
Murial
chuk a spear
how about bulah,,mergatroid pr bruenhilda,,or the all time best my eigth grade teacher MAGNAHILD,,all 310 pounds of her,,down there deep frying now
If you’re going to have page load times of 15 seconds, DON’T HAVE SLIDE SHOWS! I only made it to number three before hating this site and never coming back. Why do that to your users?
knottymama
I love unique names, but there is nothing unique about screwing up the spelling! Especially when thousands of other moms are replacing “C” with “K” and any vowel with “Y.”
knottymama
I see your point, but is Jamal REALLY an overly unique name, or is it just that you expect a Jamal to be black?
GinnyGinnGinny
If you think I’m going to click this false advertising money-generator and identity-tracker ten goddam times so that you can lie to your advertisers as to how many readers you have in order for me to read a list of ten items that could easily have been presented on a single goddamn page… you are simply goddamn mistaken… Mommy. :-/
xve298
You miss the point. Ghetto spellings do impact how people get treated He might not like having to spell his name ten thousand times.
xve298
I have no problem in Asia everyone pronounces it perfectly but in the US forgetaboutit.
Jalek
A list of ten names, an article 11 pages long?
Web design is just ridiculous these days, go back to email spamming.
Steven Resnick
Maybe it’s because a majority of those names are awful.
Mollie-Beth
Try having the name “Mollie-Beth”. No, Beth is not my last name, it’s not my middle name, and no, I did not choose that name as a nickname. It’s a daily struggle to get people to understand that my actual legal first name is “Mollie-Beth”.
Personally, I like the older names.
1me1
Eversince I was in sixth grade, in 1965, I had dreamed of calling my daughter Moriah. I never had a kid. And if I had, she’d be stuck with the name of another one of those tiresome divas.
jo71
I am wondering why I’m seeing all of these comments saying that “Landon” is a unique name. Between friends’ kids and kids my daughter’s elementary school, I know at least 10 Landons…all under the age of 8.
Saven
1) I don’t think that names that were “big in the 90s” count as “vintage”
2) Willow became “Willa”??? I know a ton of Willows, but the closest I’ve ever heard of a Willa would by Willy Wonka.
Julie
We’re disappointed, your list sucks.
Flora
“it’s” is a contraction of the words “it” and “is” … “its” is the possessive case of “it.”
I wish the internet’s “professional” writers would learn some basic grammar and punctuation, and stop spreading stupid.
emj
My my grandmothers names were Beulha & Zella sounds like a palm reading gyspy on the other hand i’m glad I wasn’t named Beulha (bless her heart)
Maquinna
The names are out of common use, that’s all. I don’t think they’re even all that old. Even the word ‘vintage’ is misleading…it doesn’t mean old at all. It just means ‘of a particular time period’, but you then need to define what that time period is (e.g. 1950s vintage, 19th century vintage, etc.). Most egregious, however, is using the term ‘unique’, which I imagine must be the most overused, misused word on the planet. Unique means ONLY ONE EXISTS. There isn’t any other! Please stop using this word and use a word that means what you mean, such as ‘unusual’, or ‘uncommon’. Some people will roll their eyes at this, but if you’re going to talk about names, which are words with meaning (and important words at that – after all, they are carried by an individual for their entire life), then you need to appreciate what ALL words actually mean!
breed7
Very sad that MommyNoire isn’t intelligent enough to know the difference between “it’s” and “its,” as she uses the incorrect one multiple times. People who have the writing skills of fifth-grade children should not be writing for public blogs.
MommyNoire, please do the world a favor and keep your uneducated ramblings to yourself.
How about the name Clara? I’ve always hated being named this. I don’t know anyone else named this. When I was in school in the 70s I was the only Clara.
Sara
Speaking of being unable to spell, the authors and editors of this article REALLY need to learn the difference between it’s and its.
Lola
other than Hattie,these names are still not ancient,some are still pretty common,I was expecting to see names like Myrtle,Blanche,Gertrude,Pearl,Agnes,Prudence,Lottie…now most young people have probably never heard these.
Oblio
Maybe if you just listed the names instead of putting us through the page loading junk for each name….. I might have gotten past the first 3 names.
Dont Bare at all
Travis McGee
not to mention many of them are just ridiculous, same for white people spelling a name with weird spelling just to be special. It just makes it trite and especially burdensome for the poor kid to have to repeatedly tell someone that their name of Cindy is spelled Cyndee. I mean really…and that’s a more normal one. So dumb.
E.A. Blair
“…as the name slowly transitioned to it’s shorter form, Willa.”
“…as the name slowly transitioned to it is shorter form, Willa.”
Sounds like somebody should go back to grade school to learn the difference between “it’s” and “its”.
genia
My name is Genia(its pronounced Gina).I have to correct everyone that says my name if I ever have to spell it out to them.I dont know why my mother spelled it that way. But as I have grown older and had lost my mother at an earlier age Ive learned to appreciate it.Everytime I write my name I have to think of her.I wonder if maybe she didnt do that just for that reason.I am 45 and have daughter of my own.She is expecting her 1st child and we were looking for baby names so this is how we came across this site.We wanted to get some input on peoples opinions on certain names.By the way her name is Whitney.
Dani Renee
Well, I’m pregnant right now,and have decided my baby if it is a girl will be named Lillian Lee. I think it is classic and cute. My name is Danielle, but have been called Dani for as long as I can remember. I have also seen a babies named Merconium and Placenta , poor kids. For those that don’t know what Merconium is, it is the name for the first poop a baby takes.
dee kay
Thanks mom and dad!
Dee Kay
A few years ago, it was dead president’s last names for girls, kinda stupid. Now it just plain weird or dumb names.
Groundwork
How could anyone NOT know that Marvin is Marvin? Great name – IMHO!
Groundwork
Interesting. I’ve been noticing the naming conventions for several years now…and what I’m kind of zeroing in on here is that – in a push to give our children ‘unique’ names that will set them apart from others – sometimes this may work to a certain disadvantage. By that I mean – when one sees a name that is obviously tweeked to be SO unique as to be different – and, sadly, often spelled in an atrocious manner, so off-the wall of any conventional names, it just may serve to demean the goals of the mother… By that I mean that if the person on an application (or whatever) has a name that defies spelling/logic conventions, that may not serve to the applicant’s (your kid’s) advantage and so on in other situations. Just observing here.
Floretta
Syringa is the Latin word for the plant genus we know as the lilac.
Floretta
So change your name; petition the court and make it legal or just assume a new name. Use your middle name if you prefer. I had an Aunt Sam – whose real name was Mildred. She’d been called Sam since she was a toddler and nobody could remember why.
Floretta
LOL I would have spelled it Laurie.
Floretta
“Andrea” in the Engish speaking world is a female name; in Italy and Denmark it is masculine, They both originate from Greek Andreas.
Floretta
We were looking for a solid, uncommon but not “weird” name for our son when he was born 30 years ago – and we both liked Kyle. My own moniker, Floretta, is an amalgam of my maternal grandmother’s first and middle names (Florence Loretta.)
Ciara
Unfortunately, we live in a world and a country, where people are judge because of their name and the sound of their voice (studies have been shown that if you sound black, you might not get an apt. etc). But I feel that if you are confident in your abilities, nothing will hold you back. Condoleesa Rice is a perfect example.
NM2000
Money grab.
One page would serve the consumer better, but 10 pages means you get to load 10x as many ads and charge advertisers for the hits/clickthroughs, even though no one paid any attention to the ads past page 1, if that. You’ll notice a lot of the web works this way these days, but only until people stop clicking the “next” button. But, since 90% of the people complaining about it still did click all the way through the list, the company will keep formatting things this way to drive revenue.
wendy jones
Exactly. Giving a child a weird spelling makes the parent look uneducated (to me). Kaycee (instead of K.C.), Mahkenzee, etc. is just silly. Gimme a break.
Incredulous
Really? “Sharon” makes you hate your mother? It is all relative, I suppose. Have you ever thought about what millions of foreign-born Americans go through on a daily basis?
None of my business, of course – but, here are my two cents: Be proud of your name.
shanah
okay who cares if a name is spelled unique my name is shana but spelled shanah so with does it matter how your name is spelled. its your name no one elses so gtfooh!!
Shanah
well my name is shana but spelled shanah doesnt make my parents dumb just different!
MsYvone
actually, I know a 7 year old Hattie, Willow and an 8 year old Madeline.
Annoyed
So annoying to have to click to 11 different pages to read what could have been done on a short 1 page story. And the popups and video ads make the site even more annoying.
Jen
That’s right…Pure Stupidity and ignorance!!! It is sad to see our country decline… Travel outside of the United States and see if other countries force their natives to speak our language….NO they do not, It disgusts me to know that I will not be hired for a job because I am not fluent in Spanish…Are you kidding?!!!! I live in the United States, not Mexico!!!! Why am I force to learn a 2nd language?? Why aren’t they forced to learn English????
Jen
Yea why don’t u just name them ‘Poop’…. That would be unique wouldn’t it???!!!!
Jen
That’s exactly what I was saying…. Does adding a ‘y’ make your child more ‘unique’? Hardly…My son’s name is biblical, and I did Not choose to spell it in some FReakish way!!! His name is spelled Jacob, nothing fancy but he is definitely unique, no matter how it is spelled!!
Jen
Is the world really boring because of how you spell a name??? Are u kidding me??? I never knew that the way you spelled a name made the world more exciting!! It’s pure stupidity!!
Jen
Yea I agree… What are parents thinking when giving their children “special” spellings for a certain name… Do u think ‘Landyn’ will like that when he is 75 years old??? Landon is a very nice name, quite unique without having to add the ‘Y’ to it!! I named my kids Jake and Jenna….didn’t find it necessary to spell differently… Should I have spelled it Jakob to make him feel special? Nope…Poor kids!!
Pair O’ Dimes
Oh, and why use vintage names when you can make up your own. You know, like Shaniqua or Neselba. Or take a more common name and really screw around with the spelling, like Jenniegh. And of course, don’t forget the 2000s fad names like Brittney, Taylor, et al.
Pair O’ Dimes
Go figure out why Roseanne fell out of favor. It wouldn’t be a TV sitcom, would it???
I dont see anyone with my name unless they are aliasing Cynthia.
Ken
Screw you and your slideshow too.
denilu
If you do not like your first name (or its spelling) go yo court and change it! I wish that more people would change their last name or at least simplify the length and spelling. No one needs an 18 character log alphabet soup name. I do not care what country the name comes from or the family tradition behind it. If a person cannot know the spelling (at least fairly close) upon hearing the name, then it needs to be simplified. Lastly, what is up with girl babies being given the boys name “James”m with only a spelling difference. Is this a gender bender idea?
esther, opal, estelle, bernice, hazel, paulette, maxine, bertha, priscilla, marion, gladys, peggy… now there’s some names you just don’t hear anymore… I don’t know who writes this stuff, but they need to do better research
jak86
Actually, Isabelle and Sophia are incredibly common names right now. The names on this list are not unheard of, but anyone would have to admit you don’t see many new babies being named Pamela or Joyce these days… not that it doesn’t happen, just not often… Notice how they included the ranking on many of them… It shows that they really aren’t that commonly used today… You may know someone with each of these names, but my guess is they weren’t all born recently. No need to get offended by a list of names… No one said they were BAD names, just less common today than they used to be.
Cornelia and Julia
jaxgal
My name is Sharon and the entire time growing up I always HATED it and hated my mother for naming me such a crappy name. I only knew 3 other Sharon’s growing up. I had always vowed I was going to change my name as soon as I got old enough. I hated the way it sounded and was embarrassed to tell people what my name was. Thank god she didn’t name me BRENDA like she had first wanted to !! WHen I named my kids I picked a bunch of names and weighed them carefully for how they sounded and how well they went w/our surname ( which is Irish). This was in the mid-80s… I came up w/Lauren Ashley and Ryan Patrick. No weird spellings or names that would be too “trendy”. I just picked a nice feminine and a nice masculine name that they wouldn’t be ashamed to have.
Christine
*DISCLAIMER: If my comment offends anyone, please don’t take it so personally. Besides, the truth should never be considered ‘offensive’.
I’ve never, in my almost four decades on this planet, heard of so many odd first & middle names for females in a modern country in the 21st century, as I have living in the SOUTHERN United States… Plus, the double word first names (for girls AND boys!) are rampant here. They never shorten it to just the first word in public, not even their close friends & family..& no one else should try to, either! Appearance/image is often times everything to many southerners.
I’ve heard (omitting capitalization here): mary elizabeth, mary grace, mary claire, mary linda, mary catherine, sarah katherine, sarah grace, anna katherine, anna grace, anna claire, catherine anne, emma grace, emma catherine, laura elizabeth, laura katherine, lacy jane … UGHH! Clearly, the list could cont. for miles… & Surnames as first &/or middle names for girls in the south I’ve heard thus far consist of: ayers, ames, blake, townsend, landon, reed, ainsley-(maybe it’s the pretentious sounding undertone–but that one really annoys me!), blakely, kinsey, rangeley (yuck!),tinsley, henley, greer, mckinley….
Besides not liking the conformity & commonality of it, I also simply don’t get it. But then again– I thought ‘The Stepford Wives’ was just comical/horrific science fiction…That is until I moved to the south & discovered it’s not fiction at all. It is REAL.
Is the webmaster too stupid to put these all on one page?
FarmerTom
Why does this clunky website make you click through 10 pages when all the information could easily have been put on a single page?
Beverly
LOL, not it isn’t! I wasn’t being critical of your choice, by the way. I hope it didn’t come across that way.
yeah i know, but jean louise isn’t something that rolls off the tongue, is it?
PeriSoft
Naming your kid after a bank – now *that’s* cruelty!
lisa.leisa.leesa.leasa.lissa
Sasha, Your name is not the usual but it’s not rediculous either. “Eunique” is the way I would have thought it should be spelled, but I wouldn’t know because Its so Unique that I have never heard of it before. Anyway, you shouldnt include your name in the above comment about mixing educatio with stereing. Sasha actually does sound more educated, soft & serene compared to say, Shanté /which would commonly be spelled with “C H”. Your name also seems to reflect a it of fun, flirlirtiness but als some responsibility too. 😉
Amy
My grandmothers name should be on here. There is not too many people that have that name and none since the early 1900’s. Same goes for her middle name. Alberta Alice! My daughters name is uncommon as all get out as well Jeslyn
Fred
Vintage names have to be ugly names like: Maude, Hermoine, Hortense, Gertrude, Madelyn, Florence, Ida, Eugenia, Bertha. Now those are names that should be taken off the books before some dumb girl resurrects them and ruins a childs life. Lets add: Orville, Wilbur, Herman, Clede, Claude, Justice, Jonah and Albert.
redscot
I agree that no-one should be discriminated against because of a name, however it does get ridiculous, I work in an emergency room and I have met La-a pronounced Ladasha, Vaginae (figure that one out), My precious(a boy!) My king, and many others equally odd it MAY be cute for a baby not so much for an adult.
I named my pet black widow “3. Mary-Alice”, shortened to Malice.
Beverly
Scout’s real name was Jean Louise. Scout was a nickname.
Lady Fairfax
Tell your writers to review the spelling of the possessive word “its” (meaning “belonging to it,” as in “its shorter form.” The word “it’s” means “it is.”
Ronald Bryan Domingo
Advertisements <— one word answers ftw
DonDong
Please… what’s your name?! ;p
DonDong
You mean the WOMAN explode if you get their name wrong. If you screw up the insurrance, you can’t blame anyone.
DonDong
You must mean “fame”, Sapp.
DonDong
You’re right, Cora. ;p
DonDong
“Somer” must mean “great sense-of-humor” in Scandanavian. Once, working at the circ desk of a library, I was registering a very nice woman whose name I thought was “Jane”. So I’m keying in her name: J, a, n… and at the top of voice she yells, “JAYNE WITH A ‘Y’!”. And I noticed from working that job that women are like THAT with their name. This is coming from someone named, uhg, “donald”. Did you ever axe your father WHY he preferred that spelling? BTW, the Frances/Francis’s of the world have it worse, I think. For Aaron’s name, succinct pronounciation is important. Or when axed his name, you can always say “It’s Aaron, with two a’s.” Take care, Somer. ;p
DonDong
I kind of like it. Could have been worse. They could have named you “Brittney”, or “Tiffany”, or “Rebecca”. ;p
DonDong
I like “Alexandria” better. Were you named after the city?
DonDong
My pet peeve, too. I end up just reading the first page. ;p
DonDong
That’s a great name. I’m a writer & I used that name for one of a set of twins. Never guess her sister’s name! ;p Beats “Brittany” anyday! No offense. ;p
I named my daughter Nola, you dont here that often.
kzoboe
Why couldn’t we have had the option of just reading this on a list? so slow to load…frustrating
Gertrude? Doris? Penelope?
Dacia
Wow, there seems to be a lot of animosity on a page about baby names…. If we’re naming babies, shouldn’t we be coming from a happy place when reading this article? My name is quite unique. Dacia. I have had to spell, spell again, pronounce, and pronounce again my whole life. But you know what? I wouldn’t change my name for anything. I don’t understand why so many people get mad at having to spell or pronounce their names – aren’t there so many worse things in the world than having to correct someone on your name? And if you think my first name is bad, it doesn’t hold a candle to the difficulty of my last name. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a great ice breaker when meeting new people, and I’ve received compliments on how different and beautiful my name is my whole life. Raise your kids to be proud of who they are, and their name won’t even matter. 🙂
Just1brain
Dallas
I used to hate that i had a unique name; now i completely love the fact that my mother had the gull enough to name me something so unique for her time. my name is Gitana and i get complimented on it all the time. if you’re an uncultured puke you’d think my name was ghetto, something my mother made up. i hated those who rushed to those kind of conclusions based on their racist behavior. It’s sad that shakira had to make a song about my name for people to recognize that it really does have meaning.
i had more discrimination from black people than i ever had from white people. whites thought it was pretty, kind of european sounding. blacks would laugh and think i was just another black girl with a ghetto name. somehow it’s horrible for a person to deny someone a job because their name is hispanic but it’s okay for someone to discriminate against someone because their name is african american? when are we going to stop abandoning our culture just to fit in? you mean to tell me that because my last name is jenkins and not hernadez then my mother doesn’t have the same freedom to use Gitana? i swear, we continue to hold ourselves back. why should they hire us if we think it’s okay for them to over look us due to our namesake? name your kid whatever the heck you want to. giving them a boring name is one of the most horrid things you could do. name him Lackidazi’cal or whatever you want to. no one should be able to treat you a certain way just because of a stinking name.
fillameana
hey, my name Ummabana and im
white. my nick name is ana. my parents were hippies
cecil91
How about Hortense? Naw, she looks pretty relaxed to me.
Snippy 4 a reason
My name is Somer(pronounced Summer) Take it from someone w/ a “uniquely” spelled name, it sucks. From always wanting things like the little personalized license plate for my bike, to having EVERY BLEEPING PERSON call me So-mer(even though no1 mispronounces somersault or Somerville). Some relatives still spell it like the season and I even had a teacher ask me on the 1st day of 11th grade Spanish class “what did the nurse at the hospital not know how to spell?”, mortifying me while all the kids thought it was the funniest thing ever! I have thought about changing it but it was my late father who wanted it spelled that way(and btw named my sisters Jennifer & Nicole-thanks dad!) so in honor of him I keep it, and continue 2 suffer.
Ps: what is with ppl spelling my husbands name ERIN, when he is clearly a man and spells it AARON? R we spelling them both ways for either sex or are ppl that stupid?
Virginia Nordin
When I see a name obviously misspelled, I assume the person does not know how to spell.
Mostly black parents, spell their children’s names differently. They”sound” them out, with different letters. A lot of people ask me how to spell my name, Virginia. Stupid?
ilovetwat
Yeah he feels special alright. LandYn is not cute.
ilovetwat
Don’t torture your children with your dumb name choices. THEY are the ones that have to live with it. I’m not surprised though, I see that you have an inappropriate “i” in your name. That’s not how you spell B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y.
ilovetwat
Thank you for saying this. Nowadays black names make my stomach hurt.
Curly
What about Ethel? Edna? Edith? Hortense? Drusilla? Adra? Inez? Myrtle? I would think these would be incredibly less popular than Joyce or Janet.
Isha58
In Italy, Andrea IS a boy’s name. FYI
deerie
Well lets, see there’s Oprah Winfrey, Kobe Bryant, Condoleeza Rice, Halle Berry, Thandie Newton, Shaquille O’Neal and a little known fella called Barrack Obama… must I continue?
Yes, CLEARLY having an unusual name has held these poor folks back.
SharonUC
My name is Sharon and I’m 33 years old. Although my name is not unique and has no variations in the spelling I get called Shannon at least once a day… I just politely correct them because it’s not a very common name and most of the Sharon’s that I meet are in thier 60’s or 70’s. I think it’s kind of funny. 🙂
Katie Bowen
You folks who worry so much about unique names sound like scared little sheep.
renee
Where’s Gladys, Myrtle, Edith, or Ethel on this list? People are naming their daughters Violet, Vivian and Agnes again so those are not included. Willow, Hattie and Madeline shouldn’t be on this list. I know many Madelines and 2 Celebs just named their babies Hattie and Willow.
slandp
Stop bullying people because they spell a name different. Grow up and get over yourself. Its so sad that people get put down for spelling a name the way they want no one will make fun of them. That is just dumb people on this site who think their opinions matter.
None of these names are “unique”. Unique means the only one.
All made up spellings do is make the parents feel special and look illiterate.
jared jared
the Bible is always capitalized! ask your english-as-a-second language teacher
jared jared
its obvious the non-whites are the most racist,they are just never called on it…at ALL.whites are the only ones not allowed to have a racial identity.blacks frequently say they vote for black candidates because they are black,with no reaction.if whites said the same there would be a media firestorm.
jared jared
so he’s racist for lamenting his country being taken over by foregners legal and illegal,that noone wanted or asked for.amazing how anti-white this media/government/country has become that some foreigner can come here and lecture US on how we should act and feel.the only reason his kids”won’t have a good future”is because of you invaders.and let me be clear:we whites won’t get trampled,you swarthy mutts will.go back to your own mudhole countries and quit feeding off us.
JS2008
“Most people,” really? My 13-yr. old son’s name is Landon…spelled with an “o” like found in baby name dictionaries. Since his birth, I have met at least a DOZEN other children, same name, same spelling. 99.99% of the time, we don’t have to spell it out to people. And it is still a unique name, because he is a unique child. There is no one else in the world like him. And switching a traditional spelling to a “y” does make the name feminine.
Also, our other 3 children have classically-spelled names. No issues there, either. And *gasp* each of them are unique as well! Didn’t take messing with the spelling to achieve that!
ann
It took me 10 minutes to read about 20 sentences. Good job mommynoire for wasting all of my precious time trying to sell me crap I dont want to buy!!!!!!!!!!! Wont be coming back to this ad trap.
Daphne Odora
You are an utter fool if you think grammar doesn’t matter.
Daphne Odora
What about the men? You forgot the men!
Daphne Odora
What is it that makes people think that citing themselves as an example – ONE example out of 100, in this case – proves their point?
Daphne Odora
Syringa (Latin) is also the genus for Lilacs.
Daphne Odora
No, Breayne, you are not *proof*; you are *one* example. Statistics (in this case) would constitute proof, not a single example.
sasha uneek
People mispronounce my first name more than my middle name and that is annoying!!!! NO matter how many time I say my name, they say it incorreclty so I just roll with it…so no..1 out of 10 ppl mispronounce my middle name. 9 out of 10 ppl mispronounce my first name.
Daphne Odora
But how happy are you with people constantly mis-pronouncing it (Un-eek) and misspelling it? Sasha is a common enough name (sorry!) that it is highly unlikely that you were ever discriminated against based upon your name; however, if your name had been L’Uniquiella, it may have been another story. It has been my experience that many people with uncommon names (or sometimes those with slightly uncommon names that the owners wish were *more* uncommon) like the focus of attention on themselves that comes from being in the position of correcting others. P.S. Glad to see you are ignoring the silly message boards in favor of focusing on your education!
Daphne Odora
Andrea Bocelli is Italian. Andrea is a masculine name in Italy.
Mary
People giving their kids crazy names nowadays should stop & think if they would want to go through life with that name.
Betsy
megareddi
why do i have to click ten pages of advertising just to see a stupid list. sell ad space on stories worth reading not curiosity content.
I agree with your comment about feminizing the name, but you misspelled moniker, and it’s dumbing down, not dummying down.
toasttee
That just means that white people are still very racist…they wont hire lakisha or jamal because they know they are black. Educate yourself. Or would they rather employ apple or rainbow?
lilly berstein
Good point.
lilly berstein
Ha!!! This is so true Haddi, this is a great comment. These names aren’t odd and I’m weary of “dumbed down ” Americans as well.
cu1
I always had to spell first and last name as both are unique and require spelling. I also have to repeat myself at least once or twice when introducing myself to others. People quickly lose thier patience and lose interest. Some outright get angry at “having to put up with it” instead of being able to make acquaintences with peope who have “normal” names. So, thank you for not putting your children through that!
CU1
I got the double wammy as a child. My dad went out drinking with his friend and they both came up with a “unique” name for me when I was being born. Then, as I was born late in the year, I was entered into Kindergarden as soon as I was age eligible to begin school. I was always the youngest in my class and vastly outnumbered by children older than me at a time in a childs life when name and age are key in socializing with other children. I was deemed an easy target for bullying and got into trouble as a young boy for acting out and beating down other children. And do you know what? Even today as an adult I get the same treatment from other adults during hiirings and promotions. So, when I hear that parents want to make their children unique, I say thats nonsense. Its themselves they want to make unique for the immediate gratification of bragging rights about their new baby’s name. In my case it was alcohol laying the foundation of what I would be facing my entire life. Where other parents “drunkeness” comes from with some of these names is just as bad.
Heather
My name is Heather and I get asked how to spell it ALL the time.
Jenny
Click on “Unpopular” and it takes you right back to “VIntage” Messed up website.
Andrew
I’m happy that i called my daughter Orchid.
She loves it and it’s very unique.
tarheelcoin
I can think of a lot of other vintage names for girls. Annette, Marian, Beatrice, Gail, Janice, Rhonda, Amelia, Christine, Christina, Clare, Esther, Maureen, Irene, among many others. I like all of them better than so many of the names used today. Two in particular that I find just plain irritating for some reason are Madison and Bella – maybe it’s because they’re both so overused.
Haddi Brown
First off these are not uncommon nor Old names I personally know at least one of each , this list must have been written by a very young person that lives in city full of parent’s that give thier children oddball names. Second off how did Landon, landyen, land whatever get to be the center of discussion on a GIRLS name list. Truly goes to show how “dumbed Down” Americans are getting to be. At least do some real research before posting topics you know nothing about. Isabelle, Sophia, Rosa, even Nelly are much older and not as common. Try at least staying on topic ppl.
Cora
All the names on the list are less “vintage” than mine … Cora
sane
Most of you need some kind of counseling…and a life. Stop trying to control others…leave your meaningless opinions to yourselves.
A lot of the “black” names (Tyreke, Jamal, Iesha, etc) are actually derived from Arabic names. Many of the Africans brought over as slaves were Muslims, and even today, there are many black Muslims in the U.S.
1_SPJ40
So did a few Indians, and the hand full that you are trying to state an argument over were in the more northern area states..not the south!! The south had that “property” sewed up by the millions!! Some of us do know “our” history. And you’re mistaken, it was not common..blacks weren’t even considered human none the less “considered” capable to own property…where did you get the “very common” stuff from? Denial much?
1_SPJ40
rose, sandy, michele, diane, debby, gold digger
abcdefg98988
Brenda was common in the 1930’s until the 1960’s. Most Brendas I know of who are teenagers and 20-somethings are mostly Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.
karla87
*common DOESN’T have to be ugly or plain
karla87
The general conclusion that I have come to (and it has been proven by posters here and by people in general) is that people are closeminded and awfully stereotypical. Providing children with “unique” names is giving them a hurdle in the hiring process that many aren’t able to overcome because of HR individuals that have their heads up their butts. If you were to review a list of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies, the top earners are, consistently, those with common names (the names being boring might just be correlated and not the cause, but if I can remove one obstacle on my child’s path to success I would be more than happy to do so). Note that common has to be ugly or plain. Maybe having a common name indirectly provides children with an inner desire to stand out on their own merit vs. those who stand out on the merit of their name?
Anita Sapp
Barack Hussein Obama…. If you’re destined to greatness doesn’t matter your color or your name you will get there
erf
exactly. The system needs to change, not the people who miss out on equal opportunities. Your child shouldn’t have to HAVE a boring culturally neutral name just to have basic American rights and respect from others. Also, “the y is effeminate”…it almost sounds as if being feminine or perceived as feminine is looked down upon as shameful. Surly not! /sarcasm. Get over yourselves, people.
Hector schwartz
Really? Fuckin 10 clicks for your stupid list? Go to hell
[email protected]
What if David, John, Anne and the like are not “family names” for you? Names that may sound unfamiliar may be very old in other cultures and/or languages…
joe
As a pharmacist for 35 years, we don’t fill your Rx till you walk in and confirm. People explode if you misspell their name or put the Rx on the wrong account with wrong insurance or coverage. We have to ask the correct spelling three times even on simple names because people explode about anything now
Erin
I don’t know where you got your info on Madeline, but I know A LOT of Madelines under the age of five. It is ridiculously popular. Everywhere you turn, there is another Madeline.
Juanita Gordon
What do you think “ETA” stands for…I’m just curious because it makes no sense how you have it preceding your example that…by the way, also doesn’t make much sense. I know of several successful men named Jamal.
Juanita Gordon
I agree 100%
Juanita Gordon
At 18yrs old and with a hundred bucks you can change it. My dad gave himself a middle name…well, he changed his first name and moved his given name to his middle name. Now thats unique…
Frustrated
Reading your articles on my phone is a painful process because you keep asking us to press Continue as you present content too slowly.
Susan garton
i hate that i have to hit page after page just to read one paragraph. cant it all be on one page? its annoying and will keep me from reading more articles on this page.
J Cool
There should be a web site that lists the information that is scattered over several pages showing one tidbit at a time like this one does. It takes a long time to go to a page for each name. And this website hangs up, too.
I spell my son’s name Landyn too 🙂
Ebony woman
Well if my kids future employer will not hire them because of their “ethnic” name, they will have a field day when they show up to the interview black, lol. Its OK. We will survive. Jamiah, Laylah and Jailynn (made up names and/or spellings). Just remember my daughters may be your kids employer one day. I will make the note to tell them to throw all “normal” name resumes in the trash. Remember, my ancestors names, language and traditions have been destroyed, so I am starting my own. For the record, my name is Nichelle. Love my name!!!!
cece
Have never known anyone named Willow so would not call it vintage but how about Anastacia, Johanna, Molly, Mae, Agnes, Frances, Margaret, Catherine, Anna, Elizabeth, Joan, Virginia, Selma, Sarah, Imogene, Estelle, Alice, Julia, Harriet and June.
navynurse
Its true. I’m black and even I wonder what type of background does Quantinayea or Da’savion come from. Sounds ghetto to me so its hard to understand how this person wasn’t raised ghetto. Tyler and Nicolas are my sons names and those aren’t cheesy names.
Rixie 4
I can top all of these. My first name is Rixie. It dates back to the late 1800’s. All the first born daughters in my family for 5 generations have had that name even though it is now almost unheard of. We each have our own middle name, which we go by, that is a more common name for our generation. I think that is the key to saddling your kid with a unique name. Make sure they have one “normal” name that they can use just in case they are not thrilled with being unusual.
Truely Exclusive
I use to not like my name buut now I wouldn’t change it for nothen in the world. I don’t know if I’m the only one but it ain’t to many out here!!!! Truely it is!!!!
Leona was my grandmothers middle name and now it;s my niece and my daughter middle name. I almost made it my daughters first name but Brooklyn Leona sounded better then Leona Brooklyn. Ann is my middle name.
unicorncloud
There is a typo on the last page! It says “Joyce” instead of “Janet”. Thanks for the article
kokoloni
“Marian” is very, very Catholic (“of the Virgin Mary”) and likely slipped along with Catholic Church membership. It’s also a guy’s name in Eastern Europe–sophisticated traveling parents might sense a gender issue.
kokoloni
I think the “plant species” names are becoming rare breeds, at least in the US (someone should check about garden-happy Britain…). Violet? Rose?
kokoloni
“Lillian” sure wasn’t helped by Lillian Rearden in *Atlas Shrugged*.
A previous responder mentioned “Myrtle”. Same thing? Harry Potter….
kokoloni
There’s a prominent musician in NYC named Ethyl (yes, spelled like the chemical). My mom knew her somewhat. IIRC there were science or math teachers in her family; not really sure though. Anyway, I used to mispronounce the word for the hydrocarbon as EE-thyl when I was a kid, and mispronounced Ethyl (person) identically. I thought it was cool to be named after a chemical!
kokoloni
Ann was a very common middle name before the last few decades, with a good reason. Roman Catholics are restricted to saints’ names. However, a Catholic child can be baptized with a non-saint name if a second, saintly name is attached: Kimberley alone is not OK, but Kimberley Ann is acceptable. Ann (or Anne) was the commonest “attached” name as it is short, starts with a vowel (so blends with almost anything before it), and was the name of Jesus’ grandmother (cf. Joachim and Anna).
kokoloni
And Kunegunda, like the female saint. I think the French spell it Cunegunde. Hmmm, how are the name trends going in France?
kokoloni
I’ve heard of Asian kids named Quantum and Rhythmia. Quantum (male) was an MIT undergrad, while Rhythmia was a student at a top-tier music conservatory. I think these names have the *opposite* signaling effect as blacks’ Shaniqua and Dontavious: they say “serious parents raising disciplined kids skilled at difficult tasks”. The Asian surnames, of course, help a lot.
I knew a Mainland Chinese guy whose name in Chinese sounded a bit strange, even to my US English ears. Turns out, both his parents were aeronautics professors at Beijing University. His Chinese given names meant “dedicated to aeronautics”. (Yes he did study Aero, seemed happy with it, and did a thesis on air traffic control.)
kokoloni
Sarin is a real name, except it’s a girl’s name. It’s Cambodian. Just a coincidence w.r.t. the toxic gas. Though, maybe your redneck didn’t know this.
Khrissondra
my name is ultra unique, but my jobs aren’t down upon because of my name because my work ethics are unquestionable. I’ve never had any problems besides everyone loves my name.
Your grammarian friend
Like “hers” and “theirs” the possessive word “its” has no apostrophe. “It’s” means “it is” and that is its only meaning.
Martha Murphy
A lot of people on here seem to miss the fact that, even if you spell a name the “ordinary” or “traditional” way, a lot of other people don’t. So even the person with the ordinary spelling will be asked to spell his/her name. Can’t get around it. I went from an unusual surname to Murphy, and I’m always asked to spell it. (And, yes, I know that there are other ways to spell Murphy.)
Coryn
I don’t know if my name is vintge…. But you Coryn isn’t a common one and its commonly spelled Corrin.
Mike
My name is Michael and it has been since 1975; however, many have struggled with the spelling (i.e. reversing the order of the ‘a’ and ‘e’). While I used to hypothesize that regional educational deficiencies we’re the culprit I now have a greater understanding of the diseased human mind. People are stupid! Enough said.
Tim T
I’d say Roseanne Barr has a lot to do with why the name Roseanne isn’t any higher on the list anymore !
Clownboat is an underrated name. As is Slapnuts.
SuperbaddMcLovinn
Im black and my children Have normal Names. Morgan, Mahogany, Brendan and Aaryn.
Cyndi
Betty? Rita? Florence? Colleen? Shirley? Linda? Dolores? Mmmmm
Anita
I can’t believe my name (Anita) is on the list!
sasha uneek
funny….my name is sasha which is russian but bc im black apparently i will not recieve the same treatment in education or out in the field but yet i have 1 degree now will have a masters in 3 months and my name had nothing to do with my education…therr is a reason i ignore silly message boards…names are names who cares if u change the spelling to make it more unique..im glad my mother spelled my middle name uneek instead of unique!
sasha uneek
i agree!
sasha uneek
my name is sasha uneek and i am black as u call it and have a bachelors in communications and will have my masters of education in 3 mos…so yeah what do u have to say to that?!
Aiyisha Centeno
My name is Aiyisha. I have never had a difficult time finding employment nor any difficulties with educational opportunities because of my name. But on the other hand i gave my children pretty easy names (Aidan, Morgan and Anneleisse) and misspellings run rampant!
black mother
Well my name is ralohn im 22 my daughters names are raylynn and rayven and yes we are black there named after my grandfather Raymond o presley
he was the first black officer that move to detective and private investigator in Minneapolis Minnesota and when my girls get older and they ask were or how i thought of there names im gone tell there just that!! Your named after a great man
dmed33
Why not just get back to good old fashion names. My entire family throughout generations (even today) have been using old fashion names. But then that is my family.
brandi
Look at all you busy-bodies, passing judgement on names…YOU are the problem, not the namers.
Micheala
you forget that when you name these children ”unique names”. they miss out on getting stickers with their names on them at tourist shops. 😉 “super star” does not always cut it. ;))
MarvinB7
My name “Marvin” is not common today, but maintains the common spelling. Yet people repeatedly misspell it and I have to correct them. The spelling won’t kill the person. I personally don’t care for the ‘unique’ name spellings. Spelling isn’t an art form, it is a science. Why make using language more difficult?
Vivian
What about their, there and they’re?? And…to, too and two. The one that bugs me the most…your and you’re!!! But there is something that I cannot stand more than the misuse of words, it is runon sentences. People nowadays DO NOT know how to use proper punctuation!!! I feel that I have to take a breath when reading something that has NO punctuation!!! Do people honestly talk like that too?? I don’t think so.
Carl Lambur
Maybe, but out of the schools that my girls have attended, I only heard of one other Fionna. Aoife, Maebh and Fianna have never popped up at these schools…all are Gaelic, even thought we are Irish and Scottish. Needless to say, they go by their nicknames around their friends. 😉
Carl Lambur
Being a Scot, and married to an Irish lass, I defered to my wife for the naming of our two sets of twins. The first set: Fiona and Fianna…the second set: Aoife and Maebh. That ought to give someone in this thread a migraine, lol. The English teachers had no problems…the others, my daughters’ just went with nicknames. BTW, we live in southern Mississippi!
This has got to be one of the most poorly written “articles” I have ever read. Does anyone proofread?
coop1003
My name is Breayne and I am a 34y/o black woman. I am proof that your point is baseless. There is nothing wrong with having a unique name, if everyone was named Michael and Mary, we would live in such a boring world.
Also, I have read the stats years ago regarding “ethnic” names and the hiring process. However, don’t you think that speaks more of the small-minded individuals doing scanning these resumes than the names attached to them?
Mdouglas4545
My daughters name is Madeline and she is 7, she loves the name and we never pondered spelling it unconventionally like Madelyn or Madelynne. However, let the parents be creative. While I do think its a little much to name a girl name Ashley , Ashlee or Ashlye, that’s for the parents to decide. However a name like annandreonna (saw it the other day) seem a little overboard to me. You don’t have to be plain and basic but give the kid a fighting chance at least. – Matt, spelled Matthew
Pro- Strong family names
What happened to honoring past relatives with incorporating family names such as David, John, Anne – no one seems to do that anymore – there was always a legacy or a sense of respect for our ancestors. That’s seems to be a lost tradition.
lou
Sorry but your Landyn is not the only one, just google the name.
leela.farnsworth
Gwen Pegram
Until I turned 18 and needed my birth certificate to get my first job, I hated my name Gwendolyn. There were only two people in my hometown with that name, and believe it or not, one was a man! Well, when I got my birth certificate — I was aware that I was a foster child — there was no first name, only a last name. The first name was left BLANK! I found out from social workers that I was abandoned in a hospital and the nurses gave me the name Gwendolyn. I guess I don’t have to tell you that after that my name was special, even though I have shortened it to Gwen.
Iza Koon
ALL GOOD MONKEY HO NAMES!!!!
whatsinaname
So would this mean that the “ghetto” and “white trash” names being given to kids today will be the “regular” names of their kids’ generation – and, therefore, “normal”?
although I do agree that complicated name-spellings can be rough on kids….
what drives me crazy is when everyone seems to be naming their children the same thing – like when Emma was the baby on “Friends,” then suddenly that name became the most popular – because of a TV show and people’s apparent lack of individuality. Emma was my grandmother’s name and considered “vintage” until this happened. (but at least the name Emma doesn’t lend itself to variations in spelling)
Vivian
My name is Vivian…so many people cannot spell my name. I have to spell it for them. I do it like this: Vi vi an. If I do not spell it out in such a manner, I get my name spelled in all kinds of weird ways. I personally like it spelt, Vivean. In my opinion, if you sound out my name, it should be spelled that way. LOL.
Yesterday, I was at the DMV and the woman that was behind the desk told me I had a beautiful and unique name.
A name I think is beautiful and not heard too often: Penelope (Penny). Just sayin’.
Have a great weekend all…
frankblank
Why do you need eleven pages for eleven names? Your readership incapable of handling more than a couple words per page? Or are you ramming ads down their throats and wasting a lot of time doing it?
Zyxomma
The spelling of my “real” name is unusual, so while still in public school, I spelled it the “normal” way — that is, the way everyone else spells it. I now spell it the way it appears on my birth certificate. Anyone who doesn’t like it can lump it.
To Brandi, there’s nothing wrong with French names, unless they confuse clueless Americans. A former neighbor of mine named one of her sons Etienne, which is French for Steven. Unfortunately, people actually believed she’d named her son after the ubiquitous cash machine, ATM, because her son’s name is pronounced a-t-ENN. She was miserable about it.
Alana
*either way
Alana
But I must say there’s nothing wrong with having a common name if you love it thats all that matters it’s not everyone else’s decision to decide for one person that they do not love they’re own name in my opinion both original/unique and common names can be beautiful names people that name they’re kids with original names sometimes think that kids with common names are weird either everyone thinks differently and if you don’t like your name you can always just change it if it really bothers you that much
Alana
My name is spelled Alana and nobody says it right, they say it like you say Elaina and my name should be so easy to say but I’ve only had like two teachers in my life say it correct. I have a unique first, middle and last name. I still love my name most kids/teens could care less about having to correct their name. I love having a name that a lot of other kids/teens don’t have i want to be an individual and not have to be called Brittnay P. or Brittnay M. because they’re like 50 billion other people with that name. Today in society kids want to be unique and there’s nothing wrong with having a different name. In other words kids/teens don’t want to fit in because of they’re name name has absolutely nothing what so ever to do with where they go in life or what they do with it it’s their own decisions that decide that by the way I’m only fifteen so I would know what kids/teens think. In fact I have friends who have names that are common and they wish they had unique names.
Harrison
My name is Harrison, and I’m a girl. It used to really bother me when I was younger that all my elementary school teachers thought I was male until they met me, it made me really insecure about myself and dating and whatnot; but now I really do appreciate my name and how different it is for a girl to have. Not to mention my middle name is Reed. And you would NOT believe how many people will spell my name Harison, Harryson, etc. It’s just a part of life. I’d choose my name over any other.
Tess xellye • a month ago
−
If we’re talking about unfortunate names, white parents are hardly blameless. I’m talking to you, people who abuse spelling to call your kids things like McKenzee or Breayanna.
You’re 100% correct; whites in America can be just as guilty for shaming their kids with dumb or wretched names. I heard of a white girl who was named “Syringa.” GTFOOH, were her parents serious?
I also read about some white woman who immigrated to the States from France; she got married in the US and had kids. She ended up giving them these complex and hard-pronouncing French names. Um, this is America, lady, an ENGLISH-speaking country. You want your children to grow up here and be able to have appropriate names that can get them jobs and prevents them from being teased and mocked by his or her peers during elementary recess.
BadD KitTy
Yeah, it’s not like they have the internet in Europe or anything.
David Fox
One female name that is unlikely to be used again in the foreseeable future is “Gay.”
Lynne
My name is Lynne and my whole life I’ve had it misspelled. I received my college diploma in the mail from a so-called top-notch university. Yep — there it was: “Lynn” on my diploma. I’d say to parents — save your kids the irritation and go with a commonly spelled name.
Lorrie
I agree…….my name is Lorrie. At work, it never fails….they spell it Lori…..and they know it pissed me off!!! Lololol
Oops
There was a woman in the company directory where I previously whose name was Chlamynia. Fact.
Malcolm XXX
My name is Shaniquia Shabazz Ali King
Meeka
I made up my daughter’s name by combining my name with another that was way overused (in1983), with a middle name from my best friend. Her name was unique when she was born: Jessilyn Rose. Within five years I began to hear the name Jessilyn used all over the west coast, spelled several different ways. Now she is 30, and proud of her “different” name, even though there are probably thousands of young women with this name by now. Unique doesn’t always mean weird or unusual. Sometimes it means a new trend.
well that was boring. I personally know people with every one of those names (including my daughter).
what’s-in-a-name
Wow…people can be so mean. It’s mostly sad that it’s becoming less and less surprising when topics like this rapidly dissolve into insults and arguing. Who cares what someone’s name is? What does that have to do with the person themselves, let alone how it’s spelled truly effecting their personality or actions. It’s meaningless.
Colette
I do use a fake name for superficial things, Chris, nice & easy. My name is Colette, not hard if you live in France! But Americans don’t get it, ever…. Claudette, Paulette, Colleen… even for people who know me!
swampwiz
My grandmother, born in 1913, was named Dorothy.
cynthia
My daughter’s name is Tamara and she constantly had to correct people on the pronunciation, Ta-mar-a not Tam-ra. Just a I’m Cynthia try people always try to call me Cindy. I’m used to correcting people and they are right, it won’t kill you.
Edris
My guess is “back in the day”, there were even fewer ways to spell the more traditional names (some of your examples of Catherine/Katherine – I would bet if we could look back at census, there would be fewer variations – maybe two?) I grew up with a very unusual name, my grandmother’s name, and as a nearly 50 yo adult, and esp. since she passed, I now embrace it. But growing up with it – and even still, it was a MAJOR DRAG. I am constantly having to repeat my name (and I go by a nickname which is more common than my given name but still very uncommon in my generation); I am constantly having to spell it. My mother felt terrible and it was a strange twist of events that led to my having that name (the name she chose for me was very simple and lovely; my grandmother and father apparently co-conspired, LOL, and came up with the idea of naming me after my grandmother.) I have one child – a daughter. Her name is Jenna. My mother is Jean; my mother in law is Jenny – I nearly spelled it Jeanna, which is one more unusual way to spell it but more like my mother’s name. But I took a poll, and asked my friends – “When you see this name, what do YOU think it is?” They ALL replied Gee-nah. No one questions Jenna – no one has trouble remembering how to spell it. What does happen is because of all the unusual spelling of names out there, people no longer feel safe just assuming it’s the good ol’ phonetic way, so often still ask, to be sure. My point is – it DOES matter. Unless you have grown up with a name you don’t like, because it IS so unusual (as a child, you are not as connected with it’s ties to history, culture, or ancestry); difficult to pronounce, spell, etc., you can’t truly appreciate what a person goes through when given an unusual name. I am speaking up on behalf of us all.
Edris
You almost expect such things from artists, particularly famous ones – they’re almost given carte blanche to be eccentric, because they ARE eccentric.
Unkown girl
Norma,madison,brenda,laurel,cecialia,sharie,georgia,gilberta,rosa,rosabelle
Patience
My name is Patience and I am constantly asked to spell it… an actual WORD from the dictionary. Very annoying! Other than that I love my name…
Whatev_from_Bossip
I know; at least Landen, but I hate illiterately-spelled names. If he is still young, perhaps they can make it good old Landon.
NoDiffFromU
Well your parents wanted to be “different” and choose on of the most common girl names around but spell it Britainy. Why would they do that to you? Just waited till you hit 30 or so–you will be so sick of spelling it out you might wish you were a Brittany.
And why does your child need a name to feel special? Fact is most kids are ordinary-we love them and they are special to us but we have so many kids feeling they are special that entitlement has become the norm.
MaddieMoss
There’s a difference? Look at little Savannah’s post above and tell me she doesn’t swing from a pole for a living.
ftcmom
I named my son Bryson thinking it was unique. Well he grew up with another Bryson at his school, a year younger. But to watch his face when he looked at objects that had kids names on them and see the disappointment at not being able to find his name EVER…… I don’t think I’d do it again.
TailerRileeNichy
Linda is a dinosaur now, isn’t it?
crosstown
I made my comment before realizing you had made a similar observation. I agree in that “Landyn” is somewhat effeminate. Not good.
crosstown
No, it just makes YOU a SELFISH MOTHER. Congratulations!
Hoosier
Here is History that was NEVER taught in school. Blacks OWNED black slaves. Oh, yes they did! Now, WHY isn’t that taught in school just like WHITES owning slaves? WHY? Think about it, then google it. Very common! !
Hoosier
Could it PARTIALLY be due to RAPPERS and their so-called names?? Lord have mercy!
Hoosier
A BOY whimpering/crying should not spend his life with his name spelled in FEMININE sense. Save HIM a little grief in a cruel, cold world! L A N D O N.
Hoosier
I have never heard of my name. Ever.
One thing that’s certain, when I hear this name, I know for a FACT that it is ME that is being spoken about. My name is;
Delynn (Duh-lynn) said quickly, NO pause and the E is NOT long sounding.
created by my loving mother who passed away att age 47, twenty six years ago. U Brain tumor. The ONLY thing that EVER defeated my Mom. Have a nice weekend.
Jay
all the kids with the wierdlky spelled names are screwed when it comes to buying one of those tiny license plates with the names on em….. Just sayin.
Vrod D
I gave each of my kids unique names, Abra(pronounced Abracadabra), Amadeus(for a middle name), and Ozzie(first name). I love each of their names.( no, I wasn’t on drugs when I named them)
Grammar Police
“It’s” is not correct in the possessive form. eg – “My dog wags ITS (no apostrophe) tail” is correct. “It’s” is correct only when used as a contraction for “it is.” (“It’s raining.”) If you’re going to write a blog, try and use proper English. Thanks.
Traveler118
I liked my son enough to name him Sue.
Bletk
As a teacher, I’d say odd spellings are for the parents. Kids only care when their teacher and peers can’t pronounce it. Or, after 6 months of being in the same class their teacher spells it wrong. What’s wrong with the teacher we ask? Well, she probably has kamden and kamdon in her reading group and after the billionth bandaid, has a lapse in memory. Don’t make our job harder
!
Paulette
Who ever thought an American President would have a first name of Barack? I’m waitng for an American President with the first name of Bertha; truly a vintage name. The rest of these names have just been retired from use.
In school they also teach you to properly spell a name.
ANONYMICE
It’s = it is. Seriously. Every time.
Eric
Who edited this drivel? “It’s” with an apostrophe means “it is.” It does not signify possession. This is more than just a mere typo, as it’s happened throughout this list.
Beverly
Thought I would see Beverly on the list. I’ve never met another Bev.
That’s not my name!
Yeah and then when he makes a phone call and has to identify himself-to anybody…the gas company, his bank, whoever-they will mispronounce and ask him to repeat his name three times before they get it right. I actually considered using a fake name for this very reason, and the reason that you stated above.
That’s not my name!
Yeah but his name is normal for males in his culture. I once knew an Italian guy with the same name. It really does depend on your culture.
alex
So you’re saying Hattie at #993 is more popular than Ann at #996? That can’t possibly be correct
Erin Nelson
Lost my interest after click #2. I shouldn’t have to burn through my data plan to reload ten pages because you guys want extra click through counts. I won’t be back to your site.
scouse66
No, but Frances was my Gran’s name and I love it. If I had a little girl I was going to name her after her. Either Frances or Franchesca.
deb
Thank you. You are absolutely correct Gitchy.
Serai 1
Sure, if you’ll say hello to Coprocephaly for me.
Serai 1
You know, her post wasn’t nearly as nasty and insulting as yours.
Serai 1
Of course. Because the human race just sprang fully formed out of the ground. Our ANTECEDENTS lived on Pangea. There’s this thing called “evolution”, where all species are connected by deriving from common ancestors. That’s what’s meant when it’s said “we came from Pangea”.
Serai 1
Ahaha. I see you’re not Hispanic. In Spanish, “melena” means “a thick, full head of hair”. It’s used to describe women’s hair. So if the child was born with really thick, beautiful hair (which happens, especially among Latino kids), then it’s a perfectly fine name, if a bit unusual.
Serai 1
“Dotty” is a traditional American name, but I don’t think many girls would find it a dignified one.
Serai 1
Well, bully for you. What do you want, a cookie?
The problem is simply that Americans (meaning white Americans) are very wedded to the idea that their way of doing things is the “normal” and “right” way, and everyone else in the world is Doing It Wrong. Sorry, honey, but that viewpoint has held sway long enough. This isn’t White Guy Rules Country anymore – get used to it.
Serai 1
Well, she likes it. Her brother hasn’t changed his name, either. So maybe your opinion is just your opinion, eh?
Serai 1
A “regular name” is whatever the speaker’s parents’ generation were naming their kids. That holds no matter what era you’re talking about – what I’m used to is “normal” and what those DANG KIDS are doing is stupid and weird.
Serai 1
Aw, poor baby. Can’t stand the facts of history. Nobody else has done this to America, kiddo. We bought our decline with our stupidity, short-sightedness and selfishness. Just like every other empire.
Serai 1
Oh geez, this racist crap again. Yeah, yeah, it’s so awful that an effort is made to try and make things better. Go cry in your beer, sugar, don’t cry here.
Serai 1
YOU capitalize the world “bible”. Not everyone else does. And I’m sure there are many people in the world who would think your name is ridiculous, too.
Serai 1
Maybe if people didn’t use insulting terms like “ghetto names”, it wouldn’t be such a problem, hm?
Serai 1
Just out of curiosity, are you aware of how insulting it is to tell someone you’ve never met to “calm down”? It’s condescending and rude.
Serai 1
Fine. But you’re just going to make it look like your kid’s mother couldn’t spell. If that’s your idea of a good time, knock yourself out.
Serai 1
and several other studies have shown that that assumption is completely bogus. In fact, those “studies” you quote are no more than urban legend. There’s no difference in opportunity based on names. There is a difference in attitude on the part of people who assume that odd names affect people’s lives – like you.
flossmore
Travon Demarcus Andreas Tyree Cleophis Delmonte Jones…..now that’s a name!
Sarah Wright
I agree with you girl! I know a lot of white trash people who seem to love the name Neveah.
bucs79
Just wrong about Madeline. There are multiple spellings. Each one might not be so popular but combined there are a LOT of Madelines in the 3-7 year old cohort.
Lyss
Jardyne doesn’t even sound like jordyn or Jordan. I think we can at least spell the name so it sounds correct. My name is spelled Alyssa. I’ve had people ask me to spell my name my whole life too but it at least sounds correct.
Lyss
Lol well there are black celebrities that give weird names too. Like blue ivy for example. I don’t think it really matters about the color i think its about the person and how they grew up and what they want to pass on from what they learned. Which could be something weird or something nice. But I do think we need to think about how our children will feel about what we name them. It not about us. I believe there are unique yet non embarassing names out there. They have to live with it not us so we need to make sure it wont be an embarrasment for them.
K
These are not urban legends at all. My mother-in-law worked in Labor & Delivery, and there was a new mother that decided to name her kid Placenta. Other mothers would tell the nurse what their new babies’ names were, and when the nurses asked how those names were spelled, the mothers would respond, “I have no idea.”
V
Four of these names (Joyce, Hattie, Pamela, Ann) are names I have heard and seen given to women under 30. I also know a 7 year old named Helen.
I was going to name my third child Willow if it had been a girl.
I was expecting names like Esther, Ethel, Clothilda…
A slideshow, for a list of 10 names? You suck.
Sidonie Rene’
My name is Sidonie. Its said like Sydney. I like being asked how to say my name and I’m also a pre-med student in college. My sisters name is Angeleah. She’s in nursing school. We’re both 20. Having a unique name is fun as a kid. You never find a repeat of the same and you do, in fact, feel special.
P.s. We’re both white.
gaufrette
Janet means “God is gracious” and is also a lovely name. I share it. Congratulations to you and your lovely daughters!
gaufrette
OK…Two weeks from today I turn 65, and now I find my name at the bottom of your list. Well, I guess my life is over.
No
I thought everyone knew those were urban legends. These stories are frequently passes around as fact to mock and denigrate black people.
Warren Hardin
Only if it was just the women. All men could be Tarzan. Introductions would be automatic. “Me . . .
Alexandra
Having a unique name doesnt even mean you would have to spell it anymore than a regular name. My name is Alexandra and ive been called everything under the sun and it pisses me offto have a COMMON name snd still have to spell it. I named my first child Caden thinking how cute ive never heard this name before. No sooner did I bring him home I heard everyone was going for caden jaydin zayden hayden and then everyone started naming their kids those names. When I was deciding my daughters name I did an original name and trust me she WILL thank me for not sharing a name like “jessica” 5 other classmates. As long as you dont name your child something outlandish then a little originality goes a long way. And ive had nothing but compliments about her name thus far. Far more than my sons now very common name.
KD
Really – these are “unique” names that you don’t hear anymore?… Maybe because most of them are like dirt sandwiches – balnd and horrible. And I’m pretty sure I know about 7 little girls named Willow – not so uncommon or unheard of. Who makes this crap up?
Erin
Typo on last page – should say Janet, not Joyce.
Also, “it’s” = “it is”. For possession, use “its”.
For example, ” despite it’s popularity” basically says ” despite it is popularity”.
miss.ellie
Laura ellen
disconnected55555
But it will continually piss him off because people are too stupid to spell it correctly even when they are copying from another source.
disconnected55555
Elizabeth R. Hill
My girls all got names that happened kinda spontaneously. Savannah because everywhere i looked i saw & heard things saying Savannah georgia. I liked it. Stevie Rae a girl after Stevie Ray Vaugn & Stevie Nicks. Raeanna because i told my friend Rhiannon after the song & she thought i said Raeanna, & i fell in love because Rae is my middle name. We call our childrens names at least a million times, so whatever u do u better love it!!! [email protected]
sneemdream
Andrea is a very common MALE name in Italy.
Drew
My first name is Donovan. Donovan was my mothers maiden name and she always wanted to use that name if she ever had another boy. Early on she realized that people were starting to call me Donny or Don. She would correct them and say his name is Donovan, but people seemed to want to abbreviate. Rather than deal with correcting people over and over again she decided it would be better if I went by my middle name, Drew. That is the name I have used for 46 now. I have found that on those occasions where I have had to use my first name, people still tend to call me Don or Donny. There are a few people who know me and do call me Donovan and that is fine.
Disirae Brown
Landyn, Landen, Landon, Landin, etc. It really doesn’t matter, like his Mother said; he makes the name, the name doesn’t make him! It’s 2013, and the most common names can be spelled several ways. EX: Jordan, Jordin, Jardyne, Jordyne. He will be asked uncountable times in his life how to spell his name, just like I have. Believe me, it’s not going to kill him.
Disirae Brown
WOW.. Someone not getting “the same treatment” because of the spelling of their name, is a perfect example of STEREOTYPING and DISCRIMINATION! I was sort of agreeing at first, because i thought you were steering more towards Twaykieshia’s and Jamarerious’s. I know a lot of Lakisha’s and Jamal’s who are VERY successful in life, and have managed to accumulate wonderful careers! Lakisha and Jamal are nice names if you ask me. I think what you were really trying to say is that, parents need to start naming there children names that are more common in the caucasians race, so they can get treated better. Which again is discrimination.
Pamela Ann
I’m a Pamela, and all the Pamela’s I ever meet are my age or older. Not only that, I am a Pamela Ann, two very unpopular names, apparently.
Frankie
Question: Is mommynoire a website for African American mothers?
jb
the ads on this article are absolutely insane. avoiding this site like a plague from now on.
Leandra Lippold
Well my name is leandra. Pronounced leondra and ive never had a problem getting a job or.school. guys always thougjt it was attractive and by the way im white. Not only black people have unique names. Id hate to have 5 other people in my class with the same name as me
My daughter same, she has a semi unique name that is becoming popular “tessa” but it’s not boring plain names
jhenry
I can’t agree with Madeline. My 7 year old granddaughter has several friends named Madeline or Madelyn or Maddie. I am a Janet and there are no young Janet anymore! Also, I think Anna has replaced Ann.
Robert
Pretty poor comparison as I’d imagine that some industries have a positive view of those mentioned minorities (even if they have a hard time spelling/pronouncing said name) as oppose to ‘black’ names.
Stephr
You know what’s crazy? We all have our own children, that we’ve created, and birthed, and can name them whatever the h we want! The end. There will always be someone who doesn’t like a name, but until they’ve donated the goods, went through pregnancy, or labor with me I could CARE LESS!
JaneDoe
I have a unique name (I’ve never heard it before, nor have I seen it anywhere in print). It has been a curse! A lifetime of repeating it, mispronunciations, and being called everything but my name! I’ve felt anything but special, more like invisible because no one can remember it. Parents, feeling “special” isn’t special!
Marjoriejean
you women are ridiculous on here, this was an article about names and you are all picking at race,education and grammar. instead of being rude why don’t some of you make helpfull comments. I think landyn is a great name. my name is Marjorie spelt very normal and my whole life I have had to pronounce it and spell it for people. its at the fault of the person trying to write/say the name.
Amy
The possessive form of it is its, not it’s (for example, “despite ITS popularity…”). This article contains many typos.
whatever
How does this relate to vintage names?
KamJos
We could teach kids instead to not laugh at people because of a name.
KamJos
It’s a racist lie, she doesn’t exist.
KamJos
La-a does not exist. Please stop spreading this racist lie.
KamJos
Like any other kindergartner. Didn’t stop people from naming their kids Elizabeth and Ashleigh. If you’re that concerned about your kid learning to spell their name just name them “A”.
KamJos
My grand-daughter due in May 2013.. Her name will be, Monica Kimberly!
Jim in Michigan
Written by “Ruthie” Hawkins? I wonder where Ruth ranks, let alone “Ruthie”? Ruthie seems to have taken some names randomly and tried to make an “intelligent” story. Ruthie failed, but she hooked me. Shame on me.
Scarlet
White people do it too. I heard a of a girl named Duvet because her parents wanted her to be a comfort to people. A duvet is a comforter cover. 75 percent of the world thinks our names are weird.
xellye
‘Spelt’ is also correct. However, -ed endings are more common in American English.
xellye
Dr. Rice’s name is actually spelled Condoleezza, with two Zs.
xellye
Love it! 🙂
digi
Karen, Robert, Susan, Michael -us 4 kids growing up in 60’s and 70’s. My kids are Lauren and Mark 20 and 15 y/o very basic names. Had to spell both maiden name and current married name, why have to spell more?
xellye
“Oriental”? And I’m the racist here?
xellye
I’m a black woman reading MommyNoire.com, so that’s why I wrote about black children. Thank you.
BMarino
I agree with most of these. While I do know someone with almost every name listed here, except for Hattie, I find some of these names are common among people that I know. For example, I know several women named Janet and two of them are in their 20s. I do know several Dorothys as well. And Madeline/Madeleine isn’t uncommon to me at all. I know a five-year old with that name. Names do go in cycles. I’m waiting for Deborah, Cynthia, Susan etc. to make their comebacks. I remember when Emma, Emily & Hannah were names for old women.
xellye
And, honestly, I feel like Moon Unit has a far less silly name than her sister, Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen Zappa. 🙂
xellye
As an economist, I encourage all of you to read this National Bureau of Economic Research paper by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan entitled “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination” (Link: scholar.harvard.edu/mullainathan/files/emilygreg.pdf) And for the record, Dweezil Zappa’s birth name is Ian Donald.
TriggaNometry
Well my wife and I are icebreakers I guess. Our first daughter is named Caroleigh. Grandma’s name is Carol and my wife’s sisters name is Leighann. We squashed them all together and that’s what we got. Our daughter is thrilled with the name. In fact we never gave her a middle name! But I have called her “sweetie” since she was a baby. I’m the only one she lets do that! 😉 Proud papa
sammi_lu
Goodness, this is my first time checking out the MommyNoire site and out of three articles that I have read, most of the subsequent comments turn into racial debates that have nothing to do with the article. And here I thought I could find some reprieve from the trolling on MadameNoire..pfffff
MaddieMoss
I count nine errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax in your post. Anyone who relies on you for spelling advice is a damned fool.
MaddieMoss
And I’m laughing that you fancy yourself educated, but don’t seem to realize that Andrea is a common Italian boys’ name. Italy is not the US, FYI. Princess Caroline’s firstborn has the same name, BTW.
MaddieMoss
Wow, Landyn’s mommy sure does need to be the constant center of attention, doesn’t she?
JS7
That’s right, countries tend to decay, decline, and disappear. Thanks for being a cheerleader for the decline of our country; you’re so “hip”.
JS7
A name like that says “I’m just a kid, please don’t hold my trashy parents against me”.
JS7
You are completely ignorant of language. The y *is* a traditional way to feminize a name in non-Romance languages. And Andrea Boccelli is from a country called ITALY (perhaps you’ve heard of it), where his name is a very common man’s name. If an ignorant person thinks something is “dumb”, chances are there is a good reason for it.
Kitisha, aka Heather on resume
The sad thing is – most people are missing the real point! A name is the smallest piece of a resume. The racists who use an opinion about a name to weed out a candidate will also discriminate against the person when they show up, regardless of the name. I have experienced it. This name issue is equivalent to the hair, address, and other discriminatory factors that have nothing to do with skills and qualifications. White people need to stop this shit!
Mariposa Sedosa
I love the name Laurel.
Mariposa Sedosa
I live in California. There are a lot of Pacific Islanders, Asians, Latinos, Blacks, Whites, and everything in between. It’s not as big of a deal here.
Mariposa Sedosa
X, pobrecita. The way it has been in this country for awhile is that anyone who pays taxes pays for the uninsured. This is not new sweetheart. And the more uninsured there are the higher insurance premiums are, and the more hospitals charge. I don’t think that government should handle healthcare either. But what does this have to do with names?
Mariposa Sedosa
Spelt? By spelling words wrong, especially the word “spelled”, you negate your point.
Mariposa Sedosa
I think it’s funny when someone thinks they have control over your life by denying you something. Every single time someone has done that to me, something better has come along. I believe that God is the only one that has control over my life, so it is laughable when little people do things like this. And almost always they saved me from taking a job that wasn’t good enough for me.
Mariposa Sedosa
Willow and Piper are pretty to me. I’ve heard them before, not often though.
Mariposa Sedosa
Africa is a very large continent with thousands of languages spoken. I doubt that your African friends know every language spoken in Africa. And Arabic is a widely spoken language in Africa so these names would be considered African as well.
Mariposa Sedosa
The human race did not exist on Pangea.
Mariposa Sedosa
Most typical names are very old, and have been spread and changed everywhere that the human race as migrated to. I think to worry about how someone spells their name is just stupidity.
Mariposa Sedosa
Melena is a form of Melanie. It also means mane in Spanish. Many names have different meanings in different languages.
Mariposa Sedosa
Troll much? “Minorities”-strike 1. “More opportunities”-Strike 2. You and your kids probably won’t have a good future, because you are competing for the same jobs as entry level immigrants, and because you’re racist, and because you still don’t understand that throughout history no country has stayed the same forever. You better roll with the changes or get trampled.
Mariposa Sedosa
I don’t understand why people assign value to things. Don’t you understand that anything associated with blackness will be called ghetto? For example, on another website some racists were saying that Beyonce’s name was ghetto, despite the article stating that it came from her French heritage. Racists think a French name is ghetto because they are stupid and because it’s a black person that has it. It doesn’t matter what you call your kids. How many people think that the name Tyrone is ghetto? That name wasn’t made-up by blacks and isn’t from Africa. Live your life and be happy because people will hate you regardless. How about we talk about how many people with atypical names of any race are successful? Many famous actors have changed their names some to something unique, and some change it from anything ethnic sounding, typically Jewish.
Mariposa Sedosa
What is a ghetto name? There’s no such thing. People assign value to things. What is a regular name?
Mariposa Sedosa
The dumbing down of America has nothing to do with individual names. I would say assigning a gender to letters is dumb. In romance languages this does exist but there are still unisex names. And it only applies to names that end in a vowel. For example Mario or Maria. There is a blind opera singer named Andrea Bocelli. He’s doing quite well for himself despite having a name typical to women. Why wouldn’t a person concerned with the dumbing down of America use correct spelling or grammar, or even know anything about history or linguistics? I’m lol’ing at you thinking any name containing a y is feminine.
Mariposa Sedosa
Many of the comments I’ve read are so misguided and sad. You do not need to conform to anyone’s standards. As time goes by in the U.S. or any country for that matter, it becomes more multi-cultural and tolerant of other cultures. Albeit slowly. (I.E. a melting pot) Many typical names are not even English. I’m not saying racism is even remotely gone, but this issue is an extension of it. Racists are not the only ones who play a role in racism, those on the receiving end do as well. Conforming to racist ideals will not get rid of racism. Employers will discriminate against you on so many levels before and after meeting you. I hope those of you that want to give your children “regular” names also teach your children to “talk white”, and live in predominately white well-to-do neighborhoods. As your zip code can also be a giveaway of your race. Why don’t you have them paint their skin white while their at it too? To use the word regular to describe names us just utterly disgusting. I hope that when you are conforming to “societal/racist” norms you don’t lose sight of who you really are.
All American names have their origins in other cultures. Most typical names are actually Hebrew, Latin, Sanskrit, Arab, or African. Please for your own sakes study linguistics and anthropology.
I think it’s funny that you guys want to give your kids normal names. I’ve been in classes with a couple kids with the exact same name. First, middle, and last.True Story! I was in a class with at least 3 Jessica’s before. I know plenty of people with “regular” names that hate them and go by other names. Not to mention kids always make fun of names no matter how typical. Regular names are forgetable. Unless you want your son to be known as Black Aaron. An interesting movie to watch is “10, 000 Black Men Named George.”
And by the way. Why not teach your children to be entrepreneurs and create their own opportunities? Why not encourage them to get into fields where they are so indispensable that it doesn’t matter what their name is? Like engineering or the medical field. Interesting to note that the most educated immigrants in the U.S. come from India and Nigeria with many working in the afformentioned fields.
p.s. I have an uncommon name. It is Latin, as in Roman. It has become somewhat more popular recently, but still is rare. It is not spelled as it is pronounced but interestingly enough most people pronounce it correctly. I have a friend named Cecilia and her named is mispronounced often.
Doug504
I find this story interesting because it reminds us those who came before.
My two grandmothers were Hazel and Cora. A multi-great grandmother was Eliza. An even earlier great-grandmother was Mindwell (and her sister was Patience).
None of these are common names today. But they were real people who made real contributions.
When I’m checking out at the grocery store, I look at the clerk’s name tag. At lot of the names are unusual to me. But I hope they are successful in life as Mindwell, Patience, Eliza, Cora, and Hazel.
Doug504
I grew up in an area with a lot of people of Finnish and French Canadian descent. So spelling Heikkanan and Thibideau was no big deal for me.
On the other hand, I have a simple 5 letter Anglo-Saxon last name that I almost always have to spell.
“Mainstream” depends in part on where you come from. And having a simple first name doesn’t mean your full name is simple. “Tyesha Smith” may need to be spelled just as often as “Fred Hiekkanan”.
Jennifer Walls
I agree with one point here..I have to call people in for interviews sometimes and wonder what in the world someone was thinking when they give their kid a name that is so unique you can’t even pronounce it. It makes it hard because you don’t want to offend them by saying it wrong. I wouldn’t say this is by any means confined to one specific ethnicity. My last name is walls and have to spell it ALL the time for people and they still say it wrong. So I don’t think it matters sometimes. My daughter though is half black and I named her Liberty, which I thought was unique and meaningful and hopefully easy to spell!
Ursula
Chanelle Stpierre
My name is Chanelle… I am white and due to living in a southern state full of French culture and wracked with prejudice i used to get, Chanelle is a black name or it’s spelled wrong. For years i cursed my name for these reasons. Now at the ripe old age of 42 i hold my head high and remember that like my name i am as unique a person as my name is.
Guest
I’ve never liked the name Tess. Every one of them that I met and know are mean. Theresa, a relative is really nice. The Tess thing is so phoney.
Supernanny
Wow! Why is everyone arguing? So silly to be so rude to each other.
slandp
Why is everyone so concerned with grammer? It doesn’t matter, and people I guess will always find a way to put others down even over the silly things.
how is madeline on here? it’s SUPER popular these days!
slandp
Well half the people on here are nuts, it doesn’t really matter what your name is. My name is savannah and no one knows how to spell it. But my point is even if your name is plain and simple people will still ask you how to spell it or miss spell it so who cares. And landyn is not a girly name that’s how most people spell it.
Jill
There weren’t any hominids on Pangea.
Jill
For the record, I have to repeat and spell my name all the time, and my name really is, “Jill.” So…to heck with it. You might as well have a difficult to spell name…you’re going to have to spell it for people anyway. 😛
Jill
If everyone was named, “Jane,” I’m sure it would not be at all confusing. 😉
MrsLayneStaley
Well put!!!
shakerosalt
This author is so wrong about the name “Madeline”. It is very popular today in all its spellings.
My children names are Journey-Lynn, Luxana Lin and Kira Lyn, they do not make the list or are in any baby book.
Mr.Peters
I think ruthie hawkins doesnt proofread her articles. Terrible.
hatemyname
Know what you mean my name is Brittany. 15 others in my graduating class alone. I am never anywhere where there isn’t one of us. Its god awful. And there are too many ways to spell it. Which is why I named my daughter Kansas, never met another one and maybe she won’t hate it as much as I hate mine.
John Iler
Lisa is a wonderful name. I hope it wasn’t killed by The Simpsons. Sure beats my grandmothers’ names, Tinsie Willie and Hettye (Het-ee). My mother’s name, Thelma, is a name she abandoned at an early age in favor of her middle name, Deane.
Eleni is a beautiful Greek name. I also like Sara and Connie, and most all of the ee names (Kathy, Cindy, etc.). Oh, and I love Linda.
erk10
Actually, black people and minorities have more of an opportunity than white people because employers want to seem more diverse and don’t want people thinking their prejudiced again minorities. But whats sad is that half the people they hire can’t even speak English. And my mom is still unemployed? Pretty pathetic, just shows whats going to happen in the future for myself and children.
NT
How about Melena ( means black, tarry stools-from gastrointestinal bleeding).
momof5
My name is marilyn and I have 5 children and wanted to give them all uncommon but unique names so I named them sonya, lawrence, celeste, gage and nevaeh
DeeDee
You are absolutely right Xellye. You were kind with your remarks. The tone was not racist and hateful.
Lizzy
I happen to love the name I gave my daughter…I did it to keep her being a shy girl in school, its an ice breaker. Yes she will always have to correct peolle and spell it out for them but thats what I wanted. Her name is Evalena and conjunction of Evelyn and My great grandmothers name Lena. Its not Eva diva its Evah as in you wont ever forget her… and actually was a very popular name in the 1800s… p.s. im white and so is my daughter.
Regina
Racist people like you would not give anyone a chance anyway when you find out the person is black, so give me a break! I encourage my youth to start their own and NOT DEPEND ON RACIST HEARTLESS HATEFUL, PEOPLE LIKE YOUR RELATIVES!
geofferari franklin
Airwrecka, shithead, and diarrhea are coming to the top
k vaught
I like the name ‘Ruby’ listen, for a little girl <3
Love Life
excuse my spelling:)
Love Life
im african american and puerto rican and i have witnessed beautiful and absurd names from both cultures. my husband is half white and pacific islander and id say the same goes ti his cultures as well. what we chiise to name our kids is purely your own choice! what may sound good to you may not to someone else and vice versa. i personally say just be mindful to what we name our kids as they have to live with it. ALL cultures are beautiful and theres craziness in them ALL. Beyonce named her baby Blue Ivy. Courtney Cox named her kid Apple. Alicia Keys named her kid Egypt, and Alicia Silverstone named her son Bear Blue. Its a bunch of ridiculousness, regardless
Tina
Tina. Never hear of girls younger than 35 with that as their first name, unless its a shortened form of Christina or the like….
Fedup
His mother ‘feminized’ the name by spelling it with a Y. Dah!! At first glance I would think it were a female applying for whatever….
Parents just don’t think of the repercussions their children face when carrying some of these monicers around all of their life. It all plays into the whole ‘dummying down of America’ that seems to have become epidemic!!
Jim
You should meet my kids Visine and Nyquill: two beautiful names that mean “one who sees clearly” and “one who sleeps deeply with clear head.”
Nicci Leandra Faw
Let me go ahead and blow your minds. Picking stupid names is NOT unique to black ppl. I have met white Shaniquas with 2 white parents. Parents in other countries are naming their kids things like Ipod. Y are people so obsessed with policing black people and their decisions?!? If they were any other race it wouldnt be “ghetto” (which is a value judgement) and no one would be concern trolling about these black ppl with odd names getting jobs. How about we address racism, homophobia and sexism instead of how names will hold certain groups back bc i assure yu it is the prejudice behind the perception Of the one reading the name that needs to be questioned, judged, and accused of stupidity Not the one bearing the name
SouthernYankee
Well my name is Dana Mone’t… When I am conducting business here in the South I am constantly asked how to spell my name, I respond “the traditional spelling” often times pple still don’t know what that is. Why are pple soobsessed with being unique that they obliterate a name? Your parents have to your name, you stand out by how you live you’re life as you mature and begin to live independent from your parents. I’m glad my parents gave me this name. Btw I’m black, 35, my parents lived I’m England for several yrs which is where i was conceived to this day they still say demographics had no influence on my name… I love them for being so progressive. I don’t have to deal with any bias on any application because of my name. And our son won’t either
AKBell
“Jamila” is actually Arabic. It does mean “beautiful.” It has a lovely sound, too, IMHO.
Jane Hawes
My ex-husband used to say if he ever had a son he’d name him David Elijah, so if he became a lawyer he could go by David, or by Elijah if he became an evangelist….
Azziah christine hassan human
It should not matter ,why African Americans or any culture a have different names ,why does this offend anyone unless you have racist intentions.maybe you are one those employers who uses this tactic to screen applicants.?why worry about it ? Go ask sarah palin her kids have stellar names.
shaniaw
maybe all you white people should stop treating us so badly then. i’m half black with a unique name myself and while there may be incidents i havent had any real trouble. also its not just black people who have unique names. there is really nothing wrong with it and it is very ignorant for you to say such a statement. there is no diservice being done by parents. maybe people should just stop being so judgemental and racist and there wouldnt be these problems
Q
LaQueefa Strawberry
TXJ1123
Try having a common last name, where even some of the more unique names are in the phone book several times over. try this on for size and search Joseph Michael Long … now with a name like that wouldn’t you want your kids to have a bit of a unique name? Unique doesn’t always equal funky spelling. Aidan Draco Long – pretty standard, Aidan hit’s the top 100 in the SS registery, but the name together means ‘little fire dragon’ . Then there is Alanis Isabella – seriously pretty name if I do say so myself, and despite nimrods wanting to say it with T’s that aren’t there the name is very strait forward.
However both of them are asked to spell their names constantly because there are so many ‘unique’ spellings out there that teachers aren’t sure based off of word anymore.
Don’t forget the name Floy…… Very popular in the 20’s…. started in the 1700’s
aircraftmech
Hopefully any female name ending in ‘sha’ won’t make a resurgence in my lifetime..
aircraftmech
Who wrote this article, a third grader? Or was it one of those keen ‘journalistas’ from the libtard left?
Anyhow, it sucked.
My sister’s name is Joyce Leona….lol
I_said_first
Debbie Do
That is an urban legend. Unless there are a whole lot of little girls named La-a and twins named Orangejello and Lemonjello scattered throughout the country during the last couple of decades. The real names people are using nowadays are weird enough. There’s no reason for people to perpetuate the fake ones.
Jet
Funny someone lied to you. Iesha is not a Swahili word. Nope. Isha pronounced with an “e” means finish. Maisha means life but its frequently used as “good life” or “life sucks”.
This feature seriously needs some editing.
disqus_Lzp2BYTDVb
gah! – pls get ‘its’ right — not it’s, which means it is or it has!
JustSaying
I work in a pharmacy and can honestly say that I see a lot of crazy names. I don’t care what race you are, stop putting 10 vowels in a kid’s name! All I can think of, when I see these 12 – 13 letter ‘unique’ names with apostrophes and hyphens, is how in the world do they expect their Kindergartner to write all that!
Hal Soffman
1900s – yes
EddieInFL
Hilda, Myrtle, Leona–all aunts of mine; and Gertrude, Harriett, Mildred–3 more aunts. Then cousin Camille, sister-in-laws Audrey and Marge.
Southern Mom
Surely everyone here with any common sense knew what Xeyelle meant. My mother-in-law is a school teacher who had a child named La-a. Pronounced Ladasha. I kid you not. Another set of twins were named Orangejello and Lemonjello. This is what she was referring to. I am all for unique, but this is just wrong.
Agate KaLee
To All of you…..try explaining that your Mom’s name really is Ralph. It was a blast……..Name her Sue!
Sadie would be old, these names are not that old.
Nunya Beeswax
Pam is a name of a nonstick cooking spray. Dammit, Janet! My stepbrother named his daughters: Sullivan, Brooklyn and Monroe. I weep for all three.
Tardar Soze
Frank Zappa was ahead of his time naming his kids Moon Unit Zappa and Dweezil Zappa.
Priscilla
Well my kids names are unique and there’s not a damn thing wrong with either one of them. Rocky is in college with a 3.5 gpa and Lacee is in 8th and has never made anything other than an A. So just because of the spelling of her name is different makes no sense. Get over yourselves!!! Urg!!!
bud42
Mothers and fathers should give very serious considerations to the names they give their child, especially since they are the ones that don’t have to go thru life with a difficult moniker! Reading some of these posts, I can see who has the ego trip, the mothers/parents!!!
ChinaGirl
My best friend’s name is Dhani, and while others (including him) see it as unorthodox, I think it’s a beautiful name, and it fits him well. So don’t throw away the “strange” names just yet. Many people commenting here were. -_-“
Tracy_Andersen
Then there was the black mother that wanted to name her daughter Chlamydia. The Doctor tried to explain, and talk her out of it. Don’t know how it went.
Also, my name, Tracy, is 75 years old on me, and WAS exclusively male. Now I get asked for the spelling, most common variant is Tracey, but often it is feminized to Traci and it bugs me that it is now almost exclusively feminine.
Then had an uncle that called me “Spencer.” Can you guess why?
Oh well, such is “progress.”
Esther Bautista
Choosing a good name is very important. In Biblical times they named their children names representing aspects of their character. Check out Hosea for example his wife a prostitiute named Gomer. And God told him to name his kids some crazy names as example to Israel for turning away from Him. Whatever you choose make sure it has a good meaning! Like me for example I am Esther – superstar! Lol
Brilliance
So does this mean is shouldn’t name my kid Brilliance? I can call him/her Brill for short and also, they’ll automatically be considered smart by anyone they ever meet…..cause after all, their name is Brilliance! I mean, wouldn’t you want to work with a Brilliance? Imagne that name on your BA – Brilliance McGee. Oh, and i’m positive children will NEVER give someone with a name like that a hard time growing up.
Tylan. proud dad
We are in America if anyone hasn’t noticed. It is white America no matter if we have a biracial president. If u have a name that’s not English origin at some point u will be asked about your name get over it. I’m black and my kids are biracial….Isaiah Malik and Nessiah Victoria. I didn’t give a damn about what the American government would think about my babies name or anyone else.
Lisa
Black, black, black… No personal offense, but too much too long. I read that research also & it failed to address that the classic name does not a future make. I’m Appalachian American, where’s those poor white studies on “Janet?”
bonniesituation
Madeline? A name that just finished being Tryndeigh? Not a name “you don’t see around.”
bonniesituation
Speaking of Blade, at least one person bearing that name is the son of a figure skater (Josef Sobovcik).
My pet peeve is Krey8tv spellings. Plus, the mommeigh who insists, “I want my K’cayte-Lynnn to stand out” is overlooking the fact that some will call out “Caitlyn” on the soccer field and five heads will turn. Let the child stand out based on intrinsic worth.
bonniesituation
Everyone loves a grammar nag.
bonniesituation
And all his life he will have to spell it for people. But it’s still the same name.
notech
My all time favorite girls name….Le-a. I kid you not some woman in the US named her daughter that. She stormed the school one day to inform the girls teacher…the DASH is not silent.
My name is Serina and my name has always been misspelled,mispronounced I aways hated my name til I was an adult and realized not many have my name. Nurse misspelled it. My mom bewitched fan
PernRider
My name is Anne, and while it is (regardless of this list) rather common (there were over half a dozen others in my graduating class of 180! And I’ve always had at least one coworker with it as well … ), I’ve had to spell it AND had it mispronounced all my life (hint: THE “E” IS SILENT!!!) When I had children, I swore they wouldn’t have to deal with that, which is WHY I gave them more unusual names: my eldest is Candace (named for her late aunt), and she’s the only one in her school. My middle is Aithne (mispronounced Gaelic, it’s AITH-nee, English phonetic), which means “fire”; she goes by Nene (Nee-nee) to make it slightly easier, but she loves her name … even with forever having to correct the spelling and pronunciation. My youngest is Alessandra (ah-less-AHN-dra), long for Lessa, which is what she goes by, from my favorite series of books. I constantly have people commenting on their unusual names, asking the meaning, etc. Never once have ANY of them expressed dismay at their names, although granted they’re still young. But they (and many others!) can still use their middle names: Lynn, Katrine (or Kate), and Skye.
But more important to us all than others’ perceptions of them are the stories of why I chose their names, why they were given to them … and how well they fit each of them. They’re gifts to my daughters, which they’ll carry for their lives. And yes, they stand out … but so do my daughters.
I named my daughter Tessa. I get compliments on her beautiful name all the time, but it is a rare name.
Florida 85
There are now women with the name Sussudio, which is the title of a cool #1 hit by Phil Collins.
LargoL
When I was in school, it was a HUGE fad to have prefixes like “La” or “De” before every name. Only one or two blacks had names without prefixes and there must have been over 100 in each grade level in a school population of way under 1,200 students. Examples: “DeShawn, LaKeisha, DeMarcus, LaTonya, LaCedric.” Don’t those parents realize how similar they make the names sound?
disqus_TWWyODDXrt
Interesting story, but PLEASE, you used “it’s” instead of “its” over and over. How hard is this? “It’s” means “it is.”
Mia
I’m not quite sure why Madeline and Willow are on that list… I know at least a dozen Madeline’s and a lot of Maddie’s/Maddy’s. I also know multiple Willow’s.
Oh, and don’t forget Lois, Bertha, Augusta, Gladys, Greta, and Wendy! 🙂
pilly53
Not really. My husband has a very unusual first name. The only one in the country as near as we can tell. He’s a captain at a major airline. I suggest you learn to try and pronounce unusual names and get over it.
Heather
When I was pregnant with my first baby, my mother gave me advice on names. Not the name itself, rather a pointer for the children as they grew. She told me once I picked out the possibilities, go into a toy store and go to the area where the little license plates, cups and placemats were that had the child’s name on it and to try to go with that spelling. That way, little things like that would never have to be special ordered, rather could be picked up quickly as a small gift or stocking stuffers from others. I thought she was crazy at the time, but turns out she was right on with that. Also, it’s only become appropriate to ask a spelling of ones name recently, so when enrolling children in daycare, school, wherever, they would automatically be given the traditional spelling anyway. Some people can get kind of crazy, but it is their child and as such, they’ve got the right to spell the name any way they choose.
Ann is the middle name of both my wife and my mother. Almost creepy…
xellye-is-a-fucking-idiot
“I wish parents would realize they’re doing a serious disservice to their children…”
I fixed it for you. I know a Caucasian family whose children are named Blayze and Talon. I have a Caucasian friend whose son is named Jaken. My husband works with a Caucasian man who is dating a Caucasian woman named Abcde (Yes, ABCDE, the first 5 letters of the alphabet, pronounce “Ab-kah-dah”.)
I know a Black family whose daughter is named Brittany. I think you made a blanket statement about black families that just isn’t true. Parents of every race and back ground are naming their children more “you-neek” names every day. Please be more educated when you post in public forums, it just makes you come off as an idiot.
jazzyred2000
My name is Joan and im black. My children are Walter and Patryce. My grands are Janay, Jordan , Jaiden and Jasper. Do not stereo type. We are individuals
in the name
We are derived from the mother land Africa so whatever race you think you are…. think again we are all connected so love each other. and let these theories of names derived from this country or that one go. they are all derived from the human rac e .mankind had to give each other names to make distinctions be kind to other for they are your bothers and sisters
momof4
I never owned any black people!!!!
Mary Celeste
I agree. Why in the world do black parents have to name their child Tawanda, LaToya, Latomba, Keisha, etc. This will not get them an interview. And it is tough enough being black and getting an interview! White parents may give them silly names a.k.a. Apple but this is not going to stigmatize their chances. Don’t be so defensive about those unusual names. It’s true what xellye said. Take some time to do some research about naming a child Latomba before passing judgement. Blue Ivy is a dumb name but her parents are multi-billionaires, their daughter will never have to work.
Bridget
The errors in this piece are out of control. It’s like 20 words a page and you guys couldn’t get the spelling and grammar right? Please do better.
How about Florence, Edith, Rita, Phyllis, Nina, Thelma, Marjorie and a few others.. these names listed are certainly not at the top but list was too short
Jake
It’s = It is. It’s not the same as its!!
Ouida
I looked for my name since it was more given at the early 20th century late 19th. I’m named after my grandmother: Ouida. I’ve always had to spell it. Endured almost 60 years of mispronunciation in great variety. Am the only one in the world with the addition of my last name. And though I wasn’t thrilled with it when I was younger, I like it now. It suits me and I enjoy being unique in name. (We’re all unique in personhood). It’s the pen name of an 1800’s author. Her niece could not pronounce Louisa, so Ouida . I think names are ordained.
bORIS
THIS IS HORRIBLE! THERE IS NO MENTION OF LOUISE MILDRED GERTRUDE OR EILEEN! THIS IS POPPYCOCK! POPPYYYCOCKKKK!!!1!!111!1!1!!1!!
Abbey Crawley
Prudence Mable Myrtle Thelma Nancy Betty Pearl Martha Cora Hestor Maude Donna Bessie Margaret Marjorie Doris Mildred Shirley Francis Jean Janine Matilda Millicent Hazel Violet Cora Lavinia Ethel Edith Isobel
findingfacts
Actually, with so many cultures in this country, the ability to spell a name is not a valid point, in my opinon. My doctor’s first name is Talal, a Persian name. His last name is even more difficult. We have people from all over the globe and will encounter many legitimate names from other cultures. My problem is with parents who make up names or spellings or who hear words they do not know the meanings of -whether black or white. Leukemia sounded pretty to a parent who would not change her mind even after hearing that it meant blood cancer.
J Kirby
Apple, Genesis, Meadow, Tree, Pilot, and more unpronounceable and more illiterate and made up spellings also complete the list of white names these days for white parenst.
kym
I get it i pick a name for my little girl and look at all the spelling for it and picked the lest common one and know i wish i hadn’t because no one ever says her name right it”danica” but we pick to spell it “danicka”
Chuck
I wish people had enough sense not to inject race into the discussion. Bad taste in naming children is hardly restricted to one particular group or another. And most of the black people I know have names like Valerie, Cathy, Paul, etc… So you’re generalizing a lot with the assumption you’ve made about that group.
If you want to make life easier for people with what you consider to be unusual names, maybe you can just start by being less judgmental about them yourself. Setting an example of open-mindedness is more effective than suggesting people they must simply adapt to prejudicial standards.
Chuck
I am disappointed to see that some people have injected race into this discussion. It’s completely uncalled for given that occasional bad taste in naming children is hardly restricted to one particular group or another.
Personally, I’m not as bothered by unusual names as much as by the flagrant misuse of the word “unique” when people simply mean unusual. The title of the article sounds particularly ignorant… To say the names are “vintage” and “unique” is a completely contradictory statement.
BadDkItTy04
Well are you caryn? karin? karen?
drilbit
C’mon ppl, please take breath and calm down. No need to be disrespectful to one another.
Jessica M
Tell Ruthie Hawkins that when “its” is a possessive, it does NOT have an apostrophe. “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.” We do not write “hi’s” :”her’s” “their’s” for “his”, “hers”, or “theirs.”
EvanCowit
What people seem to miss is that it’s not YOUR name, it’s YOUR CHILD’s name. You get to tell people what a unique name it is. He or she will spend his or her entire life spelling it and explaining it. I remember Bette Midler saying that she wanted to give her daughter a “unique” name but didn’t once her husband explained that she wouldn’t be a 50 year old with a name like “Fifi Trixibelle,” her daughter would.
GreyK
And you’d know this how? I hope we haven’t met, you seem like a jerk. Karin is Scandinavian, I’m told. Were you thinking nameslike mine, derived from Catherine, were Asian in origin?
Lisa
my name is Lisa, and i’m eighteen!
Paul
J Deontae Young
Im Black and my name is uncommon. And I did go by my initials for a few years, but i still had to go to interviews… Its silly to believe that my son will not be discriminated against if I name him Brenden Michael, because that wont change his skin tone when they see him. Its the same racism whether they read your name or see your face. Studies should have showed that by having a unique name is synonymous with bein Black so the name isn’t the issue the picture the name gives the employers is… but ‘A rose by any name will be just as sweet’ (Shakespeare) so a negro by any name will be just as black.
skybella
I named all three of my children unique names that they love. Atlantis a girl,Harley a girl, and Dallas a boy. They all love their names. They love that they go to school and don’t share a name with others. To be different and unique is important to them.
Zjitterbug
What’s in a name? Our name does not determine who we will become, who we are now, or what we are. What we achieve, for good or bad, however, can become associated with a name in some people’s minds or in certain circles. It is up to us to “make a name” for ourselves. Hopefully the name our parents give us will be a positive influence in this. We can let it be a stumbling block, or a stepping stone. Even a plain, easy to say & spell name can turn out to be a stumbling block for some. Why do you think so many celebrities reinvent themselves with snazzier names? As far as these name and education “studies” sited go, it’s amazing what statistics will tell you when you have a goal in mind at the beginning of a study. Sadly, many, many times statistics aren’t even used and applied in the proper way. At least that’s what my Biologist husband who has loads of expertise with statistics and data modeling tells me. Me, I’m just a retired Navy health care provider with a daughter named Nerissa – Greek for “born of the sea or sea nymph.” Her father, my first husband, is a retired Sailor too. My name – Sherry. Easy right? Wrong. Very few people spell it correctly. Last names, forget it. Parents, just give your children the foundations they need to make something of themselves to get an education, whether it be from college or a good trade school. Teach them to be thankful in all things, to be honest in all their dealings, to always be willing to serve others, to hold themselves accountable to making right choices, to avoid greed, to choose a healthy lifestyle, to treat others with the same respect they expect to be treated, to hold their heads high despite whatever circumstances life dishes out, to love fully and unconditionally, to avoid harboring hate and grudges, and if so inclined, pray always, especially for their “enemies.” These are the things that will make their name mean more than just the “baby book” meaning. They will be remembered for the good in the world. Isn’t that what we all want?
Rowena
So much talk about names. My name has always been a curse and a blessing…Rowena. I wanted my daughter to have an uncommon name also, so I named her Mira. It means Wonderful in Latin. People have always assumed I am black, when actually my name is ancient Welsh. Both mine and my daughter’s names come from books, mine from Sir Walter Scotts Ivanhoe and my daughter’s from book by Nora Roberts writing as JD Robb. At the end of the day, success or lack thereof, cannot be blamed on a name.
BadDkItTy04
Yeah…O.K. Sam, you can give them encouraging words while your ordering your value meal.
BadDkItTy04
Yeah..chances are they are not misspelled as much as the other “unique” names that are out there.
BadDkItTy04
34. LaDestiny
Ashamedofsociety
Are you people listening to yourselves?!? Sad and rediculous. It is no wonder children do not know how to act or behave anymore. Smh! Pitiful.
BadDkItTy04
Well…Landon is not a common name, but then put the twist on it and spell it different to make him feel special? I don’t think Landyn would have thought twice about why his mom needed to spell it different because she wanted him to feel special…I’m sure Landyn will truly enjoy spelling his “special” name over and over not to mention endless corrections from it being mispelled…I’m sure he does feel special.
BadDkItTy04
I understand what you are saying xellye.
TeachMe
I’m in the education field, and in the most recent years, I have seen a surge of unique names. The two names I will never forget are Asterisk (*) and Comma (,) and their Mother Taequila. They were the most wonderful family, I have ever met. Taequila’s daughters were well behaved, courteous, polite and some of the smartest young ladies I have ever taught. It’s been several years, but I do hope to hear of these young ladies doing well in their communities. I will never forget them for the impression and thier character. Their unique names is a bonus 🙂
Cess
I am African American and I think xelle was right. Many black people tend to name their kids ethnic names. I have two boys and there names are Preston Alexander and Blake Miles. My motto has always been that names should look great on a resume.
Austin
🙁
joesmom
What about the famous actress that named her child “Apple”? What has/will that child endure while she is attending school!!!
Vicka
In Alaska it’s common to name your child something unique. Apparently they don’t have naming problems like people in the lower 48s. Bristol, is in fact, a common name.
brittany
I am a white woman and I believe it doesn’t matter what you name your child if you truly love the name you naming him or her. Having a unique name is an advantage for me in the world. I love the unique aspects of different people. People don’t have the right to judge someone because of their name it’s not that persons fault they have it. I embrace the unique people and names!!!! Shows creativity!!!
Black Parent
Here we go again….white man taking away our ability to name our black children. I agree that some black parents should be careful in naming their children but make sure the unique name has a meaning…My daughter, Iesha, is a graphics designer – her name means life in Arabic and Swahili. We don’t have to name our children your people’s name to make it easier for you – slavery is over now get over it.
Pauline Ward
@ Steve, a person who uses poor grammer is not making an effort to communicate effectively. (That is why we have dictionaries.) Calling someone a name because they are concerned about someone’s lack of communication skills does not make them toilet paper.
Sally Jones
So sad that people have to turn every issue into a race war.
x
I don’t look at Obama for his color, but for his record, and the first four years SUCKED! What has he done to turn our country around? Nothing but send us deeper into recession. Bush was bad enough, but Obama made things worse! My paycheck has gotten smaller now because of an increase in taxes! And since you are a nurse, tell me why I have to bear the cost for someone else’s health problems when I’m keeping myself healthy? Mandating health insurance takes away my freedom of choice since I now can’t afford to pay even my basic health insurance for routine doctor’s visits and emergency care. Explain how Obama made things better because I’m not feeling it.
x
You’re being racist yourself and it’s showing in your remarks. I bet you tend to consider interviewing more applicants that share similar ethnicity with you than those that don’t.
x
That’s a blanketed statement and it’s wrong. You think the CEO or the whole company is looking at resumes? Of course not. HR is looking at resumes and if that person is racist doesn’t make the company one, too.
x
Yea, I have a problem with this… IT WAS A USELESS AND ASININE POST! Who gives a rat’s hiney about your life or the lives of your kids. If you had to post that, then the legitimacy of your kids should be called into question as you sounded like you have doubts as to who the father is. Get DNA tests if you have doubts.
x
Really? Why don’t you show those studies to the people from China, India or other Asian countries. They seem to be doing quite well getting into schools and being hired.
Elizabeth
How about MANY black celebs giving their kids dumb names? Blue Ivy? Really? I do know quite a few black people with normal names who have named their kids normally as well, but more & more we are seeing ghetto names. Why do people do this to their kids? So counterproductive.
George Williams
Seriously, this listing could be on just one page.
When I was a kid there were two elderly spinster sisters next door, Ethel and Gertrude. Must be at -10,000 and -10,001 in popularity now.
B Mcc
a name is not just a word. unfortunately, labels do represent value. name’s = label = value. choose a name that fits. honor the name given to you
B Mcc
Rebecca deserves to be on that list. its a fact
minz
Hey Live in Hawaii and the are Hawaiian names Oriental names Samoan names and names from about every country of the World =- get used to it ! I read a lit of intolerable information Here. I my self am from Hungarian decent. PS some hawaiian names are several lines long. Live with it!
AnonEmus
Hey Sasha. I’m thinking that the “genuine concern” is blind. Let’s teach our kids to MAKE the world we live in, by challenging them to consider there is even more to someone than their interesting and unusual (or wonderfully resonant “regular”) name. The white celebrity children will only be “held back” because they are celebrities.
gbnana
Leona’s a black name?
maya
I have to spell or explain my Indian name frequently, its really not a big deal. I certainly would not be grateful if my parents had named me something white American mainstream (or as you call it, “dignified”) for my own convenience.
CatsMom
Here are some thoughts on creating your own variation or spelling of a name. Firstly, it looks as if the parents are uneducated and don’t know how to spell properly. Secondly, a person with a “unique” name may have to spend an entire lifetime telling people how to properly pronounce the name. Thirdly, it’s obvious what you are doing, trying to be unique, and because everyone else is also trying to be unique, no one really is. Fourthly, in a decade or two, the unique name will be just as odd and unattractive as some previously popular names are now, maybe even more so. Need I go on?
Brittainy
There’s nothing wrong with being unique.. If I like the name I am gonna put my own twist on it.. To make my child feel special.. At the end of the day school stats and job stats can’t lie.. My sons name is Landon but I spell it Landyn .. He is the only one.. We should stick together and let our kids know we make the name it doesn’t make us…
Joseph H
You’re logic and reasoning is very biased. You have no meaning not importance to me. If I thought like you, that means you’re stupid and worthless. He the point? Stop battering people for choosing a unique name for their child because they want their child to have a one of a kind name since their child is a one of a kind gift to them. For the record, I am a white 21 y/o male with a 15 month old daughter named aaralyn.
Joseph H.
Hi, I’m white. And those names sound beautiful. No matter what race, the name you decide for your child Gould not be judged upon any other persons opinions. Every culture is unique. We’ve all derived from different backgrounds. That’s a big and ignorant issue in America as well all over the world today. We must accept differences, an as we do, differences will turn into interesting uniqueness.(-:
nope
Please get an editor. Wow.
Tolerant
Wow! Get a grip people; this is what’s wrong with America! We are all from different cultures, have different beleifs, religious and non religious but we are all human and have no right to judge somebody by a name!! Or anything else for that matter. It’s called tolerance and acceptance of who we are and the difference we have! In the end everyone’s S*** stinks, we all have a purpose and put our pants on the same way so…what’s in a name?!! That’s not for us to judge!
Peace Out!
Worst names- Mike and Emma
ouija1969
I don’t agree with this being a racial discussion. I have worked in schools for many years and have seen some ridiculous names in every race! Jeh’pur-dee, jurnee, and don’t forget that there have been people naming their kids Hashtag! If you want your child to be respected as they get older and not get made fun of for all of their lives…….don’t be a moron and really think before you brand these children as a laughing-stock for the rest of their lives!! Unique is one thing, ridiculous is another!
Lena Johnson
Wht do I never see Lena on a list? I was named after my great-great grandmother and think it’s a beautiful name.
MY G .Grand mother was named “Jemima ” passed down to the family but missed us….but found itself on a bottle of syrup ….
Sam
How is and “ie” ending “stripper-suited”? These names are actually fairly normal and common, grow up.
jeanster3
I know people with all those “antique” names, except Hattie. Hattie (short for Harriet) is the only real vintage name included.
We are also judged by judging other people , asswipe.
Sasha
Xellye never said “ALL black people” anything so calm down (or “ghetto” names for that matter). And the comment was out of genuine concern in preventing blind prejudice in an unfair world where however “stupid” the name, white celebrity children most likely will not be held back for it.
Jeremy
So i didnt want to get involved in this discussion but when I saw this i couldnt resist. You are correct Obama is half white. But where was his dad? Obama was raised white. Thats part of the reason he is intelligent, well spoken, and actually.got into office. Plus all the ignorant.assholes voting just cuz he was black
…and their mortgages would.be paid. Another crock of.shit. Everyone knew what change stood for. What you will have in your pocket after his ass.gets out of office. Or change…the one that will happen in the next four years when our military is weaker then.ever. be an educated democrat, i can respect that. but to the ones with their.head so.far.up their.ass tell them.its not a hat. you are a small.percentage in your race with being educated. No offense.but its true. more likely.to.go to jail then college. thnx
These names, I swear..
How on earth do you pronounce that?! I’d guess Tawna- kwon’ shonda? Is that right? Friggin’ ridiculous, imo. What’s are her siblings names? Hondashondakwondajuanitaneequa? An’ ShawnKwondre Abdullah-Al Prince Matchabelli?
SFR
is eng? loox liek buncha gobbledygook 2 me.
Poppa
If you really believe that Obama over came this statistic, then why did he attend school under the name “Barry Santoro”?
Aviva Fischer
I hate to mention this but if you have an “unusual name”, just change it. As an HR person, I get resumes all the time which have their “common name” on it and when they get hired, I find out their names are completely different. Personally, I have named all my kids ethnically Jewish names, they can choose different names as they get older and decide what they want to be called.
JX5
African American: is that supposed to be a statement of your race or nationality? FYI African American is not neither a race nor a nationality.
GreyK
My name is Karen, also spelled with a C, also Karin and Caryn. European names have variants too.
Frederick Schenk
Bosses come and go. Jobs pay rent.
SFR
The “type [of blacks]” that vote[s] for Obama.. Hmmm… I’m white and I voted for Obama twice. Does that blow your tiny mind?
SFR
I wish people would stop using girl names ending in derivatives of “ayla” or “aylie”, e.g., Ailey, Bailey, Hailey, Kaylee, Kayla, Kylie, McKayla, Miley, Riley.. Nothing says “I’m not to be taken seriously” more than being given a DIY-spelled name that sounds eternally childish, stripper-suited, and has the sophistication of a bottle of ranch dressing.
Donna Linderman
Awful names!! So many beautiful and interesting ones let off entirely: Wilhelmina, Maude, Maribelle, Lillian, Iris, Priscilla, Georgina, Evangeline. Who created this list?!?!
Apples&Oranges
I’m black and my name is Maia (pronounced like Maya). All of my relatives have completely “normal” names (Marie, Juliet, James, to name a few), so please don’t stereotype like that.
IrvingT
Plus, the original article misspelled “its” at least twice.
Tivalee Needham
WOW!!!! I jus happened on this site an strted readin posts my name is Tivalee would n e one like to guess my race by lookin at my name I mean were passin judgment so y not huh?am I smart,dumb fat skinny black white poor rich judge me by my name.
what about Lois? My mom is named Lois and apparently it was a very popular name for 1920 to 1940.
PlainBrown
But it would be better if the person COULD get a job without ignorant, narrow minded racists. Why should one be limited to only certain places of work?
ginnymo
Unique names are a creative expression of ALL CULTURES. The pity is how many people judge a person by a name.
PlainBrown
This is interesting. We are debating whether or not people are mistreated or discriminated against according to their names by insulting and name calling each other. Can’t we attempt to educate each other without the insults? The best and fastest way to get someone NOT to listen to you is to insult them while telling them something.
PlainBrown
But it doesn’t mean they are NOT a teacher.
Anaelissa
Cchildren Your child have a name from another language which have a meaning. These made up names doesn’t have a meaning. That the problem. As for these famous and rich people they can afford to be choose odd name.
Leigha7
Ruth sounds cute to me, but that’s probably because I associate it with Ruthie from Seventh Heaven, or Kit’s friend in the American Girl books.
Leigha7
You may notice that some of the entries include numbers. Every year, the Social Security Administration compiles a list of how many babies were given what name in the previous year, then ranks them from 1-1000 by popularity. The last name on this list, Janet, is ranked as #951 for 2011 (the current list, since 2012 won’t be posted for a few more months). If you look at the more detailed list, you’ll see there were only 267 girls given that name in the US in all of 2011.
So when they say “names you don’t hear anymore,” they mean names that are really uncommon now. To be fair, they messed up on a couple (Madeline is in the top 100, for pete’s sakes), but most of them are, in fact, rarely used nowadays.
In case you’re curious, #1000 is Damaris, with 250 girls being given that name. #1 is Sophia, with 21,695 (in case you were thinking a few hundred isn’t a small number).
Leigha7
Ella is extremely popular right now. It was 12th most popular girls’ name in 2011.
Leigha7
Definitely. It’s in the top 100 most popular on the SSA list, and that’s not counting all the various spellings of it.
Leigha7
The SSA says there were 1,546 girls born in 2011 with the name Willow. That makes it a lot more popular than some of the other names on this list–there were only 267 Janets, 263 Pamelas, and 262 Joyces.
On the other hand, there were 21,695 girls named Sophia (the most popular name for girls in 2011), so Willow is still very far behind in comparison.
jenn
I recently helped deliever a baby named Tahnaqueahnshanda. If it takes you four attempts to spell it correctly for the registration, maybe it might not be a good idea
Valerie
booboosmommy
Are you kidding ? A name will not get you into any locked doors Education and Good family values will … To say that just because you have a Unique name then connect it to a certain race is OUTDATED AS THE NAMES ON THIS LIST !! We wonder what your name might be cause it certainly did not get you into the door with manners ..
bec
I love creativity in the naming of a child..my 3 are Vance Ke’ale ,Brody Joseph, and Lily iwa’lanI..im white ,myoldest is not..my other 2 are
bec
I love creativity in the naming of a child..my 3 are Vance Ke’ale ,Brody Joseph, and Lily iwa’lanI..im white ,myoldest is not..my other 2 are
Judy M
You were absolutely right to call out the poster on failing to use a qualifier in her post but this comment was overly defensive, imo.
Lars
Barack went by Barry in school
Brandy Weis
I disagree 100% with the idea that having a unique name is a disadvantage. Unique personal names are a creative, positive, valuable expression of African-American culture. Having a common, generic given name, one that is devoid of original thought and essence of identity, is a great burden. I pity those whose name is William, John, Jacob, Sarah, Mary, etc. Those names are cliches—they are boring, overused, and meaningless.
Maammmmm
Please learn the difference between “its” and “it’s” before you post anything else.
fledgling
You’re correct Bern……I was in HR for 30 years and the above described practice (however wrong) is rampant in America. The owners routinely culled out 3 types of resumes before getting down to more in-depth considerations: “made-up black names”, muslim names, and front page typos. Can’t get more racist than that, but it is reality.
What bout ora its different and it my first name and I am named after my great aunt ora
Reggie
Name your children what ever you want…this is STILL America.
jasmbee80
I would have to agree, I worked in Hr and people were screened out for difficult or bizarre names … I personally wish my mom piked something more common not Jasmin .I have had generalized stripper comments and I hate trying to prove myself thanks to a name unfortunatly people assume they can guess who I am. My parents are hispanic but really does that matter, if I cant get past the resume stage with this name in some companies.
Apollonia
Jane is another name you just don’t see much anymore. (“Plain Jane”—ouch!) Jennifer and Marian have probably slipped, too.
Rona Eileen
Well, I named my African-American son Chad Michael…hmmm…
grumpycarrie
We named our daughter Willow and before it was popular. She’s 13 now. I got some strange looks at the time but now I get told I was ahead of the trend. For us, we chose the name because it was simply beautiful and we hope that our daughter can have the same characteristics as her name safe and be very strong yet very flexible, beautiful and graceful.
Keith
If an unusual name keeps someone from getting an interview, perhaps that saves that person
from working for ignorant , narrow-minded racists. This could be a real advantage .
spirit
I totally. Agree w/you. I’m white! (Lol)- who cares what color. This is America “melting pot”
Erasmus
Maybe , You don’t hear them anymore . That doesn’t mean no one does. I have no idea why journalists and editors this headline style ,but it not insults reader’s intelligence, but casts doubt on that of the writers and editors.
Mw
You need to worry about your own race naming their babies, because they be coming up with some ghetto unique names for their kids as well
DC-area mom
Are you kidding? There are tons of kids named Madeline today!
Laura
Correction for number 10: The name is Janet, not Joyce. Also, the possessive form of “its” does not use an apostrophe. You might want to proofread next time. Mistakes like this make your website look unprofessional. This is an interesting article nonetheless.
M
Any person who says something like this is hateful and obviously their mother (who apparently gave them the most perfect non-ethnic name) never taught them that if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all. People who think like this are proof of racism even if they think they’re not a racist person. Also, companies who are just passing over applications because of the name are breaking the law. Equal opportunity is all I have to say. I would also like to thank this bigot for showing me how awful people can be and destroying all faith I had in humanity. Do the world a favor… Do not have any children… We need to weed your genes out of the pool. If you do have kids, I hope they grow up to have open minds and open hearts and kids with ethnic names just to piss you off.
stuckup1
Edith, Bernice, Helen, Sally, Betty, Beth, Candace, Fern, MaryJo, Josephine. I found a lot of girls named “Jessie Ann” and “Williamina” or “Wilhelmina” in my family tree. The Wilhelminas were all known as “Minnie”. Lots of girls named “Augusta”, too, they were known as “Gussie” or “Gustie”.
stuckup1
I have a daughter named “Laurel”, and a young woman I met recently thought that was a boy’s name. Had a hearty (Hardy) laugh over that one!
I had an uncle (actually a second cousin, but much older than me) nicknamed “Vien”, prounced “VEEN”. His real name was unbelievable, and he was a junior to boot. His daughter was named “Vienna”, I always thought that was nice, AND it put a stop to the silly name.
Huh?!!?
I work in HR for a Top Well known company and we do not discriminate as you shouldn’t. I am black and my name is Arabic, also hard to pronounce and yet I work in HR…hmmmm
Sai
What companies do this because my name is “ethnic” and I work in HR for one of the Top 100 Companies. Stop being a racist and don’t judge someone before you get to know them.
“Overly” unique? I think this person is disadvantaged.
Hi
Evelyn
slyboots2
it’s barely even an article in the first place. Having each name on a separate page is such a desperate page view increaser.
Also, article author: names are unique (meaning only one, singular) only if they belong to a single person. What you mean is ‘unusual’.
Guest
only if you go first, idiot.
slyboots2
Pamela K. Cahoon Laub
Pamela is passe? When I was young both my first and last names were often mispronounced. If my mother had been awake when they asked what my name was I would have been Mary Blanche after my grandmothers. I would have been called Blanche. Thanks, Dad. Now Blanche is a really old-fashioned name!
JD
Hilarious I don’t have a problem with a bigot as long as they have a valid point, but rarely is that ever true. I’m not a fan of Obama, gasp……SURPRISE, but to say that blacks that voted for Obama are incompetent is mind boggling when you factor in BLACKS only account for 13-15% of the entire U.S population!!!! factor in the prison population who can’t vote, factor in the racist South where a felon isn’t allowed to vote and you are down to about 8-9% of the black population who are eligible to vote, now what does this mean? Common sense would dictate the only way Obama could have been elected is with the overwhelming support of none other than white society, ironic huh? The sad part is a minority ethnic group mathematically could never vote a president into office by themselves, but when a person is blinded by the racial hatred of someone’s skin color still in 2013, that part of comprehension isnt present in the brain.
Moses
We are also “judged” by our proper use of grammar.
John
Say hello to Jumbalaya for me…
John
You mean Escalade isn’t
Becoming????goes good with my babies daddy…..
John
Malvena…Hildegard..Eunice…
Tara
I…am…speechless! My dear, look down deep in that prejudiced little heart of yours and evolve. I am Black, working on my second degree, I am 26 with no children and graduating from Nursing school next year as a Dean’s list student. And a Democrat who voted twice for Obama (secret: he is half white!) I endured 8 long years of Bush but somehow Obama is the problem? I’m sure you are old and set in your ignorant ways but the world is changing and there will be less ignorant, intolerant people consuming all of our oxygen…in other words…Victory!
Bern
Vickie, how old are you? What world do you live in? Obviously you are not smart enough to know that racism is very much alive and it may start before your child is even given an opportunity to interview for a job, college interview, etc. Studies have shown that discrimination starts when employers sift through applications and see applicants with names like Shaniqua, Darniqua, Lakisha, and on and on. YOU ARE ELIMINATED BEFORE YOU GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO INTERVIEW BEFORE AN ENTIRE PANEL WHERE YOU CAN GET A FAIR(ER) CHANCE. In other cases, you are identified by your address. Be smart!!! Besides, there is NOTHING glamerous about those ‘MADE-UP’ AND MEANINGLESS NAMES.
mrs. Knight
Laura …Deborah those were common names u don’t hear either
whatintheworld
ALL is an ignorant statement in itself… The KKK use logic like yours to degrade others. Did blacks make them up? Racism is real, whether you admit to it or not doesn’t change its existence….What do pants on the ground have to do with a name? Did you intend to go off topic?
oh my
Do these studies take into consideration teachers aides, tutors or other students who aren’t so prejudice? It takes a village to raise children not just a parent or a teacher. Obama seemed to be able to over come the statistics. As many other “ethnic” named children have. Does it also accurately number the amount of educators that look past a name?
sad
Why can’t the people above commenting above you post a comment as educated and open minded as yours? *Sigh* Sad that these moms will pass on their ignorance and intolerance. Would be nice if people would choose to educate themselves on the many different aspects of an issue, instead of narrowing their focus…
Candela Col.
you needed that list to know the meaning? that’s so obvious.
Candela Col.
really? all the racist problems I have heard come from blacks accusing everyone for their own incompetence ( not all blacks but the type that votes for Obama). If you see a black or white kid with his pants on the floor, what would you think?
S Reed
It’s ignorant discrimination. Thank God President Bush did not do that to Condoleeza.
S Reed
Those two separate celebrities don’t speak for the entire human race. Gtfoh
Lyndaloo
Wow ! What a feed my name is Linda gladly at #12 .I’m african american and my daughter name is Hailey Marrisa it’s a shame that even at her school they’ve never seen a black girl named Hailey! *toblindtoopenthemind*
Alberta Rivera
One you forgot and I have always believed was the most ugly name ever given to a child is Alberta, which is my name. I know in the late thirties there were names that were prettier but my parents must have not wanted me to stick me with this horrible name.
I_said_first
And any one who would do that is “Stupid” and shouldn’t be a teacher.
choctawbabe
The grammatical and editing errors by the author made this article barely readable. I’m typing this comment from my phone yet I have still managed to communicate in correct English. Please take a little pride in your work…
Miss Drea
I’m African American, and I’m thankful my parents gave me a “normal” name (Andrea). Ask anyone who works in HR and they will tell you they do look over the resumes with “ethnic” names.
DZ
This is exclusive if race btw.
DZ
It isn’t preventing them from getting the education, it’s the subconscious bias an educator will likely have towards the child. Whether they mean to or not the bias works like this: “Stupid” name = “stupid” parents = “stupid”genes = “stupid” child. The “stupid” children do not get the same treatment as the other kids which can be disadvantageous to their educational experience. This has been studied and documented I suggest a google scholar search if you’re interested.
JD
While I wholeheartedly 150% agree that blacks should cease and decist in naming their kids god awful names, a name by itself isn’t the root of the problem in relation to the extreme prejudice that blacks experience in this country on a daily basis.
Starr Galloway Rhyne
My name is Starr, I am Caucasian. I grew up being called ‘Twinkle’, I had that song sung to me more times than I care to think about!! When new teachers would call me Stan, the whole class would laugh. (The two r’s when written in cursive, look like a ‘n’) . I named my children John, Bobby and Chris. No one should have to be embarrassed by their name!
Bonnie
Sophia is an oldie that made it to number 1 this year. My grandmother was Sofia. They both look good.
Rachel
This was painful to read. Does anyone edit their work anymore?
Sasha
Dot
Gitchy
Excuse me! Im black & my sisters, brother, & I all have bible & regular names. in school they teach you to refer to things as “many” or “some” so that you won’t group everyone into something thats not true. How about MANY white celebrites that give their children stupid names? Not ALL black people give their children ghetto names
Tempiest
Really!!!! A lot of African Americans aren’t judge by there names!!!! We are judge by are skin color!!!
Bella
Other oldies but goodies: Ida, Verna, Millicent, Louise, Eloise, Helen, Ella, Blanche, Doris.
oldskool2
My daughter’s name is Lydia! 🙂 My other daughter is Geneva. I think your daughters names are lovely.
Donna! Yes. My name dates me. But I still love it. The 20-somethings at Starbucks often write it on the cup as Dana.
LT
What you’ve written is so racist and misinformed. And it’s so obvious that you’re an American as well.
old_schoolin
My daughter’s name is on that list!!! This should make my wife happy to hear. The meaning of her name fits her personality well, “lioness”. She’ll be 2 in a couple of weeks.
Danielle
Oh and just in case you have a problem with this too…my kids are by the same man..my husband. And he didn’t marry me because I was pregnant ..pregnancy came way after we married
Danielle
Well im African American…and my first daughter’s name is Jamila which her uncle who is half persian named her. It means “beautiful”…and my second child’s name is Janet. And I’ve met other races that gave there children “overly unique” names. So be careful with what you say.
clyonesse
And so did Will and Jada
Vickie
What the hell does a persons name have to do with their education. That is ridiculous. If whether black, white or purple and someone chooses to name their child every letter in the alphabet, why should that keep them from getting the same education as someone named John.
Cactus
Yes, but there are multiple ways of spelling more “traditional” names, too: Ann/Anne, Sarah/Sara, Mary Ann/Marianne/Marian/Marion, Catherine/Katherine/Katharine/Catharine/Kathryn, Claire/Clair/Clare, Megan/Meghan/Meggin/Meaghan/Meghan, Sean/Shaughn/Shaun/Shawn, etc. I do think people need to put some thought into what they name their children, but I don’t think “Tyesha” is more difficult than “Meaghan.” Nevermind that there are unfamiliar “ethnic” names from non-English cultures which many Americans would find baffling, but may be an important symbol of cultural heritage for the child or its parents.
Hollie
I named my daughter Willow Jean. My middle name is Ann and I have another daughter with the name Lydia Lorraine.
cd12
My first & Middle name are on your list 🙁 am I really that old???
genxer
You are so on point. I spoke with a “Tyesha” on a “customer service” line recently. She was very put out when I asked to spell her name. Parents in general do not think when they are naming children. Give your child a name that is dignified and mainstream. That was on the advice of my late father and to this day I am glad that I listened to him. My child doesn’t have to spell her name or explain what it is or why I chose it. And she is grateful.
Tess
If we’re talking about unfortunate names, white parents are hardly blameless. I’m talking to you, people who abuse spelling to call your kids things like McKenzee or Breayanna.
GS
I don’t find it to be a racially motivated lapse of judgement. I know of a very redneck “Sarin” whose idiot father intentionally named him, yes him, after the toxic gas. Then there is Blade. Let’s not forget Mr. Zappa’s Dwezzel or MoonUnit.
xellye
I wish black parents would realize they’re doing a serious disservice to
their children by naming them overly unique names. Several studies have
shown that individuals with those types of names don’t get the same
treatment for educational and career opportunities. I would like to see
more Joyces and Leonas to ensure young black people are getting the
opportunity to at least get their foot in the door. The world isn’t
perfect and it may be unfair, but there’s no need to make life any more
difficult for black kids.
catherineinpvb
Well; Ann still used; at in ‘conjunction’ with another name/double name. And still; a few little Madeleine’s running around. But yes; no ‘Joyce’ or ‘Leona’s (not that there were ‘that’ many to begin with). ‘Martha’ is another, for sure; where if you have ‘one’. . .she is probably the only one – not only in her class; but probably entire school/neighborhood/town. – under a ‘certain age; at least. Love that name, actually; ‘old’ but cute; and today; seemingly extinct. (Ruth is another oldie; and now rarity; and while ‘not bad’; not so cute.)
Meantime; a great MO for advertising. . .
Grammargeek
“Its” not “it’s.” “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.”
Sayga
| i don't know |
According to the proverb whose wife must be above suspicion? | WHY CAESAR’S WIFE MUST BE ABOVE SUSPICION: MATES FUNCTION AS HONEST INDICATORS OF STATUS AND PRESTIGE. BY BEN AND BO WINEGARD. | Welcome to the EvoS Consortium!
Welcome to the EvoS Consortium!
Posted on March 12, 2012 by Bo Winegard
In Plutarch’s Life of Julius Caesar, a story is related that Julius Caesar divorced his wife (Pompeia) because of rumors of opprobrious behavior. At trial, Caesar said he knew nothing about his wife’s rumored adultery, but asserted that he divorced her because his wife “ought not even be under suspicion” (The Life of Caesar, 9-10). In a sense, what Caesar was asserting was that he would not allow his wife’s suspected behaviors to sully his status, reputation, and prestige. At the time, Caesar was a powerful and ambitious political player (Pontifex Maximus), and he did not want his career thwarted by rumors of his mate’s turpitudinous behavior. But why should Pompeia’s behavior affect his reputation? For several years, we (the authors) have been thinking about this and similar issues, and have, we believe, come to a reasonably accurate solution. In what follows, we will attempt to explain why men and women flaunt (show off) and conceal (hide) mates; why they are sensitively attuned to their mates’–and potential mates’–reputations; and why they are attracted to highly desired mates, often exerting enormous effort to obtain and sustain a relationship with them, despite little evidence that such efforts make evolutionary sense from traditional mate choice perspectives. Some of what we say is speculative, some is currently being tested, and some is supported by solid data. All of it, however, follows from cogent theoretical (Darwinian) logic. We call our theory the positional goods and social information (PGSI) theory of human mating.
THE RISE OF THE STANDARD PARADIGM
Evolution: Natural Selection and Sexual Selection
Modern theories of human mate choice stem from Darwin’s twin theories of natural and sexual selection (1859/1958; 1871; Larson, 2005). Although Darwin was not the first thinker to propose that life evolves, he was the first to propound a theory of evolution that included a plausible mechanism (natural selection). Darwin’s theory is elegantly parsimonious and can be reduced to three basic principles: 1) Organisms vary in their ability to reproduce. 2) Offspring inherit traits from their parents. 3) More organisms are born than will survive to reproduce. The statistical result of this process is a pool of fitter organisms, and the long term effect is the evolution of a variegated ecosystem of organisms, including humans. Later, Darwin (1871) proposed another mechanism of evolutionary change that can be distinguished from natural selection proper: sexual selection. According to Darwin, organisms not only compete for a limited pool of resources and struggle against the environment to procure them, they also compete for a limited pool of potential mates and struggle against conspecifics to obtain them. The processes of sexual selection lead to the formation of traits that enhance an organism’s ability to compete against same-sex rivals (intrasexual selection) and to traits that enhance an organism’s ability to attract opposite-sex mates (intersexual selection).
Although Darwin was flummoxed about the role that beauty played in the evolution of human mating– perhaps relying too much on disparate and inaccurate information from colonialists–modern theories of human mate choice all take Darwinian principles for granted (Grammar, Fink, Moller, & Thornhill, 2003). Furthermore, Darwin noted an important puzzle about human mating behavior that the PGSI takes seriously: women seem to be the decorated sex in humans, using their secondary sexual characteristics (breasts, lips, buttocks) to “charm,” “fascinate,” and “allure” men. This is rare, inverting the standard pattern found in nature.
Parental Investment: Bateman and Trivers
Although Darwin noted that in humans women seem to be the decorated sex, he also noted that in most species, females were “choosier” and that males were more eager to engage in frequent copulations. He did not forward a satisfactory reason for this observation. Some seventy years later, A. J. Bateman (1948) provided one. In an experiment with fruit flies, he noticed that the number of offspring a male produced varied with the number of females he copulated with, whereas the number of offspring a female produced remained relatively constant regardless of the number of partners she mated with. Bateman argued that because an ovum is costlier to produce than a single sperm cell, a female fly’s reproductive success is limited by her ability to make eggs; a male’s, upon the other hand, is limited by the number of females he inseminates. Robert Trivers (1972) formalized Bateman’s experimental data and linked parental investment to sexual selection. According to Trivers, the sex that provides the most parental investment–usually the female–should be more fastidious (should be the “limiting sex”) and the opposite sex should, ceteris paribus, compete for sexual access to the limiting sex, often evolving elaborate secondary sexual characterstics to attract them, and weapons and musculature to compete against same-sex rivals.
The Standard Paradigm is Born: Symons, Buss, and Schmitt
Trivers’ theoretical contributions laid the groundwork for the creation of what remains, with some complications and some dissenters, the standard paradigm of human mate choice. David Buss and David P. Schmitt (1993), building upon previous empirical data from Buss that was inspired by the theoretical arguments of Donald Symons (1979), produced the most coherent, elegant, and comprehensive theory of human mating to date: Sexual strategies theory (SST). Although their entire framework deserves attention, we will only focus on the aspects of it that are directly germane to our PGSI. According to the SST, there are sex differences in mating behaviors, in signaling behaviors, and in mating choices because there are sex differences in the fitness consequences of each. Specifically, Buss and Schmitt, following Trivers (1972), argue that because women are the more investing sex, they are choosier about sexual partners and more focused on procuring important resources for their offspring. Men, on the other hand, are not limited by parental investment but by the number of fertile partners they can obtain; therefore, they are more likely to pursue a mixture of short-term and long-term mating strategies. From this, it follows that men should be attuned to signals of a woman’s fecundity and parenting skill, and that women should be attuned to signals of a man’s resource procuring and resource investing potentials (wealth, status, reliability).
Female Beauty in the Standard Framework
As noted, mate choice is strongly influenced by perceptions of beauty. Brain scans have shown that beauty triggers reward systems in the brain (Aharon et al., 2001) and other studies have shown that attractive women can strongly influence male behavior (Wilson & Daly, 2004). From a Darwinian perspective, beauty is assumed to signal an underlying trait or series of traits that, on average, enhances the fitness of men (and women) who are sensitive to the signal and are able to mate with attractive women (or men). There are a number of proposals about the exact nature of this signaling system. Some argue, for example, that beauty is a “handicap,” a costly signal that indicates “good” underlying immunocompetence genes (for a review see, Gangestad & Sheyd, 2005; Zahavi, 1975). Others argue that beauty is a direct manifestation of female hormones that are correlated with high fecundity (Johnston, 2005). Finally, others argue that beauty is an outcome of minimized asymmetry, especially fluctuating asymmetry, which results from developmental perturbations and/or poor buffering systems and is therefore indicative of “poor” genes (Van Dongen & Gangestad, 2011). These theories are not mutually exclusive and they share an important similarity: they all argue that beauty is an adaptive signal that is either directly (high fecundity) or indirectly (good genes) related to higher fitness. The table below looks at a few of the traits that evolutionary theorists have argued are related to judgments of attractiveness and their putative signaling functions.
Male Status and Wealth in the Standard Framework
As mentioned above, where as men are expected to be more attuned to and influenced by physical attractiveness, women are expected to be more attuned to and influenced by indicators of status and wealth (Buss, 1994). Research indicates that these theoretical expectations are true. Buss (1989) collected cross-cultural data that showed that women valued cues of resource acquisition more than men. In a sample from Serbia, Todosijevic, Ljubinkovic, and Aranci (2003) found similar results. In a clever experimental study, Townsend and Levy (1990) produced experimental evidence that largely corroborated Buss’s previous self-report data. They had models don different outfits representing different levels of socioeconomic status and had subjects answer a variety questions about them. In the low status condition, men and women wore Burger King outfits; and in the high status condition, men wore blazers and Rolex watches, and women wore silk blouses and Rolex watches. For short term relationships, men cared more about attractiveness than did women (i.e., they were less influenced by the status enhancing or status decreasing clothing). More recent research has focused on the specific signaling behaviors of men, and we will return to this topic below.
SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE PARADIGM
A Fruitful Framework with Some Flaws
Solving many otherwise insoluble puzzles and guiding research in an exciting and fruitful direction, the standard evolutionary paradigm (SEP) of human mating and human mate choice is a wonderful achievement; nevertheless, it is flawed in a number of respects. First, although it does take into account the effects of reputation on attractiveness, it does not emphasize the effects of social information on the mating market (but see Kenrick, Li, & Butner, 2003). And second, despite a number of studies and meta-analyses, relatively weak or moderate (at best) relationships between beauty and the fitness traits (or consequences) it is supposed to signal have consistently been found (Kalick, Zebrowitz, Langlois, & Johnson, 1998; Rhodes, 2006; Weeden & Sabini, 2005; see Van Dongen & Gangestad for moderate effects). The second point poses serious problems for the SEP because the SEP clearly and unequivocally predicts that perceptions of beauty should be related to the fecundity or good genes of the prospective partner. The first does not refute the standard theory, but indicates that it is incomplete. We address each below.
Social Information
A number of narratives (in novels and films) illustrate a dilemma familiar to most who have been in high school (Milner, 2004): A man or woman is attracted to a kind or beautiful potential mate, but that potential mate is in the wrong social group–perhaps a group with low status, or perhaps a group that is bitterly despised (e.g., Montagues and Capulets). Although many of the films that deal with this subject (at least in the modern Western world) end with both parties transcending surrounding social opinion and falling in love, the real world is rarely so inspirational. This might appear a relatively anomalous circumstance, a rare result of conspiring social circumstances unfamiliar to our hominid ancestors, and therefore not a significant evolutionary force, but the very fact that psychological mechanisms exist that prevent or make such relationships difficult should compel reflection. A person’s mate, putative mate, or sex partner, in other words, can have significant status enhancing or diminishing repercussions, and such repercussions inform the person about with whom he or she should mate. A man walks in a room holding hands with an enthralling woman and, absent any other information, most people are going to assume that he possesses significant social status, and they are going to grant him the respect that such status commands. Conversely, if a man walks into a room with an unattractive mate–or a mate rumored to be sexually promiscuous–people are going to assume that he doesn’t have high status (“why would he be with her if he were socially successful?”) and are going to treat him accordingly.
Minimized as Illustrated by EMT
These behaviors are not entirely inexplicable from the perspective of the SEP; however, they are not easily explained by it, and most researchers working within the SEP framework are content to minimize or ignore the influence of social information on mating choices. To see this, consider one egregious example. In 2000, Martie Haselton and David Buss published an interesting, influential, but seriously flawed article that introduced the principles of error management theory (EMT) and applied them to men’s sexual overperception bias (Abbey, 1982). According to Haselton and Buss, humans should possess decision making adaptations that minimize the costliness of necessary errors. For example, if one is walking in the woods and sees something that resembles a snake, it is better, from a cost/benefit perspective, to err on the side of caution and treat it like it is a snake. Haselton and Buss then note that 1) reading intentions is often difficult because of a paucity of information and that 2) the sexes face different costs associated with intention reading errors. Specifically, men overperceive sexual interest. Haselton and Buss argue that this is because the cost of a false positive (inferring sexual interest that is not there) is less than the cost of a false negative (not seeing sexual interest when it is there): “Ancestral men who tended to falsely infer a prospective mate’s sexual intent…paid the fairly low costs of failed sexual pursuit: perhaps some lost time and wasted courtship effort” (pp. 82-83).
We’ll ignore the subtleties of more recent articles using the principles of EMT, and just point out a few things. These will necessarily be appeals to experience because there are not a lot of good data on the effects of getting rejected on social reputation and status. In a wonderful episode of The Wonder Years, Kevin Arnold (the main character), fearfully and fretfully tries to call a girl he is interested in. He picks up the phone, fidgets, hangs it up. He dials a few numbers and hangs up again. Finally, after many desperate attempts, he calls. We suspect that most high school males have had this experience, and it indicates something important: asking a person out or making a sexual advance must be a potentially dangerous action. If it weren’t, Haselton and Buss’s reasoning would hold and making that phone call should be relatively stress free. If the girl says no, so what? About two minutes of wasted time. In fact, if taken literally, Haselton and Buss’s analysis of the costs of making a false positive would appear to predict that men should be asking out every woman that they meet. Again, why not? A few moments of wasted time for a large potential payoff. We contend that what Haselton and Buss ignore, and what is of paramount importance for the human species, is the effect of social information. Put simply, getting rejected is a serious social blow, one with potentially damaging ramifications. And although the SEP does address issues of reputation from time to time (e.g., Schmitt & Buss, 1996), such ignorance is endemic to the paradigm.
The Problem of Beauty: What Does it Really Signal?
As we noted, there are some serious problems with the standard view of beauty. The chief is that thorough analyses have discovered only a small relationship between beauty and health/fecundity. Van Gonden and Gangestad’s (2011) meta-analysis, for example, found a moderate .3 effect size between developmental instability and health measures (the DI effect size was an estimate; the relation found in the article was between fluctuating asymmetry and health measures, which yielded a .2 effect size). Rhodes (2006), in a review, and Weeden and Sabini (2005), in a meta-analysis, found even smaller effects between attractiveness and standard measure of health/fecundity, prompting Rhodes to argue that attractiveness is more of a filter than a gauge—that is, perceptions of attractiveness “weed” out bad genes, but once a certain threshold is crossed, perceptions no longer relate to genetic quality. Some have argued, consistent with the above data, that beauty is the result of “runaway” selection or receiver (or sensory) bias (Fisher, 1930). According to these theories, beauty is not directly linked to fitness. The sensory bias theory (Ryan, 1990), for example, posits that brains have preexisting sensory biases—men’s brains, for example, might be biased toward youthful appearances—and that the opposite sex often evolves characteristics to exploit such biases. Consider a simple case. Because of the burdens of foraging, males might be biased toward detecting and responding to bright colors; females that evolved bright colors (bright eyes, shiny hair) would trigger the biases and compel men to approach; therefore, ceteris paribus, the alleles that caused the lustrous traits would propagate as would the fondness for them (Fisherian selection).
The problem with sensory bias and runaway models of selection is that the cycles they start are not stable and should be countered (see Fuller, Houle, & Travis, 2005; Gangestad & Sheyd, 2005). Consider the example above again. Suppose men are attracted to women with lustrous features but that those features have no connection to fitness. Many men with the bias would be expending precious time, energy, and resources mating with women that do not enhance their fitness. Meanwhile, other men, the ones who could not compete for highly desired mates, would mate with drab women and have equal success despite less effort. At some point, the gene pool would regress to the middle (not lustrous); one would also expect the high quality men to evolve a counter adaptation to resist the charms of the lustrous women, since those charms would be, as it were, factitious (Chapman, Arnqvist, Bangham, & Rowe, 2003). It is, of course, possible that we are currently in a disequilibrium state and that certain biases are being exploited by women; however, it is not a safe assumption.
Summary of Problem with Beauty
Even if there are methodological and theoretical problems with the results cited above, and even if some of the researchers are too pessimistic about the size of the relationship between beauty and health/fecundity, it is important to take them seriously. It is astonishing how many articles simply assert that there is a clear relationship between a trait and/or traits and some underlying fitness component. There isn’t. Instead, there appears to be a very complicated relationship, often tenuous. We believe that our positional goods and social information (PGSI) theory of human mating can make sense of the above.
THE POSITIONAL GOODS AND SOCIAL INFORMATION THEORY OF MATING
Baumeister and Vohs (2004) suggested that mating behavior could be analyzed like a market. That is, there is a supply and a demand and people behave according to the principles of microeconomics. They suggested that women “sell” sex on the market, assuming the basic Buss framework of mating, and that men purchase it through various forms of investment (in prostitution, this investment is monetary; in sanctioned mating, it might be emotional as well as monetary). The value of the sex increases or decreases based on the supply of sex on the market. However, Baumeister and Vohs ignore the importance of positional goods and social information. A positional good is a good or service that is valued according to the desire ranking of other people in comparison to available substitutes (Hirsch, 1976). For example, an original Cézanne painting does not have an intrinsic value, nor is its value determined solely by supply and demand principles; rather, its value is determined by its status ranking (and, concomitantly, the status it confers its owner). People desire the painting because it augments their status. This is the chief feature of a positional good: it is either directly related to status or enhances status through social information; its value is derived from its ranking in a system of desires because status is itself a positional and relative quality. A Porsche, to take another example, is not worth a hundred thousand dollars because of its functional utility; it is worth a hundred thousand dollars because it enhances the status of the owner. We believe that mates function like positional goods and have similar value functions, but first we want to note that this method of analysis is also congruent with another important modern theoretical innovation: signaling theory.
Relation to Signaling Theory: Positional Goods are Excellent Signals.
Signaling theory is a recent theoretical edifice that has been successfully applied to many facets of animal and human behavior (Miller, 2000). The basic principles are that 1) the traits of organisms vary in quality 2) these traits are not always easily perceivable (e.g., ambition, intelligence, reliability, immunocompetence) 3) they can, however, in principle, be signaled 4) signalers and receivers have potentially conflicting interests, but 4) the possible arms race can be avoided by building in a component of necessary honesty (Bird & Smith, 2005; Zahavi, 1975). Although humans inhabit a complex and abstract signaling space, the basic principles of signaling theory hold. Things like prestige goods (e.g. Rolex, Porsche, Blue Label Scotch) or refined talents, tastes, and knowledge (i.e., “symbolic capital”; Bourdieu, 1977) signal social wealth and social status because they are difficult to purchase or acquire; therefore, they are honest signals. Notice that most prestige goods are also positional goods: that is, they are goods that are valued because of their position in a hierarchy of desires. This means that a theory of positional goods is, in a sense, a theory of signaling. In what follows, we will use terms from both theories, with the understanding that they refer to the same basic principles.
Mates are Positional Goods or Honest Signals: Focusing on Women
The above leads to this following proposal: mates are positional goods and are therefore honest signals of underlying or difficult to assess traits such as social or cultural status. Consider, for example, a particular woman. She has intrinsic qualities that affect the reactions of men. If she is more attractive than surrounding women, for example, ceteris paribus, she will be more desired than the other woman. And if a man copulates with her or obtains a relationship commitment from her, he will have competed against many other men (implicitly or explicitly) and succeeded. This means that she is an honest signal of his status, his intelligence, his ambition, or any of innumerable other traits that allowed him to obtain what the other men could not. In other words, she confers status (called “status conferring potential” or SCP). How much or how little should be a function of three factors: supply, attractiveness, and desirability. Supply refers to the amount of sex or commitment the woman puts on the market (number of sex partners; how choosy for relationships); attractiveness is the biological quality of appealing to the perceptual system; and desirability is the number of potential suitors the woman commands. According to our model, supply should decrease SCP, while attractiveness and desirability should increase it.
This quickly solves an intriguing puzzle: why do many men prefer women who are not as attractive as other potential (and obtainable mates). For example, Kim Kardashian, although attractive, is not more so than many women on an average college campus and yet she has dated or been romantically linked to many powerful and prestigious men including Reggie Bush, Nick Lachey, Ray Jay, Miles Austin, and Cristiano Ronaldo. From the perspective of the PGSI, this is exactly what one would expect. Kim Kardashian, although not impeccably beautiful, is a highly visible socialite and reality television star (Keeping Up with the Kardashians is viewed by an estimated 4 plus million individuals) and consequently has a plethora of potential suitors (i.e., her desirability is very high), which means that being romantically linked to her increases or confirms a man’s status. Cleopatra VII of Egypt may well have been the most dramatic example of the power that factors other than intrinsic attractiveness play in mate-choice. While she was portrayed by Hollywood sex symbols Theda Bara and Elizabeth Taylor, her real life appearance left something wanting. The coin portraits of her show a relatively unprepossessing woman with an aquiline nose, prominent chin, and harsh eyes. Nevertheless, she won the hearts of two of the most powerful members of the Roman empire: Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Even Roman historians recorded her striking appearance, charming voice, and ability to “make herself agreeable to everyone,” and power to “subjugate everyone..” (Cassius Dio, Roman History 42: 34). Thus, it seems her status as the queen of an ancient state, combined with her personality, made her very desirable and increased her SCP in the same way that Kim Kardashian’s visibility (though not, we hope, strapping personality) and attractiveness has been translated into SCP.
Notice that this means that men will also be choosy because status increases or decreases based on the SCP of one’s mate. In other words, the SEP’s analysis of men’s mating decisions is only partially correct. It is almost certainly true that men desire short term mates more than women; but they are not indiscriminate about their mates. In fact, in a mating system with high informational spread (everyone knows about everyone), they should be almost as choosy as women; in a mating system, on the other hand, with less informational spread, they should be relatively indiscriminate. To put it crudely, walking hand in hand across a populated park with an unattractive mate is very much like driving through a crowded town in a rusted and broken down station wagon; and walking hand in hand with an attractive mate is like driving an elegant sports’ car (Vakritzis & Roberts, 2009).
Kim Kardashian and Cleopatra
Positional Goods: What about Men
Although there are good evolutionary reasons to suspect that men are more motivated to display signals of social and cultural status, and therefore to display mates, there are also good reasons to assume that women do not entirely lack such motivation (Geary, 2010). First, romantic partners generally come from the same status group, meaning that women should show off a high status mate because it would potentially allow them access to a larger pool of high status men (Milner, 2004). And second, women should flaunt because it would increase their desirability, which, as we have shown, is an important component of their SCP. If a woman increases her SCP, she can compel more resources from her potential mates, which makes the trade for conferred status an equal exchange (i.e., the woman confers status upon her mate and he gives her resources) (Hakim, 2010).
Potential Solution to the Problem of Beauty
The concept of SCP suggests a straightforward explanation for the relatively small relationship between attractiveness and fitness at levels beyond the threshold. Beauty does increase fitness, but it does so in a complicated, diffused, and socially determined manner. Beauty is not just a signal of underlying health, it is also a signal of prestige and bestows fitness increases to men in the currency of social status (see Henrich & Gil-White, 2001). Men who use considerable time and energy pursuing beautiful women, therefore, are not expending valuable resources foolishly; rather, they are pursuing social status, a resource that has important fitness enhancing effects. And beauty, despite not being tightly tied to biological components of fitness, is not meretricious; it is a positional good and its value is as real as the value of a highly desired plot of beachfront property or a Diamond encrusted Rolex.
Now, consider a possible scenario for the evolution of beauty. Those who argue that beauty exploits preexisting sensory biases might be partially correct. Originally, men were biased toward a few obvious indicators of fertility: youth, femininity, and a waist-to-hip ratio that facilitated parturition. Women “responded” by evolving more and more exaggerated cues. Men found the exaggerated cues more attractive and pursued the women who possessed them. The men that succeeded in mating with the most beautiful women were rewarded, not with their mates’ health and fecundity, but with social status from other men. That social status, in turn, was cashed in to obtain more resources and other sexual opportunities. (A cruel irony here: The attractiveness of a woman actually facilitates her mate’s infidelity!). This gain in fitness stopped the normal cycle of sexually antagonistic coevolution from occurring in humans as it does in many species (Rice, 2000). Women benefit, too, because men invest status in their families and their legitimate offspring. This is often ignored but is vitally important—after all, the difference between being Jackson Jordan, recognized son of Michael Jordan, and Jackson Smith, unrecognized son of Michael Jordan is enormous! Therefore, one would expect that women would compete for high status men and for sanctioned recognition of their children—a drama that was played out time and time again in the Roman Empire, for just one example.
Note: Sexually antagonistic coevolutionary cycle can be broken by conferring status on men who procure attractive women even if the traits are not reliable indicators of underlying quality.
Potential Solution to Social Information: Why Caesar’s Wife Must be Above Suspicion.
The PGSI also suggests a straight forward explanation to puzzles about human mate choice that are caused by social information. From the perspective of the PGSI, human mate choice is inextricably social. Consider the questions we raised about Haselton and Buss’s EMT of men’s sexual overperception. What Haselton and Buss ignore when they calculate the potential costs of making a false positive error is the spread of social information. Getting rejected by a man or woman can be very costly. Suppose, for example, that a guy in high school, call him John, is deciding whether or not to ask out or make an advance on a woman of moderate SCP. If he is rejected, the reverberations of the rejection might quickly run up and down the webs of his social network. Other men and women would assume certain things about him because of his inability to obtain a relatively modest mate. To put matters crudely, this would be like using a credit card to purchase a modest meal and getting declined in front of a number of relevant peers. From our point of view, it would make sense that men might be biased toward seeking out more information about a potential mate if she smiled at them, or laughed at one of their jokes, but they should be quite cautious about making their desires public. This hypothesis is supported by a common but relatively underappreciated phenomenon: indirect speech (Pinker, 2007). Any man or woman who has successfully navigated a social environment has used indirect speech, has made jokes or comments that contain ambiguous information that could be plausibly denied. The purpose of indirect speech is to attenuate informational asymmetry without exposing one’s own psychological states too clearly. For example, let’s return to John. Suppose he is romantically interested in Rebecca. He is not sure if his feelings are requited, and he does not want to get openly rejected. He might resort to making crude, potentially ironic jokes (“I’ll even take you out to dinner if my favorite team wins,” or “We might have to share my shower to save water”). The purpose of these statements is not to get an honest response, but to reduce uncertainty. For example, if Rebecca responded coldly that John’s jokes were not funny, he could be fairly sure that she was not romantically interested; however, if she responded “well, as long as it saves water,” he might suspect that she was interested and “up the ante” by making a bolder statement or joke.
The PGSI also easily explains why dating outside of one’s own status group is perilous. Even if the potential mate in the low status group is attractive, he or she does not have high SCP (low desirability) and therefore can reduce one’s status. This is excellently illustrated by the treacly but delightful movie A Walk to Remember. In it, a “cool” guy named Landon Carter (Shane West) falls in love with a dorky but attractive girl named Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore). His friends denigrate her, and others laugh about the relationship, but because it is an inspirational movie, he remains defiant, even punching one of his friends for mocking her. In the real world, few of us have the integrity to defend a low status mate to others with status, and, perhaps more cruelly, few of us have the status or attractiveness to spare.
Finally, the PGSI explains why Caesar’s wife must remain above suspicion. Although one might argue that Caesar’s wife’s reputation must remain pristine for the very simple reason that Caesar doesn’t want to get cuckolded, the story makes it clear that Caesar was not actually concerned with her fidelity, but rather with her reputation as his wife. In effect, what Caesar showed is that he possessed enough status to simply get a divorce at the mere suggestion of impropriety (compare Caesar’s status here to that of Claudius, whose wife, Valeria Messalina, reportedly cuckolded him on more than one occasion. See, Tacitus’ Annals and Suetonius’ Twelve Caesars). Consider an analogy. Suppose a rumor was begun that a man’s Porsche had been cheaply made at a knockoff manufacturer. It might damage his reputation and prestige. But suppose that, upon hearing the rumor, he simply discarded the potentially defective Porsche and bought a brand new one. It would enhance his prestige. Caesar’s wife needed to remain beyond suspicion because Caesar was a high status man in a complicated and treacherous system of status competition. Her rumored affairs were too high a cost for him to pay. Although Caesar is an undeniably attractive and dynamic figure, the world would probably be a better place if more of us could model the characters from inspirational films than the all too human characters in history books and the world around us.
References
Abbey, A. (1982). Sex differences in attributions for friendly behavior: Do males misperceive females’ friendliness? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 830-838.
Aharon, I., Etcoff, N. L., Ariely, D., Chabris, C. F., O’Conner, E., & Breiter, H. C. (2001). Beautiful faces have variable reward value: fMRI and behavioral evidence. Neuron, 32, 537-551.
Bateman, A. J. (1948). Intra-sexual selection in drosophila. Heredity, 2, 349-368.
Baumeister, R.F., & Vohs, K.D. (2004). Sexual economics: Sex as a female resource for social exchange in heterosexual interactions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 339-363.
Bird, R.B., & Smith, E.A. (2005). Signaling theory, strategic interaction, and symbolic capital. Current Anthropology, 46, 221-248.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). An outline of theory and practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Buss, D. M. (1989a). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypothesis tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 1-49.
Buss, D. M. (1994). The evolution of desire: Strategies of human mating. New York: Basic Books.
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204-232.
Chapman, T., Arnqvist, G., Banham, J., & Rowe, L. (2003). Sexual conflict. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 18, 41-47.
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray.
Darwin, C. (1958). On the origin of species by means of natural selection. New York: New American Library. (Original work published 1859)
Fisher, R. A. (1930). The genetical theory of natural selection. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Fuller, R. C., Houle, D., & Travis, J. (2005) Synthesis: Sensory bias as an explanation for mate preferences. The American Naturalist, 166, 437-446.
Gangestad, S. W., & Sheyd, G. J. (2005). The evolution of human physical attractiveness. Annual Review of Anthropology, 34, 523-548.
Geary, D.C. (2010). Male/female: The evolution of human sex differences (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Grammar, K., Fink, B., Moller, A. P., & Thornhill, R. (2003). Darwinian aesthetics: Sexual selection and the biology of beauty. Biological Review, 78, 385-407.
Hakim, C. (2010). Erotic capital. European Sociological Review, 26, 499-518.
Haselton, M.G., & Buss, D.M. (2000). Error management theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 81-91.
Henrich, J., & Gil-White, F. (2001). The evolution of prestige: Freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 165–196.
Hirsch, F. (1977). The social limits to growth. London: Routledge.
Johnston, V. S. (2005). Mate choice decisions: the role of facial beauty. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 9-13.
Kalick, S.M., Zebrowitz, L.A., Langlois, J.H., & Johnson, R.M. (1998). Does human facial attractiveness honestly advertize health? Longitudinal data on an evolutionary question. Psychological Science, 9, 8-13.
Kenrick, D. T., Li, N. P., & Butner, J. (2003). Dynamical evolutionary psychology: Individual decision rules and emergent social norms. Psychological Review, 110, 3-28.
Larson, E.J. (2004) Evolution: The remarkable history of a scientific theory. New York: The Modern Library.
Miller, G. F. (2000). The mating mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature. New York: Doubleday.
Milner, M., Jr. (2004). Freeks, geeks, and cool kids: American teenagers, schools, and the culture of consumption. New York, NY: Routledge.
Pinker, S. (2007). The evolutionary social psychology of off-record indirect speech acts. Intercultural Pragmatics, 4, 437-461.
Rhodes, G., (2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 199-226.
Rice, W. (2000). Dangerous Liaisons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97, 12953-12955.
Ryan, M. J. (1990). Sexual selection, sensory systems, and sensory exploitation. Oxford Survey of Evolutionary Biology, 7, 156-195.
Schmitt, D. P., & Buss, D. M. (1996). Strategic self-promotion and competitor derogation: Sex and context effects on the perceived effectiveness of mate attraction tactics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1185–1204.
Symons, D. (1979). The evolution of human sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Todosijevic, B., Ljubinkovic, S., & Arancic, A. (2003). Mate selection criteria: A trait desirability study of sex differences in Serbia. Evolutionary Psychology, 1, 116-126.
Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man 1871-1971 (pp. 136-179). Chicago: Aldine.
Townsend, J.M., & Levy, G.D. (1990). Effects of potential partners’ costume and physical attractiveness on sexuality and partner selection. Journal of Psychology, 124, 371- 389.
Vakirtzis, A., & Roberts, S.C. (2009). Mate choice copying and mate quality bias: different processes, different species. Behavioral Ecology, 20, 908-911.
Van Dongen, S., & Gangestad, S. W. (2011). Human fluctuating asymmetry in relation to health and quality: A meta-analysis. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 380-398.
Weeden, J., & Sabini, J. (2005). Physical attractiveness and health in Western societies: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 635-653.
Wilson, M., & Daly, M. (2004). Do pretty women inspire men to discount the future? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 271, S177-S179.
Zahavi, A. (1975). Mate selection—A selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 53, 205-214.
References from Table 1.
1. Jasienska, G., Lipson, S.F., Ellison, P.T., Thune, I., & Ziomkiewicz, A. (2006). Symmetrical women have higher potential fertility. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 390-400.
2. Moller, A. P., & Swaddle, J. P. (1997). Asymmetry, developmental stability, and evolution. Oxford, London: Oxford University Press.
3. Marlowe, F. (1998). The nubility hypothesis: The human breast as an honest signal of residual reproductive value. Human Nature, 9, 263-271.
4. Singh, D. (1995). Female health, attractiveness, and desirability for relationships: Role of breast asymmetry and waist-to-hip ratio. Ethology and Sociobiology, 16, 465-481.
5. Wong, B.J., Karimi, K., Devcic, Z., McLaren, C.E., & Chen, W.P. (2008). Evolving attractive faces using morphing technology and a genetic algorithm: A new approach to determining ideal facial aesthetics. Laryngoscope, 118, 962–74.
6. Fink, B., & Neave, N. (2005). The biology of facial beauty. International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 27, 317-325.
7. Fink, B., Grammer, K., Thornhill, R. (2001). Human (homo sapiens) facial attractiveness in relation to skin texture and color. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 115, 92-99.
8. Feinberg, D.R., Jones, B.C., DeBruine, L.M., Moore, F.R. Law Smith, M.J., Cornwell, R.E., Tiddeman, B.P., Boothroyd, L.G., & Perrett, D.I. (2005). The voice and face of woman: One ornament that signals quality? Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 398-408,
Related
| Julius Caesar |
‘Nessun dorma’ comes from which Puccini opera? | Wifehood - Idioms by The Free Dictionary
Wifehood - Idioms by The Free Dictionary
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wifehood
Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Legal , Encyclopedia , Wikipedia .
a good husband makes a good wife
If a husband treats his wife well, she will treat him well in return. I do the dishes because it gives Shannon much needed time to relax, and a good husband makes a good wife.
See also: good , husband , make , wife
man and wife
Two people who are married to each other. Another way of saying "husband and wife." How are you two doing, now that you're man and wife?
See also: and , man , wife
Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.
Prov. The associates of public figures must not even be suspected of wrongdoing. (The ancient Roman Julius Caesar is supposed to have said this when asked why he divorced his wife, Pompeia. Because she was suspected of some wrongdoing, he could not associate with her anymore.) Jill: I don't think the mayor is trustworthy; his brother was charged with embezzlement. Jane: But the charges were never proved. Jill: That doesn't matter. Caesar's wife must be above suspicion. When the newspapers reported the rumor that the lieutenant governor had failed to pay his taxes, the governor forced him to resign, saying, "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."
A good husband makes a good wife.
and A good Jack makes a good Jill.
Prov. If a husband or man wants his wife or girlfriend to be respectful and loving to him, he should be respectful and loving to her. Don't blame your wife for being short-tempered with you; you've been so unpleasant to her lately. A good husband makes a good wife.
See also: good , husband , make , wife
How's the wife?
Inf. a phrase used by a man when inquiring about a male friend's wife. Tom: Hi, Fred, how are you? Fred: Good. And you? Tom: Great! How's the wife? Fred: Okay, and yours? Tom: Couldn't be better. Bill: Hi, Bob. How's the wife? Bob: Doing fine. How's every little thing? Bill: Great!
(all) the world and his wife
(British & Australian informal)
a very large number of people It's a huge outdoor concert - I imagine the world and his wife will be there.
| i don't know |
Which former international full back was manager of Leeds United when they reached the European Cup Final in 1974-75, before working as a football summariser on BBC radio for over 30 years? | Leeds United F.C. History
Leeds United F.C. History
Debut: v Chelsea (a): 23-01-1960
5�51/2� 9st 13lb (1974)
#1 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever
Right Half in Greatest LUFC Team
The core of Don Revie's great Leeds sides was the midfield blend of Billy Bremner's commitment and Johnny Giles' skill. The diminutive Bremner though, was also skilful and his passing, leadership, never-say die attitude and eye for goal made him one of the games's greatest midfielders. Raised in the Raploch area of Stirling, where he attended the St Mary's Junior Catholic School, he played for St. Modan's High School and Gowanhill Juniors. After being rejected by Arsenal and Chelsea for being 'too small', he joined Leeds in December 1959. In his early days he often brushed with football's authorities but gradually matured and collected many honours. He won the first of fifty-four Scottish caps in May 1965, adding to Schoolboy and Under-Twenty-Three honours, where he scored once, against Wales at Kilmarnock on 2nd December 1964, in three games from 24th May 1964 to 24th February 1965 and was, for decades, United's most capped player. He was the most successful skipper in the club's history, leading United to two League championships, an F.A. Cup win, a League Cup Trophy and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup triumphs. He won the 1970 Footballer of the Year award as United narrowly missed a unique treble of League, F.A. Cup and European Cup.
After progressing through the Leeds Juniors, within a year, he made his first-team debut on 23rd January 1960 at Chelsea, at outside-right, under the careful guardianship of his captain and initial mentor, Don Revie, who played at inside-right. He became a permanent fixture on the Leeds team sheet for more than sixteen years, unless injured or suspended. Bremner quickly established himself as an uncompromising player, tough in the tackle and often going beyond the rules to get the better of a skilled opponent. But that was not the true story, he also became an extremely skilfull midfielder and had the stamina to cover every inch of the pitch for the full ninety minutes and could pass with precision and timing. He also scored more than his fair share of goals, and had the extraordinary ability of scoring crucial goals in the biggest games, scoring winners in four major semi-finals.
Bremner was at the vanguard of Leeds' march to success in the early to mid 1960s. They won the Second Division title in the 1963-64 season and then the following year came tantalisingly close to a "double" of League championship and FA Cup. They lost the League title to Manchester United on goal average, and the F.A. Cup to Liverpool by 1-2 after extra-time at Wembley. But Bremner had his moment, scoring the equaliser with a crisp half-volley, from a Jack Charlton head down, which left the Liverpool goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence staring in amazement as the rocket flew into the net. Since his arrival in March 1962, Bobby Collins had always been the United Captain, setting the standards and leading the fight, but in United's second Inter Cities Fairs game at Torino on 6th October 1965, he had his thigh broken by a vicious tackle and, after Jack Charlton had taken the mantle for a while, Billy Bremner was given the Captaincy which he kept until he left the club in September 1976. Then came the unprecedented success as the Trophies and general acclaim started to come. From then until the end of the 1960s, they won the League Cup and Fairs Cup in 1968 and the "Holy Grail" of the League Championship in 1968-69 as United only lost two games and broke all kinds of records in achieving it.
It was not all plain sailing. There were the seasons when United failed to achieve what they deserved, as fatigue set in after chasing too many trophies and there was the lack of appreciation from the football world, particularly the Southern Press, who questioned United's methods and labelled them "Dirty Leeds", a sentiment echoed by Brian Clough and other football players, managers and pundits. However, in 1970, with Leeds chasing the historic "treble" of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup, which had never been achieved before and Leeds were the first team ever to have had a realistic chance of achieving it. In the end Leeds ended up with nothing. Losing the League title to Everton, the FA Cup final after an extremely violent replay against Chelsea, after playing Chelsea off the park in the original game at Wembley, and never being behind until well into extra time in the replay, and the European Cup Semi-Final to Celtic. It was in this time that Leeds had a reputation for being dirty, with Bremner leading the way, ably backed up by Johnny Giles alongside equally uncompromising players such as Norman Hunter. The notion was epitomised by one of football's most famous photographs taken on 20th August 1966, showing a young Bremner pleading his innocence after Tottenham Hotspur's burly Scots "Hardman", Dave Mackay, grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him up following a late tackle by Bremner.
People say that Leeds under-achieved. Leeds won two League titles, in 1968-69 and 1973-74, but missed out on further championships in dramatic last-game climaxes in at least three other years. Bremner played in four FA Cup finals, but only won one. They reached a European Cup Winners Cup final in 1973, but lost. Finally, before the team aged and broke up, it reached a European Cup final two years later but lost controversially to Bayern Munich. In the 1970's Leeds dominated every competition they entered, although in some years under the Manager's instructions or team selection it was apparent that they had their priorities set on one or more goal at the expense of others. There were exceptions, and those were their classic under-achievements. In June 1971 Bremner lifted the Fairs Cup for the second time, as they beat Juventus on the away goal rule but in February 1971 they had gone down to Colchester United in the Fifth Round of the F.A. Cup, although Bremner had missed that game. Then after beating Arsenal 1-0 in their penultimate League game they watched helplessly as the Gunners, with Leeds only needing Spurs to get a score draw or win, won 1-0 and to rub it in won the F.A. Cup too to become only the second team to achieve "The Double" in modern times. 1971-72 saw United win the F.A. Cup for the first time, beating arch-rivals Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley, and giving Bremner both domestic cup medals. Mick Jones was injured in the win and two days later they were forced to play Wolves at Molineux, needing only to draw to complete "The Double". Bremner scored, but it was little consolation as Leeds went down 1-2 and had to concede the title to chief detractor, Brian Clough and his Derby County team. 1972-73 saw Leeds never in the race for the title as Liverpool were too good, but fell to Second Division Sunderland, when odds-on favourites to retain the F.A. Cup and were "robbed" in Salonika, by a referee who was banned by FIFA, for his biased running of the European Cup Winners Cup Final, which United lost 1-0 to AC Milan. Two more runners-up medals for Bremner! In 1973-74 Bremner played magnificently as Leeds finally put six seasons of near-misses aside and won the League championship, for the second time, with ease, setting a record of twenty-nine unbeaten games from the start the season. A record which stood until beaten in 2004 by Arsenal. When looking back years later, in August 1995, for the Match of the Seventies TV programme, Bremner considered the 1973�74 Leeds team as tough as any British team since the Second World War. As champions, Leeds contested the 1974 Charity Shield against FA Cup winners Liverpool at Wembley. Bremner was sent off for a clash with Kevin Keegan, which also saw the Liverpool striker dismissed. He received an eleven game suspension, which severely impacted on the Leeds 1974-75 League campaign, and would not have helped Brian Clough, who was without Bremner's services for the rest of his term as Manager. So, with Leeds out of contention for domestic honours, they were able to concentrate on the European Cup. They reached the Final, which they lost in controversial circumstances to Bayern Munich. Leeds were denied what seemed a certain penalty, when Beckenbauer clearly brought down Allan Clarke in the penalty box. Then they had a goal disallowed, when, after being pressured by Beckenbauer, the referee decided that Bremner was offside, after it appeared that Peter Lorimer had given Leeds the lead with one of his specials. Finally, Bremner was denied when Sepp Maier produced an astonishing point-blank save from just six yards.
Bremner finally left Leeds and moved to Hull City in September 1976 for �35,000. He had played 772 games for Leeds, including one as a substitute, putting him marginally second behind Jack Charlton in the club's all-time list. While his one hundred and fifteen goals placed him in fifth spot on the all-time goalscorers chart, behind only Peter Lorimer, John Charles, Allan Clarke and Tom Jennings. With the Tigers he made sixty-one appearances and scoring six goals. In November 1978, Bremner effectively ended his brilliant playing career when he left Hull City to take over as Manager of Doncaster Rovers, becoming their seventeenth boss since World War Two. Bremner retained his playing registration and turned out for Rovers in emergencies. He started twice and came on three times as substitute and finally retired at the age of thirty-nine. With very little cash at his disposal, Bremner built his teams on the basis of hard-working players rather than expensive talent. Rovers had been languishing in Division Four for many years but, within two years of his appointment, Bremner took them to promotion when they finished third behind Southend and Lincoln. Bad luck and crippling injuries saw Doncaster relegated in 1983 but they bounced back the following season as Division Four runners-up. Bremner had several good young players in his ranks, including Ian Snodin, a midfielder whom he sold to Leeds for �200,000 in May 1985. Within months, the pair linked up again when Bremner was appointed manager at Elland Road, succeeding the loyal Eddie Gray.
On the field, Bremner had led Leeds to their greatest triumphs and now he aimed to do the same from the dug-out. United took time to adjust to the demands of his preferred style of play. He used a five man defence in front of goalkeeper Mervyn Day, but a series of disappointing displays saw them slip briefly into the relegation zone before playing their way out of trouble. The following season Bremner steered his beloved United to the brink of double glory. They came within twenty minutes of reaching the 1987 F.A.Cup Final and ten minutes of gaining promotion to Division One. A late surge took Leeds into the promotion Play-offs but they fell at the final hurdle in a replay against battling Charlton on an emotion charged night at St.Andrew's, Birmingham, going down 2-1 to two late extra-time goals. United's F.A.Cup run was an unexpected bonus, but again they came a cropper when glory beckoned, losing 3-2 to Coventry City after extra-time in one of the most thrilling semi-finals Hillsborough had ever staged. Bremner's reward was an extended contract but in 1987-88 Leeds appeared to go backwards and failed to live up to their billing as promotion favourites. Poor results at the start of the next season saw Leeds lingering near the foot of the table and Bremner was axed in late September 1988. Coach Peter Gunby was put in charge until United found a replacement for Bremner, whose devotion to the club he served so well could not be doubted.
In July 1989, Bremner returned to Doncaster as Manager, a job he held until he was dismissed in November 1991. He then earned a living on the after-dinner speech circuit.
On 3rd February 1982, Bremner won �100,000 libel damages, along with legal costs, after he sued the Sunday People Newspaper for publishing an article in September 1977 that alleged he tried to fix football matches, including the May 1972 game at Wolves, which was two days after Leeds United had won the FA Cup. Leeds lost the game 2�1 and Derby County became champions for the first time in their history. Danny Hegan, Frank Munro and Gary Sprake each claimed that Bremner was guilty of bribery. Jack Charlton, Allan Clarke, Johnny Giles and Wolves player Derek Dougan all spoke up for Bremner and said the claims were nonsense.
As an international, Bremner was at the forefront of Scottish football's rise in the 1970s after years in the wilderness. After playing in an unofficial for Scotland against the Scottish League on 24th February 1964 at Ibrox Park, he made his Scotland debut in 1965 against Spain, then played in the famous 3�2 victory against world champions England at Wembley in 1967 and captained his country at the World Cup in West Germany in 1974. The Scottish squad contained five Leeds players, Peter Lorimer, Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, David Harvey and Captain Billy Bremner. His last cap came against Denmark in September 1975. An incident in Copenhagen after the game led to a lifetime ban from international football along with four other players, Willie Young, Joe Harper, Pat McCluskey and Arthur Graham. The five allegedly were ejected from a night-club for rowdy behaviour. This was after breaking a 1 a.m. curfew to indulge in a bout of heavy drinking. Then, an SFA official was none too pleased when he entered the room of Bremner and McCluskey to find them turning a bed upside down in a drunken prank. Ronald McKenzie, the Scottish team trainer, resigned his post as he admitted to being involved as well. it was a shattering and premature end to a magnificent International career than had spanned ten yearsThe ban was lifted in 1976 but Bremner never played international football again. He won fifty-four caps in total, scoring three goals and Captained his country on thirty-nine occasions. Probably the biggest tribute paid by the football fraternity to Bremner and Leeds United came on 28th July 1969, when Bremner, Jack Charlton and Terry Cooper were selected in the Rest of the United Kingdom team to take on Wales at Ninian Park, in a celebration game for the investiture of the Prince of Wales.
He died of an heart attack on Dec 7th 1997. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and is honoured by a commemorative statue outside the South East corner of Elland Road and by "Billy's Bar" in the South Stand. He was inducted into the English Hall of Fame in 2004. He has also been included in the Football League One Hundred Legends. Bremner was also voted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, as one of its first inductees, in 2004, and is on the Scotland national football team roll of honour for having won more than fifty caps for Scotland.
Appearances
TRIBUTES & OBITUARIES
The Hall of Fame:
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
Nailed to the wall in the Leeds United dressing-room at Elland Road during the 1960s was a sign. It read: Keep Fighting.
�It hangs above my peg, appropriately, for I am the captain,' Billy Bremner said at the time. �I am supposed to set an example to the rest of the lads.' Over a period of 16 years, this �10 stone of barbed wire', as The Sunday Times described him, did just that, inspiring the most consistently successful team in England between 1964 and 1974.
Bremner was a vital cog in the Leeds machine. When Don Revie, the manager, heard that the Scotsman might be sold, he gave the board an ultimatum: �If he goes, I go.' Bremner and Revie stayed put.
�Billy played more with his heart than his head,' Eddie Gray, the Leeds winger, said. �He had a heart the size of Elland Road. As a midfield player, he was a free spirit who worked on instinct.'
The �Keep Fighting' motto was followed literally on several occasions, particularly during the mid-60s when the club was establishing itself in the First Division. �We were so determined that none of the elite clubs were going to get in our way,' Bremner recalled. �We weren't star-gazers.' A Scotland schoolboy international and a right-winger in his early days at Elland Road, Bremner was later switched to the centre of midfield, where he formed a lasting and productive partnership with Johnny Giles.
In later years, Revie would occasionally withdraw Bremner into a deeper role, particularly for difficult away games. �Billy was an outstanding sweeper,' said fellow defender Norman Hunter. �His versatility was another of his great attributes.' Above all, though, he was an instinctive attacking player, and he developed a knack of scoring late winning goals in vital matches. None stirred as much feeling as his late header against Manchester United in 1965 which took Leeds through to the club's first ever FA Cup Final. At Wembley they lost to Liverpool.
Mentally, too, they fought on despite the disappointment of missing out narrowly on major honours three seasons in succession. The indefatigable and relentlessly ambitious Bremner set the tone for the team, and their remarkable resilience was finally rewarded with victory in the League Cup final in 1968. �Now that we've won some silver at last, we'll go on to collect other trophies,' Bremner said, and he was right. Bremner and Leeds won two championship titles, one FA Cup and two Fairs Cups.
There would be one last, great disappointment, however: in 1975 Leeds United were unfortunate to lose against Bayern Munich in the final of the European Cup. It was the swansong for Bremner, now at the veteran stage, and the Leeds side built by Revie in terms of major honours. A riot by Leeds fans in Paris added disgrace to despair.
�Above all Leeds have Bremner, the best footballer in the four countries,' John Arlott wrote in The Guardian in 1970. �If every manager in Britain were given his choice of any one player to add to his team some, no doubt, would toy with the idea of George Best; but the realists, to a man, would have Bremner.'
Tributes to flow in for Bremner the lionheart:
By Ben Rumsby : Thursday, 6 December 2007
Tomorrow, 10 years have gone by since Billy Bremner died, two days short of his 55th birthday.
Bremner represented Scotland 54 times and played 771 games for Leeds in a 17-year career that began in 1959. And he was the driving force behind Don Revie's side who collected six major trophies at home and abroad, and were runners-up 12 times, between 1965 and 1975.
Tributes to the man who passed away on 7 December, 1997, will pour in from Bremner's former team-mates and thousands of fans will pay their respects at Saturday's Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield. Yet it is not only Bremner's Elland Road contemporaries who will be recounting memories of the man who also played 61 games for Hull and was the Leeds manager from 1985 to 1989.
Ron Yeats led Liverpool to two Championships and an FA Cup victory over Leeds in the 1960s and he recalled: "I'll never forget a picture of the two of us tossing up before a big game at Anfield. I was 6ft 3in and Billy was about 5ft 3in. We looked like Little and Large. But although he was only a wee man, he was a heavyweight player. He had the heart of a lion and he was a tremendous leader. He never gave up. He was an inspiration and he led by example. He expected the whole team to follow and they did. "We only played together once for Scotland, against Italy in Naples in December 1965. On the morning of the match, we were sitting together at the team talk. Jock Stein, who had taken over from Ian McColl as manager on a part-time basis, turned to us and said: 'Right, I'm expecting miracles from you two today'. And Billy looked at me and whispered: 'So he's not asking a lot then'. We lost 3-0!"
Jimmy Armfield took over as Bremner's manager at Leeds in October 1974. "The team were struggling," remembered Armfield, the former England captain who is now a member of the Radio Five Live commentary team. "They had lost Don Revie in the summer and had gone through a traumatic 44 days with his successor, Brian Clough. When I arrived, Billy was injured and the team was near the bottom with six points from nine matches. One day I was chatting to Bob English, our kit man, and he said: 'Don't worry, you'll see a difference when Billy's back. When Billy plays, they all play'. And he was right. We never looked back when once Billy was fit again. He was a real firebrand but people forget what a gifted player he was. Good touch on the ball, very clever, with just about the best reverse pass I ever saw. He was a great competitor, too, with a tremendous amount of pride. He wanted the job after Clough left and I suspect there was a bit of resentment when I arrived. I didn't go out of my way to win him over. I just treated him with the respect he deserved and we became close."
Peter Swan, who made more than 500 appearances for Leeds, Hull, Port Vale, Plymouth, Burnley, Bury and York, was given his league debut by Bremner in 1986. Swan, a match summariser for BBC Radio Humberside, will always remember the influence of Bremner. "Billy was never the kind of manager who locked himself away in his office. He loved being around his players. I can still see him now, sitting in the dressing-room with one elbow on his knee, listening to all the banter. He was absolutely passionate about Leeds United. He lived for the club and was always destined to go back as manager. And he transmitted that passion to his players. We all went out wanting to win, for Leeds and for Billy Bremner."
From BBC: Profile: Billy Bremner
Billy Bremner (9 December 1942 - 7 December 1997)
Leeds career: Player 1960-1976, Manager 1985-1988
Rating: Legend
Legacy: Billy Bremner statue in front of stadium
International career: Scotland (54 caps, 3 goals)
Facts:
Only Jack Charlton played more games for Leeds than Bremner and he is the fourth highest goal scorer of all time for the club. Just 5' 5" tall, Billy Bremner was rejected by Arsenal and Chelsea for being too short before being signed for Leeds at the age of 17. Bremner left Leeds for Hull City in 1976, then played for Doncaster Rovers from 1979 until his retirement three years later. As manager of Doncaster he led the club to promotion from the lowest division (and then did the same again when after failed to stay up the following year). He was voted footballer of the year in 1970. In the official Leeds United website's 100 Greatest Leeds Players list Billy Bremner holds the top spot at number one.
From LUFC Programme v Bolton Wanderers, 20th December 1997, came the following tributes:
Chairman's tribute by Peter Ridsdale: As someone who has been in awe of Billy Bremner since watching him for the first time in my schooldays, I feel honoured and proud to pay tribute to a man whose popularity spanned the generations.It speaks volumes for Billy's personality that young and old alike turned up in their droves at his funeral service in the small village of Edlington, near Doncaster, to pay their last respects. So many people wanted to be there that the service had to be relayed over loud speakers to the throng outside, while those fortunate enough to join Billy's family inside St Mary's Church came from so many elements of football. David Batty had played for Newcastle the night before, but he was there, along with others who played under Billy's management like Brendan Ormsby, the Snodin brothers, john Stiles, ]ohn Sheridan and Bobby Davison. Of course, Billy's playing colleagues and some who turned out against him were there in force, mingling with the fans to which the wee man's memory also meant so much. I remember him in the very early days when he was often playing on the right wing. He was fiery and a bit niggly but he stood out even then for his pace and small stature. He seemed to have no weight on him at all, yet his energy and speed were remarkable. Then he went on to become one of the best midfield players in the world, for United and his beloved Scotland, playing over 700 games for his club and winning 54 international caps. Billy had the knack of scoring crucial goals on the big occasion and it was one of those goals that caused me to run on to a football pitch for the first and only time. It happened at the FA Cup semi-final, second replay, against Manchester United at Burnden Park, Bolton, in 1970. Billy scored the only goal of the match in front of 56,000 people. I ran on to the pitch afterwards and took a piece of turf home with me as a souvenir. That was just one of so many wonderful memories. One of them was the winning goal in the 1965 FA Cup semi-final, again against Manchester United, but this time at Nottingham. It took us through to Wembley for the first time and I just couldn't believe it. I first met Billy when he and the rest of the United team attended an open day at Leeds Grammar School. I was about ten years old and was in complete awe of him, even though he looked just like a schoolboy himself. All those years later I looked around St Mary's Church at the players from Billy's era that turned up to pay their last respects, and they are still my heroes. Once again I was in awe of being in their company, proud to have known Billy, to have watched him play and to have been in the privileged position to say goodbye to one of the greatest characters the game has known.
Programme editor, John Wray, spent many years on the staff of Bradford's evening newspaper, the Telegraph & Argus, where he covered Leeds United for the T&A and its sister paper the Yorkshire Sports. It was while carrying out his reporting duties for the two titles that he got to know Billy Bremner the player and Billy Bremner the manager. This is his tribute to the great man:
�Billy Bremner was simply the greatest captain in Leeds United's history. Greater than those renowned fellow Scottish internationals Bobby Collins and Gordon Strachan, and unquestionably one of the most inspiring skippers world football has produced.� During the club's glory years in the 'sixties and early 'seventies, when Billy led Leeds on the battlefields of Britain and Europe, the names of Billy Bremner, Don Revie and Leeds United were as one. Revie, the most successful manager in United's history, died of motor neurone disease in May, 1989, aged 61. Sadly, Bremner passed away even younger, after suffering a heart attack. How tragically ironic, that two men whose physical fitness and exceptional footballing talent earned them the Footballer of the Year accolade in different eras, should die so comparatively young.
I started covering United's affairs in the summer of 1970, six years before Billy left Leeds for Hull City, and I got to know him well as I accompanied United at home and abroad on their trailblazing quests for silverware. Yet it was during his three years as United's manager, from 1985 to 1988, that I formed a daily working relationship with the man I had always respected as a player for his unstinting courage, passion, leadership and ability to score goals on the really big occasions. I am proud to say we developed a friendship that lasted long after he quit the game to spend more time with his family and enjoy his other sporting passion, golf. He also became an accomplished radio summariser and after-dinner speaker, recounting with relish his treasured footballing memories. Small in stature, he was a giant among footballers, while under his management; United reached an FA Cup semi-final and reached the Second Division promotion play-off final in 1987. His relationship with the local press was so close that he was a member of our card school on away trips, exhibiting the dread of losing he had always shown on the football pitch. Woe betide a playing partner who played a wrong card. Billy's wrath would be swift and frightening! He simply hated losing, whether the game was football or carpet bowls. He would regularly invite our small group into the manager's office on our return to Elland Road from those away games, and we would discuss the match until the nightwatchman threatened to throw us out. Billy wasn't the most popular man among opponents and rival crowds, of course. He wore that hatred of losing like an irremovable tattoo. It got him into trouble with referees and there was the memorable occasion when Billy and Kevin Keegan were sent off at Wembley for fighting during the 1974 FA Charity Shield and then took off their shirts in protest. Yet you would struggle to find any player, manager or supporter who would not have had the ginger-haired midfield dynamo in their team. Bremner won 54 Scotland caps and a place in his country's Hall of Fame. He turned out for United in over 700 competitive games and never lost his deep love for the club. Whenever I met him at matches after his retirement or called him on the phone he always offered a cheery greeting and had an insatiable appetite for up to the minute news of his beloved United. When practical jokes were being played you could be sure Billy was heavily involved, but it was all in good fun and United's team spirit was unrivalled. Countless tributes have flowed in since Billy's death, but a verse from Ronnie Hilton's song 'Glory, Glory Leeds United' perhaps best sums up what the great man was all about.
Don Warters, Soccer Correspondent of the Yorkshire Evening Post, who knew Billy Bremner both as a footballer and a friend for nearly 30 years, pays his tribute to the Scottish legend.
�When the news of Billy Bremner's death was broken to me on the morning of Sunday 7th December, I Just could not believe it. Truth is, I didn't want to believe it. But when the reality - and finality of the situation eventually sank in it left me deeply saddened and with an empty feeling inside.To say I felt his death deeply as did all who knew him either as a friend and a great footballer or merely as a footballer gracing the football grounds of Britain and Europe as captain of Leeds United, is an understatement.�
Maybe it is because I always regarded him as indestructible. Small of frame he may have been but he was a footballing giant as he led United in such indefatigable style as they cut a swath through top football in Britain and abroad. I find it difficult to say we will see his like again because I doubt very much that we ever will. The chant was that there was only one Billy Bremner and so there was. I will remember him as one of the great footballers of all time. I first knew the little Scot in a professional sense, me as sports journalist he as a Leeds United player, but over the years I got to know him as a friend and our friendship lasted beyond his playing days and was still in force up to his untimely death. My last meeting with him was four weeks before his death, when he was the guest speaker at the Leeds Rhinos monthly luncheon club and though the organisation was chiefly one involving the oval ball, Billy made no excuses for sticking to stories about soccer, centred mainly on the lighter side of his experiences playing for United. Funny they were too. Since his playing days ended and after he had finished with soccer management, Billy took up after dinner speaking and had made quite a success of it. He was in great demand, so much in fact that it was said he did not have a Friday night free for quite a number of months ahead. Just as he made a success of his footballing career, so, too, did he master the art of public speaking. He had a fund of rib-tickling anecdotes which he rattled off but, unlike most speakers, he had no sue for notes - which was strange really because he had not been blessed with the best of memories. In fact in his playing days he often forgot things - dates, presentations and the like. At one stage, while Billy was still a player, the Yorkshire Evening Post ran a monthly presentation scheme whereby people who had served local sport well were nominated for the award and each month the newspaper arranged for a sporting personality to do the honours. When it came to selecting a Leeds United player to make the presentation for one particular month, Billy, as captain of the club and of Scotland, was the obvious choice, I asked Billy if he would do it, he readily agreed and I told him the date, place and time of the ceremony. It was a week away and I reminded him a couple of days before but when I rang him on the morning of the presentation he said: "What presentation is that?" After I had made him aware of the details again he asked me how to get there but to be on the safe side, I said the least I could do was pick him up in my car and take him there. This agreed I rang off but when I got to his house that night he was sat in the chair watching television and obviously not ready. "Oh, sorry, I forgot all about it," he said and then quickly got changed. But the grin on his face told its own story. The joke that night was on me. We got to the presentation in time. My friendship with the fiery little midfield man grew when I made weekly visits to his semi-detached home in Templenewsam where we constructed his column for the Yorkshire Evening Post's 'Green Post' sports paper. I enjoyed those weekly chats immensely and it was a pleasure and an entertainment to write his column because he was so passionate about the game and forthright in his views. And with United being at the forefront of soccer both in this country and abroad at that time there was plenty to discuss and write about. Although he had an aggressive side to his nature on the football field, there was a caring side to him as well and I benefited for that when I was driving to his house shortly before midnight on a very cold winter night. I was going to collect my wife, who had spent the evening with Billy's wife, Vicki. A couple of miles from his house my car ran out of petrol and I rang to say I would be later than expected getting there. "Sit tight and I'll get you some petrol," he said. And in no time at all he had driven out to where I was stranded and produced a can of petrol to get me moving again. The competitiveness of Billy's nature spilled over into virtually everything he tackled and playing cards was no different. On long trips, during his management of United, I often travelled with the team but every moment of spare time was taken up playing cards. Directors, coaching staff we were all dragged in. Billy was a good card player and he took money off all of us. And then he'd tell you how to play the game properly! These are just some of the memories I have of Billy Bremner. He was a great footballer blessed with all round ability. He was a good tackler, he could pass the ball with precision, he scored a lot of goals and he had great passion and vision. What more could any player ask for? Thanks for the memories, Billy.
Words of Wisdom:
Billy Bremner played the game his way. He never flinched from a tackle and never knowingly let a teammate down. Over the years he spoke and wrote many times of the way he felt the game should be played and how he played it. Now, at this sad time, we reflect on those passionately held views and list some of them here:
There's a motto in the Leeds United dressing room which reads: 'Keep Fighting!' It hangs above my peg appropriately, for I'm the skipper, and I'm supposed to set an example to the rest of the lads. In fact every player on the staff knows that motto and acts accordingly. Leeds DO keep on fighting. They never give up until the referee has blown the final cheep on his whistle.
I have hit the headlines often enough since making my debut for Leeds United and not always in a manner which I would wish. For I am blessed (or should it be 'cursed') with a temperament which matches my red thatch. Despite my size I'm a robust player by nature. It's something born and bred in me, and I cannot change it. I doubt if I would, even if it were possible, because then I feel sure I would lose the spark which has helped me to make such a success of professional football.
I hate to see an opponent get the ball. It is my job to see that this doesn't happen, if possible. I go in hard, but fairly, but the temperament sometimes erupts in the heat of the moment.
I've taken a bit of stick in my time from opponents and their supporters, but there's one thing I would like to get clear right now. I do not go out looking for trouble. In fact the way some folk describe me you would think I was a regular fire-eater. The plain fact is that I set out to do a job as a footballer. It's as simple as that."
I make no apology for saying that I'm a Don Revie fan. To my mind, what this fellow has done for Leeds United since he took over as manager is little short of miraculous. I have known the Boss ever since he took over at Elland Road, in his first managerial job, and I think along exactly the same lines as he does when it comes to soccer planning and tactics.
They say that I have become indoctrinated with the Leeds brand of soccer, and that's true. I have been with the club since I left school in Stirling and I have known United in the bad days as well as the good ones. After emerging from the second division and establishing ourselves in the top flight we have gone on to make a positive contribution to entertaining football.
Team spirit is a big factor for any successful team and we have it here. Most of us were brought up together on the ground staff and that is an important factor in our success. Football is not all about the skill factor. It is about whether you are determined enough and have a greater desire to win games than the opposition.
In his testimonial brochure in May, 1974, Billy wrote:
There has been so much more enjoyment for me in my football this season and when we hardened professionals start to enjoy this game, it's only a matter of time before the fans notice the difference. I never thought that the rather unfortunate image we had of back-chatting referees and refusing to accept decisions had an effect on my game. But it must have done. Once you show dissatisfaction and start to argue you're obviously not concentrating your whole attention on the game. You may as well be sitting in the dressing room. Looking back I was fiery because if I saw someone kick my own players I got a bit upset about it. Some teams had vendettas against us. They disliked us intensely because we were the team to beat in that era, so they always tried harder against us. It is rather fashionable these days to take a swipe at British football, but if there are things wrong with football, then it's these people, these onlookers with a death wish. There are, of course, things I would like to see altered, but a change in attitudes is the quality I would most like to see. I look round the game now and see that, technically and in fitness, it has never been more advanced. But I ask you, what's happened to those players who used to thrill millions with their skills? Where are football's answer to the Pied Piper - men whose hypnotic skills will magnetise and enthral thousands of fans?
The Real Billy Bremner by Don Revie:
Billy Bremner is one of the world's top footballers - possibly one of the greatest players ever. That makes it very difficult to know where to start in paying tribute to him."It is one thing in football to have that star quality which makes you stand out from the crowd. It is quite another thing to have star personal quality and leadership qualities so strong you would follow him to the ends of the earth. But that is Billy Bremner. No manager could wish for a greater leader or a greater player. If I was in the trenches at the front line, the man I would want on my right side is Billy Bremner.�
A classic performance
"There were those who said we would be crushed when we were forced to field a weakened side in our UEFA Cup tie at Hibernian in the autumn of 1973. Billy wanted to make them eat their words, and he did. His performance at Easter Road that night in November was the finest I have ever seen from any individual in all my years in the game. It was a classic exhibition of reading the game, controlling the game of passing, of incredible confidence, Billy, playing in a new role for him of sweeper, was a revelation. Even the furiously partisan Edinburgh crowd had to rise to their feet to cheer this miniature gladiator off the field at the end. When Billy stopped the ball on the goal line and stood with one foot on it and his hands on his hips, the crowd froze. Two on-rushing Hibernian forwards slithered to a halt in amazement. It was the cheekiest thing I have ever seen in football. What Billy means to Leeds United and to football has been typified by his displays on the pitch. When we played Newcastle at Elland Road during our lean spell, Billy defended, attacked, chased, had innumerable goalworthy shots, tackled and inspired everyone for 80 minutes. He could run no more in the last ten minutes and this is the hallmark of a great player with equally great character. I have never seen a captain drive and set such an example as Billy did that day.�
Exciting moments:
"He has turned out for Leeds United with so many bad injuries that I've often wondered how he's even managed to get on to the pitch, let alone play. We sometimes wonder if he has eyes in the back of his head he sees so much and assesses so much so quickly. He has also provided me with some of the most exciting moments I have lived through in this game. His equalizer, against Liverpool in the 1965 FA Cup Final, a marvellous volley ten minutes from time; his back-headed winner against Manchester United at Nottingham which put us through to the final that season; his fantastic goal from 18 yards against Manchester United in 1970 which put us through to the final again.�
Worker for charities
"Off the field, Billy is not the easiest person to get to know because he values his friendship greatly. But once you have Billy Bremner for a friend you need no-one else. He would give you his last 50 pence if he thought your need was greater than his. He is a great and tireless worker for charities and puts himself out to visit youngsters in hospital to try and cheer them up. He does some sterling work for handicapped children that no-one ever gets to hear about because Billy is not the type to shout it from the rooftops. You can't put things like that inside a person - they are natural and priceless qualities. No-one can thank Billy enough for his contributions to Leeds United, to Scotland, to the city of Leeds and to the game in general."
What the Press had to say:
Billy Bremner would have been proud and perhaps a shade embarrassed by the many thousands of words penned in tribute to his career by Britain's Press after his untimely death. It was one of football's ironies that when Leeds United were bestriding the football fields of Europe in Don Revie's era, the London based national Press rarely gave Billy and his multi-talented teammates the credit they unguestionably deserved.The Press, it seems have finally accepted that Billy Bremner and his troops were extra special.
JEFF POWELL, of the DAILY MAIL, wrote: The title of Bremner's autobiography was his declaration of football priorities: You Get Nowt for Coming Second. The gritty burr of Yorkshire pragmatism had been grafted on to the natural-born Scottish warrior - his home town of Stirling borders the battlefield of Bannockburn - from the winter's day in 1959 when he signed professional forms with Leeds. From that moment hence, Bremner carried the standard for his club and country with passion and a deep seated sense of family. Bremner not only loved his wife Vicky, his son Billy Jnr and his daughters Donna and Amanda, but embraced a lifetime's devotion to them which could never be threatened by his celebrity. Even so, he felt just as married to Leeds and just as closely related to his blood brothers in the team. Bonds as powerful as these are forged in the heart and the soul, not the ego and the pocket.
PETER FITTON wrote in The Sun: Wee Billy they all called him - and you could never mistake football's ultimate warrior. Not even when those flaming curls had long turned snow-white and he was bouncing grandson Chad to the latest Leeds United anthem. You only needed a glance into the eyes of Billy Bremner. And they still lived for football, filled with the very fire of it, long after the boots had been slung in a cupboard.
MIKE WALTERS in the MIRROR: Billy Bremner was a fighter, a winner and a legend. A firebrand whose shock of red hair was like a torch that lit Leeds United's route march to domestic supremacy under Don Revie's management. His death...at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, did more damage than leaving grown men crying in the streets of Yorkshire, It was as if the lights had been turned out on a famous chapter of soccer history.
JOHNNY GILES the DAILY EXPRESS, wrote: Billy Bremner lived his life as he played his football, with vast restless energy. Now that he has gone at the age of 54 it is shocking to think I will never again hear him break into his favourite song San Francisco. After a few pints he would always sing that he left his heart high on a hill. He did it when a few old Leeds players gathered earlier this year but we knew better. Billy left much of his heart at Elland Road, not so much when he lost his job there as manager, but when he stopped playing, when his life was no longer filled with the challenge of producing the hair-trigger reflexes which made him such a unique force in the game.
BARRY FOSTER, who covered United for the YORKSH1RE POST during the Revie era, recalled: "Billy Bremner was in many ways as integral to the spirit of the club as Don Revie himself. His thirst to win for Leeds, was so intense, his commitment so passionate. Many times he played when he should not have done so, but Revie knew how important the wee man was to a side which for more than a decade was feared and respected, not just in England but in far flung grounds the length and breadth of Europe.
JOHN MORGAN told EVENING POST readers: Revie rated Bremner as a world class player with the ability, speed and stamina to win any game with one lightning strike of football magic. But Bremner's gift for forgetting dates, engagements, his passport on overseas trips, plus cheque-book and cash, were always a source of amusement and often frustration for those who enjoyed his friendship. Billy was under no illusions about his soccer skill. He covered every blade of grass during a match and he packed oceans of talent and courageous heart into his trim and tidy torso.
King Billy will never be forgotten:
The deluge of tributes that cascaded into Elland Road when news broke of Billy Bremner's death was testimony to the sky-high esteem in which the pocket dynamo was held throughout football.Billy's death at the tragically young age of 54 stunned a generation of fans to whom the former United and Scotland skipper was synonymous with the club's glory years. Team-mates from his playing days were reduced to tears when they learned of Billy's death and admirers rapidly transformed Elland Road's main gates into a shrine. It was the most moving outpouring of grief at the club since Don Revie's death from motor neurone disease in May, 1989, aged 61. Billy was taken ill at his home in Conisborough, near Rotherham, on Thursday, December 4, and died in hospital three days later, just two days short of his 55th birthday. Born in Stirling, he joined United in 1959 after being rejected by Arsenal and Chelsea for being too small. He made his debut against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in January, 1960, and won the first of his 54 Scotland caps in 1965. He helped the Scots defeat England at Wembley in 1967, won two League Championships, League Cup and FA Cup winners medals as well as savouring glory in Europe. The Footballer of the Year accolade came along in 1970 and by the time he moved to Hull City in 1976 he had clocked up 772 senior appearances for United. As United's manager between 1985 and 1988 he took the club to an FA Cup semi-final and into the promotion play-off final, but paid the price for narrowly failing to bring first division football back to Elland Road.
EDDIE GRAY, a team mate of Bremner's and now United's reserve team cooch, said: "Billy was an exceptional player and an inspirational captain. He was a smashing fellow and a close friend. He never knew when he was beaten, scored some vital goals on the big occasion and was blessed with tremendous ability. He was a fierce competitor and I was proud to play in the same team as him."
Former United goal poacher ALLAN ClARKE, who was Bremner's regular partner on the golf course, said: "The biggest compliment I can pay Billy is to say he was one of the all-time greats. Billy enjoyed life to the full. The news of his death knocked me for six. I used to speak to him nearly every day. He was not just a team mate to me, he was like a brother. His wife Vicky told me he had gone into hospital and I said I wanted to see him, but he sent a message back saying he didn't want me or any of the lads to see him like he was."
Hot-shot PETER LORIMER added his tribute: "Billy was so full of energy and fire. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that he has gone at such a young age. Leeds fans will always remember how he gave 100 per cent commitment to the cause and that is how he was in life. He was our leader on the pitch, captain of the side that put Leeds on the world soccer map.
NORMAN HUNTER, a member of the famous half back line that read Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, said: "King Billy is a good description of the wee man. He was so difficult to mark and loved to play football. There was a special bond between Billy and Don Revie - the kind you don't often get between a captain and his manager. Billy had this tremendous desire to win. You don't become captain of a team like we had at Leeds and of Scotland without that."
TERRY COOPER, scorer of the goal that gave United their first major trophy in 1968 when they won the League Cup, said: "Billy was a tremendous guy. I had troubles two years ago and he was the first one on the phone to ask if I was all right. If I was in the trenches or in trouble I would want him right behind me."
LESLIE SILVER, chairman of United when Bremner was monager, said: "He was a great character at a time when football was full of characters. He was a very kind person and always ready to help any of his old colleagues who might be having a difficult time. We got to know each other very well. He was a lovely bloke and easy to work with."
Billy's midfield partnership with JOHNNY GILES was a magical mixture of tenacity, skill, mental ond physical dexterity: "Billy could go out there, do the unexpected and win games for you. In a group of people he was the one cracking the jokes and getting everyone going. Billy should be remembered as much for his skill as his famous aggression."
BOBBY COLLINS, Billy's predecessor as United's captain, said: "He was a smashing all-rounder. He could win the ball, pass it and he was a brilliant finisher. He was just a terrific player who did a marvellous job as captain when he took over from me."
DENIS LAW, Billy's Scotlond team mate, said: "I can't really take it in that he has gone. I loved to be in his company, both on and off the field. For such a small guy he was such a tough man and an excellent captain. I can't ever remember him having a bad match in Scotland colours. He played with such a passion and enthusiasm it was great to be on his side."
DAVE MACKAY, another fiercely competitive Scot, said of Bremner: "We have lost one of the greatest Scottish players ever, a little red-headed man who had courage in abundance." Recalling the confrontation that provided photographers with one of the most well known pictures in football history, with Mackay aggressively clutching Billy's shirt, "I was basically scared because I was just back after an 18 month lay-off with a leg break, and I was bluffing my way out of the situation, but it didn't work. He was like a terrier and kept niggling me for the rest of the match. We went straight to the nearest bar after the game, had a good drink together and remained friends ever since. We have lost a legend."
DAVID BATTY: "I think Billy saw something of himself in me and I always took it as an honour when people made comparisons between us. I am too young to remember his great playing days, but as a manager I thought he was tremendous. He encouraged me and taught me so much about the game. In fact we were so close some of the other players teased us we were like father and son. He was an extra special person and an extra special footballer."
JOHN CHARLES, one of the biggest names in United's history, said: "I loved to watch him play because he hated to lose and was the driving force on the pitch during the club's glory years. He would have done anything for Leeds United and the fans loved him."
PAUL REANEY the right back whose clearances off the line had United fans likening him to a third gool post, said: "I learned so much from Billy. He was a truly great character who led by example. There was a special togetherness about the team in those days. On the field we were as one. If someone took a knock everyone felt it. We took our cue from Billy and we all looked up to him."
TREVOR CHERRY, who won England honours with United, said: "When I came to Leeds from Huddersfield Town, Billy took me under his wing and I will never forget his inspirational qualities as a captain. They made it easy for me to play in that team."
ALEX FERGUSON, manager of Manchester United said: "Billy had a fiery temperament but always showed great enthusiasm. As a player he had a big heart and as a person he was a really genuine character."
Bremner Factfile
| Jimmy Armfield |
What is the surname of Richard and Adam, the Welsh classical singers whose debut album topped the charts throughout August this year? | Leeds United F.C. : Wikis (The Full Wiki)
Current season
Leeds United Association Football Club (pronounced /ˈliːdz jʊˈnaɪtɨd/), commonly referred to as Leeds or Leeds United, are an English professional association football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire . They currently play in Football League One , the third tier of the English football league system . The club's home is the Elland Road stadium in Beeston , where they have played since their foundation in 1919.
The club's most common nicknames are "The Whites" and "The Peacocks". The latter stems from the former name of the Elland Road, The Old Peacock Ground, which was in turn named after The Old Peacock pub opposite Elland Road's South Stand. [2] Although the club name bears the "AFC" suffix, [3] the current badge displays "LUFC". However, previous badges have included the official suffix in its entirety. [4]
The club have competed at the top level of English football for the majority of their existence, following the disbanding of predecessor Leeds City . Under the management of Don Revie during the 1960s and 1970s, Leeds won two First Division titles, the FA Cup , the League Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice. After Revie's departure to manage the England team, Leeds were relegated to the Second Division in 1982 , not returning to the top flight until 1990 , when they were managed by Howard Wilkinson . Leeds were league champions two seasons later, in 1992 . During the 1990s and early 2000s Leeds competed for places in Europe, reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in consecutive seasons. However, after severe financial difficulties and a mass sale of players, Leeds were relegated from the Premier League and subsequently from The Championship three years later.
Contents
Advertisements
Pre-Leeds United
Leeds United's predecessor team Leeds City FC was formed in 1904, but was forcibly disbanded by The Football League in 1919 in response to allegations of illegal payments to players during the First World War . A new club, Leeds United, was formed and the club received an invitation to enter the Midland League from the league secretary, Mr. J Nicholson. Leeds United were voted into the Midland League on 31 October 1919, taking the place vacated by Leeds City Reserves. Yorkshire Amateurs , who occupied Elland Road , offered to make way for the new team under the management of former player Dick Ray .
The chairman of Huddersfield Town , Mr. Hilton Crowther loaned Leeds United £ 35,000, to be repaid when Leeds United won promotion to Division One . He brought Barnsley 's manager Arthur Fairclough to Leeds and on 26 February 1920, Dick Ray stepped down to become Fairclough's assistant.
1920–1960: Football League
On 31 May 1920, Leeds United were elected to the Football League.
Over the following few years, Leeds consolidated their position in the Second Division and in 1924 won the title and with it promotion to the First Division . However, they failed to establish themselves and were relegated in 1926–27 . After being relegated Fairclough resigned which paved the way for Ray to return as manager. In the years up until the start of World War II Leeds were twice relegated, both times being instantly re-promoted the following season.
On 5 March 1935 Ray resigned and he was replaced by Billy Hampson , who remained in charge for 12 years. In the 1946–47 season after the war, Leeds were relegated again with the worst league record in their history. After this season, Hampson resigned (he stayed with Leeds as their chief scout albeit for only 8 months) and was replaced in April 1947 by Willis Edwards .
In 1948 Sam Bolton replaced Ernest Pullan as the chairman of Leeds United. Edwards was moved to assistant trainer in April 1948 after just one year as manager. He was replaced by Major Frank Buckley .
They remained in the Second Division until 1955–56 , when Leeds once again won promotion to the First Division, inspired by Welsh legend John Charles . However, Charles was hungry for success at the highest level, and manager Raich Carter was unable to convince him that Leeds could satisfy his ambitions. Charles was sold to Juventus for a then world record of £65,000; the loss of such a key player led to Leeds' decline, and the team was relegated to the Second Division in 1959–60 .
1961–1975: The glory years
In March 1961 the club appointed Don Revie as manager. His stewardship began in adverse circumstances; the club was in financial difficulty [5] and in 1961–62 only a win in the final game of the season saved the club from relegation to Division Three . Revie turned the team around, winning promotion to the First Division in 1963–64 . Between 1965 and 1974, Revie's Leeds never finished outside of the top four, won two League Championships ( 1968–69 and 1973–74 ), the FA Cup ( 1972 ), the League Cup ( 1968 ) and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups ( 1968 and 1971 ).
Set against the success was an unenvied record of second places; during the same period Leeds were runners up in the League five times, losing finalists in the FA Cup three times, runners up in the Fairs Cup once, and losing finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup . Leeds over this period were regarded as one of the finest teams in the world, and the Revie side is regarded to this day to have been one of the best sides to ever play football.
Revie's last season at Elland Road was in 1974, and he left Leeds to take up the role of managing the English national team. Brian Clough was appointed as Revie's successor. This was a surprise appointment, as Clough had been an outspoken critic of Revie and the team's tactics. [6] The team performed poorly under Clough, and after only 44 days [7] he was dismissed and replaced by former England captain Jimmy Armfield . Armfield took Revie's ageing team to the final of the 1974–75 European Cup , where they were defeated by Bayern Munich . [8]
1975–1988: Legends fail as managers
Assisted by coach Don Howe , Armfield rebuilt Revie's team, and though it no longer dominated English football, it remained in the top ten for subsequent seasons. However, the board was impatient for success and dismissed Armfield, replacing him with Jock Stein , who also lasted just 44 days before leaving to manage Scotland . The board turned to Jimmy Adamson but he was unable to stop the decline. In 1980 Adamson resigned and was replaced by former Leeds and England star Allan Clarke . Despite spending freely on players, he was unable to stem the tide and the club was relegated at the end of 1981–82 . Clarke was replaced by former team-mate Eddie Gray .
With no money to spend on team building, [9] Gray concentrated on youth development, but was unable to guide them to promotion from the Second Division. The board again became impatient and sacked him in 1985, replacing him with another former Revie star, Billy Bremner .
Bremner carried on where Gray had left off, but found it just as difficult to achieve promotion, though he did bring the club close; Leeds got to the 1987 play-off final but were defeated by Charlton Athletic after extra time , a result which prevented Leeds from winning promotion and ensured that Charlton avoided relegation. Leeds also endured a near miss in the FA Cup , losing to Coventry City [10] in the semi-finals.
1988–1995: The second golden era
In October 1988, with the team 21st in the Second Division, Bremner was fired to make way for Howard Wilkinson , who oversaw promotion back to the First Division in 1989–90 . Under Wilkinson the club finished 4th in 1990–91 and then won the title in 1991–92 . However, the 1992–93 season was a poor one, with Leeds exiting the Champions League in the early stages, and eventually finishing 17th in the League, narrowly avoiding relegation. Wilkinson's Leeds were unable to provide any consistent challenge for honours, and his position was not helped by a poor display in the 1996 League Cup final which Leeds lost to Aston Villa . Leeds could only finish 13th in 1995–96 , and after a 4–0 home defeat to Manchester United early in 1996–97 , Wilkinson had his contract terminated.
One of the legacy's of Wilkinson and youth coach Paul Hart was that they helped develop Leeds United's youth academy, and as a result, the academy has produced waves of talented footballers for Leeds over the years.
1996–2001: Living the dream
Leeds appointed George Graham as Wilkinson's replacement. The appointment was controversial [11] as Graham had previously received a one year ban from The Football Association for receiving illegal payments from a Football Agent. Graham made some astute purchases such as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Michael Bridges and also helped blood in some youngsters from Leeds' successful youth cup winning side, and by the end of the season Leeds had qualified for the following season's UEFA Cup .
In October 1998 Graham moved on to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur , and Leeds opted to replace him with assistant manager David O'Leary . Star striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink left Leeds for Atletico Madrid after a new contract couldn't be agreed with chairman Peter Ridsdale . O'Leary introduced promising youngsters, and signed Mark Viduka as Hasselbaink's replacement and also french midfielder Olivier Dacourt who broke Leeds' transfer record at the time.
O'Leary was assisted by Leeds legend Eddie Gray and Leeds secured 3rd place in the league, sending the club into the UEFA Champions League . Leeds' image was tarnished when players Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer were involved in an incident which left an Asian student in hospital with severe injuries. The resulting court case took nearly two years to resolve; Bowyer was cleared, and Woodgate convicted of affray and sentenced to community service.
In the UEFA Cup during that season, Leeds reached their first European semi-final in 25 years and were paired against Turkish champions Galatasaray in Istanbul . Leeds lost the game, but the result was overshadowed by the death of two Leeds fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, who were stabbed to death before the game. [12] [13] Leeds were only able to draw the return leg at Elland Road, thus going out of the competition. A minute's silence [14] is held every year at the match closest to the anniversary of the incident to remember Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight.
The following season, Leeds broke their transfer record by signing West Ham and England International defender Rio Ferdinand for £18 million. Ferdinand was then named Leeds captain, replacing Lucas Radebe . Leeds reached the semi-final of the Champions League, eliminated by Valencia. Leeds were regarded as one of the best teams in Europe.
2001–2004: Financial implosion
O'Leary's Leeds never finished outside of the top five, but following their defeat in the UEFA Champions League 2001 semi-final against Valencia their fortunes began to change. Under chairman Peter Ridsdale , Leeds had taken out large loans against the prospect of the share of the TV rights and sponsorship revenues that come with UEFA Champions League qualification and any subsequent progress in the competition. Leeds signed Robbie Fowler and Seth Johnson for large fees and big wages.[citation needed] However, Leeds narrowly failed to qualify for the Champions League losing out to 4th place to Newcastle United , and as a consequence did not receive enough income to repay the loans. The first indication that the club was in financial trouble was the sale of Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United for approximately £30 million. Ridsdale and O'Leary publicly fell out over the sale, and O'Leary was sacked and replaced by former England manager Terry Venables .
Leeds performed badly under Venables, and other players were sold to repay the loans, including Jonathan Woodgate , who Ridsdale had promised Venables would not be sold. Other star players such as Lee Bowyer , Nigel Martyn , Robbie Fowler , Robbie Keane and Harry Kewell were also sold over time, with Kewell's departure under rather acrimonious circumstances.
Tensions mounted between Ridsdale and Venables. Although some players had left, the team was still underachieving given the quality of players remaining. Venables chose to leave out the likes of Olivier Dacourt and David Batty , who had been two of Leeds' star players in the years prior. After a string of poor results and Leeds in the bottom half of the table, and with relations between chairman and manager still strained, Venables was eventually sacked and replaced by Peter Reid . During this time Ridsdale had resigned from the Leeds board, and was replaced by existing non-executive director Professor John McKenzie. By this time Leeds were in danger of relegation, but Reid saved Leeds from the drop in the penultimate game of the season.
Reid was given a permanent contract at Leeds the following summer. Due to player sales, lack of funds, and the failure to land targets Paulo Di Canio , Patrick Berger and Kleberson , he brought in 8 players on loan. This policy was not a success, with players such as Roque Junior failing to live up to their reputations. An unsuccessful start to the 2003–04 season saw Peter Reid dismissed. Leeds were in turmoil with talk of dressing room unrest and poor performances on the pitch. Head coach Eddie Gray took over as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
Gerald Krasner , an insolvency specialist, led a consortium of local businessmen which took over Leeds and under his chairmanship oversaw the sale of the clubs' assets, including senior and emerging youth players of any value. Gray was largely blameless for the performance of the team during the 2003–04 season as the majority of the squad was sold out from underneath him and despite his best efforts, Leeds were relegated after 14 years in the top flight.
Following relegation, Gray's reign as caretaker manager was ended, and the then assistant manager Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager, his first managerial job in football. A mass exodus ensued as most of the remaining players were sold or released on free transfers to further reduce the high wage bill. Star players such as Mark Viduka , Dominic Matteo , Paul Robinson , Alan Smith and James Milner were all sold for relatively reduced fees. Blackwell was forced to rebuild almost the entire squad through free transfers. Leeds were eventually forced to sell both their training ground, for £4.2 million, [15] and their stadium [16] in the autumn of 2004.
2004–2007: Play-off misery and relegation
The board finally sold the club to Ken Bates for £10 million. [17] Blackwell stabilized the team by signing players on free transfers and low wages and Leeds finished the 2004–05 season mid-table in the Championship . At the end of that season Leeds legend Lucas Radebe retired after a series of injuries and promising young player Aaron Lennon joined Tottenham Hotspur .
In the 2005–06 season Leeds finished in the top 6 and made the play-off final. Leeds were massive favourites for the game, but after being in the top 3 for most of the season and pushing Sheffield United for second place, Leeds' form drastically dipped in the last quarter of the season. Following an impressive performance away to Preston in the playoff semi final, many believed Leeds were back in form, but they lost 3–0 to Watford in the final. Striker Rob Hulse was sold in the pre season to Sheffield United and was replaced by loan striker Geoff Horsfield .
The 2006–07 season started badly with Leeds conceding many late goals in matches, and in September 2006 Blackwell's contract as manager of Leeds United was terminated. Leeds hired John Carver as caretaker manager but his spell was a disaster with Leeds on the receiving end of some drubbings. Carver was relieved of his duties and Dennis Wise was eventually installed as his replacement after a month without a permanent manager. Matt Kilgallon , one of Leeds' star players, left in January to join Sheffield United . Wise was unable to lift the team out of the relegation zone for much of the season, despite bringing a number of experienced loan players and free transfers on short term deals into the squad. With relegation virtually assured, Leeds entered a Company Voluntary Arrangement ( administration ) on 4 May 2007, thus incurring a league imposed 10 point deduction which officially relegated the club to the third tier of English football. [18] [19]
The relegation was the lowest point in Leeds' history as Leeds United had never played any lower than the second tier of English football, the summer saw a large amount of players leave such as David Healy and Robbie Blake , long serving Leeds player Gary Kelly retired after the relegation. Kelly had been at the club since the days of Howard Wilkinson , and was always a reminder of past glories. Leeds, like they had after Premiership relegation three years previously, were forced to build a squad almost totally from scratch; with the future of the club uncertain Leeds could not sign any players until a few days before the opening game of the season against Tranmere Rovers .
2007–present: Third tier for the first time
The CVA was due to end on 3 July 2007, which would have allowed Bates to regain full control of the club. However HM Revenue & Customs challenged the CVA, a decision which could ultimately have resulted in the liquidation of the club. [20] Under league rules, if the club were still in administration at the start of the next season, Leeds would have been prevented from starting their campaign by the Football League. [21] [22] Following the challenge by HMRC, the club was put up for sale by KPMG , [23] and once again Ken Bates ' bid was accepted. [24] The league eventually sanctioned this under the "exceptional circumstances rule" but imposed a 15 point deduction due to the club not following football league rules on clubs entering administration. [25] On 31 August 2007 HMRC decided not to pursue their legal challenge any further. [26] Wise and his assistant Gus Poyet guided Leeds to a play-off place at the start of 2008, despite the 15-point deduction, which seemed to galvanise the Leeds players and fans and helped Leeds maintain an unbeaten start in the first quarter of the season. Assistant Manager Gus Poyet left to join Tottenham, and he was replaced by Dave Bassett . Wise controversially quit as manager on 28 January to take up a position in Kevin Keegan 's new set-up at Newcastle United . [27]
The following day former club captain Gary McAllister was appointed as manager of the club with Steve Staunton brought in as his assistant. [28] In spite of this mid-season managerial change and a spell of poor form before Wise departed, plus the well-publicised 15-point deduction, Leeds went on to secure a play-off place with one game to spare. McAllister's loan signing Dougie Freedman had been instrumental in helping Leeds into the playoffs. They were however beaten 1–0 in the final by Doncaster Rovers in their first appearance at the new Wembley Stadium . This was regarded as a disaster as Leeds were favourites for the match but vastly underperformed, with many of the star players failing to play to their usual standards.
McAllister made a few changes to the Leeds side and signed Andy Robinson , Luciano Becchio and Robert Snodgrass during the summer period. Leeds started the next season in fine form, playing attractive passing football and the emergence of Fabian Delph , Leeds however started to become fragile in defence, and leaked several late goals and the form drastically dropped. On 21 December 2008, McAllister was sacked after losing 3–1 to MK Dons and a run of poor results (5 defeats in a row), including the club's first defeat to non-league opponents, Histon , in the 2nd round of the F.A. Cup. Histon's goalscorer was working as a postman by day at the time.
McAllister was replaced by Simon Grayson , who resigned from his post as manager of Blackpool FC to take the position, two days later. [29] Leeds' form improved under Grayson, who made a few loan signings to help strengthen the defence such as Richard Naylor and Sam Sodje , and they made the play-offs once again, also improving on the previous season's place by finishing 4th. However, this time they did not make the play-off final, after being beaten over the two legs of the semi-finals 2–1 on aggregate by Millwall . That summer Leeds lost one of their star players in Fabian Delph who joined Premier League side Aston Villa in a multi million pound move. Over the summer Grayson decided to strengthen the team by signing Patrick Kisnorbo , Shane Higgs , Jason Crowe , Michael Doyle and Leigh Bromby . Richard Naylor was signed on a permanent deal and was made Leeds United captain on a full time basis after having the armband whilst on loan previously.
The club opened the 2009–10 season with eight consecutive victories, thus recording the best start ever to a season by a Leeds side. Leeds lost 1–0 to Premier League team Liverpool in the League Cup. In the league, Leeds were top at the halfway point in the season with 56 points. On 26 December 2009, manager Simon Grayson celebrated a year in charge of Leeds. In his 46 league games in charge of Leeds, Leeds had accummulated 102 points, and scored 99 goals under his management. In the second round of the FA Cup, Leeds drew with Kettering Town before winning the replay 5–1. Leeds reached the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Northern Final , and face a two legged tie against Carlisle United in the hope of getting to the Final and having the chance to play at Wembley against either MK Dons or Southampton . In the third round of the FA Cup, Leeds then created an upset against old rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on 3 January 2010, beating them 0–1. It was the first time Leeds had triumphed at the ground since 1981 and was also Alex Ferguson 's first defeat in the FA Cup third round as Manchester United manager and the first time ever his side had fallen to a lower division side in the competition. [30]
Leeds were then to face Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Leeds earned a 2–2 draw against Spurs with goalkeeper Casper Ankergren saving a penalty from Jermain Defoe , and Jermaine Beckford scoring twice meaning the tie would go to a replay at Elland Road on the 3 February. After the impressive run in the FA Cup, Leeds' league form suffered with the Whites going down at Exeter and Swindon surrendering a 9-point lead at the top of League One to Norwich City . Tottenham finally got the better of Leeds in the FA Cup fourth round replay with a 3–1 victory despite a spirited performance from the home side and equaliser from Luciano Becchio just before half time. This brought a memorable cup run to an end which saw Leeds ignite aspirations of a return to the Premier League after defeating and holding two top-six sides away from home. Leeds ended the blip in league form on the 30 January 2010 with a 2–0 home win over Colchester .
On 9 February, Leeds were knocked out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on penalties after drawing 4–4 on aggregate over two legs with Carlisle United in the Northern Area final. The defeat however leaves Leeds only to concentrate on the league and promotion from League One . The Whites league form has taken a turn for the worse since the famous cup win over Manchester United , taking just 7 points from a possible 24 in the following 8 games severely slowing Leeds' promotion push. The poor run of form included a 2–1 home defeat to Walsall on 16 February, the match was the first home league game Leeds' had lost for 26 games, which stretched over a year. This is in huge contrast to the first half of the season where the club had the best defensive record in the Football League . Despite this Leeds still occupied 2nd place and the automatic promotion spot in League One although the gap to third placed Colchester had fallen to only one point.
On 23 February, Leeds put their promotion bid back on course with a 2–0 victory over Oldham Athletic extending the margin to third place to four points in the process, and were only three points from top side Norwich having played a game less than the Canaries. However, Leeds' could only draw the following two league fixtures and had only one league win from the last five games after their 1–1 home draw with Brentford on 6 March. Thus leaving the Whites in the midst of a promotion battle in 2nd place with a two point gap to Charlton in third, while first placed Norwich took advantage of the inconsistent league form to extend their lead from Leeds to seven points. On 9 March, Leeds won their first away league match of 2010 with a convincing 4-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers giving them breathing space of five points from third place with 11 games remaining.
Colours and badge
Leeds' first home colours
Leeds' home kit before changing to all white. 1934–1950
In Leeds' first fifteen years the club kit was modelled on Huddersfield Town 's blue and white striped shirts, white shorts and dark blue socks with blue and white rings on the turnovers, [31] [32] because Huddersfield's chairman Hilton Crowther was attempting to merge the two clubs. [32] He eventually left Huddersfield to take over at Leeds.
In 1934 Leeds switched to blue and yellow halved shirts incorporating the city crest badge, white shorts and blue socks with yellow tops. [32] The kit was worn for the first time on 22 September 1934. [32] The club also adopted their first badge in 1934, using the city crest as Leeds City had. In 1950 Leeds switched to yellow shirts with blue sleeves and collars, white shorts and black, blue and gold hooped socks. In 1955 Leeds changed again to royal blue shirts with gold collars, white shorts, and blue and yellow hooped socks, thus echoing the original Leeds City strip. [32]
Leeds City Council coat of arms
Leeds' badge 1984–1998
In 1961 Don Revie introduced a plain white strip throughout, in the hope of emulating Spanish side Real Madrid . A perching owl was added the strip in 1964 as the clubs emblem. The design was a surprise, given Revie's superstition about the symbolism of birds. The owl came from the city crest, which itself was based on the crest of Sir John Saville, the first alderman of Leeds. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Leeds used the LUFC script found running down the centre of the current badge, however this was presented in a diagonal fashion rather than the current vertical. In 1973 came the embodiment of seventies imagery with the iconic LU smiley badge. Revie's predilection for gimmicks was years ahead of its time, and done with the explicit intention of gaining acceptance from a public outside West Yorkshire. [32]
In 1977 the smiley badge was reversed from yellow with blue smiley to blue with yellow smiley and the following year it was back to yellow but enclosed in a circle with the words Leeds United Afc surrounding it.
In 1978–79 a new badge was adorned which was similar to the previous season's smiley but had the design of a peacock.
In 1984 a new club badge was introduced, lasting until 1998, making it the longest lived of the modern era. The rose and ball badge was distinctive, in the traditional blue, gold and white, incorporating the White Rose of York , together with the club's name.
Stadium and supporters
Main article: Elland Road
Leeds United's home ground, Elland Road
Elland Road was sold by the club in October 2004 with a 25-year sale- leaseback deal being agreed. A commercial buy-back clause was also included for when the club’s finances improve. According to a recent Board of Directors statement, Leeds United should have become debt free in the 2006–07 season. However, the club went into administration at the end of the 2006–07 season.
Initially the ground was the home of the Holbeck Rugby Club who played in the northern rugby union, the forerunner of the rugby football league. [33] One of Leeds' first nicknames, 'The Peacocks', comes from the original name of Elland Road — 'The Old Peacock ground'. It was named by the original owners of the ground, Bentley's Brewery, after their pub 'The Old Peacock' which still faces the site. [2]
When Leeds United were formed, the council allowed the new club to rent the stadium until they could afford to buy it themselves. With the exception of periods from the 1960s until 1983, and from 1997 to 2004, the council has owned the stadium. [34] It is however owned by a leasing company at present. The stadium is currently the 10th largest football stadium in England.
The most recent stand at Elland Road is the East or Family Stand, a cantilever structure completed during the 1992–93 season, and which can hold 17,000 seated spectators. It is a two tiered stand which continues around the corners, and is the largest part of the stadium. The Don Revie Stand was opened at the start of the 1994–95 season, and can hold just under 7,000 seated spectators. The roof of the West Stand holds a television commentary gantry and walkway for TV personnel. Elland Road was named in December 2009 as one of the contenders for the England 2018 World Cup bid, as a result of the bid Leeds have drawn up plans to re-develop parts of Elland Road and increase the capacity of the stadium. Ken Bates also revealed plans to take out the exectutive boxes out of the South Stand to increase the starting capacity by a further 2–3 thousand. More exectutive boxes would be built in the east stand.
Leeds' stadium Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium situated in the Beeston area of the city of Leeds , West Yorkshire , England. Elland Road has been the permanent residence of Leeds since the club's foundation in 1919 and it was previously occupied by their predecessors, Leeds City . [35] The stadium is the 12th largest football stadium in England , and the third largest ground outside the Premier League.
The supporters are renowned for singing signature song ' Marching On Together ' during matches, other notable songs Leeds fans sing during games are 'We Are The Champions, Champions Of Europe' (more commonly known as WACCOE) in reference to the 1975 European Cup final when dubious refereeing decisions cost Leeds the title, and also the chance to defend the title, meaning Leeds would technically still be "Champions of Europe". Other popular chants commonly used by Leeds fans are 'Leeds, Leeds, Leeds' and 'Glory, Glory, Leeds United'.
Elland Road from the East
Alex Ferguson has said that Elland Road has one of the most intimidating atmospheres in European Football. [36] Leeds are 10th in the all time average attendance figures for the Football League and Premier League . [37] They have the third most rivalries in the English League [38] but however are the most hated club in English football as of the start of the 2008–09 season. [39]
Peter Reid commented after being relieved of his managerial duties at Elland Road that "In 30 years I've never seen support like I did at the Arsenal game [at Elland Road] a couple of weeks ago. The fans at Leeds are fantastic." [40] Reid was also joined by two other previous managers on the eve of Leeds' first appearance in the third tier. Reid said that "the support is fantastic" and "incredible", Blackwell said "fans will follow them everywhere" and O'Leary commented "There is an immense fan base and they are still with the club". [41]
Leeds United fans also have a salute which is known as the 'Leeds Salute' [42]
Yorkshire Radio, LUTV and Leeds, Leeds, Leeds
Leeds United own their own radio station Yorkshire Radio which broadcasts on DAB Digital Radio and LUTV . Leeds also own their own internet television channel called LUTV , which is available through subscription to watch online. LUTV features a daily news programme, player and staff interviews, match highlights (both first team and reserve) and exclusive commentary of all Leeds matches which can otherwise only be obtained on Minster FM and Yorkshire Radio after BBC Radio Leeds failed to negotiate a package to continue broadcasting commentary of the club's matches.
The club also publish their own magazine 'Leeds, Leeds, Leeds' which was first published in 1998. In recent years, the magazine was taken out of circulation in newsagents, supermarkets etc so was only available to official club members by mail or by purchase in the official club shop.
Rivalries
Leeds' biggest rivalry has been with Manchester United , due to the traditional rivalry between the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire (often described as a "War of the Roses", though the historical Wars of the roses had little to do with geographical counties).
Other rivalries exist with local clubs such as Bradford City , Huddersfield Town , Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday , as well as a rivalry with London clubs Millwall and Chelsea . The latter starting with the fierce on-pitch battles in the 1970s.
Music
Main articles: Marching On Together and Glory Glory Leeds United
In April 1972 the Leeds squad released a single, "Leeds United" with the b-side being "Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!" (commonly known as "Marching On Together"). It was issued to coincide with the team reaching the 1972 FA Cup Final ; the vocals on the original recording were by the Leeds team. The record reached number 10 in the UK singles chart . [43] Whilst it is not officially the club anthem, "Marching On Together" is played before every home game. Unlike many football songs that are just new words set to existing music, "Leeds Leeds Leeds" is an original composition by Les Reed and Barry Mason , purposely written for Leeds United.
For many years, Strings for Yasmin by Tin Tin Out was played before kick off at Elland Road, however it was replaced in the 2008–09 season with Eye of the Tiger by Survivor and in the 2009–10 season with, Dance of the Knights , composed by Sergei Prokofiev . Nightmare by Brainbug is currently played before the start of the second half.
Players
Current squad
As of 25 January 2010. [44]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
No.
Leeds United – A Song by Amanda Palmer .
Paint It White: Following Leeds Everywhere and Leeds United: The Second Coat – Bestselling books by Gary Edwards, a man who has missed only one game, including friendlies, since he started watching Leeds United in 1968.
English: Own Goal – A BBC Schools Drama set in and around Elland Road based around a group of children who tackle criminals forging fake shirts and tickets. [1]
Since the club's dramatic demise in the 2000s, the phrase " doing a Leeds " has entered English football terminology to refer to the potential pitfalls faced by any club due to over-spending or failing to qualify for the UEFA Champion's league. [46] [47] [48] [49]
See also
^ "leeds fans Honours" . leedsfans.org.uk. 20 July 2003. http://www.leedsfans.org.uk/leeds/history/Honours.html . Retrieved 21 January 2007.
^ "Road to ruin" . The Herald (Newsquest). 17 February 2007. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5n0NhKWds . Retrieved 23 January 2010. "The first thing which comes to mind about Leeds United today is...their freefall, the collapse into the state they are in now because of Ridsdale's ruinous decision-making. They have become the biggest victim of all the money which has washed around English football in the Premiership era. Every other board of directors in the land is frightened of "doing a Leeds"."
^ "Catchy Toon could be a classic" . The Guardian. 23 March 2003. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5n0N3uXGA . Retrieved 23 January 2010. "...'doing a Leeds' has entered the language of English football. There is now an understandable worry that any club trying to haul themselves up on the Champions League ladder will crash spectacularly to earth in a couple of seasons."
^ "Everton 0 Manchester 2: Irresistible United march on" . The Times. 20 February 2005. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5n0MNJAat . Retrieved 23 January 2010. "those erstwhile fans turning on him now should ponder the fact that his £28m transfer probably saved their club from “doing a Leeds”, as financial meltdown has come to be known"
^ "Damned to football" . The Times. 25 March 2009. Archived from the original on 23 January 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5n0Kkbsjq . Retrieved 23 January 2010. "This is the fate to which Peter Ridsdale, the chairman from 1997 until 2003, consigned the club with his profligacy and risk-taking; the phrase “doing a Leeds” is now a recognized one to describe a major club that fades away"
External links
| i don't know |
In which city is Taksim Square, scene of recent protests? | Turkish police tear gas protesters on Taksim anniversary - BBC News
BBC News
Turkish police tear gas protesters on Taksim anniversary
31 May 2014
Close share panel
Media captionThe BBC's James Reynolds: ''The police charged forward''
Turkish police have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara on the first anniversary of deadly anti-government protests.
Some 25,000 police surrounded and blocked Istanbul's Taksim Square, the epicentre of the 2013 rallies.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier urged youths to not join Saturday's protests.
Protests against plans to redevelop Gezi Park in Istanbul turned into mass rallies against PM Erdogan last year after a heavy-handed police response.
A number of people were killed in the unrest, with thousands more injured.
A 64-year-old woman, who fell into a coma after inhaling tear gas during another crackdown on protesters in the capital in December, died on Friday.
Reporter detained
Clashes broke out in Istanbul on Saturday after protesters marched on Taksim Square despite a government ban on gatherings in force there.
Riot police, water cannon and armoured vehicles were deployed to block access to the square and nearby Gezi Park. A number of demonstrators were reportedly arrested.
Security forces also fired tear gas at demonstrators in central Ankara and broke up protests in the southern city of Adana.
Earlier on Saturday, Istanbul officers kicked and detained a CNN reporter during a live broadcast from Taksim Square.
Image copyright AFP
Image caption A police officer tries to disperse protesters on Istiklal avenue in central Istanbul
Image copyright AFP
Image caption Demonstrators lie on the ground, overcome by tear gas
Image copyright AFP
Image caption A family try to get through a police barricade
Image copyright AFP
Image caption Earlier in the day, riot police blocked access to Taksim Square, the site of last year's deadly crackdown on protesters
Ivan Watson said in a Twitter post that he and his film crew were "released after half an hour".
The main organisers behind last year's Gezi Park protests - Taksim Solidarity - had called for a demonstration to mark the one-year anniversary.
But Mr Erdogan warned young people not to join, saying: "One year later, people, including so-called artists, are calling for demonstrations, but you, Turkey's youth, you will not respond to the call."
Addressing a crowd of young people in the capital on Friday, he described the movement as "terrorist organisations" that "manipulated our morally and financially weak youth to attack our unity and put our economy under threat".
At the scene - James Reynolds, BBC Istanbul correspondent
A year ago, protestors took the government by surprise and occupied Istanbul's Taksim Square and Gezi Park. This year, the government deployed thousands of police officers to seal off the square and the park - to prevent protesters from taking back the area. Lines of riot police guarded the streets leading up to the square. Plainclothes police officers, carrying batons and gas masks, sat on Gezi Park's benches.
At 1900, several hundred protesters on Istiklal - Istanbul's main shopping avenue - tried to advance towards Taksim Square. Within seconds, the riot police charged forward and fired tear gas. I saw officers take away a number of protesters.
Dozens of bystanders took refuge from the tear gas behind the glass doors of a music shop. Every few minutes the manager opened his doors to let in more people. Protestors booed a police helicopter overhead. After a while, many decided to walk away. They were unable to re-take Taksim Square.
String of scandals
Protesters have clashed with police in recent months, with two men killed during angry demonstrations over a mining disaster that killed 301 people.
Anger also flared in March with the news of the death of a 15-year-old boy who had been in a coma since last June after being hit by a tear-gas canister during a protest.
In May 2013, protesters took the government by surprise by occupying Taksim Square and Gezi Park.
Riot police evicted them two weeks later using heavy-handed tactics and galvanising anti-government demonstrators in several other cities.
Turkish media comment
Image copyright AP
Political commentator Guven Sak writes in Hurriyet : "Gezi was like a litmus test for all of us… Gezi is the "Basta moment" of the Turkish creative class... If you have any doubts about the impact of Gezi, just observe the number of policemen on the streets this weekend... Gezi freaked out the ruling elite of Turkey a year ago and look who is still freaking out. Just count the number of policemen."
(Via BBC Monitoring)
Since then, Mr Erdogan has faced accusations of authoritarianism and corruption after a string of scandals.
He has also moved to block social media sites YouTube and Twitter, after accusing his opponents of using them to deliberately undermine him.
In the first vote since last year's mass protests, Mr Erdogan's party won local elections in March, which were widely seen as a barometer reading of his popularity.
| Istanbul |
In which country is the volcano Mount Rainier? | Protests in Turkey Photos - ABC News
ABC News
−
Chaos in Istanbul
Erdem Gunduz stands in a silent protest at Taksim Square in Istanbul, June 18, 2013. Gunduz staged an eight-hour silent vigil in Taksim Square, scene of violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters in recent weeks, inspiring hundreds of others to follow his lead. Gunduz said he wanted to take a stand against police stopping demonstrations near the square.
Marko Djurica/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Erdem Gunduz stands in a silent protest at Taksim Square in Istanbul, June 18, 2013. Gunduz staged an eight-hour silent vigil in Taksim Square, scene of violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters in recent weeks, inspiring hundreds of others to follow his lead. Gunduz said he wanted to take a stand against police stopping demonstrations near the square.
Marko Djurica/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Turkish choreographer Erdem Gunduz, center, stands in Taksim square, June 18, 2013. The man stood for several hours unnoticed before his presence on the flashpoint square went viral on the social network Twitter. He was then joined by hundreds of others who in solidarity decided to join his protest by also standing silently.
Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images
Chaos in Istanbul
A man emulating Turkish choreographer Erdem Gunduz by standing on Taksim square for a lone protest is arrested by Turkish police, June 18, 2013.
Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images
Chaos in Istanbul
Anti-government protestors stand in Taksim square after Turkish choreographer Erdem Gunduz' lone protest on June 18, 2013 in Istanbul. Gunduz stood for several hours unnoticed before his presence went viral on the social network Twitter. He was then joined by hundreds of others who in solidarity decided to join his protest by standing for hours on end.
Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
Chaos in Istanbul
Turkish people stand on in Taksim square in Istanbul, June 18, 2013, during a wave of new alternative protests. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday claimed victory over Turkey's anti-government protesters after a heavy crackdown on the movement, as police raided homes and arrested dozens of demonstrators to stamp out nearly three weeks of unrest.
Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters run away from police water cannon trucks and tear gas during clashes between riot police and demonstrators in the streets adjacent to Taksim square in Istanbul, June 16, 2013. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied tens of thousands of his supporters in Istanbul on Sunday, hours after ordering a crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
Chaos in Istanbul
A combination photo shows a protester being sprayed by the police's water cannon during a demonstration at Kizilay square in central Ankara, Turkey, June 16, 2013. Thousands of people took to the streets of Istanbul overnight on Sunday, erecting barricades and starting bonfires, after riot police firing teargas and water cannon stormed a park at the center of two weeks of anti-government unrest.
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Riot police use tear gas to disperse protesters at the Gezi park near Taksim square in Istanbul, June 15, 2013. Police fired tear gas and jets of water to disperse hundreds of demonstrators in Istanbul's Taksim Square, shortly after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned police would intervene to end protesters' occupation of a park bordering the square.
Zan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters light flares during a protest at Taksim Square in Istanbul, June 12, 2013. Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators chanted and sang in Taksim Square early on Thursday, defying an order to end almost two weeks of protests against Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
Osman Orsal/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters chant anti-government slogans, silhouetted by the light of flares in Taksim square, in Istanbul, June 12, 2013.
Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
A riot police officer fires tear gas at anti-government protesters during a protest in Kennedy street in central Ankara, June 13, 2013.
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters sleep in Gezi park in Istanbul's Taksim square, June 13, 2013. Turkey's ruling AK Party ordered protesters to leave Istanbul's central Gezi Park immediately and said it would consider holding a referendum on redevelopment plans which sparked almost two weeks of violent demonstrations.
Yannis Behrakis/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters form a human chain in front of police forces at Taksim Square in Istanbul, June 12, 2013. Turkey's government offered the first concrete gesture aimed at ending nearly two weeks of street protests. Proposing a referendum on a development project that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Erdogan.
Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters run as riot police fire teargas during a protest in Istanbul, June 11, 2013. Police fired teargas canisters into Taksim Square, center of protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, driving thousands into narrow side streets, witnesses said.
Osman Orsal/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Protesters react after an explosion on a barricade during clashes in Istanbul's Taksim Square, June 11, 2013. Riot police fired water cannons and teargas at hundreds of protesters in Taksim Square, where demonstrations against plans to develop a park into a mall there turned violent.
Yannis Behrakis/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
Two protesters run to avoid a policeman during clashes at Taksim Square in Istanbul, June 11, 2013. Hundreds of riot police overran improvised barricades, firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon in running battles with protesters who have been occupying the area for more than a week.
Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
A riot policeman launches a tear gas canister during clashes in Taksim Square in Istanbul, June 11, 2013. Hundreds of police in riot gear forced through barricades, pushing many of the protesters who had occupied the square for more than a week into a nearby park.
Kostas Tsironis/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
A protester holding a shield attempts to block a jet of water from a police water cannon during clashes in Istanbul's Taksim Square, June 11, 2013.
Osman Orsal/Reuters
Anti-government protesters light flares during a protest in central Ankara, June 11, 2013.
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Chaos in Istanbul
A man throws back a tear gas canister as Turkish police battle anti-government protestors as they try to reestablish police control of Taksim Square, June 11, 2013 in Istanbul.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images
Protesters sleep in Gezi Park, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 12, 2013.
Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
A protester, face stained by tear gas antidote, sleeps in Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey, June 12, 2013.
Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo
Chaos in Istanbul
A barricade is pictured in Taksim Square early on June 12, 2013, in Istanbul, hours after riot police invaded Gezi Park.
Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images
| i don't know |
This fever was first detected in West Africa in 1969. There is no known cure and it is spread by rats found only in that area. What is the Fever's name? | Lassa fever: origins, reservoirs, transmission and guidelines - GOV.UK
GOV.UK
Lassa fever: origins, reservoirs, transmission and guidelines
From:
1 April 2016, see all updates
Lassa virus causes Lassa fever, an acute viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF).
Contents
Lassa virus is a member of the arenavirus family. The disease was first described in the 1950s, and the virus was identified in 1969, when 2 missionary nurses died from it in the town of Lassa in Nigeria.
Outbreaks in 2016
Benin: Over 50 cases have been reported to 22 March 2016. Most cases have been reported from Borgou, Donga and Collines departments , with occasional reports from the departments of Alibori, Ouémé, Kouffo, Littoral and Plateau.
Togo: Two cases in healthcare workers were reported from Sansanné-Mango, Savanes Region of northern Togo. Togo had not previously reported confirmed Lassa cases although the country is located between known endemic areas. The country shares a border with Benin, across which there is population movement. It is possible therefore that there has been spread from Benin into Togo.
Epidemiology
Lassa fever is endemic in parts of West Africa, particularly Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, where the animal reservoir, the multimammate rat is prevalent.
There is some evidence of endemicity in the Central African Republic, Mali, Senegal and other neighbouring countries. In 2009, a confirmed case from Mali was imported into the UK.
In 2011, sporadic cases were confirmed for the first time in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Benin reported its first confirmed cases in 2014, and has reported an outbreak in 2016 .
In March 2016, two cases of Lassa fever were diagnosed in healthcare workers exposed in Togo . One of these was imported into Germany , where a secondary transmission occurred. The second case was medically evacuated to the USA.
Guinea
Lassa fever is endemic throughout Guinea, but most clinical cases have been reported from Kindia, Faranah and Nzerekore regions.
Lassa fever: map of Guinea (JPEG, 1.46MB)
Liberia
Lofa, Bong, and Nimba counties are regarded as hyperendemic (areas of intense transmission). In 2014 an outbreak was reported at a UN Mission in Kakata, Margibi County.
Lassa fever: map of Liberia (JPEG, 1.01MB)
Nigeria
Lassa fever is endemic in Nigeria, with outbreaks almost every year in different parts of the country. Yearly peaks are observed between December and February. In January 2016, WHO reported that the current outbreak had mostly affected Bauchi, Edo, Oyo and Taraba states. See map of confirmed cases .
Sierra Leone
Lassa fever: maps of Sierra Leone outbreaks 2008 onward ( PDF , 210KB, 1 page)
Transmission
Lassa virus is present in wild multimammate rats (Mastomys species), which shed the virus in their urine and droppings. These are common in rural areas of tropical Africa, and often live in or around homes. Once infected, rodents shed virus throughout their life.
Transmission of Lassa virus to humans normally occurs through contamination of broken skin or mucous membranes via direct or indirect contact with infected rodent excreta, on floors, home surfaces, in food or water. Transmission is also possible where rodents are caught and consumed as food.
Person to person transmission occurs through infected bodily fluids, such as blood, saliva, urine or semen. This can occur in healthcare or domestic settings.
Transmission to close contacts usually only occurs while the patient has symptoms. However, a patient can excrete virus in urine for between 3 and 9 weeks after the onset of illness. Patients can transmit the virus via semen for up to 3 months.
Symptoms
Infection is mild or asymptomatic in 80% of cases, but can cause severe illness and is fatal in approximately 1 to 3% of patients. The incubation period for disease is usually between 7 and 10 days, with a maximum of 21 days.
The onset of illness is insidious, with:
fever and shivering
sore throat
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or cough can accompany these symptoms.
An important diagnostic feature is the appearance of patches of white or yellowish exudate and occasionally small vesicles or shallow ulcers on the tonsils and pharynx.
As the illness progresses the body temperature can rise to 41ºC with daily fluctuations of 2 to 3ºC.
Extreme lethargy and exhaustion can occur in severe attacks, that is disproportionate to the level of fever. During the second week of illness symptoms include:
oedema of the head and neck
encephalopathy
ascites
Renal and circulatory failure may occur, aggravated by vomiting and diarrhoea.
In the severest cases bleeding into the skin, mucosae and deeper tissues occurs, usually leading to death.
In non-fatal cases the fever subsides and the patient’s condition improves rapidly although tiredness can persist for several weeks. Late complications include sensorineural deafness in around 25% of patients, persisting for life in around a third of those affected.
Infection is fatal in around 15% of hospitalised patients.
Lassa fever is particularly severe in pregnant women in the third trimester; the foetus dies in about 95% of cases.
Symptoms in children are similar to those in adults, but infant infection can result in ‘swollen baby syndrome’ with oedema, abdominal distension, bleeding and often death.
Diagnosis
Clinical diagnosis of Lassa fever is difficult. It can be confused with other infections such as severe malaria, typhoid fever, and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.
In the UK, Public Health England ( PHE ) has specialised laboratory facilities to provide a definitive diagnosis at the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory , PHE Porton.
RT-PCR for nucleic acid detection, virus isolation or antibody detection methods are used to diagnose Lassa fever.
Treatment
Treatment with the antiviral drug ribavirin is most effective when started within the first 6 days of illness, and should be given intravenously for 6 days.
Supportive care such as fluid replacement, blood transfusion or other appropriate measures is also essential.
Guidelines
It provides advice on how to comprehensively assess, rapidly diagnose and safely manage patients suspected of being infected, within the NHS, to ensure the protection of public health.
Prevention and control
There is no licensed vaccine for Lassa fever. In endemic areas, rodent control and avoiding contact with rodents and their excreta helps prevent infection. Infection control includes storing food in rat proof containers.
Avoiding contact with bodily fluids of an infected patient prevents person to person spread. In healthcare settings these infection control measures include
special barrier nursing procedures
VHF isolation precautions to isolate infected patients
wearing protective clothing for contact with the patient
Once the patient has recovered they are only infectious via semen and urine. Patients must avoid sexual intercourse for 3 months.
People living in endemic areas of West Africa with high populations of rodents are most at risk of Lassa fever. Imported cases rarely occur elsewhere in the world. Such cases are almost exclusively in persons who work in endemic areas in high risk occupations such as medical or other aid workers.
The risk to tourists is considered to be very low.
Imported Lassa fever is extremely rare in the UK. Eight confirmed cases of Lassa fever have been imported since 1980, with no evidence of onward transmission from any of these cases.
Updated with recent outbreaks in Benin and Togo.
14 March 2016
Benin and Togo added to affected countries.
5 September 2014
| Lassa fever |
The characters Don Alfonso and Dorabella appear in which Mozart opera? | Fever | definition of fever by Medical dictionary
Fever | definition of fever by Medical dictionary
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fever
Related to fever: fever treatment
Fever
A fever is any body temperature elevation over 100 °F (37.8 °C).
Description
A healthy person's body temperature fluctuates between 97 °F (36.1 °C) and 100 °F (37.8 °C), with the average being 98.6 °F (37 °C). The body maintains stability within this range by balancing the heat produced by the metabolism with the heat lost to the environment. The "thermostat" that controls this process is located in the hypothalamus, a small structure located deep within the brain. The nervous system constantly relays information about the body's temperature to the thermostat, which in turn activates different physical responses designed to cool or warm the body, depending on the circumstances. These responses include: decreasing or increasing the flow of blood from the body's core, where it is warmed, to the surface, where it is cooled; slowing down or speeding up the rate at which the body turns food into energy (metabolic rate); inducing shivering, which generates heat through muscle contraction; and inducing sweating, which cools the body through evaporation.
A fever occurs when the thermostat resets at a higher temperature, primarily in response to an infection. To reach the higher temperature, the body moves blood to the warmer interior, increases the metabolic rate, and induces shivering. The "chills" that often accompany a fever are caused by the movement of blood to the body's core, leaving the surface and extremities cold. Once the higher temperature is achieved, the shivering and chills stop. When the infection has been overcome or drugs such as aspirin or acetaminophen (Tylenol) have been taken, the thermostat resets to normal and the body's cooling mechanisms switch on: the blood moves to the surface and sweating occurs.
Fever is an important component of the immune response, though its role is not completely understood. Physicians believe that an elevated body temperature has several effects. The immune system chemicals that react with the fever-inducing agent and trigger the resetting of the thermostat also increase the production of cells that fight off the invading bacteria or viruses. Higher temperatures also inhibit the growth of some bacteria, while at the same time speeding up the chemical reactions that help the body's cells repair themselves. In addition, the increased heart rate that may accompany the changes in blood circulation also speeds the arrival of white blood cells to the sites of infection.
Causes and symptoms
Fevers are primarily caused by viral or bacterial infections, such as pneumonia or influenza . However, other conditions can induce a fever, including allergic reactions; autoimmune diseases; trauma, such as breaking a bone; cancer ; excessive exposure to the sun; intense exercise; hormonal imbalances; certain drugs; and damage to the hypothalamus. When an infection occurs, fever-inducing agents called pyrogens are released, either by the body's immune system or by the invading cells themselves, that trigger the resetting of the thermostat. In other circumstances, the immune system may overreact (allergic reactions) or become damaged (autoimmune diseases), causing the uncontrolled release of pyrogens. A stroke or tumor can damage the hypothalamus, causing the body's thermostat to malfunction. Excessive exposure to the sun or intensely exercising in hot weather can result in heat stroke , a condition in which the body's cooling mechanisms fail. Malignant hyperthermia is a rare, inherited condition in which a person develops a very high fever when given certain anesthetics or muscle relaxants in preparation for surgery.
How long a fever lasts and how high it may go depends on several factors, including its cause, the age of the patient, and his or her overall health. Most fevers caused by infections are acute, appearing suddenly and then dissipating as the immune system defeats the infectious agent. An infectious fever may also rise and fall throughout the day, reaching its peek in the late afternoon or early evening. A low-grade fever that lasts for several weeks is associated with autoimmune diseases such as lupus or with some cancers, particularly leukemia and lymphoma.
Diagnosis
A fever is usually diagnosed using a thermometer. A variety of different thermometers are available, including traditional glass and mercury ones used for oral or rectal temperature readings and more sophisticated electronic ones that can be inserted in the ear to quickly register the body's temperature. For adults and older children, temperature readings are usually taken orally. Younger children who cannot or will not hold a thermometer in their mouths can have their temperature taken by placing an oral thermometer under their armpit. Infants generally have their temperature taken rectally using a rectal thermometer.
As important as registering a patient's temperature is determining the underlying cause of the fever. The presence or absence of accompanying symptoms, a patient's medical history, and information about what he or she may have ingested, any recent trips taken, or possible exposures to illness help the physician make a diagnosis. Blood tests can aid in identifying an infectious agent by detecting the presence of antibodies against it or providing samples for growth of the organism in a culture. Blood tests can also provide the doctor with white blood cell counts. Ultrasound tests, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests, or computed tomography (CT) scans may be ordered if the doctor cannot readily determine the cause of a fever.
Treatment
Physicians agree that the most effective treatment for a fever is to address its underlying cause, such as through the administration of antibiotics . Also, because a fever helps the immune system fight infection, it usually should be allowed to run its course. Drugs to lower fever (antipyretics) can be given if a patient (particularly a child) is uncomfortable. These include aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), and ibuprofin (Advil). Aspirin, however, should not be given to a child or adolescent with a fever since this drug has been linked to an increased risk of Reye's syndrome. Bathing a patient in cool water can also help alleviate a high fever.
A fever requires emergency treatment under the following circumstances:
newborn (three months or younger) with a fever over 100.5 °F (38 °C)
infant or child with a fever over 103 °F (39.4 °C)
fever accompanied by severe headache , neck stiffness, mental confusion, or severe swelling of the throat
A very high fever in a small child can trigger seizures (febrile seizures) and therefore should be treated immediately. A fever accompanied by the above symptoms can indicate the presence of a serious infection, such as meningitis , and should be brought to the immediate attention of a physician.
Prognosis
Most fevers caused by infection end as soon as the immune system rids the body of the pathogen and do not produce any lasting effects. The prognosis for fevers associated with more chronic conditions, such as autoimmune disease, depends upon the overall outcome of the disorder.
Resources
Books
Gelfand, Jeffrey. "Fever, Including Fever of Unknown Origin." In Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, edited by Anthony S. Fauci, et al. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
Key terms
Antipyretic — A drug that lowers fever, like aspirin or acetaminophen.
Autoimmune disease — Condition in which a person's immune system attacks the body's own cells, causing tissue destruction.
Febrile seizure — Convulsions brought on by fever.
Malignant hyperthermia — A rare, inherited condition in which a person develops a very high fever when given certain anesthetics or muscle relaxants in preparation for surgery.
Meningitis — A potentially fatal inflammation of the thin membrane covering the brain and spinal cord.
Metabolism — The chemical process by which the body turns food into energy, which can be given off as heat.
Pyrogen — A chemical circulating in the blood that causes a rise in body temperature.
Reye's syndrome — A disorder principally affecting the liver and brain, marked by the rapid development of life-threatening neurological symptoms.
fever
[fe´ver]
1. an abnormally high body temperature; called also pyrexia . adj., adj fe´brile, fe´verish.
2. any disease characterized by marked increase of body temperature. For specific diseases, see the eponymic or descriptive name, such as rocky mountain spotted fever or typhoid fever . Other conditions involving elevated body temperature include heat exhaustion and heat stroke .
Normal body temperature when the body is at rest is 37°C (98.6°F). This is an average or mean body temperature that varies from person to person and from hour to hour in an individual. The route by which a body temperature is measured affects the reading. The normal oral temperature ranges from 36° to 37.5°C (96.8° to 99.5°F). If the temperature is measured rectally, the norm would be 0.5°C (1°F) higher. An axillary temperature would be 0.5°C (1°F) lower. Because of these differences, the number should always be followed by the route by which the temperature was taken when the reading is recorded.
Factors that can cause a temporary elevation in body temperature include age, physical activity, emotional stress, and ovulation. If a person has a consistently elevated temperature, fever is said to exist. A low-grade fever is marked by temperatures between 37.5° and 38.2°C (99.5° and 101°F) when taken orally. A high-grade fever is present when the oral temperature is above 38.2°C (101°F).
Types of fever include continued or continuous fever, one lasting more than 24 hours without significant variation or any return to normal body temperature; intermittent fever, in which at least once during a 24-hour period the fever spikes are separated by a return to normal body temperature; remittent fever, in which elevated body temperature shows fluctuations each day but never returns to normal; and recurrent (or relapsing) fever, in which periods of fever and normal body temperature alternate and last about 5 to 7 days each.
The regulation of body temperature is under the control of the hypothalamus. Thermolysis, or dissipation of body heat, is regulated by the anterior hypothalamus in conjunction with the parasympathetic nervous system. The overall effect of heat loss is accomplished by vasodilation of the peripheral blood vessels, increased sweating, and decreased metabolic and muscular activities. The production and conservation of body heat, or thermogenesis, is regulated by the posterior hypothalamus in conjunction with the sympathetic nervous system. The mechanisms by which body heat is produced and conserved are in opposition to those that increase heat loss; that is, by constriction of cutaneous blood vessels, decreased sweat gland activity, and increased metabolic and muscular activities.
Fever develops when there is some disturbance in the homeostatic mechanisms by which the hypothalamus maintains a balance between heat production and peripheral heat loss. Although dehydration, cerebral hemorrhage, heat stroke, thyroxine, and certain other drugs can cause an elevated body temperature or hyperthermia, fever, in the precise sense of the term, occurs as a result of inflammation or infection, or both. During the infectious and inflammatory processes certain substances called pyrogens are produced within the body. These endogenous pyrogens are the result of inflammatory reactions, such as those that occur in tissue damage, cell necrosis, rejection of transplanted tissues, malignancy, and antigen-antibody reactions. Exogenous pyrogens are introduced into the body when it is invaded by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other kinds of infectious organisms.
Endogenous pyrogens act directly on the hypothalamus, affecting its thermostatic functions by “resetting” it to a higher temperature. When this happens, all of the physiologic activities concerned with heat production and conservation operate to maintain body temperature at a higher setpoint. The symptoms of chill and shivering are the result of increased muscular activity, which is an attempt by the body to raise its temperature to the higher setting. This increased muscular activity is accompanied by an elevation of the metabolic rate, which in turn increases the demand for nutrients and oxygen. Outward signs of these internal activities include a higher pulse rate, increased respirations, and thirst caused by the loss of extracellular water via the lungs. The pulse rate increases at the rate of about eight to ten beats per minute for each degree of temperature rise.
Once the body temperature reaches the setpoint of the hypothalamic thermostat, the mechanisms of heat production and heat loss keep it at a fairly constant level and the fever persists. This is sometimes called the second stage of fever. If it continues, fluid and electrolyte losses become more severe and there is evidence of cellular dehydration. During this stage delirium in older persons and convulsions in infants and children can occur. Febrile convulsions in children are believed to be closely related to cerebral damage that becomes evident as afebrile convulsions later in life.
Prolonged fever eventually brings about tissue destruction owing to the catabolism of body proteins. Because of this the patient experiences muscle aches and weakness, malaise, and the excretion of albumin in the urine. Anorexia also is present. If the body does not receive a sufficient supply of energy from dietary intake to meet its metabolic needs, it catabolizes its own fat and protein. The patient then rapidly loses weight and can develop ketosis and metabolic acidosis .
The period during which a fever abates is called the period of defervescence. It may occur rapidly and dramatically, as the temperature falls from peak to normal in a matter of hours. This is called the crisis, that is, the critical point at which the fever is broken. A more gradual resetting of the thermostat and slow decline of the fever is called resolution of the fever by lysis.
Treatment. It is not always necessary to reduce fever and in many cases it may be best not to treat it, at least until its cause is determined. The fever pattern can provide diagnostic information and is not necessarily harmful unless it is extremely high or the patient has cardiac or respiratory disease and cannot tolerate the additional tachycardia and dyspnea that may accompany fever. An elevated body temperature can inhibit bacterial replication and the action of viruses, spirochetes, and other pathogenic microorganisms.
If it is decided that treatment is necessary, there are two major goals: to identify the cause and to provide symptomatic relief. Antipyretic drugs such as aspirin and acetaminophen (Tylenol) are generally safe and effective. However, acetaminophen is preferred in children and when the patient has gastrointestinal sensitivity, allergy to aspirin, or a clotting disorder or is suspected of having Reye's syndrome.
Fluids and electrolytes are replaced orally or intravenously as indicated by laboratory tests and signs of dehydration. Frequent, small feedings of high-calorie, high-protein foods are recommended to combat fatigue and debility caused by the increased metabolic rate. The selection of oral liquids and foods should be based on the patient's preferences. Vitamin supplements may be prescribed in prolonged, low-grade fevers.
Patient Care. The patient with acute hyperpyrexia or hyperthermia will require extreme measures to lower the body temperature as quickly and safely as possible in order to prevent brain damage. Victims of heat stroke should be cooled rapidly. In order to keep the temperature at a tolerable level until the thermostat is reset, a cooling blanket or hypothermia mattress may be used. Care must be taken to maintain the integrity of the skin and avoid sudden and extreme hypothermia when such a device is used. Other measures include sponging parts of the body with cool water to increase heat loss through evaporation of moisture. The part being sponged should be left exposed to the air until it is almost dry, and then should be lightly covered while another part is being sponged. A cold compress on the forehead helps to reduce the fever and relieve headache and delirium. An alternative to sponging and a cool bath is the application of ice packs to specific parts of the body, such as the abdomen, groin, axillae, and spine. Fanning can also be effective, especially if the patient's torso is covered with a sheet saturated with water.
Chills are uncomfortable and sometimes frightening to the patient. When the patient complains of feeling chilled or cold, some form of external warmth should be provided. An extra blanket is helpful as is a hot water bottle filled with warm, not hot, water. As the body temperature declines the difference between body temperature and environmental temperature will decrease and the patient will begin to feel warmer. During the second stage of fever the patient may complain of feeling hot; the skin feels warm to the touch and the face is flushed. These symptoms are the result of vasodilation of surface blood vessels, an attempt by the body to prevent further escalation of the body temperature.
fever of unknown origin (FUO) a febrile illness of at least three weeks' duration with a temperature of at least 38.3°C on at least three occasions and failure to establish a diagnosis in spite of intensive inpatient or outpatient evaluation (three outpatient visits or three days' hospitalization). The duration of febrile illness needed to establish a diagnosis of FUO varies among authorities and is sometimes given as shorter than three weeks.
Classic fever of unknown origin, as defined by the preceding criteria, is distinguished from neutropenic and nosocomial FUO, as well as that associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. In the neutropenic form, fever is accompanied by a neutrophil level that is lower than 500/mm3 or is expected to fall below that level within one or two days. The nosocomial form is a fever that occurs on several occasions in a hospitalized patient in whom neither fever nor infection was present on admission. In HIV-associated FUO, fever occurs in a person with human immunodeficiency virus infection on several occasions over a period of four weeks of outpatient care or three days of hospitalization. In all three of these forms of FUO, the cause of the fever cannot be determined after three days of investigation, including two days of incubation of cultures.
fe·ver
(fē'vĕr),
A complex physiologic response to disease mediated by pyrogenic cytokines and characterized by a rise in core temperature, generation of acute phase reactants, and activation of immune systems.
To be or become feverish.
fever
Etymology: L, febris
an elevation of body temperature above the normal circadian range as a result of an increase in the body's core temperature. Fever is a temperature above 37.2° C (98.9° F) in the morning or above 37.7° C (99.9° F) in the evening. Fever results from an imbalance between the elimination and the production of heat. Exercise, anxiety, and dehydration may increase the temperature of healthy people. Infection, neurological disease, malignancy, pernicious anemia, thromboembolic disease, paroxysmal tachycardia, congestive heart failure, crushing injury, severe trauma, and many drugs may cause fever. No single theory explains the mechanism whereby the temperature is increased. Fever has no recognized function in conditions other than infection. It increases metabolic activity by 7% per degree Celsius, requiring a greater intake of food. Convulsions may occur in children whose fevers tend to rise abruptly, and delirium is seen with high fevers in adults and in children. Very high temperatures, as in heatstroke, may be fatal. The course of a fever varies with the cause, the condition of the patient, and the treatment given. The onset may be abrupt or gradual, and the period of maximum elevation, called the stadium or fastigium, may last for a few days or up to 3 weeks. The fever may resolve suddenly, by crisis, or gradually, by lysis. Certain diseases and conditions are associated with fevers that begin, rise, and fall in such characteristic curves that diagnosis may be made by studying a graphic record of the course of the fever. Kinds of hyperthermia include habitual fever, intermittent fever, and relapsing fever . Also called febrile response . See also fever treatment, hyperpyrexia, quartan malaria, remittent fever, septic fever, tertian malaria .
fever
Internal medicine A body temperature of ≥ 37.2ºC/99.0ºF in early morning or ≥ 37.8ºC/100.0ºF in the evening that is a complex and coordinated adaptive response, which is part of the reaction to an immune challenge; this response is stereotyped, and largely independent of a causitive agent; as with other integrated responses–eg, regulation of energy metabolism, BP and volume, and reproduction, fever depends on humoral cues and is orchestrated by the hypothalamus, which coordinates autonomic, behavioral, endocrine, and metabolic responses– when corporal temperature is raised by endogenous pyrogen, T cell production ↑ 20-fold; endogenous pyrogen also shifts iron–needed by bacteria away from plasma; hyperthermia–up to 40ºC may trigger CA regression. See 'Animal House fever' Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Blackwater fever, Blue fever, Breakbone fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever , Bullis fever, Cabin fever , Cat-bite fever, Coley's toxin, Colorado tick fever , Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, Cotton fever, Dehydration fever , Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Epidemic louse-borne typhus fever, Familial hibernian fever, Familial Mediterranean fever , Filarial fever, Fort Bragg fever , Haverhill fever, Hay fever , Hectic-septic fever, Hypothalamic fever , Izumi fever, Korean hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Malta fever, Mediterranean fever , Metal fume fever , Omsk hemorrhagic fever, O'nyong-nyong fever, Polymer fume fever, Pontiac fever , Potamic fever, Q fever, Quartan fever, Quintan fever, Rat-bite fever , Relapsing fever , Rheumatic fever , Rift Valley fever , Rocky Mountain spotted fever , Sandfly fever, Scarlet fever , Seven-day fever, Simian hemorrhagic fever, Spring fever , Swamp fever , Tertian fever , Thirteen day fever, Three day fever, Trench fever , Valley fever , West Nile fever , Yellow fever .
fe·ver
(fē'vĕr)
A complex physiologic response to disease mediated by pyrogenic cytokines and characterized by a significant rise in core temperature, generation of acute phase reactants, and activation of immunologic systems.
[A.S. fefer]
fever
Elevation of body temperature above about 37 C, taken in the mouth. Fever is due to a resetting of the body's thermostat at a higher level so that heat production, mainly by shivering, is induced. The resetting is caused by the CYTOKINE interleukin-1 produced by white cells under the influence of bacteria, cancer, CORONARY THROMBOSIS , STROKE , crushing injury and other conditions. Fever inhibits the growth of bacteria and causes an increase in antibody production. The recognition of these advantages has led to a general abandonment of the former practice of routinely trying to reduce moderate fever.
fever
pyrexia: body temperature >37°C (>98.4°F)
fever,
n condition characterized by a rise in body temperature. Most fevers are mild and can be treated at home, but if they last more than two days, if the temperature rises to over 102.2° F, or if body temperature suddenly rises to 102.2° F within four hours, it is considered dangerous, and professional treatment should be sought immediately.
fe·ver
(fē'vĕr)
A complex physiologic response to disease mediated by pyrogenic cytokines and characterized by a rise in core temperature, generation of acute phase reactants, and activation of immune systems.
| i don't know |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.